So Meredith was also an Otaku. It figured. They seemed to attract each other, even before they knew they were Otakus. Roger had stopped being surprised long ago.

Except when he was told to sleep on the floor... that was a surprise.

He hadn't been able to sleep very well. He'd fall asleep for twenty minutes, half an hour, and then he'd be awake again. Meredith, on the other hand, snug in her sleeping bag, was sleeping well. Susanne had at least stayed asleep, but she'd been tossing and turning the whole time, as if suffering from unpleasant dreams. And it frustrated Roger that he couldn't help at all.

Well, he was awake again. He sat up, thinking that maybe he'd get a drink of water or something. He glanced at Susanne's bed to see how she was sleeping -- but she wasn't there.

Roger was on his feet instantly. Nope, she wasn't in the room at all. The tennis shoe's that she'd put next to the door when she took them off were gone, and the key was not on her desk. Dammit! Where'd she go?

"Meredith," Roger growled, picking up his tshirt and pulling it on.

"Mmph..." was the muffled reply. She was still basically asleep.

"Stay here," he said, hoping she was hearing him, and then ran out the door, down the hall, and outside. Guardians and Otakus had a mental connection, making it virtually impossible for one of them to hide from the other. So he knew she'd come outside. But now... Roger looked around, thinking he might see her fleeing figure running around the corner of the building.

He almost missed her. Would have if he had taken about two more steps forward. There was a big tree in front of the building. Susanne was sitting on one of the branches.

"Susanne," Roger said quietly, walking over to stand under the branch. She was only a few meters up, but he wondered how she'd gotten up there. When she didn't respond, he called her again, a little louder. This time she turned her face to him. "It's late," he said. "Come on back inside."

"Something's wrong," she said. "Can you feel it? Something's happened."

A chill ran down Roger's spine. She was right, something had changed. "What is it?"

She shook her head. "I'm not sure yet."

They were silent for a moment. Roger watched Susanne turn back to the sky, as if the stars held the answers. He knew, though, that she wasn't really seeing them. She was looking off into her own world, and he had no idea what she was seeing.

"Oh, people, look around you, the signs are everywhere," she sang. "You've left it for somebody other than you to be the ones to care. You're lost inside your houses, there's no time to find you now. While your walls are burning, and your towers are turning, I'm gonna leave you here, and try to get down to the sea somehow."

After another few moments of silence, Roger spoke again. "Please come down, come back inside," he said. This time she heard the words, and nearly gave Roger a heart attack by simply jumping off the limb, landing softly in the grass. "Is it an Otaku?" he asked quietly.

Susanne thought a moment, then slowly nodded. "Something just feels weird. I'm not sure what it is, and I think that scares me more than anything."

"Maybe Celly and Nyx are planning something," he said.

"Celly and Nyx... yes... and..." she didn't complete her sentence. Her brow furrowed in concentration. "Dammit, as soon as I think I know, I lose it." She sighed in frustration, and they went back inside.