Munetsuchi

Mugen was exceedingly helpful in his own way. Even so, he seemingly criticized the amount of time that Miwa took to complete her own studies. He offered himself as a possible source of both inspiration and insight. A playful scoff escaped the lips of the goddess. She had a bit of snark left to share, though not nearly as much as she could have shared. "Oh? And we actually plan to share insight? And not just leave me with a burning brain after half a day of mercilessly giving inspiration without direction?" she asked rhetorically for the most part. Mugen wasn't exactly known to be a restrained individual. He likely wouldn't have stopped just because she had what she thought she needed. It was fun and great, but it wasn't as conducive to her actually completing activities in timely manners as he would claim. Besides that she knew her husband to be a bit evasive, and though she didn't mind being allowed to think, to claim he gave insight in high enough amounts to freely work with would be a stretch. Even now his words were cryptic at best.

"What an interesting couple..." Yume mentioned seeming to find the words shared between the goddess and her mentor to be a strange kind of banter. It looked almost like it could have evolved into a domestic incident, and yet, both seemed to be playfully discussing things. Such a healthy relationship was far from something the girl once known as Kaguya was normally. Perhaps it was her understanding of life that was messed up? Mugen expressed having summoned the girl, using the group's first apprentice as a catalyst. "Case in point, that explanation deliberately leaves out the potentially important part. I am always slightly disturbed that you know magic that I don't know, even if I understand it principally by explanation," Miwa stated. Meanwhile, the apprentice known as Yume caught a part of that which was implied as well. "Oh? That means the other apprentice is someone I know? I hope its someone good!~" she said seemingly excited by the prospect. She was wondering how deep a connection would have had to be to call her. On Gaia as it was apparently called, it was possible to know many people without truly knowing them, Miyuki was a pretty obvious version of something like that. Yume caught on pretty quickly, "You're quite clever, and not so skittish. I would be surprised, but if she facilitated your summoning I can't really expect anything negative," she said seeming to have taken on a fairly high opinion of both of these girls almost immediately. "Though she and Ai-chan haven't come down yet today so I have to assume your boredom led you past a boundary or four," she mused in a knowning manner.

Ah, but the lack of boundary respect by Mugen was least of today's issues. According to Mugen the strength of the inmon on the young girl was her own desire manifesting it as such. She'd taken to making herself his plaything or his pet. Miwa took one look at the girl and then back at the thing that had been on the floor when she'd arrived back in the throne room and understood how such a decision had been reached. "Definitely less skittish. I've made similar decisions, welcome to the circle, little one~" she said in an oddly welcoming fashion. Yume looked to the woman and smiled as well. It was nice to meet adults who admitted to their questionable life choices. Especially when said adults were apparently goddesses. Ah, but there was about to be a shocked silence in the room, as apparently two of this girl's feats were revealed. She'd managed to summon a great old one. Those things were older than this world, and maybe older than the last. And she was wearing it as clothes. "Hehe...hahaha....hahahahahaha! Subarashii ne!~" she broke into laughter seeming to be more than a bit amused. "Really? A great old one? Like those things I was told about as a literal child, that no one has even seen on the planet and you summoned one your first day? And you're wearing it... as clothes?! How?!" she wanted to know. This was some kind of scientific, magical and imaginative breakthrough. These children were all beyond strange and with each one she met, she was becoming more and more sure the next generation should be left to their own devices. Yume was literally wearing an ancient god and had the grace to look embarrassed a little. It was odd to get praised and questioned about something she saw as pretty simple.

"Share? No, I guess that isn't the right word," Mugen replied. The glint in his eye belied a certain deviousness, which would be further expressed by a few additional words. "The insight will be completely for you. Do with that what you will," he finished. The demon went so far as to wink, as if to give the true answer to Miwa's question as such. If Miwa wanted inspiration from him, he could only offer it in spades.

Apparently, yet another of his explanations went without addressing the major point. He did know magic that evaded even her knowledge, but that had always been the case. If Miwa found that disturbing, there was always a frankly boring way to change things. "If you want to know so badly, you could ask. When I don't tell you something, it's because you have so much fun making discoveries of your own. Besides, have you seen the look on your face when you're lost in thought? Good luck making me lose the opportunity to see that," Mugen declared. There was no way he'd make that sort of sacrifice ─ especially considering what the end result of him seeing that expression tended to be.

Miwa came to understand why Miyuki was left in such a state. There was one more thing worth explaining as to why he was here in the first place, so Mugen took a moment to clarify. "That thing is probably only here because he was with her when she was pulled over. Though I hate to admit it under the circumstances, he may have been aligned to my aspect," he said. With that, he let Miwa come to an understanding of how utterly ridiculous this new apprentice was already. Summoning an Eldritch God was one impossible thing, but managing to subjugate one and turn it into a living Artifact was another impossibility far beyond the first. She approached it so casually, he could hardly address it all with the respect it deserved. "One of those, yes. As for how... I only gave the incantation; everything else is a product of her mind. I haven't even mentioned the more... entertaining things she's managed to do."

Devious looks passed between husband and wife, and Yume in watching them was able to get a feel for their relationship. They seemed like a flirty couple, the type who had their kids young and were still having fun even after they migrated out of the house. Instead of empty nest syndrome they probably became like permanent vacationers or swingers. Actually given this was a known harem, they were already a bit swinger adjacent. And Miwa herself seemed very friendly and accepting. "Aren't you just feeling extra flirty today?~" she said as if that wasn't the case literally anytime she spoke to the man.

Moving on, Mugen claimed that Miwa could ask things she wanted to know, and Miwa could only scoff. He went on to claim that she seemed to have fun with her discoveries so he avoided telling her things she could find out on her own. He also mentioned the look on her face when she was deep in thought which made Miwa turn her head, playfully but even for her, the skin on her face changed just a little. "As if I have any idea what my face looks like while I am thinking..." she claimed as if it was the only thing to take into consideration. Yume for her part in this managed to giggle behind her hand. "You might be shameless, Mugen-sama!~" she almost whispered. How interesting it was that he seemed capable of making a goddess blush. That had to be no small feat. Yume never stood a chance. She was mentally completely absolving herself of getting, 'lost in the sauce' as she would have said to her friends.

Moving on it seemed that Miyuki was only here because he was nearby Kaguya when she was reached for across space and time. In clarifying this matter, Mugen also mentioned that though he didn't want to say so, the lad as likely aligned to his aspect. "Sou ka, well... I do see that. Actually, looking at him his pretty hard on the eyes, like he doesn't make sense, and not in the good way," she mentioned taking this lad's current state into account. She had nothing much else to say about the broken boy... perhaps that was a problem for later. For now, she was told in the most relaxed way possible that this girl was beyond normal understanding. Someone naturally so magically inclined with inbuilt innovation that she managed to summon and tame an Eldritch God with nothing but its incantation. "I heard that part about you knowing the incantation and I have questions. Ai-chan also said similar things about the entertainment potentially offered by his apprentice as well. Though she's a bit less direct about it. How interesting, go on, explain," she said to Yume who seemed to think about how to explain it. "I had a lot of energy and I didn't know what to do with it. I understood summoning as a magic type and I reached out for something. It answered probably because of the amount of energy I gave," she stated. As for its form she could only say a bit more. "I kind of have always been really into magical girl transformation, clothing seemed like the best option for general use, these ideas are pretty normal to me," she added. Miwa could only look a bit stunned. "Imaginative people from Gaia are so interesting... I'm going to have to ask Metis if she's responsible for this sort of thing... when I next see her. Also it is definitely far outside of normal to just be able to turn something living and powerful into... clothing. Especially when you just sent out a summoning spell looking for a pet. It's all very outlandish," she murmured. What else could she even say. "Still, there are no arguments to even be presented. Her mana is nice, it is large, amorphous and able to fill space while not being too rigid. She'll definitely be a great addition. Congratulations, Muu-chan!~" she said seemingly pleased for her husband's discovery.

In response to his initial declaration, Miwa pointed out how flirty he was being... today, as she put it. Never before had Mugen scoffed so quickly. "Today? Ara~. So, you admit that I was off my rhythm yesterday, ne?" he responded. Whatever the case, he now had a firm mental image of Miwa's 'thinking face' floating about in his head. She huffily pointed out how she wouldn't know what that face looked like, and from that, Mugen had an idea. "Think in front of a mirror next time. Then I'll see it twice, and I'll show you another face of yours I like too~" he said. According to Yume, he was a bit shameless. Well... she wasn't wrong. "What point is there in shame? You shouldn't have any either," he said as a matter of opinion, albeit one he very firmly believed in.

Miwa claimed the brat in the room was quite hard on the eyes. Mugen agreed, and with all three important people in the room sharing an opinion, he decided to do something about it. With a simple snap of his fingers, Miyuki disappeared just as Qin did previously. Where he went was a mystery even to Mugen, as he deemed the distance and direction of teleportation anything but worthwhile. "Eyesore gone. I was waiting for an excuse," he claimed. Though Miwa had questions regarding his knowledge of Eldritch summoning chants, she was quick to instead address Yume's developments. Indeed, everything done was outlandish by any reasonable standards. Rare though it was in any case beyond his own daughter, Mugen could consider himself proud ─ even when he had little to do with the occurrences. What he said aloud, however, was a direct response to how Miwa addressed him. "Muu-chan? I don't have a clue who that is, but I'll take congratulations anyway~"

In the meantime, Charlemagne was walking the streets of Munetsuchi with a large map in hand. Despite its size, it hardly covered anything beyond the main city. He'd received a few others that featured neighboring territories, all counting as part of the empire, though nothing gave him a real idea of his overall location. "Ugh, it's so weird! I mean... not the place; this kingdom is actually incredible. But, it's weird that I have no idea where we are in relation to the rest of the world. That may not sound like much, but I've been a lot of places. . ."

It seemed that some offense was taken to Miwa's observation about his flirty behavior and words. He thought that he was off his game the previous day and that she was confirming it by her words. She scoffed once more waving a hand in a playfully dismissive manner. "You weren't off your game yesterday... less flirty and more aggressive in general... yes, but you weren't rusty. I'm starting to believe you are saying that for emotional responses~" she teased gently. Moving on from this, Mugen offered her the idea of thinking in front of a mirror. Claiming that this would allow her to know what her face looked like while she was thinking and offering to make sure she saw one of his other favorite looks after that. "Ara ara~ Maybe you really were off your game yesterday~" she teased in return after putting together the pieces of his statement. When Yume mentioned his shamelessness this man didn't deny it. He asked instead the point of shame and claimed she shouldn't have any either. "Shame enforces socially normative behavior," she said just to clarify. That was a societal ideology but one which made school systems, jail systems and even governments work. "Granted I likely have way less shame than most, I'm still Japanese enough to realize when I should, whether I feel it or not~" she said. "For instance, a normal person who felt normal shame might be a bit embarrassed watching you two flirt with each other. I on the other hand, know I should be embarrassed by the logic I was raised with but... I'll still watch anyway~" Ah, those words might incidentally give insight into the life of the other student and her skittishness. Japan was a both forward thinking and a shame enforcing place.

Soon after that little bit of conversation, Mugen would be seen getting rid of the lad known as Miyuki. He did so the same way he'd tossed Qin earlier in the day, causing a giggle from Yume and a chuckle from Miwa. "I admire your restraint. Probably shouldn't have hurtled him off as a true human with no real conceptual understanding of the world, but... he seems like he might be too wrong to accept the truth presently," she mused. Beyond this Mugen apparently took issue with his form of address, but other than that everything seemed to be in order. Yume for her part in this seemed to take a deep breath of utmost comfort. "Phew, somehow that felt a bit like a really tough entrance exam... or one of those character interviews," the girl found herself speaking about the intensity of the moment. Afterwards, Miwa would have nothing but an exasperated sigh to share with Mugen, he really was going to have this be a strange sticking point. "A-na-ta, do you really plan to continue being so contrary all the time?" she asked almost rhetorically. "You seem to be a bit of an enabler, Miwa-sama~" the girl mentioned with a cheeky smile on her face. Yeah, she'd fit in nicely around here.

As the throne rooms discussions came to a gentle lull, Charles and Sakura were taking a walk while he tried to figure out where he was in relation to the rest of the world. The lad expressed some complaints about the place, but not about the country itself. He claimed it was weird that he had no idea where he was in relationship to everything else, that it was odd because he'd been so many places. That being said and given all the information they'd been given yesterday about his previous circumstances this made sense to Sakura in a logical way. "I'm glad you don't dislike it here..." she started seeming to give it a bit more thought. "If I am honest, it makes sense that you wouldn't have known this place before nor would you have any idea where it is..." she mentioned. "The old god leading that cult wouldn't have sent you towards someone who could have identified his influence. Nor would he have shown you the place where one of his first born children was living and ruling in the way of the original order. It would have contradicted his plans." she made the assumption that even if Anu knew about Munetsuchi, he likely wouldn't have sent any of his people towards it. Lest he risk their conversion or having them question his teaching.

In one breath, Miwa claimed he wasn't off his game the previous day. He was less flirty, more aggressive, and really... his normal self, from the sound of it. Soon after, however, another moment of flirting had Miwa claiming he may have been off after all. "That makes two of us then, doesn't it?" he quipped. Half of the tenshukaku knew how 'off' the goddess was the previous day. Perhaps that was his fault, but that fact did not change the truth.

On another topic, Yume insisted that shame was something she was expected to have. This place called Japan was a pitiful excuse for Munetsuchi, and other such places found in Alaya. Mugen knew this truth very well, though he'd say nothing about that. Besides, he was more concerned with Yume claiming she was just shameless enough to watch all the flirting going on, whereas others would be suffering embarrassment. "If you're that shameless, why stop at watching? Add seducing a goddess to your list of great feats today~"

Everyone present could heave a sigh of relief in the absence of Miyuki. Sadly, Miwa thought he may have gone overboard by launching a mere human to locations unknown... though she also understood how bad off the lad was. "It's better that he learns a certain lesson early. He's got a little curse after everything he saw just now. Didn't you feel it?" asked the demon. Miwa went on to address him as preferred, wondering if he intended to keep insisting on the title. He did, but that would not be the answer given. There was instead a statement offered by Yume, calling the goddess an enabler. How could he do anything but agree? "She's right. Though... maybe we're all enablers here."

In the meantime, Charlemagne was being offered the first hint of information that didn't feel somehow invasive since his arrival. Sakura believed Father An wouldn't have sent him or the others anywhere near Munetsuchi, all to avoid them encountering those who would directly oppose the narrative he offered Aincrad. Peeling his eyes away from the map, Charlemagne expressed the strangest combination of shock and clarity he'd managed thus far. "Huh. I didn't even stop to think about that with everything going on. That makes perfect sense, and... it might help us out a bit! I've been to a lot of places; so have the others. Maybe there's a huge hole in the places we've been, just big enough to fit Munetsuchi? Or maybe that's dumb? I don't know, but I feel like it's worth some thought at least."

The teasing conversation between the goddess and one of her apparently five husbands was one which teased and goaded each individual. Between the two of them, it was soon decided that they'd both been off their respective games the previous day. Yume took this to mean she was receiving visual confirmation of a interaction type that had been missing in the previous day. "Eh?! That wasn't definitely your fault... My day went weird the moment Qin-sa interrupted the cycle and children fell out of the sky..." she mused as if it was unreasonable. "Besides, I had an entirely different attitude yesterday," she said with a tiny bit of huffiness. To her own expectation she had been her usual flirty self with the person she'd intended to flirt with, Mugen required a bit more preparation to deal with.

Moving on, apparently if Yume was shameless, she should add seducing a goddess to her day's feats, with that in mind, she looked over at Miwa and blushed. "Hm, I uh... that one might be outside of my skills set..." the girl managed her hands up in surrender. Miwa found this girl's reaction a bit shy given her general confidence, but strangely that only made the goddess smile. Oh these girls were doing an interesting job of pressing Miwa's girl related button. "Ara ara, if you're going to react like that, it'd be hard not to tease you... I suppose the two of you are more alike than I thought~" she mused about the likeness between Yume and Anais. She only had one friend she thought might immediately take on such a challenge, and that one was more likely to do so accidentally. In truth, Miwa truly reminded her of a dark haired Ashikaga Himeko which was something to find a bit intimidating, and made it a bit difficult for her to clear certain words and phrases from her mind when talking to the woman. Mostly the words of her father about how she should act around that woman in particular, yeah... that was one of the things she'd have to get over a bit. Beyond that, she was less than a day old, and her sexuality wasn't naturally so flexible. In having that thought brought to the forefront of her mind, she realized she wasn't yet ready to begin rationalizing this magical world's perception and sexual flexibility just yet.

The funny little flirts aside, there was the matter of the now missing boy. Apparently, Mugen thought the best of him learning certain things out in the world and mentioned that he had something of a curse applied to him. "I did feel it. It reminded me of the feeling the goddess of death inflicted on the moron during their little spat. Now that I can properly identify those kinds of things it's rather interesting. Not enough for me to put up with looking at him for long periods of time though..." she stated honestly. "Probably for the best, I don't know exactly what I did there, but I'm pretty sure I was feeling pretty spiteful," Yume confessed. And then there was the part about Miwa being an enabler, the goddess threw her hands into the air seeming exasperated. "Well, I've never denied my nature. There is nothing wrong with being an enabler~" she mused, which only surved to make Yume laugh. Perhaps that was true.

At the same time, Sakura apparently had done a good job in potentially relaying information. Charels seemed to take the idea that perhaps he was kept from Munetsuchi on purpose in stride and even had a positive reaction to a potential way to continue on his method. She watched as he seemed to gain clarity in a way which was visible on his face. "Oh? That one wasn't too much then..." she seemed to be thinking about how she was presenting information to the lad, in the hopes of figuring out how to help him. She like all real inhabitants of Munetsuchi took her studies very seriously. His ideas for solving his problem evolved with his understanding, it was commendable by Sakura's own standards. "Looking for something that isn't there by figuring out what's around it, isn't a dumb idea. It has various uses especially when something can't be directly tracked and understood. I used such methods for my own powers before," she said. "It's a good idea Char-kun," she confirmed offering the lad a gentle pat to the shoulder. "At the very least if your friends have other places they can add to your map, you could grow it until you have enough information," Sakura confirmed the best course of action as she saw it.

"Of course it was my fault. Tell us more about how you had the time of your life," was Mugen's retort to the blame-throwing. He relished in being the one at fault for such a thing. Alas, being put on the spot, his apprentice appeared to think differently about her own ability. She suddenly sounded a lot more like the other one, which showed an amount of skittishness Mugen thought undeserved. "If you think like that for long, she'll step all over you ─ maybe literally on you. If that's what you're into, I'm sure she's probably good at it. Right, Da─rin?♥"

Miwa shared the truth behind her understanding of curses, which she got from the Goddess of Death a couple of days before. Mugen hadn't previously given her little trip much thought, but he now knew exactly who picked that particular goddess up. "Hm. I wonder how awake he is. I should visit," he mused absently. "Anyway, I'm curious now. You spent all that time studying your new limits and Sources; what have you discovered so far?"

Charlemagne had a reassuring hand upon his shoulder after questioning the viability of his own idea. Though he wasn't sure initially, Sakura claimed it was a solid plan. She even went on to state that she used such methods for her own sake before. Adding the notion of his friends' information, she had him visualizing a much larger map that the current shown territories could fit between. "Right! I'm gonna need a lot more paper. Should I assume you guys have like... scrolls and stuff here? Or are we full magic displays and exchanges with no books and stuff?"

"I never said I didn't have a good time... it was just a lot of a good time while I was being Goddess of Arcane Wisdom..." she mentioned in a flippant way. Still she was once again seeming a bit predatory in her own way and Mugen seemed to understand this by how he responded to Yume. Yume looked at the other woman and seemed to have her eyes widen just a bit. "Oh? How do they do that? Their eyes always seem like they are taking up their entire faces when they look shocked like that~" she teased just a bit. "I would, if you wished... I'm not so pushy as that most of the time~" she said looking down on the girl form the throne. Involuntarily the girl's heart beat a bit harder within her chest, that was a strange reaction to have to a woman. She wouldn't be exerting herself over the lass, but she was looking a bit like prey. The other girl also seemed to have that look from time to time. Though there was something a bit more animal like in her face made her look like the animal she was. "Oh wow, I didn't expect to feel skittish today..." she said her face still blushing pretty hard. She needed some extra people here or the focus to shift, she suddenly felt rather small with the goddess's eyes on her.

After Miwa explained the nature of her own he seemed to speak as if he may have known that old destroyer. "I want to question it, but maybe I'll just leave the surprise for later. I did tell them they could come here, if they liked," she mused knowing that she'd get her questions answered eventually. Moving on though Mugen wanted to know what she understood after her study of sources. The woman began sorting through her understandings. All the while that little created source from the previous day appeared within her hand as she began her explanation. "The source itself seems to be the nature of a person as its truest self. If a core could be considered a single facet of a persons' existence their Source contains all that they could be. This includes their connections to others and things that resonate deeper than normal. Magic types, natural aspects, even connections to concepts run quite deep, I hypothesize that an injury to a source would keep one from being able to actualize said things in any core created from that source. They seem to be capable of evolution but only in the additive sense without breaking. To awaken one I postulate it is necessary to remove a core, and flood the Source, kick starting its movement and adding something to it," she explained of her current understanding. All the while she turned that little ball around in her head. Yume for her part in this looked at the ball and saw the explanation in a different way. Perhaps it was because she was from a world where magic didn't exist and played many different types of games that covered such things?

Moving on, Charles and Sakura were moving about. As for the idea that he might need more paper or the like to fully actualize his plans, she gave some thought to how such things are displayed. "What kind of thing you received in that case would depend on who you talked to. Kaa-sama would do it magically, but some of my fathers might prefer paper. If you'd prefer something large and magical, Kaa-sama would be more helpful. If you would prefer paper, Oyaji or Otou-chan might be better suited to be of assistance," she expressed his options. "I could also be helpful I suppose though my own understanding of the world is a bit too limited to be able to give a full kind of understanding to the world," she expressed acknowledging her own lack of knowledge. She was about to learn something.

"There's nothing wrong with a lot of a good time," Mugen insisted. Primarily, the statement was an extra lesson for Yume ─ something of a proper look into the infinity she was quickly approaching. Some could say there was such thing as too much, but Mugen could only count himself among those talkers... once. Regardless of the hellish story behind that, Mugen left the women to their little chat about... apparently whether the goddess would step on a person or not. Ah, he did have one interjection to make. "You could ask the bird or the ape what it's like under her sole," he stated quickly, as if to bypass the matter entirely. Of course, he'd also be totally bypassing Miwa's curiosity regarding another thing he said. More important than any of that, was Miwa's findings about Sources and the like.

It seemed her progress was... unsurprising, since she was the one performing the studies. He expected great results in a small amount of time, and that was what she presented. Mugen listened while showing an interest that was genuine, yet also somehow feigned in a way. "Ara? That's a very solid conclusion. It's completely sensible that the destruction of a Source would result in a loss of ability to access Cores... though I get the strangest feeling that would more quickly result in a more permanent death than this world understands. By that logic, perhaps injury would render someone even less capable than you're assuming. Though... that's just my guess~♥" he said. "Either way, if you're trying to unlock a Source for yourself, give me a call. We all know I could flood it~♥"

Sakura took the time to offer some advice for acquiring paper. In doing so, she listed two of her fathers as people he could acquire paper from. Sadly, that wouldn't help him much. "Alright, so two options. That leaves me with... just one question," Charlemagne said. He stopped walking, having approached the end of one street and the beginning of another path. "Which dad is what?" he asked, having no earthly idea how one was expected to keep up with five fathers and five forms of address.