1 Gegi looks at Astarial. "When I was pulled through, made real here, recreated, like I told you. It was right then that the rift to Garret opened." Garret nods slightly. "I think your thread was anchoring me. When it snapped..." "Anchoring you?" "I think so. You remember when I told you that your fate was tied to mine? When you were pulled here, it snapped loose." She nods. "And we got the idea about pulling me through to here after the dark lady came. So if she were working with Astaaroth... and she gave us to you to be protected..." "The obvious question being, from what?" asks Garret. "I..." she pauses. "If she knew you so well, she must have also known that you were a good man. Not given over to the dark. Not fallen. And knowing that, she gave us to you..." He cocks his head, looking surprised. "So she was actually trying to help instead of making things worse?" "I have no idea. It just seems that if she knew so very much about all of us, and about the future, it would be foolish for us to assume that everything happening now is not going exactly as she planned it..." Chloe finally interjects. "Aren't you the one who got so angry with me when I wouldn't acknowledge that she was evil, wanted us to be evil?" The desire to throttle Chloe wars with the urge to burst into hysterical laughter and manages to surface as only mild annoyance. "I don't -know- what she wanted, or why she did to you what she did, or to all of us... I just don't know." "And," more softly, timidly, "I wasn't hers to give. I mean, I'm quite sure you're a very nice man, sir, but there's no reason I should, or should need to, belong to you alone. at all." Gegi grins at that. "Well, I didn't mean it in quite that way..." "I wasn't hers to take or to give," Chloe repeats as if that will make it true. "If it be in her power, though..." the girl sighs and looks regretful now for interjecting at all. Garret can't hide his smile. "You're right, of course. Nobody *belongs* to me, although I feel a little responsibility towards you and Gegi. But that's my choice." Chloe shakes her head. "No, she forced that on you. We'd never even been introduced before this whole mess, I believe..." "She couldn't force me to care about either of you. But I do. Because I want to." Rhiannon interjects calmly, "Garret, to my knowledge, be nay t'type to wish a woman to belong to him alone. He hath accepted that I love Emrys as much as he, after all. And t'only person who canst decide that thou belongs to someone is thee." Chloe looks pleasantly shocked that Rhiannon is talking kindly and calmly to her. She nods in agreement, but then asks, "But cannot a person be taken, without a choice of their own? Not that Garret would do that, of course, but 'tis possible." Garret smiles at Rhiannon, then looks at Chloe again. "You belong to you and you alone until you decide otherwise, no matter what anyone else tells you. We just want to help you figure out some things." She bows her head slightly, "Thank you, sir. Believe me, that is much appreciated." "Not at all," he says, running a hand through his hair. "Helping people is part of my job, strange as it sounds." "We will figure this out. We will be fine." Gegi looks around and sighs. "I don't suppose 'Trust me, I'm a mage' would go over very well right now." 2 Chloe shakes her head. "Or maybe I'm insane and none of this is truly happening.." Astarial looks rather worried. "Don't think things like that. It's only a short step from thinking that you're insane to managing to drive yourself insane." Gegi chuckles quietly but says nothing. Astarial throws a clear you're-not-helping look at Gegi. <* It was only my own sanity I was doubting *> she sends. Chloe ignores her and says, "I was just trying to name all the possibilities." "Even so, I think it's probably best if we proceed from the understanding that all this is real." Chloe holds the mirror, concentrating, as a time past begins to reform. The image begins to move, reproducing events. Faint voices can be heard emanating from it. Soon, the 'lady' walks in, with her eyes closed, and splits into two copies, one of which walks over to a group by the bar. "That's curious. Who are they, do you know? I wonder how they're involved in all this." "Oh, them. A bunch of mages. From the Tradition side." Gegi waves at one of the timelines currently discussing Ascension politics. "They were planning a... planning something against one of the Technocracy strongholds. Iteration X, the group that wants to turn people into machines. A lot of people here have a serious grudge against them. Anyway, they have this incredibly powerful realm as a base of operations - Paul here was trying to organize a strike. They had at some point mentioned trying to get Nephandi to chase them towards the place so as to distract the guardians..." The Lady in the image walks to Gegi and kneels to her, saying "We're all counting on you." Gegi gasps. On seeing and hearing that, Astarial gasps as well. He looks suspiciously at Gegi. "Are you absolutely *sure* that you don't know rather more about what's going on here than you're telling us?" Chloe stares at Gegi, eyes accusing. She must know more. Astarial nods slightly. Gegi winces. "I know a lot of things... I just don't know what's important." She fidgets. "It's like what the gremlin said... a little demon creature I met on the other side. He said everyone was rooting for me. I didn't know at the time about the taint on me... but she must have known, and repeated those words, that idea, to scare me. To remind me that I can't get away from them. They keep coming after me. I don't -want- them to..." "Who? Who's coming after you?" "The demons. The bad people." "Well, what is it about you that calls you to them?" asks Chloe. "Perhaps, I mean hopefully it need not be as drastic as Garret's, but perhaps you could give them something in exchange for your freedom?" Gegi shudders. "I don't want to give them anything of me. They have no right to it. I didn't do anything. Anything I gave them might give them power over me. And I am not theirs." Chloe looks at the floor. "It is no different for me." Astarial looks at Gegi. "It is a very good question, though. Do you have any idea why you have this affinity for demonkind?" Chloe pipes up, "That Whitewolf man's game" Gegi groans. "Gaming has nothing to do with being possessed. Really. Well usually" In the mirror, the Dark Lady walks to Garret and holds up a hand, on which some symbol is carved. Astarial freezes the image again, and zooms in on that hand. "Well, that settles it. That's an Infernal symbol if I've ever seen one." "Not very subtle..." murmurs Gegi. Astarial resumes the action, and the Lady in the mirror vanishes. "Maybe she did think Garret was infernal, didn't feel a need to hide it. We're sort of assuming she's all knowing, but maybe -- hopefully not." Chloe suggests. "Hopefully not, indeed," Astarial says. "As I see it, we now know somewhat more than we did before. Facts: the 'lady' probably understands temporal translation - 'time travel', in effect; she knew you, Gegi, Garret, Rhiannon, and possibly another group of people here; and she knew facts about you that you didn't know at the time. Additional: Do I take it that you didn't know any of the others until you arrived here?" "No, I didn't know any of them. I'm not even from Gegi's world or time. We have real vampires in our world. Hers just mope and wear black and bite the heads off chickens or something." "Not on your first visit," Gegi murmurs with a smile. "Well, that would seem to confirm my speculations. And is it the same in your case?" he asks, turning to the brunette. Gegi shakes her head. "I did know some of the people here before I arrived, although in a slightly indirect way... Garret I only knew the name, but Rhi I knew... Yelyana, Edge, Jean-Baptiste, Padriac, Illyana... it's hard to remember who I knew when." He shakes his head. "Less likely, she's very good at mental probes, and was able to extract the necessary information from your minds to appear to know you; against that, it's likely to have been noticeable. Further, I believe Garret didn't know himself of his deal with Astaaroth, therefore that wouldn't have worked. Of course, one has to wonder if she didn't have some arrangement with Astaaroth herself. Of course, that would only give her information about Garret, since I don't believe that you had an arrangement with it?" Gegi shakes her head. "Never seen it before it stole us. Never made any bargains." "Another possibility is that she was able to look into the future to find these things out, against that, divinations are usually uncertain, and how would she have known where to look, or have been interested in looking at you specifically?" "Where does that get us? Not very far at all, but it gives me some idea where to look next. As I see it, there are a couple of possibilities; first, I could try a divination ritual to look along the paths of your future, to see if you do, in fact, meet her again at some point. (to Gegi) If I could trace yours as well, that would be a great help." "You yourself said divination wasn't very dependable...." "The main unreliability with divination is the problem of not knowing exactly where you're looking - if you don't know what questions to ask, the answers you get won't be of any use. In this case, I have a fairly good idea of what I ought to be looking for. At the start, anyway." "I guess you can look, then..." Chloe nods as well. "All right, though perhaps unless directly or imperatively related to this, it would not be such a good idea to tell me what you see in my future.. I've read stories about things like that, they usually don't end happily." "Right, then. I'll prepare the necessary devices." Astarial begins to set up. "It won't tell you much about your future, though. Divinations generally aren't like those in stories. About all you can do reliably is answer specific questions, view highly specific - and important - events, or else glean very general information with almost no specifics. Looking more than a few days ahead is often too foggy to be useful, except for significant events. But in a case like this, where we know roughly what we're looking for, and have multiple foci for the effect, we should be able to get useful information out." "The problem is with investigating the crystal is that I'd be extremely reluctant to do so while it's still attached to you through that weaving, just in case my probing triggers something. I've been thinking, though, and I think I've found a more safe way - I'd like to, hopefully with the assistance of a mage you can trust, perhaps Karieta or Garret, if they wouldn't mind helping - cutting the crystal out of the weave, leaving the parts which are bound up in your self present. That should eliminate most of the danger of unweaving as we wouldn't be touching the parts that are closely tied to you, and most of the nasty stuff I can detect is in the crystal." Chloe nods slowly. "Maybe Garret would help, I don't know. Karieta doesn't want to be involved, I think" The woman in robes is seen in heavy conversation with a dark stranger. "I can see that. I'll ask Garret, then." "Ask Garret what?" says the Euthanatos, crossing over. "Well, I'm thinking that investigating the crystal the 'lady' gave Chloe could yield much useful information - perhaps divining its past, and investigating the far end of the Correspondence-linkage that seems to be bound into it. But I don't want to try investigating it while it's still linked to the weaving that's entwined with her Pattern, just in case I accidentally trigger something. And I don't want to try an unweaving, as it's very closely linked to her Pattern indeed. I don't think risking it would be a good idea." "What I think could be possible safely, though, is to bypass the crystal and cut it out of the weave. What I've found is the weaving powers itself out of Chloe's Flow, and runs through a triggering mechanism attached to her mind. Then it runs out of her to the crystal, through the crystal, and back into her Pattern, where there's another weaving which I think would awaken her arcane talent, although I wouldn't bet against it having other effects. I think it runs through the crystal to trigger some nasty effects, though - the resonance I get from it would suggest something to bind her to the 'lady', and then there's that linkage." "Complex," says Garret. "I wonder how she maanged to do that complex a weaving in so short a time?" "That's something I've been wondering. But the scrying I did on the events as they happened would indicate that she knew something, at least, of time magick, as the effect she used to translocate away included a temporal element, so perhaps that was used to accelerate the casting. Now that I think of it, I believe I did detect some temporal resonances in my first scan of the weave, although it itself doesn't seem to have such elements. What I was hoping you could help with is severing the weave where it's vulnerable - at the points when it isn't close to Chloe's Pattern. If I can bridge the gap between the outgoing flow to the crystal and the incoming flow from it with another flow, and at the same moment you could cut the two flows at the crystal end, we should be able to sever the crystal completely without disturbing the rest of the weave. That was, it's reasonably safe for Chloe, we separate the particularly nasty part of the weaving from her, and we have the crystal to investigate safely," Astarial finishes. Garret frowns and runs a hand through his hair. "Ugh. Tricky. You sure you wouldn't rather just do something easy like, say, scramble her into light waves and pick out the non-crystal bits, then reassemble her?" he asks, smiling wryly. "I think that just might be overkill," Astarial says with a similar smile. "Besides, I need the crystal intact. Would you help, please? I'm worried that the linkage might be a remote activator for something, and I'd really rather not leave the crystal in the loop for much longer." "I'll do anything I can." 3 Chloe chats with Astarial. "Perhaps I can take you to visit my home, sometime when this is over... you would love the courts, and they you." "You are royalty?" "Oh no, nothing so exalted, just an advisor to the throne. I'm a fairly minor noble, all things considered." "I should like to see your home very much, though." "I would very much like to show it to you. It's a beautiful city, my home, all shining stone and gleaming gold, green and lovely, reflecting in the waters of the canals. I'm sure you'd like it." "Oh, it certainly sounds lovely! Like some utopia of the old stories. I'm sure I'd like it as well," smiles Chloe. Gegi smiles. "Your home sounds much nicer than mine... not that I really have one anymore." "I wouldn't know what your home was like, not being from this reality. Crowded and squalid, at a guess, if most human cities I've seen are anything to go by - and if it was a city, of course? I think the difference lies in my people's long lifespans - we plan for the future, as we'll be there to live in it." Chloe thinks for a minute, puzzled. "You do know I don't have any superpowers like the others, right?" she asks Astarial. "Your aura told me as much - or at least that your potential talent was latent -, but that hardly matters, does it? More than half of my own people only have very minor talents, and no-one thinks any the worse of them for it. It's who you *are* that matters, after all, not what you can do." Chloe smiles, pleased at such an answer. "Well, yes, I should hope that's the case. I just thought perhaps you thought that there was something impressive or informative I could show to your court." "Nothing but the radiance of your beauty." Once again a vague look of irritation flashes from Gegi to Chloe, hopefully too quickly to be noticed. Astarial, alas, does notice, but makes no more comment than a raised eyebrow. She blushes slightly and lowers her eyes. "Why, thank you. Such kindness you've shown me. Though, your home sounds far more beautiful than anything of this world." "I dare say this world has its places and times of beauty, though." Gegi's face hardens, and she turns to Chloe, abruptly cutting off the happy talk. "The crystal can't do anything to you if you don't want it to. All you have to do is get rid of it. Throw it away, destroy it of your own free will. And this will all be over. But know that if you do so, you give up all chance of ever awakening your magical self, of having powers of your own." Chloe blinks in surprise, her hand clasping the crystal in her pocket. "This is not necessarily a bad thing," says Garret instantly. "Magick comes with a heavy price tag." "Take what the crystal offers and you will open the door to a world beyond your dreams. You can make your dreams come true. You won't have to be afraid any more. Give up the crystal and you will live and die a normal, mortal girl." "She can make her dreams come true without sorcery. Sleepers change the world too, they just do it differently." He speaks earnestly to Chloe. "There is a lot to be said for being 'normal'. Power brings with it tremendous resposibility. Falter once, at the wrong time, and your own power will eat you alive. Even your small mistakes can spread carnage you never even dreamed of, for which you would bear sole responsibility. To light a candle is to cast a shadow, to change even a pebble is to change the world. To wield power is to submit yourself to its depredations, and they come in myriad forms." "But if you take the crystal, you might find yourself bound to someone you don't know, can't trust, and owing a debt that you cannot pay," Gegi continues. Chloe frowns, forehead furrowed. "But that's not fair! Certainly there must be more than those two choices. I don't want to destroy some potential I may not have, but I don't want so spend the rest of my life at the mercy of demons." Fully aware that it makes no difference to anything, "This isn't fair.." "Demons rarely play fair. Nor do angels." Astarial shakes his head, looking at Chloe. "Believe me, from what I saw in your Pattern, you have the potential to develop arcane talent. Whether you want to develop it is your own decision, of course, but it is there. And, as far as I can know, you won't be destroying it by throwing away or destroying the crystal. There are other ways to awaken it than that." Gegi continues. "Remember again that your eyes and your mind have been fooled before, that you have been lied to for most of your life, and that no matter how many new truths seem to have been revealed here, they still may be workings within workings. Think very carefully about who to trust. It's your choice. You are the key." She looks back to Astarial and shrugs. "I know how these people work." He asks suspiciously, "Might I enquire *how* you know?" She shakes her head slowly. "I don't know how I know anything any more.... I just know things. My mind's like that a lot. Knowledge that just falls in from nowhere. I just -know-." He looks at her curiously, then nods slowly in comprehension. Chloe looks very confused. Then angry. As angry as she can look, that is, which is more huffy and frustrated. "How do you know all this? How do you know I'm the key? And it's not my free choice, because if it were, I'd have other options!" Gegi laughs, with an edge to it that hints she's beginning to fray under the stress. "It's a story. It's just like in the stories. There are rules these games follow. There are ways things have to be done. And you're a main character... aren't you happy?" She's not happy. "Look, I know you play games because there's some sort of attraction of the dark side and you don't really bite people, but this is not a game, Gegi!" "Not a game? Are you sure?" "And if there are indeed rules, it seems y- she is writing them as she goes along." Gegi smiles. "I'm only a pawn, same as you well, maybe a knight, now. A little bit more movement, but still heavy restrictions. But I'm not the Dark Queen." The glitter in her eye and the cheerfulness of her speech makes one hunt for padded walls. 4 Where is that place? Where did it go? Where is my beautiful house? Gegi speaks with Michael, who never had tentacles on his left arm. Michael smiles, "My problem was more with sharing... I never told anyone _anything_, it used to really annoy them... I'd know exactly what was going on and never told them...", he shrugs, "I didn't really see the point. It's not as if knowing what was coming ever helped us face it..." "Knowing what's to come doesn't always help. Knowing what came before can." She looks over at herself, Chloe, Astarial, and Garret. Reality carved from his own flesh; is it any wonder it hurts when we move? So tired. Sick at heart. Boneweary. Rolling the bones... "We changed their names... Raised them up and woke them from sleep... We gave them a purpose, to inspire humanity, to teach them of the magic in all the world, in every waking moment, to teach them to be free..." "That was always Christine's crisis... if you raise all to be free, then only madness ensues, the center cannot hold, and all destroys itself, but if you leave structure in place, leave the order, leave the command, then you betray yourself and everyone else, you betray freedom... and who loved the masses more? I, who can barely stand the mindless ones but would gladly take control of them, keep them safe, or she, who would put a sword in every hand and teach them all to fight, regardless of how unworthy of her they might be... and leave them broken and bleeding in the end." "Love has little to do with actions. People can do _anything_ with great motivations...", he shakes his head, "No-one can really say whether they love something more than someone else does, just whether they love it more than something else themselves..." "Even that judgement becomes hard to make." "She -is- Sabbat, but Wyld, not Wyrm... servant to the darker side of the Goddess. And who's to say who is right?" "It's so hard to comprehend other people's motivations from the outside... We shouldn't judge, even if we hate what they're doing they might think _we're_ the bad guys... They might even be right." "She... I... She's stronger in her beliefs than I am. More sure. Sometimes I envy her that. But at the same time, I know the damage she causes, know how many lives she has taken and will take, and know how she has betrayed herself without even realizing it." A meaningful look at Kao-Liang and Rhiannon. "She'd kill me if she knew. She'd have to. And I wouldn't blame her. She's mad, but she's strong in her madness... strong and beautiful." She laughs. "I fell in love with my own creation. Funny, isn't it? But I could never really bring -her- here, only a pale imitation... I don't have the talent to play -her-." "To stop us ever doing the same again, to stop anyone `corrupting' his `perfect' little world ever again..." "What's the point of having it if nothing changes?" "Oh, it was meant to change alright, but only by following what he'd originally set out... We were outside influences, that was the problem, contaminating the great experiment..." "But shouldn't everything really be a part of the greater plan? The ineffable plan?" He smiles, "See, you've got the hang of it already!", he speaks softly serious, "Hold onto your doubt, it makes you whole... You'll know what to do when the time comes." "But I didn't." He shakes his head, intent, concerned, "You're wrong. We all miss opportunities. We _can't_ take every branch of the river, we just _can't_. Our paths diverge from other people's all the time and it's _not_ our fault, it just happens... What about all the people you never even met?" "I have to try..." she protests. "Eventually someone will take the same path as you for a time, and at _that_ time you will know what to do... And it may not last, but that's not the point. Your paths may diverge again, but that's the way life works, you just keep floating down the river, living all the way, being filled with what surrounds you and not worrying about what isn't.", he smiles, "You _can't_ drink all of the river at once... You'd just drown." "This would be why I have so much trouble making decisions... so many choices, so many outcomes, so many ways lost with every step you take... it's easier not to think about it and just stay curled up with a book." She smiles. She shakes her head. "If you fear your madness then you must be sane, and believing that sanity, being mad, and desperate in your darkness saved, and believing in salvation damned.. what's the point? It's enough to make one switch over to predestination... then it's no longer your fault." "I wish I could use that as an excuse... It's tempting, but it's just not true. I mean, I know how it works, just because you know what's going to happen doesn't mean you make it happen that way, or even want it to, sometimes you just have to let things happen anyway. The whole predestination things just a big misunderstanding." She tries to clarify. "For a Christian, really, to believe in predestination would then imply that God knew all the mistakes you were going to make ahead of time. And bearing that, the concept of divine forgiveness fits in more easily. I'm not saying that your fate is set and you sit back and let it happen. Or maybe you do, because it was your fate to do such. Not that it's pointless to try, but that if you fail, you are already forgiven for it. I'm not saying it very well, and I'm not sure if I believe it anyway, but there's more behind that idea than just the surface dismissal." "It's not amusing. He knows that. Fascinating, more. Little serpents circling the candle flame, tongues darting, mesmerized. Sometimes I think I'd like to watch it burn." "Swallowing it's tail... Appropriate... Like killing your parents... Disbelieving the lie..." "I'm doomed, you know. Destiny." "Bullshit.", Michael says calmly smiling, language completely out of character, "Live your life, worry about your death when you get to it... Even then it doesn't matter, it's just a distraction, it's not as if it _means_ anything..." "That's what -I'm- saying." She shoots a quick look at Astarial. "If I obsess about it, I'll drive myself mad all the sooner. I have a life to live." 5 Chloe finally interjects. "Aren't you the one who got so angry with me when I wouldn't acknowledge that she was evil, wanted us to be evil?" The desire to throttle Chloe wars with the urge to burst into hysterical laughter and manages to surface as only mild annoyance. "I don't -know- what she wanted, or why she did to you what she did, or to all of us... I just don't know." Chloe fidgets, unsure of herself, before answering. "It's just that-- well, Gegi first you talk about all your dealings with demons. Then you say you don't know what's going on, it's not your fault. But then you make it quite apparent that you do know a great many things, about the crystal and her intentions and so on. Then you yell at me when I question her evilness. Then you say she gave us to Garret because she wanted us to be safe and protected." She stops and returns to passive mode, "I'm sorry, Gegi, but I fear you're just aren't making much sense to me." Gegi tilts her head, refocusing, although Chloe has not moved. "I rarely make sense. Or rather, I make perfect sense... to Malkavians." Chloe looks upset. "No, I didn't mean you were crazy, just confusing." Gegi refocuses again. "I -did- warn you not to trust me." Chloe's expression silently says, I don't. "This goes deeper than you know. You can't run away from this one, Chlo." Chloe takes a step backwards. "You are the answer. You are the solution." Timidly, desperately, "I don't even know the question" "This has nothing, nothing to do with you... you were just standing there, you made a good target. You got yourself into this." Chloe glances around, getting panicky. "You're doing it again!" "No!" Gegi clutches her head and whimpers. 6 Gegi turns to Chloe. "The crystal can't do anything to you if you don't want it to. All you have to do is get rid of it. Throw it away, destroy it of your own free will. And this will all be over. But know that if you do so, you give up all chance of ever awakening your magical self, of having powers of your own." "That is not necessarily a bad thing,' says Garret instantly. "Magick comes with a very heavy price tag." "No kidding." Rhiannon looks in. "Though what evidence hast thou that she wilt nay ever have magic shouldst she throw t'crystal away? An she canst be awakened with it, as 'tis my thought thou'rt saying, then like as not 'tis possible it couldst be done without it - or at least 'tis a tenable hypothesis until it hath been tested more." "I'm just guessing that with all the trouble they went to, they would have made it in such a way that she has to use what they provide... otherwise what would they have to bargain with?" "I hardly think so!" exclaims Astarial. "If the infernal weaving can awaken her latent arcane talents, than another weaving can be fashioned to the same end. My own people's Rites of Awakening would probably do the trick, and we would not ask a price so high nor so dark!" "She can have a good life without the need for power," Garret points out. "There is that." She looks at Chloe again. "If you want it to be over, I'm sure the people here can find you a good home. In another time, another place, where the people who were chasing you will never find you. You could be safe. Or you could stay with the people here, or go home with Astarial, and probably still have a few adventures, and depend on them to protect you. But you'd be all right." Rhiannon shakes her head, "Faulty reasoning again. An 'twas only Kindred chasing her, an very few Kindred knew of her in t'first place, one suspects that as long as she avoids her home, likely 'twouldn't be a problem, given t'Kindred dislike of traveling once holding a princedom. "I might be misremembering, but I thought she was away from her home when the man who was chasing her found her again? As long as she goes to another country, though, she should be all right... the Pub will break the trail." "Also, power is nay only magical - changing another's life with what thou dost with your own be certes power, even though it requires no magic, so she bears t'responsibility anyway. T'only difference be that magic be ofttimes more spectacular in its effects. And why must a normal person be protected by a mage or some such anyway? Canst she nay make her own choices as to finding a place for herself?" "She implied she didn't know where to go or what to do. I was pointing out that people could help her." Rhiannon looks seriously interested. "Dost truly think they tried to trap t'spell? Wonder if 'twas an interesting ward," she murmurs to herself, looking at Chloe with a rather speculative air. She then shakes her head. "An t'lady wert good enow to weave a spell that couldst nay be broken by those here, she wouldst have been good enow to do whatever she wisht without interference. Breaking a ward be always easier than making one." She cocks her head. "Though, really, an Astarial thinks that he couldst summon t'lady back, belike 'twould be more elegant to shift t'weaving of the crystal from Chloe to t'Lady, and see from her reaction to having the spell placed on her if t'crystal was meant to aid or as Chloe's bane." "The problem as I understand it," Gegi looks over to Astarial's rune-covered sketches, "is that the spell is so tightly wrapped around Chloe's soul or avatar or whatnot that they can't get it off of her without great risk of killing her, or worse." "Didst not Astarial say there was a Correspondence effect with t'mind magery? There be spells for a caster to take another's discipline - Be it possible for a mage to use another's magick ability as well? One suspects that 'tis easier to set t'spell before awakening." Gegi nods. "That's very possible, and one of the best reasons to be careful with the crystal I wonder." She looks intently at the floating crystal. "'I bind myself to thee', it says the question is, who's binding whom to what? Is Chloe supposed to use the crystal to become bound to a demon lord, or the Dark Lady, or is the crystal itself bound to Chloe, so that she can always find it if it's lost?" Garret pipes up. "For her to control the crystal from a distance, she would have to incorporate some spatial magick. Unfortunately, that's not my forte at all, I can't ward to save my life. And yes, it is possible to control another's magick, although it's quite difficult. You'd have to somehow control the wizard's Kia, his soul, probably through mind and spirit magick. And even once you've got the wizard under your thumb, you've got to deal with his avatar, which is certainly not going to give you his magick if it can help it." He shrugs. "The soul is the seat of magickal power. Control that, and you control his magick. It's easier said than done, though." "Much easier," says Astarial. "But you could achieve the same ends if you could use enchantment or simple persuasion to delude the wizard into thinking that he wanted what you wanted. Or use drug addiction, perhaps. But I digress" Garret looks at him. "Really, I don't know how much help I'm going to be. I'm good at manipulating and transforming raw magickal energy, and I know a bit of magick connected to the spirit, but as far as warding goes, I'm completely clueless. But we'll see." He sits on the floor and draws one of his knives. He then cuts his hand open and begins drawing symbols on the floor in blood. "I don't think we'll need too much in the way of warding. If this "lady" wants to appear here, let her! That way we might finally get some answers but tell me what you detect, I'll add it to my notes." 7 "You remember when I told you that your fate was tied to mine?" asks Garret. "When you were pulled here, it snapped loose." Gegi nods. "And we got the idea about pulling me through to here after the dark lady came. So if she were working with Astaaroth..." "It might have been a ploy to get me into his power. On the other hand, it could have been her way of forcing me to deal with the problem. Let's face it, this is one of the most disadvantageous places for him to try and collect from me. I get the feeling that if it were strictly up to him, he would have waited until I was less well defended. He wasn't stupid, demons seldom are." Shane breaks in. "Maybe she had a grudge against Astaroth, and knew that if she forced it to act here, it would be destroyed? Nephwrack got trapped here, didn't he?" Garret nods. "That is a possibility as well. That scenario paints her in the most favorable light. We just don't have enough information." "Not necessarily favorable," Shane says. "Demons and Nephandi don't always get along with each other either." "Ugh. Good point. So we're reduced to the level of pawns again." He sighs. "I suppose I should be used to it by now." Astarial says, "I can think of another couple of possible scenarios. Firstly, there's the possibility that she herself had some arrangement with Astaroth, and this was her way of double-crossing him to avoid having to pay the price." Garret looks thoughtful. "She really should have known that he wouldn't succeed. And if she knows so much about me, then she would know what I'd do to an Asura that I had at my mercy. That seems plausible." "Another possibility I thought of is - would you have helped Chloe with her demonic taint? Perhaps she induced Astaroth to try and collect from you then to distract you - or, if he had succeeded in keeping you, to remove you completely." "If so, it was a very clumsy attempt. I'm starting to have a hard time believing that she would think Astaaroth could actually have kept me." Gegi continues, "It just seems that if she knew so very much about all of us, and about the future, it would be foolish for us to assume that everything happening now is not going exactly as she planned it..." He nods sharply. "Point taken. On the other hand, looking into the future is far from certain. Still, it does sort of smack of something planned, doesn't it?" "Taken from -that- standpoint -- and this is all still very hypothetical -- her interference with both you and I could be seen to be a positive thing. But then there's Chloe. I don't see how driving her mad could be seen as a benefit to her..." Gegi muses. "This isn't over yet. She could surprise us." 8 "Think very carefully about who to trust," Gegi says. Astarial looks at Gegi for a moment, considers for a moment, and then shrugs. Turning back to Chloe, he draws his stone dagger from beneath his robe, and draws it sharply across the inside of his left wrist. Dark blood, a red almost purple, drips from the wound. Chloe jumps, face paling. "Sir!" Staring at the floor a few feet away so she can see him peripherally but doesn't have to look at the blood, she listens, eyes wide. "This I do swear, upon my heart's blood: that I shall neither seek to do thee harm, nor aid any who would work harm upon thee. This I do swear, upon my soul's life: That I shall not speak falsely to thee of what I do know, nor conceal from thee what thou asks of me. This I do swear, upon my name's honour: That I shall guard thee with my life, and assist thee in this peril. This my duty I shall not forsake until thou dost release me or be turned to Corruption, else may night's darkness take me, and oblivion consume my soul." As he speaks this oath, his aura flares brightly silver, visible for a moment even to physical sight. Very quietly, Gegi points out, "Although I appreciate your display, since she has had her own senses proven false so recently, I don't think witnessing your oath makes things any clearer... but -I- at least know you would not harm her." Chloe does not seem to hear. She swallows hard and looks at Astarial, her eyes intent on meeting his yet somehow consistently falling to his wrist. "Sir, I thank you with all my heart and while this is in some strange way comforting and rather like the chivalry of old Sir, you didn't have to do that" "In this, Gegi was right. You have - had - no reason to trust me. I thought it best, perhaps, to provide you with one. And while in truth I would not have harmed or abandoned you, I thought perhaps it might reassure you to have it openly stated." "It was certainly a very noble gesture, much appreciated. Especially considering it must have hurt a good bit." "Perhaps a little. But it's tradition, in the Empire, when one pledges one's formal oath. It makes it binding upon my people - and I dare say it discourages people from swearing frivolously." "I did try to make it clear that I trusted you, sir." "Best to leave no doubt in anyone's mind." She smiles. "Your noble nature is quite obvious, sir." Finally allowing her gaze to settle on his wrist, she gingerly reaches for his arm. "We should bandage this" And then she glances quickly up at him, a small girlish smile of thanks on her face. He lets Chloe look at his wrist. It's a clean cut, and the blood has mostly clotted. "My thanks. I think I have a handkerchief here somewhere" She takes the cloth and tenderly dabs at the blood, then applies a moment of pressure to the wound. "Does it hurt still?" "Only a little. I'm quite used to it by now." She frowns as she removes the cloth and looks at his wrist, covered with a tracery of old, light scars, and one thicker scar running parallel to the most recent cut. "My goodness! Astarial, one of these promises you make is going to be the death of you!" She smiles. "I do hope you'll understand my hesitation to do such things, if you ever need a promise from me." "Most certainly." "But my word is no less binding," she says, and smiles just sweetly and genuinely enough to prove that it's true. He smiles back, obviously charmed. 9 Gegi stares past Chloe. "I rarely make sense. Or rather, I make perfect sense... to Malkavians." Distinctly alarmed-looking, Astarial turns to Chloe. "Would you happen to know what a Malkavian is? Or why she makes sense to them?" "Well, I heard they were these lunatic vampires, but then I met one and he was very kind and gentle. They all do have some sort of derangement and, among other more dark things, are known for being impossible to comprehend." Gegi chuckles quietly to herself. "Only to the linear" She clutches her head and whimpers. Astarial walks over to her, presses the fingertips of one long-fingered hand against her temple, and concentrates. Chloe's wits have a rather short and pathetic battle with her humanity. Not really knowing why, she steps closer to Gegi, trying to see what's wrong, and says, "Gegi. I-I'm sorry" "Make it stop, make it stop" Gegi whispers, clearly in pain. Despite an extreme discomfort about mindspeech, Chloe wishes rather hard that she could do it. Silently squinting, she tries to communicate "What's wrong with Gegi?" to Astarial. Seeing Chloe's efforts, and correctly interpreting them, he extends a delicate, but heavily shielded, mental touch. <* I'm not sure, to be honest. It's possible she might have something to do with - might even be, in the future - the Dark Lady, but that's only my speculation. It's also possible that the stress of coming here from another reality, or an earlier experience with a demon, has scrambled her brain somewhat. About the only thing I can be sure of is that her mentality isn't particularly well balanced, right now. And by the way, it might be an idea to come up with an excuse for all this . It's probably best, right now, not to let her think that we're talking behind her back. *> His expression doesn't change a bit during this. Chloe touches Gegi's hand lightly, looking to Astarial. "Gegi, you have to tell us what's wrong. What we can do, or at least describe what it feels like. Is she in your head, as well?" Gegi grabs at Chloe's hand and squeezes it painfully. Chloe winces. "Everybody's screaming" She releases Chloe and doubles over, making a lot of high-pitched scraping noises. (Attempt to scream. Aim for a really high pitch and don't give your voice enough support to sustain it. Throw the sound backwards so that you're swallowing the scream. The wash of static that emerges is the sound that she's making.) Growing more worried, Chloe looks desperately at Astarial for aid. "Please, what's happening to her?" A frown crosses his face as he keeps his fingers pressed to Gegi's head. "I'm not sure. There's a lot of noise in her head and I don't like it one bit." Gegi suddenly stops and relaxes, still bent over. Chloe takes a few steps back and looks at her in mild shock. "What just happened?" Gegi's body jerks as a shudder runs through her. "Just a little overload. It happens. I'll be all right." Her voice is strained, but reasonably sane. "And do you have any idea why it happened?" asks a reasonably concerned Astarial. She places a hand on her head carefully, as if afraid it might fall off. "I think" she starts, still bent over. "I think that was a practical demonstration of what they call paradox." Astarial is confused. "But doesn't that only happen when you violate the so-called laws of reality in some horribly obvious way? What did you do?" "Too much or too often, I think," she says, not really answering the question. "I don't know, I'm new at this stuff." Garret answers for her. "Telepathic communion, which you've all been engaging in, is impossible here. That's why I've been staying out of the conversations. I don't need any more paradox." "I thought it had to obviously violate reality in some way, so that people could perceive it? How could anyone tell if we were talking telepathically?" "It doesn't have to be obvious, that just makes it worse." Garret runs his hand through his hair. "This is like trying to explain what water is to someone who's never been wet. This reality makes a series of distinctions about what is and is not possible. Flight, for instance, is impossible, unless you're wearing a jetpack or onboard a flying device like an airplane. Telepathic communication is impossible, even among the Awakened. Magick has to be disguised to appear mundane in order not to garner paradox. For instance" Garret draws his revolver, points it up into the air, and pulls the trigger. There is an audible click. "Guns misfire all the time. They're notorious for it. It's entirely possible that mine simply chose this moment to misfire. Telepathic communication, though, is blatant unless you can insinuate your message into your target's mind in such a way that it doesn't seem like telepathy. Disguising it as a conversation that she just now happened to remember, for instance." 10 "But know that if you do so, you give up all chance of ever awakening your magickal self, of having powers of your own." "That is not necessarily a bad thing," says Garret instantly. "Magick comes with a very heavy price tag." Chloe thinks for a moment. "It may sound silly, sir, but it seems worse than throwing away power or magic. It's throwing away potential." He shakes his head. "It's making a choice. It's only one way of building and expressing your dreams." "I wasn't referring to the choice of whether or not to awaken the latent talent, I meant the choice of whether or not to destroy the possibility of ever having said choice. I've learned quite a lot in here so far, but I certainly don't feel ready for that sort of decision." "Well, if I have anything to say about it, you'll be free to make whatever choice you want," he says, getting a mulish look on his face. "Just as soon as Astarial and I can figure out this crystal." Garret speaks earnestly. "There is a lot to be said for being normal. Power brings with it tremendous responsibility. Falter once, at the wrong time, and your own power will eat you alive. Even your small mistakes can spread carnage you never dreamed of, for which you would bear sole responsibility. To light a candle is to cast a shadow, to change even a pebble is to change the world." "It's not that I want this power more than anything in the world. It's not even that I want it at all. Right now. But to throw away the possibility of ever lighting a candle, well, it just seems wrong. Perhaps, though, it's the only way to keep her from me." "We're working on it. She has no right to force this kind of choice on you. It's wrong, and I intend to do what I can to screw it up." "Thank you, sir. It's a shame that those who have the power to do things like this don't tend to care about rights." He sighs. "Tell me about it." "Think very carefully about who to trust," Gegi says. "And most carefully about trusting yourself. Especially if you don't know who you are," Garret adds. Chloe starts. "He mentioned that, too. Lachesis. I know who I am. The past may be almost as cloudy as the future, but I know who I am.?" "Lachesis is seldom wrong. I think you're seeing things a good bit more clearly recently, aren't you?" She nods. "The monsters are certainly gone and I pretty much understand what Astarial has described is happening." "Lachesis' readings can change, but aren't usually inaccurate." 11 Garret smiles at Chloe. "She couldn't force me to care about either of you. But I do. Because I want to." Chloe looks up at him with a small smile of respect and thanks. "I wanted to help you, as well, with your demon problems. I tried, but, well, it didn't go as well as the others' plans." "Never mind. People can only do as much as they're able. It wasn't your responsibility to single-handedly rescue me from demonic possession." "No more my responsibility than I am yours, right. I was still concerned." He holds up his hands, laughing. "Okay, point. I bow to your logic." "But cannot a person be taken, without a choice of their own? Not that you would do that, of course, but tis possible." "I could force you to do certain things, but that's not the same as owning you. Even if I invaded your mind and made you dance like a marionette, part of you still remains your own." "What if you made me think I liked dancing as a marionette? Not that that is the situation, just out of curiosity, sir. What would be left of me, deprived of free will, and of the knowledge that I was without it?" "Well, I suppose with enough time and effort I could do that, but it never lasts. The human mind is incredibly strong, and it rejects attempts to manipulate it. Any spell I imposed on you would eventually erode." She looks surprised. "Then over time her spell will erode by itself?" "Possibly. It could take years, though. Besides which, this thing is drawing on your personal energy, and it could be doing things to you we can't see. I'd rather get it off you now." She nods, then ponders. "What if you forced me to hurt someone, when left to myself I'd never hurt anyone?" "Then the responsibility for that action falls on me, not you. It wasn't your choice." "I don't see how that is different than owning someone, then, if you make all their choices for them and leave them with nothing but sorrow for what you've made them do." Quickly adding, "I keep using 'you' when I mean 'her' or at least 'them', the demons." He shrugs. "I've used limited mind control on at least two occasions. Not something I'm proud of, but I couldn't think of anything better at the time. Part of you is always free. I could take the physical you, and maybe even the mental you, but some part would always struggle. Unless you gave yourself to me freely, I can't completely own you." "There's the difference, though, if you did it because it was the only way to help someone. I don't think she was trying to help me by making everyone look like monsters." "It's still manipulation, no matter why it was done." "Would you not prefer being manipulated by someone with good intentions than by someone with bad, even if you prefer more not to be manipulated at all?" "It would depend on who their intentions were good for, me or them. Forcing somebody to make the right choice takes away the whole point of living. They're supposed to learn to make the right choice of their own volition." She bows her head slightly. "Thank you, sir, for all your help. Believe me, it is much appreciated." "Not at all," he says, running a hand through his hair. "Helping people is part of my job, strange as it sounds." "It certainly doesn't sound as strange as a job requiring the demonic corruption of young girls, sir. And even if it be, I am all the more grateful." "What, you want to be corrupted?" He grins. "That's more Paul's department." She looks embarrassed and tries again. "I meant helping others for no reason doesn't sound stranger than hurting others for no reason. And if it is in fact stranger, I am all the more grateful." "I dunno, considering the number of people who practice random acts of kindness comparaed to those who do drive by shootings well, one of them occurs a whole lot more than the other." Solemnly, Chloe says, "Of course I don't want to be corrupt." Garret looks mock-disappointed. A slight smile breaks the solemnness. "It's just really not my style." 12 Chloe is not happy. "This is not a game!" "Not a game? Are you sure?" asks Gegi. "Maybe a game to her, I don't know. But it's certainly not entertaining or inconsequential to me." "Oh, don't worry. When you get over being afraid that you'll die at any second, everything else starts to show through as the absurdity it is life is wonderfully entertaining." Chloe checks to see if she is joking, and then realizes that she doesn't know if it'd be worse if she was or wasn't serious about a thing like that. Softly, under her breath, "You have some odd sources of entertainment." "Chloe, life can be really rotten sometimes. People get killed for no reason. Horrible things happen. Love flickers and dies and no one cares. Sometimes it's good to laugh, to not take it all so seriously." "Laugh at death and loss of love? That's monstrous! Laughter trivializes such things, and when you start that, you're soon to stop caring about anything at all." "Not so," says Garret. "Death, in particular, should be laughed at regularly. It takes away its power to scare you. Loss of love is sad, but if you can't laugh at yourself, it's only going to get worse. Rhiannon told me once that it's entirely possible that the world is one big joke the universe is playing on you. Sometimes, when my life gets hard, I think about that, and it gives me some much-needed perspective." "Trust me, you don't have to worry about me ceasing to care," says Gegi. "But these things are serious!" Astarial protests. "Laughing at them, you lose one of the most precious things to have - a sense of outrage." Gegi shrugs. "I did say only sometimes. Spend too much time outraged and you'll burn out either do yourself damage or lose the ability to feel it at all." "Or be spurred on to change things. It's being angry with the world as it is that leads one to make it better." "But you can't be angry all the time. You need balance. A time for grief and a time for joy." Gegi looks at the blonde. "I'm only a pawn, same as you I'm not the Dark Queen." Chloe eyes her warily. "Gegi?" She bites at her lip. "Do you wish you were?" "Me?" She sighs and sinks into a seat, wrapping her arms around herself. "What would I do with power?" she says quietly. "To have power is to make yourself a target. To play the game of politics means watching your back every second and measuring every word you say. Because even if you make it to the top of the pyramid, there will be thousands more beneath you clamoring for a touch of you, screaming and trying to take you down. To have control means exercising it every second to keep from losing it." Gegi shakes her head. "I don't want to be the leader. I don't want to be the one making the decisions. I don't want the responsibility. Power enough to defend myself and help others. That's all I need." Chloe moves to stand in front of her. "I'm sorry, it was just a question. You sounded a bit odd, in tone. But Gegi? Even the lower blocks of the pyramid have their own responsibilities it's just not the Queen." "Responsibilities? It depends on the game. Sometimes at the lower levels your responsibility is not to have one, no to think, but just follow all of your orders completely and don't ask any questions. And most of the time, like I said, the people in those games waste about half their time keeping the people below them down and about half trying to raise themselves up, and only use what's left over for the jobs they're supposed to be doing. I don't want to play." Astarial shakes his head. "Much as I hate to tell you this, but you rather lost that option when you became a mage. You have the power; therefore, you have the responsibility that goes with it and there's no escaping that. Now would be a good time to practice living with it." Very quietly, Chloe says, "I wish you would tell me what's wrong." "What's wrong?" Gegi smiles. "I'm losing my mind, that's what's wrong. I don't always handle stress so well, I need someone to hold onto, to keep my balance someone to make sure I don't hurt myself. I'm afraid that everyone here's getting fed up with me and the danger I'm bringing them." "Not quite yet," smiles Astarial. "It's just that there's rather a lot of crises happening right now. We can only handle so many problems at a time. As soon as they're done, bring on your demons! We'll handle them. One way or another." She sighs. "I wish Plots were still here. But he's got problems of his own to work out." She smiles. "A lot of the same problems, actually." Chloe tries to look comforting. "Of course they're not worried about you bringing them danger. Can't you see they all want to help? If you'll remember, actually, you're the one who told me that." "They all want to help you," Gegi mumbles quietly, but not quietly enough. 13 Two figures in military fatigues and chemical masks enter. Halting just inside, one of the persons closes the door, and then both figures pull their masks off. One of the persons is recognizable as Mitch, while the other is a female with crew-cut, almost black hair and a pale blond tuft in the middle of her bangs. Her eyes are a dark green, and her nose is aquiline. The name-tag on the fatigues reads: Cpt. Meade. Her face is lined with weariness, and her eyes show her surprise as she takes in the occupants of the Pub. Mitch, on the other hand, seems only to be filled with joy at seeing this place again. Perceptive patrons might notice a black socket behind his left ear. Gegi freezes, a look of panic on her face. "No, no, not again, I can't take it again" she whispers. Sitting down at a vacant table, the woman says, "I'll be damned, Mitch, but I guess you weren't insane after all. Just tell me this. Where the fuck is Firebase Tuatara?" Mitch answers, "Oh, I was, captain, and I guess I still am, a little. But not concerning this place. About your question, I don't know." Gegi takes several steps backwards, then turns and runs, hiding behind Astarial. "Keep him away!" she whispers frantically. <* NEPHANDI! Dark place crawling shifting blood seething throbbing fasoma don't let them touch me! Broken, he's broken don't make me remember! *> <* Don't panic! How do you know he's Nephandi? Have you met him before? How does he figure into all this? And what's a fasoma? Perhaps you'd better start at the beginning *> Nonetheless, Astarial produces his lens and stares cautiously at Mitch. She's clearly struggling with herself, fighting hard not to allow herself to think about something. <* Here, before, yes! Talked to me, sounded a little crazy, but I'm used to crazy wanted to show me Fasoma Span cut off his finger and summoned awful crawling darkness filled writhing don't make me remember! *> She jams her sharpened fingernails into the flesh of her arm, breaking skin, distracting herself. <*And the demons came and took him away, broke him, left me screaming *> <* Interesting. It certainly sounds, ah, Nephandic. I wonder what this Fasoma Span is, though? Would you permit me to examine your memories of this incident? You wouldn't have to remember yourself. *> <* I'd rather not have anyone digging around in that part, really. I'm afraid it could break the block. And I definitely don't want to remember what that felt like. Ask Karieta. I believe she saw or felt at least some of what he did. Or Edge. *> At that moment, Karieta's mindvoice drifts into the conversation, projecting reassurance and serenity. <* Be calm. It is unlikely he can hurt you here - there are many who would protect you. His mind tricks are only that - you can overcome them, if you wish. And if you need help, there are those of us who can. *> The robed woman smiles gently in her direction. 14 "Right, then. I'll prepare the necessary devices." Astarial begins to set up. "It won't tell you much about your future, though. Divinations generally aren't like those in stories. About all you can do reliably is answer specific questions, view highly specific - and important - events, or else glean very general information with almost no specifics. Looking more than a few days ahead is often too foggy to be useful, except for significant events. But in a case like this, where we know roughly what we're looking for, and have multiple foci for the effect, we should be able to get useful information out." Chloe shakes her head. "But, well, if you're looking for what's going to happen in the future with that lady in order to decide what to do about that lady" Her mind drifts off into the possibility of a man shooting his great-grandmother. "It's not actually a paradox. What the divination reveals to you is only the set of possible futures. That's why they become uncertain after only a few days - the number of possibilities probable enough to be worth considering becomes too large to handle. It's not like travelling into the past - the future is mutable, after all. Otherwise divinations would be worthless, as there'd be no way to change what you see." "So if all possible futures show some sort of common dark intervention, then that commonality is the key? But there was a girl here earlier who said she could see when someone was going to die. Surely that has too many variables to be able to determine in the manner of which you speak, no?" Chloe recalls Astarial's earlier comment that the Dark Lady might be a future Gegi, and tries desperately to mentally communicate, < * If she's a future her, would she know it was her? * > "As far as I know, you won't be throwing away your talent by throwing away that crystal. There are other ways to awaken it than that." She shakes her head. "I have enough problems of the supernatural nature right now without worrying about arcane magic. I just don't want to eliminate the future possibility, you see." "I doubt very much that would happen. As my studies have it, the talent which enables one to use magic is innate to one's soul. It can't be removed by any means short of actual death - which will not occur. But if you'd like to be sure" He fumbles in an inside pocket for a moment, producing a small golden sphere, which he holds up. "My people use devices like this to enable everyone to reap the benefits of magic. They're designed to be usable by anyone with talent, however much they possess, and whether it's been awakened or not, so you shouldn't have any difficulty using it. This one's very simple - all it does is glow for as long as you will it to." The sphere glows with a bright light for a few moments, then winks out again. He offers it to Chloe. "Try it, why don't you? All you have to do is hold it and concentrate on trying to make it glow, and that'll be proof that you have the possibility. Then, you could try again after we deal with this problem, and be assured that you haven't lost anything." She takes it happily. "Thank you, sir." She closes her fingers around it gently, and lowers her eyelids for a moment, a tiny smile on her lips. After the moment, she looks up at him, uncurls her fingers, and looks down at the glowing sphere. "What a lovely little thing!" 15 Garret sits down on the floor and draws one of his knives. He then cuts his hand open, and begins drawing symbols on the floor in blood. Chloe winces. "Must all mages draw blood to do magic? If it is the source of your power, can you not manipulate inside your system like the kindred?" Garret looks up, surprised. "Not all of us, no. But the belief that blood is a powerful substance is very, very common. I picked up this particular habit from my lover, who was Verbena. It seems to work well for me, although sometimes, I use prayer instead. I have to do what most feels right for the situation, and I think this one requires blood." "And the act of shedding it is symbolic. It's sacrifice, and sacrifice is all about pain." "Does it not hurt you even a little bit, sir?" "Of course, although I'm pretty used to it by now. The pain is part of the point. It clears the mind, sharpens the senses." She looks uncomfortable, but speaks anyway. "Perhaps since this magic was for me, though, it should've been my sacrifice, no?" Quickly adding, "But since it's already done" He smiles wryly. "Really, I don't work well using other people's blood, for the same reason that artists don't want to use anyone else's pencil or brushes. It feels wrong." He speaks to Astarial. "For the Dark Lady to control the crystal from a distance, she would have to incorporate some spatial magick." "There does seem to be some kind of linkage in the crystal," Astarial says. "I couldn't tell what its purpose was, though." "I can guess, based on what I'm getting from it," Garret says, looking up from his rune-sketching on the floor. "It's either going to notify the Lady or draw her back here when the crystal is used." "I figured it'd be something like that. Still, that's good. At least this way it's possible to find her." "Well, *I* can't, that would require magick I don't have." "If this Lady wants to appear here, let her! That way we might finally get some answers" Garret looks dubious. "Or a whole lot of trouble. You saw what her crystal did to me. I doubt I'd have many defenses against her." Astarial flexes his fingers, meaningfully. "Just let her get within spell's reach. Let's see how much trouble she can cause locked in a mirrorcage." "A who?" "One of my rather better-devised containment devices. It's a field of warped space such that everything that a prisoner tries to send out of it - energy or matter-based weapons, mental impulses, levinbolts - is reflected back in along the same line. In short, they can fight all they want, but only end up attacking themselves. Of course, if everything goes perfectly, it should be possible to trace her through the crystal and cage her at the far end of the link, and only then bring her back here." "I'm a firm believer in Murphy's law. We should plan for the worst." "Probably a good idea." Garret pulls up short. "Maybe that's what the linkage is for? So that the Lady can keep an eye on things? She certainly didn't like it when I tried to interfere with Chloe using the crystal." "That's a possibility. Maybe it *would* be best to set up some wardings against scrying, to start with; of course, from what we know of her they'd have to cover temporal effects as well as spatial, and probably ought to cover the Aspects as well for completeness. Perhaps even wards against unexpected arrivals, set to collapse and cage the unwanted visitor." "Whew, not my type of sorcery at all. My spells involve randomness, decay, self-alteration, mental talents, and raw magickal energy. I also know a bit about transmutation and seeing and calling to spirits." Astarial pulls over his diagram of the weaving and readies his quill. "What do you detect in there? I'll add it to my notes." "Complex, as you said. You know, I can't find any infernal traces on the weaving at all. Very odd." "Curious indeed. It makes me wonder if it was in fact her weaving, or if she was just delivering one preset by someone else. I'm sure she was Infernal..." He shrugs. "I don't know." "It's drawing power from Chloe's prime flow, not enough to hurt her, but enough to function. I think it's triggered to pull out more to defend itself, though." "So it is set to trap anyone interfering with it, then? What sort of effects?" Astarial scribbles on his diagram. "I can't see it, but it must be there. It burned me badly the last time I tried to mess with it. Chloe, when the crystal attacked me, did you feel faint or weak? It would have pulled the energy for such an attack right out of your personal pattern." "I--I'd forgotten about that in all the subsequent confusion." She looks very apologetically at his arm, "Is it all right now?" "Oh, yes, quite. Rowan's a very good healer, and if she hadn't done it, I could have repaired the damage myself. Healing magicks are something I worked very hard to master." Trying to remember, "It's hard to say, there were so many frightening things going on, I was already a little off. But I do remember a definite feeling of... well, yes, absence of strength, an inability to act almost because of it." "Just checking." He looks up at Astarial. "We need to set up magickal protections of the strongest sort before we start this. It attacked me once, and it quite probably would attack you as well. We need a supply of tass, too." "But it doesn't know when it's being studied?" Chloe asks. "Right. But I can't untangle the weave, so I can't tell if that's intentional or an oversight. It's tied via mind magick to Chloe, with a simple trigger spell. The trigger keeps it mostly dormant until she wills it to activate. The biggest problem I see is where the crystal twines around the juncture between her destiny, her soul, and her true pattern. It's got its hooks in good. I don't know if I could unweave something so complex." "That's pretty much what I thought," agrees Astarial. "I might be able to unweave it, but I'd almost certainly cause considerable Pattern damage in the process. It's not something I'd care to risk." "Mostly dormant? Is there a way to tell what activates it? Or perhaps it activates when threatened. Which means its not dormant because then it also knows when it's being threatened. And then it would know if we're planning to destroy it..." Chloe's brow furrows in worried confusion. "Wouldn't it?" "Whoa, slow down. It's not sentient that I can see, it's just a very complex working with lots of variables woven in. It's fully activated by force of will, specifically yours, but part of the spell is probably defensive, to keep me specifically, or perhaps anyone in general, from messing with it," says Garret. Duly placated, "Oh. Not that I do, sir, but if I wanted to, could I use it as a weapon? Or, rather, if it's my force of will that activates it, could the lady's force override that?" "I would say not, and it would be risky to try. The spell's not really under your control, it's just triggered by you." He goes on with the analysis. "The crystal is binding. It has a psychic imprint of an oath triggered along with the rest of it, along the lines of "I bind myself to thee." Nasty." "Is it binding if I'm forced to say it?" asks Chloe hesitantly. "It's binding if you activate the crystal." "Perhaps it's a good thing I have no idea how one would go about activating crystals" "Well, don't try, anyway. Things are quite nasty enough. My recommendation is to cut the lines at the point where they connect with the crystal, and provide it with an alternate source of Prime so that it can continue functioning as if nothing's changed. We can fool the weaving into thinking it's still drawing power from Chloe, and that it's still connected to her." "Sounds good to me. We'd need to match the resonance of the alternate source to her soul, though, to achieve an undetectable changeover." "That's where I can help. I'm quite good at changing resonance." "One thing, though. What are we going to do about the segments of the weaving that are still entwined in her self? I was thinking of simply splicing the Mind trigger into the Awakening weave where they previously connected to the crystal, if they can be matched. That should keep them from triggering anything, if they do anything we don't know about yet - and if they don't do anything nasty, then we might as well leave them." "Yes. The constuct will erode in time without reinforcement from the crystal." 16 Karieta moves to join Garret and Astarial in their discussion. "I do not believe I have the skill to undo the weaving without harming Chloe, but I can trace the linkage back to its source and I have set up a ward so that I will be warned if she comes here." Garret nods. "Very prudent. I really need to sit down and study some warding magicks, they come in so damn useful." Astarial asks, "Just spatial wards, or more extensive? From studying the records of her first disappearance, it seems she likes to use temporal means to travel as well, so you might want to add that to them if it's not already there. And probably planar wards would be a good idea, too." "For the moment, they are simple wards that will merely warn me if anything comes in using Correspondence in or around the pub. I could link what little Time I have in with it, but it would decrease the effectiveness of the original wards slightly. If she uses teleportation or any variations of it at all.....I will know." "That will probably cover it, then, as there was a Correspondence element along with the Time. But will they also cover stepping sideways? For all we know at the moment, that link could be set to summon any kind of unsavoury spirit." "Could I ask, while I'm talking to you, if you could tell me anything about him," he gestures at Mitch, "and something called Fasoma Span? Gegi seems convinced that he's a Nephandus, and is quite a state about it." She seems surprised. "Can't you *feel* it off of him? The wrongness?" "I can detect something... maybe I'll have a clearer view shortly." He gestures at the Astarial scanning Mitch with his lens. "I don't know anything about the Fasoma Span......all that I know is that the magick he pulled last time seemed to be hurting my mind as well as my senses....and I had to do some active shielding to keep it out." "Something Nephandic, or of similar type, then?" "So the crystal is set to trap anyone who interferes with it?" Astarial asks. Karieta looks confused. "Then why did it not affect me when I took it from her? That also is interference." Garret looks thoughtful. "Yes, that is so. Which would seem to indicate that it's only keyed to me. How reassuring." "It is, actually," says Astarial. "It might indicate that she was worried about you specifically trying to interfere with the crystal. Which would mean that we're on the right track." Gegi breaks in. "But when Karieta took the crystal, I got a nasty set of bad vibes and had to convince her to give it back to Chloe - did you feel it too? Maybe it chose to protect itself in a different way still strange that it burned Garret, though." "Really? I hadn't noticed, but I was sort of preoccupied. Hmm. Well, then we may all need protective wards." "Perhaps it would be easier to set wards around the crystal, rather than each of us individually. So, let's see, that would be Correspondence, Time and Spirit wards around the area we'd be working in, and Forces and Mind wards around the crystal, at least. Perhaps we should also put a Correspondence ward around the crystal, to stop it from sending any messages or being used for scrying when we cut it free?" "That sounds like an awful lot of magick to be setting up in an area that is not paradox-free" says Gegi. 17 Reality carved from his own flesh, is it any wonder it hurts when we move? So tired. Sick at heart. Boneweary. Rolling the bones Rolling them home. Rolling on the river. "She is Sabbat, but Wyld, not Wyrm servant to the darker side of the Goddess. And who's to say who is right?" "It's so hard to comprehend other people's motives from the outside We shouldn't judge, even if we hate what they're doing, they might think we're the bad guys they might even be right." "She I She's stronger in her beliefs than I am. More sure. Sometimes I envy her that. But at the same time I know the damage she causes, how many lives she has taken and will take, and how she has betrayed herself without even realizing it." Gegi casts a meaningful glance to Kao-Liang and Rhiannon. "She'd kill me if she knew. She'd have to. And I wouldn't blame her. She's mad, but she's strong in her madness strong and beautiful." "Strength holds it's own weaknesses." "God is love, love is blind, I am blind, therefore I am God" She laughs. "I fell in love with my own creation. Funny, isn't it? But I could never really bring her here, only a pale imitation I don't have the talent to play her." "It's not so unusual I used to fall in love nearly every day, with the damnedest things a melody half-heard, a scent half-smelt, a voice half-remembered, and sunset in the eyes" "Sometimes the world is a wonderful, beautiful place but then I get tempted to only sit and stare and watch and forget how to speak." A shake of the head. "Is that true evil? To sit and do nothing?" He smiles. "And I know what you mean. I've never been quite able to play myself. I'm far more the man than any I've been able to show." She smiles. "They never say I've changed, they only say that they're seeing sides of me they hadn't noticed before no portrayal of myself would surprise them." "The Sabbat doesn't serve the Wyrm. They don't corrupt, just kill. They're far more Euthanatos than Nephandi." "Depends on which Sabbat. They have their share of inf - well, you know what I mean." "Yeah, but that doesn't matter either." He shrugs. "They're just people, same as everyone else, no different. You make your choices, you pay the price, we all make mistakes, we all do bad things for what we thought were good reasons" Michael shakes his head. "It's not like there are that many really evil people, there just aren't any good ones." "There are people who think they are, aren't they? In love with the idea of their own darkness?" "We all miss opportunities. We can't take every branch of the river, we just can't. Our paths diverge from other people's all the time and it's not our fault, it just happens. What about all the people you never even met?" "I have to try" "Something. Not everything," he pauses. "Example time. Remember Jess" he looks a little wistful. "I was too preoccupied, I never considered the possibility until it was already time to go And it makes me sad, and lonely But." He places a lot of emphasis on the word. "If I have pursued her I would've missed so many other possibilities." His eyes seem cavernous, holding words in their midst. "We might not have succeeded had I been distracted" She looks off at the wall, her eyes unfocused slightly. "He has been hurt deeply. He is attracted to her, but fears fears her, fears bringing the pain again, fears himself, for he is as she is, a little mad and so she waits, ever close at hand, but never pressing, for him to come to terms with himself, in hopes that one day he will reach to her" "Look to the possibilities you haven't missed, to the good things your mistakes have freed you for. Don't stay chained in stuff it's too late to change." "I'm waiting for the next direction to pull me along" 18 Gegi gazes intently at Chloe and the floating crystal. "I still think we may be overcomplicating matters a little. This whole thing is about Chloe's choice, after all. If she really wants the spell off her, and is strong enough to take a little pain in the rejection, I think I know how to break it. All we need is a spiritually charged weapon - a blessed knife, maybe - and Chloe's willpower. It should work. Admittedly I read it in a book somewhere, but the theory is sound" Chloe jolts violently at the mention of knives. She wraps her arms around herself protectively. In a voice too firm for her, "The theory is not sound." "I'd be very interested to hear it, if you think you know a way. But I am rather suspicious of this idea of choice," says Astarial. "This weaving was imposed. If there looks like a choice, I wouldn't bet on there being one; I strongly suspect that if Chloe chooses not to give herself to this 'lady' willingly, she'll be taken by force. It's the sort of thing Night's Children enjoy, creating the appearance of hope and crushing it." "If she only wanted to take Chloe, by force or otherwise, she's missed a lot of good chances," Gegi protests. "Just a little while ago Chloe was terrified and sure that we were all evil monsters and that only the Lady could protect her. Had she snatched her away then, as she could have, if I understand what you're saying about the crystal, she might have had her for good. But she didn't. She has not returned. She has not done anything to alter the course of events since she left. I think Chloe's choosing is exactly what this is about, and her spell is probably designed to enforce that choice, whenever it is made" "If this idea depends on the weaving allowing a choice, I'd prefer to rely on the older methods. We know they work." "Chloe has to will the crystal and the spell to activate for them to do whatever it is they're going to do. It seems, then, that my idea, involving her willing them not to activate, to cease to function, to cease to be a part of her, would be fitting." "Then explain it to me, I'm all ears," says Garret to Gegi. "I don't have Sight myself, but I'm betting that there's a tie - a line - between Chloe and the crystal. What you have to do, then, is cut that line a knife or a fire that holds spiritual energies and would be able to interact with the line. At the same time, Chloe has to forcibly reject the crystal, say that it is no part of her, that she does not want it. It'll be a little painful, because the spell will try to convince her that it is part of her, that you are hurting her but if she is strong and refuses to let it keep a hold of her, it will simply fall away." Garret frowns. "Unorthodox. What do you think, Astarial?" Astarial's mindvoice, heavily shielded, creeps into Garret's consciousness. <* I don't think it would be a good idea to rely on any device which Gegi comes up with for dealing with this situation. There is some rather worrying evidence: temporal anomalies around her , aura , and the actions of the 'lady' , troubled fate approaching, conviction that she will be damned, knowing too much about these events Strongly suggestive of some unknown involvement in this or connection to this 'lady'. Even possible that the 'lady' is a version of her from a future time. I'd suggest that we approach any suggestions of hers with extreme caution! *> <* Maybe, maybe not. If she is at the heart of this, it's unknowingly. I was the one who helped bind her when Dagon took over *> <* Unknowingly in present time, perhaps. But if it is a later version we're dealing with, the present one wouldn't necessarily know. And whether unknowingly or not, it's still involvement. *> <* On the other hand, she does seem to know things we don't, probably due to her existing on two levels of reality at once. We should at least listen. *> <* Listen, yes, but I think we should take whatever she says with a large grain of salt. I don't think we can reliably distinguish between knowledge trickling in from another reality, if such indeed is possible, or a subconscious imperative planted by this 'lady' or existing backwards in time from a future her. *> While this goes on, Rhiannon critiques Gegi's suggested treatment. "T'main problem with that method I see be that an Gegi be wrong as to her belief, then ignoring t'pain wouldst be rather foolish. Pain is a warning, after all, that one is in danger. Aye, it couldst indeed be a deceptive trap to avoid it being broken, but an her analysis be wrong, then continuing a spell that be hurting her couldst be quite deadly." "It's going to hurt her to break it, at least a little. I don't think you can get around that. Remember the image in the mirror? Chloe accepted the kiss and the gift. It twined into her. It became part of her. Consent, even if uninformed. And some people feel that uninformed consent is just as binding." Gegi toys with her necklace, sparing only a small amount of anger for her demon troubles. "Cutting it out of her is going to be painful. She needs to know that beforehand." Analytically, Rhiannon adds, "If t'lady who placed t'spell was indeed a future Gegi, then she may be right as t'thought processes wouldst be similar - assuming of course that she be telling t'truth, or that her ideas on how to do magick wouldst nay work. Or couldst assume that t'lady was nay Nephandi, despite t'headache she gave me, and meant to help." She nods at Garret. "Didst tell me after all that many magi be crazier than a Malkavian, so she may have simply had an idiosyncratic means of Awakening." "Her motives are certainly confusing but she's not me. I would have known." "Though I have also heard that t'reason black magicians torture their sacrifices to death be because they gain more power that way. If thou believed that any pain Chloe felt due to thine efforts was normal and so continued, but that belief was wrong" she trails off. Gegi winces. "Ow. Point." "To me, it appears that new magi are greatly treasured by t'various groups of mages. What if Chloe be bait? If she indeed be potentially a mage, then setting a spell that shall torture her to death for t'lady's power, and in addition cause Garret, and mayhap Astarial as well, a serious guilt trip as to being t'cause," she shrugs. "Some of t'more subtle black magicians prefer corruption to killing - and causing self-doubt in anyone is a good first step in the process." Gegi smiles bitterly. "Well, that's a new theory." Garret and Astarial return to the topic. "Interesting," says Astarial. "Given a loose interpretation, it seems rather like what we were thinking of doing anyway - if you interpret spirit-line as a flow of Prime. At least, I didn't see any ephemera in its vicinity? Of course, my methods - and yours, presumably?" he asks of Garret, " - wouldn't require an enchanted or spirit-bound blade to cut a flow." "I just thought it might be easier," Gegi says. "A metal blade, a mental blade, it amounts to the same thing in the end. Perhaps asking Chloe to reject the crystal during the procedure would be a good idea, I don't know. But I certainly think we should treat any pain she experiences as a warning, not merely a byproduct. And I still think warding the area is a good idea." "You did say it's feeding out of her Prime. If she focuses her will into denying it that link, keeping her energy from it, it should lose power, right?" "If she were Awakened, I'd agree with you. But at the moment I doubt her will would have enough effect on her Flow to make a significant difference in the decay time." "Even someone who isn't technically a mage can exercise control especially over herself." 19 "So we're reduced to the level of pawns again." He sighs. "I suppose I should be used to it by now." "Garret, don't worry about it," says Shane. "It is possible to find out who's in charge, but the answers are rarely pleasant." "That's what worries me. I've got this really creepy suspicion that whoever this Dark Lady is, she's going to be just as susceptible to my magicks as Astaaroth was. And I've had enough nasty surprises lately to last me the rest of my life. With my luck, she'll walk in and tell me I've been a Nephandus all along, working deep cover in the Euthanatos." "Good morning, Kira, you're really a Cardassian" murmurs Gegi with a smile. Garret looks puzzled. "What?" "The next generation of Klingons," Bavin says, appearing once more from the shadows. Garret looks even more confused, as the only science fiction he knows is Star Wars. Bavin says quietly, "And I could tell you exactly what the Dark Lady is, but I strongly suspect it would be inappropriate" "Inappropriate?! You are more cryptic than Porthos on a bad day. Why, pray tell, would it be inappropriate?" Bavin glances over at Gegi. Or was it somehow beyond her... Garret catches that look and deflates a little.