Act 2 - Monday, August 31, 2015

Derek and Stevie are going to spend the rest of Sunday with their kids, even if their kids want to go play video games in their room. It will be mandatory family time.
Derek's mom has her own area in their house, so it isn't a big deal for her to stay with her grandchildren.
They will roll into the Four Seasons a little before noon on Monday, 31 August.

Leaving on Monday morning is incredibly difficult, but Reg is finally on the jet and in the air by 9am.

He spends the first hour of the 5 hour flight making calls and sending out a flurry of emails. The remainder of the trip is spent analyzing the video that was sent to Henry.

When he starts having to reference his ratty copy of Robert W. Chambers' novel The King In Yellow, he starts blasting pop music just to keep from feeling so INCREDIBLY CREEPED OUT.Because time zones are not on his side, he doesn't land until around 5pm. Right before landing, he checks to see if Stevie and Derek picked up the rental car. If not, he picks up the car and heads to the Four Seasons to check in. If they did, he takes a cab.

Henry departs England and is en route to New York in less than four hours. He will make calls while in flight to finish making arrangements for his absence.

He contacts the McAllister legal department in New York and requests that someone meet him at customs. His only baggage is a travel case containing a Damascus barreled 1888 Holland and Holland 12ga, as well as the appropriate paperwork documenting 15 years of travel in the Western Hemisphere.

He will call the staff and ask that they deliver his prepackaged luggage, containing clothes and toiletries, from the New York house to the airport. He also arranges a flight from NY to Boston, as well as the delivery of several additional cases to be waiting for him in Boston, along with a car to take him to the hotel.

Henry will arrive at the hotel at 5 pm on Monday.

Derek and Stevie spend their time walking through Boston, holding hands and then go to the museum to see dinosaurs and geodes.
Naw, they don't do that!

They go to the restaurant and surveil it.
It backs on Gateway Park, a small, stone-walled municipal park that empties at sundown. A surveillance nest could easily be installed at the wall behind the bushes with little fear of discovery, Stevie decides. There appears to be larger party room has three windows and is easily spied upon from a distance.
There is little to see otherwise. Employees come and go and keep normal hours. Eduardo Diaz is the owner and he shows up at 2pm.
No one odd comes or goes.

They both return to the four seasons hungry, tired and arguing.
Stevie,

Reg speaks with Henry briefly on the phone, letting him know when he expects to arrive at the hotel.

Henry gets there first and checks into his room. He knocks on the Cyrus’ door and gets no answer. Not wanting to call and interrupt them if they are investigating things, he spends the time checking his equipment.

Reg checks in and has his things brought to his room. After checking the room for bugs, he goes to Henry’s room and knocks.

When Henry opens the door, Reg gives him a big hug. He then pushes past him and starts checking the room over while keeping up the chit chat.
Reg finishes his sweep, and (I assume) finding nothing, he walks back over to give Henry another, longer hug.
Reg laughs and finally lets Henry go, stepping back to smile up at him.
Reg whips out his phone and texts both Stevie and Derek, assuming that they’d have their phones on silent if they were hiding.

Where You At?

Stevie responds,

Reg looks at Henry.
He texts Stevie back:

Come up to the room. We can have a minute together before we eat.

Reg and Henry exchange concerned looks, then wait for Stevie and Derek to arrive.

Derek raps on the door and waits.

Henry takes a deep breath and nods at the door. Reg will look through the peephole to make sure it's not Godzilla or something, then opens the door, smiling warmly.

Stevie barges in front of Derek and envelopes Reg is a hug.
She peppers all that out then pulls back and kisses him on the cheek.
She moves on to Henry, and quickly hugs him and lets go.

Derek first goes to Henry and shakes his hand and back slaps him like bros do, while waiting for Stevie to let go of Reg.
He the goes over to Reg and hugs him,

Reg is rocked back by Stevie's hug, but returns it, giving her a Hollywood cheek kiss.
He's caught offguard by the hug from Derek, but hugs him back warmly. He then pulls back at his words, giving him a mildly offended sputter.
While Reg is recovering, Derek gets a high five from Henry.

Stevie saunters over to the couch and flops on it, arches an eyebrow, and with contempt and sarcasm,
Derek sits down beside her, he put a hand on her knee which has begun bouncing up and down,
Stevie is about to say something when Derek squeezes her knee,

Reg sits down in one of the chairs opposite the couple and steeples his fingers, looking like he's waiting for a movie pitch or something. He hasn't dropped the Hollywood act he's picked up over the last nearly two decades, but the hugs have gone a long way into getting him to relax back into the Reg they know.

He looks at Henry, then back to Stevie and Derek.
Henry moves to the other chair, and sits very still.

he recounts what is posted up top
He looks at Stevie who shrugs,
She waves her hand around,

Reg looks at Stevie.

Derek replies,
Stevie looks at Derek and then nods at Reg, jerks her thumb at him

He tries to get used to Agent Stevie again. Maybe food would help.

Stevie trying to get used to Hollywood Reg,
She stands up and heads to the door, she turns around and looks at Reg and Henry,

Derek has a grin on his face at Stevie, he stands up to follow and looks at Reg and Henry and shrugs,

Reg seems surprised when they stand up and prepare to leave.

Stevie stops on the way to door,

Derek nods,
He sits back down, and gives Stevie a grin and a finger waggle. She gives him a look and then heads out.
He just bloops out the demon's name.

Reg looks around the room, then glances nervously towards the window.
Reg scowls, then pulls the pieces of the invitation from his breast pocket.

Derek looks at the other two invitations,

He roughly mimics some sort of contraption, getting back more into old Reg habits.

Derek shrugs,

Reg is distracted by the faint lines running along the inside part of the invitation, and also by the seal at the bottom right.
He looks at Henry.
He points to the seal, and Reg looks up towards the ceiling, as if listening for horns, then mumbles:

Derek snorts,

He laughs, then pulls his reading glasses out and gives the invitation and hidden message a better look.

Derek rolls his eyes at Reg's name dropping. And smiles when Reg laughs, it reminds him of old Reg.
I am glad he is happy, even if a bit pretentious. He went through too much
The knock on the door is obviously Stevie.
Derek looks at Reg,

Derek pops Reg lightly on his arm and walks over to the door,
She shakes her head,

Stevie comes in and sees the invitation, she ignores it and picks up the inside paper.

Henry shakes his head.
Reg, who is still turning the paper over in the light from the window, looks at Stevie.
He turns the paper around and points at the symbol.

Stevie shrugs,
She puts the inside letter back down.

Reg sneaks a look at Derek, still wondering why Stevie seems to be so out of sorts.

Derek nods,

Reg tucks the secret note neatly back into the invitation, and slips the set back into his breast pocket. He reaches forward and picks up the room service menu, then offers it to Stevie.

She takes the menu and shakes her head,

He takes his notepad and pen out and starts making a few notes.

She looks at Reg like he has lost his mind,

Reg, who has definitely not lost his mind, looks at Stevie.

INVITE THEORIES
S - Handwrtng Analys
D - ___________?
H - Secrt Plan
R - World Dom

Reg looks up from his hastily scribbled notes.

Stevie ignores Reg's question and gives her order of a salad with grilled chicken and passes the menu over to Derek.
Derek looks at it for a long while, till Stevie huffs,
He grins at her, leans over and gives her a peck on her head,

Reg scribbles their orders on another piece of paper, quietly sympathizing with Derek not wanting to give up red meat. He takes Henry's order, and jots down a Caesar salad for himself. He adds drinks, including a pitcher of Virgin Sunset, then calls the order down to the kitchen.

Reg looks at them, then Henry.
He Googles the part of the address on the secret message.

Derek grins ear to ear and pulls out his phone and starts showing pictures of kids. Disney, their pool, Wet n Wild, Busch Gardens, Stevie in the beer garden at Busch Gardens giving Derek a finger in the picture, camping with at Blue Springs with the manatees.
He will go on and on, with Stevie interjecting amusing side notes or keeping Derek on one story at a time.

Reg is delighted to hear all of the stories, remarking on how tall the kids are getting, and how he wishes they could visit each other more often. They can probably tell he's lonely.

He gets second-hand excitement over the scuba information, and tells them that Kai has found a new favorite place to dive, and is always trying to get Reg in the water - something Reg resists. He shows them pictures that Kai took of random but pretty reef fish.

He gives an open invitation for Hank to join them the next time they head to the islands to visit Kai's family, as there's some good diving there - at least according to Kai.

Derek,
Stevie,
Derek,
Stevie shaking her head,

Reg chuckles.

Derek leans in and attempts to eskimo kiss her, which ends up with her flicking his nose. He pulls back, grins and mutters,
She simply arches an eyebrow and blows him a kiss.

She turns her eyes on Reg,
Derek shivers dramatically,
Stevie slowly turns to Derek,
He just grins at her until she shakes her head and smiles back.

He chuckles.
Reg smirks at Derek.

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,

Derek perks up,

T. Hou
Cal Diassa
Lila Mac
Rae Bilabass
Thoman F. Prutoth
He turns to look at everyone.

He turns back to the screen and clicks again.
Click
Click
He looks at everyone.

Henry squints at the screen.

Derek puts his hands up,

Reg does his best Eddie Murphy from Trading Places imitation:



Click
Click
Click

There is a black screen with the word NOPE written in white.
He gives Derek a look.
He takes a moment to drain half his glass, giving everyone time to comment.

Click
Click
Click
Click
Click
He turns his attention back to his drink, not wanting to click the next slide.

Reg sets his empty glass down and stuffs his hand in his pocket. A muffled click-snap, click-snap can be heard, which at least Derek knows is the sound of a zippo lid being opened and shut, quickly and nervously.

After a few moments, Reg clicks to the next image.
His voice is tense, and he doesn’t elaborate.

Click

White letters on a black screen:
THIS IS NOT YOUR CUE

Reg says nothing. The click-snap of the zippo continues. He lingers on the screen for a moment, then moves to the next.

Click

The image shows what seems to be instructions for the summoning ritual.

Click

A yellow line pouring into an ocean of bubbles.

Click

Something dark rising.

Click

The risen thing is lit in yellow. A jagged collection of glass, or butterflies, or some unknown substance.

Click

The screen is black, the presentation over. Reg says nothing. The soft click-snap stops.

Stevie looks over at Henry,

Henry looks at Reg and sits the coffee cup he has been using to block the screen down.

Reg has wandered off into the bedroom, and addresses Henry over his shoulder.

Henry laughs then shakes his head.

Reg snorts and walks back in, heading to the table to pour himself yet another drink.

Henry imitates Austin's voice and mannerisms.

Reg chuckles.

Reg laughs, takes a little bow, then goes back to his chair by the window.

Derek chuckles at Reg and Henry,

Reg shrugs and looks at everyone.

Stevie,

Reg looks at his watch, then pulls out his phone to check the local time. It was almost 8pm here, 5pm in LA. He was not even close to his bedtime, which was usually sometime after midnight.

Derek shakes his head,

Reg wonders how a dab of soy sauce on a piece of raw fish could be more sodium and carbs than a giant hamburger, but he lets it go. Derek was never the smart one.