The Vanishing of Abigail Wright

[HoneyDog]

"What the hell are you talking about? What kid?" Nik asks irritably.

[Silver Priest]

"That's what I'd like to know! I called you ten minutes or so ago and a kid is on the line asking if I wanted to talk to his dad. Don't let anyone else answer your phone, Agent. It's a security breach waiting to happen."

[HoneyDog]

“Yeah okay” Nik replies testily. “Look, we’re in the middle of something here. We’ll report when we can.”

He closes the phone, cutting off McRay before he can protest. Pausing a moment, he switches the phone off, then puts it in his pocket.

He looks at Langford, trying to get a read of the man.

“Mr.Langford. My colleague here is a paramedic.” He indicates Jose. “Can he look you over?”

[Silver Priest]

"Wai--" But Nik terminates the call before McRay can finish. Thankfully, he does not call back immediately.

Langford stares straight ahead. Nik has to address him a few times before he seems to hear him. Mutely, he nods.

Jose gets to work, giving him a cautious once over. "He's okay, physically he seems to be in perfect health. But he seems to be in a state of shock or something. Honestly I think he'll need some sort of therapy. But, uh..." He trails off, and the others know why. If Langford started spouting off on what he experienced that might be a problem.

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm going to need some therapy myself," says Vanessa with a shudder. "Do we know anyone friendly who might be able to help with that?"

[HoneyDog]

Nik regards Langford silently for a moment, ignoring Vanessa's question.

“He’s probably been missing a few days. No-one’s gonna believe his story. He doesn’t know who we are. Marchand, why don’t you drive him to an emergency room and leave him there? We need to check on the other residents, see if they’re okay. And make sure that whatever’s going on in there is finished. You can’t go back in right now. When you get back, wait outside for us.”

[Mr. Handy]

"All right," says Vanessa, "if you think that's for the best."

[Silver Priest]

Vanessa had been with the organization long enough to know that Delta Green could probably put her in contact with a therapist in the know or at least was a Friendly who at least knew some hints of the Unnatural. But she also knew that the process would take time, and certainly would take longer than the rest of the mission. For now she would have to be careful to avoid triggering her anxiety or having another episode, so maybe taking Langford to the hospital was the best bet.

It's then that Vanessa realizes she was still holding a letter Abigail had given her when they had passed through the worlds-- a quick glance shows it was sealed and addressed to her father.

Jose meanwhile seems willing to stick besides Nik, and the two exit the car as Vanessa drives away to the hospital. The large dog takes up half the back seat, finally happy to curl out.

Langford still says nothing. Did Vanessa want to say anything to him before they reached the hospital?

**

Nik and Jose prepare to reenter the Macalistar building, uncertain as to what they'll face.

"We know the others are under the spell of this--play, or whatever," Jose says. "Do we call McRay and ask what we should do, or try to talk to them? Maybe they're not as bad as Abby was, they did not move on like she did, right? But I dunno, they all seemed pretty weird to me, man. I really hope there aren't any more of those puppet things."

[HoneyDog]

"Let's go see if that guy is still painting in the basement" says Nik. "Then we should check on the other tenants."

[Mr. Handy]

"People will think we're crazy if we tell them what happened in there," Vanessa tells Langford on the way to the hospital. "It would probably be best if we don't give any details about it to anyone who wasn't there for now. Maybe we should claim amnesia about it."

OOC,Persuade roll (73% skill) to convince [b]Langford[/b] to keep quiet: [dice]0[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

Nik's almost at the door when he sees it. Something falls from the sky and hits the ground just to the right of where he was standing. Turning around he sees it's a person, dressed in fancy clothing that best resembled a medieval noble. The face gave it away as Thomas Manuel.

But wait, on second glance, that's not his face. It's a mask that bore a striking resemblance to Thomas, but had been carefully stapled and glued onto the face beneath.The figure-- Nik is pretty sure it's a man, and it does resemble the build of Manuel-- is clearly dead.

"Oh God!"

Jose's words cause Nik to look up to the roof, where he can see three more figures dressed in similar costumes and wearing the same eerie and lifelike masks. One by one three more bodies plunge from the sky and hit the New York City street, none of them making a sound as they fall. But all make the same sound when they hit the pavement.

Crack.

Crack.

Crack.

OOC:   Nik, please make a San roll for Unnatural 0/1d3. Something about the macabre scene makes it clear this is more than a standard suicide.

***

Langford is quiet for a moment, but he finally shakes his head. "No way, I need to tell people what happened! You don't understand-- I could lose my job if people think I just wandered off, and I have two alimony payments to make anyway, I can't afford that. I can't just ignore it. I need to tell the police, let them handle it. Or Phenomen-X. People need to know what's out there!" He's worked himself into a manic state, and Vanessa gets the feeling that any warnings she gives him were going to fall on deaf ears. That left her with less polite options. Delta Green's main mission was to prevent the exposure of the innocent to the Unnatural. Langford was going to talk. His story sounded crazy, and maybe no one would believe it. But she had no idea how the organization would cover up all of the tenets falling under the sway of a strange play, and if that became a major news story, Langford's claims, absurd as they may sound, would attract attention.

She had to make a choice. She could let him talk and hope his own words discredited him, but risk the organization's ire. She could threaten him, or she could silence him permanently. Or maybe there was another choice on how to deal with the matter. Whatever she chose, she would have to move quick.

[HoneyDog]

SAN,[url=https://orokos.com/roll/803228]SAN[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]25[/b]

Nik stops and looks at the scene, shocked into silence by the macabre spectacle. He quickly pulls himself together.

“Jose, get out of here now. You can’t explain your presence here. I’ll call this in. No arguments!”

Without waiting for a reply, he pulls his phone to call for paramedics as he heads to check on the bodies.

[Mr. Handy]

"In that case, I know a couple of people who would perfect for you to talk to," says Vanessa. "One's a medical doctor, so he can also help with your physical injuries, and the other's a psychiatrist who can help with the other kind." She recalls the earlier visit to "Frasier," as well as Denton Shaeffer of Saucerwatch. He could run his mouth in front of either of them without alerting anyone who wasn't already an insider. She was reluctant to involve Frasier, as he probably wouldn't appreciate her bringing in Langford, but Dr. Shaeffer might be able to help by hypnotizing Langford. He might even be able to suppress his memories of what happened to him and replace them with false memories. She pulls over to the curb. "I'd better stop driving. It's not safe to drive and talk on a cell phone at the same time." She takes out her phone and calls Denton Shaeffer.

[Silver Priest]

For once, Jose does not argue. He nods and scurries off, leaving Nik with the unenviable task of covering this all up.

The other bodies are in similar shape as Thomas'; that is to say, unpleasant. But one of the bodies has its arms outstretched, pointing to him. The mask gives it the face of a woman-- Michelle Vanfitz, he recognized her from the play. She holds out her hands in death, and in her grip is a book, looking entirely unaffected by the fall and to all accounts the same as that night last year when he had delivered it to the bookstore.

The King In Yellow.

***

Dr. Shaeffer answers on the second ring. He exchanges bland pleasantries but sounds tired. The answers he had found in Groversville had apparently not satisfied his crusade for the truth.

"How can I assist you, Agent?"

OOC:   Normally I'd not have you play this out, but I'm curious how much Vanessa plans to say in front of Langford. She could leave the car, though it's hard to gauge how he'd reach to that.

[Mr. Handy]

"I'm with a young man, a Mr. Langford," says Vanessa into the phone. "He's been abducted, but I don't think it's by aliens. I think he could benefit from a session with you, and I think your hypnotherapy may really help him come to terms with his traumatic experience. If you can do this over the phone rather than in person, that would be great. I'd like to give the phone over to him so he can give you his account of what happened to him, and then you can place him under hypnosis and tell him he can only hear your voice. Once he's under, he'll probably drop the phone, so I'll pick it up at that point and hold it so you can talk to him and bring him around when you're done."

OOC,My plan is that once [b]Langford[/b] is under hypnosis and can only hear [b]Shaeffer[/b]'s voice and not mine, I'll then explain to [b]Shaeffer[/b] that I need to suppress [b]Langford[/b]'s memories of what happened to him.

[HoneyDog]

Nik takes the book and puts it in his pocket.

[Silver Priest]

"I can certainly try." Dr. Shaeffer says, apparently unperturbed by the request. "Put him on."

It takes a bit of prodding, but Langford takes the phone. He eases up almost immediately, which may be a bit surprising given his ordeal. But maybe he wanted a calm, authoritative voice to tell him that everything would be okay. Regardless, within five minutes he's in a trance like state, and his head falls down as the phone drops from his hand.

OOC:   Scaeffer scored a critical success.

Once Vanessa speaks with him, she can tell he's not entirely sold on the idea.

"I'm afraid hypnotherapy is not like the movies. I usually cannot just replace memories wholesale; the mind very rarely truly forgets, the subconscious always remembers. That said, he was rather susceptible to my instructions, suggesting he may prove willing to have his memories modified to a less stressful experience. But I'm not certain I can perform this in good conscience; I got into this field to help people process their trauma and learn what happened to them. I have worked with hundreds of individuals who were desperate to process their trauma and uncover their repressed memories. I have seen first hand the negatives effects from repressing trauma. What you are asking me to do could very well end up harming this man as much as or even more than what he just went through."

OOC:   Vanessa, please make a persuade roll.

***

As soon as Nik places his hands on the book he feels a strange feeling.

OOC:   Nik, please roll pow*5. A success means the feeling immediately passes and you can proceed with your action. Failure means something else happens.

[HoneyDog]

OOC,POW 40: [url=https://orokos.com/roll/803935]POW[/url]: [u]1d100[/u] [b]70[/b] I edited the above post.

[Mr. Handy]

"I understand that," says Vanessa, "but it will cause him much greater harm if you don't. He's determined to tell all and sundry everything that happened to him, and I can't talk him out of it. If he does, they'll think he's insane and commit him to a mental institution. They'll load him up full of drugs and bombard him with therapy in an attempt to convince him that what happened to him is just a delusion. He may be sane going in, but he sure won't stay that way for long under those conditions. This will happen to him for years, perhaps decades. Either he'll stick to the truth and remain there for the rest of his life, or they'll eventually convince him that what he knew to be true is a lie. Keeping his memories suppressed is not as bad as the alternative."

OOC,Persuade roll (73% skill) to convince [b]Shaeffer[/b] to suppress [b]Langford[/b]'s memories: [dice]0[/dice]

[Silver Priest]

Nik,No sooner does [b]Nik[/b] touch the book than a strange feeling overtakes him. It starts like an itch, steadily growing in intensity. He realizes that this book was a trap; it had ensnared an entire apartment building, and who knew how many other unfortunate souls. And yet he is overcome with a nagging desire to open it up and read it. What horrible truth had enraptured so many people? Led them to abandon family, friends, even life? What could be worth that devotion? A voice-- not his own or maybe it was-- tells him that all the knowledge he wanted could be found in the play. All he had to do was read it. Attempts to suppress the desire work when he actively did so, but as soon as he focused on something--anything-else, the temptation came back. It was an obsession. One he did not have to obey. But one he somehow knew would remain with him until he broke down and read the damn thing. But he couldn't do that. Could he? [ooc]Nik has developed an obsession with The King In Yellow. No matter what he's doing or where he is, a part of him will always desire to read the play, and he somehow knows that the only way to rid himself of the obsession is by reading it.He cannot bear to destroy the book himself, though he can still give it away to someone else and let them do it-- though it is an action that distresses him to think about, and one that would require considerable willpower. In game terms until Nik reads the play he will need to make a San roll everytime he tries to sleep. A normal Failure won't cost him San, but he'll wake up and be unable to go back to sleep for awhile (Unless he's able to force it someway, such as through pills), which will prevent him from regaining willpower and could lead him to take exhaustion penalties. There's nothing stopping Nik from calling McRay now and handing the book over as per his original plan. Except the knowledge that this compulsion won't leave him unless and until he gives into it. And because Nik's so unlucky, please make an Unnatural san roll, 1/1d3.[/ooc]

"Fine." Denton sighs, clearly unhappy. "I don't like this at all, and please don't make a habit of it, but I understand this is an exceptional circumstance. And there's a limit to what I can do. But I'll do what I can."

Sure enough, he does. Vanessa puts Langford onto the phone once again, and the man begins to relax, voicing his affirmation to several things Dr. Shaeffer says. Vanessa has no idea what story he's being fed, but he seems less agitated as the phone call ends. Langford looks considerably refreshed, but looks at Vanessa with unfocused eyes.

"Wait, what day is it? Dammit, I really went on a bender this time." He rubs his face. "I had a good job, was getting my life back together, then I just went and blew it all up. Maybe it is time I start therapy. You said you knew someone, I think? I don't really remember..." He looks troubled, but only briefly. "I need to pick up the pieces of my life, figure out where I went wrong." He seems troubled, but in an entirely mundane sense, and seems eager to believe whatever Shaffer told him. If only to forget what really happened.