With feline grace, Morgan lands on his feet. "Interesting. Did gravity change, or is the ship moving?"
"I know, right? What's the page say?"
Izami clanged off of the wall a bit as things went sideways, but didn't seem harmed - she had a very sturdy structure, and was more of a threat to the wall than it was to her. "I can call up a floating disk if anyone needs to rest on it." she noted, wiggling slightly to get a better glimpse of the book.
The ship is very clearly moving in an oddly familiar, up and down pattern. The flavour of the air has also changed, taking on a salt tang.
The pages detail the trip to this point, the main deviation from the norm being that the Awahou had found some survivors of a small yacht, even compared to the relatively small vessel, and that she was preparing for a storm.
Nurai tried to hold the book so anyone who was interested in reading it could see, though she was a bit distracted by the sudden changes around them.
"So, they picked up some new passengers and were heading into a storm..." she summarized, a few theories coming to mind but looked to see if there was further information that might give more...
"I believe the ship is remembering. We may be about to relive the traumatic experience that was shipwrecking, like a memory. Fascinating."
To avoid the rolling and shaking of the boat, Morgan picks himself up with telekinesis by the scruff of his neck, remaining suspended in the air.
"Then, perhaps the key was in the castaways they had recovered."
Looking out the window is enough for Nurai to see if this is the ship remembering, it's a very complete one - the warped world of the Twilight has vanished, replaced by an angry grey sea complete with high, choppy waves.
More interested in the sudden change in environment and any dangers that may bring, Jennifer asks out loud for anyone reading the book: "Who were the survivors in the yacht?"
Kaelic comes back in and nods out the window. "Hey, uh, I think we have a problem."
He looks to the book. "I can try to push positive energy into it. That might break it's power if it's some kind of haunt."
"Let's not be hasty with that..." Nurai cautioned against more magic use in such an unstable space as she tried to find an answer to Jennifer's question and any other information that would be useful - and get this done quick.
Quietly, Morgan traces back the path they had taken, looking for anything else that the ship may have conjured.
The journal explains that the woman, Morgan Lafyette, and her son Owain, were put into the guests quarters near the Captain's cabin. There posessions and what cargo they were found with were put in the rear hold.
Morgan did not get very far - only a few feet from the door - when the scent and sound of crewmen reached him. The scent and taste of the salt water was also very realistic, for whatever this was.
"If a historical figure of myth is going to come up with a fake name, why not use a name that's nothing like their actual name? It's almost as bad as spelling your name backwards trying to be clever."
"Whatever hallucination we are exploring" Morgan's voice comes from his summoned humanoid's mouth "has created a very good impression of water and crew. I suggest looking for my namesake."
Nurai nodded in agreement with Jennifer, though did not even want to think how someone might attempt to say Nurai Ayaulymkyzy backwards, and contined to skim through the book quickly - allowing her shadows to ensure she did not bump into anything as she did so, "Finding them or a way off of here quickly that isn't into the sea, does seem best.
The ship rolled once more, causing more knocking and banging around - and several shouts and screams from the vessels crew - but without the element of surprise was no challenge to the party.
Finding the guest cabin, which appeared to have been that of the second or third officer, displaced to join the rest of the crew, wasn't terribly hard. A small sign had been posted on it for the crew to not disturb the guests and that Han-Ko could be found in the bunkroom.
Jennifer opens the door to the guest cabin without knocking and walks inside.
Kaelic waits outside and takes a moment to pack up his wings under his robe.
"Don't splat anyone." He mumbles meaninglessly towards Jennifer's back.
Nurai also waited by the door with the book. She tried to read through quickly, occasionally looking around as she tried to remember the routes prior to this memory playing - if this was all an illusion, then going back the way they came might be the safest. Hopefully, they would find answers soon and she could risk closing the book on this...
"Feel free to cut an opening if you need to. Walls are basically optional to me." the sword suggested.
The book did not seem to have the details of the incident that was occurring. The last entry details preparing for the storm.
While you could almost certainly carve a fresh hole in the narrow section of wall, the door is not locked and opens easily enough. Inside the room are a neatly dressed woman at a desk and a towering young man sat on a narrow bed. Both look up as the door opens.
"Yes?" the woman asks softly. "Is there a problem? The captain said we would not be in port for another day."
Jennifer squints at Mrs. Lafyette, looks at Nurai and hooks her thumb at the seated woman, and then looks back at the woman as recognition dawns.
"Ooooohhhhhh!"
She turns back to Nurai. "Called it! In the future, she learns to do a better job with the fake names!"
Nurai smiled, enjoying Jennifer's enthusiasm, "Old dogs, new tricks, I guess. while contemplating, if this memory was as...interactive as it appeared, how Carmilla would react to a shadowed figure leaning against her room's door as Nurai was still fully shrouded in her eidolon. Could be interesting but not really Nurai's main concern at the moment.
"I'm not sure how long this will last or the stability, but the entries have ended..." Nurai said, conflicted. Nurai was unsure how risky this whatever was or how long to wait to see if any answers came out or whether trying to close the book again might be best or cause something horrible. There were a lot of options, she kept her eyes out and the book close as she tried to figure it out. Maybe she should have taken more interest in lessons in arcana if she was going to try to deal with these sorts of odd situations...
Hearing the sound of conversation, Morgan backtraces and peers into the room. "Friend of yours?" he asks through his summoned companion.
"She turned out to be a bargaining chip," Jennifer replies before changing the subject, ignoring the two ship guests that she just barged in on.
"If any of you are more than a few decades old, you can try and use the ship's radio to get a message to your past self! Like buying Apple stock, or... or Yahoo! That was a thing, right?"
"I...who...what on earth are you all talking about? The future? Are you...insane...people...suggesting that you know me in the future and it's time travel? And why would someone buy stock in fruits?" The woman shook her head. "I fear you are all quite mad. Would you kindly leave our cabin before we call for the Captain and his mean?"
Snkahahahahahaha. As if the concept of madness even applied to her. Still, this was quite the curious situation, wasn't it? Where exactly was it going to go...?
Morgan grinned his widest smile. "We are all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." he quoted.
"Okay, I think it's time to go. Let's not antagonize the poor lady any more."
"Oh, and remember to tell your past selves to buy up all those domain names once someone invents the internet!"
"Anyway, I don't care if I antagonize her. Nurai and I have met her before, and we didn't really get along. We can probably do this again on the next ship and have better luck at a conversation with them, though."
Jennifer turns to Nurai. "Do you think she recognized us at Jared's house when we first met her, or is this like some split timeline thing, now?"
Nurai shrugged, "Not sure, she did seem to recognize someone..." she said as her shadow eidolon took a couple steps into the room, chuckling slightly. Nurai had no desire to antagonize whatever this was - illusion, memory, timeline thing - but she also had no desire to stop the entertainment value of her shadow or Jennifer from messing with someone like this, except for being generally unsure about all the magic involved in this.
"I wish the writings were more complete and I was certain it would eventually show what we want to see. If whatever this is is going to show us what happens, where would be the best place to see it...with least interaction with the people..." she thought aloud, holding the book in a manner like she was moments from trying to close it again. Nurai was tempted to do so if this was going to take too long or end up not showing what they wanted, but was nervous that it would react badly with how it has run so far. Magic was weird enough at the best of times, compounded by the oddities of the Twilight.
"A Shadow Caller..." The woman rose smoothly to her feet, straightneing her skirts. "Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am known in the mortal world as Morganna of the Fey. Clearly you know something of magic, for all your odd clothing and odder speech. I will state now, clear and true, that if you mean to bring harm to those of this ship or the vessel herself I shall oppose you, for I owe them a debt." She raised her chin, and the large young man behind her also rose to his feet. He had to keep his head bent to fit in the room, being careful not to touch the ceiling above him.
”Do you want to tell them or do I get to?”
Jennifer rubs her hands together in glee.
Nurai slowly nodded at being identified. This Morganna was acting very differently to what the summoner recalled. Whether it's another act or that she changed with time to the horror they had met or how whatever kept this memory in this book knew her was different or some other explanation, Nurai knew there was likely no way to be sure. The shadows just watched quietly.
"Go ahead," she encouraged Jennifer, though Nurai wasn't sure how much of their intent would matter in what happens here. Nurai moved back a bit to consider, looking around.
"Okay. Carmi--I mean Morganna. We are just hear to observe. We've traveled from the world you're in now to the fey realm to search for a ship that's been sucked through. But! We've done so from decades from now when you are. In the fey realm, while we were looking for our ship, we came across this ship, which probably went missing a long time ago. Probably the same day that it is to you, right now. We found the captain's log in this ship in the fey realm, and it had as the last entry, which I bet is today's date! I'm not going to tell you how we got here, but we unexpectedly are.
"Soooooo... we're looking forward to seeing what happens to this ship, because it could be what happened to our ship. At first I thought it was your doing, but now that seems less likely. Hopefully it means you've f!#*ed up somehow, so at least I'll get something out of that."
Morgan turns upside-down, trying to make sense of what the two women are telling each other. The way he sees it, this is a memory of how the ship got to be stuck in the Twilight, rather than actual time travel.
The woman, although she looked insulted, frowned. "It is unlikely we are the cause, we are simply escorting an artefact that should not..." She paused for a moment. "During your...whatever place you come from, was there a container in the ship's hold, with a section of an instrument?"
Oh boy. Magic instruments. Izami considered talking, but decided to hold off for the moment - even her telepathy might be noticeable, and she dearly loved the surprised look on people's faces when they realized she wasn't just a really good-looking sword. (After all, on a scale of 1-18 for beauty, she was about a 22. She took pride in her looks, dangit.)
Nurai glanced to the others before replying, "Yes. We were looking to see if there may be a reason why multiple boats of different times were moved between the planes and came across an odd object and this book giving off magic auras..."
"That is to say, we were blindly poking and prodding in the weirdest pieces around us, hoping that we would get to our destination."
The woman relaxed. "Then it would seem that whatever else happens here that our obligations are fulfilled, albeit in a poorer fashion that I would prefer." She paused for a moment. "I do not suppose your histories speak of this ship's crew again?"
It was hard to believe this was the same woman as before with how she was acting, but she was certainly not the only one here Nurai didn't really understand. At least her concern for the ship seemed sincere...
...but naval history wasn't really one of Nurai's strong points, certainly not enough to give her any reassurances and her shadows gave no care for the matters of humans even when their summoner worked with them.
"Nobody ever heard from them again."
"Then there is nothing else I can do here." She looked regretful. "The object will be safely removed from mortal hands, and that will have to do. Is there anything more that you wish from me? Other than to purchase...stocks in apples?"
"Not from you." Jennifer looks up at tall and silent Owain.
"Look me up when you know the difference between how time travel works in Back to the Future versus Endgame." She holds up her finger to make a point. "And not before you know what both of those mean."
She walks out.
The tall man raised an eyebrow in confusion, but shrugged his shoulders and nodded.
Between what and what? Thought Izami, who had never seen either of the things being referenced there.
Kaelic didn't understand what interaction was happening just then, but he tried his best to recall anything about this boat from history and how they might get back to their own reality. Or, rather, their previous reality. Their own timeline. Whatever.
"Hey. No spoilers." He remarked to the librarian.
The woman smiled slightly and sadly. "Spoiling the future is more complex than you might imagine." She gestured to the door. "If you will allow us to pass, we shall need the open air to leave this...iron box."