The Drop Off (Attn: Henry)

The hangover was starting to fade away comepletly as soon as Ryan reached the address the letter specified. All the asprin he had taken managed to reduced that pain to nothing but a gentle numbness. "Just drop off this new letter, leave and hope to god this isn't the work of those guys Ollie mentioned." He mumbled as he looked around.

(Wearing face from description post, first face Ryan saw of Henry)

Henry was melted into the regular late-day traffic, roughly ten feet behind Ryan. This was the time he had planned on checking the mailbox, and wadda ya know, Fate seemed to be on his side today. Since he'd dropped off the letter, he'd started wearing his good friend, armpit holster, and his good buddy Beretta 92. He was hoping not to use it, but on the other hand it had been a long time.

He narrated in his head what he'd like to say to the kid, but couldn't. Don't see a big package, boy. You better not be doing what I think you're doing, boy. He keeps throwing glances at the kid, inbetween seeming like just a normal person looking for an unknown adresse in the area.

Ryan reached the mailbox the letter mentioned. He pulled out the new letter he wrote in response and thought about what to do next. Either take the money without the books, even tough he was sure they were worth more that $100 or just drop off the letter and go. Choices, choices...Piss off someone or eat noodles for the next few weeks...

Oblivious as always, Ryan didn't notice that creepy librarian looking at him.

Henry gets a newspaper form one of those old-fashionned street vanding machines, and fakes leafing through it, walking around to get a better angle while throwing frequent looks Ryan's way.

He's slightly surprised when Ryan pulls out an actual enveloppe. He glowers angrily over the rim of the paper. Cute. Now leave before you do something stupid. To anyone watching over his shoulder, he looks to be angry at an article about the recent birth of an elephant baby at the zoo.

OK, why am I thinking this? I do NOT want to piss anyone else off. With that thought, Ryan slipped the envelope into the mailbox and started making his way back to the bus stop. Though he was making a few glances back to the mailbox along the way. If he was lucky, he might get a glance at whoever sent the letter in the first place.

Damn it. He obviously put his hand in. Did he take the cash? Ryan was unsure he could both check the mailbox AND get the kid. 'If you chase 2 rabbits, you lose them both'. If Henry let the kid go to check on the letter quietly, he'd have to find him again. If he got to him now, he'd only know what the letter said after the point of no return.

One of those alternatives was obviously better than the other. Henry folds the newspaper under his arm, and heads as as inconpicuously as he can towards Ryan. As he walks, he weaves a few threads of mind to make Ryan believe he's a doctor on his way to work, with a few subtle accessories added to the illusion to make it seem real.

05-17 10:28:25 Henry rolls 6 dice to Imp. Imposter 1 success
3,5,5,3,1, 8
((Illusion is true to sight, but Henry keeps his voice, smell, texture, and taste. This oughta be entertaining . Although if you taste him to find out the illusion, I'll have to buy brain bleach.))

Ryan sat down quietly and waited for the next bus to Sac U to show up.

Henry takes his place in line at the stop, and takes only a minute to decide on his exact course of action. He sends his next probe of Mind straight at Ryan, aiming to send his will rip-roaring through the kid's skull and turn his brain to mush. He needs this to work, and applies himself more thoroughly than he has in the past. Come on, kid, I'll hurt you, then fix you. Fix you good.

Spoiler:

Ryan clutched his head, wincing in pain. It felt like someone was taking a sledgehammer and bashing his skull to peices.

Henry, playing the part of the compassionate doctor, sidles up to Ryan and puts a hand on the kid's shoulder. "You alright, man?"

"My head hurts..."" He mumbled as he reached into his pocket and took some Tylenol. Lets hope this easies that pain...

'Henry' answers, "There's a small clinic not two blocks from here. I can get you there and take a look at you." Or do I have to double the dose? is the unspoken part of that thought. He doesn't add anything as he sees the Tylenol, but instead takes just a few moments to adjust his game plans.

Ryan shook his head, though it didn't help the pain much. "No, I'm sure I'll be fine..." He said weakly and he buried his face into his hands.

Henry's grip on Ryan's shoulder tightens, just a tad, as he sends a few more threads into Ryan. You asked for it. He concentrates on a spell he's used even more rarely than the others, and that's saying a lot. His determination at seeing the damn kid brought to heel is brought tot he fore.

Spoiler:

"You sure?", Henry says a few moments after the threads have begun to make Ryan's hands shake. "That doesn't look too good."

What the? Did I over-do the painkillers? That thought was scaring the living hell out of him. He was having a hard time just shoving the pills back into his pocket. "I'll be fine." he said, though it was mostly directed to himself than the doctor who sounded familiar.

Henry keeps his hand there just a second longer. "Look, I can't force you into anything." He lifts his hand off Ryan and stands up straight again. "But if this keeps up, you should really look for some help, alright?" He stands there, looking the part of the doctor who doesn't want to leave someone in need. "If you change your mind while we're on the bus, just ask, OK?"

Ryan just sat there, hands still trembling against his will. He wasn't sure what to do. The doctor could help him, but there was that annoying feeling he had heard someone like him before. He sounds like that Librarian, but he doesn't look like him. I'm just getting paranoid, thats all. "O-ok." He managed to say.

Henry just nods. "Be careful.", and he takes his attention mostly off Ryan, only giving him occasionnal 'worried doctor' looks. Just another man, waiting in line for the bus. You'll have to be alone sometime.

Ryan gave the doctor a nod right before the bus arrived. He digged through his pockets and paid the driver. He was having difficulty standing the whole way.

Dr. Henry, having arrived only a few seconds after the kid, is next in line to get in. He manages exact change, and acts as though he'd be ready to catch Ryan at any sign of weakness. Which he is. He takes a seat real close to Ryan, and offers him one of those 'hang in there, we're almost there' smiles, that are far from his specialty, but you do what you gotta do.

((This could arguably be the start of a new thread, but what the heck, this one still smells fresh.))

Once the bus arrives at SacU and Ryan gets off, Hnery stays on for just one more stop, before getting out, and finding Ryan's trail again. First stop : The kid's dorm room.

((That leaves Ryan a few minutes' lead, DS42. If you want to add something during the bus trip, go right ahead. ))

After a few minutes of stumbling through the paths and hallways of Sac U, Ryan managed to reach his dorm. It took him a few seconds just to get the door open, his hands were still shaking too much to co-ordinante them properly. As soon as he was inside, he slammed the door shut, dumped his bookbag net to his desk and collapsed onto his bed.

Henry travelled the few street corners to SacU by foot, and stopped at the edge of campus. He had to be careful. Murder may be easy with Awakened will, but that didn't mean it was to be thrown about carelessly. He finds himself a quiet little spot and, after making sure there are no Sleepers or surveillance around, takes out his small lead mirror. Looking at his reflection in it from various angles, he channels Life into his face in a way he's done a million times over the years.

Spoiler:

All right, first some facial hair to obscure the chin and cheeks, and make the face squatter. Squat enough that people won't pick the original out of a lineup. There, all done. He smiles at his new reflection. This was one he intended to discard after use.

He creeps towards Ryan's dorm room, trying to seem as normal as possible. Once he's there, he waits until there isn't anyone in sight, just for a few seconds, before turning his attention tot he doorway. Just as he's about to pull out a small lockpick, his training reminds him 'This is a kid we're dealing with, lives in a land of unicorns and lollipops'. He touches the door handle, and turns it ever so slowly, trying to make not a sound. He's almost surprised when it keeps on turning past the 'locked' point. Almost.

Ryan mumbled under his breath as his eyes started to close. He had to pin his arms underneath his body just to stop them from shaking. He was really worn out.

Without a word, Henry steps into the dorm, and closes the door, careful to turn the handle all the way to avoid the clunk of the handle. He draws out his weapon, and clicks the safety off. He quickly finds Ryan sprawled out on his bed. He takes one last slow breath. Here goes.

Spoiler:

((DS, if you'd like me to cover more time with each post, don't hesitate to ask))

Ryans eyes blinked lazely. He could have sworn he heard something. He turned his head and spotted a man standing in his room. "What the? Who are..." His eyes quickl fell to his hands and spotted the gun. His eyes went wide. "Oh SHIT!"

Spoiler:

((not a problem PA. Just helps build suspense))

((On a side Note, Imposter is technically still on. To Ryan's eye, this is probably still the doctor from the bus stop ))

Henry isn't prone to swearing, at least not by today's tandard, but his firt thought is 'God damn it'. His second is to stop the kid from calling for help, because that would send the whole plan straight to the crapper in a hurry. He quickly puts a little Life together and shoots it right out at Ryan.

Spoiler:

With that done, he raises the weapon at Ryan, and says in a stern voice. "Don't move, I'm not here to hurt you." He pulls off the sound of honesty as he says it, but that is of course as far from the truth as it gets.

((Forgot the Paradox for Palsy, as mentionned in PM.

Spoiler:

To avoid any retcon crap, take 1 bashing to avoid it, and spend an extra Mana to negate the extra die on the Paradox for the Faces. Expensive scene is expensive ))

Not going to hurt me? YOU HAVE A GUN POINTED AT ME! Someone! Help me! As much as he wanted, he just couldn't get the words to come out. All he could manage was a weak sighing sound. His vocal cords just didn't want to work.

Spoiler:

((And sorry once more for the hassle gents, reroll of Palsy

Spoiler:

So -2 to Dex instead of -1, unless Disbelief applied on the bus ride))

Ryan just kept shouting, though no sound left his mouth. He struggled to get up, but the shakes were too much. He could so much as get up without letting his trembling hands slip against the bedsheets.

Spoiler:

Gotcha. Henry steps close to Ryan. He'd like to finish this with a bullet through the skull, but he wants to do this quietly. His right hand puts the gun at Ryan's forehead, just in case the kid manages to slip out, and presses his left hand onto the yougin's throat.

The 'doctor's' eyes have a certain degree of pity in them, and Henry says softly."Make this easy on yourself. Go softly into that dark night."

((Going to bed. Will have next-to-0 time to post tomorrow. Spending the day in an internet-less meat locker. Sorry DS))

Ryan just clucted the doctors hands weakly, it looked like he was trying to pull away the hand gripping his neck. He had a peading look in his eyes. He hoped someone heard his inital yell.

Henry just maintains his hold and looks Ryan straight in the eyes. The part of him that still has remorse turns his head away for a moment. "It's nothing personal, kid." Just business. Those words steel Henry to the task, and he just hopes to God that this is over soon. Die, already, dammit.

No, I can't die. I can't. He mouthed at the doctor, that scared look in his eyes growing. Her reached a shaking hand over to the mans guy and tried to pull it away from his head. Though with his hands still shaking as they were, all he could hope was that the bullet grazed his temple or something.

"Just. Sleep." is the doctor's response, spoken in a voice that is starting to show bits of impatience and frustration. He takes the pistol away from Ryan's forehead to bat away the kid's hands. Even shaking like a jackhammer, the kid keeps going. It'd be amazing if it wasn't so annoying.

Ryan winces as his hands were batted away. He was shaking to much for him to get a good grip on anything. If his voice hadn't given out, he would be shouting for someone to call the police.

Henry's eyes widen when he sees the next trajectory of Ryan's faliling hand : Straight for the alarm clock and desk lamp. With a wordless gasp, he lunges over Ryan's body, realeasing his grip on the kid's throat. He's too late however, and the lamp shatters on impact with the ground.

Before Henry can turn back to finish off the kid, though, he hears a commotion in the hallway, apparently headed for this room.

"Damn it, this is exactly what I wanted to avoid." Without another word, Henry points his pistol at Ryan, and squeezes the trigger. No time to aim, no time to consider the best spot to target, just point at the chest and fire.

The bullet fired, Henry puts the piece back in his jacket, and starts to turn towards the door to leave. If the kid's not dead by now, he will be soon, and it sure as hell isn't worth being caught and having to fight his way out.

(Assuming Coup de grace rules still, that's 4L)

(( Need to roll. Ryan isn't fully Incap. We'll just give him 0 DEF. ))

((Alrighty then. Roll follows. Seeing the numbers, I added a second bullet. Following the roll, I re-wrote a part of my post to match. Simple modifications, nothing too big.))

Spoiler:

(...) just point at the chest and double-tap.

The bullets fired, Henry puts the piece back in his jacket, and starts to turn towards the door to leave. If the kid's not dead by now, he will be soon, and it sure as hell isn't worth being caught and having to fight his way out.

(3L total)

Ryans body was wracked with pain. The bullet wounds were not too bad, but if he didn't get any help soon, he would probally bleed to death. He didn't know though, he wasn't a doctor. Someone hurry...

Ryan layed on his bed, blood slowly soaking into the matress. As he stared at the spot the doctor was, all the colour in the world just seemed to bleed out. Sound started to grow faint, distant. Darkeness filling the room....

Henry saw the kid moving slower and slower. He didn't have time to finish this off properly. Instead, he opens the door and runs out in one swift motion, not bothering to even close the door behind him.

He runs down the hallway, shoving aside those he can't squeeze past, and heads straight for the outside, to find a quiet spot where the subtle dance can work its mojo and put him in a good position to just walk out.

Moments past. The pain in Ryans body just seemed to numb away like everything else. Soon, the world was just on large screen of pure black as far as he could see. For a brief second, Ryan started to wonder when the light would show up. That was how it usually went down. You die and saw a white light at the end of a tunnel. But where is it?



Then everything started to come back into focus. But not as he remembered it.

Gone was the cluttered dorm full of strewn books and dirty cloths kicked into the corner. He was sitting in the middle of a barren field. It looked alot like a battlefeild. Craters here and there, trenches dug out and battered fortifications against some enemy that had long left to conqore new lands. The entire field had a haze across the landscape, like smoke or something.

Slowly, Ryan stood up. He was surprised that he felt little pain now. Hios hands were also alot steady than they were before. It was a small confort though, concidering what he was seeing. There was something he was suppose to do here. Somewhere he needed to go. I need to get moving With that, he started moving through the desolate lands he now found himself in.

Time streched on as Ryan wander the landscape. He had a vauge idea where he was going, but not what his destination was. He stopped a few times here and there just to really look at everything. The fortifications he noted from before all seemed mismatched. Everything from wooden walls with signs of damage from arrow barrages to barbed wire barriers used in WWI littered the landscape. For him, it was like satering at one huge historic anarchisim. In the ground, he saw flecks of precious stone. Gold, Silver, Emerald. If it was some sort of precious gem or metal, he saw it clearly compared to the greying landscape before him.

As he continued, he swore he caught sight of someone wandering the trenches. Each time though it was different. Sometimes he would see someone uniform or battered armor. He would see sometimes in the trenches slplintered shelids, broken swords and guns with twisted barrels, rust and rot covering the discarded items. In a way, it was amazing. But this place didnt let such wonder last. The grey skies and chocking stagnat air robbed him of that feeling. So he stopped looking at everything he came across and just moved on.

Time seemed to strech on as he made his way through the field. The fact that he didn't feel tired at all dispite walking for miles didn't help with his perception of time. But he needed to be somewhere and that nagging feeling wouldn't go away untill he was there, where ever therewas. Through the blanket of smoke he could faintly make out the shape of something. He couldn't make it out from where he was, but it looked like a immence spire jutting out of the ground. Is that it? He though as he continued forward. The closer he came to the spire, the more detail he could make out untill he was finnaly standing infront of it. There entire thing looked like it was made of lead, with small jewels sudded across the whole thing. Old bunkers flanked the tower, probally once used to defend the whole thing from invasion and left there as silent reminders. The doors were wide open and the clouds of smoke seemed to clear away as he drew closer. Without much though, ryan stepped through the threashold and heard the doors close behind him.

Compaired to the battlefeild behind him, this place was near flawless. Ivory white stone floors and walls surrounded him. In the center of the room was a large, black slab of polished granite stood before him. Names ran down the surface like a memorial to those lost to war and voilence throughout the years. He tried to look at the names, but there just seemed to blurr in his eyes. there was a blank space among the names, waiting to be filled. Ryans sight fell down to the ground. There was a small chisle and hammer there, waiting for him. Without thinking, he picked them up and started carving away at the spot. Pieces of black stone falling away with each strike, revealing the white beneath the surface. It took some time, but soon his name was there among the others. He thought he did a good job of keeping it neat and tidy, much like everything in the room.

Then everything started to grow bright. The walls, the floor, the ceiling high above him. It all quickly dissolved into pure white that stung his eyes. The pain from the bullets started to flood back into his body, hands shaking so much that the hammer and chisil slipped from his fingers. Soon, it was all gone.



Everything came roaring back to Ryan. The dorm, the clutter, everything. People were starting to gaver in his room. A student had a bloody shirt pressed against the bullet wounds. Pain still shot through his body, forcing a pained sound from him. The studnets head swung to Ryan is surprise. "Oh shit! Your alive! Thank god. THe abulance is on it's way, just keep awake." This guy sounded like he was glad Ryan was still alive and kicking. All he could do was nod to the guy and stare at the ceiling. Minutes later, some EMT's came in with a streacher and loaded Ryan on. With everything goning on, one though kept running through his mind. "What the hell was that?" He couldn't shake the feeling that everything had changed for him.