S3 Ep5: Blood On Your Knees

[00:00:30] Speaker A: Hi, I'm Aubrey, and I play Isabelle, the entrepreneurial. [00:00:38] Speaker B: Hi, I'm legacy, and I play Rosanna, the faithful. [00:00:44] Speaker C: Hi, I'm Scott, and I play Arthur, the faithful. [00:00:49] Speaker D: Hi, I'm termite, and I play piper, the underground. [00:00:53] Speaker E: Hello, I'm bookkeeper, and I'm playing Bishop Thomas Shaw. [00:01:00] Speaker F: And I'm bloodied porcelain. I will be your storyteller for the evening. There are forces in the world who hunt without weapons. For whom violence is neither a means nor an end to the hunt. And then there are our hunters, who stalk and kill the monsters that would stalk and kill us. Usually in these hunts, there comes a moment where it is kill or be killed. Some will walk away from that moment, and some stories will end, leaving things undone, words unsaid and dreams unfulfilled. It can be easy to focus on those moments. They are moments of terrible clarity, where there is a comfort in such stark choices. Succeed or fail. Stand or fall. Live or die. But for those who survive, there are the thousand other dangers that never grant such moments of resolution. [00:01:56] Speaker D: Dangers in the heart. [00:01:59] Speaker C: Dangers in the mind. [00:02:02] Speaker B: Dangers in the soul. [00:02:04] Speaker A: Dangers in the blood. [00:02:07] Speaker F: These dangers are more perilous than any hunt because they cling and they persist. And there is no killing them. There is only living with them or dying from them. Good evening, hunters. [00:02:24] Speaker C: Hello. [00:02:25] Speaker B: Hello. [00:02:26] Speaker A: Hello. [00:02:27] Speaker F: Been a little bit. The last time we met, we spent a little while away from the rest of the cell back in San Diego with Isabel. We got to see part of what Isabel got up to when she wasn't with the session prior. Got some insight into what Isabel did between seasons. The connections she made, the people she tied herself up with. Then we came back to the rest of the cell, where Rosanna and Arthur had just made a terrible mistake in attempting to move a kindred body out of its hiding place, only to find that the stake that was keeping it in torpor had come loose. As they pulled it free, a violent and bloody battle ensued. Arthur took a beating and found himself rapidly losing blood as Rosanna managed to tap into magic that she still doesn't entirely understand or have a lot of control over. They managed. She managed to, in the process, knock the electricity out of the building that they were in, overloading the system around her with a sheer influx of power, but also managed to finally put the frenzying vampire down. Quiet, I believe, ran inside at Rosanna screaming, scooped up Arthur and hauled him back outside and down to the rv just in time for Isabelle to arrive. And to barely manage to stabilize him before he bled out in the parking lot. Rosanna did what she could to try and prevent people from calling 911, and most of them didn't. But one of the neighbors of the disturbed young woman that the cell is looking for still got a call out. Thankfully, or perhaps unfortunately, the call was intercepted by people much higher up the food chain than the local PD, who normally would have. Who would have responded. As the cell and their RV were on their way out of the parking lot in an attempt to leave before any law enforcement showed up, they were intercepted by a car with two men in dark sunglasses, cheap black suits that had government written all over them. They were handed, I believe it was business cards and told to be ready for a phone call that each of them would have one of their own. In time, they left, they found a place to park, and they basically camped for the night at a campground with the rV. During that time, Piper attempted to call the phone number she was given after breaking things off with her partner, only to find that the number that she attempted to call was out of service. And just before we cut to black last time, Isabel was curled up on top of the rv, sleeping under the stars with Patty. And he turned to her in the dark as they were talking to find that her eyes were glowing red as Isabelle was able to see everything quite clearly, despite the lack of light. And that is where we will pick up Isabelle. Patty, Patty's arms are still around you, but you feel like they've kind of locked into place, more out of shock than anything else. And he looks a little bit freaked out, but isn't pulling away. [00:07:28] Speaker A: And I think his last words were, what is wrong with my eyes? If I'm correct, what the fuck is. [00:07:33] Speaker F: Wrong with your eyes? [00:07:37] Speaker A: And so reach up and touch the area around them. Is it something she can feel? And she's just gonna be like, I don't sort of reach around to try to find her phone and turn on her front facing camera. [00:07:56] Speaker F: You are able to do so. And when your camera faces, you realize that your eyes are bright. Bright like orange red. Gives you the look of an almost like a night dwelling feral animal. Almost. [00:08:15] Speaker A: Okay. [00:08:16] Speaker F: And it is perhaps. I don't know if it's the first time, but it's the first time you've kind of consciously taken note of the fact that you can see perfectly in the dark right now. Now? [00:08:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I think I just passed anything else off before as. [00:08:35] Speaker B: Well. [00:08:35] Speaker F: You were busy, people were bleeding out. There was a lot going on. You weren't thinking about it. [00:08:39] Speaker A: Yeah, well, at least no one else noticed this. And I see this, I register this. And I'm gonna look up at Patty and say, I. When I was in, I have a. I'm. I drank vampire blood. [00:09:08] Speaker F: You fucking what? [00:09:10] Speaker A: Um. So, uh. You know those deliveries that I've been doing over the past year or so, I. Well, shortly after I came back, I was curious. And I managed to get in contact with a vampire in the city who promised me stuff I could study in return for blood. Usually I just gave him my own. And so when I. It was gone longer last time than I usually am. Usually. It's a quick thing, but he asked for my help. He. Someone close to him was sick. And I, being a doctor, he asked for my help. This person was. Which I guess like I am now, but for all. Just like, mostly human, a little bit more. They had been also drinking vampire blood for a while. This is the first time I've drank it. I'm going to preface it with that. And so I. Essentially. What I described to everyone else in the RV is this person had been poisoned with something that was almost coagulating the curdling the blood in his veins. And in the end, the best plan was to give him a transfusion, introduce knot, and introduce fresh, non polluted blood into his system. And I wasn't exactly working in a hospital, so I'm lucky enough to be a universal donor, so. [00:11:21] Speaker F: So you gave him yours? [00:11:23] Speaker A: I gave him mine, yes. And I. [00:11:26] Speaker F: How about lead to you drinking? [00:11:29] Speaker A: Getting there. I. I had given Jace, the vampire, some of my blood that I take it. He doesn't drink from me or anything like that. It's all medically safe. I just draw it and give him vials of blood. I had drawn some of my own blood earlier that day to give to Jace. And I over compensated about how much blood I was giving to this ghoul. And it became very clear to me. It was either I drink this blood and I stay awake, and the healing properties of this blood, you know, keep me going, or I would pass out from blood loss. [00:12:21] Speaker F: He has this look on his face that is that what you have come to know is his. I am keeping a very careful mask in place, because if I make any sudden movements, I might upset you face while he is kind of soaking it all in. [00:12:41] Speaker A: So he had given me some vials of. I'm guessing it was his own blood. And I knew that, yeah, I drank it knowing that it would heal me and keep me going. And so I didn't have to worry about passing out. As far as I know, it'll be a temporary thing. There's not exactly a lot of medical research done on this, but I think it's relatively temporary. As long as I don't drink more. [00:13:26] Speaker F: All right. Um. Are you going to tell them? [00:13:39] Speaker A: I will at some point. Because they'll find out. Uh, I wasn't in any rush to. Because don't want them jumping to conclusions. [00:13:53] Speaker F: He does do that. [00:13:56] Speaker A: Luckily, Arthur's little laid up, so it makes it a lot easier to give him horrible information because he can't do anything about it right now. So. Once, I probably would have told them tonight, but, you know, everything that happened and them having very recent vampire trauma. [00:14:24] Speaker F: I might be best to try and give it a day or two before you lay it on them. [00:14:30] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm also going to take. I'm gonna turn myself into a guinea pig for a month and document all of this. Maybe it'll help someone. [00:14:42] Speaker F: As long as you're doing it in a safe manner. Safer than this, anyway. [00:14:51] Speaker A: Safer than just drinking. [00:14:53] Speaker F: Drinking anymore. And we're gonna have a fucking talk, and it's gonna be a lot less kind than this one. [00:14:59] Speaker B: It's. [00:15:01] Speaker A: Yes, but I. [00:15:04] Speaker F: Solid slide. Given the situation you're in, I'd rather you not pass out while hooked up to a machine that's taken your blood from them. [00:15:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, well, yeah, I. Hold me to it. I. I fucking intend to. I don't know the full effects of this yet, so. And out of her bag, she will pull the three remaining vials and hand them to him and say, these are the rest he gave me. And can trust you with them more than I can trust myself. And there's a lot more in the fridge in my office, but I don't think we're going back there anytime soon. [00:15:53] Speaker F: Why not? What do you want me to do with these? Or is that up to me? Oh, you want me to. [00:15:59] Speaker A: I want to keep them. [00:16:03] Speaker F: Shouldn't they be, like, refrigerated or something? Not like a rule with this sort of thing. [00:16:10] Speaker A: Honestly. [00:16:11] Speaker F: Is vampire blood different? [00:16:13] Speaker A: I think it is a little different. I just usually refrigerate it to keep it safe, but I'm honestly unsure if it actually needs to be refrigerated or not. As you see, it hasn't been for, like, the last day or so, and it. You know, it's weird. [00:16:34] Speaker F: It is weird. [00:16:36] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, all right. You make sure I don't drink anymore for now. And, yeah, I will tell them sometime before we get to Louisiana. [00:16:58] Speaker F: Given everything that's happened and the fact that this was the length that you got pushed to in your latest endeavour. And what just happened to Arthur? I think there's an elephant in the room that we might need to have a discussion about sooner or later. About how dangerous this lifestyle you're leading is. [00:17:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:27] Speaker F: And the reckless shit you get up to. [00:17:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:30] Speaker F: You sure you're doing anyone more good by doing this than you would be doing your normal job or going into proper medicine? Being a doctor. [00:17:41] Speaker A: Honestly, I don't. I don't know anymore. But there's just. In the end, I can think about all of these things. Once I get what I need done, once I get her away from the problems I've caused, once I know she's safe. [00:18:11] Speaker F: You know I'll help however I can with whatever I can. Tov, too. [00:18:17] Speaker A: Yeah, I know. [00:18:20] Speaker F: But at some point, if we're gonna make a real go of having a knife together, this has got to stop. [00:18:26] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:18:27] Speaker F: You and your friends make stupid decisions. [00:18:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I. There is no defending that. [00:18:39] Speaker F: Oh, man. He'll kind of. He'll, like. He'll tilt your chin up so that you're looking him in the eye. There's very little to defend you right now, too. Love this latest fuck up. I'll admit, given the situation you were in, it was a rock and a hard place, and I'm glad that you helped someone who needed it. You kind of also helped someone who's part of the problem. [00:19:06] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I don't want to do the chase is different, but he definitely does seem a little different. I have a. I have a hypothesis that not all kindred are monsters. So anything that could help me prove this hypothesis, this is a good. I don't. I. But, yeah, you're right. You're 100% right. [00:19:40] Speaker F: He kind of hugs you and, like, tucks your head under his chin. [00:19:47] Speaker B: So. [00:19:47] Speaker F: That he can hold you a little bit tighter. Listen, I know that right now there's no getting out of what you're into, but when this is dealt with and whatever shite your friends are into that you need to help sort out is over. There needs to be a real discussion about whether or not you stick with this life or find a way to do it in a safer way. Yeah, where it's not so half assed by the seat of your fucking pants all the time. [00:20:23] Speaker A: Yeah, well, where after this is all over, maybe I'll take up a desk job. [00:20:32] Speaker F: Sure. Well, just, um. I just want you to think about it. I'm. I'm not gonna tell anyone. That's on you. To your place, not mine. [00:20:43] Speaker B: But. [00:20:46] Speaker A: Thank you. [00:20:47] Speaker F: I worry about you. And I want you to be safe. [00:20:54] Speaker A: It means a lot to have both of you. I hadn't really let many people in before you two in that way. [00:21:14] Speaker F: Yeah, we've picked up on that. If it hasn't become clear, Paddy doesn't let much of anyone in, ever. [00:21:20] Speaker A: So. [00:21:23] Speaker F: You'Re the first woman since I've met him that I think he's had in his bed more than twice. [00:21:30] Speaker C: Oh. [00:21:33] Speaker A: But, yeah, I promise that once it's all done, I'll figure out where to go from here in a way that's not so foolhardy and daredevil. [00:21:52] Speaker B: Good. [00:21:53] Speaker A: Good. [00:21:54] Speaker F: All right, sleep now. We've got a long way to go for going to Louisiana in the morning. [00:22:02] Speaker A: Yeah, it's gonna be a long couple of days in the rV. [00:22:07] Speaker F: Hi. You feel him kind of reach up above his head where, you know, he's kind of, like, tucked his. His cut and his jacket and stuff. And you get the feeling he's probably tucking away those vials into, like, an inside pocket that, you know, is less likely to be found. And then he wraps his arms around you again and cuddles you up and pulls, uh. Pulls the sleeping bag up around the two of you and zips it up. [00:22:40] Speaker A: Well, uh. [00:22:42] Speaker F: Oh, God. [00:22:43] Speaker A: We'll attempt to find some sleep. [00:22:48] Speaker F: Listen, he doesn't do anything inappropriate, even if you try to instigate. [00:22:52] Speaker A: She wasn't going to do that. But it's just, there's a lot. [00:22:55] Speaker F: It's been a long few days with a lot of driving. He's like, no, we're resting now. [00:23:00] Speaker A: I think it's more of. There's a lot on Isabelle's mind that might be keeping her up that she's thinking about. [00:23:07] Speaker F: Well, he will, at the very least, play with her hair and kind of hum to her under his breath until he falls asleep, even if she doesn't. In the rV, quiet. Is asleep in the driver's seat so that nobody else tries to get up and drive when they should be sleeping. Looking at some of you, Arthur is. Arthur can be vaguely awake, if you would like, if anybody wants to talk to him before you leave in the morning. Otherwise, if nobody has anything to do, we will time skip. Rosanna. What? Thought somebody started to say something. [00:23:58] Speaker D: Oh, I'm good to jump to the next day. [00:24:00] Speaker F: Okay. Rosanna falls asleep at Arthur's bedside, attempting to be vigilant, but utterly fucking exhausted. After the battle and the fear and the crying and all of the things that happened in the morning, most of you wake up to the rv already moving, obviously, Isabel, you were moved inside. Don't give me that look. [00:24:25] Speaker A: I would hope so. [00:24:30] Speaker F: Off the roof very early in the morning, Patty kind of gave you a very gentle shake, and the two of you climbed down off of the rv, and he got you inside and kind of bundled you up and put you back to bed in one of the bunks. Inside. And quiet is the one driving. Patti is in the driver's seat or in the passenger seat. That would be funny. Patti is at the passenger seat, kind of half navigational guy, half just there to keep quiet awake and be company. Whoever the first person is that wakes up and comes out into the main part of the rV, you kind of hear the quiet conversation happening. [00:25:16] Speaker B: I think that would be me. [00:25:18] Speaker F: Okay. You hear a very quiet conversation, but it's not distinct enough for you to really make anything out. You just hear them talking as they're driving. And you guys are somewhere in the midwest. It's hard to tell. Everything looks the same here. It's all flat. [00:25:37] Speaker B: She'll just make her way towards the. The driver in the passenger seat just kind of stand. Are they. They're driving on highway? [00:25:53] Speaker F: Yeah. [00:25:53] Speaker B: Okay. And she'll just lean down and give quiet a kiss on the. On the head. Good morning. [00:26:03] Speaker F: Morning isn't good all day. You can go back to sleep if you want. [00:26:12] Speaker B: I'll be all right. I gotta get coffee going. Checking on everybody, make sure everybody's doing all right. Are you two okay? After yesterday? I know it was. [00:26:24] Speaker F: Really. Weren't the ones who went through hell. You guys were. We're fine. I just like to make sure Patty just sort of reaches over and pats you on the shoulder. We're fine, love. Forget the two of us are old hands of shit like this. Maybe not the hunting part, but the rough go of it in early morning the next day. That's just life where we come from. [00:26:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, let me get some coffee going, at least get you two cup. And she'll pat the both of them on the shoulder and go into the kitchen and start just kind of working on getting people awake. [00:27:10] Speaker F: And coffee and whatnot. Probably about halfway through working on things, you hear quiet kind of call over to you, hey, babe. [00:27:22] Speaker B: Uh huh. [00:27:23] Speaker F: Do you guys have a specific card that you use for. For gas? Because. [00:27:28] Speaker B: Oh, um. [00:27:29] Speaker F: No, Arthur. But he doesn't pay us well enough for me to fill this thing up. [00:27:32] Speaker B: All right, fair here. And she'll reach into her convenient teddy pocket, and she'll. She's just gonna pull out like a. Like a small wad of cash and toss it over. Toss it over to Patty. That should be enough to cover filling up the tank. Perfect. [00:27:56] Speaker F: Thank you. [00:27:56] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [00:27:59] Speaker F: We're not going to play out them stopping for gas or anything. It was mostly just a how are you guys going to pay for this sort of thing? But, yeah, they will. Unless somebody insists on swapping out between the two. Two of them will do most of the driving over the next couple of days. [00:28:23] Speaker A: Staring at my no dots when driving. I think Isabella will abstain. [00:28:26] Speaker F: Yeah, that's probably for the best. If it was just a car, I wouldn't. If it was just a car, I would call for a call for a check. But driving an rv that's basically a tour bus is a very different beast. [00:28:40] Speaker C: Arthur is gonna go, hey, I would drive, but, I mean, you need to. [00:28:46] Speaker F: Stay in fucking bed, or Isabelle will kill somebody because you've bled out all over everything. [00:28:53] Speaker A: Isabelle sticks her head out of the bunk at the sound of her name, just like. Hmm. [00:28:58] Speaker B: Don't worry, Beatrice. Everything's okay. [00:29:01] Speaker F: Arthur has vaguely shuffled out of the back bedroom Isabel, and is standing there on his feet. Well, before you gave him permission to be. [00:29:11] Speaker A: Glare. [00:29:17] Speaker C: Bed rest. Can I at least sit on the couch? Is that okay? [00:29:27] Speaker A: You could lay on the couch. [00:29:30] Speaker F: He would probably be safe to be on the couch. [00:29:33] Speaker C: All right. And so he'll go lay down on the couch just so he can be part of whatever's happening and not just be tucked in the back. [00:29:42] Speaker F: Arthur's got a serious, serious case of fomo. He's like the three year old who doesn't want to go to bed with his parents, has people over. [00:29:52] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [00:29:55] Speaker F: All right. Is there anything you guys want to talk about or have happen over the roughly two, two and a half days that it takes to get from where you are down to Louisiana? [00:30:07] Speaker A: Yeah, I think Isabel is gonna have a conversation with everyone before we get to Louisiana. Fantastic. Just in case. Just so she can get in before Piper activates the wards and realizes something's fishy here. [00:30:24] Speaker B: Something's a little sus. [00:30:26] Speaker F: All right, do you make Patty aware of when the conversation is going to happen? [00:30:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, I think it's probably, like. It's really not that first morning, but it's probably like the second morning, you know, just collecting her own thoughts about how to approach this. [00:30:46] Speaker F: All right, well, then we will say in that case, that you guys slept overnight again to give the boys a break. And Patti makes sure that quiet has the first shift on driving so that he can be hands free and able to be a support or to, you know, pull somebody off of somebody else if things get. If things get ugly. But otherwise, he will just sort of hang out, kind of off to the side and pretend that he's reading or something. [00:31:19] Speaker A: And I think. Have I heard anything more from Jace over the past two days about the condition? [00:31:29] Speaker F: What you have heard is that he seems to be doing a lot better. His color is getting better, and the veins are completely gone. And he's been awake for very brief bursts. [00:31:43] Speaker B: I assume I don't hear anything back from Peter. [00:31:47] Speaker F: No. [00:31:48] Speaker B: Okay. [00:31:51] Speaker A: So I think that is how she is going to start the conversation. Probably near around breakfast time of she will sit down at the table with a cup of coffee and go, well, I just heard from my contact. Well, he left me a message while I was asleep, but the patient is doing better. And I think my contraption actually worked to filter the auxin, or whatever it is that out of the blood. So I'm gonna lay some stuff out. My contact is a kindred. I met them shortly after I moved back to San Diego. I went to them for information, and all they asked in return was blood. And I did not ever give them blood from the vein. I did this in a medically safe way. And so I've been collecting blood and other information from this kindred for about a year. And. Well. [00:33:33] Speaker D: Oh, there's more. [00:33:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I'm already wonderful. Not Arthur happy about what you're saying, but go ahead. [00:33:48] Speaker A: Well, there was a. One of the things that I had to do to help stabilize this person was give them a blood transfusion. The thing is, I had kind of already drawn blood earlier that day. So I. I had a moment in the middle of this procedure, all alone in this apartment, knowing that I was on the verge of passing out from loss of blood. And I realized in that moment, in my pocket, I had kindred blood. So I took a chance. It was either drink the blood, stabilize myself, and I don't pass out in the middle of a blood transfusion and be unable to stop it, or pass out in the middle of a blood transfusion and unsure of when anybody would show up to the apartment again. [00:35:23] Speaker D: With that can I roll sense? The unnatural? [00:35:27] Speaker F: You absolutely can. But first, I would like you to roll intelligence. And let's do intelligence and craft. And you can add your robotic specialty. [00:35:44] Speaker D: Okay? [00:35:46] Speaker F: Cause we were talking about a piece of pretty sophisticated equipment that. Well, not technically a robot is close enough. I'll say. [00:35:57] Speaker D: Seven successes. [00:35:59] Speaker F: Okay. [00:35:59] Speaker A: Jesus. [00:36:00] Speaker F: So before you activate your sense of the unnatural, you do know, um, that Isabella was right to have the concern about what would happen if she passed out before the transfusion was done. Um, the machine just would have kept pulling and fucking drained her. Um, now, I don't know whether or not that would change how Piper is feeling, but it is an important thing that, you know, Piper would be very well aware of that. It is a legitimate concern. All right, now go ahead and sense your natural. Is that a roll? [00:36:40] Speaker D: Yep. No, nothing. [00:36:43] Speaker F: All right, well, nothing pings for you, but that is a little bit concerning, because Rosanna always pings for you. You're not sure if that is a. Just because you are so stressed out and everything is going wrong, and you feel like you were at the end of your fucking tether just trying to maintain your sense of self in the face of the curse, but it doesn't. You get nothing. [00:37:16] Speaker C: So if your body was emptying of blood and you drank vampire blood, what is that? [00:37:28] Speaker A: I believe the colonial worm is ghoul. As you can see, I'm awake during the day. I am not a vampire. [00:37:37] Speaker C: Okay, so you're not fully gone. [00:37:45] Speaker A: I'm not gone. Right. [00:37:48] Speaker D: It was a choice of that or she died. Machine would have just kept going and going and going. [00:38:02] Speaker B: Can I just ask, what did you do to land yourself in the good graces of what is essentially. You know, I'm not actually, I don't. I don't think I want to know. I think, as I said, I supply. Remove myself from this conversation, given what Arthur and I were just went through. And she's going to stand up and she is just going to go in a room and close the door, and. [00:38:43] Speaker F: It disappears into the back bedroom. [00:38:45] Speaker A: As far as I know, this is temporary. I had other vials of blood on me. I have given them to Patty for safekeeping. And I'm unsure of what happens if I don't drink anymore. From what I can tell, I don't. I think that given time, I will go back to being normal. [00:39:34] Speaker C: Are we concerned at all about addiction? [00:39:42] Speaker A: It's not been long enough for me to tell, but that's also partially why I gave Patty the vials. I trust him to keep them away from me until whatever it is has run its course. [00:40:14] Speaker C: Aside from drinking them when necessary, what do you do with the vials? [00:40:21] Speaker A: I study them. I'm a scientist, after all. I try to understand scientifically what makes them different from us. Like, sure, they're a supernatural being, but still, there has to be science in there somewhere. [00:40:42] Speaker D: Not necessarily. [00:40:48] Speaker A: I mean, to be fair, I haven't had the best luck with it. But I'm just trying to understand it and working on hypothesis. I can sequester myself away from everyone else if people would prefer it that way. [00:41:17] Speaker D: No, we need to stick together. If we split up again. Well, you saw what happened the last time we split up. [00:41:25] Speaker A: Yeah, well, yeah, I don't feel any kind of strange pull to the person whose blood I drank, so that's good. [00:41:41] Speaker C: That's a silver lining. [00:41:44] Speaker A: And can it. Can I control my new ability? [00:41:48] Speaker F: Yeah. So it mostly kicked in passively because it was the first time you've ever used it and it was the first time you were kind of extended, spent an extended duration away from any light source. But, you know, you figured out when you woke up in the morning that your eyes are back to normal. It didn't happen again. It didn't happen last night. Unless you, like, you know, tested it. [00:42:19] Speaker A: I probably would have, like, on off. [00:42:21] Speaker C: On, off. On off. [00:42:24] Speaker A: I do think there is a quick moment where her eyes will glow red and say, at least I can see in the dark. [00:42:38] Speaker D: That doesn't seem like it would be more helpful than just having a flashlight. [00:42:43] Speaker A: Considering I don't have to carry a flashlight. One more free hand. [00:42:52] Speaker D: I mean, there are ways around needing to carry a flashlight that don't involve your eyes glowing bright red. [00:43:01] Speaker A: But I wanted to come clean about this to everyone. So you all know. [00:43:21] Speaker D: Nothing we can do about it now. [00:43:24] Speaker A: Yeah. And I prefer this outcome over me being dead. [00:43:29] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:43:30] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:43:31] Speaker D: And you saved somebody else's life. [00:43:33] Speaker A: And I got us some information. Cause I think that the, whatever poison is derived from the fae being that I don't know if it's directly the fey being that Rosanna is attached to, but something. Same kind of thing. [00:44:07] Speaker C: Just the only thing that I'm concerned about is the studying of the blood. You are intending to find out what makes a tick to help your friend and or potentially fight kindred better with it. Right? [00:44:30] Speaker A: My idea, yes. [00:44:33] Speaker C: Okay. Wouldn't want some kind of ghoulish super cell of hunters or something as the outcome seems like that would just be too far down this road. [00:44:56] Speaker A: If you say so. [00:45:05] Speaker C: Okay. [00:45:10] Speaker A: Isabel is gonna pull out her journal where she has started to sort of take notes of day by day of things she's noticing about this new condition. And she will sort of shrug and say, well, not much else I have to say about it. I have said my piece. [00:45:43] Speaker D: We have bigger things to worry about right now. [00:45:46] Speaker A: We do. But just don't get freaked out when my eyes glow red. I guess. [00:45:56] Speaker D: Not anywhere close to the weirdest thing I've seen happen since I joined this group. [00:46:02] Speaker A: That is very true. But it's not a thing I usually do. So. [00:46:12] Speaker F: I just want to point out that when Piper says it's not the. Not even close to the weirdest thing you guys all hear, Patty just sort of half snort before he catches himself and kind of like lifts the book up just a little bit to kind of hide part of his face. [00:46:31] Speaker A: Yeah. And I think Isabelle will sort of give them all space to process it, move to a different part of the RV with her, her notes, and continue doing what she's done most mornings. Check like, blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, you know, make notes of those things. And keep going with that. [00:47:02] Speaker C: Arthur's gonna look to Patty and say, listen, if she gets out of control trying to get at those vials, I think it might be a good idea to destroy them, don't you? But not now. Not saying do it now, but if she gets too far into having them back, if you get my drift. [00:47:34] Speaker F: Eddie sort of looks over the top of his book at you, Arthur, and kind of arches brow. But she gave them to me because she knows I'll make the choice one way or the other. Why don't we just leave it at that? Not gonna go making plans for a situation and a contingency that we have no idea is gonna happen. So far she's been mellow and pretty bright eyed about the whole thing, frankly. Playwright. [00:48:11] Speaker C: Yeah, I guess so. But we just don't know what's gonna happen as time passes and it thins out in our system. Just suggesting that we have some plan. But you're right. You'll do the right thing when it comes time. [00:48:34] Speaker F: I. I will. [00:48:36] Speaker C: I trust you. [00:48:41] Speaker F: If you didn't, I'd wonder why you were paying me. [00:48:44] Speaker C: Yeah, that's a good point. [00:48:50] Speaker F: Okay, anyone else have any. Any conversations they want to have, scenes they want to play out before you get to Louisiana? Rosanna? No. You're good? [00:49:12] Speaker B: Yeah, perfect. [00:49:15] Speaker F: Okay, you guys are about 5 hours outside of Louisiana when Rosanna's cell phone range. [00:49:29] Speaker B: They'll look up the caller id first. [00:49:35] Speaker F: It is a private number. [00:49:40] Speaker B: I could ignore it. I could just ignore it. I could just ignore everything. I could just ignore everything. And she'll answer. Hello? [00:49:51] Speaker E: Hi, is this Rosanna? [00:49:59] Speaker B: Yeah, this is her. May I ask who's calling? [00:50:05] Speaker E: I'm sorry to give me a moment. I. I spent a lot of my life wondering if I was ever going to hear your voice. Rosanna, I'm your uncle. My name's Thomas, do you have a few minutes to talk? [00:50:28] Speaker B: Uh, y y, uh, yeah. Um, yeah, sure. Yeah. [00:50:41] Speaker E: Wonderful. This is. As much as I would like it to be, this is not a completely informal call, so, full disclosure. I am Bishop Thomas Shaw. And as much as I would love to spend time, well, no, you know what? Let's do spend some time. How are you? [00:51:23] Speaker B: You know, that's a bit of a loaded question, actually. One that I don't think neither one of us really have the time to get into. It's okay. I, okay, so you are a bishop. I hope you don't mind me asking, whose side, mom or dad's? [00:51:50] Speaker E: I'm your mother's brother. [00:51:54] Speaker B: Okay. Um, how are, how, how are you? I'm sorry, I expect and phone fam, how are, how are you? [00:52:13] Speaker E: I'm, I'm well, thank you. I received some, some news from the people who gave you the business cards. How's Arthur? [00:52:31] Speaker B: Laugh. [00:52:33] Speaker E: Wow. [00:52:34] Speaker B: That's all that matters. [00:52:36] Speaker E: God be praised. [00:52:41] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:46] Speaker E: Have you taken him to see a doctor? [00:52:49] Speaker B: We have a doctor on set. [00:52:52] Speaker E: Mmm, mmm. But he hasn't been to a hospital or. [00:53:01] Speaker B: No, we've got a bit of a special setup that allows us to take care of those problems internally. I'm hoping that when we get to where we need to go, uh, his loved ones can convince him to see a doctor. But until then, he's bed rest and fat. [00:53:32] Speaker E: Is he being stubborn? You have a good laugh. [00:53:44] Speaker B: Thank you. He's, you don't know him. But when I say he's being Arthur, it's a good thing. [00:53:59] Speaker E: Okay. [00:54:06] Speaker C: Oh. [00:54:08] Speaker E: Rosanna, the reason I'm calling is, to put it quite simply, I'd like to offer you a job. [00:54:23] Speaker B: I'm sorry? A job. [00:54:30] Speaker E: It occurs to me that people like you and your friends, you spend a lot of time sort of kit bashing together things with toothpicks and glue and getting by on whatever information, whatever information you can scrape up, however you can scrape it up. And even in that, you've all done good. And so I'm wondering what you could do if you had more to work with. What if in that moment where you're worrying about whether Arthur is going to be Arthur or even whether Arthur is going to be around, you could take him to a hospital and he would be seen immediately and the costs would be covered and a story would be put forward so that no one, you didn't have to explain yourself to anyone. [00:55:56] Speaker B: I can't, I can't lie. I mean, that, that would, that would solve so many problems. I assume because you heard about what happened with Arthur. You probably know what happened with me. [00:56:28] Speaker E: I do. You didn't want to talk about how you were before. How about now? [00:56:52] Speaker B: There is so much wrong. And I feel out of control, and I don't like feeling out of control. And there are things that want us dead. There are things that are still hunting us down. [00:57:18] Speaker E: And it can be lonely, even with the people around you, because even then, that threat looms like a pressure, doesn't it? Not just on you, but on your loved ones, on the people close to you. And they tell you, oh, no, we'll fight for you, too. And you're like. And you're like. But I want someone to protect you, too. I want someone to care about you the way I do. I don't want you to die for me. I want you to live for me. Am I getting close? [00:57:58] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I just. You said you had a job. [00:58:12] Speaker C: I do. [00:58:16] Speaker E: It's basically what you're doing now. [00:58:24] Speaker B: What's the difference? [00:58:28] Speaker E: Well, you draw a paycheck. And as always happens, whenever you join an organization that provides you with support, there would be people you would answer to. [00:58:54] Speaker B: Can I ask, is it government, religious, or personal? [00:59:08] Speaker E: It's a little bit of all three. You see, as governments became aware of what they professionally refer to as blank bodies, they turned to people who knew what these things were. Mostly people who were in the church. And a partnership was formed. [00:59:47] Speaker B: Have torches. I learned a little bit about it in my traveling days. I assume it would be the same line of work as my. As my sister. [01:00:18] Speaker E: I'm glad you brought her up. To be quite honest, I'm worried about her. [01:00:28] Speaker B: Why? [01:00:33] Speaker E: This is a difficult life. And it can be very easy to get lost in the crusade and to lose your empathy and to lose your ability to care about people. And so, obviously, this doesn't go in any contracts, any documents. This is from me to you. From an uncle to his niece. If you and your team would come and join us, I have the authority to restrain her. Not forever. There are plenty of other people who are very sure that she's doing right. But I could give you 30 days. Try and make her see your point of view. Where there would not be any chains, there would not be any abuse. I could do that. I would do that. [01:02:16] Speaker B: Where are you? [01:02:23] Speaker E: You know, I forgot to ask before I started this phone call, whether or not I'm allowed to say. So if I get a chance, after I call, maybe I'll send you a text. [01:02:36] Speaker B: Okay. All right. [01:02:41] Speaker E: You're not the only one with a big list of people who would like to see you dead. I've been at this a lot longer than you. [01:02:52] Speaker B: I can only imagine. Is my mom in this line, too? Does she know? [01:03:07] Speaker E: Not that I'm aware of. We had a. We had a falling out. Long time ago. [01:03:17] Speaker F: Rosanna, it's worth noting that your mother never told you you had to. [01:03:25] Speaker B: You know, I. I didn't think you'd reach out when Wren told me that you came and grabbed her and. And trained her, and I didn't think that you would have reached out to me. Um, as far as I am aware, I was never even supposed to be doing this. [01:04:05] Speaker E: So you were waiting for the big thundering speech about you making bad choices with your life, that sort of thing? I have several of those in the drawer. But mostly, I wanted to reach out to you as a person and to ask for your help. Because I want to talk to your teammates as well. But I want you to talk to your teammates. I want this to be. This is your choice. This is your decision. But I think you could really do some good. And I think we could help make your work safer, more effective, and bring in and protect your loved ones while we're at it. Will you help me do that? Rosanna? [01:05:20] Speaker B: Can I have a day? [01:05:23] Speaker A: Of course. [01:05:25] Speaker E: Of course. Now, at the end of that day, I'm going to need an answer. And there's no good way to say this if you won't help me. I have to use whatever I have to hand, including Wren. You understand? [01:05:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I understand. I don't want to make this decision for my group, though. [01:06:07] Speaker E: No, of course not. Of course not. [01:06:15] Speaker B: Is there a way that I could reach out to you once we've settled on a decision? [01:06:24] Speaker E: Well, I'll be getting in. I will probably get in touch with some of your other members. But you have those business cards, right? We'll work something out. And just so we're clear, this offer isn't just for the four of you. It includes Mister deal. [01:06:49] Speaker B: Be sure to include him in the conversation as well. [01:06:53] Speaker E: As well you should. As well you should. [01:07:02] Speaker B: Thank you for reaching out to me. [01:07:08] Speaker E: Thank you for picking up when I probably looked like some sort of telemarketer. [01:07:14] Speaker B: I won't lie when I say I very much contemplated not picking up. But, you know, the nice gentleman in the suits gave me the recommendation that I should answer my phone, so it was a 50 50. It was either this conversation that we were having, or a man trying to sell me Tupperware. [01:07:35] Speaker E: Who doesn't like Tupperware? [01:07:39] Speaker B: You know what? I have to fully agree with you on that one. [01:07:45] Speaker E: Okay, Rosanna, I'm gonna let you go. [01:07:47] Speaker B: Okay? [01:07:48] Speaker E: Thank you so much for taking my call, and I'll be in touch. [01:07:53] Speaker B: Thank you, uncle Tom. [01:07:58] Speaker F: Okay, Rosanna, are you gonna go talk to your friends immediately or you gonna sit with that for a while? I just need to know who I'm putting back on the screen. [01:08:12] Speaker B: She's just gonna sit with it for 20 minutes, just kind of give herself a little bit of time to be like, oh, well, shit. [01:08:25] Speaker F: To digest what just happened. [01:08:26] Speaker B: Yep. [01:08:28] Speaker F: Okay. Um, are you then going to go and talk to your friends or should I pivot back to them? [01:08:34] Speaker B: I'll go and talk to my friends after that. [01:08:36] Speaker F: Okay, everybody's back. Rosanna appears from the back room. She's been spending a lot of time in there since Isabel's, uh, news. We'll say that this is around the time that the boys pulled off of the interstate to stop for food and so quiet and Patti are literally actively climbing back into the rv with bags of junk food. Fast food. Really? Listen, you're on the road, they're already driving. They're not also going to cook for you. And Piper's had a rough time, so they're giving Piper one meal off from having to cook for everybody. But they climb in with bags of fried chicken and biscuits and sides. [01:09:46] Speaker B: Is it chicken fingers? [01:09:49] Speaker F: I mean, it's fried chicken. Like proper fried chicken. It is the closest to not fast food they can get while it's still fast food. And quiet. Sort of looks over at Rosanna as she comes out of the back room and kind of immediately frowns. You good, babe? [01:10:13] Speaker B: I just got a phone call. [01:10:16] Speaker F: Okay. [01:10:17] Speaker D: Oh, did they. Did they decide to start? [01:10:22] Speaker B: Kind of. [01:10:26] Speaker D: What do you mean, kind of? [01:10:32] Speaker B: It is. It was from my uncle. [01:10:38] Speaker A: You have an uncle? [01:10:41] Speaker B: I have an uncle. I have an uncle who works for the second inquisition. He was the one that brought Rin in. They want to offer us a job. [01:11:09] Speaker D: Wait, are you fucking serious? [01:11:10] Speaker A: Are they really that desperate? [01:11:14] Speaker C: I feel like there's a cost here. They want something. [01:11:17] Speaker B: Sure. [01:11:19] Speaker F: Said. [01:11:21] Speaker B: That they are able to give us resources that we do not have in order to safely do our jobs. And on top of that, he told me that he can contain Wren. [01:11:47] Speaker D: Believe him. [01:11:52] Speaker B: I don't. I don't know. [01:11:54] Speaker A: But. [01:11:59] Speaker B: Um, I'm nervous about her. She's got a lot more control over her stuff than I do. And they. They said that there are hospitals who are willing to take care of us in ways that are. No offense, Isabelle, but in the way that a rv. Makeshift little surgical room can. [01:12:35] Speaker A: I'm literally operating out of something that is actually a step below a backroom at a bar. [01:12:42] Speaker B: Yes. Yes. Yes, you are. And they offered us paychecks, like, actual pay, to do what we do. And. And. And he knew about the Arthur thing. He knew about that, what happened to me a year ago. They have eyes on us. Like, actual eyes on us. They know things that are happening to us as we are speaking now. They've got. [01:13:15] Speaker D: Small correction. They're gonna pay us to do what we do in the way that they want to do most of the time. [01:13:20] Speaker A: Is not at all, technically already paid by them. Well, they. Different branch. Paid by the government branch. [01:13:30] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, they. There's a small catch to it. [01:13:39] Speaker C: That's what I was waiting for. [01:13:40] Speaker B: I gotta get him an answer by the end of the day. And he vaguely said that if I say no, he has to deploy all of his resources, including my sister. [01:13:57] Speaker A: To do what? [01:14:02] Speaker B: That he didn't say, but I don't. No. [01:14:06] Speaker D: Presumably to stop us from whatever we're going to do. [01:14:12] Speaker A: And he's several steps ahead of us because I don't even know what we're fucking gonna do. [01:14:16] Speaker B: Yeah, of course he's several steps ahead of us. He has the backing of an entire real. [01:14:24] Speaker F: He's a. [01:14:24] Speaker B: He's a. He was a bishop, right? [01:14:28] Speaker F: Yes. [01:14:29] Speaker B: Okay. He is a. He's a bishop of the church. [01:14:33] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:14:34] Speaker B: So powerful, he knew quiet's real name. [01:14:38] Speaker A: Oh, damn. I mean, so powerful, he knows whatever we're gonna do before we even do it. Somehow, before we even know we're gonna. [01:14:45] Speaker B: Do it, before we even. [01:14:47] Speaker F: Quiet sort of tilts his head. He works with the government. [01:14:50] Speaker B: Yeah, no, he works with the church. But there's a. Yeah, yeah. [01:14:57] Speaker F: I mean, babe, I was a marine. I mean, find my name without much issue. [01:15:06] Speaker C: So. That's not the catch that I was expecting. So what do they want us to do? [01:15:12] Speaker B: What we're doing. [01:15:15] Speaker A: That's all. [01:15:16] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:16] Speaker C: They just want us to keep hunting. [01:15:18] Speaker B: They want. [01:15:19] Speaker C: With more resources. [01:15:20] Speaker B: With more resources. With actual paychecks, with tell the truth. [01:15:28] Speaker D: And a leash around our necks. [01:15:29] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:30] Speaker C: Yeah. And they don't want us to continue on this path where we're trying to deal with your sister, find the way to get rid of the curse. [01:15:47] Speaker B: He didn't really say anything else about that. [01:15:51] Speaker A: Resources. Maybe they know more about the book than we do. Maybe they actually know where the book is. [01:15:57] Speaker B: I mean, from what we heard, the book's kind of an anomaly. [01:16:01] Speaker E: Right? [01:16:01] Speaker B: Like it's there and then it's not. Unless they have some sort of like way to like track like where the book is at every point in time. But I don't quite know how the religious side of the sector works. So all I know is that there's some. Is that they are different but the same as all of the other sectors. [01:16:25] Speaker D: So we were told they would give us resources, paycheck and health insurance. [01:16:32] Speaker B: Health insurance. Ways to actually combat these things that we're fighting in matter that is a lot more safe. [01:16:45] Speaker C: But Rosenna, I'm thinking right now, if this whole thing you have going on, if I understand correctly, it was supposed to be rinse, right? The weapon was for her. [01:17:03] Speaker F: Yeah. [01:17:04] Speaker C: The power was for her. So. And now it's not. It's with you. [01:17:17] Speaker B: It's with both of us. [01:17:22] Speaker D: So they don't have control over it, at least not correct. [01:17:26] Speaker B: And she's a lot better at maintaining that control than I am. A lot better. [01:17:33] Speaker A: She's not afraid to hurt the person. [01:17:37] Speaker B: Yeah, it said that he is afraid for my sister, that she's beginning to. That she's lacking the empathy that comes with doing what we do. And if you don't have at least a little bit of empathy, it can lead you to do some cruel shit. [01:17:58] Speaker D: Yeah, that's what happens when it becomes a job and not something you do because you want to help. [01:18:03] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:18:04] Speaker B: Or that's what happens when you love the power that you wield so much that you let it consume you. That's why I try to not use her as much as I can. [01:18:22] Speaker D: I don't think it's a good idea. I think he left a lot of things unsaid on purpose. [01:18:27] Speaker B: Well, I mean, I believe that you. That you all be getting phone calls from him eventually. [01:18:34] Speaker A: Probably, yeah. But there's also the point of do we dare say no? It's. I know it's not something we want to talk about, but we say no brings down down the literal hammer of God on us and including anyone we love. [01:19:05] Speaker B: I don't. [01:19:07] Speaker D: No, they've already done that enough for me. I don't have anything to worry about at this point when it comes to people I love, other than you three. And well. [01:19:27] Speaker A: Oh, I mean, Arthur, you got Katie Lynn and everyone at the compound. All of the compounds that a lot of people. [01:19:48] Speaker B: I'm just afraid of what would happen if we said yes? What does that, what does that entail? What does that, what does that mean? What freedoms do we lose on our end of the job? What benefits do we actually gain? What does resources from an organization like this entail? Do we get access to. To better weapons? Do we have to brand ourselves with, like, poking sticks or whatever? Like, what does joining something like this actually mean? [01:20:24] Speaker D: And let's be honest, we also don't have any real reason to believe that just because we join them, they're not doing all the things that they're already doing. [01:20:35] Speaker A: Comes a point of it's a decision rock and a hard place. [01:20:45] Speaker B: I mean, she already despises me. What would happen if I stepped in and all of a sudden, I was directly in her turf? Not as religious or zealous or crazy. That's her. [01:21:03] Speaker C: But what if they force you to use this connection? You have so much that you start to become Rin. [01:21:17] Speaker B: If I ever become anything like my sister, just fucking kill me. I'd rather be dead. I'd rather be dead than. Then you think that the things that we deal with are annoying and a pain in the ass. Nothing is more annoying and difficult to deal with than the person that you're supposed to love the most, becoming one of the religious Eliots that you have always feared. There's being religious, and then there's being her who believes that she is a direct hand of God. Not in your way, Arthur. At least you're reasonable. [01:22:17] Speaker F: Quiet for most of this has been been making plates and putting them in front of people who are promptly ignoring all the food. [01:22:27] Speaker D: Piper is not ignoring the food. She's absolutely. [01:22:28] Speaker A: The bell's not ignoring the food either. [01:22:31] Speaker F: Listen, y'all were talking, talking. I was like, what? Do you have time to put food in your mouths? But he just sort of looks around. I mean, not saying that all of these concerns aren't valid, because they are. But it sounds more to me like he might be offering y'all a position as government contractors, basically. [01:22:55] Speaker A: Look, we've got three more phone calls to get more information out of him. [01:22:59] Speaker B: Ask him anything that you can. [01:23:02] Speaker F: I don't think that they try to force y'all to join the religious arm of things just to work for them. It's different. There will probably be rules. Absolutely. There's always rules in a fucking collar where these people, where groups like this are concerned. But it's not the same as branding yourself and taking an oath. The difference is, you know. [01:23:31] Speaker A: Which is good. I would not look good in a habit. [01:23:35] Speaker F: Well, now that we sort of looks over, kind of tilts his head and. No, that's a piece of my childhood I don't need to revisit. Thanks. [01:23:46] Speaker C: I mean, they yes, but it sounds like he also ended it with a threat, which I don't like. Doesn't feel good. I already have threats looming over my. My people, the group that I care about. [01:24:09] Speaker F: That, boss, is the carrot and the stick. How people like this operate. He's got the leverage, you don't. [01:24:31] Speaker B: I just. Eventually, he will get ahold of the three of you, and I'm sure he's going to offer you the same exact thing. And I'm sure that he will try to sweeten the deal. Uh, good old Uncle Tom is a. A very calm man. [01:24:58] Speaker A: Gonna be interesting when I talk to him. Cause I kinda already work for all of this. [01:25:06] Speaker C: For Uncle Sam. [01:25:10] Speaker A: I'll let you know if the name changes. [01:25:12] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, let me know if the name changes. Um, but he offered me the job. I told him I wasn't gonna make a decision for the group, that it would be best if I had a day to talk to y'all about it. [01:25:30] Speaker A: And at least, like a week. [01:25:33] Speaker B: And at least prime you for what he is going to offer. Yeah, if it's the same thing that he offers all of us. He might offer us. He might find ways to sweeten the deal for everybody. But he knows that there is a conflict between me and my sister, and that's the string that he pulled on. So. [01:25:57] Speaker C: Yeah, we know what string he's gonna pull on for me. [01:26:01] Speaker B: I mean, let's be honest. We know what strings he'll pull on for all of us. [01:26:07] Speaker C: I don't know. Sounds like a lot of the frayed ends have been burned off in Piper's case. [01:26:15] Speaker A: Doesn't mean they're still not there. [01:26:22] Speaker D: When one of you gets a call from him, let me know if I can track. At least figure out where he's at. [01:26:33] Speaker A: It's not a wise idea. [01:26:38] Speaker C: I mean, doesn't really matter, Piper, you essentially control my phone anyway, so. [01:26:58] Speaker B: I just. I don't know. [01:26:59] Speaker A: I just. [01:27:07] Speaker B: I have a headache. Everything is a headache. [01:27:16] Speaker F: Okay? [01:27:19] Speaker C: Arthur's gonna just lightly Pat Rosanna, try to calm her down. [01:27:27] Speaker B: I'm sorry. [01:27:31] Speaker C: No, it's a lot. [01:27:34] Speaker B: I didn't even know I had an uncle until a year ago. [01:27:39] Speaker C: Shows up and starts trying to play mental chess with you and. [01:27:45] Speaker B: I mean, I know that you guys didn't hear what Wren said to me, but. God, I just. It's not. I just some. I just feel really not great. Because I know that if we do, we lose a lot of the freedoms that we are allotted doing this independently. But if I don't, I mean, he'll send her after me and us and our families. And she's not the woman that I knew. She's a lot scarier, a lot stronger, a lot stronger. And she's got a way to cut into me that no other person can. And I'm. I'm afraid that if I have to fire head on, I don't know if I'm making it out alive. Cause she's gonna go for me before she goes for the three of you. And then she'll look down at the plate of chicken and just slowly lift a drum stick up and take a bite and then put it back down. [01:29:50] Speaker F: Okay. Does anybody else have anything that they want to do before reaching Louisiana? [01:29:56] Speaker A: No. [01:29:58] Speaker F: Alrighty. You all pull in to the compound. It is at the middle of the evening. It's a little past dinner. You guys ate on the way in. Arthur, when you called ahead to let Katie Lynn know that you were close, she kind of apologized and said that everybody had done a really early dinner because they kind of expected you guys to be there sooner. But with all the stops that you guys have had to make because you've needed to sleep and you've only got the two people consistently driving, you're late, so you guys got food on the way in, and when you get there, folks kind of split off. Patty and Tov don't get to go back to their old house, but gets sent to one of the spare houses that are currently open with Isabelle. Not Tom. Sorry, Patty and Isabelle. I'm sorry, blah. Patty does not get to take Isabelle back to his old house. [01:31:06] Speaker A: Great memories there. [01:31:10] Speaker F: They get to peel off to one of the other houses that hasn't had anybody in it for a little while. Rosanna and Piper are both offered spare bedrooms in the big house or are welcome to stay in the rv. And quiet sort of defers to whatever Rosanna wants him to do. He will do. He's kind of been a little standoffish since what happened with Arthur because he knows that Rosanna's feeling very fragile and doesn't want to be pushy, so he's just sort of constantly deferring to whatever she seems most comfortable with. So. [01:31:55] Speaker B: We'Re going to take a spare bedroom. [01:31:58] Speaker D: Piper is going to stay in the rV. [01:31:59] Speaker F: Okay. Do you want quiet to come with you? [01:32:03] Speaker B: Yes. Okay, cool. [01:32:06] Speaker F: Quiet. And Rosanna get a spare bedroom. Piper is gonna end up staying in the rv as everybody kind of splits off to kind of settle for the evening. Arthur, Katie Lynn gets you kind of set up in your bedroom. You know, a lot of dating after you take it, you're gonna take a property shower. She's insistent that you will not be getting into her bed until you have washed off the road. Funk gets you changed into clean clothes, gives you, you know, makes you a plate of what leftovers she has in the kitchen. And then, you know, basically has you settle into bed with a book. [01:32:46] Speaker C: Lovingly chews me out about getting hurt. [01:32:49] Speaker F: Yep, basically. And then she goes off to make sure that your guests are settled in. And as you are sitting there trying to read and focus and just sort of enjoying the fact that you are back home several days late, but you are home, your phone rings. [01:33:13] Speaker C: Hello? Hello. [01:33:19] Speaker E: Is this Arthur? [01:33:22] Speaker C: Yeah. [01:33:23] Speaker E: Or would you prefer I call you speaker? [01:33:27] Speaker C: No, I am not the speaker. Simply a shepherd. [01:33:38] Speaker E: One shepherd to another. I'm Thomas. [01:33:41] Speaker C: Yeah, I thought so. [01:33:49] Speaker E: I take from that that Rosanna talked about our conversation. [01:33:54] Speaker C: She did. [01:33:55] Speaker E: Wonderful, wonderful. [01:33:59] Speaker C: Thomas, I'm gonna be really honest with you. I want to have this conversation cordially. But you left her with a threat that I do not. [01:34:09] Speaker E: That's right. [01:34:11] Speaker C: You left her with a threat that if we didn't respond, then you would have to take actions. Is that right? [01:34:22] Speaker E: Oh, my goodness. Oh, dear. I, did all of you think I meant you? [01:34:37] Speaker C: What was it supposed to mean? [01:34:39] Speaker E: Arthur, I'm, I'm a hunter, just as you are. I have, I have monsters to seek. If I, if I cannot bring your expertise in, I have to use the expertise I have. But I meant, oh, how many days have you thought, I've just, oh, dear. I'm, Arthur, I am so sorry. [01:35:14] Speaker C: Okay. Yeah. When someone threatens my family, it does put me a little bit on edge. [01:35:21] Speaker E: As, as well it should. You are a pastor to your flock. I understand. I've been a man of the cloth for, for a while now. [01:35:43] Speaker C: Okay, so you didn't mean to threaten us, you just meant that you would have to move without us? [01:35:52] Speaker E: That's correct. Okay. I want Rosanna's help to try and bring Wren back from whatever dark place she's gone to. I really do. But I know in my heart, as I'm sure you do, Rosanna won't come without you. [01:36:15] Speaker C: Yeah, that's probably true. And honestly, I wouldn't go without her. [01:36:24] Speaker E: Well spoken. [01:36:31] Speaker C: So you want to enlist our help in bringing down rin? [01:36:38] Speaker E: I want in reining her in. I want Rosanna's help in. Look, I, I've been a Catholic all my life. We have, we have a history with zealotry. [01:36:55] Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. [01:36:56] Speaker E: And people who lose their way. [01:37:05] Speaker C: I am quite well, quite aware of that. It is one of the things that, that I studied in college. [01:37:13] Speaker E: But I like to think that we also have a history of saying we can do better. [01:37:23] Speaker C: Certainly the contemporary church. Yeah. [01:37:32] Speaker A: Well. [01:37:36] Speaker C: You would like us to help Rainer in. How do you plan to do that? [01:37:42] Speaker E: Well, the first step is I do. And as I mentioned to Rosanna, I do have the authority to prevent her for a time, from interacting with the Fae entity at all. I'm hoping in that time, well, one, it's going to make her upset. She's going to come yell at me. But that's also an opportunity for Rosanna to reach out to her sister. It doesn't it come back to family, Arthur. [01:38:29] Speaker A: Mm hmm. [01:38:31] Speaker C: And you think that Rosanna can reach her sister? [01:38:35] Speaker E: I believe she can. I certainly believe she can if she has help. [01:38:45] Speaker C: Yeah. Okay, so you propose that we assist you in reaching out to Rin in a time when she's unable to access this darkness that's in her soul or whatever? If I'm understanding correctly, yes. [01:39:10] Speaker E: And it's also, well, it's part of a larger sort of offer. I do. I do want Rosanna and all of you to help me try and reach Ren. I also want you to keep doing what it is you're doing, just with our support and help. [01:39:44] Speaker C: I see. And with your support and help, what does that look like for hunters like us? [01:39:55] Speaker E: Well, the Society of St. Leopold has been hunting the supernatural for over a thousand years. We have records, to be blunt, you can't find online. [01:40:22] Speaker C: Yeah, I wouldn't find them online anywhere. [01:40:28] Speaker E: We have. We have an abundance of people who have been where you are and have come back alive and now want to share their experience. [01:40:50] Speaker C: Kind of like a hunter retirement plan. [01:41:04] Speaker E: My flock, for lack of a better term, is mostly those who seek out these supernatural evils and do battle with them. It's my responsibility to care for them. But it's also my responsibility to ensure that that mission goes forward, that that mission progresses both because it is a good thing in and of itself, and because it means that whole communities will sleep more peacefully, will live in safety, and will live lives free from that sort of meddling and adherence. [01:42:09] Speaker C: I see where you're approaching. So the benefit would be that my people would be safe. [01:42:21] Speaker E: That's certainly something we can work on. And I think of this, you were, as I understand it, rather badly injured. Is that correct? [01:42:53] Speaker C: Yes. [01:42:57] Speaker E: What I would want for you in that moment, not just as a bishop to a member of his flock, but just as one human being to another, is one for you to receive the very best care that can be provided. And two, that your wife could be beside you in that moment. And for you to know that no matter what happens to you, one, you will be cared for. But two, so will the people in your charge. [01:43:51] Speaker C: Well, you certainly know one thing about me, and that is that I care about my people. [01:44:02] Speaker E: Possibly the most important thing to know about anyone who would call themselves a shepherd. I would think. [01:44:15] Speaker C: So. If we agree to help you somehow, some way, in whatever means you have the ability to do, the church, my wife and everyone will be safer, is your promise? [01:44:36] Speaker E: By whatever means we have at our disposal. Which are considerable. [01:44:46] Speaker C: I see you choose your words very carefully, I noticed. Do you want to tell me what the devil's bargain here is? Or am I gonna have to try to figure it out? [01:44:59] Speaker E: Are you asking a churchman what the devil's bargain is? It's an interesting turn of phrase. [01:45:07] Speaker C: It's one I thought you might understand. [01:45:12] Speaker E: Arthur, I'm not trying to trick you, not trying to bamboozle you. And you will turn around and I will attempt to drop Chrism oil on your head or, or something. [01:45:25] Speaker C: I mean, you have to understand, I've had to make some deals in the past and they have not quite worked out for me. You know that, right? [01:45:40] Speaker E: Let me tell you this, because we are not just a religious organization. Anything that you agree to formally, you will do so in writing. You'll get to read it. [01:46:05] Speaker C: Now, that is better than a deal with a trickster God. [01:46:10] Speaker B: Oh, good. [01:46:19] Speaker C: So, what do we do from here? [01:46:22] Speaker E: Well, I told Rosanna that I is my preference and my desire that you all come. That you all agree one way or the other. So you may, perhaps you may want to talk further with your comrades. You may want to talk with Rosanna. You may want to pray over it. I don't want to force your hand. [01:47:02] Speaker C: But we have to make a decision as soon as possible. [01:47:05] Speaker E: Yes, I have a limited window in which to make this offer. And why. And as I mentioned to Rosanna. [01:47:26] Speaker F: If. [01:47:26] Speaker E: It turns out that you decide not to join us, which is your free. [01:47:31] Speaker C: Choice. [01:47:34] Speaker E: Then I can't. Then there are things that, there are things I have to do, and there are things I won't do. None of which really have to do with you, per se. But there are things that I am. There are programs and projects and plans that operation first light is waiting on to see whether or not we have new talent to make use of. [01:48:08] Speaker B: And. [01:48:09] Speaker E: Who will make use of us. [01:48:13] Speaker C: Well, if you want me to convince the others, I know you're going to probably reach out to them individually, but what is the overall protections or offers for them so that I might talk with them about it for us as a whole, if that makes it easier. [01:48:47] Speaker E: Most of the protection we provide has to do with shielding your real identities, your real relationships, from casual searches. The undead have the same sort of research capacity that you do. We, however, have, if I may not put too fine a point on it, the National Security Agency. [01:49:23] Speaker C: What about the IR's? [01:49:28] Speaker E: Now you're talking about devil's bargains, but let's see what I could do. [01:49:37] Speaker C: I mean, if we're having a contract negotiation, it's definitely something to put on the table. [01:49:44] Speaker E: There may be a w two form involved, yes. [01:49:47] Speaker C: Mm hmm. Okay. It's kind of Isabelle's business, but there's someone that she cares about. [01:50:09] Speaker E: Oh. [01:50:11] Speaker C: If you didn't know, then I'll let her handle that conversation. [01:50:19] Speaker E: Is there. Is there someone I should. Is there someone I should ask about? I would want you to have confidence. [01:50:30] Speaker C: I'll leave that to her. But you're offering to protect our identities, protect our people, and give us some kind of direction and connection in exchange for bringing Wren back from the brink. Just wanted to clarify our entire conversation. [01:51:00] Speaker E: I think that sums it up nicely, yes. [01:51:04] Speaker C: Okay. Well, then let me talk with the others. And by the time you call the next one of us, we might be closer to an answer. [01:51:17] Speaker E: Wonderful. It's good to meet you, Arthur. This has been a pleasant conversation. I thank you for taking the time to listen to me. [01:51:31] Speaker C: I'm trusting you not to have actually threatened my family. [01:51:36] Speaker E: So I lead that mostly to the government side. [01:51:42] Speaker C: Okay, then I guess we'll talk when next you call someone else. [01:51:53] Speaker E: Wonderful. [01:51:58] Speaker F: Okay. And we're back. It is now the following morning, after Arthur's interesting conversation with Bishop Thomas, Katie Lynn and some of the women from the church have set out a nice spread for breakfast for everybody. And I've kind of cleared out and given you guys the. The main house kind of to yourselves. Katie Lynn has been helping with a family that just had a new baby, so she's off getting baby cuddle times in and helping with laundry and cooking and everything else so that the new mom can rest. So there really isn't much of anyone here except for you guys. And if you guys want them to be there, Patty and quiet will be there. Otherwise, they will make themselves. Garrison, go help around. Go help the other bikers who are protecting the compound. [01:53:06] Speaker A: I mean, I think Isabel would just feel like. You don't have to work while you're here. [01:53:26] Speaker C: Well, I got a call from uncle Thomas last night. [01:53:36] Speaker A: How did it go? [01:53:39] Speaker C: Well, he clarified his threat. He didn't mean to threaten us. He meant to suggest that if we didn't act fast, he would have to make other plans and other decisions and execute other things that didn't involve us. [01:53:56] Speaker A: Oh, so just a guilt trip? [01:54:00] Speaker C: I think it's more of he. There's a very small window of time for him to act on his plan. And so the longer we take to respond, harder plan, if that makes sense. And his plan is to pull wren back from the brink. [01:54:29] Speaker A: With therapy. Right. [01:54:33] Speaker C: With Rosanna. [01:54:39] Speaker A: That doesn't sound like therapy. [01:54:40] Speaker D: That definitely isn't therapy. [01:54:45] Speaker C: Maybe it's the church's version of therapy. [01:54:48] Speaker B: I'm the church's version of therapy. [01:54:51] Speaker C: Bring a family member in. [01:54:53] Speaker D: A shame from a family member seems on track. [01:54:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:54:58] Speaker C: An intervention, as it were. [01:55:01] Speaker F: Can everybody make me a. What's an insight check, please? [01:55:07] Speaker A: Sure. [01:55:09] Speaker C: Absolutely. [01:55:10] Speaker F: Arthur, you can add mental states. [01:55:13] Speaker A: Ooh. [01:55:21] Speaker C: Wait. Gotta use the right thing. [01:55:25] Speaker A: Two successes. [01:55:30] Speaker D: Three successes. [01:55:32] Speaker B: Three successes. [01:55:34] Speaker C: Two for me as well. So, okay. [01:55:41] Speaker F: You'Re not, none of you are positive, but it could kind of be a little bit that he is talking about something like an intervention. Rosanna, in her conversations with you about her sister in the past, has said that they used to be incredibly, incredibly close. They are twins. And it's more than just the fae, that is a connection between them. So it could really just be the fact that he thinks bringing somebody who is closer to her than him in to help with her recovery, whatever that is, whether it is therapy or something specific that the church does, could simply provide more of a connection than he has without her. It is not necessarily we're going to bring Rosanna in and have her like, metaphysically beat the shit out of her sister. It really could just be family therapy tends to go better than just personal therapy. Especially when somebody doesn't have the typical support system that they have. Rosanna would be. He could just think that Rosanna would be a good grounding force for her towards this dark. You have a good enough understanding of psychology, you guys, to kind of understand it isn't even necessarily about shame. [01:57:16] Speaker C: So in exchange for getting Rosanna to wherever Rosanna needs to be for this Rin tervention. No. [01:57:28] Speaker A: God, no. [01:57:33] Speaker C: Fine. In exchange, he's offering safety and security and in anonymity. In our roles as hunters, covering our tracks, hiding our identities, that kind of thing. Sure. We specifically talked about the church. My church, my people. I won't hide that fact. But I believe that he's going to offer something to each of you as well. [01:58:16] Speaker A: It would make sense, I think, a lot of his, you know. Rosanna, what do you want to do? This is, friend, this is. [01:58:49] Speaker C: It really does come down to your decision. [01:58:55] Speaker A: Look, I will make Uncle Thomas sweat. But in the end, it's. You've got more in this game than any of the rest of us do. [01:59:13] Speaker B: I mean, maybe, but all of you are going to be affected in one way or another, for better or for worse. I mean, they're offering us a lot. My fear is that what if it doesn't work? And what if all of a sudden, 30 days are up, and she has access to that power, and I'm unable to bring her back down from the edge, and now she's in a proximity of where I am with all of it and more anger towards me. I. If I died at the hands of a. Of a vampire, at least a dad biting off something. If I die at the hands of my sister because she wants power. [02:00:39] Speaker D: Just because she's a person doesn't mean she's not a volunteer. [02:00:44] Speaker A: Exactly. [02:00:45] Speaker E: Yep. [02:00:49] Speaker D: That's what it comes down to. Still doing our job. [02:00:53] Speaker A: I've seen some of the innumerable cruelties that humans can put on each other in my job. Sometimes they're worse than the actual monsters. [02:01:07] Speaker C: It's a lot of time. [02:01:11] Speaker B: Someone who's seen firsthand what cruelty can do to. [02:01:16] Speaker F: People. [02:01:18] Speaker B: To things, to other beings. [02:01:25] Speaker F: I mean. [02:01:31] Speaker B: Like I said, I just don't. I I'm willing to try. I don't think it's gonna work, but. Cause I have to be realistic. I mean, at what point is too far? At what point do I have to accept the fact that if it doesn't. [02:02:21] Speaker E: Work. [02:02:25] Speaker B: Then I'm kind of screwed, right? Because at the end of the day, that's still my sister. And I know that in my anger, I said that I wanted to kill her. But even if she is a monster, that's my. That's my flesh blood. I don't. I've had a lot of messed up things happen to me in the last couple years, but having to talk my sister down from a zealousy and a power trip was not on my bingo card of the 2020s. [02:03:18] Speaker D: If anything that has happened to us was, I would be very concerned. [02:03:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:03:29] Speaker C: You guys didn't have a cult leader as a supernatural entity from another dimension on your bingo guard? [02:03:36] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I don't think. [02:03:38] Speaker D: Not the other dimension part. [02:03:39] Speaker B: No. [02:03:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that was free space. [02:03:42] Speaker B: Yeah. [02:03:43] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:03:47] Speaker B: I mean, if you guys are alright with it. [02:03:52] Speaker C: I guess. Sorry. [02:03:55] Speaker B: No, no, you can go. It's okay. [02:03:58] Speaker C: I guess the question stands. What is the alternative then? The intervention? [02:04:10] Speaker D: I think the only possible alter we have to kill her. [02:04:14] Speaker B: Yeah, or she'll kill me. And then you got maybe. [02:04:19] Speaker D: And I think even with the intervention, that might still be the only real option. [02:04:26] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:04:26] Speaker C: Piper and I are on the same page. If the intervention fails, those you have brought up, and she goes for you, then plan b becomes plan a. Yeah, because, Rosanna, there's no way in hell that I'm gonna let Rin kill you. [02:05:01] Speaker B: Then I will talk with my sister. But I want the three of you there with me just in case she tries to chase after me and of course, pin me to a wall. By the name of God or whatever. [02:05:15] Speaker A: We can stretch this out, make your uncle sweat for a little bit longer, see what else we can get. [02:05:25] Speaker C: It seems to have become a negotiation at this point. [02:05:30] Speaker B: Are you guys cool if I'm the one that reaches out to him to give him our final answer? [02:05:35] Speaker A: Of course. [02:05:37] Speaker E: I think that's the best opt. [02:05:42] Speaker C: But I'm inclined to find out what he's offering to Piper and Isabel. [02:05:47] Speaker A: I'm very curious of what he's gonna offer me. [02:05:50] Speaker C: I have. [02:05:51] Speaker D: I have an idea for me and I don't like it. [02:05:59] Speaker C: Well, I'm hoping. I'm hoping that what he's offering Isabella is a solution to her problem with her friend. [02:06:12] Speaker A: See. [02:06:17] Speaker B: There'S only one way that we're gonna find out, and that is to wait for Uncle Tom to give us a call. [02:06:24] Speaker C: Yep. [02:06:25] Speaker F: Rosanna, your cell phone beeps. You have a text message. [02:06:29] Speaker B: Oh, all right. What does it say? [02:06:34] Speaker F: It is from one of the numbers that you were given by your mentor. All it says is things have gotten a little dicey. I'm going to be quiet for a while. [02:06:54] Speaker C: Well, they can't be quiet quiet. [02:06:57] Speaker F: Is it not quiet with a capital q? Arthur. [02:07:04] Speaker B: She'Ll just simply text back. Things are dicey on my end too. Let me know the moment that you're safe. [02:07:14] Speaker F: I'll let you know when I can. Is when you get back, she'll put. [02:07:19] Speaker B: Her phone in her pocket. [02:07:22] Speaker F: Okay. Is there anything you guys are gonna do for the next little bit? Is Arthur gonna keep resting? Maybe meet with some people from the church just so that his presence is felt, but. [02:07:38] Speaker C: Mm hmm. [02:07:39] Speaker F: Understand that Katie Lynn pops in frequently and does not allow you to be overly active. You can have people come to visit, but like, you're in, like the living room where it's comfortable and they're not allowed to stay for long. [02:07:53] Speaker D: Right. [02:07:54] Speaker C: The. The only thing that. Yeah, it would be things like that. That would be the only thing that I would want to do is have time with the group and potentially have some kind of small date night with Katie Lynn, even though it's not date night on the calendar. [02:08:12] Speaker F: Okay, well, maybe in the evening, but we haven't gotten that far. It's still morning. [02:08:16] Speaker D: Yep. [02:08:17] Speaker F: All right. Isabella, Piper. What are you guys doing? [02:08:22] Speaker A: I'm going to attend to my patient, make sure that he's doing good and anything, because, you know, he's still recovering, so. So, you know, I have to keep an eye on Arthur occasionally. And other than that, I'm. I don't know, just kind of gonna wait for a phone call and, I don't know, just continue working on my research. I probably at some point, pull some blood from myself and sort of try to look at how it's changed. And any more notes I can make in my journal about what this is doing to me. [02:09:05] Speaker F: Piper, what are you doing? [02:09:07] Speaker D: She's just waiting for the phone call. She doesn't really have anything else to do right now. [02:09:13] Speaker F: Are you hanging out in the rv for most of that? Are you hanging out in the house? Okay. Isabel and Piper are out in the rv. Isabella is in the lab portion where she's got her microscopes and things set up. And Piper is probably at her computers doing piper things. Isabelle, can you make me an intelligence and science role? [02:09:51] Speaker A: I'm guessing. [02:09:52] Speaker F: I will allow you to add a plus one, even though this isn't technically chemistry, but because you have pathology, I will allow that to apply. [02:09:58] Speaker C: Cool. [02:09:59] Speaker A: I will take that. [02:10:01] Speaker F: I would say that as a specialty that is cross applicable, depending on what you're doing. [02:10:08] Speaker A: Would things like my coldly logical help in any way? [02:10:16] Speaker F: What exactly is the wording on cult? Illogical. [02:10:19] Speaker A: Okay. It's minus one difficulty. On all related roles, you can clearly see clearly other. [02:10:27] Speaker F: Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. [02:10:30] Speaker A: I don't think it gives me any extra dice. It just. [02:10:32] Speaker F: It just has me lower. How many you need? [02:10:34] Speaker A: Got it. That is five successes. [02:10:42] Speaker F: That's pretty good. Okay. Your blood is different. It is a very subtle difference. You notice that it does not break down as quickly as human blood as your blood normally would. It doesn't start to coagulate or congeal as fast. It is still pretty reactive long after it should be. Beyond that, it's still too early to tell if there's any really, really large changes. And you don't really have the setup to be able to do proper DNA testing or anything like that. So you're mostly just looking under a microscope here, but what you can tell it is different. Different, but not so different that it's like kindred blood. Because kindred blood has a very specific look and reaction under the microscope. [02:11:41] Speaker A: So yeah, I mean, in the end, this journal is as detailed as I can make it, so that if, you know, a couple months pass and I am back to normal, I can use this as a proof of concept or, you know, more information. [02:12:00] Speaker F: Gotcha. Okay, very cool. You are in the middle of doing that. When your phone rings. [02:12:10] Speaker A: Look over and see what the private number. [02:12:13] Speaker F: Yep. [02:12:14] Speaker A: I think I will take a second and remove my gloves before grabbing the phone, putting it up to my ear and just going. Hello. [02:12:31] Speaker E: Doctor Moran, I presume. [02:12:33] Speaker A: You must be Thomas. [02:12:38] Speaker B: I am. [02:12:43] Speaker E: If you don't mind my saying so, Allison has spoken glowingly of your work. It was in fact her reports that got us to start looking at your cell as group. [02:13:04] Speaker A: That's good to know. [02:13:13] Speaker E: How are you. [02:13:17] Speaker A: Doing? All right. It's, you know, a relatively nice day. Of course I'm not outside, but you know, it is a nice day outside. So. [02:13:36] Speaker E: Doctor Moran, I wonder, I could talk to you about the good work you've done. The good work you've done with Alison, the good work you've done with your team. Maybe I could cut straight to it, as it were. What do you think you could do with access to the facilities of the National Institute of Health? [02:14:10] Speaker A: Probably a lot. Yeah. [02:14:13] Speaker E: Would that interest you? [02:14:16] Speaker A: I wouldn't say it does not interest me. There is a lot that we don't understand and I always seek to figure it out. [02:14:36] Speaker E: And perhaps, I don't know if this is a selling point to you or not. Your desire to stay indoors notwithstanding. [02:14:46] Speaker C: We. [02:14:47] Speaker E: Have many scientists investigating these questions, developing new tools to help us root out the supernatural parasites that prey upon humanity. [02:15:10] Speaker A: Of course he can't see it, but when he says the words parasite, there is a slight brown that crosses her face. Yeah, well, certainly good to know. I might be working among like minded people. [02:15:50] Speaker E: Doctor Moran, do you have a question? [02:15:59] Speaker A: I think I have many questions, but I'm not sure you're the, you know, the best one to answer them. There's a lot of existential questions about why things exist, but. So you call all of us and offer these things sent this certainly seems like trying to get a sense of what you get out of all of this. [02:16:46] Speaker E: Your success is my job. And if I may stand up for my organization. Just a moment. There's been a great popularizing of the idea of a collision between. Between religion and science. That perspective does not exist within my church. For instance, I have a picture on my wall. It is of Albert Einstein and a priest. [02:17:41] Speaker A: Feels like the starting of a joke. [02:17:48] Speaker E: The priest's name was Georges Lemaitre. He is belgian. He was great friends with Doctor Einstein. And what I like to tell people when they come into the room and they see Father Lemaitre and Albert Einstein in this picture, I say, you know, one of the men in that picture first posited the big Bang theory, and it wasn't Einstein. [02:18:26] Speaker A: And let's trail. [02:18:39] Speaker E: I really am here to help. I am here in an earnest effort to help. [02:18:50] Speaker A: That's. [02:18:53] Speaker E: Just between us. I have enough years of theology. I could take a crack at some existential questions if you have the time. [02:19:07] Speaker A: It's both thinking and says, if something is beyond our understanding, where we are now, does it necessarily make it evil? [02:19:29] Speaker E: No. There are. The government uses the term blank bodies. I prefer the classic term. There are vampires who work with us. [02:19:56] Speaker A: It's good to know. [02:20:06] Speaker E: We develop processes to forgive mortal sins hundreds of years ago. No one is beyond redemption. [02:20:22] Speaker A: It's at least a progressive line of thought. [02:20:29] Speaker E: But there are people, beings praying upon mortal humans because they have power and the mortals do not. [02:20:47] Speaker A: Same. There are mortals also preying on mortals. [02:20:50] Speaker D: There are. [02:20:52] Speaker E: I don't know if you've. If you've listened to our pope, but he has some very strident opinions on the matter. [02:20:59] Speaker A: I am. Can't say I have. [02:21:02] Speaker B: You might. [02:21:04] Speaker E: You might check him out. [02:21:11] Speaker A: Maybe we'll see how things go. [02:21:15] Speaker E: Pope Francis was a cardinal in Venezuela and was, and is historically famous as a champion of social justice. [02:21:29] Speaker A: Yeah, I've met a lot of people in the last couple of years that have made me question a lot of things that were firmly held beliefs. [02:21:52] Speaker E: It's a matter of church doctrine that God gave us reason to ask questions. I'd like you to come ask those questions with other experts and help us find the answers. [02:22:13] Speaker A: I'm sure you'll get your answer very soon. [02:22:24] Speaker E: In the meantime, is there any question I can answer for you? [02:22:31] Speaker A: Well, I don't think so. I think you have answered most of my questions on one way or another. [02:22:40] Speaker E: All right, well, I do appreciate you taking the time to listen to me. [02:22:46] Speaker A: You're welcome. [02:22:49] Speaker E: God go with you. [02:22:52] Speaker A: And with you. [02:22:58] Speaker F: Okay, you hang up the phone. Is there anything you want to do? Anyone you want to go talk to? [02:23:09] Speaker A: I think Isabel's just gonna drop. And the. The cell group chat of had the conversation. It went, interestingly, a little bit of information and offer of very nice lamp, but not much else. [02:23:40] Speaker F: Anybody gonna answer? [02:23:48] Speaker B: I'm sorry, could you repeat what was what she said in the group chat? [02:23:54] Speaker A: She said, got the phone call, not much. Got offered a lab. Didn't try to dig for details or anything from me. [02:24:15] Speaker B: Rosanna is going to reply. Good to know he's not trying to pry too deep. And then, like a minute later, the group chat's getting a picture of her trying to hold one of the chickens. [02:24:44] Speaker F: Rosanna sends you all a picture of her kind of precariously cradling what looks to be an agitated hen. Um, this animal looks like it is. It is actively kind of thrashing because the. The picture is kind of blurry. But Rosanna looks like she is attempting to have a good time despite it. [02:25:14] Speaker B: Uh, two. Two minutes later, it ran away. Sad face. [02:25:22] Speaker C: Arthur responds with, oh, I see you met Eugenia. [02:25:28] Speaker B: She pecked me. [02:25:30] Speaker A: Yep. Tom, I do that. Do you need first aid? [02:25:35] Speaker B: No. Sad face. [02:25:38] Speaker A: At least make sure it's clean. [02:25:41] Speaker B: I wanted a friend. [02:25:44] Speaker A: There's always goes there. [02:25:48] Speaker B: The little, like, eye emoji, where the eyes are, like, looking to the side, and then you just don't hear from Rosanna anymore. [02:25:56] Speaker A: That's fair. [02:25:59] Speaker F: All right, Piper. [02:26:07] Speaker D: Yeah. Yeah. [02:26:10] Speaker F: What? [02:26:11] Speaker D: I wasn't sure if I was muted or not. [02:26:14] Speaker F: You are not muted, my dear. I see this. You are working at your computer, probably looking for more signs of the girl with the thing, trying to track her progress. Utilizing Delphi, which is a little kind of off and on information seems to kind of come in rushes at times, and then you'll get nothing for hours. And you can, like, based on the time of death put forward for every entry in those rushes of time, like Delphi is giving you batches of information, rather than it all necessarily being perfectly real time. They don't. Delphi does not try to conversate with you at all, so much as you're just sort of watching the information and kind of keeping, I don't know, a digital, like, pushpin map of places where it's happening. And you are in the middle of that while also trying to look for any signs of either one of the books online. When your phone rings, she'll just pick it up. [02:27:54] Speaker A: Hello? [02:27:58] Speaker E: Is this Miss Ashe? [02:28:00] Speaker D: Legally, yes. [02:28:03] Speaker E: You prefer Piper? [02:28:06] Speaker D: I don't particularly care. I assume this is Bishop Thomas. [02:28:16] Speaker E: Piper. I confess to you, this is the. This is the phone call I've been. I confess. I've been avoiding. [02:28:26] Speaker D: Why's that? [02:28:34] Speaker E: Well, I feel like we failed you, and I wanted to apologize for that. Well, it can be hard to admit a mistake. [02:29:14] Speaker D: I know. So are we gonna dance around it, or do you have an offer to me? [02:29:30] Speaker E: What do you want? [02:29:35] Speaker D: I would assume you would know what I want. [02:29:37] Speaker E: Why would you assume that? [02:29:40] Speaker D: You seem to have known what everybody else. [02:29:48] Speaker E: Piper, the one thing I'm fairly confident about, from what I know of you, is that if your friends believe that I can help keep them safe and they come and join us here, that that would probably be enough for you. Am I wrong in that? No. [02:30:22] Speaker D: I just don't think my place is with the more organized side of job. Try that once. That didn't go. [02:30:37] Speaker E: I know. And I don't know what we can do to repair that relationship. I do know I would be grateful. And I would do everything in my power if you would let me try. And in the meantime, we would keep the people you care about safe. Safer. It is a dangerous job, but. [02:31:21] Speaker D: Yeah. [02:31:22] Speaker F: Yeah, the people that. [02:31:22] Speaker D: The people that were used as a tool to get to me. [02:31:31] Speaker E: You think caring about people is a weakness? [02:31:39] Speaker D: I think it is when people try to turn it against me. [02:31:41] Speaker E: I'm not trying to turn it against you. [02:31:44] Speaker D: No, you're not. But the others did. [02:31:47] Speaker E: I'm sorry. I'm sorry they did that. I'm sorry they've hurt you. [02:32:11] Speaker D: I'll get over it. Wounds heal. [02:32:28] Speaker E: You want to talk about why you're. About how you're hurting? I'm just a voice on a line. [02:32:36] Speaker C: You know. [02:32:38] Speaker E: You don't owe. You don't owe me anything. And also, you don't have anything you have to explain or justify. I'll just listen. [02:32:57] Speaker D: I almost wish I could trust you. But that's something I lost the ability to do a long time ago. [02:33:08] Speaker E: I make you a deal. I put my stole on. I have to say some words. You won't care. I don't know that you'll care about them. But the seal of confession would apply. I couldn't tell anybody even if I wanted to. [02:33:30] Speaker D: Fuck it. It's not like it can fuck me over anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. [02:33:45] Speaker E: Okay. What do you want? [02:33:58] Speaker D: I don't know. [02:33:59] Speaker F: To be a normal person for once. [02:34:21] Speaker E: I wear a great big silly looking hat every week. You'll have to explain to me what does normal look like. [02:34:31] Speaker D: To not feel like I'm gonna get killed anytime I try to settle down. [02:34:36] Speaker B: And live a life. [02:34:41] Speaker A: Be able to. [02:34:41] Speaker D: Form relationships with that worry people are. [02:34:43] Speaker B: Gonna step in and fuck them up. [02:35:13] Speaker E: Well, obviously. Oh, please, go ahead. [02:35:16] Speaker D: So far, every time I've tried, I kept on going with that and inevitably ended up in prison or worse. Or I just run. Either way, not exactly a. [02:35:49] Speaker A: Life of. [02:35:49] Speaker D: A person that gets to settle down. [02:35:57] Speaker E: That sounds incredibly difficult. And I'm sorry. I'm, uh. I'm an old man. Can't really help you with the relationships. Bye. I can help you. All of you. Get to a place where you can feel safe again. And if you get to that place, if you will come with us to that place and you decide this is not the life for you will respect that decision. But I think we both know. [02:37:13] Speaker A: Your. [02:37:13] Speaker E: Friends need you right now. And a venture guess here, you might still just a little bit need them. Tell me if I'm wrong. [02:37:38] Speaker D: I couldn't tell you what I need. I haven't known that for at least the past year. [02:38:12] Speaker E: I could probably bore you. Or bore you. Or maybe amuse you with details of the different technology we have. As I tried to read it off of a piece of paper someone handed me that I really don't understand. I can barely work by email. But I think I'd rather talk to you as a person. You're brilliant. I'm more concerned about the person. And I really want to help you, if you'll let me. [02:39:02] Speaker D: One condition. [02:39:04] Speaker E: I'm listening. [02:39:07] Speaker D: I need to find and kill the person that set me off. Set me on all of this. He is a blank body. I know that, mum. [02:39:31] Speaker E: I know who you're talking. I know who you're talking about. I think we can help you. [02:39:48] Speaker D: Help with that. [02:39:49] Speaker A: The other safe. [02:39:49] Speaker D: That's all I asked. [02:40:04] Speaker E: We can do that. Certainly. With your help. I know we can do that. [02:40:20] Speaker D: I'll need to go talk to everyone. [02:40:26] Speaker E: Thank you for. Thank you for talking to me. I appreciate it deeply. [02:40:36] Speaker D: I appreciate you trying to bore me. Then she kind of gives a very dry chuckle. [02:40:43] Speaker E: I have a set of homilies in my desk if you're needing nap time. [02:40:50] Speaker D: No, no. I could. There said this a lot recently, but there are more important things than me sleeping. [02:41:02] Speaker E: You know, I say the same myself. I am not a young man anymore. Take care, Piper. I look forward to hearing from you soon. [02:41:14] Speaker D: Take care, Ted. [02:41:18] Speaker F: Okay. Piper. [02:41:22] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:41:23] Speaker F: What you gonna do, BB? [02:41:27] Speaker D: Um, she's gonna text the group. Um, last conversation done. [02:41:38] Speaker E: Let's. [02:41:40] Speaker D: Reconvene, I guess. And she'll kind of walk out. [02:41:51] Speaker F: All right, everybody got the text. Are you guys meeting back up at the big house? So that Arthur doesn't have to move too much. [02:41:57] Speaker C: Yes. You know where to find Arthur? He's in the living room, surrounded by people. [02:42:04] Speaker F: Arthur, when you get that text message, you kind of give Katie Lynn the look. She kind of nods and starts ushering people out, sends them on their way with baked goods and a smile and a promise that they can come talk to you later. But you need your rest. Your doctor is coming to check up on you. As your doctor, with her blue hair and her very black lips, walks into the house. [02:42:32] Speaker A: Only the best doctor. [02:42:33] Speaker F: Sorry, I had to point out the incongruity here. [02:42:40] Speaker C: Nah, it just means she's the kind of doctor that something like a cult in the middle of nowhere would have come for home visits. [02:42:48] Speaker A: Honestly. [02:42:49] Speaker F: Well, you're not really in the middle of nowhere. I hate to break it to you. Louisiana's not that big a cult in. [02:42:55] Speaker A: The middle of New Orleans. [02:42:57] Speaker F: Well, outside, but still. [02:43:01] Speaker E: Yeah, not quite the swamp, but swampish. [02:43:07] Speaker F: You all congregate back in the living room. Do you want the boys to be there? [02:43:12] Speaker A: Yeah, I think Isabelle would pull in. We'll pull in Patty at least. [02:43:17] Speaker F: Okay, if you would like Patty can. Patti offers to get Tov on speakerphone. [02:43:24] Speaker A: Yeah, might as well. [02:43:26] Speaker F: Okay, everybody congregates. I'm not gonna make anybody roll. Piper looks like she had a pretty trying experience. I assume Piper has not pulled herself back together with her whopping one willpower termite. Okay, cool. [02:43:47] Speaker D: She's tried. She wiped her face off and is obviously still wearing the sunglasses, but she's still shaking. [02:43:56] Speaker B: Rosanna takes out travel Kleenex, the real hero of season three in season two. [02:44:06] Speaker F: Frankly, there's been a lot of crying in both seasons. [02:44:11] Speaker B: And then she's going. She'll offer up the Kleenex to Piper and then just gently move to fix her hair a little bit. [02:44:27] Speaker F: This is permission to remove that? Yep. There we go. [02:44:31] Speaker B: There we go. Fix her up a little bit more peaceful now. Um. You okay? [02:44:47] Speaker A: No, I haven't been. [02:44:49] Speaker C: Or. [02:44:52] Speaker D: I lost track. [02:44:58] Speaker B: Rosanna's just gonna offer up a hand. [02:45:05] Speaker D: She'll kind of take it, but very, like, limply. She's not committed to it. [02:45:17] Speaker B: If you need to talk, I know. [02:45:21] Speaker D: That gonna help? [02:45:30] Speaker A: Yeah. I think we're at a point where we need action. [02:45:37] Speaker C: I'm curious to know what it was that he said to cause you to become like this. But I guess that's the point of it. [02:45:47] Speaker D: Wasn't anything he said. [02:46:03] Speaker C: So now that we've all spoken to him, I understand that the deals are safety, anonymity, retirement, health benefits, paycheck, lab. [02:46:24] Speaker A: Position at the department of health. [02:46:30] Speaker C: Potential return of family. [02:46:31] Speaker D: A vampire. [02:46:32] Speaker F: Turner. [02:46:32] Speaker C: Vampire. And a vampire. In exchange, we help bring Rin back from the brink and tether ourselves to the society of St. Leopold. [02:46:48] Speaker A: Yep. [02:46:52] Speaker D: Or at least the second inquisition as a whole. [02:46:56] Speaker A: Yeah, kind of already done that in a form, but this, I guess, is a little more serious, apparently. You know, it was an interesting conversation. Didn't really. You put a scientist and a priest in a room together, and neither of them really have much to talk about. [02:47:36] Speaker C: Two sides of the same coin? In some cases, yeah. Explain the universe. [02:47:46] Speaker D: Mind the two sides of the coin. Never see each other. [02:47:50] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:47:53] Speaker A: Certainly was interesting. Started off with, you know, usual. Usual rhetoric, you know, parasites, horrible things, and then later on mentioned kindred. That work for the second inquisition. [02:48:12] Speaker C: What now? [02:48:14] Speaker A: Apparently, I don't know if it's a. I don't know if it's true or not. Kind of like relatively likely to believe that it's true in some form of kindred who worked for the second inquisition. In a form. [02:48:37] Speaker B: I would assume that it's not just kindred, then. [02:48:41] Speaker A: Yeah, I do wonder how many of those kindred it is by their own choice. Because what better way to infiltrate and learn about a hidden secret society than to have a bunch of blackmail on a bunch of people in said hidden secret society? [02:49:03] Speaker D: Yeah, I guess the question is how many will sit by their choice and how many will put in a situation like we are right now? [02:49:09] Speaker C: Right? [02:49:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Apparently, Alison said nothing but glowing things about me, so. Yay. Kind of what I wanted, but, you know, feels weird. [02:49:32] Speaker D: Well. [02:49:35] Speaker C: Admittedly, I was fairly on board with this idea a few moments ago, but if they use the supernatural for their benefit, then. Not so much on board. [02:49:54] Speaker B: I mean, I hate to be that person, but what's the difference between them and us in that regard? [02:50:02] Speaker A: I'm already using the supernatural to my benefit. [02:50:04] Speaker B: And so did you. Arthur, you inherited an entire cult. [02:50:13] Speaker C: That was to protect them. [02:50:15] Speaker B: They still benefit. You still got the benefit of a supernatural's rise to power. So did I. I mean, we can sit here and call. Call the kennel for what it is, but I don't think any hunter gets away completely scot free without making a couple deals that they don't regret down at the line. Unfortunately, the use of the supernatural is how you're able to take down the supernatural. [02:50:57] Speaker A: Yeah. [02:51:00] Speaker D: Tough to find the ones that don't want to cause problems. [02:51:03] Speaker B: Mm hmm. [02:51:05] Speaker A: Usually the ones that don't want to cause problems will stay the fuck home. [02:51:15] Speaker B: I you know, we've all benefited from it somehow. So have they. And I'm sure other hunters have as well. I mean, don't you remember when we were working with Victoria and Zephyr? I mean, and we found that one guy that was kind of tethered to me and he was a member of that organization that dealt with ghosts. They use supernatural all the time. They literally use ghosts. [02:52:03] Speaker C: Yeah, well, either way, if it means being able to let the church function without the constant fear of being shut down or being attacked, then I guess I'm on board. It's the deal that I make to keep them safe. But as we said before, this is really your choice, Rosanna. And like I also said before, if plan a does not work, then plan b becomes plan a. [02:52:56] Speaker B: Well, what about the two of you? [02:53:01] Speaker D: I don't have anything to lose. [02:53:04] Speaker A: She looks over at Patty and says, I've, you know, safer job. Definitely interested in that. And the idea of the, what I could learn with the equipment they have. [02:53:33] Speaker F: I wasn't in any, I wasn't, I didn't have it in my head that you were gonna suddenly stop doing all of it. Just wanted you to find a safer way. So if this is what it is. [02:53:47] Speaker A: Still studying the supernatural, but in a lab, not out in the field. [02:53:58] Speaker F: And what you want to do, I'll support you. Tov kind of makes a. I mean, it's tov, so it's really hard to read, especially over the phone. He just sort of grunts. [02:54:13] Speaker A: The grunt of affirmation. [02:54:15] Speaker F: Maybe. [02:54:16] Speaker D: Maybe. [02:54:18] Speaker F: Unclear if it is an affirmative or if it is just that he is acknowledging what is happening. [02:54:23] Speaker A: Yeah, good for you. [02:54:25] Speaker B: Tough. [02:54:27] Speaker A: It's a mood, but, yeah, it's. [02:54:37] Speaker B: She'll look at. Quiet. You've got just as much of a leg in this race as the four of us. He wanted you too. [02:54:53] Speaker F: Wyatt sort of draws a deep breath. I'm not a religious man, but if I can do my job and keep you safe at the same time, then that's what I've been doing anyway. And he kind of looks over at Arthur. I go where you go. So you tell me otherwise. [02:55:28] Speaker B: I think I have a phone call I gotta make them. [02:55:33] Speaker F: Um. You gonna make it here with everybody listening, or do you wanna step out? [02:55:46] Speaker B: She is going to take her phone and she'll call the number in front of everybody. [02:56:09] Speaker F: Okay. So it takes a few minutes. You call the number and you realize that you have been dialed into what is basically a switchboard. And you have to tell an operator who you're looking for. And she puts you on hold for a bit. You hear a number of clicks and not a dial tone, but like the tones that you get when buttons get pressed on a phone accidentally. There's a whole series of things that happens as you get the sneaking suspicion that you were being put through a number of routing and security steps in order to make sure that the line is as secure as possible before the phone rings. In an office somewhere else in the world, and a young woman in a nun's habit kind of pauses in the middle of collecting a bunch of. In the middle of taking notation from the man sitting behind the desk. And at a look from him, she kind of nods, grabs her pen and paper, and hurries out of the office and shuts the door behind her so that he can answer the phone. [02:57:42] Speaker E: Hello, Rosanna. [02:57:46] Speaker B: Hello, Uncle Tom. [02:57:51] Speaker E: If you read the books I did growing up, you wouldn't call me that. [02:57:56] Speaker D: Not, not a great. [02:57:58] Speaker C: Yeah. [02:58:01] Speaker B: Well, unfortunately for both of us, you are my family member and you have a very unfortunate name, so I. [02:58:15] Speaker E: Don'T consider either of those things unfortunate. [02:58:17] Speaker B: But maybe not one, maybe a little bit the other, and chill and kind of dryly chuckle, but I'm not here to get into that conversation. We accept your offer. [02:58:46] Speaker E: Wonderful. [02:58:52] Speaker B: We just need a little bit of primer information, like where my sister is. [02:59:03] Speaker E: Oh, I'm going to get to. I'm going to start arranging that right now. But what I want you to do. I believe you're all in Louisiana at the moment. [02:59:21] Speaker B: Yes. [02:59:22] Speaker E: You are on a hunt. [02:59:27] Speaker B: Yes. [02:59:28] Speaker E: Finish the hunt. You're on. Would it be easier if someone in a collar or someone in a suit and tie showed up with paperwork? It is a government function. There is always paperwork. [03:00:02] Speaker B: You know what? Surprise us at this point? We deal with men in collars and men in suits quite a bit. [03:00:14] Speaker E: All right, then. The other thing I have right now is for Piper. I believe I heard her voice on. I believe I heard her voice. [03:00:30] Speaker B: Yes, sir. [03:00:33] Speaker E: His name is Andrew Barrow. That is his name. Right now, the oldest name we have on record is Androcles Vasilieu, who's never very good with Greek. It's a shame. That's what they wrote the Septuagint in. [03:00:51] Speaker C: But he is greek. [03:00:54] Speaker E: He is very old, and we can provide you with details. [03:01:01] Speaker F: I will get names into the text chat in a minute. Cool. [03:01:06] Speaker B: Cause I'm not pronouncing that for the life of me. So we're gonna pretend that Rosanna is able to speak proper English, because legacy is not. Thank you, thank you, thank you. [03:01:32] Speaker E: This is a good thing. It's going to go well. [03:01:39] Speaker B: Hope so. [03:01:43] Speaker E: We'll be in touch. [03:01:47] Speaker B: Sounds good. Thank you again. You have a lovely evening. [03:01:54] Speaker E: God bless you all. I'll say a mass for you. [03:01:59] Speaker F: Thank you. [03:02:02] Speaker B: And she'll hang up. [03:02:08] Speaker F: Piper, do you have your laptop with you? [03:02:12] Speaker D: Yeah, she would have brought it with her. [03:02:14] Speaker F: You get an alert on one of your secured emails letting you know that you have a message. Are you going to open it? [03:02:27] Speaker D: Yeah. [03:02:28] Speaker F: It is encrypted. It takes a minute to decrypt it, but it is the most recent picture the SI has managed to find of the vampire who has haunted your nightmares since you were in college. His names and his picture are all in the notes channel. [03:02:57] Speaker B: Yep, that's the one. [03:03:06] Speaker F: Obviously, the picture that Piper gets is not quite so crisp and clear, and he's not looking directly at the camera. But I make do with the tools that I have at my disposal. Most pictures, they're looking at the camera. I can't do anything about that. It is more. The photo that they send is obviously a surveillance photo. It is picked up by somebody, probably an agent on the street, managed to snap a picture before spiriting away before they were noticed. [03:03:44] Speaker D: I really need to find that book before we go through this, but. [03:03:50] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Time to reach back out to Ophelia, see if she's got that lure. [03:04:01] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:04:05] Speaker B: Uh, so about that lore. Lore about that lure. [03:04:12] Speaker A: Um. [03:04:14] Speaker D: Right, so we're back to going at this completely blind. [03:04:21] Speaker B: Um, unfortunately, she's going underground for a little bit. Um, I'd gotten a text from her not super long ago. I don't know what's going on. Apparently, she's in some rather deep shape right now, so I'm just hoping that. [03:04:46] Speaker C: Vampire mage war, potentially. [03:04:50] Speaker B: I don't know how that would. I mean, unless. I mean, they must have gotten the shot in and were able to get things going. If she has to go underground, I mean, I don't see why they would have any other reason to. Yeah, it's not like anybody was able to get that message out to them. [03:05:11] Speaker C: Yeah. [03:05:13] Speaker A: Here's where I pitched the thing that we. None of us will probably. Well, none of us will probably. Like, we do know a vampire mage. Maybe Vincent can do something similar. [03:05:30] Speaker B: My fucking God. I mean, Santa. Mm hmm. [03:05:39] Speaker F: I need you to make wits and insight, Isabel. I need you to make charisma. Subterfuge, please. [03:05:47] Speaker B: Perhaps. [03:05:53] Speaker C: And Arthur will seethe in anger. [03:05:58] Speaker B: What? [03:05:59] Speaker D: Just the mention of Vincent and potentially working with him. [03:06:04] Speaker C: Mm hmm. [03:06:04] Speaker F: Again, that might just get worse. [03:06:09] Speaker A: Three successes. [03:06:09] Speaker F: Give it a minute. [03:06:11] Speaker A: Oh, I. [03:06:16] Speaker B: Three successes I would like on a willpower. [03:06:20] Speaker A: I will also willpower. [03:06:22] Speaker F: Okay. [03:06:22] Speaker B: Okay. [03:06:27] Speaker C: Pc versus pc. [03:06:28] Speaker E: Real power. [03:06:29] Speaker B: Use five. [03:06:32] Speaker F: Okay. Isabelle. Barely like Isabel. Isabel, you hear? It's not like anyone could have told or would have told them, or could have told them. And you do a masterful job of putting on your workface, but you're not quite fast enough. And Rosanna, it clicks for you because there's this momentary flicker of maybe guilt, maybe, oops, I don't know, Aubrey can tell us exactly what the look is that gives away. That she was the one who reached out and warned the Linnaeus society. Isabelle. Was it oops, or was it guilt? What was it? [03:07:23] Speaker A: It was probably guilt. [03:07:33] Speaker B: Isabelle. [03:07:35] Speaker A: Yes. [03:07:41] Speaker B: Nobody got a hold of the Linnea society and told them, right? Or did you jeopardize everything that we've been working towards to get this curse off of paper? [03:08:06] Speaker A: Not in so many words. But I did let Vincent know that the society might be compromised. [03:08:17] Speaker C: For fuck's sake. [03:08:19] Speaker B: Okay, okay, okay, okay. All right. Okay. [03:08:24] Speaker A: Didn't tell him why or what. I just wanted him to get underground. [03:08:38] Speaker B: Good. [03:08:44] Speaker A: Keep me safe under these sister travels. [03:08:51] Speaker B: Okay. All right. [03:08:53] Speaker C: So. [03:08:54] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. [03:08:58] Speaker C: The vampire mage ball knew that the mages were. That something was up and that they needed to hide before the mages came to wipe them out. Because we told them. [03:09:17] Speaker A: I told them. [03:09:30] Speaker E: Isabelle. [03:09:31] Speaker C: I'm beginning to think that you have a very unhealthy relationship with a vampire. [03:09:38] Speaker A: Vincent. That did me solid is not necessarily the word, but last year. But I didn't realize the connections between these specific clan of vampires and the mages, and kind of bad to just doom them on accident. So I wanted Vincent at least to have some sort of heads up. [03:10:16] Speaker B: And Rosanna is going to lean in to Isabel and just smile. Well, let's just hope that this Vincent fella's willing to work with us again because of this. My connect, the one who was going to help us find a tether, is now hiding for whatever reason, and I'm not happy about that. So I would get on the phone with Vincent ASaP so we can get this shit on the road. Okay? Bless your heart. And Rosanna just takes out a pack of cigarettes and she's going to turn to Arthur and Piper and say, I'm going to go out for a cigarette really quick. I hope you two don't mind. [03:11:16] Speaker C: I am going to join you. [03:11:18] Speaker B: Okay, wonderful. [03:11:19] Speaker D: Failed threats and fake kindness aren't gonna get us anywhere. If you have something you want to say, then fucking say it. [03:11:25] Speaker B: Okay, fine. We lost. I just did. Real way to, uh. To really have a shot at finding this book in a way that is meaningful. So I'm really hoping for your sake, my sake, and the sake of everybody else in this room, that. That whatever he is can find it. Cause I'm not happy. [03:11:53] Speaker F: All right. This is a voice. It's coming from the phone that most people have probably forgotten was still on speaker, which is tov. All y'all. All of you need to calm the fuck down. You're a team, and you're not acting like it. Isabel made a mistake. And it isn't a mistake where Zana hasn't made at least three times over in the time that I've known her. Half of you are getting into bed with monsters. All of you are making deals with shady organizations. Getting pissed off at each other because of mistakes isn't gonna fix the problem. It's only gonna make it worse. Isabel didn't do anything thinking that she was hurting people. She was trying to protect someone who has, until now, been an ally. So if you need to go smoke a cigarette, calm the fuck down, do that, but come back to the table with a better attitude. And that goes for everybody. [03:13:10] Speaker C: My opinion is not going to change. I think Isabelle has an unhealthy relationship. [03:13:17] Speaker F: You have an unhealthy relationship with a great number of people. Boss and things, so we probably shouldn't get into that. There isn't a single person on this call who doesn't have an unhealthy relationship with something that has inevitably fucked over somebody else in the room except for me. And quiet. And Patty. Based on the relationship and the agreement that Patty and Isabel and I have, if one of us feels that this situation is getting too unhealthy for her, we will bring her home, and y'all will be out of person to help you. So take a minute, get your shit together, and come back to the table and act like the team you're supposed to be. Otherwise, Patty and Isabelle will load up and come home because I will call in my marker. Patty, you know what to do. And he will hang up. [03:14:32] Speaker A: Yeah. Isabella is not gonna say anything. She will get up from wherever she's sitting, pull her phone out of her pocket, and walk outside. [03:15:07] Speaker F: Anybody else following bring. You guys gonna hang out inside and let them sort their shit out? [03:15:12] Speaker E: Arthur's gonna look right at Piper and. [03:15:13] Speaker C: Go, he turned herself into a ghoul, and she protected a vampire. I believe that classifies as an unhealthy relationship. [03:15:22] Speaker D: Do not fucking start. You almost got killed because you refused to leave a torpid vampire sitting where it was. [03:15:32] Speaker C: Mm hmm. [03:15:33] Speaker D: Don't start on unhealthy relationships with vampires. [03:15:41] Speaker C: Fine. [03:15:47] Speaker D: Piper is going to get up and she is going to walk out. She is just going to the rV. [03:15:53] Speaker F: Okay. Piper walks out and flows past Rosanna and Isabelle. Arthur is left inside. So we will go to Rosanna and Isabel. [03:16:12] Speaker B: Can we talk? [03:16:16] Speaker A: Sure. [03:16:16] Speaker B: You and I haven't had a moment to talk. Just you and me. And I think that there needs to be a discussion. [03:16:28] Speaker A: Okay, buddy, the. [03:16:29] Speaker B: The first thing that I want to know is. Are you safe? [03:16:33] Speaker A: Yes, I am. [03:16:36] Speaker B: Are you sure? [03:16:39] Speaker A: As sure as any of us can be. [03:16:42] Speaker B: Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't. I didn't mean to freak out the way that I did, and that I'm trying to get better at sorting my own shit out, and with that has brought back a lot of anxieties. I don't have much in this world anymore, um, other than you guys. And quiet, um, and a pen pal that may or may not be dead, because I haven't heard from him in a while, and I don't. I don't like lashing out at you guys. I don't. And I'm trying not to, but there's a lot of scary things in this world, and, you know, I'm just really. I'm worried. I'm so worried. It's Bill. And I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to get that mad. [03:18:28] Speaker A: When we had that conversation with ophelia, I didn't realize that either of the two forces were diametrically opposed, or else I'd probably tell us to have kept our mouth shut on some of that stuff. But, I mean, nobody knew. That's true. I mean, Vincent helped me. I. I don't feel like I owe him in. Like, the. My blood tells me I owe him something. I just. He really could have just laughed in my face at probably my lowest moment, but he didn't. [03:19:20] Speaker B: I was. I was insensitive. I know that he helped you, but we almost lost Arthur to one of them. Maybe not Vincent, but who knows what we almost lost him to? And so my emotions are a little bit heightened when it comes to them in particular, because we almost lost someone who's supposed to be a friend. Yeah, and when you told us that you were drinking their flood. [03:20:22] Speaker A: It did it once. [03:20:25] Speaker B: Yeah, but like you said, we don't know what that could turn into. You know, I don't know. I'm no vampire slayer expert. Whatever. I'm not Buffy very few people like. [03:20:42] Speaker A: Buffy, technically, I guess. Only one. But I am unsure as well. And I have my own concerns. Not like I want it. It was a choice I made in the moment. It was, this happens, or you get a phone call about me being dead. [03:21:13] Speaker B: And, um. And I get it. And I had to sit on it for a little bit, and. And I get that you were just trying to help somebody who is probably innocent in all this and somebody who just kind of. Who suffered something. Freaking right. You said that his blood was curdling. [03:21:45] Speaker A: Yeah, curdling in his veins. Look, I. I understand. I have lost people. I met Alison when I was 17 in the hospital she worked at because my parents died in a car accident. I was the only one to make it out. And she saw somebody who kind of lost everything. She brought me into her home. I met her daughter, Vanessa, and I had a family again. It took a while, but, you know, she's important. She was probably one of the nicest, kindest people I've ever met. A literal ball of sunshine in human form. And I. She was 13 when we met, you know, teenager. And I go off to school and get my degree and working, you know, just jobs to get first job in the Amy's office. I. She goes to college in the same town that I'm working in. I promise Alison, I'm keeping an eye on her. And first year. So it's good, you know, we hang out, I give her rides home from when she has to work, late in the studio. But one night, I was late. I was a couple hours late, and she vanishes. And it took us two years to find her. And then I helped her mother push a stake into her heart. And I don't know where she is now. For the last bunch of years, she's probably had that stake. Still not alive, still not dead. And in the past year, I have. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve any of it. And if I can do anything for her, it is to try and give her back any of her life that I stole from her. And sure, she's a vampire, but she was the nicest person, the kindest person I'd ever met in my life. And that doesn't just change. And to know that the person that I looked up to, Allison, you know, I became a doctor because of what she did for me. And to know that she is doing this, is keeping her own daughter just locked up somewhere, is something that I deal with. And I think about it consumes my waking thoughts of, how can I save this girl. And how can I make Alison see that? It's still Vanessa. It's still her daughter. It's still the same person that she's loved her entire life. And I don't know. And Vincent, because he showed me that not all kindred are like that. That some of them can be different. And what I found with Jace. Jace was. Jace was so worried about his goal. He was so worried. And I saw just these human emotions, and I have hurt so many people in my life. And if I can just fix one thing and put one thing right, maybe it'll make it all better. And so, yeah, I don't know what I'm doing. And I'm scared. [03:26:35] Speaker B: I hate to break it here, Isabelle. I don't think any of us know what we're doing. I think we're all kind of flying by the seat of our pants and kind of just grasping for straws whenever we can find them. But I'm sorry about what happened to your friend. I can't even. Actually, my sister and I were really close. [03:27:03] Speaker A: Like. [03:27:06] Speaker B: Two peas in the same pod. We were best friends. Did everything together. Pageant shows, dance recitals. Hell, we both joined the debate team just to spend more time together. When we were in high school, you know, she was always the one who seemed to have it all. She was talented and more beautiful than I could ever be. It's hard to believe when you see her, you'll. Even in her state, she had a grace to her that was unlike any other. Something I always lacked. I was in those pageants with her, and I would always come, and. Well, she would always win, and I'd always be right behind her. And that's kind of how it always was. She went missing while I was in college. And I could have sworn that I lost my best friend forever. I was looking for her for years. And then suddenly something happened. And I started seeing death all around me. Ghosts. Things that aren't supposed to be seen. And then I got in with a weird crowd of people on the Internet, and we started this conspiracy network. And because of that, I got some bad win from the catholic church. And I was so angry because at that time, I just started coming into the fact that maybe I'm a witch. Maybe. Maybe what they said about my kind is true. And once there's a gift that opens inside of you, you can't just turn it off. And I got mad, and I. I organized an attack on the local catholic churches where I grew up. A bunch of people got together, burnt it down. And I think that priest died with it. I don't ever bring that up for a reason. [03:29:55] Speaker A: I understand. [03:30:01] Speaker B: I'm not a good person. I try to be. I feel guilt for the things that I've done every day. I think we're all guilty of something. Nobody in this world is perfect. [03:30:20] Speaker A: And. [03:30:26] Speaker B: I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I'm harsh on you. I'm sorry if I'm harsh on all of them. I'm trying to be a better person and a person that can hold themselves together for the sake of a group. But almost dying reignited an anger in me. [03:31:06] Speaker A: That is very fair. I'm sorry I didn't stay, stick around longer than I did. [03:31:22] Speaker B: It's not your fault. I get it. Y'all needed to get out of there. I'm sure I would have as well. Yeah, I don't, I don't want to continue our work in relationship with hostility. [03:31:50] Speaker A: I don't either. [03:31:53] Speaker B: Oh, no. I want to be friends with you. You and I are oddly so much alack. Despite how different we are. I can't see the ghosts anymore. Once I started getting a better grasp of my power, they kind of started to fade. But I know that you see them. [03:32:24] Speaker A: Yeah, I haven't. It's one of those things that I always should put more time into. Slips to the back of my mind. [03:32:38] Speaker B: Let me help you then. [03:32:41] Speaker A: I think I'd like that. [03:32:43] Speaker B: I think I would, too. And, um, have you ever knew anything? I am here for you. And I do care about you a great deal. [03:33:02] Speaker A: I care about you, too. If you need anything from me, maybe once this is all over. I don't know. I was gonna make a double date joke, but it's like I have two, so is that what, don't worry. [03:33:15] Speaker B: I can find another dragon with me. [03:33:19] Speaker F: Yeah, well, on that note, I think that's where we are going to call it for the evening. With the thought that Rosanna might find another guy to do go on a I don't even know how many date thing that would be. [03:33:38] Speaker B: One more thing, though. Rosanna's gonna offer Isabel a hug and. [03:33:43] Speaker A: A strawberry cream that might be the. [03:33:47] Speaker F: First strawberry cream of the season. That's amazing. [03:33:50] Speaker A: Isabel will take both.