Play@YSDC

The drawer is otherwise empty. Still, this is very strange indeed.

Finding nothing out of place Alex took a clean folded shirt from the draw, placed it on the bed and placed the kitten gently on top.
"This feels better than just leaving you in the draw."

With little else he could do, he drew his gun and headed toward the nearest unexplored door.

Pulling the door open reveals a large compartment that leads in to the engine room. There seem to be more crusty blood stains spattered across the floor that slowly rises along the wall and up to the ceiling before disappearing into a sooty pattern.

Of course, follow the drying blood into the dark bowels of a seemingly disserted ship....the answers must be there...

The fact that the trail streaked up the wall didn't help Alex's trepidation, neither did the odd sooty pattern on the ceiling. Using his torch he walked further into the compartment to take a closer look at it.

The soot almost seems to be a face. The whole thing is rather bizarre, almost like a surrealist painting. The rusty stains, however, do most assuredly appear to be blood.

The more he looked at the face the more uneasy he felt, like the blood was just a tool to lead him like an ass to certain peril. The soot seemed to resemble many faces and yet no-one at all, as if he were looking on all the faces he knew layered on top of one another.

There's only one face you want to see Alex...

Feeling his concentration slipping he bit his tongue lightly to remind him where he was. How long had he been like this, so disconected from the now?

"Let's see what the engine room tells us about what happened here."

The engine room seems otherwise empty. Who screamed? Where did they go? There seems no clues to their presence in here.

Footsteps thud across the deckboards overhead.

Turning and leaving the less than helpfull engine room the sudden footsteps from above halted him with a start.

"How in the...there was no sign of life on the deck a few minutes ago!"

Spurred into action Alex holstered the colt and ran full tilt back to the upper decks, flashlight beam shuddering ahead of him.

Alex rushes up into the ball room only to find a ghostly pale woman in a translucent, tattered white nightdress made of a sheer silk that partially reveals the long white knickers and slip that she wears underneath. Her hair and clothing drips with water and she is bare foot. She is staring at the counter in stark fascination as though it might hold the answer to life and everything in it.

Standing in the doorway Alex stares dumbfounded at the woman infront of him, appearing almost like a specter given how stark and pale she was aggainst the dim shadows.
"Eh...er...excuse me Miss, are you all right? What happened too you?" The words tumbled out of his mouth with little grace. "You must be chilled to the bone! We need to get you covered up quickly before you catch hypothermia!"
Cursing that he'd neglected to wear his, he searched the ball room frantically for any dicarded coats.

She startles and spins around, pressing the small of her delicate back against the bar. "N-no, I ... Please ... d-don't hurt me...." She stammers the words, eyes wide with fright.

Taken by surprise by the shear fear in her voice, he stops where he is. She's obviously been traumatised by something, he'd seen this kind of reaction before, though whether being soaking wet and in this state of undress had anything to do with it was uncertain. Alex felt the kind and gentle Doctor he was back on the wards take over.

"It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to make sure you're alright." His words took on that reasuring balm that used calm his patients, his softly spoken voice trying to ease the tension in the room.
"I didn't mean to alarm you. My name's Alex, what's yours?"

"No, you don't understand, I need to find the ... need to find the...." She pauses, water dripping down her legs. "Have you seen a little girl?" She shivers, hands clasped in front of her. "I can't ... I can't seem to find her. I can't remember where she...."

"A little girl? Until just now I thought I might be the only one on this ship. Is she your...daughter?"

What's with this place?! Fog everywhere, deserted ship, a dead kitten, blood stains and a drenched woman and a lost girl. What happened to this town?!

"Listen, I'm looking for someone too. His name is Declan and he's friend of mine. Why don't we help each other and find them both together?"

"Declan?" she asked, focus suddenly seeming to come into her eyes. "I don't know any Declans. Why would I know any Declans?" She takes a few rough steps toward him. "Wait, do you know him? He uses all kinds of names." She snorts. "Though you really wouldn't know, would you?"

"Declan and me have been friends since we were kids, of course I know him."

Alex's brow furrowed in confusion, the woman's sudden change in demeanor taking him a little off gaurd. She's adament she doesn't know Declan and then talks about him having aliases. Is her condition worse than he thought?

"What do you mean, 'uses all kinds of names', and why wouldn't I know?" Alex having to fight hard to keep his voice calm and under control.

"No, it's probably not the same man," she said shrewdly. "You'd know him if you met him." She sighed heavily and sank back against the counter. "Pour me a whiskey, will ya? I need to think." She lowers her gaze to the floor and no longer responds to his words.

Sighing heavily into his hand, he lifts his eyes to scan the dust covered bar. How many hours had he spent sitting at bars like this last year? Before he'd rarely see alcohol unless it was used to clean a wound, but since then he'd seen the bottom of so many bottles. So many mornings cursing the sun and the raging headaches. So many pitying looks from other bar patrons as he slumped over yet another table and wept quietly into his glass. It disgusted him, to think that he'd fallen so low.

You've been dry for months now...you're sure as hell not going to start now!

Bundling up his nerve Alex walked confidently behind the bar. Dusting off two glasses he took the nearest bottle of whiskey, not a bad brand as it happend, and poured shakingly a double measure for his new 'friend'. Before the neck of the bottle could hover temptingly over his glass he'd fitted the top and stowed the bottle back on the shelf. He breathed deep to steady his resolve.

"Sorry there's no Ice." Sliding the glass towards her on a coaster. Crouching behind the bar Alex rummaged through the lower cabinets and coolers for the juices and non-alcoholic drinks.
"You know, you never did tell me your name Miss...."

"Why do you need my....?" began the woman suspiciously as she held onto the glass, moments before she's interrupted by a familiar voice saying, "After you" and the door opening.

That voice. Declan?

The door opens, however, to reveal a young woman.

Show,describe yourselves.

There's a vague something about this woman that seems slightly off. It might be the camera-shutter motion of her too-big eyes, the darkness streaking down her ghastly pale face, or just the feeling that she doesn't belong here. Or anywhere. Her hands are curled tightly around things too small to see, and there's a mass of gauze and tape stuck to the side of her black-and-red dress.

Lily takes a step, heels echoing on the floor. This room is strangely lacking in people--it looks like a ballroom, so shouldn't all the dancers be here? No, there's just a man who looks like he's seen better days and a woman with... oh. Soaked to the skin and dressed in white, of all things.

It's impolite to stare, so she tries not to. Her words come out in a rush. "...Ahem. Hello. If I interrupted something I am terribly sorry, I'm just passing through."