Sympathy for the Devil

[Brian]

It is about at this time that music begins pouring out of hidden speakers.  The first chords play as the doors atop the stairs open up, revealing a tall figure with blond hair, surrounded by an aura of flowing smoke.

"Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for long, long years I've stolen many a man's soul and faith
I was around when Jesus Christ had His moments of doubt and pain
I made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you, is the
nature of my game

After he steps out onto the landing, (the figure is a man, judging by the lack of a shirt), he cocks his head to one side and smiles widely.

"I stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was time for a change
I killed the Tzar and his ministers, Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank, held a gen'ral's rank, when the blitzkrieg raged and the
bodies stank
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you, is the
nature of my game

With slow and methodical steps, he begins to descend the staircase, still being chased by the smoky aura.  The room behind him remains obscured in the thick, roiling mists.

"I watched with glee while your kings and queens, fought for ten decades for
the gods they made
I shouted out "Who killed the Kennedys?", when after all it was you and me
So let me please introduce myself, I am a man of wealth and taste
And I lay traps for troubadours, who get killed before they reach Bombay
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you, is the
nature of my game

He stops, halfway down the stairs, and sings the next bit along with the hidden speakers:

"Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's confusing you, is
just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is criminal, and all the sinners, Saints
As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer, 'cause I'm in need of some restraint
So if you meet me, have some courtesy, have some sympathy and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse, or I'll lay your soul to waste
Pleased to meet you, hope you guess my name, but what's puzzling you, is the
nature of my game."

He finishes with an elaborate bow to Bjorn, then, as the music completely dies away, says, "It's not really for mortals to enjoy these games, ultimately.  Now, what can I do for you?"

Aside from a pair of some soft looking, loose white pants in an unfamiliar style, the man is wearing nothing, and carrying no visible weapons.  He has blond hair that goes down to his waist, and is the most disturbingly handsome man anyone in this room has seen before.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn has been watching the entire spectacle with a bit of a blank face.

At the man's question, though, he shrugs.  "We need to go down that long and winding road, like dreamers do.  I don't really know what you're doing with all of this, but hey, I don't want to spoil the party.  So please, please me, and give us a ticket to ride -- to Prometheus, if you're not him, or across the universe, if you are."

[Carthrat]

Oh god! My eyes and ears!

Even if he wanted to say something, Tom probably couldn't.

[Brian]

"Very well," he says with a shrug.  "This may take some doing."  He snaps his fingers and the previously vanished maid bustles in with a robe over one arm, and a tray balanced in the other hand.

The tray is silver, uncovered, and has as many silver cups as there are people in the room (not counting the maid, anyway).  In the center of the cups is a very, very old, and very large horn, apparently hollowed out and stoppered with a piece of cork.  Small ... biscuits? ... surround the horn.

As he takes the robe and puts it on (without actually bothering to belt it shut), the man says, "I am Prometheus, or, I suppose, I was him, and am what he became."  He gives a small smile at that.

"Oyabun Hatake?" Tetsuo asks nervously.  "You are Prometheus?"

"Good trick, huh?" the blond man asks with a much larger grin.  "Well," he says with a shrug, "foresight is everything."  He then gestures to the tray, which the maid holds out for anyone interested.  "Nectar?  Ambrosia?"

[Carthrat]

"Ambrosia? Like, the stuff gods eat? Er, well, duh. I'll try some!"

Tom strides over to the maid, and looks at the tray.

"So, uh, which is it?"

[Rezantis]

"The ambrosia is the biscuits.  Cookies, almost."

[Carthrat]

"I bet they weren't baked, though."

[Rezantis]

"Details.  Admit it, you just got owned," Nathan ceases the taunting and nods to Prometheus, "But we will, thank you.  I hope we didn't inconvenience you too much with, ah, the mess we've made."

[Brian]

"The nectar is in the horn," the man agrees with a nod, lifting it and filling the cups.  If Tom takes a white cookie-thing, he finds that it is very bread-like, though they don't flake or drop any crumbs.  They're slightly chewy, almost like a raw mushroom, only the taste is much more like ... something that becomes hard to put into words after a mouthful.  It's good, though.  Really good.  But the building weariness of pressing on for as long as you have without comfortable sleeping arrangements leaves at the first taste.

To Nathan, they actually taste exactly like the cookies Relm gave him.

After filling all the cups, he places the horn back on the tray.  The maid curtsies ever so slightly, then sets the tray on a nearby table, quickly bustling back into the reaches of the house.

"Please," the man says, seeing everyone else looking at Tom and Nathan, as though waiting for the boys to explode or choke to death.  "Help yourself.  I should at least be a gracious host, hmm?"

He shakes his head quickly.  "As far as the Yakuza ... well.  Reparations can be made, I am sure.  To business, or did you want to enjoy yourselves a bit more, first?"

[Carthrat]

"Don't eat it!"

"You will never be able to savour normal food again! You'd better leave it all to me," pronounces Tom, eyes going starry.

Choking away sudden euphoria, he nods at Promtheus. "Thanks. I figure we can mix business with pleasure, eh?"

[Rezantis]

Nathan rolls his eyes, taking a cup as well.

"To business, please, although we're grateful for the hospitality.  The whole reason behind our . . . tactlessness . . . was that we don't have the time to waste."

[Brian]

"I know," the man says charitably.  "I do see to plan ahead."

The drink, once Nathan sips it, tastes like every fruit drink ever, only separately (somehow) instead of all at once.  The first sip leaves him feeling a slight bit buzzed, and he can see faint, almost invisible aurae around everyone.

"As far as your treatment of the other yakuza ... I need to manage them, now.  They've become unruly, lately.  And I suppose that will cover your payment and passage, as well."

He takes a piece of ambrosia and dunks it into his nectar before eating it.  "Now," he says, suddenly becoming intense.  His eyes flash a luminous gold.  "I will guide you to the Dream of fire.  I will show you the advancement realm.  I will do these things because that is why I am here; I am required to.

"At the same time ... there are things I could do for you that I do not have to do.  And there are things I am allowed to do which could ... inconvenience ... you greatly.  But I'm not making idle threats.  Kishimoto Tetsuo here would be of great use to me, as would your twitchy sword-wielding friend.  And you cannot take them with you into the Dream, anyway."

Mark and Tetsuo both look uncomfortable.  Mark actually steps in front of Tetsuo, and says, "If you want to get to the kid, you'll have to go through me, first."

[Rezantis]

Nathan narrows his eyes.  "Define 'useful', please.  They're not staying unless they choose to."

[Carthrat]

Not about to be left behind in the narcotics department, Tom takes a sip of the nectar as well, quietly nodding to Nathan's words.

[Brian]

Tom also begins seeing aurae, most startling among them the brilliant silver glow around Nathan's right hand and arm.

"Of all the practices that humans undertook, slavery was the one that confounded me the most," Prometheus muses, shaking his head.  "That was not why I brought Fire from the Dream to man.  So don't think I was asking for them to possess.

"At the same time, I have to maintain a delicate balance of power between the Yakuza.  I have no desire whatsoever to let this new land of mine slip into the clutches of the Pax or the Cabal.  Either may participate in the contest, but this place is mine and I will not gladly relinquish it.

"Though, I am bound by rules, and am forbidden from directly opposing them.  So I would need someone to act in my stead."  He smiles, turning his golden eyes on Tetsuo again.  "Someone who could reclaim a supposedly lost Yakuza family ... someone to gather up the slack and unite all."

Tetsuo blinks, understanding dawning in his eyes.  "You want a figurehead," he says.  Ironically, 'figurehead' seems to be in the boy's vocabulary, even though his English is typically only passable.

"I don't intend to put you in more danger than your own family did," Prometheus says agreeably.  "And you should have Mark to watch over you.  This is an affair of my own, and the Yakuza I want to keep controlling.  And you won't be without your own power ... within the limits of certain dictates."

"The old rules?"

"The same."

"Then, I agree."

Mark looks uncomfortable, but nods.  "I can watch over him," he concedes.  "I wish my brother were here."

"I have one concern," Tetsuo says, slipping into Japanese and turning to face the group.  "I do not wish to bring my sister back.  She is...."  He hesitates.  "Where she is, is a place of hope and happiness.  I have much to atone for, so will remain here and resolve my debt to you.  In exchange, may I ask that you protect my sister?"