Sniffing the air, the meat smells like fatty pork, and is being boiled in some kind of weak stock, probably made from the bones of the animal. The aroma of this suffuses the kitchen from the open pot. It has that sweetness that is sometimes offputting in meat, but it does still smell like the flesh of an animal, rather than that of another, more upright prey animal.
The smell of meat still suffuses the room. However, that sweetness shifts, starts to develop a sharper note that irritates the senses. Was something else added to the pan? The butler barely moved.
It's not that.
Kurt can smell chlorine gas.
It stings the back of his throat. he coughs involuntarily. The movement shifts shifts viewpoint, and the officer's sword hanging on the wall in the dining room catches his eye. It holds his focus. Sitting there, polished and shining. A weapon, but also a symbol of authority.
He feels a weight pressing against your mind, the mind of somebody else. Somebody who has weilded that sword.
He sees through the eyes of another. Not here, and not now, not in the dining room, but somewhere else in this house, earlier in time.
As you turn the handle in the bathroom, you hear the hissing begin,
just as you thought.
You recognise the smell of chlorine gas instantly of course.
You smelled it often enough during the War.
It's all very Neat;
A perfect double-envelopment maneuver.
Perhaps turning the handle some more will open the pipes even wider, and you'll simply choke and die before you vomit your lungs out.
As long as that traitor Xavier vomits his lungs out first.
Then you'll have served your country.
Even if it has crushed you under its heel.
Kurt comes to his senses, kneeling on the floor of the dining room and coughing, close to the door to the kitchen. The Luger has fallen from hia grasp and lies near him.
Richard, momentarily halted by both embarrassment at the intrusion and the presence of the disturbing manservant, snaps to his senses when he sees Kurt collapse. Immediately he kneels down next to him and ensures Kurt's airways are clear, two fingers on his neck to check Kurt's pulse.
Whilst he does his best to attend to Kurt, Richard tries to study Kurt's expression. Is it pain? Could well be, choking is hardly pain free. Confusion maybe? That would be understandable, Richard is definitely confused by today's occurrences. Richard shakes his head in annoyance, he's never been that good at reading people.
"Sir? Sir? Can you hear me?"
Quite why the manservant wasn't shocked by the intrusion, let alone the collapsing, speaks volumes to Richard. He's not entirely sure what's written within those volumes, but he has a strong feeling that it's not good. Whilst 'unflappable' is surely a required characteristic of a manservant, 'callous disregard of the well-being of guests' is surely not.
Roland is angry at the manservant's impassiveness. He takes a step or two toward him looking him in the eyes and pointing back to Kurt. He should show some concern, some kind of emotion. Useless panic would be better than this cold observation.
"Hey! Can't you see this guy's in trouble? What the hell kind of country is this where you don't lift a finger to help a man choking? Damnit I want you to fetch the man of this house right now!"
He continues to stare the manservant in the face, hoping Richard and perhaps the others can help bring Kurt round.
Kurt sits up and tries to catch his breath.
He seems to have had vision involving the thoughts and experiences of a third party. He has considerable antipathy towards someone called Xavier. It might be worth finding out who he is/was and his connection with the house. Also further discussion with Kurt's commpanions about their "episodes" may prove fruitful.
Chlorine gas reminds Kurt of the war. Not good.
Roland gets a good look at the manservant's face as he stares at him. You don't get good at acting without being able to read and understand people's body language. Perhaps he's even been experimenting with some of the Stanislavski's methods - really getting inside the mind of a pirate, or fighter pilot to get the best portrayal on screen. He puts this to use now.
The manservant is nearly unmoving. There is a subtle rise and fall of his chest as he breathes, but the rhythm is slow. Slower than normal.There is no sign of emotion on his face, his eyes hidden behind those dark glasses, uncessary in the dim light of the kitchen. The impression that projects is not one of calmness however. Rather it is as if the manservant has made himself impassive and uncaring. Hardly responding to the world around him. His movements are funtional, minimal - efficient, but devoid of the variety of character that makes up most people's bearing and gait. Roland for example has an upright, active stride. His new companion Manny tends to slump dejectedly, interspersed with moments of conviction.
The manservant has seemingly removed those traces of individual motive force derived from personality.He reminds Roland somewhat of the automatic movements of Brigitta Helm's 'Maschinenmensch' in Metropolis, or the actors playing the 'Anihilants' - Ming's robotic servants in the Flash Gordan serials.
The manservant continues to hold the meat cleaver in his right hand at his side. The knuckles of that hand are even paler than the rest of his skin due to the tension there. He is gripping the tool, the potential weapon, very tightly.
One thing is for certain. Roland's fairly sure that the manservant isn't acting.
"My God, what's wrong with you?"
Roland stands more at ease, continuing to regard the servant and glancing at the hand wrapped tight around the cleaver's hilt.
"Can you tell me, yes or no, is your master here?"
Slowly, deliberately, the manservant moves his head from side to side, to indicate the negative. Rolands ability to assess honesty suggests that the manservant might be lying about the absence of his master.
"Finally, an answer. Well, my friend and I will leave you to your work, and take our colleague through to another room."
Hal watches the exchange with a sense of unease. His gaze flits from the cleaver in the manservant’s hand to the discarded Lugar lying nearby and wonders if events are about to take a significant turn for the worse. He briefly considers his own Webley back in his bag in the other room but quickly dismisses the notion. Tempers are frayed and another firearm is unlikely to help.
He decides instead to intervene and gently places a hand on Roland’s arm.
“Steady on old chap,” he says in what he hopes is a reassuring manner. Then to the manservant:
“Can you assist us? We appear to be having a spot of trouble.”
Hal then goes on to quickly outline recent events in the hopes of eliciting some reaction.
The manservant watches Roland turn away from him, and head back to assist Kurt and Richard. He then turns his dark glasses towards Hal, his face just as impassive. He appears to be listening to Hal's account of the past hour or so, including the collapse of Manny in the gallery and himself in the library. The manservant was himself present for Kurt's collapse in the dining room.
When Hal has finished speaking, the manservant waits for a moment. Taller than Hal, the manservant looks down on him. He appears to be checking the front and sides of Hal's head, potentially for any cuts of bruises from the detailed collapse. Apparently finding no serious injury he turns away.
He walks to the counter. Opens a large, metal refrigerator doorwith one hand, and produces a jug of chilled water. This he hands to Hal. He makes a gesture with the now empty hand, pointing back to the dining room, then at the bubbling pot on the counter. He moves his hand several times to indicate twenty minutes. He seems to want you to await dinner.
Kurt coughs
"Kof...Kof...Gak -Thought I was back in the war for a minute. There's something about this house that's giving people hallucinations. Also anybody find any mention of someone called Xavier while we've been here?"
Nobody having picked up the luger, Richard carefully stoops to retrieve it, making sure his fingers are nowhere near the trigger, before handing it to Kurt, appearing to hold his breath as he does so.
Nodding towards the manservant, Richard says "Let's leave the gent to his preparations, hmm? Shall we find the dining room?"
As he ushers them to leave the kitchen, he whispers to the group
"This man, indeed this house, unnerves me greatly. There is something most
strange afoot, and we'll need to keep our wits about us if we are to get to
the bottom of this."
Kurt pockets the gun and says:
"Danke. I agree something is wrong with this house - did anybody else
who had a strange turn experience visions from their past?"
No comments:
Post a Comment