2825/Project C: Resolution

Project C: Resolution
Date of Scene:	16 August 2015
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	Description pending. (Project C TP Finale)
Cast of Characters:	2, Arthur Lowell, 135, 219, 253, 255, Theo Morrison, 385, 395, 565, 626, 829, 834
Tinyplot:	Project C

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Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    A day and a half after the doorway was opened(if it is, indeed, a doorway), and the military presence here hasn't lessened that much. Despite the fact that the fleet was fairly useless for the most part, they did manage to polish off any stragglers... and help with other matters.

    On the Hadou ship, this becomes very apparent, because Ruri Hadou is there to explain what's happened in the interim. "The doorway hasn't changed, but we did recover several things from the catastrophe. Caligula and Augustus were incarcerated, but Titus escaped. We recovered several artifacts from the wreckage as well, and will be either storing them or returning them to their worlds of origin."

    Said artifacts are actually nearby, if anyone wants to look, but they're largely old items such as blades or crystals. Some might recognize the newer-looking orb in the middle of the whole collection, which pulses with a disturbing glow.

    "I've been told we have no idea what's past there, so... all I can say is good luck," she says quietly.

    Nearby are Ness and Stone, but they're actually being quiet for now. Maybe it's because they realize that this is kind of beyond their capabilities.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna is already in her Light Suit again, although she's been busy for the past day and a half - mostly with going home, visiting her parents and friends, and going to pray. A lot of praying, really, and a fair amount of catching up. She's pretty sure she'll see them all again, but there's an uneasiness in her gut that hasn't gone away.

She's curious enough about the artifacts to take a look at them, too. "Elner, Shining Prism, anything useful? ... Anything *safe* that we might use?" She's pretty sure there's nothing she actually needs, but she asks the robo-faerie (floating by her shoulder, actually in front of her at the moment) and her pendant-shaped Abstractum (if it's awake) just in case. And any information they can derive could be useful knowledge for her allies.

Yuna's attention shifts back to Ruri while Elner (and maybe Shining Prism) are analyzing the recovered artifacts. "I'm sure we'll manage, one way or the other. That *is* our job." She musters a faint smile, although it's definitely an honest one - warm, optimistic, and reassuring. She may not feel all THAT optimistic, but she's nowhere close to giving into despair or otherwise giving up pre-emptively. Meanwhile, Erina, Jiina, and Marina are also within earshot, but not really taking part in the 'briefing' except for listening in.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Marisa has been busily working on restoring her magical energies for the past day or so. When she returns to the gate, she's smelling very faintly of... Mushrooms. Lots and lots of mushrooms- but only just a bit! Whatever she ate seems to have done the trick, though- she's looking significantly more vibrant than she was then.

Which is good, because there are MAGICAL TRINKETS to sort through.

    "Ohhh," Marisa grins as she quite literally begins hovering over the Items of Power; though they're probably somewhat diminished by now. Her eyes eventually find their way to that strange, pulsing orb... and light up with dull recognition. "Oh. Oh hey, that's..."

She reaches for it... and decides- wisely- that she should probably poke it with magic AFTER they're done with all this.

    "We're not done, bat-boy," she grunts at the sphere. "You're staying right here until we've finished off that jerk in the portal. Unless you want to sock him one for stuffing you in there, or something, in which case, we might be able to work out a... deal."

Is she talking to magical artifacts!?

IS THAT REALLY WISE!?

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    "Good witch," states a young woman decked out in the most outlandish flying gear possible, "You might want to save the losing your marbles for AFTER we go through the portal." Valentha Summers is sounding as amused as can be, but her smile is shaky and forced.

    She is not AT ALL happy about this mess of a situation. And if it's one thing she, as a Wizard, hates dealing with... it's the unknown. She's usually been responsible for matters like logistics, reasoning, and handling the most bizarre aspects of things... and here she is powerless to do so.

    THe portal is glared at much like an enemy.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Getting around by floating has been awkward, to say the least. But by this point, nobody should be surprised that Setsuko Kaminagi has endured it quietly.

    She's gotten herself a replacement pair of pants, but whether there's a new boot to go with it is anyone's guess. Right now she has her pants tied off right where the left ankle would be, and if anyone looks particularly closely they'll probably notice she's already got some shin back. She still has to rely on her ability to defy gravity, however, which is the only real explanation for how the swordswoman can be standing there listening to Ruri Hadou as if she still had both feet.

    "Titus escaped," she echoes, murmuring the words softly. That's the part that concerns her the most. She isn't sure where he'll go, or what he'll do; it all depends on what sort of 'reason' he finds. Until then, there's nothing she can do. There is, however, something she can do about things that are here, right now.

    And that's to rest a very firm hand on Marisa's shoulder, and squeeze just hard enough to be uncomfortable. "We are not letting that /thing/ out. When all this is done, we are taking it back to Eorzea, giving it to the Conjurers of Stillglade Fane, and then helping them in whatever disposal method they see fit."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Apparently teenage girls dig magical artifacts because Kyra is also peering over the small array of collected artifacts with interest. If there weren't other people around and the situation wasn't teetering on the edge of universe destruction, Kyra would be picking up and poking every single one of these items. For now, she has to content herself with looking and taking pictures. She lingers, watching Yuna's fairy and Abstractum with equal curiosity.

    Once glance at Kyra can easily tell that she's encumbered with as many consumable items as she can carry, packed, looped, or hung on belts. Her Galiandan hunting rifle remains held between her hands and the alchemized CURE-ALL is strapped to her back.

    "I hope we get to come back to check this stuff out." she says conversationally to Marisa, trying to take some of the edge off of her nervousness with friendly banter. "Specifically, though." Kyra glares at the ORB. "I think we ought to destroy that thing. Yeah. Back to Eorzea. They should know what to do with that."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Stepping into portals that lead somewhere you don't know has kind of been Homura's past decade and a half, or however long. She hasn't lost count in the slightest, but the exact number doesn't really matter. Besides the fact this is of significantly greater scale than her usual, this is normal life, walking into awful places you can't be sure you'll come back from.

    You'd think experience would equate confidence but not in this case.

    The already-transformed Puella Magi stands by Ness and Stone, giving the two a quick inspection. Looks like neither of them lost an arm or a leg in that fight. "How was it, that robot? Mustn't have been easy to learn to pilot it overnight. At least West pulled through and neither of you got hurt. Arkham is that much safer from now on, hm?"

    No use rushing ahead, really. She'll move when everyone is ready.

Theo Morrison has posed:
Nah, it's just way too curious people, not merely teenage girls. Theo is eyeing the artifacts, too, but with a wary eye instead of a blindly interested one. He wants to know what the deal is, but he doesn't want to get, say, turned into salt or something before they handle... whatever's back there.

In the interim, he's provided helpful support, with repairs and healing provided to people and equipment being things he can kind of handle. Right now, he's staring at the hole in space, wondering precisely what's going to be on the other side.

Thinking about the possibilities reminds him of the Rift in Ravnica. Scuttling hordes, feasting monstrosities...

Theo shudders, waiting in quiet contemplation.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is here. He's standing on the deck of the Hadou ship with his hands thrust into his pockets as he watches the portal from his position. He scowls a bit before walking over to the pile of artifacts, curiously glancing through it to see if a sword catches his eye to add to his collection, though he doubts that will be a thing. He might be lucky, though, who knows? He does like to collect strange melee weapons.

    Mostly, though, he's hanging out near the edge of the ship. He has both arms now, though both hands are still kept in his pockets while a cigarette dangles from his mouth and trails a gentle wisp of smoke. He's more or les prepared himself for the mission, and it's potential outcomes. Contingencies and coverages are set in place, various avenues are pre-arranged.

    "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; or close the wall up with our English dead. In peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger. Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage, then lend the eye a terrible aspect."

    He doesn't say it too anyone, mostly to himself. He's more or less ready to go.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Demonbane has been repaired, and is standing ready to be used to go into the portal. Al is by the Deus Machina's foot, looking bored... or is she? It looks like she's bored at first, but those who look carefully can see she is casting glances all around, /particularly/ at Ariel.

    "Hey," she says suddenly. "Last chance to back out. Once we're in there, even I don't know what we'll find, since it doesn't lead anywhere... we can really know about. Even I haven't been through a door like that."

    She doesn't actually know enough about the orb to make a comment, so she'll presume Setsuko knows what she's talking about. "Generally, releasing an eldritch entity to fight another eldritch entity is a bad idea. Usually." She doesn't mention that she and Ariel have been doing EXACTLY THAT lately.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Ness tips his hat and shrugs, "It was pretty wild. The controls were mostly automated, we just kind of pointed it where to go, and Stone fired the guns."

    Stone admits, "It was an experience that let me feel much more empowered than I have been lately! To think that such a criminal would do that for us!"

    Ness chuckles.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel is ready to get into Demonbane and leave, as well. She's in her 'determined place' and barely fidgeting. She is fidgeting though... after all, she's been thrust into this and she's heading into the unkown to fight someone she knows she can't kill... or hopes she can't kill.

She still has no idea how she's going to stop Therion, if she has to fight him.

"It's kind of our fight, you don't have to go..."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    The military fleet here had been useful, in the capacity that Arthur was able to use them! He had made sure they were given all the thanks he could, on behalf of the Syndicate Network. Now, he's here to fulfill that network's function. A little known fact: The Syndicate Network exists as a social contingency against apocalyptic events, a category for which this particular trouble qualifies.

    Arthur has recovered himself, at least a little. "Alright kids, I'mma do whatever I can space-wise, but me and horrible unspaces of eldritch gods don't got a lot of good history, and I'm still bouncing back from the whole... Thing, yesterday. So if you're gonna need me, you better not hold your breath. You guys will be on your own." He mutters, regarding the orb warily between words. He gives a look to Al and Ariel. "Well, got lucky on the last suicide mission this year. Figure I might as well push it, right? I'm already fuckin' halfway dead anyway." He says, with a nervous smile. "'Sides, I seriouysly can't miss out on a 'punching Therion' party. All I've done for that asshole so far is keep him safe. Time to even things out. I hate that guy /so much/."

    "Alright, kids, we're on a time limit and we don't know the timer. Pack up, strap in, brace yourselves, take a deep breath, and let's hit the deep end." Arthur says, exhaling and forcing one of his confident grins one more time. "'ey, Ruri. Ness, Stone. You guys handling things on the home front. Probably didn't have anyone say this to you properly. Thanks for all the support. Took us a while to get some traction, haven't always been at our best. Thanks for sticking behind us, you guys." With a snap, he summons a Gate between the Hadou ship's deck and the space just at the border of the portal out of their world, since it was summoned at such an inconvenient location. This will let anyone who can't fly on up there jump into the portal. Arthur, himself, wastes little time. "I'm gonna take a jump before I lose my nerve." He says, spending as many seconds as he can on psyching himself up, before he takes a running leap through his Gate and then on into the portal.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    How many suicide missions does this make now?
    The one was already bad enough. Yet on being told that going through that doorway, they may never return and be lost forever, Amalthea silently resigned herself to one simple goal...
    The unicorn is up and about again, though she looks worse for wear. There's a weariness to the old knight's set of her shoulders, weighted down by the bulk of her best set of armor. Her sword and her lance gleam, freshly sharpened and waiting at her side. Somber and silent, as still as a statue and just as rigid, the unicorn's lone eye stares out to see, off into the horizon and past it. To think that her daughter would be caught in the epicenter of such a crisis is one that has silently shaken her to the very core of her soul; to know that her one beloved child and legacy was gearing up for such a great endeavor, with allies of all sorts at her back has been a sobering one. A nagging feelling tugging at her heart, a feeling she had tried to bury down and swallow since the beginnings of the Abstractum investigations and crisis. There is no burying it now.
    Sigh.
    "She's grown up well." Just a soft murmur, as the old unicorn allows herself the faintest of wan smiles.
    "It is your fight." She concedes, much louder, back to the smaller unicorn, casting her gaze over her shoulder. "But that doesn't mean you must go unaccompanied for the journey." Added as she hooks herself into the Always Booster once again.
    It is Ariel's fight, but Amalthea has silently sworn one simple vow, circulating over and over in the steel frame of her mind. If need be, she will break herself for Ariel's sake if need be.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Yuna smiles gently at Ariel, "Have you forgotten who we are that came to help? Being the Savior of Light means this *is* my duty ... and I couldn't accept myself if I let you go into a fight alone when I could have come to help you. Plus, your mothers would never forgive me if I *did* let you go on the grounds that it 'wasn't my problem' ..."

While fighting is not really good for Yuna's heart, letting evil and the Darkness do as they please is even WORSE for her emotional and mental state - particularly when her friends, the people she knows and cares about, get hurt or killed as a result. Arthur's leading the charge seems to be Yuna's cue not to hang around for long, either; she bows formally to Ruri, then heads out to an open space on the deck, with Erina, Jiina, and Marina leaving their 'waiting' spots and following her. So does Elner, obviously.

            "LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGHT *UP*!!! EL-LINE!!"

And one massive pillar of light later, the Matrix Figure, El-Line, has been summoned once again, and heads for the portal as well - although Yuna's going to linger to make sure she heads through with (albeit ahead of) everyone else.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Wow, so many people here objecting to the use of one cosmic horror to punk another cosmic horror. Marisa breathes an exaggerated sigh at Setsuko's rather conspicuous application of force. "Man, you guys sure know how to ask a girl not to do something, huh?" She smirks, taking her hands from the orb. "Alright, sure. It's not like we really need its help for this anyway."

Not since they have some actual work to do.

    Marisa takes a moment to adjust her seat on her broom, before turning towards Ariel and... Grinning. "Oh come on. I can't let someone go into that huge, ominous thing all on their own. 'Sides, I'm doing this for me as much as anything else, so don't worry about it!"

    "We should get going," she murmurs, then, tugging the wide brim of her hat down over her eyes. "Come on," With a slight flourish, she pushes her broom upward and away from the ship, towards Arthur's portal, "Let's get this show on the road!"

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "Think of him less like a criminal and more like a genius for hire. And right now we're the ones signing his paycheck, so rest assured he won't be going back to a life of crime without taking very large risks. You really should consider the business opportunities. You'd be the first police force I know of to employ mecha. And I suppose, if we don't return, you'd be morally obligated to step up your game and defend Arkham ever the harder."

    Homura thinks.

    She's PRETTY SURE they'd be the first that SHE knows. That is, personally knows. And has met. There's surely tons out there but none that she'd been involved in, so that's the delimiter.

    To Ariel, Homura just says: "What they said. Therion is your and Al Azif's fight, a bit of Nero's too, but that doesn't mean we can't clear the way for you."

    Since they're ready to move on, Homura produces a pair of black, cracks-in-reality wings, and with a hop floats up towards the portal.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Mn."

    This is pretty much the sum total of what Psyber says about the situation. Most people are focused on talking to eachother, which is more a natural biproduct of him doing the brooding loner gag. Going on the assumption that the pile of Relics didn't have a particularly noteworthy sword for him, Psyber looks over to Ariel when she makes her statement.

    "It's fine."

    There's no great and wordy speech to his niece, just the simple statement of fact that he doesn't mind doing this for her, or by proxy the universe she has come to care about. With a hop off the side of the boat, his own wings appear and he makes his way into the portal.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    The problem of Diabolos is one not to be solved here and now - it could very well make things far worse, rather than better. They're potentially going to their deaths as-is. With the matter set aside, Setsuko turns, speaking briefly into her radio; things left unsaid now, may well not be said. No going in there with regrets, no matter how small.

    And with Arthur conveniently offering them a gateway up to the 'door', with no other words left to say, Setsuko drifts in quietly, her left hand on Zanjintou's sheath. Time to go.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Most of the artifacts not the Orb are pretty minor and petty. Probably they were belongings of the Anticross, or maybe things that Therion drained in the use. Diabolos is still strong though... any energy siphoned off him is either returned, or will return soon.

    Ness grins, "That's not a bad idea. I'm pretty sure you guys will come back though. We'll keep an eye out for you. We have to, with all the trouble that hangs out around you people." Stone says nothing, which is as close as he gets to open agreement.

    Meanwhile Ruri sighs, "Good luck." It's a farewell for everyone, but she's done her best to support them. And to Al and Ariel... "Bring Demonbane back!"

    Yeah, she's still stuck on that.

    Stepping through that gate, either by using Arthur's shortcut or by flying, puts the group in... well, if one can say to /expect/ something, this is about what one would expect. A chaotic mass of swirling colors, at least at first. Any attempt to actually look would make one realize the colors aren't colors that exist in the visible spectrum, yet are somehow visible. Images, strange and alien, continually form... and there's nothing to stand on... at first.

    Also, outside radio contact cuts off at this time.

    But no, it's how one would expect a chaos dimension, complete with no up or down. Fortunately, there's no need for anyone to go insane /quite/ yet, headache-inducing though it might be. This is because in only a few moments, a larger gate appears, ornate and impressive as one might expect. A brick road assembles itself under everyone's feet, snapping together and forming up in a winding approach to that new doorway.

    "It is about time," comes a voice. A woman... ambiguous in age but probably somewhere between 20s and early 40s, in a sharp businesslike suit. She's incredibly curvy, and wearing a pair of spectacles. "I'm presuming you're looking for Therion? This way, then."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Rather than setting foot on the brick road, Yuna keeps El-Line at a hover, although a fairly low one. It's useful to have a visual point of reference that *ISN'T* designed to drive her crazy, honestly, so while she distrusts the road and the larger gate somewhat, they're easier on the eyes than the remainder of the swirling, chaotic void around the group.

"Elner, double-check communications with the rest of the team?" Yuna asks ... and then gives an uncertain look at the image of the woman on her monitor. "Uh ... hi," Yuna replies, bringing El-Line's right hand up slightly in a brief wave.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur grunts in pain. "Yeah, dunno what I expected, but that sure wasn't it." He says, poking at the brick road and squinting at the colors. He's going to do his best to... Not look at those. The terrifying chaos is something that he's mostly adjusted to; time in the Furthest Ring has trained him for it. It's the encounters with actual Noble Horrorterrors that are the worst part. "Alright, first question. Is 'personal identity' a concept that functions in this paradigm of existence? Second: Who the hell are you?"

    He's actively shutting out parts of his mind that respond poorly to the terrible chaoscape. He's not entirely sure if his magic works here; he tries seeing if he can get the spark to catch, but it sort of depends on there being a space to interact with in the first place. Making distressed sounds, he follows along with the brick road and heads towards the gate. "Yeah, we're here about a guy. Last name Therion, first name Master? Cool, I'll just follow whoever you are, I guess."

    He expects the paradigm of existence itself to try to tear him apart at any moment, so he's SLIGHTLY ON EDGE. His voice and posture are all incredibly tense and defensive.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    "Heh, thank you for that vote of confidence." Kyra offers to Ness, smiling at him before turning her attention to Arthur. She's in no rush to be the first one in-and for good reason. She's a white mage. They follow behind where it's safer and where she can keep an eye on everyone. When it comes her turn to pass, she follows without hesitation, flicking on her forehead-mounted camera to record what follows. It starts up with a feed to her video channel back on Galianda but that abruptly disconnects once she passes through. As she examines the headache-inducing environs, she does wonder if this is actually being recorded rather than the mess she got when she dimension-shifted in Scarlet's world.

    She has nothing to say to the really well-endowed woman. Just looking at her gave Kyra a very unpleasant feeling in her stomach. Quietly, she edges a little bit more behind Psyber.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber sets his feet down on the brick road that forms, careful to keep his balance as his wings vanish and he puts his hands into his pockets. He rummages around in his pockets for a few moments, "Can I smoke here? I figure the Nothingness is fine with me smoking, I dunno," He comments as he takes out a new cigarette and puts it in his mouth before lighting it with a zippo.

    He takes a few moments to stare at Nyar. In about ninety percent of all circumstances, he'd have some flirtaceous and facetious statement to make towards her. But there's multiple factors in play here: Firstly, it's far too serious a mission for him to slapdick around hitting on Outer Gods. Secondly, and much more importantly, Hastur was way hotter.

    He takes a long drag from the cigarette and nods to the bespectacled woman, making sure to interpose himself between her and Kyra less out of viewing her as a threat and more out of wanting to help Kyra feel as at ease as she can in so abstract an environment as this, "Right. Lead the way then, maam," He replies as he heads towards the second gate.

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Here, in a formless space that is everywhere and nowhere, Setsuko feels her aura beginning to shimmer around herself of its own accord; as if the divinity in her were rising up to protect her mortal side. It is faint, almost unnoticeable save at the right angle, but it is there. She finds herself unsure what to do next, until a gate appears and a path forms from nothing, and a woman shows herself. A woman with an appearance almost custom-designed to be alluring, in a place where nothing and no one should exist but them.

    The demigod immediately makes up her mind not to trust this 'guide'. And yet, they have no choice but to follow her.

    "I don't suppose that asking you who or what you are, would go anywhere productive?"

Theo Morrison has posed:
Theo strides forward, into the shortcut-gateway of Arthur's. He doesn't say anything to him, instead muttering a general, "Let's do it," to nobody in particular. It's far less dramatic than Psyber's speech, but amounts to something of the same.

They move into the space between spaces. It's slightly different from what Theo's used to -- color defines itself differently in his section of this not-actually-sectioned-off not-space -- but he adjusts astoundingly quickly. The lack of solid ground doesn't seem to faze him; he moves his body, and impels himself in a generally forward direction while forward is a /thing/ right up until the path appears.

Theo looks around. Kickotron is gone. He doesn't usually bring him into the Aether anyway, so this place is probably not a terrific locale for a construct made primarily of leashed mana. Instead, he looks at the woman, and... well, it'd be a lie to say he /wasn't/ checking her out. The fact that she's one of the few things in the vicinity with definite shape (and what a shape it is) is a point in her favor, at least.

"Are you a local, or just visiting," he asks. Theo tugs on his shirt, adjusting it self-consciously. The fact that it acts the way he expects is probably a little odd. "Usually things in this neighborhood have way more tentacles and hungering maws. Not that I'm complaining."

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "This is not that far off what I expected, but harder to look at than it was to picture it," Homura comments to Arthur, averting her eyes from the background to stare down the brick road instead. That's nicer. Easier to look at. Too bad it took a while to show up, and comes with a shady guide.

    Since others have already asked who she is, Homura avoids piling on, instead following the group silently. The one thing she thinks she expected more of was... well, hostile beings. Old Ones, stuff like that. The things that typically are said to exist or BE these places, and which are almost never friendly.

    No use complaining, she supposes.

    If the job turns out easier than expected, it's to their benefit.

    And idly to Psyber: "Smoking is bad for your health even outside reality, you know."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    It's best to enter with no expectations. Best to just fling right on in, and hope that sanity doesn't get torn apart to tattered shredded and gibbering wreckage. And yet even still the multitudinous colors are staggeringly dazzling. Amalthea has no idea if she's going forwards or backwards or leftwards or rightwards for a time, until the brick road pieces itself together and her feet settle as firmly upon it as she can believe they will, and even still, she spreads her arms to her sides to ensure her balance until she's rightfully situated from the odd disorientation, letting a sigh slip slowly through her teeth.
    No turning back now.
    Not that she planned to.
    She's about to take a step forward when that woman appears, and on complete reflex, her hand is upon the hilt of her sword, but slowly unclenches it, eyeing her with mixed curiosity and suspicion. But there really is no other way to go is there.
    "So while everyone's asking you who you are, I'm going to try 'where is here?'"

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    The last time Marisa was anywhere like this, she had been hunting youkai in Mugenkan, the Realm of Dreams that exists side-by-side with Gensokyo. But that place was more... Phantasmagoric than this place. The corridor of impossible color stings at her eyes and brain, but it's a somehow familiar ache, like she'd seen some of this before... somewhere.

    Soon, though, something else materializes out of the colorful chaos. Something tangible. Marisa's eyes narrow as the gate and the road appear-- along with that fantastically shapely woman.

This is strange. Very strange. They haven't beaten up any trash fairies for power yet, so why is the stage boss showing up already?

Logic in Gensokyo is... odd, and sort of misshapen.

    "Uh, right," Marisa murmurs, adjusting her hat. "So uh. No offense, but-- what are you doing here, anyway, lady?" Everyone else is asking where and who, so 'why' is probably the next best thing! "This doesn't seem like a place someone would just build a road."

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Into the realm of swirling chaos! It's a prospect far more terrifying than Valentha's willing to let on. She is determined to be a figure who can inspire others, should they falter. So not faltering herself is paramount.

    Which is why at the first sign of swirling, non-existential colors, she blinks, rubs her eyes, and spins around slowly in some somersaults. See? She's COMFORTABLE IN THAT.

    Yeah, right.

    Down she floats, landing on the road at the first opportunity. The woman there to greet them all gets a very, VERY intense peering. Valentha Summers flinches right there for some inscrutable reason - unless one's able to detect psionics at work.

    Whatever revelations she has, she's keeping it to herself. "Veeeeeery well, you INCREDIBLY ORDINARY GREETING PARTY. Lead on." 'I'm on to you!' her tone seems to suggest, in exasperated surrender.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel is of course in Demonbane now, and lands on the brick road without argument. Everyone else is being suspicious, and even though she's a trusting sort she can't really blame them for being odd about this woman.

"Not that I'm planning to, but can you tell us what will happen if we don't follow you?" She asks that, but she does follow the road. It seems all too easy, doesn't it? Way, way too easy.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    Meanwhile Al is not talking to the woman. She's thinking and staring. "She can't be human. Pretty sure she isn't a sorceress either. Even Lila didn't walk in here. So... either she's a grown up Lila, or she's something so far from human it doesn't even have a point to think of it like a human."

    Oh well. She'll just run a systems check again. "It really does seem too easy this way. But maybe she has a reason to help us. Or kill us."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    So much suspicion! Not that... the woman seems to care. She chats a little on radio, then clarifies out loud, "I'm just a simple bookstore owner, catering to the occult. Just passing through, really. You can call me Miss Nya, if you like. It's as good a name as any." The tone of her voice suggests that she knows people suspect more of her, and she doesn't care.

    She gestures to the second gate. "Through here, you'll find the end of the matter. I've been waiting a long, long time for this. I'm sure you'll all put on quite a show for me, however it ends." She smiles. "You were asking why, now you know. I want to see this. Of course this isn't really a place, it's just a visualization so that your minds can understand it. The point is, 'walk' through here and the confrontation will begin. Try not to be too boring about it."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    'Just a simple bookstore owner. Just passing through.'

    "You could have simply responded to my question with 'no'," Setsuko says calmly.

    With her left hand on Zanjintou's sheath, her right on its grip, the demigod turns towards the gate and floats towards it, her focus entirely on moving forward. The fact that this woman wants a 'show', ultimately, means little. She'll simply do what she came to do, and whatever else happens, happens.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"Miss Nya, then ..." Yuna replies.

El-Line bows, enough to qualify as being polite, then straightens up. "Is there another route that would take us to Therion if we -"

/Don't bother, Yuna,/ Elner interrupts. /We have no landmarks or other points of reference for navigation. We *would* get lost; going through the offered Door is the best option./

"...." Yuna's chided silence is nearly audible in its own right before she lets out a sigh and has El-Line bow slightly. "Thank you," she acknowledges Nya's 'invitation,' and El-Line follows Setsuko through the door. It's entirely possible that Yuna is praying en route.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Nya, huh. And she wants to see this.
    Strange observers to great clashes do not sit well with Amalthea, and it's a rather savage sneer that curls onto silvery lips, but she passes through the second gate.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Sigh. "I guess we don't have much choice..." A flaming spear appears in one of Demonbane's hands, and an icy shield manifests in the other, arming the Deus Machina before it strides through the doorway. Yet, there is one important facet of Ariel that cannot be ignored. One incredible root of her being which sticks with her, even in this situation, and cannot be forgotten.

"Thank you, Miss Nya!"

She is polite.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I think being outside reality is also bad for my health, but I seem to do that goddamn regularly," Psyber quips back to Homura, looking sideways at her as he still drops the cigarette to the ground and snuffs it out under the toe of a boot, "Still. Fine. No more cigarettes."

    He promptly pulls a flask from his jacket and takes a long draw, "Let's get moving," he notes to Homura, giving both her (and Arthur if Psyber can reach him) a firm pat on the shoulder before walking forwards.

    "Later, Nya. Remind me to bug you later about Metatron," He notes vaguely.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    "Just a simple bookstore owner, huh?" Marisa responds, alarm bells going off in her head like someone had lit a fire under her ass. Whenever anyone responds with 'just a simple XYZ' in a situation like this, it can only mean that they're the exact opposite of that. She should know! She does it a lot. "Right, whatever," she shakes her head. If there's only one route, then...

"Ugh, none of this sits well," the witch mutters as she putters herself through the portal, astride her bamboo broom.

Whatever comes next... Well, we'll just see, won't we?

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    So they just have to pass through a door.

    Well, okay. This beats having to navigate this place.

    Homura will approach and pass through the gate along with everyone else (likely with Psyber and Arthur given the former's giving them a pat), though she's not nearly as polite as Ariel is. She's not comfortable with people just saying they'll be watching their fight, but better that than interfering.

    Guess it's time to see what's behind door number two.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    "I have a bad feeling about this, but maybe she's a mutual enemy," Al reasons. "More likely she wants to kill us all somehow. I guess we don't have a lot of choice." Sigh.

    "Be careful, Ariel."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    'So what kind of books do you sell?' 'Old ones.'

    Kyra laughs at that but it quickly dies off when she realizes no one else is laughing. Perhaps it /wasn't/ supposed to be a clever pun! Whoops. At least Psyber being nearby has helped her enough that she even feels comfortable of laughing at this time.

    Still, deep down, she feels uneasy. Something about just being in this place was unbalancing her, perhaps the very nature of a conceptual area itself. The feeling she usually got at the moment her Wild Magic overrode her white magic was here, except perpetual. "Try not to be too boring...?" she murmurs as she follows through the portal, "What does /that/ mean?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "I'm not makin' that noise with my mouth, miss." Arthur says, referencing the 'nya' part of her name. For some reason, he just absolutely knows that making any cute cat noises would be awful, especially here. "And, eff-why-eye, if you're running the visualizations, you got the colors way off." His muttering is still tense. "Maybe I'll stop by later, pick up my own giant robot and quirky book lady, but you're lookin' a little out of stock."

    Then he forces a confident chuckle, slamming one fist into the opposite palm. "If you want a show, you'll get one. There's one thing I ain't, and that's 'boring'. Grab your eternal popcorn and pull up a six dimensional hyperchair, bitch. You said this is the end of things? I'm not gonna wander in there, beat him up, and find out now he's threatening the entire multiverse? Fine."

    He takes a deep breath, and marches on. "This is the end of it. And goddamn finally." He says, still tense. He's not sure if he's about to jump into something even more deadly, but he sure is afraid of that, rather visibly, even shaking just slightly until Psyber puts a hand on his shoulder. He steps through the gate with an intense sort of steeled willpower.

Theo Morrison has posed:
Theo doesn't believe this 'Nya' character even a little bit. Even if she /does/ inexplicably have that radio band, and even if she /does/ have an excellent... ... ...rare book selection. (What? It was implied!)

"This," Theo states, looking straight ahead, "is /so/ gonna be trapped. But I guess we've gotta spring it before we can get to the end, huh?" He sticks his hands in his pockets, thinking. He could potentially go to wherever it is they need to go... or he could, if he knew enough about the place. As it stands, this is the only way in.

He sighs. The young planeswalker pulls a hand back out of his pocket and points at the surface of the road. The background ripples very slightly as he draws a portion of it to himself, and pours it into the shape of a vessel of his own design. If you look closely enough, you can see the process happen.

"Myr Servitor." And then there's one of those metallic bird-robots. He gestures at the gateway. "C'mon, in we go."

The myr looks up at Theo, then at the gate ahead, and hops on through ahead of him. Theo follows a couple seconds after, when the possible explosions have cleared.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    "Oh, believe you me. Boring is barely in my vocabulary, 'Miss Nya.'" Valentha Summers fires off a mock salute, accentuating her INCREDIBLY SHARP gaze, and brings down her goggles over her eyes. As if that's supposed to help the situation at all. FORWARD MARCH she goes...

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Another battle, and another land laid waste by conflict. It was bloodier than usual this time, a particularly bad one. Most weren't this bad, but it was quite the reminder of that situation.

    "Do you ever miss it?" Marcus asks. He wasn't exactly a friend... just a soldier. A Confederate Soldier with an understanding of how things are, and that they aren't going to always be allies. "The Union, I mean. You ever think about going back, Setsuko?"

    After all, since the Confederacy was beaten back so far, there were very few battles in Union territory.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    OUCH! That explosion REALLY HURT!

    But at least Yuna was still alive! And even if it stung from some minor burns, she was pretty much unharmed! Whew! Though why would anyone attack the stage in the middle of her concert? That's just evil!

    "That was close!" says the girl carrying Yuna, gently setting down and letting Yuna go. Polylina flicks her hair back and looks up, searching for the culprits, before turning back to Yuna again. "Are you going to be all right? I'd stay longer, but I need to find out who did this! The Savior of Light has a duty!"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
"P ..." Yuna gazes up at the girl who just rescued her, her eyes shining as she clasps her hands against her breasts. "POLYLINA-SAMA!!!!"

She was just saved by her idol, the Masked Maiden Polylina! Worries about a terrorist attacking her concert are swept away as Yuna succumbs to fangirlish squeeing. There's just one niggling detail that SHOULD be nibbling at her attention ...

She might think further about it when she stops going heart-eyes at Polylina. That may take a while, though ...

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    Through the gate, and...

    "What?" Setsuko blinks, sways a little. Confusion. This doesn't feel like where she was. But... she is here now, isn't she? Yes. She is here, at the end of a bloody battle. Zanjintou is given a quick flick, slinging away the blood, and returned to its sheath. "Does it matter?" she responds simply, looking out over the battlefield. Dismal. Many dead and dying, from both sides. To be expected, isn't it? "If I must always dwell in the battlefield, then I will take my blade where it can make the most difference. They... were treasured allies. They helped me to settle my obligations. I will never raise my blade to them, and I would be glad to fight alongside them again. But I'm here now. That's all that matters."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Someone was in the forest.

    It was a girl, at least. Someone... not entirely pure, but not evil either, as far as could be seen. In fact, they seemed pretty nervous, hesitant. Amalthea had been stalking her for some time, of course. No one had come into the forest for decades, the stories had kept them out. Ever since Ariel had sacrificed herself, and Ellestaria had died, there'd been less and less reason to go anywhere else... and the stories had collected. Few ventured into this place alone.

    The girl calls out, "I'll just... leave this here, all right?" Nervous, yes, but not intending to stay. Just to lay the moonsteel lance on the ground.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Cigars taste the same, no longer how many years pass. The details are different... or maybe the changes were so subtle over time that Psyber didn't notice? Hard to say. It was a small comfort to seeing the tower tumbling down at last, with so many memories in it.

    "Got any idea where you're going to go now, sir?" Just one of the staff, here to watch the Heaven or Hell tower go down. He'd already gotten a new job, of course. The employees would be fine. Well, the ones that were left. "I hear Fairchild Investigations might be hiring soon. They haven't picked up anyone new since that Shoutan kid. Didn't you say you knew their ancestor or something? They transferred over from Akemi Sector."

    The problem with raising heroes is, eventually they don't need you any more.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    DANMAKU ALL OVER! PEW PEW PEW! LASERS FILL THE AIR!

    "Huh, if I'd known they were going to be this tough, I'd have gotten moving earlier!" Reimu calls out, diving underneath and barely missing numerous sizzling bolts. Sure she would have. The miko smiles up to Marisa before readying a Spell Card. "Why don't we show off a little?"

    Pretty familiar, really. Nothing strange or hard to understand at all, and plenty of excitement, just like Gensokyo always has.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    "We'll see you later, Homura! We have an evening class!" Himei calls out, flashing that smile of hers and waving. It was nice to see her that way, even if she doesn't realize it's strange. Just like she doesn't realize that she wouldn't have worn a blouse with the button undone, normally. But the Scar is gone, so why wouldn't she?

    "Bye Homura! We'll come right back after class!" Madoka calls, bright and cheerful. Why wouldn't she be? She isn't a Magical Girl, or a goddess, or anything but a college student now.

    A classic Pontiac rumbles to a stop nearby, with Paul Siber honking the horn. "You ready to go?" There's nothing strange about this, either, for Psyber. He didn't even use that name anymore. Or maybe he never did? Like Himei and Madoka, he seemed to think this life was normal.

    Only Homura knew that things weren't supposed to be like this.

    Yet whatever power had snatched away Madoka's godhood and rewritten reality to its liking, it evaded her at every turn. Frustrated her attempts to find it. Why did she remember, and why couldn't she find the culprit? It was like they could read her mind, but they couldn't erase her power?

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Into the gate, Amalthea is hissing paranoid suspicion to herself, and then...

    It is a rare day someone comes to the unicorn's forest. And it was how she had liked it. Able to live in silent solitude once again, since losses so woundingly deep and terrible had racked her to her very heart and soul. She had almost ignored the girl outright, but the novelty of someone blundering through her stretch of the woods caused curiosity to win out over apathy and disdain.
    Hooves make no sound upon the forest floot as she trails the intruder, the object in her grasp evoking a familiar yet distant memory of a time long, long, past since her descent into embittered reclusion.
    It is when the lance is set down that she recognizes it for what it is, the telescoping moonsteel weapon immediately bringing with it a flickering and dawning feeling that had been shoved as far into herself as possible, for too long a time.
    The girl will only hear Amalthea because Amalthea allows it. Slowly pacing out from behind a tree and turning her lone eye from the girl, to the weapon and back up.
    "Where did you find this?"
    Even soft and low, the sound of her own voice startles herself, for it had been so long since she used it. But the question stands.
    "Tell me, child."

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
Well, this is certainly familiar. Wasn't she somewhere else just now, though? Or was that just a dream- or a nightmare?

    "Hah! If you think this is going to go down like the last time, you've got another thing coming," Marisa laughs, her hand closing around the familiar shape of her Hakkero. An array of magical bolts crackle to life all around her-- but hold as her opponent draws her card. Marisa quirks a brow, and flicks one of her own in-between her fingertips.

A grin. She's ready. "Come on. Time's a-wastin'. Whenever you wanna start, I'm ready for ya!"

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Shoutan? Yeah, I knew that family way back at the start," Psyber comments as he takes a long puff of the cigar in his mouth. He takes it out with one hand and then considers it all over, "Working for Fairchild would be awkward. I think we all know why," Psyber notes vaguely, leaving that particular relationship as vague as he always does. The narrative can choose to bridge that gap between the two, or it can not, as theme dictates.

    'Akemi Sector', that was an interesting term that rang in his head. He'd never expected Homura to go into leadership as hard as she did, but her unique blend of awareness, talent, and his referrals in the right areas had been the perfect person to spearhead the Magical Girl saturated Akemi Sector after its mass unification a couple years back. He forgets what her faction was called over there. The... Magical Alliance? The Magical Coalition? Something like that. It put her far outside his normal reach, both career-wise and travel-wise.

    "Miskatonic offered me a full time position," He says to the staff member near him, shrugging a bit as he runs his hand through his hair, "Dean of Occult Studies. I think with everyone done with the office, with me no longer necessary, it'd be best if I just fade out. I raised heroes, but no one much needs me any more."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    It wasn't so bad, as it turned out. Despite all the rumors and the drama and the politics... well.

    Okay, things were even more awkward with Dominic, but Kyra couldn't really help that. No matter what, the whole political arrangement had been unavoidable in the end... but thankfully bearable. As it turned out, Souji wasn't all that bad! Pretty absent, but most of the rumors about him seemed to be a cultivated image to deal with the loss of her sister, Tira.

    Which meant, awkwardly, that Kyra ended up managing the dummy holdings that kept the relief efforts going. As it turned out, Souji had plenty of more philanthropic pursuits. Who knew? They just had to be secretive.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    "No, I'm going to sit to the right!"

    "It is Elsa's turn, robo!"

    The two girls are arguing AGAIN and pushing one another, as it turns out! Why were Riva and Elsa so at odds with one another? The jostling even bumped Arthur enough that he almost spills the giant tub of popcorn. The two bickering girls seemed to fight at the drop of a hat. It was weird! Girls are weird.

    Fortunately, there's always something that stops them, as the commercial break ends.

    Riva and Elsa immediately drop down on either side of Arthur, holding their hands in the air and shouting in unison, "GAMERAAAAAAA!!!"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The Semifinals were a lot more tough than thought. Maybe it was bad luck, but Theo was actually having trouble here. The problem is that he couldn't face the mysterious BRAWNDO without getting to the finals, and nobody here would believe how dangerous the man was. It had to be Theo... if he could just get past the semifinals.

    The thing is, while Wizard: The Collusion was mostly about skill, some luck was involved, and there had been a pretty bad string of draws for Theo. His life was down to four counters, and he had few creatures out and surviving, while his opponent had fifteen life left and plenty to work with.

    It didn't look good.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    People who read her mind always do seem to know what buttons to push. Those who have power often don't want it, and it's true for Homura too. Everything she has she'd trade for a normal life with those she cares about, but that's not really possible. Never really was, and never will be. Under normal rules, anyway. She's kept a tight enough lock on her plans to change the rules themselves that nobody really knows, and nobody's gone and pulled it out of her.

    As Psyber drives by and stops, Homura frowns. Maybe she'd have liked being in the same classes as those two, or maybe it's just the knowledge things are wrong. Probably both, really. What a terrible dream, to give you what you want and STILL find a way to separate you from what you want.

    That won't really stop her from being nice and polite. Fake or not this is still Himei and Madoka. A brief return to her smile, a wave, a 'see you later'. Then back to facing Psyber, likely by stepping close to the passenger side.

    "You'd think you'd have better things to do than drive people around. Is retirement that easy on you, or do you just want to keep seeing us?" she asks Psyber, before glancing around. How to even start breaking this down? If it were a Witch, it'd be easy to find it. It's obviously not, or she'd already have done something. "Where to, anyway? Digging through your old case files again? Shooting range? Just dinner?"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The water flow finally falters, then slows to a trickle. Ragged cheers come up from the town below, and the dam finally seems to be stable. The magical reinforcement that Valentha had come up with had held, and soon the mystic-powered pumps would start generating power for the village, improving their life significantly.

    "Ah... sorry to bother you, but..." a young woman reminds. "The Xiticix patrol that passed by and nearly found us... we still don't know if they'l be back..."

    Sigh, work is never done.

Theo Morrison has posed:
It probably says a lot that Theo's big challenge would be something involving a card game.

The pressure's up. This was pretty much the make-or-break match for him. If Theo didn't manage to pull this one out, all of this would be for nothing. He would have to start over at the bottom next season, just like everyone else -- a fact that still galled him about this game's particulars, but something endless complaining online apparently doesn't solve -- and he just doesn't have the time to do it.

Theo readies the cards on the field, giving it the once-over again. Mystifying Fog, a Towering Titan (with a ton of wounds on it) and a pair of Cryptic Chrononauts on his side of the field -- only one of which was actually good on the defense. He grabs a coin. He was /supposed/ to have a way to rig it with other cards, but he hasn't drawn it, so he's going to have to wing it.

"Activate the Chrononauts for extra draw. Heads, heads." He flips two in quick succession...

Something about this bothers him, though. He's not sure what it is. He glances around, and then shakes his head. Must be nothing... right?

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    The drama had been unbareable from start to finish-at least for the now twice-former Hyral. In retrospect, the recovery had made a stunning amount of sense-the honor of the Murasame could no longer be disputed. In the face of the heretical pronouncement of years ago, kindled by Kyra herself, not even the ejection from the Hyral family or Cosman faith would annul the promise of the Murasame heir.

    As mercifully absent as Souji was, she still despised herself for what this had done to Dominic. Her advisors had told her that it would pass one day-simply the silly passions of a couple of teenagers experiencing love for the first time-but unlike other regrets for decisions she'd made, this one was still lingering.

    Managing money was frustrating. She was not a Calculator. Money was, for the most part, unforgiving and could not be "experimented" with like her biological samples or chemicals. There had been several missteps along the way, funds put into what were supposed to be reputable mercenary companies that had turned out to be fronts for the Shivan separatists. Lowest bidder construction companies that had not held up on the harsh conditions of the frozen continent. Painful lessons, but at least she had learned something from them, and at least the Murasame Zaibatsu was loaded enough that a few million gil lost here and there would barely stagger it.

    "And that is all for today. I'd like the portfolios of the recommended companies in by start of business tomorrow." Kyra says warily before ending the videoconference. The projector screen slides back up into the ceiling of the meeting room and the windows unshade to reveal the stormy skyline of Ramuh beyond. As usual, it is raining, lightning dancing over the rooftops, funneled down into the continent-sized city by thousands of lightning rods. Kyra watches the storm for a few moments, palming the mPhone in the pocket of her sweater-jacket, which had long since replaced the moogle hoodie she was so well known for.

    She gives into her impulse, quickly slipping the phone out of her pocket and firing off a mass text to the old Light Warriors group.

    'Miss you guys.'

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Demonbane steps through the gate... alone. At first, it's an ancient temple, with Demonbane standing atop it. This only lasts for a second, as Therion's voice intones: "Bow of Sirius. Fire."

    The streak of power will blast out the corner of the temple regardless of how well it hits Demonbane, but the scene shifts in an instant. Both Deus Machina land in thick, jungle-like vegetation, and the presence of dinosaurs says that this could be Earth's past, or a possible foreign world. Demonbane will have a chance for a counterattack, but just barely before Liber Legis is upon it. "ABRA HADABRA!" A punishing series of strikes, with space-warping fists, follow.

    "Really, I expected something a bit more, after seeing what you did to Belzebuth," he calls out. He's... kind of just toying around though. Yes, he took the first swing, but it's also fairly obvious that there's still a power gap between Demonbane and himself.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur Lowell has moved from one kind of hellscape where the rules of reality don't apply to another kind of hellscape where the rules of reality don't apply: Love triangles.

    Internally, of course, Arthur thinks what he usually thinks about situations like this: 'Why is this my life.' Externally, of course, he continues with his usual response of attempting, and failing, to be cool and confident about it. Instead as always, getting flustered is the result. He's almost knocked out of his groove by the jostling, doing a sort of "wah!" noise! He scrambles for the popcorn, keeping it up on his lap. "You know, LEFT SIDE'S still probably JUST as RAD! This shouldn't be too LOPSIDED--" He starts, kinda nudging the tub's opening over to the left.

    And then, of course, he goes along with things. Around these two, at least, it's not terribly tough to let a bit of his geeky nerdiness from. "GAMERAAAA!!" He calls out, still keeping up a bit of the standard coolkid facade. Setting up hangouts like this always seemed like a good idea at first, but after arranging the big Skull Room in his house with a bunch of couches, these two always wound up on the same couch as him and he had no idea why. For now, he tries to do his usual coping tactic whenever it came to things like this: Disengage entirely and avoid thinking about why they're bickering with each other in any way, and instead focus on GAMERAAAAAAAA. If he just avoids thinking about it, the problem will probably resolve itself. Just disengage and try to not be involved in disputes like that.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    Working on these settlements on the fringes of Xiticix territory was always harrowing for Valentha. For every bit of good she did, it was always on her mind that they were but one calamity away from being wiped off the map. And what was Lazlo doing about it? NOTHING yet. What was the Coalition doing? NOTHING. What was Free Quebec doing? NOOOOOTHING.

    Sometimes, she felt so alone out here.

    So powerless.

    "And if the fails to return, a larger patrol will follow. One out for blood. It IS only a mater of time until they come in force. I alone cannot protect the town."

    But after getting that blunt news out of the way she grabs the young woman and draws her in for a tight, reassurring hug.

    Only afterwards does she step out onto the dam and wave towards the cheering town, giving them a thumbs-up!

    It's a hollow smile inside though. The Xiticix problem... what to do? Can she truly make this one town safe...?

Ariel (219) has posed:
Well that sucks. Ariel expected to be coming in with support from her friends and family, yet here she was facing Therion... alone. It wasn't like she was afraid to do that, but she was UNPREPARED to do that. That's why the shield barely comes up in time, and at an imperfect angle, to block the incoming bow of Sirius. "GAH! AL!"

Stumbling back into vegetation, Ariel immediately realizes that they're hopping between worlds as their battlefield. No wonder the others were missing. She lurches Demonbane forward, Cthugha's spear form jabbing in a swift, short strike before the impacts of the Abra Hadabra start to pound on the chassis. She's too inexperienced in an actual fight, compared to Therion... or she believes such.

But Demonbane is a part of her, too, now. As she staggers back under the blows, Ariel instinctively channels her own power, sending a blast of electrical mystical energy through the chassis of the Deus Machina, to hopefully give some breathing room.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    The Bow tears into Demonbane's arm, ripping plating off and even nearly severing the arm. "Magical Restoration beginning! Fifteen seconds before arm is operable again!" She's flying fingers over the controls, then grasping the handlebars, sending as much power as she can through the systems. Lots of red lights are already on. "Bastard didn't give us much chance, did he?"

    Plating crumples under the repeated space-time impact of the fists, causing some systems to blare alarms. The main body is okay for now, but that left arm is useless for a little while longer.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Polylina smiles, but in another flash she's gone! The battle has begun! Yuna can see it from where she is... and it's an impressive sight! Her own idol is indeed very skilled! And she's winning... mostly?

    There's something wrong.

    Yuna's experience knows that there's something missing, and she can instantly tell that she could shout something to help her! But... that doesn't make sense? How would she know? Would Polylina believe her? There's an incoming, so only hearbeats to decide on what to do. Polylina may not make it! Yet there's not much Yuna can do right now, and people are still panicking all around her! The crowds are jostling one another, and it's getting pretty dangerous for small children and young girls to just be standing around.

    Should she shout what she inexplicably knows, or is there something else she's supposed to do here?

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Marcus shrugs, "Gonna be tough to avoid that eventually. What will you do when it comes down to choosing between that and standing aside?" He's genuinely curious... and Setsuko knows that not all Confederates are terrible people. So there's no real shock that he's showing some concern.

    "What if you had a way to stop fighting, even for a little while? Would you go back?"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The girl starts when Amalthea appears, stumbling back until she bumps into a tree. "Ah... it was given to me. By... she said to take it to her sister. That you were all alone now, but that she was glad... you'd been able to have a heart. I don't understand. She insisted that I come."
    The girl bows and starts to scoot away. "I'm really sorry. I'll um... leave you alone."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The shower of light makes it hard to see the opponent, but Reimu's bombardment clears it enough to glimpse the new girl. A girl utterly unfamiliar to Gensokyo, this time. Yet there's a strange familiarity to her, something that Marisa can't quite put her finger on. The dark hair, the pretty dress... she'd fit right in with Gensokyo, but the slicing winds that billow out are somehow /wrong/ to it.

    The copy of the Caleano Fragments screams, "GO AWAY! It's not like I matter! Why are you bothering me?"

    Reimu shouts, "Shoot her, Marisa!"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The aide hesitates, then clears his throat. "Actually, sir... there IS one little thing. Apparently an old seal broke down, and there's um... issues a few blocks away. I don't think the Fairchild group has heard about it yet."

    Here's where he pauses again, and offers, "You know if you wanted one last rumble we could swing by and take care of it. I mean. If you miss it. Or we could just send word out and let them know it's in their neighborhood. Up to you, boss. While you're still my boss."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Psyber laughs, shaking his head at Homura. "My girl has such odd hobbies. I'm pretty sure Madoka and Himei want to go out to dinner with you after class, but we could get a snack on the way if you want. I thought just the shooting range. Surely you're tired of looking at the old cases by now? It's mostly dull stuff. The life of a detective isn't all that action-packed, no matter what the movies say." He'd said this many times, honestly.

    "What has you so edgy, anyway?" It's not like Homura's told anyone about this problem... but there. There it is. That niggling sensation that is usually so brief. It's actually lingering... stronger. She could find it! But how to approach it?

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "Boston might not be my city any more, but I think I can handle one last minor job," Psyber comments idly as he brushes back the jacket to reach to a holster at his side. He removes his gun and pulls the slide back just enough to make sure he has a round chambered.

    He then sets off into an easy walk, figuring the aide will come with him as he places the gun back in its holster, "You got any plans for where you're transferring into after this?" He asks, looking sideways at the young man curiously, "And don't tell your parents about this, either."

    "Arisu and Shinobu would have my ass if I was taking you out without backup."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    What if she had a way to stop fighting?

    Something about that question feels important. Enough so that Setsuko falls silent, contemplating it. A corner of her mind insists that something is wrong, that she's been trapped... but it is her divinity, of all things, that recognizes this as a moment that she should face, real or not. And so she pushes everything out of her mind, and considers.

    Her answer comes almost immediately.

    "I already have a way. I've had it all along. And I made my choice long ago." With a whisper of steel, Zanjintou is drawn from its sheath, the katana held vertically. "I fought a good fight and laid down my life. I was offered the chance to be at peace, to fight no more. To slip comfortably into death's embrace. And yet, I chose the blade. Chose to keep fighting. Chose to keep coming back to this wretched place. There will always be war. There will always be death and misery, slaughter and bloodshed."

    She sweeps the sword around herself, turning to face Marcus... or perhaps simply a question that has lingered in her own heart for years. "I have already chosen to be at war eternally. Before, it was /who/ I was. Now, it is /what/ I am. But I am still a Kaminagi. If I must bring misery, I will bring it to those who have earned it. If I must must leave an army dying in the mud, let it be an army that has chosen genocide."

    Zanjintou snaps to life. The grip lengthens, segments pulling apart, the crossguard spreading out to accomodate a much wider blade. A line of blue races outward, engulfing the small katana blade, forming a much longer, much wider flat that reaches far enough to point directly between Marcus' eyes. "If they have chosen a cause, then it is just. Without a very, /very/ good reason, I would not simply stand aside, I would lend them my blade. Because it is all that I have to give."

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
'The Savior of Light has a duty!'
'Being the Savior of Light means this *is* my duty.'

Two sentences flicker through Yuna's memory, passing each other like two bullet trains travelling in opposite directions, and the turbulence sparks other memories. The blonde idol singer blinks, recovering from her heart-eyed fangirl moment of gushing, and she watches. If Polylina is the Savior of Light ... but that was *Yuna's* role, she remembers clearly now. More pieces of memory fall into place; her abilities, her weapons, her allies -

"Polylina-sama, have Jiina help you!!" Yuna calls out. "Powered Form's armor will help you!"

Because while there is only one girl in all the galaxy chosen to be the Savior of Light at any given time ... she does not fight alone.

Apart from the friends and allies whom Yuna remembers meeting, she remembers now her FIRST major task from when Elner, the Apostle of Light, first came to her: to travel amongst the stars, and locate and rescue the rest of the Matrix of Light - Jiina of the Earth, Marina of the Sea, and Erina of the Sky - from where the Darkness had sealed them away. Only with the full Matrix of Light can their chosen leader, she who bears the title of the Savior of Light. call upon the power of El-Line, the fullest manifestation of her power. Still, it's not El-Line that Polylina needs right now; the Matrix Figure is too big to help fight human-size enemies (unless you're REALLY desperate for some reason). Polylina needs more armor, probably more speed, maybe more firepower. Erina's gift of Flight Form could help, but it'd lower Polylina's defense; Marine Form is of little use on dry land, but Powered Form, granted by Jiina, would bestow heavier armor and firepower, plus letting Polylina speed over the ground on the armor's hover-thrusters.

But if Polylina doesn't HAVE the Matrix of Light to aid her ... she's in trouble, and Yuna's only other chance to help would be if she could transform herself and fight alongside her idol and protector.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    "Nice move," Theo's opponent says, genuinely impressed. "But it isn't so good with this card." He tosses the card from his hand down, a reaction that would pretty much instantly take care of Theo and win him the game. It couldn't be blocked, either. Bad luck... that's a super rare card. "I only have one of these in the deck, pretty lucky for me... well, not really, I guess." He glances at his deck.

    There's really only one chance, and it's a slim one. Theo has plenty of cards left in his deck, and a reaction that will let him draw ONE card. If that card happens to be a specific spell, though... it forces the opponent to discard and draw five, and his opponent only has four cards left. Theo would win by deck exhaustion.

    But the chances of drawing that one card legally are pretty damn slim.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "To answer your questions in order," Homura says, as she climbs into the car and takes her seat, seatbelt and all, "I have odd hobbies, dinner with them sounds nice, snacks are fine, I'm fine with bonding time at the shooting range, but no, I'll never really tire of digging into your memoirs."

    But that nagging, and his questioning. She muses out loud. "Remember the Fairchild case? How many resolutions did that have, four, five? And everytime everyone said, you know, it's done, move on. And you sat at your desk and kept saying you knew it wasn't over. You were right, it took a lot of reopenings of the case to truly close it. And now I'm stuck with a very awkward mother, thank you for that."

    But back to the point: "Still, that's what's up with me. That... feeling something isn't done with. That you shouldn't be standing still and letting it go. Like any one of your cases that were matters the police thought closed but you just cracked wide open and then closed for real."

    Homura frowns, ever obviously. "Something's just very wrong. Maybe this isn't really the life I wanted all along. A family, friends... something's missing." The narrative knows, of course, what's missing-- it's control. Homura's been about controlling her life for so long that she can't stand not being in control. This may be the ideal ending she wants, but it lacks her ability to FIX it if anything goes wrong, to make SURE it steers in the right direction. And maybe, there's a part of her that thinks no matter how happy Madoka and Himei look right now, it's fake.

    She looks at her hand, specifically her ring finger. That Soul Gem is the symbol of something being wrong. "What do I do? Reopen the case despite it being fine where it is? If nobody but me knows it isn't really closed, does it matter?"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Souji was pretty calculating. He SURELY knew where that money was going, but he said nothing. Just like he said nothing when Kyra continued to talk to the Light Warriors... like now. But there was a risk in doing more than that... a big risk. Would Souji be so forgiving if there were a public scandal? Did Kyra care enough about that?

    It becomes important when a text pings back from... Dominic. 'in town, want to meet?' It's an innocent enough idea, but if they were seen together... Dominic may not know how some of the rumors had been flying.

    What should she say to Dominic? Did Kyra even care that this could ruin the elaborate setup that Souji had built... some of which was actually a good thing?

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    "... Wait."
    As the girl tries to leave, perhaps Amalthea even surprises herself, with the sudden whisper for the girl to tarry a moment or so longer. Pegasus had insisted she bring the lance, then? That blue eye slides closed briefly. How long has it even been since she's held a conversation? Far too long, considering the hesitant and awkward pause that follows.
    "My sister asked you to bring this to me?" Whispered seeking full confirmation, tilting her head ina bird-like fashion to better regard the girl with her good eye. There's a twinge. A small wincing pang on the reminder that her sibling was forged without a heart of her own, and here she is, wallowing in the woods alone, having closed off her heart to all since the loss of her family.
    How long has she been so alone with herself? Time, to an immortal, is a trickling thing, slow like poured honey while others breeze through their lives in the time it takes her but a single breath. So how many decades- centuries even- perhaps has she hid in reclusion to wallow in the pain of old scars? Maybe it's finally time to let go and once again open that which was closed off.
    That blue eye glances away, head turning away from the girl with it. Say one thing for Amalthea, she can feign indifference like a champion. But maybe... It's time.
    "You may return. ... That is, if you wish. No harm will come to you while you're here." It seems like such a small offering, and somewhat gruff in tone, to boot, but to the wounded unicorn, it is as precarious as climbing out onto the very edge of a rotted branch. "If you like."
    "... I don't think I'd mind the company."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Arthur gets the girls to stop fighting by virtue of BONDING time! They both cheer as Gamera saves the day again, and are pretty into the whole thing. As the credits wrap up though... an important question is asked.

    Elsa says, "Does Darling want Elsa to stop calling him Darling, robo?"

    There's an important weight there. Riva is watching, and slurping her soda, pretending not to care. Uh oh. This has the feeling of a trap.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Another fine day in Gensokyo. The sun is shining, the Danmaku is hot, hot, hot-- and Reimu is in top form as always. Marisa grins as the Miko unleashes her usual barrage. A few seals here, some needles there. The witch watches and waits, dodging the occasional razor-wind as their opponent struggles to defend herself. This is almost too easy. "Maybe if you weren't-- uh. Weren't..."

Wait.

Why... Why were they doing this, again?

'It's not like I matter!'

    That's not right either. If she didn't matter, then were they just barreling on through like usual? That can't be. She and Reimu would never need to team up against just another mook in the road.

...Would they?

    Marisa grunts, rubbing at her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah I got it," she mutters, closing her fist around the spell card in her off hand. "Just hold on."

    There's a thundering boom. The back end of Marisa's broom lights up like it always does. Marisa's voice crescendos as she roars, tearing through the air on a stream of starlight. It's the usual Blazing Star! It looks like this one's in the bag!

But... Marisa doesn't /ram/ into the girl like usual.

    No. She charges in, surrounded by a roaring geyser of power, but it doesn't burn at the girl when she comes near. Her broom doesn't spear the book either- instead she gets swept up into her arms before Marisa shoots up into the sky, and lets the spell fall away.

    "The Hell are you talking about, 'you don't matter?' I said it before, didn't I?" The witch murmurs, peering down at the red-and-white below, "I'm your new partner. Marisa Kirisame doesn't just toss friends under the bus. Besides..."

    "The Reimu I know..." she growls, drawing the Hakkero back to her palm-- with its business end pointed right for the distant Miko. "She'd never need my help to take care of anyone in a Spell Card duel! She's greedy and moody and swings from cold to hot the second someone drops five yen into her donation box!" Marisa yells as if she's... venting. She may have needed to get some stuff off her chest, "She even bullies people just for bein' in her way, and kicks your ass if you ever annoy her. But askin' /me/ to dogpile with her? She's way too cocky to ever do that!"

"Now, what'd you do with the real Reimu," Marisa hisses at the Miko, narrowing her gaze into a cutting edge. "Tell me now, 'fore I have to beat if outta you."

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    What CAN Valentha do about the Xiticix problem? Or the next, or the next? It's a neverending march of things. This town, it's so close to the Coalition... and it's all humans. They SHOULD be helping, but they aren't. Maybe they don't even know it's there.

    But the important thing is... what's Valentha going to do about it? What can the great mage do to save this town?

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra honestly had not expected to get a text back. There were times before when they hadn't, if only because the Light Warriors were off having some adventure in the Multiverse. Probably in Hydaelyn. As her thoughts drift back to when she did have the freedom to do things outside of Galianda, she moves to check the Light Warriors channel on MogTube. Hopefully someone was still updating it once she was no longer-

    Her phone pings and she jumps, startled, then quickly looks over her shoulder to make sure she was still alone in the meeting room. Kyra stares at the phone for a long time. Their past history was not an unknown thing either. If she showed up around Dominic, the rumors would be vicious. Souji would no doubt hear something. But at the same time...

    'Sure. We should talk. I'll give you coords.'

    "Souji has gone through so much trouble to actually secure this damn marriage. Just seeing Dominic can't possibly break it." Kyra huffs, dissatisfaction gnawing at her from the inside. She slips her phone back into her jacket pocket and turns to leave the meeting room, shutting off the lights as she exits.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Therion far outpowers Demonbane's current state, but the Liber Legis isn't indestructible. The lance of Cthugha opens a gash in the armor, slicing into components and melting a few. Therion can also regenerate his Deus Machina, but it takes time and energy, and he can only draw on so much of the latter.

    "Is that really all you can-*" Therion starts to taunt, but the crackling electricity is an ACTUAL surprise for him. He had no idea Ariel could do that! This causes his fist to explode partially, forcing him to pull back and regenerate the fingers as much as he can.

    The scene shifts.

    A giant dhole, massive wormlike monsters, arches up and snaps near the Liber Legis as it floats above a barren world. "Perhaps not entirely useless, but you know that you cannot win. Not with your current power."

    He reaches to the side... and the inky swirl of a black hole forms, as the air freezes around him. That damaged hand still manages to close around something inside, though... and draw out a shining blade, a brilliant one that is both yellow and multicolored at the same time, bearing a strange 'gem' in the middle. A very familiar blade to Al and Ariel.

    "Perhaps we should force the issue and settle this."

Theo Morrison has posed:
Theo glances at the thrown card. His lip twitches, but his poker face is good as ever. He doesn't want to let him know his back's against the wall; he's a Blue player, and that means they always need to suspect you've got a play in mind or a trick up your sleeve. He leans over slightly to examine the card, nodding his head. "Yeah, I suppose that's true. So, in response..."

'In response' is a couple of words you never want to hear from your opponent when you're making your winning move. All he has to do is get extremely lucky, right? It's like a one in thirty-four chance. He's had worse odds... but he's always stacked them in his favor. He drops the last card he can possibly play, one of the chancey outliers in his not-actually-chancey deck.

"I cast Uncertain Future." He puts it down. It's got a picture of a curious-looking gateway, and a group of shadowy figures rushing towards it with a weird blue/yellow divide that gets put in a lot of this art to denote time shenanigans. "I'll pitch my hand," he drops it into the discard pile, "shuffle up, reveal the top card and cast it for free." He still looks completely calm. It's a really good fake. Theo picks up the rest of his cards, glancing around again --

He spots a familiar-looking shape lurking at the end of the table, just underneath and out of sight from either end: a Myr Servitor, one of the kind he summons all the time. Except, he never does it on his own world except in his home... and that one, the way it's looking at him... it definitely isn't the one he'd have following him. It looks like it's waiting for something.

Something clicks. Theo feels a sensation akin to a jolt, slowing mid-shuffle for the briefest instant. He looks down at the card -- 'Uncertain Future' -- and can make out the silhouettes. He remembers going through that gateway. Then, they were somewhere /between/, and now he's... what, playing a game instead? There isn't time. Where is everyone?

"I gotta go," Theo mutters. He shakes his head sharply, and then looks down at the cards he's shuffling. He catches a quick glance of the underside from the way he's holding it, spotting the one he needs. In normal circumstances, he'd take the loss gracefully and come back another time. Right now...

With a few more motions, Theo finishes the rapid drop-shuffling he was doing, puts the deck down, and puts his hand on the top. He looks his opponent dead in the eye, and then flips the top card. Theo looks down at it, and then back up.

"Paradox Dissolution. Good game." He raps his knuckles on the surface of the table, stands up, and Theo hastily makes his way towards the exit.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
tarnation and frustration!

    Sometimes Valentha wants to just buzz off and sleep for a few decades. She's felt the urge... but no, she can probably go for another century without it.

    Procrastinating would be the worst thing she could do. "Well. The most responsible thing to do would be EVACUATION... THEN convincing Lazlo's council of a good plan of action." The Techno-Wizard sighs to the wind.

    But then another idea strikes.

    What if she can render the town INVISIBLE to the Xiticix, somehow? Like the fade towns?

    Just as soon as the idea strikes her she dismisses it with a snort. "That wouldn't do any good... they'd just end up with Xiticix on top of them.

    The dragon in disguise breathes deeply... then with a snarl, grabs her Hoverbike. It's off to Lazlo, full steam. She'll go give Plato a piece of her mind!

    Wiping out the Xiticix might not be possible just yet, but an evacuation? SURELY the council can do that!

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur seems to freeze up. Elsa might know the visible signs of an internal bluescreen. He tries to force himself into a response, "Ha ha ha, what're you plannin' on, stoppin'?" He says, getting flustered at the reaction. Riva's observation is noted. He remains oblivious to why, specifically, she might care, but he knows the reasons on some deeper level. "R-right?" He looks a little nervously at Elsa, his forced coolkid confidence breaking down a little.

    She doesn't really need to respond to make him know that's not really enough of a response. There's a heavy sigh before he continues. "Well, I mean..." He makes an ambiguous gesture. "You know, it's not... Bad, right? It kinda caught me off-guard and I'm still sorting out what it means to you, and to other people, and, shit, what it means to me," He spreads his hands out plaintively. "I know I get all not-cool about it sometimes, it's just kinda," He makes that gesture again. "People make it into a big /thing/, and I don't really know what kinda thing is bein' made big."

    He laughs, a bit nervously. "I know I'm kinda shitty about the one-way emotion street here, I'm just needing to sort my shit out, right? I guess, I mean, can't help how you feel, I get that. Only problem's figuring out /what/ you feel. You got that figured out, I... doooon't, kinda?" He looks nervous, in almost a fearful way. "Shit's all complex, it's a fuckin' tough nut to get crackin'." It's not much of an answer. Arthur is still 'disengaging' in a way. He wants to disengage from resolution of that emotional issue, but he's doing his absolute god damndest to do it in a way that's respectful to the people involved, clarifying why it's going on, things like that. A little more might force a particular solution, but he's trying to adjust that disengagement to preserve the positive emotions of these two.

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    "Ariel!" Al calls out, alarms bleeping all over. "That sword... that's... that's what we used against Kraken!" She's staring in disbelief. "How could there be two of those? And if we get hit by that one..."

    She looks down and then, without asking, keys up the summon sequence that was put in earlier. She's going to call up their own shining blade, wherever it came from. Surely it isn't the same one...?

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    "Sure thing, boss," Psyber's answer comes with a grin. "I'll get the car." Not that he'll be coming back. As the tower collapses at last, dust billows out... and a stray breeze carries it over Psyber, billowing his coat dramatically. When it clears, he's on another world... or, more specifically, standing atop a speeding Dhole.

    He isn't alone though. a different Psyber, driving a car, glances at Homura. "You know... when you get that feeling, you kind of have to go with it. Just, follow the flow. I trust you. So if you need to do something..." The car parks next to a desolate field. "Go ahead and do it."

    When Homura steps out, she'll step out into the same place that Psyber is, now seeing the battle between Therion and Ariel.

    "GOT IT!" Polylina shouts, casting a surprised look. It would be a fatal distraction... if she didn't suddenly have a flash of light, gaining her armored form. Then again, that flash of light washes over Yuna an instant later, and she finds herself on a different battleground, one between two giants.

    Marisa grabs the Grimoire, who doesn't actually stop her. The Grimoire clings to her, and says nothing while the accusations are levelled against Reimu. Said Reimu... grins. "Yeah, you're probably right. I guess it won't be all that much fun." The Spell Card flashes... and brightness erupts, turning into a swirl of dust that leaves Marisa in the battlefield with giant worms around her, beneath two giants.

    Kyra's exit is much less dramatic. It's a simple question... and her logic is sound. Souji may be many things, but incompetent is not one of them, and he knew her feelings. He may be cold, but surely he understands what Kyra's thoughts are. When she steps out of the door, it isn't into the hallway, but into the same desolate world as the others.

    Theo's opponent pales. "What... how di... no way!" He slams hands down on the table, and sputters a little... but the Myr Servitor bumps his chair on the way out, causing him to topple over with a crash, and a loud murmur rise up as Theo walks out... and into the battle.

Meanwhile... TO Lazlo! Or... actually, when Valentha turns around, she'll find herself on this alien world of giant worms as well. Whoops.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    It's Riva who puts down her drink. "So was that a yes, please stop, or a no, it's okay?" It's a pretty simple question, and Elsa is giving GIANT ROBOT EYES like a puppy. Robo. There's something very important about the question that Arthur seems to be missing, but it's close. He's very close.

Ariel (219) has posed:
That sword. "I don't want to hurt him Al," Ariel reminds, but the ignition sequence is already ongoing. Nothing to do but summon it again. It's the Shining Trapezohedron, but to Ariel it's just an extraordinarily dangerous weapon. A weapon she doesn't want to use... but maybe she can parry with.

The arm draws out that shining blade, identical to Therion's, and readies it in a defensive position. She's going to parry with it.

"Therion! We don't have to... why do you want ME to kill you? I-I'm not... I can't do that, no matter what you think."

Psyber (253) has posed:
    Psyber is on a monstrously huge worm instead of the streets of Boston. THIS, for the record Theo Morrison, is what Psyber classifies as a Monday Problem. The half-angel steadies his balance and drops into a crouch, trying to find something to grab onto. As the entire being seems to shift unnaturally. Keeping your balance on any sufficiently massive moving creature is hard.

    Still, he DOES have the presence of mind to talk to Homura when she appears. Most of his greeting is a casual, "Yo, took you long enough." Followed by a massive pause, "You better not forget me when you grow up, you know," He adds as an afternote, trying to keep his tone totally indifferent while still conveying his message.

    "Fuck, though. This is a hell of a mess. I think I might have something to help," He comments, trying to find balance enough to reach for the inside of his coat. He'd been meaning to stop by the Union Artifact Housing Black Site yesterday, but he got so busy writing out the instructions for his death he forgot.

    This means that Psyber slowly withdraws what looks to be a tattered grouping of pages. It's not a book so much as a group of notes that someone hastily stiched into a leather (?) cover to make something cohesive. He holds it out to her, "I'm shit with magic, but maybe you can use this to help Ariel."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra steps out of the room and-

    "Wait, what?" she blinks, surprised. "How is this-where did-the proposal and-ah...ahhhh...ahahahhaa!" Kyra rubs her face, "WHEW! It wasn't a-HOLY SHIT WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS!" Kyra jabs a frantic finger at the Dholes squirming around on the ground. She yelps in alarm as she scrambles sideways to avoid one of them, looking around for the others that came in. She doesn't get to look around for very long, forced to flee another Dhole. She turns, preparing to cast a Holy on it to get it away. Once she realizes that this is a terrible idea for her in this world, it's already too late.

    What was supposed to be white magic instead becomes a much-reviled spell amongst those of her world: rasp. It strips things of their magic particles-normally. In this highly conceptual chaotic dimension, who knows what kind of effect it might have.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur's teeth grit, and grind for a few seconds before he figures out his words. "It's a... No! It's a no. It's okay to do that sort of affection stuff." He says, in a strained sort of tone. "It's fine, if that's what you want to do. I... You know my damage. My whole..." He makes that gesture again. "That shit kinda scares me a bit, you know. You start calling me darling and talking about love and I'm thinking about, hey, remember all those times it ended in people dying, right?" And then there's a stressed sort of sigh. "But, it's nice, you know? It's kinda nice to... Have people who think you're worth that kinda stuff. Fuck, got no idea why you think that, but it's great to have someone thinkin' that, and it sure as hell seems to make you happy."

    "So, look, if it makes you happy to do that sort of thing, if you think it's worth that sort of thing and if you don't mind me being..." He grinds his teeth for another short moment. "You know, kinda off-guard and not sure where stuff stands, that sorta thing. If you're cool with that, then..." A heavy sigh. "Yeah. It's okay. I gotta work out my own issues before I ever get anything going the other way, and it'll probably be all... One-way street like a big fuckin' coward or whatever. If that doesn't make you unhappy to do it, then do it." He seems, at this point, a bit emotionally worn out just saying that little bit. "That's what I want to do."

    He's almost fearful, like the idea of accepting affection in any way is just immediately gonna kill him, or create some horrible social backlash, but at the moment, his desire for actual, authentic affection relationships is winning out.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    "What."

    Homura immediatly takes a guess that everyone else must have gone through-- something similar? Probably not the same thing. That wouldn't quite make sense. For Psyber to tell that to her, though, that's a little bit out of the blue.

    "I. Em. Well, alright? I'm not certain where the misconception I have a bad memory comes from, but I'll make sure not to develop such an issue?" This seems better than stuttering some sort of half-reply about being touched he cares. Mostly because she already knows he cares, really.

    But finding themselves in a dead world overlooking a battlefield where Therion and Ariel are duking it out, kind of makes her want not to get OVERLY involved. Ariel did say this was her fight, and that probably shouldn't change. Maybe they can clear the worms, though, or...

    A text?

    "I'm not a wizard! Or even a mage. What am I going to do with a spellbook?" Is that really leather? That doesn't feel like leather. Well, it can't harm to open it, but odds of her understanding what's in it are pretty slim if it's untranslated. "Where did you even get this?"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
The Matrix Figure, El-Line, rematerializes --

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

.... and Yuna promptly freaks out at a dhole coming WAY too close for comfort, sending El-Line bolting to one side and evading what really looked like a way-too-large maw. The dhole proceeds on its way without noticing the missed meal, and Yuna takes a couple of moments to recover her breath and her bearings. "Psyber, Homura, are you okay?" Yuna calls out, then looks around for the others. Okay, there's Demonbane and Liber Legis - ohboy.

Yuna takes another deep breath, lets it out slowly, and sets to work studying out the situation. El-Line's not quite up to intervening in the battle between the two Deus Machina, but maybe there's something else Yuna can do that'll help the situation ...

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "I found it. On top of a flesh dome. The type of Flesh Dome that was Cthulhu's eye at one point," Psyber vaguely says as he waves his hand to her and shrugs as he looks out over the battlefield, "I was going to turn it in later, but I forgot, and it was in the Laine Pocket, so yeah."

    He then counterpoints, "You're a Magical Girl. Also a Witch. Also an Eldritch Being from Outside Reality sometimes. I think if you really try, you can probably give it a whirl."

    Not much is said about what he said to her and her response. Best to just leave that go. He does wave up at Yuna, "Yeah! We'll be fine! Just setting up some stuff," He calls as Einherjar appears in his hand. He'll figure out what to do after he gets his bearings a bit more.

Theo Morrison has posed:
Theo marches out of there like he was in some kind of card game-based sports movie. He even throws the doors open dramatically, and...

...now he's on some desolate place covered in ENORMOUS WORMS.

"Holy /shit/ what the f--" BOOOOOOM. Giant robot-slash-monster battles make a lot of noise; enormous worms trying to eat things, even moreso. Theo hastily pulls out a deck, finding a flat piece of ground and starting to play. He is very quick at it, getting a hand and going the moment he's setup.

"Seat of the Synod!" He slaps a land down. The ground rumbles and tears, a sea of quicksilver expanding from Theo's position. Where he's kneeling turns into a huge, mushroom-shaped metal structure, rising up as an artificial island surrounded by smaller, twisting tines of the same gleaming metal. He taps the land -- "Sol Ring for one! Tap for two, Sol Ring for one! Tap for two, Semblance Anvil, exiling Sharding Sphinx!"

Two rings that look like circles of sunfire appear, one on each of his hands. In front of him, on a balcony jutting out from the metallic mushroom-building, a polished anvil with an etching of a sphinx materializes. He's practically radiating magic, now, and the elevated space he's standing is /relatively/ safe from the giant worms... assuming they don't have a taste for quicksilver, anyway.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The girl pauses, looking at Amalthea fearfully when that offer is made. Swallowing, she considers the words... then smiles faintly. "Um... if you're sure. Then maybe I'll come back. In... in a few days." Not a few weeks or months. A few days. The offer was all it took.

    But when Amalthea turns around, her forest is gone, replaced with the shattered hellscape of the wasteland planet... and her furiously fighting daughter.

    Meanwhile Marcus shrugs, "If that's what you say. I guess that's a tough choice to make." He grins. "Me... I wouldn't mind going back to the farm, but I guess not all of us can be like you are. Good luck, Setsuko."

    Setsuko is already on a deserted wasteland, so there's not much of a change when she turns around to find Marcus gone, and the battle begun anew... with people who are in the here and now.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    When that answer comes, Elsa pounces, "Darling, robo!" Yay! Arthur gets a hug, which means she seems fine with this. Riva, surprisingly, grins... but it isn't the grin of ceding the victory to Elsa, oh no. The battle is still on, and this isn't a victory for Elsa at all. It's for both of them to get Arthur to admit that much. She'll just have to keep working on him.

    More importantly, when the hug eases up, Arthur will find that he's not in the SKULL HOUSE any more, but floating above the battlefield.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    "To Laz--... loooooo? Hello?" Valentha finds herself no longer on her Hoverbike, which means she's gripping the air in a rather foolish-looking way. The ofending hands are snapped back and brought up to her face, where she scratches her chin a little. "Oh... not... in Wormwood either. Where is this...?"

    There's CHAOS happening down there though. People she recognizes!

    Then it all comes flashing back. "AGH! This world pulled a fast one on me! Gangway!" She's quick to draw her weapons, a TK Revolver in one and a blade hilt in the other. With a *SNAP-CRACKLE* the hilt forges a blade of lightning!

    But from a distance, she just starts FIRING while beelining for Kyra.

    Always protect the healers.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Therion sees the blade drawn, and laughs, "Perhaps you will be a proper challenge, little one! I have never fought you... and you have been interesting! But now... it is time to choose between defeat and life! I will not stop for you. There is no reason to stop. You, Ariel and Al Azif... I will defeat you, because you have no place in this world of violence and pain. You do not belong in this place."

    He rushes forward, and everyone is now here to see it. The Liber Legis with some kind of shining blade, and Demonbane with the same. Since Ariel is parrying, she manages to block the swing... and it clashes with a resounding echo that sends ripples out, once again changing the landscape, this time to a furiously wind-whipped land of purple grass and three suns. There is something very, very /wrong/ about that collision.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Reimu speaks, and Marisa... lowers her weapon, energy still crackling around her fingertips. "Yeah, so uh. You better start talkin' or--" Dust. A whirlwind of dust, swallowing the green fields and trees and mountains. Marisa shields her eyes as the sandstorm swallows her up... And leaves her in the middle of a small army of massive worms.

There are two strangely familiar giant robots overhead too.

Marisa Kirisame suddenly feels very, very small.

    But she doesn't have time to let that feeling just stick around. "Uhhh," damn, there are a lot of them. But... "These things probably can't fly, can they?" At least, she hopes they're not giant flying worms. That would be all kinds of awful. Marisa takes off like a shot, whatever passes as 'air' in this place whipping around her ears.

She's got her target, and it is a big-ass target indeed.

But, she's also got somewhat more pressing matters to deal with.

Because on her way up, she spies in the corner of her eye a Kyra Hyral doing her best to piss off some giant chaos worms.

    "Ah, jeez. Kyra!" Marisa grunts, corkscrewing around one of Demonbane's enormous shin-guards. As she crests her loop, she flicks her Hakkero into the air--

It lands in the nest of bristles at the end of her broom.

     The witch yells as she dives INTO the crush of worms, crushing the spellcard she'd been drawing power into. Now, again, her body glows with arcane energy. Power EXPLODES behind her, the Master Spark transformed into a magical thruster, pushing her to eye-wateringly fast speeds!

She swoops down. She loops under a coiling Dhole. She...

Goes to sweep Kyra Hyral into her arms, and take to the sky.

"Don't they teach you anything at that school of yours!?" Marisa complains, "Don't wander into nests of giant, horrible megaworms!"

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    Amalthea sees the fear in those eyes, and she meets them with a placid, silent gaze. She stares at the girl, long and intent, until she sees that smile. And then gets her answer.
    A small chuff and she dips her head, "I'll... Be here waiting. I don't much go anywhere--"
    Blinking the illusion from her eye and back to her senses, Amalthea practically stumbles back into place just in time to see purple grass and suns.

    "-else- what the fuck did I miss?"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Kyra's spell goes off... and the rasp YANKS inward, suckling in magic from the surrounding Dholes. Kyra gets a trickle of power... not because they're resisting, it's just that these things don't actually have a lot of magic to begin with, and she's just tapped them out. Dholes are big, strong, and entirely physical beings, unlike many of the things in this realm.

    Stepping out onto the wasteland by the others will be pretty disorienting... but moreso when it turns to the fields of purple grass and the three sunds in the sky. What's more, it's pretty strange to have those shifts, because they carry some details with them, like one of the dholes crashing down and trying to burrow into the ground. Theo's constructs are also brought with him, though he has PLAINS to tap into now, if he wants.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    No sooner can he voice his confidence in Homura than he's called somewhere else. Much like in his dream, Psyber knew he would always have just 'one more case' to do. The half-angel turns, pats Homura on the back once, and then takes a running start. It's hard to navigate as well as he'd like, owing to the massive creatures making any sort of aerial movement a hassle and a half.

    Overall, his goal is to avoid getting swallowed by Dholes and to fly his way over to Theo's perch, eventually arriving if a bit out of breath, "Alright. You mentioned a dagger. I'm feeling shank-y."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    "Not all of you /should need to/ be as I am," Setsuko replies quietly. "That, is why I fight."

    And then not much changes, and yet everything does.

    On a desolate world, an entirely different battlefield, surrounded by monstrous worms, watching a massive clash... and amongst allies. That's all the swordswoman needs.

    She rises up into the air around the time the landscape changes. Her eyes are there on the point of impact at the moment it happens. Something about that... it doesn't seem right. No, it seems very wrong. And Setsuko's instincts nudge her.

    "Those blades... something is wrong with those blades meeting!"

    It's dangerous. It's reckless. Those swords could very well be something even Zanjintou has trouble with. She doesn't know. All Setsuko knows is that she's got to stop it, somehow. And if 'stopping an attack' is considered a last resort, then you simply have to stop the attack from happening. So the silver-haired demigod hurls herself in towards the fight at full speed, trusting her battlesense to keep her safe, to nudge her out of the way of attacks not directly aimed at her - and trusting her instincts to avoid attacks that are. She's got a single, fly-by slash to make.

    Right at the wrist of the Liber Legis.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur's fear eases for a moment, instead replaced by a wonderful feeling of safety. For once in his life, things seem like he doesn't need to force that confidence. It's gone in moments, though it lasts until after he finds himself lying on the worm-covered ground. In moments, his broom is out and he's screaming up towards a chaotic sky, heading for any hatches on Demonbane. "Al! You got enough room on that for two powersources!? Open that son of a bitch up and get ready to hardline, I'm not leaving you kids in the lurch!" With a rising shounen shout, he's going to head on into the Demonbane, and begin flooding it with energy.

    This time, things get a little more outrageous in terms of the manifestation. As Arthur begins screaming, a tremendous halo of white and black energy will form at the Deus Machina's back, concentric rings that turn and undulate around each other. Arthur doesn't waste time with escalation while he shouts at Therion. "NO! You're right! They don't belong here! They shouldn't be here! Ariel shouldn't have to fight you! She shouldn't have to go through that pain! But she's here! She's fighting you! She's in pain, and it's because of you!!" And the tremendous halo will begin firing a rain of starlight and gravity artillery at the Liber Legis in arcing beams. "But we're here too! And we belong here! Pain, and violence, and stopping people like you, that's what I am, and it's what I'm made of, and it's what makes me human! We're here, and we're going to help Ariel! Maybe you're stronger than Ariel, but you're not stronger than Ariel's /family/! Now PUT THE GODDAMN SWORD DOOOOOOOOWN!"

    He begins, of course, screaming in his usual heroic way.

Theo Morrison has posed:
Theo's quicksilver perch comes along. There's a fairly expansive lake in the midst of the purple grasslands, glittering in the triple-sun daylight. It would be pretty if it wasn't also in the middle of a battlefield... and next to a metal-covered den of some kind, shaped like you might expect a constructed enclosure for a bunch of lions might look like. There's nothing connecting the two, but Theo can feel the White mana flowing already.

When Psyber arrives, Theo is standng at the anvil, cards arrayed in front of him. It's a /big/ anvil; he's only using part of one side of it for a playing surface. "Yeah. Alright, you just gotta get one good hit in, then you /probably/ want to stand clear. And, um..." He looks at his hand, and then at Psyber, a touch worried. "...don't bleed on it. I don't know if it'll go well."

He taps out, playing a card with a dramatic (and slightly ominous) declaration: "Elbrus, the Binding Blade!" There's a shimmer of heat atop the anvil, and a bone white dagger appears, jagged and rune-etched along the leading edge. The grip looks like part of a spinal column, and probably isn't comfortable to hold. It practically pulses with potential violence -- and malevolence.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Setsuko realizes the danger... and attacks! Therion, however, is very strong, very fast, and knows to protect his wrist. He darts back, and his free arm lifts. The Liber Legis blocks Setsuko's strike with a crash of blade to alchemical metal, with the blade shearing through armor and nearly severing the hand. It's starting to regenerate, but that's a pretty hefty blow. Unfortunately he only needs one hand to fight... and he only needs an arm to swing a powerful blow toward Setsuko to try swatting her away. "This fight is between the child and I."

    Homura begins trying to interpret the book... when it glows and shimmers, then reforms to that blank-eyed, heterochromic girl that's looking her in the eyes. Homura's now holding a young girl by the shoulders, and the girl is just staring there for a long moment before saying, "Yes? Are you my Master now? What is thy bidding?"

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
The landscape shifts around them, and Yuna restarts the scan to account for it. Maybe Elner could have handled the transition anyway, but this space - if it is still a space - is in too much of a tumult anyway, particularly if we're still technically in the chaotic void that lay beyond the Gate to start with.

Details are starting to filter through from El-Line's sensors and Elner's analysis. One of the most important data sets is a list of who's here, where they are, and what condition they're in; Yuna wants to peruse that list and reassure herself that everyone is accounted for and all right. However, that's not what most needs attention right now, and Elner knows it better than Yuna.

So while the 'head count' comes up on a side monitor, what comes up on El-Line's *main* cockpit monitor is a capsule analysis of the weapons currently being wielded by both Deus Machina. Elner is still kind of bad at identifying 'magic' in its raw state, but the sheer level of power surrounding a Shining Trapezohedron still makes itself known on a level where technology can detect it ... and the dimensional anomalies interlaced with each of them are unmistakable for anything *BUT* dimensional anomalies of a particularly disturbing vintage.

And according to Setsuko, letting Liber Legis's dimensional shiv come into contact with Demonbane's dimensional shiv would probably be catastrophic. Elner's pocket analysis backs that up - particularly given the not-really-space that they're in at the time. The one small problem is that El-Line doesn't really have anything to deflect either of those weapons *WITH* - sure, Yuna could bring Shugoseiheki to bear, or the Lightning Sword, but just getting hit by it would probably still lead to getting swept out of reality without the mercy of getting killed in the process.

El-Line is already in motion towards the pair of battling Deus Machina when the solution presents itself. "LIGHTNING SWORD! SHUGOSEIHEKI!" Yuna shouts, invoking both blade and shield. However, she doesn't maneuver to try and block either Shining Trapezohedron ...

Instead, she loops around Demonbane, braces Shugoseiheki with the flat of the Lightning Sword, and hits full thrust - trying to ram Liber Legis's forearm at such an angle as to stop Therion's swing - if she POSSIBLY can - or at least to slow it down enough to lend her allies a hand in preventing the clash of ultimate weapons.

If it all fails ... at least she'll have a front-row seat for the end.

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    That could have gone worse. But that incident certainly proves to Kyra that while here, she certainly cannot rely on her magic at all. She continues running, looking for the others, when Marisa scoops her up into the air. "Wah! Hey! A few seconds ago I certainly wasn't in the middle of some desert surrounded by ugly sandworms." Kyra protests, squirming around so she can get the CURE-ALL off of her back. If anything that was at least something she could rely upon in this moment.

    Manuvering around carefully, Kyra pulls the unwieldy CURE-ALL off her back. The 'weapon' is leveled at the Demonbane and fired-fortunately, that alchemized weapon is just as effective in 'healing' non-organic things as it is organic.

    After that, she keeps at the ready, knowing she'll have to bomb Psyber with it at that rate.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "A binding blade?!" Psyber says as he looks at the knife that is practically seeping violence into the air around them both, "What the fuck is this thing? Under nearly any other circumstances, I would tell you no." Psyber grouses as he grabs the handle of the blade and flips it a few times in his hands.

    "Right now is different, though," Psyber comments to Theo. The blade is gripped in his hand and he looks at the Liber Legis. He's wanted a piece of Therion since the first time he showed his face, but the chance had never been presented to him. For all that man did to Ariel, Psyber had a grudge that was going to run long and deep.

    His fingers tighten around the blade and he steps forward, "You get ready to control whatever happens," Psyber notes to Theo as he marches forward, staring at the Liber Legis some more and thinking of what he wants to do. He already knows the answer, though:

    Charge right in.

    Psyber takes a running leap and again takes flight, black wings beating behind him as he tries to cross the battlefield. The knife is twirled like a professional and Psyber shouts, "HEY. You have terrorized the only family I have, you have harassed the people I care about, and you have made every attempt to shit all over the work of people who mean a ridiculous amount to me."

    He's going straight down the center towards the body of the machine. He's wide open to counter-attack by Therion, and any counter-attack will be posed in the next response. But he is bound and determined to make it to his destination, and for Theo's plan he needs to bring a knife to a mech fight.

    "AND STILL. STILL THEY WANT TO SAVE YOU. TO KEEP YOU ALIVE. TO PRESERVE YOu!" Psyber shouts as he closes in, but there's still a huge gap, "AMALTHEA! NOW!"

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Yuna charges in and manages to clash with the forearm of the Liber Legis when Therion draws it away from Setsuko. Now Yuna's El-Line will feel the secondare effects, as a burning, disintegrating surge of power blasts through the aura of the Deus Machina. It's a reflexive defense of some kind... but the contact is still made, jarring the blade up and out of the way, giving enough room for...

    Psyber's incoming! Of course it's just a knife, but the connection is made, and all this distraction is leaving PLENTY of time for Arthur to charge right on in, to support Ariel and Al.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    Homura was inside the Heart when the Text was smacked back into its book form. She did not, in fact, have any idea that's what Psyber was holding onto.

    With the book taking on its human appearance, Homura is left momentarily confused, and then she frowns. "/PSYBER/!" She isn't sure who else to blame when a girl just falls into your lap like that. That seems to be HIS superpower, and technically the book was his' until moments ago. Okay, well, she can work with this. Probably.

    "I... yes? I guess for now I am. We need... something to help the Demonbane NOT destroy reality. Anything that would weaken the Liber Legis, or prevent those swords from cascading if they collide." This is kind of awkward. Asking a spellbook what it can do and all. Is it a person before it's a book? Note to self, ask Al Azif.

    "Do I need to give you magic, or...?"

    What a time to be fumbling with a spellbook.

    "I'm not going to be picky, just do something that immediatly helps the Demonbane without threatening to kill the Liber Legis' pilot."

Setsuko Kaminagi (255) has posed:
    WHAM. Setsuko is too close, to overextended to do anything but be hit full-force by the Liber Legis' arm. It smashes her into the ground hard enough to dig out a trench, shattering bone in more than one spot. When she skids to a stop, she lies there motionless for several seconds... only to speak softly, and have her voice somehow carry regardless.

    "You no longer have the right, Master Therion, to choose who may join this fight."

    Up Setsuko pushes herself, resting her weight on her left knee so that she can plant her right foot - the only one she has - to stand. Getting her foot under her is enough to get ahold of her ability to fly again, and that's enough to stand up, and then to /rise/ up, her immense sword in hand. "When you forced a kind, innocent girl into a battle she didn't want, when you decided that you would try to incite her to kill, you lost all right to choose who is allowed to join alongside her! And most importantly, you lost all right to your own life by lifting up a blade! So far as I'm concerned, your life belongs to the girl sitting within Demonbane."

    She spits out a gout of blood. "And if she wills it, then we will save you with all the strength we have, even if it's from yourself!"

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    With Kyra being hauled off by Marisa, Valentha decides she'll be pretty helpful in other ways! At first this is just opening fire on all of the Dholes as she switches course... for Theo! And why Theo?

    Because he just whipped out a sword. "Here, let me give you a hand with that, summoner!" Confidently, she stretches a hand out his way and chants out a spell.

    Power flows right into his body! A surge of strength, stamina, and speed of a sort he's probably never felt before!

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    The hatch opens for Arthur as he blazes in to join the pair inside the Deus Machina. Now he can see the inside of the Demonbane's cockpit, a strange place that floats in nothingness, with monitors all around. Al is on a motorcycle-like stand, with a weird helmet on, calling out status. "I think I can finish the arm repairs if we reroute from the central."

    Ariel's place is located behind her, in a 'globe' of monitors. She actually stands up to pilot Demonbane, as it turns out. "Hey, Arthur. I... think Ariel might have something planned."

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    No sooner than she was out of her own personal little hell, Amalthea finds herself in fluctuating worlds, vast and distant, to the sight of a battle of titanic proportions. The Demonbane and Liber Legis battling with identical blades that should now be, their very strikes against each other a terrible danger to reality itself.
    Her daughter is piloting that- her Ariel is at the fore of a battle so terrible and final, that there is only one she can compare it to, of all those in her memory. Memories that flood back to her like a cold fish sliding down her belly, trapped beneath her armor.
    Memories of eyes like stars. A smile of menace. The universe itself wielded as a weapon. The feeling of her blade, broken and shattered, sliding between armor for one fatal strike.
    Amalthea's eye widens in horror. It is Ariel's fight, yes. And it is her right and duty to battle the terrible leader of Anticross. But Amalthea will be damned before she will allow Therion to try and force Ariel to kill him.
    It is an almost feral expression that crosses the old knight's feature, silver lips curling back into a growling, dog-like. It's Psyber that snaps her back to a more solid gameplan than just charging in and stabbing wildly with her spear. Because no sooner than he takes off, she leaps. Thumbing the rune on her shield in a sudden kick of acceleration.
    "THERION! You're the one who's wrong." Snapped as armored arms loop around under Psyber's arm.
    "It's men like you who make this into a world of violence and pain. Men like you who do not belong, where gentle souls would make the world a place of peace."
    This is not interrupting Ariel's destined fight. It's just like being a tag team wrestler stepping out of the shadows to swing with a steel folding chair.
    Or in this case, a Psyber wielding a terrible binding dagger.
    Amalthea thumbs her afterburners, the Always Booster picking up monstrously in speed. Lesser flyboys and their passengers would be dangerously close to passing out, within seconds, and even her vision is tunnelling from the intense forces exerted upon her body as a result, the multi-stage rocket on her back breaking apart as fuel canisters expend themselves and detach one at a time, until the main rocket breaks away.
    Leaving a Psyber-and-Amalthea-shaped cruise missile streaking towards the Liber Legis at comet speeds.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    "SO!" Psyber shouts over the roar of engines and the whipping of wind as Amalthea grabs him under the shoulders and rockets off with him towards the Liber Legis. He's not used to that high of a speed, and he loses his sense of consciousness for a moment from the huge blast of force as Amalthea picks up the speed to as fast as they both can be going.

    "LEVITITUS! TWENTY SIX! TWENTY THREE TO TWENTY FIVE!" Psyber screams as he closes in while being rocketed towards the man, "And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins. 'I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands!"

    "OR! IF YOU NEED THAT IN ENGLISH!"

    Psyber holds the knife out as he and Amalthea slam into the Liber Legis, trying to bring it down and embed it into the armor plating on the exterior of the machine.

    "DON'T START WHAT YOU CAN'T FINISH!"

Theo Morrison has posed:
"It's my emergency button. Don't worry," Theo says confidently. "I can handle it."

PSyber goes up and in. Theo doesn't have to watch, necessarily. He'll know when it connects.

The Binding Blade connects. It stays there for a second, soaking in the ambient violence and the sheer scale of destruction the combatants can bring. It seems to quiver, as if alive, and then... falls away, tumbling through the air back towards the ground. It carries a crimson aura, and it leaks blood as it falls, though from no discernable wound.

Then, it stops, and the change begins. Dark and unholy light shines from Elbrus, the Binding Blade, and a shine of un-light burns from the weapon. It grows in size and intensity, the white bone blade slowly being engulfed... and burned away, disintegrating in a halo of terrible flame.

"Elbrus, the Binding Blade transforms," Theo says, "turning into --"

There is a crack of thunder as the blade is fully consumed, and dark, dense flesh boils out from where it once was. It grows in fast-forward, aarms and legs of burned, scaled black flesh glowing with a malevolent red beneath the skin manifesting. Its body forms, bones like ribs pushing out of the thick hide and nearly meeting to cross beneath its broad chest. Claws, huge and wicked, push out of the hands and feet of the creature.

Enormous leathery wings burst forth from its back. It draws itself up, throwing a head crested with black horns that reach the clouds back and splitting wide its huge, fanged maw.

"I," it bellows, "AM! FREE!!"

Theo, suddenly full of arcane vigor, leaps onto the edge of the balcony. He throws his hand up, bellowing. "WITHENGAR UNBOUND!!" He points at Liber Legis. "DEFEAT OUR ENEMY, BUT BEWARE: YOUR SUFFERING WILL BE ETERNAL IF THE MAN WITHIN IS KILLED!"

WITHENGAR roars again, in anger and fury. The colossal demon turns to the Liber Legis, already practically on top of it, and throws its huge bulk at it. It drives its claws forward to grasp and crush, clearly possessed with a bloodlust that even this opponent cannot sate -- and forced to hold itself back, all at the command of a filthy /human/ that made the mistake of letting it out.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    The Text looks at Homura oddly. "Magic will help," she replies, turning around to face the battle. She seems so... passive. Quiet. But the moment that question is made, she replies, "Pay attention, and learn."

    Her hand spreads, and Homura will feel some small portion of magic drawn off. The symbols and letters that form in the air glow with eldritch power, and energy surges through them. The words are flowing and alien, as if they could not be spoken from a human mouth.

    Bindings appear from all sides, chains of energy that whip around the limbs of the Liber Legis.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
SUDDENLY, ENVIRONMENTAL SHIFT.

    "Wh--" Marisa goes wide-eyed as the world transforms into that enormous expanse of violet. Kyra's still where she's at, though. BUT NOT FOR LONG. Marisa sweeps the not-so-White mage into her arms and deposits her gingerly further back along her broom. "No," she says to her NOW-CLASSMATE, "I am pretty sure that's exactly what was happening! Somehow, it's not anymore. I'll take the credit for that, though."

    Marisa sweeps back across the rolling fields of... decidedly purple grass. Her Hakkero has mysteriously (MAGE HAND!?) found its way back to her fingertips. It STILL sparks and fizzes with power. Just how many mushrooms did she use to boost that thing!? "Kyra, you're probably gonna wanna hold onto something in a sec here."

    "Right. You," Marisa turns to Liber Legis, her broom alighting in wide holding orbit around the two dueling giants, "Personally, I don't really have much against ya. Honestly, I'm pretty sure you're not the most arrogant jackass I've run into, either." That place is reserved by a certain Gap Hag, after all. "But I can't exactly approve of blowing up part of the world because..."

"Uh, because--" she glances over her shoulder at Kyra, shrugs quizzically, and then glares back at the Liber Legis, "Because REASONS.

    "So!" Marisa smirks, snapping her off-hand. The world around her is suddenly alight with glowing green starbursts. "No offense or anything, but I'm gonna have to do my part to glass that giant machine of yours."

    Though she may be tiny (diminuitive, really, compared to Liber Legis and Demonbane), Marisa's spells are still quite mighty indeed. She opens up on Liber Legis with... Magic missiles. Dozens of them- little green sparks that whirl through the air and pop into small but powerful explosions.

    More pressing may be the fact that those projectiles seem to be keyed to drain magic power from whatever it hits! Who knows what it'll do to a giant, magic-powered robot? "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll live through it, probably. Maybe." She laughs, "Personally, I'm here to help those people over there. And to see just how far I've really come."

"Now."

    The Hakkero crackles. Energy flooding in-- both from Marisa herself and from whatever her Magic Draining Missiles manage to siphon from the Liber Legis. She levels the little octagonal block at the massive machine, closes her eyes... And concentrates her mind.

    Wood shifts, the Taiji at the instrument's center begins to whirl, lighting up the eight trigrams all along its rim. "Declare Spellcard," Marisa mutters, her voice uncharacteristically low. The Hakkero seems to... split, opening up to reveal its inner workings- and the incredibly powerful alchemical furnace at the device's heart. Her hands no longer grip it, but encircle it at either side as her most precious treasure begins hovering amidst a nimbus of raw magical power.

The octagon spins, whirls, and finally LOCKS onto Master Therion and his machine.

    Marisa's eyelids fly open, her golden irises blazing with light of all colors of the rainbow- and several which aren't. The glow between her fingertips draws in, compressing tighter and tighter over a single point just over the Hakkero's core. One ring, then another, twist out and away from the Taiji, whirling in cocentric, runic circles around the budding supernova at its center. Marisa grits her teeth-- and roars, "MAICANN+orange,ON!)"

FINALMASTERSPARK!

There's a sound. It can only be described in terms of sounding like a star might, if it were exploding.

    Light floods out of the Hakkero like some kind of love-colored coronal mass ejection. Or maybe something more akin to the astrophysical jets that blast out of a black hole. Marisa yells as she tries her damnest to keep from being pushed back by the beam as it screams through the air to consume the Liber Legis where it stands!

It... somehow, paradoxically, may

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
Shugoseiheki. The Wall of the Guardian Star.

Originally, it was a kite shield given to her by Amalthea, the gift of one sworn protector to another. In order to use it to best effect, Yuna consulted with Elner; then she and Elner went to ask the assistance of Niv-Mizzet, the head of the Izzet League. He agreed to help; he worked the enchantments on the shield that Elner said were necessary to integrate the shield into Yuna's pool of equipment; additionally, he lined the shield with Mizzium, a metal said to be indestructible.

But Yuna's powers have their limits, and while her equipment gradually recovers when damaged, the moment of damage still takes its toll on her powers - and the counter-impact from Liber Legis's armor sends El-Line flying backwards, energies skittering over Shugoseiheki's surface like droplets of cold water deposited on a heated surface. Inside the cockpit, Yuna's own head feels like it's spinning; she can't tell up from down, left from right, front from back, and her stomach tumbles as violently as her head in an effort to orient itself.

It's her heart that finds its bearings first, hearing Setsuko, hearing Amalthea, knowing the truth of their words and wishing to help. El-Line's tumble slows, then halts; Yuna's head and stomach settle down more slowly than that, and she's not sure she can even open her mouth to speak.

'Being the Savior of Light means this *is* my duty.'

Yuna lets go of El-Line's controls, clasping her hands in front of her, and she prays, fervently but briefly. "Queen of Light, guide me ..."

The silence in El-Line's cockpit lasts a single second; then Yuna grasps the controls and the Matrix Figure flies forward once more. Shugoseiheki vanishes from El-Line's left arm; the Lightning Sword disappears from its right hand. And El-Line only stops to hover next to Demonbane.

At their respective sizes, and with the design of El-Line's 'wings,' it could look a bit like when Elner hovers next to Yuna. "Ariel!" Yuna calls out. "You do not fight alone - none of us do!! Our strength is in the bonds that connect us; trust in us as we trust in you, and we'll win our way through this!"

Although it was Ariel's name Yuna called out at the lead of that, *everyone* should have heard that. How Master Therion will react to a declaration like that, though, she can't even presume to guess.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
SUDDENLY, ENVIRONMENTAL SHIFT.

    "Wh--" Marisa goes wide-eyed as the world transforms into that enormous expanse of violet. Kyra's still where she's at, though. BUT NOT FOR LONG. Marisa sweeps the not-so-White mage into her arms and deposits her gingerly further back along her broom. "No," she says to her NOW-CLASSMATE, "I am pretty sure that's exactly what was happening! Somehow, it's not anymore. I'll take the credit for that, though."

    Marisa sweeps back across the rolling fields of... decidedly purple grass. Her Hakkero has mysteriously (MAGE HAND!?) found its way back to her fingertips. It STILL sparks and fizzes with power. Just how many mushrooms did she use to boost that thing!? "Kyra, you're probably gonna wanna hold onto something in a sec here."

    "Right. You," Marisa turns to Liber Legis, her broom alighting in wide holding orbit around the two dueling giants, "Personally, I don't really have much against ya. Honestly, I'm pretty sure you're not the most arrogant jackass I've run into, either." That place is reserved by a certain Gap Hag, after all. "But I can't exactly approve of blowing up part of the world because..."

"Uh, because--" she glances over her shoulder at Kyra, shrugs quizzically, and then glares back at the Liber Legis, "Because REASONS.

    "So!" Marisa smirks, snapping her off-hand. The world around her is suddenly alight with glowing green starbursts. "No offense or anything, but I'm gonna have to do my part to glass that giant machine of yours."

    Though she may be tiny (diminuitive, really, compared to Liber Legis and Demonbane), Marisa's spells are still quite mighty indeed. She opens up on Liber Legis with... Magic missiles. Dozens of them- little green sparks that whirl through the air and pop into small but powerful explosions.

    More pressing may be the fact that those projectiles seem to be keyed to drain magic power from whatever it hits! Who knows what it'll do to a giant, magic-powered robot? "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll live through it, probably. Maybe." She laughs, "Personally, I'm here to help those people over there. And to see just how far I've really come."

"Now."

    The Hakkero crackles. Energy flooding in-- both from Marisa herself and from whatever her Magic Draining Missiles manage to siphon from the Liber Legis. She levels the little octagonal block at the massive machine, closes her eyes... And concentrates her mind.

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    "Alright!" Arthur calls out to Al Azif, and to Ariel, shouting over the stompy mechanical noises. "You got a plan, you execute! I'll follow your lead, you tell me whatever you want done, kids! I'm behind you two /one hundred percent/!"

    Looks like he intends to do whatever Ariel or Al tell him to, as soon as they tell him to do it. He'll generically provide energy until they give other orders.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Wood shifts, the Taiji at the instrument's center begins to whirl, lighting up the eight trigrams all along its rim. "Declare Spellcard," Marisa mutters, her voice uncharacteristically low. The Hakkero seems to... split, opening up to reveal its inner workings- and the incredibly powerful alchemical furnace at the device's heart. Her hands no longer grip it, but encircle it at either side as her most precious treasure begins hovering amidst a nimbus of raw magical power.

The octagon spins, whirls, and finally LOCKS onto Master Therion and his machine.

    Marisa's eyelids fly open, her golden irises blazing with light of all colors of the rainbow- and several which aren't. The glow between her fingertips draws in, compressing tighter and tighter over a single point just over the Hakkero's core. One ring, then another, twist out and away from the Taiji, whirling in cocentric, runic circles around the budding supernova at its center. Marisa grits her teeth-- and roars, "MAGICANNON!"

FINAL MASTER SPARK!

There's a sound. It can only be described in terms of sounding like a star might, if it were exploding.

    Light floods out of the Hakkero like some kind of love-colored coronal mass ejection. Or maybe something more akin to the astrophysical jets that blast out of a black hole. Marisa yells as she tries her damnest to keep from being pushed back by the beam as it screams through the air to consume the Liber Legis where it stands!

It... somehow, paradoxically, may not do as much damage to living things as it does to literally everything else.

She DID declare it as a Spell Card first, after all.

Ariel (219) has posed:
"Okay. Okay." Ariel breathes in deep, trying to stay calm as her friends swarm Therion and the Liber Legis, actually doing legit damage and delaying to it. She'd forgotten how strong they all were. How they COULD be. "I can do this. I... I think we have something, right Al? Arthur... just keep us steady. Um. Space-wise."

Ariel's shoulders and back hiss as she again releases limiters, the dangerous action that got her into this mess. Only this time, she's doing it for a very specific, controlled reason. "Let's do this."

Demonbane once again lifts the Trapezohedron, but this time she's listening to all her friends when she does it, and makes no move to /attack/ with it. "THERION! I don't care what you think about pain... because I have my friends here. These are all people who will keep fighting. Even if it's futile, even if everything ends badly, they will. And /I/ will. That's because fighting is sometimes what life is about. If I have to fight to save you, I will... but I won't fight to kill you."

She takes a deep breath, sending magic and power from Arthur, Demonbane, and everyone... through her and into the Shining Trapezohedron. "Al. Do it."

Al Azif (135) has posed:
    As soon as Ariel says that, Al's eyes light up. "Right... right." She steadies herself and tries to handle the torrent of power going through the blade.
    "From the sky glowing with hope-"
    "With desperate cries in our hearts-"
    "We open the path to tomorrow!"
    "Thou art the innocent wings- DEMONBANE!"

    It's a different chant from the summoning of the Deus Machina, and it comes with a crackling surge of power that lances out the bright beam toward Therion... or more specifically, toward the Shining Trapezohedron he holds. The immense power means Demonbane has to hold very still... but that's what everyone else is there to handle, isn't it? Handling Therion while Al and Ariel complete this spell that they've come up with.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    Chains lash out at the Liber Legis... which means that the incoming attacks are all that harder to defend against. That strange field of power still operates, but it's not like it's a proper full defense when Therion can't move. Amalthea-missile tears through plating, causing a leak in one hip, while WITHENGAR slams in and begins to tear apart the machine even while the effects start to melt the demonic entity. Powered by Valentha's magic, the creature tears in and begins to work on the plating.

    The Liber Legis strains, and one of the binding chains begins to snap... only for the FINAL MASTER SPARK to blaze into it, melting plating and sapping the regenerative spells that are rebuilding the machine. Therion's raw power, combined with the Shining Trapezohedron, make the magic keep coming... but that draining is making it very difficult to progress any way.

    That's when the pillar of light blazes from Demonbane's hand. The 'power of friendship' is something that many can mock, but the bonds that carry people through these situations really do have power, and Ariel is uniquely qualified to harness it, gather it... and expel it.

    Arthur will now realize why he was told to keep things in hand. Actually FUNNELLING that power is something that space itself has trouble holding.

    The R'lyeh Text, unbidden, makes gestures to form another symbol. With a blaze of light, a warped symbol appears behind Demonbane, reinforcing the spell and channelling the energy more clearly... toward Therion.

    The Mage doesn't say a word, not yet. He just accepts that blaze of golden light which swirls around the blade of his own Trapezohedron, the light building and flaring until... it vanishes. The blade is gone, and the spell 'cools' with a sudden dropoff of energy as the Liber Legis is left drifting, torn and shredded.

    Only then does Therion begin to laugh. It's not his usual mocking laugh, nor a scornful one. Usually, his laughter is hollow, a motion he goes through. This doesn't have joy in it either, but neither does it sound false.

    "I see. So it is. All that I am, all those times... in the end, it wasn't enough." He falls silent, but Liber Legis doesn't move.

    At some point, the planet below has vanished. Structures like Theo's are now floating in a deep, starry void. It's extremely quiet, and not because it's a vacuum. Setsuko will feel it the most keenly, but it's so extreme everyone can feel it as well. The aura of battle, of conflict... is gone.

Psyber (253) has posed:
    There's a colossal and awkward silence as Psyber, still carried by Amalthea. It's hard to tell exactly what happened, even for someone with his keen senses. It seemed like everything swirled at once, and then the world around them changed, and now they're back in the Multiverse Proper.

    To that end, Psyber lets out a tired sigh and sags in Amalthea's grasp a bit, not that she can feel it in a zero gravity environment, "Thank god, it looks like it might finally be over," He notes tiredly, grumbling as he rubs his face.

    "Maybe now I can get a break from the drama, sacrifice, and overwhelming sense of loss for a while," Psyber murmurs in a tone only Amalthea can hear.

Homura Akemi (2) has posed:
    That was a show of power alright. Not the likes of which you see very often-- the combined attack on Therion, that is. Homura is still fairly impressed by the R'lyeh Text's performance. She would frown if she knew that's what the girl IS, but hey, until she figures that out it's all good.

    Though for the time being, they are freefloating in space.
    Luckily there seems to be air(?) and it's not being overly hostile at them. Definitely a huge plus from the awful dimension they were in shortly before.

    But it ISN'T over. Therion is still there. Before they can breathe, they need to see what happens. What Ariel and Al Azif choose to do, and what Therion himself makes of it. And so Homura will watch for now, to see what the little unicorn will do and say to a man who just tried to either get her to kill him or else destroy the universe.

Valentha Summers (834) has posed:
    FLOATY!

    Yes. one moment valentha's tensely observing an insane conflict that everything hinges on while trying to keep all of the big other monsters away from the fighters.

    ... and, in short order, she finds herself now drifng through space. Something LIKE space, anyways.

    Glad she's got those goggles down. "... Well. That's an improvement! Reality didn't implode on us all."

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Arthur keeps space stable. He keeps it functional. Up stays up and down stays down, geometry makes sure that a Trapezohedron is a shape, despite the chaotic, intense power of the wills that Ariel gathered.

    And then they're done. Arthur's energy subsides. "Jeeze, kid. What happened to Therion at the end there? Lila still gonna be alright? I couldn't tell what you were doing, besides messing space up bad." He says, in an impressed tone. That seems to be about all he has to say about that. "You kids want a ride home from... Wherever this is?" That last part is broadcast to the rest. Arthur sounds EXHAUSTED though; three consecutive draining close-call fights have seriously messed him up.

Yuna Kagurazaka (385) has posed:
At the moment, Yuna's too exhausted to care about Therion or Liber Legis or much of anything. The darkness of space, laced with the light of stars, floats outside El-Line and fills its main visual monitors; Yuna finally takes a moment to turn and look over the list from Elner's head-count scan. Everyone is accounted for; some are wounded, all are exhausted, but everyone is *here*.

Yuna leans her head back against the headrest, humming briefly ... then starting to sing, unaccompanied.

o/~    Descending to my planet,
    You always appear in my dreams
    Now alone, look up to the sky
    Are you searching for me?

o/~    If we feel the desire to meet,
    Surely that's true and we haven't lost

o/~    Taking flight into the galaxy
    Carried by our wings
    When we become adults
    Someday in the sea of stars

She doesn't care who hears - she's singing for herself, for everyone, for the pleasure of singing, for an offering to the deities who guided and protected the group and its members.

And the song makes a nice lullaby. There's a second verse, but Yuna isn't awake to sing it any more - sleeping peacefully within the Matrix Figure's cockpit, nodding off without so much as a yawn.

Ariel (219) has posed:
Ariel breathes a great big sigh. Therion doesn't seem inclined to fight, either. "I'm not going to kill you. I can't. It goes against everything I stand for. There's a lot of death in the world... and sometimes you have to fight, but I fight to learn, and to preserve life. You're... wrong. And I'm sorry."

She eases off the controls. "Life hurts sometimes. Even I get angry, or upset. But I know there are people who care about me, and that eases it. I don't like you, Therion... but I'm not a person who can make the call on whether or not you can live. I don't feel comfortable with that. My friends aren't the same... but I'm happy they chose to stand by me here. Find something that makes you happy."

Kyra Hyral (626) has posed:
    Kyra seems to have no problems holding onto Marisa's broom as she dives in to unleash rainbow oblivion on the Liber Legis. Even her equipment stays put, thanks to belts and straps endemic to Final Fantasy characters.

    Despite the acrobatics, she does get a fantastic chance to see (and record!) the combination of help that comes together behind Ariel in her struggle against Therion. In the end, the other mecha is shredded and the pilot is spared, despite his insistance for death at Ariel's hands.

    She straightens herself, looking all around as she tries to pinpoint where exactly the chaos dimension has dumped everyone. She still seems alert in energetic, if only because she didn't have a big expenditure as the others who were enhancing or attacking did moments ago. It's good for healing clean-up, after all.

Amalthea (395) has posed:
    The crunching impact of high speed force against the Liber Legis thankfully bleeds off that suicidal speed, as reality takes over once again and Therion... Concedes...
    Psyber isn't the only one sighing. Though Amalthea still holds upon the half-angel rather tham get separated out in the void, as color returns to her vision slowly but surely. Loppy ears flick, and that lone eye casts a downward glance, and fingers curl in a slight squeeze, arms wrapping just fractionally tighter. "Only if you let yourself." Murmured as she turns her gaze upon the Demonbane and floating Liber Legis, the faintest crack of a tired smile of her own forming.

Marisa Kirisame (829) has posed:
    Marisa doesn't use magic like that... Well, basically ever, honestly. The reasons are pretty clear. As the Final Master Spark fades away, Marisa's Hakkero falls back into her hands, and the witch falls... forward onto the shaft of her broom. "Uuuungh," she groans, one tired eye open to watch as the others lay into- and finally finish off the Liber Legis. "Nnnghdamnit," she growls, forcing herself back up into an unsteady sitting position. "I don't ever wanna do anything like that again."

    She peers a lazy eye at the world all around her... Yup. Stars. Stars and darkness as far as the eye can see. "Huh," Marisa murmurs, craning her head around at all the unfamiliar constellations surrounding her. "...Shoot for the moon, and if you miss, you'll still end up among the stars. Or something."

Beat.

"...How are we breathing out here?"

Another beat.

"Ah, fuck it." Marisa is too tired to deal with shit like theoretically not being able to breathe. "Psyber! Kyra! Anyone, how the heck are we getting home!?"

Arthur Lowell has posed:
    Once everything's all worked out, Arthur will channel one more big burst of magic through Deus Machina he's helping out. A Gate! A brilliant green spirographic circle will pop into reality here, sized to allow even giant robots through, helping send everyone back to Boston, Nerites, or places like that.

Professor Therion (565) has posed:
    So what of Therion? He's still floating out there, and as everyone gets ready to leave, he sighs. "What I have..." He muses. "It will be interesting to see if you can keep that attitude as you grow older, little unicorn. I acknowledge defeat."

    Etheldreda ends up curling against his side, and he considers her for a long moment. "Perhaps I will try things your way."