## Emil POV Trouble during the errand—two gangs having a standoff in the last spot we were instructed to put up posters. One side was represented by Lenny Lombardi, the gangster who ate at the diner yesterday, accompanied by his goons and a devil woman in a nightgown; the other side, a few youngsters gathered around a red sports car (Ferrari—a rather inauspicious sight, given the ongoing World Driver’s Championship). Lenny was surprised, but still welcomed us; whereas the other side was less than enthused by our presence, to say the least. I had to explain that I couldn’t physically get out of the truck without grievously harming myself to a devil tapping at the truck door with a gun. Solomon went out, tried to convince them to let us put up a poster, only to be misunderstood as making a territorial move, with the armed devil tearing up the poster handed to him and throwing the pieces back at Solomon. Seeing no other option, we disentangled ourselves from the situation after giving Lenny a poster to hold onto, and drove away. That was when the playing cards—given by Duke Egelon before we all set out for various parts of the town—activated, with an imp popping out to ask us: “What was the biggest mistake you made last night?” Apparently, we had to answer this truthfully, lest we suffer the consequences. Which I had no qualms about, except… I wasn’t entirely sure what my biggest mistake was. When the truck randomly started moving by itself, was it my mistake? Or was it when I hid in the truck like a coward while D reprimanded Aurelian for all their worth? I felt more personally at fault for the latter, so I told Solomon my biggest mistake was that I failed to back Aurelian up when someone was talking down to them. Funnily enough, Solomon mistook that “someone” for himself. Eventually I just explained everything to him, including D’s unexpected appearance at the festival, and the truck losing control. He was mildly surprised, and casually disappointed that D went to Heaven instead of “our side”, saying, “I thought he was… more fun than that.” Between his carefree quips, and the truck suddenly playing an old Russian folk song I hadn’t heard in decades when I mentioned the man-vehicle spiritual connection phenomenon, and him bursting out laughing, I felt the tight tangle of thorns around my heart loosen, if only a little. The imp was satisfied by my answer; it was then Solomon’s turn. He was initially hesitant. I peered at him as I continued to drive, and saw a somewhat somber expression on his face. I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen a look like that on him, throughout all the years of knowing him. He went on to explain the situation between himself, Jonny, and Jonny’s ex-wife, Eden, a Marlowe City Council member who was present at the fair yesterday. He was supposed to keep Jonny from meeting Eden, so he regretted not preventing Jonny from going to the fair (it seemed that my mistake with the truck had even more ramifications than I knew of; just my luck). He also regretted not being able to defeat Thatch, the scarecrow demon who first attacked him at the diner, then at the fair, the first time they came face to face with each other. “I wish I was stronger,” he said. I understood the sentiment; I felt it deeply every time I had failed a mission or otherwise performed below expectations. He seemed consoled when I told him so. “Right,” he said with a cheerful smirk, “if you were perfect every time, we wouldn’t have met each other at all.” And I smiled at that, too; for it was the truth. We got back to the diner around the same time as the other two groups, and found a few members of the Marlowe Occultist Organization waiting for us. Leslie negotiated with them; I had little to contribute to the conversation, so I waited by myself in the truck. Local authorities; always a thorn in one’s side.