Home 27: Ward-bound

[Arkhosia]

Suncrest Manor

Anastasia blinks. "W-what? N-no, I just thought-" she stutters out, before shutting down a little when Irena focuses on her with a stern glare. She really does not do well with getting yelled at like this. She barely moves when the shirt hits her in the chest, only reaching to grab it when it falls down into her lap. "Just... please don't get angry with my mom about this." she manages to squeak out.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena looks to Ana, then to Eliseo, then finally to Ana again. "What? You think I'm going to call the mother****ing pigs on you or something?" She gestures to herself and then gives the teenager a firm glare. "As far as you should be concerned, I am the trouble. So don't sneak into the house again."

Now she turns to Eliseo. "Which means you should ****ing chill out, kid." She throws Ana's shirt to her. "What do you think I'm going to do? Since it sounds like you're expecting me to actually go psycho on her. No, what I'm going to do is much worse, as mom two wanted you to eat breakfast with us so you're going to have to endure that awkwardness with your girlfriend over there." She gestures to the kitsune.

Suncrest Manor

Anastasia blinks. "W-what? N-no, I just thought-" she stutters out, before shutting down a little when Irena focuses on her with a stern glare. She really does not do well with getting yelled at like this. She barely moves when the shirt hits her in the chest, only reaching to grab it when it falls down into her lap. "Just... please don't get angry with my mom about this." she manages to squeak out.

[Suncrest Manor]

"I don't know what you're gonna do, because you're ******* psycho." Eliseo steps in between Ana and Irena, in full on fight mode now. The kid's getting in her face, which is far easier than it once was given how he's been growing like a weed. In fact, he looks down at Irena these days. "Just least us the hell alone so we can get some clothes on."

[Ironsmith]

Fort Aegis Resort

Sam nods and slips out of the room. Eun must have gotten a communicator call or something. Or she's talking to her Other? No problem of his at least.
It's fine, Eun. Just...take a deep breath, okay? And if it helps at all I think you're doing fine. You found someone who likes cats as much as you do, and you just dumped three hours hanging out with a guy without stammering over something. He's a good friend for you, if nothing else. I'm not saying you HAVE to date him, I'm just saying that you shouldn't just walk away from someone just because they don't seem perfect after three hours.

Also, no offense, but I think whoever you try to date is going to have to be outgoing. I uh. I kind of exist because you have to be peeled away from your work terminal. She tries to sound like she's just being teasing when she says that despite being entirely serious.

[Fort Aegis Resort]

Well, of course he's not perfect. I didn't think he would be. And if he was, he could do a lot better for himself than a short-tempered backroom lurker with a newly-minted split personality.

...He could do better now, really.

Eun runs her hands over her face as she takes back her position at the table, letting out a deep sigh.

...Don't get me wrong. He is a nice guy. I like him in that sense at least. But... well, you're up there all the time. You know what sorts of things I'm passionate about. If I can't fit him into all of that, he'll end up being a... a distraction, I guess. He'll be in the way and underfoot and... that's just not fair. To him or to me. Eun reaches into her Hotbox and produces a cup of cola, swirling it around in her hands as she thinks. If I do date someone, it should be someone I can bring to the lab. Someone I can connect with that intensely, you know?

...That's kind of a big if in the first place. I can barely even talk to people, am I even ready to be dating? Am I even girlfriend material? I'm not pretty. I'm not sm- okay, well, I'm not the sort of smart men find attractive. Witty, I guess. I smell like sweat and cat fur. And I've got so many health issues a partner would have to reckon with, I'd have to be nearly perfect to even make that sort of relationship worth it. And I'm just not that kind of person.

Eun takes a sip from her cola and sighs again.

I shouldn't be dating at all. I'm just going to make someone miserable.

[Shadowcaller]

[Suncrest Manor]

Irena looks to Ana and then to Eliseo and this time her reply is a lot more timid. "Fine, fine. I'm, uh, sorry." She raises her hands, displaying her palms, and starts to back out of the room.

She then closes the door after herself and takes a few steps away so she doesn't accidentally listen in on them. After a moment of consideration she then wanders down to the breakfast table.

That could have gone better.

[Arkhosia]

Suncrest Manor

Once Irena’s left, Ana’s able to take a couple seconds to decompress with a few slow, steady breaths before quietly starting to throw on her clothes from the night before. She’s really not eager to head downstairs at all, but it doesn’t seem like she has much of a choice - trying to sneak out will probably make things even worse.

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

Eliseo looks almost shocked when Irena backs off and then just leaves. He's not sure what to do with himself for a moment, without an outlet to brow off all that pressure. He lets out a breath and turns back to Ana. "Um." Gods he feels self conscious after all that, and much more so standing in front of her in his boxers and nothing else. "You, uh, want one of my shirts? So you can have something clean?"

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

So they're part of the past. But he's worried about the future.
Spending your whole life with someone would rarely be considered 'throwing them away', and yet Mist felt driven to go beyond that. Why?
It was almost the first thing he thought of, when he had the chance to do anything. That's not ordinary respect for your past, is it, Mist?

The wind picks up, sweeping over the tiles from behind him, and their character seems to change. These are not guidelines for building, but courses and tracks, meant for racing and chasing.

[Arkhosia]

Suncrest Manor

I- uh, sure, if - if you don’t think it’ll look too like, weird?” she answers as she pulls on her jeans. It wasn’t like her clothes were that gross or dirty anyways, but it still would probably feel comfortable to wear something fresh from a drawer.

…And uh, thanks, by the way, Ana manages to add after a beat. “For like, defending me. I-I don’t uh, I don’t think all the shouting helped a ton but…. Eliseo drawing the pressure onto himself definitely helped, is what she means. Getting shouted at by Irena the whole time would have been terrifying.

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

The people around him are not just his past, they are his present. Mist knows Message is still with him right now. And they'll be there for him in the morning. As will his family and the friends that are still around. They, more than most things make him happy. And he makes them happy, and that's what he considers to be good in the world.
Of course he also likes other things, like running, so while making these ruminations he takes time for a nice jog around the outlines of the tracks, because he can. But that's only momentary pleasure.

Fort Aegis Resort

Buhan's response to all of that is as brief as it is cutting.
Eun. Have you enjoyed yourself, these past few hours?

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

The grandiosity of the tracks he runs on reminds him not to think too small. He could change his past. Remake his present. Become someone more.
But perhaps this Mist is good enough for him. That is an answer, of sorts, to one of the city's questions.

The lines on the tiles retreat from him, leaving only a few paths, shrouded in impressions of his past and future.
The left course leads to Leah. The right, to his parents. The middle, to his friends. And he is needed, Mist knows, at all three destinations.

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

Mist heads down all three paths at once. Most people cannot do this. But somehow, perhaps due to what he recently inherited, Mist can.

He does not want to remake his past. He made some mistakes, but they made him who he is. Perhaps he could have been kinder to Anchor. She really is Leah's twin, but he rejected her when they split due to their temporary death. He almost certainly broke her heart. He's tried to speak to her before about it but they've never quite been able to speak normally. But would remaking that not rob her of her free will? Doesn't she deserve a say in this?
But also, there is one other thing. There is something about him that doesn't seem quite right. Parts of him that seem foreign, yet are certainly of him. Parts that rumble and roar. Bloody things. He can feel them if he stays still or goes too fast. They seem at odds with other parts of him. Perhaps that could be fixed?

[Ironsmith]

Fort Aegis Resort

Buhan's response to all of that is as brief as it is cutting.
Eun. Have you enjoyed yourself, these past few hours?

[Fort Aegis Resort]

I don't... Eun looks down at her hand, which is twitching anxiously, seemingly of its own accord. It feels like, with the exception of when they were on the console, Eun hasn't been able to stop moving. Maybe Sam didn't see all of it, but there wasn't a second of their interactions when she was well and truly at ease. Something was always threatening to go wrong, imminently and catastrophically.

...And yet.

Eun closes her eyes and nods her head slightly. Yes.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

Mist hurries down every path, and rescues all those who are important to him.
Not making a choice, because you are above the choice.
A glorious outcome, and impressive. This place will remember that.

But it hardly helps him find his way to the charity that might or might not be here.
Why not ask Anchor for her say? It's exceedingly unlikely that she would be here, but in a dream that means it's still possible, which means its practically certain.

As for the roaring bloody pieces of him, that rise up when he's not at the right speed, they could be quieted, changed. They are echoes of the one who last held this office, the fragments that gave the nightmare its shape. They could be turned around to suit him, as easy as changing clothes, except completely different.

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

This is true. Mist knows that Message is beside him. Surely he could simply ask Leah and Anchor how they felt. Does Anchor wish they could have reconciled from the start, even if that means who she is now wouldn't exist? Would Leah object if Anchor was in his life more? Or even about as much as her? He poses the question to the dream, regardless of if he expects an answer.

As for his office, it is his. Whatever it is. Mist knows nothing about it other than that he surely has one. That which is in it should belong to him, not someone else. It only needs some paint and perhaps a new desk, in this analogy. Yes, Mist thinks he will do that.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

-and Anchor is accompanying him just off to the left, appearing in a wash of heat like a pleasant summer day. She seems dressed in her traveling gear, casting no shadow onto the tiles, so much more beautiful now than Leah is, and just slightly sad.
"I used to wish for that, but, I mean, I've grown so much since then. People, and Message, rely on me being me."

-and Leah is on his right, appearing in the same pajamas Mist knows she's actually wearing (plus the Skullfort crown), looking both dedicated and hopeful. "Object? Haven't I encouraged you to get along with my sisters?" She says this confident that Mist won't let anyone come between them, not even someone who is kind of herself.
"I could have been kinder to her too."

It takes a fairly small amount of grist (though such things are less clear in the dream) to redecorate the metaphorical office where the storm god practiced. It's a little emptier (less complicated), but it contains just Mist-ful things now, and he can add more as they come to him, either from himself of from those who believe.

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis Resort

It could have gone catastrophically wrong. But it did not.
Alright. So don't you think you should wait for something to actually go wrong before you decide that you're hopeless and can never be happy with someone?

Dreaming Fox Inn

Excellent. A chair, shoe rack, a place for his flute, an open window, and a brush for his tail. These things he'll need in his office. And other things he'll have to look at later.
Mist smiles and waves to Anchor. "You're right. We'll talk later, the normal way." he assures her.
That seems that. He will move towards the future and not try to reshape his past. And he will be the most him he can be.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

After waving back, Anchor vanishes, and the place is cool again. And if he turns to see her, Leah is gone as well, back to normal sleep.

A definitive answer.
The tiles crumble all around him. There is no solid ground here, nor there, nor anywhere in this unmade place. The city is not for him, nor are the races, but neither is 'leaving the city'.
He falls into the darkness, and when he is just about to land, he wakes - and is beside Message on the shore, just before where the path first split in three. Still dreaming. He has failed, as Message failed, as indeed nearly who come to this place fail, and now it seems that he can only be himself., if anyone.
And yet there is still a sense that the world is holding its breath.

What does it mean to be Mist, after all?

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

Mist smiles. Failure does not stop him, even if it hurts his heart a little. He draws his flute and closes his eyes.
And he walks.
He isn't even really sure which path it is that he has chosen, but he knows that he walks. Because not doing so, to stop, would be about the least Mist thing he could possibly do.
Would you ask the wind to never blow again?

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

Mist walks out into the water, over the ocean, yet as he plays his flute, not knowing where he's going, stones rise up from the waves to place themselves under his feet and form a path.
Message is following, just behind him, quietly watching and enjoying the song.
To keep walking, even with no destination, that's enough. Just when he's starting to notice that he's been walking a long way and should be home by now, he should notice something: that his wedding ring is gone from his hand, and instead is in his pocket.

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

For perhaps the first time in this dream Mist experiences a true blind panic at the loss of the ring.
But oh wait. It's just in his pocket.
Mist stops playing for a moment to reach down into his pocket to make sure the ring is okay.
But not his Ring, that's in his hand. Even dream-Mist finds this terminology slightly confusing.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

No, his ring isn't his Ring. It's busy being a Cup.
(This sort of mixup, tragically, happens all the time. Staffs twisted into a little circular shapes, Blades that you set on fire to shed light, Maps that are made of glass, Pens that look an awful lot like ceremonial swords, etc. It's enough to make you want to rename everything.)
Because that's what the Cup is about. "Being the most you that you can be" is about as clear an explanation of it as is possible.

It does seem to be okay, if it's okay to crackle with power, and to sing with defiance at the cruelty in the world, and to flow at his touch like the wind itself, and to hold infinite depths in its simple metal surfaces. If those are indeed okay things to do, then it is perfectly okay.

And should he put the ring back on his hand where it belongs, Mist will stop being himself, and start being Mist. He would no longer have the option of changing his past, for it would be written in something harder than stone. He would not be able to leave Leah simply by growing old and dying, for age would pass him by. He would not be able to give up and stop walking, - that would simply not be the sort of thing he could do.

[Deathkeeper]

Dreaming Fox Inn

Hmm. Yes, all of those things seem quite alright. Mist slips the Ring That Is Actually A Cup onto his finger where it belongs.
But speaking of walking, he really should be getting home sooner or later, shouldn't he? He has to be home. He has to wake up. There's a few things he promised to do...

[Gullara]

[Suncrest Manor]

"Uh well, I mean Irena can be a jerk sometimes so-" He shakes his head. "Lemme grab those shirts now." He goes over to his closet and pulls out a couple shirts. One appears to be some sort of band tour shirt in an incomprehensible language and the other is some video game reference with bright pixilated characters. He comes over to hand her the latter. "I don't think it'll look weird, by the way."

[Arkhosia]

Suncrest Manor

"Thanks." The words come with a smile as Ana grabs the shirt and slips it over her head, pulls the hem down and does a quick check to smooth any wrinkles. The teenager wants to make sure it not only fits right but looks right. Least she can do is make sure she doesn't look too haphazard or out of sorts when they come downstairs, after all.

She gives Eliseo a nervous smile as she snatches a blue ribbon from the nightstand and starts to tie her hair back in a ponytail."Y'know, like, as far as having a meal with your parents, this really wasn't what I had in mind."

[Ironsmith]

Fort Aegis Resort

It could have gone catastrophically wrong. But it did not.
Alright. So don't you think you should wait for something to actually go wrong before you decide that you're hopeless and can never be happy with someone?

[Fort Aegis Resort]

Of course not. You don't fire up a faulty reactor and wait for a meltdown. Eun sips out of her drink, taking a moment to wonder if Buhan can pick up the context for that statement from her thoughts before deciding to elaborate. If I wait until someone's gotten hurt, it'll be too late. I'll have hurt him, or myself, and there won't be any taking it back. It's better to not proceed until I'm absolutely sure it's safe. Which is impossible, because I know I'm not incapable of hurting people.

If I pursue a relationship with Sam, it's only a matter of time until I end up saying or doing something that'll really get to him. And the longer that goes on, the more I get to know him, the more likely it is that I'll hit on a weak point in a moment of weakness... like when I lose my temper. Eun straightens in her chair. The only person I know I can't hurt is me. And even that's up for debate. I'm not going to draw someone else into my life like that. Especially not someone that sweet who doesn't deserve the [crap] I'll inevitably put him through.

[Recaiden]

[Dreaming Fox Inn]

It's done.
And just like that, it's all clear. He wants to be home, and he is.
He wants to be awake, and he's waking up.
"See you on the other side, Mist."

---

Leah is still asleep right beside him; though usually she's the first one up.
His grist reserve is quite greatly decreased, from the payment Message has taken and the changes he made, but the counter is totally stable. There's a faint whispery something at the back of his head.
There's a moment of disorientation, where he'll feel that 'he' is looking out from his ring, or his jacket, or his flute. Though it should settle easily into his body, even if that body does look a bit different.

[Deathkeeper]

Fort Aegis Resort

Buhan is fully capable of understanding a science analogy. She's been contaminated by Eun long enough to understand more than Eun thinks.
Eun...I think you've been hurting yourself for a long time. I know that you enjoy work, but I know that there's a part of you that does actually want to go out and socialize a little. It's what called Mother in the first place, as ill-fated as all of that was. Why do you deny that you want that? Why have you decided that you don't deserve to be happy?

Dancing Fox Inn

It's morning. Mist is awake. Mist has his charities. Mist has...quite a lot going on at the moment. There's probably a lot of new sensations to having those charities in the waking world, as well as...well he's looking a little...undefined. Not physically. He's his human self. Nothing wrong about that. But there's the oddest sense that there ought to be...more. It's probably a lot more clear to Message what's going on: he might have gotten a seed in his dream, but it's lacking the final and most important part to complete the process. Mist SHOULD be a lot different right now, but the forgotten way that seed was, there's no mortals to know he exists and help him define what that seed makes him.
"Hey, Leah. You up?"

[Ironsmith]

[Fort Aegis Resort]

...

Eun's mind goes into a blank as she leans against the table, burying her face in her arms. That... that one's a real stumper. If she had an answer, she probably wouldn't be in this mess because she'd know what her problem is and be that much closer to finding a solution. As it is, the most she can do is shakily stand up and-

Well, she was going to go to the door, but thinks better of it and turns to her Hotbox first. A few button presses later, she's holding a second cola with a scoop of ice cream. Asking Sam to leave was... awkward. Maybe this would help smooth things over.

Eun slowly makes her way back to the door and pulls it open, glancing up and down the hall for the chef. "Sam? Are you there? I've... got floats." She offers.

[Recaiden]

[Dancing Fox Inn]

Dreaming over.
Except that all of this is very much like a dream. And there's the oddities of the charities providing him an intuitive sense of how Mistlike various ideas are, what Leah might want, what sort of music would fit this scene, even his Mask's sense of aspects and appearances is more present and capable than ever before.
Leah was not up then, but she is now, blinking, sleepily putting her sunglasses on, face lighting up with excitement.
"Mist! You did it!"

[Deathkeeper]

Dancing Fox Inn

"I did do it!" Mist grins, giving Leah a hug. Hm. He doesn't remember ALL of the details, but he does remember that he succeeded and he ripped power out of a nightmare and-
Oh! He promised it he would look for people. And it told him they were- where exactly?
Also wow his aspects are all scrambled. He's going to have to sort that out. All that excitement must have messed around with him.
"So um. What now? Are we just...kind of good? I have the weird sense that I really need to be doing something right now."

Fort Aegis Resort

Sam is right across the hall, leaning on the wall and fiddling with his phone (and Pippin, whom he grabbed on the way out).
"Sure! Are you um. Okay?" Sam asks hesitantly as he steps forward for the offered sweet.