Shadowland Park -- 13th Floor -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim Someone once said there's nothing creepier then a closed amusement park, and when they said that, they had this image in mind. To start out, it's dark and deserted. Iron-wrought benches painted green with smooth wooden planks for backs and seats are scattered about at random places, allowing places to sit. Fences cage in manicured bushes - "poodle bushes" they could be called. A heavy-duty brown trash can with the words "trash" sits there every other block. Closed shops, metal shutters covering the windows, fill the area, as well as closed off rides and rollercosters. It looks like a park... But it feels wrong. As if something in the darkness is awake and watching them. As if the deserted park around you could come to life at any moment. There are lights around, but not much. In fact there are only two areas that are lightened at all. A large tent is one. Hundreds of tiny white lights flash, running along the borders of a sign reading: PENNY ARCADE. The second looks like a Tunnel. Like the Tunnel of Love. Only this one says over the mouth of the tunnel: The Tunnel of Love and Despair. Swan boats able to hold at least eight people sit in the water, just waiting to be boarded. Jubilee pulls herself up last through the hole and stands up straight, feeling just a little more then.. out of place without her jacket. Or, with someone else /in/ the jacket.. and she's still rather.. reeling for what she just experienced. She just keeps tossing it over and ovr in her mind.. she begged, /begged/ Sam not to tell anyone.. She'd never, EVER live it down. And from the distance she's keeping from the rest of the team now they she's able to, and the almost aloof, far away look in her eyes, it's rather apparent that she still thinks that. "Amusement park. Cute, Lishka." After she gets tugged into 'scene' here, Paige is little more then a limp ragdoll in Jono's arms, being that he'll be the one who takes her from Terry in a heart beat. However, he uses the two runes that Lishka gave him, and soon the tired hayseed's labored breathing eases, and her eyelids flutter open. "Wha..? Did it work?" Yeah, she's somewhat disoriented. Give her a minute to recover. After a few moments, laying there with the runes glowing against her skin, her voice gains strength. " 's Jubilee okay?" Well, what did you expect her to ask? She broke Jubilee down for a reason - to build her back in. She'd been holding her peices together with a shoddy glue job. Maybe now after those illusions have been smashed, she'll recover a little more fully. (Like Paige has any room to talk - but then again, she's nuts. The logic only makes sense to her.) Terry doesn't care at all that Jubilee is distancing herself. After she hands off the blonde, not that she really wanted to be holding her, she walks on towards the younger girl. "Jubes, y' alright?" She places a light hand on the girl's shoulder, "Damn I hope there na' any clowns about.." She leaves it unsaid, clowns are creepy. Gwen Namura sits on the lip as the rest of the group comes up. "Remember. This is one of the real floors. The ones Lishka doesn't control, according to Tieman. Be careful... Cause they ain't playing the game. So... We can bug the video games, or take a ride on a swan. Any choices?" Deep in the amusement park, near one of the lightened tents - The arcade in fact - there's a clicking noise. Like someone playing a game. Also, after being there a few moments and thinking the place must be diserted, there's the strange sound of things... moving around slowly. Scuttling is perhaps the correct word. There's even a few shadows that seem to dance around, but they don't seem to dance because of changing of the light. This place is certainly strange. And the worst part is. It's all real. None of it is illusion. Any pains that happen here, will remain. And Lishka is in no shape to guide them through quickly and help them avoid the dangerous places like she was planning to do originally. Jubilee looks over at Terry with a light frown, and then turns her eyes to Paige, looking.. a little suprised that she'd ask how Jube is. Still, she gives neither of them verbal answers, and instead just motions over towards the arcade. "Looks like a good place to start. Remember, Lishka doesn't control this place. We screw up, it's for keeps. So no gutting anyone." That last was supposed to be a joke, but it didn't come out quite right, and Jube just sighs some and starts towards the arcade. Jubilee gets a look of odd kinship from the hayseed. Which could be both a good thing and a bad thing, considering how unstable the Hayseed is. She struggles to her feet, getting some space between her and Jono as much as she can. She brushes off the coat, and then murmurs, "Yeah, I got you, Jubes. No gutting anybody." She says, her voice soft. She's not going to husk into anything, just yet, so she's stuck in the yellow slicker. She would like a set of shoes, however. But hey, you win some, you lose some. "Right.. le's go.." Terry shoves her hands into the pockets not walking far from Jubes. Lee may not want to deal with it now, but they can certainly hold off till after they pull Ev's fat out of the fire. Terry pauses to push her hair out of her eyes and continues with a careful step. Gwen Namura says "Arcade, right." Gwen Namura follows along. The closer they get to the arcade, the louder the clicking sounds are. The shadows continue to dance around, making strange almost humaniod shapes against darkened buildings as they pass by. The park doesn't seem to have boundries, and doesn't seem to end. Why the shadowmen would make a -park- here is for everyone to wonder? Maybe they just really liked amusement parks. At least none of the fun houses are lit up. That might have been interesting to venture through after all, expecially if the things inside the fun houses came to life. Or maybe it wouldn't have been interesting. All that's sure, is that the major amount of activity in this area is coming from the Arcade. Which would be understandable, if this part of the Tower weren't mostly the property of a group of people called the Elders. Penny Arcade -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim Instead of a gleaming, spotless, high-tech wonderland like many arcades one would see, this is a dim, rather dingy large room, crowded with old- fashioned wooden cabinets. Automata. That's what these machines, with moving figures inside them, were called. The machines are interesting in an absurd, picturesque way of times gone by. There are peep shows and nickelodeons and all sorts of mechanized figures. Jubilee steps into the tent of the arcade quietly, her hands moving almost instinctivly to bury into her pockets only to find that her pockets aren't there - Paige has them. Bah. She misses her jacket already. Her eyes slowly scan around the scene which would normally make her positivily giddy with excitement over the things she could do and the aliens she could blow up or the pokemons she could.. well.. you get the idea. But not now. Now, she looks suspicious, eyes narrowed a little as she starts to slowly seek out any other people who may be enjoying the arcade. Bare feet pad over the floor, rainslicker rustling about Paige's legs as she slowly follows along. "Interestin'." She murmurs, her blue eyes just as paranoid as walks into the arcade, and heads quietly around the machines, glancing over the machines and hmmming softly. Nope, she's not a big video game person, but she'll peruse 'em anyway to see if she can figure a way out. Terry tilts her head a touch as she examines things. She murmurs, "I was in a place like this at Disney world." She peers at them, "Prices are still in th' dark ages.." Gwen Namura looks around, then walks over to a fortuneteller machine. "Anyone seen "Big"?" She fumbles in her fanny pack and pulls out a quarter. Then reconsiders. "Even odds these are the corporal bodies of the Elders. Anyone got some Cold Iron?" She tilts her head, then considers further, looking for something treelike. There is one person who is in the Arcade and visable. She's sitting on a solid pillar in front of one of the many automata machines. Inside the little glass box is what appears to be a wizard, maybe two feet high and wearing a surprising mournful and pained expression. Under the glass case is a sign: "ASK THE WIZARD. DEPOSIT A DIME IN SLOT AND THE WITZARD WILL PERFORM FOR YOU." Below that is a strip of plastic tape: "RECIEVE PREDICTION HERE." The woman who's wearing a long black dress and a cape, with golden colored hair, and olive colored skin reaches up and presses a hand against the glass. She doesn't seem to pay any attention to the children who just entered, ignoring them completely. After a moment the wizard figure begins to move in jerky clockwork-like motions. Its eyes open and close, and its eyebrows lift and fall. Its lower lip seems to be jointed and moves below a surprisingly fine and lifelike beard, as if it were mumbling to itself. Its face is ruddy plastic, with carmine lips and deep shadows under the eyes. Layers of caked-up paint can be seen on its cheeks. Despite the fine workmenship it is in an undeniable state of disrepair. It's paintbrush eyelashes are matted, its black velveteen robe dusted with red lint. It looks so... sad... so pathetic -- so /trapped/ there in that box in from of a stapled on backdrop of shabby red velveteen. The wizard isn't the only figure here who looks pathetic, pained, and almost beautiful and realistic. There's a mechanical cat sitting inside a box. Its eyes are wide and pain filled. A pair of dancers cling together, one male, one female. Both dressed in late seventeenth century clothing. The way the machine is set up it appears as if when it activates the two figures will begin to dance around inside the glass case. There's all kinds of games here besides the figures. There's a goggletype viewer and watch the flip-card film. SEE NAUGHTY MARIETTA SUN BATHING, the sign on the brass trimmed machine reads. PASSED BY NY CENSORS, OCT. 12, 1897. There's a cabinet that looks like a grandfather clock which is labled: SEE HORRIBLE MONSTER. TERRIFYING--SHOCKING- -ONLY 5 CENTS. On another area is a shiny black machine with a wide, darkened oval window. It looks relatively new. Newer then most the other games here. Probably only ten years old, instead of ancient like most of them. It's plaque reads: SPEAK TO THE SPIRITS. ASK ANY YES OR NO QUESTION, ONE DIME. Jubilee's eyes linger over each of the figures behind glass, and her features sadden considerably.. there's something.. not right about this. "I think.. these are all the loosers.." she murmurs as she slowly works her way towards the wizard and the woman perched atop his case. Jube looks up at the woman and silently for a minute before asking "Who're you?" Rude, ain't she? But oh well. She tosses a glance over to Gwen, and then to Paige. "Left inside pocket is my wallet. Lotsa change. Give some'a these things a shot.. But let's not waist too much time in here, if this isn't the way to move on." Paige's eyes do not go to the machines at first, but the girl at the back. She dosen't really think that this is a human girl - but one of the 'Elders', perhaps. But she's not going to go looking for a fight. At Jubilee's mention of change, she reaches into her pockets and sure enough - "Gawd, we can tell who spends alot of time in arcades, can't we?" She says getting a fist full of change. She walks over to Jubilee, giving her some of her cash, looking at the shadow-girl, before moving on, to the dancers, looking at then quietly. She decides to move on - toward the cabinet with the 'shocking monster'. Why the hell not - she's dating one, after all, so it couldn't be that shocking, right? Terry shoves a hand into her pocket, "I got nickles and dimes... " She pulls out two nickles and three dimes, "Wha' d' we' d'?" She wanders over to Naughty Marrietta, "After all.. ha' scandalous can it be.." She grins. Gwen Namura walks over to the Soul Box. Newest... well. It'll do. She unzips her fanny pack, and removes a dime. "Hm. Wonder why they take modern money." She forks it in. "Are you the losers of contests with Nifhelm elves?" she asks. The woman glances over briefly - her eyes are so pale a gray that they are barely distinguiseable from the whites, finally noticing the guests, then looks right back at the figure inside the glass as it continues with it's jerky movements. He holds a chipped and peeling wand in one clench fist. He raises the wand and strikes it against the glass in front of him. Near where the shadow-wench's hand is placed. There's a slight indentation in the glass there, showing he's done this many times. His eyes open and close. Then roll around, moving back and forth. Not looking at the wand. Eventually his eyes roll again. Glass eyes with dark blue irises. And he stares right at Jubilee. He slams his wand against the glass again, and there's a metal click and a card appears in the slot. The woman reaches for it, but answers the question as she does, "I am Deimis. You must be Lishka's prey. I've heard so much about you." She turns over the card... and then stares at it. Her eyes going wide. Now, as for the rest of the games. The Cabinet of Monsters accepts the coin, unlocks, and opens. And inside... is a mirror. But something is wrong with the mirror. Instead of sending back a perfect reflection of Paige - it sends back a sad, lonely, trapped reflection of her. The Naughty Marrietta machine is a still picture of a sad woman wearing only a towel. And as for the Speak to the Spirit's game.... There's a click as the coins go deep into the machine, and the dark glass brightens. And inside... is a decaying head with closed eyes held in water. The skin of the head looks bloated. Swollen. Like a Kewpie doll that had been boiled and inflated with a bicycle pump. Adipocere is the term. It's what human flesh turns to after a while under water. But after a moment, the head begins to nod in answer, and the light goes out again. Jubilee watches the old wizard do his thing, and as his eyes roll around towards Jube.. she frowns even more deeply, feeling a pain in her chest which makes her just want to cry. She lifts up a hand and rests it tenitivly on the glass as her eyes mist up before she prys her gaze away and turns it upward, to the woman. "What's it say?" she asks, fingering one of the coins in her hand from the lot Paige gave her.. There's a disgusted noise as Paige slips out of the cabinet. "Not all of these are the loser, I don't think." She says. "But I could be wrong. That one just... showed me me. Buit then, maybe we're monsters to them." She says softly, walking up behind Jubilee. Terry pops up from what she was looking at she murmurs, "Th' poor thin' looks s' sad." She tilts her head, "Maybe some o' them are losers an' some.. some are those tha' ha' failed?" The redhead wanders to join Paige and Jubilee. Gwen Namura turns to look at the elf onna box. Her eyes glow like a dying sun for a moment, a subtle useage of her powers. "Don't like what you read?" She turns back to the soul box, and considers carefully before inserting a second dime. "Can one of the machines in this hall explain in a easy to understand manner how to free you lost ones?" Deimis closes her hand around the card, hiding it from Jubilee's view, and the others. Her voice is harsh and rather icy as she says, "It is none of your consern, young lady. You should not be here. I suggest you leave at once, before something happens to you." She doesn't exactly seem angry... just evil. The wizard inside the glass case seems to settle down slightly, moving back until he closes his eyes, lowers his head, and seems to rest. And when he's back into his original position, the light in the top of the cabinet goes out. As Paige walks away from the cabinet - something she may not notice, the mirror image does not move away. It continues to stair after her, almost begging her visually, to come back. But after a moment, the door in front of the mirror closes again. The Spirit speaker shakes his head as the light illuminates the water again. The head looks unconsious, and as if someone who was invisable was grabbing him by the hair and making his head move. Allllllllrighty then. Jubilee pulls a dime out of the bundle of coins she has and pops it into the Wizard's slot, looking at the door guy with a light frown as she waits for the card to pop out, hand poised and ready to snatch it up before anyone else can. She looks back up at the woman there, then over her shoulder to her teammates, and finally back to the wizard as she asks the kids, "Find anything?" Grr. Paige turns her head as she catches Gwen's question. "Release 'em? Mmmmm..." She runs her fingers over one of the machines, taking in the coolness of it, her eyes on Deimis, her blue eyes narrowing just a little. She sighs softly, her eyes... pondering something. To act, or not to act. She's got a way that'd probably garuntee that the Elders will stay far, far away from her and her team - but she's not sure she wants to risk it again. Well, given the brushoff by Paige, Jono has followed the group, and then moved off into the shadows, investigating the various games, sticking a coin in to watch a puppet dance, or tap on the glass looking for anything interesting. He moves deeper into the shadows, illuminated by the low glow from his chest, until he comes across some empty cabinets.. Terry folds her arms across her chest, her eyes just drifting over the people. She rubs her jaw lightly with one hand then goes back to watching. Gwen Namura walks down the room, confident, almost angry, as she feeds the dancers and the kitty. "You know who we are. You know Lishka has made a bigger mistake than she can even imagine. And you know we are becoming very, very angry. Please give us a reason not to simply hack our way to the roof. The places are real now. Our time is running out. And we don't like seeing captives tortured for amusement." The wizard begins to do his thing again, moving jerkidly again. He bangs the glass with his wand only once this time, and then a card pops out. Deimis glowers at Jubilee almost angerly, but not quite. The shadow-wench still seems fairly emotionless and all-mighty. She doesn't make any move to attack. Probably because she can't. Not until she's been invited to attack, or attacked first. The card in Jubilee's hand reads in fine black letters: HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME Deimis snorts softly, as if she can see the writing even though she isn't looking at it, "Don't bother. I'll kill you if you try and do anything with these souls. They belong to the Elders. Bother them and you will not live to regret it." Perhaps she was responding to Gwen's question. The one which the spirits could not answer. And in response to Gwen's coins the dancers begin to dance in a machineline motion and the cat sits up and pulls up on it's hind legs and starts batting at a string with it's paws, also slow and jerky. Now in reponse to Gwen's other words, the shadow-wench frowns slightly, as if not exactly understanding, "I don't know, and I don't care if Lishka has made a mistake. If you want me involved in this game then keep on with your threats and you'll learn why it's never a good idea to take on more then one Niflmannaz at a time. Unlike Lishka, I won't hesitate to lock your souls away right now." Jubilee again feels as if she's about to cry as she reads the card, though along with sorrow, there is a grim resolve in her eyes, and she looks up at the Wizard behind glass. "We've gotta save our friend. But we /will/ find a way, someday." A silent vow. She'll come back for them. And if Jube has anything to say about it, she /will/. She moves over to Paige and slides the card into the jacket's pocket, then tosses a look which glides over the faces of her teammates. "C'mon. We haven't got time ta waist on this woman. Unless you guys wanna be behind glass too, lets move on. There's nothin' in this place that's gunna let us move on." With that, Jube turns and starts to walk towards the tents exit. "No. Weah not gonna let her fuck us up." Paige says, her blue eyes turned to slits. "Y' know, you think that Lishka woulda warned you. Those runes can suhre pump a gal right up." This time, Paige is sneaky. She knows better this time then to just 'pull a Chamber'. So she carefully peels away the skin in the palm of her hand, as she holds them behind her back, smiling a moment. "Besides. We got one too many psycho bitches in the room. Ah'm the team bitch, girl, an' please don't forget it." Clenching her hands into fist, she drops them to the side, and turns her hands so the palms are out and opens them - this time the sunlight is easily directed and focused - at Deimis. You know, Paige is getting to enjoy killing WAY to much. "There ha' t' be a rune or somethin," She rakes a hand through her hair, "Jubilee we canna leave them. We canna." Terry glances towards Paige, "D' y' remember somethin'" She gazes about the room again, "Please there has t'be a way.." As he taps on the glass again, the skin around Jono's eyes scrunch up. (~~..`aven't ya `eard? Us muties `aven't got souls.~~) he comments, just as the room is lit up. He turns, his eyes still crunched (...no, Paige....) he thinks, starting back towards the group. Gwen Namura's armor forms around her as she says, "I'm not threatening. I'm explaining. We want... OUT. Show us the way." She steps to the side suddenly as Paige's sun glows across the room. She carves a upside down U, left side higher than right, then smears blood from her left arm over it. "Little guy... I hope you've learned something. May you have the strength to use it. URUZ!" This time, unlike Lishka, Deimis is unable to teleport away. The sunlight hits her and tears out of her, just like it did before. In a matter of seconds... she's just gone. No water. No nothing. She didn't even get the chance to scream out in pain when it hit her. Thanks to the rune Gwen activated, a light silver burst goes into the machine, seeming as if it was feeding it more electricity. The wizard opens his eyes, looks up, then closes them again. Suddenly, something near the top of the cabinet begins to flash, the lightning running into it, through it until it is all gathered up inside the shape. * * * * * * * * * * After a second or two of glowing, after Deimis is already gone, the rune stops glowing. Those who commited most of the runes in that book to memory might recognize this rune as Naudhiz. The rune of distress. The rune of need. And ironically. The rune of constraint. And it was the same rune that was on the doorway that Lishka was sealed behind in her entrapment. Of course, you all just read the name of the rune probably once, so that doesn't mean you know it. But you would at least recognize that it was the rune on the door that Lishka was locked in. Jubilee glances over her shoulder once as she finds no one following her, and her eyes fly /wide/ open just in time to see Paige take out Deimis. "PAIGE!" she cries out and darts forward again, grabbing the hayseed by the back of her collar and /yanking/ her back, shoving her against one of the machines. Jube's hands hold her there by the jacket fiercly and she glares at the girl. "What the FUCK are you DOING!? I /know/ you didn't save my life just to get us all /killed/ here!! Lishka's promise means /squat/ on these floors!! We get hurt, the wounds are /not/ gunna fade when we get outta this place! And the /only/ way we can insure we aren't gunna get fucked with by these guys is if we don't /fuck with them/!! You probably just invited these guys to chop us up and eat us for dinner! I dunno about you Paige but I do NOT wanna end up telling some dipshit's fortune 500 years from now!!" She gives Paige one last shove before stepping back and tossing a glare around the room at everyone. "There where /other/ places ta check out outside this tent that could lead us up. So lets get a /move/ on before someone comes looking for that bitch." Bad. Bad. Bad. Move. Paige's hands come up to grip Jubilee's arms, the sunlight pouring from her palms unnaturally warm against the other girl's skin. "Don't you GET IT? IF they KNOW we can KILL Them they'll LEAVE us the FUCK ALONE! NOW YOU MOVE THE FUCK BACK AN' LET ME WORK!" And she pushses the Asian back, tossing her bodily to the ground if she has too, before moving forward. "Wrong rune, Gwen. It's another rune t' free 'em." She says - and then moves over to the Naudhiz. "The rune that'll free 'em is different! It's the rune of sacrfice, and gifts." And then she shrips through her skin again, creating a bladed hand - and begins to carve the rune from the book that she knows can counter Naudhiz - Gebo. "Someone stain it. I still have sunlight in my other arm." Jono is quick to be back with the group, (~~...no souls, `elluva bite..~~) he comments, as he reaches into his pants pocket, palming one of the runes to help Paige out. He stops when the question for blood is asked- he has none to give. He watches, anticipating having to grab Paige.. Gwen Namura follows Paige's lead, and starts to carve Gebo on each machine. The symbol is simple, an X. Hey, it fits us. "Gen X... means freedom. Jubilee, what did the card the lady was reading say?" And as Gwen says that, the card which Deimis had crushed in her hand is laying where her body was torn apart by the sunlight. It's crumpled, but as it is straighted and read it reads in the fine typed black letters as before: FREEDOM COMES IN FORM OF PREY. PREY THAT WIELDS SUNLIGHT UNDER THEIR SKINS. PREY THAT KNOWS THE SECRET OF CONTAINMENT. PREY THAT SHALL HUNT THE HUNTER. PREY THAT WILL FREE THE LOST ONES. PREY THAT SHALL ENVOKE THE GIFT WHICH SHALL OPEN THE DOORS TO SOMETHING BETTER. PREY THAT SHALL OPEN THE DOORS TO DEATH. THE TIME OF FREEDOM IS HERE Terry offers her hand to Paige, "Make it a small cut.." She wants these people out of here. They didn't have the help that the team did. "D' it." Jubilee stumbles backward as Paige shoves her away, but through her own nimblness she manages not to fall. When Paige and the others go off to try their hand at freeing the wizard, she doesn't stop them, and instead moves over to where the crumpled card is and picks it up, opens it, and reads it aloud. And slowly, a grin works it's way over her lips.. "Paige, I owe ya my most humble apologies." She folds up the card and palms it for later use before looking all around for something she can use to carve the symbol into some of the other machines. "Hope you guys aren't against giving up a little more blood. Anybody got a spare pocket knife I can use?" "Whatevah. Dunna mattah what ya think of me." Paige grumbles under her breath at Jubilee's offer of an apology. She nods to Terry, as she offers her blood. "Get carving. The rune is 'Gebo'." She says, 'old Paige' back in control, and then her clawed, bloodied fingers are raking over the machinery and carving that rune. "Stain it. Call it. Let them all go. Every machine." The brit can't do much more then watch, his hands in his pants pockets, clenching on the rejuvination runes. With a move of quick determination, Terry walks up to one of the first of the gebo's symbols that have been carved and lets her hand smear the blood along the lines of the rune. "Gebo..." As she finishes one she moves on to the next, with a clear intent to finish each and every gebo rune that Paige and Gwen are carving. "Gebo.." Gwen Namura passes Jubilee her swiss army knife from her magical fanny pack. My, it has many things. Even a magnifying glass. "Go for it, Jubster." She carves and stains, a cut from her leg sealed by her armor, as she calls out "Gebo" at each instance. The first rune, the one on the wizard machine, is activated as soon as Terry says the rune's name. The figure in the cabinet, the machanical thing dressed in black velveteen and gold sequins, spasms as if a jolt of elecricity had gone through it. Both arms jerk up, the head rolling wildly. Cracks run along the caked pain on its face, flaking off in pieces. Every part of the figure that could move thrashes fratically. And then the clenched fist with the wand falls. The entire figure saggs, head falling back. It was as if some mainstring had been sprung, or the wires of a marionette cut. The carmine lips are slightly open. And it's face... It-- has changed. It's still plastic -- cracked and peeling plastic. It's clearly a broken doll. But-- the pain was gone. The look that had wrenched Jubilee's heart in the beginning, the look of ineffable sadness, isn't there anymore. The carmine lips seem to be smiling slight, and the glass eyes, though open, seem at peace. There's an odd dignity that goes with that peace. The face is patient and almost noble, for all that it was a doll's face. Whatever this man had done, whatever secrets he'd meddled in, he'd paid the price-- and this doll seems to know it. Its expression is that of somebody who's waited a long time to get to the end of a journey, and was home at last. *CLICK* A card appears in the slot. This card only has two words on it. Not repeated over and over. Not frantic. Not prophetic even. Just two words. THANK YOU. Similar reactions begin all over. Dolls collapse after being wrecked with some form of energy. The mirror Paige opened breaks. The picture that Terry had saw seems to melt. But all the freed figures, look content. Somehow. In their own seperate ways, they look content. Even the bloated, decapated head which bobbed or shook to answer questions appears to settle down, the skin becoming less discusting. Until eventually the room is quiet and dark, with no clicking machines, and no sad faces stairing through the glass. Jubilee catches Gwen's knife and starts to carve, doing as many machines as she needs to while the others do the rest until every last one is done, and Jube has atleast one cut on each finegr. not pleasant, but entirly worth it. With each soul releases, and espically with the release of the Wizard, Jubilee's smile gets a little bigger and her eyes regain a little more of that sparkle. And when it's all over, she hands the knife back to Gwen and looks around the arcade with quiet satisfaction. "Now, that's one way ta stick it ta the man." she murmurs, more to herself then anyone else within earshot. "Sam'd be proud, Paige." If he wasn't with the others not present, where ever they are. "C'mon guys, time ta go." Paige shrugs a little, her lips pressed in a thin line. "You've been a prisoner, Lee. So have I. Couldn't leave 'em like that, to be tortured and taunted." She says simply, as she turns on her heels, wrapping her arms around her self, shifting from the wild, bloody thirsty perona one moment to hurt and regretful and lacking in self-confidence next. "Yeah. Lets go get the others." She says, as she begins to walk toward the exit in the darkness, clenching the hand that still bleeds sunlight into a fist. (~~..`ows thot fer gratitude..~~) Jono mumbles as he starts towards Paige.. (~~...gel, y'gotta finish yer `usk...~~) he says, reaching out for her, still concerned for her wellbeing for all that he's done to her, and likewise her to him. Terry stands there clutching her injured hand. Her eyes watch the changes about the room, the expressions shifting from dispairing to something more at peace, "Tha' was th' best thing we ha' done in this hell o' Lishka's." She grins then glances to Gwen, "D' y' ha' another bandage in there?"