Zzz... Zzz... "G-gah! How long was I out?" Ika jolted awake, finding herself inside the back seat of your typical carriage. It was moving along, bumpy as ever, and it was disorienting her like crazy, unable to focus on anything. She felt like a bobblehead, and by instinct, fell over to the side, being caught by someone. A familiar voice rang through her ears. "Sweetie, you alright?" Mako was tender as ever, never seeming to falter. She helped stabilize Ika after her nap during the ride. After getting a grip on things, they quietly held hands. "Sorry, Maks... You know how I am on long rides." Mako chuckled her 'ol, same chuckle. "I'm aware, Ika. You alright, though? You were sleeping the whole day. You need something?" Ika shook her head to try and wick away any sleeping demons. "Maybe some water, but I'm fine. Not very hungry either. Just need to stay awake. Where are we going, again?" Mako fished something out of her purse. Ika forgot she usually carried a purse, but she needed one for all the various travel amenities they would need: scratch paper, pencils, old coins (probably totaling to about 30 or 40 Amog, though both of them doubted any bank would accept them these days). Eventually, she pulled out a map of sorts. "I don't really make the plans- This is Toby's actually. We're going to the base of the mountain range, before hiking to the top, remember?" Hiking... Top... "Oh, right, the dwarves! They still holding up well, Maks?" In front of them were the other duo that accompanies them, Edgie and Toby. Toby was looking out at the wayside, seeing the various trees and ponds that were passing by. Edgie, no stranger to boredom, was just patiently looking dead into the distance - a thousand aeon stare - when they overheard the question. They turned in their seat the hold its edge, and directly faced Ika, unblinking. "Unfortunately, it's only been worse. On High has announced that there's been a noticeable decline in their numbers." They flicked their wrist, producing a magic screen in front of them, reading off some sort of arbitrary data - arbitrary to the two in the back, anyways. "It's only been 0.3% so far, but if this keeps going at its current rate, they might be down to their last numbers, so it's critical we reach them soon." Ika shrunk down in her seat, trying her best to take up little space, physically and verbally. "Yeahthanksokayedgieappreciateit." Mako gave her a playful backhand. "C'mon, you know Edgie, you don't need to be afraid of them!" Ika just shook her head. "Sorry... Just, long trip, longer sleep. I swear I saw something in my dreams... something about sound, or headphones, or- I don't know! My head's all compartmentalized these days." It was a bit of an awkward silence. With a nudge from Mako, though, Ika decided to try and be social, for once. "H-hey, Edgie?" They pivoted again to face. "What's that 'On High' thing? You, uhm, said that earlier, are they like... good, bad?" Edgie closed their eyes to concentrate. "It's a hard item to describe, Ika. It would be analogous to... your parents. Us mages, we're born through a ritual that mixes the magic of two or more people, then, the one known as The High Priest mixes it all together and adds a handful of their own mana." Ika thought to herself. "Buh... but aren't you human? I thought humans came from the ground?" Edgie just blinked. "There are lots of ways to make people." They turned to Mako. "What have you been telling her?" Mako rolled her eyes. "More, like, what HAVEN'T I been telling her? I love you dearly, Ika, but you don't know a whole lot about society, do you?" Ika shook her head again. "Memory loss... sorry. I don't even know how I was born." The horses neighed loudly. That was their time to depart - what they gathered from the rider's cold, dead stare at the four of them, anyways. They wordlessly departed and assessed the situation. Mako held out a hand to measure the sun - not necessarily dusk, but it would be pretty close. "I feel like we should probably set up shop. What do you think, Toby?" No response to Mako's question. "Toby?" They looked around - no sign of the blue haired man. "But he was just here... Ika, you see him run off?" Ika meagerly pointed in a direction, into the woods. Mako directed. "Ika, you and Edgie set up a campsite. I'll go find Toby. Can you handle that?" Ika nodded yes, wordlessly starting to grab supplies from the duffel bag. Mako, meanwhile, ran off in the direction Ika pointed, remembering it with perfect clarity. ... It was a decent while before she found herself at the mouth of a lake. It wasn't particularly large - couldn't find any fish or mawfins on a decent glance - but it was big enough to walk around. The blue-haired man was sitting down on a stump, staring into the water - blue as he was. Mako took a seat down on the ground next to him, careful to push away any stray leaves or sticks. They sat in silence for a while, Toby having noticed her presence, but not really saying anything. "Something on your mind, Tumbler?" "Phe. What isn't? What's the meaning of it all, anyways?" Mako tilted her head. "What do you mean?" "Doesn't it strike you as a little odd that we all, all *four* of us, never knew our parents?" Mako thought back. Ika, she had memory loss of her past, still trying to collect its fragments. Edgie was born in a cauldron, with mixed magic, or whatever they said. Mako, herself, was an orphan, having to grow up in a school, albeit one that was very charitable. "Toby, I don't think you ever told me *your* story." Toby sighed, raising his claw to speak. "It's simple, really. I awoke on the sands of The Neon Desert. There, nobody has parents. It's the price you pay for being a *fucking Cyber.*" "Is that why you didn't say anything on the ride here?" "Of course that's why, do you take me for a fool, Mako? Do you have any idea, any idea at all what I had to go through?! This damned arm..." He took a step forward. ### "Do you have ANY. IDEA. The pain, the *suffering*, I had to go through?!-" "Hey, hey, Toby, it's alright, we can talk this out-" # "NO!" Toby walked in a huff towards the lake, but as he was about to make contact with the water, Mako grabbed a hold of the collar of his shirt and dragged him down to the ground. "Toby, I know you're mad, but that much water in your system is *suicide*! You're not thinking rationally, so we're going to sit here until you calm down." "And how do you plan to do that, huh?!" Mako picked him up from off his back and... hugged him. Hugged him tightly, tightly enough to where he couldn't escape. Mako whispered in his ear... "I know Ika is my priority right now, but you matter to me too, Toby. We don't have to talk about it now, or tomorrow, but I'm always all ears, okay? We're all a little broken, we can all get through this." ... Back at the campsite, Ika and Edgie were wordlessly putting the finishing touches on their tents, when Mako and Toby walked back from the forest. They seemed fine enough, but Mako's typical smile was more of a hazy curve, and Toby wasn't exactly the type to be hanging onto people's shoulders. Nobody said a word, waiting for someone else to talk. They all looked at each other, until finally, Toby had the [[Capacity]] to say something. "I almost short-circuited myself." [[Nobody]] got any sleep that night.