Animus, Book 3: Lucille, Chapter 3: Reunion

SimonBob found a convienient house in Threed to examine the properties of the Rallets Gem more closely. Pushing aside something called a "Perdson Account," he sat down at a desk and began looking it over.
After a few attemps to equip, energize, or otherwise use the gem, however, SimonBob felt as though he had found a dud. Nothing was happening. It wasn't increasing his power or anything. But he knew it was the gem, he knew it would give him immeasurable power, he knew...
He pounded the desk in frustration. "What am I doing wrong?" His head slumped against the ink blotter. What kind of house was this, with an ink blotter...
When he looked up, there was someone sitting across from him. Someone about his age, but with longer hair, and wearing a red striped shirt.
"Good lord," said SimonBob. "It's me."
"How's it going," said Alt-Simon. "I like the Matrix-style, very funky, but why did you cut your hair?"
"Had to get it cut sooner or later," replied SimonBob. "Hey, do you know how to work this thing?"
Alt-Simon picked up the Rallets Gem and bounced the light off its edge. "Never seen one of these before. What does it do?"
"It's called the Rallets Gem... it's supposed to power up my Rallets abilities, but I can't get it to work this time."
"Rallets, eh? I suspect Anthadd has a few choice things to say about that."
"You have Anthadd in your universe?"
Alt-Simon leaned back in his chair. "I've been watching several different universes ever since I knew about the existence of multiples. This one's been especially interesting, since it's split off my own. You're just about the closest version of me in any universe."
"But you don't know about Rallets."
"Never needed to. I use pseudomagic, it's highly effective." Alt-Simon reached around his neck, pulled an odd stone on a string over his head, and gave it to SimonBob. "This will help you get back into the pyramid. Your friends will help you find the secrets to the gem. I want that back, so no dying or losing it in a poker game or putting it in a safe deposit box. Deal?"
"Word."
Alt-Simon smiled. "Using 'Word' as a greeting is out of fashion in my universe." He winked and disappeared.

Anthadd & co. were inside the pyramid, when the door slammed shut behind them. Anthadd glanced around.
"Now how does a door slam shut when we're hovering and there's nowhere for it to slam from?" he questioned. But only silence answered.

With the amulet that Alt-Simon gave him securely around his neck, SimonBob returned to Scaraba. The pyramid was floating off the ground again, but now it was rising into the air. SimonBob could only see one entrance, a small hole on the northern side. He landed next to it.
My complement copy said I could get in using this. SimonBob held the amulet in his fingers, and felt a tiny surge of power. He enclosed his fist around it, and was awed to see himself glow bright orange. His eyes closed and his head snapped back.
When he opened his eyes again, he was surprised to be inside the passage, sliding downward. He popped out of the passage and fell into a room, landing squarely on Poo's head.
"Yikes!" said Mike. "A wolf?"
A wolf? thought SimonBob. Where? He turned around and saw a bushy grey tail, right behind him. He kept turning, but the tail followed. Then Luna giggled, and he looked up.
The realization dawned on him: He was the wolf.
No sense in getting anyone confused; SimonBob concentrated really hard and turned back to his normal handsome self. He stepped off Poo's head -- which he had stepped on several times in the course of chasing his tail -- and announced, "Just thought I'd drop in."
"How'd you turn into a wolf like that?" asked Mika.
"Would you believe I gave myself something to help me from another dimension?" grinned SimonBob.
"Right now, I'd believe almost anything," said Dan, slightly bemused.
Skulryk brought the group back to where it was. "Good to have you back, SimonBob. Now let's keep exploring."

"I wonder what's in here..." Ness said.
"I'm not sure," Siris sighed. "But I can tell that something important is going to happen... In fact..."
"What is it, Siris?" Anthadd inquired.
Siris concentrated for a moment. "Ah!" Siris brightened. "They're here! The others are here."
"That's favorable, at least," Cyan noted.
"Let's get going," Siris suggested. "I... uh... don't want to miss them again."
Anna eyed Siris sarcastically.
"You," Siris said, "need not say anything."
"Who, me?" Anna feigned ignorance. "Whatever do you mean?"
"You know what I'm talking about," Siris replied.
"Heh, I know," Anna laughed. "I was just teasing."
"Anyway," Anthadd interposed, "Let us get going then, rather than mindlessly arguing."
"Indeed," Siris agreed, and the group delved into the pyramid. Before long, they encountered the others. "Ah," Siris said as the groups united. "It's nice to see you all again."

The others that were already inside of the pyramid before Anth and co arrived seemed to hardly notice that they had arrived. They were much too busy looking for a way out. Dan was searching, when all of a sudden he sank into the sand and fell through.
"DAN," Mike yelled, concerned for the well being of those that were with him.
"It's alright, I think I found out how to get out of here! Dive through the sand!"
Mike shrugged, then called the others over. "Guys, jump here. I think that this is the way out of this room."
The others, not sure if they should follow those instructions, just stood there. After about a second, Skulryk sighed.
"Very well. It's better than being smothered to death by sand." He jumped in, piercing the sand floor. Luna, Dan, and Bob did the same. Poo was a bit more apprehensive.
"I don't want to! I might die!"
Mike let out a sigh of exasperation, then pushed him in. He fell on through. Mika followed. Mike was about to do the same when he noticed that Anth and co were standing there, watching what was transpiring. He hailed them.
"Guys! The only out of this room is either through the ceiling or the floor! We couldn't reach the floor, so Dan stumbled upon this exit here! Come on, before this room is totally filled!" Mike jumped and was engulfed by the sand.
He fell, eventually falling through the floor. None of the sand from the other room had flowed into this lower compartment. Mike looked around, and saw that everybody was just sitting, catching their breath.
"These are dumb tests," Luna said. "I don't like them. They're too... dumb."
"Yes, I agree." Mike sat down with a sigh. "Where to now?"
Skulryk looked around, noting that there wasn't any obvious exits in the room. "Umm... there isn't any way out." He pulled out his dagger and looked at it. He accidentally dropped it. But before it hit the ground, it flew to the right side of the room, piercing the wall.
Skulryk, baffled, ran over to the wall and pulled his dagger out. He noticed that the wall that the dagger had stuck in was weaker than the rest. By pushing on the wall, he found that it fell out of place, revealing a passageway.
"Heh, good job! We can leave this room and continue exploring!" Mike walked toward Skul. "Well, shall we go?"
Before the others could answer, Anthadd and co fell through the ceiling from the room that was filling with sand.
"Hello everybody. Hello... Luna." Siris said, meekly.
"Hi. What's up? Didn't think that you guys would make it here..." Luna responded. Sulami then appeared in the room. "Hey, it looks as if EVERYBODY is here!"
"Yes, yes it does." Mike said, cautiously. "Do you know why you're here?"
"Yes. We're here to assist you in your endeavor," Anthadd stated plainly. "Why are YOU here?"
"Well, Skulryk seems to think that there's more to this pyramid than there seems to be. We're exploring... Right now, we're trying to finish these puzzles so we can have a free tour of this place, if you will. I have a feeling that we'll need all of the people here to accomplish the next task..." Mike said, trailing off towards the end. Anthadd nodded.
Dan spoke up. "Well, anyways, shall we go? The sooner we start moving, the sooner we can finish these blasted puzzles."

Lucille reclined in her chair.
"This is perfect," she hissed softly. "They've walked into my trap."
She looked at the pyramid, still beyond the Sphinx' reach, in the air.
She surveyed the Sphinx, laying dormant once more.
"Sands of Scaraba," she warmly echoed, "swirl around the Sphinx and add your power to his. Join with him to make my Sphinxie grow!"

Abdul staggered towards the city of Scaraba.
"This will make them think I've been out in the sun too long... Hassan's always wanted my water. Well, he's not going to get it," he muttered.
He stopped suddenly, watching the sand around him.
"Blistering barnacles!" Abdul shouted. "Billions of blistering barnacles! What's going on?"
He cowered in the fetal position while the sand around him whirled towards the southern continent.

"Grow, my little baby, grow!" Lucille cooed through time. "Grow and squelch the threat of good!"

Anthadd, Cyan, Anna, Siris, SimonBob, Rusty, Ness, Paula, Tracy, Poo, Mike, Skulryk, Dan, Luna, Mika, SulamiTea, and the four ghosts stepped into the next room. The door shut behind them. A blinding flash filled the area. The group was surprised as to what they saw when they opened their eyes.
"Is that a mirror? I see myself," commented Dan. "Uh oh....Holy moly! My image isn't moving with me!"
"Oh dear! Why do I see myself with Dan's voice?" worried Paula who looked like Cyan.
Dan looked at his hands and shrieked. "I'M PAULA!!!"
"How come I have to look down to see everyone?" asked a Luna-like voice in Rusty's body.
"Great! Luna's got meh body!" groaned Rusty in Mika's body.
"Who am I?" asked Siris. "Oh! I'm Luna! I wish there was a bathroom around here..."
Rusty's hand slapped Luna's face and sent Siris in Luna's body flying.
"Oh my! I guess I don't know...er...Rusty's own strength!" chuckled Luna.
"Get a hold of yourselves people," commented what seemed to be Anthadd in Tracy's body. "I don't know what kind of sick trick this is, but we're probably going to have to function like this for a while. The Guardian most likely wants to see how well we can do in weird situations!"
"Hmmmm..." wondered Poo in Anthadd's body. "Let's see.....ANTHDRAGN POWER......ACTIVATE!"
Nothing happened.
"How am I supposed to function as a yellow ghost???" exclaimed Mike in Saffron's ectoplasm.
"Me too," Sulami mentioned in Chartreuse's body.
Mika in Indigo and Ness in Scarlet agreed.
A new door appeared and suddenly opened.
"I guess Tracy..er...Anthadd was right. We're going to have to get used to who's who. This is a challenge in itself, but we have to do MORE puzzles like this!" reasoned Paula in Cyan's body.

The group left the room to go on to the next. The door behind them slammed shut.

A bright green aura glowed and flared around Luna's body. Siris was very unhappy. He looked around for his body.
"Cyan," he said from Luna's mouth. "Give me my bag."
"Siris?" Cyan answered. "How could you tell that I was in your body?"
"I can sense auras, remember?" Siris responded. "Everybody's aura, as well as their mind, has been switched to a different body. I can still recognize the auras."
Cyan handed over Siris's bag. Siris used Luna's hand to reach into it and pull out a few small things.
"What are you doing?" somebody asked.
"I'm going to get myself out of this body, and into my own," said Luna's voice, though it carried Siris's words. Suddenly, a dull thud was heard, followed by a groan of pain.
"Siris..." Siris's body had fallen onto one knee, and Cyan struggled to keep the body up. He was shivering and sweating profusely.
"Siris," he managed. "Why's this happening? Nobody else is feeling like this... I've broken out in a cold sweat, and I feel nauseous..."
"My body is not tolerating an aura so different from my own," Siris noted. "I'm sorry... You'll continue to feel that pain until my body purges your aura."
Uncontrollable tears streamed down Siris's face, though they were not Siris's tears. Luna's body reached into the bag, and pulled out a few materials.
"What are you going to do?" somebody else asked.
"I'm going to cast a spell," replied Luna's voice; Siris's words. "I'm sick of this body, and Cyan is literally sick of his."
"Can you do that?" came Siris's weak voice; Cyan's words. "Should I help you?"
"There's no need," said Luna's voice. "Abilities that come from the mind and soul, such as magic and PSI, are linked to one's aura, not to his or her body."
Luna's hand reached into the bag once again, and pulled out a small book. Pages were flipped rapidly as Siris searched for the right spell. Soon enough, Luna's hand pointed to an appropriate spell. Holding the book in one hand, and placing a hand on the head of Cyan's new body, Siris began to cast a spell. Luna's voice chanted: "Mismatched auras serve no purpose; unite my body and aura as one..."
The flaring green aura that had surrounded Luna's body now moved into the body of Siris. Cyan's aura now moved into Luna's body.
Siris, now in his own body, knelt on the ground. His aura still flared, signifying that he was still quite unhappy. Slowly his nausea subsided, but his aura did not. He struggled to stay calm.
"Cyan," he said, turning to Luna's body. "I'm sorry to give you this body, as mine was stronger, but my body could not have done much, could it?"
Siris picked up his bag from the ground, and put his things into it. His aura still flared violently.
"I think that situation may have pushed Siris over the top," commented Anthadd from Tracy's body.
"What do you mean?" someone asked.
Anthadd didn't answer, but he remembered Siris's speech from a while ago, his speech about hatred, pain, sadness, and what might happen with too much of those emotions...

After that confusion, everybody set at finding out who had whose body, except for Skulryk and Poo, who were doing other things.
"WHAT!" shouted Anna, who now inhabited SulamiTea's body. "It can't be!" This comment was directed towards the fact that Chartreuse was now in her body. She glared at Chartreuse. "You had BETTER take good care of it!"
"Whoa, don't worry!" came Chartreuse's shaky voice from Anna's mouth. "I'll treat it as if it were my own!"
Anna looked at Chartreuse's body, transparent and giving off a horrible stench. She turned purple. SulamiTea quailed. "What? Don't look at me, this is just a rental!" he cried.
Chartreuse was heavily sweating sparks. Dan, SimonBob, and Skulryk all laughed at him. A Poo-type chuckle also escaped Anthadd's throat, but Anna glared at him.
Poo, silencing himself, went back to trying to activate Anthadd's armor. He took the medallion in his hands and thrust his arms forward. "It's morphin' time!!" he shouted. He noticed no change, and shook Anthadd's head. Upon seeing this spectacle, Anthadd face-palmed.
"EVERYBODY, pay attention!" shouted Skulryk's voice. Everyone turned to see Ness standing next to a wall. "Look, I read these hieroglyphs." He pointed to a part of the wall, and everyone could see a few figures carved there. "They say something about the room, the light, and the moon. I don't think it's the meaning that's important, though, but the hieroglyphs themselves." Turning to the other end of the hall, he continued, "We probably won't need that information until a later test, but for now, we likely have a different test before us."
Once it was agreed to start forward again, the group marched down the hall. The people who had been displaced into the ghosts had trouble, trying to drag their cans along the ground. Only once they got used to flying did their movement become easier. The people that had changed height, like Luna, tried desperately to get used to the new perspective. After a long journey in the foreign bodies, the group came upon a aqueous substance forming a wall between them and the rest of the hallway.
"Hmmmm...." said Mika, reaching out to touch it. As soon as her vapored hand touched it, though, she cried out and pulled it back. "OW! It's so cold, it felt like it was ripping my skin o....! oh wait, this isn't skin... well, you know what I mean."
"Great. How do we get past this test?" sighed Ness.
Everyone looked around for clues, or anything that could help them get through the barrier. Dan scanned the walls, noting all of the unlit torches. An idea came to him. "Hey, Saffron! Take my Zapper and shoot the torches! Twenty of them, please."
Saffron shrugged. "Okay, I'll try, but I'm not that great an aim." He held up the Zapper and fired at the torches. At times he missed, but soon twenty torches were lit.
"What's your idea, Dan?" asked Mike.
Dan reached up with Paula's hand and grabbed a torch. "Let's see...." He thrust it into the watery wall. There was a loud hissing as the water evaporated. All in the party let out a cheer. In a few seconds, though, the evaporated water had reappeared.
"Okay," said Dan. "Everyone, take a torch and hold it in front of you. It shouldn't be extinguished just from walking through here." Each person, in turn, walked through the liquid wall, the mystical flames from their torches allowing them to clear a temporary path.
"Phew!" said Rusty, while coming through at last. "Ah wonder what other puzzles we'll be seein'?"
"Let's keep going forward, and we'll find out," replied Cyan.

Dan muttered something to himself.
"Excuse me, me?" Paula responded. "Do you have something to share with the class?"
Dan looked hesitantly. "My mascara is running because of that freaking waterwall."
General laughter echoed through the group of misplaced people, although while no one was looking Cyan quickly checked his own.
Mike cleared his throat. "However COLPLETELY HILARIOUS that was, and how ever easily that can be used for blackmail in the future," --Dan glared at the ectoplasmic apparition at that moment-- "it isn't important. We must find the next test."
They walked for a few moments until, directly in front of them, a wall had fallen over. An entire wall. Standing where the entire wall had been, a small man, looking very out of place in a mystical pyramid, stood directly in front of the complete blackness that had replaced The entire wall.
"Hello." The small man said.
"Hello to you, too!" Dan said, as cheerily as he could muster while wearing a relatively itchy pink skirt. "Could you please tell us what happened to that wall?"
"Oh, I destroyed it." The small man said, as if a man who went about 4' 11" destroying a 50' wall that stood in front of a bunch of people whose bodies had been switched was matter-of-fact, humdrum stuff.
"Oh, of course!" Poo said sarcastically. he tried to get Anthadd's armor to work once more. "Let our powers combine!" No change.
"Oh, you watch Captain Planet too?" The small man said. "I like the episode where--" he caught himself. "Anyway, your next challenge is this. You must make your way through this gigantic maze and find me." Once again, he spoke as if he was ordering something from Mach Pizza.
"What maze?" Anthadd asked.
The small man motioned at the complete darkness where the wall was. Small torches dimly lit a small entrance. he spoke once more. "Watch out for the specters!" He said happily, and disappeared, leaving the group to ponder their situation.

"Spectres, eh?" said SimonBob from somewhere within Mike's body. "Hey, me! Get my exorcism kit from the left-side pocket."
Indigo-as-SimonBob reached into the pocket, as instructed. "Hmmm, squishy... eww, slimy! ...Eek! Moving!" She pulled out the rock that Alt-Simon had given SimonBob. "Ooh, what's this?"
"I wouldn't..." started SimonBob, but Indigo was already squeezing it. Suddenly, there was a burst of smoke, and when it cleared, a wolf was sitting there. SimonBob slapped his forehead several times.
"Hey," complained Mike. "Don't give me brain damage, okay?" "Whoops, sorry. Hey, Indigo! Can you change back?"
Indigo shook SimonBob's head.
"Bah, we'll have to make do until I get my body back. Hey, watch out!" Indigo suddenly stopped scratching SimonBob's ear when SimonBob shouted. “I don’t want any weird scars on my ears, okay?”
“And I don’t want any brain damage,” commented Mike.
“Poo, stop trying to use my weapons, you might hurt someone,” added Anthadd. Soon, everyone was complaining about what they didn’t want to have happen to their body.
Siris stayed off to the side, watching the events with a baleful eye. What was this, some crazed Scaraban sitcom? At least he’d had the foresight to move his aura...

Lucille pounded her fists on the keyboard.
"I can no longer tamper with them! Why?" she demanded.
She hit the keyboard again, causing the windows to mutate horribly. Now, the windows were hourglasses, and the like.
"Grr!" she hissed.
She hit the keyboard again, and the windows returned to normal.
She smirked, noting the Sphinx had now stopped transforming.
"Wait!" she warned the Sphinx. "There's someone who saw you. Catch him and eat him!"

Abdul gasped. He tripped on a vine, and fell.
"The Sphinx... is alive again?"
He gasped again. The Sphinx was coming towards him!
"N... no..." he pleaded. "Don't..."
Chomp!

"What happened?" Lucille cried. "He's still alive. I still sense his life-string!"
Apple Kid appeared on a monitor.
"You!" She pointed a finger at him. "What do you want?"
"Look at the sky. Just look outside your fortress. And turn the audio on."
"What for?" Lucille snapped.
"Just do it." Apple Kid's voice was calm and soothing.
"I have no idea what you're planning," Lucille mumbled angrily as she looked outside the fortress. Her eyes widened.
No! Not the prophecy! she whispered silently.
There was a rainbow. And it was whistling.

Lucille pounded her hands angrily on the keyboard. "Blast! The prophecy! This is impossible! I shall have to take drastic measures."
She immediately began typing away on her keyboard, her fingers literally blurring with her speed. Entering the correct combo, she stared into a screen. The screen led to many years into the past, 15 to be exact. Present day, for a certain group of people she saw on the other screens. Her Screen showed a blonde woman in a pink dress.
"Ah! My past self!"
Lucille took a small piece of magic cake from her pocket. She took a few crumbs out, and dropped them into her mouth. Upon swallowing, she chanted to the computer.
"Stream of Time! Take my past self to the Point of battle! Give her power beyond belief!"

Apple Kid saw the entire Incident, with the switching bodies. He TOO had a decent lab in the future, something he was greatly proud of. He watched as the group of friends desperately tried to work out the body-soul situation, and chuckled.
"Looks like one boy managed to get out of it. He didn't want to play along," Apple Kid said, smiling. "Oh well. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt if I meddled a LITTLE...don't want to rip a hole in time or anything..."
AppleKid pressed a small red button on his keyboard, and one of his screens flashed. He looked up, and saw the friends staring awkwardly ahead, surprised.
"I hope they don't mind being back in their bodies!"

Mike, in Saffron's body, had an idea. "Hey, I can float. I can pass through walls. I could probably scope out the maze path from up-." Before he could finish his statement, he noted that he was on ground level. "... above." He blinked.
"Hey! What the... I'm back in my old body." Dan looked around. "Where's Skul and Tracy?" "Behind you." Dan whirled about, and saw Skulryk and Tracy standing and waiting.
"Heya. Welcome back. Even though it was only a few minutes," Mike said. "Anyways, I was thinking that maybe one of the ghosts could check the path for us. It might make getting through it much, much easier."
"NO CHEATING!" A disembodied voice, different from the one that was heard previously, echoed throughout the room. "CHEATERS NEVER WIN. RIGHT DAN?"
Dan blinked. "Hey! I don't cheat! I only... manipulate the games with my tools to make them better!"
"SUUUURE. NO CHEATING. GET THROUGH THIS MAZE ON YOUR OWN. YOU HAVE A FEW MORE TESTS TO GET PAST, SO HURRY UP." It grew quiet.
"Oh, that's okay, I LOVE mazes," Luna shouted. "This shouldn't take us but a moment."
"Right." Siris nodded in agreement.
"Wait, I wanted to figure out how to use that medallion that Anth has. I was SO close, too!" Poo ran around the group. "Why did we change back?!?!?!"
Suddenly another voice echoed through the pyramid. This one was much calmer and quieter.
"Hey. This is Apple Kid. I'm contacting your from Apple Labo. Look, I'm going to make this short. You must get through the pyramid. There's a device of sorts in there that... allows for some things to happen. You know, strengthening the fabric of time and space and whatnot. ... You'll see when the time comes. Anyways, good luck!" The room grew quiet once again.
Anthadd shrugged. "Let's go. If we must get through this maze, then we should start presently."
Mike nodded in agreement. "Right. Maybe after all this is done, I can finally have lunch like I planned, eh?"
Luna giggled. "Perhaps. Let's go. I want to get through this maze!"
SimonBob pulled out a piece of a pencil from his pocket. "Hey guys, listen. We can keep track of where we went if we mark on the wall. That should help us from getting lost."
"Aye." Rusty nodded in agreement.
The entire group trudged off. They stuck together, knowing that a wrong turn for just one of the group could mean an untimely demise.

"You know, that disembodied voice character really doesn't know enough about video games to have a good opinion on the matter of game manipulation.
"YES I DO, DANIEL. I KNOW...EVERYTHING!"
"Of course you do. I bet you don't know my--"
"MOTHER'S MAIDEN NAME WAS...O'RIIIIIIILEY" He rolled the last part off of his desembodied tongue for extra effect as Dan collapsed.
With his proverbial tail between his legs, Dan continued with the rest of the group.
"So..." Anna asked. "Where do we go now?" The path split into two, one smaller than the other.
"Let's go through the small one first." Someone suggested. A general agreement was heard as everyone crawled through the tiny hole.
And as they came out? "Wtf?" Dan muttered, suddenly forgetting he wasn't on IRC. "Everything is..."
"Huge?" Poo finished. Feeling particularly smart. "That's why the evil monster is huge!" He finished, matter-of-factly.
The disembodied voice rang out yet again. "GIVE THE BOY A PRIZE, JOHNNY. THIS, MY ENLIGHTENED FRIEND, IS THE SPECTER. HAVE FUUUUUN!"
The huge, partially transparent thing carried a sword at least 8 feet long, and shook the ground as it walked.
"There's gonna be trou-bleeeeee!"

"How can you manage to fight me?" Lucille argued. "Animus is all powerful."
More rainbows had appeared around the fortress, and they too began to whistle.
"Sphinx!" she echoed through time. "Attack the pyramid! Bring it down!"
"The reason I manage to fight you," Apple Kid began, "is because I fight with something as powerful as Animus."
"What could that be?" she mumbled.
"Passion."
"Passion?" Lucille shrieked. "How can Passion be as strong as Animus?"
"It's as strong as Animus because they both come from the heart."
"But one evil is always stronger than one good!"
"My passion is for everything. Life. Death. Darkness. Light. Animus is simply for one thing. It pales as the targets grow."
Lucille began to choke.
"How can that be?" she whined. "My Animus is for everything!"
"And that's why my Passion is overwhelming your Animus: my Passion is already for all it can be. Your Animus, however, is for much more than it can be without weakening. You've deluded yourself. You only think your Animus is strong. But it isn't. Listen to your heart. Is it truly filled with Animus for everything? Or is it filled with Animus for one thing?"