[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/Svvasvb.png[/img][/center]
[hider=Toun Responds To People]
Short post, but I'll summarise anyway:

- Toun continues poking the cube to escape his grief.
- Toun speaks back to Teknall when he arrives. Is generally cynical.
- Toun receives the ping from Lifprasil, mistakes it for Vulamera and then for Vestec. Go figure. He doesn't text back like the pig he is.
- After spotting Amartia in the cube, Toun thinks the cube is no more than a prison and gives up. He feels slightly embarrassed for not noticing the demigod as he did not think to look inside the cube at all. Everything starts to build up inside of him.
- Astarte shows up. Toun uses her presence as an excuse to vent the frustration he feels in himself and his grief. He is generally rather insulting while doing this.

[i]No might spent.[/i]
[/hider]
So lost and avoidant was Toun in trying to solve the puzzle of the cube's many markings that the years went by without him finding the answer. He had many excuses to find Vowzra's time spreading power utterly obnoxious, but allowing him to justify focussing on his puzzle was not one of them.

What did count among the gripes was the time it took for his siblings to respond to his message. Teknall was the first, Toun could detect him outside. The time he had spent weeping meant Toun was given much more time to deal with the puzzle before the craftsman came through the gate.

When Teknall approached, Toun turned his head to look at him with one eye but didn't respond to his greeting. His presence was a reminder of his grief. Perhaps thankfully, Teknall's attention was brought to the cube as well. Not so thankfully, Teknall only had more ill tidings. Toun slid his hands from the cube so they loosely swayed to a stop at his sides.

[color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Reathos. More death."[/b][/color] Toun bowed his head forward and swayed it in slow disagreement. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Vulamera. It does not matter if Vowzra slew her now. It is all a game. A cruel game."[/b][/color] Toun's eye turned up to the cube. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Knowing Vowzra, he was playing the game so closely that this little diversion might not mean anything but a lie in the end. I am simply here looking at it because..."[/b][/color]

Toun's trailing off was caused, initially by his lack of an answer. He was considering remarking on the hollowness he felt, though his trail of thought was interrupted. He lifted his head straight. A nudge of some kind was sent across the aether that sounded somewhat like...Vulamera?

No. She was dead. This was not Vulamera. It was one of Vestec's tricks posing as her dead sister. It stank of it. Toun would not indulge Vestec with an answer, as incensed as it made him feel.

Rather than dwell on Toun's incomplete answer, Teknall posed another question. One that made Toun blink and tighten his shoulders. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"I was not looking for anyone inside,"[/b][/color] he answered defensively. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"It was inconsequential."[/b][/color]

Trust the engineer to focus on the structure and not just the surface. It was just a filthy cube anyway. There was no point.

Nevertheless, Toun remedied his complacency by looking as Teknall was. Sure enough, a hiding creature slept within. Toun's cheek lifted a fingerwidth. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Oh,"[/b][/color] his low tone sounded, [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"It is the brat."[/b][/color] Toun narrowed one eye at the memories that Minus had conveyed to him while shadowing Lazarus. The hedonistic creature could rot without his concern. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"This cube is not a record, then. It is a prison. I had suspected that Vowzra's promises were empty. This proves it. There is no point trying to open it."[/b][/color]

With a disdainful hiss, Toun turned on his heel and took two paces forward to look out to the landscape of the ruined plane. His head slouched forward and shot in one direction and another. He had hoped to take his mind from the criticism he was giving himself for even bothering, but his eye instead found yet another sibling. His hiss lasted just a little longer.

It was none other than Astarte. She was on her way in, apparently looking miserable. She had just floated to a stop to seat a short distance away. Toun tilted his head and balled a fist. She couldn't have arrived for any purpose but whimsy. That she even dared to show her face made Toun's eye twitch. After everything else, Toun took one look at her and his frustration burst.

[color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Are you here to laugh, sister?!"[/b][/color] Toun he threw an arm across in front of himself, escalating the venom his tone. [color=PaleGoldenrod][b]"Go on! Laugh! Laugh like Vestec! It's all you possess! It's all that you do! Laugh!"[/b][/color]