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Kale Hearthward Back in Everhood. For what could be the last time.

This all started back when Kale got together an expedition to check this place out. But really, if you want to follow the chain of dominoes all the way back, it started when a train of arbitrary length and no destination started picking up Elites and subjecting them to self-improvement by mandatory puzzle adventure.

That only started as a result of Balan farming out his responsibilities in an irresponsible way, to focus on trying to get a not-a-cat out of a computer. And that, in turn, was only due to the world ending, long ago.

That's ancient history, though. Why the group is here, *now*, is because a frog asked them to help a wooden doll find a lost arm.

The arm was stolen by the descriptively named Blue Thief, and originally owned by the also descriptively named Red Doll. Shortly after, Blue Thief's boss, Gold Pig, betrayed Blue and took Blue's legs as well, before retreating behind a blue door - which was broken into pieces and given to Gold Pig's most trusted lieutenants to hold.

The blue door has been reassembled. The path to Gold Pig lies open.
Kale Hearthward The path through the blue door leads to a stretch of desert. A well trodden trail (with relatively fresh heavyset pig trotter tracks) leads onward through the sands, with a temple looming in the distance. It's about an hour's walk, assuming one is traveling at walking speed.

There's still the oppressive sense of nothingness here, the lack of oeuvre, but at least it feels... less so, now. Perhaps the work the group has done here has had an effect - the people they've talked to, the problems they've solved, the drinks they brought, the plays they rolled, the evil scientists whose labs they burnt to the ground.

Perhaps all of that has affected some positive change. Brought some positive force, some creative potential, to this otherwise stagnantly immortal, forever unchanging neighborhood. This... Everhood.

With enough time, maybe more change could be effected. Whatever malaise has hit this place, could start being reversed.

... But the group has, also, been asked to leave once their business is done here. Rasta Beast made that clear to the group - while their presence here is not unwelcome, having a door open to the outside is inviting in not just themselves but also Time. The unchanging nature of this neighborhood has allowed its residents to persist eternally - and bringing it into balance with the rest of the multiverse is what will likely end them.

> "What you're asking me is to let you take the longest time dying. Because I'm the me that also wants to live, live forever, and not die at all, it's a place like this that... might trick me. And I think it's tricked you. 'Running out' of things, different things, experiences, possibilities, things like seasons and cycles and little changes - I think that's dying. I remember... a room, a library with a piano and endless books - enough for a whole lifetime of reading, of ten, of a hundred."

... And yet, despite Xion's caution, that still seems to be the desire. To live forever here, even if it truly is taking the longest time dying.

... The desert stretches onward, and the temple approaches...
Kale Hearthward It is a short, unremarkable stint through the temple. Just from looking at it, one would expect, say, a couple minibosses, a few traps, a puzzle or two for flavor...

"I SENSE... INTRUDERS," calls a deep, grunting voice from further inside the temple. "PURPLE. END THEM."

There's no response.

"PURPLE."

"Oh, that's right..." whispers Blue Thief (being pushed along in a wheelchair by Red Doll). "Purple Mage and Green Mage quit after you talked to them, didn't they."

... As it turns out, none of that's here. No minibosses, no enemy lieutenants. The traps lie unarmed and the puzzles remain solved and unreset. The group can, literally, just walk the rest of the way in to the back...

... to the treasure chamber.

https://i.ibb.co/mJDFJdK/goldpig.png

There's Gold Pig. He is, indeed, a pig, or at least pig-like - and decidedly purple, not gold, though the jewel-studded gold jewelry he wears at least matches the name.

He stands waiting, amidst piles of gold coins and treasure, with a large vault door at his back.

"SO. YOU CAME. FOLLOWED ME HERE. THE OUTSIDERS.

HERE TO LAY CLAIM TO MY TREASURES. THE THINGS THAT ARE RIGHTFULLY MINE."

"You stole my legs!" yells Blue Thief, from behind the group.

"YOU ARE WEAK. YOU DIDN'T DESERVE THEM. THEY'RE MORE USEFUL TO ME THAN YOU IN CASE I NEED TOOTHPICKS."

"EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD BELONGS TO ME, BY RIGHT OF MIGHT. THOSE THAT COME HERE CHALLENGING THAT..."

He stomps on the ground, causing a shockwave to ripple through the chamber, spilling piles of coins as it crosses the ground.

"WILL JUST BECOME ANOTHER PART OF MY HOARD."
Aidan Proudpick Aidan never did leave the bar in Everhood. He's still wearing the jester outfit, the black and purple checkered Halloween costume complete with belled hat and bright blue ribbons in the tail. The fact he missed the Halloween party at Alucard's for which the costume was for still eludes him. He's been working on his oversized Cocomelon tablet, putting words on a napkin in a hasty scrawl of misspelled words.

"Gotta be the Ace of Cups." Hours have been spent looking up tarot card readings. Then jewelry language. Then comes the phone number of the North Wind, by which time he is stimming with a coin by flipping it back and forth between his fingers. Coins have become his favorite worry stone.

By the time everyone in the desert, Aidan sticks his head out of the door that goes back to the main area with a confused look. His disembodied head turns towards the blue doorframe with a curious blink. "Oh. Oh! Oh right. We're here for that." Aidan avoids the eyes of Red and Blue as he ducks his head back out. He scrambles to shovel the tablet, the coin, and the set of colorful building blocks into his bag and pull out his emergency gear. Bucklers are pretty small and he probably won't need his new gun. He brushes down and settles his jester outfit, straightening it properly. The story was never with them, after all.

"The desert," he nods along, looking up and down as they walk along, strapping his bucklers up to his arms. There's a few clings and clangs from the bells before Aidan has the presence of mind to pull it down off his head.

"WILL JUST BECOME ANOTHER PART OF MY HOARD."

A wave ripples through the ground. Aidan takes an easy hop over it, landing with a grin. Until he feels just the slightest aftershock of the wave, slamming up against one of the pillars. "Fuck, he's strong for a lazy guy..." Aidan whispers before starts summoning skeins of air to him. White wisps of air start to form in his fingers as he moves, avoiding another shockwave. His fingers wiggle in a circle, drawing it together into a ball.

"So you just sit here?" Aidan says, looking at the treasure, surprised. "You just sit here, behind a locked door, doing nothing?" He's less angry than shocked.

Oeurve seeping out from him. Each gesture, each dance step is comically overdone, a jaunty swing of his hips with each one. A flick of his tail with each one. Color lances out from underneath the squirrel with each step, starting slow. A cool blue, a slightly warmer green. Hop bop, a swing. Step step, adding a ridiculous spin in between.
Sarracenia      The request to leave so that those here could live forever...Sarra is not really upset about it. She understands the desire to live forever, and even taking the longest time to die is pretty close. Though, living forever in an unchanging world where there are no new experiences...if she had the choice she is not sure which she would choose.

     The question of whether to fight Gold Pig is an easier one. "Right of might, huh?" Sarra says, her voice a bit raspy today. Which matches well with being wrapped head to toe in white bandages after she decided that trying to tank a death ray was a good idea. Even her head is wrapped, with just her eyes visible. Since her battle dress is a carbonized mess right now she is wearing her red jean dress, the material woven with shimmering fibers and accented with golden embroidery in the form of thin ivy vines.

     The shockwave washes over them, and Sarra gets pushed back a short distance. "So, if we beat you we get all of this treasure and can return it to its actual rightful owners?"

     Sarra is fine with keeping her distance for now. She reaches into her purse and tosses three Bullet Bills into the air, then goes into a graceful pirouette. Her hammer hits each with a resounding sound like a piece of artillery firing which sends then rocketing through the air to explode on impact against the giant purple pig.
Futaba Nuki After so many little trips here and there to assemble the pieces of a door, it's finally time to get Red Doll's and Blue Thief's missing limbs! Futaba's taking it easy on the desert hike to (presumably) reach Gold Pig, walking at first and changing up her form every now and then to keep things interesting. She grows wings to glide for a while, turns into a snake to slither along, and even turns herself into a ball at one point to roll along the sand. She's more than happy to carry anyone wants to come along for the various rides, too, although she does settle back down into her regular form by the time the temple comes into view.

"Does he really walk this far every time he has to come in and outta here?" A beat, and then she glances at Blue Thief questioningly. "Did you? Dang, no wonder he wanted your legs. Must've gotten jacked hoofin' it this far all the time."

Rasta Beast's request, meanwhile, still has her considering what to actually do once it's time to leave. "You think that's really gonna happen? Like.. Everyone aging all at once if we leave that door open? I figure it would've happened already form us coming in this many times by now, and..." She wrinkles her nose. "Just sounds boring, if they're never seeing anything outside of here ever again. I'd be worried about them losing their minds and doing even more crazy crap like-"

She gestures at the temple, and eventually heads on in. Without any minibosses to contend with, Futaba continues to make her own entertainment, walking in L-shaped patterns, then diagonally along the halls, and eventually arriving in Gold Pig's room with both feet seemingly planted on the ceiling. She comes back down once Gold Pig begins to monologue, though, landing in that three-point pose movie protagonists love to use so often so she can look up at him dramatically.

"Gold Pig! Do you know what you're doing?" The ninja shouts with all the bravado of someone trying to sound overdramatic, standing to her full height with a big sweep of her arm towards Red Doll and Blue Thief. She opens her mouth to start getting some more stilted lines out, pauses, then sighs lightly a moment later and starts stretching her legs out with quick leans to the side.

"There's nothing wrong with taking what you've earned, but stealing it from the weak's crossin' the line. So like the good princess here just said..." She gestures at Sarracenia with her head, punches a fist into her palm, then beckons Gold Pig forward with a wave towards her self. "Guess we're takin' it back by beating your ass!"

The shockwaves start coming, and Futaba staggers around for a moment before starting to lean forward, approaching Gold Pig at a steady pace without actually running at him. There's a moment where she reaches for her pouch and draws out the handle of her flaming katana, but she stops short of actually whipping it out. Instead, she slides the katana back into the pouch it shouldn't fit inside, turns her hands into a big sack, then starts scooping up coins on the way towards Gold Pig until her hand-sack is big enough to swing at him like an extremely heavy bean bag (but full of coins).
Xion Xion has found herself fading in and out of the Everhood, never quite able to say if she really existed in the space or if it was some strangely illucid dream. She 'comes to' wandering through the sand of a desert, having 'slept' hooded and dark-eyed through the creation and unlocking of the door. Breaching the waters of uncertainty for a moment, the noirette had glanced around through the expanse and thought...

'How long have I been wandering here?' Asked the Nobody to herself, and then, as details were put into order to fill in what the severe lack of memory fell short of.

Rasta Beast, and, dying. The former made Xion feel faintly 'sad' in sympathy - tugged on the small muscles on the inside of her chest, twisted in, hanging, a somber wetness-ache about the eyes and periphery. The latter made Xion feel defiantly 'alive' in retort, something wrong for her, something like a trap once-spotted and now twice-noted.
Living to such a thin-smear degree that even Time bored itself and wandered off to see else-where, only looked for leaking. It wasn't the kind of Living that Xion wanted to do. Even if it was for longer, it wasn't living to her.

Was it her choice? Did she know better?

The desert didn't answer, and Xion didn't ask. She shuffled, instead, to the treasure chamber. Every castle is the same, when there's no details of merit. Like a glum and silent specter, Xion stands in the room full of piled things with the Gold Pig at the back, head down. Waves of treasure shockwave out, scattering coins and baubles and stolen things all over and roiling across Xion's position such that she disappears beneath the shift of Stuff -- but only for a moment.

A large beak-shaped indentation in the wave 'ker-chomps' through the pile as a trio of fairylights escape the hole in the pile and Xion hops out after, holding black and gold medallion in hand.

"Power's all that matters? Might makes right? Good. Glad to hear." Xion declares, landing in a quiet pose atop some treasure, swinging wide keychain-wrapped Binah medallion until the length of honeycomb-bar and winged triangle tooth with all-seeing eye set central to the black length. About her, the trio of dragonfly-fairies (that represent the Three Birds of the City) hang in sparkling synchronicity about the Nobody, floating lights that dance about keyblade. One - notably fatter than the others, emits a deep and unbirdly sound as beak-suggestions start spit-shooting a rapid barrage of the consumed treasure-coins back at the Gold Pig.

Xion herself makes an acrobatic jump from one treasure pile to another, then flickers and disappears as a reality-glitch and strobe of dark waves only to re-appear mid falling downslash over Gold Pig's head!

In her wake a smaller fairy swings down to start violently pecking the Pig's 'face'. For being naughty.
Petra Soroka     Petra, who has a job, and can't attend every weird twist and turn of this ontologically dull world, didn't come to the bar where Future Kale's last stand was made. So while walking beside Cinder and Xion through the desert, Petra says aside, idly pinching a cigarette between her knuckles and with her other hand lazily shoved in the pocket of her hoodie.

    "So, like, what the fuck happened with the creepy Kale? He, like, vanished or something? Did the universe realize that two Kales was enough to unbalance the fabric of society, or whatever?" A pause, where Petra ashes her cigarette onto the sand thoughtfully. "Is our Kale going to disappear in some arbitrary amount of time? I mean, besides the way that we all do."

. . .

    "God this shit sucks."

    Petra kicks a broken trap aside with her boot derisively, and spits on a pattern of weird runes that are already assembled into the correct order. "Honestly, no wonder this place is so fucking boring that it gives you brain damage. Everyone *in* it is that boring. I swear to god, I feel like I want to destabilize this world out of *spite*, just so that all the fucking people in it get thrown around enough to fucking do something with their lives. This is literally, like-- like, I could write a thesis on this shit. People just stay still whenever they're not shoved out of place, and staying still is just being dead. They're all fucking zombies."

    "I hate them," Petra grumbles to herself each time that they pass by a solved puzzle. "This is the worst world in the multiverse. No wonder Proudpick likes it here."

    "I actually learned a long time ago that you can survive low oov[sic] with enough spite, by the way," To that end, it's unclear how much of Petra's whining is performative. Probably, knowing her, none.

"HERE TO LAY CLAIM TO MY TREASURES. THE THINGS THAT ARE RIGHTFULLY MINE."

    Petra makes a shamelessly disgusted face at Gold Pig's appearance, even elbow nudging Cinder and pointing at something about him with a whispered mean comment followed by giggling. Off of her back, she pulls her obsidian EGO spear, twirling it between her fingers to point at Gold Pig and gesture by poking the air emphatically.

    "You know what, you fat fucking jackass? I *am* gonna steal all your shit now! We were just here to get back some stuff you shouldn't have even wanted in the first place, but now I'm gonna fucking steal all this gold and shit! I'll donate it to charity or something, you dumb idiot, so you can fucking whine and cry about it in hell!"

    Petra's choice to duck behind a pile of coins when the shockwave ripples out was silly in retrospect. Coins spill onto her head, with a raindrop thudding of 'ow-- ow-- ow-- ow-- ow--', until she shields herself with her hands.

"So you just sit here?"

    "Yeah? What've you been up to? Saving thousands of people from armies, or whatever? Fucking Beige Squirrel-ass."

    Petra bats a falling coin with the butt of her spear, catching it in the air as it falls and violently redirecting it towards Gold Pig. When it hits him, she's there beside his head in the moment of distraction, leapt up into the air to stab it in wherever on his body she can reach. She plants her feet to either side of the buried shaft, and kicks up and away, pulling the spear out and landing on top of a pile of gold (again, definitely unwisely, but Petra isn't one to ignore environmental features).
Angela Angela is still angry about Sarracenia but she isn't in a position to really do anything about that so she just stews quietly, giving Sarracenia the occasional long look, eyes focused on her neck even from the Eggpack.

Cinder is ready for a fight. She is particularly ready to fight a literal capitalist pig. He doesn't quite incite the kind of rage in her as she expects, but that's largely because he is just so ... on the nose about it.

''So, like, what the fuck happened with the creepy Kale?''

"I ... think I maybe killed him?? He kept looking at me weirdly and then all of a sudden he poofed! Maybe I changed my mind about something and now whatever future he's coming from is never going to happen?? If I did that, is that murder? Or is that like--not murder because he never existed anymore?"

''No wonder Proudpick likes it here.''

"Hrrn... I can't imagine liking this place under any circumstances. Music is nice, but in a place like this where it becomes a weapon--I feel like it taints it, somehow."

Cinder leans in to listen to Petra's comment. She lets out a small gasp at whatever she whispered then giggles as well. That seems to cheer her up some too.

Coins spill around and clobber Cinder this way and that. "Ow! Fuck! Agh! Shit!" Cinder says, more annoyed than seriously injured. Fourth Match Flame is snap-drawn into her hand and it bursts into flames as she swings it forward and down, a burst of flame throwing herself over a second shockwave as she aims to drive the match-stick sword into Gold Pig's face.
Kale Hearthward > "You just sit here, behind a locked door, doing nothing?"

"YOU POOR PEOPLE WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND."

"I DO NOT SIT HERE DOING NOTHING."

"I SIT HERE ADMIRING MY PILES OF TREASURE." Checkmate, atheists.

More waves of oeuvre-powered dance moves impact him, along with bullet bill explosions. He weathers both.

> "There's nothing wrong with taking what you've earned, but stealing it from the weak's crossin' the line."

"I EARNED IT. *BY* TAKING IT FROM THE WEAK."

*WHAM* goes the sack full of coins, hard enough to make Gold Pig's head turn.

> "You know what, you fat fucking jackass? I *am* gonna steal all your shit now!"

Xion takes and uses the treasure towards better ends, and Petra announces her intention to steal his stuff, both of which draw Gold Pig aggro. There is no wrath greater than a rich man being deprived of a small amount of money.

Worse, Petra's strike clangs off of the gaudy thick gold necklace he's wearing.

"YOU SCRATCHED IT," complains Gold Pig, seemingly more incensed about that than the literal wounds he's accumulating. Including the stab wounds from Cinder.

> "Power's all that matters? Might makes right? Good. Glad to hear."

"AND I WILL DEMONSTRATE IT - MY MIGHT, AND MY TREASURES, ARE ALL GREATER THAN YOUR PALTRY KEY AND JEWELED BIRDS. TREASURES SUCH AS MY PRIZED JEWELS, THE JUMI CORES."

Even as Xion's triple-attacking him, he reaches up and taps each of the gaudy, fist-sized gems dangling from his gold necklace. Each of the four jewels plays a different tone, and then waves of oeuvre lash back at the party, emitting from each jewel in a different pattern and shape.

Aside from filling the chamber with (more) oeuvre danmaku, the jewels keep 'singing' independently of Gold Pig's other attacks, continuing to do damage to the unwary. It's as though the battle's gone from being a one on one to a five on one!

... Or, five on... six. Nine counting Xion's birds. Ten counting Angela. Yeah, actually, the group still outnumbers him. The jewels are still dangerous, though.
Futaba Nuki "Power's all that matters? Might makes right? Good. Glad to hear."
"You know what, you fat fucking jackass? I *am* gonna steal all your shit now!"

"... Dang. If this guy didn't sound like such a shitter, I'd almost feel like we were the bad guys." Futaba forces a mirthless laugh, sighing again shortly afterwards as she rolls her gold coin sack over her shoulder like she's wielding a giant gift sack or something. "Still... Nah, let's just beat his ass and get everything back where it should be and then some. I'll gladly take some antihero points for that."

The more Gold Pig talks, the more she feels that urge to ramp up said points. There isn't a single thing he says that Futaba can even remotely agree with, sympathize with, or appreciate even from an artistic perspective. The closest thing that even comes close to being appreciated are those gems around his neck, and mostly in the artistic sense without knowing where they're from or what they are.

She does appreciate the impromptu music formed from those different tones coming together, though, even if getting shot from all those directions is a threat. She even humors the gimmick for a while, dancing around the shots and springing on hands and tail to weave her way through them all and approach Gold Pig again!

Of course, her tail is huge, so Futaba's dodging ability is rather questionable even in normal circumstances. She just has to weather the blasts she can't avoid, shrinking and reshaping herself to keep moving through the storm until she's near Gold Pig once more.

"So what's this about a jeweled bird? You just makin' up words now with this... Core thing?" Leaping onto the Pig from above, Futaba's arm shoots out towards one of the Jumi Cores, grabbing onto it with little regard for how much it might be shooting her directly in that same hand. She pulls and yanks on it to draw it back towards Gold Pig, trying to smash it right into him face and start a direct contest of what can withstand those shots more: Her hand or his face.
Aidan Proudpick As Aidan spins, he catches sight of Sarracenia and stumbles across his step, staring. "Sarra?! Are you okay, what happened to you?!" He stares, twisting his head around and snaps his head around after the next twirl. "Did you wreck whoever did that to you?"

"What've you been up to?"

"Important research," his face spreads in an attempt to weaponize his grin at Petra. "Training. Community college." The falsity of the grin fades into a happy smile. "Figuring out how to take on the world." Not the boastful grand standing of a declaration of heroism this time. Of course, that could just be general vapid whimsy.

"I SIT HERE ADMIRING MY PILES OF TREASURE."

"Yea? You know, I noticed something here. You got the slimes," Aidan kicks his feet and breathes out a gust of air, making a long and deliberate slide to one side as a burst of ouerve slams towards him. Another burst forces him to slide back the other way, still using his hands out to keep the balls of wind flowing. After a second thought, Aidan flips the balls over his fingers, sliding each white whirling ball over his fingers and knuckles before catching them again.

"And you got a few couples, like Rasta and Zigg. But most of the people here don't even seem get together much. Like the ATM machine? The Pantless Guy? Green Mage can't seem to get anyone together for his ritual. Suffocate me, aren't you lonely in here?"

Lances of color keep flowing out from Aidan. "All we want back is the arm and legs!" Pause. "And the food. No one cares about your gold!" A glance at Petra. "And she's like that with everyone."

Jumi Cores? He jerks his head towards Sarracenia, "Try to grab the cores?" Aidan spins forward, adding an extra leggy with a jingling boot before lancing out one of the balls, forgoing any future henshin. Darts of air whirl into existence, flashing out across the distance towards the jewels.
Petra Soroka "If I did that, is that murder? Or is that like--not murder because he never existed anymore?"

    Petra taps her cigarette on her lips, considering. "No, I think it's a good thing. Whether or not it's murder doesn't matter. He was, like, way more weird and annoying than our Kale, so if you killed the timeline he's from or some shit, that's good, actually. Now we just have to torment Kale in a way that makes him turn out less shitty."

"Music is nice, but in a place like this where it becomes a weapon--I feel like it taints it, somehow."

    "Yeah..." Petra sighs, hoisting the Eggpack higher on her shoulders to readjust it. "Like, I don't know, I don't think being used as a weapon is bad necessarily, but it just being purely out of boredom and because it's the only thing these people can come up with-- I hate their music because I hate them."

"Important research,"

    The weaponization of Aidan's grin lands like a critical 5/F, repulsing Petra so much that she physically recoils. She has to twist her sneer into a shape that's actually conducive to talking, so that she can spit out, "I don't believe you. Research how to stop being disgusting and then come back when you've got a degree in it."

"I SIT HERE ADMIRING MY PILES OF TREASURE."

    "God, I hate this guy." Petra stops her feet on the pile of gold, almost immediately slipping because of the miniature avalanche she causes. She flails her spear at Gold Pig from much too far to actually reach, just as an impotent valve release of her seething distaste. "I hate him so much that I'd become a communist just to steal his shit. He's so fucking annoying."

"... Dang. If this guy didn't sound like such a shitter, I'd almost feel like we were the bad guys."

    Petra sticks her tongue out at Futaba, stanced on top of the mountain of coins. "Wow, cool moral conundrum; I'm still gonna smash his face in because it's fucking ugly and I hate him. Or-- better yet, actually. Cinder--! Got a slowing bullet?"

    Petra wedges the tip of her boot under a polished gold plate in the pile and kick flips it up to head height, grabbing it with her free hand. A slightly gold-sheened Qetra inside the reflection cheerily adjusts her various (now gold) jewelry before obliging to Petra's request to swap Pillar of Creation out for her gunblade, pulled out of the mirror in full-size shotgun form. She twists to the side and skates down the fluidic side of the gold mountain, spilling coins as she goes, and then uses the momentum to keep running forwards and flip-leap through the rays of light (getting scorched a bit in the process) and land on his shoulder again. But this time,

    "I'm just gonna break your shit. Your dumbass green idiot made us play a stupid game he made for us to get here, and it was almost more boring than just laying down in the street of this shithole city and waiting for someone to invent a car and run me over with it. You deserve this. *I* deserve this."

    Petra jams wher gunblade right up into the necklace itself, bayonet positioned across the gems. When she squeezes the trigger, not only does she ruin the polish by scraping it up, but the gunpowder expulsion gets stuck all over to cover the gleam. A few more petulant slashes around the necklace might do some combat-helpful work in weakening the chain so that it falls off and he can't use the gems anymore, but more importantly, it just scuffs it up worse.
Angela Cinder gives Petra a relieved nod--though a hesitant one because this is still someone's life they're talking about. Somehow unmaking someone from time feels worse than just stabbing them a bunch, but she supposes she's just not of the class of person who goes around unmaking people from time normally. "Yeah...Maybe..." She says. "That might work...yeah..."

''I hate their music because I hate them.''

"Hmm... You have a point. Weapons are weapons after all, but it's the banality that takes them away from being art."

Cinder grits her teeth, the music of the jewels impacting against her body and soul. But she nods her agreement with Petra and asides to her, "Makes the Wing CEOs seem and sound subtle." She asides to Petra as she brings Fourth Match Flame before her and glances over to Angela. She jerks her head towards her.

"Hm?"

"Mind music battling a little?" Cinder asks.

Angela sighs and radies the Frog's banjo. She performs a few chords in an attempt to punch through the jewels' assault.
Sarracenia      Sarra can't help but roll her eyes as Petra starts in on Aidan immediately, but being tired and sore she can't think of anything good to say. She rubs her neck lightly as she feels eyes on her, then blinks as she realizes it is the Eggpack. She smirks and offers a little finger-waggling wave.

     'Sarra?! Are you okay, what happened to you?!'

     Sarra can't help a bit of a smile at the concern. "I am alright. Or at least..." Her smile fades. "...actually, I am not alright. But, this is not the place for that."

     The subject of Future Kale comes up and Sarra shrugs lightly. "It might actually -be- that the multiverse realizes that two Kales was one too many. But, I think in the end it was Kale that killed himself by not becoming that other Kale. Which...honestly, that other Kale was a bit -too- goofy."

     Gold Pig unleashes some kind of music attack. It is a bit confusing to have oeuvre used against her after all the lack of oeuvre that was used before. "So, you are not quite as fond of the boredom this place is all about, huh? Is that why you started stealing? You got so bored you could not handle just sitting around anymore?"

     '...I'd almost feel like we were the bad guys.'

     Sarra hmphs. "Rest assured. We are brightening both his day and everyone else's by coming here." Sarra says. "Someone came to take his treasures. I bet that makes him happy because that means his treasures are worth something." Sarra definitely doesn't identify with that idea. She doesn't want people to kidnap her for some reason similar to that.

     'Try to grab the cores?'

     Sarra blinks at Aidan. "You want me to get close to that thing? He looks like he stinks!" Sarra says, then huffs. "Give me a minute..." she says, looking at the piles of gold like she has an idea. Sarra continues dancing as she uses her hammer to smash some furrows of varying lengths into the floor.

     Between furrows she uses her hammer to shovel gold into the furrows, all the while dancing aggressively at the Gold Pig. Once that is done, she pulls out a fire flower and...starts melting the gold. This is sure to draw some aggro, but if it works...Sarra will have just made a giant golden xylophone. And she has the perfect mallet for it.
Xion This isn't Xion's first rodeo when it comes to enormous uphill battles against larger foes, and the invigoration of actually getting to swing her bare weapons at something that deserved it gave her enough inspiration internally to pilot light the rest of her and keep going through it all.

"You know, for this entire place, I didn't expect to do that much new. But I kept getting surprised!" Xion announces, weaving steps between attacks and sliding backwards down a wave of treasure as it upends in motion. "That's the first time I've heard that banter, too. 'Paltry key'." She continues, lifting hooded head to see the rise of jewels their own waves of attacks. Danmaku-blasts of colord energy part as they are 'opened' to empty air with the slash of Xion's borrowed Binah key, swatting aside further blasts before teleporting in a ghost of dark smoke and a smear of strange motion through interlocking blasts from the singing gemstones. Existing at both beginning and endpoint, her past self snaps out of reality just as her present self glitch-hops forward and she's clear.

'I'd almost feel like we were the bad guys.'

"Don't!" Xion calls, cupping hand to mouth. She sounds crisp and clear, even while she bears down on the Gold Pig.

A quick post-leap air combo - bonks leaving trails of wingscale and pale castoffs of stars as Xion moves through four swings in a blur of bladework before pogostick bouncing off of the great Bulk of the Pig and arcing back and away.

"Either we win, and they've accepted from the start, or we lose, and it proves nothing. There's nothing to talk about! And there's nothing to realize."

Xion's answer to the questioning Tanuki comes while the backflipping Xion sweeps keyblade down to point and direct, and to summon again her three City-representative fairies, this time in a triple attack at the song-waving gemstones! One simply eats them, no matter how big or belligerent, one pecks and pecks and pecks, and the third judges and guides the other two, spying weaknesses even where there isn't any in paranoid chorus of faint fairy besmirchment of their every sin.
Kale Hearthward "Excuse us," says Blue Thief, as Red Doll maneuvers the wheelchair around the battle, heading towards the big vault door in the back. "Just pretend we aren't here."

The Jumi Core gets yanked away. This draws yet more Gold Pig aggro. "GIVE THAT BACK."

"Aren't you lonely in here?"

"NO," lies Gold Pig. The matter distracts him enough, though, that Aidan can grab another Core.

Angela sets up a music screen, and Petra comes in to slash at the necklace. It comes off - it comes *loose* at least.

Of the two remaining jewels set into the necklace, one seems to be physically attached to Gold Pig's body. Embedded into his skin, in a way that the necklace hides from being immediately apparent.

The other gets eaten by Xion's bird.

"GIVE THOSE BACK."

Gold Pig is incensed now, more than he had been.

"THOSE ARE THE LAST REMNANTS OF -"

He pauses. His eyes narrow. "OF-"

He abruptly stops saying whatever it was he was about to say. "YOU WILL GIVE THOSE BACK. AND YOU WILL PAY FOR TAKING THEM."

Protecting the remaining core with one hand, he brings the other up - and moves his fingers. Magical music blasts from his fingers, causing spikes of oeuvre to shower down like rain.

With everyone stealing his treasures, he's entirely missed Blue Thief unlocking the vault door, and the pair slipping inside...!
Aidan Proudpick "...actually, I am not alright. But, this is not the place for that."

"Might be time for that ice cream soon," he nods at her.
"Now we just have to torment Kale in a way that makes him turn out less shitty."

That gets a snap from Aidan, "Hey, have ya tried some kindness and support? Yanno, I saw the way he treated you back in the Worldmachine. Trying to be nice and make a connection!"

"I don't believe you. Research how to stop beingDisgusting and then come back when you've got a degree in it."

The smile on Aidan's face teeters. Threatening to wipe off entirely, abandon his face and his mind. A loss in step. A stutter, a sudden shift. A flash of the hesitation when Petra or Lilian hit too close to the target and his mind demands he take it and make it part of himself. A thousand rapid thoughts roil through him, and the ouerve fades out from his step. He staggers through another of the steps of the Sword Dance, oeuvre blasting him backward. It hits him, pushing down the edges of his vision, turning things grey and gold.

"NO," lies Gold Pig.

The color in Aidan's vision, in his body suddenly flows back in. But his steps stop. He starts walking forward towards Gold Pig among bullets and blasts and birds, holding the jewel in front of him. All or nothing, on a lark. As the battle rages around him, Aidan searches what he can of Gold Pig's face. The oeuvre around him grows once more, a faint yellow aura around his feet. "Missing a piece of your heart. Someone gone who will never come back?" The sadness flows out into a rippling blue that pushes out from him, "Or someone who you pushed away?"

"Stop," Aidan pleads suddenly to Gold Pig, realizing he is suddenly crying as the waves of emotion from this place come crashing down. "Stop, just give us the arms and legs. The food and drink. And take them back."
Sarracenia      To be fair, Sarra is also not paying attention to Blue Thief and Red Doll. There is a giant purple Hinox...er pig monster to deal with! The spikes of oeuvre rain down, with several landing around Sarra. Though none hit her directly, the splash damage is plenty to knock her around a bit.

     The others gather up those orbs, so Sarra is content to work on her crazy idea some more. She pulls out an ice flower this time to quickly cool those oversized gold bars, then she goes into a twirl again and with a powerful golf swing for each she sends the five large bars of gold flying toward Gold Pig, each one ringing with a distinct note.

     And since she did say she would help with the orbs, she follows the gold bars in "Of what? Of this world's vibrance?" she asks as she closes in to try and take that last orb, missing at first that it is embedded in him.

     When she tries to grab it and leap back, she finds it is stuck! "W-what in the...?!" She grips it firmly and braces against the Pig. "Is this...part of you? Or just some kind of piercing?"
Petra Soroka "Hey, have ya tried some kindness and support?"

    Petra looks over her shoulder at Aidan, the social trespass of being addressed by him while talking to her girlfriend visible on her face. "I mean, first of all, I'm fucking great at kindness and support. Well-- I'm fucking great at support. You just wouldn't know, because I don't like you, and don't want to support you."

    "Second of all, like," Petra shrugs, trying to throw up a minor emotional deflection from her words, "Kale's, like, basically almost a friend, most of the time. The torment's just a necessary tool; he knows it. It's not like I won't help him get better if he shows he can."

"THOSE ARE THE LAST REMNANTS OF -"

    Petra leans over, still on Gold Pig's shoulder, smugly poking the tip of her gunblade at the remaining necklace that he's wearing. "Awww, what's that, is the little piggy sentimental about something? What'll you do if we take the rest? Gonna cry? Gonna-- waaaugh--?!"

    When Gold Pig raises up his arm, Petra is unceremoniously thrown off, slamming her back into the ground with a winded 'oof'. She gets immediately juggled by the multicolored ouevre coming out of his hand, smacked around and thrown away into a mountain of gold, buried and entombed by the subsequent spillage. There's a long stretch of seconds where tiny ripples of motion on the surface of the gold pile suggest that Petra is squirming around in there, until she eventually pokes her head out the opposite side, ending up right nearby Sarracenia.

    Somehow, being buried seems to have mollified her somewhat, or maybe just not being able to see Gold Pig for a minute was what did it. She follows the launched xylophone bars with her eyes, not able to look at them any more closely than that because she's buried in gold coins from the neck down. "Hey, that's a good idea. That's like, a layered attack, with the hammer."

    Petra wriggles the rest of the way out, and then grabs a fistful of gold coins, tossing them up in the air. She raises her gunblade at fires at each in turn, expecting little 'ping's of metal on metal while the coins get launched at Gold Pig, but instead the slugs just punch right through and continue onwards into the Pig themselves.

    "... That's right, idiot! I'm shooting your money!"
Futaba Nuki "Wow, cool moral conundrum; I'm still gonna smash his face in because it's fucking ugly and I hate him."
More laughter comes from the ninja tanuki while she's in the middle of trying to rock Gold Pig's face with one of those Jumi Cores he named earlier. "Fair 'nough! Can't say I'm a fan of the guy or his attitude, either, so you won't be gettin' any complaints from me. Besides..."

She pauses briefly to rest a hand on her chin, watching as the Gold Pig reacts rather badly to the Cores being touched. "Don't like that, do ya...? Huh. Alright." Instead of ramming it at the Gold Pig's face again, she instead opens up a little hole in her chest and slides it right into keep it nice and secure and visible enough to try riling him up even more.

"THere we go... Last remnants of the whatnow?" She asks aloud, yelping briefly as the oeuvre spikes start coming down at her. Even with all that happening, though, she still looks over at Petra for as she seems to be seriously contemplating something. "Antihero arc... Hmm. Does it count if this guy just sucks through and through? There's no..." She snaps her fingers a few times, then leaps off Gold Pig to stick to the ceiling with spear-like arms, flattening herself out to reduce her surface area in the face of all those falling spikes. It does mean she's thin enough that the spikes can punch cleanly through some parts of her paper-thin body at that moment, leaving some angry red streaks along her body until she transforms again to fill those holes in with a silver jelly-like substance.

"No presentation to this! All he's got is this greed angle, and Princess is already coverin' that angle WAY better than he ever could!" A pause, and then she lets out a slightly relenting noise. "I kinda liked that board game, though. Fun crowd for it."

"Someone came to take his treasures. I bet that makes him happy because that means his treasures are worth something."
"I dunno about that, Princess. If he's callin' everything in here treasure, even the cool suff kinda loses its... Sparkle, you know?" Futaba flicks her scarf out behind her so it can flap properly once she lets go of the ceiling, diving back towards Gold Pig feet-first as they transform into a pair of long, thin blades stopping just above her knees.

"It's like if I called everything I do ninja-something. Ninja-flying's one thing, and my ninja sword's cool, but ninja-community service just doesn't have the same ring to it." She explains to Sarracenia, stabbing those elongated sword-legs at Gold Pig before

In mid flip, she realizes something and looks over atSarracenia again. "Oh. Uh. Other Princess, I mean. About the greed angle. You ever meet Princess Morbucks before?"

"Don't! Either we win, and they've accepted from the start, or we lose, and it proves nothing. There's nothing to talk about! And there's nothing to realize."
Once again, Futaba manages to laugh even in the middle of fighting. "Yeah, I getcha! Dang, it's... It's kinda been a while since there's been something like this, huh? Just this..." She gestures at Gold Pig with her sword-legs, then takes a few swipes at him with said sword legs before doing a somersaulting kick to try and carve right through that embedded necklace of his. "Un... Repentant jerkass, no need to think about the... Y'know. Backgrounds or whatever? Things being this obviously right and wrong..."

She lets out a wistful noise and turns one of her arms back into a normal arm just so she can tug on her neck. "... You ever miss that? Y'know, bein' a kid and things just making sense this cleanly."

"Gonna cry? Gonna-- waaaugh--?!"
Futaba looks off to the side, having to deliberately try not to laugh. Apparently, she's forgotten she could just transform her mouth away.
Angela Angela raises her banjo up to send music flying up to help provide some protection to the Eggpack, Petra, and maybe Cinder a little who is staying close.

''Hey, have ya tried some kindness and support?''

"Kindness can be cruel, Aidan." Angela's admonishment is gentler in a fashion, but no less firm. "Besides, that conversation does not involve you. Mind your own concerns before you enter ours. You've plenty to worry about as is, or are you so secure in your goals you feel like you can meddle in the affairs of others?"

Cinder doesn't even answer but she's the one fighting and doesn't have a hundred times faster mind in order to get through it like Angela does.

Aidan pleads for the arm and legs and Angela clucks her tongue in disgust, both at Aidan and at a personal memory.

She strums the guitar again and again, blasting counter-ouvere back at Gold Pig.

"You deserve to be alone." She says simply enough.
Xion A fat 'bird'- settling on its prize opens wide and gulps up a whole gem! Such a thing egg-shapes out the fattened fairy, gaining the vague definition of a small-winged borb with suggestion of small beak which wobbles around, flying low and struggling to weave around dancing waves. The others perceive and protect, fluttering about and blocking music notes or spotting paths through the patterns that Xion takes at a dash.

"The last remnants of what? Why should we *care*? If this is just might to might," Xion has to talk and move, bouncing about fingerblasts and slashing-stopped frozen waves of energy with her magic key to slide around them. When key comes free from leading wave the energy can move again, but Xion challenges the ouevere from the Gold Pig with her golden and black blade of authority. "Why do we even listen to you?! And why steal anything? Piling it up here, at the bottom of a locked hole -- it's all worthless!!"

Channeling a pair of wobbling-pale spheres to orbit her as she comes out of a roll, Xion swings sword out and directs a short barrage of Ruin magic that peppers and microexplodes a vertical 'cut' across the air over the Gold Pig's body in magic detonations that surge from behind Xion to strike. The noirette follows after, seeing Sarracenia go for that last jewel. Surely, that's the key!

Well, the other key. *The* key is in her hands. "This makes sense just fine, Futaba! This is the big, hopeless one we have to defeat so all the rest can be happy, because otherwise, nobody will be!"

Sarra's efforts are redoubled when Xion's own hop-up thrusts key in to either unlock or lever gemstone into Princess' hands!
Kale Hearthward Aidan attempts a heart connection.

"IT IS NONE OF YOUR CONCERN. IF YOU WANT TO STOP THE DOOR IS RIGHT THERE."

"THE POOR AND WEAK CAN DO NOTHING BUT PLEAD. IT IS AS I SAID."

Gold Pig is having none of it. This is *before* Petra anti-tugs on the heartstrings.

> What'll you do if we take the rest? Gonna cry?

"I'VE SHED MY TEARS ALREADY. YOU HAVE MANY MORE TO SHED."

> "... That's right, idiot! I'm shooting your money!"

"WHYYYYY? DO YOU HATE MONEY, OR SOMETHING?"

> "I kinda liked that board game, though. Fun crowd for it."

"I HATE THAT STUPID THING. YOU GOT SUCKERED INTO PLAYING IT TOO."

And then Sarracenia comes in and attempts to wrest the last jewel away.

It's got, actually, a bit of give. If Sarracenia were to tug on it hard enough, it feels like it'd come loose. Xion coming up to 'unlock' it makes it easier...

... in theory. Because Gold Pig is *very* not having any of that.

After Xion taps it, he brings both hands down to smack Sarracenia and Xion away, and keeps one hand over the jewel from that point forward, keeping anyone else from touching it - even if his own hands get hit instead.

> "You deserve to be alone."

"I AM ALONE. AND I AM FINE WITH IT. I HAVE MY TREASURES. I HAVE MY GOLD. EVERYTHING WAS FINE HERE UNTIL ALL OF YOU ARRIVED."

Blue Thief emerges from the vault - back on his legs once again! (He's still very short.) There's also no sign of Red Doll, at least not yet.

"Don't mind me!" he says, going to shovel some coins into his bag and scamper for the exit.

"THIEVES, ALL OF YOU. NO BETTER THAN WHATEVER YOU MAY SAY ABOUT ME."

The remaining gemstone glows. Darkness starts flowing out of it, suffusing the room. It's not a lack of oeuvre this time, it's just... dark.

The attacks don't let up, even as the light fades. If anything, they intensify, Gold Pig becoming more motivated to finish this quickly.
Sarracenia      'I dunno about that, Princess. If he's callin' everything in here treasure, even the cool suff kinda loses its... Sparkle, you know?'

     "Which is exactly why it would make him happy if someone else wants his lackluster treasure. It adds some sparkle back in, you know?" Sarra replies.

     'Oh. Uh. Other Princess, I mean. About the greed angle. You ever meet Princess Morbucks before?'

     Sarra blinks in a bit of confusion. "Princess? I have met her. I did not find her particularly greedy, though. When one has been surrounded by wealth one's entire life the desire for more wealth kind of...does not really happen? Unless she is greedy about something I simply have not seen."

     'Hey, that's a good idea. That's like, a layered attack, with the hammer.'

     Sarra blinks in surprise and stares a bit. Was that...a compliment? On something Sarra did? ...is this a trap? "...thank you. I am glad you appreciated it." Sarra says cautiously. Sarra understands what Petra is going for when she fires at the bars, and so is a bit disappointed when the shots just pierce through.

     Sarra is delighted though when Xion moves to help her with the stuck orb! "Thank you, Xion~" she calls out before she starts to tug with all her might...

     At least, until Gold Pig's giant hands come in. Sarra is still pretty battered from being cooked by her best friend, so is easily and quite viciously smacked away. She bounces off the floor with a strained yelp and lands in a pile of gold. She just lies there after that, eyes clenched against the pain of having full body burns battered. "Nnng...it is not stealing to reclaim stolen items! That is called justice!"
Aidan Proudpick Aidan returns the glance over his shoulder at Petra. "What about for Cinder? For Angela? Are you gonna try and fix every problem they got with torment? You get to decide who needs to break?" There's still no hatred on his face for Petra. Just pity. "You have someone. And still you are so suffocating sad."

"Besides, that conversation does not involve you."

"Miss Angela." He's so exhausted with emotion, unable to control them, rattling every one of his nerves. He always thinks of those elites of the past, able to present emotions in such a heroic way. Aidan is shaking, sniffling, trying to hold himself upright amid the torrent of feelings. Trying to articulate thoughts while angry, tired, and sad all at once. If only he could think a thousand times faster(he still doesn't understand the whole time perception thing). He jerks his head towards the Eggpack, finally, "I'm making it my concern." There's a brief look like he is about to make another quip, but he does remember what Angela said about Melting Love and Sarracenia's kingdom.

"No one deserves to be alone." Aidan grits his teeth as everyone keeps piling on. "People can change! Even they can change!" He waves at Gold Pig.

And then Gold Pig very much expresses a desire not to change. The room goes dark and Aidan suddenly turns, staggering under the barrage of ouerve he wasn't to avoid. He throws his arms up and braces for a tremendous impact.

AND I AM FINE WITH IT.

"No you aren't!" Aidan pushes his own oeurve out, flashing as each blast connects with the aura around him. He hoists the jewel over his head. "No one hangs onto something like this for eternity because of nothing." He keeps walking forward holding the gem out, "You don't have to let go." Fingers grasp around the gem. "But it'll never stop, not here, not anywhere." Aidan isn't wielding those emotions like a weapon. They are acting as their own weapon. He waves the gem, "Are they not worth a change?" A deep flare of blue explodes out into the darkness.

"Sarra!" Aidan follows the sudden sound, another flare of emotion exploding out from him to fill the darkness.
Petra Soroka "What about for Cinder? For Angela? Are you gonna try and fix every problem they got with torment?"

    Petra's expression twists. "Angela's already suffered enough. And she's a whole different, like, category from you. And different from Kale too, it doesn't even compare. And..."

    She crosses her arms, pouting a bit that she has no good counterargument for the other half. "And I don't want to hurt Cinder. So fuck off."

"You have someone. And still you are so suffocating sad."

    Petra transmits ellipses, with her face. In her short pause, the glint in her eye-- it doesn't *stop* being hostile, but in addition to hostility, there's a dull acknowledgement, recognition of a phenomenon much farther reaching than this conversation alone, contemplated a million times before today. In other words, a deep-rooted insecurity, and unusually for Petra, not one she's constantly yelling about.

    "... Well, fucking, mind your own business. I'm doing fucking fine, anyways, so go, like, drown yourself, or something."

"WHYYYYY? DO YOU HATE MONEY, OR SOMETHING?"

    Petra lowers her shotgun, thinking about that question seriously for a moment. She's *got* a pretty sizeable bank account, an amount that still feels kind of unbelievable to her, but intellectually she knows it's mostly just surprising to her because she's been working for a year and a half at her first actual job. The rest is from supervillainy, which she diligently separates from her work-salary, because they're for different purposes in her mind.

    But, really, the literal sums aren't what always make her a bit uncomfortable with her accumulated wealth. Ever since Gilgamesh gave her a few million credits, the numbers have been *wild*, but not impossible to wrap her head around-- not counting the pillaged island of Hydrochoeria, her net worth is probably similar to or less than her dad's. It's actually the *opposite* of unfamiliarity that unnerves her: building a bank account off of a regular corporate job is something she kind of wanted to avoid at all costs.

    "... I guess so, actually?" Petra eventually wonders out loud. "I mean, I don't *like* it. I don't even know what I'd do with all your treasure if I stole it, besides give it away. I don't even buy stuff that often; I never got crazy into, like, online shopping, or whatever. Or... stocks?"

    Petra holds her hand up at the room, filled with treasure and Gold Pig alone. "Like, what do *you* do with it? You just sit in a gold plated room alone and jerk off forever like a fucking incel Scrooge McDuck. What even makes it treasure? It's not like you're *paying* anyone with it. It's not even pretty-- you've fucked it up so bad that you made a room full of gold jewelry *ugly* just by dumping it on the floor. Fucking dumbass. Bitchless loser. You're right; fuck your money, I hate it."

    Petra steps up next to Cinder as the lights go out, with Fourth Match Flame and Angela's screen on her back forming a little oasis of light. A single extra pinprick of light appears in Petra's hand-- a plastic explosive, primed and ready.

    "Hey, Cinder. Do you wanna, like, burn some piles of money?"

    Petra has no particular ability to see or navigate in the dark. The best she can hope for is Angela on her back being able to provide quick-thinking pointers for the directions that the ouevre attacks are coming from, but her ability to dodge is still beholden to the capabilities of her body. It's made somewhat easier, though, by the fact that she's not trying to get closer to Gold Pig, instead just chucking bombs into his money.
Futaba Nuki "This makes sense just fine, Futaba! This is the big, hopeless one we have to defeat so all the rest can be happy, because otherwise, nobody will be!"
"It does! Definitely gotta make sure everyone gets outta this happy, especially..." Futaba glances over at the Vault when Blue Thief comes out of it, furrowing her brow just a bit when she doesn't see Red Doll coming out yet.

Should she be worried? Maybe, but not yet. Thinking about what she just said does have her inhaling lightly, though, thinking back on how many people here she really even remembers. There's the two they all came here with, and Green Mage's game was alright (mostly from messing around with everyone else at the table), and...

She's not sure how to feel about not really thinking too much about anyone else in this Everhood.  How much of their happiness actually matters to her compared to the few people here?

"... If nothin' else, we can at least bring some peace back to this place and make it better than when we started here. Then we'll have time to meet up with more of 'em before we head on home!"

Gold Pig insults Green Mage's game, and that gets another disapproving sigh from Futaba. "See, that's why your guys ain't even here anymore. Payin' em only goes so far, and... Heck, you didn't even pay 'em, didja? Cheapass!"

The lights go out from the remaining gem, and Futaba's quick to devise her own solution to that problem even when she feels more of those shots coming at her. She grimaces and winces as the shots hit her from out of nowhere, and she focuses her senses inwards as she slides her hand into her pouch.

"Princess? I have met her. I did not find her particularly greedy, though."
"Oh, right. Nah, I'm thinkin' of way back when. Didn't know her personally back then, but the stories, the reports, the way she got into it with the Powerpuffs back then?" Futaba draws out her flaming katana finally, and she makes that chef's kiss motion with her free hand. "Now THAT was presentation. Remind me to see if we got tapes with the real old news footage lyin' 'round back home!"

Looking more fired up now than before, Futaba follows the shots  from where they're hitting her while raising her flaming katana like a glowing beacon and target. "Speakin' of... You don't even have a coherent aesthetic here, guy! The money grubbin', the magic gems, and now just keeping everyone in the dark? Makeup your mind!"

The flames around the katana intensify, and-

"Hey, Cinder. Do you wanna, like, burn some piles of money?"
"Oh. Yo, Petra, get a load of this!" Taking a cue from Petra, Futaba starts slinging flames from the sword where Petra isn't, both to light up the area for everyone else to see better, and because the idea of spiting Gold Pig in this context is appealing enough to shift gears for a little bit.
Angela Angela squints at Blue Thief once he just goes ahead and steals his legs and bounces. She decides, after a moment, this doesn't really bother her. Living a full existence legless just seems too horrible. Frankly, living in this world feels too horrible as it is.

''Aidan uses Angela and Cinder as a wedge to try and assault Petra's philosophy.''

Angela stops attacking Gold Pig and instead strums the guitar to send musical notes blasting towards AIDAN. A bright swath of color is thrown at him and Angela clearly doesn't care that they're basically supposed to be working together.

"Do you know how often fools like you use Cinder and I as an avenue to attack Petra?" Angela asks, golden eyes shimmering with pure icy rage that does not enter her voice one whit.

"I think that's like the tenth time," Cinder says, sounding nearly as bored with it as Angela but it is really difficult to sound more bored than Angela.

"You all did the same with Lilian--no perhaps you still do and I simply haven't been keeping track. It's pathetic. Are you even listening to Petra? No. You never listen to anyone but the people you create in your own head to represent others. That is why you can challenge Lilian to a duel and then back out with a harsh word and a roll of the eyes. You live in some fantasy world where you get to be the one to make lives better, but Petra makes my life ''better'' every day and you--oh you make mine worse. You seek to preach to PETRA about how to treat us? PETRA? I am on her BACK as you chide her you sanctimonious brat!" Ah now the anger is entering her voice as the ice is no longer thick enough to contain the heat.

"It is my duty," She says. "To torment others. Surely even you aren't stupid enough to have missed that. I torment the Sephirah s that they can grow into being better people. ''I'' do this as an occupation, and you chide PETRA for it with MY NAME as if I am different. Except for me, I do it to people I actually KIND OF like. Why do you think I allowed Ishirou to speak with Malkuth? Hibiki with Hod? It was because I had to HARM them by showing reflections of their own circumstances. But I never had to show them you, because even Netzach is not quite as empty as you. There would have been nothing reflected."

Angela exhales. It's a long exhale as if space in her had opened up by hissing all these words at Aidan.

"Dialogue nor harm can stop you from being what you are." Angela says, as if that IS NOT a good thing. And she even stops throwing musical pain notes at Aidan once the realization hits her.

''And I don't want to hurt Cinder. So fuck off.''

"Yeah I mean actually she made me, like, less harmed? Undid pain I already had? So eat shit?" Cinder says, a bit sheepishly because she is a little awkward with adding anything else to what Angela just said.

''I guess so actually?''

Angela glances to Petra as she admits she doesn't like money. Angela herself doesn't have a strong opinion aobut it. But she does dislike such naked displays of greed since it feels like living in a parody. Angela thinks about what money can DO--that's what she cares about.

''Hey, Cinder. Do you wanna, like, burn some piles of money?''

"DO I?" Cinder beams. Fourth Match Flame provides some light, and she's about to bring more light into the situation by spraying fire and coinage and the like with the intent to melt it. Gold has a high melting point, but she's doing her damnedest and that's going to make the whole room a scorcher. She completely forgets about Future Kale's requests for fire-based caution. "Burn capitalism!" Cinder shouts.

Angela helpfully turns her attention to the task of providing directions. "I am sorry, Petra--" She adds between directions. "For once again being used as a tool against y
Angela Angela helpfully turns her attention to the task of providing directions. "I am sorry, Petra--" She adds between directions. "For once again being used as a tool against you."
Xion Gold Pig's constant attacks, flailing around, and semi-pathetic nuh-uh'ing doesn't find much purchase on Xion. A veteran of the heart-darkness-light wars and seasoned sword swinger, even the stiff winds of template attacks and blasts of feeling magic or even the falling rain of 'happening' can't quite touch her. A leap out, a barrage, and then back in and racing up the belly, only to grin at Sarracenia as they team attack the final showing core. It's great! They're about to win, and...

The hand comes down nearly on top of Xion (and Sarra!), the keyblade warrior swinging up to block it for a moment and get Sarracenia clear, struggling against sheer volume for a present beat. Then the noirette implodes, coat and all, into a hole in space and slips away from underneath the shielding palm, reappearing rolling out onto a pile of treasure in an action slide skid while the light darkens around all the fighters. Simply becasue - it's dark!

'It was because I had to HARM them by showing reflections of their own circumstances.'

Rising up while cast in the faint gold light of honeycomb pattern across sword, her keyblade the primary glow about the Nobody while her fairies are away, Xion frowns while bringing blade up and pointedly ready. Moving from two-handed power grip to one-handing hilt and shifting hand into pocket, Xion dips her gaze and wobbles between smile and frown.

"I don't think you sent me towards Binah for torment. I don't think it's just about that, but you're not wrong. It's how you do your job. One way." Xion's fist finds black coat pocket as she reaches for a different Medallion - the right one for this situation. "But maybe you did and it just worked out. I'll accept that. She did make things harder before she made things easier."

Her hand comes free from pocket, drawing medallion that's turtle tan and flame red. Spiked black bands studded in silver dot and spike at wrist and ankle and neck, glittering in a curl of flamelight that puffs from her nose. Then, gold turns molten at her feet, coins running into their constituent metals from her suddenly heating aura. Stomping forward, visuality of the whole world shaking with humbering steps, Xion takes a few big marches towards the Gold Pig.

'Hey, Cinder. Do you wanna, like, burn some piles of money?'
'Burn capitalism!'

Channeling the Koopa King's neutral B flamebreath power, Xion begins spewing bright-red fireballs with dot-black eyes all about, shedding sheets of flame towards treasure and Pig alike!

"Gwar-har-har! If the money doesn't matter, and neither does anyone else, then we'll burn this golden idol! Forever doesn't need a greedy sink of a hole like *you*!"
Kale Hearthward Sarracenia falls.

... And, removed from the fervor of the battle, there's something she'd finally notice. Something glowing brightly in her pocket.

One of the figurines from Green Mage's game. The figurine of a wagon wheel.

> "Take these with you, too. They might come in handy in a desperate situation. You'll know what to do with them when the time comes, I imagine. Mwe he he he."

... The situation... isn't desperate yet, though. It's hectic, and she's hurt, but it's not *desperate*. Nor does she know what exactly she's supposed to do with it.

But there's a feeling... soon? Maybe?

> "Are they not worth a change?"

"THEY ARE WORTH NOTHING MORE THAN THEIR DOLLAR VALUE!" bellows Gold Pig.

> "See, that's why your guys ain't even here anymore. Payin' em only goes so far, and... Heck, you didn't even pay 'em, didja? Cheapass!"

"THEY'RE PAID IN POWER. NOT IN MONEY."

Then Gold Pig, in the darkness, still manages to do a visible double-take. "THEY *QUIT*? THOSE WORTHLESS-"

> "Hey, Cinder. Do you wanna, like, burn some piles of money?"

"STOP!"

Cinder does of course not stop.

Neither does Xion. Altogether, things are heating up. Much of the gold melts. Most of the other treasure isn't looking too good, either. The fire contests the darkness... and the fire is winning.

>"Gwar-har-har! If the money doesn't matter, and neither does anyone else, then we'll burn this golden idol! Forever doesn't need a greedy sink of a hole like *you*!"

"STOP."

The darkness fades. The oeuvre blasts stop. Gold Pig slumps.

"... TAKE IT. TAKE THE ARM. TAKE EVERYTHING, IF YOU WANT."

"JUST... LEAVE ME BE HERE."

Red Doll is emerging from the vault... now with both arms firmly attached.

They wave their previously missing right arm, and there's the hint of a smile. Just a hint.

"Very good."

Oh, that's the Frog, sitting at the entrance to the chamber, strumming a guitar. He's sitting on a log that was *probably* not there a moment ago?

"Honestly, I'm impressed. I knew it'd take a powerful force to defeat Gold Pig, but you also stripped him of his lieutenants first, leaving him vulnerable to you literally walking in through the front door. Very well done, indeed."

"That, I believe, concludes the favor I asked of all of you. Unfortunately, though, I have one more thing I must ask, and I have little leverage or exchange to offer in asking it."
Aidan Proudpick Aidan glances over at Cinder, then grimaces. A memory of wielding Hazelthistle at Kale. He's tried to avoid it for so long with Cinder. A heavy weight on his shoulders of the shit of pulling that. But his eyes dart to Angela. "Did I say that? Did I say she ain't capable of making people's lives better through support? Did she do it by tormenting you?" He doesn't step backward away from the blast, lest it hit Sarra, but he steps in. "Did I say I thanked you for trying to kill me? I thanked ya for stopping from killing me, and you made it something else. I said you gotta offer some suffocating support and kindness!" He turns around more set, waving off some of the aura to clash with Angela's attack. "Be angry at me for dragging Cinder and you through shit. But how much torment did Petra put you through. Or is it because she showed you that compassion she holds back. Loved you." There is an obvious note that Aidan did NOT realize this was Angela's MO. "Dialogue nor harm can stop you from being what you are." "But it can stop you from being the best you can be. I ain't gonna be the whole world's font of kindness and love today. Maybe not ever." That little smile drifts onto his face again as he breathes in that renewed purpose. But, then, he shrugs, taking on a brighter smile, "Thanks for smacking me in the face about Cinder, though."

Aidan takes the final look at the core, frowning. Are they... are they not remanents of someone that created that deep loneliness? Are they really JUST something valuable? But, no flinch, no even a single connection comes out of Gold Pig from the loss of them. He rotates the gem in his hand frowning at it, then up at Gold Pig.

"Suffocate me," Aidan whispers, "there isn't even anyone." The story tale edge of it fades away, and Aidan can finally just see the supreme loneliness and pettiness of Gold Pig. He opens his mouth, trying to find words, either positive or negative about them. But he can only close it again. "Suffocate me," is all he can repeat to himself.

!Kermit suddenly appears and Aidan jumps, looking at the room. "Ah. Oh." Aidan slips the !Infinity Stone into his bag before just crashing down on his butt next to Sarracenia, bags under his eyes as he fishes out his medical kit. "Hi."
Petra Soroka "Do you know how often fools like you use Cinder and I as an avenue to attack Petra?"

    The hostile haze in Petra's eyes clears up and softens when Angela and Cinder say their pieces to Aidan. There's a few times where it looks like she's about to open her mouth and interject-- for support, of course, because the meangirl combo counter is a skill she's honed for a while-- but instead, she settles into a rarely-seen soothed expression, almost luxurious. Arms crossed, eyes closed, and a faint smile on her face, buoyed by the other girls' support. There's still something unhappy bubbling underneath the smile, but it looks more along the lines of 'shame' or 'guilt' than anger.

    In the middle of a battle, she doesn't have time for a whole production, but she still touches one hand to Cinder's and the other to the Eggpack's. Quietly, and distantly sentimental, "Thanks." She must've been feeling *really* bad for some reason.

"Remind me to see if we got tapes with the real old news footage lyin' 'round back home!"

    "Oh, when I was a kid, I absolutely *demanded* that my parents tape every episode." Petra slides into the conversation between Futaba and Sarracenia, with the same sort of tone like she heard them talking about a shared favorite movie at the cafeteria table next to hers. "Don't tell her, but I was, like, always rooting for Princess back then."

    Petra pauses, then shrugs. "I mean, I can't get the tapes, though. They're either in the attic or dumpstered, like, years and years ago."

"Oh. Yo, Petra, get a load of this!"
"Burn capitalism!"
"Gwar-har-har!"

    Well, maybe that's a little bit more anticapitalist sentiment than Petra was ready to accept today. But, she's breaking stuff, and doing emotional harm to someone who sucks, with several treasured girls by her side, so she can give it a pass. When the fog lifts, Petra is still holding a triggered explosive in her hand, and Gold Pig's surrender distracts her from throwing it on time. It starts beeping quicker, and Petra freaks out and hurls it away as fast as she can.

"... TAKE IT. TAKE THE ARM. TAKE EVERYTHING, IF YOU WANT."

    "Ha! Sucks to suck, dipshit. Hope you like an--" The explosion of Petra's final toss drowns out her stream of insults for several sentences. " . . . --fucking fat piece of shit. You'll have to rename yourself to, like, Goldless Pig. Maybe Friendless Pig'd work better. Lonely-ass Greasy Ugly Wrinkly Raisin-looking Pig. Broke fucking--"

    Petra's tirade of insults is such a low-demand process for her mental operating system that she's already doing post-battle cleanup while berating Gold Pig. She cuts off mid-sentence, not because she's ran out of insults, but because she starts trying to talk to Cinder and forgets that she can't say two things at the same time.

    "I'll start dumping some of this on Qetra's head, if you wanna give me a hand. I figure we might as well get it out of here, for the message, even if all we do with it later is dump it on some orphans or whatever."

    "Hey, Red!" Petra gives him a wave across the room. Fondness for the doll is easy, when they can't actually talk. Or maybe just don't? "Hi-five, now that you're able."

"Honestly, I'm impressed."

    Petra stops in her tracks, arms piled full of gold. "Huh? What the hell are you doing here? ... Fffffrog?"

    She makes a face when he asks them all for another favor. "I mean, how *important* is it? This world is, no offense, total dogshit, and I hate being here. It's literally the least interesting place I've ever been, and I was born in Texas."
Sarracenia
     If it was not so dark, Sarra might have missed the glow of the wagon wheel charm. As the others start melting gold down in earnest, Sarra moves as quickly as she can manage to an area this is not about to be awash in molten gold. Then, she pulls out the wagon wheel to take a look. It does not feel quite like the time they might need it yet though. so after studying it a few moments she slips it back into her pocket.

     "Do not worry, Aidan! I am alright!" she calls out through the dark and fire. When it clears up, Sarra is left a bit bewildered by the sudden end. And the frog is here? She turns her attention to Gold Pig first. "Why did you even want the arms and legs and things? What were you trying to do? Were they just more prizes or...were you perhaps trying to bring someone back?"

     Between Doctor Orange and the whole 'the last remnants of-' thing, Sarra's romantic mind sort of automatically imagines that Gold Pig is just a lovelorn Beast who lost his Beauty. "Ooh! Are those orbs perhaps...the remains of your...family?" Her voice starts out excited at the prospect of figuring something out, but by the end it is more sad at the prospect of her suggestion being true. "Treasure does not replace something like that, you know."

     Aidan seems to think that is off the mark though and pockets one of those orbs. He sits down nearby, and Sarra sits beside him. "Hi." she says back, watching as he works with his medical kit. She looks around at the others, then pulls her phone out. "Hey, would you like to see some cute pictures?" she says to Aidan.

     The frog appears, and Sarra looks about as happy to see him as Petra does. "...it better be more bearable than this place. Do you realize how unreasonably colorful I had to make my outfits to keep from just collapsing in depression?"
Angela ''Aidan continues to torture Angela.''

There is a point in rage where you kind of come out the other end where the heat and ice fade and you're left with a cool empty feeling as all else has steamed away. Angela does not need to breathe, but she still takes in a long breath and lets out a very very long exhale.

"It is my fault for not being monosyllabic. I will try again." Angela says.

"Do Not. Use Us. As Tools. For--" She pauses as she thinks of a monosyllabic synonym for what she's going for. "--For Your. Dumb. Talks With Her."

She doesn't add anything else.

''Suffocate me.''

Angela seriously considers it.

Cinder smiles up and back to Petra, "Hey anytime. You'd do the same for us twice as hard."

Angela gives a nod. "Naturally, Petra. We support one another." She looks like she might add another couple words for a moment but holds back.

Cinder isn't inclined to keep fighting someone who looks that fucking done. But then. There's the FRog.

''That, I believe, concludes the favor I asked of all of you.''

"Understood." Angela says. "Thank you for the guitar but I believe our work is at an end--"

''I have onemore thing I must ask, and I have a little leverage of exchange to offer in asking it.''

Angela's eyebrow twitches. It really IS like a Wing negotation.

''And I was born in Texas.''

"Is it really that bad?" Angela asks softly befoe adding, "...What do you want, then?" She asks. "And is your name really Frog?" Gotta set the record straight.
Futaba Nuki "Oh, when I was a kid, I absolutely *demanded* that my parents tape every episode."
Even before getting into guilt-free arson, Futaba's already grinning slowly at hearing that. It's not one of those shit-eating grins, either, but of someone feeling some kind of camaraderie and excitement over being able to share something with someone. "Really now? Well, dang. Guess I'll really have to get the stash out for you and Sarracenia sooner rather than later, then. Heck, maybe we could make a night of it!"

In retrospect, being around so much fire isn't actually all that physically pleasant for Futaba. It's exciting, sure, and it scratches an itch she didn't know she had (burning capitalism, as Cinder put it), but Futaba still has more fire-susceptible surface area to worry about compared to the average human. Regardless, she keeps joining in with the fire-spreading, even practicing her mad cackle and pulling it off fairly well until Gold Pig finally gives up.

"... Well, there you got it, folks. Looks like our work's done here as long as Gold Pig here behaves." She kind of wants to scoff, but she can't bring herself to do so. She's actually willing to give the Pig a chance to... She doesn't really know. She won't deny him the chance to learn from this, but she's not expecting much, either.

She's just glad the limbs are returned, and Red Doll looks better than ever. "Ah, found it? Nice! Bet you've been missin' that after all this time." Futaba lets out a relieved chuckle as she heads over to offer them a high-five, keeping her move gentle just in caes the arms are still loose or something. However they respond, she's just glad to know that everyone's work here is-

"Very good."
"I have one more thing I must ask, and I have little leverage or exchange to offer in asking it."
-not done yet.  Still, with the current heightened mood at a job well done, she shrugs lightly while turning to the Frog with her arms crossed over her head, panting a bit to catch her breath from the battle moments ago. "What'd you have in mind? We could probably pull it off, but we're gonna need a little more info before committin' to... Whatever it is."

"It's literally the least interesting place I've ever been, and I was born in Texas."
"Doesn't Texas have cowboys, though? Those're pretty awesome!" She looks to Petra with great expectation evident in her eyes, pausing for a moment to purse her lips. "... Hold up. That means you can do lasso tricks, too, right?"
Xion Doing a little bit of arson with Cinder is something Xion is softly always ready to do twiceover - partially because it is always what the loudly-wanting Cinder wants to do, and Xion overhears the shouts of souls like the chaotic roll of conversations at resturants. Cinder also wants to do Petra, but Xion can smile and keep Cinder's peace (as Cinder says her own piece often enough!) especially while indulging in the incendiary urge.

Finding all the burning just oh-so-funny as she stomps around and sweeps heat over the melting walls of the treasure room. Such words as 'THEY ARE WORTH NOTHING MORE THAN THEIR DOLLAR VALUE!' only embolden the incendiary acts, Xion finding an ultimately worthless pile of things stocked and stacked up in a way that is especially incensing to her mood.

If the Everhood was 'dying the slowest way', then the Gold Pig's insane greed and utter lack of satisfaction even within the afterlife was the most damning act of trying to 'take it with them' even in and through the after-life.

So as she switches from 'burning' to 'pillaging', rather enjoying taking a fistful of gold coins and jamming them into her cartoonishly toothy mouth and chewing the softening metal like dried fruit. Enjoying the moltening coins like a rare treat, Xion clears her lips with a slurp and puff of dark smoke, pinkying a claw in between her teeth afterwards. Slinging her keyblade over her shoulder with the other hand, the Nobody considers the 'okay I give up'-ing Pig with a curious look.

"And you're not going to just up and keep pulling your rich man in Heaven act once we leave? Not likely. We can finish dismantling you right once everyone else shows--"

The Frog shows up, banjoing on his stump. Stump?

"--up? Huh?" Lizard!Xion turns to blink at the frog on his stump. "When'd you get here? Where's Rasta, anyway, we should get this stuff figured out. What's... What do you need? Is it the same as them, or, something else?"
Petra Soroka "Is it really that bad?"

    Petra winces. "I mean... not really. I'm just being overdramatic. It's basically fine, I just wasn't... yeah."

"... Hold up. That means you can do lasso tricks, too, right?"

    Petra has a slightly strained smile, tension in her shoulders as she crosses her arms. "Look, I shouldn't have said anything. No. Obviously I can't do, fucking, lasso tricks. It doesn't matter. I haven't lived there in-- like, most of my life, basically."

<J-IC-Scene> Sarracenia phone-tapping noises. "Just look at it~ Would you have thought a robotic backpack could look so cute?" Sarra's voice sounds a bit devious despite the words she is saying.

    Petra stalks right over to where Sarra is sitting down, and before bothering to say a single word of indignant defense of Angela, kicks her as hard as she can in the most bandaged-looking spot she can find. Morphmetal ripples up her torso and down her arm, sliding into her palm in the form of a featureless blade of Silver, held out to the side.

    "Fucking pig. I should fucking deface you and put the pictures on the internet forever. I should shear your hair off and carve slurs into your face, and make it your fucking wiki picture, so anyone who ever looks up your name sees it first thing."

    Petra swings her sword around to point it at Sarra, raising her voice to a shout. "What's fucking *wrong* with you?! Fucking delete the picture; she doesn't *like* it!"
Kale Hearthward > "And you're not going to just up and keep pulling your rich man in Heaven act once we leave? Not likely. We can finish dismantling you right once everyone else shows--"

"I'M DONE. YOU WIN. WHAT MORE CAN I DO? YOU HAVE DEFEATED ME AND MY MINIONS HAVE ABANDONED ME.

Gold(-less) Pig is sulking over in a corner right now, and also trying to tend to his wounds. He doesn't even look up as Petra starts taking it all...

... Though the one thing he's hanging onto are the Jumi Cores.

> "Hi-five, now that you're able."

HIGH-FIVES!

>"And is your name really Frog?"

"I'm afraid it is." There's a wry smile. "Names here have tended to devolve into simplistic descriptors over the millenia. Green Mage. Gold Pig. Blue Thief. Frog."

> "Is it the same as them, or, something else?"

"Something else, I'm afraid." Frog strums on his guitar, and then frowns a little. It's out of tune.

> "...it better be more bearable than this place."
> "I mean, how *important* is it? This world is, no offense, total dogshit, and I hate being here. It's literally the least interesting place I've ever been, and I was born in Texas."

"It is the most important thing you can do here," says Frog. "Especially since you and I seem to share the same view of the Everhood."

He looks down, tuning his guitar. "It's simple."

"I need you to destroy this world."