Chronicles of Gaia (RP)

Mizuki had listened to Kudret's and Diemia's explanations, clearly intrigued, and in the end all she could bring out were the words 'That sounds awesome'. At Rikazu's embrace, the blue-haired girl didn't resist, nor make any effort to pull away from the male. Something felt different, so very different...she felt not even the slightest bit of hostility towards him; the embrace felt warm and safe. The two stayed in that position silently for some time, until finally Mizuki broke the silence. "Can you...tell me now? About that man...? About everything...?" She had hesitated to ask, and a certain amount of fear had been audible in her voice. Did she really want to know the truth? After all, if he truly was her dad...then why did she grow up in Cleyra for all those years? Why had he abandoned her? No...she had to know what was real and what wasn't, the thoughts in her head were too jumbled to make any sense of; she needed his help. "You should probably rest some more first, kiddo", Rikazu responded to her, having pulled away from the embrace to take a good look at her. She was barely able to stay awake, and yet... "I need to know...every time I close my eyes, I just see these...terrifying scenes", she whispered. "What really happened...? Why did he go after me..?" Rikazu let out a tired sigh, but then nodded. "Alright then...I will tell you everything. It will be a long story though, are you sure you're up for it?" He then turned his attention to Kudret for a moment. "If you wish to stay and listen to the full story, I don't mind. The more you all know, the better chances we have when Seth shows up again." The blue-haired male didn't wait for an answer from Kudret though, but instead decided to start his story already; at the very beginning, when he and Seth first met. In the months that passed in the mirror world Kuja was in, the Genome had finally managed to earn the young girl's trust. It certainly hadn't been easy, and it had partly been thanks to Katsuragi that the child slowly warmed up to him. She still barely spoke, but that didn't quite matter to Kuja; he just needed her to trust him so that when the time came, he could rescue her from the military without her running back to Ayanami. But then there had been another problem; the collar around the young child's neck. According to all the information he'd gathered, once this collar was activated, it would explode if it didn't hear its 'master's' voice within twenty-four hours, in this case Ayanami. On top of that, a single command from said man could render the girl immobile, and all would've been for naught. As such, Kuja spent a lot of time researching ways to remove or disable the girl's collar, and finally found one after a few months that wouldn't harm her in the process. The girl was adamant about keeping the collar around her neck though, so disabling it was all Kuja could do without destroying what little trust she had in him. And then came the most dangerous part of all: getting the girl away from Ayanami, and bringing her to the 'Barsburg Church', where he had to leave her in the care of someone named Frau. Ayanami was always watching her like a hawk, even in the odd occasion where he wasn't physically near her. The odds of getting her to safety without a fight were low, if not even impossible.

Aislin took the list and scanned it over while Ama walked away, seeing that on it was the names for the Hot Water Samples and Fruit of Eden. While she wasn't too sure where exactly she'd be able to find the Fruit of Eden, she at least knew where to go for the first. Aislin looked up to survey those who had come, only to see that she now had three choices: Laura, Rowan, and a newcomer that seemed to be a cat of some kind. There was no way she'd be able to talk to Rowan right now, and putting the other two together was nothing short of disaster. Therefore, there was really only one choice. Aislin walked over to Laura and tapped her shoulder, wordlessly indicating they were going. She caught the cat's eye when his head turned to watch them go and motioned a 'stay down' gesture. The cat gave a brief nod and turned back to watch Ama while Aislin started walking down the trail to head toward the bottom of the mountain... after a furtive glance to make sure Rowan wasn't looking, that is. She wasn't sure how he'd react to seeing them walk off together. Doing this whole avoiding thing really wasn't working well for her. Kahlua noted the two girls had come down after him, though he couldn't help the double-take at the sight of the blonde changing her arms into wings and flying down. How in the world...? He shook himself out of it and kept on watching their surroundings. It was looking more and more that they were on the side of a volcano that was in the process of being industrialized, in a different way than what had happened back home. A movement from the corner of his eye had him turn to look at the final human of the group, the brown-haired girl that had followed him and Rowan down the stairs. In all honesty, she wasn't much to look at save for the extremely curly hair -seriously, did she perm it or something? -and yet, there was something about her that made him uncertain of keeping his eyes off her. It wasn't a warning undertone so much as a hidden undertone, as if she was keeping a lot of secrets and never wanted anyone to find out. That sort of person, no matter how physically unthreatening they were, had the potential to be dangerous. Kahlua would have to keep a closer eye on her to ensure she wouldn't try to betray them all somehow. That was not to be at the moment though, as she accepted a paper from Ama and left with the blonde, though not before they locked eyes. He raised a silent eyebrow and she gave him an equally silenced gesture, and then motioned for him to stay while her eyes flicked briefly in the angel's direction. He nodded in assurance; he would watch over the angel for her. She seemed to relax a bit and smiled faintly before heading off, glancing in the angel's direction once more before leaving sight. Kahlua walked over to stand near Rowan and commented, "Should we help Ama with her part of the list then?" Kudret waited quietly while they embraced, waiting for a chance to slip away before Rikazu turned to him and told him he could stay and listen to the story. Kudret couldn't help but ponder it for a few moments. Hear the full story of what had happened back in their world, of what was happening to Mizuki now and what the man after them all was trying to do and why. Kudret definitely needed to hear this, as it wouldn't be right keeping this from everyone else either. He quickly looked through his bag for something to write with, only to find a slip of paper poking out from the book of legends. He pulled out the book and opened it to the page to find a pencil along with a few sheets of paper. Above the lined expanse was written, 'Just in case you find out something interesting before I do. Aislin'. Kudret couldn't help but smile at her own brand of meddling and settled himself, noting that Diemia was going to stick around and hear it as well before resting the pencil against the paper, waiting for the story to start. He couldn't possibly keep up with every word, but he could take notes that would summarize it.

The heat was overwhelming, but to Laura it felt like home. Unlike the others she hadn't picked up any protective clothing for the cold trek northward, and did not have any layers to shed. So while the others were descending she observed their merry little group. Aislin had come, of course, and Ama was leading. She was surprised to see that Rowan had joined the expedition, along with a new member she didn't recognize. This cat-person seemed to have convinced the angel into coming, he must be a pretty good talker if that was the case. Laura would have to look into him later. The cat-person appeared to be looking into her as well, with a noticeable look of surprise on their face. Her transforming seemed to have caught their attention, though it had been a long time since she'd seen anyone so surprised about her abilities. Soon enough Ama was explaining what the group was here to find: volcanic water samples, Fruit of Eden, and Stellar stones. From the reactions of those there it seemed only Ama and Aislin knew what those items were. Laura accepted Aislin's directions and began heading down the mountain path alongside her. It disappointed her a little to not get to be around the new person, but she supposed there would be time in the future for that. "So, what mystical object are we on the hunt for first?" the Siren asked, her hands behind her head, as though this was nothing more than a leisurely walk.

---

Rowan frowned at Ama's description of what they were looking for. Barring the volcanic hot water samples, it sounded like she didn't know what any of the other objects were. Yet she knew they would be here in this reality, just in this volcanic region? Why was she going off to fight monsters in a mine if they were just here for the items on the list? Rowan could not help feel suspicious that Ama was here for more than what she was telling them. Aislin and Laura had already walked off too, which irritated him just as much as Ama's statements. He hadn't seen the direction either of them had gone, but considering both of their sudden absences it wasn't hard to assume they'd left together. Rowan couldn't help feel dejected from this, but he couldn't really blame Aislin. After all he'd taken and read that unfinished letter, which had clearly been private, so it was to be expected she'd be angry at him. Which left himself and Khalua, who had suggested they go help Ama with the mine. Rowan personally had no doubt Ama had intended to go and do it all on her own as was her usual, but at the moment trying to go with Ama seemed much better than trying to go with Aislin. "Well hopefully she leaves some monsters for us," Rowan replied to the cat-man before turning toward Ama and continuing, "Ama, we're coming with you so you might as well let us know what we're looking for on this monster-killing joyride."

"I only intend on the fights happening if they're needed, so don't get your hopes up." She'd figured some of them would end up coming with, it was an inevitability of the little spat they had going on at the moment, some time passed travelling through the new area, various scorch marks caused by what she assumed were bombs indicating there was nothing to kill around here anyway, there was a chest, which she kicked open to find nothing of note inside, whoever had come through here before, had most certainly picked the place clean and Ama couldn't help but feel grateful for that one, further in and the latest mining establishment was located, an older male dressed in grease-shop attire ordering various workers about the dig-site, Ama had a hand held out at this point, a glare from her slightly turned head saying it all, 'shut up and don't do anything stupid, we're the outsiders here, I'll deal with the sweet talk.' no sooner had she given the glare, the hand turned into a full blown arm held out, her eyes widened and something of a panicked aura coming from the female, eyes flicking to the two companions and back to the room, she'd been fooled for a moment, her brain reversing back a couple of decades to compensate for what had happened to it, "Do either of you see what I see?" she knew the question would provide a 'no' along with a mildly confused expression, oh she heard that horrific noise, and she saw that 'thing', but knew the other two likely wouldn't, their evolution too sophisticated to siphon out the differences.

Rikazu got into a more comfortable position on the bed before starting his story. He still wasn't sure if this was even a good idea, if anything telling her these things could only end up shattering those memory seals quicker. "When I was a child, I lived in the slums in Treno. My sister had been sick for a while, and the medicine needed to cure her was expensive, so my parents sold everything we owned in order to save her", Rikazu started his story. Mizuki's eyes immediately shot up. "You have a sister?" she asked. "The blacksmith you met in Treno, Liz", Rikazu responded. "Speaking of her...I have something to give you later." Pausing a moment, Rikazu continued again. "It was in the Treno slums that I met that man, Seth. We were both teenagers back then, and he was...well, probably the first friend I ever had. Probably the only friend until I met your mother", Rikazu scratched the back of his head, clearly feeling a bit awkard mentioning that. "Seth had just lost his parents when I met him, and that made him bitter; hateful towards the world, even. Back then I didn't care much for anything, so helping to ease the pain and bitterness my new friend was feeling seemed like the best plan at the time." Mizuki only listened at this point, not wanting to interrupt the story Rikazu was telling. Somehow it seemed...difficult for him? She really wasn't quite used to things being difficult for the old man. "Seth and I traveled the world for years, both of us honing our skills. In my case, I took abilities from other mages, monsters, whatever I could get my hands on. Seth on the other hand was mostly collecting herbs. His mother was an herbalist, and Seth knew everything about all types of herbs because of that. He mainly specialized on creating different types of poison, though. Other than that, he had a natural gift for illusion magic; fooling monsters was child's play for him, but eventually his illusions even affected humans to the point where they couldn't tell the difference between fake and real anymore." "Like what he used on me..." Mizuki whispered, shuddering at the mere thought.

Kudret kept himself busy scribbling down notes, still managing to pay attention. So far, it was that Rikazu lived in Treno, has a sister (Liz the blacksmith), met Seth when a teen. Then it held Seth: bitter, hateful towards world, has excellent(underlined) illusion magic, expert on all types of herbs and poisons, after Mizuki for reasons yet unknown. Rikazu traveled the world with Seth, taking all magic he could from monster and humans. Kudret looked up from his pad at Mizuki breaking the otherwise silent room when Rikazu took in another breath to speak, waiting patiently to know what had happened next. His intuition and shared look with the silent rhino told him it wouldn't be good, but also highly important. Kahlua was perfectly content to let the two humanoids- for what else could that female possibly be except more than human?- and lag behind a few steps to look about for himself. For all his travels so far, he was well aware it was a tiny corner of his own world, and there was honestly nothing he likes more than being able to explore on his own terms. It was a bit of a shame he was mostly on the run back home thanks to that cult... Speaking of which, would Zerik be all right without him? Ricorai and Thelonius are able to see him, but not Tomas, so there was that- Kahlua was halted abruptly by hearing the dull thunk of a foot hitting solid wood, and looked over to find Ama kicking open an empty chest. The cat's eyes started flickering about, once more paying attention to their surroundings until Ama stopped them. Her question was answered with a nervous-sounding, "...No? There should be, just from your reaction," which, admittedly, did absolutely nothing for his sudden bout of nerves. What was up with him all of a sudden? Aislin preoccupied herself with trekking down towards the base of the volcano for a time, content to let the silence settle between them after answering Laura with a simple, "Hot Water Samples, aka the Hot Springs at the bottom of this volcano." It took some time and some grappling with her nerves, but she finally slowed her walking to ask Laura cautiously, "So... Would you like to hear about that nightmare now or later? I'm asking you because if the choice was left to me it would be never," she tacked on hurriedly, knowing that most people would question her about why she was asking something that was clearly supposed to be her decision. The stairs were starting to disappear now; that meant they were nearing less steep slopes and thus the base of the mountain.

Rikazu nodded at Mizuki's words. "He used to practice his illusions on me all the time back then. For some reason illusion magic was one of the few types I was never able to pick up on with my abilities, but I did build up a high resistance to it at least", he said. The next bit that would probably be relevant would be...yeah, of course it would be that. "Eventually Seth and I ended up in Madain Sari during our travels. Seth had learned about the summoner tribe and their attempt to summon Alexander hundreds of years ago, and he decided to try and steal the jewel that was kept by the summoners in Madain Sari. I don't know if he actually thought he could use it, but I decided to help him anyway." Thinking back to it, he did wonder how Seth actually planned to do that, or if perhaps the illusionist had another reason to obtain those jewels. "Shortly after we entered the village, we were greeted by your mother. She seemed quite wary of us, apparently visitors were an uncommon sight in Madain Sari...but she let us stay anyway. Much to my surprise, Seth held off on his attempt to steal that jewel, and I soon learned that he actually felt attracted to Mel. Days turned into weeks, months...he and Mel started dating, and I spent most of my days taking relaxing naps under whatever tree I could find. I didn't care much for being there, but I didn't exactly have anywhere else to go, either. ...And then there was that odd feeling, those 'butterflies' whenever Mel spoke to me...and it made me want to stay." He actually felt a bit silly saying it out loud, somehow. "That man had...feelings for mom?" Mizuki really wasn't sure what to think about that. "At the time, I wasn't sure if he actually did. He'd told me the only reason we were there was because of that jewel, and Mel guarded it. I thought that was the only reason he was getting close to her, and one day Mel asked me if she could truly trust him; she felt like something was off, and I couldn't lie to her. I told her that she should trust her instincts", Rikazu said. "A few hours later, Seth returned to our room at the inn. He was furious, and I soon learned that it was because Mel had broken up with him. Seth decided at this point to go ahead with his plan, but I...well, I didn't quite want to anymore; I couldn't."

Celere had clearly enjoyed taking her time with the first proper shower she'd had in... years, exiting the room in a bath robe, she made careful note of how starved she felt, despite having eaten to full only recently, she cared not about the small puddles of water being left behind in her wake, she spotted someone familiar nearby, a person that had been quiet again as of late, plopping herself down on a chair nearby with no regards for personal space or the like, immediately spoke up while pulling an oversized bowl of some kind of food towards, "So, what's eating you Lynn, doesn't take a genius to figure out when someone's got skeletons in their closet keeping them from acting in a so-called 'normal' fashion." At Kahlua's response, Ama waited a bit before deciding to think, *Paranoia, shown as nerves, could be unrelated to this but I'd rather not risk it...* "Just act normally, like you normally would, we need to get this lot out of here, it hasn't started to eat yet, and isn't full-sized, but it's here, and already 'singing' to ensnare people in it's grip." she was very hushed about her words, speaking quietly and calmly to those with her, she deliberately avoided using it's name, and the next was mumbled entirely to herself, "Dammit, I was hoping for a few peaceful worlds devoid of combat, but no, this one just happened to have had a bleed at some point, just my luck..." she was careful going into the chamber, and those inclined to notice would notice the subtle deliberateness of her movements, pretending not to notice what she could see, hear... and remember, but those around her, could not.

Rowan's initial response to Ama's glare was an indifferent huff, not particularly caring what methods were used at the moment, as long as they were able to procure what they came for. Her thrown out arm and mildly panicked reaction prompted a different response however. Rowan had been in enough similar situations to know what that reaction meant. In a flash his bow was in his hand, the other poised in case he needed to grab an arrow. He couldn't see whatever Ama was looking at, or sensing, but he didn't doubt that something was there. Once Ama began to move again Rowan relaxed his position, though kept his weapon in his hands. He wasn't sure what 'it' was by her short explanation though, he was going to need more information if he was about to go into the lair of a monster that could make itself undetectable to the untrained eye. Those creatures usually had a mastery over their territory, going in unprepared would most likely be fatal. "What are we up against? What's this thing capable of, and what should we watch out for?" He asked in a clear, serious tone. Rowan was a few steps behind Ama now, closely following the path she was taking through the cave entrance.

---

Laura appeared to give Aislin's question some thought. The siren was pleased at the offer, knowing it was a sign that she would be willing to open up to the Siren without excessive convincing and prying. There could be various factors, but she had a motivation to speak that over ruled whatever safeguards she had put up around her secrets. It could be a sense of fair trade after what Laura had revealed, it could be an unconscious desperation to get it off her chest, it could be fear Laura would find out from someone else out of Aislin's control. Hopefully Laura would be able to identify this later on, but for now it was time to claim her first reward. "Well, I'm not one to waste an opportunity, and we do appear quite alone at the moment. I'm sure you'd rather do it now while we have a reason to be alone, rather than make the others wonder why we keep meeting in private."

Ama heard Rowan, and mentally cursed him out for drawing the weapon, lowering her head right to his ear, and whispering in a barely audible tone, explained the situation, "F#-+e &;dr^, you won't remember the name I just said, just put the damn bow away, if it senses that you know it's around, it'll start devouring the people over there, you and Kahlua will be useless until it stops 'singing', I have to pretend I don't know it's there or I'll trigger it into eating people, and I'd rather not have these people die, the seem rather important to this world and their loss would be a waste." straightening herself out, she continued to walk straight down into the mining pit, immediately getting a look from who she assumed was the foreman here, "Just travelling through the area, thought I'd come and see if you needed any help with any monster extermination." not a single beat skipped, unlike her heart, which skipped one when she felt the breath of the False Hydra down her neck, not instantly singing around and beheading it took some severe physical restraint on her part.