[Tretesta]

Without knocking, Tret opens and closes the front door behind himself, holding a round metal tin and looking about the foyer of the college slash mercenary stronghold. He'd smile and nod politely to those that acknowledged him coming in, but made a quiet inquiry as to where their boss was.

[Novine]

There was a small team of men surveying the wall by the cafeteria surveying a sloppy repair that was disguising a rather sizable crack in the wall. One them looked over as Tret entered and approached him, a thick, muscular Highlander.

“She went downstairs. She only goes down there when she wants to not be bothered though, so it's your funeral if you make her mad. She's not in a good mood lately. I guess this whole wall thing really shook her up…” he says obliviously, looking over his shoulder at the team.

[Tretesta]

“I think I'm well past that point, friend. Do me a favor and try to put me back together the best you can when she's finished with me, neh?” With a grin and a pat to the side of the highlander's arm, he'd head for the stairs with his burden, slowly descending down the corridor he'd been down once and rather recently.

[Novine]

There were researchers beyond walking back and forth, all in uniform carrying very important clip boards and examining very important monitors. There were a few leaning back against an important looking instrument holding mugs of a suspiciously glowing beverage, slacking off a bit and laughing, but Novine was nowhere to be seen among them.

Instead, should Tret advance further, Novine was making rather a mess of the classroom. Books were scattered all over the floor room, none of them open yet, the Lalafell desperately scanning the spines of books, pulling books out before slamming them back into the shelves in an annoyed sort of way, as if the books had personally insulted her. When she would find one she thought was promising, it simply got tossed to the ground with all the aplomb of a piece of trash.

[Tretesta]

<Oh hell. Yeah, this is death. But… > Tret would wait a few moments at the door, watching the frustration unfold before him. After a little bit, he would knock lightly on the open door and call out “Heeeeey…Likely not in the top five people you want to see, but have a minute or two, Novine? I honestly didn't come out here to cause issues when I left the house.”

[Novine]

She slams a book back into the shelf with quite a bit of force, not bothering to look behind herself.

“Well, you're already here, so I guess I'll suffer whatever you wanna say now so I don't ruin a good mood some other day having to hear it.”

[Tretesta]

“Wonderful! Well, I was going to just ask if you could take this out and have with your sister. Raziel seemed to want something sweet when she came to my place a while ago. I didn't know if you'd had a chance to go and check on her yet, but I know you two are close.”

With that, he'd place the tin on the desk closest to the door, then retreat back to the doorway “But now… Sorry. There's a lot of what you said I didn't know until today, so I'm weak and ignorant. But… That's why I looked to you for answers.”

[Novine]

She looks over her shoulder to see the tin, but continues her rifling, a rather loud slam of a book punctuating his statement.

“So you admit to being ignorant, n' yet you were handing over your blood to an entity that's been terrorizing Hydaelyn even though I, who is not as ignorant, told you how bad an idea that was. Yup, makes sense. You looked to me for answers n' then ignored every single insight I had. Very logical.”

Another slam of a book rang through the room.

[Tretesta]

“Makes you wonder if she's right. Let man become something greater. Something without silly emotions that get in the way of a logical answer. Overconfidence. You were absolutely right. If it was that important to her, she wouldn't have just asked and tried to negotiate. She would have taken. Do you think she's even infected?”

[Novine]

“She would take it. Negotiation is to make you trust her, which is exactly what you're doing right now! And it's possible. I was once. A piece of it was transferred to me back when I had to fight that thing awhile ago. It was small though. I couldn't get rid of it on my own, n' my sisters helped. At least I think they did. Not sure how much happened in my head n'how much was real, really, but reality's the experience you live with not the experience of others so it's real to me, n' that's what I use to make my decisions. That woman's melted my arm off, took over the world with drugs and let a child rot alive in the process, and tried to get me on her side and convince me I should kill my father. Fuck her. She deserves to get ripped apart and have her bones cleaned by a bunch'a animals.”

[Tretesta]

“….Seems a little too kind. but… Hm. So… The Raziel thing isnt just a game? She's actually… something big? If she helped fix you…and she was targeted like that. You said she told you to stop your father, too.” Tret reached up and touched his chin, then shook his head “I'm starting into circles and don't understand enough. But I would do what I am able to help you and your sisters. I promised that much.”

[Novine]

“A game? I mean, honestly, no one's ever told me everything about it. She lives up there, never around normal people, so her whole goddess thing and brattiness is 'cause that's how they treat her up there. I know people worship her n' stuff, and I guess they do that for me too, but I'm down here so I don't really notice it all that much if it does anything. I went up there once and it was kinda creepy. She's always doing a bunch of ceremonies, but no one tells me the story behind it. She's pretty powerful though and can do a lot more than I can. She's Father's daughter by blood, n' she's bigger than me, so I guess that's natural. I'm just scared if she tries to do anything to help, she'll get infected. The one she helped me with was small. Not sure if she could handle a big one.”

She tosses another book onto the pile.

“You helping though….my thinking is that if there's nothing we can do about, I dunno if there's anything you can do about it either. Just trying to be realistic. It's all well and good to offer help, but if that help's just waiting for us to tell you what to do, it's an empty promise. You saw what Yami showed us, how desperate people have been to get rid of it. Everyone I know to ask has either been wrong or clueless.”

[Tretesta]

“Realistic is fine. Yami… The woman the last time I was here? I saw a bit of that. How she was the only one who came back. She was fighting this creature…thing? Hm…” Now that tensions had settled a bit, Tret entered the classroom properly again and pulled out a chair to sit in “…I wonder if the answer to one is the answer to the other. Things that take people over, that seem to need a host to survive.”

[Novine]

“Well, she was fighting two things to be fair, and the thing that did 'em in wasn't what's in Father, but it played a part.” THUD. “Dunno what you're saying really. You implying that getting rid of the host gets rid of the beast? Or that the thing that got rid of what went on in my head is the solution to what's in Father's?”

[Tretesta]

“No, no. Especially after watching the explosion in the canyon, that thought is gone. But perhaps if an answer is found for the creature, it can be used against Wisteria. Or the other way around. I had thought the other night that if killing her isn't possible, maybe she could be trapped and held.”

[Novine]

“I dunno. I know she's got something to do with Alkaid's blood. That's why she was able to just…melt my arm off. The drug used to be really dangerous for me. He told it's 'cause it was based on something that Father made as a failsafe option for Eitr, so it was toxic to me. Father doesn't make stuff without making failsafes, so if he made a drug, he might've made something to fight it. Just…I dunno, if he did, I don't know why he wouldn't use it. But it's more likely that he wouldn't make failsafes for failsafes. Or maybe he did and she's too strong. I dunno what she is, n' I don't know how she does what she does. Apparently Father didn't know either 'cause he couldn't stop her.”

THUD

“The only way she could be trapped is if all her other bodies are trapped or destroyed too. She can switch, as you've seen so if you get one body incapacitated, she'll just jump into a different one. That seems to be the route Father was taking. Before he got taken over, he told me he was going to war, and I think that's what he was trying to do but… well, didn't really work.”

[Tretesta]

“…And Alkaid doesn't seem to be terribly interested in killing Wisteria or the clones. That Vel clone just kinda…Followed after Alkaid. Maybe there's an answer with her. Or, horrible thought… Alkaid could be taken… Hm. So, dangerous to you and anyone else involved with Eitr.. Which would mean Veldi and Lamiza are just handicapped, if the enemy is designed to kill them, in a way.”

[Novine]

“Oh, well, we should all be okay now. Father gave us a modified version of the drug. Kinda like a vaccine of sorts, so we're not as negatively affected. But at the same time, I don't think we'd be all that effective.”

[Tretesta]

“… Modified? Has anyone thought to see what happens if a user or clone was given the modified drug?”

[Novine]

“No, but as far as I know, it just has a little bit of Father's aether in it to mitigate it. I assume if anything it'd just… Make people more resistant to him, but I dunno. I dunno what he did to it or with it. Even if it's not this though, I could see if maybe there's something in his lab at home. I've been avoiding going there though since he might be lurking around waiting for some of us to roll around.”

[Tretesta]

“… Perhaps I could go scouting around his house? If you'd like to avoid him, I could go in first. Best case, he's not there. Worst case? Well, I'm a pretty good distraction. Your dad does seem to love the sound of his own voice sometimes. I might could get him going while you slip in and take a look around in his lab.”

He pauses a moment, something coming to him “…Sorry, worst case is he's changed his little security system and I get blown up for walking inside. Maybe I take him on a walk down to the beach or something…”

[Novine]

She pulls a final book out and hugs it to her chest, stepping around the desks and turning to look at him.

“I don't think we'll find anything, but I wanna try. If I don't find anything there, then… I dunno, maybe I'll do whatever everyone else says and not do anything. Just if you do meet him, don't let him trick you into anything. No negotiations. No deals. No blood.”

[Tretesta]

“You know… I think he's more in danger of being tricked by me. Pheria said something before that stuck with me. Asked if i was the one that… how did she put it… Messed with his head? something like that. But sure. Whenever you're ready to get over there, give me a call, or just come down to the house. And please enjoy these when you some time.”

He reached over and patted the tin of baked goodness “None of us need this hell in our life, but its here. Take the chances where you can to find some peace. Cookies with your sister might be a nice break.”

[Novine]

“Yeah, I'll let you know. I'm gonna do a bunch of reading to…I dunno… see if something jumps out at me. Doubt it, but nothing else to do really. Keeps my brain busy. I'll see if they'll let me visit her. I imagine they're going crazy keeping her all safe and stuff from the other day.”

[Tretesta]

“I can only imagine… Hopefully they do. And if not? Take half of the cookies for yourself, send off the rest with my apologies to her. You deserve that much… Curious… Miss Yami. You said she had dealt with this thing in your father before, or something around it. What does she think?”

[Novine]

“I don't even think she believes that my Father is being preyed on by this thing. She thinks my Father is just a monster, rather than viewing him as a guy with a monster in him. I've been practicing my projection so I can show her what I experienced and what it's like so that maybe she'd understand, 'cause she's not entertaining words on the matter it seems. She just throws a fit. But if I can get her to understand the problem, maybe she'd have a better solution than just trying to attack it.”

[Tretesta]

“… Let me know if you think I can erm, distract her as well. I could bring something that might satisfy her, ahhh, refined taste and make her more agreeable. But that might be worth looking into as well. Is this parasite new? Has he always had it?”

[Novine]

“I don't remember when I first learned about it but…yeah, I think it's been a problem at least since I've been around, which has only been for about a year and half so in Eorzea… hard for me to say if he's had it before then.”

[Tretesta]

“… Hm. Many many questions. Not enough answers. But, if Yami fought something related to it before, killing your dad is certainly not the answer. He's just a host, it seems. Like the ones Wisteria chooses. Parasites, the both of them… Well, I'm easy enough to find. As unfortunate as that is sometimes.” Tret got up from his seat and headed for the door “Drop in whenever. Business or just to get away. All of you have that invite to my home, no questions except maybe to ensure you're not a clone.”

[Novine]

“Yep, will do. I'll see about bugging everyone n' see if I can't find something to inspire me in a book I guess. Be careful n' all that. Thanks for the cookies.”

[Tretesta]

“…You know… I think careful is not something I am good at. But I'll stay alive. That much I'm good with. Enjoy them, I'll be waiting for our big adventure.” With that, Tret touched his brow in a small salute before turning to head back upstairs. So many more questions. Not nearly enough answers.

[Novine]

She let out a little huff and pushed all her books together, setting herself in her little nest of books and opening the first one she reached for, sinking into her malaise, and trying to look for answers that she would likely never find. Nevertheless, one must try.

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