Week 5, ~5am Friday

[superstylishsquid]

[A while after Alastor asked Roland to step out for a moment, Aoi leaves the room and Alastor pokes his head out to look around for his boyfriend.]

C'mon, you can get back to bed now.

Comments

[godspiousjasper]

[ It had only been polite for him to just leave when requested, putting on the bare minimum for clothes with his hair an absolute mess. He'd not ventured far, sitting down against the wall opposite their room with one knee brought up to his chest.

By the time that Alastor calls to him? Roland had drifted a bit back to sleep somewhat and not realized it, blearily looking up. It then took a couple seconds for him to slowly rise back to his feet, his neck and a bit of visible shoulder showing the evidence of what they did the night before. ]

...Mm? You're done your conversation with Aoi?

[ He stepped closer towards Alastor, though stopping when he was able to just rest his head on his shoulder. ]

Is everything... okay?

[superstylishsquid]

[He put an arm around Roland to pat him on the back, his other hand occupied by an envelope.]

Yeah, we're done. He had a favor to ask me, and I had to fill him in on some of the stuff he missed from the past couple meetings.

[godspiousjasper]

[ Roland's arms came to lace around Alastor's waist all the same, cracking an eye open and shifting his head slightly. Otherwise, content not to move right now. ]

...A favor...?

[ A soft, breathy laugh. Okay so the fact they were here now and able to remember each other sure said something ominous but he was trying not to think about it. ]

Is that what the envelope is for?

[superstylishsquid]

[Yeah, well, he wants to close the door...so he's just going to wrap both arms around Roland's waist to pick him up and carry him fully into the room.]

Yep. He wants me to hold onto it, and made me swear a blood oath not to open it until tonight.

[godspiousjasper]

[ Picking him up like that? That's kind of making him swoon a bit there.

Though the words that followed made him frown a bit, waking up a little more. ]

...Alastor... you don't think that he's going to do something dangerous, do you?

[ Going to pull back enough to look at his boyfriend, brows knit in concern. ]

[superstylishsquid]

[He looks at the letter, which now only partially obscures a bandage across his palm.]

...I think he is. Made him promise that if he does something that's likely to get him killed, he'll make it worth it.

[godspiousjasper]

That Aoi... I can't imagine what's going through his head right now, doing something that might get himself killed. We shouldn't be losing any more people than we probably have already.

[ Going to move and brush his fingers over what he can manage of that palm, his expression a little unreadable. ]

We can remember each other... clearly. This means... someone took a life... and now Aoi seems like he's going to do something reckless.. [ He shook his head. ] What's a blood oath, Alastor?

[superstylishsquid]

[He opens his hand, showing that the bandage is fairly small.]

Exactly what it sounds like, a promise...well, more like a pact, on the blood of the participants. It's normally almost like a geas, inviolate.

He wanted to be absolutely sure I wouldn't open the letter until the right time.

[godspiousjasper]

[ His fingers brush over the bandage lightly, though he pauses just hearing that answer. ]

Is there something that he promised to do in return? I get the feeling this isn't just a one sided promise.

[ Which is where a lot of his concern comes from here. ]

[superstylishsquid]

[He closes his hand around Roland's fingers.]

Yeah, he answered a question based on Gai's vision. He doesn't know anything about the heart of the tree, or whoever this 'Intercessor' is.

[godspiousjasper]

[ In the back of his mind, some part of him wonders if he'd imagined the splotches of red he'd seen in the hallway or if it was just him spotting the usual vines and branches he always saw all the time. ]

...Which I find... a little peculiar. Didn't Gai say that he WAS Aoi in his vision?

[ Roland shook his head, glancing down to their hands for a moment. ]

Unless he's had deliberate memories wiped from him like Zack has.

[superstylishsquid]

That's what I'm starting to think. He seemed surprised when I mentioned we were getting memories back.

[godspiousjasper]

Exactly like Zack had been during our interrogation of him, though I can't tell if that's just because of how he'd been picked out to be the Fabricator.

[ Roland exhaled a deep breath, just moving to pull Alastor into his arms, head bowed slightly. ]

I don't think Aoi's a bad person. Just... [ Why was he missing memories and not getting any back? He had so, SO many questions. ] I think his knowledge may have been useful to us and so he's not been allowed to have any of those memories back.

[superstylishsquid]

It already has been useful, but...yeah. If he was there at the center of the tree, he must know something about who's actually cultivating it.

[godspiousjasper]

Has it?

[ He's just a bit tired right now, so trying to sort out his thoughts on all this while also trying to wake up a bit as well was a bit tricky. ]

...Have... we considered that whoever is doing so... may be someone who has a lot of magical capabilities?

[superstylishsquid]

[...Come on, let's sit on the bed.]

He's the one who explained to me about Delta's background. He was a victim in the last Nonary Games, and he didn't forget any of that.

[godspiousjasper]

[ Oh he'll reluctantly give in and go with him to sit on the bed, though he's still going to be leaning on him a bit. ]

So i'm sure it has to do more with the tree instead of the games, i'd imagine.

[superstylishsquid]

It has to be, if he was there at the heart of the tree. That means he must know something we could use.

Something more than background information, considering Delta didn't wipe that, from either Aoi or myself.

[godspiousjasper]

Unless it wasn't Delta who was the one who wiped that information from him.

[ Haha no. He hates thinking about that. ]

[superstylishsquid]

That still leaves me, though. I'm a native of the same underworld the Qliphoth is from, I am a Devil Arm...in fact, it's even possible my lost powers were given to someone else here, and I just know...so much about the demonic aspects of what's going on here.

If whoever handled the memory wiping cared about general information, they'd have wiped that too.

[godspiousjasper]

That's what still eludes me. Why they'd go to such an extent for both Aoi and Zack but not you.

[ All of this was almost beginning to make his head hurt a bit now. ]

[superstylishsquid]

'S why I think the two of them should have known something more relevant to this tree in specific. Aoi remembers stuff about the Nonary Games, I remember stuff about the Qliphoth and Devil Arms...but if Aoi was there at the heart of the tree, he doesn't remember.

[godspiousjasper]

There's... definitely more to this than what meets the eye when it comes to who knows what.

[ He exhaled a deep breath and just leaned over to put his head on Alastor's shoulder. Something's nagging at him but he doesn't want to think more about it. ]

...Do we have any time to sleep a little more?

[superstylishsquid]

Yeah, it's still pretty early.

[godspiousjasper]

[ With that said, he's just too tired to do much else. So enjoy being pushed back to lie on the bed properly, Alastor.

Since Roland is VERY much going to just cuddle up close to him, one arm draped over his chest. ]