The darkest regions of the heavily-populated, city-dense planet.  No sunlight ever penetrates here as the tall buildings cast it in perpetual shadow.  Here is where Curio has made his lair ...

Drip ... drip ... drip ...

The sound was slowly driving Rhaef insane.  His world had consisted of nothing but that steady dripping sound and pain for what felt like an eternity.  Time had no meaning anymore, hours, days, months all just drifted together in this endless cycle of guilt, regret and pain that had become his entire existence.

Drip ...

The shackles about his wrists had rubbed the skin there raw and pinned his arms uncomfortably behind his back.  His eyes were covered over with a dark, rough piece of cloth.  Although deprived of his sight he had discovered that his cell was roughly six by six feet, the floor and walls were made of solid stone, not bricks but a sheer wall or concrete in all directions except the small window that although he could not see its light he knew it must shine into the room during the day ... not that any of this mattered.  He'd known it for weeks.  It'd been the first thing he had done upon being tossed inside.  Figure out his surroundings, plan for escape - but there was no escape.  Not this time ...

Drip ... drip ... drip ...

The sound of footsteps greeted his ears then, heavy footsteps.  A few moments later the familiar creak of the cell door and then rough hand jerking him to his feet.  His captor never spoke.  Just picked him up and brought him somewhere else, somewhere where Rhaef knew nothing but pain.  It was torture for torture's sake.  The man never asked any questions.  Never responded to anything Rhaef said, just hurt him and then threw him back in his cell.

Drip ... drip ...

That was the sound of madness ...

The dripping seldom stopped. Rhaef heard even in his fitful dreams. Nightmares really. It was crash and crescendo of his life, and it'd finally caught up with him.

It was there, the crashing cymbals underlying the arguement with Kale that haunted his waking hours. And worse still, it was the mournful drone that accompanied the dreams of her, when sleep did come, robbing him of the one possible respite from the madness.

Yet still Rhaef was a fight. He had never expected to go out like this, in a hole, without a gun in his hands. Yet, he'd not go out with a fight. His captors had beaten him beyond pain, and at this point, he knew he was going to die, it was matter of time. The only question was whether he'd have the chance to take someone out with him. A part of him knew he deserved this, the monster was finally caged. And that's why it made no sense for him to try to figure out who his captors were, the list was a long as one of the Professor's books... the professor...for the first time in weeks, his mind began to clear. The professor...that's how all of this started.

~*~*~*~*~* F L A S H B A C K *~*~*~*~*~*~

Professor Walton Squire sat at his desk surrounded by stacks of papers and books.  There seemed to be absolutely no method to the madness - and there very nearly wasn't - yet somehow the old man seemed to know exactly where everything was.  He'd been in much higher spirits for the past month or so - ever since Kale had returned to Regina with his stamp.  True to his word he had put the money directly into helping the people of his city and just that small diffence has greatly improved their quality of life.  It brougtht a smile to Walton's face.  He hoped that Kale and his crew, wherever they were now, were well and safe.

He bent over then and scribbled a few more notes down on evolution of the brain - a study that he had recently begun to delve into since his encounter with the extrodinary child, Lei.  It was then that he heard a faint noise outside his home.  Walton stopped the scratching of his pen on paper and sat straighter, straining his ears.

Rhaef looked up at the house. He paused, he wondered why he'd come here. He had had a drink or two, but was certainly not drunk, but yet still. He did not even know why he'd ended up on Regina. He knew a part of him wanted to go the Professor for advice, but still something raw was sitting in the back of his craw. He knew it had to do with the fight with Kale, which every day he was away from Destiny he grew to regret more. Not only because he missed her, but because he knew a lot of what Kale had said was right.

Then he saw the house in the pale lights of the evening, judging back the stacks of new books and papers he could see through the pale light of the window,  it was clear that the Professor had bettered himself, and something stuck out at him. He had no doubt that the professor had used the stamp like he'd promised, but if there'd been money left over to buy the Professor new things, then there would have been money left over to pay the crew, and well then, none of this would have happened.

Against his better judgement, Rhaef walked up to the house, smoking a cigarette. "Ain't a robber, Professor, just an old friend." There was a hint of contempt and a sneer in his voice.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:41, Thu 07 Dec 2006.