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Sylvia once again tries to narrow in on Hugo Strange and what he might be up to.

Sylvia, who's been a little off-kilter for the past few days, approaches the investigation of Strange with cold detachment.  She sends Sammy into his office for her appointment with the strategem, "If he tries anything, we break him.  Be careful."

Sammy's head tilts to the side, slightly concerned at Sylvia's overall demeanour.  "Yeah.  I will.  Just don't... don't be too worried about anything I say.  I'm going to tell him something true, maybe a couple of true things, in hope that it might trigger a useful response from him.  Stay cool, ok?"

She wanders into the office and flops down loosely in his guest chair.  After a rudimentary exchange of greetings, including the usual "what would you like to talk about today?", she tells him she wants to talk about what happened last week.  About the explosion.  "I'm not sure I'm 'feeling' what other people think I should be 'feeling'."  She finger quotes the word 'feeling' as she speaks.

Sylvia funnels her telepathy through Sammy, boring mercilessly into Strange.  There's no innocent-until-proven-guilty left in her.

"Everyone handles these things in their own way.  There is really no wrong way to feel.  Did you know Mr. Hamilton personally?  Your special situation might also have helped you build up some resistance to the unpleasant feelings these things bring up in other people.  It's been a traumatic year."

Strange is a tall thin man, with no hair on his head and black rimmed round glasses.  He comes complete with a slight Bavarian accent and fingers that seem unnaturally long.

OOC: Sylvia needs to make a Fort Save DC 16 or fall down with a splitting headache.  Fail by 5 or more and you have a headache and begin to vomit.  Fail by 10 or more and you fall down with a headache, vomit and then pass out.

Blargle blargle blargle ptui. (1d20=1) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2099870/)

[And if I roll a 1?  :P  ]

Sylvia's breakfast and lunch--from last Tuesday--pour of her onto the linoleum, and she falls head-down into it, stone-cold unconscious.

[OOC:  Does Sammy get caught in the backlash?  Is she even aware of any of this?  But before any of whatever might happen happens, she says a few words.]

"I don't feel anything.  I was scared for a little while, but when everybody was ok, I... just went neutral, you know?  Like it didn't matter.  I didn't know Hamilton, and from what I do know about him, he was a total a$$hole."  She pauses.  "No.  That's not true.  I mean, Hamilton was an a$$hole, but I do feel something."  She looks him in the eye.  "I'm angry.  But not at him, or at what he did.  That's done and over with."

OOC: Sammy is somewhat aware of the nausea, and then the line to Sylvia clicks off.  She suffers no ill-effects though.

"That's very understandable.  You really don't have anything to worry about then.  Your reaction is very common.  When we spoke before, you mentioned being worried about your friend.  I haven't spoken to you since about that, is there anything on that front you want to tell me?"

Sammy tosses up her hands and rolls her eyes in disgust.  "You too?!  We're here to talk about me, not anybody else.  What kind of counselor are you?  You didn't even bother to ask what I was angry about?"  She stands up and starts to gather her things.  "I'm outta here."  Her voice is genuinely strained; she is genuinely pissed off.  "I'm so sick and tired of everybody always looking at everybody else.  What about me?  Stupid cheerleader gets a little special Kool Aid, tosses a punk down the hall, she gets high fives!  Me, I've been protecting them for months, I save the entire bus riding population of this stupid school from a world of hurt, and I get nothing, not even a lousy thank you!  Yeah, sure, everybody is talking about an 'angel' rescuing some girl, but nobody says word ONE about the fact that not one g*d*mned piece of brick or metal from this stupid school hit even ONE person... I'm sick of it.  I'm sick of playing hero for nothing.  Satisfaction of a job well done is just bullshit."  She grabs the door handle.  "I won't be making any more appointments."

"It's a thankless job, isn't it?  No one ever recognizes what you do for them."  His voice is calm, cool in his pronunciations and diction.  "So it really was a friend that was having trouble?"  He stands and walks around to the chair she left, pulling it out a little.  "So often that's not the case."  He goes back to sit down in his own chair.  "I didn't ask what you were angry about because I wanted you to tell me.  Wanted you to let the pressure off your own emotions."

OOC: Sammy  needs to give me a Will Save DC 12

"Please Miss Jameson.  Sammy.  Sit down.  You have a lot you'd like to talk about, but no one who you feel you can share it with.  Now that we've blown off some of that pent up anger, let's begin again.  Shall we?"

Will save.(1d20+2=13) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2100039/)

She hesitates, but keeps her hand on the door knob.  "No.  I need some air, now.  I never lied, I always told the truth, but you just played me and you're still playing me, trying to keep me here.  No.  I'll find somebody else.  Somebody I can trust."  She opens the door and steps out.

Sylvia is a pathetic sight, like a sorority girl at two a.m. on a Saturday morning.

"As you wish Miss Jameson."  He takes his pen up and jots a few things down as Sammy goes to leave.  "Have a good day."

Sammy lets out a panicked "Ohmigodsylvia!" and rushes down the hall to where the other girl has collapsed.  "Ohmygodomigodomigod"
She rolls Sylvia over onto her side to keep her from drowning in her own spew and yells for help.

With a little effort Sylvia revives.  And some teachers come out.  They take her to the nurses office.

The nurse cleans her up some, and checks her vitals.  "You gave Samantha quite a scare."  she says, placing her fingers against Sylvia's throat to check her pulse.  "Have you been feeling ill?"

Sylvia gives the nurse a minimal shake of her head.  "Only today.  Can I go home?"

While Sylvia face plants and Sammy flies solo Sarah pops over to Strange's residence and pokes around a bit looking to see what's going on.  She's still a bit confused by all of this but there is always the chance that there is a big red folder on a table marked: Why I did what I did.  She goes over with her dark green hoodie, hood pulled down low and her hair tucked in under it. 

OOC: any bright red folders? 

Sarah pokes around the house, and it met with what can only be a series of disturbing sites.  At first she thinks his wife is home, then realizes it's a mannequin.  Dressed in stockings, garter belt, and bustier.  It sits on the couch, as if watching television.  Another is in the bed, dressed similarly, only red in contrast to the one in black on the couch.  His home office is neat and tidy, but on the back of the door that conceals the filing cabinet are pictures.  Sarah recognizes some of them, students from Oak Park.  Others she knows better, like Sylvia, Sammy, Sarah, Donnie, Colin, John, Laney, Alicia, Rhys, Sheila Burns, the girl that tried to freeze a PE teacher, Fern the acid spitting Ex-cheerleader. 


"Let's make sure you don't have a temperature, then I'll call your parents."  She fetches the thermometer from the cabinet and slips it into the plastic safety cover.  "This wont hurt a bit."  She says, and then Jams it into Sylvia's temple.

OOC: I need a Will Save DC 18 from Sylvia.

"Let's make sure you don't have a temperature, then I'll call your parents."  She fetches the thermometer from the cabinet and slips it into the plastic safety cover.  "This wont hurt a bit."  She says, and then Jams it into Sylvia's temple.

OOC: I need a Will Save DC 18 from Sylvia.
[/quote]

What?! Trepanation is so 15th-century! (1d20+4=15) (http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2100438/)

Sylvia is taken by surprise, conscious only of cold metal and the instantaneous conviction that she'll never trust any adult at Oak Park, faculty or staff, ever again.

Sylvia wakes with a start.  She is laying on the cot in the nurses office, the nurse sitting next to her stroking her hand.  "Are you feeling any better dear?  This time you gave me a fright.  I've called your house and your mother is on the way to get you.  she should be here any time now."

Sylvia pushes herself bolt upright and fights off the nurse's stroking hand.  "What did you do to me?" she demands.  "What was that?  What did you do?"

"What are you talking about Sylvia?  You cam in, I took your vitals and you passed out."  She looks deeply into Sylvia's eyes.  "Have you taken something you shouldn't have?"

Sylvia stares back at the nurse and searches herself.  Then she searches the nurse.  But the nurse is unreadable.  Her conciliatory, clinical kindness is as impenetrable as the walls, and Sylvia tries to get to her feet, clutching her arms in close to her body.  "I'm going home now," she tells the nurse, expecting accommodation.

"If you feel better, you can sit in the hall until your mother arrives.  But we can't let you go until she signs you out."  The nurse seems to sense that Sylvia would rather she not touch her.  She gets the door for Sylvia.

Sylvia steps into the hall and takes a moment to drop herself into one of the flimsy waiting-room chairs in the hall.  She leans over her knees and plants her face in her hands.  Then she calls Sammy.

"Hello?  Sylvia?  Are you ok?  The teachers told me to go on, that the nurse was taking care of you, and I was just in the way..."

Walking from room to room Sarah just gets more and more creeped out.  This is THE most messed up person.  I mean we've had some nuts but at least they were... well normal nuts.  This is like: It rubs the lotion on it's skin or gets the hose again: nuts. 

With many glances over her shoulder... just in case... Why oh why did I ever watch all those horror films? she takes out her phone and takes some 1.3 Meg pictures of this bizarre home.  Guh. How seriously miswired is this guy? After searching she is deeply relieved that she found no heads in jars or skin suits.  She looks around to make sure she didn't leave any noticeable signs of passing.  With a shudder from the willies she rubs her arms and ports out.  The fresh air is a relief. 

She calls Sylvia and if no answer then calls Sammy to let them know what's going on.  *one ringy dingy*...

[OOC: giving Cass a chance to answer...]

"I don't know," is the only honest answer Sylvia can give.  "Did Strange give you any trouble?"

Then Sarah calls.  Sylvia manages to press the right combination of buttons on her little pink phone to make it a three-way conference.  "Is everything okay?  Did either of you find anything?"

"Not really," Sammy replies.  "I got him interested, I think, but he didnt say or do anything obviously incriminating."

Sarah babbles, "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!  Are you both okay?  He's a total freak like, Hello Clarice, total freak!  His house is... uh.  I'll post some pics afterward but there were these mannequins set up around the house and pics of all of us and some other kids from around the school a lot of them.. maybe all of them with powers.  What does this guy want?"

Sammy can only manage an "EEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" after hearing Sarah describe Strange's home.

"You've no idea," she says with another shiver.  After the phone call Sarah pops back to school and heads for a computer.  She fishes up a usb cable and uploads to her flickr page then emails the girls with the link and the password: BuffaloBob

"It's not like he's a dress making, people wearing, serial killer right?  I'm over reacting.  The mannequins are probably just creeping me out a little is all."
Then she googles: mannequins in horror movies.
"Ohgodohgodohgod..."   

"A . . . family?" is Sylvia's guess.  "That's what that is, right?  A bunch of mannequins sitting around your house, someone to talk to, someone to keep you from feeling lonely."  It squicks her, but her voice stays level and dark.  "If we tell the police, they won't be able to do a damned thing.  He's weird.  Strange.  But they'll say that's not a crime."  She presses her lips together, thinking.  "We should talk to the family that's suing him, the one that thinks he did something to their son."

Eventually Sylvia has someone new beside her: a very relieved-looking Laney, quiet and too polite to interrupt her phone conference.   Laney sits right on the floor cross-legged beside Sylvia's chair and stares up at her face, waiting with strangely serene patience.

Alicia, who's been a silent audience on Sammy's end of the conversation, pipes up.

"After Hamilton, if we go up to Peep Landis with this, I bet he'd take it more seriously," she suggests. "Then again, the last thing he needs is yet another kook in the faculty."

"Its not a matter of him taking us seriously," Sammy says.  "Its more him being able to actually do anything about it.  I'm not sure mannequins, even if they are creepy, are enough to fire the guy.  Besides, Strange doesn't work for Landis.  He works for the school system.  Probably all Landis can do is fix it so that Strange doesn't come here again; he probably can't block him from anywhere else."

Alicia frowns, crossing her arms. "Well, considering how it went down last time we tried doing this on our own, I'm just saying having some backup might be nice," she says, a bit sulkily.

"I don't disagree with you," Sammy says.  "I'm just not pinning my hopes on it.  Landis has his hands tied too.  Besides, nothing permanently horrible happened; nobody died except for Hamilton, who was a wad.  Except for Colin, people were barely even hurt, and the building will be fixed.  If anybody's afraid now, they'll forget about it by summer.  Its not like they know even half of what happened or what we risked to keep them safe, so it'll just fade away."

Sylvia glances at Laney, then does a double-take.  She tilts her head to one side as if she's found a puzzling anomaly, and her lips curve into a shallow smile.

When she rejoins the conversation, she sounds more animated.  "Let's consider our options.  What would Batman do?  He'd dangle Strange off the side of a building until he confessed.  Then he'd drop him in front of the police station, tied up, with a note pinned to the front of his chest.  I don't think that's going to work for us.

"Next hero, someone straight-up:  what would Jack do?"

Sammy smirks at Alicia and mouths the word "sensei".  Then she replies.  "We could ask him.  Give him a show and tell about what we know, then ask for advice."

"Let's meet there after school.  I'll tell the boys."

Laney murmurs, "Who's Jack?  Jack from band practice?"  

She sits in a daze for another minute then abruptly stands, looking ill.  Maybe whatever Sylvia has is contagious.   Is she talking to Donnie?  They're going after Strange?  Dr. Strange?  They can't be serious.  Hey, on the bright side, maybe I won't have to meet with him this week...or they'll take out the building my history class is in...

Deciding Sylvia is probably not the most rational person to ask what's going on, sick as she is, Laney enters the office to chat with the school nurse.

"Sure.  I have practice this afternoon, and I need to give El's car keys back to him, but I can show up after that."

Alicia sticks out her tongue at Sammy, then nods her head excitedly in agreement.

The Nurse smiles at Laney as she enters.  "So, back again Laney.  What happened this time?"  she says in her sweet and calming tone.

Laney self-consciously looks down at herself, checking for any dirt she'd missed or scratches she hadn't noticed, perhaps acquired from her morning explorations. 

Laney holds up her palm for the nurse's inspection.  It had been scraped raw earlier, but certainly nothing worthy of a band-aid.  "Um..I'm alright, ma'am.   I'm a friend of Sylvia's, and I was hoping you could tell me if she's um...What happened?  Is she going home? She looks awful and isn't very talkative."  Well, not to me, anyway.  Not while she's on the phone...

The nurse takes Laney's hand and leads her to the sink, where she gently washes it.  "Her mother is coming to get her.  I'm sure they'll see to her, don't you worry about her."

Laney is as docile as a sleepy kitten.  She's always much improved after leaving this woman's care and knows this room better than most.  "Yes, ma'am.  She is getting a ride home?  Good.  Do you know why she got sick?  I mean is there something going around?"

The nurse shakes her head.  "Nope.  Nothing going around.  She might be the first case though.  Remember, washing your hands is a good way to prevent the spread of germs."

Laney nods, gives her sincerest thanks, gathers up her pack again, and wanders out.