Chronicles of Gaia (RP)

Aislin hadn't looked back at Laura, or made eye contact again, but she had, however grudgingly, accepted. It was about as much as Laura had expected. Hopefully she wold be able to get Aislin to trust her more in the future. It certainly would be easier for the SIren if she didn't have to worry about making deals every times she wanted to deal with the girl. "Excellent!" Laura clapped her hands together and stood up. "This mood is too heavy for talking though, dear. I hope you don't mind me letting you experience our history more directly." Laura took a few steps away from Aislin and looked toward the mirrors in the distance. Ama had beckoned a specific one to her directly, an occurrence that had sparked an idea in her mind. If she could summon a specific instance to act as a 'side-quest' then things were going to get a lot more fun. And, sure enough, a mirror came hurtling toward Laura, speeding past the others to stop by the siren's side. For just a moment the reflection showed not Laura's illusionairy figure but a large courtyard surrounded by unrecognizable buildings. The entire scene appeared to underground with a super-massive cavern. A somewhat triumphant, somewhat wicked smile flashed across the siren's face at her success. She knocked the side of the mirror and the surface rippled back into reflecting Laura. No sneak peaks for the others, she decided. Turning, Laura called out loud to all who were gathered in the mirror room. "Anyone who needs to exercise some of the power you all got from this tower, or if you're just sitting around like a bunch of lumps without a purpose, come over here! I've got a real good 'Side-quest' lined up to spend that pent up energy and emotion on. We're going to need a lot of people for this one!" Rowan turned around at Laura's call, annoyed by the noise through his mood. Still, an opportunity to vent some of the things he'd been feeling all morning and all night was something he could definitely use right now. Something stopped him though, even before he'd taken a step toward Laura's mirror. And that thing was Laura herself. "It would be cheating if you joined" She mouthed at him, shaking her head with a small smile. The angel just blinekd at her, suddenly extremely curious as to the nature of the 'side-quest' Laura had lined up. Why was his presence cheating? Did that mean it had something to do with him, or something he knew? Fine. He grumped to himself, turning back and sitting down on the ground. If he was going to be excluded then let him be excluded, he decided angrily. It was a petty thing, but the angel was already planning to take a good look at what this quest was through the mirror after they all had entered.

Kudret could feel the slight disappointment coming from Diemia upon hearing Laura's call. "I'm not going, Diemia," Kudret replied silently, "I've had enough adventure for a few hours." The rhino didn't seem convinced, but let it slide as the beastman stood up and looked around, noting who was here and who wasn't. He noted Rowan sitting back down, and that both Kuja and Terria had vanished, presumably into mirrors of their own. Nicole, Ricardo, Celere and everyone else seemed rather occupied, so the beastman ultimately decided to find Rikazu and tell him of Laura's offer. With Diemia's help, he eventually pinpointed their room and entered cautiously, seeing Mizuki was still asleep with Rikazu hovering protectively nearby. He carefully walked closer to the two mages until he was just out of immediate spell range, which hopefully would give him a few seconds to react. "Laura offered to create a monster for people to battle against. Did you want to take that offer?" Kudret ventured to ask softly after a minute or two of silence. He made careful sure to keep his claws fully tucked away when he spoke up.

Rikazu had been sitting on his chair, gazing at Mizuki's sleeping form...sitting here, unable to do anything only reminded him of that day ten years ago, when Seth had gotten to Mizuki as well. At least this time she wasn't in that comatose state again, though that was only because he allowed Kuja to make that pact with her again, and because the pendant was continuously draining her magic. Despite being in a place where he was back at full strength, the blue-haired mage had never felt more powerless than now. Kudret's arrival and question shook him out of his thoughts, and Rikazu noticed that once again there was a small layer of ice on the floor. He really needed to get a handle on his emotions again... Looking at Kudret, he finally spoke up himself. "Create...a monster?" It took him a moment to process Kudret's words. "Ah...the room with mirrors Ama mentioned, I suppose that has a way of doing so, hmm?" He shook his head, his gaze shifting back to Mizuki. "I have to stay by her side. She's been fading in and out of consciousness, and her mind's very unstable right now. If I'm not here when she wakes up again...she'll probably panic again." Her panicking was the last thing Rikazu wanted right now, at her own full power not even the pendant would be able to stop the magic from lashing out if that happened. Lynn, having finished 'messing around' with her Persona abilities, turned to Laura when she called out to everyone. "I'd be happy to join!" she mused. After all, she could really use a fight where she'd be able to battle alongside Otohime again. "So, Miroku sent you to join us even though you have no Zaiphon of your own? That makes you useless to us, you'd be nothing more than a liability", Ayanami's violet eyes were narrowed as he looked at the silver-haired male in front of him. He circled around him, the child clinging to his hand following suit. "A human with a tail, how curious." "Some fool thought it interesting to experiment on me, the result was...this thing, and I'm permanently stuck with it. The 'Raphael Project', I believe they called it", the lie came out of Kuja's mouth quick and easy, his eyes following Ayanami as the man circled around him. "I lost my Zaiphon ability in the process." Ayanami's expression changed at the mention of the Raphael Project, and the white-haired male turned to the child holding his hand. "Sleep", the collar on the child's neck responded to the command, and mere seconds later she was sound asleep as Ayanami lifted her into his arms. "You are one of the failed clones, then", he spoke to Kuja. "Miroku sent me because I am a tactician, I will prove my worth to you if you let me", Kuja responded, keeping his cool despite being called a failure. He wouldn't let it get to him this time; it was a perfect cover for him. "We'll see about that", Ayanami's words held a sharpness to them, though Kuja ignored it for the time being. He couldn't fail now. "We will be leaving for a mission in thirty minutes, you will join us."

Kudret had only nodded at Rikazu's reasoning, staying silent as he tried to come up with a way to explain his own thoughts of the situation. Finally he simply fell back on what he already knew and spoke aloud- after taking a small step to get in range of the ice on the floor with his clawed foot, that is. "I do understand your reasoning, Rikazu. You are scared and worried about her wellbeing, and are concerned with what could happen to her if you aren't here." Only now did Kudret scrape his clawed foot against the ice, drawing it out slightly to cause plenty of noise. "At the same time, this tells me that your own emotions are unstable and out of control." He put his foot back down and watched the older male with as sincere an expression as he could muster right now. "I would suggest taking up Laura's offer and let out some of those emotions. I promise to watch over her until your return." Kudret didn't speak a word about if Kuja returned before he did, but was fairly certain now was not the time to argue semantics. Right now was the time to convince Rikazu to blow up some monsters before he accidentally on purpose tried to blow up the pride. ((Kudret, I understand you being a lion and listening to your instincts is messing with your mental heirarchy but why are you dragging in terms only now?!))

Rikazu listened to Kudret's words and let out a tired sigh. Kudret's words were true, he knew that well enough, but he really didn't want to leave his daughter's side right now...he should've never left her side to begin with. If he hadn't, this would've never happened, nor would it have happened when she was just a child. "I appreciate the offer, but..." Rikazu fell silent for a moment, his eyes still on Mizuki. "I can't guarantee your safety if I take you up on that...I'm aware that this tower is a safe place, otherwise Ama wouldn't have brought us here to catch a break. However, Mizuki's memories are jumbled right now, she might not recognize you if she wakes up, and as I said, she might panic again, and accidentally hurt you." If Kudret was alright with taking that risk, then perhaps he'd join Laura to blow off some steam...but it wasn't exactly something he could ask of him. It was better to stay here with Mizuki himself, to ensure everyone's safety. As the thirty minutes passed, Kuja had entered the airship alongside the members of the Black Hawks. In total there appeared to be five other members, aside from Ayanami and the child with him. Ayanami sat in a large chair, the child comfortably sleeping on his lap. It was an odd sight to Kuja; why was his mission to save this child, when she seemed so comfortable by this man's side? "So, where are we headed, Aya?" The question came from a black-haired male wearing sunglasses, 'Hyuuga' as Kuja had heard one of the others mention. There was a mischievous look on the male's face. "We're rounding up some escaped battle slaves near the Raggs border", Ayanami answered him coldly. "Tch, they're treating us like dirt again", Hyuuga spat, clearly displeased by Ayanami's answer. "Which one of us will carry it out?" This question came from a slightly older-looking male with brown hair, known as Katsuragi. Said male moved away from the wall he'd been leaning against, eyeing Ayanami curiously. When Ayanami's gaze fell on the girl sleeping on his lap, he shook his head. "She's just a child, let one of us carry out the mission instead, I'll-" "Katsuragi", Ayanami shot him a glare. "Are you questioning my orders?" "No, sir. Of course not", Katsuragi answered quickly. "Lucia will be the one to carry out the mission, no one else will interfere", Ayanami spoke, the words clearly a command. Kuja's eyes narrowed. He was going to let the girl fight? He'd also called her 'Lucia'...wasn't this girl Iliya, then? No...there was no mistaking it, it was definitely her. "She's a member of your elite force as well?" Kuja asked. If he was going to save her, he needed to learn more. "She's in training", Ayanami responded.

Kudret closed his eyes and sighed, only half-pretending to think about it. The danger was real, yes; it was a definite maybe that he would come out of this unscathed; and yet... "I understand the danger Rikazu," he told him solemnly, "However, I shall remain steadfast in my decision to watch over her for you." With that, the beastman calmly pulled over the remaining chair in the room and settled there, gaze flicking between the two intermittantly with a sort of quiet dignity and calm coming off of him. Inwardly, Diemia chuckled once more. *You've grown, cub. I feel rather sad I wasn't there to watch. Sad, yet proud as well. Hmm, how strange.* Kudret didn't answer, knowing his silent amusment was enough for the Rock Mana.

"Hello." Terria jolted out her light nap leaning against a tree. A child stood in front of her. "Yeah?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. "Are you an angel?" the girl asked, reaching out a hand to touch her wing. Reflexively, she moved out of the way, but realized that she had to be nice, that this wasn't a war zone. And that she should stay out of the child's knowledge. Terria quickly searched up a lie. "Sure, kid. I'm your guardian angel. Now go run off and play in the park so I can go make your life good." Suddenly feeling emotional about the childhood she had barely had, she smoothed a stray hair on the girl's head before the kid ran off. "Keep in mind, this was an easy Side-Quest to complete. Next time your mission will not be so... lenient. Now good luck. That encounter with the child at the start was not ideal, but if anything it gave her hope, as you had to ar. You did better than I expected." Terria smiled as the lights of the text blinked out. Her smile abruptly dropped as she felt a heaving sensation in her stomach, and the world narrowed down to a pinpoint, then exploded into color as she arrived back in the tower. She looked around then promptly vomited.

Rikazu scratched the back of his head when Kudret pulled over the chair and sat down. "Well...if you really are sure, I guess there's no point in trying to talk you out of it." It didn't feel right to leave Mizuki's side, but this was for the best. He couldn't protect her if he was busy fighting his own emotions the entire time. He finally stood from his chair, leaning in close to whisper in Mizuki's ear. "I'll be back soon, kiddo...you hang in there", he said before pulling away and walking to the door. "Thank you, Kudret." Rikazu then walked over to the mirror room, each step he took leaving a small amount of ice below his feet, and he walked up to Laura once he entered the room. "So, I heard you're planning on getting a battle started? Count me in." The group Kuja was with soon arrived at a remote area, a barren land, and the airship landed in the middle of a canyon. Only Kuja, Ayanami and the girl with him left the airship, the others remained inside. Under no circumstances were they allowed to interfere. The girl had woken up by now, though was still being carried by Ayanami. He soon put her down, however, and took a step back. In the distance were a lot of men, people that had been branded 'battle slaves' and had tried to escape their fate. Ayanami knew well enough that these were people from the girl's homeland, who were branded when the Kingdom of Raggs lost the war against the Barsburg Empire. "Now then, Lucia. Show me your power. These people are criminals...carry out their death sentence", Ayanami spoke. "Failure will not be tolerated, understood?" The girl only shook her head at him, opening her mouth to speak, though flinched at the cold gaze Ayanami gave her. Even though she'd seemed so comfortable with the man just before, she now looked like a terrified mess again. This was why Kuja was supposed to rescue her; because this man gave her commands that she clearly didn't want to obey, yet she couldn't protest. There was nothing he could do right now though, without his magic he'd need to come up with a foolproof strategy, and he didn't know enough about Ayanami yet. "Kill all emotions and fight, Lucia", Ayanami spoke again, before turning to Kuja instead. "You, come with me."

*So, Rikazu's getting some relief in, can't say I expected him to leave her side without some kind of forcing behind it... Good to see.* Celere had yet to move from her spot, appearing to be half asleep for the time being, she was contemplating her lot in life as it were, she had nowhere to return to if ever given the option, and she had no intention of going back to an earlier point of time in her universe to live out the rest of her days, there'd be no point in it since said Universe was doomed to erasure, heavy stuff for the hybrid, but topics she had to start thinking about. Ama began a head count, minus Kuja, one was missing, but that was fair enough, people probably wanted some time alone for the time being, a lot to process, and the shifts in their powers were probably unsettling for those who had them, what would she do to kill some time, could always go explore a variant of her own world again, but doing it alone just didn't seem appealing to her anymore, "Hrm, well you lot have fun with whatever little miss mischief has planned, I need to go figure out next moves several plays in advance."

Marco and company stood off to the side for the most part, paying close attention to the explanation of the mirrors and ‘side quests’ and understood it for the most part. “Well, this certainly sounds like an interesting way to get equipment.” Felicia remarked as she examined a nearby mirror “Though from the sounds of it, we could also wind up in alternate realities of our own worlds. It sounds both fun and scary.” It was at this moment the group heard Laura mention the chance to let loose and this immediately gained the interest of Razar “That sounds fun. Count me in!” He gave an enthusiastic thumbs up as he then looked back to the rest of his group silently asking who else wanted to join. Marco shrugged “Sure, why not. Beats sitting here doing nothing.” Felicia just sat down and just waved the other two on “Pass, I’m not a powerhouse. You two go have fun.” Ricardo also shook his head “Count me out as well. I’d rather avoid a fight if it’s possible.” “Alright, suit yourself.” Razar said with a shrug as He and Marco joined Laura and the others.