01 → [video]

[fallforthesky]

[Anyone paying attention to the network this evening will note that a feed has clicked on to reveal a dim shot of one of Nescreca's many dilapidated churches, although it may be difficult to tell that's what it is, as whoever is in possession of the PDA is moving briskly around the room. Occasionally the movement stills enough for the camera to

Comments

1/4

[tothelastbreath]

[Silence on this end too.]

2/4

[tothelastbreath]

[Libitina needs to lay off his friends.]

3/4

[tothelastbreath]

[―But, first things first. You look like a wreck, Lenalee. Starts tapping on his microphone to get her attention.]

4/4

[tothelastbreath]

[And whenever she looks at her screen, she'll find Allen straining a smile at her around two silent words -- I'm here. He looks tired but unharmed, probably in better health than what she remembers.]

1/2

[fallforthesky]

[Allen. Allen. How well he looks is not the first thing she takes note of, here. Actually, it isn't even close to the first thing. It's that he's on screen, right here, right now, in a place that doesn't even resemble home and why isn't he with the Noah, what is going on-- I can't breathe. For a long moment, she just watches him, the polite smile fading (though the stress lines stick around). Then she drops the PDA.]

2/2

[fallforthesky]

[Half a second later, she joins it on the ground, dropping to her knees and scrabbling for the device. The feed becomes impossibly jittery once she picks it up-- Lena's trembling, and badly. Is this even real? One of Jasdevi's tricks? They could make an Earl, so why not an Allen-- to throw them off? She doesn't even know. Breathing in a rapid way that implies if she had a voice, he'd be able to hear it right about now. How how how.]

[tothelastbreath]

[Of all the worst possible times to lose his voice― Her reaction positively alarms him, although (or perhaps because) he does have some patchy knowledge of what's currently going on back home. That's when she's been uprooted from, isn't it? He can tell just by looking at her. The uniform, those bandages and stress lines he doesn't recall seeing the last time they spoke back home. (God, has it really been half a year?) She has to be from sometime after that ill-fated mission in Jordan. Perhaps from Link's time, or even further down the timeline, but not too far if her hair length is anything to go by.

It seems the future just keeps looking bleaker with every familiar face from home.

By the time she picks up her PDA, he has his features on lock-down. There's still a hint of worry, hiding in the corners of slightly narrowed eyes, but he looks calm otherwise.]

[slowly, keeping his words simple in hopes that she can read his lips through her own shaking:] 'Not. Home.'[It's accompanied by some pointing at the ground. Points to himself

[fallforthesky]

[Lena is by no stretch of the imagination adept at reading lips. Not while composed and certainly not now, when her vision is blurring with tears she refuses to let fall. But his gesture is clear enough; he's here, wherever here may be. And that's enough to shake off the initial bout of fear and-- well, maybe not the exhaustion. She jumps to her feet, clutching the PDA in white-knuckled fingers.

The rest of his meaning is unfortunately lost on her, however, so he does not receive any confirmation to say whether or not she's injured, only a pained look as she begins to move again. The bandages at least indicate she's been taken care of, even if she's certainly not in prime condition.

She has to find him. Now. Shortly the backdrop of shattered stained glass and pews abruptly switches to an entryway and then the streets, and for a moment she just stands there, twisting on the spot while she searches desperately for some kind of landmark. There's a vandalised sign nearby, which she vehemently points at. This is where I am. Do you know

[tothelastbreath]

[The moment she moves, he gets up too. Not that he has somewhere to go just yet, but because seeing her like this makes it impossible to just sit and watch. The last time she arrived, she'd barely been able to walk.

Unfortunately, unlike the school or the hospital, vandalised signs and churches are pretty much everywhere in Nesreca. Allen squints at it, racks his brains hard for some flicker of recognition, but comes up blank. There's a flare of frustration, though it doesn't last long before he snatches up a piece of chalk, one he'd used to draw with Alma, and scribbles on his wall:]

I'm not sure where you are, but the others might know.
We aren't hurt. [There's a silent 'while you are' in this.]
If you don't mind waiting for a bit, we'll figure out where you are and come get you.

[fallforthesky]

[If she could laugh, she would. In fact, she tries to anyway, huffing out a thin breath as tears finally start splashing down her cheeks. She doesn't want to wait. What she wants to do is activate her Boots and find him and Kanda and Lavi and... well, she doesn't know. Hang on and never let go, maybe? Thinking that far ahead feels impossible, so she just shakes her head and rubs her eyes with the back of her wrist.]

[tothelastbreath]

[Oh, hell. Allen's talking before he even remembers The Hush, soundless reassurances that go unheard, but are no less heartfelt. He would reach through the PDA if he could. Instead, he has to settle for a hastily scrawled:]

I think Lavi's coming to get you. He'll know the way better than the rest of us.

[He turns away from the wall to send a smile her way, before writing:]

We'll see you soon.

Sonuva, htmllllll.

[fallforthesky]

[She's clutching the PDA between both hands again, smiling even if it feels like her face will break. If this is a dream, please let it last. Let me at least see them standing in front of me before I wake up.]

<3 /SEES NOTHING

[tothelastbreath]

[There's nothing much he can for her at the moment, but he can keep her company while she waits -- so he does just that, keeping their channel open while Lavi makes his way over.]