Log:Imaginary Friends, Scene 5

Imaginary Friends 2009/01/12 	 Doctor Ingersoll Imaginary Girl 5

Doctor Ingersoll meets you outside the door of the Institute. His face is very worried, and his brow is furrowed a little bit. "I assume you've read the news?" He says with a serious look on his face.

Imaginary Girl, having just flown over and landed, nods her head. "Yeah... I'm gonna hafta call that number, soon, or she might get hurt and it'll all be my fauilt...", she says. "Anyway... let's go look for that imaginary phone, huh?"

Doctor Ingersoll nods and opens the door, stepping inside. "Doris, buzz us through." He says. "I've sedated Toby. When Rapture came here, which I now realize was a mistake, he read her mind. We don't know how far the link between Toby and Wumbles extends, so he's in our infirmary with his new best friend, codine."

"You probably wanna keep him knocked out til this is all done... I... I... I might hafta... uhm... destroy Wumbles. I dunno what that'd do to Toby...", Imaginary Girl admits. She hasn't been her usual cheery self from the start, but just saying /that/ has her looking even more crestfallen.

Doris hits the buzzer, and the door to the back opens. Doctor Ingersoll moves down the hall and over to some stairs. There are some heavily built orderlies here, and men and women in lab coats. All of them get out of the way for Doctor Ingersoll. "He threatened Rapture's life." Ingersoll says. "And Rapture offered to let him kill her. Never feed a psychopath's delusions. My god, what was I thinking?"

Imaginary Girl mentally collects herself as she walks with the doctor, not wanting to show weakness in front of Toby, even if he /is/ unconscious. "Well, let's go do this", she says, evenly.

Doctor Ingersoll takes you up the stairs and into Toby's room. Toby isn't present at the moment. "Atta girl!" Doctor Ingersoll says, after deactivating the security code. The room is plain and simple, with a few self-help books along one wall, and one conspicuous new book settled in among them. It's the new best seller "How to Be a Villain!" The pillow appears to have been recently fluffed, and the sheets changed on the bed. Bars on the window prevent entry for most things, and they're far too narrow for Toby to get out.

Imaginary Girl goes over to that book, pulling it off the shelf to toss on the floor. "Get rid of that... a boy his age shouldn't be reading that kinda thing", she says, evenly, to the doctor. She then starts moving through the room looking here and there for places where the imaginary cellphone might've been hidden by Toby.

As Imaginary Girl reaches for the cellphone, the newness of the book catches her eye. All the other books are dusty and untouched, but this one is brand new.

The cellphone is inside the pillow. Almost like Toby wanted you to find it. It's a classic looking cellular phone, only it's shaped like a demonic looking rabbit's foot. As soon as you touch the cellphone, it rings.

Imaginary Girl holds up the phone. "Do you see and hear this?", she asks of the doctor, not yet answering it.

The doctor looks at the object. "No..." He says. "I don't see anything." He gets out a funny looking device from his pocket and scans your hand.

"It started ringing as soon as I touched it... as if Toby left it there, so that Wumbles could call me on it as soon as I found it", Imaginary Girl says. "I ... I wish the others were here!", she adds, pouting for a moment.

"Well, we can't trace the call, it's an imaginary phone." He says. "The question is whether or not you want to pick it up." He says. "It could give you information. On the other hand, it could just be a trick to psychologically weaken you."

Imaginary Girl nods, taking a slow, deep breath... then takes the call, putting the phone to her ear. She doesn't speak, just listens.

The voice is soft, rich, and husky, like the rumbling of an ocean. "May I speak to Toby, please?" The voice murmurs. "Or am I lucky enough to have Imaginary Girl answering my phone?" There's a sickening purr, and some whimpering in the background. "Don't worry. Lisa's fine...just fine..." He says sweetly. "Alas, Georgie, on the other hand...he's...coming apart." There's an idle yawn.

Imaginary Girl's face goes red... and she hangs up the phone, the hand holding it trembling. It's clear that she just couldn't say anything without completely losing her cool.

Doctor Ingersoll says "What happened?" His face trembles a little bit. "Did something happen?"

"He... he said he's tearing Georgie apart", Imaginary Girl says, stuffing the cellphone into her cleavage. "I'm taking this with me... not like it's any good to you, anyway, and my friends who can see the friends might be able to help."

"Wumbles was /here/, Doctor", Imaginary Girl says. "And you knew it, didn't you? You /knew/ he'd been here, because that book was on teh shelf. Why didn't you tell me?", she asks, eying the doctor, carefully.

The Doctor says "I was just so shocked that the book was there." He says calmly. "It's not like I can stop this thing. If Wumbles is going to kill me, Imaginary Girl, he's going to kill me. There's not a lot I can do about it, is there?"

Doctor Ingersoll says "I'm scared of Toby...really...I'm scared. He's a crazy little freak, and I can't help but feel repulsed. I think if I kill him the problem might go away, but I...I can't..." He whimpers. "I can't..."

Imaginary Girl takes another slow step towards the doctor, watching him through narrowed eyes. "Listen to me, doctor. If you know anything about this, you need to tell me as soon as you can. If you know anything else, tell me now. If you don't, and Wumbles /does/ get what he wants, he'll be /real/ to you... to /everyone/... and he won't be limited to killing 'imaginary' friends anymore", she says, lifting her hands to make quotation marks in the air around that one word. "If that happens and he kills someone, I'm telling anyone who'll listen that you held back info that might've helped me stop him, unless you keep me convinced that you didn't know anything else. Is. That. Clear?"

Doctor Ingersoll nods. "Absolutely." He says, a little sweat showing on his face. He looks like he lost five pounds in a few seconds. You really made him scared. In addition to being scared of Toby, he's now pretty scared of you too.

Imaginary Girl reaches up to put a hand on the doctor's shoulder. "Doc... I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at Wumbles... for what he's done. Just wanted you to know that", she says, though she doesn't look ANY less angry as she steps away and heads for the door without saying anything else.