So, with all the action happening, and big reveals in the past, it was time for the fallout to begin. Paige started crying over her drastically-altered perception of Nathan, and everyone headed for a patch of the Free City to repair up. Lynn and Nathan came along as well, rather suspiciously escorted, and everyone just plain hunkered down. And then Janice had her crazy dream, and woke up, and that's where trouble started...
Eric, Janice, & Katsuo: Hey, Pretty (Crazy) Lady
It made him almost want to have bangs to sweep out of his face in the wind, if there were any. He opened the cockpit of Houston, striking a broad pose. Breathing deeply, he wondered if there'd been any day as beautiful. Sure the walls surrounding him were a dull concrete, and not the uproarious energy of the fans in the bleachers, but he could almost feel the hum of power emanating from his finger tips.
Er, yes. That's Eric. And what followed was one of the most unusual scenes in the game to date. Eric attempted to start flirting with Janice, of all people, with a healthy smattering of "pretty lady". And, because Hauskii did really well on the scene's Social Roll, Eric got a little bit of...assistance. The Free City saw fit to dispense a little liquor to Eric and Janice. In a world where alcohol was next to unknown.
Katsuo, meanwhile, worked on the mech, grumbling about people and their people sorts of things. Eric was far too brash and out there for him, and Janice...was just crazy. Meanwhile, the two of them were bonding over their alcohol, though not too much. Janice, still pretty unhinged, kept her psychological distance. Eric eventually passed out.
Janice, Katsuo, and Lynn: Painting
"Why ally buddy! Don't you recognize?" Here she picked up the painting, raising it so it was closer to Katsuo, "Looks like little Paige got some competition... HEHEHEHEHE."
There, in the painting, was Nathan.
Janice, in an effort to drive the creepy aspects of her dream out of her head, whacked her forehead against her mech. And it gave her a big cut. It didn't take long before she realized...that she had her own particular brand of paint to work with. She started painting the first thing she had scene, the woman and her lover...and there was a very surprising detail that came to light. The face of the man was Nathan's face, or close enough.
Lynn showed up, narrowed her eyes, and demanded to have the picture. Nathan came close behind, and was utterly shocked. And here's where things got very, very interesting...
Nathan, Paige, Janice, Lynn...and everyone else: Big Questions
"You're already hiding things from me...why should this be different?" Paige said.
Nathan shook his head. "I wouldn't hide -this- from you."
So much lying. Eric could tell. Nathan was beginning to bulk under it.
"Keep digging boy...soon you'll have a grave." Katsuo muttered.
Paige handed the canvas back to Janice carefully. "This?! So you would normally tell me that you're with some other woman?"
"There would never BE another woman to tell you about!"
And everything slowly started falling apart for Nathan. Paige showed up, saw the picture, and immediately demanded to know what Nathan was doing with this other woman. Lynn sort of prodded the process along, and also occasionally beat down on her younger brother. As in, physically beat down. She seemed to have very little regard for him. Actually, almost nobody seemed to have a very high regard for Nathan in this scene.
Beat back again and again, he finally told Lynn to get out of their sight, so that he could get in words without her. And then it was time for a straight answer. Nathan dropped the bombshell: those two people in the painting were gods, and they were also his parents.
And Eric punched Nathan in the face. Yeah, at this point, Nathan's status as group punching bag got pretty much cemented. This guy is getting beat up on more than Firefly's Simon Tam.
Then, Paige developed a nasty little suspicion: that Nathan, seeking a diversion from the life of the gods, picked up a "regular" lover, her, just to amuse himself. Nathan was completely disoriented by the accusation, and...things did not go over well. Paige left with her opinion almost solidified, Nathan decided that Lynn was to blame for everything, and so wanted to go out and kill her, and...well...
Everything wound up in a nicely dramatic spilled-over mess. As Katsuo put it, "...he hated people. Too bloody unpredictable."
Next Time:
Well, with all that messy drama set out, we move on with the group. Can Nathan manage to reconcile himself to Paige? Will they hunt down Lynn, and find out what her game is, once and for all? And what about Ty, that annoying little NPC?
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