Eve X was perplexed. Miffed. Slightly pissed. Lilith was not only *not* communicating with her, but refused to send them back to the right time and place - she wouldn't even return them back to Rhy'Din. As for calling Jara, it was a moot point because they were back in a time before Jara entered the picture.

Eve X *knew* what they had to do, but the question was if her counterpart would allow it? That was why she was not too happy with their current predicament. A random restraunt was picked to discuss their next plan of action, if any. Eve X toyed with her fries, those stormy grays locked in on the heavily appiled ketchup, picking up on bits and pieces of Eve's comments, if she said anything.


She didn't have much to say. She was more than slightly annoyed with the situation, confused by Lilith's uncooperative nature, and ... stressed. She was feeling the pressure to get back, find Steele and the others, form up some kind of plan of action. Eve had only a cup of coffee, and seemed content to mostly stir it, occasionally glance at anyone that passed too close. "No ideas why she's being such a pain?" This was the second (or was it third?) time she'd posed the question, but didn't expect much of a difference in her response; 'I don't know' had pretty much summed it up, thus far.

"We're not finished." She mumured the words, still messing with her fries and refusing to even make eye contact at this point. "She wants to Reboot him here. Now. Before all the other stuff happened to you. Catch the virus at the source."

She'd fixed Eve X with a blank stare, unreadable. "Wouldn't that screw things up even more?" ... Not to mention that she just didn't like the idea of 'Rebooting' very much, nor did she actually know how to go about doing it.

"No more than what they already are, Eve. You and I both know this. That's why we ... *you* keep going through this loop. When Lilith made Contact with Nora, she told her everything. I guess that explains why Nora was always pushing our ... *your* buttons all those times. Reality as we know it has become nothing more than one of those old film stripsreels that has been spliced so many times that it no longer makes any sense." Only then did she make eye contact with her counterpart, her own expression a match for Eve's. "You know what we have to do. I convinced Lilith to let me try something else first, but all we did was ending up creating another slightly different version of your origin. Hopefully the Ripple Effect will cause things to turn out differently, but I think all we did was create another 'what if.'" Rubbing her temples now, Eve X sighed.

"It's all going to be screwed up, and stay that way." The strain of it all was starting to wear on Eve. She almost needed a flow-chart to follow much of it now, so much Shifting had been done that she was almost lost. She hadn't really even *tried* to figure the where and when yet. Squeezing her eyes shut, she ran her fingers through her hair, let her head droop to relax her neck. "The best we can hope for is damage control. So we find Steele and, um, Reboot him, then, what? Will she finally let us get back?"

"If Steele gets rebooted, she and I won't exist any more. You'll be back." She looked back down at her plate once again.

Eve stared across the table at Eve X, then sighed and sank back in her seat, slouching a little. "See ... things like that make me question the whole 'Reboot' thing. I'm not good with this moral stuff, and I don't like the idea of taking my friends out, even if inadvently." But she'd had the feeling it was coming, actually. It seemed that each time there was a Glitch and a Reboot, someone either died or was relocated in the greater span of events.

"..." The throbbing was getting worse, and Eve X was holding her head. "Steele's the cause, Eve, and it's not getting any better. Reality's becoming more warped trying to fix itself, and the Daemons are not helping matters. Lilith and I have co-existed peacefully so far.... " Her voice trailed off. "... I don't have much time left ... "

"Then we'd better get a move on." No, she wasn't happy with the situation, but something had to be done. It wasn't easy on any of them, and Eve wasn't sure how much she could take before she snapped. Pushing her nearly untouched coffee aside, Eve dropped some cash on table to cover the bill and a tip, and got up. "We gotta figure out the when and where, this time."

"You ... are ... *not listening!*" The sight in itself was unsettling to those that looked on in response of hearing the the shouting. Lilith was coming out of her skin, literally. She shed Eve X like a second skin, and people couldn't get out of there fast enough, leaving the two women inside. Lilith was glaring at Eve with blood red eyes. "This one can no longer accept that you are this *ignorant* of the facts! Matters of this, none of it does! Lord Cromwell tampers through *you!*" With a wave of her vein covered hand, Reality began to warp around the pair.

Eve was at the edge. She felt herself on that brink, teetering there, felt the flex of her own fingers as she shut her eyes, looking away from the horrid sight of Lilith. She could go over, easily, hit that downslope and just let it all go ...

But there was *so* much at stake. Steele, Jara, Evan, and countless people that just didn't have a clue what was actually going on ... "You know, I've had enough of you, goddamn it. This cryptic shit you keep pulling is *not* helping anything!" ... Nor was that nifty little trick of warping reality around them. That hurt, actually, Felt like claws digging into her skull, sinking hot talons into her brain. She wasn't sure if she cried out or not, but she Saw whether she wanted to or not. The images became buried in her mind, mixing and mingling with everything else to form a confused jumble. "Stop it!" It was all a blur; she wasn't even sure if that was her voice.


"Worthless you are. Answers you demanded. Then *See!*" There were images of Stonebridge - the one she knew, versus the one it became after Steele visited it. The Coffee Shop where she worked, even it was different after Steele visited it. The Ripple Effect! Her apartment; didn't he also pick up some things for her there? Jared. Jarrod. Jara. Nora. Everett. Evan. Eve X. Ripple Effect. Even Dr. Maxwell. There was no Cromwell! The Glitch!


Things were growing more warped and twisted by the moment, if she believed Lilith. The pain in her head only grew worse, to the point she nearly blacked out before, strangely, it leveled off - blinding, but no worse and no better. "You stupid ... " The sound of her own voice resounded like a shotgun blast to her ears, making her cut off sharply. It was all so confused there was little she could do to make heads or tails of it. Lilith took them to the past to talk to Steele, which threw off the stream of things. Then Lilith took them somewhere *else* and seemed to be insisting on Rebooting the Glitch, and once Eve finally relented and agreed to try and find him ... Lilith went ballistic. Eve had fallen at some point, choking on the bile that burned her throat, struggling to get a grasp on it - all of it, *any* of it. Some of the details did manage to sink through the misfiring layers of her consciousness, and she clung to two points - the lack of Cromwell, and the Glitch itself.

The feeling of cool cloth being applied to her forehead, muttered voices slowly becoming more clear, as was her vision. Jara was looking down at her, with a small smile. "Hey, sleeping beauty, welcome back."

In the background stood Evan, but he appeared fuzzy, out of focus - like a spirit! There was no one else - no Jared, no Steele or his brothers, but the surroundings felt a little familiar. They were inside Tohmas' place.

She'd come back around slowly, groaning a little as she did. Once it sank through the fog of her mind that she was Awake, she sat up with a gasp, twisting to look around, taking in those present. "What ... ?"

"Gave us quite the scare, you. Then again, considerin' what's been goin' on out there, I'd shut down too iffin' I could. Want some water?"

If Evan was aware that his counterpart was awake, he made no move towards her; instead he remained where he was, staring out through a window. The room was dimly lit ... The overall vibe? Ever see 'I am Legend?' Something like that.


This ... this didn't bode well. Eve nodded at the offer of water and downed the cup when it was provided (funny, she didn't realize how thirsty she really was), then managed to stumble up from where she'd been. There were too many things going on in her head, and she was trying to make sense of them, figure out where she was and what was going on. On the fly, she was taking a guess that Reality had been botched again. Once she was relatively steady on her feet, she wandered towards the figure of Evan, both to get a better look at him and see what he was looking at.

The closer Eve drew to Evan, the more she could see right through him. As for what he was looking at, everything beyond the window appeared normal, save for him. The time and date on the clock read January, 2008. 2008? That would have meant close to a year had passed somehow ...

When Evan finally did noticed her, he just gave her a solem expression, before looking back out the window again.

"Um Eve, there's some things you be needin' to be brought up to speed about." Jara Put an arm around her shoulder, as they looked outside. "We won, I guess."

He was back to being insubstantial, but she wasn't sure how it happened. A frown creased her brow as she looked from him, noted the clock, then looked outside. A chill had slipped through her, and it wasn't really because of Evan's presence. "Oh yeah? Doesn't really look that way." She was afraid to ask, afraid to know at all. None of it was making sense, at least not to her jumbled brain.

Evan's voice sounded like rustling leaves when he spoke, with a soft echo thrown in for that ghostly effect. "She doesn't remember, Jara - or doesn't want to."

Jara looked down at the floor, before nudging Eve. "Tell you what: How's about you getting a serious shower, and a we'll talk. 'Kay?"

She'd glanced between the two of the, then opened her mouth to demand to be told now, just before closing it again. No. She needed a few minutes to try and make sense of it, to try and figure out what she remembered along with what happened here. With a single, soft nod she turned and headed for the bathroom, absently looking around as she did.

It was Steele's place, but there was no sign of the owner himself. Everything seemed to be the way she remembered it, if that was saying anything. There wasn't even a peep from the infamous media room down below.

None of this was good. She made a stop by her bedroom to collect some clothes, then headed for the bathroom. The shower didn't last long, but it made her feel a little better - though she still hadn't been able to do much for sorting it all out. Soon she was wandering back down the steps, hair still damp, clad in jeans and a dark purple tee that displayed the symbol for Libra on the front. "Okay. So I need to be filled in." Softly, making it a little unclear if she was talking to herself or anyone else present.

Evan wasn't there, and Jara was visibly pissed, all the way down to the glaring eyes and clenched fists. "Evan Lizt, don't ye dare ghost out on me again ...! Ooooh!"

She'd stopped where she was, a brow arched, a bit confused by the display.

"Oh, hey. Busted." Sighing, after seeing that Evan wasn't coming back until he felt like it, Jara jammed her hands inside her back pockets of her jeans, walking by Eve. "C'mon, let's chat downstairs. I need t' fend off this stress cravin'." Translation? Feeding frenzy. "You hungry?" Was she stalling?

If Eve was still taking stock of inside the house, missing were any pictures of Jared and Tohmas, replaced with Jara and Tohams? Both were sporting the trademark black PSD attire. And that's when it might have really dawned on her: Jara looked ... different!

"No, I'm not. Jara ... tell me what happened." Indeed, Eve had been looking around the inside of the house, and her unease was growing by the second - not that she'd been relaxed to start with. She'd noticed the changes in the house, the photos, the missing Evan and the change in Jara's appearance. What could have made it so ... extreme? She'd folded her arms, rubbing herself as if she were cold, expression altogether perplexed.

"Reality got Rebooted. We won, sort of. No one else recalls what happened, and .... You really don't remember, do you? Dammit, Eve, don't make me be the one to unload all of this on you!" She was working on her thrid turkey and rye.

"Well, there's no one else here to do that, is there?" A note of annoyance made its way into her voice, but it was more with the situation than Jara. She was afraid that she could guess some what Jara would say, and that alone was getting to her. "Just ... just say it. Please."

"You saved us all. You ... Rebooted Tohmas." Turning her back on Eve, she was wondering why the karma gods were putting her through this again.

There was that chill up the spine and goose bumps on the skin sensation which marked the arrival of Evan. "I got the rest, Jara. " Shooting him a glare that would have killed him,if he wasn't already dead, Jara grabbed her food, sat on the couch, turning on the TV.

Evan picked up from there."Short version? You killed Tohmas."

There was that word again - 'Reboot.' Eve tightened her arms at the word, brows drawing together as she tried to think back to that. So much was just a blur in her mind; the only thing she could remember with any clarity was being in the restaurant, talking to Eve X ...

Evan might as well have slugged her instead of saying that. Her eyes widened and she fell back a step unconsciously, and she suddenly felt sick all over again. "It ... but .. I ..." She stopped trying to talk then, as nothing with any sense would come out.

"Now you know why Jara couldn't find the right words to tell you. No way to say it but to say it." That was cold, even for Evan. He just stood there, observing her.

"Tell her the rest, ye unfeelin' arse," Jara said from the couch. "Nevermind, I'll do it. He's in a coma, down at the PSD. Ye had to be the one to do it, didn't ye? Wouldn't let anyone else ..." Shooting Evan another glare, she turned back around.

It was probably good that she had her arms folded, because her hands were shaking, and she didn't feel that steady on her feet. Steele was ... and Evan was ... Opening her mouth to speak, she had two false starts, and tried to blink back tears. "Oh my God ..." That was barely a whisper, and tightening her arms up, she turned away from them. There was just nothing she *could* say in this situation.

"It was the hardest thing you had to do. Tha's wha' we were arguin' about when ye caught me upstairs, luv. I wanted to wait to tell ye, but he wanted ye to kno' out right, because tha's wha' ye prefer. No games, jus' the truth."


Oh, but she wished she didn't have to know at all. She wished she could be like the millions of other people, blissfully ignorant of the supernatural turmoils going on around them. She wasn't sure her legs would support her too much longer; she'd unfolded her arms as she sank into a chair, and the shaking of her hands was pretty evident. "What ... what happened?" She wasn't able to blink her eyes clear anymore. Instead, she reached up to wipe the tears away, and
pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes.

" 'Twas Cromwell, Eve. He had him, an' was using Steele to alter Reality." A flash of images went through Eve's head, bits of a massive battle, and before she could fully grasp it, it was gone. "The doctor's say it's a mircale tha' he's still alive, yanno. Ye wan' to see him?"

It flashed through, behind her closed eyelids, but it was gone before she could get a grasp or make anything of it. Pulling her hands away, she drew a short breath, trying to think back to it, but ... nothing. The look she gave Jara was a little doubtful, but she nodded slowly.

'Evan, can ye pull yer phantom head from ye arse to be supportive fer a little while?"

Giving Jara a look of his own, Evan faded from view. Sighing again, Jara reached for her phone, making a call to the PSD to update them on not only Eve's progress, but their eventual arrival to the base. "Sorry, I had it turned off. What?! When?" She shot a look towards Eve.

There seemed to be a lot of tension between the two of them; not that Eve could really blame them. Everything was just so screwed up, and she wasn't even completely sure *how* it had gotten that way. She'd looked at Evan and opened her mouth to say something, before closing it again. She just didn't know what to say; nothing felt like it really meant anything. She fixed Jara with an empty-eyed look when she looked Eve's way, frozen, and not sure she wanted to
ask.

Jara stood there, stunned, mouth open, and looking like she was on the verge of fainting. Blinking slowly, she glanced at the clock, then back at Eve. "Son of a bloody bitch. It's Steele. He's out of his coma. Came out of it around the same time .... you woke up. "

She stared at Jara, mouth open. "... What?" She couldn't ... she couldn't be serious, could she? Finally getting her mind wrapped around that part, Eve managed to get up from the chair without falling. "Um ... we gotta ... we gotta get down there." This was just ... weird. And amazing. And very vaguely creepy. She wasn't going to argue it, though; she wanted to get down there as fast as possible.