Aster
Saint Vivienne ~ Dormitories
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening
“Maybe. We don’t know.” But it’s odd enough that you know, and there is something that catches in Aster’s breath after she smoothly delivers her empty answer. She forces it out, a heavy breath, and continues. “But for some reason, I didn’t know, and that… I should be on top of these things.”
Her voice is like the surface of a still pond—calm, but liable to break with a moment’s push. Aster does not like admitting her flaws, but she is next to one of the few people who will listen, one of the few people that treasures Ayra as much as she does, if not more. It’s not terrible if she admits she’s not flawless and that she worries. At the very least, it keeps her digital soul at peace.
“Let’s get started at digging through files, shall we?”
Not like she won’t deflect as soon as possible, though, and since Tsukiko has most graciously given her a good answer, she may as well help the other girl find her own.
Ayra takes a moment to process the most meaningless part of Asuka’s proposal.
Can she fit into her old school uniform? Probably, she peaked pretty early. Does she still have it? Yes, somewhere stashed in her closet because she figured she’d throw it away “eventually.” Will she wear it? No, because she is twenty-two and the thought makes her irrationally uncomfortable.
“We just need our names on the rosters,” Ayra says, displeased about what was hopefully Asuka’s joke. The school even now has a casual dress policy, sometimes! Surely she can escape the need to wear old clothes. “But I don’t mind staying a little bit longer to see if this theory pans out.”
Last edited by Katie; September 12th, 2021 at 05:39 PM.
Aster
Saint Vivienne ~ Dormitories
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening
"..."
Suddenly, instinctively, without really thinking about it, her hand rises up to rest on your head; it's just for a moment, a single encouraging moment that even she seems to realize is a bit strange afterwards, withdrawing the hand and looking at it for a moment as if it had acted without her permission, but...
"...Listen, you can't beat yourself up for not knowing everything." Tsukiko says in a calm voice, the annoyed air from before already vanishing into the depths of the otherwise silent dormitories. "You forgot someone's name? So what? These things happen, Human or A.I or Demon or whatever, not a single one of any of us is perfect and that's perfectly okay. Everyone needs help from time to time."
Her hands fall to her hips.
"And I'll always try to give it when I can, even now, when things are... Weird... With everyone."
There's a bit of silence, that sort of silence that comes about when advice becomes a bit too sincere, but...
"Although... If someone gave your memory the slip, that does sort of make me think they're up to something..."
For a moment... Her gaze grows distant.
Like she's searching for some deep thought, some lost memory, but...
"...Well, I'm sure we'll figure it out."
Ultimately, it seems she comes up short.
"But as far as the boxes go, better watch yourself..."
She chuckles.
"Heard this one's a real conspiracy theorist. They're out of town right now, but if you really wanna help me with this..."
They do it almost instinctively, a cross-gaze that transmits far more information than could be expected from two people that had just met each other mere hours before; Emma's smile is strangely sympathetic, although the expression her eyes are trying to transmit is a bit more unclear, and yet...
Asuka nods.
---It's a bizarre sight.
These two might actually get along a bit too well, at least, when it comes to these sorts of bad jokes...
Still...
"...I'll still wear one."
You had expected Asuka to say a lot of things in response, but that probably wasn't one of them-! Of course, it's easier for Asuka to say that sort of thing, after all, she's just nineteen, it's not quite as strange for her to do it as it would be for you to do it, but-!
"Gotta check as many boxes as I can, for all we know, wearing the uniform might be a requirement to be recognized."
She nods.
It feels like it's mostly made to herself, but...
"I'll bite the bullet for the team. I can still pull off the skirt-!"
Well, she could, yes... But...
Wasn't she getting a bit too fired up about this...?
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
Rossweisse Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence 11/16/2026 Monday ~ Morning
Originally Posted by Dr. Xavier
"...Hard to say if we're the only targets. Would have to do some more experiments to make sure... For instance, is it possible for you to leave this city? It might simply be that my form as a... Spirit, doesn't allow me to move too far from this place. Aoyama has always had a bizarre relationship with spirits, after all… Of course, it could also be some sort of phenomena that can be resolved, an incident of sorts... But that too would require a bit more investigation… But you're right in that it would have to be done at night, in which case... "
I take note of Dr. Xavier’s suggestions while nodding to signal that I heard him. At the end, I finally responded.
“If I can get out, should I head to the SLEPNIR again? I think it would make sense typically… but I can’t say I’m comfortable leaving Aoyama if there’s an incident capable of affecting all of it. Even if it’s just to make it quieter… Especially if my family is here. I mean I’m sure they can handle themselves but… If it’s more than that, I believe we should solve this incident if there aren’t many people capable of moving at night.”
I watched Dr. Xavier as he raised his fluffy, little arm towards his face in contemplative thought. Even if I know it’s Dr. Xavier, I can’t help but think that he looks a little adorable. While it would be extremely fitting in his body. The teddy bear’s inherent cuteness combined with Dr. Xavier’s serious and stoic movements caused a gap that changed the entire dynamic. It was almost like a little kid trying to act older than their actual age.
Originally Posted by Dr. Xavier
“Wandering around town in a bear body... I might not get too many strange looks, considering the town, but… It's not a very powerful vessel. I can't do much with it. Cotton insides do not do wonders for one's physical strength, and my reiki levels aren't... Particularly good, to be honest, just moving around is tiring at the moment... So… Kneel down. Let me ride on your shoulder… Kneel down. Let me ride on your shoulder.”
I quietly kneel down while making sure to keep the shovel and the bags of dirt away from him. However instead of offering my shoulder, I instead offered Dr. Xavier my head for him to sit on.
“Instead of my shoulder where you can slide off and into the dirt, how about my head until I can get you onto a chair Doctor? Or failing that, I can always make an aura shield pad if there aren’t any nearby.”
Once the doctor got onto me securely, I decided to crack a joke while walking out.
“Also I think you should keep your body’s strength a secret from Hiyori. If she found out that you’re weaker than her, I can only see her teasing you while flying around you annoyingly.”
---
Hiyori
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
Originally Posted by Alexia
"...Genesis is pretty tough, not SLEIPNIR tough, but he would have been invincible back in the day. Nowadays... We know a bit too much about his circuitry, so he's about as tough as any other ASW."
Whew… I don’t know how I would feel if there was like an invincible character just wandering around until you hit the plotline that lets you finally kill it. Like seriously, I didn’t even dent the inside of the SLEPNIR that one time I shot three C ranks directly into it. Imagine Genesis just like calmly walking toward you after you threw some of the strongest spells outside of your trump card. It would be like turbo villainous and horrifying!
Originally Posted by Alexia
"But Reverie Something...?"
Uh oh… Alexia isn’t immediately answering yes or no. Heck, she’s not even doing the secret agent thing of saying its classified cutely! If anything, she actually seems to be bothered and thinking about that Reverie Complex Miss Smug mentioned offhand.
Originally Posted by Alexia
“No. The thing on the SLEIPNIR was called the uh... Master System? Well, I've seen some reports that also referred to it as an Astrolabe, but eh... Most of the time, it's the Master System. No names with 'Reverie,' in it.”
Oh crud! She’s doing the suspicious eyebrow raise on me. I swear I’m innocent Miss NWAB. I’m just repeating some weird words that Miss Smug said and thought I was a smart little COMP who didn’t need her Tamer.
Originally Posted by Alexia
"When you say Reverie, you mean like... 'Daydream,' right? Trance? Fantasy? Who's this friend asking about Space-Time attacks? Is someone trying to build a time machine again? Tipler-Cylinder Engines? They should know that's illegal, not the sort of thing I can ignore..."
Ababababa. Alexia is actually kind of scary! Like she acts all normal and then it makes you forget that she’s actually like a NWAB Tamer who knows all kinds of scary stuff! Like I would hide behind Aunty Lab Coat, but I get the feeling that she’ll snatch me up midair if I do any sudden movements!
‘I have no idea what Reverie refers to actually… It was just something Miss Smug was saying offhand. Also, Miss Smug isn’t my friend! Friends do fun things like play games or watch Phoenix Rangers together! Instead, she demanded I call her an empress and smugly talk a bunch of weird scientific mumbo jumbo like Reverie something, complete collapses, and stuff!’
I make a giant hmph sound and turn my head away from Alexia. I don’t get why that Smug Doctor and now Alexia assume that Miss Smug and I could be friends!
Aster
Saint Vivienne ~ Dormitories
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening
“Thanks for the pep talk.” Sure, it sounds a bit snarky, but this is just how Aster shows her affection, backhandedly. Being comforted by Tsukiko is both relieving yet completely annoying at the same time, but she isn’t going to be rude about it. If someone tries to help her, help’s appreciated. “I’ll try to relax about it.”
Really, that warning though. Does Tsukiko not know what she’s dealing with? The head of Ayra’s fanclub, the master at wading through celebrity gossip herself? Conspiracies pale before the insanity she has willingly delved in.
“Come on, you know I love a good conspiracy. There’s no way you can scare me off, I have time.” Aster grins, making her way towards the boxes of old newspapers and cut out images. Boring data sifting? That’s her kind of work.
Why in the world is Asuka so excited about wearing a school uniform? Is she the only one who doesn’t want to wear outfits they shouldn’t be wearing? Why are those two on the same wavelength?
Ayra, for lack of a better term, is tilted. She should have brought Connor. Dozens of girls pining over a cookie-cutter knight is infinitely more tolerable than this. Mirelle would probably just be more of the same.
“If you insist,” Ayra says, looking exasperated to the high heavens. She doesn’t want to think about this. Is she crazy? Not wanting to wear your old school uniform is normal, right, and everyone else is just being weird?
God, she misses Aster. Please let all this mental turmoil be worth it.
Aster
Saint Vivienne ~ Dormitories
11/16/2026
Monday - Evening
---In the end, the investigation of the room lasted for almost two and a half hours. By the time you were finished, the end of the school day bells were ringing, and the beginnings of student steps and grumblings could be heard from down below. Of course, a few people do wander the floor where you and Tsukiko are acting in a less than legal manner, but as always, students are rather focused on their own lives, and thus, the movements of their next-door neighbors don't seem to concern them all that much, nevertheless...
With you being rather skilled in these sorts of things (fan mail was always a pain to sift through, as you knew very well) and Tsukiko showing the usual Knight competence when it came to general matters, the list of things you had come up with was rather extensive, of course...
Exactly what that list actually contained was a different sort of matter.
The boxes and boxes of newspapers dated all the way back to the opening of the Academy in the early 1900s, although strangely enough, not a single one of them ever referred to the headmaster by her name; of course there are mentions of her existence, and of her certainly being a her, but the articles seem to go out of their way to never refer to her by name, although...
It also feels sort of clunky in a way, like the articles had been written with her name in mind, but the information had somehow been removed in a retroactive manner... Of course, you can't prove that this is the case, but that's the feeling you get...
When it comes to the origin's of the Academy itself, it seems like the Headmaster's partner (at least in a benefactor sense) had been a woman by the name of Alessia Accardi, an apparently eccentric woman who functioned as a sort of philanthropist at the time... Considering the nature of society in the early 1900s, such power in the hands of that sort of individual implied supernatural strength of some sort, as did the fact that there were infuriatingly few clues as to where her money (and she did seem to be quite wealthy, judging by all the descriptions of her in the articles) actually came from...
It was an era before the masquerade broke, so existence as a supernatural entity of some sort seemed likely... Probably a Demon Summoner of some kind, considering the fact that Saint Vivienne's had ultimately become a Tamer Academy, as the Tamers themselves were a sort of modern rendition of the Demon Summoners of the past, still... Much like her partner in crime, Alessia goes on to disappear a few years later, her vanishing something of a footnote in 1956, the last mention of her being that she had run off to America to form a shopping center in Kansas City, Missouri... Some place that was once called the Country Club Plaza, or just the Plaza, but that had gone on to be turned into one of the many LOVELESS malls that dotted the planet nowadays...
At least, according to the RAILS Network Archive.
Still, Alessia was apparently responsible for construction of the Clocktower at the Academy -as well as handing over the building itself to her partner- so if she also had her hands in the LOVELESS pie, well...
Perhaps she was a woman with a taste for the extravagant? LOVELESS was full of needless decorations like fountains and statues, so it seemed perfectly in character for this strange woman that was never quite caught in photographs... Of course, the early 40s were a different time when it came to such things, still...
A bit annoying, but that was what it meant to look for pre-magic era knowledge; not everything had been digitized properly and there were hundreds of things that probably never would be...
It was simply too great an endeavor.
Nevertheless, other than mention of the original Headmaster herself being some sort of author (the book's title was apparently "Daydream Syndrome," and it was some sort of young adult romance novel, although the internet had nothing substantial on it) there are no real clues as to her ultimate fate.
She just seems to disappear, with the Headmaster you were more familiar with taking over in the 90s; there are some bits about the school having occult leanings, but you already knew that much to be true, after all...
It had been chosen as the spot for a Tamer Academy for a reason, it already had a history of being that sort of place which made it naturally more suited for the role.
Things get less newspaper centric as you approach the modern day, handwritten notes from the student in question (some girl named Caterina) going on to replace them... You're not sure what exactly she was looking for gathering all of this, in a sense, it seems almost like she was just methodically looking through the entirety of the Academy's history and noting anything she found as strange, which itself was strange, hinting at a logical mind that just relentlessly chased down each and every hidden thing she could learn about the school...
Mentions of something called a Yomibito, as well as her inability to find it.
Some religious items, a well-used bible and a couple of rosaries.
A list of your graduating class (Ayra, Tsukiko, Evita and co, with Aislynn being visibly present in graduation pictures but also not mentioned by name, a fact that the girl herself found strange judging by the "Why can't I remember her name?" she had written on the back of the photo) as well as the class before your own, with Leah Ellet and Alexia Wright being the only names you find notable amongst them (the latter serving as a teacher here in the early 2000s).
---Of course, things get a bit more exciting when you find a photo of Ayra that has "Alter Ego?" written on the back in pencil, but thankfully, you get to that one before Tsukiko does...
Although, even as you stash that particular paper away...
Tsukiko is...
"..."
Staring at a message on the wall, one that was only revealed at the end of your joint search, after all the boxes had been shifted away from a cork board that had been affixed to the wall, one that only reads a single message...
It's one of the few messages without much context to it's meaning, and a bit strange in the sense of it apparently being a note made for the sakeof oneself, but...
"Obey the curfew huh? So... Everyone in the dorm after sundown?"
One hand on her chin, the bespectacled woman turns to you after a moment, and...
"...We didn't have anything like that, right?"
She asks, seemingly just to confirm, and...
No.
No, you certainly did not...
Your curfew had definitely been midnight back in the day...
Last edited by Airen; September 19th, 2021 at 02:46 PM.
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
Hiyori
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
"..."
Stare.
"..."
A painful, overwhelming silence.
With her eyebrow threatening to reach escape velocity -and thus the grasp of the planet- the suspicious look the woman regards you with is one that somehow drains all sound from the room; it's the gaze of someone that's caught ahold of something they find suspicious and isn't entirely willing to let go of easily, and yet, it is also one that you can only regard with somewhat dishonest behavior, a huff of your breath and a turn of the head away from the woman the only things you really give her in response, leaving her to figure out the identity of 'Miss Smug' on her own, but...
"...Pfft."
After awhile, Alexia's serious face breaks into something of a smirk, a suppressed giggle.
"That's such textbook tsundere behavior... Oh my god..."
For some reason, she seems to find it adorable...
"I keep running into adorable kids."
Does it let you get away with your vague answer?
"But a Ms. Smug..."
It's hard to say, the grin that's crossed her face is energetic... But at the same time, the fact that the intelligent, thinking light in her eyes has yet to go out, still... There shouldn't really be a way for her to identify Charlotte from that description alone, plenty of scientists nowadays had a bit of a smug air to them, it sort of came with the territory after all, but...
"Oh, Charlotte. Akarana Charlotte."
...Somehow, she guesses it after a bit.
There are no false guesses, no sense that she had picked it out randomly, just the feeling that she somehow knew the answer with complete certainty entirely on her own... In a sense, it's a bit unnerving, a thing that makes you question if the light in her eyes was just her amusement or something else, some form of supernatural insight, but...
"Yeah, I guess a name like Ms. Smug fits that one... Bit of a troublemaker, Shakespearean, a woman with grand lofty ideas that she loves to talk about in grand, lofty terms... Wouldn't surprise me if she ran around asking people to call her an Empress, she is one, at least... From a certain point of view. She's certainly the head of a powerful family."
A frown, as a flicker of something darker takes over her otherwise amused face.
"Although calling herself that already is in pretty bad taste... Her father's only been dead for about a week now... Not really a good look for someone on the suspect list."
She sighs, shifting a bit on the couch; her hair is long, long enough that the movement causes some of it to fall into her face, erasing that strangely dark look for a moment, although when she brushes it aside to her shoulder, the cheerful smile and starlit eyes are back to their normal state, although-
"It's interesting."
-the raised eyebrow also returns to it's previous perch-!
" Although, where did you find the time to run into her? Not exactly someone you just find on the street."
---
Rossweisse
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
"...You'll get split ends if you're not careful."
Perhaps inviting the bear calling itself Dr. Xavier to sit on your head was a mistake? While his eagerness to escape from the dirt floor had been both obvious and powerful, the ever-cleanliness obsessed doctor had -after ensuring his plush body was clean- started to poke lightly at your hair as you exit the shed... It's not done out of any sort of ulterior motive, no, the disgruntled nature of the poking had been that of a doctor that was displeased with the health of the body it was poking, of course...
Being Doctor Xavier, he is always displeased, he's a nag, a massive nag, someone who will keep looking for a problem until he finds one, because he's sure that a problem exists somewhere...
In a sense it's the mark of a pessimistic person, still-!
It comes from a good hearted place, the same place that causes the doctor to go around cutting the power to simulators when people get 'out of control-!'
"Have you been using conditioner properly? Battle can do horrific damage to hair, you know?"
Still...
Having him sitting on your head saying those sorts of things...
Very nitpicky!
In a motherly sort of way.
When it came to your question about returning to the SLEIPNIR if you could actually leave town, the bear had just shrugged and said he "doubted it would be that easy, but we can talk about it later," before climbing onto your head, and well...
"...?"
Returning to the flame-haired woman, she casts you a questioning gaze as you approach her position; she's still out in the yard, looking up at the swaying branches of the soon-to-be-moved tree, and...
"Oh. That teddy bear moves?"
She blinks.
"That's pretty neat, was wondering why you were hugging it so tightly yesterday."
Her hands go up to her hips, then...
A mischievous smile crosses her face.
"Some gift from a suitor perhaps...?"
But in response to this, Xavier...
"...gu-!"
Makes a sudden, choking sound...
Last edited by Airen; September 20th, 2021 at 05:44 PM.
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
"A sincere thank you? Maybe the World really is on the way out?"
---The response that emerges from Alyx's lips is exactly the sort of flippant thing one might expect, words with a hint of both amusement and irreverence to the situation, as if to say she's not worried about it at all... Of course, the tired but sharp look in her eyes screams that this isn't the case, that there's a part of her that is absolutely stressing in the face of this sort of absurd situation, but...
She's putting up a good front.
Courage in it's purest form, wielding the blade of resolve in spite of the oppressive nature of everything around you; it's a sort of attitude that's clearly meant to put others at ease -to put you more at ease- to show that she's not afraid and thus you shouldn't be either, but...
Whether or not it works, well...
"Concept Magic huh? Instant kills, time limits, unknown nature... This is turning out to be a hell of a holiday."
Sofia's grumblings come over the channel nonetheless, and unlike Alyx...
Not a hint of uncertainty.
Was this the resolve of a modern day mafia princess? Or just the result of being unable to see her face and read the small cues people back?
Impossible to say.
---But the mental image of her just frowning at a computer screen, more annoyed than anything else...
"But okay, this is doable... It's like fighting a Kaiju. Of course, I didn't actually think I'd ever use this, but it looks like I'm gonna have to hack into those satellites after all..."
...Does seem to fit her.
"Orbital lasers seem like they'd do the trick, right? Doesn't matter if it becomes immune to a second strike if a second strike isn't necessary, we'll destroy it in one go. Bit of a brute force solution, but I'm a fan of cutting the knot in these sorts of scenarios... We can worry about the political fallout later-!"
Although she is saying some concerning things, still-!
Light rains.
Just like under the crimson skies of Ruina, meteors of magical energy coalesce in the heavens and descend in a wide swath, the sight like that of space itself descending to attack a twisted amalgamation of machinery and divine power, a quite literal Deus Ex Machina, but-!
Just as the sky descends to strike...
---So too does power flow through the machine to the earth, a great tremble that rips tears in the ground far below, stalagmites and canyons bursting from the ground as the planet itself shakes violently, so violently that you can feel it even up in the air, a horrific tremor that shatters glass like a symphony, magically reinforced buildings swaying and cracking themselves as defenses are overrun, as absolute, brute force is made manifest, lines of golden light erupting from the cracks in the shape of an impossible updraft, and-
"...Wh-"
-something slams into you.
No.
Not just you, Alyx and Sariel as well...
There is only a second of warning, but for a Tamer, that should be enough, nevertheless-!
It's too big.
It's simply too big, too absurd...
After all, in response to the descending lights, in response to that existence continuing to stand against it, the machine had let out a strange zone, a bizarre, malicious, groan, and...
Ripped a chunk of the city out of the ground and into the sky.
---Or at least, that is what you can assume, in a haze of dust and exploding lights.
Concrete is pressed against your entire body, the result of having the entirety of the landmass fly up to slam into the three of you; there had been a brief flash of something black and white, something warm erupting between you and the ground before the earth rises to slam into you as if to punish you for defying gravity. Pain shoots up and down your body, the monstrous force of something strong enough to rip a chunk out of the planet slamming into your airborne form; it hurts, hurts enough that for a few moments you wonder if every bone in your body had just snapped, but...
No...
No...
You can still move your body... A combination of your Harmonizer and someone's defensive... something... had stopped an outright splatter it seems, but light is raining down all around you, your own spell crashing like meteors into a city that was rapidly rising, throwing everything into a chaotic storm of dust and scattering lights, a single massive rock becoming a storm of rising debris...
The wind roars in your ears.
Riding a massive rock (it seems all of LOVELESS at least was being dragged up along with you) you can see Chokmah in the distance, on it's own island in this sea of rising debris... The obvious cause of this insane show of force, staring at you as you rise, staring with the same malice as always, unflinching in the face of the numerous impacts that scatter across the surface of it's body, and...
---It still wants to kill you.
---That's the priority.
---It's doing whatever it thinks will accomplish that task.
If it's main 'ability' will take too long, then...
It doesn't mind dragging all resistance into the upper atmosphere, Tamer or not...
Most humans can't survive in space.
But even as that gaze remains fixed on you, as you struggle to stand (any attempt to fly just leads to the ground catching up to you) on a platform that is showing no signs of returning to earth anytime soon...
Alyx too, rises to her feet...
Slowly.
A bit shakily...
And...
"As for... a plan..."
She finally gets around to answering your earlier question, wings flaring around her -and you, for a moment- in an instinctual, protective flourish...
"It seems to hate you... So..."
She smiles.
A flippant, but pained smile...
"Keep pissing it off... And the others won't have to worry about that barrier at least."
---Easier said than done, and easier done than survived...
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
As she coughed from all the dust hanging in the air, struggling to stand straight as her body hurts all over, Cosmos could only look at the massive form of Chokmah, who even now still rested its gaze upon her.
The reason why she used Into the Sky was to avoid collateral damage as much as possible, but for Chokmah to just... casually hurls a section of the city at her like it was nothing, with enough force to send it to space...
'It really hates me that much, huh...'
She would have laughed if the situation wasn't so serious and dire.
Still, she eventually stands up, as difficult as it is to do when the ground is practically moving at escape velocity. Listening to what Alyx has to say, a plan to face this insanely strong opponent, and...
Originally Posted by Alyx
"Keep pissing it off... And the others won't have to worry about that barrier at least."
In the end, sometimes simple is best.
Just like how Miss Sofia's plan to deal with Chokmah is to kill it in the first strike, she simply needs to buy time until that attack could be made. Its animosity to her is clear enough, and it shouldn't take much to draw its attention away from the others and to her alone...
Of course whether she could survive Chokmah's attacks is another story, but...
Cosmos took a deep breath and muttered a quick prayer, asking the Lord for strength in the face of this adversity, before turning to look at Alyx's flippant but pained smile.
A worrywart as always, despite her usual attitude and strength.
So Cosmos gave Alyx her best confident smile - a silent gesture that conveys 'I got this' to her sister - but before she could run off to distract the Sefirot, a warm glow embraced her body, healing whatever wound and pain that she felt to nothing.
Sariel stood there in silence, her hands glowing from her use of Diahan, obviously worried and concerned with what she had to do, but...
"May the Lord's protection be with you, Cosmos."
In the end, her guardian angel didn't try to stop her.
And before she could lose her nerve and have her mind be plagued by doubt, Cosmos Fairchild ran off with the ringing of her staff's bell.
She had never been the most physically-gifted tamer; Alyx has always been the better one in athletics, and she had never beaten her in a physical contest. But while her physical strength left a lot to be desired, her agility isn't that bad, her endurance is above average for tamers, and her exceptional senses tremendously help her in moving in such dangerous terrain.
In other words, even if she faced some difficulty in doing so, Cosmos Fairchild could still move even on a ground that is moving past the escape velocity into space, avoiding falling debris and the leftover rain of stars of her own spell through her senses as she ran and ran, moving closer to the towering form of Chokmah as she did so-!
She doesn't know how long she must distract Chokmah, but it would be best to assume that she needs to distract it for a while.
'Try to always have a building between you and Chokmah as you move, just in case.'
'Right!' Cosmos thanked her COMP as she did just that, moving from building to building, all the while making sure to always have Chokmah on the peripheral of her vision; she needs to make sure it can see her most of the time, but not so much that it'd have a clear shot at her. And she couldn't let it be for too long, or it might change its target.
To say that she wasn't scared would be a lie. No matter her endurance, taking a direct hit from Chokmah would likely result in her death, which means she'd have to dodge whatever attacks might be coming her way; she could only hope her senses would be good enough, and the buildings can somewhat slow it down.
But the adrenaline, her sense of duty, and a not-so-insignificant anger at the Sefirot for ripping out a chunk of the Holy City just to get at her helped to prevent her from making mistakes and trembling away.
Even if she only needs to distract it, that still involves taking some shots at Chokmah, and she is perfectly fine with that-!
Gathering magic at her staff as she batted a falling debris away, Cosmos took aim as she kept on moving.
She still doesn't have enough bell charges to cast a B-rank Aster or Plasmic Fire, and it's still too far away for Endless Nova. But this is fine; she only needs to distract it, and D-rank spells had previously managed to successfully gain its attention despite being ineffective. Besides, she needs to distract it for a while, so there's no point in casting B-ranked spells in quick succession-!
"Kouga!"
Stopping for a moment to catch her breath and take a good aim at Chokmah because the spell lacked homing capabilities, a lance of light was shot from her staff before she once again took off, slowly getting closer and closer to Chokmah while making sure to always have a building between her and it.
She needs to get close enough until Chokmah is within the range of Endless Nova-!
Hiyori
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
Originally Posted by Alexia
"..."
Scary! Scary! I wasn’t even looking at Alexia and I could feel the pressure emanating from her. If I was capable of sweating, I’m sure I would’ve started sweating. But thankfully, I’m a COMP so I can’t do things like that unless I want to! Besides, it's not like I’ve done anything bad. Sure I’m super sus like right now, but Miss Smug didn’t do anything illegal. Well I guess there was the fact that she was stowing away on the SLEPNIR, but she wasn’t doing anything else. So I have nothing to hide, Miss TSAB Officer!
Originally Posted by Alexia
"...Pfft. That's such textbook tsundere behavior... Oh my god..."
‘T-textbook?! Tsundere?!’
Without even thinking about Alexia’s previously threatening presence, I flew closer and across from her smirking face.
‘Nuh uh! Absolutely not! That’s like saying that cats and dogs can get along! Immortals and Death! Hyena and Crow! Otto and K-!’
Originally Posted by Alexia
“I keep running into adorable kids.”
I quit protesting to Alexia once she called me adorable. I can drop it here… Just because she called me adorable. I mean I am basically the cute adorable mascot character of an anime. The only people who can even be mean and get away with it are those with the Smug Villain template!
‘Of course I am! I’m the cutest COMP of Justice after all!’
I float away again mollified by Alexia’s compliment. Even if I’m not a tsundere. Definitely not a tsundere.
Originally Posted by Alexia
"But a Ms. Smug…"
Wait wait. Alexia is starting to get that scary pressure to her again?! I’m glad I started floating away earlier. I don’t think I can handle Alexia that close by myself.
Originally Posted by Alexia
“Oh, Charlotte. Akarana Charlotte. Yeah, I guess a name like Ms. Smug fits that one... Bit of a troublemaker, Shakespearean, a woman with grand lofty ideas that she loves to talk about in grand, lofty terms... Wouldn't surprise me if she ran around asking people to call her an Empress, she is one, at least... From a certain point of view. She's certainly the head of a powerful family.”
‘Eh?! How’d you figure out Miss Smug’s name out so easily!? She only introduced herself to me as Empress Charlotte!’
Well I never did learn Miss Smug’s full name… But Akarana? Now that I think about it… That blatantly evil mid-tier boss did mention Akarana… and she did say her name was Charlotte. So I guess I could’ve placed two and two together to figure out that her name was Charlotte Akarana. But even if I knew that, I still wouldn’t change her name from Miss Smug. Charlotte is like a cute name for someone with a cute, innocent trait not vainly smug!
Originally Posted by Alexia
"Although calling herself that already is in pretty bad taste... Her father's only been dead for about a week now... Not really a good look for someone on the suspect list."
‘Suspect?! Did her father die in some mysterious, unsolvable way or something?!’
Was I in danger all this time?! Was I actually wrong and the mid-tier seeming boss was actually an anti-hero?! But even if she was an anti-hero, you can’t blame me for thinking she was the villain, she brought a red filter, cursed in her first sentence, and then unhesitantly aimed at me on the bookshelf. Meanwhile, Miss Smug covered for me without question. So surely the jury could excuse me for talking to a suspect!
Originally Posted by Alexia
“It's interesting.”
Awawawawa! The raised eyebrow of suspicion is back again! I swear I'm innocent, Miss TSAB Officer! I wouldn’t aid someone in a crime. I mean… I was going to let her stowaway on the SLEPNIR. But what was I going to do? Throw her overboard? Surely Ross and I could’ve escorted her off at the next port with a stern scolding.
Originally Posted by Alexia
“Although, where did you find the time to run into her? Not exactly someone you just find on the street.”
‘Would you believe me if I told you that I found her stowing away on the SLEPNIR?’
It’s not like you would believe me if I told you that I was from a collapsed timeline or anything right?
---
Rossweisse
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
Originally Posted by Dr. Xavier
"...You'll get split ends if you're not careful."
“That’s fine. It’s better than having you uncomfortable doctor.”
After climbing onto my head, he starts prodding and going through my hair in a through, methodical way to check my health. It’s not like the doctor’s prodding is malicious in intent so I deal with the fussing doctor on top of my head without issue.
Originally Posted by Dr. Xavier
"Have you been using conditioner properly? Battle can do horrific damage to hair, you know?"
“I’ve been using the two-in-one shampoo and conditioners. That should be sufficient for showering quickly and efficiently.”
It was preferable to trying to decide on getting complementary shampoo and conditioners. Followed by the increase of time required to shower by shampooing first then conditioning my hair in comparison to using a two-in-one.
“Also I don’t believe I’ve been in a fight that has damaged my hair for a bit… Even the fight around the SLEPNIR the other day was pretty easy.”
If I had to compare it… It was like reaction and evasion training with bots shooting light beams at the trainee. However… The bots that attacked the SLEPNIR recently were slower due to using lightning bolts to attack and their computing speed was even slower. So it made picking them off even easier.
Originally Posted by Flame-Haired Woman
"...?"
The flame-haired woman looked at me with understandable confusion as she saw Dr. Xavier fussed with my head. While I did comeback with the requested items, it was weird to come back with a fussing teddy bear riding on your head. Even if my gut tells me that things like this happen in Aoyama.
Originally Posted by Flame-Haired Woman
"Oh. That teddy bear moves?"
I nod to confirm her word as I get ready to transplant the tree. I should be able to move this tree with some effort. While I’m not exactly the strongest person to start…
Originally Posted by Flame-Haired Woman
"That's pretty neat, was wondering why you were hugging it so tightly yesterday."
I continue nodding. Maybe if I target the flame-haired woman… I should be able to raise my strength to make the movement not as bad.
Originally Posted by Flame-Haired Woman
"Some gift from a suitor perhaps...?"
Originally Posted by Dr. Xavier
"...gu-!"
I continued absentmindedly nodding and thinking about the best way to transplant the tree until I heard Dr. Xavier’s choking sound. I replayed the conversation until I realized why Dr. Xavier made that noise.
“S-suitor?!”
As if to mock me, a definition of the word appeared in my peripheral vision. ‘Suitor: A person who pursues a relationship with a particular person, with a view to marriage.’ Relationship?! Marriage?! I barely had any friends. Let alone anyone who had their eyes on me for marriage! Especially in a place like the Rothschild where everyone was busy pursuing power.
“No! I got this… from...”
Actually, how do I explain this? While it would be most correct for me to say that Dr. Xavier’s current form was given to me by a coworker. However, if I say that I’m sure the flame-haired woman would take the opportunity to tease me somehow. While I would normally brush it off, for some reason, my body felt especially tense and defensive from her tone. So I said the first thing that came to mind.
“He’s my familiar! I thought maybe it would be cool if I could summon things to help me while investigating things.”
...That should work right? It’s not that uncommon for demons and angels to form pacts with Tamers. However, I have no idea on how to make one. Let alone explain why it’s in a teddy bear compared to a more natural form.
Hiyori
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
‘Would you believe me if I told you that I found her stowing away on the SLEPNIR?’
"..."
Silence.
An almost complete repetition of the last phase of this conversation, where you say something strange and clearly suspicious, while the NWAB Agent has to do her best to decide whether or not it's something she can choose to not hear for your sake, but...
"...Well, I suppose that would depend on your story-telling ability."
Ultimately, she seems to come to this conclusion about your words.
Her voice is quiet but piercing, starlit eyes shining brightly in the dim lights of the chandelier hanging above the table; her right hand has ceased it's rhythmic tapping, she's stopped blinking entirely, and every aspect of her being suddenly seems clued in on your existence, as if she found your claims so interesting that all available brainpower has to be pushed towards deciphering them, and...
"The SLEIPNIR takes security very seriously, I'd find the idea of a stowaway very hard to be believe..."
Slow words, but curious.
"But if you were convincing enough, who knows how I'd react? So go on, tell me..."
An unblinking gaze, not harsh, but unrelenting all the same...
"When exactly did this stowaway incident happen...?"
---
Rossweisse
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
“He’s my familiar! I thought maybe it would be cool if I could summon things to help me while investigating things.”
"...Familiar, you say?"
The first one to speak in response to your words is Xavier himself... While the bear had gone off on quite the tirade about how two-in-one shampoos were awful and you were absolutely destroying your hair by using them so casually, the idea of a suitor (or rather, the implication that he would be such in this scenario) had seemingly struck him cold, choking him where he sat atop your head, but...
"Well, in a sense, I suppose that's not incorrect. I am here to play a support role of sorts, the voice of reason, in comparison to the other shoulder-bound one, who I am sure is destroying things even now! Be it something physical, or the atmosphere of a room... It is the same sort of thing, generally."
...His recovery is swift, and his manner of speech is...
About as verbose as always, with a bit of a backhanded remark about Hiyori thrown in their for what seems like mostly fun...
"But yes, I am a sort of familiar. A hyper sophisticated guardian plushie, complete with crime-scene investigation and medical operation programs, laser emittance technology, and a prototype ant-observation field, it is nice to make your acquaintance, oh Radiant Lady of the Dawn."
Although the strange way he regards the flame-haired woman comes across as odd even to you, he doesn't do the usual posing, and his normal drawn out voice was coming out much much faster, and at a much higher pitch, so...
Was this his idea of playing some sort of character?
And what was with those claims he was making?! Were those real, or was he just making stuff up?!
The fact that you can't tell even after he admitted to being relatively weak... Speaks volumes for the poker face a plush bear could easily make manifest-!
And yet...
"Nice to meet you too I suppose, although I'm not sure what you mean by Lady of Dawn..."
Even as the tree slowly starts trying to wind some of it's branches around your arm (it seems it was somewhat on it's way to becoming some sort of vampiric tree, which might explain why the flame-haired woman was so determined on moving it away from the house) the woman only initial response is to simply frown in disappointment at hearing a complete and utter lack of gossip come out of you, although the quick (but powerful) slap at the tree that follows (and the instinctual retreat of the branches) showcase a clear sort of pecking order here that can't be defied...
"Still, it just being a familiar is sort of boring... You're young, half the fun of the teenage years is a good romance story!"
She crosses her arms.
The tree sways a bit above her, as if considering going for it again, but...
Ultimately seems to think better of it.
"Come on, it's just us out here, you know? Any good stories? Gossip? I've been waiting months to hear how things are going for you on that ship!"
She nods.
"All I know is you hang around some good-looking doctor a lot, but that could mean anything-! I need details! Details!"
...Huh...
Could it be...
This person isn't quite as mature as she looks...?
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
A flash of enchanted steel, of manifest light, a loan of sorts from the Knight of Song to the Knight of the Sword and an action that draws the eyes of absolutely every entity that is capable of observing this moment. It's a blade that's caught seamlessly, the face of the target, one Zerah Meir, one that has twisted away from his usual ambivalent kindness to something more serious, more harsh, almost grim...
No, absolutely grim.
The expression of someone that has seen their nemesis finally manifest on the horizon, the face one makes when a long lost enemy finally falls into their grasp and they know that only one of them is going to be walking away from this encounter alive.
---That's right.
Some might call it random chance, others might call it the whimsical hands of fate, but through one means or another, the one that had been chosen to cut down the enemy that had appeared, to deliver a decisive blow against an enemy that could dodge through time and space and the machinations of another, is someone who seems to recognize the machine god for what it is, and...
"..."
...The look in those eyes is one of absolute disgust.
While your own brain screams at you that the golden butterfly is a thing to be destroyed that is simply an instinctual reaction, different from the look of personal, absolute disgust that crosses the face of the white-haired man as it stares at him and he stares at it, and...
"I see."
---A countless number of wills fall on his shoulders.
"That's far enough, your life is mine."
A sentiment both sides share, even if the mechanical god cannot make it known through words.
This grudge of over 46 billion years will end right here.
---This time, I'll kill you for sure.
The myriad lights shine, thoughts pour through, and...
"..."
The blade in his hand spins into the sheath at his waist, hand hovering over the hilt in a traditional quick-draw stance.
It's in his nature to be a bit of a show-off.
For this man, things like traditional magic were not avenues he sought to pursue; it is not that he was incapable of such things, far from it, in terms of magic capable humans, he was the sort that existed on the highest possible tier. His existence was strikingly human in a way that was far too inhuman, like a Knight that had stepped out from the age of fairy-tales itself, a manifestation of legend, in other words...
"..."
His aura is that of a Hero-type Demon, someone like King Arthur or Jeanne Da Arc, a human straight from the tales told by humans, who was bolstered by those legends to become something more, an elevated being, an icon or worship all it's own, and yet...
That doesn't feel quite right either.
For a moment, none can be sure what sort of human (Demon?) the entity called Zerah Meir is, but...
An immeasurable amount of Reiki bursts forth from him all the same, manifestation of Wishing Star, an S-Rank-tier ability.
Another one.
---Souls rumble forth from the depths of a long forgotten abyss.
Where Raz Stone calls on the people of the modern day, the power that surges forth from within the white-haired Knight does not match what is already present; in the end, abilities of this sort were made manifest through the belief of others in you, and when it came to believers...
His came from a time far different from this one.
---Even so, there is no functional difference.
His hand lands on the blade.
He will cut his opponent down in one blow.
Anything less against these beings was asking for trouble; allowing them to retreat is a mistake, they will learn from any encounter they survive and appear with countermeasures later.
After all, their goal is the complete
testing
subjugation
of humanity in it's entirety.
But...
"..."
Once his decision is made, he closes his eyes and everything but his own battle falls away.
Darkness opens up inside his cognition, in the Void, in the Zero, only himself and his opponent remain in his thoughts.
It will resist, as a summoner type itself, it will likely bring things here to defend itself.
But he can't worry about that, no...
He won't even acknowledge it.
He can't afford to acknowledge it.
Devoting anything less than his all to killing it will mean that he fails-!
Kill in one blow.
Cut through everything before you.
If taken far enough, even the act of swinging a sword can become an almighty "magic."
One's soul is their actual weapon, if mastered properly, there isn't a thing in this World that one cannot cut through, up to and including concepts; it's a simple mantra, one adopted by a boy who had known nothing but swordsmanship on his long, long journey, one that was continuing even now, and...
At the end of the Void in his thoughts, the Nothing that had served as his path to the Origin of all things...
Eyes open.
The World comes back into view.
A chaotic scene swirls to life before his eyes, and-
Innumerable wills surge through his blade.
Not just those of the populace, but the Will and Magic of an ally as well-!
-in one blow, cut down any obstacle that bars your path-
==Break Conductor: God Slaying Sword==
-that's the inevitable heart of all those that pursue the blade.
---And so
---Xanadu makes it's move.
Spoiler:
==Break Conductor: God Slaying Sword== Spell Type: Fusion, Focus Ability Element: Almighty Rank: S
Altered Variant of Zerah's Wishing Star Ability "God Slaying Sword." Originally a Messiah-Type Arte that utilizes a combination of one's innate connection to the Axiom and their own impossible sword skill to sever the target's connection to the fundamental elements that make up reality. Zerah's current status does not allow him to utilize it to it's full potential, although he is able to replicate the ability to a degree through use of the World's memory of it's existence.
When activated, make a melee attack against the target. If this attack is successful, the target must make individual Resistance Checks on all of their elemental affinities (even ones they might not know about) if an element fails this check the target's connection to it is forcibly severed, not only removing any innate resistance to that element they might have, but making them unable to utilize any abilities connected to that element for the rest of the day. This status cannot be healed by anything weaker than this ability. Additionally, if more than half of a target's affinities are severed they succumb to [...].
If the target is related to YHVH or it's fragments, difficulty of the checks is [...]
While the original technique naturally ignored alterations to space-time due to it's nature, the current variation of the technique does not, so "making it so the attack never happened" is a viable way to defend against it, as that is not seen as healing in the eyes of the World; however, due to Raz's influence, songcraft-type abilities are not able to affect the output of this attack in any way.
Intermission Out
Last edited by Airen; October 12th, 2021 at 12:11 PM.
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
Hiyori
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
Originally Posted by Alexia
"..."
Alexia surely you can overlook this right? It’s not like I really know anything about how she got onto the SLEPNIR. I still have no idea on why she was on the SLEPNIR other than the multi-faction mission we were about to do. Like seriously, the Rothschild are just a bunch of power obsessed tamers who spout out the chuuniest of lines. On second thought… Alexia did just tell me that the SLEPNIR was some sort of super weapon from another dimension… Wait, was Miss Smug there to make her own evil super weapon!?
Originally Posted by Alexia
"...Well, I suppose that would depend on your story-telling ability. The SLEIPNIR takes security very seriously, I'd find the idea of a stowaway very hard to be believe… But if you were convincing enough, who knows how I'd react? So go on, tell me… When exactly did this stowaway incident happen...?"
Miss NWAB please! I can’t tell a nonexistent story! And if I do make up a story, it’ll sound suspicious and trigger more of your ominous NWAB Agent energy! I’m literally in between a FoE and a midboss with a half dead party. Doomed if I tell the truth. Doomed if I don’t. Well it’s better to tell the truth right?
‘So uh… This story is going to sound a little crazy but... It was after I went to Genesis for a check-up after we found some weird app called Dreamweave triggering. After seeing one of the names turn red, I kind of ran into one of those endless hallway traps… After trying the typical methods of breaking out, I found Miss Smug.‘
…Now how do I explain that somehow I came from a collapsed timeline?
‘Well at first, she was just standing there smugly despite being trapped there as well. Things only got worse when I started searching her room and someone else showed up. If Miss Smug was just a harmless stowaway, this other person was a Grade A evil villain. Like it caused a red filter in the room, she entered the room cursing, and how she was going to kill that Akarana bitch. I was fine because I was hiding at the moment, but I guess I didn’t level my sneaking skill high enough because she turned towards me on the bookshelf.’
I awkwardly laugh at my lame joke. You know in hindsight, it was actually really horrifying. Like if I was with Ross, I was capable of doing anything, but if I was by myself… Let’s just say that my power saving and sword form aren’t exactly the best thing to fight as solo. Okay maybe I could fight a minor demon by myself but a mid boss solo? Not happening unless I did loads of powerleveling… and an OP item or two. It would be like a challenge run kind of thing for sure.
‘And well that Grade A evil villain unhesitantly attacked the shelf. While I was going to defend myself against them… Miss Smug beat me to the punch and somehow got the villain to fight her outside. Well after that I found her hurt so I healed her up… And after that, we met ourselves… Then I might have seen the collapse of a timeline?’
Yep. I probably sound absolutely insane! Especially since earlier, Alexia said that living a time collapse would be something.
---
Rossweisse
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
Originally Posted by Flame-Haired Woman
"...Familiar, you say?"
Thank goodness… It worked.
Originally Posted by Dr. Xavier
"Well, in a sense, I suppose that's not incorrect. I am here to play a support role of sorts, the voice of reason, in comparison to the other shoulder-bound one, who I am sure is destroying things even now! Be it something physical, or the atmosphere of a room... It is the same sort of thing, generally. But yes, I am a sort of familiar. A hyper sophisticated guardian plushie, complete with crime-scene investigation and medical operation programs, laser emittance technology, and a prototype ant-observation field, it is nice to make your acquaintance, oh Radiant Lady of the Dawn."
I would defend Hiyori but he isn’t wrong per se… Hiyori’s suggestions always seem to work in same shape or form, they weren’t always the most logical of choices. However, I couldn’t help but look at Dr. Xavier a bit weirdly. It lacked his typical posturing. The speed of his speech and even his tone just felt weird. How do I describe it… It’s like someone trying to act like one of those cute mascot characters in an anime, but badly.
“Doctor are you feeling okay? You’re speaking a bit weirdly...”
Ultimately I couldn’t help but ask if he was okay. I understand that he was able to drop this persona once we were by ourselves… But I don’t see why he has to place up this fake persona in the first place. If anything, it’ll only make him come across as suspicious if he doesn’t keep this persona up 24x7.
Originally Posted by Flame-Haired Woman
"Nice to meet you too I suppose, although I'm not sure what you mean by Lady of Dawn..."
Confused at the Doctor’s form of address and the flame-haired woman’s confusion, I just asked my COMP if Lady of Dawn was attached to a particular person. It returned nothing conclusive enough so I could only assume that the Doctor was giving a nickname to the flame-haired woman. Granted I could see where he was coming from, she definitely gave off the feeling of being a fire wielder… By the time, I was done thinking about Dr. Xavier’s address, I realized that the tree was trying to coil around my arm. A simple sigh and a quick slap from the flame-haired women stopped that.
Originally Posted by Flame-Haired Woman
"Still, it just being a familiar is sort of boring... You're young, half the fun of the teenage years is a good romance story! Come on, it's just us out here, you know? Any good stories? Gossip? I've been waiting months to hear how things are going for you on that ship!"
Romance? While I was familiar with the concept due to Hiyori watching anime… I never had a heart-pounding moment to share. I guess stereotypically it would be accidentally bumping into someone in the hallways or as someone leaves a simulator. I haven’t even received the stereotypical getting saved by someone shounen love moment. I’m sure Hiyori might have had some stories due to being the more social of the two. But seeing as how I didn’t really know anyone besides Dr. Xavier…
“Sorry… But I don’t really know anything interesting… Most people on the SLEPNIR don’t really like socializing including me… I guess Hiyori might know something since she talks to the gamers on the SLEPNIR… But...”
Originally Posted by Flame-Haired Woman
“All I know is you hang around some good-looking doctor a lot, but that could mean anything-! I need details! Details!”
How I felt about Dr. Xavier? I...
“I don’t think anything romantic would occur between Dr. Xavier and I. If anything, I think I’m more a nuisance to him than anything. Especially since I’m a frequent patient… He keeps saying that I should quit going all out… But I’m worried that I can’t save anyone if I don’t go all out...”
I shake my head briefly to clear my thoughts. For some reason, I felt like I could trust the flame-haired woman to admit my insecurities a little bit…But I should cheer up a little, I was destroying the atmosphere and not in a good way like Hiyori did. So I hit the vampire tree before it starts coiling up around me again and giving a shaky smile to the flame-haired woman.
“Ahaha… I think this vampire tree is starting to leech some of my positivity… Umm do you have any youthful romance stories you can share?”
Up in a room that was quite familiar to you, your own room, your own bed, dimly lit by those ever-present interior lights, a reminder of the ever-sterile atmosphere that was the inside of the battleship. Of course while the surroundings are familiar, the song playing along over the intercoms was a bit less so... No, actually, if you thought about it, you could sort of recognize the voice as belonging to Yamuna, one of her tracks playing over the speakers, but...
Even that was strange.
A bit too... Cheerful...
Considering...
Considering...
What?
Not just the usual SLEIPNIR atmosphere, but something else as well right...?
It feels too cheerful, doesn't it?
---And then you remember.
At the same time as your A.I's voice reaches you, memories of a sudden and unfair end, of a burning light leading to a limitless darkness, of old childhood friends in the form of an impossible assassin, of how a desire to see a friend of yours had ultimately led you down a path of bizarre destruction, as if the World itself had had it out for you and had come after you to see your end brought about...
Yes.
You remember it all, all except...
For the face of the light that had burned you away.
...But had it burned you away?
You were here now, no?
Surely it had all just been a bad dream, right?
That would make sense, would explain a few things, but...
An A.I perhaps has arguments as a counter to that, but in the end, even that doesn't actually seem to be necessary... No...
After all...
There is something really strange in your room now.
"..."
She's sitting off in the corner by herself, sipping from a cup of tea, atop a circular table that should not be there...
She's hard to look at, but also a bit familiar...
Although in this case, it's difficult to trust that face.
Still...
"..."
Casually, as if it was completely normal for her to be in here... No, as if paying the fact that this was your room absolutely no mind at all...
"..."
She just keeps drinking whatever happens to be in those small cups of hers.
Much like the knights, the squires have their own bizarre quirks, albeit, ones that are a bit toned down in comparison, but...
This was... Certainly a strange one...
Was it a hidden fondness for cosplay? Or was this some bizarre attachment to her past?
Hard to figure out.
---Honestly, it might not actually be worth figuring out...
"It's possible that the uniforms are a necessary step after all, when it comes to old magic, even the small details can be annoyingly important."
Still, she tries hard to justify it-!
Making things sound reasonable was one of her best skills, the sort of skill you have to watch out for at times, but one that has been handy more than once...
Although, a part of you does sort of wish you had brought Connor along instead, after all... That particular youth...
Was good at the stoic face if nothing else, then again, a stoic face and a quiet aura of strength isn't really the sort of thing that would be particularly helpful here...
A dilemma.
Ah well, no use putting too much thought into it-!
Especially not when a flicker of seriousness comes back in her eyes, just long enough for you to see it, before-
"Although, since I'm doing this, I think I should go ahead and get one for myself now so I'd be ready in time... If you wouldn't mind loaning one to me, mademoiselle?"
-drawing Emma's attention back to herself-
"...But I'd hate to cut this little tour short so soon, it'd be quite rude of me."
Emma pouts in response to the question.
-After all...
It seems like she's trying to give you a chance to escape.
Almost seeming to become stronger now that you've recognized it for what it seems to be -blood in the midst of a thunderstorm- the shattering of a normal evening becomes inevitable... Aoyama is known for a lot of strange phenomena, it was, after all, the part of the World that was considered to be the closest to the hypothetical "Sea of Souls," due to the various Kyuubi incidents leading to a permanent scar in the spiritual aspects of the land, but...
A blood rain was not one of the usual phenomena...
At least, not as far as you knew...
"..."
No screaming, no hostile presences (that you can feel) and thus, no obvious sources for the blood inside of the rain...
It's simply... Bizarre...
Of course, the strength of the winds could mean that this particular flash of crimson had simply blown over from somewhere else, but no... That was absurd, any blow that was enough to scatter this much blood around would be a mortal one, someone would be screaming, pained emotions would be radiating from somewhere, the town itself would be throwing up warning sides to alert others that one of the inhabitants was in trouble, so...
What the hell...?
The familiar trees of the distant park are distorted and almost nightmarish, looming over the streets like youkai trees, and looking more closely around you, you...
---Couldn't read any of the signs around you anymore.
They appeared as gibberish, nonsensical constantly changing shapes that hold no meaning even to Kaguya; they swim and dance right in front of your eyes, changing like how the clocks change the instant you stop looking at them, the time shooting from morning to evening to night with a sort of rampant glee that almost made it seem like someone was laughing at you, but...
"...Ah, damn. Turns out I was right..."
...Eventually, a voice cuts through the bizarre night.
No...
A glass door slides open again, and a familiar voice reveals itself...
"Well? You going straight home, or coming back inside?"
Hands on her hips (but still only clad in a towel) Anima frowns at your form in the doorway...
"I seem to recall telling you those were your best options if something weird happened tonight."
Her tone of voice betrays no fear or uncertainty...
No... Those eyes... While they certainly see the bizarre nature of the World outside...
Train in the simulator, get kicked out by Xavier once your times had jumped up into the double digits, retreat back to your room to work on spell craft rather than physical ability...
Same old, same old, the lifestyle of those that continually sought strength in the modern era; perhaps some might call it rather short-sighted, narrow minded even, but this method of constantly testing your own fortitude was the familiar one to you, one that had produced some results, although those results would never be enough but...
You wouldn't call it anything other than a normal day.
Sure, the SLEIPNIR's flight systems were acting up, so the ship itself was sitting on a beach somewhere (the exact details escaped you) but such things weren't particularly interesting to you either...
It gave the day a slightly abnormal edge, as does Yamuna's live concert being played over the intercoms (seems the Admiral was secretly a fan) but overall... You'd say it was about the same as always...
Or at least you would have, until...
"..."
You open the door to your room, and find someone floating inside of it.
Yes, floating.
Moving around the room silently, gradient eyes flicking from one thing to another inside of it, as if she found it interesting for some reason, a strange young girl is certainly present in your room, which...
Is not... Good...
For a number of reasons (what the hell would you say if someone found out? This looks really bad doesn't it?) but no, more than that...
The sight of her burns your consciousness, no...
Burns the mark on your body, fire shooting through your veins...
That strange mark that you had gotten... When...?
When...?
---Suddenly it hits you.
Everything hits you.
Every memory, from the battles against Omega and Babel, up until your escape in an apparent airship of bizarre design, when the World itself had seemed to fall apart, and...
Something had... Hit you...?
Grabbed you?
Pulled you away?
How were you here? What was going on?
You should still be in that ship right?
And this girl... This girl was...!
"...?"
She finally seems to notice you notice her, and...
"...Eh?"
She makes a strange sound herself...
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
"....... Can't rightly leave those two alone somewhere like this."
That was Blaise's initial grunt of a response. He looked up at the crimson rain, gazing at the sky of the strange night, and frowned. Whatever was happening right now seemed to be different from the usual type of weirdness that plagued his life every once in a while... mostly because of just how strangely silent Aoyama was being. A change this big, affecting both scenery and the weather in such an obvious way... the town should have been moaning uncomfortably with its unheard voice - a feeling that any local would be able to sense.
And yet it didn't.
So something was more wrong than it usually was.
And while Blaise wasn't exactly excited to find out what the problem was... this was something that was affecting the whole town. Not just him. This wasn't his problem to bear, caused by something he did or someone who wanted to screw with him specifically. Others weren't caught up in the trouble just because he was around. In other words, he couldn't just ignore this. He couldn't just shrug his shoulders and not care, even though part of him wanted to. If it was something that only affected him, he could ignore it all he wanted - all the bad shit that would follow would befall on him, after all. He could take it.
But whatever this was, it was affecting the whole of Aoyama - and thousands of innocent people.
Just one look at the phenomen told that whatever it was, it wasn't good.
And so...
"... But, before that."
Walking over to the entrance, Blaise settled underneath the awning and lit up a cigarette for himself, lighting it up with his own white flames. He took a calming drag, before letting his eyes settled onto Anima - still keeping that frown on his face.
"You clearly know what's up. So start talking. And without being cryptic or coy, I don't have time for that shit," Blaise started, clicking his tongue. "The time for playing dumb or mysterious is long past. Though, before that..."
He looked at the one-eyed girl up and down, before heaving a heavy sigh.
Followed by the rolling of her eyes, before she disappeared back into the bathhouse with a sassy snap of her fingers, her body glowing slightly in the night in a manner reminiscent to yourself, something like demon blood awakening beneath the gaze of a blocked moon...
"But clearly I know what's up, huh?"
It doesn't take her very long to return, white t-shirt and jeans, so lazily thrown on that she's putting on the shirt even as she comes through the door, as if she simply didn't care if anyone saw her or not... Or perhaps, she just didn't regard those sorts of things with the same level of severity as you...
"If only."
She snorts.
"I know the basics, but that's about it."
---For once, her hair is allowed to hang free, reaching a bit past her shoulders, the tips of the black locks fading to reveal what seems like blonde hair underneath the harsh black... It's a bit of a strange detail, especially considering she was apparently possessing the body of a certain delinquent at the moment, but...
"..."
She draws no attention to it, instead joining you beneath the awning... Albeit, where you had pulled out a cigarette and lit it, the woman instead produces a pack of gum from the pocket of the jeans, before popping two pieces of it into her mouth and staring out into the depths of the crawling darkness, eyes taken on a certain alertness that was new, as if scanning the dark for something, and only relaxing in the end when she manages to not find whatever it was...
"Still, to make it simple and uh... Not cryptic as hell, this is what night is gonna look like for you from now on, congratulations~"
Mock clapping, and a sarcastic sing-song voice...
"Blood rains, endless storms, weird green moons, a personal stalker monster... We've got the works. It's a uh... Method of assassination I suppose you could say, one of the World's weird ways of trying to get rid of us... Dunno what you did to deserve it, but I could smell it on you."
She shrugs.
"The others will be fine. Nothing happens to sleeping people. It's the ones that stay awake that are in trouble."
She motions towards the inside of the building.
"Far as they're concerned, we're the ones that passed out. Go ahead and ask em about it in the morning, they'll probably say you fell asleep."
She shrugs.
"So no need to worry about it. This Red Night is just on us, so you should be able to push it aside pretty easily. Stay in a place where you feel at home and nothing can get ya... Just like the stories parents tell their kids before going to bed, home is the sanctuary, so just ignore the howling and the screaming and the personalized stalker waiting right outside your window and just wait for the sun to come back up."
She shrugs again, her one eye moving over to regard you without blinking...
"Guess you could just say we're having a shared bad dream, can only really get ya if you let it."
She chuckles.
"Simple, right?"
She unwraps another piece of Double Bubble gum, and...
"So just ignore it. Good kids should be inside when it's dark anyway, so it shouldn't interrupt your normal life too much."
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
Hiyori
Aoyama, Tokyo ~ ??? Residence
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Morning
"..."
---Three times is the charm, as they say...
Silence once again befalls the kitchen as Alexia's face twists into that of a woman who has absolutely no idea what's going on anymore... Indeed, her face had made an amusing number of transitions throughout your explanation, from calm serenity to obvious disbelief, to contemplation and then ending somewhere in powerful confusion, then...
"...Okay."
Two hands go up to massage her head, as if desperately seeking to fight off an oncoming headache, then...
"Yep... Okay... You can handle this Alexia... You are a responsible adult..."
...she grabs you.
"One moment everyone! We'll be right back!"
...And then, dragging you by... well... you...
You enter the backyard... It's an area filled with flowers and other forms of plant-life, an obviously artificial garden here along the outskirts of the magical city, and...
"Okay."
She certainly seems to like that word...
"Okay. Before we go any farther... I just gotta know for sure... You haven't been like... Downloading illegal files or anything right? No weird programs? You can tell me if you're having a problem, we can get you clean together, I swear!"
...Was she implying she thought you were on drugs?!
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
Ludwig Karlfeldt
Ludwig's Room ~ SLEIPNIR
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Noon
The human mind is a curious thing.
As Ludwig's senses come to life, a certain sensation is felt. A familiar sensation, one of a caring touch filled with warmth, clasping at his hand.
Eyes opening slowly as the boy moves his torso upwards, his gaze meets with his ever-present partner.
His COMP AI, Lydia.
The sensation quickly fades away, as consciousness takes away the trance-like state of sleep and the mind concludes there to be no possible sensory input.
Still, the warmth in that gesture alone is comforting, as the big sister keeps her first promise to her little brother.
"Ludwig!"
Perhaps it is only natural that this precious reunion would be interrupted. The more the mind of the Karlfeldt boy clears, the easier the memories come flooding back.
Memories of Astra, whose fate even now is unknown.
Memories of LUCID, the Reaper of Cognition who had turned out to be a walking nightmare of the boy's past.
Memories of death, as the body crumbled in pain and anguish, his own spiritual energy tearing his body apart without mercy.
And finally, the brief walk of a memory not his own... With Theresia Karlfeldt and Ludwig coming face to face with an existence of radiant light, overpowering him in the end.
Yet, the boy had recognized the entity in the end... didn't he?
His memory fails him, or perhaps something else had happened?
The lines dividing reality and dreams became noticeably more murky once Ludwig realized---
"Lydia, we... we need to talk."
---That the world he walked may have been a dream, from as early as Lara had re-entered his life in a most unexpected way.
Having just undergone such experiences, awakening now may cause one to naturally assume that it had all been a dream... the Karlfeldt Heir is a little too stubborn in his beliefs to believe such a convenient lie.
To the boy, and certain other supernatural existences that had drilled this lesson in him, reality is a fickle thing. A thing shaped by powerful wills. If it can be seen, if it can be experienced with your own eyes, treat it like reality.
One cannot afford to disbelief in the world of the supernatural.
So the boy wishes to talk with his trusted COMP in the privacy of their room, before the world gets a chance to throw another bizarre event his way.
"Yeah, we do. But before that... you should talk with her first."
Lydia answers, a slight tone of resentment in her voice. Her head motions over towards a certain guest, an entity Ludwig hasn't seen befo---
---Or perhaps he had?
Something about her certainly seems familiar...
"I want to say her name is Marlene Binit, but I never got a chance to really see a face when we... uh, spoke. The Fourth Administrator, 'One Who Rules Over Possibility'."
Seems the world came prepared with some level of bizarre already. Judging by the tone and word choice, even Lydia seemed to have some trouble with this person.
Forming herself around the boy in the usual red attire, the pair leave the comforts of a warm bed.
Ludwig suppresses the desire to invade this stranger's mind much like she had invaded his room, instead wordlessly taking a seat opposite the maiden.
Cold eyes and an expressionless face meet hers, same stoic countenance as ever.
"Marlene, was it? Seems we meet again."
Was this the second time... or perhaps the third?
Perhaps countless for the Admin that oversaw so many worlds.
"...How's LUCID?"
Yes, the world is certainly a place filled with bizarre events.
---Perhaps much more so now.
Last edited by Zurvan; October 3rd, 2021 at 04:51 PM.
Acknowledgement by the entity that has taken residence in this room comes with a certain level of pressure on all six senses, a buzzing in the ears, a physical weight upon the body, static upon the eyes, the bizarre taste of something metallic on the tongue, and a firm acknowledgement by the soul that this person's appearance is not that of their true form... It is a facsimile at best, the avatar of something grand and powerful and otherworldly in a way that was different from what one might call a traditional divine being, but...
It is not crushing, it is no longer an existence that burns away all that get too close.
Yes.
---Certainly, this is Marlene Binit.
The distaste of an A.I is thrown her way, and in response...
Only the flicker of a smile.
---Indeed, for awhile, only silence comes in answer to your words, then, after a span of fifteen seconds that seem much like an eternity...
"LUCID is fine."
The
thing in the shape of a human
woman
sets down her tea before leaning forward, her eyes are wide and curious, sparkling with stars that are clearly visible even through the haze that was her current form, and the rest of her, well...
It doesn't seem hostile.
---The energy here is simply that of a curious person, the smile is innocent -if amused- and while she is seemingly aware that you would find her answer unsatisfactory for your purposes, she seems more interested in your response to that unsatisfactory answer than anything else, yes...
It's a strange demeanor, but...
"Much like yourself."
The smile widens.
"You remember then? Interesting. Very interesting. I didn't expect you to be able to see me either, but maybe I let you get a bit too close... Looked at me a bit too long..."
Her features are inhumanly perfect, and the presence that had once been confined to the corner of your room was now extending to fill all of it, shadows fleeing from her sight, her 'presence' alone an immutable light that ironically illuminated all mysteries...
Even your thoughts clear up... Somewhat.
Drowsiness fading to nothing.
"Ah well, these things happen I suppose... It is not like knowing I am here is a bad thing, but I suppose it puts a bit of a damper on your privacy, huh?"
She blinks.
Her smile is much like that of a Cheshire Cat, and in comparison to how she had talked to Lydia...
She was being much more concise, dropping far less of the bizarre slang she had been using...
Perhaps because this is simply an avatar?
Or...?
"Still. I can't help it. I was curious."
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
It was the natural result of the timing of your arrival, the other students were either already in classes or abandoned the dormitories because that's the first place the teachers would look for skipping students, but...
Here you were, at a school in which you were apparently enrolled as a student... It's a far cry from the history you knew, life as an active agent was somewhat more exciting to you than life as a student seemed like it would be, but Catherine seemed to still go out on assignments, so perhaps it was one of those working academies? It was tough for you to say (the RAILS Archive seemed to be temporarily down for the purpose of updates) but considering all of the other perks that seemed to come with this apparent new history, well...
Perhaps it was worth it?
Either way, you didn't have much of an idea of how to fight back against whatever this phenomena was even if you decided you wanted to do so...
Agatha had told you to return to her when you got the chance, but how would you find the blue door? You had always just used the door to the Velvet Room that had appeared inside of your bedroom, and while a part of you had almost expected to find it here in your 'assigned room' (Room 12 on the second floor) the familiar blue room had not been present... Instead, it was a room that reminded you somewhat of that of a hotel room, equipped with a bed and bathroom and few things in the way of personal equipment (besides a few bags that you had apparently packed yourself) the best perk that came with this room was...
Leah's room was next door (room 11, and she was making a lot of noise right now) Evita was on the other side of you (room 13, she was still in class) and Catherine's room is right at the end of the hall... Although hers doesn't have a room number, strangely enough...
Still...
Now that you were here...
Everyone had sort of left you to your own devices...
Perhaps because they expected you to decorate your room?
Was that a thing the "Eva Ellet" they knew would do?
Hard to say, but...
Seems like...
You were free to do as you liked for awhile...
Perhaps staying in your own room and making the place feel like home might be a good idea?
Or maybe exploring a bit? Visiting someone?
Although...
The lights of the outside were quickly fading from the clear gold of midday...
To the burning orange of the late evening...
---
Saint Vivienne - Free Event Phase (Evening)
Saint Vivienne Academy Main Building & Clocktower
-Evita Ellet
Dormitories
-Catherine (Lobby)
-Leah (Room 11)
Dormitory Roof
-???
Greenhouse & Flower Gardens
-???
Sports Field
-???
Pool
-???
Brewed Awakenings
-Vincent Brooks
Exodus (Complete)
Even if the author is silenced, the performance is stilled and the actors leave the stage, the story will never truly end.
Regardless of the form it takes, as long as there are memories of it's existence, the story will continue on.
In a small ward in the heart of a once devastated town, life carries on as it always has...
Because of you.
Please, remember it warmly.
We'll continue to walk down this path for eternity.
Ludwig Karlfeldt
Ludwig's Room ~ SLEIPNIR
11/16/2026
Monday ~ Noon
"Careful, curiosity can get you killed... as we both know."
Who knew that one peek behind the curtain unfolded so much. Eyes seeing beyond the veil had revealed enough for the world's actors to drop their act and right the error.
Yet, it seems even after erasure this error persists.
"Seems you and Lydia met before, Fourth Administrator... No."
Mind racing towards answers to explain this existence's presence, both here and in general, the boy reaches interesting ideas, but is ultimately unable to verify most with any certainty.
Not like the person before him is eager to share such answers either.
"Perhaps I should consider you to be responsible for the SLEIPNIR's teleportation separating me back then? That'd certainly help explain your existence..."
While the exact details were never uttered towards the boy, the history behind the extraterrestrial battleship is somewhat more known to the branch families than for any outsiders, with few exceptions.
But even Ludwig knows that this too will likely be met by a non-answer, perhaps at best merely a deepening of this girl's grin. Meaning, a different topic is far more likely to produce anything substantial.
"So, now that your curiosity is sated, perhaps you can sate mine. For what reason was I spared after 'cheating'? Actors becoming aware of their script seems like an open invitation for problems."
The AI by his side chooses to remain silent, unsure if she should interject to explain various events that occurred after Ludwig's departure. Struggling between not coloring his perceptions and letting him make his own choice in the face of this brand new world, or to chime in and reveal certain depths about the entity before him.
For now at least, she prioritises whether her decision at the time is one that ultimately her partner also chooses... or if his choice is different from hers.
Though, given how the conversation is current progressing, she notes that Ludwig and Marlene seem to have had their own first introduction as well.
"Should I expect to die again, with the cliché of 'knowing too much to be left alive'?"
Truth is, there is a slight possibility that the Karlfeldt Empress by his side had managed to save Ludwig instead of this entity before him, with curiosity stoking her to venture out and see what had become of him. It's a possibility the Tamer can't be sure of, even if he realizes the unlikeliness of such a scenario.
So, for the sake of elimination, the topic of the future is brought up.
Hopefully it'll provide a less unsatisfactory response.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Dr. Xavier
