Sometimes Tarin really wished he'd kept track of the days since Lee had left him. It would have made it much easier for him to know when it was exactly that he'd lost his mind. It was starting to effect work, customers had noticed, and newcomers probably wouldn't be coming back. During the slow times, Tarin would sit and think, brood, and inevitably his thoughts would turn to Lee. How was she doing? Had she managed to get out of Robert's apartment? Had she found the jacket he'd put into her duffel bag?

That final question sparked something in the back of Tarin's mind, a promise he'd made to the man who'd left him the gift card he'd in return given to Lee. Tarin had been hesitant to uphold his end of that bargain because of the inherent risk his interaction with that man, risk to himself and Lee. That really didn't matter now.

Tarin only thought about it for a brief moment, then he was up out of his chair and rummaging around in the drawer beneath the counter and pulling out a address, an email address to be exact.

It only took a couple of moments for Tarin to close up the shop, then he was out the door and down the street to an internet cafe. After finding a machine, it only took him a couple of minutes to type out an email and push the 'send' button. There was a time and place in the email, a time and place exactly seven hours from when it was then. It would be six o'clock in the evening then and the shop would be closed to normal business. Tarin hoped that the man would get the email and show up. Maybe this was exactly what he needed.

Tarin had been watching the windows of the shop for a good hour and a half. All the customers had stopped coming in around 5:30, which wasn't unusual for a weeknight at this time of year, but it had made the waiting part so much more difficult. The shop was spotless, more clean than it had been since the night that Lee had stormed out, the night that absolutely everything had changed. Nervous excitement and energy had prompted Tarin to do something, anything to keep his mind off of what he was going to do at 7:00. And now it was 7.

As if on absolute cue, the door to the shop was knocked on and almost immediately Tarin felt the surge of spiritual energy he'd felt the last time that this particular man was in the shop. As he approached the door though, Tarin wondered if perhaps he was mistaken for this was a very different person than the one he'd met previously.

Tilting his head slightly to one side as he unlocked the deadbolt that he'd turned when the last customer left, Tarin left the closed sign on in the window and pulled the door open slowly to reveal the man standing outside. Yeah, this was definitely different, this guy looked like some kind of yuppie on a business dinner, not a trained killer with hundreds of victims in his wake...

Again, almost on cue, the spirits started to surge into the shop and Tarin almost put a hand to his head. He didn't though, he was ready this time and the spirits were far easier to handle. If they weren't proof enough, several were already attempting to send images to him, images of the deaths brought to them by the man in the door way.

"Hello." Tarin said, stepping to the side and gesturing for the man to come in, "I'm very sorry for the short notice...there was simply no better time than the present."

To a casual observer, even one who was not so casual as this particular observer was, it appeared that the other man entered the shop and the door closed. This observer followed that particular man in, though he definitely wasn't seen. The medium was correct, there was no better time than the present.

The spirits in the shop were coursing around and the observer was delighted, he'd been waiting for his second chance at taking over the weak mind of the man who was leading his guest to a chair. The first time had been rash and poorly planned and the man's lover had seen him for what he was after he'd possessed the man. The spirit was still pissed, he'd so wanted to play with that lovely little woman.

It didn't matter now though, he'd been carefully watching and learning from others' mistakes, and he wouldn't make the same mistakes again, not a chance in hell. Now wasn't the exact time though, soon it would be...but not now. So the spirit slunk into a far corner of the room and did a little more of what it had grown so adept at in the recent months....watched and learned.

"I'm glad that you saw it too." Tarin said, tilting his head and looking at the other man. He hadn't thought about how inconvenient this would be for the other guy, "I really am so sorry it was so spur of the moment. I realized how long it had been since I'd gotten into contact with you. A lot of the...complications to another meeting with you are gone now."

Complication...that was one way that Tarin had never thought about Lee. He had to admit though, this was the first time since Lee had left that he felt motivated to do anything. So he was going to roll with it. There were so many spirits still, but it was a little less pressing than the last time, the spirits were a little less emotional and they seemed more...peaceful somehow. He could still see them though, feel them and their thoughts and they almost seemed to press in on him from all sides. It wasn't as bad as the last time though, and Tarin turned his attention back to his guest.

"Speaking of last time..." Tarin said, fixing the guy with a look that was slightly disbelieving, "That card you gave me...I don't know what the point of that was...but I couldn't take that kind of money from you." Tarin paused for a moment considering his next words then sighed and ran a hand through the back of his hair, "I gave it to someone who really needed it though...so...I don't recommend giving me more money....."

Tarin's eyes widened as the guy suggested that Tarin might need a favor of the particular type that he specialized in...well...used to specialize in apparently. "No no no...nothing like that. I just realized I hadn't made good on your promise. My....ex (man it hurt to even say that) ended up in the camps...then ended up leaving me...and to be honest I completely forgot."

Tarin actually smiled as the other man described the...life change he was going through. "I noticed the clothes. I hardly recognized you and nearly told you to go away because I was closed..." The rest of the explanation was kind of shocking, though less shocking than it would have been a month ago and Tarin nodded slowly.

"Your...companions have noticed the change..." Tarin said, tilting his head slightly and observing the men, women, and children that had surrounded the man last time and were surrounding him this time. "There's not as many of them...and some of them are calm now. It happens sometimes...they're resolved but not quite ready to move on. There's still a lot of them though. Congratulations on your progress though. Shall we start or are you in the mood for more chit chat? I honestly haven't spoken to anyone more than absolutely necessary."


The spirit was pleased and he hoped that they would quickly move on to the point where the medium was making contact with the other spirits in the room. This particular spirit wasn't impressed by them, not at all, they were weak and sniveling, not strong like him. They were also transfixed on the man who was visiting the shop, they'd barely noticed his presence. It didn't matter though, that sort of thing was all for the better in his situation. The less notice he drew, spiritual and human, the better.

It was just a matter of time now, he'd waited for so long and it was finally going to pay off...finally. He was going to get to play again, fulfill the mission he'd embarked on in life and strove to continue in death...and his plan was foolproof this time...absolutely foolproof. He was going to be back...

Tarin almost breathed a sigh of relief, somehow the other man's acceptance of what Tarin had done with the money made him feel a little less guilty about it. Tarin wished that it would make Lee feel better about it though, if he saw her again Tarin had a feeling he'd be in trouble...big trouble.

"I'm glad you feel that way about it...really." and Tarin never looked a gift horse in the mouth, having this man's help in a pinch definitely wouldn't hurt anything, "I'll remember that...and I'm glad I could help." his face darkened slightly, "You're not the only one with blood on your hands...anything I can do for someone helps a bit."

Ah...and then they were talking about the breakout, something that wiped the relaxation and and easy smile off of Tarin's face. No, he probably wouldn't have seen them at the breakout, "We were there...but uh...we didn't look like ourselves...it's complicated as hell and I'm really not ready to talk about it...but we were there...and luckily we got out."

Who would have possibly guessed that a former assassin would be such an optimist? He seemed to to think that as long as Lee was alive there was a chance for things to work out and Tarin smiled wryly, "She's beautifully stubborn, but I'll definitely go so far as to say I'm glad that she's alive."

Tarin almost echoed the man's sentiment about not realizing how much has changed until he looked in a mirror, "I have the same feeling sometimes...only a little opposite. I'm really not sure who I am right now...I'm working on it though."

He was willing to talk...to listen if Tarin needed to talk, but he knew that wasn't the real reason the other man was there and his very presence was making Tarin feel better, task oriented, purposeful. He shook his head.

"I think I'm ready to go for this...we don't need to go to the back. I don't think anyone is going to bother us."

Tarin pushed the sleeves on the hoodie he was wearing up to his elbows, exposing the tattoos that wrapped around his forearms, and rocked his head from side to side as if warming up for what was about to happen.

"Okay then...are we just planning on doing this freeform? Or is there someone you want to talk to in particular...someone you think might feel particularly hostile about something? Or do you want me to pick out the ones who have 'nasty' written on their faces?"

Tarin looked around for a moment, trying to ensure that he'd be able to back up his offers and sure enough there were spirits around who looked ready to bite...he made a mental note not to let them get too strong, he didn't want the shop completely destroyed.


The time was soon...the medium was making more and more contact with the other spirits in the room. The element of surprise was absolutely necessary because if he was discovered and the man figured out what was up it would all be for naught. It was imperative that he make the jump into the medium's body without him being aware.

As soon as he connected with the spirits, as soon as he was getting tired or overwhelmed...that would be the perfect time...and again...it was soon.

Free form....Tarin could deal with free form, and for the first time since the flood of dead humanity had come into his shop upon invitation, Tarin didn't ignore them completely. Almost instantaneously his eyes clouded over and a flood of emotion and images slammed into his conciseness, he was more ready for it this time than he'd been the last and he focussed his energy on the ones who seemed the most eager to get an actual message across, ignoring the ones who were simply angry and vindictive. This was a difficult task though, as the angry ones were desperate to try and vindicate themselves. Tarin managed though and after a few moments of intense concentration he picked out two particular spirits, a businessman and one woman who appeared to be his wife.

"Um...." He said, trying to concentrate on their stories above all the others swirling around in his head as he channeled more energy into the two walking forward, lending them the strength to be seen by another mortal. "These two...you uh...did your business with them..."

"You killed us...in our sleep...euphemisms are useless in situations like this." It was the woman who spoke, the man stood in silence by her side, she reached over and grabbed his hand, smiling at the contact she may or may not have been able to feel before Tarin let them become corporeal.

"You're changing, but don't ever forget what it is that you've done in the past. If you don't learn from us...did you even know who we were? That we'd done nothing wrong except anger the wrong person?"

Tarin was listening, paying intense attention to the scene unfolding in front of him, it was rare that spirits were this task oriented, this sure of the message they wanted to get across. He was concentrating on the other spirits as well though, and already the semblences of a headache were starting behind his eyes, he was going to have to slow things down a little...

It was time. He'd been waiting for so long and it was definitely time to strike. The medium was feeling the effects of the large task he'd taken on and the time to go was now...before he could reign in his powers and stop the overwhelming effects of the room full of spirits.

Tarin was just getting ready to cut back on how much energy he was putting into the couple speaking to his guest when something slammed into him from behind...he didn't stumble, but stood straight for a brief moment before simply crumpling to the floor.

As he fell, Tarin wondered if he'd simply given too much, been too eager to help this man, felt useful again...but then he was on the floor, and his head was spinning. The spirits seemed to have completely left the room all together, Tarin just fought off the blackness at the edges of his vision and tried to catch his breath...

He was in...but it was slightly anticlimatic...he wanted to spread his wings, stretch his new arms, get to work, but the simple fact of the matter was that it wasn't the time. The medium couldn't be aware of his presence, not yet, not until he could really take the man over. Not before he was ready to emerge completely as his old self. There would be trial and error first, but as long as he was smart about it, everything would work out for the best.

Tarin came around slowly, really slowly even though he'd only been unconcious for less than a minute. He didn't know where he was and why there was a man there with his hands on him. Memories slowly returned to him though and Tarin sat up bolt straight in the middle of the floor.

Looking around in a slightly panicked state with sweat beading on his forhead, Tarin gingerly tested his arms and legs, blinking and trying to make sure that he was himself...that it hadn't been a spirit inducing a merge that had steamrolled him. He felt like he was alone in his head, nobody was fighting him for control of his body.

For the first time since he opened his eyes, Tarin turned his attention to his guest, "I'm so sorry..." he said, amazed at how shakey his voice was. Tarin ran a hand through his hair and shook his head slowly, "I thought I was ready for that...I guess I was wrong..."

Something just felt wrong...but Tarin shook it off...how could you feel right after being overwhelmed by spectral energy? "Do you want to go on?" he said, putting a hand down and slowly rising to his feet.

"I made you come all this way...we can continue if you want."

He didn't want to keep going, sour failure surged through Tarin and the familiar feeling of uselessness he'd been been free of for the last several hours as he waited for his client to arrive and helped him for the short time that he'd been able.

The client didn't seem to mind too much that their session was apparently at the end. Distance wasn't much of a problem...that was amazingly interesting to Tarin and he looked over, "I wish I could say the same thing about distance. I'm glad you're not too upset. That's never happened to me before."

Tarin ran his hand through his hair again, shaking the last cobwebs from his consciousness, "You're going to keep an eye on me?" he said, chuckling softly, "You're going to be bored out of your mind. I don't do much of anything these days."

"Tylenol?" Tarin said as his guest offered to get him some, "Nah, it doesn't help all that much. I'll be alright in a couple hours anyway...like I said, I don't know why that happened...we'll have to be a little more careful the next time."

In a back corner of Tarin's mind he hid. He was starting to become himself again, he could even remember his name. The name he'd taken on when he'd become who he developed himself into before he'd been taken out by a cop. Three names, they were so symmetrical John Erik Edwards...that's who he was. It was wonderful thing to sit, hidden in someone else's mind, knowing how weak they would soon be and how easy it would be for him to get back to work.

It was only a matter of time now...soon the medium would sleep...soon they would be as one, continuing the work that he had started so long ago.