aquaveiled | Inbox @ aionlogs

I can't find you...

[Having said that seems nonsensical a moment later, but it's true, isn't it? Why is making sense of what's happening to him so difficult? His confusion bleeds through the connection, his mind straying even as he tries to communicate with her.

What is he talking about, again? She'll feel him question himself immediately. He needs help, another part answers. He's lost and can't find anyone to help him.]

Something is happening to me... the illness?

[These thoughts barely come across as words, but it's enough to understand.]

[ They parted ways a while ago, but they have always trusted one another to attend to their respective duties with or without immediate support. To hear this, though--to feel this is something else...

She's not sure she will be fully used to this. But while feeling Zenos' own strange array of emotions is one thing, feeling Estinien so lost and confused makes her heart constrict on itself. ]

I can come to you. I can help.

[ What she can do, she isn't sure. Her healing magicks haven't cured anyone, only helped heal any injuries incurred along the way. But damn if she won't do whatever she can for her friends. Her family. ]

[His communications devolve away from words entirely, drifting into disjointed concepts and worries. He's trying to tell her where he is, but all he can summon up is vague concepts of 'Veneran streets' with no landmarks or meaningful descriptions. He's been walking, but in what direction? Towards the center, or towards the outskirts?

He doesn't know, and her offer to come to him only makes him more distraught. He wants her help but doesn't know how to get it, as the affliction gradually tears apart his ability to think critically. All that he knows is that he hurting and he's lost and he's sick, his body making it hard to keep going.]

Himeka...

[At a loss for anything else, he thinks her name again, as if doing so will bring her to him.]

[ A confused slurry of different images, none of them connecting to any concrete location in Venera. But it doesn't stop her from starting to walk again, looking up at any edifice that sparks an inkling of familiarity. ]

Just...keep talking to me, okay? Please?

[ She tries to keep the panic out of her voice which she has become extremely adept at over the years, but the way her heart is picking up pace beguiles it. ]

[Physically, his hand clenches clumsily around his shard, his fingers barely able to more enough to hold it. Now that he's opened his communication line he doesn't want to let it go. Speaking to someone is the only thing that's grounding him, that's keeping him from disappearing into his own head for another indeterminant amount of time.

So, he tries. As he continues muddling together images to give her a sense of where he is, he considers making his physical presence more obvious, but that plan is immediately curtailed by worries of who else might find him. There are others out here, his scattered thoughts imply to her - someone touched him and made everything worse, as if sapping the strength from his body and mind. He's afraid to be caught again. He doens't know what will become of him if they do.

He will wait for her, though. This connection is a lifeline.]

[ She knows enough by now that touch and close contact are enough to spread the illness, though she has managed to forestall the symptoms herself for now. (Or so she believes.)

The continuing images don't help much, but they are an indication that he's trying. Whether he can't find the words or isn't able to speak now scares her a bit. The thought of Estinien turning to that catatonic state--

--Halric had watched death stare him right in the face, unblinking and unhurried by his imminent demise--

Himeka swallows. ]

I'm coming. I promise.

[ If she needs to walk the whole city she will.

If he isn't able to talk, maybe she should...keep his attention. ]

Once I find you we'll have something to eat first, alright? I made more grapes today.

[ Please say you can still hear me. ]

[For a moment, the lack of recognition is deafening. The mention of the grapes raises nothing but the mental equivalent of a question mark, until, finally...

No. He remembers. He remembers the silly little things, an invention that only failed to startle him because it came from her. His recollection of the fruit's odd shape will come across through their connection, as well as the relief associated with it.]

...Very well.

[Or maybe that word is 'as you like' or maybe it's 'thank you'. He's having a hard time narrowing his thoughts to coherent words, but the concepts are still there, with a tinge of humor, despite it all.]

[ There's relief flowing from her side. That's the Estinien she knows...however dark their circumstances, he's always had a strange sense of humor. One that she jived with nearly instantly. There's warmth emanating from their connection and she continues to push it towards him as she continues her search.

Yet there is still no sign of him. She continues to check in with Estinien, trying to keep the conversation going, but even Himeka is running out of things to ramble about. So instead she begins to hum a tune she learned during her stay in Ishgard, hoping that will be enough to keep his attention. ]

[At first Estinien finds himself wandering that open street, wondering if he will see her around each corner... but the longer it goes on, the less he can keep focused on the task of looking. Gradually he slows, and then stops, her occasional check-ins the only thing reminding him of what he was trying to do in the first place. The sound of her voice, her song, is a double-edged sword. It brings him comfort, and reminds him of her - yet, in some ways, that comfort is as deadly as anything else.

He stays with her, scattered feelings and thoughts occasionally coming in response, but gradually slowing. He stands in the middle of the street, his shard clenched in hand, staring at nothing. It would make him easier for her to find, he thought. Unfortunately, it also made him easier to be caught.

A lull in his focus is interrupted by a sudden punctuation of panic and fear. It's a psychic cry of pain, a wordless plea for help.]

[ That the connection continues to dwindle on his end is a cause for concern but she has to keep going. Venera is big, she realizes--much too big and she doesn't know these streets well enough. With no mounts at her disposal she's left to travel on foot which is far from ideal.

It's Estinien, though...maybe he's on a roof of some sor-- ]

Estinien!?

[Whatever is happening has shocked him back into some form of lucidity, his consciousness becoming far more present with this surge of desperation and need. He reaches out to her with everything he has, projecting the idea of him being attacked, knocked down, his shard under threat-

But that's all he can do. He can't do anything but cry out and struggle, praying that she'll make it in time even though it's becoming abundantly clear that she won't.]

Himeka!

[It all happens so quickly. As desperate as he is to keep hold of this lifeline, circumstances have conspired to sever it. If he doesn't protect his shard now, it will most likely end up crushed on the ground.]

Forgive me...

[Sorry for being helpless, sorry for leaving another burden at her feet. Their connection ends as he forces his shard back into his chest, unsure if he'll survive to see her again.]

Edited 2022-05-21 06:03 (UTC)

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