The Last Night

You wake up in an unfamiliar bed next to a crying woman you don't recognize. What do you do? [[Ask her why she's crying]] [[Examine the situation further]] [[Console her]] [[Tell her the truth]]

//Why are you crying?// She sniffles softly. When she speaks its in a low rasp in a dialect hard to descern through the whisper. "Oh. I'm sorry I woke you. I...I just don't want you to go." [["I'm sorry."]] [["It's going to be okay." ->Console her]] [["I don't have to go."]] [[Tell her the truth]]

//It's going to be okay.// You say haltingly. You don't know if this is true. You don't know what's wrong. Her voice is little more than the brushing of leaves on the trees outside. "That's very kind Sugar, but no it won't." [[Ask her why she's crying]] [[Examine the situation further]] [[Tell her the truth]]

The room is small, barely large enough to hold the bed's massive brass frame and the heavy roll-top mahogany desk in the corner. One wall is a set of french-doors that open onto a small balcony; beyond the balcony it's a beautiful summer night in the old city, which city exactly you can't remember, but it is gorgeous. Full of winding cobble-stone lanes and canals resplendant with gas lamps, weaving between the tall thin buildings each built nesteled against the other in the 17th century when space was at a premium so the only way to go was up. The red and gold rococco-papered wall to your left contains a door almost hidden by the patern, it is closed. The woman beside you is as naked as you are, the dress you presume is yours is on the floor next to the dress you presume is hers along with both your sets of heels. The fishnets you're wearing itch a little under the heavy white comforter. Her back is turned to you and she is curled in the fetal position. She has olive-toned skin flushed by the humid heat, her waterfall of black ringlets frizzed into a malestrom by the same. She shakes softly as she cries. What do you do? [[Try the door]] [[Reach out]] [[Console her]] [[Ask her why she's crying]] [[Tell her the truth]]

You reach out a hand, almost instinctually, toward her back. Your fingernails are painted a dark red. As soon as your fingers brush her hair she shifts so that she's leaning the weight of her against back against your hand. It's a quiet familiar gesture. Whoever she is, she knows you well, whoever you are. [[Console her]] [[Ask her why she's crying]] [[Tell her the truth]]

She sighs and rolls over to face you. She's a handsome woman; she has olvie-toned skin, a strong jaw, high cheekbones and dark eyes that look out at you from behind her massive waves of jet-black curles with a kind of intensity that makes your heart shudder. It feels wrong that a face like hers should ever be streaked with tears, that the muscles in those cheaks should twitch trying to keep a keening cry from slipping from that throat. She smiles with only a little bitterness, "It's alright Sugar. You have to go, I understand —" her voice catches, "you're not safe here. Not safe with me. He'll be home soon." [[Look around the room]] [["I'm not going anywhere."->Stay and confront 'him']] [["Come with me."]] [[Get up to leave]]

She slowly sits up and turns to face you. She has a heroic face; a hard jaw, high cheekbones and dark eyes that look at you with a kind of intensity that takes your breath for a moment. It feels wrong that a face like that should ever be streaked with tears, that the muscles in her cheaks should twitch trying to keep a keening cry from slipping from her throat. She breaks the momentary eye-contact and laughs only a little bitterly. "Don't be silly" she says her voice catching a little, "of course you do. If he finds you here, he'll kill you." [["I'm not going anywhere."->Stay and confront 'him']] [["Come with me."]] [[Get up to leave]]

//Come with me.// "My love, I can't —" Your tongue moves without you even thinking about it. It occurs to you that you may be someone to whom lies and persuasive words come naturally. //If he is the kind of monster who would kill you, then you can't stay. Come with me, we'll get out of here. I'll keep you safe.// You don't know if this is true. She goes silent for a moment studying your face. Then she turns and faces the window. She sits very still for what feels like a long time. "Do you mean it?" She asks. Do you? //I do.// [[Flee with her.]] //Maybe you're right.// [[Leave alone->Leave the room]]

You sit down on the edge of the bed. "My love, what are you doing?" She asks, a note of panic in her voice. //I'm going to stay.// "He could be home any moment! Please," she reaches out and grips your hand, "you need to go. He'll kill you." [[Leave the room]] [[Stay and confront 'him']] [["Come with me."]]

You stand to leave. She looks up at you, her face held in stark relief by the dim gas light of the room. Her eyes look at you like you are the most important thing in the world. Your stomach turns. She nods quietly as you pull on your dress and slip on your shoes. You don't know where your underwear is (if you were wearing any) but you have a feeling that finding it in the tangle of that bed would take more time than you probably have. She whispers in her strange dialect, "I'll be okay, my love, I promise. I'll call you as soon as I can." [[Stay]] [[Leave the room]]

You shift as subtly as you can and try to stand. (either: 'You turn to see if the woman has moved and she remains still sobbing. She has neither turned nor given any sign that she noticed you leave the bed. You slip your hand around the handle and with one fluid motion step out onto the landing.','Just as your feet are about to touch the floor, you feel a shift in the weight on the mattress, the woman speaks in a dialect you do not recognize,"sugar?" What do you do? [[Ask her why she's crying]] [[Tell her the truth]] [[Leave]]')

You step out onto a landing, the twisting staircase is narrow. As you procede downward, you feel boxed in but it is a short climb to the second floor. A nice if somewhat over-furnished living room greats you there. You can see out the window that the city's fever has broken and a soft summer rain has begun. The second door takes you out of the apartment and into the stairs to the street. A similarly narrow staircase, this time unadorned, past the entrance to the other flat to [[the street.]]

The summer rain comes down cold in the city and the sudden shift shocks your system a little. You step outside onto the narrow street and marvel for a moment at the rain plunging down into the canal shattering the slow waves of light cast on it by the streetlamps. You are so absorbed by the shifting breaking light that the sound of the blue VW Bug convertable's horn doesn't register until it is too late. You are (either:"struck and [[killed ->Darkness.]]",", however, able to avoid being struck and killed as the Bug comes screaching to a halt. You wander off into the night.")

Her eyes go wide, "My love, please, don't! He'll kill you, Sugar. He's a monster." [[Reassure her of your intent to negotiate.]] [[Search the room for weapons.]] [[Flee with her.]]

//It's okay, we'll talk it out.// You can feel the panic building in her as she begins to shake her head slowly, "Please Sugar, he's not going to talk, if he finds us together we're both going to die. You need to get out of here!" [["Come with me."]] [[Leave the room]] [[Search the room for weapons.]]

She gathers her things quickly, pulling on her dress, a red cocktail dress and a pait of black pumps and grabbing a battered old leather suitcase out of the closet. She tumbles a drawer's worth of clothing inside it and snaps it shut. She turns to you and smiles panicedly, "no time for ammenities, I'll have to replace my entire bathroom set up but that should be fine, it'll take a few days for him to close the accounts." You didn't really register what she said as you were still recovering from the smile which almost made you pass out. Some part of whoever you were or are cares a lot about this person. How do you escape? [[The Door->Leave the room]] [[The Window]]

As you look around the room you see very few items usable as weapons readily available. There is a //vase// full of flowers on the side-table, an ornate //letter opener// on the desk and a half-empty //bottle// on the floor by the bedside. As you get off the bed and move into the room to select your weapon you hear the sound of footsteps on the stairs. He approaches. The woman on the bed stifles a scream. What do you do? [[Hide.]] [[Grab a weapon and attack.]] [[Try to escape from the window.]]

You look around for places to hide. There is a closet and the bed. Where do you [[hide?->What you see]]

(set:$weapon to (prompt:"What weapon do you choose?","fist")) As the foot-steps reach the top off the stairs you, moving with a practiced motion learned from a past you don't remember, take a position by the door, the $weapon in your hand. The world seems to slow down ever so slightly, the sound of your heartbeat pounds in your ears. The handle turns, the door opens and what comes through splits your mind. When it steps through its as if it is a tear in the world, its a human figure of static, your skull cracks with the pain. Something in your mind won't let you see them. Your psyche shrieks and scrambles away from whoever, whatever they are, //don't look! Please don't look!// It screams at you. There is a horrible rending scream and it isn't until you feel the pain that you realize its coming from your own throat. You move instinctually. Your arm scythes out and the creature makes a sound and collapses to the ground and lays unmoving. (if:$weapon is 'vase')[A surge of pain runs up your arm, you look down and see your bloodied hand full of pieces of broken pottery.] (if:$weapon is 'bottle')[A surge of pain runs up your arm, you look down and see your bloodied hand full of pieces of broken glass.] You two [[escape into the night->Leave the room]]

You open the great french windows and step out onto the balcony. Out before you is the city under the indigo sky. You know the stars are up there somehwere. You can see the the tall buildings packed in one against the other, almost seeming to wave at you from across the canal below. You are three stories up, there is no fire escape but you can see the balcony below you. Do you jump? [[Yes]]

(set:$hidingplace to (prompt: "What hiding place do you choose?","" )) (if:$hidingplace is 'closet')[You, with a practiced motion from a life you don't remember, snatch the dress and shoes you presume are yours from beside the dress that you presume is hers on the floor and roll over the bed to the other side. You slip into the closet pulling the door closed just as you hear the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. You peer through the crack in the closet doors. You can just see the door to the room from where you are. The handle turns, the door opens and what comes through splits your mind. When it steps through its as if it is a tear in the world, its a human figure of static, your skull cracks with the pain. Something in your mind won't let you see them. Your psyche shrieks and scrambles away from whoever, whatever they are, //don't look! Please don't look!// It screams at you. There is a horrible rending scream and it isn't until you feel the pain that you realize its coming from your own throat. The closet door is flung open by the figure and before you can even think to speak pain overwhelms you and darkness takes your [[vision.->Darkness.]]] (if:$hidingplace is 'bed')[You, with a practiced motion from a life you don't remember, grab the dress you presume is yours off of the ground from beside the bed and slip under the bed pulling them with you just a moment before the footsteps reach the top of the landing. From there you see a pair of shoes materialize in the room as the door opens. They're dress shoes, expensive. You hear the woman speak in a language you once knew but have now forgotten, french maybe? The person in the shoes makes a sound that splits your mind in two. A sound like static tears through your brain. Something in your mind won't let you hear them. Your psyche shrieks and scrambles away from whoever, whatever they are, //don't listen! Please don't listen!// It screams at you. There is a horrible rending scream and it isn't until you feel the pain that you realize its coming from your own throat. Then you are pulled from underneith the bed by a powerful hand. Before you can even think to speak, pain overwhelms you and darkness takes your [[vision.->Darkness.]]]

All is dark. You're dead? The darkness fades to a deep orange. You look up from where you had apparently dozed off while sitting at a table you don't recognize infront of an unfamiliar window in a library you've never seen before. Or maybe you have? You don't remember. It's a beautiful old place with high ceilings and lovely old wood bookcases laden down with old leather volumes letting off a lovely smell. Outside the window is a verdant summer forest, blossoms aglow with light. It hurts your sleepy eyes. You think you have somewhere you're meant to be. What do you do?

You take a deep breath, grip the railing in your hands and swing yourself over.(either:"There is a moment where you are flying and then mother nature re-asserts herself in the form of physics and you slam into the balcony below. You survive but it hurts. You reach up and catch the suitcase she drops to you and then give her a boost down to the second balcony. You open another set of french doors and step through into a nice if over-furnished living room. She leads you to a door at the other side of the room and after checking that the coast is clear, you slip out onto a narrow staircase that carries you to [[the street.]]","There is a moment where you are flying and then mother nature re-asserts herself in the form of physics and begin to come rushing toward the balcony below. You reach out to catch hold of the railing but your fingers slip and you tumble ouy into empty space. Before you have time to think darkness takes your [[vision->Darkness.]]" )

You take a deep breath, grip the railing in your hands, and swing yourself over.(either:"There is a moment where you are flying and then mother nature re-asserts herself in the form of physics and you slam into the balcony below. You survive but it hurts. You open another set of french doors and step through into a nice if over-furnished living room. She leads you to a door at the other side of the room and after checking that the coast is clear, you slip out onto a narrow staircase that carries you to [[the street.]]","There is a moment where you are flying and then mother nature re-asserts herself in the form of physics and you begin to rush toward the balcony below at speed. You reach out to catch hold of the railing but your fingers slip and you tumble ouy into empty space. Before you have time to think, darkness takes your [[vision.->Darkness.]]")

You turn to face her for a moment eyes look at you like you are the most important thing in the world and you're disappearing. It's a mixture of confusion and anger and hurt. She opens her mouth slightly but says nothing as you pull on your dress and slip on your shoes. She tries to speak but all that issues forth is a quiet keening noise and then silence. Your stomach turns. S You don't know where your underwear is (if you were wearing any) but you have a feeling that finding it in the tangle of that bed would take more time than you probably have, besides you can't move any closer to her as her heart breaks. You [[Leave the room]].

You tell her that you don't know who you are, who she is, or where you are. She turns to face you, she's a handsome woman; she has olvie-toned skin, a strong jaw, high cheekbones and dark eyes that look out at you from behind her massive waves of jet-black curles with a kind of intensity that makes your heart shudder. It feels wrong that a face like hers should ever be streaked with tears. You watch as your words begin to sink in and her face twists before you and new tears begin to roll down her face, "you...you what?" she asks in a dialect you can't quite place.Your stomach tightens as she half-rasps half-snarls, "get the hell out of here." [[Leave the room]]