by Max Barry

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ZOCOM wrote:Jacob watched his brother being practically carried away with a smirk on his face "That has to be the second time I have seen him afraid of an enthusiastic girl. Though I'm more sorry for his wallet." Despite how well he thought his quip would go down he saw from the look on Pearle's face that this was about to get serious. Truth be told, he wasn't that big on the idea of sitting down where he couldn't easily retreat if need be... But he wasn't going to be rude.

The young Captain hopped up onto the docks and settled down beside Pearle as she motioned for him to sit and look to the ocean before them with only a feeling of welling dread. He already had an idea of what this may be about already given recent events. "I'm gonna guess this is about my outburst before huh...?"

"There's that..." Pearle states in a half quiet, calm tone while staring out into the ocean. "Among other things."

She raises her shoulders as she takes in a deeper breath than usual then releases it, relaxing her shoulders at the same time, performing a sigh with her entire upper body. She turns her head with a tilt to look at Jacob, her tone and expression taking on the same sincere but cold tone she held while talking about Jacob with Lucas. "Look, I'm not gonna ask you to tell me about your troubles. To be completely honest I don't care. If you want to talk about your feelings get a therapist, but if you want to vent it with your fists that's fine with me. We all have our demons we can't or won't talk about, and whatever the hell happened to you during that war is clearly an incredible weight on your shoulders, but you will gain nothing from continuing to carry it. It's in the past, and you don't live in the past. You live in the present, and live for the future. If you focus too much on the past you'll lose sight of what's to come, and what's already in front of you."

Synnadine wrote:"There's that..." Pearle states in a half quiet, calm tone while staring out into the ocean. "Among other things."

She raises her shoulders as she takes in a deeper breath than usual then releases it, relaxing her shoulders at the same time, performing a sigh with her entire upper body. She turns her head with a tilt to look at Jacob, her tone and expression taking on the same sincere but cold tone she held while talking about Jacob with Lucas. "Look, I'm not gonna ask you to tell me about your troubles. To be completely honest I don't care. If you want to talk about your feelings get a therapist, but if you want to vent it with your fists that's fine with me. We all have our demons we can't or won't talk about, and whatever the hell happened to you during that war is clearly an incredible weight on your shoulders, but you will gain nothing from continuing to carry it. It's in the past, and you don't live in the past. You live in the present, and live for the future. If you focus too much on the past you'll lose sight of what's to come, and what's already in front of you."

Enkara is standing in front of them in the superman pose.

Templar Citadel: Morning of the Rematch
The Citadel is abuzz with Templars preparing for the execution of their former blacksmith Gregor, who has been sentenced to death. Some are avoiding getting involved and refuse to accept the truth before them on account of their own personal feeling towards the Dwarf they've known for most of their lives, while others are up in arms that the traitor who supplied a weapon that killed so many of their kin must be made an example of post haste. The few guests that the Templars have don't have a particular interest one way or the other on the matter, as none of them even really knew Gregor, but because of that they also don't care to get involved. As such they are all off doing some training elsewhere, some simply elsewhere in the Citadel while others, such as Crash and Nilin, left the grounds altogether in favor of the neighboring forest groves.

"Guh!" Nilin lets out a grunt of pain as she is thrown back, doing a roll to bring her back upright and digging her finger tips into the ground to slide to a stop. She looks up, covered in small wounds and panting for breath as she stares at Crash who simply stands there. "Ahhhhhh!" Nilin lets out a battle cry as she rushes at Crash again, holding out her fists as each one pulls earth from the ground she walks on to envelope her arms. Crash holds up his arms as earth slabs float up and rest on each forearm. Nilin then starts taking swings for Crash but he begins to block each one with his improvised earthen boxing pads, occasionally taking a relaxed swipe for Nilin that she must dodge.

"Don't lose focus, stay collected! Hate, anger, sadness, despair, happiness, bliss, the specifics don't matter! What matters is you maintain whatever emotional state serves as your anchor, and that you latch onto it!"

Shortly after this Crash ups the tempo, taking a swipe for Nilin that she barely manages to duck under, only to then have to raise her arms to the side to block an unexpected kick. This kick cracks the earth she has formed around her arms and slides her aside nearly a foot across the ground. She then looks up to see an earthen slab being plunged downward onto her, about to crush her, and she freezes up. "FOCUS!" The call out from Crash moments before being crushed makes her snap to as pillars rise from the ground to help her raising arms stop her from being crushed. The pillars each buckle and crack but, thinking quickly, another pillar launches forward to strike Crash in the abdomen. He willingly takes the hit, letting it push him several meters backwards before really planting his heels and taking hold of the pillar to simply destroy it. He looks over to the exhausted and panting Nilin. "I see you're improving after all..."

Suddenly Nilin's eyes snap open and she leans forward from her sitting position, legs crossed, sweating profusely and panting like she just performed a marathon. Both hands placed on the ground and her back hunched over it's all she can do to not faceplant the ground. Across from her Crash sits calm as ever, clearly meditating, releasing his hands from the circle he held them in over his lap to open his eyes and look to Nilin. "You can maintain linked mental training for much longer already. Just a few days ago you couldn't even follow through with one swing before exhausting your mind. Now, stand up." Crash gets to his feet as Nilin suddenly looks up with an 'are you kidding me' expression. "Come on, stand."

"But-"

"Now....!" Crash coldly cuts her off, not interested in excuses at all. Nilin pushes herself off the ground to she's at least sitting up straight, then slowly and carefully starts trying to muster the strength to get onto her feet. It takes a bit but, sure enough, she's there...and having trouble staying there. Her stance is shaky at best, and she's swaying side to side, having to consistently shift feet to avoid swaying too far and simply falling over. "That's more like it. Now, begin."

Without fuss Nilin continues struggling to stand, but already knows what she is to try and do. Doing her best to stop swaying from sheer mental exhaustion she holds out both hands at a downward angle. To an untrained eye she is doing nothing, but to those familiar with aura they'd see she is carefully channeling all of her aura into and throughout the forest floor beneath them in countless threads, flowing seamlessly through all of it and back to Nilin then back into the ground "Control here is most important. A steady, even flow of your aura through the area. Understand everything from the dirt itself to the microscopic organisms inside of it. Don't let your mental state stop you from controlling and learning. Spread your aura out as far as you can before looping it back, then try to spread it out even farther the next time around. Keep this up and don't stop until I say so..." With a calm nod Nilin complies, continue to perform this very flow at a steady and unchanging rate, while also trying to not just fall over or pass out on account of her completely exhausted mind.

Truthfully, while training under Crash is certainly tough on the physical body, the mental training...no, mental abuse you go through, is so much worse.

Now if Fem-cell wasn't currently in hell the two of them would likely well moreso Nilin be in trouble for messing with her mum like this. Though this should be more than enough evidence for Vampire me to wonder what the hell is going on and why his daughter isn't busting mage heads

ZOCOM wrote:Now if Fem-cell wasn't currently in hell the two of them would likely well moreso Nilin be in trouble for messing with her mum like this. Though this should be more than enough evidence for Vampire me to wonder what the hell is going on and why his daughter isn't busting mage heads

Well, she isn't harming the forest in any way doing this, so the Odreintalea tree of the forest would not be bothered at all. In a way, since the forest basically IS the tree because of how such trees work, it could actually like this. Not often that the forest would feel outside aura gently moving through it in such a way and yet Crash has had Nilin doing it many times now in similar circumstances. Refreshing in much the same way a massage would be. Mind you they of course don't know about the tree, because them trees be sneaky.

Frankly I don't know how fem-cell would personally feel cause that's not my character, but I don't believe she'd care either :P

ZOCOM wrote:https://imgur.com/xwsbYSk
Prepare for 3 seasons of amazing, I'm happy that you're getting into it

Aaaand done. I don't know how much you've looked on your friends list activity, but if you haven't noticed I've basically just been on Crunchyroll for a while. So yeah, 36 episodes? GG ez, want season 4. From what I understand while it hasn't been confirmed to any capacity, based on the numbers reflecting the success of Overlord a season 4 is highly expected.

Shalltear is my favorite, I don't care XD

Synnadine wrote:Well, she isn't harming the forest in any way doing this, so the Odreintalea tree of the forest would not be bothered at all. In a way, since the forest basically IS the tree because of how such trees work, it could actually like this. Not often that the forest would feel outside aura gently moving through it in such a way and yet Crash has had Nilin doing it many times now in similar circumstances. Refreshing in much the same way a massage would be. Mind you they of course don't know about the tree, because them trees be sneaky.

Frankly I don't know how fem-cell would personally feel cause that's not my character, but I don't believe she'd care either :P

Where one person says massage another says sexual harrassment. It's a wild two way street.

Synnadine wrote:Well, she isn't harming the forest in any way doing this, so the Odreintalea tree of the forest would not be bothered at all. In a way, since the forest basically IS the tree because of how such trees work, it could actually like this. Not often that the forest would feel outside aura gently moving through it in such a way and yet Crash has had Nilin doing it many times now in similar circumstances. Refreshing in much the same way a massage would be. Mind you they of course don't know about the tree, because them trees be sneaky.

Frankly I don't know how fem-cell would personally feel cause that's not my character, but I don't believe she'd care either :P

...Fair point. True no one at that outpost knows about that tree. Maybe Sam... I'm unsure if my namesake already told him about it... If not he's experienced enough to detect it, probably. Fem may not have a problem with Nilin or Crash either.

Edit: Though clearly I'm wrong since NS didn't load pap's message for me to look at.

Aeritai wrote:"Nice job! You got the fusion down and Saph is a good name." Aylokin said as they pat Saph on the head.

"Now for the hard part its time you learn how to fight as a fusion by the end of this your fusion will share the same fighting style and ki supers. Hope you're ready." Aylokin soon got into their fight stance waiting for Saph to make the first move.

"You got it old man!" Kali said as she went SSJ 3 ready for the deathball attack as she calculates a plan in her mind.

Outside of West City
Future Sabi still stood on the cliff as she and Future Flaz waited for the witches and Demigra's arrival, so they can change this timeline's entire future as of right now she could feel Demigra's ki getting closer to Earth, but judging from his power level it felt like he was just unleashed from his Realm making him weak in the process it would at most take him five days to get here. While he might be weak he will still cause some trouble. However, she did not just feel Demigra's power level she could feel her kid self fusing with kid Dyph sensing this Future Sabi couldn't help, but to form a small smile on her face.

"Feels like our kid self fused." Future Sabi said.

"Good we need all the firepower to fight Demigra and his minions."

Saph snickers as Aylokin pets them, though they start to blink after hearing that they would need to come up with moves and a fighting style that they would use. Saph started to settle into a stance before they searched their mind, they were both made up of so many different Saiyan's, humans and especially Flaz's own dna, throughout time and space, within them now lays incredible potential. Inspiration strikes as they leap back, creating a large golden ball of energy in their hands before throwing it at Aylokin before bringing their hands together at their side as a ball of green and blue energy forms between their hands "Emerald Kamehameha!" They blast that quickly to try and catch their uncle in the explosion of both the large blast ball and the super attack.

Now, seeing his granddaughter turn SSJ3, he could feel just how vast the power between them was. But that certainly wouldn't stop him as he exerted himself without resorting to his berserker form. Making the orangy-red deathball bigger and bigger before he threw it with all his might before he started to ready some extra blast attacks immediately after to keep her on her toes "I may be old but I'll age more gracefully than any saiyan!"

Outside of West City

Watching over the city as he could feel the presence of Demigra growing stronger despite his weakened rebirth, though feeling that their past selves just fused he couldn't help but smirk "Now we haven't tried that yet. I wonder if our kid selves are smarter than we are in this timeline."

Synnadine wrote:"There's that..." Pearle states in a half quiet, calm tone while staring out into the ocean. "Among other things."

She raises her shoulders as she takes in a deeper breath than usual then releases it, relaxing her shoulders at the same time, performing a sigh with her entire upper body. She turns her head with a tilt to look at Jacob, her tone and expression taking on the same sincere but cold tone she held while talking about Jacob with Lucas. "Look, I'm not gonna ask you to tell me about your troubles. To be completely honest I don't care. If you want to talk about your feelings get a therapist, but if you want to vent it with your fists that's fine with me. We all have our demons we can't or won't talk about, and whatever the hell happened to you during that war is clearly an incredible weight on your shoulders, but you will gain nothing from continuing to carry it. It's in the past, and you don't live in the past. You live in the present, and live for the future. If you focus too much on the past you'll lose sight of what's to come, and what's already in front of you."

Jacob listens up and listens good to what Pearle had to say, she has no idea what happened and that's just fine by him cause he isn't in the mood to talk about it. To him he knew this problem wasn't going to forget itself even with some punches being thrown, not with what he knew what went down. Then again... It might help hash things out in his head, release all that pent up trauma that's been piling up since the civil war.

Jacob kept looking to the horizon as he listened, keeping his cool even as his fists balled up against his sides. Just like hers, his smile had all but vanished to be replaced by silent dread for a good few moments after she stopped speaking. Only to be broken after a slow nod "... Thanks for the honesty. But this isn't the type of baggage I can just stop carrying, not even if I wanted to. No amount of punching or screaming is gonna solve it. Believe me, there are too many witnesses that can attest to it." He says sinking his head into his hands to look at his swinging feet and lapping waters below him. "But I haven't got any other way of dealing with it, so I may as well try to get some of it out of my system." He says avoiding saying anything like 'I don't know how it could make it any worse' because he knew all too well that it could and likely would.

ZOCOM wrote:...Fair point. True no one at that outpost knows about that tree. Maybe Sam... I'm unsure if my namesake already told him about it... If not he's experienced enough to detect it, probably. Fem may not have a problem with Nilin or Crash either.

Edit: Though clearly I'm wrong since NS didn't load pap's message for me to look at.

That's a hard no. If he hasn't been told, even Sam has no idea. Only people who know about the tree currently are John, and anyone John has told, because he is the sole person the tree has decided to expose itself to. And those trees don't get found unless they want to be found :P even if the tree is out in the open for anyone to find, it's because it chose to be that way and could just as easily choose to never be seen again. It's all up to the tree.

ZOCOM wrote:Jacob listens up and listens good to what Pearle had to say, she has no idea what happened and that's just fine by him cause he isn't in the mood to talk about it. To him he knew this problem wasn't going to forget itself even with some punches being thrown, not with what he knew what went down. Then again... It might help hash things out in his head, release all that pent up trauma that's been piling up since the civil war.

Jacob kept looking to the horizon as he listened, keeping his cool even as his fists balled up against his sides. Just like hers, his smile had all but vanished to be replaced by silent dread for a good few moments after she stopped speaking. Only to be broken after a slow nod "... Thanks for the honesty. But this isn't the type of baggage I can just stop carrying, not even if I wanted to. No amount of punching or screaming is gonna solve it. Believe me, there are too many witnesses that can attest to it." He says sinking his head into his hands to look at his swinging feet and lapping waters below him. "But I haven't got any other way of dealing with it, so I may as well try to get some of it out of my system." He says avoiding saying anything like 'I don't know how it could make it any worse' because he knew all too well that it could and likely would.

Pearle rather calmly shakes her head as he suggests getting some out of his system. "If you have to consciously decide to punch things out, then punching things out isn't what you need." She points outwards to the ocean, causing Jacob to naturally look where she points. The rays of the sun bounce beautifully off the ocean's surface to glisten under the rays like a wonder of the world. This is probably not the first time Jacob would've looked to the ocean in such a way but, with everything else going on both as of late and in his mind, this is the first time it would seem as marvelous as this. The words she states, however, have nothing to do with it...it seems she wants to use the scenery to keep Jacob grounded, if at all possible. "Then don't stop carrying it, but don't forget to switch which arm you carry it with now and then so the one arm you use feels like it's going to fall off. Someday, when you're ready, you can drop it...until then don't let it weigh too heavy on you. If you do that then whatever you lived through will start to become who you are, it will define you. Change you. People who have followed you and are loyal to you will start having problems recognizing the man you turn into. Some could even split off in defiance of this change, which would only throw you farther into the pit of guilt ridden despair you are already falling into."

At the mention of this Jacob likely gives her a surprised look, granted only slightly. He's been keeping things pretty well contained minus a couple outbursts, one of which was directly aimed at her, but even with that it didn't seem like anyone was able to gain much insight into his emotions. But it seems she picked up a bit more on how he's feeling than most. "You're being too hard on yourself and pushing yourself in the wrong directions because of it. You have this mindset that you have to win and have to get stronger or you won't be able to protect your crew, you won't have the right to. Whether or not you realize it, you feel this way so strongly than you have to hide your anger every time you've failed something on the first try during your training. You have an emotional outburst against yourself and even those around you if you don't feel you're as good as you should be because of this pressure you're putting on yourself. The reason you train is because you realize you have a desire to grow stronger, so looking at things you can't do and getting angry you can't do them is ridiculous. You should look at them with a proud smile befitting of a Captain, because it just means you aren't there yet. The fact you can't do it yet means there's room to improve, and justifies your desire to grow. It gives you purpose."

Synnadine wrote:Pearle rather calmly shakes her head as he suggests getting some out of his system. "If you have to consciously decide to punch things out, then punching things out isn't what you need." She points outwards to the ocean, causing Jacob to naturally look where she points. The rays of the sun bounce beautifully off the ocean's surface to glisten under the rays like a wonder of the world. This is probably not the first time Jacob would've looked to the ocean in such a way but, with everything else going on both as of late and in his mind, this is the first time it would seem as marvelous as this. The words she states, however, have nothing to do with it...it seems she wants to use the scenery to keep Jacob grounded, if at all possible. "Then don't stop carrying it, but don't forget to switch which arm you carry it with now and then so the one arm you use feels like it's going to fall off. Someday, when you're ready, you can drop it...until then don't let it weigh too heavy on you. If you do that then whatever you lived through will start to become who you are, it will define you. Change you. People who have followed you and are loyal to you will start having problems recognizing the man you turn into. Some could even split off in defiance of this change, which would only throw you farther into the pit of guilt ridden despair you are already falling into."

At the mention of this Jacob likely gives her a surprised look, granted only slightly. He's been keeping things pretty well contained minus a couple outbursts, one of which was directly aimed at her, but even with that it didn't seem like anyone was able to gain much insight into his emotions. But it seems she picked up a bit more on how he's feeling than most. "You're being too hard on yourself and pushing yourself in the wrong directions because of it. You have this mindset that you have to win and have to get stronger or you won't be able to protect your crew, you won't have the right to. Whether or not you realize it, you feel this way so strongly than you have to hide your anger every time you've failed something on the first try during your training. You have an emotional outburst against yourself and even those around you if you don't feel you're as good as you should be because of this pressure you're putting on yourself. The reason you train is because you realize you have a desire to grow stronger, so looking at things you can't do and getting angry you can't do them is ridiculous. You should look at them with a proud smile befitting of a Captain, because it just means you aren't there yet. The fact you can't do it yet means there's room to improve, and justifies your desire to grow. It gives you purpose."

Aw I was looking forward to punching things... He thought to himself as Pearle said that it wasn't what he needed now. Though seeing as she was now trying to ground him with the pretty view while she explained what could be done, the Captain was more worried about where she was going with this. Switch shoulders- what? Is she making this up as she goes along? More thoughts rushed to mind as she tried her best to help him, though he was only getting more frustrated as this went on. This isn't helping, it's just confusing him more. But... He knew that she was trying to help him so he tried to take this all aboard without blowing up again. Though listening to her talk about what will happen as his baggage changes him, it was the last thing he wanted to hear. Even if he knew that what she said is true... He could already tell that some of his crew were wary around him after the mutiny. What happened in Calsnova is something that you can't resist defining you, it was inescapable truth that couldn't be denied... Ignoring it would be spitting in the face of what happened...

It was right that he certainly looked surprised to everything she had said, but he was still left with the fact she was trying to help with something that was well beyond the scope of anyone on this island... But at least she was trying to help. Something that everyone who was in Calsnova needed but likely wasn't getting. He was doing well to contain himself, he was no stranger to hiding his true emotional state under layers and emotional shields. But it seems like Pearle was able to pick up on them easily enough, either she knows the type of pain he's gone through or he's easier to read than he thought... Either possibility upset him greatly. Lucas must have been talking to her about me... His expression grows more grim, teeth clenched together as she points out that his mindset was moving him in the wrong direction. He knows he feels so strongly about it, because he has to be strong for his crew. He's afraid of losing everything again and he was close to losing it in an instant if betrayal had no unexpectedly been the reason he is sitting here now. That fear and anger at himself for bringing everyone in that Arena to the brink of nonexistence thanks to his big mouth was the sole driving force of his training to become stronger, he had to become better...He couldn't see how he could just smile at his failures. They were failures. Sure no one is good at everything when they first try something but his efforts and progress, his potential, he knew he could be stronger than this.But at the end of the day he knew he was still weak, Calnova and Enkara taught him that he was nothing, hell Felix was worlds stronger than him and he was 16 years old! He was nothing, but the only thing keeping him going in the face of that was his crew. So yes, he was deathly afraid of losing them, and if he wasn't strong enough that he was afraid that he didn't deserve to be their leader. It can't be solved just like that, it can't it can't it can't!

Jacob brought his hands up and clasped his hands behind his head and brought his arms either side of his head as he hunched over. This isn't helping I-I-It's GARBAGE advice! Stuff that does me no good! Baggage like this wasn't going to be easily put aside or tempered with honeyed words, a pep talk and a psycho analysis or why he was training. He knew why he was training already, and he knew that what happened is defining him, its turning him into something that he thinks is a good thing. Or at least he thought it was. "... What gives me purpose is my family... I don't care if they look at me differently... As long as they're happy and alive... I'll forsake my sanity, my health... My body in order to keep them safe and sound. I will be their shield against anything, no god or monster have them as long as I can fight it."

ZOCOM wrote:Jacob brought his hands up and clasped his hands behind his head and brought his arms either side of his head as he hunched over. This isn't helping I-I-It's GARBAGE advice! Stuff that does me no good! Baggage like this wasn't going to be easily put aside or tempered with honeyed words, a pep talk and a psycho analysis or why he was training. He knew why he was training already, and he knew that what happened is defining him, its turning him into something that he thinks is a good thing. Or at least he thought it was. "... What gives me purpose is my family... I don't care if they look at me differently... As long as they're happy and alive... I'll forsake my sanity, my health... My body in order to keep them safe and sound. I will be their shield against anything, no god or monster have them as long as I can fight it."

As Jacob enters a seated fettle position Pearle turns to him, taking in each word he says. So that's how it is.... She looks back out to the ocean, her face falling into a more somber expression. In the face of Jacob having an emotional break she doesn't say much, and in truth she knows what she says isn't going to be a magic fix...but she's pretty sure she knows how he'll react. "You can't blame yourself for the actions of a monster....it's not your fault." Why am I not walking away? I said I won't be his therapist.

Synnadine wrote:Templar Citadel: Morning of the Rematch
Without fuss Nilin continues struggling to stand, but already knows what she is to try and do. Doing her best to stop swaying from sheer mental exhaustion she holds out both hands at a downward angle. To an untrained eye she is doing nothing, but to those familiar with aura they'd see she is carefully channeling all of her aura into and throughout the forest floor beneath them in countless threads, flowing seamlessly through all of it and back to Nilin then back into the ground "Control here is most important. A steady, even flow of your aura through the area. Understand everything from the dirt itself to the microscopic organisms inside of it. Don't let your mental state stop you from controlling and learning. Spread your aura out as far as you can before looping it back, then try to spread it out even farther the next time around. Keep this up and don't stop until I say so..." With a calm nod Nilin complies, continue to perform this very flow at a steady and unchanging rate, while also trying to not just fall over or pass out on account of her completely exhausted mind.

Truthfully, while training under Crash is certainly tough on the physical body, the mental training...no, mental abuse you go through, is so much worse.

"That's enough!" Crash calls out to Nilin as she immediately drops her arms and falls onto her back, all of her threads of aura retracting back to her on the spot. She lays there with her arms sprawled out panting like a dog on a hot summer day. Crash walks calmly over to her and crouches down. "Get up. You can keep going."

"J-just give me a minute to recover some." Nilin calls out desperate for a little time to just breathe.

"No, now, or we're done." Crash's response is immediate, blunt, and cold. He stands up and steps back a few feet, crossing his arms.

With a series of grunts and groans Nilin starts to pull herself together, rolling over onto her stomach so she can start pushing herself up. It takes a bit of time but eventually she manages to get into a crouching position, and from there she slowly stands back up. "F-fine...you win. So what's next, master." Nilin smiles at the corner of her mouth as a visible, cold chill shoots up Crash's spine. He really doesn't like being referred to like that.

Crash forcibly coughs once, covering his mouth with a fist before crossing his arms again, then responds as plainly as possible. "Well, just for that remark, change of plans...time to exercise."

Nilin's eyes widen and her jaw drops. For someone out of energy she certainly seems to have enough to throw her arms out in front of her and wave them frantically. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, you know I was just kidding when I said that! Didn't mean anything by it!"

"Drop and assume position."

Nilin's expression turns into a part smile, part laugh, part cry as she just accepts the fate she thrusted upon herself and gets down into position to do a push up. Once there a slab of earth black from sheer density forms over her and drops on her back. This causes her to almost be crushed into the ground but she stops herself, and is holding in the 'down' position. Crash waits for a moment then calls out her movements. Until he says the word, with momentary pauses in between, she does not move a muscle. "Up....down....up....down....up, down..................up." This continues for some time, Nilin struggling the whole time. 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30, neither one knows.

Eventually the orders change from up and down to something else, a simple order that can break the heartiest of men (lol). "Assume plank position." The slab does not disappear as Nilin stops her push ups and clasps both hands in a fist together, resting on her elbows with a straightened back. The ground underneath Nilin is already turning into mud from her sweat dripping onto it, while will make maintaining a solid plank even more difficult. Sure she could use aura to just fix the ground, but she already knows she isn't allowed to use aura during a pure physical exercise.

Wabacha wrote:Albus could here the judgement in Heimrich's voice as he remains gazing out the window. "If you were truly there for him and knew what was inside him, you would have known that Duncan has been gone for a long, long time."

It looks like the assimilation wasn't as thorough as Vengeance hoped. With his coat being buffeted by the air displaced between each interaction between the monster-godling and Heimrich, Atticus uses a simple trick to bend the wind away from his eyes. That being something that Alice can't do and something Blud doesnt need. Alice squints and holds an arm out to protect her eyes as she sees the sword turn to dust-

Then immediately growing disoriented as Vengeance teleports away, now moving in normal time, realizing immediately that she was somehow able to keep up with their impossible speed duel. How did I see all of that? Unknowingly aided by Heimrich she stands confused as Vengeance shrieks to itself, immediately growing panicked as the beast prepares and fires its divinely charged Hail Mary attack. She has her trust in Heimrich and his newfound power, but Vengeance has managed to catch up to him in such a short time.

C'mon Heimrich, the Mentat form will never let you tire, who cares about the repercussions now! Draw everything you need to take him down!

Heimrich caught glimpses of Atticus' thoughts, but his mentor had no clue what he's been doing this entire fight. Even he didn't know exactly why, since the fight was now over.

As the beam grew near, crawling along in his eyes, Heimrich slides into a forward stance. This beam could - and would - destroy everything behind him and countless sectors beyond. Deflecting and dodging were out of the question, and even if he focused everything to block it, the resulting detonation would level the sector. It reminds him of a recent foggy memory, of a similar attack that threatened to do the same, aimed at his mentor Atticus. As the beam nears less than six inches away he closes his eyes and delves into a memory technically not his, but useable all the same. A pure white beam destined to destroy a werewolf who dared get in it's way, muttering few words. The beast did not hear what was said, but that was of little issue. The beast and its attack are muffled and hidden in the memory Atticus' voice is amplified.

“I leave my body.

I seal my mind.

I abandon all semblance of relativity.

May my Mantra be clear,

And without flaw,

As I depart the mortal plane

And enter..."

As the beam near touches him Heimrich's eyes open.

The Second World.

Part 1

It was like waking from a dream. With a start, Heimrich composes himself and takes in his new surroundings. The world was darkness, the ground swirling and rising in waves of purple smoke, distinguishable from the sky only by the abrupt absence of light above. A cloud passes across the hidden ground, obscuring his feet and calves. He expands his consciousness outwards. A wall of red light stretches in front of his face, blocking his view forwards. It does not move or change its form, except when Heimrich raises a hand to touch it. As his open palm touches the wall's surface, the surface under it turns yellow, letting his hand sink in slowly with each passing moment. This is the secret of the Second World...

Heimrich walks to the left of the wall, running his hand along it and leaving a yellow trail behind. It became swiftly clear that what had looked to be a wall is an abstract manifestation of Vengeance's attack created by concepts of emotion and states of being. On his right are whispy forms in the shape of humans, colorful representations of their innermost consciousness, beliefs, memories, and wills. Heimrich alone keeps his normal appearance, watching the cores of the forms bot move as whispy trails of smoke join and fade from them. The Second World is a separate dimension, created by Aura. No, all life. he can feel the holy nature of the troublesome god and Vengeance's own new power, and the faint outline of Blud on the other side of the beam now both blocking his view and letting him see through. Everything was frozen yet in flux, like time didn't matter here as Heimrich gathered himself and moved forward.

"You did everything you could to hurt those around me and to destroy everything I care about. Given your true nature it is only a matter of time before you did." Yellow light is left behind by Heimrich's touch as he walks along the beam's concept, marking it further and further as he closes in on the core of Vengeance. "But it doesnt matter now. The realm Atticus discovered will allow me to erase you completely. You will never reach that dark future."

His consciousness pings with sorrow. A different sorrow, not his for what he has to do. From each of those here he can feel their constant emotions, their darkest and deepest secrets, things about them that they didn't even know they contained... Terrible burdens that he wished he did not see. But one rang with hope. A plea for help for Duncan's sake. As he reaches Vengeance's ethereal form, still locked in his beam-emitting stance it resounds strongly inside him, finally pulling him away from his mission to find its source. All of them ping with sadness for Duncan, but only one was mixed with faith. The woman, Scotti Lotus. A moment's glance into her soul told him everything about her. 22, a sage from the Golden Age that escaped a weredragon's attack by flash freezing her aura along with her brother Tobbi and two others named Crash and Colton which brought them to the present. Her favorite food is strawberry and chocolate parfaits, her favorite color is red, she believes her parents were killed by her uncle, she fought in the Civil War of Zocom and was there when Sam's wife Saria was killed by a powerful sorcerer. More relevant than that, was that she has a secret love for Duncan Cross.

I'm sorry it had to be this way. Heimrich seals Duncan/Vengeance's fate by tracing a finger down the mask of the Forgotten, leaving a yellow line behind as he follows the contour of the neck and the diaphragm, before placing his hand flat against his chest. Yellow light spreads out from under his fingers slowly from the continued contact as his palm begins to sink into the transformed material of Vengeance's body and soul.

Please.

Teeth grind together as Heimrich continues slowly murdering Vengeance's very essence.

Save him.

You don't understand what he became! He's already gone! Despite knowing that these are just Scotti's surface thoughts he still fights it, he knows the thoughts aren't entirely hers alone.

Save him please.

Shut! UP!

He pushes harder, his hand an inch into Vengeance's chest as he fights his conflicting emotions. He is staring deep into Vengeance, only he can see the unending depths of horrid darkness, an evil far beyond anything he had ever seen before, the same horrid energy he had read inside Samuel Mason, and… No, he can deal with that later. He had to end this threat here and now.

Duncan… I love you. Please fight. Fight!

You can't fight this… You need a miracle.

A flash of memory, of a bloody Duncan straining to pull his limp body out of the jaws of the Glutton.

Duncan fighting with him side by side against hordes of Revenants.

Teaching Duncan how to play the guitar.

Talking and laughing on the walls of the Citadel as the sun went down.

Please.

His hand drops, unable to summon the will to continue and transform what was left of Vengeance's soul. How can I… Heimrich witnesses the unique reaction of tears warping into droplets of vibrant emotion as they near the ground and freeze into place. His head drops as his fists clench in helplessness. How can I do this to him…

Hands held at his side, Duncan stood there waiting for death at the tip of his finger, a sad smile on his face, but a smile meant for him. "I wish we could have fought a little longer…"

"How could I give up-" Determination glows from Heimrich's body as his head snaps up, eyes flared as he grits his teeth through the tears. "When I am far beyond miracles!"

____________________

Wabacha wrote:

As the beam grew near, crawling along in his eyes, Heimrich slides into a forward stance. This beam could - and would - destroy everything behind him and countless sectors beyond. Deflecting and dodging were out of the question, and even if he focused everything to block it, the resulting detonation would level the sector. It reminds him of a recent foggy memory, of a similar attack that threatened to do the same, aimed at his mentor Atticus. As the beam nears less than six inches away he closes his eyes and delves into a memory technically not his, but useable all the same. A pure white beam destined to destroy a werewolf who dared get in it's way, muttering few words. The beast did not hear what was said, but that was of little issue. The beast and its attack are muffled and hidden in the memory Atticus' voice is amplified.

“I leave my body.

I seal my mind.

I abandon all semblance of relativity.

May my Mantra be clear,

And without flaw,

As I depart the mortal plane

And enter..."

As the beam near touches him Heimrich's eyes open.

A brilliantly blinding eruption of yellow and white energy envelop the beam and Vengeance, who's chest takes the brunt of the damage as his mask nearly splits from the light that bursts from his face. As the monster-deity stumbles back from his self destructing beam everyone can see Heimrich standing in front of him, staring the godling down with a newfound purpose in his heart. He will end this, and he will end it right!

It's not long, but properly designing the Second World and getting across what it is took forever.

Many sorry's about the delay.

I am both curious and terrified about what will happen if Jacob starts anger blabbing now that Pearle said it wasn't his fault when it 100% was

ZOCOM wrote:I am both curious and terrified about what will happen if Jacob starts anger blabbing now that Pearle said it wasn't his fault when it 100% was

It's your character, just react how he'd react. Don't think about how I'll respond because that doesn't matter, would Jacob think before acting? :P

Synnadine wrote:As Jacob enters a seated fettle position Pearle turns to him, taking in each word he says. So that's how it is.... She looks back out to the ocean, her face falling into a more somber expression. In the face of Jacob having an emotional break she doesn't say much, and in truth she knows what she says isn't going to be a magic fix...but she's pretty sure she knows how he'll react. "You can't blame yourself for the actions of a monster....it's not your fault." Why am I not walking away? I said I won't be his therapist.

Jacob was just as surprised that she was still around, in truth he thought she would have walked the moment he slumped over. But that didn't mean that he wasn't grateful... Even if on the surface he thought that all of what she was saying was pointless to him. Though hearing her say that it wasn't his fault made his skin crawl to the point that silence was no longer an option. "... Not my fault? I have every reason to blame myself for what happened..." He was beaten, he was willing to let it go and let us win satisfied that Sam had beaten him with his surprising power...B U T I H A D T O O P E N M Y M O U T H ! ! The moments leading up to absolute terror flashed in his mind, and he dreaded and loathed the feelings of pride that welled inside him the moment Enkara was beat before Sam, and he cursed every syllable that left his mouth.

He replayed his rant in his head time and time again during his training... 'Your just a man now. Common. Unimportant and unremarkable. All the proof you need is on your face and at your feet.' He hated every word that left his mouth, it was his fault that they had to suffer all the more! "If I hadn't goaded that bastard wouldn't have been a hair's breadth from non-existence! I had to open my stupid mouth and say that we 'pitied him' when all along he was hiding his true nature from all of us! That bastard Enkar-" It wasn't until he said it, he had no idea that she worked him up into running his mouth again, his anger gave way to dread as he looked up from his fetal position, not sure what to expect. But knowing it wasn't good

Synnadine wrote:It's your character, just react how he'd react. Don't think about how I'll respond because that doesn't matter, would Jacob think before acting? :P

In short: No

To describe it in length: Most definitely, undeniably not. Not until he ran his mouth

Edit: Some habits, no matter the trauma, you just can't kick that easily

I’m so bored. Someone help....

ZOCOM wrote:Jacob was just as surprised that she was still around, in truth he thought she would have walked the moment he slumped over. But that didn't mean that he wasn't grateful... Even if on the surface he thought that all of what she was saying was pointless to him. Though hearing her say that it wasn't his fault made his skin crawl to the point that silence was no longer an option. "... Not my fault? I have every reason to blame myself for what happened..." He was beaten, he was willing to let it go and let us win satisfied that Sam had beaten him with his surprising power...B U T I H A D T O O P E N M Y M O U T H ! ! The moments leading up to absolute terror flashed in his mind, and he dreaded and loathed the feelings of pride that welled inside him the moment Enkara was beat before Sam, and he cursed every syllable that left his mouth.

He replayed his rant in his head time and time again during his training... 'Your just a man now. Common. Unimportant and unremarkable. All the proof you need is on your face and at your feet.' He hated every word that left his mouth, it was his fault that they had to suffer all the more! "If I hadn't goaded that bastard wouldn't have been a hair's breadth from non-existence! I had to open my stupid mouth and say that we 'pitied him' when all along he was hiding his true nature from all of us! That bastard Enkar-" It wasn't until he said it, he had no idea that she worked him up into running his mouth again, his anger gave way to dread as he looked up from his fetal position, not sure what to expect. But knowing it wasn't good

What am I doing....?

In an action so sudden that not even Pearle really thought it through, Jacob is caught completely off guard in every way.

Do I...actually feel bad for him?

Jacob feels the grip around him shift slightly, becoming a little bit tighter of an embrace.

Am I relating to him....?

Pearle shifts her head downwards, placing her chin gently atop Jacob's head.

I can't tell who the bigger idiot is right now...

"Stop talking."

Those simple, brief words snap Jacob to realization after being caught as off guard as he was. With one hand placed carefully at the back, top of his head and the other reached around him placed upon his back, his head is now resting against her chest. This isn't like Pearle at all, not the Pearle Jacob's seen, not even the one Lucas has seen. This isn't right. Why is she holding him like this, why can he hear her heart so clearly, why does she even seem to care?

Why does his cheek feel wet.

Synnadine wrote:What am I doing....?

In an action so sudden that not even Pearle really thought it through, Jacob is caught completely off guard in every way.

Do I...actually feel bad for him?

Jacob feels the grip around him shift slightly, becoming a little bit tighter of an embrace.

Am I relating to him....?

Pearle shifts her head downwards, placing her chin gently atop Jacob's head.

I can't tell who the bigger idiot is right now...

"Stop talking."

Those simple, brief words snap Jacob to realization after being caught as off guard as he was. With one hand placed carefully at the back, top of his head and the other reached around him placed upon his back, his head is now resting against her chest. This isn't like Pearle at all, not the Pearle Jacob's seen, not even the one Lucas has seen. This isn't right. Why is she holding him like this, why can he hear her heart so clearly, why does she even seem to care?

Why does his cheek feel wet.

OOC: This is not what I was expecting at all. Fair play.

BIC: It all happened so fast after he lifted his head from his dreads filled realisation, by the time he realised what was going on he was... He didn't know what to feel. He was silent after she told him to stop talking, but he didn't feel angry or full of dread. He didn't know what to feel, all he could hear was the sound of the wind washing over the shore and the sound of her heartbeat in his ear. W-What's... Going on here...? This-This isn't like Pearle at all. Why does she care??? W-WHY?! Questions mounted in his mind before he noticed the wet feeling against his cheek... Was he crying? He had no idea, everything seemed so unreal at the moment, everything felt warm.

ZOCOM wrote:OOC: This is not what I was expecting at all. Fair play.

BIC: It all happened so fast after he lifted his head from his dreads filled realisation, by the time he realised what was going on he was... He didn't know what to feel. He was silent after she told him to stop talking, but he didn't feel angry or full of dread. He didn't know what to feel, all he could hear was the sound of the wind washing over the shore and the sound of her heartbeat in his ear. W-What's... Going on here...? This-This isn't like Pearle at all. Why does she care??? W-WHY?! Questions mounted in his mind before he noticed the wet feeling against his cheek... Was he crying? He had no idea, everything seemed so unreal at the moment, everything felt warm.

OOC: Yeeeeah, it's what I was expecting as of her turning down the fist fight :P HAHAHAHA Jacob has played right into my hand!

"You know, being able to hide what's inside doesn't make you strong." Pearle cracks a smile at the corner of her mouth, not that Jacob could see it from his current position, and starts to ever so gently run her fingers through his hair and across his scalp. Cause, ya know, that stuff is the best. "Being able to show how you feel and just letting it out...that's true strength."

As if I have the right to say that... "hypocrite".

Synnadine wrote:OOC: Yeeeeah, it's what I was expecting as of her turning down the fist fight :P HAHAHAHA Jacob has played right into my hand!

"You know, being able to hide what's inside doesn't make you strong." Pearle cracks a smile at the corner of her mouth, not that Jacob could see it from his current position, and starts to ever so gently run her fingers through his hair and across his scalp. Cause, ya know, that stuff is the best. "Being able to show how you feel and just letting it out...that's true strength."

As if I have the right to say that... "hypocrite".

"Awww," Enkara cooes as he hugs them both. "This is nice."

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