#genis 01

Another eclipse meant for another chance to find that her brother followed her to the city. It had been months groggily checking her phone’s contacts those nights and each time stung more than the last. She decided with the number of people arriving for their world, perhaps she should not be so pessimistic. Scrolling down the list of names, right above her own was his name. Genis. She stared at it for a few moments. Alright. He would be getting his cell phone and would be driven to his apartment from the center of the city. It took everything in her not to dial the number immediately, but she had to make sure that he had access to the device. Raine waited, but only for about ten minutes.

The ringing of the phone felt like a death toll to her, and Raine got more anxious the longer he didn’t pick up.

He’s fine. Calm down, Raine. He is very mature, and he can keep his wits about him. You know your brother. He will be fine until you can track him down. He knows what kind of places look seedy. He knows not to give strangers any personal information. He will be safe.

Interrupting Raine’s rampant thoughts, a voice greeted her on the other end. Oh thank goodness.

“‘Scuse me, do you need any help with those?”

Kay's made a habit of hanging around the library on days when she finishes her lessons early. Though she hasn’t found any books of her own yet, she couldn’t help but notice that this boy has a lot... maybe he’s studying, too. Could he be another one of Miss Raine’s students?

“So.. people are brought here from all over the place, right? Not just people from our world-- from different universes, under different circumstances.. all those kinds of things. They get put here, are given places to live, and they can find a job to make money.. and we’re all just supposed to be okay with that?”

After initially running into Genis, Lloyd followed the younger of the two back to his newfound home; desperate to hear any and all explanations his friend could give him about arriving here. Yet the brunette seems disgruntled as he sits cross-legged on Genis’ bed, fingers tapping against the arms which lay folded against his chest.

“But.. why? What’s so good about being here? I mean, you’re here Genis, but we could just be back at home with everyone else.. and more importantly..!” Lloyd’s voice raises a little then as he moves to pull his sword from out of his sheath, revealing a pathetic excuse for a wooden practice blade to his friend. “They took my swords! And my Exsphere! What the heck is that all about?! Did they steal things from everybody?!”

In her old world, Mariela would have never gone into the Fell Forest at Night without raptors and an armored caravan, but the alchemist had heard that the path to the river was busy with foot traffic during the festival, so it seemed like she wouldn’t be on her own at least. When she got here, there were people quietly scattered around the water’s edge sending off small rafts downstream. When it was her turn in line to collect her rafts, the person working the table asked her how many she would like, and Mariela panicked, pulling a random number from her head and asking for five. One felt too few, yet she could not even begin to honor everyone caught in the Stampede with a few measly rafts.

In truth, she’d have been there all month if she had lit one for every single person she lost in The Citadel City. Tens of thousands of neighbors, swallowed into the labyrinth for two hundred years. During the subjugation, she hadn’t had the time to stick around to remember each of their names and faces, too horrified by their mangled undead bodies to fully process what she was seeing. Her throat felt dry just thinking about it.

She walked down the river looking for an open spot to light the candles and send off her rafts when she saw a familiar figure quietly braiding the flowers on his own raft. He looked pensive. Raine didn’t talk about it with her since she usually spoke about her interests or what she was doing in Spirale, but...they must have lost a lot of people in their world too, huh...?

“Genis-- I believe this is yours?” It was pure coincidence that Regal spotted Genis at the store, and maybe a bit of luck that he’d also seen the bag he’d left sitting at checkout. Perhaps it’s for the best-- it did give him a reason to catch up to him, after all.