And All Join Hands, As You Are The Damned

[Laraqua]

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."

[Mr. Handy]

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."

[Laraqua]

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."

[Mr. Handy]

"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."

[Laraqua]

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.

[Andrew]

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.

[DSIGFUSS]

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?

[Laraqua]

"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.

[Andrew]

"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."

[DSIGFUSS]

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....

[kabukiman]

-Does anyone have any idea why you made the travel in time? With what purpose? And why I come with you? It couldn't be random...

[trixie]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,Welcome back, Trixie! :D [b]Louie[/b] was standing with his back to the door, which I believe is still closed, in one of Laraqua's posts above, so you may need to revise that. Is [b]Dahlia[/b] doing anything while this is going on?

[DSIGFUSS]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,[b]Sarah[/b] would try to stop [b]Brianna[/b] too (and so would [b]Lionel[/b]) if it comes to that, but I'm pretty sure the door is closed. [quote="Laraqua"]He pulls away from her, pressing his back up against the helicopter door.[/quote] He couldn't press his back against the door if it were open.

[Andrew]

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."

[Mr. Handy]

OOC,:shock: Good thing the door isn't open! [b]Sarah[/b], [b]Brianna[/b], and [b]Ronald[/b] could fall out too!

[Laraqua]

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.

[Mr. Handy]

"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.

[kabukiman]

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