`playing'? we don't `play'! what we do is deadly serious!
excuse me! excuse me! would you mind.
please! this is the imaginarium! it requires respect, concentration.  kindly go elsewhere and take your detritus with you?
oh for crying out loud! shut up!
aaahhhh!!! damn and blast!!!
ha,ha! success! one little devil out of the fire.  makes it all worthwhile!
i didn't.
hooplah!
ah, the fuzz.
fuzzy wuzzy was a bear, fuzzy wuzzy had no hair, fuzzy wuzzy wasn't fuzzy wuzzy?
with pleasure.
what can i do?.
i'm not hungry.
valentina.  my miraculous child.  i have something to tell you.
i should never have brought you into this rotten bloody world!
what was i thinking of!
why does everybody want to live forever?
immortality's a curse! any fool can tell you that!
valentina.
listen to me!
shut up! shut up and listen to me! listen to me! i need to tell you something, before it's too late!
one dark winter's night.  many years ago?
quiet!
many centuries ago, as a matter of fact.
 i was visited.  by someone i had hoped never to meet.
 having captured the wind and tamed the storm .  the chief steward, laying down to take his rest, had a disturbing dream.  he dreamt that a hooded rider was approaching across the snow-swept plain.
a rider who would challenge the very foundations of the world.
 the steward woke and remembered his dream. what manner of man had he dreamt of, and what did it signify?
we tell the eternal story.
the story that sustains the universe. the story without which there is nothing.
you make it sound so simple.
i don't think so.
no!
stop!
a sign! a message! that bird was a messenger.  from distant places we know not of! other places! the point is, you're wrong! and i'm wrong! it doesn't have to be us here! somewhere in the world, at any given time.  someone is telling a story! sustaining the universe! right now, it's happening.
that's why we're still here. you can't stop stories being told somewhere! you can't be everywhere!
yes?
and so i made a wager with the devil.
whichever of us won ten converts first, would win the bet.  my argument was the importance of the story, the power of the imagination.  his, the power of material things, the supremacy of stuff.  naturally.  i won.
my prize.  .  was ever-lasting life.
everlasting torment.  everlasting.  everlasting.  times changed. no one wanted our tales any longer.
it seemed as though the devil, after all.  had triumphed.  and then.  one day.
from the very first moment i saw her, i was head-over-heels in love. she was beautiful, enchanting, delightful, young.  but i.  i was several thousand years old! how could i woo her? what could i do?
the devil granted me mortality again. and youth and great powers. i won my bride. i was in love. but at what price.
we've stopped.
it'll wait, it'll wait. another time. something's happened. you'd better go and see.
go and see!
why are you fishing dead people out of the river? he's dead. leave him. let's go. before the police turn up.
dammit! i told you to leave him. he was dead.
thank god! thank god! thank god for that!
i'll kill you!
shh! i'm trying to think.
what?
trust in providence, percy. remember the hanging man. the cards don't lie.
what's eating anton?
in love?
the little snake! i'll skin him alive!
quite another kettle of fish.
i think he might. valentina sees good in him.
perhaps i should offer her hand to whoever helps most in winning the next five souls.
you're not wrong.  ah, percy, what would i do without you?
well then.  for god's sake let's do it!!!
anton! where are you going?
one more to go and we're free.
no! leave it!
it's too late.  for visitors.
i know.  it's over. you've won.
and the girl. from the pub.
you're joking.  toying with me. like a cat with a mouse.  as is your privilege.
it's too terrible.
i.  the price of my obsession.  i can't say it.
you.
i was mortal again.  on condition that.  any children i fathered.  would, on their sixteenth birthday.  belong to him.
your mother never knew. she died before i had to tell her.
if only.
it's true. every word. but all is not lost.
a new wager.  the first of five. if i win.  you're free.  you're mine again.  and we can win! where's tony? we can still win!
with one more show. the day isn't over.
valentina.
valentina! that's not true! it's not like that! wait! come back! valentina!
valentina.  she's.  she's gone.
what?
no. you're a saint.  a saint.
oh, my head.
no! i can't do it!
my mind.  i can't concentrate.  i'm too upset.
i know.
it's no good!
valentina! my darling daughter! there you are!
all my doing?.  i'm merely the facilititatater, dear boy.
i create the opportunities. is it my fault if your not up to it?
give us a moment, please.
here's your tube.  here's mine. but mine's just a cheap counterfeit.  look, it breaks.  but here's another.
you're not amused?
choose.
choose!
are you sure you made the right choice?
let's find out.
there are three cardinal rules. one, there's no black-magic, only cheap tricks. and.  er.  i forget the others. now, where's my daughter?
what else could i do, valentina? what else could i have done.  what other choice could i have made?.  damn!.  it was the right choice.  of course it was.  of course.  but where are you?
where's my beautiful daughter? where's my darling? how long must i suffer?
no, no, no.  no more choices, please.  no more choices!!!
percy!
where have you been?
how long have you been here?
thank god i found you. i need your advice. i've got a problematical choice to make.
no! suburban bungalows and all that they evoke are anathema to me. dammit percy! stop! i've got my pride!
valentina?
so did i. but you.  i.
beautifully made. it'll last for years if properly looked after.
i'm afraid we can't guarantee that.