trying to make the pieces fit ((Buffyverse plot))

[slayers_desire]

There was a small gathering of people in the room, doing things that might seem normal. Drinking coffee. Reading a book. Checking sites on the computer. Talking with their neighbor.

But this wasn't a normal day. And despite appearances, these people were all preparing to help save their world.

Most of the 'Scoobies' were here... Xander, Connor, Wes, Lorne, Spike and even Willow had come down for the event. There were others there too... Victor Allen, Clark Kent and Edward Elric.

They were all here to figure out how to create a new Seed. They already had a few clues to go on... but there were still a lot to discuss.

The most recent revelation came after Illyria had deceived the group, and put Clark and April right into the heart of the White Room. Where their memories were taken from them. They had fought free... and now April was more determined than ever to find a way to save her world.

((posting order: April, Clark, Victor, Ed))

Comments

[slayers_desire]

I hope you are right April does want to make a difference in her world. She wants it to be safe for her child, other people's children and future generations.

The one thing she is glad for is that she doesn't have to do it alone.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

I know I'm right. He refuses to believe that April would be the Key, but have little to contribute. That wouldn't make any sense at all.

[victormakesart]

Victor looks innocent as can be, standing there with April and Clark, and she reaches out and takes April's hand, and whispers, "Fireworks are about to start, my lady."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed stands there facing Dante with a devious little smile on his face as his hedgehog runs through the rest of the hoops. "Turnabout is fair play, Dante," he says. "You decided to get creative with the rules, so we did exactly the same." He's not going to call it cheating, no. That's not what it was.

The rage is evident on Dante's face; she's even trembling a bit.

"No homunculi to fight your battles for you this time," Ed notes. "Only Wrath, Envy, and Gluttony are still alive; you took away Gluttony's ability to reason, so he's not going to be able to help you... Oh, and Wrath can't transmute his own body anymore, since you took my arm and leg away from him... And Envy? He's stuck on Earth trying to get to Dad, and that's assuming Dad hasn't already destroyed him. The card-soldiers you have here aren't a threat either; even if they were real, I could kick their asses back to the stone age any day."

Dante lets out a roar and presses her palms together, a spike of earth lances towards Ed in a burst of blue static. Ed claps his hands together in response and bitch-slaps the spike with his right arm, completely disintegrating it before it can hit him. He doesn't retaliate, though, choosing only to defend himself and not to attack.

"Let me guess," Ed says. "'Off with my head', right?"

[slayers_desire]

This moment does seem important to Ed. Seeing him stand up to Dante is a very nice thing. And April nods to Victor. "I am glad you helped him reach this moment."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark isn't sure if they should really worry about Dante being a threat. He experienced their pain through the memories of the previous test, but can she actually hurt Ed here? Either way, he tenses up a bit, watching the confrontation.

[victormakesart]

"Don't be sure that you can't help," she says, nodding to the hookah, to Clark's pocket watch.

She pulls a match from the brim of her hat, lights it on her shoe, and ignites the bowl. "When you blow the smoke onto anything, it'll become what it's supposed to be. You can dismantle the world this way."

"And you can create rabbit holes, wherever you'd like, just by touching your watch to the ground. Not regular rabbit holes, mind, Wonderland rabbit holes, and they'll lead where you want them to go."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed, meanwhile, has rooted the card soldiers in place with transmuted stone shackles, while Dante is advancing steadily towards him. He takes a few steps back, but never takes his eyes off her. "Okay, guys," he hisses under his breath to the others, "next part of the plan? I don't want this to come to a fight; you pit two Alchemists against each other and there's not going to be much left of your surroundings."

[slayers_desire]

Only when Victor tells April and Clark that their objects have power, will they suddenly have power. They were just objects before she created them into something different.

So taking in account that Ed doesn't want a fight, and that she can make anything what it should be... April blows smoke onto Dante herself.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark raises an eyebrow and takes the pocketwatch in hand, watching to see what April's smoke will do before he acts. "We don't have to worry about property damage here."

[victormakesart]

"Not at all." She's nervous; she's not sure if she's winning the game or breaking it, but Dante should dissolve into nothing if she played her, um, cards right, and is it just her or is she seeing a corner of the white room, as the smoke floats on?

[fmalchemist160]

Well, what Dante should be... is dead. So as the smoke envelopes her, she lets out a scream of both rage and fear and, as Victor had hoped, dissolves away to nothing. They might even be able to hear a child-like, gleeful giggle and a ripping and smacking noise as she does—after all... she died when she was eaten by one of her own creations.

Ed lets out a small sigh of relief. "Okay... can I get back into my regular clothes now? Dante was right about one thing: blue is not my colour."

[slayers_desire]

April will blow smoke on Ed next, with his request. The Wonderland story is starting to disappear, quite rapidly after Victor imagines seeing a corner of the white room.

When there is nothing left to Wonderland, Victor will still be wearing the Hatter's hat. And has a hedgehog on her shoulder.

A gem floats in front of her, glowing swirly purple and with creativity.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark didn't get to use his pocketwatch, but that's all right, he doesn't mind. And he's mostly relieved that the bunny ears are gone. "Which gem do we have now?" he asks Victor.


((So sorry for the delay, folks, I stopped getting comment notifications))

[victormakesart]

She reaches up and touches the hat, relieved that it's still there, and plucks the gem out of the air. "I dunno, the gem of awesomeness, maybe. I just wanna go make stuff now."

[fmalchemist160]

Ah, finally, back in the red and black again! Ed adjusts the collar of his coat briefly, gives April a grin and a nod of thanks, then says, "So, three tests down... guess it's your turn now, April. You're the only one of us who hasn't had one yet."

[slayers_desire]

There is a gentle humming from the far end of the White Room. Instead of a door, there is a garden gateway. The garden past the door... is Eden itself.

"I guess this is our next path."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"That doesn't look threatening," Clark observes. He'd be suspicious, with the track record this place has had so far, and he is a bit cautious. But he's not sure that this one is going to be as bad.

He steps up next to April, putting his hand in hers.

[victormakesart]

Victor suppresses the urge to just start painting on the walls and zips her gem into her backpack (at which point the urge lessens somewhat), and holds onto her hedgehog to make sure it'll be safe, and offers Ed her arm again, and follows Clark and April.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed grins and takes her arm again, following behind Clark and April as well. "You were awesome back there," he tells Victor with a smile. He's kind of curious as to what their last test is going to be... From the pattern so far, he's guessing they're going to have to find another sort of... virtue, he supposes would be the closest word.

[slayers_desire]

They follow the humming, until they reach the center of the garden. There is a woman there planting seeds into the heart of the garden. There is something strange about her... she has every attribute of any mother that could be imagined. In fact, if any one of them think of a mother-figure in their lives... she will take on the traits of that woman. Sometimes she is pregnant. Sometimes she is with child.

She looks up. A voice, in their heads, speaks softly. "Greetings children."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Well, this is certainly strange. And not at all what Clark was expecting. When he looks at her, he sees both Martha and Lara, two very different women who can't be the same. "Hello?"

[victormakesart]

To Victor, she looks a little bit like her best friend Candy, mother of her baby. And slightly, slightly like the tenth Doctor, who is really the closest thing to a mom that she has.

She says, nervously, "Hello."

She's expecting another battle. Maybe the plants will come up and eat her. Maybe the lady is just trying to lure them into a sense of security. But the part of her brain that is lured into a sense of security is calling the rest of her brain stupid. Of course she'd never hurt them. Of course.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed sees his own mother, Trisha Elric... and a little bit of his Alchemy teacher, Izumi Curtis. His breath catches in his throat when he sees her; Trisha has been dead for almost seven years now, and it's been a long time since he last saw Izumi. He knows, because Trisha's dead, that it's not actually his mother; and he knows that because his Teacher is helping to look after Al, and is continuing his brother's training in Alchemy, that this can't be Izumi either.

"Uh..." he says, voice slightly higher-pitched than its usual light tenor out of nerves, "...hi?"

[slayers_desire]

"What wonderful children... you have brought me seeds." The woman holds out her hands to them.

April herself is seeing a mixture of Martha Kent, Drusilla and Mo'at. "I think this is the time... that you do give over that you earned."