Making A Choice

Seriously, you guys. You need to have someone to rub aloe on you. Everyone needs someone who'll do that in their life.

Judy treating my wounds was about the first good thing to happen to me for a while.

Right after my post yesterday, seconds after I hit "publish", Rakshasa showed up. Behind me.

Which caused me to jump out of my chair and yell "Gah!" It was not one of my finest moments.

In my defense, though, Rakshasa is freaking terrifying. Yeah, from his description, doesn't sound so bad, right? Has the head of a tiger, his hands are monkey paws that are on backwards, tends to wear expensive looking clothes. Has funky blue eyes. Weird, yeah. Creepy, definitely. But not terrifying.

Yeah, right. Y'see, there are things moving under his skin. None of his limbs bend right, and whenever he moves it looks really creepy and exaggerated--or you don't really see him move at all. And, every once in a while, somewhere on his body, an eye just opens, sometimes in the middle of his clothes, before closing and disappearing completely.

That, and there's a palpable aura that something is wrong in the universe whenever he's nearby. That kinda sucks.

"Hello, Mister Ferrian, I do hope I'm not...interrupting anything." He said in a calculating, 'I can kill you right now and not really break a sweat' kinda way. That cat head fits him, because I felt the whole time like a mouse between a tabby's paws.

And, master orator I am, I yelled, "Rakshasa!" At him. I'm such a brilliant criminal mastermind.

"Yes, yes, we've established who I am. Now, on to why I'm here. I know you found out about my plan--well, part of it, at least. Though I may not be giving you enough credit. I'm horrible about underestimating you mortals." He was talking to me now like I was a particularly bright pet. Like he wanted to give me a dog treat. "Now, I've come here not to threaten you...oh, well, that's a lie. I have come here to threaten you, but not explicitly. You see, this plan means a great deal to me. And, while no one who reads your silly little blog can or will do anything about my plan, you can. So, I would like to make a deal." The king of all demons smiled at me. That smile was about ten times worse than Death's Head's. "You do nothing to harm my affairs in becoming leader of this country, and when my legions consume this world in hellfire, you and your loved ones will be spared. However, if you try to get in my way," Rakshasa is a shapeshifter. Did you all know that? Because I was a bit surprised when he started to turn into a large mass of tentacles made of shadows and eyes. "Then I will take that which you love most away from you. Your friends. Your family. And your lover." Then he turned back to his 'normal' self. "Though your sister has proven difficult to kill in the past. I guess I will just have to try harder in the future." He mused to himself. "Oh, and before I go," He started to say.

And then I was on fire.

My body can absorb energy, yes, that's true. But only really energy from this world. Hellfire? Not so much.

He disappeared some time while I was rolling madly on the ground. I can remember every word he told me, because it was, essentially, and implied agreement with the king of demons. And he always keeps his deals.

So, I have to choose. On the one hand, I was alive the last time Rakshasa took over the world and unleashed his hordes upon it. It was a nightmare I never want to see again. On the other hand...Judy...and Eliza...and hell, C.J. and Captain Visigoth and Jack Knife and Mechanor and, damnit, I'd even hate to lose Quizzer, because a villain's gotta have a nemesis.

I'm a villain. We aren't supposed to have the hard, world-shattering decisions.

...maybe I'll be lucky and the Scarlet Sorceress will beat him before this becomes an issue.

SON OF A

I forgot how much fire hurts.

Ow.

Ow ow ow ow ow.

God damn burns are painful.

More later. Gotta see if Judy's willing to rub some aloe on me.

Where the Hell Have I Been?

I've been watching security tapes. Interviewing Pakistani. Ignoring phone calls. Taking Judy out for a nice dinner.

In short, I've mostly been trying to find out the truth about Rake.

And I've been getting nothing. Nada. No security tapes indicate when wither Rake or Shasta disappeared. No one who is in the area when either of them were missing saw anything unusual. For a brief period of time, Rake and Shasta were just gone.

Wait.

Rake, Shasta.

Oh god. Say it out loud.

He's just old school enough to do it.

Rake Shasta. Now take out the e and the t.

I can't believe it was this easy, but everything makes sense now. Well, it doesn't, but it doesn't make sense in a way that makes sense.

The most popular candidate in presidential history is or is a puppet of the greatest villain the world has ever known.

Rakshasa.

Ug

So after my pity fest, I'm finally ready to talk about what happened.

I went there to try to stop him. When "Molten Steel" saw me, though, he threw lava at me and yelled, "You stole my son!" Well, it sounded more like "Yu stho my thon!", as said by a volcano, but you get my drift. And then I kinda took off my helmet and said, "I am your son!"

And things kinda devolved from there. Have you ever seen a mile-tall magma monster have a father-son argument before? Well...yeah, okay, if you were watching the news at the time, yeah, you have. But still.

It was wierd, because I just started venting everything that had ever gone wrong in my life and everything Steel had missed for the first time ever. Things like, "Mom killed herself because of you." And "Where were you when Eliza needed someone to take her to the hospital." And "CJ never would have become a druggie if you had been around once in a while."

And then the bastard had the gall to apologize! He was never sorry before! Damnit!

How am I supposed to hate him now that I know he regrets what he did? The worst part is, right after he apologized, he solidified and all life signs faded, so now it seems that the only reason he came back and destroyed a swath of Illinois was to make his peace with me! So, I mean, I guess I still kinda hate him, since he did nothing to try to make peace with CJ or Eliza, but, still. How are you supposed to feel when someone you hate comes back to life just long enough to say, "Sorry I screwed up" to you?

Ergh! This makes me so mad. I'm gonna go knock over a bank. Probably literally. That might make me feel a little better.