Castle Oress' Roof

"Peylet Kelzwick. You're welcome." she replied simply.

With a 'ding', the elevator arrived at the roof...and opened up to reveal that it was all covered in snow. Well, I guess it's better than macaroni, right?



One MAGICAL HALLWAY ADVENTURE later, Umbra, Ara, and Aita would end up in the basement, which was a MAGICAL PLACE full of dust, books, dust, books, and dust. And books. And old, uncomfortable-looking furniture. And some little wooden tables. And dust. And books.

Ara began looking around nervously...not only was this place pretty dark even with the lights on, there were probably bugs and stuff down here. ):

Umbra, meanwhile, pulled out that piece of paper she was writing/doodling/whatevering on back upstairs, and proceeded to begin writing/doodling/whatevering on it again.



"Good! Then I'll meet up with you later...I've got another client to attend t---"

Beep, beep...

Arella pulled out her cell phone (because almighty beings like phones, too) and looked shocked at whatever was on the screen.

"Damn, that was fast! Son of a bitch...ugh." she stowed her phone away and, after a few more mumbled curses, her evil little smile return.

"Well, nevermind! Looks like I got a new client just in time, huh? Figures. Never make deals with a manbear. Tch. Anyways, how would you like a little preview of what's to come? A nice little field trip to Limbo without the whole dying thing?"



She laughed that horrible laugh of Hers again, and brushed some of the hair out of Her face.

"Kill you? Oh, dear, that's funny! No, no...We're not allowed to kill the Tested. Why, that would just be rude! But, you see, I really like to play games with people, and you wouldn't believe how bored I've been. Humor me, won't you? Just one little game?"

Without waiting for a response, She produced a deck of cards from nothing (She is one of Them, after all) and started shuffling them.

"All right, here's the game..."

She turned the deck around, revealing that every last card in the deck was the Ace of Spades. The death card. How creative.

"It's called 'Raise Hell'. The rules are simple...you meet one of Them, you raise hell for Them. Don't show Them any compassion, don't show Them respect...don't do anything but cause trouble for Them until you're among Us. Fail to obey, and I raise hell for you. I won't kill you or any of the Tested, oh no, but I wouldn't consider death to be 'raising hell'. Oh, nowhere close. But, anyways, it sounds like a fun game, doesn't it? ♥"

Uh...no?



"Hm?" the FLO looked down at the Card, then back up at Fellmund.

"Oh, are you new? Well, congrats on your Promotion, sir! You must've missed the explanation...your Card has an infiite amount of money on it to keep you occupied through your eternal afterlife. Convenient, huh?"

Man, why do They always get the infinite cash?"





"Work, huh? Arella would never look for me in a place that involves working...I can dig that! Lead the way, chick!" Nette ordered, much to the anxiety of Meil, nonchalance of Mariol, and semi-relief of Lun.





"R-Really?!" Puppy clasped his wittle paws together, eyes sparkling with tears of happiness. "You'd do that for me?"



"Umbra, hm?" Halyn backed inside to allow him through and immediately seated herself on the couch.

"She's not here right now, but Umbra happens to be a close friend of mine! I'm sure I can answer anything she could." she assured him.

(MAGICAL SUBCONSCIOUS ADVENTURE, Day 4)

"Excellent. That's actually what I was hoping this place would act as. Now if you don't mind, I think I have some... other business to attend to at the moment. I really do appreciate the grand tour of your mind and the nice little planning session on the way here. Again, don't hesitate to ask if there is something you require. Who knows, I may be able to help you out."

With that, Ignis ducked back out of Fray's subconscious, returning to the relative familiarity of his own office. Taking note of the now-dimmed chunk of crystal sitting next to the flask on his desk, he gave a heavy sigh and returned it back to his coat before... well, leaning back in his chair for a nap, from the looks of things.

---

(Castle Oress Roof, Day 4)

Lokk eventually caught his breath, listening to Vers' explanation as he quickly checked over the configuration of the matrices installed in the cockpit once more.

"Excellent! You should have the capability to test the conductive safety of the device, then. I'll have Frederick begin assembling the construct, then. Unless you already have something else planned for that, of course."

---

(The Doll Shop, Day 4)

Exuro glanced back towards the doorway when Seraye shouted up the stairs. Not wanting to keep her waiting, Exuro started on his way down the stairs, beckoning for his still-unnamed Chilly to follow.

"I didn't catch what name you picked there, but let's get going. Tell me when you can, huh?"

Once he was downstairs, Exuro finally took notice of the window - well, what he noticed out of it, more precisely. There was really only two people who he would expect to be carrying around any amount of white phosphorous aside from himself, and one happened to mention heading over towards the Flower Shop at some point.

"I hope he's keeping himself together over there. That stuff's nasty if you use it in the wrong situation."

---

(Umbra's Mansion, Day 4)

Still nothing but relative silence from Julias' room.

Vers began typing as soon as the indicators lit up on his own control panel, and the construct lifted off the rooftop. "Awesome. All systems are online, and we are ready to kick some major ass. Weapons look like they're calibrated, and everything else looks just fine. Let me know if you've got any problems. By the way," paused Vers, checking his scanners. "I'm not picking up any abnormal interference from the source of the white phosphorus smoke. I think the situation there has been settled, so if you want to do anything else, we can go ahead with that."



Durnam sighed, picking off bits of leather from his damaged bracers. "I'd say that it was a... mixed victory. I couldn't fight with Arode's holder on equal terms, with the lack of floating platforms and no tactical advantage. As you saw, I ended up using all of my phosphorus in that fight, and that was only for a temporary retreat, mostly to re-evaluate my strategy. I've got a few new tricks up my sleeve, but I'm not going to talk about them here. Let's just say that lava is kind of useful in a fight. Not as readily accessible as fire, but there's plenty of things I can do with lava that I can't do with fire. It's kind of cool."

(Elsewhere, Day 4)

"Doesn't take long for someone to get murdered in the Test Reality these days, from what I can tell, so it was likely more helpful than you realize. I can tell that he's not at full strength again quite yet, but I doubt that anyone will want to mess with him anytime soon when he's back to full strength. I'd imagine that the Oress Holder who messed him up is in worse shape than Julias right now, that's for sure. Should be dead by the end of the day with any luck. I can't have someone with that sort of power running around being a nuisance, after all. And on that note, do you have that mission report prepared for me to go over, Julias? I need some details from it for something I'm working on."

Julias apparently was expecting this, as he produced a small, black book from his robes and handed it across the desk to Ignis, who flipped through a few pages before slipping it into the chaos of his desk.

"Very good. From what I can gather, the Competition is being dominated by a small number of more aggressive Oress Holders, with the others either going into hiding or taking up defensive positions inside alliances. A few of them are... interesting, to say the least. The Marionette connected to Violet seems to be a prime source of strife, and the kid with Arode and his friends could be useful. And then there's the mercenary... I didn't think I'd have to deal with him ever again. Oh, the fun times ahead..."

That's not sociopathic. Not at all.

---

(Castle Oress Rooftop, Day 4)

Anyone outside of Castle Oress would be able to see the construct as it flew over would get a clear view of it as it landed atop the roof of Castle Oress once more.

"Shame we didn't get to test out the shields, but the time will come. So what do you want to do now, hmmm?"

---

(The Doll Shop, Day 4)

Upon arrival and subsequent noticing of who was blacked-out on the front steps of the Doll Shop, Exuro approached the sleeping Poice with a sigh and began poking at him with the heel of his boot. Not too hard, mind you, but enough to hopefully jolt him awake.

" 'Ey. Poice... isn't it? Yeah, Poice. Wake up, you're blocking the entrance. You can answer why you're sleeping on the doorstep of the shop once we get inside."

Vers nodded in agreement, and exited his compartment of the golem, and stepped onto the rooftop. Once the two of them were out, he pulled out a pair of car keys, and locked the robot (which even had one of those little chime things!). Upon realizing that he could walk again, Vers raised his artificial arm into the air, and cheered in joy. Once his little happy moment was over, Vers pointed ahead in a somewhat heroic manner.

"Let's roll."

and then vers transformed into a ball and rolled all the way to the pool



"Huh, that might actually be useful someday," Durnam said, jovially prodding Exuro with his quarterstaff.

---

"So, that means someone must've built this..."

CAPTAIN OBVIOUS SAVES THE DAY AGAIN

"...I'm guessing either Pixet, Craya, Priste, or a combination of any or all of the above. Regardless, this might mean trouble. I suppose we should leave it alone until we know the story behind it." she suggested, tapping the robot.

---

Sileny glanced over at Vers and Lokk once they came in, but didn't think too much of them. Just some more silly Oress Holders doing silly Oress Holder things. She pulled out her obligatory cell phone and looked back at Mr. Thorren, snapping a picture of his 'injury' for later examination before putting her phone away. She had the strangest feeling that this thing was going to end up being fatal for poor Mr. Thorren, but she didn't have the urge to help him. As much as she detested paperwork, it would be nice to get the Competition over with...and it's not like she knew this guy, anyways. Nothing she felt the need to get involved in...although, those marks were intriguing. Didn't look like it came from an Oress, and she thought all abilities were stripped from the Tested when they arrived...could an outside force be behind this?

"That's not why you're here, Sileny. Get back on track."

Her emotionless silence continued.

---

Narelle immediately scrambled back up into the tree, not even bothering to mention her name. Meanwhile, Exuro's Chilly immediately straightened himself back out and saluted before following his beloved boss inside...naturally, however, he had to try pretty hard to avoid clinging to Exuro's leg again when he noticed Him and Lorelei there. Mostly Him.

Speaking of that guy with the nifty hat, He didn't seem very unnerved by Exuro's weapon-licious (that should be a real word) appearance. At any other time He might've been intrigued at the very least, but considering everything that had happened within the past few hours, He probably wouldn't be surprised by anything for a while.

After a few seconds He seemed to recognize Exuro from the Mall, but given the fact that he hadn't been in His line of sight for more than a moment or two, His only response was a hat-tip. Golly, He sure likes tipping that hat a lot. IT'S GOING TO FALL DOWN IF HE KEEPS DOING THAT

---

AM I HILDA )':

Once the duo (temporarily, at least) had finished up their conversation, the FLO running the place dropped off ridiculous amounts of cheesecake at Nette and Hito's table before zipping over to Pebble and Janice's table.

"Sorry for the wait~! Welcome to the Castle Oress Cafe! My name is FLO, how may I serve you today?" she beamed, acting FLO-y as usual.

Meanwhile, that silly eyepatched rabbit from the lounge apparently got bored at some point and arrived at the cafe, his adorable entrance being marked by random thunder and the mysterious disembodied sound of church organs. But he was just too damn cute to be ominous~! ♥ >:X

---

And then, all seemed lost...not even CopyCat could get out of such madness! It was too intense, too insane, too---wait, what's that?

Before Naj could get her terrifying little loli hands on anything, a rocket containing everyone's favorite druggie shot out of the 'wreckage', still shooting for space.

"I hope you realize that I'm going to drop dead out of mental instability once you become space overlord. This shit almost isn't worth it. Almost." he hissed, sounding slightly crazed.

Meanwhile, back on the surface, a somehow-unscathed Naj began poking at the unconscious manbear. (:

---

Seraye shrugged.

"I'm not really sure...I've been making dolls of people all of my life. I just get feelings, and then I end up making incredibly accurate dolls of people. You're better off not questioning it...speaking of which, all of the dolls in this shop are free! All you have to do is go up to that clipboard," Seraye pointed to the clipboard that was sitting on the front desk, "and fill out three things: your name, the name of the doll, and your reason for 'purchasing' the doll."

"Yeah, Seraye's no fun to rob. Doesn't even have any cash..." Larya mumbled.

---

Since all of my female characters that aren't (semi-)lolis shadowy people just have to be creepers, Muri's form slowly began curling around Koren in a manner that was both uncomfortable and ominous.

"You do realize that you'd be giving up your soul if you contracted with me, right?" she laughed. "I don't make deals with people unless they're reeeeeally intense about it. Soul-forsaking intense. ♥"

---

Ara accepted it carefully, as if it was the most important thing in the world (given Ara's precious loli-ness, at this point in time it probably was the most important thing in the world to her). It was clear that she was happy by her facial expression, but the adorable loli love/joy/gratitude appeared to be too much for her to process. After a few seconds of silence, all of those cuddly loli feelings completely took over her inhibitions and she---

NO ARA IT'S NOT WORTH IT YOU'RE NOT EVEN ON YOUR WAY OUT THINK ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES

As the above statement implied, Ara sprung up and immediately gave Ignis that adorable(y dangerous) loli hug we all know has been hovering around in her mind. Except this time, she didn't back away immediately and politely curtsy as if apologizing for her cuddliness...presumably, for better or worse, Ignis had reached a point of loli love from which he couldn't return.

"Oh, thank you, sir! I'll be sure to take good care of it, and I'll make sure that Lady Umbra absolutely gets her memories back! A-And if you want to be there for when it happens or if you want to talk to Lady Umbra afterwards, you always have your avatar and anyone who you can connect to from there...a-and of course, I'm always willing to help with anything! Anything at all!" she exclaimed, sounding like the happiest little loli in the world.

D'AWWWWWWWWWW (':

---

Peylet shrugged and began ambling around, half-expecting something convenient to happen like last time.

Speaking of convenient, DBA would notice an odd patch of, uh, roof...like something cool would happen if you stepped on it. Cartoons have taught me to trust those odd-looking pieces of background...

---

Sileny was about to write down something to assure Garune that he wasn't at fault, but Yorito's quiet outburst quickly grabbed her attention. Noticing that this guy was probably in control of either Arode or Priste, Sileny quickly recognized that she had the ability to stop him...but she had no reason to get involved, not to mention that there could potentially be consequences if she interfered. Still, she figured that Garune also had no reason to get caught up in the impending mess. Deciding that it couldn't hurt if she tried to help out one innocent person, just this once, Sileny held out her hand to him.

---

He paused for a moment to think before pointing back in the direction of the pool.

"Well, I don't really know anyone here by name aside from Lorelei here, but pretty much everyone has taken interest in the pool today. Can't really blame them, seeing that it's hot as hell out. Either way, the pool's probably your best bet if you want to find anyone around here."

Realizing that there was an absence of mindrape and/or violence, Exuro's Chilly let go of Exuro's leg (again) just in time for Mr. Thorren to stumble over to the elevator. Mr. Thorren's condition almost surprised Him, almost, but His mind was still of LORELEI TIME ADVENTURES. Exuro's Chilly, meanwhile, was all like "D:!".

---

AND THEN ARA LOLI-RAPED HIM, FINALLY SUCCEEDING IN HER OVERLY COMPLEX PLAN TO GET IN IGNIS' PANTS

I feel kind of bad for Julias. One can only imagine the amounts of 'what is this i don't even' going through his head at this moment. ):

Speaking of which, even Ara was surprised with Ignis' response. It's not like she was planning on getting incinerated, but...well, it just seemed so surreal. It took moment of stunned, unmoving silence for her to realize that she wasn't dreaming, after which she dragged on the hug just a moment longer before (reluctantly) backing away, performing her signature loli curtsy, and sitting back down.

"U-Um, so..." she began quickly, eager to avoid any kind of awkward silence caused by the magic of loli cuddles, "Is there anything else you needed, Ignis?" she asked, noticeably no longer feeling the need to refer to him as 'sir'.

---

so, uh, yeah

Thankfully preventing an empty post, the door swung open to reveal a rather satisfied-looking Ciess, a quiet-as-usual Shan, poor little Kim-Ko, and a still-unconscious Puppy.

"We're baaaaaaaaack~!" Ciess announced, much to the apathy of all of my silly characters...well, except for Dicro and Fray, who sort of cringed upon seeing Shan because he's Shan. Umbra turned her head towards the group, initially uninterested until the sight of Kim-Ko caused her to raise an eyebrow.

"Who's that?" she asked, frowning ever so slightly at the thought of bringing in an(other) innocent little girl into their (so far) violent(less) alliance.

"This chick? She's, uh...what's your name again? Kathy? We kidnapped her." Ciess explained.

"You...kidnapped her?"

"Well, I mean, otherwise she probably would've died alone and stuff..."

"So you saved her, then." Umbra said, suddenly looking amused. Ciess jumped, apparently offended by the thought of doing good.

"N-No way, of course not! We just---"

"Saved a little girl~♪" Umbra mocked, clearly entertained by the thought of Ciess and Shan saving the life of someone they could have easily killed.

"D-Dammit, you stupid bitch, we kidnapped her! Kidnapped! She probably has important information that we can torture out of her or something!"

"Torture? That sounds pretty beneath someone who just saved an innocent little girl."

"SHUT UPPPPPPPSDFDJKGDKJGBDJFGB"

(':

---

poke poke poke

Meanwhile, Charteuse and CopyCat finally arrived in space, where CopyCat harmlessly exploded and turned back into his cat-ghost-demon form thing.

"Voila! Welcome to space, O Mighty Overlord!"

---

"Possibilities, huh?" Muri laughed, eventually moving behind him to drape her arms over his shoulders.

"So, tell me," she spoke quietly into his ear, "what exactly are these 'possibilities'? I mean, enslaving you and/or devouring you doesn't sound that bad to me right now..."

---

After thinking for a moment, Seraye shrugged.

"I guess I couldn't really punish you or anything...I don't really use the data from the clipboard for anything, so I guess it really isn't that important..."

Lame!

Also Seraye totally waved at Relik because that's what nice people do.

---

Loret jumped, happy with Dysis' suggestion.

"Of course, the Mall! Such a wonderful place to be! Let's go~!" she cheered, already spinning towards the exit like the happy little ex-God she is. (:

---

Peylet would've been surprised to see the elevator crash up through the roof, but she kind of vanished underneath that table and yeah. Exuro's Chilly, meanwhile, stumbled out in a daze.

"Whoaaaaaaaa...my head feels all rainbow-y..." he muttered, clearly not in the best shape of his life.

---

Ara promptly put the necklace on (because she was totally just holding it the whole time), being sure to keep as much of it as she could tucked in the adorable loli collar of her adorable loli dress. It would kind of be hard to explain where it came from, especially considering the fact that Ara was a terrible liar. Unless the lies revolved around being a Jesus Loli, of course.

"R-Really?" she blushed, apparently not understanding that compassion was something typically thought to be completely unknown to Ignis. "W-Well, I guess...um...well, we've known each other for a long time and I always try to be as nice and helpful as possible, and I really like him, so...I-I mean, I think that everyone deserves to be loved, and if you're nice to people they'll be nice to you...a-and I guess I already kind of see him as a...as a..."

Ara cleared her adorable loli throat, not quite understanding why she felt so embarrassed talking about this. She tugged at her sleeves, her adorable loli blush only becoming more obvious.

"U-Um, I think we should probably get back to the main room now so Kim-Ko's mind can be fully submerged in terror." she suggested quietly, clearly not used to awkward conversations. She's so cute. (:



YAAAAAAAARN

Fray promptly began a loli staring contest with Aita, because lolis gotta be Gs. Well, okay, Fray's technically a semi-loli, but...old people can be cool, too, right? Right?!

---

What a jerkface! Well, anyways, Mr. Uncool over here would find that the papers covered a wide variety of subjects...creating an Oress, how to properly use an Oress, what makes an Oress tick, how the signing process works, the strengths and weaknesses of each specific Oress, Poice's plans for future Oress, and even some of Umbra's original designs for the Oress.

WHATEVER SHALL HE LOOK AT/FOR FIRST



Poice being Poice, he was totally distracted by Fellmund's MAGICAL TALES OF MAGIC. Silly Poice, you're a scientist! You're not supposed to get distracted by magic tricks!

Meanwhile, being an anti-succubus succubus, Kilii was always prepared for this kind of thing. Her first layer of clothing was successfully stripped off, only to reveal...gasp! She's wearing a copy of her outfit right underneath! Except this time, she has some weird glowing belt on! And it causes anything that touches Kilii to get electrocuted! Which makes me wonder if it only works when she's missing her second layer of clothing! I really like exclamation points!

Seraye, on the other hand, was never really expecting to have her clothes torn off by handkerchiefs. Normally she'd just whip out her baseball bat and whack Fellmund upside the head with it (maybe twice for good measure...or three times...or twelve...), but her hands were too occupied with attempting to keep her clothes on to reach for it. Apparently very intent on keeping her clothes on, she focused in on Fellmund and proceeded to do what she does best...

...Make dolls.

Before Fellmund could even say "what is this i don't even", he would suddenly find himself...vanishing?! Holy shit! Right when it seemed like he was going to blink out of existence, Fellmund would suddenly find himself a lot shorter...and stubbier...and...oh, damn.

He was his doll, his cute, harmless, cuddly-wuddly doll! At least he was still capable of walking and talking, but Maiex suddenly seemed to stop working.

Shit.

---

Muri went back to clinging, suddenly interested.

"Really? Torn apart? Marvelous! It must've been an incredible way to go! Oh, do go on! Who killed you? Why did they kill you? It wasn't just a random killing, was it? That would be ridiculous. I hate it when people just kill people for no good reason...death needs more drama! More revenge!" she continued on. What, does she have some kind of death fetish or something? That'd explain some things...

---

Mariol hopped up, brushing herself off before starting to pace around in circles.

"Well, um, let's see...I think people are supposed to kill each other here. Yeah, you gotta kill people so you can be one of Us! Well, one of Them. There's lots of stuff to do here besides that, though...there's a mall, and places to eat, and a park, and some body of water, and these alliance thingies...but lots of the alliance thingies just want to kill people so they can be one of Them. I think. Maybe." she 'explained'.

---

About five seconds later, a FLO popped up and asked for Elia's order. (:

Meanwhile, a cloaked figure entered through the back entrance of the cafe that totally exists and seated themselves, absentmindedly looking out the window. Their frame was rather small, and the cloak was white instead of some spooky color like black RACIST, so they didn't seem particularly ominous.

---

And then CopyCat existed even less! Oh no!

Speaking of 'oh no', Naj and Skar were still working on the 'plumbing'.

YEAH, LOOK AT ME, MAKING MAPLE MANOR REFERENCES LIKE I'M COOL

YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT BITCH

COME AT ME BRO

Mr. Thorren
~Castle Oress - Roof~

"Cool story, bro." JUST KIDDING! But yeah, Mr. Thorren ignored Exuro's blabber. Hah.

After staring blankly over the town for a while, Mr. Thorren averted his eyes to the newfound hole in the ground, that Exuro's Chilly randomly found. He blinked for a bit, then picked up the table and, becoming electrically charged because he can, Mr. Thorren smashed the table against the hole and caused it to make an even bigger hole.. which, unfortunately, caused the three that were on the roof to fall into said hole. Mr. Thorren landed on DBA; and he passed out. Guess old age is finally getting to him. Or perhaps it's something else.. because he started twitching as he crushed DBA underneath his gigantic form. And.. was he foaming at the mouth? My god, is there no one that can save him..?

And he stayed on the roof. Staring. Yeah.

Fellmund
~Doll Shop~

Fellmund began crying and pleading and apologizing and crying and pretty much doing everything that Fellmund normally wouldn't do. But getting turned into a doll is some hardcore shit, yo. It changes you, man. It changes you.

Charles
~The Mall~

AND THEN THEY ARRIVED AT THE MALL. And then stuff happened. I don't know. Shut up, me.

Skar
~There~

More 'plumbing' went on in that secluded room, causing the poor fruits watching the cameras to have their eyes explode with pleasure. You heard me.

And as for the situation with Charteuse, the arm continued to drag her towards the ship, inching her closer and closer and closer.. towards it. Weird squeals and beastial noises could be heard. That couldn't be..?

(Castle Oress Roof, Day 4)

"Yo, Thorren. We'd better get a move on, like I said, or else it might be a bit too late to recover from that wound of yours. I don't think that even I'd be able to repair the elevator, considering that you kinda pulled the whole thing loose. Unless you have some sort of super jumping powers that will get us down in one swoop, let's get moving."

Exuro, ignoring the oddly-familiar voices emanating from the hole in the ceiling, started heading towards the stairs, beckoning for his Chilly to follow along.

---

(Umbra's Mansion, Day 4)

Now that Ciess had left the room, Julias turned towards the still-present Kim-Ko and just... grinned. And not the usual gentlemanly smile; this was something that would make Ignis himself proud of him. With that last bit of unsettling behavior, Julias went back off towards his room, as well, assuming that Ara would follow along after him. That, of course, also meant there was a possibility of Halyn following along as well, so he didn't speak up quite yet.

Mr. Thorren
~THAT FUCKING ROOF~

Mr. Thorren decided that following Exuro would probably be a good idea. His intimidating stare continued staring intimidatingly at absolutely nothing at particular because he can.

Badass.

Fellmund
~Doll Shop~

"Plfths! Na mear! Mm sharry! MMmfftphpp! Frrgk! FRRRRGK! FFFFFFRRRRRRGK!!!"

Fellmund's muffled screams were impossible to understand. But within the chambers of Spark's mouth, the doll was.. crying? Well, no actual tears or anything due to being plastic - or wax? - and stuff. But yeah. He was also missing an eye at this point. That's what you get.

===

And everyone that was, at one point in time, in Fellmund's hat were totally hanging around in non-existance along with CopyCat.

Benny the Rabbit continued to swear.
Dove #1 was gangsta like a certain hamburger.
Dove #2 was Russian and drank vodka.
Dove #3 was a Mormon who loved 'Space Docking'. Don't they all?

...

Oh dear god.

Vers appeared on the rooftop, lying on the floor, with his right arm particularly battered. Picking himself off the rooftop, Vers gazed around, and removed his duster, staring at the heavily-battered robotic arm. Carefully, he detached it from his shoulder, removed two objects from his gauntlet: the fusion disk and some sort of memory card. Vers sighed as he set it on the rooftop, and disintegrated the fine piece of machinery with a nice dose of acid.

Vers looked around, and noticed the odd hole in the floor. "Lokk, get the golem started up. Here, insert this into my console, and get the most recent program ready," Vers said, tossing the memory card to Lokk. "We'll need to get out of here ASAP, but I'd like to see what's in this hole."

And with that, Vers jumped - with all of the dexterity and grace of a wingless bird - into the hole.



Koren just remained silent for now. He didn't want to make matters worse for himself.

---

"A...a fan?" Cel blinked, apparently suddenly forgetting all about Vers' obvious injuries.

"Uh...yeaaah, no. It's me, Cel! Don't you remember me?" she asked, apparently oblivious to the fact that it was possible for people to not remember who she was in the slightest. "You know, from Castle Oress! We were allies! Well, I mean, I guess I didn't really do that much, but..."

Peylet ignored the conversation, more concerned about Vers being a total mess.

"I think we should take care of your injuries before we continue." she spoke up. "DBA, do you think you could heal him?" Peylet asked, turning back towards DBA.

---

Poice very much wanted to beat the shit out of Nago politely ask Nago to show some manners, but Poice's accursed niceness was too overwhelming for him to control.

"Kinet controls energy, basically. Long story short, all of your abilities are enhanced. You become incredibly strong and fast, you can take more hits, your senses are enhanced, you're invincible when it comes to exhaustion. Pretty cool, right?"

NONE CAN PLEASE THE MIGHTY NAGO

---

Nette seemed kind of impressed with his abrupt change in personality, but Nette's weird like that.

"All right, I'm gonna hop on the 'like' train, here. But, tell you what...if you end up dead, win or lose the Competition, you're gonna be one of my misadventure buddies! We're gonna do all kinds of crazy things over There, yeah? It'll be awesome!"

FRIENDSHIP GET

---

Umbra didn't notice Verity when she came in, so she went to turn and see what Julias was talking about. Instead of finding Verity, she noticed the curiously familiar group that had gathered here...although the only person she really recognized was Exuro. The confusion brought by that, plus the overbearing vibe that seemed to grow stronger by the second had a clear effect on Umbra, who immediately put her hands to her temples in a futile attempt to nurse the headache - most likely caused by being a stubborn punk and not allowing her memories to resurface - that quickly returned from yesterday. Obviously pretty out-of-it but doing an impressive job at hiding it, she returned her attention to Julias.

"Yeah, sure. What did you want to ask me?" she asked mumbled, not noticing the adorable loli that immediately popped up behind her. As implied, there was suddenly an Ara directly behind Umbra, waving at Julias in that adorable loli manner of hers. Given the fact that no one would be reacting to her presence (well, aside from the whole necklace thing intensifying Umbra's headache) and the fact that she has Jesus Loli powers, Julias would probably be able to quickly assume that Ara was only visible to him.

Meanwhile, Exuro's Chilly was all "FGSFGDLGF ♥" again.

"Really, boss?! You mean that?!" he began, abruptly pausing when he walked inside and noticed the odd collection of people in the cafe.

"...Weird."

---

AND THEN GSG WAITED FOR TCC

"Doesn't ring a bell. Trust me on this one, I know people I meet. If I ever met anyone with distinctly pink hair, I'd easily remember," he said, pausing to glance over at DBA briefly. "Don't bother healing the arm. I think that my robotic arm was more useful, but I need to get that repaired.

Man, these guys suck at hiding their base. This is obviously the location of the Test Reality's Vers Fan Club!



Durnam nodded in response to Elia's signal, and stood up. Without any delay, he grabbed the folder, and set it on Elia's table. In a low voice, he whispered to her. "Take this, and keep it safe. It's all of Poice's documents on the Oress. I'll try and catch up with you as soon as possible. Stay safe, all right?"

And with that, he whirled around at looked straight at Julias. "Hey, Ignis-boy. Looks like you've got a lot of answering to do."

---

Cel seemed sadface at not being remembered, and made out with Vers because this actually IS the secret Vers Fanclub hideout looked over at DBA.

"So, not everyone remembers things? Even if they only remember a little bit like you...?" she frowned, then sighed. "This is going to be harder than I thought..."

---

That little compliment, evil little Nago smirk aside, inspired Kilii and Poice to not ditch Nago. Yay, feeling useful! (:

"Lesni controls all things space - aside from being able to breathe in space, which isn't something you'll probably ever get to use, Lesni allows you to summon and control stylized little stars, moons, galaxies, meteors, black holes, etc. You can even manipulate gravity to some extent!" Poice explained, trying to avoid being distracted by Lesni's delicious purply purple-ness of purple. Also, purple.

---

"Awesome!" Nette grinned, struggling to accept Garune's handshake while she was still up on Lorelei's shoulders.

AND THEN GSG WAITED FOR LODNIR UNLESS GARUNE HAS MORE STUFF TO SAY BECAUSE I HAVE NOTHING FURTHER TO ADD TO THIS CONVERSATION I LIKE CAPS BTW

---

AND THEN THE WATER LOVED HER BACK

Exuro's Chilly would've been all "FFFFF THANK YOU I LOVE YOU FOREVER", but he was still distracted by this...unpleasant gathering. He didn't do anything, through, seeming rather hesitant to do anything to help the cafe turn into a war zone.

Umbra was about to respond to Julias, but she abruptly stopped herself. Her eyes clearly widened and she went stiff, most likely signifying that Julias' statement began the chain reaction of, uh, memory-remembering. One brief clip of a memory fragment led to another, everything slowly coming together to create a clear picture...

Visibly frustrated - yes, frustrated, not worried or upset like usual - with the fact that these new arrivals were about to interfere with the recovery of Umbra's memories, Ara figured that she might as well continue abusing her Jesus Loli powers. After preventing Umbra from wanting to turn her attention away from the unsteady flow of memories, Ara edged a little closer to Julias, allowing him to get a better look at the rather out-of-character look on her face. Despite the fact that she looked like she was probably about to (adorably) choke a bitch, it still somehow managed to be obvious that the worst she could possibly plan on doing was directing everyone's attention away from the two.

Verity, meanwhile, looked rather conflicted...she knew what was going on with Umbra, and didn't want it to be interrupted, but if she revealed herself so soon...

"I'd very much prefer that, yes. But...give me a quick moment." she said to Elia before getting out from under the table. Once she finished straightening herself out, she turned directly towards the potential hell-raisers.

"Excuse me," Verity began rather loudly, "I think we have a bit of a problem here, one that needs to be quickly resolved."

Ara was so surprised by SUDDEN MURDEROUS ALBINO SEMI-LOLI that she stopped doing whatever she was doing before she began. Quickly figuring that she could use this distraction to her advantage, Ara began using her undeniable Jesus Loli powers to divert attention away from Umbra and Julias and towards Verity.

This post was very confusing to write. ):

---

"Very nice." Neren began. "The people are wonderful for the most part, there's always plenty to do, the place is just fantastic to look at..." she explained, slowly starting to realize that she was actually capable of appreciating an environment.

---

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE

HEE HEE

"Um..." Mariol shifted uncomfortably, "I don't think she likes me that much. I mean, she'll let me hang around her, but she always bosses me around and sends me off places to do things she doesn't really care for. She's nice to me sometimes, and I know that deep down I mean something to her, if only just a little bit..."

SO SAD )':

---

"Duh, being a doll is the best!" Larya hopped down from the bench.

"You wait for little kids to pick you up and love you forever, and then you steal all of their junk and make a break for it! It's pretty hard on your own, but since Sparkle Rat and I are here, nothing could possibly go wrong!"

No, not the cursed words! Now everything will go wrong!

---

CopyCat jumped back with a gasp.

"N-No way! I can't be stuck with you idiots for all of eternity! You've got to be kidding me!" he exclaimed, clearly not happy.

---

"Wheeeeeee~! We're going on a space adventure~!" Naj clapped, bouncing up and down. Unfortunately for Skar, she still only has a teensy little loli chest.

---

"Damn! I knew I shouldn't have underestimated a talking olive!" Muri hissed, quickly sinking into Koren's shadow because she's a jerk like that. Well, she wasn't completely a jerk...she sent more tendrils at Charles, attempting to tie up his fists.

---

Speaking of which, it's probably been a half-hour by now.

"Jog his memory, huh...?" Cel thought over DBA's suggestion, but couldn't think of much. Cattle prods? Beating people up at Umbra's? Building cool stuff? She sure didn't have a cattle prod, she really didn't want anyone to end up on Umbra's bad side, and Vers seemed like he was already busy making cool stuff...

"I've got nothing. I guess we'll just have to hang around him more often...but, uh, we'd better get out of here." she suggested, looking up at the hole. There was a total lack of ladders or stairs, and the scarce furniture seemed to bolted to the floor... "I've been stuck down here for days..."

oh cel

Peylet looked across the room at that note that was still taped to the wall.

"Perhaps that note over there describes some kind of convenient way to get out of here."

---

Poice and Kilii were visibly surprised by how many Oress Nago had on hand...but they decided not to question how he got them all. He didn't seem like the kind to say 'please'. ):

"Vitara is all about healing. You can heal yourself and others, with or without touch. Any injury that isn't an insta-kill can be healed with it...illnesses, curses, broken bones, cuts, scrapes, scars, bruises, poison, burns, depleted Life Energy, getting your limbs chopped off...no problem for Vitara! Of course, heftier injuries take longer to heal, but you know. Vitara can also be selective: you can heal injuries but keep the pain or vice versa, you can choose to heal certain injuries but not others, you can heal things only to a certain extent...I guess you could find something useful for that. Vitara can also create shields, although they aren't all too strong since they aren't Vitara's primary function. Finally, Vitara increases your durability...you can take more hits, it takes more to make you bleed, and you can live off of less Life Energy." he explained.

"Any more questions?"

---

SO HOW ABOUT THEM CAPS EH PRETTY COOL STUFF YEAH?

---

Loret was totally gushing at how heroic Charles was. ♥

Muri, meanwhile, attempted to just attack Charles herself...but Charles got to it first, which only served to make her angry.

"So that's how it's going to be, is it?" Muri spat, deciding it was SERIOUS BUSINESS time. She abandoned Koren's shadow, diving into the shadows of the mall and sneaking up on Charles from behind. She increased her size somewhat along the way, hoping that doing so would make it easier to drag Charles down into the shadows.

Vitara, meanwhile, gave Charles a reassuring "It's okay, I forgive you!" as she was launched off into the sky. (:

---

Verity laughed.

"So you've heard of me, huh? Don't get excited, I'm here on business. My involvement in the actual Competition is over. I have more important things to worry about than gutting people. If it's not necessary, then I don't care for killing." she explained, sounding annoyingly prideful. "The 'problem' I'm referring to..." Verity glanced over in Umbra's direction.

As predicted, the dagger was basically the straw that broke the camel's back. Or, in this case, the pointy object that broke Umbra's mind. She went completely silent for a few seconds that felt more like a few hours, supposedly attempting to get a grip on what the hell just happened. It wasn't that surprising of a reaction...I mean, having that many memories flowing back all at once can't possibly be good for you. It took her a while, but she finally came up with a quiet, but plenty fitting response.

"Oh my God. Oh my God."

Verity turned back to Exuro and co.

"...Has just been taken care of. Carry on." she looked over at Durnam and Elia. "And, you two...let's get out of here. This place isn't an appropriate place to ask what I need to ask."

Meanwhile, Vitara landed in front of the cafe in a rather painful-looking manner.

"Ah! I think I've broken my spine! What a shame..."

---

"Now we just need to find a little---ah, here comes one! Hiiiiiiide!" Larya grabbed Spark and dove behind the bench, the Chillies following. Moments later, a blue-haired girl who didn't look like she was very far into her double digits walked by.

"BE ADORABLE, MAGIC MAAAAAAAAN" Larya whispered loudly, because that makes sense.

---

CopyCat twitched...and, after an intense moment of silence, screamed to the non-existent heavens.

"WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?!"

---

The note had a doodle of...well, supposedly this Cenedra Shore chick who made all of the secret entrances, as well as a note congratulating them on finding the secret room. The bolts holding down the furniture suddenly vanished, allowing them to use the furniture to climb out.

Sensing that there would be too much effort required for this, Peylet decided to just follow Cel up the rope ladder that Vers created. Ah, laziness! You never cease to make things quick and convenient for us all! How we love you so! ♥

Naturally, Cel jumped back (miraculously, not into the hole) when she saw the explosion.

"O-Oh my God! What was that?!"

IT WAS AN EXPLOSION, CEL

---

Kilii decided to give that adorable little Poice a break and answer this one for him.

"Opine Frazil is the woman who invented the Test Reality, the Competition, etc. To contact her, we'd have to go over There and physically ask to set up a meeting." she explained.

---

{{oh wow yeah lol if lorelei used crona right now she'd be TIME JESUS}}

Sileny quickly wrote something down, 'cause she has speed-writing skills like YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE MAN, LIKE YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE.

[I'm incapable of speaking, as well as expressing much emotion. Those abilities were taken from me by my superiors before I became one of Them. I suppose that I could get them back now, but...I don't know. After all this time, I think it'd be weird to suddenly start talking again. I don't even remember what my voice sounds like!]

That kind of sucks.

---

Naturally, Exuro's Chilly followed Exuro all the way to the Ritzy Apartment Building. Predictably, it had been completely obliterated. But, strangely enough, Tintra was in the fetal position on the sidewalk, mumbling something about this being the worst day ever.

Okay, okay, hold up. How the hell did she not die in that? There's no way she got out of that building in time...and even if she left right after Durnam, there's no way she could've gotten back before Exuro. And even if she did die and she's actually a ghost right now, there's no way she could've become a ghost that fast...not unless she died before the explosion.

wtf is going on here

---

Umbra quickly recollected herself, recovering from her memory-induced mental trauma almost instantly, presumably because she's just that cool.

"You son of a bitch, just ditching me like that." she smirked, "I'd cut you for it, but I'm in a fantastic mood today. Lucky you."

TRUE LOVE (':

After giving Ignis an enthusiastic (adorable loli) thumbs-up, Ara decided to give the adults their privacy and promptly vanished into thin air. That Jesus Loli thing is still weird...

Meanwhile, outside, Vitara weakly gave Mr. Thorren a thumbs up.

"Ah, don't worry about it! I've had worse falls before! I appreciate your concern, though, sir! I suppose I could use a bit of help getting up..." she said casually, because falling out of the sky and breaking your spine is apparently something that happens to Vitara every day.

---

Totally ignoring the mushroom cloud because it wasn't relevant to her interests, Verity followed Durnam and then turned to face the group.

"I've been observing this place on and off for a while...and I noticed that we all seem to have a common enemy in Opine Frazil. I was interested in forming a contract with the two of you around this subject, since it seems you've already made some progress by recruiting Poice." she briefly explained, deciding to just get to the point.

---

After taking a few hits, Muri dove back into the shadows. She spent a moment or two thinking, and then decided it was time to become HARDCORE SHADOW BITCH. Noticing the direction the fight was moving, Muri slinked over towards Loret, grabbing at the fangirling ghost once she was close enough.

"Now, now, let's calm down! We wouldn't want things to get nasty..." Muri spoke up.

OH NO SHE DIDN'T

---

"I think you'd fit in very well with Us." Neren...smiled again. oh go this is just creepy now i'm scared

"We tend not to dislike people unless they do something bad to Us first...despite being superior beings, We do not view lower beings as inferior. If anything, We are very fond of them."

---

Mariol followed him, "ooh"ing and "aah"ing at all of the pretty glowing jewels.

"Oh? You learned something from me?!" she asked, surprised. "What is it?"

BEST DAY OF HER LIFE

---

At first, it seemed like the girl was about to completely ignore Fellmund...but no loli can resist an adorable face like that! After pulling a Shifty Steve, Meliss picked up ADORABLE WITTLE FELLMUND and examined him closely...TOO CLOSELY.

"What a strange-looking doll. I suppose I could throw it at something out of frustration..."

Larya was struggling to not laugh at Fellmund. SO SUPPORTIVE

---

twitch

twitch

TWITCH TWITCH TWITCH TWITCH TWITCH

"I submit!" CopyCat screamed, lapsing into a bout of maniacal laughter before joining the dance party.

BREAKING PEOPLE IS FUN

---

AND THEN NAJ WAS UNCONSCIOUS BECAUSE SHE WAS KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS ON IMPACT

Meanwhile, a voice sounded from nearby...

"AW, HELLLLLL NO! I TOTALLY RESERVED THIS PLANET!"

---

The group made it about...okay, they were only a few steps away from the mansion when the apartment building blew up. After a good few minutes of stopping in mid-walk and D:-ing, they slowly turned around and walked back into the mansion.

"It blew up. ):" Fray explained to a very confused Halyn. How does one pronounce ):?

Vers was more or less having a seizure right now.

"Judging by the distance from here, that would be my lab."

Damnit, why did the fusion reactor have to overload right now? Now I've got nowhere to work...



Durnam nodded rather thoughtfully.

"Depends on what your terms are, and whether Elia's willing to listen."



Koren tossed up a telekinetic barrier, and retreated back. For now, he'd let Muri handle this.

---

"Y-You didn't have anyone working in there or anything like that, did you?!" Cel gasped, horrified at the thought of a bunch of adorable little scientists getting blown up...apparently, she didn't realize that Vers just had the apartment building's basement and no workers aside from the SCIENCE ALLIANCE.

Peylet looked rather amazed by the explosion, either never having seen something even remotely like it or horrified at the fact that something like that could actually happen in the Test Reality...that she could actually die in something like that.

---

Poice and Kilii looked at each other, then looked back at Nago like he was crazy.

"Uh...it's not really that simple..." Poice began with an awkward cough. "Opine rarely shows herself, so it's not going to be an easy task. I mean, we can certainly get back to you tomorrow morning, but it's not like we can just take you to Opine on such short notice..."

---

insert description of sileny writing stuff

[Well, I can't speak now. If I talked to the right people then I could maybe get my voice back...but, despite my Promotion, I can't just start talking out of nowhere.]

Wait, isn't she an almighty being? Shouldn't almighty beings be able to do whatever they want...?

---

AND THEN GSG WAITED FOR FROZEN

---

AND THEN GSG WAITED FOR TCC

---

It took a moment, but Ciess and Shan suddenly seemed to have a collective realization. They both seemed completely shocked, so Kim-Ko had better savor that look on their faces now...probably not something that anyone would ever see again.

"Ah! I remember you! You were...you were at that party, at Castle Oress...!" Ciess gasped, not entirely sure what she was saying...yet, she was confidence that it made sense.

"The two of you had that punch...which was spiked, so the two of you wandered off to go get a puppy or something..." Shan continued.

"Then we got that Chilly from Poice, and then we went back to Castle Oress..."

"...And then I had to drag Ciess back home."

After a stunned silence, Ciess suddenly spoke up again.

"W-What the hell?!" she burst out, backing into the door. "None of that ever happened! This chick wasn't here before! We just met her a few hours ago! A-And we'd never go to a stupid party at Castle Oress! W...What's going on here?!"



"Our, uh, base of operations just kind of blew up." Dicro summed up, surprisingly calm. Of course, he wasn't really apathetic about the apartment getting destroyed for the second time this week...he was just in total shock. And not surprised. ):

---

Naj totally remained 'unconscious'.

---

The Chilly obeyed Exuro's orders immediately, backing waaaaaaaaay up. Tintra, meanwhile, had a fgsfgdlgf spasm upon noticing Exuro. She didn't move, instead looking up at him in a manner that looked...lost? Confused? Totally broken?

"Oh. I...I wouldn't worry about me." she said quietly, her tone of voice...strange, to say the least. "You see, I'm already dead..."

Just to prove it, she waved her hand literally through Exuro's. Okay, so she is dead...so how the hell did she become a ghost so fast?

---

"Nothing I can't ask you later." Umbra shrugged, standing up.

"Well, then, I suppose I'll 'see' you later. Until then."

---

DETAILED POSTS ARE DETAILED

Vers turned to Lokk, and scratched his head with a rather sheepish grin on his face. "Actually, it's a fusion reactor. I'm not going to explain the mechanics behind it, but it's not that hard for it to accidentally overload, especially when I'm not manually optimizing it. And, Cel, don't worry, I doubt that anyone's harmed, anyways. Hopefully, at least."



Durnam nodded. "And, I guess that seals the deal."



And that was when Koren tossed up a force field around Charles. Not like he'd know any better, you know, 'cause invisible force fields and whatnot.

Vayd
Castle Oress-Roof

Vayd relaxed in one of the lounge chairs on the roof. He was simply enjoying the warmth of the sun and though he'd been out in the light for over four hours, he was only marginally darker in skin tone. He sighed and opened his eyes, rolling the smooth orb, Lirna, between his palms while his thought drifted aimlessly. Lirna, I don't even know what's going on anymore. I suppose I should make some friends here, but everyone seems so distant. So...earthbound. What do you think I ought to do? He looked around, letting the golden oress sit in his lap before returning to his previous, relaxed posture.

Vayd, I think that what you need is someone to relate to. Not all the other Tested are like you. Some are far more outlandish and crazy. Perhaps you're right though. They do seem a little more...flippant than the previous batch. And plus, you're a wielder of Light. You feel more connected to the sun, stars, and moon than anything else here. I've seen it at work. Just remember, if nothing else, you've got me to talk to. The mind within the oress grew quiet then, still connected to him, but not saying anything. He sighed and relaxed back fully, closing his eyes and listening to the sound of wind blowing through the tallest trees. He smiled ever so slightly, content with where he was right then. He wouldn't need to do anything, unless someone came up to visit him.

Vayd
Castle Oress-Roof

Vayd heard the high pitched voice as he relaxed and his eyes snapped open in surprise. He whirled as he sat up, one hand slipping Lirna into his shirt while the other formed a light dagger. he paused, caught off guard by what he was seeing.

Before him was a rabbit, but he was sure that it had talked. As if things couldn't get any stranger, not only had it talked, but it had asked him what he was doing here, as he were intruding or something similar. He laughed and assumed it was all in his head, something he'd thought up in a daydream and had made real with his abilities. He sighed and laid back down, as if nothing were amiss.

"I'm relaxing," was all he would offer to the imaginary rabbit's question.

Vayd
Castle Oress' Roof

Vayd looked back at the imaginary rabbit. "That would be correct. I'm relaxing and doing naught but. You can join me if you really want to, though I can't say it would be very exciting." He smiled and then went back to simply laying in the sunlight. He'd noticed a storm cloud around everywhere, but there was a single shaft of sun poking through constantly, and it was aimed dead at him. He chuckled at the absurdity of the world but ignored the storm as best he could.

Lirna rolled several thought over in Vayd's mind, careful not to let him see them unless he searched. She knew that the rabbit was, in fact, completely real, and that it might be hostile. It hadn't said or acted as such, but the chance was always there.

---

THEN BUNNY RIPPED VAYD'S FACE OFF AND ATE HIS INTESTINES LIKE SPAGHETTI :3

"Really? That's pretty cool of you to just let strangers chill with you, even if the stranger's just a silly talking rabbit. So, who are you, anyways?" he asked. :3

Vayd
Castle Oress' Roof

"Me? I'm not really anyone. I mean, I'm one of the Tested, I suppose, but I haven't really done too much while I've been here. I'm thinking that I ought to find a few people to group up with until the end and then kill them all, but I figure that it might get difficult to get them to trust me. Not to mention I'd have to be watching my back the whole time in case they tried to kill me. So, I came up here to ignore it all." He conveniently left out what his name was during his small rant, and despite his talk of betrayal and murder, his voice remained calm, as if he were simply describing an average object.

Lirna piped up inside his head and said, Vayd, You know that, as an Oress, I can't do much, but would you really be so heartless a person and simply gain their trust only to kill them in the end? It seems...too cold for someone like you. He responded, though it was a bit scathing. Lirna, did you ever think that perhaps the fact that you think my plan is heartless might be the reason why your holder didn't win last time?

---

Bunny didn't find this too unnatural, seeing that he'd been chillin' with the Tested for years. :3

"Yeah, that's definitely tricky. A lot of the alliances will just let you in if you ask, though; their only real condition is that you fight with them until all non-alliance members are gone. After that, they probably wouldn't judge you if you tried to kill 'em. I mean, this is the Test Reality...people have come to expect these things, y'know? You might not be better off alone." :3

Vayd
Castle Oress' Roof

He turned and regarded the rabbit for a moment, thinking of why something from his own mind might say something like that. It was certainly something he hadn't expected to hear, if nothing else. He smiled as benignly as he could, figuring that, if his mind was telling him this via talking rabbit, he probably shouldn't listen. Not one to be rude, however, he still spoke back. "Fair enough. But then again, there's not really much to keep me from simply waiting until there's only one left, and then killing whoever that is. I mean, being able to control light does have that as an advantage. If I could control sound too, then I'd be unstoppable, but alas, it is not so. I just can't believe my mind is talking to me in the form of some imaginary rabbit."

What he had yet to understand, but that Lirna had wanted to tell him, was that said rabbit was, in fact, not imaginary, but quite real. Instead of piping up again, Lirna remained silent, somewhat bitter over how rude he'd been when she offered her last opinion.

---

Bunny would've blinked dramatically, but gotta keep the :3 face up and whatnot. :3

"I'm not imaginary, you sillyhead! I've been chillin' around here for, like...well, for however long the Test Reality has existed. Just go up to someone and say 'hey, have you met Bunny?' and they'll be like 'awwwwww yeah'." he explained. :3

Vayd
Castle Oress' Roof

Vayd stopped thinking for a moment, confused by the fact that this rabbit had said it wasn't imaginary. That it was, in fact, a talking rabbit. He couldn't wrap his mind around it just then. Well, not until Lirna helped him. All at once, Vayd was out of the chair, snow swirling about him. The hole in the clouds was gone, and no sunlight shone down, but the half-elf's hands glowed gold with light.

"Bunny, huh? How do I know you're not trying to kill me by letting me fall asleep? I mean, if you're a talking rabbit, then what's to say that I'm not one too?" He grinned, and suddenly, where he had been, stood a replica of Bunny in every physical detail visible. It wasn't actually a physical version, just a 3D image made by Vayd as he warped and shifted the light in front and around him.

---

"Cool rabbit, bro. I think you're kind of overreacting, though. I mean, I'm not a Tested and I'm not even trapped here, so killing you would just be a dick move. I'm too nice to be a douche!" Bunny claimed. :3

"If you want me to leave, bro, I will. I'm legit." :3

Vayd
Castle Oress' Roof

He held onto the image while keeping himself invisible, doing his best to maintain the amount of energy required to do so. He hadn't thought it would take so much out of him so easily. After a few more moments, he dropped the ability, the rabbit vanishing and his body reappearing. He felt as if he'd hiked for a dozen miles of mountains, and yet he'd been resting and conserving his energy since the other day. He made a mental note to remember the amount of power it took to create a 3D image, in case he had to do so in the future. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind.

"Wait, you say you're not trapped? Could you get me out of here then, because I really don't want to be here. I mean, I like my powers, but I've been trying to live a peaceful life for the last dozen or so years and it's not been working out. I'd hoped the fresh start here would help, but it appears to have simply made things worse." And there was more rambling on his part, the words slipping past his lips with only a minimum of thought behind them.

---

If Bunny was capable of changing his expression, he probably would've made a sadface. Instead, he just shook his head. :3

"Sorry, buddy, can't do that! I'm more of an invited guest, you see...I'm not allowed to just bail people out of here like that. If you want out, you've gotta get through the Competition. Either kill everyone or get killed yourself! Kind of sucks, but I wasn't really involved in the creation of this place, so yeah. There's not much I can do for you besides being your homeskillet. That might be kind of helpful, though, y'know? Pretty much everyone around here digs me, so people tend to be pretty safe by my side. Most of the time." :3