Play@YSDC

Alex’s fists were bunched as he ran but with a start he felt something expand within his hand. Looking down with alarm he saw the distinctive toggle joint and slim barrel of a Luger P08.

He glanced quickly at Elsie and said, ”Cover your ears!” then turned and fired at Jürgen.

OOC, Rolled 95 so that was a miss, but hopefully it will give Jürgen pause for thought... https://www.dholeshouse.org/Tools/DiceVerifier?RID=4bea5d7c-a8ce-4aa4-af6e-b7bac99081f6

OOC,Jump Roll for Jürgen: 53.

More than pause for thought, his flinch at the gunshot costs him his footing and he begins falling down his current flight of steps. If you stay put, that will leave him on the landing just up from you - if you start running again, you can make it to ground level before he'll be recovered enough to resume the chase (which means you'd have got away unless he follows you into the street).

Alex watched as Jürgen crashed onto the landing. He stopped and stepped back, levelling the gun at him.

“Drop the knife!” he snapped. “If you move, I’ll shoot you dead!”

Jürgen obeys. Above you, the second pursuer pauses. You can see it's the other man from the apartment. He's holding a cudgel, which is no threat under the circumstances, even if he throws it. Whether or not he's a dreamer, he obviously recognises the pistol.

”Drop the cudgel down the middle the stairwell,” Alex ordered the second man, “Otherwise Jürgen‘s brain will be decorating that wall.”

Once the man had done as he was instructed, Alex said, “Sit on your hands against the wall. If you so much as twitch, ums Leben kommen für Jürgen.” He stared at the man until he complied, then switched his attention to Jürgen again. “Why not just let us go?” he asked, bitterly. “We would have walked away and not done you any harm.”

"The Son ordered otherwise," Jürgen says.

"And what, you just do anything he says?" Elsie says. "Is it you who killed your friend Konrad?"

"No!" Jürgen yells defensively. "But the Sons carry his commands... and he commands that all dreamers must join him. All our wills must join his - one vision to make this world what it must be - not the piecemeal ruin that lies around us now."

”You think a dictatorship will be better?! Where people can be murdered because they don’t share your beliefs?!” spat Alex.

He stepped forward suddenly and placed the barrel against Jürgen’s forehead. “What’s the Son planning to do now?! Tell me or I’ll blow your brains out!”

"Not a dictatorship," Jürgen says. "A paradise."

In response Alex's threat, he says, "He will find another base of operations. He will keep recruiting followers to tear down the influence of the Great Ones. Turn more dreamers to Meyernick's cause. And if you slay him, another Son will take his place."

”Some paradise!” laughed Alex harshly.

He pushed the gun barrel against Jürgen’s forehead, causing him to twist his head away. “What does he want though? What does he want the dreamers to do?”

"To tear down the tyranny of kings and priests," Jürgen says. "A world where men are free to rule themselves, as equals."

"Provided everyone who doesn't sign up is killed first?" Elsie snaps.

"Maybe the Son was too quick to judge you," Jürgen says. "You're a barman and you're a barmaid - working in a place you don't own, to weigh down another man's purse. Don't you dream of a world where power is not held in the hands of the underserving? And if this world can be made so, then all in our world will dream of it too. That is what Meyernick offers us." Jürgen's eyes take on a bright glitter of fanaticism as he speaks.

”You’re right. We work for someone who makes money from our efforts and those in charge have more money than anyone else. But, it’s a democracy, and if enough of us vote them out, they can be removed. However benevolent you think you think this Meyernick is, he’s just offering a dictatorship with him as the unremovable dictator, can’t you see that?” replied Alex.

Keeping the gun firmly in place against Jürgen’s forehead, he reached forward and picked up the knife.

Alex is able to get hold of the knife.

"In one world or the other, there's nowhere he can't find you," Jürgen says.

"Thanks for the warning," Elsie replies.

Alex stepped back, the gun still against Jürgen’s head. ”Any last words before I blow your brains out?” he asked.

Jürgen swallows. "If you kill me, you don't have your hostage any more. And if what you say is true, and you want nothing from this world, you should let us kill you after all."

Alex passed the knife back to Elsie, without removing the gun from Jürgen’s head. ”A hostage?” he said. “Now that’s an idea I hadn’t considered.”

He put a bit more pressure on the gun, forcing it to dig into Jürgen’s skull. ”Tell me, Jürgen, what happens if I shoot you here? Do you die back in Berlin too?”

Elise takes the knife, with a slight fumbling motion that tells you her eyes are still on the other man on the landing above.

"No," Jürgen says. "I'd wake up in Berlin, but with my dream self dead I couldn't return. Isn't that what you say you want for yourself?"

”If you move again,” Alex snarled to the man on the stairs, “I’ll shoot him then I’ll shoot you!”

“And with you dead here,” Alex switched his attention back to Jürgen, ”What happens to your memories of this place?”

"I... don't know," Jürgen says.

”You on the stairs,” said Alex, glancing at the second man. “What will happen to Jürgen‘s memories of Hlanith if he dies here?”

"He'll most likely remember it," the other man replies.