Paisley Peinforte Adventures: Southern Gothic

[23:05] *** Peinforte Manor
[23:05] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is sitting alone in her study, eyes closed, a book in her lap
[23:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's brow furrows as she recieves a telepathic message from Karn.
[23:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte acknowledges it.
[23:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's eyes open
[23:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte heads to The Room
[23:07] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte approaches the door, and it opens on its own
[23:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...So that's how it is, eh?
[23:07] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pats the door
[23:07] * Old Man is sleeping in his chair
[23:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oi. Wake up.
[23:07] * Old Man opens one eye
[23:07] <Old Man> What do you want now?
[23:08] <Old Man> It's not tea-time, is it?
[23:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> no.
[23:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're coming with me.
[23:08] <Old Man> I told you, i'm not leaving this place. Stop--
[23:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Skagra.
[23:08] <Old Man> ...what.
[23:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> After centuries of searching, The Sisterhood has narrowed down a possible location for his vessel.
[23:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> They want him alive.
[23:09] <Old Man> Why?
[23:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> He kidnapped and tortured one of the sisters.
[23:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We want to repay the favour.
[23:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Slowly.
[23:10] <Old Man> And what have *I* got to do with this?
[23:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I need a Time Lord.
[23:11] <Old Man> Go find Intern, or Aclatex, or something.
[23:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Aclatex?
[23:11] <Old Man> Oh. Right. Hasn't happened yet. Forget that.
[23:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No. I need you.
[23:11] >Old Man> Well you know where to f--
[23:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte GRABS his arm.
[23:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> YOU. NOW.
[23:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> THIS YOU.
[23:12] <Old Man> Look my days of traveling are done.
[23:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Rubbish.
[23:12] <Old Man> I'm not taking on any more companions!
[23:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...
[23:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Get real~
[23:13] <Old Man> Eh?
[23:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm not going to be your companion.
[23:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're going to be mine.
[23:13] <Old Man> ......
[23:14] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte GRINS and pulls out a Chalice.
[23:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Prpeare, for the ride the back of time~
[23:14] <Old Man> NO, WAIT!
[23:15] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte THROWS down the chalice and a TIME STORM ERUPTS in the Old Man's sitting room, and the duo vanishes.

---

[11:02] *** SKAGRA'S SHIP
[11:03] * the Old man and Paisley land on the ship in a smoking heap
[11:03] <Old Man> OH GOD I'M ON FIRE WHY AM I ON FIRE
[11:05] <@> Something went wrong with the incantation
[11:05] * @ is now known as Paisley Pythia Peinforte
[11:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ^
[11:06] <Old Man> WHAT HOW COULD SOMETHING GO WRONG
[11:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is beating up the old man with a blanket to put him out
[11:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Those bloody Typo Demons are getting more powerful. They even affect reality structures.
[11:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We really should check them out some day.
[11:07] * Old Man rolls around trying to extinguish himself
[11:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...
[11:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Are you done.
[11:07] <Old Man> No I think I'm still rare.
[11:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Jesus Christ
[11:08] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grabs him by the arm and pulls him up, swatting away the flames
[11:09] <Old Man> I'd close my mind as tightly as possible. If I recall Skagra has weapons that can home in on mental emissions.
[11:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes well, considering what you emit.
[11:12] <Old Man> Oh be quiet :P
[11:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> MY mind is fine.
[11:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're the leaky boat, so shut it.
[11:13] <Old Man> I'm old, give me a break.
[11:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I swear to go--
[11:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Have you LOOKED in a mirror lately.
[11:13] <Old Man> I don't have mirrors in my rooms.
[11:14] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte takes the old man by the scruff of the neck and turns him to look at a shiny bulkhead.
[11:14] <Old Man> ....
[11:15] <Old Man> Who's that? why do I look like that?
[11:15] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You mean sixty instead of one-hundred sixty?
[11:15] <Old Man> I am several thousand years old.
[11:15] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN STOP ANTAGONIZING ME
[11:15] <Old Man> ....
[11:16] <Old Man> What did you do, Paisley Pythia Peinforte. This can't be regeneration.
[11:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That tea was very good, wasn't it~
[11:16] <Old Man> ...
[11:17] * Old Man snaps his fingers
[11:17] <Old Man> Elixir!
[11:17] <Old Man> you piked my tea with Elixir!
[11:17] <Old Man> ^Spiked
[11:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Ptth don't be so crude about it.
[11:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I've been making careful, controlled adjustments to your body via controlled application of Elixir and other things the Sisterhood researched during the Time War.
[11:18] <Old Man> ..... you had no right
[11:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Don't you find the synapses firing just a bit quicker~?
[11:19] <Old Man> NO RIGHT!
[11:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What, no right to not let you just wither away?
[11:20] * Old Man SHAKES with anger
[11:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's good! you weren't able to do that before.
[11:20] <Old Man> ....................................
[11:22] <Old Man> I WAS READY TO GO! I--
[11:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Shut it! Something's coming.

---

[21:24] *** Skagra's ship
[21:25] * "And then the doctor put all my wires in SO firmly, and it simply overloaded ALL my circuits with such wonderful sensations~
[21:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Oh god how long is it going to natter on about the Doctor
[21:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ It's like it's in love with him
[21:27] <Old Man> ♦ So the ship is shipping itself?
[21:27] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at the Old Man dimly
[21:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ No, no. No. Don't.. don't do that.
[21:27] <Old Man> ♦ eh?
[21:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ I make the shipping jokes here, not you.
[21:28] <Old Man> ♦ :P
[21:29] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ At any rate it's so preoccupied with fawning over the Doctor it hasn't noticed us AND it's not helping us find where the hell Skagra is.
[21:29] <Old Man> ♦ Well what now?
[21:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Don't just stand there looking pretty, do the Time Lord thing and I don't know... hack it, or something.
[21:30] <Old Man> ♦ ... pretty?
[21:30] <Old Man> ♦ PRETTY@
[21:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ FOR F[BLEEP]KS SAKE FOCUS MAN
[21:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Find Skagra!
[21:31] <Old Man> ♦ We are going to have words, Paisley. WORDS.
[21:31] * And the things he did with his scarf, he measured me in both metric AND imperial...
[21:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Will you. Just. GET. TO. IT.
[21:32] <Old Man> I... knew the doctot!
[21:32] * The ship goes quiet and you could swear you hear it suck in an excited breath.
[21:33] * "Tell me EVERYTHING"
[21:33] <Old Man> Of course, of course. But I was wondering if you could tell me something as well?
[21:34] <Old Man> Where Skagra is.
[21:36] * "Well, after he escaped from me, and had a run in with that other man and the perky girl, he found me
[21:36] * And then tried to touch my circuits in such inappropriate ways
[21:37] * The Ship proceeds to complain ceaselessly
[21:38] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks around for the strange Silurian-like creature that had been stalking them
[21:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Oi, can't you speed this up
[21:38] <Old Man> ♦ The ship just likes to talk, I can keep it occupied but that's about it
[21:45] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte rolls her eyes
[21:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Fine you keep it busy, I'll find bloody Skagra.
[21:45] <Old Man> ♦ How am I going to do that?
[21:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Just prattle constantly like you always do.
[21:46] <Old Man> ♦ I haven't prattled in CENTURIES
[21:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ THEN WHINE AT IT I DON'T KNOW.
[21:46] <Old Man> ♦ :P
[21:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ stop thinking at me, I'm meditating
[21:47] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte assumes the Karnian Lotus position and closes her eyes, mentally probing all the spaces of the ship to find Skagra's mind

---

[23:04] *** Skagra's ship
[23:05] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte heads down a corridor, stepping over a decomposing body
[23:05] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte senses Skagra behind the next door... but something seems off.
[23:05] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks back, the Old Man is now arguing with the ship over what's better, Duotronics or Isolinear chips.
[23:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte cautiously opens a door, and light slowly spills into a darkened room
[23:06] <Skagra> ....
[23:06] <Skagra> You...
[23:06] <Skagra> Are you..a Time Lord...?
[23:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Hmph.
[23:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You wish.
[23:06] <Skagra> ....
[23:07] <Skagra> Kill me!
[23:07] <Skagra> Kill me now!
[23:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You what?
[23:07] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte senses tremendous confusion and fear coming from Skagra
[23:07] <Skagra> Quickly! Quickly! Before--- Be--fore...
[23:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Before what?
[23:07] * Skagra 's eyes suddenly glow green
[23:08] <Skagra> ♦ We play the game again... Sister of the Flame, Paisley Pythia Peinforte
[23:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> .............
[23:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte knows that voice.
[23:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - ... The Great Intelligence. -
[23:09] * Skagra LAUGHS
[23:09] * Skagra waves his hand and the ship SHUDDERS

---

[07:29] *** Skagra's Spaceship, which is veering out of control
[07:30] <Skagra> When that fool Skagra reached out his mind across the stars to try and dominate the universe, I took notice. And I waited. And when he returned here, I waited for him, hidden in this primitive machine, whose addled brain was filled with only thoughts of The Doctor.
[07:31] <Skagra> Silence, you old, used-up thing, unworthy of my attentions!
[07:31] * Skagra chuckles darkly, focused on Paisley
[07:32] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte glares, trying to keep her footing even as the ship is shaking itself apart
[07:33] <Old Man> God between the ship and this fool, I don't know who's the worse chatterbox
[07:33] <Old Man> Why's he looking at you like that?
[07:33] <Skagra> She knows that I want~ :r
[07:33] <Old Man> Eh?
[07:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> He wants my body.
[07:33] * Old Man raises an eyebrow
[07:34] <Old Man> Well, I never knew you had a suitor~
[07:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh f[BLEEP]k off >;<;
[07:34] <Skagra> The body of one of the most powerful Sisters of the Flame. Such a highly trained mind, capabable of resisting even me~
[07:34] <Skagra> Capable of reaching out across Time and Space all on its own~
[07:35] <Skagra> And so deliciously tainted with the ancient power~
[07:35] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte crosses her arms over her chest
[07:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're not getting me! I've defeated you at every turn!
[07:36] <Skagra> Hahaah, but you are already caught in my web.
[07:37] <Skagra> It was so easy to point the Sisterhood to my location. Just a tiny psychic hint.. and of course they sent you, their eyes and ears on the outside universe~
[07:37] <Skagra> From the moment you set foot on this ship, your fate was sealed~
[07:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Tch.
[07:37] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grabs the Old Man by the arm
[07:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I don't think so.
[07:37] <Old Man> Careful!
[07:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Quiet, before he decides he wants to upgrade from Skagra there
[07:38] <Skagra> Why would I waste my time with such a decrepit old man when I could have you, bursting with Vitality and vigor~
[07:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And Vim. Don't forget vim.
[07:39] <Old Man> The Text editor?
[07:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ..what?
[07:39] <Skagra> Used in Linux systems.
[07:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[07:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm no a penguinhead, all right
[07:40] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte Throws down a small pouch and there is an EXPLOSION of temporal energy
[07:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But what I am-- is gone!
[07:40] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte and the Old Man vanish in a Time Storm
[07:40] <Skagra> ...Fools.
[07:41] <Skagra> Did I not already say you were both in my web~?
[07:41] * Skagra presses a hand to the wall of the still chattering ship, which suddenly goes silent
[07:41] <Skagra> Wretched vessel, given the power to circumnavigate time and space.
[07:42] <Skagra> Go now, to the place I have prepared.
[07:42] <Skagra> The Place where Peinforte will finally be mine~
[07:42] <Skagra> And, with the power of the Pythia I will spread across the Universe as the Ultimate Mind-Force!
[07:43] * the Ship Shudders
[07:43] * It vanishes, re-appearing elsewhere
[07:43] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte and the Old man land unceremoniously in some kind of murky swamp
[07:43] <Old Man> Where are we?
[07:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I don't know... the Great Intelligence managed to throw the Time Storm off course.
[07:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's really frighteningly powerful.
[07:44] * Old Man sniffs the air
[07:44] <Old Man> Earth.
[07:44] * Old Man licks a tree
[07:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Disgusting. Don't you have a machine or something for that.
[07:47] <Old Man> You pulled me out of the house with nothing but the clothes on my back!
[07:48] <Old Man> Anyway, it feels like the 1980's...
[07:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> God. Any idea where?
[07:48] <Old Man> Hmm..
[07:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> /DM The Louisiana Bayou, 1981.... deep in Wyatt Tarritory
[07:49] *** The Louisiana Bayou, 1981.... deep in Wyatt Territory

---

[22:06] *** Deep in the Bayou, 1981
[22:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> God, this marsh is disgusting, It's like a New Jersey Beach.
[22:07] <Old Man> Well at least you didn't land on a Cow Pie.
[22:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What the hell is a cow pie?
[22:07] <Old Man> It's what Americans call a pile od Cow ... offal.
[22:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Why would there be cows in a swamp.
[22:08] <Old Man> LOOK I don't want to think of what else it might have been, all right?
[22:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Given where we are, maybe it was a wild pig.
[22:09] <Old Man> I don't particularly care what made the mess, only thatI laded in it.
[22:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well I have to smell it so we are both suffering here.
[22:10] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte and the Old Man are surrounded by an eerie sea of firelfies, and the sound of deep-croaking frogs and cicadas.
[22:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'd say this had a certain loveliness to it, but Id' be lying. This place smells.
[22:11] <Old Man> Well at least your hooker boots are acting like waders. My pants are soaked.
[22:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...........
[22:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte PUNCHES him in the arm "Oi! They're not 'hooker boots'! they just have taller heels!"
[22:12] * Old Man groans. "I don't damn well know about fashion."
[22:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes that is why we are getting you out more.
[22:12] <Old Man> To a swamp. Filled with probably deadly creatures.
[22:12] <Old Man> With the Great Intelligence after us.
[22:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No he's after me. he could give two s[BLEEP]ts about you, Mr. Past-his-sell-by -date.
[22:13] <Old Man> Then I'll just make my own way home :P
[22:13] * Old Man turns as if to leave
[22:13] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks briefly upset
[22:14] <Old Man> ...I'm not serious, you know.
[22:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...I knew that.
[22:14] <Old Man> (No, you didn't.)
[22:15] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It is me, or are theanimals all staring at us oddly...?
[22:15] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks around as you can see the reflections of many small eyes in the night
[22:15] <Old Man> Maybe they're hungry.
[22:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Usually wild animals hide and observe.
[22:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> In my experience, anyway.
[22:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> These are just... standing around staring.
[22:16] <Old Man> You're right...
[22:17] * As if in unision, all the animals look towards one spot... an old home, about half a mile down the way.
[22:17] <Old Man> .....That's certainly not natural.
[22:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's got to be a compulsion.
[22:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Even with my defences up, I know it's here. In this place.
[22:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The stink of the Animus...
[22:18] <Old Man> We're in his web, aren't we?
[22:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I think we are.
[22:18] * Old Man stumbles a but across a tree root
[22:18] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grabs his arm firmly
[22:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Come on, we've got a trap to spring.
[22:19] <Old Man> Joy...

---

BR> [16:40] *** The Wyatt Compound, Louisiana Bayou, 1981
[16:41] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte and the old man seem to be walking in darkness, but jagged shars of light high above betray that they are just under a very thick canopy of trees.
[16:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I hate this place.
[16:41] <Old Man> It feels unnaturally cold.
[16:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It *si* unnaturally cold.
[16:42] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> There's a lot of psychic energy and distrurbanse kicking around here.
[16:42] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ^disturbance.
[16:42] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Not just the Great Intelligence.. but the Animus... Baron Samedi...
[16:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This whole place reeks of influence over time.
[16:43] <Old Man> Some kind of a Nexus?
[16:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The Deep American South has always been a hotbed of suppressed mysticism..
[16:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Holdovers from ancient cultures that walked the land long before the White Man.
[16:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Expressed sometimes in the rites of Vodoun, or Santeria...
[16:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> As if there's always been a calling to the primal.
[16:45] <Old Man> ... I hate those things. They never seem to follow the laws of Physics.
[16:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh they have laws all their own.
[16:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> A Physics all their own.
[16:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Everything has a system, even chaos.
[16:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But it's learning how to interpret it.
[16:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> How to put your logic aside and partially give way to the madness, but not enough to lose yourself in it.
[16:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> To master that twisted knot of confusion and interpret.
[16:47] <Old Man> You sound remarkably well-versed.
[16:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well it's what I do when I'm not hanging about at the HOTEL or writing masterfurl works of erotic fiction involving kittens and Godzilla.
[16:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I work to keep away the larger forces of the night.
[16:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And not just me.
[16:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Lots of other people. Not as a group or anything like that. Not usually.
[16:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Independent stands against the tendrils of the quote-unquote gods.
[16:49] * Old Man winces. On some level their telepathic connection has never severed, and he feels the hatred coming from her. And he knows why., thanks to what she had shown him.
[16:50] <Old Man> They can't all be bad, surely.
[16:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I don't want to talk about that right now.
[16:51] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte fixes her gaze straight head, looking at a cluster of fireflies that is hovering, as if waiting for their approach, and then moving them towards the dilapidated house.
[16:51] * Old Man grunts in acknowledgement.
[16:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> One day. Let's get through this and I'll talk about it with you. Promise.
[16:52] <Old Man> All right.
[16:52] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte winces
[16:52] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte steps back a bit and rubs her forehead
[16:52] <Old Man> What is it?
[16:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> At the risk of sounding like Counselor Troi... "pain".
[16:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Not mine.
[16:53] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte points at the house.
[16:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> From there.
[16:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So strong it's just like a bullhorn.
[16:53] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte breaks into a run to get to the house
[16:53] * Old Man follows
[16:54] * getting into the house, it is pitch black. Every board creaks loudly, as if they were specifically placed to alert the inhabitants of trespassers.
[16:54] <Old Man> The smell >;<;
[16:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Death.
[16:54] <Old Man> I know.
[16:55] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pulls out a twig she had picked up along the way and concentrates on it hard, causing it to catch flame.
[16:55] <Old Man> ...Mastered that, have you?
[16:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm a quirk study.
[16:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ^quick
[16:56] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte waves the torch around, and they see a butchered cow hanging from the rafters
[16:56] <Old Man> See, a cow!
[16:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Don't be so full of yourswelf it probably came from a butchers'
[16:57] <Old Man> Heh. You can't stand me being right
[16:57] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I just can't stand you :P
[16:57] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte chuckles
[16:57] * Old Man spies a jar
[16:57] * Old Man picks it up
[16:57] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What is it?
[16:57] * Old Man looks at it more closely, and then drops it in sheer revulsion
[16:58] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Are you all right?! what happened?!
[16:58] <Old Man> It was filled with.. bugs... large roaches i think. they'd fallen in and had no way to escape... they apparently would spawn and... then jkept eating each other alive.
[16:59] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte turns a bit green
[16:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Jesus.
[16:59] * then they hear the sound of a young boy muttering "Jesus"
[16:59] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte swivels to look. The pain is coming from the boy.
[17:00] <Young Boy> Jesus... Sister Abigail tells us all to be very afraid of Jesus...
[17:01] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte aims her makeshift torch at the boy
[17:01] <Old Man> "Be afraid of?" Why would a sister--
[17:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Not every Sister belongs to the faith you might expect.
[17:02] * Young Boy boy turns his head slowly and looks at them
[17:02] <Young Boy> Hello, travelers, come from the heathen lands...
[17:02] <Young Boy> ...from the cursed light...
[17:02] <Old Man> ...
[17:02] <Young Boy> ...welcome to the dark, where you cannot hide...
[17:03] * Young Boy GRINS at thenm showing off broken teeth
[17:03] <Young Boy> - Run. -
[17:03] * Everything goes pitch black

---

[10:02] *** Wyatt Compound. 1981... maybe.
[10:02] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte and the old man are in total pitch blackness
[10:02] * Old Man starts gasping
[10:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Settle down.
[10:03] <Old Man> Can't you feel it?!
[10:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I can. Time's gone.
[10:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And apparently, space.
[10:03] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte can'tr feel the "pressure" of nearby objects or minds, except for the old Man's
[10:04] <Old Man> Did we leave the cabin:
[10:04] <Old Man> Were we moved? It idin't feel like a transmat...
[10:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This is beyond science.
[10:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We're not in between dimensions, or merely out of space / time.
[10:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This is the space between Life and Death.
[10:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Where mind and matter and metaphysics are all one and the same and neither all at the same time.
[10:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's where initiates to the higher arts of the Esoteric are tested, and where titantic battles are fought, all outside the realm of normal perception.
[10:07] <Old Man> ...
[10:07] <Old Man> ...This is your life?
[10:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And yours now, too, mate.
[10:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You don't get here by chance.
[10:08] <Old Man> You dragged me along. The Great Intelligence--
[10:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> --Is a Cipher. A mask.
[10:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> A tool to get us to this place.
[10:09] <Old Man> Whose tool?
[10:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte smiles tautly, and even though it can't be seen, the old man senses the expression somehow.
[10:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The answer would terrify you.
[10:09] <Old Man> You don't know, do you :P
[10:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte Chuckles sadly. "I wish."
[10:12] <Old Man> So who is it, then?
[10:14] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sighs
[10:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> There is a school of thought that some hold.
[10:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That the Gods are but a mask.
[10:15] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> When you get advanced enough to see.
[10:16] <Old Man> ...Masks worn by whom?
[10:17] * The darkness partially dispels and Paisley and the Old Man can see each other but nothing else.
[10:18] <Old Man> ...
[10:18] <Old Man> Ludicrous.
[10:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Believe you me, I'm not a fan of the concept.
[10:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You know why.
[10:18] * Old Man remembers the painful memories Paisley showed him.
[10:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But, if we're here, that's one piece of information you will need to internalise.
[10:24] <Old Man> ...Why.
[10:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Because, my old, dear, friend. This is a place of testing.
[10:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The whole quest for Skagra and the machinations of the Intelligence are just markers on a path.
[10:25] <Old Man> Haven;t you already gone through all this? You're a Sister of the Flame?
[10:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Initation is never ending when you walk as I do.
[10:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Maybe I'm to lead you forward into a new path, now, at the end of your life. Getting you set up for the next story.
[10:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Maybe I need to move ot another level.
[10:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Maybe the universe is f[BLEEP]king with us.
[10:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Who knows?
[10:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We will only find out by going forward.
[10:31] <Old Man> What if I don't want to move forward?
[10:31] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte rolls her eyes so hard you could almost HEAR it.
[10:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> 9_9
[10:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That ship has bloody sailed.
[10:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If you don't want to mmove on, if you just want to expire, then you can just stay here and let yourself be eaten.
[10:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Or whatever happens to people here. I've never been foolish enough to try and peronally find out.
[10:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So, you'll get your chance to make your choice.
[10:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Because that is what this place is.
[10:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> A place of Choosing.
[10:33] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grumbles
[10:33] <Old Man> What?
[10:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What if your fatalistic bulls[BLEEP]t is what's forced to to this moment.
[10:33] <Old Man> I heard that :P
[10:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Good ears for an old ba[BLEEP]rd.
[10:34] <Old Man> :P
[10:34] <Old Man> So what happens now?
[10:35] * a spotlight snaps on from an unknwon source, illuminating the body of s small boy strapped into a chair, bound and gagged, with a sword over his head.
[10:35] <Old Man> ....

---

[21:32] *** Journey 1: "Imposter Syndrome"
[21:33] *** in the neveerplace where Paisley and the Old Man are
[21:34] * Old Man sees the boy with the sword of damocles over his head vanish
[21:34] <Old Man> ...where did he go?
[21:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> A cipher. Easily dismissed.
[21:35] <Old Man> I don't understand.
[21:35] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte purses her lips, thinking of how to convey this.
[21:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...Stakes. Consequences.
[21:36] <Old Man> Hmm?
[21:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We all struggle and fight so valiantly when there
[21:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> is an external goal.
[21:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> When we have to beat a clock, save a friend, save a world.
[21:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We rise up, beat the odds and move on.
[21:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's what we do.
[21:37] * Old Man nods "this is true."
[21:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's a great motivator. Great way to keep oneself busy.
[21:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> but tell me, Old Sir who has spent centuries sitting in my Ancestral Home...
[21:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> when you are alone, in the dark at night, with no one to save...
[21:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Who are you?
[21:38] <Old Man> I'm still me.
[21:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But how do you define yourself, in the absence of context?
[21:39] <Old Man> I'm still... me.
[21:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And what is you?
[21:40] <Old Man> A man. A Time Lord. Sometimes a soldier, sometimes a father.
[21:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Contexts.
[21:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Slots you put youerself into to provide a handy Cole's Notes definition.
[21:41] <Old Man> What are you driving at? What's that got to do with the boy?
[21:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> you and me, fighting to save the soul of some random boy.
[21:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Very noble, very feel-good.
[21:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Very distracting from the truth of this.
[21:41] <Old Man> ....
[21:42] * For a moment, a wickedly smiling Yaijinden appears and vanishes.
[21:42] <Old Man> What the--
[21:42] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That was my fault, I'm afraid.
[21:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> He's my mental shortcut for "cutting insight."
[21:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The kind that bleeds you to enlightment. Obviously my thoughts leak.
[21:44] <Old Man> So he's you're conception of what this place is?
[21:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I told you already, I know what it is. And what we are. What we are to each other at this moment in no-time.
[21:47] <Old Man> And what is that?
[21:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yaijindens.
[21:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well... piss-poor copies of same.
[21:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No one can be him.
[21:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But where he is a scalpel...
[21:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> we are to be knives.
[21:48] <Old Man> Cutting what?
[21:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...What else is there?
[21:48] <Old Man> ...Each other?
[21:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And ourselves.
[21:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Bleeding our way to freedom. Or destruction. Mtaphorically of course. And... perhaps literally.
[21:50] <Old Man> Well that's just dandy.
[21:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well...
[21:51] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sighs.
[21:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> There's nothing for it but to get stuck in.
[21:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The only way out is through.
[21:52] <Old Man> But how do we even begin?
[21:53] * a Bright Moon shines out of no where
[21:53] <Old Man> The Moon?
[21:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Ahh yes, the moon,
[21:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Without which we wouldn't be here.
[21:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If it wasn't for some war between the Earth and the Moon 10,000 years ago, none of the Senshi would have appeared in Japan and none of us would have been drawn there.
[21:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> In the Tarot, the moon represents a traumatic gateway experience.
[21:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> A passing through of Darkness that leads you to the other side.
[21:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> In a way the tribulations of Usagi and her friends and the people of the HOTEL who befreinded them have all been rites of passage.
[21:56] <Old Man> And now it's our turn, is that it?
[21:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> As I said, A turn...
[21:56] * the sound of a young girl crying can be heard.
[21:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh... bugger.
[21:56] <Old Man> Hmm?
[21:57] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte turns her head to see a tyounger version of herself, about 15 -16, crying under the light of the moon by Stonehenge.
[21:57] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, here we go, then.
[21:58] <Old Man> That's you, isn't it?
[21:58] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Heh, no doubt you recognized that from the breif look you had at my memories.
[21:58] <Old Man> Yes. Broad strokes, not details.
[21:58] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, that was foreplay. A peek under my skirt.
[21:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Apparently sir, tonight you're going to get to go all the way.
[21:59] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte says that mirthlessly, not like her usual teasing self.
[21:59] * Old Man doesn't see the humor in it either.
[22:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That is me, age 16, having just made her first mental leap to Karn and back again.
[22:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> D'you know who I was before then?
[22:00] <Old Man> No?
[22:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I was nothing. No one.
[22:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I never existed.
[22:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Before that moment, the last Peinforte was Fiona Peinforte, who died in the 15th century.
[22:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> She dies having merged with the Statue Nemesis, known to you as rei.bot now.
[22:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But...
[22:02] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sinks down, holding her head
[22:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> but because...
[22:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> because Noriko died... and because...
[22:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> because a f[BLEEP]king killbot decided she wanted not to have a hole in the RPG party
[22:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> and that we needed A healer, a magician and a time active....
[22:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> she LEAPT into the World Tree and adjusted history so that about a year or so before her death Fiona Peinforte had sex with her new servant boy / lackey Richard Maynarde.
[22:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And gave birth to a girl.
[22:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Who carried on the line, and so on and so on... until I came to be.
[22:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I was never supposed to be.
[22:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I was a CHEAP REPLACEMENT FOR NORIKO.
[22:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And that historical truth is what I Saw the first time I went to Karn.
[22:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> In my first awakening.
[22:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That I was a F[BLEEP]KING PLOT DEVICE.
[22:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte curls up into a ball, sitting and drawing her knees up towards her
[22:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Before... that... you know... in the 90's genetics science was becoming a thing,
[22:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And DNA testing was a big deal and i'n Omni there were articles talking about what our genes coudl reveal
[22:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> and I was curious
[22:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I wanted to know where the pasty white girl from Windsor came from, you know?
[22:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I imagined what secrets a test would tell
[22:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Was I part French? The scandal!
[22:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And then I wen tot Karn
[22:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> and all of that...
[22:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> seemed like such childish bulls[BLEEP]t
[22:09] * Old Man tentatively goes to hug her
[22:10] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte gently shoves him away
[22:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No.
[22:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Don't comfort me.
[22:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> that just lets the mask stay on.
[22:10] <Old Man> ....
[22:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Tonight (assuming it is night) we have to rip our masks off.
[22:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And mine is that veneer of...
[22:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> of... pretending that I belong anywhere.
[22:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That I'm comfortable.
[22:11] <Old Man> But you do belong!
[22:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But do I belong because my friends care about me? Or because I was WRITTEN IN by Sakura April?
[22:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That is the lingering seed of doubt that gnaws at me.
[22:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Do you all care because I earned it? Or was I handed it?
[22:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Did I ride upon the presumption of acceptance to a faux acceptance?
[22:15] * Old Man tries ot think of words that could reassure her.
[22:15] <Old Man> .... I can't honestly tell you.
[22:15] <Old Man> I can't reassure you.
[22:15] <Old Man> you could argue that everything I feel towards you is the product of that.
[22:16] <Old Man> That anything anyone feels towards you is that.
[22:16] <Old Man> It's a stupid f[BLEEP]king question <;_<;
[22:16] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte jerks her head up angrily
[22:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> STUPID? IT PLAGUES ME
[22:16] <Old Man> I didn't say it wasn't serious.
[22:16] <Old Man> But it is stupid.
[22:17] <Old Man> It's like a Kligon Lawyer trying to discern motives.
[22:17] <Old Man> As Klingons say, "who cares for motives?"
[22:17] <Old Man> They only look at results.
[22:17] <Old Man> So you were dropped into reality by Sakura April.
[22:18] <Old Man> I was produced when my parents decided for whatever reason they liked each other and wanted to reproduce.
[22:18] <Old Man> Who knows if that was a setup by the Old Ones or something.
[22:18] <Old Man> Who cares?
[22:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yeah well...
[22:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It takes two to tango and you can see under my skirt and I can see under your... kilt wrll that metaphor died quickly.
[22:20] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte points to someone behind the Old man... to X
[22:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> See him?
[22:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> that man with a family?
[22:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So happy?
[22:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> you were like that once, yeah?
[22:21] <Old Man> That man is a blissful idiot.
[22:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But he has everything you don't.
[22:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Aren;t you just jealous.
[22:23] <Old Man> No.
[22:23] <Old Man> I know better than he does.
[22:23] <Old Man> I know that everything dies, one way or the other.
[22:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes, and that led you to my manor in the past.
[22:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> To sit there and rot in the face of the transience of the world.
[22:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I feel like I don't belong, you feel betrayed by the universe for robbing you of everything.
[22:26] <Old Man> A perfectly natural reaction.
[22:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And a mask.
[22:27] <Old Man> ...
[22:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You could have died at any time, there in that room.
[22:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Willed yourself to stop.
[22:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Cut yourself.
[22:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Done whatever it took.
[22:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But you didn't.
[22:28] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You desperately wanted a lifeline.
[22:29] <Old Man> You flatter yourself.
[22:29] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...Myself?
[22:29] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Did I ever mention me~?
[22:29] <Old Man> ...Well who else was there? your Butler? your cat?
[22:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> _Generations_ of Peinfortes passwd you by.
[22:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You never knocked,
[22:30] <Old Man> Maybe I did. Maybe I knocked and whispered words into Fiona's ear~ Maybe I was Sakura April's tool.
[22:31] <Old Man> Maybe I am the reason for you.
[22:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[22:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You old f[BLEEP]ker.
[22:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You don't want to admit it.
[22:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> As much as I don't want to admit that yes I do bloody belong here_
[22:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You don't want to admit that you wanted me to save you
[22:32] <Old Man> Didn't you start this tango stating that it's always more distracting to have a quest to go on?
[22:33] <Old Man> Aren't you just imagining that to boost your sense of self-w....
[22:33] * Old Man checks himself
[22:33] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte backs up as if grievously hurt
[22:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Am I...?
[22:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Did I just kleep coming back to you just because I wanted to .... pretend I was needed?
[22:34] <Old Man> No.
[22:34] * Old Man stopped hismelf because he realized his words were hurting Paisley and--
[22:35] <Old Man> No... You're correct.
[22:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're just saying that.
[22:35] <Old Man> You can tell if I' lying.
[22:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Not here. Not now....
[22:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Here I can't be certain of anything...
[22:38] <Old Man> You sounded so sure when I came in :P
[22:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[22:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm full of s[BLEEP]t.
[22:39] <Old Man> ...
[22:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh I know all the things. And I fight all the things.
[22:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But confidence?
[22:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Certainty?
[22:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> When it comes to myself?
[22:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's just s[BLEEP]t.
[22:41] <Old Man> Paisley.
[22:41] * Old Man hangs his head.
[22:41] <Old Man> Paisley Pythia Peinforte.
[22:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What.
[22:41] <Old Man> you're NOT wrong.
[22:42] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at him
[22:43] <Old Man> You mad, sarcastic knife of a woman.
[22:43] <Old Man> Who laughs at the world and mocks even the devil himself for a bad slashfic.
[22:43] <Old Man> Of course I was waiting for you.
[22:44] <Old Man> If only even just for conversation.
[22:44] <Old Man> A pleasant way to meet the end.
[22:45] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte keeps looking at him.
[22:45] <Old Man> /what?
[22:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> you're here now.
[22:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> At the end.
[22:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> At the edge.
[22:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This is only the first of many steps towards an unknown future.
[22:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> They say Ianna walked through seven gates to be transformed.
[22:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This would be the first.
[22:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But you can stop here.
[22:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You can end this.
[22:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If you were waiting for me...
[22:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> and even if it was just to see an old friend... one last time...?
[22:48] <Old Man> ....
[22:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Tell me now, Old Man, tired of life, scared of betryal and tired of loss...
[22:49] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte holds out her hand
[22:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Do you want me.... to save you?
[22:50] * Old Man looks at her outstretched hand for a long, ponderous moment that may have stretched out for eternity.
[22:50] * Old Man takes her hand firmly. "Yes."
[22:51] * there is a breaking sound, as if porcelian dishes have just hit a floor in some tiled kitchen.
[22:51] <Old Man> What...
[22:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Our Masks have fallen away.
[22:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I accept I'm not an impostor filling in for someone else.
[22:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And you accept that despite the cold lonliness and tiredness you have of this world, you still believe, and have faith... in someone.
[22:52] <Old Man> And I always have.
[22:53] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte nods.
[22:53] *** The scnercy breaks and changes as the first stage in their journey is cleared... but it is not yet done...

---

[07:28] * Now the Duo find themselves in the midst of a bustling, anonymous crows.
[07:28] *** Journey 2: "Emotional Burden"
[07:28] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...You can let go of my hand now.
[07:29] <Old Man> ...
[07:29] * Old Man sheepishly pulls back
[07:29] <Old Man> Sorry. I didn't know if ti was necessary.
[07:30] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte chuckles.
[07:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Maybe it is. I don't know.
[07:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> As we progress, things are goign to get maddeningly non-specific and more metaphorical.
[07:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Like a bad episode of Evangelion, except We're the stars.
[07:31] <Old Man> Are we going to get flashing words in the sky :P
[07:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Words.
[07:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Words. Names.
[07:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Limiters.
[07:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Just as we defined ourselves by our roles, we lock ourselves in with words.
[07:32] <Old Man> Hmm?
[07:34] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte waves to the bustling crowd around them. It's like the sceme int he matrix when Neo and Morpheus are walking through the crowd.
[07:34] <Old Man> It's like that scene in--
[07:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes.
[07:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But am I Morpheus, are you Neo, am I neo, are you Morpheus, or--
[07:35] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is suddenly looking very stunning a red dress.
[07:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Am I the woman in the Red Dress?
[07:35] <Old Man> ....
[07:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Or are you?
[07:35] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is back in normal clothes and The Old Man is in the dress.
[07:36] <Old Man> GAH
[07:36] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte snorts
[07:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Why are you uncomfortable right now, and why am I amused?.
[07:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And before, why were you--
[07:37] <Old Man> Quiet :P
[07:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> There's precious little secrets here, :P
[07:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Because we have been prepared to react in certain ways.
[07:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> _told_ that certain things are appropriate.
[07:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Women allure in dresses. Men are to be allured. Men are ridiculous in dresses.
[07:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> All just societal constructs, designed to perpetuate a subtle system of action and reaction.
[07:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But it goes so much deeper.
[07:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Back to words.
[07:39] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte gestures to the crowd again.
[07:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What are they?
[07:39] <Old Man> Metaphysical constructs, I'd imagine.
[07:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> F[BLEEP]king sheep.
[07:40] <Old Man> ..What?
[07:40] * Old Man is schocked to hear that from her.
[07:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I don't mean that of course.
[07:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But when I said it...
[07:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Mentally, your concept of them varied, did it not?
[07:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> for even just a moment.
[07:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You pondered--even if you did not accept it -- the notion of a mass of humanity moving in lockstep under the spell of someone else.
[07:41] <Old Man> Well... yes.
[07:42] <Old Man> In addition to being surprised that you would say that about someone.
[07:42] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I meant to be shocking. This whole experience is about shocks to the conciousness. Some gentle, some not.
[07:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But the word sheep. So simple, yet so potent. Contextualized in the presence of this crowd, and my forceful personality, it took on a new meaning, and a life of its own.
[07:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If I had been more forceful and you weaker, and I actually convinced you that these anyonymous people were sheep, how would you begin treating them?
[07:44] <Old Man> ...I'd probably see them the way Jedite does.
[07:44] <Old Man> And treat them accordingly.
[07:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Indeed. And after a while it would feel natural to you.
[07:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Words shape roles shape interactions shape realities.
[07:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I am "Paisley". I am a "Woman". I am a "Sorceress."
[07:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Put all these words together and a shape of me forms.
[07:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You are an "Old Man" who is "tired".
[07:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We shape ourselves and each other.
[07:46] * Old Man digests all of this
[07:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> More fundamentally, sir.
[07:47] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte waves at the people
[07:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We'ee going to play a game.
[07:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Word association.
[07:47] <Old Man> ....
[07:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> given what I told you-- and you're a fast thinker-- do you begin to understand the danger of what I'm asking you, and why the exercise is so potent?
[07:48] <Old Man> Yes.
[07:48] <Old Man> If I understand correctly, it won't just reveal how I perceive things, but how I... consider them to be, is that right?
[07:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes. Which tells you a distressing lot about them.
[07:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And yourself and your relationship to them.
[07:49] <Old Man> then what do you see?
[07:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Misery.
[07:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Exhaustion.
[07:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Hoarde.
[07:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You?
[07:50] <Old Man> alien.
[07:50] <Old Man> Fascinating.
[07:50] <Old Man> Dangerous.
[07:50] <Old Man> ... Why...
[07:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's what we're going to find out.
[07:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> These are the keys we'll use to open the doors of each other.
[07:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But as usual, we hae to turn the knives on each other as well.
[07:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What do you see when you see me?
[07:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Rather what words?
[07:52] <Old Man> Intense.
[07:52] <Old Man> Beautiful.
[07:52] <Old Man> Weary.
[07:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...
[07:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well for you I have.
[07:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Judgemental.
[07:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Afraid.
[07:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Lazy.
[07:53] <Old Man> Judgemental?
[07:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We'll get to it.
[07:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So explain your words about me.
[07:58] <Old Man> Intense. You approach everyone directly. You rarely sugarcoat things, for good or ill, like you're trying to bulldoze them with your words before they can react or counter. Beautiful ... because that's what I see. I'm not going to lie and make up some justification for it.. Weary - Because you're also tired of it all, and you're trying to hang on to that last bit of socialization that keeps you human.
[08:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, I just think you wasted a word trying to throw me off my game.
[08:01] <Old Man> :P
[08:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Judgemental - You try to hide it, but you assess EVERYONE that comes into your path, sometimes very harshly. You sort and categorise them and push them away or bring them closer depending on your analysis, sometimes too harshly.
[08:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Afraid - You fear people and their true motivations, because you've been burned so many times. As you described the crowd, theyr'e fascinating to you, but dangerous because of how they would hurt you if they get too close. They're alien because you can't ever really know or trust them.
[08:06] <Old Man> And lazy?
[08:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Lazy - You find a comfort zone and stick with it aggressively. You don't like to be pushed out of it. Oh, you say you do, by your friends or traveling companions, but only to a very limited extent.
[08:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You are an obstinate, stubborn, almost to the point of impacability old man who was old when he was young.
[08:08] <Old Man> You're no different!
[08:10] <Old Man> You're Just as Stubborn and Just as Mentally old. Which is why I said "Weary." You see that "Hoarde" of people as a source of "Misery" and "Exhaustion" because you can't keep up with them. You wish they would just give you your space and leave you alone.
[08:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But not too alone.
[08:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Just like You.
[08:10] <Old Man> ...Which is why you're beautiful.
[08:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Eh? It's not just the legs, the tits and the smoking arse?
[08:10] <Old Man> Don't be stupid.
[08:11] <Old Man> Even through the misery you push forward.
[08:12] <Old Man> Taking the time to reach out and rescue the ones who push you away,
[08:12] <Old Man> Even if it hurts.
[08:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And the rest of it too~? :P
[08:13] <Old Man> What is your problem :P You always do that.
[08:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Do what?
[08:13] <Old Man> Unnerve.
[08:14] <Old Man> When you're uncomfortable with a topic you'll change it to something ribald.
[08:14] <Old Man> I said you were beautiful. That word could have so many contexts. You chose to throw it at me in the one way that--
[08:15] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> --That makes you blush, and act the fool?
[08:15] <Old Man> I don't have enough blood left in my body to blush.
[08:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I wouldn't say that~
[08:16] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks down meaningfully
[08:16] <Old Man> ....! Where are you looking? Stop that!
[08:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Hah!
[08:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> all too easy.
[08:16] <Old Man> Why you---
[08:16] <Old Man> You're doing it again.
[08:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Or maybe I'm pointing out you're not as pure as the driven snow.
[08:17] <Old Man> Or maybe I'm too close to the truth.
[08:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> and maybe I am as well.
[08:18] <Old Man> Onore....
[08:18] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte snorts
[08:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I love it.
[08:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> "you" in English just doesn't have the connotation.
[08:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But in Japanese you can throw that extra bit of nuance.
[08:23] <Old Man> You're deliberately--
[08:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Telling you something that makes you uncomfortable?
[08:23] <Old Man> Changing the subject.
[08:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So are YOU.
[08:24] <Old Man> Yes well My subject is more relevant!
[08:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's not what you wanted to say! Your thoughts leak! You wanted to say important!
[08:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Your subject was more important than mine.
[08:25] <Old Man> Well it is.
[08:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Why? Because it's scoring a point about me and not you?
[08:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're a f[BLEEP]king interrupter, you know that?
[08:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> you just need to get YOUR point of view out because you're so SURE it's the right one.
[08:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And it's MASSIVELY IMPORTANT that you dispense YOUR wisdom to the world because EVERYONE ELSE has got it WRONG.
[08:27] <Old Man> ....
[08:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And isn't that how you REALLY LOST--
[08:28] <Old Man> SHUT UP!
[08:28] * Old Man back s away from Paisley, pushing people in the crowd aside without even a thought.
[08:28] <Old Man> I don't need to hear this from YOU.
[08:28] <Old Man> I don't need to hear this from YOU.
[08:29] <Old Man> You just look at people like they're Stimulus machines!
[08:29] <Old Man> Oh, "those two want to f[BLEEP]k each other." "Those too are idiots" "Those two are boring" "She's cute." "She's stupid."
[08:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I ONLY DO THAT BECAUSE WHAT THE F[BLEEP]K DO I REALLY KNOW ABOUT PEOPLE
[08:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm not YOU, you colossal A[BLEEP]LE.
[08:31] <Old Man> ....
[08:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Somehow, for all your introversion and social INEPTITUDE, you MANAGED.
[08:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> YOU DID IT. You found people who LOVED YOU.
[08:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And ...and had some kind of a LIFE.
[08:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Even if later you lost it all.
[08:32] <Old Man> ...
[08:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I have always... ALWAYS been at a distance.
[08:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> you, Time Lord, who looks upon this mass of humanity and deems it the Alien?
[08:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> THIS IS WHAT HUMANITY ALWAYS has been to me!
[08:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Despite me BEING BLOODY HUMAN.
[08:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I have NEVER been able to make truly close friends.
[08:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> People TOLERATE me.
[08:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I look good, so they dont mind me being around, but open my mouth or share an interest? And they LAUGH or LEAVE.
[08:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> so F[BLEEP]K you.
[08:34] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is shaking with anger
[08:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> YOU'VE HAD IT ALL. YOU'VE DONE IT ALL.
[08:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I just OBSERVE AND NEVER INTERFERE
[08:35] <Old Man> .............
[08:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's right. That's Right.
[08:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm more of a f[BLEEP]king Time Lord than YOU are, you who just went from one person to another!
[08:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> GLORIOUSLY Interfering and being interfered WITH!
[08:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So don't you tell ME I'm looking at people like they're machines!
[08:36] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is sobbing now, and slumps to the ground
[08:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's all... I've ever been able to do...
[08:38] <Old Man> .....................
[08:38] * Old Man just goes abck over to her and hugs her tight
[08:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> f[BLEEP]k off!
[08:38] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte shoves him away
[08:40] * Old Man goes back and hugs her again
[08:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Just go away. Leave me alone.
[08:40] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte goes to push him away again, but with less force
[08:40] <Old Man> You're right about me.
[08:40] <Old Man> I'm sorry.
[08:41] <Old Man> I am a judgemental old fool.
[08:41] <Old Man> I never saw it.... your struggle.
[08:41] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte whimpers, not really answering
[08:41] <Old Man> All I saw was how you carried yourself.
[08:42] <Old Man> the mask you put forward, to let you interact with the others.
[08:42] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> There's nothing behind it
[08:42] <Old Man> That's not true.
[08:43] <Old Man> by virtue of your distance, you ARE a keen observer of people.
[08:43] <Old Man> you DO understand the heart.
[08:43] <Old Man> Better sometimes than those who are "in it", so to speak.
[08:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Am I doomed to just watch?
[08:49] <Old Man> you've shoved away every attempt to set you up. And Edgeworth was unfortunately more interested in--
[08:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Because it wasn't *time*
[08:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I always said I'd know.
[08:50] <Old Man> And?
[08:50] <Old Man> Do you know now?
[08:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I think I do.
[08:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And it scares me.
[08:51] <Old Man> I'm sorry I hurt you.
[08:51] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte rubs her eyes.
[08:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Knives hurt when they cut.
[08:51] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sniffles
[08:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's the f[BLEEP]king point of it all.
[08:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You can stop hugging me now
[08:52] <Old Man> ....
[08:52] <Old Man> no.
[08:52] * Old Man keeps hugging
[08:53] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte blurts out a laugh and keeps hugging
[08:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> All right then. just for a bit more.
[08:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But we do have to keep moving.
[08:53] <Old Man> Paise. Knives hurt when they cut... but wounds will heal, if you let them.
[08:54] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks up at the not so-old Old Man.
[08:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Those words, I think you need to take to heart as well.
[08:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, hearts.
[08:54] <Old Man> Maybe so.
[08:55] *** the Scene shifts again as another layer of dross is cut through.

---

[11:00] *** Journey 3 - Temptation and Condemnation
[11:00] *** No place, no time
[11:01] <Old Man> I can't see your face any longer.
[11:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Nor I yours. Because we no longer have any.
[11:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We lost those some time ago.
[11:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, relatively speaking.
[11:02] <Old Man> As you said, this is becoming increasingly metaphorical.
[11:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Mmm.
[11:03] <Old Man> The Great Intelligence, the compound in Louisiana, it feels like an eternity ago.
[11:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Probably hasn't even been half a second since that boy told us to "run"/.
[11:04] <Old Man> ...Was he real?
[11:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....As you can plainly not-see reality is a useless concept.
[11:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Was he significant? Most likely. But we have miles to go before we need to worry about him again.
[11:05] <Old Man> Eh?
[11:05] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte takes hold of the Old Man's hand and squeezes it.
[11:06] <Old Man> What is it?
[11:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, remember how we just spent the last little while tearing each other to shreds?
[11:06] <Old Man> Don't remind me.
[11:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, in the world, there is one crueler judge of the self than others...
[11:07] <Old Man> ...
[11:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Good luck. I shan't see you for a bit.
[11:07] <Old Man> Wait!
[11:08] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte seems to become monochrome and fade out. "This is not a battle we can help each other with."
[11:08] <Old Man> ....
[11:08] *** Paisley's Side
[11:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte , from her perspective, saw the Old Man go colorless and vanish.
[11:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Right.
[11:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte squares her shoulders, and if she had eyes still, they would be narrowed.
[11:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I know you're There.
[11:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte appears, with a face, and wearing exotic scarlet robes reminescent of the Sisterhood of Karn, but at the same time more scandalously cut.
[11:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is surrounded by the stink of vapours of the Sacred Flame so heavy the air is leaden with them.
[11:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Hello.
[11:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Hallo.
[11:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte regards herself who regards herself.
[11:13] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte remains quiet, waiting for her self to speak.
[11:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I am the five hundred and ninth Pythia in the line of Gallifrey. I am the Crown of the Empire, Mouthpiece of the Gods and Guardian of the Great Book of Future Legends. I see the Past, Present and Future as one. Through me, all thoughts meet, all Time is fertile. I am the hub of the world. I am Gallifrey. I am Karn. I am all.
[11:14] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte would sneer, if she still had a face.
[11:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Do you doubt the veracity of my claim?
[11:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> "Mouthpiece of the Gods."
[11:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That is one of the roles of the Pythia.
[11:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You know full well I will never accept that role.
[11:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I will not ever "speak" for them.
[11:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If all is but illusion. are their actions too, similarly illusiory?
[11:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[11:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You may be my... potential... my future, but I will not be what you claim.
[11:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I *am* you. I always have been and always shall be.
[11:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I am what waits for you, is you, and has been you.
[11:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It is your destiny.
[11:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Destiny is the cheap excuse of limited minds.
[11:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Destiny is the opiate of the weak who are afraid to break past their boundaries.
[11:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Who are afraid to overthrow the old order. To escape pre-planned strategems.
[11:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> oh~?
[11:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Then why have you spent your life running from me~?
[11:22] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte would grin if she could
[11:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[11:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> In this place there are many tests and challenges that have almost broken me.
[11:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That have hurt me. Shown me secrets about myself. Secret fears and wants that truly did shatter me to the core.
[11:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But... hehehe...
[11:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> this?
[11:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> .....
[11:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> O, the five hundred and ninth Pythia in the line of Gallifrey...
[11:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I wasn't running from you.
[11:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ......
[11:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I was running to you.
[11:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But I am not the horse, and you the rider.
[11:25] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte vanishes and appears right in front of her other self, hand lightly on her shoulder
[11:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I am the sovereign.
[11:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> In the seat of my being, I shall sit supreme.
[11:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[11:26] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte hugs her
[11:26] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte vanishes as a wisp of smoke.
[11:28] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I am the five hundred and ninth Pythia in the line of Gallifrey. I am the Crown of the Empire, No-longer Mouthpiece of the "Gods". I am Guardian of the Great Book of Future Legends. I see the Past, Present and Future as one. Through me, all thoughts meet, all Time is fertile. And as for the rest of it... who knows?
[11:28] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte resumes her journey forward.
[11:28] *** Old Man's Side
[11:28] <Old Man> ...You must be joking.
[11:29] <The Punisher> This is no joke, Old Man.
[11:29] <Old Man> ...Frank Castle? The Punisher?
[11:29] <The Punisher> Damn straight.
[11:29] <Old Man> Why are YOU here?
[11:30] <The Punisher> This is how you see yourself.
[11:30] <Old Man> What, as a hyper-violent mercenary with murderous tendencies?
[11:30] <The Punisher> Yup.
[11:31] <Old Man> Please.
[11:31] <The Punisher> You doubt it, Mister?
[11:31] <Old Man> I deny it.
[11:31] <The Punisher> Deny, huh? Strong words.
[11:31] <The Punisher> What do you think I do all day?
[11:32] <Old Man> You roll about in a van with your little helper, strolling into various crime ridden cities and murdering killers.
[11:32] <The Punisher> Mm-hmm.
[11:33] <The Punisher> Was a time you'd show up in a place and time in your beat up TARDIS with a hot lady on your arm, and you'd go around kicking the hit out of evil-doers as well, and if they hurt your friends... well they took dirtnaps too.
[11:34] <Old Man> ...
[11:34] <The Punisher> Or am I lying.
[11:34] <Old Man> ...No.
[11:34] <The Punisher> That's right.
[11:35] <The Punisher> You were young, and hot-blooded and if they got in your f[BLEEP]kin' way, you delighted in crushing them.
[11:35] <The Punisher> Oh, you hit it behind that geeky veneer. Pretended like ti was the ladies who did the driving.
[11:36] <The Punisher> But you pushed the button.
[11:36] <The Punisher> you made the plans.
[11:36] <The Punisher> You Executed th strategies. you Punished.
[11:37] <Old Man> I was young.
[11:37] <The Punisher> You were young.
[11:37] <Old Man> I don't... I'm not proud of that, now.
[11:38] <The Punisher> Heh. Yeah. So you retreated back into your little room and sat in a chair all waiting to die.
[11:38] * The Punisher pulls out a VERY large semi-automatic.
[11:42] <Old Man> ....
[11:42] <The Punisher> A lot of old ba[BLEEP]rd criminals, do that , you know.
[11:43] <The Punisher> They have their fill of a rich, fat, prosperous criminal lifestyles and then they go shack up int he Hamptons or something and wait to die.
[11:43] <The Punisher> And they never feel the pain, torment or suffering of their victims.
[11:44] <The Punisher> they just get to move on peacefully.
[11:44] <The Punisher> Which is wrong!
[11:45] * The Punisher loads up an ammo clip
[11:45] * The Punisher makes a pretty good show if checking the weapon, cleaning it, preparing it for it's obvious, inevitable use.
[11:46] <Old Man> so are you here you punish me? Don't you think I've punished myself enough?
[11:46] <The Punisher> ...On uour own recognizance, huh? Bulls[BLEEP]t.
[11:47] <The Punisher> You think sitting in a chair and crying about spilt milk is going to make your victims happy?
[11:47] <The Punisher> All those lives you took, or twisted or broke?
[11:48] <The Punisher> You think your self-regret make THEM better?
[11:49] <The Punisher> Those who survived your bulls[BLEEP]t had to crawl out of the holes YOU made for them on THEIR OWN.
[11:49] <Old Man> ...
[11:50] <The Punisher> So yeah.
[11:50] <The Punisher> We both know where this is going.
[11:50] * The Punisher finishes his preparation of the weapon.
[11:50] * The Punisher then ejects the ammo clip and attaches some kind of hose.
[11:51] <Old Man> I think I get the picture. That's a napalm tank behind you, isn't it.
[11:52] <The Punisher> Bullet's too quick. Too easy.
[11:52] * Old Man sighs and stands there.
[11:53] <The Punisher> I wish you had a goddamned face right now.
[11:53] <The Punisher> I want to see your expression.
[11:55] <Old Man> I suppose my screams will have to do.
[11:57] <The Punisher> ...Yup.
[11:57] * The Punisher levels his sights on the Old Man
[11:58] <The Punisher> So... you going to beg for mercy? Call out for your little girlfriend to come save you?
[11:58] <The Punisher> Or you gonna try to make the case you deserve an out somehow?
[11:58] <The Punisher> that you made up for this s[BLEEP]t somewhere down the line?
[11:59] <Old Man> No.
[11:59] <The Punisher> ...
[11:59] <The Punisher> then pay for your sins.
[12:00] * The Punisher ignites the flame thrower and engulfs the Old Man in flames. This being napalm, it's a burning, oil like substance that sticks to the skin. Stop drop and roll won't save you on this one.
[12:02] * Old Man lets out a hideous SCREAM that is hellish and piercing
[12:02] * Old Man is completely in flames, lit up like a roman candle
[12:03] * Old Man continues to scream as skin begins s to sear, and blacken, and fall off. then subcutaneous fat ignites.
[12:04] * The Punisher watches pitilessly as the screams finally stop, the old man dropping to his knees, still on fire.
[12:05] * The Punisher continues to watch with cruel gaze as fat boils away, and bone blackens, collapsing like a broken jigsaw puzzle.
[12:05] * The Punisher walks over ot the pile and picks up the blackened skull, lifting it up as the jawbone falls off.
[12:06] <The Punisher> "Alas, Poor Yorick... I knew him, horatio... what a f[BLEEP]king a[BLEEP]le was he."
[12:06] * The Punisher tosses the skull back on the heap and fades out
[12:07] * Old Man 's remains just sit there in a smoking pile.
[12:08] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte eventually walks by
[12:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[12:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Bloody Hell
[12:08] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte kneels by the pile and examines it carefully
[12:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sees two charred hearts, still intact. Still Beating.
[12:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte would roll her eyes if she still had them.
[12:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Some people and their guilt complexes.
[12:10] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sits on the ground and puts the hearts in her lap, regarding them.
[12:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You ass.
[12:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I cannot begin to tell you how disgusting this is right now.
[12:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sighs
[12:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte puts her hands on the hearts.
[12:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte feels the beats. God this is so disgusting.
[12:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte has to remind herself it's all metaphors and she's seen worse and this is her friend and it will all be okay and Purell exists.
[12:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You uhh, can hear me, I trust.
[12:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Do you feel sufficiently purged now?
[12:13] * Old Man's Hearts do not alter the rhythm of their slow, mournful beats.
[12:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If I had to guess, you were confronted with some grim spectre of your wrongdoing.
[12:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And it showed you your sins, etc, and the harm you've done to others and you got yourself set alight.
[12:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> About the shape of it?
[12:14] * Old Man's Hearts 's hearts beat once strongly
[12:15] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And of course, you being you. you don't consider even being burned alive in hideous agony enough of an equivalence for what you've wrought. yea?
[12:15] * Old Man's Hearts 's hearts beat once strongly
[12:16] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte gathers the hearts to her chest in what would be a cute little hug if they were plush toys but they're f[BLEEP]king CHARRED HEARTS and so this looks GRISLY AS F[BLEEP]K but I digress
[12:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So you're probably right.
[12:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> but the hard part is, my friend... to live is to hurt and be hurt. We try to minimise it where we can, but it happens.
[12:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Ans sometimes we f[BLEEP]k up.
[12:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And we can never say "I'm sorry" enough, or make whole what we broke.
[12:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And no amount of good deeds going forward can ever fix those people you hurt.
[12:19] * Old Man's Hearts beat sadly
[12:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But.
[12:19] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks down at the hearts.
[12:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> While suffering is necessary. While understanding is necessary. While taking that pain and internalising it to make sure you understand how bad it is and you must never inflict that on the undeserving again is...
[12:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Choosing to stop here helps no one.
[12:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Mistakes bring a hard wisdom.
[12:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And, while you can never balance the scales...
[12:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You can move forward and make others' lives better.
[12:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's no justice at all for the ones in the past.
[12:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But it can--and does help those in the future.
[12:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And it will help you too.
[12:23] * Old Man's Hearts don't seem to react.
[12:24] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte points to the blackened bones.
[12:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You asked me to save you.
[12:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This place is either where you stop forever, or you get up again, transformed.
[12:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Where you declare your intent to me, to the universe, and to yourself that that Old Man you were is dead. And that a New Man will come forth from his ashes, like the Phoenix.
[12:28] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte gets up and puts the hearts back into the pile of burnt bones.
[12:28] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So what will it be?
[12:28] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What will you choose?

---

[21:52] *** The Space between Life and Death
[21:52] *** Journey 4: Reformation
[21:55] * Paisley-- whose face has returned, and the Old Man, who seems to be almost-intact, but still without a face, lie size by side in a a kind of milky-white cloud, surrounded by a realm bounded by bright red draperies and beads, thick with the vapours of the sacred fire.
[21:56] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sits up, bedecked in a very ornate outfit. Her hair is cut differently, and she seems to almost be glowing.




[21:57] * Old Man (?) sits up and kisses her hand where a Karnian sigil had appeared.
[21:57] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This is certainly relaxing~
[21:58] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte gazes into the depths of the red folds of the cloth around them. "I see you're almost fully re-assembled."
[21:58] <Old Man (?)> You look very different.
[21:58] <Old Man (?)> Also, aren't your arms a bit long?
[21:58] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte leans back and observes them.
[21:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes, I do look like something out of a CLAMP fever dream, don't I?
[21:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Still, this is all just deliciously ephemeral.
[21:59] <Old Man (?)> You look so much more... regal.
[22:00] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte shrugs.
[22:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This is who I am without my masks.
[22:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're seeing the real me. Even I don't see this face in the mirror most days.
[22:00] <Old Man (?)> This is your soul then?
[22:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If you like. Though honestly there's no dichotomy. For any of us.
[22:01] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks through the space where the Old Man's face would be if he had one.
[22:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Looks like you still haven't fully decided Who you Want to Be.
[22:02] <Old Man (?)> I'm.. working on it.
[22:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Hair's still gray, though.
[22:02] <Old Man (?)> Problem?
[22:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No. I'm not so fickle.
[22:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Come here.
[22:02] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pulls the Old Man next to her.
[22:03] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte holds his hand, intertwining their fingers.
[22:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Look at our hands. Which is the older one now?
[22:03] * Old Man (?) regards her fingers. And even through they are young and lithe, he can see somehow.
[22:03] <Old Man (?)> You are... very old.
[22:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well my soul anyway. The weight of who I really am.
[22:04] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte lies back.
[22:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So you see, why would I give a s[BLEEP]t what face you wear.
[22:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It all matters not a damn in the Grand Scheme.
[22:05] * Old Man (?) nods and lies back as well, relaxing on whatever cloud this is.
[22:05] <Old Man (?)> Where are we?
[22:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We are at the point of Enlightenment.
[22:05] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte raises a hand up and points at a blinding white sky.
[22:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> See that there? That's The Truth™.
[22:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You and I have walked through the fire-- well you a bit more literally than me in this case.
[22:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Which is a bit of a cheat, since I was preparing for something like this.
[22:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You just got dragged in.
[22:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte offers her hand again, where the sigil has reappeared.
[22:07] * Old Man (?) kisses it, and seems to draw some kind of power.
[22:07] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte takes a drag from a very long, ornate version of her pipe and gets completely high on the vapours.
[22:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I can see it All from here. Can you, now?
[22:08] <Old Man (?)> Somewhat. The air here is strange. And your energy...
[22:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes. I've linked my Chakras to yours in the least invasive way possible.
[22:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You might have heard of a similar practice called pactio.
[22:09] * Old Man (?) nods
[22:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're mine now. My initiate.
[22:09] * Old Man (?) nods
[22:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'll teach you things the Time Lords long forgot.
[22:09] * Old Man (?) nods
[22:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Jesus Christ man, you keep nodding and your _head will fall off.
[22:10] <Old Man (?)> Sorry. It's just... this is a bit much.
[22:10] * Old Man (?) lies back.
[22:10] <Old Man (?)> I think I can see it all as well.
[22:11] <Old Man (?)> All the troubles, and problems, and the past, the present, the future...
[22:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte turns her head, getting her lips very close to his nose which is about the only facial feature she can make out, and exhales a cloud of vapour into them.
[22:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Focus now.
[22:12] <Old Man (?)> I see a great wheel... turning. Ever turning.
[22:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte presses her nose almost to his, locking eyes (well if she could) Look closer.
[22:13] * Old Man (?) gets his gaze lost in her violet eyes. Past her eyes. To the blackness of the void. To a golden wheel, on fire.
[22:13] <Old Man (?)> It has... it has a name.
[22:14] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte fights back to the urge to smile, impressed by his progress.
[22:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What is the name?
[22:14] * Old Man (?) pauses
[22:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Don't think about it.
[22:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Receive it.
[22:14] <Old Man (?)> ....
[22:15] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Become an empty vessel.
[22:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> When you chose to continue on, to cast the sins of your past into the past fully...
[22:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You committed to emptying away everything you were. To become something new along with me.
[22:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So let go of the old ideas.
[22:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Let go of derivations by logic and science.
[22:17] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte has moved in so closely their lips would be brushing-- if he had any. "_Receive_ ."
[22:17] <Old Man (?)> Samsara.
[22:17] <Old Man (?)> That's the name
[22:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And what is that.
[22:18] <Old Man (?)> The... the Wheel of death and rebirth... that spins ever onward...
[22:18] <Old Man (?)> That drives... everything.
[22:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Bingo.
[22:19] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pulls back.
[22:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And from here, we can see it all.
[22:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Look there. A woman named Beryl has just seen the Prince of Earth.
[22:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But the Prince has no eyes for her.
[22:20] <Old Man (?)> And then the Devil's deal.
[22:20] <Old Man (?)> And the Fall of the Moon.
[22:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The Wheel turns.
[22:20] <Old Man (?)> Rebirth. Again and again. Then...
[22:20] * overhead the moon eclipses
[22:21] * then it is revealed again in fullness, shining bright, illuminating everything
[22:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> She is reborn. As the clumsy crybaby. And for the first time in 10,000 years the five find each other.
[22:22] <Old Man (?)> And then Five become Six. And then Nine... and then Ten...
[22:23] <Old Man (?)> And there, just there, you can see it turn again. From a Crystal Millennium to an Imperium and Beyond. And Beyond.
[22:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Mmm-hmm~ ♫
[22:24] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte stretches, feeling so light and limber and languid.
[22:25] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte takes the Old Man's arm and points it at a wheel only they can see.
[22:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Right there. Spice-addicted Navigators are folding space off Giedi Prime.
[22:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Right now the war is happening on Arrakis.
[22:26] <Old Man (?)> This truly is the best view.
[22:26] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pulls the old man down by her side and they stare into the white sky, where they can see little golden sparkles dancing back and forth out of the corners of their eyes.
[22:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> See that? Every possibility giving rise to more possibilities. Multiverses multiplying.
[22:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The Tree of Life Growing.
[22:27] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's skin is almost glowing white
[22:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Isn't it just so... profound?
[22:27] <Old Man (?)> It feels like we're one with the Cosmos...
[22:28] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That is because right now we Are. And it's delicious.
[22:28] <Old Man (?)> Yes.
[22:28] <Old Man (?)> I've never felt so... alive
[22:29] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grabs his hand and squeezes it. "Well, nobody's really alive till they've died, don't you think?"
[22:30] * Old Man (?) is intoxicated by the location, and by Paisley's presence. Somehow here, her inner self is so much more majestic.
[22:31] * Old Man (?) moves a bit closer to her and continues looking outwards. "Everything out there seems so small from here."
[22:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It really gives you perspective , doesn't it.
[22:32] * Old Man (?) looks at her for a moment "I don't want to leave here. For the first time. I feel totally content."
[22:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I hear you.
[22:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No annoying kids popping up left and right..
[22:32] <@Paisley Pythia PeinforteFONT No stupid youma with their stupid youma problems...
[22:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No Chat b[BLEEP]ching about pitching people into the sun...
[22:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Just... perfect.. tranquility.
[22:33] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte snuggles a bit closer. "We could just stay. This is nice."
[22:33] * Old Man (?) looks at the far distant wheel. "We've done our bit, haven't we?"
[22:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We certainly have. They can get on without us.
[22:42] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sighs and looks at the Old man a bit
[22:42] * Old Man (?) presumably is looking back, still having no eyes
[22:42] <Old Man (?)> I think I'd very much like to stay here.
[22:42] * There is the sound of a small cry in the distance.
[22:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes, I've never felt this at peace in my whole life.
[22:43] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte holds his hand.
[22:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I understand you, and you understand me. I think that's well enough.
[22:44] * the cry gets a bit louder, coming from the direction of the wheel
[22:44] <Old Man (?)> I think I want to stay here with you.
[22:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> and I want to stay here with you...
[22:44] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte hears the cry again. A small, terrified whimper.
[22:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> god what is that...?
[22:45] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte moves closer and nestle her head in the old man's shoulder to block it out
[22:45] <Old Man (?)> I don't know, but it's coming from the wheel. Maybe some kind of problem...
[22:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We've done our bit for King and country...
[22:46] * the cry is sharper now, with the sound of paddle striking flesh.
[22:46] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte raises her head and looks towards the wheel and sees a small boy being beaten by a fire-and brimstone preacher woman.
[22:47] <Old Man (?)> What is it?
[22:47] * Old Man (?) puts an Arm around Paisley, trying to keep her close.
[22:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Just..a problem. I'm sure someone will come along and solve it.
[22:48] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte puts an arm around the old man, against trying to blot out the sound and focus on him and the bliss of this place.
[22:49] * Old Man (?) happily pulls her closer, for a hug but then loosens his grip.
[22:49] * Old Man (?) has heard the cry again
[22:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What's wrong?
[22:50] <Old Man (?)> Paise... what if we're the only ones who can hear it?
[22:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[22:51] <Old Man (?)> What if we're the only ones who know that boy is in trouble?
[22:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh god.
[22:52] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pulls away and sits up
[22:52] * Old Man (?) sits up too
[22:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We'd have to go back...
[22:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And leave all this...
[22:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Leave this perfect state of Samadhi...
[22:54] * Old Man (?) grabs her hand and holds it tightly
[22:54] <Old Man (?)> Paise. What's the good of enlightened bliss if we can't help people?
[22:55] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte turns to look at him with an almost panicked expression. She understands what he means but she has found PEACE.
[22:56] <Old Man (?)> What's the POINT of all this? Of seeing the wheel?
[22:56] <Old Man (?)> Of knowing how it all plays out?
[22:57] <Old Man (?)> If we're just going to sit here and delight in each other's company while people are hurting?
[22:57] <Old Man (?)> Metaphysically it might all be some great cosmic game but--
[22:58] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is staring at the Old Man but doesn't look panicked any more.
[22:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're... right of course.
[22:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If we... if we stayed we'd be no better than those indolent, indifferent gods...
[22:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Looking down from on high whilst people are suffering...
[23:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Even if it's all "fake" in the ultimate scheme of things, for that instant, that pain is REAL.
[23:00] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte stands, anger and righteous fury lighting up her expression.
[23:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And I... no... we are going to STOP it. Right?
[23:01] * Old Man (?) forms enough of a mouth to grin.
[23:02] * Old Man (?) stands beside her. "Right!"
[23:02] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grabs his hand with Authority.
[23:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So long Nirvana. It's been fun. But we have places to go, and people to save!
[23:04] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte uses her free hand to point imperiously at the space in front of her and wills a doorway to a dark void beyond.
[23:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We're going to have to make our way back from the edge, Old boy. Are you up for it?
[23:05] <Old Man (?)> Yes.
[23:05] * Old Man (?) squeezes her hand tightly.
[23:06] <Old Man (?)> I must say... I'll miss seeing this side of you.
[23:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We're connected now. You can see it anytime you want~
[23:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But I really do think you should work on putting on a face.
[23:07] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is away: It won't do to come back to the world of the living just a floating toupee~
[23:07] * Old Man (?) is away: THIS IS NOT A TOUPEE!

---

[08:58] *** Somewhere in the Nebulous borderlands between life and death
[08:58] * and Paisley are running at breakneck speed through the mists
[08:58] <Old Man> WHAT ARE ALL THESE GODDAMNED ANIMALS?!
[08:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> YETI!
[08:59] <Old Man> WHY ARE THERE YETI IN THE UNDERWORLD
[09:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> THIS ISN'T PRECISELY THE UNDERWORLD, AND AS WE GET CLOSER TO REALITY THE GREAT INTELLIGENCE'S... INTELLIGENCE IS AFFECTING LOCAL REALITY!
[09:00] <Old Man> BUT WHY YETI
[09:00] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte SHOVES the old man in frotn of her to make him go faster as the dup picks up speed
[09:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> BECAUSE THE GREAT INTELLIGENCE FIRST ENCOUNTERED MANKIND IN TIBET
[09:01] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte DODGES some LASERFIRE
[09:01] <Old Man> WHY YETI WITH BUILT IN LASER GUNS?!
[09:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> UPGRADES!!!
[09:02] <Voice> - I WILL HAVE YOUR BODY, PAISLEY PYTHIA PEINFORTE! -
[09:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> WHILE THAT IS A FLATTERING OFFER THE ANSWER IS STILL NO!
[09:03] * Old Man and Paisley are running towards a light now
[09:04] <Old Man> I hadn't thought of this, but if all this is happening on a metaphysical realm, where Are our bodies?
[09:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Still back in that house, I'd wager! And Vulnerable!
[09:05] <Old Man> So while we've been stuck here all this time--!
[09:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> There is no time here, remember? Everything we've experienced is completely out of joint with any frame of reference back on the Prime Material Plane!
[09:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We should get back to our bodies at virtually the same instant we left! In fact, we probably never even left them!
[09:09] <Old Man> Well hopefully that gives us a fighting chance!
[09:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte points to the light
[09:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Almost there! We're connected now, so if you go on the offensive right away you should be able to use some of my power!
[09:10] <Old Man> Right!
[09:10] * Paisley and the Old man jump through the light
[09:11] * They spring back to conciousness, in time for Paisley to see Skagra run the old man through the heart with a rusted machete
[09:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...................NOOO!
[09:12] * Old Man collpases forward, spitting blood

---

[17:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - SKAAAAAAAGRAAAAAAA!!!! -
[17:34] * Skagra grins at Paisley, but then is rooted to the spot, unable to move
[17:35] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte GLARES at him, her eyes having gone solidly pitch black
[17:35] <Skagra> ....
[17:35] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte tilts her head
[19:26] * Skagra SCREAMS as his SKIN is ripped from his flesh telekinetically
[19:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - BURN -
[19:27] * Skagra is set alight, the lipids in his body spontaneously combusting
[19:27] * Skagra screams and so too does the great intelligence
[19:30] <Skagra> - The Death of this body will stop nothing! I have killed yout froend and I will come for you! This swamp is FILLED with lifeforms I can bend to my will! -
[19:31] * Skagra crumples in a smoldering heap
[19:32] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte manages to stop her murderous impulse and doesnt' kill him-- the sisterhood will have that privilege.
[19:32] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte kicks Skagra in a stream to out his flames.
[19:33] * Skagra lies face up in the stream charred and disfigured, no longer a suitable host for the Great Intelligence
[19:34] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte runs over the Old Man, and tries to use her power to roll back time over his wounds, but her emotions are running high and interfering
[19:34] * Old Man wheezes, wounds closing, but dangerously weak, ebbing.
[19:35] <Old Man> Sorry... it looks like you won't be able to save me this time... you renewed my spirit.. but... *cough*
[19:35] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's thoughts are linked with his and she doesn't need him to complete the sentence
[19:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But this body's worn a bit too thin...
[19:36] * Old Man weakly nods, pulses weakening
[19:36] <Old Man> you'll have to finish this... alone....
[19:37] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte feels a punch in the gut at the word "alone"
[19:37] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte hangs her head, her bangs shadowing her eyes
[19:37] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte kneels before him and pulls his head into her lap. Blood is tricking from his mouth still.
[19:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ... heh.
[19:38] * Old Man 's eyebrows flutter, and he begins a death rattle, the spent Time Lord body no longer capable of regenerating.
[19:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Didn't I tell you...
[19:39] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte takes a small phail out of her pocket and tilts her head back, pouring the contents in her mouth
[19:40] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte leans down and gives him a soft kiss, transferring the contents into his mouth
[19:40] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte breaks the kiss and pulls back
[19:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...you belong to me now.
[19:42] * Old Man 's body twitches, the elixir of life running through it. But he'd already died.
[19:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I died once.
[19:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Back then I had the sisterhood at my side to catch my mind when it fell, and they repaired my body, making me whole again, stronger.
[19:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> They thought it was a pretty sick idea at the time... and you know what I say...?
[19:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...why mess with a winning formula?
[19:45] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte places a hand on the Old Man's forehead.
[19:46] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte prepares to re-integrate his mind, which she had pulled from him at the absolute last second.
[19:46] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte also reaches a hand out to the sky
[19:47] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte lets herself be possessed by something... her inner self... her most dangerous self...
[19:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - I AM the 509th Pythia in the line of Gallifrey and Karn, the Crown of Empire, Guardian of the Great Book of Future Legends. I see the Past, Present and Future as One. Though me, all time is fertile. I reach into the Vortex and by my HAND I sunder the energies of Time itself, and forge them with my spirit and my soul~ -
[19:51] * a tear into the Time Vortex appears in front of her hand, and golden energy pours out into her arm, causing it to glow radiantly with something similar to-- but not quite--- regenerative energy
[19:51] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's secret subdermal tattoos all flare at once giving her a fearsome, tribal appearance that evokes an ancient, terrifying Shamaness
[19:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - And now, with this power, I invoke the sacred rite of Heirosgamos, a bond deeper than any mere mortal joining~ -
[19:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - And I look upon thee, tortured soul at the precipice~ -
[19:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - Accept my gift and rise once more, but in exchange pay the price. Bind your soul to mine, and sacrifice that which is most precious to you. -
[19:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - To gain, you must give. Year for Year, Memory for Memory. Weight for Weight. -
[19:55] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte places her hand down on the Old Man's chest
[19:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> - CHOOSE. -
[19:57] * Old Man 's body lies still, the golden energy fading from Paisley's arm.
[19:58] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's countenance retruns to normal. Nothing seems to have changed. The Old Man is still dead.
[19:58] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[19:58] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I couldn't... save him?
[20:00] * at the moment, behind her, several wildcats LEAP at her from behind, possessed by the Great Intelligence, having come through the back door of the small house!
[20:01] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte turns to defend herself, caught off guard-consumed by grief, not able tp out up a barrier in time
[20:01] * THERE IS AN EXPLOSION OF GOLDEN LIGHT BEHIND HER
[20:02] * Paisley and the cats are THROWN FORWARD
[20:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Wh--
[20:04] * there is a blur and the cats are KICKED back
[20:04] <Old Man> That took FAR too long!
[20:04] * Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at Old Man.
[20:04] *** Old Man is



More information about him is Here.
His image Song is: . He is Level 1.
[20:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> YOU GOT YOURSELF A NEW FACE!
[20:07] * Old Man nod's holding out his hand, concentrating, forming a block-transfer computation summon, a Karnian Naginata-like spear
[20:07] * Old Man spins it expertly
[20:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Hair's still grey, though~
[20:07] <Old Man> Problem~?
[20:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Never~
[20:08] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte SPINKICKS one of the cats as the "Old Man knocks another back with the butt of the staff.
[20:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Where'd you get the staff?
[20:09] <Old Man> Out of your memories. I just seemed to know how to make one...
[20:09] * Old Man 's arms and chest seem to have Karnian Tattoos on them, similar but not the same as Paisley's
[20:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's because we're connected now.
[20:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're my familiar now.
[20:11] <Old Man> ....
[20:11] <Old Man> what, like a cat?
[20:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, I mean you could have been a standard Make Karnian initiate, but those generally are called "un-men".
[20:12] <Old Man> ...I take it that's not just misandry in nomenclature?
[20:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> snip-snip.
[20:12] <Old Man> ...
[20:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I don't think either of us would be happy with that arrangement.
[20:13] <Old Man> ...Indeed.
[20:13] <Old Man> I seem to be... light on memories.
[20:13] <Old Man> Like.. there's a haze... things I knew with clarity seem to be fading...
[20:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> As Mango would put it, Equivalent Exchange.
[20:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You literally traded chunks of your history, your soul's story, for more time.
[20:15] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Your timeline isn't affected, but the complex strands of your timestream that have accreted over the years are being stripped away.
[20:15] <Old Man> The gaps are so odd... I remember people, and places, and things, but I can't remember ny name....
[20:15] * Old Man looks scared
[20:16] <Old Man> I know you. But why don't I know who I am?
[20:16] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks around, makes sure the enemy is at bay for the moment.
[20:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I hate having to monologue in the middle of a crisis, but this is rather key.
[20:17] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte walks over the Old Man and holds his hands in hers.
[20:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> As a Time Lord, your name grows with time.
[20:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It defines you literally, in terms of a complex statement that defines a precise space-time event that is your being.
[20:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's why you never really give out your full full names.
[20:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Bwecause to know it is to control you.
[20:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's how some demons are bound and controlled as well.
[20:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But... because of what I did to "reboot" you, and becaus eof what we went through in well... the Underworld...
[20:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Your definition as a Space-Time event has radically changed.
[20:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Your name no longer applies.
[20:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You are an almost-empty vessel ready to be refilled.
[20:21] <Old Man> So I didn't get a new regeneration cycle?
[20:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No. I used the Elxir of life and some ancient juju of the Pythia to make you something... different.
[20:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I don't even really understand it right now.
[20:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But I do know this...
[20:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You do need a name. A true Name. A seed.
[20:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Something to anchor you back into history.
[20:23] <Old Man> ....
[20:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And, as well... the one in charge of you now...
[20:24] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte tuns his palsm over and runs her fingertips over his lifelines
[20:24] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte closes her eyes, concentrating... calculating... evoking...
[20:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The Wise Old Man who was purified by the fires of the Underworld and who will be the Alchemist to my Sorceress...
[20:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I dub thee...
[20:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Senexnekyiartifex.
[20:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Let that be your beginning.
[20:27] * Old Man nods softly
[20:28] <Old Man> An old name in the Karnian Dialect.
[20:29] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Also.
[20:29] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> you are not to take a title.
[20:29] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You are no longer a Lord of Time.
[20:29] <Old Man> I understand.
[20:30] <Old Man> I'm going to try to some up with something a bit more "street" if that's all right.
[20:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh god don't try to sound cool it's embarassing.
[20:31] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's eyes narrow
[20:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Enemy's coming.
[20:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Names later. Fight now. You ready?
[20:31] <Old Man> I've got your back.
[20:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Likewise~
[20:31] *** To be concluded...

---

[20:06] *** The Louisiana Bayou, 1981
[20:07] *** Paisley and the Nameless Old Man in a New Body stand back to back, surrounded on all sides by various animals, like Wolves, Opossums and Coyotes
[20:08] * Old Man holds his summoned battle-spear at the ready
[20:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Those creatures are innocent. They're just being manipulated by the Great Intelligence.
[20:09] <Old Man> Yes well, innocent or not, their fangs will cut into us all the same!
[20:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You've always been so bloody pragmatic.
[20:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If you're going to stay with me, you're going to learn to think. You're not one of those murder-hounds at the HOTEL or those "crush them all because it's easier" CIA Types.
[20:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> These are animals. Possessed, yes, but still animal. Primal.
[20:11] <Old Man> And that's supposed to make this easier~?
[20:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Actually, yeah.
[20:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte tilts her head forward and closes her eyes.
[20:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Fire~
[20:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte imagines a HUGE inferno engulfing the area and projects it into the minds of the creatures.
[20:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte makes the visualization look and feel as real as she can. A bog-standard trick the Sisterhood used all the times to cause invaders to panic or mistakenly crash their vessels.
[20:13] * The Various animals panic at the "fire" in their vicinity and survival instinct takes over. They flee.
[20:13] * Old Man exhakes. "Well, damn.
[20:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's not over yet. That was a cheap trick.
[20:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The Intelligence isn't named tha for nothing, you know.
[20:14] * Boy emerges from the inside of the house Paisley and the Old Man had entered
[20:15] <Old Man> That's that boy.... the one we heard...
[20:15] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte remembers the cries of pain.
[20:15] <Old Man> You're safe now, it's all right.
[20:15] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte narrows her eyes. "No... no it's not."
[20:15] * Boy smiles broadly
[20:16] <Boy> You heard it.... heard the sounds...
[20:16] <Old Man> Yes, you were in pain...
[20:16] <Boy> The pain of agony and ecstasy~
[20:16] <Old Man> ...
[20:17] <Boy> The cries of sorrow and terror that are the birth cries of a newly awakened soul, beaten to the point of ultimate realization...
[20:17] <Boy> Awakened to mastery... awakened to power....
[20:18] <Old Man> What....?
[20:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Some people attain spiritual power through self-abnegation, like yogis of India... others through purgatory and challenge, like us...
[20:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And others, though physical torment to the point of spiritual awakening... similar to the Opus Dei of the Catholic Church...
[20:19] * Boy laugsh darkly as a Woman comes out of the house behind him, brandishing a Cat-o-nine tails
[20:20] <Boy> Catholic? They done lost their way... down here in the South we got the true Old Time Religion...
[20:20] * Boy looks over to "Sister Abigail"
[20:21] <Boy> Sister Abigail here is the true source of power... she speaks to Him and through Him we are empowered~
[20:21] * Boy seems to slide back into the darkness as night begins to fall, fireflies lighting up the night
[20:21] <Sister Abigail> ♫ I've got the whole world... in my hands... ♫
[20:22] * Old Man feels a pressure in his head
[20:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Psychic pushback. She's got an amazing mental barrier up, it's so strong it actually pushing against oour minds actively.
[20:22] <Old Man> The Great Intelligence?
[20:23] <Sister Abigail> ♡ Oh, we was just the middleman... ♫ ♡
[20:24] <Sister Abigail> ♡ Mister Intelligence came to me one night as I lay awake in bed, flustered and confused over the state of the world, and he showed me the way, and the light, to the powers of the Night... ♡
[20:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This is not good...
[20:25] * Sister Abigail CRACKS her whip, and SULPHOROUS FLAME erupts from the ground.
[20:25] <Sister Abigail> ♡ Through him I met my eternal lover, who filled me with the seed of Darkness and Light~ ♡
[20:26] <Old Man> Gonna write that erotic short, Paise?
[20:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Ugh, even I have standards.
[20:27] <Sister Abigail> - r MOCK IF YOU WILL, UNBELIEVERS, BUT ONCE I DELIVER THE WOMAN TO THE INTELLIGENCE HE WILL SHOW ME AN EVEN GREATER PATH TO POWER! -
[20:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Tch.
[20:27] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I do wish people would stop trying to hook me up on dates.
[20:28] <Old Man> Yes, her social calendars going to be quite full with me around to train~
[20:28] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte chuckles
[20:28] <Sister Abigail> ♡ That won't be a problem.. because you'll be DEAD! ♡
[20:29] * Sister Abigail LASHES out at some trees with her whip, and they burst into flame... COMING ALIVE
[20:29] <Old Man> Oh, what the hell~?
[20:29] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Welcome to the wild, wacky world of Supernatural Combat.
[20:30] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte SHOVES the old man back as a flaming branch swipes at them
[20:30] <Old Man> How does this even make SENSE
[20:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Forget what you know!
[20:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This is my show now!
[20:31] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte stares at the old man, her eyes going black, and she PUSHES knowledge to him over their soul-bond
[20:31] * Old Man recoils.
[20:31] <Old Man> To hell with this! This isn't my world!
[20:31] * Old Man turns and runs away
[20:31] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks shocked
[20:32] <Sister Abigail> ♡ Hahahaha, it looks like he was too weak to handle the Wisdom of the Ages~ ♡
[20:32] <Sister Abigail> ♡ But don't fret little girl, soon you won't care about such petty betrayals~ ♡
[20:32] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte spits
[20:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I've been betrayed my whole life.
[20:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This is hardly new to me.
[20:33] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte stretches for a hand and a flame erupts over her palm
[20:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ^forth
[20:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Time for some Fried Nun.
[20:34] * Sister Abigail LAUGHS as the Flaming trees surrpund Paisley. "Fool! Fire cannot harm me, she who was birthed from brimstone!"
[20:34] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte HURLS a fireball at Abigal, who surprisingly doesn't even TRY to dodge
[20:34] * Sister Abigail lets the flame strike her and BATHES in it
[20:35] <Sister Abigail> ♡ O, Sister of the Flame, your heat just soothes my sinner's soul~" ♡
[20:36] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte brefly ponders a context in which her "heat" could soothe a soul but that's a fic for another time if she can survive this
[20:37] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte kicks a tree HARD with her foot, putting mental force behind ti and seeking the breakpoint of the physical matter. As it falls, she SLAMS it with her elbow and sends it spinning to the other flaming tress, hoping to deflect them
[20:37] * Sister Abigail stretches for a hand in command and the flaming treees simply catch their brethren, setting it alight, and adding it to their ranks
[20:38] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is getting surrounded now
[20:38] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte crouches and does the equivalent of a force-leap, telekinetically boosting herself up
[20:39] * one of the Flaming Tree-Men GRAB her leg, BURNING her leather boot and partially melting it, SLAMMING her into the ground so hard it CRATERS
[20:39] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte used what Telkinesis she could to buffer the impact but the pain in her leg breaks her concentration
[20:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> GRAAAHHHH!!!
[20:40] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte tries to meditate to block out the burning
[20:40] <Sister Abigail> ♡ Oh no, no solace for you, dear girl~ Your flesh is a gift to the Intellligence~ ♡
[20:41] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grits her teeth and pushes herself up by her elbows
[20:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> If you want my body,... you'll have to come over here and TAKE IT.
[20:42] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pyrokinetically lights up as many of the trees as she can, hoping to hasten their burning to ashes
[20:42] * Sister Abigail laughs and walks into the inferno, still swathed in flames
[20:42] <Sister Abigail> ♡ A nice try, but you can't get them all in your weakened state... ♡
[20:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No... no I can't...
[20:43] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grunts as Abigail gets closer, the heat from the flames and the pain in her leg making a bit of a fog in her mind.
[20:43] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Sister... if this is my end... could you...
[20:43] <Sister Abigail> ♡ Could I what~ ♡
[20:44] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte coughs
[20:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I've always loved that hymn...
[20:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> How did it go...
[20:44] <Sister Abigail> ♡ You want em to sing you to your rest~ ♡
[20:44] <Sister Abigail> ♡ BUT THERE WILL BE NO REST FOR YOU, WICKED CHILD ♡
[20:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh yeah...
[20:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> "Let the Circle Be Unbroken~"
[20:45] <Sister Abigail> ....
[20:45] * at that moment, the Old Man, who had run off, reappears behind Abigail, the tip of his Karnian Naginata coated in soil.
[20:46] * Sister Abigail does not turn to look at him. She doesn't need to.
[20:46] * Sister Abigail KNOWS.
[20:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Ahh, sussed it out, have you~?
[20:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That's the benefit of an intimate soul link, you see~
[20:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> He and I, we don't need words.
[20:47] * Sister Abigail 's gaze darts around as she tries to find a way, a path~
[20:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Tell her, Old boy.
[20:47] <Old Man> She told me to fake running away and inscribe a very large circle around the perimeter of this place~
[20:48] * Old Man rests on his naginata
[20:48] * the trees have stopped moving
[20:48] <Sister Abigail> ....
[20:48] <Sister Abigail> ♡ You've trapped us all in the circle. ♡
[20:48] <Sister Abigail> ♡ YOU'RE STILL TRAPPED. ♡
[20:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Heh~
[20:49] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte vanishes
[20:49] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte reappears just outside the circle.
[20:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Where are you looking~?
[20:49] <Sister Abigail> .....
[20:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I can make you see anything I like.
[20:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The whole world, insofar as you are concerned, is in my hands.
[20:50] <Sister Abigail> ♡ Your circle is weak, girl. ♡
[20:50] <Sister Abigail> ♡ It will not hold the likes of me for long~ ♡
[20:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh but it doesn't have to.
[20:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It just needed to keep you on your back foot for a moment~
[20:51] <Sister Abigail> ....
[20:51] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte walks back to the Old Man
[20:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Did you find any in your pockets?
[20:52] <Old Man> I did/ I have no idea why I still had some in there.
[20:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well old men tend to keep Liquor around. Did you pour it as instructed and make the invocation?
[20:52] <Old Man> As best I could.
[20:52] <Sister Abigail> ./angst WHAT DID YOU DO
[20:53] * Baron Samedi rises from the Ground
[20:53] * Sister Abigail looks at Baron Samedi.
[20:53] *** Baron Samedi is




His image Song is: 'Baron Samedi's Dance of Death' by George Martin. He is Level 1.
[20:53] <Sister Abigail> - N... -
[20:54] <Baron Samedi> AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA
[20:54] <Baron Samedi> Miss Paisley you don' call me again~?
[20:54] <Baron Samedi> Well it be your boyfriend dis time~
[20:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> He is not :P
[20:54] <Baron Samedi> It make no difference to me~ I see a tasty sista before me~
[20:55] * Baron Samedi eyes Abigal hungrily
[20:55] <Baron Samedi> She who done consort wit de Devil~
[20:55] <Sister Abigail> - You cannot touch me... Baron of the Dark~ -
[20:55] <Baron Samedi> AHAHAHA but dat be da price you pay wen you enter his service~
[20:56] * Baron Samedi pulls out a bone from his pocket
[20:56] <Baron Samedi> Come, Sista Abigail... come with da Baron to da Eternal Keep.
[20:57] * Sister Abigail backs up, but the circle is still in effect
[20:57] <Baron Samedi> AHAHAHAHAHAHA
[20:57] <Baron Samedi> You wanted to be da Mudda of Evil...
[20:57] <Baron Samedi> And dem Boys is ready~
[20:58] <Baron Samedi> Bray... he gon' be sometin' else one a dem days
[20:59] <Baron Samedi> Wich means da Devil gave you wat you done ask for.
[20:59] * Sister Abigail looks for Bray, but the boy has long since (wisely) departed the area
[21:00] * Baron Samedi shakes a bone at Abigail
[21:01] * Sister Abigail lets out a piercing, soul-curdling SCREECH and just... drops dead.
[21:01] * Baron Samedi walks over to her, opens her mouth, leans over her and inhales her soul
[21:01] * Baron Samedi turns to face Paisley and the old man
[21:01] <Baron Samedi> Wit Dis, Miss Paisley, de debt be paid. Once again, we even.
[21:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm sure we'll cross paths again, Baron.
[21:02] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte bows from the waist
[21:02] <Baron Samedi> Of course. Dat be da Witche's path.
[21:02] <Baron Samedi> But next time, ye be not protected. Remember dat well.
[21:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So it'll be like it always is? XD
[21:03] * Baron Samedi laugsh a belly laugh and descends straight into the ground
[21:04] * Old Man walks over to where the Baron was. The ground looks totally undisturbed.
[21:04] <Old Man> It's like nothing happened...
[21:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oh?
[21:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Don't you feel the chill in your bones?
[21:04] <Old Man> ....
[21:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That happens in areas of Supernatural intersection.
[21:05] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks over to Abigail, whose body has already started to rot.
[21:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No, this happened.
[21:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This was very real.
[21:06] <Old Man> ...You have the most interesting friends.
[21:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte laughs, and links her arm with the Old Man
[21:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> More like frenemies.
[21:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You, you're my friend.
[21:07] <Old Man> Well, I think we've been frenimies as well.
[21:07] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte thinks back
[21:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> This has been true.
[21:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But now it's time to change all that. to turn the page.
[21:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You belong to me now, after all~
[21:08] <Old Man> So do I get put into the collection along with the old books and the dolls?
[21:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Mmm. We shall see~
[21:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But first we need to get you home, and cleaned up, and named.
[21:09] <Old Man> You already gave me a name.
[21:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Indeed, and that is your true name never to be spoken of.
[21:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No, you need a more conventional alias.
[21:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And a job. Because you'te not staying locked up in that room any more
[21:10] <Old Man> A... job?
[21:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Mmm hmm. I think I'll let you run the Peinforte Foundation. I can't be arsed.
[21:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And you Time Lords are so good with boring administrivia.
[21:11] <Old Man> But you said I'm not a Time Lord anymore...
[21:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Details. You still have that picky manner.
[21:12] <Old Man> Well as for a name... I dunno... I was always partial to Lothar....
[21:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> snrrk
[21:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What, "famous army?"
[21:13] <Old Man> ...I'll be your army, if you let me.
[21:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...
[21:13] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte smile softly
[21:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well be that as it may, not Lothar. That sounds silly.
[21:14] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte begins whipping up a time Storm to get them back to 2017
[21:14] <Old Man> Well I'm not going to let you name me! You'll come up with something like "Hardmuscles McCheesebody" or something~!
[21:15] * the storm starts to engulf them
[21:15] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is away: What are you saying I'd make you hard?
[21:15] * Old Man is away: WHAT?!
[21:15] *** FIN