Bad to Basics6 – Jack on the Spot
"Hello Chris," I say as he enters the room, "Long time no see."
"Hello to you too, Jack," He says in a dispirited manner.
"What's wrong with you?" I reply, "Destiny catching up to you?"
Everybody looks at me with questioning in their eyes, but I let it go. "So Chris, this is my new friend, Eruin. Eruin, this is Chris, yada, yada, yada. Now that everybody has been introduced..."
"We can get down to business," Piper finishes my sentence, then she looks at Eruin and says, "Hello dear, my name is Piper me and my sister Phoebe live here. Our other sister, Paige, who you just saw storm in here and then storm out, is acting a bit strange. We need a little time to talk alone, so could you go into the next room and wait a little while?" Piper points towards the living room.
As Eruin leaves the room, Piper moves over and closes the door behind her. Piper turns and addresses me, "Let me get this straight: my sister, Paige, is wigged out, probably by magical means, and you just happen to show up here with Phoebe, an innocent, just after rescuing them from a ghoul. Don't tell me that it's all one big coincidence that you're here now."
"Hey," I reply, "Phoebe came to see me. I didn't seek her out."
"Just a convenient excuse if you ask me, now you want me to believe that it's all one big coincidence."
"Believe what you will, but I don't sit around my shop dreaming up ways to make your life difficult," I say defensively.
"Whatever, we need to find Paige and she's off Chris's radar. Do you have anyway of tracking her?"
"Have you tried any scrying spells yet?" I say sarcastically.
"Usually, if Chris can't sense her, out scrying won't either," Phoebe interjects.
"Either she's got herself masked from scrying or she's not in this realm of existence," I add, "Come on the two of you are experienced enough to make a spell that will get through masks or be trans-dimensional."
Good idea, Jack, come on girls, I've got a few ideas on how to make this work," Chris finally chimes in.
Just then, the doorbell rings, when we walk into the front hall, we see Eruin opening up the door to Richard. Richard with a forlorn look on his face says, "I lost her. We orbed into the Bahamas and had a confrontation with this voodoo lady whom we met last time we were there. She vanquished Paige, caught us totally by surprise. The said that that wasn't really Paige, but a demon disguised as Paige. Do you guys know anything about this?"
Everybody's eyes turn toward me. I say, "What! Why is everybody looking at me?" Even Eruin joins in, after she sees everybody else looking at me.
Richard says, "What's he doing here? Do you know who he is, what he is? He's one of the Fallen, and they're notoriously untrustworthy."
"Yes, we know about Jack, but we have this feeling that he's somehow involved."
"That figures, so Jack, what have you done with my girlfriend?"
"Me, why do you think that I have anything to do with Paige's disappearance?" "Excuse me," Eruin interrupts, "What do you mean by vanquished a demon?"
All eyes turn toward Eruin as she looks at us with pleading in her eyes. Phoebe breaks the silence, "You remember the ghoul in the tenderloin. Well, that was a demon, and Jack vanquished it. As I understand it, there is some kind of binding magic that enables demons to exist, so if you break that binding spell, you send to nothingness or as we say you vanquish them."
"So, you and your sisters demon hunters of a sort?"
"Well, not really, they tend to find us although we've been known to hunt on occasion."
"All well and good," Piper adds, "But, the question still remains, Jack. How are you involved? And, don't give me anything about coincidence, you know everything happens for a reason."
I chuckle softly for a few seconds; the reply, "Still stuck on that old platitude, are we? You'd think you'd have moved beyond that by now. Maybe coincidence is the reason. Maybe all this has happened to show you that you cannot understand it all."
"Don't you patronize me!" Piper snaps back, "You're avoiding my question."
"I'm not avoiding your question. It's just I have no answer, and that's my only defense. If you want me to leave then I'll leave, but if you want my help I'm at your deposal."
"He's been helpful before," Phoebe answers, "I say he should stay. He may still be here for a reason no matter what he says."
"Ok," Piper says, "If only because it's easier to keep an eye on him."
"Hey, hey, hey," I interject, "I'm standing right here."
"Well," Piper turns towards me, "You patronize me, and I'll be condescending to you, seems fair to me. Phoebe, Chris, Richard with me to the attic, we have book work to do. Jack, do you mind entertaining our guest for a while? We'll call you if we need you."
Piper, Phoebe and Richard head for the stairs, but Chris calls after them, "I'll join you in a few minutes. I have some other things to attend to."
Piper looks back at him as if she's going to say something then thinks better of it. After the whole group disappears up the stairs, Chris turns towards me and asks, "What did you mean by destiny catching up with me? What do you know?"
"The sky's blue unless it's raining out." I snidely reply.
"What!" Chris looks at me questioningly, "What are you talking about?"
"You asked me what I know, so I answered you."
"Very funny, but I'm being serious. My very existence is in question."
"Everything that you try is going to fail."
"You mean that I'm going to cease to exist."
"No, I said nothing you try to insure your existence is going to succeed. What, you think you can play with fate and destiny by time traveling and get away with it. It's time to pay the piper, no pun intended, and the tune that's playing is going to make you squirm a little, ok a lot." I say with this larger than life smile on my face, "And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."
"Oh," Chris says dejectedly, "You could be a little nicer about it."
"Why, and ruin all my fun, I don't even know what we're talking about, but I know destiny, and you have a destiny problem written all over you. What ever it is, it looks really entertaining from my point of view."
"I shouldn't have said anything to you," Chris says as he turns to leave.
"I would have known whether you said anything or not, but it's more entertaining knowing that you know that I know."
Chris shakes his head and runs up the stairs. Eruin says, "You could have been nicer to him than that."
"Yeah," I reply with that large smile on my face again, "But where's the fun in that."
"Hello Chris," I say as he enters the room, "Long time no see."
"Hello to you too, Jack," He says in a dispirited manner.
"What's wrong with you?" I reply, "Destiny catching up to you?"
Everybody looks at me with questioning in their eyes, but I let it go. "So Chris, this is my new friend, Eruin. Eruin, this is Chris, yada, yada, yada. Now that everybody has been introduced..."
"We can get down to business," Piper finishes my sentence, then she looks at Eruin and says, "Hello dear, my name is Piper me and my sister Phoebe live here. Our other sister, Paige, who you just saw storm in here and then storm out, is acting a bit strange. We need a little time to talk alone, so could you go into the next room and wait a little while?" Piper points towards the living room.
As Eruin leaves the room, Piper moves over and closes the door behind her. Piper turns and addresses me, "Let me get this straight: my sister, Paige, is wigged out, probably by magical means, and you just happen to show up here with Phoebe, an innocent, just after rescuing them from a ghoul. Don't tell me that it's all one big coincidence that you're here now."
"Hey," I reply, "Phoebe came to see me. I didn't seek her out."
"Just a convenient excuse if you ask me, now you want me to believe that it's all one big coincidence."
"Believe what you will, but I don't sit around my shop dreaming up ways to make your life difficult," I say defensively.
"Whatever, we need to find Paige and she's off Chris's radar. Do you have anyway of tracking her?"
"Have you tried any scrying spells yet?" I say sarcastically.
"Usually, if Chris can't sense her, out scrying won't either," Phoebe interjects.
"Either she's got herself masked from scrying or she's not in this realm of existence," I add, "Come on the two of you are experienced enough to make a spell that will get through masks or be trans-dimensional."
Good idea, Jack, come on girls, I've got a few ideas on how to make this work," Chris finally chimes in.
Just then, the doorbell rings, when we walk into the front hall, we see Eruin opening up the door to Richard. Richard with a forlorn look on his face says, "I lost her. We orbed into the Bahamas and had a confrontation with this voodoo lady whom we met last time we were there. She vanquished Paige, caught us totally by surprise. The said that that wasn't really Paige, but a demon disguised as Paige. Do you guys know anything about this?"
Everybody's eyes turn toward me. I say, "What! Why is everybody looking at me?" Even Eruin joins in, after she sees everybody else looking at me.
Richard says, "What's he doing here? Do you know who he is, what he is? He's one of the Fallen, and they're notoriously untrustworthy."
"Yes, we know about Jack, but we have this feeling that he's somehow involved."
"That figures, so Jack, what have you done with my girlfriend?"
"Me, why do you think that I have anything to do with Paige's disappearance?" "Excuse me," Eruin interrupts, "What do you mean by vanquished a demon?"
All eyes turn toward Eruin as she looks at us with pleading in her eyes. Phoebe breaks the silence, "You remember the ghoul in the tenderloin. Well, that was a demon, and Jack vanquished it. As I understand it, there is some kind of binding magic that enables demons to exist, so if you break that binding spell, you send to nothingness or as we say you vanquish them."
"So, you and your sisters demon hunters of a sort?"
"Well, not really, they tend to find us although we've been known to hunt on occasion."
"All well and good," Piper adds, "But, the question still remains, Jack. How are you involved? And, don't give me anything about coincidence, you know everything happens for a reason."
I chuckle softly for a few seconds; the reply, "Still stuck on that old platitude, are we? You'd think you'd have moved beyond that by now. Maybe coincidence is the reason. Maybe all this has happened to show you that you cannot understand it all."
"Don't you patronize me!" Piper snaps back, "You're avoiding my question."
"I'm not avoiding your question. It's just I have no answer, and that's my only defense. If you want me to leave then I'll leave, but if you want my help I'm at your deposal."
"He's been helpful before," Phoebe answers, "I say he should stay. He may still be here for a reason no matter what he says."
"Ok," Piper says, "If only because it's easier to keep an eye on him."
"Hey, hey, hey," I interject, "I'm standing right here."
"Well," Piper turns towards me, "You patronize me, and I'll be condescending to you, seems fair to me. Phoebe, Chris, Richard with me to the attic, we have book work to do. Jack, do you mind entertaining our guest for a while? We'll call you if we need you."
Piper, Phoebe and Richard head for the stairs, but Chris calls after them, "I'll join you in a few minutes. I have some other things to attend to."
Piper looks back at him as if she's going to say something then thinks better of it. After the whole group disappears up the stairs, Chris turns towards me and asks, "What did you mean by destiny catching up with me? What do you know?"
"The sky's blue unless it's raining out." I snidely reply.
"What!" Chris looks at me questioningly, "What are you talking about?"
"You asked me what I know, so I answered you."
"Very funny, but I'm being serious. My very existence is in question."
"Everything that you try is going to fail."
"You mean that I'm going to cease to exist."
"No, I said nothing you try to insure your existence is going to succeed. What, you think you can play with fate and destiny by time traveling and get away with it. It's time to pay the piper, no pun intended, and the tune that's playing is going to make you squirm a little, ok a lot." I say with this larger than life smile on my face, "And I'm going to enjoy every minute of it."
"Oh," Chris says dejectedly, "You could be a little nicer about it."
"Why, and ruin all my fun, I don't even know what we're talking about, but I know destiny, and you have a destiny problem written all over you. What ever it is, it looks really entertaining from my point of view."
"I shouldn't have said anything to you," Chris says as he turns to leave.
"I would have known whether you said anything or not, but it's more entertaining knowing that you know that I know."
Chris shakes his head and runs up the stairs. Eruin says, "You could have been nicer to him than that."
"Yeah," I reply with that large smile on my face again, "But where's the fun in that."
