TSW 33: Mary's Nightmare.

[18:42]	IcePickLobotomy	As you move deeper down the stairwell you see a painting hanging on the wall.
[18:45]	Mary	looks at it as one is to do with creepy paintings in such areas
[18:46]	IcePickLobotomy	It's not creepy. It depects a black teen, a savage, half feral, look on his face. His right arm is clad in a three fingered gauntlet, tipped in razor sharp talons and colored bronze and gold. He's grasping a spindly black skinned creature with a bird-skull mask by the neck as he driving it into the ground. In the background a city burns.
[18:54]	Mary	looks at it and then goes on
[18:54]	Mary	(if would like a poke what I missed after it is no longer relevant in here , and what size are the footprints etc?
[18:56]	IcePickLobotomy	Another painting. This one of a pale-haired  Japanese boy. His eyes are narrowed in focus as light gathers in his outstreched hand. Over his head a pale orange halo, and you can see a pair of skeletal wings of the same lighter half-way unfolded from his back. The same burning city is in the background.
[18:58]	IcePickLobotomy	And past that one is a third some ways down. The same city, but this time a blonde haired blue eyed boy stands half crouched behind a shield, the tip of spear pokes out past it as he stands at guard.
[19:11]	Mary	takes a moment to study it and the city its...
[19:18]	Mary	Well it seems to be the common cause here,
[19:21]	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: You can see the space needle in the background, and in the flames. . . the silhouette of a outrider, half crouched behind a shield with a spear in hand.
[19:23]	Mary	blinks and then goes back to the prior painting to see if she missed one there also
[19:23]	Mary	(hmhm SR roll purely for fluff as she and the outrider are still " made for each other"
[19:23]	IcePickLobotomy	(Go for it)
[19:35]	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: In each painting you can see a Outrider in the background, each mimicking the action of the subjects.
[19:38]	Mary	"So why does everyone want to destroy seatle.." she wonders as she goes on
[19:39]	IcePickLobotomy	And then you come across the last painting.
[19:43]	IcePickLobotomy	They are upon a grassy hill, dotted with butter cups. A single tree provides shade from the warm summer sun, green leaves veiling them. The black boy and the blonde haired ones are holding hands, while a blonde haired girl who looks quite similar to the boy is leaning on his shoulder. The Japanese boy is curled against the base of the tree with a book in hand. There's another pair of boys as...
[19:43]	IcePickLobotomy	...well. The first is Japanese and somewhat effeminate. He has a cello resting at his side, and on his other is a very pretty boy, his skin is pale, almost alabaster, with grey ashen hair. And blood red eyes, so much like Lily's. They are all at peace, but the grey haired one has a sense of relief about him, like a old man eased from a ancient guilt. At the base of the frame is a simple...
[19:43]	IcePickLobotomy	...title "A New and Gentle World."
[19:47]	Mary	just stands thera and looks at it for a time to try to soak it in
[19:47]	Mary	(and of course the black man is getting no happy end no sire !)
[20:05]	IcePickLobotomy	(Lemme know when you move on or want to try something else)
[20:07]	Mary	( uh.. stupid ideas for 101, she touches the painting)
[20:07]	IcePickLobotomy	(Which one first?)
[20:07]	Mary	reaches out and touches the titleplate, and then on a whim the two boys that are happy.
[20:07]	Mary	(the one that she is currently standing in front of, angry K-boy in 3-2-1-
[20:08]	IcePickLobotomy	The plate itself feels of cool and dust covered metal. Warmth, love, fulfillment, companionship from the two boys.
[20:10]	Mary	then let her finger wander over it , reaching the male lily.. lee last.
[20:13]	IcePickLobotomy	Old. Tired. Not happy, but satisfied.
[20:15]	Mary	(and the others ?)
[20:16]	IcePickLobotomy	(Warmth, happiness, etc)
[20:23]	Mary	"It seemed you found the happyness that was forsaken for her lee "
[20:23]	Mary	(and you still did not tell me about what size the foodprints are and if male or female shoes if I can see that)
[20:23]	IcePickLobotomy	(Ah, they're not too big, probably female sized.)
[20:24]	IcePickLobotomy	(Sorry got a couple balls in the air here)
[20:30]	Mary	(regular sneakers or so or more like boots?)
[20:30]	Mary	(np)
[20:30]	Mary	After a moment she also touches the other paintings
[20:37]	Mary	And well as this is a tunnel . Well time to go down it ?
[20:38]	IcePickLobotomy	From the first painting. Fury, rage, not anger, simple pure and unadulterated fury. like the Wraith of god given human form.
[20:47]	IcePickLobotomy	And the second. . . Tension, anxiety, with a steel core of resolve.
[20:47]	IcePickLobotomy	And the third. Ironclad discipline.
[20:51]	Mary	(what about the outriders ?)
[20:51]	IcePickLobotomy	(Nothing from then)
[20:51]	Mary	Then down the corridor I go as I think that I did anything that I could do for them beyond speaking a small prayer for them
[20:52]	IcePickLobotomy	The coridor ends, with a simple wooden door between you and whatever lays on the other side.
[20:54]	Mary	looks at the prints , and then opens the door
[20:55]	IcePickLobotomy	The door swings open.
[20:56]	IcePickLobotomy	On the other side is a sprialing ramp running along the interior of a tower, without a roof. It's about 200 meters in diameter, and the ramp has a gentle slope. Doors of various types and sizes are spaced evenly along the walls.
[20:58]	Mary	looks around as she remembers this spot before she moves on , looking at the door, evading a certain one amongs them, and following the footprints
[21:08]	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: You hear two voices below you.
[21:09]	IcePickLobotomy	"- understand what's going on in the real world. This however may be our only chance." Says Lily "If METI is knocked out, the Guidestone will be for the taking. You just need to get down there."
[21:09]	IcePickLobotomy	"I know, but I'm worried about the automated defences, plus the pilots. . ' Says Yang
[21:10]	IcePickLobotomy	"Don't worry about the former, they've been dealt with. The later shouldn't be too much of a issue for you I think."
[21:10]	IcePickLobotomy	"Alright alright."
[21:10]	IcePickLobotomy	"Is there anything else you need then?"
[21:10]	IcePickLobotomy	"No, I still have most of my gear so I'll be fine."
[21:11]	IcePickLobotomy	"Alright, good luck then Yang. Be safe."
[21:11]	IcePickLobotomy	"Yea su- ooof!" She grunts "Stupid door attacked me."
[21:11]	IcePickLobotomy	Lily giggles "Oh you."
[21:11]	Mary	tries to hide then for a moment
[21:11]	IcePickLobotomy	YOu hear a door shut, and Lily begin to walk down, away from you.
[21:12]	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: You feel drawn upwards.
[21:15]	Mary	blinks and then starts to walk up carefully , having a ee on the doors in case she needs to make a escape
[21:17]	IcePickLobotomy	You walk for a while, passing by many doors. Some locked, others chained and barred shut. One covered over in yellow "Crime Scene" tape even, with blood pooling from under it..
[21:21]	Mary	shivers and can't resist peaking at the knobhole for that one before she goes on.
[21:31]	IcePickLobotomy	The doorknob is mared by a bloody handprint.
[21:32]	IcePickLobotomy	Continuing on you reach a sliding door to a laboratory. Here. This is it. You don't know what drew you here but. . it's past this door.
[21:39]	Mary	shivers and readies herself, and then she opens it
[21:43]	IcePickLobotomy	The door slides open and you step through. Looking behind you reveals a long dark hallway. You're in a lab of some sort, several tables littered with rusted tools and equipment It's dark, pitch black save for the light form your maglight. The linoleum floor is stained and worn, the walls are a pale-blue, but stained and weathered. But what draws your eyes is the line of large glass tanks on...
[21:43]	IcePickLobotomy	...the other end. Each is about a meter and a half in height, and a meter in diameter. They're full of a opaque sludge of some kind, with some solid bits floating there in, but it's hard to tell from this distance. And you notice them at the edge of your vision, where the light is dim. Shadows of people, or rather, if a person were a shadow. They move slowly,, working with non-existant tools...
[21:43]	IcePickLobotomy	...or talking between eachother.
[21:44]	IcePickLobotomy	You catch bits of conversation "-ave been given the grafts, however we've already lost 30% of them due to tissue rejection. Subjects 13, 5, 9 and 2 look promising thus far how-" the voice trails off.
[21:47]	Mary	shivers and well tries to sneak closer to the voices her clothes darkening as she does so even if those might just be memorys of people
[21:47]	Mary	(voice first tanks after that)
[21:48]	IcePickLobotomy	They voices seem to fade at random, the shadows give no particular sign of your passage, save for fading from sight when you try to focus on one."
[21:50]	Mary	tries to calm herself then and relax her mind, to evade pressing in on them if focussing is disturbing then
[21:50]	Mary	(uh mediation bullshit try 1?)
[21:50]	IcePickLobotomy	(Let's not, deal with a tank first)
[21:54]	Mary	looks at one of the tanks then, one with the solid bits.
[21:55]	IcePickLobotomy	A woman's voice, humming a lullaby, singing softly in Arabic.
[21:56]	IcePickLobotomy	She stops, "Soon my baby, you'll be back. Soon, not long now." She hums "My little Kasra will be alive again."
[21:56]	IcePickLobotomy	And in that same moment something bubbles up from the sludge. A single eyeball, the optic nerve trailing like a tail boils up before sinking back out of sight.
[21:59]	Mary	bites her tongue as she puts her hand before her mouth shivering, as .. as.. no its.. its.. she needs a moment she..
[22:00]	IcePickLobotomy	Another voice, a man's "I know what you did."
[22:00]	IcePickLobotomy	"Do you really? He's your so-"
[22:01]	IcePickLobotomy	"He isn't. And you've endangered everything we are working for here."
[22:01]	IcePickLobotomy	"And what is the point of all of this if we never get to benifit!"
[22:01]	IcePickLobotomy	"Look, I've put in for our transfer to Siberia, Vernbeck is going to take over for Subject 13-"
[22:02]	IcePickLobotomy	"His name is Kasra," her voice is ragged, on the edge of tears "please, don't. I can't. . I can't do this, not when I'm this close."
[22:02]	IcePickLobotomy	"I'm sorry but it's the only choice we have here."
[22:02]	IcePickLobotomy	She screams and. . .
[22:02]	IcePickLobotomy	A wet gurgle
[22:02]	IcePickLobotomy	Sobbing.
[22:02]	Mary	shivers, bile spilling forth before she regains controll, and registers that no it , it was in the past , it is not now , it..
[22:03]	Mary	puts a hand on the tank, feeling out and . compassion.
[22:04]	IcePickLobotomy	Dead. Empty. Rotten and bloated. Fear, misery seeped so deeply into this place that the bones are stained with it. Blood and viscera, pooling at your knees.
[22:04]	IcePickLobotomy	This place. . .
[22:04]	IcePickLobotomy	It a Monument to their Sins.
[22:05]	Mary	cleans up her mouth , sin it may be  , but she after all knows what a mother is willing to do for her child.
[22:05]	IcePickLobotomy	 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2aHcANs4GE&t=51s You hear Robin's voice echoeing down form one of the hallways.
[22:11]	Mary	shivers and looks up she, that does not really make sense, It. Its just maybe her nerves getting to her and hearing a strange song and.
[22:12]	Mary	touches the other thanks, ssearching for something, anything that might be alive, that might might be him.
[22:13]	IcePickLobotomy	Dead and empty. And. . Agony, pain suffering. Half-living still births who knew only the pain of a twisted mockery of life. Perhaps. .  perhaps there is such a thing as a Sin against God. And if there is, it is here, without a doubt.
[22:14]	Mary	tries to embrace them in compassion it, Kasra was , he was not like that it...
[22:15]	Mary	"Does the son bears the cross of the mothers sins?" she whispers
[22:15]	IcePickLobotomy	Nothing. No response. These are echoes, remnants. Dead.
[22:16]	Mary	tries to reach out, to put them to rest, to, free them from there pain.
[22:19]	Mary	then stops no, they , its like a tape, its just the memory of the pain here, not the real pain.
[22:23]	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: Imprints these are yess but further below. . . Is something.  Not quite a "entity" in the conventional sense. It could be thought of as the genius loci. It's. . . sick. No not sick, simple a reflection of this place. Warped and twisted and bent and broken. In pain, neither dead nor alive but something that is neither yet should never have been. It's not sick, for sickness would imply...
[22:23]	IcePickLobotomy	...it could ever have been well. It simple is, and that is is wrong. It doesn't notice, it doesn't seem to be aware of anything but the wretched agony of it's own half-life of a existance.
[22:24]	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: And you are utterly overwhelmed by the vastness of it, the alieness of it, the suffering it exists with, and the simple fact that there is something on a viceral level that finds it utterly *wrong*
[22:31]	Mary	(does that already include the resolve)
[22:31]	Mary	weeps
[22:31]	IcePickLobotomy	(Yeah, basicly the Resolve it "You can't handle this feeling)
[22:32]	Mary	cheeks burn as her tears hit it and she is there shivering trying to curl on herself.
[22:33]	Mary	(damm considering all her imaginery black tear, or firery ones would make so much sense now here as she is her soul here)
[22:33]	IcePickLobotomy	Oh don't worry
[22:33]	IcePickLobotomy
[22:33]	IcePickLobotomy	You'll see
[22:39]	IcePickLobotomy	You hear a gunshot down the hallway
[22:40]	Mary	(and hey mary walking down a corridor as she cries tears of fireyou can't say that you would say no to that)
[22:40]	Mary	blinks and shivers as she hears it, and then using that distraction she stumbles , or at least tries to stumbles away from there whatever fucked memory it is , it is better then this was.