Scene #3440: EoB: Unforeseen Consequence

Owner	Pose
Nathan Hall	Project Ahab is about to commence. Project Ahab commenced. Project Ahab is commencing. Nathan Hall is not in his library. He wasn't there when Psyber checked on the way out. He was already here when Psyber arrived at the Old State House. That dog Psyber got is here with him, seeming agitated. He didn't say anything, but there is a phone ringing somewhere for each arrival, and a voice on the other end of the line. "Two oh six, Washington Street. The dog is upset, the city is a dangerous place." Nathan mutters on the other end. "I need you to finish a project. I promise this is going to be worth it." The first flurries of snow this year are hitting Boston. There's climbing ivy, reaching all over and encasing the Old State House. "Do you know where this is?" Those who intended to meet up with Psyber to execute Project Ahab today may or may not notice some of their members missing. Having portions of their timeline ripped apart does that to a person. One hopes they'll recover shortly. What is most important is this: AS they approach the time and place of the commencement of Project Ahab, they will come to understand that it was already commenced by fractions of their own timeline before. And yet, something seems... Stabilized. It's like time was torn apart and then put back together with a vast array of vines lashing it back in place. It seems... It seems distinctly more coherent than before, in as much as before has any meaning. Those reaching this place and time may begin to feel the memories of their alternate timelines. What is certain is that they will see Nathan Hall turn to and enter the Old State House around the time they enter, the dog gently trying to bump him indoors. The plan was to have him arrive after everything was prepared, but in a sense, that already happened, is happening, and will happen. Priscilla isn't present, not yet, so her ability to perceive space is not here. Setsuko, and her ability to perceive battle, is, and will note that... While time is held together unsteadily, there doesn't seem to be battle in the very immediate future. Maybe after a delay, but the forcily restructured timeline seems clear of too much more combat, just for now... The Old State House shouldn't have so much ivy covering it, but none of it restricts the front door enough to keep it forced shut, only enough to make it somewhat difficult to keep open.
Guest Psyber	It wasn't supposed to go down like this. Or rather, it didn't go down like this the last time. Times? The last times? But this is the first time? Or is it? Psyber is having trouble keeping himself focused on the task at hand. "Yes. This is the site where the Boston Massacre occurred, the old State House. A site of rebellion against oppression, of severing ties to a controlling force. It represents that while something may shape our origin, it does not have to control our future," Psyber answers honestly, as if he had been prepared to explain the same thing to Nathan anyway. Although that wasn't exactly what he'd planned to say either. "But... you called me here," Psyber says, hand in his pocket gripped tightly around Memento as if unsure what to make of this situation, "Let's go." Psyber comments, trying to push the doors of the building open.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Having one's own splinter timeline memories come back to them is not the easiest thing to deal with. It outright causes Setsuko to stumble, to nearly faceplant. That's something she never does on her own. But she recovers quickly enough, and shakes her head with a frown. Other versions of herself, other ways this could have gone... it was supposed to be them calling Nathan, wasn't it? Not Nathan calling them. Something is strange. But all the same, while time feels odd somehow, she can't sense any immediate attacks on them. She will be wary, but not prepared for immediate attack. And moreover that seems to actually be Nathan. Not the Demon wearing his existence, but Nathan himself. "It's safe for the moment," she murmurs, stepping through the door behind Psyber. "Not that danger would stop either of us. But it's worth noting."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor... is on top of the State House. Wait, no she's not. She's... She's following behind Psyber as he follows Nathan. That HoH Bomber Jacket has the wrong patches on. Battles that Weren't fought. Things Eleanor was clearly never at. Groups she might have been in. This is weird. Her Webley pistol weighs heavy in her shoulder holster as she bites her lip, looking around at the Rotunda, at what should be a warm inviting slive of Colonial history. But now all she feels is unease. It's amplified as she stares at the back of Nathan's head, that head that kept on talking w- if- Now that she's killed it. Him. Maybe. To borrow one of Nathan's most common modes, calm on the outside, but agitated.
Kimiko Shinobu	Kimiko has been here for some times. She appears as a fairly normal girl, who is neither armed nor armored, and is entirely human, both in fact and in appearance. She's been standing near Setsuko, whether comfortably silent or speaking quietly, waiting for... something. Some moment to arrive. She looks up, wondering if that moment has arrived. No? Well... soon. In the meantime, Psyber and Nathan are going into the courthouse. "We should go." Inside, that is. And they do. Her sense of deja vu is horribly jumbled. She can make barely any sense of what it's telling her has already happened, and how it relates to what is happening now. The moment it would have told her of doesn't and didn't exist or, at least, was not experienced by Shinobu Kimiko. Thus, she stops thinking about it. Setsuko's stumble draws a concerned look. That's rare.
Riva Banari	Coherence helps. Or maybe it doesn't. The constant desire to rationalize and reconstruct one's perceptions according to their ability to understand occasionally ejects things. But the tendrils continue to cling. They can't be shaken so easily, causing Riva to bear a sense of unreality as she shakes her head, trying to clear it as she approaches along the street, walking along casually. She blends in with other people for the most part, but their movement to go into the building... Something feels off. Off-ish. Offesque? Regardless, she settles for letting things progress at the moment as they enter the ivy-choked building... And she pauses, her hand brushing the plant strands. Something about it feels... Right. She turns, heading inside with the others after her moment of zen.
Nathan Hall	"Salutations. I called you here because you called me here, and because... Events happened, after. Events are happening after that, events will happen after that. Cause and effect remain partially disjointed by processes beyond my limited understanding. I no longer have access to portions of my temporal profile that permit me to comprehend these things. It is not unlike having an eye gouged out. I believe it has been eaten." Nathan says, inside the Old State House. He is continuing to walk. "Speaking of which, where is Priscilla? Was? Will be? Hm. Would you please hold the door for a moment?" There's a brief moment of pause. The door shudders from the opening, but the vines permit it to swing wide, just enough, and if Priscilla does return, it'll be right now. The foyer seems far more modern than the structure should be, even re-purposed into a historical site. "Now, alternate paths you could have taken -- potential selves that you are not -- have severely wounded the creature and detached it from the timeline of what could be, as well as restored portions of time itself to functionality. The beast has gone to ground inside another potential timeline path. That is to say, this potential timeline path, which was constructed through your group efforts." Nathan continues to speak. His old monotone is back. There's no sense of exhaustion. In fact, there's a palpable feeling of... Trust? "Normally, this space would be very difficult to navigate, giving it-- Well, not giving it time, but providing the being of causality some ability to recover. However, at least one of the alternate paths you established involved injecting full knowledge of the situation into my timeline." That would, presumably, be the first-try splinter Psyber established. "Until I examined the events of this timeline from my damaged perspective, I was intending to obstruct you out of a misguided belief of self-preservation. It is possible I may yet be obstructing you in other timeline variants, which I apologize for. In this one, I hope, my perspective is less warped. I will not compound your difficulties of navigating. Trusting again is... Difficult. Please do not squander the chance." Nathan takes a deep breath. "This is not the Old State House, though the... Other descriptions, I hope, may yet be applicable. This is intersection of time and space that forms what I can only most vaguely refer to as a shelter within a temporal chaos. Like the eye of the storm, this is also its central point." Nathan gestures further inside, towards the end of the foyer. The central door there -- the kind that would usually lead to an assembly floor -- is completely wrapped in vines so thick you can barely see the wood under. "I can guide you to the entity, whatever it is, that is the source of this. But before you deal with that being, you may wish to deal with other matters."
Guest Psyber	"Mm. That's good to know that it made an impact. I will be nervous about that particular choice. I will battle? I have battled? Either way, it was something I thought about for days before I made the decision. It seems at least once I opted to tell you, and I guess that works out positively," Psyber still has a hand on the dagger as he walks along with Nathan. His other hand takes a flask out of his jacket that he tips backwards and drains in one go, sighing a bit and then putting it away, "So what's your stance on all this, Nate? Your take? We've come this far and I did this much, but I never asked your opinion. I feel like I owe you that much. Do you feel like you lose who you are if I kill this?" He asks the librarian seriously, keeping pace, "My plan was to kill it and hope it would shuffle all the events of the last several years into unfortunate circumstances instead of a single thread of personality-warping betrayals."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor... slides in on the side of that conversation. "I'm worried that... it said that it was the guiding spark that's been pushing you to gain... all of thse powers ,these responsibilities over the years.. and I really don't like that idea." She dusts at her Not-Quite-HoH Jacket and bites her lip. "And I would rather not lose... you, the you that you are and give that back over to 'Plain Old Please Ignore Me' Nathan Hall." A soft smile. "I like you being important. It's... its something that we can aspire to." That Webley feels so heavy. And why does it feel like she's being burned by that Eye again? Tch.
Setsuko Kaminagi	Even as Nathan explains the situation, Setsuko knows it to be true. The memories of the other timelines simmer to the surface, like an old forgotten song whose existence you completely lose until you hear the lyrics and realize you know them by heart. And above all, Nathan is professing to trust them with this. After all that's happened to him, he has decided to trust. Setsuko looks briefly at Kimiko, as if to confirm those words, and then gives Nathan a faint nod. "I won't disappoint you," she says simply, with the tone of a vow. The others express concern about the timeline, but Setsuko looks oddly calm. "It is a being outside of time. I don't believe removing it will remove the changes it made. At least, not if Nathan doesn't want them to be removed. And for all the hurt they brought him..." She shakes her head faintly. "I don't think things staying as they are... were, would be nothing but negative." But then Setsuko seems to stand just a bit taller. "But it's neither here nor there. We have to kill it, whatever the effects are. But I also want to know what these other issues are we should take care of.
Riva Banari	Tension. Despite the relaxing situation, despite the fundamental knowledge that they have done some good with their battle across multiple timelines, Riva still feels tension, but stretched out too, like not enough butter over too much bread. She sighs, but pulls herself up. With a glance over at Psyber as he takes a swig of that flask, she frowns for a moment and then looks back to Nathan. "Is there anything else you think needs to be addressed before we continue? How do you feel about all this, given that you're able to have the perspective of actually being able to look back partway through this?" Riva shakes her head a little bit. "I mean, we're all trying to help you as best we can, but I'd just like to be able to see you be... happy again? Content, maybe? I never really had much of a chance to meet the man behind the glasses, as it were."
Nathan Hall	"I do not know." Nathan says, in an almost distant sort of monotone. "My stance, my 'take', seems like something I need to form with access to all my faculties. I currently lack many of them. Significant portions of my timeline are absent, though I understand that some of you have prevented the being from accessing enough of them to render me entirely unhelpful. I... Mh. Many parts of my history shared with you are currently consumed, making me unable to take them into account in my decisionmaking. I can say that if you kill this being, it will be a mechanism to change parts of who I am and a decision that has an effect on what I was, am, and will be." "There is a room nearby. It was reserved for some manner of discussion on that subject. I think you will be informed of the details at the time you need to make that decision." Nathan scratches his head, seeming like he's having a hard time putting certain parts of this into words. "You will have all the knowledge you need and the time necessary to make arrangements, whatever the terms may be, regarding the... Influence, in past, present, or future, that these events may have. You will not make an uninformed choice."
Mizuki	Mizuki is dead. Some sixty-five percent of all the Mizukis that had ever existed have not, plus or minus a standard error factor whose needle never settles neatly upon any value. yet there's still something else here -- someone else here: Shiori. Representing a sort of aggregate consciousness and a distinct ego at once, she has managed to 'root' herself, for lack of a better word, in this position in space time. More accurately, she has affixed her being to an infinitely large, constantly growing number of the instances of this particular moment that may, or may not, give her a sense of clarity and stability here that rivals the entity's own. But she isn't using that to fight it directly, not now; no, a fragmented existence like hers could never hope to do such a thing. Shiori is alive. Some fifty-five percent of all Shioris that could ever have surpassed the threshold of humanity have done so, and that majority, however slim, is enough to sustain her. Numbers in some abstract space that cannot be well rationalized are constantly rising, falling, constantly in a flux that is a reflection of just how tenuous Mizuki's existence, all of her existences, has and have become. It's not an easy thing, keeping one's calm throughout all that: fear is a natural reaction when one is about to die. But wasn't she trying to do something specific with that fear? Oh, yes. She was trying to share it with the entity. She was trying to assault their emergent humanity, the consequence of the adoption of Nathan Hall's likeness, to make them unstable. To knock them off their guard. However briefly, she thought that might give her - and the people she can vaguely perceive around her person - an edge. She is not immediately visible to the naked eye, though if someone happens to experience deja vu for even a moment, to consider Mizuki's absence for so much as an instant, Shiori's likeness would flicker on the periphery of that person's vision like a specter straining to be remembered by the living world. The greatest counterweight she has against the demon's attempts to permanently eradicate her timeline are just that: memories of others. The belief that she does exist, will exist, has existed. It's what has substantiated her existence up until now, and it is what, Creation willing, will be her bulwark now. So, where was she? Something about a deal -- a compromise; a proposal, and an appeal to whatever humanity this demon has ripped away from Nathan. It wants to live. Its purpose is to Be. She has a better way of fulfilling that purpose that would alleviate the risks inherent to a parasitic existence, thereby sparing it and the universe untold strife. Yes, she knows this is what she had said before. So somewhere beyond awareness, inside Nathan, past infinities of metaphysical leylines where a literal war is taking place throughout Nathan's timeline, Shiori asks again: "Do you understand?"
Guest Psyber	Psyber looks over to Riva when she gives him a frown and then back to Nathan when he gives an explanation. The half-angel takes out a different flask and drinks from it before nodding to Nathan as he tucks it away, "Nnn," He notes in frustration as he walks along. No response is made to Eleanor's statements, mostly because he doesn't feel it requires him to speak. Setsuko causes him to look in her direction, "Your theory is one theory. It is also possible that if its influence is removed from multiple points in time over Nathan's decisions, he will be re-optioned into choosing differently, cascading forward into new circumstances. This is the point of my concern." His tone has switched to a detached and business-like demeanor as he looks to Nathan. He starts to head towards the room Nathan indicates. If there's work to be done, it seems about time to get to it.
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor accepts the statements as they come and sighs. "I really wish I'd had more of a background in temporal mechanics. No one in my head is really able to help me on this one outside of a few philosphers and some crazy raving lunatics." A shake of her head. "Well, at least we'll have options, then. Though putting you back together piecemeal seems... arrogant." That said, Riva and Setsuko get a wave and also a wave as Elle's mind wanders for a bit. Then she's following Nathan into that room. "What other sorts of things ae you missing? Or could you even tell?"
Nathan Hall	Setsuko and Riva are right onto business. Which is good. They may have all the time in the world, but spare time is hard to come by. "Here is the nature of the situation as it stands." Nathan says. "At this time, the being is restricted further inside the core of this artificial shelter. Several key issues will benefit from your assistance." Nathan gestures to the side doors that lead to other sections of the Old State House. "It currently possesses access to sections of my timeline that it is using to recover, and it will reinvigorate itself with this power if you do not sever the link. It is damaging to consume these sections, but it will do so all the same." More doors. "It currently has potential vectors of escape. Physical barriers, barricades, and similar can suffice in preventing this. Normally they would not, but in an artificially constrictive context, both physical and supernatural block systems will make sure it is, at least, slowed if it attempts to flee." "Portions of the being have been abstractly altered by the actions you have taken. The Ivy is the primary example, but other actions you have taken have created certain systems that may benefit from refinement from within other areas of the shelter. Injected concepts, abstract impulse, similar things. They can be refined. They do not need to be, but they can." "I can guide you to whichever areas you believe yourself best suited for." The noise he makes here is a familiar one, a soft, restless worried noise. Just like old times! "I still do not understand the full nature of what you are fighting. I admit that I do not understand your full nature either; those portions of my temporal profile seem gouged out. But, I will do my best to help guide you towards furthering your attempt to do what you seek to do here. And it would seem to be hunting and killing this beast."
Nathan Hall	Riva's questions get a more direct response. Nathan makes several very akward noises, almost sheepish. "How I feel is... Mh. Something makes me want to avoid discussing my feelings in great detail. I apologize. I lack certain critical 'cause' to match 'effect' in me right now. I cannot look back, so to speak. Not yet. Nor forward. I have approximately enough free elements of my timeline unrestricted by various damaging, consumptive, or binding influences to communicate, comprehend, and perceive most of the present. Much of my history and future are missing. It has yet to digest my soul, but I lack most of the faculties of cause and effect that would allow me to meaningfully answer that question."
Setsuko Kaminagi	Setsuko looks briefly between Psyber and Nathan, then frowns faintly. So they probably will change him. But at the very least they'll know what they're doing. And it seems as if saving him is possible. That's enough for her. The demigod returns Eleanor's wave with a brief nod, and then follows Nathan's indications, looking at the doors, listening to his words. "We need to cut off its escape first and foremost. We don't want it getting away. Whatever else we may do, someone has to take that job. I don't think I'm suited to it." She rests a hand on Zanjintou's grip, then, and turns to face Nathan. "My nature is simple. I'm a demigod, and my domain is War. Place a foe before me, and I will strike them down. Place a barrier before me, and I will cleave it apart. There is nothing my Zanjintou cannot cut. If there are any... 'systems that need refining' which my divinity, physical might, or blade might help with, I'll see to them. Otherwise, I am best suited to fighting the enemy, and to severing its grip on your timeline."
Guest Psyber	Psyber looks to Setsuko and nods, "I agree. Cutting off vectors of escape should be our first concern," He comments as he moves over towards Nathan, "Beyond that, if there's anything I can work in refining, tell me, but most of this plan was centered around other people's capability of conceptual interaction to cover my shortcoming there." "Beyond that, I'm in the same boat as Setsuko. My skillset, from here on forward, focuses on direct combat engagements to cover for people working more sensitive matters," He looks over at the swordswoman, "So I'm going to stick to that unless I can help at other things."
Riva Banari	Riva waves back to Elle as she arrives, and she smiles wanly before looking back to Nathan. The response causes her to rub her chin, and she nods, trying to asimilate this information. "So we need to keep it from accessing and consuming additional portions of your timeline, we need to block him off from movement or escape, and there are things we can do to additionally tip the situation in our favor if we can alter the battlefield further." She summarizes. She nods, punching her palm. "Got it. All right..." She reaches forward, and claps Nathan on the shoulder. "We're going to finish what we started. We're here for you and we're not going to let that trust go to waste." Riva looks to the others. "I can work on trying to chase the thing out of the delicate areas or closing off escape routes. I might not be super strong but I can make do with whatever I can find. Creativity seems to be more important than raw power in that respect."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor speaks up as well about her skillset. "While I am very much at home beating this... thing back to Oblivion or wherever it came from, I'd rather be able to figure out how to prevent it from coming back ever again. Is it simply a remnant of The End of the Multiverse? Are the others like it? Why stick around here? Why not just... go back? If there is anything to go back to." Eleanor murmurs, and looks to Nathan. "Much like you are, it is an intrigueing subject to... interrogate and speak to and understand. Even if I ind it utterlyrepulsive."
Kimiko Shinobu	Kimiko follows, and listens. Before everything else, she has a question. "Are you Nathan Hall?" The answer is unlikely to change her own inclinations. Establishment of a barrier would seem to be within her skillset, but capture is fundamentally different from defense. Her primary goal, to which she will probably soon ask a question, is to assist via the same attempt at puification, defense from within, of Nathan that she had been using previously. ... Purification? She doesn't have any kind of purification ability. Strange. She could have sworn...
Priscilla	Priscilla is not here; she never was here; but she will be here, or rather, she will have always been here; has always been here. Her circumstances are a little more complicated than the others. That's how it goes when you involve forces like she has with circumstances like these. An uncertain reward, for a very high risk, having only the barest idea of what to do, and how to do it, but the sense that it should be done all the same. Elsewhere, elsewhen, someone has dedicated the life to a single painting; the magnum opus of a mortal man created as the sole proof of his existence that will carry on past the short remainder of his life, and the only work he could ever deem worthy of expressing his devotion to his princess. In that time and place, at the root of a great many more times and places, a mother has made the best choice she could between her daughter, and her blood and country, though she will eventually leave all of them behind. That daughter is left with no real choice of her own, as the people of that place and time have no want for her. In many of the other places and times from there and then on, she is the end of their everything, and they have made their choice without thought of justice, rooted instead in the vice of fear. Though the only one who have her reaching out would only take advantage of her, and one of those closest to her would have her killed for trying, in this time and place, a compulsion has gripped her; kindling the embers of a madness that had always been there in order to stoke the fires of the great disaster that would burn beyond the confines of its scattered ghosts of things that had never been, and would never be. One to see the death of all that would become herself, and the other simply to see the death of everything she would come to protect, as a last, spiteful dagger through a chink in the armour of time. Except, that's not correct, is it? There is not one painting, but two. There always were. A single man couldn't have painted them both in a mortal lifespan either. The one who would help her from vicarious spite has already met her, before any of this would happen, and knows the future outcomes of this well. The chief among them is not afraid, but knows well when his empire will end, as he always has, and has prepared for long without the knowledge of any other. He has seen the dawning of the next age, though he doesn't remember, as the others who could call themselves his equal. They have, all of them, been granted their second chance whence the hand of redemption was thrust into the Flame of their creation so long ago. The future of all of this has already happened; not in the sense of that it would eventually happen, but that it has already assured its own existence, or that its existence has already been ensured by many others. Though one who exists outside of these moments would wish to break the loop, and one who was destroyed in the forging of the last link would see the same, four others share this space, regardless of time and place, as the souls that once dwelled within the flesh will always remain in memory. One has witnessed the dawning of the sun again, and would not see it snuffed out once more. One has finally been absolved of her sins, and would not see her daughters suffer all over again. One has promised his children rest, and would not have them dragged away to walk the earth for a second eternity. One has found his works passed to another, and would if nothing else, see his ancient tyrant king given his final spite instead of the rebellious proof of his vision. Twelve people have died over and over to see this all done, and at the very least, Priscilla cannot possibly disappoint them as well.
Priscilla	Kalameet is dead. She has killed him. She will continue to kill him. She will kill him in all possible timelines if need be, until she has conquered his powers so utterly that this demon will no longer recognize them, and then she will kill its very existence for the thought of trying. All that will ever be said of it is that it has made her fashionably late, as an invisible force pushes an ivy-strangled door aside shortly after the last steps have faded from the room. "If it wishes to say that thou art a closed gate it hast carefully constructed, then I am certain the gate shalt remaineth standing once we slay the carpenter." those are her first words as she joins the rest. "I shalt maketh no efforts to scramble back and forth, erecting walls and blocking doors to hope to slow the beast's progress. If it wishes to lay fingers upon something we do not, I shalt sever those fingers from its hand, then its hand from its arm, and then its arm from its shoulder, until it no longer possesses means to taketh hold of any part of thee. I shalt sever its toes, its feet and its legs, until it can only dream of fleeing, and then I shalt sever its head from its body as we lay waste to all of its works." It bears mentioning that her eye doesn't seem to want to stop glowing. It's been going at a faint but steady burn for a while now, letting off the faintest sounds of displaced keening, as if being drawn to something nearby, likely something of its own placing.
Nathan Hall	Shiori asks a question, and receives a response from the hidden creature. I UNDERSTAND what I desire is to BE and I will do so on my own terms if I am able h o w e v if I am not able e then I will BE r on someone else's I will not cease attempting to Be in my own way but I will not continue to do so if it will not let me Be in the first place Looks like this may make it more willing to surrender, but it's not going to surrender just like that. If you're going to spare a being like this, you're going to have to get the health down a little more.
Mizuki	A smile -- acknowledgment. Shiori seems somehow happy with that response, and it only pushes the white cells to struggle all the harder, strike deeper, and advance faster than before through Nathan's timeline. The ghost of Shiori's presence briefly multiplies such that the entity would sense copies of her, hundreds or thousands of her past selves looking at the entity, encircling them. The response she gives is quick and deceptively simple, spoken in a thousand voices that somehow warble and converge such that they arrive from one source, or uniformly project from all sources like loudspeakers affixed to the battlements of a celestial fortress. However blurry the point of origin for the semantic cipher that emerges for the entity to decode, it would communicate thusly: ""Good. I wouldn't have it any other way." The Quiet Place evaporates. The battle resumes properly. The blood cells begin to form 'teams', now -- functional tissues and even organs that work within the context of a conceptual body. One member of the team retains the old form of the cells: the form of the butterfly intended to transform later into a dagger, to strike. The other, complementary members of each pair, however, do something stranger. They solidify, forming hard carapaces of metaphysical filament meant to make them far harder for any onslaught from the entity to destroy. Once they have been allowed to sit for some time, translucent strands begin to form, all of them reaching back to one point on the other side of the battlefield. They all reach for Shiori, attempting to form connections with her for some purpose as of yet unseen. Though it will be some time before the function of these strands is revealed; many of them are likely to be severed before they can make the connection with Shiori, and those that are not will have a long journey there. As such, the white cells begin to repurpose themselves further such that some rush to guard budding connections whilst the others, now a massively reduced force, attempt to press further, deeper into Nathan's timeline so that they can form more such connections. Whatever is going on, though, the entity would certainly begin to feel a sort of pressure. It might be comparable to claws sinking into its flesh, or teeth nibbling down to get a better sense of their prey. It's an uncomfortable sensation that would put even a theoretically 'unfeeling' being keen on self-preservation on edge. In all likelihood, the battle is about to get far, far more violent. Still, in the meanwhile Shiori continues to send messages to the entity. As soon as a single one of the strands is established, she uses it as a conduit for her thoughts. "You would make a far better human than you know, with that will you seem to be growing, that stubbornness you're already developing. Perhaps if you emerge on the other side in earnest some day, it will matter that I said I do not 'blame' you for any of this: it was simply your natural inclination. Some divination of the fates and Creation. I'll not fault you for doing what you had to to be. True, even humans must fight other genetic samplings to predominate, to become 'real'. You may not really be so different." The philosophy is probably lost on them entirely, but she's begun to wonder whether that will always be true. Maybe it's a bit dangerous to be provoking that sort of development right now. But then, Shiori never was one to care.
Nathan Hall	"You want to focus on combat. Your skills are best suited to severing its infesting influence over the timelines that remain accessible to it. Most of it has been fought off, and what little remains is saturated in purification, self-defense systems, and similar. Unfortunately, it seems to gain tremendous amounts of power from relatively small portions of the timeline, and will use this to massively increase its endurance." Priscilla's speech, particularly, prompts a soft worried noise. This Nathan is a far cry from the warped and hateful Nathan who was ordering people to dismember Kalameet as if it were nothing. "I can guide you to where this is put to best use." He says, nodding respectfully. "Please follow." What comes next is a complicated mess. The halls off those side doors are an absolute trainwreck of navigation, a huge maze-like array. There's a gentle whisper behind each wall, echoes of a bitter voice from a timeline that no longer applies. And the sound of someone talking to... Ariel? As if from a great distance. Must be that discussion back in the first splinter. Well, what's important is that Nathan seems to know the way through this maze that's far larger than the Old State House should be. He goes up winding spiral stairs, down large staircases, through hallways that look like they're miles long that the group passes in a few seconds. And, everywhere: Ivy. Ivy on the walls, the doors, the lights, blocking up windows, wrapped around furniture. It seems like it's holding this place together, and if you cut it, the building will come apart. That'd be impossible, though. What matters most is what can be found at the end of the path. There was never a full library in the Old State House, and yet, the tremendous archive, full of books that vary their size and make considerably -- some shelves are stocked with Cybercore visualizations of ebooks, some are stocked with tomes bound in human-leather, some are even more incomprehensible -- and the influence of the Causality Demon is easy to see. The reptile-like waspish shape of fleshy tendrils is wrapped around the books. Shining white butterflies -- Mizuki's design -- and brilliant white fire -- Kimiko's own -- flit between the shelves, swarming viciously around the fleshy tendrils where they find them. And yet, some of that purifying fire seems to be burning some of the books as well...
Nathan Hall	Kimiko gets her own particular response as they move through the hallways. "Whether I am Nathan Hall or not depends on your perspective. Think about it like this." He says, in that usual monotone. "People have potential variations. Events that can cause them to become kind, or ruthless, or lazy, or motivated, or magical, or mundane. The sum of who they are is constructed out of the materials of their past. I do not have access to this. I am what Nathan Hall is without any influence of past, or future. I represent, for all spiritual intents and purposes, his soul, the starting point of each potential path, and the essential core of who he is, as well as a very small amount of his knowledge, such as how to communicate with humans, or the fact that emotional openness should be avoided at this time, for some reason. However, I am little more than that. At best, I am a tiny fraction of whatever you call 'Nathan Hall'. The name barely applies."
Setsuko Kaminagi	"I would argue that you are the most important fraction," Setsuko says as their footsteps carry them along. "You have as much right to the name as any endpoint of any timeline. You are excactly who and what we're here to save." There is no way the demigod is going to be able to find her way through this mess of hallways. Not unless she needs to; and in her case, 'needing to find her way' would mean there was a battle she could follow. For the moment, there is not, so she doesn't bother trying to memorize. She simply follows. Eyes ahead, focusing on the hall and the Hall before her, shutting out the sounds from behind the walls. She can't afford for them to distract her. Not now. Some of the nature of this library is incomprehensible. But the gist of what Setsuko sees before her is immediately understandable, and she knows precisely what she needs to do the second she lays eyes on it. Half a heartbeat later, she has lunged past Nathan, taken to the air, and begun slicing. Zanjintou becomes a blur, slashing and striking again and again, attacking every tendril she can reach - tiny offshoots, thick central branches, she will carve them all apart. It's her hope that this will also prevent the fire from spreading further.
Kimiko Shinobu	"I see." This is all Kimiko says in response. The answer is received and accepted. Any more that needs to be said, Setsuko soon does. She merely walks along, still a perfectly ordinary Japanese student on holiday, rather than yet transforming. Some of the books burn. Disturbing. Why? The nature of the fire and the butterflies is only dimly understood, but she can feel a connection to the former. She knows, instinctively, that it's not really a fire, at all. It is the essence of rejection, and it is focused on some parts of Nathan's... past? Future? Self? Tugging down her scarf from her face, Kimiko reaches for a book the fire has just reached, to pull it from the shelf an open it. The fire, at least, will not harm her.
Guest Psyber	The way he walks is more indicative of his prior posture and attitude, back when he was forced to be at odds with Nathan, involved against him to Elliana, and generally stressed beyond comprehension by nearly every other person in existence. Because of this, the sword he has out is less carried and more dragged down the halls. Considering it's the Sun-Slayer Greatsword, this isn't the greatest for the landscape, the sword drawing a deep purple gouge across the ground with every footfall and trailing after Nathan and walking along with Setsuko, "Kaminagi. It seems, as ever, we walk to an impossible battle in an alien landscape. Let it be said there are none I would rather have with me than yourself. If I fail, please finish this for the sake of Nathan." He says this matter of factly, sword he drags behind him drawing a gouge in the floor and purple sparks behind him. Almost as soon as they make it to the library, Psyber takes off in a dash. He's trying to uses clean strikes to sever tendrils where he can and cut the library free of the Causality Demon's influence.
Nathan Hall	"You have some opportunity to speak with it at some point. I cannot answer your questions, however, and I do not believe this particular reference point for your interactions with this stabilized shelter in spacetime is the best frame of reference to do that." Nathan says, making a very vague gesture in another direction when he speaks to Eleanor. "That will be 'later'. But I can answer some questions, if you have them. It refuses to communicate with me because I am defined in part by its connection to who I am, and my use as an extension of it, but while I do not understand what it is entirely, I can provide some information about what it does, and speculation about things like motivation."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor huffs a bit and looks up and around at the Library and the mess that's being made and grumbles as Nathan explains the situation. "That makes sense, I doubted you wanted to bring the Thing here to where you've got a safe spot to talk to it." She sighs, and looks around a bit more. Kimiko is reading and there's efforts being made to weed out those tendrils. "Well, then I shall borrow you for a walk and talk, Nathan, and we'll do that while I turn this place into a fortress." She smiles, and shuffles along, peeking at the organization for the shelves. She's looking for more important sections of his memories and past that ought to be kept safe. "What do you think of the creature's assertions that your actions in gaining power were not your own? i know... that you've had some issues coming to terms with them in the past." As they walk and talk, Eleanor is stopping from time to time to press her hands into the floor, heavier shelves and other places, and setting up Plasmid Traps around the more vital looking sections, as well as gently planting little mini setries around.
Riva Banari	Nathan leads them into the Library. For a moment, Riva is shocked to see the fantastic, all-encompassing entirety of the Library. Is this what someone's complete temporal causality line can look like? No, wait, she isn't thinking that at all. "Wow. This is huge." She says... And then she looks at the demon, how it's trying to... absorb parts of the Library? "Welp. Time to get to work." She says, metaphorically rolling up her sleeves... And letting the ones with the cool swords and murder gear start severing the entity away from its food sources. Riva, on the other hand, pays more attention to the walls, ceilings, and windows. Where the ivy might be thing, she starts trying to move furniture, piling things together to create clutter and block paths. More complicated areas might require her to get more creative in dealing with things. She's not trying to psychoanalyse the nonexistant time demon. She's putting her back into things and trying to shove pieces into place. Friends help you move. Real friends help you move metaphorical furniture to help trap a causality demon that's eating your existence. And bodies. Those too.
Nathan Hall	First off, some weirdness is going on in the Library. Lot of those butterflies are sort of... Solidifying over large portions of the library, actually. There's a large portion where they seem to have filled around some sort of wound in the timeline's representation, a big gash in the layout. For the most part, though, they seem to be forming tendrils of their own, in a different direction. A tug of war, possibly? We'll find out. What's clear is that they're trying to get a "grip" on the bookcases, while the fleshy tendrils are far more interested in emptying them.
Priscilla	Oddly enough, for someone seething with silent fury at the kind of contemptibly dirty tactics she'd just witnessed, after being exposed to during yet another callous attack on the long distant past that she'd put behind her, Priscilla seems to have the presence of mind to spare Nathan a second look -- eerie as it is to see -- at hearing him speak in that old, guarded, and yet strangely charming blase tone again. She'd almost forgotten what he sounded like when not harried and exhausted to the edge of cracking. She even cracks the ghost of a smile at hearing Setsuko, apparently fully in agreement. "And thou hast any doubt as to whether I wouldst accept Sir Hall's soul as worthy of the same thoughts. I care little for all of this business of variations; of possibilities, maybes, might-bes and might-hath-beens. I am certain I shalt see all of thee change a great deal, and in a great many ways, as thou liveth, but if I am to hold any faith in any part of any of thee, it wouldst be placed in exactly what thou wouldst purport thineself to be." It seems unsurprising that a library would represent Nathan's inner being, never mind as a record of his past and potential future, and further disregarding all the nonsense of calling him 'The Library of Time'. The first thing she does is go hunting about, taking it a little slower as Setsuko and Psyber rush into battle, twirling the suddenly visible presence of the Lifehunt Scythe sedately in her hand; taking the form of a hazy, flickering, black and silver void like it usually seems to in these kinds of places. She casts her gaze back and forth, playing hot-cold with the tether between herself and the mark she has left upon her foe, homing in by the intensity of the reaction. The scythe lashes out as she drifts by a bookshelf, doing exactly what it is meant to and carving through an entire row of tendrils in a single, fell sweep, neatly lined up by the rows of books themselves. She won't be satisfied with just groping feelers for long, but she wants to see this beast feel pain, and how and where it reacts to it.
Mizuki	In one instant, there are butterflies flooding the library, rushing forward as if they were soldiers full on toward No Man's Land, and a veritable forest of translucent, prismatic strands that are at this point so woven, so thick as to resemble the mycelium of a fungus. In the next, though, none of that is to be found in the library. All traces of Shiori's presence here continually reappear and disappear as if in a sequence of forwarding and rewinding, breathing and exhaling. Even now, the pattern of repeating forwards and stops that Mizuki analyzed is being put to use in optimizing the effect of the force being applied, choosing the most opportune moments through that rhythm to determine when the demon might be most vulnerable, and when it might be most alert. By all appearances, it seems to be working. Though many of those entering the library would recognize the sensations more personally: Mizuki. Whereas some people might carry a scent of perfume or the telltale sound of a voice, Mizuki - and her world to an even greater extent - have always projected an equally distinctive aura. The same energy that so pervades the peak of the Clock Tower has also begun to predominate here, in area of the library clearly 'occupied' by Shiori's white cells. It's likely enough to startle them all into a brief sense of awareness, a profound relapse of the earlier deja vu: a power, a sense that attempts to pierce itself through time and space to reach all of them, speak with them. Unfortunately, though, the continuum is still too discordant, the realm too chaotic; only so many of these impulses can get through, and to certain people at once. The first, conveniently enough, comes for Riva. Circumstances permitting, Riva would likely encounter a flickering silhouette of a girl in front of her. Brown hair, brown eyes, a matching black dress: all things that seem oddly, even painfully familiar. There's a sort of foreboding to this familiarity, though, and she would instantly glean that this, whatever this is, is not necessarily her ally. In fact, it stood in direct opposition to her once: causality is loud enough here to make the singular event in which Riva might have seen her known, however brief that moment may have been in actuality. "Just a little more," She says. "Just keep at it a little longer. I'll take over from there. Yes -- just weaken them a bit further. Then they'll have no choice but to see the rightness, the truth of what I have said. This future is absolute. This event is certain. We all know this, and yet the entity persists in these meaningless acts of atrocity. Why? Well, if you ask me, they've become more human than any of us had been capable - or willing - to acknowledge. Close, then, it might've been close -- very close to accomplishing what it meant to. We're lucky, or we will be lucky. Or perhaps just as unlucky? I can't be certain of the fate of the one you've come here for. But whatever his fate, it will be decided by a hair's breadth." Whatever the presence is, or was, it - rather, she - vanishes almost as quickly as she finishes her statement. It seems like she's trying to help them out, though? Or at least, that's what it sounded like.
Nathan Hall	Kimiko finds one of the books that her flames seem inclined to target. These seem to be in sections of the library neighboring the ones that the tendrils so readily attach themselves too. The books are burning but not burnt; the timelines are clearly corrupted in some way, but without Kimiko actively TRYING to burn those parts of the timeline out, they won't. The worst it's getting is some collateral damage. The book she picks up as an example seems to be part of the timeline that has thus far been altered. It's a story about one of the betrayals Nathan experienced, of course. That's a bit of a running theme. It doesn't seem to 'fit' with the other books, and it's improperly shelved to boot. It looks like this is something that's a semi-permanent addition. Malleable, something that could be changed, but definitely not something that will disappear if the Causality Demon's influence is removed. The book is already shelved, removing the tendrils seems like it has no effect on the presence of those books. But, of course, the books can be removed. Might be best to leave that decision for later, though. With the book removed, the rest of the shelf is making a bit of a creaky noise, like something's not right. This isn't the kind of library you can check things out of, unfortunately.
Nathan Hall	Psyber, Priscilla, and Setsuko are very thorough. While Shiori's influence might make a greater tug, they are the ones who make sure that the being cannot regain its power over time. By destroying the key links -- good lord, those fleshy growths are covered in masks and eyes -- they have stopped a palpable flow of power. There seems to be less of a draw, less of a drain on the chamber. It didn't feel like there was one before, but when it's gone, it can certainly be felt, like coming down from a high elevation and feeling the shift in air pressure. Those residual tendrils split off like the being's own timeline splitting. They'll be mostly harassing and harassed by the vicious little self-defense system Mizuki set up. Shiori may have an arrangement, but these spit-off pieces -- still possessing some will of their own -- have no interest in escaping at all. Cleaning them up probably isn't a practical idea, but at the very least, this does two things: Clears the ability of the creature to regenerate from its set amount of power during the fight, and confirms by way of behavior that the main 'head' of the creature is the only thing that is worth concern. Splits, timeline variants, bloody chunks carved off of it, none of that matters.
Nathan Hall	This creature possesses a tremendous amount of vitality, because it exists as extensions of a singular point rather than a vitality distributed over a large entity. However, this means even the severed pieces of it are a valid point for her to use to build up Lifehunt. There's not near enough of it here to build up enough to burst it tonight, but she can build up a fair amount of the charge necessary to cause the burst of damage. It also seems to experience no pain at all, or at least, this specific sort of harm isn't what causes it pain.
Setsuko Kaminagi	"It's an entirely too-familiar situation, isn't it?" Setsuko replies to Psyber. "But I walk into it with the best company possible as well." Finishing things goes without saying; at this point, both for Nathan's sake and for Psyber's, she's resolved to see this through if it takes everything she has. The cutting edge of Zanjintou keeps swinging and swinging long after there are no more 'main' tendrils to sever. Setsuko is nothing if not thorough, and if she can make later cleanup easier with a bit of extra effort here, she most certainly will. But she does stop eventually, sliding to a halt near the doorway in a fairly high-speed landing. Her sword is returned to her side, and she turns, looking back around the library, particularly at Kimiko. But then she turns back to the door, and if Nathan is still there, gives him a simple look that seems to say, 'And what next?'
Nathan Hall	Escape routes. Those seeking to find those will be guided through a lengthy series of halls and sections of the Library that lead to what one can only assume are the escape routes for this temporal maelstrom. That door, after all, is a bit too small. Here's where the ivy gets thickest, aside from the entrance to the main assembly chamber. The massive strands of plant matter are already a pretty major barricade, but they need reinforcement. Riva, particularly, can adjust the size with... Well, what she'd do it with would be hard to describe because it's transtemporal shenanigans, but it wouldn't be unlike what she's already done. Aside from that, the furniture -- this is a library after all, it's gotta be somewhere Traps, turrets, barricades, similar defenses, these things can clearly be detected by the tendrils and the severed bits. They give them a wide berth. It's obvious that the being will be aware of this block in the escape routes when they confront it. What this means for a purely alien mind is... Ambiguous.
Guest Psyber	After cutting a sufficient amount of the tendrils so as to change what the creature seems to be doing, Psyber stops and sighs, holding the sword up and hoisting it across his shoulders. He does have a plan left, while he's here. If this is a chronology of Nathan's life, and they're cutting this thing off from feeding and refueling on any betrayal, large or small, Psyber does have one more idea. He browses the books, picking the one he knows best. Specifically, the story of the Prank Nathan Said No To. The once-mentioned but never really expounded on betrayal that drove Nathan out of Psyber's library for a day with a prank that went Too Far. If this thing was starving for a betrayal to empower itself on, Psyber will at least bait the hook. He looks to Priscilla, "I know this is going to need your permission to work for some degree. I think you'll figure out what I'm trying to do." Psyber tosses the book up and then begins swinging the greatsword at it. The sword itself passes through the book over and over, building up until the book has a swirling vortex of purple energy around it. He holds the book up to Priscilla, undamaged but seething with her Lifehunt. And then he tosses it up and into one of the remaining tendrils of the creature. A morsel for it to snack on at an inopportune moment. And when it does, it will absorb the entire charge of Lifehunt that Psyber set as a trap.
Riva Banari	Riva works on things, closing areas up and shoring up defenses. Maybe she can find a hammer somewhere and nail up some board or something, As she peers at some of the ivy, She insinctively tries to curl parts of it over additional reinforcements, moving strands here and there as much as she can to adjust for the situation. She's not focusing on traps so much as reinforced areas, closing off sections to make them hard to access even for a tentacular horror, force it to use defined paths, remove hiding places. Her work progresses apace. She wasn't subtle about it, and the Demon knows it. However, as she works, she feels something familiar, and yet... Wrong. She spins, looking up to stare at the girl who is whispering to her. The look in those eyes... Shock hits her like ice. She takes a step back, her hands raising. "You... I... I know you." She shakes her head, one hand grasping at her temple as she shakes it, as if struggling with foggy recollection. "What are you doing here?" She asks, but the image is already gone, leaving her only with a dark, empty feeling inside, a leaden weight on her heart as foreboding grows. "You don't even exist!" She yells, uselessly into the air. With a grunt, she grits her teeth, turning to the ongoing events. One thing at a time. That's all Riva can do. "Why... Was she here?"
Nathan Hall	"I believe they are correct in a sense and incorrect in others. I do not know how much of who I am is based on its influence because I have very little access to who I am. What I know about the current situation is that I would not be what you have seen me be in the sense that I have been, without its influence. However, I do not know in this context what I was that you saw, or what I could potentially be." Nathan says, walking with Eleanor as she lays her traps. "I think perhaps you are thinking of this in too direct a way. It is possible that, if you are correct, the 'natural' state of who I am and what properties I have in the potential variety of timeline variants simply has another influence in my life take the role of the impulse to become what you have seen. Something less inherently damaging. If not, then it was not ever meant to be in the first place. But if, as you seem to have previously implied, it was something that should be, then I am sure some other influence would have filled the void." Then he makes a big shrugging gesture, a bit more exaggerated than Nathan's gestures tend to be. "It is difficult to define the precise boundaries of identity. The only thing you can reliably do is apply your principles in a well-informed way. Some branch of my timeline was well-informed that you have good intentions, though much of my access to that was later consumed. I am of the strong belief that if your group acts in good faith, whatever I am as a result of your actions will have that influence incorporated in a retroactive sense as well." He then scratches his head. "Other portions I no longer have access to were convinced of traitorous intent. So, if that is the true part, I will likely come out of this worse. So you can determine what is correct yourself."
Eleanor Lamb	Eleanor can feel the shifting of the timelines as she modifies escape routes, hardens the defenses around more critical bits of Nathan that are left, and listens as What's Left Of Nathan expounds at her. "Again, I really wish i had someone in here-" She taps at a temple with one hand as another palms a sentry next to a stack of books, "-Who was better at temporal investigation and theory. The fact that the Multiverse is as a whole... rather resistant to the machinations of time altering phenomenon makes it more difficult because when we do interact with said shenanigans it leaves many of us improperly suited to handle the situation." An ice trap near a lovely display of art of some... well, it's thogths that Nathan has so she's not looking too closely at it. Though. "I do have to admit, during one of our sessions I asked you if you thought if I was simply going to walk around inside your head using some sort of Plasmid and now..." She spreads her arms out and looks at the place in a very amused manner.
Mizuki	Some time after Shiori has faded from Riva's sight, she reappears somewhere near Psyber and Priscilla. As it was with Riva, her form constantly flickers: it's almost impossible to garner a clear impression of her physicality, yet the distinct cocktail of energies she exudes should make that completely unnecessary to determine her identity. If, of course, anything can determine her identity at the moment; Mizuki's present bout with nonexistence may well muddy memory of her and things associated with her. Doubtful that it would impact this particular pair in so profound a way, however, as to force them to forget completely. "You've found so many ways to utilize that particular quirk of her talents, haven't you? I'd be loath to think of what might happen if you were suddenly deprived of it. Yes, but you have luck on your side -- copious amounts of it, you always have. All of you do. I wonder why that is?" Shiori puts a hand to her cheek in brief contemplation. "But ah, ah, just a little more now... just a little more. A part of me wonders if you'll just kill them before I have the chance, but I guess we'll see. I can't be sure of that, either. Regardless, it's interesting to see how you handle things like this. Your ingenuity. It's laudable, in a way. Were it only applied for grander things." If one is looking at her in the brief instant before her departure, they might catch the hint of a smile. "I like your other name so much better." Then, as it was for Riva, she's gone. Likely well before anything happens to concern the trap and the demon.
Nathan Hall	Psyber's book is charged fully with Lifehunt. Well, assuming Priscilla's powers have approved it. The Nathan-Soul that is here, observing, peers at it, as if incredulous. "Hm." He says. "I feel like I should worry about segments of my history charged with abstract lifedraining power. Well, it will probably work out." He scratches his head. "Probably... Already did work out, considering you would only have affected the past just now, if anything. As long as that situation you affected worked out in the end, it is probably fine." Well, that's confidence-building! The tendril latches onto it, unthinking. Is this thing able to comprehend threats against it on anything other than a vaguely distant one? Probably not.
Nathan Hall	Riva gets a look from Nathan. It's still just a normal stoic look, though, and he speaks in that monotone way, his head tilted curiously. "I am not sure who you mean. Some people here are here in the fully correct temporal sense, some are not. But I cannot say why one way or another. Unless you have been dealing with more of these beings before, it is likely the result of complications pertaining to interactions with the Causality Demon."
Nathan Hall	"I would not worry about walking around inside my head." Nathan responds, very helpfully, at Eleanor. "You are walking around inside an artificially-constructed physical representation of the abstracted concepts of my temporal mechanics as they decay under the assault of an unknown entity that I assume originates from beyond this mode of existence. It is much, much more worrying. Presumably whatever person I am after this event is complete will be amenable to a psionic invasion if that is what you want. But, hopefully, this will make the point moot in the first place. As for temporal mechanics, I am not sure there are any consistent rules for what is happening right now in the first place. Try to play it by ear. Perhaps the entity assaulting my temporal composition knows more."
Nathan Hall	"If none of you have further matters you need to deal with in terms of refining the various conceptual impulses that have been released into this temporal stratum, then there is little business that remains of this preparation." Nathan says, shaking his head. "I can guide you back to the critical areas. While it may be cut off from its supply, and while we may technically have all the time in the world, we have very little to spare. Each abstract atemporal period of progression brings it closer to beginning to consume my soul, though you have created, will create, and are creating some ample distance between it and myself. Aside from that, you have also dealt with a large majority of the flow of power from this area, and I am aware of no other major routes of escape." "If there is nothing else, please follow me." Nathan will guide the group back to the Foyer. And back to the main assembly floor doors. And then, to the doors themselves. He will not be joining them in the battle. Nor, of course, will the battle happen in this specific chapter of the events. We'll get to that business later.
Riva Banari	"What, um, uh!" Riva freezes as she realizes Nathan caught her yelling at what was apparently some kind of temporal ghost. "I was... talking to..." Riva trails off, and looks around, coughing for a moment. "Um... They're not here. Yeah, you're right. I'll... go get back to work." She follows Nathan back to the foyer, and steadies herself. It's about to be Go Time. For reals, she thinks? Maybe? Why is she even thinking that?