Play@YSDC

As one of the masculine silhouettes steps up onto the helicopter, he materializes more fully into view, far more young and spry, with an intelligent glint in his eye, he can't help but regard the older self that now appears human before him and than his gaze moves onto Sarah. Before he can truly react to her, however, he doubles over in pain, as the older Lionel's lip twitches into a smile.

Behind him, a woman in 1940s dress and hair style solidifies, as does Jill, and a man with a military-style hair cut who stands beside her. These can now interact with the helicopter without issue.

Daniel Blackworth sits in the cockpit near Stephen who mans the controls.

OOC,Spot Hidden for any who want to spend a turn regarding him or Stephen

OOC,Can the others first describe their position and give a brief description? Can all those who haven't rolled initiative, roll it in the Chit-Chat thread? Those who have already rolled, can keep their previous initiative.

ooc,Ronald was looking at the pilot... Spot Hidden : 47 : Pass

Ronald smiles when he sees Agnes.

Agnes!

Then seeing Lionel double over in pain, Ronald tries to support him. He holds his hand out to the crazy Lionel.

Stay back old man! Haven't you seen Time Cop?

Cael just sat in the doorway figitting with the clip in his pistol, dropping the clip out, slapping it back in, dropping the clip out, slapping it back in, his eyes weren't focused on anything in particular but he was looking out into whatever the grey was. He didn't even care that Stephen was about to try and fly this thing.

OOC,Rolled my Initiative before, think it was 19. Also what rewards were you talking about? We get something because we moved to a new chapter?

Sarah rushes to the younger Lionel's side when she sees her father fall in pain. The pretty blonde nurse wears a green fleece overcoat, and she carries a paramedic's kit strapped to her waist and a sack of some sort in a harness on her back. Her eyes are red-rimmed, and she has obviously been doing a lot of crying recently, but there is also a strength within her. She has clearly been through hell, but she remains unbroken. The same cannot be said for the older version of Lionel, who is about as broken as someone can get. There is a glint of madness in his eyes, but also an enduring love for Sarah. He is moving toward his younger self.

For when the round starts,Sorry I went ahead and posted my characters' actions without realizing we weren't supposed to do anything yet. I'll save the text here so I can use it later when the round actually does start. In the meantime, the players shouldn't read it yet. [b]Sarah[/b]'s initiative is 21. Older [b]Lionel[/b]'s initiative is 18. Younger [b]Lionel[/b]'s initiative doesn't matter, as he cannot act. DO NOT READ YET! [spoiler]The older [b]Lionel[/b] suddenly turns on the younger one as he lies helpless on the floor of the helicopter. A scalpel is in his hand, and he lunges at the other [b]Lionel[/b], but [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2042752/]in his maddened state he misses badly[/url]. [color=#00BF00]"Daddy, no!"[/color] cries [b]Sarah[/b]. She doesn't understand why her father's older self is attacking his younger self, but she knows she has to protect him without harming either of them. She whips out her mace in her right hand and her knife in her left in a blur of motion. She [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2034790/]sprays[/url] the older [b]Lionel[/b] in the face. He falls in a quivering, twitching heap to the floor, where [url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2034796/]he will remain for a very long time indeed[/url]. [color=#00BF00]"Nobody hurt him!"[/color] [color=gray]"[b]Sarah[/b], no, you don't understand..."[/color] moans the older [b]Lionel[/b]. [color=gray]"I have to..."[/color] The younger [b]Lionel[/b] writhes in agony.[/spoiler]

Agnes initiative.

Ronald stands up and tries to put himself between the two Lionels.

I said stay back old man!

ooc,Ronald has a strength of 9 so he won't be able to put up much resistance! lol

ooc,Ronald's Init is 18 rolled in the OOC thread

He is moving toward his younger self.

ooc,Sorry Handy... I was talking about Time cop and warning crazy Lionel to not come near younger Lionel before you even mentioned that you were approaching. Then when you said the above quotaion I though a second warning sounded good. I never even read the spoiler until your next post when you said don't read it... Does it not make sense for Ronald to do what he did? I'll take it back if you want though... It's no worries....

OC Sorry, forgot about little Dahlia....her init roll is a 1 so add dex 12 she is sitting at 13. Probably last.

OCC: Charlie's ini = 18

Jill kneels down in front of the two little girls as she tries to buckle them in to the helicopter, unaware of what might be about to happen. "You're both healthy..."

OC I've lost track of where we're at...can u post something of whereabouts, and what is going on. There has been too much banter of what's happening for me to tell. Are we back in the chopper or still on the roof?

OOC,We left the roof a long time ago. The helicopter flew to the library, and we've been communicating indirectly with the people in the other realities. All of us got into the helicopter (including them) because it looked like it was about to take off. Once the characters in the other realities entered the chopper, all of us found ourselves in the same reality and able to interact freely with each other. Now all of the characters are together. Oh, and [b]Louie[/b]'s with us too. Imme hasn't been on the board for a few days, so I'll go ahead and post [b]Sarah[/b]'s action. Then it's [b]Daniel[/b]'s turn (also on 21), and then [b]Brianna[/b] goes on 20.

Sarah rushes to the side of the fallen, younger Lionel. He looks just as she had remembered seeing him this morning, only his head and shoulder have been bandaged and his clothes look worse for the wear. "Daddy!" she cries, kneeling beside him as he writhes in agony. She holds him steady and starts to examine him, trying to figure out what is happening to him and how she can help him. "It's okay, Daddy. I'm here."

Daniel continues to sit a little too stiffly in his chair.

Brianna waves her hands desperately in front of Daniel's face. "DANIEL!!!!" She shouts, then shakes his shoulder. "Why is he just sitting there all spacey like that?" She asks Dahlia, or perhaps no one, as it seems more like a statement than something she expects an answer to.

ooc- Man... I'm lost. i want to jump right back in this, but I got no clue what's going on. What are our goals and what's happening? lol maybe if someone who is on top of it could make a quick recap pm. The last thing I remember, Brianna was aging rapidly and Ronald was being very awkward about it.

Where's Louie... I remember loving to hate that mal adjusted janitor.

What did we learn from the alternate reality conversations.

Weren't we about to have a fight or something? Not that Ronald would fight. he hasn't harmed a soul since day 1 of Ash. He's a motivational singer for sick children for gosh sake.

Someone please explain and then I'll dive right back into this game. I miss my puppet! lol

Occ: i'm here.

Cael looked back at his passengers and at the chaos going on back there. He then glanced towards his copilot, Stephen and nodded. The engines that were sitting on standby began to roar to life as he once again started for take off. "Anyone remember just where the hell were going? Seems like months have passed, strange time warps and all I suppose."

Ronald eyes blaze with gay, gay fire as he realizes he is in the same space with Louie.

I'm not going any where with.... with... with... that janitor!

"That's to damn bad clown boy. Only chose you got is to either throw him out of the chopper or jump yourself." Cael stated in a monotone voice.

Ronald grits his teeth and lowers his head in submission.

Craperjacks!

Then, with all of his 135 pounds of pure Ronald power, he hurls himslef across the helicopter at Louie, slapping and whining at the janitor like a 13 year old girl, tears streaming down his face.

Damn you Louie... This is all your fault! Damn you Louie!

Cael looked back and just shook his head and then banked the chopper down and hard to the left.

OOC,Um...we're still on the ground.

"Ronald, no!" calls Sarah when he flings himself at Louie.

With everyone's attention distracted, Charlie draws a pistol from a holster hidden behind his back. He aims out of the helicopter's still open door and fires a single round into the ground. Being in a semi-enclosed without hearing protection (save perhaps for the pilots), the produced noise is quite painful to the haggard group of individuals currently in the helicopter.

"SIT - the fuck - DOWN." he yells with a heavy american accent, clearly enraged.

"The next one that starts a fight, or comes too close to Jill, I'm putting a bullet between his eyes." Charlie says loudly as he slams his clenched fist down on bench he's sitting on. His knuckles have gone white.

"Do you've got that?"

(He seems like a person with anger management issues and a short fuse. There is no indication that he isn't being sincere.)

"Don't even try to explain why you're fighting, I simply don't care." he says, with an instability in his voice betraying how tired he is, now averting his eyes "Too much has happened today. Or has it been longer? I don't know. If we are to find what we are supposed to be looking for, we cannot fight eachother."

OOC,Ooh, perfect timing! I'm going to go ahead and post [b]Sarah[/b]'s reaction to what older [b]Lionel[/b] does. Since she held her action and her initiative is 21, she gets to act before anyone but [b]Jill[/b], and I'm going to presume she doesn't intervene. I'll edit if Laraqua (or Imme if she returns) decides otherwise. [b]Agnes[/b], your turn next.

The older Lionel suddenly turns on the younger one as he lies helpless on the floor of the helicopter. A scalpel is in his hand, and he lunges at the other Lionel, but in his maddened state he misses badly.

"Daddy, no!" cries Sarah. She doesn't understand why her father's older self is attacking his younger self, but she knows she has to protect him without harming either of them. She whips out her mace in her right hand and her knife in her left in a blur of motion. She sprays the older Lionel in the face. He falls in a quivering, twitching heap to the floor, where he will remain for a very long time indeed. "Nobody hurt him!"

"Sarah, no, you don't understand..." moans the older Lionel. "I have to..."

Mr. Handy wrote:OOC,Um...we're still on the ground.

OOC: That's ok, don't really care. =)

Cael gets the chopper up as quick as he can and then banks it.

Cael has managed to get the helicopter up a dozen feet in the air before banking it. He comes dangerously close to a tree but manages to bring her up all right. Everyone who wasn't strapped in struggle to keep their footing. The threat is there that if he wanted, he could bank it harder and knock them off their feet. The seats with their safety straps seem very inviting right about now. It's hard to be sure if those seats were there previously or not. Jill flinches at Charlie's words and then strapped herself in. Louie and Ronald are separated by the sudden bank, but Ronald could cross to him with ease. The trouble is the helicopter door is still slid open and there's a risk of being knocked out.

"Cael, be careful!" calls Sarah, her hair whipping back and forth as she looks around. She positions herself between Charlie and the older Lionel to make sure he doesn't shoot him reflexively. "Someone close the doors! Charlie, I need your help with him." She points at the older Lionel with her chin. "Please don't hurt him, but restrain him and strap him in far away from his older self. He's lost his mind. I'm really sorry about this, Daddy, but it's for your own safety. Agnes, can you please help me with the younger one?" She carefully starts to move the younger Lionel to the nearest seat so she can strap him in.

"Sarah..." he croaks, touching her face weakly with his hand. He can't do much else; the agony in his head is too intense.

"I'm going to save you, Daddy...both of you."

"It's the Blinovich Limitation Effect," mutters the older Lionel, rendered helpless by the spray. "I'm sorry, Sarah...I didn't want you to see this, but it's him or me...one of us will die..."

"Daddy, you're not thinking straight. If you kill your younger self, you'll cease to exist."

"No...no time travel..."

"It's like with Brianna, isn't it? There were two of her, but she pulled herself together and they merged into one. Brianna, do you know how you did it? Maybe he can do the same thing. Please, I can't bear for my father to die."

Aidan comes over to help Sarah. "Lionel? How are you feeling? Where does it hurt?"

Agnes try to help the younger one
OOC: First aid?

Cael smirks at Stephen and says over the radio to his passengers in a slightly sarcastic tone, "Oops, my bad. Stick must have slipped. That happens sometimes when your flying a freight train with rotors on top and people in the back are fighting. It's a bit distracting and I get nervous when I know said people have firearms on them."

"The people with guns aint fighting. If they were someone'd be dead right now." Charlie grunted correcting Cael as he got up, holstered the pistol and tried to help Sarah. He did so with fairly little interest in the matter.

Stephen nervously chuckled. "Can't hardly see shit in this ash."

"What's the matter with him?" asked Aidan, trying to awkwardly shove him up onto one of the seats. He looks up at Charlie for help, ignoring Agnes efforts. "We better get him strapped up before there's another jolt. Same with ..." He hesitates. "Other Lionel."

Blackworth simply stares out into the ash. He utters a low-pitched hum that seems to go on breathlessly for far too long.

"My...head..." moans the younger Lionel in response to Aidan's question about where it hurts. Sarah helps Aidan move him gently into a seat and strap him in while Charlie deals with the older Lionel.

"Hang in there, Daddy," says Sarah. "I'm here. Thank you, Aidan and Agnes." She places a hand on her father's forehead as she sits down next to him and straps herself in too. "Someone needs to close that door, but be careful." She examines him carefully, knowing that, while Agnes and Aidan can help, she is the one with the best medical skills here - other than Lionel himself, but neither one of him is going to be of much aid. She can't help but remember finding her mother lying on the floor when she was little and being unable to save her, but now she has the knowledge and training she needs, and she is determined to succeed as she tries to figure out what's wrong with him and how she might treat it. "I saved you before, and I'll do it again."

"Sarah, please don't let me die," sobs the older Lionel, tears streaming down his cheeks from the mace and drool dribbling from his lips.

"I won't, Daddy. I love you so much, and I'm going to save both of you and find a way to make you whole again. Trust me."

"I do, Sarah...I love you too...I know you can do it..."

Agnes tried her best to see what was wrong with Lionel.

Cael nodded an affirmative to Stephen. It was rather difficult to see and that was never good when flying anything. "Think we can trust the instrument panel at least? I know this bird isn't state of the art but if we have to fly completely blind it'd be nice to know we can trust our panel."

"I don't really know if we have a choice," said Stephen.

Between Agnes and Sarah's efforts, all they seemed able to do was position Lionel so that he wasn't in so much pain. Perhaps some decent pain killers could help but at the moment, his pain seems to have no actual, legitimate cause.

"This isn't making any sense," says Sarah. "You should be healthy, Daddy. You're burning up, and your eyes are bloodshot with constricted pupils, and your skin is dry, but there doesn't seem to be a medical reason for it. It has to be because the other you is here. Maybe if we could separate you."

"No good," muttered the older Lionel from across the helicopter. "Too late for that. I could never bear to be apart from you again anyway, Sarah."

"Maybe there's another me out there somewhere too, but I've never heard of anything like this. Well, if we can't separate you, we have to join you. Brianna, please try to remember how you did it. That happened after our mind-meld, so I have no way of knowing. Daddy, try to concentrate on becoming one and joining with your other self." Sarah squeezes the younger Lionel's hand.

"I'm...trying..." he managed, focusing his will on fusing with his other self. This situation was alien to him as well.

"Both of you."

"I'm trying too," said the other Lionel, as he too concentrated on becoming one with himself. He also had no further knowledge.

"Probably," says Sarah. "He may be permanently older like Brianna is, but I can't see any other choice. I can't think of anything else we can do for him other than some painkillers." She roots through her medical supplies looking for something that will help ease her father's pain.

Sarah finds some decent pain killers. They should provide some temporary relief from any natural physical problems. It's unknown whether they'll help Lionel in his current condition. Still, they're better than nothing.

Ronald almost shits himself when Charlie points the gun at him. He pauses mid-girly slap before being thrown away from Louie. He quickly straps himself into the helicopter but not before ensuring Brianna is safe and strapped in as well.

Ronald can't bare to look at Louie without crying so he doesn't. His mood perks suddenly, however, when he notices Agnes.

"Look Brianna! It's Agnes!" Nervously Ronald lifts Brianna's hand in the air and in his best Grover voice calls over to Agnes waiving Brianna's hand furiously trying to make someone smile.

He then stops the waving and looks curiously towards Blackworth.

What the H-E- double hockey sticks is that humming?

Hi Agnes! Hi Agnes! Yaaaaaaaaaay!!!

"It was freaky seeing him appear in front of us," says Sarah as she administers the proper dosage of painkillers. "It was Brianna who brought him - the older Brianna. The younger Brianna hadn't known that she was the one who had taken him away, and it really hurt her to lose him. Then later she brought her younger self the same way, and they merged into one person."

The younger Lionel smiles weakly and tries to wave at Ronald and Brianna. "I...missed...you..." he manages.

"Brianna is able to...do amazing things. I don't know how, but I wish I did. Brianna, please try to remember how you did it. I don't know if there's anything else I can do for him. And somebody please close the bloody door."

"So far it's not working," says the older Lionel, still trying to mentally join with his other self and helpless from the mace. "Please, Sarah, I'm dying! Brianna...maybe you're the only one who can do it. Maybe you have to do to me what you did to yourself."

Louie had been standing there, at a loss for himself, but he manages to stumble over to the door and pull it along its rail until it was shut. Then, without speaking, he goes over to one of the seats, belts himself in, and doesn't speak. He just stares at his hands.

Blackworth's humming gets louder. It seems completely off-key and there's absolutely no rhythm to it.

"Thank you, Louie," says Sarah. She glances over at Annie. "Do you know why Daniel's humming like that? Is he all right?"

Ronald crosses his arms and rolls his eyes. Being a flaming motivational children's singer, Ronald wasn't used to sarcasm but he thought he'd try it on for size.

Yeah thanks Louie.... Way to close the door! Yaaay for janitors!

Ronald shakes his head and turns his attention back to Sarah and the others. He holds Brianna's hand a little too tightly as he holds in his anger for Louie.

Umm! I don't know what you want from Brianna, but you can just keep those Lionel's away from her. I love the old man. I really do, past and present... but Brianna's had a long day. You can't expect her to do anything but sleep and cry as far as I'm concerned. I'm not letting anyone put her in danger again. You got that everyone!

Ronald looks around the chopper and tries his gayest to act tough. He quickly averts his eyes when they meet with Charlie. Guns and threats made him very nervous... He finishes off his near-tough stare with Louie and thinks dastardly thoughts. Mostly about puppets mind you... but nasty thoughts nonetheless.

Damn you Louie...Damn you....

Louie seems to be staring at the floor throughout this. He says nothing.

Ronald considers lunging at Louie again but remembers Charlie's gun. He sharts just the tiniest bit in his pants before giving up the thought and returns his attention to Agnes, Sarah and the Lionels.

"Ronald....I need to help Lionel! What do you mean 'leave him alone'...he could die!" Brianna howls, "I don't remember Lionel...I really don't. The only reason I got back was because I missed Ronald so much. " She looked dubious for a moment and her eyes flickered over the group. "Try to remember something from then...like connect the two times in your brain maybe..."

Brianna's eyes roam over Louie's and she can feel her face going red when she hears Ronald talking about her. If only he knew how much she'd like to kick Louie in the place that hurts boys MOST....but she knew better than to try it with Sarah on the watch. How could he leave her in the basement

Ronald pats Brianna on the back.

Yeah! maybe if they both concentrate on the same memory or something. Something they both shared, young and old. If the Lionels can focus long enough on one thing... I bet that would work.

C'mon Old man. Remember that time in the bomb shelter. I tried so hard to cheer everyone up..... Brianna rememebr the song about the Belugas.

Ronald pulls out his Banjo and plucks a few cords and looks around the helicopter.

If you know the words you can join in gang! Even you Louie...

Damn you Louie!

Ronald picks up his banjo and begins...


Baby beluga in the deep blue sea,
Swim so wild and you swim so free.
Heaven above and the sea below,
And a little white whale on the go.

Baby beluga, baby beluga,
Is the water warm? Is your mama home,
With you so happy?

Way down yonder where the dolphins play,
Where you dive and splash all day,
Waves roll in and the waves roll out.
See the water squirting out of your spout.

Everybody!

Ronald pauses for effect waiting for anyone to join him. He looks at the two Lionels, hoping for some sign that the shared memory might kick in.

Brianna sings along as well,

Baby beluga, oo baby beluga...

She giggles. Weren't we just singing this song yesterday?

"Do you remember Lionel?" She whispers, before taking up the song again.

Dahlia crawls next to Blackworth and reaches out for his hand. She stares quizzically at his face and tries to understand his rambling and humming, but it's hard.

"Are you ok?" She asks him simply.

OC Psychometry rolled a 23 on darkandmoody.com

"Thank you, Brianna, that must be it!" says Sarah. "Daddy, what could connect both times for you?"

"Brianna..." says the younger Lionel.

"That's right!" says the older Lionel. "Brianna, you were always my constant. And I missed you so much, Sarah. I have to pull myself together for you."

"Try singing along, then, both of you - just like back in the bomb shelter."

The older Lionel nods. "There was also Big Rock Candy Mountain. That's the song Ronald was singing when the boundary between both times blurred. We'll try that one next."

The younger Lionel nodded weakly. "Yes...I saw through your eyes then. I saw Dahlia and the ash."

"We were in the chemistry lab. Brianna was there too."

Both Lionels close their eyes and sing in unison as they think about Brianna being there, that time in the bomb shelter, and about how much they missed Sarah, and they concentrate on breaking down the barrier between them and becoming one so that they can stay with her. "Is the water warm, is your mama home, with you so happy?"

Dahlia stood next to Daniel and held his hand, murmuring to him lightly. "What do you see Daniel? What is it?" She closed her eyes and concentrated, and fell into a zone, appearing to have been pulled far away from where she stood. The pair of them for a moment became very quiet and Dahlia's face contorted into a pained and terrified expression. "What is that!" She shouted suddenly, her face pulling into a fierce grimace. "It's staring at me....what is it Daniel!" She squeezed his hand tight and yelped a bit, as though fighting a demon only they could see.

The flash was there, and then gone, and she opened her eyes quickly after and sucked in a deep breath. "You guys.....it's awful!" She shouted to the rest, relaxing her hand and slumping down next to Daniel to the ground, resting her head in her hands. "The ash....its a monster....there's a monster hiding in it!"

OC Sanity rolled a 7, pass,Sanity lost 3

"What did you see, Dahlia?" asks Sarah, concerned. "Was it the Hound...or something else? Either way, we need to fly away from here fast! There are only two locations that we need to visit. They're on the laptop over there." She points out the one that older Lionel had brought onto the helicopter. "If you bring it to Cael, maybe he can work out how to get to them. One of them is the hospital, but several of us are not eager to go back there...myself included. The other is some house somewhere. I'm not sure where it is, but maybe the computer will have the information. We've never been there before, so we should check it out and see what we can find. Maybe it's the house where the Sleeper Device was found."

Both Lionels continue to sing and concentrate: "When it's dark, you're home and fed.
Curled up snug in your waterbed.
Moon is shining and the stars are out.
Good night, little whale, good night."

"I don't feel anything happening yet," says the older Lionel. "Ronald, Brianna, we need to sing Big Rock Candy Mountain. That's what you were singing when it happened before. I used to sing it to Sarah when she was little. Remember, Sarah?"

"I remember, Daddy," says Sarah wistfully. She puts an arm around the younger Lionel and helps support him.

"Singing songs in a hour like this? So they become one? This is really strange!"-thinks Agnes.

Blackworth rises abruptly from his seat and stares out through the helicopter window. His face is slack, expressionless, his breathing slowed. The ash outside seems to swirl thickly around the helicopter, buffeting it, making it difficult to steer. Inside the helicopter, the air is cold and thin.

"Cael, get us out of here!" cried Sarah, clutching her father's hand.

"Brianna, Ronald, we have to sing," says the older Lionel. He and the younger one start singing a new song, and Sarah sings along and joins them: "On a summer day in the month of May a burly bum came hiking
Down a shady lane through the sugar cane, he was looking for his liking.
As he roamed along he sang a song of the land of milk and honey
Where a bum can stay for many a day, and he won't need any money "

As the Lionels sing, they remember being in the bomb shelter and how they had felt, their sorrow at losing Brianna and their joy at being reunited with her. They think about how they had missed Sarah so much, and how delighted they are to have her back at last. They remember the good times they had raising her, singing this song to her. Sarah also concentrates on trying to join both versions of her father together, recalling how she had saved him when he was at the cinema and from the Hound, the comfort he had been to her after she had failed to save her mother, and all the wonderful times they had had together when she was growing up.

Ronald's eyes widen with terror as the Ash begins to encircle the helicopter. He cries and whimpers squeezing Brianna's hand.

Close your eyes Brianna

Still, He was a motivational children's singer and these children needed motivating.

Ronald sings in a croaky whiney voice, praying that Cael could pilot them through this nigthmare.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains there's a land that's fair and bright
Where the handouts grow on bushes and you sleep out every night
Where the boxcars are all empty and the sun shines every day
On the birds and the bees and the cigarette trees
Where the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

Sarah grins reassuringly at Brianna and Dahlia as she continues singing, remembering a simpler, safer time:
"In the Big Rock Candy Mountains, all the cops have wooden legs
And the bulldogs all have rubber teeth and the hens lay soft-boiled eggs
The farmer's trees are full of fruit and the barns are full of hay"

"Sing along, Brianna," says the older Lionel. "Only you can do this. I need your help!" He and the younger Lionel keep up with the song:
"Oh I'm bound to go where there ain't no snow
Where the rain don't fall, the wind don't blow
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains "

Brianna sings along, squeezing her eyes shut in determination. If Ronald thought that was for the best, then so be it.

She reaches out and grasps both Lionel's hands while she sings.

Dahlia starts screaming in a terror filled voice, "The ASH IT'S A MONSTER!!!!! IT'S A MONSTER INSIDE IT!!!!" She claws at the walls of the helicopter madly.

"Don't be afraid, Dahlia," says Sarah. "Cael will fly us out of here, and I'll protect you from the monster until we get away from it, just like I protected you from the Hound. You can sit on my lap if you like."

Both Lionels close their eyes too, reassured by Brianna's hands and the sound of her voice. The younger Lionel is still in pain, though the painkillers and the presence of those he loves are helping him. They continue singing the next verse:
"In the Big Rock Candy Mountains, you never change your socks
And little streams of alcohol come a-trickling down the rocks
The brakemen have to tip their hats and the railroad bulls are blind"

ronald starts to cry....

Please help us!

Every so often he chimes in sobbing with another verse of Big Rock Candy Mountain.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains the jails are made of tin.. sniff!... sniff!
And you can walk right out again as soon as you are in
There ain't no short handled shovels, no axes saws or picks... sob!
I'm a goin to stay where you sleep all day
Where they hung the jerk that invented work sniff...
In the Big Rock Candy Mountains. Bwaaaaah!


Oh my god! The horror! Somebody help us for fudge sake!

"Shut up!" Charlie grunts "Let the pilot do his things and PRAY..."

Blackworth turned towards them and held out his arms as though imploring them. His eyes were pits of pure darkness that fluttered away like motes of ash. He grinned, his lips pulling back from his teeth and gums to an inhuman degree, as the yellowed teeth began to pit and crack. "I am what you are and you are what I am. Welcome to becoming me." His voice was harsh, it buzzed and howled in tones not meant for mortal ears, and to hear it brings pain and dizziness.

"Wh-wh-what?!" says Sarah. "Who are you that you say we're becoming, and what have you done with Daniel Blackworth? Are you the being responsible for the sigils? Annie, what's going on?" Sarah has no idea, but she's certain it can't be good.

Both Lionels aren't paying any attention to Daniel. They're busy concentrating on becoming one and humming Big Rock Candy Mountain. "Keep singing," says the older Lionel. "It's working!"

-What is that?- Says Agnes opening her eyes.

Ronald leans on his Banjo and stares in horror at the new Blackworth.

His naive mind couldn't wrap itself around what the black eyed spookey demi god was talking about. But it scared the beejesus out of him.


Oh my g... What do you want from us?

Charlie shifts his weight, wieldly eyeing everyone in turn. He fails to comprehend what is going on...

Blackworth throws back his head and screams so hard the helicopter shakes from the vibrations. Pain blossoms behind your eyes, the sound setting your teeth to chatter. Ash pours out from Blackworth's mouth, first in a trickle, than in a rush.

"The powder!" cries Sarah, grabbing her sack and dousing Blackworth - or what's left of him - with some of the powder, which gets all over him without any of it missing. "Use the powder!"

Dahlia squeals in horror and backs away from Blackworth slowly.

The thing! It's got him now! How can we save him! It's the monster in the ash...it won't let him go!

"The powder might get rid of it and set him free!" says Sarah. "Throw some of it at him!"

OOC,[b]Dahlia[/b] still has seven doses of powder left in her bag. [b]Sarah[/b] now has five after the one she just threw. There are six other full bags of powder held by various characters. Laraqua, did the powder have any effect? If so, we're all going to need to roll Sanity again.

Ronald is so scared and with nowhere left to run he grows weak in the knees and vomits.

OOC,I believe [b]Ronald[/b] does have a sack of powder, by the way. Of course, that won't help him if he lacks the backbone to use it. :P

The two Lionels try to ignore the chaos aruund them, continuing to sing and to focus on becoming one. He no longer thinks of himself as "they." He knows he has to pull himself together so that he can continue to live and be there for Sarah, and nothing else matters to him at the moment.

Blackworth's flesh bubbles as the powder bit into him. His eyes escape the sockets in a thick black ash that pours free and gushes toward Dahlia.

Sarah's relief when the monster leaves Daniel's body turns to horror when she sees it going after Dahlia. "No!" she screams, trying to interpose herself between it and Dahlia. "Get away from her, you BITCH!" In desperation, she pours the entire contents of her sack on the eyes in the ash, causing significant damage to them. "Pour some powder on her too!"

OOC,I strongly suggest that everyone else who has a sack of powder uses it now (particularly [b]Dahlia[/b], but don't forget that [b]Cael[/b], [b]Ronald[/b], and [b]Brianna[/b] have it too, as do [b]Annie[/b] and [b]Phil[/b]. [b]Daniel[/b] has a sack too that someone who doesn't have one might be able to pick up, but I'm not sure if there's enough time to also fling some. Someone pouring powder on [b]Dahlia[/b] as a precaution to keep it off of her would be helpful too. I'm not sure if [b]Sarah[/b] is actually able to get between the eyes and [b]Dahlia[/b], as both of us are strapped in and I'm not sure where we're sitting in relation to each other. Do we all need to roll Sanity for seeing the powder work?

Ronald grabs Brianna by the shoulders and moves her away from the group into the back of the helicopter trying to usher her away from the black Ash.

Somebody land this crazy whirly-bird so we can get the H-E- Double Hockey Sticks out of here!

Charlie doesn't understand what he's seeing. His mind basically shuts down to protect his sanity. He simply sits there, staring blankly in front of him.

Blackworth jerks around to face Cael, Blackworth's head flopped to one side like his neck's broken, as the ash rips open his throat and chest. He lunges forward as though jerked on invisible strings, flesh stripping from the fingers, the bones sharpening an edge like claws. He lashes out with one such hand, striking across Cael's throat, narrowly missing a major artery.

OOC: Cael must roll under Stamina x 5 to continue controlling the helicopter while being attacked. Everyone may post when ready as there's a good chance that we've lost a few players. I will wait until all posts are in before I respond. If there are any contradictory actions, then the player with greater initiative is assumed to go first.

The effects of Sarah's attack with the powder is immediate. The eyes turn to misty vapor and even the ash itself seems to disappear, leaving a trail of free and unsullied air. Where the dust lands, the ash sizzles, leaving streaked ground beneath it. Strangely, the floor seems brighter and cleaner where the ash has landed. It's still damaged and dirty but the contrast is incredible.

OOC: I don't see Stamina on my character sheet. Is it Conx5? I'll roll that hoping that's it as I don't want to slow things down.
1d100 → [66] = (66) I needed a 70 or lower.


Cael's hand instantly shot to his throat as he did his best to keep the bird up one handed. If it were a smaller chopper it might not have been so difficult but being the attack chopper that it was it was like flying a freight train. "Someone get this fucker away from me or we're all dead!"

Sarah has no time to relax after saving Dahlia, as now the ash appears to have turned Blackworth into one of those zombies. She winces when he slashes Cael, dropping her now-empty sack. She recalls the sickle-like blade that he had found and given her which seemed to have some power over the zombies, and she whips it out and holds it up, thrusting it in Blackworth's direction. In her left hand she holds her combat knife, ready to use it if the blade doesn't work, though she'd much rather have more powder. It had done a lot of damage to the monster already. "Stop!" she commands. "Back off!! Aidan, get your blade out too. And we need more sacks of powder up here, everyone! Daddy, keep up what you're doing. We've got this one!"

The Lionels each held one of Brianna's hands and continued singing Big Rock Candy Mountain, maintaining his concentration and confident in Sarah's abilities.

OOC,If this doesn't work, can I still attack? Can I take a sack of powder from someone? You may need to PM the other players, and some waiting will probably be needed. At this time of year DSIGFUSS is buried in raspberries, but once that's over I'd hope he'd be back. Trixie has been gone for a few weeks, but I can't see her staying away, and if we're really lucky she'll bring Piano man back to reprise his role as [b]Louie[/b]. SuAside has been away for a couple of weeks too. Imme seems to have left the boards.

OOC: Sweet! =)

Cael took his hand away from his neck and instantly could feel the blood seeping out rapidly but he wasn't about to panic yet, not with all the combat missions under his belt and this wasn't the first time he had a hostile aboard his bird... so okay, it was the second time and the other had been a human with his hands tied in front of him for some unknown reason. Then it was just a quick rope around his neck for maybe two seconds before the hostile became airborne on his own. This time was different but Cael as usual kept his cool. "Hold on!" Cael yelled as loud as he could. He grabbed his boot knife, the hilt slick with blood and popped up out of his seat making sure to knock the flight stick forward so that the chopper gave a sudden, violent jerk forward and started to rapidly dive. His intention... to throw the thing out the front window.

Everyone Mr. Handy

Sarah tries to take control of what's left of Blackworth, but the mind of the being she's up against is just too powerful for her alone. "Aidan, help me hold him still with your blade!" she calls. "Together we might be able to do it!"

OOC,If [b]Aidan[/b] helps, does his POW stack with mine, or does he make his own roll? I looked at his character sheet from Chapter One, and he has a POW of 12. If we stack, that gives us a combined POW of 27, which would make the above roll a success if it stacks. [b]Brianna[/b] was holding [b]Lionels[/b]' hands before. [b]Ronald[/b] then tried to pull her to the back, but I think she's strapped in too. It will probably take more than a few days for certain of our players to return, as I mentioned in some of the above posts.

Unfortunately, Aidan's about to pull an interesting manuevre so he won't be able to assist you in any other way. Hopefully it lays out Blackworth at the very least (he's unlikely to shatter the window, at the very least). No, his POW can't stack with yours. It's your individual mental might the weapon is channeling. You get another chance on the next turn but each chance strips a single point of Sanity - maybe more if you make the connection! As far as I'm aware, Pianoman isn't about to return. I'll give it a week then. I'm not sure how many will return.

With everyone moving into action, Ronald races close to Brianna's side and tries to buckle her back into her seat, screaming at the top of his lungs like a maladjusted teen on the verge of crossing that sketchy line between childhood and post adult fury. He sounds like an out of tune xylophone mated with a mallard of some description.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!

OOC: I'm back!

Agnes was horrified with what she saw, but the she decide to act: she took her shoe and tried to smash it in the creature face.

Jill just sits in her chair and screams as Blackworth comes apart in front of her and the others spring into action. Aiden backs up to the rear of the helicopter and stares at Blackworth in shock. If his mind hasn't broken, it looks close to it.

"Can someone do something about that madman?" snaps Stephen.

Louie unstraps himself and rushes toward Blackworth. "Leave them alone!"

Brianna was sure she'd never heard that sound out of Ronald before....was there a harmonica stuck in his throat? It was all so weird. Oddly enough she was a little stunned anyways. She sat back calmly while Ronald fumbled with the belt over and over again while making that horrible duck sound. She tried not to giggle. It really wasn't an appropriate time for snickers....I mean she was scared too but perhaps the craziness of the day was just sending her a little over the edge.

She couldn't help it.....she was giggling madly before she knew it, snorting a little because it just all of a sudden seemed so funny. It shouldn't be, but she must be caught in some sci fi movie and would wake up any minute......any time now.....

OC How far away is Dahlia from Blackworth? Is she close enough to approach him?

Dahlia tries to wriggle her hand free from Sarah, and approaches Blackworth meekly.

"It all happened so fast for you didn't it?" She inches her way forward with powder at the ready, tossing it in handfuls at the man she once idolized.

"What's happening to him?" She asks louder of the adults, and turns on her heel to run back when she's satisfied the big cloud of powder has caught target.

OC Not sure what kind of roll here to make....

OC I meant to wriggle free from the looming adults, but yes throw is a needed roll

A sweet one at that

Ronald gathers his wits and watches in shocked horror as the child gathers the nerve to attack the thing now taking shape in the helicopter. If he had the guts to even approach the writhing figure he'd pull Dhalia aside and give the girl a sing song lesson she would soon not forget. He grips tightly onto Brianna's arm and looks down at his charge.

Do not even think of it Brianna.

The helicopter pitches forward as Dahlia's dust is flung over Blackworth, dousing him in whitish powder, and causing an explosion of ash and crackling sparkles that etches itself into the mind.

OOC: Yep, time to roll SAN at 1d6 / 1d20! You'll understand why if you fail enough to go temporarily insane. Everyone standing must make a Dex x 1 roll to grab something as the helicopter pitches forward. If you fail to do so, take 1d6 damage. On the plus side, if you're knocked unconscious, you don't need to worry about that SAN check!

Sarah has seen enough in the past day or so that she is completely jaded, and she is only slightly affected from seeing the explosion that seems to tear a hole in reality - If it is real, she thinks. She is thankful that she is strapped in, as even with her remarkable agility she would have been hard pressed to stay on her feet.

Both Lionels are likewise still strapped in. The sane one manages to shield his mind somewhat, but he is still badly shaken. Though he had his eyes closed, the explosive flash still sears into his vision and he understands at last what his other self seems to have known all along.

OOC,Does [b]Sarah[/b]'s critical success at her Sanity roll mitigate her Sanity loss in any way? [b]Lionel[/b] is now temporarily insane, presuming that having his eyes shut does not mean the Sanity check is not required for him. If this is Mythos-related, and I think it is, he also gains 5 points of Cthulhu Mythos,

OOC Dahlia fails her sanity
Sanity loss 16, makes it currently 39 ouch

Sorry can you clarify the dex roll, is it on a 20 side? Dahlia's dex is 12

OC Thanks Handy, and yes that sheet has been updated every time. I only show the most recent update. Idk what you do on yours, if you show every incident and every update somewhere. I always go in and edit when something happens.

As Dahlia throws the powder and the helicopter pitches to one side, she's knocked off her feet and falls back. She lands squarely on her backside, and rubs it sorely, looking quite ticked.

What she's seen after throwing the powder is just too much for her little 8 yr old mind to take. She starts screaming in fitful terror.

"EEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

OOC So she only lost 2 HP, Idk if her HP currently is 5 or 7, I don't remember getting any back so Laraqua will have to answer that one.
She's conscious, so I guess the sanity loss from my earlier post still applies. I'll update my sheet. On an idea roll of 92 (50) she is scratching mythical bugs out of her eyes and tearing her hair from the roots. YAY hahaha

OC Brianna's sanity roll, I rolled a 13, she loses 2

"Oh my gawwwwd Ronald!!!! I just wanna go hooooome!" Brianna howls.

Ronald lurches forward as the Helicopter takes a wicked turn, grazing his shoulder on one of the chopper's cushioned seats.(rolled a 67, 1 damage )

ooc- http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2682936/

The happy go lucky motivational children's singer wished he would have hit his head though as he stares up with unadultured fear at the man turned to so many flecks of ash and fire. He manages to keep his wits however and makes his best attempt to shield Brianna from the unfolding horror. ( Lost 4 sanity )

ooc- http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2682939/

ooc- Ronald rolled an 8 for his sanity check. Is that a critical success or do you need 01-05. sorry can't remember the critical rules.

Cael wraps his arm through one of his safety restraints and tries to grab and throw any infected out through the chopper's main window.

Agnes get in shock with what she sees. She starts to crack slowly, and painflully.

OOC,Ouch, losing 7 sanity is bad!

ooc - Nope! Ronald rolled 4 for his Sanity loss. (in my rolls)

"Dahlia!" cries Sarah. She puts her blades away, gently picks up the girl, and sits with her in her lap, hugging her tight. "It's okay, sweetie, it's over now thanks to you. You were so brave, Dahlia, and I'm so very proud of you. You did it!" Her reassuring words help put Dahlia at ease. "It might have been better if you'd stayed in your seat to do it, but I can make it all better. Agnes, Jill, please see what you can do for Cael and Ronald. I'll be over to help when I can." Sarah expertly puts ointment on Dahlia's cuts and bruises, applies an ice pack, and generally makes her as good as new. When she is done, she kisses Dahlia's forehead. "There, all better now." She has no idea what they just fought and defeated, but she is relieved that it is finally over. She feels an intense sorrow at the loss of Daniel and tries to think of what she could have done to prevent it, but she can't come up with anything.

OOC,Does [b]Dahlia[/b] still have the 2 damage on her from back in Chapter One, or has that since been healed? If not, I'll get that next. Also, what does [b]Lionel[/b] understand about what just happened due to his insanity?

Cael waves away any help, "Bugger off. Its nothing but a scratch." He takes over the main pilot's seat and looks at his co-pilot. "You ready to for this shit man? I am so looking forward to hitting the LZ except... where the hell are we going man!" Oh shit! Where am I flying to!"

"There are only two places showing on that laptop," says Sarah. "There's Mercy Cross Hospital, but I know a lot of us don't want to go back there, at least not without a very good reason. The other place is someone's house. I don't know anything about it, but none of us have been there and I think we should check it out."

"Someone's house? Man I hope they have a strong roof because landing a gunship like this is gonna freaking destroy it! I say we put a few missiles through it instead... Waaaaiit a moment." Cael stated and then paused rubbing his chin, one hand on the stick. "I'm flying a gorram gunship and... Oh yeah!" That said, Cael began flipping switches with little red safety covers on them.

"Let's search the house for survivors and clues first, 'kay?" says Sarah. "I know you want to nuke the site from orbit, but that won't help any. And you are hurt bad. I'll sew you back together once I'm sure the girls and Daddy are all right."

Ronald continues to console Brianna and then calls out.

Kimminy Crickets! We're not going back to that hospital for H-E Double hockey sticks sake and if we land at the house we better leave this whirly bird running.

Cael turns and looks at Ronald before answering Sarah, "Don't worry Ron... I have missiles. That hospital won't stand a chance!" He then looked at Sarah and said, "I know typically blowing up the place where you met the person you fell in love with is considered bad forum but I believe in this case it might just be an expression of love." He then turned his head back around to see where he was going, grabbed a cigarette and lit it leaving it hanging from the corner of his mouth. With his right hand free he began sticking his finger into his wounds mumbling about how that weren't that bad.

We can blow up the hospital?

Ronald thinks for a second.

What if that's where it all started? The temple in the basement... the ghosts of the children? I'm ll for it... but what if thats the only way to stop all this?

"We are sure as shit going to find out clown boy! If you want I'll even let you fire a few missiles." Cael points to the red safety covers that are in the up position and says, "All ya gotta do is flip these nice shiny chrome switches and there's roaring noise and big explosions! Hot damn its fun! Quickest way to hard on to orgasm that I know of man!"

"But all those people we left in the hospital!" says Sarah. "They could still be alive in there! What about Leroy, and Joel, and the others? We can't blow them up! I doubt blowing up the hospital would solve the problem, either. That secret temple or whatever is underground. I don't know if a one-ton bomb would crack it, and we don't even have one of those. That place survived the Blitz. The Luftwaffe didn't manage to destroy it, and this gunship won't manage it either, modern though it is."

"It carries missiles - small rockets - that can pack as much firepower as the bombs the Luftwaffe rained on London in your time," says Sarah. "I don't know if they would fully destroy the hospital, but they could do a lot of damage. It's so good to finally meet you, Agnes. We haven't been properly introduced, but I'm sure Daddy told you about me. I'm Sarah Carpenter, Lionel's daughter." She finishes treating Dahlia, leaving her good as new. She places her back in her seat and straps her in. "I'm so sorry about Daniel, but there was nothing else we could have done. He was already gone before we threw the powder at him. But he's not gone forever. There's another Daniel, a younger Daniel who hasn't experienced all these horrors and still has his wits about him, the one Daddy, Brianna, Ronald, and Agnes met during the Blitz. I have to go help the others now, Dahlia, but I'm here if you need me. I'll always be there for you, for the rest of my life." She hugs her one more time before she gets up and heads over to Brianna, tilting her chin up and smiling at her. "Hang in there, Brianna. I'm here for you too. Don't worry, we're not going back to the hospital." Then she puts her hands on the Lionels' shoulders, one on each. Both of them were still humming "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and holding Brianna's hands. "We're all right, Daddy. The threat is over now, thanks to Dahlia. Nobody's hurt too badly, and I'm putting them right. Keep pulling yourself together." However, they didn't even seem to hear her.

OOC,If [b]Dahlia[/b] wasn't back up to 7 HP before, she is now.

Cael barfs a little in his mouth at all the "feelings" being thrown around behind him.

The Lionels each take hold of one of Sarah's hands with his free hand while singing the song and continuing to concentrate on becoming one. The younger Lionel isn't sure exactly what happened, but he does have some insights. The older Lionel, however, knows something more about it. When he finishes the current verse, he speaks. "That was the thing that turned everyone to ash," he says. "It did the same thing to poor Daniel. It's intelligent, and it wants to find something. It wants us to find something for it. It's using the ash to do it. The cinemaplex, across from the hospital! We were safe from the ashing wave there, when it started. No ash got inside. It couldn't find us there for some reason. I wonder why. Then I ended up in the Blitz. It spoke to my mind there, in the hospital." Then both Lionels release Sarah's hands and resume the song.

"The ash can't get into the cinema?" says Sarah. "Then maybe that's where whatever it's searching for is! No wonder it can't find it. The ash can't get in there - but we can!" She smiles at Agnes. "I wish the circumstances were better too. I know this must be confusing for you. It's been confusing for me too. Let's see how Ronald is getting on." She examines his bruises and treats them in short order. "There you go, Ronald. I know you're afraid, but you don't have to be. I was bloody terrified of everything before, and I was rubbish at everything I tried to do. I just kept running and screaming and somehow managed to stay alive because other people were protecting me. But then my fears almost got Brianna killed. I thought she did die, and it broke me. But after that I wasn't afraid any more. I couldn't afford to be. I stood up that monster that went after my father, and I saved him. I saved Dahlia, too. Remember, Brianna's counting on us." She moves to the cockpit, where Cael sits. "All right, cowboy, you're up next. No arguments."

"Unless you plan on sitting in my lap... its just going to have to wait." He looks over at the co-pilot (never can remember his name.. but that works now) and says in a quieter tone. "I don't trust that bastard. He has shifty eyes and looks like a rat. I'm thinking that I should slit his throat and throw him over board. Two out of three voices say its a good idea but the voice that doesn't is the loudest. So for now... I have to keep my eyes on him. The wound is only skin deep, leave it until we land." Cael stated, took a drag on his cigarette and shot the co-pilot another look of distrust.

Ronald rocks back and forth in his chair mumbling something about cigarette trees and thinking about the last thing that Sarah said. I'm gonna keep running and sreaming until I get me and the kid out of this nightmare...

He then walks up to Cael in the cockpit.

What are you gonna do Cael?

"Do? Do what Ron? Right now I'm gonna fly this bird to the house. I don't remember if I'm supposed to blow it up though." Cael answered the best he could.

OOC,The co-pilot's name is [b]Stephen[/b].

"You're not supposed to blow it up," says Sarah. "And nobody's killing anyone. Cael, you scare me when you talk like that - and I don't scare easily any more." She has no idea what is going on inside his head, but she knew exactly what to say to him. "You don't have to let your demons control you. You're in control of yourself. All of that conditioning that made you a perfect killing machine, you can override it. Your past does not determine your future. You don't have to kill. I know you can be kind, and caring, and loving. I believe in you, Cael. I love you, and Dahlia loves you. You're a good person." She places a hand on his shoulder - the one without the wound. "As soon as we land, I'm treating that wound."

Cael glanced at Sarah over his shoulder, looked at that damn beady eyed co-pilot again and looked forward out the windshield. "Yeah well that may all be true but loving, tree humping Cael isn't the one that's going to safe anyone's ass from all this. Face it Sarah, you and everyone here right now needs the killing machine. You need the man that can blow the balls off a fly at a thousand yards with a 30-06 rifle. All I got to say is you need to keep my sane long enough to keep flying. As long as I keep flying in the sky, its a good day. Reminds me of a show I used to watch." Cael cleared his throat and began to lightly sing to himself.

"Take my love, take my land, take me where I cannot stand. I don't care I'm still free you can't take the sky from me. Take me out to the Black, tell'em I ain't comin' back. Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me. Have no place I can be since I found Serenity, you can't take the sky from me." Cael finished his song and gave a slight chuckle, turned and looked at Stephen, "WHAT THE FUCK YOU LOOKING AT DOUCHEBAG!"

Ronald swings his head to Cael's humming like a gaylord. If he would have gone an ony longer he may just have pulled out his guitar.

That's beautiful Cael. Very rustic.. Is that the Fall Guy? Lee Majors is tops in my book.

Stephen just hunches up his shoulders and keeps doing what he's doing as though hoping that by avoiding Cael's gaze he can avoid any further trouble.

"It's from Firefly," says Sarah, fighting back the tears that came from seeing Cael's mental state. "Cael, I'll keep you sane if anyone can, but you need to understand some things and you need to listen to me. We do not need a killing machine. We need a soldier, and I sincerely hope you can tell the difference. A soldier's first duty is to protect. A soldier only kills according to the rules of engagement. A soldier obeys the orders of his commanding officer. That's me in this case - Lieutenant Sarah Carpenter. A soldier needs to know the difference between friend and foe and how to tell them apart. Everyone here is a friendly, and soldiers do not harm friendlies. This includes Stephen. He's your partner, your co-pilot, and your buddy. You mustn't act the way you're acting towards him." She glances back at Ronald before returning her attention to Cael. "Yes, this also includes Louie. Our enemies are not human. You are not to harm anyone human without permission from me. These are your rules of engagement. And if you aren't sure if something is human or not, you're to ask me and I'll tell you. Is that undestood, Sergeant Major O'Reilly?"

Cael felt his jaw tighten up but remained quiet for a moment. "I was a Sergeant Major in the service, I wasn't a pilot then. As a pilot you are an officer so that makes me at least a lieutenant. Hell if I figure if we're giving ourselves rank, might as well go for officer. However no one likes a damn lieutenant so you have to be a captain at least. I never listened to my lieutenants anyway, plus I was never really good at following orders... Don't say I didn't warn you." He grabbed another cigarette, lit it and blew out a plume of smoke, a big satisfied smile on his face. "I've always been quite rebellious, even before I started going insane."

Ronald eyes bug out momentarily when Sarah orders Cael to mind who he considers friend and foe. Strong women scared the be-jesus out of the motivational children’s singer. So did shy women, and fat women, and red heads…

At the mention of Louie, however, Ronald takes a stand.

I would never hurt anyone Sarah… But I’ll never trust Louie again. That no good dirty janitor is a liar and a thief.

Looking past Sarah straight at Ronald, "So we can kill him. Accidental casualties happen all the time dude!" Cael spun in his seat letting go of the flight stick which caused the chopper to dive suddenly. "You and me Ronny! I'll slap a pistol in your ha... No! Better yet a cutter! Nothing like slicing some fucker up slow and painful like, especially some bitch who deserves it." Cael took a drag on his cigarette, the madness gleaming in his eyes. "Yeah I teach you to kill and bath in the blood of the evil. You'll have some bad ass songs then dude, not this Candyland shit!"

Cael shook his head and coughed, "Say... anyone want to stop for coffee somewhere?"

Ronald stares wide eyed at Cael and terrified to even respond...throws up a little in his mouth.

OOC,What does older [b]Lionel[/b] know from his Cthulhu Mythos critical success? Also, shouldn't [b]Sarah[/b]'s critical success at Psychoanalysis help [b]Cael[/b] not be so crazy? And has anyone let Trixie know that this game is moving again? She hasn't posted here in a while.

"Cael, pull up!" says Sarah. When he rights the helicopter, she continues. "I said no killing! You don't have to trust him, but nobody's allowed to kill him. I'm glad you'd never hurt anyone, Ronald. Neither would I...not ever again." She turns back to Cael. "Well, I have no military experience whatsoever and I made a terrible mistake that bloody nearly got the lot of us killed, so I suppose I'm overqualified to be a lieutenant. Captain it is, then. I don't want to be in charge of all of us, though. My father will be our chief medical officer, Major Lionel Carpenter." She bends down and examines the spot where Daniel had once stood. She picks up his sack of powder and places it in her harness, then picks up the sigil that he had carried within him and looks for any remaining possessions of his that could be useful to the group.

Sarah goes over to where Annie and Phil sit and offers the sigil to Annie. "You've got the other two, so you might as well hold onto this one too," she says. "I'm really sorry about Daniel. We tried our best to save him. I just don't know what else I could have done. Remember, there's another Daniel alive out there, back in the war. He's with the other you. And there's another Morrison, and Jones, and all the others. Everyone you've lost because of me lives on. Annie. you've got the experience, the knowledge, and the skills. You've been dealing with this stuff for years, and this is still my first day. Would you like to be our leader?"

Completely letting go of the flight stick this time and standing up to face Sarah, Cael's expression and eyes were clear of all craziness and actually had fear and wonder. "Wait! You're putting the craziest loon in charge of this all? Are you crazy? He's like the bastard offspring of... of some really old guy who drools on himself and some really strange messed up furry animal character that we're supposed to believe is real but is in actually only a muppet with some guy's hand up its ass controlling it! That's even crazier then letting that dead guy Blackworth stay in charge."

OOC,Oh, you're talking about [b]Lionel[/b]. The puppet reference made me think of [b]Ronald[/b]. [b]Sarah[/b] wasn't offering leadership to [b]Lionel[/b], just making him chief medical officer. She made the offer to [b]Annie[/b].

"Cael, the stick!" says Sarah, pointing. When he takes the controls again, she continues. "Please don't say that about my father. Only one of him went mad. The other is the same as he's always been. Once they merge together, they'll be okay. I wasn't offering him leadership anyway. I think Annie might make a good leader, though." She goes on to speak to Annie.

Cael shrugged and looked at Stephen for not being on the ball when he let go of the stick. "Suppose so. She's as good as any other set of boobs in a uniform." He shook his head, "Nothing personal or sexist about, just bad personal experiences with women in charge during combat situations. It was a woman officer who got me in that whole Russian situation I had told you about."

"I'm sorry," says Sarah."Not all women are the same, though, and she had nothing to do with that. I know how you feel; I was wary of men after...after what one of them did to me."

The Lionels continue to sing and concentrate while holding Brianna's hands. They can feel themselves drifting closer and closer together.

Ronald sighs when she hears that Sarah may have gone through some sort of sexual abuse.

He gently puts a hand on her shoulder to comfort her..



You know Sara.. There's a song I like to sing to the children to help them cope with past abuse and broken homes and such..

He slings his guitar...

There all sort of touching... some good and some bad.
It depend on whose touching and if it makes you feel glad..

There a kiss from your mommy and a hug from your dad.
But sometimes the touching is nothing but baaaaaad!

A bad touch is a touch... that makes you feel scared..
A good touch is a touch that makes you feel cared.

When someone touches you here or here or here..

Say No! Say No! Means No!

When someone touches you here or here or here...

Say Help! Say No! And run run awaaaaay!

Ronald then pulls out his puppet Mickey.



Did someone touch you Sarah? Was it a bad touch? You can tell Mickey...

Sarah blushes and lowers her head. "You might say that," she says, sighing. "It was my ex-boyfriend, Lyle. He was very controlling and possessive, and it took me a while to realize it. When I finally did, I broke it off with him. Then he went off the deep end and started stalking me, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. Finally he got drunk one night, broke into my flat, and...attacked me. I fought him off and tried to run, but I couldn't get away. I...I had to kill him. I didn't want to. I tried to save him, but he was too far gone. That was really the worst part, having to kill him. It's a horrible, awful feeling, and I never want to do anything like it again. I know exactly how Brianna felt when she had to shoot Dr. Sutcliffe. We're so much alike, Brianna and I. Thanks for trying to make me feel better, Ronald."

Cael sighed at what was going on behind him, made him wish he could get out then when Sarah mentioned killing her ex-boyfriend and why, he felt his blood boil. "Hell, I'll kill a man in a fair fight... or if I think he's gonna start a fair fight, or if he bothers me, or if there's a woman, or if I'm gettin' paid - mostly only when I'm gettin' paid. Kill a few people, especially the ones that deserve it, and it becomes as natural as breathin'. Suppose you do anything enough its like that."

Ronald turns Mickey back to face Cael.



That's right Cael. You do anything enough its easy peasy. Including hugs... Do you need a hug Cael?You do know how to hug right? Can I pop your hug cherry Cael?

Cael arched an eyebrow at the puppet, "You wanna see what happens to a puppet when he gets tossed into a helicopter's rotary blades?" He then turned around and added, "All the king's horses and all the king's men wouldn't be able to figure out what all the confetti once was again." With a smile on his face he said, "Never killed a puppet before, can I bust that cherry?" He then turned and looked at Sarah and said in quite a strong tone, "And don't you dare tell me that the god damn puppet is included in the crew roster!"

Ronald holds Mickey tight making sure Cael was in no position to carry out his threat. He then grins at Brianna squeezing her nose.



Private Mickey the Mouth reporting for duty... Operation hug the pilot has failed. I repeat opertion HUGS is a no go. Requesting new orders...

"Cael, you'd horrify Brianna and Dahlia if you did that," says Sarah. "They've been far too traumatized as it is." She turns to the girls. "Don't worry, he's not going to hurt Mickey. He's just very angry right now. I think Mickey should leave the hugging duties to me. I don't think Cael would mind so much if I hugged him."

Stephan does his best to try to keep the helicopter in the air, sweat beads running down his forehead as he just tries to stay focused and stay out of it.

Dahlia bursts out laughing and can't seem to stop. "The.....mickey.....haha....its.....sooo.....hahhahaha.....ooooow!" She holds her sides and begins to turn red, looking like she can't really breathe. Really, honestly, all that fighting was making her nervous, and she hadn't laughed in what felt like forever.

Brianna watches the interaction with a nervousness that seemed to be fitting of a man on a bridge contemplating his last day. She bit her lip anxiously and looked back and forth from Ronald to Cael, then to Ronald, then to Cael. Dahlia's laughing only seemed to annoy her, and while everyone was distracted, she leaned in close to Ronald and whispered in his ear.

See pm

Cael shook his head and looked at Stephen, "Makes you want to jump into the rotary blade yourself doesn't it?"

OOC,Laraqua suggested that you tell me what [b]Sarah[/b] should say to [b]Cael[/b] that would pull him out of this to represent her critical success at Psychoanalysis.

"I knew you'd like Ronald's puppet show, Dahlia," says Sarah with a grin. She sits down across the aisle from Brianna. "I'd been hoping it would cheer you up too, Brianna. You haven't seen it in years, and I know how much you've missed Ronald. Is there anything I can do for you?" She reaches across and takes the free hands of both Lionels, who are still holding Brianna's hands and willing themselves to join together. "And I know how much you've missed me, Daddy. We're together again. And soon you'll be together again, too."

Brianna's face contorts when Sarah starts talking to her, and she tries to wriggle her hands free from Lionel and jump to her feet.

"You're all crazy, you know that right! I hate it here! I want everyone to leave me alone!" She marches decisively to the back of the plane, and sits, slumping her shoulders, and a moment later they can hear her start to sniffle.

Dahlia rolls her eyes and lets out an exhausted sigh. "What a baby!"

She watches as Brianna stomps to the back of the plane, then turns to face Ronald and Sarah. "Well, I thought it was just hilarious Ronald! I really liked your song." She snickers again and tries to stop but can't. Giggling fills the plane and she clutches at her stomach from exhaustion. "OOOOOW!"

Sarah goes to the back of the helicopter and sits down beside Brianna, putting a comforting arm around her. "I'm not crazy, Brianna," she says. "I was a while ago, but I'm better now. I'm trying to help everyone else be sane too, but it isn't easy. Ronald isn't crazy, either. He's just...goofy. His puppet show is how he copes, and how he helps us cope. We've been through some truly horrible things, and we've been hurt badly. This is one of those rare moments when nothing is trying to get us and we have a chance to relax. Like that night in the bomb shelter, the last time he put on a show for you. We need to enjoy ourselves in moments like this, so that we can stay sane. Ronald wants you to be happy. He loves you, you know, and so do I."

Once again Cael let go of the flight stick, causing Stephen to have to take over and stood up and stretched. He walked over to the side door, slid it open and allowed the rush of air to hit him in the face. Holding onto the handle by the door he leaned out as far as he could. If his grip slipped or the handle broke he'd be free falling. Looking down at the ground rushing past, the wind whipping all around him, Cael took in a deep breath and started to exclaim his joy, "Arggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!"

Sarah gives Brianna a gentle squeeze and gets up. "I'm here whenever you need me," she says. Then she makes her way carefully over to Cael, holding on tight to a strap with one hand. With the other she massages his shoulders and back, making sure to avoid aggravating his wound. "All right, let's close it up again. If you don't want to fly the chopper right now, I can patch you up. I know you're hurt even if you won't admit it." She lowers her voice. "Just think about everything you have to look forward to and keep it in mind. We're going to save the world, and when this is all over things will be wonderful." She leans over to his ear and speaks just loudly enough for him to hear over the rushing wind.

Cael,[color=#00BF00]"We're going to get married,"[/color] continues [b]Sarah[/b], [color=#00BF00]"and on our wedding night we're going to stay in the penthouse suite of the Savoy. We'll have the best champagne, and there will be a great big bed where we'll make love for the first time...and the second...and the third...and so on. And there will be a large Jacuzzi, big enough to hold both of us at once. And this little backrub is only the beginning. You won't believe the kind of massage these magic fingers can give you."[/color]

Ronald smiles at Dahlia and joins her in a short giggle to ease the tension. In all honesty though, He had done the whole bit for Brianna. When the little girl had whispered something in her ear he had remained silent.. not answering for fear what it might had meant for the two of them.

Then when Brianna gets up to cry by herself, Ronald watches Sara suspicously as the nurse comforts her. Then Ronald looks around the cockpit until his eyes fall on Louie. A dark thought crosses his mind and he quickly thinks of jelly beans and the like to push it away.

Damn you Louie... Damn you.

ooc- what is Louie doing through all this madness?

Agnes close her eyes and say a prayer in silent. It was all so easy when they were only germans bombing the country!

Cael stops his yelling and swings into the chopper again. He smiles and says back, "You won't be marrying me Sarah, I'm as crazy as a loon. Probably started when my father was killed and my mother blew her brains out but who knows... You're a nurse, your pop and pop are doctors, maybe you guys can put the pieces back together. Funny how things are so clear to the insane. I thought it would be a jumbled mess of cobwebs and such... Nope. Mind is as clear as the sky in the tropics. Its more a different thought pattern than anything. I get it now. However if my mind snaps back. I'd like to do all that you mentioned, although I'm not sure what kind of husband I'd be. I've always been a loner."

That said and knowing he was tired of flying, he sat down in a passenger seat, grabbed Sarah by her hips onto his lap and said, "Alright there toots... heal thy man." He let out a slight laugh and looked towards Stephen to see if the man was alright. This was definitely not the type of bird he was used to flying.

Sarah opens up her medical kit and skillfully cleans, disinfects, and sews up Cael's claw wound, repairing most of the damage. "If anyone can make you sane again, it's me," she says as she works. "I'm sure Daddy can help too, once he becomes one with himself. I won't give up on you."

OOC,That brings [b]Cael[/b] back up to 8 HP.

Cael smiled, "I think I'm getting a cold. My head's stuffy and I'm really tired."

"How long have you had these symptoms?" asks Sarah. She looks Cael over, but she can't tell much. "This didn't start after you got clawed, did it? It doesn't surprise me that you're exhausted after everything that's happened. I hope you're not coming down with something." She digs around in her medical kit for anything that might help a cold. "You should get some rest and take it easy. My father can give you a better examination than I can, once he's himself again. Maybe I can help him along. I'm wondering if we shouldn't head to the cinema right away instead of going to the house first. If the ash can't get in there, that may be where we'll find what we're seeking."

Sarah gets up and makes sure the door is securely closed. Then she picks up the laptop before sitting in the seat between the two Lionels that Brianna had vacated and strapping herself in. She calls up the Google Images site that shows the house and places the computer on her lap. She takes one hand of each Lionel in her own.

"Sarah Jane," they both said at once.

"I'm here, Daddy. Keep at it. I know this is going to work."

Cael just shrugged when Sarah asked when his symptoms started, he hadn't really noticed until now. "Throat and ears hurt, headache, body hurts. As for when I don't know, this is the first time I've had a chance to analyze myself in awhile." That said he took his seat and before taking the stick back said to Stephen, "Sorry for the crazy shit dude... At least I didn't try to shoot you." With that he took back the stick and asked whether he was flying to the house or the cinema.

"I'm thinking maybe we should go to the cinema first," says Sarah. "I don't really know what to expect at the house, only that it's significant. If what we're looking for is at the cinema, we might not need to go anywhere else, and we ought to find whatever it is as soon as possible. It might also make a decent safe haven. It kept the ash - and the ashing wave - out somehow. We can't just hunker down there, but it might make a useful base of operations."

"Jennifer had a sniper rifle," muttered the Lionels, still concentrating on joining and holding Sarah's hands.

"So there may be more where that came from? A bit odd for weapons like that to be kept there. Then again, a lot about this cinema seems unusual. There may still be other survivors there too, if they didn't all end up in the Blitz. The cinema's right across the road from the hospital, so we already know how to get there. What does everyone else think?"

Jill just stares down at her hands. It's all become a bit much for the poor woman. A few moments pass and a few tears trickle down her face. She turns away from the others, shading her face with her hair. It's obvious that she doesn't want to be disturbed.

"It's cold in the water," says a gentle, male voice sleepily over the radio. Blackworth? "The sleepless will wake up soon."

There's a moment of blatant de ja vu where you can all almost see Blackworth standing where he stood before. A sliver of a shadow. There and then gone again.

"It's cold in the water...." It sounds like his voice, but younger now, more child-like. "The sleepless will wake up soon."

[Spoiler-Button]Louie? Dangit.... I've been going back through the old threads and I think he got lost amidst it all. I'm surprised Brianna didn't shoot him and that Ronald even let him on the chopper.[/Spoiler-Button]

"Hang in there, Jill," says Sarah gently. "I'm here if you want to talk." She sighs. "I knew Daniel was still out there, somewhere."

"The thing that caused all this," says the older Lionel, "it ripped apart our times and our world as it brushed through them. If it were to leave, maybe time will return to the earliest state, or the latest, or each section of time will continue on its own. If it finds what it seeks, perhaps it will go. Even if things are not restored to an earlier state, we can start again and rebuild. Humanity will survive, through us. There is still hope. One way or another, things will be better. We should go to the cinema. Maybe we'll find what it wants there."

"I'll never give up, Daddy," says Sarah, squeezing both of her fathers' hands. "We're going to make it, all of us. Nobody else dies today."

"Oh, I hope so," says Sarah. "I wish we could just undo all the horrible things that have happened. If time would just roll back to before this started..."

"I hope so too, Sarah," say the Lionels, still trying to merge with each other.

"The being did not send us back intentionally," says the older Lionel. "It ripped apart time and space, and we fell through. By now all times it has touched may have met the same fate. It only regards us the way we think of insects. If we help it find what it seeks, our best hope is that it will retreat. The dead will not rise again, but there is a chance time will be reset. Or it might not. I just don't know."

"Well, if the ash can't get into the cinema," says Sarah, "it can't search there. Only we can do that. I think that's our best bet."

"I know, Agnes," says Sarah, "but we have to try. Maybe we'll know it when we see it. No matter how bleak things look, we mustn't give up hope."

Both Lionels continue to clutch her hands and concentrate on joining together, humming under their breath.

Its difficult to direct the helicopter through all the ash and darkness towards any particular location. The real painful part will be attempting to land it on a street littered with cars and power lines.

OOC,If we're going to the cinema, we'll be landing in the car park in front of it, not in the street. [b]Cael[/b] actually landed there before in Chapter Two.

Sarah sighs and leans back, holding the hands of both Lionels and concentrating on helping them become one however she can. She sings Big Rock Candy Mountain along with them as they too focus on merging with each other.

Cael kept checking his instrument panels, looking out the window and even checking his watch. He lit yet another cigarette and shook his head, he looked at Stephen, "You blokes are so damn lucky I'm the best chopper pilot. This shit sucks to fly through!" Cael stated. He then turned to his watch again, as he looked at his watch, his headed nodded slightly to the seconds, after ten he looked at his panel and then lastly out the window. "We need Flight of the Valkyries playing man."

-That's a german music! Don't tell me your a nazi! says Agnes.

"Nope, just know a good tune when I hear it. Besides, that war has been over with for over fifty years. Only Nazis now are faggot ass bald headed wanna bes. Dumb ass motherfuckers." Cael stated as he started to hum the song.

"Please forgive his language, Agnes," says Sarah. "Soldiers in your time cursed too, just not in front of women and children. Times are different now, and many people use foul language, not just soldiers. I'm not one of them, but there are plenty who do. Cael is actually referring to a movie from after your time called 'Apocalypse Now' where an American helicopter plays 'Ride of the Valkyries' from its speakers as it swoops in to attack."

Agnes is speechless with Cael (and hasn't understand half he said).

Hearing Sarah preach about language, Cael cringes slightly, he usually tries to watch his language around old women and whereas her physical appearance isn't old, her way of thinking is, "Yeah... Sorry about the language Agnes, I usually watch it in front of grandmas and kittens, must be a sign that I'm starting to loose my friggin mind."

Not very satisfy what she heard about "grandmas" Agnes said.
-Let's just said it was all because of the situation we are suffering. But try to have some manners.

[Spoiler-Button]ooc- Ronald is too much of a pacifist and a wimp to do anything about Louie being on the chopper. He'll confront him when they land. just wanted to remind you that my arch nemisis is still here! Sorry I'ver been gone for so long[/Spoiler-Button]

OOC,Welcome back!

"We've all been through a terrible ordeal," says Sarah. "We're still going through one. But we're going to make it. It won't be easy, it won't be quick, but just like in the war you left, we'll win in the end. We can all do our bit for victory."

"I haven't forgotten WHAT YOU DID Louie!!! "Brianna crosses her arms and sulks in the corner, scowling at Louie fiercely.

Sarah tries to hold back her tears. She knows exactly how Brianna feels, because she had felt Louie's betrayal too when she was reliving everything Brianna had gone through. She can't see that there's still good in him, she thinks, recalling how Louie had saved her life. I don't know if she'll ever find it in her heart to forgive him. It's a miracle she's forgiven me. Maybe it's because he was her friend before, but she didn't really know me yet. "I promise you, Brianna," says Sarah, "Louie will never do anything to hurt you again."

The helicopter rotors have been chugging through ash for quite some time when suddenly the sound and vibration clears and its smooth flying. Taking a look out through the main windshield reveals you've all entered a swirling vortex of ash that spans a dozen or so yards in diameter as it sweeps across the city skyline. The ashen edges seem a little thicker, like it might be dangerous to fly through it, though not impossible. The tunnel veers somewhat left, taking you somewhat off course your original destination.

Sarah holds the hands of both Lionels, and all three of them continue to focus on the two Lionels becoming one.

OOC,Is there any progress on that? We've been at it for quite a long time. Woohoo! 8-) Ash is back! Do the other players know that the game is back on?

The Lionels heads snap backward and their gazes fix at a single point on the helicopter ceiling. A shudder passes through one, than the other, before a spasm takes them both at once. They fall back against the side, still grasping Sarah's hands, feet smacking a drum beat against the ground as dark blotches grow beneath their bloodshot eyes. Blood dribbles from both of their left nostrils and their jaw hangs open in a wide-mouthed horror.

OOC: You may attempt First Aid on them. There's a limit as to how much you can repair them as it's internal damage but you can try to keep them alive.

Ronald's eyes bug out of their sockets as he takes in the scene before him. He screams like frightened child.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!

Taking hold of his faculties... he makes sure Brianna is safe and behing him. He then lunges forward and tries to pull Sarah away from the two Lionels, fearful the growing blackness engulfing the two of them might be contagious.

"NOOOOO!!!" cries Sarah, horrified at what is happening to her father. She is certain that the blotches beneath his eyes are due to burst blood vessels, and she tries desperately to save the Lionels. However, her panicked state and Ronald pulling at her make her efforts useless. He cannot pull her away, as she is strapped into her seat, but it is still a distraction. "Ronald, stop! What are you doing?! You'll kill him! Please, someone help me save him, I'm losing him! Oh, God, don't let him die!" Sarah's mind goes back, and she remembers being six years old and trying in vain to save her mother's life. Now it's all happening again, and she breaks down in tears. "I love my daddy!"

OOC,Anyone can try to save [b]Lionel[/b]'s life, since everyone has First Aid skill of at least 30%. Some of you have it higher than that. [b]Agnes[/b], [b]Jill[/b], and [b]Cael[/b] all have decent First Aid, and so do [b]Aidan[/b] and [b]Louie[/b]. Unfortunately, my characters are the ones with the highest skill. One of them is the one who needs help, and the other already failed because I roll very badly.

Cael is busy flying the helicopter so he can't assist him but anyone else may make a roll. I'll give it until the end of the week and then I'll make First Aid rolls for anyone who hasn't had a chance to post.

ooc,I don't know if this is a first aid kinda moment. Either way.. Ronald is too scared to touch Lionel.

Ronald stops pulling at Sarah and retuens to Brianna. He grabs her and lifts her into an empty seat if there is one avaiable and promptly buckles her in. He calls out to Dahlia knowing all to well there was a snowball's chance in hell that the spoiled little brat would listen.

He then calls back to Sara... What's happening to them. Are they merging or turning to Ash?

"They're merging, but something's gone wrong!" shouts Sarah. "They're dying! Looks like internal bleeding! Please, help me save them!"

OOC,Yeah, it's a First Aid moment all right. Trust the medical professional on this. [b]Lionel[/b]'s life may depend on it.

Ronald jumps up and nearly vomits with fear and apprehension. He puts two hands on Brianna's shoulders and sternly shouts.

Stay here! CLose your eyes sweety.

Once he has some sort of compliance from the girl he rushes back to Sara's side to help.

With all the time he spent in a hospital he figured he might have picked up something. unfortunately he hadn't. ooc- rolled a 41.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3317437

Ronald starts to weeep uncontrolably.

Sarah feels like she's six years old and helpless again. She tries everything she can think of, but nothing is working. "Please wake up, Daddy," she chokes out, a tear rolling down her cheek. "Please wake up..."

Agnes try finally to react. But she is too clumsyto make any good.

Aidan hurries over, unbuckling himself, but fails to provide any assistance to him and curses as he looks over the men's strange internal injuries. Jill makes some headway and manages to stabilise them somewhat. Still, their bodies continue to tremble as they go through their mental trials.

Louie has spent all of the events thus far reading through the entries in the book they had liberated from the library and his gaze doesn't so much as flicker from the pages. Stephen and Cael are busy keeping the bird in the air as they follow the ash vortex to its end.

"This ain't taking us to the house, I don't think," said Stephen. "It's taking us back to the hospital. We can pass out of it if we want."

Hide,Continue your POW rolls and see how it goes!

OOC,while they're technically two injuries that could have attempts made to heal them, the pilots are hardly going to assume that they can fix what two nurses and two other men can't. Besides which, they'd have no room to get there. If they fail their next roll, the four of you can make another attempt to heal them.

"You did it, Jill!" cheers Sarah, giving her a grateful hug. "But he's not out of the woods yet." She returns her attention to her father.

Jill's efforts allow Lionel to regain consciousness, and the sight of his daughter strengthens his will to live. "A tear, Sarah Jane?" he says in stereo, his voice weak. "Don't cry, my dear. While there's life, there's..." He trails off, his eyes closing again.

Sarah is afraid that she's losing him again, but then something wonderful happens.

OOC,Woohoo! :D It was tough being Shroedinger's Doctor for over a month, and I'm so relieved I made it in the end! Can [b]Sarah[/b] try to heal the second injury and get him more HP back? [b]Lionel[/b] is very vulnerable at 4.

The older Lionel bubbles and explodes - the eruption whipping out and congealing around the younger one - absorbing through his skin the trace elements that was truly himself and through that he realises with a burst of sudden sanity that time has ceased to be linear before and that he had hardly lived through all of those eras but skipped through them, rushing ahead from the all-devouring ash and surviving all of the moments of dread where he would step into an ashen world, as though the past were simply a conglomeration of pages that he leapt through, one before the other, never making a meaningful impact, his mere existence unwriting itself each day that followed the last, so that those who knew him one day would forget him the next (or sometimes within hours) and all of his screams and rants and prayers had come to nothing as people blindly followed their courses to certain death. The realisation of all of this, of all of these memories, is a hideous moment

Lionel,roll sanity loss. 1d10 / 1d100. The most sanity you can lose will simply drop him to where the older Lionel once stood.

Cael sighed, he had had enough of the ash and the other insane shit that was happening. He looked at Stephen, "You know, I'd almost rather be back in Russia being tortured than deal with this shit anymore. This is no longer fun or exciting, it's just a pain in the ass at this point."

Lionel's eyes go wide with sheer horror,and the memories sweeping over him are overwhelming. Mercifully, it is too much for his mind to process. All he sees is Sarah in front of him, and that is all that matters at the moment. "Sarah," he says, managing a smile.

"Oh, Daddy!" cries Sarah, embracing him as tears stream down her face, but these are tears of joy. "I'm so chuffed that you're all right!"

"I'm not enitrely all right, but it'll do for now. I still feel very weak. In a fortnight, I should be right as rain, with proper medical care."

"I'll look after you."

"I'm sorry to burden you with taking care of me, Sarah. Doctors make the worst patients."

"Oh, you're never a burden to me. How many times have you taken care of me? Now it's my turn, that's all. I'm just so relieved to still have you around. I was terrified I was going to lose you, and it was all my fault. If I hadn't suggested this..."

"It's not your fault. It was my decision, and it was the right one. If I hadn't done it, I would have died."

"But I couldn't save you when it counted. It was just like when Mum died..."

"Sarah, you've saved me more than once already. I wouldn't have made it this far without you. I've told you that you can't save everyone. Sometimes you have to give someone else a chance."

Sarah glanced over at Jill and grinned. "Thank you so much, Jill! I'd have been gutted if you hadn't saved my father. He means so much to me."

"Yes, thank you, Jill. I owe you a debt I hopI never have to repay."

OOC,That wasn't nearly as bad as I'd feared it would be when I saw that typical 99 come up. The older [b]Lionel[/b] was at 0 Sanity, if you don't remember, and he had started out at 2. :shock: Actually, I had thought from your PM that my Sanity would become the average of the Sanity of the two [b]Lionel[/b]s, which were 82 and 0. This way actually worked out a little better. And I failed my Idea roll! At least this was one I wanted to fail. ;)

Stephen smirks at Cael. "At least some people are happy... Me, I could just use a shot of whiskey. Hey, think about it this way, we solve this and everybody stays dead, then we've got a LOT of drinking to do. Booze has some form of use-by-date, right?" He looks thoughtful. "Think I'll move into Buckingham Palace." He glances back over his shoulder at everyone. "Shame we don't have more rescued ladies," he murmured. "Best not blow up the hospital, yeah? Not everyone has a guaranteed partner after this Hell Storm."

Lucky,Sometimes people are just lucky!

"Beer expires I know but grain alcohol stays good forever, gets strong the older it becomes to. So we'll need to drink all the beer in the world quickly. After this is over I expect to be blackout drunk for a month. You're right though, need to find some women. Hell I don't know where I stand with Sarah anymore (OOC: I really don't) but who knows." Cael stated.

Ronald eyes the newly reformed Lionel with whatever suspicion a children's motivation speaker is capable of but is happy for Sara.

He sits himself back into his seat next to Brianna and squeezes her hand.

It's over kiddo.. get some sleep.

Then Ronald makes his way up to the cockpit of the helicopter and says to Stephen and Cael..

Blow up the hospital?

He laughs.. yeah that sounds about right!

"I still love you, silly," Sarah calls to Cael. She sits in the seat beside Lionel, straps herself in, and holds his hand. "Don't blow up the hospital, 'kay? Stephen is right. There could still be survivors there. Geoff and Roger and Leroy, maybe Joel and the other children. And maybe there are some more pretty nurses to rescue. Besides, you wouldn't damage that underground temple beneath the hospital, and that's where the trouble seems to be worst."

"I quite agree," says Lionel. "Remember the lesson of Monte Cassino. This happened in World War Two." He looks at Agnes, Annie, and Phil briefly. "It was in 1944, a bit after your time, during the American invasion of Italy. There was a monastery on the high ground that overlooked the approach to Rome, and the Americans were convinced that the Germans had to be using it to spot for their artillery. So they bombed it into ruins. Well, it turned out that there hadn't been any Germans there - until after they bombed it. Then the ruins made perfect cover for them, better protection than when the monastery was intact. It was very costly to uproot them then."

Agnes is still trying to make sense of what hapened.
-Mount Cassino? Italy? All right, if you say so... Where are we going to do now?

Cael smiled at Sarah's declaration of love, he was a tough guy, trained that way. He knew how to kill and not think twice about it and then some nurse comes along in the strangest time of his life and starts to soften up his heart. "Well, Could land on the hospital and I can do what I do best and infiltrate that temple. While I'm down there doing that you guys could search for survivors. I'd just need a guide to where the temple is or a good description on where it is." Cael stated while pulling out a cigarette. He looked in the pack and frowned seeing it was nearing empty. "We need to make a run to a store, I need smokes. I can't go into a combat situation jonesing for a smoke. Although... At that point I think everything would be in danger."

Ronald blurts out.

Brianna and me... we found the temple under the hospital.

He then cringes at his enthusiasm to offer such dangerous information.

it's an aweful place... You sure we have to go in?

Cael answered, "Not you guys, just me bro, just me. I'm going down there with enough explosives from these missiles to level the place. Once you guys have done a search and deemed the place empty, I'll be down in the temple with the explosives. I'll blow that place back to Hell and make it safer for you guys again." What Cael didn't say was the chance of him surviving it was impossible. He knew it was a suicide mission but with Stephen able to fly, they were good to go. He laughed to himself wishing he had at least one chance to actually have had sex with Sarah. Looked like he was going to his grave without a last booty call.

"I'll go," said Louie, barely glancing up from the book. "Blowing it up won't help. The temple wasn't built to honor it." He sighs and looks around at the helicopter, flinching under their heavy scrutiny. "It was designed to trap the taboo underground just like the ceremonies were designed to silence the taboo's calls. It always wanted to get out. I don't think it has, yet. I think ... I think it's what all this has been about. When the, uh..." He clears his suddenly dry throat. "When the ceremony failed to happen, the taboo got to scream for help and then something else answered. Something else is looking for it. I think it's still screaming. The taboo can't be killed by explosives. I think it might actually be the water under the temple where the, uh, the, uh, the c-ceremonies end up. If we blow it up, the taboo will get out and, whatever this is, might just decide that it doesn't need to keep Earth whole anymore. The prophecies state that the taboo's release will spell the end for mankind."

"It ... It was trapped down there and the first explorers came across while they were digging and they broke the seals, but worse, they revealed the existence of sentient men who could free it. The only ones who lived survived because one knocked the slowest member down so they could get away. It worked for years but then they started feeling this pressure, like it was screaming, and they knew what had to be done. I think ... everytime it got a chance to scream, this other thing got closer to finding which world it was on. It didn't work for long at all if the sacrifice was willing, or if they knew, they figured that the water would possess and control -- I mean, they were attacked by the original man they sacrificed -- anyone who was left to it. It would absorb them into itself within days. But a confused, betrayed sacrifice would shock and confuse it when the taboo slipped inside and silence it for over a decade at a time."

"Yet, if the betrayed sacrifice was thrown down whole, well, it would have more mobile bodies to do its bidding so ... and so ..." He swallows heavily. "Maybe we should just hide?"

Damn you Louie... Damn you! thinks Ronald before pointing an accusing finger at Louie. He had nearly forgotten his old friend the janitor was here.

How in H-E- Double Hockey sticks are we supposed to trust you, you son of a… bees nest.

Ronald gets right up in Louie’s face.

You want us to take you back to that place where you were going kill Brianna? Are you crackers?

Ronald fumes.. He imagines how he would fight Louie if it came down to it. He decides he should probably start with pulling his hair.

Cael took a drag on his cigarette and thought what Louie just said, the man seemed pretty confident in his story telling and it was painfully obvious Ronald hated him. Although even if Cael slapped a loaded pistol into Ronald's hand he knew he could never pull the trigger, it wasn't in the man but Cael knew it wouldn't be anything for him to kill Louie. He smiled to himself, knowing he wouldn't kill the man, at least not right now. "Ronald, its obvious you seriously dislike Louie and well I think of you as a nice guy, a good judge of character, someone I'd call a friend. This guy tried to have Brianna killed, now I know you can't do it but would you like me to throw the SOB off the chopper? There's no doubt that the fall would kill him."

He was so going to H-E- Double Hockey Sticks.

Louie met Ronald's gaze levelly and passed him the book. "You can see for yourself. I'd heard all about this book, how important it was, how sacred, but reading it I see now that it was the work of a brilliant and scared man trying to avert a catastrophe that..." He glanced out the forward windows into the ash billowing everywhere. "...that came anyway. I don't know what went wrong this time. Why we had so little time. Maybe it was just bad luck." Louie started unbuckling his straps. "Such bad luck..."

"Louie," says Sarah gently, "whatever happens, do not give up. We've both made terrible mistakes and caused untold grief to people we care about, but we can strive to do better. We have a chance to put things right again, to make the world safe once more. If we're very lucky, then things will go back to the way they were and none of this will have ever happened. Even if they don't, we can still survive and rebuild the world - the good bits, anyway. You saved my life back at the hospital. I'll always be grateful for that."

"As will I," says LIonel. "I know you care about Brianna, and that you're sorry you hurt her. I think that's what she needs to hear from you. You may have thought you were protecting her, but that's not how she sees it. She might not forgive you if you apologize to her, but she certainly won't if you don't. Ronald, Brianna, I know that you are furious with Louie for what he did, but we all need to work together to save the world. Louie has inside knowledge that we can find nowhere else, and we're going to need his help."

"I did something awful to Brianna too, thinking I was protecting her, but instead I nearly got her killed. I don't know if I can ever make it up to her, but I've got to try." Sarah looks at Brianna. "I felt everything you felt. I know you don't want to go back to the hospital, or to that horrible temple. I'm not too keen on it myself."

"Supposing we go to the cinemaplex first? It's right across the street from the hospital, and we can set up a safe haven there. There were other people there, and perhaps some of them are stiil alive there. A few of them were organized and prepared to survive, and the ash can't enter that place for some reason. We could establish a base camp of sorts, and those who don't want to go back to the hospital could stay there while the others mount an expedition. We can't just hide there, though. We must do something about this taboo, maybe repair the seals somehow. What about those three sigils that Annie has? Could they do the job?" While he speaks, Lionel examines himself thoroughly and comes up with a course of treatment so that he can recover from his ordeal.

OOC,I never got an answer as to whether I could treat [b]Lionel[/b]'s second injury and heal further HP. If it's allowed, I got 3 on the roll, which would bring him to 7. Also, what happens to [b]Lionel[/b]'s Cthulhu Mythos score? Does he retain the older [b]Lionel[/b]'s knowledge and have a score of 20, does he only have his own score of 8, or is it somewhere in between? Can I go ahead and roll it now to see ii I know anything relevant to resealing the taboo?

This guy tried to have Brianna killed, now I know you can't do it but would you like me to throw the SOB off the chopper? There's no doubt that the fall would kill him."

Ronald's jaw drops at the suggestion but considers it for a moment. He then shakes his head.

Thanks Cael... but that 's just too good for em now isn't it?

This is all changing you Ronald. You used to be such a happy go lucky guy... Now its all death and ash and janitors..

Ronald looks at his old friend Louie for a moment trying to muster up some compassion and forgiveness but he can't.

He was going to sacrifice Brianna...

Defeated Ronald sits back down and turns away.

Yeah Sara... Let's go to the movies. That should help...

Cael nodded, "You ever change your mind you let me know. There are worse things than death and I can introduce him to a few before I allow him to die." Cael hoped that would help Ronald, maybe have his mind at ease thinking the life of Louie was in his hands... and maybe it was, only time would tell.

"So to the theater then? I can't keep this bird in the air forever." Cael stated.

OOC,Somehow, I hadn't even seen [b]Cael[/b]'s statement about killing [b]Louie[/b] when I read that post from last night.

"The cinema sounds good to me," says Sarah. "I hope it's somewhere Dahlia and Brianna can be safe. And please, don't even joke about killing or torturing anyone." She turns back to Ronald. "Believe me, you don't want to kill anyone. Brianna and I both know what it's like, and it changes you forever. You lose something of yourself, and you can never get it back. It's bad enough killing someone in self-defense like we did, or making a mistake that gets people killed. I can't even imagine how horrible it would be to deliberately murder someone. It's best not to even start down that road if you can help it. It ends in a terrible place." Get too used to killing, she thnks, and you become like Cael. If I asked him what he felt when he killed someone, he'd probably say "recoil." But I know I can save him from his demons. "You need to let go of hate. It's like drowning while carrying something heavy. If you don't get rid of it, it will drag you down. Love is the most powerful force in the universe, and there's nothing it can't overcome. It's easy to love your friends, but loving your enemies is very difficult. Still, it's something we need to strive for."

Lionel squeezed Sarah's hand. "That's my girl," he beamed. "Well spoken. In all the vastness of time and space, love reunited us. Love brought Brianna and Ronald back together."

Sorry,yes, you can attempt First Aid on the second injury. Yes, you keep the 20 Cthulhu Mythos and may make a roll.

Louie just shakes his head dejectedly as he unclips himself from the chair. "None of you get it. Don't you understand? The sacrifices didn't cause this ... it was what was preventing this! What would you choose? If you had to start this all over and you were the Betrayer...." He whirls on Ronald. "Remember Jason? Remember all those children ... all of them ... that you ever saw on a bus or a schoolyard or a playground or, yes, in the hospital. Are their deaths worth it? Is this really the better option?" There's obvious tears in his eyes, an obvious breach in his voice. "I thought, I hoped, that maybe there was another way. I doubted the, what you call the cult... But they were right and I was wrong! You call them monsters but we're the monsters, us ... we ... you don't... Gah!" He walks away from them, toward the door. "This is the fate worse than death. To see it all. Love isn't going to cut it. Love isn't going to bring them back." He snorts. "Actually, I'm lying. Love would do it. Because love makes for a better Betrayer and a better Sacrifice."

"You should all fly away from that hospital, keep your head down, and hope for the best. What would you do do down there, anyway? Try another sacrifice just in case? Okay, so maybe one brutally mutilated worse-than-death victim is worth 7 billion lives but it's not worth a few, what? Dozen? A few hundred?" He shakes his head, obviously on the verge of hysteria. "It's already too late! And now the rest of you have no one ... they're all dead! That monster, it didn't just, it didn't just pull them apart because of some effect of its existence, it did it to better search for the Taboo. Why would it put them back together? Why would you even assume it knows how? How to re-forge billions of particles into living, breathing people, throughout collapsing time?" He grins sadistically, the moods flitting across his face like wildfire. "Actually, maybe that's it. Blow up the hospital. Let the ash in. Let it find what it's looking for. Help it find the Taboo and leave just so you won't have to make a shit-house decision and get to feel all self-satisfied and smug that option you would choose is the right one."

"Hate me ... hate them ... but you know what? The sacrifices are meant to take place every 7 years to ensure nothing happened but my cult pushed it back to 10. Why? Because they knew it was a risk but they couldn't bear to do that to any more poor bastards than they had to. They let their love and compassion get in the way and now everybody's dead! Everybody! Hell, maybe not. Maybe their minds are still out there in yet another fate worse than death. But y'know, that's a better option, than getting your own hands bloody." He shook his head and made eye contact with Cael. "I'd offer myself up as a Sacrifice if that would help but it won't. Even if it wasn't planned, I'd be expecting it. Therefore it'd fail."

OOC,I already made the roll just in case in an earlier post (though I used Medicine) and recovered 3 HP, taking [b]Lionel[/b] to 7.

Lionel can't recall anything more about the Taboo. Neither can Sarah, but her mind is elsewhere. She had suspected what Louie intended before, and now that he is heading for the door, it seems confirmed now. She hurriedly unstraps herself and continues to speak to him soothingly. "I mean it," says Sarah, rising from her seat. "Don't give up, no matter what. It seems like the easy way out, but it's not worth it. In the end it would only hurt the people you care about, and the people who care about you." She approaches him and puts a hand on his shoulder. "I care about you, Louie. You saved me once, and now I need to save you.

"Topping yourself is not the answer. Neither is running and hiding forever. You think there weren't times when I was tempted to throw in the towel? I love everybody. It's at once both my greatest strength and my greatest vulnerability. Whenever someone dies, it hurts me. How do you think I felt when billions of people died? But I didn't call it quits. I survived, and I did my damndest to save everyone else I could. So often I failed, and it hurt me afresh, but I never stopped trying. What broke me was when I thought Brianna was dead, and that I was repsonsible. But even then, I kept at it. I gathered everyone I could, kept us all together and alive, and helped us get out of there in one piece. My father was depending on me, and little Dahlia, and Cael, and Brianna, and all the others. I couldn't let them down. I could never break the hearts of the people who love me. I know I can never make up for what I've done, but I have to do everything I can.

"If you jumped now, you'd hurt me. You'd hurt my father, who cares about you too. And you'd hurt Brianna again. She may hate you now, yes, but it wuldon't make her feel any better to watch you do that. She'll feel worse. She'll feel like she killed you just like she killed Dr. Sutcliffe, that it was her fault for not stopping you. I know, because she's like me, because I've been inside her head and experienced all the horrors she has. But I've also experienced her joys. I know how much she adores Ronald and how being with him makes everything better. I know how much my father was able to help her during those lonely years without him, and how she comforted him in my absence. I love Brianna so much. She's been traumatized so badly, and I won't let you do that to her again. If you still care anything for Brianna, and I know you do, then you'll want to live so that you can protect her and keep her safe.

"I could never have been the Betrayer. It's not in me. I would have tried to find a better way too. Maybe there is one and we just haven't found it yet. But it's too late for sacrifices now, and another one wouldn't stop it. Maybe there is a way we can lead the ash to the Taboo so that the thing that came to this world can take it and leave. There may be more information in that book that will help us, or perhaps in the other books we brought out. But never give up hoping or searching for an answer. We need your help, Louie. You have knowledge that we don't. You've been to that temple and are familiar with it. If you don't go, the only people here who have been there before are Ronald and Brianna, and they were only there once, in the dark. They don't know it like you do. It could mean the difference between success and failure. And they might not survive. Would you want Brianna to die because she went in your place? Or Ronald? If he died, it would break Brianna's heart.

"I don't know what will happen if we succeed. Daddy said it was possible that time would rewind to before any of this happened. Maybe it will. Maybe it won't, but we'll still make the world safe for the people who are left in it. All I know is, we have to try our best."

He pulls away from her, pressing his back up against the helicopter door. "You think no one else tried to find another way? You think we all did that because we had a fetish for it? Well, news flash lady, it's not like in the movies where evil cultists do terrible things just because they can ... just because out of some sick sadism. No, we did what we did because we could find no other way. There is no other way. Especially not in that book which has been read and re-read by 'cultists' so many times. In fact, we should probably use another word because it's not a cult when it's beliefs all hold water. And how the hell is going down there going to help anyone anyway? Try our best? Ha! There's nothing to try! You should all run and hide and make do with the world you have rather than risk making it worse. The best thing any of us could do is put a bullet in our brain."

"Don't say that, Louie," says Sarah, compassion in her voice. "I'm not going to judge or condemn you. I'm not in any position to do that anyway, as I'm not as perfect as everyone thinks. I'm sure they tried every alternative they could think of - but we haven't tried yet. And when they tried, this other entity wasn't here searching for the Taboo. Now it is, and it wants us to help it find it. That's why it took over poor Daniel. That's why it wants us to go back to the hospital. We'll have to be careful not to make things worse, sure, but we have to try. We'll gather all of the information we can, make a plan, and think things through before we actually do anything. But giving up is not an option. We need you, Louie. We're going to do what we can with or without you, but our chances are much lower without you. And death is not a way out. I said nobody else dies today, and I meant it. If you killed yourself, it would be irreversible. Stop and think about what you have to lose. And the dead don't get to rest any more either. I've seen them come back. If you died, it would be so much worse for you, and it would never end."

"Please, listen to Sarah," says Lionel. "I haven't given up either, and I never will. The thought of my daughter kept me going even when things were at their darkest. No matter how bad things get, there's always something worth living for. We all still have each other."

Louie frowns, but her re-focused argument seems to hold some appeal to him, though it looks like a fragile moment as he is poised on the brink of his decision. Whether it's won or lost will likely depend on the actions, if any, of the others.

Hide,We'll wait to see what the others have to say. I'll give a chance for everyone else but Mr. Handy to post their action or inaction and then we'll either go to Initiative if he decides to jump or go for the landing as they'd be almost at the hospital.

Cael particularly didn't care one way or the other. He turned the chopper towards the theater and headed in that direction. He only hoped there was enough space to land this beast at the theater, at least at the hospital he could land on the roof, this monster would cause the roof to collapse at the theater.

Ronald listens to Louie but can't bare to look at him while he rants. If what he says is true then the crazy baby killing janitor is probably right but that doesn't change the fact that he was talking about sacrificing Brianna.

Let the world burn... The world can go to H-E-Double hockey sticks as long as the kid lives.

Finally Louie turns to look at Louie with burning eyes.

What do mean Love can bring them back? That love makes for a better sacrifice?

"I was being bitter and sarcastic coz of what she said," said Louie, crossing his arms across his chest and giving Ronald a dark look.

"Ah yes, bitter sarcasm, my old friend." Cael laughed. "See its situations like this when its good to be a monster like myself. No emotions, no worries. If I didn't join special forces I would have probably became a serial killer. My personality fits a certain type of demographic."

Ronalds fury with Louie returns.. but he holds in an outburst like before. Instead he just glares at Louie...

Yeah? Bitterness and Sarcasm is just what we need at a time like this!

Damn You Louie.. Damn you!

Ronald continues to glare at Louie waiting for someone to think of a reason for him not to jump. He probably wouldn't be able to live with himself if the janitor did make the leap, but Ronald was far too furious with the man now. He seethed with thoughts of vengeance.. He wished Louie owned a car. He'd let some of the air out of the tires. Not so much that it would be dangerous to drive tho. But just enough so he'd have to fill it up again. That would teach him....

Brianna looks at Louie s slumping figure gazing fixatedly out the open door of the helicopter. His dark shadow seemed to blend into the blackened ash night, and she took a deep breath and bit her lip. It was him that captured her and Ronald and left them in the dark cold basement without a light to see or a morself of food. It was his fault they ran for their lives out of the god forsaken place with wet, creepy kids chasing them. It was him. All his fault. Her anger swelled.

Her eyes flickered to Ronald, and she thought of how disappointed he would be that she felt that way. And what she planned to do....

But none of that mattered. Louie was the reason she had suffered so long and walked aimlessly for days. She watched him darkly, set her mouth in determination, stuck both hands on his rear end and pushed as hard as she could.

OOC- In case the door is open.

Ronald cries out.

Brianna Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

The maladjusted childrens singer lunges for Brianna in hope of catching her before she kills again.

Cael watches from his pilot's seat as Brianna attempts to kill Louie. He smiles but keeps his mouth shut as he knows it'll bring an argument. However he can help and banks the chopper to the side with the door open so he can fall out easier. If everyone were strapped in he could even go into a dive and chop him up in the rotor blades. As he banks he says to Stephen. "You know what? I do believe this whole experience has taught me something, made me realize just who I am. I really do like to kill people. If I wasn't in special forces I probably would have ended up being a serial killer. I'm not a psychopath, I know that for certain but a sociopath... Well I do believe that's what I'd be classified as."

A shape looms up out of the ash in front of the helicopter. It's hard to be sure what it is, and few enough people are watching through the windshield, nearly everyone is transfixed on what is happening by the door. Stephen barely manages to murmur, "What is that?" before the shape slams forward with a shrieking wail that sounds horribly familiar. It is as though the souls of everyone you once knew are screaming at you, their voices intermingled into a rising crescendo of force that crashes against the side of the helicopter, scoring open the side and tearing away the door and Louie as well. People barely have a moment to register his form flung out into the darkness when the helicopter spins sideways, before being struck on the other side, cracking the windows and spinning it in the other direction and sidelong down. Brianna slips out in an instant. There's no chance, no moment, no opportunity to catch her. Something beeps in the distance. Some siren wails. The fall seems to be taking so much longer than it should as though the force were somehow slowed. Then there's spindly limbs reaching into the cockpit and scratching and merciful darkness.

Show,1/1d10 sanity damage for hearing all of that horrible noise. No damage. Reactions can occur in the next thread when you wake up.

"BRIANNA!!!" screams Sarah, unable to do anything but hang on for dear life. The girl's loss affects her deeply, and she breaks down in tears. Her mind snaps as reality is torn asunder.

Lionel is also overwhelmed, and his fragile psyche shatters again. He too plunges into madness.

OOC,And my streak of horrible rolls continues. :evil: It's like I never left.

OOC: I'm confused: did I passed or failed? I'l post after you give me the answer...
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3554127/

Agnes had already suffered the horrors of war. She had seen people dying, bodies mutilated. So this wasn't new to her, and she kept cool.