Adam Smith: so...here?

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: Sure.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: Reyna's lying on the couch, another full glass in her hand, watching the fire.  The collar is still on the table, where Angelia left it, and right near Reyna's field of vision.

Adam Smith: Adam comes out about 90 minutes later, fully dressed in some of Malcolm's casual clothing.  Hair wet.    He regards her for a moment from the hallway before moving across the foyer into the sunken living room.  "Thought you'd be gone by now.

Adam Smith: He sits down and starts combing his hair, which is far longer and finer than Fausto's ever was.  He's not very good at it and it's clear he's not a man who enjoys hair past his collar.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She shrugs.  "Didn't feel ready to go out and face the world with a smile just yet.  Want a hand with that?"  Indicating his hair.

Adam Smith: He regards her for a moment, then nods, surrendering the comb over to her.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She takes the comb and moves to sit behind him, sliding a leg around him and starting to move the comb through his hair.  She's, obviously, used to long hair, and she expertly moves the comb through it, taking care not to get it caught in any tangles.  "So, what's on your mind at the moment?"

Adam Smith: "How I wasted four-hundred and fifty thousand dollars on plastic surgery to look this way when Los stabbed me in the back by giving me the same Umbral reflection I had when I was kinfolk."

Adam Smith: "When I was still a shifter, I had a chance to pull it off.  Now..." he shrugs.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Ahhh."  She reaches the end of the hair and brings the comb back up to the top.  "And now what?"

Adam Smith: "I have no fucking clue."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She's quiet for a long moment, combing through his hair.  Relaxed on the surface, very much not just underneath.  And the slight tensdion in her posture is betraying it.

Adam Smith: "Are you angry with me?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "For what?"

Adam Smith: He doesn't answer that for a bit, then... "Anything."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She shakes her head.  "No, I'm not.  I haven't regretted anything, Adam.  I'm just..."  She sighs.

Adam Smith: "What?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "I'm not used to this feeling.  This...being worried.  Being afraid.  It's...unnerving."  A very inadequate word for the feeling inside her.

Adam Smith: "What are you worried about?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "I'm worried about you.  I'm worried about Angelia.  I'm even worried about Karlos."

Adam Smith: "Why?  Worry is a wasted emotion."

Adam Smith: "What will happen, will happen.  Put your energy toward figuring what might occur, and how best to influence events towards the outcome you wish."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: There's a long pause.  "I'm not used to...getting attached to people, Adam."  She's stopped combing his hair for the moment, sitting behind him.  "Normally, when people would get close to me, I'd leave.  Not because I wanted to, necessarily, but I'd do something to piss them off, or I'd just...get the wanderlust.  Hell, I haven't stayed in a city as long as I've stayed here since I left Los Alamos."

Adam Smith: "Do you plan on staying much longer?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She nods.  "Yeah, now.  I was originally only planning to stay in New York for maybe a couple of months, do some work, and move on.  But now, I wouldn't leave it for the world.  I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to."  She purses her lips.  "But it's...still a strange feeling for me.  I don't know quite...how to deal with it."

Adam Smith: "How do you feel like dealing with it?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She reaches around him, to get her drink.  "Part of me wants to pick up and run, as fact as the Bitchmobile will let me.  Part of me wants to just curl up and cry for the next few months solid.  Part of me wants to go kick some serious Asian ass, and whoever else gets in my way, for no reason.  A large part of me wants to pull Angelia back her, nail the door shut, and not let any of us leave."  She smiles a little.  "And then, a tiny, pesky part of me says that it's all going to work out as it's supposed to, as long as I ignore all the rest of it and get off my ass."

Adam Smith: "Get off your ass and do what?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "And help, however I can.  Do what I need to do to get this taken care of."  She takes a sip of her drink and leans around again, setting it down, before picking up the comb.

Adam Smith: 'Everyone wants me to tell them how to make this all better.  And I don't know."

Adam Smith: "I know what ~wont'~ work."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "I don't expect you to have the answers, Adam."  Running it through his hair.  "I'm not asking for advice on what to do.  I'm just giving you a very long answer to your question."

Adam Smith: "I won't wear that gorget again.  Not willingly.  I don't care what it's forged of, or why it was forged.  I won't be that...helpless again."

Adam Smith: "And I don't have the strength to fight any more."

Adam Smith: "The only thing....I can think of is to put Elok on the throne."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She nods.  "I don't expect you to wear it.  There's never just one answer to everything.  I've told you before, you can't do this all by yourself.  And I'm going to do what I can to make sure you don't have to."

Adam Smith: "You both told him I was the one..."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "I...thought you were.  But even then, I didn't think you would do it alone.  I knew you'd need help, and I was ready to give it."

Adam Smith: He closes his eyes, shaking his head.  "I'd ~just fucking failed~ at ~everything~ you wanted that sword to be, and you told Him I was the one to wield it."  He shakes his head.  "Why?  And why can't Angelia remember what the fuck happened there without filtering it through some fantasy that never happened?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "It's called emotional trauma.  She's torn up over what happened.  She's glossing over by more then just a bit, I agree.  What you have to realize, Adam, is that while you came out of it the worst because oif us, none of us escaped unscathed.  Despite what she says."

Adam Smith: "Why does she believe she speaks for the whole Body of Harmony when she doesn't ~talk~ to any of them?  Why does she fucking believe Firesnake will ~ever~ take me back after what I did?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Those, I can't answer.  As you know, I just found out what the Body was tonight."  Back up to the scalp, and slowly down.  "And just because you fall off the path doesn't mean you can never get back on it.  I'm not saying that it's definite that you can, because I know shit.  But she thinks there's a chance, at least, obviously."

Adam Smith: He sighs, and shakes his head.  "Shit..."

Adam Smith: "You're right," he says wearily.  "I forgot...she shattered at the river."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She nods.  "Yeah, she did."

Adam Smith: "So...she'll be useless for a good three weeks..."  He sighs, and just looks at the fire.

Adam Smith: "Well.  At least you two have each other."

Adam Smith: "So something good came out of it."

Adam Smith: He stares at the cuts in his hand from grasping the collar, moving his hand open and closed, wincing slightly.

Adam Smith: "Did you try it on?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "I don't know about that.  She's functional, though I don't know if she's 100%.  She'll just need some serious down time after all this is over."  She smiles a little at the last bit he says, though.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "The collar?  No.  I hadn't even considered it...I assumed it and the sword were supposed to go to the same person, so it wasn't for me."

Adam Smith: He doesn't say anything for a bit, just letting her comb his hair, even tho it's already combed.  "So...Karlos suggested...that what Los took from me is in the sword."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She thinks about that.  "Well, it had to go somewhere, right?  It's reasonable to consider that."

Adam Smith: "He's also found out that the Asians are poaching large quantities of North American black bears, and shipping them, both live and slaughtered, to Asia."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Wow, well, that's certainly fucked up.  Does he have any guesses as to why?"

Adam Smith: "They're holding banquets with so called Asian delicacies here in New York.  Things like Bear Paw Soup.  And Tiger Penis Soup on the menu.   Right now, he's watching them beat a live bear to death in front of those patrons who've come to eat it.  Because the 'Fear Juices' from the torture improve the taste and texture of the meat."

Adam Smith: "They apparently pull in about...$8,000 to $15,000 a plate for these banquets."

Adam Smith: "Apparently wildlife smuggling is just as lucrative as drug smuggling but with far less financial and legal risk."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Wow.  That sounds like Taint if I've ever heard of it."  Shaking her head in disbelief.

Adam Smith: "He says there are farms they keep the bears to extract gall from them."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "But we have to be able to use that against them, right?  If we can get proof, I mean."

Adam Smith: He shrugs.  "I don't know.  I don't think I'm...qualified to judge."

Adam Smith: "I mean...we do things to veal.  So how is it all that different that it's a bear?"

Adam Smith: "And have you ever been in an egg farm?  I mean...are chickens less than bears?"

Adam Smith: "In Africa they eat bushmeat..."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Well, I don't watch my food get beaten to death and get off on it, Adam.  I don't know that I've eaten anything with special Fear Juice in it."

Adam Smith: "It's kind of odd to eat chimpanzees...they look like children in the pot...but it's been done for...probably as long as there have been humans and chimpanzees."

Adam Smith: "It's no different when you're hunting....the meat always tastes better after you chase it down, doesn't it?"

Adam Smith: "I don't know...like I said, maybe I'm just a twisted bastard."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She shakes her head.  "Still not the same, hon.  There's a difference between eating something you've hunted...chased, yes, but killed as quickly as you can...and get your rocks off watching it get slowly tendurized while it's still alive.  And once again...you're heavily bent.  Not broken.  I know this because otherwise, you'd probably be down there in the audience, putting your Bear Bib on."  She sets the comb down, and runs her hands up his back in a slow, non-threatening motion.  Letting him know she's there.  "You're questioning it, and questioning your own beliefs.  That says a lot."

Adam Smith: He sighs, letting her work on his back.   "You and Angelia still don't understand why I'm upset, do you?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She gently works through the knots in his back, starting between the shoulderblades.  "I have some guesses.  But I'm probably wrong.  It depends on which upset you're talking about.  With you, hon, upset can have multiple digits sometimes."

Adam Smith: "What are your guesses?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "I think you're upset because we put you in front of Los in a position you didn't want to be in.  I think you're upset because we fucked up with the prisoner.  I think you're upset because we expect you to have all the answers, and you don't.  And I think you're upset because you don't think this will end well."

Adam Smith: "I'm upset because you and she both had faith in me.  And I failed you both.  I'm upset because you both--all three of you--could have been killed by such lax procedures with the prisoner.  Or worse, captured.  And I killed three Gaians who...probably wouldn't have died if you'd simply applied the idea that if ~we~ have someone who has Sense of the Prey, then perhaps ~they~ might also..."

Adam Smith: "There are too few Gains left.  And I have too much Gain blood on my hands as it is.  And I'm...I enjoyed doing it.  It's one of the few things I ever felt suited for."

Adam Smith: "Once upon a time, I would have skinned them if I'd have had a chance to capture them.  And sent the skins back to their people.  To terrorize them."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She nods.  "I've gathered as much.  And I'm sorry I helped put you in a position where you had to do that."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: ((do that again, rather))

Adam Smith: "And you're right.  Once I thought I had all the answers.  But everything I've done has...failed miserably in one way or another.   And now, I just want it to be over."

Adam Smith: "Let them execute me, if will distract them long enough for you and the others to put Elok on the Diamond throne."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "You realize, hon, that it's futile to say that to me.  There's another way.  We just have to find it."  Moving lower, to the midback.

Adam Smith: "I can't see me living past this."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "That's because you don't want to."

Adam Smith: "Maybe the Dragons are right.  Maybe a tyrant is needed in this Age of Sorrows."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Or you don't think you deserve to.  One of the two."

Adam Smith: "I can't see it, because...I can't see it..." he says, sounding incredibly weary.  "I can see the rest of you but...I can't go back to who I was, and I can't stay who I am...and I'm tired of being what I'm not."

Adam Smith: "At least when I  was a shifter I...had a purpose.  I had...a duty to...redeem myself for what I'd stolen.  To...make up for the loss I'd created."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She falls silent, focusing on working his back muscles over.  Moving down to the small of his back, scooting herself further into the couch cushions to do so.

Adam Smith: "Do you want me to lie down?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She's quiet for a long moment after he asks.  Then, finally, she clears her throat.  "If it'd be more comfortable for you, sure."

Adam Smith: He looks over his shoulder at her, studying her face.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She's loking downward, her eyes focused intently on his lower back muscles.  Her forehead is creased in concentration, her lips twisted into a focused frown.  She doesn't even seem to notice him look at her.

Adam Smith: He twists to face her, taking away her target.  Catching her chin in his hand, forcing her to look up at him.  To meet his gaze.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: That snaps her out of it, and she takes in a sudden gasp of air, surprised at it, as if she didn't even realize hadn't even been breathing for several seconds.  She evades his gaze for a moment, but finally gives in and looks into his eyes.  She looks...angry, actually.

Adam Smith: He studies her gaze, not recoiling from her anger, but clearly not having expected that from her.  He strokes her chin slightly with his thumb.  "Why are you angry?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She juts her jaw out a little bit, her jaw get a touch of that pulse Adam himself is so famous for.  "Here you are, Adam.  Talking about your death like it's a certainty, while Angelia's lifeline is finding a serious chink to get over.  What, you think I'm supposed to be happy joy-joy over the thought of both of you gone?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She raises her arms a little, and lets them fall.  "I feel like I should be able to stop this, but I don't think I can.  And I'm pissed at myself for that, I'm pissed at you for talking about this like that, I'm pissed at fucking...everything."  She shakes her head.  "Jesus Chirst."

Adam Smith: "Angelia will survive."

Adam Smith: "Firesnake may not.  The Body of Harmony will dissolve."

Adam Smith: "Either the Dragons or the Garou will take over the territory they once held and...things will go on."

Adam Smith: "I'm glad you...found a way to care for someone...again.   I'm sorry it...had to be me.  But  I have only ever held the thorns... The bloom of the Rose is for others to hold."

Adam Smith: "I know that, now.  I think I've always known it.  I got my hopes up, for a time, that...something else could happen but...I've seen the way both you and she look at Ingvar.  He's...far better suited for you."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "It doesn't have to be that way, you big fatalistic schmoe."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "INgvar?"  She laughs.  "Ingvar?  You're kidding me, right?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Jesus, Adam.  Ingvar's a fuckin' moron, if you ask me.  From what I've seen, he's everything that pisses me off about the fuckin' Garou.  I'm sure he means well, and he probably has his good traits, but shit, no, thank you."  She shakes her head, amazed.  "Un-fucking-believable.  You schmuck."

Adam Smith: He unbuttons his shirt, revealing his smooth, hairless tho well-muscled Mas chest.  The blue from that long whipscar is there under his skin, but the scar itself is gone.   There is nothing else to mar his golden skin.   "What's missing, Reyna?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She looks at his chest...then her eyes flick over to the collar briefly, before going back to his eyes.

Adam Smith: He pushes her back on the couch, and tugs her shirt up.  If it's a button down, he unbuttons it.  If it's a pullover, he simply tugs it up and runs his palm along between her breasts.

Adam Smith: His fingers lightly trace the Lady White Snake brand there on her skin, and he pulls away, sitting on his heels on the couch, looking down at her.  Hand moving up to where his own brand used to be.  

Adam Smith: "You'll survive," he says.  "You both will.  Stop worrying, and start thinking about how to make it happen."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She looks at him, her lip trembling a little.  "That was your choice.  You did that.  You fucking martyr."  There's a hard look in her eyes, but it's not true anger, not anymore.  It's frustration.  It's her self-control cracking.

Adam Smith: "No, it was my faith.  I thought that it would...regrow...once the drugs I took to suppress my rage and...gnosis...faded.  But Los took it from me, along with everything else."

Adam Smith: "I am as he originally forged me."  He sighs, and shakes his head.  "And I can't...muster the courage or the...desire...to be branded again."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Nothing's gone forever.  You just need to give it time...and let yourself regrow it."  She bites her lower lip, hard.  "It doesn't have to be this way."

Adam Smith: "Angelia believes that tag is...some proof of some bond...but truthfully this..."  He rubs the spot on his chest where the hard metal disk still resides under his skin.  "Is a reminder of my failure in that, too."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Really?  How do you figure that?"

Adam Smith: "Do you know what this is?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She shakes her head, concentrating on keeping her resolve.

Adam Smith: He sighs.  "I could have sworn I told you the story of the watch..."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She shakes her head.  "I don't remember a watch

Adam Smith: "Do you know why Angelia and I broke up?  Because she gave me a watch."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She blinks, showing her surprise.  "You broke up because of a watch?"

Adam Smith: "A four thousand dollar gold Rolex."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She sits back, her curiosity taking the place of her tightly wound resolve a little, keeping her in control.  "Because you thought it was more then just generosity?  I remember you saying something about your problem with gifts..."

Adam Smith: He nods.  "I don't...get gifts.  At least I didn't get them then. I suspected she'd put a transponder in it.  Or some way to track me.  She'd been acting jealous and suspicious of my...extra curricular activities.  When I...mentioned this to her, she told me she wanted me to have something that I could look at and always know that she loved me.  Which I couldn't understand.  Because I thought, 'surely, with this brand on my chest, how could I ever forget that?'  And I thought apparently she forgets quite often.  And needs things like collars and watches to remind her."

Adam Smith: "But it was very important to her...that I take this watch...and so I did.  And I didn't...take it apart...because I didn't want to find the...transponder.  Or whatever she'd put inside it.  Because there was a scratch on the back, where it was clear it'd been removed."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She listens quietly, watching him.  Still in that middle ground between breakdown and just upset.  But...calmer, still.  For once, her curiosity is a good thing.

Adam Smith: "I hated her for giving me that watch.  Hated her for doubting me and my feelings for her.  Hated her for making me doubt hers for me.   I wanted to kill her, every night.  Because I loved her so much and she...had done this to me, and to our love.  And yes, I know, I'm fucking insane...and this was when...I realized...when it really...when my insanity really became clear.  Even to me."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She nods a little, acknowledging his words without supporting or denying him, letting him continue.

Adam Smith: "And then I was ambushed by some Black Spiral Dancers...for kidnapping some of their kinfolk and...Rehabilitating them.  I was shot with a bullet that...made me want to frenzy.  I killed them both...with their gun...but the bullet was still in me...and I had to...tell that fucking idiot omega Josh what to do...and help him dispose of the bodies...and I couldn't...I was losing blood and...I didn't want any one to heal me with that in there...and maybe frenzy on them and kill them."

Adam Smith: "So I just...kept functioning...on will alone.  And arranged a surgeon to remove the bullet.   But when I awoke...even tho Angelia had healed me...I was...you don't know what this insanity is like...this fire...this need....to kill what you love...before it hurts you so much you can't take it any longer."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She purses her lips, shivering a little, as she recalls the look in his eyes from that night.  And feeling a hint of it in Los's realm.  But she remains looking at him.

Adam Smith: "I told her to leave me, but she wouldn't.  She was..." he shrugs.  "Baiting me.  Angry at me for almost...dying.  And not...appreciating her gift.  And I...kept telling her to leave but she wouldn't and so finally I snapped and I..."  he shakes his head.  "I stopped before I killed her....and she was frightened enough to realize she needed to leave."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: That makes her flinch a little.  She nods again, letting him continue.

Adam Smith: "I avoided her, until the next day.  And I told her that I was insane.  That she needed to understand that.  That she needed to fear that.  But she was....lost in that fantasy again...where love works for people like me.   And I knew that I'd never...get through to her.  So I told her it was over."

Adam Smith: "I kept the watch, for a time.  I even wore it, once or twice.  But after a few weeks, when I was still a fucking bloody wreck..and she was dating kinfolk.  I smashed it against Castle Clinton.  And I gave the solid gold bezel and band to one of the homeless people at the park.  I kept the back.  Which she'd engraved."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: Another nod.  Almost as if she doesn't dare speak.  She wants him to get through this.

Adam Smith: "And when I'd learned she'd taken up with yet ~another~ kin...I got really drunk one night, and I cut my chest open with a knife...and I stuck that back inside, and shifted, so it would heal over.   And that way, I'd always have something to remind me that when a woman says they'll love you forever it really means three and a half weeks after you stop fucking them."

Adam Smith: "And you saw her tonight....all she wants is for me to fuck her."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She waits a second, to make sure he is finished, before she says something.

Adam Smith: His gaze has a far away look, and he is quiet for a few minutes, before he says "I won't...repeat my father's mistakes.  I won't...pretend a claim on her...that i rescinded."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She sighs and looks at him, her voice calm.  "Adam.  First, thank you for telling me that.  I understand a lot of things better now."  She smiles, very faintly.  "I think I need to put some things in perspective for you, though."

Adam Smith: He moves off his knees, sitting back on the couch, buttoning up his shirt as he listens to her.                 

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "First off.  I love Angelia to death.  Almost as much as I love you...maybe as much.  I'm so confused over this fucking love thing, I'm not sure anymore.  But you have to realize, sometimes, that Angelia is just as confused as you are.  She doesn't have the same issues as you...she has her own.  And many of them, combined with yours, are what has caused you two such heartache.  And it's also what's helped you both through some serious shit.

Adam Smith: "I realize that.  I do.  But...Reyna..." he shakes his head.  "She's so much like my mother.  And I'm so much like my father.  I love her but I can't...be around her...especially when she's like this.  She...turns into this helpless child just so I'll...brutalize her."

Adam Smith: "And she really...doesn't love me...any more.   Not like she used to.   The day they almost killed me with that fucking dart...all she did was bitch and complain at me.  And...there was a time where she'd have at least kissed me and...demanded sex."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She looks at him.  "Adam, let me ask you a question.  Why do you think she reacts to you in these ways that drive you so nuts?"

Adam Smith: "And then...the night Ingvar arrives in town...I phone her with his location...and she shows up and...throws her arms around him and...bounces around like she's a groupie at the Second Coming.   And I follow him because he's a fucking shadowlord and I don't trust him not to hurt her...and she fucking shows up at his hotel and stays there for hours...and then gives him the key to her house."

Adam Smith: "Because she's a woman and you're all insane."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She chuckles a little at that.  "Christ Almighty, man.  Get over Ingvar, already.  Angelia likes Ingvar.  He's a old crush."  She looks at him.  "You're the real fucking thing, man.  And you're too caught up with this dumbass with a nice ass that she's friends with, and used to have a thing for, to realize that."

Adam Smith: "And she tells him...everything...about the Sentai...about Fausto...having to die soon...she cries on his shoulder....while I watch from my car."

Adam Smith: "She shares my secrets with him.  She betrays me...again...and again.  And I won't be my father.  I won't...kill her for that...tho I know I should."

Adam Smith: "You didn't see her in the boat, did you?   While I'm that shiny happy oblivious Mas...and she's staring at him and whispering with him and playing with her fucking collar."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Yes, I saw him and her on the boat.  She wasn't watching him like she does with you.  She was more angry with him then anything else."  She sighs.  "She's said exactly three sentances to me about that pud, and two of them have been negative.  He's a link to her past, and things are all Gloom N' Doom right now.  That's why she's talking to him."  She looks at him, smiling.  "She likes him.  As a friend, at best.  She fucking loves you."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "And if you'd get that through the thick, handsome skull you have up there, I think we'd all be a lot better."

Adam Smith: "She doesn’t act like she loves me."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She chuckles a little.  "Ah, just what I was getting to."

Adam Smith: 'You...act like it."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "That's because this whole love thing is still new to me, and I don't have all the pain that goes along with you and her's history.  And I don't know shit well enough to get angry.  And I don't get angry...'till recently, anyway."  She thinks about that for a second, and moves on.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Why does Angelia react the way she does to you?  Is it because she's insane?  No.  Is she crazy?"  She nods.  "Yes."

Adam Smith: "All women are insane.  Gaia's insane.  It's why we're in this fucking mess to begin with."

Adam Smith: "Everybody blames the Dark Father for it.  But he just...wanted her to love him."

Adam Smith: "And the Bright Father...he went insane trying to win her, too."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "No, she's crazy, not insane.  There is a difference."  She gets out a cigarette, lighting it.  "Define insane for me, Adam."

Adam Smith: "Explain the difference to me."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She shrugs.  "Look 'em up in the dictionary.  Insanity is, quite simply, a persistant mental disorder or derangement.  It is an inability to function normally within normal society.  Crazy, on the other hand, is defined as departing from proportion or moderation, especially in terms of enthusiasm, fondness, foolishness, or preoccupation."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She grins.  "I looked this up a long time ago, in Sacramento.  Don't ask."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "People who are crazy do stupid things.  Foolish things.  In this case of love, they do it because they feel so strongly toward someone that they can't contain those feelings.  They get impulsive.  Angry for no reason.  Jealous.  Misquided.  But when it's all said and done, they still love that person."

Adam Smith: He nods and leans forward and rests an elbow on a knee and rubs the back of his neck.

Adam Smith: "I don't watch television, or go to movies because I get angry that people...have any sort of life that...wasn't like mine."

Adam Smith: "I don't want to be reminded of...how insane I am."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She nods.  "Exactly.  You see, when it all comes down to it, crazy people see the world how it is.  Insane people, on the other hand, see the world...skewed.  They have something that prevents them from seeing the world the way other people do.  Many of them are incapable of feeling anything at all.  They're emotionally dead inside.  Some of them feel so much, they can't deal with it.  They're like crazy people who never come down."

Adam Smith: "Well...the other reason is it's really easy to assassinate someone in a movie theater."

Adam Smith: "And they never find the body until they're sweeping up the popcorn."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She chuckles a little at that, and continues.  "Angelia is crazy, because she loves you so much.  What you guys have is so complex, so deep, that a lot of the time, she can't handle it.  What she would accept in someone she feels less toward hurts her truly to the core when you do it."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Or not accept, but would tolerate, rather."

Adam Smith: "Her and Karlos both."

Adam Smith: He shakes his head.  "I mean really, I've accepted that he's a swish sausage jockey faggot, why can't he just accept I'm a brusque judgmental bastard and get on with it?  Why does every fucking thing I say have to be a decree from on high or a condemnation?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "One issue at a time, hon.  Otherwise, we'll be here forever."

Adam Smith: "~You~ don't take any of that shit personally."  And then, a few moments later.  "Do you?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She pauses.  "Do I take it personally?"  She shrugs.  "I don't know.  I can't put my all-powerful observation powers on myself as well as I can on others.  I'd like to say no, but..."  She shrugs.  "Like I said, I'm all sorts of confused lately."

Adam Smith: He frowns.  Shakes his head.  "I'm sorry."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She smiles.  "Thank you.  But I understand why you do it.  Because you're crazy."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "So anyway, when Ingvar, ultra-high-and-mighty retard that he is, does something that angers her, she gets frustrated, but she can tolerate it.  When you do the same thing, she can't handle it, and she does something stupid."

Adam Smith: "Did Coyote make ducks first?   Or water?"

Adam Smith: "We should send a duck up against the General."  He snickers to himself.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Honestly, I dunno.  The story goes 'he made the ducks and the water.'  Doesn't say what came first."

Adam Smith: "Karlos and Malcolm have a duck.  It's called Oothoon's Tear."

Adam Smith: "Ainsley and K'irin had a duck, too.  It's name was Cup."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Back on track, hon."  She smiles.  "Why does she need things to remind her that you love her?  She doesn't, really.  But when she looks at you, she feels everything.  The joy, the love, the pain, the misery, all of it.  And while I know, surely as I breathe, that she wouldn't give it up for anything, there's still the pain.  When she looks at a gift, she remembers only when you gave it to her.  She remembers the good.  It's not as good as you, but it helps her through the dark times."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She gives him a slightly chiding look.  "That, and you've convinced us all that you're going to die, so she wants something she can hold onto after you're gone and say, 'This was what we had.  This was the best of times.'"

Adam Smith: "We're all going to die.  I don't know what you people are so afraid of, you don't have a ghostly mother waiting to drag you off to hell in chains the moment you cross over."

Adam Smith: "I've given her lots of gifts.  And I don't need any from her."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Yes, but death can be a long time away.  You've convinced us that it's impending.  And you won't accept the slightest possibility that it's anything other then that."  She looks at him.  "And what's more, we know what you believe waits for you.  We don't want to think of your death like that, Adam.  We want to think you've found peace.  But we can't.  So Angelia, rather then spending her time thinking about your death, wants to think about your life.  And, like I said, what you had."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "You may not need anything from her.  But she wants to give you things because she expects that people see things like she does.  We all think that way.  So she thinks you do need things, whether you say otherwise or not."

Adam Smith: "I'm not convinced of it.  I just can see the battlefield.  And I know my chances of survival aren't good."

Adam Smith: "And frankly...I'm just gettting too tired to fight any longer...I'm...I don't care any more...whether I live or die."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "But that's not how you present it to us.  You tell us "I can't see myself living through this,' and to us, who are crazy, we think it means 'I'm going to die, it's guaranteed, and nothing can stop it.'"

Adam Smith: "I ~can't~ see it.  Maybe you can.  But from where I am...there's no me left."

Adam Smith: "I don't want to keep changing identity after identity.  Stepping into skin after skin...I'm tired."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "And to you, that's perfectly natural, and you're ready to accept it.  But could you accept Angelia dying?  But probabilities and what's going to happen aside.  If she died, could you handle it?"

Adam Smith: He shakes his head and leans back against the couch.  "She won't die."

Adam Smith: "She has you, and Karlos...and LAdy White Snake and....the Firesnake...she won't...die."

Adam Smith: "Not that she and Karlos are speaking to one another but..." he shrugs.  "He won't let her die."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "I didn't say whether she would.  IF she died.  Could you handle it?  Let's say that Karlos and I get ambushed.  Firesnake is weak.  And Lady White Snake can't do enough.  She dies.  All as a hypothetical."  She looks at him.  "What would you do?"

Adam Smith: "Kick both of your asses for failing her."

Adam Smith: "And then go kill the bastards who killed her."

Adam Smith: "Becasue we all know the only person who can get things like that right around here is me."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "And then?"

Adam Smith: "I don't know.  It would depend on who's skin I'm wearing at the time.  If I'm Mas...I'd take it like Mas."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "But you wouldn't be able to be yourself."

Adam Smith: "I'm rarely able to be myself now, so what's the difference?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She looks at him, and inscrutable look on her face.  "Let's change hypotheticals.  Angelia is convinced she's going to die.  She's tired of being hurt, she can't deal with it anymore.  She's walking into a aboslute, 100% certain death situation.  She disables all of us in a way we can't stop her because it's something that has to be done, and only she can do it...whatever.  But regardless, she knows she's going to die.  And she tells you this.  How do you think you'd react?"

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "More to the point, she tells you this a LOT."

Adam Smith: He stares at her intently and says, with perfect sincerity and conviction "I'd fuck her brains out and drink to her victory and send her on her way.  And do everything in my power to make sure she made it back alive.   But if she didn't...I'd honor her memory and her sacrifice, and know that she did it because she loved me and her children and she wanted to make the world a better place for us."   (And I need to sleep it's way late and I have work to do tomorrow for class.))

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: ((Yeah, I know it is.))

Adam Smith: "She's warrior...or her people are supposed to be.  And I'm a samurai.  We're both already dead, if we do our jobs correctly."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "Do you see what I'm getting at, though?  Do you see why it's so hard for us to accept this?"  She puts her hand on his cheek.  "Adam, we love you.  And we would continue on, and honor your memory.  But if you die, it takes a lot of our light away.  And we want to do everything in our power to make sure you make it back alive."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She gets up, sighing a little bit, and finishes her drink.  "I'd better go get shit done.  I'll see you later, hon."  She stars to walk out, then pauses, and turns around.  "And, considering what you just said about what you'd do, why do you think she was so intent on having sex with you?"

Adam Smith: "She could have bothered to say something.  She just wanted to fuck, she didn't want to make love."

Adam Smith: "And it doesn't matter, anyway.  If I'd had fucked her like that, she'd have been convinced she wasn't coming back.   At least if she's horny she'll have something keep her focused on staying alive so she can get some."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: "She's not you, Adam.  She doesn't do the same things the same way.  But she does them for the same reason.  Because she loves you."  She smiles, her expression exquisitely sad, and she turns and heads for the door.

Adam Smith: "TAke care, Reyna.  And thank you for talking to me."

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: She stops at the door and looks at him once more, nodding.  "Anytime, Adam.  I love you."  She opens the door and steps through.

Adam Smith: "I know," he says, smiling at her.

Reyna Varinia Reiruno: And she's gone.