The Meeting WHO: The Weirdos WHEN: May 15 (~9 P.M.) WHERE: La Estrella Hotel, Taboga Town SUMMARY: Joaco endeavours to explain it all, and the helmet comes off. CW: Mentions of major character death.
ALEJO "Hello, uh...please get comfy? This might take a bit." He let out an awkward laugh as he rubbed his neck. "Some of you might have noticed my absence—that was because I was trapped inside of a timajing. First, I would like to know if you have any questions about the events that transpired in my absence‚but I guess you'd know better since you were here, but just in case..."
MABEL Mabel raised her hand. "What is the tree even? And why is the tree?"
ALEJO "So the tree is like..." Alejo shuffled his papers and frowned. "It's like a big leech sucking up magic before beaming it up to a different place."
ASLAN "Why did it suddenly appear? What kind of danger are we in?"
ALEJO "It's dangerous. This is a direct attack by the person who caused us grief in Elysium. I don't think we're in mortal danger yet, though..."
CHELO "Who was it...who was causing us grief in Elysium...? I thought..." He didn't continue, but looked away uneasily.
ALEJO "It was..." Alejo gritted his teeth. "The High Priest, Nero."
CHELO Chelo looked up, frowning and confused.
ASLAN "He..." Aslan looked around until he spotted Faihan at the back of the room. He stared for a moment before looking back at Chelo. "He told us...that the Church was our real enemy..." He crossed his arms, looking back towards Alejo, and shrugging. "Before he ran away."
CHELO "That's not true, is it...? The Church couldn't have been..."
JAMES James, who had been smirking faintly, halfway rolled her eyes before stopping herself and cutting the gesture short.
ALEJO Alejo looked downcast, staring at the floor for a moment. "There were a lot of people with good intentions in the church... He was not one of them."
CHELO "..." That feeling when you realized you were on the wrong side of the aisle...Chelo sunk nice and deep in his chair.
SANTI Santi reached over to take Chelo's hand, squeezing it.
CHELO Chelo smiled at Santi, but continued to try to not be otherwise perceived.
MABEL "Ugh, so what? Nero is here??? How did he get here?"
ALEJO "I'm not the best person to answer that question, but I can confirm he's here. I have seen them with my own eyes."
FAIHAN "Nero is here...and this person probably is..." He opened his mouth and closes it again, trying not to meet anyone's eyes. "Because we stole things from the museum. That's probably why this is happening now. But...even if it wasn't happening now, it would have happened eventually. We just— I just...sped things along. But using our magic...using it to power their plans... That was their plan, so." Not liking public attention in the first place, his face grew redder. He hugged himself and with renewed effort tried to act like he was the only one in the room and could see no one else. "So...sooner...or later..."
ALEJO "This was inevitable, so it was no one's fault."
JULIET Juliet gave them both a look. First Faihan–his eyes downcast, hugging himself, saying a lot to avoid saying much–then Alejo. Slowly (and how unlike her), she opened her mouth. "What was it like? The place you were trapped?"
ALEJO "It was like a vast emptiness... It was definitely not here on Earth though."
FERNANDA "How did you get out?"
ALEJO "Once the seal was sufficiently broken, I— We performed a teleportation spell by using two higher elements."
FERNANDA She smiled excitedly at Mateo, mouthing 'thankkkkkkkies' again, and batting her eyes.
"But like, I don't get this time stuff? You were only in there a short time, and it was days for us...? What kind of magic even is that?"
JULIET Juliet, who had been starting to nod at Alejo's explanation of the 'vast emptiness,' stopped to catch Fernanda gesturing at Mateo, and snorted audibly.
ALEJO "Oh, that place isn't really their magic it's more like...a space between worlds? Time is weird there."
ASLAN "So, are you really going to be the leader of this now?"
ALEJO Alejo casted his gaze downward. "If you'll allow me. I know I was far from a great leader before, but I hope you'll lend me your hand."
ASLAN "That's fine. That's better."
OFELIA Glancing from Alejo to Faihan, then back again, Ofelia stage whispered––
"I missed the first vote for leader. Is this the second one? Well, at least a Bravo is in the running this time, hm?"
FERNANDA Fernanda giggled and whispered, "The cream of the crop~"
ALEJO "I would like to reintroduce you all to our new collaborator."
DARK KNIGHT♪ Alejo's shadow cast on the wall stirred, darkened, and from it stepped out a man clad in deep dark armor, slowly but confidently until he's standing next to his brother.
"...Greetings."
FAIHAN Faihan smiled a little, though wondered why the helmet was on still.
CHELO "Gaius..."
FERNANDA "TRAI— Er... Um. What is going on?"
ASLAN "...Are you kidding?"
Alejo "I'm not, he's on our side."
ELI Eli hung back, his arms crossed and looking up a little shyly at the Dark Knight.
ICCHI "Guess we've leveled up!"
BRISA She smiled, sitting up straighter. "Long time no see, Prince."
SANTI Santi looked over at Mateo.
MATEO He looked over to Santi, and continued to attempt not looking either guilty or awkward for his role in all of this... (He failed.)
YUUKI Yuuki continued to be gently perplexed at everything and returned to his phone.
MABEL "SHOCK!" She looked around. "What? I wanted to yell too?"
KAVEH Kaveh narrowed his eyes a little, but decided to hear him out.
NATI "Wow, is this the heel-face turn?"
HAKAN "Huh..."
DARK KNIGHT "I have been less than forthright to all of you from the very start, and for that, I apologize." His voice sounded just like Gaius's now.
CHELO "..."
FERNANDA Confused by the voice, she looked at Alejo. "Hermano, do we...have another twin?"
ALEJO Alejo chuckled. "Don't mind him, he's just shy, right, brother?"
DARK KNIGHT "..." The Dark Knight cast his gaze down."I had my reasons then and I have my reasons now, but I always thought I was doing the right thing to protect you."
FAIHAN "...He saved me. In the park that night. That is...all he has ever been trying to do...for all of us."
KAVEH "Will you share those reasons?" Kaveh's voice was not accusatory, just guarded.
ASLAN "Why should we trust either of you? You both have a way of doing what you want and not caring who you leave behind..."
DARK KNIGHT "I had to leave, and now I had to act alone. I will answer whatever you want me to, but first..." The Dark Knight opened up his helmet to remove it, finally revealing his identity. "First I have to drop the masks."
FERNANDA "JoaquĂto????"
CHELO "..."
JOACO Joaco chuckled, smiling wistfully. "There is no better disguise but to hide in plain sight."
ELI Eli smiled a bit more broadly as he watched Joaco take these steps, even ignoring the urge to jump to his defense.
NATI "Jaja—this is good."
FAIHAN Faihan smiled at him as well, encouragingly.
NANDA "Why didn't I see it before...?" She paused. "OH MY GOD, ALEJO, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"
ALEJO "It wasn't my secret to tell, you know..."
CHELO He waited to hear the explanation, looking down at the ground.
ICCHI "I guess it should have been obvious..." He glanced at Eli. "Can't teach an old dog new tricks..."
JOACO "To keep you safe, I chose to pretend to be your enemy by keeping a close eye on someone who wanted to return to Elysium."
ELI Eli looked over at Icchi, perking his eyebrows up and curling his fingers into fists as his arms crossed, "I just know what I like." As Joaco spoke again, he looked back and winced. Back to Elysium?
KAVEH Kaveh looked visibly distressed by this news, but did not say anything yet.
MABEL "Is that possible? Returning to Elysium?"
OFELIA Ofelia, from her seat in the back, subtly perked up at this line of discussion.
JOACO "Yes, but we mustn't."
NATI "What would happen if we did?"
JOACO "This place would cease to exist as we know it. And Elysium...isn't safe right now."
BRISA "Please explain."
JOACO "Going back right now would also mean the destruction of Elysium."
ELI "Then why does our enemy want to bring us back?"
JOACO "They want to go back to absorb all magic of Elysium, including souls, to return it to Nothing. At first I assumed my associate wasn't the perpetrator of these calamities, but merely one of his underlings. I was mistaken."
BRISA "Who is it? Who is 'Nero'?"
JOACO "I didn't know the answer to that question until it was too late. To answer that, well," Joaco wet his lips. "First you have to understand who I am."
BRISA "And who are you, besides Joaco Bravo, formerly Prince Gaius...?"
JOACO "I'm Itzal, the Dark Knight mentioned in the passages of ancient history." Joaco paused, glancing at Alejo who touched his arm. "But I'm also the Crystal Saint."
CHELO "...That's not possible. Everyone knows the Crystal Saint was a woman."
NATI "Chelopy, I used to be a man."
JOACO Joaco sighed softly, looking over at Chelo with a kind smile spread on his lips. "That is because history and faith was manipulated by someone—Nero."
FAIHAN "I'm glad you finally understand...it was never Erlantz."
JOACO He closed his eyes. "I always wondered what happened after I perished, why history had taken such a path--" He nodded at Faihan. "Why would Erlantz do such a thing? He never betrayed me."
ELI Eli tilted his head to the side, searching his mind for what he thought he knew. "So does that mean, the history wasn't manipulated that far back, or that Nero is older? Am I making sense?"
JOACO "There is a very simple answer to that, but it eluded me at the time—how did Nero manipulate history for so long?" Joaco folded his arms over his chest. "I always held the answer—he, too, preserved his memories, but his methods differed from mine. The original book of the holy teachings—whoever held that became Nero, and that is why no one was allowed to see our touch it."
FAIHAN Faihan nodded—the explanation well-supported by Gaius and Badr's talks.
JOACO "What we can conclude from this is simple: Nero was someone who existed in the ancient times."
FAIHAN "Why is it, though...that some can recall and others cannot...?"
JOACO "It's not normal for souls to remember their past lives with ease. Some are more inclined to it, like me. Others used sorcery, like he did. I also saved my memories within the Dark Crystal—that is why I didn't recall clearly until I held it as Gaius."
BRISA "Well, trusting that all of this is true... What is Nero?"
JOACO "Nero is the Crystal Sage... the man called Alatz. He was the one who created the church when Ilunabarrean became Serenitas."
FAIHAN "He...destroyed the People of the Dark...?"
JOACO "...I have no means to know, as I wasn't alive, but I believe so."
ELI "How did he get to live so long, and why did he construct this narrative?"
FAIHAN "He began try two...as early as that. He...buried darkness, so that as early as that...Light would become too prevalent..."
ELI "Oh...that makes a lot of sense. Why everywhere else had two crystals, and Serenitas had one."
JOACO "As I mentioned before, he saved his memories—maybe even his soul in the original holy scripture."
ALEJO "I...was set to lose from the very start. I couldn't resist years of preparation."
FAIHAN "..."
CHELO "..."
FERNANDA "..."
FAIHAN "Maybe you could have...if I had been honest."
ALEJO Alejo smiled sadly at Faihan. "I just couldn't see it, your love. I never would."
JOACO "There was a piece of the puzzle that might not make sense to you yet—how did Alatz manipulate people so easy? Especially Erlantz who had nothing but good intentions. The answer to that lies on who Alatz was." Joaco closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Alatz is my—our older brother."
FERNANDA "Wait...are there...more of us...? But no, there's only three?"
ALEJO "Not in this life! I'm, uh...I'm Erlantz."
FERNANDA "You remember that?"
ALEJO "...Vaguely."
FAIHAN "I always thought...before the crystals, there were still the elements. Without crystals and guardians, they still picked avatars... Everything that we understood during...Nero's timeline in Elysium, it was all so... It predicated on all these...symbols and ceremonies and this rigid history and... Not that things like guardians and crystals weren't important. I understand why Itzal made the crystals and how it did help people in the times after him, it's just... The Crystal Sage used all these little odds and ends to create a canon that blurred the past, that hid even...what he was. Because if you knew what all the higher elements were...if you knew...there was one that longed for only destruction... People would try to seek that out. They would fear it and try to ensure that it could never gain any footing... And...is it not true?" He glances at Juliet. "You and me and Zuya, Titus and Gaius, Kyo and his grandfather... Chosen seemed to run in certain families, in certain bloodlines. So higher elements...like Light and Darkness...and then Void... Why wouldn't those elements call out to three brothers?" He looked to Joaco. "Or...is that wrong?"
FAIHAN Juliet's eyes narrowed in confusion. "You saying Lightning might've run in my family..?"
FAIHAN "I don't know...but you were related to two other Chosen... The canon of Crystalism...hid the fact there was even a Dark crystal. Probably to ensure that the element would remain weakened. And similarly, that canon was useful to keep people from considering that there could be an element that demanded void. Because if you don't know something exists, how can you consider it a problem? How can you stand in its way? If Gaius had not retained his memories...would we even be here right now?"
ELI "We owe a lot to him."
JOACO "Alatz twisted my intentions and my sacrifice for his benefit, you're not wrong about that. He used history to disguise himself, you're also right about that. However, I can't say why the planet's will chooses who it chooses, nor did people in my time know much about the elements beyond the higher ones. The guardians and the crystals, those are the elements that make Elysium." Joaco rubbed his chin. "At the very least we knew that through the use of multiple elements you could utilize the...supreme elements, for the lack of a better term. Void, however, was not one of them. I still don't know how Alatz became connected to it, but I doubt it's like us and our elements."
FAIHAN "That answers one question... So you don't know how he became connected to the Void..." Faihan paused, thinking. "And Alejo can't remember what happened after Itzal died...and it was just Erlantz and Alatz, working together to create Serenitas." He glanced for a moment at Alejo and then back at Joaco. "I can only assume...he took horrible advantage of Erlantz's...um, gullible nature... And the rites and canons of Crystalism did inevitably pave the path for Nero's timeline, creating beliefs and infrastructures that served to remove nearly every obstacle from his path... But did Itzal even realize that Alatz was behind these things? Why did he not tell Erlantz? Did he not realize until it was too late?"
JOACO "There was nothing that ever hinted Alatz's betrayal during my time, that was why I didn't consider it until it was too late." He looked over at Juliet. "That's my name for the elements beyond the higher elements, like Time."
JULIET "Sorry, wait, so..." Juliet scratched her forehead, jiggling her foot resting atop her opposite knee, then dropped that foot, switching it for the other. "If Time is an element...a supreme element, or whatever, and there are higher elements and stuff...is this...the, uh, 'the Void'—" She mades actual air quotes when she said it. "—an element? Like, is...is Mrs. Nero one of the Chosen?"
JOACO "I don't know if it's like a Chosen, but they do seem to have a connection."
FAIHAN "When did you realize then? Or...how?"
JOACO "..." Joaco grew quiet for a moment. "I remember everything that happened in my timeline."
FAIHAN "Does Nero know now, too? Everything that happened?"
BRISA "More importantly...who is Nero now?"
ICCHI He coughed slightly and nudged Yuuki—whispering, "I think...we should leave."
JOACO "No, only I do. Alejo seems to have retained some of it, too." A pause and then, "Akane Araki."
ICCHI "..." Icchi grimaced.
JAMES James had folded her arms across her chest, eyes to the floor.
OFELIA Ofelia made an audible snort, honestly fairly amused, and looked directly at Icchi and Yuuki.
ELI Eli side-glanced at Icchi, but chose not to say anything. He turned back to Joaco. "Do you know anything that Nero needs to know?"
ICCHI Icchi practiced blending into the background.
YUUKI She's what to who now? Perhaps Yuuki should've been paying attention to all of this...
ICCHI What was a "mother"? What were "eyes"? What was anything really? Like existing? Could we say Icchi existed? Really? He continued to play nonexistent.
FAIHAN "But wait, what does that mean about the quantum state of the magitech device's data...? The device seems to indicate that several possibilities are occurring at once... Does this mean that one of them is static...to lead to where we are now? Or...?"
JOACO "No, it's...complicated." Joaco bit his lip. "The only ones with a static past are Alejo and I."
BRISA "How is that...? Why is that so?"
JOACO "Because we were left behind when you came here, a world that exists separate from Elysium. Others helped me with a spell, but I tweaked it into...this and stayed back to seal Nero."
OFELIA "Who? Who were the others that helped you?"
JOACO "The other Chosen did."
FAIHAN "...Because you were both...outside your bodies...? How did the rest of us come here, though? Why were we reborn?"
JOACO "I sent your souls through the rift of time and space to what is now Earth." Joaco pinched the bridge of his nose. "But no, we had a body."
BRISA "If you were left behind, how did you get here?"
JOACO "Many, many, many years passed, and Titus sent my soul here."
ELI "He wanted you to have this type of life too, right? Or...I guess...when did Nero escape? And how?"
JOACO "I believe it was through the book. Akane must have retrieved it."
FERNANDA "Wait, wait, wait... Please scale back... Like, I don't even know what you are talking about to begin with, JoaquĂto! Why are we on Earth? What happened in Elysium? What do you remember about what happened between us being there and us being here? Why were you and Alejo left behind in the first place??? Because you died???"
JOACO "I'll go over that later with you, but for me and Alejo, thousands of years passed. We chose to stay."
ICCHI "Does this mean...my mother was not like us? That is, I was always Bayard...but was she not always Nero?"
JOACO "Yes, Nero is more like...a ghost taking over someone."
ICCHI "I see. So then, do you intend to remove Nero from her, or...?"
JOACO "...If it was the me of the past I would have said no, but I don't want to sacrifice people like that anymore."
ICCHI Icchi visibly relaxed.
YUUKI Yuuki had been paying attention now! At least, to part of it. "How long ago did he posses her?"
JOACO "I don't know, have you noticed any shift in her personality?"
ICCHI Icchi glanced at Yuuki and shrugged.
YUUKI Yuuki thought about it briefly, then shook his head. "Not really."
JOACO "...It could be decades, so she has the advantage of time, too."
FAIHAN "Go back. I want to know...why did you stay behind?" He looked at Alejo. "How is it you were you able to remove Joaco's soul from the seal?" Faihan swallowed and looked away again, this time not focusing on either brother. "What do you mean by 'we' had 'a' body? There are two of you. What does that fucking mean? What happened that I was willing to leave you behind for thousands of years? Okay with forgetting that all of that even happened...?"
ALEJO Alejo looked sad, avoiding Faihan's gaze for a moment before looking at him. "It's complicated."
FAIHAN "The Chosen of Light is the Chosen of Darkness, except when twins are born. If one twin dies, the other inherits the dead twin's element. One body and two souls. Is that how it works?"
ALEJO "..." Alejo stared into the distance for a moment. "Yes, we shared a body."
FAIHAN Faihan elected to prove them right in not telling him these things—he stood up and abruptly left.
MABEL "That's...heavy."
ASLAN "I guess that means...one of you...?"
ALEJO "I died," he said, but he left immediately to chase after Faihan.
CHELO "..."
FERNANDA "..."
BRISA "Well, that was fun and dramatic, but can we return to the original point? Your ancient brother has hijacked their mother's body...and is now stealing magic...to what end? Are they trying to open Elysium now?"
OFELIA Ofelia snickered.
JAMES By this point, James had also gone after Faihan.
JOACO Joaco watched them leave before turning to her. "Yes, they desperately want to go back, so they want to open the gate."
ASLAN "Then we have to get rid of that tree..."
ICCHI "And kick that jerk out of my mother's body?"
JOACO "That's the idea, at least. The specifics are still a mystery."
ASLAN "But...half of us...don't have any powers?"
JOACO "...That's partially my fault, but it doesn't depend entirely on me, but you."
FERNANDA "Whatcha mean?"
JOACO "I've intentionally delayed your awakening to the best of my ability."
FERNANDA "Why?"
JOACO "If we are all awakened, the gate will be easier to open, obviously," Joaco made a funny face at her.
FERNANDA She stuck out her tongue.
"Okay, then, well...are you our leader now, or is Alejo?"
JOACO "We're the council of twins, but he's a better leader than me."
FERNANDA Fernanda rolled her eyes. "As long as I don't have to be the boss of anything. That stress will give you gray hairs."
BRISA Shaking her head (and then having to blow hair out of her face), Brisa cut in: "So to summarize...there are higher than these higher elements...and people connected to them, like your former brother. Void itself is one of those elements, though not counted among them, and somewhere along the way, it got its hooks into your brother...who became Nero, who spent possibly centuries laying a plan to bring about Catastrophe and end all existence, but who was stopped somehow—and who you locked away in some sort of...seal? That your other brother rescued you from. And then Akane Araki somehow stumbled upon his soul and became infested with it here on Earth. She is now acting on that soul's behalf to destroy Earth by opening Elysium, and she is gathering magical energy to do so with that tree... Did I follow correctly?"
JOACO "Nero seems to be an exception not a rule when it comes to that situation with the supreme elements. Other than that, yes, that is a good summary. It's not quite directly his soul, but that is just me being pedantic."
NATI "This may just be me, but I noticed...when the tree appeared, I stopped having new memories. I used to get new ones every day. I wrote them down. Any reason as to why?"
JOACO "I believe they are messing with the gate, which is how you tap into the Elysium loop."
MABEL "Elysium Loop? Like Groundhog Day?"
JOACO "Not quite, but it's similar to that. That's why the information you found was unstable."
MABEL "So...in Groundhog's Day, Bill Murray has to fix the way he's living his life to end it...? Is that something one of us was supposed to do and hasn't yet...? Or is...the loop just...the way of the universe...in Elysium?"
NATI "If it is a loop, if we fix it, what happens to both worlds? Which one wins? Can they both win? Both co-exist?"
JOACO "It doesn't work like that movie, but ideally, we don't want to end the loop, at least not yet."
MABEL She scratched her head, looking at Nati questioningly.
NATI "Just to sum up and to make sure I understand—if the loop ends, both worlds are destroyed? And the goal is eventually end the loop just not where Nero wants to end it? I guess what I struggle with is...why the loop? What is its purpose?"
JOACO "It's not a direct connection like that. It's opening the gate to Elysium that is a problem for Earth. Arriving to Elysium would end the loop, and Elysium is in danger if that happens...or rather, was, I suppose. I caused it to prevent my timeline from becoming your timeline."
MABEL "Why'd you do that? What happened in yours? And...does this mean we can never return to Elysium, or that we could...if we dealt with Nero's evil spirit?"
JOACO "The world ended. Or rather, it was about to."
NATI "...Wow. So we're the only survivors from there. That's...humbling."
MABEL "Seriously."
JOACO "We are not. I saved as many as I could. They just don't remember. But in those loops, everyone is safe—mostly."
MABEL "Well, that's a relief... But...so Elysium only exists now because the loop keeps it from being destroyed entirely? And if the gate is opened, then it will finalize a timeline and fully end?"
JOACO "You are looking at it from a perspective of there being a single timeline, and that is not the case. It doesn't work like Back to the Future if that's what you're thinking. It's more like...a tree, with many roots and branches."
NATI "It's multiple timelines then? So, there is a timeline in which Elysium does not end?"
JOACO "Maybe... But to you, the one here, there is only one. Once you witness something in your dreams, that happened for certain. That is why I preferred not to talk about what happened, and some of the things you've told me are different from what happened to me."
BRISA "I think we have to forget about going back or not going back to Elysium. You and our former leader were talking about a seal before? I assume there is no longer a seal now... Is that what was preventing tampering with the door?"
JOACO "The seal exists, it has been weakened, but if it wasn't there, we'd be in a much more precarious situation."
ELI "What does the seal need to strengthen again?"
JOACO "With them around to tamper with things, it doesn't really matter."
ELI "So...the close target is handling them first, I take it."
JOACO "That is the real priority, yes."
NATI "Um...I have been working on a project with Faihan and Santi that may help?" She looked to the two of them wondering if she should have kept it close hold. Although, her eyes flickered to the Araki brothers.
ICCHI Icchi looked at Nati curiously.
MABEL Mabel also looked at Nati curiously. "A science project?"
CHELO "It's...sad... I...didn't protect Prince Titus...or Elysium. I...don't think I even really liked my life in Elysium...well, except for..." He glanced at Santi and cleared his throat, smiling just a little. "But this is never what I would have wanted, what any of us had wanted...and I should have done a better job protecting the things that were important to me there. I don't want to make the same mistake here. So what do we do next? What's the plan?"
SANTI Santi smiled, lightly patting Chelo's knee.
JOACO "First, we need to address the tree, and to do so, we'll need to take care of multiple points." Joaco wondered if he should wait for Alejo. "For tonight I want us to rest, so we can take this on revitalized. Other than that, I want to know who is willing to help or not so we can split the tasks evenly."
CHELO "I will do whatever I can."
ASLAN "I have no powers, but...I want to help."
ELI "You know you can count on me."
FERNANDA "Oh my god, just give me a crystal, JoaquĂto!"
NATI "You will have my bow."
MABEL "My arrows are at your service!"
JULIET "And my blade."
ICCHI "As long as you aren't trying to kill my mother...I'm in."
OFELIA Ofelia just gave Icchi a nod.
KAVEH Kaveh sighed and stood up straight. "I'll help."
YUUKI "I can help. Possibly. I'm not sure how...but if you can think of something, I'll do it."
BRISA "I would rather not be kicked around by a tree, but if you need tech..."
MATEO "Need you ask?"
JOACO "Thank you everyone." Joaco addressed the Araki brothers. "I need you to think back on any information that may be relevant, even if innocuous. There's probably a hint of something we can use there."
ICCHI Icchi took a deep breath, glanced at Yuuki—at Ofelia—and then sighed.
"When I stole the passcard...I had to break into her office. The safe was filled with strange magical traps...and notes...on everyone on the network. Well, everyone who was posting things publicly. She probably...knows everything about all of you by now? I didn't see any magical notebooks or...books or anything. I also...generally know her schedule."
YUUKI "I have nothing. Other than she used my plant to create the tree. Although. I could call our grandparents, her parents, and ask if they noticed anything shift in her personality suddenly one day...or Father. He could tell us, too."
ICCHI Icchi nodded; all good ideas in his opinion! He grinned at Yuuki.
JOACO "Alright, I figured they had to be gathering information...please let us know if you find out anything else, and also, be careful."
ICCHI Icchi gave Joaco a thumbs up, already busy thinking about what else he might be able to find...
ELI Eli smiled a little to himself as Joaco conducted himself this way, asking for help yet still wanting people to be careful. It was nice.
FERNANDA "I agree...that it's best...we all rest for now."
Fernanda smiled, though she looked a little tired. She was trying not to look tired...or very sad. Because she had gotten to grow up with Alejo in this life, because he was her twin, and...he was safe now, back with them. But it was sad, hearing what had happened back then. Like the knight, she, too, had seemingly been unable to save him. Despite her appearance, Fernanda was not one for dramatics. Mostly, she just wanted to peek in on Alejo and make sure he was okay, and then she would take the warmest, nicest bath and watch her shows and not think about anything scary or uncertain or sad... Not until tomorrow; not until she had to.
"I'm pretty tired, at least. I'm not even sure my sheet masks will fix it at this rate!"
CHELO Likewise, Chelo had a heavy feeling in his chest; he didn't want to make it obvious, because things had already been such a whirlwind...so alarming and uncertain and even frustrating. He didn't know if he could bear to think about what it meant that Titus had perished under his watch. The loss of a friend, a brother, a charge—he didn't know if he could stand to think about that right now at all. But he waited patiently, for the meeting to be adjourned—to have the freedom to leave the crowd and not feel like he had to put on an optimistic...or even calm veneer.
"I'm up for calling it a night..." he added softly.