Chronicles of Gaia (RP)

Laura surveyed the coming and going of the returned group members with a mildly interested expression, as though watching some kind of show. To say she was happy to see them again might be a stretch, but she did appreciate their presence. They seemed more likely to humor mischievous behavior than the people she'd been stuck with as of late. Once the others had walked off with Ama Laura turned her attention back to Kudret. The beastman had taken out a serious of strange objects and plants. Apparently Laura hadn't been the only one to find strange items on their separate journeys. Curiosity got the better of her, not that she particularly tried to, or had a reason to, fight it. She leaned over his shoulder from behind, her own black tablet tucked under her arm, to get a closer look at the various trinkets. "Quite the haul." She commented, "what have you got?"

---

Once the pair were off the bird, Rowan gave her feathers a small ruffle and sent her off to rest. He watched as the chocobo settled down under a nearby tree, before his gaze checked over the situation of rest of the campsite. Ama seemed to be talking with a group of people some distance away. The angel spotted Victoria, Marco, Razar, and the others. So they had made it here after all. Laura and Kudret seemed to be looking over some stuff, though he couldn't make out any specific object from where he was. Kuja, Rikazu, and Aislin were together by Mizuki. The first two were clearly preoccupied with Mizuki's well being, though Aislin also seemed to be writing something at Mach speed. He hadn't the faintest clue what it might be, but it was probably important if she was trying to get it done immediately. He needed to apologize to her for his behavior... but surely right now wouldn't be a good time. There'd be better opportunities in the future. Hopefully. Turning back to Iliya, or at least whoever was inside Iliya's body at the moment, he asked: "I suppose my first question is who you are, I haven't heard anything about there being a second person in Iliya's body."

The spirit's eyes had focused on Rowan, having expected that to be the first question. "Of course you wouldn't know, not even my Mistress herself is currently aware of that", he spoke. "If people knew my stone was in my Mistress' possession, they'd never stop targeting her." He crossed his arms. "I am the archangel Mikhail, a thousand years old God, sealed inside an enchanted stone known as the 'Eye of Mikhail'." Rikazu nodded at Aislin's question. "Mel taught me this years ago, what you're entering is a...'spirit world' of sorts, created by Mizuki's mind. Since she's not able to wake up right now, that is where her consciousness will be." The idea of Aislin going with Kuja was a bit of a relief to Rikazu. "I'm not going to stop you, but there are risks. As you said, it's no doubt going to be a mess in there, and if that place collapses while you two are still there, you won't make it back here. How much time you have depends on Mizuki's state of mind, so Kuja..." Rikazu paused a moment to glare at the genome. "Don't mess this up, she won't be thrilled about the idea of making a new pact with you." "I know", Kuja responded. "Just send us in there, old man, I'll figure out a way to convince her." Rikazu nodded again. "Aislin, whenever you're ready to go, grab hold of her. I'll ensure the connection to her mind remains active for as long as I can."

The group shared a look of surprise and concern as Ama explained the situation. The fact that some unseen force had actively endangered them that warranted inter-dimensional intervention would certainly cause unease in anyone. “Well...I guess it’s nice to know that someone is keeping an eye out for us.” Marco said with an unsure head scratch “But I hope we won’t have to be plucked out of this world again.” “Yeah, I’d hate to see where we would wind up next time if that happened. I guess we should consider ourselves lucky we wound up near the group.” Razar said with a huff as he looked back towards the camp “What I hate is that we weren’t there to help our friends when they needed us.” Felicia said, a guilty look on her face as she looked down at the ground, frustrated at her self “I know you said we were temporarily wiped from everybody’s memories...but I think that just makes me feel worse about the whole thing.” Marco silently shared Felicia’s feeling but Razar seemed indifferent “I’m not sure my group actually considers me a friend though...” he said with a shrug “Anyway...it’s nice to have an explanation as to what happened to us and what everyone did while we were gone, but why couldn’t we just have this conversation back with everyone else?” Razar asked still curious why Ama decided to take them on a walk. Meanwhile Ricardo, had took in everything that was said, but still seemed confused on one aspect as he quietly pondered to himself in a hushed voice “She’s clearly carrying her clothes...why not just put them on?...”

At hearing Laura's voice over his shoulder, he simply told her, "You can sit down next to me, you know." He looked down at what he had pulled out so far, and noting that the five seemed to be finishing their discussion began to point out the items one by one. "The cloth here is called Formal Fabric; someone with crafting skills could make some powerful magically-resistant armor from it. These little crosses are called Holy Emblems; I can use them to bless something and either imbue light-elemental attacks onto someone's weapon, or possibly lessen the resistance from the enemy. I'm afraid my job didn't clarify that part." Kudret took out one of the teardrop-shaped jewels, showing it to her before placing it back in. "That was a Pendelook; a crystalized tear of the dead, or so the information said. I can use it to boost someone's natural healing. These plants, Spinacherbs, have minor healing properties, but I mostly grabbed them because they're edible. They're pretty bitter raw; want one?" He held up a leaf towards his shoulder, inviting her to try it if she so wanted. He had eaten the one leaf he had already plucked and wasn't too keen on eating another raw at the moment. Aislin looked down at the unfinished paper in her hand. Did she really want to leave it like that, if there was a chance she'd practically die and never return? And she had a time limit, as if that wasn't bad enough already. ...No, she couldn't think like that. If she started doubting herself now, Mizuki didn't have a hope of being rescued. She'd just have to make sure all three of them came back. With that in mind, she folded the letter into thirds and wrote 'Rowan Summers' on it before tucking away the pencil into the bag. The letter she left on top, the bag's loop secured to keep it in place. Shifting slightly to the left gave her the reach needed to grasp onto Mizuki's shoulder. "Ready, Rikazu."

"I wouldn't be grateful to them if I were you, otherwise you'll end up like I am, stuck in a Contracted Loop with no real way of getting out of i-" her throat visibly crushed itself, quite painfully, before returning to a normal shape, "Fine I get it, don't talk about the small details." her free hand massaged her own throat for a moment before Ama regained her composure, "tldr, keep your distance from any kind of gratitude towards them." Silence reigned for a few moments, "Why would I remove you from the setting to get you caught up to speed? Well, things are about to get real nasty around that area and the less people in the splash zone the better, quiet and the ability to focus are what Rikazu'll need coming up, and even then he'll end up requiring magical assistance, that, and said employer of mine laid out certain guidelines I'm forced to follow should certain events occur, such as you four and the situation you wound up in." Ricardo's Comment caught her attention last, "I still have skin, and these are soaked through from removing certain carrion from it, plus I'm not entirely sure I got it all out which means I'll be returning to cleaning it off once they've dried out, including the repairs I have to make from the prior fight I had, as such, they remain off for now." as if to illustrate this, she waved the suit around like a flag, a ludicrous amount of holes and gashes in the fabric easily spotted.

Rowan shook his head, raising a hand to stop Mikhail. "If Iliya herself doesn't know, then it would be better if I didn't know either. It's clear to me that as much as I'd like to personally help, the best thing for her would be to find her friends again and deliver her to them. If you have any advice in finding them again, as well as ways to help her feel safe with us in the meantime, then I think that's all the important information I need to know. Her fear of Seth is very strong, if Rockna fails I want to try and keep her from feeling intimidated to return to his side again." The angel hoped to keep the questioning short. Iliya was important, and Rowan had promised to protect her, but he was worried about Mizuki as well and was hoping to check on her condition once he was done here.

---

"Oh. uh- right. right." Laura muttered, caught off guard by Kudret's invitation to sit. She maneuvered herself around, sitting down on the rock next to the beastman. She listened with curiosity as he explained the different items. The fabric and holy emblems seemed fairly decent finds, certainly useful if they could find someone who could utilize them to their best potential. The Pendelook intrigued her, she had a feeling she'd once stolen one of them before, or at least something very similar. When she was offered the herb, she took it from his hand and examined it tentatively. She'd certainly witnessed Kudret eating one just a moment before, so edible it was. Laura crumpled the leaf slightly in her fingers, then popped it in her mouth to nibble on. She chewed silently for a moment, before making a face and swallowing. "Bitter indeed." She commented, "You have any plans for them, or just gonna hold on to them for now?"

Mikhail's eyes closed for a moment, the spirit feeling furiously irritated over what he was about to say. Profe's visions are absolute, he knew that, but it was still infuriating. "All of that will be impossible until that man is dead", he spoke angrily. "The one currently stalling, while powerful and admirable, will not be able to win. There are only two possible ways for this to end; either my Mistress returns to his side, or many of your group will die. My Mistress will undoubtedly choose to protect your group even if it means sacrificing herself, that's the type of person she is", Mikhail paused for a moment. "I need you to let her go when she makes that decision, she would never forgive herself if anything happens to anyone that tries to protect her. This is the only option for her to recover in the long run." Mikhail's words held a sharp finality to it. He did not wish for his Mistress to suffer again, and had every intention to kill the insolent worm that had harmed her before. His gaze finally shifted to the four people not too far from them, noticing an energy spike coming from the blue-haired girl on the ground. "Go to your friends if you want, you must be worried about them." As if on cue with Ama's words, a large explosion shook the grounds of the campsite, Mizuki being fully unable to keep her magic under control in her current state. Rikazu had barely been in time to set up protective magic around those near the girl, keeping them from being hurt by her explosion. "Hang in there kiddo...we're doing what we can..." He said before shaking his head. "Alright, sending you there now", he then said, realizing that they were running out of time faster than he'd originally thought. Placing both hands on Mizuki's head, he started casting his magic, allowing Kuja and Aislin to enter her 'spirit world'. As the scenery around him changed, Kuja looked around, the new scenery looking an awful lot like Madain Sari. And yet...this place seemed like a broken toybox, with random objects and debris flying about, and some directions seemed to have nothing but darkness. "So, you did come here", the voice that welcomed Kuja and Aislin was a calm one, belonging to an old man wielding a staff. It didn't take long for Kuja to recognize him. "Ramuh? Can't say I expected you to be here." "I came here after realizing something was amiss, the how is not important right now. Carbuncle is with Mizuki as we speak, he's been keeping this place from collapsing, but it's still falling apart as we speak", the old man responded. "Can you lead us to her?" Kuja asked, at which Ramuh shook his head. "I'm afraid that's not how this place works, simply walking around won't do you any good here."

Kudret merely shrugged. "They apparently taste better cooked, though the info for it doesn't tell me how. This Job is really weird at times..." He shook his head, putting everything away. "I'll keep hold of them for now, maybe I can figure out how to cook them properly and I can share-" That was when the explosion happened. Kudret gave a full-bodied jolt, whipping his head around to stare in the direction it came from before he gave a deep breath and stubbornly turned his head away. "Nope," he announced, "I am not getting involved in that. Whatever's happening over there I do not care right now." Kudret could already see Aislin over there anyway. Once it was over she'd probably tell him. He'll just stay far away from this for the moment, thank you very much. Aislin flinched at the magical explosion, she couldn't help it. It was only a day ago that she had been subjected to the first one, after all. Nevertheless, she kept hold of Mizuki and closed her eyes to ease the transition, opening them once she heard a new voice speak. She looked around in interest once glancing at the newcomer -Ramuh apparently -and snorted softly at Kuja's assumption. "Well of course not. This is someone's true self laid bare, all sides of them showing themselves at once within this landscape; of course we're going to have problems navigating." She shook her head. "Chances are good willpower matters more than physical exertion here; we'll have to be intent on finding Mizuki to really get anywhere." Being forced to duck a stray broken piece of house reminded her... "Speaking of which, we'll probably end up going into places and times that are significant to Mizuki; when she summoned someone, a special time with someone, some of the sealed memories, who knows really. It'll definitely be just as dangerous as standing here is." She shook her head again and looked towards the two. "Shall we get going Kuja? We are on a time limit here, and if there's one thing I hate above anything, it's a time limit."

Victoria just stood and listened to the group’s conversation. She was fascinated by the whole inter dimensional elevator explanation and was grateful to hear what the other groups accomplished and went through, but couldn’t help but feel bored listening as she muffled a yawn as to not interrupt the conversation. She did however gave an amused scoff at Ama’s warning to not show thanks to whoever was on operating this ‘elevator’ “Sounds like you’re typical deity. Show an ounce of gratitude and suddenly you’re their brand new errand boy.” she shrugged “It’s Best to do what Ama says, wouldn’t want to wind up stuck in this world forever just you wanted to be courteous.” As Ama mentioned the situation with Rikazu however, she was about ask what was going on there as she had been sensing something was very off, but then she felt the shock from the Mizuki’s explosion “Well, I was about to ask about that but it seems my question has already been answered.” Victoria then adjusted her hat and started to head in the direction of the explosion “If you don’t mind, I’m going to check that out.” she said as if asking for permission, but was going there regardless of what anyone said.

Upon hearing both Ama’s and Victoria’s warning, Marco, Felicia, Razar and Ricardo all looked very concerned but then nodded “Alright, we won’t mention anything about this Elevator again, just to be safe.” Marco spoke for the whole group on that sentiment “Jeez...not even the most egotistical dragon would do that.” Razar making one last remark on the whole situation. But as if attempting to lighten the mood, as Ama showed off her damaged suit, Ricardo raised his hand “Oh! I can help you repair that. Over the years I’ve repaired my clothes countless times and have become a fairly decent Tailor over the 200 yea-“ but before he could finish, Mizuki’s explosion had gone off which startled him greatly “JUMPING JACK RABBITS!” he suddenly yelled as he ducked for cover, even though nothing was flying this way. This also alarmed the others “Uh...should we be worried about that?” Felicia asked as she watched Victoria walk towards the direction of the explosion