[IC] Cosplay Conversion [continued]

[Kaga]

“Those sound like some pretty bizarre aliens.” Daniel commented. “Then again, I suppose I’m not really one to talk.” He added. “The Doctor battles some pretty strange things, like angel statues, and lizard people… and one of the most iconic aliens in the series is a… trash can with a… a plunger attached…” he seemed to zone out a bit as his expression faded. A flicker of fear in his eyes, he seemed lost in his own mind for a moment before snapping out of it a few seconds later. “Sorry,” he spoke up, re-focusing on Simon. “They’re easier to make fun of when they’re not inside your head…” he muttered, trying to ignore the growing headaches.

“Anyway! Time to pick a door…” Daniel continued, sonic screwdriver at the ready. “Probably doesn’t matter much which one we choose, so long as we enter with caution – because if we’re not looping, then who knows what else they’re keeping in this building. And in case we are looping, we should make sure we go through the door at nearly the same time, not letting it close in between us; we lost the rest of the group when we came in here, so who knows what could happen to us if we got separated.” He paused. “Actually kind of makes me worried about everyone else…” the cosplayer whispered to himself, before covering up his emotions again. “At any rate, which door?”

[Neobullseye]

“They’re easier to make fun of when they’re not inside your head…” ...Well now. That description would've fitted the Yeerks too. Outside your head, they're powerless slugs. Inside of it, you're the powerless one... Simon couln't help but shudder. As little as he wanted to think about the monsters, his mind kept returning to it.

Luckily for Simon, Daniel provided a distraction in the form of some questions and comments. "Wait, I thought we 'lost the rest of the group' because you locked the first door behind us?," Simon answered Daniel's non-question. "It's kind of hard to follow someone if there's a locked door between you and whoever you wanted to follow. Not to mention you pretty much told everyone to split up..." He shrugged. "Anyway, to answer your actual question, let's go through that door," he pointed at one of the doors at random.

[Kaga]

“Yes… well… that was the Doctor thinking.” Daniel responded to Simon’s comment about ordering everyone to split up and then locking the doors, half-trying to save face but also half realizing he really didn’t know why he did that – and also that he was already starting to lose control. It was a little concerning. “Hell if I know what his plans are.” He could only hope the Doctor would work with them rather than against them should he act again.

Daniel then unlocked the door that Simon pointed to, also mildly disturbed by just how natural it felt to use the screwdriver, and cautiously poked his head inside. Keeping Simon close, he didn’t see anything dangerous or concerning behind the door… aside from the fact that it was, still, the exact same hallway.

[Neobullseye]

"Fair enough, I guess. And yeah, I know what you mean. Jake tended to become a little...pragmatic later on in the series," Simon said. "Hell, none of us were a... None of THEM were at the end of the war. I guess that's just what happens when a teenager is forced to lead a band of Guerilla warriors." Or, in Marco's case, Gorilla warriors. Simon couldn't help but smirk at his mental pun. Said smirk, however, quickly fell off his face when Daniel opened the door to the next room; another exact copy of the hall they were in.

...Well then, that was special, to say the least. "Okay, it seems like your theory is confirmed, to an extend. That is, I can't see any doubles of us anywhere," Simon broke the silence. "How is this supposed to work in three-dimensional space anyway?", he continued, gesturing at the other doors in the hall. "I mean, won't the rooms overlap in some way, taking up the same bit of space -- something that for all intents and purposes should be flatout impossible in 3-d space? At least I think it should be impossible, right? Then again, we've already seen a lot of impossible things be possible -- ourselves, to start with. ...Anyway, shall we go?"

[Kaga]

“Well,” Daniel began, before cringing slightly at the sharp pain in his head that came up when the Gallifreyan in him tried thinking of the answers to any of Simon’s questions. He tried coming up with his own explanation. “…In the real world, yes. I’d say that would be impossible.” He began. “But I say ‘real world’ because we’re a couple of sci-fi characters wandering around, trying not to think about aliens. So who knows what fictional canon we’re dealing with.” he asked rhetorically. “Because we already know that our technology is becoming real,” he held up his screwdriver again. “So who knows what else could.” His eyes faded off for a moment, already growing worried now that he’d brought up the possibility, before distracting himself again. “Buuuut that’s just an educated guess. Really it could just be something completely unrelated that’s causing this – it’s been a weird morning…”

And as much as it made sense to leave, he couldn’t help but feel mildly frustrated, almost disappointed that he couldn’t explore deeper… “Yeah, there’s probably not much else we can manage in here…” Daniel started to reply. “Unless you want to try to figure out the sequence we need to progress. I mean, it is a lot like a video game, and whenever you encounter those sorts of loops you need to know just which paths to go through and in what order to make it out. I assume that’s what those students did when they ran off…” he noted. “As for the rest of our group though, well, I’m assuming they got stuck the same way we did and probably left, too. Perhaps they’re still waiting outside…” he thought out loud. “Which would you rather do?”

[Neobullseye]

"I... guess so. I mean, we could brute-force it, but that tends to only work if you know how many 'doors' you need to take to get out of the loop," Simon replied. He pointed at the doors, going clockwise from one end to another. "It's simple math, when you think about it; Take the amount of doors there are in the hallway -- minus the one you used to enter, which I hope will let us out again --, then multiply it to the power of X, where X is the amount of doors you need to take to get out of the hallway. Of course, since we don't know how high X is, it might as well be infinite. Not to mention the possibility of there being some secret to it before it will work at all, in which case we can try our entire lives and never get past this room. And the fact that this place is disorienting as all hell." He fell silent for a moment, then continued. "Either way, that seems like a bad idea; let's go back outside. ...I'm sorry, but do you still know which door we originally used to enter this hall?"

On the way back, Simon spoke up again. "On the topic of strange science-fiction things: That reminds me of this game I once read about. Well, it's not so much of a game as it is a playable book, but details. Anyway, it had a really strange concept of time travel. In short, time was drawn like a tree. As you went further up the tree, more and more options became available. In some cases, you'd need to see an event in one timeline to even be able to change one in another. Which makes sense, when you think about it; how else would the character in question know what to do?
It also once mentioned that the way we normally see time -- as either a single line or a series of disconnected dots -- was similiar to a tree in 2-D. If you look at a tree in that fashion, you'll only see randomly placed dots. When you go to a higher dimension, however, you'll see that everything is connected, and that the future can even influence events in the past, much like how lower branches can be moved by pulling a higher one. ...To be honest, thinking about it too much makes my head hurt -- ignoring the fact that my head keeps hurting today, period. Does it make any sense to you?"

[Kaga]

Daniel shook his head, honestly trying to tune out anything Simon said about the wibbly-wobbly nature of time. He was unsure of how the conversation shifted to such a subject in the first place, but it was clear that the more he so much as tried to think about it, the more his head would throb and the more his inner Time Lord would struggle to get a word in. He actually found himself fighting back the urge, both as a Whovian and as the Doctor himself, to utter… that one line. “I’d actually… rather not think about it.” He finally told Simon. “The Doctor’s a… a time traveler, you know? He sees time in ways humans can’t even understand…” he trailed off as a surge of pain ran through his head again. “Hurts to try to understand…”

As he ascended the stairway, Daniel was a bit confused to feel a gust of wind coming in from the outside and, looking up, the outside sunlight, as well. Once he reached the top of the stairway, it was clear that the door had been broken into somehow. He cautiously walked outside and noticed Jonathan and one unfamiliar cosplayer, but before he could ask about her, the first question on his mind was, “…What happened to the door?”

[Neobullseye]

<Simon>
"Okay, I'm sorry. I won't bring it up again." Well, that was stupid of him; of course the guy didn't want to think too much as his Cosplay! Simon felt like a jerk for pushing it onto Daniel.
As Simon followed Daniel up the stairway, he, too, was confused by the fact that there was wind in a location that for all intents and purposes should not have it. ...Wind? Didn't that guy say that the door closed on its own or something like that? ...Oh, that explains it. Apparently, the door was forcefully opened, now limply hanging to the side. He followed Daniel outside, curious about what exactly had happened here. Before he could actually ask anything about it, though, Daniel had already beaten him to it. "For that matter, what happened to everyone else?." he added.

---

<Jonathan, Lily>

A short while after the vast majority of the group had entered the building again -- turns out opening a locked door isn't all that hard when you have futuristic weapons on your side --, Daniel and Simon came out of it, an obvious look of confusion on both of their faces. Did something happen in there? Before he could actually ask anything, however, the duo had raised their own questions to him.

"The door? Thomas and a couple of others wanted to get in, so he blew it up. Speaking of them, how did you not see the rest of the group run by you? You should've ran straight into them.," Jonathan answered, obviously confused about this contradiction.
Lily, meanwhile, seemed to be more interested in the hallway itself than the people who just exited from it. She completely ignored Daniel and Simon -- and Jonathan, for that matter --, instead just staring into the empty hall, waiting for Devon to return.

[Kaga]

“Well, no, actually. It’s a little bit wib- I mean, weird in there.” Daniel replied to Jonathan’s question about the group of cosplayers who’d just entered the building. “The place seems to run on some sort of video game logic; even I don’t fully understand it.”

Before he could further explain, though, Daniel – or perhaps more accurately, the Time Lord inside him – was distracted by the presence of a child who, by his estimation, couldn’t have been any older than ten. Clearly in-cosplay, his heart sank a bit when he realized how awful it must be for a girl her age to get sucked into their predicament. “Sorry, who is she?” he asked, gesturing to Lily. During the chaos of the day, he’d managed to forget why Jonathan joined them in the first place.

[Neobullseye]

"I see..." Jonathan answered. Not that he understood what Daniel was saying, mind you; after all, how could he if the two other men, who just left the place, didn't understood it either. Whatever little time he had to think about it was interrupted by Daniel asking him about his little girl. "She's my daughter, Lily," Jonathan said, nodding at said daughter.

Lily, who had been competely ignoring everyone up until now, jumped up and turned at her father. "No, I'm not! I'm not your daughter, and stop calling me Lily! For the last time, my name is Popoi!," the young girl snapped at Jonathan. Her father visibly cringed upon hearing these words.
"I'm afraid she doesn't know who she is anymore," he continued after a painful silence. "Do you... Do you think she'll..." He muttered, unable to voice the horrible thought that kept raising itseilf. What if she never turned back normal?

[Kaga]

“O-oh… I see…” Daniel replied quietly. That’s when he remembered - Jonathan wasn’t a cosplayer; he’d just joined their investigation because he was concerned about his daughter. But, unfortunately, she’d already forgotten her identity. Daniel didn’t know how to react. One the one hand, he felt awful for them – Jonathan and Lily both – but on the other hand, he couldn’t help but feel slightly terrified himself. They’d both started transforming at the same time, and she’d already forgotten who she really was? Granted, she was only a child – that was probably why the mental changes happened so quickly – but how far behind could he possibly be? “I-I’m sorry.” He stuttered. “I’m so, so sorry…”

As he glanced back at Lily, though, even he forgot his humanity for a split second as a crazy Time Lord idea came to mind. Though he came back to his senses immediately after. Oh no, noooo I could never do that… he tried to tell himself. There are far too many ways that could go wrong… And yet, the more he looked at her, the more his inner Doctor urged him to give it a try.

“Actually,” he spoke up. “I’m fairly certain her memories aren’t gone – only suppressed, and weakly at that.” He explained, the British dialect in his voice becoming more prominent again. “Your daughter’s still in there, it’s just that Popoi’s the one currently in control. Lily’s just… dormant, currently. At least, that’s my hypothesis.” He told Jonathan, before growing a bit hesitant. “So, if she is in there – and I can’t guarantee this’ll be a permanent fix, but it could bring her back until we figure out how to reverse all this – then… I might be able to switch who’s in control.” He paused again. “…If I could get into her mind, as a Time Lord.” Daniel could only hope the Doctor knew what he was doing.

[Neobullseye]

(J)
"...A-are you s-saying you can help her?," Jonathan stuttered, barely believing his ears. "How? No, that doesn't matter, just do it!" His heart rose again; Lily would be saved! She would come back, and they could go back home together. Yes, that was what going to happen. Everything would be solved. "How can I help?," he asked Daniel, a spark of hope having reappeared in his eyes. At this point, the man would grab every single straw he could see, no matter how fragile it was.

(L)
"Hey, wait, what about me? What if I don't want you... doing things... to me?," Lily intervened, nervously stepping away from Daniel. Why was everyone so convinced that her name was Lily? Did she look that much like her? Or were they just all crazy? No, that didn't make sense either; Miss Devon was nice to her and believed her. What took Miss Devon so long anyway? She said it would only took a few minutes, but it seemed that she was gone for far longer by now.
The girl looked back and forth between the three men and the door. Should she make a run for it and call out for Miss Devon? But no, the third guy was standing at said door, blocking that exit. Fighting wouldn't work either; not when outnumbered like this. Besides, what would she do if they were like those demons, barely even flinching when struck with a fireball? "I... I...," she muttered, obviously afraid.

(S)
Simon, meanwhile, was just hanging back at the door remnants, not really knowing how to add anything to the discussion. Well, at least it gave him some thought to thing about the situation.
Fact 1: They were all transforming into their Cosplays, both in body and in mind. The girl in front of him especially was striking proof of the latter, and he had seen more than one example of the former. At least most of the people he'd seen today where mostly human in appearence.
Fact 2: They also somehow got the powers of their cosplays. In addition, all accessories that went along with said cosplays also became real. He had physically experienced the former, and had witnessed the latter on several occasions.
Fact 3: More than one thing about this Academy was really weird. The students that behaved really strange and obviously knew more than they told, the time-space warping hallways beyond the door. Furthermore, the cosplay event did start here. Did that mean that someone of this school was behind the whole deal? Well, not necessarily; for all he know, the Academy was simply the location host, with the actual organisation being done by an entirely different party. Still, this place should be the first place to do some research.
Fact 4: The transformation could be, in several cases, lethal. From what he'd seen, it most often happened with the more extreme cases, with things like growing tentacles from your head, and in the middle stages of transformation. They had survived up until now, but that didn't mean that they were safe.

Conclusion: Lacking the luxury of time to research everything at random, they should start at the one place they knew something about; the Academy and its surroundings.

[Kaga]

“Shh… I’m not going to hurt you.” DoctorDaniel spoke gently, crouching down next to Lily so he stood eye-level with her. He could tell how nervous and afraid she was – why wouldn’t she be? The character controlling her probably knew even less about the situation than he and the other cosplayers did. At the same time, Daniel’s own heart was racing; he could hardly believe he’d chosen to do what he was about to do, hoping and praying that he didn’t make any mistakes. Hopefully though, if his fear showed at all, it would at least convey to Popoi that he had no evil intent.

“I’ll be real gentle, alright?” he told her, slowly extending his arms as he tried to place his first two fingers of each hand on the temples of her head as carefully as possible. I just want you to sleep for a bit, Popoi. he thought, hoping she’d cooperate, hoping he could make Popoi dormant and let Lily regain control. Just sleep…

---

“Why… why would anyone do this?!” A scream rang out through the hallways of BA as fists pounded on the now defiled walls. A young woman in a black-and-white, skull-adorned outfit had fallen to her knees, practically on the verge of tears as her hands slid down the wall on both sides of the phrase ‘BAD WOLF’. The layout of the hallway was so perfect; the entrance she’d come in from, another door at the end of the hall directly across from the entrance, and eight more doors on each side. Eight! The most beautiful number known to mankind! The hallway was so brilliantly designed that even the dust on the floor seemed to fall in perfect symmetry, all of it never ending as each hall beyond was truly exactly the same as the first – and yet it was all ruined by the graffiti of some mindless Doctor Who fanatic!! “And it’s not even in pencil, or some other removable substance…” she whimpered. “They scratched the paint off… so the only solution would be to paint over it, but without re-painting the entire hall, that would just make the paint job look uneven!!” she screamed in anguish. She almost reached for Liz and Patty out of sheer rage, but a series of bullet holes would be far more difficult to fix.

Slowly though, her breathing calmed as she pulled herself back to reality, starting to regain her sense of calm. “Get a grip, Kate.” She whispered to herself, pulling strands of black hair out of her eyes. “It’s just graffiti…” Virtually any Soul Eater fan would agree that Death the Kid’s most amusing characteristic would be his horrible case of OCD, and while Kate had particularly chosen to cosplay Kid because of her own tendency to stress over anything out-of-place, actually seeing the world through Kid’s turned out to be a complete nightmare. “How long have I been in here, anyway?” she asked aloud before reaching for the cell phone in her pocket, her hand brushing over Liz in her holster. God, I sure hope those two don’t turn real, as well… she thought grimly, stress levels beginning to rise again. Of course, she knew that in-canon, Death the Kid technically didn’t have any holsters for his guns, but that was only because the two weapons were intelligent living things that generally assumed human form when not in use…

I need to get out of here. Kate told herself as she climbed to her feet. The only thing worse than a distracting, perfect hallway lined with 8’s was a slightly imperfect hallway lined with 8’s. I have to stay sane… Her heart raced as the possibilities of ‘or else’ ran through her mind. As she reached the top of the stairs leading outside, she stopped at the sight of another individual standing just outside the building entrance, and what appeared to be a few more cosplayers not far beyond. But wait… so that means… A sliver of hope finally appearing, Kate raced towards Simon and spun him around, asking the only question currently going through her brain. “So I’m not the only one?!”

[Neobullseye]

<Lily>
"I, but uhm, I..." Lily stammered. From what she could sense, the man didn't have any bad intentions; he felt like a good person, much like Miss Devon, and very unlike the demons from before. At the same time, she wasn't all that sure she could trust him, nor was she sure about the other two -- especially the man that kept calling her his daughter.

"...Okay, I guess...", the young girl finally answered, figuring that if the man wanted to harm her, he would've done sow by now -- not to mention the fact that there wasn't a whole lot she could do about it anyway.
A small shudder went through Lily's body when the man placed his fingers against her head. Then, a strange calm started to fall over her. Yeah, sleeping sounded really good right now. Just... sleep.i.n.g... . Silently, the girl slowly closed her eyes.

---

<Simon>

Having been lost in though, Simon didn't notice the mysterious newcomer coming until s/he stepped in front of him, at which point he was suddenly jolted out of his train of thought. "Whoa, where did you came from?," he practically jumped. "And, more importantly, who are you?"
It was obvious that the person in front of him was a cosplayer, but what the cosplay was suppose to be, Simon had no idea of. He (or she) had utterly bizarre black hair with strange white bands on one side, and his/her clothing style was pretty dark too ...Was that a skull necklace? And it looked like the character was in possession of some guns too,which, if Simon's experiences were anything to go by, were likely very deadly by now. Well, so much for hanging back and thinking things over...

[Kaga]

Daniel felt a strange sensation come over himself as well as he placed his fingers on Lily’s head, closed his eyes and concentrated – inhaling sharply as all of a sudden it felt as if the number of conscious minds inside his own head had just doubled. Thoughts and memories from both of the girls flooded into his mind, letting a pained expression cover his face as he struggled to keep track of who was who, and perhaps more importantly, finish his mission without harming Lily. Before long, though, he felt Popoi’s presence start to ebb away as Lily’s grew stronger. Daniel wasn’t sure how he did that, though, or even if it was really him doing it.

All the while, the entire world around him seemed to fade, all outside voices being reduced to mere whispers as his focused remained completely on the cosplayer in front of him. That is, until the sound of shouting from behind him broke that intense concentration, causing the link between the two of them to snap like a thin twig. Daniel winced as a splitting migraine immediately tore through his brain, his hands pulling away from the girl and instead grabbing his own head in pain, Lily forgotten.

---

“I… I was in there,” Kate responded choppily as she gestured behind her at the broken-down door, breathing rather heavily. “I was looking for answers about this whole… cosplay… thing, when I got lost, and also really distracted, so I came back out, and then… you guys were here!” she pointed towards the rest of the group. “And I didn’t realize there were more of… us.” She spoke hesitantly. “I mean, that is the case, right? We’re all kind of… changing?” she asked, not sure how to backtrack the conversation if she turned out to be wrong.

[Neobullseye]

<Lily>
The moment the doctor removed his hands from Lily's head, everything became black again. With neither personality in full control over her body, she unceremoniously crumpled to the ground.

Slowly, Lily opened her eyes again. ...Wait, where was she? This wasn't her room! This looked nothing like her room! It was some kind of black, feautureless void. And standing in front of her was... she herself in her costume? What?
Who are you! she cried out. Where am i? And where are my parents?!
I... the sprite muttered, utterly confused. What was this place? This was even worse than the city; at least the city existed. This... space was nothing. Literally, nothing at all. My name's Popoi.
Liar! Popoi doesn't exist! She's just a character from a game who I dressed up as! the girl shouted, confusing the sprite even more. First of all, the girl standing in front of her looked nothing like her. Second, since when was she 'a character from a game'? ...Wait. Was she under the influence of a spell? If so, then it was most likely cast by that man. So he wasn't to be trusted after all... On the other hand, why use such a bizarre illusion spell if you can do anything you want? Why add the girl to the black void at all?
It was about this point that Lily broke down and started crying. I want my mommy..., she blubbered through her tears.

Immediately after Lily had collapsed to the ground, Jonathan quickly rushing to her side. "You!," he called out to the Doctor as he shook his daugher. "What did you do to her?!" He then spoke to his daugher, in a pleading voice. "Please, Lily, wake up. Wake up, dear, please..."

---

<Simon>
"I... see," Simon answered. "Well, yeah, that place is confusing as all hell, I'll grant you that. In fact, apparently when we just came back up from there, another group was heading down there at the same time. We should have ran straight in to them, yet somehow we never even saw them." He shrugged, then continued. "And to be honest, I don't really know what's going on either. I mean, the physical part of us changing is blatantly obvious, but how and why, I have no idea. It's the whole reason we're here; to find out more about what the heck's going on. I still don't have a clue, but mayb- HEY!" Turning around as he was speaking, Simon was shocked by what he saw. A young girl was lying on the ground, obviously in cosplay; another man was shaking her body, apparently trying to wake her up. Daniel, meanwhile, was holding his head with both hands and obviously in pain. "What happened!," he shouted as he ran over to the small group.

[Kaga]

Daniel’s head throbbed as he slowly tried to pull himself up off the ground. His vision blurry and the world still spinning around him, it took the cosplayer a second to realize what had happened. His heart sank once his senses returned to him. Seeing the poor girl lie on the ground, and her father screaming at him, he realized what a horrible mistake he’d made. “I-I… I don’t…” Daniel’s mouth ran dry while his eyes teared up. Stumbling backwards, he could barely form coherent thoughts, much less words. What have I done?! he yelled at himself, filling with fear and guilt. What did he do to her? Why did he think his idea would work?! “I-I’m sorry.” He stuttered. “I’m so… so sorry.” Hesitantly, he crawled forward to get a closer look at her. Thankfully, she was still breathing, but that was all he could confirm…

---

Before Kate really had a chance to process Simon’s words, she too was pulled into the nearby commotion, following the cosplayer to the other half of the group. She stayed behind Simon, not too familiar with those three (plus they seemed to be in the middle of quite a bit of drama, besides). Her breathing hitched as she recognized Daniel’s outfit, however, eyes widening as she reached for her weapons to punish the man for the crime he’d committed against such brilliant architecture, until… she realized… she was starting to lose control again. She took a few deep breaths as she crossed her arms, casually moving her hands away from the guns, trying to remain calm. Besides, the Whovian didn’t even seem to notice her.

As she took a closer look at the group, Kate felt her attention drift towards the youngest of the cosplayers; she couldn’t help but feel concerned for the girl as, despite not having seen what happened, it was clear she wasn’t in the best condition. Instinctively and without even thinking about it, Kate squinted her eyes and focused on Lily’s limp body, a tiny blue flame becoming visible on her chest. “Her soul is weak…” Kate whispered, before fully realizing what she’d seen and what she just said. “I-I mean, what am I saying…” she mumbled as she shook her head, the flame-like image disappearing. You can’t see people’s souls inside their bodies. she told herself sternly. That’s ridiculous. You must be hallucinating or something…

[Neobullseye]

<Jonathan>
"'Sorry?' Is that all you can say? That you're 'sorry'? You, you, I you..." Unable to find the right words, Jonathan simply shook his head, then turned back to his daughter. Giving up on trying to shake her awake, he instead pulled her into his arms, gently rubbing his hands through her long, now very real hair. "Come on, Lily," he said, his voice cracking with all kinds of emotions. "I know you're in there. Please, come back to me..." He didn't notice either Simon or the person following him, let alone what the latter whispered, instead being fully focused on Lily.

---

<Lily>
Meanwhile, in the pocket dimension that's Lily's mind, the two girls were still wondering what was going on. That is to say, Popoi was wondering what was going on, while Lily was just flatout freaking out. Then again, it's not like you can blame a girl for freaking out when the world has suddenly changed into a black void, completely deprived of anything and everthing sans yourself and a talking rabbit-thing that's not even supposed to exist.

Wait... that voice. It was hardly audible, but it was there. A male voice, calling out to 'Lily.' As if struck by lightning, Lily instantly looked up. Daddy? Where are you?! She jumped to her feet, looking around agitatedly and obviously more energetic than a short while ago.

Popoi, meanwhile, started to feel weak and sluggish, sleepy even. With each passing second, it became harder for her to keep her eyes open. No, she couldn't fall asleep here; not in this world of darkness. Who knows what would happen then? Would she ever wake up again? No, she HAD to stay awake!

---

<Simon>
Simon slowly shook his head. Another innocent kid had been dragged into this mess, this one even younger than the guy that had phoned him earlier this day. How could could she possibly be? 8, 9 years old? Yet another reason to find a way to stop and reverse whatever was happening to them, before she, too... It was't too late already, right? No, he shouldn't thing like that, couldn't think like that. It wasn't too late yet, it just wasn't!

Simon's thoughts were interrupted by a soft voice coming from behind him. "Huh? What, did you say something about a soul? If it has anything to do with your powers; trust me, they're real now. Oh, and for the record: Speaking of things becoming real, those guns have likely become real too by now, or at the very least well capable of killing people. So please, don't point them at people, okay?"

[Kaga]

“I-I…” Daniel stuttered, feeling worse and worse about the situation every second. It was bad enough to have seen so many horrible things – even death – happen around him that day, but for something to happen specifically because of his own meddling, to a girl that young, lying in her own father’s arms… he could hardly bear the thought. “I-I really do feel horrible…” he barely managed to say, tears welling up in his eyes from all the stress and overbearing guilt. “I mean, if there’s anything, absolutely anything I can do, then…” He realized his words probably meant very little, but he still couldn’t help but search desperately for some way to help. This girl had to be ok, she just had to…

---

“R-right…” Kate muttered, running her fingers over Liz and Patty. They did feel… less plastic, than they did yesterday. For sure. “I’ll… keep that in mind.” She replied, almost trembling. Everything was just too much to take in. People losing their minds, potentially their lives if the scene in front of her meant anything, suddenly being able to see souls… and if weapons were becoming real, that brought up a whole new concern. “In that case…” she spoke up again, clearly nervous. “...What if said guns were, hypothetically, living things?”

[Neobullseye]

<Lily, Jonathan>

Slowly, the girl's eyes flickered open. At least, it started slow at first; a couple of seconds later, said eyes suddenly shot open wide, her head rapidly turning from left to right and back. Where was she now?! Without thinking, she pushed herself away from the arms that were holding here, then started to run away.
"Lily, wait!", Jonathan called out to the running girl. Hhe was so surprised when Lily had opened her eyes that, when the girl started to run away, he couldn't react fast enough to stop her. "Please, wait!" Is she back to normal? Or... is she even farther gone?
Unexpectedly, the girl actually stopped and spun around, then dashed right back at the man she was running away from seconds earlier. "Daddy!," she cried, practically leaping into Jonathan's arms.
"Lily!," Jonathan exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to him. "Oh, Lily..."
"Daddy? Where... What's going on?," the girl questioned. "Where are we?"
"It's okay...," Jonathan answered, avoiding the question subconciously. At the moment, he was far too glad that his daughter was back to normal again to think about anything else. ...No. She wasn't back to normal yet. Lily was back, but she was still stuck in the wrong body. Still, he needed this. He needed this short moment. Who knew when she would...

---

"Living... things?," Simon answered unsurely. "I... guess that part of them would become real too? What do you mean, though?" Although he wasn't exactly sure whether or not the extra information would help him at all, it couldn't hurt to ask either.
Before the newcomer could answer, though, the young girl that up until now seemed to be unconcious suddenly got up and ran away from the man who was holding her... after which she stopped, turned around on the spot and ran right back to him? [i]What was that all about?[ Meh, whatever, at least she's okay./I]
Sort of confused about the whole thing, Simon scratched the back of his head. "...I guess she's okay now?," he muttered, unsure about what exactly to say.