Ralph and Bobby were asleep. Shawn turned to his side the bed sheets ruffling and saw the book. It was sitting on the shelf. At one time, it was a book he wanted to read because it was fun. Now it was a homework assignment from some demon-witch in the dark underworld of the Circus.

"Read The Twelfth Book, Sword of Seradin..." Melinda's words echoed in his mind as the dry heat of the summer night filled the room.

It would be so easy to do it. But also, it would be easy just to roll over and go to sleep.

Shawn knew it would be so easy just to roll over and go back to sleep. But, he knew that at this point he was entirely dependent on the good graces of Melinda and the Order to stay alive, so he quietly rolled out of bed and went to his bookshelf.

The book felt different somehow, as Shawn clutched it in his hands and brought it back to his bed. The pages were foreign, as if they held some deep secret yet to be discovered.

Immediately as Shawn began to read, the book was different. Not just different in the way it felt. The words on the page were literally different. Totally different. They were written in a different, craggy, font. Gone were the block letters on the white background. It looked like some kind of old ghost had scrawled on the pages with a hand practiced in writing demonic spells for some medieval king. The book started in the middle of a sentence:

"...they are kind of like sled dogs with no sled. Like beasts of burden. They needed a load to pull. It was a question of what was real? But what is real?

It doesn't matter what people say. The correlation between what people say and their actions is not a measure of truth. Sometimes it doesn't match.

But you know what does match? No one argues with their pain. Life is suffering. Pain is real. It depends once again what you mean by real. People act as if their pain is real. That poses a problem. Life is a pain. Life is suffering. And why is that? Because you can be broken, hurt and destroyed. That seems pretty self-evident.

At worse off: you know it.

A chimp can recognize itself in a mirror and so can a dolphin. But that isn't being aware. Human beings, and kids most of all, are the only beings that have discovered the future. And that is quite a burden to carry. The idea that the future is limited. That as a kid, you can't live forever. Even if death is far away. You know its coming.

If life is pain, then what are we to do? There must be some way to act that would make you a good person. A person that can alleviate suffering. If the suffering itself is making you question the meaning of life, then making less suffering would be a good choice as a way of living and...."


In the middle of the next page, there was a note:

Meet me in Tiffany's room across the street in five minutes. Don't be late

-Griffix

Shawn was getting used to sneaking out of his room at night, but five minutes still was not a lot of time. He quickly got dressed and ready to quietly head across the street.

There was a thin, unusual dry aspect to the night air as Shawn stepped out onto the driveway. He could see that the windows across the street had no light coming from inside of them. Why would they? His friends were out of town.

Shawn crossed the road across the street and headed up Tiffany's driveway. He got to the front door.

It was locked.

Shawn could try to pick the lock. Or maybe find some other way in.


OOC: Shawn first rolls wits + composure

OOC: 20:58, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,5,2,3. Wits + Composure.

The door was locked. That much was clear. But Shawn also knew that the windows were locked as well. He could see the latches on the storm windows pushed to the left. There was no way he was going to get through the front side of the house. And while he couldn't be sure that the windows on the second floor were locked, there were no ladders or terraces to climb that would allow him to check easily.

Shawn could spend time going to the back side of the house, it might be that the back door was unlocked. But that would take time away, and he might not make it to Tiffany's room in time, if that was indeed important to Griffix.

OOC: Shawn Chooses

Shawn tries to pick the lock with a nearby stick: Dexterity + Larceny

Or

Shawn picks up a rock, breaks the window and enters (no roll required)

Or

Shawn risks being late to the Griffix meeting, goes around back to check to see if the backdoor is unlocked.

Shawn didn't want to risk being spotted or being late for the meeting, and though he'd never picked a lock before, he'd seen it in movies before. How hard could it be?

OOC: 09:06, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 5 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 7,10(+10,9),3,10(+7),8. Dexterity + Larceny + WP.

It was just a small piece of rust metal that had served as a stake for some kind of plant last summer or many summers ago. Probably the last one since the Robinson's had moved out quite some time ago.

When Shawn heard the 'click' of the lock, he heard Eddy's voice in the back of his head for just an instant; 'Presto!'

The door opened and Shawn was inside. Directly ahead was the stairs, and beyond that the dark interior of the kitchen. To the left, Shawn could see the basement where the Old Bobby had put Ralph when he had gotten tired of him. Of course, thanks to Shawn's efforts, Bobby wouldn't be getting sick of Ralph any time soon.

Shawn moved across the hall and the old wooden floorboards creaked under his feet.

Shawn paused for a moment to listen for any reactions from the house at large. If all was quiet, he continued, stepping lightly this time, trying not to make floorboard sounds as he headed for Tiffany's room.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Stealth + Dexterity.


Shawn walked onto the stairs with the lightness of something anticipating that the floor would give out under their body mass. Every step was so light that he makes no sound at all. The stairs led upward, the cold, wooden steps were a dark, oak-brown during the daytime. Now they disappeared into the darkness as Shawn ascended. Each footstep brought him upward and deeper into the shadows that were the upstairs of the house.

That's when Shawn saw it.

It was coming from one of the rooms. A faint, pale glow that was unmistakable. The glow of a television. It cast a grayish-blue pallor unto the wooden floor. Shawn still had to climb the rest of the steps upward, only halfway between upstairs and downstairs. Still, there was no mistaking that light. It was the same light that Shawn would see when he used to come downstairs to get milk or a glass of water in the middle of the night and find Dad asleep on the couch, the TV on some show while he snored.

All Shawn could do was keep completely silent...

OOC: 21:42, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,6,6,8,9. Stealth + Dexterity.

Shawn crept upstairs and around the corner of the bannister, silent as a shadow. He peered his head into doorway.

The light from the television illuminated Griffix's face as he sat on the bed Indian style next to one of Tiffany's dolls. His expression was one of interest at what the television was showing.

He didn't seem to notice Shawn.

Shawn silently walked over to Griffix, but didn't interrupt him or make a sound to break his concentration. Eventually Griffix would notice him.

Griffix didn't look at Shawn. He sat there Indian style looking at the TV screen.

"You're here on time, ya' are. That's a good thing too. I'm getting hungry. So hungry, I'm as weak as a salmon in a sandpit. I was going to go through Tiffany's closet an' find her diary, see if I could eat some of the pages out, ya' know. I'd have teared up this room like a blind cobbler’s thumb. It would have been a real mess."

"But I was lucky as I found her diary here." Griffix held up the diary, pink book with heart shapes on the cover in the dim light from the TV.

"Did you ever see this show?" Griffix said, pointing at the TV and now looking at Shawn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apGz-amZocs