Another Horizon IC

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Comfortable. Ashe awoke feeling comfortable and relaxed. The girl wished to nestle in and relax, yet the prodding of her friend was enough to rouse the girl from her restful delirium. She stretched, and yawned, and a faint shiver ran down her spine which was soon replaced by a feeling of warmth. In fact, the entire cabin was warm, and the aches of fatigue were absolutely gone...

"Yet not cold in here..." Ashe had said under her breath in response to Alexa's statements, eyeing the girl in between them.

"Morning, or perhaps evening..." this was dryly directed at both the awake women. "Hard to tell after all this time and without a good view of the sun."

Nodding with Alexa's questions, Ashe began to say her own piece. "I also believe we have you to thank for the heat... and perhaps the healing? Subtle as it was, it's obvious there's magic of some sort at play. Perhaps, you're a mage, or a finagler of runes like myself...? No matter, as of right this moment; though, who you are would be a better question to ask first." Ashe sighed; she was rambling, but wasn't sure of a good stopping point with this stranger.

"Anyway, to another point, it seems our captors weren't the judicious sort with whom they have captured... My talentium swinging friend, and my, uh," she paused for a minute, realizing a certain amount of facts weren't lining up in her favor, "capabilities with runetech weren't taken into account..."

Ashe paused again -- cupping her chin -- unsure of what to say next. "Right, introductions. I'm Ashe, and this is Alexa... and you are?"
 
Well, she was aware that most of her passengers must have been inhabitants of Dansila, but she still couldn't help but smile when one of them sat in seiza position on top of the chair. Old habits die hard? Or were these pieces of furniture a new thing for the exhibitionist girl? Regardless, the tightly-fitting attire that the raven-haired girl wore was attracting a little too much attention from the men on board. Those sex-craved beasts…though the captain supposed that she'd be similarly distracted if it was a man wearing the same sort of thing.

The next to arrive wore much more conservative clothing, even though it was rumpled and its wearer appearing rather tired. Must not have gotten any sleep last night. Probably served her right for camping out in the cargo bay. Something about her mannerisms made the brunette think 'Illiserev', and a glance at her hands confirmed it. A maid in butler clothing, then. Seemed likely that her master got caught…or maybe she was just taking extreme measures to return to her workplace on time.

The other two were of the less interesting kind. A girl with ringlets and a boy with a ponytail. The two of them also seated themselves, leaving only the cloaked vampire standing. Apparently, ringlet-girl knew vampire-girl, but vampire-girl didn't want to talk to ringlet-girl. Such complex individuals, with such complex relationships…she'd rather attend a tragic play than this.

Taking a slice of apple and tipping it into a bowl of honey, the captain took a bite of the too-sweet treat, before motioning towards the five and saying, "You can eat too, you know? Come on, don't waste it!"

"Anyways," she continued, "I don't really care about your names, and you shouldn't really care about mine, so let's get down to business here. Ellenil hired me to get you into Yuimas. We'll be arriving there in an hour or two. She probably wants you all to search for where your friends may have gone, and then report back to her or rescue her…but she didn't tell any of you about that, did she?"

The captain sniggered, shaking her head at all this.

"So that's pretty much how it is. No pressure at all~"
~❆~
The blue-haired girl frowned at Ashe's statement about how it was hard to tell whether it was evening or morning. It was pretty clear, through the solitary window in the wagon, that it was morning. The snow they could see was blindingly bright, lighting up the rest of the wooden interior with a stark clarity that wasn't very appreciated at all. At the very least, a night of rest had gotten the two 'heroes' out of their murderous, avenging state of mind. That was a good thing, in this cesspool of bad things. Stretching outwards and scratching the scab that had formed over the small punctures on her own neck, she listened to the small exchange the two had. A runetech technician and a swordswoman, apparently. One of them lost her arm, and another could only access their powers due to her charity.

The girl took a look at the other inhabitants in the cramped wagon, confirming that they were still asleep.

And only then did she speak up again, using the same quiet, tired tone that she used before, her lips barely moving.

"We're most likely heading to the Illiserevian coast, either a port city or being directly shipped off to the Archipelago. Depends on whether or not those craven hedonists prefer doing their transactions on the mainland or in more secretive quarters, really. And yes, the vampire's confident, and rightly so. Talentium's the crutch that turned mages into philistines, after all."

"And I'm Wynn. You two orphans?"
 
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Shizuka demurely reached out across the table to sample the breakfast, once the Captain invited her guests to do so. "Speaking for myself," she began, "I know nothing of the greater situation. I won't deny that it's quite convenient, but I am simply assisting my companions in the matter of a missing friend, and know nothing of further parties who might be involved." She paused to actually eat, for a few moments, before continuing. "So, you seem to be far better informed of the situation than I am, and myself and my companions merely took advantage of your airship's sudden departure as the best means to an end. It seems to have paid off."

She turned to the other passengers whom she didn't know, and bowed, then did so to the captain, as well. All still in her seated position. On a chair, apparently. "I am Kisaragi Shizuka," she introduced herself. "I'm in your care." For the moment, there wasn't much else to do, than enjoy the meal and consider this new development. The conversation would be welcome; maybe some of the others knew more of this whole incident than she, Araki, and Charlotte had pieced together so far.
 
Well, THAT was indeed a surprise. Not only did Aresia find Charlotte here, no, the vampire bitch was for some unexplained reason, with them on board. Dismissing Charlotte for a second, the air around Aresia started to increase in heat. With a deadly glare directed at Raela, the maid butler spoke up, partly disregarding Charlotte's question. "I'm just doing my job. Though it looks like I am already closer to some answer than I initially thought. Who would have thought they let a murderer, a vampire nonetheless, on free foot again? Or did you simply break free and kill more?" This was obviously directed at the most outstanding person, Raela, who decided to reveal her face for a second thanks to Charlotte - helpful as always.
 
"This blasted cold had me thinking the same exact thing, and I guess slave trading is only 'acceptable' in this country, yes..." Ashe had said, wanting to pick her nails to display her boredom with this particular topic of conversation, yet was lacking an arm to do so.

As for Wynn's statement as to the talentium, Ashe simply let the air flap her lips -- the colloquial "Pffft" -- at her mention of talentium softening mages and swordsman alike. While it was a shared thought between the two women, Ashe could also sympathize in the difference of power level without it, compared to a vampire's natural soul magic or a witch's summoning and curses; granted, she wasn't an expert on the field of talentium enhancement, so she was unsure of the power a mage could attain through simple dedication to the art.

"No, I was, but my adoptive parents are both Illiserevan; my father was one of the first to receive an airship in the country, for business, and my mother some commander, or some such, in the army; I take my last name from her maiden's, in fact," she wasn't too sure as to Alexa's background, so there was no comment there, but after she had said as much as she wanted regarding the matter, Ashe would continue. "What gave you that impression?"
 
"Makes sense…" Araki muttered as he fought to keep the scowl from his face. While yes it was convenient for their purposes, he couldn't really say he enjoyed being played in such a manner. He had thought it a bit suspicious that the airship just happened to drift over their position in such a lazy manner when it had just broken the lockdown on the city. He watched as Shizuka made herself comfortable despite the situation, and frowned in displeasure at the captain's amusement over their predicament.

Grumbling something under his breath in irritation, he took a few of the offered apple slices before he made his way back into the ship. Charlotte could weed out whatever information the others had; she was much more invested in this after all. He was about to try and get a bit more sleep when a familiar and unwelcome voice spoke up. His hands clenched as he halted and turned around, reluctantly, to face the maid that tried to stir up trouble. A haze had already begun to form around her, but Araki hoped that she wasn't actually stupid enough to use fire on a ship made of wood.

Huffing dismissively, the sphere of water he had formed above the maid lost suspension and plummeted towards her. With that he ignored the hopefully doused maid, not having bothered to look long enough. Charlotte should be able to manage now that she didn't have to also worry about keeping Raela suspended like last night, and the Captain probably would do her part to ensure her ship remained intact and one of her, if brief, charges wasn't killed.
 
Illiserev? Oh, hell. This could actually end either very well or very badly for her, Alexa mused as she stared out the window for a moment. It all depended on what person would recognize her in any auction she was sold at. Too bad for her that most people didn't exactly like her family, given their success. Still, she had no intention of revealing her parentage. Ashe may know her last name, but she clearly didn't recognize its significance, which was good.

"Sorry," She smirked at Wynn, letting her comment about talentium slide. "Both my parents are still alive and kicking." Alexa kicked back, continuing to look out the window, past Ashe's blinds. "Still, I doubt it'd help. Probably more of a hindrance, given how much of a fuss I kicked up when I left the country. You know, the whole thing with Charlotte." She nodded at Ashe.

"So...is it safe enough to discuss whatever you have planned, Wynn?" She asked, getting straight to the point.
 
While Araki and Shizuka sat down without much of a care in the world, Charlotte found herself hesitating before she sat down herself, rather awkwardly. Having been ignored by Raela and snubbed by her own fellow travel companion, it put her between a rock and a hard place for interpersonal relationships. And simply as to Raela, she continued to stumble for words to engage or uplift her downfallen friend; there simply was too much at stake and too much to process for her.

The entire reunion was awkward, too; with Charlotte placed in between Raela and the quickly warming up Aresia, she made a bit of a buffer so the two wouldn't go at it. Araki found it fit to dump what was essentially a bucket of water on the irritated butler maid, and the entire party simply sat there in unnatural silence for what seemed like an eternity before the captain cut it with her voice.

Her words were not much more of a comfort though, however informative it was. While Charlotte knew who Ellenil was, she never met her, but she was truly grateful for the aid, no matter how much of an ulterior motive that woman might have. She froze at the mention of the airship's location though, and any appetite she may have had was quickly lost. Yuimas was the heart of that blackheart Braxton's territory. The land of the man that ruined her family and tried to enslave her, it was about as foul and lawless as one could expect from land that was governed by Braxton. It had prostitution, legalized slavery… and an auction block in the town square. If she slipped up there, she'd go straight into that piece of shit's foul hands or right onto the block, express delivery.

She shuddered, but if that was where Alexa had been taken, that was a risk she was going to take. Being saved from almost certain destruction was not really something she'd ever think of brushing her off, and never did it pass that she thought against rescuing her friend.

With a sigh, she rubbed her eyebrows before straightening herself up and speaking again to introduce herself. It seemed like the captain was from Illiserev, and it was very likely she'd know her name if she said it out in full. While she didn't have much of an issue introducing herself as a Covinghall even in her current state, it seemed out of place to do so, and perhaps even dangerous if some of the crew was in the know about her… situation.

"Well, I'm Charlotte. A few questions about this whole thing; how did Ellenil know our friends had been kidnapped? And how are we getting airdropped into Yuimas? It's not exactly a very pleasant place to be caught in."
 
The maid's hot temper was met with Raela's dismissal. She was sure the captain wouldn't simply let fireballs fly across the deck; forget the wooden structure they stood on, Raela had been purposefully rescued and kept hidden. If that didn't mean the captain cared about her well-being, she didn't know what it meant. Fortunately, the others around her seemed to have a better clue and better wits about them. Aresia was doused with water magic, and Raela found herself reminiscing the battle against the Artillery Rift Beast. The people that stood around her were the very same that had fought alongside her, and for the most part, they at least seemed forgiving in their silence of her transgressions. That, or they understood the relationship she had with the captain and thought it wiser to withhold judgement. Raela hoped it was the former.

The talk about their destination, the reason for it, and the names involved didn't concern Raela. She maintained her distance from the group, head still bowed, but listened carefully in case anything cropped up relating to herself. Whatever adventure the rest were in for... it didn't sound hopeful. The captain's dismissive tone seemed to indicate that all of it was second-fiddle to what she had in store for Raela. She only hoped that the captain would be considerate enough to actually explain a bit more in time. Raela hated being in the dark; she'd already been in the blackest dark for some time now. Which reminded her -how long had she actually been imprisoned? She'd have to ask the captain in private.
 
The Captain frowned as the butler suddenly decided to pick a fight with the vampire, no doubt having had some past grudges held over the cloaked girl. She frowned deeper as the moody ponytail-boy decided he would douse the flames of conflict by dumping a ball of water onto the maid, before frowning the deepest when Raela didn't even sit down at the end, still standing as still as a statue. Apparently, she was thinking about something. Something so important that she decided to root herself in place.

At least Shizuka and Charlotte were reasonable and talkative. The Captain didn't really care what sort of shit those kids had been through in Cykes, in the end, and called out to Araki as he left, "You can sleep in Room 205!"

Kid was probably grumpy about not getting enough sleep last night, anyways. Maybe he'll feel more talkative after sleeping in Raela's bed.

"And maid-butler girl, sit your ass down. You two, vampire girl. Have no idea who you killed or why you killed, and I don't particularly care, so stop being an edgy stereotype of your race and relax," she waved. It wasn't like there was anything she could really do if the two of them wanted to go at it like cats, but hopefully at least one of them would have enough common sense to realize that fighting while high above the ground was a bad idea. Turning her attention to the other two, the more reasonable pair, the brown-haired woman nodded at Charlotte's questions, even if the first one made her smile.

"Elly's got connections, after all. If you could hear about how your friends got kidnapped, I'm pretty sure she would as well. Though in this case…it's less about knowing you specifically, and just allowing anyone who had the gall to break into an airship mid-flight to join in on this…quest. Anyways, yeah, Yuimas is a shithole full of fuckwads and dickweeds. I'll just be landing in their fields myself. If you feel like jumping out and doing whatever you did last night again, feel free to at any point."

"It's colder than a vampire's vagina though, so if your name isn't Raela, it'd be pretty smart for you to buy some nice, fur-lined coats, eh?"
~❆~
"Impression? Probably because you introduced yourself without your family name," Wynn said, shrugging. It wasn't an important detail in the end, and she leaned against the walls of the wagon again. If there was one thing good about those unholy spectral horses, it was that they didn't smell bad or made noises. The other women were still asleep, thankfully. That would make things easier to say.

"There is nothing set into stone at the moment," Wynn admitted, rather easily. "But there are several points that will be useful to us. Cykes is filled with youth who have learned of martial arts. Depowered as they are, they'll still be useful as a distraction. You have my sliver of talentium as a surprise steroid, and Ashe has knowledge of runetech, as well as the ability to reproduce it. Given enough time, that may be more useful than talentium, really."

"Our best chance at escape would be after we reach our destination, and before we are sold off. At the very least, we'll be given a few hours to rest up and brush up our appearances before they make any judgments. It's best if we were brought out to an auction room on land, but if we were just directly brought onto a ship…"

Wynn closed her eyes for a moment, rolling over her thoughts.

"You two know how to swim?"
 
"Of course," Alexa responded to Wynn's inquiry with a raised eyebrow. "Wouldn't our captors see that coming, though? I can't imagine them not having a contingency in case some captured slave decides to throw herself overboard. Wouldn't want to lose those profits, after all." Still, the fact that Wynn didn't have anything resembling a real plan was worrying, to say the least. For all the commands and suggestions the woman had given, it tickled Alexa to see that she didn't have any concrete ideas of her own. At least she seemed to have some idea of what she was doing, though.

Alexa shook her head as she leaned forward, resting one elbow on her knee. "Right, since there's no point in talking about how we're going to do this until we arrive, here's another question: if we pull this off, what then? Depending on where we are, I can probably get us to some of my family's territory, but that's not exactly a guarantee. We own some territory in the Archipelago, but that'll depend on us managing to steal a boat. And even if we did so, I probably wouldn't know where the hell we were or how to reach Granville land unless I knew our location on a map." Alexa sighed, rubbing her temple. "Either of you have any ideas about this? Because that's about the best I've got right now."
 
Araki's little stunt was completely uncalled for. Shizuka frowned at the turn of events that had him dumping water on one of the other passengers, for very little reason from what she could tell. That boy really didn't know how to treat women at all. She'd need to have a few words with him later, but she'd at least spare him for the moment. Instead, she went on as if almost nothing had happened, beyond glaring at the boy's back as he left.

"So, it seems you know each other. And one of you is a vampire? I'd heard that there were vampires in the city, but that was about as far as the rumors went."

"You don't think this will be enough," Shizuka asked, gesturing to her own outfit. "It's not quite as bad as it looks."
 
Ashe pondered Wynn's statements for viability as the woman spoke, it was only when she mentioned swimming did the girl's head drain, along with the color of her face. "S-swim? No, no I really can't... Well, not that I can't, really, it's just... an extreme case of hydrophobia is all..." She dried to laugh it off, yet still ended the shallow thing with a noticeable gulp, for anybody paying attention.

"But Alexa raises a valid point. They must be anticipating escape... Particularly with our stunt earlier -- sorry about that, by the way -- so even if we do succeed, there will likely be... causalities. As for my runetech, it's not as if I can reproduce the stuff. It requires a moderate amount of time and material; things we won't have while we're freezing our asses off out in the snow, though... Runes by themselves... And if people are willing, I can carve them, uh, for more lasting effect than if I had just painted... but potential for scarring..." She rambled for a short while, more to herself than to anybody else, but returned shortly to the discussion at hand.

"My family has a host of airships in the sky, so we should be able to hail one of them if they happen to pass overhead -- we have a color-scheme to differentiate them from the standard variety -- and like Alexa, we have our own lands where we would be safe. Not so sure how my father or mother would feel about harboring run away slaves, but, since I'm one of them, there shouldn't be a problem... I hope."
 
Araki perked up a bit at what the captain said, slowing, before he continued down the stairs. He covered a yawn as he wandered through the hallways in the direction of the pointed out room and quickly arrived, finding the door to be unlocked. Tired as he was, he still managed to note a few things about his surroundings when he stepped inside. Namely the familiar scythe that leaned against the desk and made it obvious who had stayed in the room the night prior to this.

Tired and lazy as he felt at the moment though, Araki still approached the unused bed to move the belongings onto the table so he could curl up on it. The bundle of warm clothes didn't catch his attention, but the map and oddly familiar orb did. "Huh…" he muttered to himself as he unfolded the map quickly and read the label that identified it as a map of Yuimas. "Useful." Folding it up, he placed it aside for the moment as he picked up the orb and almost immediately dropped it in shock. The realization that he held the contained Rift Beast in the moments before it could explode itself blasted away any sense of grogginess. He was quick to place it back on the pile of clothes, set it on the table, and crawl onto the bed.

Wondering about why Raela had been given such a thing was enough to keep Araki awake for a while, but eventually his nerves calmed a bit. The relative comfort of this bed and warmth of the room was enough to quickly lull him to sleep after that.
 
Being focused on her task, Charlotte for the most part ignored the rest of the hostilities between Raela and Aresia, although she could surmise much of that was arising from the latter. She would, however, endeavor to have a nice sit-down with her vampire friend and try to get exactly what had happened out of her, for better or for worse. Aside from saying "Long story," to Shizuka, she returned her attention to the captain.

The captain's words were not exactly comforting though; she'd put it bluntly enough that they were being played as a pawn in some larger game. Her precautions also amounted to being "careful", which wasn't really much at all. Regardless, she worked up enough effort to pick up a bread roll and munched on it; if she was going to do anything, Charlotte would have to eat. In the end, it was still a modest meal, consisting of a buttered roll, an apple, and a slightly more generous helping of juice.

"Well, I did bring my trunk. I'm set on the coat front." She didn't have a fur-lined coat, but she did have some nice winter coats. She had a peacoat and a frock coat, so if she was going to march into hell itself, she'd do it in style.
 
Well, apparently, the noble vampire lady thought too highly of herself as to give Aresia an answer. Dropping a bunch of water on her didn't really help her temper, was he really fearing the maid could have potentially burned down the entire ship? Under different circumstances, maybe, but like that? Increasing the intensity of her heat solely for the purpose of drying herself she finally deemed it important enough to introduce herself. "My name's Aresia Resan. Being a maid I am just doing my job." With that out of the way Aresia now stepped closer to Raela, she didn't intend to kill her or anything, yet, but there was no way she could tolerate that vampires behaviour.

"Look...Raela." The black hair tried to sound reasonable, but the hatred she bore for her kin was just too strong. "I'm not planning on killing you...right now, neither do I plan to make a scene. Heck, I am even going assume you did NOT kill the two woman outside, I know for sure you did kill Bobfried-" Bobfried being the name of the poor soul that Raela blew up "-right in front of all our eyes." The maid butler balled her fists, memories taking her back to the crime scene that butchered half of her own family. "Tzch..." Pushing it aside she continued on. "Going further, actually believing my dear friend, Charlotte, that vermin like you was indeed just not thinking straight instead of simply showing its true colors, it even makes MORE sense that you do know SOMETHING about all this. And I want you to tell me what you know." It wasn't a please or some sort of request, no, it was simply a command, maybe even a threat. "Do just that, and I'll leave you alone as long as you keep your claws off my friends."
 
Raela narrowed her eyes at the captain's comments on vampiric genitalia. She genuinely found it offensive, but didn't retort. Following the captain's orders, she sat down at the gathering, her body language still clearly uncomfortable with being there.

"Long story," Charlotte said briefly.

"...short, I was imprisoned for losing my mind and killing a civilian," Raela followed up. The vampiress glared at Aresia before pulling back her hood, revealing the still pitiful state of her cleanliness and hair. "You've misinformed, as is to be expected," she hissed, "I know nothing more than any of you do about any of your future escapades. I'm not here for you, or for your friends for that matter. I'm here purely on personal business, and my freedom doesn't concern you." Her eyes glared even further, the redness of them brightening.

"True colors hm?" she stood up, looking down at Aresia. "You talk to me about true colors when your mind has been ripped to shreds and replaced with only the most minimal of consciousness to get by. You think your weak human mind isn't without darkness? Perhaps I should torture you for awhile, and leave nothing but the worst aspects of your primitive mind? Maybe then you'll see the 'true colors' of the human mind. Perhaps you'll be reduced to a hungry, smelly ape that thinks of nothing but bashing someone else with a stick and raping them?" Raela's fists clenched for a moment before the steam exited her with a heavy sigh, and she sat down.

"Leave me alone," she sharply said.
 
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"..." Aresia didn't exactly expect this vampire trash to just tell her the truth. No, she was pretty sure she was lying. Obviously, her pathetic pride, or whatever she was thinking she had, was hurt by Aresia's - not even too terrible - words as well. And just like that, the vampire bitch retaliated. "You..." Grabbing part of her coat and pulling her slightly upward from her comfortable chair the maid butler gave her a death glare.

"It could have been so easy, but of course..." Fuck, this is why she hated bothering with annoying people, especially something like vampires. Why didn't she just burn her right away? Oh right... "Stop putting words into my mouth. I'm well aware of my own errors." Getting closer to her ear, the maid butler now whispered. "...and it's exactly because of that, that you can consider yourself lucky I am not just burning down this entire ship alongside with you." Letting her off Aresia gave her one last look. Opening her mouth, she closed it again. Fuck. This was bringing her nowhere. "Tzch..."

Turning her back towards the vampire beast, she sat herself next to the other free seat from Charlotte. "I know you are, most likely, still all friendly with this ...vampire... I can... accept that, for now." Those weren't easy words, but Charlotte being friends with Raela made this all way more complicated than it had to be. "But AT LEAST, if she comes begging to you, let me feed her again instead. I... don't want to lose you too." Just like before, this offer, or request, seemed really crazy, but it was a necessity she had to do.
 
So Ashe was afraid of water. That simplifies things. Wynn closed her tired eyes and nodded as the two of them poked holes in her currently non-existent plans. At least the runetech engineer understood that their failed attempts at escape earlier on would have made their captors more cautious, and thus, make future attempts harder to pull off. Good. It wasn't all runetech and revenge bouncing about in Ashe's head.

"Hailing an airship flying in the sky? Good luck," Wynn stated flatly, "But it's good that you know how to swim, Alexa. As long as you can do that, I can solve the rest."

Then, a smile crept up on the blue-haired girl's face, a crescent that faded away almost as soon as it revealed itself. "Actually, what do you think about getting some scars, Alexa? It'll still depend on how much time we have, but you can manage being alone as long as you have Talentium, right? And they may be cautious, but literally everyone's a philistine here, so they probably don't have a witch with a magic-sealing curse at the ready…"

"Of course, this will depend on your skills as a rune technician, wouldn't it, Ashe? How well can you do with just a needle as a tool?"
~❆~
Oh boy, this was definitely getting dramatic. The Captain could actually feel the heat radiating off the two individuals, and decided to abandon her idea that there could have been any sort of nice, friendly conversation between non-violent individuals. Aresia seemed to hate vampires, and Raela seemed to hate vampire-haters, and the both of them had a metric ton of beef between each other, and, unless the burning maid-butler actually began tossing balls of fire about, the Captain definitely wasn't going to get involved.

Cocking an eyebrow at Charlotte and Shizuka, both of whom appeared to still be relatively normal, the Captain said, lightly, "Such youthful passion, huh? Don't suppose those two would be able to make up after punching each other silly in a fair fist fight."

Ellenil definitely sent her a bunch of troublemakers. That eccentric Astopolian definitely had a knack for baiting those weirdoes.

"Well then…" A deck of cards slid out from her sleeves. "Still got an hour or two to go. You four know how to play Old Maid?"

Aresia and Raela were probably too mad for it, but the Captain was pretty sure that Shizuka and Charlotte didn't have any pressing matters at this point.
~❆~
A comfortable bed, and a warm room.

It probably should have made for a restful, dreamless sleep as well, but as Araki continued to sleep on, the darkness that encompassed him began to pulse.

Like the beat of a drum, the beginning of a song.

A flash of flame, a burst of heat.

His body began to grow hot, his very bones warming, warmth blossoming from their very core.

And in that feverish sleep, Araki began to dream. Of spirits and magic, of snow and warmth, of revenge and regret.

Of a choice that wasn't his to make.

Of a choice that one wasn't aware of.

He burned, his body flush, his heart beating in accordance to the beginning of a song.
 
A dull thump as Araki's body hit the floor and he was awake, trying to stand despite the sensation of fire through his veins. Each heartbeat was like a breath of fresh air to a fire, fanning and spreading the heat throughout his body, and he quickly collapsed to his knees as his vision blurred. His nails clawed against the wood floorboards as his hands clenched, his mind too preoccupied to control what the body did.

The haze made it hard to recall, but Araki tried to remember the indistinct images that lingered from the brief dream he had. Of what he did manage to hold on, nothing made sense. There was no context for what he saw and as the physical sensations grew impossible to ignore, Araki could no longer bear to focus on his dreams. He crawled his way over towards the latched window and grasped the ledge to help himself up. With a shaking hand and barely opened eyes, he fumbled with the latch for a moment before he mustered what strength he could and simply tore the latch from its place.

The motion sent him back to the ground along with the rush of chilling air, but the relief offered was brief. Though he could feel the chill against his skin, the fire continued to blaze furiously within his veins. With a grimace as he rolled onto his chest, Araki forced himself onto his knees and crawled his way over to a wall. Propped up against it, there wasn't much else he could do but bear with it as his temperature rose despite the room's chilling quickly.

Yet things only seemed to get worse. His vision already swam, but the room seemed to shift uncontrollably and fray at the edges. Flashes of snowy fields, seas of roiling flame, overlapped with the room he sat in and his head felt like it would split apart. He hit the floor again with a thud, falling over sideways as the sensations overwhelmed him. He tried to crawl forward towards the door, but beyond the wall at his back it was impossible to tell what direction he actually moved towards.
 
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