Session Start: Sun Nov 11 21:15:04 2007
Session Ident: #lunar-iog2
<Niri> ==Lude Begin!==
* Niri trudges through the maze of a greenhouse filled with curling vines and flowers. Her arms are folded in front of her and she doesn't appear to be paying much attention to where she's going, although occasionally she notes with interest the broken pieces of ice along the path and the frozen flowers along the way.
<Mikel> >> Not long the ice seems to increase in frequency, though some of it seems to half formed and shattered statues of someone. Who is hard to tell, considering none of them are intact above the waist if that. A few more steps through the jungle and the sound of something shattering can be heard up ahead along with a frustrated shout.
* Niri winces and stops, thinking about turning back...but she sighs and decides to continue forward, cautiously. She peers about, trying to catch sight of Mikel.
<Mikel> >> She catches sight of a frozen visage of the Prophetess collapsing into rapidly melting pieces as Mikel stumbles back, leaning against a tree and slowly sliding down to take a seat. The sword is in hand while next to him is the staff stolen from Pandora, phasing in and out of reality. There's a couple of scrapes and such on him leaking blood...
<Mikel> >> ...and a frozen lion off to the side of the clearing. Whoops.
* Niri raises and eyebrow at that in surprise, but she continues to head forward, a little more at ease now that Mikel is taking a break from destroying things. She doesn't hail him, but just keeps walking toward him, clearly visible through the chilly mist.
* Mikel reaches up to rub his forehead, mutering something that vaguely sounds like 'calm down dammit' under his breath. He blinks, tensing again as he looks over towards Niri... then relaxes with a sigh. "Oh. Good. Not another hungry jungle animal."
<Niri> Right. Please don't ice me.
<Niri> On top of the day we've had, I don't much care for the idea.
* Mikel grimaces at that, turning to look at the remnants of the statue. "...no kidding. How are you holding up?"
<Niri> Who, me? I'm okay. I'm not the one who got stabbed or split in two, remember. How about YOU?
* Mikel just lifts the sword and points towards the ice sculpture with it. "S'about sums it up right there."
<Niri> I did notice those, yes. *She eyes him and sits down across from him, back to a separate tree.* It...looked pretty bad back there, when you got... *she waves a hand, searching for the words* ...when the split dissolved.
<Niri> What...happened, precisely? Are you okay?
* Mikel sticks the sword into the ground, letting out a sigh. "The spell... basically got shattered and forced a recombination, I think. With half of me rent to pieces from what she did. I can't remember all that well beyond a haze of... well, pain and wanting to strike back."
* Niri nods. "So that's why you reacted like you did. I thought for a second you were going to lash out at me."
* Mikel blinks in surprise, looking more than a little guilty as he looks at the staff again. "...Really? I.. ah, sorry, then."
<Niri> I could tell you weren't yourself. Don't worry about it.
* Niri sighs. "At least....gah. Well, I don't know. I suppose this really didn't turn out very well at all. We lost Xavier, and Angie, and I blew up at everyone."
* Mikel closes his eyes. "We were more than a little stressed at the time."
<Niri> I know. I just...I think I messed up this time. Somehow.
<Niri> Trune's still nowhere to be found, Saki saw me and just kind of stared at me, Vytor's off by himself somewhere, Ryllan...I don't want to talk to Ryllan.
<Niri> I found a room to stash my stuff. I...well. Tanan's there right now.
* Mikel opens an eye to look at Niri. "Taking Saki's advice?"
* Niri nods
<Niri> I think I need to talk to him, but if I do it now, I'll probably just say even more things I'd regret.
<Niri> I think he's already on the point of giving up on me as it is.
* Mikel nods, opening the other eye as well as he looks at her. "Sort yourself out before sorting out the stuff between you two, I think."
<Niri> Probably.
<Niri> Why does everyone think I'm ready to give up all the time, Mikel?
<Mikel> Mm... I don't think that's quite it. You haven't faltered or anything. I think they take more issue with not considering the advantages of having a back up plan... though a back up plan relying on the witch that just turned into a demon like that has me wondering.
<Niri> Me too. And it's not that I'm against having a backup plan. Practically, it makes sense.
<Niri> It's just....ugh. The Prophetess strikes me as just barely better than Zophar, sometimes, with everything that she's done. There has to be a better way.
* Mikel closes his eyes again. "The demon form was like with Emili... just, a whole lot stronger."
<Mikel> Like you just moved on from an appetizer to the full seven course meal.
* Niri shudders. "What do you think we should do?"
<Mikel> Keep going, I guess.
<Mikel> Kill her if we run into her again.
<Mikel> Backup plan or not, I don't want something like that running loose.
<Niri> Yeah...me either.
<Niri> It's just...okay, Mikel, tell me if I'm crazy.
<Niri> But aren't there some things worth fighting for besides the salvation of the world? Aren't there some things we CAN'T give up as long as we consider ourselves human, as long as we have hearts and souls?
<Niri> It just seems that...well, Ryllan and Tanan and Johnathan all seem willing to give up absolutely anything and not think twice about it, and it scares me.
* Mikel mms for a moment. "It comes down to if the ends justify the means."
<Niri> Right. And I'm not so sure they always do.
* Mikel nods. "They have the view though, when the ends are preserving the world, that they do. They'd /prefer/ our way I suspect, but in the worst case scenario..."
<Mikel> Beggars can't be choosers, and all.
<Niri> Hmmm.
<Niri> Well, if it really IS a choice of the world or destruction, I guess the ends DO justify the means. It's just...
<Niri> They seem...so very QUICK to accept horrible, horrible things, without looking for alternatives. And they don't seem to care about it, or feel bad that they have to accept it.
* Mikel lets out a sigh. "Well... we don't exactly have many other ways this can go. We finish Zophar, everything's fine. We don't finish him, Prophetess steps in with her plan, world is reshaped but preserved in some form. We don't finish him, Prophetess's plan doesn't work, Zophar wipes out the world and we're done."
* Mikel grimaces for a moment. "...I didn't want to think about it like that. I really didn't."
<Niri> Nnnh. Me either.
<Niri> Can we have another option, please?
<Mikel> I'd love another option.
<Mikel> I lack one, however.
<Niri> I dunno. I think I'm probably going to handle this as usual.
<Mikel> ...also, dammit. That makes killing her before Zophar's gone sound like a horrible idea.
<Niri> Sulk and rage for a while, then do what I have to.
<Niri> ....You have a point there.
* Mikel growls something inarticulate under his breath then sighs.
* Niri frowns at Mikel.
<Niri> ...How's er...how's Emili handling this?
<Mikel> ...she felt the Gemini break.
<Niri> Ah.
<Niri> That er...can't be good.
<Mikel> Before then, she felt the Prophetess turning into that demon.
<Mikel> It's... been downhill.
<Niri> Ah.
<Mikel> She's only starting to calm down.
<Niri> That would...explain your temper.
* Mikel nods with a sigh. "Feedback loop."
* Niri gives him a sympathetic look.
* Mikel waves a hand. "I can sort that out, at least. Don't worry too much."
<Niri> You sure?
<Niri> Will it involve much further death of plant life?
<Mikel> ...No, I think I got it out of my system for the most part.
<Niri> Good. Saturn might be irritated.
<Niri> ....Mmph. I think, like it or not, I'm going to have to face Ryllan and Tanan.
<Niri> They may be right but I don't have to like it.
* Mikel nods. "Just... careful around Ryllan. I don't trust Noah."
<Niri> Mmmm. Yeah, I suppose not. But...
<Niri> Now that he's away from the Prophetess, and whole this time...he strikes me as, on the whole, a bit less worrying.
<Mikel> Maybe, but I'm skeptical.
<Mikel> Whole or not, he was /part/ of her.
<Niri> That's true. Well...I guess we'll find out. I want to talk to Ryllan anyway, just to make sure he's all right.
* Niri sighs.
<Niri> A lot of our group went through a lot just now. I'm not sure anyone's really okay.
* Mikel nods. "We... all really took one to the gut after this. It'll be a bit before we're back together." He offers Niri a bit of a reassuring smile. "Want me to come along when you go talk to them, or do you need to settle it yourself?"
<Niri> I...
* Niri frowns. "I'd appreciate it, but I think...I need to do it alone. At least to talk with Tanan. I can have company when I talk to Ryllan, no problem."
<Niri> But with Tanan...nnnh. Not looking forward to that at all.
* Niri rubs her forehead tiredly.
* Mikel winces for a moment, nodding. "..Yeah, I can imagine. No problem then."
<Niri> He was...pretty mad. I wonder if he's going to forgive me this time.
* Mikel closes his eyes. "If he doesn't, screw 'im. To be blunt."
* Niri winces slightly. "I...wouldn't put it that harshly."
<Niri> But I wouldn't put it past him to have had quite enough of me by now.
<Niri> He seems...less and less human every day, if you see what I mean. Also harsher and less patient.
* Mikel nods, sighing. "...If he can't forgive you for getting angry after what happened though, I'm not really feeling sympathy for him."
<Niri> Well. We'll see. I'm...not going to go back for a little bit at least. Need to continue to cool off I guess.
<Niri> How about you? You doing better? Is er...Emili doing better?
<Mikel> I'm more with it, at least... and less angry at everyone. Emili's still calming down. Slowly. I should have tried to block it off when I saw Pandora coming at me.
* Mikel sighs.
<Niri> You couldn't have, really, could you? It's not like we had time to do much of anything but react.
<Niri> And who're you angry with?
<Niri> Aside from the Prophetess I mean.
<Mikel> Pandora, myself, Johnathan, Ryllan, Tanan...
* Mikel shrugs.
<Niri> Ah. So, pretty much same as me.
<Niri> Except I'm not mad at you.
<Niri> I'm sorry, though, for holding you back. I picked a fine time to be reasonable, huh?
* Niri smiles faintly
* Mikel snickers. "You let go in the end. It's fine."
* Niri stands and brushes off her pants and adjusts her glasses. "Well...you let me know if there's anything I can do, and be sure to say something if you don't feel right again soon, okay? I want to make sure there's no ill effects lingering from that blast."
<Mikel> I still have a killer headache. Does that count?
<Niri> I don't think I'm quite ready to go back to find Tanan, so I'm going to wander a bit more. Might see if I can track down Trune. He's been oddly quiet lately.
<Niri> Ehh. I don't know, maybe? I have one too though. Too bad we can't push that off onto someone else, right?
* Mikel nods... then winces. "...oh jeez, he has to be miserable. She flipped after he hit her with the spell."
<Niri> ...Urgh.
<Niri> He'd better not be blaming himself for that.
* Mikel nods, sighing. "Go find him and make sure then. Careful with the wildlife... and let me know when you go to talk to Ryllan at least."
<Niri> I'll try to talk to him, but...you might want to find him later too. He might listen to you, I dunno.
<Mikel> Mm. Maybe.
<Niri> Heh. Okay, I'll keep an eye out. And I'll let you know about Ryllan. I want to talk to Noah too.
* Mikel nods, giving Niri a bit of a wave. "Alright then. I'll probably be still out here."
<Niri> All right. Try not to freeze too many things.
* Niri smiles a bit and waves before walking off.
* Mikel chuckles, closing his eyes again. "Only if they try to eat me."
<Niri> ==Lude Finish! Brrr. ==
<Mikel> Ice ice baby~
<Niri> ...
Session Close: Sun Nov 11 23:16:51 2007