Dead Man Walking:Log
2007
February
Thursday, February 15th
Beck, Beth, and Jacob were on their way home one night after hanging out at the mall. Beck was driving and decided to take the highway home to avoid the stop lights. Just as they were almost to Dickman Rd. a man ran out in front of the car. The roads were snowy and slippery, and Beck was speeding and didn't have enough time to stop before she ran into him. He was blond haired and wearing a white coat (possibly a lab coat). He crashed head first into the windshield and rolled over the car, dropping some things he had been carrying and falling on the ground as the car spun around backwards. Jacob used Beck's cell phone to call 911, then went outside to check on the man.
As Jacob was leaving the car, the man got up and ran away, not visibly impeded by injury. Jacob tried to stop him from running away, but to no avail. Beck leaned out the driver's side door and vomited from the shock, then sat in the car crying. Beth went over and looked at the area where the man had landed on the ground. He dropped a few cans of chicken noodle soup, a key that says "do not copy", a few vials of clear liquid, some syringes, some black candles, and a letter that read:
I told you I'd do what I could to bring your Golden Dawn, the next step is up to you. You've yet to see my magnum opus, though, and I have far more in store than you could possibly imagine. Now you need to find the "Personal jesus". I'm rooting for you, and you'll have ample opportunity to scratch my back.
The letter found at the crash also had a holographically embossed seal on it.
When viewed from one angle (the left), it appeared to be an hourglass with very little sand left. Emblazoned on the top chamber thereof was an Ankh (representative of copper or life), and the symbol nebu on the bottom chamber (representative of royalty, godliness, and eternal life). To the left was what was eventually determined to be a stylized letter "P" (after suggestions that it was a "9"), and on the right, what was determined to be a stylized letter "b" (after suggestions that it was a "6"). While the holofoil doesn't do too much to convey color, it had a clear bluish tint to it.
When viewed from the other angle (the right), it appeared to be a moebius strip bent into an infinity symbol[1]. A yin-yang was situated in each of the "eyes" of the image. To the left of the symbol, there lay a large stylized letter "A". To the right, a large stylized letter "U".
It was eventually decided that the "Pb" on one side was actually the symbol for elemental lead, with the "AU" on the other being the symbol for elemental gold. Jacob argued that the Yin-Yangs could be a reference to the concept of internal alchemy - a more Eastern take on the transmutation of lead into gold through the proverbial "philosopher's stone" (the idea of living forever by turning the corruptible flesh into something incorruptible).
Beth took the letter and the key, but left everything else. An ambulance came and checked everyone to ensure they weren't injured, followed by the police came. And Officer David VanNess took the report. Officer VanNess took them all back to the townhouse and everyone chose to stay the night. In the morning Jacob went to work. the rest called in and stayed at the apartment to calm down.
Friday, February 16th
Men in black drove up in a black lexus and knocked on the door in the afternoon. Beck tried to act like she wasn't home, but sleepy John yelled that the door was open. Beck made him go unlock the door for them and greet them. He invited them inside, and the two men behaved weirdly and asked unusual questions. One poured a breakfast drink that Beck had been consuming in his coat pocket and then placed the cup in a plastic bag and put it in his pants pocket. They demanded anything that may have been taken from the accident, arguing that this was a matter of national security (and that they were investigators from the 67th Network Warfare Division of the USAF). Beth gave them the key, and then took it and left quickly without further explanation.
Jacob was at work and the men in black showed up to ask him some questions about the accident. They proceeded to have a conversation about pharmaceutical products, and despite claiming to be air force, continually insisted that he worked for "the Navy" despite him pointing out that the US Marine Corps is a department of the Navy, but for all intents a separate entity, and noting that his service was both honorable and unremarkable.
Jacob returned home. Jeremy and Tyler came over to the townhouse after Beth had gone home, and speculated regarding the nature of the remaining items found at the crash. Jeremy stated that he wanted nothing to do with the situation, Tyler remained aloof.
Friday, February 23rd
A week later, Beth's mom was out of town, and, as Beth doesn't like to stay at home alone, she stayed over on the couch at the townhouse. Beck was still having trouble sleeping so she asked John to stay in her room (despite their usually sleeping separate due to sleep scheduling differences). in the middle of the night she awoke to what she thought to be a person walking in her room and going through the papers on her desk. Frightened, she yawned and turned over - hoping to startle whoever was there into leaving. The person continued going through the papers. Beck nudged John with her foot to wake him up. He mumbled and went back to sleep. The figure began walking around the foot of the bed up to Beck's side. It reached down and placed a hand down on the mattress next to her. She "jumped awake" and screamed just as Panda jumped up on the bed. Terrified, Beck stayed awake until John had to be up for work at 4AM and left the light on. John was displeased, but dealt with it since she was clearly disressed. John got ready for work and then Beck and John left home together. John went to work and Beck went to her parent's house in KZoo to feel safer.
Beth awoke to someone walking past the couch and then quietly going through her purse. She responded by yelling and throwing pillows at the person. The figure ran into the basement and Jacob woke up in response to the screaming. Beth pointed at the stairs and made a jumble of words to let Jacob know that someone was down there. Jacob grabbed his quarter staff (a relic from a renaissance faire) and ran downstairs only to find a strong stench of sulfur but no apparent intruder or forced entry or exit.
Beth called 911 and stepped outside to get away from the situation. Officer VanNess responded, yes again, and took the report, but expressed incredulity. Everyone left for work
Saturday, February 24th
Jer and Tasha came over to the townhouse. Beck, John and Jacob explained what happened earlier that morning. Jer went down stairs and had a vision of some strange sort.
This I beheld, or dreamed in a dream, as, descending stairs into what my waking mind perceived to be a staircase leading to an ordinary basement, I beheld a vision of a dark and sinister corridor leading to a dungeon of torments. Armed as I was with my magic helmet and sword I was undaunted in my quest to discover the dark secrets therein contained. And so it was that, when I had arrived at the terminus of the corridor, I perceived a cauldron of souls pouring forth into the surrounding darkness. "He has left" And the vision ends.
Everyone went over to Jer and Tasha's to get away from the house, Beth included. On the way there we passed a grubby homeless man on the corner of Columbia and Capital holding a sign with the symbols from the letter on it. On the back it said "they can hear your thoughts". he stared at us as we drove past. Hanging out at Jer and Tasha's was pleasant, but otherwise uneventful.
Upon heading back from Jer and Tasha's, the strange homeless man was still on the corner holding up the sign. John pulled into the shell station there and walked up to the man. John asked about his sign and who he was. He said his name is Jesus (with a standard Biblical pronunciation), and he was supposed to take us to God. He ended up following John back to the car and trying to everyone from leaving by putting a his leg between the door and the car. John threatened him back with his golf club, and pulled away nonetheless and the man yelled after.
Upon returning home, a strange oblong light that raced though the sky was sighted. Beck was thoroughly creeped out and closed all the blinds in the house.
Everyone slept in beck's room for safety, except for Jer, who played Wii games all night, and Jacob, who slept on the couch as per Beck and Tasha's request so that Jer would be "more safe" in case anything were to happen. Jacob thought it was all silly in any case and just a series of strange coincidences.
In the middle of the night, someone started knocking on the bay window in the kitchen. Jer went over and looked outside, to spot Jesus again. Jer woke Jacob up and they opened the door. Jesus babbled, waking up the rest (who were all on edge already). Jesus quoted scripture as he stood outside attempting to entice those within to come with him. The scripture was fairly generic stock (Matthew 5:11, 1st Thesselonians 4:16, John 10:10B, etc.), with two exceptions: 1.) "Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible." is Job 39:20, and was apparently a complete non sequitur (thus taken out of context). 2.) "When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your face and worship. That is your Father." is NOT in the Bible, despite being said alongside many other obviously Biblical quotes. John later determined it was from the Gospel of St. Thomas, an apocryphal text.
They went downstairs to see what was going on, causing Jesus to end up leaving but placed an unopened beer and his sign on the front porch.
Beck insisted that she refused to stay in the house with the sign on the porch. John and Jacob agreed to remove it and throw it in the dumpster. Jacob took a six-foot length of bamboo in case they were attacked.
Upon arriving at the dumpster and disposing of the sign, they were confronted by homeless Jesus again, this time brandishing a broken bottle and demanding that they take him "to where you found him". Jacob expressed that he had no idea what Jesus was talking about and disarmed him of his bottle. Jesus then said that he would go tell "God" about all of this.
Upon returning to the house, the confrontation was mentioned, and Jacob pointed out that he wasn't as worried about someone who erroneously thought themselves to be Jesus as he was about someone who allowed other to believe them to be God. All present agreed.
Sunday February 25th
The session was preluded by Jer believing (apparently delusional) that Panda, Lily and Hazy were a Hydra guarding a potion with the power to turn him invisible. Jer "fought" the Hydra, scattering the cats, and consumed the "potion" (the beer in the refrigerator). Strangely enough, despite his alcohol allergy, he wasn't rendered particularly ill by this action. Beck yelled at John for leaving the beer in the fridge, and John pointed out that she specifically told him to "put it somewhere" with no further direction. That and, once he had "put it somewhere", his mind became occupied with more pressing matters.
A little later, after it was determined that Jer was perfectly well, the phone rang. Beck answered, and a man on the other end of the phone identified himself as Orpheus, apologized for "the behavior of [his] associate" and asked if he could see Beck in person to discuss her "recent collision". Beck - thinking quickly - stated that, "Oh, you must want to speak to Rebeca!" Orpheus declined to leave a number, saying that he would call back later.
Everyone went to Jer and Tasha's after that - once again to escape the house, but also for Jer to rest. While there Beck received a call on her cell phone from an unknown number. She didn't answer it, and a few minutes later she found that she had a voice mail. In the voice mail, Orpheus once again said that he would call back later.
The next call came on Jer's cell phone - once again Orpheus looking for Beck. Everyone decided to get something to eat, except for Jer (who needed to get some sleep as he was working that night).
While everyone else was out having pancakes, Jer was rudely awakened by an ogre who turned out to be a man of asian (?) descent wearing a yellow starter jacket, a bright yellow bandanna and wielding a baseball back. The man woke Jer up by kicking him squarely in the ribs. He then proceeded to demand to know where Orpheus' number could be located. Jer eventually conceded (after cordially requesting that he not be struck again) that the number was most likely still on his recent calls list. The man fiddled with Jer's phone and Jer made a break for it, running for the livingroom to get his bokken. As he ran, the man threw his baseball bat at Jer's legs, entangling them and tripping him. Jer attempted to kick him from the floor, but had his shin shattered with a viscious downward kick. The man then dragged him back into the bedroom and pounded him some more before demanding to know if the number could be found anywhere else. Jer said he didn't believe so and the man walked into the next room to take a call. Jer also decided to make a call - he dialed 911 on the cell phone. Before he could say anything to the operator, though, a baseball bat thrown from across the apartment hit him in the side of the head, smashing his cell phone.
In the meantime, everyone had a good lunch at the pancake house. Some speculation was made as to whether Beck should speak to Orpheus, although it was generally agreed that such meetings should be avoided if at all possible. Tasha then attempted to call Jer on the cell phone. This resulted in her being transferred instantly to voice mail. She then tried the house, where an unfamiliar male voice picked up the phone and requested she come to the house immediately. Tasha was not amused.
Everyone arrived at the house to find an ambulance and a police car outside. Jer was concussed and at least partially incoherent, but had enough remaining presence of mind to explain that he was assaulted by a man unknown to him.
Officer David VanNess was once again on the scene to take his report. The officer explained that the door to the apartment had been jimmied, but that the outer door (where someone might have readily noticed such an effort) had been propped open with a cinder block. Tasha promptly picked up the cinder block and threw it through the window of the apartment she suspected of housing the people who routinely propped the door[2]. Officer VanNess explained the incident as a strung-out gang member and a case of mistaken identity.
The group then went to the hospital, with Tasha riding in the ambulance with Jer. John and Beck each brought their vehicle. John stopped for burgers along the way (on the grounds that if he were hospitalized, he would want burgers rather than hospital food).
At the hospital, the doctor insisted that Jer was misdiagnosed with a severe fracture when his ankle was actually merely sprained. Tasha insisted that she saw his ankle was broken but obviously wasn't anymore. An argument ensued. Jer was apparently disinterested in getting involved, and simply asked if he could be released. They said no further observation was necessary.
Orpheus called again, and this time Beck spoke with him concerning meeting. He insisted that the group was no longer safe in their homes and that they should meet somewhere. He suggested his home, then suggested the Floral Gardens just outside Battle Creek. After initially agreeing that this sounded like a delightful meeting place, John pointed out that the Floral Gardens was a cemetery, much to everyone's dismay. The group eventually agreed to meet and speak to Orpheus at Denny's at 11PM instead.
It was at this point that Orpheus apologized for drawing unwanted attention to the group and offered to pay for Jeremiah's medical care (on the grounds that he felt responsible (since they were looking for his phone number, after all).
Jer was now on crutches with a sprained ankle[3], Tasha was recovering gradually from hysterics, and Beck was becoming anxious concerning the meeting with Orpheus. Everyone agreed that they ought go to Denny's early and wait.
The Denny's crowd was pretty typical for a Sunday night. Most of them were the sort of which no one takes notice, although there was a dark-dressed man with an eccentrically dressed woman, as well as a stout business man reading a newspaper. No one took heed.
At 11:03 Orpheus arrived. He was an emaciated man with no hair whatsoever (including eyebrows or eyelashes) skin pulled tight across his face. He wore a full-length black trenchcoat that just allowed his lily-white twiglike ankles to show at the bottom just before a pair of black socks that peeked a few inches out from a pair of black oxford shoes. He shook off the snow from his shoulders, walked in with a slow methodical gait, and addressed the company, stating that he had 30 minutes before his ride would return for him. Beck was most struck with how disgusting his teeth were. They tapered into his gums as if held in by sheer force of will (as opposed to depth of roots).
He spoke at length concerning the following: 1.) The man who assaulted Jer was, allegedly, named "Dross", and was a member of a gang who called themselves the "Asphalt Disciples". He was looking for Orpheus. 2.) While it's quite complicated, basically Orpheus found Beck's number by "asking her car". Then he continuously attempted to contact her by calling "the phone closest to her". That's why he managed to get a hold of Jer when Beck turned off her cell phone. No one even pretended to understand, but he assured them it was a highly technical process. 3.) The man that Beck hit with her car was "Colin", a friend of Orpheus who had, apparently, been being held at Fort Custer. The note that was found was a message for him, and was supposed to lead him to Orpheus. Orpheus now had no idea where Colin was. He asked if the group knew anything more, but they all affirmed they did not. He seemed disappointed. 4.) Jesus worked for Orpheus. He is apparently a homeless schizophrenic man who makes a habit of going a bit (a lot) over the top when forced to take initiative. Orpheus apologized. Despite the fact that Jesus threatened John and Jacob with a broken bottle, no one seemed too reluctant to accept his apology. 5.) He seemed to know who the Men in Black were, but did not elaborate, only only dismissing them as bad news and to be avoided. 6.) He asserted that none of the group was safe within their own houses, and that they should seek alternative shelter.
After a bit of arguing, everyone agreed that they would at least LOOK at Orpheus' house to see if it was a safe place to stay.
As they got ready to leave, a man with shaggy black hair and a pigtailed girl approached Beck and gave her a business card for an organization called "SOAP", "Survivors Of Abnomal Phenomena, which apparently held meetings at the Adventist church on Thursdays. She expressed outrage (after the two left) at having been eaves-dropped upon, but John quickly pointed out that she typically eaves-drops on other at Denny's. Beck said this was beside the point.
Orpheus climbed into a black Saab and began down the road. The others followed in the vehicles. Jeremiah briefly considered stopping at the apartment to pick up some things, but thought better of it.
The group went down Michigan Avenue until it came to a driveway just past the floral gardens. The oppressive dark was a thick and almost physical presence, and the path was lined by leafless winter trees. The house itself was a construction of Neo-Gothic revival architecture complete with Gargoyles and arches on the spacious stone porch. Behind the house, there was a garden with an asymmetrical Torii[1]-esque arch[4] with a small shrine behind it. This was only visible for a few seconds as the group drove up the drive.
Everyone got out of the car and Orpheus and his chauffeur stepped out. She was a slender, exotic looking woman in a black bodysuit with long black hair and bright, almost sinister green eyes. She ignored most everyone, but leered suggestively at Jer (much to Tasha' dismay and annoyance).
Orpheus brought everyone inside out from the cold and offered to take their coats. Then he asked them if they would like anything to eat. Most everyone agreed it would be nice to have something to munch on, and he offered to bring them whatever they wanted, provided he had it and could make it in short order. He ended up bringing most everyone pomegranate and star fruit. Jer opted for something "exotic" that Orpheus offered. This turned out to be a plate of Foie Gras[2] and Curry, with a slice of French bread. Jer didn't much care for the food, but ate it anyway.
Orpheus then gave everyone a very short tour of the parts of the house that they were permitted to visit - an upstairs bedroom (empty save for a bed, a short bookshelf, and a hastily assembled cot), a lovely neo-Victorian style living room (sans most of the typical amenities of American living rooms such as electronics and telephones), the bathroom (which was of the fancy-to-the-point-of-banality variety), and the dining room (which featured doorways leading to a kitchen and a pantry). He then explained that the remainder of the house was pretty much off limits, but if they needed anything, he would be glad to accommodate them in any way he could.
Beth took a moment of downtime to call Joy and Douglas (her mother was out of town) and concoct a story concerning a dangerous gas leak that would require them to leave the house. Then, she expressed concern for her pets. Everyone else present likewise expressed their concern, and Orpheus said he would have the animals brought there to safety (he didn't seem the least concern with bringing strange cats to a strange house).
Meanwhile, on an excursion to the restroom, Jeremiah was confronted by Persephone, who insisted that he come clean and confess to... something. Jer played along, trying to figure out what on earth she could be talking about. Amid the conversation, she insisted that it would take "more than your presence to rouse the sleeping", to which Jer replied that "it certainly can't hurt." Persephone then insisted that what she could not see told her far more than what she could.
They agreed to stay over, with Jer and John calling in sick to work. Jer stayed up reading a copy of "Where the Wild Things Are" (a copy annotated significantly with notations concerning psychological and metaphysical implications of the book's subject matter). This intrigued Jer. Orpheus also offered him a copy of the Lamegeton Clavicus Solomonis (which, tragically, didn't hold his interest the way he had hoped - it seemed painfully esoteric). At some point during the night, the cats and rabbits were brought over.
Monday February 26th
In the morning just about everyone awakened to the smell of a breakfast happening. All but Beck and John came downstairs to find a frustrated Persephone working diligently on some pancakes, insisting that it wasn't fair for her to have to do this as she had limited experience in the kitchen. The pancakes were good, however, and the maple syrup was genuine. The eggs were, likewise, quite good, as was the sausage, bacon, and fruit tray. The coffee was burned.
Persephone then went on to explain that Orpheus was sick in bed (as he, apparently, often was), and that she had been charged with making breakfast. She expressed dismay that not everyone was present, and insisted that if she went through all the trouble to put this thing together, they damn well had better appreciate it. She then went upstairs and awakened John and Beck by kicking the footboard of the bed, scaring the proverbial shit out of them.
John and Beck having come downstairs and joined the meal, Persephone became more talkative. She was surly and unpleasant throughout, but she attempted to make small talk, most of which came off as either arrogant attempts to talk down to those present, or offhanded insults. ("So, are you kids Christian or what?" "Oh, Jewish. How cute.", "So, are you all coupled-off?", etc.)
Eventually, a bell rang and Persephone excused herself. While she was gone, most everyone expressed that they were getting rather sick of her attitude, but no one seemed certain what could be done about it.
At this point, a man in his late 50's or so with white-streaked blonde hair, a beard and a friendly-looking squared face entered the room. He seemed surprised to see everyone and asked if the group was "Orpheus' friends". When they expressed that they were (in a manner of speaking), he said that it dismayed him that Orpheus and Persephone made no effort to keep him in the loop. He introduced himself politely as Theseus and asked everyone their names. Then he explained that he was on his way to work and that he worked as a child psychiatrist / psychologist. He seemed quite comfortable and friendly in general, but everyone once in a while, he would ask a contrived psychological question (such as "How does that make you feel?" or "Do you suppose you could tell me a little more about that?" Shortly after Persephone's return, he expressed that it was good to meet them but that he must leave.
Upon returning, Persephone dropped a bloody scalpel in the sink, eliciting a degree of dismay from all present. She explained, however, that Orpheus had summoned her for the express purpose of extracting a sizeable tumor, and that there was no need to be alarmed. She then wiped her hands thoroughly and asked if anyone cared for some dessert. Dessert came in the form of crepes of many different fruit-flavored varieties. There were universally agreed upon as delicious.
After everyone had eaten, Persephone informed them that she would appreciate it if they would run a few favors for her. She explained that they were all things she would do herself, but since she was under "a sort of house arrest" could not. When everyone agreed that it was the least they could do, Persephone gave them their instructions. First, they were to bring a sealed envelope to a friend of hers on Euclid Street (well inside Post Edition, a particularly bad neighborhood). Then they were to take a lightweight cardboard box to the Torii arch in the park by KCC and open it (no further instructions of details). Finally, they were to take $20 and go to the pharmacy and pick up insulin, eggs, and milk. She even went so far as to have a false prescription for insulin filled out in Beck's name (presumably by Theseus, though the doctor's name was "K. Smirnoff").
The first of these tasks was accomplished easily enough. A young black man (maybe 22 or so) came to the door wearing an absurdly oversized starter jersey and cargo pants combo answered the door, took the note, read it, and announced that he appreciated it and that Persephone was alright with him.
The second errand took everyone to the park, which was inhabited by a scowling overweight woman in a sweat suit dragging a small child behind her and a pretty young woman with neck-length brown hair wearing a knee-length pink coat with black buttons, a pink fur hat, and a white muff.
Jacob stepped under the arch and opened the box, out of which flew a single bee. The insect flew directly to the girl in pink (who freaked out), and stung her on the forehead. The girl immediately began shaking and rummaging through her purse. It took only a few moments to realize that she was severely allergic to bees and that she wasn't even sure if she was carrying her Epipen with her (after all, one seldom expects to be stung by a bee in February). Eventually, she collapsed and everyone present did their best to help. Jacob carried her across the street to the hospital after failing to find an Epipen in the bag. John gathered the contents of the bag and carried them over. The hospital staff informed those present that Jacqueline Kendra (the girl's name) had stabilized, but was still in bad condition and would likely have to stay the night. Jacob was simultaneously guilt-ridden and enraged. John pointed out that it made no sense (on the grounds that even if this was what Persephone wanted to happen, there was no way she could know exactly when all present would be at the park, much less that the bee would be able to do it), and everyone else seemed simply worried.
The insulin, milk, and eggs were obtained and brought back to the house. For some reason it took two tries to drive down the driveway - the first time it seemed like the wrong drive, but a second attempt proved otherwise. Jesus the Homeless was sitting on the porch eating a can of Spaghetti-Os and a cup of coffee. As Beth described it, he looked less intimidating and more like a "big friendly Santa-man" this time.
Jacob stormed inside to find Orpheus eating with a white rag over his head. He then demanded to know where Persephone was. Orpheus stated that he wasn't sure and was hoping to ask them why they had left. Jacob explained the situation and Orpheus became distraught. Apparently, he was very fond of Jacqueline (but in the same conversation wherein he made this claim admitted that he had never spoken to her in person).
After he established that they had not been actively involved in this conspiracy, he offered to feed them "something special" which he referred to as ortolon[3]. Beth, John, Jeremiah, and Jacob agreed to try it, and Orpheus brought them each out a little cooked whole bird. He instructed them, then, to put it in their mouths so that only the beak was sticking out and bite down to remove it. Then to very slowly chew the bird, enjoying the flavor of the fat and flesh, followed by the bitterness of the guts, then the taste of their own blood as the bones made tiny cuts in their gums. He went on to explain that the reason one wears a white cloth is to hide your cruelty from God, as the bird was blinded, force-fed, and drowned in brandy to be prepared. All involved were disgusted by this to a degree (likely the least of which being John, who mostly disdained the bitter and bloody parts). Jacob confessed he wished he had instead had US certified veal.
Orpheus offered to pay $5000 to each of them if they could find his friend Colin (the one who had been hit by a car) and bring him back to him. No one really objected, although Beck asked Orpheus why he couldn't just do it. He immediately pointed out that he was infirm at best, Persephone was not merely unreliable (and now motivationally suspect) but under "a sort of house arrest"[5], and Theseus had too many personal responsibilities to deal with such.
Theseus came home, and moments later, Persephone came out of her bedroom to ask about the errands at this point, eliciting a rather negative response from all present. She forcefully pointed out that she didn't KNOW what was going to happen, only that "it was what I felt needed to be done - take a bee, release it there". She also insisted that if Jacqueline had been stung by the bee and hospitalized that chances were good that things would turn out in "everyone's" favor. She and Tasha then got into a fight about what Jer was or was not and Persephone insisted that if Jer "really loved her" he would "tell her the truth". Tasha then retorted that Persephone simply did not know what love was and could not possibly appreciate it since no one would ever marry a hag like her. Persephone retorted that her husband had died saving her life, then stormed off.
A great deal of conversation followed concerning Persephone, with Orpheus and Theseus asserting she didn't mean to come off as so abrasive - it was just the way she was. Beth took control of the situation and announced that she felt it was best to check Fieldstone Center first (on the grounds that any confused, unstable person could end up there). She asked Orpheus for all the information he had on Colin.
Orpheus explained that Colin was a man who was dead but is not anymore - allegedly the result of illegal stem-cell experimentation. He was allegedly about 5'11" tall, 160lbs (mostly muscle) and blonde-haired and blue-eyed. This was, however, apparently subject to change, as he seemed capable of altering his appearance almost at will. Orpheus further explained that Colin was terrified of enclosed spaces and that he believed himself to be diabetic (despite an apparent lack of supporting evidence).
Persephone returned and explained, in an all-too-excited tone of voice, that she was certain there would be an attempt on Jacqueline’s life by someone who was allegedly her "ex-boyfriend" named "Asp". This attempt would allegedly occur at 11:13 PM on the button. She then offered them a gun made of high impact plastic and insisted that they would have to prevent this from happening.
At this point, Orpheus informed them that he would need to tell them something that would be very dangerous to know if they were captured by someone hostile. All involved expressed a reluctance to know such information, but Theseus brought out a box of candies that he insisted were made with water from the river Lethe that would allow them, if captured, to divorce themselves from specific memories. His exact wording was that "these can iron out the pesky creases in your brain that allow you to know the information." He did, however state that there was a catch - in order to retrieve the memories they would have to be given an injection directly into their eye containing the water of the river Mnemosyne.
When everyone expressed doubt - with Orpheus and Theseus trying to convince them that it would be best for all involved, and that there was really no turning back now - Persephone lost patience and announced "We're mages! We can change reality with a thought! I could turn you inside-out with a sideways glance! HA! Now you HAVE to work for us!"
Persephone's rash decision was met with universal derision. Jer, Jacob, and John at this point resigned themselves to the fact and took a candy apiece. Beck expressed dismay at the notion of possibly at some point in the future having to receive a shot, and Persephone recommended various euphemisms for suicide as an alternative ("You know? Shotgun mouthwash? The Cobain method?" *Opens mouth and points extended index finger at the roof*)
At this point, Orpheus demanded that Persephone leave and think about what she had done. She pouted and left. Orpheus did what he could to console a visibly (enraged? mortified? horrified? devastated?) Beck. More discussion was made concerning the possible danger to Jacqueline Kendra. Jacob took the gun out and fired a few shots to check the sights. The gun was none too accurate, but was functional.
Persephone returned and apologized to Tasha and Beck for her behavior in an apparently truly reticent manner, insisting that she didn't mean to cause them such grief. The apology was, apparently, accepted, and everyone determined that they would now need to go about their business (as it was almost 8 O'clock and there was still a lot to do).
Before they left, though, Theseus insisted that Jer undertake a complex thought experiment. With nothing but a classical protractor (sans connected ruler) and a straightedge (again without the typical measurement qualities of a ruler), he was instructed to attempt to construct a square with the same area as an arbitrarily sized circle. This almost immediately boggled his mind.
First the group split up, with John, Beck, and Beth going to Fieldstone Center to determine if Colin was there and Jer, Tasha, and Jacob heading to the hospital.
Fieldstone
After some asking, it became apparent that Colin might be there, but that they weren't going to tell them anything more. John pointed out, after they had left, it probably would have been best if they had insisted that one of them was a member of Colin's immediate family. Everyone agreed that, in hindsight, this was a worthwhile plan.
Having failed to gain access through the front, the group broke for the back of the facility and attempted to gain access through a rear door, where they surprised a (fairly incompetent) security guard who had been quietly reading a book moments previous. He informed them that he was there when Colin was committed, but that, due to the circumstances, he had been put under observation by a Dr. Ruby Mayfield and was not permitted visitors without the Doctor's approval. They managed to obtain such information as when Dr. Mayfield would be in (11:00 PM - 7:00 AM) as well as verifying the description of Colin.
Hospital
On the way in, Jer spotted a man in a long trench coat smoking a cigarette. Jer, being fascinated with trench coats, addressed the man (much to most everyone else's dismay). The man introduced himself as Ryan Cross, and proceeded to strike up a conversation. He said that he was at the hospital to drive a friend back from Kidney dialysis, and that he was waiting outside because they didn't allow smoking in the hospitals. But now that he was done smoking, he'd like to stroll and ramble with Jer.
The rest asked at the desk where Jacqueline Kendra could be found. They were sent to a semi-private on the third floor, where Ms. Kendra seemed surprised to be receiving guests. Those present explained as much of the situation as they could and asked if she had any enemies. She insisted that she didn't know of any, but that didn't mean there weren't any. She said she didn't know Orpheus personally, but had heard the name before. No one could remember who it was they had been told would try to kill her.
Jeremiah, meanwhile, spoke at length with Ryan about a few things. First off, Ryan seemed convinced that the world was filled with monsters, and that they were responsible for a great many ills (most notably the Kennedy assassination, which he insists was performed with one "magic" bullet, and that Oswald was actually a COUNTER sniper). Ryan, furthermore, expressed concern that Jer seemed soulless (or so his "psychic powers" apparently revealed). Jer insisted that, to the best of his knowledge, this was not the case, furthermore citing his religious belief that his soul was secure. Ryan pointed out that the soul can be removed by death, so it wasn't that much further to believe something else could sever it, regardless of its eternal status.
This was all find and good, but Jeremiah wanted proof. Jeremiah asked Ryan to demonstrate his psychic powers, and he did, insisting that a doctor had intentionally killed a patient. Jer expressed that he marveled at his prowess and that he found this somewhat difficult to believe. Ryan then attempted to tell him something about himself, but could only determine that he had been rudely and painfully aroused from sleep. Jer was impressed and said goodbye.
Everyone arrived in the room and Jacqueline seemed concerned that she must look terrible (and would only be held overnight, and was, thus, anxious to leave).
At 11:13 on the button, a man peered into the room. He was about 5'7" and had black hair parted on the right and across his eye. He seemed rather shocked to see everyone there and took off running. Immediately Jacob and Jer ran after him. Jer somehow forgot or overcame his sprained ankle, and the two sprinted through the hospital after the elusive emo kid (who was also wearing other items typically associated with emo subculture, such as tight blue jeans, a black hoodie, navy blue canvas sneakers, and a white belt). Jer noticed at some point during the run that he was carrying a stone knife, but Jacob did not, at this point, spot it.
The two chased him out the entrance to the hospital and into the parking lot. They continued chasing him until they came to one of the satellite buildings of the hospital, where he proceeded to scurry up the wall like Spiderman (much to their surprise and amazement). Undaunted, Jacob chased him around the building and Jer ran inside to run up the stairs. After about a minute of trying to cut off his escape routes it seemed, momentarily, that they had lost him. That was until Jacob was tripped from behind. He then attempted to kick his assailant, who stabbed him in the ankle between his shin and Achilles' tendon. Jacob responded to this by pulling out the gun and shooting his assailant in the face (clipping his cheek and plowing his ear in half). Jacob then tried to stand up, but was struck with a wave of nausea the caused him to vomit blood.
Jer, meanwhile, realized something that could turn out to be rather important: this guy had a knife and two working legs. Jer, on the other hand, was hurt and unarmed. He decided that now was a good time to call this off and go back to tell Jacob of his conclusion. He got back just in time to see Jacob vomiting blood. He also saw a small (maybe 2'6" tall) humanoid creature with horns like a bull, dozens of eyes, and an aggressive posture. This he kicked, causing it to dissolve as though it was made of sand. Then he punched the guy who was menacing Jacob. He gave him a good solid blow, to which his enemy responded with a heel kick to the back of the head (stunning and knocking him prone).
The subject (believed at this point to be "Asp", as everyone suddenly recalled) ran across the parking lot, and Jacob took this opportunity to fire one last shot at him, achieving a non-stopping entry-no-exit wound to the back, about two inches to the left of small of his back.
Jacob returned to the hospital to seek treatment for his injury. Jeremiah returned with mild abrasions on his face (but otherwise uninjured).
At this point, the arrival of Officer David VanNess was by no means a surprise.
Officer VanNess saying hello to everyone (including Jacqueline, whom he referred to as Miss Sweet) and insisting on interviewing those in the room to determine their degree of guilt and involvement in the shooting (which was, doubtless, heard for quite some distance).
Everyone who had been in the room insisted they had not left. Officer VanNess expressed dismay when Jer admitted to having run through the hospital. Jer insisted that he had not performed any acts of violence and that he had caught up with Jacob in time to see a lot of blood and not much else going on, but VanNess informed him he would be coming to the station regardless. VanNess asked where Jacob was, accepted this information, and then called for backup - a short, stout officer with a mustache, who held everyone under arrest in the room while VanNess went to find Jacob.
Jacob was in the exam room, discovering that the doctor was pretty certain that his injury was old and festering, rather than less than 40 minutes old. Jacob expressed that this was unlikely (if not utterly wrong) but did not speculate further. The doctor expressed that lab tests would be necessary to determine the nature of the infection (the word "staph" was thrown around), but that antibiotics and good clean dressings should be sufficient for now. VanNess was waiting when the doctor finished.
Jacob was, interviewed. He made a poor show of trying to skirt around the truth without telling any outright lies, and VanNess seemed none too convinced. He hinted at near certainty that Jacob had been the one who fired the gun (committing, in the process, a firearm crime even if it was fired in self-defense, as hospitals are gun-free zones). He arrested Jacob and cuffed him, placed him in a wheelchair, and carted him, while he called for the officer to bring Jer down.
Jer and Jacob were both arrested, pending charges, and put in the car. Tasha raised a number of objections to this, but basically was informed that no one that mattered cared what she thought of the situation. John expressed that he was uncertain about the merits of missing their chance to possibly find Colin, and Beck agreed. Tasha insisted of following VanNess to the station.
Jer and Jacob were driven into a parking garage (much to Tasha's dismay) where VanNess informed them that he knew they were lying, did not appreciate it, and would now give them exactly one opportunity to come clean before he would "turn them over". Jer and Jacob both took the opportunity to eat the candy Orpheus had given them. Jacob forgot the vast majority of his criminal behavior (but little more), while Jer's mind was carried away with him (causing him to lose well over 1 week worth of information, and even momentarily forget what his wife looked like, having forgotten the last instance of seeing her).
VanNess understood something had happened and got out of the vehicle to ask Tasha if she knew what they may have ingested. When she questioned the pull into the parking garage, VanNess insisted he had gotten an officer down call that turned out to be a false alarm. Despite the fact that this had not occurred (none of the characters present other than VanNess could remember), the dispatcher collaborated his story and no one was left with any REAL (in-character) reason to question this claim.
Tasha did not volunteer any information regarding what they had ingested. Jer and Jacob were fingerprinted (a process during which their hands were washed by gloved technicians with sterile towels), booked, and sent to a cell to await their bail hearing in the morning. Tasha went down to lockdown for a while and did not much of anything, until she was asked to leave, at which point she waited in the cop shop upstairs.
John, Beth, and Beck said goodbye to Jackie and went to Fieldstone Center to sort out the Colin situation. Prior to leaving the Hospital, John managed to fish the gun out unnoticed. Upon arrival at the hospital, Persephone called to make sure the gun was not lost. She then informed them that if they couldn't use the gun to kill someone, they should not have used it at all. She, furthermore, chastised them for not following her instructions (which, to be fair, they hadn't). All involved simply insisted that the shit had hit the fan and that they needed to return to gun ASAP. John left it under the seat of the car.
They walked inside and informed the guard that they were there to potentially pick up a patient. This resulted in them being informed that they were to wait for Doctor Mayfield. The waiting room was dull, but the wait was short.
Dr. Mayfield was a gaunt figure with too-tight skin stretched over knuckles and neck with emphasis on tendon and sinew. She was a frail but domineering looking figure towering about 6'5" tall and standing much, much too close as she spoke, which she did in bursts and snaps.
Upon establishing that John and Colin were "family" (which she seemed to take primarily on faith), she brought the group back to the cramped confinement room where Colin was supposedly kept. On the way, she informed them that Colin had been apprehended while free-climbing the Comerica building in downtown Battle Creek, apparently for recreation, and had engaged in an incoherent exchange with the police about going up there in hopes of "finding God". The room, however, contained a broken-strapped isolation table and two severely injured orderlies.
It was quickly surmised that Colin had not only had not only mustered the strength to break the straps on the examination table (as I understand this, the straps are the same used for car seat-belts, easily capable of withstanding well over 1 ton of force), but also overpowered two orderlies even after completing this Herculean effort.
The Fieldstone group was asked to leave, an order with which they felt obliged to comply. They called Orpheus to inform them of their failure, and he took the news in stride (albeit a rather phlegmatic stride).
Meanwhile Rex
Meanwhile Rex (who had previously not been with the group) was having a very bad day. He had just lost his job at Meijer, and was driving down Cliff Street past Post Edition when his pickup truck, a lovely white deal in "like-old" condition, breaks down. Having few other options, he opted to walk back toward the nearby gas station.
Along the way, he heard a feminine shriek from an alley next to a local "gentleman's club." He stepped down the end, palmed his knife, and looked around the corner, where he saw a white guy with a short goatee, a cowboy hat, and a grey suit menacing a girl who looked about sixteen. She was lying on the ground in a short jacket and a Catholic schoolgirl outfit. Behind the man was a woman in a red dress.
The conversation among them implied that the girl had somehow been messing the man's business up and made him look foolish. He kicked her once while she was down, at which point the woman in red laughed fiendishly and Rex stepped in to intervene.
In typical comic book hero style, he said "Leave her alone." The man called him a shrimp, told him this was none of his business and that he was done here anyway, and insisted that if he didn't leave, he would be very, very sorry. To emphasize his point, he pulled out a butterfly knife.
The woman in red encouraged the man in grey, whom she called "Lance", to teach Rex, whom she called "shrimp", a lesson.
Rex tried to give him what-for with a good punch and got kicked. He tried to kick him and got tackled. He tried to reverse the tackle and got pummeled in the face.
Rex didn't remember what happened after that. One moment he was being beaten, and the next he was being pulled off of a screaming, crying, twitching Lance by a police officer. His face was bloodied (at some point he had been slashed across the cheek), but as he was led to the patrol car, he caught a glimpse of a cop pulling Lance's butterfly knife out of his palm, which had been pinned, crucifixion style, to a crack in the pavement. Rex could only speculate that he had done it.
Rex ended up in the same cell as Jer and Jacob, having undergone a quick fingerprinting, a 10-second photography session, and a washcloth and gauze to clean his face.
He was put in a cell next to Jer and Jacob, along with a brown-skinned man in a plain white shirt who sat meditating under a swastika. Rex did not try to sleep, although he did communicate somewhat with Jer and Jacob, expressing the gist of events that had transpired, as did they.
Diego Neri, a handsome man of mixed Mexican descent with a single gold earring, slightly curly black hair and a weary but determined look to him, was the state appointed defense attorney assigned to their case (as they both expressed they did not have money for a lawyer of their choosing). He went over each individual's case with them, speaking to Jer and Jacob collectively and to Rex separately.
Unskilled (and possibly, they surmised, incompetent), Diego, nonetheless, did what was in his power to build a case for them, insisting that if Jer had no recollection of events, he would be best off entering a plea of diminished capacity by way of temporary insanity. He echoed this news with Jacob, but admitted that it would be difficult to build an insanity case from mutual memory loss, and that he would have to schedule an evaluation.
When Diego got to Rex, Rex expressed that he was injured and received no treatment. Unfortunately, Diego pointed out, his injuries were not life-threatening, and he hadn't verbally requested treatment (Diego pointed out that there's an officer listening and watching through closed circuit in case there are issues). He did, however, argue that there was a good case for self-defense or reasonable defense of another, whatever way he wanted to go. Eventually they settled on temporary insanity (which Neri mentioned would probably get him sentenced to community service and/or therapy, and for which he had an established record).
Tuesday, February 27th
Theseus, rallied the others to come to the hearing at 10AM the next day with him. At the hearing, Rex was released because Lance (aka "Lawrence Fischer") refused to press charges, resulting in Rex's uttering of what could, quite possibly, be the most ironic lines ever muttered: "See? You beat up a pimp and he just leaves you alone. Whadda' ya' know?" (which Theseus pointed out was more than likely the worst possible assessment of a terribly dangerous situation)
Jacob and Jer were each charged with "disorderly conduct", "possession of a firearm in a gun-free zone" and "conspiracy to commit a gun crime". Charges of assault were suggested, but dismissed as the victim had not come forward (or been found) yet[6].
Theseus put down $10,000 bail for each of them, agreeing to act as bondsman, and they were informed of the conditions upon which they were held on bail. (Namely, they were not to leave town without first informing their bondsman and they were to make certain to show up in court when requested). Their next day in court was scheduled for mid-March.
After that, the group adjourned to Rex's apartment, where, curiously, the door had an envelope taped to it that contained Lance's butterfly knife and a note saying "Next time I'll be sticking it in you." Everyone agreed that this was none too clever, and Rex called the police to report the harassment.
They then had eggs for breakfast. Theseus not only made eggs, but cracked them in such a way that, even without the assistance of egg rings, he was able to make perfectly circular eggs with perfectly circular yolks. This he dismissed as being "all in the technique". He also gave Jer, Tasha, Beck, John and Jacob their mail.
Beck called in late for work, but went in anyway. Rex waited for the police, Jer and Tasha took a nap on Rex's bed, and Theseus went back to Orpheus' house, agreeing to come back for Rex. Jacob, Beth and John, likewise, started heading back to Orpheus.
An attractive female police officer named Harper arrived to take the report from Rex. His attempts to hit on her lightly during the course of this conversation were brushed off with little effort. She took a report, but when Rex mentioned that he had hospitalized Lance, she expressed doubts that it was actually he who had left the knife, insisting it was probably a third party acting "on his behalf" or simply in compliance with what they believed his wishes would be.
Along the way back to Orpheus' house, John got a call from Persephone telling him to look to his right. He obliged and saw nothing. She insisted that he must have missed it, and that it was vitally important that he turn around. He did this, pulling a very illegal u-turn in the middle of Michigan Avenue, which was promptly met with flashing red and blue lights in his rear view window. Beth finally saw what it was the Persephone had wanted them to: there, on the roof of the senior center, was a man in a hospital gown, standing on the edge of the building with arms extended.
When the officer arrived at the car, John quickly announced that he was glad to see him, and that he believed there was a dangerous situation and simply could not think of a better way to signal the officer. He then pointed out the man on the roof and said he thinks he knows who it is, but would need to take a closer look. The officer took more interest in the new situation than the ticket he intended to write. The officer called it in and requested backup, then demanded that John, Beth and Jacob come with (10-84, is the code for "Emotionally Disturbed Person", which the officer at Rex's apartment heard over the radio and informed him it was "probably a jumper").
The four of them (that is, Beth, John, Jacob and the police officer, whose name was Daly, went into the senior center. The officer informed the receptionist of the situation, who informed the janitor of the situation, and they proceeded to a roof hatch.
On the roof, they found themselves with a white man of about six feet tall with Austrian features, blonde hair swept to the side and bright blue eyes. He regarded them curiously and asked what they wanted.
That's where things got troublesome. First, the police officer made it clear that the man (who was, indeed, the Colin for which everyone had been looking) was probably sick and probably needed help. Colin was upset by this, and tore a brick out of the roof and voiced his intent to use it as a weapon if threatened. The officer called for backup and, presumably, informed the dispatcher that Colin was armed.
Jacob tried to reason with Colin and, eventually, mentioned Orpheus. Colin expressed skepticism that Jacob really knew Orpheus. Jacob attempted to prove this by mentioning Theseus and Persephone, but made the mistake of referring to Persephone as "kind of a bitch", which enraged Colin. He screamed that Persephone was an angel, and that Jacob was a liar. The officer responded to this by ordering Colin to put the brick down and Colin instead pelted him in the head with it, knocking him prone. Then, when the officer reached for his gun, Colin jumped him and proceeded to beat the stuffing out of him, screaming about how he wouldn't go back to the asylum.
Eventually, after considerably more talking, they talked Colin down. John got Orpheus on the phone, and the Necromancer insisted that he would get Theseus out there as soon as possible.
In the meantime, Officer VanNess arrived on the scene and proceeded up through the building. Beth, Jacob and John went to work calming Colin down and trying to make him understand that hitting a police officer greatly increased his chances of being incarcerated.
Eventually, Officer VanNess arrived at the roof hatch and voiced his intent to proceed up and arrest Colin. Colin responded to this by slamming the metal hatch shut and, with his bare hands, pounding the edges so as to make it unopenable. VanNess then began working on forcing it open.
Well before VanNess actually opened it, however, Theseus emerged from a nearby electrical room and opened the door, revealing that it led to Orpheus' living room. Everyone piled through and Theseus asked Colin to come with him and led him off[7].
Orpheus cut them the promised checks, and John went back to Rex's apartment to pick up Jer, Tasha and Rex. When they arrived at Orpheus' house, Jer refused his check on the grounds that he didn't even know what he had done (or attempted to do) to earn it. Tasha graciously accepted it on his behalf.
Meanwhile, at her work at the photography studio, Beck began to notice that at an outdoor wedding with candid pictures taken en-route from the Catholic Church in Battle Creek to the McCamly Plaza where the reception was taking place, a number of Men in Black had appeared in the background of the pictures. This was... upsetting to a degree.
Furthermore, on her way home, she noticed that she was being followed by a black sedan with tinted windows, that she was later cut off by a black sedan with tinted windows, and that, when she took a detour to try and lose them, she was nearly run off the road by (you guessed it) a black sedan with tinted windows.
She called Persephone to ask what she should do, and was promptly informed that she should bring them over right away and Persephone would be happy to deal with them. When Beck got to the drive successfully, the Black Sedan drove on like nothing had happened. Persephone was waiting with a double-barreled 10-gauge shotgun when Beck arrived. She informed Beck that it was loaded with flechettes, and that, had the MIBs followed Beck, Persephone would have been happy to use it on them.
At this point, everyone was pretty much exhausted after a long week (and it was only Tuesday), crashing at Orpheus' house.
Meanwhile, In Faerie
Taken as a child by his horrid gluttonous Keeper Bloatfrog and his frail, gaunt companion the Blind One, Jer came into the service of Faerie when he was found to be tough and boney. Each morning he would be pulled from his cage and beaten in an attempt to be made tender, after which he would be thrown a piece of some form of meat in the hopes of making him plump (which failed, as he ate only enough to survive).
Over time he began to grow scales, to cover the bloody wounds and bruises he had received from his Keeper. He began to hide in his little cage, despite the lack of cover, by changing his color to match his surroundings. He began to fight back. As the massive hands of the Ogre came towards him he would wrestle him and try to get him away.
It was after seeing this change that the Ogre's companion suggested that they send Jer out to get them sustenance. This of course met with ridicule from the Ogre because "if we let him go he'll leave!", to which the blind one simply replied by bringing forth a goblet and commanded Jer to drink. Jer, being unable to resist this command, drank and began to recall things he had forgotten - horrible things! Things he wished he had never remembered: tortures and humiliations and trivial meaningless things, all stemming from that other world beyond the Hedge.
And so, after much encouragement from the Blind One, the Bloatfrog decided to allow Jer to go and hunt for them. And Jer went and lay in the thorns of the hedge, hidden from all but the most perceptive eyes; he would sit patiently for hours til at last some hapless traveler would come by. He would leap forward and break them so they couldn't move and take them back to his Keepers, alive but helpless. And this went on...
The dreams came as they always had since he drank from that cursed cup: horrible embarrassment, feelings of helplessness, memory of meaningless facts - all things that the other him in the world beyond the Hedge had chosen to forget, until one night, the dream of the cursed cup was different: people looking at him with concern and love on their faces as he was put into an ambulance. His friends and loved ones around him at the hospital wonder at how fast he healed. And a face... a beautiful face of someone he loved and who loved him. A face washed into the ocean of forgotten memories - just once - to surface now in Faerie.
He awoke in the middle of the night to find his cage opened. As he looked around him to try and find why that was he saw the Blind One sitting staring at Bloatfrog's great wealth. Staring with pitch black empty eyes, then turning those sightless eyes upon Jer. "He is a very sound sleeper, you know, and will not wake when you do it." As Jer gazed into those empty eyes he knew that it had all been planned. And he didn't care, because he was going to do it anyway. So, after he had ripped Bloatfrog apart, he ran through the Hedge, to the world he knew waited for him. But he would never forget those eyes, for everytime he looked in a mirror he would see them looking back.
Wednesday, February 28th
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Sweetwater's
The Man in the Mirror isn't in the back seat. Rex looks a second time just to be sure he wasn't ducking down or hiding when he checked the first time. The man isn't there, but he's in the rear-view.
The Man in the Mirror wears a somber grey suit and tie with a white shirt peeking out from behind his jacket. His eyes are covered by a pair of dark sunglasses - the expensive kind. He is otherwise a typical - and, furthermore, unimpressive - Anglo-Saxon man
"Do you have any more questions for me?” the Man in the Mirror asks. It's the first thing he's said, and his mouth moves out of sync with his words. His mouth opens to reveal the seat behind him as though he is not merely hollow, but rather a cardboard standup of a man. His voice is resonant and deep. Again Rex ponders.
"I haven’t asked you any questions," he insists, stopping the car.
"You’ve asked me five questions now," the Man in the Mirror replies, "have you forgotten already?"
"Who," Rex begins, then shakes his head. A light tingle and a twitch runs down his spine before he continues his question. "Who are you?"
"My name is not important. I am a Servant of the Principle," the Man in the Mirror says.
"What is the Principle?"
"The Principle is the Principle. The Principle is everywhere." The Man in the Mirror stops moving his lips halfway through the word and begins to move them again before he next speaks.
"When you say Principle," Rex continues, “do you mean, like... ?" He twiddles his hands over each other and leans forward, as if to goad an answer from the Man. The man tilts his head.
"The Principle is the Principle. The Principle is everywhere. It is why I am on my Mission, and It is why you have been visited these three times."
"What is your 'mission'?"
"I told you of my Mission already," the man replies dully, "the last time we spoke." If he's experiencing any emotions whatsoever, he doesn’t show any signs.
"I've never even see you before," Rex retorts, visibly perplexed.
"You've seen me twice before, Rex. Don’t you remember?" the Man in the Mirror asks, his face contorting with words his isn't actually saying. There was a pause, then he added, "It’s good to see you again. I'm sorry things went so poorly. I am the Servant of the Principle." Then the Man in the Mirror was gone.
Rex's head swims, and he continues down the road to the nearby convenience store. The men outside work for Lance - of this Rex is certain, but he decides to play it cool. As he steps out, he spots the girl he helped earlier, but when he looks for her again, she’s already walked off.
The next session is a little hazy to me, and I don't exactly know why. To be fair, it was far more recent than a number of sessions that I remember far, far better.
I know that at some point Theseus explained that he was going to trial and that he would need everyone - including Rex - to come and act as witnesses. He implied, very strongly, that his death was a possible outcome of this event (and theirs a potential side-effect). Everyone agreed that they were in no position to argue.
Rex took John's car to head back to his apartment to get some things - I do not remember exactly what or why - and found himself talking to the man in the mirror. After this, he had something of a minor nervous breakdown and became certain that a few black men loitering outside the liquor store at which he stopped must work for Lance. He came to a similar conclusion concerning a few cars that he passed, however, so what this means is open to debate. Furthermore, he believed, at a few points, that he had seen people who turned out to not be there (such as the girl that Lance was assaulting, whom he thought saw for a moment outside the store).
At this point Rex decided that, perhaps, it would be best if he went to speak to Trevor, a dear friend of his who had a solid understanding of the occult (most likely induced by his untreated schizophrenia).
Rex concluded, however, that Trevor was useless in this regard, primarily because he only seemed willing to speak concerning ghosts and ghostly apparitions*, despite the fact that Rex was pretty certain that what he saw in the car was not, in fact, a ghost. (Trevor, in his obscenity-laden way, attempted to express that he was just saying "in case you meet a ghost")
Elsewheres, the others went about personal business concerning things that had been going on in the last few days. I don't recall anything all that interesting happening, so I'll glaze over it.
Persephone suggested, when Rex returned home, that the group go on a ghost hunt. Without her, of course, as she was under house arrest, but it wouldn't be that far - just where the statuary** at the Floral Lawns memorial Garden was located.
A number of the members of the group went to the floral gardens, but no one saw a ghost, despite sitting out there for hours. When they returned to Orpheus' house, Rex and Jer attempted to walk through the woods that divided the gardens from his house, although this effort took an exceptional length of time compared to what one should expect for so little ground to cover.
Either way, upon returning, Persphone asked if they had seen the ghost and all involved conceded that they had not (but that they had seen the statues with the hands removed). She then asked them what they had done to try to bring out the ghost. All involved felt a little cheated, I imagine.
The next morning, Theseus requested that everyone get up bright and early and dress nice to accompany his somewhere, which turned out to be the living room. Theseus gave everyone blindfolds to wear for about six seconds. Upon removing them, all involved found themselves in a cave in the ground, where Theseus sent them one by one down the (only) hallway leading out.
Following the Hallway brought them to a larger chamber which featured a few bits of furniture - most notably a throne occupied by a tall, stern-looking woman in a white robe wearing a fairly elaborate (and, in hindsight, Klansman-like) headpiece. Next to her was a box, like that which would be used to testify at a trial, wherein sat Jacqueline Kendra (or Sweet... whatever).
Also in the room were Officer VanNess the man who had been shot by Jer and Jacob, (although the ear on the wrong side of his head had been bandaged - no one present could tell), scowling and looked every bit as emo as they recalled.
I must confess, I don't recall what order testimony was given in. Each individual was called up to testify, asked a few questions, and then sent out into an auditorium that looked surprisingly like a gymnasium loaded for a catered party, complete with food.
Also noteworthy was the fact that, during all but the first testimony, there was an old, bald-headed man with a long white beard and watery eyes wearing a fine suit and an ascot seated in a wooden chair off to the side, as well as a a man of indeterminate race with unkempt hair in a vintage 1980's denim jacket and jeans ensemble with numerous piercings.
The order I choose from here on out is fairly arbitrary.
Rex's testimony was short and sweet. He was asked if he knew Theseus and Orpheus, what he felt about Theseus, and even if he could identify Theseus' occupation. Basically, the answer to all these questions was the same: "I don't really know," although he was able to identify that Theseus was "some sort of phychiatrist, I think."
Beth was asked what she thought of Orpheus and Theseus and whether she felt they were good people. She insisted that she had "never known unkindness" from either of them and was, likewise, dismissed.
Jacob was asked a number of questions concerning events he could not remember. The man with a facefull of piercings objected at various points during the questioning, most notably when Jacob mentioned that he had been stabbed with a stone knife (a statement echoed loudly by the man with the piercings: "A stone knife," he said).
Jeremiah's questioning proved fruitless and confusing, as he was unable to positively identify Orpheus' occupation, could not say when or where he had met Theseus, and did not even know what day of the week it was. The man with the piercings pointed out that this "proved nothing". Jer was dismissed.
Beck's questioning saw her confused and dazed. The woman on the throne asked, first, if Beck was alright, which resulted in her emphatic declaration that she wasn't, that things didn't make sense and, upon hearing an affirmative suggestion, agreed that she would be happier if none of it ever happened. This statement caused the woman on the throne and the bearded man to respond with smug satisfaction, but the man in the denim jacket winced and objected loudly. The woman on the throne silenced him and sent Beck away.
Tasha's testimony was fairly matter-of-fact, and somehow she managed to go through the whole thing without saying anything that could be used against her in a real court of law. The questions asked of her were concerning the things that she had seen, and, as she hadn't seen much of anything after Jer and Jacob left, she was unable to testify concerning any of that.
While no one witnessed John's testimony, it will be revealed here:
What Happened
ohn was asked why he had decided to get involved in the first place, to which he replied that he was already involved as soon as his friends were. He was asked if he thought Orpheus and Theseus were good people, to which he answered "Yes" without hesitation. He was then asked why, to which he responded that to answer that question might incriminate him, so "I plead the fifth." The woman became annoyed and announced that he couldn't plead the fifth because this court did not recognize the constitution of the United States as a binding document. John then said that was absurd, but also said that Theseus and Orpheus had helped him and his friends hide from government agents. No further questions were asked.
Back to the Gym
In the gymnasium, after everyone had given their testimony, people began filing in. They were a diverse lot, and it would be no easier to recall their appearances accurately than to walk into a bar and recall the faces and body builds of everyone present.
Of those who stuck out, the man who beat the shit out of Jer was there, wearing basically the same outfit he had been wearing. He was accompanied by a few other men wearing wintertime gangbanger gear accented with yellow bandannas tied at the arms or legs. One of them was a man of mixed Latino ancestry with extensive burn scars accross one half of his otherwise attractive face and long hair.
Aside from that, there was a group of socialites wearing flowers in their lapels (one of which was the woman on the throne), a small cadre of individuals sporting laptops (one of whom spoke unceasingly into a bluetooth headset, giving him the appearance of being a schizophrenic businessman), a handful of goth/emo types accompanied by the man with the blasted ear, Officer VanNess, and two or three groups of individuals who did not stick out in any appreciable way.
Of these, the man who kicked the crap out of Jer, the woman who sat on the throne (who now wore a smart suit and a lily in her lapel), the man with the long white beard and the man babbling into the headset all sat at the head table. Theseus was led out in an orange jumpsuit and chains by VanNess.
The woman made a brief speech concerning the fact that transgression of the laws must be punished, but didn't get to the point before Orpheus entered. Orpheus made a counter-argument that individuals who are not represented by a system should not be beholden to it. He insisted that anyone who remained in the room at this point would be compliant in some great travestry against justice. Everyone filed out except for the bearded man, the lady with the Lily, and the guy what kicked Jer's ass on a previous occassion. Orpehus then informed those at the head table that he would give them one last chance to give up on their plans, at which point the man in yellow produced a gun and informed all present that he could shoot them dead from accross the room without difficulty.
Beth, Jacob and Tasha vacated the room quickly, to find themselves in a church that did not contain any of the people they had seen walk out. Furthermore, Colin was standing there with a chainsaw in hand and a finger to his lips as they escaped.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Rex insisted that the man in yellow ought not point guns at people. So he pointed the gun at Rex instead of Orpheus. Jer said something inane about how shooting him would do no good, so the man in yellow got a quizzical sort of expression on his face and shot Jer in the thigh, which did a great deal of bad and, presumably, would have hurt a lot if Jer didn't immediately go into shock. In response to this, Rex took a step forward, but was, in turn, shot in the knee (immensely, unspeakably painful, just for the record). Then the man pointed the gun at Beck's head and pulled the trigger, but, fortunately, there was nothing in the chamber. Then he laughed cruelly and reloaded.
Orpheus insisted that this had gone on long enough and called for Colin, who came into the room in all his hideous glory
What Jer Saw
As the door closed and Colin rushed forward, those at the table flew into a flurry of activity. Officer VanNess fled almost immediately, running into the adjunct kitchen and disappearing. The asian man in yellow loaded his gun fired a shot, but somehow only managed to shoot himself in the thigh despite pointing his gun at Colin.
The woman with the lily on her lapel ran to the back of the room, prompting Orpheus to throw his right hand forward, holding something in his palm. The woman ran to the back of the room, slamming into the wall (which rippled as though made of water) and fell to the floor in shock (as though she expected something else to happen).
That’s when the old man turned into a bird, and Beck fell to the floor in a seizure. That’s when Rex sat and ran his fingers through his hair, over and over. That’s when John stared dumbfounded and motionless ahead, and Jer lay on the floor in agony.
Colin Sprinted forward with immeasurable speed, while Orpheus gestured at Theseus, whose chains warped and dissolved as though made of wet taffy. The man in yellow then turned and drove a vicious palm into Theseus’ chest, sending him staggering back against the wall, which Theseus passed into as though he were a video game sprite without an accurate collision dynamic, but with a dynamic that reminds the software that the character is still to be displayed atop the less important wall. The man in yellow then approached forward, but found himself impeded by the wall that was, indeed, still there.
Colin reached the woman and made exceptionally short work of her, sawing through her so quickly she didn’t even have time to scream properly. The bird, meanwhile, flew for the door. Orpheus gestured, however, and the bird struck a hard patch in the air and fell to the floor, where it turned into a tiger.
And Orepheus smiled a cocksure grin as he stepped quietly towards the tiger while behind him the man in yellow shot furiously (and harmlessly) into the wall and Colin continued to tear through bloodied writhing flesh. About six yards from the tiger, Orpheus crouched down as though he, too, would pounce. Then, as the tiger coiled and struck, he pried up a sizeable chunk of the gymnasium floor (lifting it as though it was a rug) and held it as a shield, into which the tiger sank as though wrapped in a blanket. Then Orpheus wrapped it around the tiger and the substance of the floor became once again hard, ensnaring its contents. As he did this, his flesh drew more gaunt and tight. Orpheus paused for a moment afterwards, looking significantly worse for the wear.
Colin turned to face the man in yellow, but Orpheus shouted to him. "Get Darwin," he said, "I can’t hold him much longer. We’ll take care of Dross."
The man in yellow (Dross, presumably), hearing these words, sprinted for the door, but Theseus waved his wand (strangely enough, he was suddenly holding it) and Dross began to twiddle as he ran, as though his forward movement would bring him no closer to his destination. Colin, meanwhile, ran back toward the lump Orpheus had created in the floor.
Orpheus marched past Colin toward Dross, who grew more and more terrified as he approached, running more frantically, appearing to try to sidestep, leaping forward in one spot. Finally Orpheus reached him and, with a single deft motion, stuck his fingers through Dross’ forehead, and Dross slumped to the floor.
Colin reach the mass just in time for muscular caricature of the man who had been hidden in the floor to burst out. Colin’s flesh rippled for a second, and went translucent, like the cheeks of a man with a mag-light in his mouth. His movements were suddenly faster, defter, and heftier and he swung the chainsaw at Darwin, whose head was promptly split, spraying blood and chunks of grey matter everywhere. That’s when Jer threw up.
That’s where we find ourselves now. Rex, John and Beck each stupefied in their own special way. Jer has nary a word to say, but pain in abundance, and scarce thinks he can comprehend what he just saw, but see it he did.
Mortality and Morality
Meanwhile, Beth, Jacob and Tasha find themselves outside the (now locked) door, through which they hear only silence. All involved first attempt to open the door through mundane means, then Jacob and Beth run off to find a janitor. Eventually they do, a bald-headed man with a black moustache and a pair of coke-bottle spectacles who barely buys their story about how they got there (which was, likewise, ridiculous).
Either way, he unlocked the door to the gym, which was not the gym they believed it would be, and much consternation was the result of this fact. Beth and Tasha walked in and out through the doors a few time while Jacob searched the gym. Beth disappeared (only to appear in the now messy gym, I'll get to that in a moment) and Tasha freaked out, running back and forth in the doorway, insisting it would "maybe work eventually". Surprisingly, it did (back to this in a minute).
Jacob witnessed this, but dismissed it in his mind. The janitor, however, stood there, staring and dropping and picking up his broom repeatedly. Jacob was unable to rouse him from this stupor, so he decided he would look through the church for them.
While looking in a closet, Jacob was unexpectedly accosted by Agent Smith*, who demanded to know where Colin was. Jacob admitted he would like to know, and was met with some violence. He did manage to knock the MiB down with his crutch and get a hold of his Tazer, but the effort was worse than fruitless, and resulted in his being Tazered himself. Jacob came, furthermore, to the conclusion that the MiB could not see / function without his glasses, since he went to great lengths to recover them mid-fight.
Meanwhile, Tasha and Beck freaked out, Rex began to hallucinate that people were made of living electricity, and Jer bled a lot. Beth, meanwhile tried to make sense of things, and Orpheus proposed that she follow him into the kitchen to talk somewhere less obtrusive. Colin and VanNess cleaned up the corpses (and the now unconscious Dross).
Tasha and Beck were both pacified by Theseus, who touched them and put them in a trancelike state. More on that in a moment.
Beth and Orpheus spoke at great length in the Kitchen on topics occult. Orpheus tried to explain things to her, and even produced ectoplasm from his mouth and her ear, which he shaped into the woman that had been killed in the struggle. This spoke briefly on mundane topics relating to the trial before leaving. Orpheus explained that it was just an "echo" of her, and that she was really gone. Beth was intrigued.
The conversation kept fluctuating to the esoteria of Vampirism, and Orpheus promised to eventually introduce Beth to his friend Lysander Antipas, who was allegedly a vampire. Beth asked if vampires deserved the reputation they had gained and if they were all cruel inhuman monsters, to which Orpheus replied that "being a blood drinking serial killer will, you must understand, eventually erode away any sense of morality or humanity one has left."
Jacob, meanwhile, woke up when the black sedan he found himself in was knocked off the road and rolled into the ditch, ending inverted. He was pulled from the wreckage by a man (who introduced himself as "Victor") in a black turtleneck / slacks combination with a soul patch and a beret. The man's companion (who introduced himself as "Danté", as opposed to "Dante") was a fellow with a five o'clock shadow a leather jacket a "Further Seems Forever" shirt and a pair of blue jeans.
They removed Jacob from the car and brought him into their SUV (emblazoned with a presumably ironic "EPA" bumper sticker) to escape, insisting that the Man in Black probably wasn't dead, that they weren't going to finish the job, but that they would be happy to liberate Jacob because "any enemy of theirs is a friend of ours" ("Definately. Absolutely.").
The questioned Jacob about his occupation (when he explained he was in construction they asked if that meant he was "into Matter Arcana") and his techné (a term with which Jacob was not familiar).
After some conversation, they determined that Jacob was Orpheus' "property" and gave him their business card (Danté and Victor Zeitgeist, Digital Ghosts Productions [A Subsidiary of Special Media Group] "Because Magic Is Everywhere"; cell, alt. cell, Fax, email, and UK Phone)
They took Jacob back to their "Pad", which was an executive apartment sans furniture (save a beanbag chair and a number of tables supporting computers stacked on computers, with ethernet and electric cables stretched accross the walls and ceiling like spiderwebs). They offered Jacob some coffee ("premium Columbian roast"). They then talked about the environment, the United States legal system, and many other topics of public interest but impolite conversation.
Meanwhile, Beck had a dream/vision/hallucination that she was having a smoothie with Theseus at Appelbee's. He tried to get her to take her mind off what was going on, but the people Colin killed kept appearing and talking to her, triggering avoidant behaviour. At one point, she ended up on an airplane where "John" attempted to seduce her in the cramped airline bathroom. She did not, however, believe this was John, and eventually found herself back at the restaurant, where Theseus informed her that it was "probably best not to think about it."
Tasha meanwhile, found herself along in a park, which did not, at first, bother her. After a while, though, she became concerned when she realized that there were, indeed, no people there. She searched about frantically looking for someone - anyone - in downtown Charlotte. Eventually she found Jer, who took her about to every place she wanted to go. First, she went to her sister's house, which was empty (inexplicably Jer could open the presumably locked door). Then she went to her mother's house, which turned out to be a surprise birthday party with all her friends - even those she had not seen in a long time. The birthday party, however, quickly devolved into a conceptual mishmash of parties, however, featuring many holiday activities unrelated to birthdays (or February, for that matter). Tasha became afraid and ran away.
In Miscellaneous notes, Jer nearly bled to death (but Theseus gave him a pill that made it all better), Rex sat in a corner and stared, and John attempted to bludgeon Orpheus with a chair (although he was dissuaded from this effort).
Orpheus, Theseus, Colin and VanNess loaded the bodies into the back of a truck, and Theseus loaded Dross (covered with a tarp) into the back of his vehicle along with a few people. I don't remember the order of the return home.
Long story short, they got back, Orpheus presented Dross to Persephone and began to say something about this presentation, but Persephone cut him short by shooting Dross in the head at point blank range (which was messy) which elicited a downtrodden cry of "well that was anticlimactic" from Orpheus. Beck and Bethie broke down, and everyone went to bed (they had just had a very very long day).
- ↑ The Moebius strip is a three-dimensional geometric figure with only one side, while the infinity symbol is a form of the moebius strip typically expressed in two dimensions.
- ↑ Coincidentally, in a parallel chronicle "starring" Nathan, he went to the apartment building looking for Jer, John, and/or Tasha and noticed that the window to that apartment had been replaced with that clear plastic material used on missing car windows. He attributed it to urban decay with a sort of "there goes the neighborhood" sense of nonchalance.
- ↑ It is worth noting, of course, that Jer's ankle was very OBVIOUSLY broken, and that its nature as such was clearly visible to the naked eye. As in twisted and mutilated. Smashed, Bone shattered. Yellow necrotic-looking flesh wreathing a world of unspeakable agony where his twig-like bone was smashed into a thousand splintered pieces. No one seems to have gone to any particular lengths to question the nature of the sudden recovery.
- ↑ Of course, in being asymmetrical, the arch precludes itself from actually being a Torii arch.
- ↑ This, despite, as John pointed out, her having driven Orpheus to Denny's.
- ↑ Diego advised them that they could likely plea bargain down to community service, and that the firearm was never recovered, so it would be difficult to make the gun crimes stick.
- ↑ No mean feat this - the disbelief of three Sleepers should well have dispelled such a vulgar spell.