When she heard the footfalls of the brunette approaching relatively near where Minako stood, she braced, expecting the girl to continue something along the veins of her outburst on the streets after the battle. She was pleasantly surprised when instead a simple question was asked, a glance towards her and then again to Mamoru reminding Minako that it wouldn't be completely crazy for others unfamiliar with this place to think she worked with this group. It wasn't true, but she didn't necessarily feel like digging up all of that all over again, and certainly not with strangers. Of course, she didn't want to speak to the maps, although she had a pretty good guess—they weren't hers, after all.

Mamoru's reply didn't surprise her. It wasn't a bad system, after all, especially if you had little else to go on.

When Umino revived, Minako felt glad of it, but kept her distance. She didn't want to trigger anymore fainting spells, nor did she want him to think she was joining their weird little club for good. Instead, her eyes carefully watched Usagi, keeping watch over the blonde even now in this safe haven.

The soft voice that followed Luna's surprised her. Their hands didn't touch, but she saw the motion, watching his reach for her. There was something about the gesture that caused her colour to rise, eyes glancing away. She felt a strange flutter in her stomach, but she didn't quite understand why such a small show of compassion impacted her this way. Thankfully, the bespectacled young man roused and she had somewhere else to focus her attention. She took the offered hands, ready to stand. Usagi thought she'd had a moment to compose herself, but when the warm hands touched hers, she felt goosebumps rise on her skin and found herself looking up into those sapphire eyes.

Who was this young man?

Usagi tried to look away, but not conspicuously. He made her feel unsettled, but also... she thought he was nice. This feeling was not something she was used to. She tried to move to the side, realizing that the conversation was veering into territory she didn't understand. She didn't want to get in the way. Instead, she stepped over to browse through some of the open books, hoping a few of them had pretty pictures.

Ami watched Umino go looking through some books then he asked her, "Are you familiar with the language of the Great Wizard Howl?" Ami looked at him still but thinking the best she could then walked over looking over his shoulder and see what he was reading and it didn't make any sense to her at all. She moved back and told him, "No I am not Umino..can you teach me maybe while we are here looking for everything?"

Mage-language didn't even make sense. Mages were things of the past, the protectors of Phobos and Deimos so long since turned to dust that they were almost mythical in nature. Mages and the fire magics they wielded had returned to the aether. This was why the air of the Temple of Flames was forever heated.

Perhaps that explained why this place was so cold, if it had mages alive to write books.

Rei turned her attention onto the map, noting the system that Mamoru explained. She frowned. "Is it so hard to find this... keyhole?" she questioned, eyebrow raised as she looked from section to section. No matter how much she looked, she still could not find the shape of her home on this map. Perhaps there was another map somewhere. A bigger and more inclusive map. "I suppose the keyhole in which you seek doesn't look like a normal keyhole, like one used to lock a house?"

Her hands touched his and a spark traveled up through his arms and electrified his body, as though her warmth awakened his senses without his ever having known they had been asleep. He forgot about Umino, his attention wholly on her as she applied slight pressure to his hands and he straightened, helping her to her feet, the entire time his eyes never leaving hers. They were blue, but like nothing he had seen before, and it felt like no matter how long he looked he'd never tire of looking at them. His heart beat uncomfortably in his chest.

Who was she, really? 

Only when she turned away did the spell seem to break and he realized he still held her hands in his. Politely he let go and turned his head away, giving his attention back towards Umino and Ami and their conversation, but he never really seemed to lose track of her. He heard her moving, felt her pass; she stopped to examine some of the books on the countertop - he just knew, and while he wanted nothing more than to look over her shoulder and explain what was on the page, he --

Well, why didn't he?

Umino was still looking through things; there'd be no doubt he'd share when he found something, so he turned and stood slightly behind and to her left, giving her space while still being close enough to glance at what she was looking at. It wasn't terribly difficult - he had height on her. "So, what do you think?" he asked, looking more at her than the page about... well honestly he couldn't read what she was looking at.



"Mmm, it's a little complex," Umino stated cryptically, turning his whole attention back to the book and scanning furiously. Leaving it open, he snatched up another and started flipping through it, mumbling under his breath the whole time. "It's difficult," he said, apparently able to spare some part of his head for responding to the keyblade wielder's question, "but it actually should look like a keyhole when it's found."

"Mmm, it's a little complex," Umino stated to her then went after another book and answering their other friend's question about the keyhole. "Well, I am willing to try and learn, Umino. If that's ok. I wish to learn all I can about this world so that I can help everyone else get back to their worlds too." As she said that she thought of Mariner's Landing...home.

She jumped slightly when he spoke, not realizing he had followed her. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She had sensed that he had, but maybe she was just trying to pretend that he hadn't. Usagi felt... oddly enough, she felt like Luna wanted her to ignore him. The cat hadn't exactly said anything, but there was something about the strangely distant body language, and the way she felt like the feline's eyes were watching her, judging her actions. It made her want to let go, but for now the creature seemed content enough to be carried around, and Usagi wasn't even sure she could do so without making the action strange.

She tried not to make it obvious that her breath caught in her throat. Even though they were in a room full of people, she felt almost like they were alone together. His presence stood out to her, more vivid than the others.

"I... I don't really understand any of it," she replied, honestly, trying not to seem too embarrassed. Usagi didn't just mean the mage-language in the books strewn about the room. She meant all of this: the fighting, the Keyblades, the Heartless, the Keyhole... If her tutors back home had judged her as brainless before, they'd be nodding their heads vigorously now. It overwhelmed her. She had been raised in peace and luxury, never tested by trials until just earlier today. She couldn't say she enjoyed it.

"No?" he replied as a question, not having exactly planned on teasing her but going through with it nevertheless, glancing down at her blonde bangs before leaning in closer to point at a random passage with the weird pictograph letters, "Not even this bit?"


Umino kept his eyes on the book as he nodded towards Ami, but it was unclear whether he was actually paying attention to her or nodding to something he was reading was rather unclear. "Gummi ship," he mumbled above the other mutterings, then put that book down and plucked up another, scanning frantically. "Where where where," he stated, dropping that one to pull another from a separate pile near where Usagi and Mamoru stood, taking the tome and marching over to the dining room table with it. "Aha!"

He dropped it and pointed at the contents, "It definitively states here that there were three ancient Keyblade Masters - Kou Taiki, Kou Yaten, and Kou Seiya - I had assumed the keyblades Mamoru and Minako had were once theirs, but there are six of you and -" he whipped back around, pointing to the myriad of books he had just picked up and dropped down, "There are no mention of there ever having been six Keyblade Masters, or six of anything: three Keyblade Masters, three Wizards of Power, nine Beings of Light, Ten Princesses of Heart - there is simply no six of anything. Which may mean," he whipped around, attempting to look at all of them at once, and adjusted his glasses. "You're something completely new." He posed triumphantly, "Which makes sense, considering what's going on in the worlds."

Spoiler:

She bit her tongue, looking away. Minako didn't want to betray too much. Not having Artemis here for guidance made this much more confusing. She didn't hate Mamoru or his annoying friends, she just needed them to stop getting in her way. They were endangering themselves for no good reason, and attracting all sorts of attention that made her mission all the more difficult. At the same time... it felt almost too cruel to let them suffer from bad information. But... without Artemis here, she wasn't completely confident that she could rebut what had just been said. Perhaps it was better to leave it like this, for now.

Minako returned her gaze to the map, comparing it with her own. The group had made decent progress, at least, trying to find the Keyhole for this world. They weren't any closer to finding it, based on what she saw here, but neither was she. Still...

Blue eyes looked out at the young woman currently too close to Mamoru for Minako's comfort. Usagi... she was the missing link here. She was special. Artemis believed her presence would make the Keyhole for Traverse Town finally reveal itself, somehow. Minako just needed to wait for the right opportunity and keep her safe until that time.

She wrinkled her nose, exhaling with a huff.

"No, not even that part," Usagi replied crabbily. She felt like she was in school again, being chided by one of her tutors for failing an exam or answering the questions wrong for an assignment.

Whatever Umino was talking about behind her... it made her head hurt. The names and titles blurred together, forming a soup of "why can't I go home; I really wish I could go home" that Usagi wasn't willing to try.

"Well, fine then, what does it say?" she snapped, not unkind but certainly on the defensive, but always so sensitive that she rarely recognized a tease.

Umino's aha! was probably something he should pay close attention to, but with so many new people as his audience Mamoru was pretty sure that whatever Umino was saying now, he had heard it at some point before. Usagi though... her quick and grumpy little denial made him smile, and her curt question opened up a world of opportunity. He leaned in as though to examine it further, feigning concentration, and recited somberly, if quietly so as not to disturb Umino, "Beware black cats with crescent shaped bald spots," he paused, attempting to keep a serious face as he glanced back at her for her reaction. He feigned a look of concern as he looked back to continue to "read" the book, and gravely finished, "They shed."

At the first part of her Mamoru's recitation, her eyes widened. Beware that kind of cat? But... but Luna... She was the first comforting presence when Usagi arrived in this strange land. Usagi tightened her grip on the feline, unwilling to believe that the creature who had greeted and cared for her could be a bad thing. She took Mamoru's sober tone of voice and serious facial expression to mean that he was reading the book verbatim, but she couldn't believe a message all like that.

Luna, meanwhile, eyed the boy with a ruby glare turning to narrow slits. She rumbled a low, dangerous feline noise.

But then he delivered the punchline.

"Oh, honestly!" the cat huffed. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the black cat froze, and immediately tried to look less-guilty.

"Y-yeah, what a bad joke!" Usagi replied nervously, turning her attention to petting Luna as if the cat hadn't just spoken.

"Oh, honestly!"

He smiled at the huffy reaction but curiously turned back to face her, the tone of the voice unfamiliar - the addition of "Y-yeah, what a bad joke!" was more in line with what he associated with being hers, but the other sounded off register; however, no one else was there, just Usagi and the cat, whom she was now petting nervously. Did the cat look innocent? Could cats purposefully look innocent? ... He had thought he had heard it speak before, but just assuming it could speak now felt a little ridiculous. He'd have to catch it talking. ... which was not a plan he had ever considered considering before. 

He moved to lean against the countertop, resting an elbow on the stack of books beside the one he had "deciphered" for Usagi and put his other hand on his hip in a daring fashion, "Are you calling my careful translation a joke?" he asked, looking amused despite carefully hiding a smile.

Maybe he could lead her into admitting the cat could talk while simultaneously continuing to tease her; she had looked like she was lost before, and maybe he was wrong, but she seemed a lot more at ease now than she had been downstairs or outside.

She felt just a tiny bit more steady than she had before, even though he still acted like this was entirely truth. This time, however, there was a gleam in his brilliant eyes—she recognized it as mirth. Was he laughing at her? Usagi puffed out her cheeks, pressing her lips together tightly, and tossed her head, sending the pigtails flying.

"Yes, I am!" she announced, looking away. "I don't think you can even read it, either."

She added the last bit as a small jab, not even noticing that Luna mimicked her body language, turning up her nose exactly as the blonde did.

The face she made was cute, even though he bet it wasn't meant to be. He grinned as her pigtails flew and she turned her face away, putting her nose in the air as she practically declared him to be a liar - the cat was mirroring her, which was, honestly, adorable, but made him think more and more that maybe his thinking that it could talk wasn't so far-fetched. "Oh yeah? Do you so doubt my skills?" He got off the books and motioned towards them, keeping the other hand on his hip as he offered, "Here, I'll prove them. What else do you want translated?"

Usagi finally set Luna down, the dark-furred cat sitting attentively atop the surface, right at home among the piles of books. Her whiskers twitched slightly, perhaps with a desire to explore the tomes scattered around her, but she seemed to have decided to maintain her air of "normal cat", at least for now. Usagi furrowed her brow, observing the books nearby with fierce concentration. She rifled through a few, opting for the weightier volumes whenever possible. After all more pages always meant harder content, right?

She finally selected one that seemed "good enough", opened it to a random symbol-covered page that looked like mishmash to her, and offered it to Mamoru.

"How about this, right here?" she said, pointing halfway down the page.

He watched her concentrate with amusement, glancing back at the cat while she scrutinized the larger volumes. What could he say to see if she could talk? Finally Usagi hefted open a large volume, cracked it open to a page, and pointed at a dense passage filled with symbols and images he had no hope of deciphering. He moved closer to her and tilted his head as though to read it better. "It says..."A blonde [meatball head / bunhead] will doubt your abilities." Huh," He couldn't help cracking a grin, "Seems like an accurate translation to me."

Makoto took note of what Mamoru said, examining each open circle and marking its location in her brain. She turned around to ask another question, but was halted by the flirtatious banter occurring between Mamoru and Usagi. She stood still for a second, arms crossed across her chest and one eyebrow raise, listening to their "conversation" before starting to get a little restless. 

She had been in this room for too long, and was starting to feel a little stir crazy. This place was not destined for hosting seven people and one feline, that much was certain. Her hands started to sweat with anticipation, her body ready to go and get some action. Not really knowing what to say to break up the apparent couple, Makoto looked to Rei for help, then to Minako. 'Is this normal for him?' her eyes seemed to ask. So much time was being wasted just standing around here and talking. Makoto had half-a-mind to take her keyblade, her information, and go find that keyhole herself. 

She was starting to sort-of understand why Minako didn't seem to work with Mamoru, or have much of a desire to. But Makoto had given Mamoru her word and her vow of service, so for now, she was stuck here.

She caught the green eyes, glancing over at her, an unspoken question in the air. Truthfully, Minako felt rather surprised at his sudden interest in the pigtailed girl. Of course, she had to keep an eye on Usagi, but that was because she knew something—and given Umino's speech, she felt fairly certain that Mamoru was not aware of the same information that she was. He certainly wasn't known for being "friendly"—polite and pleasant enough, yes, and but most of the welcoming was attributed to other members of the Traverse Town whatevers. What was it about this girl that caused the aloof, reserved young man to pay such attention to her? Minako felt uneasy about it, but she didn't want to say anything just yet.

Instead, she took a few steps closer to Makoto.

"You had questions before," she said. "Umino—the guy in the glasses—he's the one for looking up answers. Or I could try, if you've got any. Want something to drink?" the blonde continued, prepared to rummage through the kitchenette herself for a cup of water or juice or something.

Makoto was a little surprised when Minako, despite their differences earlier on, started speaking to her. Grateful for the offer, Makoto gave the blonde a small smile and nodded her head. "Some water would be great, actually," she said graciously. She chewed on her bottom lip for a moment, deciding whether or not she should try to continue their "conversation." She couldn't tell if Minako was just being polite, or if she was actually trying to get alone with her. 

It took a moment, but Makoto eventually decided that having enemies in this strange place, especially ones with as much experience as Minako, would not be a good idea. 

"You know," she started, tightening her ponytail to release some nerves, "I've always sort of been on my own. Where I'm from, you don't really have parents who raise you - the entire village sort of works together. So it's weird for me to be thrown in with all of you guys like this. I feel like I have to depend on you and Mamoru for information and assistance, which just doesn't feel right to me. So I guess what I'm trying to say is..." She gulped, the words fighting at her throat. "I'm sorry for being rude back there. There's no excusing it, but I hope you can understand."

She handed over the water, feeling more at home in this unfamiliar suite by the second. It did not sit well with her. A single battle—albeit a very interesting one—should not be enough to change her outlook so quickly. Minako didn't work with others, let alone Mamoru and a bunch of newbies with Keyblades. But now was not the right time to deal with her own feelings and emotions. She could do that later, with Artemis.

Instead, she shoved that internal conflict aside and offered a conciliatory smile to the brunette.

"Hey, it's tough. I'm sure everyone's upset. You all did really well for not having fought before. I do get it," she replied, taking a sip of her own beverage. "I was trying to get her to calm down." With this comment, she didn't have to gesture at Usagi, Minako's blue eyes flitted to the other blonde meaningfully. She figured Makoto would be able to follow. After all, she had been there to see the dramatic tears from the girl with pigtails. Now that they had time to reflect, Minako would have been truly shocked if the other girl didn't understand why that was something she tried to cover for.

"Hopefully you won't depend on us long. His group—" This clearly meant Mamoru. "—They need all the help they can get. Do you remember anything about arriving here? It seems like quite a coincidence that you and everyone else showed up just in time to be targeted by a bunch of Heartless."

By which she meant "there is no way this could really be just chance".

Makoto took a long gulp of water, her eyes following Minako's gaze to Usagi. The pigtailed blonde looked so innocent and naive - Makoto briefly wondered where she was from and what her life was like. That kind of carefree joy wasn't common in Jove. Everyone was happy, sure, but there was always work to be done and people to care for. 

"I understand," she said, turning her eyes back to Minako. "She does seem a little...helpless, really, is all I can think of." Usagi's tearful episode back on the streets of Traverse Town was quite the situation - Makoto wasn't sure what she would have done had she been in Minako's position. Jovians never cried.

Minako's question led Makoto's mind back to her home, the place and the people she loved and missed so much. It had really only been a few hours since Makoto's arrival in Traverse Town, but those hours felt like years. Had she left the fire going in her home when she left?

"Strange things had been happening frequently, back on Jove's Stand. Everyone was restless and unsettled, and it seemed like each day something new had happened. My parents, they..." her words drifted off and her eyes became glazed over before she quickly recovered. "I just remember hunting in the forest when everything went black and I woke up here."

The blonde nodded, solemn, hearing the tale from the brunette. This was not the first story she'd heard following the same general plot. There were many, and Minako would not have been shocked to hear the same was true for Ami or the unnamed girl that caught her eye earlier. Even now, she felt certain that other worlds experienced the same. Artemis told her it was the case, so she believed it. He didn't lie. And she had seen it herself, on other worlds. Not many, but enough to know it was a trend, not an anomaly.

"The things we fought out there, those are Heartless," Minako said. "Your home is probably dealing with the same thing. They spread Darkness—that's what caused the strange things in your world."

The blonde took another sip of her water, hoping she didn't sound too nonchalant. This was fact, but it wasn't devoid of emotion. Still, Minako had been fighting long enough that she knew she couldn't treat this like a hopeless disaster or a merry crusade. It was reality. They had to learn to work within it, so they could push back.

"The weapon you discovered, it's essential to fighting against the Darkness. It's a Keyblade."

 "Are you familiar with the language of the Great Wizard Howl?"


Ami looked at Umino, thinking of all she had read and walked over to his side and responded, "Actually no I haven't heard of the Great Wizard Howl. It doesn't seem like anything I've read at home in Mariner's Landing. Maybe it's something I could try to learn while I am here, that is if it will be helpful to find this keyhole you have been searching for."

That no one seemed to have any follow-up questions about his miraculous revelation seemed to take the wind out of the shorter lad's sails, but only until new information presented itself. As Minako moved behind him to get the tall one in green a glass of water, he tapped his finger forlornly on the page of the book that decidedly confirmed his three-Keyblade Master memories, not exactly pouting but maybe thrown off for a second that nobody else was floored by his marvelous detective work and first-class research skills, until their conversation -- he wasn't eavesdropping, this was his kitchen and they weren't hiding their conversation or anything! The information was fair game -- turned to Heartless and Darkness and Keyblades, his specialty. 

Well, many things were his specialty, but they'd find out those specialties at another time. 

"Yes! The Keyblades, both weapons to fight the heartless and talismans that draw them near. All Heartless are attracted to Keyblades and their wielders but otherwise have no emotions or real personal drive and follow the will of the person who controls them, else seeks further darkness by corrupting and stealing more hearts to make more Heartless." He fixed his glasses, "There are two general types of heartless - Pureblood Heartless born from the darkness in people's hearts and Emblem Heartless created by other means - and several subcategories within each genus."

Spoiler:

Umino started to explain the heartless...those creatures the group were fighting on the way here, and what Ami was starting to think and now believe it's what drove them from their homes. She continued to listen to him jotting down to memory the most important parts of his speech. When he finished, Ami went to ask him, "This might be a silly question Umino...but do you all have pictures of the heartless? If you did it would be great to know what to look for."

"Sure! - Well, I can show you some, anyway. They tend to change themselves to better fit the world they invade," Umino replied, stepping to flip through a book he had recently discarded to open on an illustrated page:
"This is the most common type - the Shadow Heartless. And then if they have this brand -" he flipped to another page and held it out for her to see:
"Then they're Emblem heartless. The one thing all Heartless have in common are their bodies made of darkness and their glowing yellow eyes."

Rei wasn't paying much attention at all to the talk going on around her.

Or so she wanted people to believe. She listened intently, catching every word just in case it would prove to be useful in the future. Information was not to be wasted, everyone knew that. She didn't find much use in whatever it was that the tall man and pigtailed blonde were conversing about, however, and so she focused much of her listening onto the even taller brunette and the girl with the poison eyes.

The offer of a drink was not extended to herself, and Rei was not one to beg for refreshments, so she kept her mouth shut. She continued to inspect the map in front of her, even as she listened. Luckily, she was close enough that she could hear this particular conversation without trouble.

The main thing to take away was that the brunette—Makoto—seemed to have arrived in much the abrupt way Rei herself had been. The blue one had said much the same as well. It had been comforting to think this was all just random happenstance, but this was clearly no coincidence.

She glared at the map in front of her, remembering home. The boy with the glasses spoke as well, his voice further away but the information he shared was no less important.

Rei kept her eyes on the map, however, piercing it with her gaze as if it was the source of all her problems.

Despite her airs of not paying attention, Rei did not stop herself from asking her own questions. "These Keyblades... where do they come from? Why do I have one? I have never seen such a thing in my life." Still, she remembered how it felt, to hold the weapon in her hands. She'd asked Phobos and Deimos for a sign, and that sign had led her to summoning this strange Keyblade. A talisman, they'd said. Well, if it could help her to fight the creatures—these Heartless—back home, then it was even more vital that she get back there as soon as possible.

"And this Darkness, what is it?" She hesitated, just for a moment, as she recalled Grandfather's teasing face. "What does it do to people?"

She was somewhat surprised, but not too much so, when the unnamed girl spoke up. Minako had spent enough time working with Artemis to be very aware of her surroundings. She noticed that the dark-haired young woman stayed nearby, probably listening. That was the smart thing to do. Even though she was so clearly foreign (like the rest of them), the one who talked of fires and temples didn't seem lacking in intelligence. Her questions made that even clearer.

"I'm not sure where, or why," she began, thinking about Umino's earlier lore of the three ancient Keyblade Masters. "That's part of what Umino hopes to discover, I think, with some of these books."

As she spoke, the blonde ambled back to the cabinet for another cup of water, which she offered to the newcomer to their conversation. At the next question, Minako's blue eyes grew more serious.

"Darkness... it's primordial. It's always been there, just like Light. They balance each other. But when there's too much... it corrupts and corrodes. For people, it amplifies negative feelings. If their heart fills with Darkness... they become Heartless."

Makoto was grateful for all of the information from Umino and Minako, but she was starting to feel restless. Her planet was in trouble, and it was all due to these Heartless they spoke of. Makoto was ready to get out there, to fight, and to actually get things done. The Heartless sounded scary and all, but they really weren't much of a challenge back in the alley with all of them working together. And with Minako and Mamoru on their side, what could really go wrong? Makoto was a fast learner when it came to fighting, and Rei seemed to have quite a knack for fighting herself. Usagi, well...she would require some work, but it was nothing Makoto hadn't handled before during combat training back home. Ami didn't seem like the "fighting" type, but her apparent intelligence could be useful for strategy, and even finding the keyhole. They had a solid set-up, Makoto thought. She gulped down the rest of the water Minako gave her and punched her palm with her fist.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired of sitting around here. We have the information we need - we'll learn the rest as we go," she said, stretching her limbs. She turned to Umino and tightened her ponytail. "Thanks for all of your help, really, but from the looks of it, the Heartless in this town are no match for us. Where should we go to find this keyhole? I'm ready to give those black beasts a piece of my mind."