1 Lachesis makes his predictions and his exit. And now Chloe remembers that she'd wanted to speak. Turning to Gegi and Garret, puzzled, she starts a few different questions, but finally settles on, "Perhaps you two are the ones who should be telling me what's going on.." At first, Garret doesn't appear to have heard. "The hanged man..." he whispers. Then he shakes himself, as if he's waking up. "He's told us much of value, I think. We just don't know how to use it yet. The Rom may be cryptic, but they're *never* flat wrong." And then, he blinks, and hugs Rhiannon, who is beside him, tightly. His face is rigid and set, as though he's holding his emotions under a tight leash. "Things are beginning to become clear." His voice is taut with an emotion not immediately recognized. Terror. He stands up and turns away, and for a moment, Rhiannon has the horrible premonition that if she lets him go, she's never going to see him again. Then the moment passes. He strides quickly across the room towards Gegi and Chloe. "I think I'm beginning to understand." He lifts his hand and passes it in front of Gegi's face. "I don't think you're *here* in the same way the rest of us are. There's part of you...missing. Maybe if we...pull you through, you'll... I don't know, I guess be able to defend yourself better? I just don't know." He looks at Chloe. "You're not seeing things right. There's magick on you, and it's wound around your deepest self. I can see it, but I can't touch it...not from here, anyway." "Gegi, would you be willing to let me try to pull you back together?" She nods to him. But Bavin beats Garret to it. Spirit and Entropy magicks fill the air. There is a feeling as if Gegi had been moving very very fast and was suddenly slammed up against reality and brought to a halt. Garret looks at her in surprise. The look quickly changes to alarm. With a *pop*, every other parallel Garret vanishes, including the Garret standing near Rhiannon and the one talking to Chloe and Rowan. The Garret in this timeline backs up, his eyes focused on something in the air, his face contorted in terror. He begins babbling in Spanish. Gegi shakes her head and clears her senses... With a sound like a whipcrack, normal spacetime shears open. The rift appears as an opalescent sphere the size and shape of a football. It quickly irises open, until it touches the ceiling. The edges crackle with loose blue threads that make it look like a half-unravelled piece of fabric. Gegi's eyes widen. "Shit, it tore..." The rift throbs. It seems unable to grow any larger. It crackles for a moment, then begins to glide through the air like mythical ball-lightning. It goes right for Garret, who seems paralyzed with terror. As it gets closer, patrons can clearly make out a blue line leading from the wizard to the center of the rift. Gegi reaches out and grabs ahold of Garret's arm, preparing to hold on no matter what. On his other side, Rhiannon does the same. 2 Gegi explains her connections with Malkavians and the nature of the Vampire game to Mauritz. Mauritz slowly progresses from an expression of mild amusement to an ear-to-ear grin throughout this pronouncement. "You mean, I am but a figment of someone's imagination? What a strange person he must be, to play such a game, and to create a Mad Prince as his alternate persona!" She smiles. "It gets better. This location - Wolves Glen Pub - is a specific environment created for that game... and I used to be one of the players. I had a -lot- of characters running around here..." "So we are in an abstraction based upon a game... It seems quite fitting, given my unique circumstances! Although, if what you say is true, there need be no connection between the two things; or it may be that some form of leakage occurs between universes, and this leads to the similarities." "On my side, this is an idea. Here, it -is-. It's all a matter of differing levels of reality." She looks significantly at Bavin. "Since -I'm- here, though, this can't simply be the place under complete control of the players, but rather a manifestation of that shared fantasy. Which doesn't make any of you any less real..." Mauritz blinks as a massive surge of energy passes by, centering in upon Gegi. His form flares briefly as the Entropy and Spirit energies pass through him, and he looks at Gegi with wide eyes which somehow seem to pull at her. "This is a development I had not considered... Tell me, do you feel different?" She touches her face cautiously, checking to be sure she's still there. "I... -I- don't feel different... this whole -place- feels different... more real..." "Those seem to be the feelings one gets upon having ones senses expanded; at least, that was how it felt for myself, and several of my bloodline have commented similarly when they learned to expand their Sight..." She shakes her head. "Senses expanding? No, they all seem the same..." "Truly? And yet you said it seemed as if the Pub had become more real to you; tell me, does that apply to any of the patrons here?" She blinks and catches up with herself. "Of course they do. Everything does. I'm on this level now." She reaches out and lays her hand against the wall, the same wall that she tried to walk through upon her original entrance to the Pub, and which since has always signified the break between the worlds. She traces down it slowly, fingertips stroking. "Goodbye, beloved..." she whispers softly. 3 Gegi turns away from Chloe, wrapping her arms around herself. "You're under a spell, Chloe. Believe me." Chloe just sighs, looking rather confused and concerned about Gegi. Gegi's body suddenly twitches as the Spirit/Entropy wash from the reality shift hits her. For a moment, those who can see into the Umbra *and Chloe* see a woman standing behind Gegi. She wears a white blouse and a long flowered skirt, with a shawl tied around her waist. Her hair is dark brown, wavy, and falls to her waist. Her eyes are blue, and a blue-green glow surrounds her. The figure fades. Gegi looks at the bane. "You are definitely not seeing what I'm seeing." "What are you seeing?" "A lizard-bird-thing that looks like the bad results of some mad scientist's experiment." "Oh dear. Maybe that lady did have some effect on you..." Gegi sighs in exasperation. "It's -you- she's affected..." and reaches her hand towards Chloe's head. Chloe dodges, and pushes Gegi's hand away. Defensively, "What are you doing?!" "Trying to break the spell!" Gegi stops reaching for her, puts her hands on her own head, and closes her eyes for a moment, concentrating. "Crud. Karieta? Can you come help us here?" Chloe shrinks away, returning to her little bane friend. The bane frowns, muttering softly to itself. "Not never pretty one go there lost yes? Lost her. Don't want yes yes want to lose pretty one. Chloe looks confused. "I don't want to lose you, please.." "Chloe, please, get away from that..." Gegi says, very clearly worried. "Should yes? No!" It looks up at Chloe. "No don't never follow go there yes pretty one mustn't shouldn't don't don't don't go no no!" Suddenly it squeals in pain. "Yes should must show watch take pretty one to _her_ them yes _she_ wants her them take her no lost lost lost lost..." This is disturbing Chloe greatly. She bites at her lip for a moment, thinking and most likely holding back tears. "To who? Must take me to who? The lady! The lady who was here, yes? You know her?" Whining slightly, "I don't understand..." "Chloe, haven't you listened to anything we've said? That lady was bad! She touched you and you saw everything differently. Doesn't that sound strange? Wouldn't it make sense that she cast a spell on you?" Chloe doesn't seem to hear, she speaks only to the bane. "You're right, we probably couldn't stop them." She shivers and repeats, only mumbled, "Very very lots of power.." The bane looks pleased. "Yes. Very danger...dangerous. Stay away. Pretty one go to _them_...take her. Hurt her. Taking yes." The bane shivers. "Lots lots of pain. Oh yes. Stay away?" She looks around the pub. "They'll hurt me, you think? Yes, lots of pain I'm sure. But I can't go, I mean I have other things to stay away from right now, worse things I think, or hope. Or maybe they want to take me to him.. yes?" Gegi is frustrated. "We're not going to hurt you. How many times do I have to say that? Chloe, think logically. You'd never seen that woman before. She came out of nowhere, stared at you, made a few very general comments to make it seem that you'd met before, kissed you without asking, and left you, and suddenly everything you saw was different. You don't know anything about her. But you know -me-, and Bavin, and Kao-Liang, and Mauritz - we've all been talking to you, we've told you things about ourselves, we've tried to help you. How can you think that -she- is good? Just because your eyes say we are bad? Eyes can be tricked, Chloe... close your eyes. Do we -feel- bad?" "I... I don't..." The bane nods to Chloe. "Stay. If you...like? like it. Like yes." Suddenly it gives a gasp, cringing down as if from a sudden blow. "Marked her me. Must watch. Can't like. Orders. Find and watch. Find her yes pretty one? Like? Must." "Yes!" Chloe smiles at the bane. "We'll find her. How, though? Where do you want to go, to look?" "If that thing, or that woman, takes you away, Chloe, we might not be able to rescue you... can't you -see-?" Gegi reaches her hands towards Chloe. 4 Chloe snatches her clasped hand away from Gegi and Garret, who are grabbing for it. Garret hisses as a spark flies from Chloe's hand and burns him. With a worried look, Karieta sets a votive candle on the floor and chants a quiet prayer for guidance in Latin. With a quiet *pop*, an object settles to the floor in front of the candle, and Karieta winces as paradox settles into her pattern. "Something that causes that much damage should be removed from harm's way, I think." Chloe, looking rather like a child whose security blanket was just ripped violently away, immediately looks around the room, panicky and paranoid like. After a moment, her eyes rest on Karieta. She swallows hard and walks over, quietly asking, "What are you doing? I need that..." "Why do you believe you need this?" Karieta's voice is quiet and contemplative. Gegi turns to look, and then gets slammed by the power flow. Karieta nods at Gegi, surprised and pleased--and smiles radiantly. "Congratulations. God has truly blessed you today. And may He grant you the wisdom to know how to use the power you have been granted." "The Divine has granted me many things, but Wisdom has never been among them," she says confusedly, touching her hands and seeming surprised by her own solidity. Karieta's smile fades as she looks down at the object she has teleported. It's a small, clear, quartz crystal. Karieta very carefully avoids touching it... and looks prepared to ward off anyone else who tries. Chloe looks at the crystal. "I'd simply rather have it, just in case, than not. So if you please, miss..." Chloe reaches down to reclaim it. Karieta reaches out an intercepting hand. "No. This crystal is important to you, and it hurt Garret. Unless you tell me what it does and why you need it so badly, I'm afraid I cannot, in good conscience, let you." Chloe grabs and stares disbelieving at the handful of air she catches, as the crystal is suddenly somewhere else. Her eyes flash with anger, but that quickly dissipates into fear. "You don't know that's what hurt Garret. And there's no reason I need to tell you what it's for, it's mine and I need it!" She then grabs harshly for Karieta's arm. Karieta doesn't move, and puts one calm, exploratory hand over Chloe's grasp on her arm. "Child, I don't wish to hurt you. But at the same time, I've been listening to your words, and you seem to be under some misapprehensions. Added is the fact that as soon as Garret tried to help you, his hand was seriously hurt. Now, do you wish to tell me what this is all about, or will these misunderstandings continue?" Looking uncomfortable, she tries to slide her hand away. In a forced calm but shaky voice,"I don't know what's wrong with Garret, miss. Or Gegi. Or the Garou. And if there's something wrong with me, I certainly don't know that either. I do know, that if there's trouble, the lady who was here a bit ago, told me..." she stops and hesitates for a moment. "She said the crystal would help. And that's why I want it back. Please." 5 "But who -was- that lady?" Chloe asks Garret. "She serves the Lords of Oblivion," says Garret in a dull voice. "And she has a claim on each one of us." He looks down at his now-healed hand. "And she doesn't want us interfering in her plans for us." Chloe frowns slightly, "What kind of claim could she have on me? Why would she have a 'plan' for us?" "I owe her masters something. I'm not sure about you." This doesn't seem to please Chloe. Turning to Gegi, "Gegi? Do you know of her plan?" Gegi shakes her head. "Take over the universe, steal souls, who knows?" Chloe looks at Garret. "Tell me what's going on! I can handle it!" Garret looks at her quietly. "Good. Because I don't know if *I* can." "I meant I could handle being talked to honestly about what was going on. I didn't mean I could handle what was going on..." He half-smiles, and is about to reply, when he suddenly vanishes with a small *pop*. Chloe jumps slightly, blinks a few times, and just stands there quietly, looking rather concerned. After a moment, "Gegi?" But Gegi is shaking her head, trying to clear her senses, and does not respond. Elsewhere in the Pub, two men are fighting a duel. One is the blond man with a cross who encountered Chloe before. Suddenly, something goes wrong. There is silence for a moment. Then the Paradox hits. The blond man screams in terror as the waves of paradox rebound from him. There is a flash of light and he is gone. Paradox, as if angered at being thwarted, take its wrath out on other patrons. The energy, visible as glowing balls of light splits, heading towards unsuspecting patrons. One ball engulfs Rowan, dissolving her clothing until she is cloaked in alternating swirls of gold and black. When the energy dissipates she's dressed as a Catholic Nun, the glass she's holding transformed into a rosary Except for the dramatic change in clothing, she seems unharmed. The second ball barely misses Rhiannon, bouncing from glass to window with a pinging noise, like the pub was a demented pinball machine. What ever glass it hits turns tinted, transforming one of the windows to a stained glass battlefield, Knights in armor battling machines like armored knights, and Men in Black in colonial garb. Chloe is struck glancingly by the flying energy, and left glowing. Finally it streaks behind the bar, splashing slightly against Genie's protective barrier and striking the mirror. The Wolf etched on the mirror actually howls as it turns steel grey, its green eyes turning in two dimensions to look over the patrons before freezing again. The mirror, while still reflective, now seems to be made of black glass, with stars in the background. The third ball, and the largest, hits the corner of the pub where there's an unsuspecting Illyana. All the Illyana's in the pub merge into her as the ball expands to blinding brightness. When it dies down the corner can be seen to have been converted to a confessional. There is no motion for a moment, then the door opens and Illyana steps out. She's not happy. She's also changed. She is no longer in Jeans and T-shirt. Instead she is now wearing a blue plaid skirt, long white socks, and a white shirt with a vest. Her hair is up in two pony tails, and she is holding a Animaniacs backpack, with her laptop and sword sticking out the top. She looks like she's all set to go to Catholic school. She glares at each of the mages accusingly though the glasses perched on her nose. "Who Goofed?" Chloe, with a luminescent halo floating of couple inches above her blond ringlets, whimpers slightly as this new set of visual anomalies registers. She closes her eyes, rubs her temples, and then surveys the pub again. "You all see this right? The nun outfit, the stained glass... you do see it don't you??" 6 "Everything gets snuffed in the dust anyway, maybe not literally, but metaphorically speaking." says Mitch. "Everything, nothing, but you can draw it out. Streaks of light. Like rain. I like rain." says Gegi. "Rain of blood, seasons in the Abyss..." "No, not raining blood... you lose too much of it that way. And I've never been to the Abyss." "It's nothingness. Not the Ends-of-Everything. I've seen that whereof the vaunted Black Spiral is nothing but a pale shadow of a reflection in a broken mirror." His voice starts to pick up in pitch and speed, and at the end he's nearly shrieking. "That last amorphous blight of nethermost confusion which bubbles and blasphemes at the centre of all infinity -- the boundless daemon sultan Azathoth, whose name no lips dare speak aloud, and who gnaws hungrily in inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond time amidst the muffled, maddening beating of vile drums and the thin, monotonous whine of accursed flutes." He pauses for a moment. "The Court of Azathoth, whence the tenebrous Outer Gods dance clumsily and from whence their soul and messenger Nyarlathothep issuses forth to make their will known." A mad light is burning in his eye, and the milky-white orb that occupies the other socket has started to glow with a malevolent sheen. Gegi's eyes are widening as this spiel progresses. "Oh shit, not another one..." she whispers. She would have run. But there was no time. As Mitch and Gegi are chatting, he's working on the patterns drawn in slightly steaming blood around the candle standing in the middle of their table. The pattern is...twisting, as if it's not really there, or changing as you see it in the corner of your eye. Angles that are obtuse one moment are acute the next, and the entire array of bizarre curves and outrageous corners seems to point up- and outwards - away from the room, but not in any ordinary direction. The entire geometry of the volume above the table seems to obey no laws of our universe, but instead seems disgustingly *wrong*. Then Mitch lights the candle. Vague pulsating sounds, of no earthly rhythm, can almost be heard, as *something* begins to form above the candle. It looks a little like an unfolding origami of smoked glass, a little like some sort of cone of unlight, a darkness that is almost material, but what it resembles the most is a window to the madness hidden by our normal cosmos. The volume of the cone holds a blind spot, totally incomprehensible to almost any viewer, but clear to Gegi's mind. Fleeting glimpses of places, parts of objects, skies, voids and people, but without any order or meaning. Something completely discontinuous; there are no straight lines or united objects, only disjointed parts randomly linked together, a vision of insanity and horror that cannot be held within a mind without tearing it apart. Suddenly, Reality decides to come party crashing, and Mitch is jerked out of his chair by *something*, an unseen presence, that pulls him into a horrible parody of a crucified man, hanging limply from what now can bee seen as a form resembling an expanded tesseract (see Salvador Dali's paining _Christos Hypercubus_ - this is what it looks like). The cone that held a piece of Fasoma Span for a short while disappears with a snap, as if it has never been. Mitch moans, a horrifying sound that should not be brought about by any human throat. A short moment of unbearable cold, a flash of blinding white light, and he is gone. Gegi remains, staring blankly at the spot where he had been, for a moment. Then she begins screaming. But luckily for all concerned, at that point another flash of light, with the familiar spiritual and entropic tingles to it, washes through her and leaves her blissfully unharmed by her brush with someThing that should not be. 7 The rift approaches Garret. Gegi and Rhiannon reach out for him. As Rhi comes near him, another blue line springs into existence, this one leading from Rhiannon to Garret. It's a lot thicker and stronger than the one leading from Garret to the rift. Rhiannon can see that it's attached to both their auras. The rifts stops on a dime, not five feet away from them. A bizarre noise starts to come from it, like a thousand people shouting through a tub of suet pudding. It seems to convey an emotion: Frustration. Garret blinks, and his entire expression changes. He looks like a man who's been paralyzed all his life and then jumps out of bed one morning and discovers that he can juggle chainsaws. He looks into the rift in confusion, as if seeing it for the first time. "I remember-" With a roar like a bengal tiger, the rift pounces on the three, swallowing them completely. It shivers, then begins to compact down until it's the size of a football again, after which, it gets no smaller and remains stationary, pulsing and crackling only if anyone gets near it. 8 Gabby and Astarial are still talking, discussing the similarities in their bloods and peoples, although they realize that they are from different universes. Kao-Liang's language lessons have been progressing, as well, and Astarial is starting to understand English, although he still speaks Latin and requires some translation. Then, the wave of magick strikes Gegi. "Are you all right?" Astarial asks. "I thought I sensed something..." Without waiting for her reply, he pulls out of an inside pocket of his robe a lens, like a monocle a couple of inches in diameter, which he peers at her through. Unfortunately, whatever he's doing, it isn't having the desired effect. "Why isn't this... Can't see a damn... broken... ridiculous... crack-brained neophyte mechanic could work this!..." He then lets rip (loudly enough for half the Pub to hear) with a long burst of fairly creative swearing, concerning several physiologically impossible things he'd like to do to this reality, including blaspheming several unknown gods, with added subtext that if it's a person [of "undistinguished" ancestry] who's "blocking" him , said person can expect a Ball of Abysmal Flame shoved so far "where the sun doesn't shine" that he'll spit flames. Gegi looks at him curiously. <*Are you all right?*> (Mental speech requires no language, thankfully.) His mental reply is loaded with incoherent anger thoroughly laced with abject terror. Almost hysterical gibbering, in fact. His face looks drawn and ashen. <*NO! I can't *see*! Can't *hear*, or *feel*, or *sense*! Anything but me. It's as if the whole world was an illusion, or less than an illusion! At least I'd be able to feel the Prime in an illusion, but outside me there's nothing! I see it, but it isn't there, for all I know. No pattern, no being. Can't feel it, can't touch it, can't change it. Nothing works, nothing happens! Am I dead? Or surely damned? Or is it the world?*> <*Calm down. Calm down. It's all right.*> She turns to Gabby. "He's having a reality-interface problem. He's from another level. Like I am... like I was. He must be from a level or two 'superior' to this, with specific magickal requirements, and because this place is less 'real' than that, he can't align his magickal senses correctly. He can't tap the flow. And I don't think he'd like to use my solution. But he's -not- dead, and it'll be all right, and we just need to find the right kind of mage to help him... can you tell him that?" Gabby looks at her with a 'You have -got- to be kidding' expression, but turns and does her best to translate the basic ideas into Latin. He seems to be calming down slightly, but only in the sense that he's no longer actively hysterical. He's still as tense as someone can be, however. "Help? Please?" At this point Gabby notices a little girl crying across the Pub, and runs over to comfort her. 9 The bane frowns, muttering softly to itself. "Not never pretty one go there lost yes? Lost her. Don't want yes yes want to lose pretty one. Chloe looks confused. "I don't want to lose you, please.." "Chloe, please, get away from that..." Gegi says, very clearly worried. "Gegi, the little thing is frightened, confused..." "Frightened and confused, yes. That doesn't mean it's healthy to be near it." Chloe bites at her lip for a moment, thinking and most likely holding back tears. "To who? Must take me to who? The lady! The lady who was here, yes? You know her?" Whining slightly, "I don't understand..." "Chloe, haven't you listened to anything we've said? That lady was bad! She touched you and you saw everything differently. Doesn't that sound strange? Wouldn't it make sense that she cast a spell on you?" "Spells, like hocus-pocus?" She laughs slightly, "Gegi, in this world, witches do things like drink chicken blood and make voodoo dolls of the town preacher, things like that, they don't walk into random pubs and curse the eyesight of any random girl!" "You're not any random girl, you're someone who was talking to me, that makes you a perfect target..." Chloe returns to the bane. "Yes! We'll find her. How, though? Where do you want to go, to look?" "If that thing, or that woman, takes you away, Chloe, we might not be able to rescue you... can't you -see-?" She reaches her hands towards Chloe. Chloe suddenly goes very still, her body clearly very tense. Her expression is blank for a moment as she blinks, first slowly and methodically, then frantically. After a moment, her hands start to tremble violently and her face finally fills with anger and terror. "What have you done? You're the demon! You're the witch!" She starts walking backwards, awkwardly. The observant may notice that her eyes aren't focused on Gegi's, or really anything of particular importance. Her vision is directed at one point, but her head moves in small, robotic movements. "Reverse it! Reverse the spell, please.. Why are you doing this?" Without moving her line of vision, she addressses to the world in general, "Why are you letting her do this to me?" Gegi looks completely confused. "What spell? What's happening?" The other cute blonde in the pub, now dressed like a Catholic schoolgirl, with a miniature dragon perched on her shoulder, jumps up, trying to get herself between Gegi and Chloe. "Back off." she warns, "or I make lawn chair out of you." Gegi steps back, hands up. "It's not my fault!" Over her shoulder to Chloe Illyana adds. "Are you OK?" She draws a sword, which somewhat lessens the absurdity of a cute young girl threatening to turn somebody into furniture. "No, I can't see, keep her away, please!" Chloe jumps as her back hits up against the bar, then seems to get an idea. Her hands grope behind her on the bar's top, presumably looking for some object, preferably either very sharp or very blunt. Karieta stands. "It's all right, she's only trying to undo the damage that has been done. Your eyesight is not lost forever, I'm sure. Please, don't do anything rash." She waves a hand. Chloe's searching becomes more purposeful. Still blind, she senses the presence of long, sharp things near her. Hoping Illyana won't notice, she carefully draws a knife from her backpack, her hand gripped white-knuckled around it. She holds it across her torso, not in a threatening way to the others, just protective of herself. "Oh, shit. Chloe, put the knife down, -please- put the knife down..." Gegi takes a nervous step backwards. "'Yana, you know I'm not hurting her, right?" Her voice is pleading. "I not sure." Illyana seems worried, torn between friends. "I'm not going anywhere near her. I won't do anything. But somebody has to fix her eyes and that's going to be tough if she's panicking and waving knives at anyone who gets near her. The Nephandi did something to her..." "Undo whatever witchery you did and I'll put the knife down! Undo it! Please!" Chloe shrieks. "I -did- undo it! I don't know what went wrong... " Gegi starts, then vanishes, leaving only blue sparkles behind. "The crystal!" Chloe screams in Karieta's direction. "Give me the crystal! Please!" Karieta crosses her arms and sighs. "Child, put the knife down. Weapons are very dangerous if you don't know how to use them. Please just calm down and try to work with us--you're making a lot of people very nervous currently." "Very nervous? Very nervous!? Miss, please, I'll put the knife down if I can have the crystal, make her undo whatever curse she's put on me.." Her glossy eyes and choked voice make it clear that she's near tears. "I don't, I won't hurt anyone, I just want..." she sniffles, "just make it stop, please." 10 "Help? Please?" Astarial asks in Latin. Gegi looks at him, a strange calm coming over her. <* We can pull you all the way in, you know. We can make you part of this world. And your magick would work again. That's what happened to me. But you can never go back. *> He almost jumps a few steps back. "No!" <* No! Not that. I have a wife and family at home. I'd like - I need to return to them. And I have duties to my people. *> he adds, almost as an afterthought. <*Didn't think you'd want to. In that case, it gets more complicated... it depends on whether or not your pattern fragmented when you ended up here. Mine did, and the other me stayed out there - I had to either become real here or have this version of me destroyed, you see? If this is the only you, then we just have to find a way to get you out of here in one piece... *> <* As far as I know, I'm it. I don't know if you heard my story when Kao-liang translated it, but I came here physically, escaping a losing battle. If there was another me, he's dead now. But I doubt there is. I'd probably feel his presence through the resonance-link. *> <* Very odd. You really shouldn't be in here then... it's not healthy. *> <* I never would have guessed. *> Bavin sighs, looking as if he probably overheard most of the mental conversation. <* Do you want me to do something, Gegi? *>, he asks mentally. She jumps, but manages to stifle the exact reaction. <* Though if I don't do it exactly right, it will probably result in me having to leave here myself... *> Gegi answers in English, "I don't think that'd be a good idea... not yet, anyway. Especially not until we know a little bit more about his situation. Besides, look what happened last time..." Bavin turns to Astarial. <* I am a world walker, a dimensional traveller, and I know something of the risks involved. Would you ask my assistance, assuming Gegi also does so? *> Gegi opens her mouth to say something else... and then vanishes, leaving only a few blue sparkles of the rift's time-magick around where she'd been. 11 Another woman approaches Chloe. "Stay back..." Chloe says desperately. "Child, I won't hurt you. I am Mahri. I want you to look at me, and tell me what you see." She steps backwards to show that she means what she says about not harming her, and then there are faint blue flames around her hands, which she holds down, palms out. Chloe quickly backs up when the flames start, biting her lip fiercely as if that will stop the brimmed up tears from overflowing onto her cheeks. In a choked voice, "I.. I already said what you all look like. With the fangs and the snake hair and those nails and... those eyes like pools of blood." She wraps her arms tightly around herself. Her eyes dart quickly around the Pub and the tears finally streak down her cheeks. "She said you would do this, but I didn't believe her..." The flames disappear. "Is this better?" Chloe nods. Mahri holds out a hand. "Nails?" Feel my fingertips, child. My nails don't go past the ends of my fingers. I won't harm you, and I won't let anyone else, either. You have my word." Doubt flashes across Chloe's face for a moment, but she doesn't move. "I want you to think very carefully. She said we would do something which we are not, but which you see. Why is that? Think. She is hiding your sight from you, and replacing it with what she wants you to see, whoever 'she' is. I will sit here, and you may use your hands to check what your eyes tell you..." She sits on the floor with her hands palm down on either side. "It would be difficult for me to do anything from down here without you being able to get away first, so you don't have to worry." Sensing Chloe's hesitation, "Come here. I won't harm you. I wish you to feel the difference between sight and touch." Chloe takes a step towards her and reaches out her hand. She freezes for a moment, closing her eyes and wincing as if expecting to be hit. After feeling no such blow, she takes another step and reaches out for Mahri's hair. She touches it quickly, then retracts her hand, seeming both pleased and puzzled. She then pokes gently at Mahri's face, right near her eye. Finally, she then bends down towards her hands and very quickly runs her hand across Mahri's, testing the fingernail's presence. She stands back up and steps back, again hugging her arms tightly to herself, but avoiding Mahri's eyes. "I'm sorry..." She shakes her head, "I don't know what's going on." Chloe and Mauritz, fellow Francais, have been discussing vampirism, the curse of Malkav, and the Dark Lady's interest in Chloe. Chloe looks dubious. "Why would a demon want me? I'm no warrior or leader." "So much the better, for their purposes! A warrior or leader falls under the scrutiny of many, but a young woman of no particular import will be overlooked; though her opportunities to cause harm may seem slight, they can actually become great as she works to subvert others. Eventually, someone important will be corrupted by you, unless you take a stand and refuse to accept the taint." Chloe looks a bit hurt at the mention of a woman of no import. "But.. I mean if I really don't know that woman, it seems a little strange, no? I tried to refuse, though, I sort of tried to look away, but I didn't... I couldn't.." "You have had a curse laid upon you, then, if this taint is not of your choosing. You should seek help from one of the Mages in here, who might be able to remove this taint from you..." She nods, but, taking in some information from the timeline in which Gegi has effectively blinded her, doesn't look too enthused about this suggestion. "If the taint isn't related to the visions... is it really so bad? I mean, what does a little taint do?" "For one thing, it makes the Garou look upon you with suspicion; it may also mark you to the eyes of other demons as someone with whom a bargain may be struck. Do you really wish to go through life trying to ward off demons? Gegi may be able to tell you something of that particular fate..." "No kidding," mutters Gegi. Chloe nods. Not looking too enthused about the possibility, "I suppose only a mage could get rid of the taint?" She looks back to Mahri. "Mauritz said Garou... don't trust people with taint, probably want to hurt them. How come you don't?" "Now _that_ is a very long story... Let's just say that I can see the good in people. Being tainted doesn't make you unreedemable. It means that something has happened to you, and often, people don't have the choice. It _is_ possible to remove the taint. It's just not as cut and dry as killing all tainted creatures upon the first scent of them is. We all protect the Mother in our own way. Mine is to try to strengthen her by helping remove the taint of those who had no choice in the decision, like you, and like him." She gestures in the direction of Watcher. "I don't think that death is the only way to return lives to the Mother." 12 Gegi runs her hand down the wall and whispers a farewell to her old life. "So now you are synchronized with the rest of us, eh?" asks Mauritz. "Looks that way..." she says distractedly, then shrugs. "New universe, no past, no home, no party, leader, quest, or the like, and a -lot- of roads leading off this point. Suggestions?" "Find something you *want* to do very badly, and do it... regardless of the obstacles placed in your path." "I want to learn..." she says, with a smile. Probably completely unnoticed amidst the chaos, a tiny object lying off in a corner begins to make a quiet beeping sound, followed by a few frustrated bursts of static. Hitiko tiptoes over, and picks it up, to examine it with her science meter. It's a small radio earpiece, not particularly unusual except for a slight tweak to let it work between such unusual spacetimes as the Pub, the Cafe, and ICME proper. It would both receive and transmit, but it seems to be slightly broken at the moment. "Hmmm, needs repair," says Hitiko, setting to the task, activating it as she finishes. A moment passes. Then, a voice comes through. "Hello?" It sounds just like Gegi. Hitiko looks suprised, then thoughtful, then looks around. "Gegi? I think it's you for you. I think." She calls out across the Pub. "What's me?" Gegi asks, confused, crossing over to Hitiko and taking the radio piece. "Hello?" "Gabrielle?" asks the radio. "No, hang on..." She turns. "Gabby! Phone call... er, radio transmission?" Gabby looks up from where she's been drawing pictures for a little girl and slaps herself on the head. She comes over, takes the item, and pops it back into her ear. "Thanks." She then wanders over to a quiet corner to mumble to the air. 13 The cone of glowing darkness is created and destroyed. The bane watches Mitch's performance with interest. "No no no no dear oh trouble yes lots lots lots dark danger things to see touch feel hear not here lots lots lots lost he is lost lost lost lost." Slowly backing away, the bane bumps into Chloe's ankles. He looks up at her, clicking his beak with concern. Chloe looks down at the bane and then to what the bane is looking at. "What on earth..." "Pretty one take care care careful lots. Stay away aback yes? Lots of dangers." The bane looks around the Glen. "Him them yes dangers lots lots too many much powers. Little tiny small us me pretty one too small too much danger. Very small very still quiet?" The bane scrunches down. "Very small," it whispers. She nods, looking rather alarmed. Kneeling right by the bane, and petting it protectively, "Yes, I'll take care of you. Perhaps if we're quiet, he won't notice, yes?" "Blue..." says the bane. "Who? Who had the blue eyes for you?" "_Him_. Down and round and down and round. Followed. _She_ saw them _him_ there. Blue. Watched and followed. Looked. Never can't look away. One look one once only." "No, you couldn't look away, could you? Why, why couldn't I?" "Him?! Here?!" Fear, confusion and a strange longing chase across the bane's face. "Saw _him_?" "No, _her_. Black silver blue eyes." "Here?" The bane looks confused. "Black? No no silver yes. Blue? Him...her before yes. Before? Can't remember but yes. Blue?" She nods, "Here, before." Her eyes drift away from the bane, "Maybe again soon. Blackness everywhere, _everywhere_, and then... spiraling into silver." Looking back to the bane, "But then spiraling to blue... pleasant, pretty blue." Chloe looks confused. "I don't want to lose you, please.." Rocking gently backwards and forwards, Watcher seems to be concentrating intensely. "No...don't lose...don't take. Wouldn't want to singing if song songs. Gone. Forget forgot. To her? Yes. No. Wants them oh little tiny lost alone lonely ones. Found them all for her clever yes lots lots lots of power. Found him my my my fault didn't know no no doesn't matter. Her. Pretty one. Lose give lost her." The bane shakes its head. "Don't know want don't know." She looks desperate. "Please, names, I - I don't understand. I'm Chloe. Who was your friend, who you had to watch? And the man with all the power that hurt the two of you?" "Names names names lost forget forgot them." Watcher shakes his head. "Can't rememember sorry sorry sorry ch..chlo...pretty one." "Okay... that's all right, that's all right. It's a very nice name, anyways, thank you," she smiles comfortingly. "Take you..." the bane whispers. "To who? Must take me to who? The lady! The lady who was here, yes? You know her?" Chloe asks. "_Her_ yes? Lady? Before?" The bane sounds uncertain. "Didn't see? Didn't see don't know. Her?" Obviously making an effort to explain, Watcher looks up at Chloe. "_Her_. Precious tiny little lovely one. _My_ person yes? Found them for her. Lost little tiny ones alone lonely ones. Watch for changes yes? Take them find them to her." "Where? Where do you want me to go? I'll come with you, I will, I want to help. Will you let me, will you let me help you?" The bane shakes his head vehemently. "No no never don't go should take you yes? No! Not to her them no hurt you mustn't hurt pretty one. She would. Not her fault no never never. Me me me my fault. Help? No help... lost lost lost." "I don't get it. Where you want to go, or don't want to go. The down and round? Do you want to go or not? Do you want to me to stay with you or not?" She looks upset at her own confusion. She looks around the pub. "They'll hurt me, you think? Yes, lots of pain I'm sure. But I can't go, I mean I have other things to stay away from right now, worse things I think, or hope. Or maybe they want to take me to him.. yes?" The bane nods solemnly. "_She_ would. Before. I found them. _They_ took her and she took them later too. Little ones." "Yes! We'll find her. How, though? Where do you want to go, to look?" "Lost." The bane sounds desolate. "Lost her my fault lost again and again. "Blood drinker says told she is gone left left it me. Lost" "No, no, not lost." Chloe frowns and tries to comfort the bane. "Not your fault, either. They have power, you said, you're so small, so tiny. It's ok, not your fault.." The bane sighs, absently rubbing against Chloe as she pets him. "My orders. To watch and wait watch her. Lost her. My orders failed. My fault." "Maybe they failed, but it's not your fault. If they were more powerful, so much powerful then such a little thing, it couldn't be your fault. Don't you see?" 14 "Make her stop, make her stop! She's making it so much worse.." Chloe whimpers. Projecting feelings of calm and reassurance, Karieta cautiously moves closer. "What is worse? Tell me what is making things so bad, and we will try to solve it..." After taking a deep, shaky breath, "Gegi is, miss...making it so bad... so dark. When she reached out for me, it just all went dark." "I do not think she intended to harm you. She would not do that." "She _did_ do that. I could see, and then she reached out, and then I couldn't! Then just a moment later, things started to come mildly into focus, but not like normal sight. I just... I know you are there and that there's a table," she points to a table, "there. I don't quite _see_ it, but I do." She looks flustered, confused. "That was my work Chloe--you seemed distressed at the loss of your sight, so I have extended you mine for the duration..." Karieta interjects mildly. "So.. if you stop, will I be blind, see monsters where no monsters are, or.. will things be normal?" She shakes her head. "The crystal, give me the crystal, please, it will make everything better," she says pleadingly. "Sometimes what makes us feel better is not necessarily the cure," Karieta says. "Please take my hands, Chloe. We'll try to restore your sight, and make everything all right again." A subtle wave of reassurance and serenity flows from her to Chloe... Chloe's muscles noticeably relax and her breathing gets slightly more normal. This all seems to perplex her, but she doesn't seem to mind. She reaches out one of her hands to Karieta, the other still gripping a knife down by her side, and whispers, "Can you get rid of the taint, too? I don't want the Garou to... whatever it is they do." "I shall try. If I am correct in my assumptions, you should soon feel better." She takes Chloe's hand gently. "Now, please close your eyes, and try to imagine.....imagine the flame of your soul. Tell me what it looks like..." She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes, but can't help looking a bit like a cynic at a seance. "Um... it's like a..." she sighs. "I don't know, like a small flare, but it's so windy...?" 15 The rift has devoured Garret, Rhiannon, and Gegi. Various magicks have been worked against it. tabula rasa has jumped inside. Bavin has helped Astarial to regain his magick. The metallic cat has moved to stare with surprising threat. A dark voice has laughed at them all. A demon, with a soul to claim, whose name is Astaaroth. And the rift is still there. Astarial, angry at the rift since it swallowed someone he was speaking to, hands a small globe to Karieta, who cups her hands around it in acceptance. She hefts it a few times, feeling the weight, then tosses it into the rift. Nothing happens for a moment... And then, of course, it's total chaos. The rift suddenly flares outward, reaching it's former size. A tortured wail comes from within. There's a flare of bright blue light, and the rift spits out a rather damaged tabula rasa, an unconscious Garret, and a roiling cloud of shadow with burning green eyes, which drifts up to the ceiling, shreiking incessantly. a moment later, the rift spits out tabula's other arm, which slides across the floor and stops at Karieta's feet. Garret stirs. "Unhhh..." Quick as a flash, the shadow descends from the ceiling and encloses him. There's a muffled scream from within. The rift begins to shrink, very quickly. The cloud vanishes, revealing Garret on his knees, his eyes closed, his hands clutching at his throat, his face drawn into a grimace. He opens his eyes. They're burning green. Bavin appears, right on cue. "Lord 'Astaaroth'", he begins in a mocking tone, "Many things can be seen in a mirror... And one of them is The Truth!" The mage/demon rises unsteadily to his feet. He hisses with displeasure at the word "truth". His face begins to shift chaotically. "You...dare...threaten...me..." He seems to collect himself. His voice is an odd composite of his own, smooth tones and Garret's own voice. He seems weak and tired for some reason. Bavin produces a small hand mirror, and a blue flash goes out, illuminating Garret's face, and his eyes are drawn to the Mirror in which for an instant he sees the Complete Truth. Astaaroth screams and throws Garret's arms up, stumbling backward as though Bavin has hit him. "TAKE IT AWAY! BY EVERY DARK LORD, TAKE IT AWAY!!!!" "I only hope his mind can take it", murmers Bavin, "It is fortunate they usually forget." And he holds the Mirror ready in case, gods forbid, a second glance is required. Garret/Astaroth falls to its knees, it's roiling face twisted further in horror. "NOTRUENOTTRUENOTTRUE!!! IAMREALAMREALAMREALAMREAL!!!" At the same time, the albino mage steps forward. He holds a knife of silver and iron. Forged by Mortals and untouched by Magick it still seems to hold power. He stands, blade in left hand, and stares at the GarretDemon. "Astaroth. I know *your name*. And by your name and by my blood", he raises the knife and slices across the palm of his right hand. Blood runs down the blade, "I charge and bind thee to release without harm Garret Corven bani Euthanatos and the others whom you have taken from this place." Confronted by Bavin's truth mirror on one hand, and Shane's threat on the other, Astaaroth releases Garret, who falls limply to the floor, and takes the form of an amorphous black shadow with burning eyes. It drifts away from them both, like a whipped dog trying to find a place to hide. "Now, while it's weak!" Karieta and the pregnant woman dive into the rift, hoping to rescue the other missing people. Astarial steps forward. His expression looks carved from stone, and his voice becomes very quiet, and very, very cold. "Hear me, spawn of the Abyss. You will instantly return those others you have taken from this place, or else be bound for now and eternity, never to know aught but torment again. Obey my will and command now, or suffer the consequences until Time itself dies." Anger creeps into his voice. "And if you have harmed either of them, then by Ultoris I will feed your stinking soul to Oblivion myself!" The cloud pauses, and appears to scrutinize Bavin, Shane, and Astarial. A wave of hot anger moves out from it, and it turns to the rift, which stops shrinking. Resentfully, the demon speaks. "They may now step through." Garret, in the meantime, is hauling himself to his feet, looking *very* ill. He staggers across the room towards the albino, his face haggard, and his eyes bloodshot. The cloud hisses and makes to move towards him, then thinks better of it and stays back. "Rhiannon...Shane, where is Rhiannon?"