the current system time is: Thu Feb 09 08:02 2017; you are connected on irc0.tomoelabs.co.jp; message of the day follows:

<GERMATOID> PROPELLED BY EXPLOSIVE FLATULENCE, IT'S SAILOR MOON!!


welcome to #suburbansenshi3

[08:02] <D.Kakaku> alright, Grandma, see you later
[08:03] * D.Kakaku gets on his flycycle
[08:03] <D.Kakaku> FLY!
[08:03] *** the Flycycle takes off
[08:03] * D.Kakaku is soaring through the skies.
[08:04] <D.Kakaku> He-Hey! Thisis kind of fun
[08:05] * D.Kakaku speeds his flycycle, going outside the city limits.
[08:08] <D.Kakaku> alright, first stop, Nagoya, for some cookies.
[08:14] <D.Kakaku> Then, to Osaka for Television reception
[08:17] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: Nagoya
[08:20] * D.Kakaku stops above the Iontown Shopping Mall
[08:22] * D.Kakaku *^Aeon Town
[08:23] * D.Kakaku is walking around the Mall, looking for the food court
[08:33] <D.Kakaku> 2 dozen cookies, please
[08:35] * D.Kakaku pays for the cookies
[08:42] * D.Kakaku leaves the mall and departs for Osaka
[08:47] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: Osaka
[08:50] <D.Kakaku> oh, right... I got to pick up a rare herb
[08:53] * D.Kakaku lands in Suita-Cho
[08:53] *** Boss ??? has joined #suburbansenshi3
[08:53] <@Chateaux Concierge> Mornin', Boss ???
[08:53] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: We're just three fools from the Orient
[08:54] <Boss ???> I was wondering when my old top operative would send one of her family here.
[08:54] <D.Kakaku> huh, what?
[08:55] <Boss ???> it's nothing yet, call me "Chuckie Gong"
[08:55] <D.Kakaku> ok.... what exactly do you want from my grandma?
[08:56] <Boss ???> one last job, it's been over 40 years
[08:57] <D.Kakaku> I'm not sure she's in much of a shape for one last job, MR. Gong
[09:11] <Boss ???> has she told you about the time she defeated those times she was a spy in the 60's and 70's
[09:11] <D.Kakaku> no, I didn't even know that
[09:12] <Boss ???> aw come on, I was gonna make a big dramatic moment here, oh well.
[09:19] <D.Kakaku> you know, I cn take you to her, she's working at a place called "Charm Coffee"
[09:19] <Boss ???> Yeah, alright, I'll see if I can swing by, but first.... HERE'S GENE GENE, THE DANCING MACHINE!
[09:21] *** suddenly..... circkets.
[09:22] *** *crickets
[09:22] <Boss ???> ...oh right... he's gone
[09:23] <Boss ???> keep resting in peace, buddy
[09:24] <D.Kakaku> I'm guessing you thought he was still living.
[09:24] <Boss ???> for a moment there, I did forget.
[09:24] <Boss ???> I guess I can swing by later.
[09:25] <D.Kakaku> ok, then.... got any TV reception here?
[09:25] <Boss ???> TVO, NKH, Alpha Netowrk
[09:26] <Boss ???> the ususals around here
[09:30] <D.Kakaku> ok then, hehe
[09:30] * D.Kakaku walks out and gets on his Flycycle
[09:30] <D.Kakaku> Alright, Let's head back to Tokyo!
[09:30] *** the flycycle starts up, and blasts off back to tokyo.
[09:30] *** D.Kakaku has left #suburbansenshi3 (Yeah! Let's go!)
[09:31] <Boss ???> Good luck, Kid, you'll need it
[09:31] *** Boss ??? has left #suburbansenshi3 (I think your grandma and grandpa might be the only ones left.)

---

[14:08] *** Peinforte Manor
[14:08] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks down stupidly at a pan with egg bits in
[14:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> (Why is it charred like that)
[14:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte tries to move the eg around by sliding the pan. Nope.
[14:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> (It's fused onto there)
[14:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> v_v
[14:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at the table where her attempts at toasting bread have left a burnt, blackened mess
[14:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> WODEHOUSE!
[14:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...oh right, he's gone.
[14:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> (Other than tea, I don't think I've ever really prepated a meal for myself..)
[14:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Bugger all
[14:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks helplessly at all the food in the pantry
[14:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at some recipies
[14:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> "... a cup?" What kind of cup? Coffee cup? Tea cup?
[14:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What the hell is a pinch?
[14:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> These aren't stnadardised measures!
[14:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte slumps down in a chair and looks at the bomb-blasted kitchen
[14:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...This is how it ends for me, isn't it.
[14:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Not by the hand of enric or some Elder god...
[14:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...but by trying to cook breakfast.
[14:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> F[BLEEP]k.
[14:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I could always go mooch off the HOTEL for food...
[14:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> F[BLEEP]k that. Peinfortes aren't scavengers.
[14:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Think think think...
[14:14] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte frowns, deep in intense concentration.
[14:14] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte has it.
[14:15] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte dashes over to the ROOM
[14:15] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte knocks on the door furiously
[14:15] * Old Man wakes up with a start
[14:16] * Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at Old man.
[14:16] *** Old man is A wizened, frail old man that looks like a young Sir Ian MacKellen the Grey. He moves a bit shakily sometimes, and his voice cracks, but has the gravelly undertones of John Hurt. More information about him is Here.
His image Song is: . He is Level 1.
[14:16] <Old Man> What.. what do you want!
[14:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're old.
[14:16] <Old Man> And water is wet. Get out!
[14:17] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> That means you must have cooked for yourself at some point, yes?
[14:17] * Old Man looks at her quizzically
[14:17] <Old Man> I can make ramen and grilled cheese sandwiches in a pinch.
[14:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Excellent. You'll do.
[14:18] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte dashes over to him and grabs his arm.
[14:18] <Old Man> W-what? Unhand me this instant!
[14:18] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte HAULS him out of the room. "It's time you paid rent. Let me find an apron your size."
[14:19] <Old Man> What? Apron What? WHAAAAT?
[14:19] * Old Man us hauled out of the room for the first time in centuries.
[14:19] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is away: You're going to make me breakfast.
[14:19] * Old Man is away: I WHAT?!

---

[17:45] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: null

---

[19:00] *** Peinforte Manor, outside
[19:00] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte watches fire trucks douse part of the manor
[19:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU COULD MAKE GRILLED CHEESE
[19:01] <Old Man> THAT WAS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO
[19:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> YOU SETT HE BLOODY MANOR ON FIRE
[19:01] <Old Man> LOOK I SAID I WAS SORRY
[19:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> BLOODY HELL WHAT DO WE DO FOR FOOD NOW
[19:02] <Old Man> I DON'T KNOOOW
[19:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ..Wait how have you eaten all this time if you can't cook.
[19:03] <Old Man> I have a plentiful supply of canned goods from Y2K
[19:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[19:03] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte does some math
[19:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But in your timeline Y2k was--
[19:04] <Old Man> I SAID IT WAS PLENTIFUL, ALL RIGHT
[19:04] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sighs
[19:04] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is away: fine we're eating in your room tonigbt. I assume it's fireproof.
[19:04] * Old Man is away: Well I'll have to find the tin opener.

---

[19:44] * Meanwhile, in Gensokyo there has been much activity today.
[19:46] * The Faeries and other Youkai spent the day searching through the land between Youkai Mountain and the Human Village. That includes the Misty Lake where the Scarlet Devil Mansion is located. All of them have been searching for the arrow-struck effigy that was sent over the waterfalls near the Moriya Shrine yesterday.
[20:11] * Meanwhile, in Gensokyo a HUGE amount of activities have been happening at the Hakurei Shrine. Before dawn a large number of non-destructive explosives and smoke pots are ignited and hundreds of lengths of black cloth are tied all over the place.
[20:12] * All of that helps symbolize the attack that occurred at Reimu's shrine 15 years ago. Later that evening another celebration is held at Eientei as the Rabbits light lanterns and host a feast.

---

[10:49] * [color=red] オライオン　ＯＵＴ[/color] test
[10:50] * ？？？　ＯＵＴ
[11:51] <@spiritflame> ATTENTION: is already registered. Check your password or enter a new name.
[11:52] <@spiritflame> ATTENTION: is already registered. Check your password or enter a new name.
[17:34] <> ♫ This is a Test ♫
[17:34] <@spiritflame> ATTENTION: Magestic Mari is already registered. Check your password or enter a new name.
[17:34] <Magestic Mari> Oh good that works
[19:39] * Meanwhile, in Gensokyo the celebration at Eientei continues.
[19:40] * This time however, the feast at Eientei is a little different as it's a little more sedate, but that might be because Reisen is deliberately trying to keep things from getting out of hand again since Kaguya always gets a little out of hand when she's drunk and Tewi is just a troublemaking b[BLEEP]ch.
[19:41] * The entire manor has been lit up by paper lanterns...except for one guest room. It's been furnished as if receiving a guest...but no lights are lit inside there.
[19:44] * Today was also the anniversary of another VERY special event in Gensokyo: the day Aya Shameimaru was FORCED to redact one of her newspaper articles and apologize in the most humiliating (and fitting) way possible.
[19:46] <Aya Shameimaru> >__<
[19:46] <Aya Shameimaru> Please don't make me do this again. It's been 15 years!!!!
[19:47] <Eirin Yagokuro> ^___^
[19:47] * Eirin Yagokuro CRACKS a whip behind Aya. ^___^
[19:47] *** Aya Shameimaru [HumbleTenguReporter@EnclaveFedCom.net (pirated)] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[19:47] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Aya Shameimaru
[19:47] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: One Troll Per Customer. *** Happy National Foundation Day!!
[19:48] * Aya Shameimaru proceeds to perform her (in)famous Onryo Appeasement Dance, first explained to her on this day 15 years ago by Yukari and Ran.
[19:50] * and Ran Yakumo hand Aya the ritual ointment of KY to anoint her body with.
[19:50] <@spiritflame> ATTENTION: Chen Yakumo is already registered. Check your password or enter a new name.
[19:50] <Chen Yakumo> >:D
[19:51] <Ran Yakumo> Do a good job and we WON'T re-enact Tenshi's Forest Party with you. ^___^
[19:51] <@spiritflame> ATTENTION: Aya Shameimaru is already registered. Check your password or enter a new name.
[19:51] <Aya Shameimaru> T__T
[19:52] <Aya Shameimaru> ♫ I said what what, in the butt! I said what what, in the butt! You wanna do it in my butt? In my butt? ♫
[19:52] <Aya Shameimaru> ♫ Let's do it in the butt, okay!! ♫
[19:53] * Hatate Himekaidou IS RECORDING ALL OF THIS AGAIN! >:D
[19:54] <Aya Shameimaru> ♫ It's okay if you have a little fright! Don't you worry, I won't bite (Not that hard)! ♫
[19:55] * Aya Shameimaru is dancing suggestively and rather badly too. Apparently the whole purpose of the "appeasement" was to humiliate Aya in more ways than one.
[19:55] <@spiritflame> ATTENTION: Yukari Yakumo is already registered. Check your password or enter a new name.
[19:55] <Yukari Yakumo> >:D
[19:56] <Aya Shameimaru> ♫ If you want...I'll give you power ♫
[19:56] <Aya Shameimaru> ♫ Just be gentle...I'm delicate like a flower! ♫
[19:58] <Tewi Inaba> This NEVER gets old!!!
[19:58] <@spiritflame> ATTENTION: Ran Yakumo is already registered. Check your password or enter a new name.
[19:59] <Ran Yakumo> I still can't believe you helped to actually convince her to do this all those years ago.
[20:00] <Tewi Inaba> Eh, wasn't that hard. I just managed to get the idea into her head that all those manga Patchouli has stashed away are real.
[20:01] <Tewi Inaba> Aya's panicking imagination, and Yukari's anger, did the rest.
[20:08] * continues to watch intently as Aya keeps dancing and gyrating like a half-drunken music video groupie from the 1980's.
[20:08] * ^
[20:08] <Every one > ^
[20:10] * They all then finish the dance by re-enacting Solarchos Langister's original reaction to the conclusion of Aya's "appeasement" 15 years ago...by throwing every bit of food within reach at her, aiming for her face.
[20:10] *** Aya Shameimaru [HumbleTenguReporter@EnclaveFedCom.net (pirated)] has left #suburbansenshi3 ("I HATE THIS~!!!!" T___T)
[20:18] *** has left #suburbansenshi3
[20:18] *** Chen Yakumo [BlackCatofIllOmen@EnclaveFedCom.Net Pirated Server] has left #suburbansenshi3 (Heeeee, nya! Ran-sama's calling!)
[20:18] *** has left #suburbansenshi3
[20:18] *** Ran Yakumo [Nine-Tailed Strategist@EnclaveFedCom.Net(Pirated S] has left #suburbansenshi3 (CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN~!)
[20:18] *** Yukari Yakumo [IllusoryBorderHag@EnclaveFedCom.Net (PiratedServer] has left #suburbansenshi3 ("My work tonight is done." ^__^)
[20:53] *** Yukari Yakumo [IllusoryBorderHag@EnclaveFedCom.Net (PiratedServer] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[20:53] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Yukari Yakumo
[20:53] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: You must put your foot down with a firm hand *** Happy National Foundation Day!!
[20:53] *** has opened a portal for David to the Forest of Magic. Specifically, in the clearing housing the home of Marisa Kirisame.
[20:54] *** David O`Cain [JRPMoonSoldier@MKArmyRanger.mil] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[20:54] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, David O`Cain
[20:54] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: Dewey Cheatum and Howe!!! *** Happy National Foundation Day!!
[20:54] * David O`Cain walks out of the portal with the belt over his shoulder
[20:55] <David O`Cain> This is a nice place to begin.
[20:56] * David O`Cain is now known as Capt. David O`Cain
[20:57] * Yukari Yakumo looks around. The Forest of Magic is a deciduous forest on the most part, extremely dense and thick in areas, punctuated by areas of thick fungi growth that can actually be hazardous to Human health.
[20:59] <Yukari Yakumo> It should be nice and quiet here. On this particular night of the Onryo celebrations most Youkai will be staying in their homes and having dinner.
[21:00] * Capt. David O`Cain nods and then puts on the belt
[21:00] <Yukari Yakumo> However, if you run into any trouble, feel free to crash into that house over there.
[21:00] * Yukari Yakumo points at Marisa's house. >:D
[21:00] <Capt. David O`Cain> Heh. She's that much of a troublemaker, huh?
[21:02] *** Joanna Smithson has joined #suburbansenshi3
[21:02] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Joanna Smithson
[21:02] <@Chateaux Concierge> Aww. You bring out the sarcasm in me~ <3 *** Happy National Foundation Day!!
[21:02] <Joanna Smithson> yo there!
[21:02] * Joanna Smithson has Victoria on her shoulders
[21:03] <Yukari Yakumo> Oooooh! We have visitors!
[21:03] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hey, Joanna. What brings you to Gensokyo?
[21:05] <Yukari Yakumo> As I understand it, she wished to have little Victoria receive training.
[21:05] <Yukari Yakumo> From a certain girl in fact.
[21:06] <Capt. David O`Cain> Oh? Which one?
[21:06] <Yukari Yakumo> Meiling Hong!
[21:07] <Capt. David O`Cain> Really? What sort of training is she conducting?
[21:07] <Yukari Yakumo> Joanna? Have you met with her yet?
[21:08] <Joanna Smithson> yeah we did...Vicki's going to start training in a few days
[21:08] <Victoria Smithson> :D hi hi!
[21:09] * Capt. David O`Cain waves to Vicki with a smile
[21:11] <Capt. David O`Cain> Anyway, I'm ready to begin the test flight.
[21:11] <Joanna Smithson> mind if i watch?
[21:12] <Yukari Yakumo> Go right ahead!
[21:13] <Capt. David O`Cain> You're more than welcome, you two.
[21:13] * Capt. David O`Cain presses a button on the belt, and begins to rise up slowly off the ground as the belt powers up
[21:15] <Capt. David O`Cain> So far so good.
[21:17] <Yukari Yakumo> Now if you'll excuse me, I must go.
[21:17] * Yukari Yakumo secretly opens portals so that all the noise of any mishaps from David's test emerge directly underneath Marisa's bed. >:D
[21:18] *** Yukari Yakumo [IllusoryBorderHag@EnclaveFedCom.Net (PiratedServer] has left #suburbansenshi3 (I see what you're doing in there! ^__^)
[21:21] * Capt. David O`Cain begins to fly around the clearing while wearing the anti-gravity belt
[21:29] <Capt. David O`Cain> How are things looking from your perspective, Joanna?
[21:36] <Joanna Smithson> pretty good!
[21:38] * Capt. David O`Cain tries a few maneuvers while in the air at varying speeds
[21:43] <Capt. David O`Cain> Heh, it's pretty amazing! May not be able to do so magically, but this is a good substitute!
[22:18] * Capt. David O`Cain continues to fly about, putting the belt through measured paces
[22:40] * Capt. David O`Cain ends the flight by landing near Joanna and Vicki
[22:43] <Capt. David O`Cain> That was a great flight. R&D did a good job with their work.
[22:58] <Joanna Smithson> impressive!
[23:03] <Capt. David O`Cain> The belt was designed to be used in Gensokyo's open enviroment. Although, it could be used back home, I suppose.
[23:16] <Joanna Smithson> heh so no need for what we do
[23:20] <Capt. David O`Cain> What do you mean? This belt for people like me that are unable to fly on ones own power.
[23:21] <Capt. David O`Cain> ^is for
[23:38] * Joanna Smithson nods
[23:40] <Capt. David O`Cain> Before the belt became available, I could use my dash jets to be in the air for perhaps a second or two. Even then, it is mainly for evasion.
[23:53] <Joanna Smithson> hey not bad
[23:55] * Joanna Smithson streaches
[23:59] <Capt. David O`Cain> By the way, where are you lodging?
[23:59] <Joanna Smithson> oh we're staying the night over near the mansion
[00:05] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hope they don't mind one more. Might do a bit more flying during the daytime before going home.
[00:27] <Joanna Smithson> oh they'd probably be fine with it
[00:38] <Capt. David O`Cain> That's good. We ought to get going, then. Hope we can get a good night's sleep.
[00:41] * Joanna Smithson glances up to victoria who is asleep on her head
[00:41] <Joanna Smithson> heh yeah
[00:47] <Capt. David O`Cain> I'm gonna follow you, if that's alright.
[00:57] <Joanna Smithson> hey no problem
[00:57] <Joanna Smithson> up to fly?
[01:02] <Capt. David O`Cain> Sure. Could put a bit of distance on this thing.
[01:07] <Capt. David O`Cain> Ready whenever you are, Joanna.
[01:22] *** Capt. David O`Cain [JRPMoonSolider@MKArmyRanger.mil] has left #suburbansenshi3 (Let's go, then.)

---

[10:31] *** Peinforte Manor
[10:32] <Old Man> This will most certainly come off sounding wrong, but I've felt more refreshed since you've come to see me regularly.
[10:32] * Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at Old Man.
[10:32] *** Old Man is A wizened old man that looks like a young Sir Ian MacKellen. He moves slowly but surely, and his voice cracks, but has the gravelly undertones of John Hurt. More information about him is Here.
His image Song is: . He is Level 1.
[10:33] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, I have that effect on people, I've been told.
[10:33] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte offers him another cup of tea.
[10:33] * Old Man accepts
[10:33] <Old Man> You can't cook, but by god this is some magnificent tea.
[10:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Peinfortes have always been better at preparing concoctions of the liquid variety.
[10:34] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sighs and leans back in her chair.
[10:34] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Didn't it feel good to be dragged out of here for once?
[10:35] <Old Man> Not particularly.
[10:35] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Why are you so bound and determined to make these walls your final sight?
[10:36] <Old Man> I have no place out there. You know why.
[10:36] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte sighs.
[10:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I do.
[10:36] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I wish I could argue the point, but I can't.
[10:37] <Old Man> You've come here almost every day lately. Have I become some sort of project?
[10:37] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks hurt by the insinuation.
[10:37] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You know why I come here.
[10:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I've shown you everything in my mind. Please don't joke like that.
[10:38] <Old Man> Not everything.
[10:38] <Old Man> You're holding back one secret.
[10:38] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> A woman must allow herself to retain some mystery.
[10:39] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte smirks.
[10:39] <Old Man> It's lamost like you're trying to keep me interested~ :P
[10:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...
[10:40] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte seems flustered by that
[10:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Don't be an idiot. You'll find out soon enough, you doddering old goat.
[10:41] <Old Man> So rude, perhaps I've struck a nerve~
[10:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well I notive you haven't been asking me to leave, either!
[10:42] * Old Man is now on the back foot
[10:43] <Old Man> I--I...! Well it does get boring here.
[10:43] <Old Man> It doesn't hurt to hear a friendly voice once in a while.
[10:44] <Old Man> It's not a bad way to finally wind things down.
[10:44] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte winces, hearing that.
[10:44] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You idiot.
[10:44] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte goes over to his chair and sits on one of the arms, and takes his hand.
[10:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> None of that talk. I hate defeatism.
[10:45] <Old Man> It's not defeatism. My time has come.
[10:45] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte chuckles for some unknown reason.
[10:45] <Old Man> What's so funny about that.
[10:46] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte squeezes his hand slightly and politely asks for a telepathic contact.
[10:46] * Old Man allows it
[10:46] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ You've cheated death so many, many times.
[10:47] <Old Man> ♦ and had it cheated for me. But, as with all things, eventually one must pay the piper.
[10:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ You really must be going senile. I never thought I'd see it.
[10:48] <Old Man> ♦ Eh? What do you mean?
[10:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Never mind that. I do so like our telepathic conversations. So much more expedient and direct, and honest.
[10:49] <Old Man> ♦ Well, it is nice. I'm a bit rusty, obviously.
[10:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Well you Time Lords always are. That's what you get for kicking the Sisterhood of Gallifrey ages ago.
[10:50] <Old Man> ♦ I might look it, but even I'm not THAT old as to have had anything to do with that.
[10:50] <Old Man> ♦ and is that you talking, or granny Pythia :P
[10:50] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's mind seems to become a dark, dangerous cloud for a moment, as if the Old Man is treading somewhere dangerous
[10:51] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte herself is a little shocked by her own reasion
[10:51] * ^reaction
[10:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ What the hell was that?
[10:51] <Old Man> ♦ *You* tell me?
[10:52] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte tries to cover her confusion, but in this kind of deep mental enterlacement it's not possible
[10:52] <Old Man> ♦ You're scared.
[10:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ F[BLEEP]k off. Yes.
[10:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ My middle name was something I chose when I joined the sisterhood... but I don't remember doing it.
[10:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ The Reverend Mother, it was said, just accepted the choice even though it was audacious, especially coming from a human.
[10:54] <Old Man> ♦ Well, the Peinfortes ARE rumoured to have remnants of the Pythia's power.
[10:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Well, not that you might know, but "Pythia" is a title.
[10:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ There were five-hundred and Eight Pythias over time before Rassilon's Intuitive Revolution.
[10:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ THEY were the rulers of Gallifrey.
[10:56] <Old Man> ♦ So there was never a 509th?
[10:57] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ No. Rassilon declared himself the successor of the 508th and kicked the Sisterhood off world, and they went to Karn.
[10:57] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ We have a rich telepathic histoery that goes all the way back to that time.
[10:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ No one knows EXACTLY what became of the last Pythia. She did die, but rumor has it before she died she laid a curse and cast her mind and power across Space and Time looking for a way to continue her legacy her way.
[11:01] <Old Man> ♦ Interesting.
[11:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Yes. The problem is hat by all accounts by the end of her life she'd lost the ability to see through time and space and became bitter and desperate, and took the eye of a Sphinx to give herself sight. Not the Egyptian kind. The more evolved ones.
[11:03] * Old Man listens, fascinated, the telepathic rapport deepening
[11:03] <Old Man> ♦ I wish I had as fascinating tales to tell you about Gallifrey, but...
[11:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Of course you don't. Your people try to make their own history as boring and placid as possible.
[11:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ And for good reason... <_<
[11:04] <Old Man> Eh?
[11:06] * Old Man is so startled he breaks the mental contact
[11:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte refuses to answer out loud.
[11:07] * Old Man settles back into rapport, which feels almost like a warm, comfortable blanket around his mind at this point
[11:07] <Old Man> ♦ What do you mean?
[11:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Just myths and legends I'm privvy to. I don't know the whole story, but there was a time when your people were WAY more dangerous on an individual level then they are now. Back when you all still had the comparible mental mastery of a Sister of the Flame and your technological advancements.
[11:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte has a stray through and tries to suppress it, but in a communication this deep, it's as plain as day
[11:10] <Old Man> ♦ You're wondering what it would be like to help a Time Lord break their limits?
[11:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ <_<
[11:10] <Old Man> ♦ You'd just end up with another Salyavin.
[11:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Salyavin was... a poor echo of what I've heard about.
[11:11] <Old Man> ♦ A poor ECHO? He could embed his mind into anyone, and impose his will without restraint!
[11:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ As I said. A poor echo.
[11:12] * Old Man 's mind and Paisley's mind regard each other for a moment
[11:13] <Old Man> ♦ I don't want to be your guineau pig.
[11:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> flash I didn't ask--
[11:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ I didn't ask--
[11:14] <Old Man> ♦ Our minds are almost united at this point, you didn't have to.
[11:15] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is flustered by this but then shoots back "Well you're curious about it too!"
[11:15] * Old Man tries to deny it but can't deny it
[11:16] <Old Man> ♦ What if the rassilon imprimatur actually acts as a limiter...
[11:17] * Pailey and the Old Man get lost in a telepathic conversation that goes for hours, where it looks like she's just sitting on the arm of his chair, holding his hand and occasionally laughing or frowwning depending on what is being discussed.

---

[16:04] *** Eliza McIntash has joined #suburbansenshi3
[16:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Afternoon, Eliza McIntash
[16:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: No, seriously, drug free.
[16:04] * Eliza McIntash has moved to: [ Eliza's room ]
[16:04] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: Room Chateaux has made for Eliza
[16:04] * Eliza McIntash [Eliza's room] sits on her bed, and thinks.
[16:09] <Eliza McIntash> [Eliza's room] ...
[16:15] * Eliza McIntash [Eliza's room] sighs
[16:29] * Eliza McIntash is away 
[19:04] * Meanwhile, in Gensokyo ...
[19:05] * The celebration has moved to the Human Village again. Wolf-kin from the White Wolf Clan have come down from Youkai Mountain to the Village and joined the Humans. However, they've begun a form of ritualized one-on-one combat.
[19:06] * The re-enactment of the Trial of Grievance between Momiji Inubashiri and Solarchos Langister has begun, with various young Wolves and people from the Village sparring each other.
[19:25] *** Capt. David O`Cain [JRPMoonSolider@MKArmyRanger.mil] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[19:25] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Capt. David O`Cain
[19:25] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: I won't know what to do when it just comes casual.
[19:26] * Capt. David O`Cain is sitting on the grass nearby the re-enactment, drinking from a canteen
[19:27] * The re-enactment involves many young Villagers sparring against the White Wolves. Ultimately, they will be whittled down to just one person, who will be declared the Embodiment of the Onryo.
[19:35] <Capt. David O`Cain> (Quite the setup they got.)
[19:39] * The re-enactment has also drawn quite a crowd from outside the Village. Lots of Youkai are taking one of the few opportunities allowed to visit the Village, but under the very close scrutiny of the Delmos and the White Wolf Clan.
[19:45] <Capt. David O`Cain> (Sure is a crowd gatherer from the looks of it. Can only hope it stays civil.)
[19:52] * The Village remains an active and lively place for tonight, with lots of lights going, including quite a few electrical ones. The Village has been receiving electricity from Youkai Mountain for a while now. Or more specifically Jigoku.
[19:55] <Capt. David O`Cain> For a place that seems to be like ancient depictions, it's slowly modernizing.
[19:58] * Jigoku has kind of been working with Kanako and Suwako, enlisting the aid of the Kappa to create a power plant. Or, more specifically (again), a slow-discharge power capacitor that's fueled by periodically absorbing the massive energy blasts of a certain Nuclear-powered Hellraven.
[20:16] * Capt. David O`Cain continues to watch
[20:49] * Capt. David O`Cain takes a sip from his canteen
[21:06] * The festivities continue until well into the night, with the sparring still going on. No champions have been selected just yet. However...
[21:07] * At close to midnight the power is suddenly shut off without warning.
[21:08] * Parts of the Village are plunged into darkness. Every Youkai and Magician who's still awake takes this as their cue to extinguish whatever candles or lanterns they're holding or using. Then they all scream/howl/cry out three times.
[21:09] <Capt. David O`Cain> ?
[21:10] <Capt. David O`Cain> Did they forget to pay the bill?
[21:15] <Keine Kamishirasawa> Nope.
[21:15] <Keine Kamishirasawa> The most significant part of the remembrance festival just happened.
[21:16] <Capt. David O`Cain> What happened?
[21:16] <Keine Kamishirasawa> The Mana-Shadow appeared over Gensokyo at this time all those years ago. At that moment all magic was suppressed and negated.
[21:18] <Keine Kamishirasawa> Much like the Onryo's power, just on a much larger scale. It was terrifying when it first happened because there was no warning, just horror and panic.
[21:18] <Capt. David O`Cain> Yikes.
[21:22] <Keine Kamishirasawa> And after that...everything went swiftly downhill. The telling of that tale will begin tomorrow morning, so you might want to stick around a little while longer. ^__~
[21:22] <Capt. David O`Cain> That had to be nasty to you guys.
[21:22] <Capt. David O`Cain> I suppose I could. And also get some more test flights in as well.
[21:26] *** Keine Kamishirasawa has left #suburbansenshi3 ("The Mana-Shadow was bad, but the worst hadn't yet come for us.")
[21:27] *** Capt. David O`Cain [JRPMoonSolider@MKArmyRanger.mil] has left #suburbansenshi3 (I can only imagine.)
[19:06] * Meanwhile, in Gensokyo things got CRAZY in the Human Village today
[19:08] * The Delmos and Imperial Guard launched a mock attack on the Village in the early morning hours, causing quite the sight as the Youkai and Humans mock-panicked, but then a single person began to launch a counter-attack against the poorly-coordinated attackers.
[19:10] * This lone defender is one of the Village youths from last night, now dressed in green-lacquered o-yoroi armor, a close-fitting suit, and a camouflage pattern cloak. He was the ultimate winner of last night's trials with the White Wolves: he is the Embodiment of the Onryo for this year.
[19:17] * The Embodiment of the Onryo fights a lone hit-and-run defense, re-enacting the original battle from years ago, and at the height of the battle a pair of vehicles suddenly charge through one of the Village gates and tear down the main street towards him at high speed. One vehicle is an LAV-25, and the other is an M-12 Warthog.
[19:23] * On my god... oh criminey!
[19:24] <This song> is actually playing!!
[19:28] * Meanwhile many people and Youkai are actually watching the proceedings with tremendous interest, cheering on as the Onryo is joined by the drivers of those vehicles, and one of the other Villagers leaps up onto the Warthog to grab hold of the chaingun's controls and join the battle, taking on another important role of the Incident - the Villager Who Became Defender, as during that battle one of the Villagers joined with the Onryo to help him.
[19:34] * Keine Kamishirasawa and Reisen Udongein Inaba are narrating the events as they happen, since they were both witnesses and active participants to what happened on that day. In a lot of ways Youkai like them serve as living repositories of Gensokyo's history.
[19:42] * Kagerou Imaizumi is also walking among everyone, happily relating her own tales of that Incident since she'd been just a child when it originally happened, sharing and comparing stories of that time and enjoying one of the few times of the year when Humans and Youkai interact freely and openly.
[19:54] * Capt. David O`Cain watches and listens to the proceedings
[20:00] * A middle-aged black man approaches David.
[20:01] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hm?
[20:01] <The middle-aged man> Konichi-wa, Outsider. (he's speaking Gensokyo-dialect Japanese very well for a foreigner).
[20:02] <Capt. David O`Cain> And to you as well.
[20:06] <The middle-aged man> Nationality? (still in Japanese)
[20:08] <Capt. David O`Cain> To be honest, I live in Japan but my original home was the Moon millennia ago (all spoken in fluent Japanese).
[20:09] <The middle-aged man> I was originally spirited away from the American Naval Base at Tokyo almost twenty years ago. Sometimes it almost feels like it was a dream.
[20:11] <Capt. David O`Cain> Really?
[20:16] <The middle-aged man> Is this your first time actually visiting Gensokyo during the festival of an Incident?
[20:18] <Capt. David O`Cain> Yes it is. There have been a number of times I've visited Gensokyo that didn't occur during the festival.
[20:22] <The middle-aged man> You're missing out. It's not often that the residents here both celebrate an Incident jointly. Youkai will celebrate some and Humans will celebrate others, but only a few are celebrated by both.
[20:23] <Capt. David O`Cain> Noted.
[20:26] <The middle-aged man> I can't believe I actually lived through this one.
[20:28] <Capt. David O`Cain> Oh? What makes you say that, sir?
[20:31] <The middle-aged man> Heh, because I was actually IN this particular Incident.
[20:33] <Capt. David O`Cain> I see.
[20:36] <The middle-aged man> Or more specifically...
[20:37] * The middle-aged man points at the Village youth riding on the back of the Warthog, helping to "blow away" the invaders. Two of the occupants of the LAV-25 are helping the Embodiment of the Onryo as well; they're clearly meant to represent Satyr and Jayce.
[20:38] <Capt. David O`Cain> You took control, huh?
[20:40] * The middle-aged man is now known as Saul Johnson
[20:41] <Saul Johnson> I was a lot younger back then, naturally.
[20:41] <Capt. David O`Cain> Heh, of course.
[20:42] <Saul Johnson> I was the one who operated that 50-cal on that vehicle. When the mercenaries attacked and that thing skidded to a halt near me, everything I learned in Basic kicked in.
[20:43] <Capt. David O`Cain> Awesome.
[20:47] <Saul Johnson> That battle in the Village was rough though. The mercenaries weren't very well trained at all, but they were equipped extremely well and had a lot of robotic support. Including a number of aerial drones.
[20:48] <Saul Johnson> Things really looked bad there for a while, especially once the Onryo began to run out of ammo.
[20:48] <Capt. David O`Cain> Wow. Almost sounds like they were using swarm tactics.
[20:53] <Saul Johnson> The battle-androids certainly. The mercenaries themselves just weren't expecting any organized resistance. We've long figured that once the Mana-Shadow was up everyone would be helpless against advanced body armor and automatic weapons.
[20:54] * Capt. David O`Cain nods
[20:57] <Saul Johnson> They knew about the Onryo though.
[20:58] <Saul Johnson> They knew what he had but I still have the impression they had no idea of just what he was capable of.
[21:00] <Capt. David O`Cain> A vast underestimation on their part.
[21:02] <Saul Johnson> Although those droid-girls sure knew what they were doing.
[21:04] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hmm.
[21:09] <Saul Johnson> Still, today's events bring back a lot of memories.
[21:11] <Capt. David O`Cain> I'm sure it does.
[21:14] <Saul Johnson> And I'm still amazed I survived it at all given how bad things got.
[21:15] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hey, you did what you thought was best.
[21:17] <Saul Johnson> I did what was utterly insane: actually participate in an Incident when I wasn't a Youkai, Magician, or Miko.
[21:17] <Sakuya Izayoi> And you did quite well, Johnson-sama.
[21:17] <Sakuya Izayoi> ^___^
[21:24] <Capt. David O`Cain> You defended your home against attackers.
[21:24] <Capt. David O`Cain> Evening, Sakuya.
[21:26] * Sakuya Izayoi bows to David. "Johnson-sama is well-regarded by use because of his participation. That's a rare honor among the Villagers."
[21:29] <Capt. David O`Cain> So I've heard. His military background and training sure kicked into high gear once it came down to it.
[21:32] <Sakuya Izayoi> Hard to believe that he was once a sailor in something you call your "Navy".
[21:34] <Capt. David O`Cain> Well, sometimes in the Outside World, attacks can come from the waters surrounding the continents. They can occur above and below.
[21:37] <Sakuya Izayoi> Johnson-sama has also served as a blacksmith here in the Village for over 20 years.
[21:38] <Capt. David O`Cain> Really?
[21:45] * Sakuya Izayoi nods
[21:45] <Sakuya Izayoi> But as I've heard, he will soon be retiring.
[21:46] <Capt. David O`Cain> I see.
[21:48] <Capt. David O`Cain> By the way, the test flights with the anti-gravity belt have been going quite well, Sakuya. R&D back home did a great job in their design.
[21:51] <Sakuya Izayoi> So that was you flying around last night?
[21:53] <Capt. David O`Cain> It was indeed me. Although, Joanna was nearby during a few tests.
[21:56] <Capt. David O`Cain> Still, I've been putting the belt through its paces in stress tests, and it's been passing them.
[22:02] <Sakuya Izayoi> That is good.
[22:02] <Sakuya Izayoi> Johnson-sama, shall we head for the Mountain now?
[22:02] <Saul Johnson> I think we can do that.
[22:03] *** Saul Johnson has left #suburbansenshi3 ("Not quite as spry as I used to be.")
[22:03] <Capt. David O`Cain> What's going on at the mountain?
[22:04] <Sakuya Izayoi> Feel free to join us, O'Cain-san. The next phase of the festivities will be at Youkai Mountain.
[22:04] <Sakuya Izayoi> Because that's where the residents of the Village and many Youkai retreated after the Mana-Shadow activated.
[22:04] *** Sakuya Izayoi [PerfectandElegant Maid@EnclaveFedCom.Net (pirated)] has left #suburbansenshi3 (Need I say more?)
[22:05] *** Capt. David O`Cain [JRPMoonSolider@MKArmyRanger.mil] has left #suburbansenshi3 (Eh, what the hell. Time to get climbing.)
[18:52] * Meanwhile, in Gensokyo things are fairly quiet today. Except among some of the Youkai who are standing too close to the M-12 Warthog.
[18:54] *** Patchouli Knowledge has joined #suburbansenshi3
[18:54] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Patchouli Knowledge
[18:54] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: If Roosevelt were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave *** Happy Valentine's Day!!
[18:54] *** Meiling Hong has joined #suburbansenshi3
[18:54] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Meiling Hong
[18:54] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: we don't wwebsite as on the internet *** Happy Valentine's Day!!
[18:55] * Patchouli Knowledge and Meiling Hong are standing near one of the cliffs at the top of Youkai Mountain, staring out over the landscape of Gensokyo. Behind them sits the Warthog.
[18:55] <Patchouli Knowledge> Hey.
[18:55] <Meiling Hong> Yeah?
[18:56] <Patchouli Knowledge> You ever wonder why we’re here?
[18:56] <Meiling Hong> That's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it?
[18:56] <Meiling Hong> Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence or is there really a God? Watching everything? You know with a plan for us all and stuff? I don't know, but it keeps me up at night.
[18:57] * Patchouli Knowledge just stares at Meiling for several seconds.
[18:57] <Patchouli Knowledge> What?! I mean why are we HERE!!
[18:57] <Meiling Hong> Oh! Uh...yeah. ^__^;
[18:58] <Patchouli Knowledge> What was all that stuff about God?
[18:58] <Meiling Hong> Huh? Uh. Nothing.
[18:58] <Patchouli Knowledge> Wanna talk about it?
[18:58] * Meiling Hong blushes a little. "No."
[18:58] <Patchouli Knowledge> You sure?
[18:58] <Meiling Hong> Yeah.
[18:59] <Patchouli Knowledge> Seriously though, why are we out here? As far as I can tell, we're out here keeping a lookout for absolutely nothing. And the only reason that we set up a Scarlet Devil Base here is because there's a Lunar Rabbit Base over there. And the only reason they have a Lunar Rabbit Base over there is because we've got a Scarlet Devil Base over here.
[19:00] <Meiling Hong> Yeah, that's because Remilia and Kaguya are kind of upset at each other right now because they both want to occupy the same space and neither wants to share.
[19:01] <Patchouli Knowledge> No, I mean. Even if we were to move to a different part of the lake, and they were to come take our base, they would have two bases in the middle of nowhere special. Whoopdie-f[BLEEP]king-do.
[19:01] <Meiling Hong> And we all do this every year for some reason. What's up with that anyway?
[19:03] * Meanwhile, Patchy and Meiling are being watched from a distance.
[19:04] *** Tewi Inaba has joined #suburbansenshi3
[19:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Tewi Inaba
[19:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: You'll need a smoke. *** Happy Valentine's Day!!
[19:04] *** has joined #suburbansenshi3
[19:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening,
[19:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: It insists upon itself. *** Happy Valentine's Day!!
[19:04] *** Fujiwara no Mokou [CrimsonWatchguard@FedComNet(pirated server)] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[19:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Fujiwara no Mokou
[19:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: Klaatu... Verata... Ni*coughcough*huhuhu! *** Happy Valentine's Day!!
[19:05] * Fujiwara no Mokou is watching Patchy and Meiling through a sniper rifle while Tewi crouches beside her.
[19:05] <Tewi Inaba> What are they doing?
[19:05] <Fujiwara no Mokou> What?
[19:05] <Tewi Inaba> I said what are they doing right now?
[19:06] <Fujiwara no Mokou> God damn it, I'm getting so sick of answering that question!
[19:06] <Tewi Inaba> Hey, you've got a cool Imperial Guard long-las. I can't see s[BLEEP]t. Don't b[BLEEP]ch at me because I'm not going to just sit here and play with myself all day.
[19:08] <Fujiwara no Mokou> Okay-okay, look. They're just standing there, and talking. Okay? That's all they're doing. That's all they've been doing all day. Just stand there and talk. That's what they were doing an hour ago. That's what they were doing TWO hours ago. That's what they were doing when you asked me the same question five minutes ago! So five minutes from now, when you ask me “What are they doing?” my answer's gonna be they're still just talking, and they're still just standing there!!
[19:08] * Tewi Inaba thinks for a few seconds.
[19:08] <Tewi Inaba> What are they talking about?
[19:09] <Fujiwara no Mokou> ...
[19:09] <Fujiwara no Mokou> You know what? I f[BLEEP]king hate you.

---

[23:21] *** Peinforte Manor
[23:21] * Old Man hands Paisley a box
[23:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What's this?
[23:21] <Old Man> Happy Valentine's day.
[23:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...
[23:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I've never--
[23:22] <Old Man> I know.
[23:22] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte opens the box.
[23:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[23:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> How long have you had these sitting about?
[23:22] * Old Man thinks
[23:22] <Old Man> One, two... centuries?
[23:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...Yeah they're not edible.
[23:23] <Old Man> Sorry.
[23:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Eh, it was a sweet gesture.
[23:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well it would have been sweet if they weren't centuries past their dell-by date.
[23:23] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ^sell
[23:23] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte gives the old man a light punch in the arm. "Thanks."
[23:24] <Old Man> Thank you, for not letting me just waste away in here.
[23:24] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte nods.
[23:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Of course.
[23:24] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm not in the mood to clean up a dead body.
[23:24] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte winks.
[23:24] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is away 
[23:25] <Old Man> Hah!

---

[18:31] *** Yokohama Sports Dome
[18:31] *** Neo Sailor Quinox has joined #suburbansenshi3
[18:31] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Neo Sailor Quinox
[18:31] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: Superman ain't got s[BLEEP]t on us.
[18:31] * Neo Sailor Quinox tries to catch her breath....
[18:32] *** the entire sports field has transformed into a giant chessboard....already there are giant chess pieces in place
[18:32] <King> you're running out of moves, Quinox!
[18:33] * King gestures and a giant pawn zooms towards Quinox!
[18:33] <Neo Sailor Quinox> gah!!!
[18:33] * Neo Sailor Quinox barely manages to avoid it but tumbles and skins her knee in the process >,
[18:34] <Neo Sailor Quinox> ow ><
[18:35] * Shina watches from above, looking scared
[18:38] * Neo Sailor Quinox looks up...just in time to see a giant knight barreling towards her!
[18:38] <Neo Sailor Quinox> !!!!!
[18:39] * Neo Sailor Quinox gets up and tries to run but the knight is chasing after her ><
[18:40] <King> HAHA RUN RUN!
[18:40] * King gestures and brings one of the pawns to life
[18:41] <Neo Sailor Quinox> g...gah O_O
[18:41] <Shina> q..quinox! duck!
[18:42] * Neo Sailor Quinox realizes what Shina means and dives in time...
[18:42] *** the two chess pieces collide with one another...and explode...causing a chain reaction amoung all the other pieces
[18:44] <King> WAIT NO!!!
[18:45] * King stumbles as the platform collapses under him
[18:45] * King falls into the flames caused by the explosion....consumed by his own power!
[18:46] *** King has left #suburbansenshi3
[18:46] *** the flames burst through the field, consuming Quinox as well!
[18:46] <Shina> n..NO!
[18:47] * Shina watches as the flames finally die down and scrambles down through the smoke
[18:47] <Shina> q..q..quinox.....m..mirai!?...
[18:48] * Shina scrambles over...as the smoke clears
[18:48] * Neo Sailor Quinox is crouched, holding onto her rhapsody lyre tightly...a thin field of energy around her..which slowly fades
[18:48] <Shina> m...MIRAI!
[18:49] * Shina runs over and jumps onto Quinox's shoulder, nuzzling her and crying
[18:49] * Neo Sailor Quinox smiles, tears in her eyes too....
[18:49] *** Elsewhere...
[18:49] * Man looks over the map of Yokohama.......another point goes dark on the map
[18:49] <Man> .....soon....soon....
[18:50] <Man> ...you know what you must do..do you not...queen?
[18:51] * Himeko Yamishiro smirks and bows
[18:51] <Himeko Yamishiro> ...of course.......master.......
[18:51] *** End of Episode 10

---

[19:43] * Meanwhile, in Gensokyo ...the last day of the celebration has begun. It officially began at sundown, at an extensive series of structures built out on the plains between the Forest of Magic, the Bamboo Forest of the Lost, and the Garden of the Sun. The structures are actually a series of mostly-destroyed ruined that were clearly the product of advanced engineering, but were partially reconstructed just for tonight using sawn lumber, bamboo, and tarps.
[19:45] * The Embodiment of the Onryo for this year is present, escorted by none other that Sakuya Izayoi and Yuugi Hoshiguma, both of whom fought alongside the Onryo this day long ago.
[20:01] <As the sun sets> [URL] / this song starts to be played everywhere.
[20:04] * Capt. David O`Cain looks up from his meal, "The f[BLEEP]k?"
[20:04] * When the song gets to 1:45...things REALLY start to get interesting as the M-12 Warthog and the LAV-25 start to drive towards the structures. They quickly accelerate to full speed and a pair of rockets are fired at two towers that make up part of the defense perimeter.
[20:05] <Capt. David O`Cain> How in the hell am I hearing Slayer?
[20:07] * A large of horde of what appear to be animated dolls wearing metal plate armor start to rush out of the structures (animated courtesy of Alice Margatroid for this event). The vehicles start circling the recreation of the Mercenaries' base, firing at everything (and being fired upon).
[20:09] * Capt. David O`Cain just watches, for the time being, from his perch
[20:09] <Saul Johnson> This brings back memories too.
[20:11] <Capt. David O`Cain> Many explosions?
[20:14] <Saul Johnson> I was on that Warthog when we attacked.
[20:14] <Saul Johnson> Jayce was driving, I was riding shotgun, and Meiling Hong was on the chaingun.
[20:14] <Saul Johnson> Strong girl that Meiling.
[20:16] <Saul Johnson> We and the DAVE launched a frontal attack on the Merc's base that day. We weren't expecting to actually destroy it.
[20:16] <Saul Johnson> The objective was to draw out as many of the battle-droids and troopers as possible so that Langister and the others could infiltrate and face less opposition inside.
[20:17] <Capt. David O`Cain> How'd it work out?
[20:18] <Saul Johnson> Better than we'd hoped. In more ways than one.
[20:18] <Capt. David O`Cain> Oh yeah?
[20:23] <Saul Johnson> What we faced were very much like these things.
[20:26] <Capt. David O`Cain> You're kidding. You'd think they would be stronger.
[20:27] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hell, I probably would have torn one apart in one hit if they were built like that. Plus, it also would depend on the material used in their construction.
[20:27] <Saul Johnson> They were strong enough. Not especially powerful individually, but the battle-droids or "T-400's" as we called them, fought in a huge group.
[20:30] * Saul Johnson watches as the LAV-25 and the Warthog swerve back and forth, strafing the base structures and blasting away at Alice's "armor-dolls"...and running over quite a few of them in the process.
[20:30] <Saul Johnson> But then the Mercs started sending more and more actual troops out. And then they started deploying heavy robotic armor.
[20:30] <Capt. David O`Cain> (Doubt he even knows how strong I really am.)
[20:31] <Capt. David O`Cain> I see.
[20:36] <Saul Johnson> As for how tough they were, remember that we were fighting at the heart of the Mana-Shadow.
[20:36] <Saul Johnson> The Youkai were as weak and fragile as a normal Human at that point.
[20:37] * Capt. David O`Cain nods
[20:39] <Saul Johnson> Their heavy droids, which we called Juggernauts, were something we couldn't handle.
[20:40] <Saul Johnson> Those Mercs deliberately designed their robots to look like they came out of the "Terminator".
[20:44] <Saul Johnson> We'd been fighting non-stop for over ten minutes when both of those tanks began rolling out. Meanwhile, things inside the base weren't going well.
[20:44] <Capt. David O`Cain> So, someone actually took the time to create Terminators from the movie series?
[20:46] <Saul Johnson> Sure looked that way.
[20:48] <Capt. David O`Cain> Sheesh. No telling how long it had taken to amass the material AND the power to be able to build such.
[20:51] <Saul Johnson> Langister, Liana, Eudial, Sakuya, Yuugi, and Marisa were fighting their way through the base, but at a major juncture between different structures they got pinned down.
[20:52] <Saul Johnson> Liana managed to open a blast door and they all rushed through, but as the door closed *that's* when it happened.
[20:54] <Saul Johnson> The door jammed as it started closing, and Liana had to reset some of the systems. Langister and the others went all-out providing covering fire until the doors could resume closing.
[20:55] <Capt. David O`Cain> Okay.
[20:55] <Saul Johnson> And that's when it happened: a bullet struck Liana in the forehead and penetrated through with enough force to keep going and strike that witch-girl Marisa in the side.
[20:58] <Capt. David O`Cain> Geez.
[21:00] <Saul Johnson> Yuugi and Sakuya knew nothing about healing and Eudial didn't know much either. Langister was the only one who had any kind of medical training at all.
[21:01] <Saul Johnson> Both of them were wounded so badly that they were both bleeding out and they only had enough time and supplies to focus on ONE of them.
[21:01] <Saul Johnson> He chose Marisa Kirisame.
[21:03] * Capt. David O`Cain nods
[21:05] <Saul Johnson> They said he chose her over someone he considered a friend because her injuries were less severe. Liana had a through-and-though headshot with brain damage.
[21:06] <Saul Johnson> Marisa had a gushing bullet wound in her side.
[21:08] <Capt. David O`Cain> He had to make a difficult call. Not much he could do.
[21:09] <Saul Johnson> Liana died within a few minutes, but Marisa was saved.
[21:09] <Saul Johnson> Meanwhile...
[21:10] * Saul Johnson points out at the re-enactment of the battle in front of everyone. The Juggernauts are rolling forward and blasting away relentlessly. The LAV-25 takes a hit that blows out several side tires and it grinds to a halt.
[21:13] * The Warthog pulls up alongside and covers the crew of the LAV as they bail out. As the Warthog starts moving again, a missile detonates underneath it and destroys the transaxle, immobilizing it.
[21:15] * Everyone runs to get clear before they're all overrun by soldiers and droids. Both vehicles are blown to pieces a fw minutes later by the Juggernauts.
[21:16] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hmmm.
[21:18] * takes cover inside one of the Garage modules and tries to fortify as the Mercs close in. Still, Satyr's album is playing over the air-waves (heavy metal like "Raining Blood" by Slayer, "Blackened" and "Injustice for All" by Metallica, "Hands of Doom" by Manowar, and "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath just to name a few).
[21:20] <Capt. David O`Cain> Heh. Didn't think Gensokyo had any radio stations.
[21:21] <Saul Johnson> It doesn't, but they'd set up a radio station up on Youkai Mountain.
[21:22] <Saul Johnson> They were listening in on the entire assault, waiting for Satyr to play a certain song to signify they were ready. While the Mana-Shadow was up no one could do anything.
[21:22] <Saul Johnson> But when it dropped the Border Hag was going to start an all-out counterattack.
[21:25] <Capt. David O`Cain> So, what happened?
[21:25] <Saul Johnson> Over the next ten minutes we were pinned down inside the Garage module. We had nowhere we could fall back any further into, we were starting to run low on ammunition, and we were starting to take casualties.
[21:27] <Saul Johnson> Nitori and Meiling got hit. Aya and Hatate started to panic. One of the White Wolves got killed outright. Lisara got caught in an explosion that hit her hard enough that her leg-braces were damaged beyond function.
[21:28] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hmmm.
[21:28] * Meanwhile the last stand of the vehicle crews is being played out in the open for everyone to see. Some of the Youkai are clearly panicking, like they're preparing to run for it.
[21:29] * Then the tallest tower of the Merc base bursts into huge flames. At that moment lights all over Gensokyo are suddenly turned on. The darkness that persisted through the land ends suddenly.
[21:30] <This> song immediately starts to play.
[21:31] * The onlookers begin to cheer. They KNOW what's coming next!
[21:33] <Saul Johnson> The actual explosion Langister caused was a lot bigger than that.
[21:35] * Strange portals start opening up all over!
[21:36] <Capt. David O`Cain> Ah.
[21:37] * Youkai from ALL OVER Gensokyo begin to pour through them: the White Wolves, the Tengu, the Kappa, the Faeries, the Ghosts of Hakugyokurou, the Oni of Jigoku...even the Lunar Defense Corps have come!
[21:39] * Every famous girl and "Final Boss" throughout Gensokyo surges towards the mass of enemies, united in a frothing desire to strike back at the people responsible for nearly conquering their homeland. The carnage quickly becomes heinous as the Danmaku reaches an intensity never before seen in Gensokyo history.
[21:40] <Saul Johnson> To their credit the Mercs put up a fight. They had a few members that knew what they were going, and the robots themselves could take some damage.
[21:41] <Saul Johnson> Have you ever heard any of the stories of that last battle?
[21:43] <Capt. David O`Cain> Very little of it.
[21:44] <Saul Johnson> Eirin Yagokoro kept shooting arrows into the air that brought hundreds coming down on their heads. Yuuka Kazami was physically tearing men and women alike in half like ragdolls, laughing all the while.
[21:45] <Saul Johnson> Youmu Konpaku was in the thick of it all. Hard to imagine that little slip of a girl doing so, but she was swinging those swords of hers like they were nothing, and Humans and droids were being cut to ribbons all around her.
[21:45] <Saul Johnson> Sakuya and Yuugi fought their way outside and joined the fight too.
[21:46] <Saul Johnson> But the last of those gothic-lolita androids was still fighting, and she was the WORST because they all discovered she had a Mana-Shadow of her own.
[21:47] <Saul Johnson> She took out Suika first, then tackled the Scarlet Sisters and neutralized them. Mokou couldn't do anything to stop her, and it looked like Reimu was next.
[21:48] *** has joined #suburbansenshi3
[21:48] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening,
[21:48] <@Chateaux Concierge> PSA:Awesome things will happen today if everyone chooses not to be a miserable cow.
[21:48] *** Yukari Yakumo [IllusoryBorderHag@EnclaveFedCom.Net (PiratedServer] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[21:48] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Yukari Yakumo
[21:48] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: Where typos are a fine art
[21:49] <Capt. David O`Cain> Gothic-lolita androids...? Aw crap. ~_~
[21:49] <Saul Johnson> Even that girl from Jigoku, Utsuho Reiuji, was shot out of the sky and thrown into a pond to drown.
[21:50] <Yukari Yakumo> And THAT was when the final blow was landed. ^__^
[21:51] <Yukari Yakumo> The last Juggernaut droid was destroyed by a Master Spark from Marisa. She'd recovered enough to join the fight, even if she only managed to get in a single hit.
[21:51] <Yukari Yakumo> As for that gothic-lolita girl...I think she was called "April"? Well, she got hit rather unexpectedly.
[21:52] <Capt. David O`Cain> I KNEW IT! Sakura April!
[21:53] <Yukari Yakumo> My Killer Angel managed to fire a single sniper round across the raging battle, hitting no one else, and struck her in the neck with something called a "Tekxorism" round, some kind of ultra-rare and sophisticated Adeptus Mechanicus artifact.
[21:53] <Yukari Yakumo> Who? SAKURA-April? She only identified herself as April of the 12 Sisters.
[21:55] <Yukari Yakumo> The bolt-round sent a surge of energy through her that scrambled all of her systems. The Mana-Shadow was overloaded...and we quickly rended her limb from limb and started casting her parts through portals I kept opening and closing just for that purporse. ^___^
[21:56] <Yukari Yakumo> Until only her head remained.
[21:56] <Capt. David O`Cain> Did anyone get a picture before she blew up?
[21:56] <Capt. David O`Cain> Of April, I mean.
[21:56] <Yukari Yakumo> Unfortunately not.
[21:58] <Yukari Yakumo> I do remember that she looked like a pale Human girl with nearly white skin, red eyes, and dark black hair. her favored weapon was a gold-plated pistol of a type I believe you call a "Luger 9mm"
[21:59] <Yukari Yakumo> I know of the one you call Sakura-April. Their appearances are certainly similar, but that "April" android seemed to be oddly protective of my Killer Angel in a creepy sort of way.
[21:59] <Capt. David O`Cain> I see.
[22:01] <Capt. David O`Cain> Still, what was she doing here at the time?
[22:05] <Yukari Yakumo> Leading her Sisters and directing the Mercenaries.
[22:07] * Yukari Yakumo and Saul Johnson smile and watch fondly as the last of the "Mercenaries" are utterly obliterated. The Embodiment of the Onryo finally emerges from the now-flaming base to an enthusiastic crowd and hundreds of Youkai who happily welcome him.
[22:08] *** Momiji Inubashiri has joined #suburbansenshi3
[22:08] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Momiji Inubashiri
[22:08] <@Chateaux Concierge> Always remember, my darling, that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else.
[22:08] <Momiji Inubashiri> And even after all this time I still can't forget what Lisara did.
[22:09] <Capt. David O`Cain> Hm.
[22:10] <Momiji Inubashiri> During the fight she refused to let me protect her. Her legs couldn't support her. She could barely crawl.
[22:10] <Momiji Inubashiri> But she kept fighting.
[22:13] <Capt. David O`Cain> I imagine using whatever her skillset was as well as her powers.
[22:14] <Yukari Yakumo> She used her telepathy immediately after the Mana-Shadow faded on Aya and Hatate. When they were both consumed with fear, Lisara did something to them both.
[22:14] <Yukari Yakumo> Their fear was replaced with an almost manic ferocity.
[22:15] <Momiji Inubashiri> I remember what she told me later.
[22:15] <Momiji Inubashiri> I asked her "why". Why did she and her friends choose to fight in our defense?
[22:16] <Momiji Inubashiri> They lost one of their own in the process. They didn't HAVE to defend us like they did.
[22:16] <Momiji Inubashiri> But they did. They all fought to protect Humans AND Youkai.
[22:21] <Momiji Inubashiri> And what she said to me... T___T
[22:22] <Capt. David O`Cain> Which is?
[22:27] <Yukari Yakumo> "To each of us falls a task, and all the Emperor requires of us Guardsmen is that we hold the line and we die fighting. It's what we do best. We die standing."
[22:28] * Capt. David O`Cain nods, "How apt coming from a former Imperium."
[22:32] <Yukari Yakumo> The reason this particular Incident was so important to us is that it was the first time ever that all of Gensokyo was united to face a threat that affected us all.
[22:33] <Yukari Yakumo> And it was the first time that Outsiders, Humans no less, voluntarily defended and aided Youkai.
[22:34] <Yukari Yakumo> And thusly, the Illusion of the Future signified a great many things for us.
[22:35] <Capt. David O`Cain> Like what, if I may ask, Yukari?
[22:38] <Yukari Yakumo> That perhaps not ALL Humans hate and fear Youkai.
[22:41] <Capt. David O`Cain> That could apply to anyone including Selenites like myself. I have shown no hate nor fear of Youkai after meeting you guys.
[22:45] <Yukari Yakumo> Ahhhhh! But you're not *Humans*. You're not a "Terran" as my Killer Angel would say.
[22:48] <Yukari Yakumo> And most Humans are so very fearful of that which is different from them. Remember, many Youkai remember well the treatment their kind have received at the hands of Humans.
[22:48] <Capt. David O`Cain> You're surprised I'm not Human? :P
[22:48] <Yukari Yakumo> I've known that you're not Human for a while now.
[22:51] <Capt. David O`Cain> Heh. What was your first clue?
[22:52] <Yukari Yakumo> You told us, remember? :P
[22:52] <Yukari Yakumo> And now, let us depart for the night.
[22:53] <Saul Johnson> It was nice seeing you for the end phase of the festival.
[22:54] <Capt. David O`Cain> Indeed.
[22:57] *** Saul Johnson has left #suburbansenshi3
[22:57] *** Momiji Inubashiri has left #suburbansenshi3
[22:57] *** Yukari Yakumo [IllusoryBorderHag@EnclaveFedCom.Net (PiratedServer] has left #suburbansenshi3 (I see what you're doing in there! ^__^)
[22:57] *** Capt. David O`Cain [JRPMoonSolider@MKArmyRanger.mil] has left #suburbansenshi3

---

[16:07] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: University of Tokyo
[16:37] *** D.Kakaku has joined #suburbansenshi3
[16:37] <@Chateaux Concierge> Afternoon, D.Kakaku
[16:37] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: You can't get voted off!
[16:40] <D.Kakaku> anyone here?
[16:45] *** students pass by, as well as facultiy members...it's a busy day
[16:46] * D.Kakaku goes to the reception desk
[16:47] <D.Kakaku> Excuse me, I'm here to see Matsuo.
[16:48] <Reception> who?
[16:49] <D.Kakaku> (Man, I don't know his last name)
[16:49] <D.Kakaku> //ooc Nevermind that, she gave the full name to him
[16:49] <D.Kakaku> (( *^ ))
[16:49] <D.Kakaku> Matsuo Shin
[16:50] <Reception> oh Professor Shin....
[16:50] <Reception> I belive he should be in his office at the moment
[16:50] <D.Kakaku> and that's where?
[16:51] * Reception shows DK on the map
[16:51] <D.Kakaku> ah, ok
[16:52] * D.Kakaku goes to the specified office room
[16:52] <D.Kakaku> excuse me, is a Mr. Matsuo Shin here?
[16:53] <?> come in
[16:54] * D.Kakaku opens the door and walks in
[16:54] <D.Kakaku> are you MAtsuo Shin?
[16:56] <Matsuo Shin> Professor Matsuo Shin yes.....if you're here to sign up for my classes, it's not my fault about the screw up in the registerion system
[16:57] <D.Kakaku> um no, I have some symbols that need deciphering
[16:57] * D.Kakaku hands Matsuo the paper
[16:58] * Matsuo Shin takes the paper and looks it over
[16:58] <Matsuo Shin> ....where did you get this?
[16:58] <D.Kakaku> I photocopied it from my FlyCycle
[16:59] <D.Kakaku> I can bring my flycycle to you if you want
[16:59] <Matsuo Shin> no I don't need that....
[16:59] <Matsuo Shin> this might..take me a bit
[17:00] * Matsuo Shin tries to see if it matches anything from the old solar system
[17:00] *** it partially matches Moon Kingdom written language and partially matches Earth Kingdom language.
[17:01] * Matsuo Shin frowns to himself......
[17:02] <Matsuo Shin> well there's defeinetly some selenite influences.....I don't fully recontgize the rest...might be earth kingdom based
[17:02] <D.Kakaku> Selenite? Earth Kingdom?
[17:04] <D.Kakaku> they sound like places my granny would know.
[17:04] * D.Kakaku scratches his head.
[17:05] <Matsuo Shin> problem is I'm not an expert on the earth kingdom
[17:07] <D.Kakaku> who do you think would be an expert on it?
[17:10] <Matsuo Shin> honestly I'm not sure....not many know of this outside those of us who survived it
[17:12] <D.Kakaku> who did survive it?
[17:17] <Matsuo Shin> a few of us.....
[17:18] <Matsuo Shin> myself, Tika Obake, the O'Cain family, Orion and Freya Felinus, Luna, Artemis, Jedite
[17:22] <D.Kakaku> so, I should ask them about the symbols?'se
[17:23] <Matsuo Shin> well I don't know if they know about the earth kingdom anymore then I do
[17:23] <Matsuo Shin> well Jedite might
[17:28] <D.Kakaku> see what he knows, then.
[17:36] <D.Kakaku> but, who is jedite?
[17:37] <Matsuo Shin> it's a long story
[17:41] <D.Kakaku> *me nods
[17:42] * D.Kakaku nods
[17:43] <Matsuo Shin> but he might know
[17:48] <D.Kakaku> ok then, let me know if wnything turns up
[17:52] <Matsuo Shin> very well
[17:54] * D.Kakaku gts up
[17:54] * D.Kakaku gets
[17:54] <D.Kakaku> up
[17:55] <D.Kakaku> See you later sometime?
[17:57] <Matsuo Shin> yes of course
[17:58] * D.Kakaku leaves the room
[17:58] *** D.Kakaku has left #suburbansenshi3 (Yeah! Let's go!)

---

[20:35] * Eliza McIntash [Eliza's room] rides the almost-empty bus, with only a handful of people on it, and faces the wall and watches the streets go by.
[20:35] * Eliza McIntash has moved to: [ Bus ]
[20:35] * Eliza McIntash [Bus] keeps riding, and riding, and looks out the window, and finally says....
[20:35] <Eliza McIntash> [Bus] Sakura?
[20:37] <Eliza McIntash> [Bus] >.>
[20:37] <Eliza McIntash> [Bus] <.<
[20:50] * Eliza McIntash [Bus] clears her throat, and begins to sing...
[20:50] <spiritflame> Eliza McIntash rolls 1d20 [ 4 ]
[20:51] * Eliza McIntash [Bus] sputters and coughs, and reads from a smudged printout:
[21:07] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ It's a little bit funny... ♫
[21:07] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ This feeling inside... ♫
[21:07] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ Not one of those you can.... easily hide. ♫
[21:08] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ I don't have much money, but boy if I did... ♫
[21:08] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ I'd buy a big house where.... we both could live. ♫
[21:08] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ If I was a sculptor... ♫
[21:08] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ But then again, no... ♫
[21:08] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show... ♫
[21:08] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ I know it's not much but it's the best I can do! ♫
[21:08] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ My gift is my song and---this one's for you! ♫
[21:08] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ And you can tell everybody.... ♫
[21:09] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ That this is your song. ♫
[21:09] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ It might be quite simple, but now that it's done... ♫
[21:10] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ I hope you don't mind---I hope you don't mine---that I put down into words... ♫
[21:10] <Eliza McIntash> ♫ How wooonderful life is, while your in the world! ♫
[21:11] <Eliza McIntash> [Bus] ...Heh.
[21:11] * Eliza McIntash [Bus] leans back, and looks out the windows of the bus.

---

[13:47] * Old Man concentrates on Paisley's mind, trying to push through her mental barriers
[13:47] *** Peinforte Manor
[13:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Weak as water.
[13:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> _Weak as water_.
[13:48] <Old Man> This isn't easy for me, you know.
[13:50] <Old Man> Why are you punishing and old man so.
[13:50] * Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at old man.
[13:50] *** old man is An ostensibly old man that looks like a young Sir Ian MacKellen. He is sprightly. he has the gravelly undertones of John Hurt. More information about him is Here.
His image Song is: . He is Level 1.
[13:50] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks around and notes to hserself there are no mirrors anywhere in his drawing room.
[13:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Because you need something to keep that mind of yours active.
[13:51] <Old Man> Yes well, knocking about in your mind is quite troublesome :P
[13:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Only because you're weak.
[13:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Get good.
[13:52] * Old Man growls and pushes harder
[13:52] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte efforllessly bats his mind aside
[13:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Seriously your people really have let their natrural gifts atrophy.
[13:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's shameful.
[13:53] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte PUNCHES right into his mind
[13:53] <Old Man> GAH!
[13:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> THERE! Got--
[13:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...........
[13:53] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte QUICKLY RETREATS
[13:53] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is flushesd
[13:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT
[13:54] <Old Man> QUIET
[13:54] <Old Man> YOU SHOULDN'T GO RAIDING AROUND PEOPLE'S MINDS WITHOUT PERMISSION
[13:54] * Old Man is also flushed
[13:55] * There is an awkward, leaden silence that seems to drag on for quite some time.
[13:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well... that was a thing.
[13:55] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> >_>
[13:55] <Old Man> <_<
[13:56] * awkward silence continues
[13:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> So erm...
[13:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Anyway.
[13:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Tea?
[13:56] <Old Man> Yes, yes,

---

[14:52] *** Peinforte Manor (cotd)
[14:52] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pours the Old Man some tea
[14:53] * Old Man sips it
[14:55] * Old Man coughs, still a bit embarrassed.
[14:55] <Old Man> It was just a stray neural impulse <_<
[14:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm not upset <_<
[14:56] <Old Man> Good >_>
[14:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> quite <_<
[14:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But uhh, with matters of Psychic training...
[14:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You really do have to gird yourself better.
[14:57] <Old Man> I was not expecting the Peinforte inquisition!
[14:57] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> And I wasn't expecting.-- that. Anyway.
[14:58] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> In matters of Psychic contact you have to prepared at all times. You never know when a stray thought could be picked up.
[14:58] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...Like that one.
[14:58] <Old Man> <_<
[14:58] <Old Man> Look, I appreciate all this but you really don't have to keep me occupied.
[14:58] <Old Man> My time is almost over. I'm on my last life after god knows how many extensions and chats.
[14:59] <Old Man> ^cheats.
[14:59] <Old Man> I've seen the world pass.
[14:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're obviously not that world weary if you can still generate thoughts like that one.
[14:59] <Old Man> WELL YOU LET IT GO
[14:59] <Old Man> ^WILL
[15:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Rather hard to do considering what it was :P
[15:00] <Old Man> ...Oh, are you interested?
[15:00] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ............N-no! Shut up!
[15:00] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte psychically BACKHANDS him
[15:01] * Old Man phyiscally REELs from it
[15:01] <Old Man> ....Oh god you ARe
[15:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I-- STOP INVENTING THINGS
[15:01] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> AND HOW WOULD YOU KNOW
[15:02] <Old Man> When you hit me there, your thoughts leaked :P
[15:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> LIES
[15:02] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte pitches the pot of tea at him
[15:02] * Old Man instinctively blocks with his forearm
[15:03] * Old Man is slightly burnt by the tea
[15:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ..I'm sorry!
[15:03] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte gets up to try and help
[15:03] * Old Man doesn't seem to register the pain
[15:03] * Old Man is looking at his forearm where the tea landed
[15:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm dreadfully sorry, let me heal that up
[15:04] * Old Man is ignoring her and just looking hard at his hand
[15:04] <Old Man> ...the skin.
[15:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes, I'll take care of it, I didn't think--
[15:04] <Old Man> Where are the liver spots?
[15:05] * Old Man is now scrutinizing his arm like he's never seen it before.
[15:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Ah.
[15:05] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte goes quiet.
[15:05] <Old Man> ... I know I'm getting old and senile but...
[15:06] <Old Man> It seems to me my arm is... different, somehow.
[15:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Probbaly just your overactive imagination.
[15:06] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte aims those words precisely to discomfit him
[15:07] * Old Man blushes and fidgets, forgetting all about his arm for the moment
[15:07] <Old Man> You'll never let that go, will you.
[15:08] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte mumbles something about collecting.
[15:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Never you mind.
[15:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I want you to practise.
[15:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Regardless of how close you think you are to death.
[15:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's never too late to learn new things. And nor should you stop.
[15:10] * Old Man sighs and tries to build a mental wall
[15:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'll go make you another batch of tea.
[15:10] <Old Man> just don't throw it at me this time. :P
[15:11] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte shakes her head, trying to rid herself of a pernicious, yet intriguing visual in her head.
[15:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Yes, yes.
[15:12] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte is away: You really are an aggravating old git, aren't you.
[15:13] * Old Man is away: Troublesome youngster :P

---

[18:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ಠ_ಠ

---

[18:35] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: Grisley Manor
[18:35] *** Omega_YingGirl [moonieassassin@hotmail.com] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[18:35] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Omega_YingGirl
[18:35] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: The enemy of Dialup
[18:35] * Omega_YingGirl is holding the tail feather of an eagle
[18:36] <Man> Oh thanks heavens you found one. I thought the natives will cause you such trouble
[18:36] <Omega_YingGirl> Nah, it was quite easy
[18:37] <Man> Oh let my call my daughter
[18:37] <Man> ♡ Sweetie pie ♡
[18:38] *** As the man beckons a hoodie wearing teen comes to the answer
[18:38] * Omega_YingGirl gives the feather to the man
[18:39] <Teen> ...
[18:40] *** The man gives his daughter the feather, only to see her smile and use brute force of her hidden blade to gut her pop
[18:40] <Omega_YingGirl> The f[BLEEP]k?!
[18:40] <Man> /gyah!
[18:41] * Man is holding his neck and lies on the floor
[18:41] *** Man has quit IRC
[18:42] <Teen> Requestie en pace, a[BLEEP]le
[18:42] * Omega_YingGirl takes this cue tro leave as the disturbed tween coats the eagle feather with her dad's blood
[18:42] *** Omega_YingGirl [moonieassassin@hotmail.com] has left #suburbansenshi3 (May the Eagle Guide You to Victory)
[18:43] * Teen looks up and her only witness fled.
[18:43] <Teen> Daddy, how does it feel giving money to templar whores
[18:44] * Teen laughs to herself, realing in this new information.
[18:44] *** Teen has left #suburbansenshi3 (top kek)

---

[18:44] <Teen> location A typical bar
[18:45] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: A typical bar
[18:45] *** DmC_Sparda [rebellionslayer@theorder.com] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[18:45] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, DmC_Sparda
[18:45] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: Because who needs Brains when someone is willing to eat them?
[18:45] *** Shiro has joined #suburbansenshi3
[18:45] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Shiro
[18:45] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: My urine burns itself perfectly.
[18:46] *** The two fellow siblings tyry to get themselves in confort due to their mother's absense
[18:47] <Shiro> So Dante wasn't my real dad.
[18:47] * Shiro sighs
[18:48] <DmC_Sparda> But really/ What does mom see in lobster lord?
[18:48] <DmC_Sparda> His armour is a joke
[18:48] <Shiro> Unless you're MattPat
[18:48] *** The two boys snicker
[18:49] <Shiro> Still, rich noble who is in line for Hoshido throne
[18:49] <Shiro> I don't think mom isn't a gold digger
[18:50] <DmC_Sparda> All I know, someone going have a lecture of closing their legs
[18:51] <Shiro> And who know? Maybe we'll have a third sibling
[18:51] <DmC_Sparda> Just please. Let the dad not be Sephiroth
[18:52] <Shiro> Yeah.
[18:53] *** The two leave the bar after paying their tab. They know Dante successfully brought her back, but withy a cost
[18:53] *** Shiro has left #suburbansenshi3
[18:53] *** DmC_Sparda [rebellionslayer@theorder.com] has left #suburbansenshi3
[18:53] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: null

---

[20:56] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ™
[21:05] <D.Kakaku> ™ 06: take down

---

[05:45] *** Peinforte Manor
[05:45] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte knocks on the door to The Room
[05:46] <Old Man> Come in.
[05:46] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte comes in, dressed in slightly oversized Pyjamas
[05:46] <Old Man> Why are you dressed like that?
[05:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's 5:45 in the morning.
[05:47] <Old Man> Is it? I can't tell.
[05:47] <Old Man> I gave up measuring time a long... well, time ago.
[05:48] <Old Man> Why are you here so early?
[05:48] * Old Man looks concerned
[05:48] <Old Man> Is something the matter?
[05:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I can't sleep.
[05:49] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte settles in one of his chairs
[05:49] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte finds a small throw blanket and pulls it over herself
[05:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I figured I'd come here and be put to sleep by your incessant monologues.
[05:49] <Old Man> :/
[05:50] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte chuckles
[05:51] <Old Man> That's rich, considering I only really speak when spoken to. :P
[05:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well I'm speaking to you.
[05:51] <Old Man> A fact which continually mystifies me, if I'm honest.
[05:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Why?
[05:52] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We've got a lot in common. More than I'd realised.
[05:52] * Old Man nods slightly.
[05:53] <Old Man> I was rather surprised by that, myself. Despite knowing you for so long, I never really knew that much about you.
[05:53] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Likewise.
[05:54] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> We both have two faces, don't we? The bit we let everyone else see, and then the rest.
[05:57] <Old Man> True. Well, you have a leg up in that sense. You've seen my mind.
[05:58] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte shifts a bit. "Yes, well, there were a lot of things there I didn't expect to see."
[05:58] <Old Man> Yes, well, who says I expected some of that to be there? It's all your fault :P
[05:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Well, pardon me for existing.
[05:59] * Old Man 's expression goes a bit serious
[05:59] <Old Man> Existence is a gift.
[05:59] <Old Man> Treasure it.
[05:59] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Oi, I was just being sarky.
[06:00] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at the old man with a pained expression. "And you should heed your own advice, ba[BLEEP]rd."
[06:00] <Old Man> I've always beeen better at giving it than following it.
[06:02] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Indeed.
[06:03] <Old Man> Well, I'm at the end of my rope, so a little hypocrisy can be forgiven.
[06:03] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Stop trying to bludgeon me with the fact of your advanced age.
[06:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Age is all a state of mind, especially to your people.
[06:04] <Old Man> I'm out of lives, and out of chances.
[06:04] <Old Man> But it's all right.
[06:04] <Old Man> I've had a long, and storied life.
[06:04] <Old Man> I had my run, and did my bit.
[06:05] <Old Man> It's fine.
[06:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[06:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Is it, really?
[06:05] <Old Man> I made my peace long ago.
[06:09] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks at him for a long, hard moment
[06:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> It's really not all right, you know.
[06:09] <Old Man> it is, I assure you.
[06:09] <Old Man> I've had a long time to prepare.
[06:10] <Old Man> Everyone I've ever cared about is long gone, now.
[06:10] <Old Man> Or off on their own miraculous advent--
[06:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> --everyone?
[06:11] * Old Man looks puzzled
[06:11] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Nothing, never mind.
[06:16] <Old Man> Eh?
[06:16] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I said never mind.
[06:17] <Old Man> You'll have to forgive me, I'm a bit slow.
[06:17] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte considers her words caefully.
[06:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> To plagiarise a wiser person than I...
[06:18] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're so cavalier about the end of your days.
[06:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Your life, Old man...
[06:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Once it's over, it's not you who'll miss it.
[06:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Your own death is something that happens to *everyone else*.
[06:19] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Your life is not your own.
[06:20] <Old Man> ...My day is done. No one would miss me.
[06:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ....
[06:20] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You insufferable gobs[BLEEP]te.
[06:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Do you REALLY think that to be true?
[06:21] <Old Man> Well
[06:21] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte looks LIVID
[06:21] <Old Man> What? Why are you getting so angry?
[06:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> .............
[06:21] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You... you oaf.
[06:22] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I haven't got the word for you.
[06:22] <Old Man> Why are you insulting me all of a sudden?
[06:25] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm here. In my pyjamas. Sitting in your chair, trying to cure insomnia by talking to you.
[06:26] <Old Man> Well I am the only other person here, other than your cat?
[06:26] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ...
[06:27] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte grabs an oriental-style pillow off the side of the chair and hurl it at him. Being a soft pillow, it just sort of bounces off the side of his head patheitcally
[06:27] <Old Man> ....
[06:28] <Old Man> Oh! You should go to the HOTEL later today.
[06:28] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Wh?
[06:28] <Old Man> Well it's the 19th of February 2017 there, yes?
[06:28] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I thought you weren't keeping track of time :P
[06:29] <Old Man> Today's the hday the house across the way becomes genocidal and explodes. Something amusing will come of that.
[06:29] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> .....
[06:29] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte 's mouth opens and closes for a second.
[06:30] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I have no response to that, other than "_goddamnit, Tokyo_".
[06:30] * Old Man laughs
[06:30] <Old Man> It;s nothing serious, but you might be amused by it.
[06:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I'm sorry, you said the house went genocidal.
[06:31] <Old Man> As if that hasn't happened before.
[06:31] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> True.
[06:31] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte eyes the old man warily
[06:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> You're fairly on point for someone who's just ready to let it all go.
[06:32] <Old Man> Sometimes I remember things of importance.
[06:32] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Sometimes.
[06:39] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte still looks angry
[06:39] <Old Man> I still don't understand.
[06:39] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> What have I been training you for. If you don't understand, seek understanding.
[06:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> f[BLEEP]kin' hell.
[06:40] * Old Man ponders this for a moment, then goes over to sit by Paisley
[06:40] * Old Man reaches out a hand.
[06:40] * Old Man wants to touch her forehead
[06:40] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> No.
[06:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Do it properly. Not like a weaksauce Time Lord.
[06:41] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> Like a proper initiate.
[06:41] * Old Man pulls his hand back and closes his eyes, summoning up a telepathic link
[06:42] * Old Man reaches out to her mind
[06:43] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte gives him his answer.
[06:43] <Old Man> .............
[06:45] * Old Man doesn't respond for what seems to be a long moment
[06:45] <Old Man> ♦ You're an idiot, Paise.
[06:45] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ I know.
[06:46] <Old Man> ♦ But then... so am I. :)
[06:46] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte smiles a bit
[06:46] * Old Man gently goes to stop the telepathic link
[06:46] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte stops him
[06:47] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Sometimes it's just easier to communicate this way. Especially for people like us.
[06:47] * Old Man mentally nods
[06:48] <Old Man> ♦ Careful, remember what happened last time. :P
[06:48] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ I don't... mind.
[06:48] <Old Man> ♦ ...
[06:49] * Old Man seesm to be shocked and reassessing something, and then quickly recovers
[06:49] <Old Man> ♦ was that a pun? XD
[06:49] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Smooth recovery~
[06:49] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte closes her eyes and leans on head on the old idiot's shoulder
[06:49] * ^her head
[06:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Maybe I can get to sleep this way, your obirng mind will put me under :P
[06:50] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ boring. Christ, there are even thought-typo demons, aren't there?
[06:51] <Old Man> ♦ You're just tired. Sleep now. I'll keep you company in your head.
[06:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Careful, my dreams are quite strange.
[06:51] <Old Man> ♦ You've never seen mine.
[06:51] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> ♦ Well maybe now I will~
[06:51] <Old Man> ♦ Maybe you shall~
[06:52] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte slowly drops off to sleep
[06:53] * Old Man stays awake, mentally putting a warm blanket around her mind and just lets his consciousness drift to wherever it wants to go, zoning out.

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

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

---

[21:37] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: D Point
[21:38] * D Point Councilyouma 1 recieves a message through a channel.
[21:38] <D Point Councilyouma 1> hmmm, The Meeting will be conducted on the Spring Solstice.
[21:39] <D Point Councilyouma 1> I wish for confirmation of this.
[21:39] * D Point Councilyouma 1 gets up
[21:39] * D Point Councilyouma 1 takes off for a portal to Tokyo.
[21:39] *** D Point Councilyouma 1 has left #suburbansenshi3
[21:39] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: null

---

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

---

[08:06] <@spiritflame> The current battle order is: Green, Kouma A, Necromantress, Kouma B, Neidia, Katerina, Megan, Nix
[08:06] <@spiritflame> Battle order cleared

---

[08:11] <Old Man> So who's the boy?
[08:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I don't know. Some poor random soul, dragged into this? A construct of our collective imaginations? A metaphor? It doesn't matter. This is all realfake.
[08:12] <Old Man> Realfake?
[08:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> I've bever come up with a better word for it. It;s' fake, its' bulls[BLEEP]t, but at the same time it's very real, and has consequences.
[08:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> The trick-- the dicey, infuriating trick-- is to develop the insight and wisdom to know what you can and can't disregard.
[08:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> from one perspective, it's all disregardable.
[08:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> But from another, you can't walk away from it.
[08:14] <Old Man> This is giving me a headache.
[08:30] *** TBC

---

[15:39] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: Fezi TV Studio 4-A
[16:02] *** [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvuPbAxY0tI]This theme plays, along with someone singing "Know when you know that you just Can't Qui-iii-ittt"
[16:03] *** This theme plays, along with someone singing "Know when you know that you just Can't Qui-iii-ittt"
[16:04] * DD_Girl_Pink walks out onto the stage in talk show attire.
[16:04] <DD_Girl_Pink> Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the show.
[16:04] * DD_Girl_Pink reads from her card.
[16:05] <DD_Girl_Pink> My first guest today sneaks up on ladies and ensnares them in his grasp of a web.
[16:05] <DD_Girl_Pink> Please, tell us about yourself.
[16:06] <Dr. Heartthrob> well, I have been known to have at least 3-5 women at one time, cause I'ma pimp galore.
[16:07] <DD_Girl_Pink> Remind me on one thing, but is pimpping like popping pimples?
[16:07] *** the audience laughs.
[16:07] <Dr. Heartthrob> no, nothing like that, and I think you would look Very good in the business.
[16:08] <DD_Girl_Pink> Sorry, I'm married to TV.
[16:10] <DD_Girl_Pink> now, how happy is your business?
[16:10] <Dr. Heartthrob> I can safely say we're beating many brothels
[16:11] <DD_Girl_Pink> That's not what Ellan says
[16:11] * Dr. Heartthrob stiffens up, Audience Ooooohhhs
[16:15] <DD_Girl_Pink> Bring her out
[16:16] * Ellan comes out
[16:16] <Ellan> YOU SAID WE WOULD BE TOGETHER
[16:17] <Dr. Heartthrob> Hey, Baby, We will, but we need to be the No. 1 brothel before we get married
[16:32] <DD_Girl_Pink> We'll be back
[16:36] <DD_Girl_Pink> And we're back with another guest, accused of cheating
[16:39] <DD_Girl_Pink> and what do you do for a living?
[16:39] <@spiritflame> ATTENTION: Guest is already registered. Check your password or enter a new name.
[16:40] <Atadazuki> I am a delivery truck driver, not a cheater.
[16:40] * Kinosuzuki shakes her head
[16:41] <DD_Girl_Pink> Let's Bring Kanao Kinosuzuki out!
[16:41] * Kinosuzuki walks out onto the stage and takes her seat, while dramatic music plays
[16:42] <Kinosuzuki> CHEATER!
[16:42] <Atadazuki> WENCH!
[16:42] <DD_Girl_Pink> HOST :D
[16:42] *** laughter ensues
[16:43] * DD_Girl_Pink puts on a serious face
[16:43] <DD_Girl_Pink> now, to get serious for a second, It's Just cheating right?
[16:43] <Kinosuzuki> With my Best Friend
[16:43] *** Oooohhhs ensue
[16:44] <DD_Girl_Pink> I'm afraid she's not here, but the Lie detecter test is!
[16:44] *** Applause ensues
[16:44] * DD_Girl_Pink is handed a manilla folder with the results inside.
[16:46] <DD_Girl_Pink> our lie detector tests are conducted on behalf of the best Police force on Earth, and we have the following questions.
[16:47] <DD_Girl_Pink> Atadazuki-san, we asked you: Did you cheat on Kinosuzuki-san for personal gain? You ansered: No, and the detector results state..........
[16:47] *** FALSE
[16:48] <DD_Girl_Pink> You did NOT tell the truth
[16:48] <Kinosuzuki> ..... Personal Gain?!
[16:48] * Kinosuzuki grabs Atadazuki's shirt by the collar
[16:48] <Kinosuzuki> You Cheated for Personal Gain?!
[16:49] <DD_Girl_Pink> That's not all.
[16:49] <DD_Girl_Pink> we also asked you if you cheated on Kinosuzuki's best friend, you answered no, and the Detector results State...........
[16:50] *** TRUE
[16:50] <DD_Girl_Pink> You Did tell the truth!
[16:50] <Atadazuki> hehe, See, I didn't cheat on your friend! ^___^
[16:51] <Kinosuzuki> ....well NOW, I'm Hurt about the "Personal Gain" Part! WHO DID YOU CHEAT WITH?!
[16:51] <Atadazuki> O__O
[16:51] <Atadazuki> ummmmm. uhhhhhhh....
[16:52] <DD_Girl_Pink> Why not Bring her on a future show!
[16:52] <Kinosuzuki> Yes, Why don't you?! <_O
[16:52] * Atadazuki is now nervous! O__O
[16:53] <DD_Girl_Pink> We'll be back for a few final words
[16:57] <DD_Girl_Pink> And WE're back with a final word
[16:57] <DD_Girl_Pink> Today's guests deal with the kind of cheating we don't find in video games, and tha's sad.
[16:58] <DD_Girl_Pink> you can only use Gameshark for cheating, and not with another person, only in a video game!
[16:58] <DD_Girl_Pink> Ja, Mattao Yo!
[16:59] * DD_Girl_Pink gets up and handshakes her guesta while the opening music plays again with credits.

---

[17:00] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: Null

---

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

---

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

---

[20:17] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: HOTEL From Feb 24, @ 11:50 PM (23:50) Onwards
[20:20] <Rethania> There you go, not only were they not aware, but they had no way of even knowing at all, Unless whatever that device the apprentice had was distributed to every youma.
[20:22] <Rethania> but, there was only few of the devices, and according to the age of said apprentice, they were recent builds.
[20:23] <Rethania> Another factor to consider was the banning of communication between the moon and the earth, which is even more evidence of them not being able to know about it.
[20:23] <Busted watch> ♦ ..... are you saying that all of this could have been prevented if we, along with the queen, had not enacted a communications ban between the Moon Kingdom and the Earth Kingdom?!
[20:24] <Rethania> All of that and more, Brother.
[20:25] <Rethania> now, Call off your order and stand trial.
[20:25] <Monica> .......(By Seraph Lamington's wingspan, that just screams of hastiness. Was there really nobody who could've just popped over to say hi and get some concrete answers? If that gongshow is an indication of the general level of actual competence on their end, it's an honest wonder how they didn't end up shooting each other.)
[20:26] * Monica just face-paws.
[20:27] <Megan O`Cain> (Sheesh. This is completely unbelieveable. Of all things that could have happened, the war back then could have been easily prevented by dissolving the comms ban.)
[20:27] <Busted watch> ♦ Why should I? You knew the communication ban as well as everyone else, no one in the moon kingdom was allowed to contact anyone on earth, and vice versa.
[20:29] <Monica> (...geez, stubborn until the end.)
[20:29] <Rethania> Why don't you realise that we are in a different age, where everyone can communicate freely with no restrictions.
[20:30] <Rethania> another thing we have in common now is that neither of us have a queen anymore.
[20:31] <Rethania> we should also be reaching out to eachother instead of fighting something that didn't need to be fought in the first place.
[20:33] <Rethania> I want you to come down, by yourself and LOOK at where we are and what has been achieved.
[20:34] <Busted watch> ♦ ....very well, but I do not want whoever's with you to attack on sight.
[20:34] * Busted watch buzzes
[20:35] * Extremely old Youma looks around and squints
[20:35] <Extremely old Youma> It's very bright in here.
[20:35] *** Alex Kirltarian has joined #suburbansenshi3
[20:35] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Alex Kirltarian
[20:35] <@Chateaux Concierge> You cannot imagine the intensity of the f[BLEEP]ks I do not give today!
[20:35] <Alex Kirltarian> hmmm, strange, his signal led me here.
[20:36] * Alex Kirltarian looks up, and points his sword ay the old youma.
[20:36] <Rethania> Lower your sword, he carries nothing but memories and compassion.
[20:37] * Alex Kirltarian lowers it albeit a bit reluctantly.
[20:37] <Megan O`Cain> Good boy. Now, sit down, shut up, and listen.
[20:38] <Rethania> Do you have a council, sir?
[20:38] <Rethania> like a senate or a form of government?
[20:39] <Extremely old Youma> for the past 20 or so years, we've had a collective council, I think there are 4 members for each point.
[20:40] <Extremely old Youma> 16 members in total.
[20:40] <Extremely old Youma> but, lately, there have been what is best described as "Rogues"
[20:41] <Extremely old Youma> just as you dont want whatever these talks are to occur... the... rougues are......
[20:41] * Extremely old Youma starts snoring.
[20:41] * Rethania snaps his fingers, trying to wake him up.
[20:41] * Monica reaches a hand over and loudly snaps to wake him up.
[20:41] <Megan O`Cain> Hmmm. From what I've been hearing, only one point seems to be having problems with these rogues.
[20:42] <Extremely old Youma> HUH Wha?!
[20:42] <Monica> You were saying something about rogues?
[20:43] <Extremely old Youma> oh, right, one point has a problem with it, so much so that they tried preventing their leaders from attending recent council meetings.
[20:43] <Extremely old Youma> um... A Point, I believe?
[20:44] <Alex Kirltarian> So, this "A Point" shares my sentiments.
[20:45] * Megan O`Cain telekinetically thumps Alex on the forehead, "Quiet, you."
[20:45] <Extremely old Youma> They were worried that they would be overrun and killed or something to that nature, I can't blame them for thinking that way, but I don't like what they're doing.
[20:46] <Extremely old Youma> It's almost like they're trying to justify their thinking.
[20:47] <Extremely old Youma> inspired by human people like some lonils Trample or something.
[20:50] <Extremely old Youma> Meanwhile the rest of us are living off our own little piece of underground land, none of us had anything human made since about 25 years ago.
[20:51] <Extremely old Youma> intrestingly, before then we've gotten some human stuff for 20 years before then, now it's scrap from explorations.
[20:51] *** At this point Eitak walked in (it is at this point 12:20 AM)
[20:54] <Megan O`Cain> So, you haven't had any new technology since?
[20:54] <Extremely old Youma> no, not that we have seen from exploration scraps.
[20:55] <Megan O`Cain> I see.
[20:56] <Extremely old Youma> Every now and then, we get visits from someone talking about what goes on the surface, but it's usually bad major news like metal flight machines knocking down metallic spires.
[20:58] <Megan O`Cain> (September 9th, 2001. Seemed like things went downhill from there.)
[20:58] <Megan O`Cain> (^11th)
[21:00] <Extremely old Youma> It's events like those that make us think that the Earth Kingdom as it stands may not be a safe place, but a lot of us remained hopeful that we would be unified for at least once in history.
[21:01] <Megan O`Cain> We can always hope that it can come to be.
[21:01] <Extremely old Youma> a lot of us disagree on many things, but we don't start wars over them.
[21:01] <Monica> ......(Nevermind the fact that this "Earth Kingdom" as they know it ceased to exist since all those millenia ago.)
[21:02] <Extremely old Youma> that's what we now have a council for.
[21:04] <Alex Kirltarian> Sounds like all you did was have your anger transferred away form you and put onto them.
[21:05] <Rethania> and what about the wars on earth in the past few Centuries :/
[21:05] <Alex Kirltarian> ...alright, point made.
[21:06] <Alex Kirltarian> now what do you want, besides Unification?
[21:08] <Extremely old Youma> that is all we wanted, unification.
[21:08] <Rethania> well, you can't get it with humans, they can't even unify themselves.
[21:08] <Rethania> so there is only one more option.
[21:08] * Rethania turns to Alex.
[21:09] <Alex Kirltarian> ..... No, You Don't mean!?
[21:10] <Rethania> Yes, I do mean it.
[21:11] <Rethania> Megan, take his communicator and tell his forces to retreat.
[21:14] <Megan O`Cain> Alright.
[21:14] <Rethania> now, there is only one option for a unification, and humans are too dangerous in a few locales at the moment, but there are a few locales where there is peace, but I am suggesting unifying with us.
[21:14] * Megan O`Cain stands up and goes to take Alex's communicator
[21:15] * Alex Kirltarian communicator is taken
[21:15] <Alex Kirltarian> Hey, give that back.
[21:16] <Megan O`Cain> No. You've caused enough trouble.
[21:17] <Extremely old Youma> Unification with the sky kingdom?
[21:17] <Megan O`Cain> ♦ All units, this is Captain Megan O`Cain. Stand down and return to your bases. I say again, stand down and return to your home bases.
[21:19] <Rethania> why yes, two differnt cultures can learn a lot through unification, though, there will be concessions on my brother's part.
[21:19] <Rethania> you have a court system, correct?
[21:20] <Extremely old Youma> we had one, a sort of three youma judge and jury and one who carries out the sentences, that was beofre then, but now we have none.
[21:21] <Rethania> a tribunal and executioner style system? sounds complicated.
[21:22] <Megan O`Cain> What would you suggest instead, Rethania?
[21:23] <Rethania> It depends, Are there casualties?
[21:25] <Rethania> If there are, I suggest our regular court system, though instead of us presiding
[21:28] <Megan O`Cain> Hmm.
[21:31] <Rethania> it would consist of those who were not in the vicinity of the event.
[21:36] <Rethania> if not, I suggest an invasion charge.
[21:38] <Rethania> which, in certain situations is a war crime in and of itself
[21:39] <Alex Kirltarian> So? You probably won't find any, I believe we are within our right.
[21:43] <Rethania> alright, do we have the numbers, Megan?
[21:43] <Megan O`Cain> If I may ask, what numbers are you looking for?
[21:44] <Rethania> Casualties, That will determine which court system my brother lands in.
[21:48] *** determining...... 3 casualties, non fatal.
[21:48] <Megan O`Cain> From what I'm able to gather, only 3 non-fatal casualties.
[21:50] <Rethania> well, congrats brother, I'm sure you'll love the tribunal, along with whoever caused the casualties.
[21:51] <Rethania> you may take him away.
[21:51] * Megan O`Cain stretches a bit
[21:54] <Rethania> Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to put in my resignaiton letter and take any punishments dealt out to me, meanwhile, my brother can be taken to whatever cell you think is best for him.
[21:55] * Rethania walks off and hops in his vehicle.
[21:55] *** Rethania has left #suburbansenshi3
[21:55] <Alex Kirltarian> What kind of cell is that?
[21:55] * Extremely old Youma gets real close, he looks angry.
[21:57] <Extremely old Youma> You tried killing our people, I do not take kindly to that, but I can't deal with you now since you're getting a tribunal, It's time for the cell.
[21:57] <Megan O`Cain> (Ooooo, he ain't a happy camper.)
[21:57] * Extremely old Youma picks up Alex.
[21:57] <Alex Kirltarian> Let me go, you Monsterous brute!
[21:58] * Extremely old Youma walks off to a portal to D Point with Alex in tow.
[21:58] *** Extremely old Youma has left #suburbansenshi3
[21:59] *** Alex Kirltarian has left #suburbansenshi3 (Auuugh)
[21:59] <Megan O`Cain> Silence, you. You brought this upon yourself.
[22:00] *** 1:00 AM
[22:00] <Monica>“ Karma's a b[BLEEP]ch.”
[22:01] *** ....ok, 12:40 AM, then...
[22:02] <Megan O`Cain> Indeed. Stupid little s[BLEEP]t. Trying to start a war against a race that wanted nothing more than peace with the Moon Kingdom. It'll be interesting to hear what sort of punishment he'll receive.
[22:07] <Monica> Ah well. If he does something idiotic again, then he can be dealt with.
[22:08] <Megan O`Cain> Yep. Anyway, I better get some sleep. Take care, Monica.
[22:08] *** Megan O`Cain has left #suburbansenshi3 (Good night.)
[22:09] *** Monica [CarnageShura@CarnageDimension.nw] has left #suburbansenshi3
[22:10] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: null

---

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

---

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




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

---

[14:00] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: Adama, Ethiopia
[14:01] *** The sun rises, blazing hot, in the African Dawn, and stretches across a lone line of bulls that stretches for miles.
[14:03] * Knives by the hundreds are drawn as the sun nears the horizon, and bulls' throats are fastened back, and olive oil is poured upon their backs...
[14:05] *** As the dawn light shines upon each bull, it's throat is slit, according to the rites of the hecatombs of antiquity, and bloody knives are held up to the dawn sun.
[14:06] *** in a long line, from East to West, the animals are sacrificed one by one, as they are illuminated by rosy-fingered dawn.

---

[19:59] * Burroughs drifts into a back room of the Hotel. She looks around, then claps her hands twice.
[19:59] *** The room lights up, revealing plenty of confortable seats~
[20:00] <@spiritflame> Current Location is: Community Icebreaker, February 2017
[20:00] <Burroughs> ♫ And we are live ♫
[20:00] <D.Kakaku> Will e do it live?!
[20:01] <D.Kakaku> DO IT LIVE!, guh- I'll write it and We'll DO IT LIVE! ....... F[BLEEP]king Thing SUCKS! XD
[20:01] <Burroughs> ♦ .......
[20:01] <D.Kakaku> It's a line from one of the idiots on TV early in his carrer.
[20:03] <Matsumi Kaze> ugh headache
[20:03] <D.Kakaku> welcome
[20:04] *** @Paisley Pythia Peinforte [paisely_p@firstcircle.karn03-kasterborusrelay.sen] has joined #suburbansenshi3
[20:04] *** @Chateaux Concierge sets mode +o @Paisley Pythia Peinforte
[20:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, @Paisley Pythia Peinforte
[20:04] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: over nine thousand
[20:04] * @Paisley Pythia Peinforte has moved to: [ (Three Weeks Ago) ]
[20:04] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] Allo
[20:04] <D.Kakaku> Hello
[20:05] <Matsumi Kaze> hi there
[20:05] * D.Kakaku stretches
[20:05] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] So, are we going to get truly decisive, incisive questions tonight~?
[20:06] <Burroughs> ♦ That's what I'm hoping for♫
[20:06] <D.Kakaku> Yes, Where the hell is the Film I was promised?
[20:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] I set it alight.
[20:06] <Burroughs> ♦ What film?
[20:06] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] It keeps homeless people warm and fed.
[20:07] <D.Kakaku> Not a movie, I mean actual film
[20:07] <D.Kakaku> ..... THAT WAS TOEI'S PROPERTY! o__o
[20:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] Oh noo~
[20:07] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] Toei's property~
[20:08] <D.Kakaku> From 1967!
[20:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] Whatever shall I do~
[20:08] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] S[BLEEP]ts given: 0
[20:08] <D.Kakaku> It was 109 episodes of the first Shojo Anime, Mahoutsukai Sally.
[20:08] *** Megan O`Cain has joined #suburbansenshi3
[20:08] <@Chateaux Concierge> Evening, Megan O`Cain
[20:08] <@Chateaux Concierge> Welcome to Suburban Senshi: There comes a time to put principle aside and do what's right
[20:09] <Megan O`Cain> Hey, what's going on in here?
[20:09] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] I misheard that as Menstural Sally and was momentarily confused.
[20:09] <D.Kakaku> I was tasked with making new overlays for the opening and ending credits to send to a comapny called "CartoonGameshow Network".
[20:10] <Burroughs> ♦ This was supposed to be an icebreaker, but instead Danny is trying to bring in dramu. We're supposed to be asking the thought-provoking stuff.
[20:10] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] Oh I'm being provoked~ ♫
[20:10] <D.Kakaku> oh well, that's what we have DVDs and tapes for.
[20:11] * Masked Figure is sitting on top of a shrubbery.
[20:12] <Megan O`Cain> Of course you would be, Paisley. :P
[20:12] * D.Kakaku answers his phone
[20:12] <D.Kakaku> mmhmm..... yes....uh huh..... ok.
[20:12] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] So anyway
[20:13] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] Anything other than licenssing deals and Television Networks no one's ever heard of?
[20:13] <D.Kakaku> Yeah, How's everyone doing?
[20:13] <Masked Figure> You're trying to hard to be interesting. Sometimes less is more
[20:14] * Matsumi Kaze just listens
[20:14] <@Paisley Pythia Peinforte> [(Three Weeks Ago)] I'm doing fairly well, considering I very nearly burned my kitchen down.
[20:15] <Burroughs> ♦ ....when and how.