Morlock Alley -- 10th Floor -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim

	Wait a minute. You all just headed down, and there's a thing in front of 
you, grafitee apparently, that says in sharp red letters "Welcome to the 10th 
Floor." Yes. This place is strange. But even more strange, that isn't spray 
paint. It's blood. And these aren't a regular sewer. It's the Morlock Tunnels. 
You happen to stand in a tunnel near the alley. A few steps and you'll be in 
it.

	The northern expance of the 'Alley' extends 50 feet upward and is 
equally as wide. The lighting is intermittent and shadows overtake and seem to 
loom. At the base of the tube, a small river flows of fresh water which is 
used for bathing and cleaning of things such as clothing and dishes. Many 
tunnels can be found that shoot off from this main one and the 'Alley' 
continues southward. The real strange thing about this, is the fact that there 
is -no one- around. Not in sight at least. But screams can be heard 
everywhere. This whole place smells like a sewer, but even worse, it smells 
like a battleground. Death, blood, decay. A tunnel across the way has a real 
looking door on it. Like one someone would find on the front of a house.


Terry shudders, "Ahhh g' th' morlocks...da' tol' me abou' this. Nasty..." She 
wrinkles her nose and shudders again.

You're not the only one shuddering, Terry. Sam stays with the group, peering 
about the room and sighing as he realises this is yet /another/ room to go 
through and be humiliated in. "Everyone alraght? Any injuries?" Course not, it 
is all an illusion, Sammy.

Paige shakes her head. "No, we're fine." She says softly. Though she still 
feels might ooky after all of this husking. And more huksing. And more 
husking. And more.. you get the idea. She wrinkles her nose at the air, and 
sighs softly, and is reminded of thier time in the sewers. Just before she 
vanished, that is.

Thank the God of Mutants that you don't have a nose, Jono. He nods to Sam, 
indicating that he's fine, wrapping strips of turtleneck around his 'neck' 
like a cowl, dimming the light from his caverous body, the energies swirling 
deep blues and yellows, of caution.

	Well, what do you all expect? Lishka to go easy on you? Naaaaaah. And 
actually, this room is extremely vague. Hense why no one actually sees the 
people screaming, and there are no bodies. This obviously isn't more then a 
go-between room meant to unnerve. Lishka pulled this memory from lots of 
people's minds, but since none of those present were actually in the thick of 
things, the details beyond the fact that something awful happened here are 
left out. The tunnel across the way, about fifty to sixty feet walking 
distance is the same icky looking blood filled sewer. But, there's a perfectly 
clean, white door sitting against the wall. Like the front door of a nice 
house. It definately stands out amoungst the darker elements.

Terry walks to the door, definitely not wanting to wade through blood and 
whatever else might be in there again, ew. She reaches forwards and starts to 
tap against it abit, before trying to get it open. "I'm sick o' blood, an' 
guts an' viscera."

"Terrah, ya read mah mind..." Sam mutters, following the Irish lass to the 
door and going about opening it. Go over in the blood, or in through the door? 
Door, please. He glances back to the rest of his team, giving them a gesture 
to come over so they can get out of here as soon as possible.

Paige is already headed that direction. "You get kinda used to it, when you 
tear off your skin as a mutant power," SHe notes idly to the group, as she 
meets Sam at the door. "So, 'boss'," She drawls, using one of Gwen's petnames 
for him, "You first."

Jono tries to keep out of the bloody water, to keep his boots relatively safe, 
as he moves towards the door, (~~...does it op'n, 'r not?~~) he asks, hoping 
he doesn't have to blow it off the hinges. He's slowly draining of energy, 
with nothing to 'feed' on, and he wants to save that last blast for Lishka.

	Terry gets the door open easily, and... well... is this a relapse back 
to Rahne's room? There's a painting on the other side. Of a country side. 
Rolling hills, even farm lands. Even a little white house off in the distance. 
Looks just like a painting on a wall, except, not totally opaque. One thing 
you've all likely had time to learn is that even if it doesn't -look- like a 
door, maybe it -is- a door. Make the fearless leader go first. Come on, boss-
man. Take a chance.

"Its beautiful?!" Terry is quite quite startled by this, " Wha' is tha' witch 
up t'?" The redhair blinks at the pastoral setting.

Sam steps in, immediately recognizing the rolling hills and the /house/! His 
house! Then the sinking feeling hits, he's going to have to go through what 
Rahne just went through. Buuut, he's got Paige at his side! This has to be her 
room too..."Mah gawd, it's home..." He looks back to Paige, giving her a 
bright smile. Eventhough it's an illusion, it's always nice to be /home/. His 
hands drift up to the house, reaching out to it to feel around.

"It ain't beautiful! It's *HOME*." Paige says, and then blinks, and blushes. 
"Well, okay, it is beatiful. This is wheah Ah grew up!" And she'd just stopped 
with the accent, too. She turns back and moves to see if she can get inside 
that door - hopefuly, Lishka won't corrupt her home TOO badly.

Hey, Jono, you get to see the home of your girlfriend, and the infamous 
Gutherie clan. Even if it is a perverted version ripped from their minds, and 
twisted by Lishka's will. He stays behind, though, watching to see if some 
Marauder comes from the shadows.

	Heheh. Not TOO badly. But it certainly won't be a pleasent experience. 
For at least one of you. Now, who shall it be. Paige or Sammy-boy. Paige's 
already faced one of her fears and secrets, and Sammy-boy's already faced an 
illusion of something he desires. And it isn't like Lishka to waste a room on 
a repeat. Well, then again, maybe it is. But ya'll haven't sat down and 
philospised with the big ice bitch much yet. No Marauders jumping out of the 
shadows, and as soon as a hand touches the "surface" of the painting it passes 
through, like it isn't even there. Just a few short steps and you'll be home, 
sweet home. Well, two of you at least.

Terry follows the Guthries, whatever is in there has to be better than her 
experience and also the smelly bloody sewer they could be in, "Lets hustle 
folks befer' things change.."

Ok, Sam knows it's an illusion, but the temptation is just too damn strong. As 
his hand passes through, he takes a large step and soon vanishes into the 
portrait. What will he find? Who knows, he just wants to be home.

And Paige is already through and grinning like a damn fool. "C'mon, Jono! 
Maybe one of these days Ah'll take ya home t' see the real thing." Aww. She's 
going to take you home to meet Mom. Wonder how Momma Guthrie is gunna deal 
with that.

Following the group, Jono passes through the painting, leaving a nice ripple 
behind as he starts to jog after Paige, (~~..`old on, luv.... it m'ght be a 
tr'p....~~) he calls after her as he runs through the grass.

	Psst. Paige, just make sure you have Sam bring Jo at the same time so 
the attention isn't focased just on Jono. Anyway, on you go. Move along. What 
ya waiting for. That means ya'll in the back.


Guthrie Farm -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim

	The door leads into... the country. No joke. The door just stands there, 
frame and all, but no walls around it. And all around you instead is a very 
familar area. To at least two of you. It's a lovely spot. Fresh country air. 
The smell of nearby fields, and not too far off mines. The definate air of a 
small Kentucky farm ground. In fact, this particular area is about a mile from 
a certain Guthrie farm house, a tall hill overlooking a forest on one side, 
and beautiful fields of rolling grain on the other.

	This is the place where the Guthrie kids often went to relax. There's a 
creek down in the forest where they used to play. But for some reason, there 
seems to be a clear path set in place. The way down into the forest looks... 
unreal. Like a painting on a wall. A very good painting, but still doesn't 
seem three-dimensional. The path of reality seems to lead towards the farm 
house. A long walk, but perhaps a walk that is worth it. Hopefully nothing 
will attack you. I hope none of you found Children of the Corn really scary.


Terry's jaw simply drops, "Guid god, tis like somethin' ou' o' li'l house on 
th' prarie.." Yep in Europe they get subjected to all the bad american 
television.

JOY! Utter and complete joy! Sammy's home, ma! Sam almost dances across the 
lush fields, racing down the path that leads to the house. No, he's not going 
to waste a second to go and see his family, he wants them now! If you're 
watching him, you'll see him using his power a few times to speed him along, 
homeward bound.

Paige tosses a sour look over her shoulder. "An' does yoah 'castle' look lahke 
somethin' outta a Lucky Charms add, Red?" Paige draws. No, Landon isn't going 
to jump out of the countryside. Wrong part of America. She shakes her head at 
Sam. "Lahke momma's really gunna be home when ya get theah, ya damn fool," She 
mutters as she watches Sam fly off. She turns and looks to Jono as he jogs up 
after her, "Ya know ha' much NOISE there'd be if they were here? Josh, 
Lizabeth, Joelle, Jedidiah, the twins, Maria, an' the lil'uns all live heah 
still! They'd be all in hte feilds workin', they'd be runnin' 'round - not to 
mention the fahm hands! This ain't home - but it's a pretty replica of it." 
She sighs, reaches out to take Jono by the arm, and tug him over to lean on 
his shoulder. Sigh. Wistful moment. "One day, Ah'll show ya the real thing. 
An' mah real family."

(~~...I kn'w, Paige..~~) Jono says as he stops next to her, slipping his arm 
from hers, replacing it around her waist, his 'voice' and features softening 
some, the glow behind the strips of cotton paling slightly. If Lishka has an 
attack readied, now would be the best time to spring it, with most of the 
group calm and relaxed. He doesn't comment on Terry's statement, even if he 
has been exposed to that sugary-Landon goodness. And he only pales a _bit_ at 
the roster of the Gutherie clan.

	Hehe. Almost as if someone is listening to Paige's words, field hands 
appear in the fields, not many of them, just one or two. Teenage boys getting 
paid less them minimum wage running the big bailers. Of course, they couldn't 
be paid more then that, because the Guthrie's wouldn't be able to pay them 
more. But then this is Ketucky. Most things are cheap around here. No one does 
appear to be home. The lights are out - even if it is day time. The vehicles 
gone. They could be at church or something. That's always a hope Sam can cling 
to.

"N' th' castle looks like somethin' ou' a Vincent Price movie.." Terry sticks 
her tounge out at Paige, before glancing about again, "Tis quiet, yuir right 
abou' tha'"

Sam slows as he finally reaches the house, Paige's words going long unheard. 
He's not stupid, he does indeed notice the fact that the place is all out 
deserted. TUrning around to peer at his approaching team members, "They're 
naht heah..." He says slowly, eyes drifting to the field working boys that 
seem to appear out of nowhere. "Hey!" Sam hollars, waving a hand. He'll find 
out where mama and the kids are, if it kills him. Mwahahaha!

Paige blinks as the hands appear. "Well, that was cute." She replies, and hten 
sighs, just drawing strength from Jono's presence as she walks. "You know, 
Lishka's a smart bitch. She's probably got somethin' REALLY horrid in there, 
t' put us so at ease out here." She ponders to herself, her brows furrow. 
Doing anything to her family - even illusionary family! - will push Paige 
right over the edge.

(~~..th'ouse o'Ush'r...~~) Jono comments to Terry, still feeling a bit 
light'hearted' with Paige on his arm, looking out over the fields of the 
Gutherie home. He keeps close to her, moving to put his hand over hers, 
glancing towards the farmhands, looking for some indication of innormality.

	SHHHHHHHHH! Paige! Quiet. Don't give anything away. Grumble. The farm 
hand spots Sam and the others and shuts down the bailer, jumping down and 
moving across the tall grain until he gets within distance of the group, 
"Sam." It's... it's that jerk who tried to hit on Joelle last year! Yup. Same 
guy. Named Nick or something. Or was it Rick? Or Dick? The other guy who's out 
there looks up, but keeps with what he's doing, checking the soil to see if it 
needs to be fertilized again. Oh. That's Bubba! Yes. Bubba. "Ah did naht know 
ya'll were coming back early." Uh. Can we say deja vu? The guy doesn't even 
look at the others, as if all he sees is Sam. Can we guess who this room is 
for now? Hmm? Hmm?

"Aye similar t' tha' b' wi' ou' th' incest.." Terry tilts her head as she 
trails her eyes over the obviously healthy country lads.

"Oh. Great. We don't exist again." Paige mutters under her breath, as she 
pauses with Jono just behind Sam. "Oh! Ah remembah *that* ass. "He damn neah 
stalked Joelle - Josh had t' come out an' set him straight."

Sam doesn't remember the boy's name, just nods to him. "Yeah, we're home..." 
He says with a smile, peering about the the scenery and then looking back to 
the boys. "So where is everyone, hmm? No one's home..." He looks over to Paige 
as she speaks, snickering slightly at her words. Regaining his composure, he 
turns back to the farm hands and waits for an answer.

Stopping with Paige, Jono keeps his arm around her waist, lifting the other 
over his eyes, like a visor, (~~..c'ld be w'rse.. w'c'ld b'bein' att'ked..~~) 
he comments, glancing around.

	Dick, or Nick, or Rick... let's just call him Ick for now. Since that's 
the only part some of you are sure of. Anyway, Ick straightens his shirt a 
little, all sweaty from being out working in the heat. He'd work without his 
shirt, but that's a bad idea. Don't want to get your chest all scratched up. 
But since he's out of the tall grasses now, he pulls it over his head so he 
can get some fresh air against his skin. Hmmmm. Good down home breeding. This 
boy definetly works out a lot. "Ah, well, ya'll weren't possed to be back fer 
anotha hour er so. Ah reckon they're still there, Sam. Ah understand how'd ya 
want ta come back early and all. There's a key und'a the mat if ya don't have 
one. Or ya could just use t'back door. Ah think it's unlocked." he pauses, 
then grins slightly, blue eyes looking like a normal boys, "Tell ya sis Ah 
said hi." Yeah, he may be an illusion, but...

Terry folds her arms across her chest, "T' bad he's a tosser." Never mind the 
illusion part, but hell she might as well get some amusement out of this.

Sam will be /very/ angry when this is all over, angry at how easily he is 
tempted by these illusions. Without a moment of hesitation, Sam nods to Ick 
and is back off towards the house, fishing under the mat for the key. Once he 
finds it, before entering he looks at his teammates, gesturing for them to 
follow. *CLICK* Goes the key, turning it and hopefully opening the door. What 
will he find as he steps in and peers around? Hopefully his family, all ready 
and waiting to welcome the eldest home. Poor Sammy, he really has no idea what 
he's in for, does he?

Don't... look... appreciative. Paige resists the urge to quirk a brown and 
smile in appreciation of a hardworkin', down home boy... but the fact that the 
one on her arm HAS no chest.... well, he dosen't want to hurt his feelings. So 
she just tugs Jono after Sam as he goes, and heads into the farm house. "Don't 
you think we ought to be a little moah careful 'baht this, Sam?"


Farm House -- Guthrie Farm -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim

	The long walk has lead you to, *gasp* a Farm House. Yes. The Guthrie 
Farmhouse. Run down, two stories high, desperately in-need of a new paint-job. 
The windows are in need of a wash and the curtains hanging in them aren't 
exactly the most lovely either. The Farm House is extrememly. Simple. And very 
empty. There is absolutely no one home. It is totally devoid of life. For a 
house which would usually at least have a few kids running around in the yard, 
there is no one. The front door is wide open.

	Once inside, furnature, cheap toys, everything is laying around. 
Pictures sit on the wall, showing of members of the family. There's one of Sam 
and Josh with his guitar. There's one of pep squade Joelle with Paige. There's 
one of Sam with his father. There's another of the twins. There's one of the 
girls with their mom. There's one of the partents alone. And then another of 
the whole family. A lot of memories in this run down house. There's a 
staircase leading to the second floor, where the kid's bedrooms are.


Jono walks with Paige, glancing the 'down-home bred' (50% chance what THAT 
means) #ick over.. not worth the waste of energy. So he walks into the 
farmhouse with Paige and the rest, glancing around.

	Welp, Sammy boy isn't being too careful is he. Someone better keep a 
close eye on him. Definately. The inside of the house looks the same as it 
usually would. Toys are even laying on the ground within tripping range. 
Stupid kids. Why can't they at least shove the toys against the wall?? It 
looks exactly the same as one of the times Sam visited during the summer, 
minus the people. The furnature looks the same, the curtains look the same. 
The way the house is set up it is definately for this year. There's even a 
Calander on one wall, a cheap one, likely one of those free ones ya get from 
the school each year. It has dates check off up to the date this whole bloody 
mess started.

Terry vaguely looks jealous, only child you know, "Oh..." Theres not much red 
can say or do about this but keep on her toes.

Sam's heart seems to sink as he enters the house, being welcomed by the dreary 
and run down home. "How the hell did mama let the house get so...bad...?" Then 
the idea that this is all an illusion sinks in, causing him to shutup for once 
and walk around to take a gander. Each picture is carefully examined, Sam 
smiling more as he moves onto the next one. Once finished, he turns to the 
group and says in bewilderment, "Where the hell are they? Ah mean...it's so 
quiet..." he pauses, looking towards the staircase, "Ah reckon they're 
upstairs..." Without waiting for advisement on if it's a good idea, Sam is 
moving towards the stairs and slowly walking up. *CREEEAAAK*ing can be heard 
as the southern boy moves, calling out one, and only once, "Mama?"

"Sam ya really can't expect 'em to be heah." Paige says with as much 
gentleness as she can muster, tiptoing though the living room. In a practiced 
manner, the toys are suddenly gathered and put in a box that's off in one of 
the corners, and then she smirks a little. She was Mommy Number Two for the 
kiddies, and it shows as she kinda ... sweeps through the house briefly. Well, 
now everything is at least out of the way and no one's gunna trip on a jack-
in-the-box.

Stopping after walking into the house, Jono moves to look at the pictures on 
the wall, his arms folded over his chest as he looks at the pictures of 
memories.

	Ok, well, Sam's going up the stairs, and everyone else is wandering 
around down there. Nothing else seems to be going on besides a good, old 
fashioned farm house. Mama isn't answering. None of the kids are around. Ick 
did say they were out and wouldn't be back for an hour or so. Perhaps you 
should all relax and get comfortable. Then again, they might come back early. 
Who knows. But there's no harm in waiting. This illusion isn't rushed. Lishka 
isn't in any hurry to get you all out of here, no matter what she tells Ev. 

Terry drops onto the sofa a lightly, "Ow!" She pulls a toy out from under her, 
"Paige I think y' missed one.. tis sharp an' pointy wha' e'er th' hell it 
is.." That's it Lishka is going to kill them with pointy toys.

Sam soon comes trotting back down the stairs, content that indeed, no one is 
home. "So, ah guess we wait?" He asks simply, stepping back into the living 
room and flopping down next to Terry. His arms fold across his chest as he 
just watches the room in silence, happy. Yep, it's good to be home.

Paige shrugs a little - almost on cue she sweeps over to Terry and get the toy 
- and puts it away. Sam is probably used to seeing Paige in mother-mode; in 
fact, it's probably an almost warming return to the 'old Paige' that Sam 
hasn't seen in so very long. A happy Paige, a calm Paige, a focused Paige. Not 
the fucked up psycho that she's been lately.

Turning away from the pictures, Jono moves to find himself a seat, wondering 
how the Gutherie family will look; how Sam and Paige know them, or how Lishka 
wants them to look.

Jubilee, who's been mulling along bringing up the rear the whole way, quiet, 
now plops herself down on the other side of Terry, her hands clasping in her 
lap. She looks a little.. frustrated. Not knowing what's going on will do that 
to you. Espically when all she wants to do is get /out/ of here. She briefly 
watches Paige do her Donna Reed impression before turning her head to look 
over at Sam. "What are we waiting /for/? I mean, you really think someone's 
gunna show up and show us the way outta here?" Nope, she doesn't like just 
sitting and /waiting/. Not at all.

	And who can blame Jubilee for not wanting to wait? Well, no one, that's 
who. Well, maybe Paige will, but she's Paige. She may be in happy, calm. 
focased mother mode, but she's still fucked up little psycho bitch with an 
urge to get back at the little slant eyed tramp who stole her Ev. *ahem* No 
comments from the peanut gallery. Anyway. Nothing continues to happen. 
Nothing. Gotta love it when nothing happens. A silent moment. Then, there's 
the desinct sound of a car coming up the road.

Terry leans up a bit, "Ahhh somethin's comin'." She's not saying Who.. cause 
no one wants to get attached yet.

"What do ya want me ta do, Jube's? Lishka ain't the type ta leave it at this, 
there's moah, n' ah know it." Sam says, sounding surprisingly confident. He 
does watch Paige move into Martha Stewart, smiling as the old and 'sane' Paige 
seems to return, even if it's for this room. Then comes the sound of the car, 
sending Sam's heart into a spin once again. "They're home..." He says aloud, 
standing from the uncomfortable couch and walking over to the window to take a 
look.

Eeeep? Paige stops what she's doing and moves to the window, looking out the 
door. "'s the truck alraht," She says softly, her voice low. "OH, Sam, Ah'm 
not sure Ah lahke this at all..."

Luckily, Jono doesn't smack any sense into Sam, at the moment, as he rises. He 
is slightly 'excited' to seeing Paige's family for the first time, but he 
isn't swept up like Sam, cautious of the Ice Bitch's manipulations.

Jubilee looks up and towards the door as they all hear the car coming up 
towards the house, then sighs lightly.. Oh God just get this over with, 
please? She doesn't know how much longer she can stand being in the /Guthrie/ 
house, illusionary clone or not. Besides, considering the setting, the chances 
of this revolving around Paige are pretty heavy, and Jube doesn't even want to 
think about what kind of twisted fears or whatever this girl has left to be 
exploited.

	Yup. They're home all right. Red headed Josh piles out of the cab of the 
truck and moves around to the passanger side to help Mama out. Once Mama's 
out, Joelle piles out of the cab as well. They're all dressed up, in dark 
colors. Josh looks as if he's eager to get out of the suit he's wearing. And 
out of the back of the truck piles the other kids. You know, there's a truck 
law about ridding in the back, but very few people ever get arrested. You're 
supposed to have seatbelts back there too. But most don't. Aw well. No one 
would arrest the Guthries. The other kids all pile out as well, Jedidiah 
pulling off his jacket already. Mama yells at the kids, telling them to stay 
in their clothes until they least get to their rooms. Something about respect 
or so such. Josh is the first to spot the "group" peering out the door and 
starts up to them, "Sam, what ya doing all the way back here. Ya souldn't have 
left early. Mama was gettin' worried." He glances around at the room and only 
seems to notice one other person present. Strangely enough, the person he 
notices is Terry. He gives his head a brief nod, "Ah hope he isn't always this 
reckless... Ah mean afta what happened..." he gets cut off by Joelle coming up 
behind him and smacking him in the back of the head. "Ow!"

Terry raises an eyebrow as she addressed by this person, she's never met. She 
has no damn idea which of the clan has just addressed her, "Um alright..."

At first Sam is overjoyed to see his family, darting out of the house to greet 
them with a big smile. But then he is greeted with all the 'acting wreckles' 
and such. "Wha?" He looks at his family in bewilderment, recieving the welcome 
he /really/ wasn't expecting. Okay, step 2. "Ahm home, mama!" He says 
toward...mama. The thought that this is al an illusion cntinues to linger in 
his mind, but for now he'll ignore that and go with the flow.

And Paige? She kinda just stands off and watch. Dark colors. Momma yelling 
about respect. "So who's dead, Ah wondah." She murmurs as she leans against 
the windowpane, her lips pursed. Somethings up, that's for sure.

Jono steps up behind Paige to get a look at the mob freshly arrived, trying to 
open up his telepathic senses, for something. Anything.

A light smirk crosses Jubilee's lips just before Paige asks who's dead. She'd 
had the same thought probably the same time Paige did.. She watches all the 
kids file into the house, watches how they only notice Sam and Terry.. and her 
mind flows to the most logical conclusion. "It's pretty obvious who died." Her 
eyes turn to Paige and she smiles without emotion. Well.. maybe a little 
saddness. "Way I figure, you're the only Guthrie who's not accounted for, 
Paige."

	Telepathic wise, nada. They're illusions. Don't got minds. One of the 
twins runs up and pushes past Josh and Joelle and into the house, starting to 
run around looking for something. Mama on the other hand smiles slightly and 
starts up to the porch, "Ah can see that, son. Ya've been home for a few days 
already, but Ah do like hearing you say your back." Meanwhile, Josh rubs the 
back of his head, grumbling and whispering evil things he's going to do to 
Joelle. Something about telling Mama how she's sneaking off to meetings with 
Bubba the farm hand. And that just earns him another solid smack. The twin 
who's running around suddenly yells out, "Who moved mah toy! Mama! Sam's 
girlfwind moved my toy!" Now is this one freaked out illusion or what? Yup. 
Freaked out, most definately.

Terry raises her eyebrows, and mutters, "Guess there mus' be an illusion o' Jo 
abou' again.." She pushes a long lock of hair back behind her ear and watches 
the children running all over the place in a hundred and thirty directions at 
once it seems.

Home for a few days now? Come again, mama? /Girlfriend/? For a moment, Sam 
looks around, waiting to see Jo, but soon realises they're talking about 
/Terry/. He as well realises that the Irish lass hasn't to clued into what he 
has, so he remains quiet. Wandering back into the house with everyone else, 
Sam gives a bewildered look to his sister, the non-illusion one. Once inside 
the house, Sam says with a bit of a chuckle, "So who died?"

Paige rolls her eyes. "Didn't you hear Jubilee? Ah'm the only one who ain't 
heah, Sam. Ah'm probably buried out bah Daddy." She says, folding her arms 
over her chest. "Unless Ah'm somewheah else. But Ah can't think of wheah."

Jono places his hand on Paige's shoulder, (~~...in L'ndon wit' me?~~) he 
offers, as he glances at the Gutherie mob swarm the household, wary of 
everything.

Up.. up... UP go Jubilee's eyebrows, wide go her eyes, and /dooown/ goes her 
jaw. Girlfriend? She looks left, then right, not seeing Jo anywhere.. and then 
her eyes focus on Terry.. and she blinks. "Uh.. Terry.." She leans in towards 
the girl and murmurs "I don't think the kid was talking about /Joliene/. I 
think he was talking about /you/." And somehow, she doesn't think that little 
twist is coming from /Sam's/ head.. but she's not gunna say that. Terry's a 
friend, so Jube's gunna just keep her mouth shut and maybe save (or atleast 
postpone) her embarassment.

	*Buh-link* If one thing could draw attention of the older Guthrie's, 
Sam's line about who died. Josh looks worried, but still his usual foul 
tempered self. 'Elle looks confused, but conserned, as does Mama. In fact, 
Mama Guthrie walks up and puts a hand on Sam's forehead, "Ya feelin' auhright 
son? Perhaps ya should go upstairs and lay down. Ya haven't slept much in the 
last couple of days." She glaces towards Terry, "Theresa, ya can join him. I'm 
sure he'd like you're company." ... Meanwhile, the twin digs up a toy and 
starts playing, then gets into a fight with the other twin who wants the same 
toy. Josh glances over at Joelle and makes a motion as if to indicate that 
Sammy boy has lost his mind. And Joelle shakes her head and says to the kids, 
"Why don't you get out of those clothes and go down to the creek?" Now, the 
kids like that idea. Definately. They start high tailing it up the stairs to 
get their clothes changed. So much for respecting the dead. Heh.

Terry turns a horrible shade of pink. Horrible. Red hair and this shade of 
pink does not look good, she glances to Jubilee, "Nah..." Then Mrs. Guthrie, 
"Ma'am?" She squeaks out just a tad.

Oh hell. Two blue eyes turn to Paige, full of sympathy. Did Sam's family just 
attend her funeral? Did his mother just tell him to go upstairs and snog 
Terry? No, no, she said to keep each other company. *Aherm*. Sam puts his 
hands on his mothers shoulder, "Mama, ah hit mah head earlier, who died?" If 
there's one thing Sam has learned through all this, it's to play along if you 
want information on what's up. Yes, he sounds like a lunatic to his family, 
but they aren't real...

Paige groans. "Ah'll solve this problem. Ah'll go see if mah rooms been 
cleared out... or anythin'..." She rubs her wrists, almost subconsciously. She 
remembers when one of the farmhands found her in the fields, trying to kill 
herself. It wasn't pretty then, no no no. And it's not a pleasent memory now.

Limited telepathic abilities are good for one thing. Jono squeezes Paige's 
shoulder, trying to reassure her.

Jubilee tries to repress laughter as her eyes bug out at what Momma Guthrie 
says, one hand quickly moving up to clasp over her mouth. Oh MAAAAAN she just 
OKed them going up stairs to make out!! Oh man Terry this is REALLY bad. 
REALLY bad. She ventures a hand over to clasp onto one of Terry's and give it 
a supportive squeeze. "I really don't think it matters who died this time, 
Sam.. I think this might be a whole nother issue.."

	The family all looks at each other. Sam hit his head. Not too surprising 
to them though. Well, actually the younger kids just look conserned for a 
moment, then get going up the stairs to their rooms. They certainly don't seem 
like kids who just lost their big sister. Mama Guthrie sighs and takes her 
hand away from Sam's forehead, looking sad and worried, "Professor Xavier 
warned me this might happened, Samuel. He said sometimes people can't accept 
what they've done and force themselves to forget. Ah didn't think it would 
happen to you though..." Her voice cracks slightly and Josh jumps forward, 
"For Gawd's sake, Sam! Use your head once and a while. Just cause your a big 
city boy doesn't mean ya can go around and hurt mama even more! Selfish 
bastard." And of course that earns a yell from another Guthrie's mouth, "Josh, 
leave 'im 'lone," Joelle says, moving over to take Mama Guthrie's arm, "Mama, 
why don't ya go with the lil 'uns out to the creek. Ya could use a little 
fresh air."

Terry places her hands behind her back, she glances to the Guthrie's mother, 
and does the only thing she can, "I'm sorry ma'am.." She gives the older woman 
a helpless smile.

Sam closes his eyes for a moment, hearing Josh yell and taking it all in 
stride. He looks at his mother, "Ok, ok. Ahm havin' a hard time dealin' with 
Paige's death..." He's taking a chance, but it has to be Paige that is dead. 
If not, he'll get some funny looks, big deal. His heart continues to jump, 
scanning the scene and sighing. This is hell. It's his sister's after funeral 
'party' and the kids can't wait to get out to the creek. Gag. "Ah need some 
air..." He mutters darting towards the door and heading out. He can't stand 
another minute in there, it's all too much for him to handle, illusion or not. 
Once outside, he wanders toward the creek, wondering just how in the hell 
they're going to get outta this one.

Oh, like Paige is doing any better, up in her and Joelle's room, listening 
through the thin walls to everything that goes on in the house. "Ya always 
were a runnah, Sammy," She says softly, regret touching her tone as she sits 
on what used to be 'her' bed, and sighs.

Jono stands at the door to the room, watching Paige, (~~...Paige...its an 
illusion....~~) he says, swearing Lishka to several pits of Hell.

"Uh..." Something Mrs Guthrie said clicks with Jubilee, and a frown slowly 
starts to stretch over her lips.. "Sam..? What if they're not just talking 
about /Paige/ here.. 'What you did'? Maybe.. Maybe we're /all/ supposed to be 
dead.. I mean, look at the way they are all acting! Maybe it wasn't Paige but 
the rest of us.. None of the kids know us so it would explain why they aren't 
upset.."

	Mama Guthrie blinks and looks after Sam, then looks at the two oldest 
present who don't happen to be completely insane. Namely, Joelle and Josh. 
"Sam... Paige is in New York. She... moved all her stuff there after the... 
accident." Which would explain why all of Paige's stuff is gone and replaced 
with 'Lizabeth's who's been moved into there. Now why were they all dressed 
up? Question to ponder through the ages. Definately. Or not. Josh strides up, 
getting between Sam and the door, "You bastard! Ya bail out on da's memorial 
service, now ya bring the 'accident' up. Well Ah don't think it -was- an 
accident. Maybe if ya would've paid more attention to yer team instead of 
yerself, Paige wouldn't have quit and married that faceless -punk-." ... Wow. 
What an illusion. Lishka's pulling out all the stops. Then Josh tries to do 
something he has wanted to do in the real world for a very -long- time. Punch 
his bigger, better brother.

Terry raises her eyebrows and murmurs, "But hasn' Sam's da' been dead for 
years?" She really has no idea what to do with herself, she can't act the 
loyal girlfriend. After all Joliene would just find a way to gut her if she 
ever found out, and besides it would be just a tad too surreal. Hormones are 
evil things.

Ooohhh, Lishka, you are /baaaad!!/. This is the one of the most horrid things 
you could do, force Sammy to think his whole team was dead at his hands. 
"Wha?" His voice cracks, stopping dead in his tracks to face Josh. Then, 
without warning *Wham* He's punched in the face, sending his head back like a 
crack of a whip. He's hit hard and fast, but is in too much of a shock to 
return the favour. Clutching his noce, Sam slides down to a crouch, breathing 
heavily, eyes /boring/ into the floor. "They're dead....yoah're all dead...." 
Is all he says, no louder then a whisper. This is Sam's mind, watch Sam's mind 
go *SNAP*

EEEHHHH? Sorry, that yelling got her attention. Paige is suddenly up and 
moving down the stairs, hair flying behind her. "Josh, you always were 
somethin' of a jerk," she mutters to herself, as she comes to the rescue of, 
of all people, her big broher. "Nah Sammy, don't you *start* or Ah'll kick 
yoah ass six ways till Sunday." She says, going right ahead and yelling at him 
as she goes to grip his arms and haul him bodily off the floor if she must. 
"You. Listen. To. Me. You. Did. Not. Kill. The. Team!" She says. "This. Is. 
An. ILLUSION." Don't make me hit you, don't make me hit you, don't make me hit 
you...

And Jono is pushed out of the way, practically, as he barely gets out of 
Paige's way. But he is following after her quickly, y(~~..wot th'ell!?~~)

Jubilee nearly JUMPS up from her seat on the couch as Sam gets punched, eyes 
going wide as she rushes over to him. "Cool the Shatner impression, Hayseed! 
Not everything can be solved by yelling at people. Gezzus." She shoots a 
/look/ at Paige before gripping onto Sam's arm and leaning into say "He said 
your /dad's/ memorial service. Not /ours/. They just don't like Jono." She 
flashes a look to Jono that silently says 'No offense'. "Now c'mon, we gotta 
figure out how to get through this room so we can save /Ev/."

	Josh just keeps yelling, even as Mama and Joelle run up and pull at him, 
"Ya stupid -jerk-. Ah don't care what they say. Ah say ya enjoyed it. How did 
it feel letting your friends -die-? Letting Paige get stuck in a coma for two 
weeks. That faceless reject of hers only survived because he ain't got a body 
at all. Just skin and glowing -shit-. And as for your girlfriend over there... 
How long did it take you to sack up with her after letting your last woman get 
burned to death? Huh? You answer me that you city -punk-. You're no better 
then the bastard you let take Paige away and turn her into a no good -tramp-. 
It's you're fault! Everything is your fault! Paige tried to -kill- herself 
because of you! You may be making yourself forget, but -Ah- won't let you!" 
All the while Joelle is yelling at Josh to shut up, and Mama's just trying to 
keep him from punching Sam again and keep from crying. And of course, the kids 
are watching from the stairs, looking worried.

Terry sighs, she lets Paige handle Sam, but she's going to deal with this 
little Josh illusion, "Boyo shut yuir mouth befer y' say somethin' you'll 
really regret..." So what its an illusion, but she's not going to pummel him 
into submission, probably wouldn't work. After all Josh does notice her, maybe 
she can distract him from Sam. Afterall if she supposedly jumped on Sam 
shortly after Joliene's um death, seems to her that she's taken up some 
trampish habits of her own. She would seem to be a rather good target for some 
Guthrie sibling rage.

Holy shit! What are you, the devil itself!? Sam can't believe his ears as he 
listens to Josh. He tries to do what Paige says, not listen to him, but when 
he starts about the burning and going to Terry because Jo died...Oi. Any sane 
person would have a breakdown, the only thing stopping Sam from having one is 
the fact that this /is/ all an illusion. Buuut, it still hurts. Sam stares 
daggers at Josh, holding back with all his strength not to go over and pummel 
him. "Lies! Just /shutup/! This /isn't/ real, dammit!! Do ya hear me!!? YOAH 
NOT REAL!!!" His voice cuts off as he turns in the othr direction, trying to 
move to the otherside of the room to cool down.

Gee. "Josh is mah least favorite siblin' foah a reason." Hell, she wants to 
punch out josh for the 'skin and burning shit' line. She glances at Jubilee, 
and then sighs. "Fahne. You got the cooler head, and ya apparently picked up 
Everett when he needed it," ooooh, and how it GALLS her to says that, "So see 
if ya can do it again, Lee." And with that, she stalks back toward the stairs.

Well, Jono, hows this for an introduction to the Gutherie household. If Josh 
is that.. outspoken.. when you meet him for real, the boy might have a broken 
jaw. Jono stands there, looking a bit dumbfounded for a minute, before his 
mental voice cuts through all that can hear, (~~...c'me face us, Lishka, you 
ice`earted bitch, and earn yer r'w'rd, inst'd of makin' us play yer god damn 
games!~~)

Yeah, Josh is Jubilee's least favorite Guthrie right about now.. which says 
something, considering how she feels about /Paige/. She looks over to Jono 
briefly and drones "That hasn't worked the last millino times you tried it, it 
won't work now." Of course, now Lishka just might show up if only to spite 
Jube. Bitch. Grr. Paige and Josh are her best pals compared to how she feels 
about THAT woman. Attention goes back to Sam after a brief not to Paige, and 
she grips onto his arm tight to steady him and hold him back, leaning in, 
wanting him to be forced into focusing more on /her/ voice in Josh's. "Alright 
Sam, c'mon, get a grip. This isn't real, but you gotta go along with it as if 
it /was/. Yelling at them that they're all illusions isn't gunna show us where 
the door is. Whatever happend, Josh is full of it. But you've gotta /face/ 
this. She's getting it from /your/ head. You /can/ confront this, Sam. 
Whatever it was, it /was not/ your fault! You're the best leader I've ever 
seen, which says alot since, as we all know, I used ta be with the X-Men. You 
would'a done everything you could to help us. But you know, like we all do, 
sometimes you just can't stop it."

	Josh keeps with his yelling, calling Sam a punk, and how he never should 
have been born. Joelle does the one thing everyone in the room wants to do. 
She moves in front of him and knees him in the groin. And yes, that even hurts 
illusions. And it shuts him up as well. Coming into sight near the children, 
who don't seem to notice. And low and behold. Someone was listening. Lishka 
stands at the top of the stairs, - can Jubilee call it or /what/? - leaning 
against the wall, looking cocky, smug, and not an inch as if she were tired. 
In fact, this time she's taken precausions against Jono's psionic attack. With 
the fact that, she's not really where he thinks she is. She's projecting an 
illusion of herself and masking the real thing, which is actually - ironically 
- standing in for the role of Joelle. Odd that she would be the role of the 
one trying to stop the pain ain't it. Maybe she's realized they might expect 
her to be Josh, so she just extracted the memories of Josh in all his glory 
from the two Guthrie's minds. She tsks softly under her breath, "Samuel 
Guthrie. I'm afraid this is as close to -real- as you can get."

"An' na' th' sh't really hits th' fan.." Terry slides her hands into the 
pockets, glancing down to the Josh illusion who is trying to breath again 
thanks to his sister's knee. 

Sam peers up as the bitch herself makes her appearance. He stands tall, 
/glaring/ up at her. "No, this is /naht/ real, woman. This is all a damn 
illusion and ah /refuse/ ta keep goin' through all this sit. What do ya want 
me ta do heah? Huh? Believe that I actually had my team die on my watch?" He 
snaps without yelling, a hard task with all the anger he has boiling at the 
top right now. All attention is given to Lishka, all the others are fake, so 
what's the big deal? "Can we continue on to the next room now, Lishka?"

And Paige? Well, she was just stalking up those stares. "*Ya fuckin' *Cunt*" 
Yes, boys and girls, Paige has a wealth of dirty language under her belt. 
Comes from some of the people she used to... associate with. Tsk tsk tsk. She 
takes a swing... and snarls when it contacts nothing. "So wheah are ya now, 
bitch?" She growls lowly.

Jono on the other hand, doesn't talk. He just narrows his eyes at Lishka up 
the stairs. He opens his jacket up, revealing the bandages twisted around his 
gaping chest, pulsing with the violent energies raging behind.. he holds back, 
though, opening what telepathic senses he has, to try to get a feel for the 
situation.

Warning - Rip off of the Upright Citizens Brigade forthcoming. "OKAY! 
Everybody needs to CooooOOOooool /Out/!" Jubilee blurts out, making a sweeping 
gesture with her arms for emphasis, and glaring around at everyone who's 
loosing their temper. "Blowin' your top and tosing around insults isn't gunna 
help this situation any!" Jubilee: The Voice of Reason. Who'd'a thunk it? 
"It's just gunna make said cunt" Even SHE can't believe she just said that. 
"more angry and more prone to hurting Ev or one of us! And we /all/ need to 
get out of here to save Ev, so /breath/!" .. "Those of you who /can/ breath. 
Otherwise, count to ten."

	A sly, almost sinister smile crosses Lishka's lips as she watches the 
happenings around her. Isn't this amusing? Well, in some people's persective, 
no. But when you were raised on games, and when games are your life, you learn 
to enjoy them. She looks down at Paige's fist passing through her and gives a 
slight shrug. Her voice is cool, calm, effortless, and completely beautiful, 
like chilled water rolling over the rocks of a creek, "There, here, 
everywhere. This Tower is mine, Paige. I can be anywhere I want at any time. 
My domain, my world, my laws." She glances over those present, then focases 
her golden colored eyes on one Samuel Guthrie. "Samuel. You really don't 
understand what I was meaning. Yes, everything you face here, is an illusion. 
But, while it an illusion it may be, it is an illusion created by your own 
mind. It is as real, as you've always feared it would be. Isn't that the 
beauty of what I do? I don't harm you, because I don't have to. You haunt 
yourself with your own memories. Your own fears. Your own desires. And the 
name of this game is -facing- yourself. If you want a one on one fight - you 
all versus me, then you picked the wrong game. I offered Everett many other 
games, with more physical violence and danger. He could have picked a game of 
riddles, a game of chance. But no. This is what he picked. And this is what 
-you- decided to play. And make no attempts to prove otherwise. You play this 
game, because you choose to. You can whine, and you can carry on. But 
everything happening here is no one's fault, but your own. You blame me, 
because you come from a world where everything is someone else's fault. You 
blame me because I am an easy target. Because I am 'the bad guy.' No world is 
that simple, that pure. Good, evil, makes no difference in the end. Winner or 
loser. That's the big thing here." Then she turns her attention on Jubilee, 
"Now, now, it is not my style to be frustrated by mere insults thrown by human 
beings. Anger is a human emotion. I am not human." No matter how much she'd 
like to be. "I'm like the rune Hagalaz. The rune of hail. It's a rune and an 
element that can symbolize destruction, or change. And I promise, if you walk 
away from this game, you won't walk away the same person you were when you 
entered." And ya know, that's not all bad. With change comes growth. Things 
can not grow if they don't change. She leans against the wall again, the dress 
she's wearing showing off every curve and looking very... er... well, she's 
earning the ice wench name just with the outfit. Meanwhile, as all this was 
going on, everything has continued in the Guthrie house. Josh is groaning near 
the door, grasping at a table for support, Joelle is helping Mama over to the 
couch to sit down, fussing over her. The rest of the kids just watch Sam with 
interest. Joelle, speaking near the same time as Lishka - to help Lishka's 
cover and all, says in Theresa's direction, "Ignore Josh, he's a pain 
sometimes, but he is mah brotha. 'n as f'r Sam... we should mayba send 'im 
back to Xavier's f'r a while. He's actin' awful strange..." He is acting 
strange isn't he? Ok, everyone, go to red alert. The fearless leader is having 
an emotional break down. But then, that's the whole point of this game ain't 
it? To break you all down until you can't stand up no more. Now, as for Jono's 
psionic senses. For a brief moment, while Joelle is talking, there's almost 
a... sense coming from her or perhaps it's coming from Mama Guthrie? It's 
obviously being masked, but it is a sense. A sense of untapped psionic 
potential. A sense of energy stored within energy. The same sense he might 
have felt when he originally came to this game. The same sense he might have 
felt right before he attacked Lishka when she was summoning up what she could 
to defend herself.

Terry places her hand to her head, "Y' canna sen' someone back like he was a 
broken toy.." She shakes her head almost sucked into it, "Dammit woman.. let 
up on Sam he doesna' deserve this.."

Sam narrows his eyes upong the wench herself, staring absolute /hatred/. His 
mama always told him to never hate anyone, dislike fine, but not hate. He 
hates Lishka, and he hates her but good. "Yoah wrong, Lishka, dead wrong. You 
are the evil one. Yoah the one that sucked Ev inta buyin' the game cuz ya need 
company. Yoah stuck heah in yoah ice palace, with /nothin'/ ta do 'cept 
lookin' purdy. So what do ya do? Ya go suck some poor boy inta yoah scheme, 
pullin' al his friends inta it so ya can get some sick and twisted pleasure 
outta playin' wit' us. It makes me sick, yoah a /disgrace/. Ya long foah 
company, yoah 'bout ta go nuts all alone, so ya bring us inta play yoah game. 
Is this a game, woman? Or is this some fucked up way ta give ya 
entertainment?" Sam snaps, his eyes on fire. /Everything/ else is blocked out, 
he's going after Lishka now.

Paige sighs, wrapping her arms around herself. "Ah think Ah've beent hrough 
enough damn changes in the past few months. An' none of 'em good. This ain't 
gunna help me, you stupid fuckin' bitch..." And not off of them before the 
better. Her iron resolve for Everett, to be there for him to help him, begins 
to crumble as Lishka picks away at a bit that she's still not come to terms 
with: She dosen't like who she is, or what she's become, regardless of that 
she's getting better. Arms still hugging herself, she drops to sit on the 
stairs, closing her eyes tightly. She's not going to break down, she's going 
to hold on, she *Will*... otherwise she'll just start again, start shredding 
through the skin and look for the Real Paige she knows has to be there 
somewhere. Her nails bite into her flesh, creating rivulets of her blood and 
damp blots of it on her clothing as she clenches so tight that she penetrates 
her own flesh, curling inward as she resists her own psychosis.

And meanwhile, the rock, the immutable, the untouchable in all this, the only 
one who has yet to really /show/ how this is effecting her in any way other 
then anger and annoyance, Jubilee stands firm near Sam, looking up at Lishka 
on the stairs with narrowed eyes. They've all jumped through fire for Ev, some 
have given blood for him, they're all facing their worst fears and most 
intimate desires for him, but as far as Jubilee's conserned, when it comes 
right down to it, she's the one who ultimatly is the Ying to Lishka's Yang. 
The one who wants Ev, for whatever reason, against the one who has him. The 
one exposing the secrets against the one who's kept them so close to her 
jacket all this time. She knows her time is coming, but damnit, she's not 
gunna let this bitch turn everyone else into jello before Jubilee does have 
her time against Lishka. She'll need them. Every last one of them. You wanna 
fight, bitch? Come get it. Jube marches around Sam and eyes Lishka evilly as 
she makes her way towards the woman, and Paige on the other side of her. "But 
that's not all it is, is it Lishka? You're not just lonely, wanting a 
companion. You want Ev to love you and care about you the way you see people 
caring about eachother in /our/ world. But no one ever has, and then you see 
Ev. And Ev's so caring, and loving to /everyone/, no matter what. I bet he 
hasn't even shown you anger or hatred, no matter what you do. Because that's 
the kind of person he is. You think that if you can make anyone love you, 
it'll be Ev. But you know what? You're /wrong/. Dead wrong. He'll never love 
you, or feel anything for you other then /pitty/. You're nothing to him but 
the woman who's putting the people he /really/ cares about through hell." 
Eyeing Lishka, she rounds the woman and moves to stand next to the cowering 
Paige. One hand ventures down to touch the girl's shoulder and squeeze it 
tightly. "Don't BS us with all this crap about how we'll all be changed by 
this, all you want is amusement. If you could have taken Ev without even 
setting eyes on us, you would have. But you can throw anything in our faces, 
Lishka. ANYTHING. And we'll get past it. You know why? Because it's part of 
us. You're not doing antyhing to us we haven't been doing to ourselves for 
years now. We've just never been forced to /face/ it, directly. But we will. 
You would'a been better off throwing stuff at us that /didn't/ come from our 
own minds."

Um. There's only one word that Lishka can say in response to Sam's words. 
Ouch. And as for Jubilee's words... Double ouch. Alright, I lied. There's more 
words she can say. Her eyes flare for a moment, almost glowing, but at the 
same time the pupils dialate slightly, "You're exactly right, Mr. Guthrie. I 
-am- evil." She looks away from him, toward something else. At the same time, 
the Joelle illusion doesn't look so good either. She moves to sit down next to 
Mama. But that could just be because her brother is spouting nonsense at a 
wall. And the funny thing is, Lishka is a disgrace. She's a disgrace to her 
race. She's -not- evil enough. She actually sets rules to her games, and she 
doesn't load the dice half as much as the rest of her race does. She actually 
feels human emotions, and takes pride in them. And she lets the lonelyness get 
to her, just like Sam said. It bothers her beyond what it could bother a 
normal person. "But you have no idea what alone is. None of you do." Locked in 
a small place, unable to do anything but think for a hundred years. Unable to 
even stretch out and see what's going on around you. Unable to tap into your 
powers. That, is loneliness. Then she takes a breath and adds softly, "And as 
for you, Jubilee..." The illusion... the entire thing gives a brief shudder, 
rippling over the surface. All the illusions, expect Joelle and the Lishka-
shadow ripple. "Well, you're right as well. You humans are smarter then we 
give you credit for." She glances up towards the top of the stairs, looking... 
pained. And Joelle is crying. Isn't that odd. She's wiping away the tears as 
fast as they come, but still. Of course, that could just be part of the 
illusion. "If I could have let you pass without facing further illusions of 
your own memories, I would, but I can't. You forced me to invoke the Thorn 
rune, and hense, you caused me to set into motion the fact that you -all- have 
to face your fears and desires..." She trails off and motions towards the 
upstairs hallway, "Go on up, Mr Guthrie..."

Terry glances to Sam, "Boss?" The nickname being adopted by everyone 
aparently. She folds her arms behind her back as she waits to see what he will 
do. No reall long drawn out poses or speeches for her, she's really just 
trying to absorb what is going on.

"Paige...." Sam mutters, stepping up the few stairs to get to his sister. 
"C'meah, hon. Shhhh...it's okay...." He says softly, wrapping his arms around 
her, a gesture of support. He gives an impish smile to Jube as she tries to 
comfort as well, happy how his team seems to pull together at the /most/ 
important times. He will not let his sister have another mental breakdown, so 
he'll do what he can to calm her down. His fingers move up to her mouth, 
shaking his head 'no' at the biting of her flesh. "Shhhh..." So there they 
are, the two Guthries, in their home, crouched together on a stair and /this/ 
close to both having a breakdown. Mission accomplished, no Lishka? Hell no, 
Sam just bets that the ice witch is flabbergasted. She would have never even 
dreamt of them coming this far and still being this emotinally stable. Sam 
knows it, and he knows the rest of the team knows it, Lishka is being beaten. 
"Jubilee is right, woman, Ev will never want you. You just wanna be loved, 
don't you, Lishka? Hate ta tell ya, woman, but ya can't love or be loved 
without a heart. And a heart is the one thang yoah lackin', the one thing that 
makes me n' you different. You can only dream 'bout equaling us, but ya nevah 
will. Ahm sick n' tahred o' all the name callin' n' yellin', ah don't need ta 
do it no moah. We're bettah then you, s'all ah need ta know." He takes a deep 
breath, listening to Lishka's words, then looks up at her with puzzlement. 
"What in Gawds name do ya want me ta say ta that? If yoah lookin' foah 
sympathy, go look somewhere else, cuz ya won't find it heah." Sam's tone is 
harsh and full of anger. His eyes look up to the upstairs just before him as 
the woman instructs him to go. Still comforting Paige, he looks up to Lishka, 
"Of course ahm goin' up, the only way /is/ up accordin' to yoah rules..." And 
with that, he stands on the step, taking hold of Paige's and Jube's hand, and 
gesturing for Terry to come along. He's going up alright, but with his friends 
at his side.

Oh, good. It's Sam. While part of her is still sensible to the fact that 
Jubilee is trying to help, offer solidarity and strength, Paige simply cannot 
accept it from her as well as she might. Jubilee is still partly the Enemy, 
and always will. But Sam? Sam is her brother, and though they may fight and 
argue and gripe, they are still family. She warps her arms around him, 
reverting briefly to a little girl who's always depended on her brother as so 
many things - friend, rival, confidant, and even, in a strange way, after Papa 
died, a father-figure. She prys her fingers free of her flesh, enjoying the 
blood that she leaves on her clothing, and wraps her arms around Sam and draws 
what strength she can from his presence, briefly burying her face in his 
shoulder as a shudder rocks her slim form. But no, she'll be strong. Now, not 
only does Ev need her, but Sam is depending on her. She's got to be better 
then this. She helped raised a family of Guthries, and she rises, and says, 
with quiet certainty to Lishka. "Ah'm moah human then ya will evah be, Lishka. 
An' if Ev wants Jubilee ovah me, he certainly ain't evah gunna want *you* in 
heah stead." And with that, she takes Sam's hand, and heads upstairs with him, 
tears streaking her face.

Jubilee, however, doesn't immediatly follow. Something strikes her as... 
wrong.. with this picture. Her hand slides out of Sam's, though she ushers him 
not to lag behind for her. Blue eyes stare critically at Lishka for a 
momment.. Okay.. what was /that/ all about? Now she's helping them? Now she's 
taking pitty on them? Now she's /agreeing/ with them? The anger in Jube's 
expression vanishes slowly and she shakes her head a few times. Once Sam and 
Paige and Terry are a few feet away and Jube is closer to Lishka then the rest 
of them, she mutters "He's wrong, isn't he. You don't want sympathy. ... He's 
angry. We all are. If you want love Lishka, you can have it. Ev would have 
given you friendship in a second. But this is the wrong way to go about it, no 
matter what anyone of your peers say. I learned when I was with the X-Men that 
you can't get love and acceptance or even friendship if you're not willing ta 
give it too. ... Yeah.. I bet he does pitty you." With that, Jube turns and 
heads after her teammates.

	Lishka watches Jubilee silently for a minute, Joelle straightening up on 
the couch as well. After a few minutes, someone speaks, but it isn't Lishka. 
It's Lishka's voice coming from Joelle's mouth. Well, there goes that cover, 
"You have no idea what you're dealing with." And with that, she springs out of 
the couch and launches herself towards Sam and Paige and all the others close 
by, but her attentions seem focased on one person. The one person she's 
actually allowed to physically touch, because he touched her first. Yes, 
Lishka can "fly" sort of. Only because this is her realm, and within it she do 
anything. Basically what she's really doing is just riding on an illusion of 
wind which only she can feel, but is strong enough to pick her up. Pretty damn 
handy, huh? Anyway... While flying over there she yells, eyes angry, wild, 
almost crazy. She's snapped mentally. This room was supposed to make Sam snap, 
but instead, you all have caused Lishka's mind to break in two, her emotions 
to splinter, "You don't UNDERSTAND!" She reaches for Sam's collar, meaning to 
tear him away from his sister. She still looks like Joelle, except a twisted 
version... with eyes like Lishka. And as for the Lishka form, it just vanished 
completely, gone. And as for the rail on the stairwell. Gone as well. You're 
lucky the whole illusion didn't snap in two. Another minute, and it might.

Terry lets lose a scream quickly, her form taking to the air, deliberately 
seeking to collide with Lishka and take her against a wall hard. Hopefully the 
walls will still be hard by then. "G'down Sam.."

It's really refreshing to see this, the group of friends walking closely 
together, not letting one lone member face their fears alone. As different as 
some of them are, they really come in one package, never to be seperated. Sam 
keeps his grip firmly on Paige, gently rubbing her hand as they enter the 
upstairs. He really doesn't know what to expect, the whole Guthrie family 
routine is long over - or so he hopes. He almost makes it up there too, just 
about to enter the hall when all hell breaks loose, Lishka snaps. *ERK!* He is 
grabbed by the collar, jerked away from Paige, even with Terry's efforts. I 
mean, the woman is flying at him at a high speed, not much time to react when 
you thought she was in front of you, and not Joelle. His hands flail out to 
grip at her arms, grunting the whole time and trying to win over the struggle. 
He would use his powers, but with the three girls /right/ there, he might burn 
them. So all he does is struggle with the ice wench, trying to gain the 
upperhand and keep his neck. He knows he irked her, really bad. Something you 
don't want to do when she can decide your fate in a whim.

"SAM!" Uh, this is bad. Where Terry's powers could hurt Sam while he fights 
off Lishka - Paige's do not. However, she's a little beyond husking: She's 
gonna kick the bitchs lily white ass the old fashioned, Guthrie way. "AH TOLD 
YOAH FUCKIN' EMPLATE THAT HE WASN'T FOAH YA!" She shrieks as she goes to grab 
and pull apart the pair, so that SHE can beat on her this time, "AND IT STILL 
STANDS YA ICY BITCH!" Mind you, Paige was standing right next to Sam - so 
she's got a pretty good shot at getting at Lishka.

And where is Jube in this mess of limbs? As Lishka lunges, she's in shock. 
Pushed too far!! Pushed too far!! But the second Terry goes into action and 
Paige flips out, Jube too goes to work. How? By lunging for /Paige/, gripping 
the girl from behind and holding her away from Sam and Lishka. "She is about 
to /crack/, Paige, and you oughta know that beating the shit outta her isn't 
gunna help /us/, or /Ev/." she mutters into the girl's ear before looking to 
Lishka. "We don't understand? Then /tell/ us! /Make/ us understand, Lishka!"

	And Lishka started to explain, yelling into Sam's face, "I'm not 
-ALLOWED- on Earth. The only..." She grunts as Terry hits her, losing hold on 
Sam, losing hold on everything. Remember when Jono hit her and the room seemed 
to crack? Well... the room begins to shake. The Tower is a part of her. It has 
been since she took possession of it. When she is in pain, it feels it. And 
she's in more pain then she's ever been in before. And that's saying a lot. 
The illusion... crumbles. All of it. Inculding the stairs, which of course 
means everyone who's on them is gonna fall a few feet. The Guthrie family 
vanishes. Even the mask Lishka was wearing around herself to make her look 
like Joelle vanishes. Tears are in her eyes and as Terry slams her against the 
wall.... she looks like she's hanging on to the final thread. The only thing 
keeping her from insinerating them with a Kenaz rune right now, is the fact 
that she promised Everett. Damnit. But then again they're right. Everett will 
never love her. Why keep the freaking promise. She stares daggers at Terry - 
and yes, the wall is still solid, if shaking violently. She would say 
something, but she can't right now. She's trying to get under control here.

The redhead glares back at Lishka with a look of her own that could kill. 
Terry just holds the woman there, not speaking, no longer screaming heck. She 
is standing on what is now passing for a floor but keeping Lishka pinned 
against the shaking wall. She is not going to let go, not yet at least.

Wow, this is all happening far too fast for Sam's liking. He struggles with 
Lishka, trying to get free. Then, the whole world around them comes crashing 
down. He falls, along with Paige and Jube as Terry keeps her hold on Lishka. 
Gah! What can he do to help? Nothing really, just hope that they land in a 
soft spot and the ice wench calms down, stopping all this madness.

Unfortunately, Paige is falling to the cold, stone floor with Jubilee's weight 
atop her. She barely misses landing on Sam, and instead contacts against the 
floor with a loud *Crack* of bones breaking. Uh. That couldn't be good, and 
then lays very still. Jubilee will probably hear her breathing, knowing she's 
alive, but something, well... it didn't take kindly to exhaustion, 
malnourishment, and taking out much needed mass in constant husking.

Jubilee shreaks and tries to push Paige a little away from her as they fall, 
aiming to not land ontop of her entirly, and only pulling it off half way. She 
lands with half her on Paige, half off, wincing in pain as her ankle twists 
and she's rather sure she did something to her arm.. cuz it hurts like hell. 
She rolls off the girl and onto her own back, groaning.. Yes, this pain, she's 
sure, is /real/. Her eyes open and she looks up to Terry and Lishka, sighing.. 
"Let her go, Terry. .. Just let her go."

	Control, that is what Lishka seeks to gain right now, and unfortunately, 
she's failing. You all pushed her to the brink, and are about to learn what 
happens when a Niflmannaz is pushed to far. The entire Tower continues to 
shake violently. Poor Ev is probably up there wondering what the hell is going 
on. A crack forms on the wall opposite where Terry and Lishka are... It might 
feel for a moment as if the entire Tower was going to come tumbling down. 
That's one way to end the game, hmm? Well, Lishka's not going to let that 
happen. She brought you all here for a reason, and it - ironically - wasn't to 
kill you. And it wasn't to amuse herself. Yes, she has been amused, but she 
brought you all here so she could possibly win the only prize she's ever 
truely wanted. She's not about to let that prize get killed just because you 
all pissed her off. She leans her head back against the wall and closes her 
eyes, trying to regain control. And instead, she decides the only way to 
regain control is to feed an illusion into the mix and let it have a life all 
it's own. She's charged this Tower towards illusions. What better way to hold 
it together then to feed another one. This room was set aside for Samuel 
Guthrie's fears, but she doesn't have enough focas to restart that one. Last 
ditch effort. Last resort. Last thing she can think of to do... And aren't you 
all gonna just love it. The room... blinks. The light - wherever the hell the 
light comes from here - dies out for a few moments. Not even glowing powers 
seem to break through this darkness. Mistress of Shadows... The room grows 
cold... Mistress of Ice. Then there's a flash against the wall where the 
stairs used to be. A... glowing letter. No, a glowing line. Glowing a deep red 
in color. A slash. And a slash that throws red light all over the room. Lishka 
is still held by Terry, but she has her eyes closed. Whatever she is showing, 
she does not want to watch. The line gains a sprout at the top, glowing 
brighter. There's even a slight... tearing sound as it's being made. Then more 
lines appear, more sounds of tearing, like the very fabric of reality is being 
torn appart. Eventually, glowing on the wall are six... letters. Some of them 
might be recognizable as runes.

		* *    *      *        *     *        *   *
		*  *   *    *          *     *       *    * *
		*      *      *        *     *      *     *   *
		*      *         *     **    *     *      * *   *
		*      *           *   *  *  *    *       *   *
		*      *         *     *    **   *        *     *
		*      *       *       *     *     *      *
		*      *     *         *     *       *    *

	Laguz. Isa. Sowilo. Hagalaz. Kenaz. Ansuz. The rune of water. The rune 
of ice. The rune of the sun. The rune of hail. The rune of fire. And the rune 
of the ancestral god. Lishka, for short. Ironic isn't it? The only thing she 
could come up with to gain control, and to get rid of this painful feeling, 
was to... put herself through what you all are being put through. No longer 
can she feel guilt towards and unfair game. What is more fair then the 
gamemaster going through what the players are forced to experience? And 
ironically, it's also the best way to make you all understand. You have to 
understand. Lishka doesn't want pity. She wants understanding. After the last 
rune is finished, they all glow brightly, red flashing into blue, flashing 
into gold, flashing into white, flashing back to red. Every color of the 
spectrum. A human life being brought into the world is said to be beautiful... 
this is the birth of Lishka. The light from the letters seems to settle on a 
single color. Gold. Pure gold. Glowing bright, without flaws in the shade. 
Then, the... color raises off the wall and starts to spin around, like a 
tornado made of gold. After a long time of spinning, it eventually collapses 
in on itself, and... Lishka lays on the ground in a pool of white hair. She's 
*ahem* not wearing anything. But then when you're just born, do you expect to 
have clothes? No sir. There are now two Lishka's in the room. The real one, 
who is being held against the wall by Terry, and the fake one, who's laying on 
the floor. Both have their eyes closed. 
	The room is plain white again. No cracks in the walls. No more shaking. 
And standing around Lishka are three figures. Two are shadowy, extremely 
shadowy. One is holding something on one shadowed hand. A board? No... it's 
flat, and long... and... strange. Like something out of a dream. It's a 
runestave. And a special runestave at that. It's the Stave of Life. There are 
runes carved on it. Not just single runes, but lines and lines of them, tall 
and needle thin. Even though they look delicately inscribed, each stroke 
stands out clearly. It's as if the cuts are filled with liquid diamond that 
shines against the background of the wood. Even though they stand out, it's 
impossible to focas on one line for too long. It's like trying to read in a 
dream - first the details are sharp and then the whole stave seems to be 
swarming with changes. The runes seem to move before anyone can identify them. 
The other one, the one who is visable, is known to some of the team at least. 
Teiman. He somehow looks... younger. His blue eyes less... electric. The sense 
he radiates less deadly. He looks down at Lishka, frowning slightly, then 
glances at one of the shadowy figures, "It's a 'her'. How'd that happen?" His 
voice is still icy, but not as much as it was. 
	One of the shadowy figures responds, shifting slightly to get a better 
look at the form laying before him. His voice is not beautiful. It is an ugly, 
almost... obsene voice. "She's happen. They do happen. Deimas, Ranira, Kandil. 
No problem. Lishka. Lishka a good name. She pretty too. Hehehehe." 
	The other one answers, this one sounds like he's taking around broken 
glass and fish hooks, "It is not. Mistake to name her that. Thinking like a 
human again, Gaiden. Thinking like a human. She will be trouble that one. I 
can taste it." ... "I can taste it." ... "I can taste it." Don't you all just 
love echo. The scene fades, perparing for another. Lishka, you're making a 
mistake. You're old mentor Raibar would slap you silly if he knew you were 
doing this. Playing victum to your own game...

Terry doesn't listen to Jubilee's cry as she holds Lishka. The redhead keeps 
her hands on the wench of ice and snow as she watches all this fall to pass, 
"Wha' th' hell..." She presses harder against the woman as she continues to 
keep her eyes on what is going on, "Wha' is all this.. wha'"

Just like Paige and Jubilee fell to the rocky floor, so does Sam. *THUMP* 
Luckily, he manages to land without breaking an arm or twisting an ankle, but 
still receiving a heaping bowl of sheer pain. He sooo wants to give up, just 
give in to the ice wench, get all this pain over with. He's aching all over, 
starving, and weak - perfect reasons to give up. But, alas, he cannot give up, 
Evs still in the tower. Meaning he will go on until Ev is free and everyone is 
out safely. "Owww...." He murmurs, slowly getting to a sitting position and 
checking for his teammates. Blue eyes dart up to see Terry and Lishka, still 
in a lock when the whole place around them begins to crumble. he has no idea 
what Lishka is really doing, just becoming even more confused when he sees the 
naked 'newly-born' Lishka laying there not too far away. "T-Terrah...let 'er 
go..." He mutters, loud enough to overcome all the shaking and hysteria. Sam 
doesn't know anything about all this rune magic stuff, not having the 
slightest clue how it all really works. When he sees the shadowy figures 
appear, he regards them with caution, stumbling over to Paige to see if she's 
alright. "P-Paige...ya okay?" Of course not, and he knows it. Hell, he heard 
the crack. The southern boy does what he can to look over his sister and 
figure out exactly what is broken.

Paige lays very still - not unlike Newly-Born Lishka over there. And, alas, 
there is blood pooling from beneath her - from her leg, where, out the of the 
flesh and muscle and straining at the denim of her jeans, is a *really* horrid 
break. Too much husking, not enough food and rest, and emotional trauma didn't 
help the shapeshifter's health - and she's in no condition to husk.

Where's Jono through this little bit of Hell? Well, he was trying to figure 
out the feelings he was getting, _and_ try to draw some extra juice out of the 
sudden surge of energies. He did get a bit of a boost, enough to replace the 
last blast he gave Lishka, but he wasn't very close. He though it was Mamma 
Gutherie, not Joelle. So when Joelle starts speaking in Lishka's voice, he 
moves to put himself between them, but as she rushes past, he's knocked on his 
ass, dazed for a bit. And as the room shakes, he's scrambling to find his 
footing. The only reason he isn't there for Paige, is because he's trying to 
get his hands on Lishka. Ev might have picked the game, but Lishka's the 
gamemaster, and a convienent neck to ring. Especially now that she's hurt his 
Paige. The energies within his chest rage anew, his fingers tightening into 
fists, as he tries to hold back from blasting Terry away with the Ice Bitch, 
even as the figures appear. He pulls his eyes from that group, to the group of 
his teammates, and at the sight of Paige's blood, he almost snaps, he almost 
blasts Lishka; one of them... but he doesn't... his body practically shakes as 
he fights to retain the explosive energies in his chest, to keep some form of 
calm in this emotional storm.

Gwen Namura sighs, and mutters to herself. "Girl must eat a box full of Drama 
Flakes every day." She kneels down next to Paige, takes a quick look at the 
break, says one of the few japanese words she knows. And hopes nobody else 
here does. Her hands are already in motion, pulling a bottle and a ace bandage 
out of her fannypack, then moving to slice a chunk of stone the length of 
Paige's leg out of the floor with a impossibly sharp energy knife, as she 
knows people are going to crowd around Paigie before she can actually help 
her.

	There. It is set into motion, and Lishka just lets it have it's own 
life. She won't control it any, just going to let it go about it's business. 
She opens her eyes now to look around, avoiding looking towards the forms of 
herself and the other Niflmannaz. When she see's Paige laying on the floor 
bleeding she actually flinches. Well, there goes her promise to Ev. More then 
a bruise caused by her. Oh well, she can fix it later. She looks at Terry, 
eyes slightly sad and gives a shrug of her shoulders, "Needed to gain control. 
Illusions are the easiest way to calm down, and this will help you 
understand..." Meanwhile, the illusions start to change, becoming a wide-eyed, 
almost innocent looking Lishka standing in front of a shadowy figure. And yes, 
she's clothed this time. The shadowy figure speaks in the ugly voice. The 
glass and fish hooks voice, "Lishka, you live for the Game. Games, are our 
birthright. It is what we are. When you are old enough, you may run your own 
games. Until now, you can assist me on mine. Remember, never show weakness. 
That is the path to losing. Always convey strength and power." ... The real 
Lishka gives a slight laugh, "Should have listened to Raibar's advice more..."

Terry lets the hell go of Lishka, she turns away and doesn't even look at the 
others. She just walks from the others.

Sam's eyes widen as he examines Paige with everyone else, seeing the blood 
form under her. This is not good, not good at all. "Jono, can ya block out the 
pain nerves in 'er mind, quickly?" It's more of a command then a request, he 
knows Paige can't husk and get rid of the nasty wound, she has to deal with it 
like everyone else. He lets Gwen do her thing, seemingly doing the right 
thing. His hands stroke his sisters forehead, wiping the hair from her brow. 
"Yoah'll be fahne, hun, shhhh - it's okay, Ah swear it..." He'll do what he 
can to help her, ignore what else is happening for now. Hell, let the ice 
wench leave, Paige is in need and that's where the team shall be. Eyes dart 
toward Terry as she begins to walk away, "Terrah? C'meah, girl. Stay close..."

Finally, she begins to come round. "Sammy?" She blinks her eyes. As her hair 
is brushed back, it reveals a small cut - nothing to worry about, but it 
probably dosen't help Sam's state of mind to smear her blood over her 
forehead. She tilts her head back, her blue eyes hazed from pain. "Sammy, what 
happened?" She murmurs, reaching up to grip her brother's hand. She's dazed 
and scared and hurting - and dammit, she's not in the most firm of mental 
states to begin with.

(~~...I... I c'n't....~~) Jono says, his mental tone even shakey as he fights 
to not blast someone.... but he doesn't move towards Paige, even if she needs 
him. He starts towards Lishka, as her life plays out, (~~..y'm'de 
yer'llusion...y'r g'nna watch it!~~) he says, reaching for the ice bitch.

Gwen Namura snaps to the big bossman, "Sam, hold her down. This is gonna 
hurt." She considers the leg, then gently, gently, but with all possible 
speed, attempts to pull/patpat the bones into approximately the correct 
positioning. She shifts her weight to lean on Paige's leg, attempting to 
immobilize it, then fills the gaping wound with gauze. A section of ace 
bandage is wrapped around it, and sealed off directly. She starts to move the 
stone slab into place for a splint, heavy and inconvient as it is.

	Whew. Thank God they're not really watching the illusions. They don't 
bother her as much as most, because they are just her own memories. Not really 
her fears. She'd feel more humilated if you all were watching them. Lishka 
wanders off the wall, now that Terry's let her go and starts towards Paige, 
frowning slightly. What can she do to help...? She promised Ev. She doesn't 
want to hurt Ev. And hurting his friends will hurt him. All the while the 
illusion continues, shimmering slightly. Lishka and the shadowy figure are 
fighting. "Lishka, you're not using your powers. Fight with strength always. 
Never your full strength, but always with strength. Reserve something for a 
final blow, a surprise attack. Now... attack me." The Lishka-illusion moves 
quickly, aiming a punch towards the shadowy figure, all the while yelling out 
the name of a rune, the earing on her right ear flashing, "Hagalaz!" Once her 
fist connects with the shadowy figure there's a storm of hail all around him, 
but it doesn't seem to faze him. And the hail and wind don't effect the rest 
of the room either. He actually sighs, "You have potential, but you lack the 
want to use your power. You will never Win a game if you keep this up, young 
one." After that, Lishka - the real one - moves up behind Gwen and asks 
softly, keeping her voice down, obviously reluctent, "May I help her? ... May 
I help you, Paige?" But then she grunts as Jono reaches for her, "I don't need 
to watch it, Jonothon. I -lived- it." The pain of showing these illusions are 
the fact that you all might watch them and learn how much of a disgrace she 
really is.

Terry folds her arms across her chest, she doesn't move any further then she 
is now. She just watches wearily.

It /really/ breaks Sam's heart to see his sister like this, laying helplessly 
on the ground and in extreme pain. "Shhh, hon, s'okay. We're gunna take care 
o' ya, Paigey. Ah reckon ya just had a bit o' a fall s'all, nothin' ta worry 
'bout. Ahm raght heah, shhhh..." Gwen then calls out to hold her down, and 
some does just that. Keeping a firm grip on Paige's hand, Sam holds down her 
shoulder with his other hand, "Don't worry, hon, it'll hurt a little..." He 
doesn't really want to lie to her, but can't tell her the truth - that it will 
hurt like a bitch. His eyes turn up to Lishka, giving her an icy glare, 
"Haven't ya dahn /'nough/!?" No, he doesn't want her laying a finger on Paige, 
but is it fair to deny Paige the help she really needs? Of course not. "Just 
make 'er bettah, Lishka, n' Ah /swear/ I will hurt you ta no end if ya do 
anythin' othah then help 'er..." Sam then turns back to paige, gently stroking 
her forehead and saying with as much reassurance as possible, "See? It'll be 
all bettah, yoah gunna be up n' 'bout in no tahme..."

There is the grating noise of bone on bone, and Paige jerks and whimpers, with 
every touch to the bleeding, open flesh. Her grip tightens on Sam - and then, 
as the bone is prodded back into place, she can't help but scream. Her 
eyeslids flutter, as she almost blacks out again, her senses swim. "Sammy..!" 
Her voice is wretched and pitiful, and dammit, she HURTS. Oddly, she realizes 
that someone else ought to be here - Jono? Shouldn't Jono be here with her to 
make her not hurt as much..? He always was before. But in her haze, she thinks 
she's been abandoned again, and so merely clings to Sam, and finally, 
just...sobs, body shaking and trembling as she clings to her brother, burying 
her face in his arm.

(~~...I. D'nt. Care!~~) he practically yells, as Jono reaches for Lishka's 
shoulder, (~~...y'll w'tch, and y'll r'm'mber `ow y've failed!~~) he 'screams' 
at her. He's been listening into the illusions, and he sees his Paige broken 
and bleeding on the floor, and he wants Lishka to hurt. Hurt hard. He doesn't 
give a damn about Ev, at the moment. In retrospect, he'll hate himself for not 
letting the cold-hearted bitch help Paige. But he wants her to hurt, now, more 
then any psionic blast could do.

Gwen Namura trims the stone slab down, then secures it to Paige's leg, 
wrapping above and below each apparent fracture, then to the hip and ankle. 
She passes Sam a bottle of aspirin. "Make her swallow two."

	Damnit. Can't even do one good thing in her life without someone pushing 
her aside. Lishka reaches into a pouch and blindly grabs for two specific 
runes. And that's tough, when she can't look down because he eyes are glued on 
the illusions. But she feels out the two she wants after a moment and picks 
them out. She tosses them blindly in the direction of Sam and gives orders 
calmly, "Stain the cravings with Paige's blood. The runes are Eihwaz and 
Elhaz. Runes of protection and Eihwaz increases personal power and defense, 
while Elhaz is used to strength magical power, luck and the life force." She 
gives the best explaination she can without looking away from the illusions. 
"Once stained, press them against her temples, rune against her, and say 
Eihwaz and Elhaz, and consentrat on feeding her energy from the runes." There. 
That's all the help she can give for now. She watches the illusions... and 
remembers. She's standing with an Elder - the shadowy figures again, looking 
into a doorway showing a sunny horizon, completely beautiful, "What is it?" 
The Elder responds, "Midgard. But do not dream for it. We have all of this 
world to rule. Our prey just comes from that realm." Lishka frowns, "But I 
don't want to rule a bunch of ice and shadows." The Elder just shakes his 
head, murmuring something about being a mistake.

He thought his heart was breaking before? Damn, you should see it now. As 
Paige screams out in pain and buries her sobs in his arm, all he can do is 
keep holding her, and let her know he is right there next to her. "Shhh, it's 
okay...shhhh...." He says as he gently rubs her head, holding tightly onto her 
hand. Damn you, Lishka. Damn you for doing this, Lishka - Damn you for putting 
each and everyone of us through all this hell. Sam wants to stand up and join 
Jono in beating the wench to a pulp, but what would that do? Vent their anger, 
and that's about it. Uh-oh. Paige is still in pain, Lishka needs to act and 
act now. And that she does, damn good timing. The stones slide next to Sam 
after clanging to the ground. The country boy listens /extremely/ carefully to 
the instructions, starting as soon as she finishes. An index finger 
reluctantly reaches down to the large bloodied wound, stroking it to gather a 
small smear on his own flesh. He's then rubbing that blood on each of the 
stones, right where indicated. The whole time he does this, he's shaking, 
trying to get it done as fast while still being careful. "Alraght, hold on, 
luv..." Sam says, picking up the blood-stained runes and pressing them against 
Paige's temples. "Eihwaz and...Elhaz." He says it rather loud, concentrating 
/very/ hard on transferring the energy. he doesn't know how it's done, just 
does as asked and /concentrates/, waiting for something really magical and 
spectacular to happen. So there he is, crouched next to Paige with the runes 
at her temples as she sobs into his arms.

The runs flash bright blue after they contact against her skin, and her eyes 
go wide a moment as she gasps, arching her back as she hisses throuhg her 
teeth, her hands tightening on Sam's arms. But then, the effect fades, and she 
sinks to the ground. There's no change... expect Paige smiles a tiny bit, and 
then just sighs and slips into a resting sleep there in her brother's lap.

(~~...Paige...I'm s'rry...~~) Jono says to the crying girl, wishing he could 
be there, but he's not, he's backing away from Lishka, his eyes on her, and 
the scene's playing out, as he tries to make her hurt, (~~...y'r a f'l'ure 
t'yer people, Lishka...c'n't ev'n play th'Games r'ght.... y'r p'ple `ate 
you... thot's why yer `ere, l'ck'd `way... they c'n't st'nd t'see you, 
ev'dence of the failure..~~) he says, pushing her, even as he pushes himself, 
to contain the impending blast, until she attacks, or he can't hold back 
anymore...

	And Lishka doesn't pay attention. She keeps her eyes on the illusions. 
They continue to change, shifting slightly, growing more complex. There's a 
bunch of images overlapped together. Lishka is given permission to run her own 
games, and she does well for the first hundred or so years. Until she plays 
one game... against a young man. Dressed in late 19th century street kid wear. 
He's lost the game fair and square. He didn't even come close to winning. But 
instead of claiming her prize, Lishka watches him silently as he lays crying 
on the floor, and then opens a doorway to Earth and throws him out of her 
Tower. She let him go. And a few seconds afterwards, ice and mist creep into 
the area and surround her, calling out her name. Then the illusion blacks out.

Terry murmurs wearily, "Poor boyo, why y' make him cry.."

Sam takes a deep sigh of relief as Paige falls into a restless sleep, cradled 
in his lap. No, her wound remains, but he knows the pain is either gone or a 
lot less. Well, Lishka managed to do /some/ good. All the while, Sam begins to 
pay attention to Jono and Lishka, noticing how Jono continues to push and prod 
at Lishka, provoking her. "Terrah, c'meah n' hold Paige's head, quick..." His 
tone is urgent, and once Terry moves, he's up and stalking right over to Jono. 
"STOP! Leave 'er alone, Jono. Ah /mean/ it." Yes, Sam did go and beat on 
Lishka himself, but after what just took place, he knows tha pushing Lishka 
too far is a bad idea. Look at what happened to Paige when they pushed her too 
far. Sam's hands grasp firmly onto Jono's shoulders, now between the wench and 
the Brit. "Ya don't want ta do this, go ovah ta Paige's side." A harsh tone, 
eyes staring right into Jono's. He has no time to waste, he wants to return to 
Paige and not have to stay up with Lishka to assure Jono doesn't attack her. 
Sam protecting Lishka? Weeiiird!

No, Paige's sleep is deep and restful, as she's now pillowed in Terry's lap. 
(Wouldn't Deadpool be jealous!)

The brit strains to hold on, to keep talking, even as his eyes meet Sam's, and 
the energies leap outwards towards Sam, not burning, tingling (for the moment) 
as they fight to be unleashed. His mental tone is pushed, forced, (~~...she's 
`urt..us..`urt...Paige...~~) he says, his face almost cracking from the look 
of anguish in his eyes, (~~..th'...bitch..d's'rves...t'die...~~) he manages, 
his fists clenched tightly at his sides. But he still manages to keep a second 
'line' of thought going to poke at Lishka, just once more, (~~...yer...w'k...
c'n't...ev'n...kill...a...boy..an'...y'r...s'nt... `ere....~~)

	Lishka just shakes her head, remaining completely calm. She isn't going 
to bother with feeling bad about what happened. She shakes her head, "No, 
Jonothon. You don't know the half of it..." When the illusion reappears, the 
Lishka-illusion is molded against a wall, ice restraints holding her against 
it. She's naked again - heh - not that it matters to Lishka. Teiman stands in 
front of her, grinning slightly. "You really didn't think the Elders weren't 
watching you with that boy, did you? Well... I've been waiting a long time to 
be able to do this to you Lishka..." He grabs something out of his pocket and 
adds, "Don't even try to fight back. The Elders have dampened your powers..." 
His grin widens as he presses something flat against her forehead. A rune, 
like the ones she threw to Sam to help Paige. Lishka just stares at him, 
golden eyes calm, collected, and not appearing worried. At least, until he 
whispers a word softly under his breath, "So...wil...o." And Lishka's eyes 
widen and she starts to scream. Her skin.. almost seems to be melting. Golden 
light flashing from her forehead violently in a strobe of light. By the time 
he stops, the ice bonds on her hands have already melted, and her skin 
literally looks like melting wax. He pulls his hand back, and she collapses 
to the floor. And Teiman starts to laugh.

Terry smooths back Paige's hair. She watches Sam and Jono, "Please.. I d' 
think we need t' calm down a tad, all o' us.." The redhead glances 
unemotionally at the Illusion Lishka's torture.

"Jono! Ah swear it, go ovah ta Paige n' stay with 'er b'foah ah go nuts on 
ya." Sam says sternly, something more of an exaggeration then a real threat. 
He needs to cool this situation down and have everyone focused, another attack 
on Lishka is a /bad/ idea. With that, he turns on his heel and marches right 
back to Paige's side, taking her hand and giving it a gentle squeeze. Okay, 
he's ignored the illusions all this time, but what's happening now forces the 
southern bumpkin to look. He doesn't like what he sees. Just watching in 
disgust and a bit of awe, Sam seems confused as to what it all really 
signifies. None the less, he is soon again focused on his sister, comforting 
her as she continues her slumber.

Paige is asleep. Move along, citizens.

If one's body would shake, competely, Jono's would.. he wants Lishka to hurt.. 
he wants to see the real Lishka melt like the illusionary one... but he 
manages to turn away, without blowing away any parts of the surrounding walls, 
and moves, steadily, towards Paige's side, his body tense with built up anger, 
hate, and energy, as he looks for a free hand of Paige's

	The scene shimmers again, and Lishka's standing in front of a doorway, 
with an X carved into it. An X leaning on it's side, one slash longer then the 
other. Three shadowy figures stand around her, along with Teiman, another 
woman, with red hair and blue eyes and yet another with black hair and golden 
eyes. They all look smug and victorious. If anything, the illusion Lishka - 
and the real one - still look completely calm. One of the Elders, the one with 
the glass and fish hooks voice. The one named Raibar speaks out, "Lishka, it 
is the desision of the Elders, that for the crime of intentionally releasing a 
human soul after winning, all your runic items and games are taken away. Your 
cave is now propery of the Elders and you will be sentanced to containment for 
one hundred years in the Tower." Lishka doesn't even blink. Either of them. 
They put her into a small empty room, about the size of a closet, and closes 
the door. They say something, but Lishka - who's not stupid enough to tell 
humans the name of the containment rune - doesn't let it be heard clearly at 
all. The rune on the door glows deep blue, for a moment, and then it ends. And 
oddly enough, the real Lishka smiles briefly.

And where has Jubilee been durring all this? Quietly watching, holding her arm 
and moving past the pain she feels from her own break and the sprained ankle. 
Her injury isn't half as bad as Paige's, so she doesn't make a sound to signal 
any need for help. She just.. watches Lishka, watches her memories, silent and 
frowning lightly.. One hundred years.. in a closet... In the back of her mind, 
she marvels at how she and Paige are probably the only two people who could 
ever even begin to understand what that must have felt like.

Sam sighs deeply, still holding onto his sisters hand and looking to the real 
Lishka. "Lishka, ya 'ave proven ta em that ya do have some ability ta reason 
with us. So, ahm gonna ask ya ta please let us move on. Don't keep us heah, 
we'll take Paige with us n' be fahne, just let us continue. Now." That ain't a 
request, witch. He wants to get out of this tower fast, and sitting around 
here watching reruns of Lishka's life is just a waste of time. Jubilee soon 
crosses his mind, remembering that she was injured as well. Letting go of 
Paige's hand, Sam slides over to Jubilee and gives her a smile. "How ya doin', 
hon?" He knows it's her ankle, so he gently wraps his hands around it, feeling 
it for any apparent fractures or sprains. He really doesn't know a lot about 
this, but does know when an ankle is injured. "Are ya able ta walk?"

Paige is still asleep. But at least Jono's got one of hre hands now. Aww.

Jono holds on tightly to Paige's hand, `less he stands up and lets lose on 
Lishka... he crouches there, whispering to Paige's sleeping mind, (~~..c'me 
back t'me, luv...~~)

	Lishka nods in the general direction of Sam, but doesn't stop the 
illusions yet. It's almost over. She's finally let out of the "closet". And 
the first thing she does is grin and say, "I claim right of property." And all 
the illusion Elders and Niflmannaz stare at her. Expecially Teiman. "I've 
stayed here unchallanged for a hundred years, and hense I claim the right of 
property. This Tower is now mine. Remove all your things from all the floors." 
She doesn't wait for an answer as she starts to walk away from the closet. 
Raibar calls out behind her, "You're finally starting to act like a Shadow 
Man, Lishka." Shadow -Man-? This is one race who's never heard of political 
correctness, that's for sure. "-But-. We will keep possession of the top two 
floors. The roof, and the rest of the Tower are yours to do with as you wish." 
One of the other's, a woman, snaps, "But Raibar..!?" He flicks his shadowy 
hand and the woman is silenced. "And Lishka... if you fail us again, 
containment will not be your punishment." Then, the entire illusion fades, and 
the room is back to normal. In fact, it's back to the Guthrie house again. 
Minus the people. Lishka turns towards Sam and nods, "I would rest here 
though, if I were you. The runes I gave you only empowered her. She still 
needs the rest to heal."

Gwen Namura says "Welcome to the monkey house, huh? So, what's considered 
failing 'em?"

Gwen Namura considers, and adds, "And what would be considered beating 'em? We 
do have to pass through the top two floors. Maybe you could use a leg up?"

Jubilee winces as Sam touches her tender ankle, and at the same time she says 
"I'm fine." and pulls it away from his touch, left hand holding her right arm 
to her. She's not fine. It hurts like hell, she's tired, she's upset, she 
wants to go /home/ and curl up in bed and cry for a week, she wants to hug Ev 
and let him comfort her and tell her everything will be alright, she wants her 
goddamn /birthday/ back, but she's not gunna show any of it. She's more like 
Logan then anyone ever thought. "It's just a sprang. I can walk." She doesn't 
even mention her arm.

Terry pushes her hand through her hair, keeping one hand on Paige's brow. She 
glances to Sam, "Make sure tha' Jubes is na' playin' th' little Toughie.. Ev' 
would na' b' glad."

Sam takes in a sharp breath, nodding a thank you to Lishka and moving to scoop 
Jube's up and off her feet. He hopes to drag her over to the couch and set her 
up on it, then taking some stray cushions and pillows for Paige, propping them 
up under her. Well, now they wait 'till they all heal and can carry on.

Jono stays next to Paige, only moving enough to pull his own leather jacket 
from his thin frame, draping it over the sleeping metamorph, replacing his 
hands in hers and holding tightly.

	In response to Gwen, Lishka shrugs briefly, "The first part, isn't yours 
to worry about, Gwendolyn Namura. But as for the top two floors, they're 
mostly used for storage. This is not their game, they have no right to 
participate as long as you do not give them the right." She still doesn't know 
about Teiman's interferance. If she did... well... she wouldn't be happy. She 
looks over Jubilee finally. She was more focased on Paige when she went to 
help, because she was the most hurt, but now she walks over to Jubilee and 
bends down slightly, "I know you hate me, I don't blame you. But will you 
allow me to help with your injury? I don't want to break my promise more then 
I have to." She's so worried about her promise. And she knows she broke it, 
and she wants to help make amends while she still can.

Terry runs her hand over Paige's brow again, she murmurs down to the sleeping 
girl, "Dinna worry lass, we'll be able t' flatten tha' bitch latter on.."

Gwen Namura says "What... if we give them the right? What if someone's been 
playing in your house besides you?"

Jubilee looks up at Lishka quietly, without hate or anger or a glare. Still, 
she wonders, why should she let you make amends? Why shouldn't she suffer just 
so Lishka will have broken her promise to Ev? Why? Because knowing they where 
hurt would hurt Ev. And because, in an odd sort of way, Jube is starting to 
see a few things from Lishka's point of view. She doesn't like the woman, she 
doesn't like what she's done, but she's starting to understand why she did 
it.. She nods her head once and says "I think I twisted my ankle, and my arm 
is probably fractured.."

Paige is, well, asleep still. Her fingers tighten reflexively around Jono's 
hand, as if delayed reaction to his words, but, well, that half-smile remains 
on her lips as she slumbers.

So there he crouches, holding his jacket over Paige's body, squeezing her hand 
gently as he continues to murmur encouragement into her mind.

	Lishka gives a brief nod and pulls out a rune again, one of the same 
ones she gave to Sam, just on a different stone. This one is pre-stained, so 
it's less powerful then the ones that were used on Paige. It's always stronger 
when it's the person it's being used on's blood, but she isn't about to ask 
for Jubilee's blood. First, she responds to Gwen, "First of all, don't invite 
them into the game. Simple as that. Just ignore them and keep going and they 
can't touch you." She presses the rune letter down against Jubilee's forehead 
and calls out it's name. "Eihwaz." She focasing this on literally impowering 
Jubilee so that the healing process will take less time, and of course, at the 
same time, she's also giving her a strong protection spell.

Jubilee blinks as the rune flashes and she suddenly gets an energy boost, 
murmuring something like "So this is what it feels like to be Wolvie." as she 
watches Lishka do her thing.. There's a moment of quiet while the woman 
consentrates, before she asks, softly, so no one else will hear, "Why do you 
have to stay with them? Why can't you just leave and live your life like you 
wanna?"

He doesn't glare at Lishka. Jono just looks down at Paige.. he'll hurt the 
wench later. He holds on tightly to Paige's hand, trying to give her strength, 
even as he tries to use Lishka's continued presence to get a bit of a jump.

Gwen Namura says "What if there are people wandering around your castle. 
Dontcha wanna know?"

	Lishka gives a slight shrug at Jubilee's question. She responds just as 
quietly, keeping the discression to a good amount, "Can't change what I am..." 
She doesn't seem sad, or even bothered by that. She just seems... serious 
almost. "Anyway, what life could I possibly have? My race is banned from 
Earth. I can only exist there within shadows or in in-between places, like my 
store." She shakes her head, "It's no matter." Then she places the rune down 
in Jubilee's hand, "If any of you are ever tired or weak, just press this 
against their forehead, or temple, and say the word 'Eihwaz'. To increase it's 
energy, stain freash blood on it." Again, she turns her attention on Gwen and 
smirks slightly, "What, you all didn't run into one of my family did you?" She 
doesn't believe it. She swears she would have sensed it if one of them were 
invading her space. But then again, those who actually -use- their powers can 
often find ways to mask their presense, even from the owner of a building.

Gwen Namura says "Yep, just one nasty one besides you."

Jubilee frowns lightly at Lishka's answer and slowly shakes her head, sighing. 
She almost.. feels sorry for the woman. She doesn't seem to /want/ this life, 
and yet she can't leave it. She looks up again as Lishka speaks to Gwen, and 
Jube sighs a bit. "He wanted blood." she explains, though she was only hanging 
around in the wings at the time, and a bit out of sorts from lack of sleep and 
food. "He was.. He was the one in the vision, wasn't he?" She looks to her 
teammates for confrimation. "The one that made Lishka's skin melt.."

Terry nods, "Aye th' attractive tosser we bled fer.."

(~~...yer buddy, Teiman...~~) Jono offers, his 'tone' harsh, cold. He almost 
spits the words out. He's none too happy with Ev's choice of games. Whether or 
not this group agreed to the game, they did not agree to be raked over the 
coals physically and mentally, and there is nothing more Jono wants to see 
then the same thing happen to Lishka; or worse.

Gwen Namura, interestingly, doesn't seem to mind helping Lishka. "He's after 
you, you know. He wants you, maybe for his own slave or something."

	Lishka sits back on her heels. Teiman. She sighs softly, "So that's how 
you all got out of the Library so fast and were some of you really weak 
afterwards..." She'd been wondering about that. She sighs again, "Well, Teiman 
is... Not exactly a buddy of mine." Then again, Lishka isn't buddies with any 
of her race. She doesn't much like any of them. The only one she even gets 
along with is Deimas. And she'd still rather slap Deimas then anything else. 
"So you all gave him blood..." She sighs. "Wonderful. If you see him again... 
avoid him. He's dangerous." She blinks, then laughs softly at Gwen's words, 
"Don't worry about me, kid. I can take care of myself. And anyway," she smirks 
ironically, "The Elders got first claim." Then she shakes her head, looking 
around, trying to see if there's anything she wants to finish up, then she 
shakes her head, "I better get back up stairs, make sure Ev didn't get when 
that earthquake happened." Yeah, she's worried about Ev.

Jubilee has been turning that rune around and around in her hand idly, until 
mention of Ev is made.. She lifts up her head and looks to Lishka with a light 
frown. She hadn't even thought that he might have been hurt.. she figured the 
earthquake was isolated to this room. "Lishka..? Could you please tell Ev 
that.." She pauses a moment, wanting to say 'tell him I love him' but rather 
sure Lishka wouldn't deliver /that/ message.. She has to think of something.. 
Ah. "Tell him ta remember the church. .. And that he owes us all ice cream 
after this is over." A light smile crosses her lips at that. She figures, 
Lishka probably wont' devliver the message.. but atleast she tried.

(~~...wot's th'matta, Lish..~~) Jono starts (~~...c'n't st'nd t'stay d'wn 
`ere? C'n't face th'proof thot yer weak, like us? Ev d'n't give a rat's arse 
`bout you, Lish. Op'n th'doors `nd l't us out, `r we may b'givin' the "Elders" 
f'rst cl'm on yer w'rthless `ide.~~) he continues, squeezing Paige's hand as 
he speaks. He doesn't like Lishka, and it shows. His eyes remain on the 
sleeping Paige, still holding worry for her condition, but the energies in his 
chest betray his edgy position, raging like a fire fueled by gas.

Gwen Namura shrugs. "I dunno. I'm kinda having fun.

Terry keeps her palm on Paige. She blinks to watch Lishka and the others.

	There's a soft sigh as she listens to Jubilee's words and Lishka nods, 
"Don't worry... I'll tell him you love him. Even though he knows..." There's 
something... strange about her eyes. Something that wasn't there before. Not 
even when she was hurt, or tired, or being beat up. Almost a... shattering. 
She offers a small smile and stands up, moving away from Jubilee. She spares a 
glance towards Jono and smirks slightly, "You can't give the Elder's claim, 
Mr. Starsmore. You obviously didn't pay attention to anything going on here 
today. Not surprising, coming from a jerk like you." And with that, Lishka 
doesn't stick around anymore. She vanishes in a swirl of icy mist.

Jubilee sighs heavily and closes her eyes.. She'll tell him.. Jube of course 
knows that Ev already knows she loves him.. but she just.. wants to reconfirm 
it. Wants to remind him they're still down here, fighting to get him back. She 
leans her head on the side of the couch and closes her hand around the rune 
Lishka left her with, eyes drifting closed..

Terry watches Jubilee drift into sleep, as she ignores the fact that herlegs 
arenow asleep from having Paige keep her head there. "Jono y' had best sleep 
t' y' need t' recharge a tad."

(~~...f'nny thot I'm th'j'rk, c'ns'derin' SHE's th'bitch tr'in' t'steal Ev, 
and b't'in' us up c'nst'ntly.... wot I w'ldn't g've t'watch thot bitch 
melt...~~) he mutters, looking about ready to send a blast towards her, but 
that can wait. He shakes from frustrating and psychic fatigue, holding onto 
Paige's hand, thinking . o O ( Pl'se wake up, gel... `r I'll d's'meth'ng 
b'd... ) He shakes his head to Terry, (~~...I n'd t'c'ntr'l...~~) he says, his 
tone worried.