*
"Uu.... Uuwahhh!!?!" (Arin)
Shrieks and screams could be heard from a single voice. Last time Sariel had borrowed a movie from Pheena to watch by her lonesome. Now that her friends were here, she decided to put on a horror movie that Feilin lent to her. They could practically picture an elegantly dressed pampered young lady laughing at them from the back. Feilin was a horror nut well cared for girl with twin drills, while Pheena was a bit of a tomboy who was into live-action hero shows for kids.
If one were to simply ask for recommendations, they would be readily given. They weren't afraid to rope others into what they love, but they supposed this was why Feilin was so often with Pheena. They indulged in each other more often than not. They were usually seen with Juri too, a short girl who dug into the romance side of things instead. Movies, shows, dramas, they were all related mediums but they weren't exactly the same.
At that thought, Yggdrasil wondered. What hobby did she have? As opposed to Lastia who never had enough time in the world, she was wallowing in her own stagnation. Naturally the presence of her two close friends here firmly tug her away from the edge, keeping her from falling into despair. Her creator was dead. Her creator who had suffered an immeasurable around with an immeasurable quality, countless memories barely out of reach from her outstretched fingers. Her inheritance of her creator's memories, her helplessness and inability to change the past.
If not for her friends who taught her how to live, she might have slipped into that abyss of endless torment and never escape despair. Nowadays... She learned how to live. How to feel. How to be human. How to be happy. She dipped her toes into many forms of entertainment, hobbies. She tried a bit of every little thing, like an unsatiable greedy person. She lived day to day, wondering what her friends were thinking, what joy she could experience next and how she could share it.
Lost in her thoughts, she doesn't notice the two large lumps of heat clinging to her sides. Who knew whether Arin was pretending to be bad with horror, but her panicked rush to stick as close as possible to Yggdrasil, had incited Sariel to try the same. There were bright colours on the screen, passively bouncing off of her eyes as she stood in a daze. Her sight was brought into focus, as if surfacing from the sea. The scenes change, she observes.
Her attention follows the characters, as if drawn towards some supernatural power. The monster appears, there are no heroes nor magical girls. The terror of ordinary people permeates the room, bringing the movie to a climax. Before she had noticed, she was immersed into the plot. She inhaled deeply, realising she unconsciously held in her breath.
When the movie ended, without knowing why she stretched out her hand. She felt like something was missing, something that she had all the way until now. Was it... Enjoyment? It felt nearly natural to have it, that she began challenging the lack of it, she felt... Inner turmoil.
A warm hand clasped over her palm, it wasn't in any particular rush but it still felt fast. As if it was afraid she would feel the least bit of loneliness. Warmth passed into her palm, the new sensation brought her attention closer to her left. It was Arin, she smiled at her with composure. Sariel simply watched on, before interjecting herself.
"... Do you want to watch the sequel after dinner? We should go down and eat to refill our energy. " (Sariel)
"Right? It was so exhilarating, I'm a little tired too..." (Arin)
"... Mhmm, I'm feeling a little peckish too." (Yggdrasil)
She replied softly to their expectant gazes. Her eyes wandered before settling on the door in their way. Before long they were sat at the table and food had been spread over most of its surface. Yggdrasil didn't have much experience, unable to detect the subtleties of people's emotions, she unabashedly ate to her hearts contents. Arin followed the momentum and started picking up her spoon too. Sariel couldn't help but smile wryly as she stuffed meat into her mouth. All in all, dinner was more lively than anyone expected.
They left as quickly as they came, like a rushing wind that saw no reprieve. Arin deployed a few barriers, preventing crying and eavesdropping. No air or visual information could be gleaned from the outside. Physically anyone could open the door, walk through the barrier and learn to their hearts content. Naturally, these measures weren't aimed at normal people.
"... To put it short. The loot we get from Traces are miracles. Traces always face some form of conceptual rejection in Eterna's garden, our earth. When they die, they are left unable to resist the rejection.
It's just that the bodies they possess here are unable to endure the force of the rejection, so they disintegrate as well. On the other hand, pieces that remain have evaded this rejection or correction phenomenon. " (Arin)
" Right, I was thinking much of the same. They are the remains of monsters we kill, but conceptually they evolved into something new.
Perhaps... Something resembling a magical girl. A biological mass with a {skill}. They are parts that retained a Trace's {Skill} before they lose sentience, before the loss of life.
So you're saying... Alchemy is more straightforward than we think. We apply our magic on a material that can withstand magic. There's no other material on earth other than Traces and magical girls... " (Sariel)
" That's correct. It's quite straight forward isn't it? Though that's just the explanation. Executing it is another matter, almost like a second miracle without the much needed background knowledge.
However, with knowledge it simply becomes another discipline of science. Reproducibility, falsifiability. Our odds rose from nigh impossible to a finite value. " (Arin)
"... We have to start with feasibility, how much of the materials are we going to use? How much are we allowed to fail in the processing stage?
It can all fit inside a false boarded drawer, so we don't have much material to begin with..." (Yggdrasil)
" For now, it should be a trinket that's easy to carry around. It'll be easy to disguise too. We'll just tell others that it's a friendship bracelet... " (Sariel)