Golden Age: Revival

"Sorry we're not spirits."

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"Yay?"

Aiden facepalms, "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Because eastern mythology and legend was never your strong point" Ren points out rather bluntly.

Allina: <I bet you did!>

*She walks up to the nearest reporter, talkin' to him with a much more childish voice*

Allina: <Hum..excuse me, kind sir, would you please tell me what's going on?>

Drioma<Off to bed, now, dearies. You've got a full day ahead of you.>
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Reporter<They're taking some kind of igneous rock formation out of the volcano to study it. It's supposed to give new insight about how the islands were formed.>

"What, 'volcano goddess' is too antiquitated of an explanation?>

Reporter<Yeah, I guess so. *Chuckle.*>
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"I was in China once before, studying with monks. Before...you know. That's how I know about it. It's supposed to be a magical land hidden just beyond the mountains somewhere. A sort of utopia or enlightenment. Or maybe a city of gold. No one really knows. It's a lot like the vanishing isle in European legend."

Allina: <(I think he likes you.)>

*She pinches Nero in the shoulder and walks up to the ropes, looking at the top of the volcano*

Allina: <So... is she gonna help us get there or something?>

"Had I known we were coming to Russia to overthrow the government, I would have brought my spy kit."

Mimiru:<Stop your bellyaching, it'll be fun.>

*Still bickering, the two head to their room.*

"That dream is still giving me the jim jams."

Mimiru:<You heard her, she's a dream spirit. Maybe she was the one doing it for whatever reason.>

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*Taiyo has her arms crossed and his nodding as if she know what Euryale is talking about.*

"Okay, okay."

"Monks eh?" Ren chimes up, "What sect?"

"Is this the appropriate time?" Aiden asks.

"Any time is an appropriate time when it comes to learning."

"Not this time. Look."

*She points ahead, where the road is blocked off by police cars.*
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"And expose herself so that she can be captured? Fat chance. We'll have to find some way to slip past this barricade ourselves."

*He looks up, noticing that a team is being lowered by cherry-picker into the volcano.*

"Fast."

"You sure flying wasn't a good idea?"

"I'll check it out" Aiden says. Ren nods and stops the car. Aiden gets out, "What's going on here?"

Allina: <Hmm...>

*She lets out a very loud scream and falls on her knees, wrapping her fingers around her neck and gasping for air*

Allina: <Pele....! Help, *coughs* Help me!>

"What the Hell are you doing?!"

*All of the nearby news crews turn to them & start filming. A reporter leaps 6 feet horizontally to shove a microphone in Nero's face, which hits him in the nose.*

"Ow!"

<What is wrong with this girl? Is she your sister? Your girlfriend? Is it the volcano? Who are you?>
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"Flying...makes me uneasy. I'm not afraid of it, but...it just doesn't feel right."

<We've been asked to make sure no one gets too close to the expedition site.>

"I'll be there if you get scared."

"What expedition site? There's an expedition site around here?"

*She lets out another scream and crawls over to the reporter in front of Nero, pulling his leg and widening her eyes*

Allina: <I am angry... My volcano.... !!>

*She coughs, gasping for air and takes a second to wince at Nero and jerk her head towards the ropes*

*The police give each other a little look.*

<Right. Well. Just be good & turn back now.>
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"(There's only 2 of them. I think we can take them.)"
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*Nero sighs & leaps over the ropes. Someone shouts that someone is running up the mountain. All of the news teams turn towards him & some security guards start chasing him.*

[I'll never beat them up this volcano, but maybe Allina can slip away unnoticed. There's no way they can be watching the entire perimeter.]

Shit, not as stupid as I thought they were

"Alright alright" Aiden turns and waves, "Keep up the good work then" he gets back into the car and Ren sighs, "Now what?"

"We can't go in by land, we'll have to go by air, preferably low profile. I might have to call in another favor. I'm running out of eastern connection options and like fuck do I want to start asking favors from the triads. No way this junker will be able to make it far past the barricade... shit."

Ren turns the car around and drives back the way they came. "Whatever Ms. Psyche is doing its clearly something under the radar and above the law. She's probably tracking all of us through her generous gift." Aiden talks a few minutes to ponder.

"We should head to Europe, I'll call for one of my family's private planes to pick us up. I'll try and contact the others, get them to my family's estate where we can plan as a group."

"That's dumb. If you didn't want to come to China, why'd you bother coming in the first place? Let's go with Euryale's idea."

"Oh I wanted to come. Our priorities changed."

[So subtle it hurts!]

Allina: <Err--yeah... I must go and... pee.>

*She rolls into a bush. crawling around behind the trees, circling the volcano until she's far enough from the people. She sneaks under the ropes and runs up the mountain*

*She catches a glimpse of Nero being detained & led back down on her way up the mountain. Fortunately, it's forested enough that it's hard to track her ascent.*
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"What will going to Europe help!?"

*She sounds irritated.*

"I'll get us a plane to fly to the expedition site then" Aiden pinches the bridge of his nose and mutters something that sounds similar to, "The things I do for beautiful women."

"It's an excuse for him to go on and on about how fabulousy wealthy he is."

[What the hell am I even supposed to do at the top? Push the scientists into the volcano? To make things worse, I still have that feeling I'm being followed by creepy stalker. Gosh]

*She speeds up*

"Europe is miles away. Even this thing can't get there in any reasonable amount of time."
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*She gets to the top of the volcano, next to the cherry picker. By this point, it's nighttime. There's one construction worker looking guy surveying the scene & another operating the picker It's unclear what's going on in the crater, but some lava is bubbling very far down.*
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*Azuma & Mimiru awaken not long after dawn.*