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August Kohler The meeting point for August's mind dive is in the middle of the Black Forest, Germany, in August's homeworld. It's not the Shack, because that's CONFIDENTIAL, but is instead a secluded spring, a few miles out. August is already here, the redhead sitting on a rock next to the spring, staring at the water. There's rocks and trees around if people want somewhere to sit, but that's basically it. It appears this is the most 'secluded and calming' place for August to do this! As others filter in, they get a wave, and one sentence. "Be careful."
Staren     Staren may look out of place in his high-tech armor, but mind dives can be dangerous! He simply nods in response, "I know." This isn't his first rodeo.
Flamel Parsons     Mr. Parsons is here. He's arrived by way of an unmarked black van with tinted windows, one of those perfectly generic vehicles that screams SECRET GOVERNMENT AGENT loudly. What surprising all-terrain ability! He gives a friendly nod of greeting to August. Once again, he hands his Psycho-Portal out, this time to August himself. The tiny little three-inch-tall door and doorframe looks like the entrance to a spy agency, complete with dramatic eye motifs.

    "Hey, August! Attach to the middle of the forehead and get into a position where you won't mind staying still for a while, alright? What you're at looks fine as-is." The usual warnings he gives in his friendly and positive tone, of course. "I've modded this to only access outer psychic layers. Your secrets and deeper psyche ought to stay safe. I totally understand if you want to make sure that only the world government's brainwashing gets to affect your deeper mental spaces." Okay, so, there's still that weird quirkiness to deal with.

    While August gets that situated, and does all his preparations, Mr. Parsons gives his explanations, taking a "sitting" position of levitating in place
Kotone Shiomi Kotone Shiomi has ditched the hockey stick bag at some point and is just holding onto her naginata in one hand as she approaches, "Okay." She looks towards mister Parsons and others with some degree of doubt, but instead of really making any further comment she just makes the basic spiel she has offered the past few missions she's been on, and she pulls out what seems to be a gun with her other hand, "If I point this at my temple, don't panic, don't do anything rash, just let me do my thing. I'll be fine." It goes back into its holster.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace has come most of the way on a bike (of course) but arrives at the meeting spot on foot. She's wearing her casuals but she's carrying her armour, just in case it's needed. "Evening... yes, thank you." SHe nods to August, blinking at the floating Flamel. "Niiice. I know a guy who can do the same trick, but he cheats by using his tail. Should I armour up before I go in? Well it even matter? Would you like some tea?"
As she asks the last question, she pulls a thermos of hot, milky Assam tea and several plastic cups, pouring herself one.
Rebecca Chambers Rebecca might look a little out of place as well, wearing her S.T.A.R.S. uniform, but she honestly doesn't mind. Instead, she just approaches on foot quickly but somewhat casually. Once she arrives, she gives a salute to Mr. Parsons. "I'm Rebecca Chambers, I don't know if we've met, but I'm here to help."
Leyanne Leyanne Mace listens to Flamel and nods, stepping behind a tree for some privacy. When she returns she's in her black-and-red armour. She offers tea around.
William Pauwel Will is here, because of course he's here. It's an opportunity to take a look inside his best buddy's brain and start tinkering with whatever's inside. Sure, Flamel SAYS that his deeper psyche and all that good and important stuff will stay nice and sae, but... Well.

Wellllll.

That's not usually how these things go, is it?

And so Will isn't going in unarmed. He's got his ever-useful plasma gun along for the ride. That probably won't cause any issues, right? "Don't you worry August! We're here to help! Everything'll be just fine~"
Toph Beifong     "So he gets the special treatment, huh?"

    The young voice should be familiar as a certain metalbender shows up, clad in her usual bending clothes, indicating that she's ready for action, whatever it might be. And heck, she's not going to let that go that they had to go deep into her own mind to clear out whatever psychologically ailed her. But if people need help, then why not? Unlike most teenaged girls she's not the type to go partying during the weekends. And she can always head home for some family time later.

    Toph Beifong walks up next to Flamel, cracking her knuckles as she chooses to not comment on his usual conspiracy babble. Maybe she'll find herself a comfy rock to sit on later.
August Kohler As the others filter in, August nods, sighing at Will's ever-present cheerfulness. This means August cares enough to react, which means August cares! The German takes the door, and simply blinks at Flamel, before planting it on his forehead. "Prepare your mind."

Yes, August totally said that to intercept Flamel, why do you ask?
Janine Liberi     Janine is here too, because delving into August's mind is a wonderful way to get some dirt on him to power up her Tonguecleave Gambit. Though seriously, she's here because a mopey August is a real drag. And also because she doesn't trust all these jerks who have rolled out to poke around in his head.

    That part is very obvious by the seemingly permanent scowl she wears, glaring at everyone in attendance, including other Die Reisende members. Though the fiercest scowl is reserved for Flamel, whom she dislikes and distrusts instantly, even faster than her usual assumptions for others.

    "Right, listen up," she says pointedly, waving her sabre around. "As the second-in-command of Die Reisende, I'm taking charge of all this. And that means you all do as I say, when I say it. I've never even seen a lot of you here before, which makes me think you're just some Johnny-come-lately who's here for a fun time. This won't be a walk in the park, and the moment you treat it like one, you're out. Capiche?"

    And with that, she stands ready to dive.
Kotone Yamakawa SO here Kotone was to do what she coukd she wans't sure about going in like this but well what else could dhey do. Also someone needed to keep an eye on William lets be hones here. Will might poke something that shouldn't be poked and who knows what could go wrong for August, right? So here she was clad in a high tech outfit of some sort and seemed ready to help her friend. Yes he was a friend he also took a look at Shiomi for amoment giving her a bit of a nod.

She politely ignores the tin foil hat stuff, it may be a thing in Famel's world so she keeps quite about that thusly. She's ready to go and just seems to be raiting now.
Staren     "Oh hey, long time no see!" Staren greets Leyanne. "Yeah, armor up... what kind of tea is that?" He looks at it curiously.

    He gives Janine a skeptical look. "Do you really think anyone would come here to the middle of a forest to jump into a door at the behest of a secret agent for a 'fun time'? I mean, besides Gudako, and she's worked with you before anyway."
Leyanne Leyanne Mace calmly checks she's got her pistol on her thigh, her knife on the other thigh, and today, a shotgun is mag-locked to her backpack. She smiles to Staren "Assam, with mik. I got sugar if you like too." She offers him a plastic mug and the thermos, nodding in agreement with him.
"Heads are dangerous places, miss." She says to Janine. "I'll do a lot of stupid things just for kicks, and a few more stupider things because it's funny when I get hurt... but messing about in a dude's brain without an expert present? Nah mate. Not again." She itches at her thigh a moment.
Rebecca Chambers Normally Rebecca would be shocked about the fact that they were diving into someone's mind, but having been with the group for quite a while, this is nothing new to her thanks to side research she's done in her spare time. She may seem surprised at first, but it's briefly replaced by a neutral look once again. She's debating making a comment about brain surgery, but decides not to. Instead, she nods to Janine and says, "I understand. I'm ready when you are."
Flamel Parsons     Janine gets a smile and a nod. "Hey, you're an expert on this sort of thing too, from what I'm hearing. Don't worry, I won't poke any psychic aspects that you say to leave alone, it's fine." Agent Parsons removes his sunglasses, revealing his eyes: Glowing white orbs, with strange waves of psychic energy streaming out of them. "Alright, everyone. Pre--" His eyes stop glowing for a second and he looks at August, laughing. "Come on, really? That's /my/ catchphrase!" It's a good-natured response, though. The wind's out of his sails! Well, he starts up again, eyes glowing bright. He places two fingers on both of his temples, taking the traditionalist psychic stance...

    https://a.lainfile.pw/KE/MIND_DIVE.mp3

    Parsons tilts his head at the door, and it pops open, revealing a shining white light. Each person present will feel a gentle tug on their spirit, their astral form. They're being tugged in, slowly, gradually, towards August, and out of their bodies. All four soon find themselves a swirling mass of white shades, diving into his brain. And when they slip inside, the door clicks shut once more.

    They are now in a wide, expansive cityscape. Or, no, not quite a city, a modern factoryscape. Arranged circularly, with erratic construction, towering and twisted spires of manufacturing reach up and interconnect in elaborate walkways, conveyor belts, cargo rails, and fluid conduits. They all feed into a massive Magnum Opus at the center: A tremendous mask, partially completed, miles high, with an expression that's the very picture of stability and sanity, if not for the scaffolding that helps construct the area from the right cheek upwards.

    All around them, the Tin Soldier can be found. Unlike Ainsley's mind, the Tin Soldier has been fully internalized into his psychological structure, meaning the Persona is Everywhere. Smaller Tin Soldiers drive silent trucks full of cargo through the street. Tall, gangly Tin Soldiers direct others with motions and gestures. Bulky, hulking Tin Soldiers with massive gunlegs stand guard at corners. And everywhere, signage can be found, an odd symbol: One of those bright red no symbols, superimposed over an emoticon, a smiley face, simultaneously laughing, crying, and enraged, with dramatic biohazard and radiological hazard lines surrounding it.

    There is almost no sound at all. It's not that the world doesn't allow sound, it's that nothing seems to make it, naturally. The Tin Soldiers are silent in everything they do, as is their machinery. It's uncanny. The only noise made is the noise from the group, and rumblings that are far more distant.

    The mask looks damaged. Sections of the areas under construction have recently suffered some kind of explosion, from the look of it. Troubling. Parsons is already investigating the debris by the time the group arrives!
Staren     "Huh!" Staren looks around in surprise. He didn't expect August's mind to be a factory! Then again... "You did say you were an engineering student, didn't you..." He reaches up to scratch his head -- with no immediate danger here, he removes his helmet for a moment to scratch before putting it back on.

    Tin soldiers everywhere. It's like Homura's ship scaled up to factory-city size. 'Geeze.' Staren mutters.

    "No emotions? Well THAT can't be healthy..." Staren mutters re: sign. "What do you make of it?" He approaches Parsons and points to one of the signs.
Flamel Parsons     "Maybe it's just emotional hazard?" Parsons says, considering the sign. "It could just mean no /uncontrolled/ emotions. Sort of like how people have controlled hazardous chemicals or radioactive materials. Maybe try to find emotional things that are under control. The Tin Soldiers around here seem pretty expressive, at least..." He considers the silent metal men.
Rebecca Chambers First, Rebecca is waiting for everything to happen, then things go funny on her (she's hesitant to say bizarre or crazy) and then the next thing she knows, she's inside the mind of August Kohler. As she looks around and gets a better look at the place, she frowns a little. "Wait, THIS is the mind of Mr. Kohler?" She hears Staren make the comment about being an engineering student and Rebecca lightens up a little. "So does this mean my mind would be a laboratory?" She asks with a chuckle.
Flamel Parsons     "It might!" Parsons says, waving and giving a response to Chambers. "If that's what's most familiar, who knows. Mindscapes can be a little more, or a little less, abstract. It all depends on your identity!"
Toph Beifong     A slight snort leaves Toph as Janine speaks up, and she arches an eyebrow where she sits, although she doesn't say anything to either agree nor deny Janine's words.

    Being tugged into a brain is a strange experience, especially since she can still feel the ground and all... but when she senses metal around herself as the cityscape becomes clear? Now /that/ is even stranger. The blind metalbender blinks where she stands, just taking it all in through her feet. "Well... at least I won't be blind in here," she comments, even if she narrows her eyes slightly, turning her head just a bit. Those things... are awefully familiar. And it's not hard to remember where she last 'saw' something like it. And it answers one question she had. Yet this is not the time to point this out. Besides... even if she's pretty sure she doesn't have proof, now does she? So while it does look like she's frowning for a few seconds it doesn't last, and she instead turns to the others. And the large mask.

    "If you guys want to inspect it I can keep watch," she offers, all while she too can't help but be curious about the mask. What is it made of...?
Leyanne Leyanne Mace blinkblinks and looks around, finishinf her tea in one go once she's figured out al that peculiar . The mug is placed onto the flask, and the flask is clipped to the bottom of her backpack for safekeeping. "Woah..." She looks around, stepping up next to Flamel and Staren, towering over the pair of them most likely. After a moment, she sniffs the air for hints of scent, her antennae feeling for the telltale electromagnetic hum of electronics.
"This is so... peculiar." She observes, content to look around and let the experts do what the experts do, especially when they point something out at about the same time she realises it herself - the signs, and what they seem to mean.
Flamel Parsons     Examining the composition of the mask reveals a few odd things. Toph can feel, inside it: Lots and lots and lots of elaborate, unusual alloys, a vast array of internal machines churning and working constantly, and deeper inside... Conduits. Fluid conduits, heavily secured to prevent any leaks. The fluid -- some kind of fuel, perhaps? A coolant? Something else? -- makes the mask work. It flows from the lines outside, but... Some aspects of it feel wrong. Pressure is incorrectly distributed, areas of the mask are damaged by some lacking or excessive flow in these conduits. Something's wrong in the factory city.
Kotone Shiomi Kotone Shiomi seems a bit uncomfortable and nervous about the surroundings, but she doesn't speak anymore. Not in the sense of saying things with the intent to communicate meaning. She does do something else, that gun-like object she was talking about pointing at her temple is now being pointed at her temple, and after a few deep breaths, she pulls the trigger.

"PERSONA!" With a sound like shattering glass, psyching energies spill forth from her mind and congeal into a coherent entity, a blue-skinned lady wearing white and blue, with, silver tiara, armlets, bracelets and anklets, along with some silken veils that surround her.
Flamel Parsons     The world is buzzing and humming with electrical activity. Not so much that it's impossible to get a bearing on things, but enough to be dense with information. If Leyanne seeks out something in particular, she'll likely be able to find it in the constant stream of data humming in the air.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa was ready as she could bei it doesn't take long and soon theya re all within the cityscapr the cyborg takes a moment to look around and get her bearing as mucha s they could in a place like this. The tin soldier is everywhere. There's so many of them it's a city of them all but there is one thing that does catch her attention even more the damaged mask she lets out a low whistle.

"Wow I wasn't expecting something like ... no repession can rip a person apart in terms of mental health as one day the repession is going to ... break."

She looks to try and scane thins for all teh good it will do.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace twitches her antennae in the hum of data, blinking. "Oh wow there's a lot of information flow going on..." She mutters, her antennae spreading to get a fee for it. "Lots of data... it might be quiet to the ears but the EM spectrum is alive."
Janine Liberi     Janine's projected form staggers a little as she arrives in the industrial mindscape. She peers around at the disproportionate Tin Soldiers, the giant, busted mask that dominates the skyline, the gears and cogs that spin to an unknown purpose.

    "Cripse, I almost forgot he was an engineering student," she mutters as she approaches one of those signs. The hazard lines have her frowning, as does Staren's comment. "It's not 'no emotions,' idiot. It's more... the only three he really shows. Joking around, being upset and getting pissed. I'd ask if you have no grasp of how other people feel, but I already know that's the case."

    With a huff, she storms off towards the scaffolding around the mask and begins to ascend. Essentially, she wants to get a proper look at the damage, and what is being done to fix it.
William Pauwel Will is not really familiar with the meaningful metaphysical concept of a soul. Sure they HAVE one on Tellus, but without magic or anything of the like, it's more of an abstract... THING than anything else. Still, he has some context. This isn't the first time he's wandered into the realm of the subconscious, though it is the first time he's done so in such a specific mind.

"...Explosion, huh?" Will tilts his head. "That's probably... Maybe from where he blew himself up to try and take down the Woodsman."
Flamel Parsons     MEANWHILE, IN THE REAL WORLD...

    August Kohler is distracted, semi-immobilized in this dive state. But... Something is wrong. Or, not wrong. Something is STRANGE. The door sparks, briefly. Not an electrical spark, but a psychic one. A holoprojection pops out of it, flickering suddenly. Green text on black background, and harsh monospace console font.

-- ALERT --

UNINITIALIZED ASTRAL SECTORS (0x10AA00, 0x108000) DETECTED. PSYCHOPORTAL SYSTEMS MAY BE INCORRECTLY CALIBRATED FOR LATENT PSYCHIC ABILITY.

ATTEMPT ASTRAL SECTOR DUMP AND RECALIBRATION?

Y/N


    It looks like Parsons may not have calibrated this correctly for August's brand of full Persona use, having possibly based it on Ainsley's data instead. There's no issues with the projection, so a recalibration isn't necessary, per se... But it is offering some kind of data dump to August. Strange.
Toph Beifong     After she senses that the mask is made of earthen materials, Toph doesn't hesitate as she walks on over and places a hand on it to get a better 'look' at it. "It's made of some strange metal, it's a bit difficult to get all the details right now. But this thing is a machine, but it's kinda busted... stuff doesn't flow right within it," she says for the others. And now she can't help but be curious and wonder /if/ she can fix this thing. Are there any similar alloys nearby? Could it be as simple as fixing this? "Anybody familiar with engineering here?" While she can work with metal, she's not exactly sure how to build stuff like this, not even after studying things with her metalbending. It's much easier fixing things where minor stuff has happened.

    "I should be able to fix this, but without some help it might be trial and error," she finally decides.
August Kohler Out in the real world, August is still sitting, concentrating, and mostly listening to the others on the radio. But then, the psychoportal tosses out an error and maintenance screen. The redhead reads over it carefully, radios to the others, and then...

August presses 'Y'. Time to recalibrate and dump his astral sector! Whatever that means.
Flamel Parsons     Watching someone sorta-commit suicide is always weird and unnerving, but Parsons swallows his unease about watching someone put a gun to their head long enough for the persona to come out. The Tin Soldiers inside Augusts mind seem to have no aggression towards Shiomi's Persona, at least, though many stare silently, quietly.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace blinks a little as she hears Toph. "I'm a mechanic." She admits. "And I'm feeling a bit... dunno outta my depth? I've got no ideas on what we're actually supposed to be doing... which probably means we're on ther right track but I'unno. I can probably tell you parts and stuff to make and where to fix it... man, the air is lively here it's almost distracting."
Flamel Parsons     Yamakawa-brand Kotone scans, thanks to Leyanne Mace's data detection, and this time finds unusual things. It looks like there's silent, automated, wireless reports of 'outbreak sectors' and 'leaks'. She can get coordinates of a sort, which are useful to relay to the others, but lack much data about what kind of danger it is. There's at the very least some wireless coordination with the mental equivalent of law enforcement here, encouraging Tin Soldiers to contain the areas and guard against intruders to prevent 'contamination'.
Rebecca Chambers Meanwhile, Rebecca's keeping an eye on things around her, since she's not so good with mechanics. She's taking the role of lookout in case something happens in the meantime. "I just hope we can deal with this problem without any issues," She comments to nobody in particular. "I've witnessed brain surgery before, but this is something else."
Flamel Parsons     Janine ascends the scaffolding. This lets her get a high view of things! The skyline is... Strange. The massive spires of industrial gas spewing out into a bright night sky are broken up in odd places. If she's paying attention to Yamakawa's datafeed, she'll find that there's three major areas where her perspective over the city breaks, where things are getting more... Colorful, where the bleak grey and shining metal of the manufacturing city turn to bright lights.

    Though, up on the mask, swarms of Tin Soldiers are hard at work. Many of them are wearing protective gear, something that looks like a combination of the Tin Soldier's own armor mixed with a hazmat suit. Janine is allowed to indulge all the platformer shenanigans she likes, but getting to close to SOME of the damage means finding guards that bar her way silently, and big signs indicating emotional damage.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace looks up at Janine a moment. "Hey!" She calls. "Lemme know if you need a mechanic... I'm going to let you guys who actually KNOW what you're doing do your thing... call me if you need me."
Toph Beifong     "There's some fluid that is building up over here," Toph says and points to the area of the mask where she can sense the fluid build up. "The pipe over here is broken, though there are overcrossing sections over here... I think we need to make this even, or what do you think? Even out the pressure? The mask is broken because there's too much fluid in one place, and too little in another. In your opinion, that would be the right thing to do...?" Toph asks, just to make sure she doesn't fuck this up. Because she's done that before by assuming things, which nearly cost her dearly.

    Now for the big question, is there any parts nearby that clearly belong to this mask that she could use to patch it up again? "Anybody got any objections to us fixing this mask here?" Flamel, Janine, this is your chance to speak up.
William Pauwel Will... Is good with machines. The thing is, he's not quite sure why August's brain is quite so full of them. August isn't exactly a motor-head in the same way that he himself is, so... What's with all the machines? And why are so many of them so... Beat up? "So uhhh. I could probably start... Doing some spot fixes. Is that a good idea? I mean, what is this thing, even?" He gestures at the mask. "And what's that!?" He then gestures at the place with all the damage, oh no.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace listens to Top and nods quietly. "That sounds like a good idea." She agrees looking at whatever hoses, lines, or tubes carry the fluid. She looks for cracks, pressure bulges, bends, knots, leaks, anything that could be bent out of place or looks plumbed in.
THis, the mouse can deal with. Tubes, hydraulics and pressure. Her mechanical arm bends in a most unnatural manner to reach into her backpack and withdraw an adjustable spanner. "Talk to Tiny..." She mutters as she peers into the innards of the mask. "Tell me where it hurts..."
Flamel Parsons     DUMPING UNINITIALIZED ASTRAL SECTOR...

    August presses the button. And... Something goes into HIS mind. Not out of it. It's... Astral data. Not his own, from something else. It's a sensation like but unlike the feeling of astrally projecting with Parsons himself. He is diving into these... "uninitialized sectors".

    August is now in a strange neural void full of shining nerves. No, he's on an island in that strange void. It's a piece of some sort of... Cold war looking bunker, aged. Only a tiny segment of it seems to have gotten dumped to August's mind. There's... An odd old man here. Balding in that Einstein sort of way, with a thick fuzzy moustache. He's contemplating what looks like the unconscious body of Agent Parsons, sitting in a strange metal chair, with a heavy piece of absurdly complicated metal machinery on his head, wired up into something beyond the limited boundaries of this particular memory.

    Things flicker and glitch in this odd space. Agent Parsons seems... Younger. Only by a few years, but still. The old man watches silently, but he won't be doing anything until August does.

    Nothing happens to the people inside August's mind. Safe bet!
Janine Liberi     "Yeah yeah," Janine calls over her shoulder to Leyanne. As she climbs, she glowers as her route to the damaged areas is cut off by silent Tin Soliders. "Okay, can't get to the busted parts, they won't let me in. Kinda wanna bust in anyway but I dunno if that's a good idea," she says over the radio before turning her attention to the skyline, leaning a little on the safety railings.

    "August, your mind is so... dull?" She spots the colorful breaks in the distance thanks to Yamakawa's data feed and hums. "Actually, you got three colorful bits in the distance. Kinda wanna check it out, but that's quite a walk. Hey creepo, you got any fast travel tricks?"

    'Creepo' is Flamel, in case that was not clear.
August Kohler August drops his radio as he's being ported into the uninitialized sector. It clicks on the transmit button, keeping an endless transmission of silence. But he doesn't care about that, not while he's in this bunker, with this man and Parsons. August's first instinct is to do two things: start talking, and start moving to examine Parsons and the machinery. "So, let's get straight to the point, if you're capable of that. Is this a memory of Agent Parsons, and if so, what is it, and why did it port into my brain? I don't think it's unfair to expect answers for that."
Flamel Parsons     Between Leyanne Mace's skills with engines, William's skill with machines, and Toph Beifong's intuitive grasp of metal, it shouldn't be too tough to deal with this side of the issue. But it'll mean getting to the higher areas, which means platforming challenges. And there are areas with Very severe leaks. The trio is barred just as Janine is from the heavier sectors of damage, but they can help out in the lighter areas. The Tin Soldiers seem grateful for the three, in their weirdly silent way!

    Actually, most of this damage can be dealt with before it's time to move on. It's time to move on pretty soon, in fact!
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa gets some help from Leyanne's data and she's able to find a fe3 odd things. There seem to be what are outbreak scetos and leaks here.

"Huyh I think I found something here i don't know muchg about the danger but it looks like there's some kind of outbreak sectors and leaks are these locations." She'll give the inforamtion out to her allies as to just where these things are it should help right? She's going to try to get moving to the nearst of these sectors to check it out. She may be making a mistak here aiming to go off alone though.

"I'm going to check this one out..." Or she'll end up sticking with anyone who might be going her way.
Toph Beifong     Will gets a slight snort from Toph. "It's a mecha-mask of some sort, obviously. As I just told Leyanne, it's got fluid leaking where it shouldn't, so it lacks fluids in some spots. I'm going to deal with it...!" With Leyanne helping it shouldn't be too hard, and if Will wants to help and can help... then great. Just to make things simpler, Toph reaches down into the ground and bends something... a model for them to look at. "This is what I see." Except it's open, like a display model of a heart to show the ventricles inside. "That should make it easier for you to tell me how to distribute this evenly," she points out. "I think I'll begin with that part over there." Pointing to the model with one hand, she uses the other to raise some metal towards the mask, making it blend with the metal as she shifts the metal to the inside in order to repair it.

    Don't mind her, she will be busy with both hands now as she focuses on the tiny details!
Flamel Parsons     Parsons laughs, and waves back up to Janine. "Sorry, teleportation's totally beyond... most psychics, really! We have to do this the old fashioned way! The fun way, I hope."

    Yes, indeed. It's time to do this the Psychonauts way. There's three places to go, and getting there means traversing the city naturally, jumping around its conveyor belts and its trains and cars and winding streets and rooftops. Minds, it seems, are often a platforming puzzle. One outbreak sector, which Kotone Yamakawa can get to fairly quickly, seems to be cordoned off and guarded just as all are. It's contaminated with excessive happiness, from the looks of it. Behind the barricades set up by the hulking Tin Soldiers, there's what looks like massive parades going on.

    There's another, a little farther, which seems to have been flooded with lava in a rather less harmful way. Production has gone into overdrive in the factories that are there, with gusts of fire shooting out from the buildings, but it's still barricaded and guarded, with those same pathoshazard signs.

    A third seems to be dealing with a heavy amount of rain and snow around it, flooding with water. The factories within are silent and inactive, decaying in colorful ways from their usual drab grayness. Elaborate works of dark-looking art are painted in stylish murals on the sides of buildings, but once again, the police state has locked down the pathoshazard and barricaded the boundaries.

    These seem to be the sources of the emotional damage to the mask. The group needs to find a way inside one, to fight off whatever's causing the burst of emotional energy, if they want to prevent further damage to the Magnum Opus.
Staren     Staren nods at the assessment that August is holding too much in and it's unhealthy. Killing yourself to summon a persona is weird, but he's seen the Bees' chosen do it, so... it's /slightly/ less weird.

    When they get information on 'outbreaks', Staren finally takes action, pulling tiny drones from his bag and sending them to go investigate some of the coordinates, so they can see what they'll be going into.

    "Say... is it strange that we haven't seen August in here yet?"

     As they head to investigate the pathoshazards... he decides the parade is the most direct. If they can talk to some of the people in the parade, questions could be answered.

    He has drones search around above the flooded area. Someone had to make that graffiti... well, who knows. Still, if they can detect movement that isn't tin soldiers, that would be useful information.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace nods in agreement and begins to climb where she's allowed, half directing Toph's bending, half bending pipes back into line herself. As she climbs higher, she's got to do more 'interesting' platforming to do it. Unfortunately for her she gets a little cocky. She makes a jump that... sadly, is a little beyond her reach. Her plastic fingers brush the scaffold pole she's reaching for, she hangs in the air just long enough to think the words 'oh, bollocks' before she's spent the last of her upward impetus and she does a fairly decent impression of a feather in a vacuum. She lands on her back with a thud."...ow..." she mutters, picking herself up. "Oh no..." After just long enough to think it might be something serious, she pulls the crushed thermos out from behind her back. "I've got the most terrible news... the tea didn't make it."
She watches everyone moving towards the pathohazardous factory and joins the group, still mourning her lost Assam.
Flamel Parsons     "Well, son, looks like you have a little more psychic power than Mr. Parsons thought ya did. And a little curiosity, hmmm? Wouldn't be seein' this if you'd not been askin' questions. You've had him thinking about something." The man says, turning and looking at August. "Don't you fret none son, I'm just a memory. I just had to leave a little extra behind. Bad habit of bein' a psychic stowaway, y'see."
Rebecca Chambers Rebecca figures she has nothing to lose so she accompanies Staren over to the parade to try to act as a second person here. She lets Staren do most of the talking though, since he's the one who had the original idea in mind.
Janine Liberi     "Fucking figures," Janine mutters as she looks across the city. "Okay. One looks... blindingly bright and saccharine. Blind girl should tackle it, her eyes are already immune to the glare. Another one is flooded with fire and lava, which is how we know this is August's mind. Third one is raining and hailing hard. I'm gonna tackle that one, I think I can disperse the clouds."

    She stares into her sword and mutters "Biancabella." The maimed woman rises up behind her, hunched slightly to fit under the scaffolding above. With her ready, Janine takes a few steps back before running forward, jumping and planting a foot on the railing to launch herself into the air!

    She falls, but Biancabella makes the winds swirl, catching her and allowing her to land gently on a conveyer belt. This is how Janine makes the trek, leaping and gliding from platform to platform to head for the rainy, snowy break.
Flamel Parsons     Staren heads towards the Parade. But it's barricaded off! As they approach, Tin Soldiers going through elaborate parade motions seem to veer towards them... Only to get shot down by Tin Soldiers in heavy hazmat gear manning the barricade. One points dramatically to the infection risk. It's... A quarantine? It seems like the parade, alongside the other leaks, is being quarantined!
William Pauwel "Why would you be in your own mind?" Will asks, more rhetorically than anything else. "I mean. In multiple places. That seems like it's a sign of some serious mental issues! We should be glad we're not seeing more than one August at any one time." There's a beat as he leaps over a flame vent just in time to miss being turned into brain-barbecue. "Though that said, all of those Tin Men... They're his persona, right? So maybe we ARE Seeing a whole bunch of Augusts. Just... In Tin Man Form."

That's a little worrying, admittedly.

Does he really see himself as a mechanical soldier?

"Well, let's keep on." Will spools up what looks like a grappling hook mounted to his left arm and takes to the middle route. Time to dodge fire and lava with a little help from BACKYARD TECHNOLOGY. "I'll go this way. Iff'n there's something broke back here, I'll fix it. Ain't the first time I've charged headfirst into something completely on fire!"
Flamel Parsons     Most of the barricades and quarantine boundaries are street level. Some hit the rooftops, but not many. Janine's got the right idea: Going over their heads may be the optimal way to deal with this. The rainy and snowy area seems... Bleak, but not in the way August's mind normally is. It's artistically bleak. It's Edgar Allen Poe bleak. It's Picasso's Blue Period bleak. The factories lie unused and inactive, vandalized. The risk of conveyor belts is turned to the risk of icy patches and unusual formations of decaying buildings. The Tin Soldiers lie in the snow and slush, not dead, but seeming... Despairing? The murals -- and the clouds, particularly -- intensify towards the center of the emotion outbreak...

    And the snowy rain is goddamn cold!! Jesus!!
Staren >lets Staren do most of the talking
>this is a good strategy, said noone ever

    Staren shrugs to will. "Toph's and Ainsley's minds both had representations of them inside."

    The tin soldiers don't want them reaching the parade? Yeah whatever. Staren tries to run past them, using the wings to help dodge their fire if need be!
August Kohler August just stares at the old mustachio'd man. "Alright, then I assume your knowledge is limited, atleast to what is representative of this memory. So you agree that I have curiosity...what is this, then? Is this the reason Parsons doesn't have Nightmares? I assume you're one of his secret agent people. Do you guys do this to your recruits?"
Flamel Parsons     Oddly, Rebecca Chambers, actually being a certified quarantine-diver, will not be stopped from entering. Staren will have to dodge an aggressive clothesline from one of those hulking Tin Soldier guards, and several other environmental hazards from the barricade, but he can get to the parade... When he does, he finds it's one branch of a massive, sprawling parade stretching all the way into the center of the quarantine zone, with strange abstract parade floats depicting various people who help make August happy.

    None of the parade-goers seem to be able to speak any more than the normal Tin Soldiers do, and just attempt to encourage good cheer and HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY. And despite the lights, confetti, and other trappings of celebration, it all remains silent. He can at least figure their paths to get to the center of this, where something more productive might be found.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace looks over the group, and at what everyone's doing. She grins at Toph. "You're more flammable than me." She comments. "I advise a different hazard." She grins and takes off after William... he's a fellow spannermonkey, and he seems amost as crazy as she is. Like hell is she going to let him upstage her! SHe brings the visor of her helmet, parkouring over the flames after the Chaser.
"Never a good idea to go into burning lava places alone, man." She comments, once she's close.
August Kohler Specifically, the parade float contains depictions of multiple people. One is dedicated to his family, while another to Die Reisende as a whole. There's a few individual ones, too: William Pauwel, Janine Liberi, Ainsley (whose parade float is the most abstract, and seems to be in an odd position right now, but is giving off joy either way).
Toph Beifong     What? As Janine speaks, Toph turns her head just slightly. So they're going to focus on other things besides fixing the mask now?

    Fine, she can deal with that. Toph turns away from the mask that's partially repaired by now, and then she sighs. At least she has no objection to going where Janine suggests she should. "The name's Toph," she comments to the other girl before she kicks into the ground... and launches herself towards the parade area with a wellplaced earthen pillar.
Rebecca Chambers Seeing no response to Staren, Rebecca instinctively grabs her badge and flashes it. "I'm police, so maybe you'd like to answer some questions for us?" She speaks firmly as she shows her badge, indicating she's in no mood to be trifled with or ignored.
Flamel Parsons     One of the Tin Soldiers at the quarantine line makes a vague gesture towards everything in general, when questioned by Rebecca Chambers. It's not that he's not saying anything, it's that August's Persona -- or at least this multitudinous representation -- is physically incapable of communication beyond simple gestures.
Flamel Parsons     William and Leyanne can get into the quarantine through platforming, just as Janine did with her own. The heat seems to be coming from some kind of heavy leak in the core of the quarantine zone; the flow of the lava comes from one direction, always showing him exactly where he needs to go. Vents and blisteringly-hot machines on turbo-charged conveyor belts are deftly dodged... The anger has affected the Tin Soldiers in OVERCHARGING their work, making increasingly incoherent and aggressively designed machines bristling and menacing with strange parts.

    At the center, a particular tall spire of a manufactory churns out simple molten metal. Must be the core of the leak.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa arrives at the contimation zone and puses at the confusion tomuch happieness?he didn't think August to be a /very/ happy person in general zo she's not even sure of what to think of this as she nears and starst rying to scan things more she'll keep in contact with the rest of the group here.

<<I'm at at contimated zone it's ... due to too much happiness? Anyone ot an idea of what caused that??>>
Staren     Staren sighs as the tin soldiers celebrate mutely. So much for that. <<"These guys aren't talking...">> he radios to Rebecca. <<"I'm going to head further in and see if something else is making them act this way.">
Janine Liberi     If there's one thing Janine knows, it's angst. She feels it about as keenly as August does, and their sardonic ways of coping with it is probably their greatest commonality. So she strides into the frigid zone, above the heads of the Tin Soliders in charge of quarantine. With a hop, she floats down to the snow-soaked floor and shivers at the cold. Her hand clutching her sword is starting to go numb, but she takes the time to look around.

    "Damn, this is some downright expressive shit right here. August, I didn't know you knew Picasso. You're more cultured than I thought, you fucking peasant." Obviously, she gets no response, which evokes a sight. "Right, let's do this. PERSONA!"

    Biancabella arises once more, and begins to conjure mighty winds to whip through the area, buffeting the clouds responsible for the poor weather. Janine's goal is to break them up, so as to 'fix' this area. Thankfully, Biancabella is not weak to Bufu, so the chill doesn't hurt her any.
William Pauwel     The other reason Will didn't seem to perturbed about tackling the horrible fire zone: those black plates he's wearing under parts of his clothes. They seem to be doing pretty well in insulating him from much of the heat filling the area, but ideally they won't wind up noticed by any of those overworking tin soldiers either. Of all the Emotional Leaks, this one is... Well.

It certainly explains a lot about some of August's more recent... plans.

'Plans.'

But with some careful maneuvering, he manages to make it to the center of the area with only some minor burns and discomfort. "This looks like the place," Will says, staring up at the massive spire. "Let's head inside, see if we can't seal the leak?"
Rebecca Chambers Despite the fact the soldier cannot speak, Rebecca does her best to attempt to try to interpret the gestures, in hopes of trying to figure out what the soldier might be trying to tell Rebecca. "Can you slow down a little?" She asks at once point, hoping the soldier will do so and make it easier for Rebecca to understand.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace has a few singemarks of her own on her armour. She listens to him, not knowing any of the background details behind the anger. But heading up and further in? That she can do. "Good plan." She agrees. "Let me know if you need a boost, or if you need to pull something open yeah?"
The giant mouse finds it a little harder to move through the tighter spaces than Will, but she's not struggling too much.
Flamel Parsons     The Old Man shakes his head at August. "I know what Mr. Parsons knows, son. But, well. We all know more about ourselves than we're rightly comfortable with, don't we?" August knows that better than some, probably. "No. Our recruits can have Nightmares, same as anyone else. Ought'a see some of 'em! Awful sights, sonny." He exhales. "This is the last moment I got to visit him. Had to leave him under care of some others for a while. The reason Parsons doesn't have Nightmares is the same reason he's the only Psychonaut that can bring so many non-psychics along. It's a part of him that's different." He crosses his arms and looks at August critically. "Now, I know your type, you get one hint and you go crazy puzzlin' out answers, so if you're gonna look into this, I'll ask you a question too. Fair's fair. Do you think knowin' everything about yourself is always the right thing? Always safe?"
August Kohler There's a pause after the Old Man responds to August. A thought. A thought that the Old Man can likely see being turned into conviction, as August responds. "No. Nothing is always safe. Danger is everywhere, and at any point, things can go crashing down. But if you sit around, refusing to learn things because of the risk, because of the fear, refusing to /try/, then you never get anywhere. You stagnate. Nothing changes, especially not for the better. Even if, taking that risk means things might get worse, it is the /only way/ things get better."

August takes a deep breath. "And you're right. I'm curious. So I'm not going to stop until I know what the hell is going on."
August Kohler As Staren, Rebecca, and Yamakawa enter into the parade, the sheer happiness is /palpable/. The feelings of joy and excitement permeate everywhere, and are unavoidable (though they do not change the emotions of any of the mind-delvers). The floats are practically animate, showing memories that August has enjoyed (hunting and camping with Will, hanging out with Die Reisende at the Shack, combination moves with Janine, chatting with Ainsley and investigating the Pig with her). The parade floats are in fact attempting to get out the doors, but the quarantine is keeping them in place. But the investigation isn't going to last long, because soon, something big is coming their way.

At first, you couldn't be blamed for assuming it was just a giant Tin Soldier. But as it gets closer, it clearly isn't. It's multiple, joined at different parts; the torso, the limbs, the waists. Only one gun-leg is part of the massive amalgam, serving as, indeed, a leg. The other noticeable thing about the Joy Manifest's appearance is that it wears replicas of the giant mask in the middle of the factory city. But they're all special: they're all /laughing/, on every single one attached to the Manifest. The Joy Manifest turns to the trio, and sees that they are not colorful, not /happy enough/. His two giant arms lift up, revealing a flag in one hand, and a megaphone in the other.

With an excited swing of that flag, the Joy Manifest is going to attempt to tangle up Staren, Rebecca, and Yamakawa, before it shouts into the megaphone. Even with the megaphone, though, it isn't really putting off sound. Instead, a psychic construct appears, in the form of a heart with arms attempting to hug the three. And if it manages to get its hold on them, it'll try to hug them so tight, they won't even be able to breathe!
Flamel Parsons     The Old Man seems to contemplate this. "Well now, that's an answer you got there, sonny. Answer like that's gonna end you up in a lot of trouble and a lot of learnin'." He seems to relent, and accept the answer, helplessly. "Answer like that's worth answerin' too. I know Parsons' subconscious. I'll tell you what I know about the answer yer lookin' for, which is two things. First thing I know is, you're lookin' for somethin' came out of Project Mystic in 1956. Second thing, son, you figure this out and tell it to his face, it'll drive him outta his dang gourd. There's a good reason he's shoved the echoes of all this way down deep, y'hear?" His look towards August is stern... Protective, even? Of Parsons?
Staren     Staren looks up at the approaching Joy Manifest. He smiles as it raises a megaphone. Finally, something that can talk...

    And then he's tangled in a flag. Weapons come online -- he tries to shoot holes in the flag and eventually cut it with his sword if need be or even detonate a grenade or missile point-blank to free himself. "Ugh, shit! It's like Evil Pinkie Pie!" He takes to the sky and engages the heart construct with his beam cannons. "This isn't what happiness is about! This isn't what love is about!" He might, unwittingly, channel some power from his own emotions there, for a split-second. Is that how things work here?
August Kohler The depressed Tin Soldiers barely react to Janine: they only turn up their heads barely to glance at her, showing their perpetual frowning, and reach out towards her without actually moving. Their posture could either be 'we want to do bad things to you' or 'we want to stop bad things from happening to you', depending on how you view it, but they're in way too much despair to actually act on it. Meanwhile, Biancabella's strike ont he clouds causes most of them to go away, gone with the wind...but the central ones stay, and quickly begin producing more. It appears that the source of the incident is at the central cloud. Travelling through the snow towards it isn't too difficult, but Janine will get a picture of some sights: a recreation of the moment where Panzercat died off to one corner, to an /incredibly/ vivid depiction of all of Die Reisende, brutally murdered, lying on the floor of some tunnel in another. The clouds grow around those the fastest, but they don't appear to be origin points, only a fuel source.

When Janine actually arrives below the central cloud, the weather will have changed. It is now a pouring storm, a mixture of rain, hail, and Liquid Sadness buffeting. In the middle of the storm, lying facedown in the snow, is what appears to be a massive Tin Soldier, but that proves to be wrong when it slowly moves to 'stand up'. A spider-like creature, it has no gun-legs, but countless arms, holding up the multiple main bodies. Each face on the Sadness Manifest is wearing a mask, crying. And it's focusing on Janine, reaching out several of those arms to grab Biancabella and toss her up into the storm. Additionally, as it awakens, the storm seems to now be actively targetting Janine and her Persona, attempting to buffet them with rain and hail constantly!
Flamel Parsons     The gestures seem uncommunicative, in the sense that they're communicating a lack thereof. There's a bit of gesturing towards the center of the quarantine zone, to get Rebecca informed, as... Joy Manifest appears, suddenly assaulting. That's Rebecca's cue to spring into action. She should probably shoot it, especially if its manifested state might break down the quarantine!
August Kohler Those at the Spire will notice one thing about the machines the Tin Soldiers are working on: they could all likely be used as /weapons/. Bludgeoning, shooting, exploding, they kill. But they all look like they'd terribly harm the wielder, as well. This is practically a kamikaze factory. As the pair climb up the Spire, it'll begin rumbling, as if there's something inside. It almost feels /hotter/, though the two can still manage to get up. It's when they reach the top of the Spire, however, when they'll finally learn what those noises are...as the molten lava /erupts like a volcano, pouring outwards. There's some alcoves on the side of the spire in order to dodge if they need to, but the Tin Soldier workers get doused, and are still angrily trying to make their machines even as they melt.

The source of the eruption explodes into the air, out of the spire, before landing on top - it appears gorilla like, two back legs and using its arms to keep itself upright. Except it is made entirely of Tin Soldiers, melded together, with masks of rage and fury. Additionally, it is /covered/ in gun-legs; six on its back, two as legs, and one as an arm (with only one /actual/ arm). The Anger Manifest turns towards the direction of Will and Leyanne...

And sets off those back-guns, fire roaring out and boosting it straight at them. The Anger Manifest's one arm moves to slam them straight off the spire and into the lava, but they may be in luck: some of the metal has begun to solidify in the lava, making platforms. Funny how mind physics work, right?
August Kohler August nods as he gets the information from the Old Man, smiling politely. "Project Mystic, 1956. Thank you." He turns towards what appears to be the exit of the bunker, before saying something. "I'll only tell him if he either wants to know, or if he /has/ to know. But either way, he should have the possibility of knowing. I like Parsons enough to not do that to him, don't worry." Finally, August will head for the exit, hoping it pops him back into his body.
August Kohler While Janine is inside Sadness, Flamel is still at the border. Whether he chooses to move to assist her or not, he'll suddenly hear footsteps behind him, which is Odd seeing how this mindscape works. A voice arises, speaking faster than Flamel can turn around. The voice is crying, teary, and /very familiar/. "Oh, Agent Parsons, I really must insist you don't go in there! You might get hurt, and he'd /hate it/ if anyone got hurt because of him!" But then, there's a laugh. A strikingly familiar, heavy laugh. It's nothing but cheerfulness (and malice). "But who are we kidding, hey? I mean, little miss Janine didn't get stopped, so why would I stop you? You're all going to fix the leaks anyways, that much is obvious. But that's just a bandage, isn't it? Not an /actual/ cure? No, you can't really stop it, so why bother?"

And then that voice starts getting angry, flipping into pure rage. "You types always have to meddle, meddle, meddle, even as I make things better, and also /interesting/! I'm fixing things, yet you FUCK IT ALL UP! I hope I never cross paths with you again, for YOUR SAKE!" The footsteps will begin moving away right as Flamel is able to actually turn around and look. He'll only get a glimmer of yellow eyes before the being gets out of his sight. The Tin Soldiers nearby seem to have noticed the being, but do not react to it; they almost show /fear/.
Janine Liberi     Janine flinches away from the reaching Tin Soldier before glowering at it. "I'm fixing it, gimmie a second. Jeez." As the winds buffet the clouds, she pays heed to some of the art properly. One of them has her in it, stabbed through the gut with her own sword. "... when did that happen?" Self-consciously, she pats her own stomach to make sure she doesn't have yet another scar there. Cut her some slack, it's literally charged with angsty memory.

    As she struggles to break the central clouds, something rises from the snow. Something massive, covered in tragedy masks. "WhAT THE FUCK?!" she yelps, enough to be heard over the radio as she backs off. As the arms launch Biancabella into the clouds, Janine feels the chill twofold and slumps over, trembling. "F-Fuck," she stammers, teeth chattering as she wades through the slush targeted at her to find cover until Biancabella returns!
August Kohler There is both a downside /and/ an upside to Biancabella being tossed into the heart of the storm. The downside is that she is in the heart of the storm, and therefore, if she doesn't get out as quickly as possible, is going to be hit /hard/. The upside is that, if she's willing to take the risk of damage, compared to getting out as quickly as possible, her wind powers may allow her to disrupt the storm long enough to allow Janine to fight the Sadness Manifest. No matter her decision, two things happen: Biancabella, unless actively kept in the air, will succumb to gravity (yes it exists here) and fall, and the Sadness Manifest will lumber at Janine afterwards, moving to begin wailing at her with all of those arms!
Flamel Parsons     The Old Man says, "Yeah, you go on and git before they figure what's gone on. You break my campers, I'll come whup you myself outside the brain!" Then a longer pause, and his face softens. "...Glad to hear 'Mel's makin' some friends. I'll trust that you're doin' this because you care." And as August leaves the bunker, he's back in his body, looking at the holoprojection again.

ASTRAL SECTOR DUMP COMPLETE.

RECALIBRATION FINISHED.
William Pauwel A PLAN IS HATCHED.

    Of course, part of the plan involves 'getting punched out of a tower by a giant molten metal gorilla' so it's kind of got some problems right out the gate. Will hisses as he hits the deck beneath the gorilla's enormous, back-gun propelled charge. It's like fighting a raging bull, except with way more munitions and a lot more fire, and Will doesn't like it! He especially does not like the prospect of being REDUCED TO A FINE RED MIST by one of this thing's punches. Sure, it might not physically hurt him, but...

Well. Will has seen now what a broken mind looks like, and he'd really rather not have any weird magma gorilas in HIS brain, thanks.

The thing charges out overtop of him, singing his back with the ambient heat from its mere passage, but then Will... Turns and follows it down, his grappling hook helping to limit the speed of his descent to 'only kind of dangerous.' He lands on one of those solidified islands of slag, and points a... crackling, rippling barrel at Anger Manifest.

"Let's get this show on the road, y'all," Will licks his lips and fires. Over and over, he sends rippling pulses of electromagnetic energy downrange towards the anger-beast. Not to hurt it, no-- but to... magnetize its body.

He turns, firing another series of shots at the various implements of destruction being worked on by those Angry Tin Soldiers. That's right... He's going to turn August's anger in on itself! The self-destructive impulse will be made to self-destruct! BUT NOT JUST THAT!

"HEY Y'ALL! DO IT, NOW!"

It's a set-up for... Something a little more final, too.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace ducks into an alcove as the lava spews out around them, sheltering from it until she hears the roar of the ape. There's some rapid discussion over the radio as the creature gathers itself up and makes ready for the rocket-punch... well. This is gonna hurt.
Tiny is, rather predictably, puched off the tower, rapidly assuming the skydiver's pose to guide her graceless plummet slightly, so that she lands, hard, on one of the lava-platforms, making it rock lightly..
After gettign her balance, the giant mouse begins positioning herself on the other side of the big nasty ape to William.
This is gonna look /awesome/. And even if she misses, well, she's going to get one hell of a headache in a real awesome way.
As she jumps from platform to platform to get into position the mouse fires off her sidearm at the Anger Beast, though once the nine rounds are dry she re-holsters it, opening a panel in her arm and starting to recalibrate on the fly, preparing for what's coming.
"Let's do this."
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa is having a bad time of it but it could be worse she loks to Staren and Rebecca for a moment then she make sreayd she did bring some weapons ith her btu it's very excited this emotion is never ending joy there's someth8ing disturbing about it but on the other han there may be happy memories for August. She takes a back up but things are not going to well for her. She's caught off guard by the strange attack she's not used to mind diving like this and she ends up caught with the flag. Things get wors as she now struggles to get free.

"LET ME GO!"

She calls out as she attemps to break freee but now she's vunrable to get hte unholy hell beat out of her by Joy? That's the creepyt hing there's happy and this is beyond the happy that is normal. Or is this due to repression? She has no idea and she doesn't want to end up dead in August's mind, who knows what could happen /with/ that.
Janine Liberi     As Janine gets her bearings, she realizes something. It's much easier to destroy something from the inside than out. And Biancabella is inside that mass of clouds. Ergo... "P-PERSONA! she shouts through her shivers to reorient the phantasm. Within the clouds, she lets out a soundless scream as she dances, filling the cloud with wilted petals to counteract the sleet as winds build and build, eventually exploding into a vortex to break it up!

    Meanwhile, on the ground, Janine runs from the Sadness Soldier, leading it towards a particularly slick patch of ice... before abruptly turning and running towards it, blade flashing to cut at its legs! She's trying to get it to stagger and fall, so she can follow up by slashing the masks on the main body!
William Pauwel "Hahahaha! Alright, let's go! This is either going to work, or we're both up a creek! So... Judgment!" His weapon glows ever so slightly more brightly. Judgment has a mind as well, after all-- a strange, alien, crystalline intelligence perhaps, but still. Confirmed. Fire when ready. "Go!"

Will fires one more time. A rippling pulse of physics gone mad surges into the enormous metal beast, transforming it into an angry electromagnet... Just in time for the cybermouse across the way to launch off her own platform and ride the electromagnetic attraction straight into this thing's face!

Judgment's light shifts. Ripples give way to hazy, white light. Will takes aim at nearby platforms and begins firing, then, forcing them together into a latticework of possible landing sites for this makeshift mousey missile to touch down on after impact, but...!

WILL THIS CRAZY PLAN EVEN WORK!?
Flamel Parsons     Flamel hears a voice. It's familiar. Its methods are known. but Parsons hasn't... Met one before. He's heard stories. He's heard HORROR stories. But he hasn't seen one in person. He doesn't see one just now, either, not before it gets away. "Extreme stealth abilities indicate repression, extreme emotionality in the leak context indicates active destructive intent..." He mutters, anxiously, eyes wide behind his sunglasses... He examines the area with his clairvoyance to confirm his suspicions.

    While the fight goes on elsewhere, the Psychonaut takes his time to step off to one side, and make double-extra-sure he's got this right. This... Could be dangerous. He's going to have to talk to August, or maybe August's friends, to get this sorted out. And it needs sorting, if this initial impression is right. He hopes it's wrong...
August Kohler Joy Manifest doesn't appear to be really /listening/ to Staren, or how he's trying to talk it down. Instead, while Staren cuts his way out of the flag, the Joy Manifest's heart construct begins hugging Kotone Yamakawa, tight enough to cause real damage. It continues hugging until Staren begins firing at it, his shots boosted by his own emotions, causing the heart to reflexively throw Kotone out of the way (painfully) when it gets hit. Kotone will find herself flying straight for the 'Die Reisende Memory' float, which isn't the most painful of the floats to cushion on, as a pair of Tin Soldiers begin 'happy happy'ing at her before pushing her off the float to go experience JOY.

Meanwhile, the heart construct crumbles after the impact, causing the Joy Manifest to turn towards Staren. It steps forward, dropping its flag to move and try and pat his head in a friendly way, though it is exerting enough pressure to /crush/ Staren. It seems this is how it attacks: overwhelming kindness!
Leyanne Leyanne Mace feels the gentle tug of the magnet as it begins to rise, leaping towards the creature - a leap of faith out over the lava. And there it is. The sharp spike of a magnetic field. She feels it in her antennae. She feels it in her bones, in the circuitry of her brain, the wiring of her arm and her artificial lungs. And it's saying a very simple message - one she's very happy to listen to.
GO THAT WAY.
And so she does. At great speed, the magnetic force pulling her towards Grr-Ape's centre of mass. As she flies the mouse leans back away from the ape and winds up, putting as much extra distance between her artificial fist and the personalisation of unreasonable rage as she can. As her feet make contact, she begins to crouch. There's a jet of gas from her elbow, shoulder and wrist and the punch itself... well it's too fast to actually see. One moment she's preparing to punch, there's a loud CLANG, and then the ragdolling form of the rodent is flailing in a predictable arc. It's hard to tell for sure, but it looks like her hand exploded, and took half of her forearm with it.
Staren     Staren blows the hell out of the Heart Construct. He does notice something might be up, but in the middle of a fight isn't the time to think about it. He's actually trying /not/ to do that outside of an emergency -- he doesn't understand how it works, and it might be dangerous.

    Like hell he's letting Joy Manifest get close to him now. "Stop it already!" He's just venting, he doesn't think the constructs can understand him. He keeps flying away, blasting it with the beam cannons. His armor's reactor can power them indefinitely, and he's not in a rush at the moment...
August Kohler The Anger Manifest never sees what's coming. It continues moving even when it hits, and takes quite a while to turn back, allowing Will to easily magnetize it. When it turns back to fly at them again...Kamikaze Weapons are flying at it, exploding in massive bursts that also destroy the Tin Soldiers that were originally working on them, as well as causing some 'painful' feedback to Judgment. The Anger Manifest loses its gun arm before it even gets a chance to use it, causing it to silently roar in pain, face aimed at the heavens. Leyanne's shots, meanwhile, damage the boosters, forcing the gorilla to land on part of the spire. It only jumps to attack again...

Right as Will fires the shot, turning the Anger Manifest into an electromagnet.

Leyanne rocketpunches straight through the main Anger mask, allowing her to one-punch through its head. After that, however, she'll begin falling, because gravity does INDEED exist in August's mind. The metal platforms below will support her and Will, if they need it, but there's juuust one problem...

The Anger Manifest's back-guns /explode/, covering the gorilla robot in fire and causing it to plummet downwards, straight into both the platforms /and/ the giant pool of magma. The pair is going to need to get out of there immediately, because as soon as it hits the magma, whether or not it slams into them on the platforms, it is going to create /waves/. Well, unless they want to magma-surf, that is.
William Pauwel Fortunately for Leyanne, Will prepared a LZ for her ahead of time. She probably has more than enough space on the assembled platforms to land safely, but... Uh. Well.

That... Doesn't help the magma wave.

"Uhhhhh," Will says, his eyes widening into terrified saucers at the tsunami of lava. "UHHH. OKAY!" Will leaps! He lands on Leyanne's platform. Come on, come on, we need to go!" Judgment is crackling in protest, the gun not at all enjoying the strain it's being put under. But escape, damaged, is still better than being buried under MIND MAGMA. "You steer! I'll push!"

How?

EQUAL AND OPPOSITE REACTION, THAT'S HOW.

Will fires blasts of RAW CONCUSSIVE FORCE into the magma immediately behind them. The result...

...Magma Slag Speedboat.
August Kohler Biancabella's wind petal explosion begins, at first, to have trouble rippling against the clouds. However, it wills through, destroying the storm long enough (it is slowly coming back) for Janine to slide across the ice and strike at the legarms, causing the Sadness Manifest to slip and fall, silently sobbing. It writhes with every shatter of a mask, showing that those masks are indeed part of what is powering it. Eventually, there is only one left: at the top, practically the 'head' of the Sadness Manifest. It stares at Janine, almost pleading to not be killed...

As the remainder of its arms reach out and try and either grab her and smash her into the ground, or punch her in accordance with the others. But they're moving slower. The despair is overwhelming it, and all it will take is destroying that one mask before the storm comes back. If the storm comes back...all bets are off!
Leyanne Leyanne Mace lands on the platform provided by Will, in time to see the last dregs of the explosion and the beginning of the gorilla's plummet. She's already starting to think about how to do this, pondering how to match speed with a wave of magma. Afer (or perhaps, during) a brief shouted argument over the radio (even though they're right next to eachother), the magmaslag boat begins to accellerate. Leyanne crouches down for balance, testing how well she can steer the boat by carving it - using her weight to make it bank. It's not very effetive.
"Bollocks, oh shit LEFT TURN LEFT TURN!" Leyanne shouts, slightly panicky. But she learns something. It takes carving and Will changing his angle of fire to turn best. Okay. This she can work with.
Just like riding a bike, right? Only, it's a tandem and the person with the handlebars is facing the wrong way.
"RIGHT TURN! LEFT LEFT... OK RIGHT A BIT, NOW STRAIGHT!"
August Kohler Flamel will be able to confirm, after taking some time to think, check, and psychically probe, that his intuition is absolutely correct here. August's mind has a problem, and it is only a matter of time until it is a /massive/ problem.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa day is getitng wors she's being hugged, it's normally a good thing but even with her combat grade body? She's fingins he's taking damage one she's taking pain, a lot of pain the damage i adding up and her movment as she strugles becomes abit more mechanical for lack of abette rtoon soon memories come at her. She's looking more than a bit messed up. She's clearly got cracks in her body from the hug and then she goes flying off the float fom the soldier she's just having a horrible bad day but she knows if she gives up it's going to make August's day andf live worse she doe swant ot help she's trying to get up now but the damage Cyborg is getting pushed harder than she has before.

"Staren... do you have any ... ideas?"
Janine Liberi     Janine smirks as the Sadness Soldier slumps, but winces as each mask comes off. Their despondent expressions cut deep in this highly symbolic space, and she starts hacking at them with more brutality. "Stop looking at me like that!" she snaps as one shatters.

    The last one is high up, so she prepares to climb up to grab it... only to be grabbed by its many legs! "Fucking let go of me! Biancabella!" As Janine struggles, the Persona descends to deliver the final blow! Eddies of winds twist around each other, forming a drill to pierce through the final mask!
August Kohler The Joy Manifest is happy that Staren won't let it pet him to death. Because the Joy Manifest is always happy, because it is Joy, Manifest. Staren fires more shots into it, which eventually shatters a mask; as the mask explodes, it writhes in pain, showing that the masks are absolutely connected to its power. Still endlessly cheerful, the Joy Manifest raises the megaphone to its mouth, and 'shouts out', summoning psychic fireworks to fly at Staren and Kotone Yamakawa. They're a decent speed, but they're not fast, and overall, the creature seems to be slower in general. Now that they know its weakness...they may be able to finish it!
August Kohler This is an insane, terrible plan from William Pauwel. Luckily, this is William Pauwel (as well as a mindscape), so it works out pretty well! William and Leyanne are able to speedboat away from getting swallowed by the magma current, and are able to pilot the boat straight for the entrance. Eventually, they go up a wave...and fly straight over, boat skidding through the quarantine and overturning, dumping them out into the city. The Tin Hazmats immediately move to block off the lava, before pulling a switch to drain the magma to acceptable levels. Others move to grab the Magma Slag Speedboat and take it somewhere, who knows where. It seems, though, that the Tin Soldiers can clean up from here!
August Kohler The Sadness Manifest doesn't want to die, but it doesn't get a choice here. It slowly moves to try and tear Janine apart...when Biancabella forms that drill of wind, shattering straight through the final mask. The hands reach out for Janine in its last actions, but they droop, water droplets emerging from the shattered masks as the Sadness Manifest crumples, destroyed. Quickly, the overwhelming despair starts to lighten, having less of a mental influence.

It's only a few moments before multiple Tin Hazmats march into the area, moving to carry off the Sadness Manifest. First, though, they stop and salute Janine silently, and salute her until she either salutes back or leaves. That's not creepy at all!
Leyanne Leyanne Mace lands with a clattering thud, rolling to a stop in an uncomfortable heap. After a few moment she unfolds, chuckling. "Oh, man, that was a rush." She comments, with a big grin, flipping up the visor of her helmet and offering her remaining hand to Will. "Gunnery Sergeant Leyanne Mace, 19th Polar City Moto-Cavalry. Call me Tiny. I think I like you. You're almost as mad as me."
Staren     Yeah. Now they know its weakness, Staren starts ruthlessly targeting the masks. <<"How does killing these things help August feel better, again...?">>
William Pauwel Somehow, they're alive. How many situations does this make it, now? Twenty? Thirty? If Will survives to reach retirement age, he's going to be able to coast for the rest of his years just by putting his adventures into writing. He sighs, sagging just a little bit as the adrenaline starts to drop off. He still has enough in him to shake a hand when it's offered, though. "William Pauwel Jr. I'm a Chaser-- an adventurer, and explorer. Good to meet you, Tiny! Y'all can call me Will. That was a pretty rough spot, but I think we got through alright."
Kotone Yamakawa Battered and beatn but whe3's still standing for the moment. She now ees she may have a point she can strike at she likes this she may be able to do something. The missiles come at her and she moves she pulls out apitol and start shooting it. She's got an idea and she moves to back up Staren as he makes his move.

"I hear you!"

She follows up Staren and opens fire on the masks, the pistol isn't the most powerful but it does have a lot of ammo as she mask snipes.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace nods, and grins. "Yeah, what a ride, that was cool. You know what's gonna suck though?" She pauses long enough for an answer. "Tomorrow morning." She goes to take something out of her pocket with her left hand and then stares at where it used to be with an expression that can only be annoyance. "Next time though... maybe we should try an engine. I hear they're a lot easier to steer with."
Janine Liberi     Janine makes a disgusted face as the Sadness Soldier melts away. She brushes at the goop that clings to her, and glowers at the Quarantine Soldiers as they show up. "Thanks for the help, assholes."

    And then they have the audacity to salute her?! Well, she has a salute too. A single-fingered one, that she waves about as she strides off.
Flamel Parsons     As the quarantine police get back here... Janine has someone else accost her. Specifically, it's Mr. Parsons, trying to get her attention with a hand on her shoulder. "Hey. Ms. Liberi." He gets the feeling she's in a... Bad mood. Or a worse mood? Or just really doesn't like spending too much time on things. So he tries to get to the point. "Jungian Shadow. Heard your group has had issues about that. Possibly performing psychological sabotage from lower subconscious levels. Ambitious." He assumes Janine would rather handle telling, or not telling, August. But right now's as good a time as any to pass off the secret information.
August Kohler Even with its endless cheer, the Joy Manifest cannot survive that much firepower. Masks shatter and explode, and with every single destruction, it slows down, until eventually, it just stops. The megaphone drops to the ground as the behemoth collapses. The endless cheer in the area begins to fade, and the Happy Happy Tin Soldiers stop to look at each other inbetween their dancing, confused.

Quickly, a group of Tin Hazmats filter into the Parade grounds, moving to escort away the remains of the Joy Manifest. They'll take it from here.
Staren     Staren lands on a neaby building, just... taking a moment. Using the wings requires concentration, and having to constantly dodge those fireworks while fighting for so long... He needs a moment to get his brain out of combat mode. He watches the hazmat soldiers take away the pieces of dangerous joy. <<You doing okay?>> he sends a text message to Kotone.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace grins to WIll. "We should probably regroup with the others."
William Pauwel "I don't think a boat engine would... Do well with that kind of heat?" Will frowns, rubbing his chin. "I mean, I've built a boat before, but most metal, it probably wouldn't hold up well. There might be some, but it'd be a long shot--" He blinks, then, and nods. "Yeah. Probably good plan, let's go?"
Leyanne Leyanne Mace nods as she listens to William. "True but if you cooled the prop or made it out of the right stuff it could work. You'd be surprised what metal can do, with help." She grins. "You build stuff too? I make bikes. Well, I did, when I had a shop. Don't have anywhere right yet, but I'm looking for places if I work up the cash." A pause. "Man, I wish I'd had a camera drone or something. I bet the slagboat looked /awesome/..."
Janine Liberi     A harsh glare is shot at Flamel. Janine is soaking wet, sore and tired, she is in no mood for any quirky government spook nonsense. So now she's even madder that he's throwing relevant information at her. "... we BEAT our Shadows, that's how we got our Persona! God... fucking... UGH!" She certainly acknowledged it, but now she's just storming off furiously.
Flamel Parsons     Hordes of the hypermodern guards and hazmat crew work to cart away and contain the leaked emotion, recycling it into more fuel for the Magnum Opus, or disposing of it in massive pathoshazard containers. August is reporting positive effects way at the top. The mask's repairs, too, have been intensely accelerated by the efforts of the others.

    Work whistles signal shift changes silently. Tin Soldiers now deal with far, far fewer industrial leaks and outbreaks as they get to their workplaces, or begin to head to their homes. The parade, the art, and the chaotic overtime have all stopped, replaced with the same controlled, bleak, intellectual progress.

    "He's back." Is all Parsons has to say, to Janine.

    And now, he puts two fingers to his temple, broadcasting telepathically, mind-wide. "We're all done here. I'm going to pull us out. Unless you have a lot of latent astral ability, you won't maintain a connection. Wrap up anything you need to do, and then you'll be disconnecting back to your bodies. Good work, everyone! Classic Psychonautry stress cleanse, from the sound of what August's saying. Let's get back to the real world and take a break."

    And there's that tugging sensation. The door out in the real world pops open and a horde of bright white shades stream out of it, slipping back into their real bodies and awakening the co-projectors near-instantly. Another job like clockwork.
Leyanne Leyanne Mace blinks as she looks round. Instinctively, upon finding tea in her hand she takes a sip, gagging when she discovers it stone cold. And she's pleased to find she does, in fact, still have a left hand and most of her forearm. That's a bonus. "What... a ride..." she manages to say, sagging back against her rock a moment. She pours out her cold tea onto the ground, and opens her thermos for a fresh mug.
Kotone Yamakawa Kotone Yamakawa replies to staren. <<Not really, I'll live though is everyone else all right?>> She kind sometimes take a back seat in her mind she can be repair far easier than some people can heal and maybe on some level she is the doll some things she is.

<<Going to be in the medicalbay for a bit either way.>>

She now sems foxued on checking on eveyrone else as she tries to form up with STaren and everyone else.

"I have no idea on what's going to happen next...."

Then she's pulledback to the real world and she snaps back awake.

"ugg..."
Staren     Aaand Staren's back to his body! "Hey August. Glad to hear you're doing better." He looks over Kotone, briefly considering offering repairs, but... the Paladins probably have mechanics she's more comfortable with.