hi there. c'mon in. looks like you could use a drink.
come on laddy, cross the bridge! join up! be a man. kill the enemy. impress your dad. unlimited ammo. great fun. pow! pow! pow!
attaboy, sonny. join the men. nothing to it. hup two, hup two.
no, wait! that's the wrong choice! that bridge leads to failure and despair. you'll be dead before you're thirty. this is the one. this is the bridge to manhood!
hello parnassus.  it's been a while hasn't it?
what exactly do you do here?
oh.  what's that?
nothing? really. are you telling me that if you stop telling a story.  this story.  something you made up, a fiction.  that the universe ceases to exist?
and you believe it?
incredible. it's just incredible to me that you can believe something that can be so easily disproved.
there you are. you see. the story's stopped. no more story.  and yet, we're still here, the fire's still burning.
it's still snowing. the wind's still blowing. nothing's changed.
cheer up.  i've freed you from this ridiculous nonsense.
now you can use your powers to do something else. have fun, travel, learn a foreign language.
a weak hypothesis!
i tell you what.  you're probably not a betting man but.
you shouldn't drink, it doesn't agree with you.
i know.
he's not my man.
tony shepherd. little toe-rag. he used to run a big charity. i wouldn't trust him. but then.  you don't trust me do you?
i just thought. seeing you so upset last night. that you needed a glimmer of hope. maybe a little bet?
no?
first to five?.  you might win. and save her. what do you have to lose?
now that would be something. by her birthday then.
things are going to pick up. as sure as eggs is eggs.
four rotten russkies?
sally doesn't count. do you, gal?
sal didn't get to make a real choice. you were gaga. out for the count. wouldn't be fair. and you've got four, thanks to your friend tony. so.  we're even.  it's not quite over.
not quite. oh,oh, look at the time. it's 11.
now, there's absolutely no need for that. that's just plain contrariness.
you think you deserve punishment but you're a kid - you have no idea. trust me.
only fit for hell? if only.
no.  your pop would never speak to me again. and that'd be a shame. let's dance.
damn!.  i've won.
funny how things work out, isn't it?
it's not what i had in mind y'know.  this.  valentina, being the fifth.  it doesn't seem right.  she's supposed to be the prize, the star prize.  not part of the bloody score.  and you lumbered with eternal life all over again.  what a bummer, eh?
i hope they get that bastard. tear him limb from limb.  but they won't.  he leads a charmed life, that one.  i've been trying to nail him for years.  i thought i had him this time. but, there's always some prat comes to his rescue.  talk about the luck of the devil. those weird markings you found on him.  on his forehead.  those satanic-symbol, so-called, things.  what's all that about?.  maybe they protect him in some way.  i've never been into that black-magic stuff myself.  can't seem to get the hang of it.  i know, pathetic isn't it?.
god, i hate to see you like this. look, i tell you what.  if you can get the lowdown on those satanic markings, or.  wait.  better still, if you can wipe that self- righteous little creep off the face of the universe.  i'll give you valentina back.
how about it?
how should i know? you're her father. her loving father.
she's free.  isn't she?