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[ it's over. ]

STOP!

[This voice should sound familiar-- it's the slightly British guy who's been absent for a few months. He staggers out of nothingness, looking like he's been sick in bed for a year.

Any angels or shadows still crawling around stop halfway through whatever they're doing. Like hitting pause on the remote control. In fact, that's pretty much what he's done. His pallid face contorted with fury, he summons one of those pop-up HUDs, makes some swiping motions, and dismisses it.

The creatures blink out of existence. No burning, no exploding, just... gone.]

What. Is. Going. On.

[Another figure, surprisingly less rumpled, appears just a couple feet away. He's dressed in a long blue coat, and he has dark black hair braided down his back. His features are hawkish, and his eyes a piercing yellow.]

Wolfgang, I don't think you should be walking around in your current state. You're not yet recovered.

[Wolf turns on him.] You're part of the... no. You did this? But we were friends! I trusted you, and you were tinkering wi' the Machine all along?! [He coughs a couple times, wheezing and awful.] You... you poisoned me. Didn't you. From the start.

I tried to tell you that your dream was impossible... but you just wouldn't listen. We could make a whole new universe with this-- and you want to save the one that rejected you?

[Wolf's eyes flash.] I won't sacrifice people to save myself! [He launches a volley of fire at Tian, who doesn't even bat an eye. The fire hits a wall of water and turns into steam, obscuring the area for a moment.

When the smoke clears, Tian is gone, and Wolf is left with fire crawling across his fingertips. He sucks in a breath through his teeth, lets it fizzle out.]

Oh, goddess. I... I need to sit down.

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[Menzies approaches, arms crossed over her chest and expression unreadable. she regards Wolfgang from behind for a moment before she speaks up] So. We've got enemies from your world now, too, do we?

[but despite her words, she steps forward and offers her arm, meaning to help him sit down if he needs it]

[Yeah, he just kinda flops down where he is.]

Tian. Da Tian. He was the doctor I... when I got sick. The mana poisoning. I can't believe this.

[He's shaky and half-dead.]

I'm so... so sorry. Here I was tryin' to-- take care of you all, and this happens. I don't even know how long it's been. Pro'lly too long. I'm too late, I know that.

Not just the doctor but the culprit, by the sound of it. [her expression is grim]

[but at the sight of him shaking, she sighs and leans down] Nevermind that now. Look, can you go with me to my world? Assuming you've opened things up so that's possible. I wouldn't fancy the chances of our regular medical facilities doing much, but I do know a planet with the ability to sort of...regenerate things on a cellular level. Something like that, anyway--it saved my life once. I'm not sure what sort of welcome I'll get, but we might be able to convince 'em to do something for you.

[He shakes his head.]

I'll be okay. The poison he used... I saw it. It's a slow thing, a little bit at a time, so I didn't know I was being fooled. Now that I'm not taking it... I'll get better.

[He smiles weakly.]

Better save that ace up your sleeve. The fighting's just started.

[she frowns, not sure she likes that answer, but she gives a reluctant nod] If you say so, but be careful.

[at that comment, though, she snorts] You know, I think it actually started a few years ago. [growing serious again, though, she asks:] So what can you tell me about this Da Tian--and what he was 'oping to get out of sending those creatures after us?

I don't want to interfere with your world unless I have to. I mean. Don't you think the people behind the Machine have done enough? [He smiles, though something's bittersweet about it.

It's gone when he goes back to talking about his ex-friend, though.]

Tian's always made things. There was a story he told me, once, about a machine brought from another world that turned into an animal but was-- still a machine? So he's spent a lot of his life studying how it works, studying mana, trying to find a link.

Those things didn't really look like his work though. If you ask me, he found them locked away somewhere an' modified them. He's done somethin' like that before.

[Menzies makes a face] All right, point taken.

[at Wolfgang's words, a shiver runs down her spine, and she says, quietly:] They were under the floor. I heard 'em, scratching at it--just before it started. [a sound that, to her knowledge, only she had heard. a sound that had, as it turned out, been real all along. it's something else she's tempted to ask about, though she somehow doubts Wolfgang will have any answers for her]

[still, first things first. while she has Wolfgang's attention, she wants to learn as much about their new enemy as she can do] But that still doesn't tell us what it was for. If he's trying to make a new universe-- [but she cuts herself off, thinking of Laith, and her eyes widen] He wanted to kill us, didn't he? Kill enough of us and he'd 'ave the energy he needed! Was that it!?

[Wolf's eyes widen, and he straightens despite how weak he is.]

You could hear them? Goddess, I can't imagine how unsettling that would be. I wish I had known. I wish someone had known. Maybe we could have stopped it... maybe.

[He blinks at her sudden realization, though. He holds up his hands.] Hold on. Hold on, why do you think he wants to kill you? ... Wait, okay, that was poorly-phrased. If he wanted to kill you, he could've done it much differently, I'm sure. What's this bit about taking your energy? I've never heard of that.

[she winces at Wolfgang's "if onlys." she knows it's illogical, but she still wishes that she had thought to share her original dream--had at least realised at the time that it was more than just a Plane trick meant to unsettle her. she could have described Da Tian from it, described the creatures, shared about the noise in the floor... but of course she'd had no reason to believe any of it was real then, and she's not sure whether she wants to admit to any of it now. but knowing that Wolfgang is the only person with any power who seems to be at all on their side, she decides to take a gamble]

It wasn't just that. I...started 'aving this recurring nightmare. Not exactly the creatures that came but something like 'em. And...Da Tian and 'is yellow eyes. [she pauses before asking, a little uncertainly:] Could he 'ave made something like that 'appen? Like...a taunt, maybe?

[but she frowns at Wolfgang's confusion, her surprise clear in her tone] You 'aven't? It's 'appened before in this place. There was a woman--Laith--who wanted to build 'erself her own personal universe. [she sighs; Laith isn't exactly a pleasant person to remember] I don't know the details, but she murdered a bunch of people 'ere and said that'd given 'er what she needed. And she wasn't the first one to set up trouble 'ere meant to kill as many people as possible, either. There's something people can get out it. [her eyes narrow, wondering if that could have been Da Tian's motive without Wolfgang knowing about it--or if the ignorance of one person from that world is a sign of ignorance in the other] But if he wasn't aiming for that, what was he aiming for? Any ideas?

[He shakes his head.] No, there's nothing in the programming that I know of. You really had dreams? You're not some kind of seer? [He runs his hand through his messy hair.]

I've never heard of this. Any of this. It's... a bit crazy. I mean, I believe you, but-- I've some cleaning up to do. And now I have to watch my back in two places. But I'll get you some answers, I will.

[He takes in a breath, then lets it out.] I knew about Laith from looking in the records, but she didn't leave much behind. Nothing about why she did those things, or how. But she had recorded killing people and reviving them.

Tian, he... Let me back up. Mana is what we live on, on my world. Tian has never liked our world's dependence on it, even though it's in everything. Like a soul. But the core of it is... corrupted somehow. The world tree is dying-- slowly collapsing on itself.

Tian might be looking for other ways to support life, like those angel things. I know he's talked about finding a new planet. [He looks down.] I work here so that I can save the one we have.

[emphatically, she says:] No. And before you ask, I 'aven't died 'ere either. [she narrows her eyes] So what the 'ell was it if it wasn't a game he was playing...

[she frowns. while Wolfgang's story sounds simple enough, she's having trouble matching it up with Tian's actions] So, what, trying to see if he could replace lives somehow? But I'd think trying to infiltrate one of our worlds would just tie 'im to this place. [she pauses for a moment, thinking this through] You don't think he might be trying to take a power source for your world?

[but at Wolfgang's last words, even though he's looked away, she nods] And if we can safely 'elp you with that, we will do. But it sounds like first we've gotta stop someone else from using that problem as a reason to kill.

The Machine. It's... it has a life of its own, sometimes. Maybe all the time. I don't yet understand it--

Mm, yes. I think that's sort of what he's doing. I think, maybe, he's trying to find a way to live without dependence on mana. You don't have mana, do you? It's possible.

[He nods at that last part.]

I wouldn't dare ask anything of you that you're not ready to give. My world will be fine for a while. For now, I'm... I'm going to rest, and then I'm going to see if he left anything I can use against him.

[she turns sharply to him at that] The Machine itself? [she shivers at the thought] Comforting. [she's not sure what that would mean, but then again, she isn't sure if she really wants to know. but the thought is less unbelievable than it might otherwise be, considering all the things they've experienced here. hadn't Wolfgang alluded to that before, after all, when he tried to give them a gift and it came with a catch?]

[at that question, she nods] My world 'asn't got anything like that, no. So question is, are we the power sources, or is he looking for something else through us... [she frowns, not really liking either of those thoughts. whether he could use the Plane to kill enough of them to make his own power source or use it to steal a power source from one of their worlds--potentially destroying it in the process--it really doesn't bear thinking about. still, what they need is more information. she hopes Wolfgang is able to be true to his word in that respect]

Sounds fair. [she pauses, her tone softening] Take care of yourself. And keep me in touch.

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