Attis, Recheov, and Illorex had followed Izumi out of the room and into Izumi's room, with Milos and Dyss leaving last. Unfortunately, this left only Milos for Dyss to stumble into, and as the youth was on his way out, he was surprised as hell to find his friend practically falling into him.

"A-ah! Dyss!" Milos exclaimed as he scrambled for his friend.

Milos braced with his left foot and let Dyss stumble into him. Truth be told, the boy wasn't extraordinarily strong. It was something else, something that he used to make himself seem strong--but not often. No, Milos rarely ever lifted anything heavy or did all that much excessive physical activity at all. When he did, though, they practically came natural to him, regardless.

Dyss wouldn't fall, not with Milos helping him stand. He was great support, coincidentally! Milos would help him get his footing back, and just in case, hold onto him to help him walk.

"Y-you really can't see here, can you . . .?"

"No... Nothing..."

Dyss would remain holding on to Milos as he walked, his skill at moving blindly unfortunately tied to his confidence. It was... Strange how much he resembled Izumi. Milos was similarly small and slight of build, much like Izumi, despite surprising strength...

"Thanks."

In fact, it was very strange how much like Izumi he seemed to be...

Indeed, Milos was built much like Izumi--short, frail, thin, and subtly curved where women were supposed to have curves. The difference was that Milos was actually a little thinner, but obviously lacked the curves of the chest that women had. That was, after all, the only thing that made it clear that he was male. Of course, when he wore baggy clothes (as he usually did), the distinction became even harder to make.

"It's fine. That's what friends are for," Milos declared cheerily.

Milos, Recheov, Illorex, and Attis would be there to help Dyss out while in a bind, regardless of any tiffs between them--like Illorex and Recheov's little bout with eachother. They'd all be there to help . . . right? Well, Milos would, at the very least. Even if everyone else was wrapped up in the project and too busy. He didn't understand any of the technical stuff that Attis had talked about before; he was useless for this project until something physical came along. If it required physical action, he'd be good for it. Otherwise . . .

They got to the room smoothly enough, with Milos having one arm around Dyss's back and the other hand set upon his chest to balance him just in case he were to fall again.

Seeing this prompted Izumi to speak out before anyone else did: "D-Dyss! Are you okay . . .?"

It had been so long since Dyss needed help around the house; she wasn't used to it anymore . . .

"I.. Got mixed up..."

Dyss would turn a bit red, almost certain that everyone was looking at him, despite the fact that he couldn't see them. Somewhat awkwardly, he would reach down to sit in a nearby chair, grabbing the back of it, and promptly sitting... Mostly on the armrest. At which point he would fall into the seat, his head turned down and his nerves shaken...

"I'm fine..."

This time, though, Attis interjected: "Don't feel bad. We're just concerned about you, that's all. It's, well . . . it's been awhile since I've seen you blind."

Which was an enigmatic statement on its own, and prompted curiosity not just from Izumi, but from everyone else.

Nonetheless, Izumi decided not to sit upon her bed, and instead sat on the floor next to Dyss--and the chair he sat in, by proxy, just in case he was going to get up and find trouble moving around again. She had helped him walk through town so much, and the house itself, that it came natural to her. As much as she appreciated someone else supporting him while he walked, Izumi lived here--it was safer if she was with him, knowing where to go and everything. It also didn't help that she was a bit hesitant when it came to other women helping him around. When Kayla did awhile back, Izumi kept thinking the worst--and not in terms of them getting lost . . .

Milos also looked female enough that Izumi had confused him as such.

"Well, anyways . . . it's been awhile, Dyss. Even though you can't see anymore, you look fine. Izumi, I appreciate you helping our friend," Attis remarked respectfully--his general tone of voice anymore.

"Y-you're, um . . . you're welcome . . ."

"And I apologize for Recheov and Illorex," Attis continued.

Illorex said nothing, but Recheov was quick to snap at his friend: "Oi, wot're you talkin' about?! oI'm perfectly foine over 'ere!"

Attis ignored this. "They've been fighting for the last week."

"Vincent and his companions managed to escape by Recheov's fault," Illorex added.

"Oi, fuck you!" Recheov shouted, "oI didn't see you stopping them."

Attis gave Izumi a look as if silently asking, Do you see what I mean?

Izumi, however, didn't recognize one detail there: "Wh-whose . . . Vincent?"

"Thanks..."

Dyss appreciated the complimented, but he wasn't really concerned with looking well. Appearing well, anyway. He missed being able to look well, as he used to be able to. Dyss wasn't entirely perceptive, but he was almost glad Izumi seemed so protective against his friends. At least, that's what it was, right?

"Vincent was... Not a good man."

Dyss was a bit worried to hear Vincent was still on the loose. Vincent was blind as well, or at least blind enough, but he'd still been a dangerous opponent. Here, he could cause even more trouble... And it wasn't the first time something else had arrived...

"Indeed," Attis agreed.

"O-oh . . ." Izumi diverted her attention to the floor. "How bad? What, um, what did he do? Does he do . . .?"

"He hurts people," replied Attis, "Without remorse."

Izumi really didn't want to deal with people like that anymore--she'd already encountered one, narrowly escaping him, and she was done for the rest of her life. She could have gone until the day she died not encountering a person who hurt people for fun, or whatever their goal, and be perfectly happy. Happier, in fact, than if she encountered a few more of them during the course of her life.

"He didn't follow you, did he?"

Attis shook his head. "He won't follow us here, at least. Not like this."

Dyss didn't exactly like the sound of that, but at least the others were around. Even if he couldn't effectively protect Izumi or himself, he trusted everyone else. Now that they were here, he could start to think about the future, though. At least, what future he hoped to have...

"What can we do about it?"

And, on thinking, he wondered if the others knew as little as he had. After all, it was embarrassing to not know simple things about this world...

"Have you all eaten yet?"

"Eaten?" Recheov asked--as if he'd never heard the term before . . .

Illorex, though his tone never changed, inquired shortly thereafter, "What do you mean?"

Milos's face contorted in thought. This was something he could actually recall doing, but he didn't think he remembered ever doing it. No, not while in Purgatory--not in their gray town. That was odd. Why would he have just now thought about it, and never really even acknowledge the existence of such an act until now? As he thought about it, it really should have been a vital memory . . .

"No, we haven't," replied Attis, who despite his friends, actually sounded as if he knew what it was like to have food, "I'd imagine that we're all a little hungry. I am, at least."

"Oh, um . . . umm . . ." Izumi hesitated to speak, knowing it was definitely against her better judgment, but she just couldn't help it: "I could make something for everyone, if you want. Y-you, um, you all have been walking a long time without eating, right? Um . . . l-like Dyss, right?"

"If it's not too much," Attis held up an open palm, waving off any doubt, "I know what it's like to have no time or scant supplies. I'd like not to ask too much from you."

"N-no, umm, i-it's fine," Izumi declared with a nod, "I-it's, um, it's nothing special, I, um, unnhh . . . I don't really have a lot, but I get paid tomorrow, so it'll be fine."

I can just devote my next pay to groceries--then the pay after that can all go to rent. That should work.

"Thanks, Izumi..."

Dyss couldn't really offer any food of his own, but needed Izumi's help. He wasn't surprised to hear Attis knew about eating, thankfully. That meant he wouldn't have to explain how the others didn't know how to eat, either. Unless Izumi had already figured it out...

"And we'll find a way to make it up to you..."

Dyss had tried his hand at working, unsuccessfully so far. He just needed a bit too much help to be of use a lot of the time. He knew how hard and how much Izumi worked... Most of her life, it seemed. So much time devoted to just surviving, and supporting the two of them... And now, he'd brought more people...

"I-it's, um, it's fine," Izumi tried to sound cheery about it, but even in her voice there were traces of concern--not for anyone but herself, though.

But she had every reason for that. If she exhausted all of her food stores, then all of her funding for the next few weeks was going to be effectively gone. Already spent. Of course, she'd been down that road before, lacking any semblance of expendable income, not even a single bronze piece, but that didn't mean it was comfortable. Expendable income meant little things to keep herself occupied. Now that Dyss's friends were here, that probably meant she wasn't going to have his company all the time to enjoy . . .

"O-okay, um, I'll be back," Izumi declared as she got up and started towards the kitchen.

Fortunately, though the apartment was small, it was hard to hear from the kitchen. Especially if they were whispering.

Once Dyss heard the noise of Izumi moving in the kitchen, he would speak quietly to his friends, trying to avoid having her hear anything. Izumi wasn't always extremely perceptive, but she noticed enough to worry him...

"What are we going to do? Are Vincent and everyone else coming here because of us?"

Dyss hated to think that they were bringing such terrible people with them. The people here didn't deserve to have such things visited upon them. Especially people like Izumi. People who were making the best they could of their lives...

"Don't worry," Attis replied quietly, not loud enough to be heard well from the kitchen, but not quiet enough that he was obviously whispering--something which might have caused someone who could slightly hear out in the kitchen to have a few concerns, "They don't know where we are at the moment."

"Indeed. We did, at least, manage to confuse them," added Illorex.

"oI did," Recheov coughed, "They ain't gonna know where or whoy for a good whoile, long 'nough for them to lose us."

"And from what I've gathered, they can't smell living things from Purgatory, and vice versa," Attis continued, "Even if they move onto this world looking for us, we smell the same as everyone else."

"I mean, here to this world at all... When the last one came, there was a whole lot danger to everyone..."

Dyss didn't really understand the process that brought them to this world. If they could get here, were vincent and the others coming a similar way? It was really worrying to think about. And what else might happen? There were perhaps even scarier things in Purgatory...

"And... Well, now that I'm here, there's so many new things I feel... What is... Well, what's going to happen to us?"

Dyss's questions were maybe mostly oriented towards Attis, as the most knowledgeable of them. He wouldn't mind if anyone else could answer, though...

Attis nodded his head. "This is how it will be if we succeed. Except with a sense of permanence. Or semi-permanence. We could be like this for the next fifty years, if we do what we must."

It was a little vague, but Dyss knew more than the others. Recheov knew just a fraction more the everyone but Dyss and Attis, but he had willingly allowed himself to be ignorant. Dyss, of course, knew much about the previous project, the Rubicon Project, and about Memories as a whole, all from Attis's personal notes and the memories of Aria which he witnessed in the crumpled excavation site. While Attis's words had meaning to everyone else, Dyss may well have been the only one to truly understand that meaning. No one else knew what it was like when a Memory was dying, no one here but Attis and Dyss.

"Even though this is really just stalling. So long as we have extra time, we have that much more time to put into finding a way to live like, well . . . Izumi, over there. To be human," after a moment, though, Attis sighed, "But, if I was wrong, then I've thrown our lives away."

"Which is why we should begin as soon possible," interjected Illorex, "If you are, in fact, wrong, and we discover this sooner than later, we may still be salvageable."