Be careful what you wish for

[birthmural]

When Daimon Hellstrom was finally released- or rather spat out- by GLaDOS, he took it rather well.

"Wretched harpy!"

Relatively speaking.

Daimon grabbed his trident, which had fallen a foot away from him. "After all you forced me to do, you still will not give me ca- aaugh." With no further warning he was overcome by a sharp pain in his heart- a pain so severe it caused the son of Satan to fall to his knees, clutching his chest. "Nnn..." He closed his eyes and tried unsuccessfully to steady his breathing. And then, just as quickly, the pain was gone.

He opened his eyes and looked down at his chest, as if that would somehow give him a clue to what had happened. His birthmark was gone, as was his darksoul. Had its departure taken a greater toll on his body than he realized? Or was it more of GLaDOS's machinations?

backtracking doesn't always get you closer to home [closed]

[encourage]

Sakura stood waiting outside of Contagion Containment and Treatment, opting to be right outside the lab that Quarantine itself was contained within. Now that it was officially dissolving, that left Faiza and Dr. Henderson to let people back out of their respective bubbles, and send them into the care of their friends and loved ones on ship.

Which would be why she was standing here, having used the omnicomm to get in contact with Marco's mother. There had been so many people ultimately concerned for both Eva and Marco from the start (at least directly around Sakura, since she personally presumed it was the same for anyone with strong bonds to others on the ship) that it only made sense to her that they be sure to keep Eva informed. Especially since it hadn't been wise before to have her visit, based on Marco's attitude and his particular(ly vocal) concerns.

But from having dealt with parents and injured children before, she could only imagine how hard it had been on Eva. Not to mention there were so many other factors that complicated things... but those were none of her business. Sakura was here to let Eva know what she'd need to in order to be better prepared to face her own son, and his probable reaction by now. Pending she wanted to see him. Pending it was safe for her not to take charge of him, with how the age regression was continuing. He'd said she'd been dead, but not for how long. HBow much further back before there would be no conflicting memories on where mom was? One year, two, four, even more -- and he'd probably want to take comfort in the fact she was there?

Her Flight [semi-open]

[brustriese.livejournal.com]

Somewhere inside the vast dome of the City, Signum floated, transformed into her battle gear, eyes closed and mind reaching out to the ship for magical reactions. The presence of Stacy's mind - not magic per se, but still psychically loud - was a constant buzz, but her senses floated to smaller, brighter sparks, aided by what she held in her hands - the "Book of Darkness" that she had taken up last week. She'd been confused, then, but now that the Administration Program was back in her proper place, it was time to start filling the pages again. She'd dawdled too long on this ship, trusting 'Stacy' to keep Hayate safe (ha!), even socializing with the time-displaced Bureau mages who had been trying to stop her before all this...

She reaches out for magical reactions. People she knew - Nanoha and Testarossa (avoid at all costs), Aibghalien (noted), Hayate (...) - and others she didn't, or whom she was merely acquainted with through the Magic Department.

Ha. A Wolkenritter joining such an organization. That was possibly her least thought-out bit of subterfuge here. They had nothing to offer her, unless some bleeding hearts were willing to sacrifice mana...but that clearly wouldn't happen. No, no, it's definitely time to go back to doing this the old-fashioned way. The very old-fashioned way, since her comrades were all still in the pods.

Yes, she'd have to be careful, but the danger was worth it. To live quietly with her Master, even in this besieged cave of a starship...that was what mattered.

She focuses in on a magical signature and swoops quietly towards it, preparing a Barrier to isolate herself with the victim. Hopefully, they'd fall quickly and painlessly...

((Okay friends, reply to this post if you a) have magical powers and want to have a fight with Signum over them or b) spot Signum and want to stop her. Threads will probably take place in skewed pocket dimensions called Barriers for privacy, but these can be broken into if you like. Expect fighting! Signum isn't in the mood to talk. Further details can be found here. If you signed up to get mugged and want to do it in another post, just let me know.))

Restoration (open, but esp. Daimon)

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

He had fed and cared for the animals. He had spent some time on the machine -- there were still pieces missing; he would have to talk to engineering.

Now the Chancellor was back in the basilica and surrounding 'Vatican' areas, cleaning and repairing. At the moment, he was fixing the wall near the statue of St. Michael. He had his bed ready in one of the peripheral buildings near the basilica, but he was not tired yet. He could get a great deal done today.

[OPEN, Melting Clock Plot] Breathe

[thewunderkind]

Lash was a changed person.

In her own world just a year ago, she had been part of Black Hole's best and brightest - a Commanding Officer that followed orders and worked towards the world-conquering goal with evil glee. She was feared, respected and loathed by her enemies. That had changed when she had escaped with Hawke due to treason for finding out Von Bolt's real plan - draining the world's resources so he could achieve immortality. In the end, they had teamed up with Orange Star and both became heroes for it. It gave her a taste of many things. Caring about others, even if she never outright said it, teaming up, even learning about how to eat properly. They had emerged victorious.

The year or so since she had awoken in Stacy had enforced that little growing spark which had been carefully fed the last few weeks in her homeworld. While at first hesitant to find people she liked, Lash slowly began to call those around her her friends, even if it was hard to do admit them as such. You couldn't just become nice or care overnight. But they had worked really well at it, bringing her out of her shell and accepting Lash for who she was. Heck, she even seemed worthy enough to be part of a Ranger group and defending the universe. Who would have thought all of that from someone who had such a dark history?

Then it all came crashing down. After the battle last week, the morpher started to malfunction and she could barely transform for her training. No one else seemed to have this problem, so Lash assumed it simply was a result of what had happened - she had overworked herself that day and it simply might have used up more juice than the others or had badly reacted to the CO powers. Nothing seemed wrong with it, so obviously the problem was herself. Just give it a few more days and it would be fine!

Maybe if she had told her friends her history in more detail, they might have noticed was wrong. The effects of the clock were a little more subdued on her at first, and instead of years, just days at a time. And she didn't question the fact that she didn't remember their victory over Von Bolt, only the tension at the final battle. Memories slowly started to leave, but she didn't remember them, only a small nagging feeling that something was wrong. The morpher, on the other hand, worked when someone was good and pure and as the clock receded, Lash was becoming less and less so. The memories inside Stacy stayed in her head, which caused her to become confused at some of the things she had said. Maybe she had become nicer because she had been here? Just what was going on?

A few days ago it had completely ceased to function. Maybe it knew something terrible was about to happen and the last thing the crew needed was psycho ranger. Lash obviously didn't know what was going on, except it made her nervous. Like when she...wait. What was she nervous about, again? She couldn't remember that too. She'd been running with Hawke for some reason. Lash had looked at her morpher with an odd curiosity, wondering if her mind had been playing tricks on her. After all, why would she be good? After all she...she..

She'd always worked for Black Hole.

And who knew what fake and false memories Stacy could implant inside her. Maybe..no, that was it! All these memories had to be false. Fake! Tricking her into thinking she had turned good! That she, pffft actually cared about people! What a load of crap. She was Lash, Black Hole Wunderkind Genius. And she wasn't going to let all those stupid, so-called friends try to tricking her that she was nice.

Today, she'd take back her mind. Things were definitely about to get really complicated.

[[OOC - Lash can be found all over the ship in the next couple of days. Just tell me where you character runs into them, and we can work from there. Just remember, she will probably not be very nice anymore. 8D]]