Hannah flinches as the entire freaking ER room was thrown at her face. Expected of her. She thought that this was about to be how she died for a few seconds. Fortunately for her, it didn’t even hurt her, but healed her instead.

She blinks twice in utter bafflement. Not!Echoss leans against a wall that isn't actually there, and blows smoke from what is very clearly a candy cigarette.

"Feeling better? I should hope so I used my best triage unit on that."

...Triage unit? What was this guy(?) on about? Hannah certainly doesn’t know. Regardless, she seems a lot less physically broken at the very least.

HANNAH: ...thanks, i guess...

...She doesn’t move from her spot. Though, she turns over on her side, still clutching the Infinite Shadow in her arms. Not!Echoss raises one of many eyebrows quizzically and slurps up his candy cigarette.

"You doin' alright there kid? Okay no, that's a stupid question you've been acting moderately traumatized for a bit now. Has nobody talked to you about it yet?"

The girl remains silent for a few long moments. She slowly shook her head. Honestly, with how obvious it was, it was a shock that nobody even pointed it out before now.

Not!Echoss sighs, and pulls the candy cigarette out of his mouth, flicking it off into the abyss. He sits down crosslegged and pats the not-ground for Hannah to sit down too.

"Alright then, have a seat. We're in an RP cutscene so the others won't get down here until we're done. I'm not the best at talking about this stuff but I assume it'll be better than just keeping it all bottled up until something bad happens."

...She still doesn’t know what he(?)’s on about with that first bit. After another moment, she sits upright, still keeping her prize close. Even after all she’s shouted to the likes of Venia, even after falling hundreds of meters and nearly dying of fall damage, she tries to keep the facade up. A facade that’s been shattered into a million tiny dust particles, but a facade nonetheless.

Not!Echoss stares at Hannah, slowly crunching the sugar cigarette until he's chewed his way through it.

"Okay, first thing's first if this is gonna be a serious talk I need to actually know what your name is. I mean, I suppose it wouldn't be hard for me to check but it's probably better if you tell me it yourself. Mind sharing?"

...Well, at least he was polite enough to ask. Hannah seems slightly more at ease. Very slightly.

HANNAH: ...hannah.
HANNAH: …
HANNAH: … i actually kinda just expected you to just ‘look it up’ or whatever, like soooo many others do, apparently...

Not!Echoss nods, the candy cigarette dropping out of his mouth and rolling away.

"Not too familiar with the party on a personal level, but I think most of 'em are just getting it through party chatter. You made a lotta waves while you were in the fighting roster so it's not really a surprise that most folks know who you are.
Glad that me showing some common courtesy helps a bit at least. Adventuring parties tend to be a bit low on that."

HANNAH: low doesn’t even begin to describe it...

Hannah takes out the Alethelyse; still capped off to prevent leakage or spillage. She gives it a long look.

HANNAH: ...s-some of them gave me this… reality destroying poison. no provocation, they just… d-did it.
HANNAH: all because of s-something that happened when nobody was around to see it.
HANNAH: how did they even find out…?

Not!Echoss hums to himself, staring at the Alethelyse, the smoke at the end of the candy cigarette slowly marching down its length until the whole thing turns to ash.

"Whew. That's definitely strong stuff, kinda scary anyone managed to sneak something like that in under the thymefield to be honest.
As for your question… I could give you a few different answers depending on a lot of different factors. A good half of them probably require a cosmology lesson though and I don't think that that'll help at the moment.
So, we'll put that to the side for the moment.
Is that the only thing bothering you right now, or is there more to it than just that?"
Hannah puts the poison away carefully. No use keeping it out, since the demonstration’s already over. Though it’s pretty obvious there’s much more to it. She remains silent for a few moments, looking up at the floating island above them. She shivers.

HANNAH: ...you might’ve heard that whole… thing between me and that weird maid.
HANNAH: the reason that poison was even created. the singular target for the stuff. an emperor named regalus.
HANNAH: ...

She continues looking up at the island, approximately where the maid was. The look on her face says it all; she’s terrified of whoever’s controlling that thing.

...But… she figures it would be inevitable before she found out.

HANNAH: ...i-i... already tried to assassinate him without it. even after getting that clean shot, he just… got right back up.
HANNAH: it’s... like i’m always g-gonna fail, a-and...

...She flops down on her side again, the facade clearly not holding. Not!Echoss looks down at her, and scoots over closer, the candy cigarette hovering in midair back where he was before.

"I don't think the crazy god emperor thing is a good metric for measuring yourself by to be totally honest.
If that's what the poison stuff is for, then honestly it's probably not even overkill. Dunno what his deal is but I've been keeping my distance for a reason. Bad vibes, the kinda bad vibes a smart person stays as far away from as possible in case the blast radius expands without warning.
...there some kind of long-standing issue with the 'always gonna fail' bit?
Far as I can recall you were strong enough on the battlefield that I heard about it even with me spending 110% of my time pissing about. And then when it turned out your best tool for keeping that up was dangerous to others you…
Uh, I'm still fuzzy on exactly what you did there, but the bow thing in the inventory doesn't look like it wants to take potshots at me whenever I'm in there anymore, so I assume you dealt with it on a more permanent basis.
Takes guts to do that, especially as a kid.
...You are a kid, right Hannah? You're not some kind of dragon from the future or whatever? Hate that I gotta check but I do."

Hannah grumbles at the dragon bit.

HANNAH: i wish i was that, but… nope
HANNAH: would have made mafia town a lot easier to take back…
HANNAH: instead i’m far from home, doing… i-idunno, this.
HANNAH: i couldn’t even kill their boss back then. sophie got that kill while i couldn’t do anything
HANNAH: that’s not even mentioning the time i lost while i was really powerful
HANNAH: in hindsight not my best idea
HANNAH: then i got beaten up by sophie… that one still kinda stings, honestly…

...She pulls out the time piece she has.

HANNAH: even after getting this from, i dunno, pity?
HANNAH: still couldn’t do anything to them
HANNAH: more just kept coming, just… somehow always figuring me out
HANNAH: even though they’re all stupid brutes
HANNAH: i-if i can’t even beat people with the power of time with me...

A moment of silence, and a defeated sigh.

HANNAH: w-why should i even bother anymore...

Not!Echoss listens intently, and puts the candy cigarette over on the shelf next to him.

"Sounds like you've been through a lot.
I wouldn't beat yourself up over losing to 'Sophie' either. Assuming she's the kid with the snazzy purple tophat. Reasons for that would also require a cosmology lesson but suffice it to say she had, and has, an unfair advantage.
...do you wanna elaborate on the mafia thing? Something sounds not quite right on that bit if I'm totally honest. I mean, you don't have to, it's not really important I'm just curious now so we can move on to hopefully useful advice instead if you'd like."

A cold chill runs up Hannah’s spine as she remembers the events leading to her utter hatred for those boneheads. She tries to make herself seem smaller, curling up tighter.

HANNAH: ...that fateful day....
HANNAH: o-one moment, enjoying the sunny day, having fun with the others i guess.
HANNAH: ...t-the next, visitors. big cargo ships and fishing boats, full of these massive brutes on them.
HANNAH: didn’t… d-didn’t really think much of it. went to say hi.
HANNAH: then they just d-did the worst things…
HANNAH: claiming the island as their own - they spray-painted stuff on walls, broke into buildings, broke buildings, set up these awful gold statues, took over the buildings they broke into, literally beating people up - young or old - just because, hoarding all the wealth on the island, building a lair slash bar to hold that wealth on top of the water geyser slash volcano depending on the mood, tainting stoves with cooking so awful it rivals freaking EN, honestly i could go on
HANNAH: and of course i tried everything
HANNAH: words obviously didn’t do anything, they shrugged off my attempts at taking them down back then, nothing
HANNAH: ...a-all i had left was a cave on the side of the island… a-and…

HANNAH: ...i-i never saw a lot of t-the other people… even other kids... e-ever again...

Hannah lowers her head. After a moment, a few tears emerge from her eyes, though not quite heavy enough to fall. Not!Echoss stares at her. His normally unstable and indeterminate form flickers a bit, almost settling on a singular appearance that is distinctly humanoid, though also distinctly not human and only marginally taller than Hannah herself. He moves in and gives Hannah a soft hug as his form returns to its previous refusal of definition. It feels a bit weird, but still soft and somewhat comforting. The candy cigarette, annoyed at apparently being forgotten, packs its bags and stomps away from Not!Echoss's mouth and off into the distance.

"That's… Yeah that'd do it."

He gradually lets go of the hug and leans back.

"I guess… my first piece of advice is to talk with people about it. There are others here who care, and while not all of them may understand or be able to help, it's better than coping with this on your own.
Trust me on this one. Trying to handle it all on your own is… Well it's a good way to mess yourself up even more than what's happened to you already has. You're still young, this is going to stay with you, even if you find a way to go back and fix it somehow.
Now, I'm gonna stop for a bit after each piece of advice. Doesn't help if I dump everything on you at once, so I'm just gonna… do my best to give you time to process things."

She indeed remains silent to try and process things. She’s talked to Dorothy about this stuff before, though never really in-depth. Adria was kind of weird for her; she didn’t feel like trusting her, despite the fact that outside of that whole pursuit sequence she was extremely nice to her… not that she’d even believe her anyway, she thinks to herself. All this stuff sounds like it’d be coming out of a novel or something to her. Probably. Sophia obviously wouldn’t be a great choice, Hannah’s still a little too bitter about everything. And the others in the party… well…

HANNAH: ...i-i... spoke to some others… okay o-one other person about it, but n-never in detail…
HANNAH: just kinda... felt like it’d be a-a burden for them
HANNAH: a-and i’m just…
HANNAH: r-really, really scared of the others
HANNAH: y-you... heard what that maid said to me up there
HANNAH: a single threat whose c-conditions i already met
HANNAH: i-i know what she’s capable of
HANNAH: i-i... i really don’t wanna make things worse...

Not!Echoss scowls. The entire candy cigarette bursts into flames at once with this gesture and blows away in the wind. His form flickers towards cohesion a bit again.

"I didn't hear exactly what she said, I've kinda been ignoring most of the party antics to be totally honest.
Miss protagonist syndrome's got issues though I'll give you that.
And I'm not saying just spill your guts to everyone. There are definitely folks out there who'll use your old wounds to hurt you more, but if you never show a medic where you're bleeding you'll just die of blood loss.
Nobody wants their friend's physical wounds to make them a corpse. And just like it nobody wants their friend's emotional wounds to make them a husk.
Talk to the ones you can trust, generally speaking you'll be more of a weight on those around you if you try and carry it all yourself than you will be if you actually let them help. Speaking from experience on this one anything you do because you're afraid of making things worse for others than because you actually puzzled it out logically will make things worse if you don't do it than if you do.
We've all got issues around here. Red puppet lady watched her sister die. Pink puppet lady was actually a puppet for a while. Both of them are literally the brain children of Chaos. Echoss has… well uh he's got issues and I should probably leave it at that until he brings it up himself. Shoot, even me and Chaos have issues and we pretty much just exist for comic relief right now."

So much was running through Hannah’s mind. Exhaustingly considering the possibility that the ones she could try and trust may turn their back on her. The possibility that they just won’t care. The possibility that they’ll just see her as-

She squeezes her eyes shut and violently shakes her head, trying to dispel those thoughts. The tears that have built up fall at last, dropping onto the plant below. After a moment, she remembers the one person she knew she could trust. Dorothy. The one that actually tried to look out for her. The one who could barely stand being in the Rose Cult base before handing the reins to Hannah. The shy yet sweet one. But, surely, she can’t be the only one she could talk to…

Who else could she possibly trust…?

...She opens her eyes as she (finally) notices the candy cigarette. Or well, the smell of it being caramelized and incinerated. She sits upright once more, and gives the formless being in front of her a good, long look. Or at least tries to. The first thing that becomes apparent to Hannah is that the only thing she can make out about Not!Echoss is that he's still smoking the candy cigarette. Not!Echoss doesn't have a solid form, and while she can still tell that he raises an eyebrow at her examination she's not sure how she can tell because the longer she stares at him the only thing she accomplishes is giving herself more of a headache.

"I'd recommend not doing that right now. Until I decide to let the running gag go you're not gonna figure out what I actually look like."

...Hannah stops staring so intensely at him, just kinda looking at them normally now and accepting the formless person gimmick thingy.

HANNAH: ...y’know for a mass of formless matter you’re a lot nicer than a lot of the people around here
HANNAH: a lot more helpful too

He flickers back towards the concrete form a little bit more. The sugar cigarette does not flicker back into existence when he returns to normal.

"Really? Heh, guess I'm trying too hard then.
My job's basically to be the opposite of that but uh…
Sometimes it's more important to stop and help someone that needs it. Can't be obnoxious comic relief all the time I guess.
Who knows? Maybe I'll stick around long enough after this whole 'Sphere' thing blows over to actually get to know somebody. Wouldn't be the first time I suppose.
You ready for the next piece of advice?"

She nods, waiting.

"Remember what you're fighting for.
It's easy to get so caught up in how you're fighting and how you're going to win that you forget why you wanted to get better in the first place. The why is always more important than the how. The instant how becomes more important to you, you've lost even if the other person goes down first.
And that means… sometimes giving up what made you start fighting, so you can save what you still have.
It's not pleasant, it's not easy, and sometimes you'll still choose wrong. But it's important to do the best you can for the best you want."

...You know, that was a good point. What was Hannah fighting for with all this? This might take a while for her to figure out. She stares into her prize for a moment, then… sets it aside next to her.

Why does she so badly want to kick the Mafia out of what is now known as Mafia Town? Why did she decide to mess with time to make that giant castle in the middle of a lava planet? Why was she so hell-bent on delivering justice that time? Why was she bothering with Regalus even when there’s no reason for her to do so? Why was she down here, pursuing the Tamaugachi relentlessly? Why did she decide to remove Yew from the equation altogether?

The answers, though, are ones she needs to figure out on her own terms, in her own time.

HANNAH: ...i don’t really have any real answers yet
HANNAH: i… haven’t actually thought too hard about it
HANNAH: there’s probably a reason for it all, but…

HANNAH: ...i think i need a bit more time on that one

Not!Echoss nods. The candy cigarettes move the opposite direction and bounce off his nose, both of them flying off into the darkness.

"That's good. Introspection takes time and if you decide you absolutely know your own reasonings as soon as someone tells you to think about it, you've generally done it wrong unless you'd been doing it a lot already.
Think about it, give it time. Change how you do things as you figure out why you want to do them. Rome wasn't built in a day and organizationally speaking Rome's a lot less impressive than a person is."

While she doesn’t know what a Rome is, she nods. Maybe she’ll sit up here and think about it before she dives headfirst into danger again…

She glances at her prize again, then back at the formless mass resembling a person ahead of her. And his two candy cigarettes. She shrugs, but in her headspace. Probably just part of the bit.

Kinda looks like a pair of tusks. Not!Echoss tilts his head, noticing her observation. One of the sugar cigarettes dies of a poisoned drink, withering away. The other goes on a three-movie long vindictive journey to discover the killer and take vengeance, avenging their fallen partner at the cost of their own life at the end of it.

"There something on my face?"

HANNAH: candy cigars. plural.

Not!Echoss blinks, then pulls the three candy cigarettes out of his mouth.

"...I thought I put this stupid thing away. Sorry about that."

Not!Echoss pulls a cigarette box out of his pocket, and opens it up to reveal a full pack of actual cigarettes. He puts the candy cigarette in with the real ones, then puts the box back in his pocket.

"Okay hopefully that'll be a bit less distracting."

...It’s faint, but Hannah can’t help but smile ever so slightly at the antics. Keeping the previous bit of advice in mind, she asks...

HANNAH: ...so what’s next?

"I will be fully honest I didn't have the third one ready when I started and was hoping I'd figure out something wise to say by the time I finished the first two. I did not so I guess that's it for right now unless you've got some questions of your own."

...Hannah thinks for a moment, looking around the caves. She doesn’t see anything all too pressing right now, but something hits her as she looks at the massive quills. She read in the scanner logs that the Tamaugachi secretes poisons that are really, really dangerous. It’s almost as if something sparked in her head relating to it.

HANNAH: ...Not directly related, but could you grab one of those quills? And maybe one of the corpses.
HANNAH: I’d like to look over those things.
HANNAH: ...I think we’ll need all the knowledge we can get.

"Sure thing but are you sure that's all? You're probably not gonna get to talk with me like this again. Pretty sure the monster at the bottom of the cave's gonna be a proper bossfight so I don't think we'll be the ones dealing with it, but more info doesn't hurt."

Hannah nods. She seems… very certain of herself on this one.

HANNAH: Positive.
HANNAH: And… even if we don’t fight it ourselves…
HANNAH: ...Well, when has a bit of support gone astray?

"You got me there."

Not!Echoss deposits the corpse from the far left of the cups of chaos, along with its needles, on the ground next to Hannah's feet. She smiles, though not really in a malicious way. It’s genuinely a nice change of pace.

HANNAH: Yep, these will do.
HANNAH: I’ll see if I can get something going here.

HANNAH: And… thanks. Thanks for everything, you wonderful formless person thingy.
HANNAH: ...Maybe we’ll meet again when you’re not a formless person thingy sometime, who knows.

Not!Echoss laughs.

"Who knows. Tell you what Hannah."

He pulls a business card out of the suit he probably wasn't wearing until this line of narration. He flicks it out of his hand into Hannah's grasp. She immediately pockets it, knowing how some people around here can’t help but be nosy.

"My card. Don't show that to anyone else and burn it once you've memorized the phone number. Or like, wait to show it to someone else until the Sphere's down that'd probably work too."

He turns around, a grin on his face though with his back to Hannah she can't tell.

"See you round Space Cowboy. Hi ho… SILVEEERRR AWAAAAYYYY" Not!Echoss pulls out a broom and straddles it like a hobby horse, kicks down a few times like he's starting one of those old motorcycles, and then flies off into the distant blackness.

Hannah watches as he flies off. Working on all this is gonna take work, but hopefully it will finally get her out of this rut. Though she doesn’t dwell on it for long, and gets to work on the two objects handed to her. So much to do, and yet she now has the budding confidence to pull through.

...She should probably have a proper chat with Dorothy later, too. They both need it.

Lilac dissolves herselves, transforming into a visage resembling that of Nidra. With a snap of her fingers, "Nidra" casts Last Dream on the Cyberwork. They flop sideways, their cybernetic equipment spazzing out as they fall out of the chair. There's a loud thud, heavily muffled by the walls. With a few kicks, they're easily moved out of the way.

Then, dropping any sort of disguise in its entirety, the Reflector re-emerges. They step up to the terminal. Though the Cyberwork has been put to sleep, the headband they're wearing still seems to be transmitting commands to the computer. And they're about to send a warning to HQ! Or at least they are, until the Reflector severs the cord.

Unfortunately, it looks like without the headband in place, they're not able to glean much more than what's open at the moment. It must detect who's controlling the machine, and allow them to operate it with greater efficiency. Without it, the machine... is still active, but unable to be controlled. So, all they can do is view what's on the terminals at the moment.

The dialogues regarding Kallax, Ekedalen, and Nordviken are fairly simple. The operator here has send them messages regarding their current mission. To retrieve the Glyph contained within the Sky Labs, at any cost. It's about what the Reflector expected. Though, recent logs indicate that they've been coming into conflict with an "outsider boy" and his machinery. The conflict is rather harsh, and there's no clear winner as of yet.

What's more interesting however, is the chat log between Idasen and the Cyberwork. Seems like it's been scrolled to the top, so they can see all of the first couple of communications. It seems that our Cyberwork here was named Linnmon, and this is but a simple text log. Do they all communicate through text? Word, that must be a pain. There's probably a reason for it.

ISADEN: Thank you for your cooperation.
ISADEN: You may have your doubts about this project.
ISADEN: You may have your doubts about working with a member of the Highchair.
ISADEN: But it is essential that nobody knows about my new identity.
ISADEN: Not even your own team.
ISADEN: Do you understand?
ISADEN: To them, I will be nothing but an old friend who vanished, and has suddenly reappeared.
LINNMON: Of course.
LINNMON: Not even Kallax will know. Though, I figure he'll find out eventually.
LINNMON: He has his ways. But I'm sure you're aware.
ISADEN: I am. But all that matters is the end result.
ISADEN: Even if the rest of my body is turned to cinders by the end of this, it will be worth it.
ISADEN: All I want is for those I love, and for those I loved to survive.
ISADEN: Chairians. Tabletopians.
ISADEN: Perhaps this could be the first step to my ultimate goal.
LINNMON: The reunification of Tabletopia and Locaa?
LINNMON: Isn't that part of what prompted them to turn your voice to ash in the first place?
LINNMON: Look. It's noble, but I have my doubts about it.
LINNMON: Still. Good luck with that.
ISADEN: So, as for your role.
ISADEN: You will be the head of communications for the whole of the Rebellion.
ISADEN: The rest of your team will assist the Rebellion in-

The rest of the chatlog cannot be accessed. Still, there'll probably be time to comb through every last bit of it later. Not that I want to write every last bit of it, mind you. Is this the information the Reflector was looking for? Is Isaden who they believe it is? Well, there's one surefire way to check. Which they can probably try after this!

Then, from out of the inventory, they pull out a small, immaculately polished blade. With razor precision, they tear the CPU out from the computer's exposed circuitry. Also the hard drives, as those might be more important when it actually comes to getting the data, right? These are then thrown in the inventory. Then, through their mental bond, they contact Omorika. The job is finished.

OMORIKA: Excellent work.
OMORIKA: Please, come meet with me in person. I would like to discuss your findings.
OMORIKA: Would that be acceptable?

With that out of the way, the Reflector disperses their Mirror Image. With a gentle flash of light, like a thief in the night... they fade. And nobody would be the wiser. But, they can't help but think. What implications does this hold for the Highchair? All of Sussui? Could a dream of unity truly be achieved?

Perhaps it will be up to the Spherebreakers to decide.

SCION ACCOMPLISHMENT GET: Meaning of Unity
HANNAH ACCOMPLISHMENT GET: Meaning of Unity

...Actually, the CPU looks like a rather nice trinket. The Reflector pockets it, obtaining the Unification Drive.

Welp. There's her cover blown. Thanks, Chaos! She decides to show a secret tool to the rebels- the bombs she's prepared! She... well, it looks like the Searing Bomb is an impact explosive, so she just throws it in a really long, somehow delayed arc instead of pulling the pin on it. Minor difference. It spirals through the air menacingly. At this revelation, will the Rebels retreat and flee? As it turns out, yes- they will flee. However, one of them takes potshots at Hannah as they flee! She's nipped by a few rounds, but thankfully there were no direct hits.

Hannah then takes off as the Searing Bomb lands, and the entire warehouse is blown sky high. A chain of fireballs rips through the building, valuable supplies either being flung every which way or transforming into a dazzling display of shrapnel, ripping into everything around it. The chaos doesn't stop for at least ten seconds of non-stop blasts.

Now in the sky, Hannah begins to make her way to the woods. Except, there's a problem. There's already enemies on her tail. More specifically, actual Locusts who seem to know how to use the armor more effectively than her. While perhaps their poison damage isn't a threat, they're certainly more than capable of providing a pair of eyes for the Mechonis that just took off! She may need to get these guys off her tail before landing.

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