After a good five or six hours of rest - and food and water appeared 
after an hour for all, the door stands there patiently the whole time. Hey, 
Lishka needed the rest to, so that's a good thing for all involved. Now she's 
rested, and she's checked the time limit on the door back to your world, and 
found something surprising. The words on the sign crawl, switching and 
changing totally, "You only have tweleve hours to reach the Roof of the Tower 
before the door back to your world closes. I can not reopen it. I suggest you 
take what you've gained from this rest and move. - Lishka" Better get moving. 
Lishka isn't joking. You've all been here a whole week almost? Erk.


Jubilee's Room -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim

	Beverly. Hills, that is. Unmistably, undeniably California, from the 
hot, dry weather, to the warm and inviting sun shining down on all the 
beautiful people and homeless wanna-be's who never got the break they where 
hoping for. The land of opertunity, broken dreams, and lost innocense.. 
espically this street corner. 

	It's near dusk, the streets are silent.. too silent.. It's the quiet 
that befalls a city block while the residents are huddled in their homes out 
of fear. There are several cars parked along the street, but one in particular 
may draw your attention.. It's emerald green - a BMW from the look of it. Both 
drivers side and passenger side doors are open in the front, and inside you 
can see two figures.. A man, American with black hair, is slumped over the 
steering wheel. He's beautifully dressed in formal wear. The woman beside him 
is the picture of Asian beauty. Chinese, wearing a red silk chinese formal 
dress, her hair piled upon her head in a chigon.. You can tell just by the way 
they lay there, without even having to see the bullet wounds.. they're dead, 
and not long in passing, they're assailents long gone. Two more broken lives 
to add to the mounting list..


Paige carries Jono as best she can - till it becomes obvious they've hit a 
stopping point. "Mah gawd..." she suddenly murmurs, easing Jono down in the 
safety of the shade of a tree. "Ah.. fuck...' She blinks quietly, just.. 
staring. And then she goes a little closer. Yup, this is definately for 
Jubilee. She stares quietly at the pair, and then moves over, removing Jono's 
jacket, and then her own. Respect for the dead, people. She walkes quietly 
over, and with a somber reverance, covers both bodies. Sorry, charlie, but 
Paige lost her daddy too. Too poor working conditions and disease. She looks 
over at the rest of the group, and then just... remains silent.

Jubilee walks along with the group, her arms hugging her own waist as she 
looks over the buildings, at first not quite understanding why Lishka could 
bring them into a Beverly Hills room.. I mean, after all, she LOVED it here! 
This was her home! This was where she first saw the X-Men! This was where it 
all started! And then her eyes catch sight of the BMW.. and she remembers.. 
this is also where it all ended. Jube just stops dead in her tracks, not even 
getting close enough to the car to see what she already knows is there.. what 
she can see so vividly in her mind. Every last detail, down to the color of 
the leaves on the trees in the sidewalk. She watches quietly as Paige covers 
up the bodies and looks to the farmgirl with a silent thank you for her 
respect, then just.. looks at the car... quietly.. You expect her to cry? To 
bawl her eyes out? Well she doesn't. She gets a little misty, but that's all. 
Her face is a stone mask, not exactly indifference, simply.. dead. She cried 
when they died, and then she moved on with her life, because you can't dwell 
in the past. You just /can't/. So she doesn't. She bottles up every last 
negative emotion from this day and shoves it all in the back of her mind, to 
be forgotten. She didn't mourn them then, and she won't know. 'You're waisting 
your time, Lishka.', she thinks.

Terry moves to just a pace behind Jubilee. She is but a hair away from the 
asian, her presence silent and supportive. She will do whatever it takes to 
help her friend through this, but she'll have to follow Jubilee's lead to 
begin with.

Sam steps into the room along with everyone else, taking in the scene. He 
really wasn't expecting this, but he really didn't know what to expect in the 
first place. Yep, this is definitely L.A. At first he doesn't notice the 
bodies, not until Jono is set down and Paige moves to cover them. He 
instinctively turns to Jubilee, blocking her view. "Ya don't wanna see that, 
hon. It's not real, jus' don't think 'bout it..." He says it in almost a 
whisper, knowing it takes a /huge/ amount of willpower to ignore such a sight. 
Why she doesn't show any emotion baffles Sam, maybe she's just a lot stronger 
then he is. "It's naht real, hon, it's naht real..." His hands move to her 
shoulders, a gesture of support.

	It's not real now, but it was once. Yes, Lishka may be wasting her time, 
but she has a feeling she isn't. There's still some things Jubilee has not 
quite resolved about the 'tragedy'. The whole thing desolves - or at least the 
car and the bodies do. The coats fall to the street floor harmlessly. A few 
moments later, the same car is coming down the street slowly, looking for a 
place to park. The people in the car are -alive-. And they're smiling and 
talking to each other as they search for a place to park. Also, in the alley 
stand two young men. One wearing a long flannel shirt, black and white plaid, 
unbuttoned and unwashed. He isn't even wearing and undershirt. His jeans are 
torn apart in many places. His friend is wearing a black t-shirt and leather 
vest, with a black bandanna on his head. They both look like they don't 
exactly walk on the right side of the law. And one of them, the flannels has 
his eye on the emerald green BMW.

Paige returns that look, and then shrugs noncommitally. She refuses to bond 
with Jubilee over ANYTHING. At all. No point in it - the memory and hurt will 
always be there, and she won't let it go. She just nods to Jubilee quietly, 
and steps back to hover not far from Jono. Got nothing better to do, then 
watch this place out.

Jubilee looks up at Sam with a light smirk and pulls away from his touch, 
gently pushing him aside. "Yeah, maybe not. But it used ta be. Ya wanna know 
what they where doing here? Waiting for me. I was gunna meet 'em here, Sam. 
They where gunna take me out. And that's how I found 'em.. I was late." Her 
eyes start to water up more as she just stares at the car.. "I was /late/. 15 
minutes. If I had just.. been on time.." She would have met them on the curb 
when they pulled up, gotten in, adn they would all be gone before any of this 
happened. She'd stil have her family... Jubilee blinks in suprise as the car 
vanishes, looking all around slowly.. until she see's it driving up. Her olive 
skin goes a stark white, VERY quickly. Her eyes dart to the alley where the 
two youths stand.. and her heart starts to pound faster in her chest.. Slowly, 
she unfolds her arms, eyes franticly darting between the car as it pulls up 
and the two in the alley.. she takes one, just one step forward... No.. no, 
Lishka wouldn't do this.. Jube didn't see it happen!! She wouldn't just make 
it up!! Maybe this is a desire?! Maybe she's gunna have an illusion Jube jump 
in and save the day!! Yeah,t at's it.. Lishka wouldn't be so cruel as to make 
her witness her own parents murder.... Shyeah, right.

Terry murmurs, "Jubes, dinna watch lass. Y' dinna wan' t' see wha' Lishka is 
gonna d'..." The redhead knows that Lishka wouldn't be above making Jubilee 
watch it over and over, "Jubes ha' d' y' know tha' y' all would ha' survived. 
Maybe they would ha' an y' would ha' died... y' ha' no idea wha' tha' would 
ha' done t' yuir parents.."

Sam stays clost to Jube's, even as she's pushed aside. "Ya can't change the 
past, girl. Ah know it hurts so much, but ya can't change the past." Hell, he 
should know all about that, he's always wished that he was able to change 
something so his father hadn't dies so early. He then spots the car coming 
down, seeing the two thugs as well. He knows what's going to happen next, and 
he'll die before he lets Jube /watch/ her parents get murdered. "Terrah, don't 
let 'er watch, please..." he says in a whisper to the Irish girl, marching 
right over to the two thugs that stand there. He doesn't know what the hell 
he's going to do, but he's not going to stand idly by and watch Jube's worst 
meory be played out in front of them all. "Get the /fuck/ outta heah, the cops 
'r on their way..." He tries to make it intimidating, hoping to God that they 
will just run off and they don't have to watch the scene play out. His field 
stands ready, just waiting for them to take out their guns on him. Actually, 
he hopes they do, smashing them but good is something Sam would enjoy.

	The car pulls up, and Mr. Lee looks at his watch and frowns briefly, 
then looks over at his wife and smiles, asuming his little girl is late and 
not bothered by it. They roll down the windows to wait, because they do not 
want to leave the car on. The two thugs in the alley look at each other, then 
nod and move towards the car quickly. They aren't seen until the last minute 
and flannel's pulls a gun and points it at Jubilee's mother. He says in a soft 
voice, a slight accent, "Gimme yer purse, lady. Now." The other one, the 
bandana, quickly moves across to the driver's side and points his gun at Mr. 
Lee. "And get out and hand over the car keys as well." Both the victum's eyes 
widen and they're hands go up. They don't seem to know how to react to this 
situation. But unfortunately, niether do the gunners. This looks like the 
first time they've ever done something like this. Or at least for bandana, 
because his hand is shaking on the gun, and Mr Lee sees this, "Just put down 
the gun. We aren't going to hurt you." He sounds calm, and considerably brave 
for the circumstances. And you know what the rection to Sam's yelling is? 
Nadda. None. No one even turns. View only again. For the time being. Isn't 
Lishka mean?

Yes, yes she is. Sorry, folks, Paige isn't going to watch this. No how, no 
way. She's going to take a soft, shuddering breath, and then just... hide her 
face in her hands. "Gawd, gawd, gawd, don't do this. We don't wanna see this. 
We don't..."

You think YOU don't wanna see this, Paige?!?! Jubilee certainly doesn't 
either! But she has to. She can't take her eyes off it. She dodges Terry 
trying to cover the scene and pushes her friend away, eyes locked on the two 
men as they approach. She watches in utter, clear horror as the guns come out, 
they're pointed, and her father tries to be the hero. Those tears and pent up 
emotions Jubilee was keeping behind her stone cold mask flow forth as the mask 
breaks into a million pieces. Well. That didn't take long. "Get away from 
them!!" she screams out as she runs towards the car and starts to fling paffs 
towards the would-be attackers, tears streaming. She won't let it happen. Not 
again!!

Sam sighs as he realises this is a 'View Only' room, knowing he cannot do a 
damn thing to stop what happens. "Jube's! Yoah not seein' this!" He yells at 
the top of his lungs, /sprinting/ after Jubilee to clutch her close and cover 
her eyes the best way she can. "Terrah! Scream, just scream!!!" He won't have 
Jube's hear the shots either, he'll have Terry muffle out the murderous sounds 
as best she can. If he needs to tackle her to the ground he will, doing all he 
can to avoid the paffs and cover her eyes. Yes, you're supposed to face your 
fears, but this is just too much.....

Terry screams away from her friends and towards the seen, the sound waves from 
her bursting loudly. She knows what Sam wants and her scream goes into higher 
and higher decibels. She fortunately stays just below the threshold of pain 
for her friends.

	Well, here we are. Terry's screaming her head off. Sam's trying to cover 
Jubilee's eyes. And you know what it gains them? Nothing. Because the scene 
pauses. And the scene will not continue until the person it is playing for is 
allowed to see and listen without fault or cover. And if she isn't allowed to, 
then the room may remained paused forever. And you all only have 12 hours 
left. This trip up the Tower is now a race against the clock.

"Gawddamn, yoah one cruel bitch." Paige mutters under her breath, as she 
watches everything freeze around her. Not that anyone can hear her miserable 
words. She shakes her head, turning. Well, the scene is not meant for her, so 
she'll be damned if she has to see this. She's had enough trauma of her own 
dealt to her. For God's sake, she killed the man she used to love above all 
else, saw her lover kissing and embracing the enemy, and refuses to be forced 
to watch Jubilee's trauma, bleednig and raw, before her. She simply turns and 
covers her eyes.

Jubilee gasps as Sam catches her and puts himself between her and the scene, 
blocking it out with his body. Her tear-filled eyes widen as her wet face 
turns up to look at his, just for a moment.. before she starts to thrash 
wildly. "Let me go!!" she cries out painfully as she struggles to get free, 
though her pleas may be drown out by Terry's screams. "You don't understand!!" 
Her words are almost choaked upon in her throat as her sobs take control, and 
she doesn't even noticed that it's all paused.. "You had your family!! You had 
your mother and your sisters and brothers, and I didn't have /anyone/!! They 
where it!! I've gotta /save/ them!" Does she realize how stupid that sounds? 
Not at all. She failed to save the two most important people in her life once. 
She won't fail them again. This is her hell, and by God she isn't just gunna 
close her eyes and let it all just wiz by without her trying to /do/ 
something!

Terry coughs into silence. She twists toward Jubilee and places her arms about 
the girl. Well if she can't stop her from having to watch it. She's not going 
to leave the girl alone to deal with this, after all where the hell do they 
think that drinking in solitary thing comes from. "Tis na' happenin' again 
Jubilee. Tis just Lishka tryin' t' hurt y' cuz Ev' is bein' t' strong fer her. 
S' she wants t' hurt y' t' get to him. She just wan's t' twist th' knife."

This is the point at which everyone's heart breaks, realising Jube has to 
/watch/ this all play out. Sam reluctantly releases the Asian girl, keeping 
close to her if she decides to run on. The scene obviously continues once he 
releases her, to everyone's dismay. "Jube, don't do this....please..." he 
sputters out, trailing after Jubilee to offer support when she needs it. If 
the scene does carry out, he's sure to wince and turn away when the climax 
arrives.

	You're damn right she wants to twist the knife. Lishka was raised to 
feel one emotion, and it wasn't love or kindness. It was sadistic in nature. 
Pleasure from causing pain. That was the legacy that was passed down to her 
from her ancestors. The love she feels for Everett, and the honor she feels by 
playing a fair game, is against the very training she recieved. It is against 
her learned nature. It is against everything she always thought she was. And 
this is the only way she knows how to express herself. By causing pain. She's 
tried other ways, they didn't work. This way, at least gains her respect and 
fear. Or at least she thinks it does. She is likely false in her asumption, 
but that is what she thinks. Anyway, back to said scene, which unpauses. 
Flannels sees the doubt in bandana's eyes and his own eyes harden, "Shit, man, 
don't listen to him. Give over the purse lady, now! Or I'll blow a fuckin' 
hole in your fuckin' chest." His hand just continues to shake violently. He 
looks more scared then the passangers. In fact, he shakes so hard, that he 
panics when his friend yells, "NOW!" and pulls the trigger by accident.

Paige is is slowly curling into an emotional fetal position. She finally takes 
comfort in the only thing she can - and though she may hate herself for it 
later, she depends on Jono for self-worth and strength. She buries her face in 
his shoulder, and lets the flames of his chamber be all that the sees, the 
roar of the flame all that she hears. "Oh gawd oh gawd, jus' stop..."

Jubilee's eyes just.. fly wide opening. Any hope Sam and Terry had of 
containing Jube just went out the window. She goes six shades whiter then 
white, all blood draining out of her face and all tears abruptly halting as 
she hears that shot.. watches her father slump forward onto the steering 
wheel.. She's not sure her heart is beating anymore.. or that she's breathing 
anymore.. and for that one eternal, painfull moment, no one else in the world 
exsists. You can almost see her world and soul and heart and very /being/ 
just.. shatter in her eyes. And that's when it comes. The most blood-curtling 
scream that any living being could hope to emit, crying out with pain that's 
been bottled up and left to fester for years, unresolved. "DADDY!!!" Jubilee 
savagly breaks from Sam and Terry's protective embrace and runs (not fast 
enough!!!) towards the car, towards her father and the gunman and her panicing 
mother and all the things she couldn't /change/ or /stop/ because she was too 
/late/!! /Again/!!

Terry flinches with each shot of the gun. She wasn't from a place like Belfast 
where the shootings were nightly, were explosions would go off. She didn't see 
her first gun in real life till some joker tried to hold up the beauty salon 
where she was getting her hair done a few years back, when she had come to the 
states for the first time. She shattered it of course. She cries out, "Jubilee 
don't!"

	Stop Paige? Oh no, it's just barely begun. Lishka's sign said this would 
be the hardest room of them all. You think she was lying? Well she wasn't. 
This is her Wild Card, and she's rely on it to stop the trip up the Tower at 
all costs. If you all make it past here, she only has two more loop holes to 
throw at you, and she would rather not worry about that until she has to. And 
she won't worry about it until you all make it through this room. Yes, 
everyone's room was horrible and hard in their own way. But this room pulls 
ever string. Takes every chance. Does things to Jubilee that the Elders would 
have never believed possible out of Lishka. In fact, they would be damn proud 
of this room. Lishka is. She's been working on it from the moment you all 
arrived. Sabretooth couldn't be this cruel. ;) Anyway, onto the scene. It's 
quite simple to explain what happens next. Mr. Lee, Jubilee's father, takes 
the bullet in his chest. The boy was lucky to hit anything. Or perhaps the 
word is unlucky. As Jubilee's mother begins to scream, flannels yells out 
"Fuckin' Christ!" and then does the only thing he can to shut up the hysteric 
woman. He shots her in the chest. And of course gets blood splatered on him 
for the trouble. They don't die right away of course, but they only have a few 
more seconds. Flannels - who is actually pretty decent looking if he wasn't so 
dirty - leans in and grabs at the woman's purse, and she claws her nails deep 
into his arm, leaving lines before she breaths her last breath. Then flannels 
jumps over the hood of the car and bends down to grab bandana's dropped gun, 
"Let's get the fuck out of here." When the bandana doesn't move right away, 
just standing in shock, flannels grabs him by the shirt and starts to pull him 
away from the scene. They don't pay any mind to Jubilee. At least not until 
they get a few feet, then one of them, bandana, glances back and seems to see 
her, then he turns back and continues to run, if slightly faster.

Paige is in a nice emotional fetal postion. Carry on.

Jubilee doesn't even notice the men as they move away. Stopping them won't 
bring back her parents. It wont' save them now. Two minutes ago she would have 
jumped them and beat the bloody hell out of the, but it's too late now. 
Jubilee pays no mind to Terry or even gives any sign she notices the girl as 
she rushes to the car, the driver's side closest. Sobbing violently, Jube 
yanks open the car door and franticly pulls her father upright, hardly able to 
see for the tears pouring forth from her eyes. "Daddy!!" She checks for a 
pulse, for breath, for /anything/, and then does the same for her mother. 
"Pleasepleasepleasenotagain.." she mutters to herself as she searches for some 
sign - ANY sign - of life.

Terry just drops her gaze to her feet, not wanting to watch Jubilee and her 
futile attempt to change the past. "Damn y' Lishka, Damn y' t' death. I'll 
find a way t' hurt y' and kill y'.."

	And Lishka wouldn't blame Terry for trying, but she won't suceed. Only 
three things could kill or hurt Lishka to a great extent, and none of them 
involve loud noises. As for signs of life. There is a slight sign of life in 
Jubie's father, but it is extremely faint and fading quickly. He's got a 
minute at most. Even a hospital wouldn't be able to save him if they got there 
right now. But of course, that won't stop his daughter from trying. He doesn't 
seem to notice the handling at first, but his eyes peek open for a moment, 
then close again. He's still got a few moments, but not much more then that. 
Lishka's being even more cruel, by giving Jubilee a thread of hope. But then 
again, Lishka thinks it's only fair. Really. She does think that.

Paige is still fetal. Carry on.

A thread which Jubilee intends to cling to while she dangles over the cliff. 
She can do this!! She can SAVE him!! Jubilee moves like lightening, unbuckling 
him and gently pulling him out of the car and onto his back on the pavement, 
trying and failing to force her tears to halt. "It's okay, Daddy! Just lay 
still! Just relax! I won't let you go, I promsie!" She strokes her father's 
jet black hair with one hand as she uses the other to nearly rip the buttons 
off his shirt, opening it so she can get a look at the wound. It can't be that 
bad! Wolvie's had worse, and she helped /him/! Maybe the bullet went clear 
through! Then she's just gotta stop the bleeding.. just gotta stop all that 
bleeding.. "It's okay. I love you daddy, I'm not gunna let 'em take you." Is 
she trying to sooth him, or herself? And who's she kidding anyhow? What 
happened to all her 'It's just an illusion. Get a grip' talk? All went out the 
window.. real fast, too.

Terry watches Jubilation and her parents. Tears trail over her cheeks, scarily 
enough, she almost envies this. Her mother, was killed by a bomb. She knows, 
but wishes. She just stops and covers her eyes.

	It's so easy to remember it's only an illusion when it isn't geared 
towards you, isn't it? Jubilee's father's eyes flutter open for a moment as he 
is moved. The bullet did go through, it's lodged in the chair behind him. But 
the movement has made the wound tear, and the bleeding has gotten worse. His 
eyes are a deep blue. At least you all know where Jubes got her eyes from now. 
He doesn't seem to see the person who's trying to help him right away. Then 
after a few more moments, he seems to hear the words spoken over him and tries 
to speak, "J...Ju..." He coughs, blood appearing on his lips for a moment. The 
bullet must have hit his lung. That's not good. He's irrational right now - or 
perhaps this is just how Lishka has seen humans die. They always have to say 
something stupid and insignificant - to her at least - before they pass on, so 
she plans to have the dying father do the same. "Jub...lee... you... 'ok... 
so.. ma...ma...ma...ture." Yeah, Lishka isn't good at death scenes, so sue 
her. She thinks it sounds good though. And then he coughs again, his body 
shivering for a moment, then relaxing all together. His eyes don't even close. 
But he is certainly no longer holding on. The thread Lishka was dangling 
snapped. Everett would kill her if he knew what was going on down here. And 
she knows it.

Emotionally Fetal. And now crying. Sob! Jono! Protect meeeeee

Jubilee trembles horribly as she looks over all that bleeding.. all the blood 
getting on her hands and her dress and the braces which sheath her lower 
arms.. She stops cold as she hears her father speak, rushing to pay her total 
attention to his words, bending down to be close to him so she will hear it 
all, her arms cradling his head. She watches him and smiles just a little, a 
horribly sad smile, at what he says.. and then he starts to pass on. She can 
feel it.. she can /feel/ him slipping away. "No!! No daddy please don't!!" Her 
body is again wracked with sobs as she tries vainly to keep her father with 
her.. She fights for just a minute, holding her hands over the wound in his 
chest, praying, doing all she can think of to try and /stop/ this.. but she 
can't.. she's failed. Again. She couldn't protect them. Again. And now, all 
she can do is cry.. Her hand drifts up to close his eyes before Jubilee 
gathers her father up into her arms as best she can, arms wrapped around his 
torso, one hand holding his head ot her shoulder, and she slowly rocks him 
there as she cries..

	And of course, this is when a laughing young girl and rollarblades with 
bubblegum in her mouth skates up. She looks like a younger version of Jubilee. 
Eleven, maybe tweleve years old. She comes a few minutes to late to see the 
crime, or those who commited it. But she's here to see the aftermath. It's 
always the aftermath that sticks out greatest in the minds of a child. She 
stops in her tracks as she sees what's happened, first looking at her mother, 
then at the teenager weeping on her father. Yes, the little Jubie sees the big 
Jubie, and doesn't seem to know what to think. She just stands there, tears 
welling up in her eyes. The eyes of a child who's childhood was over. It's 
ended. She's no longer a little girl. A famous person once said, "Childhood is 
not from birth to a certain age and at a certain age the child is grown, and 
puts away childish things. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies. Nobody 
that matters, that is." And Jubilee's childhood ended. This was her lose of 
innocense. Her peek into the world to come. The day things in her life began. 
And while the older one might know this, the young one doesn't. Her hands go 
to her throat and she starts to sob, then she falls down to the pavement and 
mimics Paige's now famous fetal position.

Paige is still in said fetal position. Carry on!

Jubilee doesn't even look up, continually rocking back and forth with her 
father in her arms as she sobs mournfully, head bowed and burried in his neck. 
The neck she used to nuzzle against as he held her tight against his chest 
when she was tired, or scared, or just needed someone to hug. She can still, 
even through the pungent smell of all that blood, smell his cologne.. feel the 
fading warmth of his skin.. He's gone, and on some level she knows it.. but 
she's unwilling to let him go. She can remember what it felt like to skate up, 
fully expecting to just jump into the car and be off with Mom and Daddy, 
rounding the corner and going in an instant from carefree youth to ... to... 
whatever she is now. She can recall with crystal clarity how her world 
shattered into a thousand pieces and her heart felt as if it'd been stabbed 
through. Jubilee remembers exactly what that young girl who just appeared is 
going through. She's relived it a million times in her mind and in her 
nightmares..

Terry doesn't speak. Doesn't breathe. Doesn't look up.

	And now Lishka does the one thing that is left that could possibly be 
more cruel. The body in Jubilee's hold collapses in, fading. She passes right 
throught it, finding herself clinging to air. Even the smell is gone. 
Apparently, the scene has reset. It's back to exactly how it was when they 
entered. Except Jubilee is still covered in blood. Her father is back in the 
car, slumped forward. The child Jubilee is gone again. Lishka couldn't be 
planning to start the scene all over again could she? Living through it once 
was bad enough, but -again- and -again-? Could she be that cruel? That 
heartless?

Probably. "Gawd damn..." Paige hisses, under her breath, as she finally looks 
up from Jono's shoulder. "Tell me it's ovah..." She manages weakly, and then 
does what she knows she's got to do for her teammate. She gets up, and trudges 
over to Jubilee's side, and offers her a hand up, and a shoulder to cry on. 
And whatever ever else the girl may require of ber.

Jubilee trembles uncontrollably as she watches the figure fade from her arms, 
and gets a clear view of all the blood she's covered with... It's all she can 
do to keep from just curling up in a ball and just praying God will kill her 
now. She doesn't see Paige approch, but she does after a moment notice the 
hand.. and she blinks, looking slowly up to see the person it's attached to. 
She must look so pittifull.. all red-eyed and blotchy-faced from crying so 
hard, covered in her father's blood, unable to keep still for even a moment. 
Tenativly, she reaches up a hand to take Paige's so she can get up to her 
feet, and despite any past the two may have or any feelings which may resuface 
between them when this is over, Jubilee readily clings to the blonde and 
presses her face to Paige's shoulder, sobbing her heart out in mourning for 
her long-gone parents.

Terry just turns away from them. After all they'd probably not want this part 
remembered.

	No. The room doesn't reset. Instead, it just slowly desolves, starting 
with the edges. It desolves like a painting being lightly sprinkled with paint 
thiner, thinning, then the colors beginning to run downward, as if they were 
bleeding. It takes a long time for this to finish, and by the time it does, 
the area is replaces, car gone, blood on Jubes clothing gone. And everyone 
finds themselves standing in... A slice of unspoiled wilderness. This cove 
looks out onto the deep, still waters of the lake here. Tall reeds and wild 
grasses line the tiny shore around the edges. A dock extends out a ways into 
the lake. It's the cove of Xavier's mansion. The lake there. The scene doesn't 
seem to be ready to start yet. It has to wait until the one viewing it is 
ready to face more. See? Lishka can be nice enough to move on. Or even crueler 
by hitting her with more. The same thing over and over she might have coped 
with. Well... perhaps not. Lishka never was the best judge of humans.

How long has it been? Around.. 10 minutes, maybe. Jubilee clings to poor Paige 
like a drowning woman to a life preserver. Amazing the things it takes to 
bring some people together, even if only temporarily. Only time will tell. She 
holds tightly to Paige and sobs on the farmgirl's shoulder, finally expressing 
tears she's held in for /years/. On the up-side, this could actually be a 
healing experience for Jube in the long run. On the down-side, she'll have to 
avoid mental break-down in order to get to that 'healing' point. And 
considering Lishka's not done with her yet, the odds are still up in the air 
as to how this will turn out for the paffer. After a few more minutes, her 
tears finally being forced to taper off, Jube stands up straight and lifts her 
hands to brush away the tear tracks, trying to eraise all physical signs of 
what she's just been doing. "Thanks, Paige." she murmurs in a shakey voice, 
genuien in her apprication. Now if she can only just stop trembling....

And Paige is .... strangely enough, a damn good anchor. After all, who took 
care of the lil'uns? Who was a second momma when Lucy Guthrie had to work just 
a little harder? Just a little longer? Paige was mother and big sister and 
caretaker all in one bundle. Jubilee's ragged hair was stroked, she was held 
onto, rocked, whatever it needed to sooth her. "yuh welcome," She finally 
stays, as the young woman regains her strength. Paige remains there, still by 
Jubilee's side, and then her heart sinks as the cove comes into view. "Oh, 
gawd... if she does what I think she's gunna..." now it's the hayseed's turn 
to sound heartbroken, as she looks, with wild, fearful eyes around the cove. 
"If she dares sully this, Ah sweah, Ah'll kill heah.."

Sam sort of just stands there, trying to hold back his emotions. he's not far 
from where Paige and Jube's are, not going over there and interrupting the 
moment. That would just be tasteless. "Jube's, are ya gonna be alraght? Ah 
know it hurts..." He asks with a sunken heart, peering out into the water to 
study his reflection. He wants to move on right away, but knows he can't rush 
Jubilee, she needs to take it one step at a time.

Terry vaguely recognizes the area, but she's been to Xavier's much less than 
the others. She's had no sweet'n'torrid moments in the forest or by the shore. 
So she doesn't have too much of a reaction to the area. The redhead settles 
onto a boulder, watching Paige and Jubilee her eyes filled with weariness and 
complete helplessness as she is unable to help her friend.

Jubilee finally manages to dry her cheeks and reddened eyes, for now, and 
steps back a little to take a look around the area.. Atleast they're not on 
that goddamn street corner again. Still, Jube looks a little.. confused. "I 
don't get it.." she finally says, voice somewhat soft. "Only memories I have'a 
this place is me and Wolvie fishin'.." And the occasional moment of solitude 
back when she was still with the X-Men.. but nothing that is actually /bad/. 
Nothing Lishka could use against her. And then Paige speaks up, and a cold 
feeling seizes Jube's heart as she looks towards the girl.. "... Sully this..? 
What.. Why do ya say that, Paige? What could she use that has ta do with this 
place?"

The hayseed walks quietly over to hte water. "This... this is- this *was* Ev 
an' Ah's... we..." She growls lowly and drops quietly to her knees to the 
sparse grass surrounding the water. "This was our place. Wheah we came and 
talked. Wheah we got close. Wheah Ah told him... wheah we ... Ah..." And then 
she lashes out in denial. "Dammit, Lishka! This is mah memeory! One of the 
ONLY Tahme Ah Can remembah, since leavin' the farm, that Ah was HAPPY! Y' 
can't sully this! It's somethin' good an' pure and it's mahne! MAHNE 
GODDAMMIT!" She howls her anguish to the sky, knowing that the Nifflemannaz 
hears her - but knows in her heart that it'll solve nothing.

Sam lets all this play out, not having much to say other then the odd 
encouraging word to Jubilee. He crouches down at the edge of the lake, 
scooping up a small pool of water, and splashing it on his face. His hands 
stay there for a minute, presses up against his distraught face as the water 
trickles down to the squishy mud on the edge of the water. Hands fall down to 
his side as he looks over at Paige, a bit of a puzzled look. He dare not say a 
word, just hopes that Lishka doesn't focus in on the whole Ev/Paige/Jubilee 
issue. He's being naieve. of course the ice queen is going to bring that up, 
it's painful.

Terry rests back on her elbows. She just takes what little peace the beauty 
affords. She knows Liska is doing her thing, that evil wench is probably 
plotting at the moment how to emotionally flay Jubilee next. But they can do 
nothing till it starts. She chews on a lock of her hair falling back into the 
childhood habit, gross but dammit what she really wants is a bottle of 
whiskey. The hair will have to substitute for now.

	Well, Paige said it. This was her's and Ev's place. Where something good 
and pure happened. And sure enough Lishka is going to 'sully' it to everyone. 
This is her Wild Card. She has to show the painful times, and this scene will 
hurt more then one. There, sitting near the edge of the water, the scene 
changing from day to night quickly, a full moon shining down and reflecting 
it's sphere off the water, illuminating the area. Everett is wearing swimming 
trunks and a towel - he'd just gone done swimming laps and practicing the 
powers of Joliene, the newest team member. This was the day she joined the 
team in fact, but of course only Ev's memories really help pinpoint the exact 
date. Lishka's drawn this scene from both of them. Now as for Paige, she's in 
her New Mutant's uniform. They're talking. About the beauty, and the city and 
country, and how they differ in beauty. It's a sweet innocent talk. Happy. The 
words aren't exact though. Because both of their memories had different 
wordings, so Lishka is only keeping the precises theme of what they were 
talking about for now. Lights from the mansion are visiable in the distance, 
but only partly.

She doesn't wanna see this. Jubilee doesn't want to have any part of seeing 
this. Ev loves /her/ now, no matter that he once loved Paige. Lishka, you 
really screwed this one up if you're tryng to break /Jube/ with it. She can 
deny to herself that this means anything, not let it effect her too deeply. 
It's all in the past, after all. But Paige.... Jube knows how she'd feel if 
her moment with Ev in the church in England was used to hurt Paige, if the 
sweet and innocent memory of that first kiss was tainted by the ice bitch. 
Yeah, this'll hurt Paige more then it hurts Jube... She steps over to the 
blond girl and rests a hand down on her shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. 
She's not even looking at the two of the illusion, out of respect for Paige's 
memory of it. The girl showed kindness back in the last illusion - now Jube is 
starting to repay it.

Okay, check please. Paige is just gunna hide her face in her hands, and drop 
again, covering her face. "Gawd, this is mahne, this is all I got of him 
anymoah, an' y' takin' it and cheapin' it an' destroyin' it. Gawd, Ah hate ya 
Ah hate ya Ah hate ya." she rambles over at over, sobbing hard. This is when 
she was sweet, innocent, and unsullied. Lishka just took the last purity that 
Paige had left - and destroyed it. Something inside the farmgirl simply 
withers up... and dies quietly.

You know when you are /so/ angry that you think you could just pull out your 
hair? Well, that's where Sam is at this point. Lishka has grown an impressive 
skill of making other feel helpless, she sure has done it to Sam with flying 
colors. So many people he loves are sobbing their eyes out over what she's 
doing, and all that Sam can do is squeeze the odd shoulder, give the odd hug, 
and talk with reassurance. it pisses him off to no end, never having felt so 
damn useless in all his life. There honsetly never has been a time when he 
couldn't help out in /some/ way, even the smallest. But this is different, he 
can't do a damn thing. "Paige, oh...Hon? It'll be okay....ahm so sorrah..." 
He's now at his sisters side, a hand stroking her head as she sobs softly. "Ah 
dunno what ta say, girl..." And ain't that the truth.

Terry doesn't say anything. She doesn't move from her seat. She just sits 
there.

	The memory continues, they laugh a little, then the conversation seems 
to grow serious. Paige seems to be the one who brought up the serious topic 
something about friends and dating and how Ev's the only one out of the many 
people who have hit on her since she came here that she likes. Out of all of 
them. And he hasn't even shown any interest, besides friendship, so she 
doesn't think he feels the same. Of course, the wording is messed up from 
Paige's memories, because half of it came from Ev's. Both had the same basic 
memory, but different words. Almost no one can remember exact words. 
Expecially since this particular memory was a while ago, and a lot of things 
had happened to both since. Everett seems to blink and sit back slightly, 
looking into the water, then he says that he does like her, just didn't want 
to hound her like everyone else was. Then he looks back over at her and smiles 
briefly, and then, there in the moonlight, they share their first kiss. 
Completely innocent and short, but oh so sweet. And then the scene fades 
again. Yes, Lishka is airing out some memories for all to see. And she ain't 
even -close- to done.

Jubilee sits herself down next to Paige, not even watching the scene, though 
she feels a small pain in her chest as she listens to it.. and durring that 
pause.. she can almost feel the kiss. She puts one arm around Paige's back and 
rubs gently, just giving quiet comfort or whatever else the girl may wish to 
accept from her. She'd assure Paige this isn't all she has. That she still has 
Ev's friendship, and still has her life before this, all those loving times 
with her family when she was still the real Paige, before Emplate got his 
hands on her.. but somehow, Jube isn't sure Paige would respond too well to 
it. So she'll just sit here quietly comforting.

Yep, okay, sobbin' wreck time. If one **GOOD** thing comes out of this, it'll 
be that Sam and Paige have renewed thier sibling bond, which had been very 
stressed of late. Paige slides her arms around Sam, buries her faces in his 
chest, and just sobs, even as Jubilee touches her back. "It's mahne, dammit, 
mahne... Ah can't be selfish about anythin' else but mah mahnd... and now 
she's takin' it too, Sammy!" She says hoarsely against her brothers chest, 
unaware the scene is evening fading.

Sam closes his eyes as Paige just sobs and sinks into him, holding her tight 
and comforting her as best he can. Yes indeed, their sibbling bond has grown 
/much/ stronger through all this, one good thing that has come amidst all this 
madness. "Just keep cryin', girl, let it all out..." His hands rub her back, 
not daring to look at the now fading image.

Terry watches it all fade with out the barest flinch.

	Time for sound effects: Joliene's voice rings out, happy and friendly, 
"I'll be sure to call if I need the help. I just hope my roommate is nice. Sam 
said it was his sister." Everett's own voice comes a few moments later, 
"Paige? Oh, yeah, she's great. Probably no one else here I'd rather room 
with." theres a soft pause and then the same young man says in a nervous 
voice, "Oh God, don't tell her I said that..." And it's turn for Joliene to 
chuckle and say, "I won't, don't worry. As long as you don't tell anyone I 
think this mansion is full of some really good looking guys. Present company 
inculded." Since no one is watching, the sound effects have taken over. Also, 
the scene has shimmered, they're now near the pool. But no figures have 
appeared. 

	Now, back to the Cove and new sound effects take over. Still Joliene and 
Everett, and they're still talking. This time about something else. The first 
voice is Everett this time, "I think that you really could use someone to talk 
to. Of course, I'm not going to squeeze whatevers eating you out, but it could 
help. I've been told I'm a pretty good listener." And here comes Jo's voice 
again, a little nervous, "Alright... let's talk about a hypothetical 
situation. It has nothing to do with me." She stresses that, though it's not 
true. "Ok. Let's say you had someone who really liked you, and you kinda liked 
them back, but not as more than friends, ok? Got that so far?" ... "Got it." 
... "Alright, then say you end up liking someone else, in a more than friend 
kinda way, and the other person finds out about it. Well obvious h...she's mad 
at ya right? And say she yells at you, and says things that were really mean 
and make you like afraid to like that other person at all anymore because you 
might do the same to hi...her. Fall for someone else all over again and all. 
Now what do you think you should do?" And right then the sounds pause.

Jubilee's eyes dim with a mix of saddness and anger, and she straightens up 
and puts both hands on the ground at either side of her, looking around the 
scene. Man Lishka, you really are a bitch. Hope Ev tells you as much. Watch 
her heart just shatter. Mwahaha. Jube sighs heavily and pulls herself up to 
her feet, crossing arms over her chest and pretending very well that what 
she's hearing isn't effecting her at all. "Big deal, Lishka. C'mon, you build 
us up with a stellar beginning and then disappoint? Tsk tsk." What is she 
doing? Well.. she's trying to shift focus. She's stronger then Paige, damnit! 
Or atleast, that's what she thinks. Paige is so close to breaking down, 
everyone in the room can just FEEL it. So lets move the focus back to JUBE, 
huh? Jube can handle it. *SNIFF* Yeah, just try and break her, bitch. Kinda 
nice how quickly she forgets what just happened, isn't it? But rest assured, 
it's all stewing somewhere in the back of her head..

Paige is sobbing againts Sam. She's going to be doing that for a while. Carry 
on.

Terry rubs her jaw as she chews on her hair. Her eyes drift over the new 
scene, great bitch. C'mon Lishka. This is just wrong get over it.

	The sound effects continue for a moment, they seem to skip something 
though, what is unknown. This is all from Ev's memories after all. Ev's voice 
comes frist again. "Quite the predicament... I suppose the decision would fall 
upon girl number two. I'd have followed my feelings, but she would have to as 
well. Love can be a beautiful thing, but as so many songs say, it can hurt 
too. Not exactly reassuring advice, I suppose..." And then of course comes 
Joliene's softly, "Alright... So in other words you would have to take a 
chance? Like swimming out into the ocean and hoping there will be something on 
the other side..." ... "I suppose that's right. Without taking chances, life 
would be pretty boring... And you'd rarely find out the truth." ... "Well I 
think I'm going to get a snack, then go to sleep. This talk has been... 
helpful. And if you tell anyone about it I'm gonna make sure you never shower 
again." ... "My lips are sealed." Unfortunately his mind was a little harder 
to seal. Expecially for Lishka. But true. This scene seems weak compared to 
the last one, but this scene has purpose. Which will be showed soon. The scene 
changes again, this time they're all standing in an abandoned Subway terminal. 
The place that GenX stayed after Sinister killed Joliene. And the place for 
another scene between Everett and Paige. The smell of the area will key the 
weeping Paige into what exactly this scene has changed to. Everett is talking, 
sitting and staring at the tunnel entrance to the Subway Station. "I did." 
Whatever he is talking about really is somewhat lost though, as this scene is 
starting in the middle. Though at least one person here knows what is going 
on. Some others might catch on. "I mean, we were friends and all... I had 
always thought about how death was a possibility, but it had always been my 
death... I'd never thought... Someone close..." His voice partially chokes and 
partially drifts off, the result being simply the lack of words coming out of 
his mouth. Paige moves over from where she is, getting closer, offering both 
her hands to Everett, keeping her eyes downcast, looking almost needy. She 
seems like she would like to take the young man in her arms and hold him all 
night long and let him cry, and let her cry, but she's resisting it fairly 
well. She's also hiding her own inner pain fairly well. This Paige was on her 
way to being the Next Leader of the X-Men. This is the Paige that would have 
become the Paige in the imaginary world they all left behind. This was her. 
And now she is gone. And we all know why. That's when a shadow appears in the 
subway terminal. A shadow in the odd shape of Emplate. A visual showing of 
what would happen a few weeks later. But niether Everett or Paige notice. They 
just look at each other, and then comfort themselves in a way without tears. 
They kiss. This kiss is much deeper and less innocent then the one before. It 
almost seems to redefine how much they need each other. Too bad it wasn't 
meant to last. The shadowy figure grows darker, until it covers all of Paige's 
image, then Paige vanishes, and Everett is staring blanky at thin air. A 
moment later the entire thing disolves. And what does the room change to now? 
Well, lookie here. It changes to... the kitchen of Muir Island.

Jubilee watches Paige as she cries on Sam's shoulder quietly, glancing only 
once over when the scene changes to the sewer.. again, she feels that acute 
pain shoot through her chest as illusionary Paige and Everett kiss... It's not 
real. It's /not/. She'll just ignore it. That's it. So Nyah. Jubilee pulls her 
legs up to her chest and wraps her arms around them, chin on her knee, just 
staring straight ahead and waiting.. waiting.. what's this? As her eyes now 
find themselves focused on a famililar wall, Jubilee nearly jumps forth from 
her skin (which would be quite a thing to see, unlike if Paige did it), head 
quickly lifting and eyes franticly looking around. Counterovenstove - KITCHEN! 
Whew. Breath, girl. Crisis averted. "Great. Now the kitchen. What the hell 
happened /here/?" Beside Paige and Jube first meeting..

And Paige'd chose this moment to look up from Sam's shoulder, eyes red and 
bloodshot. "Oh, *GAWD*..." She moans softly, as she sees that embrace - and 
rememebers how much she *needed* him then. That moment shifted thier 
relationship and added a whole new dimension. At least, for her. And she never 
got to explore it. She was taken, no less then a few days later. And then, the 
kitchen appears. "Dammit, if she plays out everythin' between heah an' now..." 
She looks up at Jubilee with her tear streaked face. "This is wheah Ah... ah 
reunited with Ev, just aftah gettin' back." She voices meekly, now just 
clinging her brother. The room may force Jubilee to watch, but these are 
Paige's memories - and there's some morbid urge compelling her to watch these 
bits of her life go by.

Sam's arms stays tightly around Jubilee as long as she needs, offering as much 
comfort as possible. He does the exact same to Paige, trying to comfort them 
both as best as possible, it's not much. Sam does watch the images, he can't 
seem tot ake his eyes from what is displayed before him. He's now shot right 
back into that horrible world that they once lived in, the sewers. "Ya both 
are doin' great so far, ah'll bet the worst is ovah...." he can only hope, but 
his gut feeling tells him that the worst has yet to come.

The same pain runs through Jono's "chest", and his fists tighten at the sight 
of Paige and Ev's kiss, and then the sight of Paige taken by the shadow-
Emplate. Two subjects that the brit doesn't like to brush across, because they 
hurt his Paige, and he still can't help her get past them. Then he blinks, the 
energies shifting under the back of his turtleneck (well, his jacket was 
blasted open, and left behind to cover Jubes' parents, he has to keep covered 
somehow), as the room shifts. He too is compelled to watch...

Gwen Namura looks around. "Jono, gotta sec?" She's carving something on the 
tube that held the gauze she used on Paige's leg.

Will has been standing by dazedly most of this time. He walks towards Gwen as 
she speaks.

	The worst is over? HAH! Just because this room is totally memory based 
doesn't mean it can be as painful as the parent's deaths. Well... maybe it has 
a lot to compete with, but it also isn't nearly the end of this room. This 
room is geared mostly at Jubilee and Paige and Sam and Jono. Now why is Sam in 
that list. Well, that will come later. Now, to continue. The kitchen scene. 
Paige is standing at the counter, apparently getting something to eat. Then 
there's the crash of a plate and Paige turns around. Only then does Everett's 
image appear standing over a broken plate. They just stare at each other for a 
moment, not saying anything, then Paige runs over and covers his lips with a 
finger and says, "Don't say a word." and then runs off. Ev just looks after 
her, not talking. Yes, that memory seems somewhat useless, but then the scene 
switches completely. It's now at the docks of Muir Island. Everett's sitting 
against the edge, and Joliene is sitting beside him, looking off into the 
water. After a few moments of silence, she glances at Ev, "So you love 
Jubilee? Shesh. Where have I been? I really feel like no one tells me anything 
anymore." ... Everett looks up to Jo, then back down again. "Yeah, I mean.... 
I think... I really, really feel strongly for Jubes... I always thought I 
loved Paige, and I might have, but if so i think that might be gone... and 
Jubes is so.... so smart and fun and great and I just love /being/ with 
her..." ... Joliene grins slightly and nods, "Yeah, I feel the same way about 
Sam. Of course there's other times when it's -so- annoying. Because he almost 
never has any time for me. He's always running off to help the team. Now 
you're the same in a lot of ways. You want to run off and help Paige, yes? Now 
you see, I -understand- that Sam has to do what he does for the team. I can't 
ask him to forget about the team and give me some good old fashioned cuddling. 
It would be wrong. He has commitments and duties. And so do you. If Jubilee 
doesn't understand that then maybe she's just being selfish, yes?" And the 
scene pauses for a moment now.

Upset? No. Angry? Very. Jubilee is reminded quietly of why she has yet to find 
any reason she /likes/ Jo, espically after that little bought the two had way 
back when a few months ago. "Selfish." she mutters, crossing her arms over her 
chest and gently pulling away from Sam. The Rock has returned. "Witch. If she 
wanted to yank Sam away from a little R&R then no one would complain! And Ev's 
got no /obligation/ ta be everybody's rock! He needs a little comfort 
sometimes /too/ ya know, ya self-rightous wench!!" she hollars at the 
illusion, eyes narrowed. Man, when she gets back home, she's gunna give Jo a 
piece of her mind and make her CHOAK on it!

Gawwwwd. "Someone jus' shoot me nah?" Paige mutter weakly, her tone dipping 
into bitter registers. So you *thought* you loved her, Ev? Well, Paige *knew* 
she loved you. Sorry, she's tired and she's not going to get angry and so 
she's just going to lean here against Sam. She looks up at him tiredly, and 
says, "Sam, y' know what? If y' datin' heah? Dump heah. She don't deserve ya." 
Sorry, Paige understands - and EMBRACES - the costs of leadership. She knows 
what that'd mean. She knows what responsilibty it. "She's make a horrid momma, 
besides. Don't she know love is about sacrifice?" Sorry, Paige probbably ain't 
helping much, but she's tried and broken and close to tottal collapse. Oh, 
well...

This is bad, this is /really/ bad. Sam, not trying to be selfish, hoped and 
prayed that he wouldn't be somehow pulled into this scene. He needs to be at 
top shape to help Paige and Jubilee cope, but he was stupid to think Lishka 
would spare even him. "Oh, nah...don't bring that up, please..." He murmurs, 
his heart clenching slightly at the thought of all the times he has put the 
team before his girlfriend. Sam listens to the illusions speak, especially 
what Jo says. He doesn't reduce himself to sobbing, but he sure is close. The 
guilt fills him and beyond, forcing him to realise the way he has treated the 
one he's supposed to love. Then he thinks of what Jo is doing right now, 
picturing her all huddled in the X-Tate, deathly worrying about where the team 
is. And ya know what? That causes him to gulp down all his nasty emotions and 
face the illusion, staring it down with fiery eyes. He'll get through this, 
and go home to Jo. He hears his sisters words, pretending that he didn't hear 
them. He won't even process those thoughts, too troublesome.

Well, Jono's fists loosen, a bit, but tighten at Paige's words. Oh yeah, 
Lishka's pouring salt on the wounds, and even if he can barely stand up, he'll 
get his swats in.

Terry stays on her patch of ground. Her arms folded across her chest. She 
arches an eyebrow muttering softly "An' yet another reason I'm glad I'm na' 
datin' a member o' th' team." She shakes her head. Better those almost things 
outside the team, with whatever their names were than this. The redhead tilts 
her head and simply gets a sad look in her eye, so much history she doesn't 
have with the team.

Gwen Namura hums. "Jono's busy." She's carved something on the roll. "Will, 
care to give me a little blood? Wanna try to do something while the rest of 
the team is busy."

Will gets out a knife and pricks his finger, holding it out to Gwen.

	Yelling at Joliene won't help anything. She isn't responsable for this 
illusion. She was just trying to comfort Everett at the time. Now, the scene 
continues. "Well.... Maybe." Everett sounds like he does believe it, but 
doesn't want to. "I mean, I don't know... Jubilee's been through a lot lately, 
and she really needs someone... And I want to /be/ that someone, and I think 
/she/ wants me to be that someone, but Paige is in the way of it all. And I do 
feel strongly for Paige and I want to help her, but she won't /let/ me, 
and...." He cups his face in his hands. "I'm just plain confused." ... Joliene 
puts a hand over Ev's shoulder and nods, leaning close to him, "Ev... I don't 
know what happened to her. Everyone else does, but no one has bothered to tell 
me anything. But whatever she has been through, I'm sure it's about as hard as 
her as my... dying thing was on me. One minute I was dead, the next, I wasn't. 
At first I was afraid to sleep, because I thought if I did I might die again. 
When I did finally realize how foolish that was, I spent every night crying 
myself to sleep and I wanted Sam to come and comfort me, but he never did. -No 
one- did. He was too busy worrying about the team and making sure everyone 
else was safe. And I understood that. I never once complained. Sam had 
commitments. And now Paige is back, she's your friend. You care for her. She 
needs you, and -Jubilee- is making you feel guilty about helping her." She 
sighs, "I don't know, Ev, I just don't like seeing you upset. It'll all turn 
out alright in the end. I'm sure of it." Before the scene fades away a 
determined look goes over Joliene's face, as if she's determined to help 
Everett out. And it returns again, this time in... Paige's room at the Xtate.

Jubilee narrows her eyes even more as she eyes Jo with daggers. Yeah, Paige 
needed help and Jube made Ev feel bad about it. Did Jube need any help? Oh 
nooo. To Hell with Jubie. It's poor little /Paige/ that needed help. /Paige/ 
who tried to kill herself, /Paige/ who got all the attention because she drank 
and slept with everyone and his brother. But Jube, she can deal with it 
herself, she doesn't need any help. Maybe if SHE had started downing booze and 
bed-hopping, maybe THEN she'd deserve a little help, huh? She'd love to scream 
it all out at the illusion, at them /all/, but she doesn't. As much as she 
wants to, it would show them all she DOES need help. As much as Paige ever 
did. She wants it, but she doesn't want it. How weird is that? She turns her 
eyes towards Paige for a moment as he girl sobs and goes on about Ev.. and she 
frowns. "What the hell does it matter?" she says softly, but firmly. "Maybe he 
did love you, maybe he didn't, maybe he wasn't sure. What does it matter? It's 
over. You don't love him, you love /Jono/. And Jono loves you. And the more 
you cling to this memory of whatever you and Ev had, the more you hurt the guy 
who /wants/ to help you. Who's /sure/ he loves you." Jube stands up again and 
pulls away from any offered help by /anyone/, crossing her arms over her chest 
and starting to stalk away from the collective group, eyes watching the 
illusion progress. She's fine. Really. She is.

"Ah'm jus' gunna bahte mah tongue." Paige says softly at first, as she leans 
against Sam for comfort. "But Ah still think she's a louse. Even if she is 
raht." Yup, Paige's opinion of Jo just just plummetted - even though she just 
stood up for Paige and told Ev to help her, regardless of Jubilee! But then, 
Paige has never liked anyone who told HER what to do. For all that she feels 
Jo is right - she dosen't think that should have said that about her brother - 
or whined so much. As for Jo's lack of knowledge...Paige didn't want ANYONE to 
know she was coming home. Why? Well, would *YOU* want anyone to know that 
you'd been kept by a nasty monster and hurt and maimed? No. No no no. She 
wanted her arrival kept QUIET. Which is why Momma called the day *BEFORE* she 
went back. It was a surprise. It was supposed to be that way. And then Jubilee 
had to jump down your throat. "Jubilee? Shut the fuck up foah Ah reconsidah 
lettin' ya *live* when we go home, alright? Y' know Ah think aftah Ah *gutted* 
y' fuckin' boyfriend, y'd realize that Ah'm not wantin' him anymoah. This 
isn't foah me anymoah. Nah the bitch is hurtin' Sam with Joliene. Ev an' Ah... 
in the kicthen was jus' set up." Paige ain't stupid. This isn't about her, 
now, and she knows it. But she dosen't say anything more. There's no point. 
When the room melts, she blinks once, and sighs. "Great. What next? What could 
she possibly dredge up next?" She says, finally just... sitting there, half 
leaning against Sam, as she watches the room. What happened here? She wrackes 
her brain for a moment, trying to think ... Was Ev ever in her room? Or is 
this another scene for Sam to feel shitty about? She can imagine she can pull 
alot of her and Sam's 'chats' out Paige's head to hurt him with...

Well, Sam isn't fine. he has just been branded 'Supremo-Asshole' by what Jo 
says. It hurts him, to the core. He really should have spent more time with 
her when she came back to life, he should have /cared/ more. But that's in the 
past and behind them, but then again, Lishka has a knack for making the past 
hurt. "Ah dunna wanna heah this n'moah....just shut it up..." The tone is 
harsh and full of anger. Then he hears Jube's and Paige go at it /again/, and 
he just can't take anymore. "Stop it, stop it nah! Do ya's evah give up!!?? 
This is the tahme when we need ta come tagethah the most, and all ya's can do 
is /fight/!? Ya two are bettah then that, so both of ya's /shutup/ nah!" He 
now stands, still staying close to paige, but backing off a little, "Jubilee 
and Paige, ya's /both/ need ta take yoah heads outta youah asses n' quit 
fightin' ovah /Ev/! The two o' ya's are bettah then that, move on! Ah've bit 
mah tongue n' put up with this shite foah too long, act yoah age n' smartn 
up!!" Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. Well, the truth needed to be said, now seemed like a 
good time.

Well, they were in Jono's room already, why not Paige's? Jono's fists 
retighten as Jube's words strike home the truth. Thats why he stormed off in 
Paige's room, to find Teiman. He was so hurt that it was Mrs Thomas, and not 
Mrs Starsmore, that he couldn't stay there... so he ran, looking for 
distraction from the pain greater then anything physical.. but he doesn't run 
now, even as Paige and Jubes go at it proverbial tooth and nail, his knees 
almost giving out as he listens, and listens, but doesn't speak..

Terry simply blinks at the memory of Joliene, "Na' e'en tha' girl across th' 
hall from me was tha' bitchy." Wasn't it bloody obvious that both girls needed 
a lot of help. She was at Muir, she had Jubie sobbing on her shoulder for 
hours and Everett was certainly NOT the topic of conversation then. As for Sam 
and the abandonment of Joliene, she was born while her father was away on a 
mission for Interpol. She didn't know him for most of her life, she didn't 
need to forgive her father, she had additional things to blame. But she can 
understand putting the team before personal life. She glares at Sam, "Will y' 
shut up SAM, at least their dealin' wi' there emotions an' at least they are 
na stabbin each other in th' EYE. Lishka wan's t' fuck them up s' bad they'd 
just rock in a li'l ball s' we stop here. S' we don' save Ev, at this poin' we 
ha' been trapped here fer almost a WEEK! Personally I'm surrprised we're na' 
all tryin' t' tear each other int' t' tiny pieces." Terry is going to 
conveniently forget she ever intented to apologize for slapping him on the 
Ass.

	Well, you know what? Lishka had a plan to continue this mess, but she 
seems to have changed her mind. It wavers on Paige's room for a few minutes, 
pausing, as if waiting for them to stop fighting. But to be honest, this scene 
is finished and Lishka plans to move on to the next one. It was only supposed 
to go until they started to fight.

Alright. Now Jubilee has had it. *SNAP* goes the little thread she was holding 
onto her calm by. Now Paige going at it, she could have handled. But SAM?! The 
guy who she's kind of considered her surrogate big brother and best friend 
since she came back to the team?! Jubilee wirls around, eyes blazing, and her 
first gut reaction is not a good one. She abruptly tosses a paff at the 
Guthrie's, Sam specificly. Nothing too large, nothing that would really hurt 
him, but it will give him a nice jolt and send him on his ass unless he 
dodges. "Fuck you! BOTH of you!" Her eyes now settle on Paige with a boiling 
anger festering behind them. Crying a few minutes ago was her outlet for her 
pent up emotions. Now, it's rage. "Letting me LIVE, Paige? What are you doing, 
/trying/ to prove to everyone you /did/ become a monster with Emplate? You 
know, you can just go to /hell/, bitch! You're so /consumed/ in your own self 
pitty that you don't even SEE what you're doing to Jono or your brother or 
everyone else around you! How do you think it makes your BOYFRIEND feel when 
he see's your fantasy is to be /Ev's wife/?! When you start /sobbing/ because 
maybe Ev /didn't/ love you?! When he see's like all the rest of us do that 
you're still clinging to a MEMEORY instead of /embracing/ what you have right 
/here/, right /now/! Stop living in the fucking PAST!" Her eyes then dart to 
Sam with that same burning anger, unmindfull of whatever he may meet her gaze 
with - matched anger or shock over what she just did to him. "And as for YOU! 
You stupid hick sonovabitch! What the fuck do you think, my LIFE revolves 
around /Everett Thomas/?! You know, there's a REASON you couldn't help me on 
Muir! That the only person who could even /get through ta me/ was Terry when 
Ev wasn't there! Because she saw that not /everyting/ I do has ta do with 
/Ev/! He's not the ONLY thing that matters in my life! Not the only thing that 
ever HURT me!" Once again, her tears return, though she doesn't seem to notice 
them as they stream down her cheeks. "Did it ever ONCE occor to you that while 
you had YOUR head up your ass and where bending over backwards to help your 
poor little sister, there might be other things going on in the world?! Does 
/no one else/ see what she's doing to /Jono/?! I couldn't care /less/ if she 
still loves Ev - he's /mine/, and he's made that /really/ clear! Her pining 
over him doesn't /effect/ me!" LIES lies lies. Moving on. "But it DOES effect 
some /other/ people!" She firmly points one finger at Jonothon as her gaze 
bores into both Guthrie siblings.

Paige would rant. She'd rail. She'd hiss and spit and fight if she had it in 
her. But she dosen't she merely closes her eyes and buries her face in hre 
knees. If she can't kill it, she'll hide from it. All of it. Jono betrayed her 
trust with Lishka - He should have 'known better' in her warped mind. Ev 
betrayed her trust in more then one way. And Jubilee has never HAD her trust, 
so of course she just decides to curl up and just shut down. It's finally 
happened - one of the team has broken. And Jubilee, not Lishka, was the one to 
do it. Paige ends up on her side not only in an emotional fetal position, but 
in a physical one as well, silent as death. Sorry, she's not going to come out 
and play anymore.

And when you didn't think it could get any worse, it does. Sam is taken by 
surprise as the paffs swarm around him, thrusting him to the mud near the 
lake. Oh, just peachy. He's not only angry, but he's a mess now as well. Two 
blue eyes look up to jubilee in puzzlement, showing a lot of anger residing 
behind them. No, he doesn't lash out or anything of the sort, he just slowly 
gets out of the mud and to his feet. He doesn't interrupt when Jubilee goes 
after Paige, just watches with narrowed eyes, wiping the mud from his rear. He 
really wants to march back up there and say his piece, but he decides not to, 
look where it got him the first time. The anger inside Sam rises back up to 
top knotch when Jubilee says that he wasn't there for her. /Excuuuuse/ me!? 
Who was the one that saved her life when she decided she didn't want to live 
it anymore? Who's the one that took her in his office more them once to 
reassure her that Ev loved her? Who was the one that was there for her when 
ever he could be? This all runs through Sam's head, staying silent. He then 
notices his sister, heart beginning to race. In a flash he is over at her 
side, clutching her as he begins to rock her.

Terry swallows her anger and stands up walking to Jubilee, "Okay everyone lets 
calm down." She places her arm about the girl, "We need t' relax and focus. We 
stand t'gether and things will be better fer us.. she keeps us appart an' she 
will take care o' us all." She murmurs to Jube, "We canna let her win. Na' 
anymore." She looks to Sam and Paige, "Y' two please.." She just sighs and 
rests her head against Jube.

Well, Jono is leaning against a wall, trying to stay in control of the little 
power he has left, hugging his knees tightly to his chest, watching the crowd 
through almost-closed eyes. His fists tighten as Jubes screams, both from the 
truths of her words, and what they do to Paige. He knows he fucked up in his 
room, he was the only one to give in. But if you were faceless, then gifted 
with a body, and had the chance to kiss the girl you love, just once (even if 
she isn't the girl you love, just cloaking herself), wouldn't YOU kiss her? He 
does pick himself up, moving slowly towards the curled-up Paige, glaring at 
Terry and Jubes.

Gwen Namura pauses, then slowly walks over to Paige and sits down. She takes 
Paige's hand, and slowly, soothingly talks to her, almost like a hypnotist. 
"Paige, I know you don't want to hear me right now. You don't want to hear 
anyone. You don't even like yourself that much. But that's because there's 
someone inside you. Someone you care about, and that's the real you. You're 
not a bad person, you are not a bad person. You're yourself, uniquely you. 
Your brother is here, and so is your love. And they see you. Not the dirty 
grimy coating on your soul that you feel. Not the horrible burning scars. I 
want you to feel the grimy coating. I want you to feel the scars. And I want 
you to reach up and pull them right off your body. I want you to husk free 
into the real you. I want you to be free and proud and content with who you 
are. Because you are someone. You are someone we all care about. You are Paige 
Guthrie. Now reach up and pull the mask off and pull the grime off and pull 
the scars off and show us who you are."

Jubilee watches as everyone (save Terry) flocks to little miss mellowdramatic 
and she almost sneers. "Lovely. But this is how it's always been so I guess I 
shouldn't care by now." she mutters, not loud enough for anyone to hear beside 
Terry. Paige hurts them both, and they run to her the second things get a 
little too much for little miss Fragile to handle. Well grow up! You deal or 
you let it kill you, so hurry up and get one or the other done with. Jubilee 
didn't /ask/ Sam to save her life. Certainly didn't /want/ him to. She turns 
towards Terry and tries to soften her expression, but it doesn't work. She's 
too.. ANGRY! Angry at Paige for not being able to keep a grip on herself, 
angry at Sam for runing to her when Jube needed him, angry at Jono for being 
such a spineless jerk that he couldn't /show/ that what Jube said was truth.. 
Angry at herself for what she just did. Angry at the /world/. So who gets to 
have that anger directed at them now? Guess. Jube's head lifts up and she 
stares up at the sky and calls out "C'mon Lishka, hurry the fuck up!!"

It's quite a pity that Jubilee never knew the old Paige. She used to be 
someone worthy of respect. Someone you could depend on. Too bad Jubilee is 
right - And that Emplate made he into something she wasn't. For all that 
Gwen's words are heard - they have no outward affect. Paige's blue eyes are 
blank and staring, as she enters another inner conflict - and the victor has 
yet to be decided.

Sam stays right where he is, gently holding onto his sister, eyes boring into 
the ground. Not a word is said, he just thinks things through as he tries to 
come up with a solution to all this hell.

Terry covers Jube's mouth, "Hush lass. Its na goin' t' help y' t' get s' 
bitter abou' tha'.." she mutters, "Listen t' me jus' drop it fer na'.." She 
glances to Sam, "Ha's Paige doin' " She closes her eyes well at least Jubilee 
isn't internalizing anymore. Whiskey would be good right about now, but Lishka 
wouldn't be that generous. "Hell canna be this horrible."

Jono stops near Paige, watching her and Gwen, watching her blank gaze, wishing 
that he was more then a walking furnace of psionic energies, that he could 
actually use them for more then simple communication to survive.

Gwen Namura sits and continues to talk to Paige, holding her hand warmly, 
comfortingly. We all need a little human contact at our worst times. And 
Gwen's trying to provide it. Strong, caring, but nonjudgemental. She continues 
to speak. "We know you're there, Paige. You wouldn't be in such pain if you 
weren't. You wouldn't have the agony if you didn't care, if you had no soul. 
It's a good thing, the pain and the hurt. But you've got to work past it. 
You've got to dig all the way down into who you are, what your mother taught 
you, what your father taught you while you knew him. What your brothers and 
sisters taught you, just by living, just by being themselves. And what you 
taught them. Did they look up to you? And you deserved it, too. Because at 
your core, you are still Paige Guthrie. And we love you. And we want you to 
come back. Just pull away the pain. It's not hard. It's just an act of will. A 
choice. Say you will do something. Say that you are who you are. You are no 
other person's creature, no monster's plaything."

Gwen Namura continues to talk soothingly. "We want you back, Paige. Jono wants 
you. Most importantly, Sam wants you back. Sam's the one you looked up to. 
Well, he always loved you, Paige. He always was proud of you. Of what you've 
done. Of how strong you were. How you kept the house together after he went to 
work into the mines. That was bad. That was as bad as it got. But you survived 
it. You helped your mom through it. We're here. We're all here to help you 
through it. Make the right choice, Paige. Come back to us."

Will is standing by, near Gwen's side, useless as usual. He looks very 
concerned, of course, but what can he do?

	Whatever you say, Jubilee. Lishka was content to let you all bitch for a 
little while longer. It was such a fun show to watch. A hell of a lot better 
then MTV, that's for sure. It's like the Real World. Only in hell. With paffs. 
And illusions. Speaking of illusions, since Jubilee provoked Lishka, she's 
gonna play along. Lookie here. This new scene starts with one thing. A shrill 
scream which breaks the air, tearing apart the illusion and making the entire 
thing ripple like water, only the further the ripple goes, the more of the 
illusion is replaced with something else entirely. When the entire illusion 
has changed, the scream ended, you find yourselves in a room that seems to 
defy the laws of physics. At one moment the room seems to be 
circular...another square in shape...then at another moment it seems to have 
no boundries. The only constant is the stone floor beneath your feet. It's 
comprised of gray stone blocks or tiles that make a shart *clicking* sound as 
you walk. The room is lit by an unseen light that almost seems to shine upon 
you and you alone. There are only two notable things that exist within this 
room. The first, is unknown...it is creatures that hide in the shadows on the 
edge of your vision. Unseen, but their claws click and scratch menacingly on 
the stone floor. The other is a massive throne that seems to rest of the 
perpetual center of the room. It seems not to rest on the floor, but just 
above. It's form changing with the whim of the room at one moment it looks to 
be made from skulls and bones...the next fire and heat...then again stone and 
gem... And sitting on the throne is a man. 

	He's a powerfully built man with firm set features. His skin, what can 
be seen of it, is white. Pure white. His hair is cropped short and is a dark 
black color. In the center of his forehead he bears a dark red diamond. His 
dark red eyes peer out at the world absorbing all they see, his mouth set into 
a sly grin of self satisfaction. He wears a skin tight blue and red suit of 
flexible armor on his person. It begins just behind his head with a tall 
standing red collar that flows down into his black shoulder pads. From this 
collar several "tassles" extend up and down like an odd cape. His shoulder 
pads extend out a bit away from his shoulders and curve up a bit, each side is 
connecting in the center of his throat, in front of his adams apple. His arms 
and torso are comprised of the same metal as his shoulder pads, it's just skin 
tight and made out of what appears to be bands that wrap around him. The only 
marking on his upper torso is a large red diamond in the center of his chest. 
A thick red belt encircles his waist. His lower torso and legs are made from 
the same band like material as his arms. His hands are covered in a pair of 
black gloves that only go as far as his wrists while his legs are covered in 
boots that reach as far as mid thigh. This man looks sinister. Which is no 
surprise. Because he -is- Sinister.

The room.. it alone sends a sudden.. chill up Jubilee's spine. The feel of 
it.. the sounds, the smells.. the darkness resting eerily just alongside the 
light.. She's almost.. afraid to move her eyes towards that throne.. But they 
do. As if some odd magnetic force /drew/ her to that spot, as it has so many 
times in the past.. drawn her eyes to /him/. It's like.. not being able to 
tear your eyes away from the gun thats pointed at your head. The Great White 
Shark that's charging your way. And the second - the absolute MOMENT - her 
eyes find that shark in the darkness.. Jubilee's whole body starts to tremble 
and she takes two steps back. Not internalize? She's doing more internalizing 
then she has /ever/ before. Paige can fight her demon in Emplate... Jubilee? 
... Not a prayer. She just.. CAN'T. She can't fight him. Not even an illusion. 
She can't stand up to him, she can't fight him.. and now she has the sudden, 
sinking feeling that no one's going to be backing her up here with Paige in 
her fetal schtick.

Alas, Paige is rousing quietly, and rubbing her eyes. She mentally blanked - 
everything Jubilee said was forgotten. "Wha happened?" She mumbles. Yeah, best 
mental self denfese. You don't like it? Forget it happened. She squirms in 
Sam's arms, totally unaware of what's going on - and then screeches at the 
sight of Sinister. And then she remembers it's an illusion. "Fuck..." She 
blinks and looks up at Jubilee, and then prods Sam as she tries to wriggle 
free of his arms, apparently utterly fine, "Gowon. Help heah." She'll.... just 
slink over here and try and ignore the niggling voice in the back of her head.

Well, you're wrong there, Jube. Sam is soon at your side, a firm hand on your 
shoulder as he stares daggers at the illusion. it sends chills up his spine as 
well, seeing the man that killed your girlfriend will do that to you. "You'll 
be fahne, Jubie, ya have ta face 'im..." And that she does, the Asian girl has 
to gulp down all her fears and face the menace. "Ahm raght heah, girl, ya 
don't have ta be alone..." It's weird, all his anger towards Jubilee has 
disappeared. Who'd a thunk it?

Jono continues to stand there, stoic, if not shakey, watching the events 
transgress.. the most he can do is try to drag someone out of the way if this 
is a real illusion.

Gwen Namura looks up from where she holds Paige's hand. "Ah, shove off, ya 
pasty faced galoot. I feel dirty knowing you exist." She reaches up and pulls 
down the lower eyelid with her right index finger, sticking her tongue out.

Will frowns determinedly, turning to face Sinister. He sets his jaw and his 
eyes flash with electricity for a moment. He's been pushed around a lot in 
this tower, and here is finally something he can acknowledge as a combatable 
foe. "STOP IT!" he yells. "Leave my friends alone! All of you!" His skin 
begins to dance with golden energy, slowly building into an ozone-reeking aura 
around his body. The field then abruptly bursts, swirling around and into Will 
until he's consumed by it entirely. The newly formed mass of electricity 
twists and shapes into an energy approximation of Will's body. He speaks 
again, "Leave them alone or I'll...I'll FRY you!" He's angry enough to do 
something...pity he doesn't realize it's not his time.

Will is enveloped in a burst of golden energy, which then bursts outwards, and 
gathers in upon itself into a floating mass of electricity, in a humanoid 
shape.

	Sinister's face is completely emotionless as he slowly stands from the 
throne, his armor rippling slightly over his body as he moves. He takes steps 
forward, the odd cape flowing behind him with each step, deeper into the light 
which now seems to be focused completely on Jubilee and Sam. Centered there in 
fact. The light casts eerie shadows on his face and armor and behind him, 
making strange shapes and formations as he moves that are almost as 
threatening as his stature. He doesn't say anything, just moves forward 
slowly, his feet clicking against the stone floor. He has his hands folded in 
front of him, fingers forming a triangle near his waistline. He walks as 
regally as a king, and as smugly. As if he knows he is better then everyone 
else in this room could ever be. He's above everything and everyone, and 
nothing can effect him. He seems oblivous to everything and everyone around, 
expect for the two the circular light is focased on. Besides the clicking of 
his feet on the floor, and Will's outburst and other small talk, the other 
sounds are the scratching of something against the floor off in the darkness. 
There's also another sound. A strange sound. Something that almost seems out 
of place in this hell hole. The sound of flowing water, like the water of a 
not too far off stream. That nagging sound that almost sounds like a fire 
burning if you don't listen close enough. Nature has a funny way of making two 
totally different things sound similar.

	Crossing the distance from the throne to where the two he's focused on 
stand, he stops, his cape finally allowed to settle against his back, and the 
sounds of his foot steps fading from the echo they were creating after a few 
moments, leaving just the sound of the monsters and the water and other such 
sounds from the group to be heard. He watches both of them evenly with 
expressionless glowing red eyes. He inclines his head slightly inclined as if 
looking at a spot directly above Samuel's head, then finally, after a few 
moments of silence, he speaks. "So, Jubilation Lee and Samuel Guthrie... I've 
been waiting to see you two again. Miss Lee, I've been looking forward to 
extracting more information from you. This new team you have hooked up with. 
I'd like to know more. You were so helpful in out last encounter. Now, as for 
you Mr. Guthrie..." He stops in his words, or perhaps the entire scene pauses 
for a moment. Again, Lishka is playing on knowledge extracted from the 
children's minds. As far as they know, Sinister does not know where their new 
base is. He does not know anything about them. So Lishka is playing on that 
fact, despite whether or not it is true. Why is this particular scene aimed at 
both Sam and Jubilee? That is something yet to be determined. Perhaps because 
both have a rather painful past with the sinister man before them. Would Liska 
use her knowledge of those two events to her advantage? Is ice cold? You're 
damn right she will.

Jubilee trembles almost uncontrollably against Sam as the farmboy tries to 
comfort her. But the memories are far too vivid.. spending days, /weeks/ in 
some tiny cage while she was poked and prodded, hours strapped down to a slab 
on a device he tried to use to rip her memories from her, countless nights (or 
days? She never could be sure..) locked up all alone in a dark featurless 
room, just curled up and sobbing and wishing /someone/ would come to save her. 
And no one ever did.. Not even Wolvie.. She can remember the sights, the 
smells, the cold feeling of the floor and the exact way the bars of the cage 
pressed against her back when she'd lean against them. She remembers the 
injections he gave her to keep her alive, and the things he did to try and 
break her will.. and how close he came so many times before finally succeeding 
in taking what he wanted.. He experimented and treated her like some lab-rat, 
but he often made some kind of mistake.. some tiny little hardly noticable 
error that would snap Jubilee back into reality and keep her fighting just one 
more day. History has a way of repeating itself.. Jubilee clings despritly to 
Sam as Sinister approches and speaks of how he's looking forward to screwing 
with her head again, but then he has to go and threaten Sam. Suddenly Jube is 
no longer clinging to the farmboy for protection, but to force him behind her 
even as her tear-streaked face turns to look deffiantly up at Sinny's ugly 
mug. "Don't you /touch/ him you bastard!!" she cries out, fingers digging into 
Sam's arms, intent on keeping him where he is.

At this point, Sam is finding it /very/ hard to put on the tough and defiant 
face. Sinister is probably the one man that he fears most, the one man that he 
knows can break his teams spirit with a gesture. "Go ta fuckin' 'ell...." He 
mutters, clutching to Jubilee as he stares ice at the villain. "Unghh!" He 
yells out as Jube's nails dig into his arms, getting pushed behind her. "Ahm 
raght heah Jubie, he ain't real..." His voice is rather shaky, eyes trying to 
stay on the ground and avoid contact with Sinister. It's weird how he sort of 
zones out at these important times, focusing on Jubilee and Jubilee alone. 
"Ahm raght heah...."

Terry drops onto the floor not even knowing how to help with this. Her eyes 
slide from superarchvillian to Jubilee and Sam. She rests back on her elbows 
and watches with a quiet dismay

Gwen Namura just _looks_ at the pasty faced fool. "Lardface, you can't scare 
us with the Crazy Diamond here. You ain't real and we are. We, like, are 
totally superior to you. So just... blow, flim-flam-fake." She moves over to 
Lee. "Hey, Jubes! Big chance to beat on a stuffed dummy. Payback's a bitch, ya 
know?"

	A slight smirk crosses his lips for a brief moment, the fades away. 
Sinister pays no attention to Gwen - no offense, you're invisible to him - and 
tilts his head a little to the side, as if motioning in the direction of the 
shadows. "Touch him, Miss Lee? I wouldn't dream of touching him." And he makes 
it sound like the very thought of actually touching Sam would be below him. He 
doesn't need to touch Sam to hurt or break him, and he knows it, so he isn't 
even going to bother. He keeps his hands folded and then looks back at the two 
clinging to each other, "You are awful protective of this leader, Miss Lee. 
You're tendancy to grow an attachment with those you work with is crediable, 
but illogical. Because in the end, you'll betray those you hold so dear. Won't 
you, Miss Lee?" Gosh, for someone who's supposed to lack emotion, he seems 
fairly amused by the topic of conversation, and the reaction on their face. 
You know... Lishka and Sinister would probably get along fairly well. Finally, 
he responds to Sam's words, "My, such language, child. You didn't use such 
language when you watched me kill your teammate." Stabstabstabstab.

Groan. Uh, Paige *JUST* got back from her 'happy place' where she DENIES the 
bad things that are happening. She was okay until just a moment ago, but by 
God, she's not about to leave Sam without any support. She slowly struggles to 
her feet - She dosen't know who this thing is, as she's never seen Sinister, 
but she knows that he's not a nice person and this is who Jubilee resembled in 
the first Mirror Room. "Though Ah can fault Jubilee in alotta ways, heah 
loyalty ain't one of 'em. Generation X is a team, and we stand bah our own." 
She says flatly, tossing her hair back from her face, though inside she 
recoils at the lie. She knows that she betrayed the team as well - Jubilee 
have more then Everett in common! "She's strong enough t' stand against ya." 
Which is more then she can say when it comes to her and Emplate.

If only it where true. But the sad fact is, for all Jubilee's bravido and 
ability to mouth off to Sinister, she could never, EVER, so much as lay a 
finger on him. She tried once, towards the middle of her captivity, when he 
gave her the chance to just.. go at it. Kill him if she wanted to. And she 
/tired/.. Oh /God/ did she /try/! She slammed her fists against him and tried 
to claw at him through that armor, but it was all a pittifull attempt. To this 
day she isn't sure why she couldn't just.. wrap her hands around his throat 
and choak the life out of him. Why she couldn't atleast punch him without 
breaking into a rage of tears and curling in on herself. He conditioned her 
well. He 'saved' her from those who didn't care enough to keep her in the X-
Men where she belonged, and who couldn't come to rescue her from him, even if 
she told herself she'd never believe him when he said it. Her savior and her 
tormentor. Amazing how you can think of someone as God and the Devil all at 
once. "I didn't betray them!!!" she almost screams out at him as the tears 
pour down her cheeks and she clings even tighter to Sam, both for protection 
and to protect him. "I didn't /give/ you /anything/!! You /took/ it!!" Maybe 
if she says that enough, she'll believe it..

Now /that/ is why Sam fears Sinister so bloody much. His heart begins to pound 
furiously in his chest, threatening to burst out and scamper off in utter 
fear. His face doesn't show it though, a determined look painted on, but he 
knows Sinister can sense his true fear that hides beneath the facade. "Don't 
listen ta 'im, Jube, he's just tryin' ta shake ya..." Eyes dart up to face 
Sinister while Sam says in a determined voice, "Jubilee will neveah betray us, 
she just betrayed ya. Lest we forget jus' /who/ she got away from? /Ya/. Yoah 
the one that screwed up n' she got away, all cuz o' yoah stupidity. Ya 
underestimated how strong she was, n' ya got beat. Nuthin' moah to it, Sinny, 
n' if she beat ya once on 'er own, how ya think she's gunna fair with 'er 
whole team behind 'er? Hmmm? Heh, ah thought so..." Surprisingly, Sam's 
enjoying this. He's had /dreams/ about going toe to toe with Sinister. This 
may not be exactly what he was dreaming, but it's pretty damn close. "Go back 
to yoah hole..." The country boy mutters, squeezing Jubilee once again. He 
doesn't even acknowledge the comment about him killing his teammate, that's 
exactly what he wants. If Sam snaps and goes wild on Sinister, he wins. So for 
now Sam stays as calm as possible, deep breaths entering and exiting rapidly.

Terry glares steel daggers at Sinister, "Bastard. Obsessed lunatic." She 
shifts from where she had dropped and stands. She moves herself between 
Sinister and Jubilee. She can't block out the image, only Juggy could probably 
do that. She mutters to Jubilee, "He's na' th' real one. Y're free from th' 
reality. Iffen' y' could be free from th' reality an' be happy away from him, 
imagine ha' easy it will be t' deal wi' Lishka's l'il projection. Fer all we 
na' tis Lishka doin' another one o'her song an' dances right there..." She 
slides her hands into her pockets as she speaks.

Jono stands his ground, the most he can do is drag someone out of the line of 
fire, his reserves pretty much drained, a strain to stand upright at the 
moment, but he does..

Gwen Namura sighs. "Heck with this. We let him talk, he hurts us." She waves, 
almost carelessly, and a jagged trident of energy extends suddenly from her 
hand, pointy spikes aiming for Sinister's left eye, mouth, and throat.

	Alright, now Sinister truely smiles. As if they're all just playing into 
his blue armored hands. God, this is too amusing to even give the words to it, 
but besides the smile, he doesn't show any emotional reaction to his 
amusement. "Miss Lee, I beg to differ. While I did take the information, and 
while you resisted giving it, I still got it. From you. In fact..." He stops 
his words and then looks even more smug in the direction of the fearless 
leader, "Mr. Guthrie, I'm afraid you do not understand everything which 
occured while this young woman was in my 'care'. And I hate to be the one to 
tell you this, but young Jubilee did not excape." He pauses for a moment, 
looking off into the shadows as if reminising on some event of the past, "I 
had extracted all the information I needed from her, so I released her. After 
deleting all the memories I extracted and her time here. Unfortunately I see 
she got the memories back. Your X-teams always have at least one formitable 
psi on them. It's a minor annoyance. Makes my job just a little more 
difficult." Just a tiny amount. Then he seems to remember something and looks 
back, focusing on Jubilee, "Oh, I forgot to mention. The information you gave 
me was incredably useful. I never would have been able to plan my assualts on 
the mansion without it. Which of course means, that in the end -you-, Miss 
Lee, are responsable for the untimely death of one of the team you say you 
hold such dedication to." Actually, Lishka's just going on a hunch here. Since 
Jubilee was captured before the whole thing which lead to Joliene's death and 
rebirth. Oh, and as for Gwen's spikes, they seem to hit something, flash, and 
bounce off. The real Sinister does have forcefields after all, and this one 
has illusions of them.

Well, bah! Fuck you! Paige ain't gunna take this from no pasty faced peice of 
shit! Bwah! He's not SCARY. Emplate, he's scary... and in a twisted, 
Snuffalupagous kinda way. OF course, she can REALLY Empathize with Jubilee 
now... and feels doubly guilty for what she said early. "It dosen't mattah." 
She says firmly. "No mattah what happened, what she did, it ain't heah fault. 
She was strong enough not to break and jus' *give* in. You had t' fight her 
tooth an' nail foah whatevah paltry shreds ya got." Yeah. So there! ... Paige 
just hopes Jubilee better not have just rolled over and given up, anyway.

Rolled over and given up? No, no way. Jubilee gave Sinister a /damn/ good 
fight for what information he took from her, and in the end he had to rip it 
from her mind instead of the delicate extraction he'd been hoping for. Maybe 
he wanted another minion - saw Jubilee's future power potential. Maybe he just 
wanted another loyal subject or experimentation subject. Whatever he wanted 
from her after he was finished with gaining information, he didn't get it. He 
couldn't totally break her.. Which is a credit to Jubilee, even if it did 
leave her majorly screwed up in the head.. His words strike a deep blow as 
Jubilee recalls all the things she heard about when she came back to the 
team.. about how Sinister attacked the team and killed Joliene.. That must be 
what he's talking about. He must have been able to kill her because of the 
information he took from Jubilee!! Jube falters in her footing and leans a 
little into Sam's chest, hands gripping a little less tightly on his arms as 
she trembles. "That.. That's not true!!" she pittifully cries out insistantly, 
voice choaking on sobs. "Jo was killed /before/ that!! Before you took the 
information from me!" Or.. atleast.. she /thinks/ so.. He could have taken 
/some/ of it without her knowing..! Or maybe she doesn't remember.. or.. oh 
god.. "It's not /true/!"

At first he looks a bit puzzled, but as the information begins to process in 
Sam's mind, it's all too clear. He honestly believed that Jubilee has escaped 
on her own accord, having outsmarted the man himself. I guess he was wrong. 
However, this newly turned over leaf does not change a /thing/ in Sam's mind, 
it doesn't make one bit of a difference to the country boy. He looks up at 
Sinister, and says with a sneer, "It doesn't mattah how she got away, she did, 
n' that's all that mattah's." Then he lays the guilt trip, causing Sam to 
despise him past the brink and beyond. "Jus' stop raght there!! Shut yoah God-
damn mouth n' get yoah infoahmation raght! Jube's couldn't stop ya, it wasn't 
'er fault!" The anger in his tone continues to rise to newfound levels, eyes 
on fire. Looking down at his Asian teammate, "Ignore 'im, Jube's. He's just 
tryin' ta shake ya again, ya did naht kill Jono! Listen ta me, it was naht 
yoah fault!" A stern tone as he clutches to Jubilee, looking back up to 
Sinister with frustration. Okaaaaay, Lishka...are you done yet?

Terry places her hands on Jubilee's face, "Jubie love.. y' dinna hurt 
anybody..wha' he did is na' yuir fault, Sinister is a bastard. " She smoothes 
back a lock of the girl's hair, "Y' are stronger than him. Y' are.. y've 
survived a lot.." She focuses on the asian girl and Not on Sinister.

	Sinister doesn't seem to be bothered by all the fuss against him. In 
fact, her just turns and starts walking towards the shadows, like he's 
focusing on one of those scratching monsters off to the side. He keeps his 
head inclines slightly, chin raised enough so the light casts even longer 
shadows across his face as he watches something that no one else can see. He 
seems completely preoccupies with something totally unrelated all the while as 
they talk. When Terry's words are finally finished, he turns back to the two 
in the center, still focused on them, "Oh, I'm sorry. My mind became 
preoccupied. What exactly was it that you were saying? Not her fault that Miss 
Eaton died? Oh, well, you would be the one to think that wouldn't you, Mr 
Guthrie? You blame yourself partly after all for what happened. Why shouldn't 
young Miss Lee share some of the blame?" He gives his shoulders an almost 
bored shrug, then adds, "And perhaps you should think of it this way - both of 
you. If Jubilee had never ran away from the X-Men, I never would have found 
her. Did you ever think of it that way?"

Okay, she dosen't exist here, does she. Her words are effecting neither her 
brother, nor Jubilee, nor Sinister. Paige just falls silent, creeping away 
some distance, giving some peice of scientific equipment or other a look and 
then glowering at everyone in general.

Sorry Paige. And Terry. And Sam, for that matter. Much of what you say is 
going right past Jubilee. In one ear and out the other, and all that. And then 
Sinny goes and turns on /Sam/ again. Geh. When will you /learn/, pasty face? 
When the assult is on Jubilee herself, she crumbles. On a friend? Super Paffer 
emmerges! And the claws come out. Meow! "You leave him the hell alone!!" she 
hisses at Sinister as Sam is again pulled behind her and she looks over Terry 
and to the man behind her. "Sam had /nothing/ ta do with Jo's death! He 
/loves/ her! He would throw himself infront of a bullet for her! But that's 
somethin' /you/ don't know anything about you pigment impared /freak/!!" Jube 
gently reaches up and pulls Terry out of the way, wanting to get a clear line 
from herself to the object of her rage and fear. "And Sam had nothin' ta do 
with me leavin'! Him and Ev and Terry are probably the best friends I got! So 
just leave 'em the fuck /alone/!!"

Sam continues to stare down Sinister, his fear slowly creeping away and being 
refilled with anger. "Sinistah, yoah scum. Complete n' uttah scum. If ya think 
yoah gunna peg that on Jube's, think again. No mattah /what/ happened, the 
team is still gunna be b'ind 'er. So just go back ta bein' preoccupahed, n' 
leave us /alone/!!" The final part of the statement ends with a sharp edge, 
letting the monster know just how angry he really is. It's stupid though, 
Sinister /wants/ Sam to get angry, he's waiting for the country boy to lash 
out in a fury, something Sam struggles not to do. Then comes Jubilee's attack, 
he just goes along with it, encouraging his teammate when needed.

Terry can't help herself and looks more than a touch proud of Jubilee. She 
turns to face Sinister, "Y' canna win Lishka. Y' had failed befer y' begun.. 
y' will na' win..better start writin' th' formal apology.." She folds her arms 
behind her back as she watches. Her eyes glancing over mister too much 
sunblock. The redhead murmurs, "We'll be takin' Ev' home shortly."

Jono like, stands there and stuff. He can't really talk anyway, and he can't 
move with any speed, so he's slightly useless.

	There's a soft laugh of amusement, and Sinister turns back to the 
shadows for a moment, as if taking Sam's advice and going back into 
preoccupied mode. As for Jubilee's yelling fest, he doesn't much react to it. 
Then, softly, as if adding it in passing, "I was not implying that Mr Guthrie 
- the foolishly devoted young man that he is - was responsable for the girl's 
death. I was merely pointing out that deep down he blames himself. Nor was I 
implying he was the reason you ran away." Now he glances back at Miss Super 
Paffer, "I -was- however implying that if you hadn't ran away from the X-Men 
and the New Mutants that I would have never gotten the appropriate information 
and would not have been able to launch my strikes on the mansion." Of course, 
Lishka's making half this up here. She doesn't have Sinister to mind suck, so 
she's going on mixed and often missing information and forming the most 
painful conclusions she can imagine.

Paige just sits down, not to far from Jono, and wraps her arms around her 
legs, glaring sullenly out at the world. "Someone remind her that if she 
dosen't deal with this bastard, then she'll be betrayin' Ev'rett." She mutters 
under her breath, just loud enough to be heard by anyone who isn't shouting or 
screaming - which isn't many.

Managing to move, Jono staggers towards Paige, managing to place himself next 
to her, taking the same position as he watches, trying to conserve space.

In her moment of silence, something /finally/ gets through to Jubilee - 
Paige's words. Why? Because. She mentioned Everett. And she's /right/. You've 
gotta deal with this bastard, Jubilee! Time's ticking away.. Jube recoils at 
first from Sinister at his last words, taking a step back to Sam, where she 
hovers for a minute more.. Gotta do this. He's not real. This isn't the /real/ 
Sinister. You've gotta take care of this guy for /Ev/ and for /Sam/ and for 
everyone else, so they can all get /home/! These thoughts give her a little 
more resolve and she takes that step forward again, balling up her fists, 
though still a little too timid, and once again trembling as she cries. Gotta 
/fight/ him, damnit!! "C'mon Jube.." she mutters to herself as her head leans 
down and she tries to muster up some kind of courage in the face of the man 
who has been the focus of her every nightmare for months now. But it's not 
gunna work, it is Jube.. You're not gunna be able to face him, and everyone is 
gunna get STUCK here and you'll have betrayed them /again/! .. Again. "No." 
Her head lifts back up again as teary eyes look up to Sinister, and a glow 
starts to surround her hands. She is going to do this or she's gunna kill 
herself trying. "I'm NOT gunna let my friends down AGAIN because I couldn't 
stand up ta you!!" Taking a cue from Paige's encounter with her own beast, 
Jubilee growls and lashes her hands up to send a bright assult of energy orbs 
to Sinister, putting QUITE a bit of effort into this. More then she should.

As said before, this is Jube's room, meaning Jubilee has to face her fears. So 
that means Sam just has to hang back and watch Jube do her thing, hoping this 
all going to turn out how he hopes.

	Hrmpt. Well, Jubilee's cutting right to the end. And instead of the 
attack effecting Sinister, images suddenly flood Jubilee. To be honestly, it's 
just Lishka creating a personal illusion just for her, all the while 
projecting thoughts and feelings that the young girl would have felt and 
thought to herself while she was being 'questioned'. In a few seconds, 
everything she experienced - even those things she tried to keep locked away 
in her subconsious - bombard her mind, her senses. Lishka chose that time to 
strike because this is the end of the scene. She decided it would end the 
moment Jubilee faced her fear and found herself able to attack, but that 
didn't mean she was going to make the attack -easy-. No sir. Lishka isn't 
gonna let this scene end without a few more tears. A mental breakdown 
perferably, but just tears will do for now. As for what the others see, the 
paffs do hit Sinister, but he doesn't even stumble or flinch. All that happens 
is the shadows he was staring off into is suddenly illuminated. And it shows 
a... glass tube. A huge one. And inside, is - duh - Joliene's body. The one 
Sinister took after he killed her. The one Joliene does -have- anymore. Kinda 
sucks to die and lose your body and then come back with a new one wouldn't you 
say? Yeah. Lishka has to play that card, even if she has to do it earlier then 
she expected. Now, as for diamond-boy's reaction to this attack. There is 
none. That simple. Yes, in the real world, Sinister wouldn't even flinch at 
such an attack, and he certainly doesn't here.

"Mah gawd. Ah got through the bitch's thick skull." Paige grouses under her 
breath. Sorry, she's not going to do much of anything except watch.

Jubilee gasps suddenly as the images bombard her fragile senses, stopping 
suddenly, eyes flying wide for just a moment. It's all just.. WAY too much for 
someone who's not at ALL used to this sort of thing. Add to that the nature of 
the images and sounds and what-not.. Jubilee lets out a scream as her hands 
fly up to cover her ears and she ducks her head down protectivly. Her legs 
give way shortly after and she falls hard onto her knees, leaning down, her 
head nearly touching the floor. Her entire body shakes as she is forced to 
relive a horrific few months in just a few seconds, chest aching as she 
struggles to breath between sobs.

Sam is right along ith Paige, not able to do a thing but watch. The whole 'Jo 
in a testube' thing /does/ get to him, right to the core. Is that what he did 
with her body? Is he that mad of a person that he would /keep/ the corpse for 
suture experiments!? This, I hate to say, causes Sam to get /angry/. "Ya 
fuckin' bahstahd!! How /dare/ ya do that!!" Not a second passes after that 
when his kinetic blast field bursts to life, thrusting him a few good feet 
into the air. "How dare ya do that ta Jo!! How dare ya treat Jube's lahke 
that!!" Then...*SCHOOOOM* A glow comes from his chest as a singular beam of 
energy erupts and streaks toward Sinister. Sam knows it won't do a thing, but 
he needs to let his aggressions out.

	Sigh. Don't they ever learn? Nope. Never do. They're so use to physical 
confrontation - but then again this was one of those rooms anyway. Anyway, 
Sinister watches the blast streak toward him and just inclines his head. It 
gets closer, and closer, and closer, and then passes right through Sinister as 
if he wasn't even there. Don't you all just hate illusions? It flies behind 
him, and behind him, and -CRASH- right into the 'test tube'. Uh. I don't think 
I need to describe what happens, let's just say the glass shatters under the 
impact, water rushes out... Did anyone notice that the flowing water sound had 
ended when Jubilee began her attack? Well it did. It was easy to overhear 
though. Well, now the sound's back. This time it's water flowing out of the 
broken glass. Sinister does not seem bothered by the fact that his experient 
was disrupted. It doesn't bother him. Sinister is patient. He can easily start 
over again. From the memories of Sam's studies and readings up on Sinister and 
all the man's interactions with the X-Men, Lishka has been able to ascertain 
that the man is not the impatient type. And to be honest, she kind of likes 
him. In a kinship kind of way.

Eww? Paige is now scrambling out of the water. Eww. Eww. Eww. "GAWD." She 
mutters... and then looks over at Sinister. Fuck! What are they supposed to 
do!?

Jubilee doesn't even hear the crash, her arms sliding up and over her head to 
shelter it as the sounds all around her die down, save for the sound of her 
own tears. Still in her crouched position, on her knees with her forehead on 
the floor infront of them (she's flexable!), Jubilee continues to cry for a 
little longer in this position before she slowly puts her hands on the floor 
and pulls herself up to a kneeling position, head hanging and tears still 
falling, eyes open and staring at the floor. She's not gunna way a word.. 
Nope. Just gunna kinda.. stay here.. stable.. and just start to force herself 
to shove it all back. Of course.. that may take awhile.. and Lishka might not 
be planning to let them rest too long before she throws the next curve ball at 
Jube.

Sam, still hovering in the air, gasps in shock as his blast impacts the tube 
and all hell breaks loose. Well, not exactly. It's not that big of a deal, 
just water. His blast field is turned off and Sam drops to the floor near Jube 
with a splash, then moving towards her and help her up. "Jube's!? Ya alraght, 
luv? It's gunna be fahne..." He opens his arms, offering a hug.

Terry drops to the ground next to Jubilee, she places her hands on the girl's 
shoulders, "Jubilee.. Jube.... ah.. Jube... lass please, we're here lass..."

Jubilee sniffles and closes her eyes again, leaning in against Sam's chest and 
strength, not for comfort, but simply to for a moment surrender to her 
physical and mental exhaustion. She lifts a hand and wipes her cheeks and 
eyes, then looks over to Terry and offers up a pathetic smile. Her way of 
silently saying she's down, but not yet out.

	Ok, now that that's over with and Jubilee is able to ... at least 
uncurl... something strange begins to happen. Other things similar to what's 
happening here are times when Lishka has snapped, or been attacked. But no one 
has attacked her... have they? The illusion ripples, shimmers, and faces all 
at once, until all the water is gone, Sinister is gone, the sounds are gone. 
They're in a blank room... that is shaking violently. Earthquake! ... What the 
heck is going on here? Who knows? Uhoh... The wall is beginning to crack just 
like it did when Jono slammed her the first time and when she broke down 
emotionally back in Sam's room. The edge of the crack in the wall is turning 
to... dust. As if the shaking is causing the very essense of the room to lose 
it's solidity. It seems for a moment as if the whole thing might fall apart 
around them. Not good, then suddenly... it all stops. And everyone is standing 
in a blank room, with a wide crack in the wall revealing a reflective silver 
surface.

Jubilee gasps as the room starts to shake and she holds a little tighter onto 
Sam, eyes opening and looking all around. When it finally comes to an end and 
the mirror-like surface is revealed, Jube arches a brow upward and looks 
curiously to it.. And again, she has to wonder.. is this the start of that .. 
one specific thing she's been worrying was going to come along..? She gently 
parts from Sam and pulls herself up to her feet, starting to walk towards the 
crack and silver surface, silently hoping she doesn't turn into a guy or 
Sinister or whatever..

Sam has a firm grasp on Jubilee when the scene fades and is replaced with an 
earthquake. years of fighting for Xavier's dream allows Sam to be sure-footed 
and not fall over, clutching to Jubilee and making sure the others are fine. 
When it does stop, he allows Jubilee to go and explore, his heart slowing to a 
steady pace. "Well, ahm glad that's ovah..." He says in a quiet tone to the 
rest, looking them over to be sure that everyone is okay. "Jube, what ya see 
ovah there?" Sam takes in a deep breath, putting his pockets into his 
/heavily/ stained and tattered jeans, walking over to Jubilee and the silvery 
crack.

Poor Paige. She's just getting up and dealing with the water when the 
earthquake hits. WHEEEEEEE *THUD*. Down she goes. "FUCK!" She exclaims as her 
butt hits the floor, and then she's trying to push herself up. "Nah what?"

Terry stands up with a slight grunt, her left eye still swollen and puffy from 
the punch Jubilee did a few scenes back. She glances to the others, "Well we 
ou' o' this yet.." The redhead arches her eyebrow and glances at the mirror, 
"Wha' is it w' Lishka an' these damn mirrors. This woman must be th' vainest 
thing." Speaking of vain, Terry pushes her hair over the left side of her face 
trying to obscure the shiner.

Gwen Namura looks around from where she's sitting on the floor. She shrugs, 
and wanders over to the wall... not too far from the crack. She starts to peck 
at it with a golden axe.

	Alright. Now comes the weird part - or perhaps I should say the weirder 
part. As Jubilee walks over to the silver surface, the sounds of a battle 
happening above begin. And the closer she gets, the louder they get. Now what 
are the sounds? Well, there's the sounds of loud paffs and the roar of Sam's 
blastfield for a moment, then a few seconds later there's a scream like 
Terry's and then it ends completely. Now what was that all about? Another 
illusion of you all fighting and dying? Nawh. Lishka wouldn't use that again. 
Now as for the silver reflective surface, it seems to be... a pillar. Perhaps 
a brase which helps hold the power together. Like the structure, the 
framework. After a few moments of silence, there's a loud rushing sound, like 
something that's coming closer and closer, then a doorway appears. It looks 
like a regular doorway, except it has a rune carved into it. Raidho. The same 
one that Teiman used in the library all that time ago. The doorway opens after 
another moment, and someone steps out. Now who is that someone? Well, 
surprise, surprise. It's not Lishka. It's not Teiman. It's not even a 
Niflmannaz. It's Everett. Looking worn, tired, and a little beaten. He looks 
as if he's been in a fight.

She's approched with a touch of reserve about what this could be.. The thought 
had even occored to her that Lishka would try and make Jube see Ev kissing 
Lishka, as she had done to Jono and Paige. She's prepared for it. What she 
wasn't prepared for, however, was what she got. Jubilee's eyes fly wide open 
and her heart virtually leaps from her chest. "EV!!" she cries out before 
throwing her arms around him and holding him tightly against her, cheek 
pressed to his, tears again starting to flow down from her eyes. "Ev!! Oh God, 
are you okay?! What did she do to you?! How did you /get/ here?! Did she let 
you go?!" The questions come out in a fast bombardment, typical Jubilee 
fashion. Without even stopping for breath.

"Nah that's bloody strange...." Sam mumbles beside Jubilee and gwen as he 
listens to the battle that appears to be taking place above them. "Gwenny, ah 
reckon ya shouldn't do that just yet, dangerous..." Obviously in regards to 
her pecking away at the pillar. Then, Sam sees the one thing he has been 
waiting for all this time. Ev. "Oh mah gawd...." I gotta hand it to you 
Lishka, he really thinks this is Ev. "Ev!" Is it already all over? Are they at 
the top? Hmmm, I guess they are. "We won!" Sam cries out, jumping up into the 
air as he rushes over to greet Everett. He obviously doesn't have reserves 
about the validity to all this like Jubilee does, he's just damn happy. Lishka 
is such a wench, curse her for creating such a huge false happiness in Sam. If 
he finds out this is all a trick, just watch his entire psych plummet back 
down to where it has been hanging for these past few days.

"Huh?" Paige sits up.... and stares blankly. Wow. It's Ev. And he looks like 
hell. Well, he's got his girlfriend and her brother to welcome him. 
She'll...just sit over here. She gives a sidelong glance at Jono, and then 
narrows her blue eyes, and looks away. Yippee. She can go home to being alone 
again.

Terry slumps with relief as Everett comes out, "Ohhhh thank god.." She drops 
onto the ground probably thinking she was never so glad to see the young man 
in her life, hell anyone in her life. She leans back on her elbows, "A bath.. 
I'll spend two hours in th' bathtub an' jes melt away.." She glances to Ev, 
"Guid t' see y'.." She rakes her hands through her hair.

Gwen Namura looks away from where she's pecking at the pillar. "Well, if you 
insist, no more vandalism. Hey, Ev. Good to see you could join the party. Form 
up, and let's get outta here. We're not at the top yet, Sam. Member what 
Tieman said? Two floors Lishka doesn't control... and we have to reach the 
top. I don't see sky, so... we're not at the top."

The tall bald boy doesn't push her away any, just wraps his arms around her 
almost protectively, "You didn't really win, but the bitch wasn't going to let 
you all leave anyway. She told me her plan just a few minutes ago. She was 
going to cheat. So I fought her until she agreed to let us all leave." Which 
would explain all the sounds and the tower shaking. Everett offers a weak 
smile in the direction of Sam. He then blinks and pushes Jubilee back a 
little, "What happened to your eye? Did Lishka hurt you?" He looks conserned 
and angry, but at the not present person of course. "You all look like you've 
been through hell. She didn't share with me much of what she was doing to you 
all. I hope it wasn't too hard on you." For a moment he looks a little guilty. 
As if he knows any pains you went through were because of him. He hears Gwen's 
words and adds, "This doorway will lead to the roof." he motions to the door 
he stepped through.

Jubilee is just too overjoyed at seeing Ev again. Reserved? Hardly. For the 
first time since they got into this mess, Jube actually, genuienly smiles, her 
hands moving to cup Ev's face. Wait, did he just call Lishka a bitch? Now now, 
Lishka. Not very 'Ev' of you. Still, Jube doesn't even notice it. Besides, who 
knows what eh could have been through up there! And she knows even /Ev/ is 
capable of hating /some/ people. And Lishka certainly warrents it. "Lishka? 
No. Not me, Anyhow. Actually, Terry gave me the shiner." She giggles a little 
and pulls Ev back to her, pressing a kiss to his lips before he can reply. 
She's gunna hold onto him tight and she's not gunna let go for WEEKS! Months! 
/Years/, maybe! One arm wrappe around his shoulders, she moves her hand to 
rest on the back of his bald head. "God Ev, I missed you so much.." she 
murmurs, eyes still tearing up. "We'll tell you all about what happened after 
we get /home/!"

Well, Sam's glad he has someone that pays attention to the important stuff. 
"Oh, gotcha, gwen..." He mutters, patting Ev on the back as he looks the boy 
over. His legs carry him a step back, letting Jubilee do her loving girlfriend 
thing. And as this ia ll taking place, Sam can't help but wonder why Lishka is 
bending the rules. Did she not say we get Ev at the /top/? Hmmmm, it's 
strange, but Sam shrugs it off. "Leads ta the roof? How do ya know, Ev? Ah 
mean, have we won? What happened? What'll we do when we get ta the roof?" he 
says all this in a casual tone, hiding his growing concern of this whole 
situation.

Sam isn't the only one who's suspicious. She remembers something - the 
Thurisaz rune. The Rune that means that Lishka made the game 'for real' so she 
couldn't cheat. But part of her is cruel and viscious. She'll let Jubilee 
suffer for a bit. Let her get false hope. Was she the only one who saw through 
her desire - and gutted it? Apparently so. She rises quietly, dusting herself 
off, and sighs softly. If it's the real Ev, great. If not.. well, she'll see 
if Jubilee and Sam see through it. If not, she'll eventually remind them of 
that all important fact that Lishka made it so she can't cheat - and so this 
is most likely not real.

"Damm Jube, conveniently ferget th' matchin' one y' gave me," The red head 
squints at Ev with a grin, "Yuir girlfriend has a heck o' a left hook..b' 
Jubes is right enough o' this.. we ken talk abou' everythin' tha' happened a' 
home." Home... funny but its clearly about the best the word has ever sounded. 
"Home." She stands up and twists her hair back and out of her eyes, "Lets get 
up there." She pauses in her steps towards the crack as she listens to Sam 
however. She leans her head against her hand and sighs.

Gwen Namura shakes her head, sadly. "Won't work like that. She did that rune, 
the one that makes us all play fair. I could swear that if we don't go through 
the whole thing, we lose. She's tricking you, Ev. Her last gasp to keep you 
and fry us. Good to see she's so desperate, though. Course, I could be wrong, 
but... I don't think we can take shortcuts."

Well, someone blinks. At Gwen mainly, "Oh, she did? Well, you're probably 
right. Lishka can be somewhat... abrasive I've noticed. I wouldn't have 
thought it possible for her to try and trick me too." He seems angry about it 
though. "What exactly were her rules though? Weren't they just to face your 
fears and desires and then you all could leave? The plan she was going to use 
was when you got to the top she was going to block the door. She said 
something about how it never said she couldn't block the door. Just that it 
had to be open when you got there. And she mentioned that she didn't want you 
on those two floors at all. Something about her Elders. I don't think Lishka, 
no matter how mean she's been, would lie to me."

Where almost everyone else is starting to get suspicious, Jubilee takes every 
word Everett says as gospel. He feels like Ev, he acts like Ev, he looks and 
smells like Ev, and most importantly - Jube needs it to be Ev. So, it is Ev. 
And Ev wouldn't lie to his friends. "It's not like we can trust that bitch 
anyhow. I mean, she could have just said that rune was for one thing when it 
really was for another! The bottom line is, the door out of here is on the 
roof and we get there through this door, so let's go!" She releases Ev, 
finally, and slides one of her hands into his, motioning to the door with a 
sweeping gesture.

Sam has reservations wether or not to go. Should he listen to Gwen and wait to 
see if this is a trick? Or go with his heart and follow out to get home? The 
thought of home is just too tempting, so Sammy boy nods and moves toward the 
door. "C'mon everyone, let's go home..." Feel free to object people, Sam might 
need a wake up call. But don't you all want to go /hooome/!? Sam does, and 
it's clouding his better judgement. Sigh.

"Bullshit." is Paige's firm voice. "Don't you get it? Don't ya see? She wants 
you to think this is home. Waste y' tahme an' go trottin' off. She can't 
cheat. An' Ev, ya just said that she'd not lie t' ya.. Well, ya'd be the 
*First* person outta all this. Foah Godsakes, Ev, if *Ah* can lie to ya, *SHE* 
sure as hell can. 'Love' or no love. Ah think yoah doin' exactly what she 
wants of ya. But then, who am Ah t' stop you. Not lahke y' all didn't give in 
t' yoah desires the first tahme around, anyha'." Yeah, her words are biting 
and cruel. But they're supposed to be. They're supposed to bite you and wake 
you up. She dosen't care if you hate her for them. She's used to being loathed 
in general by the team. "SHe can't break the laws of her own people. She 
*can't*. Mythology is classic that way. Theah ahre ALWAYS laws that can't be 
broken. The law of the Thorn Rune is one of 'em. But don't listen t' me. Ah'm 
jus' the psycho fuck-up who ya either hate or wish Ah wasn't heah. Not lahke 
Ah give a fuck anymoah." She shrugs a little, folding her arms over her chest, 
and waiting quietly for your responses.

Terry glances over at Jubilee and Sam with a sad look in her eye. She bites 
her bottom lip murmurs gently, "Eh Sam.. maybe we need t' think again fer a 
moment.. I mean she could be tricking Ev.. she may wan' t' make y' destroy 
us.." She can't help but nod with Paige.

Gwen Namura looks at Paige. "Well, that was pleasant. You're the one who read 
the book. You absolutely sure bout that thorn thing being not breakable, 
Paige? Then I'm gonna trust you... but... Darnit. But... No. Trust Paige. 
Right. Gonna trust Paige." She walks over to the blonde, and sits down. She 
can't help looking at the Raidho door, though. She mutters, "but i wanna go 
home."

	Now, comes the kick in the shins. Most of them have seen through the 
illusion at least partly, and now Lishka has to give Jubilee the final 
temptation to take the desire and go though the door. Through the Raidho 
doorway there's a sight to see. The roof of the Tower is flat, not tilted, and 
there's no railing on the edges. Beyond the edge of the roof is a landscape of 
elemental terror. Like something out of the Ice Age -- as painted by a mad 
impressionist. A blizzard with huge ungainly shapes lumbering through it. Blue 
and green flashes like lightning giving glimpses of deformed creatures 
crawling over icy ground. Twisted pinnacles of rock corkscrewing up toward a 
blank white sky. The sounds of snarling animals, creatures unlike that of any 
that could be heard on earth fill the air when howling winds don't overshadow 
them. There's another doorway, standing open. And inside the doorway is a view 
of the Entertainment Room back home. But, inside this room, the one you're 
still in, there's a soft echo in the air. Sam's voice coming out of the solid 
room. His voice sounds genuine, but of course it is just part of the illusion, 
because Sam's lips are not moving with the words. "It would crush the girl if 
everyone found out." It's a simple statement. It's purpose, it's meaning, only 
known to a few. But of course that will come out soon enough. This is a room 
of secrets, a room a fears, desires and one must face them. This is what they 
will have to accept. If they haven't already. "It would crush the girl if 
everyone found out." Yes, Lishka is throwing more at Jubilee. Hasn't she 
thrown enough? No. Because she's still wanting to move forward. And the 
Everett illusion is giving her a reason not to move forward, as if he doesn't 
hear the voice, "Come on, Jubes. Let's just leave. I don't want to stay here 
another minute. Think of all the presents you still have to open? And won't it 
be nice to actually take a shower? And eat pizza and chocolate again?" The Sam 
voice repeats itself a third time. "It would crush the girl if everyone found 
out." And a door appears where the silver reflective crack in the wall was. A 
half open door. A door that appears to lead into a bathroom.

Jubilee looks at everyone else as if they are insane. Not trust Everett? A 
trick? What kind of BS is that?! "C'mon guys! Let's just go through the 
goddamn door and go ho-" She cuts herself off as the soft words spoken by Sam 
are echoed through the room.. and Jubilee looses all color in her face, eyes 
slowly widening. She's heard these words before, though as if in a dream. 
Somewhere between this world and the next.. like a vague recollection you have 
of something said just before you awaken. Still, it's enough to very visbaly 
terrorify the girl. Her eyes move over to Sam with an almost.. frantic look in 
them. "We've gotta go. We've gotta go /now/!" Her eyes dart back to where the 
doorway to the roof had been, to find the half-opened doorway into.. the 
bathroom.. and for some unknown reason it seems to terrorify Jubilee even 
more. She's going to tell them. That bitch is going to tell them!!! And Jube 
is slowly starting to hyperventilate with panic.

Sam is busy contemplating what to do when he hears those farmiliar words, 
flooding his mind with those /awful/ memories of that day. "Oh nah...please 
don't do this. Gawd, Lishka! Don't do this!!" He screams towards the door 
leading to the roof, realising that Lishka could not be beaten if she's done 
what she just did. Eyes dart over to Ev, Sam asking in a stern voice, "I 
thought ya said ya beat 'er, Ev? She's still up n' 'bout..." A hand reaches 
out to clutch Jubilee's shoulder, squeezing it. "Jubilee, be /strong/! Ya have 
ta be! This team does naht judge! Ahm raght heah, girl, raght heah..." it's 
all Sam can manage to say, knowing Lishka has no intention of sparing the 
Asian girl the humility of the truth.

You wanna make a BET? Paige will gleefully be judge, jury and executioner. And 
she'll judge. Why? Because she's the only one who can even come CLOSE to 
knowing what the little sparkler is going for. "Ah faced Emplate. Ah faced 
what Ah couldn't evah be. She can fuckin' face this, Sam! Quit coddlin' heah." 
Being somewhat unstable, Paige will spare Jubilee some things - but she won't 
others. Especially after that last verbal kick in the teeth that Jubilee 
delivered her. So as Jubilee begs for them to ignore that door, Paige blows 
RIGHT By them - and to the door, opening it the rest of the way. "So whats in 
heah, Ah wondah?"

Terry blinks and murmurs, "Y' ha' t' face it.. tis th' only way t' get through 
an' past.." She bites her bottom lip, "Please Jubilee lass.. " She glances to 
Paige, "Jes' shut up! We would ha' helped y' t' b' y' took care o' yuirself! 
Na' dammit Jubilee has t' face it an' she ken bloody damn well d' it at her 
own pace." Jubilee helped her when the voices came with her own little dirty 
laundry, she's damn well going to make sure that the girl gets through it all.

	Ok, well, the Everett stays closer to Jubilee, holding her hand 
protectively. Won't she be surprised when she finds out that Lishka's 
personally taken her boyfriend's place down here and wants to watch it face to 
face. And, perhaps, to make the hurt a little more, by making Jubes think that 
Ev really is here to watch it. "I thought I did, Sam... Don't worry, Jubes. 
Whatever it is, we'll all face it together." But as Paige pushes the door a 
little further open, a sight floods the room. A sight of Jubilee, standing in 
front of a sink that's filled with ice. She has her hands stuck into the ice, 
looking at her reflection in the mirror. She looks determined, and sad at the 
same time. And there's a long razor sitting on the edge of the sink. Again, 
Sam's voice repeats itself once more, "It would crush the girl if everyone 
found out." Yes. Sam's line seems to speak for what Lishka wants to see happen 
here, so she's going to keep throwing it out when she can.

Jubilee's body starts to shake with fear and rising panic as seconds tick by, 
and then.. Paige. Oh GOD Jubilee would kill her if not for the fact that she's 
so close to just curling up on herself and dying right there. "Paige!! NO!!" 
is all she can say before Paige opens that door.. and it's all revealed to 
their sight. She can remember exactly how she felt as she looked into that 
mirror.. all the things going through her head.. how calm and at the same time 
scared and determind and dispairing she had felt.. all the things that drove 
her to that point, all the things that came out of it, all the regrets that 
she'd even tried and that it didn't work.. Sam and Rahne are the only ones who 
would have known before the door was even opened what was going to be seen on 
the other side, and jube wanted to keep it like that. Forever. Sure, she'd 
/have/ to tell Ev someday.. but on her own terms. In her own way. When they 
where both /ready/ for it. Not like this. She tries to pull Ev's arm to turn 
him around, eyes silently begging him not to watch, her tears once again 
falling with abandon.

"Don't you know anythin' *hot* water makes the blood run fastah. Numbness 
ain't much of a point is yoah tryin' t' die, Jubilee." Paige says flatly, 
weather to the illusion Jubilee or the real one behind. She turns, and it's 
obvious she's taking some sick triumph in this. "Well, gowon, Jubilee. Face 
it. Face that y' know bettah then me. Face that th' only reason Ev'rett loves 
you is cause undah the skin, the two of us are the same damn person. Same damn 
feahs. Same passions. Same *Escape*. You're nothin' but a cheap imiation with 
a few brightah colahs, Jubilee. Ya were wrong. Ah was replaced. With a fuckin' 
dime store *copy*." You know, Lishka may not HAVE to break Jubilee. Paige may 
do it for her. "So, Jubilee, wheah are scars?" She sneers, as she digs her 
fingers into her arms and tears away her skin again, husking to a Paige that 
isn't much different - except for the scars that go the length of her arm. "Ah 
have two sets of skin. Ah can *hide* from ya'll. Let you *forget* what Ah did. 
Ha' do ya do it, Jubilee? Ha' do you *hide* like that cowardly bitch that ya 
are?"

Sam's eyes go wide as he sees Paige go and open the door. "PAIGE!!" he hollars 
out at the top of his lungs, reaching forward to pull her away. 'Ah was there 
foah ya when ya needed it, n' now ah have ta be there foah Jube! Don't lay the 
guilt trip! Ahm just tryin' ta help everyone! This is nah the way ta have her 
face her fears, don't be so damn /blunt/ 'bout it!" he tries to control his 
anger, but what Paige just did really got to him. Sympathetic eyes look over 
to Jubilee, "Girl, this shouldn't be...ahm so sorrah...." Sam always has 
seemed to know what to say in situations like this, but this one in particular 
leaves him speechless. Then he hears Paige's words. At first he thinks it's a 
trick, his sister wouldn't talk like such an ecil-cunning-bitch, now would 
she? "Paige...." He mutters in a low, /dark/ tone. A step is taken towards his 
sister as he looks down at her, face showing anger that he probably has never 
showed before. Take a picture people, this happens...well, never. "Ya are 
/NAHT/ mah sistah!!! How could ya say sumthin' so /evil/!! Ya /disgrace/ me, 
Paige!! What would Mama think!!!???" The edge in his voice would send chills 
down your spine. Sam is beyond angry. "GET OUT O' MAH FACE!!!!" *Gulp*

"Back off Paige!" Terry turns towards the Guthrie, "Y'are not helping the 
situation!" The redhead snaps, "Are y' pleased Guthrie t' have her layed bare 
before y' s' y' can get even fer yuir imaginary hurts tha' she caused y'? Are 
y' fergettin' who the hell we're supposed t' hate, Lishka is the damn thing 
you should be fuckin' angry at... hell iffen y' wan' t' be mad abou' th' end 
o' yuir relationship blame Ev!" Terry doesn't stop here, "We're seein' Jubilee 
an' y' canna support her, y' canna d' anythin' b' cut int' her wi' yuir 
words... I dinna care tha' both o' y' tried t' kill yuirselves, y' both wen' 
through a great deal more than I ha' b' right na.. " She suddenly gets a 
steely tint in her voice, "Husk.. I na' I ken take y' out.. I heard th' 
frequency.. y' destroy tha' girl's mind an' I dinna care wha' anyone else in 
this team will say or d' b' I will make y' feel more pain than y' e'er ha' in 
your life..."

Gwen Namura sighs, and just watches. She walks over to Jubilee. "It's too bad 
you don't remember before all this. Sometime, I'm going to have to give you a 
present, somehow."

(~~..y't'ch `er, Red, an' y'll see wot I `ave left.~~) Jono manages, his eyes 
narrowing on the entire group. He stood back, a bit, as this fun started, 
(~~...we'll w'nt outta `ere. Y'll can g'at yer thr'ts when we get outta `ere. 
Paige, lay offa Jubes...~~) he says, that comment trailing off... 'I thought 
y'love me now, anyway' he thinks, still edgy about that. He takes a step 
towards the group, (~~..ev'one j'st back th'bloody `ell back.... `ow'd y'get 
out, Ev?~~) he asks, his tone turning cold.

	Now, as for the Everett illusion - who is really Lishka - he flinches 
slightly at the image in the doorway, and the truth being yelled out. But he 
doesn't let Jubilee turn him around. Instead he just holds on to her. And he 
snaps in the direction of Paige - yes, Lishka will defend her own prey, if it 
suits her own perposes. "Lay off, Paige. I didn't fall in love with Jubilee to 
replace you!" And Lishka knows that's true. Everett didn't even mean to do 
that. It just happened. He doesn't make any mention of what he sees through 
the door, but he does look hurt, and even guilty. And as for Jono, he seems to 
completely ignore him, focused on the Jubilee in his arms and the one beyond 
the doorway. Now, as for the illusion, it just keeps with it's business. She 
pulls her arms out, and picks up the razor with one numbed hand, holding it 
clumsily. Then she goes about slitting her opposite wrist. And she does it 
'the right way'.

Well, now they all know why Jubilee suddenly started wearing long-sleaves 
after they came back from Muir.. and why she's wearing those leather bracers 
on her lower arms now. To hide the scars. Jube can't even watch it as it 
happens - not because she doesn't have the stomach for it. After all, she 
/lived/ it. But because she just.. can't handle the thought of everyone 
KNOWING. There IS a reason Jube /begged/ Sam and Rahne not to tell anyone. As 
Paige twists the knife, Jubilee simply cannot handle it. She choaks on her 
sobs, pulling away from Ev and stepping back from the group before she just.. 
crouches down, then sits, legs up against her chest and arms wrapping tightly 
around them, her head bowing down to bury in her knees. She's not worthy of 
Ev's comfort. Paige is /right/. She's no better then what she accused Paige of 
being. A coward. And to add to that - a failure. She couldn't even /kill/ 
herself right!! For all her talk of dealing and moving on, she /couldn't/ 
deal. She couldn't face what had happened to her added ontop of what she was 
going through with Ev and Paige.. and she took the cowards way out. Congrats, 
Lishka. Paige. Looks like you succeeded in doing what even Sinister couldn't. 
She's done.. move along. She'll just sit here like a lump on the floor untill 
god or whoever see's fit to take her away. Sweep her under the rug. Whatever..

Paige is already on the move as Paige collapses, and not letting anyone come 
between her and her (victim?) target. Jubilee, being in not just condition to 
argue, is grabbed by her arms and hefted into the air. "You're going to listen 
to me, Jubilation." Her voice is low and cold. "You're going to listen because 
I'm the only one in the room that has the *Right* to talk to you like this. 
We're the same under the skin. And so I'm going to help you. For the last 
time." She turns, bringing Jubilee to face her team. "See them? See your team? 
Your loving family? Each and every one of them out there is fighting for you. 
For Everett. And you see him? Look. He looks guilty. And do you know what? 
He's not the real thing. We're being pulled all through hell because of him - 
and he can't come to you? Comfort you? No. He's looking guilty. But that's not 
Ev. Ev dosen't *work* that way. I do. You do. We break down. But it's time to 
pick up the pieces and go on. Cling to a few memories of when they didn't know 
how dirty you are, and realize that it's okay to have a little mud on your 
face." Does she believe a word she says? Not a chance. Too bad. If she could 
accept that for herself, she'd be alot better off. Then, with that wild light 
in her eyes, she looks at Everett. "There's a reason Jonothon calls me 
sunshine," And her fingers grip the flesh over her chest and PULLS. Hard. And 
then, well, something you haven't seen, in it's purest form, blazes out of 
something that looks not unlike Jono's chamber - sunlight. One of the few 
things that can kill the Niflmannaz, filling the room as if she'd just open a 
window - and it's focused at 'Everett'. Sorry, but Paige loved him once, and 
she's convinced this in an illusion. And if she's wrong? WEll, she'll still 
dispell the illusion12 at the very least. But make no mistake, the ragged 
breathes she takes shows the strain that she's putting on her body.

Sam is still angry at Paige, very angry. But all that bottled up anger is put 
on hold as Sam /allows/ Paige to do her thing. It comforts him to see her try 
and help Jube, blunt or not. He is now sure his sister isn't completely lost 
to the evil she has demonstrated. So he stands there, letting his sister do 
her thing. Then...he is totally taken by surprise when Paige pulls the 
sunlight stunt, eyes widening in amazement. He really never believed that 
Paige had such capabilities, he has obvioulsy been proven wrong. Eyes dart 
over to Ev, seeing what happens as the beams of light hit him.

"Dammit Paige.." Terry continues towards Paige and Jubie, " Le' g' o' 
Jubilation I will na' I repeat na' let y' treat her like this.. y' ha' been 
obessesin on this Same thing.. na' one is th' same.. it does na' work like 
tha'...." The red head places her hands on Jubilee, "Stop this Paige..." As 
the sun pours forth from the blond, Terry suddenly squints, "Damn..."

Blink. Blink. (~~..wow..~~) Jono exclaims, his tone unlike anything you've 
heard before. Surprise. He watches the sunshine pour from his Sunshine, 
amazed.

Gwen Namura just watches, as a golden visor appears over her eyes. She moves 
over next to Paige, ready to catch her if she falls.

	Oh God... Sunlight. The Everett illusion fails nearly instantly. Lishka 
is hit with the sunlight, appearing below the Everett form and she -screams-. 
And who can blame her? She only remains there for a second, but in that second 
part of her seems to be rediating with light, as if it wasn't only hitting 
her, but coming out of her at the same time. A huge hole tears out of her 
right shoulder, a hole ripping into her left cheek as well and it appears as 
if it would have gotten much worse, but she vanishes in a puff of mist a 
moment later. And as for the doorway leading into where Jubilee was slitting 
her wrist, now it's gone complietely. The way up has also appeared.

	The air near the center of the room seems to shimmer briefly and a rope 
appears there, leading up into a leading up into a hole in the ceiling. Hope 
you all know how to climb a rope.

Jubilee gasps as Paige pulls her up, eyes locked on the girl, obviously 
startled and more then a little frightened of what she's going to do. Gunna 
gut Jube too, Paige? .. Apparently not. Jubilee is visably /shocked/ as Paige 
blasts forth with the sunlight, and for a moment she fears for what the girl 
is about to do to Ev.. which turns out not to be Ev.. and her eyes widen 
considerably. Lishka? She.. she kissed LISHKA?!? ... EW!! "Ohmigawd..." she 
mutters, just looking in absolute shock at where Ev used to be.. where 
/Lishka/ used to be.. "Ohmigod.." How could she not have known? Was she really 
/that/ blinded by her need to have Ev with her at this trying time? "It wasn't 
Ev.." Thank you, Captian Obvious!

Okay. "Nah shit, Jubilee. Ah told ya. One last tahme, Ah'd help you. An' when 
we get home, maybe you can know mah dirty lil' secret..." You know, for all 
that She was supporting Jubes a moment ago, now Paige is the one that needs 
the support as he knees give way, sunlight still pouring out of her chest. 
"Fuck. Gotta husk gotta husk gotta husk!" She begins to rasp, clinging to 
Jubilee with one hand and reaching up and digging her fingers into the back of 
her neck and pulling away skin with the other. She strips away the half-husked 
form, the light dying out, and then leans heavily on Jubilee for one more 
moment. She turns, blue eyes to blue eyes lock in silent communication, just 
for a moment, and then her lids flutter and she drops stone cold to the floor.

"Someone Finish th' huskin' fer her.." Terry returns her attention to Jubilee, 
putting a hand on her to offer some stability, "Jube? Y'' alright? Jube?.." 
She chews her bottom lip.

The brit is quick to move as Paige starts to collapse, moving to catch her in 
his weak arms. He lowers her to the floor, in his arms, as he visually checks 
that she has husked completely.

Gwen Namura holds Paige up for long enough to pass her to Jono, who really 
wants her badly. She looks at the rope. "Here we go... Upsie!" She leaps for 
the rope and starts to climb, pausing halfway up. "Coming, Sammy?" She's 
showing off. She's climbing using only her arms, not her legs.

Pass to Jono? I don't THINK so. Infact, Jubilee forces her muscles to OBEY, 
and then swats everyone away from Paige and shields the girl from their eyes 
with her own body, pulling away any unhusked skin before she quickly removes 
her yellow trench coat and, with a little difficulty, slides Paige into it and 
buttons it all up. There. All covered and decent. "Somebody's gotta carry her 
up the rope. No way me or Jono can do it. Terry?" Jube straightens up and 
waits for someone to take charge of the fallen Paige before Jube heads over to 
the rope, waiting for everyone else to make it up before she herself climbs.

Paige is unconscious. But in a lovely yellow coat now. Aww.

But inside, she's screaming. "AH WAS IN THAT UGLY HORRID THANG?! SOMEONE SHOOT 
ME NAH!"

Terry leans down to take Paige, the passed out Guthrie pain in the rear, in 
her arms. "Alright I'll fly her up when e'ery one else gets up there," she 
tilts her head, "Someha' wi' all th' things she could d' tha she would be this 
light.."

The half-running Londoner hovers close by, passing Paige over to Terry when 
she reaches, and then waiting, (~~..I'll g'up when Terry does.~~) he states.

Gwen Namura climbs another foot, then loops her legs around the rope. She 
leans back and down. "Pass her up, Terry. I'll carry her the rest of the way."