Sneaking out with friends

Head down and hands clasped in front of her in a worried self-hug, Lyntael started slightly at the swelling was of light and looked up. In the back of her mind, she was aware of the creeping storm clouds rolling in far above them, and the curl of winds bringing more rain, for the sensation took a back seat to the gentle words of the woman that approached and bent slightly to speak to her. She flinched at first, when the hand reached out, but only for the briefest of moments before she let the transformed Eternalis brush away the marks on her cheeks. Lyntael swallowed, still shakily collecting herself, and nodded.

"I... I'm sorry. I thought I could... with you both here to help me, I though..." With a shake of her head, Lyntael put those thoughts away again; she wasn't able to handle this, and she might never be, and he was only putting her friends in danger trying. She nodded again, more to herself than anyone else, head down again while she took a longer breath. Individual droplets of rain began to fall, pattering warmly across the springs. After a moment of deeper breaths and subtle swallows, Lyntael lifted her head again.

"You... you got bigger, but I'm still the same... You're very beautiful like that, you know..." She smiled softly, sniffing once more and scrubbing at her face as she tried to grin. The fact that Eternalis had filled out a little bit in places that Lyntael herself was still conscious of lacking might have made her pout, but at the moment the situation was mostly overwhelming small things like that. She accepted the things that Sparky brought them quietly, the data curling quickly into a string that chased its way up her arm and under her vest, to settle into a tight circle about her emblem, waiting. She nodded and smiled for the pup, but still kept herself away from getting too close to him; the spark pulses had mostly stopped by now, but she was still a very long way from safe to touch.

After a few moments she fell in with Eternalis, still walking somewhat meekly with her, though as the thunder rolled and the spatting of rain drops began to increase, Lyntael was subtly aware of how fierce a storm was coming in around them and building up... though she wasn't particularly sure how she knew, other than being able to feel it on the wind. She looked up to Eternalis as they started walking.

"I didn't mean to get anyone hurt... I need to be able to handle this. I do, but, I'm too scared to do it alone. I have to get better, but I don't know how." The rain was more tangible now, though Lyntael didn't feel bothered by it; if anything the fall of drops scattering across her skin and dampening her clothes actually felt nice, and it helped calm her down in an odd way. "You know... I made changes to my own cross form with you, too. After the other day, when it was... you know, indecent..." She couldn't help the slight blush that followed. "I fixed it up so it's all safe for viewing and everything. Want to see? I'm pretty sure I've got the hang of calling it up now, like, properly and comfortably."

The reassurance that Aurora was, truly, alright, and the diversion of conversation worked with the patter of rain and Etenalis' own calming presence and warmth to settle Lyntael at least a little bit. She was still quiet and subdued — in mind to follow instructions and not cause any more problems, or put anyone else in danger — but the intensity of her emotions had settled somewhat. She began to focus instead on the small sensation in her heart that she knew was tied to Eternalis and Aurora; it would be nice to show off something that she knew she'd done right, at least, even if Aurora wasn't able to look in just yet.

((Ready for Battle 2, Overcharge reduced by 5 for time and calming down))

Modlock engaged.

The endless, still, steamy waters of Yoka's onsens change, after a time, and the skies change with them. As the clouds darken, the waters around the group pick up a current, not urgent enough to form white-waters but at least quick enough to be noticeable. The flow of water impedes the group's movements in general, flowing toward them from somewhere up ahead, although soon they find themselves at the source.

The group comes upon a temple at the literal edge of the network; a tall, white structure of pillars and arches, entirely out-of-sorts with the aesthetic Yoka Net ordinarily represents. The clouds that otherwise fill the network seemingly avoid this place; an almost perfect circle of clear blue sky fills the air above the temple, and yet rain still falls upon the temple despite the lack of clouds, joining the water that flows freely down the concentric steps forming the temple base. The water flowing out from the temple is steaming-hot, and it quickly joins the endless onsens of the network at large. Could this be where it all comes from?

The waters that don't join the onsens instead drift the opposite direction, over the edge. The group can hear the roar of the constant waterfall this creates, even see the spray of mist filling the air around the site. Past the edge of the network environs, panels lazily drift upward in the void, slowly turning end-over-end as they ascend toward nothing. The panels themselves are... odd, hexagonal in shape as opposed to the standard squares used even on the network upon which the group stands. There is the distinct feeling that this place is unusual, even among the Net's unusual places... as though it does not belong.

Up at the top, within the temple itself, some sort of dais or fountain sits in the middle of it all, presumably pouring out water. Something floats above it, though it is hard to make out the details of temple or dais from the bottom of the steps.

Of course, if the group did not wish to investigate this place, they could simply move on.

With Lyntael's compliment on the beauty of the new Crossed form, Eternalis only replied with a smile, though Harke had other comments. "You sure have a lot of forms now though, Eternalis. Sometimes I wish I could have cool transformations like that," said Harke, resting his cheek on his fist with an amused expression. To that, Eternalis's smile took on a slightly exasperated form. "Well, it's not like I asked for them, really," said Eternalis, as she bent down and picked up Sparky into her arms. The pitter patter of the rain slowly picked up as they began to walk, and darkness began to creep in a little more with the overhead clouds. Eternalis wasn't quite too bothered with the rain, but she noticed that Sparky had gone a little quieter, with his floppy ears down.

Lyntael's state of wanting to push herself harder than she currently was nagged at both Operator and Navi, with the former wondering whether he should broach the issue with his earlier deductions, or simply let Eternalis take the Navi home for the moment. While he was confident in the Navi's abilities in being able to survive, he was a little more worried about Eternalis being able to protect Lyntael as well as Sparky. From what he could see, the rain was also picking up and causing the waters around the place to start forming little currents. Eternalis had the same thoughts, as the rain began to slowly ramp up in intensity. "Sure, you can show it to me once we can get out of the rain somewhere. These currents are getting a bit strong, and I don't think we can get back to where we came from right now. I don't personally mind it much, but Sparky looks like he wouldn't mind some shelter," she said, her eyes gesturing towards the little pup, who seemed to be nestling a bit more into her body.

Soon after, as if they were led there, an idyllic-looking temple opened up before them. The structure's design being very much out of place in the area, along with how the rain still came down from the cloudless sky made for a very strange scene. Suspicion came over Eternalis and Harke as the place opened up before them, and the former turned towards the latter with an appropriately dubious expression. Harke's eyes motioned over towards the person behind Eternalis--the person they were trying to get home in the first place, and he gestured with his head to give a hesitant affirmation. Eternalis turned towards Lyntael, who had to be quite thoroughly soaked by now. "Come on, let's try to wait out the rain here," said Eternalis, leading the way into the mysteriously pure-white structure with a quick jog and leaving a trail of slime behind her as she did so.

Lyntael closed her eyes as she moved along with Eternalis, taking long breaths as she walked and listening while she focused on the feel of the rain falling. With her eyes closed it was easier to feel the circling storm, somehow and the rain soaking through her clothes and the curling of the winds, and even the rumbles of thunder were things that relaxed her. Eternalis seemed more worried about her, than Aurora, and she had to trust that that meant that whatever discomfort she'd been through to be ejected like that, it was minor. Given the way the pair seemed to care about each other, at least in her own mind, and from what she'd seen, if it was anything more serious than a mild inconvenience and a temporary hurt, Eternalis would surely be more concerned. She was letting herself take that as her guide, and it helped her, somewhat. They could be more careful.

They'd only gone a short way when her friend's movements came to a pause and Lyntael stopped as well, looking up at her, then ahead, following her lead. It was only then that she realised how badly the pools and streams of the older network had begin to run and wash out, and the faint signal that told her where her emulation point was seemed to have gotten dimmer, and lay back across what was looking like increasingly treacherous terrain. Frowning, Lyntael peered ahead, across the flooding banks; she thought they could probably get across anyway, but something about the way Eternalis spoke gave her pause. She glanced to the other woman again, then back forward. Another, closer examination proved her right; visually it looked dangerous but passable, on ahead, but the underlying network had grown unstable, and the storm that rolled above them was just a symptom of that, it seemed. She nodded in silence and backed away again, staying close to Eternalis and keeping her hands clasped in front of her.

The rainwater itself felt warm on her skin; this wasn't at all like the freezing cold of Sharo, with its snow and blizzards. Rain just felt pleasantly warm and even though her small vest was damp enough to begin approaching the first grades of sheerness, and her skirt was mostly lying flat to her legs as she walked, Lyntael found her resolve settling and growing firm again. What was another way to think about it, she pondered as they picked their way through the difficult landscape seeking shelter or a way around the unstable areas. A small smile touched one corner of her lips and she stole another quick look up to Eternalis. If Aurora had to rest, then she could try her best to support Eternalis in her place, while she was away. She could be careful, and could protect herself and try not to get hurt on her own, and do what little things she could to help her in Aurora's stead. That was a positive plan.

Before long, their path led to a very peculiar sight and Lyntael found her steps slowing as it opened out before them. Her head tilted as she looked up at the clear patch above the strange temple, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. The storm was still there, sort of, but it also wasn't, and it was messing with her senses in a peculiar way. She blinked a few times and shook her head, but the effect remained.

"That doesn't look..." She realised that the roar of waterfalls here made her quietly hesitant start difficult to hear and cleared her throat to speak up properly, and found Etenralis looking back towards her. She attempted a grin instead, just to show that she was doing ok; as the other navi presumed, she was thoroughly soaked at this point, and the thinness of her vest and skirt were quite obvious, but Lyntael herself didn't look cold, and indeed the tiny smile was somewhat more relaxed and hopeful than she'd been coming off the shock of Aurora getting hurt before. Rain dripped and drizzled from the springy points of her hair as well as off the rest of her body but there were no signs of shivers or anything like that.

"It looks strange... It doesn't look like it was originally apart of this area... what do you think is in there?" She glance back towards the nearest entry way, nodding along with Eternalis' suggestion that they take shelter. "I guess it's probably better if we wait for Aurora to feel better, before we keep going anyway, isn't it? I know I'm not as capable as she is, and I can't really help you like she does... If we get attacked without her, I'll just end up putting you both in danger again. But if we go explore in there, Sparky can dry off too, and you'd like that, wouldn't you?" The last bit grew more up beat, and was directed more as a partial coo towards the pup who was probably the most eager to get out of the rain, of the assembled party members.

She held onto the little bead of sensation and emotion that she knew now would call up unusual gel armour that was tied to her companions; not quite pulling on it yet, but enjoying the sense of warmth that brushing it sent through her chest as she followed Eternalis towards the entry way of the odd temple-like structure, increasingly curious to see what the inside of the out-of-place space looked like.

The temple itself has a roof, thankfully-- or rather, the arches form a rough enough facsimile of one that you may as well call it a roof-- and the arched roof does a rather fine job of blocking the rain, thick enough that only the running of water and the distant roaring of the waterfalls can be heard within the temple.

The temple's structure is mostly circular, centered on the fountain pouring water out across the floor and foundation of the entire space, surrounded by the very pillars that hold up the arched roof. The back side of the temple bears a gap in the pillars, and the circular design stops flat there as though 'cut off' by the network edge.

The fountain in the middle of the shrine or temple space is the immediate draw; it is four-tiered, tall enough to rise above both Eternalis and Lyntael, and at the very zenith of the fountain floats... a book. The book is hard-covered, bound with some blue material, with pages that look too white to be real. The book gently floats up and down, levitated by some unknown force, and spins slowly like a mystery data. From the base of the fountain, neither navi can see a cover or title.

Small objects glint and gleam beneath the waters pouring over the stone floors from the fountain itself; bits of zenny, pieces of bugfrag data, none of it in any majestic or important amounts. Offerings to the shrine, perhaps. One could maybe find something worth keeping if one looked, but there's something odd about this place...

As soon as Eternalis was under one of the temples' arches, Sparky began to struggle from under her arms, in order to get to dry land. She gently lowered the pup onto the ground, whereupon he immediately began to dry himself, vigorously shaking off the water from the rain. Eternalis held up a hand to shield her face from the water as she giggled in response to the doggy antics. "Hey! Sparky! Wai--hey!"

Meanwhile, Harke took the time to inspect the area. It certainly did seem quite out of place. The central fountain being the focal point of the entire temple, his eyes were naturally led to it, observing the multi-tiered structure that seemed to be the source of all the water currents they had been encountering thus far. From his smaller viewpoint, he wasn't quite able to see the very top of the fountain, though he did see the various bits and pieces scattered at the base of the fountain. He did, however, note the rear end of the temple seemed abruptly cut off--as if there was nothing else beyond it.

Sparky's self-drying session took some time, but to not much avail--the dog was well and thoroughly soaked from the rain. Nevertheless, it didn't dampen his spirits, as he barked in joy in a puddle of water as his master laughed, being on the receiving end of the impromptu shower. Of course, the water simply trailed off of her body afterwards, making her no more soaked than she was before. She knelt down to give the dog a rough pat on the head, growling playfully as if it was some kind of "punishment".

She then turned towards Lyntael, who should have also taken shelter under the arches. "As strange as it looks, this place doesn't seem to be too dangerous, though we should probably keep a lookout for any hostiles. Hopefully it won't come to that, though, but I trust you can handle anything that comes our way, even without Aurora," she started, smiling brightly. However, she also noticed eventually that Lyntael's clothes weren't exactly thick enough to cover much of her small frame as they were soaked, and instinctively averted her eyes. "Er, I don't suppose you have anything to dry off with?"

Her own behavior struck her as odd, but as she turned back towards Sparky, she saw that he seemed to have taken an interest in the nearby fountain, running towards it. The previous thought disappeared from her mind as she ran after him. "Oh, careful!" she called out, managing to catch the pup before he did anything further. Sparky barked in excitement as he looked at all the different little things scattered around the fountain, though once Eternalis got closer, her eyes went up to the full height of the fountain, and it was then that her viewpoint coincided with Harke's.

The operator was the first to comment. "Is that a... book?" he said.

Following Eternalis up the steps, Lyntael paused once she was out of the rain itself and looked around. Her eyes went up first of all, just by instinct to take in as much of the unknown space as she could see, before Sparky's eagerness to be out and dry drew her eyes back down quickly and she giggled at the pup shaking himself off. Lyntael herself stood inside the archway, closing her eyes and clenching her fists slightly as she shook as well, giggling slightly as she did. Just as with sparky, it didn't do too much; she shook the droplets off her hair, then let the shake ripple down through her body until he had to lift one toe at a time, shaking off each leg. It didn't get a lot of the water off, but it felt like it did ,which was what mattered most. She bounced on her toes and shook out her hands afterwards, then looked back to Eternalis to see what her friend was looking at. Her eyes followed back and down to her own clothes as the other woman asked about her drying, and Lyntael ducked her head, blushing slightly.

She didn't actually feel as suddenly embarrassed as she would have, if Etenalis had been in his usual form, it felt safer when she was like this... but still not completely as comfortable as she knew she might have been in Aurora's company. Eternalis was still a little bit confusing for her, on that score. She shook her head, running her hands lightly over the front of her vest to try and coax some of the water from it, then shrugged.

"Ah, no... I didn't bring anything with me this time. Oh, but I'm ok, really. I don't feel cold or anything, I'm fine... Uhh, sorry, one second, I'll just..." With a small, apologetic duck of her head and shoulders, Lyntael turned her back to Eternalis briefly, unfastening the catches on her vest and pulling it off. It only took her a moment to roll it up and wring it out in her fingers, the delicate drizzle of water tinkling onto the ground beside her as she twisted. That done, she shook the flimsy garment out and briefly swept a hand over her chest and back to shoo off the remaining water, then slipped it back on. it was still damp, and still a little bit sheer, but not quite as obviously so after the procedure. She frowned as she looked down, refastening the catches. Still not exactly decent, she had to admit... but better.

"Best I can do for now, I think..." She murmured, shrugging as she turned back, then looking up to Eternalis to see if she was ok with the result. "Ah, I should just do the other as well, I guess." In a quick whisk of motion she repeated the procedure for her skirt; she didn't need to turn around this time, since it was really no different from wearing swim wear, now that her undergarments were properly decent and not all lacy and see-through like they used to be. Thinking about it still made her cheeks pink a little. The water had done no favours to the undergarments either, but they were good cotton, and would be fine. Probably. She wasn't at the point of comfortable trying to wring them out yet, at least. The skirt was fastened back on after its wringing session without a fuss.

"All better!" She tried a grin; Eternalis' humouring her capabilities made her feel a touch more shy and embarrassed for the obvious fib that it was, but she was at least reassured that if the other woman was saying that, then she must not be too concerned about having to work with her alone. Her attention was drawn by Sparky's impatience, though her own curiosity and fascination caught up fairly quickly once she'd done what she could with her clothes. She followed over close on the pup's tail, moving lightly on her toes and leaving only very small wet footprints on the tiles behind her. She had no idea what sort of a temple the place might have been, but the signs of something clearly still active on the pedestal had the majority of her attention now.

As she got closer, Lyntael slowed and carefully picked her steps forward, making sure not to disturb any of the other small bits and pieces that seemed to have been left. Far from scattered debris, they looked like they'd been positioned or placed deliberately, and the atmosphere of the place made her feel like moving them would be... if not bad, then at least disrespectful in some manner, even with no idea what the shrine was. She picked her way up the steps until she could get a better look at the floating book, moving right up to it if she could, though still careful and doing her best not to disturb anything else. With no other information scattered about the out-of-place temple structure, she stood up on her toes, trying to see if she could read any kind of title on the cover or spine. Her fingers twitched, tempted to reach out for the artefact and open the pages, but she held back the urge for now, waiting for a decision from Eternalis instead; the last thing she wanted to do was cause more unexpected things to happen, and there was something about this place and the atmosphere, the book and everything around it, that made her cautious enough to curb her curiosity.

"It is.... I'm just trying to see what's written on it, that's all. I'm not going to touch it yet, I promise..." She spoke back towards Eternalis and Harke, though she only turned her head a little, eyes fixed. After she had taken a look, Lyntael stepped back again, wistful about wanting to open the book up and look more, but cautious all the same. She returned to Eternalis instead. If the other woman was ok with having a closer look, and possibly taking it off its floating altar, then that would be ok, she reasoned.

"I couldn't see to much about it, whatever it is... Want me to hold Sparky while you look and see if it's safe to touch?" She grinned and held her arms out for the pup; the rain had soothed her enough that she didn't immediately worry about whether it was safe or not, which was one of the better signs that she probably was, for now at least.

She crouched down once she had Sparky in her arms, turning him about so she could play with the pup a little and ruffle his ears. Sparky's own enthusiasm for the play came across a a series of small barks and growls along with an equal amount of dubiously aimed licks. Lyntael giggled again, falling back to her behind and partially holding him away as he licked her face, the laughter of her play echoing slightly in the wide temple space.

A few seconds of this later, she sat properly spreading out her legs for a more comfortable position while she held him, and Sparky angled to get better access to the girl's face a she did. He wiggled forward in her grip, front paws straining out to find purchase on her chest as she laughed and giggled. She didn't mind the feeling of his tongue on her cheeks and nose, but started suddenly when she felt one paw press too hard on the top catch of her vest and the toggle gave out.

"Oh, hey, wait... Sparky, wait!" She moved to hold him out and away again, but somewhere in the confusion her hands slipped and the exuberant canine dropped into the gap between her legs. For a moment he seemed fine, watching Lyntael and wagging his tail at her while she looked down to fix her top, but almost immediately as son as she turned her eyes downwards, the crafty pup turned his head, zeroing in on his earlier object of fascination. Before Lyntael could stop him, he turned and bolted back for the altar.

"Ack... No wait, Sparky!" she cried out as he got away, scrambling forward to her knees to try and catch the absconding SP, but to no avail as he darted away, scrambling up past Eternalis and onto the altar where the book floated, sniffing and nosing at it with great interest. His first round of sniffing flipped the cover open in the process, beginning to rifle the pages with glee.

The moment the dog touched the book, the tome lit up; gold lettering on the outer cover became especially bright, but all the pages glowed on the inside as the tome smacked the dog away, flipping through page after page of its own accord.

The shaved-off back part of the temple appeared before the trio as water began to wash over it, but it was not as the rest of the temple was. The back-half of the temple consisted of a single further platform, and then a path leading off into the inky gray abyss past the network, but both platform and path were made of the ghostly blue water that covered them, suspended in the air and flowing out from the temple itself.

As the water flowed deeper into the net beyond, further water channels split and spread off from the main path at fixed intervals, revealing pillars that filled from the bottom up like water vessels, glowing at their peak once they were full. These lights along the path kept it illuminated despite the darkness of the network around it, though soon enough even the lamps could not keep the path visible in the darkness, meaning the navis would have to progress to see what lay beyond their vision.

Lest they get too mesmerized, the book closed itself, floating down off of the fountain to just above ground level before slowly, gently beginning to spin again. It still glowed, albeit more faintly, and at this height the book's cover was fully legible:

"Definitely looks like a book," said Eternalis in response to Harke's comment, while Sparky was more interested in the little bits and pieces around the fountain itself. She then directed her sight elsewhere around the place, and saw Lyntael gingerly watching her steps around the area as well, stepping right over to the fountain itself. "It's looking pretty ominous, either way. Try not to disturb anything," said Harke, though arguably the other girl had already stepped into the water and broke that piece of advice.

As he suspected, it had already fallen on deaf ears as Lyntael inched close to the strange-looking book. Eternalis's nerves grew tense as Lyntael approached the book closely, though evidently her tiny stature prevented her from reading anything on the cover. Nothing had happened for the moment, at least, before Lyntael asked her implicitly to go and take a look at it for herself. If nothing else, it would satisfy the little one's curiosity, so Eternalis relented and picked up Sparky to hand over to the girl. "Alright, here. Try not to let him run off," laughed Eternalis, while Sparky barked happily along with the transfer.

She then headed off to approach the fountain herself, looking up at the floating book. "Not much to read from down here, I think," said Harke from the video feed. "I'm aware, thank you," replied Eternalis with slight irritation, as she stood akimbo facing the fountain. It was indeed much too tall for her, or even base Eternalis to make out what the book said. "I think I'll just get Sparky to lift me up a little," said Eternalis, turning towards Lyntael to retrieve her pup.

Unfortunately, Sparky was already on the case like a speeding bullet, dashing up and launching himself against Eternalis's shoulder and ramming into the book itself; Lyntael herself was scrambling on her knees with a surprised cry in her failure to contain the canine catastrophe. She could barely turn back towards the fountain before a pained yelp accompanied Sparky flying overhead and towards the darkened back half of the temple.

A splash could be heard as Eternalis cried out in alarm. "Sparky!" said Eternalis, as she raced over to the pup. Thankfully, he seemed to be fine enough still, only slightly wet from landing onto the path made of water. "Oh, thank goodness," she said, temporarily forgetting her other partner, left behind near the fountain for the moment.

With the over-enthusiastic dog well beyond her reach, Lyntael could only watch, in between trying to scramble to her feet, as their smallest companion made the boldest advances. She gasped, flinching back as the book seemed to repel the poor program, but as he landed on the far side and picked himself up, Lyntael found her attention drawn to the sudden changes that flowed out from the contact. Still looking at the newly revealed way forward, Lyntael gingerly caught up to Eternalis and glanced up to her with a small wince.

"Sorry... I just sort of put him between my knees for a moment, and he seemed like he was being good, but I took my eyes off and he went!" the words were murmured quickly; they both seemed more focused on being sure that sparky wasn't hurt, but he seemed well enough after the landing. Lyntael bit her lip as she looked at the pathway that wound out ahead of them.

"This is... Well, I mean... whatever's going on wouldn't be opening pathways and showing us words if it was dangerous... right?" She took a moment to peek across from Eternalis towards the book ,where the cover was more clearly visible now. The words made her reconsider her statement. "Ah... Maybe... What do you think it's meaning?" A thought came to her mind and she ducked her head quite sharply. "I, um... It says memory, but, I don't really think I'd want anyone to see some of my memories..." She re-railed the thought before it could bring up anything too uncomfortable. "Oh, but I'm sure you have lots of great memories with Aurora, that might be cute to see!" She shrugged and rolled her shoulders, lifting up her eyes again and moving forward towards the point where the watery path began. There was also the concern about the void below, wherever that led, and the fact that the path itself looked like it was made of water with no support. It was the net, and things didn't have to make sense, she knew that in her mind, of course... but it still made her feel uneasy.

"Maybe it's like a record for someone else though... it talks about life and death..." She spoke up more clearly low, raising her voice to be sure that Eternalis could hear her while she knelt down near where the path began. With a cautious hand, she reached out to test the surface. It was maybe a silly thing to do, given that spark had already landed on the walkway and seemed fine, but her own sense of caution wouldn't accept it. When it felt solid enough she stood, then very cautiously tested it with a foot instead, putting more weight on the translucent path.

"It feels stable... I do wonder where it's leading us. It's like... It's like it has a story to tell, or something." she darted back over to Etneralis now, looking up to the other woman and wrapping one hand about her opposite elbow with a nervous expression.

"I was really just thinking to rest for a while. I understand that I shouldn't be here, and that I'm not every really going to be able to fight like this. I know it was silly of me to try, when it's just putting you at more risk, but, now that we're here... what do you think? It doesn't seem like it's, well... immediately dangerous... but... I guess, wherever this goes it's going further away from somewhere I can get home again." She looked to the book again, re-reading the words on the cover.

"Eternal wanderers... Life and death.... oh..." Her hands jumped up to cover her emblem in a small clasp at her chest as she turned back to Eternalis. "What if there are... um... you know, skeletons and zombies and things like that? I know they're not supposed to be real... I don't really buy into ghost stories, but... people could make anything in a data space. Maybe if we just explore a little way, and if it looks dangerous, or if it seems unsafe, we come back?" Curiosity fought a battle with her nerves and apprehension, and the war of it was clearly visible on her features as she hesitated, trying to see which way Eternalis herself was leaning. "Should we try to take the book with us, or leave it here?" The question was its own problem, given that either move could be a bad idea, and she found her gaze darting back and forth between Eternalis, the book, and the winding, watery path.

"Ah," said Eternalis, jumping slightly as she was suddenly made aware of Lyntael's presence after picking up Sparky. Patting Sparky slowly, she began reassuring the pup after the sudden flight, although the pup didn't seem to quite mind it, being perfectly happy to wag his tail rapidly in response to the patting. "Oh, sorry-- Er, I mean, it's not your fault. I guess Sparky gets a bit antsy if someone else is holding him."

Her eyes moved out towards the dark pathway with suspicion as Lyntael considered what the place held. Harke seemed to mirror her concerns, as she glimpsed out of the corner of her eye that he had the same expression. Then, she noticed that Lyntael was looking in a different direction--towards the entrance of the area, where the book was revolving slowly, and the words on it could clearly be seen. "The Book of Memory..." she recited. Whatever it was, it certainly didn't look inviting, especially as she was currently responsible for a Navi that was disconnected from her PET, and was thus unable to initiate her EJO sequence if something were to happen.

At the mention of Aurora, however, Sparky peeked up from near Eternalis's feet, and let out a quick bark. Eternalis looked back down, and smiled slightly. "Well, if we were to see them, I'd rather have her around, too," said Eternalis, looking back down the path. Some particular memories came to mind, and Eternalis's face turned scarlet for a moment, thankful that she wasn't facing Lyntael at the moment.

She was surprised, however, by the fact that Lyntael actually wanted to continue further in, and not err on the side of caution, given what had happened earlier. She turned towards the girl with a worried expression. "... I'd rather not go down that way, especially with how that book reacted to Sparky earlier," she began, looking out towards the book. The rain outside was still going quite hard, and there was no telling when it would subside.

"Why not take a look at the book itself? I'm sure that's at least a little safer, if you're still curious about it," said Harke.

Eternalis turned towards Harke and tilted her head, then hung her shoulders before turning back to Lyntael. "That doesn't sound like the worst idea. I'll try to open it, but I'm putting my recovery processes on full alert," she said, rising up to full height and leaving Sparky at her feet. Almost immediately, she was surrounded by a gleam of light that swirled about her in a helix, and the golden slime woman's color was temporarily replaced by her original blue color. "Come on," she said, the slime appearing to glow briefly as she led the way back towards the book.

Sparky tagged along loyally at his master's feet, bounding alongside her. Eternalis quickly reached the book, and braced herself, priming her recovery as she attempted to open the cover.

The inside of the book consists of glowing pages; words shuffle around the surface of each page in golden script, moving far too fast to be read, far too randomly to be processed. It's like the book is a living thing, or... or a running program, just like the two of them. Unlike with Sparky, however, the book makes no effort to push away Eternalis as he calmly flips through the pages. Perhaps it was not touch that the book objected to before, but rather the rough handling of a dog?

Holding the book in his hands, however, Eternalis notices something. It's infrequent, and they're thin like a spider web or a razor wire, but every so often a small thread or beam of golden light departs the book, scattering across invisible lines into the surrounding area. Following the beams of light, Eternalis can see many of them moving past the edge of the network, striking the watery path, striking the lamps that light it. A few of them move away from that black space, however... and following them visually, Eternalis notices something troubling.

A transparent, nearly-invisible half-dome covers the Temple, cut off at the network's edge-- and it is no ordinary quarter-sphere, but the staticky, malevolent presence of an EJO barrier, combined with what's probably a physical blockage. Of course, jacking out doesn't work when you're off the network's edge... and even if Eternalis could jack out, he'd be stranding Lyntael here.

And all of it because of whatever story or information this book stores within. The question the navi faces now is, does he tell her about the fact that they're trapped? It could cause her unnecessary worry, and the barrier was hard to notice unless she held the book the way he was.

As much as she was curious about the path that lay ahead of them, Lyntael was also wavering back and forth between that and cautious worry about the unknowns that it might hold. The visuals were striking, of course, but the concept of it being part of the network or not a part of it hadn't really occur to her; the girl had never really seen or experienced the world around her with that level of underlying sense, so she was blind to the oddities of having a structure extending out past the normal bounds to the network... but the situation itself was strange and alien enough to both fascinate her, and set her on edge. Still looking down the path, she trailed back towards Eternalis, following the more mature woman.

"She'll feel better soon, right? I hope she—" Lyntael was looking up as Eternalis tactfully turned her face away, but the semi-transparent nature of her body meant that she couldn't hide the crimson flush entirely. Lyntael's words trailed off as she saw, a broad grin sneaking across her lips before she could stop it. "Is that... Aw, are you blushing!?" She giggled despite herself, putting one hand to her mouth briefly. "Oh, is it something cute, or something embarrassing... or is it something romantic!" Unconsciously Lyntael emphasised the last word. She'd mostly forgotten that she was talking to the navi who was usually a male in the relationship she perceived to be between the pair. If she'd been thinking about Eternalis as a male at this point, there was likely no way she would have attempted to engage in that level of intimate gossip. As it was, however, she as only seeing Eternalis in her current form and she grinned and bit her lip as she tried to peek around the other woman to see how bad the blush actually was.

For the briefest of moments, the rest of their situation was forgotten by Lyntael's teenage-romantic heart and she fixated on what exactly might have made her companion blush so much at the mention of aurora and memories together. Aurora herself had been a little bit coy on just how far their relationship went, but if she was lucky Eternalis might be willing to give her a little more detail, maybe. At first she supposed it might have been something embarrassing that the other navi regretted or thought of immediately, but her actual response was far more... shy, in a way. Lyntael fixed on the idea that it would have to be something romantic or affectionate, which made her quietly gleeful and spread the infectious, conspiratorial grin further.

A moment later, her mind jumped from the idea that it might be something affectionate or romantic, to the idea that it might well be something, well, intimate, and she felt a brief flush of colour crest her own cheeks at the thought that she might be asking for information on something far too private... but she really did want to know how far the couple were truly a couple... the little bit of eager match-maker in her heart couldn't take the suspense, so she let he question stand, eagerly watching Eternalis for an answer, or at least a reaction. Along the way she'd also mostly forgotten that Harke, too, was able to listen in. Most of her subconscious perspective now saw only Eternalis and Sparky as potential ears.

Unexpectedly, Lyntael seemed to have reacted to more of an off-hand remark she had made before, and some awkwardness built up as Eternalis led the way back to the book. The girl's insistence on it lingered inside of her head, making it difficult to focus on what was in the book. Her condition wasn't much of a deterrent in the end, however, as the book's words seemed to even be racing about, denying any attempt to decipher it. If she had a nose to pinch in frustrated embarrassment, she would have done so at this moment, but for the moment all she could do was close the book and hang her head down with a scrunched-up expression on her face. She then turned back to Lyntael, who seemed to be very much into it for some reason or another.

"Well, at the very least, you bringing them up seem to be enough that I can't get them out of my head now. Doesn't help that I can't even understand what this book is saying, it doesn't seem to be anything readable," said Eternalis, in a slightly defeated tone of voice. With the book still in her hands, she turned her head towards the outskirts of the temple, where the rain still raged on. Vivid memories of their Yoka excursion continued to come up in her mind, and she shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. "Just some time we spent together, is all," she said, grinning sheepishly. "... You can ask Aurora more about it when the rain stops, and we can get back. I can't keep my head straight right now."

She looked back down at the book to get her thoughts back on track, but the smile on her face faltered slightly as she saw some odd beam of light refracting off of it, or some other. Following the path of the light, she looked up at the skies, where the rain was bearing down from a blue sky, and saw an aberration in the space--and error messages popped up in the corner of her vision. "Jack Out Barrier Detected," the messages warned, in bright red. At the same time, she could see that the rain never actually passed through the aberration; the barrier preventing their exit was also physical.

For the moment, she tried to keep his expression as it was, and turned back to Lyntael. "For now, though, let's just try and stay put here until the rain stops," she said, looking down at her feet to see how Sparky was doing--though there was nothing there. Looking to her side would reveal that Sparky had already taken the initiative, running up to the fountain that had held the book previously, looking at the random bits of data strewn at its foot. At the same time, a small text message appeared next to the error message in her heads up display--a private message from her operator.

"That jack out barrier doesn't look good," it said.

Her reply was similarly private in nature. "Seems like it wants us to go further in. Has to be a trap."

"Mm. I'll leave it to you as to what exactly you want to do, but stay cautious. I'll keep a close hand on my chip folder and try to figure out what happened," typed out Harke.

"Got it," replied Eternalis.

"Oh, and try not to embarrass yourself too hard," remarked Harke, before the message box went inactive.

Now trying very hard to keep her smile straight as she cradled the book under her arm, Eternalis sighed, and gestured with her head for Lyntael to follow Sparky back towards the fountain.

As she prodded at the question with eager in-the-moment excitement, Lyntael did have the presence of thought enough to notice that the reaction from her friend was... yes a little embarrassed, but not really in the healthy fun way that invited more prying. Instead, some of her response became a frustrated railing at the book and Lyntael bit her lip. curious and cute and fascinating as the question might be, this was not the time for it, and she was being rude, at least enough to discomfit Eternalis. With a conscious effort, she relaxed her excited, pressing posture and stepped back, clasping her hands in front of her waist again.

"Sorry... I um, kinda did, before... ask Aurora, I mean, but she acted all coy about it, until we got interrupted, so I thought maybe if I asked you..." she shook her head. "I'm being rude. Sorry." Her eyes darted left and right. "But you are very cute together, you know..." She cleared her throat quickly after rushing out the quick final remark and instead followed along trying to peer at the pages of the book. What she saw over the other woman's shoulders made her blink and shake her head once or twice, then try again, to no better result. It was like it was meant to represent a book of words that she could read, but there weren't actually words she could read there. Sort of. Or there were too many, maybe. Maybe it was just meant to be a representation, and the actual pages weren't properly written.

She kept quiet while Eternalis tried to work out more from the book, or get some kind of information about what would await them if they explored, but she could tell just from looked, and the way her eyes darked from the book to other places in the temple every now and then, that she'd upset her friend more seriously than she thought. She'd already tried to apologise twice though, any more would just be an irritation ,so instead she kept quiet and watched until the suggestion to stay put for the time being was offered. Lyntael looked to the pathway, then out to the rain beyond the temple arches.

"I don't really mind the rain, honestly, it's ok... the snow and the ice were bad for me, but rain is... friendly. Rain never feels cold, even though I've heard other people say it is..." It was an oddity, that, but true all the same. According to other people, rain usually fell at temperatures that should feel cold on the skin, but it had never actually felt so to her. "Really, I'm just more worried about any viruses we end up running into between here and where my entry point is..." With a small sigh she sat down on the steps that led up to the altar; her clothes were still very damp, but the temple felt comfortable enough, in terms of temperature. Not that a fire, or a heater wouldn't be nice, she admitted silently to herself.

"I still feel guilty about this. I was supposed to be trying to... get better, in some way, and I thought it would be safest with you both here with me, but having me around in a serious fight just seems to make things harder for everyone..." She rubbed the back of her neck, glancing up to Eternalis, then gesturing with her arms instead in an attempt to call Sparky over for more attention. Scratching and ruffling at the pup was at least one layer of distraction while she tried to piece together an explanation properly, and maybe shift away from her embarrassing prying earlier.

"I know that Eric wanted to let me be whatever I wanted, and I know... when it was decided that I'd go to Rogan, that he wanted someone to be there for him, and help him, and look out for him... But the things he has me do feel wrong, so often... and the fighting, whenever I'm in danger because of it... I just don't know if I'm ever going to be able to manage. I just don't feel cut out for any of this, you know?" She wondered more about the situation, and the brief awkwardness she'd caused. Maybe she could share something awkward of her own, that might help. she groped quickly for an anecdote she could use. Not the worst ones... even contemplating that sent a visible shudder of fear and revulsion through her frame... but maybe one of the less direct moments?

"A little while ago, Rogan wanted me to access a net-side data bank in a place he was sneaking into, and I wasn't supposed to get seen or caught. But when I got there, there was a navi guarding the room, and when I heard his voice, and realised who it was, I just... um... I melted down, just completely. I hid in a corner a little away from the room and cried and shook and thought I was going to die, because I as sure he was going to find me. I was a mess. I..." She shook her head, swallowing and shoving the memory away as firmly as she could, now that she'd relayed it. Past that. Not there, here. Now. Right. She took along breath. "I don't know what would have happened if I'd been seen, but, I know I wouldn't have handled it. I don't even know how I could... and it meant that I failed Rogan, and he had to go to a lot of extra effort to get me out safely without compromising himself, because I couldn't stop panicking, and couldn't make myself move from where I was, no matter what he said." Once more, she closed her eyes and put hands to her face, taking long, deep, slow breaths to calm herself down.

"I guess what I'm getting at, I think... is that I should have known better than to burden you with protecting me in a real fight, with some silly hope of getting better at it myself." Slowly, she peeked up again, turning her head enough to look up at Eternalis and see how the other woman had taken her apology-confession combination.

As they headed back to the fountain, Eternalis listened to Lyntael's concerns about the rain (or rather, lack thereof) with the rain itself providing background noise. She could also hear the splashing sounds of Sparky playing about in the fountain, which made her look over for a bit, but it seemed safe enough, now that the only clearly active object was the book in her hands and not the fountain itself. "Well, Sparky seems to have warmed up to getting his fur wet, at least, so at least we're all getting more comfortable with it," chuckled Eternalis, taking the seat next to Lyntael, while keeping a person's worth of distance between them and looking back towards Sparky to make sure he wasn't about to run off.

Thankfully, the pup seemed to be more inclined to play about with Lyntael, bounding up to her when called to. In his mouth were some of the bits and pieces of data off of the bottom of the fountain, and he was happy to present them at Eternalis's feet before running off to get fussed over by Lyntael. Before Eternalis could say anything else, however, Lyntael proceeded to launch into an unbidden downpour of thoughts, as if competing with the rain that they were in.

Being an unintended side audience, Harke listened in as well. The doubts of her own efforts to match what Rogan had intended, and his own deductions from the discussion at the bar a few days prior came back to mind. The glimpse into how her work for Rogan usually went on made him wonder briefly how easily she let secrets slip, and how odd it was that the operator didn't keep a tighter lock on the girl's whereabouts, as paranoid as he seemed. Then again, coupled with the fact that the operator never simply used a standard Navi, perhaps Rogan himself had a few doubts on how to deal with his "burden" of a Navi, he reasoned.

Eternalis, meanwhile, was wondering about how to deal with Lyntael's visibly increasing tension. While she was about to reach out in an attempt to console the girl, she second guessed herself, and decided against it. However, one thing did catch her in the midst of her thoughts--it was less that she thought of Lyntael as a girl, but rather that she didn't want to cause her distress with the physical contact. Why had her thought pattern changed, she briefly thought, before Lyntael ended her one-sided "confession" of sorts, and left her to respond. She turned up to look at the large underside of the arches, and listened to the rain, while she reasoned about what to say, and in the end, she had one frame of reference.

"It's not like it's such a silly hope," murmured Eternalis. "I remember Aurora when she first started out being my support. The Support Program container gave her a bit of a weak start, and she would pretty much fall to a few stiff gusts of wind, but... she never seemed to be burdened by it. Maybe it was a result of her not having any of her earlier memories, but she seemed to try her hardest every day she went virus busting with me. She tripped her EJO a few times, as far as I recall, and I'd be sad about it afterwards, but she always seemed happy enough to tell me that it wasn't my fault, that she'd be better next time."

She looked back down towards the ground, at the little BugFrags that Sparky had set down at her feet, and picked one up, turning it about slowly between her fingers. "Little by little, she got stronger, but of course she wouldn't grow as fast as I did. Even so, she always kept up that smile--up until her memories of when she was a Navi got restored. She tried pushing me away then. I was pretty surprised at the cold look she first gave me--it was definitely a sharp turn on how she acted. But she still supported me, and still tried just as hard as she did before, so eventually, it never felt like it was me protecting her, but instead me trying to catch up to her new standards, just... just to get her to smile at me again. It's a little funny in retrospect, now that I think about it," she smiled, letting a little giggle escape her lips.

"Then I got myself in trouble, and got myself some kind of infection that turned me into..." she paused, before looking down at her own body. "I'd say a monster, but I already look pretty monster-like, but whatever, I digress. In just a short time, it got bad enough that I'd pretty much given up on myself. Then... she volunteered to help out, and she had to fight me while I was infected, in order to remove it. The infection had given me a monstrous boost that it would normally be unthinkable for her to consider fighting me in the first place, but... she did. She absolutely did, and she went through hell. Hell that I put her through... but in the end, I got to see her smile again."

When she looked back up from the floor, she looked out towards the outskirts of the temple once again, at the pouring rain tearing through the clear skies, with a wistful smile, as her own body's color gradually turned back into its previous yellow color in the Soul Cross. She then quickly broke out of her lull, and turned back towards Lyntael. "Sorry, I kind of went on my own bit there," she apologized with a small grin. "In any case, I think... er, I don't think you should think of it as a burden. It's just something that you can still work on. Some day you might be able to help him in some way that you never thought of doing before, or it might not even be him--could be someone else you feel is important. You're important to other people, too. It's why you're still here." A warm smile spread across her face, as she reached out to pat the other girl on the head.

Playing with Sparky while she spoke helped, at least a little bit. Lyntael focused on pushing the uncomfortable memories away again and calming her tension while she looked to Eternalis for the other woman's reaction. The concern on her face was comforting, even though it left her thinking that sharing the story hadn't really done the job she'd meant it do. At any rate, it didn't seem like she still thought that she was prying too much, so that was good. She tried a nervous grin at the end of her story, and a small shrug of her shoulders, before Eternalis began to respond in kind.

For her own part, Lyntael listened, looking down at her stretched out legs in front of her and her hands; that Aurora had once been as fragile in combat as she herself felt came as a surprise to her, and she found her admiration of her friend growing; there was a similarity, of course, but where she was struggling and barely making any headway, it sounded like Aurora had been quick to adapt to her situation.

When she glanced back towards Eternais, it was with a more steady, though somewhat wistful smile. Most of the talk about support program limitations and shell containers went over her head — in truth she was still struggling to grapple with the idea that Aurora was supposedly more akin to Sparky than Eternalis in her program construction; the thought train just didn't compute to her, not in any way that made sense... but she smiled anyway.

"I guess, I'm glad that getting... ah, getting knocked out, like that... won't really be too big a deal for her. I'm still very scared about that kind of thing ever happening to me. It hasn't before, but, it frightens me to think of." She shrugged uncomfortable. Something about mentioning that she'd never been subject to an EJO before felt vaguely like admitting her virginity to another navi, in a strange sort of way, and though it didn't make her quite as uncomfortable about talking about something like that might, she was still relieved that she was saying it to someone she trusted, rather than another random navigator.

The story took a twist though and Lyntael's features fluctuated into a mirror of the same concern and worry she'd seen before. that Aurora had spent such a long time with no memory of who she was, and had had to build a whole new identity for herself from scratch made her heart lurch. She would never have guessed that from the sensible, yet still upbeat woman she knew, and the idea of losing everything like that was deeply unsettling to her. She could only imagine the conflict and trauma having the older memories resurface must have caused as well, after she'd spent so much time and effort redefining herself and building up the new person she wanted to be. What could that even have been like? She looked down at her own hands again, clenching her fingers and flexing them a few times.

She wanted to say something, but the story went on, and Lyntael held her thoughts and listened. It sounded as though Eternalis had been through his own share of suffering and difficulty too, and she could practically hear the weight of guilt he must have felt towards Aurora for putting her through the harrowing events that she was now describing. Lyntael hung her head slightly; she felt quietly sure that Eternalis was holding some details back from her story,either because they were too personal, or possibly to shield Lyntael herself from them, but it sounded bad enough as it was.

The story itself was brief, but it was enough that Lyntael felt a little taken aback; not in the same way she'd felt guilty about her earlier questioning, but mainly because she could understand now that these two had been through far more together than she had guessed, and her gossipy questions and joking ribbing seemed... childish, now. There wasn't really any question about whether these two were 'an item' now, or not... the question was silly and juvenile to even ask, and she could see that as Eternalis spoke about Aurora and what they'd done. She was caught up in these mildly self-recriminating thoughts when Eternalis finished her own tale with something more keenly directed at Lyntael herself, and the younger girl looked up, surprised, and she felt a blush flare in her cheeks.

"Oh! Um, ah... I— I guess," she bit her lip, looking down as she fought back the pink glow and simultaneously enjoying the brief contact that the other woman offered. "Th-thank you. I... I am trying my best, and I know you're right. I know there are others who care, I do. I try to remind myself, every morning and every night, if I can, that there are people who care about me. that Eric loves me, even if I'm far way, you know? I try."

After a few more moments looking out across the temple, she became aware that Eternalis was occasionally looking at something in particular that she must not be seeing, but she let it go for now. Instead she brought up some of her other thoughts from earlier, going back over the story that her friend had been telling. She crossed her legs again as she did, resettling herself and listening to the rainfall.

"I can't imagine what it must have been like for Aurora to have lost her memory... long enough to build up a new sense of herself, only to have the old resurface and... that must have been horrible for her to deal with. Like being two people at once, and not really feeling like you were the 'real' one on either side... but not wanting to lose yourself or fade away either. I had no idea." She swallowed and rubbed at her arms, shuddering.

"I... there are a lot of memories I wish I didn't have any more. Things I wish hadn't happened, or, at least, that I could forget happened. That navi, and... and what he did. I'm not sure I'll ever really be able to get rid of that, and I wonder, sometimes, if I forgot completely, if I'd stop feeling it in my skin, but then I think about losing all the rest of my memories as well, and... I don't know what would be worse. If none of that was there, what sort of person would I be now instead, I wonder? I still have nightmares about it, my body all beaten up and broken, on that cold table... not being able to move myself, the way he cut off all my clothes piece by piece and gloated about it and... and... and..." Her fingers were circling her emblem again with one hand and the other trembled slightly against her opposite arm, unnoticed as she mused; her eyes had gone distant for a few moments, not really seeing the temple or its surrounds, and Lyntael felt herself spiralling back into the traumatic memory again. With a start, she wrenched herself out of it, flinching visibly and drawing a longer, deeper breath that only served to highlight how short and panicked her breathing had become. She stopped talking, closing her lips and teeth with a clenched click. That was past. She focused as hard as she could on the sound of the rain, the patterns that the small fragments of data made around her feet, the arches of the temple. Sparky, looking up at her, and Eternalis next to her. She took a longer breath while her heart rattled in her chest.

"Sorry." She mumbled after a moment. "I'd like to get to a point where I can at least think about it, without falling into that... I'm sorry. I was trying to say, um... I was meaning to say: Even with the bad memories, there are so many nice ones I have as well, that I think it must have been very difficult for Aurora to get through losing everything like that, and I wouldn't want to go through it myself. I think she's an amazing woman, and I admire her a lot, and you as well, you know?" Embarrassed, she didn't manage to look up at Eternalis directly. How had she let that happen? Was she really so damaged that she couldn't even talk around the bad moments without falling headlong into horrific recollections of them? She needed to be stronger than that. She shook her head and swallowed again.

"I'm really sorry. That was too much information, I didn't mean to. We should, um... we should probably get moving again, maybe?" She glanced out nervously at the rain, which was showing no interest in letting up, but stood anyway, trying to shake off the moment. She'd read other people using the term over-sharing, before, but if anything took the definition of it, she now felt very strongly like she had. She took a step or two away, and a few more deep breaths as she did, then looked back around to see if she'd caused any upset or offence for her companion.

Eternalis could see that the girl was lapsing into some awful memory, as she had done before like in their first "meet-up" through the BBS event, though this time she was putting out a few more fragmented details. Sparky seemed to be concerned about her, at the very least, propping himself up at her feet and giving her a few cheer-up licks. As far as the pup was concerned, it seemed to have worked, as she quickly snapped out of it. The little bit of reminiscence ended with a token of admiration for Eternalis, who responded with a nervous laugh. "Ahahaha, I don't think I've done anything particularly admirable. I've just tried to be the best of myself, that's all; Aurora deserves more of that praise than I do, I'm sure," she said. She reached over to Sparky, and beckoned the little SP towards her, which he obliged quite happily as he bounded over to her feet. Putting the gleaming book to her side between her and Lyntael, Eternalis then picked the pup up, and idly played with him in her lap.

"From what it sounds like, it must have been pretty tough with nobody to tell it to--and it's already hard to forget things we want to forget. Maybe when you get back, you can write them down somewhere, something like a diary. Even though we can retrieve memories easily, it still feels different to put them down into writing somehow. It might help you talk about it more easily at some point," said Eternalis. At that point, she turned towards the rain outside, and sure enough, the barrier could still faintly be seen beyond the veil of rain. She activated the text window in her periphery quickly and sent a message through it.

"Any luck?"

...

It took a few seconds of waiting before a reply came back. "Sorry for the late reply, I was too focused on the other screen. Sadly, doesn't look like I can find anything about where you guys are, at least not within any of the public location netmaps. Sorry I can't be of much help. :("

"That's unfortunate... I guess we don't have a choice except to head in."

"Yeah. Be careful. I'll try to ask around in some boards, but that'll take time. Keep close to each other."

"Got it," said Eternalis, before the text window went dormant once more, and she saw Lyntael stand up, looking out at the rain. She hadn't told the girl about the barrier preventing them from leaving--but she doubted that she was very subtle about looking at it for the past few minutes. Bracing herself, she picked up Sparky in her arms and stood back up. "It's fine, we've both gone through enough, in our own ways," she said with an emphatic smile, as she turned towards the other direction--the cut off half of the temple. "There doesn't seem to be anything dangerous around here, or at least I think there would have been something already once we've waited this long. You wanted to see what was through that path earlier, right? A walk to calm our nerves for a little bit," she said, clearly indicating towards the darkened path.

Still shaking herself off and attempting to move on from her lapse, Lyntael was infinitely grateful that Eternalis didn't latch onto her stumbling or make a big deal of it. She thanked her silently for it; an embarrassed smile and a quick ducking of er head would have to do for tangible gratitude. As it was, she nodded again as they drifted to look down the mysterious pathway again.

"I... I'm not sure, really. I think I would have liked to have someone to talk to about it, I think, but at the same time..." She shook her head, looking down again. "I didn't want to worry Eric, and I don't think I could have really told anyone else. Not and feel safe about it, at least..." The thought about writing about it made her think for a while, though, and she shrugged, rubbing at her arms and shoulders again. Maybe something like that could help. She'd read other people talking abut how getting things like this out into some other form of expression helped them cope, so... maybe she could try something.

The small thought followed after her as Eternalis moved her attention away from going back out into the rain, and back towards the strange path that led further into the unknown. In the back of her mind, she wondered if whatever it was that Eternalis had been glancing at was part of the reason for her sudden change of mind, but on the whole she concluded that if it was, then the other woman wasn't saying anything for a reason. What it came down to was trust, really, and she trusted Eternalis. If she was not wanting them to leave the temple area just yet, and chance exploring the anomaly that stretched out ahead of them, then she trusted that it was the safer course of action, and she nodded to the suggestion.

"Maybe whatever memories the book wants to show us will be much nicer ones than some of our own, right?" She moved up alongside the other woman, doing her best to brighten the general atmosphere of their small party, and made to follow her companion along the twisting, water-formed path. Once again, just to be careful, she tested it delicately with a foot before stepping all the way onto its surface.

((Listen to this/area theme))

Left behind, the book rose from its spot and darted rather quickly through the air towards them, only to stop and hover a small distance behind the two navis, keeping pace as they moved.

As Lyntael and Eternalis walked quite literally off the edge of the network, the watery path they were stood upon splished and splashed beneath their steps. It was quite firmly solid, like any other weird terrain change the two might have been used to, but unlike the rest of the net this area had been... sculpted, or purposefully made. It was not made of the Net's interchangeable panels, and it was likely that even if they had cause to use them, terrain changes would not work out here.

Out on the blue-lit, watery pathway, Lyntael and Eternalis found that the rain was still present; it struck the path around them, it cascaded down into the darkness of the abyss below, but it did not strike them. In fact, an entire small circle around them was clear of rain, centered on the book as though the rain itself was afraid to strike it. The rain made for a pleasant ambiance, visible in the lamplight despite the blackness of the void that surrounded them, and it remained so as the net 'sky' began to brighten again, the dark blue raindrops looking striking against the muggy gray-blue horizon. The path seemed to go on forever...

...but of course, that was not the case.

Soon the navis came to a graveyard floating out in the vast abyss; a large, wrought-iron gate sat at the entrance, already open. The same eerie blue light that covered the rest of the area covered the graveyard ahead. The paths around the graves were made of water, just the same as the path they'd walked in on, or perhaps it was tears? It's a fairly large graveyard, with paths leading off to the NORTH, WEST, and EAST. We'll call the direction the duo entered from the SOUTH.

Among the thirty or so graves in this front-most area, three of them seem to have glowing script on their headstones.