Scene #7899: TPT: The Secret of the Second Head

Owner	Pose
Flamel Parsons	Welcome to the MOTHERLOBE! https://i.imgur.com/vYWtTAr.jpeg This quarry is the largest Psitanium mine in the entire world, and it shows. The nearby dam is the only thing that keeps it from turning into the second-largest psitanium-infused lake in the world, and gives a huge amount of space to the central structure: A 60s-era behemoth of glass and concrete, wrought by the world's foremost geokinetics, ferrokinetics, and virtukinetics and into the shape of two massive hands supporting a huge brain above its stem, allowing its vast third eye to display clearly. The landing pad is where most arrive, though if some prefer to ride by boat rather than aircraft, or hike from the nearby public campground, that's always fine too. Heading inside through massive metal doors leads first to a wide, spacious reception lobby lit in cool colors and draped in Psychonauts banners where you can get your Thinkerprint scanned and stored for access, and then through a strange psychic lifting tube up through the vast and wide Motherlobe atrium! Through that massive space, one can move to the laboratory! https://i.imgur.com/KIcVrt5.jpeg A tall scientist with jet-black hair and square glasses is consulting with a stocky, graying engineer with an odd eye medallion. And the main Psychonauts contact is there too. Hollis Forsythe! (https://i.imgur.com/EGnbiT1.png) She looks to be discussing something with Flamel, the scientist, and the engineer, but it wraps up pretty soon as they arrive. "Where's the one who wanted us to observe a live infection resistance? Or-- I suppose it doesn't matter. Data is data, and he can review it later." "We all can!" Parsons speaks up cheerfully. "My thinking is, we don't want to watch an infection happen live. I mean, if we did, we'd be down one good mind, right? But if we watch how cured immunity works, we might be able to figure out who made it, when, how. If we know where the cure came from, it makes sense that we can figure it out again! We just need a strong mind that we know won't be infected." "That's me." Forsythe says, strapping on a heavy helmet and applying a small door-shaped device to her forehead. "Unless one of you wants to jump on the grenade, I've got the highest mental resistance out of everyone besides Agent Nein, and we need him to monitor this. So you'll be in my brain, watching what happens when the cure works. Figure out which Psychonaut made it, and how. Find out how we can make another. And anything you can find out to figure out where the new strain is coming from."
Seras Victoria	Seras is a bit behind on the situation involving the Psychonauts, having been yoinked by some important Hellsing matters. But when th4e call goes out, she decides to show up again. Flown in by transport, she hops out wearing her typical yellow uniform, and this time without any massive luggage - just a small pack of supplies worn on her back. In she goes, straight to the laboratory. SHe can only listen, wide-eyed, at the ridiculous hijinx being proposed here... "I'll do my best but can't really make any promises..." Of course, it was established earlier that she seems to have some form of foresight, clairvoyance, or preternatural intuition that she doesn't really know how to control... Maybe not as useless as she's selling herself. "Good to see you two again. And this amazing superhero headquarters!"
Candy	Candy gets through the checkpoints with his usual level of decorum--even though he's fairly sure the Psychonauts are above-board this point, he does have a reputation for petulance to uphold. As with last time, he's gone with the longcoat, the tank top beneath, and pants held up by suspenders. They don't leave much to the imagination. The final touch is a newsie cap perched atop his head. "Not today, Forsythe," says Candy, on the topic of 'jumping on grenades.' "I trust Phony and Staren to be in there," he says, tapping the side of his head, "And not nobody else. Two's company, and three can fuck off, ah?" "But, here. Just in case you're wrong." You suits are like that. Biting off more than you can chew. Candy offers up a brooch. The glass face is clouded with roiling smoke. It'll allow her conscious mind to conceal itself from the sickness, in case things take a turn for the worse.
Staren	Staren seems to have interpreted the Psychonauts' style as close to 'mid-late 20th century rebel group' seen somewhere in a movie and dressed accordingly with a black turtleneck and semi-loosefitting green cargo pants. She has a Concord-orange kerchief around her neck and a matching armband with the word 'BRILLIANT' on it in little silvery letters. The labcoat is tied around her waist, she's still wearing unnecessary round-framed glasses, and has her hair up in a ponytail. She arrives by broom, but tucks that away in her bag before walking in. "Flamel! Good to see you! And you, Doctor!" And it seems she's not the first here. She gives Seras a curious look. "Hello again, Ser...as?" She pauses as she forgets, again, whether Seras asked to be called that or Miss Victoria or something. "How are you finding the Multiverse so far?" And there's-- "Candy!" She runs over to give him a hug enthusiastically. "Been awhile!" When the mission is explained, she cocks her head and looks back to Forsythe. "We're doing a mind dive into your brain? ...Huh. I don't think I've ever been on a mind dive into a brain that didn't have psychohazards for us to fight... Interesting to see the technique can be used this way, too..." When Candy remarks she's on the shortlist trusted to be in his brain, she comments, "Aww, thanks!"
Ozhira	One of the helicopter passengers is a somewhat short young woman in her late teens or early twenties, in that indeterminate range. Short, black hair and crimson eyes; a simple black blazer and plaid red skirt. She has clearly never been here before. In fact, she has apparently never been on a helicopter before; because she spends the majority of the trip to Moterlobe with her face pressed up against the glass, staring intently either down at the ground and water below or up at the whirling rotors above the cabin. When the aircraft lands and everyone disembarks, this girl spends an inordinate amount of time staring over her shoulder as the engines wind down and the rotors glide to a stop. Thinkerprinting is... The result gets some looks, to which she produces a Concord affiliation card and a catastrophically awful, nervous smile filled with far too many shark-like teeth. Some glances are exchanged and she is waved along. This nondescript girl who is bad at smiling soon finds herself in the indicated laboratory, hands tucked behind her back. All of the technologies on display are items this creature seems to find intensely fascinating, and they seem to be assuming such a posture as self-restraint.
Chains Knight	> LOCATION UNLOCKED: MOTHERLOBE > NEW QUEST: OBSERVE THE INFECTION Chains Knight is new. To the Motherlobe, but also to Concord missions in general, aside from whatever field aptitude tests he had to partake in. He catches a ride on the airplane, leaning out to watch the sights, helmet pressed right up against the window. "I like the theming," he says, on arrival. "It is very cohesive and comprehensive." On the way in through the building itself, his attention is drawn to the bowling alley, but only briefly. His thinkerprint registers as broadly normal-ish - not human, and not quite 'biological' either, but standard enough for a game-based entity - if the Motherlobe happens to have any on record to compare him to. He listens to the explanation of the quest passively and silently, nodding along as appropriate in order to advance the dialogue, but as things start transitioning from explanation to setup he steps forward, reaching into a side pouch and pulling out a deck of cards - which he sorts through and picks out one in particular. "Here," he says, handing it to Forsythe. "In case something goes wrong, play this," he explains. APPLE A DAY - 2 Mana - Target gains +2 DEF "Just in case."
Persephone Kore	Phony arrives via the Psychonauts' fabulously sleek spy-plane a bit ahead of schedule, stops by the cafeteria for those fabulous noodles again, and swings into the laboratory just on time. As usual, she's wearing that dark ribbed keyhole sweater, those comfy orange arm-warmers, and a black skirt with boots. Also as usual, she radiates emotional warmth and gentleness like a star radiates light, and makes her surroundings feel hollow and plastic by comparison to her intrinsic 'realness'. But that's just, you know, hot girl stuff. "Hollis!" she says with a cheery little wave. "Haha, it's really great to have a reason to visit again. I've told you how much I love this place, haven't I?" The words 'a strong mind' make her perk up just a little, but then she restrains herself. 'God can lift his own heavy rock.' Instead, with an unworried smile: "If you're willing to take it, I'm not going to stop you. You and Parsons are the experts! And with how pretty your heart is, I'm sure this will be a lot more peaceful than the other mind-dives we've had, ahaha." As the equipment gets set up, she smiles down warmly at Ozhira and offers her a hand to shake. "Hey! It's me, Phony. There's a lot of amazing stuff in here, right? It's like a toybox. I'm proud of you, being so self-controlled! But we'll be somewhere even better soon, and then poking at things will be the whole point." A few moments later, she purses her lips thoughtfully in Seras's direction. "Isn't that uncomfortable to wear? I mean..." A gesture towards her own chest. "You're kind of shrinkwrapped, you know? If you're going for that, a window would be a lot easier."
Candy	Candy's arms wrap around Staren and he smiles warmly. "Hey, egghead," he teases, gently pulling back from the embrace. "Good to see you, too. The ponytail looks real cute with the glasses." So the knight guy is Chains Knight and the cute one's Ozhira. That just leaves the uniform. "Maybe she's just like me," says Candy, impishly grinning at Phony. If he makes his own clothing like he does everything else, then he'd definitely be able to avoid 'shrink wrap.' It's hard to see Candy coming, sometimes, but never hard to see him going. "Truth is them uniforms 'shrink wrap' your brain even when they fit. You oughta find a better line of work 'fore it's too shrunk to work right, you know?"
Flamel Parsons	"'Super hero'. You young people and your comic books." The scientist says. "We are international secret agents, not 'super heroes'." "We do an awful lot of comic-worthy superheroism, though. At least, the agents in the field." Says the engineer, annoying the scientist. Hollis grabs up the brooch, regarding it skeptically. Then the card, looking like she suspects a prank. But she nods. "Every little bit helps. Prideful skepticism wouldn't really give me the best chance, unless this is haunted." She nods to Staren. "We use it to teach, usually. Anything related to information can go a little easier when it's brain-to-brain." The newbies are given a reasonable accommodation. Ozhira is certainly treated to some looks, and one person mutters, unaware she can hear, "She sure is doing a lot for someone with her condition." Chains Knight isn't poorly received, considering Flamel's own artificial-like nature, and he's considered more of a Cold Reader. They haven't invented many videogames yet! Hollis can't help but smile a little for Persephone. "I appreciate it. We try our hardest to make this a healthy place to be. And you're right. A lot more peaceful." She pops the door on her forehead, drawing the group inside. Projected from their bodies, with phantom versions of all their gear along for the ride, the group can find themselves slipping inside her skull through that gate...
Seras Victoria	Seras.. cannot help but turn to look about at those gathered here. A few familiar faces, a few unfamiliar ones... "Good evening, sir knight...?" She blinks a few times at Chains Knight and tilts her head... as if trying to puzzle out just what about his presence strikes her as odd. She can't quite put a mental finger on it... Jolted straight out of those thoughts by Persephone though. The draculina turns about to give Persephone a look... very much like that of a kitten that's fallen into a bathtub and gotten all soggy but is still inclined towards indignance. "Everyone keeps giving me uniforms like this." And from her firmly talking-through-her-teeth tone, she really doesn't want to talk about any such windows. This uniform is fiiiiiine. And, only moments later, the criticism from Candy earns another kitten-like, ineffectual glare of disapproval, lips parting in a further grimace... showing unusually-long teeth. "Stoppit. We're not here to talk about my outfit or line of work. You don't even know what that work IS." Although, whatever it is, the shield emblem on her outfit clearly says 'HELLSING We are on a Mission from God'. "Is... is it really so secret when your headquarters is a giant brain that can probably be seen from space...?" She answers the scientist, slightly deflated at the lack of enthusiasm towards heroes... With her gaze and attention firmly fixed on Hollis she begins to ask, "So how do we do this dive thiiiii----" Pop goes the door and Seras's words trail off into a dwindling slur then silence. ADVENTURE TIME.
Flamel Parsons	The group finds themselves in Hollis's inner classroom. A vast space, of floating platforms, desks, and chairs all arranged around a central head that floats in the middle. "I'm usually running the intern program." She explains; she's here too, standing in the middle of the room, on the lecture stage that looks like the lower half of her own head, under a light that looks like its upper half. "Now, over in the real world, I'm going to an observation station." She explains. "Where I'll be looking at an obscured memetic hazard. It's carrying a payload of a new strain of MAD psychohazard. I can resist it, since the Cold Strain was cured, but the Victory Day Strain can get past it if I look too long. You won't have forever to work." Platforms rush up from the abyss below, leading to an opening. When one steps through, they find themselves stepping out the back of an ambulance, parked in front of a very average hospital in the middle of an east coast american city! It's... startlingly normal. "Is everyone ready? This part might get violent." Hollis's voice calls through the psychic air, telepathically. "So arm up."
Staren	cute Staren's face turns red and she gets too flustered to reply. After the hug she runs to Phony to give her a hug too. At Candy's comments about uniforms, Staren looks back over at Seras. "She's not with the police anymore, apparently." And another new face, although Staren's heard the voice. "Ohhh... you're Ozhira! Nice to meet you." She offers the Devourer a handshake, and pulls a flipphone-like device from her coat pocket to see what scans of Ozhira look like. Just curious! So, they're going in for science observations of a hopefully un-dangerous nature? Staren unties the labcoat from around her waist and puts it on, warps on her vambraces, then looks at Seras. "No cannon today, huh? Well... given that we're going into a mind containing an extraordinarily dangerous psychohazard, even if we're not expecting to fight it, just in case..." Staren casually holds out her hands and warps something that looks like an oversized, double-barreled assault rifle into them -- and Phony can see that she was planning to toss it to Seras -- but its sheer weight yanks it out of her hands and it hits the floor and her boot with a loud THUNK (It's a missile launcher, and it still barely weighs more than a tenth what the Harkonnen does.) "Well, uh, you can borrow that just in case." She steps back and shakes the foot the launcher hit. "And THAT is why you always wear shoes with steel-or-equivalent toes..."
Staren	...And then they're in a classroom! That makes sense. Staren blinks at seeing Hollis here too. It feels a little unusual, but then, it makes sense a Psychonaut would have control over the projection of themself inside their mindscape, right? She nods at the instructions, and steps out of... an ambulance? She would wonder what space was doing if this wasn't a mindscape, but makes a note to maybe not rely on her automap in here. "It might?" Staren replies, looking up at the sky. Still, she makes a small show of each vambrace opening a panel to reveal energy weapons, touching the hilts of the two vibroswords sheathed behind her waist, and pulling a oneshot rocket launcher from her bag and hanging it across her back by shoulderstrap, and having a floating camera drone take up position above her to one side, and buttoning up her labcoat before holding a hand to her chest and muttering, "Armor of Ithan. Fly as the Eagle." Little pulses of magic flowing through circuits and manifesting a ghostly outline of medieval armor around her that then fades from view, and her movement gets a bit faster and more fluid as she isn't relying entirely on her feet for locomotion.
Ozhira	The girl who introduced herself in the plural as Ozhira recognizes Persephone's voice readily, swiveling her head to face the taller woman. Though initially seeming startled, the surprise is more of a nice one than a fearful one, and the creature relaxes quite quickly. She even attempts another smile, one of those awkward smiles made by someone who isn't quite sure what a smile is, but knows it is supposed to mean well and that it involves displaying teeth. "This is new to us," that vaguely feminine voice explains. Turning a bit more, the 'girl' glances further back towards the facility entrance, and then brings their attention back to the procedure in progress. When scanned, the girl appears to be entirely human, the only outlier being her shark-like rows of teeth. The scan does prompt her to turn towards Staren, distracted by the device in the scientist's hands in such a way that being pulled into THE BRAINSCAPE catches her off-guard. On the other side, Ozhira manifests on all fours, limbs splayed out at inhuman lengths and angles. When it's apparent there is no danger, the beast swiftly recovers itself and they rise back to their feet, their proportions quickly returning to normal without a sound. As Hollis explains the situation, the girl glances up and about, observing the slightly stylized surroundings. As they step up and through into the new surroundings, nothing...really changes about their body or posture. And yet, when they speak again, the voice is more tense, "We are prepared to hunt."
Persephone Kore	Persephone returns the hug, in the last seconds before the mind-dive kicks in, and takes the chance to pat Staren's head too. "Awww. Here's a little morale boost before we go in, okay?" ---- Persephone's eyes shut as she takes in Hollis-within-Hollis's briefing. Inhale, wait five seconds, exhale. Her eyes open, and her face blossoms back into a confident smile. "Right. The faster we can get the information we need, the less stress you'll be under. I'm not usually good at hurrying, but if it's for someone else, I'll try my best!" She descends the platforms with clacky heel-steps, emerging from the back of the ambulance with a graceful crouch-and-step so she doesn't have to jump the two-foot drop to the street. Is this what a hospital is like? It feels a little cozy, actually. I don't know why people hate them so much. 'So arm up.' "I'm ready to take this seriously, since you're trusting yourself to us. But worrying about me isn't allowed, Hollis!" she says to the disembodied voice. "I'm the meta, you know."
Chains Knight	> LOCATION UNLOCKED: HOLLIS'S INNER CLASSROOM > QUEST UPDATED: OBSERVE THE INFECTION (Prepare for Battle) > LOCATION UNLOCKED: HOLLIS'S INNER HOSPITAL "Understood. Arming up." He finds a spot to stand, towards the rear of the area, and reaches into his satchel, withdrawing his deck of cards once again, and shuffling it. "I start my turn by drawing up to seven cards," he says, to no one in particular, as he does so. "I opt not to mulligan, and begin my main phase." The helmeted warrior studies the cards he's holding for a moment, and then reaches over with his other hand and plucks one of them out from the fanned cards, holding it up. "I play Stalwart Defenders," he says, and throws that card out into the middle of the field in front of the hospital - which causes a half dozen burly plate armor knights, bearing tower shields, to pop into existence. "I attach Timely Intervention to my Stalwart Defenders, enhancing their ability to block attacks. Then I cycle out my Forgotten Prophecy, paying one mana in order to discard it and draw a new card." He does so, examining the card, and nods, seeming pleased. "I play my newly drawn Archer Conscripts in my back row - discarding my Machinations of Daedalus as part of playing its cost." A good three dozen shortbow archers, in generic Robin Hood-esque getups, pop into existence nearby. "And - hmm, yes, that will end my turn. You may proceed with the infection," he says, unfanning his hand of cards... ... and glancing over at Persephone. "... I would believe it," he tells her.
Seras Victoria	Being pulled into a mindscape with all of thse other people leaves Seras gaping at the proceedings... and the surroundings. "Nobody'd believe me if I told them about this! Wow. Is this really being inside someone's mind?" She does a few stretches and pokes herself once or twice as if to check if anything's real or not.... Then is jolted out of her thoughts by Staren noisily dropping a missile launcher. She blinks a few times. "Where did THAT suddenly come from? ... Are you alright, miss Staren?" She does walk over and pick up the weapon with just a single hand, examining it and testing its balance as if it weighs almost nothing at all. "Is this what I think it is...? A double-barreled RPG launcher?" Incredible and ridiculous in one. She makes a brief show of spinning the weapon about into a proper grip then shouldering it properly. "It's my first time doing anything like this. Are we actually here? Everything feels a bit weird." Despite being dead, the young woman takes a deeeeeeeeeeeeep, calming breath, closes her eyes, and focuses in a way that she's still getting the hang of. But she then stomps her right foot out into a slightly broader, ready stance and readies her new weapon. Her eyes snap open - and have changed. Where before they were an innocent blue, now they're crimson, glowing with an inner hellish light. Her expression is deadly serious... "Ready as I can be!"
Candy	"Okay! Whatever you say." It is uttered to Seras in the least innocent of ways--it will be a subject of bullying Later. Pulled into Hollis' inner classroom, Candy takes a moment to check that everything arrived the way it came in. After having given himself a partially-ocular patdown, he then gives a thumbs-up to the Hollis he can see. "Got it!" he calls, stepping out from the ambulance. 'Arming up' involves his hands adopting a position, anticipating a grip and foregrip a split second before they appear. From thin air, there appears a wood-framed submachine gun, clearly hand made, with an upwards-curved magazine doubling as a foregrip. To anyone with the cultural background to recognize such things, it looks antiquated by modern standards. His longcoat sags, weighed down by the presence of something that wasn't there before. Spare magazines, maybe. Or maybe not. "Jesus, Staren," he chuckles, as she shakes her foot. "You know, usually you gotta work up to the big ones." As she takes off, he's heading towards the hospital. The unusual, right-angled charging handle at the back of the gun is pulled back--with a grunt of effort. "Fire it up!" he says, suddenly atop the ambulance, prone. His firing angle should allow him to back up Chains' archers, while the elevation should keep his shield knights clear.
Staren	morale boost Staren hugs Phony tighter and tries to relax under her aura's calming effects before reluctantly pulling herself away. They do have a mission. ---- > Are you alright? "I can warp stuff in from my armory in the Elysium Apex. It's way more convenient than having to guess what I'll need to bring before every mission, even if I can fit like a whole closet of stuff in this bag. And Yeah!" Staren smiles and lifts a leg to indicate her boots. "Reinforced toes. And it's a missile launcher, though they'll just dumbfire by default, I can designate targets for it too." She stares a little bit at Seras spinning the weapon like it weighs nothing. Staren KNOWS it must be much, much lighter than the Harkonnen, but still! > I'm the meta. Cheerfully, "She is!" Staren's not entirely sure what she means by this but it feels true. >I start my turn... Staren STARES as Chains Knight... okay, that's basically exactly what she pictured when playing cards was described, but somehow she wasn't expecting hints of such detailed GAME MECHANICS. Also she may briefly be thinking of another game. "You played THREE CARDS on your FIRST TURN?!" > Candy "Yeah but it's for her! I can't use it without strength enhancement, she usually carries something that's gotta weigh ten times that much..." After his repositioning, "Ooh, that's a good idea." Staren jumps, and with unnaturally floaty, mid-air-controlled movement, she alights atop the ambulance too.
Flamel Parsons	"Alright. Taking a glance... now!" A sound like a videocassette tape pushed into place clicks through the entire city. Mechanisms audibly latch and lock. A sound plays. The scientist's voice is what is heard now, Agent Nein. "I'm seeing Censor activity across all sensory regions." And it's true. Rushing out of the hospital, men in dark blue suits, with thick glasses and heavy stamps, rush wildly. Shouting, "NO. NO. NO." Much like the encounter with the Censor Victorious, but these don't attack the observers, they have only one thing to focus on. One Censor, like the Censor Victorious, is leading them all. Stepping from the hospital's emergency entrance, a six foot and change man, in Psychonauts uniform. Instead of corrupting the Censors with cybernetic enhancements like the Censor Victorious, he simply walks with them, giving tactical signals with his hands. The Censors are barricading the mind under its orders. Every building surrounding the hospital suddenly seems to come alive with mysterious humanoid shapes moving indistinctly around the windows. The doors rumble, while Censors rush to nail boards into place against them, chanting, "NO. NO. NO." The Psychonauts counterpart of the Censor Victorious (the Censor Vaccine?) signals to the new arrivals. When examined closely, one can notice: There is actually no mouth on the man. It's short, simple signals, pointing at particular weapons and particular windows. He gestures at the Stalwart Defenders, asking for them to be at particular defensive positions. It's not demanding, but instead, a request; please, potential allies, fire on these indistinct forms. But there's not much that they can say, it seems. Still: If anything's the cure, it seems this is it.
Staren	> Ozhira "Oh, do you want to see?" Staren is then taken aback at the change in Ozhira's stance in the mindscape. Well. I guess now is a chance to see just how she 'hunts'... ---- Staren jumps and her ears perk at the sound. And then... "Uh... What? What are those? Are they the psychohazard?" She raises her arms to put the vambraces' plasma cannons in firing position, but doesn't shoot the censors yet... Only once the Censor Vaccine points out the shapes does she notice them. More camera drones fly out of her bag and spread out over the area to get wide coverage. As long as the psychohazard stays inside the buildings, until directed to breach, instead of using weapons more likely to explode or catch fire, she warps in (or summons the mental version of?) what appears to be a laser sniper rifle, and, after taking a few shots, she activates a strength-boosting spell to wield it more easily. Light shoots through windows, right? It probably melts holes in them all the same, but hopefully the censors can board over those anyway...
Seras Victoria	The appearance of the censors is rather distracting. Seras can't help but briefly stare at the antics and try to make sense of the whole debacle. That they're friends and not foes is immediately apparent though, and so she just nods at Staren, gives Candy another mild glare... then focuses on the distant buildings where strange tricks are playing at her senses. A dozen Hellsing missions has taught Seras to trust her intuition more and more, and so when a figment of the mindscape guides her to fire on a distant building she snaps about, takes aim and... fires. Twin rockets erupt from the barrels and whoooosh! Off they go, into the wild blue yonder? ... More likely crashing through a window and going off into a fireball. Unfortunately the weapon is only single-shot and she has no more ammo. That means... She reluctantly drops the rocket launcher and reaches towards a pouch, intending to pull out what could only be a pistol that's way too tiny for a job like this. But then-- A voice like dry gravel calls out, "Seeeeeeerrrraaasssssss.... SEEEEEERRRAAAAAASSSSS...." The police girl stands up straight. "Huh? Who's calling--" Oh it's quite a Who alright. For, approaching rapidly - floating, and fluttering through the air like a weightless butterfly, is the most peculiar sight. A gigantic, morbidly obese elderly man, his face wrinkly and his hair grey where it still exists. He wears pastel pink and purple robes over some more formal pale yellow attire and is, yes, propelling himself along like a drifting leaf on the wind by fluttering his hands held at his sides. Unlike the vampire girl he approaches, he's a drawn figure who moves about with strange, jilted, unreal motion, as if he is nothing more than a crude artist's drawing that stepped off the page. Something out of a dream. "You went and left me behind again, when I work so hard to help you! Remember, Seras. Remember who I am. I am the spirit of your gun. I AM THE GREAT HARKONNEN! And what am I supposed to tell your Master if you die in a place like this? I cannot allow this!" The man clasps a fist over his heart while Seras just gazes up at him with a weirded-out, blank expression. With a cartoonish POOF of smoke that uses far too few frames of animation, the man vanishes and instead a heavy anti-tank cannon falls downwards, with Seras clumsily catching the enormously-long rifle out of the air and falling over backwards onto her rump with a thump. Even if the events that just transpired aren't terribly clear, her expression is. It says, 'what the bloody hell just happened?'
Chains Knight	As Candy gets into position, Chains glances down at his satchel, and pulls out the <key item> he'd retrieved a week ago. It's glowing, softly. "... Interesting. I wasn't expecting to get use from this so soon..." He puts the <key item> back away, and then gathers up his deck of cards and puts that away as well, and in the same motion of putting the deck back into his satchel, he withdraws... another deck of cards, this time a standard 52 card bicycle deck, along with a small stack of poker chips. "A regular card game... and chips. I see... This may take some setup." Regardless of everything else going on, he sits on the curb, and starts laying out the cards and the chips on the floor. The Stalwart Defenders seem to have minds of their own - regardless of their summoner currently engrossed in playing what looks like solitaire, they nod subtly to the Censor Vaccine and spread out where indicate, taking up positions, and readying shields. The archers shift uneasily, arrows nocked to shortbows... ... all the while, Chains is now seemingly more engrossed in this new game than what's going on. "... Ah, and that makes a new stack, and you draw from the deck..."
Candy	"Oh, fuck me, they're boarding the place up," says Candy, sounding pleased. He nudges Staren. "Love the rifle. With you here using that thing, and them boarding the place up, we ain't gonna have no stragglers." He reaches for his hat, but... Not much room to swing Mandate inside! Boy should stick to gun. "Me, I'm going to head in and sweep the place." He's inside. Gone from Staren's side in an instant. Walking heel-to-toe, through the emergency entrance, he keeps his gun shouldered and sweeps each room for those indistinct figures. In the event he's down a choke with anyone else he'll drop to a knee to take his shots so he's not blocking sight lines. After every shot grouping, Candy blinks behind the nearest sight-blocking cover, waiting for the sounds of footsteps to pop out and fire on any figures that come running.
Ozhira	Ozhira raises both hands when offered a look at Staren's device, apparently uneasy about touching it at least right now. The psychohazard is introduced and the Beast is immediately enraptured by the flurry of activity when small (comparatively) creatures swarm out of the hospital and get to work protecting this mind. Small things darting about across Ozhira's wide-eyed vision, pupils snapping from target to target. She snaps out of it by raising both hands hands and slapping her cheeks, letting out a discordant noise of multiple voices, "This is. Not. Our prey." The nondescript girl's posture shifts, gaze lifting to the buildings that those distracting Censors are fortifying. Given her lack of obvious arsenal, it's likely the Vaccine will take some time figuring out what to do with her; and that means nothing is really there to stop her from wandering away amidst the tumult of building Censors. Drawn to shifting shadows in windows, the Beast only pauses to stare up at one. When Staren's laser shot punches a hole in the glass, the Devourer suddenly moves. Spines erupt from the surface of her blazer-- not through it, but emerging from the cloth itself-- and lance up into the wall. Connected by tendon-like cords, the creature hauls itself up to the level of the window at a terrifying velocity which causes her body to splatter against the glass like a balloon filled with scarlet paint. Seconds later, this mess of quivering viscera disappears through that one bullet-sized hole, vanishing into the building. Another heartbeat later, Ozhira's human form rises up on the other side of the glass, completely uninjured while they slowly examine the building interior for those shifty shadowy inhabitants.
Staren	> THE GREAT HARKONNEN After hearing the rocket launcher used and dropped, Staren glances over... Seras thought it was a oneshot?! "...There are five more missiles for each tube!" A sixth of that weight was the ammo, damn it! But then... What. "Your gun... has a spirit?" But she nods when Seras is, somehow, re-armed. "Just use the weapon you're used to, you're probably better with it anyway." > Love the rifle. "It's a pre-rifts design! The JA-12 'One Man Army'!" Staren gushes. "There's no more powerful man-portable laser weapon, even from Wilks's, and it's got a backup power pack and an underbarrel grenade--" Oh he's gone. >This is. Not. Our prey. "What?" Staren looks around, but still needs the Vaccine to point her at the enemies. Once the Devourer moves... Staren stares at her until it's clear that she's oozing into the building. Well, THERE'S a bunch of enemies taken care of. I wonder if they even experience the fear of being hunted?
Persephone Kore	For Persephone, there are no preparations to be made; no weapons to be drawn, no defenses to be raised, no stance to be adopted. That leaves her free to simply walk over to the Censor Vaccine as it gives orders, give a friendly wave, and examine the strange mouthless man with her psychometry. Why are you the way that you are? Censors are part of the mind's immune system, but this one seems a little odd, right? "Sorry about all this mess," she says apologetically- even knowing that he's just a mental construct, there's no point in not being kind! "We're here to help, and then we'll be out of your hair, I promise!" Phony slips through the crowd of Chains Knight's underlings- just like with the censor Vaccine, she gives them little words of encouragement and doting praise- and floats up to a window with shadowy figures behind it. Everyone else is doing a great job fighting them! But we have to get information too, don't we? Thus, she peers through the sea of stars to soak in their psychic impressions. What do the shadowy figures 'want'? What are their dispositions and intentions? Insofar as they have minds at all, what's bouncing around in their heads?
Flamel Parsons	Some of the glass windows are blown out, but many stay intact as Staren obliterates the inhabitants. There is nothing there. No forms, no shapes, and certainly nothing humanoid. The Censor Valorous gives short, completely silent nods to her. Yeah, she's right, those are the psychohazard they're trying to deal with, taking the form of nothing, there's nothing in there, and nothing to concern oneself with. Candy sweeps through. He gets a good look at nothing. He can smell the sickly burnt lack of scent, and sweep through rooms that are so empty with the indistinct nothing that the scent like burnt meat might get nearly overpowering. It's especially easy for someone with the senses of a Beast to operate in. It seems that the cure was designed mostly to censor the intellectual senses, not the emotional ones. Trying to look at nothing at all makes one's attacks a little imprecise, but guiding one's strikes purely by the scent of burning flesh helps, even if the clean and harmless and empty might put one off. Persephone reads the Censor Valorous. He looks to her and somberly shakes his head. He doesn't think what she's doing is right. But she catches something. Like a latch, or a door handle, a mental opening. The answer to why he is the way he is seems to be... left as the key to an opening. He thinks it's unwise to pursue, but if she so chooses, she can open the man like a door. She gets as good a look at nothing moving around the windows as anyone can. Nothing at all here has burns along the face and body, and signs of long-term starvation and neglect. Along nothing anywhere, there are somewhat bloodied fingertips indicating certain types of struggle. Nobody here at all moves in a way that seems, somehow, deeply injured. One cannot hear a pleading sob from dozens of screaming voices.
Seras Victoria	Seras hops up to her feet, still trying to comprehend what just happened - when Staren explains that no, the thing IS NOT just one-shot. "Oh..." Quite embarassed now, she looks down... and drives her foot down onto an an edge of the rocket launcher. It flips upwards and Seras snags it with her other hand. ... and now, she actually grins. Dual wielding an ANTI-TANK CANNON and a ROCKET LAUNCHER. For this brief moment, her thoughts are solidly fixed on just how COOL that actually is, instead of how RIDICULOUS she looks toting those things around. Yes. Violoence. Destruction. And showing off her strength. Some primal part of her new existence sings for it. Moving quite by some strange, predatory instinct of her own, she takes aim for the buildings again... and fires. Another pair of rockets goes one way. Then, she pulls the trigger on the Harkonnen and a sharp BANG rings out, the blur of a sizable shell moving at terrific speeds is visible for a brief moment before it smashes through another window. three explosions all go off at roughly the same time... "This is so weird. It's like fighting shadows. But I can't quite see the shadows. Can't quite. But somehow..."
Chains Knight	"There we go, got it figured out..." says Chains, looking up from the cards... ... and finding nothing. "... Odd..." The knights maintain their posture of vigilance, although they're also not sure what it is they're getting ready to fight against. They're game constructs, not people, but - they seem just as affected by whatever is going on. Or... not going on.
Persephone Kore	Phony looks through the windows. She can't stand to look for long. Even if her mind is trying not to grasp all of it, 'burned flesh and malnourished bodies and pitiful screaming' is enough to make her recoil in wide-eyed shock. Her hand covers her mouth as she floats backwards. It isn't really real. Those aren't actual people; just figments of them. I know that. I can see it. But... Shaken, she returns to the ground. This isn't a kind of fight she's suited for. Instead, she circles back to where she started: the mouthless Censor Vaccine. "I'm sorry, Censor," Persephone says. She really does appear to be. "But we're here because we have to know. As soon as we find out, we can make it stop." This feels, somehow, like the equivalent of an Are you sure? Y/N prompt. She doesn't really want to press it, but Hollis is giving us this chance, so I have to take advantage of it, don't I? Persephone opens the 'door' inside the Censor.
Ozhira	As Ozhira stands inside the building, the creature is confused by the conflicting information from its senses. The eyes share nothing of use. But the nose smells blood. The ears hear movement. The girl's posture changes, leaning forward somewhat and spreading her arms to either side. From deep within her body, a rumbling bass sound is emitted that rattles through the floor and walls. Within the maze of minds, the Beast constructs a detailed map of its surroundings, of the movements and heartbeats and everything around it other than the solid structure currently housing the Devourer and the psychohazards that evade its vision. Now it is time for an experiment. Ozhira steps forward, closing their eyes and relying on the sonic map they have created. The moment their line of 'sight' crosses with an object of interest, one of those voids, one of those Nothings, a barbed spine of keratin hurls itself from her body as if fired from a cannon. The Beast gauges what it strikes; and should it be something other than 'wall', immediately reels the harpoon in like a fishing line. Finding it rather solid, when the figure is wrenched into the body of an ordinary-looking girl, that body splits open along some nightmarish axis from right shoulder to left hip, revealing a maw lined with countless teeth. This clamp down on the unseen figure and the entire body twists, tearing off an invisible mass. As the mouth closes, it spews out a spray of green sludge across the floor in front of a completely harmless girl, her now seamlessly closed-up body covered in Nothing. Her voice, at first vaguely feminine, rapidly splits into multiple discordant voices all speaking at once as she takes another step, and then another, harpoons launching out of her body each time her line of sight crosses with those unseeable voids. "We See You! Run! RuUnN! It excITes Us!"
Candy	That smell. The crying you can just barely hear. The blood. The way that nobody at all seems to be injured. Danger! Be not deceived! Playing on emotions. Yeah. That's what I thought, too. The butt of the submachine gun crashes against no one's temple as they step into a doorframe, and the gun shouldered almost immediately after. A near-contiguous stream of 7.65x22mm spews from the gun's muzzle, the flash illuminating a room with no one in it. Pressing his back against the wall to wait for another--none comes. Candy stoops over the nothing. How're these guys attacking? Is the sympathy thing all it is? Filling your head with something so sad anybody with a heart would get tied up in it? The smell isn't great. But he's stubborn. Time stops. Fellas, I need something that can hold these guys, but small enough so the eggheads back at the Big Brain can use it for... science shit. To make a vaccine. I see. A vessel to hold and compress the form of these shadows. For 'science shit.' Are you ready to play? Time resumes. -A hissing sound, like fire. -Several delicate chisels. -Strange lights dance in bursting patterns through the room. -Candy holds a black glass culture tube with gloves and tongs, upon which there has been engraved a dog-headed psychopomp in red, blue and yellow regalia, teeth bared. Nothing is reflected in his antiquated safety goggles as he pulls the cork free. An ill black wind sweeps over the total absence of a corpse, flaying it into particulate matter and sweeping it into the open test tube. When the last of it is gone, the cork flies back by some invisible force, securing itself into the tube. "Forsythe, I got you a present."
Staren	The buildings burn easily, huh... The panels on Staren's vambraces close. Once the windows are boarded up and she's out of easy targets, she tucks the rifle away in her bag and summons a double-barreled shotgun inlaid with wires and blue gems. She turns towards one of the breached buildings and <J-IC-Scene> Persephone Kore says, "Those 'shadows'. They're screaming for help, aren't they? They're burned, and starving, and..." "What? Oh, no..." Staren drops to her hands and knees atop the ambulance. "Not again..." I assumed they were monsters, again. I should have known better, again. I slaughtered beings that needed my help, again! She wraps her hand around the barrel of the dropped gun, and looks at the nothings moving about beyond a hole blown in one of the buildings. I've already done so much damage, might as well finish the job. Being on this mission is a promise to my friends, I have to see it through... She opens her fingers, NO! I WON'T! That way lies [Rampancy/Expiration/Saturday Morning]! <J-IC-Scene> Persephone Kore says, "... Even knowing these are just figments, I want to help them. I want to save them. Don't you?" "How?!" It's a frustrated, desperate plea for a way out of this situation. <J-IC-Scene> Persephone Kore says, "Haha. Well, someone's having a good time. I don't think it's wrong to fight them. But..." Even though it's Persephone, her mind is made up. Those words are distant, unfocused, like a half-heard TV playing in the same room. Someone... Someone's got to have another answer, right? She's not sure how much later it is before she remembers, and feeds all data on the situation so far back to the AI in her lab, asking it: What will get me closer to healing this psychohazard without killing it?
Flamel Parsons	The buildings are starting to overflow. There isn't anything pouring out of doors and windows, smashing apart barricades after dedicated minutes of work. They are driven back through violence, but there's a sense of inevitability. Hollis is looking at the material, and she can only stop once the gang have some kind of lead. Explosives like Seras's are a good solution for the doors that have already broken, letting the censors get enough time to set up a defensive line. Persephone opens the man like a door. He literally opens inward. Further in, further in... there is something like a church inside of him, if Persephone walks through. Stained glass. Long, hand-carved pews. But small messages have been carved there: "TRY TO REMEMBER THIS TIME", and "STORE MEMORIES, SAFE PLACE", and "GIVE THE RIGHT ANSWER!!" And a woman, standing near the table at the back of this quiet place. It's Hollis. And she appears to be at least fifteen years younger, a bright young woman who can't be older than twenty five, holding a perfectly round mechanical device about the size of a basketball, all complex purple. She turns to look at Persephone, and she says something very, very unusual. "Alright. You can give it one more try. What are you willing to kill, to let those poor souls rest?" Ozhira seems to be getting through the burned horde of nothing. Chewing and devouring. Spearing and hunting, and breaking through no difficulties at all. It takes a while for her to get through the complex maze of structures and emptiness that make up the outer mind, the sensory outskirts, before she hears a hint of something that can get her informed properly. It sounds like a triumphant roar, or a song of victory, taunting nobody in particular. Every part of the tone of it is familiar to her: A killer, celebrating the kill. Not even a hunter, something that has enjoyed the death for its own sake. Indistinct voices that only her enhanced senses can detect say something that translates roughly to "Victory Day", a celebration. If she has any sensitivity to her own intuition, she'll likely recognize that learning more in detail right now could make her, or those she reports the information to, vulnerable to a hazardous thought. Candy, on the other hand, is giving the succ, and we can finally describe it on this platform. He bottles up nothing that could be bottled, enough of the rotting, painful mass that by the time he wakes up, a tube containing nothing, especially nothing like that might be resting in his hand. Staren's AI receives the data. A full and direct feed of the relevant psychohazard. How can the psychohazard be healed without killing the psychohazard itself? Staren's AI, if it has anything more than the dumbest possible intelligence, gives her perhaps the worst answer she's ever received: Produce a high volume of weapons of mass destruction and deliver them to a specific location. The location in question is thoroughly censored by her own mental defenses for the outrageous hazard it presents, but if she stared at it long enough, maybe she could find out what it is.
Staren	Well, that's shady. But whether Staren trusts in it or not, she can't act on it in here. She sits cross-legged atop the ambulance, waiting to be pulled out. Damn, the hazard is breaching containment. Part of her mind is analyzing how she could most effectively blast the groups with missiles, but she refuses. And then she realizes she's got other choices. DUH. Staren stands up, and flings the oneshot rocket launcher away, before making a dramatic arm-sweeping gesture as mini-missiles ripple-conjure behind her and fly out in arcs to rain down on the groups breaching containment... where they airburst into great big globs of rapidly expanding, rapidly hardening foam to hold what definitely aren't groups of people in place.
Ozhira	Dripping in visceral Nothing, the Devourer at last comes to a halt in the mental outskirts, splattering in place and then wobbling up into a more human shape but on all fours, limbs stretched out in all directions. Eyes wide, pupils impossibly dilated, the humanoid hunter snaps to their feet and whirls in place. Seeing nothing, they hunch forward, letting out another gutteral growl of echolocating soundwaves. Except this time, something answers. The Beast snaps around towards that distant, mocking source, glowering beneath the arc of one outstretched arm, remaining perfectly still. After several silent, tense moments, Ozhira shifts their posture to more properly face the direction of that celebration. Several more moments come, with the Beast remaining remarkably still, only twitching slightly, tensely. Quite suddenly, the humanoid shape of Ozhira dissolves into scarlet sludge and disappears into a storm drain scant inches away from their feet. Some time later, that same red slime pours out of a storm drain close to the Ambulance. Just as it passes through the grate, the biomass contorts and colors and textures itself, swiftly forming the recognizable shape of Ozhira's human-like disguise as if they were climbing out of a hole. Once emerged, the girl turns back to stare into the distance, as if ensuring they were not followed.
Candy	Candy pockets the test tube, in this place. Some are getting out. Faster than me and the others can clean 'em up. The room is vacant before a second has passed. Appearing outside just as Staren's mini-missiles go off, he utters a low whistle. "Messy." The submachine gun is swung back in front by the strap. That unusual curved magazine is ejected, via a reverse-facing switch just behind his thumb. He reaches for a new one--but then the foam hardens. "Ohhh." Slipping it back into his coat, he procures a bulky, metal handheld radio. The great-great-great grandfather of newer, earpiece models. "Yeah, Nein. I think we're done here." He keeps up an overwatch for any that slip past Staren's countermeasures, but only fires on those that do.
Persephone Kore	The door in the Censor opens. "I'll be right back, okay?" Persephone says to the others. But she isn't looking back over her shoulder when she crosses through. Can you blame me? I don't want to see those figures again. This place, this church with its pews, drains the warmth out of her. No, it's a different kind of warmth: solemn, subdued, like the soft red flames of votive candles. Her eyes trace over the messages. TRY TO REMEMBER THIS TIME. STORE MEMORIES, SAFE PLACE. GIVE THE RIGHT ANSWER. She stops short, ten feet away from the younger Hollis, with her hands folded respectfully in front of herself. The appalling question doesn't surprise her as much as it should. Give the right answer. But what's the right answer? "I feel like I ought to say, 'anything'," Persephone responds. Her voice is a little rough, and that surprises her. She wipes her face with the back of her arm-warmer; it might or might not come away dry. "But I'm not strong enough to choose to kill anything at all. Definitely not what you chose the first time. Haha, maybe that means I can't be the one solve this at all. But I still do want to try?" STORE MEMORIES, SAFE PLACE. Before everything's unplugged, Persephone asks one more question. "Hollis. What's the 'safe place'? I think we need to know."
Staren	Staren is struck by a thought, as they wrap things up. Candy already sort of did this, although she doesn't know it, but perhaps there is something to be gained anyway. The labcoated catgirl hops off the ambulance and strides towards the nearest group of foam-trapped not people. She detaches the vambraces and pulls up her sleeves, and warps in... medical supplies. For blood drawing. Spindly manipulator arms extrude from the silvery bands on her wrists, as she runs a simple medical AI program to attempt to automatically get samples from patients she can't precisely see. If it works, she'll collect a few more vials in case spares are needed for various experiments or are accidentally broken or contaminated or something. What do you do with not blood? She's sure there's something to be learned.
Flamel Parsons	"Nothing at all, huh?" Young-Hollis looks Persephone over. She tilts her head, narrows her eyes, and stares her down. "You're built like gravity. Can't kill on purpose, but one day if things are too tall..." She shakes her head. "So you won't kill anything for their sake? No matter how much pain they're in? Nothing at all?" She flicks her bangs a little. "Alright. Good answer, finally." Her thumb inches off a button on the device in her hands. Instead, she hands it to Persephone, who can now clearly observe its shape -- and take the clear memory with her. "There's another strain out there. This is my part of the old cure. Ford and Otto made the rest." She says. "One day you'll get to forget. Close the door when you're gone." It is the design, in clear detail, for the Mk. II Mass Censor Device Warhead. An MCD-2 Warhead is capable of removing global memory and perception of a wide area and anyone in it, when properly activated. This one has been refined by the Psychonauts in key ways, but no observer can tell which ways those are without access to the MCD-1 Warhead. Ozhira vents back from whence she came, with a little safe knowledge rather than the massive risky kind. This, she can easily pass on safely. Candy reports in; they're done there! Nein sends back confirmation. "Understood. I'm cutting the feed." He says firmly. Staren can find that the blood in the "patients" is consistent with certain real-life problems. If this blood were in a person, that person would be in the walking ghost phase of acute radiation poisoning. That seems to be all there is to find there, though. Like a plug pulled, the incoming threat stops, as the noise of a videocassette tape stopping hard is heard. The remainder filter in for obliteration. Flamel makes a few positive, approving gestures, and starts pulling everyone out...
Staren	After getting a few samples, the talk about these people being humans makes something click in her brain, and she tries to have some soothing bedside manner. "There there. I'm not here to hurt you. I'm looking for a way to help you..." She doesn't know if the words get across, but hopefully the attempt at a soothing tone does. ---- And then they're back. Staren hands some of the sample vials over to the nearest psychonaut. "Got these off the psychohazard. Don't know what you might find out from them but figured they might be useful." She stuffs a few more in her bag, but is still holding two more. "Hey." She casually tosses one each to Seras and Ozhira (they're plastic, they won't break just from being dropped.) "Are either of you able to like... sense or detect anything unusual about these?"
Ozhira	Returning to reality from the MINDSCAPE, Ozhira is ready for it this time and merely spends some time wobbling in place, growing accustomed to the change in surroundings. The girl looks aside, then up, then down at herself-- pristine and clean as when she walked in. And not because whatever was left behind. Her head and then body whirl around when Staren gets her attention, and the vial is tossed. Her posture shifts and she--catches it in her teeth. Lips close around it and she re-orients the vial, then sucks it completely into her mouth without so much as a swallowing action. After a moment, she produces the vial in one hand, holding it out to the science cat. It is now completely empty and the cap is just...missing. Also the plastic shell is covered in scratch marks. "It is the blood of that prey. Unfulfilling. Flavorless. Unsatisfying flesh. Hunting only for necessity. We would prefer other prey."
Candy	Now back in physical space, Candy opens up his longcoat. Lined up in his pockets are spare mags for the submachine gun slung over his back, a wrapped sandwich, a bundle of dynamite, and a corked black glass test tube containing nothing at all. The dog-headed, snarling psychopomp etched onto the side gleams in the light as he offers it up to Flamel. "Same here, G-Man. Well, not exactly the same, but same idea. Dead nothing. You can hand this over to the eggheads and get 'em working on a vaccine." With the sample handed over, Candy releases the mag on the submachine gun, clears the chamber, turns a -very- strong springloaded switch to something that says 'SAFE' in Latin, and then slings it back over his back. He then unwraps the sandwich and tears it in half, idly offering some to Ozhira. Chorizo and egg.
Persephone Kore	"Really? That's a good answer? Just like that?" Persephone accepts the warhead with some disbelief, but a shaky smile. "Making them forget was only part of the cure, then. I thought that could have been all of it. Ford, and Otto... I'll remember." She starts to leave, then pauses. "Thank you," she says, turning halfway to look back at Hollis's younger self. "You worked really, really hard to protect people, didn't you? Even knowing that nobody would remember it. Not even yourself." A wistful smile. "But don't worry. They remember you for other things." The door is shut. Persephone emerges with the strange warhead under one arm, ready to leave, but holds it out to Staren first. "Staren, could you make sure you get the schematics of this really quick? It'll probably turn out to be really, really important, and I don't want to forget."
Staren	It's: The design for a weird psychonauts explosive device? "What is THIS?" Staren makes copies and backups, reading over the plans to begin understanding them until Flamel pulls the group out -- she'll continue reviewing them from the copies after.