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[Sutoratosu Akira]

Aurora, Friedhold
"I see," she said. Hmmm only a single excursion then. A fairly minor one from the sound of it. That meant... it probably hadn't been too long. A few days, maybe, weeks at the most, surely. Her fears were true then. She'd been too late from the very start. She'd known from the beginning it would take time for the memories and access to her spark to return, had calculated it to be around the point she'd hit her prime and be fully capable. But getting half her mind fried with yet another curse hadn't exactly been planned for. The powers had returned as scheduled, but the knowledge of what to do? Nope. She'd probably still be a half-feral pet if it hadn't been for the witch's intervention.
    "Thank you. As for the others who vanished, most of them are fine." Despite that statement, she quietly hissed in disdain "Stuck in some... 'rec room', I believe it was called. A difficult place to get out once you're in. I'm still not entirely sure how or why I was taken to begin with-"

she paused just then, for the first time noticing something was off about the human scholar. She looked around the hall and saw no sign of the answer...

"wait, where's the youngling whose constantly at your heels?"
   

[StormLord]

Friedhold waved at Aurora's concern.
"She is in the ballroom playing I believe, or terrorizing whoever else is in there as it may be.  I feel there are enough people around familiar with her nature I am not as concerned with letting her roam the castle.  She knows she isn't to enter the engine room or try to leave."
He takes a deep breath and sighs and turns back to Aurora with a slightly concerned look.
"Actually there is...hmm.  Do you still weave as you did before?"

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Aurora, Friedhold
She was taken aback by the question. Truth be told, she hadn't really... tried since everything came back. And she lost it. There had been no end of other things to occupy her mind. She doubted she had lost it. Hoped she hadn't lost it. She'd kept it for all these eons, had been cursed with this form because of how ironic her patron thought it would be. She reached a few fingers to her opposite wrist and flexed the minute muscles there...

and internally breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled away a several strands of silk.

"I do," she nodded to friedhold, already seeing where this might be headed. The expression she wore at the realization was softer than usual, almost wistful "Let me guess, her clothes are starting to wear out, aren't they? I don't think I've seen her in anything else since she's been here."

[StormLord]

Friedhold nodded as Aurora pulled out the strands of silk, but followed with a frown and shaking his head.
"Worn is only half of it, they have become too small.  I believe she has grown the equivalent of several years since we began this journey.  What makes me most concerned is that I do not know why this has happened."
He thought for a moment then gave a concession of a half-smile.
"At least she seems undisturbed by the phenomenon."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Aurora, friedhold
"o-oh..." Aurora couldn't help the mix of intrigue and dread she felt at that revelation. On the one hand, how curious it was that the effects of living in the castle and travelling between different times and spaces had apparently elicited an accelerated growth in the girl. On the other, that may not at all be what's happening... the child may in fact just be growing at a normal rate, and it was the rest of them who had become blinded and numb to the true passage of time.  Or perhaps it was some amalgamation of the two, and they were all adrift in abnormal temporal currents, but the child was simply the first to experience the results? She felt a cold sweat break out on her brow at the mere thought of the latter scenarios.
   Sweat? Sweat? When did I start to sweat again? It's been eons since...
   "W-well, no issue," she continued, deftly wiping away the sweat and disguising the motion as if she were drawing out more silk to measure with. "I've made plenty of garments for when they hit this stage. Though... question; what age do you think she is now? And this is the only anomaly with time you've noticed so far, yes?"
    Why even ask him that?! Either answer leaves my fear as nebulous and menacing as before.

[kj1225]

Kraken, Lyra, Perlita, 6D

Kraken chuckles at the teen's statement. "Well, I'm sure I can help you out with your gunnery... Archery...? Shooting, at the very least. I'm something of a crackshot even if my specialty lies more in automatic weapons." He pats his machine gun affectionately and partially as an example before turning to Lyra. He thinks for a few moments before responding. "Well, there's Boomfist, the caveman appeared just before me I think... There's the chick with the sword through her... obviously you three.... Oh, and the Gura cosplayer. I think that's about it. I think I caught a glimpse of an orcy looking dude as well? But yeah, that's about it." Kraken nods mostly to himself as he concludes.

[StormLord]

Friedhold nodded and began running things off to himself, half mumbling as he worked through the timeline.
"Well she was about...Six when her *achem* experiments began, and those took several months to complete and then a year?  Perhaps more.  Between that time and the collapse of the city, hmm...that would make her true age seven or eight and then taking into account the advancement...Ten or eleven?  I'm afraid I don't have more information that tha-"
He paused, taking a sudden puzzled look at Aurora.
"Oh I had not even considered a time dilation event!  I do not know how I would go about testing something like that, but her metabolism is working at an accelerated rate and her body seems to be getting energy from somewhere that is not her food since she isn't eating more than she was before..."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Aurora, Friedhold
Just as she thought, the answer did little to assuage her mounting anxiety. But if what the scholar said was right, the changes might have more to do with the girl's unique biology than any temporal variations. She had just as little idea how to measure the latter as Friedhold himself, but the former? Now that would be child's play.
    "Hmmm, well... how about you take me to her and we'll see?" Aurora finally decided, "It'll kill two birds with one stone. I can get her measurements for the new clothes, and I should be able to tell what's going on with her by reading her essence."

[StormLord]

"I will return in a moment then."
With that Friedhold steps away, walking over to the large double-doors of the ballroom and poking his head through.  He shouts something not entirely audible, but along the lines of 'Leave the trash spider alone and come here'.  Followed by the patter of bare feet on stone as he comes back with Nessa, the Little Sister.

Aurora might notice a couple inches of height since the last time she'd seen her, but certainly that the decorative hems on her dress had nearly all been popped or loosened and her skirt was riding nearly above her knees at this point.

"This is Miss Aurora, say hello." 
"Hello Miss."
The girl stares blankly up at Aurora for a few seconds before blinking slowly twice.
"You might be from the same place the angels go, you glow the same way..."

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Aurora, Friedhold
"Yes, I suppose I probably am." Aurora nodded, still not exactly sure what the child saw and had seen, but knowing enough from what the albino had told her in the Rec Room to not question the remark too deeply. "Now, little one, I just need to get your measurements so I can make you a new outfit. Hold out your arms to your side, and it shouldn't take more than a minute."

She was lying, of course. She had already eyeballed the rough measurements within seconds of getting a good look at the girl. The act of physically doing it again was merely to narrow the margin of error and to buy time for what really mattered here. She waited for Nessa to comply before beginning the work, holding out the strand of silk and marking the findings as she went. All the while she allowed her senses to expand, and then focus. Sensing the life around her was trivial at this point, she practically did it without even trying. Most of the time it was little more than information flitting in the back of her mind, easily ignored if she so chose.  But this was not something she could, or would, ignore.

Just as she'd done with the silver haired girl, Aurora peered into the Nessa's life essence the entire time she measured her, attempting to find what might be causing this sudden burst of growth, and how much more it might proceed before calming back down. It would be handy to know how much room to leave for her to fill out, if it wasn't going to stop anytime soon.

[StormLord]

The girl cooperated as well as a squirming child could.

Whatever Aurora may have been expecting, what she found was almost certainly different.  Two lifeforces residing within Nessa's body.  One, her own, is vibrant and intense and practically overflowing with power.  An intensity of positive energy well beyond what a human of her size and age should be able to contain without popping like a grape, much less produce herself.  The other is weaker, muddled and hidden within, far too weak to exist as a separate entity again if it ever was.  The two are bound somehow, with the tiniest sliver of divinity floating around somewhere between them.  The excess it seems, must go somewhere and if it can't escape it's simply making the vessel larger.

[Sutoratosu Akira]

Aurora, Friedhold
Alarmed but otherwise relieved that her earlier fears were probably unfounded, Aurora pulled back from the child. She smiled so as to not give away that anything was amiss. "Thank you, dear. Why don't you run along and go back to playing now? I'll show you the new dress once it's done."
    Waiting until Nessa was out of earshot, she soon turned back to Friedhold. Six spydric legs emerged from her back as she drew a few more lengths of silk from her wrists, hooking them into the minute claws at the end of each foot. Together, they formed a natural loom upon which aurora began weaving, fingers and legs dancing with deft confidence and speed that would be impossible for most other creatures.
    "Alba told me about the girl's... nature," she eventually said, "how she harvests the essence of the dead for you to use. What I sensed in her just now... there's far more life in her than there should be for a human child so young. And it's not coming from the parasite. There's... well... somewhere along the way, she seems to have somehow harvested a shred of divine power. That power lingers in her even now, and I'm fairly certain it's the cause of her excess life force, and the subsequent growth. It seems to be making her better suited to house it, in a sense. Things are going to be very... interesting for her going forward. You were right though, it doesn't seem to be causing any distress or harm. I'm not even sure if she's noticed the changes herself yet."

[Chevaleresse]

Mitsurugi arrived in the entrance hall, lost in thought as she often was. The happenings on the previous world troubled her deeply, particularly what happened as she was leaving. What was I to do? Where is the correct answer? Maintaining my status means not taking offense lying down. Maintaining my image means not spreading fear among anyone but the enemies of my wards. To regain my power, I must accomplish tasks beyond what I have currently. Fate has caught me in a trap from which escape seems impossible. Her eyes rose from where they'd slipped to the floor up to the walls, only to stare off into the great nothingness beyond the castle walls. "The only option is to struggle until oblivion. No more, and no less."

[AzyWng]

Kraken, Lyra, Perlita, 6D

Lyra nodded. "Sounds like you've run into a few folks I haven't. Well, as long as you're making more friends than enemies, right?" Lyra grinned nervously, hoping she didn't show off how unused to this sort of conversation she was. "If you wouldn't mind having a second student, by the way, I could stand to work on my own marksmanship. Been a while since I've used a gun extensively, and while I don't these days, I may run into a situation where a gun's needed."

[kj1225]

Kraken, Lyra, Perlita, 6D

The large man chuckles, scratching the back of his head before nodding. "Sure, that'd be fine by me! You know, I actually wanted to be a teacher once upon a time... Maybe if I ever retire!" The look he took up easily said "If I live to retire" rather than what his words had. But he's quickly back to smiling raising a hand as he starts to turn away. "Anyway, I'm more used to breaking things than I am fixing them... Well, that's not true but I am sure I don't wanna know what repairing a humanoid robot looks like, so I'll leave you ladies to it! Catch y'all later!" And with that he leaves through the same door he came in.

... And was soon met with yet another strange woman, this time wearing some distinctly Japanese clothes. Heh, just like one of my Mongolian basket weavings. After taking an appropriate amount of psychic damage from that thought, Kraken approaches, clearing his throat so as to avoid startling the pensive looking woman before speaking. "Ah, ahoy there miss! Uh, I'm one of the new guys, Kyle "Kraken" Murdoch!" He gives her a rather jolly wave as he enters appropriate conversation distance.