View Single Post
Old 02-20-2017, 11:40 AM   #8
Icelander
 
Icelander's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
Default Bells for Her

The block where Sherilyn Bell is housed used to be four cells. Two of them have been combined into one, larger enclosed area, with old-fashioned bars in front of it instead of Plexiglass.

Her cell is wallpapered with charchoal and crayon drawings. All of one man, Raul Vargas. There's scenery in some of them and she appears in others, but he's a constant in all the pictures. The background and other people in the pictures look nice, pretty good work actually, but the drawings of Vargas are inspired. Some are photorealistic, others are idealised or dreamlike, but all of them are brilliant.

Inmate Sherilyn Bell is stretching, hanging upside down on her horizontal bars, somehow managing to support her entire weight by wrapping her legs around two them without seeming to strain. She doesn't look a day over nineteen, despite the passage of seventeen years, but there's not much trace of shyness, self-consciousness or the wary reserve that Ms. Bell used to have.

As Sherilyn Bell flips over to land gracefully on the cell floor, she's clearly putting on a show for the benefit of her visitors. Even knowing that and knowing that she's supposed to be criminally insane, however, even wearing incredibly unflattering hospital blues, her show is working all too well on our characters. Her body is romantic poetry in motion. Her face has the kind of angelic innocence which makes men old enough to know better think anything but innocent thoughts.

To Agent O'Toole, who has spent years tracking down rumours about Project Jade Serenity, and to Dr. Anderson, an expert for his own reasons, their own reactions under the circumstances strongly suggest that her beauty, grace and aura of innocent adolescent sexuality are more than merely natural. Of course, just the fact that she still looks a fresh-faced nineteen after seventeen years in a mental institution is pretty strong evidence that Project Jade Serenity has worked some major changes on Ms. Bell.

Bell: "Oooh, visitors! How thrilling! Hi, there, boys."

Everyone makes an effort to be professional. The guards tell us that we cannot come closer to the bars than three feet and under no circumstances are we to touch the patient. Taylor shuffles his feet and hangs back for a few seconds, but steps forward, taking off his 'Bama cap and standing awkwardly with it in his hand.

Taylor: "Hi, Sherilyn. It's good to see you."
Bell: "Chasie, darling! What a nice surprise! Who are these other men?"
Taylor: "They're from Homeland Security. I... uh, I brought you something."
Bell: "A present! For me?!"

Taylor looks at the guards, receives a nod and then moves to the bars. At a gesture from a guard, he starts placing magazines, crayons and candy on the ground inside her cell. He's well within the three feet limit, but the guard just glares at him, but doesn't do anything about it.

Taylor: "I'm so sorry I haven't visited before. They wouldn't let me see you. I.. tried, I swear, Lynnie."
[looks down, helplessly, at the stuff he's carrying, mumbles on]
"I... I didn't know what you'd like, it's been so long. I brought these, I guess I was hoping you still liked looking at well dressed people... I'm really sorry these are just crayons, it was just that I figured that the guards wouldn't allow proper drawing pencils."

Sherilyn pouts, transparently disappointed. She also glides seductively to the bars in order to inspect her gifts. All our PCs can tell that her disappointment is feigned, but Taylor still seems unhappy that she's frowning. He doesn't move away when Sherilyn reaches the bars and passes her the drawing book through the bars. Their hands touch and one of the guards shouts at Taylor to move away. Taylor does move back, but not without allowing the touch to linger and mouthing "I'm sorry".

Dr. Anderson greets Ms. Bell courteously and gives her the stuffed animal and candyfloss he brought. She exhibits disproportionate delight and tries to dazzle Dr. Anderson by giving him all her attention. She calls him 'Michael' in a breathless, husky tone and asks him to call her 'Cherry', please, when he tries to refer to her as Ms. Bell. Dr. Anderson continues to call her Ms. Bell.

In the meantime, Taylor asks the guards to please leave the room and stand outside. The guards react with indignation, but after Townsend backs Taylor up by citing security clearances and a whole host of legal reasons why private security guards, even if employed by a federal mental health institution, have no right to be present during an interview that might reveal information relevant to Homeland Security matters classified Top Secret - SCI. The guards don't like it, but they leave and close to the door behind them.

Taylor: "Do you know why we're here, Sherilyn?"
Bell [twirls around, collapses sighing into her bed]: "Oh... you're looking for My Man."
Taylor: "You're smart enough to know that the US Government could have found Vargas years ago if they really wanted him. He's living just yonder way in Mexico; they've got extradition. No one's brought him in because ain't anyone want him, I reckon."
[pauses, continues softly]
"We ain't looking for him to hurt him. Homeland Security is fixin' to offer him a deal. A fair trial, reduced charges, maybe even qualified immunity. He needs medical help now, Lynnie. He'll get all the help he needs if he agrees to work with Homeland Security. We can offer you the same things, if you help us get him to agree. Not harm him, help him. We can get you out of here. Fresh air, a better place, real doctors, maybe even a trial like you should have had or maybe we get them to drop all charges. You've already done more time than you should."
Bell: "Would I really be free?"
Taylor: "I don't know, Lynnie. As free as I am, meaning we'd have to live under observation, maybe for the rest of our lives. But it's better than this place. Better than being in a hole with the key thrown away. Has anybody said anything about you getting out of here lately? Who's your lawyer, Lynnie? When did you last see a sanity board?"

Ms. Bell ignores Taylor's last questions and scans the room, letting her gaze rest challengingly on each of his visitors for a short breath. She flirts with Cam Townsend, calling him 'gorgeous', asks who Colonel Burr is and if he's in charge. Taylor dismisses him by saying that he's from the Army, just there to observe. Then Sherilyn asks O'Toole who he is, says he looks like an athlete, all big and strong. She's clearly trying to get everyone in there to focus on her, moving around like a butterfly, flirting and trying to play on petty jealousies in such a contrived, stereotypical manner that it's obvious to everyone what she's doing.

Either she's pathologically narcissistic, desperate to be the center of attention, or she's trying to distract everyone from something. Or both. Taylor closes his eyes for a few seconds while Sherilyn Bell is talking with O'Toole. Then he starts moving toward the cell again. Then he turns his head toward one of the allegedly empty cells, calmly addressing his words in that direction, motioning with his head so that his companions can see which cell he means.

Taylor: "Y'all come out now. We know you're in there. We won't hurt you. We're from Homeland Security. Federal agents."
Taylor [turns toward Bell]: "Who else is here, Lynnie? Is he a friend?"
Bell [giggles]: "He seemed friendly..."

Col. Burr and Agent O'Toole start to move toward the 'empty' cell. Dr. Anderson simply stares at the closed cell door. Cam Townsend doesn't seem to know what to do, so he elects to move a bit closer to the wall and stand there while whispering in the general direction everyone else: "What's going on?" Taylor moves to the bars of Ms. Bell's cell and takes her hand in his. She grabs his other hand and they face each other through the bars.

Taylor: "No matter who that is, I won't let him hurt ya. I need you to talk to me, Lynnie. Tell me who is there. Is he a threat?"
Bell: "Oh, no. He's no threat."
Taylor: "Is he from Vargas?"
Bell: "He said he was." [giggles] "Warden Tyrrell didn't like that at all. He gets very possessive. He beat him so bad."
Taylor: "Lynnie, I don't know what's happening here. I sure do know I failed you. I left you here. I didn't know. I know that's no excuse. I... I didn't try hard enough to help. But I'm not gonna fail you again, Lynnie."
[staring deep into her eyes]
"We've got a contract with us. We can take you out of here, but only if you agree to help us. Help us and we'll be helping Vargas. Lord knows I never liked him, but I'll help him if that's what it takes to get you out of here. Just say you agree and ain't nobody kin stop us from taking you with us when we leave. An' I promise you this, Lynnie, if they gonna bury you again in a place like this, they'll have to bury me with you. I ain't leaving you again."
Bell: "Awww... Chasie. I didn't know you cared this much."
Taylor [voice breaking]: "Say you'll come with us. Right now. Before things start getting out of hand."
Bell: "Oh, all right. If it means that much to you. I'll help you, I'll come with you, I'll be a good girl."

As Taylor and Bell had their intimate tête-à-tête through the bars, Agent O'Toole opens the cell doors to the 'empty' cell.* In there was Agent Vicente Berrocal, wearing inmate clothing, sitting in his own faeces, very badly beaten and tortured. It was at that time that things started going wrong.

*Dr. Anderson had by this time secretly used his dreamweaving powers to make whoever was in there drowsy and O'Toole had secretly felt around in the cell with his telekinesis. O'Toole felt his way to grab the genitals of the man he sensed in there and tugged on them to distract him as he opened the door. OOC, we dubbed his character the Tele-Molestor.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela!

Last edited by Icelander; 05-14-2017 at 06:38 PM.
Icelander is offline   Reply With Quote