[center][h1][color=92278f]DUSK[/color] & Stheno[/h1][/center]

They walk. Another mile. And another mile through the taiga forests.
[color=92278f][i]''Do you hear that?''[/i][/color] Dusk speaks.
[color=92278f][i]''The whispers in the wind... These are not delusions, nor are you going insane. You must've heard them before. They are the Perpetuals -- voices -- of people afflicted with the same thing we are. If you pay attention to it, you can hear them from every direction, and from all corners of the globe. Do not be alarmed by it.''[/i][/color]
They walk further, the climate is getting colder and bleaker even in the heart of spring. Why so far north? Why in this no-man's-land of boreal Canada?

[color=92278f][i]''In the meantime, do you perhaps have any questions? I believe now is a good opportunity to ask; I can tell how confused and startled you are by everything you've witnessed. I will tell you what I know, even when I don't know much.''[/i][/color]

Did she have questions.

What do you even say to that? Where did you even start? Things like 'who the hell are you' and 'what the hell are we doing in the cold' and 'what the hell is happening to me' all jockeys in her mind, all reasonable thoughts, but with her hands shoved into her pockets and her shoulders hunched together against the cold under her coat Elizabeth could only really bring herself to ask one thing.

"Why Elvarren?" She managed, tugging her cozy knit beanie down over her ears self consciously. She hadn't ever really said it our loud before, she realized, and it sounded stupider than she thought.

Because she was really that self conscious in front of a bloody eskimo.

And the eskimo gives reply: 
[color=92278f][i]''Elvarren...''[/i][/color]
That same one word, utterly meaningless from the surface, though making you unable to shake off that feeling there's something quite profound to it.
[color=92278f][i]''Humans crave for explanations to their lot in life, do they not? Especially those like us, cast in an unexplainable maelstrom of bizarre fates and fables of mysticism.
Elvarren represents the answer. Or at least, the Perpetuals seem to believe so. Why do we have these powers? Why are the Greymen looking for us? Why us, and not someone else? Elvarren is all we have to go on. Our only clue. The single distant light tower shining from the murky bay.
In fact, by the way the Perpetual is making it out to be, our very lives -- and perhaps those of our species as a whole -- revolves around finding it, now.''[/i][/color]
 
Was that answer in any way helpful or satisfying to Elizabeth? Probably not. 
Dusk begins to pant, as in fatigue. There is a visible strain appearing on his face as he lowers his head.
 
[color=92278f][i]''Sorry. It's not easy, you know... I'm not happy about it either, to be of so little help. And this strain... to find you all before they do. Sometimes I wonder if...''[/i][/color]
Dusk shakes his head.
[color=92278f][i]''No, no. I am in too deep now. I must see this through -- [b]we[/b] must see this through...!''[/i][/color]
 
 
He wasn't wrong. If Eliza had any sense that Dusk knew anything more about what the hell Elvarren was than he was saying she would have...well, she'd have done...something, at any rate. Her thoughts flicked back to men smashed into walls and left on airport floors, to the way Charlie's arm looked after--

She wrapped her arms around herself, and not because she was cold.

Meanwhile her little sherpa seemed to he having a little meltdown of his own, which actually somehow made it easier. It was easier to deal with someone else having a hard time than it was to figure out whatever this mess actually meant for her, and even if he was crazy at least they were both crazy. She almost reached out to reassure him, flexing her long fingers tentatively, but he snapped out of it before she could manage. Her hand tucked quickly into her pocket, embarassed.

[color=92278f][i]''Anyway, if you'd have asked me: ''[i]WHERE[/i] Elvarren... that's where things get interesting. The Perpetual that enlisted me to its cause seems to be wisest as to its whereabouts, from where i'm standing. He insists it's towards a pole of the planet. That is why I chose this place... that is why I am bringing you all to my dad's lodge deep into Canada.''[/i][/color]

"Sounds..."

[Sub]Right, sweetling. It sounds right.[/sub]

[i]Thanks, voice in my head. Very comforting,[/i] she thought, but then felt silly for thinking it. Eliza wasn't a shrink, but she was pretty sure you weren't supposed to chat with your delusions.

"Better than anything I've got." She finished and admitted at the same time, and felt better for it. It was somehow easier to go with someone's plan, any plan, having accepted that she didn't have one of her own. Then she blinked.

"So when you say 'lodge'..."

[color=92278f][i]''T'is a small place. Not quite befitting of a lady... more of a shelter for dispossessed.... I should warn you, some of the people ther--''[/i][/color]
Dusk would have continued, when suddenly an expression of sheer dread formed on his face, and his movement halted abruptly. He sensed something.
 
''What? What is it?'' With a look like that on his face it had to be something serious, Eliza assumed, and tried to hazard a guess. "Not more Greymen, right?"

[color=92278f][i]''No, no, it's not... There is no way they'd be able to trace us so fast in their current state.''[/i][/color]
Dusk mumbles inwardly, enough so for his words to be unintelligible to Eliza.
[color=92278f][i]''How familiar... Is it still alive? It's been a long time; that damned beast. I had half a thought that the Greymen would have gotten it by now. Well. Perhaps it is for the better.''[/i][/color]
 
Listening to him mutter away didn't exactly help her opinion of the guy's sanity, but she knew enough that if something was bothering him like that it wasn't for nothing. It passed as soon as it came, it would seem, but she eyed him up until he gathered himself back together.
 
[color=92278f][i]''Come on. It's not far now. We'll be safe there, trust me on at least that much.''[/i][/color]
 
 
And lo, in the clearance amidst the trees appears the ramshackle lodge of Dusk's father mentioned earlier. Almost entirely made of wood, save for some use of lead and metal for the roof. The area is eerily quiet from the surface and shrouded in morning mist still. However, both Dusk and Eliza can sense that there are many people inside at present. Even if some of them are still in a state of slumber, or deliberately try be as quiet as they can, there are the whispers of Perpetuals that will inevitably lead others to them -- others likewise stricken by this ill fate.
 
Dusk and his new compatriot move to the door, with the Dusk opening it, he and Eliza finally leave the cold behind and move inside.
 
[color=92278f][i]''[b]People! It's me -- Dusk! I'm back! 
Where is Aries? Hello?[/b]''[/i][/color]
 
Entering the room, he can see four faces, three familiar and one completely alien to him.
Getting used to the very welcoming embrace of the lodge's warmer temperature, Dusk removes the winter hood that had hitherto covered his scalp, and for some this will be the first time getting a good look at him.
He appears like an ordinary young man, dark blond of hair, slender -- a bit gaunt even, though this is not quite visible under the thick winter's clothing which is indeed reminiscent to those worn by Inuit tribes. His complexion is pale, and his face handsome, even slightly feminine in a way that will make certain Balkan women swoon.
He turns to Fuchsia first. [color=92278f][i]''Hey. I knew you would make. I'm so sorry for having left you like that. But from now on, we'll stick together. For survival's sake, if nothing else.''[/i][/color]
 
Then he looks over to the unfamiliar man with the beard. [color=92278f][i]''Where did you come from? ...You found us? On your own? Normally I am the one finding other people. How strange.. But a good pace of change, I suppose.
What is your name? No, not your real one -- your alias.''[/i][/color]

For her part, Eliza met the rag-tag band of individuals with as much cheer as...well, no. She was awkward, her hands in the pockets of her black thigh-length coat, her head tucked under the stylishly-knit cream beanie tugged tight over hair that was very nearly platinum. Petite and slim, certainly compared to her parka-wearing guide, she managed a little wave of her fingers from the hip and a quiet "...'lo everbody..." before stepping to the side of the door and taking her place against a wall. What a motley little crew they'd found...
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[sub]Collab with [@Grijs].[/sub]