[Action] House Meeting: October 5, Friday, 1pm

[mysterium_npc]

[At around 1pm Elias and Taylor can be found in the drawing room, along with an older gentleman with iron gray hair, a hawkish nose, and wire-rimmed spectacles. He is smoking a pipe which he seems to be in the habit of tapping nervously against the palm of his hand

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[excommunicated]

[Allen listens carefully to what is being said generally around the room, but he raises a hand before speaking.]

I feel I need to ask, this project of trying to return us to our own worlds, how much of a priority is this actually going to have?

I realise that there are immediate dangers here that need attending to, and I'm sure that some of us certainly will be willing to help--myself included--but some of us are already involved in projects to do with protecting people in our own worlds and need to return to them; I don't want that to be lost and replaced with indefinitely trying to protect this world.

[ideograms]

[A raised hand is not what Elias would have been expecting--this isn't a classroom after all, but he does at least appreciate that Allen is trying to be polite, and he has been reassured (by Link) that the boy's situation when he arrived is no cause for alarm now. So Elias is trying to warm to him. Really.

It's just a little hard to shake that first impression. Nonetheless, he manages to be as congenial as the circumstances allow as he answers.]

We are quite sincere about our commitment to returning you to your homes, if that's what you mean, Allen. But there's no possible way we can offer any realistic time frame. The simple answer is that we just don't know how long it will be, and in that sense it must indeed be indefinite.

[excommunicated]

[The implication of 'indefinite' doesn't seem to sit well with Allen as his mouth falls open slightly and he tries to form words for a few seconds.]

But... You and Professor Aldrich did create that portal, didn't you? I realise not intentionally, but you did do it. So it should mean that logically there do exist ways to reverse it.

[ideograms]

[Elias isn't unsympathetic. In fact he sounds like he's trying to be as gentle as possible while he makes what he's sure will be an uncomfortable point.]

I think it would be more accurate to say that we modified it. A portal of some sort was opened by whatever group of practitioners we interrupted that night. We intervened in what they had started.

Logically, I would say yes. There should be a way to reverse it. However the fact that we didn't open it to begin with--that we don't know how it was opened or where it was initially devised to lead--all of these will make the task harder.

To be perfectly frank, Allen, neither Taylor nor I know exactly what we did. We were trying whatever we could think of, combining tactics wildly. That all the variables joined to bring you here was a matter of chance alone. And it is difficult enough to replicate chance, let alone to find its inverse.

[excommunicated]

[There are a lot of things Allen wants to say in that moment, angry and downright rude and accusatory things, and perhaps for a second or two the look of annoyance flashes across his face.

But just as Elias, Allen is not unsympathetic and he recognises that this is not the fault of the professors who were only trying to protect their world to the best of their abilities. This wasn't their fault and so treating them as though should be held accountable is not very productive to Allen's mind.]

I guess that kind of reasoning makes sense, even if it is somewhat pessimistic for us. ['Somewhat' may have been an understatement.] And it means then that we're going in on blind faith and with no guarantees that our actions here will be rewarded in the long run. In other words, we could be chasing shadows forward with no promise of any of us actually making it home.

[He smiles faintly.] ... I should be saying something about how chasing shadows and a chance that we might find something is better than sitting around waiting with nothing, right

[ideograms]

[Elias watches Allen carefully through all of this, noting the play between irritation and the grim sense of irony. It may be the first time he's ever been impressed with the boy. It is, after all, a response that would take some maturity to formulate.

He gives Allen a smile in return--a small smile, but nonetheless genuine.]

That would be the optimistic perspective, yes.

I can tell you, at least, that we are not wholly beyond our capabilities. After all, it was Taylor who first excavated the stolen artifact from the ancient ruins he found in Turkey, and it was me who translated the parchment we found interred with it.

When we were scrambling to try and close the portal the thieves' ritual would have opened, it was to the knowledge gained from that parchment that we turned.

What I am trying to say is that, though we don't have any answers now, we do at least have a notion of the direction in which we might look for them.

I'm sorry I'm made of fail, m'dear :'(

[excommunicated]

[The smile he receives from Elias is, admittedly, a bit of a surprise to Allen, who thus far had pegged the older gentleman for the type who found the boy to be... not intolerable or irritating, as such, but certainly someone he lacks patience for. This is, to Allen's mind, the first thing that has made him question that.

His expression softens a little, the small weak smile becoming something a bit more assured and genuine as he nods.]

I think optimism would be a better direction to head in right now, as you say. I will keep that in mind. [A beat passes, then he adds:] My apologies if I came across as sharp or rude, Professor.

It seems that, really, we are in as good a position as we could possibly hope for here. With this in mind, and regarding everything you've said thus far, I do think we'll need to have faith in all of you that you will do the best you can, as you say you will. [His expression becomes a little firmer then, more determined.] But having blind faith and just expecting you to do that for us isn't enough. You're