Essentia Animus

71-Second Chances

Dinner progressed without much event, actually seeming to be artificially rushed for some reason. Riyxia and her father finished their meal quickly in silence before quickly disappearing again for some sort of father and daughter moment.

Sryine and Vwyx worked together with Riyxia's mother to get everything cleaned up after dinner, knowing better than to get in the way. In both of their cases, Riyxia had given them room to work out the things they needed with their other families, so it would only be fair that they returned that same sense of privacy for Riyxia. However, after Riyxia's departure seemed to be prolonged and extended, the two girls couldn't help but wonder if everything was alright. Riyxia's mother had explained again for them just how much Riyxia's father had suffered, leaving the two girls worried at how much suffering Riyxia was adopting as a matter of process. Vwyx went to check on the laboratory, just to make sure Riyxia was alright.. only to find the place without occupants. Sryine went to the library in order to find some relaxation, though none of the books really appealed to her at the moment. Vwyx eventually gave up on the search and met up with Sryine in the library, absolutely uncertain what to do about the situation. The strangest part was that she couldn't even pinpoint Riyxia's shimmer, a feeling that left her extra alarmed. At that moment however, Riyxia burst through the back door of the mansion, her proud face brimming with ambition. She headed directly for the library, feeling eager to proceed.

"Great, it looks like you two are ready too, so we had better get going. The day has started to run late, the sun has started to set, so how about we go check up on what Liyuzhe has been up to?" "Riyxia, there you are! Where have you been, I've been looking all over for you?" "Oh, sorry, I had my hands full working on something with my father. I got all of that worked out though, everything is going great. Sorry about worrying you both though, it was just something I needed to take care of on my own." It seemed Riyxia hadn't wanted her friends to have found her, so Vwyx didn't have a chance of success in her search. She mostly didn't want to involve them yet in such a thing, it just wasn't the right time for it. However, it seemed now was the time Riyxia believed was the best opportunity to advance on the observatory. Sryine was keenly aware that this was actually the exact same time of day they had originally advanced on the observatory, a keen sense of deja-vou passing over her. It was like the past was repeating itself, that this whole thing had already happened before. This time though, they were far more prepared, far wiser about what they were working with. They had to stop Liyuzhe, and they were going to do just that.

The three girls quickly bid their farewells and left the mansion in the direction of the observatory. Vwyx however slowed a bit behind the others, having an uncanny feeling that they were being followed. Catching back up to the others, she brushed past Riyxia's backpack, feeling a faint rush of heat deprivation from it. Wait, was something wrong with the backpack? Riyxia however seemed completely fine, not even a shiver in the cold night. Riyxia though seemed very focused, a stern fury having settled over her. Wait, was she augmented right now? Actually, that made sense, facing Liyuzhe was often dangerous, they shouldn't at all be letting their guard down. Sryine technically would be augmented right now too, the oversaturation of her flame wouldn't have it any other way. In that way, it was Vwyx herself that was being foolish, the only one not currently augmented. The chill reminded her too, she had a strong responsibility ahead, to demonstrate that they could really depend on the frost to come to their aid, it was something else she would have to be prepared for. She thus brought her augmentation into play and put on one of the comsets they had handy. That sparked inspiration from the others, realizing that they should also take from Vwyx's example and be prepared with comsets of their own. Riyxia's however quickly malfunctioned, so she passed it back to Vwyx for safekeeping. This too was strange, leaving Vwyx to perplex over the issue while she tried to quickly repair the instrument.