Spirit Pulse : Mugen No Sekai [IC]

[Zurvan]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
SLEIPNIR - Deck
??? - Night

As per usual, the revelation of having your mind read is met with disapproval and some attempt at payback. Normally people go to shift their thoughts rapidly, or start asking themselves silly or confusing questions in their head. But the current circumstances are far from normal.

This person -whoever she may be- not only has the power to retaliate successfully, but has the ability to do so in the most unexpected of ways.

A dream. Or rather a memory. A memory of a winter day in Germany. More specifically, the outside of the Karlfeldt Estate.

...Fascinating, how very interesting.

This woman has beaten the renowned Adala Lagerkvist, revealed herself to be her teacher, and now managed to succeed Ludwig's expectations in yet another way.
Without a doubt, this mysterious woman is someone he wishes to know more of. Of course, it won't do to be greedy.

Her words resurface in his mind.

"Hmm... Maybe I'll do two birds with one stone?"

Given that this is most likely a memory, his physical body should still remain on the SLEIPNIR deck. Meaning that those two should still be relatively close by. Meaning that her mind was still in range for communication!

Besides, odds are high that she's watching along with this memory. Getting to learn someone's past is a very effective way to learn what they're like as a person. If both of these cases were true, then...

"I know you're there, watching along. My apologies, but I didn't quite catch your name."

He didn't know, not for certain. But there are times where a simple bluff can get you surprisingly far. Either he would end up talking to himself, or she was indeed going along this trip down memory lane. It wouldn't hurt to try and reach out. Hopefully.

"But if you're going to watch along, what do you say we make things a bit more interesting?"

Revisiting a memory would likely be more enjoyable while interacting with this stranger. She's already one of the more interesting people to show up in this brief time on the SLEIPNIR, so getting to know her in return for opening up himself sounds like a fair deal.

"I'll take you along and show wherever you'd like to see, on one condition."

There's no guarantee she'll respond, or that she's even listening to this proposed deal. It can't be too troublesome to deal with, yet Ludwig does want his curiosity sated if only a bit.

"I get to ask you four questions, and I want you to answer them as truthfully as you can. If you agree to these terms, then tell me. What should I call you?"

Regardless of whether she'd respond or not, Ludwig felt another question that was gnawing in his mind. He knew where he was, but what he did not know was when he was.

And so, ever so curious, he goes ahead to enter the first place he's known as home. The Karlfeldt estate.

[Airen]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
SLEIPNIR - Deck
??? - Night

"Negotiation? No, no, this is a punishment!"

---Thankfully, it seems the woman is actually watching along with your movements.

Of course it's a bit eerie, hearing the voice of someone who doesn't actually exist in your vision, but...

It's curious.

A power that could directly counter your own... Was this really a memory? Or some other sort of cognitive space? The idea that magic or ESP could tread upon the realm of dreams wasn't far-fetched, it was one of the rarer fields admittedly, but-

"Although, if you want my name... Well, you can just call me Ms. Alexia, or Big Sis Alexia... Actually, we'll go with that second one, doesn't remind me of my age as much-!"

-before you can get too deep into theory-crafting, that woman's laughing voice overtakes your surroundings again, and...

"Still, you're a bit too worried about me-! You wanted to know more about Adala-chan right? This is a big chance for you! Well, it's a bit of a dangerous chance too, since I'm pretty sure you can feel pain in there... Well, you're part of her family, so I'm sure it won't be too much of an issue for you."

...As you walk forward, she keeps talking to you.

Just to you.

Voice moving from being carried on the winter winds... To just existing in your mind...

As if she didn't want anyone inside of the 'dream' to hear her, now that you were moving towards the estate...

"But hey, give me a good show... And I'll answer one question. One seems fair. That's a good reward for a punishment game~"

...Was it fair?

There may certainly be some things to complain or haggle about, but, before you get the chance to, she-

"Alright! She's probably getting close... So good luck out there!"

-says something ominous, before her voice vanishes entirely.

...By this time, you've started approaching the gates. Tall and imposing as always, a metallic barrier to that castle called an estate, the place that a part of you still called 'home' in spite of all the... Unfortunate events that may have taken place there, you-

"Hmm? Who are you?"

-notice a silver-haired woman already walking through them on her way out, her instinctive turn to bar the gate behind her interrupted by your approaching steps...

And that raises another question, namely...

If this was a memory...

Why could people respond to you?

It's a question that may perhaps be worth some thought, but when you really see that woman's face...

It... Sort of becomes clear, namely...

You know her.

She doesn't look like this nowadays, but you've seen the family pictures, yes...

"Are you from town? Is it another request about Loki...? If so don't worry, I'm going to go stop him now. It'll be safe again soon, I promise."

Encountered: Adala Lagerkvist (Teenager?)

That's definitely...

Your aunt.

A somewhat less scary version of your aunt -she's smiling comfortingly at you- but a version of her nonetheless.

Her lack of recognition of you... Is real... Which would make sense inside of a dream, but...

The mind behind it...

Feels like the real thing...

[Rafflesiac]

Logan Starbright
Aoyama, Tokyo (F-Zero Course)
??? - Morning

As the blue race car hurtled through a powerful tunnel of wind, a dramatic explosion in its wake, an idle thought snaked through Logan’s head. Using a shroud of wind to accelerate… I feel like I’m ripping someone off somehow. Though in the end, if it worked, it worked.

"Alright, looks like we made it! I'll put a barrier on the back-!"

“Thanks, Astra!” Logan yelled, his voice a bit louder than it needed to be as the winds died down and she slid back into the seat next to him. He squeezed the steering wheel. The tunnel began to dim; unlike the Underground or BART, there were no lights to illuminate the darkness within. But as the light faded, the whoosh of air around his craft grew louder and pinpricks of spirit power pulsed around the area. Every so often one of them winked out, indicating the race was as heated as ever. Beside him was the familiar blaze of Astra and behind him-

The redhead’s motorcycle growled more hungrily than ever, her own passion sparkling as it grew closer, closer, closer. The barrier behind him was still at full power, so sooner or later she’d have to engage in some fashion, at which point Astra’d be able to counterattack if necessary; furthermore, with his car occupying the tunnel, she’d have to face it head on and wait, the sound is off, it’s too close, who ever said that the only path in this tunnel was on the floor-

"You almost blew up the boss, hee-ho! Not half bad, hee-!"

A thump on the windshield and the menacing grin of the racer’s Jack Frost demand immediate action. This could’ve been avoided if he’d used Eye of the Fates. He’d wanted to avoid stressing Amelia in case of an emergency though, so he’d elected against it. Well, this is your emergency. And that’s not the whole truth. Logan couldn’t deny that. The spell he’d made to even the odds against any foe and crystallize his will to continue until the day he reached his goal had failed against the very person it was made for. That had shaken him. He’d looked over the formula and hesitated to use it again, but it was long since time to dwell in the past. He had to look to the future!

: “Amelia, we’re gonna stretch that spell a little!”

: “No prob! No way we blow up in some tunnel instead of taking a thousand goons with us while screaming ‘I’LLLLLLLLL BE BAAAAAAAAAAAAAHK’!”

”Crystal Coat!”

Glimmering iridescent plates of opal light shrouded the car, transforming the mechanical mount into the heroic steed of a paladin’s saga. That armor was meant for a worthier knight than he. But ultimately, his inadequacy was irrelevant. If something needed to be protected, then he’d give everything he had to do so!

---

Heat: 9/10
Spells Used: Eye of the Fates, Crystal Coat

Crystal Coat - A variation of Bless Wall Logan inherited from his sister, Sarah. Logan clads a target in armor formed from holy light, bolstering their RES and WIL while serving as Bless Wall. While Crystal Coat is a Bless spell by default, it has the unique property of changing elemental alignments to match a spell that impacts it, thus always granting its wearer a measure of elemental immunity. While Sarah Starbright was capable of casting this spell on every ally within her vicinity, Logan is not, and thus this is a single-target spell.
Element: Bless
Rank: C

[Satehi]

Eva Ellet
Velvet Room
??? ~ ???

“So…” I struggle to put my thoughts into words. “… you’re saying alternate worlds are real…?”

It’s not an unfamiliar concept to me, but I’m unsure how one should react to this casual confirmation that alternate world theory is real. Surprised, which is what I’m feeling right now. Excited, which would be understandable- as someone who has hardly ever left the city they live in, the notion is a little hard to echo, but I’m sure there are plenty of people who would take the news with great fervor. Or, perhaps…

…given the contents of that book just now, a little concerned.

“You said they’re typically separate.”

There is, of course, the possibility that what she’s saying is incorrect. But I can’t think of any reason for Agatha to be dishonest and I don’t think she would lie to me. Therefore, what she’s saying must be true. That’s what I think, and yet I don’t feel comfortable accepting the conclusion…

At any rate, there’s only one way to be absolutely sure.

“I don’t mean to doubt you, but- does that mean there’s a way to move over to another world?”

[Zurvan]

Ludwig Karlfeldt
SLEIPNIR - Deck
??? - Night

"But hey, give me a good show... And I'll answer one question. One seems fair. That's a good reward for a punishment game~"

"Hmph."

A soft smile appeared on Ludwig's face. Truth is he figured he wouldn't get away with even a single questions, let alone four. However, the one question granted here was all that he needed. He could not help but smile for a moment. Alexia Wright might be a strange woman -telling him to call her Big Sis Alexia of all things and calling the Commander Adala-chan- but she's much too interesting to leave alone.

Calling her Big Sis Alexia would not do however. Ludwig already had a big sister, no one could take that place from her, not so easily.

Saying something puzzling as her parting words, silence returns with the entrance to the Karlfeldt home coming into view.

Only when reaching the gates to the estate does Ludwig realize his prior mistake. He had assumed this was his memory that Alexia was watching over, but instead what he finds is-

A young silver haired woman, one he doesn't remember yet feels very familiar.

-a strange sight indeed.

"...?"

His mind takes a moment to process the impossible scenario presented before him as he stares in silence at the Lagerkvist family head.

...Adala?

Perhaps for a moment too long.

"Are you from town? Is it another request about Loki...? If so don't worry, I'm going to go stop him now. It'll be safe again soon, I promise."

"Oh, no I'm not from town. I had some business here at the estate, but that can wait. What's going on in town, considering it's Loki it can't be good."

Explaining his actual origins here would be far too troublesome and while the thought of just going along with being from town does arise in his mind, Ludwig can't get himself to lie to Adala even in this form.

"If there's people in danger, I'm coming with you."

While there numerous other reasons to tag along, his duty as a Tamer won't be ignored. Even if it's a memory from the past. This excuse for going along might not be entirely honest, but it can't be helped in this instance.

--Still, even with this ridiculous scenario and the strange feeling of seeing a Commander -who might just be younger than Ludwig now- and seeing her smile like that.

It's rather discomforting at first.

And yet.

--it's also kind of nice!

More discomforting however, is that while sensing her mind another curiosity reveals itself. That being that the signature impression of her mind is that of the adult Adala, that despite the youthful looks. As if Alexia trapped both our minds in the same mind space. She doesn't know who I am, which makes sense as I don't belong in this memory in the first place.

In other words, this is the perfect chance to get to know Adala better. Just like Alexia said. While it's a little frustrating to see her plan go off without a hitch, Ludwig's curiosity demands him to ride it out and learn all he can.

You continue to impress, Miss Alexia. A little silent praise for the stranger who keeps Ludwig in awe. She deserves at least this much.

"Lead on, Miss Lagerkvist."

[Airen]

Raz Stone
Hermes Stage - En route to Merlin's Tower
Golden Dusk

---At first, she had simply looked at you with a raised eyebrow.

For Serena herself it was an obvious reaction, as someone that was typically high-strung and no-fun in a certain sense, she had certainly felt a measure of surprise upon your initial words, shocked that you would turn down an opportunity for some 'havoc' that she was giving you actual permission to do, as if she felt this rare opportunity would be a bit wasted if you had suddenly decided to be a bit more responsible, but...

Ultimately, that raised eyebrow had turned into a half-smile in the end...

Yes.

It's certainly bizarre.

You had never seen her do it, but...

Was it possible...

That even she liked to do more chaotic things from time to time? Or perhaps simply mess around with her 'subordinates?" Was it a hidden urge to be a more fun boss? Or simply this bizarre relationship with Merlin clouding her usual judgement?

Bits and pieces of them all?

It's hard to say, but...

"Of course she could use a wake up call, we don't pay her to sit around in her tower for months. The court advisor should advise the court."

...In some ways, it did prove a certain other truth, or rather tendency, of the knights...

That being...

They were all at least a little quirky...

A truth that the squires know all too well, judging by Sara's resigned sigh, and-

"Yeah? Okay. Wasn't doing too much today anyways-!"

-ultimate game face agreement, as if she was used to following the 'bizarre' whims of her higher ranked fellows-!

And thus, the Hermes Stage once more sets out across the skies of Avalon like a shooting star, this time carrying far more than a single knight to his destination; this time, it's like a ship of soldiers going off to battle, with Sara in the back poking bemusedly at the face of the Raz doll, and a certain dark-haired manager standing at it's very front, hands crossed behind her back and pose stoic as the wind rippled the cloth of her jacket behind her, a general overlooking the land of an approaching battle, and...

...Too seriously.

Even if this is a bit more of a petty whim on her part, there is definitely a part of that woman that is taking all of this a bit too seriously, or rather, she's refusing to turn down her sense of seriousness in spite of the somewhat less serious stakes of the situation-!

Of course, she is not someone that typically goes with others on missions.

While she apparently used to do front line work, nowadays, she's someone that typically acts as the field medic, and-

"Stone. Sing me something, doesn't matter what."

-suddenly speaking up, and naturally breaking the chain of thoughts that have focused on her, she makes...

Quite the demand indeed...

You were still a bit away from the tower so...

Was she trying to squeeze in some practice time out here too? A rehearsal...?

[Airen]

Mokujima Chris
Aoyama ~ Lakeside
??? - Morning

"Gotcha boss-!"

With a jokingly soldier-esque salute, the violet-haired girl leaps off on legs like rockets, arms shooting out to grasp a handrail as she spin herself right into the distant locked hatch with a loud bang of resistance.

---Resistance that says something about this ship's durability, considering how 'secretly strong' you're pretty sure Lexie is...

Still, she's tackling it with all of her usual energy, even if the rusted hatch doesn't give in to her physical might right away. It's a cheerful, straightforward method, and smiling to yourself as you approach the more normal of the two entrances, a part of you can't help but amusingly wonder if you would be the first one to break into the interior, a victory of academics over brawn-!

Or something like that anyway-!

---Still, now that you're here looking at the door, it...

Still feels bizarre in comparison to most modern-day tech... It's hard for you to place why this is, but as a student of spiritual engineering you were used to the usual 'seals' that suppliers put on their reinforced metals, and what you see here is... Well if you had to describe it...

Almost alien?

Is it an OOPart?

There are a number of relics from the distant past that have shown up in the modern day over the last twenty years or so, like the global discovery of magic had 'woke up' a number of secrets that had been slumbering within the depths of the earth, but OOParts tended to be a little smaller than a ship, like the bizarre -apparently parasitic- red stones the SDCD had sealed away in some of the base's containment rooms... Admittedly, the Rothschild's SLEIPNIR was also considered to be an OOPart due to no one having any idea who had actually built it, but to see something like this hidden away in Aoyama...

It's strange...

And a bit lucky!

Still, touching the door...

Leads to a nearby screen flickering to sputtering life... What flashes there is green text, green text that seems just as 'alien' as the metals used in the ship's construction, until you really take a look at them...

It's...

Demonic Script?

Specifically the ancient variant...

If you hadn't been who you were, you wouldn't have caught onto it, seeing as almost all Modern-Day COMPs operated under an 'altered' form of said language that made programming and spell-casting easier simply because...

The base language is a pain to translate.

If you had Daisuke he could probably do it faster than you via computer analysis, or summon a certain fairy friend of yours to have him just read it for you, but...

You have neither of those two things on you at the moment-!

Which means...!

Manual translation-!

Not impossible, especially not for someone like you...

But a pain...

Or at least it would be if this were for homework, but seeing as how entrance to an airship might just be your reward, it's probably a bit easier to motivate yourself-!

Let's see...

A few minutes pass, and...

It's definitely...

Asking you to state your name... A digital keyboard of sorts is present on the screen, so this is likely a form of password protection, but...

A name huh?

You might have to hack around it if you can't find an easier way, and that...

Might take more than a few minutes...

But as if to halt you in your tracks...

"Open up already-! Lexie Kick!"

---The entire ship shakes violently as Lexie apparently gets fed up with the resistance of a certain rusted hatch, and... Something gives in the face of her final strike, there's a sound like someone falling down and slamming into something, a bunch of crashing noises and-!

"Hah! It's open~ Chris, I got it!"

A triumphant -if muffled- voice, and...

"Huh? Is that a limited edition copy of Blazred: Apocalypse Spark?! Spirit-Sword Three? Oh my god... There are so many games in here! Is this a kitchen? There's already a kitchen! Club house get! Chris! Come look! There's games everywhere in here-!"

Wait...

What?

[Bloble]

Mokujima Chris
Aoyama ~ Lakeside
??? - Morning

"..."

Having had a bit of time to calm down, and being distanced a bit from Lexie Davis, Mokujima Chris' energy levels are able to drop down to something more resembling her default. As she pensively examines the still-functional doorpad, her thoughts churn and theories are formed and discarded.

A name... in ancient demonic script? But this construction, even if it's an OOPart, is definitely of human make. So... a collaboration between humans and demons? Or, just the creator using a slightly more obscure language to keep out most prying eyes? It's impossible to say at this stage.

In any case, if there's a password, it means she'll have to hack it to get in, but...

Even more than translating ancient demonic script from memory, hacking ancient demonic scripting language without any tools will be a pain.

Just as Chris is considering giving up, a great impact is felt. The ship shakes and groans, and Chris hears a triumphant whooping from above.

"Hah! It's open~ Chris, I got it!"

"...ah." Chris blinks, and tries to remember how to raise her voice. It takes a moment, and her response is a bit shaky compared to Lexie's jubilant cries: "I'll be right up-!"

"Huh? Is that a limited edition copy of Blazred: Apocalypse Spark?! Spirit-Sword Three? Oh my god... There are so many games in here! Is this a kitchen? There's already a kitchen! Club house get! Chris! Come look! There's games everywhere in here-!"

"...huh?"

Wait, what?

No, really, what?

That... doesn't make any sense!

Well, no, it would make sense if the person who made this ship were into multiplayer games, but then... what kind of person would leave their limited edition copy of Blazred: Apocalypse Spark under the bottom of a lake for a year!? It makes no sense! That's a collector's item! Anyone who had paid for it would definitely treasure that game far too much to leave it unattended like that!

More and more. The mystery is getting more and more interesting by the moment!

"Just a sec-!" Chris calls out. "Careful, it might be a defensive illusion formed from your memories! Have your COMP run a scan at least-!"

Though, Lexie might already be too far gone to listen at this point. Besides, it's not like Chris can just leave her there to claim those games for herself!

Before she clambers up the side along the ladder to join Lexie in exploring the hatch, Chris hesitates, and looks at the keypad again.

Those games... it couldn't be, right? Well, there's no harm in trying, probably... though, if incorrect passwords are sent off to some server in the middle of nowhere... she'd be alerting some sort of defense system. Then again...

Two names. Before following Lexie upstairs, Chris enters two names into the keypad, not really expecting either to work: her own, and Lexie's.

[Airen]

Mokujima Chris
Aoyama ~ Lakeside
??? - Morning

Two names into a mysterious keypad.

Two beeps that completely deny entry.

There is no alarm that goes off inside of the ship's interior when the wrong codes are input, at least not any alarm that you can see... It simply pauses for a moment as if contemplating the answer each time, before lightly beeping as if to tell you to try again... Of course, inputting anything at all was bound to have some effect, and indeed, now that you've gotten it wrong twice in a row, it...

Flashes another screen at you for a moment...

Just a moment, a screen of entirely different text... It flashes by quickly, like the hint screen on a computer for one's password, so fast in fact that you barely have time to register it, but...

Something about a flower?

Nightfall flowers?

Nightfall thorns...

Tapping at the keypad again doesn't result in any further change...

It's certainly a bizarre security system, so for now, at your friend's insistence...

You make your way to where she has entered the ship, and find...

"It's all collector's editions! All of them! Whoever owns this ship must by my long lost soulmate-!"

A violet haired girl squealing to herself as she rolls on the floor -carefully- clutching that copy of Blazred to her chest and...

It looks like...

An apartment?

A modern apartment?

There are couches and a television set, bookcases stuffed to the brim with video game cases, a router, a kitchen with marble top...

Hell, there was even non-expired food in here, and food that you could buy from your everyday grocery store at that...

It's...

Surprisingly normal?

Comfortable even? There's no signs of water damage anywhere at least, and the inside is remarkable spacious, so much so... That you suspect space is being 'bent' a bit in order to make the inside bigger than the outside, it's...

Bizarre, and...

Even more bizarrely, where the 'door' you had been working on should be, is a refrigerator...

It doesn't... Feel like an illusion either... But...

It's definitely strange...

"It's got almost a dozen rooms, and even arcade cabinets, this place will make the best clubhouse-!"

Having broken from her rolling around into a sprint down the hallway and back, Lexie...

"Gonna have to convince the boss to let us have it... He's a reasonable guy... Even if we can just get it assigned to us as a work vehicle-! Although... I don't see a control room..."

Seems like she's excited about it at least!

[Airen]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS ~ Parking Lot
??? - Before Dawn

---When the door proves to be unlocked, you ultimately slam yourself through it in pursuit of the mysterious entity.

While it's an action that is inherently reckless, it is also one that you understand is sometimes necessary... Your senses were not the sort to really lie to you, if you thought that you had seen something slip under the door, then you were sure that something had just managed to place itself inside of the mall, and that you needed to act quickly if you didn't want to lose whatever it was...

It gave you a bad feeling, a bit of an eerie premonition...

Although the flashes of lightning -and the constant rain that made it somewhat more difficult to hear- wasn't helping when it came to those sorts of matters...

Yes.

You head straight into the darkness after the entity.

Whatever clumsiness normally existed in your form seems to vanish as training takes over, the immediate descent down a staircase doesn't catch you off guard, you descend it four at a time while keeping your eyes locked straight ahead on a fleeting shadow, something that seems to 'exit' every room the moment you 'enter' it, and...

Chase.

Something inside of you says to chase it.

Don't let it get away...

Although it puts Alyx somewhat behind you...

You trust that she'll catch up, even if it makes her mad...

The mall interior is dimly lit. Different from how it had been the previous day, with it's bright lights and constant noise, the only sounds that erupt in the mall now are those of the ever pattering rain and your own footsteps, and the lights... Well, it makes sense to put things on a 'night mode' to minimize energy costs, but...

Chasing 'something' through the halls, chasing as if your body had decided to keep running even if your mind second guesses it...

It makes it all eerie.

All creepy, even if only a little bit.

Still, you are a Tamer.

Running into scary things isn't uncommon...

There are instances with possessed dolls, or demons with bizarre forms, wandering ghosts, and well...

Such things are the consequences of a Magic World, they have become sights that have moved from 'impossibly rare' to just 'sort of uncommon,' and have lost much of their power of fear as a result, after all, demons are no longer an 'unknown' to humanity, but...

---This still feels odd.

You feel apprehensive...

Even more so when the chase ends, or at least seems to end...

It ends at the fountain, a fountain lit beneath dim lighting, stars still glittering dimly in it's depths.

The shadow ran in here, and it hasn't left, but...

You can't see it anymore...

All you can see is the fountain, glimmering with starlight and...

The flicker of something else...?

Was there something at the bottom...?

[palad1n]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS ~ Parking Lot
??? - Before Dawn

The moment she entered the fountain room and was sure whatever she's chasing is no longer running, Cosmos allowed herself to catch her breath, panting while looking at the gigantic fountain that triggered her lost memories.

It doesn't take long for adrenaline to wears off and her more rational mind to came back, and Cosmos realized a few things: one, she had left a trail of puddle across the mall thanks to being absolutely soaked from the rain, which will surely be a ton of work for the janitors but will serve as a guide for Alyx. Two, that this situation that she find herself in is absolutely eerie; while she doesn't doubt her senses, the fact that she has yet to catch even a glimpse of whatever she's chasing rang all kinds of alarm in her head, not to mention that it stopped running in the fountain room.

As if it is deliberately leading her here.

Cosmos knew that the safest option would be to wait for Alyx to arrive here, that it is the logical and rational choice. And yet a part of her screamed to get moving, to catch it while she still can.

A difficult decision. And whenever Cosmos came face to face with such decisions...

'Illia...'

She asked for her COMP to decide.

'...You must decide for yourself, Cosmos.'

And yet just like yesterday, Illia refused to help, which made Cosmos bit her lip. She wondered just why did Illia suddenly become so hands-off from her problem ever since her dream in the medical ward, but the thought is quickly pushed to the back of her mind. No, what's important right now is the decision whether to wait for Alyx or not...

It's true that it's risky, that there are many ways that this could go wrong, but waiting for Alyx present a chance for the thing to escape; after all, the longer she stays idle, the bigger the possibility that it would start running off again. Not to mention her sister might not even believe her and just chalked it off as just her imagination, and she won't have a peace of mind until she could at least catch a glimpse of what she'd been chasing.

Besides, as long as God is with her, then no matter how risky or dangerous a situation is she'd be able to handle it.

Thus after reciting a quick prayer and taking out her rosary - which morphed into a staff - Cosmos once again leaped into the fountain, ready to face whatever it is that she'd been chasing.

[Bloble]

Mokujima Chris
Aoyama ~ Lakeside
??? - Morning

"Nightfall... thorns...?"

The phrase does not register as familiar in any way. Even after Chris takes a moment to scour her mind, she can't recall anything even remotely close. She'd never been much for flowers, even though her mother had always said sweets tasted best when eaten in a colorful garden with friends.

Whatever it is, she can look it up later. Right now, more important is...

"Lexie..."

After clambering up the side of the ship and letting herself down through the hatch, Mokujima Chris can only be described as exasperated. She folds her arms, taps her feet, and squints at the labels of the shelf of limited edition collector's items before her.

"Too good... to be true."

Yes. That's the sadly sober thought that must cut through the jubilation.

"Either trespassing on someone's secret base... someone with your exact tastes... or it's a spell."

Chris paces, inspecting the fridge and the packets of food within it, noting down their dates and when they were bought and packaged.

"Maybe... while you were opening the hatch. The interior... configured. To match your preference."

That would explain why there were so many arcade cabinets and video games. Chris herself has, of course, played all of them, but she is more of a generalist geek than Lexie, whose otaku focus is more on gaming. There are no figures of anime characters or idols, and the food in the kitchen is, for the most part, healthy and recently bought, rather than the stock of long-lasting yet cheap cup noodles that Chris keeps in her room.

"Hm... if that's true, then... you're right. It'd be a great base... for anyone. But, the control room entrance... is probably the one I was working on. This room is... more of a convenience. Pocket dimension, maybe?"

Chris decides to test her theory. If this place is designed to accommodate its occupants...

The tall girl reaches up to one of the unopened cupboards in the kitchen. As she slowly pulls it open, she focuses her mind one one thing, driving all of her 'desire' into a single direction:

What is this ship's name?

[Airen]

Mokujima Chris
Aoyama ~ Lakeside
??? - Morning

Deciding to test your theory, you do your best to focus your thoughts in a single direction, a simple desire to find out the name of the bizarre ship you had stumbled across in the heart of the "Magic City."

It's a theory with a bit of circumstantial evidence to it, but...

When the cupboard doors open, all you find inside is about a dozen boxes of macaroni and cheese, a step above your usual cup noodles admittedly, and not exactly the sort of thing you would expect your mind to create for you inside the depths of a ship that may or may not change it's layout to match the desires of the inhabitants. It's a bit of a strike against your theory, but...

Seeing as how information was king in these sorts of scenarios, you had already memorized the things you had found up until now, to note:

-Most of the food in the kitchen was stocked with preservatives, the sort of things that would last for a long time if necessary, like bags of white rice, dehydrated fruits, and pasta...

-Of course there were things like milk and butter as well, so someone had to have been here relatively recently, but those items were strictly outnumbered by the other more preservable ones.

-There was a drawer full of receipts from the nearby LOVELESS, specifically the supermarket sub-store "Aeon." Purchase times all indicated that whoever lived here typically went shopping late at night, as if always going out of their way to avoid people...

Of course, even as you give this particular mystery some thought, Lexie...

"Awww, you don't think it's real? Feels pretty real to me-!"

...Ignores the more theif oriented implications of the statement, zeroing in on the illusion theory rather than the implications that she had simply dug up someone's secret base by accident.

Of course even if you had, it's definitely illegal to have something like this lurking underground, so you would be able to confiscate it regardless but...

"Although if it configures itself to match the person trying to get inside... That just makes it even cooler..."

...It still feels like she's a bit too carefree about it-!

Then again, that was just how Lexie did things...

Facing each and every day with the cheerful mentality that "it'll definitely work out somehow!" was one of her strongest features-! Of course this ultimately leads her back around to the problem of your door, a problem that, when she hears about it...

"Nightfall flowers? Thorns? Hmmm..."

...Actually seems to make her think a bit harder than usual, probably because this is the sort of puzzle that definitely has a reward of sorts if solved-!

"Well, when you think of thorns on a flower you think of roses right? But nightfall... That one's a bit trickier..."

She wanders as she thinks, and you wander along with her.

Just like she said, this section of the ship had quite a few rooms.

None of them were really decorated though, at least not in any personalized sense... There was an old-fashioned CRT television and an empty bookcase in each and every one of them, but that was about the extent of it...

Well, there was one VCR in the room at the end of the hallway, but it was empty, and well...

A VCR?

It was such an obsolete form of technology, especially in a ship that was as high-tech as this...

It was such an obsolete technology in fact, that this was the first time you had seen one in real life...

It was empty naturally, but still worth noting perhaps?

Still, even as you poke at shockingly old technology, Lexie is still thinking aloud and...

"Nightfall... Nightfall... Maybe it's a color? Some sort of modifier for the flower? Things get dark at night... Black? Nightrose? Blackrose?"

...Blackrose?

[Airen]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS ~ Parking Lot
??? - Before Dawn

---This time, you'll break through the surface of that fountain.

It doesn't matter how reckless the action is, if you allow it to get away now, then all of the effort you had put in up until now would be rendered worthless...

No.

Perhaps it's something more than that, a return of the 'self' within the 'self,' of the body moving on it's own to pursue something it has already categorized as a threat; you don't bother resisting the urge, because you are never able to realize that it is there...

One way or another...

It was almost like you were destined to take this plunge-!

As long as God is with you, you have nothing to fear.

Holding those prayers in your heart, you dive into the pool without any further hesitation, the flicker of what you would eventually realize was flames dancing across once still waters, waters that shatter and churn as your body finally pierces through them, water that closes up over your head, water that pulls you down, water that is actually far far deeper than it had first appeared, water that hides the laughter of a certain shadow that none can hear, water that---

---It's not water.

It feels like water but there's something wrong with it.

It's like quicksand, warm and gripping, squeezing at your body like you're being forced through some sort of small tunnel or massive straw... Flailing your arms and legs does nothing to get you anywhere, you sink fast, horrendously fast, so fast that all noise other than the sound of rushing liquid becomes drowned out, so fast that everything becomes little more than a black blur, so fast that it hurts your eyes to keep them open, so you slam them shut instead even though something might be in here with you, and...

---How long?

How long does it take for the 'fall' to stop?

Seconds?

Minutes?

Hours?

Days?

Weeks?

Years?

No time at all?

It's impossible to say, but...

Eventually, your flailing does get you somewhere, and you don't feel like you're drowning... Your hands are finally able to grasp water and pull your body along with it, and thus you aim up, away from the depths that don't seem so abyss-like anymore, as if a dark tunnel had spit you out somewhere, or if you had simply come to your senses and...

You break the surface of the water, gasping for air, and...

---Everything looks exactly the same.

Like you had simply been flailing in water meaninglessly, there is no great difference in the world before the plunge and the world after the plunge...

It all looks the same, and even sounds the same.

It's exactly the same, or at least...

That is what most people would say, what most people would think, but...

Right now.

Other than the lights from the fountain itself...

---Every other ambient light in the mall is off, leaving everything outside of this room drenched in complete darkness...

Other than the flashes of lightning from outside anyway...

But, even as you ponder this small development...

---Something emerges from the water next to you.

White hair and red eyes, it's-!

"What the hell are you doing?! Diving into fountains! Are you twelve?!"

Alyx.

It's definitely Alyx, cloaked in white -now completely drenched- clothes, and with an expression that clearly reads 'what's wrong with you?'

[Bloble]

Mokujima Chris
Aoyama ~ Lakeside
??? - Morning

"Blackrose-!"

The connection forms instantly. She hadn't realized it before, but now that the word has been uttered, it would be impossible for Mokujima Chris to not immediately think of the primary username of her closest friend.

"Lexie... that's it. Blackrose93."

She'd been wrong. This place wasn't designed to accommodate the wishes of whoever entered. It really had been a coincidence. This room wasn't made for Chris, or Lexie; it was hers.

"But... if she's been living here, then...?"

That VCR suddenly makes sense. After all, for an occult horror-geek like her, there's no more prized item. Chris can already recall the explanation, delivered with uncharacteristic excitement during a chilly midnight voice chat:

"Old VHS tapes are just rife for possession. The most famous, of course, being The Ring: the haunted tape that'll end your life within a week of watching it. Ah... just imagine, appearing out of the darkness as Sadako, terrifying someone to their soul... what a thrill it'd be! Plus, old tapes can be spooky and vague in ways that digital media can't, unless you ran it through several layers of artificial compression first. But that's not nearly the same! You just can't get that soulful film grain through any other means! Old, garbled videos of terrifying rituals, strange home recordings, shadowy confessions, vague threats, puppets saying 'I want to play a game'... that's the true romance of the video cassette tape! And when you pair all that with the fuzzy glow of a cathode ray tube television, the potential for horror goes through the roof---!"

...well, it might not have been exactly like that.

"Let's try it. Maybe... she'll have left a VHS tape for us in the control room. Hopefully not a haunted one."

Neither of their names worked, but the nightfall passage only appeared after Chris' own name was entered. In short, it can be thought of as a hint from the girl herself, should Chris happen to arrive here somehow. At least, that is how Chris chooses to interpret it.

After all, if it's her, then learning demonic script on your own wouldn't be strange at all!

Retreating back out of the comfortable apartment, Chris returns to the keypad, and this time...

S a k u r a k o.

Enters one more name.

[Airen]

Eva Ellet
Velvet Room
??? ~ ???

"Yes, they're quite real!"

A teacher-like smile, one that doesn't see your pang of disbelief as something to be annoyed by, but simply as...

Something to resolve-!

"And naturally, there are a few ways to move from one to another... Of course it's not easy by any means, but there are at least a handful of methods that I know about myself-!"

Puffing out her chest a bit, the woman seems remarkably proud about this for some reason?

Was she trying to impress you by seeming smart, or...?

"One of them lies within this very room even... Or rather, I suppose you could say the room itself is the method? This place connects to many places, a world of connections if you will..."

A pause, as if she was somewhat dissatisfied with her own response, then...

A snap of her fingers?

"Ah, instead of a lecture, perhaps I could show you? Would you like to see one? Normally I cannot leave this place, but if it's at the request of a guest, I can do so for brief periods of time... It should be long enough to sight-see?"

...An impossible offer-!

[palad1n]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS ~ Parking Lot
??? - Before Dawn

The moment she managed to get back to the surface, Cosmos weakly stumbled to the edge of the fountain, hand grasping tight to stone edge while she coughed up all the water in her lungs, her body breathing a sigh of relief as oxygen could once again fill her lungs. She stayed still, shaking and trembling from the terrifying experience, until--

"What the hell are you doing?! Diving into fountains! Are you twelve?!"

The voice of a certain someone brought her back to reality.

Turning her head to see her sister, whose clothes and body are completely drenched while an irritated expression is clearly plastered on her face, Cosmos did nothing but to stare for a few seconds. After all, what could she say? She must have looked insane, leaping into the fountain just like that, and now after the harrowing ordeal she didn't even manage to catch a glimpse of what it is that she'd been chasing...

Still, she has to say something, and Alyx did join her into the fountain from the looks of it, so the very least that she could do is to offer an explanation.

"I... I saw something on the roof." She began, her voice still slightly trembling; drowning is now certainly on her 'fearful experience' list. "So I chased it, all the way to the fountain room. It..." She coughed and wheezed, her body feeling really weak from the ordeal. "It's on the bottom of the fountain, so I jumped in to catch it. And well... here we are."

She looked around after that, noticing the lack of lights compared to before her dive, and wondered if there might be a blackout thanks to the storm outside before looking back to Alyx.

"...I almost drowned." She confessed after a few moments, eyes looking down to the water of the fountain that now seems normal. "And it's... It's not drowning by normal water either. Like something is pulling me in..."

Cosmos let out a tired sigh, realizing how that must have sounded, before finally gathering her strength to lift herself up from the edge of the fountain, her wet shoes making a sickening splat as it made contact with the dry floor. They should just continue the investigation and mission now, whatever it is that they must do, but as she once again looked at the white-haired girl...

"... But thank you. For jumping in after me even when it must have looked insane."

She muttered a genuine thanks to her sister before she started to look around.

[Airen]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS ~ Fountain Room
??? - Before Dawn

"... But thank you. For jumping in after me even when it must have looked insane."

A huff, as the unexpected apology catches the abrasive young woman by surprise.

"Of course I jumped in after you, you were under for a bit, and drowning would be a pretty lame way for a Tamer to die."

She says it casually, an off-the-hand remark that implies it isn't that serious, or that it had simply been more of an annoying thing to do than anything else, but...

"You are a Tamer right? Shape up. We've got a trip in a week."

...She's sort of dishonest at times.

It's something you only know because you've been around her for awhile, but...

Diving in after you had been an extreme, impulsive response... In other words...

She had been worried about you, even if she was doing her absolute best to obfuscate that fact.

"Still though, chasing shadows? I didn't see anything in the water with you, nothing in the hallways or the room either... Hmm, maybe coming this early in the morning was a mistake..."

She sighs, and with that...

"Well, we can give it another once over I guess..."

She actually...

Doesn't mock you for it?

At least, not initially...

Still, you had already planned to look around the area some more anyway.

Stepping outside of the fountain along with a still grumbling Alyx, the water behind you once again reforms into it's bizarre starlit stillness, each and every one of the ripples disappearing the moment no one was making contact with it's surface any more...

Other than the lack of lights, everything else looks exactly the same; considering how harsh the storm outside had been, the possibility that the power had been knocked out for one reason or another wasn't impossible, but there was something about these circumstances that had you on edge in spite of yourself... Was it the fact that you had seemingly nearly drowned a few moments ago? Or was it something else?

Regardless...

Once you step out into the darkness, Alyx focusing on her COMP as she types away at something... Your heart rate rises of it's own accord...

Like something is wrong, like you're somewhere you shouldn't be...

Of course it might just be paranoia, after all, your feelings recently had led you in quite a few bizarre directions, but...

A flash of lightning erupts outside, not just once, but over a dozen times in rapid succession... It's the sort of thing that easily draws the eye, the natural lighting of an ever escalating storm that was only serving to put you more on edge, and...

Moving over to that window, like a moth drawn to the flame, your gaze comes to rest on the outside world for a moment, and...

---The cars are all gone.

---The parking lot is empty, no...

No that's not right, the parking lot...

Is also gone?

The ground outside doesn't seem like concrete... If you didn't know better, if you hadn't been walking on it yourself mere minutes before, you would have sworn that the entirety of the ground outside was simply featureless black mud, mud that's come out of the earth to swallow the streets, rippling gently in the face of an ongoing storm, and...

You look closer, a burst of lightning appearing along with your curiosity, and...

---There are definitely people walking around out there...

Out in the distance.

A large number of them actually...

Walking around for some reason... This early in the morning...?

In a...

Storm?

[Airen]

Blaise Pendragon
Old SDCD Facility ~ Aoyama Outskirts
??? - Morning

"Whassup, girl~"

"Yo."

An automatic response, or perhaps a simple practiced ritual between two very tired delinquent girls-!

Yes.

Raising her fist automatically to respond to Kaguya, it's the fastest of the motions Yuriko had made so far, a sign that this was something she actually had motivation to do, rather than the half-hearted march to her academic fate, yes...

"Bad hair day huh? I feel it girl, waking up this early is hell on the looks."

With the appearance of someone she knew, a spark of energy had certainly lit itself in Yuriko's heart-! She doesn't question exactly how an A.I could even have bed-hair, no, understanding the meaning behind that appearance when she sees it, like some sort of hidden code between alike-individuals...

She simply accepts it as is before turning to answer Blaise, hands returning to their pockets now that the traditional greeting was complete-!

"Yeah, had to wake up around 2 in the morning to get the muffins started, but I've got all of today's meals prepped back at home; figured I should be thorough about the food today, considering I don't know how long this whole mess is gonna take..."

Yes...

The Caretaker of Brighter Days, an ever-fatigued young woman with a scary face but a heart of gold-! It was quite inspiring, seeing someone younger than you putting her all into taking care of a bunch of kids in her free-time, it's the sort of thing that marks her as different from your typical delinquent, and thus, someone that could get along with your own form of being a thug...

"But hey, you know they always want more sweets; if you're willing to make em, I'm willing to take em. Broke into the last batch when I wasn't paying attention... Getting a bit too clever..."

Yes.

In spite of being one of the delinquents in Aoyama with the strongest terror radius, she...

...Is actually a remarkably chill person, so long as nothing dishonorable is going on around her, in that sense...

The two of you were pretty alike...

"Still... this school is useless as ever, huh? It's one thing to call us older students to fix the messes left behind by others..."

Blaise shook his head, clearly disapprovingly...

"... But to rope underclassmen like you in... just shameful."

"..."

For some reason, when she hears this, her first reaction is to sigh... It's a strange reaction, like there was something in it that she didn't quite agree with, even though you knew she disliked the school for her own reasons, but...

After thinking about it for a bit, she seems to decide it's a train of thought that's not really worth going down, thus-!

"Well, it sort of feels like being used as replacement janitors... Which does kinda suck, but hey, if it'll get them off my back for awhile, I'll put in some hours... Didn't realize how many I had missed until Ibaraki showed up at the orphanage... Frickin Rider Kick..."

A wince, as if the memory was painful, then...

"But I'm more surprised they managed to drag you here, although, now that I think about it..."

A pause, then...

"I've heard that your aunt might be chaperoning this one... So you might want to watch out."

Ah.

The woman with the strongest Terror Radius in Tokyo...

[palad1n]

Cosmos Fairchild
LOVELESS ~ Fountain Room
??? - Before Dawn

The way that her sister replied to her thanks is very typical of her, that it's more troublesome than anything or that it's nothing serious... And that's alright. Cosmos accepted those words silently, even if she knew the real meaning behind it, because that's just how their relationship are: that of glorious sisterly rivalry.

And now that she mentioned it, of course Alyx is going on the trip to the North Pole too... How annoying, yet reassuring. Not that she'd say that to her sister's face.

With that in mind and seeing Alyx typing away on her COMP, Cosmos decided to do the same, her staff once again morphing before she navigates through the screen and open the internet. If LOVELESS is having a blackout, then most likely some other part of Vatican experience it too, and that means there must be some kind of news about it if she searched.

However, she frowned a few seconds later at the words that appeared on her COMP's screen.

No connection because it's out of range.

Which doesn't make sense at all. LOVELESS is still situated in Vatican, and for there to be no connection at all in the holy city has never happened before. Even blackouts wouldn't make it impossible to use the internet...

Once again, she felt a feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach, and the consecutive strike of thunder made her glance outside the windows, her feet moving on their own as if entranced by the sound.

And what she saw outside once again doesn't make sense.

The parking lot is gone, the ground seemingly disappeared beneath what looked like mud. And in the distance she could barely see shapes of people, walking around in a storm like this...

Something is definitely wrong.

"Alyx," She called her sister over to the window; the fact that she used her name indicates how serious this situation is for her. "There's... something wrong outside. I know we just got in, but there's mud and people walking around outside. I want to investigate."

Indeed. She wanted to have a closer look at the mud - she got a feeling that it might not actually be regular mud - and to see what's wrong for people to be walking outside in the middle of a storm. But this time, she is calmer and more rational after nearly drowning, so she waited for her sister's reply before doing anything rash, waiting by the window still.

But she will investigate, whether alone or together with Alyx.