FujiwaraPhoenix

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Nieve — City Streets

While the swordswoman's eyes seemed to immediately brighten up at the sound of the white-haired girl's reciprocation of her feelings, the smaller girl seemed far less enthused about the situation. Despite her intent to defuse the situation and hopefully continue on her way, it seemed that the world had different plans in store for her—for the moment, at least.

"Konpaku, huh...? Haven't heard of that school of swordsmanship before, but there's a first time for everything, I suppose!" the swordswoman responded before dramatically throwing her hat off to the side—and into the unfortunate hands of the girl she had been traveling with. "My name is Miyamoto Musashi, founder of the Niten Ichiryu style of swordplay! Let me see what you have to offer!"

With their formal introductions handled, Musashi slowly unsheathed both of her blades and adopted a combat stance. Given how she was in the middle of a street in so doing, though, it seemed that the passersby were quick to either clear the area or, more self-servingly, attempted to rubberneck and get a better view of the match between the two foreigners that was all but certain to break out.

To all of this, the smaller girl was left with nothing more than a straw hat in hand and a look of intense displeasure on her face as she watched her bodyguard square up for a wholly unnecessary fight. The other white-haired girl, adorned with odd red-white talismans, had chosen to approach her to strike up a conversation in the middle of the other two's duel.

"Alchemist would be more apt—especially given our current surroundings," the girl responded in kind. "I suppose your rather outlandish appearance and the words of your companion mean that you're also not from here, then? Just my luck to find more people who think that fighting random passersby makes for a good pastime..."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Embassy

The trio's reception at the embassy was a bit awkward, to say the lest. Though Anne's clothing clearly marked her as a foreign entity in a city whose technology level was well behind what she was used to, the pair of girls she had entered with—one of whom seemed to be little more than a child who had run out of steam after throwing a fit and the other carrying her under her arm—made trying to piece the situation together rather difficult. It didn't help that the first people to meet them seemed to be rather reticent about doing so in the first place.

It could be seen as a bit of a boon, then, that someone was finally brought out to actually address them—a rather tall, well-built man in a suit whose face seemed to betray the slightest hints of aging.

"Greetings, Ms. Mayer. My name is Bren Halmir, and I work as a minister here. While I would prefer that you would go through the proper diplomatic channels..." he began to say before glancing over the group as a whole, "and for you and yours to not spend your walk here causing a scene, I believe that a discussion would at least be more productive than dismissing you outright. Would you mind following me to my office?"

Assuming that the trio agreed, Bren would promptly lead them to another room—one filled with shelves full of documents—before promptly taking a seat at his desk and continuing to speak after gesturing for the three to do the same on the other side of it.

"Now, placing matters of walking into a government building filled with international officials in such a manner aside, I would not normally entertain something like this. So please, speak frankly, and without falsehood; I will judge whether or not to proceed afterwards."

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Nieve — Castle Plaza

The guards did little more than glance awkwardly between one another and the lilac-haired girl as the latter threw a fit in front of them, neither sure about how to react to her in the first place. They could tell at a glance that the girl was of... Better off than most of the city's residents, if only thanks to her clothes, but going so far as to throw a tantrum to try and get past them was a bit much.

Thankfully, two women who seemed to be the apparent child's caretakers appeared and saved them from the awkward responsibility of having to placate a child. The first one, at least, seemed to be open to words—though their station allowed them little leeway for small talk.

"Diplomatic missions would usually be received at the embassy, regardless of their purpose," one remarked in kind, with a face indicating that they were more willing to speak with an adult than with a petulant child. With his voice tinged, with a bit of pity for the apparent servants having to deal with their master's whims, he added, "It's the building over there—the building with the two silver spires sticking out from it in the distance."

That was the best information they could afford to give, at least. Hopefully, the child among them wouldn't continue causing a scene at the gates in the interim.

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — City Streets

"Um, I don't think that we should..."

As soon as they were past the gates of the city, Remilia had wasted no time at all in rushing off to do... Whatever it was that she intended to do. It was only natural that Sanae would try—and fail—to dissuade her from counting her chickens before they hatched, at the very least. She wasn't an expert in politics in any sense, especially when her patron deity was the one at the helm of anything on that front, but she had enough sense about her to understand that charging straight towards an asking for an audience from the highest power in the nation they were in right now was more than a bit absurd. It'd have been the equivalent of someone like her trying to question the Prime Minister back while she was a student in the Outside World, which... Well, to be frank, seemed a bit more apt given the vampire's relative size and stature.

Hopefully, Anne's choice to accompany her would also extend to keeping her from making them all public enemy no. 1 by accident; Fran's choice to tag along with them didn't sway Sanae's opinion one way or another, but the hopes that things wouldn't spiral completely out of control were still worth holding onto at this point in time.

That, however, meant that the blonde child they had brought along would be left in Lewa's care, as per Anne's own decision. It didn't take much for the Toa to leave with the child in search of what the young woman could only assume was a way to care for her, which left the options of exploring with those remaining...

And with Youmu opting to explore the area with Mokou, Sanae naturally gravitated towards helping figure things out with Rayne.

The shrine maiden remained mostly silent as she tagged along behind Rayne, making sure to keep an eye out for anything odd as the pair flitted to and fro around the city. While her companion found it more efficient to fly through the skies, though, Sanae chose to walk wherever she could around the area—at least, for the moment. Two people flying around when it didn't seem to be a particularly common means of travel seemed like it would quickly draw (more) attention to them, which wasn't necessarily a good thing.

Eventually, the two of them found themselves at a fairly large bookstore—or what seemed to be one, at least. There didn't seem to be any signs of a public library in this region, and between somewhere like this that had an air not unlike Suzunaan's back in the Human Village, it seemed like a good a place as any to start.

With a slight nod of her head, Sanae greeted the old man manning the bookstore's counter and, after asking for where any books related to history or mythology were located, began to browse through whatever tomes she could see. With none of their titles being noted on their spines, though, it seemed as if the only thing to be done would be pulling each point of interest out, one by one, and skimming through it as best she could.

While Sanae had begun her own attempts at research, though, Rayne would find that another person already there had been perusing what tomes were there already. They wore a hooded robe to conceal their form, but it seemed that the briefest glance towards the newcomer would cause them to calmly clap the tome closed and turn ever so slightly towards the girl.

"Seeing someone else around here is rare," they remarked as they casually glanced at the halfling's body. "Are you looking for something in particular?"

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

With everyone else having all but left the area to seek out answers of their own, the two residents of Gensokyo were left more or less to their own devices and wander the city at their own pace. With no immediate purpose or way to seek out the root of the incident (as was par for the course), though, relying on their instincts for any vague sense of direction would be the best way to proceed.

For a while, nothing seemed all too out of the ordinary; people traveled around in fairly simple clothing, and though the pair drew a few glances, nobody seemed to do more than that before moving on. Thus was the nature of a populated city, after all; compared to somewhere like Aventon or the Human Village, the people here had more to do, and life moved at a pace to match their ever-changing needs and goals.

Eventually, though, Youmu would find herself bumped into by a woman whose appearance very much did not match those of the people around them. With a straw kasa hat covering the wildly vibrant pink hair beneath and a pair of katana at her side, after all, how could she not stand out?

"Oops! Sorry, sorry," the woman who the white-haired girl had bumped into said, one hand holding onto her hat as the other grasped onto Youmu's shoulder so as to make sure that she didn't fall over from the impact. "You were just so small that I didn't see you there."

The was a brief pause as she seemed to size up Youmu, though, and once her gaze fell towards the young woman's own pair of blades, her mannerisms seemed to change entirely.

"...Hmmm...? That's an interesting pair of swords you've got there. Do you happen to—"

Before she could speak any further, though, a rather irate voice chimed in from behind the wandering swordswoman. A small girl who looked to be even shorter than Youmu, with her hair braided past her back and a robe covering her body, simply stared at the woman with a look of exasperation.

"Are you trying to pick another fight?" she asked as she crossed her arms. "Honestly, if I knew you were this addicting to fighting I'd have reconsidered making this contract of ours in the first place."

"Oh, it's fine, isn't it? It's not like I'm cutting people down in the middle of the street," the swordswoman replied with a smirk. "And besides, if a cute girl like that bumps into me and has the air of a trained swordmaster about them, how am I supposed to resist asking for a bout?"

Upon hearing this, the smaller girl sighed before motioning for the woman to step aside and placing herself into the conversation.

"My apologies for my companion's behavior. As you might have been able to tell by her being... Herself, I suppose, she's a bit of a battle maniac," she remarked as she quickly looked over both of the white-haired girls in front of her. "Now, if you'll excuse us..."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Castle Plaza

Regardless of anyone else's misgivings about the situation at hand, Remilia's intent to head straight to the heads of the nation and do... Whatever it was she was planning would be promptly stopped by the presence of the guards standing by at the gates in front of the castle grounds. While the plaza in front of the building was abuzz with activity, what with people milling about or otherwise going about their lives, though, their focus did not seem to waver in the least.

It was only natural, then, that they were able—and more than willing—to stop the vampire and her entourage if they so much as attempted to enter the premises.

That was their job, after all, and what would it say about the nation's security if any random person was able to so casually meet with royalty, regardless of what their intentions might have been?

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

---

Nieve — Church

Putting aside the blonde girl's unnerving comments—the first words she had spoken to anyone since they had first met her—Lewa would be met with far more curious gazes from the passersby than any of his more (overtly-)human companions. It was hard to ignore the presenve of a massive golem walking through the streets carrying a young girl in its arms, of course, but nobody present seemed to have any desire to try and stop something like that.

And given how the city guards didn't seem to be in hot pursuit of it, surely they had to be aware of it already, right?

Regardless of anyone else's thoughts on the matter, though, Lewa would eventually find himself at a somewhat worn-down building constructed in a similar style to the one he had been first summoned into this world into. Here, though, there were people...

And no small number of them seemed to be physically unwell. There were a few men and women running around with bowls, towels, and buckets, but if there was anywhere that seemed to be a center for the infirm, this... Probably would be it.

The reason as to why they were all here would have been a question in it's own right, though.

@Lugubrious@VitaVitaAR

Reborn in a Fantasy World, This Time I Shall...!

??? — Smithy

After retrieving anything even remotely usable from the smithy, the group would be met with silence as they left. A brief glance towards the church in the distance would show that the bell had stopped ringing at this point in time, and with no indication that whoever (or whatever) had sent it swinging before was apt to do so again meant that their brief freedom to explore with no threat of the undead bearing down upon them was gone.

For what little it was worth, it seemed that the zombies that had gathered had not yet begun to move back to where they had been before. There were only so many other places to head towards, though. Checking out the other shops and homes in the area was an option, as was simply heading away from the horde of zombies that would eventually bear down upon them once more. There was a stone wall visible in the far distance, which would at least mark the edge of the city; whether or not it was worth seeking safer shelter was up to the trio present, though.

If the trio was confident in their abilities, though, maybe heading towards the town's center was also an option. Doing so would be quite the feat, but it wasn't wholly impossible...

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai

Reborn in a Fantasy World, This Time I Shall...!

Neir — Slums

It would be quite clear at a glance that the young man's claims of their friend being a slime—and one capable of communication and biomancy, at that—had caught Meira off guard. Something like a person would have been straightforward enough—there was no way someone forced to stay put would escape the eyes of the residents—but something as small as that?

Needless to say, the true nature of "C"'s friend complicated things.

"A slime... Well, if it's just a slime, it can't have gone far," she remarked before the fact that it was much easier moving a slime than it was a body pushed its way to the forefront of her mind. "...Well, on it's own, at least. There's no trace of the usual odd cleanliness from one moving in here, at least, so I suppose it had to have been someone abducting the thing."

The catgirl paused for a moment as she considered the information she had been provided before turning back towards "C", a slightly more concerned expression on her face now.

"You said that it knew biomancy, right? Is there any chance that someone else might know about that fact? Slimes knowing magic is rare enough, but one that could communicate on top of that..."

Regardless of the young man's answer, though, Meira would at least continue her attempts to help seek out his missing companion, up until the point where doing so became untenable due to both the lack of lighting and lack of definitive leads. Given what had happened earlier that day, spending any more time outside would likely put them both at more risk than not—which, ultimately, was not worth continuing the hunt until morning.

Maybe they could find some more leads after the night passed. At the very least, though, the guard house would work as "basic" lodging for the night; between making sure that Cassius' body was in working condition again and that package still needing to be collected, it certainly felt like the most logical course of action to take.

For what it was worth, though, the promise of a healer to help with Cassius' current condition was not for naught. Though the person in question—a young woman who appeared to be donning clothes typical of Western clergy—seemed to be somewhat surprised at the presence of an elf here, her ability to help mend his wounds—and, as far as any of those less accustomed to the magic of this world were concerned, whatever was ailing him from within—seemed to have visible effects at the onset of everything. Unfortunately, the poison that had wormed it's way into his body was not so easily cleansed...

But it was most certainly better than nothing.

Seeing as how she was being paid extra to make sure that there would be extra security until that ever-so-ominous package was handed off to the "proper" groups, Meira had no reason to abandon the pair as they rested in the guardhouse overnight—or, well, rested as best they could. At the very least, she would be awake by the time the other two were ready to do... Well, whatever it was they planned to do.

More likely than not, this would mean hunting down that magic slime. If it had any of the capabilities that "C" had mentioned it to have, then there was all the more reason to try and figure out some way—any way—to make sure that it both survived to the end and to make sure that the "usual suspects" didn't try to take it for themselves.

---

After some indeterminate amount of time—the child's running had been irregular in both stride and pace—Petra would eventually feel the child slowing to a stop near... Well, whatever location it was that they were so intent on bringing their new friend to. The rough sounds of wood being pushed aside indicated at least some sort of moment, but after the young child crawled into a structure of some sort they seemed to almost present the slime to the space around them under the assumption that it could see the space around them.

Whether or not it could in the first place did not, however, seemed to cross their mind.

"This is my home!" they declared before placing the slime on the floor. "Or maybe it'd be more like a hideout?"

Whatever it was, though, it would become quite obvious that the place was far more cramped than the shack that the otherworlders had first awoken in. Maybe that was to be expected, though.

Regardless, the child seemed to enjoy having new company present up until the point where whatever energy was keeping them going finally petered out. The grumbling of their stomach was not exactly a good sign in the grander scheme of things, but at the very least Petra would be free to move around (or even attempt to leave) once the child had fallen asleep.

Or not. That was a decision that was hers to make, though whether or not wandering around a completely foreign area of the town away from any aid was a good idea or not was probably worth considering.

@ERode@Zeroth@TheMushroomLord

Reborn in a Fantasy World, This Time I Shall...!

??? — Smithy

Once the remaining undead were dealt with in equally unceremonious fashion, the trio would be free to explore what remained of the smithy. The door to the back room—where the actual smithing took place—was left slightly ajar, allowing for free passage through to what had once likely been the owner's heart and soul—figuratively, of course. Given how there didn't seem to be anything attempting to approach the group from within despite the chaos of the brawl that had just transpired, it seemed that the area was safe enough to explore without any fear.

Or, well, fear of any undead striking from anything past the storefront.

Past the scattered remains of the undead soldiers, though, it would be apparent that a majority of the goods here had been taken already by people long since gone. What remained were simple arms—spears and maces that had been left to rust, for example—and some leather pouches large enough to hold at least a few things.

Whether they were on sale or were the former owner's belongings mattered little now, though, but bereft of any other goods as they were, it didn't seem like they would provide much in terms of coinage. At the very least, though, they were better than nothing when it came to carrying what goods the trio had gathered around.

The back room, lit by little more than the faint sunlight filtering in, would reveal a plethora of unfinished metalworks and unworked ingots, as well as a few well-worn tools mounted upon the wall. To explore further or take what goods they could and depart was a decision the three would be free to make at their own discretion.

@VitaVitaAR@RolePlayerRoxas@Aku the Samurai

---

??? — Mosslit Cavern

Despite what might have been an idea situation otherwise, finding a glint of metal in the sea of trees below would have been a nigh-impossible task—doubly so when the bird had already disappeared past the greenery in the distance, as Javal would have been privy to when he had barely caught sight of the creature disappearing before. To extrapolate any approximate distance based on their current position would have been a difficult task on its own, but at the very least the group would have a general idea where the bird had gone based on that assumption alone.

Whether they could estimate where, exactly, that was now that they had returned to the cave where they had awoken was another question entirely.

Unfortunately enough, though, the cavern did not seem to provide the same level of safety as it had before they had left. While the sections closest to the exit were bereft of danger, any further forays inward—namely, towards where the chest was—would present the explorers with the presence of a large griffin curled up in the center of the room.

It seemed to be resting for the moment, head resting atop its forelimbs, but the presence of the creature was a concern on its own.

@Thunder999999@Crimson Paladin@Expendable

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Hillside Hamlet

With Remilia's insight in hand, Sanae took a moment to consider what Remilia had said. Sure, from a pragmatic point of view the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion had a point—while their group was self-sufficient to a fault (at least in terms of combat power at the bare minimum), bringing along someone unable to care for themselves would only increase their burden as they traveled towards Nieve. The situation would only grow more concerning once they actually reached the place, seeing as how all of them had things to research (and in a completely foreign town, no less!).

...But even so, something seemed to be nagging at the back of the young woman's mind to at least check her out. She wasn't exact a bleeding hard, but it was hard not to trust her intuition when it had done so much for her in the past already.

Maybe letting Remilia check up on her wasn't such a bad idea. Probably not now—doubly so not in here, where people might not be inclined to have such a thing happen—but worth examining all the same.

"Erm... How much information can you get out of blood alone? I'd guess blood type's the bare minimum, and whether or not they're dehydrated or something...?" Sanae asked right as Anne entered the building and bore witness to the same girl they had been discussing.

Despite her reaction or the conversation panning out in front of her, though, the girl seemed to remain almost completely catatonic. For such a blasé dialogue about what to do with her, her eerie lack of response only served to further push Sanae towards at least getting her checked out.

"No problem; this girl, uh... She apparently arrived to this town with nothing but the clothes on her back and has been cooped up here like this ever since," the young woman replied, filling Anne in on what information she had gathered up until then. "She said some stuff earlier that Remilia presumed to be connected to the monsters that had arrived here—something about rot?—but we can't exactly ask her when she's like this. I was just thinking that if nobody else has any leads, then this girl would be the next best thing—and to that end, figuring out what happened and to get her back to normal might be worth looking into."

While the conversation persisted for a bit longer, ultimately a decision was made to bring the girl along for treatment (and a bit of an examination from Remilia once they were on the road). With the caravan choosing to move past the hamlet—Sila, or so it was called—it only made sense to return to traveling once any last farewells were made and the entourage passed through.

For what little it was worth, the area seemed to be clear of whatever those strange monsters were, and that safety persisted over the next few days as the caravan continued on towards it's destination. Unfortunately, the odd girl's condition saw no marked improvement over the course of their travels, though a "sanctioned" feeding on Remilia's part would reveal that the girl was most certainly not of human origin. What exactly she was, though, would require either someone more versed in the matters of the magical or a response from the girl herself.

On the fourth day after leaving Sila, though, the caravan—and those traveling with it—would finally see what the capital waiting for them was. Even from this far distance, the grand walls lining the city could be seen, stretching out and around on all sides to protect it from any danger, and past them buildings that seemed to reach twice as high. In the center of it all, a large castle could be seen, spires poking out in the distance as they reached out towards the skies above.

It was, even from this distance, undeniably a castle town lifted straight from a storybook.

Thankfully, the guards requisitioning the group at the gate were acquainted with the merchants leading the caravan, and simply by proxy of association it seemed that the group was free to follow them in... For the moment, at least. Past the walls lay white-stone houses inlaid with wood that almost seemed to make them stand out all the more in the midday sun...

And with them, an invitation for the otherworlders to explore as they wished. They were no longer bound by their informal contract now that they had arrived, after all, which meant that they could begin any examinations of the city in earnest.

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Hillside Hamlet

The girl's words left Sanae feeling quite uncertain about the whole affair. It was quite apparent that the doll-like child in front of her was lost in her own thoughts, but given the state of the town the shrine maiden could only presume that she was referring to something else.

With that assumption in hand, though, the best thing that Sanae felt she could do for the moment was leave her be and maybe ask some of the other townsfolk about her. Something about the whole situation didn't sit right with her, and if there was any chance that it had something to do with that ominous premonition that Millie had, then surely it had to be worth looking into.

Taking a step back from the girl for a moment, Sanae began to do what only seemed reasonable at the moment: accosting any villagers still lingering nearby and questioning them about both the girl and the threat they had so succinctly decimated.

"Oh, that girl? She wandered in here looking like a worn rag a few days ago. I'm not sure where she came from, but one of the old men here—bless his soul—let her stay a while. She hasn't done much since, but even I'm starting to get a bit worried about her."

"Hm? Oh, those strange things? I haven't a clue where they came from, but I'm quite thankful to you and those other strangers for helping fend them off. Never though I'd see a talking tree in my lifetime, much less one coming to our aid."

"That girl is weird! All she does is stay curled up like that. We invited her to play a few times, but it's like she doesn't even hear us!"

The various quips and remarks the villagers had to provide her were unfortunately not particularly enlightening, but Sanae couldn't help but feel as if there was some faint throughline between...

Well, everything here, really.

If anything, though, it would probably be worth running by the others and get their thoughts on the matter. Call it intuition or pity or whatever else, but if there was any information to be gained, it would be from the near-catatonic girl who had fled here with naught but the clothes on her back.

It was at that point, though, that Remilia promptly stole the attention of almost everyone present by... Well, announcing her presence. But while the elderly and infirm took solace in the vampire's ministrations, the girl seemed to be unaffected by it in the slightest.

"Ah, Miss Scarlet!" Sanae called out, waving her over to the vampire before walking over. "I suppose I may as well start this discussion with you since you're here and all, but..."

At this point, Sanae relayed to her what she (and Youmu, given how the half-ghost gardener had been present for her inquiries) had heard from those present—the words of the odd girl included.

"Do you think there might be anything worth looking into here? She doesn't look any better now despite your healing, so I'd guess she's got some sort of trauma... But I'm not sure if leaving her with the townsfolk is the best idea, either."

Outside, though, Gwen seemed to be lost in thought for but a moment as Anne provided what information she had on top of her proposal to join the group. There was a brief pause as the blue-haired girl looked up at the sky with a pensive glance, then towards Maokai, before finally returning Anne's gaze with her own.

"While I would love to see this capital you speak of, I'm afraid that Maokai might be a bit too... Slow for your entourage—physically, of course. He'd also stick out like a sore thumb among people, and he isn't quite fond of them to begin with, so I think it'd be best if we continued on our separate ways. Oh, but if you do happen to find anything out in the future, please do try and let us know... Somehow, I suppose! If we're all travelers from other worlds, then there must surely be a way for us to communicate. If not, then all we need to do is meet again, no?"

With all that said and done, though, the caravan slowly began to pull in towards the hamlet. Rayne, in her haste, was the first to inform those in charge of what had transpired. Given their response—which included thanks that their group wouldn't be forced to take a detour and that no lives had been lost—it didn't seem impossible to convince them to stay a while longer if need be. The sooner they reached their destination, the better, of course, but there were still people here who could very well want to purchase some seldom-available merchandise or otherwise take their minds off of the events that had just transpired.

@VitaVitaAR@EchoWolff@Izurich@Lugubrious@Drifting Pollen@Raineh Daze@DracoLunaris@Rezod92

Reborn in a Fantasy World, This Time I Shall...!

Neir — Slums

"Famous inventors?" Meira mused to herself as the pair walked along the evening streets, head tilting back and forth as she considered the question for a few seconds... Before promptly shaking her head no. "Sorry, none really come to mind. I'm probably not the best person to ask about stuff like that, though; fancy tools are nice and all, but if they're not cheap or useful enough to pick up, I'm not likely to even think about them. If they were... Then, well, I'd only really care about the item and not whoever made it, right?"

While the rest of the walk back was rather calm, the reaction of the young man upon reaching the ramshackle building she had first seen the duo (or was it a trio to begin with?) left Meira rather taken aback. She hadn't looked into the shack beyond catching a glimpse of "C" and his attempt at wielding a wooden board, but given the context that the adventurer-hopeful provided left the young woman more concerned than not.

"Couldn't move without help... Well, there doesn't seem to be any trace of a struggle, because there'd probably be more damage to the floor otherwise," the adventurer spoke calmly, placing one hand on "C"'s shoulder as she looked around the darkened room. "...What does your friend look like? I have a few hunches as to what might have happened, but I need more information before I try anything."

If whoever was here had been spirited away due to her getting them involved in that earlier mess, even if only incidentally, then she felt more than a passing obligation to make things right.

@Zeroth

---

??? — ??? Forest — Nest

With their heads cocked to one side almost completely in sync as Nyana adopted a defensive stance, the chicks continued to stare at the slimegirl-knight with rather curious expressions. Their heads continued to track her as she began to move, slowly but surely, towards the edge of their nest, but given how tall it was—no thanks in part due to the tree trunks lining the edge of it—they seemed to be in in real rush to do...

Well, much of anything, really.

Of course, in being introduced to a foreign object that didn't seem to be immediately out to harm them, one of the chicks eventually mustered up enough courage to actually interact with the weird bipedal metal object moving around.

Naturally, this meant poking at the shield that Nyana was placing between herself and them with it's beak. The clanking was rather audible as metal met metal—a testament to the hardness of both—but the force of impact, while noticeable, did not necessarily indicate any intent to simply pry the thing away from her.

@Crusader Lord

Shadow Contract: An Urban Fantasy Action RP

Tenjou Seika

Yamazaki High School

Despite nothing being immediately out of the ordinary as she left the classroom, Seika was quick to notice what felt like the entire building shaking at once. It wasn't the type of shaking one would have expected from something like a low-magnitude earthquake, though, but one more akin to someone turning the speakers up to their highest setting at a sports meet or concert. The initial concern that it had been a natural disaster was quickly put to the side, though, as the young student placed one hand on the wall and felt the reverberating beat of... Something pounding away.

"...What the heck is this horror game-like atmosphere all of a sudden?" Seika asked herself, one hand gripping onto her bag as she glanced around. The possibility that a scenario straight out of fiction was bearing down upon her was stuck in the back of her mind, the fact that all paths to the building's exit led towards the source of that ominous heartbeat-like noise did nothing to assuage her concerns.

But rather than choosing to waffle about endlessly as the night drew longer, the young woman chose to instead take a deep breath and simply make her way to the first floor. With any luck, all of this would be inside of her head and she'd just have a new ghost story to tell people during the summer.

Not like she had much of a choice, though; jumping out a window to get off school grounds—and on a higher floor besides—seemed like a great way to end up injured with nothing but paranoia to offer as an excuse for it.