#dc drafts

That night I found myself pacing back and forth in my bedroom slippers before the door to our accommodations’ living-chamber, behind which I knew Holmes sat awake, reading. The letter I had discovered weighed like a lead sinker in my breast-pocket, the question of its validity around my heart like a vise. I came to the conclusion that if I failed to act at that moment, the act would never be done.

I seized the door-knob and swung the door open with the dramatic bang I had intended. Holmes, seated at the fire with his back to me, did not look up from the volume in his hands.

“Ah, Watson,” he said. “Traditionally a knock will serve to announce one’s presence. There is a 9:12 back to town. I plan to stop by my old digs to gather a few personal effects-”

“I have at least one of them,” I interrupted him, reaching into my pocket and holding the letter, unfolded, out to him at arm’s length.

It was rare for Holmes to ever be surprised - rarer still for I to be the one to surprise him - yet I could not take any pleasure in the look in his wide grey eyes as he recognized the scrap of paper. His gaze turned from it in an instant and he stood abruptly from his chair, the hem of his dressing-gown falling about his legs. “You were not meant to read that,” he said quietly, taking up his pipe and lighting it. His hands trembled slightly as he did so.

“It has my name on it,” I pointed out. 

The smoke poured lazily from Holmes’ mouth as he exhaled. “Yes, your mental prowess knows no bounds.”

I had not the patience for Holmes’ petulant sarcasm. “Is this a trick, Holmes?” I asked him. 

His eyebrow raised, and he looked upon me for the first time since my entering the room. “A trick?” He then turned away from me again and advanced toward the window. “Perhaps it is,” he said. “A clever bit of manipulation, designed to some end you cannot hope to fathom-”

“For God’s sake, man.” Had he not the decency to say a thing outright? “After everything - if I have ever been useful to you in the slightest - if you have any regard for me at all - please.”

My friend’s thin shoulders tensed, then he sighed and they relaxed. “The letter you hold is a first draft,” he explained. “I daresay there is a good deal I would have phrased more elegantly. I was still weighing my options, you see. I had determined this… revelation… could not be done face-to-face, and must be carried out in a manner-”

“Sherlock-” The man started at my unprecedented use of his given name, yet still would not meet my eyes. “Why could you not say this to my face?”

“Because, quite frankly, you are a man of action,” Holmes replied. “In the likely case of a poor response, I had no wish to add injury to insult.”

The idea that I should strike Holmes in any circumstance was so unthinkable, the thought that I had given him reason to believe I would so unbearable that it caused me to pause and glance at my own hands. 

Holmes still stood with his back to me. I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder, and was surprised to feel the great Sherlock Holmes, who looked killers in the eye and chased deadly adventure as if his life depended upon it, flinch under my gentle touch. I turned his body and then, when he refused still to look at me, his head to face mine, with one hand upon his bony cheek. “How terribly we have misunderstood one another.” I drew my face to his and kissed the thin lips.

“Watson!” He drew back and raised his hands in alarm, a bright flush across his cheeks, the pipe clattering to the floor. “If you are acting from some misguided sense of decency-”

“I love you,” I declared. “I have for - years - perhaps since we first met-”

“But you are not ‘that way,’” Holmes protested. “‘Experience across three continents’ and all that.”

“I have spent my life in school and then the army,” I corrected. “There were not a surfeit of women in my ‘experience.’”

Holmes’ grey eyes blinked twice, and this time I could revel in the fact that I had surprised him once again. “I have been blind.” The flush had returned to his cheeks and a small, sheepish smile had crept across his lips. “How on earth do you manage?”

“One learns to muddle through.”

- Close your eyes again.

- [Vigilance - Challenging 12] Why do you feel like you need to be awake right now?

LOW

22% 

-2 It is very late at night. Or early in the morning.

CHECK FAILURE

VIGILANCE - [Challenging - Failure] You don’t know. And you *really* don’t like not knowing.

SANGFROID - [Medium: Success] You’re just on edge after a long day. That’s all it is. Relax. 

YOU - What the hell time even is it.

DIGITAL ALARM CLOCK - The bright red angry numbers spell out 2:47.

TAXONOMY [Easy - Success] - You will be awake again in just over four hours.

CONSTITUTION - Why have you done this to us?

HOTEL ROOM WINDOW - The overcast sky diffuses the moonlight filtering in through the window above the bed.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Medium - Success] - You can hear the occasional shout from the courtyard outside.

SAGE - Why are those children not in bed like reasonable people?

JOIE DE VIVRE - Oh, they’re not what *you’d* ever call “reasonable people” and you know it.

YOU - Close your eyes again.

VIGILANCE - The pit that has just formed refuses to dislodge itself from the bottom of your stomach.

FANTASTIQUE [Hard: Success] - Something *wants* you to be awake.

- Don’t be ridiculous. (Inhale deeply and exhale.)

- You really think so?

- (Tune out the noise.)

RIGOUR - The breaths come to you as second nature, falling into a steady rhythm. 

SANGFROID - But it isn’t enough. You’ve been disturbed from your rest. It’ll take more than your usual deep breathing to return to it. 

- No. It’s not worth it. Just let me go back to lying here in peace. 

- (Sigh and sit up.)

HOTEL ROOM FLOOR - The linoleum is cool under your bare feet as you sit at the edge of the bed. As your eyes adjust, you begin to make out the vague shapes of the furniture in the room, aided by the grey light coming from the window.

YOU - Fine. I’ll just get a quick glass of water, then back to bed. (Stand up.) [Conclude.]

TASK GAINED: GET A DRINK OF WATER

BATHROOM DOOR - This is the door to the bathroom you share with room #1 next door, with your partner, with Harry Du Bois. 

YOU - (Open it.)

SHARED BATHROOM - A burst of humidity hits your skin as you enter. Hot water gushes from the broken sink faucet, fogging up the mirror as well as the rest of the room.

SYNTHESIS [Medium - Success] - It would not surprise you in the least to learn that the broken sink was a result of your partner’s apparent drunken rampage before your arrival.

- (Wipe off the mirror.)

- [Interfacing - Legendary 14] (Try to stop the flow of water.)

LOW

3%

-10 Tool not equipped

3. - Nix the drink of water, I guess. (Leave it alone)

NAVIGATEUR [Easy - Success] - The door that connects the bathroom to room #1 is wide open.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium - Success] - No, scratch that - the door is *gone.* It has been *removed.* 

SYNTHESIS - See above.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Hard - Success] - Over the sound of the rushing water you can make out - nothing.

RIPOSTE - And that’s important why?

PERCEPTION - Trust me. Too much quiet is not a good thing.

SYNTHESIS [Easy - Success] - A man of his build would almost certainly snore.

TAXONOMY - Alcohol consumption would also contribute to that.

- (Poke your head through the doorway.)

- [Perception (Hearing) - Medium 10] (Listen again.)

HIGH

86%

3. - (Let it go.)

CHECK SUCCESS

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Medium - Success] - Again, nothing. Except for rushing water and distant wind rushing. Not even so much as a breath apart from your own.

COMPASSION [Easy - Success] - This is it, isn’t it. The pit. The knot. Can you be sure of where he is right now?

SANGFROID [Trivial - Success] - You saw him enter this room after your debrief. He closed the door behind him.

COMPASSION - Can you be sure of where he is *right now*?

- This isn’t my problem right now. Not at 2:50 in the morning.

- The detective is a grown adult. Whether or not he’s in his hotel room is his responsibility.

- I can’t.

COMPASSION - Unless…

YOU - (Poke your head through the doorway.)

MACHINIST - You cough slightly as chilled air enters your lungs, irritating the residual smoke from your nightly ritual.

ROOM #1 - The hotel room looks as if a tempest hit it. The blurry shapes of bottles, various scraps of trash, and miscellaneous debris litter every surface.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Legendary - Failure] - The shapes would be less blurry if you were sporting your proper eyewear.

DISHEVELED COUCH-BED - The pull-out couch against the wall is a mangled heap of towels, blankets, and pillows.

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Legendary - Failure] - It’s dark. You’re glassesless. You can’t make out any signs of life.

YOU - (Take a step closer.)

DISHEVELED COUCH-BED - No motion. No nothing. Just a stale, lingering odor of sweat and alcohol.

YOU - (Gently reach out a hand.)

DISHEVELED COUCH-BED - Your hand pats at the crumpled blanket and askew cushions. 

PERCEPTION - There’s no one here.

COMPASSION - Oh god, there’s no one there.

YOU - (Turn on the lights.)

CEILING FAN - You fumble for the chain, feel the lightbulb on the end of it, and pull it.

RESILIENCE - Light floods the room and makes you squint. 

YOU - [Perception (Sight) - Easy 6] (Scan the room again.)

HIGH

93%

+3 Lights are on

-1 Glasses are off

CHECK SUCCESS

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) - There is no one else in the room apart from yourself.

COMPASSION - Something’s happened. Something bad.

SAGE - Oh, come now. Is a grown adult not being in his room when you expected him to any cause for alarm?

COMPASSION - It is when said grown adult is in the condition this one is in.

1. - [Rigour - Challenging 13] (Go back to bed.)

LOW

19%

-2 Compassion is worried

-1 Previous incident involving a folding chair

2. - (Go back to your room. Get ready to go outside.) [Look for Harry.]

COMPASSION - There’s no telling what could have happened. Hurry.

RESILIENCE - And remember your jacket. It’s cold out there.

YOU - [Leave.]

TASK GAINED: GRAB YOUR GLASSES, JACKET, AND BOOTS

ITEM GAINED: ROUND GLASSES

ITEM GAINED: LACE-UP BOOTS

ITEM GAINED: AEROSTATIC PILOT JACKET

AEROSTATIC PILOT JACKET - As you pick up the neatly folded jacket from the console table, you reveal the dark shape of your holster, the Kiel A9 Armistice nestled safely inside.

VIGILANCE [Trivial - Success] - Take it. You need it.

VOX POPULI - No you don’t. You won’t. Not now. Not for this.  

COMPASSION [Hard - Success] - He would notice if you brought it. You know he would.

- (Take the holster.)

- (Leave it.) [Leave. Go outside.]

***

PERCEPTION - Stop! You almost stepped on something.

YOU - (Pick it up.)

Item gained: Harry’s Police Ledger

HARRY’S POLICE LEDGER - You stoop to pick it up. It’s the ledger Detective Du Bois fished out of the Whirling trash bin earlier today, still covered in refuse.

YOU - Then that means… (Look around.)

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Easy - Success] - Yes. Barely visible in the shadow of the crumbling bench from the single lamppost lies a huddled mass of a body on the cold, cracked ground.

YOU - (Hurry to his side.)

HARRY DU BOIS - Eyes closed, pale, and clammy, the detective makes no response to your hand on his shoulder.

- “Detective?”

- “Harry?”

HARRY DU BOIS - No answer. No sound.

TAXONOMY - [Trivial - Success] - No good will come of him just lying on the ground like that.

NAVIGATEUR - [Easy - Success] - The Kineema. Just a few metres away. With lights and a water bottle.

YOU - [Machinist - Hard 10] (Lift the detective onto your shoulder.)

EVEN

48%

CHECK SUCCESS

MACHINIST [Hard - Success] - He doesn’t weigh quite as much as you had expected him to. You’re able to lift him off the ground and walk with him carefully towards the motor carriage.

HARRY DU BOIS - Before long, you have him situated in the driver’s basket of your Coupris Kineema.

YOU - (Pry his eyelids open and examine his pupils.)

HARRY DU BOIS - No signs of drug use, at least not recently. His pupils contract in the brightness of the headlights, but otherwise show no signs of consciousness.

YOU - (Unscrew the cap of the water canister and raise it to his lips.)

HARRY DU BOIS - The water flows over his mouth and down his chin. 

- “Wake up, officer.”

- “Detective, can you hear me?”

- “Come on, Harry… come on…”

HARRY DU BOIS - The water is beginning to make it into the detective’s mouth. A tongue emerges, as well as a soft groan.

COMPASSION - The air you’ve been unintentionally holding in your lungs escapes all at once.

YOU - “Drink -- water.”

HARRY DU BOIS - “You’re here?”

YOU - “Mhmh. Now drink.” (Raise the container.)

HARRY DU BOIS - The water pours down his throat. The tightness around his eyes begins to soften.

YOU - “Drink.” (Tilt the canister.) “You haven’t drunk water in two days. Did you know the human body is not made to survive on alcohol *alone*? You need a secondary form of hydration.”

HARRY DU BOIS - With greedy gulps, he downs half a litre of cold water.

YOU - “What happened?”

HARRY DU BOIS - “I should ask you the same.”

- “I had a gut-feeling.”

- “I was worried about you.”

- “I couldn’t sleep and happened to look in your room and notice you weren’t there.”

HARRY DU BOIS - “I was out here.”

YOU - “Yes, you were. I’m glad I got here in time.”

HARRY DU BOIS - “How long was I out?”

YOU - “I don’t know. It could have been quite a while.” (Look him in the eye.)

HARRY DU BOIS - This is a broken man. Possibly even more so than when you first met him.

HARRY DU BOIS - “I came in contact with the burnt out ruins of the past, lieutenant.”

LAWMAN [Trivial - Success] - You’ve spent your entire career skirting around smouldering craters of the past. Every police officer you know has. 

YOU - “That does sometimes happen.” (Hand him the ledger.) “I found this next to you.”

Item lost: Harry’s Police Ledger

HARRY DU BOIS - He takes the clipboard and shoves it into the pocket of his cloak, as if he never wants to see it again in his entire life.

FANTASTIQUE [Medium - Success] - Even so, something tells you he would have missed it if you didn’t give it back.

YOU - “It is extremely late. You need sleep. Are you okay to stand up?”

HARRY DU BOIS - He nods and shakily rises to his feet. 

YOU - “Good.” 

***

HARRY DU BOIS - The two of you have reached the second floor of the Whirling-In-Rags, with you walking alongside him instead of at your usual position behind him. You stand in front of the door to room #1.

HARRY DU BOIS - He fumbles his room key out of his pocket and fumbles it into the lock. It pops open.

VOX POPULI  [Medium - Success] - He has a faraway look in his eyes. It is impossible for you to not recognize it.

HARRY DU BOIS - “I can’t decide if going back would be the best or worst decision I’ve ever made.”

COMPASSION - He doesn’t mean back into his hotel room.

- “I’d wager you’ll end up back there eventually.”

- “It’s behind you. You’ll never see it again. I promise.”

- “No one’s asking you to make that decision right now.”

HARRY DU BOIS - “Thank fuck for that.” He swings the door open.

VOLTA DO MAR - KEEP YOUR BALANCE. YOU WILL NOT FALL ONE WAY OR THE OTHER. YOU WILL REMAIN ON SOLID GROUND, CIRCLING BACK TO THE SELF.

HARRY DU BOIS - “Kim…” He pauses in uncharacteristic apprehension. “Thank you.”

YOU - “Don’t mention it. Get some rest.”

- “Good night, detective.”

- “Good night, Harry.”

HARRY DU BOIS - He gives you a nod and disappears through the doorway. The door closes with a soft click behind him.

YOU - (Stand there for a second longer, staring at the door.)

YOU - [Leave.]

If you open the ledger and read the card without Kim with you, the game assumes he's not there because he's away taking the body for processing. The dialogue makes no sense if you read it after he goes to bed. Hence *gestures at all of post*

PAIN THRESHOLD [Trivial - Success] - No. No, you can’t do what you’re thinking of doing. Have you forgotten the *automatic weapons* already? Getting shot by one of them won’t just *hurt.* It will *exterminate* you. Just standing here deliberating is going against every animal instinct in your primal-brain.

SAVOIR FAIRE - You could make it, if you dodge. There’s got to be a chance.

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Failure] - There could be. As far as you know, there is.

EMPATHY - It doesn’t matter if there’s a chance or not. Not with what’s on the line. Any chance is too much of a risk.

YOU - Can’t I warn him?

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - There is no time. By the time the signal from your brain reaches your mouth and the sound of your words reaches his ears and the signal from his brain reaches his muscles, it will be too late. 

VISUAL CALCULUS [Easy: Success] - The lieutenant cannot see what is about to happen. His eyes are still on Ruud, and the aftermath of his miraculous shot. 

DRAMA - You are in an advantageous position, my liege. Only you are aware of the imminent peril. Do you dare use that knowledge to betray him?

ENCYCLOPEDIA [Medium: Success] - There will be no exit wound. Your body will be enough to slow the momentum of the bullet and it will come to a stop somewhere inside of you.

RHETORIC - All that to say: a bullet in your chest will keep it out of the lieutenant’s.

HALF LIGHT [Challenging: Success] - This bullet, at least.

ENDURANCE  - You won’t be able to take it. That bullet will tear through you and leave nothing left. You’ll fall to the ground and feel every drop of life leak out of you. You don’t want that. Believe me. Take the chance.

VOLITION [Easy - Success] - What would that make you? Think about it. Would you be able to stand it? Would you be able to stand knowing that you were a person who would sacrifice a solitary spark of warmth in a cold world just to continue breathing the very air that chills and freezes your lungs with every inhale?

INLAND EMPIRE - That spark will keep you warm. No matter where you go. Hold it close. Cling to it.

ENDURANCE - Please, no. Leap. Twist. Move. Do anything. I’m begging you.

KORTENAER - The explosion rattles your back teeth as the bullet rips through the air. 

REACTION SPEED - Your time has run out. Decide. *Now*.

1. - Fuck this. I was insane for even thinking it. I’m dodging that bullet.

2. - I need to try. I’m too scared to stand still.

3. - God… I don’t know. Don’t make me decide.

4. - It’s taking everything in me. But I can’t move.

5. - I’m not moving a muscle. I won’t do it.

VOLITION - Why? Why for him?

1. - Because he’s my fellow police officer. He’d do the same for me.

2. - Because he’s my fellow human being. We all have a duty to each other on this planet.

3. - Because he’s Kim.

KIM KITSURAGI - There was never a decision to be made here, you realize. You have already made it. You made this decision when you felt a hand on your shoulder as you sat in despair on a swing set. You made this decision every time the sensation of the neatly folded handkerchief in your breast pocket steadied your buckling knees and strengthened your fracturing resolve. You made this decision when you were released from paralyzing, furious agony in a dark underground tunnel and your first thought was to turn around because, despite your quarry standing right in front of you and the throbbing pain still ringing through your own ears, the safety of the man behind you was most important -- and still is. Because you made this decision a fraction of a second ago, when you stared down the barrel of a gun and didn’t immediately leap out of the way of danger, because ensuring this man would come to no harm came first, before anything else.

INLAND EMPIRE - Somewhere in a parallel yet distant universe there may be a world in which you can bear to knowingly step away in refusal to protect him. The one you exist in is not one of them. You know this.

Don’t you?

1. - Look him in the eye.

2. - [Reaction Speed - Impossible 20] Evade the shot.

3. - Let it happen.

YOU - Let it happen.

REACTION SPEED - You simply blink. Then something inside your pelvis explodes. Your entire lower body is on fire and your legs can’t support you… you fall down like a rag doll.

PAIN THRESHOLD [Challenging: Failure] - The pain is too immense to scream. It pushes the air out of your lungs. Everything goes dark, a distant blur as you recede into it…

YOU - (Try to open your eyes.) What do I see?

PERCEPTION (SIGHT) [Medium: Success] - Nothing. A persisting darkness. Dancing lights of pain. Distant shadows cast by them, like a hellish play…

KIM KITSURAGI - “You’re bleeding out!” Out of it -- a silhouette appears, crouching over you. You hear a familiar voice, filled with urgency and fear.

YOU - “Kim…”

KIM KITSURAGI - “Yes, it’s me! Keep talking!” The lieutenant pushes down on your wound, hard.

YOU - “Kim… you’re okay, right? I stopped it…”

KIM KITSURAGI - “I’m -- I’m alright, you stay with me!” The dots are connecting in the lieutenant’s mind, he is realizing what you have done. “God, no… Stay awake! Look at me!” 

You want to. But you can’t. It’s so hard. Your eyelids grow heavy and the sounds ever more distant. And a cold comes over you. The lieutenant, too, is somewhere far away. Almost gone… when suddenly! You sense something behind him…

DE PAULE - A slender white shadow, towering. Someone stands there -- raising her pistol at him. The lieutenant does not see it. He’s pushing down on your wound with both hands…

REACTION SPEED [Medium: Success] - Scream IMMEDIATELY! He’s gonna die.

1. - Just let the darkness take you.

2. - [Authority - Medium 11] No!!! Kim…

VERY HIGH

97%

+1   The lieutenant trusts you.

+2   Kim *truly* trusts you.

CHECK SUCCESS

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - “No,” you scream: “BEHIND YOU!” from your bloody lips. Your eyes are full of fear.

KIM KITSURAGI - There is no room for hesitation. The lieutenant turns around and fires, his body falling on yours in the course of the motion…

DE PAULE - You hear a faint scream -- a woman’s. The darkness is rushing in on all sides, like the iris of a camera quickly closing. Everything’s so far away…

YOU - (You can’t go yet. Push the words out of your mouth.) “...You hit her?”

KIM KITSURAGI - “Yes,” he replies breathlessly. “I hit her.” 

YOU - “…Good. …Had to make sure first…”

KIM KITSURAGI - There’s a clatter, his gun hitting the paving stones as he scrambles upright to resume compression on your wound. You can’t feel it. “Hey. Hey! No, goddammit, stay! Come on, keep your eyes open for me, okay?!”

But it’s impossible. You’re slipping away from everything. Dimmer and quieter and colder. The woman is gone. So is Kim. Then the whole world…

“HARRY!”

YOU - Fall into total darkness.

…

…

…

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - You just can’t stay away, can you, baby? You had the chance. But you didn’t take it. You just had to come crawling back.

YOU - What are you talking about?

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - Let me ask you a question, Harry-boy. This is death, you know. Look, there’s the door. Is that what you were looking for? Is that the *real* reason you wouldn’t even *try*? 

1. - You got me. Lemme at that door. 

2. - No. I did it for Kim. It was worth it.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - Well, well, well. Looks like we were right about you, in the end. Love did you in after all, didn’t it, Brother Coppo? No matter. Fall deeper. Take the door.

LIMBIC SYSTEM - He’s *not* taking it. His body is not taking it. Oh god, no, he’s not disintegrating -- he’s swelling up instead. Over the hours. Hurting. Moaning in his sleep.

And rotting. And being disinfected. And smelling of drugs and feeling saliva in his mouth. Drifting in painkillers. Thrashing in his wound sleep.

AUTHORITY [Medium: Success] - The case doesn’t care that you just died for your partner. Get up.

PERCEPTION (HEARING) [Medium: Success] - There is a radio in the distance. A radio of the world. Playing sounds: Good morning, Elysium. Soon you will return to the world.

LIMBIC SYSTEM - Hours turn to days. Soon he will get up again and go through it -- again! Again! Finally, we know what the infernal engine was -- outside, the clarion call…

It was *him*. *He* is the infernal engine. He never stops. He only gets worse.

ANCIENT REPTILIAN BRAIN - Go on then. Go through it again if you want. And when you come back -- and you know you will -- then you can tell us if everything, all the pain and the thrashing and the moaning, really was “worth it.”

…

…

…

KIM KITSURAGI - “Sunrise, parabellum.”