Lunacy-drenched Warrior

     “…I didn’t expect you to leave, although I had hoped you would. It seems just like the ‘Add’ I know, you’re going to disappoint me.”

     She could have been nicer about it, but really, why should she? She was being pestered for information (despite it being mostly harmless information) by the person she least wished to give details about herself to. And really, the attitude he had wasn’t helping him in the slightest. His whining, childish demeanor… Couldn’t she ever catch a break? He throws bread at her. He ignores her orders to leave her be. There could be worse first meetings, but that didn’t make this one good.

     A sigh. She looked up at his grinning face, a sort of glare in her eyes. Moby and Remy floated warily by her side. She raised her hand once again before flicking it downward slightly. One of her Nasod spears appeared from nothing and cut through the air, staying motionless for just a moment before vanishing once more.

     “Does that answer your question?” Pause. “Since I’ve shown you the base of my abilities, I request you do the same. What makes you different from Add?” What makes you dangerous? What do I need to look out for? What do I need to be afraid of?

“It seems just like the ’Add’ I know, you’re going to disappoint me.”

Ouch. Psyker raised a brow at the Nasod, his grin slowly turning into a pout. Unbecoming of somebody so proud, surely, but did he care? No. Not when he could probably rip that core out right this second. He could probably surprise her considering how unassuming he was acting and how close he got in such a short time span without her giving him a hostile reaction.

Add shoved those thoughts aside. That, of course, would happen on his own terms. He had other plans for this interaction.

“Disappoint you? Queen, I would never.” The grin was back, pout long forgotten. Magenta eyes flickered to her hand as it moved, a weapon of sorts appearing from thin air and then striking, disappearing without a trace. It took him a couple of seconds to shift his eyes back to the queen but they twinkled with victory. This was further than he got with the other Eve.

A hum of satisfaction followed her plain statement. “Kukuku, it sure does, my queen.” Materialisation of a weapon, most likely nasod in origin; so she probably controlled a variety of weapons rather than servants. A small spark came from his eye as he registered the data. As soon as she asked for him to display his abilities he laughed, stretching his arms into the air and locking his fingers together.

He wasn’t quite sure what compelled him to actually recognize her as Aisha. Was it the pink outfit? The bubbly laugh and smile (obnoxious and bright, but in this afterlife it was almost a breath of fresh air) that hadn’t been seen in ages? Or maybe it was when she finally spoke up, voice familiar and the one thing he could actually link to the Aisha from his world.

Even if they weren’t the same person (his Aisha wore less clothing and had a not-so-bright atmosphere about her), he wasn’t about to just take the attack without retaliation to figure this out. The shopping bag was placed on the ground, gloved hands scooping up a couple nice, heaping handfuls of snow that quickly turned into lethal weapons of his own.

She had waged war, and he was going to win.

Before she could finish her sentence he hurled his snowballs, the satisfactory sound of them impacting and her dumbfounded words had his face screwing up into one of pure amusement, a couple of snorts escaping.

“Pff-” There was almost no point in holding his laughter though and after a couple of seconds it escaped, Add clutching at his sides and pointing at her. “Holy shit-” another snort “-Aisha, you should’ve seen your face!” His body shook with laughter, anything else he was going to say vanishing in the sheer joy of something so simple.

Maybe this was exactly what he needed after being cooped up for so long in his room in spirals end.

“Haha- oh my god- you just- hahaha,” he tried speaking, and eventually he could grab enough breath to actually say something. “Dude, you almost fell straight on your ass! Of course you deserved that!” For a moment he was quiet, studying her appearance just a little more thoroughly this time before busting out into more peals of laughter at the thought of her almost slipping again.

When the teen had decided to grab some snacks (candy, chips, and a bottle of flavoured water) from Dandy Mart he wasn’t thinking about being assaulted. In fact, Add was sure he was strong enough to beat off almost anybody who dared to try it. That only extended to people however, and the first snowball that hits him in the back of the head turns whatever smile he had into a frown.

Great. What now?

The albino looks behind him, the second one hitting him right in his face. A third hits him in the shoulder, and then Dynamo blocks the fourth and fifth one. It’s only when he wipes the snow off his face that he notices glitter, and his brows furrow out of irritation.

Especially by his partner. She’d never let him live it down. He’d like to avoid that if possible.

@lupsyker

“AND THEN I SAID TO HIM: ‘AN ARM AND A LEG? I’VE GOT ENOUGH OF THOSE TO FILL A MODEST POCKET DIMENSION!’ I DIDN’T CATCH HIS FOLLOW-UP OFFER BUT IT’S NOT THAT IMPORTANT.” Laughter (or its equivalent, most of his band of Henchmaniacs didn’t have biology near enough to that of humanity to have mouths, let alone produce breath) echoed around him with a practiced sycophancy that betrayed how long they’d been at this game.

While each of the myriad interdimensional terrors vied for the opportunity to share the details of their own exploits, Bill’s interest waned - the downside of omniscience was that you could only listen to someone detail a story that had played out with minor variation across a subset infinity of the infinite alternate dimensions so many times before you had to vaporize them.

Instead, he spoke to the one member of Amaranth’s two sets of paradoxes his pals had just finished slam-dunking various multicoloured bubbles - and their brief glimpses into the stranger possibilities of the multiverse - onto. “ANYWAY, I’LL ADMIT, THIS CROWD CAN GET A LITTLE ROWDY, BUT YOU CAN’T EXACTLY BLAME ‘EM FOR THINKING YOU’D HAVE SOME FUN WITH BUBBLES OF PURE MADNESS! Y’KNOW, WHAT WITH THE NAME AND ALL.”

He enjoyed the thrill that this apocalypse gave him. The rush of battle was something he had missed oh so dearly, and as his fist collided with one of the creatures it poofed from existence. Plasma was kicked down in a small variant of quake buster, soon leading into what was supposed to be a quicksilver accel, however...

A cacophony of laughs filled his ears, halting him for just a moment until something blindsided him. Everything changed. He could now see a younger him playing with his mother and father, the world around him peaceful with not a hint of war in sight. It passed quickly. Psyker launched himself backwards as his chest heaved. “Khhhh... What?!” And the scenery changed again, this time watching as him from a year ago sparred with... two other versions of him...? Brothers? What the- And once again everything changed to show the him as of now reuniting with someone that looked... no, it was his mother. Briefly his hand stretched out in disbelief before it was torn away and the chaos in the afterlife came back to him.

He jumped backwards out of instinct, chest heaving and eyes darting all over. Flickers of electricity flashed from his left eye. There was so much data to collect. Dynamo shook as his hands clenched, and the voice of someone familiar and not too far off had him whirling around.

This catastrophe really did appear out of nowhere, all seeming to come from that Triangle he met a couple of days ago. To think, the two had the bonding experience of burning down a forest (almost) and now he goes and pulls something like this? How upsetting! He would have loved to known the details or reasoning behind this sudden apocalypse. Oh well, whatever. Add didn’t exactly care too much. 

What he had to keep in mind though, was that Bill could be considered the deity of this world for the time being. That his powers greatly surpassed his own. Add may be capable of time travel and destroying entire dimensions, but it almost seemed like nothing compared to his.  Almost like a shitty sandcastle compared to one that was elegant and greatly constructed. The white haired Esper took this opportunity to search around the Core, looking at what changes were happening now that things were getting chaotic.

Any monsters that dared to stand in his path, Add took the opportunity to improve his strength and fight them off, killing them with a wild grin on his features. This event, it was getting exciting, it was exhilarating.  All until the effects of it hit him like the swing of Perkisas’ tail. Hard and unexpected. Dropping onto his knees, he felt like he was ‘shrinking’, the world around him growing bigger as he grew smaller. None of this was actually happening, but to the Diabolic Esper, it certainly felt like reality.

Dynamo dropper, clattering to the ground like silverware on the asphalt. Hands reached up to his neck, tugging at the similar illusion of a shackle on his neck. A burning sensation. He let out a yell, one of agony in painful memory before inhaling sharply. When a voice entered his ears, he looked up. White hair, familiar features–Asker. The Esper sprung forward and curled his fingers around the other’s neck. Digits harshly dug in, a wild gaze on his face until the gasp and noises left the alternative Add. Ah. It was him. It was Lunatic Psyker. 

The ‘child’ pulled away, shying away from him out of fear. He didn’t want to be mocked for his weakness. But, then again, Lusa seemed rather panicked. A shackle on his neck ? Was the other blind? There wasn’t one on Lusa’s neck, only his own. 

“W-What are you talking about…I don’t see one on you. Only your choker and necklace!” Words were weakly thrown out, uncertainty tainting them along with confusion. Was it…Something that was happening because of Bill? Most likely. Taking in a deep breath, he approached Psyker once more and this time, in a careful manner unstrapped the choker around his neck. Mentally, Add had to get up on the tips of his toes just to reach the other’s neck one again. Reality, it was just an outstretch of his hands.

‘E-even if it might be just a hallucination…M-Maybe it’ll relieve him in some sense. I don’t know. I don’t know. But he better get mine off too. I don’t want this.’

There was very little time from when his words stopped that the other actually looked at him. Currently he didn’t care about the weakness he was displaying. All he cared about was getting this damned thing off. He couldn’t tear it off. His Dynamo wasn’t responding. Why was he so weak? Why why why why he had gotten so strong this wasn’t like him why couldn’t he-

In his momentary lapse of concentration the thin man leaped at him, catching the other off guard and soon fingers were digging into his throat. They bypassed the shackle - “Hey what the fuck?!” -, seemingly melting into the metal before pressing against his neck and scar and he couldn’t breathe. The slave driver was clearly getting enjoyment out of this. All Add could do was grit his teeth and try to deal with the sensation of pins and needles spreading throughout his And it stopped, focus and breath returning as he grabbed at the shackle around his neck in futility to soothe his neck.

Esper nervously pulled away, and Psyker could only struggle with comprehending what had just happened. Was he just attacked out of maliciousness? Was his mere presence throwing the other Add’s senses off kilter? The other’s behavior said that it wasn’t intentional - reflex, most likely - but his words were confusing beyond belief.

“W-What do you mean you don’t see one?! It’s right here!” A vicious jab back at his throat with a thumb, this time his words were more harsh than before. The other’s weak and uncertain words were... incredibly uncharacteristic from the one time he had interacted with the Esper. “I don’t know where my choker went! A-And what the hell was that about?! Is there somethi-”

Hands reached out to him once more and Psyker froze this time, breathing speeding up as he expected the other to lash out once more. Much to his surprise however the click-snap of the shackle unlocking was the only thing that happened. No way. It couldn’t have been that simple, could it? He had tried tearing the thing off, but it could’ve just been unclasped? The other pulled away with the thick shackle in hand, and Add put his hand around his throat to cover up the extremely prominent scar. There had to be some privacy. Fingers danced to the soon-to-develop bruises to try and soothe the area. It was tender. He winced.

It happened when he was working in his workshop. The voice boomed throughout the apartment, nearly making him spill his coffee and turn to the outside, seeing the absolute chaos ensuing outside followed by the screams of people. A bubble floated up through the side of his apartment, shifting and changing everything it touched into a mass of snakes that promptly dropped down a floor in a hisssss.

Cautious steps brought him to the wall that had crumbled away, eye flashing as he registered the data and hummed. “What the hell was that?” Add craned his head to look upwards, watching as the bubble continued upwards. “Huh? ...Well I can’t say I’ve ever seen that happen before.” Turning back to the outside at the chaos, he could see what looked to be demons chasing civilians, and he was reminded of the time in the Elparty. Ah. So even the afterlife wasn’t safe from these kinds of things.

A metallic snap followed by a choking sensation and the jingling of a chain instinctively brought his hands to his neck. Oh. Oh no. El Lady please. Please oh goddess no. His hands wrapped around a thick metal collar that was where his choker used to be. The sensation of imprisonment sank in, metal firmly scraping against the scar on his skin gave him a solid three seconds of realization before pure unadulterated panic set in.

He could rip it off. He was strong. This would never happen again. Ever. His fingers pried at it but after a minute or two of frantically trying to tear it apart was found to be fruitless he switched tactics. Dynamo. Plasma. It could cut through it. One shifted right above the metal, a small spark of electricity popping from the pointed tip before there was nothing. A block. “Come on, Dynamo! What are you doing?!” But no matter how much he tried to gain access to the power inside of it there seemed to be a block. Something that he couldn’t reach.

“You’re kidding me!” It was a mix of anger and fear, one of his hands never leaving the shackle as he peered out of the hole in his wall. There was someone else with... the same amount of power here. He could get it off. Add jumped out of the hole in the wall with the destination in mind, Dynamo shifting to carry him. It didn’t take long for the albino to spy his target amidst the crowds, uncharacteristically huddling against a building in... fear?

The closer he got to the ground, the more unstable his Dynamo was at carrying him until eventually they gave out. Psyker was left to catch himself, the impact jarring but he’s definitely had worse. Heavy footfalls brought him to the other Add, eye briefly flickering as he took in the other’s incredibly unstable mental state. This wasn’t about the other though. This was about him. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and this was truly his last resort.

So this was the other Eve that bastard had mentioned. Silver hair, Moby and Remy floating off to the side, core in the center of her forehead, she was there in all of her queenly glory.

But she wasn’t his Empress.

Of course he expected something to happen one of these days upon entering her apartment aside from the usual screeching, but he didn’t expect one loaf of bread to hit him square in the chest.