"I... I think so?" Jordan answered.

"I mean.... my head is a messa nd I feel like I'm coming down from a violent high." she added after a moment.

"A high where I hit a wall at high speed, at that."

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

"Yeah... I tried to get out of there, tried to call someone, anyone, before I hit that point, but..." Jordan started, sighing heavily.

"All the snow, it seemed to be acting as a blockade. I was trapped." She commented. Bast just paused.

"... There was more than usual, but surely not enough to warrant that kind of feeling." Bast commented, having stopped by there in the time before Jordan woke to check the place, and see what he may have missed.

"I... there was an avalanche." Jordan told him honestly. "At least... as far as I can tell. I didn't have time to get out of there before the cabin was covered."

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

Jordan nodded.

"Yeah... yeah I'm ok." She assured him with a nod.

"Sorry. I never meant to scare you." She added.

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

Jordan paused a moment.

"... subdued me..."" She asked after a second or two.

"Praytell, what did you end up doing?" She asked, her voice curious.

"And does it have anything to do with that 'hitting a wall' I mentioned earlier?"

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

Jordan was silent for a moment

".... That probably had a hand in it, yeah." She agreed.

"I'm going to be feeling that one for awhile." She added. "Even now, it's faint, but it's still there."

"Last time you did that to me, it wasn't nearly as strong."

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

"we'll have to play with that in a controlled setting." Jordan commented.

"However, I'm going to need to get out of here, first." She added.

"And then... well..." She paused, smirking.

---

Meanwhile, not too far off within the same building, on the same floor, someone was working on something. She was mixing a couple of vials when she froze, the vials in her hands dropping to the desk, spilling their contents. One rolled off, the contents hitting the floor, her shoe, and eating through them.

Just as there was an expulsion from her as she had to support herself on the desk.

"Ilias!" She exclaimed, her voice strained. As the one who was in the room with her looked over, he saw what he didn't want to.

That rune she could summon was spreading out. He could see she was trying to keep it at bay, but it was still spreading, and faster than it normally would be.

"Get out of here before you're caught in it" She ordered. "Please... I don't want to lose you."

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

The one that he'd left in there was trying to hold it back, and trying hard. He could see it, see how she was shaking, see the little bit of blood that was on the table as her nails dug into her palms enough to draw it.

Yet, try as she might, it didn't take long, only about a minute after he'd gotten out of the room, that it broke out of the restraints and spread out another couple feet. She managed to stop it from going farther though, somehow.

"Dammit." She cursed, quietly, but didn't move. She couldn't. The effort it was taking to keep the rune from going out of control even more than it already was, was far too great. She could barely breathe for the moment, as she was too focused on the task at hand.

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

"I ... I don't care. Just ..." Kiah started before wincing, severely, as the rune broke a few more feet out.

"Just... help.. please." She said quietly. She didn't know if he'd hear that, and certainly had no idea if it was something that was doable. All she knew for certain, was that she couldn't keep this up. It was taking more effort than she could believe, really, to keep it contained.

She knew she needed help, and any help would be good help. However, she was reasonably certain she couldn't be just rendered unconscious, even though that would be the easiest. If one did that to her, chances were her rune would just go unchecked, and that would not be good, at all.

Worst case scenario, she thought Hal might be able to help.

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

Kiah's rune was doing a very rare thing, fighting against Ash's. At first. After about five seconds, he was quickly able to subdue it, but found his own getting to be a bit out of sorts, out of control, and stronger than it should have.

As Kiah's was finally quelled, she just sank to the floor, trying to collect herself again. She didn't say anything to Ash, knew he could handle his own rune... but she did notice the strenght of it.

It may not have affected her, but she could still recognise how his normally was, compared to now.

"... same thing with you..." She saidq uietly before forcing herself to her feet and looking over to him.

"There's something going on. I don't know what, but it caused mine to just... trigger on its own." She told him.

"I think there's something in this building doing it." She sounded rough as she hed herself up a bit with the table. After that internal war, she needed a chance to just recharge, so to speak.

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫

Kiah was silent for a moment.

"No idea, and you really are terrifying." She commented honestly before digging her phone out of her pocket and dialling the number of the person she honestly believed could help.

"H-hal... I need your help." She said quietly, her voice strained from what she'd just been going through.

"I wish for whatever is causing mana to go out of control to be quelled, stopped, so we can function agian." she didn't even wait for his approval, but she'd explain later, and make up for it later if she had to.

♫Turn off my brain, this all feels the same♫