ⅸ - [action]
[Xion hasn't been home for two days and counting. She fled her room after her crippling doubts were dragged to the surface again. She's not good at lying; she doesn't suspect others of it, either. Those words on the scroll were like daggers in her limbs, her heart.]
[she stopped by the repair clock tower briefly, but couldn't stand to enter it. So she moved on. Passing Paderau's altar sometime later, then heading for the Necessities. Then she remembered there were people there.]
[she slept on the ground in the shadow of the ruins, fitful and restless. Now she stands on the bank of the rapids, watching the frothing water. She hasn't been here since her initial exploration on the place. She's supposed to be looking for Brittany, who disappeared. But her search has been fruitless. As it was for everyone else who disappeared. Her eyes sting. She dips her hand into her pocket, finding the two small objects the stars gave her months ago. A key and a box of matches. They'd come and gone. What was the point? Maybe this place wasn't an improvement after all.]
[she bites her lip, hard, and lifts her hand, as if to throw them into the greedy, burbling waters.]
[she stopped by the repair clock tower briefly, but couldn't stand to enter it. So she moved on. Passing Paderau's altar sometime later, then heading for the Necessities. Then she remembered there were people there.]
[she slept on the ground in the shadow of the ruins, fitful and restless. Now she stands on the bank of the rapids, watching the frothing water. She hasn't been here since her initial exploration on the place. She's supposed to be looking for Brittany, who disappeared. But her search has been fruitless. As it was for everyone else who disappeared. Her eyes sting. She dips her hand into her pocket, finding the two small objects the stars gave her months ago. A key and a box of matches. They'd come and gone. What was the point? Maybe this place wasn't an improvement after all.]
[she bites her lip, hard, and lifts her hand, as if to throw them into the greedy, burbling waters.]