Kur's Flower

but that irritation briefly settles in the shadows of the Church of Onoma. he lingers outside the doorway, arms crossed, back resting against the stone as the mumbles of the service inside filter through the cracks in the stone. it seems he wasn't the only one drawn to this place, as he's taken notice of the woman who has lingered as long as he has.

" They talk of fulfilling the wishes of their chosen 'Prophet' when they come." he begins, eyes closing for a moment. " They don't understand the cost of their gods' wishes."

For being someone that certainly had their fair share of followers Ereshkigal didn't quite understand what compelled her to visit the Church. Maybe it was to try and get a better understanding of those who had been here far longer then she has and use their knowledge to start forming her own thoughts. Because without that in the moment she was hopelessly lost.

"It's not something I thought would honestly exist here. Going in to bother them didn't seem like the right thing to do but the more they talk the more I want to know just what keeps them conversing like that."

Some might think it was a cult but the servant wouldn't have gone that far. Not yet at least...

If nothing else, free catering is always a temptation that Gregor can't resist. There seems to be a lot of that going on this week, treats and snacks and delicious grilled meals open almost around the clock. He isn't sure what all the festivities are for, but he's more than willing to take advantage of them.

And take advantage of them is certainly his objective for tonight's dinner.

He'd been meandering around the space station for the better part of the day after he found out the panel he'd stumbled into could teleport folks just like the W Corp train system does, idly perusing what felt like endless kiosks and stores. Being in space was weirdly mundane for how novel a concept it sounded. He spends most of his time away from any windows or outlooks, sequestered somewhere between the gardens and the mall for most of his trip. The space station was indulging in festivities as much as the Isola itself— he's just glad the tea party event was still going by the time he realized it was there.

…Even if some of the atmospheric indoors space-y stuff for the little event is making it hard to actually see where he's going.

Gregor ducks out of the way of a large, bright ball hovering plainly at head height as he turns the corner around a tall hedge. The only warning he gets is a flash of blonde hair and red fabric before he knocks square into a girl a few inches shorter than himself.

Gregor's pilfered sandwiches meet a very sad end on the carefully maintained grass, the contents spilled in a scatter of ham, olives, and cheese.

"Ah scheiße," he cusses, fumbling to get a better grip his only slightly spilled cup of tea with his one good hand. It left a small wet streak down the front of his white work shirt, but not much else, thankfully. His sandwiches are goners, but at least his dignity is intact.

"Shoot. I didn't get you, did I?"

...Which unfortunately was where Ereshkigal managed to find herself today. In the worst possible scenario after bumping into someone after being so enamored by the environment around her. If anyone was to blame it was the Underworld Goddess's fault but, in a moment to try and seem like a composed individual she tried her best to play it off cool. Considering most of it managed to miss her but not him with the tea that spilt...

"Oh nonono I'm perfectly fine really! A-Are you alright though? I hope that shirt wasn't too expensive."

It did just look like something one could pick up at a store for a pretty cheap price. But knowing her luck it was their "favorite shirt" now stained.

With all that had happened, would her other half now be Hyacine? She knew not of that girl's ultimate fate, just that she had remained in the sky as Castorice had remained in the Nether Realm. In a way the two of them symbolized life and death within Amphoreus' present cycle.

"Well I guess I don't really have anything in particular yet. I've been trying to find one that really speaks to me but none have really grabbed my attention yet." Though maybe that was for the best. Better to find the one that is an enjoyable experience then rush headfirst into a hobby that might not be as good as she thought...

Unless someone just managed to take up residence the entire time. There were plenty of rooms here that Ereshkigal just avoided so there was a chance they might've ended up in one of them. As much of an impossibility that also sounded...

Queen leans to the side, trying to look past the girl for Lancer-shaped hiding places in her house. While she doesn't find any based on her quick peek, she does find something else to comment about.

"Well I don't have my weapon with me! Normally I do but they just swooped it away when I came here and haven't seen it since!" Which made even less sense that nobody else saw it. It was a pretty big weapon that managed to somehow just go AWOL without the servant knowing. Only now did she wish she could just summon it willy nilly without any repercussions.

* ... You're Not Lancer * Not Unless Something Very Strange Happened To Him * The Lancer I Know Is Small + Blue + Would Immediately Recognize Me As His Beloved "Girldad"

* Are You Sure There's Not Another Lancer At House 108? * There's A Lancer At House 101, Should I Try Over There

Unless someone just managed to take up residence the entire time. There were plenty of rooms here that Ereshkigal just avoided so there was a chance they might've ended up in one of them. As much of an impossibility that also sounded...

Of course, if he is here, that means he's missed all the effort that Queen's put in trying to find him. Like playing her mixtapes in public, putting up "Have You Seen My Kid" posters, and renting a car to drive around with the Queen Signal turned on...

None of it's worked.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to go directly to one of the houses that her fellow computer (her phone) is telling her where he is. Maybe he's taking an extra-long nap and missed all of the excitement, somehow.

Wearing a smile on her face, Queen walks up to the doorbell and gives it a ring. When a young girl with blonde hair answers the door, her smile brightens, hoping this is one of his new friends.

* Hi * Do You Know If Lancer's Home

She says that and only that. Obviously, this should cause no confusion and be easily understood.

It didn't make the situation all the less awkward, which the goddess couldn't hide on her face in the slightest bit.

" You're out late too, " he points out, nonchalant. " It isn't that unusual then. "

Comparatively, there were less people currently roaming the ward at this hour. It made sense for someone to be suspicious when coming across a stranger this late in the evening. That didn't mean it made Vicious any less thrilled to be followed-- albeit unintentionally.

"Sleep and I don't go together too well..." Not a complete lie but not the truth either. "So I thought maybe take a little bit of a stroll to maybe help shake things off."

Even then Ereshkigal's appearance didn't really scream "suspicious". If anything someone would probably warn her about getting into trouble rather then the goddess causing it in the first place.

Even if she'd had doubts then, her presence in this place had proven their words doubly true.

...Somehow that meant Ereshkigal had more experience. Strange but not the weirdest thing to happen here.

"That's true. And even if you spend a majority of your time in the realm of the dead the other half of the world still marches on. One cannot exist without the other, and if something goes awfully wrong we're usually the ones who solve it." The servant sighed, looking off to the side for a brief moment at the city scape around them.

It was beginning to feel like he was being followed. The heaviness of eyes on the back of his skull could not be ignored, and because of that, a quiet huff is exhaled through his nostrils. Someone trailing behind him almost always signaled trouble, and so Vicious begins to focus on his surroundings, the weight of his steps, and the sound of foot fall coming from behind him.

Whoever it was, the pattern of their movement did not sound like they were trying to keep a low profile, which meant the chance of him being followed on purpose was unlikely.

Vicious turns and looks over his shoulder with an unimpressed scowl on his face. Ah. It's just some woman. She did not give off the impression of someone looking for trouble, but that wasn't going to stir any warm reception out of a man like Vicious. He looked annoyed.

Maybe Spirale just made her paranoid at this rate. It wouldn't be the most surprising thing here...

"Her presence feels... a bit weaker," she says. "Maybe it's just my imagination, but..."

It's not particularly important right now, she decides. Instead, Nier looks as Ereshkigal presents the two bottles to her, tilting her head at the contents. While she has a decent knowledge of medicine, being forced to take care of herself in her illness, she knows that what she feels now is something wholly unknown. Without knowing exactly what is wrong, she can't find what the cure would be, and she can already feel the poison eating away at her again.

"I-I don't know either..." she says, clutching at her arms. "I'm not really familiar with medicines like these... I know these dosages can be sensitive, but that's about all I know."

Why are there two? Why are they so similar? Why haven't the Stars said anything about this? They don't usually hide their twisted experiments like this, so what in the world is going on?

Nier shakes her head at Ereshkigal's question. "No, she doesn't have abilities like that. She controls death, so she can kill things or bring them back to life, and that's it, more or less..."

She takes the two bottles, looking at both of them in turn. Without knowing which one is the right one, there's only one thing that comes to mind. Sighing, she uncaps the first one and raises it to her lips, draining it as quickly as she dares. The empty bottle tumbles from her hand, bouncing off the tiles as she coughs at the bitter flavor, and she opens the second as well. This one has an overwhelming menthol flavor, and Nier falls to her knees, her body wracked with a coughing fit.

Some blood flies from between her fingers, and she reaches out for Ereshkigal with her free hand.

Not the most jovial fate out there but that really was the Spirale experience..

"I'll keep that in mind." More things that the Primal Beast and herself shared for better and for worse. But before she could even think more on the subject Nier downed both bottles, the second one violently reacting to the erune's body. Two more out the window and they were all in a worse position.

The Stars must've truly had it out for them this time around. What did anyone gain from this?

"You brought that so quickly? Or maybe you already had it...? No, no, it doesn't matter." Shrugging off her cardigan, Reier gently wrapped the fabric around the chick, addressing her companion as she did so.

"I'm so glad you're here. For you to have that cage at a time like this... this chick is meant to live. Can you open it for me?"

Still their idea to help the abandoned bird by putting them into one of Ereshkigal's many cages wasn't a bad idea. Considering there was no need to do any "soul harvesting" in Spirale the numerous cages of the goddess went largely unused. So better that then taking up more space then needed. At least the ones who lived iwth her would be somewhat thankful

"A-A goddess, you say?" And of the Netherworld. Not the Nether Realm? It likely served a similar function in a different world. This all sounded very familiar. She may have been a Chrysos Heir, but she had fulfilled the prophecy surrounding it, so now...

"You can call me Ereshkigal Castorice. I've never heard of an Amphoreus before but if you are one and the same with me then you are in good company."

Or as good of company as the goddess could provide. Sometimes it was her that struggled with all of this compared to the one she should've been helping out...

❍ The scent of death. It wasn't really a "scent" in the traditional sense to Castorice, but because of her blessing she'd always been able to identify and communicate with not only with the deceased, but those that had visited the Nether Realm. She had to consider that the Nether Realm she knew did not exist in other worlds, but at the same time it was logical to assume that other worlds had something similar to it.

This young woman had that scent. Castorice mulled over the best way to broach the subject. After all, they were alone, both sharing a bus booth to wait out the rain. Cas was resting against the farthest wall of the booth though. If she didn't ask, then she'd likely regret it if she never saw her again.

Ereshkigal sadly knew that such a response was pretty stupid, given there was no one else underneath the bus booth beyond the two of them. Getting caught in the rain on a late afternoon was one thing but being late because one didn't read the schedule was another thing entirely. And now here she was, suffering for the consequences of her own actions.

...Or maybe not so much. The woman that greeted her with such a question had a reason behind it. After taking a second to compose herself she could sense a similar aura as her own. Death, albeit weakened just like herself.

"Hush, my beloved, save your strength..." murmurs Death. "It's as you say, poisons have cures. It is a shame we simply do not know much of medicine."

Nier has some knowledge, things she needed to know to take care of herself in her family's neglect. But poison is a separate thing altogether, something she knows almost nothing about. With hazy vision, she glances around the street, and her eyes land on a familiar word.

"Ah, th-there..." she says, raising a weak hand to point. "There's a pharmacy there, we can... We..."

It still doesn't hurt. Death has never hurt Nier, no matter how many times it has happened to her. Living hurts far more, and as she slips away, her last thought is how much easier it feels to breathe. Nier's arm falls, and her last breath rattles in her chest.

"My beloved? Nier? Ah... Oh no.... No, no, no..." Death's moan sounds through the empty street, and she clutches the girl's body in her arms as she weeps. But after a few minutes of emotional outpouring, the primal beast picks her head back up. "Well... I suppose it is a good thing that our abilities have had their restrictions lifted, no? As easy as it would be to be selfish... It would not do, not now..."

As Death speaks, a black fog rolls out from her billowing dress and envelops Nier's body. After a few moments, it pulls away, trailing gentle caresses down the girl's pale skin. And Nier's lungs fill with air, and she opens her eyes.

"Oh, Death... Did I... Did I die?" she asks.

Death nods. "Sadly, yes... But I have brought you back, my love... How do you feel?"

Nier rises to her feet out of Death's arms, but stumbles and presses a hand to her chest. "I think... I think I'm still poisoned... But I feel a little better right now, so I think I can manage for now..."

And the subsequent reaction towards Nier's sudden death almost drove her to a state of despair, even as the one who would've commanded the erune's soul into the afterlife. But the sudden recollection of her "primal beast" and their powers caused her eyes to relax, breathing a sigh of relief that her friend wasn't completely dead.

...One could argue that she did just die. But the resurrection should've been taken into account just as the events leading up to it.

"I-It's fine. I just didn't think I'd see what your powers actually were in person." Nor did she want to see it. Still there were pressing matters at hand as Ereshkigal held out two liquid containers of similar color.

"While everything else was trashed in here I found these. They don't smell or look bad by any means but I'm not too sure if they are actually the antidote or not. Nor can I really confirm if this is going to do more harm to your body or not."

It felt as if she wasn't pulling her own weight. But the only real "alchemist" she knew wasn't here at the moment. And without drinking it herself it seemed like it was going to stay that way.

SUPPLY RUSH

〜 For all of the wear and tear she'd experienced over the past almost two weeks now, Ishmael was happy to finally receive a modifier that wasn't bad. A restocking of food and supplies was welcome, but she had to share it with all of the other people who had gathered in the abandoned building she'd been using. There were at least ten of them now.

"Do you need anything specifically Ishmael? I could hold a few things for you if you need. Or anyone else we we come across."

Nier is surprised that it doesn't hurt. She's never been poisoned before, but from what people say, she figures it would hurt. Instead, it reminds her of when she was starving to death in her family's dungeon, that slow feeling of wasting away. Like something's inside of her, taking small bites so that bit-by-bit, she'll pass away. She doesn't mind dying, but the waiting is painful.

"I wish... it were faster..." she mumbles, drawing her arms over her chest. "I don't like... waiting like this..."

Walking is too tiring, and so Death carries her, draped across the primal beast's arms like she's being brought to bed after a long night. They drift silently through the city streets, some section of Golden that isn't too overrun yet. Only their companion's footsteps sound in the tense silence, occasionally broken by Nier's tired words.

"Ereshkigal, did you find anything...?" she calls, her voice straining to carry more than a few feet away. "I don't know that much about poisons, but they... they usually have antidotes, don't they...?"

Even if Ereshkigal knew that Nier's attitude towards dying was somewhat skewed that didn't stop the goddess from still looking for an antidote. Death wasn't anything one should've wished upon another, and a long drawn out one only made matters worse. And while she had a feeling her connection to would probably protect her from completely perishing an attempt had to be made.

✦✧ If information was a priority then a library was as good of a place to check early on than anything. Rover understood the basics of this place, but its history and the specifics behind its workings were beyond her understanding. She couldn't expect someone to give her an exposition dump because she was the Arbiter here, that wasn't a privilege that applied in Spirale. There weren't any connections to her past life.

But once inside the library, she didn't really know where to start. There were shelves upon shelves of books, but at least it was relatively empty. There might have been one or two other people inside, and she was passing by a young blonde woman when a book fell off her table. Was she not paying attention?

Rover knelt down to pick it up. "You dropped this..."

"I wouldn't say I'm really researching anything that in-depth. But I did want to see if this place had any records on those that died here."

Yet just as she feared there was barely anything in any book she picked up. Some even outright managed to skip over mentions of death at all. If anything the concept of it barely existed it here outside of the "short time" one had to wait before being brought back into the world with barely any strings attached.