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Owner	Pose
Kale Hearthward	PREVIOUSLY > "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."
Kale Hearthward	NOW Frog picks at each of the strings, testing them in turn. "Little bit flat..." he says to himself. "... This world has run its course. It should have ended, millenia ago." "You've seen enough of it, by now," he says, reaching up to adjust the strings on his bass. (Wait, wasn't it a guitar a moment ago?) "What it's become. What it's driven its people to be. How *few* of them are left." "Everyone must be driven out of the Everhood, and back into the normal flow of time. They'll live most of a natural lifespan, of whatever time they had left when they entered Everhood, more than enough time to wrap up what they feel they need to do - but eternity is to no longer be within their grasp." Frog strums his guitar again - now a long-necked, sharp-cornered curvy rock guitar. "And once everyone's out, you close and seal the door behind you."
Aidan Proudpick	It should be reminded that Aidan is still in his Halloween costume because of the wibbliness of time. This is all happening while Aidan is wearing a purple and black home made jester costume with bells. A little twitch pulls at the side of Aidan's mouth as Sarracenia offers him a bit of meangirl support of his own. A glance down at the medallion that's glowing to scoop it closer to Sarracenia. Aidan jerks his head back at the explosive rush and kick from Petra. His hand comes out in a wave, pushing a wall of wind suddenly over the two of them as he leans in with Sarra. Enough to at least give them time to react in the face of a direct attack. "Sarra, I think we can talk about it later." He tries to give her a bit of a 'read the room' look. More of a 'this is something you show me when we are eating ice cream later and can laugh about it' look. Not that either of them is really good at picking up on social signals. His buckler settles in front of the spear. A glance back at Frog. "It ain't exactly right to push everyone who doesn't want to go out." Hesitation. "Yea, people need a kick in the pants sometimes, but we have barely met the people here for more than a few-" how long has it actually been in here? "We don't know them that well."
Futaba Nuki	With Frog explaining his purpose for sending everyone here around Everhood and to take care of the business involving the stolen limbs, Futaba's looking somewhat uncertain. "Y'ain't wrong about the place being pretty crummy. Everything being all... Stuck like this is pretty boring, I'll give ya that. And if they stay here forever, I'd be more worried about them losing their minds more than they alraedy have." She glances over at Gold Pig's hiding figure, then brushes a finger of her nose. "Wouldn't really trust that guy not to try something dumb while we're out, either. 'specially if he got all the time in forever if we left him." She adds, some of thatuncertainty starting to fade as she puts her thoughts into words. She does't seem ready to commit to a course of action just yet, however, as she looks back at Frog with a thoughtful eye. "Two questions. One: How the heck would we even destroy this place? I don't suppose Gold Pig's got an 'Everhood destroyin'ator' lying around here, so-" She glances at Gold Pig again, to see if he responds to that affirmatively or otherwise. "-that could be an issue if we go along with what you're puttin' down. And two... " Futaba glances around, to see if Rasta Beast happens to be around. "Why not just leave the door open instead? RB said Time would start flowin' in if we left the door open, anyway, so why not just... Take the best of both worlds? Let the folks here live in the home they know, but without being stuck as they've been?" She pauses for another moment, then adds again. "... Okay, three. It'd be easier to leave the door open than trying to hogt-" She cuts herself off, trying not to look over at Petra as she does. She remembers that look from earlier when Texas came up. "-... round up everyone. Won't feel half as crummy, neither." That's not a question.
Sarracenia	PREVIOUSLY      'Don't tell her, but I was, like, always rooting for Princess back then.'      '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!'      Sarracenia is once again caught off guard as Petra says something in her general direction that is not insulting. And even moreso when Futaba suggest they make a night of watching Powerpuff Girls news reels. "...ah...I...appreciate the thought, but..." Her eyes flick toward Petra, trying to be polite since Petra has been pretty nice to Sarra today.      NOW      Well, up until this point. Petra stalks over, and Sarracenia foolishly thinks it is not going to be for violence given the mood before then. She naturally puts her phone away as Petra moves in. Then...the foot swings, and Sarra is too weakened to get out of the way. She brings her arms up quickly, ending up taking a vicious hit to the side. Petra is not weak, so Sarra ends up sliding a few feet before falling over, clutching her side. "Wh-what...is wrong with YOU?!" she grunts out through clenched teeth.      The morphmetal sword is pointed at her, and Sarra's own morphmetal flows over her arms to form elegant metal gloves. Aidan forms his wind wall, yet despite his intervention and warning Sarra raises a hand with spikes of metal forming on it ready to be launched at Petra. "She does not /like it/?! As if I should care about her comfort!! She tortures people because it is supposedly going to /help them/ and /for fun/ when it /will not/! She has threatened my life on multiple occasions now and seems to care little for her agents other than you!"      "How about this?!" Sarra growls, seething with anger. "I will delete this when you and she learn how to treat people -- ALL people -- like people and not like trash! Starting with Aidan!! When you no longer spout venom for provocations you made up just to feel better about yourself or took to the extreme for no reason! When you start with the assumption that people are worth it instead of starting with the assumption that they are insects that need stomping until they form into something YOU deem worthwhile! You self-hating, arrogant little brat! Compared to the things YOU have done, this is nothing!"      Sarra is not even paying attention to Frog or Futaba or really anything other than the person demanding things from her at the point of a sword. And Sarra is not one to back down. She's way too stubborn and full of anger for that.
Xion	Xion, having finished up the prior encounter with the Goldless Pig, slowly releases the tension on her held-ready power. With a soft wash of bodiless feathered wings, the black and gold designs upon her keyblade fade, and the three fairies that had helped her - the three Birds of the City's story - gather up a waft of down and pinion to sail up and away, off somewhere else. Back to the City to roost again with Binah, with Garion, a borrowed piece returned richer for the journey. The smoke and curl of lizardly power blows out of Xion's lungs like a held hit of cigarette smoke, blowing cool past her lips with a fanciful ring and a puff through the circle. Still with keyblade slung across shoulder, Xion slides fist into coat pocket and turns to the frog. 'Especially since you and I seem to share the same view of the Everhood.' "I don't think that's the case." Xion asides, mild. A hand lifts to her coat's hood, tugging it up and over her head again, eyes dully shaded. "This world should have ended. Okay. But, it didn't." Insistent, needful, this part specifically. "And there's places and people and things in here. Even if last call happened, it's not *over*. What do you mean 'eternity is to no longer be within their grasp'?" Her voice remains dull, the lack of the place stifling her fullest feelings, but even their echo drags out something raw as Xion turns to stare at the Frog. "Instead of comforting them, or fixing things, or even seeing to them, instead of asking us to help make it better, instead of any other thing:" "You're asking me to drive people from their home. People who want to stay. People who don't want to die." Xion's keyblade -- now the Kingdom Key, in hand -- drops from shoulder to tip-down and resting on the ground. One step closer to ready. "No. I'm not helping. And I'm not locking the door. I'd say 'find someone else', but, I actually hope you don't."
Angela	''I'm afraid it is.'' "...Hhn.. Unfortunate." ''I need you to destroy this world.'' "That's it?" Angela asks. "No extra conditions? I am afraid I have to say that I will not perform extra labor for free." But she doesn't immediately name a price. The work frankly sounds like a drag. She isn't against immortality in of itself, but immortality trapped in a world like this sounds like torture and immortality + torture is something Angela does have strong feelings about. Even when it comes to other people. But frankly, releasing all these people when she's been stuck at this for far more than than 'thousands of years', feels... wrong. Unjust. ...Whatever. ''Petra unleashes a flurry of threats.'' Angela's rage abates, some, but that gnarling force in where her stomach would be if she had one is not letting her rest. Support is wonderful, but in the end Sarracenia's pride will result in her ignoring the request and little if anything will change. SHe wonders at this strange cycle, this circle. Attempts to cut it off herself, certainly, haven't failed. And attempts to finish through participation hasn't ended in results. She glances to Xion, listening for her reasons for saying no. "Mm... ''Do'' they want to stay?" It's a fairly convincing argument but Angela says, "How exactly do you expect us to 'convince' them to leave, Frog? If they do?" ''I will delete this when you and she learn how to treat people'' Angela sighs. "Sarracenia, the reason we do not get along is because ''you'' do not know how to treat people. You snarl at my friends, you trample over my boundaries and ''laugh''. You do not listen to argument, you do not listen to pleas. Convince me, Sarracenia..." "Why I shouldn't just kill you? What practical reason do I have not to ''beyond'' the Concord's feelings on the matter? What will treating you better do for me and for the people ''I'' love?" She gestures pointlessly with an Eggpack claw. "You are an insect. Petra is family. Moralistic reasons are irrelevent to ''me'' so give me a practical reason. Something that does something ''for'' me instead of simply ''for'' you."
Petra Soroka	"I will delete this when you and she learn how to treat people -- ALL people -- like people and not like trash! Starting with Aidan!!"     Petra ducks her face behind her forearm and slides back along the ground, pushed away from Sarra by Aidan's wind. Instinctively, she tries to spit on the ground in derision, but the lingering wind just makes it splat on her face instead, which she immediately regrets. She wipes it off with her arm, glaring at Sarracenia.     "So you literally agree. That it's an obvious fucking insult to Angela, meant to fucking undermine her so you can smugly laugh about how helpless and silly she is, instead of facing fucking reality. You're *using* the picture as a *weapon*, literally right now! So don't fucking *bitch* when I treat it as one!" "You self-hating, arrogant little brat! Compared to the things YOU have done, this is nothing!"     Does Petra think she could win a fight against Sarra and Aidan on the heels of a fight where they all got beat to shit? No, probably not. She copes, by instead imagining the feeling of following through on using a knife to carve up Sarra's face, and crosses her arms while her morphmetal dissolves its shape.     "I have *reasons* to do the things I do. You're just a fucking blindly stubborn basic piece of shit loser who can't stand being told to change or grow up. So, so just, fucking--" Petra sighs aggravatedly and turns away. "It's not even fucking *hard* to be someone I think is worthwhile. Not fucking abusing the people I care about is, like, the *most* reasonable stance I have, dumbass."     With a little bit of ironic humor in her voice and a tight smile, Petra says to the Eggpack, "Sorry for being used as a weapon against you too, Ange." "I need you to destroy this world."     Petra glares dully at Frog, trying to assess how serious he is, and then scoffs out a laugh. "Well thank fuck we're scrubbing this worthless place off the face of the superplanet, but why the fuck didn't we start with that? Why go through the fucking slog of dealing with these soulless husks to get some broken arm back? Was it literally just to torture us with boredom so we'd be convinced that this world sucked bad enough to annihilate?"     "Fucking idiot. I'd literally wanted to do that from the start. If we walked in that door the first time, and there was a big red button that said 'kill every person here and destroy the world', and I spent five minutes in this brainmelting shithole, I would've slammed it without a second thought. Did you seriously just waste our time because your immortality-rotted head can't conceive of the fact that I've got better things to do?"     Petra grits her teeth, getting angrier solely from following through her own thought processes without Frog explaining anything further. She whirls around on a boot, agitated enough to stalk back and forth with all her excess energy, ranting mostly to Angela and Cinder while still addressing Frog.     "Like, come on, this place isn't even any different from outside. This is the way practically everyone is. Soulless fucking repetitive husks, reduced down to singular fucking gimmicks as traits-- that's just *people*. On the outside they fucking die faster, sure, but you're fucked in the head if you think it'll help any of the *rot* that these freaks already have."     Petra stops her pacing and points at Frog. "So, like, sure, fucking whatever. Fucking let me at it. Destroying this shit world is the only reward that could make this garbage worth it at this point. It doesn't even make a difference."
Kale Hearthward	"Leaving the door open... invites the possibility that someone will find a way to close it again, from the inside." "And many here *would* look for a way. They've become dependent on their stagnant immortality, they'd be scared to give it up for anything else. And in the meantime before the door closes, others from your worlds may come and join them - sentencing them to this eternity of stagnation, as well." "I won't allow for this possibility. That we might not get more than this one shot." He tunes his keytar - which involves replacing the batteries and adjusting the settings. "As far as literally destroying it - an inaccessible world without people is as good as destroyed, but should it come to literally requiring that, there's a way to do that here too." > "I'd say 'find someone else', but, I actually hope you don't." Frog looks up from his banjo. "Ah. Too late." Red Doll steps up next to him. "Asking you all is Plan A. A gentler approach, with a stay of execution for those here." "The fallback plan, actually made before all of you arrived... if they will not be pushed out, then they'll be freed from eternity by any means necessary." > "Fucking idiot. I'd literally wanted to do that from the start." "Ahh. Apologies for wasting your time. Then yes, please:" Frog's back to holding his original guitar again. "Please depopulate this world by any means you see fit, and close the door behind you."
Sarracenia	'Sarracenia, the reason we do not get along is because ''you'' do not know how to treat people. You snarl at my friends, you trample over my boundaries and ''laugh''. You do not listen to argument, you do not listen to pleas. Convince me, Sarracenia...'      "I have helped with Meltdowns! I went to Meika's crummy world and helped solve that insidious and terrifying memory poison!! Where Lilian SHOT ME with NO PROVOCATION by the way!! I -sacrificed my ship and crew and nearly myself- to stop -my best friend- from obliterating people that in all likelihood were scum themselves on the off chance that there were good people down there in the City!! She may never talk to me again after that!!" Tears actually form in her eyes at that one.      "I am an asset even if you all refuse to admit it! If that is not enough reason to not kill me, then obviously nothing is! And do not forget, your friends are the ones that started ALL OF THIS with me!! I tried to treat Lilian properly when we first met, and she responded with insults! I tried to treat Petra properly when we first met, and she responded with death threats! I tried to treat YOU properly at first, and you decided in the end to choose violence as well!"      "But it is THEM-" she points at Petra. "Her and Lilian! They hold on to things even more than I do and escalate when no escalation is even necessary! You want me to treat them better? Tell them to treat ME better! Treat -my- friends better!! This would all be so easy to stop if you all would just stop pretending -I- was the one that started everything and took responsibility for your own insane actions!! I did not want any of this, but as I have said before I am not going to back down until one or all of you apologizes!"      'I have *reasons* to do the things I do.'      "What reasons? Because someone made you angry?! And what abuse even?! This picture is literally the worst thing I have ever done to any of you! Abuse?! You complain about abuse when you deal it out like it is candy and people should be happy to have it!! At least I only deal it out when someone has dealt it to me first!!"      Sarra gets back to her feet slowly as Petra steps away, and the spikes on her palm slowly withdraw. "Take your own advise. Stop abusing me and the people -I- care about and maybe your stance would seem much more reasonable."      Still holding her side, Sarra finally addresses the elephant of a frog in the room. "...did you basically just say that if we cannot get them to leave then you will destroy this world or something?" Sarra mmphs and rubs her face. "I will try to convince them to leave at least. But, I will not destroy them or this world if they choose to stay."
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan glances back at Sarracenia, a little grimace on his face. He did help start shit, but rather than fall on Angela and Petra's side this time, he keeps his shield up with solidarity for Sarracenia. There is a little smile on his face when Petra's spit splats up into her face. Once Petra puts her spear away, Aidan puts a hand on Sarracenia's arm, gently. A squeeze for solidarity, and a gentle push to get her to lower her hand. And a low whisper and a jerk of the head towards, "She's doing what you would do for a friend, Sarra." It's a sudden defense of Petra's behavior, since Aidan's willingness to step up has spiked in likelihood. Finally, a nod towards Angela, still speaking low, "And remember what happened with Eggman. You don't gotta like her. You don't gotta think she's right. But she's the one willing to kill everyone. This ain't like Lilian." As Sarracenia suddenly points at her feud with Lilian and Petra, Aidan lets out a little groan of pain. He looks for anything to head off this leap off a cliff into Lilian Gorge, knowing where this particular circle lies. Blessed Breeze, a murderous ultimatum. Aidan jerks at Sarracenia's arm, jerking his thumb at Frog so they can both turn around at once. "Eternity by any means necessary." "I was about to ask if you were asking us to do it as a friend. A push at someone with compassion, love, that's one thing. I can get behind that. But I don't like threats to just kill everyone because you don't get your way." Aidan lifts his arms outstretched, chest out, hands forward, T-Posing for dominance, "Come up with a decision now or you just kill everyone? Don't talk to everyone, don't find out what they need, don't wait til we ain't all at each others' throats half way to killing each other?" He lowers those arms again, (jingle) "No! And, actually, even suggesting it is an asshole thing to do!"
Futaba Nuki	Futaba looks over at Eggpangela, at Petra, and at Sarracenia. There's clearly something going on that she can only gather bits and pieces of, but those bits and pieces aren't enough for her to make a proper value judgment there. All she can really do is work with what's in front of her, and she lets out a tired groan as she  considers how to even attempt to defuse all of that. It's not something she's particularly well versed in, but... She's a self-proclaimed hero, and thatmeans sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong. "Oi. Princess. Just delete that dang thing, will ya? Nobody likes the paparazzi, and everyone in this room's strong enough to bust their skulls in if we had to. Only difference here is those two-" She inclines her head at Petra and Angela-pack. "-know you could take it better than some random shmuck, so they ain't got any reason to hold back." "... And Miss Angela, maybe give HR a call? You guys got that in Concord, yeah?" She looks more directly at Angela at that part, then at Sarracenia. She's just not certain if Petra's with the Concord or not. "Maybe they can set ya up with a tower to have a proper duel on, get all this sorted out the right way with your..." Another pause, as she remembers she's looking at an Eggpack. "... Hmm." Turning right around from that, Futaba finds herself nodding along slowly with Xion's own reasoning. "Got a point there...  Doubt I'd like it any if someone told me what I had to do because it was for my own good. Or... MAde those kinda decisions without me bein' able to say anything about it." She mutters that last part, looking just a little irritated about something that's coming back to mind. "Plus..." She looks over at Frog next, pursing her lips lightly as he mentions destroying the world again. "Yeah... I dunno, bro. Heroes are usually in the business of saving worlds, not breaking 'em. Freeing 'em, too, which... Yeah, closing the door still sounds like a no go to me. But if lockin' it means all the folks here are stuck with no way out, then... Ugh, but opening it..." She's having trouble here. The tanuki squats in place as she rubs her temples, straining to come up with a solution that feels right in her head amidst the currently imperfect ones. What gets her to look back up, then, is Red Doll coming up besides Frog, and Frog saying- ". . . a stay of execution . . ." ". . . freed from eternity by any means necessary." "Oh. Well, that sure does make things easier. Hey, Miss Xion!" Futaba draws her katana out of her pouch, twirling it overhead before resting the blade on her shoulder. "Mind if try one of those swag-lookin' keys of yours?" Lifting the katana from her shoulder, it warps a little at the tip as it bursts into flames, but she seems to be waiting for Xion to give her the go ahead for... Something.
Petra Soroka	"Ahh. Apologies for wasting your time."     Petra, dumbfounded, tips her head to the side to talk to the Eggpack. "Ange. Are you hearing what I'm hearing?" "And many here *would* look for a way. They've become dependent on their stagnant immortality, they'd be scared to give it up for anything else.     That kind of rhetoric gives even *Petra* pause. She narrows her eyes at Frog, and glances to the side at Xion in confusion, unsure whether that's as psychotic a thing to say as she feels like it is in her gut, or if she just internalized what Xion said instantly.     "Okay, but-- hold on for a fucking second, though. So you're-- like, you're saying, that people come here trying to become immortal, and then, like, they do, and that's... just, in itself, bad enough to destroy the world?"     "I *have* immortal friends, you know," Petra says, in that tone. "I thought you were saying that the people and the world suck shit, because, like, they're all emotionally hollow. What the fuck is this? Some of my *best* friends are immortal." "I won't allow for this possibility."     Petra shrugs. "If you wanna die so bad, just stay still. I kind of fucking hate you the most of everyone in the world now, so it'd kind of be a relief."     Petra holds a fist to her mouth and gnaws on a knuckle, deep in thought. "I mean, like... *I* wouldn't want to be immortal. But that's for totally different reasons than-- than whatever the fuck is wrong with these people. How does something like this even happen? What's the selection process for only having these insincere freaks stuck in a room for eternity? Is it just...."     Petra falls silent, conceptualizing a mental model for existing in the Everhood. Eternity, surrounded by these people, where no amount of emotional interrogation will turn up anything new. A cyclical hell of the same people, the same environments, the same empty nothingness in the world, slowly filling up notebooks with writing as you run out of ideas and pages, trying to scrape for innovation in the people around you and finding you're already at the depths of emotional engagement they're capable of producing.     Oh, god. It's like highschool.     This world is walking proof that the vast majority of humanity can't possibly improve, even with infinite time. Infinite monkeys on infinite typewriters could never write Shakespeare. It's no wonder that Aidan feels so at home here-- it's the same lesson she learned from him, repeated to infinity; a damning condemnation of the sophont soul, that some people can never be given enough opportunities to become worthwhile.     Over the past minute of thinking, the color has gradually drained from Petra's face. A thin sheen of cold sweat sticks hairs to her forehead, physiologically reacting to her theological horror. "I did not want any of this, but as I have said before I am not going to back down until one or all of you apologizes!"     The look in Petra's eyes when she dully turns them back to Sarracenia's shouting retort is a bottomless ocean of dread and horror. It's the expression someone might have in a forest at night, staring down at the pallid corpse of someone they hated, gripped by revulsion so strongly they're paralyzed. She opens her mouth, fails to find words, and then quietly shakes her head and looks away, queasy.     "Maybe we should... like, just go around and... ask people. I mean... we could always, like... go show them the outside world real quick, or something, and then ask how they feel. They probably... we can give them the option."
Angela	''I have helped with Meltdowns!'' "And Petra has helped with all of them." Her fingers twitch (her own) faintly when Sarracenia brings up Meika. She frowns skeptically that Lilian shoots ''anyone'' without provocation but-- ''To stop -my best friend- from obliterating people that in all likelihood were scum themselves--'' "Hm?" Angela asks. "What are you talking about. You fought Merelisa?...For the ''City''??" Angela doesn't seem grateful about that so much as perplexed. "Why would you go against the one person who stands up for you to help The City. Do you think ''I'' want to help the City?" She exhales slowly. ''Sorry for being used as a weapon against you too, Ange.'' Angela's eyes slant down. And then when Petra asks if she's hearing what she's hearing. "Mm..." Angela says. "...Any means necessary... What are you going to do if we say no?" Angela asks.
Xion	Xion's hold on her keyblade tightens and complicates, fingers tensing to stroke and rake along the textured bar of hilt. The Frog causes her a great amount of stress just asking his questions and speaking so narratively-decidedly. Betrayed in an instant by Petra going 'sure, I'll do it, show me a button', it's not even quite that that makes her squeak with the faint bit of stress, but, 'They've become dependent on their stagnant immortality, they'd be scared to give it up for anything else.' "They are still alive you ghoul!" Xion shouts, finally raising her voice, finally swinging with her key through the air. Not to point - as an extension of her self, her arm, a sweep of the hand through the air ending in a keytooth silver. 'Mind if try one of those swag-lookin' keys of yours?' Xion is dazed enough, clapping her free left hand to eye and wincing, that the near-automatic rotation of blade in hand to hold by the length and hilt-top and offer out to tanuki-asker as afterthought. The gold leeches from the grip even before it leaves her hand, peeling like gold leaf from a thin appointment to hilt and leaving a dark blue. Though she offers the Kingdom Key, by the time it's out of her hand it's Starlight, crown-tooth changed to empty star for the offering. Empty-handed, Xion takes a few paces to walk laterally and then throw up palms and point. "Freed? Already decided? There's another way? I don't *believe* you! If you had forever-ever to do it and you didn't, you can't, you couldn't. You want the same thing, as they do, the door locked, but this whole thing, this choice, is fake, it's false, and I don't *believe* it!" To Sarracenia, guilty as the princess shouts at Petra and the fight develops badly and she has so little to say, with an enormity of felt-pressure at stake. "Sarra, please. Just, delete the picture and forget about it -- forget that all! We were going to give them those growing plants from your kingdom, weren't we? To let them build more, better, and materials so that it wouldn't be this winding-down. It's only dying the slowest way possible *because* this space is almost-ended--" Clutching chest, Xion turns inwards. "It's the wrong answer. It's wrong, it's wrong, it's wrong to throw it all away! There's something *here*! You just need to stop accepting that some voices saying 'harm it, break it, ruin it all' are equally valid! It's not!" She's in her pacing again, dictating swordless so the sway of her hands doesn't cause slices and cuts. "I know it can change. I know, so even if I have to do it myself, I will! I can bring flowers, even if nobody helps me. 'Drive them all out and turn the lights off', it's disgusting!" Looking up, hooded and betrayed, Xion plants her eyes on the guitar-wielding frog. "You shouldn't have showed us even a little bit of this. You knew this would happen. I'm not here to stay - but I'm *sure* I'm not making everyone else go. Worse than any other thing I dreamed up, could *possibly* consider, was what you've asked of me." "Again. It's going to be a No from me. Because you're wrong. Fundamentally, wrong." "The world didn't end for them. Even if they're nobody, their world didn't end yet!"
Kale Hearthward	Aidan's refusal is expected. Petra's refusal... ... gives Frog pause. "You were so ready to destroy this world just a moment ago." "You've spoken to many people already. How many more do you need to talk to?" "The door's been open. There's been no force barring anyone here from venturing outside." "And if some take the option to leave, and others don't - then that's yet more solitude for the few that remain." > "What's the selection process for only having these insincere freaks stuck in a room for eternity?" "A bad selection process to start with, compounded by thousands of years of attrition." > "What are you going to do if we say no?" "Absolutely nothing." Frog strums his guitar. "To you, that is. As long as you stay out of the way. Finally, all tuned up..." > "I know it can change. I know, so even if I have to do it myself, I will! I can bring flowers, even if nobody helps me. 'Drive them all out and turn the lights off', it's disgusting!" "... Are you so sure?" Frog meets Xion's gaze. "You're applying dollar store bandaids atop the gaping chest wound of this world." "Do you think I want this? That this isn't merely the best worst outcome? But I've seen this world decay and degenerate slowly from what it once was. I've seen the numbers dwindle as the inhabitants took their own or others' lives. We just saw Gold Pig decide to steal and hoard people's body parts just because he *could*. Either path forward here is a mercy." The guitar is lowered, with the same intensity as someone slowly lowering the muzzle of a gun to point to the ground. "If you think you have the answer, if you think you have something new, lasting to bring, then show me. Convince me."
Petra Soroka	"I know it can change. I know, so even if I have to do it myself, I will! I can bring flowers, even if nobody helps me."     Petra looks at Xion, a little queasy and unsteady. Is it really possible for this world to change? If it is, would she even want it to? She can't muster up care for a single person or place in this entire world; she can't envision a version of any of them worth existing, and the atmosphere alone sticks to her skin and seeps into her bones as if it's already all dead. This is a world she can't even tolerate looking at, and the choking stasis of the people here is damning enough that, immortality aside, she feels like the universe is better off for having all of them be killed.     There are extremely few people in the multiverse that Petra would trust to be able to do something about that, even as a distant possibility. But in her own familiarity with stasis and oblivion, Lilian was one of them-- and Xion was another. So, regardless of what Petra personally thinks is possible, it's a behavioral imperative to fall in formation.     "... Yeah." Petra swallows, still pale and shaken-looking. "We'll go ask, in case anyone agrees with Mr. Fucking Murder Frog here, but... anyone who says no, that's no. And I'll help, Xion. Sorry." "A bad selection process to start with, compounded by thousands of years of attrition."     "... What the hell is 'attrition'? *Do* people die? Is this just everyone that doesn't *want* to? What the fuck is wrong with you?" "I've seen the numbers dwindle as the inhabitants took their own or others' lives."     "--They could have killed themselves this whole time?!" Petra whirls around to stare at Frog, aghast. "I thought the whole fucking problem was that they *couldn't*! Fucking die yourself, then!"
Sarracenia	'What are you talking about. You fought Merelisa?...For the ''City''??'      Sarra hmphs. "Ceri said much the same thing as she helped get me off my burning ship. And no, I did not think -you- of all people would appreciate it. But, her goal there was to destroy every trace of evil in the City. And she was using a very powerful orbital laser to do it. Eventually that laser would have been aimed at Trideag and L-Corp and your facility. While I will not pretend I had you in mind at all when I did it, it was beneficial to you at least. And to Lilian, whom you care about. That is why I am covered in bandages today." She pauses a moment. "...I suppose you do not get City news in that dark pit, then? Even a Beholder was there, apparently. I do not really understand what that means, but it worried Ceri."      Petra turns that look toward Sarra, and Sarra is decidedly unnerved by it. Even more so when Petra does not actually end up saying anything. "...are you alright?" she asks despite herself, then blinks and mmphs in annoyance at herself. Showing concern for an enemy is just showing them your weakness! ...but wait, it might also be considered heroic? She looks torn now.      'Oi. Princess. Just delete that dang thing, will ya? Nobody likes the paparazzi,'      That one catches Sarra off-guard. Of course, Sarra is an attention-seeking brat, so she kind of likes when people want to take pictures of her. But, the point still lands effectively. Sarra mmphs in annoyance and crosses her arms.      'Sarra, please. Just, delete the picture and forget about it -- forget that all! We were going to give them those growing plants from your kingdom, weren't we? To let them build more, better, and materials so that it wouldn't be this winding-down. It's only dying the slowest way possible *because* this space is almost-ended--'      Xion. Sarra hasn't known the noirette for very long, either. At least, not personally. But, in that short time Xion has made quite the impression. When Xion asks, and in the midst of an obvious crisis of the heart of some kind...Sarra cannot refuse. The princess looks concerned for Xion, and to make it easier on her if nothing else the princess relents. "...alright..." she says quietly. Sarra pulls her phone back out and starts to delete the photo.      Then, she realizes that Angela is unlikely to believe her so she moves to where Angela can see the phone screen and then deletes it. Then goes into her cloud account and deletes it there. "There." she says with a huff, then puts her phone away and crosses her arms grumpily, cheeks puffed a bit.      Xion makes a very heart-felt speech, and Sarra is in a bit of awe. "...right! We were going to make the forest here more fertile than it has ever been so they could enjoy their lives here! Death is scary, so I do not blame them for being afraid to leave!" she says, then hesitates as she remembers. "...but...they asked us to leave, too. To never come back. Will they even want the plants? They seemed afraid of us even stepping foot here again. Are we able to close the door so time does not seep in and yet get back here so they can have their plants and make drinks?"
Sarracenia	'If you think you have the answer, if you think you have something new, lasting to bring, then show me. Convince me.'      Sarra meets that gaze as Frog seems to threaten them with his guitar. Knowing how dangerous music can be here, her body tenses up. And Sarra's eyes narrow. "...hope...it always comes back to that. I cannot stand it when people give up! You have given up on this world despite it still being here! They have given up on new experiences and excitement despite being alive! If this all will end up ending if the door stays open and you all do not have the power to close it properly, then...all -you- have to do is nothing! There is no need for this nuclear option! But, if you end it for them just because you decided it is time what good does that do? If you have given up, then just leave here yourself and let them do what they want! I will help Xion, too! I will bring plants and drinks and food! Supporting a paltry population like this one would be nothing for the Sundew Kingdom!"      "And as for Golden Pig...guess what! People do that kind of thing -without- being immortal! You do not need to destroy this place! You need people who will support each other and the people here, and work to make this place better! And that could be us! It could be -you- if you and "      Sarra hmphs and crosses her arms again. "You said you watched it decay and degenerate slowly. Did you try to find out why? People being immortal should not cause it. There are people in other worlds who are immortal and yet those worlds are not like this."
Aidan Proudpick	Aidan has been fairly relaxed here every time Petra has seen him! "Maybe we should... like, just go around and... ask people." Aidan glances over. He's seen that look before. He's completely incapable of understanding the train of thought behind those eyes, more of the correlation that comes with it. He spends far too much time watching her, reading her face, the sudden whiplash in tone. Trying to piece together some comprehension of Petra, only getting as far as the last time she looked that way at him. He glances around for Cinder in a sudden desperate search, hoping he can send her to Petra with his thoughts alone. Xion's emotions drag Aidan back around, closing his throat. Instead of soiling her emotions with a casual 'yea, me too', Aidan moves up to flank behind her, tightening the bag up to his shoulder to keep it in place. This is Xion's story now. And he doesn't have the words to do it justice. When the words turn from violence to an actual solution, Aidan rocks onto the back foot. Trying to think, trying to piece back every single thought he had while he was here. But, none of them were ABOUT here. About how to change an entire society, however small, locked in a cycle. A task Aidan can't even wrap his head around. Aidan reins his Even So in and steps back, moving further off from center stage, happening to take the same stance as Petra from the other side before he addresses Frog. "I dunno. But we've already changed things. We need TIME, chances to talk to people." He looks over towards Sarracenia, moving towards her, letting her speak as he tries to covertly peek into her purse, all the while opening his own bag to set of children's toys within. If there was ever a desperate time... something he can give to Xion. Something he can do to help her out.
Angela	''To you, that is. As long as you stay out of the way.'' Angela narrows her eyes. "I see, you want us to kill a world for no payment and you are threatening us if we get ''in'' your way. You object to some people leaving but not all because they will be in solitude despite that being their choice. I agree that's foolish and perhaps normally I would be all too happy to do as you asked as a matter of principle, but you are offering too little for me to stand against Xion, philisophically o physically." She sighs after saying this, like she was expcting something else. Petra offers to talk to people and Angela lets herself be distracted by Sarracenia. ''But her goal there was to destroy every trace of evil in the City.'' "Strange. I had always considered you the sort of person who would not object to something like that." Angela says, extending out her Eggpack arm and using a digit to lift up Sarracenia's chin. Her eyes bore into Sarracenia's. "Maybe you are a little more than predictability incarnate." She pulls the claw back and then adds to the Frog. She doesn't watch and delete the photo, though she does watch until Sarracenia says 'alright'. She doesn't add anything else for now.
Petra Soroka	"...are you alright?" "There."     Petra is just as misgiving as Sarracenia expects Angela to be, only slackening her tension when Sarra turns the screen towards her. The lingering vertigo of whatever gut-churning realization she had earlier is still tinging her cheeks with pallid grey, but in that moment of relief, she pushes her bangs aside with the heel of her palm and wipes some sweat away with them.     "... Good. Thanks. You know, like, where it's due." "Eventually that laser would have been aimed at Trideag and L-Corp and your facility."     Petra has, through practice, become very good at letting Angela continue conversations unbothered while riding on her back. Selective hearing means that she only tends to interrupt conversations between the Eggpack screen and some other Elite when they start talking about things relevant to her, or being unpleasant towards Angela, such that Petra has a reason to modally shift between being a featureless prop through which Angela's interaction with the world can be conducted, and being Angela's friend and personal guard dog.     Angela tilting up Sarracenia's chin is one of those things that technically falls into neither category, and yet, demands Petra's attention regardless. To Angela, she says, "I mean, if she wants to nuke whatever relationship she made with a braindead sucker or new abuser, and fuck up her whole body for it, for literally no benefit, let her go for it. But...."     Petra crosses her arms and looks to Sarra, pouting to keep her expression at a latent level of hostility that her words don't reflect. "Sundew, honestly, if you're making friends besides Proudpick-- good. Literally, I think that could only be good for you. Well-- maybe try to aim for ones that don't, like, get you covered in bandages, though," says Petra, extremely hypocritically, with bandages visible on her collarbone beneath her hoodie.
Xion	Xion stands across from the Frog, having readied their guitar to play whatever note or instrumentation they wished. Her own hands rest empty, and eventually, at her sides without gesture. Frog meets her eyes. Xion just stares back. "I'm more sure about this than maybe the whole world here put together. So I know that in this case, this small case, you're beyond wrong." Xion declares, having all the things already in her heart to deny this choice. And then, Frog adds more. "I think you want this." She agrees. "Because you've seen this world decay. Decay past the worst of its own first death. You weren't even here, came in at the end, and 'we' saw Gold Pig have change come to him. Yes, change, but not death. And if you were here, here the whole time, then, you've seen us with Green, too, seen us play a game with them. A game they *liked*, something that brought them joy and *added* power to this world. A real feeling! A spark." Others come to stand besides her, to visually switch their answers. Petra realizes, sickly, perhaps what Xion had always balked against. Sarracenia, pleaded with, comes towards Xion's plan with the flaring up of memory. "I'm treating a wound. That's right. I'm trying healing, and it's not some dollar store dream. In however many *thousands* of years you've watched it bleed, bleed out, dwindle, become less and less and less that now you think you can *control* anything by *controlling* the end." "I hate you. Suicide itself. None of these people want to die, and you can't convince *me* they want to when they asked me themselves. They want - Gold Pig wants! - more! Better! And who can blame them, when there's less and less to have every time. The money has value because that's all the money! The places have value because that's all the places. But they're still *places*. They're still *people*. They still want to live, and your answer, to just flush it all and call it done, is worse. So." 'Convince me' "Okay. Sure." Xion's tone is a bitter flat. "You want suicide. I want to plant flowers and the seed of something new. You blew it telling me what you were going to do, but honestly, I kind of knew as soon as you started talking. As soon as you started changing things, moving the posts." "You've always wanted this. A chance to end it. And you keep telling us to go along with it, right up to leaving. No. I Refuse." Xion holds her hand out to Futaba, 'requesting' keyblade back with open palm. "I'm staring at the worst outcome, and I'll fight it like I fought the pig. I'll drag you from this place and lock you in a tiny room and then have all the weeks I want to plant and teach and bring in new books, and when - when! - time resumes, I hope that people here learn to live with that, instead of dying slowly." "You're asking us to call this dead. It's not. It's dying. Convinced yet? Or has several thousand years not worn on you, too? You're just a threat, and right now?" "So are all of us."
Futaba Nuki	There's something poetic-feeling about taking the keyblade from Xion, something that Futaba can't quite put into proper words at the moment, especially after hearing her wholehearted rejection of the Frog's demand. There's something off about her own feelings on the matter, too, as though she knows that the idea of going along with it feels wrong, but... It's all through her own lens of what she'd hate having done to her, rather than her feelings on right and wrong. It's coming from a place of seeing Xion feeling so strongly about it rather than feeling strongly about the people of this world herself. If she had been here alone for some reason, would she still have come to the same conclusion? Futaba's brought back to reality by feeling the keyblade's hilt in her hand, grasping it a little unsteadly at first before realizing its colors have changed, the shape has changed, and there's a funky little star at the end rather than the key-teeth she had seen moments ago. "Is this... Because of how you're feeling now?" She asks Xion, almost looking and sounding more concerned about her rather than anything that's going on with the Everhood. In a lot of ways, she is, and it's hard not to let that weigh on her mind. She's still determined not to let that show on her face too much, though, and Futaba smacks the sides of her face with the hilts of the Starlight and the Dragon's Breath Blade at the same time to snap herself back to attention. "Looks like that's a resoundin' no, then, Frog. And seein' as though you've already laid your crappy hand on the table, it's a little late to act like we'll just leave and hope you choose to behave." She points the Starlight towards Frog as she lowers the flaming katana to her side, giving the borrowed weapon a slight lift at the tip for emphasis. "Gold Pig chose to be a jerkass, and the folks he recruited chose to follow him, but that's their choice. It ain't my place to choose for 'em, and it ain't yours neither. " The keyblade gets flipped around again, and she slides back over to hand it back to Xion by the hilt before gripping the katana with both hands in an overhead stance. "So here's my offer, Frog..." The ninja starts, dropping that overly casual slangy tone she's usually so fond of. "You come with us, and we'll let them be." She inclines her head towards Xion. "We'll even leave this place better off than it was when we came here. The alternative..." The flames on her katana flare up briefly. "We drag you out by the ankles or whatever's still attached. Take it or leave it, because you're not staying here unsupervised."
Kale Hearthward	> "We'll go ask, in case anyone agrees with Mr. Fucking Murder Frog here, but... anyone who says no, that's no. And I'll help, Xion. Sorry." > And as for Golden Pig...guess what! People do that kind of thing -without- being immortal! You do not need to destroy this place! You need people who will support each other and the people here, and work to make this place better! > "I dunno. But we've already changed things. We need TIME, chances to talk to people." > "Something that brought them joy and *added* power to this world. A real feeling! A spark." Frog stands to one side of the room. He's looking at the people he tasked with traveling across Everhood. Taking on a task he might have done himself, *so* that they could see what he sees. Know what he knows. So that they could come to the same conclusion he has. And yet, at the end of the journey, no. They haven't reached his conclusion. They don't understand his convictions. They're not standing with him. > "Perhaps normally I would be all too happy to do as you asked as a matter of principle, but you are offering too little for me to stand against Xion, philosophically or physically." > "Fucking die yourself, then!" > "So here's my offer, Frog..." > "You're just a threat, and right now? So are all of us." They're standing against him. "..." "Alright." The guitar is lowered fully. "I'll stay my hand. I'll even come with you as a guarantee, if that's what you want." "But I am not convinced that you are right, nor that I am wrong. Simply that you need more time to understand Everhood for what it is." --- Outside the temple, once everyone's finished up their business inside, Green Mage is waiting, hovering (literally and figuratively) outside the door. "Mwe he he he... so! Did they come in handy? The items I gave you?"
Aidan Proudpick	"Mwe he he he... so! Did they come in handy? The items I gave you?" Aidan is already pulling out the blocks. Colorful and worn at the edges, a loose group in his hand. In the other palm, a mailbox figurine. Maybe like the kind you get as an ornament? Something to hang on the tree to remind you of a job, a loved one, a better time or just a place you wish you could be. The kind someone stuck in a suburb might buy so they can think about an ideal village life. Aidan grabbed them, eager to be part of the story they might have. Eager for a talisman, a ticket to center stage. Quiet. From the side. Out of the way, unobtrusive. A stage hand handing over a prop. A squire handing over a sword, Aidan presses them into Xion's hands. Even bringing attention to it feels like a step too far.
Kale Hearthward	The figurines, whether in Aidan's hands or if Xion accepts them, are all glowing brightly, and vibrating infrequently, as if something's trapped inside waiting to get out.
Sarracenia	'Strange. I had always considered you the sort of person who would not object to something like that.'      Sarra huffs softly. "I do not object to the destruction of evil. I do object to the destruction of evil at the cost of potentially innocent bystanders or those who are simply stuck in a bad situation and do not see a way out." she says as she works on her phone.      Which distracts her enough to let that claw close in. Sarra flinches and almost leaps back at the touch, but the slowness and lack of two claws keeps her in place long enough for the chin lift to be applied.      'Maybe you are a little more than predictability incarnate.'      Sarra is not quite sure what to make of this as those eyes bore into hers. "...uh...?" is all she can manage. Is that supposed to be a compliment of some kind? Sarra looks about as perplexed as Angela did earlier. "...and, that is a good thing, right?" Even from a bitter enemy, Sarra is always looking for validation.      'Sundew, honestly, if you're making friends besides Proudpick-- good. Literally, I think that could only be good for you. Well-- maybe try to aim for ones that don't, like, get you covered in bandages, though'      Sarra pouts a bit herself. "I have other friends! And...well, up until that point we had been on many heroic adventures together. I was not expecting to be in bandages. That Darkmancer news report? That was us."      Sarra is not so upset at Frog as to wish him dead, but she was prepared to fight him. He lowers his weapon (guitar) though, and she relaxes some. "You will see. All of us here are able to create huge changes. There is no way this world will remain as it is after we are done with it!" she says confidently.      When they encounter Green Mage, Sarra hmms and pulls out the wagon wheel. "Well...I think they wanted to, but I never saw when or where to use it." She holds up the wheel.
Petra Soroka	"But I am not convinced that you are right, nor that I am wrong."     Petra is drained by this resolution, pushed to exhaustion by the decision to let the Everhood persist. It takes a deep toll on her, like a cold iron weight settled in her stomach and stings at the back of her throat, burdening her movements with plodding inertia and lifeless dullness.     She levels her eyes at Frog, expression and voice both flat and unresponsive. "What, so *you* don't want to die? Why not just let me kill you now, and trust the world to us? Or was it always just for everyone else, not you. Freak." "Mwe he he he... so! Did they come in handy? The items I gave you?"     Petra's feet drag as she trudges behind the group out of the temple. Green Mage's antics and grating voice don't drag her mood in either direction-- she can't get irritated at him for being annoying, and she can't take solace in Green Mage being obviously someone who 'wants to live' and has things they still want to do, as a sign of hope for the future of Everhood. There's nothing but dull, begrudging acknowledgement that he spoke, and a response that comes a beat too late to feel natural.     ".. Huh? Items? What even for?"     Petra wanders over to Cinder's shoulder, planting her chin on it and leaning her cheek against her neck, slouched over. She keeps her voice low enough to avoid anyone overhearing, bubbling with some indistinct form of resentment that fluctates between feeling hot and cold in her voice.     "It feels, like... like this world invented a new kind of hell for me specifically. I hate it here, Cinder. Letting it keep existing feels like leaving a-- it's the most repulsive thing ever. The world is measurably worse for these people existing. It's like a... I don't know how to word it. Like a composite picture of the most ghoulishly disgusting things about society, stuck on the superplanet and mocking me that it'll never be gone. I feel like it makes me view every single living person in the universe worse by association."
Xion	"I'll be fine." Xion murmurs to Futaba, at the questioning of her mood. It's the sort of 'extremely kinda not fine' breathiness of post-stress performance, a tense rip of breath ragged across strained throat. "That's the... base form. For me. Starlight - the other one is something I inherited." She answers the Tanuki curiousity. When her sword is handed back, Xion takes hold of the offered hilt and lifts it away from Futaba, turning it to hold reversed behind her as if the weight is nothing at all to wrist. It does not become its golden-crowned upgrade in the wake of the 'end'. Xion looks at Frog, a sadness taking over her, and the resolution of her eyes fades slowly, with a blink, and then an eye saccade away. It's down from Frog to Aidan, besides, and the held out figurines, and the faint and honest smile of someone relieved to see a prompt. Reaching for the miniatures - and leaving a few in Aidan's hand, simply picking out a few delicately between her fingers to hold herself instead of swords - Xion considers the glow that never really came to help her, but a glow she engaged in all the same. 'Mwe he he he... so! Did they come in handy? The items I gave you?' Xion is surprised by the Green Mage, and offers a similar-weak smile as she offered Aidan to the Mage. "Oh... Actually, sitting down with you was really important for making my decision, but I didn't figure out what to use them on. That they got powered up... Helped me a lot, though. I've been having a kind of a rough set of..." Days? Weeks, months, eternities? "... time, but I'm glad you're here. I think I'm glad everyone's here, this would have been terrible to handle alone." A sigh. "I wouldn't have listened, heard so much without everyone. I got to sit down and play games with everyone, even, thanks to you. I might've just... Left." Xion sighs. "If nobody said anything. But, since we did, I know what's going on. I'm sorry, Frog. I really don't see it. But it's, ultimately, not my choice." "We'll do all that we can do, and then, we will have to move on. And if you wait, then, you can still do what you were going to do. But... At least, it can't be between us and you, Frog. It's between you and everyone here. If you couldn't do it, all this time..." Xion shudders out a sigh and wipes a finger across her eye, closing other hand gently around minifigs. "... I don't really think *you're* completely convinced, either. I think I'd like to go out and get... soft serve, or something."
Futaba Nuki	Frog lowers his guitar, and Futaba listens for a moment before lowering her katana as well. "Huh. Glad you didn't decide on doin' something stupid." She doesn't put the sword away, but neither is she ready to start smashing and chopping away with a weapon that really shouldn't be used that way. "You don't need to be convinced. Heck, I don't think we're ever gonna see eye to eye on that, but... I don't care about being right or wrong. I just want the folks here to have the choice." She katana goes back up to her shoulder, and then the flames go out so they don't set her hair on fire. "A second chance with whatever we leave behind, or.. Y'know, a chance to mess things up again, if that's what winds up happenin'. Only wrong option here would be taking that chance away from 'em." Before she leaves, however, she turns to Gold Pig. "That goes for you, too! Just... Maybe don't go stealin' people's limbs again, huh? The next folks that come by might not be as nice as us-" She recalls whatPetra said to Gold Pig, then snorts lightly. "-as us." --- Outside, Futaba greets Green Mage with a two-finger salute before glancing over at Frog to make sure he's still with the group. "All taken care of! Ah, the lil' trinkets? Think I saw one of 'em come out during the big fight, and..." She gestures at the color blocks when Aidan pulls them out. "That thing look brighter than normal...? Uh. Anyway. Ain't too sure what they did, but good luck charms are like that." Futaba then gestures vaguely in the direction of wherever the warpgates are, however long of a walk that might be. "Anyway, we'll be leavin' soon. You... Uh. You gonna be alright here on your own with... Whoever?" She really has no idea who Green MAge would even talk to, but it's hard for her to think much of any people here at all. It's kind of a bummer, the more she thinks about it. "... I know a place that serves ice cream in fresh taiyaki."
Angela	Angela seems to be good at giving statements that Sarracenia isn't sure how to take. This might be one of the benefits of being a madwoman, Angela thinks. "...It does not matter if it is good or bad." Angela says. Green Mage is the only person she had even slightly cared about from this world. well, that and the Frog, but the Frog betrayed her so now it's just Green Mage who offered a new experience that wasn't really that good but it was worth trying at least once. Something of value was carved out. "I have no idea. Thank you for the tabletop but I'm done with the mission." Cinder, who had kind of been chilling and staying the heck out of Angela's argument with Sarracenia and with Frog... She wraps an arm around Petra and tilts her head inward towards Petra's. "...To be honest I barely understood what was going on half the time. Why did we have to get that arm? Why'd we even do this job for a Frog anyway? What happened to Worldy? If everybody could leave, why didn't they if they wanted to. I guess death can be scary even if you want to, but it's not like stepping outside instakills you--" She shrugs her shoulders. "But we did get to fight like an angry professor guy and harass a billionaire." She lifts her head back to look at Petra and frowns. "...Well... Yeah. You're right but--mm... Maybe... Maybe right now this place is making everything worse. But our world is always getting bigger and for every Everhood there's like a Niko or--or a Spinda, right? Overtime this neighborhood will get smaller and mean less."
Petra Soroka	"...To be honest I barely understood what was going on half the time."     "... Yeah." Petra leans into Cinder's embrace, eyes half-lidded. "I think the worst thing anyone can be is 'arbitrary'. The second worse is 'insincere'. And the third is 'hollow'. This world was every single one, every moment we were here, and I don't even believe it was because they were immortal. Ange's immortal. Ange's lived for however many subjective centuries, stuck in the same place-- and even worse, because no one could even remember stuff through the loops. And she turned out wonderful."     "These people feel like they're my enemies, in a way that there's literally no way to salvage. So I'm giving up part of myself to tolerate helping them, like, tearing off a chunk of flesh and handing it to them to spit on. Why didn't they do this? Or that? In however many years, why isn't there anything in them that's... developed on purpose? I was stuck in a room alone for a month and had to rebuild my whole identity from scratch, like, three times." "Overtime this neighborhood will get smaller and mean less."     "Well. Niko will die. You and I'll die. These people are the biggest fraction of the world that people can possibly be, since they're not leaving it."
Kale Hearthward	> "... I don't really think *you're* completely convinced, either. I think I'd like to go out and get... soft serve, or something." "... Alright." "I'm - I still think I'm very convinced. I just..." Frog doesn't finish that sentence. "Soft serve will be fine. It's been ages. Literally." > "Oh... Actually, sitting down with you was really important for making my decision, but I didn't figure out what to use them on. That they got powered up... Helped me a lot, though. "I'm - I'm genuinely touched! Mwe he he. Didn't think I ever could be again. And I'm glad you liked my game, but..." > "That thing look brighter than normal...? Uh. Anyway. Ain't too sure what they did, but good luck charms are like that." "Mwe he he? Good luck charms? You didn't realize they're more than that? Then again I didn't really say... mwe he he he he he. You put them on the ground, and they make a thing." Green Mage floats over and picks up Sarracenia's glowing wagon wheel figurine between two fingers, examining it. "... Hmm. They don't usually glow *this* much..." "... Or vibrate..." "... How much oeuvre *did* you all expose this one to? What sort of situation did you drag them into? Not the kinda thing we get here, that's for sure! Mwe he he he he he! It's gonna be *big*!" He goes to drop it on the ground, then at the last second, thinks better of it, and winds up and chucks it. "Fire in the hole!" The wagon wheel figurine lands in a desert sand dune. "... I mean, *usually* it does something, mwe he-" There's a blinding flash of light. And then, where the wagon wheel was, a growing road. A packed-dirt highroad, weaving through mountains - which are also spontaneously appearing and growing, expanding outwards- -Thankfully not expanding *towards* the group too much. The edge of the road rumbles towards them, but stops thankfully only a few feet away. Within less than a minute, there's an entire new... *place*, just off the edge of the desert here. And in contrast to the dreariness of the Everhood, here, it's fully lit. Sunny, even. "Whoa! This is new!" And - there's someone coming down the road, towards them. Some sort of heavy-set rabbit person, with a merchant's pack. "Didn't this road use to go to Domina? Now it's some sort of desert and temple. Roads don't just up and change destinations, don't you know."
Sarracenia	'...It does not matter if it is good or bad.'      Sarra mmphs softly in annoyance. It totally matters to Sarra and it shows on her face, but she is smart enough this time to not press the issue. Someone who recently tried to murder her used a gesture that generally conveys some level of fondness. Of course, Angela seems confused sometimes as to just what some gestures mean so once again Sarra isn't entirely sure how to take it.      Sarra hears what Petra says and much like with Angela is not sure what to say. Petra seems diminished in a way that Sarra almost feels sorry for. At least, until she rubs her side.      Sarra practically perks like a dog or cat when ice cream is mentioned and is suddenly close to Futaba and Xion. "Did you say ice cream? May I join you?" she says, smiling.      'You put them on the ground, and they make a thing.'      Sarra's expression goes flat at this. "Of course..." she mutters. When asked about oeuvre, Sarra shrugs lightly. "A lot, most likely? Even Gold Pig fought with it, and he was using pretty flashy attacks for someone from a dreary world."      And then, chubby rabbit person! "Domina? Where is that? And...how were you already headed down this road? It was not even here a moment ago!"
Aidan Proudpick	A bit of a grin is restored to Aidan's face as he closes his fingers back around the blocks. He came here to force his way on stage in a different play and rewrite it, but the chance to stand front stage again always warms him back up. Aidan nods towards Green Mage, taking on that bright grin of his fully once more. As Petra hates Green Mage, so does Aidan love Green Mage, "I didn't think about it until the end. They're stories, right?" He is in the middle of pocketing the blocks, settling it next to a leaf of a script and a feather when he watches Green Mage grab the wagon wheel. "Hey, that's Sarra's!" His eyes follow it as it wings through the air. It hits the ground and RUSHES towards Aidan. He stands his ground, watching as the desert turns into rough stone and scrub, greenery shooting not out of the sand, but out of the dense packed earth that ends up just inches from his feet. He can smell the dry earth and the grass. The rustle of wind and animal. "Niccolo!" Aidan's eyes brighten up, his face threatens to split wide enough to have a story to threaten Batman with. He looks at Green Mage, then back at Niccolo, then back at Green Mage. "He's real!" He's bouncing up and down on his toes, grabbing Niccolo's shoulders into a side hug, tail twitching erratically. He turns towards Xion, "You should do yours!"
Petra Soroka	"Didn't this road use to go to Domina?"     Petra blinks at Niccolo. Due to a combination of not paying very much attention, and having a very hard time transposing faces to text and vice versa, she doesn't recognize the rabbit merchant, and so the whole scenario seems out of the blue for her. The worst thing a person can be is arbitrary-- but 'random' is at least different enough to inject her with a tiny glimmer of energy.     She doesn't know what the hell Domina is, though. She knows what a similar word begining with the letters 'domina-' is, and lazily scans the Elites, lingering on Xion for a moment longer. "Wrong place, man. Like, at best, you're finding *one*."     Petra sighs, mumbling mostly to Cinder, but distantly addressing the rest of the party without singling out any of them. "I can't tolerate any ice cream right now, so... yeah, just let me know when I can be useful. Do you wanna get a drink after this, Cinder?"
Xion	Xion looks to the hugging-emptied Petra and Cinder, and the Eggpack upon Cinder's back, and... Knows that forcing had a cost. She wanted it, more badly than anything, more coldly than reason. She had to do it, and then... She wasn't someone's hero. She was other people's instead. And the sour thing was that in the end she won via force. And maybe ice cream. But mostly force. Force against the locks and the doors and the problems and the Pigs and... Petra. Cinder. The Frog. Releasing her vice-closed grip about keyblade and having the weapon disappear into pale motes of light and soft 'shwink!' of sound, Xion looks at the miniature in her hand and then carefully sets it down, not quite Getting it yet. What was even going on? Was there something *else* to look forward to? With a dazed going-along-with-it, she places down the miniature figurines she had scored off of Aidan's grip and steps back. "Didn't... road? Wait, where'd that *light* come from?" She asks, at a completely stunned state. She had gotten the screaming suicidal strangle-chord from a dying place trying to gasp for even a bit of air, but not whatever this was. "I don't know what's going on. I think it's good?" Xion steps back from the figures while murumuring. "I hope it's good. I feel like I'm balancing just standing up."
Futaba Nuki	"You didn't realize they're more than that?" "Heh... Aah, yeah, no. I was... Little occupied with Gold Pig, you know?" Futaba lies, as she doesn't really have it in her to tell Green Mage she forgot about them. On closer inspection, though, the wheel does remind her of something. She's just not sure what at first, and the thoguht slips her mind when Green Mage speaks of how oeuvre'y the wheel's become since the group took it. "Whoa, hey, what do you mean big?" She's already taking out her phone to get some footage of whatever might be exploding. It's probably the most exciting thing Futaba's going to actually capture on her phone today, so she might as well! Out comes a road, and a familiar-ish rabbit guy. She opens her mouth, then pauses to look over at Sarracenia When she's suddenly close by. "Huh? Oh, sure.Couldn't hurt to unwind after all o' this business out here." She gestures all over at everything, even going as far as sprouting three extra hands to point in completely different directions. "They even got some of that..." Wait. Maybe it's not a good idea to push too hard right now, what with that tension between Sarracenia and Petra and Angela earlier. Instead, Futaba nods lightly at Petra and Cinder, giving them the light fingerguns instead with two of her currently five hands. "... Waaait. You said Domina? What's this road you're comin' in from?" The hands retract, and Futaba's back to her normal limb count as she addresses the rabbit merchant. "Not a... Highway, was it?"
Kale Hearthward	> And...how were you already headed down this road? It was not even here a moment ago!" "Hmm? Well, this place wasn't here a moment ago. You sure you aren't the ones suddenly appearing?" > "Niccolo!" "Yes?" Niccolo looks a little confused. "We've met? Or-" Then he looks a little worried. "Ah - do you think I sold you something that was a dud? It wasn't me, I swear, don't you know. You're thinking of a different merchant." > "Not a... Highway, was it?" "Luon Highway, that's right! Connects Domina to the rest of Fa'Diel, don't you know." Xion puts down the other figures. There's other flashes of light. The mailbox, first. It grows into a house - one built against a large, five-story green tree, along with an orchard and an unattached workshop connected by grassy paths. The other one... takes a while. It grows, and grows, and grows - - into an entire sprawling town, with greenery and a stream that are both entirely out of place here in the desert. And people, although they are more preoccupied with their daily tasks to notice their sudden spontaneous generation(?). "Oh, *there's* Domina," says Niccolo. "Why didn't I notice it before?" > "I hope it's good. I feel like I'm balancing just standing up." "... I thought you said you were bringing flowers," says Frog. "Instead, you're bringing an entire town?" "... I think it's good, too."