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

[shiromadoushi]

[[The Ring has somehow moved to be outside his shirt and is glowing brighter than ever. If he tries to get to his feet, will it stop whatever the Ring is doing? Will it run out while he's still sitting there like an idiot?

With his luck? Both.

But amazingly, whatever the Ring's doing holds as he scrambles to his feet. Have to wait for Heather, what kind of a jerk would he be to just run off now?]]

[foolishwren]

_{[For an instant, Heather's not sure whether she should be pointing the gun at Bakura or at the monster. Fortunately, she decides on the monster, which is twitching and straining to get past the ethereal barrier.]}

--Okay, as soon as we get out of here, you're gonna explain to me what the FUCK that thing is!

[shiromadoushi]

[[a nod. Not that he had many answers, but he could try...]] I don't know how long it'll do this...

[[aka, if you going to kill that thing, now would be the time...]]

[foolishwren]

_{[Yeah, she gets that... her finger tightens on the trigger, but she hesitates.]}

Is that-- ... thing gonna make the bullets ricochet?

_{[SHE HAD TO ASK. Because the last thing she wanted is to somehow shoot herself in the foot because of some weird supernatural power at play that she wasn't familiar with...]}

[shiromadoushi]

[[a hesitant pause]] I really don't know... I've never seen it do this before. It doesn't look solid though... Like a push more than a sh--

[[and that was going to be moot anyway because looks like with the danger on hold and Bakura no longer in a panic, the Ring figures it's done here and is going dim.

Shoot fast, Heather.]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[AW SHI--]

[Heather notices the light going dimmer and wastes no time-- pulling the trigger several times in quick succession. But it takes more than a few to bring something as big as this down. A lot more.]

[Unfortunately.]

[As the ring dims, the beast LUNGES forward, letting out a gobbering scream and swinging one of those enormous, grotesque arms at the pair viciously. In a wide-open space, it might have been easy to avoid, but the problem with being in a narrow space with something trashing and stomping is that-- ... well, it's very hard to avoid. It's huge, it's angry, and it's out-of-control.]

[Should the clublike arm make contact with Bakura and knocked into the wall wall, it'll feel more or less like getting hit by a truck that's thinly covered in lukewarm, half-cooked pork chops. Yes, that is a disgusting mental image, and no, sadly, it isn't inaccurate.</sub>

[shiromadoushi]

[[and with Bakura's wonderful luck and low dodge skill, it was sort of inevitable. With an 'oof' he collides with the wall, breath knocked out of him.

No help from the Ring this time. Without the spirit in it to actively protect his host and Bakura having little idea how to use it, there was little it could do on its own, even in a dream world. ]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[WHAM. Boy, he'll be feeling THAT one tomorrow...]

[It's hard to tell, exactly, what on earth is going on-- the previously silent hallway has become a veritable MOSH-PIT of stomping and flying blows and bullets. It's actually probably a GOOD thing that Bakura's been shoved to the side, because otherwise, he'd be getting TRAMPLED-- the thing's screams, along with hoarse yells from Heather and the POPS of the gun, make it hard on the ears, too ... and even off to the side, there's probably still one or two more blows coming in Bakura's direction if he doesn't move fast--]</sub>

--THE KNIFE! HELP me, USE THE KNIFE!

[shiromadoushi]

[[Bakura hasn't a CLUE what's going on but he manages to stagger to his feet, somehow managing to keep from being whaled into again. Thankfully adrenaline kicks in quickly and he's scrambling to the side, trying to figure out where Heather is and where the-- OH SHI--

It's pure reflex as he swings the knife, burying it alarmingly deep into the monster's flesh and dragging it downward as if slicing into the roughest slab of meat ever.]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[It's all a horrible, thrashing blur of flailing limbs-- but the knife hits home.]

[That scream it let out when they first encountered it? Is NOTHING compared to the sound that pierces the air as he drags the knife downwards, slicing gristle and snapping sinews with sickening wet crunches on the way down. As he does so, there's another volley of pistol shots from-- wherever Heather is, it's hard to even TELL-- and at last the monster goes into a horrible spasm, making a few final violent thrashes with its arms as it goes down on its surprisingly-delicate knees.]</sub>

[shiromadoushi]

[[and Bakura just... stands there, ears ringing, body aching, feeling like he is probably covered with gook, knife still in hand and breath coming far too quickly.]]

... did we get it...?

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Although its flesh continues to twitch as it sprawls onto the floor, foul fluids leaking from the long slice that Bakura had cut into it, it seems... dead. Or if not dead, then rapidly dying.]

[In reply, Bakura received a sort of wet cough from over on the other side of the monster, where Heather is now visible, having slid down into a sitting position where the mall met the floor. There's a clatter as she lets the gun slide out of her hands, chest heaving as she stares at the downed beast.]</sub>

[shiromadoushi]

[[oh shi-- hurrying over now!]]

Are you all right?!

[[kneels carefully next to her, checking for any visible wounds.]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Nope. No, she is not all right.]

[And the reason for that, as he rounds the body of the beast, would be the long bone-spear still extended from the tips of one of its arms-- the end of it, a surprisingly short amount (human bodies aren't particularly wide), is slick with red.]

[The same red that's oozing through Heather's fingers where they're clamped over her gut.]</sub>

... Fucking... should've gotten behind it...

[shiromadoushi]

[[Oh shi--

He stares, horrified a moment before quickly unwrapping the bandages from his left hand (hello gaping hole, you aren't bleeding, you're just symbolic. You don't need the bandage right now) and hands them to her for lack of knowing what else to do. At least it could be bandaged closed, right? Until they could get somewhere...?]]

Here, maybe-- if you wrap it, it'll slow the bleeding? Is it deep? Is there a first aid kit anywhere? [[stupid question, but he's kinda in a bit of a panic because oh shit gut wounds weren't like others, they were REALLY BAD, crap, crap, crap!]]

[foolishwren]

_{[She sort of takes the bandage in one hand numbly, staring down at it like she's not sure what to do with it. A bandage won't help being skewered...]}

... not...

<sub>[She coughs, splattering the front of her vest with dark red.]

[It doesn't... look good.]

[Still think you're in a video game, Bakura?]</sub>

[shiromadoushi]

[[sadly, it's all he's got right now. Unless he could somehow call on the part of his soul that had been the White Mage and use that magic, which was insanely unlikely even if he was in a dream.

And games in his world often turned into life or death situations, the sudden possibility of a bad end didn't really change that. He just wasn't used to it being someone ELSE who was dying...]]

There has to be something!

[[crap crap crap, shouldn't move people with injuries, but they couldn't just stay there, they had to find someplace to get her treated!]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[There isn't anything.]

[Even though, ironically, they are in a hospital...]</sub>

... take the-- take ...

_{[And then her words peter out, jaw hanging slack.]}

[shiromadoushi]

[[but it's a creepy, dilapidated hospital. With living walls. There's no way there would be anything helpful there.]]

Take the what? [[arms going around her now, can't let her fall, shit!]]

Heather! Hang in there!

[foolishwren]

<sub>[Well, you'd be surprised at what you could find in there if you looked around hard enough... old places (and this place was very old...), even dangerous ones, often held treasure...]

[But that was beside the point.]

[His words fall on deaf ears. Heather... doesn't appear to be in there anymore. There's no fanfare, no dramatic moment of death... within a few seconds, her breathing just... stops.]</sub>

[shiromadoushi]

[[As an RPG gamer, he's rather aware of that. But this wasn't an RPG, sadly.

Bakura just... stares in shock, clinging to her, not sure what to do.

This-- this wasn't-- this couldn't be-- if you died in a dream, didn't that mean--!!]]

H-- hey! Don't give up! Hey!

[[almost shakes her a little but hello internal injury that would just make things WORSE]]

[foolishwren]

_{[Bakura... Bakura, sweetie, she's dead, man... the internal injury doesn't matter anymore...]}

[shiromadoushi]

[[He's not acknowledging that fact just yet. There's this thing he does called going into massive denial. Ask him about the letters he still writes his dead little sister sometime.

With no reaction, he's just going to assume she's passed out. Bandaging that wound now, finding her gun and attempting to pick her up to carry her somewhere--

... yeah no, he's not that strong. So instead, he's going to put an arm around and half haul her that way.

It doesn't matter if it's too late, even someone with 0 HP can be restored if you find the right person/spell/save point!]]

[foolishwren]

<sub>[That's not the way things work in Silent Hill... at least not entirely.]

[There IS a way to help her, even now... but it's not something Bakura is probably going to like.]

[But for now, he is seemingly alone in those empty halls, with a dead teenager's body, a scribbled map, and some weapons. NOW the game is getting exciting.]</sub>

[shiromadoushi]

[[As long as it doesn't involve selling his soul to-- heck who's he kidding, he's already done that to help his friends. Long as he doesn't have to kill anyone else to-- ... no, that didn't count. That was all the Ring spirit and totally unrelated to... well. mostly...

..stupid Ring.

On to thinking of more immediate problems. Like how to find someone who could help if yelling attracted more monsters like the one that just killed KOed Heather. How to work on the map when he had an extra body of weight to balance out and the bandages on his hand that were covering the large hole were in use elsewise. Maybe if he leaned it on his leg to make notes...]]