Awakening Darkness

"This is it?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. It's… bigger than I thought." Nakasuko stands at the foot of a gigantic mansion-shaped prison.

"They had to make it this big." Tami rests her hands at her hips. "This is the tomb of a god, after all." Behind those crooked double doors lies a sleeping monster who may welcome them just as much as she might destroy them on the spot.

"Do we just let ourselves in?"

"Yeah, pretty much. We'll go ahead and gather up the others. Ta-ta." Isaka waves them goodbye as she walks over to where Ryukko, Amaru and Amanda are waiting. Nakasuko and Tami walk along the crooked path towards the crooked house. Nakasuko places her hands on the double doors but doesn't push them open.

"You scared?" Tami looks at Nakasuko.

"Nah." Nakasuko keeps looking straight at the door to hide how pale her face is. "Are you?"

"Nope." Tami licks her lips.

"..."

"Are you going to open the door or like… what?"

"I am, I am, just give me a second." Nakasuko cracks her knuckles before placing her hands back on the door.

"Remember. It's just a person like us."

"I thought you said–"

"Treat it like one or else you'll make it mad."

"Okay… Okay, okay, okay." Nakasuko slaps herself before kicking the door open. An obnoxiously loud 'bang' resonates throughout the house.

"Let's do this."

What awaits them is a gigantic foyer the size of a small house. At the very least, it's bigger than Tami's and Nakasuko's house and apartment respectively. The whole area is decorated with luxurious carpetry, opulent tilework, and paintings from artists both foreign and prestigious. Neither of the girls recognize them but they must be with such long names. The foyer is dark, what little light manages to seep in through the windows is immediately halted by an almost miasmatic darkness.

"Tami? Is that you…?" A slithering voice rears its head from deeper within the mansion.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Have you come seeking refuge from my mother?" Someone emerges from the shadows in front of them. Or rather, something. An elegant human-shaped amalgamation of pure steel. Its raised heels clank softly against the carpet. A strange aura radiates from the creature. It doesn't move like a human the way I-C's do. In spite of its resemblance to humanity, it doesn't walk, it puts one foot in front of the other and that's where the similarities end. Her head pivots around energetically, looking anywhere so long as it saves her from making eye-contact.

"Yes, actually. The war in Ozawa is just about to start and we figured this was the best place to seek refuge." Tami scratches the back of her head. Nakasuko sees her shoulders visibly tense up as she lies to the homunculus's face.

"But I thought–" Nakasuko starts.

"Play along," Tami whispers to Nakasuko.

"And… who's your friend?" It flaps its hands as she talks. So even homunculi get nervous.

"This is Nakasuko Kuze. I know her from work." A very liberal half-truth but a half-truth nonetheless.

"Is that so? How long do you two intend to stay here?"

"Just overnight. We're leaving the city in the morning."

It walks forward and extends an open hand towards Nakasuko. "My name is Elexi Purina. It's nice to meet you."

"It's an honor to meet you as well, Miss Purina." She takes her hand and shakes it. She expected her hand to be firm as steel because, well, her hand is made of steel but her grip is loose. It feels a little like yanking on a chain.

"Please, call me Elexi." The homunculus smiles awkwardly and stares into Nakasuko's eyes for just a little too long.

Elexi fidgets in place, rubbing her arm and rocking on her heels.

"Are you going to invite us in?" Tami asks.

"Huh? Oh, yes, sorry." Elexi turns on her heel and leads the two deeper into the maze of shadowy hallways in the mansion. The lights above automatically turn on wherever Elexi goes. Though completely silent the whole time but it's clear that it's trying to think of something to say. "So, um… this is my bedroom."

"Do homuncul–" Nakasuko stops herself. "I mean, do your kind need to sleep, Elexi?"

"My kind?"

Tami stares at Nakasuko with her lips pressed together. "My friend was just wondering if you need to sleep."

"Well, I don't need to, I just like to." Opening the door, the homunculus reveals a terminally pink room. Nearly everything save for the multi-colored human-sized plushies on the bed is a shade of pink. There's a small table at the center of the room along with two plush chairs at its opposite ends. "Please, make yourselves at home."

Nakasuko looks at Tami who stares back. Her expression is pure distilled 'Let's just go with it.' The two girls sit in the chairs, their bodies being engulfed by the soft cushions.

"Give me a moment. I'll be right back with some… some tea. Yes, I will serve some tea." Elexi quickly hurries out of the room, leaving Tami and Nakasuko to stew in the silence.

Nakasuko slowly turns towards Tami. "You don't have a plan, do you?"

"Nope."

Nakasuko lowers her head into her hands. "We're going to die."

"Relax, we just need to get her into a good mood and we pop the million dollar question."

"I hope you're right…"

A minute later, Elexi arrives with a tray of three teacups along with a teapot. She quickly pours out a portion of tea for everyone. The tea has a strangely silky brown opaque color. "Please, help yourself to the chai."

Nakasuko blows on the surface of her chai and takes a sip. Her mouth is flooded by a subtly sweet and overtly spicy flavor of the tea. "This is good."

Based on the way her eyes widen, even Tami seems impressed.

"Thank you. It's just something I picked up over the years." Elexi bounces her leg idly. "Um… do you two like games? I have a few games we can play."

"Sure, why not." A drop of sweat trickles down the side of Nakasuko's face. Just being in Elexi's presence is strangely taxing. It's like staring a ticking time bomb in the face. Judging by Tami's expression, she's feeling the same pressure. Elexi walks over to a nearby shelf and retrieves a large but thin book. She blows the dust off of it as she sits down on her bed.

"Have, um…" Elexi keeps avoiding eye-contact. "Have either of you ever played a Tabletop Roleplaying Game before?"

"I can't say I have." Tami shrugs.

"Oh, I played 'Dwellings and Dragons' once with some friends when I served in the ICMG."

"'Dwellings and Dragons', huh? It's an alright system, I guess."

"System?"

"Oh, different Tabletop RPGs are called systems. In this system, you play as a group of rapscallions in pseudo-Victorian London… only with ghosts and stuff. So, um… do you want to give the game a try?"

Nakasuko looks at Tami and Tami looks at Nakasuko.

"I'm sorry if I'm getting ahead of myself. This is just the first time I've ever had guests over."

"N-no! It's fine!" The desperation in Nakasuko's voice comes through for a moment. She sips her tea in a desperate bid to relieve the awkward atmosphere. This isn't exactly the kind of danger she was expecting when she walked into this situation. "You're doing just fine."

"I see… that's a relief." Elexi's expression brightens up. They didn't even know something like that was possible. "Anyway… should I start explaining the rules?"

"And those are the basics."

At the end of an hour-long detailed diatribe, both Nakasuko and Tami have in their hands two character sheets that they only half-remember making. They nodded their heads along with Elexi's explanation, sure, but they sort of mentally glossed over the details, just focusing on the instructions and shelving away the explanations.

"Okay great. We're finally ready to begin." Elexi claps her metal hands together cheerfully.

"We haven't started yet?" Nakasuko lifts two very tired eyes in Elexi's direction.

"Well, we technically have. But we're just about to dive into the meat of the game."

"By the way, about this 'game.'" Tami scratches the top of her head. "Where… is the game?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, do we have a board or something to move pieces on and stuff?"

"Oh, no, sorry if my explanation wasn't clear." Elexi clears her throat. Or rather, due to her lack of a real throat, makes a sound like she's clearing her throat. "We use our imagination. Think of it as cooperative storytelling."

Tami's eyes drift around as she processes that. "So it's like playing pretend."

Elexi raises a finger to protest but she hesitates and lowers it. "Yes, a very complex way of playing pretend but that is basically what we're doing."

"Okay, I think I'm getting it." Tami nods her head.

"So, anyway, let's see… Let's start with..." Elexi puts aside the big book and takes out a smaller book from her pocket. Her metal fingers skim along the page edges before stopping at the very last one. "Introducing the cast. Tell me about your character. Let's start with you, Tami."