Scene Four - An interlude.

[Priest]

Scene Four - An Interlude

OOC:   This scene is for conversations and planning the day following the visit to the shipping agency

The day dawns bright enough, though a touch chilly. It looks like it might rain later.
You all meet as arranged at Luigi's for breakfast...

[jbibblesworth]

Bridget sits alone at the cafe's rear, curling wisps of steam from her untouched coffee cup curling before her.

Her normally plucky features seem muted and distant this morning, as though she experienced anything but a good night's rest.

[DrVendetta]

Paul crosses the street and enters Luigi's to meet with his new found compainions. He still can't get over the fact that he is finally going to be going out and seeing forgien lands as he had always dreamed of doing. As he enters Luigi's he see's Bridget sitting in the back and walks over to her table and sits down "Good morning Bridget" Paul says with a bright smile on his face as he motions to the waitress for a coffee. Making small talk while waiting for the others to arrive Paul ask "So where are you from Bridget?"

[jbibblesworth]

Bridget shakes her head in an attempt to clear herself of her stupor. She smiles wanly at Paul.

"Sorry Paul. Nasty nightmare last night." she sighs, seeming to perk up slightly. "To answer your question, I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. My father was a newspaperman himself down there. Mother was simple Creole stock, content to sing in the church choir and boil crawdads all day. Taking a page from my old man I went to Tulane to study journalism where I graduated at the top of my class. After college, reporting work was tough to come by. Louisiana is still very..." her smile sours somewhat, ...Southern...in some regards."

She sips at her coffee and levels her eyes at him.

"What about you Paul? Where do you call home?"

[DrVendetta]

Paul orders some breakfeast when the waiter brings his coffee to the table then he responds to Bridget "Here is where I call home. Although I have become quite bored with it as of late. I have worked at Marinetime East Shipping Agents for a few years now. I strated studing Japanese hoping that the job would allow me to travel but unfortunatley I am just an over glorified shipping clerk there."

[BenTheRat]

Ted Nelson
.
Ted walks into the diner and looks around till he sees the others and heads for the table. He sits down and you can tell by his demeanor he didn't sleep well last night. "I hate hotels. Coffee please," he tells the watress as she approaches. "and whatever the breakfast special is. Morning folks." and he leans his head back and closes his eyes.

[Mr. Handy]

Tony walks in behind Ted and joins the others at the table. "Good morning, everyone," he says. "Coffee, bacon, and eggs sounds good to me."

[kabukiman]

-Good morning all- says Francis- I had a bad dream this nigth.
Francis will take notes of his dream to use it in a story.

[jbibblesworth]

"Well you were looking for mystery and adventure, but it seems like mystery and adventure found you!" she remarks to Paul.

Bridget's mouth dips into a thin frown at [/b]Francis's[/b] mention of his nightmare. Certainly some of the things they had seen the previous day would be cause for emotion duress, but it certainly was strange that both of them had had nightmares on the same night. For her part, Bridget hadn't had a nightmare in recent memory prior to the last evening. And she'd spent the past several years covering bloody gangland slayings, grisly auto-accidents, and all manner of fatality-inducing tragedies.

"How odd." she says to Francis as he pulls a chair up to the evermore crowded table. "I had a nightmare last night as well. It was awful..."

[kabukiman]

-Don't tell me it was about a ragdoll hanged with a knife?

[jbibblesworth]

"Not precisely..." Bridget says slowly, her hands suddenly clammy. "But it did have those elements to it."

She blanches slightly as she recounts her dream.

"It's night, and I'm walking through a forest. I glance up at the trees and notice that every leaf I see is actually a blade, and as I turn away I can sense them reaching towards me. I continue walking and suddenly at my side is a tiny ragdoll. It looks up at me and says 'The forest is a lonely place. See how lonely?'"

Bridget feels a wave of nausea overtake her and she pauses a moment, swallowing hard against the sensation. She takes a drink from her coffee and continues.

"The doll points a tree and there I am. Hanging by a rope. I'm dead and m..." she falters, her words choked off in her throat. "...my eyes and mouth are full of writhing maggots! Then, my corpse looks at me and starts screaming 'Beware! Beware!'. Then I woke up..."

She briefly considers sharing the fact that in those initial waking moments she detected a faint scent of pine trees in her hotel room, but decides against it fearing the others will think her paranoid.

"...it was awful."

[DrVendetta]

Paul listens closely to Bridgets telling of her nightmare then looks at Francis and waits the telling of his nightmare.

[BenTheRat]

Ted Nelson
.
"Ok a bit creepy that several of us had nightmares about trees and dolls in dresses. Mine said beware. I'm not so sure the dreams have that much meaning other than as a warning, but where are they coming from? I think is the more important question. And did Veronica have them as well? That could be where the images of her drawings and the smudges on the windows came from till she just snapped." Ted muses, his head still back with his eyes closed.
When the waitress pours his coffee he takes a drink and immediately curses himself as it burns his tongue, "Damn it."

[DrVendetta]

Paul ask Ted "Do you think that Veronica may be posessed in some way by some spirit and she is trying to reach out to us to warn us away? I would think the more important question would be how does she know that this group of people is tracking her if you were all hired after she had already left?"

[jbibblesworth]

The burgeoning realization of the dreams similarities send bolts of ice shooting down Bridget's spine and the coffee cup she's cradling between two hands rattles noisily on it's saucer. She shakes her head at the conjecturing the others are engaged in.

"We've got several oceans worth of travel to discuss the what-if's and why-mights." she says firmly, "Whatever happened to Veronica, for me it's just become a bit more personal. I'm not used to sharing dreams with others. Where's Noble? Wasn't he supposed to meet us here with the travel arrangements?"

[Mr. Handy]

"I can't explain the dreams," says Tony, shivering, "but they have to be a sign - a bad one."

[kabukiman]

-In my dream I was walking in a forest. I saw a an hanged figures and by getting nearer, I saw it was a doll with a blade. She cut free and start chasing me. After a while, she managed to hunt me. Weird part is, I could swear there was a scent of cherry blossom when I awaked. This is getting to my nerves.

[Priest]

The door to the restaraunt opens with a tinkle of door bell. The figure of Alfred Noble enters, sees you gathered at a booth and makes his way over. He brandishes a large manilla envelope,
"Ah, the arangements have been made"

He slides the envelope across the table top, "As we discussed the boat leaves Frisco on Tuesday 4pm, then its a five day crossing of the Pacific to the port of Mito, Japan after that around a ten hour journey to Naushau," He smiles and pats his inside pocket, "Ive had a cable from Mr Myers, the fiancial manager for Mrs Chadwick, confirming payment, so everything is in order."

He turns to leave, "Oh six passages have been confirmed. I am reliably informed that there are several hotels within or in close proximity to the village. So all that remains is to wish you bon voyage"

As his vision falls on the seated Paul Wellington he nods, "Paul, there are letters for you to attend to, when you're ready"

[DrVendetta]

Paul looks up at Alfred and says "I am sorry but I am either going to have to turn in my resignation or take an extended leave of abscence as one of those six tickets is for me. I will be traveling with the group to help them with Japanse translation. Let me know which you would preffer, the extended leave or my resignation? I will be over to collect my personal belongs shortly." Paul waits for a response from Alfred.

[Priest]

Noble heads towards the door, his head shaking sadly, "I see, well business has been a bit slow of late, so I guess I can spare you for a month"

He reaches the door and pulls it open, "However after that I'm afraid I will have no option but to let you go."

With that he opens the door and leaves the retaraunt.