Act 2 - Monday, August 31, 2015

The food arrives and Reg brings the cart into the sitting room, then stands back out of the way to pour himself a drink.
He sips his mocktail while looking around the walls for the electrical outlets.

Derek grabs his burger and Stevie's salad and sits next to her on the couch and digs in.
Stevie is more reserved, but begins to eat.
Derek,

Henry retrieves his lobster roll, and Reg takes his salad. He sits down to eat, then groans at Derek's question.
He's obviously stalling for time, not wanting to watch the video again while he eats. Or maybe ever.

Stevie nods,
Derek swallows a handful of fries,
Stevie snorts and almost blows tea out her nose.

Reg laughs around a bite of salad, covering his mouth.
He begins moving things around and setting up his laptop while he eats, something he seems to have a lot of practice with.

Stevie steals one of Derek fries and stares him down and she eats it. Then takes his plate informing him that he done, and will clear off anyone else's plate who has finished.
She leans back to see what Reg has learned.

Reg continues to eat, and ends up on the floor in front of the table on which he set his laptop. The screen shows a group photo of them all at the wedding reception in Hawaii.

He pulls up the video, turns the sound off, and puts it on slo-mo.
He skips over most of it, leading to the yellow screen.
He chuckles and turns to make eye contact with anyone he can, hoping to see a smile or a friendly face. He obviously hates this video.

Derek,
Stevie just shakes her head.

He flips forward a few seconds.

Stevie looks kind of shell shocked and shakes her head mutely.
Derek puts his arm around her and says,

Henry, who has been sitting very still and watching, is visibly angry at the presence of the clown on the screen.
He motions for Reg to continue.
He reaches forward and pulls a legal pad out of his laptop carrier. Anyone following his motion can see the Ars Goetia and several other familiar tomes sitting innocently in the bag.

Taking a deep breath, he reads the entire list.

Only the awake may think
Seeing is for open eyes
Cognition is a lie
I dream the world awake
There are no faces
Dreaming is a vestige
Sleep is Pretend
A Dream is a cowardly thought
Sleep is not civilized
The mind is a tyrant
This is your time now
I will never dream again
Stay out of your bedroom
There is work to be done
Dreams are just screaming with pictures
The pure of mind do not slumber
No good thought follows instinct
The lie of sleep seeks many vessels
We are our own gods
Let cognizance nourish itself
Logic is the final burden
The primitive mind deserves its nightmares
When we sleep we die
I am an idea thinking itself
They are not faces
The subconscious is a parasite
Dreaming is a cancer on the face of sleep
They follow night to bleed dreams
The primitive mind deserves its nightmares
Your home has another door
Unconsciousness is a threat
We are not meant to dream
You owe the messenger
What is true unmakes the false
Sleep is a scavenger

He looks at everyone.

Henry reaches over and takes the paper from Reg.
Henry scans the paper and winces.

While Henry is talking, Reg takes the opportunity to make more of a dent in his salad.

He shakes his head at the mention of the Night Floors. He didn’t want to do all of that again either, even though time and distance had made the memory more funny than disturbing.

Still, he didn’t like the implication that their houses - that HIS house - had another door.

He takes another bite, then dramatically rolls his eyes when Henry starts talking about Leaping. He and Henry had argued many times over the years about Henry’s obsession with keeping the four of them from being in the same room at the same time - something that had spoiled dozens of gatherings, and made Reg give up on trying to schedule reunion vacations.

Not wanting to argue in front of Stevie and Derek, he bites his tongue. Now wasn’t the time. They needed to be united… though he couldn’t keep from cutting his eyes at Henry before speaking.

Henry ignores Reg rolling his eyes, knowing that this isn’t the place to rehash the old disagreement. Even if Henry wasn't the cause of it, which was doubtful, he believed he had put an end to the Leaping by maintaining the separation of the group. It didn’t matter if everyone was mad about it, facts were facts.

Henry's face shows new a concern.

Reg leans forward to put his salad bowl on the table, then shakes his head.

Derek looks like he is at a tennis match, looking at Henry then Reg then Henry then Reg.
He nods at both of them,
Stevie,

Reg stands up and stretches his legs, then pours himself another Sunset. He seems to be stalling as he sips his drink and rubs his lower back.

Eventually he turns back to the laptop.
He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
He clicks to the next screenshot, showing white text on a black screen.
He reaches out and takes his notes back from Henry.

Along the shore the cloud waves break,
The twin suns sink behind the lake,
The shadows lengthen
In Carcosa.

Strange is the night where black stars rise,
And strange moons circle through the skies
But stranger still is
Lost Carcosa.

Songs that the Hyades shall sing,
Where flap the tatters of the King,
Must die unheard in
Dim Carcosa.

Song of my soul, my voice is dead;
Die thou, unsung, as tears unshed
Shall dry and die in
Lost Carcosa.
He clicks to the next screen.

Stevie leans forward, intrigued,