That purple mist, cold and otherworldly,  spread from deep within the the crystal ball and began to fill its interior once again. It started at the bottom, whispy tendrils of smoke grabbing at the side's of the round glass, grabbing at Shawn's mind. Or at least that's how it felt. Pulsing blue, purple and silver lights blinked in time with Shawn't heart. His breath catching in his mouth. His mouth feeling dry with anticipation, adrenaline .  As the smoke dissipated, the image of Eric became more clear...

---

Smoke filled the edges of Shawn's vision, like a picture frame made out of old, Eldritch clouds.  In the center of the scene, Eric was sitting Indian-style, crouching over what looked like a photo album. A light bulb hung from a wooden ceiling above, walls arched to form a triangle at the roof, pink insulation stuffed at odd angles in crevices. It looked like Eric might be in some kind of attic with dim, yellow light.

There was a faint sniffing and whimpering sound as Eric turned the pages of the album, thin plastic sheets which held polaroid photos pressed against a white backstop, their picture borders once white, but now yellow and brown with age.

---

"I've seen this before." Griffix's hollow voice said to Shawn, without actually saying it. It was a thought communicated to Shawn. Another bystander in the scene, distant and removed. An observer from another, erethereal plane.

"You are sure you want to continue?"

Somehow Shawn instinctively knew how to communicate voicelessly back to Griffix, though he wasn't sure how he knew that. "What's going on? What does this mean?"

"He's looking at some old photos." Griffix's stated. "We all keep secrets. But with the Fortune Teller's Third eye, the one we are using now, the Circus, and it's members can see and feel.  It can learn the secrets that others keep from us. It can allow us to find meaning in the hidden depths of wayward souls. The Circus, in its history, has delved into many, many secrets. Secrets of normal people like Eric. But also secrets of the powerful. Powerful men have fallen from grace as a result of these secrets, because they wouldn't bend to the will of the Fortune Teller. Others became more powerful, learning to bend and kneel to her wishes, their dark secrets kept forever hidden from the public's eye. The Fortune Teller is a merchant in secrets. Hidden knowledge and forgotten lore of the Master Magicians. But also a harborer of secrets that she uses to bend the will of men, to force them to take her preferred course of action.  It is when they refuse or The Fortuen Teller sees an advatage to gain for herself, that their secrets are exposed."

"Still. Most secrets that she learns are forever kept in her own memory. Because knowledge that is hidden is more valuable than something that everyone knows. Hidden knowledge is scarce.

"If we keep watching, we might see what secrets Eric is holding"


Griffix communicated that last part as if he already knew what Eric was hiding. Like he had seen this many times before.

Griffix had always been honest with Shawn - or at least had always seemed to be. So when Shawn got a feeling Griffix knew what was going on, the simplest path seemed to be to ask him. "Do you know what the secret is?"

"I am not entirely confident. But I think I do." Griffix's admitted, somehow also communicating--or perhaps incidentally--that he was sniffing the air, catching a whiff of urine that was wafting towards him from a distant area in the neighborhood.

"But I do not want to tell you what it is. Because it is something that might affect you. Secrets, I have learned, carry a great weight of responsibility with them. They come with a burden. I do not take lightly the idea of off-loading the burden onto others and prefer for them to take ownership of such acts."

Shawn considered things carefully. If Griffix told him there was a serious burden associated with going forward, he trusted the man enough to assume it was more likely true than not. But at the same time, Eric stole his rabbit's foot. He needed that back, or the consequences would be...he didn't want to think about it. He had to understand what was going on. "I still need to know." He concentrated harder on the vision.

The sniffling continued, and through the crystal ball, Shawn could see Eric turn the page. His eyes were scanning the photos: baby pictures. A younger, smaller, infantile Eric. Not the bully that would randomly assault Shawn. Pictures of a more innocent time. And in those pictures...

OOC: Shawn Rolls Occult + Empathy with the following results

1 Success: Shawn cannot feel Eric's  thoughts

2 Successs: Shawn Can feel Something about how Eric feels, using the magic of the crystal Ball

3 Successes: Shawn can think and feel the full scope of what Eric is feeling in this very moment.

OOC: 07:45, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 2 successes using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((4,10(+10,7))).

Erik stared down at the picture of when he was a little baby. Sitting there in his Dad's arms. It wasn't fair that his Dad just abandoned him to go off with his real family. Shawn's family. Stupid Shawn. He was a nerd. He wasn't as important as he thought he was. Some high-flying actor. Eric would show him exactly how. And unlike Shawn, Eric wouldn't be acting. Eric would pound the cold, hard truth into Shawn just like Eric had learned the truth when he overheard his mother talking---and making bedroom sounds--with Eric's Dad...no Shawn's Dad, about a year ago.

Shawn was younger than Eric, and didn't really have a context for what 'bedroom sounds' even meant. Mostly, the whole thing confused him; his Dad knew Eric's mom? Why? On some level he knew it was a betrayal, but he couldn't tell who was hurting whom.

Still, strange as it was, now he had some kind of insight into why Eric hated him so much. Maybe he could somehow use that to become friends...

"Look" Griffix remarked, placing one, thick, yellowed nail on the edge of the crystal ball.  "The Rabbit's foot."

It was sitting on the floor next to Eric. The red eyes of the Rabbit's Foot began to glow. Eric took notice of this change. He put the photo album to the side, placing it next to the side of his bed. Picking up the Rabbit's foot he had stolen from Shawn, he examined it. Eric's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the metallic head, the Ruby-red eyes glowing with a faint hint of malice.

Something was happening. Shawn could see it. The air above and around Eric seemed to whir, the same way heat did over pavement on a hot summer day in LA. It was a change that was gradual instead of sudden. The edges of Eric's figure began to become transluscent. Then Eric's arms. Then his legs. And then, the center of his black T-shirt. Slowly, slowly, he began to disappear, like mist fading over a Great Lake.

Until, he was gone.

"Ahhhh." Griffix remarked, breaking the silence.

"I have to get it back before something awful happens..." Shawn wasn't sure what might happen to Eric if he had access to the Circus, but there's no way it'd be good for Shawn. Or Eric, for that matter. "I had sort of a plan to get it back, but now that he knows what it does, I don't think it'll work..." 

Griffix put the crystal ball on the floor, bringing an end--at least for now--to the magical spying that had been going on. The affect also brought Shawn suddenly back into the conscious state of being in his room.  He could see Ralph's face pressed against the pillow through the moonlight across the room. Bobby, on the other hand, was laying on his back, somewhat of a smile on his face.

A thin streak of moonlight cut through the floor of the carpet just in front of where Griffix stood. He hunched over on his hind legs like some kind of miniature werewolf. A gray, shaggy pelt covered his skin. Even so, Shawn could see every sinew of his legs, arms and neck. Whe he spoke, large, sharp, yellowed teeth glistened against black gums.

"You must know something that I don't know. I just as well assumed that you were brothers of some kind. But from different parents." Griffix let that possibility seep into Shawn.

"It shouldn't be anything that can't be talked out. Why? Are you not friend with the boy already? Or are you afraid that he'll be hurt. Hurt by the Circus? "   Griffix was searching for an explanation, apparently having seen the vision, but not understanding.

"How could he be my brother? Mom and Dad are married." However, despite Shawn's ignorance of the...mechanics at work, he trusted Griffix's judgement enough that he began to at least worry about the possibility. "Besides, he hates me. He's always trying to beat me up."

"I'm afraid he'll be hurt by the Circus, but I also don't want to be punished for losing the foot. The Fortuneteller wouldn't like that." It was a mark of how concerned he was that he was openly admitting to less than selfless motives in this situation.

Griffix shrugged, somehow looking less fearsome now that Shawn was actually talking to him.

"It's true. It something to be worried about." Griffix agreed. He snorted a moment, black nose wet and twitching at the end of his snout. "I meant to say, the Fortune Teller finding out and all. We can't have that."

"But there's another reason why I came here tonight, I did. Not just to play around with the Crystal Ball, which is always fun, it is. I came to tell you about the Soul Contest. We're losing. And we don't have much time. Do you have those tears ready? If you don't, I'm gonna have to ask ya' I will, to have them filled by tomorrow night, I will." Griffix said, a bit of the Irish brogue filtering into the deep voice in his wolf form.

"I heard through some of the Carnie slaves at Side-show alley that Mr. Cherrywinks and the Clown Troupe had killed several kids in a town not too far from here. Gaggles came out from under one kid's bed. And Mr. Pibbles came out of a closet with a big mallet. They took off with the souls and added them to their count. We don't have much time."

"You've got to go make some kids cry. We need tears."

Shawn went to his secret hiding place and pulled out the bottle with Ralph's tears. "I've got one here. I've got a plan to get the other one tomorrow."

Griffix took hold of the vial and nodded in approval, shaggy hair waving up and down with each movement. Then he looked at Shawn.

"What's the plan?" He asked. Shawn could...

OOC: Shawn rolls Wits + Composure with the following results

0 Success: ....not read anything from Griffix's posture. It's hard to read a wolf. Also, its dark

1 Success: ....read something from Griffix's posture. He is after all an actor.

2+ Successes: .... read quite a bit from Griffix's posture. Shawn's been around the block, he's spent his entire life looking into what people are thinking at any given moment.

Shawn tried to put his thoughts in order. He had a plan, yes, but in thinking about how to explain it out loud he really understood for the first time just how monstrous it was. "There's, uh... There's another kid I know named Eddy Hughes. I thought if I could show him that card trick you taught me, he'd like me enough that I could make him cry and he'd still be friends with me. And he knows Eric too, so I thought could get him to help me take back the rabbit's foot afterwards...?" It was an awful thing to do, but he couldn't think of any alternative. He really didn't want to be a bully.

OOC: 20:45, 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 10(+8),4,1,5. Wits + Composure.

When Shawn started to tell the story, it was clear that Griffix had his doubts. It was the way that long tongue came up to lick the side of his mouth, working its way around the nose and then retracting slowly back inside. It seemed to signal that Griffix was distracted enough not to believe Shawn had the fortitude to follow through.

Then Shawn's mind did the social arithmetic and calculated Griffix's gaze. It wasn't just that. It was that Griffix doubted that maybe Shawn understood the gravity of the situation. Griffix was clearly concerned about the Soul Contest, and he was trying to gauge if Shawn took it as seriously.

"That is a good plan. A very, very good plan. You will have the vial tomorrow night then?" Griffix pressed.

Shawn gave Griffix what he hoped was a resolute and serious expression. "Yes. I know what happens if I don't succeed, and I won't let it. I can do this."

The air seemed to leave Griffix all at once, his angular, sinewy body going slack as he hunched over. A wave of relief seemed to fill his face--if you could call it that--neck suddenly relaxed to one side. Shawn could tell that Griffix was....afraid? Yes. Afraid. There was simply no other way to put it. He bed down low in a hunter's crouch, picking up the Fortune Teller's Crystal Ball.

"You won't be alone." he said. "I myself, have already gathered several souls. "I stopped by Los Olivos earlier tonight." Shawn knew the town, it was outside of LA, northwest of Santa Barbara. Griffix let the rest be understood without saying anything: he had been out hunting, for kids' souls or for their tears, Shawn couldn't didn't know.

Shawn didn't know if Griffix had been out hunting souls or tears, and frankly, he didn't want to know. It seemed like information that could only hurt him in the future. "Thank you. For trusting me with this." He met Griffix's gaze, serious but appreciative. Shawn knew he needed Griffix's help, but really, he was just doing what he'd always done; find the important adult in a situation and try to be the kid he or she wanted. He'd been the cooperative and patient child for the producers, the tearful victim for Mr. Cherrywinks, the fearful but trusting protege for Griffix. It had almost stopped being acting at this point.

Griffix nodded his head. Then he picked up the Crystal Ball and sat on the edge of the windowsill, long tail hanging low and touching the floor. "I'll see you tomorrow night." He said in a conspiratorial, predatory tone. Behind Shawn, Bobby was turning in the sheets, pulling the blanket taught over himself.

Shawn just nodded by way of reply. Now that Griffix was a little further away, and with Bobby stirring, he didn't want to risk raising his voice and being overheard.

And with that, Griffix was gone, hopping out the window and into the night, silent as a shadow, moving across the lawn.

OOC: Shawn Joins Thread

Shawn: Dad Hasn't Been to Work in Days...