"Cael, what's going on?" calls Sarah. "Stephen's not actually going to take off, is he?"
"I still can't remember the number," says Lionel. "It's been so long, and my mind is so full of holes. But I do remember my birthday. It's March 15, 1945. And my mother's name was Claire Deveraux. She was in the French Resistance."
To H-E Double hcokey sticks with the number old man... the chopper is leaving us... Hurry! Figure out what we have to do so we can get the H-E- Double Hockey sticks out of here.
Ronald is clearing getting frustrating with all the back and forth between the ghosts of Libraries past and Brianna. He eyes the helicopter nervously and fights the urge to pull Brianna and himself bcak on board.
"I don't remember exactly what we did that let me go home," says Lionel. "Well, not quite all the way home. We arrived in 2004. I remember we did it at the hospital. The only thing I can think of is that maybe we're supposed to save the children from that cult. Or at least one child in particular. There was that girl whose mum we met in the bomb shelter. She said the girl looked just like Brianna, but it wasn't clear if she was dead or simply missing. I think she's the key to this, somehow. Save Brianna, save the world."
"Ronald, Brianna, you've got to warn Daddy before we lose our chance!" says Sarah with increasing desperation. "Tell him not to read the nasty books or he'll lose his mind! And tell him to tell Daniel and Annie to be 100 percent honest with me, and that they need to warn me not to call my own mobile number no matter what! If I do, I'll hear a distorted message from my future self and I'll get it wrong with disastrous results for us all!"
Ronald rubs his face and looks at the ghostly shapes, waving his hands in an attempt to get their attention.
Don't read the books Lionel! They'll turn you into this crazy nut job and your daughter will hate you! Save the little girl that looks like Brianna! Tell Daniel and Annie to warn Sarah not to use her cell phone!
He looks to future crazy Lionel.
Can they even hear me old man! Brianna, you say something!
Craperjacks!
Go back to the Hospital Lionel! Save the culty kids! Tell Daniel and Annie to trust no one.
"I never said that last bit!" says Sarah. "Tell him Daniel and Annie have to trust me and be completely honest with me, so I can trust them! If they lie to me, all sorts of bad things will happen. They can also trust Daddy, Brianna, Dahlia, and the people from 1941. And tell Daddy I will always love him, no matter how crazy he gets." She puts her arms around Lionel and gives him a squeeze.
"I know you will, sweetheart," says Lionel, hugging her back. "I'll love you forever too." He looks back at his other self. "Maybe they can come with us in the helicopter."
"So what do you think about all this?" Cael asked out loud to apparently no one.
Spoiler:
"You know what I think Cael but I'll voice it anyway so there can be no mistake. You should kill the children, the old man and clownboy while making Sarah watch and then you need to do all sorts of deliciously horrid things to her body. You remember what you did to that pretty Lieutenant Amy Talbot don't you? Took days to bleed her dry, they were scrapping bits of her off the ceiling when you were through. You even impressed me Cael and that is hard to do."
"I... I did? I don't remember a Lt. Amy Talbot either in the Army or police. I murdered her? Sounds gruesome whatever I did." Cael said.
Spoiler:
"Son, gruesome doesn't begin to explain what you did. You don't remember tasting her blood in the back of your throat for the next several days or remember picking out chucks of her skin from under your nails and teeth? You don't remember reaching up into her womanhood and literally ripping out her insides? Shame, we had such a good time. Damn those men and their drugs, no matter though. Soon everything will start to wear off and you'll begin to remember who you really are and not the implanted memories.
"I don't know if I really do want to know who I am. I sort of like being myself, how I am now."
Spoiler:
"You won't like who you are now once you remember who and what you really are. Please tell me you remember your sister.
"Yes of course I remember Anna... I... I just don't remember where she lives now or who she's married to... if she's married."
Spoiler:
Married! Damn it all to hell son! You don't remember anything! You raped and killed your own sister when she was eight years old! She was your first! You raped her in the woods behind your parent's house and then slit her throat. You then told your parents it was the bum that lived in the woods that did it. He went to the electric chair instead of you. Don't you remember practically cumming in your pants when he died?
"No! No! No!" Cael screamed, "I didn't do those things! Stop it!"
"Brianna, please tell Daddy that he needs to tell Daniel and Annie to be totally honest with me about everything," says Sarah. She turns to Cael and hurries to his side. "Cael, are you talking to something that looks like you, or like other people you know, something that can change its appearance? It sounds like the thing that tormented me earlier, after I woke up from being burned. It claimed to be my guilt and fear. Don't listen to it, Cael! It's trying to hurt you, trying to make it do things you don't want to do. I don't know much about your past, but I do know that you have good in your heart. You wouldn't have been able to pass the SAS psych tests if you were a monster. You saved me and Dahlia back at the hospital. When I thought I would never love or trust again, you taught me how. You were willing to lay down your life to protect us. Whatever you did or didn't do, you don't have to be that person. You can start over." But her words did not seem to be helping in the slightest.
Cael looked at Sarah as if she were the crazy one, "No... he doesn't look like me, it's the non zen part of my brain. Everything is connected and we all pretend to be other people... I wonder who the Buddah pretended to be?" Cael stated and then shrugged, he didn't really know what she was talking about.
"Then maybe I was right before," says Sarah. "Daniel said something about being in cages with electrodes hooked up, and I said maybe we all are, and that this is some kind of virtual reality. Or other reality. And in the real world, we're all other people? But this is real. I'm Sarah Carpenter. I have thirty years of memories. I've lived a life."
Lionel nods. "I have memories too, but they're all mixed up. I'm more than twice as old as you. Whoever we really are, Sarah, you're still my daughter, and I love you more than anything. But I've got to be me. Who else could I be? He's right, though. Everything is connected. Everything is significant."
"Why is the chopper's engine firing up? Stephen's not going to take off and leave us here, is he?"Sarah remembers her radio and speaks into it. "Stephen, what's going on? Why are the rotors spinning faster?" She looks back at her father. "I've been trying to wake up ever since this started, but I can't. How are we supposed to wake up if there's some other reality behind the three we know about?"
"Take the red pill?"Lionel shrugs. "It's been less than a day for you, but three years and four months for me. We have to do something first. We have to find...something...someone. I thought it was Brianna, but she's been with us all along. Maybe we have to find all the Briannas, bring them together. She's already two of them, but there's one missing still."
"That's cause Cael killed her! Shes missing cause she's dead!" Brianna bites her lip and stares at the helicopter, "C'mon....let's get on! I don't know much, but I already know I don't like it here!"
Trixie[trik-see] (n) : Name derived from an original character played on Yog Def: One who loves chit chat threads and dramatic roleplaying moments
"But you're the one he shot," says Lionel. "See, there's the bandage I put on your head. No, it's the Brianna from 1941 that's missing, the girl that looks like you."
"We can't let them leave without us," says Sarah. "Brianna, you're right, we need to get back, but you've got to warn Daddy's younger self before we leave, in case he can't come with us. Shout to him and tell him that he has to get Daniel and Annie to tell me the whole truth, no matter what, and that they can trust us. Ronald shouldn't have said that last bit where he told them not to trust anyone. And tell him that I love him, and I always will." She speaks into the radio again. "Daniel, are we the sleepless? Are we going to wake up soon? Does this have to do with the Sleeper Device? Don't leave without us, 'kay? We're coming back!" She takes her father and Dahlia by the hand and hurries back toward the helicopter. "I don't know anything about who I am in the real world. Maybe my mum there is still alive. But I don't know if I want to be someone else. I love Sarah."
"The lake ... the lake of frozen children," he says, his voice a gentle murmur. "We're the dream that searches ... but they shall wake up soon. We have to go. We have to leave."
Cael shouldered his rifle and took out his pistol, there seemed little threat but there was no sense in letting his guard down completely, what Stephen was doing with his bird was more of a concern to him than anything. Cael walked back to the chopper and stood behind Stephen looking down at the instrument panel. "So what are you doing?" Cael asked as he placed the muzzle of his pistol to the back of Stephen's neck and fired twice.
Spoiler:
"Fuck yes! Oh you fucking maniac you! It's about time there was senseless murder and mayhem! That's what that bitch deserved for touching your chopper!"
"He did deserve to die didn't he? He earned the right for touching my bird, I didn't give him any orders to move it." Cael stated and then looked to the rest in the chopper, "Who told him to touch my bird?"
That door me and Brianna found in the temple under the hospital... All the children were behind it.... Maybe there was a a lake... Figure this out old man! I'll see what's happening inside the chopper.
Ronald moves with Brianna towards the chooper. He peers inside to make sure the passengers are still alright!
Umm you guys OK? We're kinda dealing with something important here.
"NOOOO!!!" screams Sarah when Cael fires. In an instant her heart shatters, and she realizes that it's all true. Cael really is a sadistic, cold-blooded murderer, not the damaged and confused soldier she had wanted so desperately to believe he was, and now he has just shown his true colors. She releases Lionel and Dahlia's hands, springs into the chopper, and takes out her mace in one hand and knife in the other. Wihtout a moment's hesitation, she sprays Cael in the face with her mace, leaving him on the floor of the chopper in quivering spasms, where he would remain for a very long time indeed. "It's over! Disarm him and tie him up good and tight - he's very strong. Daddy, save Stephen!"
OOC,Since [b]Cael[/b] already fired this round, he gets no chance to Dodge. Mace stuns its target for 2d10 [i]minutes[/i], not merely combat rounds, and I rolled a 20, so he's going to be out of it for a very long time (though there's a good chance someone will kill him before that time expires). While stunned he can still Dodge (or parry, but only against unarmed attacks since he doesn't have a melee weapon capable of parrying in his hand), but he cannot take any other action for the duration.
As for [b]Stephen[/b], I'm not sure how much damage he took from the two bullets or how many HP he has. [b]Lionel[/b] just gave him 1 HP back. If this brings him to 1 or more, he'll regain consciousness and survive. If he's still at 0 or less, he's dying, but it's not too late. We have until the end of [i]next[/i] round to get him back to at least 1 HP to save his life. He has two wounds, and only one has been treated so far, so [b]Sarah[/b] and [b]Lionel[/b] still have time to treat the other. Getting 1/5 of our First Aid skill or less will result in 2d3 HP being regained instead of merely 1d3.
For that matter, there's a chance [b]Sarah[/b] was able to spray [b]Cael[/b] before he got the second shot off. Firearms go before anything else for the first shot, but the second shot is during the normal part of the round. Since both of us have DEX 17, it's a tossup who actually went first.
Also, [b]Cael[/b] should still roll for each shot, in case of a Malfunction that jams the gun.
"Oh my god!" Brianna breathes, feeling faint at the sight of blood. "He deserves to have his gun taken away....I mean.....there wasn't even any warning...he just.....shot him!"" She staggers a little and puts a hand to her forehead. "I....I need to.....sit down."
Trixie[trik-see] (n) : Name derived from an original character played on Yog Def: One who loves chit chat threads and dramatic roleplaying moments
OOC,It sure is! Poor [b]Sarah[/b], always getting her heart broken. :cry: People keep underestimating her, but she can kick butt when the chips are down! :mrgreen: That was great how she took [b]Cael[/b] down. I know Laraqua was hoping she'd kill him, but it's just not her. [b]Annie[/b], on the other hand, might...
Now we have to get out of here fast, but our pilot shot our co-pilot, seemingly leaving us with nobody to fly the chopper. I still think we can save [b]Stephen[/b]. Even if we can't do it through conventional means, I've got one more trick up my sleeve.
