"Of course. I can help him back here later. What time exactly do you think you'll be getting back home?" Attis proposed the question, although a bit rushed, seeings how Illorex and Recheov were outside together. Alone. Without any supervision whatsoever.

That couldn't possibly end well. Not right now, at least. Those two needed to be separated before Recheov threw some punches.

"Y-yes, um, my shift ends in the early evening, around five o'clock."

"All right. Five o'clock it is," Attis declared as he turned and started to the door.

"We'll have him back for you by then, don't worry!" Milos declared in toe, knowing full well what it was like to be separated from someone he really loved being around for too long. Sometimes, just being away from Attis for a day was heartbreaking. Milos would be there to help Dyss down the stairs if need be, and to help him walk to the inn, too.

Of course, outside, he didn't know how he should be going about this. Attis lead the way, and Milos stuck by Dyss. How did Izumi do this? He wondering, knowing that she was the one that was with him for the most part. Does she hold onto him like this? Or hold his hand? Or what? It was a bit awkward, now that Milos thought about it. What should he have been doing, here? Well, it could be left up to Dyss. Milos just stayed close, close enough that Dyss would be able to feel him there, with one hand up and placed gently upon the side of his chest, barely holding onto his shirt. If Dyss needed more than this, he could just walk closer to Milos, or whatever else he might have been able to come up with.

As Dyss walked, he would be fine with the grip Milos took, though if it had been Izumi, he may have been closer. It felt somehow wrong to walk as close with anyone else. Maybe it was just a matter of comfort, considering she'd been really the only person to help him very much since he'd first lost his sight...

"Um... Do you have money?"

Dyss had become somewhat familiar with the real world, though he never had any money of his own. Any he made had to come from Izumi, and so he rarely, if ever asked for any, if Izumi even had money to give. But they couldn't sleep at an inn without money...

"I do," Attis, heading the group, replied. Dyss couldn't see it, but he had held up a small bag of gold.

"Oi, 'ow'd you nab that?"

Illorex responded instead, "I believe that is the least of our worries."

"'ow do you figure, 'alfface?"

This, as seemed to be the case many times before, prompted Milos to whine, "Recheov, come on~. You don't have start a fight every time Illorex talks . . ."

This quieted Recheov, while Illorex himself was quiet as is. It wasn't long after that they reached the inn; a small place, not too expensive. It was a good ways away from Izumi's, but Attis had lead them there easily. Izumi may have been a little flighty, but she gave great directions--great enough for someone completely new to town to make sense of them. Despite the awkward dialog of the innkeeper, Attis kept a respectful and calming attitude. If anything, he was charismatic. He could convince someone to disregard Recheov's rugged look or Illorex's duality if he needed to.

Because they had a blind man with them, they were given a first floor room. The rates were cheap, but it was going to mean that they'd have to make money somehow. That was going to have to be a topic of immediate discussion.

Once they were in the room--which was actually just two rooms conjoined together by a hallways--Milos helped Dyss to a bed, sitting him down, and taking a seat nearby Dyss, himself. Recheov lounged on a bed of his own, while Illorex took a loveseat for himself. Attis, on the other hand, remained standing.

Amazingly enough, Illorex was the first one to speak, asking abruptly, "What next?"

"You and Recheov are going to come with me this evening to investigate the town. That's the initial plan. We need to first know why the Qi of this area is so high. Once we know that, we can work on draining it."

Milos hadn't been included in that, though. "What about me?"

"I was hoping that you'd be able to look for some sort of employment. We can't stay for free, and food costs money. If this takes a week or two, we'll need some source of income," Attis replied, but was then prompted to ask, "Actually, Dyss, do you know of any places looking for employees?"

"I think the diner wants people... I even tried, but it didn't work out..."

After just a few hours, the owner had decided to forgive the broken dishes in exchange for Dyss no longer working in the dishroom drying dishes, but only if Dyss was to stop work immediately. That had been the only place that Dyss had worked at... Milos was more likely to be helpful, though, and Izumi already worked there.

"We can Izumi how to get there later..."

Dyss couldn't really direct his friends there. It would probably be good for Milos and Izumi to get to know each other; he wanted both in his life. What they were doing seemed strange, though... And it occurred to him... Attis hadn't given him a job to do...

"What can I do...?"

Dyss had his own ideas, but he would rather know Attis'...

Milos could do any number of jobs there, too. Waiter, waitress, dishwasher, host, hostess, cook--any of it. Literally. He looked female enough to get away with it. No one would be able to tell unless they saw Milos naked, or awkwardly groped him. It was impossible to tell that he was male as is; he had a feminine neck, chin, facial structure, feminine curves from the bottom of his ribcage to his hips--he was essentially what most guys would hit on and then feel absolutely terrible about later, feeling like the world had effectively ended or something along those lines, after someone else tells them the truth.

Attis didn't say anything for a long time. Everyone else became silent, too. Milos for lack of anything to say to add, he had no ideas. Recheov had a feeling that he knew what was going on in Attis's head, and Illorex . . . well . . . it was amongst the few times that he genuinely concluded something without a fraction of split thoughts.

"He can think of nothing," Illorex replied, "Because you cannot see, he is hard pressed to find a task for you."

Milos was quick to combat this, defending Dyss as he said, "I-Illorex! Attis didn't say anything like that. I'm sure he has something in mind for Dyss, despite all of that. He's here to help, too; we can't just toss him away because he can't see."

"I did not say we were tossing him away. Just that Attis will be hard pressed to find a job for him."

"B-but . . . but Attis--he never said anything like that . . ."

Attis, however, didn't say anything . . . he didn't acknowledge if Illorex or Milos were right--but if Dyss had ideas, throwing them out there certainly wasn't going to hurt him.

Dyss turned his head down at the blunt statement by Illorex, the sentiments essentially mirroring his own. Dyss didn't know what he could do to help like this... Attis had sent him because he was perhaps the most capable of living on his own, and now he couldn't help but feel useless and pathetic.

"...No, it's okay..."

The few tears stuck in Dyss's mottled eyes as he faced the floor would make it clear enough that he wasn't really okay with it, but it wasn't his friends' fault. It was the same feeling he'd had for weeks now on his own. Illorex was just telling him what everyone else was too polite to tell him. Except... Well, perhaps there one thing...

"Can you sense each other? Like, in a different way from normally? I knew you were coming today... And I knew when another one of those things like Vincent showed up without seeing them or anything..."

"D-Dyss, y-you're . . ." Milos started, shocked.

And why else would he have been shocked? So close to Dyss, he could see more than anyone else that tears were welling up in his eyes, that his face contorted in emotional pain, that everything wasn't okay. Milos instinctively raised one hand up to touch Dyss on the shoulder; he was about ready to lean in and hug the man, if that would've helped any. It probably wouldn't but when people were sad, they usually wanted support or comfort of some sort. Something in the back of his mind told him this. Something prompted him to provide comfort. It was something that no one ever forgot; a physical memory, something like breathing, all in the same style of knowledge which Milos could recall--

Dyss spoke again before Milos decided it was necessary to embrace his friend. He held off, sitting close, hand still on his shoulder, but that was it.

Dyss's inquiry brought about significant curiosity from Attis, of all people. "You can sense us? Like a sixth sense?"

Illorex made another deduction, "That's why you were running away at first. You felt someone coming."

Attis moved from the door to the bed, closer to Dyss. "Is that true . . .?"

"Yes. It's not seeing, but more like... Feeling..."

Dyss didn't really know how or why he could sense such things, but it was perhaps the most useful ability he possessed at the moment. Particularly if there were more things coming, like Vincent and his friends. Being a warning device, particularly a passive one, wasn't the most appealing job in the world, but at least Dyss could feel as though he was useful for something...

"I can tell you if something else arrives..."

Dyss's attitude would perk somewhat with that revelation that he still had a use to his friends...

Attis released a deep sigh of relief. He hated the notion that he had to tell one of his friend that they were effectively useless for the project at hand. That would've torn him up inside as much as it would've torn Dyss up to hear it. Likewise, he was relieved to learn that they really did have a means of knowing if someone from Purgatory, or someone toting any sort of spiritual power altogether, came near the Township of Galaens.

"Okay," and as he thought about it more and more, "That means you know where we are here, right? If something happens, you can find one of us to tell us, if you're not currently with one of us."

It was definitely the most passive job, but it was vital. Dyss had something none of them did, some other sort of sense that doubled for his lack of vision, it seemed--but was it really just that? Attis didn't say much about it, but he was going to research it. Curiosity was going to get the best of him. Everyone in the room knew that--and Dyss probably did, too . . .

"Well, 'til this evenin', wot do we do?" Recheov, feeling miraculously better, spoke up over Attis.

"Well, I suppose we take the time we can--and, well . . . look around, and do what we'd like to, before we need to do what he have to." Everyone was entitled to a break, and they'd been on the move for weeks, constantly viewing a world of gray. Now was a good time for a break. Resting could come later tonight.

"Kind of... I know you're here, but not much more..."

Dyss wasn't really able to see with his sense, so much as know the general position of things. Even distance wasn't really included- he had no sight by which to judge distance, and intensity never seemed to be reliable. All he could tell was existence and direction, with no real identification...

"Yes... I can do that."

Dyss was glad to have some function, even if it wasn't the most exciting or active one. And as for what to do that evening... Dyss wasn't entirely sure. Most of his time had just been spent with Izumi or alone without doing much...

"Roight, well oI got moy plan, now," Recheov declared with as much enthusiasm as he could--which was generally a bad thing, whenever Recheov became overly enthused about anything in particular, "Attis was tellin' us about this shit called beer. oI gotta troy this out."

"You know, we don't really know where you could get that," Milos interjected, though he didn't really look to Recheov at all. Milos's attention had been focused upon Dyss, whose lighter mood was making Milos feel better all the same. He hated seeing his friends suffering, or anything remotely similar. It was too sad, when they were sad or fighting, or the like.

"oI can ask around."

Attis didn't think this was the best idea. And rightly so. No one probably thought good of this idea--except Recheov. "Recheov, Izumi is so far the only living person you've met so far. Shouldn't you take it a little slow . . .?"

"Nah. Moight as well go 'eadlong into it! oI'll catch you guys later." The door opening and closing would signify to Dyss that Recheov had left.

"I hope he doesn't get himself hurt . . ." Milos sulked.

"He probably will," responded Illorex as he made his way to the door, too, opening it and closing it behind him without any warning whatsoever.

At this, Attis could only smile and sigh. "Well, I guess it's my duty to keep those two from killing eachother, isn't it? If you two leave, could you lock up before you do? It looks like there are more sets of keys by the door, so just take a couple before you go."

Dyss would listen to the others go quietly, wondering what exactly they were going to do. And for that matter, if they still looked like he remembered. It had been quite a while now... And his hair had started to grow here, among other things. Getting a haircut to look (apparently) normal again had been an experience...

"Milos? Did I miss anything important?"

Dyss had been away for a quite a while, after all. While he knew perhaps more about Attis than most of the rest did, he didn't know what had happened in the past few weeks, while he'd been here with Izumi...

Milos shook his head. "No. Well, nothing that you don't already know. Vincent and three others with him hunted as down about a week ago. Attis said that we were actually being followed the entire time."

It was a bit of a long story, but Dyss knew enough details for Milos to skim over a few details. What details, though, he didn't know. Milos took a moment to think, setting his index finger upon his bottom lip and focusing his gaze to the floor--as if the floor had more answers than he.

"Well, he said that after we drove them away. He said before we left that there are predators out in Purgatory, and that we should always be on guard, but . . . but, um, well, that was it, until after we fought Vincent and the others. He told us that they'd have struck sooner if we acted suspicious, so, well, he didn't say anything."

"Illorex is upset with Recheov for disorienting Vincent and the others when he could have mortally wounded them, instead--and Recheov keeps saying that Illorex could have done more, but . . . I don't know if he's right," Milos sighed, "Can Illorex do anything? I know we all can, at least, um . . . it always seemed that way. But Illorex . . . I just, I don't know. The whole time, he didn't budge. He didn't look scared, but I guess you can never tell with him, huh?"

"I don't know..."

Dyss wasn't sure what power Illorex may have. It was true that most of them did how some sort of strange powers (or did, in Dyss' case), but he had no idea what Illorex's may be. Or Attis', for that matter...

"Recheov enjoys fighting so much, though... We all know that..."

He didn't really want to blame his friend for their escape. Or anyone. He was just glad that they had made it through relatively unscathed, especially considering himself and Recheov had failed to handle even Vincent, much less friends. It made him curious, though. Had he met Vincent when he first arrived in the real world...?

"I need to talk to Attis at some point, too..."

There was Recheov, whose power could not be explained in words for everyone saw its chaos differently (and the same person even saw something new the next time, too), Milos, who was almost impossible to harm and could pick up any physical activity instantly, and Dyss, who could perceive light from any angle and even control it to an extent. Attis and Illorex were mysteries. The only one who seemed to know anything about Illorex were actually Recheov and Attis; Attis said nothing, Recheov refused to talk about it.

"I don't know," Milos thought aloud, "The way Recheov talks about Illorex, it sounds like he's even scared of him. And . . . well, now that I think about it, Recheov normally would have socked Illorex in the face by now, wouldn't he? But, um, he's avoided it as much as possible."

I don't think I've actually seen Recheov think before he acts before, either. But he does with Illorex . . .

A thought for another day, perhaps. Not now. Milos did, however, mention nothing about Attis, no presented question about what he could or could not do--chances were he knew better than anyone else, and was perhaps the only one who knew.

"U-umm, anyways, Attis will probably be back later! I think it's just us for now," Milos looked up and thought aloud once more, a bad habit of his: "Unless you don't want me around . . ."