Ah, sweet, beautiful mother earth. Or, Remnant. Hallowed be thy name & glorious thy life. Never shall I take thy name in v-

S: Uh, Allen? You gotta get up.

...Sadly, though, the call of duty echoes. Please grant us safe passage.

A: Alright, I'm up.

And, as soon as I got up, I was struck with an extreme sense of cringe from when I somehow decided freezing Azure back in that one fight was a good idea. Like, sure, I could play the tycoon child and pawn it off as a demonstration of copious and borderline vestigial wealth, but... That's gross, man. I ain't no Jeff Bezos. Ugh, god, only real other option is to either say it was an extreme accident, which will make look stupid, since it was a few-holds-barred fight, mistakes would kill, or it was me trying to just be stupidly flashy, which, again, ech. Just need to hope no one questions it, hunters always have excessive degrees of coolness.

A: "So, what direction do we need to go?"

Q: "They said that they wouldn't be able to drop us off near the place, because it's swarming with Grimm, and that it'd take a bit of walking north to get there. Shouldn't take us more than half a day to get it done with, they said. That is, by the time we get back home no more than 12 hours will have passed."

Huh. That, uh, that felt a lot more mature than how he usually talks. Guess he can talk poli-

Q: "And before you bring it up, I am talking formally because this is a mission. It matters if someone doesn't understand what I'm saying."

Valid reasoning too. Simply amazing, Branwen.

A: "So, what? We just do a survey around the area, find out what could be attracting them, and leave? That sounds a bit easy to say it'll take us half the day."

Q: "They also want us to kill some of them."

A: "Yeah, that would explain it."

Alright, time to get ready to spam Power Poke and Blizzaga.

I believe Javelin Rain would be more accurate, sssire.

You're right, you're right. Just gotta hope Atlus doesn't sue us.

A: "So. Uh, does anyone know any good marching songs? Cause I don't know all the lyrics to the appropriate one, and the other one is about a revolution against a robber baron."

That got a few raised eyebrows... But, if you asked me, the fact that Rav,n, of all people. knew one is a bit weirder.

Nevermind. This is such an edgy, grimdark song, of course the edgelord would know about it. Worst part is? I think I'm being stockholmed into liking it.

"...and as the sun falls, so shall their heads; and the blood shall flow like a river with the dead!..."

Seriously, give me like 5 more minutes and I might join along. I may need he-

A: "ohthankgod- Guys, look, it's the ruins! Now, we gotta stealth this, so please stop singing.

R: "Alright..."

Wait, was... Was raven upset? Whatever, not important.

A: "Since I am relatively certain that I can't really be killed, at least by mundane reasons, considering my 'semblance', I will go first. Scout for traps by touching every square inch. Also, Raven, I might just have to ask you the name of the song when we get back."

R: "Uh- oh. Alright then. Uh, good scouting?"

Oh my god- was she blushing? Ugh, god, I feel wrong all of a sudden. Please don't make this mean anything, Murphy.

Oh. Oh poor child. He thinks he isn't gonna have to at least fuck her. He intellectually knows something is gonna have to happen so that Yang doesn't get unexisted from the timeline, but he still thinks he won't be the dad.

Oh yeah, its gonna be a pseudo-harem, you guys are welcome for the sp-

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! O U T!

Oh shit guys gotta run, He's here. This has been murphy_leaks bringing you guys the hottest leaks this side of the macroverse, down the left aisle you will find a complementary never-ending fried chicken bucket.

God damnit, can't even delete this shit. Jackass son-of-a-Demiurge... Ugh, at least he left the beginning of proper propitiation...

Clearing my mind of that sin, I creep into the ruins with all the sneaking prowess of Bluster Kong stealing the crystal coconut... And immediately find myself both admiring and loathing the building.

Place has a pleasing coloration. Nice, smooth and easy-on-the-eyes dark shades, some deep blues & violets, pretty sure there's some ebony even inlaid in the walls just to make it look that grand. And grand it does appear. The walls are built... Rather mind-fuckily. They aren't at a right angle. Somehow, I know that these octagonal walls are at a 135 degree angle each, probably college math classes, and it doesn't just feel like something out of uncanny valley, it feels like the whole damn eldritch gorge because its something you would never see happen in any sane building. But, this is Remnant, where soul-meth is a valid form of fuel & everyone's name is a color reference. It... is actually really cool, I won't lie. Probably has the outside filled in so that it LOOKS like normal from the outside, which would have added to the mind-fuck value if I noticed it. And the whole place itself looks like a lot of effort and love put into it. But... the fact it's all dark & shady, well, shades is kinda weird since you don't see it often.

A: "Alright guys, file in, single file. And don't touch anything, chances are it could sell for fortunes at a pawn shop or museum."

Rather spacious actually. You could probably mistake it for a home, if all the extravagance didn't make it certain it was some kind of place of worship, be it royalty or divinity.

Q: "Fortunes you say?... Summer, no darting off to explore."

S: "Oh come on! It's old, exciting ruins, you're supposed to explore!

R: "Yes. With the team. Have you never seen the errants getting picked off in a horror movie? Now, stay behind the willingly offered up meat shield and appreciate his contributions."

Was that... Was that Raven trying to be supportive?... I feel a disturbance in the force.

A: "Shush. You don't know what could be in here."

After a relatively thorough search-through, and making our gradual way back to the entrance, it seemed like nothing WAS here.

A: "Huh. Guess it was just bad luck that such a beautiful place is surrounded by such ugly faces.

S: " Beautiful is... A bit of an overstatement."

Q: "Like, what the fuck is with these walls first of all? And second, why all these dark colors? You would think an edgelord commissioned this place."

S: "A... bit more insensitive than how I would have put it, but I agree with the sentiment."

Q: "This place feels like a cult hideout. You all know it."

A: "Well, that's 3 out of 4 opinions. Raven?"

Raven was... Staring at the ground for some reason.

A: "Oi Ostrich, mind pulling your head outta the sand and sharing your idea with the class?"

R: "...I can't believe I was so blind."

A: "What."

And when she pulled up the carpet and revealed the trap door, I can't help but say the same about myself. I should really see about getting a new pair of glasses, regardless of whether or not my vision healed.