Act 2 - Sunday, August 29, 2015

Hollering in the background

Reg chuckles.

In about 45 minutes, Stevie will conference in everyone.

Derek hangs up, and Reg looks at his phone like it bit him. He grumbles and attempts to get Stevie to answer her own phone, with no luck.

He swaps back to Henry.
Reg hangs up and goes through his paperwork for his next meeting. During that call, he receives the call from Stevie.
Half an hour later, he has Henry back on the phone, and calls Stevie back.

Reg is quiet for a moment, then they can hear him opening his desk drawers and rummaging through them.
They can hear cellophane being ripped open and some noises that sound like little things scattering across a desk. Then the sound of what is probably candy being unwrapped.

Stevie snorts,
Derek,
Stevie,
Silence for a couple minutes.
Derek, quietly,

Reg eats a few of his emergency Hershey's Kisses, and is quietly proud of being the cool uncle. He waits for the two of them to look over the strange piece of paper.

Stevie,
Derek,

Reg will share with them what he has already noticed about the invitation itself, as well as about the location of the "party".

There is a tenseness in his voice that comes through the phone.

Reg is quiet. He really doesn't want to verbally acknowledge what he's thinking. What they are all probably thinking.

After a few moments of silence, Henry pipes up.
Reg grumbles, and you can hear the foil being removed from another Hershey's Kiss.

You can hear Stevie pacing,

Derek heaves a deep sigh,
Stevie starts to disagree, and he interrupts her,

Reg is nodding along, even though they can't see him.

Reg has paced his way back outside, holding the invitation and examining it while he talks.

In the light, he can see the little dots over the letters.

He tapers off and you hear a rustling sounds and Stevie comes on in a very firm voice,

Henry shares the link to the group.

Reg is very quiet on his end, except for the sound of waterfalls. This is just too much to handle on so little sleep.

You hear a rustling sounds,

You hear a ripping sound and Stevie say,
Derek,

Reg peels the invitation apart and reads the hidden note.
Reg sighs heavily, and lets his Southerner out.

Stability roll

Stability roll

He struggles to put it in non-identifiable yet identifiable words.
Stability Roll: 4

They hear a string of colorful language as Reg jogs towards the house to see if there is a fire, or to shut off the alarm if there is not. There's too much rustling to make out what he says, but he's obviously both pissed off and shook.

The blaring alarm finally turns off, but there is a beep on the line, and Reg has to click over to the alarm company to let them know everything is alright.

He comes back on the line a minute later.

Quote:

I don't know. The fire alarm... wait. That was THE FUCKING HORNS. MOTHERFUCKER!

They can hear Reg moving quickly through the house.

Quote:

The horns! Like the car horns. FUCK ME.

There is a beep as someone buzzes the gate, and you hear Reg jogging again to the nearest intercom.
Reg buzzes them through the gate, then tells everyone to hang on. He spends several minutes speaking with the BHPD officers who drive up. After they leave, he's back.

He looks around suspiciously. Everything he says is obviously an attempt to hide what he's actually saying.

Reg heads to the main security room and rewinds and reviews all the camera footage quietly. Not seeing anything, or any obvious tampering or weirdness, he shrugs.

Reg is maddeningly silent as he rewinds and reviews footage from farther away from the house. He tries to cut a few images out to examine, and is too tense to even say "Enhance... Enhance".

Reg tries to examine the images further. He also sends one of the stills to each of them, so they can see it.

Laughing loudly,

Reg laughs for the first time on the call.

Henry is texting his assistant and rearranging his schedule for the impending trip to Boston.

You can hear the grin on his face.

Reg chuckles.

Derek looks at his wife, very seriously,

Reg laughs softly. Ah, paperwork.

Reg feels the bottom drop out of his stomach.

Reg hangs up, then makes reservations for three suites at the Four Seasons in Boston, along with a rental car. He emails the info to Henry, Stevie, and Derek, then he starts making calls.

He has his schedule cleared, much to the annoyance of Lyse, who has to pick up most of the slack. She gives him hell in the way that only she and Stevie are able to do, then agrees.

Taking a breath to recover from his scolding, he then informs his pilot to make arrangements for the jet to be readied, and for a flight plan for Boston to be filed for tomorrow.

After that, he has a talk with the chef, asking him to hit the markets and stock the house with everything they might need for about a month of supplies. He tells the man that once the house is stocked, he can have the next 30 days off, with pay. The chef is mildly confused, but doesn’t question his orders. The same month off with pay is offered to the rest of the staff, along with offsite accommodations.

Kai is currently out in Malibu with friends, and probably won’t be back for a few more hours, so Reg takes advantage of his time alone in the house to make a visit to the vault.

It takes quite some time to get through the electronic and manual security locks on the entrance, but the hidden door finally swings open, revealing an artfully displayed treasure of occult items, meant for Reg’s eyes alone.

The room is crafted to look like a stone wizard’s tower, with all the set designing magic that Hollywood can provide. Each item is housed in its own glass case set into the stone, with the appropriate lighting to maximize the drama.

In the center of the room is a table-sized pedestal, covered in plush purple velvet and ready to receive any item that needs to be examined. Reg crouches on the far side of the pedestal and presses a recessed button, allowing a door to pop open.

Inside the hidden compartment are two five gallon buckets. He touches them, then, just to set his mind at ease, he pushes at them to feel their solidity and weight. They are still there, still safely hidden away.

Next to them is a massive roll of white butcher paper, tied with a yellow ribbon. Scrawled onto the paper is a copy of the entire evidence board that Reg had put together in Orlando, containing every clue they had amassed regarding The King In Yellow.

He pulls the scroll out and sets it on the pedestal, then closes the compartment. Turning, he steps over to the glass case holding the Ars Goetia. He eyes it suspiciously for a few moments before pulling it from its case and setting it beside the scroll. A few more items and summoning books join the pile before Reg is satisfied.

Once the vault is sealed again, he brings the items to his office, tucks them neatly into his laptop bag, then locks them in the safe beneath the rear desk.

He spends the next two hours pacing the grounds, trying to figure out what he’s going to tell Kai.

❀•°❀°•❀ ❀•°❀°•❀ ❀•°❀°•❀ ❀•°❀°•❀

Reg is woken by a kiss on his forehead. He opens his eyes to find Kai looming over him, grinning.
Reg looks around. He fell asleep in the grotto under the waterfall, which was not unusual. He pulls Kai in for a hug, and the two of them get comfortable and listen to the water for a while.

Just a little more time. Just a little more, then I’ll tell him.
Kai looks up and sees Reg’s expression, and all the fun drains out of him instantly.
Kai sits up and gives Reg a confused look.
Kai looks away, out over the pools.
He reaches for Kai’s hand and runs his thumb over his knuckles.
They both say "I can’t tell you" at the same time, Kai rolling his eyes.
Kai takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, then turns back to Reg.
He grins down at Reg.
Reg pulls him back in.