70. [DREAM/DREAM/DREAM/DREAM]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[So while the rest of Johto alternately panics, cries, or rushes around trying to capture as many of the soulstealing insects as possible, there are dozens of souls floating around in that dream limbo, drifting in and out of each other's slumbering thoughts and visions. Whether it's nightmarish flashbacks or just those dreams where you're at school taking a really hard test, and then Dracula shows up, and then everybody's naked ... anything is possible when it comes to what people see in their sleep.]

[But what appears in the darkness in this particular spot in the spaceless, shifting mass of dreaming souls... is a door.]

[It's old, and covered with boards and bolts, rusted near-through in some places. The lock is broken-- mangled and half-melted and wrenched out of the keyhole. The only thing on it that doesn't look ancient is a scrap of torn notebook-paper that's taped up on it at roughly eye-level. It reads only a single phrase:]</sub>

Fear of blood tends to create fear for the flesh.

<sub>[More importantly, though... the door is ajar. Through the gap come the scents of rust and metal-- and something organic, fleshy-- and a low, deep hum of industrial machinery. It's not a door that anyone in their right mind would want to go through. ... But for anyone who may have stumbled this far into the dreams of their fellow lost souls, either in flight from some other nightmare or just pure, wandering curiosity... there's just no other place to go but through the door.]




[Go on. Open it. After all.... it's only a dream.]</sub>

[ooc: SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG, GUYS. Thanks for being patient! If you commented on that planning post, there's something spooky planned for your character to do here so please feel free to tag or not tag as it pleases you!]

~*~

[ooc: This is the IC post for what was announced over here! Even if you didn't comment there, feel free to participate! I'm still happy to whip up Silent Hill scenarios for folks!]

Comments

[bakaitoukid]

[... that honestly just makes Kaito more wary, but after another hesitation, he wades forward again, following the sound of this man's voice]

So you were betrayed by the person who was gonna help you-- uh. Keep your daughter from doing something... bad?

[His wariness is evident in his voice. This man is speaking vaguely, and he's not sure what to make of it]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Trust your instincts c'mon man, the guy's been chained in a sewer for god only knows how long... of course he sounds a little nuts! It's incredible he's sane enough to even string two words together, at this point...]

[He does sound like he's getting more frustrated, though.]</sub>

Enough... enough!

I don't want to answer any more questions... I need to see light again. I need to get OUT of this place!

The chain is over there-- attached to the side of the wall! Do you see it?

_{[If Kaito does look (instead of possibly wading back in the direction that he came), sure enough... a length of chain, covered in weeds and sewer sludge, rises from the water over in the very corner of the chamber-- dangerously close to where the threshing machines whir. It's attached to the sewer wall.]}

[bakaitoukid]

[... well on the bright side, his hostile reaction to his questions makes him less inclined to remove that chain 8T He searches the dark room for said restraint, noticing it connected to the wall close to those whirring machines. That chain is... suspiciously large. Almost too large for a normal human male.

He doesn't move toward it, though. But he doesn't move away either]

I see it.

[A beat, and despite the man specifically saying he didn't want to answer any more questions, Kaito shoots him another one. There is something not right about this situation, and he isn't going to do anything until he has all of the information he needs.]

What's the first thing you're gonna do when you get out of here?

[foolishwren]

_{[There's a sort of silence from the unseen man, and when he speaks again, there's a definite coldness. He seems to at least realize that he's at the mercy of the 'foreigner', though.]}

I am losing patience...

But...

Water. Fresh water.

I've been trapped in this filth for so long I can hardly remember the taste.

[bakaitoukid]

[... all right, that's an answer. Slowly, he starts wading his way to the chain, careful not to get too close to those whirring machines]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[The chain is thick, old, and worn... but the stone around the place where it attaches to the wall with a ring is slightly crumbled. If he digs and scrapes around its edges a bit, it probably wouldn't be too difficult to remove the chunk entirely.]

[Perhaps it's looped through something under the water down there on the other side, which could explain why the mystery speaker hadn't been able to reach this side and break it off the wall himself...]</sub>

[bakaitoukid]

[Kaito reaches out to take the chain in his hands, frowning at how weak the chain link seems to be. It almost looks as though the captive should have been able to break through this himself...

With the chain in his hands, he glances up, searching through the darkness in an attempt to find the man connected to this restraint]

[foolishwren]

_{[The chain has some give, but then it snags with a hard CHNK somewhere under the water (which, if Kaito should choose to follow it ... will eventually come up to his chin the closer he gets...)-- followed by a grunt of pain.]}

What are you doing over there--?!

_{[... seriously though where IS this guy.]}

[bakaitoukid]

Hang on--

[... all right, he is going to follow the chain instead of just releasing it. He wants to at least know who this guy is]

Where are you?

[foolishwren]

<sub>[The further he follows that chain... the deeper and deeper he goes into the water. It comes up to his chin... then his ears.]

[The voice sounds bewildered, and a little outraged. But there's also something frantic in it.]</sub>

Does it MATTER?! I cannot MOVE until the chain is broken! Just BREAK it, and then we can both leave this place!

[bakaitoukid]

[... looks like he's not getting to the end of this. Soaked to the bone and shivering, he pulls back, reaching out to place his palm against the point where the chain meets the wall again]

Are you under water?

[foolishwren]

It is attached at multiple points-- please. Stop wasting TIME!

_{[... Well, he DOES sound desperate, even if it's a pissed-off kind of desperate. There's even a gurgle-- maybe he is underwater? Or maybe the chain ends in one of those shadowy corners and is tight enough that he's only just above water-level enough to breathe....]}

[bakaitoukid]

. . .

[Letting out a breath and responding in a snappish tone himself]

I'm not wasting time, idiot! You're the one whose purposely being vague! I don't even have your name!

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Oho. Now you've done it, Kaito.]

[The voice falls silent for a moment or so in pure outrage. When it speaks up again, there's a sort of glubbering noise preceding the first words, like he's bobbing angrily at the surface of deep water.]</sub>

DON'T you dare take that tone with me, you impudent pup!

My name is Leonard Wolf and no matter what my traitorous daughter has done, it is still a name to be RESPECTED!

If I were still in power, the Order would NEVER let in some upstart foreigner who didn't know how to respect his ELDERS!

_{[... wait what. Order what.]}

[bakaitoukid]

Are you kidding? Who's the one with the ability to get rid of these stupid restraints? And you're yelling at me?

[He removes his hand from the chain on the wall and frowns... deeply]

What the heck do you mean by Order?

[foolishwren]

<sub>[... There's another silence.]

[But this time, it's not an angry one. Instead, it's.... purely baffled. When the voice speaks again, it's with an utterly bewildered tone that might even be funny were they not both miserable and stuck in a smelly sewer.]</sub>

... You... are not from the Order?

[bakaitoukid]

No.

I dunno how I got here, but I wasn't sent by anyone.

[foolishwren]

_{[Another pause. ... And then, with growing upset--]}

... You DECEIVED me!!

_{[Oh boy.]}

Another filthy unbeliever, out to take what's mine!

_{[Here we go.]}

I bet you thought if you could keep me talking long enough, I would inadvertently reveal its location!

_{[Kaito can probably just go ahead right now and mark today in his diary as "SUCKING", because things are about to go from 'vacuum cleaner' to 'black hole' on the suckitude meter.]}

Well, the joke's on you! I have NOTHING!

_{[Apart from the racket of the old man throwing a tantrum, there's a grinding sound deep below the water-- and the chain in Kaito's hands suddenly goes taut. Whoever's on the other end, they're pulling on it hard-- however the thing is rigged up, it's not pulling Kaito into the water or anything-- but it's obvious its captive is thrashing around on the other end, wherever that might be.]}

[bakaitoukid]

[... baaaacking away from that chain now]

Oi oi oi! I didn't come here for anything you had! Nor did I try to purposely trick you! I don't care about this stupid Order or anything that has to do with it!

[foolishwren]

_{[Sorry, Kaito... the guy sounds beyond reasoning with. He continues to rage.]}

If God had willed it, the world would have been PURGED of your kind by now! As it is... I suppose it's up to ME to punish you for your BLASPHEMY.

<sub>[... The 'blasphemy' probably being the part where he'd called the Order 'stupid', or maybe it was just for existing. In all honesty? It's hard to tell and he certainly doesn't seem like he's going to clarify, because the thrashing becomes a long, steady tug, sending some dust tumbling from where the chain met the wall... and then somewhere under the water, there was a dull ring of breaking metal, followed by a grotesque, fleshy SNAP. And then the chain went completely slack.]

[There is now silence, save for the crash of rushing water and the whir of the threshing machines.]</sub>

[bakaitoukid]

[SH-- OKAY, THAT IS BAD.

Kaito doesn't waste any time once the chain goes slack. He doesn't even stop to wonder why he needed help if he could break the chain himself. That guy sound mad, and this magician isn't going to stick around for it.

As quickly as he can, he wades through the water and makes a mad dash for the tunnel he came through, trying to ignore the ominous sounds of water and gears whirring behind him]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's pretty startling the kind of strength that pure anger can give a person... and considering he seemed to ALREADY be pretty angry at his own plight... perhaps Kaito's non-Order presence had just been the straw to break the camel's back... or in this case, the offense to break the chain.]

[Wading through such deep water can seem like it takes an eternity. And with that looming LACK of a human voice dogging his heels, it probably seems even longer...]

[But he's almost there. He'll have reached the water that's thigh-deep-- when suddenly, something will clamp around his ankle. Something cold, hard, and very, very strong. And also yanking backwards. Sharply.]</sub>

[bakaitoukid]

[Kaito is just about to pull himself out of the water and back onto the dry floors of the sewer when his ankle is snagged. There is no suppressing that surprised yelp that echoes throughout the sewer caverns, and his poker face slips into shock and perhaps a bit of fear as whatever it is yanks him down. Instinctively, he reaches out to grab a hold of something-- anything-- to prevent him from being pulled under...

And thankfully, his fingers snag a small ridge in the ground. He holds onto it tightly as the thing pulls, gritting his teeth and reconstructing his poker face into fierce determination]

Not today, you bastard--!

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's a good thing Kaito's athletic-- probably moreso than the... thing down here, given that it's presumably been chained in place for so long... but it's still strong. Disturbingly strong. The thief's grip holds fast, but the pulling on his leg will force him to stretch painfully. It's yanking with all its might, trying to drag him into deeper waters-- though for some reason, whatever it is has only grabbed on with one hand to pull... if it was even a hand.]

[It doesn't feel like a hand.]

[And the reason why becomes clear only mere seconds later-- in an explosion of water, Leonard Wolf-- or what was once Leonard Wolf-- comes bursting to the surface over Kaito.]



[He wastes no time whatsoever. Attempting to take advantage of the splayed, low position Kaito's been yanked into, he brings a horridly sharp, somehow crustaceous foot down to KEEP him low. It's then followed by an even sharper claw, the horrid bladelike appendage that he'd grabbed the boy's ankle with earlier. ... But only one. The other? An oozing stump.]

[Perhaps that had been the source of the fleshy snap that had sounded before the chain went slack.]

[His voice, still human but now only a mockery of the coherent speech he'd had earlier, roars out and echoes up and down the cavern, intermingled with a wheezing, bubbling cry that couldn't be less human if it tried.]</sub>

It is GOD'S decision that I fight as a knight of honor!

As a PROTECTOR of the SEAL!

Death to ALL the unbelievers!

[bakaitoukid]

[HOLY-- yeah okay, he was... definitely right for feeling so suspicious. Kaito's eyes grow wide, and... unfortunately, with both hands hanging onto the ridge, he doesn't have the time or the ability to reach for his card gun. That foot comes down hard, pushing him completely under the rank and smelly sewer water.

The rushing sound flowing past his ears as he struggles to free himself drowns out whatever this crazy monster guy is saying... and although the adrenaline is pounding through his veins and he's being held underwater where he can't breathe, Kaito manages to keep his wits about him as she scrambles to get himself out of this mess.

Not today, all right! Try harder! I can't be brought down that easily!

His ankle is free and so are his hands, although they are sore and bloody from being ripped away from the ridge so heavily. He barely pays attention to the pain coursing through his fingers as he fumbles underwater for his card gun... and manages to close his hand around the handle just in time.

The gun itself is wet, but the gunpowder might still be usable... not underwater, though, which is why Kaito is sticking his hand up as far as he can, past the surface of the water until he can feel air.

And that is when he fires... though with shaky aim due to how much he is thrashing and the awkward position he is firing from]