uccellodifuoco | 14th Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Action

[Morning - early afternoon]

[Luceti is just a village, surrounded by a forest full with animals, so it may not be a surprise for some to see a small wolf pup, little over a year old, wandering around the village. Or maybe it can be a surprise since the animal is all alone. At any rate, Hyoga, will be sniffing at everything and everyone, using all his tracking talents to find a certain person, though if he meets with anyone whose scent he knows the animal may give it a try to drag them with him to Ikki's apartment. The wolf pup is rather insistent and seems to have a huge sense of urgency, as if he's terribly worried...

Eventually, though, the animal will find House 15, where his target now resides. Hopefully none of the people living there will mind the howling and barking wolf pup at their door until the door gets open for him or Selphie appears, somehow. Again there's a certain sense of urgency and insistence in the animal, this may not be a game for him after all.]

[Late afternoon - night]

[Later in the afternoon, after a talk with Selphie, Ikki will be hitting the Good Spirits bar. Apparently trying to check how much alcohol he needs to drink before he gets intoxicated, he will be there until someone drags him away or he's kicked out of the bar. Fortunately despite his intents he's a slow drinker so his life isn't in danger.

That doesn't mean he may end at the wrong place because he's too drunk to remember where his apartment is.]

((OOC: Feel free to meet Hyoga and be dragged to Ikki's apartment, specially if you've CR with him already, but even if not the animal would probably end guiding them there if anyone asks what's wrong. Selphie's thread will be the last one chronologically for that part. For the next part, your character can meet Ikki as he makes his way to the bar, when he's on it or when he's trying to return home, be warned that his grade of coherency may not be high in the last situation.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Selphie gave a shout that she was going out for a little bit, grabbed a heavy sweater and booked it to Ikki's place before she opens the door and peers inside curiously.]

Ikki? Are you home? Smoker? Is everything all right? Hyoga came looking for me and...

[What does Selphie find?]

[There's no answer other than a soft thudding sound, regular and constant, as if someone is hitting something. The living room is apparently fine on a first glance, on a second one Selphie may start to notice details, such as the small trail of destroyed plushies -the ones Ikki won when Luceti Land was present-, a few things out of place with clear signs of having been thrown to the wall... And in a hidden corner if she ventures inside... Flames. But those are flames that don't burn anything and don't make the normal noises a fire would make. If she checks the fire she will find Ikki surrounded by a barrier of his own Cosmos again.

Sitting on the ground with knees pulled up, constantly hitting the back of his head against the wall, not strong enough to be serious but constant enough for it to have started to cause a wound. And he already has a bandage on his forehead, this guy doesn't learn.

Hyoga quickly enters and sniffs a bit before going to sit in front of Ikki, barking at him as if annoyed before whining and looking at Selphie. He won't listen to anyone else, the puppy's last hope is her apparently.]

[She notices the destruction and she gets that sinking feeling that something is wrong. Then there's the thudding and Selphie doesn't even take her sweater off before she's hot on Hyoga's tracks and finds Ikki engulfed in flames. She sees the burn marks on the walls before she kneels next to Hyoga and look at Ikki with concern.]

Ikki, please stop that.

[She'd reach out to touch him but she's not touching those flames but is wondering why they're not spreading.]

[Despite the burn marks on the walls the flames now don't feel warm even as she stretches her hand, actually they feel cold. There's a grunt as an answer as she calls and Ikki's head lulls forward for a moment, before it crashes back against the wall, this time more strongly.

Hyoga lays down, whimpering and crying at the sound of the impact. The flames flicker, diminishing, but still there on clear sight. And Ikki resumes the head banging with another grunt, which sounds as something close to "shut up".]

IKKI!

[Selphie's hand snakes out hesitantly to touch the flames and upon realizing that they're not burning, she's dashing into the flames and wedging herself between him and the wall to get him to stop.]

Stop it Ikki! You're hurting yourself|!

[That's the point Selphie, that's part of the point. The assault shakes him, though, and brings him out of his mental retreat, again. He grunts as he first notices Hyoga and then turns to look who he has brought this time.

... He really didn't expect Selphie to be there, though part of him supposes it should have been obvious.]

Selphie...

[He frowns, for a second it looks as if he's going to say something in his usual vein , something mean or rude. But instead he just clings to her. Yeah. Phoenix Ikki, clinging to itty bitty Selphie, like a little kid. It won't last, fortunately.]

Ikki, what's wrong?

[She looks up at him and sees the bandage on his forehead and the banging sounded like it hurt so Selphie's sending some of Nala's healing magic his way.]

This isn't like you.

I don't know.

[It's said in an angry tone, annoyed, because he doesn't know why he feels like this. Worse than back during that month in which all he wanted to do was drink and forget for awhile.]

I don't want to keep going on. There's no reason for it. I just want to stop.

[And the bitty one that's being clung to looks up at Ikki, with worry and her tone takes on a distinct note of pleading.]

It's gotta be something bad for Hyoga to come find me. Try to calm down, please?

He's just being nosy. And stupid. I told him to go and find someone to take care of him for a while, he wasn't supposed to bring anyone here.

[But that's what he has been doing the whole morning.]

[Selphie smiles sadly at him. She can understand wanting to be alone but not if he's just going to hurt himself like this.]

Don't do that to him. Is it something from this past weekend?

Should I have just ignored him and let him starve?

[He sighs.]

I don't know. I don't remember anything but... I don't feel fine. My patience ran out, I suppose, as I realized something this morning.

You could send a shout to me over the journal and I can come feed him.

[Make sure you're okay while she's at it. Here Ikki, have more healing magic.]

Spill the beans?

That would have made you come and ask... Which you're already doing.

[He grunts, it's not fair. He moves away from her, leaning against the wall again.]

I had a dream about the past. About people who are dead in my world, they came here after they died so I was able to see them again. It's not the first time I have a dream like that but every other time everything was just as I remembered, this time I was older, the age I really have. And yet some of them were children compared to me.

[It was unnerving. Annoying. Frustrating.]

14th Rise of the Phoenix ஜ Action

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