Welcome to Gaia! ::

Slowly detatching himself from the threesome, his mind drifted on other things that happened before this fiasco was even brought to his attention. It was a very dangerous thing for Lazenca considering his current condition, but it couldn't be helped. He was the type of person who reflected, and he just had to spend a few minutes while he had the time to do just that.

Now sitting alone inside the first hall/room presented to him when he entered the temple, he looked over the bands he wore. Markings? Clues to as what they were for? Not likely to be found. And the necklace? There had been some kind of... energy spike when he'd launched the Backlash Grenade, coming from him. Normally, Lazenca didn't have the power to deep freeze a place that was on fire, not like that- his last attempt to deal with fire left him sweating and worse for wear. But he had completely frozen that space.

"..." His left arm lifted, and he eyed his medium, the so-called 'Living Tattoo.' A soft sigh excaped his lips as he pondered things while attempting to decipher the text on his arm. It was as if he stared long enough, the meaning would pop into his mind. Yeah, right. Still, one could hope.

And the van drove up, and was placed into park. Only to have Allen open the passenger side door and hop out, rapping on the side of the van as he moved.

"Hey, fat man. Get your a** out of there. I doubt A~E wants to clean up more of your stench then they have to."

And then, he turned towards the small gathered group, moving towards them and looking weary. Not that he was actually tired, but going this long at saving the world could make anyone want a vacation. Especially one who had been mostly retired from world saving for over a year now.

"This is over, right? Please tell me it's over. I want a few days rest before the next crisis, if possible. Which I doubt, considering how frequently Gaia is plauged by trouble, but a guy can hope..."

Flare arrived at the temple, landing beside Allen and Nascen. She said nothing, only looked around, her arms folded across her chest, as though she expected the situation to magically unfold before her. Odds are it would, in a few minutes, the way the girl was staring at that laptop.

"Power that's going to do what, exactly?" Owle asked. "Can't we just leave it well enough alone? I mean, honestly, if the gods had a contingency plan, wouldn't they...oh, no, they wouldn't. Because they're idiots. Forget I said anything.

"Well, except for the can't we just leave it alone part."

She didn't pull forth the two items she had with her. She didn't plan to until someone gave her a damn good reason to go along with the gods' plans.

Charles stepped out of the van and opened the back of it to help Conrad get out. The man was wedged in pretty tightly- his fat had "settled" after all the bouncing around. "I'm gonna need some help pushing him out-" was all he got out before more girls squeals of fright and a masculine "******** no!" came from inside the van. Quickly after that, Stryphe and the three milk maids exited the van.

"Dammit," the Chauffeur said, getting inside the van to get a better position to push Conrad out. Once inside he grabbed an assistor: a remote-activated, air-pressured tire jack. On the top he placed a flat 2x2 metallic square attatchment, put it as close as possible to Conrad, and wedged it in at an angle. He got out of the van and was once again at the back. He grabbed a flabby arm, readied the remote, and pressed it.

The jack pushed very abruptly as Charles tugged, causing Conrad to pop out with a sound similar to pulling something out of wet mayonnaise. Or maybe putting your hand in Gak. The Chauffeur stepped out quickly as he saw the fat man come loose, letting Conrad fall wherever he did.

Brushing his hands together with a sigh, he joined Allen and the others. "I guess I should put Pam around the edges next time."

Fishing in his pants pocket (as Sam still had his coat), Charles pulled out the raccoon mask, some of the green goop coming with it. "I ended up with this from an Easter egg. That's not odd or anything, getting a random gift from a giant egg-shaped monster that recently decimated a chunk of Gambino."

It was faroff, yet everywhere all at once.

The humming grew louder and louder, even as the emptiness seemed to distort itself wildly.

The darkness.... grew anxious, as something stabbed out from it's depths.

The headlight of a harley apparently, as the ripping noise of the enging accompanied it all too soon. Sailing high into the air, the machine came landing back on solid surface with a screech of protesting rubber.

Astride the bike, looking like some sort of demon, a tattered and mantled figure sat, the ends of his mantle making it look as though he had wings.

Behind him, what could be only described as tendrils seemed to snapp off his body, receding back to wherever they came from, even as yellowed eyes stared forward, the engine idling now.

"This is the last place I expected to find anyone with a pretty face."

His voice was slightly cracked, even as he sat on the bike. Raven locks of hair were matted tot he side of his head, other spikes standing on end from dried blood.

His entre body was battered, and swathed in random spots with bandages, his mantle looking as if had seen better days.

His chest felt as if a heavy burden had just been lifted, considering this was the first time they were seeing each other in the longest week ever...

"What? You're not going to tell me to go away are you?"

Lifting one leg up, he slid off his harley, leaving the kickstand down. Walking forward, a better view of the state of his body could be seen. From the puncture he'd gotten by Amp's sword, to the bandages that barely covered up the severe burns and scalding on his right hand; forcibly seperating flesh from metal.

"I'll never do that. Don't make me laugh." He covered the distance between the two of them, a smile on his face despite the severity of her words.

It was a hollowed out smile.

"It wasn't easy coming all this way you know."

He was standing right in front of her now, a hand resting along the side of her cheek. His other hand came around as well, even as he pressed his forehead against her own, kneeling slightly and just holding her close like that.

His voice dropped a few levels, as he spoke soley for her ears to hear. "No matter how mad you may be at me, it won't make any difference...

I'm going to finish what I started, even if I have to break down heaven's door."

The glint from the rose pinned against the inside of his mantle would probaly be easily spotted at this proximity to his body, before he dropped both hands.