January 26, 2003.01.26.03. - happydale, pt 3 [rune-bastion] *njb[happydale - decker has been pulled from scene, things have been adjusted so that the pack returns from KY, and Rune and James decide to finally get rid of the box so they can have a nice quiet week rather than having that hang over their heads as well, so all previous scenes in happydale end up happening tonight, this is a quickwrap]
(ST)
PART I
They steadily get more and more lost among the forestry of the 'room' into which they stepped and found New Jersey at the bizarre Tea Party. They are joined, whether they seem to like it or not, by the Malkavian who, for some time, starts composing little ditties about Rune The Savior(ess). Charming... James gets the effeminate Bastian for his crush. Rune gets... the bug-nut lunatic. Bastian, for the most part, seems to ignore the Malkavian as is often the best course of action with such vampires.They come across, after much time wandering (possibly bickering, a bit of thumping the Malk, etc), what appears to be a large stone statue of a Sphinx. Until it moves... and then speaks. Did you expect any less?
The Sphinx says... "Normally I would ask a riddle, but in this case the riddle has no answer yet. Can you grant me freedom? And that is the riddle...."
It pauses and looked at the Garou specifically, "And no I don't mean kill me, you furry little fuckers."
Then it adds: "That is the riddle, but you need not answer it to pass, but ponder it carefully."
(james)
not particularly
right now nothing would really surprise him
and he's quiet for a moment
a conversation carried on over Eagle's wings
a dark brow lifting as he watches the mythical creatureIt would depend on what the definition of "freedom" is.... and if it is within our power to grant.
not out loud
just.... pondered(ST)
PART IIThe large Sphinx rises to admit them through the doorway, underneath it is what appears to be a black and white checkered floor, aqua green walls and a lot of silhouettes of people running around. Some of them look like they are in hospital garb.
The group gets guided through a hallway, the hallway appears to be wider and longer than the previous room... and the tiles appear to be getting... BIGGER. Lucky you, right?
If they try and turn back the hallway gets smaller to the point that, even in lupus, they can't get back through the doorway. Guess who is stuck now?
Should they continue going forward (which they don't seem to have much choice but to do) they notice that the black tiles are covered in gravel and the white tiles are covered in snow. In one of the white tiles is a free standing door. The question is...
Do you go through the door?
Do you actually have any choice?
Can you think of any thing else?
Is the sky made of chocolate jelly or is that just your paranoia kicking in?
(rune)
There's no choice. The Glass Walker sends a winging glance to her packmate and narrows her eyes faintly, despising these choices that are not choices.Something of her familiar smirk appears once more. I guess we're going through.
And then she does, stealing herself for half-a-moment before plunging through the door.
(ST)
: PART III - JAMESWhen you step through the door...
You are...
Alone.
The others aren't there...
Isolation...
Nothingness...
Darkness...
ALONE.
And then...
The romm begins to take forms and shapes oh so very familiar to the Bonegnawer.
It is everything he fears.
It is everything he dreads.
It is everything that he has lost, in one way or another.
It is everything that has been destoryed by his Rage.
Whatever deeply dark and poisonous in his mind and dreams and soul...
Here...
Where he is alone.
It is all brought before his eyes and he is made to watch, remember, experience, relive it all.
There is no way to shut it out.
He must face his inner demons.
He will learn to overcome...
Or he will with and leave the others... just as alone.
Will he cop out or will he strive to overcome.
To grow and be stronger?
The choice... IS HIS...
(james)
darkness
alonehe almost physically recoils under the assault
at first it's just the sounds in the darkness
(Hey baby? Coop and I have somethin' to tell ya....)
then they begin to form out of the darkness
(Jenna sauntering with that sultry smile, Cooper swaggering behind her)
jaw tightens, and those are tears beginning to form in umber eyes
(her hands sliding up his chest, blasphemy falling from her tongue)
his head jerks back, to avoid the kiss that comes next
(there's Chris... and Sledge..... what're they all doing here? why are they smiling like that? what's the joke, guys?).... not again ....
he swore it would never happen again
(this can't be happening now)
and that's when the Full Moon suddenly roars through his blood
shaggy coat grows, talons sharpen
there's a blur of movement to slash and hack and rend and bite and destroythis isn't real.... this can't be real...
but it feels real
the ache, the hurt, the betrayal.... and the emptyness
it's all coming back at him full force as he attacks to plow through what he sees
even though it shifts and changes and there's nothing but darkness beyond
he plows through itthey aren't his pack anymore, they're dead.... his pack is back in Jersey and Rune's somewhere in this hell and he has to get back to them.... no matter what it takes
it's that blind faith that kept him alive then
it's that blind faith that's driving him now(ST)
PART IVUpon exiting through the far doors of their personal nightmares, they all appear - all four - emerging from the same door oddly enough. The room had white slate tiles on the floor, red drapes hanging from the walls apparently not connected to anything but free hanging as if against gravity. In the center if a giant black and gold spinning Cookie Tin supported by a blue and white shaft the goes from floor to ceiling.
There is an old man that they can occassionally see behind sitting slumped in a wheelchair with his hands cupped as if he was meant to be holding something.
On the left hand side is the demon that they saw looking down from the sky so much earlier in their adventure. He is grinning manically....
On the right hand side is the small boy that was crying for help...
The Demon strides across the floor toward sthe small boy and yells "Shut up you fucking whelp!" and rips the spine of the young boy out, his hand covered in the gore of flesh, tissue, muscle and bone. He throw the body into the spinning box and the old man behind the box shudders slightly...
Then...
The demon advances on the four that came through the door...
(rune)
The Demon advances, and the Glass Walker is suddenly in her huge, mottle-coated Crinos form. It happens more quickly than she can say, or even understand, guided by instinct rather than conscious thought. Dull eyes are suddenly full of bloody fury, and there's bloodlust in her eyes. It's easier to fight than think, better, too.There's a snarl - challenge laid down - as she invokes the gift of spirits to stir some primal fear within the demon thing. She's on him a second later, faster than one can begin to understand, in a whirlwind of claws and teeth.
(james)
Full. Moon. Frenzy.
he's about a sneeze away from it
snarling even as he's walking through the door
then to see the Demon....Chrinos body folds to drag talons against the floor
sharpening them to razor's edge on the slate tilesas if what he saw wasn't enough
seeing the Demon hurt the boy threw him right over the edge
there's an enraged howl that's bellowing from the shepardic creature's chest
calling on Eagle, gathering their totem's strength into his frame
and he's bolting towards advancing Demon
(.... there was no answer from the great spirit)
tearing into it with everything he has
(just like he tore through his own pack)when faith blinds
all you can see is bloody red(ST)
: PART VAslan personified in the man with no heartbeat.
Insanity personified as a cackling Jester with no grip on reality.
Two enraged Garou...
If the 'demon' had bothered to consider them a threat, he may have prepared.
He probably should have slaughtered them when they first arrived.
Ego, eventually, will get your killed when you least expect it.
When the demon falls under the flurry of attacks, the old man in the wheelchair grins a crusty yellow and black toothed smile as the wounds they had dealt slowly... slowly... appear on his frail figure...
As the life leaves his body he smiles, eyes covered with cateracts, at the four and whispers hoarsely... "Thank you for setting me free..........."
As he fades from existance the red curtains fall revealing...
The motel room.
The box is no longer in the room, in it's place is an old newspaper that was dated over fifty years ago of the same old man, but younger looking, being taken the HAPPY DALES SANITARIUM. He looks very happy and the caption under the photo says: The Old Man Was Singing "Rune & James Are My Saviors" ... His name was Cecil B. Worthington.
(ST)
PART VIBastian turns to New Jersey and states, nuetrally and with the age of the centuries behind his voice. Bastian was not a youth. He was a vampire of considerable age and power, the weight of his blood leaning on the three of them. "Free the rats, New Jesery. Free them and never come near my territory again."
Even New Jersey wasn't stupid enough to argue with an Elder Gangrel having a really bad hair day. In Bastian's case? This was ALL over his body. Talk about ANGST. James will find the wards are gone when he checks on the rats again in a few nights hence.
If the Garou bother to check the newspaper, the article was authentic. The paper, antique almost. It is on record at the halls and at the administration of the old Happy Dales Sanitarium... Which, strangely enough, shuts it's doors two days later (after they get out of the box), as shows the newspaper clipping that the pack finds tacked to their pack condo front door with a B signed on it, that says the place closed when Cecil B. Worthington was found dead in a wheelchair in his room, locked from the inside, supposedly attacked by wild animals and his corpse torn to shreds. In his hands... was a small, battered cookie tin and a half eaten red-and-white polka dot (fifty year old, no less!) mushroom. He apparently... died smiling.
Both Garou... have been gone for... according to the clock on the wall: three to five minutes. However, upon looking at one another, their bodies say... they have been gone for several years. They have aged. They both sport two matching streaks of silver hair at the temple.
Posted by james at January 26, 2003 12:00 AM
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