https://youtu.be/Kwx9iMHisW8?si=YtuZl8bCq_O7s-oT

[Music] [Music] ha [Music] [Music] f [Music] [Music] ah good evening good night and welcome to the dark of Bethany I am nobody your Storyteller your narrator and your number one fan we hope that you all have the opportunity of enjoying this without a shadow of a doubt is the dark of Bethany season 1 finale entitled remainders spent Vine and fig tree and hope thank you thank you and thank you for being here for tuning in and for hopefully enjoying tonight's episode as much as we and now we await the other players to arrive welcome welcome welcome how we doing folks ohello I'm doing right excellent that's always good to hear mhm do be the vibing excellent excellent um shall we Mosey along to uh begin play so then uh are you ready to be the one that saves us all dear India because uh what from what I could tell context clues wise Joi is burning his Wick very very fast and once that hits Rock Bottom he is Swan diving into the mirror what you doing your private time is your own well I wish it wasn't so but you know I didn't get the the the overall tone that we were just in a trap until it was too late we love a good trap yes as Fred once put it I love traps all right well we are several minutes before hard start and we have all gathered everyone's here so as always and most ardently thank you all and as always what questions suggestions hypotheses or considerations might we have in regards to where we were so just to clarify for for joi's situation will I need to continuously resist this or is it one of those inevitability type deals you will need to continue to resist it partially due to your blood partially due to just escaping it is very much akin to having had that first hit of addiction and know that you are presented with every opportunity to indulge in that addiction afterwards yeah yeah seeing his sire in the mirror for Joi is kind of like being the the recovering alcoholic at a party where everybody's drinking yes all right well I've got a firm grasp on my current situation uh now I demand at least one question from each of you little shits is this void fluffy with big yellow eyes like a kitty cat normally no most people don't have a as much love for their pets as they Proclaim to be it their pets become Hobby and extension and joy and yeah there's some benefits given there but in the opportunity of was sting away physically in the grip of your most Ardent and passionate love be that drink drug physical Indulgence with a partner or partners of choice or spending eternity stroking the head of your lovely pet most people choose one of the other three however if the if Maddie is an animal lover of such refined taste and focus that very woman will may be what she is experiencing being embraced and swaddled and spooned and loved by her pet now just add a book in there and a cozy seat and we're perfect well we know what their idea of forever in the most perfect moment might be neon what might lead us wasting away in the middle of nothing in the void of all that is in fact pleasurable for her what might that look like uh Lita has been trying to find some kind of Enlightenment since she found out that Gonda was a thing that some vampires believ that hey give me my book back you went into the darkness seeking the light um I think she'd be trying to kind of attune herself to to whatever higher Consciousness was going on around her oh yes adapt to the vibe I [Music] see the funny thing about small towns is that they are exactly representative of all of the souls who have existed there and presently exist there they are holy 100% as close to actual tribalism in practice and in Vision as we can ever truly get back to in modern society each town is the product of The Poisoned individuals who clamored for who grasped who gripped and clawed their way to power every small town is the victim of those who fought and fight to escape every small town is its own separate sweltering Furnace based on the wants and the previous needs of those present Bethany is no different it is a regional anomaly it is more Texas than any other place in Louisiana say shreport and it is more Louisiana than any and every place in East Texas it is a Melting Pot of biases clanism and tribalism mixing and roiling and its connections to each other and those who pass through is a palpable thing for the Kindred Bethany is a watchtower for the Kindred Bethany is a place where those who cannot survive in shreport settle it's as close to the crown as they will ever be and hundreds of thousands of leagues from it all in one breath a half an hour drive doesn't seem like all that much but there's not much to see in in and around the main roads through Bethany into shreport yet it is Def Fina its own entity it is a feel in the air it is a whispered sound off in the distance it is the way that the local and those who inhabit the area are able to discern which Echo is worth paying attention to which call out there in the dark is worth risking one's soul for and everyone treats small towns as if there's something different as if it is not in fact just a microcosm of the big city because at heart that's all that it is the city and every city is broken down into neighborhoods and Municipal area and senses designated places small towns within a larger town the interconnectivity of that small town stretched to the Hy edge of its self as thin as a butterfly wing and as light as a butterfly's kiss in larger places but after it's all said and done small towns and large cities Villages townships boils down to those involved those who reside there and their idea of what is right wrong indifferent worth the effort not worth the shame and as much as each person believes that they are an individual they are wholly a product of their environment either working counter purposes to it or bought in for its longevity and this is this affects their each and every person's idea of what it what Perfection might be what the Holy Grail of Heaven's reward might be seldom is that idea being locked in an office of mirrors locked in a trailer at the edge of a carnival in the middle of the night seldom as being confronted with hundreds of different shattered and cracked versions and images of oneself but it takes all types takes all kinds and as India and Joi Fran Le attempt to not look into the mirrors to not look into what forever might be to find a way to escape without giving themselves over either piece by Bloody piece or whole cloth inside those very mirrors just past the range of touch and the impossibility of the Endless Everlasting night therein Lita you mentioned having glimpsed the knowledge of goonda felita what does that actually mean what does the idea of a perfected Kindred not a victim of the curse but a beneficiary of it what does that mean for her I don't know that she's worked that out yet I think she's I think she's kind of decided the journey is the destination that's about where she's at and that trying to find some kind of Enlightenment through her on life is kind of the way to get through you know the next couple of day I mean the next day I mean it's sort of sort of her motivating desire so very much the spiritual Life is a Highway mentality is what's possessing Lita presently the idea of traveling for travel sake the sight along the way the time invested is the destination in of itself there's no set in no goal line no finish line for her to cross I think that's where she's at for the moment but she's kind of looking to find it and how did she hear about the idea of Gonda what was she told about what Gonda might actually be well she's an expert in the book of Nod and that talks about it a fair bit yes but which version of the book of not which copy of a copy of a copy of notes and assumptions has she had the opportunity of reading which was she Beck becket's version passed through several hundred different hands and copy several thousand hundred times it is a peac meal thing the book of notd is unfortunately much like the King James the new Christians the several other reprintings of the Bible there are several verses and passages and Parables that different and tone language used the Greek the Italian the kosa the de the Mandarin the it's it is a parable in of itself finding which version which copy which is the most in fact accurate which one is not expurgated which one is not unabridged which one the reason for that is unfortunately much like apocryphal text throughout the entirety of civilization everyone chooses to edit to win over others to their style of thought their path of thinking finding an actual unedited version of the book of Nod in the ancient Amar is not impossible because there is no such thing as impossible but the funny thing is it is as close to impossible as one can actually get without crossing over so the beckets version that Lita has had the opportunity of getting copies of handed down from time the value more so in whom it came from who originated the idea of it makes it phenomenally important there are churches and Cults which are much the same thing said in different ways or seen or viewed at different points along a singular timeline that would kill for a version that is less edited that are long not copied over a version that was truer so she's been gifted the opportunity of a great amount of value and with her sire being so predominantly hands off seeking their own knowledge finding their own Perfection finding their own way through the Everlasting night as she settles here in this floaty isolation of her mind and she realizes that's what this is it is in fact her her mind all of the many ephemeral thoughts and assumptions hanging just there in the distance all of the conclusions the hypothesis the philosophies some more form than others but all just there not completely Resolute if she were to find the most valuable portion of all of that history all of that time all of that knowledge would it look like the book of ND or would it take another shape another form at least involves reading a little more about the ancient history of the vampires excellent would you be so kind as to rule your resolve plus composure as high as you possibly can okay and as that role is happening Maddie a nice quiet evening in warm several projects completed no real demands of her time or of her we already have the idea as to what her most perfect moment might be swaddled and in the presence of her pets their purs and the subtle vibrations that emanate from the purr itself rumbling deeply in their chest a book enhance entertain her mind and tease Her Imagination what does that book look like Le uh Maddie um it prob it looks old and worn and well-loved leather B yellowed pages with the lovely Library smell it's funny but part of the biggest aspect of libraries especially older libraries is defeating dust defeating the residue of all the people that breeze through them inhaling and exhaling the dead skins that they leave behind their moistness sticking to the edges and spines of books the accumulation of hundreds of thousands of individuals passing through over the course of years defeating the dust keeping the books useful is part of the scent that most people don't recognize in libraries they only notice it when it's not there new libraries Have A unsettling presence at the back of the mind that absence of dust that absence of skin and lives spent it's a curious thought that a kindred would equate the scent of prey as Happ not the Dand of a feline companion not the fur or some canine companion or even the slightly dry Scent of a Raptor or parakeet no the scent of a library all of those people that have passed leaving bits of themselves behind the ink the dry Pages the dust covers even those that don't do their job those cellophane wraps that go over the jackets for each of the books only offis scating the title of certain books with their accumulation of datus and debris realizing the book that she's been reading for what feels like hours has not changed the balance of the pages be in the past those that she's already read and the balance of the page stages ahead of her still remaining the same is there anything that Maddie might consider or would she simply take the Solace of being in this most perfect moment she she might notice that the uh Pages thing is a bit odd normally when you read a book the balance shifts it does things hanging in the balance the future quickly or slowly rushing towards you as each page is turned the tale being told reaching its conclusion the end of the line line the final denum of the tail the point where one has to either reshow the book or start a new one yet as engrossing and entertaining as the book is the balance doesn't move there's just as much before as after well clearly something isn't right that being the case would you be so kind to roll your resolve and composure as high as you can in the course of most person's lives when they have the opportunity of meaning the eyes in the mirror it is a difficult thing looking into your face and realizing all that is there partially because when you look into your face when you look into the mirror you're not seeing you as you are you're seeing your version of you with all of the many denigrations that you've taken onto yourself be it from family friends Associates school work all of those other voices parting their considerations of you now echoing from within cuz there's never really selft talk self- negative talk when you're oh I'm so stupid or I'm so fat or I need to shave my eyebrow or or this that and the other all of those little faults that you yell at yourself that voice in your head that sounds like you is put there by your environment it's put there by the people in and around your life that cross your path like Stray Cats yet it mimics and sounds very much like you cuz it's very difficult to not take that into ourselves and project it from within constantly bombarding oursel because that voice those voices don't need to breathe they don't need to pause so they're able to perpetually be there and they're always the loudest when you least expect it at least that's how it is for for Mortals for Kindred it is so very much worse because that voice voice that negative selft talk those intrusive thoughts not only does it not need to breathe it is able if you allow it to slip from your grip to step into the driver's seat of you and is able to cause you to act on all of those less than positive things it is able to have you act out your most selfish inclination s food [ __ ] or fight and is able to boil you down to your lowest common denominator and gas you up with all of that social and emotional ethanol to poison you with that is part and part participle of what Joi is actually dealing with because not being worthy of the world around you is one thing but not being worth the effort and the person that you love more than the idea of anything that was and is you all of your works of art all of your everyday magic self boil down to nothingness and yet you have the opportunity you have the opportunity of rising above you have the opportunity of spending forever in her Embrace of being worthy all you have to do is just look as much as the the Temptation is there Joi is aware that thing is a trap right that's a good question is he considering that he was standing right next to Maddie as they stopped being [Music] there is yeah he was glimpsing in the mirror and had to catch himself and still nearly entered into whatever realm that was whatever magic that was whatever just impossibility was that that coolness that comfort as a kindred you're never comfortable when it gets cool you're never comfortable when it gets cold yet something about it while it chilled the flesh for a split second it's like a it's like a watering hole and The Heat Of Summer that coolness dimming the fire raging across your skin and making the world absolutely perfect for a few moments and then the subsequent intense rage that followed it was that Rage or was that embarrassment embarrassment at understanding that kayn was right she was better without you she is better without you she's out there in the night finding true art someplace where there is live liveliness where the hunting is easy and the beauty abounds see nobody is isn't a gaslighter nobody is a he's a welding torch is what he is it's very precise and effective one look no [ __ ] that [ __ ] we know what happen people get stuck in there no [ __ ] that [ __ ] you're not going to convince me that be the case would you be so kind as to do you have dominate or presence I have neither in this respect oh that is a shame would you be so kind as to roll your resolve plus composure minus one that's a that's a number uh let me double check really quickly what my my hungi is H I believe I left here with a rather okay hungy because if I'm here we go yep to hunger um since this is an attribute role would I have the ability to Rouse for it yes yes let's Whittle away that willpower shall away all right let's give it a shot okay we're up to hunger three so four minus one three I'm at five dice going be to hunger as high as I can roll as Jesus you really don't want to go in there right some things are just better left unseen and speaking of unseen since the time you were able to be considered yourself pardon of living on the ranch even as beloved and let's just be perfectly honest coddled as India was it was safety and weariness and the real lessons that the world is not a nice place you're only safe because you are safe meaning you must be aware of your surroundings you must know gun safety and knife safety you must know how to you know rope a bull you must know how to break a bron you must know how to have Push from the shove to cook a meal for your boyfriend girlfriend whoever is in your life you must know these things and so part of her education the biggest part of her education was learning to survive and learning what the cost of failing to do so a lot of people consider that a a a cruelty or too much for kids but because India and her brother were so in fact blessed they actually had a rough and dumble childhood they were able to scrape their knees fall down Hills ride horses rope bowls cook clean it was idic some would say otherwise especially when part of that Early Education was in fat gun safety was in fact learning the purpose of that particular tool and as it sits in her her hand and Joi having cautioned her not to look and realizing that there are mirrors everywhere a quick Glimpse is she sure is all it is going to take his him being panicked him being worked up him being forceful that's just be perfectly honest Joi being forceful is well reminds you of the that song your your your dad would always play after church cuz he didn't like any of the priests he didn't like any of the deacons he didn't like any of that but he went for your mom so when you all get home you already knew what was going to be played it would be Kenny Rogers The Coward of the County it would be Kenny Rogers The Gambler it would be Johnny Cash it would be Rebel almost psychedelic country and mustard mixed with delta blues and he'd get in his feelings and he'd sit on the front porch his glass of lemonade and eat Whittle and growls because it was a burden for him but in those moments with music blaring you all learn the verbal history of the family and and the land and it added to the education but all the same seeing Joi forceful in his warnings and the disappearances and the fact that you're locked in what is it that India might in fact be up to taking better of the whole gun situation is going to keep it in her hand but keep safety on and eyes closed turn to the room and mule kick the door well now that isn't interesting indeed she's going to remain closed even though she can almost hear everyone considered him the cow and she can almost feel what it was like those warm August evenings where the family would gather after supper and watch the sun disappear behind the horizon line she can almost hear her brother's laughter at some stupid joke he and your her father shared and she'd be brought in it's back up as your mom would cast a look or say something under her breath and the teasing would just ratchet up family and laughter and warmth all I have that to say is she determined to close her eyes and kick and not take a moment because she can hear them her father's voice deep and strong her brother's laughter riding along the skin like a verbal hug and the warmth radiating out of her mother like she was the center of the univ like she was the son giving life they're just there that's what keeps her eyes closed hearing her brother's laughter as you remember this is clearly the uniformed officer going up at her at the front door telling her parents that her brother was never coming back so that contrast that laughter for her in would you be so kind as to go ahead and roll your strength plus brawl and while that roll is happening Lita you've always known that education knowledge comes with a cost there is an Indescribable surge you're not sure whether it's rage ecstasy or some bastardized amalgamation of the two too she doesn't speak Aramaic she can recognize it she doesn't read Aramaic but she can recognize it she is not a expert in age yet the authenticity of the book before her the fact that she her eyes are still giving her problems as if she actually still needs the reading glasses from her living years is a mental problem it is a an annoyance but even with all of the blurry hazy ephemeral aspects of the books around her and the sound of her feet upon whatever this floor is how warm the place is does not dampen this surge of actual emotion normally her emotions are dim gray gaui and fuzzy say for the need to feed say for the need to consume the life residing in the blood of her victims which is the reason why she stares herself to not give that uh side of herself release it's the reason why she takes the cold and lifeless to to keep from experiencing that in its fullness because if she gives in she knows what the outcome will be she knows where and how all of those others who engage in taking it right from the vein operate they're so possessed with the life in the blood that they lose sight of the gifts of what you all have you're dead masquerading as anything else and getting caught up and having your emotions swirl and bounce off this it's a distraction you don't need you don't want and yet here it is you have before you an actual bound copy you can you you knew something was a little different about this particular book because that was in fact human flesh not the pig or cow flesh that is normally used to cover most older apocryphal books that managed to to survive no the original books were kept in the most valuable of things human skin the spine of the book being the flesh from the back the pages often times being well from various other members of that person's family the secret sealed away and stamped and car D into the flesh so as she opens the book she's surprised enough to have her feelings Skyrocket it is literally like the 4th of July in her Center in her Palace of herself this whole of it all she has found the truth there's no place she would much rather be than right here even as she can't decipher it immediately she can sound it out she can work at it as long as she has the time and she has the rest of forever to decode the actual so what's going through our head what is she doing oh I think she is pretty lost in the moment of trying to CER any little [ __ ] she can okay and and what's her um intelligence plus academics but I have to double check might be a five [Music] don't all right survey [Music] says he five indeed The Impossible and then some as she begins reading pages of the Aramaic original Printing and she's able to conjugate and she's able to translate some portion of it impossibly so the literal impossible is what she's doing she's staring at these Pages she's lovingly running her all to feeling warm fingers across the pages feeling the pores of the skin and even preserved as as it is you could tell that this person was well fairly active there's sun damage there along the edges there's a certain tan a deeper rening of the skin here she flips and flips and goes back and flips again the Aramaic which is impossible for her to to translate she's able to shift into Latin and this is what she sees this is what she manages to get from it manages to begin to work [Music] at so having the truth of the universe sitting there before her and her being able to relate it to at least Latin is there a drive is there a notion or is the knowledge therein what is solely on her for and afterthought uh she kind of weird that she doing this [Music] well translating the language doesn't really know you broke up a little bit there oh I think she's probably a little weirded out that she's having such lot translated language she doesn't really [Music] know excellent and as that creeping dread begins to work at the edges of her mind slowly possessing her there's a right and a wrong way to everything and right and wrong has nothing to do with the ethical or moral everyone's ethics and morality changes and shifts because ethics are honorably legal and morals is emotionally and spiritually in accordance with that it's an Ever shifting balance as one side of the ship is way down with Bild water and the other isn't it tips and rocks it waivers but it manages to stay afloat even with a little bit or considerably more than a little bit of water getting inside but there is a right a proper correct way of doing most things there is a right and correct way for enjoying embracing and being part of most [Music] things and while the bulk of that is in fact just as subjective as ethics and morality the processes of success prove which one is right and which one [Music] isn't Maddie isn't one of those academically focused mindful warlocks she is a practical Hands-On right and wrong warlock she in achieving what measure of success and freedoms she has has utilized that as the guide for most of her existence so as the darkness around her flickers and time to the candos that are just outside of her nice personal circle of comfort and warmth as she hears Lita chanting and praying being a trir being a warlock she recognizes the the sound of Lain and she understands that it's Latin whether she speaks it or understands it fluently she recognizes it a lot of the warlocks in their personal codes use Latin as the base it's usually Latin and a substitution Cipher for several other individual languages whether it's French or German Mandarin Cantonese uh um y Ruben or some other such many of them use Latin as part of their substitution Cipher for when jotting down their processes of creating rituals and spells and the like the fact that she's here in Lita the fact that the darkness around her is flickering to the light of candles that are not present the fact that these feline creatures are a little bit larger than they should be there's no way that a tabby or an orange cat is as large massive as a heavily breathing and snoring bear yet she looks to the creature to her right and the other one curled across her lap and the other resting against her back she realizes that she is approximately the same size to them as a very malnourished Mouse might be and there's something about not being the biggest predator in the room that causes certain thoughts what might those thoughts be Maddie this is one hell of an alternate universe when did I start dreaming [Music] again the dead don't dream do they they don't and you're well and truly dead it's part of the process of stepping into the first circle of mysteries being accepted as more than a acolyte to this thing you are now part of the breaking down of how the body would cease and the reason for having it take the course of three nights so that you could have your last meal so that you could have your last right so that you could prepare yourself for what happened next and what happens next is yes you as you were died and with the you that was so went your dreams so went those moments of rest that came at the end of the day sleep is no longer a thing dreams are no longer a thing and knowing that this is in fact not necessarily where you belong comes growing up out of the darkness of your mind and you're able to see sense feel the illusory nature of this perfect [Music] moment oh cool cool this was a nice little uh Adventure but now now it's time to go back to being a normal person is and there's Lita The Darkness opening like curtains as if this was a Stage production and you're there on the first row just behind the orchestra there's Le floating there no more than 30 ft from where you're equally a drift the darkness around her seeming a little thicker seeming a little denser it is not any difference but the fact that she is nearly there her hands open as if she's in the middle of an Islamic prayer as if there's a book there as if there's some truth and she's able to Divine it and she's chanting in Latin and she looks into her hand so this is what Maddie is seeing yes excellent I will cheuck the book at her head wake up oh man Maddie if someone stole something from you how would you feel I mean someone stole my life from me and I was pretty irritated about it so you know as the perfect tail is gone and you send it flying into the darkness it dissipating like smoke that's what it feels like someone has stole from you take it from you that's what this is theft without the preparation without the planning without the buildup without the this is what you're going to feel your first few nights and this is what you're going to feel your first few months it will come in waves and the whole idea of there being only seven steps to grief is a falsity it's a cycle and you're going to move through this cycle at varying paces and you're going to go back through it again and as you go through it you'll be building up a callous to these feelings that's what grieving is and you're going to of course grieve for yourself these these things are natural but they're part of the process trust the process and focus on and those are the talks and the preparations there was even a brochure if you really think about if you if you remember correctly there was an actual [ __ ] brochure so now you're dead who does that oh that's right the warlocks do that speaking of who does that the outcome of thoughts and recriminations the assumptions that the promise idea of forever is it really forever if you only have half the day is it really for forever if there aren't any time to wishfully dream is it really forever when the mest touch of flame can end it is it really forever if you have to go through it alone the impotent rage at that idea bounces around joi's mind sealing him from slipping into the void beyond the mirror the understanding that forever night is too high of a price to pay an unending darkness no sunsets no sunrises no light part of what he does or did with his woodworking his art very much depended on the natural light it very much depended on seeing what a piece would look like with the morning light coming through a Eastern facing window seeing what a room would look like as the world comes alive understanding what green and Blacker a porch would need what carving just the right angle would do to the shifting growing light of day all of that taken from him for what for love the idea of it the pain of it so you know I I have a little bit of a request mhm with the the sheer dominant willpower that Joi is show like uncharacteristic sheer dominant willpower that he has shown in this in this particular encounter so far and with the the sundering of that that draw into the mirror and uh the understanding that the love he holds for his sire is not worth an eternity without everything else that he loves um can I count that as one step towards freedom on the bond track yes let's do that only five more to go only five more to go let's go baby amazing I'm just kind of you know having that realization and and threading himself away from that mirror the the edge of his emotions finally starting to dull with the the violence and the the reason cutting through it all hey he's just going to start trying to work on getting the [ __ ] out of here he doesn't know how to get those people out of that mirror he is not he is not an occultist he is not and as the sound of glass breaking more bombards his ears he's able to meet his own gaze in the mirror and it's not his sire standing there is not kin calling beseeching reaching out to [Music] him it's him it's India her gaze averted from everywhere around mean she can't see you nor the floor before her she in fact has her back to where the door was and is driving her leg back against the glass shattering the the mirror and dislodging a portion of the door cuz it is unfortunately locked outside and Jo is able to look into the mirror and see this room reflected a 100 different ways bouncing off surfaces left and right and catching what little light there is from the few appliances and a mile quarter mile into the mirror and beneath all of that shining space is Maddie is Lita floating there as if they are in the midst of a free fall arms a Kimo hair floating up above them as if they are diving through space and time and while that impression of motion follows them as if there's some semblance of gravity affecting them you know that's an impossibility there's no way there's but there they are in the mirror and as you stare into the mirror and you hear the shattering of glass is there anything that you might attempt or do so is this reflected strictly in the one mirror or in all of the the stable non- destroyed mirrors all of them okay um yeah I'm I'm not an a cult guy I don't necessarily know like what the [ __ ] going on with the mirror but um with with India following my lead and you know destroying mirrors uh the potential that if we break them all they might not manage to get out kind of sets in I'm just going to uh I'll throw my coat over one of the mirrors and um just be like hey don't don't break this one we can break the rest if we got to but leave at least one and we can try and figure out how to get them the [ __ ] out of there there's no reason India as you're hearing this there's no [ __ ] way and yet there is these [ __ ] have at least a a double dead boat top and bottom because that kick let's be perfectly honest in her Living Years India was no slout she was the other half of her brother she knew his friends she helped them you know occasionally tossed the pig skin around she roped and wrangled she is no slouch physically and yet this cheap mass-produced RV door stands up to her giving it her absolute all it almost laughs at her her she breaks the mirror the glass goes flying the shards are everywhere and she gives it another kick and it's still holds Resolute and then Joi not not this [Music] one just kind of looking over her shoulder and seeing the the situation with the Double Dead bolted door just completely resistant to her just I I I I might be able to bypass that in a not so destructive way maybe but you better figure it out cuz I dealing babies so you got 10 seconds before I start back up again 10 seconds is long enough he says as uh the wonderful combination of Rapid reflexes and rush job are well they make a 10-second job uh very Swift indeed now what is it that he's attempting so um you know pulling forth the good old lock Smith's gear um I'm going to try and and you know pick this thing open if it's dead bolted I'm going to try and bypass that if there are actual sorry if there are actual locks and such pick those open and just try to try to use the mechanisms rather than trying to snap them off excellent that being the case would you be so kind as to go ahead and roll your resolve and leny all right and in true fashion uh if possible I would like to Rouse all right let's get those double Rouse baby roll the Rouse afterwards oh well okay that's fine oh oh sorry sorry no that's good go ahead roll the other one all right dear God m Ah that's ugly I don't like the potential of what might happen but I have to yes all right see that's that's a lot more manageable than what potentially could have happened excellent now now roll your second RS and let's see where where the Beast leaves you oh this is not fun that's at Hunger five right there [ __ ] oh that was a very very annoying door it but is it though it was the demands of the Beast are quite simple feed me [ __ ] or fight the hierarchy of needs and wants conflating into One Singular coales thing standing this close to India Joi has never realized before just how good she smells she smells Divine she has spent time around the living and animals and she has a certain vivaciousness and you're sure that if you ask she'll at least look away so you can have your way with all of that lovely warm War v coursing through her she might actually maybe even give you more than you were request all it would take is well you guys are friends and friends do help out each other and sharing is caring after all so very close so very lovely so very and while she's no kin her hair isn't straight at enough it's almost as long there's still that similar caramelized chocolate tone to her skin and while kin is not quite as as voluptuous there is still a softness there to India and you remember what kin tasted like kayin tasted like having tomorrow forever kayin tasted like all of your dreams distilled down into the sweetest clearest White Lightning invigorating the sort of thing that a sip will do you and a drink is far too much yet you want buckets of it kayn tasted like Beauty and you're sure while India may not be Kalin there's a very good chance that she may taste very very close [Applause] mhm now India the question is do you believe that in the escaping lines and the brushing of others that she may have in inadvertently poked herself or scratched herself or caught a caught a beaten what is her health levels at presently has she been marked or marred with anything that may have broken her flesh nope she is at full health and uh remember she avoided that fight so there was no scratches but but did she though and she never yes she no no mie took the breath to that now just because you're not bleeding doesn't mean you don't have blood on you true true but we're not going to belabor that point because it's very it it's it's very too good to be true because India is right there the question is has India ever in her recent time been close enough to frenzy where she knows she was a threat to everything around her that's a hard but I don't know like she's usually pretty in touch with [Music] her other self so when she needs to she'll go shift and go running but right now this has been a lot of chaos for her so okay so as she makes way for Joi to do his thing and standing close enough to immediately take action if she can does she keep her eye on him and the mirrors around him or is she attempting to keep her eyes closed and focus on the ground to keep from seeing whatever it was that drove him to Violent action he said not to look in the mirror and no matter what the hell he he's not looking in the mirror Okay so she could have let them pass her [Music] without excellent so eyes closed as Joi does his thing she doesn't see how lusted after she is she doesn't catch sight of the very hungry look across his face so she's unable to prepare PR herself or stop him from whatever the other him might choose to do that however doesn't stop Maddie and Lita your book your reason for having forever begins to warm to the touch the sort of heat that would be troubling in a cell phone is even more troubling when coming from a book from a grimoire of apocryphal [Music] knowledge and it'd be more troubling if whoever that was that's chanting in Latin would stop something about their words or calming something about that monastic Deb helps keep those niggling thoughts at Bay helps keep your concern for the fact that your your your palms are growing red and warm now is this the same book that I just chucked at Lita's head nope she's still staring into the palms of her hand chanting and lightting the book you threw becoming nothing more than the shadow stuff about you the creatures at your back and across your legs slowly dissipating into the same essence of Darkness that is all about you and her and this void of otherness that you all are in all right well excellent then uh I will get up and cross the distance to the uh the girl um and you know what it's an oldie and a goodie there a reason why parents do it just grab her by the ear and just start dragging her off and now is when we start discussing the tensile strength of human flesh yes especially when it hasn't been preserved or otherwise prepared for such a thing for such a direct in actionable bit of of wake the [ __ ] up it's not quite the slap across the cheek nor the flicking of the eyeballs but it is very very close there's pain and then there's annoying pain that doesn't cause actual lasting damage but it is just enough to shake one out of whatever Ry they are in and there lies Parton part part of the problem Lita isn't in a Ry it's worse Lita is in as close to Heaven as you can be and asking for help it is that uncomfortable space in realizing that getting what you want and getting what you deserve have far too much overlap and as you are presented with a Darkness around you Lita and and the book dissipating into nothing but more darkness when you feel yourself floating in the absence of everything you and Maddie floating in the absence of everything is there anything you all might attempt well you know there's a reason why they say in h the Poltergeist movie towards the light Caroline that's what we're doing go towards the light pray it's not a train right uh dragging the poor girl behind me if need be [Music] as the door goes screaming open slamming back because of the residual kinetic energy from India's efforts and Jo's actions you all presented with the opportunity of leaving this place Joi India is there anything you all all might attempt ah certainly something I might attempt as to whether or not it's beneficial for the group as a whole that's another matter you going to give India a little nibble good good for you take what you need boy you get this I mean out of character there is the Hope and there is the prayer that India might just you know [ __ ] slap him like he's an unruly child but in character there is no such consideration as is described all he knows is that lady probably tastes really [ __ ] good and I am really [ __ ] hungry so just uh very as he as he's finishing up his work and his eyes are distracted continuously flicking back over to India as the thoughts pour through over and over faster and faster louder and louder the moment he hears that click and knows that he no longer has that Obstacle of having a task to be done before well he's free to do whatever he sees fit he'll go for the [Music] bite that that small sliver of self-control offered uh by occupied hands being now devoid in the moment as soon as she feels the air of outside she moves toward the I st it will knock down whatever is in her way ah yes this is what it's like when Two Worlds Collide that is a very very good attempt unfortunately the kiss may say otherwise Joi would you be so kind just go ahead and roll your strength plus brawl against a DC of one ooh see you're lucky uh you might actually even with it being a DC of one you might actually make that make it out of [Music] that never mind all right so contested roll it's no contested rooll unfortunately it's effectively a sneak attack eyes closed moving for moving into it unfortunately um what there is a contest of is the kiss itself how far under the actual pleasure of the kiss does India become would you be so kind just to go ahead and roll what's uh India's present hunger he's at a once okay that gives her a DC of three make it happen what am I rolling resolve composure to not be swept [Music] away and now I can't get Powerman 5000 out of my head thanks everybody you're very welcome glad you enjoy oh who am I kidding didn't you kind of do it to yourself though yeah I know I'm the one that brought it up uh there's a potential if you will power oh no wait you did will power that fate lends a hand what it lends a hand for is anyone's Yes somewhere out there in the Endless Night of the Kindred existence fate is holding its gut and laughing and pointing she has gathered her cousin Serendipity and Kismet and is elbowing and utterly in meshed in what is happening inside this RV what is happening inside the mirror what is happening here now strong as an ox has often been what India has been called she is tough as leather and Twice As Nice To Hold According to some of her former lovers she has understood and given herself to receiving the Kiss by giving it to all of her victims even when she just chooses to hunt animals she counts on the pleasure of the kiss making their last few moments something to behold something to enjoy something literally going out with a bang she has [Music] never been caught as unawares eyes closed barreling forward and the tissue paper strength of Joi wrapping around her and mesing her in his after shave and his hair product and the scent of his well-used tools and happiness erupting like an explosion all of her synapses firing at once all of the idea of pleasure washing and wafting over her at once eyes already closed she only has the vision of her internal sense of balance and Justice and familial bonds and physical gratification erupting one after the other melding and mixing and conflating into this idea of as close to Heaven as you can be without ever dying and unfortunately the actual Taste of vate the melon iron lace copper tinged Taste of V is not blood but it is close enough and near enough to unfortunately triggered that devil Beast aside of Joi to LEAP into the driver re seat be so kind as to go ahead and roll oneir your humanity and your unspent willpower uh uh what's my DC you really don't want to know I really don't want to know okay uh we round down for Humanity correct yes okay um for the sheer chance that I that I somehow crit I'll still roll it but but just know it's uh not a high pool yeah so [ __ ] close wait you spent all of your willpower I have oh since I'm pretty sure we don't reset it between episodes I have [Music] there's losing yourself and then there's burying yourself in the absence of everything you've ever known joji is comfortably in the ladder of that what he is is hunger made manifest what he feels is the satiation of all of his life and death pain it is the penultimate kiss from Mom when scraping a knee it is the ultimate ice cream to solve the cracks of a broken heart it is the end of all pain and the welcoming of all pleasure he ceases to be India what is your present hunger level it was one it's the one right it is unfortunately not um he Joi cannot break free of the hold of the Beast until he gets to gets at least one and he just lost control at one so yeah he's going to drink until he is at minimum one hunger which is for Hunger from India at which point he would get another opportunity to resist falling even further into that endless hole adding proper Focus to this moment even as DOI covered one of the mirrors and you all are attempting to head towards the light there's only so far in the dark you can go near that light swimming forward to the surface of it floating through all of that nebulous absence of everything finding what small flickering reserves of light there are you find yourself pressed against a an adamantine glass you're able to see see the other side and on that other side standing there across the room in front of the door is Joi and India wrapped in an Embrace looking very much as if they are in fact old lovers having met after everything from the stars to the planet itself aligned for them to reach this moment it looks like the cover of some Harley romance it looks like the sort of thing that fan sites and fanfiction would Pine over for years in that moment is the physical manifestation of The Hunger feeding and being fed by itself like an or Boris and parts of you L and Maddie are jealous for the pleasure you know that they are actually in the midst of and a endless Circle and cycle of pleasure magnifying itself for its own purposes over and over each reverberation causing another Trill of pleasure to [Music] escape and as's a two stand there in the doorway and you are able to see them from the actual mirror that's the center of this Maze of Horrors and it's 45 after that's return at 5 56 [Music] after welcome back everybody how we doing oh we're doing fine doing fine I mean right technically I'm now doing markedly better than I was uh 20 minutes ago [Music] considerably though I have the suspicion that situation is going to change drastically right probably exponentially mhm I mean what damage can Maddie really do she didn't bring any weapons with her Maddie is a weapon it's not so much what you can do it's what you probably will do that will be the most determining Factor here and um the kiss has its power and its ability there's also the very real addict side of it when you know that you you are very very near Rock Bottom you can continue your free flaw and meet the ground and all due time or you can try to pull up and pull out of it you can try to escape the grip of the demon and the monkey on your back that's what would be happening for Joi right when they get to roughly one hunger's level worth of hunger actively bombarding and soaking their mind and all of those lovely delicious uh vat juices all of India's Go Juice as it were the only problem of that is that the tables will decidedly turn because if he manages to break free and not put her at um attempt to put her at negative five negative hunger um she will be DED in the coldest ice bath one can imagine being at from the Apex of pleasure to the antithesis of that immediately and that combined with her Beast I don't like joi's odds of coming out of this unac costed on every level cuz that's hard to do like the weight of his situation yes he satiated yes all of that filthy dirty pleasure that he's managed to obtain and then the conscious mind settles in whom he obtained it from how he obtained it where they are all of that coming crashing down immediately after not right after but immediately after as the reverberating Afterglow of it is hitting him so to is the realization of where he is what he's done who he's done it to yeah good IND that's a rut R raggy situation India neon are we back yep okay we're going to say that uh Discord is doing it Discord thing to neon's uh ability to interact right now so we're going to keep right on gliding along lifetimes occurring in the span of minutes of moments the most potent aspect of the kiss is because it is metered out it is doled out over a longer period of time victims typically are are less bombarded with the fullness of it save in moment of pure bestial release when the Beast slips into the driver's seat and holds on for dear life then those moments pass by a lot quicker a lot faster those seconds and minutes and quarter hours of slowly feeding to not destroy the victim to not wash away all they are in the wall and river of pleasure go right out the window so as Joi is nearing the end of it all too quickly because he is satiated because he has gone from five levels of hunger to one and a truncated space amount of time instead of it taking the usual 15 to 30 minutes it in fact taking literally 9.6 7 Seconds 9 minutes and 67 seconds is not a world record but it is a record for him he enjoys feeding he enjoys what it provides he does it safely with all du agency and care for his victims realizing how much he's divested from India as she's all but swooned in his arms as her eyelids flutter and the realization of who's holding her slowly washes over her as he looks into that pleasur stricken [Applause] [Music] face and glances from eye to eye to lip to the soft Almost Human breathing luckily she is in fact dead luckily she in fact had not tempted the Beast to Rouse to give herself a semblance of living cuz he's sure that being this close to her watching as even in death those pleasurable soft size are escaping he is absolutely positive that well he wants to not drive down that path there's enough self-recrimination there to last him several lifetimes glancing past or he sees Maddie and Lita on the other side of the uncovered mirror behind her something with his voice chuckling at the back of his head something urging him take another sip before she comes to before she realizes take another sip yeah knowing the very real consequences that would come of doing that and the very real consequences of being here when she gets out of her stup there's an open [Music] door joji Sees them kind of on the their their exit from that weird ass space um he knows that at the very least one of them is a lot more capable of handling India and helping her get what she needs afterwards than he is um and still needing to deal with the fact that the Carneys just tried to suck them into the shadow welm joi's going to try and take off like a bat out of hell which is weirdly coincidental given that those two are pretty much coming out of their own little personal Hells okay um if possible yeah I'd like to I'd like to get out of the camper before uh [ __ ] turns into round two you know so dropping India unceremoniously he turns on his heels what is Jo's a cult um not not too high he's incredibly intelligent though so there's a chance is what you're saying eventually let's give that an go ahead had an intelligence plus a cult role how many old wives tales has Joi been privy to and as that role is happening India yep if you were in the midst [Music] of scratching every itch and your parents kicked open the door in the midst of you scratching every Edge how would you feel bar halfway f so looking up at the mirrored ceiling as all of that ice cold ice bath hits you causing those feelings to erupt in regards to everything like all of the pleasure centers of India's brains were firing on 10 cylinders at once and they came to a grinding halt as if that happened to [Music] her her Beast literally taking the door off the hinges what would she do would she attempt to keep her eyes closed would she attempt to gather herself or what what would she do um I would say if the Beast is that close to the surface intin good HCK in and the thing that's running would get [Music] chased okay that being the case India Joi would you both be so kind as to go ahead and roll your cuz it's a foot race there's no attempt at stealth you both be something just go ahead and roll your dexterity and Athletics the first to either get five successes or have three successes more than the next person it will be our Victor and while that is happening Maddie having watched this having watched this you are behind an adamantine barrier as clear as the best most well-made Crystal you have ever seen you're able to watch as India hits the ground and Joi steps out of the doorway and like one of the endlessly rubber band bouncing ball India up and out the door what is it you are attempting to do okay uh she is just going to straight up put a boot through this Mir oh yes let your anger flow through you use your hate you know and her opponents it's fine it is and it is not would you be kind go ahead and roll your um wit and Ault or intelligence and Ault will work as well brute force or guile and understanding the situation making illogical leaps to find the clearest easiest bit of logic magic intelligent excuse me there are some things that cannot be undone they can be forgotten it's it's akin to realizing and this is the the annoying part of just simple straightforward logic you never actually stop hiccuping there's just more space between the pauses of them once you the baby hiccups its first hiccup for the remainder of that baby's existence throughout full childhood adulthood and all that Happ happens there is never a stop to it just a longer pause between those hiccups in a similar light in a similar [ __ ] hell I hate logic there are some doors that are once closed can never be opened whether the building is torn down around them or someone just takes the door off the hinges that door can never again be open it can no longer transform from a door to a jar places like that or more specifically places like [Music] this have multiple ways in but only ever have one way out and sadly just like the best jail sales they are only able to be unlocked from the outside and as that realization happens as Maddie literally kicks the ever living hell out of the boundaries and bars of herself C she realizes that like those doors like like the best and most competent jail cells it can only be unlocked from outside and she just watches two of her potential jailers or at least her gang who has the keys to the jail s take off oh I I can't say that I got very far amazing although um we're still missing one success remember first to five or beat by three okay so um uh with my with my attempted a cult roll do I manage to before I slip out the door clean anything from their situation unfortunately yes unfortunately yes as self-preservation takes over and you begin to take that step the reality of the situation the potential reality of the situation is absolutely horrible Joi has unlike most traveled significantly outside of Bethany he's been exposed to various places and various things various wise [Music] Tales everyone knows about Bloody Mary everyone knows about the Candyman everyone knows or has heard Tales of such beings existing looking into a mirror and unlocking what lay behind it speaking a chance a phrase a word or worse yet in the case of some of those such creatures trapped by a mirror providing them blood Awakening what's within so cutting your finger or drawing a blade across the palm and pressing it against the mirror unlocking what lay within things like punching mirrors shooting mirrors kicking mirrors in places of power and unlocking what lay within they're only sweeten the deal is only sweeten when for instance sacrificing others to what lay within H okay uh that makes this very awkward well let's uh let's get India's next role and um I might have to change my plans during this run as the the kind of understanding of their situation sinks in and uh leaving them in that camper alone uh really might not be too hot of an idea ah perfectly fine sacrifice them save yourself Joi and children escaped in lifeboats first my depending depending on the outcome of this next role I might have an opportunity to try and get back there and pull them out or at least attempt pulling them out I don't know what the [ __ ] this contraption is but by God I'll try if pulling them out doesn't work I'll spray Blood on the [ __ ] maybe Andia can help you with that uhhuh I'm sure if I take too long trying to pull them out she will certainly help I me there a few drops here and there on the floor I'm sure uhoh all right uh oh this is not a good sign it is not 6 versus 7 all right uh just don't if you roll a four I'm going to be very [ __ ] sad this may very well be the the last of the bouts of us trying to run away from each other or run at each other as it were in her case that sucks okay can I get some final words before I get taken down like a [ __ ] Saharan animal yes let's um paint the theme for us if we if we will so Joi had torn between self-preservation and never getting his Just Desserts or at least what he feels is his Just Desserts he knows what his ethical Center tells him should happen next and he is doing everything he can to escape that from becoming a reality and other thoughts of percolating as he rounds a corner and escapes through between two semis and Bounds back around another RV camper with an old lady leaning on our elbows in the window taking in the night sounds as he passes he sees that she doesn't have any eyes but that's not the weirdest part that's not the part that bothers him what bothers him is that niggling thought at the back of his head that keeps nagging him Bloody Mary Bloody Mary Bloody Mary and as that thought is still there he Jukes to his absolute harsh Delight he avoids India's leap or at least he believes he does he manages to get out of the center line of her head on pounds but forget unlike lions tigers wolves and bears even India's arms don't work like the four legs of such animals she has range of motion she has the ability to not only move forward but to outstretch her arms sideways so as her head is taking off center line be sure that she is going to miss and a plan settling into place her arms latch around his waist bringing him down with her just firstly a nice surprise ah and then as as he hits the ground with a F and he knows what's coming next just you've got to pull them out oh God you've got to pull them [Music] out can't really hear you you broke up a little bit rooll to try to resist this hearing that or is it too far gone yes uh resolve plus composure rooll you need a DC of three don't lose control you know what happens when you lose control it's okay at least if she does fail joji will finally get out of this County he'll probably be in several counties but at least he's out of this one you mean you're not old enough to be dust oh [ __ ] oh goodie ah ah do we will I I think those are all hunger d i I don't think willp power will save either of us here no yeah they're all literally all hry no no it will not save either of you all and that being the case unfortunately India would be to roll onethird of your humanity and your unspent willpower now we just need Yaky saxs playing in the background uh you know it was just a nice friendly trade between friends you know I borrowed it for a little bit now I'm giving it back it's just it's the way the world so I guess while I'm stuck I'm going to have some fun with it and uh fite my finger and uh write out Bloody Mary so that people can read it just because now it's funny to me I see I've accepted my situation and I have made do with it it is what it is I mean you know at this point I get out I may actually turn into Bloody Mary cuz someone might be dying cuz I'm hungry uhoh I mean not not like right now she's she's good right now but you know give her a few days I suppose that would you know be assuming she doesn't eat the vampire with her first uh the party is the greatest enemy of the party always and forever and unfortunately unfortunately for India that good Southern Christian upbringing as she sinks fangs she holds on to her conscience she doesn't lose herself to her Beast or the pleasure of the kiss she's already had the pleasure of the kiss this evening and yet as she sinks fangs and she tastes all of that lovely melony iron copperton sweetness of joji the slight hint of V tinged salt on his skin his speaking of which Chi which means kind go ahead roll your resolve plus composure your hunger is currently one which means your DC is three um the moment that she sinks fangs and she begins suing upon the vat joi's exhalation of pleasure joi's sheer animalistic release combined with her good Southern Christian upbringing and what she heard him say as she sunk fangs she begins hearing the priest the priest the the pastor the this is my body this is my blood take it so that the sins of your life may be washed away in mine and she begins hearing several different versions of communion as she is sing and slurping and beginning to drink him down that combined with the complete antithesis of anything remotely holy and the guttural release of pleasure escaping Joi as she Subs has her stuck there in that moment she has a choice she has a decision to make does she stop feeding upon Joi in the midst of all these people watching them two make out or does she continue drinking um when she gets to about 2 she's going to try to St so she's going to continue drinking okay where was she at she was at 5 at this point the moment that she begins drinking she's moving into four hunger that she continu drinking no she's going to try to stop her though I'm glad at least one of us is responsible you mean the one that's trapped in the mirror Joi the only thing worse than being a victim to your abast is being a victim to your pleasure you'd like to think that the sounds that you heard were coming from someone else luckily for you you did not in fact risk the Beast to blush luckily you didn't activate your semblance of actual living Humanity otherwise you are positive of what the results would be for you in this moment not once but twice in the span of less than an hour you reach the Mountaintop you hit the Apex you were the acne and the Zenith of every ideology of pleasure you have ever known and while you like to think that that Bal growl and was was stereotypically masculine there's a sinking suspicion that it may not have been as the ice cold reality of looking up into India's face hits you wait a sec did you just canonize Joi being a a botom a bottom it's fine we all knew it the things have been shown the horrors the horrors I've Been Told nothing will ever bring me back from the trauma I've earned in vtm the question is as you're looking up into India's face and your arms are wrapped around her and her arms are holding you in an Embrace strong enough that you feel that you are absolutely perfectly safe knowing that you are not but feeling in this moment as the come down as the after of the kiss and all of that guilt combines with the strength of her arms and you remember what her face looks like twisted and pleasure it's just kind of delirious in the moment they'll go I mean they can wait a few more moments I me it doesn't we don't have to go now I mean they they were safe back in [Music] there no you're right I'm sorry I should have said that we should get moving yeah she try to get try to get free of him this man is a a wet paper bag I'm sure you can Free Yourself of him physically yeah emotionally oh so very not YouTu have shared something that most Kindred experiment with in their first few days as a pack in their first few years as a pack and while each of you had a connection to each other that was pleasurable was filled with Nostalgia was filled with shared moments of the past and an understanding for each other's loss due to India's brother and and of appreciation for the area for the land for the people now you two know what each other looks like in the penultimate moment of pleasure you to know that you have shared and sued in the light and satiation of each other's pleasure and you both know that for the other person you all were the catless by your own agency in disregard for theirs oh no we're going to have to unpack that [ __ ] [Music] later at first I was thinking oh yeah no now you know it's it's like a really [ __ ] up version of the childhood friend route uh no no it's uh it's a double struggle snuggle yes yes indeed and worse yet your other members of your codery are back there in that Hall of Mirrors yeah and now there's probably some more Doodles just kind of as she free herself yeah know we uh we really should make it back there as quick as possible uh uh after you of all the things to do and is sitting on the dirt having rolled off of and just kind of smiles at him but it's not like a all how cute smile it's a a bit feral and her teeth are very very pink right I suppose I'll go first then I see you there as he scoodles just kind of offhandedly in the back of his head like wait a second did that blind old lady track me Waring with the the the self gaslighting of whether or not her head had actually followed him as he zipped by and why was she smiling as he entered her what should have been her view but she didn't have any actual ways to yet there was definitely a smile there and it wasn't there as he rounded the corner it entered her face as he was passing and how did she maybe it was just the the the breeze that he left behind maybe it was India slight growl As She chased him but India hadn't rounded the corner making your way back is easier than getting away as it were the the Carnival is still in full bloom you all did create a small scene shoving people out of the way and what have you but it was in fact a small scene and it's not that important right in this moment because it could have easily been a game of tag between friends that resulted in well no you don't want to think about what would have happened if either of you had actually attempted the bece and were attempting to seem human it would have been or at least you would have had at least plausible deniability to be proof that but you all weren't yeah no yes no and you find yourself back just outside the door the door that was damaged and bent and finally picked and opened and inside is all of that lovely warm Wayne light question is do you all have The Bravery necessary to go once more to go boldly forth into all of those images of yourself knowing what you've all been through just in these few moments well it's either we face it or we leave them to their certain Doom it's funny you should say that because you're standing outside the the door images of kin and you several years ago specifically shortly after your actual Embrace and you wonder why she was involved with a meat packing facility and as you all carefully packed the hands Dev vested the fingers into boxes of hot ice to [ __ ] back to the meat packing facility the oal the lungs the heart and all of that being Dev vested into another bucket to be sent to another facility a troubling thought that was only troubling because you would have much rather spent more time just you and her going to the shows and the exhibits and the openings that she had exposed you to and this was distracting from that why are we doing this when well you know it's only a crime if there's a body and if you left them inside the mirror there wouldn't be any bodies true maybe if you push India inside it would be a nice Trifecta no mus no fuss God damn it I've listened to you too much today through the I imagine intense shame he would feel at the results of his most recent actions I can imagine Joi wanting to try and make up for it at least in some small part by Ying these people out and there last The Dilemma it's not just saving them or making amends in the movies when the former good turned bad evil person makes that sacrifice and reclaims their goodness they never have to deal with the Fallout of that they always die there's none of the effort of actually making good on that potential promise of them becoming once more or once more walking in the light they make a great grandio gesture and then they die and they don't have to do the work they don't have to do the effort neither do any of their allies acquaintances family members or friends they're remembered because of that one final Act and that's very much what joji is contemplating because if he fails if he and India enter into that Caravan into that RV and they fail they all will be on the other side one final Act except for this time instead of him dissipating turning into a ghost or simply shuffling off the Mortal coil he'll be trapped with them for ever hey uh India do you want to do you want to stay outside and keep guard while I do this you know in case um I actually can't pull them out and I get sucked in or someone comes back H having joined the Bloody Mary on the uh on the mirror just for her own personal Amusement it now says welcome to a city population this [ __ ] as he just looks inside the Caravan what what the [ __ ] India will inage the outside of Vu guard so that should the absolute worst happen she can still try to go get help all right cool uh wish me luck and he'll step inside and try and recover his lost allies yes yes I'm in your bravery dig deep because that's exactly what it requires there's not so much moving to that one mirror where he can see Maddie on the other side and Lita on the other side it is walking through the other images of himself he still has the hickey from India feeding on him the small bright stains of blood trickling down his neck from where his V was taken the bruising of his own lips as he stole from India there's the shame of having to meet your own gaze magnified in nearly every other surface reflecting back at him the six Paces from the door to the mirror is akin to running a gauntlet and a pair of weighted ankles weights and having to pull behind him a 16 wheeler that's slowing him down causing all the blows and land with far more accuracy than they were intended would you be so kind ASO your resolve and your total willpower as high as you possibly can all right and while that role is happening Madie watching Joi come back in is a mixed bag of realities while you've adjusted and you've already mourned the fact that you will in fact die here in this space after maybe divesting Lita of all that they are so that you can survive a little bit longer the the truth of the matter is accepting one's fate is never an easy thing there's a certain hope that refuses to allow yourself to believe that this is truly the end even as you're preparing for it even as you're mourning yourself while it's happening seeing Joi enter in his gaze furtively flicking from Mirror to mirror and him somehow in this moment of shame in this moment of Strength In This Moment being mostly immune to the effects you see several of the mirrors nearest him begin to Ripple slightly you see all of the cracked and discarded pieces from the door that they kicked free and the other broken mirrors laying on the floor around him as they crunch under his footfall but seeing your greatest Gremlin become your potential greatest Angel creates an opportunity of consideration for Maddie what what is that well first she is going to draw a frowny face with fangs at him she's disappointed he should have carried himself better he knows better just a quick look to the mirror seeing the display of displeasure and looking away and then she will wait patiently cuz what's she going to do well says the dark spot in the back of your head you you can always pull him in while he's pulling you out and do the old switch of you actually can that is not that not that is not a thought that is the thing yeah that is not a thought that hasn't has escaped you no no sacrifices are called sacrifices for a reason there's a understanding of Equivalent Exchange what he's attempting or what it appears as if he's attempting is theft from the great mysterious Beyond bond in which you are held it'd be far easier with an exchange it'd be far easier with paying the cost with another and disappointed though Maddie is the question is would she try I mean for science maybe but no no uh they have a job to do it requires all of them probably um potentially she's just going to stand there with her arms crossed tapping her foot at him and while he does the unthinkable while he does the unimaginable he has somehow managed to well up The Bravery necessary to to stare himself in the face as he gives himself over to that natural absorption and vacuum planting himself his hand touches the glass between you two it Rippling into nothingness as his hand slides through locking onto your wrist and your hand and he begins to pull you from the great Beyond in great I will grab Lita's ear and drag her with us in the doing India there's safe as an idea there's actually safe and there's a theater of safety where you are is neither of those things you are exposed you can hear the murmurs of people from the actual Carnival and circus out there in in the night and they watched you aost a man drunk on whatever adrenaline that they were under high on whatever substances they've inhaled and instead of responding how most would watching anything remotely like that happened you know for a fact some of them were cheering you on you the old lady that you guys passed twice watching as you all ran one way then then walk back the next cackling to herself as if it was the funniest thing she has ever seen which is an impossibility considering that she didn't have any eyes you are not safe yeah not been safe since you stepped onto the back of that bike since you began making your way through the crowd calls back over her shoulder Joi I don't mean Rush all but with [ __ ] up I'm going as fast as I can and there life a problem you actually are the moment you are making such incrementally quick work and dragging Maddie forward and then it shifts from pulling someone up and out of a swimming pool to attempting to lift a baby elephant by its trunk covered in baby oil and someone's used car oil WD40 it becomes increasingly hard and difficult to continue making for a process the very moment she reaches back and touches neon Lita Maddie you know Jo is not the strongest of person but this is absolutely ridiculous he's literally had you moving your hand is out up to the elbow and then it's almost as if he gassed out as if he reached the wall it probably go faster if you were out there and just pulled him in I mean it probably would be um I will do my best to adjust my grasp so that it's you know not like hand to hand but like wrist to wrist and just like tap impatiently still pulling leader along yes what is joi's stamina three he is gassing out he's not making any progress uh who uh India I need your help come on you still have some blood left you can RAV for stamina it's fine right uh I don't know if that's the mirror actually saying things for helpful advice or trying to get me to do stupid [ __ ] why can't it be both rolls her eyes but in the sake of getting the [ __ ] done and over with she heads back in and keeps her eyes on Jo's back and does not look in mirrors nice excuse me then here comes the the part that absolutely positively chills even mephistophiles his heart holding on to Lita stuck partially in and out while your arm is roughly 1 of who and what you are um reducing the emotional damage cuz that's what's happening Maddie what is the worst moment of her actual living existance that she would much rather not revisit let's see you don't have to share if you don't want to explore it but that's what Maddie is experiencing right now I mean she probably has a few of them you know dying being one of them even with the prep and and the brochure did you read the brochure yes I definitely read the handbook for the Recently decease they gave me the wrong pamphlet but that's what's washing over her stuck between there and here literally in the middle and separated by what feels like nothing more than a a qu of an inch a half an inch an eighth of an inch of of space the mirror that you are stuck within the space where you are and where your hand and you know elbow down is reaching into causes all of those moments to Ripple back to her unlike most memories where they're just playing out in in your mind you may be able to incidentally hear something that someone said or you may be able to remember that ugly red and beige striped shirt that they were wearing or those annoying why do they have those so many of those same pair of shoes or what have you it is not something happening out there in the darkness of your mind it is something that's happening autonomically to you right now those same Endor or and chemicals flooding the senses the same fear that same [ __ ] that sucks all of that is actually actively happening stuck as you are between there and here [Music] impatient tapping intensifi he just sees this without the the added word he just like I'm I'm [ __ ] so I'm literally doing do you when you tap Maddie do you relinquish your grip on Lita nope ah no progress is being made whatsoever and you were making progress up until you grabbed her only do one at a time type thing right um let's see so does it seem like Lita is still in her little Ry or has woken up or she is still in her r and all right here here's the thing that that strikes you Joi the moment that you make that suggestion the moment that that thought crosses your mind you realize that it wasn't necessarily a strength of character it wasn't intestinal fortitude that kept you from falling in you were unfortunately falling in at or about the same time that Maddie was uh oh all right so this is this is a kind of onean thing right uh so before she lets go of Lita uh she's going to slide her hand back behind her neck and basically shove her face first into the mirror getting easy access I see is she's just oh no I'm a small child running through the mall and didn't realize that as like glass wall I mean pain usually wakes people up it's a thing that is actually one of my earliest memories is being confed by a glass door in the mall and as I'm sliding down at cartoon style just hearing hearing my mother breaking down laughing in the distance it'd be funny now save Maddie stronger than [Music] Lita and absence of sound you literally just see Lita's face smack against the inside of the mirror none of the arms that go up to try to stop us from our face hitting something that naturally occurs literally a CL without any sound without any expression of pain and her face is there against the class what do you want me to get her okay I can get her first ooh you do you let go of Maddie I mean does Maddy let go of me that's the thing cuz he can't really hear what the [ __ ] she's saying so if MD doesn't let go he's not going to let [Music] go see Maddie has a plan because if Lita is now right up against the uh window or the glass it's going to be easier to reach in and grab her you know versus her being like an arm length back brains um right and then she will let Lita drop and let herself be pulled out as he's just like what do you what do you want to happen here you want me to let go of you you want me to grab her and he just she lets go of L po yeah this is effectively what happened basically India strength and your pulling and the lack of a rider causes what took what felt like forever into a matter of micro nanocs let's see via the force of his own efforts just flies back a solid couple inches before catching himself unfortunately that come down to India and she remember she was behind you helping oh yeah that's right we would have accounted for the fact that there's going to be a reverse of course it's just like birth in a fold grab too hard and they come popping out you end up on your ab so she's raced her you hear that Maddy you are a fold being birthed woohoo that that that's not that unfair of a uh metaphor considering you have to reach back for your afterbirth oh you it'll be easier this time maybe when Maddie goes to reach for Lita is Lita there Lita is there okay the problem being as in mesed in her fantasies as in mesed in the caress of the dark when you all pull her through with each of you be so kind as to go ahead and roll your stamina plus Athletics oh you're evil thankfully I'm not bad at this not bad not good [ __ ] plus fortitude no no you know need unless course you really would like to stand Resolute in the storm that's coming not I you shall not pass gandal thatter that that does seem kind of like something she would do having been The Bodyguard all right make it happen make a quick I know you said IND was at 4 she was at Hunger 4 before she attacked o so should she be at Hunger three not that I clarified that both of you guys are at Hunger 3 just so that you're aware oh okay [Music] well all right 2 two [Applause] six Jo you you've never been a brave man not a coward but never been a brave man and what that means is when danger erupts instead of your first decision your first action your first autonomic response is rushing towards it that's the level of bravery that we're we're speaking of you're not a coward you don't mean danger happens and you take off running for the hills your responses have been Equitable and fair to the level of danger and the risk of survival except for in this case except for in this case any you you're not sure what possesses you but as leader comes slurping out of the mirror cuz that's what it sounds like her unconscious form all Loosey Goosey no mo muscle just going limp with everything and she pops out like that last noodle that last angel hair in the bowl filled with just the perfect amount of sauce to slurp as her foot the last portion of her escapes the mirror you feel it more than see it and move so that you're almost straddling her those who've watched your behavior earlier would think that oh no not a [ __ ] G but the moment her foot breaks free and you're moving forward to straddle her the mirrors around you erupt each of them seemingly wired with far more TNT than that was necessary sending shards of glass and broken silver pieces everywhere you moving forward managed to keep Lita from taking the brunt of what would have raked across her would have completely and totally eviscerated her dead flesh Maddie India hearing the first crack move to Shield each other and lead from what's Happening behind you all because not just the mirrors in front of you but every single solitary unbroken crack mirror in this place explodes outward into your space being ambulatory and dead gives you a certain level of immediate protection you're able to tense up you're able to cover your sensitive areas to keep it from flying into your eyes or otherwise causing you to be impaired unfortunately for those who are such as leer who are unconscious and at the mercy of every force that is not the case and somehow you've all entered a Gestalt moment each of you considering those of you on able to Shield themselves and as you're raped and buffeted by sharp small pieces and shards of this and bits of that the reality of what that was escapes you what does not Escape you is that your clothes your Exposed Skin are riddled with small scrapes bruises cuts and such h i mean just what I needed more cuts and scrapes on top of being ravaged by a lion you don't have to row Maddie you know what that was in your heart of hearts you know what that was there's there are mentions of beings and things and reliquaries holding certain individuals and items and forces back from this world you are very sure that that was in fact a jailbreak oh oh wait like we weren't aren't the only things that got out of their situation we can go oh oh no oh [ __ ] I mean we wanted a reason for the police to get called down here yeah but every everywhere has you know power shortages especially here in you know in in the parish in Penola County everywhere has power shortages so all of the power going out nothing to worry about the backups will be up shortly there will be something happening afterwards you can hear people in frustration oh man oh my God and screams from the ferris whe from people stopped at the top of it the lights on the carousel going down the mini tents plugged into the central power supply for the circus in carnival grounds losing their flood lights losing their power All of the Lights just switching off all of the dim Wayne light inside of this switching off normally people uh have gotten the custom and acclimated so even when the poers out your cell phone works cuz it's on a separate system it has its own internal power but there's not even one light from one screen as you all sit in the dark crunchy glass from the mirrors Maddie having her thoughts as to what this may have been or what this may have helped happen not far away in fact all too [ __ ] close coming from the door that you all entered in it's a little voice cackling just [ __ ] cackling I knew it I knew you guys would be the end I'm ready H take me take me now it's over it's [ __ ] over I am so confused here to Enlighten this as she um slowly stops cackling and even though there isn't any source of light and the air is filled with just the absence of movement and motion the room sounds you all grew accustomed to and this small few moments gone only the sound of her footfall over all of the broken glass the crunch under boot as she climbs forward into the trailer with purpose and with the clarity of sight as if she can in fact see the darkness not hindering her in the least Shackleton didn't believe me we shouldn't have come here but if we avoided it there's a chance you all would have come after us this reason why I pulled what strings I could it's the reason why most of my Visions they're just code readings but you you I saw you how I saw you I know what you do and Miri was done serving Shackleton just like me so you did it you made it happen you crazy fools just out of character real quick what was that name she gave us mirror or something like that yes okay that's very on point and also given the name that this guy is effectively being told to us is effectively a slaver and his name is Shackleton nobody you're really [ __ ] subtle today all right all right let me guess this character's name is uh Looney lady no not quite not quite all right uh cool cool cool I mean Maddie is not particularly hungry but she is a little myth uh so so she might be uh trying to have a snack on this lady she smiles and keeps walking forward it wouldn't be so it probably would be eerier if you all could see her oh wait a [ __ ] Miro second but she um is in fact carrying a blade and as she's walking closer she is old enough by several several Generations that she understands how these things work she shouldn't considering she very much is alive but she understands how these things work and you're not able to see it but as she moves forward the blade in her left hand resting against her right forearm at the crook of her elbow begins traveling down its length opening itself the skin just sliding apart the scent of her blood beginning to fill the space oh God this is why I don't hang out in carnivals uh guys I I get the strong impression we need to get out of here grab unconscious girly here and uh Maddie is going to do what she can to drag the old woman out because uh yeah some blood okay uh sacrificing herself or someone killing her in there at this point not okay mm M no see the image dragon old lady out by the back of her hair uh okay uh if that works as just o see I'm staring at the Damon page just like why why feeling yourself around um makes it a little easier uh the lack of sight is normally a hindrance to the most minutest of action but it ter mination and and just guess workor based on how many shuffling crunchy steps you heard her take and knowing how far it took for you all to travel in when you first got here it getting out is not difficult the fact that the night is as black as it is it is the absence of every idea of what the sky should look like normally there are a million stars overhead twinkling and looking down watching the world that is not the case even without the Stars the lights from the carnival should have come back up by now the backup should be on you can hear the generators chugging along out there in the darkness you can hear people freaking out and trying to find their way no just stay here just stay the light to come back up soon just just a collective murmuring Cry of panic is Rippling and riffling through the crowds of people being in strange places inside some of the tents inside some of the booths inside of it it is Elemental how Afraid of the Dark the living are even the animals cuz you can hear out there the Tigers and the Lions and the elephants and it's a mess they are afraid of the dark especially a pitch black dark where you cannot even see enough to ignore the sight of your own nose and as you all stand in the cooler night air with pitch Blackness all about you I'd like to thank you all for playing the entire first season of the dark of Bethany this has been our season 1 finale good night everybody good night good night

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