IC: The Penhew Foundation - Andrei, Caroline & Timour

[coffee demon]

Andrei seems distracted and half-aware until Helen brings up the attackers. At her question, his face flushes and he interjects in a shaky voice that he can barely control;

"We k- they attacked us, but we - we killed them. Let's not forget that. They're dead now."

He shakes his head disgustedly. As they pass under a lamp, the bags under Andrei's eyes show prominently. The lamplight reflects the pale pallor of his skin. The towering Russian looks exceptionally weary and tortured.

He looks over at Helen and asks, "They were your friends? Did you know them well? Did they have.." he swallows. "...did they have any family that you know of?"

[SuAside]

"That line of questioning leads only to torment." Timour interjects as he walks at Helen's side "Yes, I do believe they're involved in this cult. Or another cult."

"How well did you know them? You never suspected anything?"

[coffee demon]

Andrei returns Timour's reply with a long, cold glare.

[rbiddle]

"Well... I only knew them from working there, but we'd spoken casually and had coffee occasionally. But no, I never would have imagined that they would do anything like that."

Seeing the unease that the events caused Andrei, Helen considers a lie to help put his concerns to rest, "Oh, poor Julie had been a widow for years, she spoke of wanting children, but never had any. Malcolm didn't really talk about his home life much, other than to complain about courting woes on occasion, but always a different lady friend. I... I don't believe he ever mentioned the same lady twice." Helen tries to make it sounds somewhat lighter in mood than it should be hoping that this will relax the tension.

As they continue to wind through the alleys to Paul's flat, Helen appreciates the company in the darkness despite the recent frights they seem to have brought into her life. Quickening her pace, she focuses on getting back to a more comfortable environment to let everything that's happened sink in.

[coffee demon]

Andrei listens attentively to Helen, then lapses back into his own thoughts without reacting much.

After they walk another block, Andrei asks quietly,

"Are we going to drive to Gavigan's manor, then? Are we going to pick up the others?"

After this is answered, he looks around to make sure no one else is on the street, then asks, "And what will we do when we get there? Shoot Gavigan? Then run away, I suppose? As murderers." He swallows hard. "I wonder how many other people we will end up killing at the manor. What if the butler sees us? Will we kill him too?"

OC,Nice post, rbiddle! I like the lie. :) I'm happy to keep conversing until Raiko moves us forward. Feel free to pop us forward any time, Raiko, but no rush. I don't believe Andrei was part of the conversation about where they were headed next, which is why he's asking.

[Raiko]

As Andrei speaks Paul's flat comes into view, Helen can see it a couple of hundred yards ahead. Paul's flat is the middle floor of a three story townhouse, she can see his car parked on the street outside, and nothing appear to be amiss from here.

OOC,I'm enjoying the conversation. :) The house is near enough to stop chatting now if you like; or it's far enough away for another couple of chatty posts. If you wish to try and meet up with the others after you've checked out Paul's flat, Johnny's rendezvous point is "The Railway Inn," a large pub / small hotel very near to Euston Station. He said to try to get back there by noon tomorrow. So it's possible that no one will be there yet, but it's less than half a mile from Paul's flat to Euston Station, so it'll take very little time to check, especially considering that it'll take several hours to drive out to Gavigan's mansion. @Coffee I think you're correct, the conversation about Paul's car and driving to Gavigan's mansion was in the Archive room while Andrei was sneaking into the Foundation through the basement. EDIT: Turns out we're wrong: The plan was [url=http://www.callofcthulhu.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2878&start=40#p119410]partly Andrei's out in the park shortly after you first met Helen[/url]. You'll need to look though what you've got in the box before deciding if it's enough evidence to drag Gavigan out of bed for I guess. :)

[SuAside]

"Let's first analyze what we have with us. We have to remember there are people missing, and it's somewhat unlikely that Gavigan would just hold them at his manor. Perhaps we can find clues in what we gathered." Timour says "We also need to get in touch with our other friends & let them know what's going on. We're not alone in this..."

[coffee demon]

"We're not going to find anything we don't already know", Andrei replies flatly.

"The thing is... I was hoping we would find something that would give us... something real, some real evidence which we could show other people. So people would understand. A bunch of daggers and old books aren't going to... they're not going to help us explain to the police why we just killed two people."

He swallows hard and takes another look around them before continuing.

"Don't you see? What are we becoming? We're fighting because of things that we've seen... that no one will believe. We're completely on our own. And - up until now - we have been behaving, I'd like to think... I'd like to think we're decent people. I want to be a decent person. But now... what's the difference between us and Gavigan?"

He stops and grabs Timour's shoulders, forcing him to look Andrei in the eyes. Andrei's face is pained. He looks genuinely frightened and exposed - moreso than Timour has ever seen him. In Russian, he continues,

"Timour. We just shot people! In London! We're killing people, just like in the war, Timour, and making excuses for it, just like we did back then! Last time, though, we were heroes; people liked us for what we did, even if they didn't understand." He continues in English again:

"This time, though, there is no one. No one will understand. We are on our own. We are criminals."

He looks everyone in the eyes, trying to see if they understand the implications of this.

OC,I realize Andrei's plan was to find evidence against Gavigan and confront him about it. Hopefully this post clarifies Andrei's point of view.

[rbiddle]

"But it was self defense... Julie attacked me... I would have died tonight if not for you and your friends helping me." Helen replies back to Andrei. "I don't know if your bad people or not, but I want to see Paul again. I have nothing else to go on... Without your help, I don't know what else to do next."

Feeling a bit lost on what to do to help keep, Helen gives a small exasperated sigh. "We're here" she says as she points to the townhouse coming into view. "Paul's flat is the 2nd floor. Maybe a bit of rest will help us relax a little and give us a fresh perspective."

Heading up to the flat, Helen unlocks the door and lets everyone in, then immediately re-locks the door behind them.

"If you'll pardon me... I cannot wait any longer to change out of this bloody dress," Helen says as she heads into a bedroom. "There's tea in the cupboard, we may have some coffee as well. Please help yourself while I clean up a bit."

[SuAside]

OCC:
For continuity's sake assume that this post is before rbiddle's since Andrei has grabbed Timour's shoulders and locked eyes with his. Something you don't simply stroll away from.

IC:
"Я боюсь, товарищ." Timour says slowly in russian as his eyes drop to the floor "I'm afraid of what will happens to us if we get found out. I'm afraid of what will happen to our friends. I'm afraid of what will happen to those who are already missing. I'm afraid we might turn into coldblooded killers before this is through, even if just to prevent bad things from happening. I'm afraid that I will be losing my grip on reality before this is over. I'm afraid we are stumbling onto things that should never have been known to humanity in the first place."

"But we are here, and I for one cannot turn away." he says switching seemlessly to english as his eyes meet those of Andrei "I will do what I feel is my duty. I will investigate this madness in order to protect others, and save those in harm's way if possible. What else can a man do?"

"Sometimes morals take precedence over law, sometimes necessity takes precedence over sound judgement." he explains "At potentially great personal peril I will make my stand. Even worse so, at great peril for others, I will do the same. This weighs heavily on my mind, but I know deep down, that if I do not, I will not be able to live with myself."

[coffee demon]

[OC: Lets assume this part of my reply is before Helen, responding to Timour]:

Andrei listens carefully to everything Timour says, maintaining intense eye contact with him. He nods as he comes to understand Timour's point of view.

When Timour finishes speaking, he grabs his shoulders and squeezes him tightly. In Russian, he declares into Timour's shoulder, "You're right, old friend, you're right. By God, you're right."

He pulls away and quickly wipes his eyes, then he grabs Timour's shoulders and gives him a huge brotherly shake and slaps him on the back with his huge hand. In English, he declares to the rest of them, "By God, he's right. We must do what we can. Yes!"

... [OC: Assume Helen talks now.]

Andrei nods in agreement. He even smiles a little.

...

(In the house)

"I'll make some coffee."

As he sets the kettle on the stove, Andrei continues,

"You're right, Timour, you're absolutely right. We have no choice. So let's go about it like heroes, then, shall we? I apologize for... showing weakness. I must admit," he chuckles to himself, "I must admit that I had a bit of a scare in that basement."

He falls silent, pulling mugs out from the shelf.

"But lets not talk about that. It's in the past. Onwards and upwards. Did anyone see a phone? I wonder if we should try to call The Railway Inn, where Johnny was going to meet us tomorrow. Let's not ask for him by name. He's easy enough to remember. A Chinaman in London! Can you imagine!" He grins widely as if this is a fantastic joke.

[Raiko]

OOC,I’m enjoying the posts. :) The landlord's phone is at the bottom of the stairs, just inside the front door. There doesn't appear to be a phone inside Paul's flat.

OOC for rbiddle,Paul doesn’t have a phone of his own at the flat, he normally used the landlord’s phone (ground floor) when necessary. Paul's landlord is a loner called Owen Marshall. He talks to himself and Helen finds him creepy.

[coffee demon]

OC,"Paul doesn’t have a phone of his own at the flat, he normally used the landlord’s phone (ground floor) when necessary. Paul's landlord is a loner called Owen Marshall. He talks to himself and Helen finds him creepy." - Love these kinds of details, Raiko! I'll wait until someone else posts now, or you're welcome to get Caroline to make the call, Raiko.

[Raiko]

Caroline points to the box of items taken from the basement of the Penhew Foundation. "Should we take a look at what we've got first? Perhaps we have something damning about Gavigan here."

[SuAside]

"I will look into this with Andrei." Timour replies while already moving towards the chest "Perhaps you should find a phone and try to contact Johnny, as well as our other friends? Maybe they've returned to the hotel already?"

"If you do manage to contact them, keep the information vague, but do give clues as to what happened and where we are. If something happens to us, we want them to be able to retrace our steps." he explains as he digs out the writing paper from the chest and carefully places it on the table "I think a phone call by a lady would be less suspicious than by one of two burly russians..."

Timour sits down while taking out his reading glasses and inspects the sheet of paper before he starts to deftly color the entire sheet of blank writing paper with a pencil, hoping to discover what had been written on the sheet now removed. Perhaps it was something else than what he would find on the crumbled & binned paper he had recovered as well?

"If you don't mind, that is, of course..." he adds absently as he briefly looks up from the paper.

[rbiddle]

Helen comes back into the room wearing a different (and less bloodied) dress than before. "Did I hear you needed a phone? Paul doesn't have one, we normally use the Mr. Marshall's phone for calls, he;s out landlord. Caroline, if you want, I can take you down to it. I'd like to keep it quick if we can though; I don't much like the way that Mr. Marshall looks at me... Unnerving it is."

Smelling the coffee brewing, Helen moves to the kitchen to check on it and pour herself a cup. Searching through the cupboards, she rummages up what she can in terms of first aid supplies and takes them to Andrei. "It's not much, but it looks like you got a bit banged up back there. If you need and bandages or medicine that we have, please feel free."

[coffee demon]

Andrei takes the chest hesitantly and sets it down on the floor. He opens it slowly, and carefully arranges the contents around him. He's far less possessive and secretive about these documents, compared to how he's behaved in similar situations in the past.

He doesn't open any books or letters, but reads their covers carefully.

"I don't think it's safe for anyone to open any of these at the moment."

When he finds the Fiennes document, he hesitates, then opens it and scans it quickly. If it looks like it's going to take more than 30 seconds of study to figure out what it's about, he folds it carefully into his jacket pocket.

...

When Helen passes him the First Aid material, he gratefully accepts them and sets them beside himself to use in a moment.

OC,Will wait for Raiko to describe the contents now..

[Decrepit]

To Helen, Caroline replies, "Yes, of course; let's go now if that's all right. I want to be sure that everyone's all right." She wonders pensively about Beth and her other new friends, feeling a dread creeping up on her that something might have gone as wrong for them as it had for her own group.

[rbiddle]

"Let me show you the way," Helen says to Caroline as she leads the way to the door.

Heading down to the landlord's phone, Helen inquires, "You mentioned your friends... Are they also looking for Gavigan? I admit, I'm still a little skeptical that my boss is the bad man Andrei makes him out to be. Tonight has been so surreal though... I don't know what to make of it all."

[Decrepit]

Spoiler:

I can't actually remember nor apparently re-create how much I knew about Johnny's and Beth's plans. Looking at the November 2011 split-off, I think Caroline was mostly just trying, along with Timour, to keep Andrei from getting killed.