DAY 97, Morning

[gis_s_christ]

To say Gisela was upset would be an understatement. It was more than just sad. More than anger. She couldn’t even really pin down all the things she was feeling. Soldiers and servants alike took one look at her and scattered. She wanted to cry. She wanted to hurt something. Or someone. She wanted to scream

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[anissina_chan]

Anissina had her head deep in some sort of machine and almost hit her head as she heard the pounding on the door. She pushed her goggles on top of her head and wiped some of the oil off of her face as she went to answer it.

The face that greeted her at the door wasn't one that looked very happy to see her. "Gisela, what brings you here?"

[gis_s_christ]

She hadn't actually planned on coming here, so she had nothing prrpared as far as a speech or rant. She stared at Anissina helplessly for a moment, then simply pushed passed her into the room without an invitation and looked around. "Where is it? How did you send him home?"

[anissina_chan]

She didn't even get another word out before Gisela had started poking around. "Are you referring to the Home is not where the heart is, but where the soul belongs-kun?" She caught up to her and took hold of her arm to lead her to the machine. "And I can only assume that the him you are asking about is that Adelbert double."

[gis_s_christ]

The machine didn't look like much, in her opinion. She didn't really understand machines - but she tried. They had their uses. She had seen how useful they could be on Bert's world.

It took a bit of willpower not to grab something stick-like and smash it. Someone else might want to go home, after all, and that wouldn't be fair to them.

"I suppose he was happy?"

[anissina_chan]

"Happy? No, quite the opposite, really. If he wasn't wearing things that obviously belonged to him, I would have easily mistaken him for the real thing. He didn't really seem like he wanted to go, but he also didn't take a lot of convincing to give it a try. He was quite a wonderful subject! If only he had maryoku, he could have been spectacular!" Although, she did tell him if it was successful, he'd be a hero to all the doubles that would want to go home. And if someone were to suggest that it would make things smoother with someone else, being all heroic, then who was she to stop them?

[gis_s_christ]

Gisela frowned and shifted on her feet. If he hadn't wanted to leave, then why... She couldn't recall any major disagreements between them (there was always something small, as that seemed to be the nature of any relationship she wound up in). She felt the prick of tears, but valiantly fought them. “He could have at least said good-bye,” she said angrily. She dug the note he’d left out of her pocket and crumpled it in her fist. “To my face.”

[anissina_chan]

"Oh, so he did leave a note. He mentioned something like that. But he also said he'd try and find some way to come back. I'm not sure what things are like in his world, but if he can come back, then that'll be good, right?" She put her hand on Gisela's shoulder, a little hesitant in case she snapped back at her. "He's gone home before, with you, so maybe he'll be back. Or..." Anissina looked over at her machine and started to poke at a number of controls. "...or maybe we could just reverse the frequencies and he'll come back!" She didn't push the go button. She'd leave that up to Gisela to decide.

[gis_s_christ]

She was still frowning, but moved closer to where Anissina was tinkering with the machine. “Is that good? I don’t know.” She sighed. She was still so angry. Did he really say he would try and come back? She stared at what must be the button that activated the whole thing.

A long minute stretched, and finally she reached over and gave the button a little push.

[anissina_chan]

If this worked, it would be an amazing result and wonderful data she could use to promote her invention! Though, She wondered if it even would work. Sending Bert home required him to think specifically where he wanted to be, but there was nothing in the chamber, so how she didn't expect much to happen, but wouldn't be too surprised if it did.

The machine gave a bit of a whirrrr noise and Anissina put a pair of dark glasses on Gisela's face before a bright light engulfed the room.

[amazing_am_i]

Bert was on his phone with Nigel in a small grocery store. He'd been home for a few days and while he was glad to be back and play some football, he missed Gisela something fierce. He was on his way home from practice, but he was already in the habit of carrying a backpack with some essential clothing and a few books in it. And now he found himself grabbing a two liter bottle of coke off the shelf.

"I know it sounds stupid but it was a castle and-" He was staring at the bottle in his hands when he found himself surrounded by a bright light. Once the light died down, he realized he was in Anissina's clear box. His eyes adjusted and he saw a rather unhappy Gisela. He tucked the bottle under his arm and shoved his phone in his pocket (it wouldn't work anyway) and tried to get the door to the chamber open. "Hey! Red lady! Open the door!"

[gis_s_christ]

Gisela blinked as the light died away, glad that Anissina thought to shove the glasses on her face (though one of the arms had poked her rather harshly in the temple before hooking her ear). When the worst of the dot began to fade, she found herself looking at Bert, and she wasn't sure if she was still angry, or relieved, or happy. She felt a mish-mash of everything, which was confusing and hard to hold on to. She settled on hold on to the anger, because he still took off without saying good-bye (the note simply didn't cut it). That still hurt.

[anissina_chan]

Anissina couldn't have felt any happier about her success. She flipped the latch that was keeping Bert locked in so he could get out, but stood aside since neither of them looked terribly happy.

[amazing_am_i]

Bert saw Gisela's angry face as Anissina let him out, but he didn't care. The plastic bottle fell to the floor with a slight bounce (which caught Anissina's attention and curiosity) and he reached out to embrace Gisela. Angry or not, he was beyond happy to see her. "I missed you, babe."

[gis_s_christ]

Gisela didn't react much as she found herself gathered up in Bert's arms. She released a heavy breath and pressed her head against Bert's chest. "Why... How could you... Don't ever do that again..."

[amazing_am_i]

"I'm sorry, babe. I thought I could help a lot of people here if this thing worked." He was trying to impress her by being awesome, but clearly it wasn't the right choice.

He noticed Anissina starting to play with the bottle of coke and quickly grabbed it from her before she could open the lid. "This isn't for you. It'll explode if you open it."

[anissina_chan]

Anissina didn't realize the bottle was snatched from her until it was out of her hands. Though the thought of it exploding sounded rather interesting.

"So it's like a bomb? Do you know how to make these so that they could be useful to our soldiers?"