Riverside

[Ironsmith]

[Wild Mike's]

Marianne slowly shakes her head. She's going to have to just come out and say it, isn't she?

"There's no such thing." She says, nervously drumming her fingers on the table. "The fact that we have opposition as powerful as the Devils sort of messes with causality. The best we can do is promises... If I were to prophesy that your house would fall ane be restored sevenfold, what I'm saying is that I'll do everything in my power to make that sevenfold return happen."

"...And if I say that someone is going to die, at a given time, place, and circumstance..."

There's no way Jaahlyn can mistake her meaning now, right?

[Morty]

[MERC Office]

"According to Jaahlyn, she brought her back somehow." Dipsnig's ears flick as he considers how much he should say. "I haven't had a reason to dig into the details of it just yet. It's sufficient that it makes the situation somewhat less damaging."

[Gullara]

[Fight or Flight]

Eliseo laughs some more. "You know it."

Atsede's certainly noticed the change in environment as Eliseo's lead her along. They've evered a rich residential area, with gated properties, with big yards and oversized homes. "So we're gonna sneak in. Like, not for real sneak in because the cameras will catch us, but you know, don't feel like going through my parents." He explains.

[Meowmai]

[Fight or Flight]

As their surroundings changed, Atsede couldn't help but feel increasingly out of place. Mind you, it's not like her family was in a bad place financially. Though she wondered now, away from most of the church, how long that would last, with her parents as insular as they were. But more so that this kind of place just really did not match her vibe. She's trying to get a cool punk thing going on, y'know? And that clashes with the rich suburbs around here.

"Yup. Shouldn't be too hard. I can be all quiet-like, done this many times back home." She grinned. "Guess we gotta work on an explanation for when your moms check the cameras too, huh?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Wild Mike's]

Marianne slowly shakes her head. She's going to have to just come out and say it, isn't she?

"There's no such thing." She says, nervously drumming her fingers on the table. "The fact that we have opposition as powerful as the Devils sort of messes with causality. The best we can do is promises... If I were to prophesy that your house would fall ane be restored sevenfold, what I'm saying is that I'll do everything in my power to make that sevenfold return happen."

"...And if I say that someone is going to die, at a given time, place, and circumstance..."

There's no way Jaahlyn can mistake her meaning now, right?

[Wild Mike's]

So Jaahlyn's first assumption had been right. She could hardly believe it. But she wasn't going to slip back into her psychopomp aspect again. Not with this happening.

"...are they aware of this 'plan'?" She asks in a grave voice. Talk of death always made her darker thoughts surface. Especially when it was about murder.

[Reinholdt]

[Angelic Aftermath]

Ilpholin looks at Anika when she mentions Cass. "No demons? Sounds like heaven." She glances over at Tina. "Pardon the phrase." She smiles a little then turns back to Anika. "But what does this Cass summon then?" If Cass has experience, she must be summoning something.

"Admittedly, I think I might have everything I need now. It was easy enough to record that recording." Being a cyborg helps.

The phyrexian quirks an eyebrow as Tina explains how she came to be an angel. "Oh that's... unusual. I didn't know Tellysandra had that kind of power." Ilpholin frowns. That sounds like much the same kind of power as Libra and herself tapped into.

[Into The Looking Glass]

"You should call one and find out," Ilpholin suggests to Nye as she watches. Blindfolded? An excuse to make a mistake most likely. Limuria may be sharing senses with her other selves though. Not necessarily, of course. With enough training and focus, the accuracy and technique necessary for the trick was possible blind. The impressiveness would display itself in the trick, but the real praise should go to the effort taken to master such combat strategies.

[Ironsmith]

[Wild Mike's]

"They'd think I'd gone off the deep end if I told them." Marianne replies, shaking her head. "From a mortal perspective, the entire idea is... well, it's insane. It doesn't even begin to make sense until you look at the bigger picture." She leans forward on the table, lowering her voice so only Jaahlyn would hear her. "You of all people know that death is not a question of if, but when. If I sit back and do nothing, they're still going to die eventually, and you're not likely to be there to help them out. But if I can arrange things to get them into Elysium, counterintuitive though it may be, seeing to their deaths on purpose would be the best chance they have of not being thrown into the Abyss again." She reaches over to Jaahlyn's hand and gives it a little squeeze. "...I know it sounds wrong. But please believe me when I say I'm looking out for their best interests, like I always have. Do you understand?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Angelic Aftermath]

"Uh, cem-" Anika suddenly recalled that Cass had specifically told her to not call them 'cemons' yet that was suddenly the only word she could think of.

"...actually, I can't recall the term they used. But they are like... emotional entities?" Which was about the only thing she could recall of Cass explanation right now. "'Spirits' might be a good word for them. In some cases they could be, uh, demon-like but that's because people believe in demons y'know? People's thoughts make them all twisted and such. Most of them are aren't like that at all though. You should probably ask Cass themselves though. They'd be much better at explaining this than me." Frankly she couldn't recall if all of this was true or not but it sounded better in her head.

[MERC Office]

"...she can bring people back from the dead? Wow, maybe she's like a priest or shaman then." Anika tries to recall what she remembers of her meeting with the goat- er, Jaahlyn but all she could recall was her horns-

Oh!

She must be like a draenei!
They kinda looked like demons but were like the most holy people out there. Many of them just happening to be priests and shamans. Yeah, this made total sense now.

Except for that weird black essence part of course. That still made her weary since she knew that corrupted draenei were some of the baddest demons out there.

[Shadowcaller]

[Wild Mike's]

"They'd think I'd gone off the deep end if I told them." Marianne replies, shaking her head. "From a mortal perspective, the entire idea is... well, it's insane. It doesn't even begin to make sense until you look at the bigger picture." She leans forward on the table, lowering her voice so only Jaahlyn would hear her. "You of all people know that death is not a question of if, but when. If I sit back and do nothing, they're still going to die eventually, and you're not likely to be there to help them out. But if I can arrange things to get them into Elysium, counterintuitive though it may be, seeing to their deaths on purpose would be the best chance they have of not being thrown into the Abyss again." She reaches over to Jaahlyn's hand and gives it a little squeeze. "...I know it sounds wrong. But please believe me when I say I'm looking out for their best interests, like I always have. Do you understand?"

[Wild Mike's]

Jaahlyn doesn't recoil from the touch but she doesn't seem to be able to agree.

"I understand your reasoning, yes. Perhaps better than anyone else. Which is exactly why you have to tell them, Marianne. They know death, they know the torments that await them not if but when, just like you just told me. That's part of why you even hired me in the first place. Since you knew what would happen if when happened during your concert. You were afraid of it and that's the worst part of all. The constant stress that death might come for you and erase everything you are in an instant. Since what do you think they will feel before whatever you have had arranged happens? They will feel exactly what you felt right before I came to help you. There will be no comfort, only the feeling of betrayal and spite. Believing that you would be subjected to everything your abyss have to throw at 'betrayers'."

The satyr's frown deepens.

"Since if you're afraid that they cannot accept your reasoning now, what makes you think that they'll accept it after they've learned that you've arranged their deaths? Since yeah, that sounds pretty freaking mental. In fact, it makes you sound like a freaking supervillain. Going behind their back, plotting their deaths. Subject them to everything you yourself felt in that moment. The anguish, the pain, the hopelessness. In fact, once they would learn that I were in on this thing how do you think they would feel about me?"

She shakes her head.

"No, I can't do that. So I'm sorry but if you don't tell them I will have to. You can either choose to be a part of that conversation or just continue to lie to them. But if you want to do this, if you want to actually help your friends then I need to tell them that if they do choose to die then won't be doing so believing that they will be subjected to the horrors of the abyss. That they actually will finally be free of that fear forever if they agree to this."

Jaahlyn leans over and holds out her other hand. "So I'm putting the ball back into your court here, Marianne. Do you want to be there when I try to explain all this to them?"

[Ironsmith]

[Wild Mike's]

Marianne falls silent at that. Somehow, she knew this would be Jaahlyn's reaction. She claims to understand, but does she, really? If Marianne came forward with this plan, there's no way any of her friends would agree to it. Euphoria would probably put her through a wall for even suggesting it. She can't tell them about this; they'd never trust her again, and they'd have their guards up for any otherwise well-intentioned attempts on their lives. Broaching the subject was a good way to ensure they'd all end up damned.

"...If I have to burn a few bridges to save them, fine." Marianne begins, sitting up straight again. "But if you're worried about your own friendships with them, don't be... I'll make a point of telling them you didn't have a choice."

The angel holds the service tokens out to be used. "You'll be meeting with Ilpholin Xar'cha for the details. When she deems the time and place to be right, you are to go with her to the deaths of Melody Hopskins, Anastacia Ariti, and the demon we call Euphoria, and ensure they are rerouted from their usual path to the Peccatorium. You are then to notify me of their passing." She frowns. "And you are to tell nobody of this assignment until its completion. Is that understood?"

[Recaiden]

[Into The Looking Glass]

Skye starts to spin on the wheel.
Huh. This isn't so bad.
Spinning faster.
Okay, maybe it's a bit dizzying.
And faster.
And shuts her eyes.

"Five!" she calls out first.

[Shadowcaller]

[Wild Mike's]

Jaahlyn was already mentally preparing a counterargument when Marianne cut the debate short.
Right, the tokens. She could use those.
Suddenly the satyr regretted stating her intentions like that.

She just hadn't imagined that Marianne would have gone for that given her initial reluctantly. Had that only been pretense? Or was the idea of them knowing her plans really awful to her? Either way, she internally cursed the way she had just forgotten about those damn tokens.

As Jaahlyn takes them in her hand they disappear. Some might say they were absorbed back into her being but that wasn't quite accurate. The truth was that there never were any tokens. Not physical tokens at least. They were illusions. Glamours. But like with most things their physicality didn't matter. What mattered was what they represented which in this case was three favors.

And Marianne had just spend all of them at once.

Even if she seemed to consider herself a non-mortal now she still made the same mistakes as they did.

"...what do I do if Ilpholin attempts to kill or hurt me?" She asks simply as Marianne stands up to leave. "Since if this body dies or get seriously injured I probably won't be able to fulfill those favors." Jaahlyn gestures down at herself.

[Gullara]

[Fight or Flight]

The boy laughs. "Maybe. I'm still going to lean on that I was just helping you out. Probably means you can't stay too long, but you probably have to get home anyway."

Eliseo turns toward one of the gates, specifically a side door next to the main gate, and punches in a code. It swings upen and they step through to the courtyard. At the very least it looks like Eliseo's home isn't the most elaborate mansion in the area, but it's still quite rich.

"Alright, keep it low." He walks them across the courtyard, past the house, and opens a side door. He kicks his shoes off on a mat in the small porch area and then leads his way down a hallway. "Let's start with some ice, eh?"

[Ironsmith]

[Wild Mike's]

"She already knows not to." Marianne replies, stopping by the table. "But if she does, you have permission to retaliate. Or to flee, if none of my friends' souls are at stake. In either case, notify me and I'll set things right with her."

She won't say as much out loud, but Jaahlyn is much more important to this mission than Ilpholin is. Skilled though the nymph is, if something happens, Marianne can always find another demon hunter or some other assassin. But a psychopomp that can do what Jaahlyn did? There's only one of those in the entire Nexus, so far as she knows. She's irreplacable. And if a fight broke out between them, she'd rather see Jaahlyn make it to the other side than Ilpholin (though both would still be ideal).

"...I should go. Enjoy the wings." Marianne says finally, giving Jaahlyn an awkward pat on the shoulder before vanishing into thin air.

...And promptly reappearing back outside, sitting up against the wall, knocking her head against it as she tries to work out those knots in her stomach. Ugh. She's not supposed to be able to get nauseous anymore, but apparently, that's limited to physical causes. Disgust at what she'd just done doesn't enter into it.

But... she did the right thing here, right? In the end, Jaahlyn didn't give her much choice. She was the one who gave Marianne an ultimatum. The angel had to use the tokens or else this whole operation would have fallen apart. She did what she had to do.

...Stupid stomach.

[Shadowcaller]

[Wild Mike's]

"This won't end well." Jaahlyn remarks before Marianne disappears.

She had considered saying 'you will regret this' first but it made it sound like she wanted revenge. Something far too dramatic.

After all, she might not even need to do anything and this plan would go completely off the rails all on its own.

In fact, she was now actually curious to see how long it would take for that to happen.
So why not. This way she might not even need to feel bad about it. 'Following orders' was never an excuse for mortals but to a fey it most certainly could be the way the Laws worked.

So without eating even one chicken wing she leaves some tip, give the waiter a customary bow (she still had some standards) and then leaves.

[The right time and place]

Jaahlyn had mused about appearing before this 'demon hunter' as Baphoreth and then let her kill her as many times she pleased. Might even prove therapeutic. But Baphoreth's influence would likely interfere with the task at hand so she had quickly opted out of that idea.

She would just walk up to her home as plain old Jaahlyn and see what happened. She had already given Ilpholin a message asking where to meet up and this seemed to be the place and the right time. She had no idea how Marianne had convinced her of agreeing to this. Perhaps the demon hunter had only pretended to agree to it for a chance to kill her? After all, she had seen the way she had looked at her at the club. Pure hatred.

And she wasn't even a demon.

Either way, she's not going to enter the compound. Just waiting outside of it for the hunter to appear. Just making sure she was well within the sights of the cameras here.

But they could always communicate by radio if Ilpholin preferred.
It was not like Jaahlyn had a choice in the matter.

[Reinholdt]

[The right time and place]

There's certainly a tense silence in the air, amplified slightly by how little redevelopment has occurred in the neighborhood around Ilpholin's Spider Embassy. It was like the nymph was shunned even in her own city. Waiting seems to do little good.

Jaahlyn waving breaks the awkward stalemate. From the edges of the overly manicured lawn rise up mechanical weapons, turrets of steel and silver that point at Jaahlyn, about five red dots seeking out her body. Nothing fires at least, though it can't be great for the mood.

A crackling sound, almost distant breaks as a voice shouts from some unseen carrier. "You must have a fucking deathwish. What in Lloth's name are you doing here?" For whatever level of miscommunication is going on, it appears that the demon hunter was not expecting Jaahlyn.

[Shadowcaller]

[Into The Looking Glass]

The throwing knife leaves Limuria's hand so fast that the knife is left vibrating as it hits the wood.
But despite the blindfold and the wheels movement, it did hit its mark.

Nye gives her feat a quick applause but the trick was far from over.

Once Nye calls another number Limuria nails it with the same stunning accuracy. Since even if its not always bullseye the fact she even hit the squares with the right numbers in the first place was amazing.

This will go on unless of course anyone likes to interfere with the trick.

[The right time and place]

Jaahlyn hadn't fucked deathwish but a part of her wished she had before she got a boyfriend.
Alas.

The satyr stares blankly at the camera for a moment. Her goat-like eyes turning into thin slits as her eyes narrow.

Marianne hadn't even told her?!
This plan was even more dumb than she had originally thought. It might just end right here and now.

She suppresses a sigh as she knew she had to try despite how much she didn't want to.

Trying to ignore all the machines of death suddenly being pointed at her she bows down as elegantly as she could muster given the circumstances.
"I am Jaahlyn Hesperos and Marianne have asked me to work with you to make sure her friends can enter heaven. Since despite what you might think, I'm not a 'demon'. I'm a psychopomp. A fey which acts as a guide of the dead. It just so happens that the color of death and the color of demons happens to be the same." She gestures up at her black eyes which she considered the main culprit of the bad reputation she was often given. Since it so happened that black was more often considered to be an 'evil' color among people than goat-legs were.

"But if you won't take my word for it perhaps there's some other way I can convince you of my lack of demon-hood?"

[Arkhosia]

► SHOW SPOILER

[MERC Office]

"According to Jaahlyn, she brought her back somehow." Dipsnig's ears flick as he considers how much he should say. "I haven't had a reason to dig into the details of it just yet. It's sufficient that it makes the situation somewhat less damaging."

[MERC Office]

"...she can bring people back from the dead? Wow, maybe she's like a priest or shaman then." Anika tries to recall what she remembers of her meeting with the goat- er, Jaahlyn but all she could recall was her horns-

Oh!

She must be like a draenei!
They kinda looked like demons but were like the most holy people out there. Many of them just happening to be priests and shamans. Yeah, this made total sense now.

Except for that weird black essence part of course. That still made her weary since she knew that corrupted draenei were some of the baddest demons out there.

[MERC Office]

Blanche quirks her brow. Huh. That is new. "i've heard of that before, but I didn't know it still happened. It does help prevent some of the potential fallout that we could have dealt with from her failure to protect the client." She turns back towards Anika. "So, are you comfortable with us meeting with Jaahlyn? I don't think we have much more business beyond that here."

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Office]

"Uh... well, we fought twice but maybe we can still talk it out." A beat. "I mean, I at least want to apologize to her if this turns out to be a big misunderstanding."

[Murkus]

[Angelic Aftermath]

"Hey, I've never even been to Heaven. How authentic an angel can I be, anyways?" Fettina says with a shrug. She doesn't know enough about relative power levels to judge Telly. She guesses that changing someone into a divine being must be a pretty big deal, but it's all in the past for her anyways. The angel goes to sit down and listen to the other ladies talk, picking a piece of broken glass out of her hair.

[Reinholdt]

[The right time and place]

"YOU'RE Jaahlyn?!" Ilpholin shouldn't sound so surprised. She always suspected. That's why she didn't press the issue to begin with when Marianne mentioned a Jaahlyn. Ilpholin had hoped to be wrong and didn't want to know if she was right. She could just barely stomach this job so long as she remained willfully ignorant.

Now, here the goat is going on a spiel about how she isn't demonic. "... It's almost funny how you think that's relevant," Ilpholin replies in a tone suggesting this isn't funny and nothing will ever be funny ever again. So many people lately trying to convince Ilpholin they aren't demons and therefore shouldn't have issues with them, not understanding how one note that is, how one dimensional it paints the nymph. Like she was some sort of computer that only killed if the demon flag was up and spared if the demon flag got turned off. Ilpholin's problem with Jaahlyn doesn't stem from what she is, but rather from what she did. To Ava. To the audience en masse.

"Wait there," the voice crackles.

Marianne gets a text message very shortly thereafter.

Jaahlyn's the goat person?! Are you actually serious?! I'm not working with that MONSTER.

Even if it is Spooktober. A girl must have standards after all.

[Angelic Aftermath]

"Well it's not uncommon or incorrect to classify demons as corrupting spirits," Ilpholin points out, immediately growing suspicious and suspecting Cass to be pulling the wool over Anika's eyes. "But there are certainly many spirits that aren't demons, sure." Ilpholin hadn't considered the séance type magic of fortune tellers and such when considering summoning, but it doesn't seem unrelated now that she thinks about it. Not to mention nature spirits and those type of things.

"Well I'd have to meet them first either way I guess. My schedule's pretty full though. I don't have much time for social calls." She's got a kid to raise, Phyrexians to recruit, and demons to slay! She does sort of chuckle at Tina's comment though, it's sort of a sad pity chuckle. What kind of angel didn't get to go to heaven and stay there to enjoy paradise? A cursed one, no doubt.

[Arkhosia]

[Into The Looking Glass]

"Oh, wow!" Ana leans out of her seat and watches the General spin, absolutely delighted to watch the glittering whirls of steel spin through the air and hit their mark. Now this was a show! She tries to keep track of the numbers and totals, following along and trying to guess what number Nye will call next.

Stasia, for her part, doesn't interrupt or try to sabotage the act either. She's far more preoccupied hovering awkwardly between Ana and Siana in case the former runs off or the latter should need her, though she does still keep a worried eye on the act playing out before them. Such danger! She sure hopes the general will be alright.

[Shadowcaller]

[The right time and place]

"As you wish."

Well, this plan was expiring faster than a fish out of water.
Again she reminded herself she was bound to this so she had to figure out just what had the demon hunter so upset besides her potentially being a demon.
She takes the moment when Ilpholin tells her to wait to consider what she knew.

The demon hunter had been disguised as that woman, the groupie and that was the only time she knew that she had encountered her. Then was it something she did during the concert? She admitted that things were a bit of a blur as things had been happening so fast which was why-
Oh yes, she had entered her death aspect in order to remain calm and she had tried to calm down the panicked crowd as well since they were under another fey's influence and then then there was fighting-

Wait, the bear woman!

She had protected Ilpholin during that fight hadn't she? And she had also seemed pissed off at her due to- Ava? Yes, that must be it since she taken her from the hospital later on. It was the best connection she could think of. Ilpholin and the bear woman must be working together and they were under the same delusion regarding Ava.
Jaahlyn clears her voice and speaks up again. "...if you're angry about what happened at the club-" She pauses, as to give Ilpholin a moment to listen in to what she had to say. "-Ava was threatening to blow us all up and I got the impression she was serious. So I had to stop her with everything I had at my disposal or we both might have been dead right now. I did also attempt to seek her out afterwards to undo it but that bear woman got to her first. I did get the impression she believed I was about to do something awful to Ava but I swear that I just wanted to reverse what had been done. You might not believe me but as I said, I can swear to it."

[Ironsmith]

[The right time, different place]

NymphoMania is typing...

...

NymphoMania is typing...

<NymphoMania> Are we talking about the same goat person? Because as I remember it, she's the woman we have to thank for Ava's bombing having a whopping zero fatalities.
<NymphoMania> And she's also the only person who can actually pull off the switch into another afterlife. She's irreplaceable.
<NymphoMania> I'm not sure what your problem is with her, but is there any way you can back-burner it for a while? She's handling a different part of the plan regardless, so she's not going to make you do anything you didn't already agree to.

[Into The Looking Glass]

For her part, Siana's going to watch the show without interfering. She looks disgusted at Nye for calling out a number. In hindsight, it makes sense that this is part of the act, and part of the "game" the General is playing is to compensate for the numbers being called out to get the desired result, but she'll have no part of it. Distracting Limuria while she's throwing knives at someone tied to a wheel already seems risky, even if she's a trained performer. The "game" here is just too sadistic.

[Shadowcaller]

[Angelic Aftermath]

"Well it's not uncommon or incorrect to classify demons as corrupting spirits," Ilpholin points out, immediately growing suspicious and suspecting Cass to be pulling the wool over Anika's eyes. "But there are certainly many spirits that aren't demons, sure." Ilpholin hadn't considered the séance type magic of fortune tellers and such when considering summoning, but it doesn't seem unrelated now that she thinks about it. Not to mention nature spirits and those type of things.

"Well I'd have to meet them first either way I guess. My schedule's pretty full though. I don't have much time for social calls." She's got a kid to raise, Phyrexians to recruit, and demons to slay! She does sort of chuckle at Tina's comment though, it's sort of a sad pity chuckle. What kind of angel didn't get to go to heaven and stay there to enjoy paradise? A cursed one, no doubt.

[Angelic Aftermath]

"Maybe I just misunderstood something Cass said." Anika reasons since that was the most likely explanation. "Either way, I can always talk to them for you since they're pretty busy too. With all their research and stuff."

A beat.

"Hey, what's 'heaven' anyway? Isn't that just the sky? Since I'm pretty sure that Tina's been there."

[Murkus]

[Angelic Aftermath]

"Heaven's where angels live, and where good people go when they bite it," Fettina supplies, tilting her head to run her fingers through her hair. "At least, that's the idea, I guess. It's the afterlife. The 'good' version. But there are probably so many worlds with so many versions that it could look like pretty much anything."

"I've never been there. I guess I could maybe go to one, since I'm... well, I got the wings. But I'm not really sure how," Fettina says.

[Morty]

[MERC Office]

"I do think it might help," Wenomir weighs in. "If we can avoid bad blood, we should try it."

"It's your choice. I can contact her and ask if she can meet you as soon as you decide."

[Reinholdt]

[The right time and place]

There's a period of awkward silence before Jaahlyn gets a reply as Ilpholin's voice returns.

"... No. No, you don't get to play the hero who so dearly regrets just doing what 'needed to be done'. I saw you sap the will to live out of that crowd and turn a bad situation into a massive hostage zone. The perp was clearly trying to escape. You could have followed her. Confronted her away from all those potential victims. Or you could have talked her down right there. Or isolated her by shoving her into that shadow portal you guys had floating around. Anything! No, you cornered her like a wild animal and you escalated and escalated the situation, at the risk of everyone, until you finally had an excuse to force yourself upon her."

Ilpholin's certainly being unfair. She's very used to the heat of combat, so there's a part of her that assumes others should be able to instantly grasp a situation and react perfectly instead of doing their best with what they think of in that moment. It doesn't help that Ilpholin's personal trauma is coloring her opinion, though that carries out in the light waver in her voice as she rebukes Jaahlyn's version of events.

[Same time, different place]

<Slayer> Now I know you're deluded.
An article gets linked after this, which a prominent headline about the bombing in question. One bomb. Eight fatalities. Sixty-nine casualties. Eight people died in that mess, primarily diehard Deathkiss fans.
<Slayer> If she's so irreplaceable, then for her sake and yours, keep her away from me.

[Angelic Aftermath]

"Well... you'd just have to unsummon yourself right?" Ilpholin guesses wildly without any evidence whatsoever. "Maybe if we do everything the pixie did in reverse, you'll get to heaven?"

"Or I guess you could ask Cass from the sound of it." Maybe. But if Cass' world didn't have any demons, it was unlikely they had angels as well right?

[Shadowcaller]

[The right time and place]

"I didn't say that I regretted it though I've never seen the events from your perspective either so I can see why you are upset." Jaahlyn starts though she can already see where this is going. She intensely hated having to debate the whole 'justified' thing as it probably would go nowhere.

It was a deeply emotional moment meaning that the best way to argue around it would be using pathos, to apply to a persons emotions. Yet Ilpholin seemed to have already made up her mind regarding that and as she couldn't even see her face or knew anything about her trying to apply to her emotions would nearly be impossible.

Thus, she had to try to apply to logos, her sense of logic, as it required less knowledge of Ilpholin herself. Yet this was very much not a time to be doing that. Yet as she kept reminding herself, she had to try.
She takes a deep breath before continuing. "Regarding your first claim, the crowd was panicking not only because of the explosion but due to the influence of another fey so I was just attempting to counteract that effect so people would leave in a more orderly fashion. People trampling over one another to escape can cause even more death and can even cause exits to clog by too many bodies trying to exit at once." Her own argument sounded so dry to her but it was important context to her reasoning at the time.

"As for your second claim, I didn't see it as her trying to escape. I actually thought she was going to blow us all up and acted accordingly. Thus, I have to contest the 'clearly' in your description. It was a heated moment and I did what I thought would be best at the time. Perhaps if I looked at a recording of the events now that I'm calm and collected I might have acted differently but in that moment I thought I and everyone else where were going to die if I didn't stop her. Perhaps your way might have been better but to me it was a life or death situation. I couldn't afford to consider alternatives."

She pauses, there was more she could say. Especially regarding the demon hunter's idea of forcing her own will on another person. She could make some connections to her own situation... but she was unsure Ilpholin would even be willing to listen to that.

[Shadowcaller]

[Angelic Aftermath]

"Huh, that's an neat idea." Anika idly ponders the idea of Tina unsummoning herself for a moment before turning her attention to what really mattered.

The loot.

"But anyway! So what kind of stuff did we manage to grab?" The druid looks to Tina. "Can you identify any of this junk?" She gestures at the items they managed to grab from Tellysandra's cabinet.

[MERC Office]

"Great, then let's go and-" Anika is about to turn around and leave when she realizes she had no idea where she was going.

"-uh, so how do we reach her again?" Had that been mentioned before? She couldn't recall all of sudden.