[Rina]

The scent of fresh tea came to her senses, making Ringo sit up to take the cup. Yeah, a tea break sounds like a good idea, especially with how much she's gone through. From the drink, the aroma is pleasing to take in, feeling as if her stress was being repelled away by the second. Ringo took a sip of it...and it's quite refreshing as it smells! Her face of fear changed to something more relaxed and content.

"Ah~ That's better. Y-Yeah...I think you might be right. The piano ghost was somehow placated when I told them I came back for you. I know I ran away in a panic, but I think you should know that I've been scared of them for a long time."

She took another sip, taking a deep breath to tell Ciel what's up with her fear of her ghosts.

"See, my fear of ghosts came around when I was a kid. On some nights, grandma told me these ghost stories to entertain me. I know she had good intentions and they're just stories, but because of those and my logical way of thinking, I get incredibly scared of them."

[Mari]

Music	Map	Status
	Basement First Floor Second Floor	(Everyone) An eldritch figure is stalking you from the darkness You feel something faintly clawing at your mind.

Rosalyn

Rosalyn enters the bathroom and the sink tries to--...Nah. Thankfully, the bathroom in no way threatens Rosalyn. We wouldn't want to get into any literal toilet humor, now would we? It's a rather old, victorian style bathroom with a couple of cabinets to be searched through, but is otherwise unremarkable. Rosalyn can search through the cabinets to see if she finds anything interesting, or she can leave it be and find a new place to search. Given that there was a secret door in the master bedroom though, it wouldn't be entirely unreasonable to suspect that there was something hidden in the room. ...Maybe she could just blow it up and see if anything revealed itself! Or y'know, maybe that wasn't the best idea ever. Either way, she was free to explore.

---

Ringo

...Ghost stories. Ciel knew nothing of a childhood, for she herself was something of a test tube baby created for the explicit purpose of serving the government. She'd been working to grasp and understand the work of her predecessors since she was very, very young. Thankfully, that experience hadn't robbed her of her humanity and her enhanced cognition allowed her to grasp exactly what Ringo was referring to, even if she'd never experienced anything like it herself.

"

I understand. Almost everyone is afraid of the unknown, and ghosts are one of the most difficult areas of reality to understand because they often stand in defiance of empirical evidence. There's no shame in being afraid of that, especially when those same 'ghosts' try to hurt us. It's a very difficult subject to tackle, and dangerous as well. I believe whatever is trapping ghosts here and forcing them to prey upon the living must be a very... disturbed individual. I'm grateful that some of these spirits still desire freedom.

"

Ciel decided that now was a good time for a heart to heart, attempting to reassure Ringo that she wasn't crazy for feeling the way she did. Although Ciel had a more tame reaction to these things, she silently knew she wasn't a lot better on the inside. Hesitating a moment, however, Ciel made a decision to return the favor by opening up to Ringo about a similar experience. ...As similar as she could get, anyway.

"

When I was little I created a reploid, a type of android based on the designs of Dr. Light. Reploids have 'free will', a sort of 'humanity' that we teach to them through something called a 'suffering circuit'. It has an unfortunate name... But it was supposed to give them the ability to make choices independent from humanity, while also teaching them right from wrong. They were supposed to revolutionize society. ...But I was so young. I didn't understand that with that 'humanity' came the capacity for human cruelty. In my mind, he was like a son to me--silly as that may sound. I was far from ready for that responsibility. And... things went very, very wrong.

"

Ciel decided not to get into the very grim details of what her 'son' had done, as she didn't want to overwhelm Ringo or give her any ideas about this being an easy subject for her. However, she'd covered enough of the important details to give Ringo a vague idea of what had happened.

"

...I never made another robot after that. I've been too afraid to. That 'humanity' is my unknown. My 'ghosts'. Something I unfortunately cannot fully grasp, and so I'm afraid of handling it myself.

"

[Mari]

(( Rina We appear to have lost Starii, unfortunately. Feel free to skip him for the time being. ))

[Rina]

Ringo carefully listened in to Ciel's story, trying to ease herself away from the current situation. As she went on, Ringo's eyes went wide at how starkly different her world is compared to Suzuran. Born in a world where technology is incredibly advanced and commonplace, even the robots were so advanced, they behave like other humans. Free will or not, it's all still an advanced program. Humans are "programmed" in a sense too. They behave and react, and reploids do the same.

But that means they can perform human cruelty...

Human or reploid, that is a very heavy subject to witness. There is a group of people that choose to condone these things, and no one is willing to learn why.

And to consider that someone she treats like a son was exposed to that...

"I...I don't know what to say to that horrible experience. I've had my share of people doing wrong, but... I can see you were fond of your creation, and you had to watch them go down that way..."

[Mari]

Music	Map	Status
	Basement First Floor Second Floor	(Everyone) An eldritch figure is stalking you from the darkness You feel something faintly clawing at your mind.

Ciel would nod thoughtfully. She had no plans on elaborating on what had happened, as there was simply no way to explain that she'd arranged her creation's death that wasn't terrible. It also didn't serve her purposes of trying to relate to Ringo, which made it wholly unnecessary. Luckily, she didn't need to. Ringo seemed to grasp what had happened without being told. Maybe it was the final tone Ciel had used that clued her off, but she seemed to understand that Ciel's creation was no longer with them. ...At least, as far as Ciel knew. Ominous foreshadowing aside, Ciel bowed her head in a brief moment of silence. She was showing respect for all the lives lost as a result of that one mistake. That moment quickly passed, however, and she offered Ringo a subdued smile.

"

That's alright. I'm just glad that I can be here to help you face your fears. Maybe one day my experiences here will give me the courage to face my own. Perhaps not... right now, though. We've still got to find our way out of this place. I believe that spirit said that we would find a 'key' of sorts in the 'forest' just outside. I was feeling a little delirious at the time, however. I may have remembered incorrectly.

"

"

...I want you to know that I meant what I said before. I feel very lucky to have you as a partner.

"

[Rina]

Being the inquisitive one did seem to sharpen her intuition on things. From her tone of voice, she felt really despondent from the experience, and it left her so for gods knows how many years. It's a disheartening feeling that even she'll understand. If she lost someone that close to her,such as Maguro or Risukuma, she'd be devastated. A silence filled the air after she said her piece, then she let Ciel speak. Afterwards, she assured those last words.

"I'm glad I could help out. We're in this together."

So she brought a passing mention of a forest. Wait a second...

"A forest? Then...could it be somewhere deep in the mushroom forest I fled to?"

Ringo turned her attention towards the door she ran through when she was scared out of her witts. Could that ghost be referring to that?

[Mari]

Music (NEW)	Map	Status (NEW)
	Basement First Floor Second Floor	Spores rain from the fungi ceiling like snow.

...Why was it that hearing Ringo say that made her heart race? Why did those words in particular make her feel like she could take on the rest of this house? She'd seldom felt such a such a strong emotion in casual conversation. She smiled brightly at the other in response, turning her attention to the door Ringo was pointing out to her. So Ringo had already found the forest? ...A... A what now?

"

. . . A mushroom forest? ...I've never heard of such a thing before. I suppose that would fit the description, though.

"

Forests in general had only existed in a synthetic way for as long as Ciel had been alive in her world, and they were all normal trees since those forests were grown with the explicit purpose of benefiting humanity. A fungi forest was far more difficult to synthesize because of its dependence upon resources that were already in difficult supply, not to mention she'd never known them to grow big enough to warrant the description of a forest. Moving closer to Ringo and beckoning her onwards, Ciel steps out into the dark fungi forest. Her eyes widen in shock at the sight and she becomes momentarily stunned by the sight. Shining her light into the darkness, Ciel hesitates at the sight of little flakes drifting to the ground. She immediately recognized these as giant spores. She wasn't sure how dangerous they were, but taking steps not to breathe them in might be a good start to dealing with them. She reaches out to stop Ringo and gingerly produces a little clothe facemask from amongst her person, handing a mask to the other before producing another for herself. "Respiratory infections are not a laughing matter. Let's keep an eye and an ear out for any lingering spirits while we're here." Ciel would advise before stepping forward. Oddly enough, the voice from earlier does not greet the girls. Proceeding into the forest, Ciel and Ringo find themselves following a barely intact, winding path. It looked like the forest area hadn't been maintained for a long time.

However, not long into their trip the sound of dragging feet would snap Ciel from her thoughts, causing her to tense and stop. When she turned, the scientist nearly jumped however. Shifting closer to Ringo, Ciel reached to grasp the other's hand. If Ringo also investigated, she'd likely see what had caused Ciel so much fright. Behind them, a sea of glowing orbs hung in the darkness just out of sights. They were arranged in pairs in such a way they looked like eyes. They hovered between four and six feet in the air, inhuman and featureless in the darkness. Ciel quickly moved to shine her light on one of the pairs of orbs, but to her bemusement found that she was merely shining her light on a medium sized giant mushroom. The wrinkly fungi was strange, but certainly not a ghost. She then flicked her flashlight to one of the other pairs of eyes, only to find nothing there as well. All of the eyes had begun to vanish by this point, leaving only a terrified scientist clinging to Ringo's hand for support.

"

Whoa! Ringo, hold on. Did you see that..? I thought--...Is anyone out there?? Please don't stalk us. We only want to release you from this place!

"

As Ciel's gaze flicked back and forth between her friend and where she'd seen the eyes, however, Ringo might notice movement from the shade, specifically the area Ciel had first shown her light on. Ciel hadn't yet noticed it, but something was slowly approaching them. Its inhuman, stalk like body moved sluggishly across the ground. It had no mouth, but the two orb like eyes would soon open again to greet them. What may have once been perceived as strange, branch like protrusions would now become apparent as arms.

The forest lives.

[Rina]

"It's the only forest that comes to my mind. Unless there are others I haven't seen, then that may be our answer."

Forests are few and far back home, but her time at Primp has familiarized herself with what a forest is like, at least. The town folk may sometimes cut down a path and have a natural dirt road for navigation. They're also a natural bounty for fresh fruit, and the homes of all sorts of animal that aren't so commonplace in Suzuran. Once Ringo retraced her way to the mushroom forest, she came to notice that the area is now thick and muddled with spores. It certainly caught her off-guard, since her first trip had no such thing occurring. All that she encountered on the first trip was just some man's voice that was incredibly nihilistic. The spores only made the air is incredibly stifling, prompting Ringo to quickly accept the facemask to filter out the air. There's no telling if these spores are toxic either, so as Ciel said, taking a risk isn't an option. Inhaling it could prove to be fatal, instant or slow! When she looked around, though, the place doesn't seem to be familiar. Is it somewhere different or is it the same? Ringo couldn't quite recall it properly.

"Hmm...The road I followed down doesn't appear to be intact. Or is this a different path?"

Continuing onwards, the echoed sound of a third set of feet dragging on the ground made her nervous...there was still much more to find out about this mushroomy grove, and she couldn't help but let out a tiny yelp when Ciel jumped. What are those orbs!? Are they more ghosts?! She flicked her light to the light orbs, revealing what appears to be a gigantic mushroom. It was all gnarled in places, and it looked all  strange with those branches sticking out of the stem. The eyes only add to its creepiness. And that was it. The rest of the orbs were just an illusion.

"W-W-W-W-W-What is that?!?!"

The light that shone on the mushroom was shaky, the poor girl getting even more shaken up from the fact it's creeping up on them! Ringo turned to Ciel, still feeling the fright shake her to the core.

"C-C-C-C-C-C-C-Ciel what do we do?!"

[Mari]

Music (NEW)	Map	Status (NEW)
	Basement First Floor Second Floor	Spores rain from the fungi ceiling like snow.

Ciel watched the creature carefully as it approached them, lifting one of its arms and seeming to point at them wordlessly. Ciel took a moment to observe the creature's physiology. She had quickly picked up on something important...

"

I'm not sure. But be ready to run if it makes any sudden movement. ...It doesn't have a mouth. What if it's trying to communicate, somehow?

"

Ciel was skeptical of the rather eerie looking creature, but it was moving very sluggishly. Unless it picked up the speed, she was reasonably confident that she could outrun it if she needed to. And she wasn't a great runner, so if she could do it she imagined Ringo could too. What was it doing with that outreaching hand, though? Was it trying to point at something? Ciel briefly averted her eyes, but couldn't quite figure out where the creature was going. Then it occured to her. That finger was aimed right at Ringo's face. More specifically, it was aimemd at her mask. The fungal creature wanted that mask off, and Ciel certainly wasn't going to let it take advantage of her poor friend. It was true that she was wounded, spiritually speaking, and might not survive if she were downed a second time, but that didn't mean she was going to let Ringo get hurt on her behalf. Before the creature could close the remaining foot or two between them, Ciel would slide in and body block the fungal person, stretching her arms out and attempting to encourage Ringo to hide behind her.

"

Stop! (The creature halts) ...You're scaring my friend--

"

Ciel began, only for the creature to hesitantly move in and poke Ciel's face, pinching her mask and breaking it without much effort. The scientist flinched, but it was too late. A thick cloud of spores was launched from the mushroom creature's cap, blasting the both of them. Without her mask, there was little hope of Ciel avoiding breathing the spores in unless Ringo were to cover the other's mouth and nose with something to help filter it out of the air. She wouldn't be able to hold her breath for long, after all. But what did Ringo have that might do the job..? Other than her own mask, which was probably undesirable for rather obvious reasons, perhaps her clothes could perform the job in an emergency..? That of course depended on Ringo considering the possibility, as well as her thinking of a way to make that work in a timely manner.

Oddly enough, the creature makes no move to attack. Perhaps it didn't have the strength, or perhaps getting them to breathe those spores in was its only goal. Either way, it has frozen in place again.

[Rina]

Ringo nodded, slowly creeping behind her out of self defense. Any sudden movements would likely agitate it, so she took caution. The thing was getting closer as the duo watched, but it might be trouble if the thing could actually run. Ringo herself isn't the most athletic person in the world; books are more her thing. She'd likely get caught if she was chased down long enough. The hand tried to reach for the mask, and she could only continue to hide behind her until...

BOOM, SPORES!

"AAH! Ciel! Hang on!"

To make matters worse, it happened when her mask was yanked off, making her panic that she could breathe in the potentially deadly spores that sprayed. Think fast think fast think fast...!

"Here!"

Ringo yanked off her tie, which thankfully was left unharmed. She quickly threw it over her mouth, trying to improvise a mask. It probably won't be much, but something had to be done!

[Mari]

Music (NEW)	Map	Status (NEW)
	Basement First Floor Second Floor	Spores rain from the fungi ceiling like snow.

Ciel is gifted a new makeshift mask! She accepted this gratefully and attempted to calm herself down. This entire situation was weird, but... Okay--...Okay, was she infected? Was she going to get sick? She just needed a moment to make sure it wasn't too late. And as if on cue, Ciel's fears manifested. Oh. That wasn't good. Ciel calmly turned and removed her buster pistol from her hip. directing it down towards the ground and double checking the safety preventing it from firing before gingerly grabbing the barrel and handing it to Ringo handle first. She then said something rather ominous... but didn't leave her words to hang in the air very long because that would be unnecessarily dramatic.

"

...I think it would be a good idea if you held onto this. I'm hearing a voice... in my head. I think it belongs to this mushroom creature. It says it doesn't get many visitors here and wants to know why we're here.

"

By now, the fact that the creature was somewhat non-violent had already become semi-clear, with only its motivations up in the air. Now it seemed that it wasn't even an enemy! Apparently it just needed to use its spores to speak, assuming of course that that wasn't just what it wanted them to think. How could anything survive in a terrible place like this, though? Did it know anything about the keys or the state of the house? Could it lead them to the key hidden in the 'garden'?

[Rina]

Okay, crisis averted...hopefully. The improvised mask may have blocked off the spores, but what of the ones that did get into her system? The consequences are unnerving enough, and please don't make Ringo any more of a nervous wreck... Especially when handing the gun to her. She has the common sense of gun safety, but she has never wielded a gun in her life.

"O-O-Okay..."

She gingerly took the blaster in her hand, unsurprisingly rattling in her palms. She's trying to hold it steady. Trying.

"D-Do you think they can understand human speech? I'm not hearing anything you're hearing, either."

[Mari]

Music	Map
	Basement First Floor Second Floor

Thankfully, Ringo wouldn't be asked to use that gun. Ciel had only given it to the other to protect Ringo in the event that she lost control of her body--an incredibly difficult feat, but possibility none-the-less. Ciel hesitated for a moment, glancing to the spore creature. One got the impression that Ringo's question was being mentally answered even before Ciel returned her gaze to Ringo and nodded towards the other.

"

He says that his spores allow him to communicate with any creature. That's... quite incredible, actually. A biological universal translator that also retroactively teaches the languages it translates--and facilitates telepathy for the disadvantaged. This could revolutionize communication! I'd like to study these later and see if I can reproduce their effects. He... also has no name, and prefers genderless pronouns...

"

...Well, Ciel seemed to be herself at least. Apparently the mushroom creature's race was close to actual mushrooms with regards to being agender and had no need for names. It made a bit of sense when one considered that they communicated exclusively through telepathy, and therefore had no need to identify themselves in a crowd. Apparently the connection it formed was slightly too intimate for any confusion to arise.

"

They're called... Myconid? Can I call you Myce? It would be helpful to us to have a name for you. ...Thank you. Have you heard of a 'key'? We're investigating the source of some paranormal activity in this house and have been separated from our friends. ...Oh, you have? ...I see. ...Yes, thank you.

"

Finally, Ciel turned to give Ringo her full attention again. It should be noted that the name gave the myconid was pronounced the same as the word mice. There was a good chance that Ringo would recognize that it was a play on the word mycellium.

"

Myce says they can lead us to the key in the forest. Apparently they're' stuck here too and would be happy to help. (Ciel leans in a bit closer to whisper to the other.) I think Myce is scared 0f us. They sound really shy.

"

...And so, the girls' newfound friend would begin to lead them through the incredibly creepy forest. Other eyes could be seen watching them, identical to Myce's, but none stepped forward. One got the impression that these creatures might not normally be very confrontational. The path lead to a twisted, gnarled tree-like structure that looked distinctly like its bark was twisted into the shape of a set of screaming eyes and mouth. An oppressive emotional weight falls upon the girls shoulders, hinting at a paranormal presence. Yet, nothing rose to greet them. That tree though. Preeeeetty suspicious. Does one dare to look into its gaping mouth to see what might be hiding within? Or--Well, they could just be patient and let Myce show them why he'd brought them here. Surely the mushroom people couldn't be allied with a bunch of evil, sentient tree overlords. ...Right?

[Rina]

Put it that way, that's actually quite fascinating. The ability to translate speech that easily would be great, especially to those with particularly alien languages. Ciel seems to be looking fine, so that should calm her down a bit. Just a little bit. Who knows what could happen down the road? Ringo is still taking caution.

"Ah, so they lack a biological sex like actual mushrooms. I get it."

As it went on, Ringo listened in on the conversation to understand the situation. Well, half of it. After Ciel responded to what she heard, Ringo did feel a little bit more relaxed, but still wary.

"That's a relief to hear. Do show us the way."

On that note, Ringo followed down the forest path, still feeling unnerved about the watchful 'eyes' staring down at her. The trees began to look more gnarled the further down, and all of it continued to creep her out. Keep it together Ringo, any sudden reactions will cause everything else to react...

[Mari]

Music	Map
	Basement First Floor Second Floor

For a moment it was quiet. Ciel tensed briefly, having been told what was in the tree. However, she decided not to mention this to Ringo. With any luck, she could protect the other from having an unfortunate zombie scare. Easing over to the 'mouth' of the tree, Ciel bent over and begn fishing an old key out from its previous owner, just kind of vanishing from the waist up.

"

Apparently this key used to belong to a friend of the myconid's. Whenever this place became haunt, they retreated here to escape the house but weren't able to get any farther. Unfortuntely, it seems like we were too late to save them. ...Apparently there are two other keys. One is in a young man's room upstairs and another is in a sealed room in the basement. Apparently someone was ...sealed in there a long time ago. That seems ...cruel and strange.

"

As Ciel explained this, Ringo might notice that the tree seemed to shift almost as if in a strong wind. ...But, there shouldn't have been any strong winds in this closed in courtyard! It was surrounded by walls! More than that thoug, the face of the tree almost seemed to twist, as if it were animate! Bark shouldn't move like that and the seeming face in the gnarled woo was starting to appear more animated. If one were observant, they might come to the conclusion that Ciel was in danger--assuming they didn't necessarily trust Myce not to lead them into danger, anyway.