IC - 2- Day 2 - Dame Marie Sunday - Everyone

[SunlessNick]

"We found some clothes we thought might belong to someone here," Florence says, showing them to Henninger.

[Mr. Handy]

Laurent watches Paul for any reaction that shows recognition.

[Mephistophilis]

Looking over the shirt and trousers Henninger shakes them out and colours a deeper shade of red. 'Ah, yes yes. These do look like mine. I must have...um...forgotten them.'

[Mr. Handy]

"It has happened to others as well, so do not feel too ashamed," says Laurent. "Yours were not the only clothes we found. What were you doing there, and who was with you? We'd like to return their clothes too."

[SunlessNick]

Florence's hands tighten as she thinks about Marise, but she realises she needs to let Laurent's question stand by itself.

[Mephistophilis]

Folding his clothes and placing them on the desk Henninger says, 'I'm um, well. I have been having some difficulties at night, sleep walking. But there was no one with me, no, not at all.' While he remains flushed and embarrassed it seems like he has more he could say. Then he adds, 'As a matter purely of interest, what other clothes did you find?'

Suggest a roll here to encourage him to share a bit more

[Mr. Handy]

"They were a girl's clothes," says Laurent, hoping to get him to open up to them.

Roll (human die) to get Paul to share more:
1d6

[SunlessNick]

"My daughter's," Florence decides to add. "So you can understand why I hope you or another here might have seen something to help me understand what happened on the beach."

What time is it? How long before Fabrice and Pierre return?

[Mephistophilis]

When he hears about the girl from Laurent he looks alarmed and seems to clam up, 'I don't know anything about a girl, I didn't see any girl there.'

He starts to get up, looking like the meeting is over. But when Florence mentions her daughter his sad grey eyes soften in sympathy. 'Look, I'm sorry to hear about your daughter, but I didn't see her. I said I've been suffering from sleepwalking, but that's not the half of it. I've been sleepwalking out of the Azagon, waking up a mile or more away, it's happened nearly ten times now. Dr Clermont says, well he says I need to learn to unwind.'

He shudders, 'Last night, last night was the worst. I woke up in the sea, far out in the sea...'

[Mephistophilis]

It's late morning now so Fabrice and Pierre have probably returned with Benson

[Mr. Handy]

"Do you remember any dreams you may have had?" asks Laurent.

[SunlessNick]

Florence will need to return home after this interview to start preparing the midday meal for the family (Laurent is welcome to come too of course).

"That must have been terrifying," she says to the comment about having woken up in the sea.

[Mephistophilis]

Asked about his dreams Henninger gives Laurent a strange look. 'Well yes, yes, I have had dreams, to be honest they're worse than the sleepwalking. Fantastic nightmares. In the water, always in the water, swimming like a fish through an undersea forest of monstrous coral formations.' He is sweating now and breathing raggedly.

To Florence he says 'You have no idea. I was there, in my room, in bed, settling down to sleep and then suddenly, I'm in the dark sea, no lights, no shore visible, swimming like I had to swim, like something was forcing me, swimming out into the sea, away from land.' His face is feverish, like he's reliving something traumatic, like he's there in the moment. 'Then something bit me, a fish I suppose, and I stopped swimming, confused, treading water, not knowing what to do. And I heard drumming, voodoo drums, and that told me where the land was, I swam to it like a madman. I was so far out I thought I'd never get back. When I pulled myself onto the beach at Anse Douce I was exhausted. I just lay there. Then I walked up and down looking for my clothes, I couldn't find them, but there was no one else there I swear. Eventually I saw a crowd gathering, heard the voodoo drums again, and I ran back to the Azagon Hotel along the shore.'

[Mr. Handy]

"What did you have to eat or drink before this happened?" asks Laurent.

[Mephistophilis]

'Eat or drink?' he repeats, looking puzzled. 'I mean, I might, um, I think I ate here, at the hotel. Tell you the truth it's not great, too much garlic for one thing, I must have a word with Ti-Jean.'

[Mr. Handy]

"We spoke to him on the way in," says Laurent. "It probably wasn't the garlic that caused those dreams. But maybe there's another explanation. Have you learned anything about Voudoun during your time on the island?"

[Mephistophilis]

Now that he mentions it, there is a slightly unpleasant waft coming off Henninger, garlic definitely, and something underneath it, a sort of sour odour.

'Ha ha, Voodoo, you sound like Tom Driscoll! No, I don't set much store in superstition' he says. 'I'm sure Dr Clermont is right, it is just stress. And maybe bad cooking.'

[Mr. Handy]

"Tom Driscoll sounds interesting," says Laurent. "I'd like to hear more about him."

[SunlessNick]

Florence tries to place the odour.

Only rolled 2 - not using insight for it.

[Mephistophilis]

The smell is definitely garlic, perhaps some onion as well. Beneath that there is a sour odour that could be gone-off milk or cheese, Europeans and Americans tend to smell a bit like that anyway, and finally there's something slightly alcoholic with a sort of unsubtle fragrance that Florence associates with the colognes and aftershaves used by some of the richer white men she's seen visit the Sharktooth Bar on occasion.

Henninger says, 'Dr Driscoll is the director here at the Azagon. It is his baby. He thinks the Voodoo people resent him being here, resent us being here.'