ALWAYS A WAY OUT [FINISHED]
Characters: Dr. Stein, anyone else out and about this evening.
Content: A delusional, reluctant sociopath wandering the streets at night, convinced his new environs are just a new stage in an ongoing hallucination.
Location: An unfamiliar street in an unfamiliar city, made slick by recent rainfall.
Time of day: Late Evening.
Warnings: Unstable mad scientist with a penchant for dissection ahoy!
This is punishment for calling out to the insanity.
I'll dissect you and rebuild you from the inside.
"...!"
Bolting upright, eyes darting left and right searching for threats real or imagined, Stein found himself in a shadowed alley, his lab coat damp where he had lain against the asphalt seconds before. Moments of disorientation passed before he unsteadily rose and began to stagger to the street before him, his mind racing as best it could with each step.
"The fog is gone. I've found my way. I'm back to where I belong. This is where I belong. I-" The slightest hint of excitement quickly died from his voice.
Upon reaching the mouth of the alley and taking but a cursory glance at his surroundings, it quickly occurred to Stein that he was, in fact, not where he belonged, at least by his own recognition. The landscape had changed, the roads paved instead of inlaid with stones, buildings far larger than Shibusen blocking his sight in all directions. All within his view had become derelict and ruined.
He laughed. Longer and harder than any man has the right, before suddenly quieting and staring upon the ground beneath him, settling his glasses as best he could and losing himself to thought.
"It's all WRONG. You feel better now, the fog has lifted, but you're still trapped."
A bad sign, he briefly considered. If he felt better, but clearly was not, it was simply a matter of his mental faculties degrading so far he could no longer identify his own madness, was it not? He didn't possess the clarity to think it further.
"One door, two doors, three doors, a bridge, a lab and a gate. None of them have worked so far. You have to keep looking. Fall in to your weight and keep walking. You can almost see the light of hope marking the exit."
Wandering with quickened, clumsy steps, Stein walks along an abandoned street, sweat running down his face despite the cool air and light breeze accenting the night. The world around him had become even more warped than before. There were far more cars here than in Death City, the architecture was both newer yet more worn, and trash and refuse littered the streets. The haunting visage of the moon was replaced with a lifeless glowing orb, and the stench of decay and neglect wafted through alleys and abandoned buildings as he passed by.
Though given brief reprieve from being misled and tormented by his own doubts and fears personified, he felt little comfort in his new environs, ceaselessly walking onward for some sign of salvation, an escape from the madness.
He needed to find the door.
He found an ambulance instead.
Inside that, a scalpel.
A key he needed?
He thought so, and continued onward.
Content: A delusional, reluctant sociopath wandering the streets at night, convinced his new environs are just a new stage in an ongoing hallucination.
Location: An unfamiliar street in an unfamiliar city, made slick by recent rainfall.
Time of day: Late Evening.
Warnings: Unstable mad scientist with a penchant for dissection ahoy!
This is punishment for calling out to the insanity.
I'll dissect you and rebuild you from the inside.
"...!"
Bolting upright, eyes darting left and right searching for threats real or imagined, Stein found himself in a shadowed alley, his lab coat damp where he had lain against the asphalt seconds before. Moments of disorientation passed before he unsteadily rose and began to stagger to the street before him, his mind racing as best it could with each step.
"The fog is gone. I've found my way. I'm back to where I belong. This is where I belong. I-" The slightest hint of excitement quickly died from his voice.
Upon reaching the mouth of the alley and taking but a cursory glance at his surroundings, it quickly occurred to Stein that he was, in fact, not where he belonged, at least by his own recognition. The landscape had changed, the roads paved instead of inlaid with stones, buildings far larger than Shibusen blocking his sight in all directions. All within his view had become derelict and ruined.
He laughed. Longer and harder than any man has the right, before suddenly quieting and staring upon the ground beneath him, settling his glasses as best he could and losing himself to thought.
"It's all WRONG. You feel better now, the fog has lifted, but you're still trapped."
A bad sign, he briefly considered. If he felt better, but clearly was not, it was simply a matter of his mental faculties degrading so far he could no longer identify his own madness, was it not? He didn't possess the clarity to think it further.
"One door, two doors, three doors, a bridge, a lab and a gate. None of them have worked so far. You have to keep looking. Fall in to your weight and keep walking. You can almost see the light of hope marking the exit."
Wandering with quickened, clumsy steps, Stein walks along an abandoned street, sweat running down his face despite the cool air and light breeze accenting the night. The world around him had become even more warped than before. There were far more cars here than in Death City, the architecture was both newer yet more worn, and trash and refuse littered the streets. The haunting visage of the moon was replaced with a lifeless glowing orb, and the stench of decay and neglect wafted through alleys and abandoned buildings as he passed by.
Though given brief reprieve from being misled and tormented by his own doubts and fears personified, he felt little comfort in his new environs, ceaselessly walking onward for some sign of salvation, an escape from the madness.
He needed to find the door.
He found an ambulance instead.
Inside that, a scalpel.
A key he needed?
He thought so, and continued onward.