seventh hymn. [Action]

[seleniahymn]

["You're the only Ion that went to the Cheagle Woods with me!"]

Ion!! [Tear nearly shoots up from her sleeping position, feeling very cold and struggling to breathe properly while her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the early morning. Why? Why would he...? Moments later her head falls into her hands, trying to banish away the nightmare she had

Comments

[offallingsnow]

[Oh, Tear. Nephry has been visited by dreams of her children being not her children at all; she worries that they have it worse. So she will seek Tear out today - she has a habit of patrolling like that during certain types of shift - to at least assure herself that her daughter is all right.]

[seleniahymn]

[A soft wave of relief comes over Tear when she spots her mother throughout her rounds, at the same time reminding her of the bubble of unease settled at the bottom of her stomach. Regardless of that she approaches Nephry, attempting one of her tired smiles.] It's good to see you about today, Mother...

[offallingsnow]

It's good to see you, too. Are you well?

[seleniahymn]

... [There was no use in hiding it, was there?] I wish I could say that with certainty...

[soreplaceable]

[HEY SIS, SUP. Ion has just been standing around the church, sweeping the front porch like he always does in the morning. But it's nearing the afternoon by now, and he's still sweeping, stopping occasionally to look up at the sky.]

[He's a little lost in his thoughts today. Mercifully, his dreams haven't gotten quite as bad as they have for everyone else just yet, but that didn't make them any less unsettling. He just can't shake this feeling that he's forgotten something, someone, important...]

[seleniahymn]

[Of course she would find Ion in a place they both spent most of their childhood, one of the places they had in common as she walked up to the familiar building. The sight of him on the doorsteps of the church brings up the whirlwind of emotions she had experienced when she first woke up this morning, despite repeating to herself over and over that it had only been a dream.

"I will...take the miasma from your body into my own."]

Ion...?

[soreplaceable]

[Ion doesn't seem to notice her approaching at all and it isn't until she says his name that he turns and glances in her direction. For a moment, he seems almost confused to see her. Tear, the girl he met in the Cheagle Woods with Luke...]

[...Tear, his sister. He blinks once or twice before smiling gently.] Good morning, Tear... oh, it's a bit closer to noon now, isn't it?

[seleniahymn]

Yes it is. [As she walks up to him she feels the urge to... thank him. Her dream this morning, it couldn't have been real, but... The Ion in that dream had acted exactly the way her little brother would. Perhaps that was why it had horrified her so much.]

You seem to be distracted, actually.

[cakeblocked]

[Luke had been wandering the village as well, clearing his mind and idly watching everyone pass by. This is how he saw Tear, and he pauses in his walk to stare for a moment. She's always been at least familiar to him, what with her being one of his best friend's older sisters and all. But now he recognizes her from his dreams.

And it's with that recognition that he hesitantly calls out to her.]

... Tear.

[seleniahymn]

[... She'd heard that voice earlier, not only as Ion grew up but in her dreams. Sitting right beside her, holding her younger brother... So why did her eyes still widen as she turned to face him?]

... Luke?

[cakeblocked]

[Something painful twisted in his chest when she looked at him like that. It made Luke blink and wonder what it could've been - sadness, maybe? But why would he be sad? She was in his dreams, and she was Ion's sister, that was all... Right?

He fists his hands and looks away for a moment. Does he really want to talk to her? Luke had been trying hard to convince himself, and everyone else, that what they were experiencing were dreams and nothing more than that. To talk to Tear right now... That might just make him doubt himself even more.

At the same time, Luke feels like he needs to talk to her. So, he shuts his eyes, steels his nerves, then opens then and steps closer to her.]

H-Hey... You've been dreaming too, right?

[seleniahymn]

... Yes, like many others in the village. [It was for that reason that she was avoiding being in one place for too long, it would give her too much time to dwell on what she saw.]

Since you ask, would you have had some as well?