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Chiara didn't exactly look thrilled about having to bend over in her sundress, but she would come further into the room, only distracted by the wall painting for a moment, before she was kneeling down in front of the table he'd suggested. "I don't see anything down here..." She's trailing off, "Hold on." She'd grab the crystal off the ground and she'd straighten up, before offering the crystal to him.

"Nothing under there but a bunch of dust...and this." Once he took the crystal, she'd move a little closer to the walls, to examine the paintings. "I wonder if Populus knows about this place..." Though she seemed to mostly be muttering to herself. Her eyes fall on the painting that most resembled the man, and she'd turn and look back at him, "This one looks like you." Now the situation was finally getting a little weird. She was burning with questions, but he didn't really seem like he was the type to be answering them.

He gingerly plucked the crystal from her hands and stared at it with intent. So this was why he hadn't been notified sooner: the device was incomplete. Still, this was good news, because a layer of dust meant that the item had been pilfered long ago. She was asking him questions again, but he had his own questions for her. The time for being quiet and contemplative had passed; if he was going to get the item, he would have to speak up.

"That's because it is me. The people who built this place were my people, many years ago. They put something here, an important artifact, and it seems that this," he announced while holding up the crystal, "is all that's left of it."

He paused to think about his next move, letting the oppressive silence of the room fill in the void betwene them, before he resumed speaking.

"Museums. Do you have museums or archives around here? Someone with a private collection of antiquities? We must locate this item, soon."

Chiara turned around to face him, "Well...unexpected of you to just admit it like that." Her lips twitch in a hint of a smile, which quickly faded when he explained he was still missing something. "I do. But it's mostly all books. It had a lot of things in it before my husband remodeled it though...it could be there?" She wasn't entirely sure. Other than that, "I know about most of the museums in this area, but I don't think it's a very good idea to try and steal from them. People in places like that tend to get irritated when you take things."

The stigma attached to theft had never deterred him before, and it was unlikely to deter him now. Still, he was intrigued by the mention of the possibility of her possessing the item. It would be convenient if he could avoid travelling further than he had to in order to retrieve the item. Still, there was something that tugged at his memory, some small inkling of a thought that kept him from readily agreeing with the offer to check for the item. He acted impulsively, something he never did.

"How old is your husband?"

Chiara's asked how old her husband is, and she has to pause and think a moment, "Over 4,000." She'd shrug, "Age doesn't matter much with him. If you're thinking he purposely took it, I highly doubt that. Still, the library had stuff in it when it was renovated. I don't know who owned it before that, and I always did think it was strange having a library there in the middle of the woods, but there you have it. It could still be there. Shall we look? It's back near the cabin."

She really wasn't going to enjoy this walk back, and when she finally got some alone time, she was definitely soaking her poor sore feet!

He took a last look around him; this was what his race had been reduced to: cave paintings and vague memories. Frustration took hold of him and he felt the surface of a nearby wall, letting his fingers follow the eroded remains of letters and transcribing them in his mind. They had wanted help, salvation; the picture of him was something to be looked at in awe, something to hope for any day now. He had been busy, and so it was with every outpost, settlement, cache, room, and hovel he had found thus far. The remains of refugees, their savior always a few centuries away from saving them.

Still, it was time to move on. The item was still here, somewhere, and he was determined to retrieve it. He clutched the crystal and placed it inside the satchel with the map before turning to the woman.

"If you can picture this library of yours mentally, we will take a portal there. Think about a central room or location in the library, and I will open a portal. You will lead, but grab my hand when you enter. Understand?"

Chiara fell silent as MiG seemed to be thinking about something while he looked at the pictures. She was lingering near the doorway he'd made to the cave, and when he says they'll take a portal instead, she'd look a little worried. "Sure. I understand." Picturing the library wasn't a problem at all, since she spent nearly more time there than she did at home. She just wasn't sure if she should actually trust this guy, considering they'd only just started speaking a little while ago.

Still, he seemed pretty distressed about whatever he was missing, and the faster it was returned to him, the faster she could get back to her book. Which was still laying outside the cave. She'd just gave to get Neji to bring it to her later she supposed. She'll move closer to him, and she pictures the library's main room as clear as she can in her mind.

He raised his hand and stood still for a moment. Suddenly, the air around them was charged with energy and a blue, glowing vortex appeared in front of them. Looking into it made the Man in Gold feel slightly queasy, which was a rare feat considering his race did not possess the proper digestive system to even get queasy in the first place. Still, he could not shake the feeling that something would go wrong sooner or later with this trip, and this was about the worst place for something to go wrong if it did go wrong. People who entered a portal without a clear destination in mind, or people who were not holding the hand of someone with a clear destination in mind, would be dropped into the Cosmic Lost and Found. It was a dimension of no time, space, or reality; a place where one would go mad from the second he arrived to the second he made his screaming, crying escape from that place, and one would go through endless, multitudinous stages of madness every second he was there. So, obviously, the Man in Gold was a little apprehensive about putting his trust in a human who he had just met.

Still, the portal was open and the item might lay just on the other side. He extended his hand, as large as a basketball, with squared shapes to his fingers and gloved in his golden gauntlet, and prepared for the journey.

"You may step in when you are ready. Don't let go."

Chiara obviously had no such qualms about this, she knew the library well. She'll reach out for MiG's hand when he offers it to her, "I won't." Let go that was. She seemed confident, so hopefully he wouldn't be too upset. Once the portal is open, she'll walk through and they shouldn't have any trouble appearing in the library.

The room that they're in is massive, with an old world feel to it. Books shelves are everywhere, in the center aisles, and along the walls. Off to either side are pathways that lead to other wings of this place, and directly in front of them was an odd clock that didn't appear to be keeping any sort of time at all. The place smelled of paper, leather and ink. A lot of the books around them were very old, and some of them weren't even in English. There were chairs scattered about, and closer to where the clock was, there was a large fireplace, with the fire lit even though it was summertime. Chiara would look around, satisfied with their surroundings. The place was huge, MiG should have no problem fitting in here. The ceiling was high and arched, and it looked to be made out of old timber.

"Well, I guess we had better start looking. What is it we're looking for again?" It may or may not be here, Chiara had no idea how long this library had been here before she'd stumbled upon it. And like she'd said, she thought it was awfully strange that there was this huge library out in the middle of nowhere. Even if they couldn't find his item, perhaps they could find a clue to where it was currently at.

Travelling was unusually peaceful this time around; perhaps it was him causing the discomfort in teleportation rather than the portals themselves. Regardless, they were here and the Man in Gold was rather begrudgingly impressed with his surroundings. In fact, he wouldn't mind spending time in here at all if he could find some free time. But he was getting distracted again, and he knew that he would need to find the item first. He eyed the fireplace with curiosity; it hadn't been cold outside to him, but perhaps the humans here required more heat around them than other varieties of humanity.

"We're looking for a stone box about two feet wide and two feet tall. It will be made of the same stone that we saw in the room at the back of the cave, and it will likely be very heavy. If you are unsure as to where it is at, we will have to make a search of this place."

Chiara looked around, "I didn't say it was here, I said it might be here. We'll have to look." She would move away from him, and she'd start checking shelving in the central room. She figured that finding this box was extremely important to him, and she honestly didn't have anything better to do.

"Just try not to wreck anything or move stuff around too much. I'm finally getting used to where everything is." She still hadn't even asked for his name, nor he hers, but she would ask, "Why is this box so important?" It might be helpful if she knew what it was for. For all she knew, she could be helping him to blow up the world.

His head raised up out of a stack of books he had been searching through, and snorted; it was his response to things he found humorous.

"Why is it important? The box is a device capable of destroying a planet. You'd never know it by looking inside it, all you would see is some copper wire strung between a few crystals like the one we found, but if you allowed an electrical charge to hit that wire while all the crystals are mounted inside, there would be an explosion roughly equivalent of a supernova created. Perhaps now you can see why I'm trying to find this thing. If I can't get a hold of it, then there's a very good chance that someone else will, and he won't be as...diplomatic as I have been thus far."

With that, he resumed his search; apparently, he had figured that his little speech would answer any questions Chiara might have had.

"Chiara!" a voice exploded out of nowhere a microsecond before a figure did to match it. Seemingly oblivious to her company or even environment, he honed in on her like a beacon, desperately grabbing her by the shoulders with wide eyes. She was typically used to his eccentric fashion; today, his fashion was his lack of it--exposing pitch black skin tone head to toe, colorful tattoos of wings wrapping over him, and opalescent, short spiked hair. His flared-wide eyes burned like embers. His voice took frantic husk as he gave her a light shake. "Help me with daddy! He's driving me insane! You don't even want to know what--" he belatedly sensed another presence, releasing her shoulders and turning to face tMiG. Ignore his full glory--try not to look down. "What's up with the dingy robot?" he thumbed at the alien. His features were largely human, save for elfish facial contours, the impossible white grin with snakish slant as he found amusement in spite of his struggle, and clearly his odd coloring.

(mobile, have to 2post it, sorry.) Visibly, he was in his late twenties and... athletic, seeing as how there wasn't anything to hide him--save for the currently greeco-roman style sandals wrought of gold around his feet and ankles, sporting colorful winglets at each side to match his bodypaint. No shame, apparently.

Chiara gave tMiG a strange look, "Why would you leave something like that laying around?" Seemed awfully dangerous to her, "Well...I'll help look." She didn't want to get blown up today, that was for sure. "Though if it's missing one of the crystals I should think it wouldn't work."

She's interrupted from saying anything more when someone calls her name and latches onto her shoulders. For a moment she thought something was really wrong, given his frantic tone of voice, but...it's just Ash again. She seems to take all of this in stride, and her eyes drift downward. "Huh. For all of Gabriel's bragging, I imagined you as rather more...impressive." She's returning her focus to Luci's face then, and she can't hide her teasing grin. "Him? No need to be rude. Some guy that wandered up to the cabin and needed help finding a box." If Luci hadn't let go of her by then, she'd step out of his grasp, "Now, I'll help you with your Father, just bring him here. If he gets to be too much, I'll lock him in Chickie's cage." She may or may not be kidding. "But can you help us look for the box? I have a feeling you'd be faster at it."

He hadn't yet noticed the new arrival when he responded to Chiara.

"I didn't leave it laying around. It was supposed to be sealed in that cave, but it seems that someone with a penchant for artifacts took it out. I'll begin looking wherever the artifacts are stored, so if..."

He stopped speaking. He had been so focused on finding the bomb that it had taken him a moment to realize that a new voice had called out and that Chiara had someone clutching her shoulder now. There seemed to him to be something lacking in the fellow's wardrobe, and the Man in Gold would have said something snarky if he wasn't in such a hurry.

"I'm not a robot, I'm wearing armor. Perhaps we can all have formal introduction after the box capable of causing a small supernova has been recovered?"

"That hurts--wait, he brags about it?" Chiara didn't get him down for long. "I... Have lots of boxes." she hadn't much clarified, but thankfully the foreign figure did. The height wasn't much shocking--'father' often manifested at such a height. "Don't know if I have any supernova boxes. The dangerous things I leave for Popul. They're apparently 'interesting to study'." his tone mocked. "...I'd need more information than an exploding box. How big was it? Was it around here?" he looked between the two, lips pursed. "Because... Y'know... Populus has a thing for hidden places and 0urious objects. Have you checked the pile of things left to you before Ragnarok?" his eyes had fallen on Chiara for the last question.

*curious

Chiara would give Luci a small smile, "What do you think?" He could probably just ask Gabriel himself sometime if he was unsure. tMiG wants his box found, and Chiara would turn her attention back to Luci, "Well, that's true. I hadn't thought of it."

She'd look back at The Man In Gold, "Can you show him that crystal so he knows what the box is made from?" She couldn't remember cataloging a box like that, but it would be much faster to look at the temple than it would be to hand look through the library, since there were printed logs of everything. "He has a point though, there is likely a better chance of it being at the temple, and all the artifacts there are cataloged, it would be a simple matter of flipping through a book or two. If it's not there, we can always come back here and look." There wasn't a specific place in the library for artifacts, one could see that many things were just all over the place, littering shelves and wall niches.

He retrieved the crystal from his satchel and handed it over to Luci.

"The box isn't made of this, it's just a granite box two feet wide and two feet tall. Inside it are more crystals like this one, some copper wire strung up between them, and a lot of empty space."

He turned around slowly and took a good look at the room around them. It would take several hours at least to search this place, and he wanted to get out of here with the box as soon as possible. The worst thing that could happen would be for him to arrive before the Man in Gold had absconded with the bomb.