Oblitus Magia: Verse 1 - Fateful Encounter in the City of Fools

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"It sounds to me," Matthias spoke up, "that it was an accident. You had no idea that Mercer was planning on blowing up the bridge. In truth, I think there is enough guilt to be spread all around."

He then looked at Mercer, "If you had contacted me ahead of time, there is a good chance that I could have retreived Mulvirc from the prison without the use of explosives or gunfire."

Xia scoffed. "How, exactly? You were in a cell like the rest of us. And, unless my memory has lapsed, you didn't do jack-**** to help with those guards that were trying to blow our brains out. Besides leave. With Mulvric still in the prison hall with the rest of us."

.. : Levin turns to her before farmer duty.: “ No, not exactly. She was not maiden that needed rescue. I perceived them as the enemy so I attacked out of ignorance. The idiotic white knight thing means a man thinks a woman cannot save herself? Please, there are strong women. Strength is not a gender thing. Besides I got other matters I am dealing with, **** I doubt you care about.

Xia rolled her eyes. "Yes, I am well aware that strong women exist. I am one of them, after all," she replied, completely dead-pan. She was afraid this one would need a chaperone whenever they got around to running errands for En. The last thing they needed was him attacking someone prematurely "out of ignorance".

The emo boy left, unfortunately just as the Dragon said,

Arx witnessed this... response, impassively.

When it was all said and done, Levin departing to seemingly pity himself alone in a field however; the Dragon flicked her tail and mused aloud. "For someone seemingly wracked with grief; he wields his dead child like shield. Less a legitimate source of grief, and more to deflect the criticism of his peers." Another tail flick, and Arx smirked. "A scapegoat."

The Dragon chuckled at the realization, a trail of smoke rising up from the corner of her mouth, "and he has the audacity to call me what he has~"

She would have wanted to hear how he would respond to that. "Dead child as a shield, huh?" This was the first time she had heard any mention of anyone having dead kids, but she missed quiet a bit of conversation. "All his talk of atoning for since by working and crying is going to grate on my nerves," she muttered. It was already and it hadn't even been a day yet.

[MrSandman]

Despite the thoughts of some of the others, Sigourney did not try to run back to the urban center, but instead, she remained within the mountainous villages that lined the headquarter's rocky pedestals. The choice of freedom was often crippled by the indecision of those who had never had true freedom. The girl would eventually be found seated upon a large boulder, watching the villagers as they went about their lives. Although different in surroundings, there was a familiar comfort in people-watching, one that eased her mind if only for a few, brief moments.

"Oi....Shorty." Something hit the ground next to Sig, a packaged sandwich. "Before you start.....that ain't a bribe, or bait to lure you back. Hope you like Chicken by the way..." Ange stepped quietly up at the base of the rocks, looking out at the people going out their usual labour.

"......So.......still lingering around." Ange sat herself down. ".......Listen....I may have been **** are picking my words well, but you gotta admit for someone telling me to dump my shitty assumptions you've been running on a big one for awhile now....." Ange laid herself back, looking straight up into the night sky. "Where did you get the idea you were just a bonus......idiot......the moment we found out there were people held in detention, it didn't matter what we originally came their for. You were never a bonus prize to being with......or an experiment.....not to us anyways."

[MrSandman]

Her eyes opened. Not becaue Mulvric said something so profound that it pierced her meditative state and captured her attention like a snare, but because this moron started screaming at the top of his lungs for no reason whatsoever.

She sighed heavily. "Alright, I'll bite. What's Mundus?"

"I'm not sure you wanna ask tha..." Mercer attempted to interject before being shushed by both Mulvric and En at the same time.

"Papa wants to explain something....and his stories are always the best!" En proclaimed proudly.

".....more then just stories.....I'm a researcher first you know...." Mulvric began. "...but there are truths in oral stories too. There have always been small tribes of nomadic wild men who lived in the ruined world, one of my paths of study regarding the ruin led me into contact with them from time to time.....and in turn, I began to notice certain qualities among the wild people. To understand better....you must understand the infectious ways of the ruin." Mulvric paused a moment to make sure he had everyones attentiion.

"The Ruin is very similar to an infection....it spreads through inanimate material like water, ground, air from a central point of infection. There is little to not resistance among most known materials in preventing this spread. Next it infects smaller life....mice can usually last several seconds, cats and dogs up to 20 seconds, larger animals up to half a minute, and humans up to a minute or so."

".....so you could imagine my surprise, when I learned that the wildmen could last upwards of 20-30 minutes under direct exposure......specific combat witches are also known to be able to withstand the ruin for longer then normal. This led to a question......what was the common factor between two unrelated groups that could explain how they had even a modicum of resistance? The Administratum witch program is classified to the point I'd sooner reach the bottom of the Void trench then find an answer there. But the wildmen.......they I could find, and learn from......."

"And that knowledge led me to what they refer to as "Mundus".......supposedly it is a term from a dead language, pre-ruin. To the wild ones, Mundus is the unification of Spirit, Mind and Body. The Soul....but not quite. An eternal fragment that makes up ones being. They believe it was the strength of this inner soul that allows them to withstand the ruin for so long....."

"It could be anything though.....we don't have a clue this is even a real thing." Mercer added.

".....true......but there is one more thing." Mulvric added. ".....when I questioned them on how they strengthen this Mundus.....they gave me a fairly simple answer." Mulvric nodded. ".......diet......the wildmen consume mascots for food, among many other things in the wild. It got me thinking.....of what happens to the magical beasts and mascots that the administratum take into custody."

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

Arx grinned after hearing what Mulvric had to say. "Sounds familiar, that diet."

[Yun Lao]

"Oi....Shorty." Something hit the ground next to Sig, a packaged sandwich. "Before you start.....that ain't a bribe, or bait to lure you back. Hope you like Chicken by the way..." Ange stepped quietly up at the base of the rocks, looking out at the people going out their usual labour.

"......So.......still lingering around." Ange sat herself down. ".......Listen....I may have been **** are picking my words well, but you gotta admit for someone telling me to dump my shitty assumptions you've been running on a big one for awhile now....." Ange laid herself back, looking straight up into the night sky. "Where did you get the idea you were just a bonus......idiot......the moment we found out there were people held in detention, it didn't matter what we originally came their for. You were never a bonus prize to being with......or an experiment.....not to us anyways."

Sigourney was quiet, almost to the point where Ange might have suspected that her words had been ignored. After some time, a soft sigh could be heard, "Your men mentioned that they were looking for one man in particular when they came across our cell back in the terminal. Lucifer, I think his name is. "

Closing her diary, although much more gently than the last time she had in the other's presence, the girl continued, "Regardless of how the assumption was formed, I clung to it and let it boil over because I had no one else to blame in the confusion. I don't believe I can trust anyone at the moment, but I... yeah, I lashed out too harshly at you earlier. I do not envy your position; having to wrangle so many who have lost their homes and loves ones... and one who is a dragon? I need to look more into that..." Preparing to open her notebook again, she made a frustrated huff as she realized she was trailing off. Standing atop the boulder, her eyes finally met Ange's.

"I am not going to ask for your forgiveness, nor do I expect your opinions of me to change. What I will do is... compromise. I'm not going to stand at attention and salute like a good little soldier, but I will assist in what way I can to prevent others from experiencing what I've gone through. That, and your group is the only possible way I can find out who deserves my vengeance."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"I'm not sure you wanna ask tha..." Mercer attempted to interject before being shushed by both Mulvric and En at the same time.

"Papa wants to explain something....and his stories are always the best!" En proclaimed proudly.

".....more then just stories.....I'm a researcher first you know...." Mulvric began. "...but there are truths in oral stories too. There have always been small tribes of nomadic wild men who lived in the ruined world, one of my paths of study regarding the ruin led me into contact with them from time to time.....and in turn, I began to notice certain qualities among the wild people. To understand better....you must understand the infectious ways of the ruin." Mulvric paused a moment to make sure he had everyones attentiion.

"The Ruin is very similar to an infection....it spreads through inanimate material like water, ground, air from a central point of infection. There is little to not resistance among most known materials in preventing this spread. Next it infects smaller life....mice can usually last several seconds, cats and dogs up to 20 seconds, larger animals up to half a minute, and humans up to a minute or so."

".....so you could imagine my surprise, when I learned that the wildmen could last upwards of 20-30 minutes under direct exposure......specific combat witches are also known to be able to withstand the ruin for longer then normal. This led to a question......what was the common factor between two unrelated groups that could explain how they had even a modicum of resistance? The Administratum witch program is classified to the point I'd sooner reach the bottom of the Void trench then find an answer there. But the wildmen.......they I could find, and learn from......."

"And that knowledge led me to what they refer to as "Mundus".......supposedly it is a term from a dead language, pre-ruin. To the wild ones, Mundus is the unification of Spirit, Mind and Body. The Soul....but not quite. An eternal fragment that makes up ones being. They believe it was the strength of this inner soul that allows them to withstand the ruin for so long....."

"It could be anything though.....we don't have a clue this is even a real thing." Mercer added.

".....true......but there is one more thing." Mulvric added. ".....when I questioned them on how they strengthen this Mundus.....they gave me a fairly simple answer." Mulvric nodded. ".......diet......the wildmen consume mascots for food, among many other things in the wild. It got me thinking.....of what happens to the magical beasts and mascots that the administratum take into custody."

Mulvric spoke and Xia listened. Most creatures could last a minute at the very most while exposed to Ruin without protection. The smaller the creature, the quicker it died. That made sense, especially when the Ruin being like an infection with a central point that spread outward was taken into consideration. Yet, these wild men who lived in the ruined world could survive up to half an hour exposed to Ruin without protection. Certain Witches apparently could as well.

The one thing that linked those Witches to the wild men?

Mundus.

The combination of the three facets of man - mind, body, and spirit.

When Xia heard that, her eyes narrowed.

Xia sat on the floor with her eyes closed while Chan Li slowly walked around her. Her mind was on the cusp of drifting away into serene emptiness, but there was something still tethering her to the physical, thus depriving her enlightenment through the spiritual. She didn't know what it was, but it was annoying and wasting her time.

She gave up and sighed heavily. "Why do I keep having to meditate? It's dumb."

"Because it creates harmony," he answered. He sat down across from her. She wished he hadn't. "The mind is sharp. The body is strong. The spirit is unyielding. Alone, the three facets of a man can be used for great power. Yet, when combined into one, a man can be unstoppable. Harmony of mind, body, and spirit is where true strength comes from."

Li was referring to a calm mind being the key to a unified body and spirit. Calm Mind, Centered Body was about unifying the empowering the body with the spirit by calming the mind. All three were necessary to achieve empowerment. It was different, but the facets were all the same.

Mind. Body. Spirit.

Unified together to create the Soul? No, it was similar to the Soul, but not quite.

She understood the core concepts well enough to know that Mulvric wasn't talking out of his ass.

"My master taught me a similar concept. Calm Mind, Centered Being; empowering the Body with the Spirit by calming the Mind. It's different, but the concept is familiar. Similar enough that I know you aren't talking out of your ass."

The only question she had was how to unlock this Mundus. She had been meditating for years and hadn't. Unless she had and didn't know it. "So, how do we unlock it? Eat the Roach over there?"

[The Dog]

Over hearing everything. He lets out a huge sigh and speaks up. “ It was not Angels fault for the bridge. It was mine. When I saw her ( Kinu that point to) being attacked by your guys, I attacked Mercer. He dropped the switch. Causing the boom. Yes, I know I hurt your reputation and got blood on my hands. “

Then pauses.

“ I know how to work a garden. Grandpa grew food.” Working off the guilt, goes off to leave, gathering spuds and such. As he just well, gets hit by reminders of his mistakes.

Selma scowled, clenching and unclenching her hands as anger filled her at not only him, but also Mercer and his group.

He had caused the detonation of the explosives that brought down the bridge, yes, but he was not the sole perpetrator of the bridge's destruction and death of those innocents. He wasn't the one who set those explosives in place. He wasn't the one carrying the detonator that caused those placed explosives to go off.

He was one of the perpetrators, but the guilt did not rest on his shoulders alone. Part of the blame still rested on Mercer's group.

[Tami]

"I was gonna blow it when nobody was left on it.....but that didn't exactly go right." Mercer fumed.



Mulvric chuckled. ".....doubtful.....I appreciate the thought but there wasn't much time for that....besides, weren't you in the same cell block as me?"

"Who do you think opened the cellblock doors to allow everyone there to escape? Sometimes the best way to find and retrieve someone or something is from the inside."

"The only problem might have been the guards, and it seems they were taken care of by the dragon and the warrior. If this had been a paid assignment, I might have had to split my fee with them." he then smiled.

"The call was yours, of course." Matthias shrugged, "And admittedly I haven't had to break someone out of prison before, until now. Still, it's not unlike other jobs I've taken in the past."

[Tami]

"I'm not sure you wanna ask tha..." Mercer attempted to interject before being shushed by both Mulvric and En at the same time.

"Papa wants to explain something....and his stories are always the best!" En proclaimed proudly.

".....more then just stories.....I'm a researcher first you know...." Mulvric began. "...but there are truths in oral stories too. There have always been small tribes of nomadic wild men who lived in the ruined world, one of my paths of study regarding the ruin led me into contact with them from time to time.....and in turn, I began to notice certain qualities among the wild people. To understand better....you must understand the infectious ways of the ruin." Mulvric paused a moment to make sure he had everyones attentiion.

"The Ruin is very similar to an infection....it spreads through inanimate material like water, ground, air from a central point of infection. There is little to not resistance among most known materials in preventing this spread. Next it infects smaller life....mice can usually last several seconds, cats and dogs up to 20 seconds, larger animals up to half a minute, and humans up to a minute or so."

".....so you could imagine my surprise, when I learned that the wildmen could last upwards of 20-30 minutes under direct exposure......specific combat witches are also known to be able to withstand the ruin for longer then normal. This led to a question......what was the common factor between two unrelated groups that could explain how they had even a modicum of resistance? The Administratum witch program is classified to the point I'd sooner reach the bottom of the Void trench then find an answer there. But the wildmen.......they I could find, and learn from......."

"And that knowledge led me to what they refer to as "Mundus".......supposedly it is a term from a dead language, pre-ruin. To the wild ones, Mundus is the unification of Spirit, Mind and Body. The Soul....but not quite. An eternal fragment that makes up ones being. They believe it was the strength of this inner soul that allows them to withstand the ruin for so long....."

"It could be anything though.....we don't have a clue this is even a real thing." Mercer added.

".....true......but there is one more thing." Mulvric added. ".....when I questioned them on how they strengthen this Mundus.....they gave me a fairly simple answer." Mulvric nodded. ".......diet......the wildmen consume mascots for food, among many other things in the wild. It got me thinking.....of what happens to the magical beasts and mascots that the administratum take into custody."

His face twisted slightly, "That does not sound very appetizing. As much time as I spent in the wild, I never considered eating anything from there except the occasional wild plants that I knew weren't poisonous."

"As for the natives, I was warned at an early age to avoid them whenever possible. Not that I've never seen one from a distance before." Matthias gave Mulvric a questioning look, "I had heard many stories about them, about how dangerous they were. Were these stories fiction? It does surprise me that you were able to spend as much time with them as you did."

Xia scoffed. "How, exactly? You were in a cell like the rest of us. And, unless my memory has lapsed, you didn't do jack-**** to help with those guards that were trying to blow our brains out. Besides leave. With Mulvric still in the prison hall with the rest of us."

"As I said, by the time I escaped from my own cell and activated the mechanism to open all the other cell doors, you and Arx were already tearing apart the guards. There was no need for me to step in, only to wait until you were done. It was Lucifer who informed me of what was going on above and who they were after, so all I needed to do was make sure that Mulvric was free, safe, and able to escape on his own. This I was able to do from a distance. If he had not been, I would have taken additional measures."

[Noldere]

The Ruin was pervasive, and the Witches and their handlers as insane as they were powerful, but for all the money Lucifer currently didn't have access to an errant A.I. would be his bet for the most dangerous thing to be stuck in a room with...

...and yet, here he was- in a room with an A.I. presumably designed originally to run this ancient aircraft carrier currently presenting itself as, of all things, a pixie. An A.I. that, despite at times still showing aspects of her origins, was truly acting as a daughter would.

It was madness- her, this situation, everything.

Though he was interested in, well, a lot of things aboard this vessel - most of all the casually displayed complex interplay and manipulation of light and sound that made what they were seeing, hearing, and feeling even possible- Lucifer was all but certain that staying here any longer than necessary to attempt the one thing currently asked of him would be a fatal mistake.

And so for a while, he observed Enterprise and her father in silence.

"I'm not sure you wanna ask tha..." Mercer attempted to interject before being shushed by both Mulvric and En at the same time.

"Papa wants to explain something....and his stories are always the best!" En proclaimed proudly.

".....more then just stories.....I'm a researcher first you know...." Mulvric began. "...but there are truths in oral stories too. There have always been small tribes of nomadic wild men who lived in the ruined world, one of my paths of study regarding the ruin led me into contact with them from time to time.....and in turn, I began to notice certain qualities among the wild people. To understand better....you must understand the infectious ways of the ruin." Mulvric paused a moment to make sure he had everyones attentiion.

"The Ruin is very similar to an infection....it spreads through inanimate material like water, ground, air from a central point of infection. There is little to not resistance among most known materials in preventing this spread. Next it infects smaller life....mice can usually last several seconds, cats and dogs up to 20 seconds, larger animals up to half a minute, and humans up to a minute or so."

".....so you could imagine my surprise, when I learned that the wildmen could last upwards of 20-30 minutes under direct exposure......specific combat witches are also known to be able to withstand the ruin for longer then normal. This led to a question......what was the common factor between two unrelated groups that could explain how they had even a modicum of resistance? The Administratum witch program is classified to the point I'd sooner reach the bottom of the Void trench then find an answer there. But the wildmen.......they I could find, and learn from......."

"And that knowledge led me to what they refer to as "Mundus".......supposedly it is a term from a dead language, pre-ruin. To the wild ones, Mundus is the unification of Spirit, Mind and Body. The Soul....but not quite. An eternal fragment that makes up ones being. They believe it was the strength of this inner soul that allows them to withstand the ruin for so long....."

"It could be anything though.....we don't have a clue this is even a real thing." Mercer added.

".....true......but there is one more thing." Mulvric added. ".....when I questioned them on how they strengthen this Mundus.....they gave me a fairly simple answer." Mulvric nodded. ".......diet......the wildmen consume mascots for food, among many other things in the wild. It got me thinking.....of what happens to the magical beasts and mascots that the administratum take into custody."

"Have you been fortunate enough to be able to test either the wildmen or their food for why that is?" Lucifer asked, curious of a few things- particularly what materials were able to resist the spread of the Ruin- but most interested at the moment in the last bit. "In particular, whether it's the presence of something within them or the concentration of something within them that provides the enhanced resistance."

[Sub-Zero MKA]

"As I said, by the time I escaped from my own cell and activated the mechanism to open all the other cell doors, you and Arx were already tearing apart the guards. There was no need for me to step in, only to wait until you were done. It was Lucifer who informed me of what was going on above and who they were after, so all I needed to do was make sure that Mulvric was free, safe, and able to escape on his own. This I was able to do from a distance. If he had not been, I would have taken additional measures."

This man was incredibly confident. Xia hadn't seen anything from him that led her to believe he was doing more than just talking out of his ass. Maybe, for his sake, he would show her something that would change her mind.

She shrugged. "If you say so."

[grampagen]

"I'm not sure you wanna ask tha..." Mercer attempted to interject before being shushed by both Mulvric and En at the same time.

"Papa wants to explain something....and his stories are always the best!" En proclaimed proudly.

".....more then just stories.....I'm a researcher first you know...." Mulvric began. "...but there are truths in oral stories too. There have always been small tribes of nomadic wild men who lived in the ruined world, one of my paths of study regarding the ruin led me into contact with them from time to time.....and in turn, I began to notice certain qualities among the wild people. To understand better....you must understand the infectious ways of the ruin." Mulvric paused a moment to make sure he had everyones attentiion.

As the captain of this motley Enterprise began to speak, the verbal barbs bandying about the room seemed to diminish almost immediately.

And at the mention of the Wild Men, Kinu's attention shift from Arxiros, focused fully on Mulvric. Any semblance of her previous mocking jollity fell from her face.

Figures they'd be out here too. But I didn't expect them to be this close to the walls.

"The Ruin is very similar to an infection....it spreads through inanimate material like water, ground, air from a central point of infection. There is little to not resistance among most known materials in preventing this spread. Next it infects smaller life....mice can usually last several seconds, cats and dogs up to 20 seconds, larger animals up to half a minute, and humans up to a minute or so."

".....so you could imagine my surprise, when I learned that the wildmen could last upwards of 20-30 minutes under direct exposure......specific combat witches are also known to be able to withstand the ruin for longer then normal. This led to a question......what was the common factor between two unrelated groups that could explain how they had even a modicum of resistance? The Administratum witch program is classified to the point I'd sooner reach the bottom of the Void trench then find an answer there. But the wildmen.......they I could find, and learn from......."

"And that knowledge led me to what they refer to as "Mundus".......supposedly it is a term from a dead language, pre-ruin. To the wild ones, Mundus is the unification of Spirit, Mind and Body. The Soul....but not quite. An eternal fragment that makes up ones being. They believe it was the strength of this inner soul that allows them to withstand the ruin for so long....."

"It could be anything though.....we don't have a clue this is even a real thing." Mercer added.

".....true......but there is one more thing." Mulvric added. ".....when I questioned them on how they strengthen this Mundus.....they gave me a fairly simple answer." Mulvric nodded. ".......diet......the wildmen consume mascots for food, among many other things in the wild. It got me thinking.....of what happens to the magical beasts and mascots that the administratum take into custody."

It didn't take too long to connect the dots. Even with magic, nothing came for free. How much of this had been fodder for the Witch organization, however?

"...looks like Omu avoided a turn for the worst." Wherever the Sprawling Centipede was. How does he disappear so quickly?

Yet something in Mulvric's speech caught her interest.

"Most of 'em are gibbering fools, driven nuts by what's out here," she said. "Until they band together, then they start getting some crazier ideas."

Eating a mascot was one of them, but trying to steal a kill..."fuh fuh fuh...."

She brushed a hand against the sleeve of her patchwork coat. Each piece of its many hues layered and stitched. Mementos from past encounters.

"...you'd know all about it, wouldn't you good EN boys and girls? It's why you said you were out here in the first place," she said. "You also say you've questioned the Wildmen, right Mulvric?"

Plucking her finger from the surface of scratched leather over her arm, Kinu's dark eyes narrowed at the researched.

"Now I got a question for you. How deep are we standing in their territory, right now?"

[The Dog]

"I'm not sure you wanna ask tha..." Mercer attempted to interject before being shushed by both Mulvric and En at the same time.

"Papa wants to explain something....and his stories are always the best!" En proclaimed proudly.

".....more then just stories.....I'm a researcher first you know...." Mulvric began. "...but there are truths in oral stories too. There have always been small tribes of nomadic wild men who lived in the ruined world, one of my paths of study regarding the ruin led me into contact with them from time to time.....and in turn, I began to notice certain qualities among the wild people. To understand better....you must understand the infectious ways of the ruin." Mulvric paused a moment to make sure he had everyones attentiion.

"The Ruin is very similar to an infection....it spreads through inanimate material like water, ground, air from a central point of infection. There is little to not resistance among most known materials in preventing this spread. Next it infects smaller life....mice can usually last several seconds, cats and dogs up to 20 seconds, larger animals up to half a minute, and humans up to a minute or so."

".....so you could imagine my surprise, when I learned that the wildmen could last upwards of 20-30 minutes under direct exposure......specific combat witches are also known to be able to withstand the ruin for longer then normal. This led to a question......what was the common factor between two unrelated groups that could explain how they had even a modicum of resistance? The Administratum witch program is classified to the point I'd sooner reach the bottom of the Void trench then find an answer there. But the wildmen.......they I could find, and learn from......."

"And that knowledge led me to what they refer to as "Mundus".......supposedly it is a term from a dead language, pre-ruin. To the wild ones, Mundus is the unification of Spirit, Mind and Body. The Soul....but not quite. An eternal fragment that makes up ones being. They believe it was the strength of this inner soul that allows them to withstand the ruin for so long....."

"It could be anything though.....we don't have a clue this is even a real thing." Mercer added.

".....true......but there is one more thing." Mulvric added. ".....when I questioned them on how they strengthen this Mundus.....they gave me a fairly simple answer." Mulvric nodded. ".......diet......the wildmen consume mascots for food, among many other things in the wild. It got me thinking.....of what happens to the magical beasts and mascots that the administratum take into custody."

That snapped Selma out of her building anger at both Mercer and that other guy.

Selma stared at Mulvric in shock as she asked "So what you're telling us is that you believe that, like these wildmen, Witches gain strength by eating magical beasts and mascots like the giant centipede over there? That just raises several different questions. Such as, are those magical beasts and mascots even safely edible? Are they toxic? Or is their flesh capable of being digested if it is consumed by humans? And if its not toxic, does it have any kind of effect on the mental state of a human consuming it?"

She brought a hand up to hold her chin as she thought aloud "... Though that would explain the rather demented personalities seen in Administratum Witches. The properties of the magical beasts and mascots flesh caused their minds to be twisted after they consumed it. But the Administratum considers the trade-off of mental stability for greater ability a worthwhile trade-off."

"And I would ask about the morality of eating things that can have human-level sentience, but the fact that the Administratum uses Witches kind of says how they feel about that already."

[bruceleegreyhulk]

Jacob continues to look around for the ship's doctor. (Hmm, maybe I should have asked EN where the medical bay on this ship is located?) Jacob thought.

[Melon God]

"I'll make an appointment with the doctor then." En nodded.

Morgen weakly raised her hand. "Make that two appointments..."

The young woman sat with her back to the wall, having enough energy to listen to the conversation but maybe not enough to engage with it; it seemed to get rather heated at points, with accusations being thrown left and right between the rebels and the... concerned citizens. Resistance to the resistance. She talked big game to herself earlier, but truth be told, she wasn't exactly sure what her plan going forward would be. It was troubling to have such incomplete information about her own predicament... The skyport footage had brought her down another peg, and now, she was paranoid that the device she'd been entrusted with was some sort of surveillance. Or, even worse -- a bomb. Just the thought crossing her mind made her want to chuck the thing overboard, but the consequence of doing so seemed equally terrifying.

She fidgeted with the device in her pocket unconsciously. Being alone with these thoughts was probably the worst of it all. Surely Alice must have anticipated the possibility that she would reveal her situation to EN -- if she spoke up, would she know? And even if she did, would she ever be seen as anything more than a traitor? It hurt to admit, but being killed as a liability to the group was likely the most sound choice for their operation. She'd seen enough of this little crew to know that nobody would object.

Morgen swallowed.

She looked to Lucifer. Perhaps... No, that was still too risky. She thought it was possible they would sympathize if only they could read her memory to understand her position -- that she tried to help, before her hand was forced -- but she had little faith they'd see it the same way. First, she had to build trust -- trust that wasn't easily broken. Then, maybe, sharing her secret could withstand the brunt of their scrutiny. She just had to hope that it wouldn't be too late by then.

At any rate, the rich girl continued to lend her ear to the conversation. She had some questions of her own, but she decided she'd ask later; they were getting barraged with enough of them already.