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Yes, Gilbert had to agree that indoors was indeed best. Give the option, he could stand overnight in a swamp in the middle of a thunderstorm and be able to tolerate his surroundings; anyone who had seen him in what passed for his original lifetime (all of whom were dead and dust, if even that) would have seen him surviving with a smile on his face while being scoured by desert winds in the throes of a sandstorm. Even for an immortal, he was one hell of a survivor. He was aware enough to realize that not everyone in the whole of creation was as constitute as himself. And tolerate did not carry the same sort of weight as comfort for social situations.

He did make mention of the minor scolding he received from Siduri, though he thought it strange to be subject to it, all things considered. Nonetheless, he made lighthearted not of it with a casual, "I am not best qualified to teach the Paradoxes about etiquette, being as I was originally what would be considered barbaric." He laughed a little, "Evelina does love to refer to me as a barbarian when I do something disorderly." The statement made Gilbert a little sad, but he pushed through it to complete his thought. "However, Faith - Siduri is correct. Failures of the student represent failures of the teacher. I apologize. Perhaps instead of etiquette, we might institute some basic protocol for accepting visitors that would simplify things." It would be a first. A huge first. Being in a time loop where knowledge of differing timelines and eras within them had zero bearing, coupled with the fact that unexpected and unfamiliar visitors literally never happened, such protocol was completely unprecedented. But seeing as they had exactly those kind of visitors before them, obviously that was a possibility. The implications were heavy.

Gilbert began to lead the group gathered in the carnival's area back to the main house with an imperative sounding, "Right this way. I believe the Sitting Room can accommodate all of us." Once he stepped onto the porch and reached the appropriate exterior door, Gil removed his hat, opened the door, and held it so as to admit everyone behind him into the relative comfort of their residence. He was curious to hear of the coming of, what Siduri had mentioned in passing, The End of Times. There were so many applications of that phrase that would, did, or were happening throughout the lines. They would get to the business of the one who had chosen not to deal with a second life in a bit. Gil had his suspicions.

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Well, this was just peachy. Really. What started out as a simple, if highly unexpected, carnival coming to town just flipped into something leaning toward the truly epic. Not "this is an epic sandwich, bro", nor the slightly less expected, "Did you see that interstate pileup? It was epic", nor even the news that The Lord of the Rings was being turned into a series of really long movies featuring that guy who played Satan in that movie about the prophecy about Revelations, the name of which escaped him for the first few seconds of his train of thought until he facepalmed and said out loud, "The Prophecy! Duh!" That last thought slingshotted him back in the direction of the topic at hand, which apparently also had to do with the prophecy of Revelations, or something close to it as a couple of the people around him at the moment were alive at the time of its writing. Hell, James wouldn't be surprised if one or two of them had a hand in the initial drafting of it. James looked over in Gilbert's direction with raised eyebrows and an expectant expression, as if to punctuate his thought with a well placed, "Lookin' at you there, Gilgamesh!" that he didn't actually say aloud.

But otherwise, he was glad that the incident about manners was brushed to the side, handled, whatever, and they were headed indoors. The weight of something he had quite forgotten about on the temporary shifted in his back pocket, prompting him to ley a hand back there to investigate. It was a half second before he realized that he had a cylinder full of Oreos back there still, which he needed to hand off to the squirrel population of the Destrehan Plantation that evening (or day, something - he wasn't sure about time anymore), as represented by the one he referred to as General Fuzzy. James wondered if they reset with each day, too, or if they simply continued as they always had amid the never-changing day of early Autumn, unaware or uncaring about their situation. If they were not aware and did reset, then he could just avoid the squirrels until midnight and all would be well. If they did not, and he did not pony up the sandwich cookies... well, he didn't want to make enemies of the tiny woodland creatures that he may be able to strike mutually beneficial agreements with at a later time. Something to ask about. Well, later on. This bit about End Times and someone choosing not to deal with a second life and the general failings of humankind was becoming a little much for James to listen to without making some sort of inappropriate comment.

Instead, he bit his tongue and moved along with the rest of the group, though he did hang back a little to interpose himself between the last rays of the prematurely setting sun and the fair-skinned member of the group who didn't have her own umbrella caddy, Andromeda. Hopefully, his taller and broader frame would shield her from the more annoying parts of the remaining light. As they neared the house peoper, James did risk a question: "Um, y'all mean Alicia, or someone else disappear in a flash of light?" He still had her pendant around his neck, the one that depicted a folk saint that he never really believed in but thought sounded pretty badass anyway. A good compliment to both Catholicism and the Gonzalez bloodline. But getting back to the question, did they just lose someone else? Inquiring minds wanted to know. He hoped there would be a straight answer as he entered the building and found a chair for himself.

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Andromeda felt a bit of tension as Faith said that her question was worth answering - although she tried her best not to show it, she was a prideful person. Having Faith say that her question was a good one... it brought up a bit of anger in Andromeda, as if her questions weren't normally worthwhile. She knew logically that wasn't what Faith meant, but it was just the way she said it that rubbed the Paradox the wrong way. She couldn't help feeling that way, she knew that much, but she could control her response so Andromeda just nodded slightly. The knowledge of messing with timelines... that also made Andromeda slightly uncomfortable. It reminded her of how badly things had gone back in Coventry due to time travel - resulting in her death as time seemingly snapped due to all of the abnormalities and meddling. She didn't want to die in this life from the same mistake that had cost her so dearly before.

And then... she spoke of the apocalypse. All of this was giving Andromeda a serious case of déjà vu. Apocalyptic endings, weird abilities, messing with time? Yeah, she was doing a fantastic job of not thinking of her old life at the moment. It had been less than half a year before she died that the apocalypse was narrowly diverted, when the devil brought the town of Altsoba to its knees out in Washington. In her own home town of Coventry, demons and time travelers were what ended up causing the death of her father and her own death. And now, now it felt like everything was happening again - like some sort of messed up remix of a song. It was different enough but she couldn't help but see the similarities.

Once inside of the house, Andromeda took a deep breath, her hands shaking slightly. "I um... I'll catch up with you all in a moment, if that's alright, I think I need to take a breath," she told them, going into the parlor instead of the sitting room.

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"It would have been wholly unnecessary for the two of you to venture to that time and place," Gio replied to Gilbert. "I had just spent the past couple of days there, and was planning on informing you of what I'd learned. But now is not the time to discuss such things. I would not wish the needlessly derail the conversation from the more pertinent topics."

Gio decided not to immediately address Siduri's question about if he was willing to alter the timeline in such a manner that would potentially erase the existence of the Emendators. Partly because he didn't exactly mean "start from the beginning" as in "directly alter events that had already transpired," and as previously stated he wasn't going to derail the conversation from more important topics. But the other more pressing matter was this matter of "end of times." Being the Emendator most strongly linked with time itself, this was a pretty big fucking deal. The matter of past training debacles would remain the same.

"Furthermore, might I ask for some clarification," Gio began as he followed Gilbert's lead from the open air to the sitting room. "What exactly do you mean by 'end of times?' Do you speak of the total end of all things, the end of the status quo and a change to an entirely new paradigm, or some other outcome that I haven't mentioned?" It was important to not let oneself be panicked when confronted with bad news, especially when one did not truly understand what it meant. He knew she knew quite a bit, and had an entirely different perspective on things than they.

But one thing rang true, the fact that she had come to them with this information meant that there was something they could do to fix things, even a bit. But to do so would require them to have their facts straight. Once in the sitting room, Gio found a suitable chair and sat with one leg crossed over the other, hands laced together atop his knee.

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Sophia took a moment to figure out what Siduri meant by the End of Times, like something along her own timeline some religious people back there probably would have compared that to be the End of Times. But then again it could also mean something along with destroying everything as well. She looked over towards Bart for a moment mentioning about messing around with the timelines, she also did remember there being a movie as well about it. "Well messing with time is always pretty bad, and shouldn't really be messed around with to much either but we don't know what could happen if we don't let something happen normally." Sophia said, as she started to follow the others towards the main house now and looked towards Gilbert and gave him a slight smile and nodded towards him. "Thank you." Sophia said towards him, as she stepped inside of the house.

Sophia stared at Siduri for a moment when she mentioned that someone had decided to not continue with their 'second life' as she took a moment Sophia looked at the others. She hadn't seen Alexandra at all in awhile now come to think of it and bit her bottom lip for a moment she wished that she knew what was wrong with her. "I think she meant Alexandra, I haven't seen her in the last few hours." Sophia said, last she did hear of her she was talking with one of the carnies there. Her eyes then turned towards Andromeda and said she needed a moment and couldn't help but worry now as well since there were two paradoxes gone now as well as Eve to. She decided to see if she was alright, and could get a quick rundown on what had happened when she came back as well and followed Andromeda into the next room. "Hey, are you okay?" Sophia asked when she stepped into the room.

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Faith bit her lip as she knew she would have said something to get her deeper in trouble. Instead, she let her thoughts race. How is anything she did considered a failure? Being left in the dark was one thing, but coming to find out that there were others that did know what was happening and then expecting her to sit back and be okay with that? Fuck that. If they wanted her as part of their team, then they needed to act more like it. Especially Gil. She thought she felt a small connection with the man, but he said something, again, that rubbed her the wrong way. Even though Siduri wasn’t necessarily blaming her, she felt Gilbert still was. And that irked her.

But she remained quiet, following the others into the sitting room to listen to Siduri about the End of Times. “I came from a timeline where the world essentially ended. The dead rising and killing people. So, if this End of Times does happen….is that just it? Everything will cease to be? Including us and this place?” That was a bit hard to wrap her head around. She ignored Andromeda excusing herself.

And then was brought back to Siduri who said she would be able to find Eve. It was the first time in a while she felt truly complimented. “Oh um, thank you. I want to find her desperately and will do whatever I can to help.” Faith turned to face the house as Siduri looked at it. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seen Alexandra for some time. Did that mean...? Faith wouldn’t be the one to bring it up. It was not her place.

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At first, Bart started to smile at what he thought was going to be a compliment from this most ancient of beings, but he had to keep his face from souring at her dissection of his motives for questioning. Sure, he had a bit of pride about himself, and he wanted to impress people, but that didn't make him selfish for asking an important question, did it? Her words left him uncomfortable, and in a kind of introspection that seemed ill placed at the time. While this was surely somebody of great wisdom, he didn't have the time to do the mental gymnastics to properly process what had been dispensed at him.

Walking along to the sitting room, he decided instead to listen along to the discussion of the End of Times, as Siduri put it. Most interesting, he thought, was Faith's question about the impact such a thing would have in the context of multiple timelines. He assumed the Destruere would have something to do with it, which, given his understanding, would have multiple timeline ramifications. However, he decided, given how Siduri last responded to him, he would keep quiet, and trust the Emendators and his fellow Paradoxes to ask the proper questions surrounding this topic. He also looked forward to a potential explanation of what she meant by Faith having some potential ability to locate Eve. He had no idea how something like that would happen, but there were obviously mechanics of this universe he was unfamiliar with.

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Siduri gave a glance towards Gilbert and nodded slightly before looking over towards Faith. "You see, even the most ancient of us still have things to learn," she said as she made her way towards the house. Ben staying by her side and helping her up the small step. As James spoke, Siduri stopped and her eyes glazed over for a minute before they clarified once again to their oddly vibrant ballet slipper pink. Blinking she looked at James and shook her head. "Different. One. I believe her name was Alexandra? She as, how do you say? Opted out of the current agreement? She is at rest. And.." her words seemed to trail off before she looked at the two Emendators. It seems this has gone far further than I had anticipated."

The woman caught a glimpse of Andromeda walking into another room and nodded to her words. It was a lot to take in, even at her age. For the younger, it could be a might stressful beyond true comprehension. Walking into the sitting room, Ben helped her to a seat and closed her umbrella now that they were inside. Sitting straight up with her ankle's crossed she looked towards Gio to address his question. "One or the other, or perhaps another. I wish I could say but I fer even I do not know. I believe it will all depend on what occurs from hence forth. The end of a time? End of everything. Perhaps just a change we have not dealt with before. All I do know, is that it has been strong enough to draw my attention and that does not happen often."

Sophia had been right when she spoke of Alexandra but then she went to look after Andromeda. It was probably good. In Siduri's mind it was not wise for one to be alone right then. Looking over to Faith she took a breath. "Yes, I believe you can if you all should chose but I must warn you. You would have to go alone as you are the only one with the ability and I should not venture with you. It could be dangerous and you could be left caught." It probably wasn't making much sense. To Siduri it did but the woman seemed to have a lot more information than the others did, so she had to stop herself and clarify. "You have what is known to them," she said pointing to the Emendators. "Glassibility. With the right, focus, and direction, you can go the in-between. That moment between life and death. I believe that is where your Dido is."

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The topic seemed to be the only thing of notice, out of all of the interesting things that had been brought up. Naturally, as the Paradoxes were "fresh", as it could be described, or maybe just very young in comparison to the Emendators; the concept of looming death was still a pressing, motivating factor. Siduri went and dropped a concept of End of Days on all of them. A total elimination of the timelines would be a true death for even Emendators, though Gilbert looked at the idea with more of an academic mindset. After all, it would mean the true death for everything.

Gilbert looked around the room at a couple of the Paradoxes, and his mind focused on a couple more who had moved on to the next room. They had lived through their own versions of an Apocalypse. Anyone who survived one of those for any length of time had to have a talent for it. Gilbert understood why Evelina chose so many people from that timeline to be Paradoxes with this latest group. Then, there was his star pupil. Her life ended amid its own brand of chaos that might as well have been the End of Days that Siduri described in brief, so far as anyone there could have guessed. This end of everything? Be it metaphorical or a complete wipeaway of every possibility, and therefore every possible timeline, Gil was damned certain that this new crop was better psychologically equipped to deal with, and understand the fallout from, such an occurrence. Probably more than the other Emendators, being as they had already faced their own mortality.

It was funny, he barely gave the idea of Alexandra's "opting out" much thought, now that he knew about it. It was an option given to all of the Paradoxes and she took it. Some of those chosen just weren't cut out for this.

To look at Faith, though, and the potential for her abilities to develop in a manner that could become massively useful for their present circumstance? Be it at huge personal risk to her, and if that was even a route they wanted to take. The idea slammed into Gilbert that, even with the training and conditioning that these Paradoxes had gone through, the whole of them had not gotten opportunity to work together or take time to really, really concentrate on developing their abilities as Paradoxes. "We exist in this place, outside of time. It is the only resource that we have virtually unlimited reserves from which to draw. Perhaps it is time, now that our new Paradoxes have adjusted to the reality of their existence, to focus on them. We need our best to handle what is to come. Developing these young ones should be our priority. Unless this Loop fractures, as I have said, we have unlimited time to do exactly that."

Gilbert stared keenly at all of those present before continuing, "It also might be wise to check in with the more veteran Paradoxes at large. Giosue, perhaps we can view them remotely and work out a temporary extraction. Maybe they could help. Otherwise, they must be informed."

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James had settled into his own chair in the Sitting Room, proving yet again that it wasn't just a clever name for that particular piece of floor surrounded by those particular walls. There was a ton to talk about, not the least of which being the more personal matter of which one of their number moved on to the Great Beyond, whatever the hell that actually was. The word that it was Alexandra honestly surprised him. The woman had been very present for almost the entire time that they were on the grounds of the plantation, acting in the histrionic manner that only she could. From what he gathered, she used to be Circus people. It showed. Now she was just gone? Did someone make her feel unspecial? It would have been one hell of a tantrum to make her give up on an afterlife-ish experience like this one, complete with superpowers. At the face of it, this made no sense. But he did remember getting the option to do just that on his first day at Ville au Camp. It even came with the welcome speech. James guessed that she decided to take them up on the offer.

Well, there was no sense in being a hater about it. If she was at peace, more power to her. James did wish that she was still around, at least as another person to help out when the (proverbial) shooting started. But it was her choice.

Likewise, it was Andromeda's choice to want to take a moment for herself in the other room. From what James had heard her talk about, the presence of the carnival was working her last nerve, though he couldn't help but feel that there might be more at play that he just wasn't aware of, floating around in her head. James had his own talents as a Paradox; reading minds wasn't one of them. So when she said that she needed to take a breath, the man took her at face value. His initial instinct was to rise from his seat and see if she was okay - he even put both hands on the armrests and began to stand, until the manners that were slapped into him as a child of the American South took over. When a lady says she wants a minute to herself, it's because she either A) wants someone specific to follow her, or B) wants to be left the hell alone. James was betting that it was B. Like hell he was going to force his presence on someone who needed a minute to steady herself. Besides, Sophia seemed to have taken it upon herself to test his theory.

On the upside, if he heard a smack from the other room, he was right.

The rest of the other stuff Gilbert was saying conjured up a question from James, which he vocalized to the Emendators. "So, um... How many more-a us are there runnin' around out there?"

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Andromeda didn't get to take too much of a breath before she found she was no longer alone in the parlor. Truthfully, Sophia hadn't been the person she expected to go check on her, but it made sense after a moment of reflection. She was arguably the sweetest person there. The Emendators were too busy to check in on her and she didn't fault them for that - they had things to discuss with Siduri. Part of her had wondered if James would come follow her, but he seemed to wrapped up in everything that was going on. If Bart or Faith had gone into the parlor to check on her, she would've asked to go buy lottery tickets - since apparently the impossible and improbable would have become reality. "Yeah, I'm fine," Andromeda told Sophia. She crossed her arms slightly, leaning up against the wall. It helped her to feel a little bit more grounded.

"It's just... this is all eerily similar to my timeline - things that happened there, at any rate," she explained. "The End of the World, time travel shenanigans, paranormal abilities... I'm trying not to think too much about my life before this, but I guess the universe has a sense of humor," she shrugged a bit. She hadn't really talked with the other Paradoxes about the timeline she came from. There were little moments though, when they would reference events and things that were fictional on their worlds but real on her world and she would pause for a moment, thinking about it but she always decided to keep her mouth shut. She was trying her best to move forward, to not be so tied down to the past and her previous life that the Destruere would come. Belladonna had taught her that.

"Thanks for checking on me, though, I appreciate it - but I don't think I'm going to go all Force Ghost just yet," she told her, giving her a slight smile.

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"Agreed. It's no use rushing into trouble unprepared and half our estate ignorant of the situation. Whether it be handling Destruere, locating Evelina or dealing with this End of Days, our best course of action is to strengthen ourselves as best as we can." Gio had missed the point about one of the Paradoxes "opting out" when it was first brought up, so it took a second to gather that this was a topic in progress when it was brought up that Alexandra hadn't been seen for awhile, evidently passing on to a potential next life. This was an inconvenience in that they were strapped on resources as it was, losing yet another Paradox only short-handed the staff even further. But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel that at least they hadn't really lost anyone of value. None of the newcomers had developed to a point of being truly reliable, and even before then, she had managed to piss off Nancy in a way that rarely ever occurred. In the end, this was merely another factor the three of them would need to take into account moving forward.

There was one eternal truth: everything had to end eventually. Perhaps the benefit of an unaging existence disguised this immutable fact from the other Emendators, Gio never bother to ask. But he knew that at some point it was all going to be over. It was not the same sense of impending mortality that mortals had, but it was a stable fixture in the way he viewed the world. The passing of the Glasses only brought that certainty in the pit of his being into clarity. If this End of Days was something natural that was due to occur in the "near future" he couldn't be too torn up about it. In the meantime, he'd do his best to keep things together.

"Ah Madam Siduri," Gio returned his thoughts and words to the... Siduri sitting across from him. "Forgive me if this is getting ahead of myself, but will you and your... compatriots be staying with us for an extended period of time, or will you be gone by the time morning comes?" She did come to them, so logically she would stick around to help with whatever it is she wanted them to do. But he had a hunch that wouldn't be the case. However, even if they were dirty and unpleasant by and large, the aid of a large number of people with Paradox-like abilities would make things much easier moving forward.

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Sophia listened to Andromeda as she started to talk a little bit more about her past, being sort of apocalyptic like her own, though from her own timeline rarely anyone survived the dead. And she had to do a lot of bad things and taken a few lives herself just to survive the day as well. She atleast wanted to make sure that Andromeda was alright as well and she wanted to help out if she could as well in case anyone else would end up leaving like Alexandra and Alicia as well. But it seemed that their second life was more like her own timeline somehow as well. "It certainly sounds a lot better than from where I was from, dead walking around and stuff like that i'd rather deal with paranormal stuff than having to deal with walkers." Sophia said giving Andromeda a slight smile before looking

Sophia then looked over towards the door for a moment, wondering what they were talking about and then looked back over towards Andromeda as well. "If you ever want to talk or anything i'm more than willing to help however I can." Sophia offered, having someone to talk to always could help. And now that they were somewhat private she was also pretty curious now at what everything was going on now as well, Siduri seemed to be pretty helpful as well so far since the sudden day change. "So what are your thoughts on Siduri, and the other carnies around?" She asked.

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There was a lot to discuss about what was going but the first thing to address was the last thing asked of her. Looking over towards Gio she shifted in her chair slightly. "I believe that is up to you at large. While the majority of those traveling with me are simple people with no abilities, there are some who have been dealing with, how shall I say, our kind, for generations. They know what to expect, or at least to expect the unexpected," she said as she sat there. "Samson for example." Looking over at Ben, who was looking out the window now she motioned towards him. "Then here are those like Ben who were born into this."

Ben glanced over his shoulder for a moment before looking back out the window. "Though, I do believe it would be wise if we remained for one day." She would have them leave if it was needed of those who called this place home but then again she had spoken her piece. To her, they should stay. For now at least. If they wanted whatever answers she was willing or could provide that was.

Looking towards Gilbert she nodded. "If she chooses that path, then yes, she needs more training. It is a dangerous journey and I only know one who can make it to the in-between and return." There were those she knew of that could go invisible, but not to the degree where the spirit was gone as well. No, there was only one and he was unique even among the unique. Looking slowly over towards Faith she rested a hand on her knee. "You would need to leave here though, unless they wish for another outsider to be brought in. And go alone. He is not one that likes to be crowded as it were."

Turning her head, she glanced at James. "Depends on what you mean young one. Those like you, only those that your mother made. Like them," she said motioning towards Gio and Gilbert. "I only created six of you." Her finger motioned towards Ben. "Only he as him." Then she shrugged and her face grew darker. "Of those in the darkness?" Looking off towards the window she went quiet for a time. "Hundreds."

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Things were happening. All at once. She went from being out of the loop to being the one thing there that could bring Eve back. It hit her that she kind of got what she wanted. She wanted to be needed, useful, to show she was here for a reason. What better reason than to go to this…in-between to help bring Eve back. She glanced at the others, wondering what their thoughts were to this. Did Gilbert believe she would be up to it? Did Gio doubt her? What of Bart? Andromeda? Sophia? James? She was in quite the predicament. Could she refuse? What would happen if she did?

She realized she had been silent for a bit. “Sorry, lost in thought there. Kind of shocked me with the answer. I never knew that ability could be so useful, but I would hardly call myself a master at it. But if it is the only way to bring Eve back and help with…whatever all of this is, then yes. I’ll do it. I’ll go through whatever training is needed.”

She looked at Siduri in a new light now. She was more important than she first thought. “What would you have me do?” She was a bit eager to get started, though she knew it was not a process to be taken lightly. She took a long, deep breath in to collect herself, feeling some pressure now. She glanced at Bart, hoping for him to be a strong support system in this. He was pretty much her only friend here.

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Bart blinked at Siduri's comment on Alexandra. That concerned him, and he piped up, "I'm sorry, what do you mean, "opted out""? He asked. That didn't make sense to him. He knew things were difficult for her recently, but even if she could, he never thought she would leave. He knew there were probably more important things to worry about, the end times being apparently around the corner, and Faith needing to throw herself into the "in-between" to stop Eve from becoming a "Destruere", but she was his friend. He needed to know what had happened, or at least, know that Alexandra was safe. His gaze lingered on Siduri for a moment as he waited for a response.

Faith needed him now to though. He aligned himself next to her, and met her gaze. He needed to be concerned with what was in front of him, that was the only way to manage this many problem. He knew that she probably wouldn't say it, but she needed him. He figured it couldn't hurt to ask, so he said, "Would she have to go alone? Could some of us maybe accompany her?" It'd probably be dangerous as all hell, but the idea of her handling something like this on her own didn't sit well with him. Even if she had to go alone, he was sure there'd be a lot to do in light of this new information. He just wanted to be able to help in any way he could, and protect what had been put in front of him.

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Gio and Gilbert didn't see eye to eye very often, though there wasn't any loss of camaraderie over it. Quite the opposite, their similar but not exact outlook on many things led to interesting bits of conversation that were generally varied but rarely boring. To Gil, anyway. To others viewing it, the event could very well be something akin to paint drying, he didn't know. He was an astute observer of the human scene but not so much of a sociologist. In any case, the sudden agreement of his fellow Emendator was enough to warrant a glance in the direction of The Watch with subdued concern. A full agreement without prior discussion at length, weighing the pros and cons, and eventually coming to a decision with elements of his original ideas was generally more likely. Unless, of course, they were in immediate conflict.

Was that what this was becoming? It certainly seemed that way, looking at the loss of Emendators and Paradoxes both in a short span of time. Their ability to bolster their numbers was removed, their people scattered across the timelines, and the enemy outnumbering them many times over. These new ones were still green and unsure of their abilities. Now this voice from thousands of years ago reappears at just the right moment to utterly piss him off and then nudge them in the direction of something epic and final. Maybe they were at war. "We are in a compromised position and our opponents are many to our very few. Thank you, Giosue, for your endorsement. We should handle that sooner rather than later." The tone to his voice was experienced, steady. "The people of the Carnival are welcome to our hospitality for as long as they want it, so long as they remain respectful of our grounds and our residents. We have resources enough for everyone. Remember, one day lasts for a very long time here." He gave a nod to Gio, as it was his command over time that allowed Ville au Camp to exist. "We shall concentrate efforts to improve our Paradoxes and bring in others to assist. Maybe it is even time for the elder of us to learn new things again." Part of him wanted to address Faith on her issue, but the situation had been addressed and the decision was fully hers to elaborate upon.

"Siduri, a very long time ago, before I knew what I was, you advised me to abandon my quest and enjoy the simple wonders of life. Would you advise that course of action now?" Ever the headstrong one, Gilbert had a good idea of what he wanted to do. But he was so very different than he was back then.

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Hundreds. James let that thought rattle around in the recesses of his brain for a moment or two. Really flit about, ricocheting off of one side of the inner wall of his skull with a thoughtform pinging sound before zooming back to the other side, smacking over and over in rapid succession until the internal noise became a deafening cacophony, not unlike a vast sea of metronomes announcing their presence and just staying there, ad infinitum, incessantly, until James felt like standing and screaming. Not that he did. James simply sat quietly, listening to the conversation go on around him about things that he was at present vastly unprepared to venture into. An army of superpowered assholes of various shapes and sizes that were just described as "those of the darkness", lurking in the various timelines just itching to eviscerate each and every one of them.

And what could James do to fight the Forces of Darkness? What mighty powers could he bring to bear to stem the flow of the hordes of evil and entropy, to combat the End of Everything? Well, so far James had turned into a pig. And talked to squirrels. Horses once, but mostly squirrels. If Faith had the potential to expand what she could do, then what could a well trained, motivated man-boar do? Admittedly, probably not step into the netherspaces between the almost abstract concepts of Life and Death. That would be silly. Well, no sillier than the idea of being a Paradox, which was in its own way very much like existing in a place between life and death. So yeah, James's head hurt. But out of all of this, one solid fact remained: James now knew about Diplomacy, the practices of ancient courts, Heraldry for dick's sake; he could fight with a knife and shoot a bow like frigging Robin Hood, even speak fluent Russian. But his actual Paradox abilities that set him apart from the common schmuck that could have picked up the same skills at a trade school? Yep, just a bit undertrained and unutilized.

Now, after a long, long training session, the last thing he wanted to do was jump back into it. And this had been huge. All the same, he wanted to do his part. But who among any of the Emendators or Paradoxes had any experience with shifting forms? Gilbert maybe, though his type of bodily change made him into different people, copied perfectly or fresh and new, individual as snowflakes. Maybe he could help in a broad sense. But if James had to learn all he could learn by trial and error? Or got stuck in some monstrous hybrid form? He had to get himself in top form for whatever this coming "End" was. "Aight, I'm in. However y'all need me, but we gots us some logisticals to hammer out, 'specially as we on hotdamn hundreds of baddies thinkin' on eatin' us."

"Maybe we ought get e'body on the same page. Where you want I should start?"

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Siduri looked over towards Faith and gave this look. It was hard to tell what it was as first but it was one of approval. She nodded slightly. "Our abilities are only limited to our minds, you might be surprised what all you could do," she said before giving a glance towards Bart. He had asked if Faith could take someone with her, she had already answered that. She had to go alone. The woman was not one to repeat herself, so she merely shook her head and turned her attention back to the girl. "You would need to go and speak with a man known as Parliament," she said as she sat there. There was a pause before she continued. "He is not the man you seek but he perhaps can convince one that would be your teacher to teach you. There is an issue though, and this is why I said it would be dangerous and why you would need to go alone. Parliament is wise but your teacher, he is egotistical and ruthless. Not one that likes to be bothered with what he revers to as the trivial's of the world. Yet, he is strong and has a unique ability that I believe yours stems from."

Ben glanced over and then back out the window. Siduri took note and adjusted her skirt a bit to lay flt over her knees. "Though, this is still all subject to if you can even get an audience with Parliament. There are only three he will speak with regularly. One is a man who calls himself Razor, vile creature, I would avoid him. One is a man known as Golgotha, friendly enough. Though the one he will listen to over others is a woman older than them," he said motioning towards Gio and Gilbert. "A Miss Babylon."

Turning her attention back to Bart for a moment she looked up towards the ceiling and then back to him. "She took the option to leave and move on. Some call it the great crossing, others just call it death. A path we all take eventually." Eve had said there was a choice, to stay and remain here or to move on. It seemed Alexandra had chosen to move on, it was as simple as that.

Looking over towards Gilbert there was a slight tug at the corner of her mouth. "I have long decided it matters not what personal advice I give, one will choose their own path. I suspect I would suggest to do what you wished at this point. Do you want to continue this life or are you ready to go and let the world's fate fall where it may? I suspect if you are anything in which you were, you will chose to fight."

There was a cast of her glance towards James and she shook her head somewhat. "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. They are not hunting you out right, if they were, things would be far more gone than already. You are not their goal. At least not from what I can tell. Plan all you wish but in the end, plans never go as one would believe. Tis life and death."

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Andromeda nodded slightly, though Sophia's words didn't bring her any comfort. Of course Andromeda knew that her timeline hadn't been the hardest one to deal with. There were people who had lived through their own versions of hell and had come out stronger for it. Still, it meant that Sophia just discounting Andromeda's struggles and worries came across as a slap across the face to the white haired woman. While before Sophia said that, she had been willing to talk to her, now she wanted anything but that. How would she feel better talking to someone who thought that Andromeda's timeline had just been... easy? Fun and games? That it wasn't a struggle in its own right? That her brother hadn't summoned Lucifer, her father hadn't been murdered by a demon, and she hadn't been killed by broken Time itself?

"No thanks," Andromeda told Sophia. She took a slight breath. This was all freaking her out but there was nothing like good old fashioned anger and spite to help her refocus her head. She took another breath and left, going to rejoin the others. James was arguably the Paradox she felt the closest with, now more than ever, so she went and took a spot next to him. Waiting for a slight break in conversation, she lowered her voice to a whisper and quietly asked him, "Did I miss anything significant?" She didn't expect him to give her a point by point rundown of what had happened while she tried to get some air, but hopefully a summary of the top themes would be in order.

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"Alone does not mean traveling with a companion, Bartholomew." Perhaps the reply was harsher than it needed to be, but it was irksome for him to ask that question right after Siduri had answered it before it'd been asked. How hard was it to simply listen to what someone had to say.

He did catch the glance of concern from Gilbert, but Gio didn't acknowledge it with more than a glance in return. Even Gio was not so deliberate as to not be able to make an immediate decision when the circumstances were as dire as they were. At least a decision that was as broad as the general direction they were going to take moving forward. They could work out the specifics later, but times of crisis required unity and promptness. The matter of Faith on the other hand was too specific and too important to not discuss.

"The idea of one of our few remaining Paradoxes venturing out alone now, unexperienced as they are is not one I find myself very comfortable with. However, it is through facing great danger, fighting the dragon as it were, that the greatest gains are made. The issue comes when you end up simply being eaten. What is your thought on this, Gilbert?" Gio wasn't opposed to Faith making this journey after getting some more experience under her belt. But if she left as soon as possible, the risk-to-reward ratio simply was too far out of their favor in his eyes. If she was the only one who had any significant chance of finding Eve, losing her due to recklessness would land them in what could potentially be a checkmate, but perhaps the separate perspective of The Hat would provide a more three dimensional view of how exactly to progress.

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Sophia silently hit herself she realized she did sound like a little bit of an ass towards Andromeda and sighed slightly, as she watched her turn and make her way back towards the Sitting room where everyone else was. She turned and started to make her way back into the room itself, as she took a seat on the nearest chair. Sophia started to look around at those within the room, she watched Andromeda going over to whisper to James. And Siduri answering Bart's question as she looked over towards Bart it was a pretty easy answer, and basically just another word of her dying. Sophia rubbed her arm slightly as she sat there listening in on the conversation, a lot seemed to be going on at the moment as well.

Giosue then started to mention a Paradox going on their own, she wasn't really sure who exactly would be the one going on their own, and assumed that it was Faith that they were talking about. But Sophia didn't want to say anything at the moment and sounding disrespectful either as she took in the rest of the room. She decided that she should start training regardless of having the week off, the whole day seemed like it was forever ago and Eve was still in the house and Alicia was still alive as well, and do some training on the grounds sounded good as well.

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Faith listened intently as Siduri explained what all would need to be done. She didn’t entertain the thought it would be easy, of course. She expected it would take effort, but she was prepared, especially if it meant she got to help bring Eve back. She glanced at Bart as he spoke, unsure why he asked a question that was answered but knew there was more to it than that. He was looking out for her. She gave him a wink and a smile before turning her attention back to Siduri.

The people she needed to talk to worried her. Razor sounded vile enough from the name, so he was out. She also would avoid Golgotha if possible, given her last interaction. This Miss Babylon sounded promising though. “I think Miss Babylon would be my best bet. How would I go about speaking to her?” She asked that to Siduri but judging by the woman’s gesture to Gio and Gil, they knew the answer too.

Did those two trust her enough to accomplish this? She knew she wasn’t skilled enough yet but wasn’t it their job to see that she was? Would they have her back as she made this decision? “My mind is made up already. I am going to learn what I need and do this. I have to. If I don’t…” She didn’t want to think about what could happen if she didn’t.