[Ten minutes later has Zero pacing the living room. In his hand is the CereVice which he has not been staring at the entire time waiting for Ishtar to return his text. Even one of her stupid facetexts would do at this point.
He keeps pacing, his mind already running wild with possible scenarios for her absence. The more obvious ones slowly start to irritate him, knowing her, she probably ran into some stranger and started chatting them up losing track of time, and was even now inviting them to a dinner that was now cold and which Zero refused to heat up, or so he told himself.
On the other end of the spectrum, Zero couldn't help but recall the latest disaster that almost cost them their lives. He barely had enough time to get her out of harms way before the building came crashing down on him. That thought was the one that stuck with him the most slowly replacing irritation with sips of worry. Ishtar never missed a meal, especially one that she didn't have to cook herself, and she wasn't answering his texts which was strange in itself. Usually it was the other way around, the Princess being too chatty and Zero outright ignoring her texts to save himself a headache.
With this line of thinking, it didn't take long for dread to set in and before he had a plan in place, Zero strode out of the room, closing the door behind him. If he found her talking in the hallway, he was going to wring her new one!]
[Twenty minutes later has Zero breaking into her apartment to the shock of her neighbor who heard the break-in and quickly came out to investigate as Zero dropped the broken door handle on the ground and went inside. The woman barely gasps in surprise before she runs back inside, locking the door behind her, and calling the cops on him.
Inside, Zero searched for any clue where Ishtar might have gone. He already knew she wasn't inside, his hearing had only picked up her pets who had long missed their own dinner and were now griping at him for food. Zero picked up the cat that flopped on his feet whining at him for food it clearly did not need by the weight of him.]
Where did that klutz run off to this time?
[Zero scratched behind his ear, and the cat snuggled into him rather than answer his question, not that he expected much from him. Above him, the bat flew around his head squeaking its indignation at being left with no fruit to gobble up and pecked at Zero's hair, pulling hard to get his attention.]
Will you stop that!
[He waved the bat off, annoyed at the little act of rebellion. What was with animals and his hair?!]
Come on. I'll get you something before I go look for that idiot Princess.
[The bat squeaked with unhappiness, but followed behind him nonetheless keeping a few feet above the vampire hunter as they left the apartment looking like his own personal familiar.
It didn't take them long to reach the elevator and by then, Zero was more than ready to get out of there. The neighbor had been speaking with the cops for a few minutes now, and her descriptions were getting ridiculous!
He just took her cat and left! What kind of kidnapper does that?! Yes, yes. As I said, he's a cultist of some sort, he has a bat following him. Is that some kind of satanic ritual?! Poor girl! She's only lucky she wasn't home! I don't know what would have happened to her if she had--
Zero hit the close button in irritation, and the doors closed cutting off the woman before she spouted anymore exaggerations. On his way down, Zero swore to himself that if Ishtar wasn't in trouble, he was going to make sure she washed the dishes for a month!]
[After feeding her pets, Zero immediately went out to look for the Princess, by now, it was already past ten and Zero still had no clue where Ishtar was, or if something had happened to her. It wasn't like her to to take this long to answer him back. She hadn't gone home, he had already stopped by there once while the cops were taking her neighbor's statement before leaving to search other areas she often frequented. By now, dread had turned into fear and he sent out one last message before using every tracking skill he possessed to find her.]
[ Ishtar was not very happy to wake up in the middle of the park disoriented and not really sure what the hell just happened. All she remembered was being in the research tower at the bottom of the floor and now she was in the middle of a freaking park disoriented and unsure of what the hell happened.
Of course, to her surprise, there were messages that were on her communication device. Ishtar made a face, remembering who could possibly have sent her that many-- oh well shit. How many days was it since this happened? She flipped through the damn thing until she found the actual date and cursed to herself.
Well, fuck, how was she going to explain this shit? ]
[ Ishtar skimmed through the massive amount of messages that were left on her device. A few text messages from Zero, telling her to come home for lunch and dinner and one following up much later saying he had taken her pets.
She wondered what made him tell her to get her door fixed? Then she remembered that Zero probably broke into her apartment without finding her for a while. Of course, this was in a span of a day. It had been three days since and she felt extremely terrible that she had not been able to tell him anything. He looked really worried and everything.
Ishtar knew how things like this would rouse him due to their spent time in Facility. That place full of misfortunes and struggles. She didn't even know why she still remembered the things she did, but right now, she couldn't imagined how worried sick he was about her when she didn't respond for days on end.
He might have assumed the worst had happened to her and freaked out trying to find where she was and asking people where she was too probably. On top of that he must have been feeling bad about not being able to keep an eye on her. It took her a long time before she decided to take a walk towards the direction of his apartment, still feeling a bit shitty. ]
[ Ishtar started punching in a text message for him as brief as she could, to let him know that she was perfectly fine for the most part, but she couldn't remember what else happened during that time. She was still a little shaky and she wasn't sure if she had died or something happened during her excavation in that place ]
I'm sorry Zero. Somehow, I was doing some things and lost track of time. Then stuff happened. I'll talk to you when I get to your apartment.
I'm truly sorry for the trouble I caused you. I know you are probably worried sick and probably pissed off at me for not answering. I wasn't doing this on purpose, I swear it. I would never leave you hanging like this.
I'm okay for the most I don't know what happened, really.
[ Eventually, she reached Zero's home, and her hand slipped on the door, giving it a firm and loud knock to let him know that it was her. ]
Hello, Zero are you home?
[ She mused loudly as she called with the loud knocking from her at the same time. She was already prepared somehow to be met with some sort of talk with him and her whereabouts. There was no point in going about this other than talking. She hoped that he didn't end up too exhausted from worrying over her well being. Ishtar didn't even know how it was going to get approached or what kind of face he was going to make.
All Ishtar knew was that he was going to make a face she didn't like and he was going to look so hurt. She felt even worse for that thought. The princess bit her lip as she waited, her hands pulled in front of her. It was now or never really. She wondered if her pets are okay and if they were eating out of Zero's hair again. It was a strange occurrence but it brought a small smile to her face when she thought about it.
He cared enough to take care of her pets for her while she was MIA on a literal term where she was unable to do much about her state of being. She wished there was another way this was done. At least then, she wouldn't feel an overwhelming amount of pain that she did. Though, it further reminded her of how human she was when it came to this. Sometimes she did forget she was a human when she learned about a lot of stuff regarding Facility. A clone of a real person and now in Cerealia she wasn't even sure what she was.
[It's a testimony to the state of his mind that those words do little to calm him down. Three days. Three days he'd been searching for any trace of her. In that time he hardly ate or slept, and barely remembered to leave food for her pets. If it wasn't for his vampire side that kept him going past his human limitations, Zero would have dropped from exhaustion, but instead he was standing there, looking all the worse for wear, unableh to let go of the girl his mind had all but started mourning even when he told himself she was okay.]
Ishtar.
[He finally managed to pull himself back, to let go of her, if only a moment.]
[ She's trying her best. There's not much else she can say to him at this point. He was worried sick and she could imagine exactly how his behavior was in regards to her being missing. Even if he did change a little, Zero was Zero and still is Zero. He wouldn't stop worrying and he would continue to worry and exhaust himself.
She's sure he's exhausted, and she's more worried about him than herself. He was the one spending sleepless nights wondering what happened and thinking the worse. She just looked down at his words. ]
I remember a research tower of some sort and a few people that I was with. We were inside, investigating it for information.
[ Also, some things are a bit weird to Ishtar but she's not going to explain why her eyes are doing weird things and stuff. ]
Research--- [ Tower?!! Those words immediately hail a red flag as images of the doctors at the Facility sharply came into focus drowning out all reason for a moment. The Doctors?! Did they finally come back??!! How could he have become so complacent?!! Sharply, Zero turns his eyes to her, searching for anything out of place.]
C-Calm down it was the CERES stuff. There's no Facility here, and no Doctors
[ She replied. She doesn't know the exact details but she knows that that tower was involved and she went in with people. The Doctors weren't here but it was hard to reason with him in that regard since he's in panic mode. ]
I don't... really know.
[ Death... probably, but she's not going to even mention that right now. ]
[She didn't know.... Zero stares at her, he knows there's more. Something she's not telling him. What that is he can only imagine and already he's had too much time imagining the worst, so instead of insisting on the matter, he pulls her inside and drags her to the living room where her cat and bat are currently stuffing their mouths with food.]
[ Ishtar really didn't know but she did know. Also, because there was so much magical energy that she was momentarily overwhelmed with it. She remembered Sidia responding to it as well. The sparks were bad and things were sent into explosions. She didn't even get to see what else was beyond that point.
She kept her eyes on him, but after a moment, she adverted them. Ishtar wasn't good at hiding her emotions, and Zero was always good at reading them. She didn't want to expose to him anything just yet, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to tell him if he asked her to. ]
E-Easy!
[ She let out a soft yelp as she was being pulled inside his home and towards the living room. Eventually, she saw the state of her pets and couldn't help but smile even a little. ]
I'm sorry you two for leaving you. I hope you didn't give Zero too hard of a time.
[ She walked over to pick up Bells who meowed at her as she cuddled him tightly. Of course, Pico knows the drill and is settling himself in her head with the piece of fruit he was stuffing his face with. ]
[Zero watched as she reacquainted herself with her pets. She was hiding something from him, what it was, he didn't know, but he saw it in the way she averted her eyes away from him. The way she tried to focus the conversation on him rather than what had transpired in her absence. At this point, he didn't even know if she'd been kidnapped, held hostage, any number of things could have happened to her, and yet.... she kept it to herself. Secrets.... How many was she keeping from him? How many had he kept from her?]
........
[They couldn't keep going like this. He couldn't, not after everything that had happened in the facility, back in his world.... All the secrets that had come to light... he couldn't live with lies anymore.]
It was easier to take them than to listen to you complain about the mess.
[ Ishtar played with them for a little bit, before letting them do their thing. She knew that she could only advert the conversation for so long. She was pretty sure that Zero had already figured out why she was asking about him more than herself. Though, in her defense, she always cared about him and everyone else above her own self. She didn't really value herself as much as she should at times, but the same thing could be said towards Zero, who seemed to do the same thing Ishtar did. They were both a bit careless with their lives on that matter sometimes.
There wasn't anything too awful that happened with her, but she wasn't sure she was ready to tell him about the deaths she encountered during her stay in Facility and now in Cerealia obviously. She didn't want to keep secrets, but she wasn't fully lying to him either. She just seemed to twist the truth a little bit so that he wouldn't worry about her too much. Not that it mattered. She was sure he figured it out now and looking at him was a bit hard because she knew he would see through her if anything. ]
...
[ She looked up at him as he said those words, with a smile on her face. ]
Ah, I guess that's true.
[ She replied with a nod of her head. ] I'm sure you spooked the neighbors if anything since you're never too discreet about entrances.
[ She replied half laughing. Right now, it was a matter of time before the topic would be brought to light. She just would have to endure it when it came forth. ]
[He watched that smile closely, listened to the laugh for signs of deception. He knew she forced those gestures, knew they weren't genuine but what was he supposed to do about them? If she didn't want to tell him the truth, then he wouldn't hear it. He couldn't force it out of her, so he kept his demeanor still.]
[ Ishtar continued to smile at her own pace. Of course, with her animals, she smiled pretty calmly and genuinely. There were other situations where she seemed to be hiding things, but naturally it was just her personality. She didn't want to worry those around her, thus she would rather keep things to herself than bring them to light.
At the moment, maybe she needed a push to start talking, since she wasn't good at bringing up these kinds of things. ]
Hahaha, I will probably be hearing it from the neighbors then.
[ She laughed softly at the thought. ]
Still, thank you for everything. You're always here when I need you the most.
4/? Text
Date: 2015-09-07 03:13 am (UTC)He keeps pacing, his mind already running wild with possible scenarios for her absence. The more obvious ones slowly start to irritate him, knowing her, she probably ran into some stranger and started chatting them up losing track of time, and was even now inviting them to a dinner that was now cold and which Zero refused to heat up,
or so he told himself.On the other end of the spectrum, Zero couldn't help but recall the latest disaster that almost cost them their lives. He barely had enough time to get her out of harms way before the building came crashing down on him. That thought was the one that stuck with him the most slowly replacing irritation with sips of worry. Ishtar never missed a meal, especially one that she didn't have to cook herself, and she wasn't answering his texts which was strange in itself. Usually it was the other way around, the Princess being too chatty and Zero outright ignoring her texts to save himself a headache.
With this line of thinking, it didn't take long for dread to set in and before he had a plan in place, Zero strode out of the room, closing the door behind him. If he found her talking in the hallway, he was going to wring her new one!]
5/? Text
Date: 2015-09-07 04:01 am (UTC)Inside, Zero searched for any clue where Ishtar might have gone. He already knew she wasn't inside, his hearing had only picked up her pets who had long missed their own dinner and were now griping at him for food. Zero picked up the cat that flopped on his feet whining at him for food it clearly did not need by the weight of him.]
Where did that klutz run off to this time?
[Zero scratched behind his ear, and the cat snuggled into him rather than answer his question, not that he expected much from him. Above him, the bat flew around his head squeaking its indignation at being left with no fruit to gobble up and pecked at Zero's hair, pulling hard to get his attention.]
Will you stop that!
[He waved the bat off, annoyed at the little act of rebellion. What was with animals and his hair?!]
Come on. I'll get you something before I go look for that idiot Princess.
[The bat squeaked with unhappiness, but followed behind him nonetheless keeping a few feet above the vampire hunter as they left the apartment looking like his own personal familiar.
It didn't take them long to reach the elevator and by then, Zero was more than ready to get out of there. The neighbor had been speaking with the cops for a few minutes now, and her descriptions were getting ridiculous!
He just took her cat and left! What kind of kidnapper does that?! Yes, yes. As I said, he's a cultist of some sort, he has a bat following him. Is that some kind of satanic ritual?! Poor girl! She's only lucky she wasn't home! I don't know what would have happened to her if she had--
Zero hit the close button in irritation, and the doors closed cutting off the woman before she spouted anymore exaggerations. On his way down, Zero swore to himself that if Ishtar wasn't in trouble, he was going to make sure she washed the dishes for a month!]
I have Bells and Pico."
[And a minute later: ]
You need a new door knob.
6/? Text
Date: 2015-09-07 04:23 am (UTC)ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE!
7/? Text
Date: 2015-09-07 04:28 am (UTC)8/8 Text | During the Interlude Event
Date: 2015-09-07 04:30 am (UTC)1/? { three days later so 03/03-03/04 in game time }
Date: 2015-09-13 03:03 am (UTC)Of course, to her surprise, there were messages that were on her communication device. Ishtar made a face, remembering who could possibly have sent her that many-- oh well shit. How many days was it since this happened? She flipped through the damn thing until she found the actual date and cursed to herself.
Well, fuck, how was she going to explain this shit? ]
2/? { god Ishtar feels so bad about this }
Date: 2015-09-13 03:07 am (UTC)She wondered what made him tell her to get her door fixed? Then she remembered that Zero probably broke into her apartment without finding her for a while. Of course, this was in a span of a day. It had been three days since and she felt extremely terrible that she had not been able to tell him anything. He looked really worried and everything.
Ishtar knew how things like this would rouse him due to their spent time in Facility. That place full of misfortunes and struggles. She didn't even know why she still remembered the things she did, but right now, she couldn't imagined how worried sick he was about her when she didn't respond for days on end.
He might have assumed the worst had happened to her and freaked out trying to find where she was and asking people where she was too probably. On top of that he must have been feeling bad about not being able to keep an eye on her. It took her a long time before she decided to take a walk towards the direction of his apartment, still feeling a bit shitty. ]
3/? | text
Date: 2015-09-13 03:10 am (UTC)I'm sorry Zero. Somehow, I was doing some things and lost track of time. Then stuff happened. I'll talk to you when I get to your apartment.
I'm truly sorry for the trouble I caused you. I know you are probably worried sick and probably pissed off at me for not answering. I wasn't doing this on purpose, I swear it. I would never leave you hanging like this.
I'm okay for the most I don't know what happened, really.
4/4 | action
Date: 2015-09-13 03:13 am (UTC)Hello, Zero are you home?
[ She mused loudly as she called with the loud knocking from her at the same time. She was already prepared somehow to be met with some sort of talk with him and her whereabouts. There was no point in going about this other than talking. She hoped that he didn't end up too exhausted from worrying over her well being. Ishtar didn't even know how it was going to get approached or what kind of face he was going to make.
All Ishtar knew was that he was going to make a face she didn't like and he was going to look so hurt. She felt even worse for that thought. The princess bit her lip as she waited, her hands pulled in front of her. It was now or never really. She wondered if her pets are okay and if they were eating out of Zero's hair again. It was a strange occurrence but it brought a small smile to her face when she thought about it.
He cared enough to take care of her pets for her while she was MIA on a literal term where she was unable to do much about her state of being. She wished there was another way this was done. At least then, she wouldn't feel an overwhelming amount of pain that she did. Though, it further reminded her of how human she was when it came to this. Sometimes she did forget she was a human when she learned about a lot of stuff regarding Facility. A clone of a real person and now in Cerealia she wasn't even sure what she was.
It was definitely a handful. ]
action
Date: 2015-09-13 08:52 pm (UTC)........ Ishtar. I thought....
[His grip on her tightened.]
1/2: action
Date: 2015-09-13 11:13 pm (UTC)[ Ishtar almost looses her footing when she was pulled forward by full force much faster than she could even blink.
What-- What just happened....? Ishtar knew that this was going to happen but it didn't make it any less painful to see Zero like this. ]
A-Ahh Zero.
action
Date: 2015-09-13 11:14 pm (UTC)I'm sorry, Zero. I didn't mean to cause you worry.
[ After all, she was gone for like three days. ]
action
Date: 2015-09-15 04:56 am (UTC)What-- What happened?
[He tried to keep his voice even, but the edges were filled worry he couldn't keep out.]
action
Date: 2015-09-15 05:00 am (UTC)It's okay, I'm not going anywhere. I'm not gonna leave you if I can help it.
[ She takes a long moment before she replies. ]
I'm not entirely sure, but... I know I've been out for three days since.
action
Date: 2015-09-15 05:20 am (UTC)Ishtar.
[He finally managed to pull himself back, to let go of her, if only a moment.]
What. Happened?
action
Date: 2015-09-15 05:41 am (UTC)She's sure he's exhausted, and she's more worried about him than herself. He was the one spending sleepless nights wondering what happened and thinking the worse. She just looked down at his words. ]
I remember a research tower of some sort and a few people that I was with. We were inside, investigating it for information.
[ Also, some things are a bit weird to Ishtar but she's not going to explain why her eyes are doing weird things and stuff. ]
action
Date: 2015-09-15 05:57 am (UTC)Did they do something to you?!
[If they did anything--]
action
Date: 2015-09-15 06:11 am (UTC)[ She replied. She doesn't know the exact details but she knows that that tower was involved and she went in with people. The Doctors weren't here but it was hard to reason with him in that regard since he's in panic mode. ]
I don't... really know.
[ Death... probably, but she's not going to even mention that right now. ]
action
Date: 2015-09-16 03:02 am (UTC)They've been waiting for you.
action
Date: 2015-09-16 06:13 am (UTC)She kept her eyes on him, but after a moment, she adverted them. Ishtar wasn't good at hiding her emotions, and Zero was always good at reading them. She didn't want to expose to him anything just yet, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to tell him if he asked her to. ]
E-Easy!
[ She let out a soft yelp as she was being pulled inside his home and towards the living room. Eventually, she saw the state of her pets and couldn't help but smile even a little. ]
I'm sorry you two for leaving you. I hope you didn't give Zero too hard of a time.
[ She walked over to pick up Bells who meowed at her as she cuddled him tightly. Of course, Pico knows the drill and is settling himself in her head with the piece of fruit he was stuffing his face with. ]
Thank you...really.
action
Date: 2015-09-18 02:57 am (UTC)........
[They couldn't keep going like this. He couldn't, not after everything that had happened in the facility, back in his world.... All the secrets that had come to light... he couldn't live with lies anymore.]
It was easier to take them than to listen to you complain about the mess.
action
Date: 2015-09-19 04:06 am (UTC)There wasn't anything too awful that happened with her, but she wasn't sure she was ready to tell him about the deaths she encountered during her stay in Facility and now in Cerealia obviously. She didn't want to keep secrets, but she wasn't fully lying to him either. She just seemed to twist the truth a little bit so that he wouldn't worry about her too much. Not that it mattered. She was sure he figured it out now and looking at him was a bit hard because she knew he would see through her if anything. ]
...
[ She looked up at him as he said those words, with a smile on her face. ]
Ah, I guess that's true.
[ She replied with a nod of her head. ] I'm sure you spooked the neighbors if anything since you're never too discreet about entrances.
[ She replied half laughing. Right now, it was a matter of time before the topic would be brought to light. She just would have to endure it when it came forth. ]
action
Date: 2015-09-20 05:10 pm (UTC)They called the police on me.
[Said dryly.]
action
Date: 2015-09-21 12:05 am (UTC)At the moment, maybe she needed a push to start talking, since she wasn't good at bringing up these kinds of things. ]
Hahaha, I will probably be hearing it from the neighbors then.
[ She laughed softly at the thought. ]
Still, thank you for everything. You're always here when I need you the most.
action
Date: 2015-09-21 12:26 am (UTC)Did you expect me to abandon you here?
[A pointed question as he kept his eyes on her. What are you hiding Ishtar?]
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