Description: 'Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both... I shall be telling this with a sigh somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.' ("Schmetterling und Strohblume", Final episode)
It's been quite a bit of time since the Meyrink 'sisters' had physically seen one another. But of course this would be all for good reason. The world is an amazingly large planet to cover by ones self, and much to the disappointment of the arguably younger of the pair, Selma had found herself unable to work much longer on her own. she needed help to proceed no her 'mission' of sorts.
In the end it brings her to Peru, mainly the abandoned facility within the Cusco Region that Luise had once investigated not too long ago.
Once upon a time, this was Selma's home, and she had a feeling that a lot of informatin she may need would be in this very area. Her 'memories' tell her to go straight down the the underground, the deepest part of the lab, the 'freezer floor'. It's almost exactly as it had been left such a long time ago, the long rooms walls, floor, ceiling entirely of steel. Drawers are open, empty test tubes litter the floor, but unlike last time, there is plenty of ice. The room is absolutely freezing, and yet the walls that are almost entirely decorated with bright, fresh, thorned vines are icicle free as well as the orange, red, or blue bell-like flowers that bloom from them. The vines trail along the floor to the very center that wrap around the womans legs, like some sort of insane communication wire.
Though the funny thing is, it's far from 'too late' for Luise to do anything. While Selma did not outright say it, she gave off an intense vibe exactly fifteen hours ago that would leave 'The Butterfly' to believe that a drastic move is about to be made, and may need investigation.
She'd been having afternoon tea when it happened.
The cup hit the floor and shattered with a glass-like noise, surprising everyone in the small German cafe where Luise had been resting. Her own mission, to find and warn the Psycho Power-using peoples of the Earth that Selma would be looking to win them over -- had some success, but ultimately the Butterfly realized that an entire planet is too much for one woman to cover. Hoping to recover her strength, she returned home to Schwarzvald to think things through and to rest.
It didn't take. While Luise might not be able to sense others 'anytime, anywhere', she and Selma are linked. She knew she was in Britain not too long past, and she knows where she is now. There's not even time to apologize or replace the cup; the platinum blonde is out the door, through the snowy streets of winter in southern Germany, in a car, on a plane. It's an unpleasant trip, filled with apprehension and dread. She knows what purpose Selma was 'created' for, knows that she cannot let it happen, knows that she's seeking the power to do it.
Beyond that? Nothing.
In the southern hemisphere, the weather is bright and hot in the Peruvian summer as the Dancing Butterfly puts her hand to the security pad that once again recognizes her as a nameless 'Meyrink', and for the first time she wonders if her father and 'sister' are recognized the same. So many unanswered questions.
The only sounds to accompany her, as she strides toward the 'freezer floor' herself, are the crunching and settling of debris under her feet.
And Luise is greeted by an almost suffocating wave of psychic power. The blue glow that she had seen long ago is just as present as the first time the two met, and there Selma stands with her eyes closed and her arms crossed in an 'x' over her chest. Light violet sparks crackle along the vine 'lines' the moment Luise sets foot inside the laboratory, and its that moment when her eyes open, the almost radioactive pools of green immedietly make contact with her other.
'So. You've returned.' Chilled air escapes her nostrils every six seconds or so, making it clear she's not speaking with her lips. 'But I can tell simply be looking that you haven't changed your mind. You've been making things rather difficult for me, you know. But unfortunatly for you, by looking through some of fathers lost data, I have found an extremely suitable short-cut of sorts.' The womans lips curl up into a very slight smile. 'But still, it's only right that I ask you a final time to reconsider and join me. Not that you really have a choice.'
Like many users of Psycho Power, Luise doesn't know much about chi energy. What little she does know is simply the differences she's able to perceive: that it's the energy of places and things, not people. Her own will, considerable, is driving her in spite of the overwhelming energy swirling around this place, manifesting visibly as a dark blue corona like a second skin, the color of the sky at twilight, bright enough to see by but dark enough to suggest the promise of stars. But part of her wonders if this what 'chi' feels like, as she watches the vines pour energy into her clone 'sister'... as if the power of the entire world was flowing into you, instead of your light flowing into the world...
Oddly, the Butterfly finds herself compelled to speak audibly, even though she would more quickly and perhaps even more easily answer Selma's questions directly, through mental speech. It's as if there's some *border* that such an act would represent crossing, some divorce from her humanity that Luise isn't comfortable making. "You already know the answer. I actually only have myself to blame. I should have known from the start you'd be so intractable, because... well, because I would have been. There's enough of us in each other that I can see that."
As terrestrial in theme as Selma's display is, Luise's is celestial; she doesn't stay on the ground but begins to float, as is typical of her fighting stance, though she makes no overt moves. The corona of blue flares and flickers as she does so, in rhythm with her use of her powers. "But the truth is, even knowing that I don't regret what I did. That's the trouble with destiny. If you know yourself, if you *truly* understand yourself, then destiny is irrelevant because you'll always return to who you are: true, unalterable."
"Fair enough.." As always, Selma's tone is gentle and serene, in a way there's even a hint of amusement in her tone. She knows exactly why her 'other' chooses to speak aloud of course. And in a way, Luise's words are rather touching. "Well then I suppose I will continue on as normal after I temporarily remove you from the picture. You know.. Father is a brilliant man, to be able to create something like myself. Did you know, that one of us is the result of something called 'P Project'?"
As she speaks, her entire form starts to shift, and the energy that seemed to have been going into the woman, suddenly bursts out in one tremendous wave. Nothing seems to be moved or hurt as a result, but the blue light becomes more of an orange. The green roots, the bells, and even herself shift in color to various browns and oranges, like the height of autumns beauty before it becomes nothingness.
As the vines fall from her legs, Selma stands on the floor, suddenly looking exhausted. But behind her now is an enormous, unbloomed bulb. Fresh and green in color. "It is the process of infusing psychic power into a clone, more or less, it's an interesting experiment. One that has no place in our world.. Ironic that it would be the very thing that helps me achieve it after all."
COMBATSYS: Selma has started a fight here.
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Selma 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Luise has joined the fight here.
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Luise 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Selma
COMBATSYS: Selma takes no action.
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Luise 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Selma
P-Project. All of a sudden words come back to her with perfect clarity, even as she shields her face with one hand, almost on reflex, against the wave of power, trying to keep her will strong. 'According to him, even the long term Alpha version of the P-Project was unstable at best.' Those had been the words of the NESTS cyborg that had been her father's bodyguard while he worked with the international cartel. Jaeger had made it clear that the P-Project involved something he called 'soul power', that Luise had deduced was Psycho Power. There was *one* success. One. The rest had been, quote, 'unstable killing machines'.
However, even as she brings her arm down, all of these scattered memories -- all of the petals of the 'flower' that's bloomed in Luise's adversity -- come together. Selma is the successful result of the P-Project, perhaps... but that doesn't augur very well. "Father left me a message, did you know that? 'The butterfly must forever seek the flower, for in doing so she finds her purpose'. I thought, I really thought, that when I found the Flower I'd know what my purpose was, that it would be handed to me like some sort of gift. But maybe... maybe I misunderstood. Maybe what he meant was that meeting you, seeking out the past... that would show me what's important."
She doesn't have the infused psychic energy that Selma just displayed. But Luise has her own powers... fueled by her connection to people, bolstered by her confidence that what's good and right is worth defending. "I'm sorry it's come to this," is the only preamble she gives, before spinning forward, dancing on air, lashing out at her 'sister' with an upward kick toward the shoulder.
COMBATSYS: Luise successfully hits Selma with Light Kick.
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Luise 0/-------/-------|=------\-------\0 Selma
"Did he now?" Selma replies patiently, in a stance that one could hardly consider suitable for battle.. She simply stands, her shoulders casually turning from side to side. "He always did enjoy speaking in silly riddles, didn't he. Never really got to the point. Obviously I have my own interpretation of that message."
The Flower follows Luise's movements, and once close, vine-shaped energy phases through the floor. They're radioactive green in color, that break the moment Luise's foot makes contact with them and strikes the woman. She doesn't flinch, instead looking to her shoulder with distaste, and then holds her arms out to the side. "This honestly is the last thing I wanted as well. I suppose it cannot be helped."
Assuming that Luise will remain in close proximity, Selma twirls and moves forward forward slowly. and during that time the same glowing energy snaps out from her palms like tendrils, looking to strike repeatedly with both the energy and chops before she'd stop and retract said power.
COMBATSYS: Selma successfully hits Luise with Madonna of the Steps.
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Luise 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Selma
Luise has no intention of taking that blow on the chin, particularly from her sense of the power that Selma is now wielding, and her 'sister' can probably sense the upswell in Luise's power as she pours it into a defensive effort, trying to literally float through the air out of the way. Sadly, it doesn't go quite as planned; the tendrils lash through the air across Luise's side even as she twirls, the blue glow around the Butterfly dimming and fading in the path of the strikes, Luise herself hissing in pain.
However, when she comes to a stop, her eyes widen, and not from fear or hurt, but from recollection. She remembers Jaeger's words now, and they are... confusing.
There's no time for confusion right now.
Turning to her sister, Luise doesn't attack; she watches, carefully, but she stays where she is. Hopefully this will get through to Selma, but if not, Luise has no intention of being taken off guard. "Selma, all the other P-Projects were failures! Unstable, killing machines... do we know that's not how you're going to end up, using this power? You can still turn back... we can find some way!"
COMBATSYS: Luise focuses on her next action.
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Luise 0/-------/----===|===----\-------\0 Selma
The Flower slouches forward slightly, not long after her attack connects. She for a moment seems extremely tired, but her stance straightens as Luise unintentionally gives the creation some breathing space. There's clearly no joy in her features, but on the other hand she doesn't seem all that pained by it either.
And yet after a moment of thought, Selma then does look rather saddened, eyes falling downcast. "It is funny you say that, Luise. I've already made it clear from the beginning that I am a killing machine. There are lives that I was spare, of course.. But it doesn't matter if I am stable or not, my path has been clear since my creation. And besides.."
"You're wrong, it is too late; I'm afraid I've already started to create another P Project a while ago, which I have no intention of stopping." Selma finishes. Leaning forward slightly, the woman slides quickly toward Luise, her fingers extended to try and grasp the other by her neck. Hooking her foot behind the other, she'd slam her to the floor, causing a fly-trap shaped energy to engulf Luise and finally explode, launching her into the air.
COMBATSYS: Luise fails to counter Falling Autumn Leaves from Selma with New Moon Nocturne.
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Luise 0/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Selma
Those moves are strange, almost otherworldly in their bizarre execution... so while Selma's move is complex and somewhat ponderous, Luise's attempt to snag at her sister's extended hands is overcome by the unusual angle. The Butterfly often relies on Psycho Power to read her opponents' movements, devise countermoves, guide her hand; against Selma, who radiates such overwhelming psychic energy, this is difficult to say the least.
But perhaps unexpectedly, the nature of psychic attacks -- which carry some of their owner's self with them -- is working against Selma in this fight, for with every such strike that hits Luise, her resolve is redoubled. Even as she rolls to a crouch from the burst of plant-shaped energy, her dark blue eyes lock onto Selma with... no hardness, but the firmness of resolve. "Then I'll stop that too. I have to. Nobody else can, and so I will. I can't leave any room for doubt!"
However, there are still unresolved questions here, and the sudden shift in momentum toward Selma from Luise's aborted countermove gives her the opportunity to ask them. "Why are you doing this? You don't seem to care about Father, so why try to replicate those ideals? What do you really know about the P-Project?!"
"You're letting yourself get too excited, Luise.." Selma murmurs, again a hint of amusement in her tone. She slowly shakes her head, "But.. In a way you make me proud. You seem to be growing stronger as a result of this, when I would have expected the opposite. But stop and think.. And realize that if I do not do this, everyone will lose."
"We already know I have no way of fairly figuring out who lives and who dies. And I realized then that while I cannot change your mind.. I can simply create another you. Not to my level of perfection of course, but twenty-four hours is more or less all I need. As for what I really know.." Selma stands still, crossing her arms in front of her as one of the darkened vines on the floor behind Luise raises upward. It takes hold of one of the broken flat-screen moniters, and with a short wind-up, flings it toward the Butterfly's back. "Enough to do what I have to do. And do not get me wrong, I have no ill will toward father. He knew from the beginning that he did not belong in our vision."
COMBATSYS: Selma successfully hits Luise with Thrown Object.
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Luise 1/-------/=======|=====--\-------\0 Selma
Perhaps it's the shock of Selma's statement, or perhaps Luise's flaring resolve really is getting her 'too excited'; either way, the thrown monitor rebounds off her torso with a metallic *clank* before dropping to the ground to her side. But for all the damage it did, the Dancing Butterfly doesn't seem to notice. She really IS over-excited, but perhaps not in the way Selma thinks.
Luise's hand drops to her side. She may have been pushed back a bit by that attack, but she's in no way down for the count just yet. "No. What you will have created is... something in my image, and that's it." Her fingers pointed, Luise's right hand begins to glow with power; not the typical twilight blue of her aura, but a blinding white, like the moon at the height of its fullness. "That's what I hoped you'd understand, trying to recruit others. It's not just 'programming' that makes you who you are, not some genetic destiny. It's experience! Being a real person, living the real world... that's what's made me Luise Meyrink, not being the 'Butterfly' and not you being the 'Flower'."
With a sudden movement, Luise pours that resolve, that sense of feeling, into her aura, which flares white even as the Butterfly swings her arm up and around, the white glow suddenly becoming an impossibly long blade of psychic energy that Luise seeks to simply slice right through her sister's body. "Now fall, tears of the stars!"
COMBATSYS: Luise successfully hits Selma with Fanfare of Hope.
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Luise 0/-------/-------|=======\-------\1 Selma
For the first time, it would appear that Louise's words have reached Selma in such a way that it actually.. Hurts a little. Or maybe it's more very annoying than painful, the other makes an extremely good point, one that she somehow completely overlooked.
Or maybe there was some sort of counter-argument she had missed during her observance? The Flower was, for a brief moment, seeming a bit uncertain. But that is when the psychic energy forms and tears through the air, and even through the green vines that raise through the air. It slams viciously against her body, enough to make her scoot a bit to the side, but it doesn't quite go through. What does happen, however, that side of her body suddenly grows an even darker brown, as if her flesh were impersonating some sort of wilting. "I.. Well, I suppose you are right. Obviously nothing could truly replace you, but surely there are those capable of mimicing your judgement for at least that much." Selma's approach doesn't let down, the moment she's close to Louise again, she would grasp her opponents shoulders to turn and fling her at one of the rooms walls.
COMBATSYS: Luise counters Quick Throw from Selma with New Moon Nocturne.
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Luise 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Selma
Is she on the rebound? Luise is actually looking a little worse than she'd like to be; Selma's had the upper hand in the fight so far. But this hasn't diminished the Dancing Butterfly's fighting spirit. In fact, Luise is confident that even should her vigor fail her, this may be a winnable fight yet... if she can just find a way in.
Perhaps it's that calm resolve that gives her the accuracy to handle Selma's response. For a moment Butterfly and Flower are locked in a brief waltz, Luise's fingers intertwined with Selma's grasping hands, before the former twists and spins her sister *upward* in a throwing technique of her own, saving herself from harm and dealing a bit of it back to Selma. If nothing else, the show of force may back up her words... for the Flower, oddly, seems to respond to force.
"Why are you so afraid to make the judgment on your own, Selma?" Luise asks, suddenly genuinely curious. She suddenly seems to recall that her sister has never once suggested she might be capable of doing it. From minute one, she's determined that it's Luise who has the moral compass, Luise who has the knowledge and the insight. "Time and time again you claim that you can't do it, but have you even tried? Are you unsure, now, because for these long months you've been living in the world, just like I did?"
An unexpected counter-attack that much was certain. Selma shows a bit of suprise when she finds herself not throwing Luise, but instead is flung herself, lifted right off of the floor, in which she spins and hits the wall instead with a heavy sounding thud that echoes in the room. She slides and falls onto her side, a bit slow in picking herself back up.
Selma doesn't look all that hurt, she just seems to be.. Rather tired. But yet not any less alert as she considers her 'sisters' words thoughtfully. "It is simple, really.. I am well aware of my limits. If I were to make even one mistake, our dream would completely lose it's meaning. I had thought about trying, yes, but as you had said.. As I've been watching, observing this miserable world, I've found very.. Very few that I wanted to spare. Which simply cannot be right, I am clearly missing something that only a butterfly can see. I was a fool to even think I could, of course, my purpose is a bringer of utter destruction after all." She's standing still, not budging an inch. And yet, she -must- be doing more than just that.
COMBATSYS: Selma focuses on her next action.
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Luise 0/-------/------=|=======\==-----\1 Selma
"No."
The word is clear as a bell. In fact, not only can Selma hear Luise say it *vocally*, but it's as if there's a psychic echo of the word in her mind. It's a firm expression of disquiet, of disbelief, of perhaps even anger. No... that's now how it's supposed to be. That's not Father's dream. That's not why she was born and not why Selma was created. No, no, no.
Again the glow around Luise's hands, though this time it is that typical deep blue rather than the blinding white of just before... she's had to expend no small amount of power to get this far, and while allowing her sister to attack unhindered may be foolish, something in Luise's mind encourages her to be foolish... to take a risk. After all, this whole battle is a bit of a risk, isn't it? Is there something Selma can 'work out'...
Luise directs that gathered power internally, summoning her strength, trying to get back on her feet a bit. "If I could choose, I would save everyone. If you could choose, you wouldn't save anyone. Doesn't that mean that neither of us can be exactly right? Selma, I don't know what purpose Father really programmed you for, or the nature of the P-Project, or any of these... mysteries only you can understand. But even if I did know, would it make a difference? Can something that happened so long ago really change the woman I am today?"
COMBATSYS: Luise gains composure.
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Luise 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Selma
No?
Selma remains in her stance with marine-like stiffness and unwavering. And yet somehow, perhaps it's through their psychic link, that Selma still seems slightly shaken up. "I.. Do not know the answer to that. All I really understand is that you are not what I expected you to be like, to the point where it was extremely unusual. It made things needlessly complicated, as I was also unable to find any way to shake your resolve as you have shaken my own."
"In all honesty, it makes me rather upset. But then I realize you have had more time and experience than I have. There /is/ an answer, I simply just haven't had the time to think about it yet."
"It is the right thing, it has to be." Her left hand sweeps up to her right shoulder, and then when it's swept outward, a flat disc of green energy flies from her hand. Luise doesn't have time to really admire it though, it moves blazingly quick.. But closer inspection would show that there is a subtle shape of a lilly pad within the swirling energy.
COMBATSYS: Luise dodges Selma's False Start.
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Luise 0/-------/-------|=======\==-----\1 Selma
The green disc whirls through the air, but interestingly, it slices through what appears to be an afterimage of where Luise just was, a blurring form as Luise herself is diving to the side. Of course, it sets her slightly off-balance, but given the power of Selma's infused psychic attacks, the Butterfly has no real desire to taste any more of that. "Then what sense is there in rushing to find the answer?" Luise retorts, twirling to a stop. "Why force yourself to play out some instructions from... a man who even you have said has no place in the world he wanted you to create?"
Although she continues the battle, for Luise it is no longer about winning or losing, but about being able to find a way to express to Selma all that's in her heart. Curiously enough, the more she throws herself into the battle and the more she tries to find that unity of mind and body that she created her unique style to do, the clearer she is able to think. It's as if dancing as she is, on the knife's edge of danger, is bringing everything into focus.
"I want to know everything. There's so much I don't know! About Father, and why I have these powers, and what his goals are... but none of that is as important as being true to myself," Luise says, dashing at her sister and attempting to grab her by the forearm, before spinning and hopefully sending Selma twirling into a piece of nearby equipment. "Don't rush to end everything when it's just begun!"
COMBATSYS: Selma counters Quick Throw from Luise with The Scream.
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Luise 0/-------/----===|=======\===----\1 Selma
It would appear for the moment Selma has decided to tear a page from Selma's book, the Flower certainly doesn't find dancing of any sort very foreign, even if it's one as simple as a throw. Selma is just moving faster, the moment her forearm is touched, energy flows from the gloves and the vine-like green wraps completely about Luise's. It's but with a shift of her waist that she completely disrupts and redirects the momentum to instead fling her 'sister' aside toward the equipment instead.
"They're not instructions, it's.. It's a gift. You have been given a gift just as I have, the choice that I make is my own.." Though she doesn't seem entirely certain. And yet she seems to be getting frustrated as well and it shows. "You are starting to make me upset with your preaching, Luise. I'm starting to feel foolish, and it is not a very pleasent feeling."
There's a crashing sound as Luise lands hard against a mobile workstation that's bolted to the floor; her hand snaps out and grabs some piece of equipment to stop her momentum, and thus the cart gives her a moment of support. A moment she needs, too; resolve is one thing, but the body's only going to hold out for so much before it gives in, and Luise -- who is more inclined toward evasion than taking blows -- is feeling the effects of this considerably. Apparently Selma's not the only one with an 'unpleasant feeling'.
Still, the Dancing Butterfly is undaunted. "You call it feeling 'foolish', but I call it uncertainty. It's doubt, Selma! Everyone has doubt. It reminds us that we might not be making the right choices. And yes, sometimes doubt makes a fool of us... but that's fine. Being free of ignorance... that's better than pride, in my opinion."
Standing up slowly, despite her injuries, Luise takes a deep breath. The fight will soon be over, even she can tell. Selma has barely broken a sweat, while Luise is on the verge of collapse. But the Butterfly continues to remind herself that as long as she's getting through, the battle's already won. Ducking foward, Luise sweeps out one wide-sleeved arm down at her sister's shoulder to drive her toward the floor, then if unhindered, spins and brings her arm back up to lift her off her feet. A risky maneuver in her position, but this fight is all about risk...
COMBATSYS: Selma fails to interrupt Strong Punch from Luise with The Last Judgement.
-* CRITICAL FAIL! *-
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Luise 0/-------/----===|=======\====---\1 Selma
Selma would be the last person that perhaps Luise would expect of being 'immature'. But even when Luise corrects the feeling to 'uncertainty', she still draws her lower lip outward to a very slight pout. Correct or not, it is still discouraging that she's unable to really put up a fight on her side of the argument. She just feels that it's 'right', isn't that enough??
As for having broken a sweat? Well no, she only looks like she could use a nap, physically, she's not looking much different than when the fight began. As Luise rushes forward, Selma seems to be preparing a swing of some sort, a swing that she's certain will be the final blow, the attack that ends this madness. That is until somehow, the Butterfly manages to land her blow utterly and completely, yet she doesn't do more than buckle rather than fall completely. It's like trying to punch a tree over almost. The rising strike has the same result, only she lurches backward, frozen in the position a moment, and then actually collapses, panting heavily for air.
She is growing increasingly uncertain of her thoughts now, and yet.. She sits up slowly, her eyes locked on Luise's the determination, the fire is back in them. "No! I have a gift of destruction! What other possible goal could I even hope of having! There simply cannot be anything else, and that is /final/, Luise. No matter how uncertain I may be, that is one fact that cannot be denied!" And then suddenly all the pain that she sememed to have been ignoring since the battles beginning.
.. Starts to catch up. Cringing, she slowly gets to her feet, looking to be ready to continue.
For a moment, just for a moment, Luise looks at Selma with... a degree of pity. She'd told herself she would not pity this woman, because it would only offend Selma, the Butterfly believes. To her, pity is a way of saying 'You don't know how sad I find your inferiority', and Luise in no way finds this woman inferior. But for a moment, a *brief* moment, Luise is consumed with a frustration that amounts to pity.
But her purpose is clear, and she must stand her ground. A blue glow suffuses her hand as she holds it to her side, much as she did before when she unleashed that burst of pure starlight, but there is no painful white power this time... merely a deepening of that twilight blue. "There's nothing wrong with destruction. It's what turns the old into the new. Some things have to die before others can grow. But Selma, it's not our place to decide that for the whole world! Not yours, and certainly not mine. If I were devout, I'd say only God has that power, because he is beyond reproach... he has no human frailties."
Stepping backwards even as she does so, Luise's arm flies up in a wide arc, the blue glow around her hand becoming a butterfly, much like Selma's lily before, and flying out toward her sister at a rapid pace. "You... you make me doubt if I'm even 100% human, Selma. But ven if I'm not, I've lived among them long enough to know that my human errors, my mistakes and foolishness, are precious things I don't want to give up!"
COMBATSYS: Selma blocks Luise's Sharp Quartet.
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Luise 0/-------/---====|=======\=====--\1 Selma
"That.. That may be true, what you say may be true, and yet the powers that we have do say otherwise.." Selma replies, starting to calm down a little, quickly gathering her thoughts, piecing all the things that she had learned over the months into something tangible, something that she can work with. What does what she learned, and what she knows of her past have to do with one another? There can be only one solution, she believes.
"I believed that we would create a new world togeather, one free of all the filth and the undeserving. There there's only peace and those that are happy. In a way, that does make us gods." Selma says this as the blue energy races toward her, and the blowing tendrils whip upward from the ground, the two clash briefly, and then Luise's energy dissipates. "You too realize we may not be exactly human, I believe we are something greater. And that means... We /do/ have such a right. Yes, even you cannot deny that much!"
Selma rushes forward again, a hint of desperacy in her expression as she draws her her now glowing palms outward and hopefully on Luise's stomach. She twists sharply, creating green vortex-like afterimages in front of her that impacts with perhaps enough force to blast her 'sister' back.
COMBATSYS: Luise fails to reflect La Gioconda from Selma with Treacherous Ballad.
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Luise 0/-------/=======|=======\======-\1 Selma
Another strange, tricky attack. Luise tries to meet this one head-on, but the result isn't pretty; her fingers trail blue light as she draws a circle in the air, but the sudden twist and the odd angle of the green energy makes deflecting it all with that shield of Psycho Power incredibly difficult; Selma's power bursts, slamming Luise back up against a wall, knocking the breath from her. It takes some time before the Butterfly can pull herself standing, this time; it would appear that the battle's taken a greater toll on her body than she had imagined.
Still, her form bruised nad bloodied, she is unbending in will, and she can still wear a smile while she talks to Selma. "Gods... I would never want to be one. I enjoy tackling challenges day to day, learning new things, trying new experiences. That's really important to me, and I'm sorry you can't see that. I don't know why you're interested in perfection so much, Selma. Maybe it's because father considered you 'perfect', the culmination of his work... but 'perfection' is the end of the line, with nowhere to go. I don't want to be perfect, and I don't want to sit in judgment."
And here, finally, the blue corona of Psycho Power returns, the woman lifting slightly off the ground again as before. Only this time, butterfly wings made of gossamer and air, deep blue like that aura, spring from her back. She is at once otherworldly and angelic, a protector. "That's worth throwing away my body for, worth dying for. Butterflies carry the pollen of flowers around the world, helping others to grow and live and change. They don't kill."
"I suppose if I were really so concerned about my future.. I would have found a way to break out into this world sooner, Luise. My thoughts.. I wish I could explain them in such a way so that you would completely understand. Because at one point, I know they were your own as I have told you time and time again. And yet you seem completely unable to recall them." Selma just shakes her head as she continues to walk, taking casual steps. "I've been waiting patiently in hopes that those thoughts would somehow resurface, but I see the battle is nearing its end and from this all.. All I've gained is confusion and.. Perhaps pain. I'm.. I don't know what to do at this point, all I can do is destroy, Luise. If the answer isn't purging the world... Then perhaps the answer is removing each other."
Selma crosses her arms in front of her, and she begins to draw in energy.. The brown roots and vines, the wilting flowers, even her brown skin begins to flourish and regain its natural color. The refreshing yet suffocating light from before glows bright, seemingly from the floor, and the bulb left in the back of the lab as a result begins to grow brown and begin to wilt. "Perhaps, the world of peace we were looking for is in the afterlife.."
The glow intensifies, her eyes clenched shut as she floats up into the air, and then she splays out her arms and legs, looking up to the sky. The mass-flattening explosion of chi is so massive, so brilliant that it doesn't even make a sound, petal-shaped energy flows from her body making her looks like a brilliant flower, yet the aftershock is enough to shake up the entire room. "I am not wrong, Luise! I can't be!"
COMBATSYS: Luise endures Selma's Massacre of the Innocents!
[ < > ////////// ]
Luise 1/---====/=======|==-----\-------\0 Selma
She doesn't flee.
A part of Luise feels bad for what she's put Selma through. All that pain and doubt, confusion and misunderstanding... to a 'newborn', they must be terrible feelings. Confidence and self-assuredness let a person function, remind them that their choice of action is right, give them focus. Selma was a perfect example of that, someone brimming with purpose and desire, someone with a clarity of being. But that clairty in and of itself can be harmful, blinding someone to the possibilities.
Luise realizes that maybe she was wrong not to think about things from Selma's perspective.
Thus when the Flower's psychic power reaches its peak, Luise doesn't move. She wraps herself in a cocoon of Psycho Power, blue light flaring violently as it struggles against the green energy. And inside that burst of energy Luise feels the purpose of the Flower, some of her certainty and desire. It's one thing to say you don't want to sit in judgment, but don't people make judgments about what's good and right every day? Shouldn't Luise, as someone gifted with this fantastic, unusual power, take her place as a leader? To make the world better, living by example, giving the good appropbation and the false condemnation?
Yes.
Her knees buckle for a moment, but Luise never leaves the air, the blue wings glowing brighter than ever. "You're not wrong. You're just... seeing one side of things. But don't worry... that side is part of me. You said there was part of me inside you... well, now there's part of you inside me, too."
The blue of her wings becomes bright, and then fills the room. If Selma has destroyed herself with doubt, then perhaps Luise's power can in some way offer absolution instead. Even as that green blast wears away at the Flower's body, that blue light pours in as well. Does it also seek to erode the physical? Perhaps. But it also brings the promise of rebirth, that the butterfly has taken the flower's pollen and is headed to new vistas.
One word escapes Luise's blood-flecked lips:
"Farewell."
COMBATSYS: Luise can no longer fight.
[ \\\\\\\\\\ <
Selma 0/-------/----===|
COMBATSYS: Selma endures Selma's Massacre of the Innocents.
[ \\\ <
Selma 0/-------/=======|
COMBATSYS: Selma endures Luise's Overture to Farewell.
[ <
Selma 1/----===/=======|
It's an.. Interesting form of communication, and yet absolutely suitable for the Meyrink sisters. Two girls with unmoving resolve, no matter what kind of doubt or uncertainty that plagues them.
Unfortunatly for Selma, her lessons are riddled in utter destruction. There's a part of her that really does want to understand Luise's thoughts, and has simply decided that she's not capable of it. And it's childish, now that she thinks about it.
When things don't go her way, she takes her ball and goes home?
Certainly not action to be proud of, something she realizes while she feels herself decaying in both body and spirit as not just a result of her own massive outburst of energy, but becoming flooded then with Luise's as well. For a moment she thinks she /might/ understand. Possibly.
It's difficult to tell or even explain as the lights grow blindingly intense, but when it does fade, it's clearly over. The bulb lay on the floor lifelessly, the once full bloomed 'garden' is just as void of life.
That is, save for one small, green bud.
COMBATSYS: Selma takes no action.
COMBATSYS: Selma can no longer fight.
There's a few seconds allowed to Luise, to observe this unusual and interesting phenomenon through the mists of pain and a fading consciousness. In fact, the last thing she sees is the look on Selma's face, haloed by blue and green light. After that, there's nothing, blessedly and thankfully.
It's a long time passing in the chilly room before the Butterfly forces herself awake again, and even then it's with no small expenditure of effort. Even lightweight fighters are fairly resilient compared to the population at large, however, and thus after a period of letting herself adjust, the German woman's dark blue eyes eventually flicker open, surveying the surroundings blearily. She's never blacked out after a fight before. Been knocked unconscious, yes... but blacked out isn't exactly the same thing.
The first thing she sees is the dead 'plants', and the single spot of green on them. There's a crunching and shifting of debris under her body as Luise pulls herself sitting, closing her eyes a moment, trying to find a presence... no. She's alone, now.
Somewhat.
All there is that is left within the frozen laboratory indeed does end up leaveing quite a bit of a.. Rather lonely air. As Luise closes her eyes all she hears are the occassional drops of water from above onto the gradually melting ice below her feet. There's no presence, at least not any obvious ones aside from the feeling that it's all finally over. It may lead one to wonder if this brings Luise back to square one, but of course it's all a matter of perspective.
Though when she opens her eyes, she may be startled by the feeling of a humanoid figure standing before her. Well, Luise can't exactly see it, but the feeling that there's someone standing before her can't be shaken off.
Then again, she may be used to it by now.
'Luise, before you go, I need you to do a favor for me. I know I have no right to ask at this point, but..' The voice is as gentle and stoic as always. Clearly that of Selma.
She ought to be surprised, but at this point nothing is left to shock Luise Meyrink.
After all, weren't her parting words to a sister she had for... the span of a few weeks, all of them spent apart, all of them spent at odds, that they would always be connected? They are connected. Whether the sense of another person really is a sort of Selma 'subroutine' in her psyche, using her powers to take form, or if it's just Luise's own mind incorporating the feelings and thoughts she 'absorbed' from her sister, is difficult to say.
To Luise it doesn't seem to matter.
"Don't say that," Luise says carefully, though her vision is distracted, her hand sneaking out to drift her fingers along an abandoned countertop, melted water and long-frozen ice making patterns of white and grey on the black surface. "Don't worry about 'rights'. Just ask. I don't guarantee I can *do* whatever it is you want. But I will try."
A light chuckle comes from the figure, whom shakes her head in response to Luise. "I think I have learned at this point what I can ask of you, and what I cannot.. It seems I'm going to have a lot of time to do some thinking, but yes I'll get to the point. When you find father, I'm sure he'd appreciate if you brought 'that' to him." She doesn't make it clear that she's talking about the bud before her, but it's probably the only thing left worth taking out of the remains anyway, wouldn't it?
Even without direction, Luise is naturally drawn to the bud, which she looks at curiously, walking across the room. A pale finger moves alongside of the thing for a moment, considering Selma's words. There's a lot of implication there, after all. Her father is still alive, or at least as far as Selma knows he is. And Selma herself... she may be back, someday, in the future. After all, a flower blooms, and in the process sows itself into the world before dying, to grow anew in some other place and repeat the cycle.
While the butterflies of the world move the pollen along, as is their role.
It doesn't take long to find something suitable -- an old, unused large flask, which Luise sluices as best she can with meltwater -- to hold that bud. It's going to require some care, but Luise is confident enough in her dabbling in a number of sciences that she can get it back to Southtown alive and unharmed. What does this mean, though? Is 'Selma' somewhere in that bud, a being more of psychic energy than of body now? Or is it, once again, all in Luise's mind...
"I think he'd be happy. The... mechanical man, the bodyguard. He told me that most of Father's projects were failures. He only had one success, that he was trying to repeat and never could." There's a pause as Luise looks down, eyes hooded, into the Flower's temporary home. "I wonder, do you think he'll be happy to know he succeeded?"
There's a moment of silence after Luise speaks, Selma apparently needing to think on the matter.
When the bud is lifted there is a gentle green glow for but a moment. It is an answer of sorts, but as usual, not a very clear one.
"To be honest, I don't know. I wonder if our tale was exactly what he had expected to happen or not. I suppose there's little reason for him not to be pleased with the projects success but what it brought in the end.."
Selma gives another slow shake of her head, her shoulders drawn up in a brief shrug. "I'll leave it up to you from this point on, I was never good at the difficult work anyway. Farewell, Luise."
Luise can't help but laugh a little, a musical sound. It IS funny to her, after all. She started this journey so long ago in search of answers, and now that it's all said and done, she's found so few. Memories of all the places she's been and the people she's met in the process flicker across her consciousness... and perhaps Selma's as well. Meeting Seth in a dingy cafe. Fighting Tiistai in Shadaloo-occupied Thailand. The trek through South America, the horror of finding her father had worked with NESTS. The cruel yet dispassionate visage of Jaeger, the cyborg who protected Detlev and, in his own way, may have known him better than either of his daughters do.
An image of her father, hoisting young Luise to a telescope.
Selma, sleeping peacefully in her 'flower bed'.
Part of her wants to cry despite the laughter and, indeed, there is a faint wetness at the corner of her eyes even as she takes her precious cargo and turns to go. Her walk through the abandoned shell of a NESTS facility is unhindered, only the remains of the Flower to keep her company. And yet it is a journey of growth, as both butterfly and flower move out of the cold dark and into the sunlight waiting above.
When she does speak out loud, it's not clear if Luise is keeping herself company, or actually sharing her thoughts with Selma. "That's what 'experience' means, though. Even if he had some grand design for this project, the type of person I became, the type of person... you might become. Even the people that Father touched setting things into motion. Like the stars, they seem like fixed entities out in the sky, but they're in motion. Little by little you can track it if you watch them carefully. So it is with us, too. Things are never going to be the same as they were yesterday; the only constant in the world is change."
Dawn is breaking as Luise emerges from the front door of the complex, painting both the forest and the peaks of the Andes a gold-red shade. The stars are hidden, but somewhere out there, they're moving. By the time this dawn is over, bit by bit, things will be different.
Breathing out, Luise mmms in the back of her throat. "The difficult work, huh..."
She relishes it.
"Let's see what's out there, then."
Log created on 19:03:37 12/12/2007 by Luise, and last modified on 23:19:51 12/13/2007.