And All Join Hands, As You Are The Damned

[Andrew]

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."

[Mr. Handy]

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. ;)

[Laraqua]

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!

[Andrew]

"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.

Spoiler:

OOC: Can I be a pain and get a quick run down where everyone is at? Cael and Stephen are in the chopper but where is Sarah and whoever else is left.

[DSIGFUSS]

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!

[Andrew]

Spoiler:

OOC: Yes! Ronald is still around! Sounds like everyone is still in the chopper then.

[Laraqua]

Hide,Everyone is in the helicopter but most have left their seats. It's pretty cramped in the middle now. Stephen is in his chair. Louie and Phil are both still sitting down.

[Mr. Handy]

"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."

[kabukiman]

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?

[Andrew]

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."

[DSIGFUSS]

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?

[Andrew]

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.

[Laraqua]

"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?"

[DSIGFUSS]

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.

[Andrew]

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.

[Laraqua]

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..."

[Mr. Handy]

"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?

[DSIGFUSS]

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...

[Andrew]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

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."