Holy Templar Sanctum (Aincrad)

[Apollymi]

In all of this conversation Angelica seemed to take a few things from the conversation with her mother. The first of which was more understanding of what she was, a born goddess not just 'Holy Princess' or some sort of partial Celestial as she had been led to believe. There was the talk of plural goddesses including her own mother who was the goddess of Justice and someone called the Mother who birthed 'The Seven' which made it sound like there was some sort of strangeness surrounding the singular god religion she was taking part in. What else was it? Well there was a confirmation and apology from her mother about her current life situation, it wasn't what she wanted for her. The idea that her mother had been trapped somewhere wasn't something she knew or understood. There seemed to be a lot of things missing from Angelica's education. Just the same Astraea seemed to trust that the lass would become a proper embodiment of Justice claiming that it was supposed to be blind and not involve 'Wrath' as she put it. This was a lot to take in but there was comfort and warmth from her mother in a moment like this and Angelica given what her life was like found herself easily accepting her mother's words and the warmth provided by contact with her.

"I still don't understand, how am I supposed to grow Justice and how will I know if I am right?" she asked this brought a gentle pat from the woman against her back as she gave the only kind of advice she could in a moment like this. It was both advice of a practical physical nature and that of a metaphysical or magical nature. "Practice, the growth of Justice will be influenced by what you put into it, what you do with it. And none can truly know if they are right they just have to trust in their ideals and standards... As long as you do not go against the feelings provided by your deepest root, you will only do what is right," she said to the girl. This she knew as she'd grown and created her from nothing and she'd grown into this beautiful thing she was. "But what about you? If I take this on what happens to you?" the girl asked of her mother. This was the first time they'd spoken in a thousand years, she didn't want to fully accept her new role if it would mean the end for her mother. They'd only just met. "You have no need to worry for me little one. I will not die for handing this over, and by giving it to you our connection will be strengthened. You will need only reach the same sort of meditative state to continue speaking with me while not so obviously engaged in your mana transfer," she mentioned causing a blush to appear on the face of Angelica.

"There is no reason for shame here nor anywhere else. The acts you are engaged in answer the Call of Creation, it is simply the nature of Creators when together to find someone to create with, you seem to have found someone who does exactly that..." she stated. Ah, the elders of this world were all just a bit strange weren't they, but at least Angelica was right to assume they weren't doing anything considered wrong. Strangely, as those powers she gained from her mother settled within her person, Astraea began to shift her form quite a bit. She became paler the deep color of her blue hair shifting as well to a lighter color. Her more elaborate clothing was shifted into much simpler Greek style dress with a large blue jewel at her right hip as she handed over the majority of herself to her daughter and took from her a bit of something more normal. "Now, while you grow Justice into what is needed, I will participate in what I believe the mortals call 'retirement'. I will always be here to counsel you, but the scales are yours now, determine their balance as you see fit, but do not turn a blind eye to slights past nor present," said the woman who pressed her lips against Angelica's forehead and stepped away from the girl taking a good look at her. She saw in her lots of what was meant for the one she was originally creating but also much of herself. Least of all she saw the influence of the last but that was not important to the current time. The girl would find her way in this world and eventually they would come together for a more familial talk. Ah she could tell her more later, she guessed there would be some time in the near future. Still there was a nagging thought, what had the man who'd taken Luviagelita been thinking? Why was she so uninformed and what was being planned here? Well from the perspective of Astraea that was for the girl and her new creative partner to find out. Done were the old gods meddling in the world humanity built.

[Bloodedge]

The gate ahead was something Charlemagne had to pass through. A large figure was constantly in his way, and a smaller figure would only move farther away as he tried approaching it. What was the issue here? He moved around to test out different approaches, and noticed something very curious. If he drew closer to the gate and Angelica, that mysterious figure approached. It seemed to only be as far from him as he was to Angelica. At the same time, the farther he was from the gate, the farther Angelica seemed to be. Was his goal the gate itself? Clearly, if both Angelica and the mystery figure boasted distance relative to his location, standing in the gate would have them on either side of him. With that being the best assumption to roll with, there was only one obstacle. . .

That large figure had to be removed from his path. The only surefire way Charlemagne knew would deal with such a hefty obstacle was to defeat it directly, so... out came his sword. He cracked his neck a few times, rotated his shoulders and stretched his back. Based on the size and feeling of that thing, it was going to be a doozy. "Yosh! Time to let loose I guess! C'mon big guy!" he taunted.

[Apollymi]

While Charles decided to fight what appeared to him within this vision, Angelica found herself accepting the new aspects of herself. Her mother had said many things but she'd not been trying to influence the girl's thoughts. Angelica took this to mean she was supposed to figure out some things on her own and now she had the tools to do that. Her mother also claimed that retirement was what she was after and her form changed fully indicating she was now someone else. She wondered if she'd find her mother elsewhere being worshipped for something else. She wondered if it was actually possible for this Goddess of Justice thing to work out. Even so, she felt the power transferred into her person and made peace with it. "Okay, I guess if I can still talk to you it won't be so bad. And Chuck was talking about getting me out of here so maybe I'll see you around..." she said happily.

"Maybe indeed. Do not worry, little one. You have everything you need and you are clarity beyond this world's understanding of the word," she said giving the girl a nice pat on the head as their bodies began to properly separate. "I will see you later, Angelica..." she stated and as she did, consciousness began to return to Angelica in the moment. She found herself in a tent, still on top of Charles a tear falling from her eye.

[Bloodedge]

One answer was all Charlemagne needed to succeed. If he could take down the oppressive silhouette, he could enter the gate ahead. He'd slain greater foes than this thing, so he expected no issues. How wrong he was. The moment Charlemagne charged forward, he was subjected to a pressure the likes of no other. The silhouette had only raised a hand for Charlemagne to fall into some unknown abyss. Moments later, he was surrounded by darkness. Then, moments after that...

Charlemagne woke abruptly, his consciousness once again within his own body. The details of that journey was a blur to some extent, but now he was fully aware of himself. He could feel the placement of his phallus as Angelica remained atop his body. What had they done exactly? Well, he knew whatever had been done had reached conclusion... at least for him. "Eh? I thought I was somewhere else..." Charlemagne mumbled, strangely coming to realize his breath was slightly labored.

[Apollymi]

When Angelica awoke she was still straddling Charles, his manhood pressed against her rear. Even so, she felt really good. Her whole body felt energized and she seemed to be rather calm in spite of everything that happened. She spent a few moments looking down at Charles and he remained out of it for a bit longer than she did, but eventually he jolted awake and she smiled down at him. "Charlie! You're awake!~" she chimed seemingly happier than she should have been about the whole situation. Everything was fine and now she had things to figure out and so much to do.

His words implied that he thought he'd been somewhere else, which made Angelica look at him curiously from her perch. "Are you okay? I think I was somewhere else for a little bit. I saw my mom!" she said with all the happiness that came with that statement. Oh, right she should probably get off him, she had at least the grace to look abashed. "Oops, I'm sorry you're probably really out of it. I should move..." she murmured preparing to extricate herself from his lap and give him the space he needed to properly come back to himself.

[Bloodedge]

Ah, so he had been out of it for a bit. Given Angelica's first words when he regained consciousness, Charlemagne figured that strange dream was a real occurrence. She claimed to have been somewhere else as well, and further claimed to have seen her mother. Oh? Now that he thought about it, he'd seen something similar. "Tan, dark blue hair, weirdly inviting?" he questioned, recalling a few key features of the woman Angelica addressed as 'mom' in that odd space.

Either way, Charlemagne was sure that was all real. He'd seen Angelica, he'd seen her mother, and he'd seen... who were the other two? Astraea had no connection to him, but had one to Angelica... whom he'd technically been connected to at the time. Maybe he couldn't see the other two because they were connected to her as well? That didn't make much sense. "Who were the other two─" Charlemagne wondered aloud while propping himself up on both elbows. As Angelica hadn't moved yet, he didn't rise very much at all. In the effort to do so, Charlemagne felt that strange rubbing around his manhood again. That alone was enough to stop the lad in his tracks. "... Oh. That explains what was happening before. Wasn't expecting that─"

[Apollymi]

Charles upon hearing what Angelica had to say gave a strangely accurate description of her mother. She'd been under the impression that the space in which she met her mother was some sort of familial link or subspace they shared by virtue of their connection to each other. It was interesting that Charles had seen the same woman she had and had seen enough of her to fully appreciate the oddity of her being. "Hm, I didn't know you could see her. Well... she acknowledged your existence but I figured that was just because of how I ended up there..." she mused seeming to feel a bit shy about it.

Speaking of feeling shy about something, there was more words coming from Charles but they didn't all come out given she was extricating herself from his lap at the time and thus moving the lad out of the folds of her cheeks. Ah, that was likely a little embarrassing somewhere but, her mother had told her she had no reason to feel shame. She'd take that lesson to heart and easily separate them, easing herself back and eventually fully separating them and offering Charles a hand up. "I only saw my mom. If that space works like I think it does, you'll only see people you're spiritually connected to parents, spouses, children... that sort of thing. Though I can't be sure because well, I've only ever been in there that once," she stated clearly. Still... that gentle glow on her body was rather obvious even to her inside of the less than well-lit tent.

[Bloodedge]

"Well yeah, I could see a lot. She was talking to you, you were behind a gate, some big guy was getting in my way, and... there was some girl," he explained as best he could. The large male figure was problematic, but he was made most curious by the female figure. "I couldn't see more than a shadow of those two. That girl felt important, though. She kept moving away when I got closer, and getting closer when I moved toward you. As much as I tried to pass through the gate. I wondered why you didn't even look my way," he continued. That entire ordeal was stranger than anything else he'd ever done.

Soon enough, Angelica shifted a sufficient amount to grant Charlemagne some moving room. He didn't seem very bothered by the position they were in. Indeed, everything else he'd seen recently took precedence. "So since you didn't see them, there's no telling if they were connected to you or not. I mean, I'm not connected to your mother at all; that had to be a you thing. Well... unless it was her I saw. Who'd that big one be then?" Charlemagne was rambling again, wracking his brain for some semblance of an idea. The mysteries were unending without something to latch onto by way of evidence. Perhaps he was best ignoring the whole thing until something else came up? "Anyway, it's good you got to see your mom finally. I barely heard a thing she said, but she sounded nice."

[Apollymi]

Charles relayed an interesting amount of information. He claimed that he'd seen a lot, Angelica and her mother, a guy blocking him from crossing some gate which kept him away from both of them. And another girl who moved closer to him the closer he was to Angelica but farther away the closer he went towards her specifically. It was truly a strange thing to hear but terribly interesting long term. He thought the girl might have been important, and he'd wondered why she hadn't even looked his way. "Ah, yeah... perhaps a space like that has some oddities. Or maybe there is something special about how you saw it which made us see different things? I knew what was calling to me, maybe lack of understanding was to blame for not being able to make it further?" she offered. Angelica was many things but she was no profit. All she had to go on was supposition based solely upon her own experiences and understanding.

Their combined supposition had them come to the conclusion that Angelica seeing her mother was why Charles could also see her. That was pretty firm as thought but it was also possible he could see her for other reasons. "Well my mother was the Goddess of Justice so it is possible you had some other connection to her whether you were aware of it or not," she said humans liked ideals so it was likely her mother was worshipped even indirectly for quite a while. "As for the big one, it could have been a lot of things, some god, a familial connection you don't know about, a physical manifestation of a piece of your psyche... there are many options," she mused having separated from him she was a bit discontent. She wanted to be closer again, but that seemed a bit pushier than she wanted to be after behaving so brashly in the first place. As for the rest of his statement she gave it consideration. It was good that she got to see her mom but that came with many other questions and not many answers.

"Yes, I saw my mom and she told me she's retiring and that she was handing over her Authorities to me making me the new goddess of justice... I feel like what you saw is way more interesting than me trying to decipher what my mom was saying. Though she was nice and way more forthcoming than I even expected," she said smiling about the situation. She could have rolled a bad mother and was happy she wasn't. Still it was strange it seemed her mother didn't know what was happening with her but was still willing to trust her with divine power.

[Bloodedge]

The issues Charlemagne had could have been more easily sorted if he and Angelica had seen the same thing. Sadly, there was no such luck. She'd met with her mother, and he'd been a bystander to the event while dealing with two unknowns... and some random heavenly gate. Lack of understanding was a massive understatement in his case; this was the most confusing thing ever! Moreover, it was apparently possible that he did have some connection with Angelica's mother. Why? She was the Goddess of Justice. "Ah. I guess that could make sense. . ."

. . .

No it didn't! That was the most random and shocking information to ever pass Angelica's lips! Without hesitation, Charlemagne sat up in outrage. "The what of WHAT?! Uh, excuse you, Luvia! Did we forget there's a limit on how much random 'what the hell' stuff we can tell a single person in a day?! What's this about random gods and becoming random gods in a weird spacey place?!" Impossible. Sometimes, Angelica was absolutely impossible. The most ridiculous things were said in the most casual tone, as if others were expected to match her level of weirdness. This wasn't news that could be accepted at face-value and brushed under the rug; it was literally world-changing information that could never be broached as a normal discussion.

[Apollymi]

Charles thought the things Angelica said could make sense. Of course her words made sense she was a fairly logical individual. Even while they sat in a tent and discussed their strange celestial conversation space, she was content to believe in the things she'd been told. Ah, the singular head nod she gave wouldn't be enough, because in the same moment, Charles completely lost it. Apparently something she'd said was completely out of line.

How far out of line? Far enough that she'd been referred to as 'Luvia'. No one called her Luvia anymore. She almost demanded everyone call her Angelica she wanted her given name completely forgotten by any means necessary, even in pet form. "Who?" she asked with the exact same inflection Charles had when she'd given him the same treatment earlier. The outburst of Charles was met in kind by Angelica in a moment like this, she seemed to think it strange that Charles seemed to be so stunned by the information. Was it really so outlandish? Well it wasn't like she would have said it without cause, "Well excuse me, Charles, I thought we had an entire conversation about the evolutions of beings just a few hours ago. How was I supposed to know that my mother being the Goddess of Justice, retiring and deciding to hand me that the things she had control over was going to be life changing information?!" she exclaimed. She gave it a few seconds of thought and sighed shaking her head with the moments consideration. "Actually, saying it out loud like that, if I heard something like that from someone else I'd have thousands of questions. Actually did, I talked Jeanne's ear off about the whole Holy Grail thing..." she said her own hands up in the air. "But mom wasn't lying, she said her name was Astraea and I can now feel those Authorities she gave me I have a skill now called Protection of the Scales and that came directly from her... she also said my education was lacking though," she said confirming that information within herself. She'd seen Charles sit up and now they were once again sitting across from each other looking dazed. "But I don't get it, what else is crazy about this?" she asked seeming to truly be lost. It was after all not like she'd call her mother a liar or anything but the information that her mother existed wasn't life changing to her at all.

[Bloodedge]

No shortage of ridiculousness was allowed today. In a single sentence, Angelica had given reason to question what was widely regarded as the one true religion, the one path to righteousness and the one history of this world. How was there another god? By Father An's teachings which allegedly came from a singular divine entity, the time known as the 'Age of Gods' had long since come to an end. There was supposedly only one who could influence the world, and that was due to all others treading the wrong path and/or losing status as divinities. How was there an Authority to pass on at all? Things didn't make sense. Why was this information able to fly under the 'one true' God's radar?

Though Angelica snapped back with the same intensity and birthname use as Charlemagne himself, even she came to realize the shock value of her own declaration. Her mother wasn't lying; of this he was sure without Angelica even claiming as much. There were few other logical reasons for that supernatural occurrence. As for what was crazy about this, well... where should he even start? "Well firstly, we're told that at the end of the Age of Gods, the whole pantheon crumbled. One god remained, took on the name God, and is the sole overseer of this world. All others claiming godhood are false, but... I saw your mother. There was nothing evil about her, I'm sure," he stated. Charlemagne was deep in thought, considering all the potentials and ramifications of Aincrad's actions. In the end, it all looped back to one thing. "What if we're mistaken? What if God is mistaken about being the only one left? It would mean... It would mean a lot of things might have been punished for the wrong reasons! What about Jeanne d'Arc? We know how she was. If we can look into this, we can prove that whole situation was a misunderstanding. There's no undoing what happened, but it could clear her name at least!"

[Apollymi]

The problem of this world as far as those of Aincrad would understand it, was that a long time ago the Age of the Gods came to an end and only one remained. Of course, the existence of Angelica's mother made that untrue and beyond that Angelica herself also made that untrue. Ah, but that wasn't all... according to Angelica's mother, there was a mother of the gods who'd managed to free them all somewhat recently, but she hadn't stated what 'freedom' was when it was achieved by Divine beings, nor had she explained how they were locked up in the first place. Charles' first words made her face shift a bit. Is that what the Templars were being told? She didn't talk to her father that much and his teachings to her were more suited to her than that. "Hm, I think there are a lot of things being confused. According to mom... 'The Mother' of the gods, not her, freed them the way my mom freed me. That implies that if I had stayed with my mom I would have been locked up wherever she was before she reached out to me... it also implies the existence of several other divinities," this was what Angelica had to say about the first part of that.

About the second though, it seemed that there indeed may have been some sort of misunderstanding. Actually, if there was more than one Divinity remaining then it was likely something really bad. Charles brought up Jeanne d'Arc and Angelica could only look more excited than ever. "Mom did tell me not to turn a blind eye to any slights against Justice past or present," she said giving it a bit of thought. "I always thought it was weird she was declared a heretic. There was never anything about her that implied she was anything but good," she said of Jeanne. Even now she took that woman's advice to heart and missed having her around. "Looking into it would be best, she deserves to not be remembered negatively," she said happy about the prospect. Even so it seemed like a lot to undertake even step by step. How would they even begin going about looking into such a thing if everyone here already assumed the worst? "I want to do this, Jeanne deserves better. But how do we go about it? Jeanne is 1000 years out of the minds of most people," she said carefully. Such a situation as this required careful planning if Angelica was thinking about it right. They couldn't just be completely open about it, she doubted even Charles wouldn't have been skeptical of her, if he'd not been there to witness her interaction with her mother.

[Bloodedge]

Angelica spoke of some divine being called 'The Mother'. If he was remembering properly, Charlemagne could attribute that sort of title to one of the oldest religions in this world. "That sounds like Faith of the Seven. The Mother, The Father, The Smith and uh... the other four," he said, recalling little about that old belief. "That's one of the oldest belief systems ever. If it's a matter of being locked-up, and even that group is in there, there has to be way more to it than we understand."

Damned be thoughts of sin and impropriety, or anything else negatively applied to recent occurrences. Charlemagne stood and pulled up his trunks, behaving as if nothing had ever happened. More important than anything right now, was the list of realizations. If Angelica was to apparently inherit the aspect of Justice, surely she'd be first in line to clearing Jeanne d'Arc's name where possible. Lo and behold, her excitement was apparent once the plan was mentioned. "I thought it was weird too. I mean, I always figured it was a misunderstanding, but most people are willing to just follow the herd! We could right a huge wrong here!" he stated. How would they go about it though? "Hmm. We can't just bring this information to Father An with nothing but hearsay. I got it! If we can get some records together and compare them to old religions, maybe we could link Jeanne's 'demon' to one of the gods? Combining that with what we now know about your mom, we can debunk any assumption that we're talking about some demon!"

[Apollymi]

The Faith of the Seven was apparently an old religion, which worshipped seven entities with titles like 'The Mother' and 'The Father'... She supposed that made sense. If the world was initially run by divinities and they initially had separate aspects like the one her mother just passed to her, it was assumable that each had some large part to play in the initially crafting of the world, as they knew it. "You don't even remember all of it and I was never told of it, there is probably a whole lot that is misunderstood. My mother also apologized to me, she said it wasn't her intention to see me locked into any place," she kept spewing information from that conversation, giving it a true bit of thought. Her mother's intention as a person locked up was freedom for her, which meant that this circumstance she was in wasn't one her mother would have wanted for her. That was some what comforting but it also created a very tiny feeling of unease. There was something about the idea that her mother didn't want this for her, which implied that blame should be placed somewhere else.

Whatever, there were more important things directly. The clearing of the name of Jeanne d'Arc for starters. Charles went about putting on his shorts with no real issue. He seemed to be done with any potential shame or awkwardness in favor of going for the change in Jeanne d'Arc's status. According to Charles it would be bad to bring this before Father An without any evidence. That was probably true, it would be bad to come up with just words like, 'Yeah, I talked to my mom and gods still exist so obviously you've messed up!' that was a huge potential problem. "Yeah, everyone was willing to say she was a heretic afterwards, but she'd never done anything but be kind before. I always found it strange how quickly people were willing to ignore everything she'd done before," said Angelica. Though she knew death to be the sort of thing that wasn't necessarily permanent it was still quite rude for people to talk bad about someone just because of 'heresy'. This was becoming especially true if it turned out that 'heresy' technically couldn't exist as a thing. Instead if it was just an understanding to be cleared up and they had the evidence to back it up, then it wouldn't be so much of a big deal. But apparently Charles had an idea. He claimed that if they could get some old records together and link Jeanne's supposed 'demon' to whatever divine entity she was connected to that no one knew about then they could clear her name. "That is a pretty good idea. Aren't you about to move into where she used to live? Maybe you could find something there? If not then there is always the archives right? They are supposed to have a bunch of information about all of the activities of Aincrad," Angelica said. She'd been made aware of that sort of thing, but she couldn't just leave her floor so she'd never been to any of those places, even so it'd likely take only a short amount of time relatively speaking to look into everything.