mother_of_god | Midwich Elementary School (Nightmare World)

Entry tags:

shatterplot

Midwich Elementary School (Nightmare World)

[Monsters: Faceless children, ghost babies, a few roaches]

[Tasks: Wander around inside. The walls and floors are now made of chain link and grating, and covered with blood and similar organic goo. Chains hang from the ceilings, and in several places, strange cloaked statues are displayed in inaccessible rectangular gibbets. The exit doors in the lobby are replaced by a giant set of sharp-bladed fans- trying to get out would result in slicing and dicing.
-There's a pair of the cloaked statues inside the school office, flanking a strange door with no handle. It does, however, have a slot in the center, and a conveniently slot-sized card on the ground in front of it. This door leads to the rest of the school; all the others are jammed or blocked.
-In the first floor girls' bathroom, the sound of a child sobbing breaks out. There are no children to be found inside.
-Upon exiting that bathroom, the characters find themselves on another floor. Reentering will put them in a different bathroom. This time, the stall door opens to reveal a decayed corpse, strung up with medical equipment. "Leonard Rhine- the Monster Lurks" is written on the wall behind it in blood.
-There's a classroom with only a table full of telephones and scattered cards. One telephone may ring and lead to an NPC conversation.
-The library has shelves stocked with religious-looking books. One shelf has a book of fairy tales, open to a relevant page [which I'll put in when the time comes]. Another, more out of the way, has less-relevant but vaguely interesting info [which I'll also put in].
-Depending on how things go and player preference, there may be an NPC encounter and boss fight.]

It's the courtyard again. The snow has turned to a steady, warm rain, and there's something "off" about the whole place- the building looks more distressed, the hedges thornier. The sharp smell of burning bites the nose.

In the concrete in the center, a mysterious occult symbol has been burned.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Jesu!"

There is a very recognizable shout from the boys' bathroom.

One of those footlong roaches skitters out from under the door and is shortly followed by a young man trying to smash it with his club.

Oh, thank God.

Steph's club gets the roach first, and then she flings herself at him, clinging like a mad thing. A mad, much-beaten-up, bleeding and bedraggled thing.

"Trust you to be in the toilets oh my God please be real."

Sokka gasps when she's on him, hands up to grab and tear her off -- and abruptly realizes who she is.

And clings just as madly.

"Steph, Jesu, where have you been, where is this?!"

"I don't know, I don't know where we are --" She pushes him back to look him over, anxiously. "Are you okay? Did anything get you? How long have you been here, how did I miss you?"

Sokka shakes his head, holding her tight by the shoulders to keep her close, looking her over, too. His clothes are ragged and dirty, a few minor scrapes - his t-shirt is ripped near his ribs but the line of blood is thin and shallow.

And the second he sees that Steph is all right, he's crushing her into another hug anyway.

"I don't know, I've only been here a few hours, I don't even know how it happened."

Steph may not ever let go.

Well -- presumably when the next monster thing comes along. She'll let go then. But not until then.

They can just bleed on each other for a while.

"Me either -- it was this perfectly normal town, and then suddenly fog, and creepy dogs, and children -- I had to hit them, I think -- I think I killed them --"

No, Steph. Panic later. Get out alive now.

"-- do you remember the way out?"

He hugs her even tighter for that little admission, breathing hard with panic as much as release - he's been panicking since he arrived. "I think so," Sokka replies quietly, glancing back down the hall. "I've been trying to get there, those fucking roaches..."

"God, they're terrible," Steph agrees, burying her head in his chest for a moment before remembering to be the Girl Wonder and not the Girl Wimp. This place has nothing on Gotham.

... nothing.

...

...she'll just keep trying to convince herself of that.

"At least I can kill the roaches, though." Beat. "... don't wanna break up the moment, but I kinda really need to pee."

Bravado, Steph has it!

Edited 2008-09-01 11:09 (UTC)

Also timing! Sokka laughs and lets go of her with one arm, renewing his grip on his club. "Okay, um..."

It's amazing, after a full day in this place, he still manages to look nervous about nodding toward the girls' room. "...how creepy is it if I want to guard the stall so nothing in the toilet eats you?"

"Only a little bit creepy," Steph promises him, squeezing his arm. "Mostly it makes me want to propose to you on the spot. I do not wanna get caught with my pants down by any of the things here."

How creepy can one bathroom be, anyway?

It's been a long day - Sokka is a little giggly with the 'caught with her pants down' line.

"Hurry," he demands, giving her a little push toward the bathroom, still holding his club tight.

"I'm hurrying," Steph promises him, edging the bathroom door open with her makeshift wood-and-nail club -- now reinforced with fabric that was once the midriff of her shirt -- held high.

She's checking the bathroom out before using it, plz.

You know gas station bathrooms?

Those look pleasant next to here.

Also, no toilet paper.

Also, no toilet, just grating.

(Also, there's the sudden sound of a child sobbing in the next stall.)

"Aaaaaaaactually suddenly I think I can hold on."

Amazing how easy that decision is.

Wait -- is that --

"Are you there? Sweetie, are you okay?" She blinks at the cubicles. Is there a kid in here?

Silence, now.

The only way this could be more creepy would be if -- yeah, actually, no, there's no way.

Steph turns to look back at Sokka, nervous, and then sets her jaw determinedly and reaches for the cubicle door to where she swears the kid was.

"Hey ... it's okay..."

The door creaks open.

Empty.

There's a toilet that looks slightly less likely to give horrible diseases, if Steph still needs one.

For the sake of dignity the narration will inspect the bathrooms more closely, while Sokka waits anxiously and the creepiness fails to lessen.

Yup, still creepy.

"Okay, I'm done. Do you think we can get out the window?"

If Sokka jumps a little, it can be attributed purely to the creepy. Still holding tight to his club with one hand, he reaches back for Steph's with the other. "Couldn't be much harder than the bars on a jail cell," he points out with a small, tense smile, squeezing her hand. "I've got a few things with me if it's locked."

"That's because you're awesome."

It might make more sense to have both hands free, but sense is for people not trapped in a CREEPY-ASS SCHOOL FULL OF DEAD THINGS. Steph is quite happy to hang on to Sokka's hand and inspect the window bars with just one.

"I just want out. I don't even know how we got here. God, I hope we're the only ones, I hope everyone else is OK..."

In theory, they might be able to get the rust-encrusted, painted-over screws off of the barred part, then pry the rust-encrusted frame off. They might even be able to get the chain-link stuff beyond off.

But it's all black outside, and it doesn't even look like there's a ground below.

So, that might not be the best option here. Maybe.

"...oh, that can't be good."

It's okay, though. Having company means much less of the freaking out.

"Okay, uh ... not that way. Maybe if we head back outta this stupid bathroom and try to find the clocktower? I think that's how I got in."

D:

Sokka sighs. But at least it's more frustrated and annoyed than freaking out. He scowls at the abruptly-useless-window and tightens his grip - on his club and Steph's hand. "All right. Look for other windows, too, fire escapes, anything. This place looks like it's falling apart, we could probably force our way out if we needed to."

"There's just nothing outside to break out to," Steph says, anxiously. "It's like we've been -- like we've shifted worlds again or something."

Her grip on his hand gets just that bit tighter for that.

"If we have? This is totally the worst world yet."

"Agreed. This wasn't world-hopping, it didn't feel like it."

His voice is a little darker for that. He should not be such an expert on this stuff. Sokka looks back at Steph when she grips his hand and attempts the weakest smile known to man. "It's gonna be okay. We'll get back to the farm."

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