Twilight of the Gods

A"Maybe we should just go back. If there's a maniac on patrol, we don't really want to meet him, do we?"
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E"What happened while we were out?"

L"Nothing, really. I tried to attack that Giriko guy for a little while, but he eventually got away."

E"How?"

L"I don't know, exactly. I had him cornered, & then he suddenly became insanely fast. Faster than any Flash Step or Sonido I've ever seen. I switched tactics, started using Kido, & he took off."

Sab frowned, "Yea, but then we would have wasted the trip..."

--

"That sucks..." Noct said, "Are you alright, Euryale?"

--

Mortal had just stepped out of the shower, and barely got through drying her hair before she heard a knock at the door. Wrapping a towel around her still wet body, she made her way to the door and opened it. "Hello, Astarte," She took a step back, "Come on in."

"Uh, thank you," Astarte entered the room and stepped past Mortal. "I hope I did not interrupt your shower, but I have concerns I must share."

"Those being?" Mortal said, shutting the door quickly, quelling the breeze that was coming in and freezing the hell out of her. "Take a seat wherever you like," She said, taking a seat on the sofa, and crossing her legs.

E"Of course, I'm fine. I think that attack was only meant to get as many of us out of the way as possible."

L"Atae?"
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A"I don't like it here. I feel like every second we stay here, we're closer to being in terrible danger."

"I doubt you would have forgotten the human who entered Las Noches and interrupted our meal," Astarte said as she took an opposite seat and also crossed her legs, placing her hands neatly in her lap. "His 'mind' ability has deeply concerned me. Senthose apparently encountered him within the old mansion, which is where I left to after our dinner... I feel as though any trust I had in Senthose has suddenly been lost, and I am not even sure whether anything happened to me."

Mortal nodded, "I wouldn't give up so easily on Senthose. He may be a royal asshole, but I doubt he would allow himself to lose his wit so easily, and if he did I would bet he'd do something to let us know." Mortal shrugged, "Perhaps you're just a bit stressed out. Not to be rude, but you kind of scare easily."

--

Atae is dead.

"Oh, I'm fine."

"That is good to hear," Noct said, happy Euryale was alright.

--

"Were you always this paranoid?" Sab asked. Regardless, Sab walked closer and put her arm around Aroma, "Well, alright, lets get out of here."

*Sabroma reappears in the house.*
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*Not long afterwards, the pedestrians all begin walking.*

L"That's interesting. His ability didn't disappear when he left. You'd think he'd shut it off, so as not to fatigue himself."

E"Yeah...that is kind of strange."

"Oh, I know," Astarte cracked a small smile and tinged red. "It is something I have been trying to change... but it's very difficult. Especially when dealing with Senthose."
She looked suddenly sheepish and rubbed her neck with one hand, "I'm afraid I made Senthose quite angry, too. I refused to obey him and drew my blade."
When Sab and Aroma appeared, Astarte turned to face them and nodded in greeting.

Mortal moved closer and put a hand on Astarte's shoulder, "I know it can be hard, but you've just got to learn to deal with him. You're already grown as an individual since I first met you, so don't feel bad that Senthose still trips you up."

Suddenly Sabroma, "Oh, hi you two. Where did you run off to?"

Sab raised an eyebrow at an undressed, and mostly wet Mortal making contact with a blushing Astarte, but tried to pay it no mind, "Senthose left us a note to warn the humans about the mind control guy. We went to go warn them, but they weren't home. And hello, Astarte."

--

Noct just shrugged, "All I know is that I want a nap now..."

Astarte sensed some of the same suspicion from Sab that she had felt when they first met. This time, she did not ignore it but felt more than a little defensive- what had she done?
"I would have expected Senthose to find them and warn them himself," She said, pretending not to have noticed Sab's reaction. "But I suppose he is busy... Perhaps I should have stayed in Las Noches."

*Aroma shrugs, trying to look at Astarte with a blank face.*

A"I said we could probably take care of it before you got out of the shower, but when we got there, I had a bad feeling. Like we were being watched, or something."
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E"Well, we're almost home. We'll have Lilith make a ward against the creepers, & then we can sleep."

L"Shouldn't you really learn how to do that sort of thing yourselves?"

"Did you see anyone?" Mortal asked, "Watching you I mean? Those humans are hard to sense based on reiatsu, so it could be hard to spot one tailing you." With that Mortal stood up and began making her way to her room to dry off and get dressed.

"So Astarte, what brings you over here?" Sab asked.

--

"Why would we need to when we have you?"

"I had concerns which I needed to share," Astarte replied. "These being concerns about Senthose and the human intruder's supposed ability."

L"Because I'm not always around."

E"But creepy people only ever target us when you're around. I think they follow you."
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"If he got Senthose, wouldn't that mean he's already King of the Hollows? Why even keep himself a secret anymore?"

"We only have the vaguest idea of how his power works," Astarte explained. "We know that he can manipulate memories, but we do not know to what extent. We also do not know how fast it can change memories- it could take anything from a moment to a day, depending on it's target."

Noct nods in agreement.

--

"Well, being king of all hollows doesn't get you much nowadays. If Soul Society wants him, they might risk a war, and that war might not have Senthose, and Mortal on the side of the hollows, which lowers the guy's odds. Then there are the humans, who are also strong," Sab said.

Mortal came back out, fully dressed in a red tee shirt, and pajama pants.

L"There's such a thing as a coincidence, you know!"
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A"Hey, didn't that note say he 'was involved with the humans,' or something like that?"

"And there is such a thing as a pattern," Noct said.

Atae chuckled a bit.

--

"It said involved with lesbian couple actually, but yea," Sab said, "Why?"

"This would compromise the humans as trust-worthy allies," Astarte said, entirely unsurprised.

"Well...yeah. Maybe he didn't want us to warn them. Maybe he wanted us to interrogate them."
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L"Hey, I'm your superior officer, you're supposed to back me up on this."

E"Are you abusing your power?"

L"NO."

"I kind of doubt that," Sab said, "One controls the ground and another one can more or less teleport too. We wouldn't be able to interrogate them..."

--

"But we're off duty."

"I agree with Sab, I doubt even Senthose would suggest a violent interrogation of those humans," Astarte said. "But perhaps a few questions would be useful."

"...I didn't say anything about violence."
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L"Irrelevant."

E"Whatever. We're here, anyway."

L"Not sure what you want me to do...I guess I could reinforce the locks, & erects some kind of barrier that detects & inhibits Reitsu."

"Oh, well, interrogate just sounds violent by nature..." Sab said, "I guess we could calmly ask them questions, but would they actually tell us if they were working with him?"

--

"I'm sorry, Captain Psyche."