FujiwaraPhoenix

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Given how hard she would have ordinarily expected learning a new skill to have been, Misaki was actually pleasantly surprised by the result of her attempts. The intensity of the light proper did leave a little bit to be desired, but for a first attempt, something like this was actually perfectly acceptable in her eyes. The coloration was, admittedly, a bit odd, but ultimately it was something she could live with for the moment. If it was ultimately something to have to look into, she'd do so when it became relevant.

It was at this point that she began to toy with controlling the magic, though; pushing and pulling it from its position, rotating it, and everything in between... Once the sphere had stabilized in shape, that much was at least worth looking into.

Before she could get very far on that front, though, the foxgirl had noticed a glowing light from the side; a brief glance was all she needed to figure out that the source was a proper ball of fire and not simply some semi-amorphous ball of light. The moment that it grew in size, though, she instinctively took a step back, shaking her head as if to signal that the problem should be stopped.

Needless to say, that wasn't going to happen. The subsequent flash of light and loud noise would have easily been on the same level of a flashbang grenade (or, at the very least, what she assumed being on the receiving end of one would have been like), and given her recent encounter with disorienting noises, well...

While the others might have come out just a little worse for wear, she had not been so lucky. Being thrown back into the various artifacts that had just been organized had also been coupled by being unable to see or hear, and the pain ringing in her head caused Misaki to simply crumple over after landing, her hands covering her ears out of instinct. It was nothing that wouldn't go away with time, as past experiences had shown, but it wasn't something that could just be ignored so simply.

Needless to say, she was already disliking the one responsible for her current pain, and it hadn't even been that long since they had met.

@VitaVitaAR@Click This@Crusader Lord@Rune_Alchemist

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Misaki's eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she stared at the small sphere of light that Lazirha had created. While she was no scientist, the fact that this was not something she could explain by more 'rational' means made it abundantly clear that delving into magic was going to be a fair deal less straightforward than she had inwardly hoped. It wasn't anything deal-breaking given everything she had already seen today, but without any way to directly understand the methodology behind the magic of this world in the first place, mimicking it would probably bring about an uncomfortable amount of embarrassment.

Luckily enough, the de facto magic teacher had taken the chance to take her hand, and though Misaki herself took a moment to realize what it was that Lazirha was doing, wrapping her head around to concept took no more than a few seconds. Describing it as if someone was trying to pull on her bloodstream wouldn't be too far off-base, at least in her eyes, and after another brief half-explanation from Lazirha, the foxgirl decided to take a crack at mimicking it on her own.

If the whole matter was focused around a mix of idealization and the actual manipulation of what she assumed to be mana or whatever equivalent she had floating in her body, then using what she knew about light on a more scientific level could lead to varying degrees of intensity or something along those lines, wouldn't it?

Of course, the only thing left to do now was experiment. Though she didn't expect to grasp the ability to cast magic immediately, trying to pull upon the same sensation that Lazirha had induced while coupling it with various mental images meant that this was probably a good a place as any to start. Anything beyond light could probably be toyed with in a place that wasn't someone's home, though.

@VitaVitaAR@Click This@Crusader Lord@Rune_Alchemist

From the Ashes

Lymnas

Seeing as how the person in the robe refrained from reaching out to him proper, the old man simply shrugged his shoulders and turned to return to his home, had the younger of the two girls not called out to him moments before he did so. The mention of the abandoned residence caused him to pause before shaking his head.

"...I'm not sure where you heard about that sort of thing, but... There's nothing like that here. You'd be better off not looking," he responded, leaving the two behind on the road.

Of course, the way that he spoke about the matter compared to how he had greeted them earlier was rather suspicious, but when it came to matters such at these, it might have only been expected that the information would not simply fall into their laps.

@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR

Orlot

The man at the counter who Lucya had sidled up to simply raised an eyebrow as he gazed down at the half-dozen pieces of paper spread out in front of him. There was nothing within that really seemed out of the ordinary, but taking so many at once was a bit... Odd, to say the least.

Odd as it was, though, something like that wasn't unheard of.

"Mm. Got it," he responded simply, swapping the papers out for a few dogtags and leaving them in front of the bounty hunter-to-be. "Time limit for each job's on each tag. You're a fresh face around here, so I'll just make sure that you know you've only got a week tops for all these, or else your claim on the job goes null. Clear?"

The difficulty in most of what had been picked up was really in finding the targets as much as it was taking them out. A smuggler who bit off more than he could chew, wolves roaming the countryside, a rowdy drunkard who had forgotten his tab, and so on...

Even if the jobs themselves weren't inherently noteworthy, depending on how fast they were done, the price tags on each could easily pay for a few days' efforts.

@Lugubrious

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

It was, admittedly, a bit disappointing to Misaki that what was written on the tablets couldn't be translated by whatever odd magic had allowed her to read the scrolls from earlier. The passing summary from Lazirha about the contents therein were sadly not as enlightening as the foxgirl had hoped they would be, but she found it at least worth remembering for the future in case it ended up becoming relevant.

As she continued carefully moving things around to make things feel less claustrophobic, though, Misaki couldn't help but pause when she heard one of the newcomers trying to fish for any mention of tombs. There was a noticeable frown on her face as she considered the implications thereof; a place of worship did not necessarily preclude the existence of a burial ground, especially if the being in question was not entombed in the first place. Of course, if the two happened to coincide, then all the better, but asking about the presence of a tomb rather than, say, anything pertaining to the pillar that was just emphasized just seemed... Well, like a shot in the dark at best.

What seemed to be more interesting, though, was the offer of teaching magic to them. To this, the foxgirl could not help but perk up a little; given that both Novak and Nobunaga had the ability to fight in melee range well at hand, learning something more utility-focused would at least make her feel a bit less useless in the long run.

"If you're offering, then I would certainly love a chance to at least try and learn some magic," she said, stepping back from the corner she had been working in before dusting herself off. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested."

Maybe if she could get a feel for how the system worked (assuming it wasn't just some manipulation of scientific principles), it'd be easier to make use of in the future...

@VitaVitaAR@Click This@Crusader Lord@Rune_Alchemist

Fate/Eternum — Reboot

Fusang Streets

"I..."

Words seemed to be caught in Gray's throat as she attempted to avert her gaze from Artoria's. Her reaction had not been anywhere near as intense when Waver had done his introductory lecture earlier that week, but maybe that was because the Servant in front of her now had not been present. At this very moment, though, the young woman felt what could only be described as unbearable pressure bearing down upon her. Of course, she had hoped that this moment would never have come in the first place, but given the nature of Fusang, something like this was almost inevitable.

But to have what she was becoming—in all but name, no less—asking her something like that up front... The desire to simply flee was only stopped by her apparent inability to move her legs, much less speak.

Of course, given the scene playing out now, Waver found himself unable to simply stand by. Of course, he had wished to avoid contact with the Saber in front of him if at all possible, but it was his duty as Gray's guardian to at least attempt to step in. It didn't seem like she recognized him, at the very least, so he had some leeway on that front.

"Pardon me, but you're making my assistant rather uncomfortable," he finally said, turning around and placing a hand on Gray's shoulder. Given the reactions of the two students in front of him, though, the professor had a sinking feeling that he would have to explain matters in the future regardless; such curiosity was not so easily sated, especially given that one of them was the Master of the Saber speaking in the first place.

"...I can tell that a response like that is not what you would want, but I would rather not create a scene in the middle of the street," he continued, glancing at everyone before sighing. "At this rate, I'll just have to cancel my appointment... How troublesome. If you wish to pursue this matter further, then we can go and speak about it in my office. I'd rather not give a lengthy explanation in public, after all."

As much as he wanted to summon Iskandar, the issue in front of him couldn't simply be ignored; it was a bit awkward to end up wrapped up in something like this so soon after arriving, but given his own reputation, that much was almost to be expected.

@Rezod92@VitaVitaAR@Rune_Alchemist

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

After being given leave to examine the miscellaneous goods scattered about, Misaki wasted no time in attempting to take note of everything, shuffling things around so that, at the very least, like artifacts were grouped together in a far more orderly fashion than they had been when she had entered. It was of note how the language written on the tablets was remained unintelligible despite the apparent automatic translation of the scrolls she had gone over earlier, which, while disappointing, gave her more reason to at least focus more upon Lazirha's attempt to translate them herself. Of course, the other two people that had asked for permission to look things over were working on their own, and despite the less-than-warm reception she had given the one who had approached her, they seemed to not take much offense. Of course, she was still a bit wary of them, given the wide variance in the type of people who lived on Earth, and so she resolved to hold off on actually reaching out until she felt like she could at least get a better feel for them.

That didn't mean that she'd simply hand off her name, though—or, at least, that was what she had planned to do, had Lazirha not spoken it in her stead. It was at this point that Misaki considered the costs and benefits of trying to keep up this charade before discarding the idea entirely. It'd only make her look foolish in the long run, after all, had she continued to try and act like she knew nothing when so much was already out in the open.

"Fog, huh...? Well, that's certainly ominous," she sighed, shaking her head. "Given that we've gotten the go-ahead to explore the region, I suppose that much might prove to be a bit problematic, though. I'd rather not get stuck wandering for an eternity, though, so the problem now becomes navigating through that..."

As good as it was to have this information on hand, it wouldn't actually be of any use to them if they couldn't figure out any countermeasures beforehand.

@VitaVitaAR@Click This@Crusader Lord@Rune_Alchemist

Fate/Eternum — Reboot

Uehara Mitsuki

Given the blonde girl's reaction, Mitsuki figured that he really was just being strung along to help—not that it mattered at this point, given how they seemed to have gotten wrapped up in some sort of incident of their own volition. With a nod, the young man tried to keep pace with his Servant as she moved to enter the building in question. Of course, a broken window was apt to draw attention regardless, but oddly enough, there seemed to be less people milling about this section of the city than usual.

Or, well, so he assumed, given the lack of bystanders looking at it.

Taking Tomoe's console and slipping it away into his bag, Mitsuki watched as she attempted to enter via the 'normal' way—the front entrance. Though he had expected it to be fully locked, the fact that they had instead simply swung forth to let the Archer in had almost taken him by surprise.

What was less surprising, though, were the laser sights that seemed to be aimed right at the Servant as she did so. The owners—a series of half-mechanical drones—seemed to be priming their own attacks, and Mitsuki himself wasted no time in moving out of their line of sight.

"Whoa. I expected resistance, but..." he trailed off, shaking his head in disbelief. "Yikes. Archer, I'll leave it to you."

@VitaVitaAR@KoL

Alter Ego — Meltryllis

Once she had finished dispatching the ghosts summoned by the Servant in front of her, Meltryllis simply stood by and watched as whatever entity was coalescing had actually formed. All in all, it wasn't particularly intimidating—there were far worse terrors that she had seen, after all—but the way it looked was enough to bring a look of utter disgust to her face.

"Eugh. For once, we seem to be in agreement," she remarked towards the Saber next to her, pointing with one arm towards the giant ghost in front of them. "Something like that is just an eyesore, after all, so the sooner it falls over and dies, the better."

Without waiting for a response, the Alter Ego bounded forward, moving to slice away at one of the onryo's arms. After all, with something this big, it seemed simple enough to dance around and simply avoid all of its strikes. She was confident enough in her speed to be able to do that much, after all.

@Rune_Alchemist@Pyromania99@VitaVitaAR

From the Ashes

Lymnas

After the more muted introduction from the elf, the old man found himself a bit more taken aback by Pyra's introduction—one which, after a few moments of thought, caused him to chuckle lightly to himself. The girl's mannerisms reminded him of his own children and grandchildren when they were younger, playing hero or whatever else during the free time that they had. Though he thought the young lady a bit too old for that sort of fantasy, the level-headed nature of her companion apparent caused him to simply brush the matter off as mere eccentricity.

"Hm. Well, I suppose that a little dancing never hurt anyone, so by all means," he began, gesturing towards the center of the town before turning to face Pyra. "As for you, young lady... Well, if there is any sort of trouble, it won't be long until you hear about it. If you want to help, though, you could try asking around town; I'm sure that nobody would turn down an honest helping hand here."

With that said, though, the old man nodded before shifting over to the side and beckoning over to the robed person who had been following the two from afar.

"As for you... Well, hiding away like that like a shy child won't get you anywhere. Do you have something to ask, too?"

Needless to say, it wasn't hard to pick out the three unfamiliar people in a town where almost everyone knew each other by name.

@VitaVitaAR@Pyromania99@Kiki is Anxious

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Taking a brief look around as she left the building, Misaki found that nothing in particular had really changed in the scant while they had been inside. The corpse of the beast that Nobunaga and Novak had felled was gone, though the trail of blood showed where it had gone, and for a moment the foxgirl considered following the trail before deciding against that. As much as knowledge on the biology of such creatures might have helped otherwise, it was probably too late to get any actual information after it had been dissected and disassembled.

Before she could move closer to the waterfront, though, the sudden arrival of someone coming over to question her caused Misaki to pause in an attempt to process what had just been asked of her. Obviously, the mention of Earth was noteworthy, but to call out to her so suddenly, and have that be the crux of the question...

"I..."

Before she could give a proper response, though, Lazirha's arrival and subsequent response to the situation allowed the white-haired girl a bit more reprieve. She was sure that the questioning wouldn't end here, of course, but at the very least, she could use their companion as an excuse to dodge the question for now. Of course, the truth would probably come out sooner rather than later, but hopefully by then she would get a feel for what sort of person the woman in front of her was.

"I wouldn't exactly call a stranger a friend," Misaki began, choosing to ignore the question of her origin altogether before shrugging her shoulders, "but regardless of that, we should continue our conversation from earlier. Please, lead the way."

The cluttered mess that was the young girl's home, though, caused Misaki's eyes to light up, if only momentarily. She could speak perfectly well as she was examining everything, and if these artifacts were linked to what she had read earlier, then all the better.

"I don't particularly mind all of this, though it might be better if you at least organized some of these things a bit more," she said, slowly kneeling down and staring at the stone slab. "Do you mind if I took a closer look at these while we talked? I'm also tempted to clean these up a bit so that we have a bit more room, but if you don't want that..."

In a low-stakes location like this, suppressing her own curiosity was... Difficult.

@Rune_Alchemist@VitaVitaAR@Click This

The Epic of Beginnings - Fragments of a weathered scroll

Though surprised by how easily Enli seemed to cave to their suggestions, Misaki found it no less appealing to at least have some sort of repose for the night. Of course, it was likely that she would be in here poring over the documents present until it came time to sleep (or whatever else the others might have had in store for them), but seeing how it would be rude to not check in on Lazirha at this point in time...

Well, the reading could always be done later; by candlelight, if necessary, but later all the same.

"I would also appreciate the hospitality, should it not prove too burdensome upon the village," the foxgirl began, rising from her seat before bowing towards Enli, "but in the meantime, I think I would like to take a little bit more time looking around. If you'll excuse me..."

With that, Misaki quietly exited the house and, after a quiet look around, began to move about. If anything, its similarities to other fishing villages in the more rural areas of Japan might give room to proceed. Coming across Lazirha in the process would be a bonus, of course, but even so...

@VitaVitaAR@Crimson Paladin@Rune_Alchemist