Monday, June 27, 2011

Dear, dear...

Ridley, my friend, time paradoxes are not good things, you know. Should you arrive when I am not around, please do not attempt to go through with the procedure yourself. We would like to avoid a repeat of what happened in... well, nearly every other time something like this has been attempted.

Oh, and watch out when you get to that rest stop, the man in the black mask will be waiting for you. And you want to know why you think he is familiar? You do remember this incident, no? I was attacked by a rather odd gentleman, he returned to the house and wrote on my blog? When you first showed up and when we found Madison. Yes, I do know more, but I do not have to tell you all now do I?

You want a taste? Fine, Lucifer was not real. He was never real. You all recall how the Master skillfully and brilliantly distracted you all with that nonsense about the revenants? That is all Lucifer ever was, a distraction. Albeit for a target a bit more powerful and resourceful than you mortal blasphemers, and one that required a bit of convincing that he was actually fighting what he thought he was. Hence, my capture at the hands of that fool. And perhaps we threw a bit of retconning through the timestream in there as well. It did work rather marvelously, I must admit. Of course he caught on eventually and we did end up having to terminate Lucifer a bit earlier than planned, but alas he was from the beginning but a pawn to be sacrificed, so it was no real loss. The time paradox? No, sorry, no time to explain right now, there is business that we must attend to.

Come along my dear, we are going to go see our good friend Cross. One of our compatriots has fallen by his hand and for that there must be retribution. Oh, I do hope that he is reading this. I know what he is planning and I know where to find him.Yes, yes, come along child, we really should be setting off if we want to reach him in time.

Time. Everything just keeps coming back to time, doesn't it?

~Regards

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Once More...

--ean, what the hell is he talking about? He didn't even leave the Ark the other day. I saw him, he was just sitting up in his room muttering to himself. I don't think he even had a computer with him the whole day.

I think he's losing. We've verified Knuckles' disappearance, it matches what he described, but there hasn't been any overt activity by the Children since then. And they can't behave the way he's talking about.

That is what I have been trying to tell you all for some time. I say we kill him and be done with it.

Of course you want him dead, Eternity, he's the only one who's actually tried to do anything about your activities.

Whatever are you talking about?

Please. Everyone knows about your little side dealings. We just reckon that if the Master leaves you to it, there's no reason for us to give a damn.

Are you questioning my loyalty to the Master?

What I want to know is what are you even doing here? You aren't here for the "Princess" and it's not as though anything else happens here.

You think so? But my business is none of your concern.

I think it is. Archangel's still only here temporarily, I'm the one in charge around here.

So you are. I am just passing through, what of it?

You never just pass through, what are you here for?

I am afraid that I cannot divulge that information. Now if you will excuse me...

No you don't. I'm getting some damn answers for once. Othello, grab him.

Phantasm, this is most unwise.

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Bastard. They'll eat you alive for this.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Everything Is Fine

Ridley, I know I am rather late, but honestly, letting yourself get beaten by that Konaa brat. You are making us all look bad here. What are you doing anyway? I know you have finally captured those two runners, but you have not updated your blog. What are you doing?

Meanwhile, things have been rather uneventful. The Princess is busy getting caught up on schoolwork, and I suppose a good education is important, so I really have not had much to do. Phantasm is very unhappy that Salem is in Boston with Ridley, nobody knows how the kid managed to get there and nobody even realized that the kid was missing until somebody looked at Ridley's blog and saw Ridley mention it. Phantasm called Ridley to yell at him, but it is not as though he can do anything about it now. That kid is a strange one alright.

Oh, that last post, the nursery rhyme? There is not anything to worry about. That was just the girl. I do not know how she got into my account, but then I do not know how she got here to begin with. She could have been following me for quite some time now even; no one else can see her here, it is possible that she has been hidden from me as well up until now. The little Black-Eyed girl. The same one that came to me all those years ago, before I joined the Master. Has she been following me this whole time? If I am not mistaken then the Children do not age, but I did not think they were immortal. I do not know what is going on now, I thought it was all tied to Lucifer but he is dead now.

I have heard rumors that Cross will be passing through here on his way back from business in Europe. I never did like him much, there is something that he is hiding from all of us, even from the Master. He is an untrustworthy sort.

Oh, right, none of you know about Cross, do you? Of course not, he is not the type to leave records of his presence. Heh, I am sure he will not be amused that I have written this. It matters not though, I am his superior, it is not as though he can do anything about it.

That will be all now. Fiona is finished with her tutor for the day and will be in to see what I am doing on her computer again. Must not have her finding my little blog just yet now can we?

~Regards

Sunday, June 19, 2011

there was a crooked man

...who walked a crooke d mile
he found a crooked sixpence
upon a crooed stile
he bougfht a crooked cat
who caught a crooked mouse
and they all lived togther
ina littel crooked house

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

The Devil's Children

You shut the door. But it doesn't matter, they're still out there. You can still hear them, you can still hear her, screaming at you to let them come in. She tells you you're going to die... it's already too late, you've seen them, you've talked with them, you're going to die. Isn't that what happens to those who have seen the Children? The Children with the black eyes. The Devil's Children.

It's been an hour now. Why are they still there? Why hasn't the landlady shooed them? Surely someone must have complained, they're so damn loud. You can't take it anymore, this has to stop. You get up from your chair and walk swiftly back to the door, you open it. There's nothing out there, only darkness. Empty. But they're still there, you know they are, you can still hear them in your head, they want you to let them in, LET THEM IN! COME IN GODDAMMIT, THE DOOR'S OPEN, COME IN, COME IN, COME IN DAMN YOU AND GET IT OVER WITH!

Your neighbor opens their door to see what all that screaming is. He looks down the hall at you with an expression that tells you he thinks you're mad. You're the mad one? How could he not hear the Children and their screaming? But it's gone now. The yelling. You don't hear them anymore and so you start to think maybe you are going mad. Black-eyed children? Something that can't really exist, surely. But you remember, you remember that there were stories; you remember the old Cajun down the street who used to tell stories to the children. It was so long ago, but you still remember the stories. You hadn't thought about those old stories for more than a decade, but you remember now.

In the old days, all the children would go down to see the old Cajun gentleman and listen to his stories. He told about the Black-Eyed Children, didn't he? About strange children with dark eyes who approached people and asked for favors. People felt fear when encountering these children. The old man loved to frighten the neighborhood children, you see. He told them about the Axe Man of New Orleans and about the Comte Saint Germaine. About the Salem Witch Trials, or what he claimed really happened in 1692. There were tales of strange creatures which were known to the Japanese, turtle demons with bowls of water in their skulls and vampire like things with floating severed heads. He once spoke of a little girl made of wood who could control people by wrapping strings around them like puppets. He told of the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred and how he met his grisly end. And the Angel of Fallen Light, who had been cursed by God to wander the Earth for eternity and who, it was said, hated all creatures with power like himself and would attempt to purge these beings from existence.

There was one that particularly stood out though. You aren't really sure why you think of this one more clearly than all the rest. Maybe because of how eerie it was now, thinking back to how the old man died. The story of the Tall Man. It was said that the Tall Man had lived forever and that he would live still until the Earth was made desolate, or even until the last star in the night sky had blinked out. He wore a dark suit and a tie and his face never appeared the same twice, if he even had a face at all. He went after children who were bad and took them away where they were never seen again. He walked among the trees and could be found in any forest or woods to those who were foolish enough to seek him out. These were found later, their bodies ripped open and hung from the trees. And to all those who knew too much of the Tall Man, madness surely followed.

One of the children had asked the old Cajun how he could know so much then, if madness came to those who possessed knowledge. The old man replied that he could not be affected because he was already quite mad, and he began to laugh like a madman and you and all the children became frightened and ran away. You think that was the last time the children were allowed to go and listen to the Cajun's stories. Some months later some kids in the neighborhood went missing. Some people blamed it on the old Cajun, as he too had disappeared. After some days of looking, they found the old Cajun. In the woods, his body mangled and impaled on the trees, his organs removed and intestines strung up in the branches. With him were some scraps of clothing from the missing children. They were never found.

You think over the stories again. There's something missing, something not quite right. You notice the lights begin to flicker and the radio is just static. Wait a minute, you didn't turn the radio on. You know you didn't. The door's still open so you close it, then you see something move out of the corner of your eye. Something you can't make out, it's hidden in the shadows, and those damn lights are only making things worse. You cross the room and turn off the radio. Now there's that whispering in your ears. The story, about the Tall Man, why does it sound so... what? You can't quite place it, but you know there's something familiar, something you should remember and it's not just because of some old fairy tale you heard when you were little. Damn, that whispering, maybe you are going mad, where is it coming from? You see something moving in the shadows again and try to follow it, to find out what it is. Whispering in your head. It's so loud, why is it so loud? It's only a whisper, just a whisper, but it's so very loud.

It's too much. You walk into the kitchen, you have to sit down, try to think. Didn't you just close that door? Yes, yes, you know you closed the door only a minute ago, why is it open again? The girl is there again. The little girl with the empty, black eyes. She's standing outside and... she's talking to someone. Someone inside the house. You lean over, trying to get a look at who it is but all you can make out is a shadow, an odd shadow. Shaped like a man, but not the right size for a man. The whispering in your head, it's the shadow, you can hear it now. The whispering tells her to come inside. She turns and looks right at you and starts walking towards you. You want to get up, to leave before she reaches you but you can't because the whispering is still so loud and you can't think clearly. And it's telling you that you need to stay. The little girl stops in front of you; she stares at you with those solid black eyes. She speaks, her voice cold and without emotion. She says

"The Tall Man would like to play a game with you, sir. He would be ever so displeased if you were to refuse."

You can't speak, still staring into those eyes, like looking into the void. She turns around to face the door and you turn with her. The shadow is there again, slithering into the room; but now you can see what was attached to the shadow...

Then you wonder why it all seems so familiar.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

From the Ark

Hello, hello, my dears.

I am at the Ark now and have just recently begun my new assignment. You all remember the first time I was here, do you not? Good. You will recall, then, that there was that girl here, investigating the death of some punk who was bothering Ridley about getting into our little circle here. Ridley was not happy about being pestered by this child and promptly separated the lad from some of his vital organs. Some of our dear boys came and cleaned house, but it seems they missed this little girl, and then the Master began to take an interest in her.

Well our dear Princess returned from after a week in the Master's domain. Honestly, what is it with you people and your blogs, ? It has been such a long time, I scarcely remember... but I digress. As you can see, the Master has taken a rather very different approach than normal with this one, and she has come over to us quite readily.

So, you may be wondering what am I to do in all this? Compliments of her dear 'Prince', is to recieve an inheritance from her dear departed mother. It was such a tragic accident. I am to serve as an... executor; someone must keep the money safe until our Princess is ready to recieve it. I might perhaps act in the role of a mentor even, imparting some of the wisdom I have gained through my years of servitude to our glorious Black King. After all, the children are our future.

Well, first things first of course, I had would have to introduce myself. Properly, I mean; that little encounter outside the Ark does not count, and was over a month ago besides. So I headed straightaway across this little town to Fiona's neighborhood. I was expected, Mr. Adalheidis had already received word of his ex-wife's death, and so I was let right on in. I laid down the details for him: Fiona's mother left her a very large sum of money in her will, however as she is a minor I was to have control over the money. She would be granted an allowance, so long as I see fit. Fiona entered then, her look of shock a delicious indication that she still remembered me. However, I believe she recognized that surely I must be a subject of her dear ‘Prince’, and she sat down to listen as I explained the situation.

She appeared quite joyous at the news, though of course she was very unhappy to hear of her dear mother’s death. She remained a bit distrustful of me I could see, remembering that night at the Ark. Needless complications; I shall remedy that easily at the soonest possible convenience. Dear old father remained wary as well, sensible chap, I will grant him that, but some things are best to take care of sooner rather than later. Not quite as simple as I would have hoped since the man should have no reason to distrust me. It is possibly nothing, but I shall keep an eye on that one…


And so you have the situation as it stands for the moment. I shall be returning to see Fiona again soon, to... help her find some ways to use her inheritance. For starters, I believe a princess should have a palace, and there is a just lovely old place outside town that should suit the Master's purposes. Hmmm.... come to think of it, this place is lacking an owner now that old Maalik is dead, perhaps....

Well, I must bit you all adieu, dear readers. It has been a fine day in which business has been conducted, and one needs be well rested to keep one step ahead of one's enemies.

~Regards

Saturday, June 4, 2011

aeifklhsdafi---yo, what the hell is that?

I am rather busy over here! What are you babbling about?

That! What the fuck is that!?

I do not know to what you are referring! I see nothing!

Ridley! Archangel! That creature is coming back! Get out of the way!

Oh, bother.

Dammit!

8923rhfadsfjdhy82n83 rm[[asdf9]]

And so we bring you Carthage.

The Angels of the Tall One devoured by the Light.

Yes, I do believe I have heard that one before. Would you care to try devouring me again?

Blackness reigns.

What the hell is he talking about now?

Ignore it. There's too much Bleeding here, it's going to break soon.

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What was that? Who is Dolly?

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Break it now?

Archy, you crazy bastard don't even think about it!

I believe you may have something there. Hehehe...

Agents of Madness! You would not dare....

Oh, how wrong you are. It is rather easy, just li----


Coronado you bastard, going and ruining all our fun like that. Nevermind, you've accomplished naught.
Damn you alejandro

Ending it. This is it. Kill the Cihldren, kill Jaluha, kill The Operator, kill Ridley
kil you. endit .why/

mya rm why ithasn tcomeb ack/ nohe alcannnt ... goiiiiiiing numbcant fee;l anythig

its darktoo dark cant feelseew hatis this? roots/wy?

bleedingbleedingcantholdtimenothingmoreeternityiscoming
thetreeohgodthetreewhatisthisitsnot/shoudntbeherenotrealnotnormal
zerowasmadhewasmaditwasalieitsnotrealwhyisitherenononononononono

Friday, June 3, 2011

Lost Time part II

I do believe they are starting to get to me. How could I not notice that it has been a week? They are good, very good, to be able to cloak their temporal manipulations from me. Now two days gone in only a couple of hours, it could not have been more than five or six hours since I wrote that last post.

Right now I have but a temporary and very short respite. A brief recap of events shall we?

Lucifer and he  appeared, along with that Black-Eyed boy I had spoken to before. Lucifer and he were fighting each other until they saw where they had come out of the nexus at. Lucifer broke off to face me and then he attacked the Child. Lucifer attempted to land several punches against me, which I blocked simply using my cane, then struck him in the jaw. However, it seems I fell into a bit a trap and he managed to land his next blow. It was nothing serious and I quickly recovered myself; we continued fighting for a while.

Meanwhile Ridley, feeling he needed to kill something or get himself killed, lunged at him as well, with his hunting knife already drawn and ready to cut into something. He cut into his wrist and gold 'blood' was spilling everywhere, and dissolving just about everything that came into contact with it, including Ridley's flesh, and that of the Child. The Child became enraged at this at jumped onto his back when a shadow I recognized too well fell over the area and a cold wind began to blow. All was plunged into darkness all of a sudden, and of what followed I am uncertain. I was hit by something, and I believe I may have opened a gateway and escaped for the next thing I realized I was back inside. The normal daylight had returned, he and the Child were gone, leaving only myself with Ridley and Lucifer. Ridley seemed not to have sustained much injury, merely what he had acquired from his blood. Lucifer and myself however had come out of it rather the worse for wear. Lucifer was now missing an arm, and would then have fallen to Ridley's tender mercies had he not managed to exit back into the nexus. For my own injuries it appeared that something had broken my arm, possibly trying to tear it off as it had done to Lucifer. The cause of which is still unknown.

Thus, the first battle is done, its outcome remains in question. Temporal energies are still fluctuating and dimensional tearing is getting worse. One of the pieces may have been removed from the board. Uncertain. Too many unknown factors still remain.

I do not know, I feel something is going to happen again soon. The second battle may not be far off.

~Regards

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Lost Time

Well well well well well...

I see that there has been quite a bit going on in my absence. Now, you may wonder what was happening to me for me to be gone for such a stretch. You are probably disappointed that it was really nothing that will be very interesting to describe. We shall come to that in due course. However, for the brief period that I have been back there have been some remarkable occurrences taking place, one in fact I have only just returned from. These also we shall get to at the proper moment.

Where do we begin? Ah right, after Ridley arrived and blew up my room at the inn. Should I perhaps refresh your memory? It was a while ago for you all was it not? Well, there I was just enjoying a good book when that girl informs me that Ridley is outside. Now we had not seen much of him since his little falling into madness way back when. He had been possessed by Lucifer, who, it seems, has lost his own body and currently exists purely as a thought construct. I am pleased to say that this is my doing, although that is why he was coming after me. Wanted to get control of me, for revenge of course, but he also thought it would allow him to get closer enough to the Master to do... well, something. We are still not yet very clear on that aspect of the situation.

So I was transported to Lucifer's domain for 'processing'. Or to be more accurate, to be tortured for three weeks while he attempted to break into my mind. He seemed to have forgotten that he tried that once before and it did not work, and did nothing to attempt to gain better results. I am quite sorry to say that this is all the detail I can give you. I am sure you were expecting a bit more with my being away so long. If you like, I suppose I could go into great detail about how I was tortured during the three weeks. Should any of my dear readers be into such things.

Eventually he realized that I would not break and so tired of me, dumping me back here at the house. Intact I may be, but three weeks of persecution at the hands of a madman with delusions of godhood does take its toll on one. Weakened as I was I would be unable to open a Gateway and a trip on foot would do nothing to help my condition; as such I contacted the Ark for some assistance and was told it would be forthcoming. In the meantime I was informed of these recent developments. This mostly confirmed some things which have been written on my blog in the last month, but there were some more recent happenings of which all of you out there are unaware. I am also troubled by those last two posts Ridley made. But, updates first.

I learned from Phantasm that the girl, Madison, had disappeared from the Ark, though with as much attention as they were paying her, I wondered that she had not simply walked out all on her own. Secondly, there was the little issue of the Black Eyed Children. There had been increased activity ever since my little encounter last month and they appeared to be acting aggressively towards the Disciples, many had disappeared or wound up dead somehow, though nothing like what happened to Knuckles, it had been the Children's more standard methods. Suddenly it had ceased altogether. Dropped below even normal levels of activity, almost nothing. Given some past experience I would say that this has me even more worried. The Children must hunt. If they are not, then it means they are frightened of something. I will have to consult with the Master...

I digress. I was still speaking with Phantasm, she was filling me in on Ridley and Maalik's little trip back here where they had encountered the Manifestation, when I heard a noise outside. Just a slight noise it may have been, but it was off somehow. Not a usual outdoors noise. I would have investigated but that soon proved unnecessary; the source of the disturbance drew attention to itself. From the next room I heard the sound glass shattering and repeated once or twice as someone, clearly, was breaking out the window. I removed my pistol from the desk drawer and set out to confront who or whatever it was that had just broken in.

Cautiously I peered around the corner with my pistol at the ready for the first sign of an attack; there I saw that an old shovel had been used to destroy the lovely front window. Not a second later I was shown the face of the trespasser and who should it be but my dear old friend Davey. Yes, that blasphemer whose mind I had had such fun screwing around with before other matters took precedent. I had already learned of his presence here when Ridley escaped from the labyrinth. He appeared to be alone, without his dear sister and I was greatly disappointed. I had hoped I might be able to fix some... problems which had arisen. Nevertheless one must allow themselves to be discouraged, a gift is a gift after all.

As the boy climbed inside I took aim with my pistol, then fired a shot at his knee. Somehow he dodged it; appearing quite surprised to see me there he speedily recovered himself and found cover before I could fire again. It was then that I was put on the defensive as he revealed his own firearm and took a couple shots in my direction, forcing me to duck back around the corner. We were both covered then, either one of us tries to come out the other ones going to shoot. Well, this was a right fine situation we had going on here, so perhaps it would be an opportune moment to tempt fate a bit. Somebody had to do something to get this thing rolling, and naturally it would have to be me. The boy was peering through his barrier just enough to see me should I attempt anything, I do not think he was expecting me to suddenly leap out and rush across the room. He raised himself, ready to fire a shot, and I did the same.

There was but a moment of pain as the bullet cut into my shoulder. Nevermind, such things are trivial in the service of our Master. But I saw the boy fall backwards and knew I had also managed to hit my target. Dammit, I was still weakened from the weeks trapped in Lucifer's realm, a bullet wound was not helping matters any; I would have to end this quickly. I leapt over the couch that the boy had been ducked behind; he lay on the ground, one arm lying limp as the blood oozed out. There was another crack. Must have switched hands, under better circumstances I would have realized; he shot me again. It was starting to get to me now, with the state I was in already even the Master's powers were taking a while to patch things up. But I would not be bested this day and was able to land on my prey exactly as I had planned. Needed to work quickly now.

I knocked his gun out of his hand before he could try anything more and, holding my pistol with my good arm, attempted at knocking him out with the butt. To no avail, as it seemed he would be having none of that. So I caught him off guard a tad with a blow to the jaw using my bad arm. This made the pain spread faster so I knew I would need to hurry. Quickly, while my dear friend had not a moment to recover, I took another shot; it was clear though that I was out of it, my blows were not having the desired effect, my first one did so only because of surprise. Getting his one arm free he was able to deliver a punch right in my face. Had I been merely human I have no doubt my nose would have been broken. The pain from this attack coupled with two gunshot wounds and the fatigue my entire body had been feeling since my return were making me dizzy. He took the opportunity to throw me off and attempted to find his gun. The idea that this might be the end for me did cross my mind, but I try to never dwell on such thoughts. There was blood in my mouth and the taste of it, well, it makes me feel alive. I would not be dying without a fight. Of course, you can see that I did not die.

Of course, there also was no fight. By me, at any rate. Oh, I was all ready for a nice little battle to the death, as my dear friend had rather unsportingly retrieved his firearm. Well, another bullet was unlikely to act favorably for me, thus my only course of action at that point would have to be swift and decisive. Then I heard the Leaves. Yes, the Black Leaves. The boy heard them also and stopped cold. My escort had arrived, better late than never.

The boy turned and made a mad sprint for the window. He nearly got outside too when there was a band and there he goes flying out onto the lawn. I look back and who should be there but my old friend Ridley, of course. He turned to me and grinned.

"Sup Archy. Enjoy your vacation much?"

Crazy idiot, but he returned his focus to business in an instant and rushed to the window. I could not quite make out what he was yelling but it was soon followed by him emptying the rest of his gun outside. Luckily, we are fairly isolated here, Fisk would not be pleased to have to deal with this after what happened with that other situation. Oh, did I tell you, the Master's plans for that are proceeding quite smoothly. In fact, it should be quite soon that...

No no, must stay on topic, there is little... we do not have long until we must go. Davey boy managed to escape from the house, but Ridley is a persistent one and decided to follow along, forgetting all about me there of course. I pulled myself to up and into a chair, only to be greeted by still more surprises. One of the Children was there, a boy who appeared to be about ten years old. From his face I could see that he was very confused and there hung about him a feeling of temporal displacement. He did not quite seem to know where he was; the Children are also known to react negatively in such situations, but being that I had little chance of escape at the present moment I thought there could be little harm in striking up some conversation to pass the seconds until Ridley should report back. So I asked him why he was there.

"It is him, sir; he has driven us all apart. He is going to devour us."

Of course, in reply I inquired as to whom he was referring. The Child only said that he was trying to drive them towards the Bleeding. He wanted to purge the Children from the light. Nothing further was I able to gather from the Black-Eyed boy, all further inquiries were either given nonsense answers or ignored all together. He never moved, merely stood there staring into space with that perplexed look on his face.

About an hour later, there we were still: the Black-Eyed boy continually refusing to move in any way, myself bleeding in an armchair, though by this point in somewhat better shape than I had been previously. I heard some noise outside and, being now able to rise, I went to see. Yes, clearly I remembered what had happened on the last occasion I had done that. Outside it was just beginning to get dark out; the sky was a lovely dark shade of orange to one side and to the other it was just turning violet. There was a faint breeze blowing through the trees, rustling the leaves. Such a soothing sound is it not. I can think of few more relaxing.

At any rate, as I exited the house I could see a figure emerging from out of the trees. The figure appeared to be carrying something. Soon I could see that it was Ridley returning, with a knife cut across his face and his favorite jacket in shreds. He looked quite agitated. What he carried was the girl, but not Madison, or rather, not the one of her we had had before. The past version, I believe I called her Sarah before, I see no reason not to continue doing so. In a rather ungentlemanlike manner (but I suppose there is no reason for me to expect otherwise) Ridley dumped her onto the seat on the porch. She was in a quite deep sleep certainly, for no one could have continued sleeping while being handled by Ridley.

Apologies, this moment is passing, we must go. Yet I have but little remaining to speak of. Some other day it seems, we must be off.

Another Game has begun. There are those that shall fight on both fronts, yet many are unaware that the Player is moving pieces on a second board.

Something... no I cannot-- not yet.

~Regards