Funding Body Advisor & Media Liason: Daniel Carter

[Laraqua]

Background music.

"Y-you ... did."

Thoughts flow, erupt, break, conversations with a girl with big, searching eyes, altercations, her body laying on the floor of the reception room, getting in close, close, close, torn wrists, opened wide, bone visible, blood to the elevators, blood on the button marked 14, camera from above showing visions of her slitting her wrists as she went up in the elevator, leaving the knife, security asking him if he wanted to see the video footage of the elevator, nodding numbly, his fault, his fault, his fault.

Then the images float away and he's back in his room, staring through the little window at the woman who is still laying there, in place.

[Mr. Handy]

[OOC: Hah, I knew it!]



"No, I didn't!" says Daniel. Without even thinking about it, he presses the button to open the door and races outside to try to save the woman in the outer office. I'll take my chances, he thinks.

[Laraqua]

Background music.

[OOC: Dreams are always a tad predictable.]

The woman lays there and Carter realizes, hazily, that he can't recall her face. His attention is stolen by the note he holds in her hand, already getting bloody around the edges. He can't quite read it but he remembers what it says.

"The room will come for all who hear it. It is a place that is never changing, always changing, and those who hear the story are drawn into the space between its four walls, again and again, for ten minutes at a time. First it begins every 37 hours, then every 36, then every 35, then every 34. Each time an hour less passes. Until there is only 1 hour. This is that hour. And since you refused to help me, I doom you as well, even as I free myself."

[Mr. Handy]

"I won't let you die!" says Daniel, grabbing whatever is close at hand to (i) apply pressure to the wounds and stop the bleeding, (i) doing a thoroughly excellent job. Not this time! he thinks. I did everything I was supposed to do. I called security right away and followed procedure. Why didn't they come in time? How was I to know?

[Laraqua]

New Background music.

As he attempts to staunch the blood on her wrists, a dread sense of familiarity emanates from her. Her eyelids flutter open and with a moan she sits up, her face a bare inch from his, her eyes glaring out the menace of the abyss.

"I am Angela Schiller, a manager in Public Relations, you remember my cousin who claimed that only by publicizing the Hidden Room would it leave him be? You refused to listen to me. Why did you refuse to listen?" Her teeth are stained with blood. When did she bleed from the mouth? "My cousin was taken away from me by the curse. I started visiting ... you told me it was all just a hallucination. The stress ... you blamed the stress of the new account ... you blamed me!" Her eyes roll upwards into the back of her face until only the whites are going. "You refused to publicize ... you refused ... until I came here ... until I killed myself ... until I brought you the note that told the whole story ... until I ... until you ... until your first visit. Take sick leave, you told me. Take sick leave ... and I did. But on the fourth visit, it was too much, got shorter and shorter my stays there, an hour less everytime. Too scared. Too... I let you know! I let it claim you! And now you take it seriously... Only now... You did this to me!"

He feels her hands on his shoulders. Her features seem to merge, to slide sideways along her face.

"Some people whisper of a Hidden Room, which you are drawn into, if ever you hear the tale of it. Some say the room does this because a little girl used to live there who was left locked in her room, neglected in a pretty little palace, until she died of loneliness, and now she draws those who hear of it to her side, to stay with her forever. Some say that it's a room where a woman killed herself after her lover left her for another woman and in her rage she has determined that everyone should be dragged there to remain alone. Each time you enter for only ten minutes but there is a cycle to your entrances. It always begins 37 hours after you first heard the tale. Then after your first visit, the next one is only 36 hours away. Until you run out of hours to spare."

Her face is entirely featureless now, merely smeared in blood.

"Help me! Help us ... those who should never have heard of it... You can extend your time ... but not by publicizing the room ... but ... something else. The tablets, remember? You worked out it was all to do with Kamchatka... Any who help that expedition occur, are spared their next visit, so long as they help..."

She collapses backwards, rotting before his very eyes.

Carter awakens with a start. The numerals on his alarm clock say: 6:45.

OOC: Describe your room, your morning actions.

[Mr. Handy]

[OOC: Ah, Donnie Darko! I love that movie (I just watched it last night) and the song Mad World.]



Angela, thinks Daniel as he groggily wakes up. I'm sorry. I'll do whatever I can to help. He blinks and takes in his room, the master bedroom of his house in a posh Berlin neighborhood, in what had once been the British Sector, that had been built in the postwar construction boom. He untangles himself from the soft satin sheets of his king-sized bed and stands up, rubbing his eyes. Sunlight is just starting to peek through the curtains blocking the French windows leading out to a balcony that overlooks the garden. He picks up the remote control from the nightstand and flicks on the giant flat screen plasma HDTV on the wall across from his bed. It is still tuned to CNBC for 24-hour financial news. The next thing he does is make himself a cup of coffee to soothe his jitters. Once he has some caffeine in him and has collected his wits, he goes into the bathroom, sheds his silk pajamas, and takes a shower. When he finishes, he shaves in front of the bathroom mirror, gets dressed in an elegant blue three-piece suit, and goes to make himself some breakfast.

[Laraqua]

By this point it is 7:10. Time always moves with preternatural speed before 8:00. What would normally take one minute takes five, what would normally take five minutes takes a half hour. He has an appointment at nine and it would be beneficial to get to work at 8:30 so he can prepare for the interviews, read over the resumes and prepare some questions for the new cameraman. He was trying to set up a deal with the Kamchatka Expedition, that he was arranging funding for, so that "Hidden Places" could go, too. The Expedition Leader, Professor Romaschkova, was being a pain about it as she was trying to steer away from superstitious mumbo jumbo. Still, negotiations were going well and it was important to have a cameraman capable of taking that long hike. The last cameraman had sprained his ankle going down some stairs and was still recovering - he was a rather frail man, anyway.

[Mr. Handy]

Daniel finishes his breakfast quickly. Then he puts on his coat, collects his briefcase and laptop computer, and goes to the garage where his black Mercedes is parked. The car has been specially fitted with armor plating and bulletproof, tinted glass. He starts it up and begins the familiar drive to Ophidian's headquarters.

[Laraqua]

The drive is largely uneventful for the first half hour but becomes more intense as the morning rush to the busy suburb of Mitte begins at 8:00. He reaches the car park building that is on a side street not far from the Ophidian Headquaters at 8:24. He's making good time when he pulls up at his regular spot.

[Mr. Handy]

Daniel parks his car, gathers his things, and gets out. After locking it with his remote, he walks briskly to the front door of Ophidian Headquarters.

[Laraqua]

He crossed the road with ease at the lights and went through the sliding doors. The foyer was brightly lit with large windows and a ceiling two floors high. There are fountains and raised garden beds among the tiled gray floors of the wide open foyer. The light blue desk bearing Ophidian's logo was staffed with two receptionists. An elevator bank stands ready to take him to his floor.

[Mr. Handy]

"Guten Morgen," says Daniel, smiling at the receptionists. He proceeds to the elevator bank and presses the call button. When the elevator arrives, he gets in and presses the button for 14.

[Laraqua]

Two women enter the elevator with him and press the button for the 13th floor (Software Design & Web Media). They chatter about the latest in software design and how the men should really stop being coy and agree that the breasts are too small and the skirt too long on the CG game character they were using in an interactive game that proved the elegance of the game code they were trying to sell.

[Mr. Handy]

Daniel stands silently while the elevator rises, listening to the women talk but not interrupting their conversation.

[Laraqua]

The elevator halts a few more times as people enter and exit. The two women get off on the 13th floor, both surreptitiously giving Carter the once-over as they leave to enter the foyer of their floor. He is alone on the short ride up to the 14th floor. The elevator doors open and he is released to stroll down the short corridor, ignoring the right-hand corridor that heads on off to the read of the main Corporate Powerhouses, and into the reception area.

His personal assistant is normally ready and waiting. She's paid a lot to be dedicated. Yet she isn't here yet. Perhaps she's stuck in traffic.

OOC: How much attention does Carter pay to his staff's private lives? Does he keep it strictly professional so that he can't be troubled by them or does he keep slipping into traditional concerned and compassionate teacher mode in checking up on people and making sure they're okay?

[Mr. Handy]

[OOC: He does follow up on his employees and make sure they're all right, especially after Angela! How late is the personal assistant? Is it just a few minutes, or longer than that? If the former, and it sounds like it is, he won't be too concerned - yet.]



Daniel lets himself into his office and begins going over the resumes and backgrounds of his prospective employees, starting with that of the cameraman who is due in at 9:00, planning to check and see if his assistant has arrived yet when she's about ten minutes late.

[Laraqua]

There are a few cameramen he's going to interview. Six in total. The personal assistant is only a few minutes late but as it starts drawing closer to nine, it seems more startling. Normally she'd call him. Thoughts of her life start flowing through his mind: She has a two-year-old son. Is he sick? Did he get to a bottle of detergent and needs his stomach pumped? The 15-year-old daughter has made a few suicide threats - did she go through with it? Did she make an attempt and survive? What about her husband? No, no, far as he knew, her husband was likely to be fine.

8:34. She's now ten minutes late.

[Mr. Handy]

Daniel picks up his phone and calls his assistant's cell phone number.

[Laraqua]

"Oh, hello, Mr. Carter, I-" Ursula Humboldt sounds stressed, rushed. "I forgot to call. I can't come in today. Something's happened. I..." She pants a little on the phone. She seems to be hurrying somewhere as she speaks.

[Mr. Handy]

"That's all right, Ursula," says Daniel, "I'm just glad you're okay. You are okay, aren't you? If you need to take today off, that's fine. You've got some leave accumulated, and I can get a temp for the day. Is anything the matter? Anything I can help you with?"