Saving Alan Watts
Saturday, November 10, 1973.
Michael
(Do you guys want or need any lead-in on this scene, i.e., the three of you chatting while being driven by Dave to the dock? I'm more than willing to pipe up as Viv in such a scene. If not, I can kick us off as we come onboard.)
Brant
(No preference from me, though Marshall would’ve given Mitch a head’s up — i.e. “hey Mitch would you come to Sausalito with me and miraculously cure Alan Watts of his cirrhotic liver?”)
Jeff
"Hmm. Well. Huh.
"I can try, sure. I'm not a hundred percent on who Alan Watts is but, sure. But it's going to be tricky, if the guy really is on his deathbed. I mean, I can, I think I can, repair a lot of damage. Like you take a chair, smash it to pieces, I can glue it together. Diseases, though, they're like lighting the chair on fire. No amount of glue will undo that."
Mitch shrugs haplessly. "But I can give it a shot. If it's important enough I can probably do it."
Brant
"Fantastic! That is all I can ask. I think you'll like Alan. You two share a similar ... irreverence for things."
Michael
Dave pulls up to the parking area adjacent to the Sausalito marina on this chilly 50-degree morning in November. The smaller houseboats, festooned in homespun paint jobs, cod-medieval tapestries and banners, and strings of fairy lights, all clustered into this corner of Waldo Point on a pair of "streets" named Issaquah Dock and Liberty Dock, form a little square enclave, with the decaying Vallejo acting as the mother ship. The inhabitants of this little intentional community seem to be older than the usual non-conformists, hippies, and bohemians of the Bay Area: Mitch, Marshall, and Viv can see quite a few greying heads out watering their flowers or drinking their coffee on their decks. Art is everywhere, sculptures, mosaics, frescos, and fabric arts cover every exterior surface, it seems. Certainly Viv, Marshall, and Mitch fit in here pretty well among this motley of aging artist-types, Beats and Zen enthusiasts. On the entrance plank of the Vallejo stands a stout older woman, maybe Viv's age, maybe a bit older, with shortish blonde hair and big owlish glasses. This is Jano Watts. "Genevieve," she says in a drawly, tired, New York accent-tinged tone, "It's been so long." She holds her hands out for Viv, who takes them with an enthusiastic smile. Viv says, "Jano, it's so good to see you, it has been so long! May I introduce my friend and colleague Dr. Marshall Redgrave, and, well, my other friend and colleague [Jeff, you can decide whether Viv introduces Mitch with his real name or MJ Hearst]?" Genevieve steps out of the way to allow Jano to greet both of you. Jano smiles at Marshall. "Dr. Redgrave, what a delight to finally make your acquaintance!" Jano tries to get her bleary eyes to light up for this social engagement, but even with the forced verbal bonhomie Marshall can see they still seem haunted and tired. "And Mr. [Hearst/Hort], welcome to both of you. You will have to excuse things here a bit, we've only been back from our Europe trip for a short while and things are a bit in flux here."
Jeff
Matt Hearst keeps turning his head as a new sight catches his eye. A sheet-metal sculpture of a sunflower that is also a planter for a real sunflower. A wall covered with thick, overlapping splashes of pastel paint, like someone was making fun of Jackson Pollock. A rack with a couple of dozen little gem tomato plants in pots, still dripping into the tray beneath from their early-morning watering.
"Flux. Cool."
Brant
“Mrs. King, a pleasure,” Marshall says, extending his hands. “Thank you for squeezing us in. I know how busy you and Mr. Watts are.” Marshall is in full bore charisma mode — a regular shotgun blast of charm. He’ll make small talk with Jano, inquire about some of the things on the boat, how the trip to Europe went, casually drop references to certain famous clients, etc. After a while he’ll ask how Alan is doing.
Michael
Matt Hearst keeps turning his head as a new sight catches his eye. A sheet-metal sculpture of a sunflower that is also a planter for a real sunflower. A wall covered with thick, overlapping splashes of pastel paint, like someone was making fun of Jackson Pollock. A rack with a couple of dozen little gem tomato plants in pots, still dripping into the tray beneath from their early-morning watering.
"Flux. Cool."
As Mitch's eyes return to Jano to echo her word "flux," he peers at her aura (Mitch's Aura Sight being automatic these days, of course). It droops off her crown chakra, in a sickly liver-green (one might charitably call it "jade" if one wanted). From just a glance Mitch can tell Jano is sick in body, mind, and soul. The body shows a profound systemic premature decrepitude, ailments of blood, muscles, and metabolism. The mind shows negative emotional content, even as she warmly greets her and Alan's guests. And the spirit is sick as well; her aura seems shrunken and turned in upon itself in a way that indicates that maybe she wasn't always this way. (Further and specific "scan" information on her diseases, emotional state, and so on can be gotten from the usual Aura Sight-15 analysis roll.)
“Mrs. King, a pleasure,” Marshall says, extending his hands. “Thank you for squeezing us in. I know how busy you and Mr. Watts are.” Marshall is in full bore charisma mode — a regular shotgun blast of charm. He’ll make small talk with Jano, inquire about some of the things on the boat, how the trip to Europe went, casually drop references to certain famous clients, etc. After a while he’ll ask how Alan is doing.
Marshall fully engages with and makes careful note of how Jano reacts in the quick tour of the houseboat before reaching Alan's sanctum. In the midst of the dime tour, it's clear Jano's statement about things being in flux was a massive understatement. It's clear the ship is in profound disrepair. The end of the ship that was house and studio to the late artist Jean Varda has been cleaned out of most of his personal effects and now seems to be being used as a squat for a bunch of younger Watts hangers-on in their late teens and 20s. Jano makes an off-hand remark about how the entire boat belongs to the Society For Comparative Philosophy and so it should be a home for seekers. "Besides," Jano says, "we're up at Druid Heights most of the time these days. These kids deserve the space."
"Oh, the trip to Europe," Jano says. "I think it did Alan a world of good to return to England. He can say he much prefers California all he wants, but when he finally gets to sit down across from his daddy at the pub, with a steak and kidney pie and a real ale, you can tell that's a bit of a lie," Jano says with a smile. Underneath all this superficial recounting of their recent trip, it's clear to Marshall that Jano is giving this happy version of their recent trip through figuratively gritted teeth. There is tension inside Jano, and it all has to do with Alan. When Marshall outright asks how Alan is, Marshall can see Jano's body language, can see her facial features tighten up, see her draw into herself. "Oh, you know, a month criss-crossing Europe isn't as easy as it used to be for him, Doctor," Jano says more or less truthfully. "He's been taking it easy the past few weeks. But he was very excited to hear both you and Genevieve wanted to visit!" This also seems truthful, if leaving out some large amounts of important context.
Brant
Marshall gives Viv a subtle side-eye when Jano isn't looking that says: "Get a load of this one." When she turns back, he smiles and says: "Well, I certainly don't want to take up too much of his time," and leaves that last word hanging, the implication being, "Bring me to him."
Jeff
Sure
>> SUCCESS by 3
Jeff
What would the penalty be on a Cure roll for her? What would it cover?
Michael
When Mitch takes a longer, closer look at Jano's aura, going deep into the bodily systems, he sees she has a panoply of ailments—incipient diabetes and cirrhosis being the biggest two, but her lungs are also not in great shape, probably from smoking. Her brain is definitely damaged from drinking as well; she meets the clinical prerequisites of alcoholism easily. Mitch sees she's also currently clearly intoxicated; maybe has had the equivalent of 3-4 drinks in the last hour or two. Those drinks are there, Mitch wagers, to keep away the DTs. Mitch would estimate the penalty/penalties to heal all these serious (but not deadly) bodily ailments would be in the -4 to -7 range and then would require her to remain clean and not return to the bottle. Emotionally, Mitch gets a bit of a deeper taste of her sickly heart and spirit. She is truly trying valiantly to push these feelings down (that's part of the booze's role, Mitch supposes), but she is at a core level resentful, heartsick, anxious, and experiencing additional psychological disorientation from the aforementioned alcohol withdrawal/drinking to keep the withdrawal at bay. She's been this way for a long time, as mentioned: a few years at least. What Mitch is able to tell is that any hope or expansiveness to her self that she once had sincerely experienced and possessed has been deflated, punctured, and filled with an overwhelming sense of simmering everyday hatred and resentment. Spiritually, she's not incurable or a hopeless cause, but it would require her to stop feeling these feelings.
Marshall gives Viv a subtle side-eye when Jano isn't looking that says: "Get a load of this one." When she turns back, he smiles and says: "Well, I certainly don't want to take up too much of his time," and leaves that last word hanging, the implication being, "Bring me to him."
Viv returns Marshall's side-eye with her own use of Gesture to convey the fact there is a deep spiritual sickness here; Viv's eyes turn down in pity and worry as she defers to Marshall's command to Jano to bring us to him. At Marshall's request, Mitch sees the resentment and sickly green of Jano's aura flare, but she does her best to attempt at acting to keep these feelings from her face and body language. "Of course, Doctor. Come this way." Jano opens a door deep in the ship; again, the ragged homey-ness of the recent past onboard the Vallejo seems tattered and neglected, but these chambers and galleys are clearly the Watts'. Marshall, Mitch, and Viv see dusty photographs on the walls from the 1950s and '60s of Alan posing with colleagues, Zen monks, hippie types, and a great number of framed pieces of art, both Western and Eastern, mostly prints and lithographs, although you all both notice a few authentic Japanese drawings and calligraphy-marked scrolls. Inside Alan Watts's retreat onboard the Vallejo are a series of tatami mats, and a simple low Japanese table—a chabudai—before which Alan Watts sits, watching a single stick of incense expend itself into the stale air of the room. Upon first sight of him, it doesn't take a doctor or an aura reader to be able to see his illness; he is drawn, pale-yellow, his eyes vacant. Mitch can see with Aura Sight on first glance an aura that looks like a grand branching tree, not unlike Viv's before her mushroom trip with Terence, but a tree that has not been cared for for some time. Every vein of Alan's aura is gray or, in patches, Jano's sickly green. His emotional state, on the surface, is marked with an overall sense of physical and emotional exhaustion. But like Jano, there is potential here for his aura to rejuvenate; the grant edifice is built, with great care; it has just been abandoned for quite a while. Alan too is clearly suffering from a number of physical ailments, including alcoholism, heart disease, and growths on his lungs, which Mitch can analyze further for specifics, of course. "Genevieve." Alan smiles with genuine warmth. "And Doctor Redgrave, welcome." He doesn't get up from his seated position, but puts his hand out for a clasp or handshake, and gestures to invite the guests to sit on the tatami around his table. "And... I'm sorry, I don't think we've met before," Alan Watts says to Mitch.
Body Language-17 for Marshall, and as I mentioned, Mitch can roll Aura Sight-15 and then if that's successful Body Language-13 (defaulted from Detect Lies-14 with an Aura Sight bonus of +3).
Brant
>> SUCCESS by 11
Marshall puts his hands together in a prayer gesture at his heart-center and bows to Alan. "Om namaste, maharishi. Thank you for agreeing to see us."
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 7
(Aura analysis)
>> SUCCESS by 2
Body Language 13
Matt Hearst will shake Alan's offered hand.
Michael
As everyone sits, Marshall takes in the gestalt of Watts's voice, body language, and eye contact and sees on some levels the same man he's listened to at Esalen and seen on television—a witty, confident, supremely effortless thinker and speaker. But on surely deeper levels past the superficial, Alan Watts is a man holding back incredible pain. Marshall recognizes the pain is both physical and psychic from Watts's body language and the visible state of his body. He's surely been drinking this morning; as sure as Jano has, Marshall now realizes. Alan can't hide any of this from Marshall's expertise in reading other people; Alan is dying, surely on both those levels, physically and spiritually. He is weak, lost, a shell of his former self, a man with a brilliant mind, a charismatic presence and wealth of spiritual knowledge, all locked away and unable to turn the life-changing advice he gives others onto himself. Marshall feels that strange feeling he sometimes is able to intuit when Mitch actively uses his Serendipity; surely, URIEL has arrived at the Vallejo in the nick of time. Alan Watts is drinking himself to death and it is out of some kind of emotional despair.
Matt Hearst will shake Alan's offered hand.
In shaking Alan Watts's hand, Mitch is given two rushes of information from his Aura Sight. First: Alan Watts is suffering from advanced liver disease and moderately-advanced lung cancer, and the knock-on effects of the drinking and smoking have harmed a half-dozen other of his bodily systems, including his circulatory system and heart, his pancreas and spleen, and his formerly brilliant mind. Any number of these ailments could mean something close to immediate death for him, in a very short amount of time. And these ailments lie in the -8 to -10 zone of Mitch's ability to Cure disease. And, as with Jano, if Mitch were to cure these diseases in full, Alan would need to change his entire lifestyle: no more rich, fatty foods, no more booze, no more fags. Mitch hasn't seen anyone who's overindulged this badly and harmed their own health since, of course, Master Jiyu, and Alan Watts is in a much more fraught position medically than Jiyu ever was. The other thing that Mitch senses upon the handshake is the activation of some small minor psi-related power in Alan Watts's aura. Mitch can't narrow it down but he's seeing the kind of brain activity he's seen when other members of URIEL use their abilities. It's not strong—maybe it's something akin to Mary-Lynn's tingles of intuition or some other minor passive ability but Watts has some kind of shine to him, even with all this self-inflicted sickness. And as that ability triggers, he looks deep into Mitch's eyes.
Alan first responds to Marshall, almost off-handedly. "Oh, 'maharishi,' I couldn't possibly, Doctor. You honor me, profoundly, but you must know I'm just a jester. A philosophical entertainer. I'm the man who points to the bodhisattva while giving out penny tour maps to the upper realms." He turns back to Mitch, making eye contact once more, speaking to Marshall but looking very pointedly at Mitch. "The real divine ones, the ones through whom the godhead sees and shines clearly, walk among us, unseen."
Brant
(Is Jano still there? If so, Marshall very politely and subtly signals that he’d like her to give them some privacy).
Michael
(Is Jano still there? If so, Marshall very politely and subtly signals that he’d like her to give them some privacy).
(She is, standing close by and not seated with the rest of you, and Marshall can sense via Body Language that she will need to be moved from the room. She hasn't said anything but it's clear she's not going anywhere. She is, however chilly things are in their marriage, Alan's Keeper. But a Diplomacy-22 roll (bonuses for Charisma and your Body Language crit) would be enough to succeed at that "polite and subtle" set of signals. She will resist with Will.)
Jeff
Matt Hearst has plenty to say but he's looking to follow Marshall's lead here, so he bides his time.
>> SUCCESS by 12
Michael
"Alan, I'll be outside if you need me," Jano says. She quietly leaves her husband in the room with the three visitors.
Brant
Marshall smiles warmly at her as she goes. After a minute or so, he turns to Alan and says: “Well, unseen by some. Please, may we sit?” There’s a gentleness and respect in Marshall’s tone, something he rarely demonstrates. “You call yourself a jester but the jesters are among the greatest of the rishi, as you know. Your modesty is a credit to you but unnecessary with me.” Marshall taps his forehead with two fingers and nods to Alan. “Rishi, you are ill. You and your wife.” He phrases this like a statement, not a question, and says nothing else.
Michael
Alan stammers a bit. "Well, er, yes, of course, dear Jano has had these terrible episodes of illness as long as I've known her and I am, yes, frankly quite exhausted—more exhausted than I'd like, honestly—from the European jaunt last month. I'm terribly thankful for your professional concern, Doctor, I really must thank you. I have a personal physician, Dr. Segal, who attends to me and I will surely give him a ring once our visit is over." Marshall can tell Alan is trying to cover for, well, everything that Marshall, Mitch, and Viv have seen here. The secret drinking, the advanced health issues, and most of all the sheer denial.
Brant
Marshall smiles compassionately. “There is no need for that, rishi. You are among friends.” He uses the Voice for that last part. (Could I make a Hypnotism roll to put him at ease?)
Michael
(Yes, but I should tell you that Marshall's read on Alan is that Alan will likely attempt to resist a hypnotism attempt given how profound the forces of denial and addiction within Alan are here; on the flip side, of course, he is likely to not have the kind of force of Will he might have had when he was healthier in mind and body.)
The roll would be Hypnotism-20, that's including the +2 from Voice.
Brant
(Worth the risk — Marshall just wants him to relax a bit, be less wary, not a huge shift in personality or anything).
>> SUCCESS by 11
Michael
Alan visibly relaxes a bit, his voice becoming a bit less clipped, a bit less formal, more willing to poke fun at himself and by extension the situation. "I am quite relieved to be among friends, old boy," Watts says, "but that doesn't mean I'm necessarily keen to get, er, Health and Efficiency starkers in front of them as well." He smirks to himself, glances at Viv, who's returning a neutral, concerned expression to him: like Mitch, taking her lead from Marshall. Despite the defensive sarcasm, the slyly off-color joke in mixed company, Marshall can tell that his efforts to relax Alan somewhat via hypnosis have worked. His defenses are down, even if his jokes (funny how "starkers" in British English can mean both "naked" and "stark-raving mad," Marshall thinks to himself) are merely another form of unconscious reaction formation.
Jeff
Can Mitch unobtrusively move out of Alan's line of sight while remaining within Marshall's (and Viv's)?
Emphasis on unobtrusively.
Michael
I suppose Mitch could give me a Stealth-13 roll, and I would imagine Alan would have a penalty or two to actively notice thanks to Marshall's hypnosis.
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 1
Brant
Marshall smiles. “Rishi, I value your time so I will get to it. In the course of my work I’ve had the great fortune to familiarize myself with your lectures and writings. I won’t pretend that much of my practice – very much of it – doesn’t derive from lessons you’ve imparted over the years. Sometimes I’ve wondered if things would’ve been different for me, had I learned of you sooner. But I spent most of the last many years in Vietnam, so.” He trails off.
“Rishi – Alan – I’m here today because I have a need for you. And I have brought my … friend here, Mr. Hearst, because he is, as I think you’ve discerned,” Marshall says that last part a little quizzingly, like he isn’t sure, “special. Word has come to me that you are sick. And I had to see if that was true. I would've been subtle, otherwise, you know. Gone through Ms. Abeille here. But I see it's true. You are dying, Alan. I can’t have that happen. Not,” Marshall raises his hands to stop Alan from interrupting, “because I’m feeling altruistic – though I would probably have considered doing this even if the circumstances were different,” Marshall’s use of the word ‘circumstances’ seems a bit ambiguous. “But the fact of the matter, anyway, is that you are needed. Your mind is needed. For a long time you’ve talked about how life, samsara, is a game. The infinite experiencing finitude. And you were right, rishi. It is a game, rishi. An actual, literal game. I need you to help teach me how to play it.”
Marshall unspools all that as cover for using Enthrallment: Sway Emotion, to instill a confidence in Alan regarding what he's hearing. He's wants him to feel like Marshall is being credible, and that this is a serious thing that he should take seriously. Lemme know how to roll.
Jeff
While Marshall is talking, Matt Hearst makes some signs in ASL. It's a little clunky but they're both experts. Idiom and shorthand, but the gist of it runs it's possible, of course. Tricky, but I believe I can do it. It will take his cooperation. It won't immunize him to future dissipation, but it will extend his life for at least a few years. More if he takes better care of himself. If I do this, though, I need to do it for both of them. She is in poor shape herself and it would be inappropriate to lay hands on him but not her. Matthew 19.
Marshall unspools all that as cover for using Enthrallment: Sway Emotion, to instill a confidence in Alan regarding what he's hearing. He's wants him to feel like Marshall is being credible, and that this is a serious thing that he should take seriously. Lemme know how to roll.
Michael
All right. First you will roll Public Speaking-25. If that is successful, you'll roll Enthrallment (Sway Emotions)-18 against Alan's depressed Will.
Brant
>> SUCCESS by 15
Public Speaking
>> SUCCESS by 9
Michael
Alan nods and holds Marshall's gaze as Marshall speaks and unspools the source code to instill Alan with confidence in him. (1d6-2 Corruption, btw.) His demeanor remains calm throughout; the hypnosis seems to have, at least, made Alan receptive to these overtures. When Marshall finishes, he can see the confidence he's implanted in Alan. Alan takes nearly half a minute to digest all this, taking one of the long, conversational pauses he's known for in his lectures, taking real time to process and ponder what has been said to him.
"You tell me... you come to me with earnestness and love, you tell me I am a teacher of yours, one whose lessons you have respected, lessons your soul has been refreshed by. That I am needed. You also tell me I'm dying." Another sizable pause. "I wish to return all the respect and candor you have given to me, Doctor. I tell you then if you are trying to divert me from that fate you fear I am heading towards, you have not learned one lesson of mine."
"Life is a game, a wondrous and many-faceted way for God to know himself. And I am but a facet of that scintillating mosaic."
With that metaphor, Marshall, Mitch and Viv all involuntarily get a flash to the mica and glass art installations outside on the docks, like Alan is conjuring their recent memories in an effort to make a point. He's not using source code, but like untrained Viv's storytelling techniques at WesterCon, he's apparently stumbled towards using Enthrallment himself. (Whether this is something he's been doing his whole career or something triggered by Marshall's use of it on Alan, is an interesting academic question that can take a back seat to what Alan is actually saying.)
"I tell you now that I have known that my actions will end in this, and I am ready. The light will stop shining on my fragment of creation and move onto another. I'll bow out of the spotlight like a grateful veteran actor. I'm happy, Doctor. I have lived such a life, a rich one, one that has touched other people. By which of course I only mean I have learned how to touch God." He puts his hand out to touch Marshall's. "You say I have teaching yet to do, to help you. Well, perhaps. Perhaps." Another long, sincerely thoughtful pause, as if he is actively considering Mitch's invisible "at least a few years" ASL offer behind his back.
"But I think you know as well as I that there is nothing further I could do, no further role I could play, if those things I have learned and taught have made their way to so many, including yourself... to have found their hearts, to have made them more aware of their role in, and as, Creation."
"I will come again, in different raiments. Maybe electronic ones," he says with a chuckle. He gestures to a stack of videotapes in the corner of the messy room, tapes of his public television series produced with his son Mark. "Perhaps I will be you next time. Or Ms. Abeille here." Marshall notes that Alan doesn't say that he'll be MJ... curious. "Perhaps you've already been me, and the knowledge of my day of death brought you here, by some... extraordinary intuition. Trying to save me. I'm needed here?" he says quizzically.
"No." He points his finger straight at Marshall's heart. You're needed here."
Brant
Brant
>> 1d6 - 2 … 0
Marshall gives Mitch a look that says, "Can you detect any History B here?"
Michael
I was also planning to give Marshall and Viv an opportunity for Psychology rolls, so given the bonuses from Hypnosis and Enthrallment (and Empathy), Marshall can give me a Psychology-23 roll to ponder Alan's little soliloquy.
Jeff
Matt Hearst signals acknowledgment.
>> ACTIVATE … SUCCESS by 5
>> DETECT … SUCCESS by 1
>> ANALYZE … SUCCESS by 2
Low-ish margin but successful
Mitch isn't expecting to see History-B energy here, the vibe seems different, but on the other hand E.L. Moore didn't seem like a History-B patsy
Michael
The only History B energy Mitch senses is the subsiding flow of the source code that Marshall used to instill confidence in Alan Watts. Nothing in this room, or nearby on the boat (and that would include Jano presumably listening in at the door) reverberates with Enemy infection.
Jeff
Matt Hearst signals cleanliness and a negative result, via ASL.
Brant
>> SUCCESS by 12
Michael
Marshall's had a chance now to assess the man, Alan Watts, careening towards self-annihilation. All his profundity now lost at the bottom of a bottle, telling himself that this is the way things are meant to unfold. The hypnosis and Enthrallment have allowed Alan to open up somewhat, but Marshall sees that this "I'm ready for death" spiel is all clearly his surface-level denial about his real situation. The key, Marshall is realizing now, is Jano. Alan dropped hints, lifelines before he felt comfortable enough amidst the hypnosis to invoke the essential meaninglessness of death: oh, Jano's been sick off-and-on for a long time, oh, admittedly yes I am feeling physically terrible. Marshall's play to Alan's sincere spiritual beliefs conjured an imago that Alan thought Marshall wanted him to be: the swashbuckling trickster hero, unafraid of death. But what Alan really is is a man who used to be in love and is now just trapped. These two, Alan and Jano, are enmeshed in a truly deleterious interpersonal dynamic, with Alan being forced on some level to take on her illness, her addictions, her decline—to match them, in some radical, twisted form of self-annihilating empathy. Viv probably knows more about the specifics of Alan's past relationships but Marshall is generally aware that Alan has been married twice before, and been involved with countless adoring women acolytes besides. He seeks out broken souls. His radical empathy, his sincere belief that all are one, allows him to blithely ignore when a lover is mistreating him, when her behavior is appealing to his own worst instincts. All part of the game, all part of God knowing himself, of suffering being a thrill for the Godhead, after all. So even if MJ were to heal the physical damage done over the past decade, he'd go right back to the drinking if Jano still had this hold over him, or the very least if Alan went back to mirroring her self-destructive actions. Marshall also wagers that most people trying to help Alan—family, colleagues, what have you—have been too taken in by the aura to make the harsher pronouncements that might wake Alan up.
Brant
Marshall closes his eyes and thinks for what feels like a long time. When he opens his eyes he says: “No, rishi. I cannot accept that. Brahman – Ma’at – God – the C Suite – whatever we call it – they do not play at existence so that they can experience suffering and death. Suffering and death is the consequence of our actions because a game requires us to act and actions must have consequences. What you're doing to yourself – what is being done to you – is not part of some cosmic plan. You are not serenely accepting a fated demise. You’re quitting the game. We don’t know what the infinite really wants from all this, but I'm fairly certain – fairly certain – that it doesn’t want this for you.” He sighs.
“You are needed here, rishi. And I do not mean ‘needed’ in the sense that there are still lost souls to shepherd and gurus – like me – to train. You are needed and you don’t even know why. ‘There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio / than are dreamt of in your philosophy.’ One of them is standing behind you. I brought him here with me because your mind – your ability to think differently – is unique. Vital to my plans. He," Marshall nods at Mitch, "is my only option now. I need your counsel. There is too much at stake for you to play the martyr in this way.”
(Mitch and Viv, depending on their read of Marshall's demeanor, may detect he's happy for either of them to jump in at any moment.)
Jeff
"I would like to help you," Matt Hearst says from behind Alan Watts, out of his sight line. It's the first thing he's said aloud. His Southern drawl is a little stronger than usual. "And I would like to help your wife. But I will not act, on either of y'all, without y'all's permission."
Michael
Viv speaks up substantially for nominally the first time this entire morning. "Alan, I would never presume to tell you your perception is clouded. Perhaps a better way to put it is that your perception is currently incomplete. I have had, since meeting Dr. Redgrave and MJ, moments of kenshō—fearful, world-spinning ones!—that have not contradicted my belief in the oneness of humanity and existence, but instead supplemented it, bolstered it. It's only the beginning, what they've shown me. Within each of us are worlds, countless infinitesimal worlds that spiral into the infinite. Marshall is right, you are one of the few men alive who has been able to perceive and comprehend this true nature of the universe, and all without the trauma that we've all experienced in our journeys. It is for that reason we have been brought to your doorstep today. You don't have to travel down this path you feel is calling to you. You don't have to give up this life. As Marshall says, your game is not over yet. With enlightenment comes responsibility, and your duty in this life, to find your joy, your own bliss, is not complete. It is not work, it is not mere survival, it is play that you are here to experience." Viv pauses, a tear in her eye. "Play with us a little longer, Alan." Alan's brow furrows, as if he is trying to understand just what this trinity of visitors is offering him. "I'm so very tired. I've believed for so long that I have been helping Brahman by sending off these little arrows of wisdom from this... this cloister. But have I lived? Lately, I mean. When I went to Europe on my own, without Jano, I felt those little moments that I used to treasure: discovery, spontaneity, love. Curiosity." (Marshall, Mitch, and Viv notice that Jano earlier had said "we've only been back from our Europe trip," but Alan is now saying she wasn't there with him, and he was able to feel things again vitally... without her around.) To Marshall, Alan says, "If there is more for me to see, if you truly mean this, I want to be a part of your vision. If this is a moment of decision, let me choose the path that makes me more complete." Alan turns to Mitch. "What is it that you would need Jano's and my permission for?"
Jeff
"The au courant term is psychic surgery. Blessing takes about ten minutes, usually. Sometimes more."
Brant
Marshall nods. “As he says — and as I said, MJ is special. I believe he can heal your ailments. Yours and Jano’s. But only your physical ailments. If there are others things that trouble you, or that have led you to this dark place, those will need a different kind of help. Genevieve and I may be able to provide that help, if you are willing to work with us on this project.” (edited)
(OOC, is there anything Marshall or Viv could do to aid Mitch’s Cure roll? Marshall could help Alan meditate but don’t know if that would translate into anything. I know Viv has some Weird Powers that might be useful?)
Michael
(You've both got Esoteric Medicine, that sounds to me like a great way to bring Alan onboard with his own belief in what Mitch is going to attempt; Alan would be familiar with a wide array of Eastern medical practices.)
Brant
(Mechanically, Mitch will need to (1) spend ten minutes of game time preparing. I think he needs to be in physical contact with Alan during this period. (2) Succeed on the 14- activation roll. If he fails, he can spend 1 FP and try again after another 10 minutes of prep. (3) Succeed on his Cure skill roll. His unmodified Cure skill is 14 but that's almost irrelevant. So long as his modified Cure skill is at least 2, he can spend a point of Corruption and roll. If he doesn't roll a 17 or 18, then we do some arithmetic to see how much additional Corruption he needs to spend to succeed on the roll. If he does roll a 17, then we go back to step one as if he failed the activation roll. If he rolls an 18, I'm not sure off the top of my head what happens, maybe he spends the FP as if he succeeded but he fails anyway? Hopefully we won't need to look this up. Anyway (4) he spends FP equal to double the absolute value of the penalty, which is around 18 FP, which means he then (5) takes a nap before doing it all over again for Janos; recovering from -8 to 1 FP would take him 90 minutes of napping.)
Michael
I like the idea of Marshall and Viv aiding Mitch's efforts with a guided meditation that help align Alan's damaged body better to receiving healing from Mitch (and in the process help Mitch not have to accept as much Corruption to get into the success zone). The three of them in a circle around Alan, while Mitch keeps laying on hands. Viv and Marshall should really pick different skills to aid Mitch, so what if Marshall continued to keep the hypnotic state on Alan going with a Hypnotism-18 roll to aid, and Viv uses Esoteric Medicine-17 and we can add those bonuses to Mitch's roll. To answer Jeff's question on a 17 or 18: "Failure costs you 1d FP, while critical failure also does 1 point of injury to the patient, in addition to any other effects." (PP47) (edited)
(I would also accept Marshall using Teaching-16 if that didn't come off as too presumptuous. )
Also, I figure we can RP a little bit within this extended set of rolls, Alan has more to say to you all.
Michael
Also also, I figure we'll need to discuss What To Do About Jano before too long.
Brant
Hypnosis-18
>> SUCCESS by 6
Michael
Also also, I figure we'll need to discuss What To Do About Jano before too long.
Brant
(Yeah, this is a complicated one ... but one step at a time, I guess.)
Michael
Viv’s Esoteric Medicine-17
>> SUCCESS by 3
@MutantsMichael rolled 3d6 Viv Esoteric Medicine-17: (5+5+4) = 14
Okay, that's a +2 to Mitch's Cure-14, giving him an effective Cure-16.
Jeff
Okay, Mitch can start the process. Should I go ahead and roll or is there going to be more dialogue during the ten minutes of prep?
Brant
(Nothing from me, we can assume they spend 10 minutes doing guided meditation, lighting some incense, om-ing, etc. I'm about to go for a run and have some stuff to do when I get back so don't wait up for me to make things happen.)
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 2
@Dr. Cronk rolled 3d6 Okay then: (4+4+6) = 14
Whew, just barely.
After the -9 modifier Mitch's skill is Cure-7. He'll spend one point of Corruption to unlock spending it after the roll, making it Cure-8
>> FAILURE by 6
Six more points of Corruption to get his effective skill up to the needed level, for a total of seven points of Corruption to cure Alan Watt's liver.
Mitch collapses into a chair, unconscious.
Michael
The Liver (Chinese: 肝; pinyin: gān) is one of the zàng organs stipulated by traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It is a functionally defined entity and not equivalent to the anatomical organ of the same name.
Genevieve helps Alan with breathing through Mitch's healing process, noting that Alan's qi is blocked because of the issues with his liver. "It's a prerequisite to anything we do; we need your energy flowing correctly and rightly through your whole body. It's the first step in your learning to love your body again. Then we can work on the higher yin system, your lungs, the ones that exchange qi with the outside world and the Earth Herself." Mitch uses his Cure ability and expends 18 Fatigue Points, going down to -8 FP, after this first healing session. After this first healing session, and seeing Mitch fall unconscious onto one of the nearby bed-mats, Alan is immediately concerned. "Is he... is he all right?" But he expresses his concern while still under the effects of Marshall's hypnotic state, and merely thus directs a sincere yet somewhat hypnosis-suppressed verbal concern directly to Viv and Marshall. Alan's eyes look far less yellow after Mitch's healing though, his skin almost immediately gaining a ruddiness and health that Viv hasn't seen on Alan in years. After this initial scene, a period of 15-20 minutes or so encompassing both the initial conversation with Alan and the subsequent healing, Genevieve whispers to Marshall (whether to keep Alan or Jano at the door from hearing is probably irrelevant, it's likely a little of both), "Perhaps you should let Alan rest a little bit after that. We need to talk about Jano."
Jeff
(Mitch is going to lay hands on Jano, unless she tells him not to. Dealing with her depression or their addictions and codependency, that isn't something he feels equipped to address. But he's asleep for a good long while.)
Michael
As Mitch rests and Alan remains in hypnotic stasis, Genevieve, her mouth pursed in thought, says to Marshall. "Well, what do you figure? I have some thoughts on possible paths from here, but the big picture is fairly obvious: Alan enlists broken people like Jano into his savior complex, Jano has enlisted Alan into a psychodynamic where she simultaneously honors and controls him. She is the helpmeet, the gatekeeper for the high priest, but with alcohol shared between them, there is a unique intimacy that no outsider can possibly intrude upon. They are a cult of two. The recovery community has a term for this, as they seemingly do for everything: 'co-alcoholism.' Alan certainly liked a tipple in his day but... I would never have figured him for something like this. He always had the potential to be an alcoholic, but Jano, her illnesses and needs, gave him permission."
Brant
Marshall scratches his chin. “I honestly hadn’t calculated for this — she is secondary to my needs and I can’t allow her to continue doing what she is doing to him. And I have certain ‘blunt force’ techniques that could resolve the situation. But with MJ citing the Book of Matthew at me,” he trails off. Viv detects a certain degree of trepidation in Marshall’s tone when it comes to Mitch. Is it possible Marshall is … scared of him?
“We could confront her, ‘convince’ her to seek help, or offer MJ’s cure in exchange for her commitment to change course. I could bring them to the Mission, pay Alan handsomely for a guest lecturer position as cover for monitoring Jano and breaking up this grotesque psychodrama. What do you think?”
Michael
Genevieve turns her attention to the seemingly insoluble elements of this folie à deux. "Well, consider Jano's role in this psychodrama and what she is getting out of it. She obviously possesses some level of neurotic grandiosity herself; witness her saying she'd traveled with Alan to Europe and hobnobbed with all his guests when she'd done nothing of the sort. When separated, she pines for him and wishes he were back here, enlisted in her script. But when he's gone she also stops drinking and finally starts looking after herself. That demonstrates to me that she's capable of stopping. So how would someone effect a permanent separation?" Genevieve's face goes from thoughtful to somewhat sad, contemplative, as she lowers her voice even further. "Because they need to be separated from each other for both their own long-term good, that much is certain. Each of them needs to stand on their own two feet and accept this relationship is killing them both. How do you convince two people that the authentic, meaningful love they once shared is actually gone and never coming back? And do it outside of a mutual therapeutic environment?"
"While she doesn't openly hanker for fame and love at Alan's level, she loves basking in his reflected light. She fancies herself an expert in all the things that Alan does effortlessly, offering up her opinions on Alan's lectures and writing, sometimes even while he's delivering them. But she doesn't possess anything close to the skill or tenderness that Alan does. She doesn't have the empathy required to truly be. We couldn't just make her dream of being a rishi come true; that's not really her dream. But perhaps there is something that she desires, a true and fully self-actualized life script that she had put away thanks to this stasis she is in with Alan, that comes out in those little sniping corrections she makes to Alan's public persona."
Brant
(This situation is really testing Marshall’s whole ‘think differently’ mantra because he’s sore tempted to just have Jocasta black bag her; anyway formulating a plan, be back later.)
(“Hey Jo next time you’re in Sausalito could you swing by Alan Watts’ houseboat and kill his wife? Thanks.”)
Michael
(I have been trying to play Viv as coolly in this exchange as possible; giving Marshall the idea to perhaps "make Jano's fondest wish without Alan come true" instead of, yeah, the black-bagging, the behavior modification, etc. etc.)
Jeff
(I probably don't need to interject that Mitch will not be happy with any plan that leaves Jano in a worse situation than we found her, but I want to feel involved. Ideally she's placed in a situation that is better for her, rather than merely not worse.)
Michael
(I wish there was a time slow ability or a way for Mitch to get fatigue back faster. Jano is probably gonna be knocking on the door in a little bit, pest that she is.)
Brant
"Alright," Marshall says after thinking a little longer. "Come with me. We'll talk to her." He rises, adjusting his posture and hair, adopting a different NLP frame from the earnest demeanor he had assumed with Alan. He opens the door. Is Jano there?
Michael
Jano is right outside the door. Not listening at it, but in her position she'd conceivably be within earshot if voices had gotten raised inside Alan's little Japanese tatami-covered berth. "Genevieve, Doctor." She looks a bit shifty and surprised. "Is... is your companion still in there?"
Brant
"Alan is resting. Come with me. I'd like to talk. Perhaps outside?" He smiles and gestures her away from the door.
Michael
"Certainly. Let's go out on deck."
(Brant, is Viv coming?)
Brant
(If she wants, or she can wait here 'till Mitch and Alan wake up, whatever suits her.)
Michael
I think Viv's gonna stay with Alan, not necessarily because she doesn't want to see how the sausage is made re Jano, but because she trusts Marshall has heard her counsel on this and she figures Alan could use a friendly ear following his realization that he had been slowly killing himself. Plus it wouldn't hurt to have someone around when Mitch wakes up.
Brant
Once they're on deck, Marshall offers Jano a cigarette and takes one for himself. After inhaling, he looks out over the water and says: "Water has been a consistent theme for me, recently. Not sure why." He sighs. "You're killing him, you know," he says. "Alan. And yourself."
Michael
Running some modifiers to an Intimidation roll-as-Reaction roll through my head right now... base skill: Intimidation-18
Marshall's Charisma: +2
Marshall's Reputation (Celebrities) (very important here, as the last thing Jano wants to do is harm Alan's and her reputation in the "scene"): +2
Roleplay bonus: +1
Difficulty of getting through Jano's denial: -4 ("Hard": she's not immune to the bald fact that she is indeed killing herself and Alan by degrees but again... the denial)
So there's no Will from Jano to resist this roll, it's just a straight roll of success or failure against Intimidation-19. Success will put Marshall somewhere in the Neutral-to-Good Reaction range, in that she'll be willing to listen to Marshall's spiel about her and Alan's health some more. Failure will lock her down into an oppositional posture. But this is definitely the kind of straight talk that Jano's community has been dancing around for quite some time.
Brant
(Is it possible to spend a point of Corruption here, infuse this with a little NLP, so that I can spend more after the roll if needed? That's how we've decided the system works, right?)
Michael
Yes it is. Technically Intimidation is not on the list of "approved" Corruption-boosted Skills but that seems utterly wrong to me seeing as how intrinsic the idea of Intimidation is to Those Who Provide, so yeah, you can open the door with a single point of Corruption and see how the dice fall and add more after that if necessary.
Brant
(Word, 1 point spent to start then.)
>> SUCCESS by 7
Let's spend 3 more Corruption to boost that to a MoS of 10.
(Some day all this Corruption is gonna come back to bite Marshall in the ass but today, eat drink etc etc etc.)
Michael
(Well, you might be shocked to hear this but given both Marshall and Mitch are using Corruption, after we're all done here in Sausalito there will be some Corruption conversion rolls to be made. )
"I don't know what you're talking about," Jano lies. "He's... he's just... Just exhausted." The tiny ember of fury inside her quickly turns to shame; Marshall can see the incipient emotional breakdown vibrating behind her stone face, scowling. "It's not... It's not any of your business." She cannot make eye contact with Marshall at all now, as she looks out over the cluster of houseboats sharing the chill November morning with the Vallejo. She takes a draw on her own cigarette and eventually brings her gaze back to Marshall, minus much the bravado and contrariness. All the excuses she's used with friends and families suddenly ring hollow; now all that is left is pure possessiveness. "It was so much fun, for so long, you know? And even when it wasn't fun, when we were on our own, we made our own fun. A lot of times people would say they wouldn't know what Alan and I were talking about, like we had our own private language." She smiles through tears.
"No one understands him like I do. I gave him what he wanted! That's what none of those lamas or priests or little teenybopper students could understand. Alan's not an avatar, an untouchable holy guru... he's a man, with a man's needs."
"You're going to take him away from me," she says finally. "Shut him up in a hospital, pump him full of drugs, get him to leave me. I suppose it's no less than I deserve. Now he can belong to the 'world' after all," she says sarcastically. Resignation covers her face now, there's no cold fire of resentment left behind her eyes.
Brant
“No, Mrs. King — I’m not here to take him from you. Or to confine him anywhere. But I can’t let this go on, you see? He is too valuable to me. That is why I brought him here with me.” He says the last part vaguely and takes a drag off his cigarette. “I’ll let you in on a little secret, Mrs. King. I’m actually not very good with people. In an abstract sense, sure, I know about people. How they work. And I have tools. But I’ve never really understood people. I think that’s what makes Alan special — better, likely, than me, at this,” he gestures around at whatever ‘this’ is, “because he does. But to understand people is to be a person and to be a person is lonely when everyone else treats you like you’re Buddha sitting under his Tree. Which Alan is not.”
“Mrs. King — Jano, if I may — Alan needs to find his own dharma. As do you. You’re clinging to an idea, a habit, that doesn’t serve you anymore. The dharma would never lead anyone here — if you’ve found yourself here it is because you have forgotten your dharma. Your dharma. Because we all have our own, you see. I think you’ve forgotten that.” He pauses and fixes Jano with his raptor-like gaze. “I wish you no ill, Jano. My companion has healed your husband and I will be devoting considerable resources to ensuring his comfort and stability. I can do the same for you. But it is on a condition, and that condition is that you must part ways with him. Do you understand?”
Michael
"Part ways... does this mean never seeing him again? Because... because I could," Jano pauses, "I can, definitely see a life alone for myself, out of his immediate orbit, but you're saying we can't even have the occasional night together... for old times' sake?" Jano sounds to Marshall's ears like a junkie rationalizing his addiction right now. "Alan has women all over the world; I've allowed him that and accepted it and understood it's part of who he is. I know you don't want any... adverse influences on him..." Jano trails off, understanding how desperate she sounds. She blinks back more tears. "Oh God, what will I do without him!" she wails. Ironic considering in another week or month she would have likely be saying this about him from a completely different perspective.
Brant
Marshall lets her cry it out for a little bit, saying nothing and finishing his cigarette — not dismissively, but patiently. Once she’s settled a bit, he says: “Without him, you and he will live. If you stay on this path you’ll find yourself without him sooner than you think — had my companion not intervened, he may not have lived out the year. But you have to ask yourself, Jano, do you want to spend the rest of your life feeling — living — like this? Do you value yourself — and Alan — so little that you’re willing to spend the rest of this cycle in the bottle, jealous and controlling, strangled into an early grave? Ask yourself,” here Marshall reaches out with one hand and takes Jano’s chin, forcing her to look him square in the eye, and then using the Voice, says: “what can I do to help create a world where everything is possible?” (Can I roll Hypnotism?)
Michael
Yes, absolutely, Hypnotism-18.
Mitch collapses into a chair, unconscious.
It looks like this means Viv can speak with Mitch? 0 FP or less– You are on the verge of collapse. If you suffer further fatigue, each FP you lose also causes 1 HP of injury. To do anything besides talk or rest, you must make a Will roll; in combat, roll before each maneuver other than Do Nothing. On a success, you can act normally. (edited)
(Because what I was thinking might be cool is Mitch remembering/flashing back to his chat with Charley last week while under the effect of the Fatigue loss and the "sound" of Charley's alarm sort of "waking" Mitch.)
Brant
>> SUCCESS by 7
Michael
Okay, Jano is receptive to Marshall's hypnotic suggestions now. Marshall can tell she's not as strong mentally or physically as she might have been under normal circumstances; today has been a lot for her.
Brant
His hypnotic suggestion was the phrase, "what can I do to help create a world where everything is possible." It's a deliberately vague command — he doesn't expect her to quite know what it means, but hopes it will give her a sense of esoteric purpose. If it seems to have "taken," he'll guide her back to Alan's room (though for OOC purposes feel free to connect up the two sides of this scene at any point that seems rational and narratively useful).
Michael
I might want Mitch to have a bit of a natter with Viv before Marshall comes back and we wrap the whole thing up.
Jeff
It looks like this means Viv can speak with Mitch? 0 FP or less– You are on the verge of collapse. If you suffer further fatigue, each FP you lose also causes 1 HP of injury. To do anything besides talk or rest, you must make a Will roll; in combat, roll before each maneuver other than Do Nothing. On a success, you can act normally.
Hmm. It sure looks like you're right. I don't know what I was thinking, I recall looking at p.426 when I was working it out. Mitch goes from 10 FP to -8, but not to -10 which is the threshold for automatic unconsciousness. Mitch is just dozing, the lazybones, I guess
I might want Mitch to have a bit of a natter with Viv before Marshall comes back and we wrap the whole thing up.
As you like
Michael
Alan now is dozing; Genevieve goes over to (First Aid-16) check his vital signs and they seem good: low, steady heartrate, his breathing is still a little wonky, but the flush of life is back in his cheeks. She then goes over to Mitch, who is conscious but also careful not to interrupt the recovery of his own resources. (Trying to remember if Genevieve has witnessed Mitch's Cure ability first-hand yet; I don't think she was in the room when Mitch healed Jiyu and of course she wasn't around for the Redgrave Gambit. Regardless, Mitch can tell she's a little in awe of this new ability, even if the visual signs of healing on Alan are pretty subtle.) "You saved his life," Genevieve says as she sits down by his side. "And all at the cost of a little nap. How are you feeling?" Mitch gets the impression she's not primarily asking how he's feeling physically.
Jeff
"Hmm?" Mitch had been drifting. dozing himself. The subtle motion of the houseboat in the water, the overlapping scents. "I'll be fine. Sometimes I think I should be doing this all day every day. Focus on it, get better at doing it faster and more often. Other times I think I'm cheating something and there'll eventually be a reckoning. Matt chiding me for abusing the system, eking out too much with the points I'm given."
Michael
Genevieve gamely tries to follow along with what Mitch is saying, genuinely and empathically interested. She thinks to herself that understanding Mitch's Illuminated nature is no different on some level than all those years she tried to follow along with Andy's longhand cunctatious sui generis explanations of Reality As He Conceived Of It. She thinks back to the Tarot reading/Flatland conversation from Archie and Melanie's barbecue, and how they both admitted the challenges of being thrust into a new point of view. Having not heard the "Ma'at/Matt" thing before from Mitch (I think), Viv takes a second to figure it out with context clues. "So you think... the universe is going to get you for trying to help people, or develop your healing talents to the exclusion of your other abilities? I don't know, that doesn't jibe with the universe as I conceive of it. I guess maybe if you healed someone who wasn't 'supposed' to be here, but that would also assume there was a story that needs to be told a certain way, and that also doesn't jibe with my experience. I think you've rewritten the book of the world often enough to know that's not the case."
"To be honest, from my perspective, the only thing that you might run into, going around healing the sick, is the Pharisees thing." Viv smiles, then sings softly, "'Listen to that howling mob of blockheads in the street! A trick or two with lepers and the whole town's on its feet!' Maybe the Enemy ends up getting jealous of or angry with you, you know? Their not wanting you to go around giving people hope, the belief that we humans can all take care of each other instead of, you know, being taken care of by Them. From my researches when I first joined the team, They seem historically like a pretty jealous lot."
Jeff
Mitch snorts derisively, because he can't help it; he's got opinions that are riled whenever somebody talks about the Enemy wanting or planning. "There are plenty of faith healers in this timeline's records; I'm just following an existing script. But stories need conflict, rising action, climax, catharsis. You can't just wish a victory button into existence and press it. Or if you can, then the wishing and the pressing, that becomes a whole big thing."
Michael
"I'm sure you've noticed, but healing the world is a lot of work, Mitch! It definitely qualifies as 'rising action'." Viv looks over at Alan. "You remember when I turned your question about human nature and fascism back on you on the roof of the St. Francis? That was the moment this story foreclosed on the whole 'victory button' thing." Viv reaches out to hold Mitch's hand. "There are always going to be temptations to take shortcuts, but this work you've all decided you need to do... this is a lifetime commitment! To really put the fears and impulses that They embody in humanity's rear-view mirror, to leave all that behind in an evolutionary leap, that's the rising action of the story. Sounds like something out of one of my books, actually. Of course Andy's version of rising action—jet fighters and UFOs—sells quite a bit better." Viv smirks.
Jeff
"There are people I've chosen not to help." Mitch thinks of von Braun in the cafeteria, the cancer slowly killing him. "I read a thing once, the idea was that if you start to analyze what to do in terms of morality, you come to decide that anything that goes against the status quo is going to do more harm than good, that we already live in the best of all possible worlds, the kingdom of conscience."
Michael
Viv considers this. "Sounds kind of like bullshit to me. The kind of bullshit that the people in charge always say so no one can stop them being in charge."
Jeff
"Yeah, the point was that overthinking is a trap."
Michael
"Overthinking might be a trap, but consensus thinking, that's arguably a good thing. We're here to be each other's conscience, you know? If we're all aspects of the same self-aware universe, maybe one of the reasons for our individuating is, well, just this kind of thing. Moments where one person's desires are in danger of overriding everyone else's. Everyone does have to put their oar in."
"Sorry I keep thinking about the St. Francis roof, it's weird. I haven't stopped thinking about that night since being here with Alan, even though he wasn't there."
Jeff
"No, it makes sense. That night we put the coin away. Today we thrust it into the stream, let's see what happens."
Brant
Marshall reenters, following Jano. "'And verily, Vishnu said, "Desire is never satiated by enjoyment, as fire, fed with oil, becomes all the more intense."' Jano and I have had a talk and come to an understanding. MJ, if you are willing ..."
Jeff
"Sure. I need about an hour of rest first, but sure."
Brant
Marshall looks at his Rolex, shrugs, and takes a seat.
Michael
"Splendid!" Alan says, full of sudden bonhomie. "Perhaps our three esteemed visitors would take tea with us? It has been so long since I've celebrated chakai with visitors, and I wager it should help our new friend recover from his fatigue."
Jeff
"That comes with cookies, right? I could go for a cookie...it's fine if not, of course."
(Do they have a TV? We could watch an episode of Star Trek the Animated Series right now!)
Michael
Alan's face lights up with a mischievous smile. "Aren't you in luck." He rummages around his still-as-yet un-unpacked suitcase from the Europe trip, where he comes up with a mostly-empty sleeve of what look to Mitch's eye like suspiciously foreign-looking baked treats. "While I don't think these will go well with matcha, you, sir, may indulge in my last Bourbon biscuit from back home. I was saving it for... well, saving it for a rainy day, but now that seems to have been obviated." Alan's joy at being alive and actualized again is a contrast with Jano, who seems generally calmer, more contemplative, and dedicated to seeking a world where everything is possible thanks to Marshall's hypnotic suggestion. To Mitch's sight, her aura is placid, the blue-green-grey of a reflecting pool on a cloudy day. If there is sadness in her aura, Mitch can't see it. Just calm and determination. (Australian late-1970s packaging included here but this will give the gist I think.)
Brant
Marshall nibbles a biscuit. "Oh, so it's Star Trek? I thought it was Star Track for the longest time — you know, they sail the cosmos tracking the stars." He looks to Mitch and sips his tea. "Are you a fan?"
Jeff
Nice
Brant
So how do we want to button this scene? I think all that remains is for Mitch to Cure Jano. RP-wise I'm all set, happy to hand-wave a tea ceremony with Alan, etc. etc., though of course if anyone else has anything they want to do I'm not trying to cut things short.
Michael
Mechanically, yeah, we need to figure out the rest of the Cure rolls and then I want to do a couple of Corruption rolls after we know what the new totals are. Jeff, if you need help with the , let me know.
Brant
(I think I’ll start figuring out XP allocation after this scene, as I can imagine a world in which failing the Corruption roll would impact my point buys. Obviously buying Alan as a Contact, of course.)
Michael
(My feeling is that however you decide to model Alan, he should have Effective Skill 18.)
Brant
(Yeah I’m willing to dump a lot of points into him, he’s a big deal.)
Jeff
I should be able to do this without screwing it up. Jano's collective physical issues are a -7 to Cure, you said, so assuming Mitch successfully heals her he'll be taking 14 points of fatigue. FP can't go below the negative value of its maximum and Mitch has HT 10 with nothing special, so -10 FP is his limit beyond which he starts taking HP damage. Going from -8 to 4 FP takes 120 minutes, call it 130 minutes to get him to 5 FP so that he'll be at -9 FP on a success, which will put him in a state where he can walk unaided to the car and collapse into the back seat if he makes a 14- Will check.
"Mudd's Passion" is over by eleven but then they have tea -- at the GM's discretion a meal taken during a recovery period may count as an extra ten minutes of rest -- so at some point (noonish?) Mitch is ready to lay hands on Jano.
Michael
(Yeah, the tea and biscuits was partly a ploy to give you a little Fatigue recovery bonus, I feel like Alan would have that much awareness )
Jeff
His Cure skill is 14, modified down to Cure-7 and he's unable to take extra time to cadge out bonuses, so instead he spends a point of Corruption to roll against an effective skill of 8...
>> FAILURE by 3
That becomes a success if he spends another three points of Corruption for a total of four.
>> SUCCESS by 0
Then he tries to stagger out...
>> SUCCESS by 4
And doesn't pass out in the doorway!
Michael
Quite a productive morning.
Okay, here are your Corruption rolls: Marshall: He currently has 64 Corruption points. That means he'll roll at Will minus 6, or Will-12. If he succeeds, no Corruption conversion. If he fails, 50 points turn into 2 points worth of Corruption-related Disadvantages (Quirks). Mitch: He currently has 51 Corruption points. That means he'll roll at Will minus 5, or Will-11. If he succeeds, no Corruption conversion. If he fails, 50 points turn into 2 points worth of Corruption-related Disadvantages (Quirks). Marshall has never converted Corruption. Mitch has converted once, into a 1-point Quirk that started off his "Increasing detachment from the day-to-day reality of the world of History A" Delusion. Now that expanded to a 10-point Delusion after Marshall shot himself and the failed Fright/trauma check, so Mitch could re-constitute the existing Corruption Quirk with a new one if he ends up rolling one here. Technically there are no 2-point Quirks, of course, but we could cobble a 2-point Disadvantage together with various modifiers. Also, check the Corruption bit from the MD book here: there are cool things we could do with lowering skills when applied against the Enemy here as well.
Jeff
>> SUCCESS by 5
Brant
>> SUCCESS by 7
Michael
Pfffffffffft
Brant
I cannot BELIEVE I've never failed a Corruption roll in this game yet.
Michael
You may yet get to the 125-point threshold where I get to convert your Corruption points!
Brant
SANDMAN devoting all the wealth of the world to figuring out how to manage Corruption and the solution is simple: just keep succeeding on Will rolls!