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Without skipping a beat, he immediately follows after the other, though not without giving a quick visual sweep to their surroundings.
For whatever reason, Lianhuan #2 makes a face of disgust.
"Oookay, guess that's of enough of that," he mutters to himself. It makes sense, right? If this really is one of those imagined worlds, then maybe the amount of attention being allocated here has decreased, and so this portion can no longer be sustained. Then he'd better get out as soon as possible.
Well, he can't take this as evidence, but he'd like to think he's right. Don't we all?
He starts veering out of the fields, presumably to investigate a nearby village/structure. Whatever comes first, one would suppose.
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((wanna push?))
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"Mmm, well, it shouldn't," Yvonne replied to Heaven. "It won't."
She closed her eyes for a moment as if resting her sight. "I think they are going to enter this area. They are welcome here, so there should be no problem with anything."
Emphasis on those two words, as if she were talking to someone else in the room that wasn't Heaven.
The mist parted after the pair made it through the door (which promptly closed behind them). Now they can see a spacious courtyard/lobby spread out in front of them, with crystal pillars holding up the ceiling and a circular pool in the very center. Almost everything around appeared to be made of glittery glass, even the floor tiles and walls, though the outside couldn't be seen. In fact, the light comes from the water and the reflections on the glass, like stars surrounding them both.
There had been the sound of a cascade. Glowing water poured from a circular opening in the roof and into the pool, sparying little droplets everywhere. Some flowers floated around.
Even though the area itself was completely different from whatever could have been imagined from the outside, the most interesting thing was perhaps that someone in a white dress stood next to the water cascade. Their face isn't visible, instead covered by a veil.
Lianhuan #2 has no trouble going back towards the village area. In fact, he may find that the walk that way is much easier than his recent journey to the border of the dream.
The closest structure is what looks to be a house with a single room. None of the windows have curtains, so a table can be seen from the outside.
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The sudden door close aside (which is highly unauspicious), Lianhuan finds the flowers beautiful, so much so that he stares at them. "Cute," he says externally. Maybe he means pretty. Then he realizes there's a person over there.
"Gah!" he exclaims, promptly jumping to the side and grabbing at the nearest random platform or object with his free hand. It really depends on how close Jenny is to him.
Lianhuan #2 tries touching the doors with his hands in his robes like a total not-a-burglar. And of course he also tries turning the doorknobs since of course he won't steal anything, why would you think that even.
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((Hmmm yes I shall respond I thought I did months ago but I shall do so keep up activity))
"They're welcome here?" Heaven echoed, raising a brow "What happens when someone is not welcomed here?"
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Jenny looked around with the sort of vague curiosity one might find on someone who's been looking at too many things in a day and doesn't really have much brain capacity left to process things. Once she realized the glass was reflective, she lagged behind Lianhuan, hoping he wouldn't notice her lack of a reflection. Her gaze caught on person in the white dress.
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((I apologize for the delay Y_Y though hopefully it should be smooth sailing from here to the planned thread end))
"Then they can't get near this area, or near me for that matter," Yvonne replied to Heaven. "The stairs are already a bit of a labyrinth. It could be worse, I can imagine it. Really, it depends."
As soon as both Jenny and Lianhuan are aware of the veiled person, she(?) made a motion with her hand. The sleeves were a tad too long though and so it only came across as an arm movement.
"You are welcome here." The voice, flat-toned though familiar, carried across the room to ensure the words wouldn't go unheard. "They are waiting. Please head up."
The central cascade parted in the center to reveal an almost transparent staircase that leads upwards and over the ceiling of the room.
Lianhuan #2 notices the houses are made from, ordinary material I guess. The doorknob he chose turned with slight resistance and the door creaked open...
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"Hm." Heaven doesn't really say much after that. Not yet at least. She instead goes back to observing their surroundings.
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(Sorry I wasn't aware I should've replied)
"This feels sketch...sketchy. Highly sketchy," Lianhuan exclaims aloud. It seems he hasn't gotten past his initial reaction. He takes a second to get ahold of himself, before asking, "Who are you? And who's they?"
To be honest, he's not really expecting a response at all, or a helpful one if one is received. But it's better than just going on and following a random entity's instructions...regardless of whether that's what the thread actually needs. Oops, one would suppose.
Lianhuan #2 takes his hand off the knob as quickly as he can and waits to make sure that nothing will jump out at him. Someone has definitely been reading one too many YA horror stories.
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"Just follow them," Jenny muttered. "I want to get out of this room." She stayed very close behind Lianhuan, not because she was scared, but because she was hoping to reduce the risk of Lianhuan noting her lack of reflection. "If they're an enemy we'll just beat them up when we need to."
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"You say that like here doesn't completely put us in a terrain disadvantage," he hisses back. And really, so far it seems that they really have had no agency in what happens. Outside of the wheat thing, of course, but that barely is anything to begin with.
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The same scenery that greeted Heaven when she entered the pool room is all she can see. Of course she noticed the strange state of the floating debris, but even now they haven't moved. It truly seems that everything save for the sky and flowing water is frozen in time.
Perhaps the lack of noise can even make it seem... lonely.
"Yvonne is waiting. Heaven arrived before you." The simple reply was said in a cold tone. Ignoring the exchange between the two mages, the veiled girl continued, "You are affiliated with Time and acquaintances of Yvonne. There are no enemies here."
She stepped backwards. Her movements, soundless, caused the dress and veil to flutter as if wind were flowing in the area, but of course there was none.
The door Lianhuan #2 finally opened witohut any nasty surprises, thankfully. One would have to wonder why be so cautious in a place that seems so empty, but that just happens to be the perfect setting for an horror story. Ah, well.
Although there is nobody inside, Lianhuan might have tu rub his eyes or check if he's seeing correctly. The table seen from outside is there along with other sparse pieces of furniture such as chairs and a bed. Normal enough, except they're blurry and unfocused. They look to be there, but where do their boundaries start and where do they end? Maybe it's a mirage.
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"Yvonne?" Jenny frowned. "If it's Yvonne...this can't be too dangerous, right? We're...coworkers." She wasn't quite sure of Yvonne considered them friends, but they had worked together before without too many problems. "I wonder what she wants...or why she's changed the library."
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Lianhuan doesn't respond to Jenny this time. He tries asking again. "So who are you? Are you some version of Yvonne, or are you someone else?" To make himself seem more approachable, he adds, "I know we could just ask Yvonne, but it seems like it'd be a bit mean if we just ran to her right away without talking to you more. You know?"
Let's just say the short explanation is that Lianhuan isn't exactly from a normal place himself. He stares at the contents of the house for a few moments, probably looking for unique details that would make a house not just, well, a house, but rather the living space for specific people.
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The figure remained silent for a long moment. In the end, however, still unmoving except for her clothes, she decided on a reply. "I am just a figment of her mind. Yvonne has asked that you be taken to her."
After another brief pause, she added, "Yvonne can answer your questions. I am here only to verify your relation to her and make sure you remain safe."
The house contents Lianhuan sees are rather barren for a habitable home. Although some people prefer spare decoration, the image viewed from the window points to the idea that nobody has lived here. And, judging by the empty state of the current space, it's unlikely anyone would live there anytime soon.
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Ironically, he would have taken that at face value, but from what he can tell, the world of Forengard takes the idea of self differently than what he's used to. In the figure's case, maybe there's some word to be used to describe her. An alter ego? He's not well-versed in this sort of thing; the duplication he managed was only a way of taking advantage of how this world seems to him, and it probably isn't anything like the figure.
Besides, she's indirectly telling them to go. Even though he and his disciplinary class have a rocky history, he can at least tell that much.
Still, he purses his lips a bit and hesitates.
"Okay. Well, thanks."
It feels wrong to say just that. He wasn't lying about the singleminded hurrying seeming off to him. Maybe it's because he is someone who's just the opposite, who hasn't able to hurry anywhere at all.
"Uhm, questions aside, I just wanted to say that this place feels really empty and cold even to me, who has just stayed in here for a bit," he says, clasping his hands together in front of him. "So if you can, make sure you and anyone else in here do what you can to take care of yourselves, okay?"
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((I must see if I have to respond or not via rereading everything lol))
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Jenny watched Lianhuan talk to the figure, thwapping her broom against the side of her leg. Then, with a sigh, she started walking forward again, past the figure, presumably in the direction they were supposed to be heading anyway. If there was danger, though she doubted there was, she might as well get it over with.
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((I do enjoy that when it comes to this thread, we post on it every now and then. STILL ALIVE!))
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((Us: I thought you were dead
The thread: My death was...greatly exaggerated))
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((Real))
((Also I'm getting annoyed about having this thread stagnant by my choice whenever I think of it bc it's a group one, so have a reply))
"..."
Silence was the reply to Lianhuan's remarks. At least the figure was looking in his direction, but without movements of acknowledgment, who knows what expression lies behind that veil?
"...We will," she said in the end.
Assuming both Jenny and Lianhuan took the crystal staircase up, soon the water flow around them closed like a curtain. The stairs were still there and water-free so there would be no accidental slipping and falling off. Actually, the steps are only there and above, as the ones below seem to vanish into the falling water, becomign one with the sparkles and shines of rippling star reflections from somewhere.
If they look up, there is a piece of the purple night sky above. The end of the stairs is not too far from them.
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Lianhuan's a little behind Jenny, keeping his distance. He doesn't seem to be that on edge anymore. He probably trusted what the figure said.
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Jenny finished climbing up the stairs, looking up at the odd purple sky. Only now was she starting to realize the true extent of the magic at work to make the library look like this.
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The exit to the stairs, a circular opening right above Jenny's head, parted open with a very watery sound. But there was no liquid to be feared, as nothing dripped, and the sight of a broken stone ceiling and the purple sky greeted the observer as they looked up.
In fact... when Jenny finished climbing out of the stairs, she was not alone. A starry-eyed librarian raised her head towards the new arrivals from her kneeling spot next to the stair exit.
And that is because the exit was the tower's central pond, completely dried out and transformed into a staircase in the blink of an eye. Or perhaps the stair passage hid behind the water all along?
The silence didn't persist, broken by a soft greeting from Yvonne's part as she rose to her feet, adjusting the starry robes that flowed around her.
However, the surroundings are as stagnant as when Heaven first arrived. The area would perhaps have been something similar to a done had the ceiling not been half destroyed. Certainly the place looks as if it's several hundred years old... yet the debris and stones still hang in the sky, suspended in midair. The purple sky shines down through the missing part of the tower top.
"Hey..."
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((I'm always down to rev up this thread's engines lol))
Heaven turns to face the two new arrivals, striding towards them, her boots clacking against the stone tiles, "It's good you're here now. This place feels like it changes it's architecture whenever it feels like it." she exhales though her nose, locking her gaze on them before stopping a few steps away, "We can see if we can get more answers out of her now, so she doesn't have to repeat it to everyone else." she makes a slight motion of her head, indicating the 'her' was Yvonne.