Atlantis

[Apollymi]

Miki through the path she'd laid for the lad, was indeed sharing with him, the references of the Kingdom. By virtue of that sharing she was giving her own reactions to these very things. In fact, she'd had quite a similar bit of outrage when coming across the lute based statue. Beyond that, she'd been less than amused then infinitely amused. She wanted to share this experience with the lad, but in a way that he'd find it as amusing as she had. She could only hope that part of it was as obvious as she found it. 'Fucking bards...' she mumbled in her mind. The blonde lass had her eyes close as she waited calmly. Strangely, she was holding within her hand a small box which contained something only to put it back in her cloak. She was trying not to be too anxious, after all, there wasn't a whole lot of time left before the lad would find his way to the end of his path.

The statue of the woman within the clam was indeed a reference worthy of a chuckle. One which could be taken a couple of ways and the dirtiest of these had made Miki laugh aloud while she aimed to repair that particular statue. Whatever the case, this fifth clue would appear as all others had. A hand against the clam shell that contained the quiet Rogue who helped build this nation would reveal the same kind of magic as the other various stones. And to its right, a set of clues which would take the lad to his next location. The top of this clue contained very simply a book with open pages. Beneath it two arrows one which pointed up and then another to the right. Denoting the upward curvature, from the depths towards the light and technically to enlightenment. And there another two words one new one repeated seeming to be slightly unrelated to the previous set of words as it was visible at the turning point, 'toloque' and 'lempe'. This set of clues would lead up and out of the depths, until of course the next target place was reached. It would so happen that this clue would lead to the Great Library of Atlantis. The place which was a beacon in the Kingdom itself and a place of knowledge, the clue itself was quite simple and there was no real way to misinterpret it as it was likely the easiest known of the landmarks aside from the Obelisk.

[Bloodedge]

Contact with this hooded figure gave Kou all the information he needed to progress once more. This time around, he received a new glyph followed by a repeat. His excitement was growing quickly; he was more than ready to move on to the next leg of this little scavenger hunt. From the existing clue, he even knew where he'd end up next: The Great Library of Atlantis. He made haste to follow the path laid out to him via arrows, darting along while his Familiar appeared atop his shoulder. He had almost forgotten about the little creature, who previously rested within Kou himself.

A single glance was offered to the furry white beast, who nestled against the side of Kou's neck. He found an interesting boost to his own mobility as its Mana flowed into him. In this moment, he recalled the benefit of having Familiars within the video game's version of this world. The general stat boosts they offered when in use were certainly a boon, and this one carried Kou to the Great Library at a very comfortable speed. Into the library he went, letting his mind run wild with consideration of the connecting puzzle pieces.

[Apollymi]

Upon reaching his next destination, Kou would be within the rather large library which was a central point within the Kingdom. Within the center of the Library in the no longer forbidden section there was a large podium and atop it was an open tome, one which had previously been in Seriri's hands given to her by Miki and returned. The podium this stood upon was the monument in question holding up the knowledge of Atlantis was a pillar like Rune stone which gave off that same flowing magic. A dedication to the greatest work of the person who'd founded this place as well as chronicled the journey of his peers, Aelan the Inspired. Beyond that, touching it would give a set of clues once again. The first image would be of a cornucopia filled with fruits, representative of the market place. Beneath that, a set of arrows to the right which pointed right and right again, which would lead the lad to the heart of that area. And beneath it, two more glyphs which would have another recognizable one and one repeated very recently, 'hukea' and 'lempe'. Was there an obvious pattern? Why were so many of these repeated? What did they stand for? The answer would becoming rather soon, and perhaps it would be fairly easy to figure out when it appeared.

Miki sat very quietly rather suddenly having that small fox like creature appear within her lap as she tried to calm her own nerves. It looked at her blinking several times as she began to pet it, seeming to have it work out. "I wonder if he'll get what I mean by showing him this?" she mumbled to herself. She knew the puzzle itself wasn't really hard, she'd set these up frequently as a child for Tsukiko in their home adventures. Simple conversions of symbols to letters found on a path set out to be engaging, full of clues to help solve the ending puzzle, leading to the ultimate prize. She figured if Tsukiko could figure out such a word puzzles, it could be simple fun for someone like Kou. Even without knowing what the Elven glyphs meant. Beyond all this, when he got to the grand clue, the conversion could be made fairly easily. She'd wanted to use it to show Kou a bit about herself, so she'd taken him along the path she'd walked, mending the Runestones in Atlantis. Maybe what she wished for him to see in this case, was who she was, but maybe that wouldn't become obvious until the last bit. 'I wonder what kind of progress he's making...' she thought to herself curiously, while moving a hand to fidget with a lock of blonde hair, an obvious tell of her still overwhelmed nervous system.

[Bloodedge]

Progress was the word, indeed. At this point, Kou was zipping from one leg of the puzzle to the next, taking the directions at face value and absorbing the information he knew to be necessary, before moving right along. The library would be where he found the sixth, of what he assumed to be seven, pieces to the puzzle. Almost there. It was easy enough to find the book pedestal's location and make contact with it, so he did just that, and was off again toward the next location. 'There's something about these glyphs. Elvish words, some repeated, but in no particular order. Ugh, I've seen this before, but...' Soon enough, Kou would reach his answer, and the real puzzle would begin.

All he needed was one final key, and he would receive it, seemingly... in a cornucopia? What an interesting set of seven landmarks this was. Regardless, he had placed each one in his memory, along with the list of glyphs he'd seen along the way. What was triggering his memory, though? It was becoming almost bothersome that he didn't realize what it was, yet it was just there at the tip of his tongue.

[Apollymi]

If he followed his arrows out to the Market, he'd find himself among the moving denizens now found there. It was a very active place now, much more than it had been when they'd first passed it. And beyond that, within was another statue, this one of a man holding said cornucopia. A smile on his face as he gave freely within this place. The patron saint of the market place, Keegan the Charitable, a statue given focus in a very particular way. This time though when interacted with the puzzle clue would take on a different form. Instead of a picture at the top to give note to what it should be there were just a series of dashes. Nine dashes then an obvious space and then seven dashes. Below the last three of these dashes were three of the glyphs, some repeated and some stand alone, 'toloque' 'attayukainen' and 'lempe'. That was all there was to this clue set. The grand clue here was showing him the kind of puzzle this was intended to be, as well as giving him extra access potentially to what he'd need to figure out where to go.

There were strangely no arrows to give direction of where to go. This entire market place was itself a clue, and if one paid attention the glyphs she'd written were all around this place. It was a commonality of Atlantean, Druidish and Elvish and that was the base of their number system. Beyond all of that the two sets of dashes nine and seven were meant to represent two words. A simple conversion was taking place here, with each of the glyphs taking the place of a letter of the words represented. A very simple one A=1 or in this case 'min' and the other numbers falling in place there after. Meaning each of the repeated glyphs was a common use vowel or consonant. This puzzle was a cryptogram. An old spy technique turned entertainment experience. A way to send a coded message to someone who had or could figure out the cipher. In this case, the other clues had also added in to the grand clue, as they were all activities and things the pair of them had done together. This final clue would lead him to a place, he may not remember because he'd been Akashi when he'd taken her there. The Atlantean Reserve, the second tallest building in the Kingdom, which Miki currently sat atop, not even looking down for fear of giving away her location assuming the lad would have made it to the Market by now. All of the clues were there, all he had left was to figure out the one place he wouldn't know off the top of his head, and thus the clues she'd left for him.

[Bloodedge]

At long last, he'd finally reached the end of the puzzle. Well, not quite the end of the puzzle, per se, but the final piece he needed. The holder of the cornucopia granted him three final glyphs, along with an additional showing of... exactly what he was to decipher. In that shining moment, Kou slammed the base of his palm against his forehead. He knew there was something familiar about this pattern; it was a puzzle he'd seen so many times, and one with a great deal of history behind it. He was actually quite interested to know that Miki, or rather, Kimiko, knew of this particular puzzle. Even more could be said about her ability to throw one together with such flair.

"Sugoi~" Kou muttered as his finger rose to pet the creature on his shoulder. "Such a good puzzle. It feels so... nice." He simply didn't have another word to describe this one. There was something else there, but it was a thing entirely unfamiliar to the lad known as Yugi, and was therefore missing from Kou's ability to acknowledge. Moving on though, it was time to begin thinking, and what better way for him to begin than... slapping his own cheeks with his eyes focused on the layout before him.

"Now it's Puzzle Time!" he said, counting the spaces meant to be filled with letters. With the total number in mind, he began pacing about, mentally recalling the glyphs he'd seen, while muttering to himself and his Familiar. "Right. Four and three showed up more than anything else. Those are the major vowels. At least one has to be A or E, probably both. Given the rest of this puzzle... it's probably a location. Nine letters first. Atlantean, most likely. Three As, one E down the drain. Also two Ts and two Ns, so that has to be one of the other characters knocked out. That leaves three more of either A or E, one more letter appearing twice in the second word, and two more letters that don't repeat."

Kou had returned to an old habit of blabbering his way through a puzzle, all part of the process. All the while, his brain was shuffling through letters to find placements and potential words to produce the second row. "Biggest chance of a vowel coming second. E," he spoke randomly throughout the thinking process. As his mind raced, his lips slowly curled up into a toothy grin. With a quick snap, he both startled the Familiar on his shoulder, and came to the shining conclusion he'd been building toward. "Atlantean Reserve!" There he had it. All he had to do at this point, was make the trip, which he'd do with increased haste thanks to the Familiar's mobility bonus.

[Apollymi]

As Kou worked through the puzzle he'd been given Miki absently petted the small creature now in her lap. She'd changed her seating posture ever so slightly, so that her gaze was settled back over the kingdom of Atlantis with her hood down and blonde locks blowing in the breeze. "Hm, he should be here pretty soon, assuming the rest of it didn't take him too long..." she murmured to herself. As one last thing for the lad, she'd placed one final arrow, this one at the front of the building pointing straight up, so he could join her on the roof of this building whenever he made his way to it. Strangely she didn't feel nearly as anxious as she had before, or rather it wasn't in the same way, now she was simply excited. She wanted to see what he had to say, how he'd respond to her particular brand of puzzle making as someone who liked puzzles. A small smile appeared on her face in the moment, as she realized that as herself she was more attached to the idea of making him happy than she'd normally care about being. Maybe after today he'd finally get it, well at the very least, she supposed she could put herself out there. Which legitimately wasn't something she'd ever thought she'd have to do, but here she was, in a new world, trying new things... like trying to get a boy's attention.

[Bloodedge]

Soon enough, Kou reached the tall building known locally as the Atlantean Reserve. He would have sought entry, but there was another arrow pointing him up, presumably to the top of the building. What an interesting location for the end of the journey. "LEEROOOOOOY!~" Kou called out as he approached the side of the building, summoning the Draconic feline mount to carry him up the structure. For the beast named Xerxes, alternatively Leeroy, it took only a few leaps to hop high above the building's peak. Afterwards, Xerxes disappeared once more, leaving Kou to descend onto the roof. "JENKINS!" he shouted during the grandest of landings, complete with a flourish. Kou seemed happy as could be as his left knee barely avoided touching the roof during his landing, though he quickly rose and spun about before stepping forward. "Ashikaga Kimiko does puzzles? I'm surprised."

[Apollymi]

The call of Leroy brought Miki's attention downward, she chuckled in the moment, because this was about what she expected from the lad, though he could have taken a more conventional way to get to the top, she enjoyed his enthusiasm. Soon, she got to see their shared mount make easy work of the side of this building, flying over head with Kou dismounting, all before disappearing and leaving the lad to land before her atop the roof. It was quite a solid display of flourish and grandeur and Miki could do nothing but clap her approval. Soon after she'd hold up all ten of her fingers giving her score for the dismount. "That was pretty flashy, even stuck the landing without hitting the knee. 10 of 10," she chimed in a joking manner. Of course, there was another point to be addressed, the idea that she, in her previous life did puzzles, which made her shrug just a tad. This was further confirmation that all forms of the lad knew who she had been before she became part of this world. She couldn't really consider that strange though, because she was aware at least in a passing manner of her status as a school idol. Even so, it was quite obvious that her interests outside of school were likely very different from what most would have thought about her. "I don't really do puzzles per se... I have been known to throw together a cipher or a scavenger hunt from time to time though..." she said with a small smile. "Admittedly, not normally both at the same time, but I figured single ones would have been a bit too simple," she said softly. "How'd I do?" she asked with excitement in her eyes, she was quite keen to have this lad's opinion about his recent experience and couldn't help but be excited to hear him out.

[Bloodedge]

The end of the line for this puzzle couldn't have been more clear than it was in the moment Kou saw Miki, the puzzle's creator, standing there in the flesh atop the Atlantean Reserve building. He stepped forward, still beaming from the puzzle itself, as he met her introduction. "Sankyuu, sankyuu~" he said, waving his arms about and bowing to the '10' rating he'd received on the landing. Once he was in a meter or so's distance of Miki, he stopped, arms akimbo as they began their discussion.

"Iie," he said to the notion of her 'not really doing puzzles' so to speak. "You can't say you don't do puzzles when you make one like that. There's too much feeling in it to claim anything else." True enough, with all the puzzles he'd done in his life, Kou... or rather, Yugi, had a strong sense for the meaning behind puzzles. This most recent one felt something like an invitation, open and welcoming in some respect. As for how Miki did with it, well... Kou took a moment to stroke his own chin in thought. "Hmm. Well, if it's complexity you were going for, it was a little on the simple side. That's not what's important, though. As far as finding the puzzle within the puzzle, if that makes any sense, it... might be one of the best I've ever seen. Definitely the nicest while having so much depth beyond the puzzle itself. Bonus points for the extra exploration, and there was all that lore weaved into it as well-"

And, so began another of his rambling sessions. "It's really rare to see so many things thrown into a puzzle, but it was pulled off brilliantly! A couple of laughs here and there, a weird mix-up of lore decisions made in Atlantis, all coming together to make a giant roller coaster that distracts the brain from the fact that it's even doing a puzzle. That's what's always missing in the normal sorts. Puzzles made just for the sake of being puzzles don't have any real mystery to them, they're just numbers. One with so much stuff added into it, with a bit of brain work to top it off? That's a puzz-" Oh. Kou's eyes widened, and his face reddened just a bit. He'd come to realize he was rambling on again, and not to himself this time. That was awkward. "Eheh... Gomen. I got carried away. Anyway, yeah, good stuff."

[Apollymi]

It seemed the lad was indeed in a good humor after the completion of his puzzle. Miki herself seemed to be pretty pleased, how could she be anything but considering how happy the lad was. The only thing he had to say at first, was that it wasn't possible for her to deny doing puzzles, given the puzzle she'd put together for him. Her eyes widened slightly, but she supposed if he said that sort of thing she'd have to believe him. It wasn't that she didn't like puzzles nor that she wouldn't complete them if they were put in front of her, she simply didn't find them to be something she went after on purpose. Beyond all of that, she hadn't found them to be properly fun in a long time, not since she'd done ciphers with her dad, and moved on to share such puzzles with her childhood friend Tsukiko. She did nothing but give a casual shrug to the notion before they moved on to the more important part.

The critique of her puzzle came with the idea that it was indeed simple, she'd expected this both given what the lad was used to and given the only other person she'd bothered doing such things for. But strangely this wasn't a real negative. According to Kou the puzzle itself was a puzzle within itself making it better. He claimed the extra lore bits and exploration were also a plus making it one of the nicest he'd completed. He went on an entire tangent to this point that Miki was left to watch and listen to without much shame at all. Her eyes got wider and she truly didn't know what to say in response to all of that. She'd done something simply thinking he might enjoy it a bit, she didn't expect praise really, though she might have been seeking it subconsciously. Beyond that she found it cute that he could throw himself into liking something so much, his further embarrassed reaction afterwards when he cut himself off even, brought a genuine smile to the lass' face. "Iie, I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had fun learning the lore stuff while I was fixing the Runestones. I just wanted to share that with you. But I didn't want it to be boring or anything..." she mused, a tiny bit anxious as she removed from her cloak the prize for the day. "Anyways, Happy Valentine's Day!" she offered the lad the box she'd been holding onto, it contained a singular white chocolate in the shape of a Rune, it was a almost an 'M' but it had a deeper meaning to it. Like most things she'd done this particular day. She'd been preparing herself to do a bit of explaining and would likely take this as an opening to do so.

[Bloodedge]

It seemed his ramblings weren't much of an issue at all. That was a positive note, at least; he could relax on that matter. Either way, his words rang true. The fact that Miki enjoyed putting the puzzle together was another thing he could consider a plus. Of course, that was also something he could tell. A puzzle with such quality of meaning had to be at least entertaining to craft, lest it fall apart midway through its inception.

Oh, but there was another thing that required, even demanded, his immediate attention. A box was produced, accompanied by mention of Valentine's Day. Kou's eyes widened further before a hesitant hand rose to take the box. He had actually managed to forget what day in the festival week it was. Now, he was simply dumbfounded to have received acknowledgement of it in... this way. "I-..." What was there to even say? More importantly, was there blood remaining within him to fill anything but his face? No telling. There was hardly a thing to say, or do, aside from opening the box to see what was inside. White chocolate was the answer, but the shape of it was curious. He knew it to be a rune, but they weren't familiar enough to be recognized by the Saber-Class lad. At least he had a diversion from the reaction he was unsure about. "A rune?"

[Apollymi]

Miki was left to watch as the lad accepted he box she'd given him with a bit of hesitation. She wondered if he really understood what she'd meant, maybe he didn't maybe she'd have to explain it a bit further. But, his reddened face and inquisitive nature were something else to deal with in the meantime. It seemed that he was quite surprised by the idea that she'd done such a thing in the name of this particular day, but she'd realized perhaps because of the goodness of this avatar, the 'liteness' of her own personality that her feelings might not have been obvious, nor seemed as focused as they were in her own mind. When asked about the rune, a habit of Miki's or rather of Kimiko's would become rather obvious. The lass would open her mouth to speak and give the necessary information with relative quickness while she turned that single lock of hair in her right hand in a manner most anxious.

"Ah, yeah... it's... Ehwaz... which is the rune which hardens. But... Runes aren't really that simple, like it also means trust, and symbolizes a balanced bond between things, so I could use it to like make my spear do more damage, but I could also use it to balance out a Bounded Field with two really different but equally good other runes involved," she mentioned, she was used to talking so her words didn't falter instead she just said a lot, as if trying to get it all out of her own head. "But... it's more than that... Runes are applied to Druids as part of their baptisms. It turns them into walking Runestones and lets them use 'Free Magic' so Ehwaz is mine..." she mentioned lifting her bangs to show the same mark on her own forehead, glowing sage green. "Well, I didn't really know that when I chose it, it was one of those weird sets of questions you are asked sometimes in games. And it was the one that ended up assigned to me but it really works... because it's... equally shared and freely offered," she mentioned the explanation of it that she'd been given by the rune master because it was the one which let her understand herself the best. "I thought, I'd offer it to you... because I like you... I mean like I actually like you, more and differently than I like my friends," she said looking up her own face flushed intensely but she was already so deep in she thought maybe it wasn't as clear as she thought it had been. "But I realized that might not have been as obvious as I thought it was in my head so... I figured I could show you with the puzzle and you'd understand..." she mentioned seeming more nervous about it than she should have been. Maybe he already understood, all the bits that had gone into the puzzle were chosen with the intention of putting herself out there, and of inviting him into a different kind of equal partnership with her. She'd put a lot of thought into making this her grand romantic gesture, because she wasn't sure if she'd be able to properly explain her own feelings as such. So, she'd decided to show them in a way she didn't think could be misinterpreted.

[Bloodedge]

Good, good distractions. They could just talk about the rune this chocolate took the shape of, and everything would be fine. Miki could talk, and Kou could move past the awkwardness of the moment. Alas... that was not the case. Miki did talk, yes, but as she continued, that awkward topic returned. Kou understood the basic application of the Ehwaz Rune; that was simple enough. This secondary purpose, and it being tied to Miki's being as a Druid, though...

'What?' he thought. This wasn't making any sense. Sure, balance and all that being at the core of the Miki Avatar was sensible enough, but the meaning of this rune being offered in a metaphorical sense was another matter entirely. The meaning was clear enough. It was Valentine's Day here in Atlantis, and this was... a confession. Suddenly, that missing purpose behind the puzzle became clear, as if a hidden piece were materialized to complete the overall image.

Equally shared, and freely offered. What an interesting concept, yet all too foreign to one Aiba Yugi within the form of Kou. Reaching into the box, he removed the rune-shaped chocolate. It had to be that as well, that disgusting confection he avoided like the plague. He held it between his forefinger and thumb, turning away from Miki while staring at it... until his gaze found the open city of Atlantis. He supposed some sort of answer was necessary, but what could he say? He'd be lying through his teeth if he said he hadn't given a great deal of consideration to Miki, even Kimiko, in such a way. Alas, that consideration always came with a hangup. Perhaps, though... there was a saving grace.

"You know, I've been thinking lately... every now and then since we made this Party. Do you think we're really stuck in this world? Is this just what life is now?"

[Apollymi]

'Shit! I said it. I shouldn't have said it!' The thought that immediately surfaced in the mind of Miki was the doubt of Ashikaga Kimiko as it tended to surface. She talked herself into and out of thousands of actions on a daily basis in her regular life. Hell, she'd almost talked herself out of doing this very thing a thousand times before she actually made that first rune appear where it was. Her mind went full panic mode, she couldn't really help it and that same lock of hair was twisted around her fingers, back and forwards around and around. 'I could have kept it all in my head. That isn't much of a reaction... well I guess I couldn't really expect an anime style reaction or anything. But...' she berated herself but she still really wanted to believe this could work out, she'd talked herself into believing it could really work out. As such she was left to wait upon the lad's reaction. Eventually the ramblings of the girl's mind would be broken by words spoken by Kou.

The blonde's brow furrowed deeply as she considered the answer to the lad's questions. He'd apparently thought about it from time to time. Since they'd made the party he'd wondered if this was simply their life now and to that she had only one real answer. "When I bought the game, I went to a game store and had the grandmother of the guy who worked there warn me that the game was cursed and everyone who played it disappeared. She wouldn't have been so freaked out if people could come back," she said remembering the night she'd set out on her grand solo adventure. Also incidentally noting that even if she didn't believe it initially, she'd definitely bought a cursed game and intended to play it regardless of the consequences. "Besides, if Kaiba and Hisakawa are still here, there probably isn't a way back. Not, that I'd take such a thing in the first place..." Miki said though she hadn't meant to say the last part aloud, it was quite true. She was the type of person who wouldn't care if she could go back she likely wouldn't. There wasn't a single goal Kimiko had in life that she couldn't accomplish better and grander in a world full of magic. Besides all that, this world gave her the opportunity to have something she hadn't managed in her actual life.