DialogueDesparate to find Lacie, Charlie entered (and subsequently) was lost in the Catacombs for a very long time, when they tell the story later Charlie says it was //days//, which frankly might not be an exaggeration.
Upon reaching an intersection they have reached many times they turn left and utter "the air is less foul this direction...", and when they laugh out loud they jump as the harsh bray echoes along the catacomb. An utter responds, and for barely an instant Charlie sees a flicker of light off in a direction they haven't gone, and they follow it, wondering if their mind has been truly lost.
The flicker again! And this time... "...arlie..." echoed along guiding Charlie to a right that they again don't remember seeing before.
"Is the air actually getting nicer?" They asked no one, and they got a response...
"Yes, I do believe you are correct. Some would say '//right//'. Some would be laymen."
Suddenly vapor from a hookah filled the air, something sweet and bright, which smelled most foul in the sewer depths.
"..well it was..." the voice slided from a crack in the floor, a crack where Charlie could clearly see the hookah smoke emanating as well.
Charlie made their way through the door in the floor, into a small hallway, and finally a plush Velvet room beyond that did not fit. The room was small, just larger than their Master bath; in the center sat a square table painted black with a large hookah sitting next to it.
"Been waiting Charlie... just need to tend these coals if you don't mind."
"Who are you...? //I feel like I know you...//" Charlie said it, but didn't realize it, and a chill went up their spine.
"Why, you've always known me, Charlie, I have always been with you. On one shoulder, so to say." The man laughed politely, and took a hit from the hookah, and upon exhaling the room filled with smoke like a thick fog. As it cleared Charlie truly saw the man for the first time, and laughed at his likeness to... "Brad Pitt I've heard, although I prefer a young Robert Redford."
Charlie didn't know how to respond, and instead sat down at one of the two tables as if entranced, and the man followed suit.
"Oh! Come now Charlie! I am known by many names, Legion for one... Personally though I do prefer Lucifer Morningstarrr." He held onto the 'r' for dramatic effect, and Charlie shifted uncomfortably - the room was suddenly cold. "I have but one question, and you answer will determine your fate. No tricks, no bullshit."
Charlie was certain there was bullshit, but they pushed on anyway...
[[What is your one question? ->Go to Dialogue Start]]
(set: $ExpVar to 1)"Why do you want to do to hell?"
Charlie sat still for a minute, and then said "What the hell..." then added, "No parking old man."
Lucifer chortled, despite himself. "Old indeed", handing the hookah to Charlie, who smoked it for an impossible amount of time in the dimly lit room. Eventually, "No parking... I believe was the term?"
"Oh... er right" Charlie replied unsure as the hookah was not going as well. Lucifer conjured a box of coals, a small cordless burner and an apron - he didn't want coal dust on his white suit. As the coals cooked he took a few hits, coughed, swore, adjusted himself and asked...
"Why do you want to go to hell?" He asked plainly.
[[I don't]]
Experience Check: (print: $ExpVar)
(if: $ExpVar is >= 3)
[ [[I guess I feel I deserve it]] ]
(else:)
[ [[I deserve to]] ]
(if: $ExpVar is >= 4)
[ [[I am choosing not to]] ]
(else:)
[ [[I don't have a choice]] ]"We must make an agreement between ourselves right now," the devil began, "We. //Mustnt.// Lie. Especially to ourselves, that makes fools of all involved." Charlie wanted to protest but couldn't, not really. "You ''do'' believe you deserve to go to hell, or we wouldn’t be here."
Lucifer handed the hookah off, smiling with his eyes. "I don't understand why humans always insist on torture. I do crave the old violence, but it is //not the only way//."
Charlie didn't understand and said so, Lucifer continued, "All with a capacity for //experience// also have the capacity for //direction//. We paint our experience as we go, alas we are also painted by it, and therein lies the dilema..."
He changed the coals, snapped his fingers, and the box, burner and apron faded away. Charlie wasn't impressed, deep in thought, and Lucifer didn't really care either way. Eventually he reached out for the hookah, and Carlie responded...
[[I’ve always tried my hardest but I don’t know if it was enough]]
[[You’re suggesting I have a choice in the matter]]
(set: $ExpVar to it -1) Lucifer bustled around the room, swept a bit with a broom that he seemed to pull from nowhere, and eventually when the coals were ready he changed them, snapped his fingers and the broom, apron, box and burner faded away.
"I think you have taken a step back, which is a shame, but not really a surprise I suppose, old habits die hard after all." He smoked for a few minutes bringing the hookah back to life. Then, with a bit of dissapointment in his tone he asked, "Shall we try again? One more chance, why not... One question..."
[[I guess I still have more to learn. ->Go to Dialogue Start]]
[[I don't have a choice]] With a harsh tone and a grin, Lucifer said, "I suppose you do at that... I will grant one final grace... stay here and wander the Catacombs, or join me in my descent to hell."
[[Spend eternity in the catacombs]]
[[Go to hell]]The room began to change, from velvet to sterile, the table faded to something that looked more like an operation table, although the two chairs and hookah remained. Lucifer started to hand it to Charlie, then paused and put the hose down, "good things never last..." he said wistfully. "But Bravo, you! That is the correct answer to the question. I don't always get through to them, but sometimes there is a bright jewel in the dark night."
Charlie's head spun, they understood many new things about life, most importantly how the Catacombs worked, and began to make a plan for getting Lacie back. The thought about the conversation and about the wieght of choice.
After coming out of the reverie Lucifer was gone, Charlie sat alone in the old operation room that at least felt more at home in the Lost Halls and Catacombs underneath Gable House. The end was near.
[[Exit Lost Halls to find the door to the Caretaker's Garden]]With a harsh tone and a grin, Lucifer said, "No, I suppose you don't... I will grant one final grace... stay here and wander the Catacombs, or join me in my descent to hell."
[[Spend eternity in the catacombs]]
[[Go to hell]]The good news is that Lacie is also in the Catacombs in some capacity, the better news is that there is not physical torture involved. The bad news? Charlie spends the rest of their days wandering around in the Catacombs, their existence nothing but a fever-dream. Sometimes Sangrii chooses to take their form, haunting newcomers to Gable House, but only sometimes.
[[Try Again ->Initialize]] Charlie goes to hell, now only able to choose which method of torture is employed and when, and only on a subconsious level.
[[Try Again ->Initialize]] Fin.
[[Start again ->Initialize]] Lucifer considered and smoked, each exhale filling the room and dissapating before the next, leaning his elbows on the table. It smelled good, and Charlie's head started to buzz affected by the nicotine. Eventually he sat up, "Ah! Simple! You’ve always had the choice, Charlie. Every minute of your life was brought about by your choices, //attracted// to you as is the way of the Universe."
"So I am to blame for my present situation, for being stuck down here... for Lacie?" Charlie asked, trailing off at the end.
"Did you choose to enter the Catecombs?" Lucifer replied, "Did you and Lacie choose to live in this house, did you choose to fight the demon? Yes, Charlie, I am afraid you are to blame."
Charlie couldn't hold back the anger... "Harsh..." And Lucifer coughed at the hookah.
"Oh, my yes..." and took off a coal, cleared it, handing it off again. "Your thoughts and choices effect your future as well."
Charlie resigned back into the nook of the chair.
[[To choose if I go to heaven or hell?]]
[[But what about fate??]]Lucifer considered and smoked, each exhale filling the room and dissapating before the next, leaning his elbows on the table. It smelled good, and Charlie's head started to buzz affected by the nicotine. Eventually he sat up, "Ah! Simple! You’ve always had the choice, Charlie. Every minute of your life was brought about by your choices, //attracted// to you as is the way of the Universe."
"So I am to blame for my present situation, for being stuck down here... for Lacie?" Charlie asked, trailing off at the end.
"Did you choose to enter the Catecombs?" Lucifer replied, "Did you and Lacie choose to live in this house, did you choose to fight the demon? Yes, Charlie, I am afraid you are to blame."
Charlie couldn't hold back the anger... "Harsh..." And Lucifer coughed at the hookah.
"Oh, my yes..." and took off a coal, cleared it, handing it off again. "Your thoughts and choices effect your future as well."
Charlie resigned back into the nook of the chair.
[[To choose if I go to heaven or hell?]] +1 exp
[[But what about fate??]]
(set: $ExpVar to it + 1)
(set: $ExpVar to it + 1)"Physical locations are so passe, don't you think? Heven and hell are here, now… in the plants you smell, and in the shits you take. //It is a Scale, ''The Damn Thing Slides!''// The moving pictures you "live in" tell much about which you exist in, which you have existed in, and which you will go to in the future. The nature of everything is to be changable, mutable."
Charlie was confused, and took a few hits thinking hard about what Lucifer had said - it seemed almost like nonsense. It wasn't the answer that Charlie was looking for, if it was an answer at all. "I remember why I hated the Zen studies in school."
"Ha, religion! I once heard something wise to keep close to your heart... 'religion should be personal, not much more than a good idea.' Avoid it like the plague, ha." The devil sat up as straight and tall as he could, looked at his wrist as if he expected a watch, and then said, "time... nearly as passe as location..."
Charlie took a few more hits, handed the hookah back, and responded,
[[You didn’t answer my question… ->I’ve always tried my hardest but I don’t know if it was enough]]
[[What I think you’re saying is that I have control of my fate, and always have the choice to… do something different…?]]
(if: $ExpVar is >= 3)
[ [[I have the ability to change my life as I see fit, and I can choose to stay here if I want]] ]
(else:)
[ [[For what I've done? I deserve hell.... ->I deserve to]] ]
"Physical locations are so passe, don't you think? Heven and hell are here, now… in the plants you smell, and in the shits you take. //It is a Scale, ''The Damn Thing Slides!''// The moving pictures you "live in" tell much about which you exist in, which you have existed in, and which you will go to in the future. The nature of everything is to be changable, mutable."
Charlie was confused, and took a few hits thinking hard about what Lucifer had said - it seemed almost like nonsense. It wasn't the answer that Charlie was looking for, if it was an answer at all. "I remember why they I the Zen studies in school."
"Ha, religion! I once heard something wise to keep close to your heart... 'religion should be personal, not much more than a good idea.' Avoid it like the plague, ha." The devil sat up as straight and tall as he could, looked at his wrist as if he expected a watch, and then said, "time... nearly as passe as location..."
Charlie took a few more hits, handed the hookah back, and responded,
[[You didn’t answer my question… ->I’ve always tried my hardest but I don’t know if it was enough]]
[[What I think you’re saying is that I have control of my fate, and always have the choice to… do something different…?]]
(if: $ExpVar is >= 3)
[ [[I have the ability to change my life as I see fit, and I can choose to stay here if I want]] ]
(else:)
[ [[For what I've done? I deserve hell.... ->I deserve to]] ]Lucifer was delighted by this response, but clearly wanted more conversation. "I do believe we are nearly done, but then... what do I know, life can be so cyclical don't you find?"
Charlie was curious, and asked, "You've had this conversation?"
"Once or twice" replied Lucifer with a purr on his voice. "I don't often get through to them though, and then the flaying and the screams, the fire and brimstone. I should return soon, I've been away so long" Was he talking of the time this conversation was taking, or something else entirely? Charlie wasn't sure, and also wasn't sure it mattered.
Charle was raised Catholic, and the man sitting before them was not what the dirty old men at Church had taught them about. Even through his excitement at the idea of torture, Lucifer didn't seem to want Charlie to go to hell, didn't seem to care //at all//.
"You have many choices ahead of you, Charlie... and however you answer my one question will determine which of those choices are available. Your life has boiled down to one choice, and I am afraid it is nearly time to make it..."
[[So I ask again... ->Go to Dialogue Start]] Lucifer was delighted by this response, but clearly wanted more conversation. "I do believe we are nearly done, but then... what do I know, life can be so cyclical don't you find?"
Charlie was curious, and asked, "You've had this conversation?"
"Once or twice" replied Lucifer with a purr on his voice. "I don't often get through to them though, and then the flaying and the screams, the fire and brimstone. I should return soon, I've been away so long" Was he talking of the time this conversation was taking, or something else entirely? Charlie wasn't sure, and also wasn't sure it mattered.
Charle was raised Catholic, and the man sitting before them was not what the dirty old men at Church had taught them about. Even through his excitement at the idea of torture, Lucifer didn't seem to want Charlie to go to hell, didn't seem to care //at all//.
"You have many choices ahead of you, Charlie... and however you answer my one question will determine which of those choices are available. Your life has boiled down to one choice, and I am afraid it is nearly time to make it..."
[[So I ask again... ->Go to Dialogue Start]]
(set: $ExpVar to it + 1)
