Munetsuchi

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah... he's always like that, whenever he's not... y'know... being him," Charlemagne said regarding Astolfo. In response, the other male offered a ditzy expression, both eyes closing as his tongue protruded and a set of knuckles tapped the top of his own head. "Pehhh!" he uttered. To that, Charlemagne had only one additional thing to say. "Yeah, that. He's great to have around, though. You'll hardly find a better friend out there," Charlemagne added. In that very moment, Astolfo's demeanor changed entirely. He felt such a surge of pride and satisfaction, he was almost literally glowing with eyes overtaken by massive sparkles. This was the meaning of triumph over one's own life!

Mentor and apprentice both took steps toward cleansing their bodies. In that time, the latter of the two gave an odd explanation that may not have been understood by the other. Alas, it wasn't so foreign a concept as the girl thought. There were nuances to address, but her entire description of the school experience was somewhat similar to his own time spent learning. When Anais claimed she didn't know if it all made sense with that description, Ailen could only laugh. "It makes more sense than you may believe. The place I grew up? It's called the Alinor, or the Isle of Sumurset. More colloquially, it is called the Summerset Isles. There are so many alchemical ingredients of unknown value there, I was given what you might call 'summer breaks' with 'course work' many times. In letting myself be consumed with personal study, I may have procrastinated quite frequently to acquire the things I was instructed to bring back to my mentor. In that case, I do understand your problem."

[Apollymi]

The thought that Astolfo was always a specific kind of person when he wasn't just being him was odd. Well, his behavior defied normal human logic in most cases, but Sakura understood that better than human logic in the first place. As such, she found him to be a perfectly acceptable individual. His reactions and friendly demeanor around Charles made her feel quite happy. Their bond wasn't romantic in the slightest but it was still quite strong. Nothing made this more apparent than the reaction to the compliment given by Charles. "Oh? That's such an honest reaction. He's really proud of himself..." she said in an almost completely observational way. They'd come quite far from the people who'd fallen out of the sky less than forty-eight hours ago. She was pleased to see them capable of recovering from their mental stresses in each others presence, perhaps this was a secret of friendship. She'd have to observe it further.

Moving on from this, there was now Anais well on her way to joining the others. Of course, while she had her bath she'd explained herself and apparently it wasn't completely misunderstood. In fact, Ailen went on to explain a bit of his 'younger' years in the interim. In so doing, he claimed to understanding the feeling of procrastination of one's assignments whilst having their own sort of fun. "Waah? Really? That's great. I thought it'd be a bit weird to explain but... I'm glad. It's good to get into things for yourself, I think. I had a few solo hobbies that had me with similar kinds of procrastination but the school thing was always the biggest showing of it," she said. Well, that was pretty true she was sure that this particular kind of study would be the sort of thing she'd abandon anything else to do. But that didn't matter either. Now she was out of the water, cleaned up and searching into her bag. Out of which she'd pull, a pair of forest green lace cheeky type underwear. They had more coverage than thongs, but they had quite the different shape while still not disturbing the lines of her figure. Her cheeks were still mostly visible, but they seemed to be almost more decorative on purpose, while still being comfortable. She slid them up her thighs and into to place and gave herself a quick looking over. "I'm going to have to ask Ness why she thought I needed so many different ones, but I am pretty sure I like these..." she said seeming to have gotten quite used to having her cheeks be a bit exposed. Dressing would continue until she was all done, and then eventually she'd be popping out of that door to Ailen's room as they headed for the throne room where they were meant to gather.

[Bloodedge]

True enough, Astolfo was well beyond proud of himself. He wanted nothing more than to be of use to those he decided to pledge himself to. Of course, there had only been two of said pledges made. He was once sworn to the service of Jeanne d'Arc, but had since been the dedicated servant of Charlemagne. Frankly, he preferred the current situation, even whilst remaining loyal to Jeanne d'Arc in any given scenario. The one situation that would result in Astolfo being lost for answers, would be one that saw those two pitted against one another. Surely that sort of thing could never happen, though. . .

Meanwhile, Anais and Ailen were making some actual headway toward rejoining the others. Along their miniature journey, there was a bit of commiseration shared between former procrastinating students. "Our stories are very similar. Nothing is wrong with taking time to explore your own hobbies and urges. Though... you may receive some strange looks if you're caught foraging for rare plants as if they're something you've become addicted to. Perhaps that one wasn't the best decision on my part," Ailen mused as they exited the room. Ah, but there was one more thing to be addressed: the additional pair of new undergarments sported by the girl. Apparently, she had quite the unexpected wardrobe due to that friend of hers. "Perhaps she's clairvoyant enough to have seen your development? They seem to be one big statement after the next. I'm also fond of those," he said while donning his own garments with marked accuracy and swiftness. Soon enough, they'd be seeing the others all standing in wait for Anais's arrival. Charlemagne finally sensed the lass, but it was as if she'd suddenly appeared out of thin air. "Eh? Did Annie learn how to teleport or something?"

[Apollymi]

Strange, that little hypothetical issue that Astolfo thought of was one which technically existed. Of course, it was not anyone's general knowledge of what would happen when Jeanne encountered someone who felt like Anu, but most didn't know how wronged she'd felt nor about her change in disposition. Moving right along, Anais and Ailen were actually making progress and the lass would appear mostly dressed outside that bedroom, sans her hood to avoid undue scrutiny from someone she was trying not to think of directly. Yes, and she'd easily find herself moving towards answeirng Charles's summons though not without a few more words shared between herself and her mentor. His past was apparently one full of strangeness which made the girl chuckle just a tad. "I think I can avoid it if I need to," she said with a giggle. "Besides, the looks can't be any worse than the worried ones from friends or family who may be worried if you only come up for food every few days," she said knowing her habits were likely just as strange in their own contexts. In the meantime, it seemed her newest choices in undergarments were appreciated by Ailen as well, which was rather comforting. She looked and found the man dressing with extreme speed and accuracy and that was interesting too. "If she's clairvoyant she needs to focus on more important things... but it's okay. In exchange for this sort of thing I guess I can help her out a bit too~" she mused. Such was the nature of their friendship.

As for Charles's question, Sakura technically had an answer, "She was both inside this building and outside of it, some of the rooms here are... odd," she offered. "Though she could have learned to teleport I suppose, it isn't necessarily completely outside the realm of possibility." Sakura mentioned. Easily enough Anais's movements would take her towards the throne room where she would see, Charles, Sakura and Astolfo. Her eyes widened as she took in this sight and she seemed almost aghast. Her face would redden intensely as she looked upon this group. "Waah, how am I the one that's late?!" she interjected as if completely surprised by this outcome. Still she looked rather happy and immediately radiant. From what Sakura could tell, she'd definitely been taking her studies seriously at least, and maybe more than that considering the closeness between her father and the lass. Good. And as Anais entered this room and came into the senses of most people she also caught the attention of someone else. A girl with black hair who'd been exploring since a while ago began walking towards the throne room again, if only to investigate what she was feeling.

[Bloodedge]

Finally, all three peers were in the same room again. There was still the surprise of Anais's lateness compared to the others. Charlemagne fully expected her, in any normal circumstance, to be among the first of twelve on the scene. There was also the matter of her instantaneous appearance within the building, which Sakura claimed was unlikely teleportation. That was understandable. If there were rooms in the tenshukaku that counted as subspaces, he doubted his senses would ever reach them. Even so, teleportation wasn't completely discredited due to how possible it actually was. "Damn. I should learn teleportation. It sucks having to use gates all the time," he said, knowing true space-related magecraft to be regarded as an impossibility by most people.

Moving on, Anais's appearance was shocking to more than just Charlemagne. Her personal first order of business was to wonder aloud how she was late. Charlemagne would have responded, but the ever-hyperactive Astolfo beat him to it. "I had a horse!" he said. To that, Charlemagne sighed. "Why say it aloud? I've been trying to ignore the horse in the room. I know it's not yours. I doubt there was a conversation about a horse before you wound up with one. Just... don't talk about having a horse, alright?" the more responsible male pleaded, even rubbing the bridge of his nose over Astolfo's... 'Astolfoisms'. "Anyway... no worries, Annie. We haven't been here too long, and you're doing student stuff. Just to be clear, though ─ can you teleport? You having that might change the entire thing I'm about to tell you guys, so I really need to know if that appearance was teleportation or weird subspace-isms."

[Apollymi]

According to Charles he should learn teleportation, he claimed that using gates sucked. Sakura never really thought about it, but the ability to teleport usually required some sort of medium or a finite understanding of a specific kind of movement. This was especially true if vast distances would be crossed. Still, it wasn't completely out of the question when one considered that the base of his current existence included the ability to rewrite the way the rules of the world worked around him. She didn't know however if this was an appropriate thing to remind him of, perhaps she'd mention it later if he was truly concerned with his own movement ability.

Meanwhile, Anais would have continued to feel out of place for being late, because of the associated memories to go along with knowing why she was late, but Astolfo pretty effectively helped to distract her. He had a horse and that was why she was late. Those things weren't related at all, but, there was a horse here and it was very Astolfo to commandeer a mount if he thought he needed it, even if his reasoning lacked sense. It broke what little tension Anais had, "I wasn't going to say anything about it," she murmured about the horse also choosing to ignore it for the most part. She was also told not to worry and her tardiness was blamed on 'school stuff' which was true enough for the lass to only seem a bit abashed, choosing not to make any unnecessary eye contact, only to be asked about her ability to teleport. It would apparently change things if she could... 'I mean you could learn such a thing, it might be a bit specific eventually but you definitely could~' her internal voice encouraged. Her eyes widened. "Iia, it was definitely subspace related. I haven't added anything like teleportation to my skills, and I did a minor edit yesterday, if I can learn something like that... I'm definitely not ready to," she said with her hands up seeming somewhat skittish about the random ideas that floated through her head and related to the idea of teleporting. She was sure the last thing she needed was the ability to decide to come and go as she pleased. Sakura for the duration watched all of this with wonder, mostly she was curious about Charles's plan so she quietly waited but not without waving at Anais as well, which caused the elafia to return the gesture.

[Bloodedge]

Astolfo couldn't talk about the horse. What the hell was he supposed to talk about, then? It was a great horse responsible for his timely arrival! Oh well; he'd been credited for the show of concern already. The only thing left to do now, was figure out what the call was for. Alas, first came Charlemagne's curiosity about Anais. Her having a teleportation skill would make things a thousand times easier, but she sadly had no such thing. Ailen had some words to share with the lass after her response, however. "If it suits you, teleportation should be something you're capable of after the next path," he informed. Mugen was an individual capable of high-tier teleportation, so she could easily pick up such a thing when learning from him. Actually, Ailen was starting to wonder if he was nearby. Something felt... quite similar, but not quite precise. Had he missed something?

Teleporting would not be an option for them at present, it seemed. No matter; Charlemagne did have a somewhat functional idea already. Of course, he still had to share it. "Alright, so... a lot happened. I went back into the Nexus, and I was able to speak with Jeanne. She's... very different now, but she's fine and knows we're on her side. I'm now registered as the king of the Holy Knights HQ, so we can home port there. The problem is, Jeanne disappeared from there recently, and none of the knights know what happened. We're gonna have to deal with an angry group, but..." Suddenly, Charlemagne paused. While he'd been speaking, there were several snorts and clops from the now resident horse. How was he supposed to keep ignoring that?

"... Why, though? Why a horse? Why would you bring it into the building?!" he blurted out. "It was a nice horse." Astolfo shrugged with an unrivaled sense of innocence about him, prompting Charlemagne to sigh and move on. "Anyway. If we get to HQ, we can recruit help and work on finding Aincrad from there. Are we caught-up so far?" he asked as Astolfo nodded away. "I have no idea what's happening, but I'm onboard! Let's go see the guys!"

[Apollymi]

Anais had properly answered the question concerning her ability to teleport. Her internal voice claimed she could learn it, and given who that one was most closely connected to, the elafia was quite sure she already understood how, but as if she needed an actual explanation Ailen came with an actualized answer. She nodded when she heard and it and had a quick quip to offer in reply. "Hai, I realized that. That is future Anais's problem, it's summer, Shishou~" she explained knowing that he would understand fully that she was procrastinating about that sort of thing. Okay so that was fine, but Anais still felt like she could feel something like Mugen. She was hoping she wasn't accidentally summoning again. Ah, but it also didn't feel like him either. She'd just not think about it, and that was fine, there was Charles, and Charles problems and as such there was compartmentalizing she could do. She didn't even realize that she'd slipped and tried to call herself by her original name in her state of fluster.

Several lines of important information came out of Charles's mouth. He claimed he'd seen Jeanne d'Arc that they'd talked and come to an agreement through the Nexus. That she was apparently different than she had been before, but that it was fine. He was apparently now the leader of the Holy Knights so they could port there, but apparently the people there might still be a bit hostile. "Whoa, that is a lot to unpack," she mentioned. Of course, her brain could easily slot important information so it wasn't as terrifying as it could be. All of that was said immediately following the break for addressing this horse based issue. Of course, Anais couldn't help but laugh it broke quite a bit of the tension. And of course, Astolfo was being Astolfo about the whole situation. "Is that a skill? I wonder if it's a skill," Sakura found herself murmuring about the randomness of the pink haired lad.

At the same time Anais could only nod her head. "Yes, I understand the thing you said. I don't mean to be the one to nitpick or anything but I feel obligated to since everyone else is there, but are you just glazing over having become King of the Holy Knight's HQ? That detail requires a bit more weight than you're giving it..." Anais stated seeming to find his glancing over the whole thing extra strange, especially when she considered how much he didn't even want to be in charge of their adventurer group. At the same time, while Anais was talking that same dark haired girl made her way into the throne room. She gave a quick glance around but her eyes immediately returned to Anais. Yes, this was the girl, who felt most familiar. So she rather quietly approached her, seeming to want to look at her more directly, from behind. She knew that butt.

[Bloodedge]

The idea of Mugen being the one to teach teleportation was considered a problem for the 'future' Anais. Indeed, Ailen understood her meaning fully. He clearly couldn't judge her for procrastinating after what they'd just been through mere moments before. "Ah. Well, that is perfectly understandable. So long as you don't wind up looking for aged Everfrost Berries that wilted during the summer. That never ends well," he offered as simple warning. Some things could end badly with too much procrastination beforehand, though... whether that was the case or not presently, was partially up to Anais herself.

Moving on from the matter of Astolfo's stolen horse, Charlemagne wondered only if everyone followed along properly. Both parties understood, yet Anais had additional curiosities regarding his newfound kingship. Of course she did. Charlemagne took a deep breath, thinking it best to explain everything in one speech. "I am just glazing over that, because the whole situation is still ridiculous. Long story short: the Nexus is God, Jeanne and I were supposed to be a thing in the original sacred timeline of the world, neither of us wanted to hop back on that path, so Nexus-God decided it was best for me to impregnate Jeanne by holding hands and drinking out of the same cup. Also, we're sort of soul-siblings now. That's the gist of it," he explained. "If that makes sense, good. If not, it doesn't matter; moving on. Any other questions?"

[Apollymi]

A light warning was issued to Anais about the potential danger of procrastinating too long. She did have a great understanding of the danger and didn't intend to put it off too long, but she wasn't in the mental place to go about seeking forbidden knowledge. Mugen would have to be patient and enjoy someone not her for a while, but until then she would simply process the rest of that story and know something interesting. "Shishou we are going to have to talk about your youth a bit more, it sounds like some very interesting things happened," she mused lightly. "I won't put it off too long... I'm not really allowed to regardless," she murmured. 'Damn right, Hot-sensei is already on the list! But, I know how it is... you can eat your meals in the order that satisfies you most~' Sinais mused which made Anais sigh. At least her inner voice was being considerate. Or was that the wrong way to think about it, because she enjoyed bullying Ailen? 'YES!~'

And then a rather strange explanation came. Charles was apparently the soul-bound sibling of Jeanne d'Arc who impregnanted her through physical contact of the non-sexual sort. The Nexus was apparently God with the capital 'G' so that was newish information directly but the rest of it definitely made sense in the context of the rest of the information floating around in her head after literal hours of fornicating information into herself. "Actually, all of that makes sense. Well, I didn't know the Nexus is 'God' but the rest of that works mechanically," she offered. Ah but there was one more opinion she thought to share, "I personally wouldn't try to explain to anyone of importance that you meme baby'd Jeanne d'Arc. I don't think enough people fully understand how mana works for that to go over in minds," she commented seeming to have enough presence of mind not to bring up the other sensation which was obviously part of Sakura though she didn't stop her eyes from traveling that direction. "And congratulations," she offered happily enough. Anais was human enough to try not to directly question the other pregnant girl in the room, even so she wondered if Charles fully understood the potential consequences of all of his actions.

It would be here and now after hearing the girl speak for several moments that the black haired girl behind her seemed to encroach upon her personal space, and she'd do so while asking a very seemingly random question. "Well, what kind of God is the Nexus?" was the first words out of the mouth of that black haired girl. But the tone and cadence of that voice was a bit too familiar to Anais she relaxed a bit and then stiffened seeming to stumbled over herself and fall as she turned around from her weak ankles. "Waah!" she looked up at the offender and the offender looked down at her a large smile spreading across her face.

[Bloodedge]

Ailen was interestingly open to discussing the unorthodox parts of his past. He and Anais were more similar as students than she may have understood. He'd once been so much like the lass was now, one might have believed them related if not for obvious signs otherwise. "There are quite a few stories you may find entertaining," he said, wholly willing to explore the distant past if she wished to hear of it. As for her current bout of procrastination, Anais apparently wasn't allowed to wait too long. Honestly, that wasn't much of a surprise. "I wish you luck," Ailen said with a chuckle.

For all the information given, there was a very small amount of surprise. It seemed this empire had taken its toll on Anais as well, though she at least found information regarding the Nexus to be new. As for the life growing within Jeanne d'Arc, he agreed that it wasn't information so easily shared. "Right. I'm trying not to even think about that part too much, so hopefully it doesn't fall out of my face at a bad time," he stated.

Now, there was yet another individual asking a question. What kind of god was the Nexus? Better yet, who was this person asking the question? Obviously, the more demonic of Sakura's fathers had an apprentice they'd yet to see. People were just falling out of the woodwork here. Ah, but what was this? Now that she was so close, Charlemagne realized something very strange. He knew that girl wasn't born of this world. Without even viewing her status, she had a certain aura that seemed it didn't belong here, previously unnoticed as a different quality between his comrades and the locals here. Actually, the black-haired girl had two otherworldly auras, but the second was something he could hardly fathom. It felt like that black room, but also like... something completely unknown. Whatever the case, he could assume she was a resident of Gaia originally. With that being the case, his answer to her question was simple to give. "Albertus Animusphere is the Nexus."

[Apollymi]

A few stories she might find interesting? Anais was already fully interested in hearing about her mentor's youth where he procrastinated to the point of cataclysm. It would at the very least make her feel better about her own issues in the world. Actually, it was a trait of the chronic overachievers to suffer a bit of committal failure when it came to starting activities, she couldn't even fault herself or anyone else who found themselves in such a situation. She wasn't the person with the personality to do what was needed in strict order. "Hai, I'll look forward to it~" she mused. As for the luck she was wished with her future learning sessions from the more demonic of Sakura's fathers she managed only a quiet and sheepish nod. She truly wasn't ready yet. 'Don't be a coward, Hot-sensei will be great, you're looking forward to it too~' her internal voice goaded her. The truth of her internal voice wasn't going to be argued against, she still just wasn't mentally ready to abandon her current summer fun.

Moving on, her advice when given to Charles would apparently be heeded but he claimed to be trying not to think about it too much and hoped it wouldn't fall out of his face. Anais had a bit more to share on that, "Invasive thoughts have a way of making themselves known... don't leave it to decide the moment," that was the advice she could give as a person dealing with her own invasive thoughts recently. 'Oh? Learning our lessons well are we, and even sharing them with the group. So responsible~' Sinais teased. Moving on from that part there was her trip and fall and her looking up into a face most familiar from a position also rather familiar. Both of the girls recognized each other and the one who'd posed her question had it answered rather adeptly. "Animusphere-san? Oh? So whimisical kind of God, okay," she murmured seeming to find that answer suitable enough. "Also a bit of a relief, he's a nice eccentric guy, really open to change though. Totally acceptable as a god type," Anais murmured. She'd had at least one meeting with the man on the otherside, considering a few of her instrumental tracks made it into a few of AoE's works. No matter. That wasn't something she'd discuss right now.

"Gakyuuiincho, I knew I recognized that cupcake. But you're really different now. Why are you a deer and really tall? It was difficult to figure out it was you~" teased the black haired lass. "Oi oi, I know I told you it isn't necessary to call me that. And why are you always like this? I should have known it would be you! And it's rude to point out someone's species," she said looking up a hand was extended out to her and she took it the pair of them pulling her into the standing position once more.

[Bloodedge]

Apparently, Anais had some insight about invasive thoughts. Charlemagne wouldn't bother questioning why she had something like that to say; it was her business. "Noted," was all he said, internalizing that particular thought. Moving on, it was shared that Albertus Animusphere, whom they knew from Gaia, was the Nexus incarnate. It seemed generally accepted that he was a suitable fit for the position of God, so there was little more to be said about that.

There was, however, an exchange of familiarity between Anais and this new arrival. They talked amongst themselves for a moment while Astolfo wandered around casually, inspecting the girl who so recently appeared. Specifically, he was taking in her more... physical assets from top to bottom, seeming appreciative of more than just what he saw. In typical Astolfo fashion, he sensed a premium scandal on the horizon. As Astolfo snickered to himself, Charlemagne cleared his throat. "So, I'm thinking we should make an unarmed approach. It's a little dangerous when considering the reception we're likely to get, but it also makes a statement. We should start with an offering as a show of good faith, even though they're likely to assume it's a Trojan Horse," he spoke. Alas, he would not quite abandon the fact that someone new was now present. "Friend of yours, Annie?"

[Apollymi]

One of Charles's more enjoyable qualities as a person, in the minds of people like Anais was his ability to take information without asking unnecessary questions. She shared her insight and while she had every reason to have a real explanation for why she understood it, he didn't ask. And that was the cornerstone of that sort of friendship, it wasn't one that truly required explanations for everything. Sakura also noted this and wondered if it was apart of friendship, perhaps she'd ask later?

Moving on, Charles had a bit of a plan for approaching a place which would be full of people who may or may not think them the enemy. What he wanted to do was make a peace offering and go in unarmed which was understandable given the circumstances. "That sounds reasonable enough, and you've thought through the obvious reaction so it should be fine," Anais mentioned in a haphazard way. Of course, her attention was divided but she was rather good at balancing that sort of thing. When asked about the black haired girl who'd shown up, it would be easy enough to explain her. Though not without the girl in question seeming to take note of the extra eyes on her and recognizing the lad giving her such eyes. "Oh? Why is Saika-nii more unhinged than normal? And why is there a horse?" she asked seeming to not understand the presence of Astolfo at all but calling him by his actual given name.

"Why do you know him? Moving on... This is Shinomiya Kaguya. She's my senpai and Vice-President of our school student council. We work pretty closely together and have been friends since middle school," Anais explained the situation in a general sort of way. "Hai hai, call me Asakura Yume, apparently but that sums it up. And Saika-nii is Chi-chan's brother... why don't you know him?" she asked of Anais who looked at Astolfo and could now very clearly see the resemblance. "Well... you know... I'm usually busy when he visits I hadn't encountered him or anything," she quickly explained as she was now standing and looking sheepish. "Oh you took your mom's last name, nice." she offered the other girl and they casually did a side arm bump handshake which seemed to be second nature.

[Bloodedge]

"There's still a chance of things going wrong. I haven't figured out what the best offering would be. I did consider offering the grail, but that seems like a bad idea," he said, unsure if there were some magical complications to doing such a thing. For more insight on that, he looked to Sakura. "What do you think? Is there some weird reason I can't hand over the grail temporarily?" he asked. If anyone among them would have an idea, it would surely be Sakura. Besides, Charlemagne thought that even if he lost his grail, he had no real need for it. It never felt like it properly belonged to him anyway.

Astolfo was called a name he hadn't heard in a very, very long time. This one knew him, did she? Interesting. For them to be on a first-name basis as well, she had to belong to a very specific group. "Hmm...?" he mumbled. "Shinomiya?" Surely it had to be that one addressing him in such a way. Her personality didn't quite match the others well enough, but... the ongoing interaction implied that Anais was one of them as well. Which one? Apparently, she didn't know him. There were only two she could be in that case, so he had a 50/50 guess.

Anais and the girl apparently now called Asakura Yume, were reportedly friends in middle school. Astolfo still had no idea which member of that friend group she could be, so he began poking Yume's backside... just to get her attention, of course. "Oooiii! Which one's she? It's not fair for me to be working with one of my sister's friends for decades without knowing who she is!" the lad said, only then addressing the horse no one else wished to talk about. "Nice horse, isn't it?!"