Lishka's Room -- 14th Floor -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim White, mist, lace, and frost. That is the basic description of this room. Everywhere one looks there is tendrils of mist rising up out of nothing, and frost hanging to the walls though it's oddly warm in here. The room is a large rectangle. On one end of the room is a bed the size... well it rivals a king size bed, that's for sure. And it's covered with pure white fur. Lace hangs from the ceiling, obscureing the only thing that is out of place in this room. A doorway. With something dark brown stained on it. An X, sitting on it's side, with one slash longer then the other. It's been a long day, and believe it or not, even Goddess-wanna- bes get tired. Lishka appears in a soft puff of mist, a slight bit of cold air for a second and she walks over to the bed to sit down. She - looks- tired. She's warn herself out with these illusions, and she's had to spread herself out beyond what she's used to. She's never ran a game with more then four people, and she's never had to supply them with real food or water. That takes a lot out of her by itself. Hey, she's not - all- powerful. For a minute she forgets Ev is up here. Then she puts a smug - nothing-can-hurt-me, expression on and says, "Well, your friends are doing fairly. They are ventureing through the fourth floor right now." A whole day and their only on the 4th floor? And that's good? Yup. Sure is. Lishka's running the mirror scene for them right now if fact. That scene is tough on her powers, involving so many elements, so she's gonna have a hard time hiding how tired she is. Everett is slumped in the chair Lishka had made for him when he had first arrived, obviously a bit uncomfortable and extremely bored. There's food that has appeared beside him, but it hasn't been touched. After Lishka's ominous threat before she dissapeared, he's feeling a bit defiant. He said he didn't want her gifts, and for the moment, her food is included. As she appears he sits bolt upright in the chair again with a startled "Lishka!", preparing himself quickly for if he has to fight. But the fact he doesn't is quickly revealed as he notices her fatigued state. Even if she was hiding it, he'd probably pick up on it. If Ev is anything, he's empathic. And even though this woman has threatened both him and the ones he loves, his first instinct is to reach out and help her. He almost does so, too, but manages to hold back, staying in the chair and listening to her evaluate his friends' progress. "They're going to make it, you know." He says defiantly, and he believes every word of it. Lishka nods briefly, her mind flickering to something this boy's love said to her. Something that... strangely hurt. She's not used to being hurt. Emotionally or anything. She blinks slightly, and gives her head a shake. She knows this is a bad idea. Messing with forbidden things. It's that damn Sowilo rune in her name. Grrr. Of course, she doesn't know that's why she actually has emotions, as opposed to her elders. Her only reply to that is a cold, almost bitter, "Don't bet on it. They've come close to killing each other a few times already. Expecially that one girl and your girlfriend. Paige and Jubilee they were called. Yes." Everett cringes noticably at this... Oh, that's not a good thing. Back at the Xtate at least Paige and Jubilee could stay reasonably seperated, but here in the Tower they're forced to be together constantly. They'll kill each other for sure. He can't help but let out a bit of an involuntary sigh at the thought that the problem between them is him, just as its his fault they're in this mess in the first place. He doesn't respond, just slumps back into the chair and looks generally forlorn. Maybe if there were other mutants in range he could beat Lishka in her weakened state and go find his friends. But there aren't, and he can't, and he's trapped. Just bloody terrific. Lishka tilts her head, and sighs inwardly. She knows she's going about this all wrong. But the Isa side of her is in control right now and she's as icy as they get. Her voice is still frosty as she says softly, "Well, I can tell you right away, from what I've observed so far, I don't think they'll all make it. They are used to fighting things with their powers, and around every turn they try to do that. But their powers do not work the same here, because almost nothing here is real." - Almost nothing. She isn't gonna tell Everett about the 13th and 14th floors yet. The only -real- floors. She's still wondering how she's gonna keep them away from a certain part of the 13th floor that she doesn't want them to enter. Everett frowns again, his eyes wandering aimlessly over the floor before him, repeatedly moving over the plates of food that arrived in response to his hunger but he still hasn't touched. "They'll suprise you. They're more resilient than you think, and they're /going/ to make it." His arms cross in an almost childishly stubborn motion. Despite all the power she's demonstrated and everything she's said, he still truly believes Generation X will percivere. Lishka stands up slowly, and walks over, not half as graceful as earlier, as if it actually takes a little effort now. She's gonna have to envoke a few runes and draw some extra energy pretty soon. She moves to stand before Everett, tilting her head slightly as she looks over him. Her golden colored eyes don't look snake or eagle like right now, they look like polished amber, held up to the sun. Her voice, for some reason, reminds of velvet as she speaks this time, "There's something you want right now. But you're not talking about it. What is it that you want?" She glances over at the untouched food and almost gives a small sigh. "If it makes you feel any better I've been feeding your friends as well." Everett's body tenses as she approaches, but he tries not to show it, simply leaning back a bit to look up at her. "What I want..." He begins coldly, or rather as coldly as Ev can get, which is still luke-warm at best, "Is to go home with my friends. You still don't see, do you? I can't give what you want, and how you're trying to take it forcefully is just wrong." As his words become more empassioned he moves from his slouched position to a sitting one, and then standing."Even if you force me to stay I won't love you, Lishka. Love doesn't work like that." Looking up at the ceiling and letting out a small sigh, Lishka begins to wish the Elders had never let her out of that bloody closet. Other then that she doesn't show how much hearing that hurt. She glances back down, voice still icy, slightly annoyed, and... even a little pouty, "It's not like I fell in love with a -human- on purpose. I didn't sit there in my store and dream about the day a weak little human would walk in. By watching you people, you live by experience, yes? Well the only level I've ever dealed with humans as is the level of me being the trickster, them being the tricked. Me being the hunter, then being the prey. I don't know another way to deal with you." Oh... She's mad. Right about now she's starting to make the walls bleed down there she's so pissed off. Everett frowns, slowly beginning to walk past her and pace across the room. Something he's done a lot in her absence.... It's really infuriating knowing you're stuck here while your friends fight for your life so close by, yet so far away. "For starters, you didn't have to involve my friends. They didn't have anything to do with this, but now they're fighting for their lives to save mine." He turns to address her directly, gesticulating for emphasis. "And you could have tried /talking/ to me... Explaining how you felt and we could have tried to work something out. I know it hurts and I know its hard, but you don't have to do all this..." Glancing towards the obscured door for a moment, and giving a soft shiver of surpressed emotion, Lishka shakes her head, "You do not understand, Everett. You speak from what you know, but we don't deal with those rules here. Once the game has begun I can not stop it." Well, she can. But if she did she'll use up her last chance with the Elders, and they will literally do the one thing she truely fears. Unmake her. Oh, there's that shiver again. Hopefully he was turned away so he won't see it. She hates showing weakness. She really needs to invoke some runes and power up soon. Everett finishes his turn with just enough time for Lishka to finish her shudder, so the only weakness he sees is the traces of fatigue from her earlier battle. "But there's got to be /some/ way..." He practically pleads. "Skip them to the top? Help them through? You create the things they're fighting, you can just as easily un-create them, can't you?" Let them win, in other words? No. Lishka can't let that happen either. That's why she got punished in the first place the last time. She won, fair and square, and let her pray go. And spent the next hundred years paying for it. Alone. Isolated. Without powers. Don't think about that! She turns away from Everett, glancing towards one of the lace hangings from the ceiling. "I will not do that, Everett. So stop asking. Your friends -agreed- to play. There's no choice but to keep playing." She adds in a soft voice, "No choice for either of us." Everett's arms come up to hug himself a bit, the room suddenly feeling quite a bit cold despite the unseemly temperature. This is awful, Ev, and its all your fault. His eyes are downcast for a moment with a sad expression before turning back to Lishka with the best scowl he can manage. Not very threatening, but still full of a good deal of spite. Without a word he heads back to the chair and sits down, tucking his legs up onto it with the obvious intention of sleeping. He's tired and he's hungry and he doesn't want to have to argue with her anymore. Keeping her back towards the young boy, Lishka reaches up to rub at her forehead slightly and realizes her eyes are feeling funny and are all wet. She touches slightly and notices she was starting to cry. She can cry?? That's a shocker to her. She really needs to do something wicked in order to get her mind set straight. She takes a breath and makes sure all the signs of those emotions are gone, then turns around, "You can use the bed. I put it there for you. I don't need to sleep." Yeah, right. He said he didn't want her gifts, and he meant the whole shebang. He doesn't even respond, simply shuffling to his side and cupping both hands under his head in a makeshift pillow on the hard chair. Ev isn't usually such a defiant lad, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Damnit. You really know how to piss Lishka off, you know that? She lets out a soft growl, akin to an angry lioness, then says in a thick, fiery voice. No ice in sight, "Don't you understand that I'm trying to be -nice-. If you want me to be mean, then by the Elder Spirits I will -show- you what mean is!" She waves her hand and a staff appears there. She calls out three words loud, "Wunjo. Isa. Hagalaz." The letters of the staff flash. Then suddenly wind, ice and hail fill the room for a few moments. You pissed her off, now she's out for vengance. Then she yells, "Enough!" It stops and she lowers the staff, "Your world has claws, and so do I. And unlike your world, I only use them when it is needed." She sticks around for a moment instead of vanishing instantly this time. The wind was strong enough to knock the chair over, and knock off some of the ceiling hangings -and- likely leave someone with a couple bruises. Hail does bruise. And these aren't illusions. They are real. Everett is introduced to the sudden flurry by a strong gust of wind that topples his chair and sends him rolling painfully along the hard floor with a few choice yelps and groans. Practiced reflexes alow him to come out of the roll in a low crouch, his rainbow aura swirling into existance around his body reflexively, for what little good it can do him. "You call this n..." Before he can finish his sentance, shouted above the forceful winds that threaten to slam him to and fro amongst the room, the hail begins. Large chunks of airborn ice pelt at his form and Ev pained yells are their response, disrupting his balance and sending him to be tossed amongst the winds as they do please. All he can do at this point is cover his face and wait for the mayhem to die down. After a few moments as the storm does eventually fade he's left sprawled out on the floor, eyes closed and breathing heavy. A low groan escapes his lips to attest to the pain he's obviously in, and the bruises will follow soon. Egags. What did she just do? Good job, Lishka. You just hurt the person you claim to be in love with. Oh well, he'd be hurt if he knew what his sweet little Jubilee had tried to do with herself. Lishka found that memory extremely amusing. She waves her hand slightly and some bandages appear near Everett. She doesn't bother saying she's sorry, instead she just moves to stand over him, fatigue completely washed away by sheer anger, "I suggest you learn when I am being nice, and when I am not. They will serve you better in days to come. Get rest." Then she turns away and starts to vanish slowly, but as she does her appearance... changes. Her hair grows shorter, her clothes darker and... blue. Same with her hair. Uhoh. She's turning into Joliene. She's -still- pissed, and gonna go take that anger out on one of the others down there. Namely a Mr. Sam Guthrie who has a little weakness for this blue-haired water chick.