The Eternal Sanctum (Holy Knight Headquarters)

[Apollymi]

Project of passion were better, stated Charles. That was an interesting thing to consider, Sakura understood the idea of passion projects. Her fathers seemed to all have something that well and truly interested them, Ailen specifically had Alchemy as his main passion in life. She didn't know if she felt that way about anything though... perhaps she'd discover something she enjoyed that much. She was named Queen of Passion, which was an odd thing considering she couldn't say she felt the emotion associated with it very much. "Sou ka..." she murmured giving a great deal of quiet contemplation to her thoughts on what passions were in truth. Moving on from that point, a sarcastic sentence passed Charles's lips concerning inspiration, it made Sakura look at him oddly. "Well yes, it would fix most problems... especially where issues of thought are concerned. Maybe I'll explain it to you later..." she stated. Knowing the lad wouldn't really want the explanation in the moment.

Moving on, they approached the gates of a little secluded garden. It was quite an interesting thing to see but also very tranquil and peaceful. It seemed it was here specifically for the purpose of food growth but it was also very mana dense and magically balanced. "It is very vibrant. It feels very nice here and it has a good balance of elements, Jea-nee is quite good at practical but artistic space. Otou-chan will enjoy this..." she said feeling traces of Jeanne's energy around this space. As far as her own understanding was concerned this was definitely one of her personal works, it made her wonder if the lass went about it by hand or if she decided to fully utilize magic to make it work for her.

[Bloodedge]

Ah, right; Sakura completely failed to get a grasp on sarcasm. Perhaps he should have thought about that beforehand, so he wouldn't be standing there pinching the bridge of his nose. "Umm. Well..." Charlemagne mumbled. He couldn't tell her. No way was he going to dive into the leagues-deep pool of madness that would come with explaining sarcasm to someone who thought only in logical terms. With that in mind, he moved on instead. "I don't think it's an explanation I need. Somebody should explain sarcasm to you, though. Not me. Somebody specifically not me," he concluded.

As they entered the garden, Charlemagne found himself finally releasing Sakura's hand, which he failed to realize he never let go of before. He had to meander a bit and take in the sights this garden provided. For a place of produce, it was well-put together enough to dwarf many a botanical garden. Sakura seemed to agree, even stating that her father would enjoy the garden. "I'm sure anyone would. This place was already great when it started, but this is next-level," Charlemagne stated whilst reaching out to pluck a fresh tomato from its vine. Right away, he took a bite from the flawless fruit, which spewed its juice onto his mouth and chin without fail. "Ah, that's good! I don't know if produce in your homeland has the same problem, but up here, there are no pests to worry about in gardens. In my old world, we had to use a ton of chemicals to make this happen. We couldn't eat those chemicals either, so all your fruits and vegetables would have to be washed before you could eat them. I'm not sure if the lack of them is Chaldea or the belt that grew these, though. I guess it doesn't matter."

[Apollymi]

Charles didn't remember that Sakura didn't get sarcasm. And seemed at least lightly agreeable to her explanation, until he wasn't. There was a claim by the young man that he didn't need an explanation but that someone, specifically not him, needed to explain sarcasm to her. "Sarcasm..." she said the word but it didn't necessarily have meaning in her mind. Okay, she'd find out what it was eventually, she'd ask someone she thought could answer her question. "Alright, I'll ask someone else later," she said seeming fine with information he kept for himself, or not wanting to explain something specific. Information trades were much more normal to her, so she had no problem with the lad not wanting to get into the details of his thoughts with her.

Moving on from that Charles had apparently seen this garden only at its start. He agreed that her father or rather anyone who would like this place. "You're quite right, usually food gardens aren't so well organized..." she mused. Her own father grew a lot of things himself but this was also a nice and tranquil space. In the meantime he let go of her hand which was quite odd in the moment. Not because she wouldn't have gone with him, but just because it'd been such a warm fixture since their time in the Nexus most recently. Sakura was left to ponder the feeling while looking around. A few times she could be seen opening and closing that hand as if confused by the sensation of it. Whatever the case, Charles was content to eat directly from the garden in a rather excitable way. His words implied that his original world didn't have the necessary means to keeping pests away from food crops without it being problematic for consumption. "Most creatures won't eat mana rich food. They aren't strong enough to digest it without being strong themselves. So the only real pests in this case are magical creatures..." she explained. "But you can send a group of adventurers out to handle most of them, or put in plants that would keep out undesirable things... Otou-chan says that things only attract what they need, so anything in our lands that seeks something is given it," she explained.

[Bloodedge]

Luckily, Sakura wasn't pushing for any further explanations of sarcasm. She took him at his word, intending to ask someone else about it later, much to Charlemagne's satisfaction. "Thanks. That's way too much for me to unpack," he said. It was then that Charlemagne began digging in, enjoying the first fresh tomato he'd experienced in ages. Moreover, this particular garden had a quality of edible flora that went well above and beyond the norm. "You should grab something; it's all delicious!" he suggested.

Even while his face became covered in tomato juice, Charlemagne seemed perfectly capable of keeping up a casual conversation, almost as if he didn't look like a goofball. As he continued to munch, Sakura brought up the magical pests that existed in Munetsuchi above the more normal critters most would know of. Oh, he knew of those more than he'd like to admit. As an adventurer himself, Charlemagne had quite a few obscure quests under his belt. He was even visibly cringing at the memories brought up by that mention. "Ugh, I remember. With my skillset, I've been the only one capable of taking some of those quests. I've seen more Glean Shadows than any one person ever should. Don't tell me you have those things. They only come out at night, and daylight is the only kind of light they run from. No other adventurer around had the type of Holy affinity I did for a long time. It was terrible. I might have preferred goblins, or even wyverns."

[Apollymi]

"I get not wanting to be the one to explain something..." she said. Truthfully she understood this better than most things, but it wasn't important in the moment. No, Charles instead thought to tell her to have something to eat, that it was all good. She believed this information so she began looking around the gardens for something she might like to eat. She'd find herself picking a strawberry which looked rather ripe to eat.

While she tasted this her eyes widened it was quite good, these fruits weren't easy to find but she quite enjoyed the taste of it. As she ate though, Charles spoke of a creature she'd never heard of, but she logged away the information about them in case it would be needed later. She found herself quietly licking her lips and shaking her head from left to right. "Iia, we don't have anything like those, the main problem with crops in Munetsuchi is Demiguises..." she explained. "They are like small white monkeys, they are herbivores, and rather tame, but they really enjoy picking crops while people aren't looking. So, they have to be corralled and relocated, but its kind of difficult because they can turn invisible and see the future so capturing them requires some skill. But we can't let them be, because if they eat too much they grow into these really scary monsters that have to be killed and their difficulty level increases too much," she explained of the types of things people dealt with in Munetsuchi. "Also this is really good... I should have Otou-chan grow some..." she mused seeming to like the idea of having these from time to time.

[Bloodedge]

Sakura commiserated. How strange. After all the explaining she'd done the past day or so, he figured she always wanted to be the one explaining things. She seemed very willing to spill half of her brain any time the opportunity presented itself. Perhaps, however, that was all in Charlemagne's mind. Maybe she even found it annoying to do so much explaining. He'd seen those genius types responding to others' questions as if they were annoyed by the stupidity. Could she have been one of those people? He didn't dare to think; going own that route would have made him quite the inconvenience thus far.

Munetsuchi apparently had no fear of Glean Shadows, luckily enough. At the very least, Sakura had never even heard of them. They did, however, have Demiguises. Those creatures sounded like something he'd seen before, quite a long time ago. He'd never seen them grow into more monstrous forms, but he had seen them in their normal states once or twice. "Is that what those are called? I remember a guy who was terrified of them for reasons he couldn't even explain. Maybe he'd seen them become monstrous; I never have," he replied before taking another bite of that tomato. Sakura commented on the strawberry she'd chosen, claiming she should have her father grow some. "You mean strawberries in general, or these strawberries? Berries are awesome regardless."

[Apollymi]

Charles's thoughts about Sakura's commiseration were way off base. She truly didn't mind being the one to explain most things, actually anything she understood. She also enjoyed learning new things truly. The only thing she didn't want to explain currently was the future as she saw it. She felt that she didn't have the necessary experience to be that forward, but that was fine, as far as she understood it there was definitely someone better suited to that sort of attitude.

Apparently, the creature that Charles mentioned was quite a pest, Demiguises were bothersome but for the most part cute and harmless. "Yes, I think they are cute... but I've heard some people talk about them. Apparently, it is unnerving for a non-human type creature to have the sort of sentience that would allow for clairvoyance of any sort. They can also disappear at will, which likely contributes to them being frightening," she said seeming to have a logical reason to be fearful. "But I think they look like little old men, until they turn into monsters," she mentioned. Ah, now that she was thinking about it, she'd make a small version of one in her hand to show what it looked like when it became a monster. At scale it it was dozens of times larger than the monkey, bipedal with large teeth and a scary disposition. "They also crave flesh when they are bigger so that could contribute to the factors which would evoke a fearful response," she said as if that wasn't at all nightmare fuel. As for her choice between these strawberries or just strawberries... "I suppose these are very good, so that'd be a specialty thing, but I think this might taste pretty good with my favorite so I might want just regular ones. Fruit is good in general..." she said as if it made perfect sense.

[Bloodedge]

Charlemagne was due for a bit more detail about the creatures called Demiguises. Sadly, it was something he could have gone another thousand years without seeing, and he'd have been better for it. Ah, but no, Sakura just had to offer a visual of their transformed state, proving exactly why many people were terrified of them. In seeing the imagery for the first time, Charlemagne fell silent and stared for several seconds. "That... is the most disturbing thing I've seen in decades. Maybe centuries. It's definitely terrifying, and if they eat flesh, I completely understand how people are afraid of them. I'd personally like to never see one again," he spoke. The sight of that thing even managed to ruin whatever appetite Charlemagne had, so the remainder of that tomato was thrown into the air and subsequently taken by a creature looking the part of a bird, but with equal features of a dragonfly. That thing could enjoy the remains, as he would not.

Moving on from the night terrors, Sakura claimed strawberries would blend well with her favorite. There was a mention of that from her elf father earlier, though nothing specific came of it. What could it have been? "What's your favorite? Also, I forgot the hint that your dad cooks. He wouldn't happen to be the type who'd make whatever your favorite is for everyone, would he? Because uh... if I'm being honest, our food isn't going to be the quality you'd expect as someone who grew up in a palace. We can all cook, but we can't... cook. You know?"

[Apollymi]

According to Charles this creature was one of the most disturbing things he'd ever seen. Sakura looked at it intently for a few seconds... she didn't see it. Of course, she understood that what she would fear and what humans and their ilk feared were very different things for the most part so she pulled the little thing apart as quickly as she'd made it. "I don't find it frightening, but maybe it is an individual type of fear," she mused. Perhaps she should ask others if they also found it disturbing. It seemed that Charles wouldn't be completing his tomato instead feeding it to the garden in the form of a bird that flew off with it. Hm, that was odd. Sakura continued eating the rather large strawberry that took a few bites to get through completely unperturbed.

As they moved on, it seemed that Charles was curious about what her favorite food was. She supposed though it'd been mentioned earlier they hadn't gone into great detail about it. He also asked about her father and his cooking. He claimed that most within the group could cook but it wouldn't be the same level of food she was used to consuming. She actually was left a bit curious about whether her father would cook for the group or not, she'd never asked him that, and she'd never had friends before. "My favorite is almond tofu," she mentioned as if this was a normal thing. Perhaps it was known, perhaps it wasn't that didn't much matter in the long run. "Will Otou-chan cook? I don't know... he's nice but I don't know if he would just to do so... though I have friends now so that might change the overall outcome. He was pretty concerned with that aspect of my development," she said seeming to be thinking about the whole of it. Ailen was an elf and an alchemist she had no idea if he would have naturally made her favorite dessert for everyone or if he'd only make it for her. "As for cooking, I don't think that will be so much a problem... his apprentice would be just as capable as a cook as Otou-chan is..." she said with a nod.

[Bloodedge]

"Of course you don't think it's frightening. Your dad was just casually mentioning how you have the ability to affect fate; I doubt there's anything that could frighten someone like that," Charlemagne countered. Of course, he was also not quite frightened by the visage of a Demiguise, but he had a few reasons. Charlemagne had encountered many things more terrifying than those, even though that was an image he found terrible to look at.

What could Sakura's favorite dish be? Charlemagne held a moderate amount of curiosity, but he would not be left curious for long. Almond Tofu, she said. He would have considered that a very obscure thing, but... he remembered something. Sakura had once commented on the flavor of almonds, in a very specific memory that left Charlemagne stunned to speechlessness for a moment. "I... oh. Almonds, yeah. Gotta like those uh... nuts," he blabbered. Perhaps it was best that he stick to the matter of cooking and eating. Sadly, Sakura had no real answer as to whether her father would cook for everyone or not. She did, however, suggest that Anais should be an equally capable cook to her mentor. "I guess we'll all get to find out eventually. Annie, though? I didn't figure an apprenticeship could involve that many skills. Well, I guess everything lately has been something most people would call excessive. I shouldn't be surprised at all."

[Apollymi]

Charles apparenlty thought it wasn't very odd that Sakura wasn't afraid of the creature. He pointed to her casual ability to potentially alter fate as being among the main reasons she likely couldn't be rendered fearful. "I don't know about that... fear seems to be directly connected to emotional responses, I figured it was a matter of logic not ability," she said seeming to find the assertion odd but she did understand how he came to such a conclusion. It was interesting to consider at the very least.

Beyond that point there was the matter of her favorite food. It seemed Charles seemed to find something odd in that but ones favorite foods were simple enough to explain. She looked at the lad with a raised brow at his statement but since he was content to move on to matters of cooking she let it go. Her strawberry finished the remaining stem disappeared from her hand. Of course, this wasn't really a problem as it seemed that Charles had some interesting thoughts about the amount of cooking Anais would be doing. "It isn't too excessive, to become the apprentice of one of my fathers is to become the student of all of them. Anais, is Otou-chan's direct apprentice and he is an elf so the amount of skills she could gain are quite numerous simply because of how long he's lived and how much he's learned. Cooking and Alchemy are quite similar at base and require the same principle knowledge to do well..." she said simply.

[Bloodedge]

Even fear was something Sakura related to emotional responses. Charlemagne couldn't have disagreed more if he tried. She presented herself as one who applied logic to all things, yet Charlemagne thought logic leaned to the other side in this case. "That has to be some weird goddess logic. Fear in humans always boils down to survival instinct. If something feels like a danger to your life or livelihood, you're supposed to be afraid of it. Fear makes you stronger ─ it helps you overcome a dangerous situation," he replied, knowing fear was one of the many things that kept humans alive in times of danger. "What would a reality-bender even have to fear? You don't seem to make emotional connections, so I doubt you would feel fear on someone else's behalf either."

Charlemagne took the time to wipe tomato juice from his chin. In that time, Sakura explained that Anais was the apprentice of Ailen, and was therefore the student of the entire group. That sounded like a very busy schedule, but Anais did always seem to be the model student type; she would probably be enjoying herself. Of course, there was also the... interesting way things were done in Munetsuchi. Combined with Anais's sudden change in physique, and the fact that he'd seen Sakura actively undergo a similar transformation, he figured her method of learning had to be a topic never worth bringing up in conversation. "That's a massive can of worms I never intend to open," he said while scratching his scalp. As for alchemy's similarities to cooking, he supposed there was no room to argue at all. "Huh. I guess that's one of those things you never think about, but it super obvious when you hear it. Well... if your dad doesn't make it, I'll find out if Annie can at some point. It sounds pretty good."

[Apollymi]

Goddess logic. That is what Charles thought of Sakura's equating fear to an emotional response. He claimed in the same statement he would have instead called it an instinctual response, to threats to one's survival and livelihood. He claimed that one was supposed to fear in those cases and that in those cases fear made one stronger, to overcome the dangerous situation. She looked at him strangely but then she gave it a bit of thought, she could understand why he thought that the case, but since humans didn't all react to the same stimuli it would be harder to give that association. "I'll have to observe it more. It still seems more emotional than automatic considering the number of humans who routinely ignore survival to do other things," she said having thought of several instances where humans chose to act against the necessities of survival for reasons she did not entirely understand. Moving on from that, there was the matter of the apparent lack of emotional connections formed by Sakura herself. There was a fairly logical response for this, "I don't think my abilities have much to do with it. The people I am already emotionally attached to can more than take care of themselves. I don't have to feel fear for them and even those who are more mortal would make their way back eventually, so fear for them is unnecessary," she explained of her own logic. Her parents were gods or god tier beings living on the lower part of the world, there wasn't much that could even hurt them. Fear for others surrounding things like death didn't happen because she understood death as a mechanism already.

And then she watched as Charles wiped tomato juice from his mouth. Her explanation of the studies of one like Anais seemed to go far enough for a general understanding. But for whatever reason Charles didn't want to go into more detail about it. He used a phrase which caused confusion on the face of Sakura, "Context says you don't want to talk about it more, but why a can of worms?" she asked genuinely not understanding that particular statement at all. Beyond that matter was dessert and the claim that if her dad didn't make it then he'd find out if Anais would or could. Whatever the case he was keen to try it and she would enable him a bit in a rather innocent way, "I mean you can still do that if you like, but if Otou-chan only makes it for me, I'd share it with you..." she offered. It was her favorite and it would be good if she allowed him to have some too. Besides she'd be getting it based on finishing her new skill and that was at least partially Charles fault so she could easily share her reward with him.

[Bloodedge]

Once more, it was made clear that the two would not agree. Sakura still believed fear to be something emotional, and still, Charlemagne was firm in his belief. "Emotion overpowers instinct. Where do you think courage comes from?" he questioned rhetorically, seeming to carry a tinge of annoyance toward the continued topic. Sakura had further explained her standpoint, touching on 'emotional' connections and why she did not know fear on behalf of those important to her. It all sounded ridiculous to Charlemagne. As a human, one who held emotional connections in high regard, the concept of such things were far too foreign for him to accept. "That doesn't even sound reasonable to me. Anyone can run into a bad time. People might come back when they die here, but that doesn't mean they'll..."

He paused there. The longer such discussions went on, the more bothersome they were. Yet again, Charlemagne found himself having to accept the differences and move on. "Never mind. It's not worth it," he said with a deep sigh. With all that swimming around in his brain, another jab came in the form of a question. Why a can of worms? In the world he'd come from, Sakura would easily make herself one of the most bullied individuals in any school... and she might not even know what was happening. "It's just a saying," he responded. Charlemagne was soon walking again, taking a longer path toward the sanctum to enter from a different place entirely. Along the way, he processed the offer for shared almond tofu. Even in his current state, Charlemagne's values remained the same. "It's your favorite. I couldn't ask for any off your plate; you're obviously excited for it."

[Apollymi]

Emotion overpowered instinct, that was courage according to Charles. Emotions also overpowered logic... Sakura was confused by humanity's extended survival. If a singular kind of thing could override both their natural instinct to survive and their natural ability to think it seemed like humans made themselves very easy targets for turmoil. Humans were now emotional wrecks fighting both logic and instinct for feelings. Were they truly trading both factual depth and instinct for simple sensations they couldn't rightly explain? Whatever the case, she'd remain listening intently right up until Charles stopped talking mid-sentence. Whatever his thought pattern was, he didn't deem it worth continuing. He seemed almost frustrated, that was odd. Was it simply a matter of not knowing? A matter of being for so long a person developing he didn't imagine what it was like to not have to? Or perhaps it was closer to his own understanding than that, and he thought of someone like Jeanne as changed by the experience of her death... though that was obviously her personal choice given her status as a witch. Perhaps it was all too magical and too opposed to his known truth, for him to deal with mentally... that seemed like a reasonable hypothesis. "Sou ka..." she murmured seeming to understand such a topic was somehow touchy for reasons she didn't truly understand.

Moving on, they'd begun walking again... this time taking quite the long path to head into one of the other doors. According to Charles though the 'can of worms' bit of his statement was just a saying. Oh, so it was a colloquialism related to a topic one didn't want to go into depth about. She could understand that... she might even like it. Perhaps that could be added to her statements later... yes, that made sense. Until such a time as that, the lad seemed content to turn down the offer of sharing her favorite food with her. "Well of course I am excited it is my favorite," she said seeming to think nothing of it. "But I offered and that is different from asking. I've never shared with anyone before and I decided to share with you... You said we're friends and friends share, especially things they like and are their favorites," she explained her logic almost childishly. It was strange to turn down something offered freely. Stranger still to claim friendship while not committing to the actions that friends do.