Oooone fine afternoon, Alex makes her way towards Hazard's home. She hasn't seen Hazard since their expedition closed out, and the last time she saw Ea, she mentioned the leaf was somewhat out of sorts. So it is that Alex makes her way into the girl's clearing!
The bell attached to the sapling archway rings as Alex steps into the clearing. Leaves begin rustling at the giant tree, although there isn't any clear indicator if it is from within or above. The door pops open, but there is no one behind it.
Alex takes a half-step backward at the sudden opening of the door, one hand reaching behind her as if to rest on something. She lets out a soft oath, then clears her throat. "Hazard? You in there?"
Silence.
"Ea? ...Sirius? ....Vix, Alstaka...?" Alex takes a tentative step closer, her body glowing slightly.
A familiar looking vine pops out of the door, then wavers around perkily. It bolts back behind the door.
Alex's body relaxes, and the glow sputters but doesn't die completely. She closes the distance between herself and the door, pulling herself inside and looking towards where she saw the tentacle disappear.
Leaves and vines slide around the corner.
Alex follows the leaves and vines, a shallow dome springing into existence ahead of her. "Hazard, are you okay?"
The mass of vegetation leads out into the living room, then slides up the stairs like a slithering shadow. The plump end of the vine typically known as Steven peeks out over the edge of the landing.
"...Steven. Is that you?" Alex asks, her arm going behind her again. She's seen too many horror movies that started exactly this way... The dome ahead of her seems to grow thicker as she plants her boot on the bottom step.
The vine vanishes up the second set of stairs, bound for the bedrooms. It thumps clunkily against the steps as it goes, almost as if being dragged.
"Godverdoeme," Alex swears, bounding up the steps, right arm tensing. A green glow with a point-source takes fire behind her back as she follows the mass of vegetation. Alex's heart rises into the back of her throat.
There comes the sound of rustling at the top of the stairs, and shadowy masses flit and swirl just past the horizon of the staircase. The sound comes to a stop at what sounds like mid-way down the hall.
Alex stops fast at the middle of the staircase, casting her air magic forward. She closes her eyes and immerses herself in the flow of air inside Hazard's home, pushing her awareness beyond the staircase's lip and into the hallway beyond. A humanoid shape stands outside Hazard's room. It is too large to be Hazard.
"Identify yourself!" Alex calls ahead of her. "I can feel you standing there!" The point-source glow behind her glows brighter, and there's a leathery rasp. Alex's free hand fashions a very non-aerodynamic aetheric form; she throws it ahead of her, up the stairs, 'reading' the air it kicks off of it in transit.
A mumbling vibration comes off the door. The humanoid shape reaches for the door, turning the molded wooden knob.It says nothing.
Wait...doesn't Hazard have some kind of...manservant or something? Alex frowns, drawing a blank on his name. "Hey!" she calls, advancing up the stairs, drawing her blade further from its subspace concealment. "Identify yourself!" she repeats.
As her vision pokes over the lip of the stairs, she can see a vaguely human shape made of various forms of leaves and vines. It holds open the door, bowing slightly.
Alex reverses her motion, sending her sword back into its magical dimension. She approaches the figure. "You're Hazard's manservant, or something close to that, correct?" she asks, tilting her head.
It nods its head.
"I apologize," Alex says, inclining her head. "Too many horror movies and games have taught me that silence plus what you think is your target moving out of your sight ahead of you generally equals bad times." She smiles, dropping her shield.
It nods again.
Alex enters the room, glancing side to side. "Hazard? You in here?"
The lights are off, and the deeper recesses of the room are draped in shadow. The canopy of the tree forms a completely opaque barrier over the skylight. "Hey." The voice is familiar, but muddled. Like one woken from sleep.
"Hey," Alex says, forging a ball of aether and suspending it over her shoulder like a magical worklight. It casts a gentle green glow that illuminates her space without being harsh on the eyes. She makes her way across the room, into the shadowed zone.
A tiny girl puts her arm up in front of her face to block the light. She sits, curled up in a corner. She's wearing thick, rugged jean shorts and a sports bra top. Golden bands hold tight to her arms, legs, and neck. The belt buckle is pushed out of place by a strange, golden jewel. "Ea didn't tell you to come here, did she?"
Once she's confirmed Hazard's location, Alex dims the light and rushes to Hazard's side, holding her. "No, Hazard," she says, brushing the girl's hair. "She said you were out of sorts, and together with the fact that I hadn't seen you after we finished our investigation...I was concerned, and came over as soon as I had free time. What's the matter?"
"Nothing. Just not feeling social, that's all."
"Don't lie to me, or yourself," Alex says gently, brushing Hazard's cheek. "People who don't feel social don't sit in the dark curled in a ball. Are you sure nothing's wrong?"
"I don't want to leave the house, okay?"
"And that's okay," Alex says gently. "But I worry about you, is all. As rattled as I was by the wogni, you seemed even worse off."
"Yeah."
The sound of her voice is small, more like a peep than a word.
"So tell me," Alex says softly, gathering Hazard against her and brushing the girl's hair.
"My suit. It's gone bad."
"Bad?" Alex asks. "How do you mean, bad?"
She holds out her arm, jangling her wrist loosely. The light gleams off the golden bracelet. "Notice something?"
Alex takes Hazard's hand and peers at the bracelet.
It is the same bracelet as the one that typically adorns the leaf's wrist while transformed. Five rings, each on a different finger, adorn her hand, and look very similar.
"Those rings are new," Alex notes.
"Yeah. That's not the problem."
"Oh. Uh, are you not powered up right now?" Alex furrows her brow, trying to figure out what's wrong.
"Yeah, no power here."
"So...if you're not transformed, then why...?" Alex's eyebrows furrow further, tracing her finger over the surface of the bracelet.
Alex's greenish mana sparks off the metal, and zips around it before fading. "I don't know. Ever since I dropped the transformation after the mission, I still have these on." A bit of panic tips into her voice. "I took a shower, Alex."
The significance of that escapes Alex for the moment. "You took a shower?" she asks blankly.
"Ever taken a shower while something is holding onto you, and you only get to move because it says you can?" She inhales sharply, a little gasp. "I was okay with it when it was just a battle suit. But..."
"W-Wait. Wait-wait-wait." Alex stiffens. "B-Before it was just...p-passive. A-Amplifying your movements. Now you're saying it's....d-directing them?" Alex shudders.
"Same thing! It does what I want for now, but... Those..." She stops. Silent, and curling up tighter.
"...Those wogni. Seeing them...approaching must have triggered some sort of rudimentary defensive routine." Alex shakes her head, examining the bracelet and touching it again, this time consciously directing mana into it.
The little girl shudders and bolts out of her position. "AAAH! WHAT WAS THAT?!?"
Alex jerks her hand away. "Ah! Wh-what happened? What'd I do?!"
"What DID you do? The bands all just moved on their own! Not much but... it happened!" She's breathing heavily, frightened. A blush has risen in her cheeks. She rolls back into a sitting position.
"Th-The last time your bands did something and caused you to lock up, I grabbed your shoulder...and my mana caused them to unlock. I thought...that by doing that again, but deliberately..."
"Great, just great."
"Shit," Alex swears. "Shit, shit...a-and you haven't been able to ask Vix? Alstaka said he and Vix have been working with Tesla, but...you haven't seen him?"
"No. Maybe now that Vix has Ea, he doesn't need me anymore."
Alex immediately shakes her head. "I don't buy it," she says. "Vix doesn't strike me as the type to do that. I can't really get a read on him, but I can't imagine he'd just abandon you." Alex cradles the young girl against her.
"Why not? He's said it himself, I'm not useful in a fight. He doesn't want me anywhere near them."
She doesn't even move to hug back. Her body is rigid, and she curls in tightly to herself at the touch.
"We're still gonna prove him wrong on that," Alex says. "Mark my words, we'll show him that you can be useful. Vix hasn't abandoned you. I'll punt him into the upper atmosphere if he tries, the furry little bastard." Alex brushes Hazard's hair. "This sentiment might not exactly apply here, but remember: you are full of love, and you deserve to be loved. By everyone."
"Yeah. Sure. Some more than others." Her voice grows all the more muffled by her knees. "But I'm starting to think he's right."
"You can't let yourself think that, Hazard," Alex says, still holding onto her. "I know there's something that you can do to make the world a better place. You are not useless, Hazard."
"No, I'm worse. I'm a liability. First time I face off with a monster- A REAL Monster -I'm a sitting duck, just waiting for those monsters to do whatever they want with me." She rubs her knees against her eyes, and they come back wet. "I'm scared to leave this house."
"You're not that, either," Alex says, shaking her head. "I don't know why your outfit reacted like that; maybe only Vix can answer that." Alex turns Hazard's head to face her. "But I know that once you find your niche, you will be unstoppable." She smiles broadly. "I know what it's like to be scared, Hazard," Alex continues, quieter. "To not know what you should do, to not want to do anything. I've been there, and I know it's a horrible place to be. And that might be part of why I'm here right now; to help you break through it." She runs her fingers through Hazard's hair. "I believe in you, Hazard."
"At least one of us does." She holds out her hand and spreads out her fingers. "And these new rings. I won't even be able to control my hands anymore."
"Did I ever tell you, I'm an artist?"
Alex shakes her head. "No, you didn't," she says. "Tell me about it."
"Graphic design. Illustration. For a time, I wanted to build my own comic studio. That's over now." She balls her hand up into a fist.
"Well, maybe not," Alex says, tilting her head. "We'll get this suit thing figured out. Between you, me, Vix, and Alstaka? We'll have you good as new."
"I hope you're right. In the meantime, though..." Another sharp breath, "It might be a good idea for you to stay away for a while."
"St-Stay away? Why?" Alex's voice stays just this side of 'hurt.'
"I... If one of those things comes for me, and things happen the way they did back there, I" She turns her head to look towards a wall. "I don't want you doing anything stupid."
"Oh, no," Alex says, chuckling. "You think I'm going to stand aside and leave you to your fate? I mean, laying aside the fact that those things are quite content to stay there and do nothing? It is not a good idea for you to stay here and be isolated. You need some social contact from someone; the human mind is not built for solitude. I won't stay away; I'll be here for you."
"You have to promise me, Alex." There is determination there, clawing around the pressing crowd of conflicting emotions. "If I lock up again, you won't put yourself at risk to save me. You're too valuable to put at that kind of risk."
Alex returns Hazard's gaze, her emerald eyes piercing Hazard's. "And you are not valueless, Hazard. I won't leave you to die if there's anything I can do to prevent it. I couldn't live with myself if I did." She strokes Hazard's hair again.
"I'm not saying you have to leave me to die if it's safe to help me. Just..." She turns her head to Alex. Her eyes are red, with multiple bags beneath them. She is not a pretty crier. "You mean a lot to everyone. You're needed by a whole lot more people than me. At the end of the day, if only one of us is coming home... It's you."
Alex's gaze grows conflicted, now. "Hazard, I..." Her voice is soft, threaded with tears not reflected in her eyes. Yet. "D-Don't make me promise that," she says. She hasn't said 'no' yet, though...
She turns over, burying her face in Alex's hair. "You always have to come home, neesan. Always."
Alex's arms close around the little girl, stroking her hair. "So do you, Hazard," Alex responds quietly.
"Not without you. I lock up, I'm already dead. Don't being me back to a world that you aren't in."
Alex's heart thumps painfully, and she cradles the younger girl to her chest. "Hazard, I..." She closes her eyes, a tear escaping from underneath her lid. "You have my word," she says softly. "I will make every attempt to save you, should it come to that...but I won't throw my life away." She squeezes Hazard's shoulder. "B-But that just means we have to work even harder to make sure that doesn't happen!"
"I can accept that."
Alex laughs, looking back at the younger girl. "I feel really bad this is happening to you. I was the one who decided to take a look at the portal..."
"It's a good thing you did! Otherwise, when it happened with the Delphi coming at us, we'd be totally lost!"
Alex pauses. "You know...I hadn't thought of that. ...But something isn't quite adding up. If we're accepting the theory that it's some sort of defense mechanism, why didn't it reassert itself when the Delphi were coming at you? Did my intervention....inoculate you against it for a brief time..?"
"I have no idea. Maybe." She rolls off and sits on her knees. "You know, I can still feel you in the bands."
"Me?" Alex is confused. "You can feel....me...? in the bands? How do you mean?"
"It's like, your hands are the bands and the rings. Not the feel of your skin but... Like... your spirit. It was kinda reassuring when things were bad."
"Huh." Alex cocks her head. "That's really kinda strange...but...really touching, too. What do you think would happen if I fed them a little more of my mana...? Slowly, so as not to make 'em jump."
"Okay."
Alex flexes her fingers, then rests her hands on Hazard's bracelets, one on each. "Okay, and we're starting..." Alex closes her eyes, spurring her mana to flow through her body, drip-feeding it into Hazard's bonds.
Slowly, she rises up to her feet, one ankle crossed over the other. "Aaaaaaaleeeex!" Her staff/rifle appears, and she leans against it in a strange pose of forced demure energy. Her eyes are panicked and her cheeks are fully red.
Alex stiffens, yelping. "H-Hazard?! What ar--what?!" Alex shoots to her feet, panicking as well. "Wh-what happened? I-I didn't do it!"
"I'm stuck!" She says struggling both to contain her voice and move her head and fingers.
Alex flushes red as well. "Wha-wha-what?!" Alex forces her thoughts to calm down. "O-Okay, um...interest later, fix this now!" she mutters, putting her hand on Hazard's bracelet. "The mana in there is mine," she says, as if to herself. "I put it in there, and I can draw it back out." Alex closes her eyes and reaches for the mana she'd fed into the bracelet, drawing back out most of what she put in, leaving a little bit more than was there originally, but hopefully not so much.
Flop. The leaf crumples all over herself in a heap on the floor. An arm jumps up, pointing a single thumb into the air. "Achievement Unlocked: Fifty Shades of Let's Not Do That Again!"
Alex lets out a brief titter of nervous laughter. Alex gathers Hazard back into her lap. "Yeah, let's not give you that much. I...'m gonna have to ask Vix what that was about. Um. Y-You can still feel my spirit in there, right? I didn't drain that much out?"
"I... Guess?"
"I-I mean...you said, before this happened, that you could still feel my spirit. I didn't...ruin that, did I?" She bites her lip.
"I think it was the residue from when you forced the mana in that last time. I can feel it, it's just faint."
"Huh...I-I wonder what the deal is, there...um...I'm...glad I didn't just dump mana in there. Who knows what would have happened?"
"I reeeeeeally hope you don't try." She continues to blush, though the panic in her eyes is fading.
Alex shakes her head vigorously. "Aha, after seeing what a little bit did? Wh-who knows what would happen?" She laughs nervously, hugging Hazard. "Jesus, I'm sorry that happened. I-I swear I had no idea!"
"I know. I-It's okay." She hugs back, though there's a bit of trembling in her. "Knowing is half the battle, GI Joe."
"Y-Y-Yeah." Alex laughs again, more out of a way to release her nervous energy than out of actual mirth.
"So... I... I'll see you at the Wand soon, okay?" She says, releasing her hold on Alex. "I can't guarantee tomorrow night, 'cause Ea might be by to practice. But soon. I promise."
Alex nods, running her hands through the girl's hair. "Soon," she agrees. "I'll be sure to see you there. Just gimme a call, okay?"
"Mhm! Definitely call you tomorrow!" She says, her body held tense and straight.
Alex runs her hand down Hazard's back. "I'm sorry again," she laughs.
The leaf arches her back, squirming. "It's okay! Really! Now we know why the lockups are happening, and why those critters hit me so bad."
"Right...rudimentary defense mechanism. Or, I think so, anyway. But...why did they hit you so bad? Is it because my reaction was fed through to you...?" Alex seems unsure about that.
"I think they were dumping their power into me at range. When you touched me, you broke the connection and took it over. I could FEEL them crawling all over me!"
Alex cocks her head. "...Huh. So...it's not that your suit has a bonkers defense mechanism, but that...someone could potentially take it over and implant their will into it?" She furrows her brows. "That has some deep and disturbing implications. ...We need to ask Vix... but that doesn't explain necessarily why it was forcing you to move when it was making you take a shower... Is that...some reaction to the energy of my spirit?"
"I don't know why the binders are on me when I'm not transformed!" She seems to mutter something after that, but continues. "That's the real issue."
Alex nods. "And we'll work to figure that out together." She ruffles Hazard's hair and rises to her feet. "Get some rest, okay? You look like you need it." She smiles down at the smaller girl.
She nods shakily, but grins all the same. "You too."
"Will do." She smiles, patting Hazard on the shoulder. "And I'll see you at the Wand, and hopefully Vix, as well."
She nods again. "Real Soon."
"Alright. Rest well." She smiles, releases Hazard, and makes her way out of the room. She nods to the manservant, then heads out of the house.