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Kale Hearthward	Back into Wonderworld, via the Balan Theatre. The timing seems 'right', whether one's returning or going for the first time. The Theatre is, as always, somewhere moderately convenient to you, inserting itself into the landscape somewhere. But however convenient it is, there *is* a delay before the door to Wonderworld can be accessed. The door's still there on the stage where it's always been, but it's semi-hidden behind a plywood standee of a bush. You see, the rabbit-chickens (the 'tims') are putting on a show. The show is incomprehensible, in the literal sense. However much one stares at the goings-on, as the tims parade back and forth across the stage, stopping occasionally to give some monologue or sing some song, the show just... doesn't make sense. It's not *random*, there seems to be some pattern to it... and it's too rehearsed and coordinated for it to be improv. There's clearly characters and roles being played by the tims, there's clearly a plot happening and a storyline progressing, there's dramatic scenes and twists, it's just... not possible to really grasp any of it. Eventually, the strange show wraps up, the tims line up to take a bow, and then parade off into the theater's nonexistent backstage... the scenery remains in place, including the plywood tree standee partially hiding the Wonderworld entrance, but it seems to be okay to go in now? This has the effect of batching up everyone who's arriving today, so that they're all in one group as they enter Wonderworld (assuming none of them are rude enough to interrupt the show). The group's shared Stage awaits them, unchanged from when they left it... and actually remaining unchanged on their arrival. Before, new arrivals caused a dramatic shift in the landscape - that doesn't seem to be the case now. ... Actually, 'creative mode' seems to not be enabled at all. The landscape isn't immutable - if someone was to, say, knock over one of Angela's library's bookshelves, it'd be knocked over and stay knocked over, but making sweeping landscape changes via sheer force of will doesn't seem to work anymore. The circular island, a few miles wide, plays host to areas created by each of the group who's been here before - Angela has her library, Aidan has his wheat field farmland, Arcadia has a paved marble plaza, Hibiki has a sunny grass field, Kale has post-medieval pre-industrial city streets, Petra has a rubber-padded playground with patches of glass, and Futaba has a Japanese suburb - as well as a few Lobotomy Corporation agents with their own terrains and perhaps some others that this quick summary is missing. All of the different regions radiate outward, pie-chart fashion, from the landing point in the center... and each region has a few areas of special interest, but those will come up later. Balan is a bit slow to arrive. "Hey!" But there he comes, flying in from somewhere over the horizon. "Hey there - glad you could all make it, especially since I forgot to actually send an invite! Whoops!" "So I've got our friend on the way - he'll be arriving here shortly. Make sure you're ready, alright? When someone's given in to their negativity like this, they aren't really gonna listen to reason. That's just how it goes!" There's the sound of a train approaching, on tracks that weren't there a moment ago. The island's now home to a train station, which has popped into existence between the outer rim of Angela's and Petra's regions. "Ah - shortly is shorter than I had thought! Get ready!"
Arcadia	"You know, not being able to understand that show doesn't mean it wasn't entertaining," is Arcadia's final summation of whatever the heck they just saw as the tims are departing the stage. But as usual for her doesn't focus on it for very long, now that they can move the backdrop and actually enter Wonderworld. Once on the other side the sphinx's tail flicks a few times. "Something already feels off." But here comes Balan, better late than never, to give them the lowdown on what's up. When he says their patient isn't going to 'listen to reason' she grins a little, letting the points of her itty bitty fangs show between her lips. "Oh, don't worry about that." Her wings spread, trace lines in her magitek armor lighting up as she lifts off the ground into her usual hover, and hyperglass visor manifesting over her eyes. "I prefer the 'knock some sense into them' approach!"
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan is looking at Halloween outfits in the LOCAL SPIRIT HALLOWEEN. There was an old barn there, but now there is a small Spirit Halloween. "Manly Treasure Hunting Husband... Manly Treasure Hunting Malewife... Sexy Cyber Newtype... Stern Female Paladin... Murderous Homeless Girl... Callous Manager Woman... Rich Emperor Twink... Shrimp Mom... ANGRY BIRD KNIGHT!?" He mutters, going over to the classics section, "I wonder which Hazelthistle cares more for, classic masculine or something a little more feminine." Aidan compares a costume with pants to a costume with tights when the dressing room door turns into the Wonderworld door. It takes a second for him to notice. Then a further second to decide the best course of action. It doesn't take long until he's sticking his head in. Ears cocked forward. Nose a wiggle. Tail high up and twitchy. Voices up ahead. But it seems to be the normal set of tims voiced. And other people. Aidan sets the plastic bag with a cheap 3 dollar jester outfit on the dressing room and ENTERS. He meanders down past the snack booth, getting a salad, in time to see the second half of the tims show. Aidan sits down. He munches on the salad with his bare fingers, watching intently. This is about as much as he understands any play. But it gives him time to eat his salad. ARRIVAL. He nods at Arcadia, looking around him, "Yea, it's... well, feels a little more flat than usual? I-" Aidan turns slightly, waiting for Balan to slide into view, shielding his eyes to look up at the be-hatted strange one before waving with a bright smile. "Hey!" POST EXPOSITION. "We HAVE to fight them? Shouldn't we try to work through their problems or something, or is there some kind of... magic that makes people go through all their feelings with they get beat up here?" This isn't stopping Aidan from strapping on his shield and checking his gun, mind you.
Petra Soroka	"Though I'm actually surprised to hear you've never taken the stage. I was in agreement with Tokiwa that it seemed quite likely. You seem to have a certain affinity for it."     After all the presentation and reception of the haunted house at the Halloween party last night, Petra has been thinking about *theater*. It's mostly Lilian's comments that have her seriously considering the topic, since on a gut level, she doesn't feel *that* much connection with it, but they were all kind of right that she put a lot of work into set design. Between the talk of props, and the fuzzy feeling of successfully designing an attraction, maybe there's something alluring about theater after all?     "What the fuck is this shit? Do we seriously have to sit through this?" Petra walks in and out of the theatre during the duration of the nonsensical play, wandering out to the lobby to grab more snacks out of restlessness and boredom. Eventually she has enough snacks that she's unable to justify doing that anymore, and just wanders and fidgets around the back of the seating area, complaining. She even whines at the stage, though she never gets brave enough to actually walk up onto it. "Come on, dude, this shit's not funny at all. Like, even less than usual, and your act has always sucked. Just get it over with."     Petra's opinion of theater has dropped, yet again.     Petra's Tower is unchanged from last time, too, and she doesn't seem particularly bothered by its presence. The huge metal slab of autonomous violence isn't any deep, involuntary representation of her psyche like Angela had feared, though its position looming over the playground makes a kind of unsettling scene. Petra walks towards her slice and Angela's library, alongside whatever agent is carrying the Eggpack.     "I guess we could read a bit, Angela? Like, Balan said he needed our help, but... I sort of don't want to care about that until we have to. Do you think the books are... things you haven't read before? That'd be cool, right?"     Petra's in an altogether fairly cheerful mood once freed from the dreaded theatre itself. Passing by the pools of glass in her playground disquiet her, and she glances towards Hibiki-- almost guiltily-- after looking at them, but the library and the afterglow of the party are positive enough feelings to keep her cool.     Which makes Balan's arrival and announcement particularly grating on her, and she rolls her eyes. "Wow, not even giving us a minute? No wonder everyone leaves you." "When someone's given in to their negativity like this, they aren't really gonna listen to reason. That's just how it goes!"     Petra flicks her eyes away, silent for a second. She's obviously thinking about something else. "... I guess that's true. Well, I've got a lighter on hand if we need it." "Shouldn't we try to work through their problems or something, or is there some kind of... magic that makes people go through all their feelings with they get beat up here?"     Petra scoffs at Aidan, reaching her hand in her bomber jacket pocket, lingering on the transteam gun for a second. "There's never any magic like that. People always pretend there is. Beating them up just beats them up, and sometimes people need to get beat up."
Hibiki Tachibana	The Theatre conveniently showing up must mean, of course, that it's time for what Balan was talking about last time--she should probably give a more proper apology to him for things getting off-track before. Off-track, get it? Because there's going to be a trai--you know, nevermind that. We'll get to that when we get to it. Before that...     ...Hibiki has to realize that maybe they're a little bit early, given there's the whole show still going on by the time they step into the showroom. With nothing else to do for the moment, she does lean against the wall near the door and watch. It's very clear that there's /some/ kind of story being told here...but she doesn't get it at all. She tries, she really does try. But she doesn't get it at all.     "I didn't get that at all..." are her words as the play wraps up, although it was inarguably cute - actually, anything those rabbit-chickens do would likely be ridiculously cute. But they are (unfortunately) not here to appreciate cute things, and even if waiting was the only thing to do, it feels a little disingenuous to let herself get too caught up by it. So best to move on.     The inside of Balan's Wonderworld still appearing as it had before is, actually, a sort of comfort in of itself. Other than the splotches of glass in Petra's zone, at least, which she avoids glancing at as much as the other girl herself. When their host himself shows up, Hibiki brings one hand out of her jacket pockets to bring up in an idle wave. She still looks a little exhausted. "We're all here, so not a problem. Still, I didn't think you'd be the one to be late. I guess you're not going to tell us who the 'friend' of yours is ahead of time...?"     Of course, before Balan would even get the chance to answer that question (and probably not answer it at all), the train is already pulling on up to the station. "--Looks like we're going to find out anyway. Balwisyall nescell Gungnir tron..."     One transformation sequence later (localized entirely within the span of 0.5 real world seconds), and she's adjusting the scarf of her Symphogear while watching the train doors. "...We might have to get them to stop before we get the chance to talk and actually have them listen," she replies to Aidan, a little uneasily. "Still, that doesn't mean we have to do more than knock them around some. We'll see just how bad it is when they show up." Balan was rather vague on how much 'knocking around' is going to be required. Who is it going to be...?
Angela	Angela, in truth, has no idea if the books in the library she created has anything different in there from what she already knows and she's all too willing to find out. Like Petra, she doesn't particularly care all that much about helping Balan out (if anything, she thinks that does sort of make the apologies feel a little weird). But she has calmed from her initial hostility even if her face is as difficult to read as ever for those that haven't learned to read her cues. The show is incomprehensible? Angela's attention draws on it for a moment before saying, "Maybe they should speak to you about how to tell a story. Even if each of your 'stages' in the haunted house were seperate, they were ultimately all thematically connected. This ... this is difficult to watch." She just doesn't have the patience to figure out what's actually being told there. There's a pattern?? She has no time for that and eventually even closes her eyes just so she doesn't have to watch and remember it. Then she eventually steps away for a bit claiming that she has work she has to do and will be back later but mysteriously she returns right as the show is over and they're finally free to walk around on their own. "I was curious about this. It may be possible to perform a similar feet when the Seed of Light has germinated." Angela says to Petra. "I was wondering if the books are drawn from the collective unconciousness or from myself--or even Carmen." She's in a positive mood herself actually, enough that she is content to leave her critique of this theater production at that and focus on the positive. She doesn't know how much longer she'll get to and she still hasn't figured out what to do about Wonderlab now having Multiversal agents though she thinks in terms of the branch name rather than the cute moniker. She catches Petra looking at Hibiki guiltily and at this point Angela feels like she has to speak up. "It is not truly my business, but if you wish to change the situation with her, perhaps something can be done? I do not mind lending a hand." Though she speaks that lowly enough so that Hibiki doesn't overhear. ''When someone's given in to their negativity like this, they aren't really gonna listen to reason.'' "The idea of being submitted to this sort of situation while in such a state feels me with dread." Angela admits. ''Beating tem up just beats them up, and sometimes people need to get beat up'' Angela has no argument against that. Cinder is present to serve as some extra muscle as well, largely because Angela really can't help much in this state beyond delivering scathing commentary. Cinder has Fourth Match Flame out already and is a little worried about accidentally hitting the Library or something but she ultimately admits, "As ready as I'll ever be." She is a little hungover from Petra's halloween party but only a little.
Touta Konoe	There's definitely some confusion when Touta originally finds himself taken in by the Balan Theatre. At first only picking up on the name of it from the ticket he received sometime ago. Personally, his involvement with the Infinity Train hadn't been too significant in his mind, thus he had chosen not to partake the first time. Yet, given the fact it was in what he assumed to be his world now, he had figured to check it out.     At first, Touta doesn't take much to the situation as more than a performance.     At first simply watching as the 'tims' do their performance and really not able to make heads or tails of this. Is this some sort of special commentary? An inside joke to the play the audience should already be aware of? None of it seems to stick but at the very least he's trying to follow along with this loosely constructed plot. Maybe he had to be at the first show to get this one?     "Come on, dude, this shit's not funny at all. Like, even less than usual, and your act has always sucked. Just get it over with."     His attention gets pulled away to the familiar voice, and when he recognizes just who in the audience it is well...     Oh right, she was really involved with that train, huh? Though...Did she stay the entire time since then...?     At the moment he still believed that this show was for some reason in his world, and while Petra's had been in his world recently, to think she'd stay that long seemed...Unlikely.     "I didn't get that at all..."     Hibiki's voice reaches from Touta's seat as he spots her near the door. Probably the easiest place to catch anyone as light trickles in from the outside of the entrance. It's another person that's been in his world recently and definitely has him starting to think a little...It's only when Aiden, Arcadia's, along with Angela and the Agents make their debut does he realize that he's been pulled into something a bit more.     "Guess that explains why no one was complaining about the blade..."     It's only as the group is finally made to group together does he call out to Hibiki amongst the crowd, "Glad to see I wasn't the only one not catching up on this. Thought it was an inside joke or something..."     Unless there's some sort of titles for who created which part of the landscape, there's not much thinking on the creative perspective of each person that contributed to the circular island, it's more or less just accepted that Wonderland's a bit wacky, which for what feels like another part of the show they just saw feels very spot on.     By the time that Balan himself appears before the group and elaborating on the train and a certain friend. Even now he's sure that he hears some sort of train whistle signaling its arrival any moment.     It doesn't take a genius to see from the conversation about the fighting that's gonna be had, and Hibiki's transformation to see that things are about to get a little wild. At this point, Touta brings up his blade he's been holding down at his side. He's not looking at her, but his voice calls out to Hibiki all the same as he starts getting ready by squaring up by her side.     "When this finishes up, do me a favor and give me the short and sweet of this, alright?"
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan turns to Touta, "This is a place where people go when they become too full of negative emotions, also it's kind of an inner... person... brain... soul... creativity thing."
Kale Hearthward	> "Wow, not even giving us a minute? No wonder everyone leaves you." Balan's expression doesn't flicker a bit. Not even a bit. It doesn't change. What, why would you think it'd change, it doesn't change even as Petra presses hard on the nerve that made Balan's predecessor turn evil, Balan's expression stays the same. Doesn't change at all. > "I guess you're not going to tell us who the 'friend' of yours is ahead of time...?" "It's... complicated! Telling you everything would be counter-intuitive for what comes later," says Balan, gripping the rim of his hat/head/hathead. "It'd be better if I err on the side of caution and mysteriously withhold details till you need to know them, honestly." The train arrives, chugging into the station and braking to a slow halt. It's got all the aesthetics and mannerisms of an old coal-powered locomotive (with none of the pollution). There's a single passenger car, with a single door on the side, which opens... ... The occupant is too big to have fit into the car, or to get through the door, and yet it makes its way out, without any visual incongruities. It's the sort of thing that simultaneously registers as 'Wait that's impossible and I'm not sure what I just watched happen' as well as 'It's not important and I shouldn't dwell on it'. The thing that gets off of the train is a giant cat. A common house cat, Felis catus, on four legs... ish. The legs don't look quite right, visually. It's got the right number of legs, mostly. They just look out of proportion, and definitely not consistent, especially in motion or if you happen to be looking at it from different angles. It's like someone tried to draw a cat after looking at hundreds of pictures of cats for reference, but without knowing what cats actually are. The giant cat (or not-cat?) has a blue scarf on, as well as a red hat (with ear holes). Also on its head, specifically held on a collar around its neck, is a large spherical lightbulb worn like a pendant. The lightbulb is lit up constantly, giving off bright light. The giant cat makes its way directly towards Angela's section... and very purposefully reaches out a paw (with the wrong number of pawpads) and pushes a set of bookshelves over onto whoever's nearby, followed by several more if it's not stopped!
Aidan Proudpick	Training countless times under the same course has taught Aidan one thing. His multiverse given body is weak. At least compared to everyone else around him. Training, honing, all of it reminds him. His body is not his strength. The shield. The shield is the power. But he can't train the shield. He can only get better at using it. It's frustrating. There's no one to train him on Breath Weapons. He just has to push. And fight. Not weak are finely honed prey instincts. As soon as the cat moves towards the shelves, the shield is out, aimed up and behind him. It takes off in a sudden ROAR as the shield forces energy and space around it, lifting the squirrel high into the air. Books bounce around the energy field, under his feet. Turning, however, is not instant. It takes several turns of the shield, turning it off, twisting, then turning it back on, before he lands gracefully on Petra's plastic playground. The other hand on his gun lifts up and towards the cat. RIf it does look like someone of the hair starts in the wrong place, or the eyes don't actually have an iris depending on how you look at it. Is that real? Is it a person? Aidan casts his gaze over at Balan. He's not one to back down from a fight, but still. Aidan's eyes roam back to the cat in the hat. "Hey! HEY! What's your name?"
Petra Soroka	"Maybe they should speak to you about how to tell a story."     "I-I-I wouldn't say I'm an *expert* or anything, this-- this is just like, total nonsense, though." Petra makes sure to take Cinder with her whenever she leaves the seating area out of boredom, partly because it's becoming habit for her to walk as a pair anywhere where they're together, and partly to spare Angela since she's on Cinder's back. Complaining to Cinder over a shared tub of popcorn, "Honestly. Those rabbit things have introduced a brand new type of magic to solve a problem *three times* and then never mentioned any of them again! That's like, classic awful storytelling. This whole place is magic, you'd think they could at least stick to just having one type." "It is not truly my business, but if you wish to change the situation with her, perhaps something can be done?"     "Huh?" The way Petra suddenly turns her head around to stare at Angela, she probably wasn't expecting to be noticed doing that. She shrugs, intentionally putting on a harder tone. "With Tachibana? No. I don't want anything like that. She's fucked up enough times; we're just not friends at all."     Petra is also hungover from last night, but she's being so brave about it. Spending the night with Cinder-- drunkenly watching Curupira run around in Cinder's dorm room before passing out on the carpet-- is also a significant factor in uplifting Petra's mood, to the point that she can even withstand mentioning Hibiki once. "Do you think it'll be safe if Qetra holds on to Fourth Match Flame when we're in the library, Cinder? I mean... I guess I don't even know if she gets affected by EGO corrosion. Or... hm..." Petra reflects on the fact that Qetra is pretty much affected by EGO corrosion solely from existing around people, while the train pulls into the station.     "Oh-- it's just a weird big cat." Petra slides the transteam gun back into her pocket, instead pulling out her bottle of Silver and uncorking it just enough that the reflective morphmetal jumps out in a shivery spike-- which she uses as an improvised mirror to draw out Pillar of Creation (it's still got the broom end on it, too). Lilian had said to use the spear until she got used to it, and even stowing it to walk through the City felt a little like a betrayal of those instructions. "... We shouldn't need to hit it too hard, right?"     Petra's reluctance evaporates when the cat reaches for Angela's bookshelves. As much as she finds it difficult to swing her weapon at a-- at something like a cat, defending something she knows is precious to Angela unequivocally takes priority. To the point that Petra, with only the durability given to her by her EGO suit, stances up against the giant cat as a physical barrier blocking it from getting to more bookshelves. Recklessly running through the collapsing shelves means she gets clobbered by falling books, but it's only a few seconds before she's in front of the cat, brandishing the broom brush end of Pillar of Creation towards the cat.     She stares at it for a second, finally registering that it's not quite constructed like a proper cat, and blinks in realization. "Oh, this is just, like, a psychic construct of the person who's flipping out. That's all."     Appropriately to combat a cat, Petra just starts jabbing the broom end at it to force it back. When it reaches for another bookshelf, she only hesitates for a second before twisting her grip to stab it with the pointy end.
Arcadia	Arcadia squints at Balan as he tries to be all mysterious and meta instead of giving an actual answer. "Are you sure you're not part sphinx or something?" Not like anyone can tell if he's any sort thing in the first place. The train arrives, and it doesn't take long for things to escalate. A disportionately large cat-like entity somehow emerges from the passanger car without distorting it farther. "There seems to be a lot of cats involved with trains lately... wait, where's it going?" It's going to the shelves, of course, and to start knocking things over as cats tend to do when it comes to shelves and tables. "Oh, that is not going to go over well." She flares and bolts, zigging and zagging around falling books and things... but then the actual shelf clips her wing and sends Arcadia spiraling briefly out of control before skidding violently across the ground. She is quickly back upright though, tail lashing. "How rude! I should almost be insulted to be part feline myself!" Arcadia launchs herself back into action, speeding past the weird cat and coming back around. But rather than strike directly Arcadia goes to grab the cat's scarf and use her momentum to try and pull it away from the bookshelves.
Hibiki Tachibana	Touta...that's a sight she sure didn't expect to see. Although this isn't really the kind of place she expected him to turn up in, there's not a lot of time to bounce back on things. "...Yeah. We'll talk about this after," she replies back, bringing up her fists.     She also has a frown, of course, at Balan writing off her question. "Counter-intuitive to what, exactly...?" This will likely be yet another one that will remain unanswered for the time being. Best to stay focused for the moment, especially as the train doors open up--     It's a cat.     A cat in a hat.     "Huh?" The word is flat and accompanied by a blink. She first processes that it's a cat. And then the hat. And then the messed up, screwy legs, and then the overall messed up body in general. "Balan said 'monstrous', but this is a little--" Her serious and ready demeanor ends up losing some of its effect in the face of this...creature. Can it even talk...? Would it be able to understand them?     And then right after that, the thing reveals itself to be a horrendous troublemaker (as genuine cats are) by messing with Angela's library--and Hibiki has to scramble to get out of the way first of the falling shelves, and then rush to catch up with the thing. "Hey! Wait--! You're not supposed to be touching those!" As it goes for another shelf, she simply does what she does best.     Hibiki bodily places herself between the shelf and the cat's paw, rearing back her fist before slamming it forward to...well, it's not quite a fist clash if it's paw to fist. But it should certainly stop it in its tracks.
Angela	Angela says, "Understood." predictably to Balan. Cinder eats popcorn because eating food distracts from her headache and also she hasn't had popcorn in a long time. Maybe someday someone will show up at Lobotomy Corp and end up turned into a popcorn machine but it hasn't happened yet. But she wouldn't be surprised if it did. "Yeah it was pretty awful but kind of weirdly fascinating in a sort of 'what were they thinking?' kind of way. As in, like, I was wondering 'what were they thinking?' the whole time and every time I thought I figured it out it went completely off the rails." Petra stares at Angela. This is, sadly, a bit of the reaction that Angela was expecting but she was starting to feel a little weird about not saying anything. She listens to what Petra has to say and you might think she might bring up all the weird times Petra has seemed conflicted about Hibiki but she just says, "Understood. My apologies for my misunderstanding," because Angela has learned better than engaging in any alternative. Then a giant cat attacks! And it is wearing a lightbulb-sun. And ... .... pushes over a set of bookshelves. ''Do you think it'll be safe if Qetra holds on to Fourth Match Flame'' "So long as she doesn't try to use it it should be okay. You okay with that Qetra?" Wearing EGO equipment is a little more dangerous simply because you can just drop an EGO weapon if it starts to make you feel bad vibes. Cinder knows what's going to happen when the cat reaches for the shelves. She jumps away but is hesitant to draw her weapon as the cat reaches for the bookshelves--avoiding the bulk of the books. "Nice try!" Cinder shouts. A copy of Farenheit 451 finally tips over and bonks Cinder in the head. "Ow!!" She hesitates a bit and adds, "Um, it's gonna be tough for me to fight it properly this close to a library but...." She runs towards one of the cat's legs, trying to take a swipe at it largely because it's farther away from the bookshelves and the Library than the rest of it but like with Petra, she's more trying to push it away from the library rather than trying to hurt it. Angela stares at the fallen bookshelves silently.
Touta Konoe	"Wait, so this is still part of the train? Or..."     Aiden's remarks find Touta thrown off. Wasn't there some remarks about that whole ordeal with the train being handled already? It definitely raises a few questions that also should have just been kept for later. Instead...     When the arrival of the Cat in the Hat appears, at first watching as it finds itself way out from the entrance of the train only to end up appearing at its full-size definitely raises a brow. Perhaps he wasn't as prepared for the unexpected as he thought even after everything that was going on with the train.     As the giant cat creates its chaos knocking over the shelves, and must have crossed Touta's path with a hint of bad luck to it, for it's not enough that Touta found himself caught by the first bookshelf unassumingly, but once the first tumbles he finds that a few more end up stacking up atop him while he can't see them coming down before Petra's interference allows for some sort of relief as he pulls himself out from the mess. At the very least he seems unharmed, though that's usually par the course for Touta in most fights...     It's only at this time as the others are already trying to address the chaos that Touta's in a position to catch the silent gaze that Angela gives to the bookshelves...The two have had a conversation about that recently, so it's not like he doesn't understand. He looks back at the cat with a bit of a gleam to his eyes. His grip at his blade tightens a tad more as he goes in after Hibiki, providing a follow up to her fist-to-paw clash. Instead of going for any sort of strike, is doing what any sensible pet-owner does. Touta attempts to spring forward and grip at the oversized collar of this cat, and with all his strength is literally just yanking this cat by the throat as far away from the bookshelves as possible, even if it's not exactly the most painful experience. Though knowing the others, they should feel more comfortable smacking this cat around if they don't have to worry about messing with the bookshelves any further as well.
Kale Hearthward	Arcadia tugs hard on the cat's scarf. It yowls in pain, as though she's pulled on its tail. > Is that real? Is it a person? Aidan casts his gaze over at Balan. Balan, who is floating upside down, nods. > "Hey! HEY! What's your name?" The cat turns its attention to Aidan, and in response, reaches out a paw to bat at the squirrel. If it connects, it sends Aidan flying into Futaba's section - where he'd get stuck under the crawlspace of a house. These are the trials and tribulations of a hero. At least he has company - it goes to bat at Arcadia as she flies by, and she'll crash into a front porch if the paw connects. Petra stabs. The cat yowls in pain, as it had when Arcadia had tugged at its scarf. The yowl sounds off (as does everything else about the cat(?)), but with that and everyone else trying to steer it, the cat gets lead away from Angela's section... ... towards Arcadia's and Aidan's sections. Yowling, it reaches a paw out at Arcadia's (literal) tower, swatting at it... and, by stretching its paw out enough (cats can stretch arbitrarily long, right? That's where the long cat memes come from, right?) it manages to crack open the treasure vault and send the contents flying into the air. It's raining treasure - treasure mostly consisting of hard sharp things like jewels and crowns! And then it bounds off - into Aidan's section, into his training grounds. The way it jumps looks wrong too - there's no natural motion of a cat jumping, where the rear legs move in a different fashion than its fore legs, its legs just all move in the same fashion as if it were a human jumping with two legs. Regardless of the oddity, it leaps, grabs something with its jaw, and returns to the group - dropping a mouthful of Aidan's mechanical training dummies on them. The training dummies are swinging out aggressively - they've been hacked! Despite... being mechanical training dummies with no electronic circuits. Maybe this is just how logic works here, in Wonderworld. Maybe you should stop worrying about it before you get clubbed repeatedly.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan has a split second to think. Wait, can you read my mind, or are you just nodding at me?!
Arcadia	Arcadia can't tell if the giant cat yelped because the scarf got tight or if it was actually apart of it's body/manifestation, and honestly doesn't really care enough to puzzle over it more at the moment. Especially when it starts swatting at her tower. Managing to crack open a portion and dislodge a cascade of treasure. She hisses herself as she lets go of the scarf to rocket away again, zigging and zagging and only getting pelted by a few smaller jewels that don't do much. Compared to what getting buried would of done. Arcadia comes to a stop, hovering as she slides a hand up one arm as if rolling up a sleeve she doesn't have. "You are a really rude visitor!" Now she's really annoyed and it shows as she engages her magitek weapon system. The runic tron lines turn an electric yellow-blue, and by combining her Wind and Lightning elements she fires what's essentially using a thunderclap as a giant flashbang aimed at the feline's face, and the concussive shockwave of pressurized air that follows it to push the feline back. Then she turns her attention to Balan for a moment. "Is there a certain negative emotion energy thing we're suppose to look for or is this just beat him into submission?"
Hibiki Tachibana	"Hey! Come on, I said wait...!" Of course, Hibiki isn't very willing to actually harm a cat herself. Even a super messed up, very stretchy, possibly psychic manifestation of a cat, that is actually a person. She can't especially help it, either. She likes cats. She likes cats a lot. And when it still yowls in pain like one when it gets hurt, well...     That doesn't mean she can just let it mess up everyone's Stages though, and the Symphogear user rushes to give chase before too much trouble is kicked up. Unfortunately, there's no chahcne of avoiding /all/ the trouble, and she starts closing in at just about the same time as Aidan's mecha-dummies start getting tossed around all over the place. Wait, hacked!? How did that even--     Hibiki ducks low underneath one swinging arm as one dummy comes down, sliding past straight into another. One punch, two punch--three punches keep another swinging limb back before breaking it off its hinges, and she hikes a foot onto it to use it as a post to leap forward.      Straight into another one, which she doesn't even give the chance to try and bash into her - she grabs it with both hands, hefts it up herself, swings through the air, and /throws/ it back after the sort of shitty kitty.     "Sit still, for a minute...!" That'll smart, probably. After doing so, still mid-air after her toss, Hibiki's head shifts in Balan's direction. "How exactly did you handle this stuff when you /didn't/ have us to do it for you...?"
Aidan Proudpick	Cat attacking. Cat attacking. CAT ATTACKING. The possibility of Balan being able to read his mind is lost once more, and Aidan leans backwards at the edge of the playground. The paw swipes directly over his billowy shirt, cutting one of his whiskers at the tip. Once it passes directly over him, he and the shield rocket upward in a straight line. "HEY! I think we actually have to fight this cat!" It does FEEL like a dream. Every time he tries to focus directly on what the cat is doing, it feels like something is not right. He can't quite place his finger on it, though. "It's like a dream. Like your brain kind of knows what is supposed to happen." Something is off. Was the play a dream? Is everyone ELSE a dream? As Aidan is pondering the nature of consciousness, landing on the roof of a house. The cat, meanwhile, plows through Aidan's CAREFULLY CRAFTED(in the sense that a 10 year old with legos knows how to make a perfect simulation of a battlefield) training arena gets pulled up, training dummies, ballista, spring powered arms, are all pulled out and dropped into pile. "This is too wei-HEY! That's my training course! I'm using that to get stronger! Alright! It's serious time!" Aidan mutters, cringing at the last line as he slides his gun into the holster. And focuses. Breathing. A single draw in. A single push out. It's natural. Every child can learn to do it. Aidan draws in another breath, feeling it in his lungs, giving it a purpose. He thrusts a hand out to guide his thoughts into a broad desire and direction. Green wind snaps into place, becoming a solid barrier, two walls to interpose between the others and the training dummies. A nearly solid barrier. Tiles of the roof shift underfoot as Aidan runs down the slope towards the cat, arm held out in front of him. At the edge of the roof, the shield EXPLODES into fiery brilliance, ripping across the air like a comet. The Aegis roars out, the lion head seeming to breathe fire as energy and space are moved around it. He'll fight it by proxy. Squirrel and Aegis move across the pocket dimension at blinding speed until- CRAAAAAAAACK-THOOOM! A shockwave, the sound barrier being broken. The pressure wave streaks out from around Aidan, aimed just near the cat.
Touta Konoe	That cat ends up off and away from Angela's bookshelves, and there's a sense of relief. It doesn't really provide much in the way of making things easier for them, it at least kept those that were trying to take the collateral damage of this feline's attacks into consideration more at ease hopefully.     The cat's all but sent reeling through the different sections of Wonderland. Once again, its choice of attack is to start smacking at whatever it can find at this time, even going as far as throwing...Treasure at them. Touta's a bit more prepared than he was the last time. He might still be getting pelted by those sharp gems and jewelry, but it's not toppling excessive amounts of weight where he can't see it! For the most part he's doing all he can to keep it from cutting at his eyes, and shields them as best he can as he focuses.     In fact, even as the training dummies are dropped in, Touta has no intention to mess with them, dodging and evading, knocking them away from the path as he keeps going. He's got no intention to fiddle with these toys. They're here to deal with this cat, and if that's the case he fully intends to give it something to whine about.     "Oi, you ever tell your friend here that its got real problem messing with other people's stuff?!" He calls out to Balan, a bit of agitation in his voice. He knows that this thing is just some sort of accumulation of negative emotions, but still, it was just obnoxious enough that the need to complain fell from his lips.     Hibiki has a similar idea in regards to ignoring the dummies. It seems she just goes straight for that cat, he really appreciates that she's always good like that. Rather than following her attack in synch though he watches as she yeets one of them at the cat. It's only in the moment that it strikes at this frantic feline does he bring his blade up proper this time as he *pounces* towards the cat in the hat. Bearing his own claw in the form of his blade as he attempts to slash into its chest. Only...It's not just sharp edges that this cat has to worry about, at the point of contact, this kitten would realize that this tiny blade had a nifty trick as well. The force of the strike would feel as though it was being struck with several sixteen-wheelers just stacked atop each other. The weight bearing down in that strike is just obscene. Something that makes the statement, 'Big things come in small packages feel rather appropriate.'
Petra Soroka	Seeing Cinder struggling to use Fourth Match Flame near the library, Petra recalls one of the limited ideas that she's successfully had an implemented in the past: giving girls guns. Cinder's even successfully used one of Petra's guns before, which makes her an even better target for bequeathing part of her armory; and it was how they met, which Petra finds...     Then she starts thinking about how that was basically a battlefield meet-cute back then, and then she starts thinking about how that makes a really good story for how they met, and then she starts thinking about the kinds of situations where people would *ask* them the story of how they met, and then she starts rotating the word 'girlfriend' in her mind even though she's never said it out loud-- and then she's handing Cinder a gun. "Hey, want one of these, again? If you flick the-- the dial here, then it turns into a dagger, but you-- you probably shouldn't do that. It's kind of stupid."     Petra flinches at the cat's yowl, instinctually pulling back her spear, and then similarly instinctually remembering what she's actually doing and jabbing it back in. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! You just need to stop hitting the library! Go hit something else!"     Petra parries a paw swipe along the length of her spear, scraping off hay in a cloud, then follows that up with slicing a thin line in the cat's leg. She's wincing the whole time. "Go push over Kale's stuff! Or-- or-- uh, Proudprick's!"     One last bap of the torn broom head at the cat's face sends it away, as Petra had asked. She lingers back for a second, stabbing the point of Pillar of Creation into the ground behind her to watch it as if driving it away from here had been her only goal. She looks at the fallen shelves, then at the Eggpack. "... We'll put it back together. Even if the whole... thing still isn't working, I'll just get Qetra and smack the rest of those people into helping too."     Following after Cinder to chase after the cat-- a reminder that Petra is really only as fast as a normal person, and certainly doesn't feel driven to sprint right now, so she's lagging begind-- Petra looks over at the train station curiously.     "Hey, you know-- this is probably just something imagined up by the person who's causing problems. So the person themselves has got to be around here somewhere. I'm going to--" She gets beaned in the head by a gold coin and cuts off with an undignified 'ow'. At least she was far enough away to not be hit with the majority of the treasure, but that one bit of debris is enough to leave a sore spot, and in automatic retaliatory petulance she whips out the other gunblade revolver and empties the entire cylinder at the cat.     "Ugh. Fuck off. Anyways, I'm going to see if anyone's, like, actually in the train station."
Angela	Angela realizes at this point she can't will the Library to fix itself. This is something she'll have to fix for her library should she ever be fortunate to have one. She is already taking inspiration--and notes--from the example here for another time. She turns her head and writes that down in her Ideal Library design notebook. She doesn't really need to write it down--she cannot forget--but it makes it feel more real all the same. Cinder breathes a sigh of relief as the cat leaves Angela's section. "Close one--" And instead heads towards Arcadia and Aidan's sections. "Shit--!" She isn't the type of person to spite other people's fantasy constructions just because they arne't buddies. She runs forward and gets clobbered by some training dummies.--in the head! She hisses through her teeth. "Oooowwwww??" She says. She remembers when they did practice against a Training Robot 'Abnormality' and this feels like she's being karmically punished for that. Petra has given her a gun. Cinder looks at it for a moment, thinking back her meeting with Petra by her own perspective, and she blushes fiercely. Before she shoots at the Training Dummies rapidly with Petra's latest cool gun. "Thanks Petra!" She is too shy right now to say something like 'I bet you give guns to all the girls' even thuogh she giggles thinking about it.
Kale Hearthward	> Aidan has a split second to think. Wait, can you read my mind, or are you just nodding at me?! Balan nods again. > "Is there a certain negative emotion energy thing we're suppose to look for or is this just beat him into submission?" "Really just beat them up a bit! It's not complicated." > "How exactly did you handle this stuff when you /didn't/ have us to do it for you...?" "Not well!" > "Oi, you ever tell your friend here that its got real problem messing with other people's stuff?!" "It's kind of got the opposite problem!" says Balan, floating back right side up. "Keep it up, though, you're doing great!" The cat takes more hits, from sonic blasts and training dummies. Touta slams it with incredible force from a small claw. While it's not unreactive, the cat thing doesn't seem to be surprised or curious? It's more that it doesn't seem to expect that the small attack doesn't strike hard, so it has nothing to be surprised about. Petra, in addition to shooting the cat from offscreen, goes to check the station. There's nobody in it - it's a barebones station, really, just a platform with a sign and weather cover. (Which is kind of useless since there's no weather here normally.) ... In the train itself, though, there's... a plush cat, off in the corner. It also has a hat. And a lightbulb. Aidan tries to slam into the cat, but hits the chain around its neck instead. And the chain breaks. The lightbulb comes loose and starts to fall to the ground. The cat thing immediately focuses on that - abandoning its attacks and defenses to dart its head down and catch the lightbulb in its mouth, and hold it there. Carefully, still ignoring everything else, it trots over towards Petra's plastic playground, and sets the lightbulb down in the softest spot it can find. *Then* it turns around and resumes focusing on the group. The theme of knocking big things onto the group continues. Hey, do you know what region has some nice big things? Kale's! He's not here for this trip but even in his absence he's causing problems. Several of the tall buildings are swatted onto the group, one after the other, which also tend to mess up whatever regions they land on.
Arcadia	Arcadia gets an answer from Balan and holds up a hand in a sort of casual salute. "Just making sure." Then launches back into action. The giant cat nearly losing its trinket and taking the time out from the fight to put it somewhere safe doesn't go unnoticed. But it's not really important right now, just something to note for later. Especially when it's starting to knock over more things. Darn it Kale, why did you have to include so many buildings in your area?! Arcadia speeds in, looping and rolling to get between the toppling buildings. For the most part. But just as she rockets between two of them a third comes toppling into the open space she was doging through and she's already moving too fast to alter her trajectory. So instead she throws up her arms and slams right into the building, the protective wards of her armor briefly flaring as they keep the impact from completely crushing both her and the building, and Arcadia comes shooting up and out the other side. That was not pleasant. From the high point in the air she can observe the area more, sighing. "Well, seeing as the place is already a mess now...." She deploys her attack bits as she swoops back in. Magitek runes flicker in rings around her arms, then extend fast her hands as she points them to form barrels of sort from which beams of mystic energy blast out of at the giant cat. Her attack bits initially scattered when deployed, so now they come in from different angles and timing as Arcadia herself, their own smaller lasers cutting across the battle field and intersecting, zorching wherever they successfully make contact.
Aidan Proudpick	ARRRGH. All the way across the Battle Royale island, Aidan turns off the shield, neatly flipping around and landing in a perfect three point blade pose. He has exactly two seconds to think about how troubling this whole situation is. Then another two seconds to notice where the cat is heading. Everything is too scattered. He can't HELP people if he can't just FOCUS things. There has to be a way he can focus things. There has to be a way he can DO something. "STOP TELLING HIM TO ATTACK MY STUFF!!" Aidan screams across the island, then he's used up his time. He shouts out something into his radio before lifting his shield over his head. The aegis roars to lift, just as the building hits it. The crushing weight comes down on Aidan's forearm, not fully bouyed by the power of the Aegis. Instead, it forces his limb back against him, slamming into his chest. The building carries him down to the ground in a hard CRASH. It cracks in half as Aidan flies back up, the shield pushing aside a chunk of building as if it was nothing. It's wrecking everything! Even if it IS Kale's area and that jerk deserves it. It's still... destruction. Even if it's a playground, a child's fort, to see everything be ripped down. A child's fort. The Aegis shrinks back into a buckler as Aidan draws in a breath, puffing out his chest in a ridiculous heave. Then an exhale. Again. Then an exhale. Every breath hurts, a cracked rib shooting pain up through his side as he brings more life into his blood. Then, a deep breath. And focus. He needs more than just two walls this time. Two and two and two and two. A ceiling. Aidan lets out a ragged scream, pushing all the wind out of his chest at the same time. Green wind coalesces into barriers, like someone suddenly started stacking great sheets of plywood around the cat, forming first a basic four sided wall around it, then a boxed ceiling. Every moment of building forces more air out of Aidan in a ragged gasping scream.
Touta Konoe	Touta slaps the cat down really hoping to finally at least make it seem like it was receiving a proper catnap, though as things were going that was likely not going to be as easy to get done. As for his attack, it's a little hard to tell if this cat really was struggling with that last attack or not even. A clicking sound ends up leaving his lips as if that might as well just been something it was brushing off.      "It's kind of got the opposite problem!"     "Are you ser--"      "I got an idea! Someone grab the light! You can distract it from attacking everything!"     There's a momentary pause in hearing that as he all but looks back to the cat which at this point had begun not only worrying about that lightbulb, but even going as far as trying to guard it.     "Ya know, sure...Already busted up a bit of this place, guess it should get a bit of payback."     Again, this cat really did have an addiction to just being a menace and toppling other people's things. One could only wonder if that was just an innate cat instinct at this point. Though unlike, what ends up being knocked around this time isn't just bookshelves or treasures, but entire buildings it seemed. It's frankly a much more difficult task to address than before. Rather than attempting to push past the obstacles like he had once before the building comes down and with it...Touta's body is assumed to be crushed.     From that same spot though, a black mist slowly begins to accumulate from that location and droves of that mist becomes the new forecast for Wonderland as it starts encircling the kitten.      "Hey Kitty, you're fine in the dark without this right~?"     As Touta calls out, there's an opening with the fog and the cat can see that in the spot that it had left that lightbulb Touta's just casually tossing it up in the air with his free hand. A small little whistle as if calling the cat over before he just starts charging it for himself. Again, it did seem that he was going to be taking Aiden's advice. Though this time going for a one-two action.      As he rushes he lobs that lightbulb up into the air, just enough in a way that if it fell it was very clearly going to get smashed. It'd very well force that cat to try and break out of those walls which would have likely caused it plenty more pain...But if it truly did just try to go and save that bulb well, it'd find that as it'd leap, or leave itself exposed when reaching out, it'd be experiencing a heavy jolt to its center of mass as Touma this time just fully intended to run a fist into it with the same kind of force that was capable of wielding that sort of obscenely heavy blade in the first place!
Hibiki Tachibana	"Not well!"     "Alright, sure!" There's only the tiniest bit of sarcasm in that--she has the hopefully-correct impression if Balan was any good at things that require brute force like this, he wouldn't have tried so hard to get their help with this in the first place. With that in mind, she's not especially angry that he's just sitting out of this. Could be worse.     Probably. She's landing and ready to strike again, when the cat drops literally everything to protect the lightbulb (read: sun) that was around its neck, then she stops and...for the second time today, just stops and blink. "Huh? It's...?" Hibiki holds that stance, not actually moving to attack herself, simply watching a little dumbfounded as it skips all the way over to Petra's neck of the woods.     And sets it down.     And then-- "Seriously!? I'm starting to be glad I didn't put my ideas in my zone yet...!" Buildings fall, and Hibiki doesn't die, but she sure doesn't have a great time. She sprints full speed, outrunning several of the toppling structures as they collapse behind her and make an utter mess of the place, but one of them she isn't quite fast enough to entirely avoid - it casts a shadow over her, her eyes go wide, and it topples right onto her.     A moment later, there's an explosion of debris as she punches out the other end and back into the fray, catching on Aidan and Touta's plot. Touta isn't the only one who's going to intercept the cat while it's trying to save its precious belonging from falling--Hibiki also gets right between it and its goal, swinging her body around into a heavy kick towards its body.     The on-impact recoil of which she'll use to propel herself back and away after, to catch the bulb out of the sky - keeping it out of the cat in the hat's possession for a little longer, while her other hand makes a 'come on' gesture up towards it.     That and, well. Even if they're trying to stop it, she kind of didn't want to see something else's sun hit the ground and possibly break. That'd hit kind of close.
Petra Soroka	Petra stares at the plushie for a little bit, trying to consider if this could be the person she was looking for. Plushies *are* more human than cats, even if the plushie is of a cat, so it's plausible. In her mind.     She pulls out her compact mirror and flips it open, still looking at the plushie while sliding Pillar of Creation inside-- 'ow!'. Qetra pokes her head out and glares at Petra reproachfully, squinting at the bright light, then grabs the spear and ducks back inside. ... Need to do something for her at some point. Apparently, despite Qetra's inability to get drunk, she's perfect capable of getting hungover, and her refusal to think about her own metaphysics have brought ruin to her once again.     Now weaponless, Petra leans down to inspect the plushie closer, and after verifying that no one's around to hear her, "Are you alive? I honestly can't be sure. I'm not stupid for this. It's totally plausible." She waits a moment, then picks the plushie up in both hands, carrying it out of the train. "If you're a person, you legally have to tell me."     While walking, Petra tugs at the lightbulb in its hands, and the hat on its head, checking to see if it's all sewn on or if it's interactable. She also keeps an eye on the cat to see if it has any reactions to the plushie getting fiddled with, or if it's some kind of voodoo situation when she-- cautiously and uncertainly-- smacks the plushie around a little bit. As everyone else is busy fighting with a enormous monster, Petra is mashing every interaction button on a small stuffed doll, standing a few dozen feet away.     A few dozen feet isn't nearly enough to be safe from the debris of the building crashing down, though. She ducks behind one of the plastic structures in her playground, wincing at the squealing sound of twisted plastic and bent metal. She grips the plushie tightly in both hands, staring at its eyes like she's trying to draw out its secrets, and then a chunk of rock flies across the field and gouges a line through the rubber padded floor. Petra looks down at it, then back at the plushie. I should just shoot it.     Two gunshots later, and Petra is launched up and over the damaged playhouse, running a few steps along the pyramidal roof before shooting behind herself again to close the distance to the cat. Flipping through the air, she twists herself around to be heading for the cat back-first, letting her final gunshot recoil her elbow back to drop into the cat's neck when she collides with it. Inertia carries through, and she bounces off the cat to continue past it, temporarily holding the plushie in her teeth to flick open the cylinder, slam a moon clip in, then flick it closed before hitting the ground besides Cinder.     "Hey. I found a plushie. If it's not alive or cursed or anything, maybe we can put it with the others."
Angela	''Keep it up, though, you're doing great!'' "We are??" Cinder doesn't seem so sure and is, for that matter, a little uncertain as to what she's supposed to be doing. Nevertheless, she kept shooting until the weapon started to feel hot in her hands and she switches back to 4th Match Flame again. She does feel a little weird about going after a cat even if it's a mind cat but the mind cat could kill her by stepping on her so she is willing to do what it takes to not get stepped on. The last thing she wants to do is be slain by a giant pussycat. Unfortunately, she is also tiring a bit and getting real winded. Angela, still on the backpack, watches Petra as she recovers a...plushie? That...might be a person? "....AN unusual form for it to take," Angela says with particular emphasis on 'AN'. "Oh but it IS cute though! Should we name it?" Cinder asks as debris tumbles down upon her, sending her flat on her stomach--but not before she sends another wave of flame towards that cat, apparently deciding that at this point she's willing to try whatever stops her from being slain by a giant animal. She rolls onto her back after, groaning. "How will we know if it's cursed?" She asks, deciding she doesn't want to get up right away.
Kale Hearthward	Lasers come down, followed by the cat getting trapped in the box. Cats usually like boxes, but this one doesn't seem fond of staying in the box, and attempts to push itself out. > "Hey Kitty, you're fine in the dark without this right~?" Messing with the lightbulb gets all of the cat's attention. It pushes through Aidan's windwall at whatever cost, and goes straight after the falling lightbulb, trying to grab it with its jaws again - heedless of Touta's attack and whatever else gets thrown its way. When Hibiki grabs it, it looks relieved - momentarily, and then when Hibiki plays keep-away it clearly looks upset. Petra executes a poor innocent plushie, and then the unredeemable war criminal vaults into action. History's greatest monster aims and shoots, and uses the recoil to propel her unforgivable self to regrettable safety instead of being crushed underneath a building, though that would still have been too good for her anyway. Editor's note: I have just been informed that I misread and Petra did *not* in fact shoot the plushie. Please disregard that last paragraph. Ahem. Cinder aims and launches her wave of fire. The cat's focused on the lightbulb to the exclusion of all else, so they have clear shots... clear, deadly shots, which finally cause the cat to go down as bullets and flames hit it. The cat, trying to carefully grab the lightbulb from Hibiki, stumbles forward - into Hibiki, knocking the lightbulb back down. There's no time to react. It tumbles to the ground... and shatters into a hundred pieces. The world ends.
Kale Hearthward	... ... The world doesn't actually end. It does all... go away for a moment. There's rapid waves of nothingness, visually as gray static, washing everything away, originating from the point where the lightbulb broke. The world no longer has its sun, and with no sun there's nothing else. And then with the last wave of nothing rendering everything into darkness, there's nothing left. And then abruptly there is, as reality reasserts itself again. That was... obviously not the world actually ending. The lightbulb wasn't the sun. Or *a* sun, at all, it was just a large lightbulb, that was being caretaken by the cat... ... The cat's not there, either, as reality reasserts itself. Where it was, in the middle of Angela's region, is a giant computer. 'Computer' being, specifically, a generic all-in-one terminal, built-in CRT and keyboard, visually similar to an Apple II. It's as big as a house - an adult could easily stand on any of the keyboard keys. It's powered down at first, but eventually the screen flickers to life with a cathode ray-ish hum, displaying some text. WORLD MACHINE OS V0.9 BIOS CHECK: OK HARDWARE CHECK: OK COMPONENTS INITIALIZED: MONITOR, KEYBOARD, NIKO STARTUP SCRIPT oneshot.bat RUNNING... STARTING UP.... REBOOT PROCESS 1% COMPLETE
Arcadia	The fight was starting to go somewhere!... and then it wasn't, taking a terrible twist as the lightbulb is fumbled when the cat tries to retrieve it, gets destroyed, and everything just goes absolutely FUBAR. Reality breaks. Okay it's not entirely breaking, but that's close enough to feel like everything became nothing for a few moments before reality reasserts itself once more upon the already bizarre surrogate world. And Arcadia is sprawled out on whatever passes now for the ground, with NO IDEA what the hell just happened. Other than some nearly existance ending reality BSOD instant and just completely scrambled her biomechanical systems.
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan screams. He shouts until his voice is hoarse, to get every single ounce of wind out of him. Is it enough? Aidan sees the world darkening around him. Wait. It's supposed to be enough. It can't end like this. Could he have given more? Did he make the wrong call? Could he hav- The world turns back on. Aidan gasps in a strained breath, his voice a single croak as he looks around for people. Aidan staggers up to his feet. "Is everyone okay?" Then he turns to enormous block with the blue lighting out on it. "And... what the void does that say."
Kale Hearthward	Oh yeah and everything's still wrecked. Actually in terms of multiversal battle sites it's about an average level of destruction, maybe 0.3 Hiromis, but the point is that the damage is still there.
Hibiki Tachibana	"Hey, slow down there--"     In intentionally baiting this kitty in a spiffy cap, Hibiki had obviously been preparing to keep moving and properly stay away from the thing for as long as possible. But it sure is single-mindedly dedicated to getting this thing back, and more than that, the stumble as it's finally taken down seems to catch the both of them off-guard.     There's no time to react. It stumbles, and so does she, reaching out a hand for it before it hits the ground--     It shatters.     And everything ends.     ...But not really. After a few moments, she opens up one eye and realizes that they are, in fact, still here. A glance to the left, and then the right. Everything looks the way it did before, so clearly the world is still here. And the fight absolutely happened, there's zero doubt about that. No fake reality shenanigans or illusions or anything of the sort. And...     Almost on a delay, Hibiki recognizes the absolutely massive computer now /right/ in front of her, her other eye opening so she can properly crane her head to look up at it in some equal measure of awe and confusion. "What in the..."     And again, when the monitor lights up, and text she really cannot process the meaning of begins scrolling across it. Beneath her scarf, her mouth hangs open before she turns to the one person who might have something resembling an explanation for this, but also has every possibility of being obnoxiously vague once again.     "...Balan? What the heck is this supposed to be?"
Touta Konoe	It seems that the cat takes to the bait, perhaps one might even consider it a little too well. "Huh, not a bad ide--" Touta's all about ready to give Aiden a reasonable compliment regarding the idea to take the lightbulb. All in all, it had the effect they expected on the cat to have it become distracted after everything happened.     This plan did not however account for when the lightbulb shatters and the equivalent of the sun disappearing occurs.     Oh, well, this might have been a bad idea...     As words trail off, that's the thought that immediately comes to mind as he's unsure of what's about to happen next as darkness envelopes all of them. For a moment, he's not sure how everyone here would suffer the effects of a sun completely disappearing on them, even Touta might end up freezed over on that one...     So when light once again begins to fill Wonderland there's a bit of relief that escapes his lips. "Not gonna lie, thought the world just ended here for a second or some--Thing?"     It's at this point even Touta finds his gaze caught by the massive computer that towers over them like a literal tower. Its screen is illuminating and with it well...Touta can't help but utter the phrase as he sees it at the bottom of the screen. "...Reboot...?"     Well, at least this time around he seems like everyone else is just about the same amount of lost as he is...
Petra Soroka	"....AN unusual form for it to take,"     "I-- I don't know! Balan said there was a person, right? And *that's* a cat, so that isn't a person, which means... maybe..." Which means maybe that this plushie that's also a cat might be. The only reason Petra is so fixated on this idea is because it's what drove her to investigate the train station in the first place, and her mind just isn't flexible enough to abandon that original drive.     "I mean, like, it'll probably be obvious if it's cursed. Like... you know. This whole place is psychically terraformed terrain, so who knows what it could do. But we'll probably know if it starts being dangerous. Or a person. Still."     That's all the time she has before her attention is ripped away by a gut feeling, squeezing her eyes shut right before the lightbulb shatters. Static washes over everything, and for a moment she-- doesn't think about anything at all. She's thought long enough about how easily she could make the entire world vanish in an instant that it's not a surprise when it really does happen, even if she...     Really doesn't like the idea anymore. Petra slowly squints her eyes back open, shoulders rigid and fists clenched hard enough to ache, tension radiating through her jaw and up into her skull. She lets out a heavy sigh, accompanied by a tension-unraveling squeak, wrenching all of her locked-up muscles back open. A quick look at Cinder to see if she's okay, then at the computer. The plushie's still in her hand-- head crumpled inwards by her fist.     "... A computer...? I thought there was supposed to be a person." Petra leans in, squinting at the text on the screen to read it. She holds the plushie up to the computer, looking between both of them, then says, "Huh. So it's just a normal plushie. How about we name it..." Her eyes go back to the computer, then, agonizingly, back to the plushie, "... Lightbulb."     Later, once the computer ceases to hold answers or attention anymore, Petra fulfills the promise she made Angela. Qetra is given a break, given that Petra already accidentally stabbed her a little today, but Petra asks Cinder to help her manually reassemble the library. If Hibiki or Touta don't volunteer to help her, then this is where Petra unveils Kamen Rider Sting Silver: a quiet chore, out of sight of other people, just to lift shelves more easily when rebuilding a library.
Angela	The world ends!! "Fu--" Cinder begins as the lightbulb DIES FOREVER. That lightbulb seemed important! A wave of nothingness occurs. Cinder's SP rapidly decreases as she says, "Fuck fuck fuck fuck???" at increasing volumes with increasing fear before finally succumbing to her panic attack and falling over and curling her legs inward and hugging them with the side effect of Angela helplessly going down with her. "Did I destroy all imagination and the collective unconciousness? Did I kill a cat's dream?? Is this what you wanted to happen?????" Angela's eyes look around for Balan to ask him what the heck happened but she just can't see him from this position. Everything is ruined. It isn't until Petra elects to lend a hand that Cinder recovers enough, battered as she is, to stand and say, "y...Yeah I can help do that." Petra offers to name the Plushie... Lightbulb and that's enough to restore Cinder's SP. "Oh that's such a cute name..." She says, heart warming just from the idea of it. She'll help rebuild the Library and Angela will harass her about the dewey decimal system the whole time too.
Kale Hearthward	> "...Balan? What the heck is this supposed to be?" "That's the guest," says Balan, floating over and patting the top of the giant CRT. "Great job calming them down, even if you did kind of destroy the world by breaking the sun in the process. Maybe remember to not break any other suns you come across, alright?" > "And... what the void does that say." Balan reads it to Aidan, so he can be included. "Aaaaanyway," says Balan. "It's a long story, and our friend here clearly needs a bit of time to wake back up, so... how about we reconvene here in a week or so, and I'll give you all the whole story then. Or at least as much as I know of it."
Angela	"I never broke the sun before???" Cinder says, face only metaphorically on fire. "Then it should be easy to not make a habit of it," Angela says.
Aidan Proudpick	Does he really want to DIRECTLY stick his hand into the bear trap. It is like asking for it to be cut off. Aidan's head pounds. His chest hurts. But he's alive. He makes his way over to Arcadia first. He is not going to be able to pick her up. "Balan, I need a place for Arcadia to recover." He can, at least, use his Breath to get her moved.
Arcadia	Arcadia shakely sits up for a moment. Vagely gesticulates an arm in Balan's direction. "Glad to help. Goodnight." And then sprawls back over as Aidan is approaching. She's going to take a bit to get herself back in order after getting existentionally blasted by whatever the hell it was that happened. The help is appreciated, she's really doesn't feel like trying to move any farther on her own.
Hibiki Tachibana	Maybe remember to not break any other suns you come across, alright?     "That wasn't a part of the plan, you know..." Hibiki murmurs, although she kind of was holding the bulb right that second, so not much argument she can really put up against that. Still, she looks back up towards the computer screen, at the 1% progress so clearly displayed, and gives Balan a slow nod. "...Alright. I'll be expecting to hear everything you know this time, alright? You can only pull the flighty act too many times in a row."     She says to the one who flies around everywhere. Hibiki glances off to the wreckage of everyone's Stages. There's a frown hidden away from the world by the cloth around her lower face. "...Not going to be as easy as just willing everything back into position, huh...?"     It's not like Hibiki has any rebuilding of her own to do--and though this has made her think twice about filling out her own area after all, it probably won't stop her from getting around to it. For right now though, it's recovery time for everyone, and she has two things to do. One of them is probably going to be informing Touta of a reasonable amount of exposition on the story up until now, delivered as simplistic as possible because Hibiki Tachibana knows no other way of delivering information, other than 'not at all'.     The other thing will be helping put the library back in the shape it should be. She doesn't vocally volunteer; she just kind of comes over and starts assisting in hefting shelves back up, and gathering books together, quietly asking Angela where they need to be put back or kept, assuming she'd rather keep everything organized. She won't say anything to Petra if she doesn't first, which is to say they likely won't be getting any talking done - although that plushie is given a glance, the first time she spots it.     Hibiki will help fix up the other Stages too, afterwards. But given Angela's place was wrecked first, nothing wrong with starting there.
Touta Konoe	There's a long sigh as Touta hears Balan's 'explanation'. "So one week from now meeting up again...? Sure, sounds...Good?. In the meanwhile..." He looks back to Hibiki, like he really needs that explanation as to what the hell's actually going on now. Cause frankly, he just had to mess with a lightbulb-addicted cat, that was apparently part of a computer program or something, and he's just so very, very, lost.     However, before any of that, Touta comes up from behind Hibiki, where she can feel a gentle pat on the back provided even as she's concealing that frown. "Hey, good job dealing with that cat." It's a genuine remark, and his head just nods casually with approval as he offers those words. There's definitely things he needs to take care of and learn about this whole situation, but there's one very important task before any and all he has to be somebody. Somebody...     "Somebody that Hibiki can easily be 'herself' around. Somebody who can bring out the straightforward and honest Hibiki that I love the most, who tries her hardest to save everyone and will never, ever, ever give up. Somebody where there's no complicated feelings making her doubt herself, or think twice--only trust, and someone she knows she can always rely on."     A gentle elbow nudges at Hibiki and with a smile he says those words in earnest. A light-hearted gesture that comes with a smirk that tries to counter-balance whatever sort of frown she might have hidden away behind that scarf. "But seriously, I could use your help here. Can you /please/ tell me what's being going on?"     Even if Hibiki wasn't intending to help with fixing up the library area, Touta wasn't just going to ignore that problem either. Though if it helps keep things from being too quiet from everyone, he'll be the talkative one constantly asking Hibiki questions about the whole ordeal. If it helps her to focus on him and less on any uncomfortable thoughts, it's something he's more than happy to do. At the same time, he doesn't have a problem asking Angela the same amount of questions if there's a certain way she wants the books or shelves organized as well. After all, they definitely did have a question about the organization of that stuff before, so it's not like he doesn't know just how important such things are to her. No book would be lazily left without proper approval from her.     Then, if Touta ends up learning properly about these worlds, and about Hibiki's...Just like she had started helping without asking to restore her world...Touta would do the same to begin the process of rebuilding hers. Even if she chose not to do it herself.