RickDominated> The realm of Brass and shadow...in infinite light Rei Finds herself...it's different than the raging storms she'd been trapped in before...almost dream like. A close lidded eye sits behind her, and a steady, even beat of the heart of a slumbering titan...and she finds herself completly alone...


<RickDominated> A shudder. The whole experiance tilts...and a voice reaches her ear...


<RickDominated> For one, brie moment...two very different worlds are joined, a transcending chorus of song and power...


<RickDominated> "MY BROTHER IS DEAD...!" It echoes...resounding off in a thousand directions, far off yet so close...


<Adventfalla-phone> The voice strikes her odd. Who was this man? She looked around for the source....


<RickDominated> And behind her...a scene unfolds in the ether, between the crackling thoughts of the Great Maker's mind. A Massive Titan, crimson and black, a scowling face...a young man...and a very familar little girl behind him, an intense look on his face. "He's gone..."


<Adventfalla-phone> "He was...."


<Adventfalla-phone> "If Nia trusts him, he'll be okay."


<Sciencegar> "The proof of a warrior is in their technique."


<Sciencegar> "Let him draw his blade before you drown him in praise."


<Adventfalla-phone> "...." Rei looked around for the new voice.


<Sciencegar> She sees, through the electric mist, a clifftop, with a man kneeling in meditation. Beyond the cliff is the hazy image of a meditiation room, but some force has drawn the man from there to the clifftop.


<Adventfalla-phone> Rei tries to approach. "Who are you?"


<Sciencegar> He sits crosslegged, stripped to the waist, with a katana sheathed and laying on his lap. His torso is a maze of vicious scars, some new, most years old.


<Sciencegar> The only item he wears other than his light trousers....is an elaborate japanese mask, which covers his eyes but doesn't entirely hide the scars which climb to mar his face.


<Sciencegar> "I'm a man watching a vision. Let us see what it says, before we claim to be anything more.


<RickDominated> The scene continues beyond them as a phantasmal wind picks up, ruffling them as well as the man behind them's long, skull adorned coat. "But here, in my heart..." His thumb thumps into his chest with a pressure that even they can feel... "He Lives on...!"


<Sciencegar> The man nods. "Yes..."


<RickDominated> "If you're going to dig, dig to the heavens!" And up he points. "Even if it's my own grave, I won't stop! And when I break through, that means I've WON!" He shouts, the very firmament of this strange reality quaking with his words.


<Adventfalla-phone> Rei found herself nodding as well.


<RickDominated> What he's fighting...is indistinct...it's unimportant...here, the intent, the purpose of this man and his conviction is what has sailed through the ether and void...


<Sciencegar> "Draw your sword..."


<RickDominated> "All this time all I thought was 'what would Bro do?' 'How would Bro do it?'. Always chasing a fate, always wanting someone else to rule my life... But no, not anymore." A glint appears in his eyes. "I'm not my bro." A moment to pull his goggles down. "I'm ME!" This declaration shakes the world around them again... The mech snaps forwards, it's arms covered in whirling drills that slash through a darkness in front of them, a


<RickDominated>  howl of evil agony sounding out...!


<RickDominated> The machine pulses...drills bursting from every last spot on it's body as it wrenches off it the sunglasses upon it's chest, throwing them like a boomerang...impaing the other machine with them, holding it still...


<RickDominated> "Hisssatu..."


<Sciencegar> "Show it to me!"


<Adventfalla-phone> "Do it."


<RickDominated> The machine shudders...drawing back it's hand and the drill there expands and grows...massive now...spinning up to epic speeds. "Giiiiiiiiiga..."


<RickDominated> Faster...faster...it's moving forwards... "Driiiiiiiiiiiilll!"


<RickDominated> It lances through the dark shape, over and over again, leaving nothing in it's wake from a burning contrail, the last word shaking the world around them even more. "BREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAK!"


<RickDominated> An explosion...that even they feel the heat from.


<Sciencegar> "....Good."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Amazing."


<RickDominated> ...and obligingly...the Sunglasses come back...attaching themselves to it's chest, glinting in the light...


<Sciencegar> "I need to meet this youngster. We may have things to discuss."


<Adventfalla-phone> "So do I. But I think I may be a while."


<Sciencegar> "You have to walk through the mists of Tartarus?"


<Adventfalla-phone> "I have to walk between worlds and fix a bunch of problems on the way."


<Sciencegar> "You're a helpful ghost, then?"


<Adventfalla-phone> "Not a ghost. Helpful, though."


<Sciencegar> "I came here to be alone with my ghosts, instead I see visions. Makes one wonder."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Wonder?"


<Sciencegar> "About what others might call 'my sanity'."


<Adventfalla-phone> "I'm real. But I doubt anyone would believe you."


<Sciencegar> "I beleive that. I no longer see things like this with my eyes, I see them with my heart. But, soon I will have to become a legend, and lead people, maybe a galaxy, along the edge of a blade, towards a truer destiny."


<Sciencegar> "I can remain true to myself, but I wonder who can share that reality with me."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Maybe with those who can share your vision?"


<Sciencegar> "That would be the hope. And perhaps that is why a youngster like that intruiges me."


<Sciencegar> "I have been scouring the vast and empty galaxy for those with the will to take the Path of the Hero with me."


<Sandwitches> And then... the man feels a small weight on his legs.


<Sciencegar> "Hello?" He looks down.


<Adventfalla-phone> Rei looked as well.


<Sandwitches> And there...  is a small give, no older than eight or nine with purple hair that just coverers her eyes...  she streches and looks up at the man.  "...  Good Morning."


<Sciencegar> "Young Luna. What a place for you to awaken, between madness and Hades."


<Sandwitches> "I heard a voice..."


<Sandwitches> "In my dreams..."


<Sciencegar> "A youngster has been shouting very loudly. I heard him too, across a million lightyears."


<Sciencegar> "So did this young woman."


<Sandwitches> The little girl looks up towards Rei and for just a moment, her blood red eyes are visible under the bangs...


<Adventfalla-phone> The eyes don't throw her off, giving her a smile.


<Sciencegar> "So, do you think you'll be able to get up now, or will you have to sleep more?"


<Sandwitches> The girl smiles back.  "I think its time for me to get up."


<Sciencegar> "Good. Waking to ones duty is important."


<Sciencegar> "I hope you had good dreams as you slept. But now is the time to make those dreams reality."


<Sandwitches> "Right...  A Knight must do her part afterall."


<Sciencegar> The man watches the visions, as mortals battle gods, and win. "We can't fall behind. The time of Legends is coming. We must equal these children, then go one step beyond."


<Adventfalla-phone> "To do what? What is the path of the hero?"


<Sciencegar> "....To Defeat Gundam."


<Adventfalla-phone> "...then that makes us friends."


<Sciencegar> "Heh. I wish I could make friends this easily all the time."


<RickDominated> The views shift... a flashback of Rei's dream from the Desert, of Exia... something far more intimatly familar to the other man.


<Sciencegar> "....I wish I still had many of the ones I lost."


<Adventfalla-phone> "What if I told you that could be averted?"


<Sciencegar> "Averted? This is my birth, 500 years ago."


<RickDominated> The dream wavers...seems to linger on the Beastial Shape of the Berserker form, it's massive sword as it cleaves Dancouga...


<Adventfalla-phone> "Gundam. Empires. All of it."


<Sciencegar> "This was the death of myself as a man. The moment where I lost everything but Gundam. Even before I was sent here, from that point, I saw this future crystallise as my friends blood dried upon its blade."


<Adventfalla-phone> Rei stared upon the Gundam, silently horrified. "I know the man who did this. At least I thought I knew."


<Sciencegar> "Gundam did this."


<Adventfalla-phone> "No. There was a man. Gundam is a tool."


<Sciencegar> "Against the reality of Gundam, no man, not even a man that cannot die, can remain true to themselves."


<Sciencegar> "That is why I have resolved to become more than a man."


<RickDominated> Around them...the dreamscape seems to darken, the longer the image of Gundam remains.


<Adventfalla-phone> "...I think I understand that. I've spent years of my life preparing to face thus reality. But the moment I found out what it was I nearly broke."


<Sciencegar> "Then continue breaking. Then, when you are done, become something else."


<Sciencegar> "I was a man. Now, the galaxy needs me to be a Legend."


<Sciencegar> "The Legend of the Gundams Age End Saviour. To become this, all else I have thrown away."


<Adventfalla-phone> "I already did break. I used to be Rei Ikari-Yamamoto. I was the leader of Buster Squadron on the Shokaku."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Now the galaxy needs something more than what I am. More than a human or a Zoidian."


<Adventfalla-phone> "It needs a hero." The ribbon comes out of her hair and into her hands. When the woman ties it back, it isn't in the same style.


<Adventfalla-phone> It's around  her head, with her arms crossed.


<RickDominated> Lightning crackles around the woman, everywhere...


<RickDominated> Lightning crackles around the woman, everywhere...


<Sciencegar> The man stands up to meet her gaze. He whips his robe about him, dressing in a moment, into a coloful samurai garb.


<Sciencegar> "That....is the determination I want to see."


<Adventfalla-phone> "That girl cannot live while that man carries the name Ikari. So that girl has to go away."


<Adventfalla-phone> "My name is Noriko Yamamoto. I am the Maiden of Thunder, the Last of the Zoidians, and as long as I draw breath I will not rest."


<Adventfalla-phone> "All I need are two things to overcome. Two things to break through this false future."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Hard work. And guts."


<RickDominated> A Titanic, Immesurably complex heartbeat, the sound of a million million grinding gears, valves filled with steam, pipes of oil, circuits of lightning crisscrossing over metal and crystal all. Slowly...the eye opens but a scant degree...and a full attention drives down on Noriko... It's powerful, familar almost in it's majesty, it's intensity...that heartbeat turning to a quickening. It's like...The Dragon, but of a complet


<RickDominated> ly different intensity and character, precise and analytical...


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko gulps. This didn't end well last time.


<RickDominated> Bodara spreads her hands, the eye nestled into her chest, open just enough that she can see the adamant and clockwork irs on display for her...as well as the dark, cancerous spot just below the iris that leaks out bloated oil.


<Adventfalla-phone> It is that spot that attracts Noriko's attention. This one was wounded. Sick.


<RickDominated> the thunderous dragon, at last, ally to my champions


<RickDominated> The voice comes from everywhere...mixed with Bodaras, gears and lightning and thunderous machinary, though it itself is quiet and soft.


<Adventfalla-phone> "You... You expected me?"


<Adventfalla-phone> "You... You expected me?"


<RickDominated> of all my own creations, none would ever so go beyond my expectations than the exalted


<RickDominated> you have come far, and from far.


<Adventfalla-phone> "...sorry for breaking in."


<RickDominated> i have taken you here myself, maiden of thunder. you are not of creation, but of another, further realm.


<RickDominated> It's tone is brusque, impersonable...though patient


<Adventfalla-phone> "I am, yes. I was not an exalt before I came here."


<RickDominated> aspected of wind, now of thunder, i am aware of what you are


<RickDominated> i am autocthon, lord of machines, the great maker and father of the jadeborn and alchemical exalted, creator and crafter of the exaltations, primordial brother of malfeas, gaea and the shadow of all things


<Adventfalla-phone> "I met the Ebon Dragon before I broke through your defenses."


<RickDominated> an event that was programed to rouse my soul, and when I became aware of your entrance


<RickDominated> his power is evident from the scars on your soul


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko fidgeted uncomfortably. "What makes me so special to this realm? You have champions, excellent ones. Nelumbo, Lissome, Librarian...."


<RickDominated> you bear the curse


<RickDominated> the terrible, black mark of my slain siblings


<Adventfalla-phone> "The scars?"


<RickDominated> you cannot see, none of your kind could, not even lytek could, subtle, powerful and deep


<Adventfalla-phone> "...the exalts are cursed. They're all cursed."


<RickDominated> yes, though even i was not to realize that until thousands of years of study


<Adventfalla-phone> "And by then it must've been too late."


<RickDominated> the exalations were my design, my grandest creations, but even i was blind to see the curse...even though that i saw the first signs...


<Adventfalla-phone> "I'm honored to meet you, but... If I am cursed what's to be done?"


<RickDominated> understanding of it


<RickDominated> The eye narrows, as if in concentration


<RickDominated> my time in this awakened state is limited, but i believe you can benefit from knowing


<Adventfalla-phone> "So I can cope?"


<RickDominated> so that you can rise above


<Adventfalla-phone> "So I can fix it?@


<RickDominated> The eye is silent...but the dreamworld around them starts to shift...to change...


<RickDominated> The sound now too familar to the young woman


<RickDominated> The sound and fury of battle


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko's heart starts to race.


<RickDominated> The Eye of Autocthon stays with them, as Doe Bodara... as a massive, primordial black shape steps through them, bigger than the woman...bigger than the dark god whom she had seen defeated, bigger than almost anything she could imagine, blotting out the sun... it's roar shakes the world beneath her, sending thousands of men and women flying...


<RickDominated> It's not the dragon of darkness


<RickDominated> But a massive...beast, as tall as a mountain, as wide as a sea


<Adventfalla-phone> "What?"


<RickDominated> It's at the head of a mighty, invincible host, demons innumerable strike and clash with mortal armies...no...not mortals. She belated recognizes roaring flames, twisting vines, violent sandstorms, crashing balls of lightning, crashing waves rolling across the blood soaked plains


<RickDominated> An army of Dragonblooded.


<Adventfalla-phone> "By the gods."


<RickDominated> they were forbidden by geas to oppose the primordials who created them


<RickDominated> the sound of the great maker is... bitter.


<RickDominated> through the mightiest however...the power was given to humanity


<RickDominated> And on his words... golden, silver and five-fold banners of astrological colored essence burst to life. War unlike anything she'd ever imagined


<RickDominated> behold, rei of thunder


<RickDominated> the exalted host, against my brother, the first king of the primordials.


<RickDominated> mardukth, the mountain and the black beast upon it


<Adventfalla-phone> Every battle Noriko had witnessed or fought paled in comparison.


<RickDominated> It's staggering in it's scope, the mighty exalted battle and clash, silver and gold in perfect harmony, defended by astrology and prayers of the stars, great golden blades of destruction crashing through entire legions at a time...and the mighty deavas of the beast strike back, crashing down in tumbling rivers of black and iron, moving mountains striding forward inexorabily against thousands of charms and blasts from essenc


<RickDominated> e weaponry...


<Adventfalla-phone> "This is insane."


<RickDominated> The battle continues, raging for what seems like weeks. Scores of the Celestials fall, inflicting grevious casualities all across the Beast's host...before it itself strides to take the battle.


<RickDominated> the moment, that creation's destiny was assured...and doomed


<Adventfalla-phone> "When it dies."


<RickDominated> It's claw sweeps aside an entire gen, an entire line of dragon blooded ending in a single, violent instant.


<RickDominated> From the lines of the celesitals though... a walking mountain strides out... silvery essence expanding and growing...as if to match the titan it opposes.


<Adventfalla-phone> "Who is that?"


<RickDominated> It's not a mountain...but instead a tremendous lion, of impossible, sanity defying size. The Beast howls in indignation, the lion roars it's defiance, a golden, billowing flame of pure sunlight from a tiny, singular figure atop it's head


<RickDominated> the grandest of the solar exalted... the first among the equal


<RickDominated> and her mate of the moon


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko whistled.


<RickDominated> A roar is it's answer...though it's defenses seem to be weakening...her blows having more and more effect...


<RickDominated> death the primordials was never supposed to be possible


<RickDominated> *death of the primordials was never supposed to be possible, or even considered


<Adventfalla-phone> "They forced a loophole."


<RickDominated> they found of my own concept, the concept of an end is needed...and the solars invented a terrible, irredeemable weapon


<Adventfalla-phone> "The conceptual weapon if a sort. Force the concept of death upon the unkillable."


<RickDominated> my own


<RickDominated> The eye leaks more of the thick, black ichor like oil


<RickDominated> i am the one that gave them the key, however unintentionally


<Adventfalla-phone> "Are you okay?"


<RickDominated> The titan doesn't answer, it's eye locked unwaveringly on the battle in it's memory...


<RickDominated> The Beast rounds, it's peak broken and spewing shadows, claws and body broken...


<RickDominated> And it bears it's fangs one last time...and tears the throat from the massive lion fighting it, it's claws raking down the body...an equal blow being vested upon it, exposing the very core of it's titanic being....


<Adventfalla-phone> "Hot damn."


<RickDominated> The Solars sword burns...grows...and is smashed from her hand as her mate collapses from underneath...pulling them both into a tangle in thier death throws...


<RickDominated> The Solar lands...looking up in shock for the most brief instant...before she lashes forwards. Stricken of her weapon from before...she instead strikes with her bare, earthshaking fists, fighting equally as tenacious as before...


<RickDominated> A chunk of the crumbling mountain the size of a city is torn asunder, hurling it into the monsters face.


<RickDominated> And all the while, her powerful, never wavering voice continues to hammer into the titan, like a weapon itself.


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko would have been a stain on the earth on the first strike.


<RickDominated> And then...impossibly...she grabs onto its neck and *lifts* it, anima burning like a second sunrise as the Daystar holds still in the sky...her fist resonates with dark, entropic essence...and she strikes once more.


<RickDominated> Even in the memory...she can feel the change, the *act* that had happened....the change... Something Eternal Dies. The Mountain and Beast Upon cries once more, to the heavens above, to his king and to his brothers and sisters alike...as it slowly vanishes. Screams echo from it's deava's, dying...turning to something...else...vanishing and being drug down to the ground, clawing and scratching at the ground as something impos


<RickDominated> sible changes them utterly...the sky darkens...the ground turns black...


<RickDominated> the ghost eating technique


<RickDominated> in this instant, the underworld was born, the cycle of reincarnation forever damaged


<RickDominated> the first shadowland stained creation


<RickDominated> and the curse, it comes from this moment


<Adventfalla-phone> "A death curse, then."


<RickDominated> spoken, uttered and spit as they descened to oblivion


<RickDominated> The dream...starts to fray...


<RickDominated> Though she sees...the form of the Solar, cradling the body of the Lunar who had fought beside her, bitter, hot tears falling out onto his aschen face


<RickDominated> ...and was it worth it, Merela...?


<RickDominated> The eye narrows again


<Adventfalla-phone> "One last bitter loss." Noriko's heart was in her throat. "I hope I never end up in that scenario... I take it your champions weren't there."


<RickDominated> ...they came later


<RickDominated> another...long...tale...


<Adventfalla-phone> "The curse. If my experiences are any indication they cause wild emotional instability and eccentric behavior."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Well, more eccentric. The powerful are always strange."


<RickDominated> The Great Makers voice seems to be slowing...and the mechanical heartbeat slowing as well...


<Adventfalla-phone> "Is there anything I can do?"


<RickDominated> be...yourself...strike...become...a...beacon...use...your...per...spec...tive...


<Adventfalla-phone> "I'll do as you ask. Thank you for having Bodara keep me alive."


<RickDominated> The eye...slowly shuts, Bodara holding it aloft as it starts to fade like the dream it's a part of.


<RickDominated> My Creator has spoken. She finally says, her own voice


<Adventfalla-phone> "Thank you for bringing me here."


<Adventfalla-phone> "And for saving my life with you kin."


<RickDominated> My Creator works in mysterious ways, his design equally.


<Adventfalla-phone> "I see that. ...I came to meditate at the pole. I didn't think I would see you in person."


<RickDominated> And why is that...?


<Adventfalla-phone> "The shrine was a ways away. I wasn't even sure I could get closer. The bolts at that rate could fry a nation. Close to you might short out the sun."


<Adventfalla-phone> "I didn't know if I could survive without dying or having..." She blushed.


<RickDominated> A thin, short smile


<RickDominated> Not far off


<Adventfalla-phone> She went beet red. "...is that.... Why you sent for me?"


<RickDominated> Not at all, the maker needed to see you


<RickDominated> I am, in some ways, his very mind


<Adventfalla-phone> "Ah. So when I get back... It's back to the storm."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Into that insane feedback loop."


<RickDominated> I can lessen it...you are needed as well


<Adventfalla-phone> "I am?"


<RickDominated> A nod.


<RickDominated> Though your body is not fully healed yet...


<Adventfalla-phone> "My daughter needs my help, I need to be there for her."


<RickDominated> And you shall be...


<RickDominated> The dream frays more...


<Adventfalla-phone> "What am I supposed to do while I heal?"


<RickDominated> Sleep...this dream is fleeting...


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko took a deep breath and closed her eyes.


<RickDominated> -------------------------------------


<RickDominated> "Wake up, Empress...!"


<RickDominated> Noriko is shaken...


<Adventfalla-phone> "Nn?" Her eyes opened.


<RickDominated> She feels....invigorated


<Adventfalla-phone> ...empress?


<Adventfalla-phone> Whatever it was she felt damn good.


<RickDominated> The little thunder sprite from before is shaking her awake


<Adventfalla-phone> "...hi?"


<RickDominated> "You've got to move, Empress...!"


<Adventfalla-phone> "Where?" She wobbled to her feet.


<Adventfalla-phone> "...whym I an empress?"


<RickDominated> "You are...!" She says, pulling at her hand...moving like lightning....her powers feeling supercharged...


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko's eyes bulged. "Eh?!"


<RickDominated> The two...seem to vanish, into the leylines that surround the pole, travling through them in the blink of an eye...and emerging...


<RickDominated> Her physical form returns...and the sight in front of her is strange.


<RickDominated> Lissome Avid-Engineer stands at guard, her beamklave burning crimson, her eyes hard....the Apostate from before is crouched, horrifically damaged, her hand and tips of ther tendrils missing...


<Sandwitches> And Homura stands between the pair, her rifle still in her hands...  and aimed at Lissomes face.


<Adventfalla-phone> Her voice is thunder, her will iron. "Homura! What are you doing?!"


<Adventfalla-phone> The tone, the roar, it's all familiar.


<Sandwitches> The teenagers flinch is only very, very slight....  but still present nonetheless.  "..."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Why are you trying to shoot your ally?"


<RickDominated> "Rei...She did something...she's Geassed...or charmed..."


<Adventfalla-phone> "I'll handle this then." She places herself between the rifle and Lissome.


<Adventfalla-phone> Her eyes locked with those of the Apostate.


<Sandwitches> "I already told you.  She didn't do anything."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Then why is the rifle not pointed the other way."


<RickDominated> Its crimson, glowing eyes snap around, locking with Norikos, her teeth gritted...


<Adventfalla-phone> "What did you tell her?"


<RickDominated> She just...laughs.


<Sandwitches> "She doesn't know anything either. But... I can't let *either* of you hurt her."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Homura thus isn't the time to be vague. I need context."


<RickDominated> "She's an APOSTATE....she's the one who attacked Kadar...!"


<RickDominated> "She KILLED People there!"


<RickDominated> "She KILLED Harmonious Blossom...!"


<Sandwitches> "...  And?"


<Adventfalla-phone> "You need a better counter argument than 'I said so'."


<RickDominated> Lissome...fumes, her integrated charms whirring as she activates...something.


<Adventfalla-phone> "What is she to you? Does she remind you of something?@


<Sandwitches> Homuras expression is utterly devoid of any emotion other than annoyance.


<Adventfalla-phone> "Homura I just nearly died today. I am out of patience."


<RickDominated> "She's an apostate... she's got you in her *thrall*... You didn't see her tear the essence core out of the most beautiful, gentle orichalcum woman you'd ever served with...! Stand aside...Or I will *move* you...!"


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko turns on Lissome for one moment. "Do not touch Homura."


<Sandwitches> "*No*.  You are not touching her."


<Sandwitches> "To me...  This is..."


<Sandwitches> The gem on her hand is slowly and steadily starting to darken.


<Adventfalla-phone> Noriko's eyes widen. On instinct she knows it going dark is bad. "Focus on my voice."


<Sandwitches> "...  You finally get involved, and its like this."


<Sandwitches> "It's against me."


<Adventfalla-phone> "Homura! I don't even know what's going on!"


<Sandwitches> Aaaaaand even darker...  the gem looks more than two-thirds dark at this point.


<Adventfalla-phone> "...Lissome do you trust me."


<RickDominated> "I...I do, Rei..."


<RickDominated> The Apostate looks from each of them...and leans forwards...


<AdventFalls> "Start by calling me Noriko." With the gesture of a hand, a WAVE of electricity races between Lissome and the others. Everyone's hair goes on end....


<RickDominated> Her eyes go wide...and she slams her fist forwards. "What in the name of the maker are you DOING!?"


<Sandwitches> Which...  looks fairly comical with Homuras long hair.  And is only agumented with how non-plussed she is by it.


<AdventFalls> "It's a barrier. Nothing goes in or out and more importantly nothing can be SHOT in or out." She turns to Homura. "At BEST that barrier lasts five minutes or until I say it goes away."


<AdventFalls> "Homura, you have that long to explain to me what is going on. Because if I'm not satisfied I'm shooting her with every laser I have and letting Lissome have her way."


<Sandwitches> Homuras gun vanishes, and she turns towards the Apostate, kneeling down beside her and checking her wounds.


<RickDominated> Her body is charred, burnt, and broken, mostly all inflicted from what she hereself had done, but her endless crimson eyes are alert and focused on Rei...her coiled posture is much like a caged animal.


<AdventFalls> "Explain," she demanded.


<RickDominated> Lissome....cracks her neck, falling into a Seiza with her Beamklaive sparking on the floor, her body like a coiled spring.


<RickDominated> Still...with her good hand, the apostate take's Homura's hand.


<Sandwitches> "...  M...  was wrong.  I can't involve you in this...  I just...   Can't."


<AdventFalls> "We can fix this, Homura. If you can just be straight with me and stop talking like I know what's happening we can fix this."


<Sandwitches> Homura gives the apostates hand a comforting squeeze.


<AdventFalls> "Is she... your girlfriend?"


<RickDominated> "She said a name, yes..." Lissome says. "Ma...da....Something."


<RickDominated> She shakes her head


<AdventFalls> "Homura. If this is.... someone you love, how did she end up all the way out here?"


<Sandwitches> "..."  The gem on her hand darkens... "It's... not that simple..."


<Sandwitches> "...  Everything...  It all comes back down to her.  It doesnt matter if shes not the exact same one...  I can't just..."


<Sandwitches> ... Till only the faintest hint of color remains.


<RickDominated> And the Apostate just looks at her...


<AdventFalls> "If we could save her. If we could stop her from being on this path. Would that change anything?"