Issue 1 Downtime

((Open Thread))

Regan sat in the gardens, trying to keep her mind off recent events and failing horribly.

Claws slash against her arm and she feels pain. She reels back from a demonic creature, surprised and terrified.

"Being dead ain't much of an escape here, lil' spirit."

Regan winces at the memory, trying to bring her thoughts back to the present.

"Fuckin' witch," Regan mumbles, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "Fuckin' Kay."

"Talking about Miss Valentine, I presume?" Nailah asks, having accidentally snuck up on the girl.

Regan jumps, her soulblade quickly forming in her hand.

"Hell, you scared me," Regan says, after recognizing Nailah. The blade disappearing back to wherever it came from as she relaxes, "Gonna give me a heart attack."

"I apologize. You should be careful with that though."

"Why? Unless you're a demon, it really can't do much," Regan says.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"Well, that's what the dude who helped me make it said," Regan says, "...But, according to Victoria, he might not have been exactly on the up and up."

"What do you want anyway?"

"I thought you might want to talk to someone who is... not Miss Valentine." she says diplomatically. "She told me what happened."

"And now you're full of sympathy and pity," Regan says, "Fuck me. That's just what I need right now."

"I'M G'N BEAT YER GHOSTY HEAD IN, G'EL!"

Regan twitches but maintains some composure.

"No, if you want pity and understanding then you have to go talk to Sam. You're an idiot who made a deal with a devil. Quite literally."

"And you're a whore."

"...I'm sorry if that wasn't clever. I'm not feeling like myself today."

"You scared the living daylights out of Victoria. Not many things manage that."

"It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside," Regan says, "What'd she tell you?"

"That you made a pact with Belasco. The price of which you don't seem particularly aware of yourself."

"Did she mention I don't care what the price is?" Regan asks.

"Belasco wishes to resurrect the Elder Gods. He's been banished to Limbo, but it seems he managed to find a way to extend his reach into our world."

"Yeah, I'm a real useful pawn in his war on reality," Regan says.

"He's hundreds of years old. He's in no hurry."

"And I was in no hurry to stick around in that 'Limbo' place for a few hundred more years so he could convince me," Regan says, "But thanks for guilting me about it. You're probably right. I should've suffered more for everyone else's convenience."

"Look, I don't blame you for wanting out of there. Believe me. What's done is done, but it'd be nice if you could try to understand the severity of the situation that you're still in. That we all might be in. We do want to help you but the time to let you come to that realization at your own pace has now run out in light of this."

"You ever think that maybe that's part of the problem?" Regan snaps, "Everyone trips over themselves to help me, but it has to be on their terms."

"I tried letting you come to me on your terms within reason. Things don't always work out the way you want them to."

She accepts a cup from the hand of a demon. She hesitates for a moment before drinking deeply from the potion. Everything just fades away.

"Yeah," Regan says, bitterly, "It really doesn't."

"And now you've come to a point where you will have to accept that. A lot of the ways we could help you went out the window when you died in a place we can't reach and bound yourself to the ruler of that domain."

"So you're more useless than before," Regan says, "Wonderful."

"You've been there, so I would expect you to understand the severity of the situation and what we're dealing with."

"Sure," Regan says, "I suspect you don't though."

"Which is why I would appreciate you enlightening me on what exactly you know about this pact you made and not just what you happen to feel like divulging."

"Say please," Regan says.

"Would you please tell me what the pact you made with Belasco entailed and what you agreed to?"

"Say 'habanero peppers'," Regan says.

"Don't test my patience, Regan."

"In return for wiping my memory and returning me to Earth, I was given the task of the Gatekeeper," Regan says, "I have to wait here on Earth until the Keymaster finds me. Together we'll open a portal that will allow Gozer the Gozerian to conquer the world."

Nailah's patience is obviously wearing thin. "For the love of... Regan, this is not funny anymore."

"Trying seeing it from my perspective," Regan says, "You might all die."

"That's hilarious."

"No what's hilarious is that you seem to think that getting to stick around is the preferable fate."

"Let's make a deal," Regan says, "When you die, then you can tell me all about the afterlife and the best way of going about dying."

"Until then, shut your condescending mouth."

"You're not the only one who had to deal with a lot of shit in her life. It's a simple fact that no matter how horrible what happened to you was, there's something worse waiting out there. Right now. Wishing nothing more to tear itself free from the ancient bonds that shackle it. I have seen what happens should it ever be allowed to spread it's putrid presence into this world. And Belasco is merely a human twisted by taking one step too many towards it. So don't pretend you have even the slightest idea of what you are talking about, because when the gibbous moon rises and nameless horrors swallow the stars you'll wish you still had a throat to scream raw."

"I don't think I'm special," Regan says, "I just don't think you are either."

Regan turns away, looking annoyed. After a moment, she rubs one of her temples.

"...He said I'm an instinctive necromancer," Regan says finally, "I can...do things with the spirit world. Manipulate stuff. Bring stuff back. All sorts of stuff."

"He wanted to use me as a focus for a spell or something. Something he needed to get control over...that place. Once it was done, he'd have the power he needed to send me home. I talked him into wiping my memories."

"I didn't want to live with all that stuff in my head."

"...Figuratively speaking."

Fuck! Of course he'd lie to her.

"Is there anything you can tell me about that spell? Anything at all?"