Munetsuchi

[Apollymi]

According to Charles she wasn't disproving his point. That didn't matter at all... "Urusai!" she yelled in Japanese. One day, she'd have a better reaction, today wasn't it. Tomorrow probably wouldn't be either. The sarcastic sound escaping the Nexus after he was told he was on ice, was exactly the sort of thing that would have made Jeanne's blood boil. But if she remembered the publicity of the previous world properly she had but one thing to say, "Your wife steps on you... I can feel it in my soul," she said knowing that sort of attitude would have provoked the same sort of response from her. Maybe it had.

Whatever, there was the matter of answering the summons of Artoria Pendragon, and the light-hearted words from Charles about his workload and how she could help with it. "If my sister helps you with your workload someone is gonna die. Best you can do is throw a battle manic in her way and pray they are strong enough to distract her," she offered that tiny bit of advice but had nothing else. Artoria wouldn't be ignored if she bothered going to look for someone. It was much better to appease her whenever possible. Besides, Charles was discounting his usefulness by quite a bit if he didn't think he'd be called upon for a real reason. The matter of Gilles seemed to be understood for what it was, though whatever extra Charles had to add on he kept to himself. As long as he understood the gravity, Jeanne didn't care too much.

As for Angelica she looked over Jeanne, but with that nickname and those open arms, yes it was still her friend. She ran to her, giving the other lass a big hug and feeling the differences in her energy but not really caring very much. "I'm really sorry, Jeanne!" she exclaimed seeming to make the lass look confused. "You didn't do anything, no need for that kind of dumb shit," she uttered seeming not to be accepting apologies from Angelica. A gasp escaped Angelica in the moment as she'd never heard such a thing before, "Jeanne, you said a swear?!" she said seemingly shocked. "Yeah, my vocabulary is pretty colorful now~ But as the big sis here though, I am pretty sure you shouldn't be hugging me before your husband, might give him the wrong impression~" she said. Ah, life advice, Jeanne missed being in a position to give it. All the while Sakura looked on with wide eyes. "Sugoi! I want a big sis," she said seeming to like the relationship between Angelica and Jeanne quite a bit. "Oh right!" chimed Angelica but of course, it was going to be awkward, wasn't it? Yes, just a little. She could start with answering questions. "Well... yeah, it's your armor. You left it in my room. When I left for the labyrinth I took it with me," she explained. "And alot, like a lot. Ugh, so much... I don't even know how to explain it all..." she said after an encouraging set of back rubs. "An... he showed up with your face and a weird beard and he tried to marry me yesterday. I said no... I smacked him super hard, so hard... It was really messed up," she said still a bit grossed out. Jeanne couldn't help but snicker, the idea of Angelica slapping An was far too amusing to hold back the laugh. "And I left..." she explained. "Your friends though they're helping me... Ivy, Olivier, Janessa, Turpin and...Merlin too. They gave me someone's pass and told me a floor I could hide on in the labyrinth so I'm doing that," she said without fully explaining everything.

[Bloodedge]

Still, the Dragon Witch fought tooth and nail against being addressed in such a way. With every response, she only further solidified the belief for both Charlemagne and the Nexus. In fact, she even took a jab at the latter, knowing his Gaia identity and expressing the belief that his wife stepped on him. Interestingly enough, the Nexus would comment on that statement as well. "She does it in the most alluring way, too," he said with the oddest amount of confidence.

Jeanne continued to beat the Artoria Pendragon hypothetical over Charlemagne's head as well. He didn't really care about the Holy Grail-holders' meetings, whatever they were. He had a thousand things to do, and none of them involved being an unnecessary sixth man to a group of monsters. Damned be whatever capacity he had now; they had their problems under control without throwing him into the mix. "You're saying a lot for no real reason. I'm done adding things to my agenda before doing what I need to do. I've got no time for the grail club," he concluded.

Regardless of all that, Angelica had appeared before them in a very unexpected way. Charlemagne could make a few assumptions as to why she was wearing his armor, but nothing too concrete. He couldn't keep himself from blurting out a question, even while leaving that long-awaited reunion to play out... in a far better way than his had, of course. 'Chopped liver both times from both ends. So uncool,' he thought. Oh well. Jeanne urged the Holy Princess toward her husband, but first and foremost was the answering of questions. She'd taken his armor to enter the Labyrinth. As for what was going on in Aincrad currently, it was... depressingly everything he'd assumed and heard whilst in Munetsuchi. Ah, no ─ it was even worse. Father An had taken his face, but added the worst thing possible to it. "No. No, anything but the weird beard! That's at the top of my never list!" the lad shouted. Well, at least she'd gotten away. Since she was in the Labyrinth, he could make a few assumptions as to what floor she was hiding on. Moreover, Merlin being on the list of those helping her meant things would be alright in the end. "Alright... good. If Merlin's there, he'll probably be around to give warning if anything needs to change. I'm trying to find my way back. There's a lot I have to explain, but among it is apparently the part where I have some of the Father's power now. I think I can use it to help, but I need you guys to hang in there until we can make it up. Can you do it?"

[Apollymi]

The Nexus had some rather shameless words to share in response to the jabbing question posed by Jeanne d'Arc. She looked at him for a moment after he spoke those words, took in the blissfulness of his visage and shook her head from left to right. Another version of Jeanne might have said something like 'Awww, I love that for you~' but this version wasn't so... openly appreciative of other people's happiness. Instead she had something a bit more caustic but fairly similar to say. "Normal people wouldn't admit that, but whatever you say..." she said a casual shrug to accompany it. She really wasn't doing a good job of discouraging the idea of her being some sort of tsundere.

Speaking of discouraging things, apparently she was saying too much about the potential of the grail holders club. And in particular the amount of target someone like Charles would be for Artoria Pendragon. She'd only been the lass's handler for literal years when they were human and only saw her activities worsen in the magical world. But hey, if he wanted to pretend it wasn't a big deal it'd be his problem alone. "Hai hai~" it was on his own head now. What a vague dismissal. She definitely wouldn't be saving him from that then... or maybe he'd remember what she said and he'd save himself...

Moving on, Jeanne and Angelica had their reunion after a thousand years and it seemed to be a fairly happy one. Sakura watched this and felt that this was more inline with two people meeting each other while being friends. At the same time Angelica was now approaching Charles rather directly having given the proper hug to Jeanne d'Arc. "It's okay, Charlie. It was weird but that is why I was sure it wasn't you. But I'm pretty relieved you're alright. I thought you might not be when I realized how much of him was you..." she mentioned seemingly relieved that he was okay. Her arms wrapped around him and she was quite happy to see him. She didn't actually let him go soon after. In all of this Sakura was curious, would this level of intimacy be maintained, she could only wonder. "Actually when you say I like that I can't imagine you with a beard. I'm pretty sure it'd give you the swarmy vizier look," Jeanne said seemingly way too amused by it as an idea. While she hugged Charles, Angelica said her piece about the rest of things, mentioning even Merlin as being a helping hand. This one made Jeanne's brows draw together, Merlin was her sister's court mage, what was he doing in Aincrad? She'd have to ask at some point but she supposed there were more important things than her curiosity. As for the question of them hanging in until he could get back she looked at him a bit. "Hm, you do feel a bit like him now that I am here, but it's definitely you," she said of Charles. "And... yeah... I'll be fine. Your friends are all fine... they seem to be holding their own places until you return," she said.

[Bloodedge]

The Nexus was quite free with information regarding his relationship, it seemed, and Jeanne claimed normal people wouldn't admit things like he did. To that, he leaned forward with a quizzical expression upon his face. "Am I people? Do I even look like people?" he wondered aloud. When living on Gaia, he was often gazed upon as if he were some sort of anomaly. Such was the case even in the original world, but that made sense given his status at the time.

Though the conversation took precedence by Angelica's machinations, she did continue encroaching upon Charlemagne. Her arms wrapped around him while she commiserated over the weird beard scenario. Before he had anything else to say, Charlemagne slung both arms around the lass as well. She wouldn't release, and neither would he, it seemed. "I'm fine; no worries. The landing banged me up a little bit, but I was right as rain soon after!" he claimed. Charlemagne may have been stretching the truth a bit, but such was his way. There was no need to add extra cause for concern, even in hindsight. No, this was a good moment of togetherness... tainted only by the fact that someone was openly envisioning him with a beard of any sort. Somewhere deep in Charlemagne's soul, there was a certain darkness. It existed far below the surface, and could only rise under a few specific circumstances. A beard on a face like his was so far from 'cool' that it woke the beast within momentarily. "Never picture me with a beard again," he demanded. Only a second later, things were back to normal with the calming resolution of Angelica's current wellness. "Awesome! I'll be there as soon as possible, alright?"

[Apollymi]

The Nexus seemed to think it was abnormal. It went on to question if was people, if it even seemed like normal people. Jeanne in her current state gave it a bit of thought. She was always honest, even while not knowing how her words would be received and as such she'd state what she thought. "Normal people... not so much. If I am being honest, you give of hipster grandad vibes. Like you'd take all the kids to the theme park and ride all the rides," she said giving a firm nod. That image was pretty firm in her head after she saw it, she could almost imagine someone like him on an outing with her and her siblings when she turned 16 and wanted to go amusement park hopping instead of having a party.

While Charles and Angelica hugged and caught up, Angelica heard out what the lad had to say. He claimed that he'd been banged up from his fall but he was alright. That seemed wrong, or maybe incomplete. She looked around the room, could feel the various energies and technically speaking Charles seemed like a mixing pot of the various energies present in this room right now. The girl with bright red eyes though, seemed to be quite connected. An assumption was made about her being the one to help him out. Jeanne felt like him a bit... and was definitely pregnant. Hm, some weird connections had taken place she was sure. "If you say so, Charlie," she murmured. Just the same Sakura's brows drew together as she became visibly confused. Charles had told the truth, but he'd also omitted quite a bit of it. She'd seen humans do this to children when they didn't want to explain the weight of something to them, but this was another goddess she definitely couldn't have gone without noticing the strangeness of this situation.

Just the same, Jeanne was privy to an interesting look crossing Charles's face after she mentioned what she thought he'd look like with a beard. "Hoh? I didn't know you had a look like that... did I hit a nerve?~" she teased gently. "I didn't know you had it in ya', Chuck~" Of course, she wasn't even afraid of such a look given the kind of siblings she had, it was just surprising to see it on the face of someone was mild mannered as Chuck over something as silly as a beard. Of course, her own brother also had a weird sticking point so maybe it wasn't so odd. Beyond that Charles claimed he be by soon. "I mean sure, that's great and all but I have like a thousand questions right now," Angelica mentioned. "Like what was going on in here before I showed up? And who's your friend? And... what is this room? And I don't know a billion other things after that..."

[Bloodedge]

The Nexus never fit in with 'normal' people, as most would call them. Jeanne, with her infinite honesty, compared him to a grandfather hipster in a way he found oddly satisfying. "Hipster granddad? Groovy," he said happily. If that was how he'd been viewed, he'd been doing something right after all.

Charlemagne's explanation of the fall and any connected damage received... only a short response from Angelica. It seemed a bit skeptical, but that was fine. Even if she knew there was much more to it, there was no point in telling her all the more concerning details outright. Moreover, she naturally had many questions to ask. Sakura was a literal unknown, so her identity being questioned was a given. He wasn't sure why she asked what was going on before her arrival, though. Perhaps it was the burns? Of course, there was also their current location. That one probably came with the matter of how she got here, but the room's explanation would likely cover that. "From asking a thousand to getting a thousand, huh? I guess that's life," he mused over his own recent situation. "Well, as for what happened before you got here... I didn't get a hug. I got set on fire. That's about how my life goes," he said first. He pulled away from Angelica just slightly ─ enough to gesture toward Sakura with one hand. "This is Tohsaka Sakura. She's going to be the reason we help you guys get out of Aincrad whenever we make it there. There's a lot more explaining to come about that, but I feel like it'd take all day," he continued. A deep breath followed before Charlemagne addressed the final topic, which involved bringing attention to the middle-aged man in the room. "This room, and this guy, are the Nexus. It's the place people who get Holy Grails talk about going to, where wishes are granted and all that stuff."

With those final words, the Nexus interjected once more. He waved to the lass called Angelica, as one would wave to an old friend or long-unseen relative. "Hey, Ang. I'm granddad," he said in the most casual manner.

[Apollymi]

"Wow, you took that way better than I expected," Jeanne said. She always expected a bit of backlash given the amount of honesty that came with her opinions, but happily enough the Nexus was quite an accommodating individual. Once more, Jeanne would find herself flopping into the throne next to the Nexus seeming to enjoy the time to sit without much of a problem.

At the same time, Charles and Angelica continued as did their conversation. The questions Angelica had were soon to be answered. Charles claimed that he'd not gotten a hug from Jeanne and instead he'd been burned. There was a gasp from Angelica as she looked towards Jeanne for an explanation. "He felt like my enemy, and I'm not hugging guys..." she said as if it was the most perfect answer to the question. Given Angelica had been along when they interrogated a prisoner concerning the death of Jeanne d'Arc she could actually understand her sentiments a bit. To be honest, Jeanne would have preferred not to have any phyiscal contact with anyone with a penis aside from Siegfried, but she didn't have much of a choice today.

That explanation out of the way, Angelica found herself being introduced to Tohsaka Sakura... right, Charles had explained this sort of thing... her given name was second so Sakura was the one who helped him and likely had the largest part to play in his healing. He claimed it would take a while to explain and that was fine. "Okay, nice to meet you. Can I call you Sakura? And thank you..." she offered the girl who seemed to be quite happy. "Nice to meet you too. And you absolutely can call me Sakura, Ang-chan~ I really wanted to meet you!" Both girls seemed to be looking at each other for a few seconds and Angelica was sure her heart skipped a beat maybe. She liked this girl, of that she was certain. Whatever the case... there was the big question. The room and the man in the throne. The Nexus... and he called himself granddad? "So you're just rolling with grandad? Alright~" mentioned Jeanne who found it funny. Of course, Angelica seemed to be looking at the man, "Granddad? That sounds pretty good..." she seemed to be thinking of asking something but didn't know if she could. "Can I ask you something?" she started, really wanting his opinion on the layout of her floor. It seemed she'd never be getting her dad's opinion on it, she didn't even want to speak with him ever again. Replacements were needed.

[Bloodedge]

After returning to the second throne of this room, Jeanne gave two reasons for Charlemagne's 'warm' reception. It was all a bit depressing, but understandable even for Charlemagne. The Nexus, however, was still radiating a joyous aura. "What?! You mean I'm not getting one either?" he asked in an exaggerated manner.

Angelica and Sakura met just as the latter had been waiting to, and Charlemagne seemed equal parts happy and concerned. There was a great deal to talk about involving those two, he thought, but now wasn't the time to get into all that. If nothing else, the sight of them together was something beyond his wildest dreams. What garbage he was to be envisioning how much better the two could get along in a more intimate way. He even felt compelled to make a few filthy suggestions about how they could get to know each other... sexually? Magically? He wasn't even sure which one it was at this point. That wasn't even the way his brain normally worked; he'd really become something different after all. In the end, Charlemagne could only laugh somewhat nervously. "Ehe... yeah, you two get along," he said, only to be immediately beckoned by the Nexus. "Hey, hey. C'mere," the man said.

Charlemagne looked his way, then briefly toward Angelica and Sakura again. In that moment of being unobserved, the Nexus looked to the two girls as well, his hands gesturing forward to mimic pushing. He thought the two really could get to know each other a bit better, but Charlemagne would only make things unnecessarily complicated at present. As such, he gave the lad his own throne, which faced himself and Jeanne... and faced away from the other two. While the lad approached, the Nexus answered Angelica. He had only a chuckle to offer Jeanne's observation, as the truth would make itself clear soon enough. "Ask away, doll."

[Apollymi]

The jovialness of the Nexus even in the face of some rather normally intense moments was infectious for the most part. Jeanne would be easily found side-eyeing the white haired man sitting beside her and giving at least a little consideration. Her other self would have definitely greeted this man with a hug. Jeanne or rather Hoshimi Emi was just a fairly affectionate girl. She was also among her family a bit of a cry-baby, but that was neither here nor there. As she'd matured she'd stopped crying and after the incidents surrounding the theft of her grail, she'd found herself generally adverse to affection which could come from those of the opposite gender. Perhaps though, the fact that the Nexus was usually a disembodied voice that normally wasn't people at all could work in its favor? "Fuck if I know, ask me before I leave..." yeah, that was about as comital as the currently abrasive form of Jeanne could be.

Another gasp from Angelica would follow. She really wasn't used to hearing Jeanne swear, it was a surreal experience. It felt almost wrong for the girl who was normally yelling language at people and keeping the conversations within normal bounds to spew vulgarities so very casually. In this moment, Angelica realized that her father had actually broken the nicest person in the world. Jeanne was still herself, but she was so markedly different from the version that Angelica was used to she didn't know what to do. Moving on from that, both Sakura and Angelica seemed to be very interested in getting to know each other, and after the embrace between Charles and Angelica ended, the Nexus seemed keen to enable it as well. Though Charles himself was rather weird about it, this wasn't terribly abnormal, he was just a guy after all, strangely both those girls didn't seem to think it too odd.

Charles went to join Jeanne and the Nexus but facing away and in the same moment Jeanne looked to see a rather wicked smile cross the face of Sakura. 'That's a Rie-nee face if I've ever seen one~' she thought. Angelica had a question though, "You're like an all seeing guy right? Did you see my floor?" she asked of the Nexus as she and Sakura were gestured together. Sakura reached out a hand for the other girl, who felt strangely compelled to take it. 'It's a trap!~' these were the thoughts of Jeanne d'Arc but her face was completely unreadable. The two girls were evenly matched in height and their structures and colors complimented each other, mana was exchanged between the pair first by that contact between hands, but in so being, they eventually came to hug. Moment by moment they got closer and closer, and strangely, it would be Angelica who aimed to kiss the rather passive, but strangely manipulative Sakura. Yes, that was about what would happen in a situation like this...

[Bloodedge]

"Will do~" the Nexus answered. He knew the original Jeanne would have probably opened their meeting with a hug, just as she likely would have embraced Charlemagne after so long apart. This new version was fairly interesting for the contrast, if nothing else. Oh well; everything would be fine soon enough. He couldn't see every aspect of Jeanne's existence currently, but he could see Charlemagne. That alone was enough for him to know.

Upon reaching the Nexus and Jeanne, Charlemagne took a seat. It was such a strange way to be placed, but he assumed the Nexus wished to discuss something with him directly. As such, he sat while the Holy Grail was refilled. The Nexus took a moment to fill Jeanne's phantom grail as well, figuring a few minutes of distraction would serve the group well. Ah, but he also had something worth whispering to Charlemagne. "You know it's only going to be more weird for you if you blow a hole in your pants right now, right?" he asked, much to the lad's embarrassment. "That's not the conversation I thought I was walking into!"

The Nexus laughed. He knew what was happening behind Charlemagne, and he knew it was better if the boy was uninvolved presently. There remained a discussion to have with Angelica, though. Had he seen her... floor? Floor? Ah, that! "It's pretty hard to see in there because of your guardian's meddling," he said with a sigh. He wouldn't be acknowledging Anu as the girl's father, but of course there were several undisclosed reasons for that. Regardless, a snap of his fingers warped the blank space around them. Since Angelica was here, her soul's memories could be probed easily. They would all find themselves sitting in the garden she more recently developed, able to see the whole of her floor. One could even feel the atmosphere just as it was intended during her original creation. "This place, right? You want me to tell you how awesome it is? I'll be honest; I know a lot of words in every language ever. I probably still don't have enough to appreciate this sort of thing properly. It sort of reminds me of... Shangri-La, that place we never got around to finishing on Terra."

[Apollymi]

The rightness of Jeanne in the future was something she didn't think about. Of course, she had no reason to concern herself with it, she knew other people were worried but she had only one thing to do before she righted herself. All would be okay eventually. In the meantime, Jeanne got a phantasmal grail full of something delicious and while she drank she could only be amused. What she was seeing behind Charles wasn't even completely out of the ordinary for normal girls who got along as such she wasn't bothered at all, though Charles had it pointed out that he was close to a problematic issue. A chortle came from Jeanne as he claimed this wasn't the conversation he thought he was walking into. "Easy, Chuck. Girl Time is sacred, enjoy your drink~" she claimed, choosing not to comment on what girl time entailed and choosing not to poke further fun at him for having a more natural reaction though she well could have.

In the meantime, she sipped casually from her cup and witnessed an evolution. The meeting of lips easily became a tongue wrestling match between the two opposing girl, with Sakura being the one to evolve it. Just the same both girls had oddly moving hands squeezing at their best assets. According to Angelica she'd changed her floor and Jeanne hadn't seen it either. Here and now the white space would be transformed. It didn't go past Jeanne's notice that the Nexus didn't call Anu, Angelica's father, which was pleasing regardless of his reason for doing so, she chuckled again. Angelica was finding Sakura's body to be quite soft and squishy. The other girl's mouth tasted of something powerful enough to burn but also with a mild sweetness behind it. She couldn't have described it if she tried, but she liked it. At the same time... Sakura was tasting something rather sweet in the mouth of Angelica. More like pure vanilla something sweet that could be added to anything. How nice. Both girls were soon red faced, but Angelica had multiple reasons to be, a gentle lip smacking would be heard as she parted and looked upon her work while taking in the view of her floor. "Really?!" she exclaimed seemingly excited about it. Sakura for a moment looked around as well, this was a great thing too. Another squeeze of Angelica's chest would occur but she'd also comment while still looking a bit more devilish than normal. "I really like this place too... Otou-chan would think it was nice as well. It's really pretty~" she claimed, though she sounded a little breathless? "Otou-chan?" Angelica questioned. Sakura now understood her references weren't easily understood. "I have five fathers, Otou-chan is an elf and a druid," she commented. "I met an elf the other day. That's so interesting..." she claimed seeming to wonder more about Sakura's parents. "I'll show you~" Sakura chimed and suddenly they were right back at it, while Sakura fed Angelica information and visuals on her parents.

"You redecorated," Jeanne said her eyes glancing over the place. Even this version of Jeanne had nothing negative to say. In fact she had the words everyone else was missing. "I know what to say, this place is bitchin'~" she claimed in pure happy fashion. "Way better than it was, a fucking masterpiece~" she added lifting her cup to the lass. Angelica still wasn't very used to Jeanne swearing, but given her current circumstances there was something really heartwarming about it. The mention of an Elf Druid as one of five fathers of Sakura was rather interesting to Jeanne. "That's a lot of dads~" she commented, but left it alone. "You guys got an elf? I mean you were always prone to making odd friends I suppose~" she said of Charles.

[Bloodedge]

According to Jeanne, 'girl time' was sacred. He didn't know what that had to do with what was most recently said; he and the Nexus were discussing the dangers of an erection he almost thought his way into. Oh well. Whatever she was getting at, he probably didn't need to know anyway. Being suddenly placed within Angelica's garden was comfortable, and he did have something to drink while time passed. If there was something else odd meant to come from the Nexus's mouth, however, he'd hope for a better start than that last attempt.

More importantly, the sounds of Angelica's and Sakura's reactions were... strange. It all sounded like... no, there was no way. His perverted mind was obviously taking things way too far, filling in unknowns with his own sick desires. Even so, the sounds he imagined seemed very real. Maybe it was an effect of being in the Nexus? Whatever the case, multiple perspectives on Angelica's garden were given, with Jeanne ending it all by questioning Charlemagne. He didn't think he was very prone to making odd friends, though their personalities were admittedly all over the place. "Huh?" he said initially. It took a moment for him to fully register her words. Ah, but he was able to respond just after that utterance. "There is Fierabras, yeah. He was a Saracen knight while we were still out hunting relics, but he was brought over to our side in the middle of it all. Another one pushing me into a role I didn't want," he griped, sipping from the grail thereafter. "They're not odd though. I mean, they're not all human I guess, but I can't see the difference. Go figure, the one who helped set me up in the end was Ganelon."

[Apollymi]

Jeanne had mentioned the sacredness of girl time, and maybe it wasn't clear why she said it. She said it because Charles was still a man, and thus was easily distracted by his second brain, even if it was no fault of his own. Perving on 'girl time' could change the image of a nice guy pretty easily and Charles was a nice guy. But... maybe he'd figure that whole thing out on his own. Or... given the fact that the other two young women were making out without any shame whatsoever maybe it wouldn't be a big deal later. But Charles did come from the same world as Jeanne and she knew how those minds worked if nothing else.

Just the same the make-out session between Sakura and Angelica seemed to be progressing rather consistently. Angelica was receiving a great deal of information about Sakura and her immediate family and Sakura was behaving in a way more conducive to the way her powers and abilities wished to work. All the while they were making sounds which were likely contributing to Charles not being able to concentrate. Oh well... Jeanne seemed to be reasonable enough at getting this lad's attention and what did he have to say. "Saracen? I can't say I've seen one of those in ages... " she said seeming to find that interesting. Beyond that though there was the matter of the jobs Charles was forced into, "Volunteer as tribute you wouldn't have to worry about being made to do anything~" she said with a chuckle. According to Charles beyond these points it was Ganelon that was a problem for him in the more recent times, who'd backed Anu and tried forcing him out. "Ganelon? Old guy from the French Court? Well... that isn't really surprising. When most of our current problems are magical beings, gods and dragons... it's easy to forget that weak-hearted humans are the shittiest people," she said honestly. Humanity was its own biggest problem and in the world they'd originally come from, she knew for a fact that humans were the biggest problem.

But what wasn't a problem was the now breaking kisses between Sakura and Angelica. The pair seemed to have come to some sort of agreement and Angelica now completely understood the other girl and in typical fashion seemed to be quite fond of her already. They seemed to have approached their natural breaking point but were still rather happily holding hands. "It really is great," she said of the place they were currently in. "I don't know... your home seems like it would be pretty interesting too.... and your parents seem really nice," Angelica mentioned seeming to have no problem with the girl's rather diverse parentage.

[Bloodedge]

While something Charlemagne would have died by witnessing occurred, he was discussing matters of the Saracens and the traitor among his group. "You probably won't see them again. Not with that name, anyway," he said in passing, regarding the Saracens. The king of that particular group was long gone. If there remained any stragglers, they couldn't come forth with the same identity. Regarding Ganelon, he couldn't be too surprised either, knowing now how Anais viewed the older male. "That one, yeah. He became Roland's stepfather, and he was a solid guiding figure for a long time. Seems like he's been on Father An's side for a while now, though ─ the more I think about it."

Angelica and Sakura continued exchanging information somehow. Charlemagne thought of this in the way he'd learned about in Munetsuchi, but that had to just be his mind doing its own thing again. The sounds persisted as well. The poor lad was eventually crossing his legs within the throne, sipping as nonchalantly as possible. In his mind, however, he had a front-row seat of those two, each with their tongue down the other's throat. Naturally, that visual in his head was the reason for the current posture. "So uh... how long are we gonna sit here? I thought there was something to discuss," he said to the Nexus, who had the gall to look dumbfounded. "How long? Until everything's done, obviously. Listen, kid, sometimes there are a lot of intangibles to deal with. You just need to sit down and let certain things play out, even when you don't know what's going on. Right, Jeanne?"

[Apollymi]

"Hoh?" that was an interesting sentence. Charles kept saying he wasn't interested in outings with Jeanne's sister, but she could see them getting along based solely upon how they chose to handle their problems. Oh well... people like them didn't listen to her until they were already in the middle of the experiences anyways. She'd point it out later over drinks and desserts or something like that. Moving on from that point there was the matter of Ganelon who apparently had been a guiding force for them but might have been on the side of the 'Holy Father' for quite a while. "Roland's stepfather?" she questioned. She remembered that man's mother and didn't figure she'd ever take another husband after her first... strange how the world worked. "Don't beat yourself up over it, an older voice of reason is usually a pretty good thing. I have one among the knights right now, her name is Terrawyn. It's more or less a toss up if older people are going to be problematic," she said knowing full well that the 'in my day' type of people who went looking for their former glory were more likely to be terrible than the more flexible of their ilk. "She'd be pretty helpful to you by the way... if you run into her at the HQ. She has a weird 'blind' nun thing going on but she's great!~" she mentioned ever helpful knowing he was likely walking into a clustered problem upstairs.

All the while Charles tired to keep himself together. Sakura and Angelica were having a whispered and giggled conversation. Of course, it would switch around a bit and there would be hushed conversations happening about Charles now and that was also to be expected. To answer Charles's question about how long they were going to sit here, there were apparently things to discuss. "Hai, sometimes what you don't know is happening is more important than the things you know about..." Jeanne said, she could at least say that with a good amount of understanding of the situation. Besides all that she was content to enjoy a few drinks and just catch up. The next thing heard said by Sakura was a question concerning Charles's friends. "Do you know the girl with the deer horns? Otou-chan is her mentor... I haven't gotten to speak with her much yet..." trailing off again. They were holding hands and still chatting from really close together. "Ah, you should talk to Jeanne she's great for that sort of thing..." Angelica mentioned seeming to grab the attention of the lass as she drained another cup of its contents and once again held it out. She didn't know when she'd get another and it was a life rule to have a good time.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah, I'm not sure how that even happened either," said Charlemagne regarding Ganelon's relationship with Roland's mother. Frankly, it was one of the weirdest things he'd ever seen. Maybe that could be understood eventually, whenever they encountered Roland's mother again. Maybe something else in that meeting could even explain how Roland became what he now was. . .

Reminiscing aside, Charlemagne was advised about the eventual appearance at her... or perhaps their headquarters. Terrawyn was the name of a blind nun who guided Jeanne. Something about that made Charlemagne recall something else. Rarely did he see a nun outside of churches, but he'd seen one in the past 24 hours or so. That had to be some strange coincidence. "Terrawyn? That's an unusual name, but I'll keep that in mind. Thanks," he said with another sip of... wine, if it could actually be called that. What was the grail's liquid? It was something sweet, but he wouldn't call it alcohol. He did know, however, that one could become drunk from it. How strange.

It seemed both Jeanne and the Nexus understood something Charlemagne didn't. That came as no surprise; that sort of thing kept happening lately. "Fine, fine. I'd rather not talk about much right now anyway," he said with surety. "That's the spirit! Have another," said the Nexus, who immediately refilled Jeanne's grail while adding more to Charlemagne's as well. "I'll uh... pass. I don't need to be drunk today," Charlemagne deflected.

[Apollymi]

Jeanne's mind had been a bit caught on the idea that Ganelon had somehow managed a relationship with the mother of Roland. Actually, it was a bit outlandish, that woman was a top tier French Lady... Ganelon didn't even hit the radar of most regular people. It was a suspicious. "Might be sorcery... at the risk of sounding like a Knight of the Round Table. Tell Roland to check on his mom, whenever you see him again..." she added still drinking. That little bit aside they were still talking about other things as well, including but not limited to the advisor that Jeanne used while her sister was away. "Yeah, it's a bit odd, but she's great. I also don't think she's actually blind or anything. She showed up after my sister first went missing and is usually around to do the extra kind of stuff she would do while she's gone," she said in a strangely upbeat manner. "Given my sister is with me, she might be showing up again and if she is... you should definitely use her expertise," she said with a firm bit of belief in that woman specifically.

Moving on apparently Charles would rather not talk very much right now regardless. Jeanne couldn't commiserate. So as her cup was refilled she began drinking again without missing a beat. Yes, she understood it was intoxicating and no she didn't much care about what was going on with her spirit or her body. She was safe where she was in both case, she'd relax. "If he won't take it I will~ Life's too short not to have a good time~" she listed the first rule in the life of the Hoshimi women, that she'd been spreading around her friend groups since her first life. Moving on, it seemed the little make-out and the subsequent whispers between Sakura and Angelica had come to an end and both would be appearing on either side of Charles's chair. They were still holding hands behind it and were more than ready to be part of the rest of the conversation. "See like that... it's one of the rules!~" Angelica mentioned, which seemed to make Sakura's eyes sparkle a bit. "Oh? You still remember that huh? Been putting it to good use I assume~" said Jeanne with a casual eye flicker over Charles.

[Bloodedge]

Jeanne presumed sorcery could be behind the relationship they spoke of, and truly, Charlemagne agreed. It made no sense whatsoever. Having Roland check on his mother, however, was something he didn't intend to have necessary. "The way things look, Roland won't need telling. If Ganelon is still siding with Father An when we get back, Roland's mother will be a widow," Charlemagne stated. Such a claim was a bit dark for him, as a few other things had been recently. No matter; someone of Ganelon's ilk could not be allowed. Currently, he had faith only in those who confirmed their trustworthiness, and those they trusted as well. This Terrawyn Jeanne spoke of would be trusted if met, but anyone from Aincrad outside of a few people were on a list of the suspicious.

Charlemagne had no intention of drinking a third grail, so he leaned forward to pour what he had into Jeanne's grail. In doing so, he thought about what she had to say... and how much nerve she had to say it. "Didn't we grow up together, I dunno, over a thousand years ago?" he questioned. Life was no longer short for people like them. Regardless, he finished pouring and fell back against his throne. Something felt strange when Angelica and Sakura each took a side to him. What was it? He couldn't quite tell, but it could be attributed to Nexus weirdness. While Charlemagne brushed off what should have been obvious, the Nexus glanced at the trio in front of him. "That's a nice sight," he said casually, only for Charlemagne to have no clue what he meant.

[Apollymi]

According to Charles, Roland's mother would likely be a widow again so the point of warning the lad was moot. Still it was a rather dark thing for him to say, enough to bring a gentle pause to Jeanne as she looked at the lad. Perhaps he'd have fit in better than he understood. Still she had no comments to make about it. Angelica on the other hand seemed to think about it at least a little. "That's a bit dark for you..." she commented wondering if he was really okay after his more literal fall. Ah, but it was fine.

They'd moved on in conversation and with both of the girls standing around his chair, Charles leaned forward to pour his remaining grail liquid into Jeanne's cup which she gladly accepted. Still his words made her chuckle just a little, as he seemed to think her words a bit audacious. "Living a long time is more of a reason to make sure we have fun, not less Surely, you've figured that part out by now, Chuck." she countered. Yes, she thought like this even as her darkened self. "Besides, that one was mom's rule, I keep all of them pretty close, but that one feels the closest to normal for me," she admitted. Well, Jeanne d'Arc was a party girl in her previous life, good tempered and full of life, there was no reason her more death-bringing form would be very different. At the core she was still the same person after all. The Nexus commented on the sight and both girls smiled pretty widely. Jeanne saw this and looked to Charles. And here she thought the oddest thing she'd see in life was her sister with feelings for a man. This magical world was still kind of fun. To Jeanne's point of the rules, Angelica nodded. "Yeah, I've been using them... You haven't led me astray," she said confidently. "Sakura said her big sister isn't here yet and she wants one too, but I think the explanation is best from you," Angelica mentioned seeming to think that Jeanne wouldn't say no to such a thing. "I also want a hug," Sakura mentioned which made Jeanne laugh. "Yeah, yeah... I guess you can have one too. It'd be unfair otherwise," she mentioned for whatever reason.

[Bloodedge]

After his words about Roland's mother, Angelica was the one to speak. She claimed that line was a bit dark for his norm, but how could it be? At this point, taking Ganelon down alongside An was only a sensible solution. "What do you expect, Angie? I watched him turn on me ─ on all of us! There I am with a knife in Father An that I didn't put there, and there he is ready to call me on attempted murder before it even happened! And I can't avoid realizing 'old helpful Ganel' wasn't on the list of people helping you. He's not one of us!" he declared. The way he saw things, An had to be taken down. Ganelon was no different, or perhaps even worse for taking the old god's side after everything he'd done.

Leaning further into the throne, Charlemagne heaved a sigh. A bit of residue remained in his grail, so he poured it into his mouth. Thinking too much about that fall was not good for his state of mind. Regardless, he calmed himself enough to accept Jeanne's reasoning for the earlier statement. She kept her mother close even in this darkened form; that was respectable. In fact, that sort of thing only added to the hope of her proper return. Ah, but Jeanne had more to say. The next words out of her mouth were an acceptance of Sakura's request... for a hug? It would be unfair to tell the girl no, she said. Of course. Everyone would be getting that sort of reception but him, who remained covered in burns that came with no apology. That was fair. In his mind, Charlemagne called this... a shitty reunion, in spite of the underlying hope for a better future. "And me too! We're basically done here, so that question's still in the air," said the Nexus.

[Apollymi]

Charles had an interesting set of things to say after Angelica pointed out how dark his commentary was. She was left looking at him after his rather fuming tirade and wondered if he was really okay. It was technically a very bad job he was doing pretending to be alright if he was having that sort of outburst. But it was more confusing than anything else. "Not getting any lighter there, Chuck!" she mentioned seeming to find his words to be way harsher than they needed to be. True, Ganelon wasn't on the list of people helping Angelica, his other friends though him sketchy as well. So the plan concerning her safe keeping didn't include him, but that changed nothing about Charles disposition. A gentle squeeze of Angelica's hand would occur as she aimed to give the lass a bit of comfort. Jeanne watched him lean in his chair and wondered if this was what other people saw her like, as she had pretty clear memories of Charles and he wasn't like this. Ah, that was a problem for a different time, right here right now, Jeanne stood up draining her phantom grail and sitting it where she had been in her throne.

"I'm the Big Sis around here now, so I guess I'll give the advice I was given and you can make use of it as you will. I don't know the equivalent for number two for Chuck, but I'm sure he'll figure it out~" she teased gently. "Rule number 1, Mom's rule... Have the second drink. Life is too short not to have a good time. Well that is the human side of it. Life is now too long for it to be boring. That's an amendment but she'd agree~" she said. As she began taking steps towards that throne, strangely she felt a bit more like her old and motivational speaking self, maybe it was the Nexus drinks, maybe it was something else? "Rule number 2, Rie-nee's rule. Wear the cute panties. Always be ready for someone to see them, regardless of why you set out today," she said finally making her way to Sakura's side she opened her arms to the girl and Sakura would walk into them, giving a pretty nice hug with a nice warm set of back pats. Strange, this girl was really good at being comforting. "Rule number 3, Eri-nee's rule, If you want something dead, twist the knife. No half-assed or half-hearted murders. Commit," another slight amendment but she was sure her sister wouldn't mind that one either. At the end of her hug with Sakura she felt strangely better about a lot of things, but she couldn't have put them all into perspective if she wanted to. "Rule number 4, is my rule. If there's something you really want to do and it makes you happy. It really makes your soul sing... and it's not hurting anyone. Do it. It's your life to live, don't worry about how it looks, no regrets." she said yes that was the end of her little speech and she would be found standing in front of Charles. "In the spirit of living by my own life rules... I'm sorry I fucked you up so bad after our first meeting in a thousand years..." she offered Charles feeling strangely truly apologetic. "And yes, you can have a hug... both of you I guess. If you want," she said of the Nexus and Charles himself. Over the course of her speech she realized it was less like her to be so standoffish around friends. And they were all practically family now, she would have hugged her brother, it would be a bit unnecessarily weird not to give hugs to the other two. She was still a bit tsundere though, so there wasn't really any getting around it.

[Bloodedge]

Of course his words weren't getting any lighter. The way Charlemagne saw things, he had no reason to go easy on someone like Ganelon. He was right to be angry from time to time. That particular man had deceived them all, and he didn't even know how long it had been going on. Beyond being furious with Ganelon, Charlemagne remained angry at himself for not seeing the betrayal coming. "It's just upsetting, okay? A lot happened, and I'm still processing it all. It'll be alright," he assured. The Nexus, however, eyed both Angelica and Sakura upon hearing those words. This was only the start, and indeed things would be alright... with a bit of intervening necessary along the way. Perhaps now wasn't the time, but the Nexus knew Charlemagne would be taking an atypical path soon.

Jeanne stood, and she spoke. In spite of her current form's rowdiness, she had some advice to give. There was the rule from her mother about taking the extra drink. A rule from her eldest sister involved panties, which Charlemagne surely couldn't apply to himself; he even wondered why she bothered listing that one. What he most resonated with currently was the rule from the middle sister, which involved certain killing. A final rule from Jeanne herself was something she always preached: following one's own desires. She listed those four things while in contact with Sakura, then spoke to Charlemagne directly. An apology was offered for the assault, and with it came a hug offer to the Nexus. Ah, but Charlemagne was included in the latter this time. How strange. Charlemagne continued sitting in place, thinking back to her original reason for not hugging him. "I'm still a guy, you know? If you've got a 'no touching' thing, I'm not going to be the one to break it," he said, rejecting the offer sent his way. The Nexus, however... "Well I'm not a guy! Last I checked, I was a disembodied voice. Bring it in!" said the Nexus, who immediately stood with both arms spread wide.

[Apollymi]

According to Charles, he was still upset and processing. Angelica understood this, she didn't think she would have been particularly friendly a few moments later had she shown up. Even so... The look given by the Nexus to both girls was registered. Sakura understood his emotional state was her own responsibility so she noted this weird point of his and she'd talk to him about it. Perhaps his elafia friend would be able to give a bit more context as well. Angelica could do nothing really for now, but sighed just the same. "If you say so, Chuck..." she murmured.

Just the same Jeanne had a bit of a speech to give despite being a bit on edge in her current form and by the end of it Sakura's eyes were shining. This lass had a strange ability to be both comforting and knowledgeable in a way that was just inspiring. If she was going to consult someone on speech giving, it would be her. Moving on from this point, Charles apparently wasn't giving any hugs because of her no guy rule. This was fine with Jeanne but she did offer, he really did seem like he was in quite the bad mood for him though. The Nexus on the other hand, claimed to be a disembodied voice and held his arms open for the lass. She walked into them meeting a hug with a good fatherly figure. It was strange, she hadn't had one of these in quite a while. And she seemed to remember something rather important. "Shit, I forgot two rules, don't tell them okay, they'll think I forgot about them," she mumbled immediately though she kept her hug with the Nexus just the same. "Rule number five is dad's rule, And it's essentially be careful who you share yourself with, not in the simple way, but in the all information kind of way. Basically don't give away your secrets. Cards close to the vest, until you need them," she added. "And rule six, Kei-nii's rule. Be unapologetically yourself... whatever that means for you, even if it means you're the weirdest person in your group," she said. "Those, are the rules to live by..." she said looking up at the Nexus. "Thanks, by the way..." she mentioned seeming to feel strangely emotional for the time without really knowing why. It was after all nice to know she'd not been completely abandoned.

[Bloodedge]

There would be no hugging between Charlemagne and Jeanne d'Arc today. Perhaps such a thing existed in a future neither of them could see, but at least one of them strove for. Whatever the future held, the present contained two additional rules from the men in Jeanne's original life. Strangely, they contradicted one another. Where one preached reservation, the other spoke of openness. What a strange family they were, but perhaps there was something deeper there. Charlemagne would internalize those things whether he wanted to or not.

Meanwhile, the Nexus embraced his... technically adopted child, with a warm firmness. It had been a very long time since he could make physical contact with anyone, and he would soon enough be rendered incapable again. As such, he'd enjoy the moment now. Only a few additional words were shared with Jeanne. "Oh! I should give dad advice then, huh?" he asked rhetorically. Upon releasing the Dragon Witch, he tapped her forehead gently with a single finger. "You, little miss, are in a pickle right now. Tell your sister to check her pockets. While you're at it, remember: once a dragon, always a dragon. That goes forward and backwards. Did you know places of Mystery and old magic are the best for making dragons appear? Just food for thought."

He wasn't done there. In a technical sense, the Nexus had advice for everyone present. He looked next to Angelica. "Ang, you're doing great out there! Don't forget everything you learned recently. And remember, the person looking after you isn't automatically qualified to be a parent. Real parents will always be there for their children. A father is not a dad. It sucks that you've never had a real heart-to-heart with your dad," he rambled. "Sakura! Tell that awesome lady I'm sorry for stepping on her toes ─ she's doing great, but I should tell you right now that internalization doesn't have to be the whole of something. Sometimes, if you really want to take it up a notch, you can evolve something even after it's become part of you," he explained. Lastly, there was Charlemagne. What was he to tell the lad he finally made eye contact with? "And you... don't let yourself forget what you decided to do, yeah? Sometimes the hard part is letting go and taking a chance. Maybe things get worse... but maybe they work out exactly as you hope, King of Faith."

With all that said, the Nexus banished all existing thrones within the area. The visual of Angelica's floor in Aincrad was beginning to fade, but he stopped it from doing so just before it was too late. "Hmm. Actually, I'll keep this for a bit. Sorry Ang, but I really like it. You can come take it back later if you want. Anyway, that's all. You kids have a rockin' good time, alright?"

[Apollymi]

The words Jeanne ended up sharing last were ones which made a decent bit of sense to both Sakura and Angelica. Sakura from a standpoint of wisdom she could see the point of being yourself while also not sharing too much with unnecessary people. And Angelica could see the goodness of caution to temper impulsivity, though she was a bit impulsive herself.

Moving on, Jeanne was eventually released from what had been a rather calming embrace and tapped upon the forehead with a single finger. She almost pouted at such a thing, but it reminded her a bit of home so she couldn't actually be upset. His advice was strange enough, but also clear enough to be internalized. He wanted her sister to check her pockets, she'd ask which one, but it was Eri who was always forgetting to take things out of her pockets. "Sou ka... well, I'll do that I guess. And that makes a lot of sense of my sister too, I suppose," she said about the dragons and their evolution. She didn't know when the rest of that would come into play but figured when she needed to, she'd remember it.

Angelica was told she was doing great, which was comforting considering she was out on her own for the first time. He had some rather cryptic things to say about what made people parents. "Alright, I'll keep it in mind," she said seemingly please though she still looked at Charles and then back to Sakura hoping the other girl would be able to help with his mood a bit. To Sakura he mentioned an apology to be delivered to his daughter in the Void. He also gave her the information concerning her potential to develop further. Had she not done everything she could? "I'll pass it along, and think about it more and let you know what I come up with!" she she said seemingly pleased. Of course she was like that in general and always happy to show anyone what she came up with. His message to Charles was interesting and pointed. The details of it were unknown to the women present, but it seemed to be alright. With all the thrones banished the hand holding of Sakura and Angelica was something obvious well, more obvious and made Jeanne chuckle just a bit. And the Nexus decided to keep the look of Angelica's floor. Her face flushed and she was immensely flattered. "No, no... it's fine. I'm glad you like it enough to want to see it," she said truly happy someone would get to enjoy it as even she wouldn't be able to anymore. "Aww..." just that slipped out of Jeanne for just a moment. And then she turned ready to slip out of this place again... it'd been so long since she'd been here last, it was nice.

[Bloodedge]

The Nexus gave all necessary information and advice. One message was delivered to each was about enough to set things in motion. Even Charlemagne seemed to be internalizing the advice he was given, though it seemed infinitely concerning. Well... it should have been. "Groovy! I'll be keeping tabs on you crazy kids. Go out there and make your dreams come true!"

With that, each person would be transported to their original location... somewhat. Jeanne would see her consciousness returned. Angelica, too, would be capable of waking in her hideaway. For the other two, they'd be right back to the Zen Pavilion that originally sent them to the Nexus. Perhaps he thought to save them a trip, or perhaps there was another purpose. Well, there was hardly a point in trying to figure out that man's intentions. Charlemagne knew that face. It was he who created the franchise Age of Eternity, which spawned even the trading card game he once enjoyed to no end. He'd always been a very unpredictable individual. Moving on from matters of the Nexus, Charlemagne found himself flopping onto a mattress upon spawning. Luckily enough, it was the perfect short answer for mental exhaustion. "That was... a lot. At least Angie's alright. I guess there's no point in finishing the map now, since we can just go straight to HQ and start from there. This is going to be such a pain," he groaned.

[Apollymi]

And with that, all returned to where they should have been. Sakura was particularly pleased by her outing today, aside from Charles's obvious change in disposition over the course of their outing. Interesting that all which happened seemed to be both good and bad. She didn't have any way of quantifying his actions but she was at least happy that he got to see Angelica. At the same time, she was also happy to have gotten to meet Angelica as well...

Charles was soon summing up his points, that at least Angelica was okay and that they didn't need to finish the map since they could get directly to the Holy Knights Headquarters and work their way out from there. "Hai, she's fine. I'm really happy I got to meet her..." she said of Angelica of course she was very informed of that lass and her current mental and physical state. Technically speaking Sakura was very aware of everyone's physical state. Since he'd collapsed on the bed she crawled in as well, settling herself in to place his head into her lap. He seemed to be quite restless and she was not at all. As such... she'd help him relax a bit more as he thought over the situation. "It might be a pain. But I'll be with you, okay?" she asked him still so freely offering herself to go along. "You can rest now... " she said patting his head gently. Sakura was perhaps coddling Charles just a bit, but he'd been through a lot today so she figured he wouldn't really know immediately how he wished to start. All would be fine eventually, she was sure of it.

[Bloodedge]

It was good to confirm Angelica's safety, and good to have Sakura meet her after being so excited to do so. Charlemagne could relax for the moment. "You two seemed to get along after whatever you were talking about," he said, though the image in his mind told him there was no talking at all. It was best to silence that. He was on his back, and the physical signs would be obvious ─ especially once Sakura slid herself under his head to once again have her lap as his pillow. His legs lifted at the knee slightly, a natural inclination to hide the signs. As he did so, Sakura reiterated that she'd be with him during the coming annoyance. That was a relief, if anything.

"Yeah... thanks," he said while looking up at the lass. She said he could rest, but he really didn't intend to. Well, he'd take the moment at least. This was no time for sleeping or anything of the like, though. "I should call the others. They'll know to meet us in the throne room whenever they can," the lad murmured. His hand rose a few moments after, and a streak of glittering light mana spread out from it. That streak burst like a firework after extending several meters. Visually, the remnants of it disappeared, but it would travel the length of an average city. It was something his comrades could sense from nearby ─ something used within their group to call for rendezvous. Wherever they most recently were as a group, they were to meet again at everyone's earliest convenience. "There. I wonder how long they'll take. I just need to let everyone know the plan."

[Apollymi]

Charles seemed to be relaxing at least a little. At the very least, he also seemed pleased that the pair of Angelica and Sakura got along, though the lad himself didn't seem to want to think too much about what that would actually mean. Sakura did hold a bit of wonder about that, but she also knew that Charles wasn't exactly intune with his own urges. Beyond that he wasn't exactly as certain as everyone else. "We were talking about life, fun and you..." she said seeming to think the better of fully explaining. "Oh, and Jea-nee," she said seemingly pleased by the information. Besides all of that there was their actual understanding of each other and the part that Charles likely wouldn't understand so it went without mentioning. Actually, the lad had been rather dark all day, perhaps Sakura should help. Strangely he only took a moment or two of rest, nestled in her lap before he stood and spread strange light claiming to call the others. She assumed this had something to do with Anais and Astolfo. What would come of such a thing. "Oh? That's interesting," she said finding the method to be oddly magical given Charles own strange aversion to it.

In the meantime where was Anais? Well, the young elafia was still in the middle of her day of exploration and lessons. Right at the moment she was having a lesson. And it was being presented in a rather direct manner. She was accepting it into the depths of her person from her core. Her legs extended upwards in a slight 'v' as her mentor was capable of pushing himself into her depths from her for. She knew and understood that magical light and was confused by it as it glittered by. "Oh? Charlie is calling us. He never calls us," she mumbled as she soon lost focus just for a second given her own activities.

[Bloodedge]

Sakura went on to list the topics addressed between Angelica and herself. They included him, concerning though that was. Charlemagne became immediately curious as to what sort of conversation between them involved him. Was it something incriminating? It easily could have been something he didn't want out in the open before the right time came. Ah, but that surely couldn't be the case; Angelica had shown no animosity or suspicious leanings after their conversation ended. Perhaps there was something else regarding him? Whatever the truth was, he couldn't bring himself to ask even a single question; that would be far too obvious where his mind was going."Oh. Cool," was all he said.

Ah, they also spoke of Jeanne d'Arc, already affectionately referred to as 'Jea-nee' by Sakura. How strange. Well, Jeanne did have a habit of being adored with neither plentiful time nor effort invested. Even her current form seemed to retain that ability when she wanted to express it. "Jea-nee, huh? Y'know at this point, I'm surprised she even became friendly at all," he stated. It did seem for a while as if Jeanne could only know hatred. Discovering the tsundere tendencies underneath was quite the boon.

Shortly after Charlemagne relied on an old calling card, the elafia of his group had something to say. The elf calling himself her mentor loomed over her body, their lower halves clashing repeatedly. Upon hearing her claim 'Charlie' was calling, his thrusting came to a gradual pause. "Ah? Is that what that is? It's quite interesting that you'd use such a method to keep in touch with one another. Do you need to address that immediately? Should we be stopping?" he wondered. "We are mid-lesson, but if you really must. . ."

[Apollymi]

Charles seemed to be trying to process the idea of the conversation between Sakura and Angelica. And much like both of them had thought during their conversation, Charles was thinking far too human for the truth of their understanding. Of course, there was no need to try and explain it to him now... they had plenty of time in the future to make him fully understand what he didn't. As for the friendliness of Jeanne there were two things to consider about it, both would be addressed by Sakura as she understood how the girl came to be a much more relatable being. "Her hate has specific targets. She wasn't unfriendly. Besides that... she had a few grails... it was enough light to lighten her up a bit, bring her closer to neutral as an existence," she explained. "And you contributed as well, but you took on a bit of her darkness in exchange," Sakura concluded her understanding of events. Of course, Sakura also understood that the nature of the 'forbidden' wasn't nearly what it seemed at base regardless. It was one of those little things that would gain more clarity as time went on.

Apparently the calling card used by Charles was something that could be sensed by Ailen himself. He found it interesting that it was a choice, but it made sense given how spread out they were whenever someone might need something. "It's definitely what that is..." she murmured. Ah, but he was still moving and then upon coming to a gradual pause in their activities. Mid-lesson, mid-coitus, Charles might have the worst timing in human history. If she didn't believe in him so surely, she might have been annoyed. Even while doing so her internal voice didn't seem to be alright with the idea of them stopping. 'He'll be fine for a few minutes... Shishou needs to finish his lesson and we need to finish him!~' Sinais was very singular minded. But there were some caveats to Charles calling card, "Well, it'd be a shame to skip a lesson we've already started. I mean... Astolfo is always last anyways. And it isn't an emergency, it's more like as soon as you can," she murmured, the idea of stopping was actually kind of annoying to Anais as a person. She reached up for her own ankles and thought about her current position, perhaps she could help them along? 'That's a good girl. I'll take care of the rest!~' Sinais claimed that she would take care of the rest, and she fully decided to pull those ankles of Anais and spread them further tightening her grip on the elf buried within her person. "Shishou, it's crunch time, make sure I have a deep understanding of the rest of the lesson~" Anais's internal voice teased her mentor. That was fine, Anais wasn't even mortified at this point, it was a good addition to the current thoughts she had and perfectly aligned with how she felt.

[Bloodedge]

In drinking from the Holy Grail, even a false one created by the Nexus, Jeanne apparently became a more balanced individual. The transfer between them was given some credit for her attitude shift as well, though it was further claimed Charlemagne acquired a bit of darkness. What nonsense. Was he not allowed to be bothered after all he'd been through? His behavior was only natural, and nothing about him had changed by any method that Sakura wasn't at fault for. Of course, that was all positive, so he'd say nothing negative about it. No, he'd just sit there and open his senses to the others. It didn't seem like either of them were in the immediate vicinity, so it seemed there was nothing to do but wait.

Anais seemed to be on the side of continuing the lesson, much to the elf's satisfaction. He'd already experienced a number of failures; it would be a shame to miss another lesson due to random timing issues. "Well, if it is no emergency, then I agree the lesson is quite important. I'll try to make the best of it," Ailen assured. Just then, Anais made a rather interesting decision. Her arms extended, hands wrapping around her own ankles. Was she experiencing physical strain? Apparently not. The true purpose of that maneuver became clear as the elafia's legs spread wider, having a very direct effect on the quality of penetration Ailen experienced. Anais had words to share as well. At times, she seemed a great deal more confident and flirty than normal. That was something Ailen could only attribute to shifting moods, but indeed her words were worth heeding. "I'll make every effort possible~. If you lack an understanding, I always welcome a request for elaboration. All for the sake of knowledge," he said, though 'knowledge' was a bit subjective based on the tone Ailen chose. More importantly, his movements had begun anew... though he didn't seem to be in much of a rush. The other boy was always late, after all. . .

Meanwhile, Astolfo received the call from half a kilometer away. He'd been spending his time out in the city, enjoying himself for the most part. Munetsuchi was what he always hoped Kyoto could be as a tourist attraction... including the magic and mythical creatures. Upon sensing Charlemagne's outreach, whatever he'd been doing came to an immediate end. "My king needs me!" the feminine lad yelled in the middle of a crowded street. Only a few moments later, Astolfo would be on his way toward Munetsuchi's tenshukaku at an incredible speed. How? Well, he wasn't too far away from a horse when called upon. Surely its owner had no important uses for it, so he claimed it for his own grand purpose and darted away.

[Apollymi]

Charles had nothing to say to Sakura immediately and that was fine. Whether he understood it or not though, he'd become a bit dark leaning already by his association with Sakura. It was quite easy for him to take on the feelings of other such individuals without the knowledge of how to filter them out, especially when they shared as deep a connection as him and Jeanne did now. Ah, but perhaps he wasn't ready for a full explanation of sibling soul binding as it applied to him yet?

Moving on apparently there was quite a bit of harmony to be achieved between Anais and her other self and between Anais and her mentor. Both weren't very willing to skip out on her current lesson. At the same time, it really wasn't an emergency meeting button or anything like that. It would be fine... Yes, Anais was already convincing herself that even if she was a bit late, it wasn't a super urgent thing. He would be making the best of this lesson and with Sinais emerging to help along the process an interesting change in the type of penetration she was currently experiencing was showing up. "Uah~" she exhaled gently as he began moving again none too quickly given the depths he was currently able to reach within her. How interesting, such a small shift in position had such interesting effects. "In the spirit of learning, I'll be sure to exhaust all avenues~" she claimed, oh that was a little flirty as well. She made sure to continue enjoying this elf's forward plunges, not knowing that for the first time in the time she'd known them, Astolfo was actually about to beat her to something they were supposed to meet for.

[Bloodedge]

Charlemagne certainly wasn't ready for that sort of discussion. He was, however, ready to stop spending so much time resting on his laurels. The young paladin felt as if every time he tried to accomplish something of late, he either moved on to something else or took some random break between. He had to get up. As such, he did exactly that, rising into a seated position. His comrades weren't around just yet, but that didn't mean he had to just sit around and wait, right? "Right! Planning! When we get to the HQ, Siegfried is probably going to try taking my head off the second he sees me. That's assuming Martha doesn't cave my face in first. Since I'm king now, though, I should have the ability to pacify them. Maybe that won't be received well short-term, but it's the best idea I've got right now."

In the spirit of learning, Anais and Ailen would continue their... exploration, as some had taken to calling it. Anais would not be reaching the throne room with anything resembling quickness, but that was fine. She did say all avenues would be exhausted. At the rate she was showing this side of herself, Ailen would also be exhausted in due time. He'd probably have been done for long ago, if not for the balance of mana transfer between them. There was a very real chance that Anais would eventually break him down, creating a story Miwa was sure to take great interest in. Until that time came, he'd go about ordinary business. Here and now, that consisted of a constant pumping motion within Anais's loins, which currently seemed to be functioning with some sort of suction mechanic. Ailen had yet to be anything but surprised by the girl's quirks; this was no exception. "I dare say I may still be learning more than you. I never thought my teaching days would be spent trying to out-teach my own apprentice. It's rather exciting," he commented.

[Apollymi]

Moving on from their previous meeting with various people who were quite frankly pivotal in their lives now. There were apparently a depth of future events to consider. Charles had apparently grown a bit restless. He was talking through the potentials of their first meeting within the Holy Knights HQ and all the things that could potentially go wrong with it. Sakura gave his words consideration, having taken in a bit of information from the discussion between him and Jeanne during their fight and their subsequent conversations even while she was otherwise occupied. This Martha person was an unknown but she sounded like a physical combat specialist and though his idea to pacify the group was one which could work to keep things from going wrong physically, it may not be the best for morale later. "Hm, those all seem like things that would happen based on the information I have. I do not know Martha, but everything said about Siegfried implies that he is probably already upset, appearing immediately after the disappearance of Jeanne d'Arc and exerting a kingly connection without a proper explanation definitely will not go well. Even someone who would be on your side, might not know how to react in such a case," she summarized. "Jeanne did mention her nun friend perhaps she could help smooth it over if it gets out of hand," Sakura offered. "I would suggest trying to use a neutral party to organize such a meeting... but you seem to be against the more diplomatic approach," she offered her own advice based on potential best possible outcomes, and her own skepticism of that offerings acceptance. She'd taken note of the lad's disposition and knew he was pushing himself quite a bit, even though he'd only just barely recovered from what had happened to him.

Anais was currently holding on to her own ankles her legs spread wide and her mentor plunging into her depths. This was a rather different experience from their earlier bouts but still something worth the effort. Both of them seemed to be quite interested in their acquisition of knowledge, even as it simply related to the acts they were engaged in. While he moved about, Ailen seemed keen to comment on the actions, according to his own words, he felt he was still learning and didn't expect this outcome from his apprentice. Still, he didn't speak of it as a potential negative and instead found it... exciting? If it was possible, Anais's face blushed and she became acutely aware of a certain pulse within her loins. Perhaps it was the pressure on her body from the outside or perhaps it was the state of embarrassment she'd mentally tricked herself into. Regardless, she had but one way she could answer... "Shishou... that's like really flattering, you know?" she managed feeling strangely sheepish once more. "Still, I'm glad, we'll be able to learn lots from each other~" she commented. Over the course of the day, she'd come to notice her mentor was strangely smooth in these situations and that he was really good at pushing her emotional buttons without that seeming to be his intent at all. If she was being honest, she was fairly close to the edge, those plunges in her core had started almost massaging by feeling and and her body tightening rapidly in response.

[Bloodedge]

Martha was an unknown to Sakura, but there were surely some assumptions to be made. Charlemagne didn't expect a warm reception under any circumstance. Without a doubt, there would be a need to defend before any amount of talking could begin. Sakura had some things to say. She didn't seem to think pacification by force was a good idea, and frankly, neither did he. The nun Jeanne mentioned was a solid option, assuming they could rely on her appearance. That one did sound like she had a chance of being nowhere near the headquarters, but an equal chance of being present. They'd have to be willing to rely on her, though they'd also have to be ready in case she wasn't around. "If she's there, I believe she'll be a boon. Diplomacy doesn't feel right when I know they'll try to capture and interrogate us before anything else, but I don't want to force it either. Part of going to HQ is finding capable comrades who already have reason to be involved."

It seemed Ailen had a habit of flattering the lass without intending to. All he did was make observations, but if it was something she had such a reaction to, observations could only serve additional purpose. "Hmm? I never intended for it to be, but that just makes it better. It's good to serve an extra purpose," he mused. Though Ailen's pacing was in no way ridiculous, there was a particular throbbing that noted his lack of remaining time as well. Presumably, that massaging movement found within Anais was at least partly to blame. Oh well. He'd already rid himself of mana many times over today; most of them had been a bit sooner than expected. This would be no different.

Meanwhile, Astolfo was making much headway on that 'borrowed' horse. Without relying on his own two feet, he managed to be in sight of the tenshukaku relatively quickly. The pink-haired lad would ascend the stairs on horseback, and would not even dismount upon reaching the building. No, he'd charge all the way to the throne room atop some random person's mount, stopping only when he realized Charlemagne had yet to arrive at the rendezvous point. "My king!" he shouted in a way that would never reach Charlemagne's ear, but with a previously unseen seriousness on display.

[Apollymi]

Charles expressed some interesting ideas in the passing moments. He claimed that he didn't want to use force, but also didn't like the idea of them being captured and interrogated before anything else. Sakura was left with what would likely be considered a strange question, but it was a real one. "Well, irrespective of the appearance of Jea-nee's nun friend. Is there a problem with being captured and interrogated?" she asked earnestly. Somehow she didn't believe there was any problem with being captured by those who served Jeanne d'Arc even in her current form. The worst that could happen by known logic was a swift death and even that wasn't as bad as it was made out to be for certain kinds of people. Beyond that it would be much easier to talk if their general plan wasn't strictly speaking invading and dominating the Holy Knights headquarters.

Meanwhile, Anais teetered on the edge of orgasm with her mentor being the one pulling her emotional strings so to speak. He confirmed with his words that his intention wasn't flattery, 'That just makes it terrifying if he did intend it!' she screamed in her own mind. 'You mean awesome!~' Sinais was looking at a strange part of the bright side. All the way to the end of her person, a certain throb was felt, but beyond that, her own sensations were being pushed along as well. She couldn't have settled upon a statement but it would seem she didn't have to as her body decided that she was about three thrusts from her ultimate demise. "Shishou, I'm pretty close now..." she managed as innocently as one in her position could have managed such a thing. Oh well... she'd have a lesson soon and then be off to find out that the impossible had happened.

[Bloodedge]

Of the options they had currently, Sakura wondered if being interrogated by the Holy Knights would be an issue. If someone were captured by his comrades, they would be sent to Olivier. If the Round Table had to interrogate someone, there was an easy path to take as well, via one Agravain. The Holy Knights, as they were, had no focused interrogator as Charlemagne recalled. Unless that changed in the last thousand years, being captured would be very similar to something Charlemagne had seen hundreds of times now. "Most likely, yeah. As I recall, they don't have dedicated interrogators. If they imprison us, it'll be their emotions driving them. If they decide to torture someone and ask questions, having already decided they want someone to blame for Jeanne's disappearance, there's a good chance they won't believe the truth. That would just make it an endless cycle until they either find an easier target to blame, or decide to kill the dead weight they've already wasted too much time interrogating. Anger is a strong thing," he said, even slightly realizing he was taking the first step on a similar path.

Ailen spoke his piece, and Anais seemed to process those words in some unknown way. It seemed positive, if anything, so he had no complaints. Ah, but Anais had her own words for him eventually. She claimed to be quite close, which was a rather dangerous thing to say at this leg of their journey. Frankly, Ailen was a bit more than just close. "Well, that's regrettable, because I..." There was no point in finishing that statement. If he'd done so, Ailen probably would have given the verbal equivalent of the gushing seed he loosed in that very moment. His last lecture of the current session had been stored in time, but no longer could he keep it held in. One might only hope Anais was truly only a few thrusts away from meeting wisdom's spark, however, as Ailen spilled himself within her without necessarily halting his movements. After all, how could he? The beginning of every thrust recently felt more like he was being pulled in for the remainder, and so too was every withdrawal. He was now coming to understand how Mugen managed to keep thrusting through ejaculation so regularly. Alas, the elf's pace was beginning to slow quite rapidly.

[Apollymi]

Sakura and Charles discussed the nature of interrogations and why it was dangerous to simply be captured in this particular instance. According to Charles there was no one responsible for interrogations within the Holy Knights Headquarters. His assertion was, that emotion would be the thing pushing people for answers and that they would react badly when not getting the answer they wished for. She could see that as a potential outcome now that he mentioned it. There were a few specific things that would make it a moot point, but it couldn't be accounted for immediately. "Sou ka, that could be a problem," she said seeming to give this the same amount of thought that one gave all problems. Much unlike Charles, as a mostly outside party she did try to see multiple sides of this particular meeting. As her own mind ran potentials, she didn't see many that ended with Charles getting help, and not getting hurt in the meantime. At the very least, it was exceedingly difficult to imagine that him using magic to pacify the group would end in them trusting him enough to go along with him while he aimed to take Aincrad. The issues surrounding everything were far too complex. "Emotions are very strong things in general. They are conceptual magic in truth, which might be the big problem," she explained in passing. She was still thinking about the situation he was moving towards but she didn't have enough information to help with strategizing in truth... Honestly, she could only assume that he'd try his method, get either beaten up or killed, and then pacify everyone with his power and not get anyone to help him because he resorted to such methods. Force didn't breed trust in most people regardless of the kind of force used.

Anais was experiencing something slightly new. She'd realized several times that Ailen had a slightly reactive way of dealing with her, but the words she shared with him seemed to be spurring him on in a more immediate fashion. 'Does that work like that?' she asked of herself seeming to feel the spillage within herself and having the extra sensation along with Ailen's still moving hips push her over the edge soon after. So that all she had to offer Ailen's incomplete sentence was a moan of satisfaction as her mind internalized all the information offered to her loins. Ah, it was a strange but great sensation when she really considered it, and knowing that it was her full intention to keep said information she could easily add it to the rest which was organized within her mind. At the same time, her body had taken on a life of its own and as his slowed pace seemed to be gradually becoming slower, she released her own legs allowing them to wrap around the center of Ailen's body enabling those last few pumps to hit rather exquisitely deep within her person. "No regrets, that's great!~" she mused seemingly pleased. Anais needed a moment to catch her breath, and then maybe she'd move to separate herself from her mentor and have a quick shower so as not to keep Charles waiting by himself too long.

[Bloodedge]

There were so many caveats and potential issues surrounding the return to headquarters, yet so little to be done about it. He couldn't let himself be captured due to the chance of death alone. How long would it take him to resurface? Would he be the same person afterwards? Would he even have memories? Most importantly, what if Jeanne managed to exact her revenge against An during his absence? That especially couldn't be allowed. Charlemagne had to avoid death where possible, if only to ensure it happened at a specific time, in a specific way. "I can't let myself be killed there. I can't let you guys take injury, and I can't let them think we're an enemy or responsible for Jeanne's disappearance. I think I've got it," he said, hopping up to stand at last. He could feel Astolfo in the palace now, so at least one of the two he awaited had arrived. Knowing Anais, she wasn't trailing very far behind, if at all. As such, he was prepared to visit the throne room again. Whatever plan he had would be shared at that time.

Sadly, Charlemagne was quite wrong about his comrade. Anais was trailing quite far behind in actuality, and didn't seem to be making very much headway. Those final slowing pumps of Ailen were met by Anais's release of her own legs. Ah, but those legs didn't fall; they instead closed around Ailen's midsection to effectively keep him in place. It was such a strange thing to observe from one who had places to be, yet Ailen could do nothing but sink deeper into the lass as a result. She wasn't the only one who needed to catch her breath. "Interesting. You have things to do, but you've locked me in place. Is that a change of plans? Or perhaps it's something else. So curious, your mind," he mused as the final remnants passed from his body into Anais.

[Apollymi]

Sakura heard out several different things in the mental processes of Charlemagne. Much to her own understanding and a bit outside of it he had several smaller goals in his approach. He didn't want to let himself die. He didn't want his group being hurt, he didn't want the other group thinking they were the enemy or that they had anything to do with Jeanne's disappearance. He hopped up immediately, claiming that he thought he had it. That was strange, did humans have good ideas without sparks of wisdom? "I don't think I understand how your mind works at all..." she said aloud. Was there some sort of insight being human would offer in this case? Well... she had to find out. As such, she stood as well, keen to accompany him and hear out what this idea was, seemingly confused but also interested.

Speaking of misunderstood things, Anais was suffering from a set of conflicted interests. She needed to catch her breath, but her legs had also settled around her mentor after she'd released him, both of them relaxed a bit but he seemed quite curious about how her mind was working. Ah, so this sort of contradiction was obvious not just to Anais but to Ailen as well. She took a deep breath and seemed to sink a bit as he sank into her and tried to think of a reasonable way to explain things. "Iia, it isn't a change of plans, I am definitely going to get up, have a quick shower... and go help Charlie," she said knowing how she and their other friends felt about the lad. "But I get a weird sensation from the extra urgency which makes it harder to be urgent? Does this make sense?" she asked not knowing if this was at all a normal thing to feel. On the one had she definitely had somewhere to be, but she was also already enjoying herself. Going wasn't an option, but immediately vacating her own activities also wasn't healthy. Besides that, letting her body do what it naturally wished seemed to keep her internal self from going to extremes to exert itself so... allowing it seemed like the best possible outcome. And so Ailen would remain locked in for at least a couple of extra moments while her breathing returned to normal... 'Oh? We're learning so many things, the road to Slut Hell will be paved in great experiences~' Sinais was something else, but at least she wasn't being overly forceful in the moment. Perhaps indulgence was just the nature of the beast, so to speak. All the while Anais was soon to learn what it was like to be tardy to a meeting.

[Bloodedge]

For the most part, Charlemagne managed to make a decision. Sakura expressed an ignorance of how his mind worked, for whatever reason. What was there to be confused about? He'd done a bit of brainstorming and reached a conclusion, as one would in any normal situation. Ah. What was he thinking? With these people, his normal was their unusual, just as their normal was his outlandish. "I want to say normally, but... we've still got different upbringings. There's no seeing eye-to-eye like that; not yet," he stated. With that said, he vacated the pavilion and began a proper descent into the throne room.

All the while, Ailen was trying to figure out his apprentice's unexpected reactions. She should have been moving, but her motions had them even more entangled. According to the lass herself, urgency made it more difficult to be urgent. Did that make sense? Well... no, it didn't make sense at all. "Honestly, no. That's all part of the experience though, isn't it? I have no idea what you're talking about, but I am now more interested in finding out what it means for myself," Ailen declared. Since she hadn't changed her mind at all, he decided to enable her mind's desire a bit. Ailen lifted his upper body to grant a bit of space ─ though he couldn't do much else with her legs wrapped around him as they were. Oh well; he'd surely be allowed more freedom of movement in a matter of moments. Once that time came, Ailen would accompany the girl on her showering journey before discovering the purpose behind that summoning.

[Apollymi]

Charles seemed to at least be understanding of the differences in their upbringings. According to him, it would be a while before they could see eye to eye on those sorts of things. This was rather true as far as Sakura understood things, it was why certain things went without explanation by her and others. Even so, this random conclusion reaching was something almost mystical by thought process alone. It seemed to be something that didn't rely on logic and information to fully reach a conclusion and thus it was something outside of her normal realm of understanding. "I don't think I understand the actual process though... it's so strange," she found herself murmuring. Still, that was something rather exciting. "I think that's rather exciting though..." she finished seemingly pleased as they made their way down to the throne room. Perhaps she could figure out how he came to this conclusion when he gave it. Or perhaps there was something more to learn about how the conclusion was reached. Maybe logic and information weren't as important in making decisions like these. She'd find out and be pleased by the knowledge.

At the same time, Anais found that her explanation didn't make any sense outside of her own head. Perhaps she could find the right way to phrase it. Whatever the case, Ailen seemed keen enough to enable her quite a bit, whether she immediately wanted to get up, or she wanted to stay in her mostly relaxed position. "I suppose it is just part of the experience," she said carefully. "Though I know this sort of feeling from something else..." she said but she wasn't sure how to quantify it yet, not in this context. Ah, but he'd risen from her fore and though he was still locked in by the hips that was mostly her doing wasn't it. She had to do it, she had to start separating them... so she did. Her legs loosening from around his core gently at first. And then her hips scooting backward, bit by bit. Strangely, her internal voice wouldn't stop her, because she felt it was important for Anais to fully understand her own emotional status. And she felt the fullness of her body becoming emptiness, and as she did she realized what that lack of urgency to move forward in this case was, and she managed to be understanding of it. Just the same she eventually freed both herself and her mentor and gave herself a moment or two to figure out how to explain the whole thing. "Sou ka, that's an odd one..." she said as she eventually found her toes on the floor once more. She'd head to the shower on shaky legs but she wouldn't mind explaining while they got cleaned up.

[Bloodedge]

Perhaps Sakura would eventually come to understand the human mind. Perhaps, along the way, Charlemagne would understand the minds of people like her and Angelica. One would hope for some understanding across the board. Proper unity could only be accomplished as such, and as he, Angelica and Sakura were on their way to a very interesting three-way connection, that would be considered the minimum-level advancement. Charlemagne hoped the day would soon come, but first was the journey immediately ahead. It didn't take long to reach the throne room where Astolfo and... his horse, were waiting. "There you are! What happened?! Are you done exploding?" the pink-haired lad asked. Immediately taken aback, Charlemagne held up both hands. "Woah, relax! I'm already surprised enough to see you here before Annie! No more exploding from me; just wait around for her to show before I share the plan with you guys."

It seemed they would be 'waiting around' for some time yet. Anais had only just released her mentor, allowing their bodies to separate fully. She'd soon be washing herself under the waterfall after considering whatever she mentally compared that strange feeling to. As he followed along, Ailen did not expect an answer ─ he wished only to accompany his apprentice along her way. Apparently though, there would be a comparison given while they each worked toward physical cleanliness. . .

[Apollymi]

Sakura needed to understand the human mind a bit more. Admittedly though, she and Angelica were already on the same page as existences and about Charles, it was simply him who needed to make his mind conform to the truth rather than his ideations. Oh well, maybe somewhere between learning about human minds and rescuing Angelica, Sakura might figure out a way to keep nudging him to the right direction. Soon enough they were confronted by Astolfo and a horse within the throne room. This brought a list of questions to Sakura's mind but it would seem the lad himself had more pressing questions. From Sakura's perspective he was genuinely worried about Charles's well-being. "He was really worried about you... hm, that is what I thought it was," she mentioned seemingly pleased that she'd pegged the personalities present properly. Moving on, apparently Charles maintained some level of surprise that Anais was the one not appearing. "She's Otou-chan's apprentice, those lessons have to be fairly in depth, given how much he has to share with her. Assuming she woke up in a timely manner..." she mused knowing the truth of her father's room as well as how complicated a matter Alchemy could be. She also gave a bit of leeway in her explanation, having figured out humans didn't know how to discuss sexual endeavors among each other. Moving on it seemed the plan wouldn't be shared until Anais showed up, so these three would be left to talk.

At the same time, Anais managed to separate herself and her mentor and even begin showering though she found her legs a bit shaky. She was balanced on tip-toe while giving her body a thorough but quick cleansing beneath the waters, admittedly a bit sad she wouldn't get to have a nice soak this time. As for the feeling she now understood she wondered if it would be clear given the difference in life experience. "It's probably a bit weird to explain but it's like... starting your summer course work near the end of the summer break. You've been having a good time and it's just looming in the corner. And you know once you start it, you'll be moving towards something else. And it might be new or even exciting, but it's still not something you want to do, because you're still having more fun with just the part of summer you find fun... " she explained. "I don't know if that makes sense without the extra knowledge about how school years work, but that is the feeling," she said. She didn't know if he'd understand what she meant, but she could always elaborate a bit more later. Maybe she could share that extra information with him, so her references for attending school made more sense. Yes, that would be a great idea! Ah, but she wasn't exactly sure how to broach that, nor was she even sure he'd be legitimately interested in the extra information. Regardless she'd eventually be clean and stepping out of the water flow to redress herself, once again reaching into the depths of her bag to find out what kind of lingerie her friend had given her.

[Bloodedge]

"Yeah... he's always like that, whenever he's not... y'know... being him," Charlemagne said regarding Astolfo. In response, the other male offered a ditzy expression, both eyes closing as his tongue protruded and a set of knuckles tapped the top of his own head. "Pehhh!" he uttered. To that, Charlemagne had only one additional thing to say. "Yeah, that. He's great to have around, though. You'll hardly find a better friend out there," Charlemagne added. In that very moment, Astolfo's demeanor changed entirely. He felt such a surge of pride and satisfaction, he was almost literally glowing with eyes overtaken by massive sparkles. This was the meaning of triumph over one's own life!

Mentor and apprentice both took steps toward cleansing their bodies. In that time, the latter of the two gave an odd explanation that may not have been understood by the other. Alas, it wasn't so foreign a concept as the girl thought. There were nuances to address, but her entire description of the school experience was somewhat similar to his own time spent learning. When Anais claimed she didn't know if it all made sense with that description, Ailen could only laugh. "It makes more sense than you may believe. The place I grew up? It's called the Alinor, or the Isle of Sumurset. More colloquially, it is called the Summerset Isles. There are so many alchemical ingredients of unknown value there, I was given what you might call 'summer breaks' with 'course work' many times. In letting myself be consumed with personal study, I may have procrastinated quite frequently to acquire the things I was instructed to bring back to my mentor. In that case, I do understand your problem."

[Apollymi]

The thought that Astolfo was always a specific kind of person when he wasn't just being him was odd. Well, his behavior defied normal human logic in most cases, but Sakura understood that better than human logic in the first place. As such, she found him to be a perfectly acceptable individual. His reactions and friendly demeanor around Charles made her feel quite happy. Their bond wasn't romantic in the slightest but it was still quite strong. Nothing made this more apparent than the reaction to the compliment given by Charles. "Oh? That's such an honest reaction. He's really proud of himself..." she said in an almost completely observational way. They'd come quite far from the people who'd fallen out of the sky less than forty-eight hours ago. She was pleased to see them capable of recovering from their mental stresses in each others presence, perhaps this was a secret of friendship. She'd have to observe it further.

Moving on from this, there was now Anais well on her way to joining the others. Of course, while she had her bath she'd explained herself and apparently it wasn't completely misunderstood. In fact, Ailen went on to explain a bit of his 'younger' years in the interim. In so doing, he claimed to understanding the feeling of procrastination of one's assignments whilst having their own sort of fun. "Waah? Really? That's great. I thought it'd be a bit weird to explain but... I'm glad. It's good to get into things for yourself, I think. I had a few solo hobbies that had me with similar kinds of procrastination but the school thing was always the biggest showing of it," she said. Well, that was pretty true she was sure that this particular kind of study would be the sort of thing she'd abandon anything else to do. But that didn't matter either. Now she was out of the water, cleaned up and searching into her bag. Out of which she'd pull, a pair of forest green lace cheeky type underwear. They had more coverage than thongs, but they had quite the different shape while still not disturbing the lines of her figure. Her cheeks were still mostly visible, but they seemed to be almost more decorative on purpose, while still being comfortable. She slid them up her thighs and into to place and gave herself a quick looking over. "I'm going to have to ask Ness why she thought I needed so many different ones, but I am pretty sure I like these..." she said seeming to have gotten quite used to having her cheeks be a bit exposed. Dressing would continue until she was all done, and then eventually she'd be popping out of that door to Ailen's room as they headed for the throne room where they were meant to gather.

[Bloodedge]

True enough, Astolfo was well beyond proud of himself. He wanted nothing more than to be of use to those he decided to pledge himself to. Of course, there had only been two of said pledges made. He was once sworn to the service of Jeanne d'Arc, but had since been the dedicated servant of Charlemagne. Frankly, he preferred the current situation, even whilst remaining loyal to Jeanne d'Arc in any given scenario. The one situation that would result in Astolfo being lost for answers, would be one that saw those two pitted against one another. Surely that sort of thing could never happen, though. . .

Meanwhile, Anais and Ailen were making some actual headway toward rejoining the others. Along their miniature journey, there was a bit of commiseration shared between former procrastinating students. "Our stories are very similar. Nothing is wrong with taking time to explore your own hobbies and urges. Though... you may receive some strange looks if you're caught foraging for rare plants as if they're something you've become addicted to. Perhaps that one wasn't the best decision on my part," Ailen mused as they exited the room. Ah, but there was one more thing to be addressed: the additional pair of new undergarments sported by the girl. Apparently, she had quite the unexpected wardrobe due to that friend of hers. "Perhaps she's clairvoyant enough to have seen your development? They seem to be one big statement after the next. I'm also fond of those," he said while donning his own garments with marked accuracy and swiftness. Soon enough, they'd be seeing the others all standing in wait for Anais's arrival. Charlemagne finally sensed the lass, but it was as if she'd suddenly appeared out of thin air. "Eh? Did Annie learn how to teleport or something?"

[Apollymi]

Strange, that little hypothetical issue that Astolfo thought of was one which technically existed. Of course, it was not anyone's general knowledge of what would happen when Jeanne encountered someone who felt like Anu, but most didn't know how wronged she'd felt nor about her change in disposition. Moving right along, Anais and Ailen were actually making progress and the lass would appear mostly dressed outside that bedroom, sans her hood to avoid undue scrutiny from someone she was trying not to think of directly. Yes, and she'd easily find herself moving towards answeirng Charles's summons though not without a few more words shared between herself and her mentor. His past was apparently one full of strangeness which made the girl chuckle just a tad. "I think I can avoid it if I need to," she said with a giggle. "Besides, the looks can't be any worse than the worried ones from friends or family who may be worried if you only come up for food every few days," she said knowing her habits were likely just as strange in their own contexts. In the meantime, it seemed her newest choices in undergarments were appreciated by Ailen as well, which was rather comforting. She looked and found the man dressing with extreme speed and accuracy and that was interesting too. "If she's clairvoyant she needs to focus on more important things... but it's okay. In exchange for this sort of thing I guess I can help her out a bit too~" she mused. Such was the nature of their friendship.

As for Charles's question, Sakura technically had an answer, "She was both inside this building and outside of it, some of the rooms here are... odd," she offered. "Though she could have learned to teleport I suppose, it isn't necessarily completely outside the realm of possibility." Sakura mentioned. Easily enough Anais's movements would take her towards the throne room where she would see, Charles, Sakura and Astolfo. Her eyes widened as she took in this sight and she seemed almost aghast. Her face would redden intensely as she looked upon this group. "Waah, how am I the one that's late?!" she interjected as if completely surprised by this outcome. Still she looked rather happy and immediately radiant. From what Sakura could tell, she'd definitely been taking her studies seriously at least, and maybe more than that considering the closeness between her father and the lass. Good. And as Anais entered this room and came into the senses of most people she also caught the attention of someone else. A girl with black hair who'd been exploring since a while ago began walking towards the throne room again, if only to investigate what she was feeling.

[Bloodedge]

Finally, all three peers were in the same room again. There was still the surprise of Anais's lateness compared to the others. Charlemagne fully expected her, in any normal circumstance, to be among the first of twelve on the scene. There was also the matter of her instantaneous appearance within the building, which Sakura claimed was unlikely teleportation. That was understandable. If there were rooms in the tenshukaku that counted as subspaces, he doubted his senses would ever reach them. Even so, teleportation wasn't completely discredited due to how possible it actually was. "Damn. I should learn teleportation. It sucks having to use gates all the time," he said, knowing true space-related magecraft to be regarded as an impossibility by most people.

Moving on, Anais's appearance was shocking to more than just Charlemagne. Her personal first order of business was to wonder aloud how she was late. Charlemagne would have responded, but the ever-hyperactive Astolfo beat him to it. "I had a horse!" he said. To that, Charlemagne sighed. "Why say it aloud? I've been trying to ignore the horse in the room. I know it's not yours. I doubt there was a conversation about a horse before you wound up with one. Just... don't talk about having a horse, alright?" the more responsible male pleaded, even rubbing the bridge of his nose over Astolfo's... 'Astolfoisms'. "Anyway... no worries, Annie. We haven't been here too long, and you're doing student stuff. Just to be clear, though ─ can you teleport? You having that might change the entire thing I'm about to tell you guys, so I really need to know if that appearance was teleportation or weird subspace-isms."

[Apollymi]

According to Charles he should learn teleportation, he claimed that using gates sucked. Sakura never really thought about it, but the ability to teleport usually required some sort of medium or a finite understanding of a specific kind of movement. This was especially true if vast distances would be crossed. Still, it wasn't completely out of the question when one considered that the base of his current existence included the ability to rewrite the way the rules of the world worked around him. She didn't know however if this was an appropriate thing to remind him of, perhaps she'd mention it later if he was truly concerned with his own movement ability.

Meanwhile, Anais would have continued to feel out of place for being late, because of the associated memories to go along with knowing why she was late, but Astolfo pretty effectively helped to distract her. He had a horse and that was why she was late. Those things weren't related at all, but, there was a horse here and it was very Astolfo to commandeer a mount if he thought he needed it, even if his reasoning lacked sense. It broke what little tension Anais had, "I wasn't going to say anything about it," she murmured about the horse also choosing to ignore it for the most part. She was also told not to worry and her tardiness was blamed on 'school stuff' which was true enough for the lass to only seem a bit abashed, choosing not to make any unnecessary eye contact, only to be asked about her ability to teleport. It would apparently change things if she could... 'I mean you could learn such a thing, it might be a bit specific eventually but you definitely could~' her internal voice encouraged. Her eyes widened. "Iia, it was definitely subspace related. I haven't added anything like teleportation to my skills, and I did a minor edit yesterday, if I can learn something like that... I'm definitely not ready to," she said with her hands up seeming somewhat skittish about the random ideas that floated through her head and related to the idea of teleporting. She was sure the last thing she needed was the ability to decide to come and go as she pleased. Sakura for the duration watched all of this with wonder, mostly she was curious about Charles's plan so she quietly waited but not without waving at Anais as well, which caused the elafia to return the gesture.

[Bloodedge]

Astolfo couldn't talk about the horse. What the hell was he supposed to talk about, then? It was a great horse responsible for his timely arrival! Oh well; he'd been credited for the show of concern already. The only thing left to do now, was figure out what the call was for. Alas, first came Charlemagne's curiosity about Anais. Her having a teleportation skill would make things a thousand times easier, but she sadly had no such thing. Ailen had some words to share with the lass after her response, however. "If it suits you, teleportation should be something you're capable of after the next path," he informed. Mugen was an individual capable of high-tier teleportation, so she could easily pick up such a thing when learning from him. Actually, Ailen was starting to wonder if he was nearby. Something felt... quite similar, but not quite precise. Had he missed something?

Teleporting would not be an option for them at present, it seemed. No matter; Charlemagne did have a somewhat functional idea already. Of course, he still had to share it. "Alright, so... a lot happened. I went back into the Nexus, and I was able to speak with Jeanne. She's... very different now, but she's fine and knows we're on her side. I'm now registered as the king of the Holy Knights HQ, so we can home port there. The problem is, Jeanne disappeared from there recently, and none of the knights know what happened. We're gonna have to deal with an angry group, but..." Suddenly, Charlemagne paused. While he'd been speaking, there were several snorts and clops from the now resident horse. How was he supposed to keep ignoring that?

"... Why, though? Why a horse? Why would you bring it into the building?!" he blurted out. "It was a nice horse." Astolfo shrugged with an unrivaled sense of innocence about him, prompting Charlemagne to sigh and move on. "Anyway. If we get to HQ, we can recruit help and work on finding Aincrad from there. Are we caught-up so far?" he asked as Astolfo nodded away. "I have no idea what's happening, but I'm onboard! Let's go see the guys!"

[Apollymi]

Anais had properly answered the question concerning her ability to teleport. Her internal voice claimed she could learn it, and given who that one was most closely connected to, the elafia was quite sure she already understood how, but as if she needed an actual explanation Ailen came with an actualized answer. She nodded when she heard and it and had a quick quip to offer in reply. "Hai, I realized that. That is future Anais's problem, it's summer, Shishou~" she explained knowing that he would understand fully that she was procrastinating about that sort of thing. Okay so that was fine, but Anais still felt like she could feel something like Mugen. She was hoping she wasn't accidentally summoning again. Ah, but it also didn't feel like him either. She'd just not think about it, and that was fine, there was Charles, and Charles problems and as such there was compartmentalizing she could do. She didn't even realize that she'd slipped and tried to call herself by her original name in her state of fluster.

Several lines of important information came out of Charles's mouth. He claimed he'd seen Jeanne d'Arc that they'd talked and come to an agreement through the Nexus. That she was apparently different than she had been before, but that it was fine. He was apparently now the leader of the Holy Knights so they could port there, but apparently the people there might still be a bit hostile. "Whoa, that is a lot to unpack," she mentioned. Of course, her brain could easily slot important information so it wasn't as terrifying as it could be. All of that was said immediately following the break for addressing this horse based issue. Of course, Anais couldn't help but laugh it broke quite a bit of the tension. And of course, Astolfo was being Astolfo about the whole situation. "Is that a skill? I wonder if it's a skill," Sakura found herself murmuring about the randomness of the pink haired lad.

At the same time Anais could only nod her head. "Yes, I understand the thing you said. I don't mean to be the one to nitpick or anything but I feel obligated to since everyone else is there, but are you just glazing over having become King of the Holy Knight's HQ? That detail requires a bit more weight than you're giving it..." Anais stated seeming to find his glancing over the whole thing extra strange, especially when she considered how much he didn't even want to be in charge of their adventurer group. At the same time, while Anais was talking that same dark haired girl made her way into the throne room. She gave a quick glance around but her eyes immediately returned to Anais. Yes, this was the girl, who felt most familiar. So she rather quietly approached her, seeming to want to look at her more directly, from behind. She knew that butt.

[Bloodedge]

The idea of Mugen being the one to teach teleportation was considered a problem for the 'future' Anais. Indeed, Ailen understood her meaning fully. He clearly couldn't judge her for procrastinating after what they'd just been through mere moments before. "Ah. Well, that is perfectly understandable. So long as you don't wind up looking for aged Everfrost Berries that wilted during the summer. That never ends well," he offered as simple warning. Some things could end badly with too much procrastination beforehand, though... whether that was the case or not presently, was partially up to Anais herself.

Moving on from the matter of Astolfo's stolen horse, Charlemagne wondered only if everyone followed along properly. Both parties understood, yet Anais had additional curiosities regarding his newfound kingship. Of course she did. Charlemagne took a deep breath, thinking it best to explain everything in one speech. "I am just glazing over that, because the whole situation is still ridiculous. Long story short: the Nexus is God, Jeanne and I were supposed to be a thing in the original sacred timeline of the world, neither of us wanted to hop back on that path, so Nexus-God decided it was best for me to impregnate Jeanne by holding hands and drinking out of the same cup. Also, we're sort of soul-siblings now. That's the gist of it," he explained. "If that makes sense, good. If not, it doesn't matter; moving on. Any other questions?"

[Apollymi]

A light warning was issued to Anais about the potential danger of procrastinating too long. She did have a great understanding of the danger and didn't intend to put it off too long, but she wasn't in the mental place to go about seeking forbidden knowledge. Mugen would have to be patient and enjoy someone not her for a while, but until then she would simply process the rest of that story and know something interesting. "Shishou we are going to have to talk about your youth a bit more, it sounds like some very interesting things happened," she mused lightly. "I won't put it off too long... I'm not really allowed to regardless," she murmured. 'Damn right, Hot-sensei is already on the list! But, I know how it is... you can eat your meals in the order that satisfies you most~' Sinais mused which made Anais sigh. At least her inner voice was being considerate. Or was that the wrong way to think about it, because she enjoyed bullying Ailen? 'YES!~'

And then a rather strange explanation came. Charles was apparently the soul-bound sibling of Jeanne d'Arc who impregnanted her through physical contact of the non-sexual sort. The Nexus was apparently God with the capital 'G' so that was newish information directly but the rest of it definitely made sense in the context of the rest of the information floating around in her head after literal hours of fornicating information into herself. "Actually, all of that makes sense. Well, I didn't know the Nexus is 'God' but the rest of that works mechanically," she offered. Ah but there was one more opinion she thought to share, "I personally wouldn't try to explain to anyone of importance that you meme baby'd Jeanne d'Arc. I don't think enough people fully understand how mana works for that to go over in minds," she commented seeming to have enough presence of mind not to bring up the other sensation which was obviously part of Sakura though she didn't stop her eyes from traveling that direction. "And congratulations," she offered happily enough. Anais was human enough to try not to directly question the other pregnant girl in the room, even so she wondered if Charles fully understood the potential consequences of all of his actions.

It would be here and now after hearing the girl speak for several moments that the black haired girl behind her seemed to encroach upon her personal space, and she'd do so while asking a very seemingly random question. "Well, what kind of God is the Nexus?" was the first words out of the mouth of that black haired girl. But the tone and cadence of that voice was a bit too familiar to Anais she relaxed a bit and then stiffened seeming to stumbled over herself and fall as she turned around from her weak ankles. "Waah!" she looked up at the offender and the offender looked down at her a large smile spreading across her face.

[Bloodedge]

Ailen was interestingly open to discussing the unorthodox parts of his past. He and Anais were more similar as students than she may have understood. He'd once been so much like the lass was now, one might have believed them related if not for obvious signs otherwise. "There are quite a few stories you may find entertaining," he said, wholly willing to explore the distant past if she wished to hear of it. As for her current bout of procrastination, Anais apparently wasn't allowed to wait too long. Honestly, that wasn't much of a surprise. "I wish you luck," Ailen said with a chuckle.

For all the information given, there was a very small amount of surprise. It seemed this empire had taken its toll on Anais as well, though she at least found information regarding the Nexus to be new. As for the life growing within Jeanne d'Arc, he agreed that it wasn't information so easily shared. "Right. I'm trying not to even think about that part too much, so hopefully it doesn't fall out of my face at a bad time," he stated.

Now, there was yet another individual asking a question. What kind of god was the Nexus? Better yet, who was this person asking the question? Obviously, the more demonic of Sakura's fathers had an apprentice they'd yet to see. People were just falling out of the woodwork here. Ah, but what was this? Now that she was so close, Charlemagne realized something very strange. He knew that girl wasn't born of this world. Without even viewing her status, she had a certain aura that seemed it didn't belong here, previously unnoticed as a different quality between his comrades and the locals here. Actually, the black-haired girl had two otherworldly auras, but the second was something he could hardly fathom. It felt like that black room, but also like... something completely unknown. Whatever the case, he could assume she was a resident of Gaia originally. With that being the case, his answer to her question was simple to give. "Albertus Animusphere is the Nexus."

[Apollymi]

A few stories she might find interesting? Anais was already fully interested in hearing about her mentor's youth where he procrastinated to the point of cataclysm. It would at the very least make her feel better about her own issues in the world. Actually, it was a trait of the chronic overachievers to suffer a bit of committal failure when it came to starting activities, she couldn't even fault herself or anyone else who found themselves in such a situation. She wasn't the person with the personality to do what was needed in strict order. "Hai, I'll look forward to it~" she mused. As for the luck she was wished with her future learning sessions from the more demonic of Sakura's fathers she managed only a quiet and sheepish nod. She truly wasn't ready yet. 'Don't be a coward, Hot-sensei will be great, you're looking forward to it too~' her internal voice goaded her. The truth of her internal voice wasn't going to be argued against, she still just wasn't mentally ready to abandon her current summer fun.

Moving on, her advice when given to Charles would apparently be heeded but he claimed to be trying not to think about it too much and hoped it wouldn't fall out of his face. Anais had a bit more to share on that, "Invasive thoughts have a way of making themselves known... don't leave it to decide the moment," that was the advice she could give as a person dealing with her own invasive thoughts recently. 'Oh? Learning our lessons well are we, and even sharing them with the group. So responsible~' Sinais teased. Moving on from that part there was her trip and fall and her looking up into a face most familiar from a position also rather familiar. Both of the girls recognized each other and the one who'd posed her question had it answered rather adeptly. "Animusphere-san? Oh? So whimisical kind of God, okay," she murmured seeming to find that answer suitable enough. "Also a bit of a relief, he's a nice eccentric guy, really open to change though. Totally acceptable as a god type," Anais murmured. She'd had at least one meeting with the man on the otherside, considering a few of her instrumental tracks made it into a few of AoE's works. No matter. That wasn't something she'd discuss right now.

"Gakyuuiincho, I knew I recognized that cupcake. But you're really different now. Why are you a deer and really tall? It was difficult to figure out it was you~" teased the black haired lass. "Oi oi, I know I told you it isn't necessary to call me that. And why are you always like this? I should have known it would be you! And it's rude to point out someone's species," she said looking up a hand was extended out to her and she took it the pair of them pulling her into the standing position once more.

[Bloodedge]

Apparently, Anais had some insight about invasive thoughts. Charlemagne wouldn't bother questioning why she had something like that to say; it was her business. "Noted," was all he said, internalizing that particular thought. Moving on, it was shared that Albertus Animusphere, whom they knew from Gaia, was the Nexus incarnate. It seemed generally accepted that he was a suitable fit for the position of God, so there was little more to be said about that.

There was, however, an exchange of familiarity between Anais and this new arrival. They talked amongst themselves for a moment while Astolfo wandered around casually, inspecting the girl who so recently appeared. Specifically, he was taking in her more... physical assets from top to bottom, seeming appreciative of more than just what he saw. In typical Astolfo fashion, he sensed a premium scandal on the horizon. As Astolfo snickered to himself, Charlemagne cleared his throat. "So, I'm thinking we should make an unarmed approach. It's a little dangerous when considering the reception we're likely to get, but it also makes a statement. We should start with an offering as a show of good faith, even though they're likely to assume it's a Trojan Horse," he spoke. Alas, he would not quite abandon the fact that someone new was now present. "Friend of yours, Annie?"

[Apollymi]

One of Charles's more enjoyable qualities as a person, in the minds of people like Anais was his ability to take information without asking unnecessary questions. She shared her insight and while she had every reason to have a real explanation for why she understood it, he didn't ask. And that was the cornerstone of that sort of friendship, it wasn't one that truly required explanations for everything. Sakura also noted this and wondered if it was apart of friendship, perhaps she'd ask later?

Moving on, Charles had a bit of a plan for approaching a place which would be full of people who may or may not think them the enemy. What he wanted to do was make a peace offering and go in unarmed which was understandable given the circumstances. "That sounds reasonable enough, and you've thought through the obvious reaction so it should be fine," Anais mentioned in a haphazard way. Of course, her attention was divided but she was rather good at balancing that sort of thing. When asked about the black haired girl who'd shown up, it would be easy enough to explain her. Though not without the girl in question seeming to take note of the extra eyes on her and recognizing the lad giving her such eyes. "Oh? Why is Saika-nii more unhinged than normal? And why is there a horse?" she asked seeming to not understand the presence of Astolfo at all but calling him by his actual given name.

"Why do you know him? Moving on... This is Shinomiya Kaguya. She's my senpai and Vice-President of our school student council. We work pretty closely together and have been friends since middle school," Anais explained the situation in a general sort of way. "Hai hai, call me Asakura Yume, apparently but that sums it up. And Saika-nii is Chi-chan's brother... why don't you know him?" she asked of Anais who looked at Astolfo and could now very clearly see the resemblance. "Well... you know... I'm usually busy when he visits I hadn't encountered him or anything," she quickly explained as she was now standing and looking sheepish. "Oh you took your mom's last name, nice." she offered the other girl and they casually did a side arm bump handshake which seemed to be second nature.

[Bloodedge]

"There's still a chance of things going wrong. I haven't figured out what the best offering would be. I did consider offering the grail, but that seems like a bad idea," he said, unsure if there were some magical complications to doing such a thing. For more insight on that, he looked to Sakura. "What do you think? Is there some weird reason I can't hand over the grail temporarily?" he asked. If anyone among them would have an idea, it would surely be Sakura. Besides, Charlemagne thought that even if he lost his grail, he had no real need for it. It never felt like it properly belonged to him anyway.

Astolfo was called a name he hadn't heard in a very, very long time. This one knew him, did she? Interesting. For them to be on a first-name basis as well, she had to belong to a very specific group. "Hmm...?" he mumbled. "Shinomiya?" Surely it had to be that one addressing him in such a way. Her personality didn't quite match the others well enough, but... the ongoing interaction implied that Anais was one of them as well. Which one? Apparently, she didn't know him. There were only two she could be in that case, so he had a 50/50 guess.

Anais and the girl apparently now called Asakura Yume, were reportedly friends in middle school. Astolfo still had no idea which member of that friend group she could be, so he began poking Yume's backside... just to get her attention, of course. "Oooiii! Which one's she? It's not fair for me to be working with one of my sister's friends for decades without knowing who she is!" the lad said, only then addressing the horse no one else wished to talk about. "Nice horse, isn't it?!"

[Apollymi]

Charles overall idea seemed to be to show up, without weapons or outward forms of aggression. To potentially hand over a peace-making gift, in this case, temporarily his Holy Grail to be used as a sign of trust and respect. And to use that entire situation to get his group ingratiated to the other. "I really have no idea how you came to this set of conclusions," Sakura started. "But the plan itself doesn't sound like a bad idea given human emotions are at play," she finished up seemingly amazed by the well-thought out plan basically brought from nothing into something that seemed somewhat reasonable. As for the extra bits associated with his question about why he could or could not hand over his grail, she gave it a bit of thought. The only technical problem she could see facing the lad would be the transference of the grail leading to a shift in a grail babies parents. But after seeing Angelica within the space, she was sure that the young goddess of Justice would be birthing Charles's Grail, Jeanne would be giving birth to her own, and Sakura would be birthing her own. Given this it would be rather simple to temporarily surrender custody of the item without handing it over in the more permanent sense. "Given the way I constructed my own grail, I would say that as long as you don't intend to permanently pass on your grail, it would be no problem to hand over the physical cup. All the potentially problematic magical issues aside from you giving it away in truth have already been settled," she finished her thought and gave a gentle nod.

Still she was observing the friend group's interactions and wondering how far back they went. She didn't fully understand all the terms, but at least the other two studious ones were still paying enough attention to keep track of what she'd said. This was made immediately obvious by Anais, "Well, if it's possible for you to not accidentally hand it over it would be fine. I know it's a very powerful artifact so you should be mindful of handing it over, but if Sakura-chan doesn't think it will be a problem then I think it will be fine. Also we could technically offer to help them before we do what we need to do, they are probably in a bit of a bind without their leader around," she added. At the mention of her name with a simple but familiar honorific Sakura smiled, perhaps she was making casual progress towards her desired new friends.

Just the same Astolfo seemed to be realizing that Anais was apart of the friendgroup of his younger sister, and had taken to poking the bottom of Yume. In her own kind of flirty manner she brushed back against it and laughed just a bit. "Come on now, the horse is nice but that poking isn't it~" she mused just a bit. "As for which one she is, this is Iino Miko, the Student Council President, former Iron willed little empress of the Disciplinary Committee, our Party Mom, you know the one we have a bet going on whether or not she has a secret boyfriend or she's like Daft Punk? Come on you have to know her~" she held her hand against her chest and turned so that she could motion about how tiny the girl was in their previous world. She was the friend stationed front and center in all their group photos so she didn't get lost. "Waah, wait wait wait, can we not talk about this right now?! Charlie's trying to give a speech!" Anais seemed to be rather aghast and her face was now redder than even it'd managed to be during the whole Mugen fiasco the previous day. And she was deflecting very hard, but this was all very normal activity for her. She really wasn't prepared for anything else today, their most invasive friend spilling her entire identity was well beyond normal.

[Bloodedge]

Still, Sakura wondered how Charlemagne reached the conclusion he did. In his own mind, it was the simplest way to make a decision. "Brainstorming. You were there," he said plainly. More importantly, there was the expressed curiosity regarding any issues with handing over the grail. Sakura didn't think passing it on would be a bad idea. She even offered insight as to what it would mean to hand it over. So long as he didn't give the grail away permanently, there should be no issues from the magical side of things. Anais agreed to these terms, also under the condition that he not totally pass along the grail. That was a reasonable stipulation that he could agree to from both parties. "Alright, so offering the grail without passing the torch. Got it," he agreed.

It was all up to Yume to keep Astolfo informed. He didn't know which of her friends Anais had been, but one could presume Astolfo was more interested in watching his finger sink into the flesh Yume's rear. She, too, had something to say about that. "Eh?! But this is an official Astolfo hello! You can't say it's not nice," he replied. Even if she complained, he wouldn't be stopped so easily... until his every movement halted the moment Anais's identity was confirmed. "Anais is the midget?!" he asked impulsively. Just then, Charlemagne inadvertently took Anais's side by clearing his throat. "Yeah, about that speech. The plan is to go as soon as possible. If either of you has things to handle, handle it. We might not be able to come back for awhile once we leave here," he announced. There was an assumption that Anais may have some catching-up to do. Astolfo never had much holding him back from the next adventure, though he currently seemed interested in grabbing hold of Yume's rear and squeezing. "I've got some ideas! In the spirit of learning, the great Astolfo will discover how clouds are kept under the skin!"

[Apollymi]

"Brainstorming?" she questioned that term, it didn't make sense to her. Well, the word seemed to be a compound but the actual activity was a completely foreign concept to Sakura. She would definitely be prodding someone's brain about this later to figure out the actual mechanics of this particular thing. Regardless of this point, Charles agreed to not passing along his grail in truth and that was all either of the girls who was thinking of the future wanted which made the plan rather solid.

Things that interrupted this planning session though directly were the musings of Astolfo who was doing his usual thing and rather playfully harassing Yume who didn't seem to care very much at all. After a description of Anais which left the girl embarrassed beyond all reason, Astolfo came to the conclusion that she was the 'midget'. Oh, that was a bad one, that was a very sensitive topic, which was why Yume hadn't said it herself, even though it would have made her easily identifiable. "None of us are particularly giant. I'm not that small!" Anais snapped and it became obvious just how sensitive of a subject that had once been. It also made reasonable sense of her more skittish nature, if she was actually quite small before, her quiet and withdrawn nature matched her once lacking physical stature.

Anais left that statement there and found herself switching subjects and avoiding any more traumatizing experiences for the day. Apparently, if they had any business to handle they should get to it, because after they left they may not be back for a while. Anais did need to catch up with her friend, but she also needed to figure out what kind of lessons were going on with her mentor. Given the current split of attention she chose to focus on her mentor, "Hai hai, Shishou, what should I do to prepare to be gone for a while?" she asked not knowing what kind of break she should be expecting. At the same time, Yume was laughing but would chide Astolfo for his less than diplomatic word choice. "Oi oi, Saika-nii, you can't go around hurting feelings and directly addresing things people have complexes about. You're going to have to be nicer to Mi-chan or you're never gonna get to find out how real clouds are kept~" she mentioned eventually warding the lad's hands to inch up behind the Elafia girl again. She'd called her by the name she preferred and that seemed to have made the elafia more casual for a moment though it was still an overly embarrasing thing. Kaguya needed rules so she'd avoid spilling too much personal information about Anais and a bunch of other things before she could comfortably leave out.

[Bloodedge]

Brainstorming. Of all the things Sakura could have been visibly confused by, it was brainstorming? How very strange. Charlemagne figured that would be the most easily understood thing he said to her so far. Alas, it was not to be. "Yes? When we were talking, I kept tossing ideas around in my head until something stuck. Why is that the thing you don't get?" he wondered.

In the meantime, Anais was being... perhaps accidentally tortured by the outburst of Astolfo. Naturally, he held no ill-will toward his comrade-in-arms, but... a midget she remained. Even the naysaying of Anais herself and the chastising of Yume would not change the facts. "What? If I can't say it, who can?" Astolfo wondered in the frankest way. If anyone could say such a thing, surely he was on the list of acceptable individuals. Whatever the case, he was left with empty hands and a pout on his lips. Oh well; at least he still had a horse to gaze upon in a satisfied manner. Well... so he thought. "You're not keeping the horse," said Charlemagne. Immediately, Astolfo was dropped to about 0% satisfaction. With the pink-haired male effectively silenced, they could move on.

Anais wondered what sort of preparation would be required of her. Upon being asked such a thing, Ailen appeared visibly confused. "Prepare? I don't understand. Do you have some belongings that you intend to leave behind? I can't imagine any reason for preparation," he muttered. If Anais wasn't leaving something in Munetsuchi, they could just go. Of course, he'd be accompanying the lass wherever she went so early in this apprenticeship. Perhaps she didn't realize that was the case?

[Apollymi]

Apparently, given the words spoken by Charles, brainstorming was the act of tossing ideas around which constituted what they'd done before coming to the throne room. He became visibly confused as to why that was something she didn't get. She thought about how to explain it, but came to the conclusion that there were only a limited number of ways she could explain. "Well, it isn't understood because it doesn't make sense. There was no logical progression between what we discussed and the plan you came up with. The things seem completely unconnected and as such it is confusing how this was the conclusion you came to," she explained. "That isn't to say I have a problem with the plan, it's sound... but nothing you said before leads to this in any way that is logical. It's baffling," she explained.

Meanwhile it seemed Astolfo didn't understand who got to call the girl a midget if he couldn't. He was a good-natured individual Anais knew this, she wasn't holding against him any of his antics... it was simply not a subject she wished to broach at all. At the same time, Yume could only casually shrug, "That secret boyfriend she had neither confirmed nor denied~" she teased just a bit. "Why would I have a secret boyfriend? Why would any of you even think that?" asked Anais who seemed to be a bit astounded by the logic. "Well, you always go missing at random intervals. You're super secretive about what you're doing and who you'll be with, and there is that shadow of a boy that follows you around like an enslaved puppy... secret boyfriend seemed about right. Though... there is still technically the 'Daft Punk' option. We're split 50/50 about the truth," mentioned Yume who had gotten a reasonable feel for Anais since being in her presence and was now prodding her for truthful answers to the questions of her life.

Ah, but she'd be waiting for those, as the question Anais posed her mentor got a confused response. She looked at him strangely for a moment but after the previous set of two-ish days she realized that he may be confused for a very specific reason. "Shishou, I have a magic bag, I don't need to leave anything anywhere most of the time," she stated for a second. "I'd only be leaving you here, which is why I asked..." she said seemingly confused. "Well, and her... " she said pointing to Yume. Well that was really strange. She wanted to go, was it weird she wanted to go? Maybe, but this group seemed like it'd be fun. Besides, Anais formerly known as Miko had been here for a while at least, she would be great for getting acclimated. All the while a gentle chuckle escaped Anais's internal voice as Astolfo pouted about not keeping his horse.

[Bloodedge]

Ah, so Sakura was confused because she couldn't find a logical progression from Charlemagne's thoughts to his answer. He supposed she shouldn't be expected to see the method, given how she seemed to process things thus far. Since they met, there had been one thing neither of them could find balance with, and it was a key difference between the workings of their minds. "It doesn't always have to be something logical, y'know? Sometimes it works just to draw on experience and rely on old tactics instead of coming up with something new every time. Or, in cases like this one... it might be worthwhile instead to cram a bunch of ideas together and see what makes the most solid plan," he explained. "The whole thing might not be logical, but I didn't just come up with one giant plan all at once. I just had to think of a way to lower the offense against us, a way to lower their guard so we can talk, and then a way to prove we're not their enemies. Knights are bound by a code of honor, so even an angry knight should think twice about attacking the unarmed. We go weaponless. They'll think we're responsible for Jeanne's disappearance, so we explain why we're not... and to do that, we hand over something important to us as collateral so they're more inclined to listen. Hand over the Holy Grail, then share our side of the story. Three steps."

While Charles was explaining his process to Sakura, the two other males were going through two different mental hoops. Astolfo was petting and cooing the horse he would soon lose forever, making a very dramatic showing of it. Ailen, on the other hand, was only becoming more confused by the moment. Anais said there was nothing she had to leave behind, apart from her mentor and friend. Ah, so there was something not considered. "Why would you presume that? I have no reason to stay here if my apprentice is headed out on an adventure. Unless there is a reason you need me to remain here, I fully intend to accompany you. Besides, a trip to the lands above may yield many alchemical ingredients yet to be discovered in our lineage. I wouldn't dare miss that opportunity either."

[Apollymi]

After properly expressing her confusion, Sakura was given a much more concise explanation of what was going on in his mind when he came up with his plan. He'd apparently not tried to come up with something completely new, and had instead broken down his thought processes into smaller pieces. He'd attacked each piece with its own logic and applied his former experiences and methods to ones where they applied to deal with his impending questions. "Interesting," she found herself murmuring. In truth she'd thought at least this lad didn't have any real logic to his thought processes. But after some brief consideration this made much more snese than she'd originally given credit to. Of course, she'd never have thought to undertake a problem by breaking it into pieces, it was still one big problem, but he'd managed to cover all bases this way so she couldn't say it wasn't a functional way to deal with the problem at hand. "Hm it seems almost counter productive to make a bunch of smaller problems out of a single problem but I can't argue with the results," she said seeming less confused but more excited than normal. His plan definitely covered all bases and took advantage of all parts that seemed to need addressing. It wasn't a single giant plan, instead it was a series of smaller plans which formed a big plan.

At the same time, Astolfo seemed to be having a serious problem with the idea of having to leave his pilfered horse. Which only served to make his dramatics more humorous to the girls observing, and Anais was confronted by some strange but rather on brand words from her mentor. She'd assumed that as a person who was married this man wouldn't run off on a random adventure with a group of teenagers. This had apparently been the wrong assumption. "You know... when you say it like that it seems like it wasn't even something you considered not doing. I mean I get that I am your apprentice but I didn't assume you'd want to go with me on this sort of adventure," she said. "Admittedly, I just didn't know I'd gained a chaperone, it didn't fit my normal thoughts," she finished easily. "I'm not displeased by it as an idea or anything... I am just surprised mostly," she mentioned. All the time Yume was watching with wide eyes. "Why would you leave me behind, I want to go..." she claimed. "You still haven't answered my questions yet either... " she said with a firm nod. Anais didn't sign up for this amount of heart and soul confusion. "Why?" she asked her friend who casually shrugged. "First thing on a to do list in a magical world is an adventure with friends. I've been here a day, you guys are talking about traveling. I already know two of you, and have reason to get to know at least two others... I want to go," she pleaded which only served to confuse Anais more. What was she actually supposed to do about both of these people? Well, in general they didn't often turn down other people, it could only help them to have people along. She did miss her friends quite a bit and would enjoy catching up with Kaguya even in her new form or especially in it. It wasn't exactly a leisure trip or anything though so could she actually bring her friend along?

[Bloodedge]

At long last, Sakura had the method by which Charlemagne reached his decision. How would she take that information? Well, she considered it a sound plan, though with the initial thought that breaking the problem down seemed a bit counterproductive. Ah, Charlemagne had an opinion to share about that. "I get how you could see it that way, I guess? But sometimes a problem is too big, or even intimidating in some cases. Breaking it down like that make it easier to deal with, lessens any anxiety of the situation, and makes it easier to cover everything. If I tried to deal with the whole thing at once, I could miss an important part and put someone else in danger," he explained further. The last thing he wanted was for someone else to receive trauma, injury or worse because he forgot to cover one of the bases in planning.

If Anais had no reason to keep him away, Ailen would undoubtedly be accompanying this group on their journey. Any interventions on his part would be solely for the sake of his apprentice, but that was something easily made clear beforehand. True enough, staying behind was not something he considered at all, though there were some specifics. "Of course I'll go. Though I must say, I have no stake in your group's current conundrum. I will accompany you for academic purposes alone," he stated firmly.

With that, it seemed they would have an additional person along for the ride... and then one more, according to Anais's friend. Charlemagne wasn't one for inviting those who may be endangered, and she claimed to be here for only a single day thus far. She did seem strong, but was she mentally ready? "You seem pretty high-level, but our big goal here is fighting a god. Are you sure that's the kind of first adventure you want?"

[Apollymi]

There was further explanation to come. It seemed that attacking problems in pieces kept the lad from making planning errors and allowed him to cover all his potentials. She supposed if one took their thoughts as small problems instead of one big problem it would allow a bit more flexibility in the way one addressed things. "Sou ka, I understand now. Arigatou gouzaimasu," she offered happily. But what did she understand? Well, his problem-solving method and the reason that his friends were fine with leaving him in charge, since he had a certain base amount of concern about everyone else, his plans didn't unnecessarily put others in the direct line of danger.

Beyond this point, it seemed that Ailen would be along for academic purposes alone. That was fine for Anais and probably also fine in general, though perhaps a few ground rules would still need to be applied. "Hm, well that seems fine. I do plan to still think about my studies at least a bit, I don't have a lot else to do during downtime except for scouting anyways... " she murmured.. As for her friend and accompanying that technically wasn't Anais's choice to make as it wasn't her goal being pursued though she understood what they were doing. Ah, but Yume was left to turn and look to Charles and upon hearing his actual goal and his question posed to her she said something very casually. "I am wearing an Ancient God as a dress... it is also my familiar I tamed it myself. I am pretty sure beating a god is a great first adventure, plus I can get to know new good people. I've been given tacit permission to seek things I desire and do them, so I'm fine with it~ So can I go?~" she said. "Ugh, prodigy people are always so weird, you rolled nat 20 didn't you?" asked Anais though she was still smiling and only shaking her head. She knew that whoever ended up attached to Mugen directly was bound to be ridiculous and given their personalities she probably should have realized it would be Kaguya to fit that bill so perfectly. "Twice. I've had a busy day since Mugen-sama summoned me. Thanks by the way~" she said to Anais who could only shake her head. "Iie, he said he wanted to use me as a catalyst, I wasn't sure who he'd end up with or anything like that. You were probably best suited to just decide to live the magical world life though, so I'm glad..." she confirmed.

[Bloodedge]

"Hai," Charlemagne said upon being thanked by Sakura. He didn't know exactly what she got from that explanation that could be worthy of gratitude, but whatever worked for her was fine for him as well. Currently though, there was another curiosity. The girl called Yume was interested in joining their adventure, but Charlemagne didn't want to let someone uninformed sign themselves up for a dangerous battle. In terms of strength, she would be capable of fending for herself as well as his comrades, but what of her ability?

Well, it seemed Yume's ability extended to summoning, taming and equipping ancient gods. If she'd done something like that, he definitely couldn't reject her request to join them. Actually, Charlemagne thought he should probably be asking for the help of someone like that. "That's a uh... pretty strong resume. I can't really say no, but... still be careful," he said, walking over to extend his right hand. "I'm Charles, by the way. Charles, Charlie, Chuck, whatever works for you! Welcome aboard!" was added at the end. With that, it seemed everyone but the horse in this room would be joining the journey. Charlemagne wasn't sure where they would spawn exactly once reaching the Holy Knights' Headquarters, but... he did hope their arrival wouldn't be right inside. A bit of time to prepare after appearing would be necessary. "So, are we all ready?"

[Apollymi]

Sakura had accepted her new knowledge and was happily thinking of ways to apply it in her mind. Perhaps Charles didn't see why she'd thanked him, but giving someone a new way to consider things was always worthy of thanks and maybe praise depending on what new could come of it. Speaking of new, the newest member of the day seemed to be Yume who had done quite a bit since showing up in this place, including taming an Ancient God. Sakura's eyes traveled over the girl's form, she supposed that was a completely separate existence from her base which was very much connected to Sakura's demonic father. How interesting.

Charlemagne seemed to be thinking things over and then rather easily consented to Yume joining but he still advised her to be careful. "Always. Nice to meet you, Charlie. You can call me Yume," she said giving the boy a fairly firm handshake as one from their world always would. Soon after a casual stretch would be taking place as she also waved to Sakura, who waved back. Yes, the whole group seemed to be together and with everyone in this room going on this particular trip it seemed all was ready to depart. Anais gave a quick check of her person. She had her magic bag, she was fully dressed, she had her mentor and her friend. "Hai, I'm all ready. Shishou... do you need anything?" she asked of the man. She'd not bothered questioning before this point if the man would just be ready to leave. It was also rather odd to her that Sakura seemed to be so ready to leave, but she'd noticed her parents were pretty free-range with her anyways.

[Bloodedge]

Following an exchange of greetings with Yume, Charlemagne took a step back to place himself at the group's center. If everyone was ready to depart, he could... oh. No, he couldn't do a thing! "Ah. Uncool," he muttered, knowing there was nary a crown belonging to the Eternal Sanctum on his person. All he had currently was the Holy Grail, and how lucky it was that he did. The Nexus had one more thing for him, spawning from the grail itself in the form of armor. What he sported after a flash of golden light was a silver-colored suit of orichalcum plate, including pauldrons linked to a flowing white and blue cape. At his nape was a single piece that looked like the cross of a crown, and that... was indeed his crown as the Holy Knights' king. With that, he could actually take them where they needed to be. "Oh. Never mind. Cool," Charlemagne commented.

During Charlemagne's final preparations, Ailen was asked if he had anything else to do. Of course, he didn't; his apprentice took priority over most things. "I have no prior engagements. I can easily depart now; everyone will know," he said. In that moment, Charlemagne focused his mana through the partial cross upon his neck, conjuring a bounded field around himself and the others. Astolfo had to move a bit closer, leaving the horse behind. "Alright, if that's everything... we're going now," said Charlemagne. Just then, Astolfo whistled to the horse, calling it to himself within the barrier. Charlemagne saw this, but they were already in the process of teleporting.

Continue the adventure here (http://www.roleplayuniverse.net/forums/showthread.php?1099-The-Eternal-Sanctum-(Holy-Knight-Headquarters)&p=20169&viewfull=1#post20169).