"Fucking gypsy." "Fuck him." "Fuck him." "Fuck you!" "Fuck you, you little fucking faggot!" "Fuck!" "Fuck!" "## --- RM 1 " "Can I help you?" "Hey!" "You know who I am." "Why don't you sit the fuck down?" "I would sooner you didn't." " Stay the fuck away from me!" " Please give it to me." "I don't think either of us would enjoying explaining to Olivia" " how you lost a hand." " What's back there?" "Is it Ouroboros?" "Frankly, you don't even have to give it to me." "I would just be substantially more comfortable" " if you extinguished it." " Ouroboros." "I'm sorry?" "The fucking snake." "What is it?" "Why is it in my dreams?" "What a fascinating thing to ask." " I can make you tell me." " I would sooner you didn't." "Unless you plan on rearranging your positron emissions, you'll have to let me through." "I apologize for the walk." "Where we are going, there are certain electromagnetic irregularities that make elevators... problematic." "When Jacob Godfrey first saw Henry Bessemer's revolutionary new process for making steel, he said the words," ""Mr. Bessemer, I'd like to buy the future"." "Your father said the same words to me our first meeting, when I was a pariah of my own community." "It's quite a mantle being passed on to you, young man." "You think I don't know that?" "What is this?" "Exactly what it looks like." "This is Project Ouroboros, Roman." "Oh, my god." "You ..." " You can see why we're rather sensitive about it." "An appetite." "Someone has replaced this rake with a child of mine." "And it smiles." "You know that feeling when you have a toothache and you don't know how bad it is" " until it's gone?" " Yep." "Well, I wasn't gonna say anything, but I think you're better off without this tooth." " Can I have some juice?" " Yeah." "Huh." "It's not my shade." "Well, we're making all kinds of friends." "I'm a friendly guy." "Does this friend have a name?" "Yeah." "Does her friend need to have his ear twisted?" "Hey, babe." " It's Letha." " Lisa?" "Letha." "It's like Lisa but with a lisp." "Well, um, I think it's meant to be 'cause neither one of you know how to wash a glass." "It's Letha Godfrey." "Are you doing this on purpose?" "I'm not doing anything." "It has nothing to do with him." "Does he know that?" "I could care less." "Well, give it a shot for me." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Let me out of here!" "Let me out of here!" "Let me out of here!" "Let me out of here, you fucking maniac!" "That is Project Ouroboros." "My beautiful boy." "He was agitated and clearly had been using narcotics." "I was afraid he was a danger to himself, but I only gave him a sedative." "His brain activity is normal and there's no physiological explanation for his condition." "And we're on Norman's turf now, but I suspect he's had a severe psychic break." "He's preventing himself from waking up." "He's coming home, Johann." "I would strongly advise against that." "His condition needs to be monitored." "He's coming home." "Road policing in your jurisdiction now?" "This is Roman Godfrey's car, isn't it?" "I understand it was found abandoned somewhere near the White Tower." "What you understand gets more complicated every day." "What can I say?" " I'm into the I's and t's." " No, you're not." "Professional courtesy extends both ways." "I'm sorry." "Have I been discourteous?" "Your trip to the Godfrey house didn't go unnoticed, or that I had to hear about it so long after the fact." "So let me make this plain to you." "If the issue involves, as your patch suggests, fish and wildlife, have at it." "Otherwise, stay out of police business." "Point taken." "Back to my original question" " Yeah, not far from the tower." "The first thing he'll feel when he wakes up will be... the warmth of the sun on his face." "It'll be a pleasant feeling." "He'll wonder that he ever felt ill." "Perhaps there'll be a song of a bird, a mourning dove." "I saw a pair just yesterday." "They haven't all gone yet." "Strength and sorrow, give no thus to those you love the most." "Come back." "You promised you wouldn't leave me." "I need you." "Come back." " Come back." " You could have at least left me my fucking cigarettes!" "I could really use a goddamn cigarette right now!" "Sometimes I think that the only thing that ever really made you happy was your dead father's car." "Who are you?" "I'm the one who took your cigarettes." "You know I hate how much you smoke." " Who are you?" " Oh, please." " Oh, please." " Where am I?" "In my room, breaking my heart, you jerk." "Breaking my heart, you jerk." " Come back." " Come back." " Shelley?" "Come back." "Pryce fucking drugged me." "Oh, your system's been through worse." "He's not the reason you're here." "Then what is?" "Why not ask your razor the next time you cut yourself?" "A common motif in Greek mythology is the catabasis, a ritualized descent into the underworld to accomplish a necessary task or defeat a dangerous adversary." "What?" "I'm a fucking scorpion." "Be careful what you say you are, because that is what you are." " What do I do about it?" " You need to do what you came here to do." " What is that?" " You need to turn those pretty eyes inward toward the monster ripping you apart." "Destroy the Dragon before its fire burns you alive!" "A Springfield?" "What happened to my Remington girl?" "She almost put two in your anginal heart." "You were always an ace at this range, center mass grouping, perfect sight picture." "What the fuck are you doing here?" "I was concerned after our last call." "How is your sight picture these days, hmm?" "You know, Dad never really talks about his brother." "Well, it's not an easy thing for him to discuss." "Believe me, I've tried." "It's what he might call repression." "Your father's very good at his job, but he could stand to point that powerful psychiatric microscope at himself once in a while." "Do it!" "Okay." "How did I use to do this?" "I am deeply concerned." "That's good." "You almost have it." "You almost have it." "You're doing more of a frown thing." "It's really just more of a sort of constipated... completely straight line." "Hello." "It is said that what women fear most is violence from men, but what men fear most is being laughed at by women." "Hmm." "I'm deeply concerned by that." "Ha, ha, ha!" "You know, it's uh, it's a good thing I leave the office from time to time or I might mistake myself" " for a respected man." " Yes, honey, it is a very good thing that you leave the office." "Hi." " No." "They don't work on you." " Really?" "Well, you're missing the gravitas acquired by years" " of stoic suffering." " Oh, you mean wrinkles." "Hello?" "What?" "Hang on." "I don't understand what you're telling me." "Okay, I'll come right over." "What's wrong?" "Roman's in a coma." "This is how you see yourself?" "This is how you make me see myself." "Thank you." " When did you learn those words?" " You were the only thing holding us together." "You always were." "I just wish I could teach you how to see yourself." "What happened?" "A drug overdose." "Can we talk downstairs?" "I haven't been in that attic in 30 years." "You know he should be in a hospital." "He's staying here." "What drugs?" "A number, evidently." "He was causing a scene at the institute and Johann sedated him." "Sedated him?" "That's not sedation, Olivia." "That's a coma." "You left Pryce still breathing?" "The coma is Roman's, not Johann's." "He did what he had to do." " Why was he there?" " I don't know." "I suppose Johann" " doesn't either." " Let it go, Norman." "Do you know anything about Project Ouroboros?" "I told you, I haven't got any better idea what goes on there than you do." "Then why was he there?" "Something's going on here." "You can't act like it's not." "Liv." "Liv, Liv, Liv." "You know, you don't have to do that anymore." "Protect me from the truth." "I know him." "I'm sorry." "Do you think he's gonna wake up?" "Well," "I think that's up to Roman now." "The Godfrey boy's in a coma." "I know." "The heart aches." "Nic." "You old leg-humper." "You know, there are better places to have this conversation." "We have time." "We always have had time for each other." "You also seem to have exhausted the patience of the local law enforcement." "Seems Roman Godfrey had quite the night." "It's the White Tower." "There's something happening there." "Pryce is playing liar's poker." "Francis Pullman saw his hand, drove a titanium syringe three inches into his temporal lobe." " And Rumancek?" " They were at the mill." "They found the rest of Willoughby." "Or left her there." "I'm not so sure." "No sooner did the Hardy Boys break up but their mothers are seeing each other." "Olivia Godfrey." "She was at the mill too." "Her name is on the place." "This was not the first body to fall there." "Prior to her taking that name in 1993, there's no scrap of history to be found." "But a woman like that..." "I suspect JR Godfrey's not the first man to lose his head over her." "I think she might be upir." " Why are we talking about Olivia Godfrey?" " Do I need to repeat myself?" " I sent you here to hunt an animal." " And I found a whole herd." "Then what are we doing in Peter Rumancek's trailer?" "I don't know." ""I found myself in a dark wood, for the straight way was lost."" "If you're trying to inform my direction," "I'd rather you didn't quote the Inferno." "Dante had his Virgil to guide him." "Let me be yours." "Forget Olivia Godfrey." "Her footprint's at the crime scene." " I confirmed it." " She's a diversion." " She's a suspect." " You have great instincts for the hunt, Clementine." "Trust them." "Clear your head and bring me Peter Rumancek." "Thank you for coming back." "I love you." "I love you." "Is this where the Dragon is?" "I don't know." "Ask yourself, Roman." "You're the one with the questions and the answers." "Will you come with me?" "I can't." "You won't be alone." "Everyone you blame for your mistakes is waiting for you just on the other side." " I'm a warrior." "Warrior!" " Prove it." "All right." "I'm here." "I can help you." "Biologically speaking, young girls have a blood rite that initiates them into adulthood, whether they are ready for it or not." "To compensate, all tribal cultures put their young males through some ordeal at puberty, separating the boy's world from the man's." "It's not your fault you're weak, Roman." " I'm not weak." " You think Peter would cry over you?" "It's unusual for the knight to take the king." "The bishop has far greater talent for the end game." "Kneel." "You think the Dragon gives a shit about your nobility?" "He's gonna eat you alive." "He's gonna eat you alive." "He's gonna eat you alive!" "Have a seat." "Roman, Roman, Roman." "How can I help you?" "I'm looking for the Dragon." "Well, let's see what my Swiss colleague has to say about this." " Doctor." " The subject here is in an unconscious condition, which he believes to be his catabasis, and he won't be able to reach the surface if he doesn't "confront the Dragon", Doctor." "All consciousness separates, but in dreams we put on the likeness of the more universal, truer, more eternal man in the darkness of primordial night." "Oh, well, his sister's appearing to him in the form of a guide, Doctor." "To deliver a classic messiah archetype." "We know that our Shelley lends herself to this, Doctor." "Then you believe the purpose of this episode" " to be redemption, Doctor." " It is recommended that the subject search for clues within the dream landscape." "In this instance, the Dragon is clearly the subject's own shadow, the most repressed of his inner thoughts." "As for the oft-mentioned representation, Ouroboros, the snake consuming its own tail," "I could go on and on, but ironically, it will not be apparent to a young boy with such a sense of self-fellatio." "Ha, ha, ha!" "What are the stakes of this narrative?" "I mean, if this is all in his head, what's the worst thing that can happen to him?" "Step a little closer, please, Doctor." "Oh." "Mm-hmm." "Mm-hmm." "A word of advice, young man." "Too much of the animal dislocates the civilized human being." "Too much culture makes a sick animal." " Well, that's very helpful!" " Roman, what I'm curious about is, if you're dealing with repressed unconscious contents, what exactly I'm doing here?" "It seems like you'd have more to say to Olivia." "Yeah." "Where is your mother?" " I'd really like to give her a piece of my mind." " Ha!" "Sit down." "I was only a few years older than you when I took over the Godfrey steel." "It was close to insolvency." "I got us back in the black." "I was the hero of the town." "Is he fucking kidding me with this?" "What was I supposed to do?" "Watch the town slowly commit suicide," " or give it a future?" " Fuck your legacy!" "You're a coward." "Why did you do it?" "When your older sister, Juliet, was born, your mother had about as much interest in holding her as a wet towel." "When you were born, on the other hand..." "Give him to me." "Give him to me!" "Give him to me!" "Give him to me!" "Give him to me!" "Give him to me!" "I knew I couldn't protect you from her." "She wouldn't let me." "You left me alone." "You left me alone with her." "Roman, half of her is in you." " That's your only chance." " The only chance of what?" "Don't you find it odd you've never met anyone from her side of the family?" "You think they don't know about you?" "You were better off on your own" " than with a waste of a father." " Fuck you for making that decision for me." "Fine." "I was better off." "But you can talk to him about your feelings about it." "He's your real dad, anyway." "He's your real dad, anyway." "Have you people ever considered that Roman might quit pulling this shit if you just stopped fucking letting him?" "This isn't you." "I know you." "Don't make this my problem." "No petting in the halls, Rumancek." "You paid your money!" "You paid your money!" "You paid your money!" "You paid your fucking money!" "You said you'd give me a ride." "It was you." "I don't want to see that." "I don't want to see that!" "Is that blood?" "Stupid-ass birds!" "Are you okay?" "We're in this together." "Holy fuck!" " Say what you have to say to me." " We're in this together, you and I." "Why do you need that to be true so badly?" "Why can't you admit it?" "I guess we're both scorpions." "Is there anything I can do to fix this?" "It's like the hottest, wettest pussy on earth." "What?" "That's what fear smells like." "I heard about the boy." "You know, I never wanted you to get mixed up with that family in the first place, but there's what you want and then there's what happens, so what do you think you end up living with?" "We had the same dreams." "I thought that meant something." "The heart is smarter than the head, even when it isn't." "You are exactly the man" "Nicolai knew you'd be." "You really are." "I'd say I don't know how I got to be so lucky, but we're Rumanceks, so..." "Boy, you just, you don't let a person get a word in edgewise." "Ah, a smile." "Finally." "Mrs. Godfrey." "There's a tone of a question in your voice as if we haven't met." "I do have a few, if you have a moment." "Such a peaceful place." "That is an observation, not a question." "I did want to ask your opinion about the upsetting discovery at your mill." "Discoveries, I should say." " You're a remarkable cunt." " I'm sorry?" "My son is upstairs in a coma and you come to me" " with questions of what?" " I'm sorry." "I didn't know he was here." "And just what did you think you discovered?" "Your entire life is nothing but a question." "Now, either say something to me worth my time or go sniff out your animal and directly fuck off back to whatever Ohio tragedy birthed you." "And how did you know Ohio?" "I'll pray for your son." "You will do no such thing." "Afraid he'll be saved?" "You know, also, the thing that we all keep forgetting here ... we're all just animals." "You have to hurry, Roman." " I didn't realize there was a rush." " Yes, you did." "Why should I trust you?" "Why should I trust you?" "You say you're my guide, but we're not going anywhere." "A labyrinth is not a maze, Roman." "A maze is designed to mislead." "A labyrinth, no matter which way you step, you're always going in the right direction." "It's leading you to the center." "You have to hurry, Roman." " Why?" " You're running out of time!" "You're such a child, Roman." "People are going to die;" "you're going to die!" " Shelley!" " Grow up, Roman!" "No one cares anymore!" "I'm sorry!" "Please come back." "Shelley!" "Shelley!" " No, no, no, no, no." " Grow up, Roman!" " We're not here forever." " No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!" "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no." "I'm ready for you!" "I'm ready for you!" "Here I am!" "Here I am!" "Where the fuck did it go?" "Roman!" " Roman, help me!" " No!" "No!" "Shelley?" "Shelley?" "What is this?" "You are ugly, Roman." "You're looking for a monster?" "Look in the coke mirror." "Look in the coke mirror." "Stop!" "Ooh..." "Tsk, tsk, tsk." "What does that mean?" "Can I go up yet?" "Oh, sweetie, you've barely scratched the surface." "You haven't done what you came here for." "What does the Dragon want from me?" "What do you want from him?" "What do you want from him?" "You're running out of time." "You must make your heart steel." "Please." "Please forgive me." "I was so fixated on the man I wanted you to become that I missed the boy you still are." "I'm so afraid." "I've spent so many years building this life for us." "It wouldn't be the first time I broke something excellent and beautiful because tightening my grip comes more naturally to me than letting go." "I've lost everything before." "Sacrifice, you don't know the meaning of the word." "It's not in me to lose you, even if it means letting you go." "Hello." "I brought this." "For him." "I thought it might help him with his... travels." "Thank you." "I..." "I believe that it will." " Would you like to come upstairs and see him?" " Ah, no." "I'm actually pretty fucking bad at these kind of things, if you want to know the truth." "Yeah." "Well, uh..." "Uh, Peter?" "Perhaps if he... had met someone like you sooner, he... he wouldn't be where he is now." "Goodbye." "Mm." "We had sex over there." "Don't look so proud of yourself." "Children." "They're all just children." "The alchemists believed a creative work has a sort of life all its own, independent of the creator, comma, straddling the worlds of matter and psyche, of both and neither." "Full stop." "A subtle body, they called it." "Full stop." "Can you think what you would do to protect it?" "Question mark." "The sedation of the boy was unfortunate, comma, but in his condition, as necessary as his witness to the work." "Full stop." "Should he wake, a report of Ouroboros will never be believed." "Semicolon." "And knowing the truth, he is invalidated." "Full stop." "They won't stop me." "Then it will all have been for nothing." "It's taking everything I have not to lose it." "I want a voice so I can scream!" "It hurts so much." "Others can love without hate-- no conditions." "But not you, not my proud brother Roman." "No, you'd rather die first, so you take it out on everyone around you." "You promised you'd always be here for me, but you're a liar!" "You're selfish and... and you know how much I love you, but I hate you for making me see it." "I have always defended you, but I cannot defend this." "You are not allowed to remove yourself from my life." "Wake up, Roman." "Please, come back." "## --- Terima Kasih "