tampered | No escape

No escape

Where: An empty parking lot
When: Early morning
Rating: PG?
Characters: Joseph, and whoever.

"NO ESCAPE"

The words marked the parking lot, written in charcoal. Joseph sat, huddled up in a ball, at the center of a spiral made of these words taking up the entirety of the parking lot. He had lost weight, if that were indeed possible, and his hair had begun to grow back into an unpleasant brownish gray mess. His face was weathered, sweaty, and grimy, and his clothes were an unpleasant shade of brown, and one of his shoes was missing, the foot it belonged to being cut and raw. He shivered painfully, muttering to himself.

"No... No escape... No escape..." His hands were blackened from the charcoal, which lay in a small pile beside him, next to a notebook that was covered in mud, but seemed to be heavily used.

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Lobsel Vith had heard of Joseph's return through the network and wanting to find her strayed sheep she set out to look for him. Eventually she found him in a parking lot surrounded by several of the words "No Escape". She cautiously stepped towards him, and called out, "Joseph!"

Joseph's head darted up from his fetal position, and he looked over at the woman approaching him. Pathetically, he rose to his feet, avoiding putting his weight on his wounded foot. He hobbled away, screaming weakly, then stumbled as he put too much weight on his bad foot, and fell on his chest hard, then rolled on the ground, trying to crawl away from the human figure approaching him.

"No escape, no escape..." he gurgled as he clawed at the pavement.

She stepped closer to him. "Joseph. It's ok I'm not going to harm you. Do you remember me? I'm Lobsel Vith." She stepped closer to him, but noted his injured foot. "You have an injured foot." she said stating the obvious.

She took out her laptop and proceeded to post a message on the network requesting the aid of a healer of medic. Lobsel Vith could heal minds, but not heal physically. Hence why she was calling out.

"It's ok Joseph."

Joseph backed up to a pole.

"I... I remember you... You... You're one of the devils, aren't you... They'll cut it off, and I won't die... They'll leave me to rot... This is a slow hell, full of monsters... devils... You... You just give me happiness so I can suffer... No escape, no escape..."

Lobsel took insult to that term.

"I am not devil! I am not one of the devil's! I am the incarnation of primal joy, and joy!"

She calmed down a little, but continued, "Joseph, I want to help you, but if you continue acting unfaithful I will leave you!"

"Everybody leaves the Joseph, it's infinity in the void, the cave, the wandering woods, the life of mud and slick and everything goes black to no escape for Eileen or me..." Joseph said, reeling and clawing at the pavement, his fingers becoming bloody.

Lobsel Vith took on the male form and tackled Joseph, ripping his hands away from the concrete. "Get off your pity party Schreiber!" Lobsel Vith hissed.

"I don't give a crap what you think. A healer's on the way, and you're getting healed." He stated once more, still pinning Joseph.

Riou paused as he came upon the darkened parking lot. Two darker shadows beneath a pole, one standing and one hunched over. He looked down upon the words scrawled at his feet. No escape. Yes, that seemed about right.

"He looks like he'll run as soon as I heal him," Riou called out. "Will you be able to deal with that? Or... shall I cast a sleep spell, first?"

"A sleep spell will be beneficial." Lobsel Vith spoke at the new figure before him.

"It might also be easier for me to heal his mind if he's asleep." the Yellow God mentioned to the healer.

Riou gave a quick nod and reached into his satchel, pulling forth a scroll.

"Winds of Sleep," he murmured and the scroll gently glowed and disintergrated into a fine mist that reached out towards the huddled form.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Joseph shrieked, trying to run but falling quickly as he put his weight on his infected foot.

Lobsel Vith lightly tackled him to the ground, and then whispered in a voice sweet as honey (laced with anthrax) "He's only here to help! He's going to put a sleep spell on you. Heal your foot. Then I'm going to heal your mind. Right now you are seriously annoying me."

Joseph continued to moan and spout gibberish about hallucinations and forests, his eyes rolling back in his sockets as he thrashed, trying to escape the warm touch of another warm being, trying to escape the force that was holding him down, his mind so obviously lost in a panic that words were lost.

Riou watched the struggle with some apprehension, afraid to approach any closer lest the presence of a stranger upset the unbalanced man even more. The sleep spell should soon take affect, but if it didn't...?

Joseph continued to thrash and struggle, although his efforts became more and more pathetic, and his eyes soon closed, although he continued twitching and jerking in his sleep.

Lobsel Vith watched him start to fall asleep. She took off her overcoat and placed it underneath Joseph's head. Calmly and soothingly she ran her hands around Joseph's head and face. "Shhh, just sleep. When you wake up you'll be alright. Shhh...that's it go to sleep. Sleep." she whispered softly.

She turned to the other man and said, "I believe you can heal his foot now."

Riou exhaled, not even realizing the point where he had started holding his breath. Carefully he approached the fallen figure and knelt beside him, critically checking over the wounds. It wouldn't do to heal the man with an arrow still left inside of him.

"You may want to cover your eyes." Riou said as he pulled off his glove, revealing the rune on his right hand. "This should heal him entirely. Physically, at least. Great Blessing!"

A light a flared up from Riou's bared hand and slowly engulfed the fallen man.

Lobsel Vith placed a protective hand over Joseph's eyes and then closed her eyes. Still the light from the rune spell left an imprint in Lobsel's vision. She pretended to wince not wanting the other man to know that she sort of enjoyed this great blinding flash of light.

"How long till this takes affect?" She asked.

"This should be immediate," Riou replied and blinked. Wait, the other had been a man-- a woman? He shook his head slightly.

Black Sword would have felt me use Bright Shield's power. I should leave the area as soon as possible.

"Will you be able to deal with him now on your own?" Riou asked.

"Yes, yes I should be able to." The yellow god replied.

"Thankyou for the help. If there's anything I can do to repay you I'll gladly do it." she added.

"No thanks necessary," Riou said with a slight bow. He straightened and looked surreptitiously about him. "I'll take my leave now."

"And... good luck with your friend," he softly added with one last backward glance before he melded back into the surrounding shadows.

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