Dear Journal:

Irony. It colors my life and though I often resent it, from a philosophical point of view I must admit I appreciate the depth it gives to my otherwise boring, hum-drum psychic fugitive life.

A micro-example of this irony is in this blog post. You see, I had expected little or no response on my previous post, as I realize I have been away for far longer than my average reader's attention span. And yet due to the overwhelming response (roughly 500-700% of what I had projected), I decided it was time for me to gather up all the little pieces and put them together, and move on, as I so often have had to do in the past.

And then, just as I'd gotten settled to work on my, shall we call it, essay... a dear old friend, also a boring hum-drum psychic fugitive, contacted me via telepathic message, which, judging from the amount of blood running from my nose, caused some massive cerebral hemorrhaging. Fortunately this occurs often, and I believe I have built up an immunity, since I never experience any lasting brain damagdfkjkelb

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Given that I have lost some amount of fluid, it strikes me that the responsible thing to do would be to accept his invitation of a drink, and attempt to bolster my body's osmotic pressure.  (This adenosine isn't going to passively transport itself, you know.)

And so, I will have to update at another juncture, provided some new distraction doesn't hinder me.

As to what I am doing, or, more importantly, how I am doing, the answer is squeaking by and just fine.  My home situation has somewhat stabilized and I am partially, indirectly involved with some negotiations with the States.  Milla is unwilling at this time to leave Brazil, for reasons I will address later, though I suspect we will return sooner than she thinks.

Politically speaking, the Psychonauts agency is still dissolved, and I believe will rise from the ashes an independent agency, as the EFP of Europe and ESP of the United Kingdom did.  Naturally there are government agencies interested in our skills (not in the least because some of them doubt their existence and wish to "prove" empirically that such capabilities are indeed possible), and naturally most of us psychics are skeptic of their intentions.

I cannot name any names in saying which non-physic politicians have been involved, though I can guarantee most of you would know of at least three, and those of you who watch or read the news regularly might know many more.  Happily, since all of you already know us psychics by name, I can divulge these.

(Incidentally, most of you are probably aware that I change names; I have happily plucked names from news stories, the internet, books, other media, and even made a few up myself to protect identities.  If you foolishly think any of our names are real or traceable to actual psychics, you severely underestimate my skills as an agent.)

Many of you know of Truman Zanotto, former head of the Psychonauts.  He is one of our kingpins, as is a pyro Milla used to date, whose name escapes me.  (The pyros, always an obstinate bunch, demanded to represent themselves separately.)  (And no, this pyro is not Reinike, the bastard.  Milla has dated, by conservative estimate, at least eight pyros.  Reinike actually got himself detained on some questionable treason charges and is currently rotting in a psychic prison with a psitanium helmet turning his brain into mush.  No great loss, if you ask me.) 

Ford Cruller has also insisted on aiding in our negotiations, though as usual, no one takes him seriously.  Brilliant yet eccentric men are never appreciated in their own time.

And I'm sure all of you want to know about young Razputin Aquato, whom I have not personally spoken to recently, though I have heard some news through Ford.  According to Ford, Razputin has placed himself as something of a "right-hand man" to an up-and-coming psychic by the name of Gabe Dunn.  Gabe is no acquaintance of mine; in fact, he is a fluke, who, like me, was born to a non-psychic family and was unaware of the existence of others until he was well into adulthood.  Gabe caught us on the tail end of our collapse; almost immediately after finding the agency, he was running from it.  Along the way, it seems, he "bumped into" Razputin, who is at a similar frequency to him.

(They are both astral projectionists, meaning their "primary" skill is the ability to project themselves into the minds of others.)

Razputin, with all his normal plucky charm, informed Gabe that he too was a fluke, and he too was "new" to the agency, and that he too had no psychic family, though he did have a "sweet deal" at a circus where the two could go into hiding.

And so he dragged Gabe off to hide out with his little gypsy family in the middle of the woods.  And the two struck up a great friendship.  And when negotiations began, both Razputin and Gabe just had to put their two cents in.  (I like to imagine the conversation Razputin had with his father about this; a conservative, protective man, I am sure he understood the danger of allowing his son to reappear in the psychic community.)

Razputin, with his fame of being the youngest Psychonaut agent and one of the foremost astral projectionists of the agency, was received with open arms and helped Gabe to get some publicity in return; Gabe, unlike Razputin, does not have age as a barrier to achieving power.

According to Ford, both are enjoying basking in fame and glory as the agency rebuilds itself.  "Struttin' around like roosters in a canary cage," was how he worded it, I believe.

Admittedly I am miffed, since if I recall, Razputin was my protege, not Gabe's, and it was I, not Gabe, who aided Razputin in learning to properly astral project.  But apparently even if there is less than a 5% chance that outdated equipment might scramble a child's brain in an unauthorized lab test, it's "cruel" and "unusual" and "not worth the risk."  Also, I would like to point out that if I hadn't trained Razputin when I did, despite everyone's objections that he was "too young" and I didn't have "parental consent" and that Germans conducting experiments on gypsies was a "touchy area," Razputin would have never had the opportunity to save our consciousnesses from another deranged counselor.

(And no, I don't believe slipping experimental drugs into his coffee helped expedite his insanity.  Everyone knows Morry was already insane.  I was only helping.  Not my fault in the slightest.  Besides, he made a full recovery.  No lasting brain damagkfl,glf,

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amage.)

Hopefully this update on the political situation and Razputin's whereabouts will do until I have time fo something more personal.  I imagine I'll see Raz and Gabe together when I eventually return to the agency.  Perhaps he'll remember who his REAL mentor is when I reappear, and lose this Gabe character.  While I'm sure Gabe is charming, I doubt he lacks the outdated and dangerous equipment I do, let alone the blatant disregard for Razputin's wellbeing.  You can hardly coddle a child and then expect them to save the world.

~ Sasha