The girl's frown became an upside down caricature, the kind that Shawn might have drawn in the corner of his notebook while in a boring class at school.

"We're slaves here. Do you know what that means? That means, we're hungry. And afraid. And because of that we get angry when people from outside come into here. I'll show you to Hogwash, but you better leave soon and stuff."

"Because I can't say for sure if the kids here will let you leave. Because dealing with Hogwash is one thing, and you might make a deal with him, but he understands that stuff happens all the time to outsiders that come down here."

"And that means you."

Shawn was surprised to learn where the danger might come from, but it made perfect sense when the girl explained it to him. "I'll be careful. Thanks for the warning."

"Follow me." The cartoon girl said. She moved like a card-board cut-out that was forced to walk, her shuffle was stiff and unbending. Her legs didn't so much move as her body tilted one way and then the other, like some invisible, giant hand was doing a poor job of making a puppet out of a paper figurine in an art class.

"You shouldn't stay down here too long in the Forge. This place operates outside of the rules for the rest of this...this place." She made an uncoordinated gesture with her two dimensional arms, which Shawn gauged to be a something akin to saying 'this place...this...Circus'. "Hogwash protects us from the Proprietor. He doesn't own our souls. But the longer your with Hogwash, the more you get...warped."

Shawn followed the girl as she walked in her strange way. “Are there signs I should watch out for? So I know when to wrap it up?”

"Well, for one thing, I'd probably come up with a reason why you want to take these kids out of here, and how you're going to protect them from the Proprietor."

"It might not look like it, but Hogwash is really protective of these kids and their souls. He knows that the Soul contest is going on, and so do I. It's obvious that your here to try to collect souls to put the Fortune Teller on top."

"I don't think Hogwash is stupid, so he probably thinks that your here to negotiate for the Souls of his kids. And that means one thing..."

"You're going to put them down the well. You're going to let the Proprietor take them." The girl said, disapprovingly.

As Shawn walked by, he saw muddied faces covered in grime. Some of the kids were hiding behind large welding machines, others viewed Shawn with sorry, sad eyes. Like stray cats hoping to be rescued.

“Does he have any souls that aren’t from these kids?” Shawn couldn’t help but notice that the girl hadn’t answered his question. “How does Hogwash warp people?”

The paper girl stopped and turned around. Wrinkles formed by her arms as her wrists folded, giving her a hands-on-hips posture.

"You sure ask a lot of nosy questions."

"No one is here that he isn't trying to protect. And that's all of it. Sometimes people don't know that they need to be protected. Sometimes their being protected from others and sometimes they are being protected from themselves."

"Everything here is really organized. Every soul is accounted for. If you don't see a soul here, its because Hogwash isn't protecting it.  Also and stuff, just so you know, sometimes souls that aren't under Hogwash's protection come here."

She gave Shawn a glare.

"No one is here who doesn't want to be here. If you stay here and change, its because you want to. And Hogwash doesn't do any 'warping.' Kids grow up and they change. Haven't you ever grown up and changed?" The girl asked defensively.

Shawn raised his hands placatingly even as he wondered what the Order had sent him into. Was he supposed to be tricking Hogwash into giving the Order the souls he was protecting, rather than paying for them? Or was this girl trying to trick him because she knew what he was here to do?“Sorry, I don’t mean to be nosy. I’ve never been here before is all.”

"The way I see it, you're doomed. Hogwash is gonna see right through your tricks." The girl said.

"You're here to take souls. His souls. Isn't that right?" She had stopped now, and was looking at him accusingly, demanding an answer.

“Do I look like I know how to take souls? Or what to do with them?” Shawn tried to give her a placating look, unsure of how much to give away. “Look, Mr. Cherrywinks is really close to losing the big soul race, and the Circus is probably going to look really different really soon. The Order wants Hogwash on our side, is all. Otherwise, well, Mr. Cherrywinks needs a lot of souls really fast, and if he notices Hogwash has a bunch here...do you think he’s going to ask?”

As if she didn't have a response, the girl just shook her head. A paper head, now that Shawn could see. It was like a piece of paper that revealed its thin-layed side as she moved it, conveying disapproval.

But what could she say?

It was true that Mr. Cherrywinks would come. And as Shawn knew, the Clown wouldn't simply ask politely for the souls that Hogwash was holding onto.

"It's this way." The girl said. They had made it through the iron grates of the forge, as the girl had led Shawn to a single door with a large, spinning lock. It almost looked like a safe of some kind. The wheel was old and had thin, rod-like spindles sticking out from a circular disk.

The girl tried to spin it, but it was clear she was too weak.

"Can you spin it?" She asked, giving up.

OOC: Is Shawn decides to spin the lock, Shawn Rolls  Strength

Shawn strained at the lock, but didn't do much better than her. "Maybe if we worked together...can you give me a hand?"

OOC: 22:32, Today: Shawn Cramer failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 3,3. Strength.

"Does it look like I would be of help?" The girl snapped, folded paper hands on hips.

The dial wouldn't budge. Instead, it was stuck, heavy, warm spindles unwilling to move.

"Well. I don't know what to say. I mean, if we can't get the door open, I guess that's it for you and whatever you came here for." The girl said, unhelpfully.

"Maybe its just not your time or something. Or that you're better off going back the way you came." She said, discouraging.

OOC: Shawn decides the next course. Possibilities include trying to re-open the door, trying to convince the girl of something, or any other action.

Shawn briefly tried pushing and pulling at the door; he'd feel very stupid if the door was already unlocked and simply had to be opened. If that didn't work, he looked at the girl with a hurt expression. "Look, I don't want to be doing this any more than you do..." He considered his options, and tried knocking loudly on the door.

Shawn pulled and prodded on the door to no avail. It was stuck. He was sweating now, the sweltering heat of Hogwash's Forge started to soak the back of his shirt.

"Well. Wouldn't that be a shame if you got stuck here." The girl said wryly, seeming to enjoy the idea that Shawn might fail at what he came down to do.

Shawn started to bang on the door.

"Wouldn't that be-----"

'Clink!'

There was a sound on the other side of the door that cut the girl off. A sound of movement and shuffling. Gears winding, metal-on-metal, a grinding, high-pitched shift. Then the dial began to spin. Slowly, slowly, the door began to open.

"Who is banging on my door!?" Hogwash said as he then cut himself off.

"WHO IS BANGING ON MY DOOR!" He asked again, coming out from the inner hall of the safe.

"WHO!! IS!! BANGING!! ON!! MY!! DOOR!!!?"

OOC: Shawn Rolls Wits + Composure

OOC: 22:00, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 2 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,10(+5),6,6. Wits + Composure.

The adrenaline surged into Shawn's system full throttle. For a moment he thought his heart would explode because it was suddenly pounding so hard. But Shawn kept his eyes wide, letting in every ounce of the light behind the Pig Monster flood in. His body wanted him to either run fast for the hills or work to find weaponry, but instead he managed to stay right where he was.



"Well? What is this!?" Hogwash demanded.

"I told him he shouldn't be here Master Hogwash, I said..." the girl started, as if trying to placate the task master.

The pig cut her off, arching forward in a hunched over motion and extending his snout out, whiskered hairs sprouting from every direction.

"Phrrruffff!" Hogwash snorted, a gust of foul air suddenly coming in contact with Shawn's senses. It smelled like rotten eggs.

To his right, Shawn saw Esther blow away like a piece of paper on a windy day. The paper girl tumbled backwards and then remained in the air listlessly floating back and forth in a wide, pendulum swings, arms flailing, the sound of crinkled paper.

Shawn held firm, even as Hogwash's treatment of the flat girl called into question her stories of the pig-man wanting to protect 'his children'. Instead, he ignored the spell and bowed deeply in front of Hogwash. "Master Hogwash, the Order sends its regards. I hope you're well?"

"The order.....hmmmmm" Hogwash said, the anger seeming to be taken out of him. Perhaps it was the way that Shawn had acted, or maybe it was what he said. Or maybe Hogwash was still planning to bite Shawn or grab him or mistreat him the way he had mistreated the paper girl.

OOC: Shawn rolls Presence + Socialize

OOC: 20:22, Today: Shawn Cramer failed (no successes) using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,4,7. Presence + Socialize.

The Pig looked at Shawn. Its teeth were yellow, with brown roots the closer they got to its grimy gums. Its hands were gnarled with the bony digits curled over, like they were malformed.

The way he looked at Shawn, it was clear that he wasn't impressed.

"I'm not impressed by your so-called Order sweety." Hogwash snorted, a bit of spittle coming out from his nose. Shawn detected a bit of femininity in the voice, or perhaps it was the limp-wristed way that the monster dismissed him with a wave of his gnarled hand.

Nevertheless, the Pig turned around and retreated deeper into its chamber, leaving the door open as if he expected Shawn to follow him.

"The Order. The Clowns. We used to have the Freaks. It's always the same thing dearie. You're always fighting each other for the Proprietor's scraps. Like animals trying to claw at each others throats. Sometimes I wonder what the point of all your silly plans and schemes are. None of these groups have anything unique to bring. Their plans are old and without style."

"And being smart is like having style. You've either got it or you haven't. And I've got it."

Shawn noticed the little hint of femininity - it reminded him of the Bearded Woman a little. He tried to mirror it a little with his body language, not in an obvious way or anything, just a hint that would maybe make Hogwash feel more comfortable. He followed after Hogwash, giving the man(?) his winningest smile. "Exactly! Maybe we can't match your style, but that exactly why we want you on our side. You're too good to just ignore!"