"Found the door." Henry stated plainly. "Won't budge."

Suddenly the gerbil's ears twitched, "Someone out there." He stated moving closer, "Standby." The rodent put a large ear to the door.

"Anyone in there?" Ottilie's voice was faint but audible through the rock door. The gerbil nodded, "Someone lookin for you?" Henry turned his eyes up and to the right as if thinking hard, "I... I dunno, It's been to long." The gerbil nodded, "Can you open this?" The halfbreed smirked, "Perk of being a superhero. Watch this." The youth jabbed himself against the door and start pushing it sideways, at first it rumbled and sounded as if it was going to move, dust from years of disuse fell from it's jam but in the end it only opened an inch. The gerbil sighed, "Won't asphyxiate. Good."

Henry put an eye to the opening, "Yo, who's there?" If it hadn't been from the fact that his vocal cords were slow in lowering Ottilie may not have recognized the voice. But as it was, it was distinquishable as the boy she was looking for, if not a bit more nasally.

OOC: I'd just like to take a moment to congratulate Jess, since her RP has now reached & passed its bicentennial post! Congratulations Jess & get back to the guild quick, so we can all have a celebratory party!! Also, Hooray for page 11!

IC: Climbing off of the head of another rat she'd just knocked senseless, Aurora felt a set of paws significantly larger than those of any rat she'd yet faced send tremors through the ground beneath her. Gazing into the fog, she saw a huge dark shape moving towards her. However, there was no time to worry about that at the moment, as even more of the rats rushed forward. Since the fog near the water-trap had thinned somewhat by now, Aurora was able to employ her uncanny speed to deal with these ones. Flickering forward like lightning, she wove in and out amongst them, striking at the sides of their heads & watching them sink senseless to the ground.The process was interrupted though, when the rats- as one- ceased to attack herself, Dirac & the agent & started moving back into the fog. Curious, Aurora stopped her high-speed offensive & cautiously followed the rats. As she did so, she noticed strands of Jerin's wires woven here & there, like steely, razor-edged strands of cobwebbing. Carefully avoiding the deadly wires, Aurora made her way towards the sound of the large, agitated rodents, with Dirac & the agent following close behind. Soon, they came upon a remarkable sight: A rat which positively dwarfed the others had collapsed on the floor of the Complex, having been weighed down by the other, smaller rats lodging themselves in the nooks & crannies amidst the branches of its enormous horns. Calmly Aurora noted that this gigantic specimen had moss tangled through its horns & fur, in addition to its superior size. Perhaps this one was the alpha of the pack. She also became more acutely aware of a scent she'd detected as the battle started; a sickly-sweet, cloying smell. Something was definitely wrong with these creatures.

As she went closer, Aurora noticed Jerin lounging amidst the the giant rats' branching horns. Well, that explained why the other smaller rats had entangled themselves there.At the same moment, the P.I agent remarked, "great, like these walking plagues weren't enough," and flicking an ear out of her face added, "let's get this over with". Aurora ignored the remark, staring up at Jerin. Folding her arms & tilting her head to one side she called to him, "I see that you managed to find time for a breather then, even in the middle of a fight!" Jerin grinned back at her. "It's not likely to be much of a fight much longer dear girl," he called back, "not when these rodents are all feeling the onset of zoonotic!" Aurora narrowed her eyes slightly at that news. "Zoonotic," she muttered, so softly that Jerin had to concentrate to hear what she said, "I thought something smelled rotten. Or should I say sickly?" raising her voice again, she called to Jerin, "any idea how far along they are?"

"Junk informs me that they are all in the advanced stages," Jerin remarked, lounging idly upon his unusual perch, "so its likely that most will die in the next ten minutes or so. But the larger carriers, such as her majesty here," he said with a gesture to the fallen giant beneath him, "will probably take longer. You'd probably be doing them all a favour if you ended their lives now". Aurora shook her head slightly. "The others can see to that," she told Jerin, "I came here to attend to a different patient. Namely--," She broke off to look back towards the water-trap through the thinning mist. And an expression of amused resignation & exasperation crossed her features. "I might've known!" She commented, turning back to face Jerin, "that girl has wandered off again!"

OOC: Aw, thanks Gem =) but give credit where credits due, I couldn't keep this going without you guys! So thank you.

And I see one of my last posts generated some confusion. The disease these rats have is actually rabies, while the term 'zoonotic' describes any disease that can be transmitted from animals to humans and vice versa. Putting this into context, when Jerin asked Junk to confirm the disease was zoonotic, that wasn't the name of the virus but him asking if the virus could be given to creatures/humans outside the rat species. Looking back I can see where anyone would get the wrong idea, though =/ and I apologize for the mix up, that was completely my bad.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Though Ottilie's instincts told her something was off, her delight at the realization the voice belonged to Henry superseded intuition, and her eyes lit up like fireflies, "Henry!!" She exclaimed, leaning towards his peering eye with a sigh of relief, "oh thank the Source. When ya didn't do the come-in with the others I started thinkin' dreadful things--" remembering then he and Toby were injured, her tone changed to one of concern, "--yer well, right? Ya sound strange, but might jus' be this bloody waterfall. S'Toby there? S'he ok??? D'either o'ya need anythin'?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What," Jerin responded, his normally laid back expression fading into something far darker.

"What?" Elsie growled, turning to confirm Aurora's claim at the same time Jerin did, but between the horns and moss and fog the latter found he had to climb into the higher branches of the female's antlers in order to see anything, slamming his foot into a snarling rat snout not so accidentally as he did. When he was sure he had a superior vantage point he pushed the moss aside, eyes immediately taking in the deserted path on the other side of the water. Elsie stood on the trap edge opposite, calling across frantically, "IRISH! HEY IRISH, WHERE ARE YA?! QUIT FOOLING AROUND--!" Jerin rested his arm along a horn, propping his head up with one hand as he contemplated this scene. Ball's droning at the Rat Queen's paw drew his attention after a moment, finally audible in the absence of the sounds of battle. He glanced at Junk, which twisted apprehensively as it translated, "...master, your inferior robot would like to tell you Miss Ottilie has...departed." Jerin responded with a truly horrible look, "what would I do without you, Junk--?"

"--excuse me, but we should finish here before we worry about Miss O'Dethburr," Dirac ventured testily, indicating the remaining rats working feverishly to dislodge their comrades from the Queen's horns. Even as he was speaking half got free and scrambled down their leaders side, and chaos broke loose as the large female leapt to her feet, bucking and shaking wildly. On the ground Dirac backed away to avoid being trampled, raising his axe as the smaller rats converged on him, Aurora, and Elsie once more. The agent scowled, blasting two creatures straight off, "we only have to hold our ground about ten minutes?!"

Dirac took out another pair with an upward sweep of his axe, "supposedly. Not sure if he's got that kind of time though," he indicated Jerin with a nod, both arms and legs wrapped along the underside of his former perch, tentatively contemplating a plethora of sharp horns upside down. "M-maaaa-ssssttt-eeerrrr!" Junk's voice trembled, but even in the midst of such unfortunate circumstances the Oasis renegade's attention was drawn elsewhere, to a small object that had been dislodged from a patch of moss by the female's jostling: a wooden whistle slightly thicker than his pointer finger dangled on the end of a black cord, sliding precariously off the branch below his head. To his robotic companions horror Jerin extended an arm, snagging it and losing his grip in the same instant. Luckily another horn slammed into his stomach, breaking his fall. The wind temporarily knocked out of him, Jerin barely gasped as he felt a set of jaws close around his right collarbone, sharp canines piercing fabric and flesh. His trapped aggressor didn't keep her hold long though, for Junk struck almost immediately, electrocuting her. Recovering, Jerin brought his left foot over his head, breaking the rat's neck as he somersaulted over her body and tumbled off the Rat Queen to land less than gracefully on his back. Junk uncoiled to hover nervously over him, "Master? Master, are you well?!"

Jerin grimaced, opening one eye to glare up at it, "yes Junk, I meant to land on my back." He lifted the whistle he'd managed to hold on to then, gripping the cord in one hand while the fingers of the other traced the wood, "...what do you suppose--?"

Just then a shudder ran through the large rat, and she turned her head slowly to look back at Jerin, still holding the whistle aloft. They stared at each other, and an eerie silence set in, the other rats turning in near perfect unison to regard the Oasis renegade and the Queen. Sitting up slowly, Jerin grimaced again, gripping his injured collarbone. Finally he smiled and boldly secured the whistle around his neck, tucking it inside his jacket, "--well. Lets put this away, since it seems to be adding considerable tension to the party--"

The alpha female yowled wrathfully and charged, her entire entourage following suit. "Give them back the whistle!" an appalled Junk suggested as they fled, but Jerin would have none of it, retorting childishly, "no it's mine! She wasn't using it anyway!"

"Master this is no time for one of your tantrums--!"

Meanwhile, Dirac looked to Aurora uncertainly, pointing after the departing horde, "you know him. Should we do something--?"

"--why?" Elsie broke in, replacing her lasers briskly in their holsters, "that idiots buying you your ten minutes, Buster. Unless he comes back this way I say we let him run them down and start trying to figure out a way across this trap." Dirac didn't say anything to this, glancing back at Aurora...

Henry fought hard to recognize the lady, but to no avail, he assumed their relationship based on context and cleared his throat, "We're alive all things considered. Tobias must been hit with something, he's pretty confused." He paused, "I'm find, little tired but I'll live."

"Another good thing would be moving this door" The gerbil said plainly. "Toby can't you open this?"

The rabbit snarled loudly, "SURE KEVIN! Let me just say open sesame and wave my HAND!"

*KAK-FOOM*

Both Henry and the rodent found themselves staring face to face with ottilie, the door jammed to one side. The gerbil nodded while Henry stood transfixed on the now open doorway, "Good job bunnyboy." Came the rodents ruff snort.

Tobias stared at Ottilie with unbelieving and distant eyes.

"I WANNA GO HOME!" He cried up suddenly, throwing his arms into the air as if pleading. And with a blast hot air he vanished into thin air.

Henry spun around mouth still agape. The gerbil extended his gray furred paw to Ottilie, "Name's Kevin Adiabat ma'am. Adi to my friends."

Aurora considered the options proposed by Dirac & Elsie for only the briefest of moments. She had already decided upon a course of action. Her decision had been made thanks to her sharp eyes & her knowledge of & guesswork about Jerin. She addressed the other two. "Here's what we do," she said in a calm yet crisp tone that brooked no argument, "the two of you get started on figuring out a way across the water-trap. After that, find my wayward patient & either keep her in one place or move her to wherever you deem marginally less dangerous than our current location. And- since she's not long recovered from a fairly nasty knock to the head- don't be too harsh with her when you cach up with her. After all, it could be the knock on the head that's responsible- at least partly- for her wandering off like this instead of using her common sense; although I'm starting to wonder how much of that she had to begin with". As Aurora finished giving her instructions Elsie spoke up. "And while we're busy doing all this, what exactly will you be doing?" she said. "Isn't that obvious?" Aurora replied, "I'm going after Jerin".

A moment's stunned silence greeted this remark. Then, "now wait just a minute..," Elsie began. But Aurora wasn't going to listen, not this time. "I'm not going to wait the tenth part of a second longer than I have to," she said, "and here's why: Firstly I'm faster than any of the rest of you & you haven't even seen half of what I can do yet. It makes sense that I go after Jerin rather than anyone else. Secondly- as Dirac said- I know Jerin better than either of you. And because of that I know something of what he's capable of. Which brings me to my third point. I saw one of those rats bite Jerin, and bite pretty hard. That means there's now the risk of the disease they have being transferred to Jerin. True, he has a powerful healing factor, but I'd rather not take the risk. Because if Jerin has been infected, if he starts to turn, there's no telling how much mayhem he can cause. Whatever you may think of him just now, I know for certain he's extremely intelligent & he seems to have an extensive working knowledge of this Complex. Imagine if, in the grips of that virus, Jerin turned that knowledge against everyone & everything else in the Complex. What do you think the odds of anyone's survival would be then? That's why Jerin must be stopped as soon as possible, and as someone who knows him, as a professional fighter, and as a trained medic, I'm the one most qualified to do that. Any objections anyone?"

Another silence greeted Aurora's pronouncement. Then, "what about you though?" Dirac asked, "what if the Complex shifts again whilst you're catching Jerin, or if he's run a very long way down the corridor? How will you find your way back? And if we have to shift ourselves & Miss O'Dethburr somewhere else, how are you going to know the way across the water-trap?" Aurora checked the points off on her fingers as she answered. "I can say- without being immodest- that I've got an especially good memory," she answered, "I remember every step I've taken in this place so far, so I'll be able to find my way back. Or if I have to find another route, then I'll have Jerin's reservoir of Complex knowledge to guide me through. Failing that, I'll make my own way through, if I have to smash through every wall in the whole Complex. As regards the water-trap- with my speed and a short run-up I could leap it, even if I were towing Jerin with me. So, you don't have to worry about me. And look on the bright side," she concluded, addressing Dirac rather than Elsie with her final remark, "if neither of us comes back, you'll be relieved of a certain obligation". So saying Aurora turned and, without looking back, speed off through the Complex, hot on the tail of Jerin and his entourage...

Ottilie's mind barely had time to rationalize the changes in Henry's appearance before Tobias vanished into thin air. This fact immediately took priority over the other, though it was as much about the backlash created as the peculiarity of such a disappearing act, which sent shivers down the Oasis creature's spine and made her fur stand on end from snout to tail tip. It's true that there are certain advantages to being Oasis born, but it's equally true that there are disadvantages that can be crippling. For instance, some consider the inability of Oasis creatures to wield any sort of 'magic' a disadvantage. Others think their heightened sensitivity to backlash can be troublesome, and at that moment Ottilie might have been inclined to agree, because if Henry and his companion felt next to nothing she felt discomfort that (although slight) temporarily numbed her senses, so when Kevin offered her his paw she only stared at it, a disconcerting expression fixed upon her features. The Jack droned worriedly, attempting to smooth the fur of her quivering cheek with an orb, and Legs had nothing to say for once, caught in the same unfortunate state.

"Miss O'Dethburr...? Is everything all right?" The Chief's concerned voice brought her back, and it was like she was seeing Kevin's hand for the first time. Horrified, Ottilie hastily smoothed her fur back into place as she apologized to the gerbil, "oh dear, m'terribly sorry! Ya must think me parents raised me in a barn--" she extended her hand to grip his own then. The gesture was obviously fairly foreign to the creature, as her arm was unnaturally stiff and she shook a little too vigorously for a casual greeting, but her warm smile and cordial words made it clear there was no malice behind this behavior, "a pleasure, sir! M'called Ottilie O'Dethburr--" she released his hand to indicate Legs, "--this's Legs, me partner an' mechanic--" the insect waved her off irritably, still regaining his bearings, "--this's a 'bot m'rather responsible fer 'til I see it back ta its master--" she gestured at the Jack, which did an excited loop-de-loop in the air, droning pleasantly at Kevin, "--an' this's his lordship--"

"--Lothair." The rat Chief supplied, smiling tiredly. Ottilie looked back at him, bowing her head and returning the smile, "aye, Lord Lothair, who I only became acquainted with recently s'well." She turned back to Kevin, inquiring curiously, "an' d'ya prefer Kevin, or Adi? Wouldn't be proper o'me ta call ya accordin' ta me own tastes seein's how we've only jus' met, an' I like ta be certain in these kinds o'matters."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On the ground in front of one of the craters Burnu had created Elsie knelt on all fours, fiddling with the exposed circuitry. Behind her Dirac sat with his back against the opposite wall, watching silently while Ball (which had elected to stay) droned inquisitively beside the agent's knee. "Hey shortcake, why don't ya fall in love with tall, dark, and questionably employed over there and get out of my face," she finally growled, slapping the little robot away. The mercenary raised a brow, but didn't comment. Ball too seemed unaffected, although it did remain where it had rolled, choosing to draw in the dirt. Elsie went back to the mess of wires she'd removed, gloved fingers snipping here and tying there as she mumbled, "--can't be all wired to one circuit got to be a certain..." she trailed off. After a minute Ball begin to drone loudly again, and the agent scowled, turning, "if ya don't--" she stared at the picture it had drawn while it was quiet, which it now droned proudly next to, "--a shortcake. Great. Now, unless you've got schematics or an integrated circuit layout for these doors I don't want to hear another peep out of ya, got it?!"

And shooting the tiny robot one last look, she returned to work. After a few minutes Dirac spoke incredulously, "miss, you're never going--"

"--I'm busy. Ya think these doors will close themselves?!"

"That's why you really should--"

"--I said CAN IT, Buster!"

"Right. When you get tired of making sparks and not much else let me know and I'll tell you about the diagram Ball's drawing," the mercenary replied sarcastically. Whirling around upon hearing this, Elsie stared at the symbols and blocks Ball was finishing. Realizing it had an audience, it circled it's work with a flourish and droned loudly at her as before, and she had to smile this time, "alright, shortcake. Now I'm impressed. Let's see what I can do with this..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Running on all fours grew increasingly difficult with his injury, and Jerin was finally forced to a different course of action. Scampering up the nearest wall, he secluded himself in the overgrowth while the rats snarled and tore at the vines beneath him per their Queen's example. The Oasis renegade had little to worry about from her warriors though, for between the fight and the chase their time had run out, and a minute later they started to drop, convulsing in the dirt until only their leader remained. She, however, proved a formidable opponent, her furious wrenching having caused the vines to snap and the foliage to descend. Unable to remain where he was, Jerin considered her before clutching the vines in his feet and twisting to hang upside down, leaving his hands free to rummage in his pockets. Junk coiled tighter around his neck as they drew nearer to the snapping jaws, observing as a fake flower that had escaped from one of its master's pockets was torn to shreds among frothy incisors, "master, I don't mean to rush you, but is there something I can assist with?" Jerin chuckled, producing a pair of goggles with tinted lenses and a book of matches, and pulling the former over his eyes with a snap, he took the latter up and struck one, dropping it unceremoniously into a mossy clump in the center of the Queen's antlers. The abundant yellow spores of the plant caught fire immediately, and the larger creature panicked as it spread from patch to patch, dropping to roll in the dirt. Unfortunately as she squirmed about on her back she discovered the weight of her antlers made it impossible to rise from her current position without assistance, and all her kin lay dead or dying. Striking three more matches, Jerin slid down a vine to settle each in intervals along her unprotected underside. Thereafter he tended the flames diligently until her howling ceased and the smell of roasting flesh permeated the air. The creature coughed at the smoke, finally relinquishing control of the spread and climbing higher for a breath of fresh air. Junk cast its eye on the terrifying creature twitching beneath them, then turned its head to address him, "forgive me. You might have come to that solution sooner if I hadn't considered it unwise to mention--" the dark lenses made it difficult to read Jerin's expression, but the corners of his mouth twitched, altering between smile and frown, "--the old name for that moss? Vegetable sulfur. And there's no need to apologize. I recognized it...only--"

Junk coiled around his neck again, not merely for safety this time, "--I think I understand."

Jerin smiled sadly, making his way down the vine while the roasting rodent illuminated his angular silhouette in the dark, "well, at least one of us does...let's hurry back to Ottilie. This pot roast is making me hungry and I'm sure she's got peanut butter somethings."

"Oh master..."

"Probably Adi, thats what Toby will call me when he returns." The gerbil said non-chalantly.

"When?" Henry droned out, "When? How?" His large brown eyes finally blinking out of his vacant stare. "WHAT THE HELL?! Adiabat, what the hell just happened? Where did he go?" The youth's voice cracking uncontrollably with everyother word he stabbed at the place the rabbit had been setting still aghast.

The rodent shrugged, "Where he said he was going. Home."

The youth looked weak for a moment before his legs gave way, leaving him to stagger into Ottilie.

"Adi, righ--oh!" Ottilie was saying, then broke off with a start as Henry staggered into her, his legs giving way. She instinctively supported him to keep from being dragged down herself, and Legs leapt to her head with an indignant chatter, "what the--what's his problem?! Why's he carrying on like--"

"--Bollocks, Legs! F'it were me in his position I'd be doin' the exact same thing!" She growled, fed up, and the insect recoiled somewhat guiltily at her harsh words. Ottilie gave Henry her full attention then, holding his shoulders tentatively, re-calling how adverse he'd seemed to touch earlier and not wanting to make the situation worse by doing what she really wanted to do: give him a reassuring hug. Instead she settled for a gentle pat on the back and quiet words, "...take a deep breath, mate. Airs still free fars I know..." she trailed off with a small smile, inwardly apprehensive about what to do next. She had so many questions! How had Tobias managed to vanish? Where had he vanished to? Adi had stated he'd gone 'home', but where was home? Was it safe? Would he be okay? When was he coming back? What should she do with Henry in the meantime, and how had he come to age so dramatically? Could she even be sure this was the boy she'd met before? The last she felt was the easiest: this was Henry. His features were the same, he smelt the same, and her intuition agreed with her eyes and her nose. She considered her other questions then, specifically what she ought to do immediately, if anything (would it be better to step back, to remain unobtrusive?).

Well...fer starters, Da would say priority's takin' care o'those right next ta ya. Adi said Toby'd be back an' he definitely wouldn't leave Henry fer long so I s'pose I can go with that. Either way there's little I can do fer Tobe presently, an' buggerin' Henry or Adi o'er it an' what the bollocks happened won't bring 'im back sooner. Fact 'tis might only upset Henry more...

Pieces of conversations she'd had with Tobias regarding Henry came to her then, strung together across her memory...

"Haven't met a man yet that liked Henry. He's arrogant, immature, talks with a foot stuck in his mouth, and worst overall ta most folk he's a kid. Baggage in the eyes of most you'll meet in our circles. That's all you'll see, all there is to see really..."

"...didn't know he was a hellion then. Just a kid in over his head with the wrong kinda folk. Wasn't till after that the innocent doe eyes vanished I saw what ya'll see now. Still don't know if he was just doing it to get outta the situation er not..."

"Henry wouldn't die fer me. Not to say he wouldn't try, but I won't let him. I'm the older an it's my job to protect him."

Ottilie swallowed the lump forming in her throat, he jus' had ta watch the bloke who prolly meant the most ta him in his whole life disappear, not knowin' f'he's comin' back fer certain, not sure o'anythin' 'cept bein' alone. I know what that's like...her mind flitted briefly to Tobias again, and she frowned, remembering something else.

"You got a job to help some kid in over his head, seems I've heard that before..."

He had seemed so full of...purpose when he'd said that, as compared to how he'd behaved previously. Purpose. That had saved her, once...

"Henry...it may sound sappy and cliché but he's saved so many..."

"Two" she heard his small, stern voice as before, saw those brown eyes staring at her from beside Toby's head, "two Warden."

Suddenly, Ottilie knew what she could do for Henry. She could give him a purpose, at least until Tobias returned from...wherever he was. Source knows with Jerin 'round m'gonna need help. I was countin' on Toby but he's gone out an' yer here, Henry. I can only hope ya know how much it meant ta him, how much it still means, protectin' ya, bein' with ya, it's sumthin' bigger'n all the bad things in his life. Yer his reason fer makin' a decent go o'it, he said so. An' maybe he was startin' ta be yers, too...

Ottilie let her knees buckle under his weight, which wasn't hard, she really was tired and the youth weighed a lot more (especially now).

...I won't let either o'ya down. I won't let Toby's hard work go ta waste 'cause he needed a minute (Source knows I've needed a few). 'Til he comes back, protectin' me can be yer purpose. Ya started ta when ya left yer own fears ta keep me from drownin,' even though right after I let mine take me from ya an' Toby. Maybe Toby was afraid too, can't say, all I knows I won't run anymore. S'my turn ta save you from drownin.'

She let the weariness she'd hidden for so long enter her voice, "bugger...Henry, ya think we could sit...? Me heads actin' up 'gain..."

He gave a low noise that sounded affirmative and started trying to to lower himself to the ground. He did seem unconscious, but the look in his eyes was so vacant it was almost like he was blind.

"Curious... Hey, bug, talk some more. Tell me what you think of me." The gerbil said folding his arms. "He seemed to be moving a more rude perspective now, like he was trying to goad Legs into a rant."

Winds whipped across a desolate, ruined, and sand covered landscape. Tobias yelped as the wind tossed him to the ground, forcing his head up slightly but dropping it again due to the sand hitting his face like a hundred tiny bullets.

Not gonna survive long, too much dust, not much air...

The rabbit drew as much as he could muster and uttered out something from the back of his mind. "Form sphere!" The wind vanished, the dust near him fell to the ground, denied it's mode of transport. At last he was able to stand and look around, the supernatural shield that surrounded him was something he only vaguely remembered from long ago. "Richard... learned this." The rabbit muttered to himself admiring how the trails of blowing sand snaked around his safe haven. The air was still thin, but breathable now with his exertion lessened by so large an amount. "The rock moved when I told it to, so I told it to take me home. But whats this place? And where's Henry? What's going on." The muttered continued as he decided to walk around he area to see if he could find anything to answer the growing volumes of questions entering his mind.

OOC: My, Jess & Rico, you guys have really been working on the RP since my last post! It almost makes me look like I've taken a New Year sabbatical or something (like I'd ever do something like that)! Time to act like I'm involved again & on with the RP!

IC: Aurora hadn't been running for long when the smell of sulphur, burning vegetation & cooked meat began to assail her nostrils. Following the scent & the obvious tracks the rat pack had left, she soon came to the place where the Rat Queen had met her end at Jerin's hand. Jerin himself was a black silhouette, the flames dancing behind him as he made his way towards her. Sliding smoothly to a stop, Aurora commented with a grin, "If I'd realised you were rushing off simply because you had some cooking to attend to I wouldn't have come looking for you!" Jerin returned the smile, although his eyes- concealed behind a pair of goggles- gave nothing away. "But what's the point of cooking for a dozen if there's no-one to share with?" he countered, adding, "although I think this meat's a little past its sell-by date anyway. And without dear O on the scene there's no peanut butter, without which a meal simply isn't a meal". Aurora shook her head slightly at the mention of Ottilie's name- or initial. "My fellow mercenary & our favourite trouble-magnet agent are trying to figure out a way across that water-trap to find my wayward patient as we speak," she said, "and speaking of patients, I'd like to take a look at that latest injury if you don't mind. I know you can heal well, but I'd rather not risk have you going rabid on us if I can avoid it".

"There really is only a minimal risk of that you know," Jerin assured her calmly. Aurora nodded, "better safe than sorry though," she said. "Can't it wait until we re-join the others?" Jerin queried. "I'd rather do it now," Aurora informed him, "but its your injury, so its up to you. And I suppose if I bring you back to the others now, we stand a chance of getting past that water-trap all the sooner". Jerin nodded & Aurora fell into step beside him as they started to make their way back. "She probably hasn't gone too far beyond the water-trap since she knows we're close by," Jerin said, "we should find her pretty quickly". Aurora's expression was pensive as she replied, "assuming nothing else goes wrong...,"

OOC: If you think anything needs correcting here Jess, don't hesitate to let me know!

OOC: Not at all Gem =) I can definitely work with what you've written.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pressing one hand lightly to Henry's back again, Ottilie assisted him in seating himself even as he assisted her in doing the same. Adi's baiting words made her frown, but the creature had nothing to worry about in terms of retaliation from her partner, for Legs was wholly involved in her sudden bout of fatigue, "--what do you mean your heads acting up? Do you feel dizzy? I knew coming here was a bad idea, I knew it but--!"

She covered his chattering with a claw and a reassuring smile, "--I'll be fine, really, I jus' need a sit down. S'ok. Good lad..." Legs clicked his mouthparts together anxiously, moving to hug her neck and press his head against her pulse anyway. Warmed to her core by this behavior, Ottilie leaned her shoulder against the wall, paws resting on her knees in loose fists...thanks, genius...I know the hugs not fer the reason I needed it but...I needed it.

Then she said aloud, "thank ya, Henry. S'better..." she shifted, moving to sit across from him, still careful not to invade his personal space. The youth appeared to be conscious, but at the same time he looked...empty, as if Tobias had left his body but taken everything else that made Henry Henry with him when he disappeared. Ottilie bit her lip worriedly, rustling for her water gourd, and removing the cap, took a liberal drink before offering it to Henry, "...water?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Mm," Jerin responded, though he seemed distracted by some thought of his own. Junk supported its head with its tail, commenting nonchalantly, "miss Ottilie's being in trouble presently or ending up in trouble shortly is highly probable regardless of her location." When its master said nothing to this Junk fell to examining his collarbone idly, though even a viral infection didn't seem cause for alarm to the robot. It was as though both not only knew transmission was minimal, but impossible--and yet, how could that be? Whatever their reasoning, they walked on in silence for several minutes. Then Jerin asked softly, "Aurora...I was wondering, have you ever considered what you'll do when and if you tire of being a mercenary?"

The gerbil tapped his ear muttering, "Still not enough. Jeez, whats wrong with this thing." For a minute he leaned against the rock wall almost seeming to be pouting, then noticed Ottilie and Henry and seemed to take some interest, "You better take it halfbreed, that last time he did this it took him so long even that weird ass nephew of his started to miss him."

The youth narrowed his eyes for a minute, then looked defeated again but lost the meekness from before, taking the gourd and glaring at the gerbil. Kevin smirked and nodded at Ottilie, "He'll let you baby him as much as you want so you gotta decide how much you wanna do it, but he can handle himself. Don't think ill of him though, he's not had the best luck with parents. So when he finds anyone that will take care of him, he lets them." He pushed himself off the door and moved over to lean on the wall by them instead. "I was hoping to avoid something like this, but it looks like little Toby's already made more friends." The rodent sighed and put a hand on Henry's fluffy brown hair, "What has he told you about himself?"

Although Aurora gave no indication of it, Jerin's question had caught her a little off-guard. The only reason it hadn't caught her completely off-guard was because she'd learned long ago, while a student at the Laplacian Academy, that Jerin often asked questions that seemed unususal with little or no warning. Aurora suspected that was down to the unusual way his mind worked though. What would she do once she tired of being a mercenary? How many years had it been now? Ten at least that she cared to count. And Aurora knew that before too many more years had past, that restless nature of hers would stir into life again & she would seek some change of direction, some new career. Where would her restless spirit take her then? Aurora smiled slightly at a sudden memory as she answered Jerin's question.

"I haven't thought at all about what I'll do once I decide to hang up my armour," she said, "as a general rule- when it comes to career changes- I usually start by asking myself what I don't want to do & working from there. And there are still plenty of options open. As a matter of fact-," Aurora broke off for a moment as she considered how to phrase her next words. "When I was just a kit," she said slowly, "there used to be a children's book- for those less than 10- called 'Timmy the Time Traveller'. In this book a human boy called Timmy has a cuddly-toy Phoenix. Only his Phoenix isn't a toy at all, it just pretends to be one when grown-ups are around. Since Phoenix has lived through some of the most remarkable times in history, he tells Timmy a lot of amazing stories. One day Timmy wishes he could have been there himself to see all those amazing things," Aurora told Jerin. She paused to take a breath before continuing. "Well," she said, "since Phoenix is a magical bird, he offers to use his magical abilities to take Timmy on a wonderful journey through time so that he can see all these things for himself. Timmy agrees to this naturally & off they go, magically travelling through time. Of course if anyone actually tried that I dread to think of the kind of backlash that would result, but this is a child's book, so it works. In every different age they stop in, they meet colourful characters & have adventures. And at the end of it, they're home in time for tea". Aurora paused again, a slight smile upon her lips. "The point of me telling you all that," she explained, "is that at the end of the book- after Timmy has gone for tea- there's a double-page spread with all the other characters from the book standing there & in big letters the words 'thank you for reading'. When I was a kit," Aurora informed Jerin, "I used to look at all the different characters- astronauts, pirates, they were all there- and pick out the ones I'd like to be. Since the last time I read the book, I've been quite a number of those characters, but the greater number of them I've yet to be. So, if it comes down to it, I could pick up the book again, check off the ones I've been & choose one I haven't been yet".

Jerin smiled as Aurora finished telling him of Timmy the Time-Traveller. "You said you normally start out with the things you don't want to be," he said, "are there many of those?" Aurora shrugged slightly. "Not many," she said, "only one really. But that one is one I never talk about".

OOC: Happy New Year guys! Have more Irish terms =P

*If you're codding, you're only joking around.
*When you're overprotective of or babying someone, you're molly coddling them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Relieved and encouraged by even the slight change in Henry's demeanor as well as Kevin's assurance he could handle himself, that playful twinkle made its way back into Ottilie's eye, and she remarked to the youth, "brilliant that Adi was about ta save me from spoilin' ya eh Henry? Otherwise ya'd get fat on cakes an' buns an' then yer superhero power'd be rollin' o'er people like that great Banarang bloke what almost ate me 'afore this!"

She chuckled, looking up at the gerbil with a lighthearted smile, "heh, jus' coddin' ya mate, me kind have always believed all things're good in moderation, molly coddlin' included. M'very grateful fer yer insight, an' I'll be certain ta take it inta account from now on," she finished, bowing her head respectfully to Kevin. "As fer what Toby told me in regards ta himself, not much, but I'd be happy ta give ya the rundown..." she plucked her lip with a claw, "lessee, he said he was from 'nother world, though he didn't mention where or what 'twas called. He was on a ship o'sorts 'afore he arrived. One night he went ta sleep on the ship an' woke up in a pub, not really rememberin' much else." The creature leaned forward, resting her hands on her knees, "after that he took up with Henry here, only he was a lot younger--Henry that 'tis, not Toby--"

She looked back up, having remembered something else, "--oh, Toby also mentioned...Warden. I think 'twas the word, whate'er that 'tis, he was one. Dunno f'that's important..." Ottilie smiled, "he said he'd help me with me business here. Can't pretend I understood half o'it then, nor do I get s'goin' on now, but he was kind an' helpful ta me, as was Henry, an' I understand that well as anyone," she continued brightly, "what m'sayin's I'd love an explanation fer 'tall, an' there're many within me circle who'd delight in learnin' from a bloke like Toby, but so long as he doesn't intend ta harm me planet or meself ya needn't feel s'yer responsibility ta explain anythin' on his behalf. When an' f'he's willin' m'sure he'll do so, an' f'not m'content. He's already helped me plenty."

Legs crossed two pairs of arms on her shoulder, glancing up at the Oasis creature's face as she was speaking. Although the decipede often questioned Ottilie's judgment, one thing he had never questioned is why the Council, the Triumvirate, and the Source thought she'd make a good Interplanar Investigator. She had been an ideal candidate, her contrary openness disguising how seldom she was open about herself and her cheery disposition making it easy for the wrong people and creatures to underestimate her. But (and this was the big but) when push came to shove Legs had seen firsthand that her loyalties were firmly rooted to the Source, and her confidence in her own abilities was not for nothing. An I.I. sought peaceable solutions to issues and debated with his or her opponents, ideally never raising a hand in combat unless necessary. And, other than himself, Jerin, and Junk, who thus far had really seen the extent of Ottilie's intelligence and abilities?

They don't know you, kitto. I don't worry about them...

Legs thought. He looked up the dark path from where they'd come. Jerin, he's the one I worry about. Not because he's clever, anyone can be clever, but he also wants to know you. And that you might actually let him...that scares me more than anything...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I see," Jerin removed his goggles, examining the lenses for scratches while he continued casually, "clever move on Timmy's part, asking a friend possessing the ability to show him such marvels to do so..."

He glanced at her from under his long bangs with a smile, "...though, you'd be surprised how many non-fictional marvels exist in our own world, the likes of which most have never seen and in all likelihood will never see, as many individuals and places and treasures as the ever changing bits within a kit's kaleidoscope, and just as easily obtainable as one if you were to fall into the cherished company of a real-life 'Phoenix'--" he chuckled, pocketing his lenses, "--perhaps Timmy was not so clever, because really, if you knew anyone who had the power to drastically improve your circumstances like that you'd be foolish not to inquire after what they might do for you. Especially if they thought highly of you." His eyes darted back to her, "wouldn't you agree, my dear?"

"Warden... heh, talk about an archaic term. Funny though, in a way, I guess, you could say he's right. Warden's meant a lotta things to a lotta people. Started out a buncha religious twat-er jerks. Anymore the term is not really used out there. They went extinct and so did that word."

The boy sighed and fiddled with his hands, "He said because he believes it. He wants Warden to mean what it used to."

The gerbil shrugged, "I guess that story he gave you is as good as any though. I can't tell you how any of us got here to be honest. Half the time I wish I'd never hooked up with Rico... erm. Sorry, Cork."

The boy winced, "Ix'sa"

The smug expression on the gerbil's face abaited, he looked genuinely upset, "I suppose I should give that much. Unless you don't want me too. Henry?" He looked down at the youth who was still tensed. Henry sneered, "Whatever."

Kevin seemed to grit his teeth. "When Toby comes back he may be a little different. I'm not sure if he knew everything yet. When he comes back, he will." He took in a breath, "A long time ago when he little, Toby was taken from his mother by his older half brother. She was dieing and couldn't take care of him."

*SNORT*

The gerbil ignored the halfbreed's blatant disapproval with that part of the story and continued, "His half-brother Rico was a... "

"Fox, the humans call them foxes."

Kevin nodded to the youth and cleared his throat, "Rico was a fox. On the old world rodents were not looked as high class citizens. All races have that part of their race, heh. Story goes there was a meltdown in power and Tobias's family was at the center of the it all. Rico took him and fled to what was essentially the enemy of the Underwood family. They met me there, we grew up together. Wasn't long after we left we found that damned planet... I can't even say it's name... that it all happened. Everything came falling down, and all because I.... I...." He gritted his teeth as if not able to say the words.

*whump* The sound of Henry's fist hitting the ground cut through the rodent's silence. The halfbreed stood up, proving Kevin's point he was fine. "You told that wretch of man that tried to call himself my father that you loved him and he lied. He said the same. He didn't help you, he didn't try to save you from It. That ix'silwan... He tried to shove you away, then Toby, even after he was too scared and uncle SAVED Sparky! That arrogant asshole tried to make us feel like we were bad because we wanted to be with Tobe. He glared if we used the nicknames he gave us. HE KILLED YOU!" The boy's rant was over but he stood seething. "Don't tell me I don't understand. You and Toby love him so you try to rationalize the things he did. I won't. I refuse. I'm glad you kill him. If I could, I would too. At least my real father admitted to the horrible things he did."

A tear fell from the rodent's right eye, "I... I shouldn't have tried to explain it. All thats happened. If you knew him back then..."

"Stop it!" Henry's voice cracked out in a scream before he crumpled to the ground holding his ears. Kevin looked down, "I knew it was a mistake." He turned an eye up to Ottilie's aghast face, "This family has seen some of the most horrible events I could ever imagine. I want to feel responsible for some of it. I fell in love with someone I shouldn't have. After that, I don't know or understand what happened. I ended up alone, I became something horrible. Toby stopped me from doing something terrible to Henry's adoptive brother. After that Rico refused to let anyone save what was left of me. Not that I blame him. He killed me."

He paused, "I suppose this is the part where you start wondering if any of us is sane."

"Not 'tall sir...er, well, like I said, can't be bothered by sumthin' ya don't understand much as ya can 'bout sumthin' ya do, or 'least ya can't be bothered in the same way. It mostly makes me sorry, hearin' what both o'ya have had ta go through..." Ottilie explained softly, casting a concerned look on Henry's crumpled form. Legs did not share her sentiments, regarding the pair through narrowed eyes as he addressed her via their link, we should go-- she frowned, but he went on, --before you start with me, kitto, I don't think they're lying any more. That kit's implausible growth spurt isn't in keeping with the natural order of our world, meaning there are forces at work that we can't fathom outside of going anywhen*. Even madness contains kernels of truth, supported in this case by all we've witnessed firsthand. Regardless, that's not why I think we should exit this scenario as quickly as we can. I think we should because the circumstances are extraordinary, possibly a venture for a Green Rank I.I.** or maybe even one of the Source's Chosen***, and I'm of the opinion you should at the very least report this to the Oasis ASAP so they can assemble a Council for further investigation.

M'not sure f'we--

--Henry went through five, maybe six years of his life in less than two hours time and you're not sure of WHAT? Her partner cut her off bluntly. We took the same oath, Ottilie. Either you report this or I report you, his expression softened, and I don't want to do that today. So whatevers not convincing you, use that silver tongue of yours to become convinced. Or did investigation suddenly stop being part of your job too?

It took everything Ottilie had to not draw poor Henry and Adi's further attentions by yelling outright, NO it did NOT, but s'nice ya still know exactly what ta bloody say ta make me cross!

That wasn't my intention and you know it, though if hating me'll get results faster, by all means cry, moan, and hop to it!

Ottilie looked away angrily, and taking a deep breath, waited until she'd gotten her temper under control before saying aloud, "I really m'sorry fer yer troubles, past an' current, an' f'there's anythin' m'able ta do for either o'ya, within reason o'course, I won't hesitate..." and bearing what Kevin had told her in mind, she continued carefully, "f'its not too bold ta ask, when ya said Toby might be 'different' when he comes back, did ya mean physically, or more in terms o'his frame o'mind?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Anywhen: Because the Oasis sometimes exists and sometimes doesn't its inhabitants can never be absolutely sure where or when they'll come onto Earth if they leave the Oasis. Generally speaking of course the Oasis follows the same linear timeline as the planet, but there are rare instances where Investigators have passed through a fog, forest, etc., and found themselves in earlier or later time periods in relation to the current. This is known as going anywhen, and no one quite understands how or why it happens.

**Green Rank I.I.: The highest rank an Interplanar Investigator can achieve for outstanding service to the Source, bravery in the face of danger, and exercising pragmatism over emotion for the greater good. It's extremely difficult to achieve even one color, nevermind Green. Ottilie is actually a Red Rank I.I. because of her fortitude in dealing with Jerin. Although red is the lowest rank, this is still a great honor.

***Source's Chosen: Elite I.I.'s who have surpassed Green Rank I.I.'s. They remain within the Oasis for the most part, largely engaged in civilian life interspersed with periods of training, study, and meditation until summoned by the Source, Triumvirate, and Council to investigate reports of the highest priority. There have been less than a hundred Elite in recorded history, and they tend to be very experienced and/or very wise.

Kevin's ear was twitching, "The Eltag* finished, bug."

A serious look cascaded over him as he paused before continuing, "You should listen to the girl, whether she knows it or not reporting us to your superiors is the worst course of action you could possibly make. I know this not from some testosterone laden bravado but from experience."

His eye's suddenly went rigid, it was yet a third incarnation of the young man standing in front of them. But this was something different, something... lethal. There was something in his eyes that irradiated a sense of a warrior, someone that had seen death and suffering, as well caused it, someone with no heart, a blackened soul, someone that had stood eye to eye with his people's Kola'kawax. The creature humans use as a personification of evil, Satan. Those now death ridden brown eyes stared back at Legs from the brink of hell itself.

"Listen to me and make not a single mistake. I'm going to assume from your words that you are studying Them, that for some reason you want to keep them in check." He narrowed his eyes, "I'll say this once. Leave Them be. Do not investigate Them. Do not try to understand Them. Do NOT try to control Them."

The gerbil's grim stare turned to Ottilie seeming to answer her question with another, "Do you believe in a god?"

* E.L.T.A.G. - Electron Level Translation and Amplification Generator - Pioneered by the Kydane during the Psionic war the E.L.T.A.G. was a device engineered as a Swiss army knife for their covert operation soldiers. It's myriad of uses ranged from it's primary function as a universal translation device to a powerful optic decrypter and most importantly a sensor and emitter to read the psionic's telepathic network used for disseminating orders.

Aurora was silent a moment, appearing to give Jerin's question a great deal of thought. Eventually she turned to look back at him. "I'm not quite sure how to answer that question," she told him, "since it seems quite straightforward on the surface, but has whole minefield of issues underneath. If I had the time, I could probably write an entire thesis to answer that question, but given our present location I doubt if I'll have the time to write one". Jerin chuckled at that. "That's probably just as well," he informed her, "since- if you shan't have the time to write a thesis- I doubtless shan't have the time to read one in our present location! By way of compensation for lack of time, just give me the footnotes you're thinking up," Jerin suggested. Aurora smiled slightly at that. "As you wish Professor Jestwood," she said lightly, "let me run through what I've got so far!"

Gathering her thoughts, Aurora began. "First up," she said, "I should probably clarify what I said earlier. Timmy didn't actually ask the Phoenix to show him those wonders, he expressed a wistful longing. In this instance the Phoenix decided to satisfy that longing, but it could as easily have decided not to. Had he asked the Phoenix, the Phoenix might well have still showed him what it showed him, but it wouldn't have been a spontaneous act of generosity any longer & the whole story might have been lessened by virtue of that fact. Secondly, you mentioned the Phoenix having the power to dramatically improve Timmy's circumstances. Although not explicitly stated in the book," Aurora informed Jerin, "it is generally implied that Timmy has a stable home with loving parents. His circumstances don't need improving. That can be seen- more or less- in the way his adventures with the Phoenix occur. He meets pirates, but doesn't take any of the treasure, he meets kings & emperors but doesn't want the thrones or power they offer him. He meets great scientists, but doesn't take any of their discoveries to use himself. And where does his great adventure end? Back where it began, in his own room, in his parents' home. And the only thing anyone gives him- other than the Phoenix that is- that he accepts? His parents' invitation to tea. Clearly the things Timmy wants most are to be found in his own home & his parents- not Phoenix- are the people who can provide them".

Aurora paused momentarily, mentally reviewing her list of points before continuing. "Another thing I didn't mention before," she stated, "is the reason that Phoenix acts like a cuddly-toy when adults are around. Adults, he tells Timmy, might want to use his power for the wrong reasons if they knew he wasn't a toy. Although he never tells Timmy what reasons are wrong, we can well imagine what they might be. Thus, we could say that if Timmy started asking what else Phoenix might be able to do for him, Phoenix might stop sharing. Besides, Phoenix only made some of Timmy's dreams come true with that adventure. Other dreams, he tells Timmy, you have to work to make come true for yourself. Shifting gears," Aurora continued, "let's take a look at what you said about meeting a 'Phoenix' in real-life: It is true that there might be individuals privy to marvels & wonders that most of us can't even begin to imagine. But even if you find one, this much both they and Phoenix have in common: If there is any power in knowing a Phoenix, then it lies with the Phoenix. In the book Phoenix was the one who made the offer, Phoenix had the magic to make it happen, Phoenix who decided where & when they went. Although the main character is Timmy, Phoenix is the one who was in charge of the whole adventure: it happened his way, by his rules. In life the 'Phoenix'-the one in the know about all those wonders- willl probably be no different. If you ask the 'Phoenix' to do something for you, it is completely at liberty to refuse. And, if the 'Phoenix' does grant your wish, it'll do so on its own terms. And you'd better start thinking about what it might want from you in return, since favours are a currency that has never gone out of circulation".

Aurora's expression was unusually serious now as she looked at Jerin. "Like it or not," she said, "no-one in this world does something for nothing. Or at least, there are precious few people who do. And very often the people who say 'no strings attached' are the very people who are pulling them. Furthermore, a phoenix is a bird for whom death holds no fear. So if you meet a 'Phoenix' in real life, you have to bear in mind that what it views as harmless might get you killed. As for the other points I could make," Aurora paused momentarily, "well, now we're onto my personal opinions here. When I've worked in free-companies with other members of my profession," Aurora said carefully, "we've often discussed what we might wish for could we have one wish granted. When I'm asked what I'd wish for I always give the same answer: My ongoing good health. People always seem surprised by that one. I can wish for anything after all; why not wish for mountains of gold or to rule the world? I answer by asking another question: Whatever for? As long as I've got my health I can make all the money I want, and I've got no use for the world," Aurora grinned slightly at that one, "well except for use as a reasonable place to live anyway. Other than that I have all I need as far as I'm concerned. I'm content, my circumstances don't need improving. As for ambitions that I could fulfill by that one wish- well I don't want to fulfill them by a wish. I want to fulfill them in my own time, my own way. That way I'll get a sense of achievement out of doing so. If I get them all fulfilled by a magical wish, what good is that to me? I not only don't get any sense of achievement out of it, I've effectively robbed myself of the very things I was working towards. If you don't have ambitions to fulfill, or dreams to make real, what do you have that's worth your time and energy- barring family? All things considered," Aurora concluded, "I'd say it would be very unwise to to take up the offer of wishes fulfilled or dreams made real- no matter how highly your 'Phoenix' might think of you- if you haven't thought it through". She looked at Jerin. "Those are my thoughts- or footnotes- anyway. What would your opinion be?"

A terrifying visage indeed, Kevin's words and body language were wildly successful in furthering the apprehension of both creatures, though for different reasons. The content of the gerbil's monologue for instance was hardly alarming to Legs, who had more experience with such affairs and also a more pragmatic world view than Ottilie; what ultimately troubled him was the extent of Kevin's 'psychic' abilities, and so keeping his mouth shut he maintained eye contact with him while severing his communicative link with Ottilie, pinching her shoulder in his back leg to remind her to do the same. Conversely Ottilie barely felt the pinch, so intimidated was she by the newcomer who exuded power, confidence, and an attitude that wanted neither questions or debate. She edged away from him as an animal made suddenly aware of a more dangerous predator, one paw placed protectively around her undaunted partner, "w-what...? I don't know what that 'tis," she stammered. Legs glanced at her, grateful for the digression, "don't they teach Old World Theories at the Academy anymore?"

At the same time Lothair was rising from his perch behind them, seeing the trouble, "Miss Ottilie, if this creature is upsetting you, I'll gladly throw the rascal out--" he rumbled, snapping his teeth together suggestively. "Aye, but--" she was saying in answer to Legs, then broke off to keep Lothair at bay, distraught, "--I mean no!! That won't be nec--"

"--oh, that's right. Sorry kitto, I forgot. Anyway, you really should--"

"--Legs, c'mon, I heard ya the first--"

And Lothair was going on, "--it's no trouble at all, I'd consider it my last good deed on Earth--"

"--well it can't exactly wait. You know how inaccurate information can get when--"

Ottilie pressed her claws to her throbbing temples, screwing up her face irritably, "--QUIET!!!"

Silence. She turned her head to look at Legs, demanding fiercely, "Legs, when ya took up with me, what were yer duties ta be?"

The insect frowned, crossing his arms, "you know what I--"

"--jus' answer the bloody question!" She snapped. He rolled his eyes, but ticked his duties off on his claws, "performing maintenance and necessary repairs on weaponry, equipment and vehicles, fitting weaponry, equipment and vehicles with new parts, constructing basic weaponry and equipment, dismantling harmful explosives, weaponry and equipment, reading blueprints, and working with basic computer hard and software."

"Thank ya," she removed her single weapon from its holster, holding it up to him, "did ya have time fer this while I was out?"

The insect shook his head, "no, I was monitoring your heart."

Ottilie turned, standing on her tiptoes to set the weapon on the rock Lothair occupied, "please repair 'er now while I talk with Adi."

Realizing what she was really doing, Legs nodded curtly, his voice cold as he turned away, "of course. Didn't mean to shirk my duties." She frowned, "Legs, ya know I value yer--"

"--yeah yeah, if you're feeling froggy leap already." He chattered, hopping from her shoulder to the weapon in a single bound. Ottilie sighed, leaving this for the time being and moving to bow apologetically to Lothair, "m'sorry fer cuttin' ya off yer lordship. I was tryin' ta say I appreciate yer concern, but ya needn't strain yerself on my behalf. Everythin's fine." The older creature chuckled, "not at all, I admire a young lady who takes control of her circumstances." Ottilie smiled, then remembering why she'd come there in the first place covered her mouth in horror, "Source preserve ya fer yer silence and retain me fer an idle minded bollocks! This business can wait, death can't."

Lothair shifted guiltily, looking away, "you needn't feel too sorry. I myself have not been completely honest with you..."

The Oasis creature tensed, "what d'ya mean?"

"I mean I am not so close to dying as I led you to believe. Don't misunderstand me," he added quickly, "this is my last day on Earth, but I've seen the progression of this disease and feel I can safely say I've several hours yet before it finishes me." The rat Chief lowered his head, "...I was afraid if you knew you had time to linger you'd reconsider hearing what I have to say."

On the rock Legs threw all his arms up in exasperation, "NO! It CAN'T be! Someone LYING to us to get from point A to B of their own agenda? BIG surprise! THIS is why I hate working with--"

"--S'ok." The decipede rolled his eyes again, though Lothair looked baffled. Ottilie only smiled warmly, shrugging and answering his unasked question, "there weren't malice in the lie. Plus, ne'er could fault anyone fer bein' afraid." She nodded to him, "since that's the case, m'goin' ta attend ta a few more details here an' be with ya shortly. F'yer condition worsens unexpectedly though, please let me know so I can hear ya out 'afore ya become too uncomfortable."

The Chief returned her smile, relieved, "of course. Thank you."

Ottilie turned back to Kevin then, answering his question with greater poise and self assurance this time, "as I was sayin,' I don't know what a 'god' is, but perhaps there's 'nother word fer it here. F'ya would be so kind as ta define it I could answer ya with a greater degree o'certainty, an' once yer satisfied I'd like ta try'n clarify what ya overheard--" she finished optimistically, "--'cause m'sure f'we can all reach an understandin' 'bout s'goin' on we can ease both our concerns an' help each other."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If he felt one way or the other about her answer Jerin gave credence to neither the positive or the negative, leaning forward with that playful twinkle in his eye, "me? I prefer to treat each situation I find myself in according to its unique symptoms. Thus while I could argue a counter point, my views would likely be at least marginally different if the same question were posed to me again later, rendering any present speculation on my part fallacious," he inclined his head to her, smiling charismatically, "and as I'd hate to be of such ill-use to my dearest Aurora, I shall bite my tongue." The creature straightened, adding more seriously, "also I'd like to rejoin Ottilie as soon as possible before she falls off something or encounters some terrible yo-yo of doom. I'm very nervous about the yo-yo's of doom, actually." He shook his head, changing subjects abruptly, "regardless of that though, thank you, you've answered my question--" Jerin took her hand in his own then, grip strong as iron and just as cold. He turned it over, and with a quick movement of his other hand, pulled a card out of her ear, pressing it into her open palm, "--should your opinion change however, as opinions are want to do, here's my card. Even healthcare costs something."

Jerin's card was actually only one of his Seven of Spades playing cards, but when he pressed her thumb to the surface the shapes and numbers stirred, coming together in an amorphous black blob to re-emerge as a neat script in the center:

JERIN JESTWOOD
JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES
APD 7766717776
WWN Contact doublej.means.double.jests@korinthmail.net

Aurora removed her thumb and the writing vanished, resuming its previous form of sevens and spades. She looked back up at him. He smiled, lacing his claws together, "I can do a lot of things, and if I can't do something it's probable I know someone who can. You needn't utilize my services of course, but do keep that--to yourself, if you please--as thanks for being so gracious towards me."

The gerbil looked away sullenly, "The more it's discussed the more pain the boy is in. I assume it's being translated phonetically then. God's are simply something more than us. So many variations for so many people, probably why you're not hearing it right." He sighed, "Corky, Toby, so many now. They're... infected with what I would scientifically call parasites. Side effects are very strange. Increased abilities, mental function, even supernatural abilities are not uncommon. It's... hard to relay in a way that you can understand... although it can almost be explained through scientific theory most people resort to religious mythos." He looked up, "Magic, Supernatural events, miracles, witchcraft, I'm trying to use all the words I've heard used to describe it. Maybe one will push through this thing correctly. I'm one of a select few that are trying to understand what they are, trying to understand things that normal people say defy explanation."

Henry snarled through his teeth, "Would she like a demonstration?"

Ottilie looked more confused than ever, but shook her head vehemently to Henry's query, "no thank ya, seein' as I've still no real idea what yer on 'bout an' 'twould be irresponsible o'me ta agree ta a demonstration the effects o'which m'not sure of."

She shifted her weight, considering her next words carefully so as not to upset either of them further. Since talking about their circumstances seemed to have that effect, the Oasis creature changed gears, moving to address the aspects of her planet that seemed as though they might correlate, "nearest I can figure, what yer describin' sounds like what we refer ta as a Sage here. S'like a scholar o'sorts, capable o'powerful influence o'er an element or even multiple elements in rare cases an' well versed in mathematics, physics, history, biology, geography, meteorology, geology, topography, cause an' effect, etc., in addition ta the natural control o'energy. But there aren't many that're gifted in that sense, an' o'those fewer that choose ta practice due ta our planet's special condition--" she frowned, pausing, "--sorry Adi, m'I goin' off on stuff ya know 'bout already? Or s'this yer first visit ta me planet?"

The gerbil rubbed his short muzzle, "Sage, gotcha. But special condition? Unlike these Sageboy's here I'm not telepathic or anything. Just versed in the best technology I can get my pink little paws on. What do you mean by special condition, I haven't had had time for any kinda research, I.... just got here. Fill me in?"

The youth snorted, "He's asking what planet we're on and what you're talking about. I don't even remember the name of this place, I was here so long ago."

Aurora held the card up to her eye-level, twirling it between her fingers a few times, in a manner that seemed almost experimental, before carefully putting it away in one of the utility pouches on her belt. She was unsure exactly what to make of this gesture of gratitude from Jerin. Having a card that gave you the contact details of the one and only Jerin Jestwood was a little bit like suddenly finding yourself in possession of a magic lamp: You might well now be able to call on something of extraordinary power, but there were bound to be consequences if you did. Perhaps then, it was more like having the access key to a doomsday device. Possessing such an item gave you a vast amount of power, but using that power was a last resort. Resealing her gauntlet- which she had opened earlier in order to better tidy some stray strands of hair from her eyes- Aurora considered the manner in which the details upon the card had rearranged themselves. It was very likely that the card was now keyd to her thumbprint- it wouldn't disclose the information it hid to anyone except her. An excellent fail-safe & Jerin had been quick to take advantage of a rare moment when her hand wasn't covered with a gauntlet. The worrying counterside to that, was that Jerin's card might possibly have relayed a copy of the thumbprint information to some private database of Jerin's own devising. He didn't miss a trick.

That last thought caused Aurora to turn her mind to something else. The WWN address on the card was for the Korinth network. It was entirely possible to believe that might simply be coincidence, but with Jerin you could never be certain. He might have given her a card with that WWN address on it because he was aware of some link between Korinth & Aurora's own past, a subtle way of hinting at how much he might know. Then again, Korinth- though seldom in the international spotlight- offered if not the foremost, then one of the foremost information services in the world, and its people prided themselves on their efficiency. As a general rule, so long as everything ran smoothly people paid no real attention to Korinth. The only time people started paying attention to it was on the very rare occasions that something went wrong. It was true that in all the time she'd been a student at the Laplacian Academy, Aurora had never mentioned any connection between herself & Korinth. Jeanne De-Lis, the name she'd used then, wasn't a Korinthian name. It wasn't her real name either, any more than Aurora- the name she used now- was her real name. But then again you didn't have to have someone mention a connection to spot one. After all, she'd put together a picture of the real Jerin Jestwood in his absence hadn't she? How much of a picture might Jerin have of her? She had been periodically reinventing herself for the better part of a century, but how long might Jerin have been doing the same thing? Centuries perhaps? Definitely enough time that he would be able to spot someone else playing the same game. He hadn't given any indication of knowing more about her past than at their last meeting, but then again knowledge was power. Even if he was in posession of a more complete picture of his former student, would he share it? It was something to think about.

There was something else that troubled Aurora too, but this was something she was sure Jerin wouldn't mind her asking about. Taking her mind off the card & hoping she hadn't looked too pensive whilst she handled it, Aurora looked over at Jerin. "You mentioned yo-yo's of doom just there," she said, "and since you seem to have a good working knowledge of this place I'm going to risk asking you: Was that just a figure of speech, or is there something akin to that description that we can expect to encounter in here?"

OOC: Lots of information about backlash and Sages in this post. I'm aware I haven't covered the minutiae of EVERY possible scenario, but the idea here was to detail the basics without writing (more of) an essay. If anyone has specific questions please don't hesitate to ask in play or OOC or wherever, and I'll be sure to elaborate as needed on this end.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh, so s'a machine that gives ya access ta others thoughts..." Ottilie mused. She seemed troubled, but by what was unclear, and she went on before the fact could be brought up, "this planet? This is Earth, often referred ta as the Source by those that live here," the dark cloud of disquiet cleared as these words left her lips, replaced by her usual sunny smile, "s'really quite a lovely planet in my opinion, m'glad yer both able ta see it! The P.I.A., s'the Paranormal Investigation Agency, they place us in sumthin' like the backwoods o'the Universe, so we don't get many extraterrestrial visitors--" she frowned, "--'course, the P.I.A. doesn't really encourage 'em, but s'nother story." The Oasis creature extended an arm then to indicate their surroundings, "the most important thing ya need ta know 'bout this planet is s'alive. It speaks, listens, thinks, feels pain, evolves o'er time, it does most o'the same stuff we do, albeit in unconventional ways. From a biological standpoint ya could compare it ta the o'erall body o'an organism, with the air, rocks, water, plants, animals, creatures, humans, e'erythin' that occupies it functionin' as livin' body parts an' systems. Followin' that line o'thinkin', when the planets bein' hurt or encroached upon it'll defend itself like any sentient bein', even violently f'necessary--" Ottilie knelt, using a claw to scribble a mathematical equation in the dirt, "--an' Earth's reaction ta unnaturally created forces s'what we call backlash, lashback, or return. As I was sayin' earlier, m'told s'the reason many capable o'magic opt not ta practice, 'cause here ya can't without goin' through the same procedures our engineers an' such do. This's the first equation Sages learn when they decide they want ta become Sage-like, though," she underlined the equation: F(v)=R(v)

"F times v is equal ta R times v, where F is the initial force, v is the velocity at which s'movin,' an' R is the return or backlash. Basically means whate'er amount o'force is exerted by the Sage will be returned ta him or her in equal measures at a velocity equal ta that at which 'twas cast," she went on quickly, "s'only theoretically accurate o'course, doesn't take inta account external forces that might act upon the Sage, the target, or the initial force on its way ta the target. Whole 'nother set o'equations that 'tis, an' s'why Sages can't up an' manipulate the elements whene'er an' where'er. Not safely, anyway. Ta safely do so they have ta have a wealth o'knowledge 'bout the world an' how it works, a thorough understandin' o'the equations, an' awareness o'any multitude o'variables exclusive ta the area in which they're workin', variables o'weather or geology or areas where the Sources particularly sensitive, stuff like that..." she jotted down another equation: F(v)=R^2(v)

"S'one o'the equations used ta determine the return in a sensitive place or a scenario in which the Sages tryin' ta manipulate an element less active or not present within the surroundin' environment..." she trailed off, continuing softly, "...fires...most commonly associated with this equation, 'cause s'rare fer a Sage ta naturally be surrounded by fire he or she can draw from fer manipulation. The pyromancers I've had occasion ta meet all have ta carry fire starter kits, actually..." she shook her head, "...the equation states the return'll be double what the initial force was in these cases, since in the former the Source feels greater pain an' in the latter yer workin' most offensively 'gainst the environment. Reality is studyin' the areas crucial an' a Sage can spend days readin' an' buildin' small models an' runnin' tests in order ta cast one spell fer three minutes."

"The equations aren't only for Sages, though," Legs interjected, poking his head over the open panel of Ottilie's weapon, "engineers, machinists, mechanics, anyone creating or working with technology learns the same and goes through the same processes of research and development. And everyone learns the basic mathematics. It's international regulation."

"Aye, Legs' correct. I think I started ta say s'much when I mentioned engineers 'fore, but ta expand on that e'eryone learns the basics an' goes 'bout the same process where potential backlashs concerned," Ottilie said, proudly declaring after this, "Legs'd know better'n me 'bout the technological side o'things too, he's a genius with machines!"

The insect waved her off, embarrassed, "I'm not a genius, I just know how to put things together and take 'em apart." He went back to work, chattering, "why don't you give them examples of the amount of force necessary to create harmful levels of backlash."

"Oh, brilliant idea," the Oasis creature looked back at them, "obviously not e'erythin' ya do creates bad backlash 'cause not e'erythin's painful ta the planet. Acts like firin' bullets or laser blasts, detonatin' minor explosives, operatin' vehicles at high speeds, disappearin', creatin' small force fields, levitatin' small objects, castin' spells with force equivalent ta a good punch, kick or very small explosion, all o'that an' mores quite fine in moderation, the resultin' backlash only actin' as the Source's warnin' ta not take it further. F'the force is that o'a large bomb or natural occurrence like a wildfire or earthquake though s'excessive an' the planet'll reject it aggressively. Same with large force fields or levitatin' big objects, gravity an' air pressure start workin' against ya in those cases too--oh!" She held up a foreclaw, "also, the return o'the excess energy usually comes in the form o'whate'er the initial force strikes or passes through last. So f'it strikes the ground, the return'll be earth based, f'it hits water, return'll be water based, ya get the idea. An' f'the force strikes a livin' target returns generally air based 'less the attack connects with the central nervous system, 'cause there're rare cases where the lash has come back electrical then. Most Sages don't become Sages ta have a go with their gift at the local pubs, though. Most take up the books in order ta learn 'bout the inner workin's o'the planet an' then disperse their findin's ta the world fer compensation or out o'the goodness a their hearts. Last year there were a big tsunami off the coast o'the Westerlands fer instance, but thanks ta a Sage's research they were able ta read the warnin' signs an' e'eryone was made aware o'its approach well 'fore it hit."

She tapped her lip, trying to figure out the best way to word what she wanted to say next, "some Sages do choose ta brawl usin' their ability fer research purposes or s'a matter o'personal preference. But even then they try'n fight in pairs or rely partially on a non-magical partner 'cause s'safer, 'specially f'they haven't had time ta research the area fer any number o'unknown variables that could cause spells ta lash back unexpectedly--" she frowned, "--plus, the maximum damage a strong Sage can safely do isn't any more'n what a well-trained or well armed bein's capable o'without magic. So the back-up can come in handy 'gainst tougher opponents." Ottilie paused, then continued, "sorry, I spoke out o'turn 'fore, a Sage really isn't like a 'god' f'a gods 'more'n us', f'by more ya meant greater in all respects. Actually, I've yet ta meet anyone, Sage or otherwise, greater'n all respects when compared ta the entire populace. Far as I've seen here we're only born with different strengths an' weaknesses, an' s'how we use or don't use 'em that makes us great..."

She stood up, brushing her hands off, "...anyway, those're the basics, but f'ya mean ta stay an extended period o'time I'd read more on the subject in one o'the major city libraries when yer able. Doesn't matter which one, they're all good far as backlashs concerned an' all're open ta the public," Ottilie tilted her head to one side, "d'ya have any questions regardin' that at present though? I'll try'n answer 'em the best I can, I know s'a lot o'information ta take in. I only hope I haven't spoken ta yer understandin's detriment."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jerin had started walking again, but stopped at her question, tapping the claws of one hand against his chin thoughtfully, "well," he finally said, "yes, actually. I seem to re-call robots with design elements that can only be described as yo-yo like...but perhaps I'm thinking of another time in another place. Junk?"

"The Enforcer Three model, master. Codename Bandalore." Junk supplied promptly.

His eyes lit up, "ah, yes, the Bandalore are--" he smiled strangely, "--genius, really. They're roughly three times the size of Ball, and even more playful. Unless attacked directly, they engage their targets affectionately, and their objective is--"

He broke off, waving a hand in the direction he wanted to go, "--can we walk and talk? Ottilie's waiting. Or rather not waiting, which is why I'm nervous..."

"Living planet. This doesn't bold well." The rodent said lowly. "You catch all that, mutt?" Henry waved him off, "Right, right, no azura strike, I got it." Kevin grimaced, "That the new name for it? Sucks." The youth pouted and turned away.

Kevin shrugged and turned back to Ottilie, "You saw fit to explain things. So I'll try my best with what I know. Just as the planet here is alive, roughly a quarter of our world's population could interact with a living field of energy that seems to extend everywhere. For awhile it was dubbed "The Art" and worshipped at the source of life and miracles. Those who could interact with The Art became nobility, those in power. The rest of us suffered in poverty. For a long time it was believed gods lived within The Art and when they saw fit joined with a person for the purpose of making the world a better place. Only that never seemed to be the case. Nothing ever really happened when someone suddenly gained abilities aside from their personality being altered."

"Yet this practice went on for centuries. Eventually a group of us left for a more scientific minded colony on a nearby planet called Mesric. We discovered our 'gods' were simply another race of creatures that lived in this invisible layer of pure energy. It wasn't quite in this space, more like inside this space, I guess that's why the humans called it subspace. We still call it The Art, even though we know that's not a very accurate term for it. What we discovered is that the entities in that energy... got bored. They entertained themselves by playing hide-and-seek in our minds. Some were to our betterment, some... not."

To explain what Toby is you have to understand what it is that Kenji is. Scientifically speaking if one entity 'finds' another he can force that entity out of the person's mind and replace it. However even as the symbiont entity is removed, the alterations to the host's personality are not. Some of the abilities remain, as does most of the personality change. The new symbiont simply alters the person further. If one host as be altered so many times they gain a lot of knowledge that's been passed on by the symbiont, once they are entered by one of what Mesric calls the "super symbiont" they gain rather alarming abilities. Three supers have been identified so far. We've named them Tanmaslak, Kolakawax, and Tickanwatic. Old Kydane for "Rabbit", "Raven", and "Like Us". The latter two have very frightening impacts on the host's personality, and even more alarming abilities. I'll start with Tanmaslak. We first have reference to it in a boy named Jonathan Kinnear, he lived though a civil and system war only to die fighting alongside Tobias against... Toby's half brother. The same one I've already mentioned. Sometime before his death Tanmaslak left him to enter Tobias and force..." He paused for moment, as if deciding something, "force the existing entity out. As far as I know it's still in Toby, making him more level headed that he used to be, and giving him a degree of control over electricity similar to our Storm Warden. Our Art users are a whole other story.

The other two are... well they scare the hell out of me. Even the humans felt their influence and named them. We can't be sure of their exact paths through the ages but one was easy to track in some aspects, Kolakawax, aka the Raven. The humans saw enough of it they dubbed it their deity of evil. They call it the devil, or simply satan, or... well every faction of them had a name for it. Regardless we know it's bad, and what's worse is it doesn't seem inhibited by the usual space/time laws. Looking back we've watched it do things that made no sense at one time but decades later worked to it's own plan, it's as if it can transcend space/time, as if it exists a dimension above ours if you can believe that. We can only track it by what we've started calling "Raven Stigma". Wherever that thing goes it leaves it own little calling card, it turns the iris's of it's host a freakish red color, probably just for it's own amusement. Even after it's gone the stigma will return if the host is stupid enough to try to use any of Raven's powers.

The final one we have so little information on we only know of one host for it. Tickanwatic was named so because it seems to... like us. It seems to want to help and protect us, but makes it's host so enigmatic and scatter-brained they rarely help things. The only host we can determine was the man the Kydane religious see as a kind of messiah, Kenji Pendragon. We know the human's called it God and revered it as their maker. And that it has the same space/time breaking abilities as Kolakawax does. All we know about Kenji is he lived a long time ago, wrote broken prose about his entire life and died sometime near the end of the system wide war with the Psionic's. After that we don't officially know where it went, but I personally have my suspicions."

"He thinks it's in my brother." Henry suddenly snorted.

"If you look at it scientifically it makes sense. Keedis didn't really become... eccentric until Richard was killed." The gerbil snorted back.

"'Richard'," he spat out the name with disgust. "Is the one that made him 'eccentric' in the first place."

The gerbil shook his head, not wanting to delve into the subject further, turning back to Ottilie. "Kenji is a name we've given to a host that's been through several symbiont and one of those was a super. They are extremely powerful and unpredictable depend on which symbiont have been in them."

Henry finally looked frustrated and stood up, "What he means is Toby has had so many of those things in him ratman there thinks he's losing it."

The gerbil sneered, "If my theory is right... he's had all three supers in him, plus the one that's in you currently and the one that left Rico when..."

"When you shot him. Quit pausing like you're sad about it. The asshole deserved it!" Henry barked at wagging a finger at the gerbil.

"Regardless, with so many changes to his mind, so many abilities just sitting there, and if our theory about the big two and their time/space abilities is right... Toby could be anywhere and anytime right now." The rodent looked down for a moment focusing on the ground.

"Your Sages. Have any of them, fought back against the planet? Or have any managed to become that strong with their supernatural abilities."

On the dust filled plain Toby closed a book and laid it in front of him, then picked up a second book of three that lay on the dirty semi covered by the wind. The book he'd laid down had four lines scrawled on it in black ink.

Ottilie frowned, "oh dear, I apologize f'I'm misinterpretin' semantics, but ya make it sound s'if the Source's some tyrant what needs overthrowin'. Not meanin' ta be overly critical o'course, makes sense ya'd put it as such after hearin' yer past an' present circumstances, I jus' want ta be absolutely certain we've an understandin' on this point. The relationship between Earth an' its inhabitants is presently mutually desirous. It provides us with a place ta live, grow our food, raise our kits, an' so forth. We in turn provide it with acts o'pollination an' the responsible harvestin' o'what would be an overabundance o'natural resources, among other things. The planet doesn't rule o'er us, doesn't dictate laws or morality, doesn't even insist we stay here f'we're given the option ta make 'nother planet our home. The only thing, an' I do mean the only thing s'e'er asked is ta be extended the same common courtesies. An' the enormity o'that s'this: it wants nothin' more fer supportin' o'er nine billion forms o'life than ta live out its days in peace an' ta have us enrich those days simply by livin' out ours mindful o'it. So ta answer yer question, no, no ones e'er tried ta fight back 'gainst the planet 'cause there's nothin' ta fight. The planet lashes in self defense only, ne'er goes on the offensive outright." She pushed some stray strands of hair from her eyes, "f'yer askin' f'any Sage's e'er tried ta disregard the Source, backlash an' s'effects in his or her quest fer power, riches, knowledge, destruction, or out o'psychosis, aye, s'happened a handful o'times--"

"--guess who won." Legs chirped humorously. Ottilie smiled, "hee, well, not how I would a put it, but aye. Doesn't go that way often 'cause the sensible conquerer sees little use in tryin' ta control this world via brute force when the backlash from acts necessary ta do so would destroy it. That logic doesn't apply ta those in what ya could call a state o'lunacy o'course, but regardless, Source's got a couple failsafes ta ensure it doesn't come ta anythin' so drastic--" she exchanged a look with her partner, "--s'well as any number o'individuals willin' ta defend it 'tall costs."

Kevin shook a finger, as well as his head, "What I mean is say you some gifted rugrat that started playing with "fire" is it were. His parent a powerful...er, Sage" He paused a moment considering his choice of words.

"Ok. I'll liken it to a bad street, full of people you'd not want to meet under any circumstances. A father and his son are walking down said street when the ignorant child skips right into some burly man's bike, sending it crashing to the ground. Like this planet the man is going to respond, if we liken this to the planet he'll bear down on the boy, not his father. The father will of course stand in front of the boy even if the whole street full of thugs comes after them and he knows he's going to die."

"Will you just say it, Adiabat." Henry snarled standing up and dusting himself off, "Quit trying to sugarcoat things." The youth turned his brown eyes on Ottilie, "He means what happens if I screw up and piss your planet off. He thinks Tobe will intervene."

The gerbil glared through narrowed eyes, "If you look at it theoretically both their living world and our concept of Warden are the same. They protect themselves and those important to them. Also they are both the most powerful forces on their respective worlds. I would THINK it's in our best interests to try to prevent them getting into a bar brawl."

*whump*

Tobias closed the book. Then sifted through the dirt a little, picking up another newer looking volume. He ran his hand over the front, veiling the look of surprise on his face.

Ottilie nodded rapidly at Adi's words, "aye, we've no quarrel, an' Earth certainly doesn't want ta destroy pieces o'itself f'that can be avoided. Perhaps f'I understood a little better I could be o'some assistance." She looked back at Henry, first giving him a grateful smile, "thanks fer puttin' it plainly, Henry. Ne'er was the best with metaphors so ya definitely saved me some time an' confusion. F'ya don't mind I'd be much obliged f'ya could clarify a few other things. Like when ya say 'screw up' what d'ya mean exactly? Are we talkin' sumthin' that would create monumental backlash, like tryin' ta force manip a tsunami or earthquake? An' f'so, what sort o'happenin's would instigate such a scenario?"

Henry shrugged, "I've got The Coyote in me, but I doubt supernatural strength is going to make this thing mad."

Kevin shook his head, "It's not Hacsokonay I'm worried about, Cork." He pushed his glassed up on his nose gently, "We have no clue where Tansoytat went when Rico was killed. Nor do have any definitive evidence where Kolakawax moved once it was forced from Tobias by Tanmaslak. For all we can tell your increased rebellious attitude and finesse could be the result of both entering you."

"My eyes are still brown, Kevin. No Stigma, no Raven. Koalalax or whatever you call him is in my... er Drake. Not me." The youth stated defiantly.

Kevin sighed and shook his head, "Your father's pedofilic nature and lust for power are nothing new. They may be a traits of Kolakawax hosts but in this case both were pre-existing conditions. It's not definitive proof. It could still be anywhere." He turned to Ottilie, "Several of the creatures have the capacity to impact climatic and psychic conditions on an immense scale. According to Mesric's records they lost track of Tansoytat when Richard's father was killing, it was only when his wife was killed and he though his son dead that the creature emerged. The records during the war were sketchy but some reports even cited widespread phosphoric rain and devastating tectonic/volcanic activity as being caused via his abilities."

"Fluffy Tail is NOT in me. I would know if I felt like someone that would drive their own kid nuts. I don't." Henry snipped at the Gerbil who ignored him. Instead the rodent continued with one final question to Ottilie, "Simply put, at what point does the earth begin to fight back. Is there a lowest recorded amount of damage to nature that produced backlash?"

"Certainly," Aurora replied to Jerin, adding, "in fact- since I'm rather anxious to see what my errant patient has been doing in my absence- we can run & talk if you feel up to it!" Jerin raised his eybrows slightly at that. "Much as I am anxious to be reunited with the wayward Ottilie, I think my exertions with the roasted rodent & her ilk have been enough exercise for one day," he informed her. Aurora smiled slightly, saying, "I guess I can't argue with that. Let's hope though, that in our absence Dirac & our favourite agent have found a way across the water-trap & that Ottilie hasn't managed to find herself in even more trouble!" Jerin nodded briefly. "With that I concur completely," he said, "although knowing dear O as I do; I fear it may prove to be wishful thinking". Aurora nodded slightly at that. "We can but try," she said adding, "although I have to admit, if I made medicine or surgery my living, I could probably keep a steady job if she were the only patient I had- assuming she survived long enough to reach my practice that is!" Having said this, Aurora then added in a thoughtful tone, "maybe that's what I'll do when I cease to be a mercenary. I don't think I 've ever been a full-fleged medical practitioner before".

Remembering their earlier conversation, Jerin grinned mischevously. "I suppose that has to it the advantage of your being able to insure your own continuing good health," he said, "and at least you'd have one doctor you could always rely upon!" Aurora's expression was thoughtful, although her tone was light as she answered, "I hadn't thought of it like that, but you're right. And if fulfilling one desire insures the continuing good health I want in order to fulfil the others, then so much the better I guess!"

As the two of them continued to make their way back towards the water-trap Aurora mulled over the possibility of joining the medical profession. She already had a number of the skills required, plus it would make a strange kind of sense to take an occupation which dealt with the healing of injuries, after having taken several which involved dealing them out. On the other hand, she might feel obliged to honour the oaths that medical practitioners took, even after she changed out of that career. That might be a downside. Then Aurora had a thought which all but eclipsed all the others: Depending upon who found the Treasure at the heart of the Complex, and what they did with it, the immediate future might suddenly become a very busy time for medics indeed...

OOC: Lets talk acronyms. I included A.P.D. again since it hasn't been mentioned in awhile.

*An A.P.D. (All Purpose Device) is the futuristic equivalent of a cell phone (specifically inspired by the new iPhone) that provides its users with the services of a phone, a WWN (World Wide Network, like the Internet) browser, a camera, a video recorder, a holographic projector, a data gatherer/storage unit, a planner, and a variety of other devices all in one. A.P.D.'s are highly customizable and individual units tend to have functions beyond those listed above.
**A N.E.M.O. (Natural Evaluator of Myriad Outputs) is a tiny state-of-the-art robotic probe manufactured in the Oasis for the purpose of determining Source/life activity in any given area and subsequently calculating potential backlash. Oasis A.P.D.'s can often be distinguished by their unique cartridge slots used to accommodate potential Nemo's.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ottilie paused, considering the question thoroughly. After a minute she said, "I think I understand what yer askin'. Ya want ta know at what point backlash switches from warnin' ya off ta bein' physically harmful." She frowned, "thing is, knowin' the lowest recorded amount o'damage what e'er produced backlash won't help ya here. I can go off on record lows f'thats yer desire o'course, but I don't want ya gettin' the wrong idea. Backlash is area specific, so any number o'variables unique ta the surroundin' ecosystem're gonna play their parts regardless..." she trailed off, plucking her lip with a claw, "...didn't really get inta this earlier 'cause I thought it might be too much information all 'twonce, but s'also a question o'the individual. Some feel the sting 'fore others, some not so much. Generally speakin' though the return starts ta cause discomfort an' injury followin' activities with force beyond what our strongest predators're capable o'bein' up ta. Fer instance, f'a Sage were tryin' ta levitate sumthin' couldn't weigh more'n two thousand pounds without catchin' the lash 'cause the strongest terrestrial creatures on Earth in terms o'movin' sheer weight're the members o'the Banarang clan, and they can't handle much more'n that amount. With force fields can't get tougher'n diamondium, our hardest natural mineral, which can withstand laser blasts an' explosions what could demolish a ten story buildin' constructed o'pure marble. S'fer actual charges or attacks most damage a Sage can deal is equivalent ta a guarthian charge or serpent's constriction, the former o'which can take down a five story buildin', steel skeleton an' all. Forces like that're acceptable 'cause those predators've adapted ta use 'em o'er time real natural-like, so the planet's grown accustomed as part o'the evolutionary process. In the same vein though those creatures bodies've also adapted ta withstand the increased warnin' lash such actions produce, which is sumthin' ones who haven't often have trouble compensatin' fer. Most o'the Sages I've spoken with say s'best ta only give out what you yerself can withstand, since the force an' return're equal." She set her satchel on the ground, "plus weaponry, armor, an' vehicles've all been constructed ta standard. S'what I meant earlier when I said a well-trained Sage can't safely do more damage'n any other well-armed individual, 'cause a Sage might be able ta harness the speed o'a strikin' serpent, but so have our laserized weapons." The girl fell to sorting through her belongings, "but those're the general figures. I'll get ya a scan on the area now ta see what Source activity s'like. Looked it o'er meself 'fore I came in so there shouldn't be anythin' ta worry 'bout, I jus' want ta make sure nothin's changed..." she produced her A.P.D.*, which was a metallic blue in color and larger than most to allow for her bigger hands. A gentle tap to the darkened screen brought it to life, though Ottilie seemed more interested in a small, rectangular piece that fit neatly into the back, "Nemo**, could ya help me with sumthin' please?"

Two small, digital silver eyes lit up a miniature screen set into the top of the rectangle, and the piece lifted free from the A.P.D., re-arranging to form a four inch robot of the same blue color as the device it had come from, with four short propeller-like extensions at its base and two longer ones at its peak. It greeted her enthusiastically, humming through the air to rub against her cheek. She smiled, bumping it affectionately with her snout, "hi Nemo, can ya do 'nother surveillance scan fer me? Within a ten mile radius this time?" The robot saluted her with a long propeller, but was brought up short by the Jack, which had been droning bored around the room until the other robot emerged. Seemingly startled, Nemo gave a high-pitched whine and hid behind Ottilie's shoulder, quivering. Thinking it was a game, the Jack hid too, droning delightedly. The Oasis creature chuckled, "sorry mate, no time fer playin' right now. But later m'sure Nemo'll want ta say 'lo, kay?" The robot appeared to accept this, and after some coaxing Ottilie was able to send Nemo on its way out of the room, where it burst through the canopy and into the sky. A minute later it returned and slid back into its slot in her A.P.D. with triumphant trills. Ottilie smiled, tapping the screen, "alright, lessee..." but whatever appeared was far more than expected, and her smile faded. "Legs, s'red."

"What?" The insect looked up, "what do you mean?"

"Inside the Complex is one big red area. Outsides normal, but inside these walls s'in the red."

"That's impossible. Nemo must be malfunctioning."

But Legs checked and Nemo wasn't malfunctioning. Nemo had never been more correct, actually. Standing over the map and the displayed red area on the A.P.D. screen, Legs crossed two pairs of arms, grimly chattering, "smart."

"S'bloody brilliant s'what." Ottilie said softly, "buildin' in the only Source sensitive area in the entire valley means anyone who enters is doubly handicapped."

"Not to mention economical. Less force means less overall damage to the Complex, and since the machinery can stay well below the range of backlash it's conserving power too." He looked up at her, "tougher and more expensive to build, but cost effective in the long run. Though anyone who takes readings outside it--"

"--could easily fall prey ta the idea that inside activity's same as the outside." Ottilie growled, "s'exactly the kind o'sneaky bollocks I can't stand!"

"At least we know now. We'll have to be really careful from here on in."

"Aye..." she looked back at Kevin and Henry, "sorry mates, but Nemo's got the revised numbers fer ya. Levitation spells can't lift more'n one thousand pounds, force fields shouldn't be able ta withstand more'n an explosion meant ta demolish a five story buildin', an' damage should be kept under what could level a two story buildin'...cut e'erythin' I told ya 'fore in half basically, ta compensate fer the double lash." She shrugged, continuing positively, "won't be able ta knock off any walls or bots straight away since e'erythin' here seems ta be made o'diamondium, but s'still better'n some places. Could be worse, could be triple lash."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jerin smiled privately, locked into some thought of his own; though as with all Jerin's thoughts it didn't remain long, eventually drifting back into the chaos that was his cerebral cortex. Whether he purposefully meant to avoid finishing their conversation about bandalores I cannot say, but avoid it he did, for they came upon Elsie, Dirac and Ball then. The mercenary and robot appeared equally unimpressed with the agent, who still knelt near the crater in the wall, swearing and fiddling with wires, "maybe try--" the human was saying, but stopped as Ball droned excitedly, racing to circle Jerin and Aurora before dashing out 'welcome back!' in the dirt. Junk's eye flashed distastefully at this, but its master grinned, kneeling to pat Ball, "thank you, small one." The mercenary nodded to him, then Aurora, simply saying, "see you made out all right."

Jerin chuckled, raising a brow at him, "indeed, though perhaps you hoped to miss us...?"

Dirac smiled briefly, but didn't answer, jabbing a thumb at the wall instead, "there a control panel somewhere? I looked earlier but couldn't find anything." Before the creature could respond his A.P.D. begin to vibrate, and after glancing at the screen he held up a hand apologetically, "pardon me, Dirac. I need to take this."

Removing the earpiece, Jerin slipped it into place as he addressed the mysterious caller through the speaker, "one moment--" and covering it, he looked at Aurora, "--I know of no control panel for these particular doors. Would you mind asking her--" he nodded at Elsie, who was grumbling absently to herself, "--what exactly the problem is, my dear? I'll be along as soon as I'm able, but perhaps with your acumen as a beacon something can be worked out quicker than that."

"Basically you can push the limit by using other species limits as your own and noone will be the wiser." The rodent said rubbing his chin, "That begs the question of which is stronger at this point, the best defense material on this planet, or the best offensive weapon. Either case we just have to be careful."

"Some you forgot, Kev." Henry said plainly, "What about Bant's training. What will that do here?"

The gerbil cocked his head, "I... I'd forgotten. That hasn't come up in so long. Once those creature's started giving him superpowers he never really needed Null Arts." He looked at Ottilie seriously once more, "What happens if you prevent magic here?"

Ottilie beamed, "aye, s'exactly it!" Her brows drew together in puzzlement then, "prevent magic, though...? D'ya mean what happens when ya try'n prevent a Sage from manipulatin', or are ya referrin' ta actually tryin' ta prevent the flow o'energy itself? Or m'I way off base when yer on 'bout sumthin' altogether different?

"To be honest... I don't know." The gerbil admitted sheepishly. "I've never come across anyone that had the training aside from Tobe."

The man as host already corrupt to the core,
Black bird inside him as it was me before.
This time I cannot lose, I must be prepared to fight,
so till then I must receed beyond our villians sight.

Tobias closed his eyes as he came to end of the paritally empty page and closed the book. A deep sigh moved through him like a gentle wave, it was all there, and now he was picking it all back up no wiser than he was before. He had nothing he didn't have before, in fact, he has less now with his nephew dead, a victim of the same creature he was going to have to face. The hare walked through the blinding dirt, watching it part around the field he'd made. Even that was known now, everything was known save the answer. How do you kill pure evil?

Suddenly he tripped over something, almost falling into the dirt. Toby looked back in irritation, the edge of a small notebook was sticking out of the ground. The hare raised an eyebrow and turned around. There shouldn't be another one... should there.

He suddenly began to wonder just where he was, he'd assumed it was the ruins one of the places he'd called home. But then, why were all the other Kenji's books here? The more he thought about it, the less sense everything made. He gently pushed the dirt aside and pulled the notebook free. On look at the front turned his blood to ice. He dropped the volume and stepped backward, eyes wide.

OOC: Just wanted to let you guys know I'm going out of town for the next few days. I'll be back late Sunday night, but odds are I won't post again 'til Tuesday or so, work allowing.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh...hm..." Ottilie's tail curled thoughtfully, "well, f'it helps, the thing ya call 'magic' is more widely referred ta as manipulation here. Sages can't draw power from an outside energy source, nor can they call an element inta bein' from nothin'. What they can do is manipulate certain atoms an' molecules that're already present, though most're only capable o'controllin' the matter o'one element. S'why pyromancers usually carry fire kits an' hydromancers often carry large gourds o'water, 'cause f'there's no fire or water ta cast from they're out o'luck. Point is, there's no magical nullifier that I know o'what can prevent a manipulation from happenin' 'cause there's no outside energy ta nullify, jus' the re-shapin' o'what's already here. Long as the Sage in questions conscious an' has access ta his or her responsive element manips usually go off." She smiled slightly, "guess the simple solution ta prevent that's ta render the Sage unconscious."

He gently set the book back. Was he really were he thought he was? Was this place what his people called "The Art"? How else could things be explained? How else would his book be unfinished yet the next Kenji's already exist. He looked down worriedly at the small notebook.

Aurora nodded an answer to Jerin, before turning her mind to the task at hand. Her knowledge of technology was pretty general, with only a few specialised skills, but the Complex circuitry was...well precisely that. Complex circuitry. It looked like it might take something more than her knowldege of electronics to get things working again. Still, nothing ventured nothing gained. Aurora approached the increasingly vexed Agent & asked, "is there anything I can help with?" Elsie didn't even look up, so that for the second or so before she replied Aurora wondered if she'd even heard her. Then, "nothing to worry you," Elsie remarked, "since you told us you can leap the water-trap. But the rest of us mere earth-bound mortals can't do that, so we're looking for a way to get the trap closed again- only there doesn't seem to be one. And unless you've got a vast knowledge of cutting-edge technology from this & preceding eras under your belt, I'd say the most help you could be is if you stopped blocking the light and let me work!" Several choice suggestions regarding methods by which Elsie could make herself more useful came to Aurora's mind, but she maintained a neutral expression, simply saying, "if you say so," to Elsie before wandering over to Dirac.

Dirac looked up as she came over, clearly no more trusting of her now than earlier. Aurora let a faint smile flicker across her face before saying, "perhaps you could tell me what's been happening here while I was looking for Jerin?" Dirac shrugged. "Not much to tell really," he said, "miss Agent there has been fiddling with wires ever since you left. I'd hoped she'd make a bit more progress after Ball drew a diagram but-," he broke off as Aurora interrupted him. "Ball drew a diagram?" she enquired, "I'd like to hear about that". Briefly Dirac explained what had happened. A thoughtful look was upon Aurora's face as he finished. She looked across at Jerin, who was still busy with his mystery caller. Maybe he wasn't the only one with a working knowledge of this place? It was certainly worth a try. She called Ball over to her. Ball droned happily as it rolled to her feet, delighted to be noticed. Aurora knelt down to talk to it. "I know you can understand me," she told it, "and you seem to understand the Complex pretty well too- which I suppose is natural since it is your home. So tell me: Do you know what I'd need to do to seal up the water-trap again?" The Ball droned excitedly and scribbled in the dirt for a moment. When it had stopped scribbling the word 'yes' was clearly visible. Aurora grinned slightly before speaking again. "Good," she said, "in that case take a peek at the circuitry our agent is working on and tell if you can show me what to do, given the damage & the attempts our Agent has already made".

The ball rolled obediently over to where Elsie was working & rolled around her for a few moments droning loudly- which caused her to swear more profusely & loudly than before. Ball then rolled back to Aurora & scribbled in the dirt at her feet again. 'I can show you' this message read. Aurora nodded and fiddled with her A.P.D. for a moment, before producing an earpiece similar to Jerin's. "I've temporarily created a new channel," she informed the Ball, "it'll enable you to communicate with my A.P.D. and turn your droning into words I can understand. it is channel 286109. Can you send to that channel?" Ball droned & a second or two later the word 'yes' came through Aurora's earpiece in a mechanical voice. Aurora nodded & made her way over to Elsie again. "Sure I can't take a look?" she asked. Elsie- by now exasperated with the wires before her- simply mutttered, "if you think you can do better," and gave Aurora space, watching her with a sceptical expression. Aurora crouched down in front of the exposed wires & looked at Ball. Ball droned to her. Aurora nodded and made a few small adjustments to the circuits. Ball droned again & she made a few more. Ball droned a final time & Aurora made one small adjustment. With a sudden hum, the floor slid back into place, sealing the water-trap safely beneath it again. Aurora grinned and removed her earpiece as a stunned Elsie stammered, "h-how did you do that?!"

Aurora managed to keep any superior tone out of her voice as she answered. "I'd like to tell you that its mainly due to my vast knowledge of cutting-edge technology from this & preceeding eras," she said, "but that'd be a blatant lie. The truth is I used a little trick I've picked up over the years; one that's often proved useful when other courses of action fail". Seeing the question in Elsie's eyes, Aurora continued, "I simply asked a native. And what do you know, the native knew the answer!" Elsie still looked a little stunned. "A native?" she repeated. "A native," Aurora confirmed, nodding at Ball. "But I asked it earlier," Elsie began, "and it-," Aurora answered before the agent completed her sentence. "You told it if it knew about intricate circuitry you might be impressed," she said, "and it drew you a diagram. I asked it if it knew how to resolve the water-trap problem & it gave me some instructions. You see one thing I've learned," Aurora informed Elsie, "is that very often natives- those who work in a place day to day, even when they seem to be of little account- might just know the one thing everyone else doesn't; the one thing you need to know more than anything else. And its amazing what a difference a little knowledge can make".

Ottilie nodded sympathetically, "aye, wish--" but upon seeing Toby she stopped mid-sentence to exclaim, "--Toby!!! Thank goodness yer--!" Noticing his red eyes then, her delighted smile became a concerned frown, "--oh dear, sumthin' wrong? Are ya hurt...?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsie didn't say anything at first. Then she smirked, having remembered something, "ya know what? I couldn't agree more. Knowledge is power--" and standing, she brushed herself off, "--when you're actually thinking." The agent walked toward the re-sealed doors. Startled, Ball zoomed to block her way, droning warningly. This seemed to confirm whatever Elsie had in her head, and she continued around the little robot confidently, stopping at the edge of the trap. Hands on her hips, she leaned forward, pondering it in an almost mockingly contemplative manner before prodding the doors lightly with a foot. They re-opened at even this slight touch, water just as alive with electricity as it had previously been. She turned back to Aurora, shrugging, "don't get me wrong, Tulip, I'd love if it were that simple. But I gathered something earlier from the diagram Shortcake there drew, which if ya had bothered to ask about instead of wasting time patronizing me would have informed ya that this 'bot has no idea how to render the trap inoperative. It knows how to revert it back to its original settings. That's it." She crossed her arms, sarcastically mimicking Aurora's earlier words to her, "ya see, one thing I've learned is with robots ya got to word your questions just so. Asking 'do ya know what I'd need to do to seal up the water-trap again permanently?' would have been more appropriate in this case."

She knelt on the ground beside the mess of wires, "and while we're at it, riddle me this: that's a Complex robot. Why would it be privy to any information on permanently disabling the Complex's traps when doing so would open a less hazardous path to the center? Seems counterproductive to me--" she glanced at Jerin pointedly, still engaged in his phone call, "--especially if such a robot fell into the wrong hands." She looked back at Aurora, frowning, "I can't say I care what ya think of me. Ya don't join up with the P.I.A. to win popularity contests. But ya shouldn't assume my lack of interest in making nice means I'm incompetent. I mean come on, Tulip! Seventy five percent of my life is spent around equipment far more advanced than Shortcake. What in the name of the Source made ya think I wouldn't have utilized my nearest technological resource if it had in fact been useful?"

"Why didn't you tell me that earlier?" Dirac interjected irritably, "we've wasted enough time as is." Elsie laughed, "yeah Buster, because ya really know how to fix the problem now?" He scowled, though he didn't have an answer for her. The agent raised a brow at his silence, "ah huh, I see. I'll be sure to take that into account." She turned away, "now if ya don't mind, I'd like to finish here..."

The rabbit sighed, "Yes."

Kevin took a step forward then stopped, "Tobe... You, know where you are?" His tone was hesistant, as if he was unsure it was actually Tobias standing in front of them. The Lepoid nodded silently moving toward Henry.

He stopped close to the youth, both stood staring at each other, Tobias's head tilted down, Henry's up. Tobias's miserable, Henry's defiant. The gerbil stood with Ottilie looking on with confusion. Finally the rabbit spoke, his voice cracked, the phrase barely making out in one piece. "I'm sorry. I, I've done some unforgivable things to you."

The youth smirked, "Better than listening to HIM whine around. What can he do, I can stay here for as long as I want and you can put me back whenever you want. Why be sorry? Why are you crying?"

The rabbit's mouthed moved a little, but closed, a sharp dog-like incisor visibly biting his lip. "I saw everything again... It was, a lot to take in." The boy smiled more, it almost seemed like he was enjoying being the one in control of his emotions. "People suck, you know that. Come'ere mister." He gave the rabbit a hug, it seemed to help some, but Toby still looked as if he had the weight of the world on him. He looked up and over at Ottilie from over Henry's shoulder, "Things are... a lot more complex than I told you before."

The gerbil snorted, "If that isn't the understatement of the century I dunno what is."

"No worries mate, I gathered as much. We've all got our circumstances," Ottilie said understandingly, "an' m'truly sorry fer yer trouble." She was unable to contain her jubilance at his return however, and before long her smile broke through again. Not the smile of someone who has never been used by the world as Jerin might have described it, but that of one who has been tried and come back stronger, and she covered it with two hands, embarrassed, "bollocks, m'sorry 'gain Toby, I don't mean ta grin when yer in such a state. M'only so glad yer back," she wagged a claw at him playfully, "an' not jus' 'cause ya said ya'd help me lick this place!" She frowned then, lowering her hands thoughtfully, "s'pose ya might be wantin' other things since you've come an' gone an' come 'gain, though..." she looked at him, tilting her head to one side, "what will ya do now, f'its not too bold o'me ta ask?"

Though Aurora didn't say it out loud, she'd had a few reasons for suspecting that Ball might know how to disable the trap. Firstly, in all the time the Complex had been standing, who was to say it hadn't observed it done before & have the information stored in its memory? Secondly- since Jerin had worked on the Ball- why wouldn't it communicate such information with members of Jerin's party? After all, that would be helping its new master get to where he was going faster. Rather than point all that out to the agent though, Aurora decided to take a different approach.

"Alright," she said in a tone as neutral as before, "I'll admit that technology isn't my strong suit and perhaps I could've gone about that differently. I did actually ask you though, if there was anything I could do to help. If you'd explained all that at the time, instead of waiting til now, I wouldn't have wasted the time or effort. As regards my opinion of you though, I don't know whether you're incompetent or not, but you don't seem to be very useful". Elsie started round at that remark as though stung, but Aurora continued calmly. "Don't get me wrong," she said, "I'll be happy if you turn out to be an asset, but your track record thus far- strictly within my personal experience of you- isn't good. The first time we saw you, you were in company with Ottilie, facing off against the Rithm militia & using your mouth to fast make a bad situation worse. It was Jerin, Dirac and myself who turned the tables in your favour there. Secondly your exchange with Toby resulted in his young ward and Ottilie receiving substantial injuries to their persons, and in Jerin demanding you leave our company. Thirdly, when Ottilie tracked you down, you shortly afterwards encountered Burnu, whom you attempted to physically assault. That resulted in his trapping you up in the high foliage, and the seperation of Ottilie from the rest of the group. Then you used your sharp tongue, to the effect that you got a pair of throwing-blades sent your way. It is true," Aurora admitted, "that you seem reasonably good in a fight. But I can't help wondering if the reason for that isn't a need to be good on account of making trouble to begin with".

Aurora paused for a moment before continuing. "Mercenaries measure things in terms of worth," she said, "as Dirac will doubtless be able to confirm. Simply put, it isn't who you are but what you do that defines you, in the eyes of a mercenary at least. And here's what everyone in this party has done: Jerin has proven useful because of his knowledge of electronics and his overall knowledge of the Complex. Dirac has proved useful because he's good in a fight & knows when to ask no questions. Toby & his ward proved themselves useful by demonstrating integrity: They didn't kill you when presented with a golden opportunity & both seem to have abilities we could use just now. Ottilie, I'll admit, does seem to have a knack for finding trouble, but she cares for everyone. She looks out for them & fights with them. She's the glue that holds this group together just now. Legs is useful because he's skilled with elecronics and has- at least once- proved himself as brave and daring as anyone ten times his size. I've made myself useful by offering my services as a medic and by fighting. You have provoked fights as often as you've helped win them. You've proved to me that Ball can't disable that water-trap, but can you disable it yourself? You've demonstrated a knack for making trouble almost as great as Ottilie's knack for walking into it. In light of that," Aurora summarised, "you haven't- again, in my experience of you- proven to be particularly useful. Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick and you've got tons of talent just waiting to be demonstrated. Until there's some tangible evidence of that though, you remain the greatest liability to the group- possibly on a par with Ottilie & her vanishing acts- in my estimation. In all probability we'll never like each other- which will probably suit both of us just fine- but if you turn out to be more useful than you've shown yourself so far, maybe we'll respect each other a little more".

Having said all that, Aurora realised she'd probably just spoken more words to the agent than she'd spoken to anyone else in the group. She waited now to see what the agent would make of all that & hoped Jerin might get off the phone again before too much longer...

Much to Dirac's surprise there was neither outburst or objection to anything Aurora had said from Elsie. She only shook her head, smiling bitterly at the wires in her hands, "yeah. That's what ya would see..." the agent looked up at her, brow raised, "though, ya are clearly the expert on one thing--" she nodded in Jerin's direction, "--associating with individuals who're liabilities."

Having chosen a spot further along the wall, Jerin sat with his back to them, one shoulder pressed to the cold stone as if for support. He had not moved from this position since the start of his phone conversation, so it was difficult to tell if he heard Elsie's remarks; but Junk's single eye glared at her over his shoulder and Ball droned testily, rolling to hide between its master's feet...

Toby sighed, "To be honest, I don't know." He separated himself from Henry and sat down, seeming to concentrate on some invisible object in the corner of the room. "I know why I did what I did." He muttered lowly. "I hate what I am."

Aurora merely shrugged at Elsie's last remark. "It goes with the territory," she replied, "but some liabilities I associate with by design rather than by chance. But that's another story altogether". Aurora paused for a moment considering her next words before speaking them. "To focus back on our present story," she said, "how would you feel about having some help with what you're doing?"

Seeing the agent's incredulous look when this question was asked & guessing what was running through her mind, Aurora elaborated. "I'm not claiming to possess knowledge I seemed to be lacking a few moments ago," she explained, "but I'm simply thinking the way I explained mercenaries do: I have a patient missing on the other side of that water-trap. I could leap it and go after her, but that would solve nothing for any of you. On the other hand, every moment spent here is a moment that could be spent finding her & we know how proficient she is at walking into trouble. Jerin probably has a solution but he's busy at present. You seem to have some understanding of the technologies of this place, but you have only one pair of hands. Simply put, if you had someone assisting you, this would probably go faster".

The disbelieving look had not left Elsie's face. "And just like that you're volunteering?" she asked, clearly not convinced. "Just like that," Aurora agreed, before continuing, "well not exactly just like that. We've had a mutual exchange of hostilities & know that we don't like each other, but I harbour neither regrets nor grudges. They have no value & are a waste of time- an opinion I'd carry even if I weren't a mercenary. I'm sufficiently techno-literate to follow the instructions Ball gave me- futile as those turned out to be. But if- as you claim- you're used to working with technology so much more advanced than Ball is, so much of the time, then it shouldn't be too much of a strain for you to give me some pointers while while you work. As for myself, accepting instructions from you isn't above me, if giving instructions to me isn't beneath you". Aurora paused for a moment after saying that, before adding- with a slight smile-, "consider it a mutual effort to reach the common goal of being rid of each other if you like. Either way, the ball's now in your court".

OOC: More Irish slang. Also, TEP turned one on January 18th =) so today it's one year and one month old! JEEPERS.

*Your gob is your mouth.
*If you're spewing a lot of blarney, you're talking nonsense.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disgusted by Tobias' behavior, Legs pushed the loose panel of Ottilie's weapon back into place with a loud SNAP, drawing her attention, "your gear shift was out of alignment. Not a difficult fix, but for the millionth time, you can't force your weapon to tasks it wasn't built for without risking some permanent damage," he went on, "I'm not saying you can't use it unconventionally as a last resort. All I'm asking is you keep its limitations in mind since I'm the one who has to run repairs and I don't exactly have a stocked shop out here. That's fair, right?" The Oasis creature inclined her head agreeably, "aye, very fair. I'll do me best." She smiled, leaning down to bump him fondly with her snout, "thanks, genius." He pushed her off, chattering gruffly, "yeah yeah, just test it ASAP. Make sure its not kicking back."

"S'near the top o'me ta-do list," Ottilie replied, tucking her weapon back into its holster. She considered the despondent rabbit then. Normally the creature would have liked to stay while he collected himself, but her promise weighed heavy on her mind and she knew she couldn't afford to linger. She had no way of knowing how long it would take Toby to recover after all, and even if Ottilie hadn't heard everything Kevin and Henry had to say she wouldn't have felt right rushing him back into the mess that was currently her life when he'd obviously remembered some very traumatic experiences only moments before. He hadn't asked for that, nor did he deserve it. Still, she couldn't take her leave without saying something. Rubbing her arm hesitantly, she finally moved to stand across from him, and going down on one knee so as to be face to face with the lepoid, said, "...Toby? Listen, I...well, I can't pretend ta understand what yer goin' through, an' m'not gonna act like I do 'cause that would be dishonest. M'also not gonna say sumthin' like 'don't hate what ya are' 'cause sorry as I am ta hear it I can't change how ya feel, ya have ta come ta terms with that on yer own." She paused, admitting, "m'unsure what 'tis ya might need ta hear, f'anythin'. Maybe nothin' will do an' m'only runnin' me gob, but when I think well o'a companion I usually don't keep quiet f'they're distressed, even f'what comes out o'me's off the mark." She smiled a little, "heh, maybe f'its a load o'blarney ya can least laugh later. In any case you'll know I cared 'nuff ta try 'stead o'possibly thinkin' m'ignorin' yer trouble." She shifted, touching his hand gently, "I only wanted ya ta know m'glad we met. With yer an' Henry's help I managed ta get near halfway through this place with only minor injuries, an' fewer o'em at that. An' m'real sorry I walked off on ya after I woke. No excuse fer it, 'twere a mistake." She sighed, "sometimes in the moment I can't always see the exact right thing ta do an' end up doin' the best thing I can think up. Other times I see the right thing but s'jus' not a possibility, so I have ta do sumthin' else 'cause doin' nothin's not an option mostly. Even now I know I have ta take me leave o'ya shortly an' it don't feel correct when yer in such a state, but s'what I need ta do ta ensure I keep me promise ta Prince Icosian." She patted his hand, "I hope some day yer able ta make peace with all that's happened ta ya an' find value in yerself 'gain, though. Not only fer yer sake, but fer the sakes o'all those ya want 'Warden' ta mean sumthin' good ta 'gain." She went on warmly, "an' fer what s'worth, ya've already shown me the merit in the word. 'Cause ya didn't abandon me when ya had the opportunity. An' 'cause even after livin' through a hundred years o'bollocks yer still capable o'feelin' repentant when ya fail. S'the kind o'hero I wanna be f'I make it that far..." Ottilie looked away self-consciously, busying herself with her A.P.D., "...um...anyway, I'd like ta try'n be o'use ta ya as thanks. I've some friends who can send a ship out. Not ta say ya need it, but rememberin' all that ya have's been difficult m'sure so f'ya'd like ta take it easy they can give ya the option an' have a vehicle here within the hour. You, Adi, an' Henry'll be on yer way 'fore sunrise. Ship might not go far as ya'd like, m'fraid their extraterrestrial vehicles aren't so nice as the P.I.A.'s, but it'll definitely carry ya safe ta the nearest port planet where ya can barter the parts fer sumthin' else." She stood up, holding her hands out, "wish I could do more. Sadly s'the best I can manage at the mo'..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Elsie chuckled, looking up from the wires she'd managed to disentangle, "now you're talking, Tulip--" it was at that moment an idea hit her, and the agent's smile widened, "--if ya really want to help go find me the main circuit breaker for this area. At first I thought I could have Shortcake shut the doors and then cut the electricity, but this traps being fed with power from a plethora of sources and I've only got access to the wires that Burnu idiot exposed where he cracked the walls. Cutting the power from the main if it's accessible would be much more efficient." She jabbed a thumb over her shoulder at the mysterious corridor that had opened near the water trap, "since Buster and I couldn't find a control panel or anything maybe it's down there somewhere. Should be inside a flat box set into the wall, and the main's the one with two thick black cords feeding it." She looked up, continuing severely, "though if ya do miraculously find something Tulip, please, don't touch it. Come get me. I don't trust ya to disconnect the right things." She turned away, grumbling, "and for the love of the Source, watch out for traps, because if I figure whatever out here I might be so engrossed I won't notice ya screaming."

"Would be some accomplishment considering how many ears you got. I'll go along." Dirac said crossly, standing up. Elsie rolled her eyes, "double trouble! So get out of here already. Find me a main breaker or don't, either way maybe I'll finally get some work done..."

OOC: Yay! Who says you can't do an good RP with a handful of people.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rabbit nodded.

Henry looked on defiantly.

Kevin smirked, "Thanks, there may only be one that will need the ship. Henry and I shouldn't be here anyway and..."

"You aren't."

The gerbil turned at the sound of Toby's voice. "What?"

Toby put his hands on his knees, "You aren't here, you're there. Remember the Terran matter transportation technology?"

Kevin's brown eyes narrowed, "You mean the one thats really just making a copy of you in one location and killing the one at the previous?"

Toby's eyes looked hard, he stared at the gerbil, "Yes."

Henry suddenly jumped bolt up-right, "What?! Toby?"

Kevin suddenly smiled, "I guess you live up to your title, Kenji. So were are we? Really?"

Tobias's face didn't change, "With Ottilie."

The rodent shook his head, "So this was planned? You just now remembered?"

Toby nodded, "Yeah."

Henry stormed over and glared at the rabbit, "What the *%+@ did you do to me? Who am I."

Kevin scowled, "You're you, dork."

Toby looked down, "I'm sorry Cork, I'm being vague because I don't wanna say it. I'm not being fair. When I got here I put you here, sorta like Terran matter transportation. Then I put Kevin here by the same method. Except I didn't destroy the originals. You're not missing from there."

"In other words we're copies. I'm not really Henry Vand." The boy said visibly shrinking.

Toby shook his head, "You're every bit Henry that I am Toby. The idea of being in different times and places takes awhile to get used to. Hope you never become like me. I'm dealing with there and here, and others."

"It's pretty mind boggling to think you're living so many lives at once. One conscious shared between so many people." Kevin smirked out folding his arms, "What stopped it before? When you were here on vacation with the runt?"

Toby looked at Henry for a moment then back at the wall, "I did." Suddenly he stood up and turned to Ottilie, "We won't need that boat. I made a promise and I intend to keep it. We're going to get what it is you're here for and get out."

Kevin raised an eyebrow, "Can't you just... I dunno fold your arms and nod your head and do it?" It was then that the rabbit did something Ottilie hadn't seen since it was just him, her, and the boy in the caves. He looked directly at her, and smiled, "What fun would that be?"

OOC: It's true! I'll take quality over quantity any day =)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deliriously delighted, Ottilie returned the smile, voice trembling, "r-really...? Ya'd...ya'd do that--?" but her responsible side took control then, and she looked down, reconsidering guiltily, "--no, wait...Toby, are ya sure? S'like ta only get worse from here on in, much worse, an' ya've done more'n 'nuff already--" she indicated Legs, "--I've Legs ta watch me back. I'll be fine." It was a lie, she was deeply afraid she wouldn't be fine. She was always afraid when Jerin was involved. But Ottilie hid her true feelings behind a cheerful smile as she often did, because she didn't want to be the reason he chose to put himself, Henry, and Kevin in danger, "'sides, m'sure someone with yer abilities has better things ta do than hang 'round a small planet like this huntin' up some borin', decades old treasure!"

Kevin scrunched his face up. "Wait, I thought you weren't allowed to... you know." Toby looked down, "I've done nothing for too long. I was even sorry for the one thing I did do."

The rodent tilted his head, "You mean me." The rabbit nodded, "I was ashamed I stopped you from dieing when it was your time. Because of the things I was always told about us." Kevin folded his arms, "It's obvious you shouldn't be, unless you were lying when you said Kane helped you." Toby's head dropped, "Kev... You're only alive because he's not. The energy I used to make you... like you are. Was his. All of it. He died so I could..." "...make me a kid again. But if that was the case." The rodent suddenly looked wobbly on his feet, "You can... raise the dead? But then Keedis." The rabbit was trying to hold back tears, a few made it to his cheeks, "I was ashamed I did it to you. Who knows what I wrecked in the future. I didn't have the courage to do it again."

Henry had been watching the exchange, slowly piecing things together. Then it hit him, things falling into place. "WAIT! wait wait wait. Earlier you said you saw Him. Like it was capitalized or something. Like I was supposed to know some dead guy that was important to me and you saw 'em. Now you're telling me this Kevin isn't the one from the past... um... my past. He's from MY future? Are you two trying to tell me that at some point he's going to die and you're not only going to bring him back to life but make him a kid again TOO?!" Both men looked at the boy, suddenly infuriation starting mixed with choking sobs, "It... You said 'But then keedis'. Does that mean?"

Toby gritted his teeth, "Yeah, we lost him."

Henry suddenly tensed up, "W..Who?"

Toby forced himself to look into the youth's eyes, he deserved that much, "He died fighting..." "Tobias." Kevin suddenly yelped, "What the hell are you doing? You can't tell him that. What the hell is it going to do to... you know.. TIME!" The rabbit's eyes never moved locked on Henry's, "I don't really %!+*@$@ care Kev. At this point, I REALLY don't %!+*@$@ care. I let him die because I was worrying about what you are now. Kane tried to tell me then, but I didn't listen." "Henry, Sparky died trying to kill Drake."

The boy didn't look away, he just nodded, "So that piece of trash does it. I finally get another chance at having a sibling... and my %!+*@$@ father manages to kill him. Toby, were you lieing about him? Before. Saying we were running from him?"

"No."

"Good. We're not running anymore."

"WHOA WHOA WHOA!" Kevin waved his arms squeaking out loud and trying to get the two's attention. "Think about this you guys. You're in another REALITY and you made a copy of his sadistic dad just to play some kinda sick rendition of The Most Dangerous Game? Toby just blink the bastard outta existence and lets get the girlie home. You can't seriously believe letting this kid go kill his dad is going have any kind of positive impact on him."

Toby jerked around, eyes flaring at the rodent, "I'm doing NO such thing. You can't KILL Raven by killing who he's in. Just because we killed Drake doesn't mean Raven died. He's alive and is here. He's always been here just like I have. I'm sure he picked up on Henry too when I pulled him over. We're going to help Ottilie, with everything we can use without worrying about backlash. But there's another factor." He dried his eyes, waiting for the gerbil to consider his words. "Wait, THE KID. Whats his name, he vanished after... after we got rid of Drake. Tickanwatic! I KNEW it! It went into the kid!"

Toby gave the gerbil a glare, "His name is Sunshine. Stop refering to him like some experiment. He lost his surrogate brother because of me, I'm sure he's here. Why else would I be here, there are billions of places I could be, but I'm here. Henry already said I was worried about Drake, that means I was already subconsciously aware of Raven. I'm here, he's here, Sun HAS to be here. We have to find him, he's the last piece of this."

Henry looked to one side, thinking, "I'm lost there. I don't know who that is."

Toby sighed, "Sorry bud, it's all hard to keep straight for me too. The first time I tried to beat Raven by blanking my memory I wound up in a poor house with two other guys. Humans, guy named Priest and a kid named Sun. Two were close, brothers I thought, but no. We fought to try to keep this political douchebag from getting into office. Turns out I came right back into the hell I left. The politician was Rico looking for his runaway kid. Priest was that runaway kid."

"Sparky?" Henry said looking confused, "You got it." Toby affirmed before continuing, "Try to envision Sparky with green hair and pink contacts." There was a bemused smirk on the youths face for a moment, always as if it helped to think about his little brother in a non-depressing way for once. "We finish that up and realize little Sun's full name is Sunshine Ki. Noone short of us old fogey's put the equation together on THAT name."

"Right, Damon Ki, that freaking ghost story that turned out to be real." The gerbil cut-in, "Full blooded ursinoid that we know was still only a third into his life during the Refusal War. You still think it's his kid? A human?" Toby nodded, "Look at Keedis, Rico wasn't the least bit terran and Keedis looked completely human, like his mother. No stretch to think it could happen with a Ursinoid."

"A BEAR?! You gotta be kidding me! A human kid thats half bear? Do you know how long he'd live? Thats crazy!" The hybrid squawked out, his voice cracking, "How old did you make him?" He continued after clearing his throat, looking embassased. Tobias looked confused, "Me? I didn't put him here. When Sparky... passed. Ticanwatic moved to Sun. So he's always been here, just like Raven. Just like Me. Henry you gotta understand, Kolakawax, Tickanwatic, and Tanmaslak. We have always existed everywhere. All societies know about us and have their names for us. I sure even this one does I just don't know what." He looked concerned suddenly, "I know I failed at it in the past, but from now on... I'm Toby first, and White Tail second. I tried to put what I am first and Keedis died. I'm not letting anyone else I care about die just because I'm supposed to let good and evil fight it out." He gave Ottilie a short glance as if to inclue her, "I'm not sitting on my thumbs anymore. You, Kevin, Ott' here. Hell even bugman there. You all helped me, I can sure as hell return the favor. Name it, and I'll do my damnest to find it way to do it so the planet won't kill me for it."

Aurora simply nodded before turning & heading off down the mysterious corridor, Dirac following her. She was constantly alert as she went, ready for even the slightest hint of danger. "Are you sure this is wise?" Dirac asked her, "going down this corridor divides our numbers yet again". A wry grin flickered across Aurora's lips as she answered. "A wise person wouldn't be in here to begin with," she remarked, "so that makes the wisdom of anything done in here questionable. But there's a chance we might be able to render the water-trap inoperable, although admittedly there's an even greater chance of running into more traps down here". Dirac didn't seem to impressed with that answer. "You do remember what she said about if we run into traps?" he asked. "As long as I have any say in the matter, it'll be- to use a very old phrase- a cold day in hell before she hears me scream, so it doesn't make a difference," Aurora replied. What she didn't mention, but recalled to mind was something the mention of fear had reminded her of. She had already seen the agent panicked, even if the agent didn't recall that fact or wasn't aware of it. Even if Aurora couldn't say with certainty what had brought on that panic, she could take an educated guess. It was an imprtant fact, a potential lever, something to be stored away for now but maybe recalled later. It could prove valuable in times to come.

A short time after Aurora made her last remark, the two mercenaries found a doorway leading off the corridor they were in. Stepping through it, Aurora was seized by a sense of deja vu. Beyond the door was a sizeable chamber, filled with things that might have been vines, but for a faint tracery of circuitry visible just beneath the surface, even in this gloom. The vines- if that's what they were- all converged upon the centre of the room, where there was a smooth-sided shaft cut into the floor and ceiling, one directly over the other. Into these openings the vines disappeared. The difference between this chamber and the other like it Aurora had visited was that there was no steam, no movement amongst the vines, and no strange distant noises. Aurora halted for a moment. "I found a chamber like this earlier," she told Dirac, "only conditions in that one were very different. I think we're okay for now, but if you spot any changes in here run. We'll take a look around in here for the circuit-breaker, but I don't trust this chamber at all. Remember, any changes and we run. Are you clear on that?"

Leaning against the rock Lothair and Legs occupied, Ottilie rested the heels of her hands on top of the cold stone, contemplating all she'd heard. Before the creature could comment however, Legs spoke up beside her, "can I say something?" She sighed, regarding him sternly, "depends. Ya gonna be nice?"

"I'm going to explain how I think this happened on our end."

"Well, apologize first. Ya weren't exactly courteous ta Toby an' Henry earlier." The insect sent a sidelong glare her way, "you're really going to try this...?"

"'Twasn't it you what said, 'only the loftiest o'protocols'?" She turned fully to face him, resting her elbows on the rock as she leaned down, "sometimes ya jus' need ta say yer sorry." Legs rolled his eyes, three pairs of arms crossed defiantly over his chest. He tapped his many feet along the rock for a minute, then changed positions to face Tobias and Henry, "...I apologize for how I treated you both earlier." He looked back at Ottilie. She winked, "short but sweet. S'on yer buggy mind?"

Eager to change the subject, Legs leapt to a more central rock so as to address everyone better, "when Tobias said all societies have names for the entities he mentioned he was mostly correct. The research our Scientists and Sages are conducting on neighboring dormant planets corroborates this. But with living planets it's different, or at least it is in the case of ours. Our planet can't tolerate the raw presence, energy, being, or whatever you want to call it of foreign entities for extended periods. It's..." he paused, searching for the best way to describe their planet's affliction, "...well, the closest term is 'allergic.' Like Ottilie was saying earlier, the Source is a living thing as prone to mistakes and marvels as any other. Its neither completely good nor completely evil and thus incapable of first, naturally producing absolute positive or negative perfection in any form, and second, tolerating the presence of absolute positive or negative foreign energies." He crossed his arms, "to sum it up, yes, most societies have the sort of divinities you're referring to, but ours doesn't. There are no gods or demons here because there's no space for them to occupy without inducing type one hypersensitivity."

He paused to let this sink in, and Ottilie added helpfully, "...um, m'still not exactly clear on what a 'god' 'tis, an' I don't know 'bout dee-mens, but what happens ta the Source when foreign entities try ta dwell or work within its kinda like what happens ta a body that's forced ta process meat when it weren't made ta. Mines like that actually, f'I ingest any meat accidentally I get very sick an'...er...well, throw it back up." Legs smiled at this, "that's a good metaphor actually. Like a body with the inability to process meat, the Source can't process the raw energy of foreign entities and will forcefully expel them should it accidentally ingest some."

"Not ta say there aren't alternative ways o'stayin' within the planet," Ottilie said quickly, "in this case an' the majority o'past cases the Source can't expel the entities 'cause o'the hosts. Sources got no quarrel with its own inhabitants 'less they get ta inducin' harmful levels o'backlash. Plus host bodies got imperfections in 'em, which act as filters. The hypersensitivity's only ta the raw, free energy or presence. So yer Tickanwatic an' Kolakawax must've each been clever 'nuff ta figure that an' kept their activities below the range o'harmful backlash ta prevent harm comin' ta their host bodies, 'cause f'the hosts had been 'lashed ta death the planet would've expelled 'em on its own."

"And when Earth realized there was nothing it could do to prevent them from staying so long as they remained with their current hosts I theorize it turned to you, like taking an antibiotic in the hopes of combating potential infection. That would also explain why the P.I.A. couldn't find you until now. The planet must've hid you as you wandered, even protected you in so much as it was able, in the hopes you'd eventually locate the two hosts and remove them. But the Complex is an area of double Source sensitivity, so once you entered the P.I.A. registered traces of your increased presence, or rather lack there of, and sent an agent to collect you."

Ottilie nodded, "sounds 'bout right..." she was quiet another minute, reflecting. Then a look of determination came to her face, and she trotted up to Toby, stopping in front of him, "f'yer serious 'bout makin' it right by me an' Legs, then this is me request: will ya please come ta the center o'the Eulerian Complex with us?" She went on with a shy smile, "I've a feelin' f'we work together we can solve both our problems. An' I promise f'we haven't found yer Lord Sunshine by the time I've the treasure in me hands, I'll help ya find him. I may not look it, but m'good at findin' someones too, not jus' sumthin's." She frowned then, "I can't promise there won't be times where m'unsure o'what's best or I make mistakes o'course, but I'll sure do me best ta help an' protect ya so long as ya do the same fer me an' me planet."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Crystal," Dirac said dryly, making no attempt to hide the annoyance present in his voice. It was true he had to obey Houiri without protest, but this was not the case with Aurora and he wasn't about to act as if he liked being ordered around. Which isn't to say that's what the other mercenary was doing, but perception is a strange thing, and our experiences tend to color it. Perhaps had Dirac not been treated so poorly by one creature he would have been less inclined to see another's warning as a condescending command. Sadly that's exactly what he saw, and it only increased his overall feelings of bitterness.

Turning, Dirac began to move along the walls, pushing foliage aside where needed in order to see what lay behind better. The search went on for twenty minutes, but turned up not even a normal breaker, never mind the main one. He was about to suggest they look elsewhere when Jerin's voice spoke from directly over his shoulder, "what're we looking for?"

Jumping, the mercenary twisted round with an angry scowl, one hand moving away from his blaster, "sneaking up on people's a good way to get your head blown off."

The creature chuckled, shrugging, "I do apologize. I was only playing a game with myself: try-and-figure-out-what-Aurora-and-Dirac-are-looking-for-without-asking-them. I give up."

"You were there."

"I was preoccupied."

Dirac frowned dubiously, scratching his beard, "main breaker for the trap. Badge said it might be down thisaway."

"And you believed her...?" What followed was silence, broken only by a haughty 'hm' from Junk and Ball's inquisitive dronings at Jerin's heel. Dirac could only imagine that Aurora was at least as annoyed as he, "no main breaker. Right?"

Jerin nodded, "not an accessible one, anyway." He laced his fingers together, foreclaws extended to bisect his smile, "...you know, I'm beginning to doubt shutting that trap up was ever really her first priority. Which begs the question: what was?" He turned, a darkly humorous edge to his voice "lets ask her, shall we...?"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Left in relative peace, Elsie was able to concentrate and work more quickly, snipping the many loose wires she'd gathered in strategic places with a small, whirring tool. She was only half aware of Jerin's mind-numbing chorus of "ah huh's" and "I see's" and "good's" interspersed with long periods of silence in which she assumed he was listening to his caller. It was during one such period that the agent happened to look up to dispel the paranoia she was feeling at being left alone with a creature she didn't trust; but to her surprise and slight alarm he'd vanished. This hastened her hands, and tying the bundle of live wires together with bits of vine to form one thick line of power, she finally set them down. The agent then moved to open the pouch strapped around her right thigh. Inside was a round, flat robot that resembled the robotic vacuum cleaners popular among humans. It was made up of sleek silver and black parts and a viewfinder that encompassed its entire circumference, giving it a three hundred and sixty degree field of vision. Opening a panel, Elsie removed a jumper cable, attaching one end to the thick live wire she'd created and the other to the robot's battery pack. Charging rapidly, it soon animated with a start, shooting into the air before being pulled back by gravity to hover just above the ground cautiously. Regaining its bearings, it hummed devotedly and launched itself into the agent, rubbing against her ankles like a small cat. She smiled ever so slightly at this, and even her scolding was gentler, "hold still. I need to disconnect this mess." When she had done so the robot hummed curiously, three lights set in place over what appeared to be the front of it illuminating in succession. Wisely keeping Jerin and Aurora's respective hearing ranges in mind, Elsie answered in a quiet voice, "directive? To capture Tobias Hoskin and his accomplice. Please test containment systems now." The robot was quiet a minute, examining these before responding to the affirmative. The agent grinned, "great. Lets get going, we gotta find Irish." Her revitalized companion made confused noises, and she explained hurriedly, kneeling by the crater again, "yeah, I know, but Irish was with Tobi--Blondie, and he didn't seem the type to abandon her. We find her, we find him. If not I'll think of something else." The robot accepted this, and watched as its mistress repeated the procedure Ball had instructed first her and then Aurora in earlier. The doors of the trap closed as before, and Elsie disconnected the outgoing wires attached to the exposed circuits. Standing up, she trotted down the path, doing the same in the remaining craters and then returning to the re-sealed trap to prod the doors with her foot. Now, what the agent had said earlier was true: the trap was being fed by a plethora of electrical sources, all of which were not available to her. What she had failed to mention was that she theorized if enough of those sources were disconnected the trap wouldn't have enough power to open completely. This proved true, as the doors started to pull back at her touch only to grind to a sudden, whiny halt with little over a quarter of water exposed between them. Elsie stepped tentatively forward, making sure they wouldn't open further before grinning and easily hopping the crack, her robot hovering behind. Once safely on the other side she paused, another brilliant idea hitting her, "Rover, hurry back to the other side and re-connect all the power lines." The bot zoomed backwards obediently, stopping by the first crater. A pair of small mechanical arms emerged from slots in either side, and it maneuvered the wires back into place, careful to avoid being shocked. When it had finished it returned to Elsie, who again stomped her foot hard on the partially open doors. At full power they opened entirely, and the agent nodded, satisfied, "won't buy us a lot of time, but it will send a message to that creep: I don't want to be followed by him or his lackeys. Come on!" And turning, Elsie ran up the path, disappearing from view around the corner with Rover at her heels...