Festival: Shoot the Moon

The firefly festival. It is late at night, and the team has just arrived - leaving the City of Maihama behind. Looking back on the tall hill slopes, they can see the lights of the Fourland Dukedom city to their northwest. They've been traveling for at least an hour now, being led by a simple Lander. No notable threat to be found here - barely registering on the gray difficulty scale, Rionnag Taisbeanadh takes a moment to rest on a rock. The slope of the hill is about to get much more severe, and he puts his cane against the rock he just sat against.

"I promise, what you are about to witness will no doubt surprise you." The old man says.

He takes a moment to take a long drink. The gray bearded man looking up at the Adventurers who are traveling with him. He's looking in the direction of Maihama, smiling. It is quiet up here in the hills, aside from the sound of the occassional Monster in the distance. There's the light of fireflies, flittering and lighting up the grass that covers the hills themselves. Shadows are cast everywhere.

The old man looks up. The stars are in full bloom. There is nary a cloud to be found. And the two Moons, Red and Green both, stare down in their beautiful yet alien light, as a reminder that these Adventurers are truly no longer home.

A long sigh comes from the old man, as he motions his hand for someone to help him back up; ready to continue to climb. "There's a few beasties up ahead. Nothing you Adventurers can't take care of, I am sure." He mentions to them. His legs shaking a bit. He's very old. But, even at this age, he's still capable of walking such a distance, and up a mountain. In many ways, one would call him spry for his age.

Unlike many, Kita doesn't have anyone to mourn during the festival. Perhaps that is why she had volunteered to look into this strange affair rather than staying back in Tolbana and helping the Spriggans with their 'celebrations'. Oh, she has people left behind in the real world, but no one had /died/ ... at least not that she is aware of, anyways.

The Black Mage is dressed in a bit more suiting travel attire, though everything is still in her usual gothic shade of black. There just happens to be tight-fitting slacks and boots beneath her dress. As he has taken the moment to rest, she is simply taking the time to doodle in her sketchbook, likely drawing the vissage of the old man.

"The middle of the night, eccentric old men, and monsters." Kita murmurs to herself. "Maybe I should have stayed in Tolbana." She sighs to herself, pushing her glasses up on her nose. Despite her complaints, she seems in relatively good spirits, relaxed but without any real investment in the task at hand.

    Merek of course might like the stars as much as Estelle, though not for the same reasons. The man takes the time to adjust along that dark attire which he wears. "Alright, I am pretty interested to see what that's all about," he notes to the old man, he might find a few ideas about the new project, considering the stars are all about light. He does take a book with him to keep notes while he smiles.

Estelle is here. There was no keeping her from it, the moment she heard about the trip; her passage to this place and time was inevitable, guided by the stars and her determination. Her tails swish and twitch behind her in excitement, though she remains otherwise composed... though the keen can still see it bleeding it through her body language. It isn't even quite that they're seeking out a rare event related to the moons; Rionnag Taisbeanadh is the kind of resource - a Lander Diviner - she's wanted to pick the brain of for awhile.

"... Could you answer some questions along the way, perhaps? Some of my techniques are foreign, but similar, and I've been working to correlate that with the local foundation." She toys with a folded fan, to busy her fingers. "Some things can't be found at all in writing, however, like what importance and aspects this land lays upon the moons themselves."

"... though, of course, my aid in your trip - and the resultant revelation - doesn't require such." The addition is quick, and honest. "I just have so many questions, and while my Divinations have led me to revelations... the Stars can be fickle."

Oh, and she gives familiar faces, which is most of the crowd at this point, a nod and smile in greeting.

    Something amazing in the sky? Well that seems worth checking out!

    "Huh. I thought travelling by night was usually more dangerous than this, but I've barely done it since the start... is it different depending on the season?" She comments as they rest, taking a drink herself. "I'm sure we can handle it... are you sure you're good for climbing a mountain? You must be in pretty good shape..."

    She looks to Kita. "Are you kidding? We're /probably/ going to see something cool that will tell us more about what's happened to us. Isn't that more interesting than just... not doing that?"

Schneider is up for anything involving fire, and so here he is, riding out with players, following an old Lander to ... he's not exactly sure. He should have paid better attention. At the old man's promise, he asks, "What is it we're here to witness?" He's used to quiet places, at least, just the clatter of tack and harness, adventurers shifting in their saddles. He's got folks to mourn, though no one close. His grandpa, one of them anyhow. Not that they were close, but he's paid his respects earlier. As the others ask their questions, he lidtens up to the answers.

The sky. It's their goal, the subject of their quest. When you get right down to it, the climb of Aincrad is all about trying to reach the sky-- or at least, a specific location that happens to be in the sky. It's a haunting thing, especially at night. The twin moons are eerie spectres in the night sky, peering down like the eyes of a heterchromatic god, delighting in watching Adventurers scurry about the desperate business of day-to-day survival. There are surely secrets hidden in that vault of stars, doubtless some which may shed light on hidden facets of the world. That's how Divination is, sometimes, isn't it?

So, when summoned by a lander who claimed to be some manner of renowned astrologist... Well! How could Prophylaxis pass up such an opportunity? It's practically begging for someone like him to come sniffing around! "Careful now, elder," Prophylaxis cautions with genuine care and patience, emblematic of someone who has probably spent a good deal of time tending to the elderly. He offers the man a hand back up to his feet. "We'll take care of things, don't you worry."

After all, how could they afford to not, with a renowned scholar like...

Like... uh.

H-how do you even spell this name?!

Is that even a language!!??

(WELSH IS SATAN'S OWN TONGUE)

    Setsuna had heard the claims made, that there was something out there tongith that any adventurer available must see. So here he was, he was a little more pale then normal, his eyes had bags under them like he hadn't slept in a few days. His mana was a bit depleted, but he probably could still manage some combat. However he couldn't miss whatever tonight would bring so here he stood within proximity of Prophylaxis, " I mean a monster would be crazy to attack with this many people around, or very confident in it's own skill. "

This was a venture up into the mountains for the sake of ceremony, so Shiruba came prepared for such. Fortunately mountainous terrain shouldn't be too much problem for her and her wilderness skills. But she already has her well-worn bow in hand and ready, chuckling a little at Estelle. "We all have our interests for coming along. Conversation does make the time pass while hiking though." Her tail flicks. "And I wouldn't object to hearing some of these questions or answers either." Though the answers are probably going to be more questions if what they say of this elder is true.

Proteus stands in darkness, her purple eyes subtly gleaming in the shade of her hood beneath the moons as she looks out over the fireflies flitting about. "I like surprises." Proteus replies to Rionnag. Simple. Straightforward, almost jovial with the old Lander as he promises something... unusual. Sure, most of the surprises Proteus has run into here have tried to kill him, but that's frankly where all the best stuff is. So head on!

She does, however, take a moment to enjoy the breathtaking sight of the firefly-lit valley. There is a pause, and she sighs. "This world is beautiful." She murmurs... And then glances over to the old man. If no one else gives him a hand, Proteus does, helping the man to his feet so they can continue. "We'll protect you." She says, nodding. "We won't want to miss it, I'm sure. We'll need to keep up the pace where possible."

No doubt, Estelle might recognize this path a little. She'd climbed it a few months back. Perhaps she may even realize what the direction of this path is leading towards. As she asks about answers, he works his way up into a standing position, rubbing his back for a moment.

"The moons?" He asks with his gratingly old voice. "The moons are the moons." He points to them. "Some say that the monsters come from the moons." The old man adds to that, before returning his hand to his cane, and turning about.

He begins to walk with them. "But nobody really knows. They've been there for as long as we remember. I think there's some tales amongst you Adventurers of... a /bunny/ on the moon?" He inquires.

"You will see, you will see. Be patient, young man." The old man crows to Schneider, seeming amused at his impatient behavior.

As the climb begins, some monsters do get near. Certainly, they are many. But the problem is that this mountain is quite a ways out of the way of civilization. Their first target is a large snake that comes slithering down from above, which rises up in their path and flares out its hood - a yellow glow coming from within the hood at its eyes. It's got some kind of bioluminescence that begins to pulse at them, sending a strange... signals...

Is anyone else feeling sleepy? Just ignore that sway of its head and tail...

Schneider was kind of expecting the answer he got, so will shrug and move along when the old man does. He's doing well enough riding the peko, or as well as anyone can without any formal peko-riding skill or training. He's alert for monsters, but the little fellow with the bioluminescence is not hugely threatening, at least at first. The pulsing signal is strange, and he yawns deeply, but rubs his eyes and squints at the creature, which for the moment doesn't seem like a huge threat. Is that something we ignore or something to blow up? He will wait and see how the others react.

"The moon hare, yes." She can't quite keep an edge of disappointment out of her voice, at his answer, even as she gives him a touch of knowledge herself. "Some in our home viewed it as the servant of a lunar goddess, others as a being all its own. It comes from various tales and interpretations passed down through history, though most only view as a child's tale now." Her tails only slowly flick and curl, now, as she turns her gaze towards the path ahead. She can only hope there will be a new revelation, and not what she herself uncovered back then...

... but, it only firms her resolve to start work on figuring this problem out, once she's done helping her friends.

In the present, however, they're confronted by a hypnotic snake-beast, its hood glowing and shining. She averts her gaze, as she realizes what's going on, and starts humming something catchy and energetic, to help focus on the present moment. Even as she raises her fan, snapping it open and making a threatening gesture towards the beast. "Begone." She commands it firmly, even as she sorts through possible escalations.

"A rabbit on the moon, yes. Either a pounder of rice cakes, of eternal medicine, or a smith to the gods depending on what version of the legend it is--" Shiruba stops in her reply as the snake slithers into view, swishing and swaying. Her own tail starts to swish a few times, syncing a little too well..

And then she yelps as she smacks herself on the check to snap out of it before she drifts off to far. "Rrf." She makes a threatening wave of her bow towards the snake. "Shoo, shoo! Or I'll get Gwen to make a pair of snakeskin boots out of you."

    Merek looks to the snake when it tries to enchant the people to sleep. Well, that doesn't work on him, the man doesn't really ever manage to sleep well. Then he nods a bit to everyone, and makes a little wave of the hand, "You should be about your way," he notes to the creature.

    Setsuna follows along mumbling to himself as he listens to the questions asked and they were good questions to say the least. The information was all being set aside for the moment, his mind couldn't quite focus on it but it was there. Every now and then though a phrase would catch his interest and he would try to follow up, " Monsters come from the moon you say? I thought they came from, well below. " As they come upon the snake , well the snake has a problem. The snake was trying to make him sleep but he had a tune playing in his head, a melody that was driving him to finish what must be done before he can sleep. So he simply stares at the luminating snake for a moment before looking at the old man, "Still this way right?"

Kita looks up, offering a slow blink towards Mizuki. "When we get there, I'll work on being more excited." She flips a pencil in her grip, motioning around them, "Right now, all I see is darkness and mountain." The Imp lifts her shoulders in a soft shrug.

"We'll see if there really is something surprising at the end of it all. If nothing else, it's an excuse to stretch my wings a little bit." She wiggles the tiny appendages on her back, tail flicking along her ankles.

The snake is the first thing along their way that seems to actually garner more than a momentary glimpse of her attention. Her tail twitches to the rhythm of the creature's tail. "Interesting. I wonder..." She begins to jot down some musical notation as if she were trying to capture the exact pattern the snake is using, though it obviously has no effect on her whatsoever.

"The Moon Bunny is said to be just one of many residents of the moon, in fact!" Prophylaxis chirps, as cheerfully as cheerful can be. "There are many others up there, supposedly. Like Chang'e, the empress who consumed the elixir of immortality. I think in some tellings there's an entire Lunar Kingdom up there, chock positively /full/ of militarized moon bunnies! Ahahahaha, but that'd be a bit silly, wouldn't it?"

...Wouldn't it?

But then! There is a snake! The snake... danced crazy!?!?

For some reason, the creature's strange strobing patterns and vaguely hypnotic movements are... relaxing, even moreso than the cool night air. Prophylaxis huffs, shaking off the effects of the incoming snooze with a quick slap to the cheeks. "...Right. That's going to get annoying."

And so Prophylaxis... shoots it with a firebolt!?

His solution to many things is fire, you see.

There is a chuckle from Proteus at the mention of bunnies on the moon. "Yes. There's old tales that speak of a rabbit that makes the elixir of immortality on the moon, among others." She doesn't bother elucidating, it looks like everyone's up to date on their moon bunny mythology.

The group gets moving, and Proteus quickly works around the area, ranging at a distance to quickly engage and dispatch some of the minor monsters in the area. However, there's a matter of the large snake. There's a grimace as she sees the hypnotic sway, and she averts her gaze. "Don't look at it! It's trying to lull you to sleep." She puts her head lower, and flicks her hand, tracing lines into a gesture input window. Runes appear, shimmering in a gesture language. ) - O

A moment later, her hand rises. "You like lights? I'll give you light." She leaps forward, slamming towards the snake with a palmstrike. On impact, there's a brilliant flash, and explanding burst of Light energy as the Holy strike radiates outwards.

    "The monsters COME from the moons? How would that even WORK? Somehow, I don't think CC corp integrated DragonMech of all things..." Mizuki replies. The sage mentions the rabbit on the moon. "Oh, that's because the pattern of dark spots on the moon of the world WE came from kinda looks like the shape of a rabbit. Or a man's face, depending on how you look at it."

    And then! Snake! She tries to drown out whatever it's doing with the first lyrics that come to mind: "Snake, snake! Oooooh, it's a snaaaaake!" Also, she throws daggers at it!

"I'm afraid an old man like me doesn't have many answers. Yamato has been cut off from the rest of the world for such a long time, and has dealt with so many disasters along the way." Rionnag Taisbeanadh remarks, "That much information has been lost. Especially during the time of the Scrapped Princess War." The human explains to them, as he practically ignores the snake.

After all, the Adventurers seem to have this quite well in hand. The snake seems to be confused. None of its targets are falling asleep. It moves its head, looking from person to person as their hands wave and flail at the snake. It doesn't understand them, hissing and snapping at a few of them...

And then the hillside is suddenly bathed in light! A fierce fireball blasts against its body, growing a red sheen of damage light all across its body, before that holy cast comes down and shatters the remainder of its healthbar!

"Alright, excellent. Shall we then?" The old man remarks, bemused as he slowly begins to move foward with them, up further along the hill. It's a good amount of walk further, and the path's slope quickly rises. Then, just as things seem to feel 'too easy'...

There's the sounds of some kind of apes, which are grabbing hold of large rocks at the top of the slope, and begin to throw it down at the Adventurers. Their shouts getting louder and louder - and so are the rocks they are grabbing!

It may not seem like much for answers, but Shiruba's ears do perk a bit with the way the old man says 'cut off from the rest of the world'. You never really hear Landers refer to anywhere other than Yamato itself very often.

However the time to muse on it isn't now, as they are interrupted by big simians throwing rocks down the hillside. "What is this, a Donkey Kong crossover?" A few sparks crackle around her heels as Shiruba bounds into action, using some boost of speed and a little wilderness parkour skill to zig-zag-zoom her way between the various falling rocks.

"That is where all my investigations end, yes. And any records from before it are... scarce." The vixen sighs, ears briefly dropping, as fire and light drive off the serpent. But she presses onward alongside everyone else, turning things over in her head. "I'll likely have to figure it out from first principles, then, or try to find pre-war ruins that are yet intact, and pray to the heavens for a glimpse of wisdom there."

There's a sigh - but it seems her distracted thoughts are a bit of a hazard. She her hand snaps up, her voice firm as she starts her chant; "Scutum, shield of the skies -" and then she has boulders impacting her legs, hissing pain leaving her lips as the debuff flashes at her, but she finishes it off before more hit her and knock her over entirely, "... I bid your veil now arise!" Silver light deflects the remaining strikes.

"... Right. Mind on the present, until this is done."

    Setsuna was on his way up , literally, using air step to help get himself up the hill and well right into the ape's throwing rocks. It wasn't like a little rock to this thing was as big as his head, and he heard the bone crunch under his left arm as he winces in pain. His concentration gone, so to are his solidified stepping stones as he falls to the ground with an audible, "Ooof." Laying there, his arm throbbed, but he was thankful at least the pain sensors were working today. Retrieving some immediate first aid bandage he does his best to make himself a sling to hold his dead arm for now.

Schneider watches as the snake is beaten and vanquished. So, it's like that. He continues along with the group, heading up the hill as it grows steeper, and as he peers into the gloom, the boulder-throwing apes appear. "That's not luggage," he protests. Retro commercials have spoiled his understanding of nature.

"DAMEDO!" he shouts, "Magic shield!" The shield that springs up around him protects him from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. And the boulders (and any suitcases that may turn up) of the attacking apes.

"There's a lot to share. I'm fascinated by this world myself. There's so much to learn. So many places to be. It makes somoene wonder where it came from, and where it is all going." She glances over to the man after the snake is dispatched, and she pauses, her words trailing off for a moment, her eyes squinting as if she sees something. But she shakes her head, blinking, as if trying to shrug off something. She looks up again, and her lips curl into a mystified frown.

The group begins walking along, and the Imp stops ranging around, instead sliding in closer to the man. It makes sense, after all. He's the escort target. The arrival of the apes brings a salvo of hurled rocks, and Proteus looks up, grimacing. "Apes..." She mutters, her hands already weaving: + U K

The Repelling Shield Ability activates, and Proteus leaps into the path of the rocks, swinging her arm out. There's a low THOOM sound as she blocks and active-parries the stones, sending them flying away over and over before she parries one of them, sending it flying straight upwards. Her hands gesture once more: V . S M

And she steps back as the stone comes down on a curving panel of rock on the ground... With promptly catapult-launches the rock right back at the apes!

    Merek lifts up that repelling shield while it begins to take the damage from that thrown rock, then he begins to duck and weave along while he nods a bit to the party. "Alright, it looks like we'll need to work a bit to make it to the top," he notes.

It almost seems like a shame when the snake is so easily defeated. Kita had almost managed to record a good part of the rhythm before it scatters into light. "I wonder if there is any correlation between this and the Lander songs." She comments to herself. Perhaps something to talk to Uta about at some point.

As the old man does not seem concerned, it seems that there is little to worry about. Even when the sound of apes begins to sound off the mountainside and rocks are hurled down in their direction, she just casually raises up a shield of magical energy, deflecting a few of them off to the sides.

"Do you really think there is some kind of connection up in the heavens?" She asks of Estelle, perhaps finding more interest in the other woman's way of viewing things. "To me, they just look like stars." Ahh, the uneducated. "But, I never paid them much mind in the real world. Are they quite so different?"

    Mizuki gives the man a funny look during the snake fight. "Ours wasn't the only world to lose its Library of Alexandria a couple of times, huh...?"

    And then... "No," Mizuki answers Shiruba, "That was the other day, this Yeti grabbed Uta and-- woah!" She ninja leaps onto the rocks, leaping between them as she tries to make her way up the hill!

    What's cool is that she actually does it. MAN that felt awesome! She tries to fight the apes with darting in for quick strikes, or climbing up their backs to attack the heads if they're big enough!

    Once they're dealt with, she comments, "I gotta say: I love it when this game delivers on the process of /actually/ feeling like a ninja! I felt like that bit in the Sonic CD intro where he's leaping between the rocks... So cool!" She sings softly to herself, "If you're strong, you can fly, you can reach the other si-ide, of the rainbooooooooow..." o/~

Moon Bunny Lore is among the most important lore, you know? "In fact," Prophylaxis adds, conspiratorially. "They say that a country across the world managed to send someone all the way up to the moon! They rode a great big silver arrow, propelled by a great inferno! And when they landed, they planted that country's flag there, so everyone would know what they had achieved...!"

Beat.

"But it's probably a hoax," Prophylaxis shrugs and shakes his head, dramatically. "You know how countries are. So boastful, sometimes! Nahahahaha~"

A rock crashes directly into Prophylaxis as if to punish his hubris.

...And then that Prophylaxis shatters into a million glass shards, as a totally different Prophylaxis steps out from behind a tree, looking well and truly nonplussed. "Monkeys," he grunts, staff crackling with arcs of electricity. He taps the ground with its base... And bolts of lightning abruptly shoot up from /underneath/ some of the apes! "Return to the woods, with you!"

There's this comedic moment there one of the apes throws their rock at Proteus, only for her to rock-throw it back. The ape staring in confusion at the thing coming back at it, even looking at its hands for a moment, before it's destroyed in a series of bright pixels as that rock burns straight through its body!

"Ah, but the stars tell much, even from afar. They are our ancestral heroes after all. When a Hero makes a true mark on the world, a new star is born in the sky. It is said that when the Scrapped Princesses were defeated, new stars came to burn bright in the sky." He points to a direction where Leo lies. Estelle would no doubt recognize the constellation. "All nine heroes." He declares.

The old man, noticing the rocks coming for him as well, takes a quick moment to dive down to the ground to avoid one of them coming his way! He hides behind Kita, since she has her shield up.

At the same time, Mizuki rushes forward like a ninja, practically vanishing between some of her steps, before she gets in close, getting some quick damage in against the enemy apes! Lightning soon follows, detonating beneath the apes from beneath the ground, as Prophylaxis casts his spell to support Mizuki, and eradicates the remainder.

The old man finally gets back up, dusting off his clothing. "This road has become more troublesome in the past years." He grunts. "Where were we? Ah, yes. So... a big silver arrow going to the moon?" The man gives Prophylaxis a bit of a /look/. Then shakes his head. "Adventurers..."

"Alright, let's keep moving." He remarks, as the team heads further up the mountain. The rest of the way is somewhat uneventful. The occassional trouble mob here or there, but eventually they arrive at the top of the mountain, where a Telescope stands.

A single lonely telescope, burried against the ground, unable to be moved. It looks practically rusted, unable to even be turned. But Estelle may be able to point something in particular out, while the old man steps forward, and takes out a small white crystal, which he begins to set into a little slot at the side of the telescope.

"... Back home, we call that constellation Leo. It represents a beast of myth, the Nemean Lion. No weapon could pierce its hide, its might unmatched by mortal hands. It is remembered for the Hero, a child of the heavens, that bested it through cunning; his weapons couldn't hurt it, so he choked it to death, using divine might to wrestle it to the ground." Estelle murmurs softly, one hand rising up to stroke her chin. "But it represents the nine heroes in this land? Interesting. Very interesting..."

Out comes her journal, as notes are made. She's already learning more!

"But, yes. Astrology is a time-honoured art; reading the chart of the heavens and it movements, to process the wisdom of the Stars above. The influence of the sun and moon is taken into account, as well, in a proper reading, but even without them something can be gleaned." The vixen's tone is lecturing, as she answers Kita alongside Rionnag. "For proof of such, this very spot is an answer. When I was seeking knowledge of the moons, I turned to the Stars and asked for a hint - for something."

She strides over to the wall, and trails her fingers along a carving. "And so they led me here, all the way across the island. The telescope is old and worn, but it was the perfect time to view the red moon through it." Her silver gaze turns to the Lander, and his crystal. "And what I saw was the Red Moon, its surface heaving. Parts of it pulling up and away from others, before gravity dragged them back down. From this distance, with an aid like that? The portions moving must be massive, the size of Yamato's Isles."

Then she steps away, gesturing to what she was trailing her fingers along - and scraping away what moss grew back over it; an etching of the moon, with a lining approaching it. "And here, upon the wall, is a hint at the source; a collision with the moon. Not strong enough to break it entirely, but enough to damage it all the same." She clasps her hands in front of her.

Shiruba just turns her head a bit to peer at Prophylaxis in a 'did you just really?' manner. Though if its at the story or at the bit about a hoax at the end is up for debate.

It's followed by a sigh and a shake of her head, then turning her attention back to the elder and the astronomy fox. They're probably both indulged deep in this, while she's mostly just here out of curiousity. And to make sure they don't get any more rude interruptions, which is why her bow is still ready in her hand.

She tilts her head, listing to the reaccount from Estelle, ears perked. She's always got an ear out for new or interesting takes on lore, and this definitely sounds like such!

Considering when they were first stuck here they didn't even know if the moons were actual physical bodies in the sky or just some decorated game background...

Schneider arrives and has a look at the telescope, though it's more of a curiosity thing. His knowledge of telescopes would need a telescope to find it. He has no idea about astrology, here or back in RL, so he listens curiously. He probably ought to know more, as a wizard, but there's -too- much to learn, and lore's taken a backseat to learning to play the game. So he watches and listens quietly and tries to absorb.

    Setsuna head tilts as he accompanies the group up the mountain, his eyes on the telescope that is buried against the ground. It seemed rather out of place and then Estelle begins to speak so his question hangs on his tongue for now. More and more information is given and the moonlit mind of Setsuna does his best to keep up. So many questions here , and all of equal priority and that ever nagging buzz in the back of his head being suppressed for a moment as he focuses. " So then who's telescope ? Is it yours Estelle or ..." He trails off about to ask the old man when he notices the white crystal, "Is it yours old man ? "

    Merek looks about the place, then he nods a bit to Estelle, "While I like the stars, I always enjoyed it for history, and for fascination of astronomy. It does take place in a lot of alchemical things, even back in our world, although I often did not give a lot of thought to astrology. You know a lot," he notes, while he takes a look to the place.

    "Sorry Prophy, that's what happens to moon landing conspiracy theorists! Also it was a rocket." She corrects, but... decides not to go further into it since the Lander prooobably won't be able to understand anything she says.

    She looks up at Leo. "It's the same nine stars? They just happened to pick those nine as the heroes? I wonder why... I wonder if there was anything astronomically significant about them in our world..." She listens with interest to Estelle, although she looks slightly annoyed as she has to mentally repeat to herself, 'Astrology is real in this world, Astrology is real in this world, Astrology is real in this world...'

    "Wait, what? The moon's surface was MOVING?" She looks at the drawing on the wall. "So... you're saying... an ancient impact really could have... flung some monsters across the void, to Yamato...?"

Though astronomy and astrology have never really been interests of Kita, she does follow the motions towards the stars, perhaps trying to see the constellations in those points of light. It is strange that, for an artist, she lacks that kind of creativity. Perhaps some people simply compartmentalize that sort of thing.

She might have pondered that for a longer moment if it weren't for the description that Estelle offers up about what she had seen from the red moon. "So... it's almost as if the moon was breathing?" Whatever is going on with it, it certainly isn't like the normal ball of rock that one would expect to be hanging in the skies.

With the carving pointed out, it seems to lead to a totally different idea, "Or not." Her brows furrow. "So it's more like it is breaking apart, but something is still holding all the pieces together?" She tries to grasp some sort of understanding.

As the white gem is laid into the side of the telescope, the thing begins to light up a bit. That 'rusty' look on the telescope disappearing as if by magic. The old man smiles, as if he just saw an old friend again.

He then takes out a gold coin, and puts it into a slot. The telescope then begins to make a little rattling sound, as if there was a gear ticking down a timer! 'Rrrrre-rrrre-rrrre-rrrre' It goes.

Then, lights suddenly appear into the air. Various numbers and unreadable symbols amidst gauges and diagrams. The old man's eyes widen, and he taps his cane to the ground. "There it is... once a year, during the firefly festival... this device does this." He explains.

The lights... are like holograms. Various windows spreading out from the telescope, until they form a wide half-circle around the area. Aimed straight at an area between Aincrad and the position the moons are in at the moment.

"The young woman is right. A long time ago, something touched the red moon." The old man explains to the group. He moves back to a different stone, smiling as Estelle reveals the carving. "I made that carving in my younger days, when I discovered this." He taps his cane to the ground again and looks up.

One of the holograms then grows, forming up above the telescope.

                                < Year 2432 >                                
                         https://imgur.com/a/eGyXNMm                          

Where Aincrad stands, instead stands something about half the size. It's a beautiful tower, just as pale white, but with various gems floating around its body. As the crystals around the body of the tower begin to glow and form up towards the tower's tip...

"I was trying to use flowery language to describe a concept that doesn't exist yet," Prophylaxis answers Mizuki with a /huff./ But then... There is a telescope.

And... a constellation.

"...Hm. Nine stars for nine heroes," Prophylaxis says thoughtfully. "I see. But there were ten, weren't there? Is there a star that represents the 'Traitor' Hero, or have they been omitted from the sky entirely?"

Prophylaxis turns towards Estelle, then, as she begins... explaining. Elaborating. A discovery was made-- a distressing one indeed. "...You're saying that a catastrophic impact shattered the moon and scattered its fragments. Fascinating. Those things at the heart of monster nests are red crystals, aren't they? If monsters really have come from up there, then I wonder if those crystals could bw, in fact, fragments of the red moon...?"

"An impact like that would certainly generate a lot of shards. They could have fallen all over the place. To Alba, certainly, and to the Green Moon as well. Maybe it's not that monsters are from the Red Moon, but rather that they are on the Green Moon and use fragments from the Red to travel? But then, was it just an asteroid, or... something more--"

But then.

Something... Happens. Words appear in mid-air, images hovering in place. Prophylaxis' eyes go wide at the sight and he nudges at Kita, "Draw it. Draw everything you can," he whispers, before pulling a notebook from his side and taking his own notes-- starting with the year, and those symbols...

    "... When I was young, my family took me out to the countryside. We laid back on a blanket, at a hill that gave us a perfect view on a cloudless night." The vixen speaks, voice soft and tone yearning for those simpler days. Her hands rise up, one hand holding her closed fan, towards the sky. "And such beauty was spread across the sky that it touched my soul, my imagination whispering to me of the mysteries in the world, and above it." She closes her eyes, briefly.

"... It's been a passion ever since. Astrology, Astronomy, all the myths and legends attributed it, wherever I could find even just a murmur of them." She turns back towards the telescope, though, as that ticking sound builds. "But, yes, it's like a portion is breaking off, but being dragged back down into place instead. Could something have survived it, hurtled through the void to the planet below? Possibly, but I'd wager only the most powerful of monsters could." There's a shake of her head, there.

Out comes her journal, though - and she makes as many notes about what's going on as she can. The way the windows tessellate out, the /angle/ they do so, and the changed tower that takes Aincrad's place. And the gibberish and graphs, as best she can. She wants everything from this she can. "... Anyone good with art? I have spare quills and paper, if you want to try sketching it real quick."

"... A good loreseeker never leaves town without plenty of note supplies."

Schneider peers at the strange lights and symbols. He, too, will scribble down what he sees, making a careful drawing with copious notes. Whatever else he was in real life, he -is- a student of the written word here, and he feels certain that he will be able to dig something up. At some point. Eventually. With research.

    Setsuna is listening as he watches whatever the old man is doing and then , everything changes. Every question in Setsuna's mind disappears filled with wonder and fascination. He has no journal to take notes, he has no art skills to draw so he does the one thing he is good at , he rambles " The year, 2432. Why only today though? Why not more often? Is it possible that we are communicating or recieving data. Line of sight, the perfect time when things line up perhaps. " Looking over at the old man he takes a breath for a moment before he asks, " The crystal I saw you put in , what was it ?"

    Merek looks to the constellations, then it along to the symbols which begin to form, "Interesting," he notes, while he begins a few notes to copy them. He doesn't manage to get a good point to reference it, but he does manage to make the actual drawing. Either way, he nods while listening to the conversation in thought.

It is all too common for Kita to live ith her sketchbook in her hands, and today is little different. The monsters hadn't really required her to stow it in favor of her spellbook. So, despite her own distraction, watching what plays out, the nudge draws her back to the present.

"Yes sir." She is quick to reply to Prophylaxis, flipping to a new page and trying to capture as much as she can of what is being offered up before them. The year, the symbols (as well as she can manage them) and then starting in on a rough outline of the image of the tower.

As Estelle speaks up with the same, she adds, "I'm on it." It may be quite difficult to capture everything, especially if the images move quickly, and there's no time to polish the drawings so it is more about getting the main points down and filling in the rest, later, from memory.

There isn't much attempt at actually understanding what she's seeing, just the frantic motions of someone trying to get as much lead to paper as possible in a short amount of time.

    Mizuki stares as the telescope sounds like one of those tourist viewthingies you put quarters in. What. But then: The telescope begins playing... a backstory cinematic? Mizuki pulls out some paper and scrambles to note down the glyph, looking up and down trying not to miss the playback. "Wait... is that tower going to SHOOT the moon?!"

A large amount of /interesting/ information begins to be shared as they move along, between Estelle and the old man. Proteus listens carefully as the apes are dealt with and they reach the telescope. The object doesn't look like it's going to do all that much, but the reveal of the gem cause the Imp Archaeologist to squint... And the gold coin is put into a slot. "What's the significance of..." The Imp murmurs to herself as she watches things go on...

And then she sees the lights turn on. "What?" She blinks, eyes widening... And she glances around, looking up at the moons, the positions of the windows. There isn't much time. Immediately, Proteus produces a sketchbook and pencil and begins taking notes, trying to do her best to record what's happening in front of her face.

And then the script appears. Proteus' eyes get even wider, and she immediately tries to take notes, scribbling the strange characters down and the appendice as the video plays before them. "You were right." She says to the old man. "This is certainly something important..." She's already working at it. "Heh..." Her eyes gleam as she works. "Puzzles everywhere."

Proteus spares a moment to gesture. "Of course it is. That's what they were just talking about, right? But this is an important memory."

"... Wow." Shiruba is awestruck in the moment. This is an exceptional moment, to say the least. Both the method being used to display, and what it displays in itself.

She then snaps out of it as Estelle mentions drawing, and shrugs. "I'm only good at drawing maps. And symbols.. OH!" It seems to dawn her out of her awestruck stupor. "Right, I knew that." She grabs her recording supplies and starts copying the glyphs and such for later pursual, as well as various notes to record where and when they were seen.

Like Estelle said. A good lore hunter keeps good notes.

The light at the tip of the tower continues to brighten, flickering until it hits a sudden brightness level that even on the hologram seems almost blinding - causing the hill they are on to suddenly be bright with light. It makes the air feel like it's cooler, making them feel the sweat on their backs from the hard walk up that slope...

Then, a pulse of light, climbing up. They watch as it hits this strange... distortion in the air. It's like there are clouds well above where there SHOULD be clouds in the holographic sky. Like the clouds are flowing 'up' further into space towards the moon, a hole in space... things falling from the hole. Small symbols indicate the various partitions falling from the massive hole, only for the enormous laser to splash against this 'hole' in space!

There's a tremmor within the laser, as if it were 'cracking'. Before the hole in space suddenly seems to be eradicated partially, and the beam presses forth towards the red moon, and slams into its body. It superheats a region, before there's suddenly this cascade of explosions upon the red moon. The Hologram partially zooms in on another window, showing an area about the size of the british isles suddenly being impacted, and detonating. As if a mega-volcano suddenly erupts and pieces of rock fly up from its position, cascading out, pulling away from the planet, before gravity seems to take hold and keeps those pieces just close enough to the planet not to come crashing down...

The old man nods his head. "That's where it ends." He remarks, rising up, intent to remove the gem... when it suddenly flickers. The hologram seeming to... disrupt.

                       ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                        
               ! ! ! ! ! https://imgur.com/a/qI8ys4J ! ! ! ! !                
                        ! ! ! ! ! YEAR 3900 ! ! ! ! !                        

And suddenly, the image is sitting on a picture of... nothing. Where the Tower of Aincrad stood, there is nothing. The land itself seems to be covered in nothing but ashes, with a cracked mountain at its center. The waters around the island of Aincrad seem to be practically gone. The skies are dark, and filled with purple lightning.

                       ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                        
                                                                              
"What... what is this?" The old man demands. "This has never happened before."
He repeats. "Is it broken?" As the blue holographic images start to go red.  

"What the... that's not right, is it?.. That's.. What is the current date?" Though even in puzzlement Shiruba is quick to try and jot down those symbols as well, it may be relevant later. "If this hasn't happened before it could be important!"

    Mizuki stares. It's quite a sight! Once she's copied down the glyph she can just watch... "Wait, when was this? Year 2432 by what calendar?"

    "Those pieces of the planet... are they still in orbit? The crater should still BE somewhere, right?"

    And then... the thing glitches out and displays BAD FUTURE. Mizuki frantically tries to copy down the glyph.

    "What if it DID happen before, though? Or hasn't happened yet, THIS time. What if this isn't the first timeline...?"

    Setsuna continues to watch the screens saying things that he notices out loud before he sees the hole and goes quiet, biting his lip and then speaks, " That can't be what I think it is , is it?" Tilting his head he steps forward a moment and reaches out to try to touch the hologram before errors occur. Jumping back Setsuna says, " I didn't do it!" As the errors begin he notes the year , " Now year 3900. " Tilting his head at the post destructioon images and tries to process it, " If it has never happened before then this year it happened. So the obvious question to ask is has anything strange happened to the moon in the last year?"

Schneider watches and listens, though he doesn't have enough background to understand. So he listens as carefully as he can to the discussions of those who do know more than he does, which is most of everyone, hoping to pick up a bit of clue. Or a hint of the meaning of what we just saw. "What's going on?" he wonders. He doesn't know if it's real, or symbolic, or allegorical, or just strange. Well, it's definitely strange, but as for the rest, he can only gape and listen.

"That tower definitely just shot the moon," Prophylaxis says with awe clear in his voice. "What the hell... What reason could they have had to do something like /that?/"

More questions. Questions upon questions. Proteus has it right, this /is/ worth seeing.

And then...

Something... else.

"That... Where did the tower go? What /is/ this...?" Prophylaxis murmurs, his hand moving frantically over blank pages of his notebook. "It looks like... the end of the world? Nn..."

"... there was a time when they looked to the skies, but no longer." Estelle murmurs to herself, with the air of quoting someone, at the sight of the tower being employed like that. She shakes it off a moment later, her quill flying along the page once more as she jots it all down, taking in the events recorded here. But her tails have stilled entirely, her ears pulled flat. The devastation pictured there, the sheer chaos of it.

"... Do you think that was an early Wave? A weapon designed to shatter the gates that they invade through? Or a weapon against the Travellers?" Her tone is thoughtful, thoughts merely flung at the wall.

But then the symbols turn red, errors blaring through the 'system', and she considers the new picture. The absence within it, the ash. The dark clouds and strange lightning. "Something caused by the Waves of Calamity, perhaps?" She conjects towards Rionnag, on why it's never happened before. "A reaction brought about by them, and the possibilities they cause for the future?"

She shakes her head, frowning, tails moving again in irritation. "But the question of what calender it's using is important, yes. It can't be the current one, if that's how the moon was broken. So it might be the one from before the Scrapped Princess War."

But she kneels, there, upon the stone. Star charts are pulled from her inventory and spread before her, a bag of lots shaken and cast along them. She looks between them and the skies, murmuring to herself various names and portents, working through her knowledge... and hitting her limits, by the frown on her face, by the lash of her tails.

    "The secret of the Stars. Estelle wants that, and its light. I could use this knowledge, we all could. I am tired of this being kept away from us," Merek then takes a moment to lift up his gauntlet while he checks the puzzle piece on it. He begins activating it, adjusting the pieces while it adjusts along the wrist of his bracelet. "No, you will not keep away the knowledge. You keep on, and you keep on. These people NEED TO KNOW. THE TRUTH. What are you not showing us that you showed this man!"
    He then focuses all of his will while the hand of his lifts up to the image, "Accesting Restricted Code, Engaging Enigma Engine. Unlock: HACKING!"

Everything happens quite quickly. Too quickly for Kita to capture all of it. Something about the entire event seems to make goosebumps rise on her cloth-covered forearms. It reminds her all too much of how strange everything had been after the Apocalypse. Strange events that seem very unlike what you'd expect in a game suddenly happening in quick succession.

As the error appears on the screen, her pencil stils slightly, her mind racing to try to catch up with everything she'd just seen. "I'm... not a lore expert here. I never really played prior to the Apocalypse so..." She doesn't have any answers to offer up, her pencil resting on the page briefly before she starts to try to fill in some more details on the drawing.

"Seems logical, from what we know of Aincrad, that this world has existed way longer than 400 years. So... it's possible this could be from some other counting system prior to the War?" She taps her pencil a couple of times, then shakes her head before putting her nose down and just working on cleaning up the drawings rather than making guesses at things she isn't wise enough to even understand.

The process continues. The recording is fascinating. Proteus continues to watch as the display proceeds... And as the flash occurs, a hand rises to shield her eyes from the blinding light... Until the moment it's safe to look again as Proteus looks on, enraptured... And then squints as she sees... "That's... impossible." She says, looking on as she sees the way that the laser interacts with space, and then 'space'... And then a chaotic series of events. "Well, that's... What could that be..." Proteus hums.

But then things gets weirder. The holograph shifts, and she sees the change in the glyphs. These, too, are added to her library of recordings. "3900." The Imp states, nodding to Mizuki. "You're right. 3900 by what reckoning? Are we looking at the future... or the past?" The Imp fidgets as she sees the devastation, and clenches her teeth. "That... Is foreboding..."

She glances over to Estelle, then, and asks, "Why would someone need weapons against the Travellers?" She asks... And then Merek breaks out his Charm Bracelet of Bad IDeas. "MEREK! NO!" She yells. "THAT'S NOT..." She clenches her teeth, and looks over at the old man, worried as she heads over to him. "It might not he safe here in a moment." She says, encouraging him to step back and get back behind her. Even so, her eyes narrow as she grates, looking at the expenditure of that fragment... Her leather-shod gloves creak as she clenches them into fists.

As Merek reaches out with his Enigma icon, it suddenly begins to solve over his hand rapidly spinning. The old man looks up at this item he's taken out with some surprise...

Then looks to Proteus for a short moment. But instead of danger, instead of anger or three slashes of light. None of that is there. Instead, there's this smile. This twinkle in that man's eyes.

Before he looks back at the holograms.

The errors do not disappear! But something else happens. One of the windows which is showing some kind of log output seems to suddenly translate just a few elements!

                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
SUCCESS: ! ! ! ! ! NEW MACHINA REGISTRATION: ORG. 0000: STALEMARTYR ! ! ! ! !
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    

Right as there's a bright light at the center of that mountain, and a tower begins to grow! No... it's not a tower. It's like a half-falling rose at first, being made out of metal. Tubes and wires rocket into the sky, as metalic crystals come to hang in the air.

The purple lightning in the skies suddenly seems to gather like this enormous electric field, rushing towards the mountain from all sides, only for a shield to suddenly activate!

Some kind of strange... metalic /thing/ forms where the tower once was. A half-arc wing on a single side, glowing with a purple-blue hue. Then suddenly, there's a light that descends into the ground below it.

And then, the same text scrolls down rapidly down that side, as all the numbers in all the graphs suddenly go all the way up... and then zero out.

                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! SYNC ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! SYNC ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! SYNC ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! SYNC ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! SYNC ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    
                    ERROR: ! ! ! ! ! ERROR ERROR ! ! ! ! !                    

The telescope suddenly erupts in a detonation of light, as its integrity is suddenly ripped apart.

And the old man calls out dramatically; "NOOOOO!" And falls to the ground. "No! NO NO NO! The telescope! My life's work!"

    Mizuki just stares at Merek. What? Can they do that?

    Okay, now she HAS to see what happens, right? She stuffs the papers back in her inventory. Writes ORG. 0000: STALEMARTYR on another piece and tucks that away... And they get to watch one more cutscene. It looked like in 3900 the world had already ended, but apparently it can DOUBLE END. What is the significance of this...? If only Spatjahr were here to comment on it.

    And now that guy's life's work has been destroyed. "Um... on the bright side," she tries to offer comforting words, "At least you got to see some things no one else has ever seen before, right...?"

    Merek looks to the new information that would begin to process, then he nods a bit while the black circles begin to shimmer from the Enigma Piece. The man watches that telescope while it begins to damage integrity, then it becomes that light. "Machina: Stalemartyr." The man takes a look then to the old man.
    The man looked interested in what he was doing, but it's clear that neither of them would know that it would break the telescope. "I apologize, friend. Although, if you like, I know where you can continue your work, I will speak to a friend, we will bring you the knowledge that it would give. We can't bring back that relic itself. I apologize all of you, everyone."

Shiruba just... stares. "This.. ack!" She yelps and scoots back from the telescope as it starts to break down. "Oh that isn't good either! A 'new' Machina? What does that even mean?"

She feels for the old man losing his precious though.

    Setsuna turns his head when Merek begins to call out about an enigma piece and steps back as Proteus begins to shout out a warning. Stepping back slowly as he continues to watch the logs before turning back towards the screen with the picture of the tower. Setsuna's head rapidly going between the log screen to the other screens and then back to what was happening here on the ground. Suddenly the telescope erupts and he jumps back throwing an arm infront of his face. This was horrible, Setsuna just stares where the telescope once was before casting a glare at Merek.

This would not be the first time that Kita has watched Merek do something that everyone else around him was warning against. She learned a long time ago that it was useless to try to warn the man away from anything.

What she doesn't expect is the reaction that all of this has. It appears that what they are witnessing is some new Machina being born into the world. Of course, that comes with it's own questions and unusual consequences.

Then, the telescope erupts and Kita has to use her body to shield her sketchbook. Because art matters more than her physical form, it seems. "I'm starting to wonder if you're bad luck." She murmurs to Merek, then glances at Estelle, "The stars can tell us things like that, can't they?" Or so she had heard. Kita still isn't sure she believes all of that.

"Sorry." She offers the old man, "If there's anything we can do..." She offers, though the Imp isn't wise enough to have any ideas about telescopes.

Schneider has no idea what's happening now. He will watch and listen and try to keep up. Errors and bright lights and erupring telescopes, oh my. He's no closer to understanding, though he's quick enough to dodge pieces of telescope. Merek and the others are all observed with equal expressions of cluelessness. He is not a lore wizard, he is an exploder wizard. The lore confuses him badly.

Merek does a Thing. Proteus reacts to Merek doing the thing. Prophylaxis stares at Proteus and Merek with a face as pale as a goddamn sheet and begins glancing about to make sure there aren't any mysterious triskelions being carved into nearby surfaces.

No?

No walking apocalypse about to straight up merk them all into next week!?

Good. That's good. Not good: the explosion of that ancient, mysterious telescope. And right when the old man had gone out of his way to bring all these strangers to his favorite place in the whole world.

It stings right in the kokoro, it does.

"...Well." He says, his notebook snapping shut as he finishes recording the last of what he can remember seeing. They'll have to pool resources later to paint a more accurate image of what it was they witnessed, but that can wait. "...That certainly was... a thing." He shakes his head, then goes to the old man and gently tries to help him back up. If he's willing to take that help, that is. He has every reason to be upset, after all.

The process continues. Proteus simply tries to memorieze the sights, the sounds, the knowledge... But she can't help but look down at the old man, and she frowns at the guy. The old man's twinkle. The knowing smile.

"..." She looks over at him. "Well. You're being busy, aren't you." She murmurs.

Things begin to click in her head based on other observations, and Proteus looks back to the end og the proceedings... And then the telescope detonates. This /is/ what Proteus was expecting, and she holds up an arm to try to make sure she and the old man are not harmed.

"What an experience." She nods to Prophylaxis, seemingly relieved that the Worst did not happen. It might be notable that the Imp does not consider the detonation of the Relic telescope the worst that could happen. "It looks like the show is over for tonight." She looks back to the Old Man. "Are you all right?" She asks.

The old man's tears come down his face, repeating in sobs that his life's work had been ruined. And when Merek starts trying to make amends, the old man throws his cane at him. "GO! LEAVE! Get out of my face!" He demands of the New World Alliance youth.

"Leave!" He demands again, throwing his hand to the side, sobbing in between his words, and sitting back down on the stone he'd been sitting on, his arthritis no doubt acting up.

And when Proteus tries to help, she no longer spots that 'something' she'd seen there before. She just sees an old man, forlorn.

"... Not the best choice, perhaps, Merek." Estelle notes, as 'Hacker' is invoked. "Oracle might have been better, to glean some extra knowledge from it in less... forceful ways." Her own thoughts turn towards her Piece, and the metaphorical weight of it in her inventory. There's the temptation there, to pull it out and try to pierce the veil... but it has so much potential, and seems so rare. And she has no idea how it will interact with the other Piece ion play.

"Thank you, though, for thinking of me in the use of something so rare." She murmurs, silver eyes tracking across what displays do translate, thoughts racing. "So much more to dig for. So much more to find, see, and glimpse." Her quill creaks a moment, in stillness, before she forges on. Even as the errors flash at them, more and more. Even as it detonates, destroyed in a flash.

... she does wince at that, though, tail curling under her legs and ears pulling flat. "... there's no remaking that, now. Not as we know it." Her tone is filled with sorrow and pain. "I might have been able to use it as a focus, and glean more things when my talents in Divination were improved - or through use of rarer techniques."

A beat, two, before her gaze skims across the others. "Does anyone have carving tools, to mark where the telescope was? It could be important, later."

"... and tell us what, Kita? They know many things, but our ability to interpret their wisdom is limited. I know they can tell me when the tower fired upon the rift in space, and struck the moon - but it's simply beyond my grasp. For now."

Shiruba just shakes her head a bit at Merek mutters under her breath as she turns to leave "At least he didn't find some cursed sword this time..." her tail slumping behind her in feeling sorry for the old and now very angry and frustrated man.

    Merek looks to the cane and lets the thing hit him, it even does a little bit of damage. He's not going to try to defend. He watches the man, then thinks about it, while he takes a look to the people, "... We should give him time. If I'm right, we should not have come here to begin with. The man said it was always the same. Until we came, it began showing errors. When we show up seeking knowledge we shouldn't know, things like that... Like when Shiroe at the meeting tried to tell us things. Something doesn't want Adventurers to know."
    The man watches the place, "I will do what I can to make amends, I apologize. Perhaps along the future it'd be possible." Then he walks along to Estelle, "Though if I'm right. This does add another piece to the puzzle of the world ending. Meaning that we know the way it possibly ended before." Then quieter, to the NWA folk, "I'm going to introduce him to Jaz when the man feels up for it. I know someone that might be able to answer all of his questions, I owe that to him. I wonder if the thing was already breaking from the moment that we came."

"If the fates have cursed someone to be a source of bad luck." Kita's stormy eyes flick over towards Merek, but then she just shakes her head. "Probably the sort of thing best not poked at too much."

While she has little way of helping the old man, there is a sense of regret that wells up. She knows all too well how one might feel like they've lost everything. "Let's... leave him be. We can't solve anything tonight."

Broken people aren't so easily pieced back together...

    Setsuna could not blame the man, he would feel the same way and doesn't even know what to say for the moment. " If you wish for us to leave, I understand. You seemed quite capable of making it up here on your own." WIth that he moves towards the path that they walked up here on, arm still in his makeshift sling before looking towards the others to see if they follow.

"Oh, it's not bad luck in his case. It's a certain zeal to tear into the heart of things, and disregard for consequences in doing so." The vixen replies to Kita, simply and easily. "It's as much his Fate as his personality is." The hand with her fan flaps it in a dismissive gesture. "That is just how Merek is, for good or ill."

Still, with Merek approaching her she listens, ears perked - and then nods. "A possible link, given the mention of Machina, yes. I'm not sure. I'm not sure how linked the two are, but she might know something... but I'm not sure if this was the past or the future, or something else. Things are... complicated, on that front."

Her fan snaps shut, and she traps the tip on her chin, eyes closing. Just... processing everything, so far. Estelle's other hand closes her journal, and it vanishes into her Inventory.

    Merek looks then to Estelle, and to Proteus. "You two seem to like the man well enough and... Would you make sure he is comfortable while we wait for him to be well enough to travel? I have to speak with someone and I'll have a place for him to continue his study. It's probably best though that I be about my way," he notes. The man nods to the party while he sighs.
    The man accepts that it's because of him, even if the thing would break itself if they didn't do it, it doesn't mean that his actions didn't make that reality. The man draws up both hands along to his pockets while he walks along, "Soul Mirror, Stalemartyr. Machina. The Moons. Apocalypse. At least three?"

Schneider will follow Setsuna out. He's less sure the Lander can make it on his own, but he maybe can. He leans over and whispers into Setsuna's ear, "So, I saw all what happened, but I don't understand any of it. Can you explain it in small words? Imagine I don't understand anything about video games." Because he doesn't, really.