Paisley Peinforte Adventures: Southern Gothic
(This is ongoing)
[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> ....
