Red Card

"Red Card" is a BOTGD 2 Act 1 thread written on June 16, 2019.
==Summary==
Deoiridh finds out from Rhenco exactly how the Red Card works and how to make more of it. She comes to the correct conclusion that Rhenco himself has been infected with Red Card in the past.
==Full Text==
Deoiridh: As soon as she felt the sudden wave of dizziness usually accompanied Milae’s comings and goings she entered the prison and stood before the mad man. “‘Ello Rhenco.” She said as she squatted in front of him.
Rhenco: “Hello…” He greeted in his usual tone of voice. “Well look at you…”
Deoiridh: She had a half grin on her face. “Easy there, I’m here on business, not your pleasure. Now,” she reached into her bag and pulled out the Red Card. “Tell me more about this.”
Rhenco: Rhenco snorted an involuntary laugh, and then chuckled. “Look at you indeed…my, my. What else can I say? You were there when I told the cheif what it did.”
Deoiridh: “Aye, ah was, but ah want teh make sure ah understand it. So it basically makes someone do the opposite of what they’d do normally, aye? Do ye need to drink it or just breathe the stuff in?”
Rhenco: “Either or…” Rhenco said smoothly. “Any contact really. Its effects are not all encompassing…but I’m usually pleased with the results when someone contracts it.”
Deoiridh: She paused for a moment as she scrutinized him. “Is that what happened to you?”
Rhenco: Rhenco blinked in honest to goodness surprise, and even appeared impressed. Without any creepy undertones at that. “Well…in five hundred years, no one has ever bothered to draw that conclusion. I’m impressed…it is true I am practically stewing with red card…but no…its not what made me ‘this way.’ Of course that is a long complicated story.”
Deoiridh: “Ah’ve got time ifin yer willin’ to tell.” She said as she sat on the floor cross legged.
Rhenco: For a second…Rhenco looked human. Normal. Just a man about to tell a story.
He scooched forward a pace and lifted his hands. “You see…” He began. “I had the thought…what if I could make other people…act like me? So I experimented, alchemy, sorcery, all I had available at the time. I made several different cards. But red was my favorite. I drew essence out of myself to make it, to put my essence into the mind of someone else, and bend their thinking. As a result, I am unaffected by it because it is simply…hm…me? Like possession in a bottle where I made the show but dont hold the strings. At the same time though, I am very much a carrier of the sickness…dormant though…do you understand?”
Deoiridh: “Perhaps. So ye don’t necessarily flip flop their brains so they feel the opposite of what they normally would, you just modify their thinkin’ to mirror yers. Is that right?”
Rhenco: “That’s the principal at least.” Rhenco confirmed. “It finds a rigid line in the brain…‘dont hurt your kids,’ ‘dont torture animals,’ and so on and then it…bends it, to go the other way.”
Deoiridh: “Ah see… You mentioned other cards ye made. Tell me aboot them.”
Rhenco: “No…they dont matter. Long gone…long dead.” Rhenco sighed as he settled back into his ‘usual self.’
Deoiridh: “So they didnae work or ye just dinnae like ‘em?”
Rhenco: “They weren’t in the right taste.” Rhenco reflected. “Too mild, or choppy.”
Deoiridh: “I see.” She didn’t see but figured that line of questioning would get her nowhere. She regarded the vial in her hand “How could I make more of this if I wanted to?” She asked.
Rhenco: “My you are full of surprises…” Rhenco regarded her. “There is a way… why? ”
Deoiridh: She shrugged. “In case I need to.” She said simply, mirroring his own careless attitude.
Rhenco: Rhenco folded his fingers. “You’ll need my essence…water from the deepest place you can find…not the ocean. Crimson bone powder, an alchemic circle of fairly high complication and…a sacrifice.”
Deoiridh: "A person I imagine?" She said as she crossed her arms. "Tell me aboot this alchemy stuff, ah've never 'eard of it before."
“‘N’ tha’s what you did teh make yerself immortal right? Ye were talkin’ ‘bout, alternate timelines and what not, the ‘el’s that aboot?”
Rhenco: “To achieve immortality I needed to sacrifice many lives and also…myself. It was a puzzle I couldn’t figure out. How could one live if one died. Until I found out about the other timelines. So now every time I die one of my other selves dies in instead to allow me regeneration.” Rhenco bit his lip. “Less so immortality and more so that I have a few trillion chances at life.”
Deoiridh: She frowned a bit at this. “Nah why did ye give yerself so many chances at life?” She asked. “Got some big goal yer tryin’ teh accomplish er somethin’?”
Rhenco: Rhenco had to think about that one. “Kind of….” he mused. “It’s proving a point, or changing a mind. Also… what I love to do requires it.”
He chuckled. “So many people try to just kill all their problems. They become so hopeless when they deal with me… they don’t even get creative. They all just try to kill me more, or better, or harder. It gives me shivers…”
Deoiridh: Deoiridh recoils a little as she hears that. ‘Fucker get off on it.’ she thought. “What point are ye tryin to make?” She asked.
Rhenco: A thought…
A memory…
A truth under lock and key…
“Oh no one will get that out of me…not even with fire.” He trailed one of his finger nails up and down his arms. “But dont worry…it doesn’t really involve you or anyone else”
Deoiridh: She nodded. “Fair enough. Anything else you can tell me that I’d have interest in?” She asked.
Rhenco: Rhenco tilted his head in thought. “Hmm…no…just that I find you…very interesting…”
Deoiridh: “Alrighty.” She said as she stood and dusted herself off. “Thanks for the info.” She said and started to head off.
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Events
Category:Act I
Category:Rhenco
Category:Deoiridh Tuathanach