Justin , on his knees where he'd faltered and fallen, stares, as if uncomprehending, at the point on the border of the brush at which Lexi vanished into it. He's paled, believe it, flat grey, and the hand he raises to touch at his face where she had shakes. Slowly, his blank gaze descends to take in the piteous spectacle of his own figure, and rises again to rest on Razz's face. For several moments he seems to struggle to form a word, but eventually he manages to get it out, choked, confused: "...why?"
The clouds begin to break apart and the sky shows through.Razz stands, still, silent. Her mouth is open, but she's having a lot of trouble in finding the right words to say. Why? Why did Lexi leave? She- well, she thought it had something to do with finding out that her daughters are no longer among the living - "Your daughters are dead," she replied lamely, utterly confused. She hopes that that was what Justin was asking. Wait, they have to find her. Justin can't lose Lexi. "Aah - we- we should go find her," Razz said, and ran over to where Lexi disappeared, and tried to seek her out with her psi sense.
Justin seems to take hold of this though-- they should go find her-- and with it drag himself a few levels closer to rational function. He manages to stand, still pale, still shaking, and cast a long look out into the forests. Hopeless. Simply hopeless. He never could outrun her. And gods know she's good at hiding if she has been these 15 years. "...she must be found, yes...do you find anything? Any sign?"
Razz shut her eyes again, concentrating. Yes, there's a trail of... of her energy signature... she can... Stepping out, she started following the trail as fast as she could. But she didn't get far, no. Abruptly, a small scream was emitted from her throat, and she collapsed in a trembling heap.
Justin covers uneven ground with a lot less effort than poor blind Razz does; it must seem to the observer that he's barely made an effort to hurry to her side, but he reaches her quicker than she reached her location. "What happened? Razz?" His voice is still thin, strained, teary while his eyes aren't.
Razz breathed heavily, and beads of sweat rolled down her chin, a blazing pain pulsing through her head, and it reaches her spine, and down, and down... and stopped. Dazed, and feeling a lot blank, she opened her unseeing eyes and got to her knees. "Nothing, I'm alright now," she murmured, and got to her feet. Holding her head, she started concentrating again. No, the trail has almost dispensed by now. Realizing that she has failed Justin, she squeezed her eyes shut, and tried to focus harder on the trail. This does, of course, take her focus away from her surroundings, and she did not fare well on the mountainous landscape.
Justin follows, close and almost touching and sometimes supporting her along the paths and through the trees, fighting within himself the overwhelming feeling that they were going nowhere, and they'd find nothing there when they finally made it. "Carefully, carefully. You're still finding a trail?"
Razz's eyebrows are kneaded tightly together was she sought out Lexi's trail. She tried hard, but Lexi moved too fast, and she was too slow in reacting, and soon she could no longer find even the thinnest whisp of Lexi's trail. So, the road stops here. Coming to a stop, Razz lowered her head, and said nothing.
Justin avoids through careful balance knocking into Razz when she trails to a stop. "No more..?" For a moment he stares out over her head along the path they'd been taking. Not in any way different from any of the others they'd passed along or across, sigh. He nudges Razz's shoulder, and, sounding another shade more like his normal collected self, announces resignedly, "...well. We'll head back. She can be found."
Razz nodded, never raising her head.
Justin leads, by default, back along a twisting half of their traversed route, and reaches the long road back down the mountains with Razz after some minutes' march. "...are you alright?"
Razz nodded again, still following Justin.
Justin would say, he noted mentally as they made their way down from the peak, that Razz right now looks only slightly more okay than he is, but he never was quite certain when he could pry or not. There'll be time enough for talk at Blades HQ.