23:06 <Crion> Well, that was certainly...a lot. 23:07 <VoxPVoxD> Long night. 23:09 <Crion> There are four days left to Halloween, the second-biggest night in the Baltimore freehold social calendar and the big to-do that Autumn and Spring have been jointly planning since, oh, July or so. It's not actually a costume party, or at least not a normal one. This is the one night of the year -- and the vampires in the Court of Baltimore are in on this too -- where some of the restrictions 23:09 <Crion> of secrecy and skullduggery are lifted. It's the one night of the year where, as long as you're not ridiculous with it, you can spend some time being who you are now: Mien, not Mask. Of course, you have to be very careful, and not go too far. But the Sidereal on Halloween will represent the greatest collection of supernatural power in the entire city: the Freehold, the Court, the Consilium, 23:09 <Crion> and a couple other friends in high esteem all coming together to form something like a community. 23:10 <Crion> After all, a mutual defense pact is nothing if you only hang out when you're fighting. 23:10 <Crion> But! That's a couple days away. Stewart presumably has time to stream, hang out with Lauren, etcetera. How many subscription tiers does his Twitch account have, again? 23:14 <VoxPVoxD> He's got 1/2/3, at 5/10/25. He doesn't do a ton of exclusive content; besides the chat emotes higher tiers mainly give you more influence on the main stream, the ability to vote on builds, and for top tier subscribers the chance to play games with him on stream around once every two weeks. 23:26 <Crion> So how does it strike him when lybarene21250 hits him with a tier 3 subscription with the subscription comment, "cool content bro...........really digging this though video games arent my thing"? 23:28 <VoxPVoxD> First he notices the zip code. Then he notices the name. 23:29 <VoxPVoxD> His voice catches as he reads out the sub message on-stream. 23:30 <Crion> Does he have face cam? 23:31 <VoxPVoxD> "...thanks, man. Glad you're enjoying the stream." Facecam shows him wide-eyed and tight-lipped. It's another four seconds before he gets his focus back, but once you're delving around 600 or so that's enough. RESURRECT IN TOWN / RESURRECT AT CHECKPOINT 23:32 <Crion> The account has added Stewart as a friend, but hasn't sent any other message in private. 23:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart... doesn't actually pick the game back up. He's futzing around in his hideout, playing dressup with different microtransactions, and engaging with the chat. Keeping a very, very close eye on the chat. Long conversation about the difference between 'good RNG' and 'bad RNG', a topic of dispute in the PoE community second only to griping about its shitty-on-purpose trading system. 23:45 <Crion> It'll go idle -- for long stretches, even -- but it doesn't log off. 23:47 <VoxPVoxD> Finally Stewart can't take it anymore and shoots the new tier 3 subscriber with a private message. He doesn't know what to say, or how to say it, so he just reaches back to a few weeks ago when he felt the same way as he and Lauren first started flirting a lot. <...hey> 23:48 <Crion> The response isn't immediate -- the user remains idle for a minute or so -- but as soon as the account comes off idle it immediately shoots back <hey man> 23:49 <Crion> lybarene21250: <whats this name mean anyway> 23:49 <VoxPVoxD> Awkwardly Stewart sends at the exact same moment: <cool username. whats it mean> 23:49 <Crion> <ha> 23:49 <VoxPVoxD> Then: <oh> 23:49 <VoxPVoxD> <okay> 23:50 <Crion> lybarene21250: <we should talk. not on here> 23:51 <VoxPVoxD> <i heard a theory once that everyone's online handle is either a philospher, a pokemon, or an expensive drug> 23:51 <VoxPVoxD> Fucking what. He just wants to-- what?? 23:51 <VoxPVoxD> Absolutely not. Under no circumstances. 23:51 <Crion> <haha. well it sounds like something maura'd prescribe> 23:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's heart drops like a stone. 23:52 <VoxPVoxD> The person on the other end doesn't see a response for five full minutes. 23:52 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart needs to rub his eyes a lot to focus on the screen. 23:52 <Crion> <anyway i get that this is weird and shitty. i don't like to tell dudes from the internet i've been dreaming about them> 23:52 <VoxPVoxD> Finally: <where> 23:53 <Crion> He gives an address, but instead of in 21250, it's in 21228 -- Thistle, MD. 23:53 <Crion> <she's at a conference this week> 23:53 <Crion> <you drink beer> 23:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart Google Maps it. What is he looking at? 23:55 <Crion> Street view has it as a very nice two-story, one-family house, with a big lawn and a driveway with a modest black coupe and a...Catonsville Fire Department SUV in the driveway. There's a guy mowing the lawn, but his face is turned away. 23:56 <Crion> Certainly has the body of a firefighter. 23:57 <VoxPVoxD> <do you have liquor> 23:57 <Crion> <whisky and rum> 23:58 <Crion> <might be some patron around here too but lets not get too rowdy> 23:58 <VoxPVoxD> <sounds good. youre right its gonna be weirder not to meet at this point than itll be to meet> 23:58 <VoxPVoxD> Right? 23:58 <Crion> <itch gets worse the longer you don't scratch> 23:58 <VoxPVoxD> <until its all you can think about> 23:59 <Crion> <ill be waiting out front. you get second thoughts when you get here, wont blame you if you just keep on drivin> 23:59 <VoxPVoxD> <thanks for taking the first step> 00:00 <VoxPVoxD> Okay. Okay, fuck. FUCK. Fuck! "Fuuuuuuuuuck." 00:01 <Crion> He logs off. 00:01 <VoxPVoxD> He texts Lauren. <hey, this is happening really fast and out of nowhere but i'm about to go meet my fetch for drinks out in the county> 00:01 <Crion> Lauren: <wtf> 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> <yeah.> 00:02 <Crion> <is it safe> 00:02 <Crion> <should i call gerald> 00:02 <Crion> <im calling gerald> 00:02 <Crion> <AT LEAST so if something happens hes ready> 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> <idk. dont yet. heres the address i'm going to. if you dont hear from me in like half an hour call gerald> 00:02 <VoxPVoxD> He sends the address. 00:02 <Crion> <...ok> 00:02 <Crion> <be safe.> 00:03 <VoxPVoxD> < <3 > 00:03 <Crion> < <3 > 00:04 <VoxPVoxD> It's after dark at this point, but not SUPER late. Stewart opts for a sweatshirt instead of a shirt-and-jacket. Sweatshirt won't get caught on anything if he has to run. 00:04 <VoxPVoxD> He thinks about taking the wand. 00:05 <VoxPVoxD> ...it'll fit in his pocket, he won't even know it's there. 00:05 <VoxPVoxD> He feels better having it on him. 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> White knuckles stud the wheel on the drive out of the city. How long is it? 00:06 <Crion> Once you hit 695 coming out of the city on 95 it's not long at all. Maybe 20 minutes if there's a postseason baseball game letting ouahahahahah. 00:07 <Crion> Call it 15 once you hit the Inner Harbor, heading north on 95. 00:08 <VoxPVoxD> Hey, 97 was only like ten years ago. 00:08 <Crion> Mmmm. 00:11 <VoxPVoxD> He's got music going in the car. Fireman's singing to him as he moves onto well-lit but largely empty residential streets. "...but my peace has always depended, on all the ashes in my wake.> 00:14 <VoxPVoxD> Choke comes on as he's pulling up to the address and he almost throws his phone out the window. 00:20 <VoxPVoxD> What greets him out front? 00:22 <Crion> Porch light's on. CFD SUV is in the driveway; the black coupe's missing. And there in the crisp dark of the October night sits a man with a firefighter's build in jeans, boots, an open flannel shirt and a white v-neck undershirt beneath it, a cooler sitting next to him. In one hand, a Miller High Life. The other scratches the belly of a panting yellow lab. 00:22 <Crion> He has Stewart's face. 00:22 <Crion> ...Maybe a little bit more jaw. 00:23 <VoxPVoxD> ... 00:23 <Crion> He'll raise the beer in greeting as Stewart parks, assuming Stewart parks, but won't make any sudden moves. 00:24 <VoxPVoxD> The car comes to a stop out in front, but the engine doesn't die. The two of them look at each other for a moment before he pulls into the driveway, blocking the SUV in. Hopefully the guy thinks it's an accident. 00:26 <VoxPVoxD> The man on the porch sees someone with his face. Maybe a little less body fat, dressed in a blank gray sweatshirt and jeans. He turns his keys over in his fingers a moment before pocketing them and meeting the homeowner's gaze once more. 00:26 <VoxPVoxD> "Hey, Stewart." 00:26 <Crion> He leans back and takes a sip, watching, relaxed. The dog, on the other hand, will leap up and bound at Stewart with joyful dog enthusiasm as soon as he gets out of the car. "Dammit, Beau!" shouts Stu Mankiewicz. 00:26 <Crion> "Get on back here." 00:26 <Crion> Beau, however, wants pats. 00:27 <Crion> "Hey, Stewart." He stands and pauses. "I go by Stu. At first it just felt better. When I realized why, it felt more..." 00:27 <Crion> He searches for a word. 00:28 <Crion> "Respectful, maybe." 00:29 <VoxPVoxD> "Beau's a good boy," Stewart says, kneeling down to give the dog pats. 00:31 <VoxPVoxD> "Stu, huh? Is that with a U or with an E-W?" 00:31 <Crion> "He recognizes his master," Stu says, not bothering to elide or play down the implication of that statement. "I go with the u; the e-w's food." 00:32 <Crion> He gives Stewart a once over. "Neither of us look like what we used to, huh." 00:32 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart gives Beau one last rub and stands up. "You got fuckin jacked, dude." 00:34 <Crion> He nods. "Yeah. I needed to. In the days after I...well, in the first days, I needed the discipline, you know? A way to center this shit." He ambles back to the porch. "I got whisky, rum, and some cokes in the cooler. If you want to sit." 00:35 <Crion> Stu Mankiewicz -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idnJnjV_8rg So when you look at me, you better look hard and look twice; is that me, baby? Or just a brilliant disguise? 00:36 <VoxPVoxD> Something makes Stewart smile. If Stu can feel Glamour stirring within him, he might be able to deduce what's going on. He relaxes several notches almost instantly. 00:37 <Crion> Stu's eyebrow raises a bit, but he says nothing. 00:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah let me just - I promised to text my girlfriend I was okay so she wouldn't call for help." 00:37 <Crion> He nods. "Wise." 00:37 <Crion> He also seems to relax several notches. 00:38 <VoxPVoxD> Lauren get's a <i dont think he means me harm. incredible dog here> 00:39 <VoxPVoxD> And Stewart gets on the porch. Is Stu inviting him inside? 00:40 <Crion> Lauren: <still be careful. and pet the dog> 00:40 <Crion> Stu hesitates. "I thought you'd be more comfortable out here, but we can go inside if you want. If you're up for it." 00:40 <VoxPVoxD> <done and done> 00:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I kinda want to see your place." 00:41 <VoxPVoxD> "Is that weird?" 00:41 <VoxPVoxD> "No idea what is and isn't weird here." 00:41 <Crion> Stu: "No weirder than the rest of this shit." 00:41 <Crion> He picks up the cooler and leads the way in. 00:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart will hold the door open for Beau unless Stu tells him not to. 00:43 <Crion> It's comfy and well-appointed, with new-looking hardwood floors and a piano in the living room. There's a parlor room that's been converted to a home office -- not Stu's, surely -- and a big TV. Kitchen is very nice; there are some dishes in the sink. Stu made a dinner for one. Basement door and a door upstairs. Stu will whistle for Beau. 00:44 <Crion> There aren't many pictures, but there is one: Stu and Maura Mankiewicz, on their wedding day, on the wall over the piano. Stu carries the cooler into the kitchen. 00:45 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart stands in the living room, staring at the picture over the piano. 00:46 <Crion> "There's more in the--" Stu walks back out of the kitchen and follows Stewart's eyes. "Ah, shit." 00:46 <Crion> "I don't like having pictures up much. That one's...the exception. But I should've warned you." 00:48 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's choking. His eyes burn. He shuts them for a long moment but when he looks Stu in the eye, they're clear. "This is a really nice place." 00:48 <Crion> He grimaces and nods. "She decorated it." 00:48 <Crion> "Anyway. The kitchen's clean. The kitchen's just a kitchen." 00:49 <VoxPVoxD> Nothing's just a kitchen. Not even The Kitchen's just a kitchen. 00:49 <Crion> Perhaps so. But he leads on nevertheless. 00:49 <VoxPVoxD> But what Stewart says as he follows Stu into the kitchen is, "You said you have whisky?" 00:50 <Crion> Beau does this weird thing where he insists on walking between your legs, as you're walking, which probably nearly trips Stewart over the first time it happens. Dog just loves getting in the way (more pets). 00:50 <Crion> "Yeah, I -- dammit Beau, stop that -- have Jack and Crown Royal. Coke or diet for mixing." 00:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart never had a dog growing up. Dad was never home enough to take care of one. Maura, though. Maura loved dogs. He chokes again. Loves. 00:52 <VoxPVoxD> "Jack's good. Straight." 00:52 <Crion> Stu blinks and nods, pulling a chilled tumbler from the cooler, wiping it with a clean towel to get the condensation off and pouring a liberal single pour. 00:53 <VoxPVoxD> That'll do. Stewart's got to drive home. He can drink properly then. 00:53 <Crion> He finishes the last of his High Life, meanwhile, and cracks open another using the countertop. Even though those twist. 00:54 <VoxPVoxD> That makes Stewart smile despite himself. Tony and this guy would really get along. He sits at the table and sips his drink. "So, uh. How'd you find me?" 00:55 <Crion> He hops up to sit on the counter across from Stewart. "Wasn't really my idea. Like I said, first time I've ever dreamed about a guy for a week straight." 00:57 <Crion> "You've been back for 137 days." 00:57 <Crion> "136 nights." 00:58 <Crion> "I've been getting sleep, but I haven't been getting much rest." 00:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart does some math in his head. "Shit." 00:58 <VoxPVoxD> "I didn't- I didn't know it was like that." 00:58 <VoxPVoxD> "For you." 00:59 <VoxPVoxD> "What happened in the dreams?" 01:00 <Crion> "Nothing good." He pauses to sip again. "So that game you play. Path of..." 01:00 <VoxPVoxD> "Exile." Kind of a pregnant word in the circumstances. Stewart has to force it out. 01:02 <Crion> "Yeah. So when the dreams started, you were playing the game, but YOU were the...you know, main character. Whatever. You were the one burning up zombies and soldiers. And eventually you'd start burning up people I knew. And then me. And after me..." Stu trails off, shaking his head. "At first I thought it was ME in the dream, but I knew it wasn't, somehow. I also knew I wasn't going insane. 01:02 <Crion> There was this urgency that this shit was real and immediate. Bought myself a shotgun without telling Maura." 01:03 <Crion> He chuckles. "Which, like. I have a dream about a guy killing 20 dudes just by waving a magic wand. What's a shotgun going to do?" 01:03 <Crion> "But there was this little voice -- this little voice whispering, telling me, do you believe all that?" 01:04 <Crion> "So I didn't keep the gun locked and loaded under the bed, but in a gun locker. And I didn't go looking for trouble. And after a couple weeks -- bad weeks, man, bad weeks -- the dreams began to change." 01:04 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart stares at his drink and listens. 01:05 <Crion> "They pulled back. I could see you were at a computer, playing a game. And sometimes you'd be in the game, and sometimes you wouldn't be. But eventually my feelings about it changed. It went from alarm and danger to feeling that I was, like. I don't know. Invading your privacy." 01:05 <Crion> "That red-headed girl with the laser eyes, that's your girlfriend, right?" 01:06 <Crion> He grins. "Don't worry, chief. The dreams only show me what happens in your computer room." 01:06 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's voice is even. "Yeah. Her name's Lauren." 01:07 <Crion> He nods. "I got the feeling I liked her, in the dreams. I always figured that was actually coming from you." 01:07 <Crion> "Anyway." 01:07 <Crion> "I don't think we can sever this connection, but I'm hoping maybe this sitdown will at least stop the dreams." 01:09 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "There are... people I know. People who study this kind of thing. And my boss, and his... the word we use is 'fetch'." 01:10 <VoxPVoxD> "He and his fetch think of each other as brothers. So there's gonna be some way to, to settle that down. If this doesn't do it, we'll find it." 01:10 <Crion> "Mmmmmm." He takes another sip. "Guess that explains why I trained Beau on 'go get it, boy.'" 01:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart snorts. 01:10 <Crion> The dog perks up, and Stu grabs a Nylabone from the counter and tosses it into the living room. "Go get it, boy!" 01:11 <Crion> "...Never much liked that word." 01:11 <VoxPVoxD> "It's kind of a funny historical note. Like... the word we use for ourselves is 'changelings', after these old stories of babies getting snatched from their cribs. But in the stories, the changeling is, you know, the one who *doesn't* get taken." 01:12 <VoxPVoxD> "I don't actually know the etymology of... of that word. None of this is interesting at all, sorry." 01:12 <Crion> "Makes sense you'd get the cool word." He seems to be taking this remarkably well, but then, he's been haunted by dreams for four months and seems to know pretty precisely what he is by intuition. 01:12 <Crion> "You're not the first...one of you...I've seen." 01:12 <Crion> "First changeling, that is. You're the first Stewart." 01:13 <VoxPVoxD> "You can see us? Like, you can see that we're not-- you get what I mean." 01:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart plucks at his sleeves, which have ridden up to expose the manacle scars. 01:15 <Crion> He nods, grimacing at the scars. "That I can. And it almost got me killed. Was responding to a building fire near the university; active shooter on location, too. We go in with a cop escort. It's one of the satellite research buildings on the campus. We go in, using the floor plan, and the fire seems limited to just one conference room and lab set on the second floor. No sign of the shooter." 01:16 <Crion> "We prep for a breach when the door opens and out walks this black guy, buff as hell, shirtless, completely on fire from the waist up. My EMT training kicks in, I run towards the guy before realizing his eyes and teeth are glowing. My buddies scatter, the cops draw down." 01:17 <Crion> "He throws me aside, almost puts me through the big window bank across the hall, and kills two of the cops. Breaks the third's leg." 01:18 <Crion> "We clean up, get the cop to the ambulance outside, and I ask Bryan -- partner on the line -- about that dude being on fire. He looks at me like I'm crazy." 01:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Middle of summer?" 01:19 <Crion> He nods. "I remember it because it was during the All-Star Break." Stu pauses. "You know him?" 01:20 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "By reputation. He doesn't get out much in the offseason. I expect I'll meet him come June at the latest." 01:21 <Crion> Stu grimaces. "Well, be careful. I'm sure he had his reasons for doing what he did, but...you know, I always thought the Human Torch was lame?" 01:21 <Crion> "The superhero." 01:22 <Crion> "Not so much now." 01:22 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He's not great but like, there's a dude whose only power is being stretchy right there to make him look good by comparison." 01:22 <Crion> Stu laughs into his beer. 01:23 <VoxPVoxD> "I can't tell at all, by the way." 01:23 <Crion> Then a wolf howl floats through the open kitchen window, and he straightens and pauses. 01:23 <Crion> A couple seconds pass, and he relaxes. 01:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Like with you. You just look like a regular guy. Like anybody." 01:23 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks out the window. "Oh, uh. Werewolves are real, by the way." 01:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Vampires, too. Heads up." 01:23 <Crion> Stu nods. "Yeah I get the feeling that if your guy knew what I was, I'd have gone all the way through that window." 01:24 <Crion> Stu's sigh is long and rattling. "Yeah. Yeah, I guessed." 01:24 <Crion> "Lot more missing pet posters in the neighborhood this year, than last year." 01:24 <Crion> "Lot more missing kid posters." 01:24 <Crion> "Lot more Ranger Service jeeps rolling around." 01:25 <Crion> Stu: "Once you realize the world isn't normal -- and you're part of why it isn't -- you start to see a lot of shit." 01:25 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Those guys are legit by the way. Tougher than SEALs and shit. Because they've got to deal with werewolves." 01:25 <Crion> "I don't see much that often. Sometimes a woman at the grocery store has doe horns. Sometimes a bum with weird patterns glowing on his face. But enough to know things were real." 01:26 <Crion> Stu pulls out his phone. "I took this last time the Park Rangers were rolling through. Look at this shit." 01:26 <VoxPVoxD> Could this be the Lodge of the Hook Hand? Stewart will look more into it later. Stewart peers at Stu's phone. 01:27 <Crion> He shows Stewart a picture of a Ranger jeep from the rear, with a tier-one operator Ranger carrying an AR-15 nudging a tarp down over a much larger rifle. It's very clear what it is, though: https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/barrett-l82a1-anti-materiel-rifle-andrew-chittock.jpg 01:28 <Crion> "They use that shit against armored vehicles." 01:29 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart nods. It was pretty good in Fallout 4. 01:29 <VoxPVoxD> "If it helps, all the werewolves I know are pretty chill guys." 01:29 <Crion> "So yeah. I wasn't much inclined to like woods anyway, given...all of this. But I'm thinking about trying to convince Maura to move." 01:30 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart, too quickly: "What?" 01:30 <VoxPVoxD> "I mean, where to?" 01:31 <Crion> Stu politely pretends he didn't notice. "The city. She's looking at a position at Hopkins. Better than these fucking jackal private hospital gig.s" 01:31 <Crion> *gigs 01:32 <Crion> "Until then, I'm glad you know some good werewolves. Tell 'em to do something about the bad ones." 01:32 <VoxPVoxD> The tension Stewart didn't realize he was feeling eases up. "In the city there'll be more vampires than werewolves. But vampires like... police themselves, at least. I met the Sheriff of Baltimore once. The vampire Sheriff I mean." 01:33 <Crion> Stu: "You're a real man about town." There's actually no mockery in there. 01:33 <Crion> Another sip of the beer. 01:34 <Crion> "I can see why--" 01:34 <Crion> He shakes his head. 01:34 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I try to keep busy, you know. Lot of people need help and-- what?" 01:34 <Crion> He smiles tightly and crosses his arms. "She knows." 01:34 <Crion> "She doesn't know that she knows, but she knows." 01:34 <VoxPVoxD> Deep breath. 01:34 <VoxPVoxD> "Shit." 01:35 <VoxPVoxD> "How do you know she knows?" 01:36 <Crion> "On our honeymoon, she tells me--" He smiles wider, tighter, looking down. "She's drunk, we're both drunk, it's the second or third happiest night of her life after the ones before it, and she looks at me and she tells me: she's loved two men in her life. Both were named Stewart Mankiewicz." 01:36 <Crion> "I smiled back. And for a long time, I had no idea what to do with that shit." 01:37 <Crion> "You wake up one morning for the first time and you memories but it's only like you read them in a fucking book--" 01:37 <Crion> Stu stops and gathers himself. 01:38 <Crion> *you have 01:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart stands up abruptly. He turns to look in the living room. At the piano. 01:38 <VoxPVoxD> His fingers drum on the table. 01:38 <VoxPVoxD> Deep, shuddering breath. Then he's okay. 01:39 <Crion> "So when I woke up Stewart I pushed her away. Pushed everyone away. Until I came back as Stu." 01:39 <Crion> "...Your father doesn't like me much anymore," he says, finishing the beer. "But Mom's fine." 01:39 <VoxPVoxD> "Dad was never gonna like me after I grew up." 01:39 <VoxPVoxD> His back's still to Stu. 01:40 <Crion> Stu: "Yeah. But you've got ironclad proof it's him, not you." 01:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "So you don't know anything about... about before that, or about where I was, or about... who made it happen?" 01:42 <Crion> He shakes his head. "It's weird, though. I kinda hate video games. And computers." 01:42 <Crion> "No offense." 01:42 <Crion> "But I get the feeling maybe that was a thing." 01:43 <Crion> "...Do you know what made me?" 01:43 <VoxPVoxD> Quietly: "Yeah." 01:43 <Crion> Another bottle pops open. "And do I want to know what made me?" 01:43 <Crion> "That's a bullshit question." 01:44 <Crion> "How about: how much is learning what made me gonna suck?" 01:44 <VoxPVoxD> "Put it like this." 01:44 <VoxPVoxD> "The questions you're going to want to ask me are questions I'd refuse to answer if anyone else asked." 01:45 <VoxPVoxD> "Even Lauren." 01:45 <Crion> "Well, fuck." 01:45 <VoxPVoxD> Even Maura, he can't bring himself to say. 01:46 <Crion> Stu: "Let's go with this, then: what's the exposure. What's the danger to Maura?" 01:46 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart gets himself another single pour, stares into the tumbler for a second, and makes it a double. 01:47 <VoxPVoxD> "I don't know." 01:47 <VoxPVoxD> "I don't know how it thinks." 01:48 <VoxPVoxD> "I've spent so long trying to understand how it thinks." 01:48 <Crion> "It took you. It made me to replace you." 01:48 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 01:48 <Crion> He sips his beer. "So it thinks, but it doesn't feel. If it does feel, it doesn't fucking care." 01:48 <Crion> "It's a Terminator, basically." 01:49 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart barks a laugh at that. Finally he sits back down. 01:49 <VoxPVoxD> "It's Skynet." 01:49 <Crion> Stu grimaces. "Yeah. The Terminator is me." 01:49 <Crion> "You know I can choose not to feel pain?" 01:50 <Crion> "Found that out the hard way." 01:50 <VoxPVoxD> "That must be scary." 01:50 <VoxPVoxD> "Pain's how you know shit's still working." 01:50 <Crion> "I thought I'd lost my arm." 01:50 <Crion> "Maura had me stay overnight for tests." 01:51 <VoxPVoxD> "And tests don't show anything weird?" 01:51 <Crion> "Everything was fine...except I can stab myself through the hand and feel nothing." 01:51 <Crion> "But I'm still losing blood, still suffering tendon damage...and when I stop thinking about it, stop concentrating -- oh, I feel it." 01:52 <Crion> Stu shakes his head. "Nope. But I'm pretty sure the tests lie." 01:52 <Crion> "...Sometimes I see myself in those dreams, you know." 01:52 <Crion> "And I look like this." 01:53 <Crion> He takes a deep swig. "But I'm made of asbestos. Scrap metal. Nonflammable trash." 01:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Asbestos?" 01:53 <VoxPVoxD> "You're not like... kicking fibers into the air or anything, right?" 01:54 <Crion> He's quiet for a minute. "...You can buy asbestos testing kits." 01:54 <Crion> "After the first dream I had when I saw...that." 01:54 <Crion> "I lied to Maura, told her I was working an early shift." 01:54 <Crion> "And after she left, checked the house." 01:54 <Crion> "It's clean." 01:55 <Crion> Another swig. "I'm not really sure what I'd have done if it wasn't." 01:55 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart looks down at the grain of the table. "Yeah." 01:55 <VoxPVoxD> "I can open any lock in the world, pretty much. Walk into any home like I own it. I can listen to someone's heart and hear the song their soul sings itself. I can listen deeper and hear their darkest desire." 01:55 <VoxPVoxD> "But the pain... the dial only goes up." 01:55 <Crion> He grimaces. "So that's what you were doing." 01:56 <Crion> "Was it a good song?" 01:56 <VoxPVoxD> "You like Springsteen?" 01:56 <Crion> "Hell yeah." 01:56 <Crion> Then his face falls. "Oh come on--" 01:56 <Crion> "Really?" 01:56 <Crion> "Brilliant Disguise?" 01:57 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "They're not all that. Gerald, he's- he's my boss's brother, has something completely different." 01:57 <VoxPVoxD> "I don't think it's about you being what you are. I think it's about, you feel like you're living someone else's life." 01:57 <VoxPVoxD> "You can be what you are and not feel like that." 01:57 <Crion> "Your boss's--" He catches the meaning and nods gratefully. 01:58 <Crion> "I thank you for saying that. I just don't think anyone ever imagines themselves being that...predictable." 01:58 <Crion> Stu is quiet for a minute: "I tried to do a lot of work, to make it my life. As much as I could." 01:59 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I have no idea what my song is." 01:59 <Crion> Stu: "Might be a blessing." 01:59 <VoxPVoxD> "Lauren knows. We promised not to tell each other our songs." 01:59 <VoxPVoxD> "That was the first promise we ever made to each other." 02:00 <Crion> He nods. "I can respect that." 02:00 <VoxPVoxD> "If it helps, pretty much everyone's songs are... not predictable, that's not the word I'd use. But they resonate." 02:01 <Crion> Stu: "I guess that's the way it should be." 02:01 <Crion> He finishes the beer and opens a fourth, because he's not going to have to drive. 02:01 <Crion> "We should--" 02:01 <Crion> Another wolf howl. Closer. 02:02 <Crion> And two more answer. 02:02 <Crion> Stu grabs Beau's collar. 02:03 <Crion> He drops down off the counter and peers out the window. 02:03 <VoxPVoxD> "Listen, if you ever feel like you guys are in danger, from werewolves or, or whatever, there's a place I have that's safe. No one can get in unless we want them to." 02:03 <VoxPVoxD> "Me and, uh, my friends." 02:04 <Crion> "Shut up and get down." 02:04 <Crion> "There's something out there." 02:04 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart gets down. "You saw the shadow too?" 02:05 <Crion> "Yup. And he's upright. That's new." 02:05 <Crion> "Do me a favor. Get to the family room. Turn on the TV. Turn on the sound system. Turn on the lights. 02:05 <Crion> " 02:06 <Crion> Stu straights and lets go of Beau's collar, walking to the backdoor and making sure it's firmly shut. 02:06 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart does. Stu sees him walk into the living room with a fancy-looking long thin piece of dark metal in his hand. 02:08 <Crion> Then he turns on the lights in the kitchen, walks into the living room, turns on the lights there...and sits down at the piano. 02:08 <Crion> "You said Springsteen, right?" he calls out. 02:08 <VoxPVoxD> "Yup!" 02:09 <Crion> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0u9zYJj4yk0 You can hide beneath the covers and study your pain; make crosses from your lovers and throw roses in the rain... 02:10 <Crion> Stu doesn't have to say that this is cover. 02:10 <Crion> Is Stewart watching the treeline? 02:10 <VoxPVoxD> This is like the only Springsteen song Stewart actually likes. Of course he's watching. 02:11 <Crion> The shadow is joined by another, almost eight feet tall...and then both melt back into the darkness of the wood. 02:13 <Crion> Whatever they are, they're at least not going to hit a house with the lights on. 02:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart, quieter than the piano but still audible: "They're gone. It worked." 02:15 <Crion> Stu sighs, stands, and pets Beau, who is wagging his tail and has spent this entire tense affair bouncing back and forth searching for attention. "That just means they're going to kill someone else." 02:15 <Crion> "...But I'll take it." 02:16 <Crion> Then in the distance, automatic rifle fire...and the boom of something bigger. 02:16 <Crion> It goes on for some time. 02:16 <VoxPVoxD> "Maybe not, after all." 02:16 <Crion> Eventually it stops, but it isn't cut off. 02:16 <Crion> And there is no more howling. 02:17 <Crion> Stu: "Yeah. We'll see." 02:18 <Crion> He's back in the kitchen, and has picked up his beer. "I expected to like you. I didn't expect to like you this much." 02:18 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I know exactly what you mean." 02:18 <Crion> "But it brings us to the big question. The big...issue, you know." 02:18 <Crion> "Maura." 02:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart hasn't said her name since he crawled through the Thorns, and he's not about to start now. "Yeah." 02:19 <VoxPVoxD> "Listen." 02:19 <VoxPVoxD> "There are two things I want to say." 02:19 <Crion> Stu nods. 02:20 <VoxPVoxD> He finishes his double in one long pull. Sets the tumbler on the table, taps it once, twice against the wood, a tiny ritual. 02:21 <VoxPVoxD> "As far as I'm concerned... as far as anyone I respect is concerned... this is your life. This is your house. This is your job, your dog, your family." 02:21 <Crion> Beau barks happily. 02:22 <VoxPVoxD> "The stuff that happened to make that true doesn't matter. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't mine. It wasn't anyone who's anyone to either of us." 02:22 <VoxPVoxD> "You built this up, you took this places I never would have. And you're a good man. You have a good heart. You deserve a good life." 02:23 <VoxPVoxD> His voice comes out much firmer than it feels in his throat. "But I need to see her." 02:23 <VoxPVoxD> "I don't know when, or how." 02:23 <Crion> "Yeah," Stu says. 02:24 <Crion> He pours himself some whisky, now. "That's gonna be a hell of a conversation. Or it's not." 02:24 <Crion> "She's pregnant." 02:25 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart manages to throttle his gut reaction until all that surfaces is a Scanlon Blink. 02:25 <VoxPVoxD> "How far along?" 02:27 <Crion> "Not enough to show." He chuckles, barks a laugh, then grimaces. "It's a fucked up, fucked up world where you wonder if you're the father, not because you think she's cheating -- and I don't -- but because you don't think you're even a person. That you don't even have the means to do that." 02:27 <Crion> "I just gotta believe." 02:28 <Crion> "But that's the American dream, right?" he asks, finishing the whisky. "A pile of cancerous trash, making something better." 02:33 <VoxPVoxD> "You know, the first time I fully realized we were different people. It wasn't you typing like Dad, it wasn't that you're jacked, or have a dog. It was when you talked about what a gut punch it was to hear her say she'd loved two men in her life. Cause it meant she knew, even if just on like a pre-articulate level." 02:33 <Crion> Stu blinks. 02:33 <VoxPVoxD> "But if it was me, that would make me feel... like I'd won. Like I'd earned it. Whatever happened before, I'd won her heart. Fair and square." 02:34 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I bring this up because... you can't, usually, have kids. Guys in your position, I mean. But there are documented cases. A lot of this shit sounds fairytale, cause it fucking is, but the nagic that undergirds - that makes it possible, is true love." 02:34 <Crion> He blinks again. Then he laughs. "You're fucking with me. Are you fucking with me?" 02:34 <VoxPVoxD> "I am not fucking with you." 02:35 <Crion> He falls back against the countertop, laughing. "Christ I feel like such an asshole." 02:35 <VoxPVoxD> "Why?" 02:36 <Crion> "Because I've wasted so much time in my life beating the shit out of myself." 02:36 <Crion> "Literally and figuratively." 02:36 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 02:36 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, I get that." 02:37 <Crion> "And once you, get the house, and the car, and the dog, that doesn't just affect you. It doesn't just affect you." 02:37 <Crion> "Thank you, Stewart. Thank you for coming by." 02:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Thank you for inviting me." 02:38 <Crion> He pours two glasses of water, and pushes one to Stewart. Taking one for himself: "We'll figure out the Maura thing. I won't make a move until you're ready." 02:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart takes the water gratefully. 02:38 <VoxPVoxD> "Hey, um. I could maybe put you in touch with a guy who could like... onboard you, into knowing more about yourself. What you can do, how you work, stuff like that." 02:38 <VoxPVoxD> "Is that something you'd be interested in?" 02:38 <Crion> Stu nods. "Yeah. I mean, I'd say no, maybe, but there's fucking werewolves in the woods." 02:39 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 02:39 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you have a number I can reach you at? A time when you could take a call like that safely? I'll see about setting this up." 02:39 <Crion> He pulls a pad off its magnet on the fridge, and a pen from a drawer, and writes down three phone numbers. One's his cell, one's the house number, one's the fire station number. 02:41 <Crion> "If you call the station, or here and I don't pick up, say you're Isaac, calling for Stu. And...don't call here unless you've got no other choice. The phone isn't the best way for that first contact." 02:43 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Got it. The man who'll probably be getting in touch, his name is Gerald. Gerald Kingsley." 02:43 <Crion> Stu nods. "I'll look out for it." 02:44 <Crion> He'll walk Stewart back to his car. 02:44 <VoxPVoxD> "Man." 02:44 <Crion> Better to move in groups. 02:44 <VoxPVoxD> "I was so fucking scared when I got that message on the stream." 02:44 <Crion> Stu pauses. "Why? Skynet?" 02:45 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "No, I knew right away it was you. I just... I didn't know you at all. Didn't know anything about you, except where you came from." 02:46 <Crion> Stu: "We can change that." 02:46 <VoxPVoxD> "I don't get dreams or anything. All I know is what I saw when I looked you guys up on Facebook, which you're barely even on. Smart, by the way." 02:46 <Crion> "Yeah, fuck that thing." 02:46 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that." 02:46 <VoxPVoxD> "Getting to know you, I mean." 02:47 <Crion> He nods, leaning back against the SUV. "I'll be in touch. Even if Maura knows already, actually...knowing...is gonna be some shit." 02:47 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah." 02:47 <VoxPVoxD> "But she'll have us." 02:47 <VoxPVoxD> "And we both love her." 02:48 <Crion> For the first time, Stu smiles without any reservation. "Yeah." 02:48 <Crion> "Drive safe, bro." 02:48 <VoxPVoxD> "Thanks. Say bye to Beau for me." 02:48 <Crion> "Will do." 02:48 <Crion> He'll offer a hand to shake. 02:49 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart will shake. His grip's a lot weaker than Stu's but the look in his eye is just as firm and purposeful. 02:49 <Crion> Stu's is the same, but at the end he pulls Stewart in close for a quick shoulder-bump half hug. Then he'll let go, step back, say goodnight, and head back inside. 02:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart finds himself gasping for breath as soon as he buckles in. The vertigo of the moment, of feeling like he's drifting in and out of a dream, makes the world spin around him. But he recovers. Starts the car and texts Lauren. <stu's cool. is there like a training course or something cause he doesnt know much> 02:52 <Crion> <omg> 02:52 <Crion> <yes ill call gerald> 02:52 <VoxPVoxD> <awesome ty. yeah i told him if he got a call itd be from my boss's brother gerald> 02:53 <Crion> <whats he like???> 02:55 <VoxPVoxD> <really sweet. kinda broey. works as a firefighter. dude's ripped> 02:55 <VoxPVoxD> <hey do you think i should start working out> 02:55 <Crion> <lmaooo you dork> 02:55 <VoxPVoxD> He's driving now, so he can only respond at lights. 02:55 <VoxPVoxD> <im really happy that happened. fuckin scary though> 02:57 <Crion> <if you want to thats fine i love big shoulders but i dont think id have fallen for normie firefighter stewart as hard dont worry about it> 02:57 <VoxPVoxD> <aww <3 > 02:57 <Crion> <thats rly cool tho im happy> 02:57 <Crion> <geralds gonna call u> 02:58 <Crion> < <3 > 02:58 <VoxPVoxD> He's got to tell Lauren about Maura. Some other time, though. 02:59 <VoxPVoxD> This is enough for one night. Enough for 136 nights. 02:59 <Crion> Gerald calls precisely five minutes later. "Hello, Stewart." 03:00 <Crion> He sounds pleasant but detached. So, Gerald. 03:00 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's got him on speaker, with the phone in the cradle. "Evening, Gerald. Lauren told you what's up?" 03:01 <Crion> "She has. The boy's a firefighter, then?" 03:03 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yeah, Catonsville FD. He saw the Young Street tearing shit up in a reseaech building at UMBC once. Street almost put him through a window without thinking." 03:03 <Crion> "Haha, fuck. Thought the King was on fire, did he?" 03:03 <VoxPVoxD> "Human Torch comparisons were made." 03:04 <Crion> Gerald snorts. "Human Torch is a moron. I'll let you in on a secret: The Young Street might come off as paranoid or venal off-season, and as a fucking barbarian king on-season, but Street never does anything without thinking." 03:04 <Crion> "I know that incident." 03:05 <VoxPVoxD> "Yeah, I mean I don't know him, but if he was that kind of guy he wouldn't be Vigilant, right?" 03:06 <Crion> "The cop he spared works for Summer. Present tense. And she wasn't even that hurt, that was a pure work. The other two though? Well. Our night on the docks isn't the first time something had to happen. Like you say, the Vigilant plays chess." 03:06 <Crion> "Three birds, one stone. Anyway." 03:08 <Crion> "How much does he know?" 03:08 <Crion> "Other than the Street." 03:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Not a lot. I told him some stuff. Some werewolves brushed up against the property but it sounded like Park Rangers got them. But he knows he can clock changelings and he knows he can inure himself to pain. He knows he's not a danger to anyone he loves. He knows he's gonna be father." 03:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Not a lot. I told him some stuff. Some werewolves brushed up against the property but it sounded like Park Rangers got them. But he knows he can clock changelings and he knows he can inure himself to pain. He knows he's not a danger to anyone he loves. He knows he's gonna be father." 03:10 <Crion> Gerald: "Good god damn." 03:10 <Crion> "He own a gun?" 03:11 <VoxPVoxD> "Shotgun. Bought it when I came back." 03:11 <VoxPVoxD> "Bad dreams, apparently." 03:12 <Crion> Gerald: "That'll happen. Shotgun's a good choice. Firefighter, so he's gonna be a tough one. Sounds like he's got the mindset. We can work with that. He knows Heart of Wax already, so this goes right to the important conversations." 03:12 <Crion> "The ones about keeping people he cares about safe." 03:13 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He's a good man." 03:13 <VoxPVoxD> "I like him." 03:13 <VoxPVoxD> "Never had a brother before." 03:14 <Crion> Gerald chuckles. "It's not all roses. Especially not if you work together." 03:14 <Crion> "...But I'm glad that worked out. I look forward to meeting him." 03:14 <Crion> "What name is he using?" 03:15 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "He's Stu-with-a-you. Mankiewicz is our- is his last name. Stu Mankiewicz. Dog's name is Beau." 03:16 <Crion> "Good dog. And Stu's a good way to play that." 03:16 <Crion> "I'll call him tomorrow and let him set the schedule." 03:16 <VoxPVoxD> "Thanks." 03:17 <Crion> "No, thank you," Gerald says. "It's always good when two of us reconcile." 03:17 <Crion> "It means they don't win." 03:18 <VoxPVoxD> "I mean I couldn't live here with him just across the city line without... doing this. And it sounds like he couldn't either. And we're alike enough that we tried talking first." 03:19 <Crion> Gerald: "Yeah. We're people, you know. With all that comes with it: people can be bad and fucked up. They often are. I'm glad Stu's one of the good guys." 03:19 <Crion> "I'll let you go." 03:20 <VoxPVoxD> "Alright. Thanks again." 03:20 <Crion> "Yep. I'll check in tomorrow. Good night, Stewart." 03:22 <VoxPVoxD> "Night." Stewart spends the ride home in silence. 10:32 <banana> 10:41 <banana> From: paperbark@summer.ctl 10:41 <banana> To: manbat@losfoundation.org 10:41 <banana> Subject: The end of P 10:41 <banana> 10:41 <banana> Greetings Mr. L, 10:41 <banana> 10:41 <banana> It's done with complications. "Death is [..] far from having the kind of being of something not yet present" &c. I can give you the details when you're available. 10:41 <banana> 10:41 <banana> M apparently