"I--" Attis was going to protest, initially, but it would have been pointless. It would've been rude, in fact, to insist on going alone at this point. Attis sighed in relief. "Thank you, Dyss . . ."

Recheov was right, after all. Attis would be safer with Dyss, and Izumi with Recheov. In confined spaces, Recheov was superior to most of them, while Dyss was the best all around to have around in wide open spaces, and Attis himself wasn't all that useless. He may not have been as physically strong as Recheov and nigh destructible as Milos or as perceptive as Dyss-- but he was a little fast, and a little strong. He had a sound mind for tactics, and he was very good at coming up with plans on the fly. Between the two of them, they could perhaps amount to the same efficiency as Recheov alone, except much more perceptive and planned out!

"Hm? A belt?" Izumi asked, until she saw the sword again. This time, it finally kicked in that he actually had a sword. At first, she wanted to know how any why Dyss had a sword-- but that actually might have been the most normal thing about him, "Um-- um-- y-yes, um . . . here, how about this one?"

Izumi happened to be wearing a belt at the moment. It wasn't really necessary, just dress code. Her pants fit perfectly fine. She undid her belt and pulled it off, then approached Dyss and handed it off to him, but not without a bit of conflict:

"You ain't even alone with me yet and you're already takin' your clothes off?" Recheov declared with a grin. He was probably joking. Probably. "Y'know, you can nix on the doice, if y'wan' . . ."

Izumi felt the hair stand up on the back of her neck. "R-- Recheov! I-- I'm going to kick you out if you start talking like that!"

"'ey, 'ey, c'mon swee'ear', oI'm just kiddin' 'round. 'Soides, you're, loike, one of my best friend's girls, roight? That'd just be prick'o me, wouldn' it?"

Izumi still didn't walk any further. Rather, her face turned almost beat red at the thought. She and Dyss weren't really . . . an . . . item-- nothing like that. Nothing like Recheov was talking about! Attis couldn't help but chuckle at the situation, despite his own anxieties about Milos. There was no losing the humor in this. Without a word, Izumi raced to Dyss, offering out her belt, a little too embarrassed to look him in the eye.

Dyss's reaction was a bit strange, considering the situation. While his mind was following a train of thought similar to Izumi, he didn't seem to be embarrassed. He resented the idea of Izumi undressing in front of Recheov, sure, and they weren't together, but Dyss had only ever really shown embarrassment when certain things had occurred by accident...

"Recheov... Don't pester Izumi..."

Taking the belt, Dyss would wrap it around his waist, over his clothes, using it to hold the wrapped sword in place. It was a bit awkward and uncomfortable, but at least it meant he wouldn't have to carry the sword with his hands for the duration of the trip. Of course, it meant he stood out even more than a blindfolded man walking normally usually did... Now he had a sword, too? Confusing, perhaps...

"Thanks, Izumi."

Following Dyss's rebuking of Recheov (at which Recheov almost pouted-- almost), Izumi looked to the man outright and stuck her tongue out at him. It was childish, perhaps, but it still felt right. Recheov appreciated it, at least, grinning and waving her off before taking another drag of his cigarette. Looks like she won the dispute after all!

Of course, Dyss thanking her put an end to the hint that Izumi had a certain degree of playfulness in her. She instantly looked up to him, blushing a little.

"Um-- um-- um--" Izumi tried to word what she wanted to say. It was so simple, yet every time she tried to say anything serious to Dyss, she thought of when he was pushed up against her and holding her in the doorway just moments earlier, "Um-- y-you're-- you're welcome!"

Izumi would follow Dyss and Attis out of the room and towards the staircase, intent to personally wish them good bye and good luck.

"Um-- Dyss? Come back soon, okay?" she asked, hoping that he wouldn't be gone too longer. The longer he was out, the more she was going to worry! "A-and-- and with Milos?"

Because, despite everything that had happened between the three of them-- Dyss, Milos, and Izumi --Milos was still a good friend of hers.

"We'll be back as soon as we can... We don't even know what's wrong. Maybe everyone is just sick?"

Sickness was a new concept as well, and Dyss wasn't entirely sure they could get sick, but it was much better than the idea of something else. Something more dangerous... To lose track of time for so long and to wake up hurting so much... It was a major issue...

"And we'll bring Milos..."

Dyss wasn't sure what to make of Milos and Izumi. It was very strange, really... He didn't quite understand, but Izumi was definitely different around Milos, and Dyss didn't understand why...

To Attis, it didn't feel like a sickness. A sickness didn't travel that fast. A sickness didn't rip people to shreds, then put them back together again, good as new. That wasn't a sickness, that was an anomaly. Attis hoped he might come to understand it, but other than collecting Milos, there was one other thing he desperately needed to understand.

Attis stopped half-way down the staircase, only to turn and look up to Izumi and add in his own input: "Don't worry. I'll make sure Dyss and Milos come back in one piece. I promise."

"And-- and you, too, Attis," Izumi retorted, demanding the same kind of promise for his own safety.

"And me, too," Attis replied with a smile, before turning and heading to the door. He opened it and waited for Dyss. Attis would hold the door open for him, and leave only once he was outside, too.

"Goodbye. We'll be back soon, Izumi..."

With that, Dyss would follow Attis, stepping outside a few steps behind his perception. He was already eager to return, despite the fact he had barely left: until they had more information, he would rather have all the important people in his life together...

"Attis, what exactly was Milos trying to find?"

As they walked, Dyss realized he wasn't exactly sure what Milos was working on that had taken him away from town. Attis must have sent him there for something in particular...

Inside, they'd be able to hear something. Racket, a little, but nothing to worry about:

"R-Recheo~v!!"

"Wo~t?"

"Th-that's not an ash tray!!"

"Eh? Oh. This?"

"Yes. Yes that! My bra is not an ashtray!"

"Oh. Whoa. Wait. This's y'bra? That's it? Wot th'fuck are ya, a . . . a . . . thirty-two B?"

"Th-- that's none of your business!"

"'ow 'bout-- if oI beat ya in poker, y'tell me if oI'm roight or not."

"Ugh! Fine. Just-- just throw that in the wash while I get the cards . . ."

Fortunately, Izumi was a very patient person and good humored. Shouting at Recheov was almost sort of playful, for her. She didn't actually mind his presence or his antics. Sometimes he made her nervous, but she really didn't have any reasons to be nervous. He was completely harmless. To her, at least.

Once they were past it enough, Dyss's question was voiced. It was an inevitable question. Attis, after all, hadn't ever explained to anyone why Milos went off to Hillcrest, only that he had volunteered to-- which meant it had something specifically to do with Attis, and he had simply never explained . . .

. . . mainly because he regretted the thought. The act of explaining wasn't as difficult as having to acknowledge than an explanation was necessary, in this case. He walked in silence for a moment, thinking of how to reply.

"The spiritual flux is . . ." Attis lifted his right hand into the air, only to frown and drop it to his side helplessly, "Gone. It's passed. There's no high density here anymore. It's back to normal. It wasn't like this earlier. Earlier, it was just weak, while Hillcrest's was getting stronger. That's why Milos went to Hillcrest-- to investigate. But even now, I barely feel anything from that direction . . ."

Dyss smiled a bit as they heard the commotion from upstairs. It was pretty funny, really, but Izumi should probably be careful. Recheov was uncannily good at things sometimes; she might well find herself in over her head if she wasn't careful...

"But... Attis, isn't that why we came in the first place?"

And Dyss didn't say it, but the hope that would keep the four of them except Attis alive? Attis was perhaps immune, and permanent, but the others... At least, Dyss seemed to be the oldest of the remaining crew. He wouldn't have to watch them fade, from the sounds of things, if it really came to it...

"How could it move like that...?"

Dyss hardly understood. Though, now that he thought about it... It did feel a little stranger. He'd been able to sense energy to a certain degree during his blindness, but now... It was like the air was somehow thinner... He could still feel some things, even when he devoted most of his attention to sight, but they were generally weaker...

"I . . ."

Attis sighed. That was the problem with this crusade. Trying to bring them permanence--it was a double edged sword for him. Whenever a lead turned up dry, he had to be the one to tell other Memories; he had to be the one to see their long faces; he had to be the one to remember all the lost faces whenever he laid his head down at night.

"I don't know . . ."

That was the worst part. Whenever he had to tell someone the bad news, he never truly understood the reason for it. It was like a doctor talking to a child with cancer. The child asks him why, why is he dying? And all the doctor can say is I don't know. It was the exact same feeling.

"Milos might have found something out. I hope so . . ." Attis added the last part, just in case. After a pause, he tried to sound upbeat and hopeful again, "But . . . if all else fails, we can look for a new place. We've discovered a lot about spirit fluxes here. There's more than enough data to show that there'll be more. It's a part of nature, it seems. A place spikes in energy, and the corresponding place has to compensate. We've studied how it compensates in and out. It's just a matter of applying it now! So-- so-- so don't worry, okay? Even if Galaens is a dead lead, there are other spirit fluxes in the world . . ."

"Yes..."

Dyss was disappointed; there was no hiding it. There was the danger of him and the others fading, but even more than that... The good wasn't that good, either. Dyss enjoyed it here, and he wanted to stay... Izumi couldn't travel with them all over the world, could she?

"I hope so..."

Dyss would be somewhat quiet, thinking about the implications of what Attis had said...

In Galaens, everyone seemed normal again. They were getting over it by now, and it seemed their minds were filling in blanks for them. It was just like the time when something horrible happened in the marketplace, which destroyed nearly half of the market itself. It seemed that no one remembered what happened, and that everyone had their own interpretations of the event. Except this time, nothing had changed the face of Galaens. There was no trace of a catastrophe, just lost time and some pain.

It was like any regular day for the working class citizen of Algeroth. And it seemed they were making the connection . . .

Attis left Galaens without a word. On the way out, and towards the road to Hillcrest, he was mainly concerned with the people around him. They all seemed to be going about their days as if they hadn't lost any time at all-- as if everything was perfectly normal, yet he and the other Memories, and even Izumi, still recognized that there was time missing from their day.

For some time after they left Galaens, they walked in silence, both men wrapped up in their own thoughts.

Attis reached into his pocket, withdrawing a small silver dial. A pocket watch. He flipped it open and glanced at it as he walked. They had left around seven o'clock. It was around eight thirty, now. They were about half way there, too. It really was a three hour walk, wasn't it? That had all just been conjecture on his end, too . . .

"Hey, Dyss?"

Their last conversation had lead to an hour and a half long silence. He really wasn't comfortable with that. Despite how socially backwards he could be sometimes, he hated leaving things on a bad note. That was the worst.

"Was what Recheov said true?" Attis asked. This wasn't so much small talk as it was an update on the social goings on of his friends! And, for that matter, a subject that wasn't depressing in the slightest! "About you and Izumi?"

Dyss was less surprised than last time, when the actions of everyone had seemed completely wrong and out of place. Now... Well, it wasn't like any of the Memories could remember what had happened either. If anything had happened. All the pain was just... Sourceless, perhaps.

"I..."

Dyss wasn't sure how to answer. They hadn't (purposefully) had any sort of intimate contact, after all... And hadn't discussed it... And Dyss wasn't even sure what it entailed, really. All he knew was that he wanted to spend as much time with Izumi as possible...

"I don't know..."

That was really the best he could answer...

"Oh?" Attis asked.

He kind of expected Dyss to explain. Usually someone did, when they trailed off after giving a reply to that. It just prompted an explanation, but Dyss didn't provide one. That was a little strange-- but then again, Dyss was socially backwards, too. With the company he kept, however, that wasn't a problem in the least.

When it seemed Dyss wasn't going to explain, Attis asked: "Well, howso? The two of you seem good together."

He wasn't trying to pry or anything-- well, actually, he kind of was trying to pry, but not for gossip or anything. He just genuinely felt curious about his good friend's social well being.

Dyss was a bit taken aback, really. Attis seemed so much more concerned... Perhaps more than Dyss was. Dyss wasn't sure what the alternative was to the current relationship he had with Izumi, and even less idea of how to go about making it happen...

"I like being around Izumi a lot... I don't know what else there is to it..."

Never having a chance to grow up at all, particularly having lived in a place such as Memoria, Dyss just didn't have a concept of romance. There were certain urges he had, but they were new as well, since he had become more real. He wasn't even sure what he would do if he had the opportunity. He just knew he liked being around Izumi and talking to her, and liked physical contact of any sort even more...

"So . . . you're just friends, then?"

It was about all he could gather from Dyss's statement. That was almost kind of a shame. Dyss and Izumi were looked good together.

Attis wasn't much of a matchmaker, truth be told. Honestly, he didn't know what to say to someone to try and give off some sort of loving allure--to try and worm his way into their heart. That was just . . . way beyond him. It was part of his own social backwardness. Attis didn't know how to handle situations like that, and really, he wasn't all that interested. He had Milos with him; that was the closest to a romantic bond he had, and he was perfectly fine with that. Milos being there with him, in his bed, lying next to him peacefully, made a lot of his nightmares go away.

And sometimes, when he had a nightmare, he'd wake up, and Milos would wake up, too, and be there for him.

"Well--do you want to be more than just friends with her, then?"