Meet the Landers: Mora Chester

Things have been... tense in Yamato over the last few weeks. The influx of strangers from the Palace Lands could have been interpreted either way, but Kita's nature meant that she was more suspicious than open when it comes to outsiders. Something that has only proven correct with recent events.

It is still unusual for Kita to travel away from Aincrad, even for a few days, and with the current threat looming, there is an anxious quality to her as she sits in a park within Fort Ouph, beneath the shadow of one of the nearby trees. It is an inconspicuous enough place to have a talk with someone.

She had sent word to Mora that they should meet, and this was the location, so she waits, quickly doodling in one of her sketchbooks, looking for all the world like an Adventurer artist, just here to take in the architecture.

Except... those that know her, would see the tension in the Imp's shoulders.

Mora would take some time to meet with her. No doubt the unrest is keeping her busy as well. As one of the prominent heroes of the Yamato region, she's not one to take all of this sitting down. Of course, without any actual hostile actions against the Yamato region itself, they've been poised in a preparation stance, without being able to act.

Yet the Palace Land ships are simply in port. They haven't moved. And there have been no troop movements or hostile actions, which has been rather odd.

"The captains of those ships say they have no idea about what is going on in the Palace Lands." Mora seems to practically drift from the shadows near Kita, stepping out from between two nearby buildings, up a set of stairs. "I don't believe them." She then adds, as she touches her fingers to the back of the bench and leans on it. Her firm stance seems more tense than usual.

"Are we going to be dealing with more enemies?" She then asks Kita, referring to her mission.

The pencil in Kita's hand still moves, even as Mora's voice seems to drift out from the shadows. Perhaps she is used to such things, or the Imp was expecting it. Despite her nervous energy, Kita is very good at controlling certain aspects of her emotions. It is the calmness of someone who has spent a lot of time hiding themselves from the public eye.

"Their people have attacked ours, and they want to sit there, acting as if they have no knowledge of any of it." Her pencil pauses, tapping the tip on the page. "They're going to strike. It's not a matter of if, only a matter of when." Then, letting out a breath, Kita begins to flip through her sketchbook. For every page she turns, it doesn't seem to get closer to the beginning or end of the book.

Eventually, she stops on an image that looks like two people, riding Wyverns, fighting in the sky over Ezzo. This, compared to some of her other work, is a bit more stylized, as if this were her imagining of something she saw rather than trying to duplicate it. "From the Wyverns, no... but from what we were told..."

Kita hesitates for a long time before lifting her eyes, pushing her glasses up on her nose. "There are more threats out there than just the Palace Lands."

She flips the page to an image of a female, this one drawn in more detail. The woman stands over a man, who seems to be begging for his life.

"I agree. But the problem is less the if and when. And more the 'where' and 'in what way'." Mora answers Kita. "We are preparing near our Root Cities, and I hear that some of your people are preparing evacuations around your holdings. But right now, we're just guessing at their targets." The woman remains standing there with that firm rooted stance of hers, like she is ready for a fight right now.

If Kita looked over, she might spot that she's wearing more accessories on her body. A few loops around her wrists. Perhaps some kind of magic reinforcements?

The woman then turns her gaze down, looking to Kita herself, staring into her eyes with her firm gaze. "There are always more threats." She remarks. "I just hope they will come at a more fortunate time than this." her gaze shifts to the sketchbook, taking in the image of the woman and the man. "Hmm... I think I've seen a sketch of that armor before." Mora then remarks. "In a children's book."

"What was the conflict about? Tell me everything you remember."

"That's likely the other Alliances. Olympus and New World." Kita replies, catching her lower lip between her teeth in a thoughtful expression. She can understand why people like Mora might see all Adventurers as the same, but there were many ideological differences amongst those who serve under different 'flags'. "Shibuya and Eas, I'm guessing. Those are the main Adventurer settlements. We've been reinforcing our holdings in the Tower."

There is more she could say about the state of things in the world, but that isn't why either of them are here, so instead, she focuses on what she remembers. "We saw these two fighting on Wyvern back. The armored woman, Alice, defeated this one. I didn't catch his name." Her pencil taps on the pleading man.

"They both had Lander markings on them, but her... she had some kind of power unlike anything I've ever seen. The sort of thing that breaks the laws of Alba and threatens Cosmopsheres." She isn't sure how much Mora knows about such things, but it seems worth mentioning. "She blasted him off the face of existence, claiming he worked with some group called the 'Dark Territory' and that he needed to be punished in the name of 'Ansul' which seemed to be whatever group she was working with."

Then, with a pause, she adds, "She claimed to be from a place called Londonia. It... sounds a lot like a place in the world we're from. A place called London." Kita doesn't know what to make of that, as she never knew much about the other ETO servers prior to joining the game. "I haven't asked around yet, as I worried about having to explain where I heard that name from. I wasn't sure how much I should tell the others."

The woman leans over deeper, her dark clothing rubbing along the bench as she takes a closer look. No doubt it's also to ensure that Kita doesn't need to speak as loudly. The woman's warmth close to her. She adjusts her hair a little. "Alice." She repeats. It doesn't sound like she recognizes it.

What she does recognize however, is some of the other items. "I do not know this 'Dark Territory'." She notes, "But Ansul is a title, I believe. I've heard it spoken of before in documents that spoke of the Alv." The woman explains. She then points at her armor, tapping the notepad. "Yes. Londonia. That's right. That's the book I remember reading. The Wyvern Riders of Londonia." She explains.

"I thought it was a myth. A fairy tale. The idea that anyone can control a Wyvern seems most unusual. Even the Tower of Mages has not managed this." She explains to Kita.

"It's good to have kept this to yourself. But as this is not a current threat, I imagine this information will wind its way into the ears of outsiders before it reaches my own. Especially with this war causing a tightening of our own borders here." Mora Chester remarks, before rising back up, touching her hand to her chin. "You are welcome to speak of this with your compatriots. As long as you report back to us if you hear of any more hints about this. Remain subtle."

"I would assume they are some sort of high level monster handlers. The creatures seemed to obey them like mounts." Kita offers up, unsure how else to explain the presence of such high level creatures. "Apparently they aren't a myth."

She flips the page to a more 'zoomed in' sketch of the woman's face and features. This is likely from Kita's memory, unlike the last image. She had tried to capture details of the woman's features and the notable designs upon her armor.

"They come from somewhere beyond our lands, that much I'm certain of. Likely to the East of us somewhere. She had... these strange red lines that extended from her off to the East. As if she were connected to it somehow." The Imp explains, her tail twitching lightly at her side.

The close presence of Mora is enough to cause a faint rise of color in Kita's cheeks, though she has enough self-control to look away and focus on her report. "She warned us not to travel beyond our islands. That she thought the Dark Territory had wiped us out, but if we were still alive, then they must not have found us yet."

Her brows furrow, "She said to wait until she returned to tell us that it is safe. And... warned us to look for dark creatures, entirely black, which may have the power to steal Cosmospheres." There is some confusion written there on her expression, but this is what she had been told, so she relays it as such.

Mora touches her hand to her chin, considering what Kita said. "Or a Relic." The woman remarks after a moment. "I think I've heard of Relics that can bind Monsters to someone as if they were mere Beasts." The woman remarks, before looking back down again.

"Red lines you say? That sounds similar from what was spotted on the dragon that invaded the Ninetails region." She proposes. "Let's hope that this 'Dark Territory' won't be able to come to us like she did, if they are truly as dangerous as this 'Alice' says they are."

The Hero taps on the wood of the bench a few times, clearly considering this mess.

"I don't think I've seen or heard of such creatures." She then adds.

"Possibly. I haven't studied much about relics and their effects. Though when she killed the male rider, I didn't see any sort of item drop from him to be left behind." Kita simply isn't aware of the sort of relics that exist as part of a person, such as strange tattoos or other markings, or blessings of the sort. It isn't something she's encountered all that much in her own, very limited, travels.

"Regardless, we should make sure that we are on guard for any such creatures showing themselves. It might very well mean that we have trouble from somewhere else looming on the horizon." Then, seemingly having provided what information she could from the encounter, Kita tilts her head, looking over again, her response at the woman's proximity under better control this time.

"So... have I proven myself?" She asks, rather simply.

"Hmm, if they didn't leave anything behind, it does make it a lot less likely a Relic was involved." The woman answers Kita. "And the fact that this woman can threaten Cosmospheres herself - while warning of creatures that can take them, doesn't make me much more comfortable about this whole situation." The Imp points out.

Mora then nods as she asks if she has proven herself. "You have." She explains her, before holding out a hand, keeping hers flat with her fingers 'up'. "Take my hand." She then declares.

Though there are aspects of this world that Kita may appreciate, such as her ability to love whom she wishes to love, there are others that hang over her like a weight on her shoulders. The never-ending threats and the risk of death or damage to her mind and spirit... that is enough to solidify her need to get back to the real world.

With the hand offered out, Kita gives one quick flick of her eyes up to meet Mora's before taking it. The girl's own palm is glove-covered, as always, but her pale fingers still clasp around those of her patron, curious to see what comes next.

"With this, you are part of this organization, Kita. You are now a member of the Shadow Council." At her fingertips, Mora holds a small little 'stamp'. She takes her time to slowly roll Kita's glove off of her hand. Delicate fingers drawing it all the way from where they attach under her clothing, down to her fingertips. She lays it over her own arm, almost ritualistically so.

She then presses the little stamp on the inside of her ring finger. It's a small little mark that looks like a set of imp wings. One wouldn't see it if one wasn't looking for it. And it could easily be covered with a ring. Yet, she sees a little glow in that moment it is applied to her.

Mora then touches along her fingers and palm, turning her hand once back, then forth. And then carefully proceeds to put the glove back onto Kita's hand. Delicate inch after delicate inch, trying not to damage the glove itself.

And the moment the glove presses against that mark, a phrase enters Kita's mind.

KITA_HAGALAZ_SHADOW_COUNCIL_FEHU_AURA_ARTONELICO

While Kita may, in most social circumstances, come off as cool, collected, and calm. Having people touch her is an /entirely/ different situation. Especially having anyone touch her hands or arms. The moment the glove is rolled back, it starts to reveal the smattering of scars visible on the back of her hand which extend beneath the cloth and up onto her forearm. Scars are not really common on Adventurers, but Kita has more than her fair share, it seems.

Her breath seems to catch in her throat and in that moment, Kita is your typical, hormone-driven teenager who is having someone else touching them in a way that could very easily be mistaken as intimate, even if it isn't meant to be. Luckily, she isn't a Salamander or there would be steam coming out of the poor girl's ears.

She manages to survive the ritual without making an absolute fool of herself in the process, but there is a lot of tension and it isn't until the glove is returned to her fingers that she seems to breathe again, that phrase entering her mind.

She blinks, momentarily confused, "I'll... do my best to serve the organization well. Anything you need, just ask." Kita replies, inclining her head. "I'll make sure I keep an ear open for anything else. Anything about all of this or... that might otherwise threaten Yamato."

Mora Chester seems to either be unware, or doing a good job and pretending to be unaware, of Kita's internal thoughts in that moment. She's dutiful and looks almost like a slightly softed librarian in her expression. "Thank you. That is all we ask of you for now." The woman answers Kita.

"If you need to speak to me, you know to find me here. I know it's inconvenient, but you are our first permanent operative in the Aincrad region." The woman expresses. "And the first Adventurer, at that." Mora steps back and hides the little stamp within her coat-like clothing.

"Please, take your leave. And keep your wits about you." Mora offers to her.

Kita just gives a nod, making sure she draws her hand away. It helps to get her raging hormones under control. "I understand, but, at least for now, I need to focus on Tolbana and the Tower. The Ezzo refugees don't need to deal with all this after everything they've been through." And that applies to both the Landers and the Adventurers as far as she is concerned.

Getting to her feet, Kita offers a bow before tucking her pencil behind her ear and her book under one arm. "I'll check in with you soon."