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

[foolishwren]

...Y'know, that's really not very reassuring...

_{[... Ironhide, if Heather ever goes back to her own world and winds up opening fire on a random parked car just because she was startled by its engine coming on unexpectedly, IT'S YOUR FAULT.]}

Anyway, Swiss-- it's a kind of knife that has some gadget on it for everything. Anyway, uhh...

_{[She stares out across the desolate park. No need to shade her eyes under this inky sky...]}

... Well, there's nothing in this place but abandoned themepark rides... and more monsters.

_{[... She can see the carousel from here... but she'd rather he not see that, whether or not it was going. Those horses stuck in her mind almost more than anything else from this place... poor things.]}

The entrance gate should be... er... that way. I think. _{[She points!]}

[show_my_cannons]

Yeah. I know. Supposed to be a warning.

[He'll proudly take the credit. Especially if she hits it somewhere potentially vital on a Decepticon. This is training. Ironhide-style.]

Still not me.

[He says nothing further on the subject, though, just nods his head. If there's nothing in this place worth looking at, or worth seeking out, there's no reason to stay here. That in mind, he simply picks himself up, and starts limp-marching in the direction she was pointing.]

[foolishwren]

_{[Be prepared to take the heat when she inadvertently pumps some poor little old lady's corvette full of lead, then.]}

All right, all right, I get it... still, jeez, like I don't have enough to be paranoid about already... Cultists and Cars. Sounds like a crappy thriller novel...

<sub>[The park is big, but it passes by relatively quickly, considering his massive stride. No need to skulk around in the shadows and scamper through open areas like Heather had always needed to before...]

[They reach the fancy arch over the entrance within five minutes-- but there's an interesting sight waiting for them. Lying more or less directly in the middle of their path is... what appears to be a naked obese human lying flat on its back on the ground.]

[Just.... chillin' like a villain. ... A gross, naked villain. ... With no face.]</sub>



.... Oh, god. Those things.

[show_my_cannons]

[He glances sidelong at her. It's about the only way he can look at her, with the way she's riding. But still, it's a sidelong glance, before he turns his attention back to the park.]

You said nothing of cultists before... Going to explain that one?

[Oh Ironhide looks big, and slow, and dumb. ... Typically he is two out of three of those things. But the old timer is occasionally smarter than most would give him credit for.]

[He stops, though, catching sight of... whatever that was. The cannons on his arms begin to whirl slowly, charging. His voice is pitched low, more of a rumble in his chest than actual words.]

What is that? And how do I take it out?

[foolishwren]

<sub>[She, in turn, glances sidelong back. NOTHIN' GOT PAST HIM, HUH.]

[But, after all, she doesn't really HAVE any reason to hold back... he's seen the monsters. Killed the monsters. But god, the story is so damn long...]</sub>

Depends.

Do you know much about cultists?

_{[She leans over a little bit, squinting down at the reclining Cancer with an expression of revulsion.]}

Those things die like anything else... they're just big, fuckin' ugly, and way faster than something that blubbery has any right to be.

S'probably playing dead.

_{[Or... or whatever it was they were doing when they just LAID there. She'd nearly fallen across one more times than she could count.]}

...

... Maybe you could, like... I dunno. Step on it.

[show_my_cannons]

[Not today it didn't. Maybe some other day. But today is not that day. In answer to her question, he shrugs his other shoulder.]

It has to do with human religion. I know this much.

[The rest just sort of filtered through one audio receptor and out the other. He keeps his gaze on the creature, though, his good optic narrowed as scans play over his visual field -- distance, mass, vital signs?]

What happens if I simply... perforate it?

[To punctuate the statement, he hefts his cannons, aiming them toward the fat... thing... blocking their path.]

[foolishwren]

Eh... more or less, yeah.

Anyway, this place has a cult. Goes back generations. Most people don't even know about it... and a big part of the few who do just think they're the local weirdos.

... And then the rest of us know that they're a hell of a lot more than that.

_{[All the while, the cancer is lying there, seemingly lifelessly-- but Ironhide's scans will pick up... something. It's not alive, not like your average human or varied vertebrate... but there's something there.]}

... Hmm.

_{[The suggestion gets a moment's thoughtful pause from Heather, before she comes out with a question.]}

D'you know what a zit is?

[show_my_cannons]

What are they?

[It's sort of an automatic question. The statement implies a lot of bad things about these people. Which automatically makes Ironhide's inherent good guy streak perk up and want to smash something.]

[The odd readouts make him scowl all the more, and lift his cannons into a better position.]

No. Never heard of it.

[A pause.]

Why?

[foolishwren]

It's-- ... _{[She hesitates.]} ... That's a long, long story. ... I guess we have the time. _{[... For a heavily-edited version. She's not entirely sure she wants to go into her own involvement unless he asks questions she can't avoid answering.]}

But first...

_{[She gestures to the pale mound of blubber sequestered in the middle of their path like a very confused sumo wrestler trying to get a tan. Both because it was the more immediate issue and because it gave her a little time to think.]}

A zit is like... actually, I don't wanna explain it, 'cause it's gross and I'm just not that dedicated to the metaphor. But I'm pretty sure if you blow that thing up... it ain't gonna be pretty. ... You might wanna take a step or two back.

[show_my_cannons]

All right.

[Ironhide is no stranger to putting off conversations. They have an objective, now. And an obstacle standing in their way. This is not the time to start having a long talk, not when they need to get past this thing.]

[He tilts his head, listening to her advice, before he takes several long strides backward. Heather clearly knows this place better than he does, and he's not adverse to taking pointers. Not when the enemy is unknown.]

Take cover.

[And his cannons come up to bear on the creature.]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Heather obediently ducks down into her previous spot once more, peeking over his shoulder because... morbid curiosity will not allow her to look away from this.]

[The blob just sort of... continues to lie there. Quite possibly playing dead in the face of something so much bigger than it. But either way... it will stand NO chance against the oncoming cannon blast.]

[When Ironhide does fire... the result will be, as Heather had been implying, more or less like a popped zit. ... A really huge popped zit. ... A really huge, infected popped zit.]</sub>

[show_my_cannons]

[All seems to be going according to plan! His cannons fire. The blasts make their target. It's all perfectly good.]

[And then it all goes horribly wrong when the thing explodes into horrible nastiness.]

[Ironhide takes a few more steps back, cursing a very vile string of Cybertronian, with a little English thrown in. He throws his hand up to cover his face, still cursing.]

That is... disgusting!

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Yeah, when the explosion happened... Heather very carefully DUCKED. She'd never actually had the pleasure of seeing one of them explode before... but it didn't take rocket science to figure that something that was basically a bundle of fat and oozing pus would perform in much the same way as it wound up doing.]

[She pops back up over Ironhide's shoulder as he steps back, not even bothering to stop herself from bursting into laughter. Because clearly, she is twelve.]</sub>

AHAHahaahahah-- pfff I warned you!

[show_my_cannons]

[And Ironhide is growling. Stomping his feet. His plating twitches -- sort of like when a horse's skin has a fly or something on it. He keeps muttering to himself in disgust, scowling and cursing.]

This is not funny. Quiet.

[foolishwren]

_{[It's a fact. Telling a kid to be quiet tends just to make them giggle harder. Which Heather does, with relish.]}

I tohohollld youuu.

_{[... In all seriousness, though, that WAS totally gross.]}

[show_my_cannons]

[Ironhide grunts, and just... starts marching back toward the gate. Every so often, he shakes his arm -- cursing again -- as if that's going to help matters.]

This is going to rust...

[foolishwren]

_{[HEE HEE HEE. Oh man. If only she'd been able to film that somehow. Or more specifically, his expression when it happened. She reclaims her previous position, carefully avoiding any splatters of the goop, and just grins insufferably as he passes through the arch.]}

In that case, guess you're qualified to join the club of Everything Else in This Place.

[show_my_cannons]

[He fixes her with a look as he marches.]

Do you have any idea what rust could do to our systems?

[Seriously, Heather that's not funny.]

[foolishwren]

No, but this is a dream...

Or something like it.

_{[She's being pretty damn flippant, but then, that's sort of Heather in a nutshell.]}

Anyway, chill. If this place is anything like I remember it, there's a carwash down the street from here. Should be able to get all that gunk offa ya. ... If it still works.

_{[Beyond the park gates, there IS a street-- a dark, empty one-- but at least it's not that flimsy grating.]}

[show_my_cannons]

... I do not dream. Not as your kind does. How am I supposed to know how this works?

[And Ironhide is being pretty damn cranky. But... well. He's cranky about everything.]

It had better work. Or you are using your bare hands to get this off.

[He tests out the pavement with a foot before stomping out onto it. There. That's much better.]

[foolishwren]

_{[Heather is surprisingly used to dealing with cranky old guys. She got plenty of practice with Douglas in the year that had followed -- even a generally affable guy like him had his off-days.]}

Pfft, easy there, slavedriver.

_{[She pats the ridge she's been leaning on.]}

It'll probably work. _{[... She hopes. Because yeah, she really DOESN'T wanna scrub cancer-goo off of him.]}

I think it's down the road a few blocks to the left... I think.

_{[At least now he can stomp around all he wants without having to worry about plunging into the abyss.]}

[show_my_cannons]

[He grunts at that, the plating under her hand twitching again. The car wash had better work. Dream or no dream, he was feeling sand in his joints.]

[With those directions, he just keeps on marching. Or stomping. Or limping. Depending on the stride. Ironhide's walk is a very interesting thing to experience.]

You think?

[foolishwren]

... Well.

It's been awhile since I've been around these old stomping grounds, y'know.

_{[She squints into the empty darkness-- there's buildings beyond, but none of them are lit. This town is dead.]}

Pretty sure I see it though-- it's that squat, long building over a few blocks down.

[show_my_cannons]

I still say that if it is not here, you are cleaning this stuff off on your own.

[He looks around, though, and starts limping toward the building. It's... a little unnerving to see all the darkened buildings. A little familiar, in a way.]

[foolishwren]

All right, all right... I'll get the squeegees ready. <sub>[There's a hint of a grumble in her voice-- but it seems more distracted than disgruntled. As the building looms ahead, the words 'CAR WASH' spelled out in faded letters on the building's facade become visible.]

[It doesn't... look like anyone's been there for a long time, though... and Heather doesn't say much of anything at first, just watching those darkened windows with furrowed brows.]</sub>

... Hmm...