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“You’re very astute, Nephthys. Excellent hypothesis.”

Kallichore couldn’t help but feel a swell of pride over Nephthys starting to deconstruct the preconceived notions senshi might have held about themselves and their homeworld. She diligently followed the senshi of vampires, all the while marveling at the care with which the whole building seemed to be constructed. Despite the passage of time, and whoever the workmen were, this building was truly a thing of beauty.

Climbing the stairs, Kallichore looked forward to uncovering what might be on the upper floors. It was with genuine curiosity and appreciation that she stopped to examine the wallpaper that peeled from the hall. Whoever lived here before had an eye for decor, and it showed with how much thought seemed to be placed in each and every design aspect. The wallpaper was faded of color, but the fact that there was still so much of it remaining despite the acute passage of time was a testament to its quality.

“Nephthys, do you think that, perhaps, the Victorian age on Earth was inspired by places like this? Clearly this building is so much older than a few hundred years and yet it’s in such good condition… It’s a marvel, really.”

Not that the eternal senshi knew much about architecture. She could still appreciate it.

These must have been the bedrooms Nephthys had mentioned earlier. With a chuckle, Kallichore attempted a joke. “Perhaps living in mansions is your destiny, Nephthys. This place must be some kind of domicile. Luxury must be in your blood.”

It was quite possible that some of the culture had managed to make its way to Earth, though the exact mechanism was unknown. Kallichore nodded, listening as Nephthys wondered these things aloud. "It could very well have been cultural exchange. It's difficult to say where Earth was, technologically-speaking, when the planets were wiped out..." So much of the written information is unintelligible. Such a shame.

"It's possible you lived here, or perhaps you didn't. Do you feel a sense of familiarity about this place? Or does it feel unknown to you?"

Kallichore herself had felt a familiarity about the castle, but not with any particular village home. Perhaps she spent the vast majority of her time in the castle, rather than in the villages. "A domicile is a home. Someone might have lived here. I assume so, anyway, due to the decor and bedrooms. Unless it's a hotel? It doesn't seem like a hotel, though bed-and-breakfasts are just converted homes..." She trailed off, pondering the mechanism with which this silken wallpaper was adhered to the wall. It seemed to her that this building was a home, and not a bed-and-breakfast sort of setup.

"Seems larger than it looks?" she asked, wandering into the bedroom to take a look at the furnishings. Did they have oil lamps, or electricity? Thematically speaking, oil lamps seemed appropriate.

That was one of the mysteries Kallichore sought to unravel. Surely there must've been some cultural influence and exchange during the Silver Millennium between the stars and the people of Earth. Why else would monuments exist in space and on Earth that bore the exact same names? "It's possible that someone from Nephthys influenced designers those untold number of years ago. It's always a possibility that the design simply wasn't fashionable until much later, but the design survived. Fashion is cyclical, anyway. That is my hypothesis."

This house hides things.

A familiar feeling.

What architecture could account for a home that was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside? Was it architecture, or was it magic? Kallichore itched to find out.

"If this house hides things... Nephthys, what gives you this impression?" It wasn't at all that the senshi of madness didn't believe her companion. On the contrary, Kallichore was interested in the thought process that created Nephthys' statement in the first place. Knowing the house was hiding something might have been based on a memory or an instinct about the place. She wanted to explore that. "Hidden walls, do you think? Sliding bookcases? Rooms under the floorboards?"

Kallichore nodded, wondering if this house would operate like old mansions in horror movies - pull a book and the whole shelf moves. To that end, the eternal senshi started gingerly investigating. She didn't want to disturb too much or potentially damage a lovely relic, but each candlestick and book and drawer needed testing. Every bedknob needed to be turned, every wall section examined.

"You're very observant, Nephthys. You've an eye for detail." she murmured, tracing her hand across the headboard of the bed, looking for another place on the wall to test.

Kallichore followed the senshi of vampires out into the hallway, glancing up at the candles. "A sliding wall, perhaps? It could be a larger secret entrance would be out here, rather than in a private bedroom. Unless the occupant had their own secrets..." Hard to say, but Nephthys would have to take the lead on this one. A senshi's native world was something only they had extraordinary access to.

Kallichore's smile was uncharacteristic of her usually-serene appearance. She was truly surprised and thrilled by the sudden movement of the wall at the end of the hallways. Indeed, Nephthys was correct - there was a hidden walkway, a grand staircase that lead to a fountain beneath a great glass dome. Perhaps it was an outdoor entertaining area in the distant past? Following along behind Nephthys, Kallichore marveled at the architecture and design and engineering of the thing. It was both beautiful and functional.

"Look... at this!" she breathed, marveling for a moment. "What beauty. Nephthys, this is incredible. Who knows what other secrets lay behind this ancient walls...?"

Truly, perhaps other secrets were laying in wait for them. On the other end of the tiled area was another staircase, perhaps leading to more unexplored rooms. The fountain was solitary but not frightening. There was a strange and dark beauty about this place.

"It's beautiful, Nephthys. Truly."

"Yes, let's check the first floor. That seems to be the one place eluding us..." Kallichore looked up and found that candles were lighting their way. Following along behind Nephthys, heels clicking along the ground, the senshi of madness seemed happy to be here. It was an interesting place full of mysteries and secrets to uncover from hundreds of years in the past. She so loved secrets.

Nephthys had a point - why have it just to hide it? It seemed as though the portion of the house that normal people might have seen was only a portion of the whole.

She could only speculate, in the end. "I wonder if perhaps the front portions were for guests and entertaining, whereas the rest of the house was meant for the family? Are there any memories you're experiencing while we're walking through these halls? Sometimes they came to me on my moon, other times... not. They didn't always provide insight, either."

Kallichore nodded and followed along, musing aloud. "Impressions are better than nothing... at least we're not wandering blind. Perhaps you weren't a part of this particular house, and only visited?" It was impossible to say whether the strength of a memory or impression was based on how much time a senshi had spent in a particular place in the far distant past. Kallichore herself wasn't sure if she'd spent a great deal of time in that tiny village back in her moon, and still she received an incredibly powerful vision from the temple in the center.

Dusty carpeting barely clung to a beautiful hardwood floor, and the senshi noted that the carpet wasn't rotten. It was likely simply incredibly old rather than damaged by moisture - that certainly helped the smell. She would rather it be dusty than moldy any day.

When the pair reached a crossroads of sorts, Kallichore tilted her head. There was no way for her to know what lay at the end of each hallway. "Nephthys, do you get the feeling we're towards the back of the house? I'd rather explore everything, if we can, as efficiently as possible. If we head towards the back, we can double-back and explore everything from side-to-side, if that makes sense."