We've opened the door and now it's all coming through...

[musubitori]

Featuring: Houou and anyone else he encounters, close cr or not.
What's happening: Houou's reset, but he's been missing since the 16th.
What day: February 20th - 25th

CW: Mental distress, death talk, split personalities, possible violence. Houou is not in a good place.

Notes: ota unless stated otherwise! Houou's not used to being helpless and this is the second time he's encountered the feeling and he does not like it. The other personalities he has access to are also very different from his own and he'll be very vulnerable to any mind control/aura/telepathy etc, more so than usual. Open also to network threads and personalised starters/assumed cr!


Reset Room

[ He remembers snow. The tall figure of the Kotoryuu, Togame-dono....Kyouken. Then. Then? Houou-sama's voice, a spray of blood-- Danzien, so quick, so painless. Kawauso's head, then body hitting the snow, staining it-- but isn't he...Kawauso?

The memory swims, he sees his own back, makes the strike, but at the same time hears his own voice, feels his body drop--

Houou finally sits up in the semi familiar surrounding of the reset room and is instantly assaulted by the vision of a creature straight from nightmare - another memory - dark and frantic and then...Darkness.

Sound Eaters.

That creature? It was his last thought certainly, but- what was he doing? Where is he again? And...Who? ]

House Three

[ He's made it...home? Houou's followed his feet to a room with a curtained window, with a familiar feel and orientation. It's a little spartan, but he remembers this walk to this door and his mind is craving the sense of safety if summons. It's strange though because he recalls so many other homes. Different layouts and rooms, shared quarters, but also solitary-- so many things different - woods, then a valley, but also higher ground - and sounds. There's no sound here though, the streets and people are quiet and that's important somehow, connected to those creatures.

Houou approaches the futon, sinks onto it's soft surface and settles with his back to the wall. He's instantly at ease like this, but the sense of loss is crushing. He curls in on himself, knees pulled up and finally sees what he's wearing-- These colours are wrong though surely? this is Houou-sama's, is it not? He has no mirror to be sure, but there's a longer fall of hair over his shoulder and Houou lets his head drop against his knees as everything swims. He's Houou. But this is not his village, or his world and he's forgetting something very important, but that's nothing compared to what he's lost. All of them. Gone.

Has he even mourned them yet?

Has there been time?

Maybe now then. ]


Wandering

[ He feels wrung out like an old cloth and sleep holds no rest. Every time Houou closes his eyes, things seem more complicated. Flashes of fighting, of nightmare creatures, of a sunny smile and sunnier hair - so important somehow, but how? - and faces around him, so familiar, but not a single name to be found in his mind.

He's subconsciously sticking to the sand paths, copying those around him - though most are asleep or at least heading to their houses now - and wandering, though perhaps not lost. His internal compass is strong enough to lead him around, to double back to the house that houses his room, but he's simply filling time and fighting off exhaustion.

There's so much to sort through, but at least he's moving. ]

Wild Card

Come at me!

Comments

Wandering

[lilithsoul]

[It's late, and as he's wandering, there happens to be a figure who is moving along the paths that he's treading, bringing a stash of something for storage. By the look of them, it is a set or two of knit clothing, albeit a little on the crude side. She was walking along, just ahead of him and coming from the opposite direction.

Just before the juncture in the sand paths she needed, she paused, seeing him approach. Initially, she cocked her head, looking at him and waiting to see if he needed her to back up, or if he would for her. Not saying anything yet. There was no need, though one of them would probably need to give if they both wanted to stay on the path.]

[musubitori]

[ He's in his own mind enough that Houou almost doesn't notice the need to give way and it's only his reflexes that save him from knocking right into his fellow wanderer. Unfortunately, the swerve of motion has him off the sand and really it's a mercy that he's light footed, or this would have been an uncomfortable amount of noise.

He stops dead next to her and then it's a jumble of signing and the device to communicate. ]

I'm so sorry-- Ah, do I know you?

[ There's the distinct impression that he's asking himself exactly the same question. ]

[lilithsoul]

[It was a little bit of an odd thing to ask, but not completely. Rei looked back at him, starting at the base and looking up in a very analytical fashion before she shook her had. No, they had never met before. She was quite certain of that. He was distinct enough that she would have remembered him at least a little.]

No, should I?

[musubitori]

I-- can't answer that.

[ He's been measured by this woman and found wanting, or is simply unknown to her or at least that's the impression from her regard. She's new here or he's new? But there's a sense of time about his rooms, about how well he knows these paths, ah it's all just as confusing a before. ]

Perhaps not. I..woke up recently, again, I think.
My mind has lost it's way.

[ He wants to laugh, barely stops himself and his smile must look a little mad indeed. ]

[lilithsoul]

[It definitely looks a touch unhinged. No question there, but then again she was hardly the most stable or normal of people, so it didn't bother her personally. But, what he said did ring a bell a little.]

Your mind has lost it's way? Do you have amnesia then?

[It might explain the question.]

[musubitori]

Amnesia? perhaps that is the way of things..

[ That at least makes sense. There's too much familiar here, too many things known around everything that is confusing and forgotten. Houou finally looks to the woman again, head tilted in curiosity. He's still off the path, mentally and physically, but perhaps there is help at hand. ]

Do you have much experience in these things?

house 3

[priwen]

[ Despite having moved out, Alex still stops by the house daily. Houou's disappearance weighs on his mind, so he would make a round towards the Reset room annd then end off near the house in a bid to catch the man when he returns. The past few days have turned up empty, so he had tried to not have too much hope.

Then, he catches sight of Houou in his room - he makes a beeline towards the man, both out of concern and out of worry; as his Echo shows him a dark cloud hanging over the older man. Aether-starved, despairing, or... both, even.

He stands tentatively before Houou, tilting his head to see if he could elicit some kind of response. ]

[musubitori]

[ It's rare that anyone can sneak up on Houou and Alex isn't exactly being subtle, so it speaks volumes as to where Houou's mind is at, when he startles at the shadow cast across him. He looks up - but not before dashing wetness from his eyes - and his usually shielded gaze is open and glassy looking.

He's about to speak, but catches himself in time to fumble with the device by his side and swipes out something clumsily. ]

Can I help you?

[priwen]

[ Alex sits down next to Houou, far away enough to not intrude on his personal space but close enough to have a written conversation. The man's aether is very dim - not out of injury, but that made things more concerning. ]

How do you feel?

[ He doesn't look so good. If his curse came back, then Alex would be duty-bound to heal him again. ]

[musubitori]

...Lost.

[ It's the closest he can get to what he's feeling, especially when 'lost' is never really something Houou's ever felt before. He feels, oddly calmer, with this persons presence however, less like the world is ending and he hopes that perhaps this is someone formerly known to him. ]

I..died. Again. A creature, out of the darkness and then I woke up in a room that I've known before, but none of the faces are familiar.

[priwen]

[ Ah.

When he had been killed by the Sound Eaters, they left a similar mark on him. It was as if their claws tore through his very aether itself, leaving no marks on his body, but a wound cutting into a person's soul. Hydaelyn's blessing would raise him from death, should his body falter. Yet, this was different. Her light did not touch this injury.

Instead of typing, he extends a hand, half-offering it to Houou. Whether the older man takes it is up to his preference - regardless, warm aether streams from Alex's form, catalysed by the Soul Crystal on his person. He isn't a conjurer, so all he can do is to cast his old spell again; but instead of mending physical wounds, he wills it to carry his hope.

A hope that was borne by the Mothercrystal, given to him so that he may spread it to others. ]

[musubitori]

[ This must be someone known to him, to reach out at all in wordless support and with so much already broken, Houou can't reject the offer. Tentatively he makes the connection, bare hand grasping the one offered.

The swell of relief is immediate. Even in the deepest pits of despair Houou has felt in his life, he marvels that whatever this is, would ease that pain. He may be confused, may be hurt and missing so much information right now, but there's clarity here in this contact.

He takes a breath, deep and shuddering, like he's only just remembered that air is important and he types clumsily with his free hand. ]

Who are you?

[priwen]

[ The drain of aether caused by the spell is familiar to him now, so it is a simple matter of conserving his remaining strength and compacting it with his will. As long as Houou needs it, he will stand firm, holding his hand. It comes naturally to him, with the strength of the Mothercrystal bolstering his attempt to remain calming. ]

A friend.

My name is Alexandre Tialys.

[ Hopefully, this will jog the older man's memory. ]