Shattered Echoes

She was still under a mist of confusion at Ambrose´s sudden `recovery`..She took a quick step back at him suddenly speaking in that tone...it took her by surprise. Quickly recovering and straightening herself in time for the mirror withdrawing back to reveal an embarrassed looking Disaster. Taking a footstep away was what she would have done anyway when it became clear in her mind that this thing wasn´t Ambrose.

She had a befuddled look on her face, much like the mirrioboy had..Entropy was laughing but it still sounded sinister much like when he fixed his voice from ´Ambrose´ to ´Entropy´. And then he did a 180 degree moodswing to raging..Oh thats just great. Dealing with another unstable person. thought Esha. That grin..it was making Esha uncomfortable.

She arched an Eyebrow at his quite frankly, ridiculous request. The very thuoht of it was not something Esha took seriously "Hmm..Will I?" She said with an amused and slighlty daring tone, at Entropy´s sense of self importance. She took a glance at Owen..No idea in her head of what he´d do or if he´d comply.

((I apologise for the ´ and these ... fullstops with mile gaps between them, I cant find ordinary ones))

Oh. Oh no. Owen recognised that. He'd seen a glimpse of that when the red-haired boy had tried to pin him up against a tree and threaten to stab his eyes out with a fork. And he didn't need any of that.

At Entropy's command, his first instinct was to look to Esha to see what she'd do first. Well, whatever she was doing, it didn't appear to be bowing. In fact, it looked like an attempt to annoy him even more. Silently and desperately, he tried to shake his head at her, fearing at it was already too late. She'd already dealt with lightning shooting deities, surely she didn't need to anger any more?

Seeing as he was already crouching on the floor, he stooped down even lower, in fact, it could hardly be called bowing any more. Just flattening himself on the ground to be as less noticeable as he could possibly manage, lest he get into trouble.

Disaster looked up from his depression, still not daring to move. . . . The laughter above was deafening.

Entropy watched with a bloodstained eye, catching Owen but resting on Esha. His brow wrinkled; his lips formed a slight frown. It was an expression near disgust but not quite, of nearing hatred but feeling the object of that hatred too young to understand what was going on, how what they did was wrong. Like a child. She was so young.

"You will," the monster replied frankly, eyes narrowing. "You will you will you SHALL obey. Why wouldn't you?" The thing was genially confused about this. Why wouldn't someone bow? They would. They always would. "Why wouldn't you?"

The creature took a step towards Esha. Then, another. He-- it stared down at the floor, not out of respect or anything of the like. He was already staring down at her when she would be on the ground. No need to advert his eyes upwards when they would merely return towards the same spot.

"Bow," Entropy ordered once more, resting a pale hand gently on the woman's shoulder.
As suddenly as his mood, the thing pushed down on the spot, determined to make Esha learn her place. It simply stared down all the while, waiting for her to be in his eyesight. . . .

Disaster's eyes widened, darting towards Owen, then Esha. This was quickly becoming out of hand. He just wanted to ask for advice, get humans to advocate for their own humanity, but now . . . They would die. Yes, Entropy would play with them for a while, but sure enough, they would die. He and them. And Them.

This wasn't his darling Ambrose anymore.
He had to do something, despite everything.
He had to do something, despite Them.

"Boy," Disaster whispered toward Owen, careful that Entropy would not overhear. "Are you any good at distractions?"

Esha was surprised at Owen's bowing...she kept an open mind about him since she didn't know him well, she thought he might comply but still held it in her head that he might not lower himself and encourage this..non Ambrose thing. Til' that moment.

At that moment her regard of Owen dropped to where he was on the floor, if there was a crack she swore it would have gone lower. She glared at him, looking down her nose and giving him a haughty look. She didn't hold it for too long, and as soon as he got the message of disgust she would turn her attention to Entropy. She looked at him without any expression on her face.

"because, I wouldn't lower myself to below anyone-figuratively or physically. It's nothing personal" She said in a conversational tone. Her ego wouldn't take that battering..lowering herself below anyone without a fight was..utterly shameful. At the sudden pressure on her arm she lowered a little bit, but stood again and resisted once she understood what he was angling at. "Remove your hands from me, would you kindly?" the statue said with a flat-out bored look towards the Deity and an edge to her voice. She had every intention of shoving him off her if he didn't comply. Seconds ticked.

Somewhere in her head she realized someone had tried to make her bow and her expression transforned into something a bit more aggressive. Esha wasn't going to be forced to do anything. He'd tried to force a bow out of her..would asking make him let go? No. No it certainly wouldn't. She timed 5 seconds before aiming a punch towards the inside of Ambrose's elbow, intending to spring it and make him let go. That was how it played out in her head anyway.

Owen didn't miss Esha's glare. Not one moment of it. Of course, he felt a burning shame. Most of him felt guilty at the thought that it seemed a girl had more backbone than he did. He'd been accustomed to that idea, but it didn't lessen the pain. However, there was a part of him that still endorsed the idea of self-preservation, for whatever reason he couldn't suss. Besides, Esha had it easy. She was stone: of course she wouldn't be afraid of these things. And what was he? A powerless, shallow human; he had every reason to bow down.

Whilst her defiant actions made him cringe, her confident air was reassuring... slightly. Except for the fact that it was some twisted version of Ambrose, or Entropy she was facing. The feeling of schadenfreude crept up - he was thankful, at least, that it was not him that grasped his attention.

From his position on the floor, he glanced towards Disaster, frowning. "What can I do?!" he answered back, his response neither subtle nor quiet. That is, until he could see the mirror floating in the corner of his vision. Of course. He had a power. Not one he could trust, but a power nonetheless.

Pushing himself from the floor to sit on his knees, he looked from Ambrose to Esha, wondering how the hell he was meant to distract them. Truthfully, he didn't want to harm either of them. Esha, he believed, seemed to be acting on good intentions. And Ambrose... well, he was acting kinda evil now. But he considered him one of his few, valuable friends, only that he happened to have a steep score on the unpredictability gauge.

There was precious little time to fret over these decisions. He held his arm towards them. "D..." He stuttered, just not knowing what to do. "...Distract him." He honestly didn't know what to expect from the vague command, maybe it wouldn't even do anything at all. But it floated forwards slowly towards them, tilting to face towards Entropy. Owen begged in his mind for some non-violent, something small, even just a bright light---

And with that, a light started to emit from the mirror, a light that grew and grew until it transformed into a fearsome, white, blinding brightness that even Owen had to shield his eyes from. He only hoped that it worked.

Regardless of Esha's reasoning, Entropy took it personal . . . very personal. Its eyes raised slowly to the golem's, the darkness inside them nearly overwhelming.

"Bow," the thing ordered once more, shoving on Esha's shoulder again. And again. And again. "Bow. Bow. BOW DOWN, WOMAN," he ordered again and again, as many times as it would take for her to get the message. Her place was on the floor, kneeling at his feet. Follow the example of the pathetic boy. They were all pathetic, all needing to be on the floor--!

Disaster had his doubts before-- and, for good reason; but, the kid actually knew what he was doing. Maybe there was a good reason why Ambrose befriended Owen. As the wonderfully-searing, bright light filled the room, he knew: the darling chose well.

"I WILL NOT BE FOOLED LIKE OCCURRENCE!" Entropy proclaimed, forgetting completely about Esha and instead swatting blindly at the shards of glass. The Powers That Be Themselves had to turn away from the sight, providing Disaster with the only opportunity he would ever have. He was lightning; he had no need to shield his eyes from its glory. The deity coiled his arms around darling Entropy . . .

"Have you forgotten?" he couldn't help but ask, resting his head on the boy's own. Usually, Ambrose carried the weight of the world; the weight of a single person couldn't be so bad in comparison. The deity smiled sadly. "When I first met you . . . I told you my proper names, yes, but the one I REALLY wanted to be called . . . was Vernal Equinox."

"L-LET GO OF ME!" Entropy squirmed, now attempting to maim Disaster instead of the shards.

The deity could only shake his head, his smile fading. "I thought so. He isn't ready for you, Entropy. He might never be." With that, the deity began to take a deep breath in.

Fear struck in the monster for the first time in his existence. "What-- what are you--!"

"I'm resealing you in the diatoma," he explained, his expression calmed, focused. "I cannot destroy you . . . but, I can at least do this. For the darling."

WAIT--!

A resounding crash filled the room, a brilliant, forked flash of lightning striking both Entropy and Disaster. When the light finally cleared, the two figures were gone, the black ash on the floor making a reversed-print of where they were before.

(( Exit stage right. ))

Esha glared right back at Entropy, not looking away, unfaltering and determined. Until the possessed Ambrose started giving orders, which were promptly ignored, It was looking like an intense staring battle would take place. And it did on Esha's part. She wouldn't strike back in any way- this was Ambrose's body and he wasn't present so she wouldn't damage it. It didn't seem wise to provoke this things wrath anyway.

This thing was strong, oh so very strong. At Entropy's mad shouting she stood strong but she could feel her shoulder cracking internally. It was a side effect of being made out of stone- brittleness. In the chaos nobody could hear it, but her shoulder was taking heavy fire. Out of stubbornness she wouldn't show it. It was telling her to bow, did he not get the message?

If she turned human she wouldn't stand a chance, if she stayed here she'd have a sore shoulder. She'd talked the talk- and she would walk the walk.

But the opportunity arose and she moved away, almost throwing herself while the thing was distracted. When out of the way She listened, but it mostly went over her head. Diatomas, equinox? She had no idea.

When the lightening cleared she blinked a few times and saw a Lack of Disaster and Ambrose and then Owen. Was he hurt? Hit by the lightening somehow? and where was Ambrose?

"Are you okay?...and, Uh. Thankyou" She said fiddling with her hands slightly, trying to blink out the blindness whilst turning back to normal. C'mon, please don't be dead She thought after a second. that'd be inconvenient and she wanted to thank him for helping her. She'd been a bit...harsh? No not harsh- Misunderstanding. That was the word.

If one thing was certain about the bright light, it was that Owen had no idea how he got it to do that. The 'command' had only been a fleeting thought, and he'd already tried to mentally control it before. Then how...?

When he finally found it safe enough to lower his hands, both Entropy and Disaster were already gone. He glanced around, his expression showing clear confusion, but sighting nothing but ash on the floor. And strangely enough, Esha was still standing there.

"I'm..." His eyes finally focused as she asked the question, and he stood straight again, dusting nothing off his shirt. "'Course I am. Are you?" he asked, reflecting the question back with a slightly raised eyebrow. Well, she was the one risking her skin in front of an angered deity. ...But she was grateful for his slightly accidental help. That was one good thing.

Tentatively, he strolled towards the window, peering outside at every angle, but there was nobody in sight. "Where'd they go anyway...?" His voice might've sounded almost bored, but there was a look of clear concern on his face.

"I'm fine" she said smiling a bit to show she really was alright. No ill feelings would be held from this experience on her part. Her shoulder really hurt but she'd survived worse. Food made by herself was quite dangerous and she could with stand that in small quantities before ordering fast-food.

She felt something fluffy skin the top of her foot and picked up a pair of destroyed ear protectors. Then flung them onto the bed, and standing near the window and peering out. Any other time she'd wonder what Ambrose was doing with these fluffy things.

"I don't know.." She said, whilst looking out of the window thinking they might be just somewhere obvious. She doubted that they were anywhere nearby thinking about it a bit more. The main question was how did they travel with they lightening, rather than getting fried. Esha picked up the cane and walked over to the window. A cloudy night sky. Only clouds.

She toyed with her pendant for a few seconds "Do we report him missing or..." She asked on the situation of a pupil's disappearance. Was Ambrose gone for good?

'Course she was fine. She was like some invinci-woman, not bothered once by some deity screaming in her face or by the flashing lightning. More bravado than he'd ever shown, anyway.

At her suggestion, a frown creased his face. Well, of course that was a good suggestion, but.... what if they came back? Or rather, what if they never came back? What if, once that flash had ended, the both of them had been erased from existence? Either way, it wasn't something he wanted to run around doing at this time of night. He was concerned for the pair of them, but it wasn't something he wanted to accept the responsibility for. He hadn't done anything - he'd merely watched the scenario

With his head bowed guiltily, he merely mumbled, "I think you should do it," before turning away from the window towards the door, intending to make his leave.