I don't own digimon. Or Seasame Street.
Session 106
Tune
Lauren Gostelow had been many things.
A loving wife, a master plastic surgeon, a head member of the order. The list could go on and on if they wanted too.
But right now, she didn't feel like any of those things. Well, if one didn't count emptiness. In this particular outfit, she had the mental capacity and intelligence of a young child. That, and a whole bunch of other things that she couldn't remember at the moment.
Adrian had left her to engage in one of her favorite activities: watching the old VHS tapes from the heyday of the order. Sure, they probably had a variety of subjects that were by no means child-friendly, but that was half of the fun of watching. You could learn all sorts of things ahead of all the other kids. And they made whomever watched them all tingly and sparkly. Of course, the particular one was currently being rewound in the TV's built-in VCR.
Thankfully, this was not what she was focused on at the moment. No, she suddenly wanted a snack.
"Hmm…" she thought and closed her eyes, visualizing what snack that she wanted. "I got it."
Just as Lauren's eyes had closed, her eyes opened back up and she was off. She ran for a bit down the hall, only to stop at what appeared to be a wall. The scientist then ducked down, pulling away what seemed to be a large grate and headed on through. On the other side, she walked down the hallway and took a left. There, she found herself in a room. It was a kitchen of sorts, supplied with food that one would even debate safeness of eating whatsoever. Mind you, some of it looked alright but you could never be too certain. Of course, the rest of the area wasn't much better, with knives and various other utensils scattered about in ways that can hurt or kill people and a distinct smell of rotten food threatening to choke out. Not that such thoughts seemed to come to Lauren's mind. No, she was still focused on making herself a snack.
"Apple slices sounds good right now."
She went over to the fridge and pulled an apple out. While I'm no expert, I'm fairly certain that apples aren't supposed to have a visible level of fuzz or pulsating for some reason. Yet that didn't stop her from pulling a cutting board out and had a realization.
"Wait, Adrian said that I couldn't use knives…"
She exited this particular area of the lab, making her way down the halls until she came too a quite boring gray door.
"Here we go."
She pushed it open, finding herself in an armory of sorts. All sorts of fun and dangerous toys had been left about, especially with the swords and daggers covered in green goop.
"Perfect." Lauren announced and held the weapon in her hands, casually making her way back to the kitchen. Once there, she used her newfound tool to cut this strange fruit and placed them on a plate. Food in hand, she carefully crawled her way through the now apparent hole. After that, it was just a short walk back to the living area.
"Perfect." Lauren thought and sat herself down. She grabbed the remote that conveniently laid beside her and turned the TV on, only to begin to munch on her apples.
If her memory had served her correctly, this particular VHS tape contained episodes all about animals. Especially big fearsome animals such as lions, tigers and mages. No, that isn't right. The last time I checked, mages were not considered a species. And while it could have just be one of those weird VHS tapes they got from the Tanaka's, a person could easily use their common sense to avoid those particular ones. Of course, Lauren Gostelow was not one of those sorts of people. If she had been, do you really think that we would even be in this situation?
"Hmm…" Lauren remarked and made her way over to a nearby wall, where a tiger costume laid on the floor. Said outfit looked like what she was wearing to begin with, but then it seemed to morph into a bodysuit of sorts.
She quickly switched out of her current outfit and into the 'costume', turning her attention back to the television. The ads had already finished play and the show started with its 'opening act' of sorts. For this particular episode, Grover had dressed himself up as a magician and was helping Count Von Count out with something counting-related. Or wasn't, since they were helping each other tie their ties.
Grover: Now say it with me, children! Personalitate Vestes!
For a few agonising seconds, Lauren's world seemed ready to turn itself inside out and upside down. While she had been certain to have gotten rid of this particular tape, it always seemed to be return. As if to taunt her or something.
Her eyelids slam shut, but the images didn't stop. Only now, they show a younger Lauren on the grounds of a familiar school. It was to be her last day here and everything had seemed to have gone to plan. All that was left to do was to make her exit. Of course, that was where everything fell apart.
She let her eyes open back up, finding the sesame street theme playing. Except animal sounds and sounds effects one would expect to hear when they used magic had taken the
"Make it stop. Make it stop." the plastic surgeon whispered and covered her ears, the sounds only seeming to grow in volume and constantly changing in tone. "This is not what I want."
Yet, the video did not care. Instead, it continued onward past the opening and into the show proper. A cartoon started up, showing a kid talk about the various sorts of great beasts in the world. As they said each one, their voice seemed to shift from a slightly higher pitched child's voice to something almost demonic.
Child: Do you know any examples of mages? Do you? Doooo Yooou, Lauren?
Lauren closes her eyes, wishing for blackness. But all she got was memories. This one was of a bit after the first, displaying a group of people closing in on her. They were shouting about something, possibly related to the plastic surgeon's actions.
Yet, she stands confidently and pulls a combat knife out. Of course, that also meant having to show off her abilities in order to prove something or other. What follows, was a mix of latin and greek words that Lauren didn't know the meaning of. Yet, that was more than enough to bring forth chains to hold her in place. Their leader, a shadowy looking figure, flashes a grin as they made their way over to her.
"Personalitate Vestes." they jokingly whisper, fully aware of what was going on. "Hand it over. Or I'll truly make it a world of suffering."
Her eyes shot back open as the animation ended. It then transitioned into a scene with Telly and Grover. For some reason, Telly was wearing an pink afro and grumbling about his tie being on too tight.
Telly: Are you sure, Grover?
Grover: Of course! Personalitate Vestes!
This time, Lauren attempts to keep her eyes open. It was a futile effort for the plastic surgeon, her resistance broken so long ago. And once more, she finds herself back there. The group of mages were long gone now, their fates unknown. She had somehow managed to get away, but everything felt… off. Her thoughts seem distant as she focuses on the current surroundings. Currently, the plastic surgeon finds herself in a locker room of one of the order base's. Adrian was beside her, looking quite worried about his wife.
"Lauren, are you alright?" he inquires and Lauren shakes her head. "Come on, speak to me!"
Lauren opens her mouth, but no words come out. Her gaze turns away from the inventor and to herself, finding that she was dressed in the bare minimum of what was allowed in this age group. She casually stood up and makes her way over to her locker, changing into her lab outfit. It was a shot in the dark at best, but it was the only thing that had really come to mind in that particular moment.
A quick clothing change later, she returns her attention to Adrian.
"I'm not, Adrian." Lauren remarked and walks over. "I doubt you would be too if people shouted at you and chains just suddenly shot forth."
"Oh." her friend remarked and took a deep breath. "Julie wants to see you."
Lauren let out a groan as her eyes shot wide open.
The animation was long gone now, a live action bit taking the place of it. This particular scene had Elmo playing with Grover.
Elmo: Personalitate Vestes!
Once more, the spell worked and Grover began to cast magic all about Sesame Street. He was flying, causing property damage and invaded Elmo's World somehow. But Lauren didn't see it, her eyes already closed and her hands are already around her neck. She's back in the order base, about to go meet with Julie. Of course, their leader's office sat at the far edge of the base, high above them all. Which means trudging through the piles of dead puppies left to decompose. She gives little thought to the dead dogs, her mind racing a mile a minute. It all came crashing down when she ran into a certain silver haired man and his green-haired assistant. Usually, she would keep to herself. But today was not one of those days.
"I hope you are happy, bitch." the man snarls. "Did you really have to make my last day such a fucking shitshow."
Lauren slaps him for that comment.
"What do you even know?!" the plastic surgeon screams and slams the man to the ground. "You could've at least helped!"
The man got up and gave a shrug, deciding to go about his business for the day. Lauren continues with hers, walking over to the unassuming pair of doors and heads in. The hall was quiet, free of the sounds of something choking for once. Of course that can easily change at any moment. So she took each step with a sense of caution.
"I'm here, Julie." she announces and walks to the end of the hall. "What do you want with me?"
The office of Julie Enoshima is mostly bare. The only real furniture was a sturdy desk and two black office chairs. The walls had the traditional white paint adorning them with the usual grayish blue carpet keeping it company on the floor. Julie was sitting at her chair and redoing her make-up. When she saw the plastic surgeon enter, she sets the kit down and turns her attention.
"Lauren, it has come to my attention that you had hit a 'snag' on your most recent mission." the psychologist remarked and cracked a smile. "Care to elaborate?"
Lauren sighes and takes a second to decide her response. But try as she might, her mind goes blank and the pieces scatter.
"Oh, you can't remember?" Julie taunted and leaned in closer. "That's truly a shame, honey."
She lets out a laugh as her smile widens.
"I guess I could show you what happened though..."
Julie pulled out a laptop from somewhere and turned it around, giving the screen a click. The video was grainy and slightly distorted, but one could still make out the details. In it, you could just see Lauren getting dropped to the ground, right on the outskirts of school property. There, a man appeared from thin air, picks her up and vanished in a cloud of sparks.
"Oh." Lauren whispered as her gaze slowly falls to the floor. "Am I trouble?"
Julie let out a laugh.
"Of course not, sweety." the order leader answered and leaned forward with a smile, coming even closer to Lauren. "You're an enigma. I like enigmas."
The next few hours are an interrogation, just without the lie detector. When it was all over, the plastic surgeon was spent and made her way back to the locker room.
Adrian awaits her there with a fresh change of clothes. She reluctantly takes them and slips into them. Her emotions shift and a sense of calmness comes over her.
"How did it go?" he asks and Lauren's mouth opens. But once more, no words seemed to come out. "Talk to me, Lauren!"
She makes another attempt at talking but her vision begins to fail. Everything else began to fail right after that as Adrian's voice rings about.
The tape ended, but Lauren Tanaka does not wake up.
.
"Fuck." Adrian remarked as the bell ran ten times.
"Well, isn't that a shame! Too bad, Adrie!" Julie taunted and the inventor gripped his staff tightly.
"Is that so?" Adrian announced as he made his way back up. At this point, he decided to exit the home and wait outside.
At the very least, it offered a nice sunset outside. The sort that one could savor before they chose how to end this.
Notes:
Not going to lie, this probably one of the most graphic chapters for DAO. See you next week.
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Next Time: A key on a kite string, in the middle of a storm.