Munetsuchi

It seemed that the meaning being conferred by the 'angel' was taken at face value. Charles was at least capable of following the basic bits of information she had to offer. This was good, though he seemed a bit crestfallen at the idea that this couldn't be something handled immediately. "For those like us the long game is more important than any minor skirmish. Or given the way your mind seems to work, matches are the best two out of three, yes?" she said with a fair bit of directness. This was not the sort of problem which could be solved with anything resembling speed. No, they would end up waiting a bit longer but... that wasn't a problem really.

"If there was an easy solution, it would have been taken care of without your interference of this you can be certain~" the voice mentioned. Nothing good could be easy, but that was also fine as far as the voice was concerned. She took special interest in Jeanne d'Arc for a multitude of reasons. Moving on from this, he seemed to be expressing something very particular. He figured this voice had been advising her a long time, that would gain him a cryptic sounding chuckle. "I have been advising her longer than can be imagined," she stated clearly. He wanted to know based on that how to gain Jeanne's trust. Even in her current form he wished only to have her trust him? "Oh? Is that what you wish?" murmured that voice, it seemed as if she was in deep consideration, if this thing was worth giving up, now was likely the time, it was a quote the siblings were quite fond of, given the duality of their lives. Jeanne had been most fond of it, and to her knowledge had used it at least once, when rallying the troops during the siege she broke. "Tell her words she needs to hear, words she has once shared. They are words her enemy would not understand, but you've seen them in action so you understand. They contain a power to appeal to her better motivations," mentioned the voice. Ah, yes, the faces of her siblings found trust. The hands of those who were around her in the aftermath of her death also found trust. But for this boy, he needed to remind her of a time where she was that which he placed his faith in. All of France trusted Jeanne d'Arc, and to speak those words she once spoke would likely gain him at least a bit of reprieve. It was also a call back to the Arthurian Legends the Hoshimi children enjoyed and that all of them acknowledged as something of a pass phrase or maybe safe word was a better way to put it.

In the meantime, the lad would be dealing with something else, those chains did make their way to him, and he'd stopped actively avoiding the coming chaos. She could capture him, and she would. She could kill him and keep him from being one of the ones who haunted her in the future. He accepted his fate, and this was technically a good sign. "Accepted death then? It's about goddamn time!~" this was a Jeanne sounding far too excited to potentially murder someone, but he registered as an enemy and as such he should be executed as such. No harm, no foul. That blade of hers was pointed towards the lad as chains aimed to hold his legs in place, burning him the way she'd once been burned.

The long game, eh? Charlemagne had been forced to take that kind of approach so many times, he only wished to experience the quick and easy answer once before the end of it all. Alas, it would not be today, just as it wasn't yesterday. He couldn't take this as a one-and-done scenario, but instead a series of rounds. To do that sort of thing, he had to win twice. Would this be a win? There was a chance that even a loss could count as victory in a certain way.

According to the angel, she advised Jeanne for a very... very long time. Charlemagne couldn't be sure the specifics to that, but it was good to hear she had even more to work with. As for his plan to gain the woman's trust, it seemed understood at least somewhat. 'It is. I wasn't there when it all happened. I wasn't there to raise a defense in her name when it was over. That's a sin I have to pay for, somehow,' he stated. Meanwhile, Charlemagne's physical self was being snatched at the ankle by Jeanne's chains. The flame took him, but he wouldn't falter. This was actually a very fitting thing to experience, as if being forced to recall Jeanne's own untimely demise. Was this what it felt like? It was horrible, and he hadn't even dealt with everything else. Still... he had to remain resolute.

There was a phrase to be spoken. The angel claimed there were words once spoken by Jeanne ─ words that could reach her true self. Those words were not given, so surely they were in Charlemagne's memory somewhere, right? She was always quite good at speeches; what was he to choose? Ah... perhaps it was more obviously the legendary siege. That particular memory came to mind when Jeanne herself spoke of accepting his death. How strange it was that she spoke similarly to their enemies back then. Charlemagne lodged the blade of his sword in the ground, leaning into it just slightly. He was making an effort to emulate even her posture, his sword out to one side just as her flag had once been. What were those exact words? "Death is welcome, when it comes; but to yield - Never!" Such a powerful speech it was all those centuries ago. Well, he'd be paraphrasing a bit, as the exact phrase didn't really work for him. The Jeanne he knew would understand that as well. "I accepted death when you started attacking me. But I was told once not to yield, so I won't. So... you can kill me if I deserve it. That won't stop me from keeping my promise!" he chanted even as those vengeful flames climbed up his body.

Charles wouldn't be having an easy time in this world. It was nature for the good to struggle in a world which was as tainted as this one was. In this young man's case, he would simply have to relegate himself to seeing the brighter side of things as much as possible. But that wasn't for this particular 'angel' to share in this particular moment. No, instead the lad went on to express his wish in a very particular way. He seemed to suffer from some unrelated guilt, feeling bad for not taking up for Jeanne after her death and for not being there when she died. For someone unrelated he seemed to have a pretty vested interest in Jeanne. "I see... well we must all bear our sins. I am sure you will understand what it is to bear yours in due time," said the voice, who seemed to come to some sort of understanding.

Moving on, the 'angel' had given all the advice she could. And now she simply watched as the lad pushed himself to his depths. He was being burned down the legs now, fires causing him to experience a method of death very similar to the one Jeanne herself had experienced. But in the heat of this moment, he... gave a speech. This speech hit the ears of one like Sakura strangely, she wondered what he was deciding upon. But, in the case of Jeanne it seemed to cause her to stop. Charles was not one for quotes or pretending. He spoke from his own heart whenever he did, and it was... earnest. The words he spoke were similar to ones she'd spoken but they also held their own purpose, their own meaning. And this was the sort of person he was even as his stance reminded her of one she'd taken quite a long time ago. The anger of Jeanne d'Arc didn't disappear, but after those words registered in her mind, the heat of those flames did. Stakes began disappearing and... chains fell apart in feathered disarray. "Oh? I'm surprised, well she's always been among the more reasonable of us..." the voice mentioned. But Jeanne herself hadn't said anything. Though the 'angel' didn't understand why such a speech connected with her younger sibling, she understood for now, the lad had shown his true self to Jeanne and she'd accepted it, past the feeling of that intrusive god with whom he shared a connection. "Oh? Is it over now?" murmured Sakura seeming to be waiting for the dust to settle.

All would have to bear their own sins, and Charlemagne never wished to consider himself an exception. For his sins, he'd march headlong into whatever consequences came. Even if he could help Jeanne out of her current state, the repercussions lay ahead of him still. Anything else was just making amends. Upon giving his speech that took inspiration from her own, Charlemagne watched Jeanne stop dead in her tracks. The onslaught was over in a moment. The fires stemming from those chains stopped burning all at once, and Charlemagne was finally able to breathe.

Did it work? It seemed to work. Sakura watched from the sidelines and wondered if the battle was over, while the Nexus held up a hand as if to suggest waiting. Just then, a nervous chuckle passed Charlemagne's lips. That was painful; too painful. Try as he might to look cool and bear the agony, he couldn't keep it up while the adrenaline wasn't pumping. "A─... haaah-!" he heaved. He'd been burned and frankly had the pants scared off him. Now, the poor lad was falling onto his back and breathing heavily. "Hah... alright. Never gonna get over that happening. Step one done. Cool," he murmured to no one in particular. 'And I owe the angel voice. If it's possible, I'll pay you back someday for setting me on the right path.'

Meanwhile, the Nexus lowered his hand. "Now it's over. None too soon, really. Those two should be on way friendlier terms than that, even if they're not an item like they should be," he said in the strangest fashion. That pair was so perfectly compatible with one another, it was strange to see them at odds even for a moment. That, however, was something he could blame a very specific person for. "I'm guessing this isn't going to be a 'kiss and make up' kind of scene though. Shame."

It would seem the fight was over, and as much as he tried to hold on to being cool, Charles eventually crumbled. A cheeky chortle escaped Jeanne as this kind of behavior was about exactly what she expected of the lad she'd known before, but she had nothing else to say immediately. "Omedetougouzaimasu, Char-kun," Sakura mentioned though it was very strange how quickly the lad seemed to fall back into his old habits. After a moment, the Nexus cleared the fight itself and Sakura began moving towards Charles. Jeanne had no healing and no support to offer in her current form, so she'd leave that lass to do what she would, though a passing comment would come from her just the same. "Oh I didn't think I'd hear anyone but my siblings speaking Japanese at random, bitchin'," Jeanne said seemingly pleased by Sakura's presence for the most random reason. In the meantime she took up the seat so recently exited and crossed her own legs at the knees after falling into it. "They do feel like they'd mix nicely. And nice to meet you..." mentioned Sakura who understood most things in terms of mana alone.

The final thing spoken to the 'angel' voice in his mind made something of a smile creep up on a face with striking similarity to Jeanne's own? "One should be careful what they offer someone as long lived as I am... if you succeed in your desired task there would be no need for recompense," the woman said in the boy's mind as Sakura appeared at his side. Given his general disposition she made a minor decision concerning his current state. "If I fill your grail... I can treat your burns," she mentioned figuring by his other reactions he wouldn't enjoy her demanding him accept the mana directly from the tap as she would have normally offered it. As for the matter of kissing and making up, there was only one thing said by Jeanne. "No way in hell," she piped up for the first time. "So if I'm not here to take my vengeance what the hell am I here for? I'm sure I'm making people worry more than normal already..." she said seemingly impatient very much unlike her other self. Though at the very least she wasn't attacking anyone, so there was that.

While Charlemagne worked at gathering his bearings, Jeanne left her existing location, and Sakura encroached upon him. Apart from a few burns and stab wounds, he was relatively fine; the constitution of this 'new' body was nothing to shake a proverbial stick at. He had a few more words to exchange with Jeanne's unknown angel, who insisted no repayment would be necessary if he succeeded in the current task. Nonsense. 'I don't care if it's necessary. You helped me, so I'll try my best to help you somehow. Bank on it,' he muttered.

Sakura took the lad's side, claiming she could do something about the burns by filling the Holy Grail. Sadly, Charlemagne was fated to take a much deeper wound before his mouth could even open. The Nexus spoke of their making up in a way Jeanne shut down in... frankly, a harsher way than he could ever have imagined. "... Ouch?" he said immediately. Though that wasn't the outcome he wanted either, she definitely could have been a bit gentler with the rejection. "No grail's fixing that. I... think I'm good for now. These burns aren't going anywhere anyway," he said to Sakura. Perhaps the Holy Grail did have the ability to fix even those burns, but if it could, he'd rather refrain. He'd consider it all part of his penance either way. If Charlemagne's assumptions were correct, he'd be rid of them eventually either way.

Moving on, the Nexus addressed the woman who abrasively claimed that chair beside him. "You're here because he wanted you here to talk, not because I called you. Might be a good idea to stop and figure out people's motives beforehand next time. Good show, though. I like the passion," the man declared. "Oh, and don't worry about the people who might worry. That's been settled too," he added, sparing an additional glance in Charlemagne's direction during those final words.

Surprise. Not much surprised this particular angel anymore, but the kindness proffered by Charlemagne was something uncommon. She would call it almost equivalent to the sort of person Jeanne d'Arc was, when she wasn't... on the warpath. Interesting, those people from France were always such deeply good people, it was hard to reconcile their fate in this world. "If you say so... people like me hold people to their words. Good luck and see you around~" that voice left him in a teasing manner. She was sure it'd come up again, and she'd left herself gently tethered to the lad, for her own future purposes.

Moving on from that, Sakura had offered to heal Charles, but he was first stunned by the words uttered by Jeanne d'Arc and then claimed he didn't need it. His burns wouldn't be going anywhere, this much was true, but they didn't have to be outwardly painful. In this moment though it seemed he'd taken more emotional damage than anything else. In her infinite understanding of people, Sakura gave the lad a gentle pat on the head. "There there, Char-kun," she managed seemingly sad for his very rough rejection. But perhaps, the lass hadn't been forward enough before and decided that all rejections needed to be clear, concise and to the point? "Yeah, they aren't going anywhere. Still, she could ease the pain..." Jeanne commented, there was no apology for bruising his manhood or anything like that, but she wouldn't have offered it in her current state regardless. Moving on, according to the Nexus she'd been called here by Charles, to talk... and that she should find out people motivations first.

"Yeah, while I get what you mean, I'm not that trusting anymore... " she said in a manner which was less obviously aggressive. "Though, I do understand Eri-nee fighting first and asking questions later. And he did feel like my enemy..." she mumbled in reply to the enjoyment of the passion of such a moment. And with his final words it seemed that there was nothing for her to worry about. She wasn't currently stressing out her more immediate family and friend group by suddenly passing out and she could take the Nexus's word about that so she seemed to relax just a tad. She'd be found soon enough with her left hand up and her face leaning against it waiting for the rest of this supposed conversation. Whatever Charles wanted to talk about she'd at least hear him out.

Charlemagne would rather have been physically burned for another twenty minutes than be on the receiving end of that two second mental burn. In a single moment, he felt so uncool that all his parameters were dropped a full grade below the norm due to a certain Skill. The worst part was that it came from Jeanne d'Arc herself ─ someone he thought to pursue many centuries ago. It couldn't get much worse than that, even though Sakura was there patting his head. "It's fine. I'm fine. Everyone has their preferences," he chanted as if reciting lines in some bad audition. The Nexus had something else to add at that point. "Sheesh. Y'know if you opened with that, you probably could have killed him in two seconds flat," he said as a phantasmal Holy Grail appeared in one hand. It was filled with the usual wine-like liquid, held out in offer to Jeanne. "It's been a thousand years, right? Here; drink."

Upon finally dragging himself up into a seated position, Charlemagne took a moment to gather his thoughts. This entire event had been surreal enough to make him nearly forget the overarching purpose, but ah, he had it. "I should start with backstory, huh? I don't feel like Father An because I chose to. I was uh... 'selected' to be Holy Emperor and Angie's husband. The Father was in this weird, decrepit state, but at the wedding, he somehow made me stab him and tried to rip my soul out. He called me 'the second sacrifice' or something, which I figured makes you the first based on what we already found out from looking into your case. Anyway, I got dropped to the lower world, almost unexisted a few times, but then Sakura here uh... fixed me up. Apparently I ended up part Father An as a result of the residual link. We need to get back to Aincrad, stop whatever plan he has and help everyone else though, so I was trying to get to Chaldea through the HQ. It was suggested that I find you through the Nexus to make that happen," the lad explained.

Charlemagne claimed everyone had their preferences and this was the truth. Jeanne herself might have been a bit less harsh with her way of wording such a thing, if she'd been in a different form but she had no intention of giving up Siegfried for Charles regardless. She also wasn't exactly a nice person in her current form and wouldn't be sparing anyone's feelings, but this was what it meant to deny fate in her case. Moving on, Sakura stayed patting the top of Charles's head and seemed to feel strangely for him though he was trying to make peace. "If you say so, but that looked more painful than the fight by reaction alone..." Sakura murmured. Jeanne chuckled because it was obvious to her that this lass lacked common sense, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. "Well, you should take blame for it huh? For saying something like that when you knew how I'd react," she said in a huff. Regardless, she was soon offered a grail and it'd been quite a while. "Damn straight it's been ages. I'm out here drinking out of a normal cup like a pleb," she gripped. Cup full she'd sip, happily, it'd been far too long since she enjoyed a drink out of the grail.

And while she drank, Charles gave the background to why he wished to talk. In these moments, Jeanne found out that the lad before her had been made a similar kind of sacrifice to herself. Only instead of simply killing him to take from him, he'd planned to steal his entire existence. "Huh, that actually sucks. Condolences," she offered. "I don't know if I should feel better that he didn't want my body, or wonder why that group of idiots keeps trying to do such stupid things with other people's existences," she commented almost absently. As for Sakura she gave the lass the thumbs up. "Good on you, re-existing someone out of nothing and all... Did a great job of that~" she said knowing that it was very possible with a story like that, that Charles could have ended up a lot closer to her own current existence than he did to his normal self. "As for your request, I'd allow it, but..." she gave a pause seeming to try to think about how to phrase it. "I mean you could go there anyway but I'm not there. That group of gods is an annoyance and a half and a group of us are currently in a dungeon outside the world. So I can't help smooth it over for ya," she expressed in a much more clear manner. "And if you think I jumped the gun a bit, to Sieg I just disappeared... again. And you haven't been seen at the Holy Knights HQ in over a 1000 years, since the last time I disappeared... It's not gonna play well, the whole upstairs is probably only just settling down," she stated. True enough, King Gilgamesh, Artoria Pendragon, Morgan le Fay, Siduri, Medusa and Jeanne d'Arc were all missing from Chaldea under dubious circumstances. It wouldn't even be unreasonable for a connection to an old god cult to be the reason for such a thing.

Sakura didn't seem to understand the absolute weight of emotional damage. Lucky her, Charlemagne thought. Jeanne was content to throw blame on the Nexus, who could only shrug in response. "Who's to say I knew how you'd react? You're not connected to me enough now, so you're kind of an enigma in here," he explained. In truth, there were only two reasons he could even call Jeanne to this plane now. Firstly, the other version of Jeanne still existed somewhere in there. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, she and Charlemagne were on such similar spiritual wavelengths that he could pull her in based on their similarities alone.

Regarding his situation compared to Jeanne's, Charlemagne wasn't sure what either of them should feel either. Both had reason to feel betrayed, used and generally mistreated, but Father An would receive his comeuppance soon enough. Charlemagne's priority was to save Angelica and his comrades before Father An enacted additional plans using the bulk of a stolen soul. Apparently, Jeanne was not currently in range of the headquarters, and seemed to have disappeared for the second time. Others were bound to be on edge, particularly a certain Dragon-Knight. It seemed another fight he didn't want to participate in was in his future. Ah, but perhaps not? Before Charlemagne could even speak on the matter, the Nexus had something else to offer. "It wouldn't be a problem if the timeline never changed," he began. "So, here's a story. In the original timeline, you two were supposed to be a pair. Charles the Great should be the king of that place, and the pair of you should be the Adam and Eve of this world. We all know some things happened, and those things meant you each went your separate ways to find other partners. That's fine; I'm not here to push you two back together or anything. I do think you should find a way to cooperate, though."

There was no understanding of the weight of the turndown that had just happened. Of course, Sakura also could have bluntly turned someone down without thinking too much about it, so she saw no issues with the words spoken by Jeanne. Perhaps there was a nuance here she'd missed. She'd figure it out eventually, maybe. At the same time Jeanne was left to scoff over her cup, "Clairvoyant entities always know more than they say... I've been spending too much time around my sister lately to figure you wouldn't have some inkling," she mentioned with an eye roll. "I'm not an enigma just a girl having a drink," she murmured. And back to her cup she went, all the while Sakura found herself looking at Jeanne and then back at Charles. Something had to have gone quite wrong if these two knew each other and didn't end up together. Her own senses said that they were highly compatible.

Moving on from this, it would appear that Jeanne's commentary about the lack of ease with another transition upward for Charles was met with an interesting tale from the Nexus. He claimed that in the original time line, Charles the Great was the king equivalent to Jeanne's Queen. It was mentioned that some thing like Adam and Eve would have been applied to them, but beyond that the Nexus itself wasn't pushing for their pairing but thought they should cooperate. "Good thing you wouldn't try me 'cause it's still not goddamn happening," she said taking that information at face value. She took the final sip from her cup and held it up for the Nexus, "Surely even you wouldn't offer a girl just one drink~" she said wanting said cup to be filled again. "Oh, fuck right. Didn't finish, not opposed to cooperating... especially if it can potentially keep everything moving smoothly while I am gone. For however long that is gonna be, I forgot to ask. So what are the alternatives?" she added afterwards. In truth she and Charles had been great friends and she didn't actually hate him or anything like that. "Sou ka, I guess that answers my question then, Otou-sama could have just said," Sakura commented still seeming confused.

The Nexus knew of Jeanne and her family's dealings with the clairvoyant. He also knew all forms of Clairvoyance, even his, had their loopholes. Things related to the Void were not under his purview, one could say. "You're a child of the Void now. It's not my right to keep track of you, though I can see some things. Personality-based reactions are not among those things," he said simply.

Once Jeanne finished her first drink, she was already holding the grail out for another. Of course, that came only after she twisted the knife in Charlemagne's heart once again. "We get it!" the lad yelled, almost seeming to be in legitimate pain over a few words. Neither of them had a desire to go that route, but he'd never have been so harmfully blunt about it. Moving on to the matter of a second drink, the Nexus did nothing with Jeanne's grail. Instead, he materialized the one in Charlemagne's possession, filling it with a glowing golden liquid they should both be familiar with. That was his answer, the main alternative to their current conundrum. "Well, there's an easy way out. Jeanne, you don't have a king, right? Take him. And before either of you says something like 'I just said that's not happening,' I'm not telling you to pull each other's pants off and go at it right now or anything. Well... that's still a safe and open option even with your current setups, but whatever. Just swap a bit of mana, and I'll do the rest. You'll be married, but... not really. If you want, you can consider yourselves more like... siblings, I guess. How's that sound?"

The Nexus apparently hadn't been much keeping track of Jeanne since the start of her... less than charitable phase. According to him she belonged to the Void now, and he wouldn't have been able to ping a personality based reaction to start with, "That seems a bit open-ended. I don't care much either way but it seems like a pretty big hole," she mentioned seeming to not understand much the point. Of course, she wasn't a Clairvoyant being and never wanted to be, she'd seen the ways those people got from having too much knowledge and not enough space to actually do anything with her. Her own elder sister was the type to do whatever it took the get the results she wanted and in her own mind there didn't need to be too many people walking around like that.

Moving on it seemed that she'd incidentally twisted the knife in Charles's roasted corpse by going about mentioning that she had no intention of seeking any sort of relationship with him. Sakura remained at Charles side patting him on the head. She really didn't understand this reaction, the words themselves were not so harming as they could have been. "Char-kun I don't think she's being intentionally malicious," Sakura murmured though she understood he was upset. Of course, she wasn't being intentionally malicious but she also wasn't being nice, this was the nature of Jeanne's current self. Much to Jeanne's own general displeasure, she wasn't being offered a second drink, instead... she was told of a method of fixing both their problems which involved taking Charles as the King to her Queen. She scoffed and was about to reiterate a thing she said, purposefully twisting an already sore subject, only to have the Nexus immediately mention past that point and her general objection. "Well if you had started with the brother and sister part you likely wouldn't have had to preface the subject. Also... there would have been a swear or three in there..." she added seemingly pouty. Oh well, this version of herself was still just lashing out at people... it was currently in her nature to be a bit more spiteful than normal. "That sounds better than anything else, but I don't get why the comparison to both marriage and brother and sister..." she said not quite completely understanding why that distinction wasn't what the Nexus led with. Strangely, it would be Sakura who spoke up. "Oh, I can explain this one..." she started happily. "Everything in this world is determined by mana and its compatibility. As such the difference between a married couples synergy and a sibling sets energy is basically negligible. In the cases of weaker sensory beings, telling the difference between married couples or a set of siblings would be exceedingly difficult. And they balance well so there aren't any problems..." she finished with a firm nod. Jeanne looked at this girl and sighed. She understood those words and they did make sense if one considered mana the base of everything, but such a thought was exactly the opposite of the randomness of human understanding. "Eri-nee would call it magical world bullshit biology... okay. Fine, I appreciate the quick explanation. Thanks~" she said soon after. All the while Sakura beamed like the happiest person that had gotten to make an explanation and have it understood. "Alright so.. how do we do this mana exchange in a way that won't make me say something else that hurts feelings?" she asked finally.

"It's not as big as it seems. The outcome is pretty much the same, but... you witches are above and beyond either way. That thing you call fate isn't exactly something you people care about," the Nexus added. Even with her belonging to the Void in this form, he would normally be able to see through all events surrounding her. Witches, however, had the innate ability to alter those events from the moment they awakened.

Sakura believed Jeanne wasn't being malicious with any intent. Did that matter? No. Somehow, that made things even worse. "It's not even about that!" he retorted, choosing to address the matter no further. Whatever the case, he had an explanation to listen to. The Nexus believed he and Jeanne should connect in a way similar to marriage, but not quite the same. Siblings, he compared it to. As a human from the other world, Charlemagne would have naturally considered that even worse by association... but he'd seen and heard too many ridiculous things lately. Surely there was more to the explanation. Indeed, there was. Sakura spoke next, explaining that siblings and wedded couples were so incredibly similar in terms of mana connections, a layman would not be able to tell one pair from the other. That... made the strangest amount of perfect sense. "I'm almost upset by how easily I understand this stuff now," Charlemagne mumbled.

Now then, how were they to go about the mana transfer necessary? Well, they had already been given the key. The Nexus held in one hand Charlemagne's grail, believing neither would want the more 'invasive' transfers as their ilk would call them. "This. It would be way easier if you just did things the normal way, but I understand you humans have your preferences and reservations. At minimum, prolonged skin contact might work. A bodily fluid exchange of some sort would be way better, but you'll both have to drink from this grail either way. As for you not hurting someone else's feelings, well... that's up to you, isn't it?"

The Nexus had some interesting things to say about Witches and fate, thinking that the hole in his vision wasn't that big and the outcomes were mostly the same. "Going with the flow isn't for everyone... I couldn't anymore. Though I wonder if I have some secret darkness based friend now I don't know about~" she said her own thoughts about it. Actually, she probably wouldn't have been okay if she'd tried to accept what had happened to her. She was too fragile with everything that happened. In this way she took her life back into her own hands and that made it better for her.

According to Charles, this wasn't about the malicious intentions or lack there of applied to Jeanne d'Arc's words. Sakura truly wouldn't get it. Perhaps more observation was in order? Yes that seemed fine. What was more, the general understanding of their newest lesson about the differences between married couples and siblings was well received by both individuals. Charles claimed hew as almost upset at how easy things were to understand now and Jeanne could strangely commiserate. "You aren't the only one. I learned an ancient language earlier in the week and just the use of those words have enough power to keep a dragon out of rampage... shit's confusing, you're beating your head against a wall, and then clarity. It's fucking irritating," she said absently.

Speaking of things to get done, apparently things would be easier if they went about it a more natural way, but the Nexus understood human reservations and preferences. It was pretty obvious he didn't fully get it, considering he kept mentioning the easier method as if someone was going to take him up on the offer. "Still doing it the hard way..." mentioned Jeanne, but that was fine. As for not hurting feelings she only scoffed. If it'd been her intention to fully emasculate someone she'd do it on purpose... anything else she wasn't taking responsibility for. So, she did it the easiest way she could. She got up and reached for the cup. In doing so the armor on her person was banished and she was left in her little black sleeveless dress her fingers bare. She took a healthy swig from that cup while approaching Charles with it directly hand held it out for him. "Bottoms up!" she offered the lad before collapsing on the floor beside him and crossing her legs at the ankle. Soon after one would note her right hand on offer, it was the best she could or would manage at this point but it was something. The Nexus was an 'all-powerful' being he could make it work. And she'd gone without hurting any more feelings as far as she was concerned. "Sou ka, that was the choice, interesting. I like her." she decided in the moment.

Jeanne thought she may have some sort of dark entity as a comrade now, and frankly, she couldn't be more correct. "You don't know her? Hmm. Must have been a new thing. You'll probably meet soon then," the Nexus asserted. He knew his daughter to be the Void's current representative due to Sakura, but apparently she hadn't been utilizing her connection to others for very long. Ah, perhaps the Dark Grail's creation was to blame for her chosen involvement.

For the first time in a thousand years, Charlemagne and Jeanne were on the same page. His understanding of Sakura's explanation was disturbingly easy, and she shared the opinion. That was sure to set him at ease after all those jabs at his self-esteem. "You learned a language that works on dragons? That's pretty awesome. I could have used that sort of thing on the wyvern I had to deal with a few months ago," he mused. Charlemagne remembered battling a dragon eons before as well, alongside Jeanne d'Arc even. Those were the days. "But yeah, everything in this world is ridiculous no matter how long I'm here."

Deciding to do things the more difficult way as both would prefer, Jeanne took hold of the Holy Grail and moved toward Charlemagne. In doing so, she banished her armor, at which point Charlemagne came to realize she was... far, far less reserved than ever before. By the time she sat next to him with an extended hand, he was pink in the face and looking away. Of course, he still reached for that hand to facilitate whatever sort of mana exchange this would be. Once upon a time, this sort of finger-lacing was something he considered slightly... lewd. After recent experiences, however... no. No, it still felt lewd somehow. Either way, he kept his right hand available to receive the grail and take a drink for himself. The Nexus took this time to look deep into the pair and... make a few things occur between them. "Woah! You guys could make a radical kid! This is gonna be awesome!"

"I haven't met anyone new lately... not counting her at least..." she said with a random wave to Sakura. Everyone else she currently knew, she'd met a long time prior to now, the exception being... "Well, except Metis. Now Eris, but I don't think she's keeping tabs on me," she murmured, Sakura's eyes lit up. But that she'd save for a bit. It seemed that this pair was getting along a bit better now, so she wouldn't interrupt for a few moments at least.

It seemed that learning a language that worked on dragons was something that Charles thought to be awesome. She couldn't help but smirk about it as they settled in for something likely odd. "Wyverns are pansies. I could yell at them in Common and they would bend. Dragons argue back... they take a bit more to tame," she explained. "Though it is pretty useful in general... definitely would have helped with that last one~" she chimed seeming to be remembering the same incident. Whatever the case, it seemed that both of them were on the same page about the randomness of this world and all its oddities. "True and more random stuff keeps getting added to it," she said knowing that she'd seen some strange things even in just a few instances since Gilgamesh had gone to save her sister.

Regardless she took her seat next to him, and noted his averted gaze and the pinkening of his face. That could have been attributed to a lot of things, but she understood it well enough as one from their world. Holding hands was a pretty intimate thing, but far less invasive than making out with a guy you were just fighting. She wasn't her sister, and though Charles was cool, she had no sexual interest in anyone but Siegfried. "Ya' know you're making this even lewder than a human already thinks this sort of thing is... you don't usually meet someone and think about having kids with them immediately! Also the extras like having to explain why I have a random baby that doesn't belong to the guy I'm with," she griped to the Nexus. That thing was way too into the idea of making a cool kid. Granted Jeanne had some pretty hard opinions about that sort of thing, Sakura understood. She didn't even know what someone called the Queen of Saints would have been like before this version and she still thought a baby created between her and Charles would have been an interesting thing to see. But there was another thing first... "Why is hand-holding lewd?" asked Sakura, she figured she'd missed something important here.

It came as no surprise that dragons and wyverns were leagues apart. Apparently though, Jeanne's alleged ability to command dragons applied to wyverns in a much easier way as well. He expected as much, but not that she could just order them around in Common. She may have been forced along a dark path a thousand years ago, but she had also made some very incredible developments. Regardless, they both had reason to reminisce about a simpler time, when their only issue was a massive evil dragon attacking France while they were trying to catch up over breakfast. Well, perhaps that was a massive issue at the time... but at least that dragon didn't cause long-lasting existential crises.

Speaking of existential crises, Charlemagne was being pushed toward yet another one already. Jeanne decided to make a note of his physical reaction to their current contact. Why? She could have gone the rest of their lives without bringing that up, but she did it anyway. They could have both ignored the random comment about a would-be child between them, but no... she had to say something. Worse yet, the Nexus seemed to mean that comment in a much deeper way. "Well you two have known each other for ages. No problem then, right? It doesn't matter either way. There's a Holy Grail that hasn't been passed on yet. Jeanne, you'll have to be the one to do that before Anu does. So, either I make it work between you two and guarantee something good that also solidifies your partnership... or let Anu have a child that's technically yours. Your dragon friend isn't going to be an option, either; not while you're like this," the man explained. Meanwhile, Charlemagne was sipping from the grail and passing a deep exhale through his nose. Of course Sakura would question the lewdness of hand-holding. She really had a habit of asking about the most embarrassing things, and frankly... Charlemagne wasn't interested in explaining this one either. "I don't wanna. Can I not? Can you just throw it in the 'weird human stuff' box?"

When they were young and life was simple, Jeanne worried about things like dragons and meeting up with Marie Antoinette to discuss that lass's man problems. Now that she was older Dragons were less of a problem and she was stuck dealing with the gods of this world who didn't know when enough was enough. Further proof of this was the words spoken by the Nexus after her words about the apparent offspring being forced upon her. And yes, it was forced because the options were now limited. Make a good baby with Charles or... let Anu make a baby with her somewhere else that she had no say in. She couldn't have the kid with her own partner of choice because of the way she currently was, which... was also only the fault of Anu.

Jeanne's brow started twitching but beyond that there was nothing but rage in her soul. Once again that demented god was standing in her way. She couldn't even live her life the way she wanted to properly because of something that could go wrong with him. "Yes it's still a problem, you don't have kids by your friends. There are strict divisions between friendships and other ships, what part of fidelity don't you people get?" she asked immediately. Oh but there was more of course, the options were do this thing she wasn't interested in or let Anu bring forth another issue for the rest of the world to deal with, because of course that was how this was going to work. "Oh yes, because it's definitely an option to give him another kid to fuck up. So here I am compromising again, being forced to be the bigger person again... I'm so fucking tired of being the bigger person!" she said those words with a series of swears in German under her breath only to exhale again. Her hand tensed and then she remembered that someone was holding her hand and she forced it to relax. "I fucking I hate... everything about that goddamn shitty excuse for a fucking god and killing him will be the happiest day of my goddamn life!" she stated. Sakura looked at this woman and gained a different level of confusion. Apparently Charles didn't want to answer her question about handholding. "I guess, but I really don't get it..." she said logging that question away as one she'd ask someone else. All the while her eyes moved back to Jeanne and in typical Sakura fashion she placed a hand against her exposed upper back. "It's okay," she murmured. It was such a random and child-like occurrence that Jeanne seemed fairly shocked herself. "Thanks, but you don't have to comfort me, really. It's fine. It's cool... I'm going to kill a whole bunch of things in that dungeon while my sister can't walk and everything will be fucking peachy!" Jeanne mentioned, she was obviously furious but she could put that aside for a while at least.

There was no end to Anu's torment of Jeanne, intentionally or otherwise. His existence would only become more of a plague against those who found themselves connected, until he was dealt with properly. Sadly, this group in particular would be dealing with him far more than others. Their individual journeys had not been pleasant ones, and their combined journey would have a similar amount of turmoil. While the Nexus mulled over these facts, Jeanne carried on about having children with one's friends. Charlemagne was astounded that he'd even be called a friend at this point, but the Nexus had more to say yet again. "It's not a normal sort of kid, really. I should also say, I'm giving you an option. You don't have to do this; I could break the connection by cycling that child back into the world. Instead, I figured you'd rather avoid the option that'll have people worrying forever. The choice is still yours," he declared. To ensure the decision of both parties was a certain one, he even chose to give proper details ─ spoilers, even.

"Alright, so listen. I'm gonna give you guys some spoilers before I do this thing. No kid? Anu births a Child of the Nexus into the world, Anu gains a connection to me that's as strong as yours. There are some other, deeper spoilers which make that a terrible idea. Kid? Another innocent girl out there will still be taken advantage of, but the whole world won't suffer much for it. Third alternative where I cycle the kid back through the grail system? Same as the last, but..." He took pause there, looking toward Jeanne specifically. "You're missing a root. That's one of the things I can't see entirely, but you run the risk of becoming a Beast. By now, I think you know what that is. You should also know who makes the majority of the Beast-stopping list," he concluded. Recently, Jeanne should have learned about Beasts and the like. As for those who could stop them, two were among her precious family members, and few others were comrades including Charlemagne himself. If Jeanne d'Arc became a Beast, she'd be one of great power that required multiple of those people to end her. "Going against Fate is a dangerous thing. I know it's not your fault that either of you ended up on this path, and I'll do what I can, when I can, to make amends for that. But this time... I'll leave the choice to you. As another spoiler, I can tell you the kid would be a precious light in all of your lives."

With that long speech out of the way, Charlemagne finished drinking from the grail. Sakura refrained from further questioning another human thought process, so he didn't have to worry about that any longer. Instead, his concern went to the matter at hand about... somehow having a child with the blackened Jeanne d'Arc. It didn't seem to be something that required intercourse, based on the Nexus's earlier words. Moreover, if it kept Jeanne from additional unnecessary tribulations, well... he could accept the option despite how strange it was. He'd already gone down the proverbial rabbit hole anyway, so why not? "These life options aren't getting any less weird either. At this point, I'll do whatever helps the most. I've done enough fence-sitting for one millennium. Where's the fourth option where we just undo most of Aincrad, though?" he griped.

The torment of Jeanne d'Arc wouldn't be ending any time soon. Even now she was given a choice and it was only the illusion of choice as explained by the Nexus itself. The first of the statements concerned the lack of normalcy in the child itself. That was fine and all but the last thing she wanted to explain to anyone was an immaculate conception. Beyond all of that there was the matter of this child's potential life. Stuck with Anu, used by him for its connection to the Nexus. Of course, after tarnishing Jeanne's name, and telling everyone that she was consorting with demons, it would all come down to him wanting access to the Nexus which he didn't naturally have. Other spoilers came in the form of the idea of another being taken advantage of but it not being a world ending problem. Apparently he could cycle the kid back into the system and another person would suffer instead, but it would leave Jeanne unrooted in the world. He couldn't see all the way around that completely but did have some pointed words about the sort of people who could deal with beasts and those who would be the ones most likely sent to do something about Jeanne. A chuckle came from her then because she knew why that would be the thing misunderstood. She knew her siblings, she knew them well... they'd destroy the whole world before harming her, if her messing with her own fate was a black spot in his vision. Anything that could end in one of the Hoshimi siblings having to kill their youngest sister was... a black hole.

Jeanne was angry and stewing and it wasn't getting any better. It did nothing but build her hatred. She wouldn't be putting her siblings through anything unnecessary, she already knew her current state was distressing enough to them, though none of them would say so. She wouldn't be putting an innocent in harm's way, that wasn't the type of person she was, even now. So the truth of the matter was she wouldn't be getting past this point without having a baby. Did it matter that it would be a precious light in the world? No, she expected nothing less at this point, between her immediate family and her friends, no child would grow up unhappy nor wanting for anything in life. Free to explore, free to be, and become... she imagined a child of hers would be especially free-spirited and likely spoiled to death if the actions of Gilgamesh and Artoria were to be considered the standard. "Going against fate isn't dangerous, allowing someone to be both that powerful and that shitty is the problem..." she stated. "This isn't a choice, even as I am now, I'm not so shitty as a curse a kid to dealing with him. I wouldn't keep them from the life I know they'd have around my family and friends, even if I find it to be particularly annoying to me," she stated. Ah but there was still Charles. He'd do what caused the least harm, she supposed that was like him. He even admitted to mostly sitting on the fence for the last thousand years, so... first she'd address his thoughts. "That one is stuck with the weird time travel people, you know the ones who go back and fix things and end up talking about how some ridiculous shit has to happen for the greater good. You know, like why you can't kill baby Hilter and all that jazz," she scoffed. "Fine. Kid, for us that I am going to figure out how to explain to everyone and hopefully not wreck the rest of my life because some idiot god can't stop being a fuck up," she said. It was the path were the fewest people would be inconvenienced, what was another bit of suffering for herself?

According to Jeanne, rejecting fate was no issue. She claimed the issue was having someone with such terrible intentions be so powerful. She was right, of course, but also very wrong. "That is a problem, but that changes nothing. Going against fate is still dangerous," he reiterated with no additional detail. Leaving Jeanne to a choice, he awaited her answer. She seemed to believe it was no real choice at all, just as he assumed before. That part of her was too deeply ingrained to be lost upon this current form, as Jeanne herself exemplified here today. She'd never doom a child, nor would she risk becoming something that opposed her loved ones. Ah, but she and Charlemagne both lamented the idea of not having a fourth option. Jeanne spoke of time-travelers who enabled ridiculous things for the greater good. How interesting it was that she'd say that. "She's right, but those guys aren't here yet. At this point, I can only speak with them when they come to me, until they first appear on their own timeline," he stated.

Moving on, Jeanne made clear her decision. She'd bear the child at risk of having to explain the odd situation, and ideally refrain from having her life ruined due to Anu's constant intervening. "Groovy!" the Nexus said. "I'll even help you out with the explaining. You're all going to want the knowledge that Holy Grails are children. When you get one, it grants your wish... and you grant its wish by letting it be born into the world. This child will be the product of Jeanne's grail, even though she doesn't have it. Well... there's another caveat to that, but I can't tell you that part. Just know that without doing this, Anu could give birth to a real monster capable of wrecking Heroes of even your caliber, and his access to me at this point would end the world as we know it. Nobody wants that."

With that said, there was only one missing link: the child itself. Both parties drank from the grail, and the Nexus was able to interface with their souls at a deeper level, joining the 'spirit' of their loins to produce a transfer from Charlemagne to Jeanne. "Aaaand pop," he said, causing Charlemagne to have a very strange reaction. He gasped, his face contorted, his grip on Jeanne's hand tightened, and he seemed infinitely more embarrassed than before. What happened? It seemed to be an ejaculation that took only a second, yet there was no fluid. Of course, he wouldn't be allowed to question it. "Oh yeah. It's that kind of party," said the Nexus. Conception was a magical thing at its core. Surely he wasn't expecting a more magical variant to be less involved with the loins, right? Wrong. That was exactly his thought process. Luckily for him, that part was already over. Now, it was Jeanne's turn to receive while the Nexus spoke on another random topic. "Oh, and definitely don't go killing baby Hitler. He does some great stuff."

Jeanne had made her point, but the Nexus claimed her current type of visage was still dangerous. She scoffed, of course she would, it was only truly dangerous because she was played off to the world as evil. Everything could have been fine, if it didn't accept the longevity of long dead idealism. Idealism she hadn't been raised with given her own actual background as a trained assassin in a world that didn't believe in the afterlife. Whatever, it wasn't really a point worth arguing at all. She could point out that such a nature was always hers, and that she simply chose niceness because it suited her better, because other people enabled that for her. Apparently according to the Nexus the final fantasy trope simply hadn't appeared yet in the world and he couldn't interact with him making her right in her flippant assertion. "Oh great, someone actually doing some shit like that... you know what, can't be any worse than it currently is," she mumbled.

Oh well, at least explaining this situation would become a bit easier. According to the Nexus the Holy Grails were children, they grant your wish and you grant theirs by birthing them into the world. That was weird information to know but she supposed there were odder things to know. "Great Grails are babies, just another weird thing to deal with, whatever my sister is going to be pissed..." she said of Artoria. More spoilers were ahead as well... apparently at this point in time, Anu with access to the Nexus would end the world as they knew it. "Of course, he'd ruin the fucking world. Father god types in all creation myths have three main motifs. They can't keep it in their pants, they can't leave mortal lives well enough alone, and they are always harming the lives of children who did nothing to them, because they're so scared of the next generation they can't imagine not being in control," she scoffed, even after the pop and the tightening of Charlemagne's hand on her own she could almost ignore it, and would... she was still human enough to preserve a friends dignity when she realized it was on display. "I'm actually starting to understand my sister's actions more and more every day," Suddenly mass genocide and letting death sort it out seemed like a grand idea for the most part, between idiot gods and disgusting humans, Jeanne was tried of being on the losing side. She couldn't even be happy in her own decision making because she kept being forced to make ones she wouldn't have made for the greater good. Whatever happened she could be impregnated in a moment like this, but all that would happen would but the cut off of her current speech and the gentle reddening of her face. "She took all that information a lot better than I expected," Sakura murmured. Maybe humans really were weird in a good way.

The Dragon Witch seemed to have a very firm opinion about father god-types. The Nexus's brow rose slightly as he wondered if offense should be taken from that sort of speech. "I'll try not to have my soul crushed by that one," he joked. Regarding her sister's actions, he had something else to add. "That one's actions are always completely acceptable. That says nothing about her mentality, but... what we do is more important in the end," he stated.

Jeanne received the fated child with ease, righting a wrong of the timeline in a way yet to be mentioned. In truth, an additional reason for said child was the solidification of the current timeline. With its birth, an anomaly would be righted, effectively helping another pair in keeping them on the right track. It could not be produced immediately, despite the Nexus normally having such ability to speed things along. That was probably something worth warning them about. "And done. Don't worry; it's not going to be a normal human process or anything. It will take some time, though. It will have to root itself in deep and get to the normal you. But, you shouldn't have to worry about giving birth, combat being a danger, or anything like that," the Nexus explained, much to Charlemagne's surprise. "And another weird thing. That one sounds pretty cool, though. Magic convenience is awesome."

Speaking of magic convenience, there was one other thing Charlemagne had surprisingly not taken advantage of. The Nexus sat there wondering if he even considered another possibility, which was frankly even easier than calling Jeanne to this place. Oh well; perhaps he'd be told, or perhaps not. Time would tell.

Apparently the Nexus was trying not to have his soul crushed by Jeanne's tirade about father god types and their issues in the world. Jeanne's eyes turned to him and she found herself chuckling once more. "If you thought it might crush your soul, you're probably fine. Those types are also notoriously lacking in self-awareness," she commented seeming to not be trying to ease the potential discomfort much at all, but she also wasn't really wrong in her assertions and given Anu's own actions up to this point he fit the bill she'd described perfectly as one of those types of individuals. As for the bit concerning her sister's actions versus her mentality she could only laugh just a bit in earnest. "Well, that is what the rest of us are for, still having an emergency button to press isn't a negative in this world at all," she stated knowing her sister was far easier to deal with given how she chose to limit herself within the confines of her current lives.

Moving on from this, apparently pregnancy would be no real problem for Jeanne. No human problems to worry about and no negatives to her fighting stats at least, but according to the Nexus it had to root itself rather deeply into her soul and thus it would probably take a while longer than normal. "Finally some goddamn good news," she noted sarcastically. "Yeah, magic is convenient... at least some of the time. Actually, I hadn't been randomly pulled in here since my sister was using it as a hidden meeting room," she stated seeming to have taken a fairly odd approach to it in her current form and feeling oddly nostalgic "Oh? I wouldn't have thought to use it like that..." Sakura mentioned, of course she had no reason to need a magic meeting room. In the same vein she wondered if her parents were being introduced to random human desires while they dealt with their students. Still there was some time to be sitting around and the like, was there anything else she needed to tell Charles before he hopped to whatever weird thing he was going to do?

The Nexus apparently had no cause for concern. Of course, he knew as much, but he did like to have fun and joke about from time to time. The same could not be said of many others who called themselves deities, but he could never really change. Such a nature would persist even as Jeanne mentioned her sister's demeanor, and how she and others were around to manage it. "Is that what the rest of you are for? I wouldn't be too sure it's not the other way around," he theorized. No matter; the time of this group visiting the Nexus was nearing its end. With that being the case, he had to finish explaining more important things.

The child of those two would be of a special variety, both in its natural existence and its method of spawning. "I try to produce as much good news as possible. Glad you're happy with it," he commented. Charlemagne, on the other hand, was shocked alongside Sakura that the Nexus would be used as a meeting room. "That's pretty good, actually. Guaranteed privacy for the most part, nice and peaceful so the discussion can go on without a hitch. I can't really see myself getting involved in one of those meetings, though," he stated while finally loosing Jeanne's hand and rising to his feet. It seemed their time was reaching its natural end, but he had a few more words for the Dragon Witch. "I'll make my way to the HQ, and from there I'll find Aincrad. Thanks for the help and... technically the training. Oh! Did you know you always lead with your left foot?" he wondered finally, recalling the 'angel' and her random advice.

Just then, the Nexus spoke once more. "The Queen of Saints and the King of Faith are officially monarchs over the Cedar Mountain. Jeanne, you're free to wake up whenever you wish. Just remember you're due for a surprise appearance from the child. Someone else has been looking for you both, by the way. I wasn't sure if I should be the one mentioning that, but... yeah, that's about it."

The Nexus was apparently, only joking around about the status which could have left it with a crushed soul. This was good, Jeanne didn't actually intend to hurt his feelings. He was definitely one of the better entities she'd encountered in her life in this world. She wasn't directly upset with him, her annoyance was pointed directly where sh thought it should be. Moving on from that, there was some discussion of confusion about the placement of Jeanne's big sister in the grand scheme of things... a chuckle left the lass again. "Either way it doesn't matter, we balance each other out most of the time... my current status not withstanding," she said of herself and her sibling group. In truth, she was certain that her big sister wouldn't have rested if she'd wanted to be returned to her normal self and would have wreaked havoc across the entire world if it would have made her happy.

According to the Nexus it tried to produce good news as much as possible and was glad Jeanne was happy, she couldn't help but scoff. "I'm not happy, but I'm not angry which is about the best you can hope to get out of me presently," she added with her nose turned up. Beyond this point it seemed neither Sakura nor Charles had thought of the use of this room beyond this point and the news of Artoria's use of it as a secret meeting space was surprising for both of them. "My sister will call upon whoever is needed and you would do well to answer... she's not exactly the taking no for an answer type, Chuck," Jeanne gave him that bit of warning with no extra context. As for the rest he aimed to thank her for the help and the training and asked her if she knew of her physical combat leanings. Her eyes widened at the statement as, "I mean yeah, aneki mentioned it but, it's hard... to... correct..." she gave pause. The sister she was thinking of wasn't the one she knew him to have had contact with. Her brow rose in the moment as she gave it a bit more thought. "Whatever, yeah, I know... I'm working on it... be nice if you can... I'll have enough explaining to do to Sieg when I get back," she said of his comings and goings. "If you see Gilles, kill him. He's no friend of ours," she added just in case he was still harboring any kindness she didn't know about or rather had no reason to assume the worst.

The King of Faith and the Queen of Saints... interesting. And someone else had been looking for them, Jeanne could leave whenever she wished but if all the information given said there was no reason to worry about when she woke, she'd rather not leave anything undone. "Look man, I don't have 21 questions in me right now. Who... who is looking for me? Or rather for us? If I can meet them now and ease everything up, I'd rather do that and go into my next adventure with a mostly clear conscience," mentioned Jeanne. Strangely Sakura had been quiet for a bit and would come to an odd conclusion. "The other goddess right? She knew you both and she is connected too..." she added seeming to have drawn several short sticks to come to that conclusion.

Most times, those known as the Hoshimi siblings balanced one another. The 'most' part was quite interesting, as it belied a certain understanding of Jeanne's current state. Moving on though, Jeanne claimed she wasn't happy ─ she just wasn't angry. There was something interesting about that particular claim which left the Nexus tapping his temple in thought. "I didn't think you'd be such a... what was it again?" he wondered. Strangely, it would be Charlemagne who completed the thought while stretching his back. "Tsundere," he said.

Regardless of Jeanne's temperament, there was a warning about... her sister's. According to the Dragon Witch, Charlemagne would be wise to take those invitations to Nexus meetings. He disagreed. "Not happening. I wouldn't be important to one of those anyway. I got a grail by chance," he insisted, stretching a bit more and making sure his legs were loosened as well. Those burns were going to be annoying to deal with. What's more, there was apparently another annoyance: Gilles. He had reason to believe that man was suspicious before, but hearing it from Jeanne's mouth was the only confirmation needed. "I didn't want to believe he was so involved in that. I'll keep my eyes open," he assured.

Moving on, Jeanne wondered who this mystery person could be. Surely she knew the one person that would be looking for herself and Charlemagne. Charlemagne himself had an idea, but Sakura asked aloud. The Nexus nodded, clapping once and spreading his hands to point toward Sakura thereafter. "Ding ding! Ten points to Wisdom!" he announced with no real meaning. "Now calling up a real mouthful: Luviagelita Angelica Edelfelt Martel! Yowzah!"

There was apparently some form of mystery on how to qualify the personality Jeanne d'Arc currently embodied as the kind of being she now was. The Nexus seemed to have a hard time figuring it out. Of course, Charles would eventually come up with a word in their mother tongue, which was fairly accurate but somehow Jeanne still didn't like it. She shot the lad a look that could have been fueled by daggers. "Oi, no one fucking asked you, Chuck!" she exclaimed. She didn't think she was a tsundere but here and now she was definitely exactly that, her attention returned to the Nexus and she pointed at him with righteous indignation. "And you, are on ice!" she exclaimed seemingly cross enough to actually direct some of that fire towards him, her freed hands crossing over her chest.

Beyond this point, Charles claimed he wouldn't be answering a summons and that he'd only gotten his grail accidentally. "Uh, yeah... that isn't a thing. If you got it, you earned it. No more fence sitting," she proclaimed in a manner which could have been deemed encouraging. "Besides, you may not know this, but Artoria Pendragon will just knock on your door sword out, you're better off answering when you're called. I can't actually protect you from her," she gave that bit of advice for dealing with her most commonly in-tow family member. As their conversation progressed it seemed that he didn't want to believe that Gilles was so directly involved. "Incel stalker...." she said as if that would explain the problematic nature of the man as she understood it.

Ah but there were more pleasant things to talk about. Points went to wisdom, in that case Sakura who seemed to be capable of putting together the pieces. The other goddess, Angelica. "Sou ka, I guess you did say you married Jelly, that is one hell of a name regardless," she said as the Nexus went about summoning the girl. Sakura on the other hand seemed to be rather wide eyed and excited, she wanted to meet this girl too! Ah, and boy did she appear. Full blonde curls into blue in a strange mix of Charles own armor pieces and some more adventure friendly clothes. She had wide golden eyes, "What?" she managed seemingly confused. There was Charles, he was safe, good. Relief. There was... someone who she didn't know but that was fine. A man she didn't know also fine. And Jeanne though not the way she remembered her. "I don't understand... what?!" she exclaimed. "Hey, Jelly, long time no see~" mentioned Jeanne who freed of Charles's hand and stood to allow the other girl to come in for a hug. Such was pretty normal between them.

No one asked him about Jeanne's temperament. Of course no one did; who would? Not being asked wasn't going to stop him from speaking the cold truth in such a moment. "Not disproving the point," he mumbled under his breath. Meanwhile, the Nexus was receiving a similar verbal assault. He was on ice, was he? Well... he was also in excellent spirits. "Brrr!" he replied, shivering and laughing.

Jeanne continued to insist that Charlemagne answer the summons of Artoria, and he would continue to neglect the thought. No more fence-sitting, she demanded. It wasn't exactly that he was riding the fence this time around; he was officially a very busy guy. "She can knock if she wants. Maybe when she shows up, she can help me deal with the million things I have going on so I have time to care about something else," he huffed. Moving on, a single utterance answered any questions as to how Gilles was involved. Gilles was always one to make others uncomfortable. Now, it all made sense. "... Oh. I always thought he was weird, but I figured that was just... never mind," he said, deciding to leave the rest in the confines of his own mind.

The Nexus went on to call for Angelica using her full spiritual name as anyone would know it. Given the recent marriage, he even decided to tack on Charlemagne's original surname for general purposes. As one might expect, Angelica was rather confused when called upon, asking only 'what' upon appearing ─ twice even. A strange reunion of a thousand year gap was sure to occur right away, so Charlemagne made no moves toward the lass. He did, however, pause to take in her unusual state of dress. "Is that my armor? What the hell is going on in Aincrad right now?!"

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.

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?"

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.

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?"

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..."

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.

"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.

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."

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...

"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."