He has wandered the the Riptide Isles more times than he can count, always with the pathetic hope that the damned portal that trapped him in Helovia would magically appear and teleport him back home to the Rift, where he belonged. But of course, no such thing happened, or ever would. His only hope was Ultima, whom was probably dead by now. He doubted she possessed any girl scout skills, what with her every whimsical want and need attended to by her ladies in waiting and the obsessive pampering provided by her superiors. No, there was really no hope that Ultima lived. It had been months. Even a year? He could not say; time eluded him, just as Ultima had managed to.

And yet he continued the hunt, because it was his path, and the only path he knew.

It was a similar day of hopeless wandering and searching when he came across the massive gathering of Helovians, with their antlers and wings and brash colors. Rift residents were not particularly modest in their appearances, but he at least knew them to have a more wild, savage look to them, and often any sort of outlandish mutation was for a very specific reason, not merely for decoration, but for survival. He kept his distance, watching them prance and swarm around a sea creature he cannot quite make out, due to the ever shifting crowd and the distance he remained from them. His eyes roam, searching, searching, ever searching…

No, it cannot be, could not be...

Ultima.

He recognizes her instantly, her wings, the colors of her skin and the bold red marking borne proudly on her forehead. She looks older, he realizes, the lines of her body not quite so awkward and gangly than when he first knew her, when he and Minerva…

No. He could not think about that past--that dream--now.

He hides himself better from Ultima’s sight, reluctant to join the crowd but believing his best chance at blending in is to, well, blend in. And so he crosses the disturbing bridge in a hurry, blending among the others, always moving and shifting and never standing in the open. He watches from the shadow of his cover, waiting like the rest of these lemmings milling around. Obviously these Helovians are expecting something from the creature. And so he resigns himself to waiting, because he too, is patient. And he has waited far too long to find Ultima to screw things up now.


// waiting and watching without interacting with anyone