Charles' Journey: Loss

[Laraqua]

Something about the motorcycle niggles at him as he strides forward. Glass appears under hand and he follows the window along until her finds the door. Surely this has to be the bar. Hopefully.

[Pickman37]

What is it about that motorcycle...?

Charles moves on from the wreckage but something is nagging at him...

What is it? Are they here? He can feel his heart pounding in his chest. He tries to focus on the task at hand but his mind seems to think otherwise...

What did that detective hint at? All the cops were poisoned or something like that. The water supply...

Charles' mind is racing when he feels the cold of the glass. Sensing a reprieve from his brain, he quickly scrambles to find an entrance..

[Laraqua]

Charles finds the door and throws it open, staggering into the darkness. A quick flick of the lighter reveals that the place is much as he left it. There's no glasses in sight although, in truth, such an item wouldn't provide much assistance considering how the wind seems to circle and find weaknesses in even the cloth that covers his mouth. In the corner booth, however, there is a motorcycle helmet. Black, with red streaks along the sides.

[Pickman37]

Bingo! Charles thinks to himself as he grabs the helmet while recalling a scene from a Zucker-Abrahams film. Surely, someone would interrupt his triumph by holding up a card with the winning numbers...

He realizes that possibly his injury has made him off-kilter.

He carries the helmet to the door and makes one last spot check with his lighter for his gun...

OOC,Any reason the motorcycle niggles my memory? Can I make a roll for that? As for the bike itself, I understand it to be useless correct?

[Laraqua]

Show,it was mostly me trying to nudge you along to the idea that a motorcycle helmet would keep grit out of your eyes.

The motorcycle helmet is black with some red slashes by the temples that sort of remind him of Davies helmet. The thought of that man with his dark grey eyes and the livid 'V' scarred into his face by an associate who hadn't particularly liked his attempts to pick up his sister flashes through Charles' mind. The associate had been a member of a motorcycle gang that wasn't actually as criminal as everybody suspected. Marijuana and the occasional drunken assault. Davies had gotten some different treatment but, well, considering he was an escalating sexual psychopath, nobody had cared. Even his friends wouldn't help him get his own back. They said Davies got frustrated enough to turn to the cops.

Possible.

The truth was he turned up several months ago after driving into a brick wall, stone cold sober. They say there was evidence to suggest another car was on the road and had side swiped him. That's what they said anyway. The cops couldn't turn up anything, strangely enough. It was an interesting event and one that nobody talked about anymore.

Show,feel free to decide that Charles had a hand in this or perhaps even drove the car. If so, indicate it in your text.

There's no sign of his gun anywhere around here but there is a pool cue stood up against the wall that would do in a pinch.

[Pickman37]

Charles takes the helmet and approaches the exit, finding no sign of his gun again but this time confronted by the thoughts of a memory better left unexplored.

The bike outside reminds him of Davies. The bastard was crooked, worse than a stick in water, and it would be no surprise if his death was planned not accidental. However, Charles was not a fool who would be present at such an occasion...even if he had a hand in it through suggestion or even payed action...

Bloody pedophile. It was only a matter of time...you got what you deserved...

Suddenly, Charles snaps out of his nostalgia and starts to consider the list of names who may be here in Silent Hill...

Wait! No he wouldn't be here...and why would he sell me out...?

Charles can feel a rope tightening around him. So much to consider....he has to get going somewhere...away from here. He pulls out the map one last time before donning the helmet and making his way somewhere. Hopefully, away from where he can be found....

[Laraqua]

He takes a look over the street map of Silent Hill. Considering how dark it is out there and the obscene quantity of ash, not to mention the suddenness of the storm, the disappearance of his sister (perhaps by the back door), it just doesn't seem like a clever idea to strike out across the streets of this town without a destination. The hospital doesn't seem too far away but there might not be anyone there to treat him. It's also perhaps too far to reach if he aimed to get there all at once. It might be worth breaking up his journey with shorter destinations to keep himself from getting lost.

[Pickman37]

Charles studied the found map under the flickering shadows of his lighter in the darkened bar. He recalled vaguely viewing a map of the town before the trip but it seemed to be of the south side of Toluca Lake, not showing the north side. Besides, he had left that detail of the trip in Lily's care....It was her goddamn destination choice!

YOU STUPID LITTLE SHIT! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?! The frustration in his mind seemed almost audible in the black of the bar...

He looked again at the map. No doubt his injury and the events of the evening have played havoc on his memory. He thought they had been at the Observation Deck but that did not seem near the lighthouse that he had encouraged his sister to paint. Additionally, there was no cemetary on the map or no Combustion Street appearing as well. He realized that Rochelle was as insane and most likely drug-addled as he presumed...

What a useless bitch! Her and that 'Jack'-ass deserved each other... Charles smiled to himself as he planned what he would do if he ran into either of them again. Yeah, they'll have it coming and I'll deliver it...Shit rags!

He slammed the side of the bar with the tire iron. The noise was quickly swallowed up by the silence. Suddenly he felt foolish, being alone and all, and returned to examining the map.

He assumed he was at Annie's Bar. As far as he could tell, Nathan Avenue did stretch Northwest off the map but he did not see any marker for the SHFM station so who knew where it was or how far out. So much for finding this Detective Wilson. However, he did have the post office key he found and he did see a post office north of his location. He just needed to verify where he actually was. He would need to go outside with his bike helmet and try to find Craig Street or even Riverside Drive. Even if he found Sanford, he would at least know which direction was which. Anything other than that would require a re-group. Charles prepared to confront the uncomfortable disgusting atmosphere he was beginning to associate with this so-called resort town...

[Laraqua]

It would be difficult to read any street signs out in that madness so he'd be better off looking for buildings or judging it by the twists and turns and hoping for the best. However, there was bound to be something in the bar that would point to the location. A quick look around himself using the lighter quickly determines that he is, in fact, in Annie's Bar as it is written on a couple of the menus placed out on the tables in the booths. Apparently today's special is the schnitzel parmigiana.

[Pickman37]

Upon reading the special, Charles can feel a pang of hunger strike his being. He has not eaten for hours and the word 'parmigiana' is enough to do it but the word 'schnitzel' has always had German connotations for him. Its almost like he can hear Colonel Klink using the word on an episode of Hogan's Heroes and, as a child, relating it to some kind of Austrian weiner dog. This memory is enough to snap him out of his nostalgia for food and he proceeds to the task at hand...

He decides to proceed onto the street and attempt to recognize any of the surrounding buildings. He takes one last glimpse at the map, folds it up and pockets it then dons the helmet. He moves to the exit to face the ashen dark outside...

[Laraqua]

With the helmet on he can at least keep his eyes open and try to scrutinise the streets around him and this would give him a few feet of vision if only he had a flashlight. The wind will snap off the lighter if he tries to use it. Still, if he crosses the road and follows the wall west he should be able to avoid the park. It'd probably be best if he crawled so he could keep contact with the sidewalk.

[Pickman37]

Charles returns the lighter to his pocket and proceeds to crawl on his hands and knees. He feels humilated and helpless but then he has felt helpless for the last little while anyways. He only hopes to recognize a landmark to determine his location and the direction he is travelling in within the thick pitch. Despite his situation, he drags the tire iron along, hearing it scrape upon the asphalt occasionally despite his headgear...

[Laraqua]

Charles reached the first intersection. That had to be Riverside Drive. He crossed the asphalt onto the next sidewalk and kept crawling, feeling the bite of asphalt against his bare skin and hoping that he didn't stumble across a patch of broken glass. Remembering that he needed to turn left onto Crichton Street and that the only way to tell when that turn up was coming was to be on the other sidewalk, he crossed onto the left side of what he was hoping to be Riverside Drive. Time dragged out interminably. It was slow going on his hands and knees. After what seemed like hours he can hear a radio station playing noisily to the left of him. The motel perhaps? If so, maybe there's someone there. He can almost make out perhaps a light source or something similar.

Spoiler:

Show, choice moment for a successful Navigate road.

[Pickman37]

Navigate Roll,[url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3761198/]Navigate (10%) on his hands and knees... (1d100=76)[/url]

Charles carried on, attempting to find the source of the noise but not sure where he was going...

[Laraqua]

The ashen wind seems to clear a little as though obstructions were providing a wind break for him and he can see the glow of windows directly ahead of him. He steps forward into a calm zone a few feet away from the windows and flicks open his lighter to see the faint neon glow of a Riverside Motel sign. A black corrugated iron fence guards this safe area that seems to be largely without wind nor is there any real deposits of ash anywhere that he can see. Perhaps Lily had sought shelter here? There was a chance of it.

[Pickman37]

Charles immediately hunts for an entrance.

Maybe Lily found safety... He thinks to himself but then his mind twists like it usually does...

..Then perhaps, I'll smack her! What the Hell!! Leaving me behind... Whatta dumb shit!

He grasps the tire iron hard and checks around for a way in....

[Laraqua]

There's a gate that leads into the motel itself. Why the whole area is fenced off is anyone's guess. Usually motels sit wide open. Has this place been having trouble? Surely young punks could jump the fence without issue. Then Charles hears the sound of a few dogs barking, one of which ends in a blood-chilling howl. Maybe it's to keep out the dogs. In which case, it's best to get in their fast. Could dogs jump that fence? They should be able to. He unlatches the gate and steps inside, quickly finding an entrance to the motel building. The door opens smoothly and lets him into a small reception room with a desk, some flyers, and some chairs. There's no booking computer. Just a typewriter. The key board behind the desk is largely empty though there are four keys remaining: 101, 200, Diner, Bar, King's Room, Staff Room. There's also a few drawers and a filing cabinet in here.

[Pickman37]

OOC,Sorry, I've been absent of late due to RL action. Carrying on...

Charles closes the door behind himself and feels slightly relaxed, once again escaping the darkened ash. He removes the helmet and studies the contents of the lobby. Curious as to his whereabouts, he investigates the flyers to see if he can procure a motel name and maybe reference it with the map in his possession...

[Laraqua]

Its the Riverside Motel. The flyers are for various things to see and do: Silent Hill Historical Society Ghost Tours, Toluca Prison ghost tours, Lakeside Amusement Park, Artaud Theatre productions, and a flyer of the various pubs and clubs in town.

[Pickman37]

Charles notes the name of the motel and quickly withdraws the map from his pocket. Under the flickering glow of his lighter, he finds its location and realizes that he now has an exact location and a point of departure to work from. He sees that the Alchemilla Hospital is only north of his location and decides that this should be his point of destination...

What a handle for a hospital... Charles rolls his eyes for no one, mostly himself...

Before regrouping and departing, he decides to look for the staff room. His wounds have been bleeding through the old bandaging and could use a fresh cover. Perhaps, a first aid kit may be present...