[ It's funny: this is the kind of ally he would've killed for, a year ago. Back before he threw start small out the window; back before he got really mad. When the risks seemed less like risks and more like the inevitable.

Now he just sits in the same familiar bar and listens to the same familiar plan for deicide. John drinks his beer. ]

Blood might be the crux of it. Here I thought I was an expert, and that's gone out the window... I've yet to crack the system. [ He hasn't really been trying for a while now. ] Every time we turn over a new stone, we find puzzle pieces.

[ Brings them back to Riteoir, really. The things you can do with local magic; the ways you can turn the system in on itself. ]