https://youtu.be/gltdRYSpZ7Q?si=4Jvk-H-8oLnMV5bD

[Music] [Music] a [Music] he [Applause] [Music] greetings greetings and salutations welcome once again to the dark of Bethany I am your Storyteller your narrator your number one fan nobody and once again for those who missed it this is the dark of Bethany season 2 episode 1 she was the universe we like to begin as always with thank you from our hearts minds and souls to your time your energies and your efforts we very much do appreciate your sharing the night with us hopefully you enjoy our play tonight as much as we hope to thank you hello hello hello greetings and salutations pures you're a little let me see if I can turn up my hearing no that's about as loud as it goes make sure it's the right ouch the right ouch is there a wrong ouch yes yes there is all right so we have our status our glorious status burn with purpose dark and un holy we find ourselves in Bethany it is a key location in the world of Darkness because it is a watchtower City again one of the major roads one of the major expressways into shreport is Bethany's Main Street mhm that means the Kindred of Bethany act and operate very much like Watchtower guards for the most part for a lot of things for most things they are the they are the lights of Gondor being lit they are the brazers along the Great Wall alert alerting mainland China that the Mongol horde is on their way that's what Bethany serves as a whole but underneath that there is all of the small town intrigues and politics that one might expect in movies such as The Goonies or um uh stranger things newspaper girls it is that sort of place hey hey how we doing good uh had some homemade chili cornbread and now I'm settled nice [Music] nice hey hey hey hey what's up oh you know death taxes cost of living all that good stuff sorry about that no no I was bailing out of a a game that I was playing because like I for some reason it blanked on me that I had a game tonight I see I see I see you're just avoiding me I know I know this is Bethany yes Bethy help me figure out where my uh my little office is on the uh on the corner of uh eth and Maine wrong City oh you're right on the corner of Maine and eth that's better um so a need a pulling threat and yes we were just at the point because we are uh a few moments before our heart start and while the majority of our players are here we still have two others that may or may not show up and we'll dive in from there we will be picking up seconds if not the same time as our the ending of our last episode so one of the things that Annabelle here was um writing theirself with were some details that she may need to know as a local of Bethany um you all worked out her connections and ties to each of your characters um and what have you so a little heads up a little greeting hello hello hello um in regards to some of the things that she can expect or should know as a local bethan knite okay all right yeah well the moment I figured out that like 75% of this town was related to the hutchinsons I figured that I was going to run into some trouble hey I resembl that remark oh welcome hi um oh yeah that's another bit of local news that you might need need to know the Hutchinson's are basically everywhere you leave my cousins out of this your cousins will more more than likely be a part of it not by their own actions at some point because I do have to feed once in a while I mean that's fine eat on Hutchinson's I have made a point of it now there there's some history there well more spe more specifically I feed on people that no one will care about SLR SL you know people that don't like that are not locals that are passing through so the Hutchinson's are one of those that fall under the like if one of them goes missing it's probably not that big of an issue but if a bunch of them go missing that's the issue mhm all right so like several months ago we figured out connections mhm and I don't don't remember what came up with oh I'm upset yeah you should we we put all that effort into it and you forgot mhm cannot believe you you should you should not believe me okay so once again from the top hi I'm Joi I run upon shop slork as a Craftsman part-time M hi hi that one over there is I I believe that's Maddie correct like that's the name of your character in this setting yeah know and she is a full-time Craftsman Carpenter nice and that's India she's richer than all of us could you be rich indeed well I mean it's my family's money I don't really have access to it as much anymore seeing on the account of I'm dead well you know you can inherit it it's fine some very unfortunate things would have to happen for her to inherit it yes and I you know she likes her family right does she though yes yes does she though yes I love them my little nephew and niece and my mom and dad and my sister-in-law who I don't know is [ __ ] around on my dear departed brother yeah so uh we're not going to be killing her family just not anytime soon at least OB unless she's related to the Hutchinson's too are you related to the please don't tell me you're related to the Hutchinson you mean directly or indirectly uh I don't believe so uh whichever way would make her a problem fair enough so directly I don't think she's directly related to the Hutchin we should hope see not l a thing cuz if you if she was related to the Hutson that mean you kiss the Hutchinson oh God oh God they got you you're part of the family now oh wonderful I don't know how I feel about that no I know how I feel about that hell no this can work this can work this is good this is good are we we're waiting on our resident Shai correct yeah we are still a few moments outside of hard start so what I was hoping while we give them a few moments to to catch up and all of that was that we could bring Annabelle up to speed uh some of the things that she can expect as you all are in fact local so your individual viewpoints are important for bringing someone who was formerly a an SPC or NPC in the background all right so from like what perspective do you want you want me to just give color commentary about the area or like Jo's perspective on Bethany joi's color commentary okay so um let's see there's a surprising is's a surprisingly large number of people that are willing to sell off things that should matter to them um and I would say even more so uh people who have things that are worth far more than they think and this gives a bit of insight into the people that are here they either don't care about the things that they should or care too much about the things that they shouldn't uh that is primarily because joi's main source of income is more or less the small population of either addicts that live in Bethany or addicts that come down from sheveport to Palm things off in a different city than what they stole uh acquired it in uh his General assessment of Bethany is that they are for the most part good people um and you know he he would like to keep it as quiet and peaceful a town as possible not only just for himself but because he he grew up here and so there are even in even in his Undead State there are emotional ties mhm um but [ __ ] the Hutchinson's absolutely like they shouldn't exist we should do our best to get the rest of the the good and and God-fearing population of Bethany to want to get rid of the Hutchinson like they're all they are all criminals honestly not a single one of them is at this point without some kind of crime on their rap sheet I honestly believe that they come out of the [ __ ] birthing Canal just to commit arson and you say this is a bad thing it's again yeah leave my cousins out of it they are my best source of food your your cousins what's up are basically huton are basically the cast of Sons of Anarchy if they were all related I was feeling more like Texas Chainsaw Massacre if they were a whole lot less incompetent but I can agree with you um yeah no uh they they absolutely brought me a masterpiece of an object and then mistreated it in front of my eyes so I I don't care for them to be fair like I didn't even mean to piss them off but you know if you [ __ ] insult one of them you insult the whole clan and yet you keep insulting the one in front of you Technically she's not a Hutchinson yeah like I don't know like 2% does not a Hutchinson make Dam like three maybe four generations back they're cousins that's it let's put this way if if the if the person has red hair fear only feed on the Hutchinson who won't h i feed on the hingson who want me to we got about 6 minutes till our hard start um India and Maddie you guys are up to bring Annabelle up to speed uh India's perception on things and MD's perception on things in regards to where we are as a town because unlike those large cities out there in the night Bethany is a United people we are one United against all those things out there because after all Bethany is a special sort of place in the world it gets into your skin it gets in your heart and soul and you breathe Bethany long after you have failed to exist it's a beautiful thing oh okay um from India's point of view growing up as the rodeo princess and a family that's known for having boys and being ranchers and um such she still had the older brother but her dad wanted her to be a second boy in away well her mother like dressing her up like a doll so there's that J the position there um it's the town where everybody knows your business but then they won't tell you their business and you find out from somebody else their business uh the type of town like when you're growing up if you do some [ __ ] downtown you know by the time you walk your ass home your parents are going to know about it and beat your ass that sort of situ uh weirdly I I grew up in a town take the village to raise children H I grew up in a town that was not that small and I still had that issue it's very yeah so this is very much that uh there is like one General Store uh a couple churches couple bars there are more bars and churches than there are grocery stores and you got to drive ways to go get to a Walmart or anything bigger than a feed store um people probably ride horses through town more than they take cars horse culture is very big sort of situation of course country music trucks but then there's a little bit of Spice from that Louisiana aside so that it's not as fastpaced as Texas but a little bit faster than Louisiana with that slow Southern s te type of situation uh like I said you you it's a very much you've either dated or somehow related to um your cousin dated your sister dat like everybody's dated each other through a vast web of interpersonal relationships all the families are Loosely related in some other way unless they marry outside of town which is usually a no no but um but sometimes lot of times the younger generation looks for ways to escape whether that be they move to the city and go get the higher book learning or they go to the Army or another Armed Force like her brother did they try their best to get out but somehow someway a good half to maybe 3/4 of them get pulled back and are now the new generation of Bethany that's kind of how I see it nice while you chitchat we have two minutes so give me one quick second I'll be right back all right I guess that's uh me then uh Maddie is kind of a loner type uh she she doesn't really have too many opinions other than why the [ __ ] am I still here and uh oh yeah because they've told me I can't leave yet um so she's a what was that who told you you can't leave people more important than she is so yeah she's uh she feels a little bit get stuck but she makes the best of it I mean she has her little business that she runs and uh makes some money that way does some work on the side uh partly because of her uh relationship and partly because of uh the role that she has played in uh our smaller community in Bethany ah she people don't necessarily know to think of her like as a Thug or is she smart they there's just like they they just don't know uh and that kind of colors everything so I think we had established my my vague Recollections that uh my family and maybe indi's family went back away and that Joi needed therapy uh and that was was it you that was a handyman person who renovated my office for me that probably would have been yeah okay cuz she she's less of a handy man she she's very candy but she's a carpenter specifically yes okay and uh last last we left y'all you were uh you you just accidentally liberated something from a mirror accurate um yes that is very accurate uh we expect oh we don't we don't know exactly what the [ __ ] it was I mean liberate is such a strong word agreed agreed you freed them from their prison your as should we are I mean just because we're there freed doesn't mean we did it on purpose now that is a perspective you can have how's that working out for you very [Music] good I see nothing wrong with this plan honestly if you're going to free an eldrich being you might as well take the credit and get something out of it o I don't know so much about that hard [Music] pass though we did manage to get them out of town in a short period of time that's what I said basically the job was we normally we as in the collective of Kindred normally chase the carnival out every time they show up so uh depending on whose turn it is it's like a lottery you get your name pulls you got to go do your job so you keep [ __ ] running smoothly so it was our turn and then we all showed up and [ __ ] went to hell and like 3 days later they yeah lions and tigers and bears oh my I mean I would like to point out that only one of us got Savaged by the lion and it was she will look pointedly at the person she was guarding before that happens hey look I was all ready to shoot him but they took him away so what's your plan now uh I think we've we've done our job so like I don't know cuz it um I don't know if fre giving a Time skip or not but have you done your job successfully ye yes successfully yes they did in fact leave town well the Hutchinson they ain't never going nowhere that's a failure in another light no but in I'll do welcome back and all we are a little bit past hard start so I can we can safely assume that Lita will not be joining us miss scent and all of that so we will assume that life is life does what life does which is occasionally cause hiccups here and there or what have you that being the case allow me to as is My Immortal self the one thing that is is 100% consistent and content with me I appreciate all of your time and your efforts and the various amounts of energy it requires to be here to take part in this hobby this is without a shadow of a doubt a Time intensive thing especially when it's done even remotely half as well as this troop of players have managed to do it what that means is that it gets under your skin you get a chance to live the life of these characters for a few hours once twice a week sometimes more and then there you are on a random middle of the day Thursday and what they should have done or could have done or might have done or might will do will pop through your head it's a beautiful Hobby and I thank you all for taking part and helping me to play with all that said and done long way round this is officially without a shadow of a doubt the dark of Bethany season 2 episode 1 tonight's episode picking up seconds moments at the denant of season 1's finale which when we left this codery of Kindred surviving the onslaught of the unknown shattering the mirrors that were part of the webler of the circus breaking their contract as it were fulfilling a prophecy and managing to survive which are not three things easily done in regard to this particular circus this particular group of strange and wonderous individuals who have been persisting through the region and the nation for far longer than any mortal being could be expected to do so there was one small hiccup one small major moment which we will be picking up in the midst of exiting the trailer exiting that other space stopping Fortuna from traveling down the lane and ending her existence at least in the moment there's still time for that sad though that might be or joyous though it may seem exiting the trailer cter finds the entirety of the visible regions of Bethany shrouded in complete absence of light scarred mentally emotionally and physically though they are that is a glaring alarm bell ringing through them and the other cries in the night voices ringing out in Surprise shock and alarm those Denis of the area and from as far away as shreport who have come to take part in this Carnival in this circus and the enjoyment of the Midway stuck wherever they are in darkness because one thing links every being that is alive and has been alive the dark is unsafe not because you know what's out there not because you understand what's lurking behind every Shadow but because you don't know what's out there in the dark which creates the opportunity for everything to be out there in the dark or worse for the worshipful for those who have lighten their heart soul in their minds and a song of worship always on their lips entering into a dark place is one thing entering into the absence of everything sh the very foundations of their particular religion because when you die there should be something some reward some punishment some justification for all of life's efforts some reward for the faith the absence creates doubt in so many Dreadful ways so many dark tnds creeping around the heart squeezing it to a stop because most people in the area are in fact Christian and everyone believes that in the beginning there was Darkness so being shunted away from all of the light everything electronic stopping everything that emanates any semblance of Illumination blinking out of awareness just stopping even the bonfire off there in the distance that the were dancing drinking fighting and other things around like the very real neopagans that they are at heart even that illumination stop it so and oh [ __ ] so we're going to do our usual um alphabetical entrance to this moment 15 minutes ago on your average evening would Annabelle have been with a client yes she keeps busy okay excellent and not so much so great for a pocketbook but in this particular moment 15 minutes ago 5 minutes ago 3 minutes ago everything was as it was supposed to be everything was try and true average normal every day every night every Dreadful ticking endless second of the night as it always is the Warm Glow of her table lamp the sound of her pen sliding along paper the electronic glow from whatever her laptop or screen she uses as a way to measure time and keep additional notes all of these standard fixtures of her practice all of the standard fixtures of her average night and then nothing then the absence of light the patient the client palpitating their breathing coming ragged hard and fast the fear building wafting off of them like over sprayed Axe Body Spray tingled and mixed with sweat flop sweat suddenly appearing materializing on them as if it was some magic trick calm yourself okay you you still here why why can't I see you am I blind is this hysterical blindness oh my God oh my God oh my God oh my God have you never been in the dark before this isn't dark I can't see your window I can't see you wait where's your screen I know the power might have went off but why isn't your iPad on oh God Annabelle is uh he kind of enjoying this um she uh can because she can smell the fear on the person she just walks quietly over and puts her hand on her shoulder it's like out of nowhere uh and uh and she says sit with this here I'll be right back and and she just leaves him uh she's been in the office enough that she knows the the basic layout and uh she doesn't have Windows in her actual office office [Music] um and while it's never been quite this dark before [Applause] um she has she she has enough awareness of where she is to find the door so she can go like basically look out and see if it's just inside where she is um she's going to go to the nearest window and look out um in theory she's going to go to the nearest pain that feels a little bit smoother than the wall yeah pretty much okay usual surroundings there's no real need to fear stumbling or falling or or anything horrendously [ __ ] in that regards the problem arises the mind takes in several thousand megabytes gigabytes of data conly and a lot of it Gets Lost in Translation but it's still there it's still perceived it's still flooding up all of the lovely creases of one's mind which is detrimental in this particular case because exiting and following her path in regards to knowing her surroundings of her office and the space there're in knowing where the window is there should be light from the Stars overhead there should be a glare from the nearest Street Lamp which is actually you know 12th of a mile away from her main window there on PR 7531 it's right up the road from Roger air conditioning around a corner from uh the post office which is down there almost to 79 and yet there's not the faintest glare of anything there's not even the reflection of her face as she stands in front of the cooled space that is in fact the window because even that lie about double paint glass um stopping energy filtration and making the home warmer there is still always a small coolness to the window at this hour of the evening there's no reflection there's no light there's [Music] no elimination whatsoever and more troubling and without without elimination there shouldn't be a reflection yet as she gets closer to her window and she rest her hand against it she can see a faint fantasmal reflection of herself um when her eyes start to glow red because she knows there's nobody around her does it light up the room no she's able to see clearer the piercing gaze of her Beast does allow her to see where she is in this absence of every facet of light yet it doesn't light up the room it's not actually reflecting any light it's not refracting anything and magnifying it her Beast is literally her night lamp her Beast is literally lighting its way towards what it fears or feels as safety standing in front of the window that fantasmal reflection shouldn't be possible there's no light source there's no way of anything reflecting back yet she can see a ghostly pale fantasmal version of herself a reflection if you will say the eyes aren't a horrendous hor red the eyes are her eyes let should do the stereotypical touch uh yeah all right would you be so kind as to go ahead and roll your resolve plus dominate as high as you can absolutely let's see where's the B I don't think I have donate so just resolve whoops that didn't work I got two [Applause] two is not [Applause] horrible and the what's going on and the grand scheme of things too is not horrible at all yeah definitely not especially not with the she touches the cold the yeah she touches the cold window she touches the cool window and at the moment of contact her Undead skin against all of that lovely well-manufactured double pain Argon gas energy efficient [Applause] window India you Jo G and Maddie have stepped out of the trailer you Joi and Maddie with funa and to and toe covered in bits of glass while broken mirror and the scars of this evening's efforts All About You the sky overhead should be cloudy and star-filled and you should see the cast off light pollution from all of the attractions there on the Midway you should see the Roaring C clearly dangerously large bonfire of the Hutchinson's off there in the distance and in fact what you see is [Applause] Darkness uh oh that's odd he looks around that's really really [ __ ] odd I don't know how they did it but they turned the whole [ __ ] world up Maddie is going to stand there and cross her arms til her head to the side um yall see that right you mean the lack of that yeah yeah all right cool just wanted to make sure it wasn't you know residual me be me being stuck in a mirror again [Applause] uh I hope did it has nothing to do with no it definitely it well what am I talking about I'm hoping that it's it's it's something that has happened outside of the mirror and not that you know I just got [ __ ] tricked into thinking I was outside the mirror well Dragged In why is this happening I mean could just be a certain family or two having a really good time no everybody sound about as Panic as we do right now so I don't think anybody uh playing this except for that crazy ass old lady does anyone have a Humanity at or higher this has got to do with that [ __ ] last session it was mentioned to us the the thing that was in there right oh I don't necessarily know if it was named mirror there we go yes that was one of the things no do not have forun me okay so no one has Humanity at at eight or higher and the reason why I'm asking is because one of the many as of being as in touch with your semblance of your former life your former existence your your place as human is the sounds of suffering is a horribly punitive thing to the human soul the sounds and the sights of something suffering the screams of fear the actual Soulful whales happening out there in the darkness from those who are stuck on the ferris wheel to those who are stuck on the Topsy turby those who are were mid throw or holding guns in their hands that aren't there for the air rifle it is a melstrom of panic fear and worse it usually takes most civilized individuals a couple of days a few hours to do small Petty things but to ly a a couple of days to fall into the bedum of no one can stop me might makes right none of the previous social Moors apply unfortunately you mix in alcohol unfortunately you m mix in a heightened emotional state to begin with unfortunately you mix in the fact that most of the persons who have arrived at the circus in carnival tonight are from elsewhere they're from a pace down the road they're from a piece far Norther down the road they from Over Yonder they're not from right here so opportunity heightened emotionality alcohol create a fuse that is burning extraordinarily quick the the screams of fear and the Panic the wful Mourns the suffering of those who have a vivid imagination sitting in the absence of light without any warm up no flickering of lights no people getting nervous it was bright well lit active one second and then complete and total pitch black dark the next and seconds ticking by moments disappearing into the next minutes adding up and all of that fraught human adverse become something else those with the inclination or bent towards such things begin a nudge here or trip and fall hoping to catch that pretty guy they saw who was riding that Rice burner over there get a quick couple of fields or maybe a quick couple of kicks or worse and the wills of panic and fear give way to the exhalations of pain emotional physical spiritual pain this is a before and after moment for a lot of people and as the cries around you shift what is it that you will attempt or do um yeah so so our gig was primarily just to [ __ ] cause chaos at this place and get the cops down here I don't necessarily think this is within the scope of that task so perhaps um trying to get the [ __ ] out safely is an idea Maddie is going to grin a almost wolfish grin with a little gleam in her eye she's like I don't know about y'all but uh could be in good night for food yeah but like how are you going to find it it's all over it is literally at your feet Fortuna is bleeding out as you all talk yeah so we we might want to you know get her to a some kind of medical treatment if you're actually intending on keeping her alive maybe uh ghing her is an option hello um India has a dot in medicine so she would kneel down uh close to Fortuna and try her best to stch the bleeding okay she has a dot in medicine um here they are standard triage for a self-inflicted BL blade wound is not that far beyond the pale doing it in the dark and doing your best to keep the torn strips of fabric used to staunch and tie off the damage makes it extraordinarily difficult you've given well you've helped birth calves with less difficulty than doing this blind with a person who clearly wants to die and unlike you she seems to be able to see you're so pretty covered in blood y'all going feed so well this the beautiful of you all oh why don't you do me a favor and focus on something else how about you tell me what the hell y'all are while I'm doing this I'm supposed to be dying I I don't want to be here when she has away with each and every one of you oh that is not good that is not a good sound uh do you know how we might be able to stop her very least keep our El from dying the eeriest thing this isas woman this woman who has seen more decades than even you who are in fact dead has seen her wrinkled skin feeling very much like Vellum her hair looking very much like hundreds of thousands of spiders decide to spin their web in the same exact place her smile surprisingly toothy little small half siiz teeth all neatly filed into the exact same height and distance there's no difference between her canines and her by cuspus they are exactly the same length they are exactly the same shape little small chicklet size yellowed Ivory bits of something in her mouth her overly pink almost bright red tongue dancing between her words as she opens her mouth and tries to find words or something to say and she looks dead at you with those eyeless orbs and begins to there is something that happens very interesting Annabelle when you fall into something the inertia usually causes the blood to Rush from one portion of yourself to the next however in this case none of those factors none of those feelings take place yet you know that you are in fact falling you can feel yourself falling from a great height yet none of the usual effects of gravity or vertigo are happening uh annabal is no longer enjoying herself uh this was going to be a great night everybody was going to like face their like their fear of void and now what the [ __ ] is going on um she tries to like catch herself um tries to see anything but [Applause] uh it's very dark and I don't think anything is how it should be cuz somebody [ __ ] up on a scale of 1 to 10 how afraid of herself is Annabelle afraid of herself yes uh she's a psychoanalyst a psychotherapist so she understands the difference between the ego the ID and the super ego if all of those things combined outside of her control how afraid of that gastal being would she be her without the compunctions of consideration her without considering all those things that matter to her her as her own actual adversary not a separate voice not an in TR of thought but the full manifestation of all things she can bring to bear leveled against [Music] herself well she thought she'd gotten a pretty good handle on that when she was embraced into the ministry but yet this is so far out of her control control it's not her choosing to give up control or to embrace the lack of control it is entirely outside of herself and that knowing who she is when she lets go uh she does not want to meet herself in a dark alley ah so the answer is very very yeah so finding herself mhm you're saying unless she's on the same side as herself which case is great so finding herself in her childhood kitchen with the the adult version of herself standing at the stove with a cast iron skillet what's the first thought that comes to [Applause] mind um first thing that comes to mind is I hope the oil's not hot it is it begins to sizzle the moment you think that [ __ ] the moment the moment she says or the of a [ __ ] a brief flickering one 1,000th of a second image of her father and her mother having a very enjoyable moment pops through her [Music] head did okay cognitive dissonance this is fine not I don't know what's going on but it's fine my parents they were you know human humans have sex that's fine that's how I was created her mother appears in front of her her mother appears in front of her wearing a ball gag God damn it Mom I'm sorry this is only so to please continue she's in the kitchen with the with the oil sizzling up and she looks at [Applause] herself control you understand is in fact an illusion no one is actually in control of anything except for what they do with the impulses and what are you choosing to do right in this particular moment knowing that the eventuality of this is well your death um so I am I am child I am myself in my childhood kitchen there's another me with frying pan and my mom's over there like every time you look it get more graphic somewhere having fun every time you I I take the pan from myself and I throw the oil on my parents and I say pay some [ __ ] attention to me that was ConEd it was the effort of fighting back would be so kind just go ahead and rot your resolve plus composure your DC is four there's nothing more dis disgusting to look at except for another person eating with their mouth open India Joi Maddie as you stare into Fortuna space because that's not really fair to say you're looking into her face when that disgustingly warm and moist tongue is flicking around and licking the bottom of those oh so Square oh so perfectly shaped faximile of teeth it's clearly not Dentures it is clearly her however long it's taken her to age to whatever age she actually is and while normally you you think that the glaringly open empty sockets would be the most eye catching and disgusting portion of this withered Cron's face no it is that tongue and she open-mouthed responds much like you would under stress to India's administrations of attempting to save her assistance you can tell even without the eyes there that she's looking out of her peripheral vision at India as she keeps her face turned towards Joi who was trying to distract her with conversation and that horribly bright tongue is licking those teeth as she slick slick shlick what am I what am I being witnessed to right now oh okay I'm just uh all right lady that is Fu [ __ ] please [Music] okay I'll make you a tra I'll hurry your ending along if you tell me what the [ __ ] these people all are special children of Prometheus children of fire Servants of Miry oh my goodness why am I so lightheaded it wasn't suppos like this does that make sense either of y'all before I do what I promised no Andy Andy you here from somewhere out there in the dark there's only one person on the entirety of this of God's Great green mud ball that you all reside on that has ever called you Indie and it's someone who's been dead a lot longer than he should have been someone who died valiantly saving his men someone who actually had a parade down Main Street before he was shipped off and to that I don't know how well they can see her but her head jerks up and she looks in the direction of her name who has hideen senses up I do and I suffered for it oh yes yes yes you in entirely do CU as India begins looking left and right trying to pierce the darkness uh you hear the wind pick up in a way that it shouldn't everything has happened for you in slow motion for the bulk of your existance as a kindred yet hearing the wind pick up as if it is in fact several men side by side moving in formation as they work their way through the crowd is disturbing because not only are you picking up all of the screams of panic and other emotions happening out there in the dark but hearing the wind began taking the uniform steps of a group of men moving through the crowd is Eerie it's invisible footsteps it is the presence of something that you can neither see nor touch but know that it is in fact there and first it's one then it's joined by another then by another then by another you you count easily 5 10 12 15 Focus determine and clearly practice Men Moving in unison through the crowd uh we might want to move does it sound like they're approaching us specifically or just moving through the crowd homing in like heat seeking missiles okay yeah no we need to go now uh away from that direction he gestures towards the noise Andy [Music] Andy no you dead you dead you dead I can't no I'm always said you hear your name called in the dark no you didn't Maddie as the one person who doesn't have up heightened senses and who's not peering into the dark um do you know what um cordite smells like uh it smells delicious sorry uh right oh yeah I'm familiar you begin to pick up the WID of it first subtly like something one of the burners there in the midways a good distance off maybe some of the kernels got stuck maybe some of the oil is burning some of the maybe some of the sugar is stuck to the side of one of the candy machines but no the emanations are far closer than they should be and as India is looking around and as joi's advising you all to leave you smell the very tantalizing scent of frying human [Music] [Applause] flesh h now that's a tantalizing smell you try to seek the origin of that scent I mean she she doesn't exactly eat that kind of food delicious as it smells Fortuna's finger which is to say no she's not looking for it Fortuna's fingers and if scraping up her the palm of her hands over the back of it slowly crawling along her forearm up over her bicep and past her tricep and you've never seen someone spontaneously combust especially when smelling of used fry oil Joi life moves fast you never know what you're really going to get and as you're advising Retreat From This Moment from this place as the sounds of that Cadre of individuals get closer and closer you begin to smell the mineral oil from their firearm you begin to sent the dry Dusty air from some place where you've never been you began to pick up on the refined and refracted scent of men laid the top of men so often as their scents begin to mix and mingle together and just when you are able to just about pinpoint exactly where out there in the dark it is originating from and how close it is not just the sound of it and guesstimating distance but close enough where you begin to almost see where they are through the crowd the delicious scent of bacon hits your nose and then the The Voice getting closer and you saying no and no you realize that you backed away before you finish the last bandage on Fortuna's left arm the one that's closest to you cuz you work far to near worst wound to lightest wound and you begin to smell fresh bacon crisping and frying up Sunday mornings as pound after pound of it was served thick sliced and crunchy with the edges all so toasty and bubbly you realize that scent is coming from Fortuna spider crawls backwards like fre freaking out like this ain't right I can't save her I'm done I need to get away from here all of those things going through her head and she just kind of backward crawls away from forun Andy all right so uh glad to see you're on board uh can we all move now please I don't like being here this Carnival is really [ __ ] up yeah that's uh kind of why they send us here and she'll look down at the uh body that is doing whatever it is it's doing and she'll frown man that's a waste of a perfectly good dinner Sizzle Sizzle top the skin just crisping as if it's been doused in pounds and pounds of [Music] oil it is that annoyingly beautiful fry that happens when you have the perfect amount of oil to your protein inside of a skillet the edges turning nice caramelized golden brown bubbling up slightly with the air from the oil mixing and mingling with the fat layer of the protein oh God I'm going to need to see Annabelle for this type of [ __ ] this it's going to stick with me um Maddie will Crouch down and try to pluck a few of her hairs from her head before they run off might come in useful and as you crouch down and reach for that spider nest of ancient decrepit hairs it is cathartic to stand up and face the dangers that you felt from your past to provide and give yourself the strength necessary to understand that you survive those moments and you no longer no longer need to carry them with you at least that's what every book mentor class and Conference you've ever taken part of SAS Le that's what they always say least that's what you've always taught that's what you always understood and understand yet watching your mother reach for you covered in oil her skin melting away one layer at a time before your very eyes the ball gag holding her screens from escaping at the right deciel that it should when someone is covered in cooking oil your father the entirety of his chest burned through you can see the very F individual fibers of the muscles of his pectorals you can see so very much that you didn't wish to see because you're able to thanks to the oil burning away a good portion of his skin on his face see the mucus level mucus layer of his face where the muscle begin to Twitch and move beneath with emotionality the tear ducts have been burned to the point where there aren't any tears that are possible and yet those open Bright Eyes staring on you lovingly silent as they always were oh God I did not need to see this [ __ ] K but didn't you isn't this what you want isn't this what you need the last hurdle between you and yourself embracing everything that you are all that you gave away life the opportunity of real love of touch and then you feel the light scrape a palm along your shoulders sliding down your arms and you know that touch you've held your arms in that exact same way to warm them up after one cold client or another you know what your hands feel like and having them touch your arms in the way that they are is well what is it exactly feeling you caress you um uh first it is absolutely [ __ ] freaking her out um like she she jumps and like whirls to face herself and seeing her own eyes from from when she was still alive and seeing the love in them is just shattering oh and she can't she she can't stop herself from crying and she steps forward to herself and if she just reaches out and and touches her shoulder as well so they kind of mirror each other um just staring into each other's eyes the warmth of [Music] yourself the difference in temperatures from your hand on her and her hand on you which is you touching you at different points of your existence is well not an easy thing to understand because there are a few lines from late night studying that are there at the corners of her eyes that just that long disappeared from yours there's the actual tears dancing at the corner of her eyes that don't have the tinge of pink from the V there are the actual blood vessels of her eyes operating as per normal instead of the slightly bulg distended because of the thickness of the V coursing through when you attempt to seem human staring into a mirror is a difficult thing for most people because somewhere along the way you invariably let yourself down you invariably do something that you are not proud of meeting your own eyes in the mirror is meeting your idealized self a version of you that didn't make those mistakes a version of you who is living its best possible existence and doing so in the flesh is even more so of that the rest of this world the rest of this kitchen falling away as you stare into all of your boundless possibilities of what could have been what should have been if not for would you be so kind as to go ahead and roll your resolve plus composure your DC is three I cannot take beastial failure ooh the kiss is nor a beautiful thing you're not just going to eat yourself you're going to consume the very essence of what you were you're going to subsume all that had ever been positive and bright in you and there's something as freeing as it is destructive understanding that's exactly what you are going to do there is something en livening about knowing just how deplorable you can and will be looking at all of that fresh vital living version of yourself that old poem that old chest up from frost about two paths diverging in a wood you are about to take them both at once as your fangs to and for a brief flickering moment as you look into your own eyes as you take you into your own Embrace there's a happiness that you haven't felt since forever there's a purity of aha gotcha that shouldn't be there and it's all a little too little too late by months as you drink down all of that cool Darkness taking all of that silvery metallic Essence into yourself and as you gag through all of that deliciously warm shattered nothingness impossible is usually only defined by one's inability to imagine impossible is usually defined by what's outside of your normal Paths of thought impossible is that thing that moment that instance that you've reach the end of your imagination and the end of your logical or illogical school of thought what exist outside of that feels seems impossible and as Fortuna is not Fortuna any longer it's impossible there's no transmutation of Flesh that makes such things possible there's no way that that is in fact possible and yet as you pluck at that spider's nest of hairs you have to move aside all of that thick dark luxurious hair you have to ignore the scent of blood on the wind and you have to all but push the Kindred laying a top her off do you continue to do so [Music] Maddie W absolutely just a shame I couldn't get her tongue too okay there's a sweet spot on every cigar that every cigar smoker knows and you smoke you smoke it down to The Sweet Spot that way when you get there it is a dose of Heaven it is the full taste of that rolling smoke the taste of that leaf the perfect temperature it is a momentary bit of almost orgasmic pleasure all at once hitting The Sweet Spot on a cigar it's the same thing for Kindred when they drain their victims after a point you reach the point of no return that point where everything is in perfect balance the pleasure that they are filling you with and the pleasure that they are feeling is perfectly balanced on that nice Edge one drop too much one drop too little and all of that changes but when you get to that point where you're sucking and lapping in time to the ebbing of their heart when you can feel their memories beginning to bombard your tongue you are there at that sweet spot and just as you are nearly there you can feel the waning heart ceases to be MADD is moving you away from yourself and you realize you're not drinking down yourself you realize you're drinking down a deep countryfied eyess ancient woman in the dirt of well somewhere and we all see this yes individual just apparate okay yeah magine weird there's a one two triple take Quadra take as joi's just like how the [Music] [ __ ] is she a shape shifter or something no the corpse is there nearly desicated perfectly golden fried oh God no oh you know actually you show up at the perfect time hey can we schedule I I don't know about you but I I just watched an an near dying bleeding out old lady experience Nirvana then burst into flames have you been here this entire time or am I just going bad [ __ ] I what I'm glad that we have the same thoughts no she she wasn't here a few minutes ago here she wasn't here but we need to get the [ __ ] out of here yeah no that's what I've been thank you sorry I just got [ __ ] hit like a semi Tru mentally by my therapist apparating where are we we're at the carnival outside the city next to the church and okay yeah no let's how about this we can just we can just discuss this once we're no longer being marshed upon by the sound of a bunch of men okay let's just go all right it's far be it from me to stop you let's go Andy mie is going to look around all confused does anybody have like a compass or something cuz I don't know how to navigate pitch [ __ ] black India what were you saying India has even though it's childish and it probably is not going to work she has stuck her fingers in her ear and is La La lying to ignore her brother calling her [Music] name so as you all are privy to this it is not without all undo non- exaggeration the one member of your present group of Associates who is in fact armed has stuck both hands fingers extended into her ear and then singing la la la la la la la la la la la mixing and mingling with the sounds of well feudal expressions of fear grief animalistic pleasure that are erupting all over the extended circus grounds yeah y all have lost it this is why I don't [ __ ] with circus people H circus people have nothing to do with it okay how about we just what are you saying Indie she just kind of looks at them cuz she can still hear them even though she's pretending you can't hear anything I could probably lead us out of here by smell but it's not an exact science and there's a lot of people and there's a lot of fear in the air right now okay well I can see like how how far can you see question can you see my eyes no great I'll lead you take my hand and I I just offer Jo G my hand and I say make a chain like you're five [ __ ] years old let's go oh great and I uh I pick a direction that is away from the sound of feet and I go that way mie and what are you all doing well I guess I'm taking up the rear anunciation is clearing them out to she leading about what as she's leading Joi out India will link hands with Joi cuz she doesn't want to get left behind oh that is a very very inopportune thing to do in a particular moment there's a reason why sers typically leave their children alone when they've been embraced a slew of conversation a little bit of this a little bit of that but give them time alone especially if they are young sers who partake in the sharing of blood once the child is properly embraced proximity increases potential proximity redoubles the effect of most things and there's nothing more proximal than touch you all are old enough to have had those moments of reliving past sexual exploits you know you you're minding your own business and then something reminds you of your partner something reminds you of that moment that you shared the moment you touched Jo G's hands you and he relived that moment of shared understanding as animalistic as it was both of you partaking of each other's blood in the way that you did both of you taking that moment l you in the way that most normal Kindred would never give voice to there's that understanding that in the middle and the core of both of what you all are is something similar enough to be the same there is a balance due of fully understanding one another that Springs forth like an explosion the moment you two touch hands [Music] oh great um just as he's walking kind of like the moment their hands touch and he he gets this almost electric shock of an experience he'll just freeze up as he's living through it just on one side there is Dr haiz who's holding his hand on the other side um there's India and he is just stopped in the middle of their little Convoy uh come on children we are in a hurry and she tugs his hand or I can leave you I don't need you uh uh please don't sorry that was unexpected what was I I don't he looks back towards the I guess the the the ambiguous darkness that is on the other end of his hand since woohoo um I I don't I don't really know but uh oh no you know you very well know and that's the problem because as you look back you shouldn't be able to you shouldn't be able to make out the outline of India yet for a brief moment you can swear that you do you can swear you know exactly where her eyes are you know where her deliciously tantalizing neck is you know where the arteries align with where she's approximately standing based on where her hand is and what you can almost see it is the it is the dark portion of the moon when you stare up and you see a crescent moon and your mind fills in the rest that's what you see and all the dark she is the brightest spot for you in this moment and the worst thing about being that close to one another and reliving that moment is you begin to hear it too Andy Andy girl you Andy uh India did we confirm whether or not Joi was around during the time that your brother was alive and and at present she would have um Joie would have known Michael um before he left for war yeah okay he was a little younger than Joi but he would have known Michael and just like At first whenever he looks back and realizes that he's holding on to India just kind of getting momentarily uh stunned by the the intrusive thoughts that uh still working off the high of of uh the kiss does to you and then he hears that Indie India like what the [ __ ] is Michael why can't I hear Michael that's question why can't I hear Michael yet I know I hear him too and that's what I was trying to avoid and oddly enough the smile that she had originally had on her face when her hand hand touch has all but been wiped away okay we this is just driving me to get want to get the [ __ ] out of here more lead on Dr H right we can discuss this later and she she pulls the chain of people along with her this is basically every bad story I was ever told as a child wrapping into one I'm so [ __ ] happy I get to experience this you should be it it is very lifechanging to experience something like this and uh you'll be reflecting on it for years perhaps it'll bring you to a better place I hope you bring me to a better place I'm working on it there's something unnerving about the dark for everything for every being that is in existence the dark holds its own power from for Christians it very much does go back to typically that first couple of days in Sunday school where you hear the story of Genesis where you hear in the beginning was the dark which is funny when you think about how that story is always told it is always in the beginning there was the dark it doesn't start with God existed in the dark darkness before all things which changes the focus of it yet it always begins in the beginning there was the dark and there lies the problem because the dark brings all sorts of absent subconscious thoughts to the four it worries and nags and picks at the corners of One Vision can't see anything yet the dark is there waving and moving and causing things to happen at the corner of your eyes you can't discern one thing from the next yet your mind begins filling in that Darkness with shapes your imagination taking over and even as under normal circumstances you can't Envision yet now in the dark you can the dark plays with everyone's minds and gives nothing but the truths that it chooses for you to have so as you all are making your way across the Strickland Cemetery grounds heading in no particularly easily known Direction but by heading south west from where you all are across the little frontage road that leads around the back of the cemetery doubles back on to Strickland Springs Road and there is a pond there south east of where you all are leading to the creek which leaves down and around towards um the American Plant Road you all begin to fill in like your mental map you all know well not Dr H but you all know you were at trickin Springs you know that that and one of the largest cemeteries in the area you know that there's a pond and there's a little small runoff Pond there's a creek that heads due Northeast away from where you all are you begin to fill those Det tells in absently as the sound of Michael calling you from the distance is there so while Joi and India are beset by ghosts of the past memories cuz that's literally all it can be is your imagination playing Havoc with you right Maddie you're not that lucky there are no ghosts of the past that are Whispering sweet suser as nothing's in your ear you hear the electric tingle that you shouldn't that's that buzz that you always have when you know that Jerry's not far away because he is literally always broadcasting he is literally always measuring the White Noise he is literally always hunting things out there in the dark he lives out there in the dark he often goes months or weeks out in the middle of nowhere with an open mic picking up all the sounds that humans should not be in fact privy to and it's disturbing because there's no way the Confluence of things that will be necessary for him to have decided to visit a [Music] carnival and as you all continue on your way Southwest of Strickland across one Tombstone one plot contining heading Southwest hoping to escape the the overwhelming pressure of the darkness it is 50 after the hour let's take a hot 10 minutes and be back here at the Turning of the hour a little bit poose to time how we doing good just thinking about the guy I left in the office mhm I mean he may not have been your snack but but he's been someone's snack probably [Music] indubitably I think the pulp is growing on me for for the coconut water you got pulp in your coconut water yeah the Goya coconut water has pulp in it is everyone perfectly back or almost perfectly back I'm here oh side note last name is H I'm back welcome back h twist it hus pop it anel h rhymes with office are we um waiting on anyone else everyone has material I don't know all right so long is the night and dark is before the dawn and all of those great Sentiments of Hope are abounding most won't be brave enough to admit it to themselves but one of the very real very real facets of humanity is the Essence of Hope that things will not always be even as you are adapting to that that being your new normal that tomorrow will be brighter than yesterday and yesterday will fade into Amber wine flavored memories of the good times that hope is at the very core of all of humanity because there is that need for it to be for Humanity to continue persisting when all of the stressors traumas and dramas they wreak upon themselves it is intrinsic it is necessary and needed it is the one thing underneath all of the other pile Dawn aspects of humanity that they can't shake off that they can't quite escape from which is a very real double-edged sword because moving into this life that these Kindred have that very small grain of Hope is always there underneath all of the monstrosity underneath all of the cruelty underneath all of the despair that they cause and suffer is the hope that tomorrow will be better that things will turn that something will change for their benefit to their benefit I'm unfortunately that is never ever actually the case when you are ambulatory aspects of the Void tomorrow only gets darker because as you strive to fill that emptiness you devest the world around you of ever increasing amounts of lightess it's not a very happy thought but being okay and understanding what your place in the ecosystem is as one of the apex predators of mankind as one of the white blood cells of the multiversal space that you all inhabit can provide a certain amount of equilibrium able to feel and indulge in the world around you without ever actually being party to it say safe and secure in the knowledge and the acceptance of what you are it's a heavy price to pay and yet it's one that you all do so willingly as you age by the second there comes a point when you all reach the outer edge of the Cemetery grounds [Music] when the weight of the darkness around you has gotten to the point where you've accepted it for what it is and that tomorrow may not ever change this this is the new normal a world of everlasting darkness and then you cross that all to true and all too actual boundary when you four cross that boundary the electric buzz of whatever it is that Maddie is hearing out there in the darkness ends and you've all reached where you're no longer on the Strickland Springs Cemetery grounds the Hallowed Ground to the cemetery the world explodes back into light the street lights up and down strigl in space though they are at nearly the limit of one light to the next the way lights from south east of you the heart of Bethany the business district the empty space where the wasam fire station once was the lights south of you down towards alian Fields where Joi has his store all of the lights that you were not privy to out there in the darkness exploding into view it's almost as if someone or something has fulfilled a promise a packed a agreement the sound of Michael out there in the night dissipating on the wind the screams of panic subsiding as more people realize the lights are on and their problems are over or their problems are just beginning because of the things they did while the world was Pitch Black the lights of the circus feeling very much as if someone placed a small Sun just there at your back you're roughly the length of two football field from where you began you're at the furthest Southwestern edge of the Strickland Cemetery [Music] grounds you're not sure what boundary or median you crossed but when you did all the lights came on ow [ __ ] oh all right that's bright he says as his eyes are do I have to make another [ __ ] flashbang roll for this no oh thank God you you you feel the damage but there's nothing that's going to cause you to immediately launch into frenzy fear and worse not just yeah oh thank God it's not God you need to thank oh thanks Satan that's better than all right well glad we're out of all that [ __ ] Maddy Wolf Dr drop India's hand [Music] well that was a an adventure yeah um do we hear like the sound of sirens or anything off in the distance are like the police actually coming this away your way no there's too many fires needing to be put out the wasin police department is completely overrun with all of the calls coming due now if you all were able to hear far off in the distance and the main line for the police fire and EMT services for both counties you'd realize that hell really had visited the the Earth because all of the Texs that were sent into the 911 line are now hitting all at once crashing servers causing operators to pull their literally pull their hair out we're trying to accommodate a plan of accommodating all of the calls popping in all of the text swarming all of the cries in the dark that never connected hitting all at once oh God it's like beautiful music all those people that are out there volunteering uh to be [ __ ] Emergency Services call centers going to regret it tonight um me see all right so I mean I guess we can say job done because there certainly whatever they needed the police pulled away from it's not happening and obviously this place is not exactly going to be seeing much in the way of Tourism for a little bit so what job were you doing exactly uh Madie is just going to uh just sit down where she's at crisscross applesauce Lean Forward no of y'all happened to make a deal while we were back there did you uh did I I don't remember I don't think so I wouldn't say that [Music] no well [ __ ] well I told the old lady I had to feed her along if she told me what they were I mean yeah but but then we had a this one sh gesture at Annabelle just kind of drop out and from middle of nowhere um but yeah somewhere someone paid something well let's hope that that is not something that will come to bite Us in the a you know what am I saying that I'm literally just jinxing us madd's just going to look up at him with her arms crossed I'm sorry okay I realized halfway through the most unnerving thing about the light suddenly coming on is not just that it was the electronic lights that just came on the bonfire where the Hutchinson were roasting and feeding their decent paying position Springs back to life as if it had never ended as if the fire hadn't been frozen in in Amber of solid Darkness so while you're roughly two football fields from where you began you're only about 3/4 of a football field from where they set up their bonfire and once the bonfire who back into existence they were once more feeding the chaos God once more celebrating their good paying job and planning on taking these rubs because they very well do have a plan of foot anyone with a StreetWise of two understands it's always an inside job it's always the workers who do such things and having the Hutchinson's as as the security mapping out how much money is coming in how many visitors the circus is having knowing where the money is going you've not only invited the fox into the H house but you have him collecting all the [Music] eggs oh and he as he can we like see the ENT like you said we can see the entirety of everything now like even the circus itself what kind of level of chaos are we seeing because from the audio that you described people were [ __ ] straight up just purging well yeah yeah definitely The Purge if you water it down that's definitely what was happening um you like I said it was glor yes you've all been children caught in the middle of something that you shouldn't you've all seen children caught in the middle of something they should throw in a decade or two of actual lifetime experiences and that's what you have that oh oh oh [ __ ] as people stop doing what the animal sides of their brains had told them that they get away with doing as the fear that caus people to lament physically and fear becomes visible the wet stains the moist stains the stains that were formerly actively conscious individuals all of those things making themselves apparent those who just reached out in panic and start tearing at things weeping and wailing realizing the damage that they did those who were willing to try to fight free of the security harnesses on on the feris will trying to get free and maybe climb their way down by field falling as they did those who tried to escape the Tilted world as who stopped mid motion hanging in the air and the natural biological responses all of that is now visible to those who were party to it often without realizing it those who acted on their animal impulses thinking they can get away with it cuz no one can see them as if this was the last day on the on Earth they knew it was all over they were packing it up and going home now realizing that tomorrow will in fact come that's the chaos you see in the circus ah it was the we're on a plane that's about to crash might as well just do whatever you feel like and then you land safely in Denver slept near looking down on you as you all realize just how much you actually done mhm or for those of us who are Loosely fans of Greek mythology the mads have just had their Balia for dionysis dionis and [Music] pan and they're coming down from their orgiastic high and realizing how much they've actually done and worse yet that one of them was not one of the worshipful and why they're full why they're satiated that's what you're seeing at the carnival at the circuit is behind you yeah I can certainly say that we [ __ ] the place up Maddie's going to watch over there for a little while lean back on her arms if I'd known the carnival was going to be so exciting I would have made more uh effort to show up as it is uh you you made an effort to show up no I said I would have oh you would have oh sorry sorry I'm a little bit distracted right now Andia just randomly out of nowhere says [ __ ] what the person that that orchestrated all this [ __ ] the fat man in the trailer where the [ __ ] did he go he got away didn't he which means he's going to do this [ __ ] again somewhere else I don't know what the [ __ ] they were but I swear it seems like some sort of thing that calls the spirit or traps things that are dead and they have my brother I mean yeah we if he has Michael we can we can hunt that [ __ ] down but honestly if we just freed something that he trapped in a [ __ ] mirror I I don't I don't think he's going to be having a good [ __ ] time right now unless that was the point what to have some big reverse flashbang happen whenever we broke the mirrors well no we were supposed to be trapped in there with it but uh you know the the little witch the old witch whatever you want to call her I she was saying that very happy that something got out and that you know this wasn't how it was supposed to happen looking for him way quick enough you let something out of a mirror yeah I mean I to be fair uh you know I was like trapped in one but uh yeah interesting that might explain a little go on now I when the lights went out I I was also pulled into not exactly a mirror but a reflection yeah more why because the context might help us understand what the hell is when on also it's very odd to me that you got pulled through a mirror to our exact location it's very odd to me as well given that it seems to be something you did that caused [Music] it yeah um it was your little miror experience a paradise of sorts I would not say that no well then it wasn't the same mirror was certic though okay um what happened to you he points to what happened to you when you went in the mirror oh I had a nice little time in library reading the book some cats that were more a dragon size baby dragon maybe you have a very odd understanding of paradise what you think I swing axes all my life not going to lie I would not have been surprised I did go to university that she will roll her [Music] eyes speaking of University your Patriot Lita is no longer in your [Applause] presence just as that sudden realization of oh [ __ ] what we're missing one [ __ ] just kind of raises his voice Lita you around here time to be shy it's unlikely she's uh either still in there didn't want to come out is possible she's back at and she'll point at Annabelle again this one's off office unlikely but maybe fascina we could go to my office he was willing to trade our lives for his that's why he trapped Us in there on the off chance that thing got out that it would take us first and not him yeah but it wants him doesn't mean he won't take what's offered hunger is hunger we've all made some bad choices are we talking about me I mean specifically no but uh if you has something you need today no no oh no no no no sorry I like I said i' I'm just a little bit of a overload uh sensory well I still experiencing good old form of ADHD right [Applause] now actually I'm going to I'm going to tone down my my attention to detail that's probably going to help me out a little bit he says as I deactivate deactivate uh heightened senses so I don't get [ __ ] yelled at by a semi truck hey y'all see that old man over there follows her Point She'll follow the Gaze hey hey how do you know what what they identify as um about 125 ft South by Southwest of where you presently are it's where the ground that was the some of the most fertile in the area was used to create the strick Cemetery it's where where legend has it there are hidden caves underneath the water there are places where people disappear and are used to fertilize and sanctify the strictly Cemetery grounds there are also Rolling cresting Hills that blend very much into the landscape because most people believe that Texas this portion of is just perfectly flat that's not true the the land camouflages itself one against the next so a Rolling Hill from one altitude from one Plateau looks completely flat until you are at a distance and 125 ft South by Southwest just at the mouth of one of the larger coin lakes in the area and also one of the deepest it's usually places like that are called The Devil's Hole or anus or some orifice because it is in fact so deep it's only 75 ft from end to end in diameter circumference of it is is not much larger than that either yet it is in fact approximately because no one's actually managed to survive diving completely down without electromagnetic interference and various other things always going wrong it's easily four to five stories deep and potentially more and right where the ground bends and dips towards that hole there's a little old man by little he's literally crouching on on his hunches one finger under his chin stroking his scraggly beard and holding a handheld parabolic microphone and and a oversized headphone piece of gear over his head as he strokes and listens and is he looks like the minor definition of a pan Handler of of someone who mines for gold in riverbeds and streams bamama Jerry J yeah local crack poot loves conspiracy theories give me a second while I flash onto the Miro this might be the Jerry that I know too oh okay this is that Jerry all right I don't know this one unless he's flashed up to the uh to the store to sell some [ __ ] recently no he's one of your best customers you never got his name oh God but he always buys the the old radios handsets transistor radios all of the old communication Tech is literally right up his alley and instead of unlike most people who come in for old radio to give their kids or their Grandma who's you know set off in the back porch to silently Drift Away into nothingness he pays without in the price he literally comes in oh I see you got um oh what's this one this one's from okay I I'll take both of these no Hag on open price just here's the money I got to go bye he has never sold you a God blessed thing which is a problem usually cuz usually the money Runs Out wait his name is Jerry I just I always called him the phone freak yeah yeah you can find him uh blathering on on one of the AM stations at like 2: in the morning oh okay oh hey Jerry nice to see you again while 125 ft is still close enough to be heard and sound murmur likee if you don't happen to have hide in sensus so you're from his distance you sound M as he just looks at me quizzically I just yeah I should probably get a little bit closer before I try to get into this attention shouldn't I you think Maddie will stand up and brush her hands on the side of her jeans and start walking over that way okay hey uh I I know you said he's going conspiracy theorist and all that if he pulls a gun um sorry what do you mean sorry what I we just saying like I I've known paranoid people to do some very crazy things when they're approached by people in the middle of the nowhere by the way um when the when the light came back on I I turned my eyes off oh no oh yeah they're not glowing I don't you just noted that which means um right whatever uh it's of interesting contact Lind is there girly I mean I don't I don't think he'll do anything he and my grandpa used to talk and when you say talk [Applause] I don't know as a [ __ ] little girl come over have a beer sometimes no she walk towards him Andy are you closing the distance with the rest of your group or you st standing trying to decide on what what other options to do [Music] um I think India would go with Maddie because of what Joie said about the gun so she's not trying to let mie kind of out of her fight even cuz she's the one with the gun she is the one with the gun and the worst thing is as you get closer to Jerry you realize something else that one of one of the things that the other members of of your group may not partially because well you know Joi isn't really a cowboy and Maddie just fixes things for Cowboys Dr hofus is not the outdoorsy sort when they were alive so why would they do so after death however India understands who Jerry is from a very different vantage point you know there's always that crazy old galute that even the Cowboys don't [ __ ] with cuz crazy is contagious that's been Jerry the only one person that you know that has ever dealt socially and amicably with him was unfortunately your Junior High Bully Max or as he likes to be called now by his full name Max Million Alman they once had a fight where Jerry came out on top over a woman woman you never quite found out who she was just the fact that he beat Max kind of puts the smile on ind's face most people when having a group of individuals appear out of the dark at them jump even if they restrain it there's a tensing of the muscles are prepared to either fight or flight as you all walk up Jerry holds up a finger just one on his left index and you can tell that he's counting in his head he looks at the ground closes his eyes for exactly 4.5 seconds reaches in his pocket and throws salt over his left shoulder reaches in his right pocket and throws grains of clearly something heavier than it looks you can hear it as it hits the ground behind him over his right he exhales twice and then opens his eyes looking at you frowning make sure you're still there well hey strange oh hey hey Maddie how we doing not bad how are you Jerry p a good night for cesti your storm ain't it yeah what was up with that oh well you had Planet eicas move into the Gemini our house and winter was Feud and with fall I'm guessing that there's been a change of seasonal Throne somehow so another took you ain't really care do you I mean it's always interesting to learn whatever it is you said fall and winter well yeah unlike most places the Royal H is the the throne and the crowns of the season they aren't held by the same Fay touch families here they change hands all the time there's corporate Espionage and takeovers that happen because the seasons are so Jo some would say incestuous you know how we can have 120° in the heat during the day and 25° at night that's because the houses the throne holders and the crown holders a feuded amongst themselves to exert their authority over mankind well hey there PA shop man hi he just says after finishing the rapid blinking of disbelief with that interesting Enlightenment uh how's it how's it going I see some of the stuff you've bought from me is out and about oh yeah well if you learn how to freak it you can use a standard transistor radio to magnify the white noise of magic in the air to detect and observe various other Elemental things that are happening what everybody closes their eyes to things and it's happening right in front of your eyes when the Royal houses of of of the ceely and the unseal have their fights there's usually some Elemental aspect to it like what happened over there luckily if you know what you are doing and that's the fun part about all this everyone just thinks that it's all crazy and it doesn't make any sense however the magnets that are in these this here transistor and then that went there and then that broadcast magnifier and amplifier that is enough iron to make yourself inured and protected from what they were doing you see all them folks giving themselves over to Gods lust which are just cely Lords uh inside my little circle I perfectly protected I'm able to notice and watch and observe here the reason why I was concerned about your conversation not that I was EAS dropping on purpose but and then he points to the parabolic mic that is sitting pointing in your general [Music] direction yeah let see so what did you make of our little conversation there that you all been Fay touched that you all have been taken by well less than scrupulous shoulder of f you know we have several of the minor Lords in our area if I were you I'd take a railroad spike that's the easiest cold forged iron that you can find most people think that cold Forge is something special that you got to do they fail to realize that the only difference between regular iron and cold Forge is the touch of human hands beating the iron into a shape using fire created by mankind there not uh any real difference between that and every other iron in fact most iron that we use up until 1920 or so was all cold for there reason why the Fay never could really start taking as much control as they would have liked but unfortunately one of the things that they did and fostered was make mankind dream of of automation which makes most of the iron today the few pieces that are used that is everywhere now in girders of buildings that would normally they wouldn't be able to enter into in railroad rails they wouldn't normally have been able to ride inside cars that they would normally have been affected by is now all non cold Forge iron which gives them the opportunity of toughing it out and using all these things just like regular folks like you and I it gives them more power than they should have it gives them the ability to do things like tonight uh Annabelle is taking notes but not because she thinks he knows anything but because she's fascinated by his whole thing I mean hey if if if there's a way that we can prove we're not fate touched I mean you got some cold iron on you you one of them sorts huh I didn't take you for a fool you do know that once the the horses get out the barn it's too late to close the damn door the only thing you do is go out and find the horse and drag him back in right what ah okay um yeah no I get what you're saying kind of MADD you certainly do have some some very wise people underneath your your influence myl I've been looking influence I've been looking out for medicine even with a little girl this the reason why most of her her folks property is properly protected from the faith why do you think that church never goes anywhere near her family property anymore you think the church is connected to the Fai that's why I tried to get that damn fool no good cousins of a cousin of mine to understand him and that crazy old woman uh Mavis Trucking with that Caravan of Christ don't they understand that all of these Roven circuses ain't nothing more than either Fay or Fay imprisoned mind raped individuals gotcha there's this kind of like war going on in Ryan's head where he's like firstly did we say anything back there that means this guy needs to die secondly I can't necessarily discount anything he's saying cuz I don't [ __ ] know as he just looks over to M once again he's like she's just going to shrug okay looks back to to Jerry oh hey I didn't see you back there you weren't smiling Miss love how you [Music] doing I'm but um just got one little question for you what you know about children Prometheus what the hell is that that's a great question actually now you don't want to Chu with them that's what there's what happens when the Fay have children with with mad scientists they are the creatures of imagination giv flesh them there however wherever they go trouble's going to follow all sorts of things Ride Along in their way you know how on the big ships that make their way across with all them people wasting their money buying you know half a thle alcohol per day in the wake of those ships because they're so wasteful they toss their garbage overboard they toss you know this that and the other overboard whereas during the slave trade there used to be sharks now there are all these Bottom Feeders that follow along and change Mig migrational paths to follow these ships the children of Promethean being the bastards of human imagination and F love have all of these other things in their wake demons and monsters and and lesser things that get stuck because it's easy feeding and eventually some of them well you know at least what what I heard some of them get imprisoned get stuck where they are get trapped and they ain't got no Escape so they get angry and hungry you ever see uh a cage tiger versus one out there in the wild that depression and with the will to live causes them to go a little a lot St crazy that even when they are released into the wild they expect humankind to feed them and that resentment of not being fed usually turns them into maneaters that's what happens to the things in the wake of the children of Promethean the things that get stuck in their weight the things that get drug on with them cuz you know if they sit in one place too long they poison the Earth they poison the ground they poison the people around them is it intentional this poisoning when you fart do you intend to burn everybody nose hairs Maddie will laugh depends on the day exactly so while you may not be in tended to it will behoove you to exit yourself but depending on how you feel about those who are nearby you don't sometimes you let it rip because it will offend sometimes you let it rip because you don't got time to stake and most times when you are by yourself you don't care how many of your nose hairs you lose certainly have a lay way with words ain't no way you tell except for right cuz if you by the time you get on telling everything there shouldn't be nothing left knowledge is the one thing you can give away all day long and you never run out of most folks don't sit down and listen long as this hell last time I tried talking to you Maddie you didn't pay no attention when I was telling you about your heritage about how your father wanted you to wait that's family business I probably shouldn't be saying that now I will try to reach out again to you later when you are not with your Associates I'll tell you what uh come by after your show I'm still be awake No not tonight you won't with such Celestial convergences we will go until actual Sunrise the only way to make sure that you going to be safe you do realize that even protected as I am once I leave my circle of iron that I may become affected by whatever those dastardly fav out there doing or worse yet I may become victim to whatever those d F were doing to those who were left and what would you say would be their goal same as any capitalist Prophet their personal prophet of course being being emotionality the energy that cast off by the things that we do they feed on like [ __ ] blood sucking vampires yeah so that [ __ ] all that that was them feeding oh hell yeah what would you do if you get invited to a a cook out when this two calves several Bulls all sliced up and ready to go been slow smoking all day long you're not going to grab you a piece I mean absolutely would not resist that so even if they weren't the ones who instigated everything you think they just going to let all that just sit there go to waste you think they not going to egg it on a little bit pull a little bit of their magic out make sure that everybody near enough it gets high and crazy and does all sorts of things just leaving it all hanging out there you know last time they did something like this oh what's that about he nine years ago when uh Michael had his uh well you know do I know oh yeah Bethany is the place where young men and women who decide to join the service receive parades before they've actually gone into boot Beth is a place where prom weekend is a month-long festivity when homecoming there are parties and festivities that take all shapes and sizes from Key parties to struts and walks to dances and balls and it is a place where the celebration of tradition typically takes precedence over everything else okay as he's just filing away as much of this as he can mentally just like I need to I need to have a conversation with somebody that knows better um but Maddie will chuckle at Joi right well I got to get these people home uh I'd give you a hug but I'm sure you don't want me in your little circle thing no I wouldn't put that pain on anybody because just because you don't know don't mean you deserve to be whipped over it we'll find out what what tomorrow tomorrow night people come down from their high and slowly realize what they've done you going to see a lot of people do a lot of self-inflicted harm to themselves if if if this is what I think it is if this is what I know it is there's going to be more people on on that back page of the obituary I I guarantee you that well that is a shame so it keeps the it keeps the population fresh Only the Strong Survive especially when the powers of the night get their hands on you that is a fact all right well then I will uh see you tomorrow night I guess maybe maybe I plan on being out Neil he looks around as if there are enemies hiding in bushes that don't exist you know that the Catholic Church got it almost right the Saints of the day is a message from on high and regards to various things tomorrow if everything tonight is actually as true as I believe that it might that Crossroad right there at Spring Ridge where Spring Ridge turns into cold quit and where Greenwood turns into Spring Bridge Road that Crossroad has been the center of so many perils so much problems and if what happened tonight is actually happening the only only safe place to be and to reconsecrate yourselves to yourselves is that Crossroad there's a I hate to say it to for you but because of where those roads come from and head off to there is power flowing into that intersection it is one of the places where you might Reach Out And Touch powers that are not here it's one of the places where you may reach out just like om more find out who the father is so to speak so I plan on being there to witness all of the absolute shenanigans that I'm expecting them to try to St Stave off you going to have powers from the middle of Hell reaching up trying to keep people from getting to that Crossroad from getting to that intersection because that intersection holds power upon the aage and tomorrow night after the event has finally settled into place and The New Normal whatever that's going to be will be what it's going to be that'll be your Escape clause and everything and their mama going to try to keep you from getting there here's the reason why I'm plan on getting down there before the sun go down before they they powers are at their highest and I will be there to witness and let the world know what we are dealing with well all right if very concerned look over to Maddie as he's just like that's good spread the word if I can uh get there I will see you there sure sure sure thing you know um you may want to get there early the the the diner there Suns said oh some of the best Irish potatoes you done ever had day in your life they mix in cilantro and uh them green chili from over in Arizona makes the best little attempt at scrapple you have ever had it's all potatoes with a little cheese and sausage and various vegetables thrown in there but it is literally all all all potatoes you know well I'll do my best but you know me I've always been a night owl early is better potatoes are fresher they get good when they get a little crispy around the edges but after a while they they're still good and you still going to want to eat far more than your share but it is always best early in the evening Maddie would just nod at him all right everyone ready to go yeah all right well I will talk to you later Jerry uh-huh she will again turn around and walk off just kind of following behind just waves keep just what's it just um keeping an eye out to make sure he doesn't Point his [ __ ] parabolic back can into the rest of them lowering her voice I know you don't like I'm Ge but we got a swing pack to the huton I think I might be able to use them to find the Escape be get them on our side and at least put them to [Applause] work well that was colorful yeah he's always been a little bit of a right lovely gentleman he pays a lot so that's just um happy have his business I'm going to leave it there till we're out of range so this nonsense about Fay he's been fixated on them for a while and he thinks he can monitor them with electronics I mean what else would you monitor them with I don't know magic circles or [ __ ] diagrams or something I don't know say he uh if he were listening uh he kind of did have one made out of those transistors that's true he said something about having enough metal iron she checks her notes mhm iron here's the funny thing so and only as you all are moving away and walking away and concocting your plans for how best to tackle the situation ahead of you none of you had the inclination to cross the boundary into a space the thought occurred to several of you along the path of the conversation a simple handshake or a fist bump or get close enough to see if he's really telling the truth or there something that would repel you and even as those thoughts played out in your subconscious and barely into your conscious Minds none of you all had the inclination to do so no one attempted to test that boundary there's a immediate understanding as to the power of belief most people learn it by either watching or viewing or going to the play uh in regards to Peter Pan but there's a understanding that all fiction has some elements of fact to it none of you all were tempted to engage in the common Hospitality of greeting someone you kind of almost know none of you all were attempting to step forward and even before Maddie made a very pointed observation the inclination to cross that boundary never quite materialized into actual action was that due to his personal beliefs or the fact that he was right neither of those things bodess particularly well so how be it for me to suggest that magic isn't real given the things that we know I mean yeah that's the the biggest quandry I was having I need to figure out like I need to talk somebody who knows stuff but somebody who would talk to us like a group of new pagans who are still feeding themselves yeah like them look I'm more than happy to go and watch you all talk to the Hutchinson oh they're not going to hurt you while you're with me uh-huh but wait till I'm gone she'll give him a little wolfish smile I understand the the Hutchinson's are cousins of yours and go back a few generations and you can uh find a Divergent line doesn't take so many generations in Bethany one right a [Music] SP are you going to have this luxurious red hair I cannot deny your hair is fantastic nor would I want to oh that's the best compliment I've had all night wait a minute we thought we how was his microphone and radios still working when everybody else's [ __ ] went off like phones weren't working lights weren't working none of that it was pitch black but his stuff was working it's actually a really good Maddy you got to talk to him and figure out because if that thing is still floating about I would love to figure out how to protect my [ __ ] didn't he say something about it being U his circle of protection or something yeah his arm yeah he did also say a couple of things about old railroad tracks in the uh you know SPS don't think he quite meant that you need to nail one into yourself though and then again couldn't hurt could be fun we should try um redro tracks over there she points in the general direction of the redro tracks I've got some things at home I might be able to use H I've got some things at home I might be able to use [Music] nice I don't think we want to go digging railro back out of the railroad I mean have you ever seen what happens when things derail the amount of life that's lost I think we've got some sections that aren't on use anymore plus I mean accidents happened now now I'm I'm no stranger to take in a laugh but uh haven't done anything that big fair enough so a an unused section of track perhaps yeah I'm sure we can find one of those well like I said I probably have some things at home that might be useful or uh maybe I can ask some of my extended family what sorts of things do you have at home I mean sometimes people like decoration in their carpentry yeah I wonder if you could make jewelry out of it as you all have been walking towards where the Hutchinson's were still feeding themselves you all begin Hearing in I'm going to give you a very poor Spanish that they are yelling in their very Backwoods East Texas slightly Louisiana accent basically those of you who speak Spanish does anyone speak Spanish yes and French and English it was never on paper established what languages Joi speaks all I know is he is Mexican Aman those of you who understand India also speak Spanish um those of you who understand Spanish it is almost laughable that these neopagan by way of South Central and norn America are chanting and singing full throated Le in their have English Spanish Spanglish Mighty roots of igil entwined in Earth deep core L me the steadfastness of mountains the endurance of Ages bore Hail to the Acer hail to V from mid and they are literally drunkenly in Spanish holding a a a pagan equivalent of night church around the bonfire does anyone have an Ault or two higher yes I believe we established there's only one person in here who is a little bit of a cult it is a norish prayer for strength the sort of prayer that Berserkers and those given to the occupation of being Vikings would chant and yell and pray towards Odin before engaging in glorious Conquest before the longboats actually touched down on Shore they would be praying and cond conducting ceremonies to provide themselves with strength and a good return for their efforts this is one such prayer and plus it sounds extraordinarily demonic in actual Scandinavian and danish and Norse it sounds absolutely maniacal in Spanish it's not that far off but it is definitely less bone rattling how you'll pause for a second huh didn't know they could speak anything other than Barbarian what they're uh it's a Norse prayer in Spanish that's what okay I didn't know they knew Spanish oh yeah lovely levels of bastardization talking about the conquest and uh I'm basically raiding and pillagin I am not surprised they're Spanish Vin is that make them spankings I feel as if they' gotten a few more in their youths they might not be out here I mean I I'm not I guess I guess I would be old enough to turn him over my knee huh question is would he enjoy it after I'm done with him uh okay Annabelle gets slashback earlier that night pill and raiding who though H probably a who do they ever pillage and raid the local liquor Stu all that and they have all of these fresh targets they're uh just coming out of their Ry I guess wait a second are they about to just go Rush the [ __ ] the crowd I mean you have met my cousins right the moment yes I just you have met my cousins you hear a gut expanding Roar from the bonfire met by others and they take off into to the crowd of the circus the circus is CL get the Joi just looks on in like enthralled horror of like I knew they were [ __ ] monsters but this is what the [ __ ] you aren't the only one who is in fact very you all are not the only ones absolutely Gob smacked Jim is standing there a plate of barbecue in one hand and a bottle of Lone Star half to his lips while looking around as if if he moves he might attract their attention standing perfectly still he's mostly okay as they go running into the circus as he's trying to figure out what the [ __ ] is going on I will uh yell over into the distance they're not dinosaurs they're not Vision based you can in fact move call reinforcements are so wait is is this guy okay no no no sorry I I totally mistook his picture for having a badge on it cuz that shiny patch well that's what happens when you patch your own own own uh clothing after a while that's actually just um four piece four different shirts you know patched together oh yeah it's one of those uh you know don't waste materials type thing mhm you do we want to stop stop them do we care to stop them I mean I could stop probably one of them but I I'm not big enough to stop all of them I mean to be fair like are them running everybody out of the circus is kind of fulfilling one of our goals as far as I'm aware India what were you saying I said the point was to get the cops out here so if the blackout didn't do it this is bound [Applause] to yeah and as you all think about that with them being inundated with as many emergencies as they have been inundated with there is one thing that will rise to the level of taking over all of the other emergencies of equal importance right now one single solitary thing and is not a horde of the Hutchinson's being Thugs and Bullies cuz they're not banishing weapons their only armaments are the guns underneath their cut off sleeves and their hands that's the problem with intelligent criminals they know how not to escalate to the next level of response they don't give a [ __ ] they'll take as many people with them as they can if they have to but until it gets to that point they clearly have a goal in mind they are clearly working with the tools of their Leisure to achieve their goal and that they're making their way through their circus kicking

• Generated with https://kome.ai