Scene #5716: Chasing The Sun (3)

Owner	Pose
Carna	Those in trouble are being rescued by Balences. Paird's eye-in-the-sky-reporting has helped in locating others in trouble, as the PRAYER System comes back on line, allowing people to start saving themselves as well. And further, it has caused people who have intruded from the outside to start communicating on the radio as well. Coordination is occurring, even if the residents of Emblem City do not yet know that those they are coordinating with come from without. As disturbing as the interruption was, it seems things are going to be okay. Everyone can go back to living out their happy eternities. Phoebe and Coeus both are here. Who can stand up to such power? What invader could possibly escape their justice and their wisdom? Suddenly, all of the Selenes in a very large area freeze up, as if paralyzed. Those inside the art gallery face people-golems that no longer react or respond. The people who were headed to the Blue Tower can make it inside by their various means, even knocking them aside harmlessly. They see the library-tower's lobby full of Selenes, with the confused and scared noble souls of the dead on either side trying to get a glimpse into the gallery, Nkaleri Technis, where all the Selenes headed and the cries of 'intruders' came from. A carpet of black extends all the way from the Temple of Phoebe, and seems to be woven into the joints and bodies of the Selenes. Struggling out of that carpet of black, an ordinarily cartoonish face, now deadly serious, emerges. Slit-eyed, quad-fanged-mouth set in a struggling grimace. Crow says, "I can't hold them... For very long." The searing hole through its torso, the huge blade of light that pierced it, is still back there, at Phoebe's temple. But that light also extended the shadows, allowing Crow to extend itself as well. The Shadow pulls itself up by thin limbs, so much of itself spread out to infiltrate the shadows inside of each Selene, and thus control them, that the strength to do much else is very limited.
Carna	"Get them... Out of here." Crow instructs hoarsely to Staren, and the far-corner-dwelling Carna, as the Lantern looks upon a painting of two children holding the hands of their mother and father. The only 'happy' painting in the entire corridor. Then she looks to the Shadow, unrecognizing. But she knows her duty. "That is our intent." she mutters, starting to stalk forwards again but staying out of range of the golems, even paralyzed as they are. That was part of the instructions given moments ago by Priscilla. Then a voice filled with divine power speaks. "So you can use them that way too. Interesting." A stone mask has formed on one of the walls of the gallery, pushing aside paintings as the wall deforms around it. "You have run far enough. I have many questions for you. All three of us do, but mine come first." Crow tries to turn its scrawny 2-D body around to face the masked being, but with half of itself still at the Temple, impaled upon a giant flaming sword-laser, there just isn't enough to spare, and it is soon bound to the floor by beams of red light from Coeus's mask. This time, as Crow is paralyzed by the beams, there will be no more escapes. The black turns to red... Though Crow refuses to leave the Selenes, meaning all of the Selenes that the Shadow hijacked and wove together along the way to the tower are still paralyzed. But now, Priscilla is in a position to help any of the escapees who approach get out of there before Coeus's beams paralyze them as well, because she is unseen. Pushing through unresponsive golems and clearing a path, while the mask remains fixated on the Shadow, is wholly possible. They can't get everyone out this time. They'll have to make do with those they can. Just knowing they have the right place is a good starting point. Or at least that Crow is here. But these strange people who are coming, some recognizable, others not, are being pulled towards them almost by psychic magnetism, their anchors drawing more and more of themselves out. Now to see if a god will actually allow them to escape a prison fashioned specifically to keep souls inside of it, as some awaken their inner selves in the face of adversity, whether for bravery, to be filled with fear, to retreat, to flee, or to wait to see what others will do first.
Leyanne	Paird's flying machine makes the careful transition from autogyro-like flight to rotor-driven flight. The pod-mounted propellors slow to a halt as they're disconnected, and the rotor is connected. Noisily, the gyrodyne lands outside the Blue TOwer and shuts down. A short while later, Paird hops out of the cockpit and enters the blue tower. Her body language is very mouselike (although not meek); she looks around every corner, seeming to sniff the air and not realising she's doing it.
Count Kord	Aepicus had so feared that he would be stuck in here forever, that he would go mad from the ceaseless monotony. But something was cracking the veil. Something was upsetting everything, and Crow getting struck isn't the only thing motivating him to move. He starts running because something about this place feels wrong. With the PRAYER system flickered just enough to show him that it is lying to him about his humanity, he began to move toward where the Selene's were collecting, the deepest area of the Tower. He must escape this place. Aepicus can feel his inner self draw, and a second voice, not his own. The voice calls out to him. It calls with a desperation, and it feels familiar and strange. Like it is someone he has known his entire life. He breaks into a sprint, shoving aside the Selenes and moves with a singleminded purpose to find the source of the voice. The overlapping personas bleed together in his mind. The man with red hair's eyes are wide the contrast makes it hard to tell what's his thoughts and what's an illusion... but the voice rings out to him again and again. It feels good. It feels safe. It has always protected him. It has guided him. And he won't let this place rob him of it. He sprints to a stop, and Aepicus, or rather, Kord by their recollection, gives a look of confusion to those gathered to invade/rescue. "Who the hell are YOU people?" He looks suddenly confused. "Why do I feel like I know you?" he adds, nervously glancing at the mask on the wall and giving a look of anxious fear.
Kushiko	She doesn't know. That's something, deep inside her. As much as she wants to make everyone happy, make /people/ happy, keep a smile on their face in one fashion or another--it was the kind of impulse that was a facade at times. Something born deep inside her, because of a past life of nothing but sorrow. She wanted to see those smiles again. Yet... she didn't completely know why? It niggled at her, just so, rising past the desire to perhaps be blissfully ignorant, to embrace the idyllic aspects of this place. Yet... she didn't know. She pressed on. Titania pressed on. The young girl known as Soupi looked both nothing like and eeriely similar to who she was. What she was. Dark-purple hair, a kind, if plain face and a techy-looking civilian bodysuit type thing was what she wore. Pressure buffeted around her as she emerged from one of her little phased dashes. She saw her own Selene here, though she was cautious this time to avoid those scarlet beams thanks in part to Titania's guidance. The robotic fairy wielded now a pair of distinct, elegant blades as she seemed to warily flutter adjacent to Soupi's forward path. She looked then--to Aepicus, to Eve. Maybe--maybe they would find smiles, as Paird might. As Jeci might. As Gil might. At least the path she made was still open as her attention falls almost mutely upon this standoff here. The shadow... was amazingly familiar, she realized. /Was that what she saw/? In the hoodie? Had to be. Must be.
Dorian Pavus	Gil stops in his tracks at the sight. What's going on? Who are these people? And why... does it all seem so familiar? Memories of some other place -- some other person -- feel like they're trying to surface. Something's changing. HE is changing. Turning it back, though -- for now he needs to figure out what to do. "What... who are you?" And then he hears the Shadow's words. Words that instantly send panic through his veins like ice. 'Get them out.' Gil's eyes widen. "You can't!" he protests. "If you do, they'll leave the cycle! They'll never be reincarnated!" That's Dorian's voice, Dorian's body... more or less. But the sound of his voice is different. He's missing that posh-sounding accent, and doesn't sound the slightest bit hoity-toity. And then, Gil does something. He DOES SOMETHING! His inaction cost someone their life when he'd been living. He isn't about to let someone take away others' next lives. Besides, he's already dead, what has he to fear? So... he makes to face the intruders. They couldn't be allowed to deny the next life to those who lived here. Those other memories... everything about what he's doing feels WRONG. But what about those here? He couldn't just think of himself; he had to think of those people! Their next life matters.
Wandering Dog	Balences is assisting people. As the 'Masked Dragon', having a new burst of confidence and memory, he's moving around the cliffs and water grabbing anyone who has fallen or needs help, shouting out. "Anyone who needs assistance, signal to me to the best of your ability! I'll be there!"
Staren	#'Paird'? Leyanne, what is this about?# Staren replies to the familiar voice. And then his AI alerts him that this 'Gil' matches Dorian's voice. #What is /going on/?!# Given they're searching alternate Lumieres, the logical conclusion is that these are alternate-universe versions of Leyanne and Dorian... but then Crow appears. "Crow?!" And instructs him to 'get them out of here'. It COULD be that an Alternate Crow has mistaken Staren for an Alternate Staren that was supposed to show up for some mission here, but... Crow knows him, and didn't adress him by some weird name like the others are using. Memory alteration to keep them trapped, maybe? #Leyanne, Dorian, come on guys, remember! We have to get out of here!# He draws his beam saber and it splits in two, and begins cutting through the Selenes. Staren's not sure how long Crow can hold them -- each one destroyed is one less Crow has to hold, and one less that will threaten them in Crow's hold breaks. Dorian speaks up. He's here? Staren looks at him. "I don't know what you're talking about, but reincarnation is broken in Lumiere and you're not dead! Besides, what good is reincarnation anyway? If you can't remember any of your past life, 'you' are still dead -- there's just someone else living in your place." It's an incredibly obvious philosophical observation, in Staren's viewpoint anyway. But people who hope for reincarnation tend not to see it that way. "What have they been telling you?"
Finna	The main trouble with this entire escapade is that Nico Zangt just cannot comprehend it. Who would seek to invade Emblem City? WHERE would they invade from? Is anything even outside it? She's not pondered too much about these things before, quite satisfied with her life of cramming her head with the books from the blue tower and, in her spare time, writing all sorts of weird social norm-challenging fiction. Roaming the city and partaking of its entertainments. It's all a blur when she tries to look back on it, and SOMETHING deep inside - something silver and hot-and-cold and intensely bright is seething whenever these crazy events happen! "What do they WANT?! They've not hurt anyone, right...?" Yeah. When you get right down to it, she hasn't even had an opportunity to TALk to these people about what they're actually after and jot it down somewhere! The Selenes she otherwise enjoys hanging around are currently IN THE WAY. Even the Gods are currently IN THE WAY of her learning what she wants to know! And nothing irritates a scholar more than knowledge being denied them! The fact that ALL HELL IS BREAKING LOOSE in Emblem City is, somehow and very curiously a VERY tertiary concern. She wants to know what the invaders are after! She MUST know! Because then she can... "Urrrrrgghhhhh..." A toothy maw of teeth grinds irritably, veins popping out on Nico's forehead. She adjusts her robes. "Grrrrr... they better not be wrecking the tower!" Silver and purple energies languidly swirl from her skin, a crescent moon glittering on her head. She whips through the remaining distance with her head full of a strange heat, hardly noticing the way she bounces along walls and around corners and comes out sliding down a staircase railing and perching on the knob at its end. "Well, here's hoping your questions include answers for me! I'm getting ANTSY!"
Tomoe	Jeci was back to her normal happy eternal life right? It wasn't a bad day was it or was it? She had been about her business at this point in time. Then something strange happens for a moment. The Selenes freeze up and she just /stops/ in her tracks what the hell is going on here? Something is very, very wrong here she thinks. She feels haunted a bit and isn't sure. What the hell do they all want this time?" She stares them down along side Nico. "Just what do you people want? What is going on here? I want to know the truth..." Her Golen eyes are full of worry here wondering just what is going on maybe she'll get her answer?
Priscilla	All of this about Phoebe and PRAYER and the gods and the cycle, about Balences and Selenes and the people here and something about a 'cycle', about Lumiere's strange people with strange powers and strange ideas, is all beyond Priscilla. Here only as a visitor --an intruder-- rather than one swept into all of this, she is missing far too much context. Even to Enark, there was no way of preparing for this; no idea of what they'd face. An entire world is here, no doubt with its own convoluted history and mechanism, and those that were brought into it were chosen for some significant reason, and have been changed by it. In the time they've been gone, an entire drama has played out behind these closed doors, and Priscilla knows none of it. She also has neither the time nor the desire to figure it out. The unfamiliar names and terms here mean nothing to her. The strange circumstances are beyond the scope of what she can decipher and work with on the spot. What actually matters is that there are people she is responsible for here; people that need her in this place and at this moment. Not the random rabble of civilian souls, for she feels no responsibility to these unfamiliar masses, but the Elites that had been lost in the line of duty to this place, and foremost of all, Crow, who had been lost in the much more personal affair of Ariamis, to whom Priscilla owes a considerable debt of responsibility. So she doesn't try to fit the puzzle together. She doesn't go much beyond what Crow has to say, inclined to listen only to the familiar face she is relieved to see, and her one, immediate chance to intervene; the kind she has learned through bitter experience not to pass up. She looks to Kord especially with a hint of subtly wide-eyed alarm, but there is no time to play doctor or plead to inner natures. She's seen this kind of thing before. She's been /subject/ to it. That, more than anything, fills her with two, highly cooperative urges: the pressing need to get them away from this place, and a deeply personal sort of cold rage against the one responsible. Priscilla will not be the one to wrangle the crowd and see the Elites out. She radios Staren instead. <<"As rare as it is, I must give thee an order at this time, Sir Staren, and so I wouldst hope thou appreciate its grave severity. See the others out. Leaveth none behind. The rabble cometh only after thou hast accounted for every one of /our/ number, first amongst the Concord, then amongst the Multiverse. See them to the twins' painting. Brook no argument. Thou art better equipped than I. I shalt see to our foremost comrade mineself.">> After that, she abruptly closes communication. It's quite probable that Staren will plenty of cover to deal with it. The scythe is in her hands. Even veiled in discorporated invisibility, the dreadful aura from the thing, and from Priscilla herself, cannot be entirely suppressed. It's the first time she has turned it upon another since its recent 'completion', and she may not have a full handle on the sheer killing influence that practically sings from the almost-eldritch weapon in her hands. That much, if anything, is all the warning the masked figure gets when the crossbreed leaps high off the upper gallery railing and plunges down through the air, following through with a full body twist that swings the heavy blade like a pickaxe to slam it straight into the newly formed mask. Priscilla doesn't need much of any context to the situation to decide to enact a swift execution. What the figure is doing to Crow is reason enough for her.
Empty Tidings	Eve's strong hand grasps a railing, just in time. She swings into an open spot between ragdolling Selenes, plants her feet, and she runs. Soupi is doing something she doesn't comprehend, trying to break through. She's right behind her, on the bridge, high above the churning waves that the Masked Dragon plunged into. She moves over and past them, towards the entrance. "Soupi! What -- what're you doing?!" She feels the same weird pull, remembers the urging to flee, and she follows both with all her warring heart. Eve runs in through the front door. She skids to a halt, black-clad and scarlet-haired, on the periphery of a battle between gods and strangers. She interposes her right arm and that filigree-covered glove between her and them, and scans the room furtively from the edges, trying to find anything -- anything! -- like a way out.
Carna	Paird looks as she normally does again, no unusual physical features unless those were part of her soul-shaped form in the first place. Obviously she is also smaller, as noted. She sees the same sighs as the others. The library-and-gallery-goers now displaced on either side of the lobby, with a frozen tide of Selenes locked in place so that they can not interfere with anyone heading towards the gallery. Easily pushed past, aside, gone around, flown over, or similar for those with the abilities. She, like Aepicus, like Soupi, comes across a sight of the protectors of Emblem City facing off against the intruders, but paralyzed. The hoodie-wearing figure from before, potentially behind the attack on Phoebe's temple that damaged the PRAYER System and nearly sent souls falling down into infinity, lies pinned on the floor by one of Coeus's masks that has deformed a gallery wall in order to lance out energy beams from its eyes and pierce the strange shadow-monster. And before her eyes, before the eyes of Soupi and Gil as well, one of the intruders steps forth with energy swords of some kind and starts mercilessly cutting down their protectors and companions while they are locked in place and unable to so much as defend themselves. Those starting to remember more of who they are, feeling the memories coming jaggedly into their skulls more and more as a... Core of 'self' outside of their soul draws them forth, in the possession of these intruders, may have a starkly different impression compared to those who are still loyal to Emblem City, who still want to be happy here with everyone else, and see the Selenes, odd as their behavior is, as more evidence that they are protectors, and that the intruders are hostile. Those who are remembering some of their 'other' selves may view the Selenes not as protectors, but as jailors, as spies keeping an eye on them all and now trying to stop their escape (to where though, as Soupi wondered? What can be 'outside' of the after life? Is this an escape to the living world?), or as something else entirely. Hands gratefully reach for Balences. Those who died young especially cheer for the Masked Dragon, and trust him as he tells them what to do. A woman pinned beneath a fallen pillar that Coeus' masks have not yet begun to repair calls out, and extends her hand to the heroic performer, while those around her, regaining their powers, start to work to lift it. But it seems none of them invested in super strength, and their flight is not sufficient to extend to a giant column of lights and blue steel.
Carna	"The dysphoria you feel," Coeus begins to answer Aepicus and Jeci, or perhaps just to address all of the Elites piling into the gallery, and to refute Staren's claims. "is due to the sabotage caused by this shadow creature. A viral infection to the PRAYER System that attempts to corrupt it and all of the souls of our noble city. They are the monsters that Phoebe guards our borders from, using some trickery to steal past our defenses and try to trick souls into leaving beyond the borders of the after life, to a realm of endless torment and void. Do not succumb to their deceptions." As Staren cuts through Selenes, more masks appear in the ceiling and walls. It is good that Titania is guarding Soupi, but there is a feeling that the beams that will emerge this time are not meant for paralyzing. Getting caught in them by accident may mean a more dire fate than that. Not that Soupi would likely remember being caught in them in the first place, except in deja vu-like flashes. "I shall put it all to right shortly." Beams of white trace through the air, sweeping like whips, or like flexible blades, to slice in complex webs towards Staren. Where they burn, Priscilla, Nico, and Soupi may see trailing images of a different place in the eye-searing after-glow. A place steeped in Moonlight. This God In The Walls uses one of the same Powers that they have dealt with in Lumiere, though for clearly very different ends. Priscilla's scythe slams into the mask pinning Crow, piercing and cracking the wall. And it is like attacking a wall. The wall breaks under the force and the power of the weapon, and the streams of red light cancel out, freeing Crow, and the Selenes it extended the paralysis field to by contact as well.
Carna	Carna was told that fighting isn't their main objective. Retrieving the missing is. And that painting back there with the children and their parents is their exit point, not the one they came in through, apparently. She has no reason to trust Priscilla, at all. Everything she knows about herself is what others have claimed was true when they told it to her. But in this situation, with the pressures from all sides, she does not question. She simply DOES. Half of her very being is made up of a soul with undying loyalty. She may not know why she is loyal, or even to whom or what exactly, but her duty is what compels her. And the other half of her, who noticed that one painting, has undying curiosity and need for knowledge, to fill the emptiness inside. So that half is also satisfied by discovering more of this painting. For once in Carna's existence, all parts of herself are in total agreement. That there is something else in her head whispering to her, egging her on, that is NOT part of herself, telling her to go that way as well, just makes it all that much easier. She charges forth as the Shadow is released and loses its grip on the people-golems in the process, its thinly-threaded shadows slipping free, and the darkness-with-a-face beings backsliding out of the gallery, its last defiant act being to hurl the golems it still has a hold on into the air to try to intersect the moon-laser webs in immediate danger of slicing through its allies, seen and unseen. "This way!" the red-haired Lantern says, her attire change making her nearly unrecognizable as Carna to those who haven't seen her without her mask and high collar, or that big hat she always wears, but the voice, and those hungry crimson eyes the same as always. "Head all the way down the corridor until you see a painting of a family, and then step into it!" She is carrying the family crest of Dorian Pavus, that she and Enark retrieved from a noisome individual. Staren has Count Kord's Murkrow in a pokegem. Priscilla carries Kushiko's anchor, a pendant. And as they come closer to these people who look either like-but-different, basically the same, or completely unlike those they came to save, Gil VI, Aepicus, and Soupi feel their true selves being drawn out, and a feeling of the home they must return to not being here. And something whispers in Eve's head. Something filthy and unwholesome and Wrong, a presence that coils through the corridor leading out of here. Come this way! Come this way! Let me eat you up! You are not ready to leave yet, no, no, Child of Brass. You still have work to do. But if you wish to reach your end early, by all means, we await your offering! The borders of that cordoned-off passage with the creepy paintings seems like twin pairs of jaws, or like fingers attached to nothing squirm at the edges, holding it open like a wound.
Leyanne	Paird watches what's going on with horror. She fumbles for the pistol at her hip, drawing it in her left hand and pulls herself tight against the wall. The pistol is long-barreled, magazine-fed autorevolver using the Dardick system - Leyanne's sidearm of choice. She leans out of cover, about to take a hasty shot at the intruders when Staren speaks. #Who the fuck is Leyanne?# She replies over the radio. #And why are you cutting down the Selenes? They're here to protect us. Serve us, while we wait reincarnation.#
Wandering Dog	Balences feels stronger. Faster. It started in the water, and it's still coming. He'd never used PRAYER...but that doesn't matter, does it? Some stories talk about how some get powers in moments of grave situation. Superheroes don't always ask for their powers. He cracks his fingers as he sees the woman stuck under the pillar. "I'm coming! I'll be able to lift that!" But can he? Balences has never done this before. Why should he be able? Because he's a hero. And more than that, he's the most powerful hero. Balences is seeing weird visions. He's getting powers. But it'll be fine. He'll be fine. Moving over towards the woman, Balences moves to grab leverage of the pillar. "Alright, everyone! On three! One...two..." "Three!" On the count, he's hoping everyone will unite their strength to push the pillar aside, his muscles burning as he moves to lift it. He's shouting loud enough that anyone nearby can not only hear him...but that's definitely Wandering Dog's voice, no question about it.
Staren	More people show up. Staren's attempt to cut a swath through the selenes is halted by... "Leyanne?! You're HUMAN?!" But before more can be said, MOON LASERS. They slice into his forcefield like a powersaw into a block of tough wood. The field, taking the shape of nested translucent amber spheres (which also make his swords shut off so he doesn't cut his own field) is optimized against energy attacks, so seeing an energy weapon that can do this to it... Staren doesn't want to see what happens if it hits his armor. He starts dodging, and then Crow buys another moment by flinging the selenes into the lasers. Staren spies someone who looks like... like if Kord was a fictional character redesigned for a reboot. He's got the same tail, too... And that reminds him, what he's supposed to be doing, what he brought. The swords shut off, and then become just the one hilt, which Staren clips to his waist quickly before reaching into his bag and pulling out a pokegem, which he holds out towards Kord. "Kord! Don't you remember your First Partner? I choose you, Murkrow!" And there's another familiar voice. Staren stashes the pokegem while reaching in for something else, turning to Jeci. "The truth? You've been stolen away and trapped here by the Lord of Fear! Your friends and family miss you! Remember!" Dodge dodge dodge, here and there a laser clipping his field -- he may have to take to the air, Cait Sith-like wings manifesting on his armor. "Dorian! Finna?!" He catches sight of another familiar face. "You too! We have to get out of here!" He watches them, especially Kord, to see how they respond. He really doesn't look forward to having to try and grab people and force them if it comes to that. Especially if they remember how to be accomplished physical combatants... "Reincarnation?" Staren shouts back to Paird. "I've offered you _immortality_! Offer's still open, by the way!"
Dorian Pavus	'Dorian'. Dorian, Dorian... That name. Gil knows that name. But from where? Was he someone Gil knew in life? Intending to go after the 'intruders', Gil... stops. The confusion is too great. Something calls him forward, out of this world... and something else calls him back, away from this and back to the arms of the three protectors Prometheus, Coeus, and Phoebe. 'Coeus has spoken.' ''('But Coeus is wrong.')'' 'He's trying to protect us.' ''('He's trying to keep us imprisoned.')'' 'But look at the people cutting down the Selenes, they're meant to keep us safe...' ''('They're meant to keep us PLACATED, while we languish in this prison forever.')'' 'That's not true. I know.' ''('You KNOW, and you allow it. Save them. FREE them!')'' Another voice. His voice, but not his own. Different, but somehow the same. Something calls to him, calls him forward where the strange people are destroying the Selenes -- '...Our protectors' ''('Our CAPTORS!')'' Towards Carna, who holds that piece of who he was. But the lasers... they're going to hurt the people coming to take them out of here... Dorian doesn't have his staff at the moment, but he still has his magic. Perhaps it was Staren's call of his name -- and it is, he suddenly realizes; that is HIS name! But suddenly, from across where all those lasers are being fired... Gil -- or perhaps it's Dorian now -- acts. He casts a Barrier... over the rescuing Elites. Well, as many of them as he can. He probably won't be able to get them all.
Tomoe	Jeci is very much afraid here but she's not moving to run the hell away from this she can't it's not whom she is. She looks at the Indruders trying to drag their souls away to some sort of etneral damnation. "What right do you ah ve to drag us away from here?! She looks at Staren she feels like she knows him somehow but it fades mostly. "I'm where I should be I died a long time ago!" Jeci seems admant and that tone? The way she's carrying herself and that annoyance at Staren? She's very annoyed that sort of annoyance is a more personal thing flaring up at Staren. "News flash everyone of us is dead waiting for Reincarnation." She looks to be facing down Staren now, she has no weeapon it see,s but she's clearly trying to get between him and the others. "Leave us dead in peace!"
Finna	The Moonlight that's being let in from those strange beams and the world they expose causes Nico's aura to sizzle and billow weirdly and give off some motes to an unseen wind. Her eyes are drawn to it. The alleged scholar pulls back her hood to get a better look and-- And rapidly whips out a piece of paper from somewhere and starts sketching out what she's seeing. People, territory, everything. In fact her pencil's moving at high speed without her even looking at what she's jotting down. Then she notices what Staren is doing to the Selenes... and she actually gets ANGRY. While they're just being a nuisance to her right now, that's outright destruction of Emblem City's paradise gear in a way that previous incidents didn't feature! "Shame on you! Savage fiend! Get lost or get wrecked!" She finally spouts, briefly pausing the writing efforts to brandish a hand tipped with wicked-looking claws. But then she hears a name. One that leaves her weirdly gobsmacked. She's left staring, jaw-dropped a bit at Staren as he goes on frantically merry way sowing chaos in the tower... "Wha...?"
Count Kord	Coeus has a point. Aepicus doesn't actually know what's out there. He doesn't know these people. He's no reason to trust them. They're intruding, and everything went to hell only because they showed up. But then... Why is he smiling about that? Is he insane? The look he gives Coeus is something mad, his inner fury starting to boil up. Years of abuse and negligence by gods or god-like beings while they were content in their little bubbles started to come up. His hands go up to his head, and the fear makes his head want to pop. Who is he? "Who am I?" A flash of red, and a flit of black wings, and a crow-like being emerges from the Pokegem. The creature flits through the air, and Aepicus reacts with fright at first, and his hands go up to guard his face... until the bird lands on his hand, and settles down. The wizened creature looks up at him. The Pokemon stares him in the eyes. It isn't a heartfelt reunion. The bird just leans in and pecks him right on the forehead with a firm CLONK!!! "DAMN IT, YOU DUMB BIRD, HOW MANY TIMES--" He actually chokes on his words when he realizes what he's saying. He clutches the Murkrow to his chest and just starts running where he was indicated to go, because his real self is breaking through. The Murkrow closes her eyes and seems to... smile?
Priscilla	The Lifehunt Scythe passes into the wall as a steel spike into brittle ice. The fact that the 'God in the Walls', or 'Lord of Fear' hasn't properly felt it can only be due to a well-advised retreat. Priscilla wrenches the weapon free without difficulty, staring about the room for further signs of her mark. She even drops her invisibility, becoming plain as day, in hopes it might provoke a reappearance. She downs the stairs, into the crowd, close to the Elites mixed into it, in order to reach Crow, but he is already gone by then, drawn back to the point at which he is crucified into this pocket reality's tapestry. "Thou shalt not." Priscilla calls out. "That task falls to I, beginning with the departure of thine conniving head from thine craven body, scheming coward and liar. If thou art the god and defender of this realm, then step forth to defend it! I care not to unravel thine designs whence thine head wouldst suffice. Thou shalt not hold what is mine for long." She seems wholly fixated on what she sees as the root of all this, scarcely noticing the panic and confusion of the people here, and caring even less to disabuse them of their misconceptions and claim to be their saviour. Their 'god' not being there for them is enough by her reckoning. If the mask owns this realm, then it becomes hers when she kills him, and then she can do with it what she wills. The fact that she is carrying an anchor while shouldering into the crowd is almost an accident. "Any who recognize mine voice, /throw/ the others through the gates if thou must! There is not the time to delicately unravel thine confusion! Trust in thine /eyes and ears/ and see plainly how thine great defenders hath so ignored thee! I care not what else thou think, so long as thou art away from this place!" Any of the Selenes that start moving after Crow is gone that get in her way are going to get summarily mowed down. She wants to at least /see/ where that long shadow stretches all the way back to; where the sword of light pins this world at its crux.
Empty Tidings	Someone starts shouting about a way out. Eve's heart leaps. She starts to stand, having unconsciously dropped into a half-crouch to keep her profile low. Hesitating, Eve sinks back into the background of the whole situation, slinking away from the mix of violence and emotionally-charged words that she simply has no context to understand. The figure with the scythe calls out. Eve does not recognize her voice in the slightest. She backs away, a mix of confusion and fear on her face. If they're attacking, where is the ones who should be defending them? If this is from outside... no. It doesn't make any sense. Changing the order of things -- why would they? She turns to flee, and finds herself staring down a path that opens only to her. She sees something unnatural about it. She feels something resonate with it nonetheless, deep in her bones. Eve stops, staring for a scant few seconds before the voice speaks to her. She puts a hand to the side of her head, the sensation of filth spreading across the surface of her brain making her writhe on the spot. "N... no. No no no --" She backs away. Eve runs back for the way she came in, darting past the outsiders and past the battle... and right for the side of the pathway, to fling herself into the churning waves below.
Kushiko	That's right. It wasn't memory--the sense of deja vu in some bizarre fashion. The way Soupi reacted influenced how Titania herself reacted. Get out of here. Keep moving. She moved--both she and the fairy, moved further towards the location, though not in a direct path, no. Truth be told, she was already being /tugged/ on, in some insidious fashion, however welcome it might be. The problem that faced Kushiko's very existence is terrible in more ways than she's ever let on. Why would she? Being put here let her /live/ like a normal girl. It let her live in a way she never could dream of. "But why... why are all of you... why are we doing this?!" Such a sentiment can only rise after Coeus begins to explain, not just to Aepicus and Jeci, but to everyone present here. The mention of Phoebe momentarily seems to placate as Titania warily adjusts her blades in response, nearing Soupi just a bit more as she stops short, only to watch that strange... comforting... why does it feel so much nicer to be around the scythe-wielding woman to-- The anchor was in close enough proximity to it's owner. Something that should never have been, were it not for this situation. And from it, came a lilting voice, rising in response to that strange, 'PRAYER'-based power she sometimes exhibited. It was gentle. It was a lullaby, and it was something that seized Soupi. Her very speech was broken, akin to someone incapable of speech trying to regain it for the first time as she strained out the words, hands reaching and clinging, gripping her head, "Muh, ma... moh...!!" Her knees buckled and she screamed. But it wasn't a normal, human scream. It resonated, it made teeth and bone /ache/ for those singularly unprepared for it as some turbulent energy erupted from her body. In this instant, Kushiko was truly and completely revealed: the corpulent black flesh around her eye. The somatics on her face, the asynchronous glow in her eyes. Titania seemed to falter, the fairy robot cyborg spasming from the extradimensional energy rioting outward in billowing waves. The Void itself. The connections she had. She was taken from them. She was taken before. She was used. She was a weapon. The soft lines of her mother's face. She missed her mom, even as her blood dripped her fingertips. That scream narrowed into a single point as the image flickered in front of her mind. Transference energy with no place to go was focused into a narrow beam of extradimensional energy to carve a path through the Moonlight she could see. Instinct, pure instinct for a few fleeting moments as the Sun and Moon of her psyche momentarily rebelled against her locked away trauma. Trauma that had been taken advantage of to keep her happy here. She wasn't happy anymore. Yet as much as she had sent that beam of pure Void energies outward, she needed to get moving, pulling herself to her feet, returning to that appearence of Soupi once again. She staggered, she ran as much as she could; the problem is as powerful as she was within her Warframe, she was not in it now. All she could do was run as a young girl could run.
Carna	Ugh! Doesn't anyone know how to follow directions!? Staren is also encouraging people to move along. Carna has no idea who she is supposed to know and who she's not. One girl seemed to be heading for the corridor then freaked out and ran away. Maybe something to do with the laser webs from the wall-and-ceiling masks?? Or the ensuing crazy dragon lady appearing and shouting at everyone??? Or people changing appearances and personalities out of nowhere??????? It could be literally any of those, or all of them, or some of them, or none of them. She doesn't have adequate information on who exactly the targets are. 'Rescue our own people first'. Okay, and who are those? SHE DOESN'T KNOW. But she assumes that the anchors they brought, the family seal of Dorian's she carries that appears to have gotten a man to recover himself in tandem with Staren yelling the man's name, is helping to draw out memories from that person. And she hopes that maybe she learns something from this, and finds something of her own that can help her remember everything too. But if this guy who is now putting up protective barriers over them doesn't get a move on... Well, any means necessary. She leaves the guy who yells at birds to Staren, and attempts to bodily lift Dorian and run with him under her arm like she's fleeing with one of the statues scattered around the wrecked art gallery, towards the painting at the far end. She attempts to scoop up Kushiko under her other arm along the way because she was about to pass the young girl, and this just seems faster. If they don't do something to convey themselves between that point and their arrival, then she also attempts to shovel them through the painting that bends and resists them like a membrane of some kind, but eventually 'pops' their limbs, heads, bodies, and associated other parts and belongings through to whatever lies on the other side.
Carna	Jeci, Nico, and Paird, all stand against these dubious 'rescuers'. Their actions are at complete odds with their words! 'Use your eyes and ears' one of them says as she slices through unresisting protectors. Their eyes and ears tell them these are very bad people, preaching salvation while committing murder. And they seem to have already somehow overridden the souls of three people... Corrupted them! Yes, their thoughts, and maybe another voice in their subconscious that is not entirely theirs, tell them... Coeus is doing all he can to protect them. They should run from this place for now, so that they can be protected more easily. No matter how enticing that strange sensation of being drawn here might be, clearly it is endangering their very souls. Poor loyal Gil. Poor grumpy Aepicus. Poor little Soupi. Tricked, and now stolen away. And if they don't run... They might be next...! And besides, it's almost time for nightly maintenance. How did the day pass by so fast? Maybe that wuill fix all of this nonsense, and boot these monsters disguised as people out of here! So run home, like good little souls. You don't want to be caught outside with the trouble makers.
Carna	Priscilla sees when she pushes out of the lobby of the Blue Tower. She sees the great blue ocean spreading outwards all around it, reflecting the tower upside-down so that it appears to extend both upwards to the heavens, and down, into a second set of heavens. She sees people looking in terror upon the figure that emerges, slicing through their protectors and companions, and stone masks mending fallen structures with beams of blue light, as a masked figure, a hero, with a superhuman effort lifts a huge pillar off a trapped woman, and those working alongside him exert similar effort but with far less effectiveness due to not possessing that same strength. The masked figure, though disguised, calls out in a recognizable voice, Wandering Dog's. But Balences is unlikely to respond to or recognize it. What he may instead see when the woman has been rescued, the pillar starting to be supported by the masks that appear in the ground to emit their repairing beams, to put to right what has been damaged, is that terrible scythe-wielding villain descending the steps of the giant tower that shines cerulean in the light of the sinking cobalt-hued sun that burns towards the horizon like a comet. Some people nearby, already rescued by the Masked Dragon, try to help Eve up when she hurls herself into the water. She's already dead, so it's not like she'll drown. But the Selenes are putting themselves between Priscilla and the souls of the dead in ever greater numbers, linking hands, sacrificing themselves to any further scythe attacks. As much as it pains them, it gives them hope that their gods have not abandoned them. The Selenes are the creations of Coeus. And they stand against these intruders to the last.
Carna	Priscilla also sees futuristic buildings out of some utopian blend of sci-fi and fantasy, of sky bridges of spun glass and crystal, people flying through the air, teleporting around as they try to recover from the disaster, and those damnable stone masks everywhere, fixing everythin. And a wall of Selenes that continue to move into her path as she cuts them down like weeds. Whether it was Coeus that fled her or one of the thousands of other masks like the ones trying to fix everything, is hard to say, and likely unimportant in her vengeance-bent mindset. But she sees. A figure that truly puts meaning to the term 'titanic'. A giant of light and flame, a woman standing hundreds of miles away, but plain as day, a burning sword of ridiculous scope extending from there towards the city. Visible over all the buildings, at the edge of the horizon, a thunder storm of red lightning crashing around her as her heat disturbs the heavenly cloud layers all around. Crow is not visible from here, but the sword is pointed over there somewhere, a place brightly lit. A cage of light to trap a Shadow, like that Fake-Kord used in Lumiere, though of a vastly different scope and nature. Fighting her way to the other end of the city to face that behemoth, especially as the Selenes take no action to attack, just putting themselves inbetween defenseless civilians, unknowing prisoners, and one who has come out swinging while speaking of how weak and cowardly one of their gods is, is going to send the exact wrong impression, and risk not getting those they came in for out of here. Does she care? Maybe not. But maybe someone will shout some sense to her if she doesn't regain control. Or maybe Soupi remembering who she really is will be enough to shock her out of it. This is the enemy's home turf. It is under their control, the people under their sway, and it seems there is more than one godly foe to deal with. Even if Priscilla were to succeed in killing one, could she kill the other too? With what casualties to her side? And what if there's more than two? Is she up to battling an entire Pantheon right here, right now, with her own stated mission objective of rescue on the line?
Carna	The Moonlight's image still burns in Nico Zangt's mind. The image of what was revealed. A better world. But a lonelier one. Does she want to be alone again? She made some detailed notes and sketches. She might learn somethin from them. Jeci Tsu stood up for what was right. People managed to flee the intruders while she defended them. More behavior like this in the future will be rewarded, she may feel. Paird has to warn people about these people! These intruders! She was there, and saw everything! With her speed and her inventing skill, she can pass the word to everyone! She'll remember what she saw tomorrow. Balences got to do what he'd dreamed of finally. He got to save people. In a time of crisis, when he was tested, he prevailed. He SAVED people! His family will be so proud of him. He will definitely remember this feeling, and so will they. Eve Ren will remember everything.
Carna	Fleeing, fleeing through the painting of two children, a boy and girl, each holding the hand of one of their parents, their mother and father. Their smiles visible, but their eyes and everything above, including the parents themselves above their forearms, cut off by the top of the painting. Not through the painting of Escher, but through this other painting, the only one that seems remotely 'happy'. When they make it through, the paints distorting and stretching around them like a filthy film. And then... POP They emerge out the other side, in a place brightly lit. Smelling of nature, of water, of fresh air, of sun. The sky is clearer, more blue, than it has been in centuries on many Earths, but the cityscape in the distance, and the theme park just down the green grassy hill they stand on, are slender, graceful structures. High-tech, but it seems there is little to no pollution of any kind. The Moon is faintly visible on the horizon due to the hour growing later. Even at this time, it is lit up across much of its surface. The Moon has been colonized. Where exactly are they? What is this? Earth?
Staren	Staren bristles at Finna's words. But... he's not really used to being scolded for doing something /wrong/. No, this is the feeling of being /right/ and scolded by someone who doesn't understand. He's almost always right, after all. Righteous anger and indignation rise in him, and he lashes out. "You're one to talk about being SAVAGE! You IDIOT, have you spent so much time as an animal it's made your brain too dumb to understand--" He shouts at her, and then freezes mid-rant. Then he stammers, "I mean... I didn't... I'm sorry!" It's a good thing the lasers have stopped, or man would that have been an embarassing way to get cut down. Staren has time to remember the mission, refocus. Kord and Dorian seem willing to leave under their own power. Carna grabbed that girl. Staren looks between Jeci, and Paird, and Nico. Could he really overpower any of them, one-on-one, let alone one-on-three. He runs after Priscilla. Safety in numbers. Together with the First, maybe they can overpower one of the others and bring them out. If not... together they're less likely to get ambushed and trapped here, at least!
Leyanne	Paird looks blankly at Staren. She listens to his words then Coeus' beam hits him, and he retreats a little. He starts to dodge, the blue-haired woman watching him move. She blinks at his words, watching him, and his friends... corrupting, doing something to the others? She shakes her head. "No." She says. "This... this is wrong." She backs away, firing her pistol at the intruders as she goes. Her aim isn't all that good, and she's not exactly shooting to wound, more to dissuade pursuit. Priscilla will see and hear the gyrodyne take off and return towards Paird's home
Finna	This is INCREDIBLY confusing. But for the first time since this mess began, Nico's mind is at least somewhat clear. Her lips press together thinly in consternation. Sure, she hears the voice telling her to leave, but she waits a bit longer so she can sketch a few more faces into her journal. Nobody's flung anything dangerous her way - only words - so she's content to study and pick up more information. Because tomorrow, she wants to research! "I'll get them back, away from whatever corruption you're lambasting them with! Who am I supposed to tease every day with Aepicus gone?!" She sounds pretty upset, alright, but it's tempered and focused in a way that's rather uncharacteristic for the girl this truly is. Only as things are drawing to an apparent close and the hour grows late does she reluctantly - and with flickers of rage in her eyes - take a flying leap back up the stairs and dash away, clutching her journal.
Tomoe	Jeci sees the carnage see sthe people claiming to /save them/? It's horrible it's very horrible really the thingds the people are claiming what's happening to Soupi to Gil to Aepious? This is nightmare fuel to Jeci. She feels the urve to run before her souls ends up devoured like the others are but part of her feels odd about this she can't place it but it vanishes rapidly for the moment. "Bastards..." She does not want to run but she is not ready to deal with this, the bank robbeery that killed her comes to mind, she did save that teller but at the cost of her own life she can't do anyone else good if she's not ready. With that Jeci is getting the hell out of dodge here it's time to flee.
Dorian Pavus	Comparisons to a statue aren't too terribly unfair. Gil -- or Dorian, or whoever he is now; there's some confusion, even for him -- had frozen where he was, uncertain as the two identities seemed to quarrel within his mind. Hands go to his head, his skull feels like someone's hitting with a hammer, and the loud mental clammor of both identities trying to assert dominance over the other is ''painful''. Suddenly he finds himself lifted! "Ah! Wh-what the--?!" And in the next instant? A snarky tone that might be familiar to those who know him, even a little. "I'm fairly certain one generally offers dinner or a drink before trying to sweep a man off his feet!" Despite his words, though... he's not fighting the grip. Somehow... he knows. More than that, the tone is posh and he has his accent back! This close to his anchor, that family crest, and going further away from Emblem, the identity of 'Gil' has nothing to hang onto. It begins to slip and fall away from his mind, that identity, its shouts becoming softer and softer. And then he can think again, free from that other identity. He's going to be confused for a while, with such a mental thrashing. But at least he's free again. ...Free... and incredibly PISSED!
Kushiko	It kind of sucks to be in this body, so to speak. Soupi--no, Kushiko, could barely walk and move properly--only adrenaline had gotten her this far. She had tried, unbeknownst to Carna whom she barely recognized in her current state, to do that weird PRAYER dash--and nearly had, but it's better still to be helped. There was a power here, something that was locked away from her. But this... this trauma, this forced memory system left her feeling ragged and worn beyond any kind of words. And it had made a crack in there. The fleeting image didn't hold, but she was out. And... ...She felt /hollow/. It was owed to a lack of her Warframe. The sensations of going through the painting besides, the appearence of others still, of Dorian whom she registered, surely, but did not yet make a full cognitive recognition of. Presuming that Carna actually let her down, her hands end up scraping and dragging against the ground beneath her, unsure even now if she's /back/ for a few moments. Such is the way this is. Void energy /bleeds/ like smoke from hands, Transference energy without a place to go, the girl quietly panting. "G... give it back, give it /back/, give it back, I need it..." she begins to quietly beg--what it is, what she needs may be anyone's guess, but it's twofold: what Priscilla brought with her, and her Warframe. The latter might be coming later.
Priscilla	The sight outside the doors is not what Priscilla was prepared for. Then again, she hadn't envisioned anything specific at all. Everything about this place is so surreal and without any context at all that it's hard for her to feel more than shallowly shocked. In this chaotic and hostile territory, anything and everything could happen; such is the plasticity of the personal realms created by egos like this. The size of the flaming figure does not dissuade her. She has no confidence that a direct confrontation would be easy, but Priscilla has long been beyond the point where sheer grandeur intimidates her. Her head is already filled with a rushing stream of thoughts of how to close the distance, how to avoid interference, how to mitigate the huge unknown of the stone faces everywhere, and how to sever the connection to that cage of light. Her eyes rapidly flick back and forth across the chaos in the cityscape, her gaze steely, intense, and turning gears fast enough to burn. She looks at one side to the fleeing populace, another to the gathered stonewall of seemingly infinite Selenes, then up to the fleeing copter, clearly recognizing an outlier where she sees it. Her fingers tap faintly along the length of her scythe. Her tail twitches with the thoughtful motions of a cat measuring the pounce, or the sway of snake sizing up the strike. Kushiko explodes out of the crowd, unveiled by the locket that Priscilla had carried here; come with only intent to bring her and the others back. Others come back to their true selves, as Staren tries his hardest. She remembers Enark sitting back at the hall, vulnerable and waiting for her direction. Even Carna is struggling to follow commands she doesn't understand and doesn't trust. Now isn't the time. Priscilla believes she has the means to succeed, only at the cost of one or more of the vulnerable and confused evacuees at her back. As much as it quietly grinds her teeth, she has to accept it. If Enark can find the way back here, she will try again. It will be easier to strike when she hasn't already revealed her presence and alerted the whole realm. Heroic charges aren't her. A calculated, swift and bloody push is. Breathes deeply, swirls of blue motes gathering on her breath, concentrating in her chest, but after several moments, she exhales it only as a faint vapour of glittering frost, resting her scythe back on her shoulder as Staren rushes to her side, depending on her presence for surety in these circumstances. She looks to him, then looks to the woman he reveals as Finna. The corner of her lips twitches as he stumbles over himself to apologize, but her gold slitted eyes remain cold and razor edged. "Leave her." she intones to Staren. "She is not worth that string of thine heart." From there, she turns her back to his and sweeps out the closest surrounding Selenes. "To the painting. Thou knowest as well as I how we shalt proceed. Thou shalt hath thine chance once more, but whence thou returneth, thou shalt do so with thine deadliest weaponry. Gather the others. We shalt go no further without ample preparation." Priscilla turns back, serving rear guard on the Elites sensible enough to flee, and trailing them back towards Carna and Enark. Swift and purposeful, she finds the girl bleeding with the tendrils of the Void, and physically hauls her away, not having the time or inclination to calm Kushiko on the spot, dragging her if needed. She sticks with Staren to hold off any pursuit necessary, until the last escapee has been cajoled through the Meaningfully Placed painting and to the other side.
Staren	Staren simply nods to Priscilla, turns, and beelines for the painting, flying. He sure hopes she has some idea where it goes and how to get back to the rest of the Multiverse from there...
Carna	Two children come running over the crest of the hill, the same ones from the painting. A young boy and girl. Both red-haired, though the boy is a bit lighter red, and the girl a bit darker red. The run laughing and playing across the vividly green grass, chasing each other, or chasing nothing at all, running in loops and circles. A short time after them, coming more slowly than the running, laughing children, are a man in some sort of casual wear at least recognizable as human fashion. By his side, holding his hand, is a red-haired woman in an airy white sundress and sunhat. The latter is startlingly recognizable, at the very least, as the woman that came with them to rescue the missing. The woman who escaped through the painting with them. Her eyes are not red, but a coppery brown. She is... Smiling. She looks content. Happy. She is otherwise identical to Carna. Or maybe to the woman whose form Carna wears. A Living woman. Are they... ...Is this the Living World? From before everything in Lumiere broke? Time travel? Transportation to a different version of Lumiere's Earth? An illusory recreation like the fake of Ariamis? Carna is looking everywhere, not seeming to realize that woman is practically identical to her, instead scanning for threats. They who so recently escaped imprisonment, the memories of another person's life still fresh in their minds, along with the realization of who they truly are, probably have quite enough to think about, to discuss, without this unusualness. Unfortunately, as with so many things in Lumiere, fate is not that kind.
Carna	Carna says, "Something is wrong. We need to get out of here." She looks all around for an exit, but the painting frame they entered through is gone. They have been stranded in wherever and whenever this is. The two kids have run about so much that they have gotten dizzy and fallen down, where they lay panting on their backs on the grass and clover, looking up at the sky. The husband and wife smile at their kids, and then move closer together to talk quietly between them, looking down at the amusement park they spent the day at. The lights of a carnival, the smells and sounds, still carrying on the wind as the night-time park starts to come to life. Then the little boy scrunches up his face and asks as though questioning a particularly disliked meal put before him. "What the heck is THAT?" The little girl gasps and sits up quickly, pointing at the sky and calling out to her parents. "Mommy, Daddy, look! The stars are falling!" Carna's double and her husband look up. Anyone else who looks up or already was sees the points of light descending from the moon. Some may recognize the glare of rockets or something like them. Those aren't stars. They're... Missiles? From the Moon? At the same time, similar glares of light shine up along the horizon in every direction. Especially keen sight may catch those at the very edge of the curve of the planet. And the ground shakes. And at the same time that the missiles are still in transit, the Earth and the Moon crack, fissures opening in them both, blue light shining from inside each orb. Pillars of energy erupt everywhere, spiralling outwards, enveloping everything. As the terrified family gathers together, the parents vainly running towards their stunned children, columns of annihilating power, a bombardment of interplanetary WMDs of some kind, and apparently synchronized planetary-self-destructs, it seems both the recently rescued and their rescuers are set to die here during the event that those who were in Lumiere for last Halloween witnessed from the Lumiere-side of it: The Death Of All Light. But the air ripples behind them, a pair of hands reach out and clap the two nearest people, Priscilla and Staren in this case, and as if there were a line and hook behind their navels, run through each of those present, when those hands pull, they are all yanked together.
Carna	...And into the stairwell in the base of the Tower of Escher, where Enark staggers over himself as people collide with him in a huge clumpf. "HOLY HORSEMEN!" he yells as he goes rolling dangerously close to the stairs. "What happened in there!?" he demands from the floor. "The door's view shifted suddenly to some other view, and it looked like you were about to die! I had moments to try to pull you out!" It looks like there is going to be some explaining to do. And the rescued are going to need some time to recover.
Dorian Pavus	Dorian's mind is still reeling from finally being free of the previous identity. But finding himself in an Earth-like world... that's confusing. And it's not helping his headache. He's still kind of numb right now, else he'd be looking for an escape with Carna. And then the sky starts to fall... All Dorian can do now is look up. He knows what they are -- death. That's all that really matters at this point. Could it be? Could Lumiere be this cruel? For some of those trapped to find freedom, only to die moments later? It could. But fortunately Enark isn't. In short order, everyone trapped in the ending world is forcibly yanked free from what would probably have been their ends. Dorian tumbles back, not quite having the mental wherewithal to stand yet. But he finally does say something. In a voice that's barely above a whisper, "...Thank you." Is he talking to Enark? Or to the rescuers? Probably both. But in that next moment, Dorian does have the presence of mind to do something. Write. He needs to write it down, write everything down that he can remember, before he completely forgets. He remembers working on those machines -- remembers Gil working on those machines. Maybe the memories will help somehow. Maybe they'll be able to turn them off somehow... or disable them long enough to get the others out without this kind of a ruckus. Write it down... write it all down, before it's lost. Maybe it will help...