Lishka's Room -- 14th Floor -- Tower of Illusion -- Niflheim

	White, mist, lace, and frost. That is the basic description of this 
room. Everywhere one looks there is tendrils of mist rising up out of nothing, 
and frost hanging to the walls though it's oddly warm in here. The room is a 
large rectangle. On one end of the room is a bed the size... well it rivals a 
king size bed, that's for sure. And it's covered with pure white fur. Lace 
hangs from the ceiling, obscureing the only thing that is out of place in this 
room. A doorway. With something dark brown stained on it. An X, sitting on 
it's side, with one slash longer then the other.


Ouchouchouchouchouchouchouchouch. Only one other time has Lishka felt pain 
like this, and that was just magically created sunlight. Paige had husked into 
the real thing, and it -hurt-. True, only one second of contact with the 
flare, but it did enough damage to seriously injure. Not only that, when a 
Niflmannaz is hit with sunlight, they aren't just burned, the sunlight 
literally gets inside them and starts to tear them apart from the inside. And 
the only way she could get away was to teleport out of there as quickly as 
possible. She didn't aim her jump very well. But at least she didn't end up 
outside the Tower. She's still inside, and she teleported up to her room, even 
if she teleported closer to the ceiling of her room then the floor. There's a 
puff of mist neat the right corner of the ceiling, and then something falls 
and impacts the ground hard with a grunt. At the same time - once again - all 
things in the room that were illusions have vanished. This has happened 
before, but only for a short time, which means now the bed is gone. Lishka 
should have taken the time to make a real one, but no, she just used an 
illusion. Lishka lays there in a pile of gold dress and white hair. Her 
usually pale skin is bright red, like someone who got a -serious- sun burn. 
Her right shoulder is torn open, as if something tore out of it. She isn't 
bleeding though. She doesn't have blood to bleed. But inside the tear there's 
a... void. Like a nothingness. It's almost as if when someone tries to look at 
the tear in her shoulder, they go blind. Of course, that doesn't make sense, 
but nothing her does. She lays still for a few moments, just feeling pain all 
over and not really knowing how to handle it.

The bed dissapears? Well, that's just great, considering Everett was taking a 
bit of a nap all through the scene occuring downstairs. Up here, he's only 
left to worry himself exhausted. As the bed shimmers and fades his body drops 
quickly, impacting hard against the floor simultaneously with Lishka and 
jarring him out of his sleep with a bolt of pain through his body. Immediately 
he sits bolt upright in surprise, rubbing the back of his bald head and 
looking around frantically. "Lishka, wh.... Ohmigod, Lishka!" as he sees her 
fallen, burned form he quickly scrambles to his feet and across the room, 
dropping to his knees beside her with untainted concern filling his eyes as he 
studies her body. "What happened!? Are you okay?

There's a soft grunting sound... Gah, she hates this. Now she's forced to show 
how weak she is to Everett too. She could have survived having shown the 
others, but not Everett. Lishka doesn't want to be weak in his eyes. She wants 
to be strong, dependable. Unbeatable. Well, that illusion is gone with all the 
rest. She pushes herself up slowly, as if this really takes effort, more then 
she's ever shown needing before and peeks up. There's another hole of 
nothingness on her left cheek. The closest thing that Ev would have seen to 
compare would likely be Jono when he's using his power. Skin folding outward. 
Expect instead of energy behind it, there's nothing. She lowers her face again 
almost instantly and closest her eyes, pressing her forehead against the 
floor. Her voice is soft, and a strained, and even showing a little bit of the 
pain she's in, "I'm fine..."

A shame Lishka has Ev figured all wrong... If anything, this dispaly only 
makes him care for Lishka a bit more, at least for her wellbeing. good or bad, 
he can't stand to see anyone in pain. "You don't look fine..." He says, but 
his voice isn't sarcastic or snide, just genuinly concerned. One hand reaches 
out to touch her arm as gently as he can, not wanting to hurt her burned skin. 
"Here, let me help you up... All your illusions dissapeared, but maybe if you 
make a first Aid kit I can help you..."

Grunt. Groan. Whine. Lishka would do all that and more, if she could, but 
instead she just gives a small nod, "I don't think an illusion will help me 
much though, Everett... because in the end it's still an illusion." She pushes 
herself up somemore, until she's nearly sitting. She doesn't flinch away from 
the touch. She just stares down at it for a moment. Then she reaches up with 
her other arm and covers the tear in her cheek, looking almost pained in her 
eyes, but otherwise expressionless. "Maybe some runes will help though..." 
She's never had this happen to her before. Her mind is at a loss of what to 
do. All she can think about is how much it hurts. And the fact that he has to 
see her like this. Hurt... and ugly at the same time. It's almost enough to 
make her cry. In fact, amazingly, her eyes almost look watery for a moment.

And Everett, empath that he is, picks up not only on her pain, but the fact 
she seems to feel weakened and degraded by it as well. Not through any actual 
telepathic powers, of course, he's just well versed in reading emotional body 
language. "Hey, don't worry..." He says in a soothing, reassuring tone, 
reaching out to touch her shoulder. "You're okay... Just tell me what to do 
with the runes and I'll do anything I can."

Shifting to try and sit up somemore, Lishka finally takes her hand away from 
her face. She feels so ugly, and that hurts even more then the pain of the 
burns and the feeling of having parts of her missing. She reaches down at her 
waist, where a pouch is always sitting and unties it clumsily. It's hard for 
her to move her hands for some reason. This really bothers her. She's never 
felt like this before. She's never felt so useless. So... unable. She gets it 
untied and spills it's contents on the floor. Mostly it looks like flat white 
stones, with runes carved into one side. Some look stained, other's don't. She 
pushes them around then sets aside five runes: Uruz, Ansuz, Wunjo, Elhaz and 
Eihwaz. Only one of them is stained. She clears her throat briefly, then says, 
"Uh... I need to stain the others.. I think I may have a vial of blood over 
there.. in that stuff." She gestures towards a shelf which has usually be 
masked through illusion. It's where Lishka keeps most her magic items. She 
moves as if to try and stand up, like she plans to get it herself.

Everett frowns heavily at how she's taking this, though he finds himself at a 
bit of a loss for words to be used to comfort someone not only of such 
incredible power, but that's also trying to kill his friends too! not that it 
matters, of course... She's a living being, and therefor Ev will help her. He 
watches curiously as the runes spill out over the floor and she sorts through 
them. At her words he perks an eyebrow uncomfortably at the request for blood, 
but turns reluctantly anyway to head towards the now-revealed shelf, making a 
mental note of its position. He scours it until finding the vial of red 
liquid, and hurredly brings it back to her, holding it at an arms legth away 
from himself. "Here..."

There's a brief smile from Lishka, though it looks all wrong, and she takes 
the vial and begins staining the others. She's careful not to waste a drop. 
Blood is extremely valuable to her race. When she's done she closes up the 
vial an sets it aside. She is no way sure this will help her any - she's never 
had to heal herself - or anyone for that matter - before. But she has seen it 
done. She's only empowered herself and other people before. This is slightly 
different. She takes the runes in her hands and closes her eyes. She 
consentrates for a long moment, then whispers, "Uruz." There's a flast of 
light from one of the runes which then rushes over and through her body almost 
like slightly redish lightning. "Ansuz." This time the flash and lightning is 
a dark blue in color. "Wunjo." Silver flashes of light follow that one, but no 
lightning this time. "Elhaz." White flashes of light and lightning come after 
that word, and with this one the wounds on her face and shoulder begin getting 
smaller, and her skin looks less red. "Eihwaz." More flashes of light and 
lacing energy and the wounds close completely, but there seems to be a scar 
left behind in their place. And her skin is still fairly pink in color. She 
takes in a long breath and then opens her eyes again. "I... thank you. I feel 
better." She still hurts though, and she will for a while. And despite the 
energy power up she got from the first two runes, she's still weak. She's 
gonna need some rest.

Everett is forced back at the first flash of light and energy with a bit of a 
startled cry, landing firmly back on his rear. An arm manages to come up just 
before the second flash to block his eyes. He waits there as Lishka 'heals' 
herself, blocking his eyes from the bright flashes, until the last rune is 
invoked. His arm slowly comes down from its position protecting his eyes and 
watches her with concern, checking for signs of how bad her injuries are now. 
"If the bed hadn't dissapeared, I'd suggest you lie down..." He rubs the back 
of his head sorely where he hit it when the bed went poof as he brings up the 
memory. "How'd you get hurt like this?"

Grumble. "That bi..." She stops herself. Maybe it's not a good idea to insult 
his friends. "Your friend Paige tried to kill me. And nearly did. She tore off 
her skin and revealed sunlight underniegth. SUNLIGHT!" Lishka rubs at the scar 
on her left cheek. She's gonna have that to remember the attack by for a 
while, possibly forever. She throws a glance towards where the bed was and 
seems to consentrate a moment, and it reappears. "Sorry about that. When I get 
threw around like that I sometimes lose hold on my illusions, as you've 
probably noticed, but I'm alright now, as long as you aren't planning to try 
and kill me like all your friends." She's a little upset about the fact that 
Paige tried to kill her. Not to mention the time Sam pummeled her with his 
fists, or the time when Jono slammed her against the wall - /twice/. Or the 
time when Terry lifted her up and pressed her hard against the wall. Or the 
time when Jubilee and Sam's words hurt more then any physical attack ever 
could. Well, until this sunlight thing at least. True, she probably deserved 
it, but it still wasn't very nice of them.

Everett can't help but smile inwardly at the revelation that his friends 
aren't only still going strng, but they're really kicking some ass. They're 
going to get out of here, he knows it, and he's not going to have to spend all 
of eternity trapped in this dimension... "I'm not going to try to kill you." 
He says, almost like the concept is humerous to him. "I could never, ever kill 
someone, no matter what. I don't even like violence much." His face seems to 
sink a bit as he realizes something, and his tone follows suit. "But if any of 
my friends don't come out of this 'game'..." He lets his voice taper off, not 
only to be threatening and ominous, but because he really doesn't know /what/ 
he'd do. He stands stong in his anti-death morals, but everyone has their 
breaking limit, and he doesn't like to think of what his is.

Grumble again. "Well I'm not going to be able to protect them anymore. They're 
out of my areas of the Tower, and they disabled me so I won't be able to guide 
them through the other parts, so if they get hurt, its their own fault." 
Lishka's just angry. Now she has no way to control their movements through the 
top two floors. She has no way to make sure they don't do anything -stupid-. 
And she has no way to make sure that they don't accidently invite and Elder or 
one of her sibilings into the game. She was going to protect them through 
those two floors, but now she's too weak. She won't be able to even give them 
hints, because those floors aren't charged for her illusions - and hense they 
won't work at a distance there. She tries to stand up and fails, falling back 
down onto the floor, but catching herself. She gives a sigh and adds softly, 
voice almost icy, "I would have made sure your friends made it up here if they 
hadn't done this to me, instead they may have doomed themselves, and there's 
nothing I can do about it. The Elders still control the top two floors, and 
they only have ten hours until the doorway to your world closes, and I won't 
be recovered completely enough to help them for at least five hours. And 
that's plenty of time for them to make trouble."

Everett moves over to reach out and offer to help her stand, doing so if she 
accepts. He bites his lip and frowns in concern as she explains the situation 
his friends have placed themselves in, also feeling a bit of... Admiration and 
gratitude towards her initial plan to help them go through. "you were going to 
help them?" He asks in a bit of a light voice, obviously a bit surprised, 
smiling slightly. If she lets him help her up, he begins to lead her towards 
the bed to she can lie down.

Of course she lets him help her up, and in the meantime gets as much feeling 
out of the helping hand as she can. You see, Lishka's never been able to 
actally touch him before. He's never invited her to, and yes, while she isn't 
human, she can still feel touch, and it's quite strange for her. She's been 
touched before, and she's touched most of the ones travelling up her tower at 
least once, but this is so much different. She doesn't respond until she is 
seated on the bed, but he might notice she seems reluctent to let go of him, 
allowing her hands to linger on his arm. "Of course I was going to help 
them... I promised you they would reach the top without any bruises caused by 
me, and I meant for them to reach the top without any at -all-. But..." She 
sighs. She failed. How is she supposed to tell Everett that Jubilee has a 
black eye? She didn't hit her. But Terry did. Not to mention Paige has almost 
ran herself dead. And Gwen and Terry and Jubilee have all sheaded blood at 
least once.

Everett doesn't seem to notice the lingering hold on his arm, as he's moving 
to sit beside her as he listens. He's honestly quite touched at her dedication 
to maintain her word to him. He truly does feel awful about how the situations 
been set up... They've been pitted as enemies, and no matter what happens, 
someone loses. "I understand." He says softly with a small, reassuring smile, 
reaching out to touch her arm lightly as well. "I'm glad you feel that way..." 
He pauses and looks down with a sigh, facial expression dropping. "I really 
wish things didn't have to be like this. We're pitted as enemies when there 
really didn't have to be any violence or struggle. I would have rather kept my 
friends out of it alltogether, rather than have them fight for their own lives 
just to save mine. I hope you understand when I tell you I can't return your 
feelings, Lishka, and why I can't stay here with you... I really don't want to 
hurt you by doing so, but it really isn't an option. If only you could come 
back with us or something, I'm sure you'd be able to find someone else to feel 
for as you think you feel for me..."

Ouch. She knows he didn't mean to hurt her with that confession, but she can't 
help but feel the pain of those words. She looks away from him, towards the 
shelves which hold magic items, trying to hide from him the fact that that 
hurt at all. But of course, looking away is a clear sign of that. Lishka even 
removes her hands and folds them in her lap. The reason those words hurt so 
much is because they are so much like words she's heard before in this Tower. 
From different mouths. The other such sentances play in her mind silently, 
like one of her horrible illusions she put on for the others, only they're 
playing for her and her alone. "He'll never love you, or feel anything for you 
other then /pity/. You're nothing to him but the woman who's putting the 
people he /really/ cares about through hell." ... "Hate ta tell ya, woman, but 
ya can't love or be loved without a heart. And a heart is the one thang yoah 
lackin', the one thing that makes me n' you different. You can only dream 
'bout equaling us, but ya nevah will." ... "Ah'm moah human then ya will evah 
be, Lishka. An' if Ev wants Jubilee ovah me, he certainly ain't evah gunna 
want *you* in heah stead." ... "Yeah.. I bet he does pity you." Lishka's eyes 
close as she tries to force the thoughts away. She does NOT want pity. She 
does have a heart... she has to. If she didn't, then she would never be in 
this mess in the first place. Right now she'd rather do nothing but curl up 
and cry - like so many of the kids going through her tower have done already. 
But she won't. She can't. She won't break down like that. She won't make him 
pity her. Instead she opens her eyes and looks back at him, composer regained, 
"Yes, I know. I should have realized it in the beginning." Her hopeless 
cause... "But, perhaps something terrible will not have to come from this. I'd 
like to give you a gift if I can..." Now why is she doing this? It's her last 
ditch effort. If he can feel how she feels, maybe he'll understand it, or 
maybe it will make things worse. Who knows. But at least he will be able to 
say no if he wishes to.

Everett frowns heavily as he sees her trn away at his words, realizing how 
badly they must hurt her. He truly does feel awful that he's causing someone 
pain for reasons beyond his control... And in that respect, he too is reminded 
of recent events. Being unable to help Paige, having to sit by and silently 
share her agony. That was Hell for Everett... He wanted so badly to return the 
love she felt for him, but in her absence, he had begun giving it towards 
another, and he couldn't change that anymore than he could up and walk right 
back home from this tower. He still loves Paige, just the boundries of their 
relationship have been altered... and though he truly can't know the feelings 
running through Lishka's mind, for a moment they share the same pain. He looks 
up to her as she offers the gift, looking a bit perplexed at first, but after 
a moment nodding. "Sure... I guess... What is it?"

A soft smile breaks through any hurt feelings that were trying to destroy her. 
"Really? Well, it would be a pendant. A ... magical pendant - I guess you 
could say. A tribute." And a bond. But Lishka isn't going to add that part. He 
might reject it if he knew about exactly what it would do. Her hands move to 
the edge of the bed and she pushes herself up, with effort. Once standing she 
motions for him to stay seated, murmuring, "Don't worry, I think I have enough 
energy to walk at least..." And with that she starts over to the shelf. She 
needs something nice... something pretty. But not something to girly. She 
knows how much men are said to dislike girly things. Eventually she digs up a 
silver-linked necklace with a small golden sphere, about the size of a marble. 
Gebo is already carved into it... but here does the hard part. She walks back 
over, not moving with any of her before grace. Walking is clearly taking some 
effort. Once she's able to sit down again she lets out a breath and then says, 
"Alright, there is one small... problem. I don't want to ask it of you, but it 
won't work the same unless..." She trails off. Just -say- it Lishka. "It would 
work better if it had your blood stained on it when I activate it." She 
actually bites her lip. She knows it's a lot to ask, expecially of a him. He 
dislikes violence, and hense, most likely blood as well.

Everett reaches out reflexively as if to try and help her stand, though pulls 
his hands back slowly as she waves him off. As he sits he watches her with 
concern as she walks to the shelves and gets the pendant, returning to sit by 
him. He admires the pendant in her hands, probably being less reluctant to 
wear something femenine or elegant if it had emotional significance than other 
guys, though looks up quickly as her 'condition' is stated. "ehat do you mean 
by... Activated?" He asks warily, apparently more focused on that idea than 
the blood. He doesn't want to be put under her spell or trapped here, of 
course.

How to explain Gebo? Lishka rolls it over so that the rune, a perfect X is 
shown. Ironic isn't it? He's a member of Generation X, and she wants to bind 
him with a rune shaped like an X. Then again, Naudhiz is also shaked like and 
X and it's the rune which trapped her for a hundred years. And the two runes 
cancel each other out as well when used together. "This is the rune Gebo. It 
is the gift rune. It represents hospitality, generousity and giving. It's... 
also the rune of sacrifice. Giving up something in order to be more complete, 
but do not worry, it will only be focased towards the gift side." Yes, she's 
leaving out all mention of the bond that will be brought into effect by it, 
but she doesn't want him to say no. And... she isn't sure how the rune works 
exactly in that manner. She's never used it to bind herself to someone before.

Everett looks at the pendant warily for a few moments, both admiring its 
beauty and contemplating its potential danger. He doesn't want to risk binding 
himself to her or this place by accident, but he feels truly touched at the 
compassion and remorse she's been showing. Of course, Ev is /always/ one to 
give someone the benefit of the doubt, which as proven now can be a real 
downfall. He looks up with a smile, nodding. "Okay. I accept." He remembers 
the blood and his smile fades a bit, but not his decision. "Got a needle I 
could use?"

There's a soft smile - almost a releaved one at that - when he accepts and she 
relaxes a little. Part of her pings with guilt on tricking him, but it is 
quickly washed away. She reaches into another pouch in her dress and pulls out 
a small knife she's been carring around the last couple of days. Hey, when 
real people keep attacking you with powers you can't defend against, you 
better carry something they can't defend against as well. She hasn't used it 
though. It's the size of her hand, the blade no bigger then that on a letter 
opener, but it looks sharp. And it's real. And illusion knife wouldn't do any 
good, because the wound would not be real. She hands it over, "Just a few 
drops will do. All you have to do is trace it over the engraveing." She 
repeats to that distance voice in her head to be quiet. The Elders would do 
this in a second. At least you gave him a chance to say no, Lishka. So stop 
feeling guilty. No matter how much she talks to herself mentally, she still 
feels guilty. Even if just a tad.

Everett's eyes follow the knife slowly, obviously reluctant to do what he's 
about to do, but takes the weapon anyways. He told her he'd accept, and god 
knows Ev wouldn't want to hurt her feelings. Yeesh, this guy is /such/ a sap. 
He grips the handle uncomfortably, like someone who's never wielded a knife 
before, which isn't too wierd because he /hasn't/, really, with the exception 
of cooking. One fingertip is places at the tip of the blade and he winces as 
he breaks the skin in a tiny prick, a bead of blood quickly forming. The knife 
is returned and he reaches out to take the pendant, holding the sphere in his 
hand and pressing the punctured tip of his finger against the X, tracing the 
two straight lines.

After the rune is stained, Lishka leans forward to blow on it briefly, almost 
as if that will help it some, then she tears off part of her sleeve and uses 
it to bandage up his finger, waving a hand at any protests. The fabric of her 
dress is smooth a silk, and feels more delicate than any fanric that could be 
felt on Earth. Then she smiles up at him, "Everett, I'm going to take your 
hands now, and activate the rune. You may feel a jolt afterwards, but don't 
worry, it will not harm you." She takes one of his hands and presses the 
pendant into his palm. Another of her hands presses against his as well. So 
that they are holding hands, with the pendant between them. With her free hand 
she takes his other hand, and cups it gently over her hand, then she places 
that free hand over his. She closes her eyes, trying to consentrait on the 
gift side of the rune. On the fact that Gebo will bind together to giver and 
receiver in a way that only the strongest constraining force or death itself 
can tear apart. Once she's prepared herself mentally for the task she goes 
about the actual activation. The final step in making a rune's powers work. 
First you carve it. Then you stain it. Then last, you call out its name. You 
recognize its power. You pay homage to its true name. And she does just that. 
"Gebo." There's a jolt inside of them. Lishka feels it with a sense of 
surprise. She hadn't expected it to work so quickly. She expected a reaction, 
but she figured -- or perhapsed she hoped -- it would be more subtile. Between 
the cracks of their fingers light is flashing brillantly. Pure white light. 
The color of Lishka's hair. The white flashes continue for only a few seconds, 
and a light... numbness seems to go over both of them for a moment. Then the 
flashes seem to gather back into their hands. No matter what though, Everett 
wouldn't be able to pull away if he tried. Gebo is a rune that can't be 
stopped once it starts, and hense, he will have to wait until the whole 
display is over before he can pull back. Then, slowly, the colors return, but 
this time they snake out of the cracks, like vines. Vines of white light. The 
vines move to wrap around Lishka, covering her from head to toe. Vines also 
move to wrap around Everett as well. The sensations that come with these vines 
feel tingly, but other then that, it's the same as being surrounded by air. 
The vines on Lishka begin changing colors. They go from white to black, from 
black to red, and from red to gold. They fluctuate and change, until all the 
vines settle on one color. Dark burnished gold. Then the vines around Everett 
begin the same motions, but unlike Lishka's his don't settle on a single 
color. One vine is dark blue, another one is purple, another is red, another 
is yellow. There's orange vines, green vines. All the major colors of the the 
rainbow. The color of his synchronous aura. They shine with those colors for a 
few moments, then the color goes down the vines and into the their hands 
again, leaving the vines clear. The colors flash, pulsate and dance between 
their hands, then they soar back up the vines again. This time the multiple 
colors soar up Lishka's side, and the gold wraps around him. There's another 
small jolt that will wrack them both slightly, and a sensation of something... 
slipping into place. Everett's emotions -- his entire being -- becomes a small 
knot in the back of Lishka's head. And she becomes a knot in his. Right now 
her emotions are a mix of surprise, awe, and a tiny bit of guilt still 
remaining. The pain of her injuries is still present, but right now it is 
overshadowed by the emotions she is feeling. There is a great sense of 
admiration coming from her. She adores Everett -- thinks he's one of the 
nicest, most noble people she's ever met. Not only that... there's also a 
strange feeling. Almost a hunger. A need. A deeper desire then lust. She 
doesn't really have lust, because you have to understand sexual relationships 
to have the form of lust most humans think of when they hear the word. What 
Lishka lusts for is someone to love her. A light at the end of a dark and 
lonely tunnel. And to her, Everett was that light. When he walked into her 
store it was as if a crack had formed in the dark tunnel of her life and let 
light shine through. Creatures that live without light are blind. And Lishka 
has seen true light, and she doesn't want to let it go. Unfortunately, her 
methods are not the best. Because instead of keeping and perserving that 
light, she's probably going to have a better chance of corrupting it. And even 
more ironically. At the exact same time down the Tower, the four of the 
children are beginning to carve the very same rune into things, in an attempt 
to set free captured souls. One of the very mistakes the Lishka was going to 
try to avoid.

Everett allows Lishka to take his hands reluctantly, still wary of the entire 
process. He was expecting a simple gift, without a spell attatched, or any 
sort of magical 'activation' necessary. But then, he's agreed, so he's going 
to follow through.... He jumps a bit at the jolt through his body, reflexively 
pulling to draw back but finding himself locked in place by the transaction. 
"Lishka..." He says lowly in a worried voice, watching as the light grows, 
dulls, then lashes out in tendrils to engulf her body. "Lishka!" His voice is 
much more worried now, though before he can react he finds himself coated in a 
simlar pair of tingly vines. His reaction to the second jolt is the same as 
the first, though quickly becomes still as the emotions cascade from Lishka 
onto hom. The first series, including the guilt, are looked over as he feels 
first the pain from before, then the feelings she has for him and the craving 
that drives her. And for the first time since he arrived, he truly 
understands. He understands how she feels, why she's doing it all... And he 
sympathises. In response she'll feel concern, remorse, guilt for not being 
able to provide her with she wants... And below all that, a longing for his 
friends to be safe and free, and to be reunited with them. Intermingled with 
the feelings is something Lishka may be unfamiliar with... His love for 
Jubilee. Strong, loya, constant love. Like a beacon amongst his whirling 
emotions.

Once the emotional bond settles in finally, Lishka just sits there and stares 
at his hand a minute. This is... so much different then she expected it would 
be. She feels so confused, so... lost. Then she starts to feel his own 
emotions and a sharp pain hits her. By the Elders... she never knew what that 
kind of love felt like, and feeling it for the first time is kind of a shock. 
But what's painful is the fact that it's not aimed towards her, and she knows 
it likely never will be. She pulls her hand away quickly and stands up -- or 
more correctly, she tries to stand up. There's a slight problem. See, she was 
already weak before, but then she went and activated an intensely powerful 
rune, and hense, she's used up all the energy she gained from activating those 
runes before, the ones that gave energy. There's a sudden feeling of 
exhaustion flows through her, and she doesn't know enough about this empathic 
bond to lower the amount in which he feels it. She ends up sitting back down 
on the bed, and instead moves over a little, somewhat away from him, looking 
down at her hands. Look on the bright side, the bed didn't vanish this time.

Everett takes a moment longer to take in the events that just happened, 
sitting on the bed and blinking with surprise and amazement. He's never even 
synched true telepathy before, so picking up on another person's emotions was 
a bit of a shock. However, seeing Lishka falter as she tries to stand is 
enough to snap him out of it, prodding him to stand himself and offer his hand 
to help steady her and lower herself back to the bed, though she'll no doubt 
refuse. "I guess that must have weakened you... You should lie down, try to 
recover."

Glancing up at him silently, eyes... strange. Instead of lacking emotion like 
they usually can, she's clearly showing what she's feeling. But then again 
that could just be because now he knows what she's feeling and is able to 
recognize it in her eyes. Whichever it is, Lishka does feel guilty about doing 
this, and even a little regretful. But not regretful enough to undo it. She 
gives a small nod, "You are right. I should get some rest, your friends will 
likely be up here soon..." She she's going to need the strength for that 
'final battle' that's for sure. She's already trying to figure out ways to get 
around Paige's power. Knocking her unconsious or putting her into a temporary 
coma is the only things that Lishka can think of so far. Thurisaz could do 
that easily... But, back to the basics, Lishka allows Everett to steady her 
and she does lay down on the bed and look at the ceiling. Which means looking 
right at the door with Naudhiz on it. The counter to Gebo. The whole reason 
she put the door on the ceiling was because she didn't want to look at it, but 
she couldn't get rid of it. So instead, she just flipped the entire room.