Holy Templar Sanctum (Aincrad)

[Bloodedge]

One would expect a person who'd been trapped in a space themselves to want no such thing for their child. Interest in that matter was waning, however. There was a chance to salvage an age-old situation involving Jeanne d'Arc, and doing so would save many people in the future as well. How many people may have been wrongly sent to execution due to misinformation? Poor Janessa may have taken hundreds of innocent lives in her time. . .

By the time his shorts were properly situated, it seemed the two had reached an agreement. Both knew Jeanne d'Arc had not been the type to be swayed by evil. In fact, her title 'Queen of Saints' probably made her immune in some way. Charlemagne always believed there had to be some mistake, but he'd never acted on that belief. Now, there was something solid that could make up for lost action. "Humans are always quick to follow the group. If 99% believes one thing, nobody wants to be the 1% in the corner," he explained. Now then, how could they go about taking action? Angelica spoke of archives, which he happened to have an easy connection to. Floor 98 was his group's new home. As he had to go there anyway, he could simply bring Angelica along. "Everyone should be in the new place by now. Ivy's the one with archive access, so we could always ask her to pull up the details. Besides, didn't you want to meet more girls? Two birds, one stone!" he said, extending a hand to Angelica. Of things to be done here, they only had to snuff out a flame, collect Angelica's apparent pet fish, and do something about that... monstrosity. It could all be handled in a matter of moments, then they could move on.

[Apollymi]

Beyond the points made, according to Charles, humans didn't like standing out from the crowd. If most of a group thought one way, then the rest of the group followed suit. Angelica found this news to be a bit jarring if she was honest, mostly because it didn't make logical sense to her as a person. "So if the majority is wrong, then everyone is wrong and nothing gets fixed?" she asked in summation. That seemed like a good way for an entire species or civilization to end up wiped off the map. Perhaps there were other factors at play. Humans were pretty weak for the most part, perhaps they were more like animals who lived in groups, being socially accepted was safer than going it alone?

Regardless there were only a few minor things to do, as Charles extended a hand to Angelica she took it. More than happy to move on and perhaps do something meaningful with her thousand year existence. Ah, and Charles even had an idea for what to do about the information they needed. According to him one of his members had access to the archives and probably had access to the information they needed that was great. Said member was also a girl, doubly great. "Yes! That sounds exciting. The only girl I know besides Jeanne is Brada, which is fine but I'd like to meet someone else!" she said seemingly excited.

The end of their endeavor, Angelica was dressed in her usual attire once more with her packed bag over her shoulder, a small coin collection of the things called 'Septims' which seemed odd to her and she couldn't exactly figure out why. She'd hold that one away and keep going on about their adventure to clear the name of Jeanne d'Arc.

[Bloodedge]

Once more, Angelica had a very reasonable view on mankind. Herd mentality was humanity's undoing time and time again, and there was little to be done about it. Regardless, attempts would be made... but first Charlemagne would make a different sort of attempt. They both wanted to clear the name of Jeanne d'Arc, and Angelica wanted to interact with more women than just Bradamante. As such, they eventually dealt with matters at the campsite and recovered their normal state of dress.

With all else done, they were on their way to Floor 22's teleport gate, where they would be transported directly to the 98th floor. Much like Floor 100 and Floor 99, this location held one of the major structures of Aincrad. In a brightly-lit mountain range, tucked into the lower half of a smaller mountain, was the Diamond Palace. It was another very shiny building of great stature, which Charlemagne didn't mind nearly as much as Angelica's original abode... or the Ruby Palace. Décor aside, he expected the other members of his Party to be floating around somewhere. On the other hand... he wasn't a massive fan of the walls to his house being diamond. "You know, there was a whole urban legend about Floor 98. 'The walls are made of diamonds,' they said. I hoped it was a metaphor, but... I'm not really sure what I expected after seeing the two floors above this one. Not yours, of course! Well... not after you've fixed it up, at least. I'd rather move up there; this place is too bright for gemstones."

[Apollymi]

And to the 98th Floor they went, finding themselves at the former abode of one Jeanne d'Arc. Both of these individuals wanted to clear the name of that particular woman, making sure that for future generations she wasn't known as something so very dark as a heretic. Whatever the case, the came to floor 98 and Angelica took in the visuals of it and nearly gagged. It truly was one of those strange sights that she couldn't like. Walls made of diamond with a rainbow sheen in it. Charles even had something to say about that, claiming that there was a rumor that the walls up here were made of diamonds and he'd hoped it was untrue. "Yeah, this place is just as gaudy as the other floors. I am kind of scared to even go looking at like floor 97," she claimed though it was mostly in jest.

Like the other floors she considered that the space had good bones, but it definitely needed a face lift. "I had a similar conversation with Jeanne once, she didn't seem to mind the walls so much but she hated that the building looked like a church. I started working on being able to modify things because I wanted to help her feel more at home here. I am sure I could actually fix it up for you guys, if you want," she said carefully. She doubted Jeanne would want to live here again after what had happened, but she was a always a better person than she needed to be, so Angelica always wanted to extend similar kindness to the lass. And now she'd just easily change the look of it for Charles and his peers as a sign of good will and to keep them from having to live in a hideous place.

As for the members of Charlemange's group, several were floating around a bit, including Bradamante, "Our fearless leader finally returns! And... Angie! Hi!" she seemed pretty excited by the prospect. Mostly she'd already settled in and was just waiting for Charlemagne to return. Several others were floating around including Janessa who had on a large hood and managed to look a little gloomy out in the brightness of this area. Angelica looked up carrying a fish and waving with the other hand. Already there was an improvement. And Bradamante's loudness might have meant a few others stirred at the sound of her. Several others were quietly moving about having determined that the lands themselves weren't cursed or anything like that.

[Bloodedge]

Needless to say, the visuals of Floor 98 left much to be desired. Charlemagne wasn't a fan of the main building from outside, and though Angelica spoke in a joking tone, she seemed a hair's breadth away from disgust. He couldn't tell for certain if she was, but he couldn't judge any great distaste in a diamond building. Apparently, Jeanne d'Arc herself wasn't fond of the venue either. Such was how Angelica began dabbling in magical design and restructuring, however she managed to do that. Well... apparently she managed by being born a demigod, as Charlemagne understood things. "Right, demigod stuff. That all makes sense now. I just thought your Skill choices were really eclectic," he mused.

Moments after the realization of a lifetime, Bradamante became the first member of the Party to greet them. What great fortune, that it was her instead of Renaud or... Roland. Speaking of Roland, he'd been the first to appear in Charlemagne's mind. "Please tell me Roland just happens to be on another floor. I'll have a heart attack if one more surprise hits me today," he said immediately, sparing Bradamante a wave as greeting. Prior to any answer Bradamante had, however, Archbishop Turpin joined the fray. He'd been nearby enough to approach upon hearing the blonde girl's shouting, and it just so happened that he had the necessary information. "If only you could be so lucky. As fortune would have it, he and Renaud have gone back to bashing each other's heads in. Make use of the time while you have it." With that said, Turpin bowed in a somewhat casual manner toward Angelica. "My Lady," he said. "Strange. You seem to resemble the princess, but... surely I'm mistaken. I'll just have to forget everything I'm 'not' seeing. The Father needn't know what my tired eyes misinterpret."

[Apollymi]

According to Charles, he thought Angelica's skill choices were eclectic, but they apparently all made sense now as 'demigod' stuff. A chuckle slipped from between Angelica's lips at the assertion. "My skills aren't that odd... and think of how much happier you'll be in a not weird looking diamond church!" she mused seeming to find the word choice there to be a bit funny. Ah, whatever the case, Bradamante was busy about to spill the beans about the issue of Roland and Renaud but it seemed she'd be beaten to the punch by Archbishop Turpin. And that man had quite a few things to say, the first of which was that the men in question had gone back to beating each other up, and as such they weren't really problematic in the moment. "That. What he said, but only Roland would really be a problem," said Bradamante. That was interesting news, a sigh of relief came from Angelica before she was addressed directly by Turpin.

A little bow and a casual statement happened in this moment. He was tired was he? Obviously he wasn't seeing this land's princess just casually walking around with a fish in a bag with a young adventurer. She looked at this man and couldn't help but earnestly appreciate his words. "Well aren't you a surprising amount of fun Archbishop Turpin. Obviously, any resemblance I bear to this princess is purely coincidental. That in mind, I thank you for your discretion and I hope you manage to get some rest," she said seemingly pleased just the same. Charles at least had a good sense for people, and though she'd apparently hurt the feelings of a couple of his men, she found herself able to get along with more than she didn't. Whatever the case, this conversation made Bradamante look at the pair oddly. "Oh? Angie are you sneaking out?" Bradamante whispered, which made Angelica chuckle. "Well, no, not really. While I didn't tell anyone what was I doing, I was also never expressly told that I couldn't so..." she said said with a casual shrug. It was sort of a letter of the law, versus spirit of the law kind of argument. Still it wasn't like any one could have expected her to live alone for a thousand years with the only point of contact in her life being servants and her father, that would just be odd.

[Bloodedge]

When told Roland would be the only problem, Charlemagne could only disagree. While Roland would undoubtedly be the most outlandish issue they could face, Renaud was not to be taken out of the equation either. "I'm not so sure about that. That brother of yours has his moments. Besides all that, I picked up a new skill the last time we were all together, and uh... he's been hounding me about a match whenever I've got free time," Charlemagne said, tentatively scratching his scalp.

Moving on, it seemed Angelica's presence would pose no issues in Aincrad's chain of command. He expected as much; Floor 98 was occupied by a good bunch of people. There was more purpose in this trip than keeping Angelica from the 99th floor, however. What they needed here and now was information. While catching up and performing non-formal introductions, they could have the necessary information brought up. All they needed was... "Say, where's Ivy? We need her to look into something that might help a lot of people in the past and future."

[Apollymi]

Bradamante was soon enough informed that Renaud was going to be a problem because Charles had a new skill which he likely wanted to face in active combat. Ah, that made a decent bit of sense. Her older brother was an interesting man, and Bradamante knew what he was like when he had combat on the brain, which was a lot more of the time than most would have admitted to, "I see... good luck with that. I would have just kept it to myself. It works for me to simply not tell him about any of my new skills and avoid active combat," she gave as a general form of advice. Yes, her brother would even face her in combat, so when she had no intention of actively combatting him, she kept her developments to herself. Speaking of... "Did you find that ring properly useful?" asked Angelica. Ah, Bradamante's eyes brightened at the mention. "Of course, I was going to drop it off with you but since you're here..." she was trying to work it off her finger but Angelica simply shook her head. "No, I made it for you. You should keep it, you might need it..." she said with a shrug. She was just happy the girl found it useful.

Bradamante couldn't help but smile. Angelica was a very nice person once one got past the outer visage. A lot of girls were like that though so it was easy for her to adjust. She simply smiled at the lass, "Thanks Angie, you're awesome!" she offered before moving on to Charles question. "Is that actually a question? Ivy, upon arriving immediately went to find a study or library. She wanted to have a peek at anything that may have been left behind," she offered with a point towards the building. "Down the main hall... a big set of doors on the left, you can't miss it." she said moving right along. The library in this building was a room lined with large book shelves and a large window covered by that same rainbow like stream of light. It was pretty open with large tables and one big desk on a daius in the middle of the room. This was a place used as a general study by Jeanne d'Arc and was now where someone like Ivy was sitting studying the papers left strewn across the desk. How interesting this place was in the context of being the home of a 'known heretic' it didn't seem like she had any thing scary or negative going on with her at all.

[Bloodedge]

If Renaud could be trusted to do one thing, it could always be believed he'd seek challenging combat. A companion with a new Skill was the perfect opportunity for exercise, apparently even if said companion was his own sister. "I'm not too sure you have to hide your stuff from him. You could probably get away with just turning him down," Charlemagne claimed. Surely even Renaud would respect Bradamante's wishes of avoidance.

A brief exchange occurred between the women present─ something about a ring given to Bradamante by Angelica. Turpin took his leave in the meantime, having a few individuals to meet with and... likely distract at the teleport gate. Charlemagne, on the other hand, awaited the location of Ivy, who'd apparently already found the library. That came as little surprise. "Already, huh? I should have figured," said Charlemagne. "Alright, thanks. You guys can keep chatting if you want. I'm going to bug Ivy," he continued. With that, whether joined or alone, he'd be heading into the main hall and keeping track of all doors to his left. As he walked, he decided to call out as well. "Ivyyy! Alle alle auch sind frei!"

[Apollymi]

According to Charles, Bradamante had the freedom to turn down her brother's combative nature. While that might have been true to some extent, even Bradamante couldn't always escape the lad's whims. "Listen, he's my brother and I of all people know I could just say no, but then I'd feel guilty. He's always so happy when he's fighting, like he's having the best time ever. My way is better, guilt free~" said Bradamante. At the same time, Charles basically dismissed the group to keep about their activities and Turpin decided honorable as he was, to run interference. At the same time, he had something of a small shadow, a white haired woman in the gloomy hood was keeping an eye on him. She'd help him out too.

At the same time, Angelica and Charles went searching for this person called Ivy. Ivy was in the library and upon hearing the call of her leader she looked up from the table she'd been pouring over to speak to him. "We are all free yes. But it's still a library Charlie, shush~" she said softly. She stood up from behind the desk to see the lad with a blonde lass who was definitely the Holy Princess. Strange, she didn't figure that one got to walk around very much. Ah, and she was carrying a fish, it is likely she'd been out for a while now. Father An didn't seem like the type to sanction field trips so... teenagers being teenagers was a pretty obvious thing. She'd have nothing to say about that. "On a walk there?" she asked almost sarcastically as she gave a subtle bow and waited for why she'd been searched for.

[Bloodedge]

Upon calling out to the one named Ivy, Charlemagne received a response from within the library. He was... shushed? Ivy claimed it was a library, implying that he should be silent. Interestingly enough, he'd yet to even enter the room when she said those things. In fact, upon offering his reply, he still refused to pass the threshold into the library... all to drive home the point he'd make. "Well, Ivy, it just so happens that I'm not in the library! Pehh!" he countered, tongue protruding from his mouth. Actually, there was more. As he looked into the room where Ivy busied herself, Charlemagne had a realization. How could she shush him here?

"Hey wait a minute!" Ah yes, Charlemagne was prone to strokes of genius every now and then, and now was such a time. "This is my library! I can make all the noise I want!" he shouted triumphantly. With that, Charlemagne sauntered into the room with his head held high, making sure he made as much noise as possible. "Laa la laa~♪" Jokes and bothering Ivy aside, there was much purpose in this visit. Ivy took immediate notice of Angelica. Though all members of the Party had encountered the Holy Princess before, that had been a more brief and official meeting. Now was the time for a proper introduction. "Pleasantries first. Angie, Isabella Thorne. Ivy, Luviagelita Angelica Edelfelt," he said with a very unnecessary amount of emphasis on full names. Sure, this was an informal introduction, but that didn't mean it couldn't be hilarious in Charlemagne's own mind! "Oh, and we're here for all your secrets. You've got information we need, and we'll resort to any amount of torture to get it!"

[Apollymi]

Of course Charles was willing to split hairs. Not in library, the library belonged to him... etc. These things didn't matter to Ivy at all, the woman in her armor just managed to look up from the papers while shaking her head. "Spirit violation. You know what this space is, and you are choosing to be cross to its existence..." she said, something she said often when something violated the moral background of a rule without violating a rule in and of itself. It was an ethical violation. Though she was nowhere near serious about calling him on this, since she had nothing better to do and it wasn't like anyone here was studying or anything of the sort. Angelica stood with Charles noting this discourse. She wondered if this was simply how they behaved as friends. There didn't seem to be any given animosity between them and Ivy gave off an almost sisterly vibe if Angelica was being honest.

Ah, speaking of that the pair of them were introduced to each other, very formally. Rather, the pair had their full names given and both had similar almost disgusted looks upon their faces. Ivy was the first to speak in a moment like this seeming to regain herself more quickly. "Why are you like this about names, Charlie?" she asked. "Ivy, call me Ivy I assume we'll see you around a bit more often and that is fine with me," she offered. "Angie, nice to meet you. I also don't know why he's like this..." she offered and then both women looked to each other and chuckled. A shared bit of understanding and then they moved on rather easily. Apparently information was needed and torture was on the table to receive it. "I don't think you have the heart for torture... she might though," she said giving a wink to Angelica. "What do you want to know? I ask while we stand in the middle of a library..." she said still sarcastically. After that sentence finished Angelica decided she truly liked this woman, she didn't seem to take any nonsense but also seemed to be at base a good bit of fun. She could appreciate her at face value and looked forward to getting to know her a bit more.

[Bloodedge]

"Am not! I've got nothing against the spirit of a library. As I recall though, you were one of the people who decided I'm in charge of stuff around here. It is therefore my solemn duty to make it as inconvenient for you as you make it for me, even if that's by holding it over your head whenever possible!" he said to the platinum blonde, one forefinger wagging as if he were someone's nagging mother.

As for why he decided to deliver names the way he did, well... there was little to it. To him, they each had the sort of name one would find in a documentary about some old western kingdom in his original world. He was also acutely aware that neither of them particularly fancied being addressed as such, and lo... instant bonding! "I can answer both of you. Because this," he declared without specifying what 'this' was at all. Instead of wasting valuable time with something like an explanation, he moved on to the purpose of their visit. Whether Charlemagne had the heart for torture or not was of little consequence, but the need for information was. "We need... something you probably won't find in here. Basically, we're here to abuse having a connection to the recordkeeper for top-secret information. We need to know every little detail about Jeanne d'Arc ─ specifically her trial and execution."

[Apollymi]

Oh it was a matter of inconvenience. Charles claimed he didn't like being a leader and as such would make it inconvenient for everyone else. Everyone else, knew he was best suited to the task by his own actions so they were at an impasse. Here and now Ivy managed to look at the lad with piercing green eyes and only smiled. "A small price to pay for a good leader. I'll remember my ear plugs from now on~" she mused as if it was the perfect reaction to his claiming of the library and making it inconvenient for her. She could easily ignore any loud noises in the library and what was more she would be sure that Charles had to keep up his end of their arrangement.

Moving on from that point there was the information concerning how he chose to address both Angelica and Ivy when introducing them to each other. He claimed 'this' without real explanation was the reason. In the moment, Ivy seemed to understand. He gave them something to bond over. A leadership tactic to keep awkwardness to a minimum and build moral. "Always committing to being a good leader and complaining about being chosen as a leader. These actions are so contradictory sometimes~" she teased. Ah, but then the joking matter was over, what Charles and presumably Angelica wanted from her was information. Information concerning the trial and execution of a long gone heretic. Of course, Ivy, or rather the base form of her Braith had a great deal of knowledge about Jeanne d'Arc historically. Her curiosity was piqued when this was the name mentioned but she also became rather serious. "We've been assigned to this floor for less than a few hours, and you already have me looking into a thousand year old case. It isn't like such a name is renowned even beyond the scope of this..." she said whirling her finger around, using purposefully vague words to refer to the world at large as she figured this particular princess was well and truly native to this particular place. "Hm, you talk like you know something the rest of us don't," said Angelica. "Oh? Perceptive. I know a lot of things, some aren't necessarily true in our current context. Some are more true than others..." she stated. "Still, if you really want me to look into it, I will... I am interested to know how lore treats this particular individual, but you'll have to agree to me looking it up on my terms," she mentioned casually. But such was her usual way of things. It was a warning to Charles that she was likely intending to go about finding the information in a way which wouldn't be considered direct. After all, she wouldn't want anyone to know she'd looked into this information directly. She wouldn't be signing into the Archives but she could still gain access in another way.

[Bloodedge]

Apparently, the torment he put people like Ivy through was a worthwhile exchange for leadership qualities. He could easily agree to that, except... "Fair, fair. Whenever somebody's ready to step up and be that good leader, I'm sure all of this will be dust in the wind," he claimed. As for the immediate bonding between Angelica and Ivy, the latter attributed it to his personal qualities as a leader. Disagreeing had never been easier for Charlemagne. "Friendship isn't leadership. That was friendship," he corrected.

Now then, what did Ivy have to say about their need of information? Well, first came a jab at what was required, alongside a nonspecific reference to the world she, and he, came from. Angelica was unaware what they could specifically be talking about, but Charlemagne would continue that matter regardless. "Give it a rest, Ivy. Stuff doesn't always play out like that. You know as well as I do, there's usually some magical mumbo jumbo going on, or even a full misrepresentation in the version we know." So many things they knew as 'history' in the other world were present-day events for them here. By name alone, many of them were in danger of the most interesting and chaotic futures... but things didn't always go the way one would expect.

How did it all translate? No one knew for certain, but Charlemagne would seek his own destiny. He knew Jeanne d'Arc to be of a similar mind, but sadly, her fate had been the same. Maybe their discovery would be similar, yet slightly different from the history books they once knew? One could hope at this point. "I'm not too sure it's something you should admit to being interested in, but I'd be lying if I disagreed with you there. What are the terms?" Charlemagne asked. Only a breath later however, he had a second thought. "Wait, why do I care? I'm not the boss of you; do what you want."