Pachamac — Roleplayer Guild

Los Paraisos: Mercy Hospital - Recovery Ward Corridor

And so it was that the rest of the afternoon was given in to quietude and prayer. All whom rested outside Don’s room remained where they were, keeping a tight and hopeful visage on the room, peeking in through the window every so often to see him resting on the hospital bed, intravenous drips inserted in and the rhythmic beep of the heart monitor sounding out next to him, Josette unmoving from her seat next to him. Don didn’t move. He didn’t show any signs of getting better… or getting worse. He was simply the same. 

Estelle buried her face in her hands. She couldn’t hold back the tears, and didn’t even try to either. Don was… Don was her friend. She didn’t have too many people who she could call that. And Don? Don called her his big sister. She never had any family, and Don, despite all his eccentricities and weirdness, despite all the trouble he inadvertently caused for them all and despite his loud mouthed, vulgar sister Josette, well… he was family. He was her big brother. 

And the thought of him like this… the thought of him possibly dying, just like Largo did, with her powerless and unable to prevent it, with both of them dying to sacrifice their lives to protect her… it was too much. She couldn’t… she wouldn’t accept it. He had to get better. He had to pull through. He had to come around and sing and dance and say something stupid and get them all into trouble again. He just did. 

The day slowly passed away, giving in towards night. And despite how much she struggled or tried to resist it, Estelle was powerless to prevent her exhausted, worry filled and fatigued body from drifting into slumber. 

And with it… memories. 

---

"Sylvester “Don” Capuello. He’s the man in charge of the group and who commands the most respect from his men.” Marise smiled as she explained to the assembled Guilders the nature of their mission, after chastising Largo for scratching into the table with a small knife a crude map of Tabul. “They call him ‘Big Bro’ and who are faithful towards his orders. Whilst most of the bandits are strong and dangerous, individually their ranked danger would be F. But Don’s a skilled swordsman and he carries all sorts of tricks with him. The Kingdom has a small bounty placed on his head. He’s what makes the mission ranked D.”

********************

“What’s going on?!” Someone screamed.

Estelle reached for her sword, unsheathing it in preparation of an attack. It was possible that it was just a simple power outage, but she wanted to be prepared for the worst case scenario. What if what she and Thunderhawk said was true? Largo’s death was a setup? This was an attack? Either way, the mission of the letter was meant to be a secret, and this-

“Look! Up there!” Someone else called out, pointing to the top of the balcony besides the reception door. Once everyone’s eyes became acclimatised to the darkness, they could see a shape silhouetted in the light shining through the window from the full moon outside. It was a man wearing a suit and a hat, which masked the features of their face. All of the Guilders reached for their weapons, brandishing them at the first sight of trouble. 

The man was stock still, and then just so suddenly moved, reaching into his suit’s jacket pocket. Thunderhawk was about to move to intercept, when all of a sudden Marise threw her hand to the side, signalling to him and everyone else not to move. 

The man cut through the tension of the room, pulling something small and round out of his pocket and placing it in-between his thumb and index finger. He flicked the object through the air, from the balcony to the opposite side of the room's floor. Reflecting the scattered remains of moonlight, the guilders watched as the small object- a coin, sailed through the air. 

And right into the broken jukebox’s coin slot. 

The jukebox lit up brilliantly and the lights overhead flashed ontop of the man. As music began to loudly blare out from the jukebox, the man’s form was revealed in its entirety: A man in a crisp, immaculate white suit, blue shirt, white tie and white fedora. His entire posture clicked as he thrust out his crotch with an ‘Aaow!’ to the music’s start.

********************

The convoy hit a small bump in the path as they neared the well-worn fork in the road. "Fenaru is this way!" Estelle shouted gleefully, pointing northeast. As though there wasn't a sign in the middle of the divide saying just that, in big, clearly etched and inked letters. The Guilders who were travelling on foot exchanged looks of relief. Fenaru was about another half hour away from this point, although they would likely soon begin seeing farmland and orchards lining the road.

Don hung back from the majority of the group, looking skyward as he exhaled a thin plume of smoke, which wisped and swirled until it faded completely. In his bro-tastic daze, he failed to see the vine along the side of the path, stretching into the middle of the road in front of him...

... Then suddenly whipping back and wrapping tightly around his ankles, causing Don to pitch forward. The weight of his heavy pack did the rest of the work, sending Don flat on his face.

"Mommy, don't wake me up yet. Give me five more minutes... I don't want to go to school, mommy!" Don muttered as delightful quartet of sparrows circled around his finely combed hair.

"As a service to the Town of Clockwork and as my duty as a Guilder, I'm taking that man into custody for the crime of theft and--"

********************

The only thing that would have made this even more perfect was if everyone else in the Guild joined in on the routine. But that was still early days. Don was sure, sometime in the future, when he became big and world famous… the songs and impeccable dance routines of Don Capuello would be sung across the land. And everyone would be happy.

“Bro!” Don shouted, as he kicked a chair out for himself and dropped himself on top of it opposite Dylan. Kicking a leg out, he folded it over his other, looking towards the new rookie and flashing him a bedazzling smile and thumbs up. “I couldn’t help but see you might need my help!” Don continued to maintain his thumbsup. “I, Don Capuello, H Rank Guilder Extraordinaire, am here to help!! Just call me… Big Bro!!”

********************

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaah~!” Trixie continued to scream, her shots flashing amidst the canyon and having little effect on the Guardian. She kept trying to do her best to aim for its eyes, but the angle of size between the two of them made it difficult. Her shots at best would ricochet off its chest. The Guardian’s arm twisted back, readying itself for another strike, this time aiming to plunge its oversized weapon through Trixie’s stomach. Trixie squealed, as the Guardian’s arm shot out…

…and then the Guardian found itself suddenly staggering to the side, as a powerful impact collided against the statue’s face, knocking it off balance and stepping off to the side. Trixie’s eyes couldn’t believe it, nor could Marcus, Lisette or Nolan. 

In front of them, Don had suddenly without warning jumped up, and swatted the statue with all the might he had to bear. Something about him looked different, as he landed to the ground. He wasn’t joking, and he wasn’t playing around. 

Nobody threatened to hurt his friends.

********************

“BIIIIIIIGGGGG SIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

The wailing form of Don Capuello sprinted and dashed as hard as he could from the eastern part of the north corridor, all the way to the western part where Estelle’s trio was. His legs shot up and down sharply, whilst his arms flopped about all over the place like an octopus’ tentacles, struggling to keep up with the rest of his body. Trixie’s eyes lit up at the brief sight she had of Don’s clothes- he looked so cool, so super! Although Megaera would no doubt be most displeased at the lack of refinement her subject was now exuding. From where before he had shown the strictest of manners and decorum before Selan, now that had been sapped away within seconds of seeing Estelle, Marcus and Trixie again. The man was positively bawling as he dashed through the corridor. 

Estelle and Trixie had no time to move. They only had the briefest flicker of time to understand that what was coming next? Was going to hurt.

BAM

Marcus lifted his good left arm up, and introduced his palm to his shaking face.

Tied up in a painful bundle on the floor, Estelle and Trixie were left dazed and disoriented as Don hugged them both as tightly as possible, squeezing the life out of them. Tears constantly streamed down his face.

********************

“Don, what are you doing?!?” 

"Never fear, Big Sis! Big Bro will get us to dinner in no time!!"

A shrill scream cried out in the darkness, as Estelle continued to dangle haplessly in Don’s arms as he dashed forwards as quickly as he could. Against her disbelief, and against all common sense, what should have been an easy and quick trip to the Dining Hall had become so much more worse. Don was hopeless at directions, and being unable to read he couldn’t make heads nor tails of the signs conveniently placed around the manor. Instead, Don decided to rely on his instincts, which for Don were… not spectacularly great.

Case in point, bursting through the nearest door and into the courtyard, running straight through it and into the soaking rain. His feet splished and splashed through the many puddles, as this runaway train continued to veer off track.

“Don, put me down you idiot!” Estelle shrieked. “You’re going the wrong way! You’re… ahh!”

But Don continued to run straight forwards, and from there…

…entered the hedgemaze.

********************

“Brooooos! What’s shaking? You’re finally here! Awesome! You guys sure took your time though, huh?”

Rocking his body to either side as he strode towards them was none other then the man himself, a cheesy grin plastered on his face and two pina coladas held in either hand. The man was sporting the swankiest pair of shades to ever grace the world, and rocked a sweet as could be open tropical Hawaiian shirt, cargo shorts and flip flops. He extended the two glasses out, one for Amy and one for Selan, handing them over before waiting for them to reciprocate, before then spinning on the spot and kicking one hip and leg out, stopping before the assembled Pride in one of the man’s trademark, fabulous poses.

“Eyyyy~ I missed you guys!” Don’s teeth sparkled. His eyes then widened and blinked, as he looked over the rim of his shades and spotted the two new strangers. His smile grew more brilliant. “And who are you girls?”

********************

“What the fuck is going on?!”

It was as if the ceiling above suddenly exploded. Vast chunks of masonry and debris was sent raining down to the ground, pieces of stone, brickwork and tiles clattering and rebounding off the floor into small, cracked pieces amongst the heavier pieces of debris, mere inches away from Neil, Estelle and Josette. The two girls shrieked, snapping their eyes shut to protect themselves from the dust, as Neil dropped his hold off Estelle in order to shield his eyes. 

This… again? It couldn’t be!

He dropped his hands, gingerly opening his eyes, before they snapped wide to attention. Standing directly in front of them, mere centimetres away, from the newly created hole in the wall…

“What the hell… I… I killed you!”

He said nothing, his form and posture perfectly still and silent. He simply stared at Neil, as Neil stared at his own startled reflection shining in the visor, his jaw dropping. Impossible!

Selan’s eyes looked up, unable to believe or process what she was seeing amidst the tears. He… he had…!

********************

Neil's body crashed to the ground, his head slamming into the floor and his body lying motionless, as Don fell to his knees beside him, huffing and puffing, staring down at his fallen enemy, and making sure he didn't get up again. He didn't. Don took a deep breath and exhaled, the smoke and light surrounding his body fading into nothing. Upon his tired and wearisome face, the baldness that had gripped his head head earlier in the day had already begun to grow back. 

He looked up, across the room, to Estelle, Josette and Selan. The three most important women in his life. Estelle reached for Selan, to help her to his feet as Josette started dashing towards her brother. 

He smiled. They were safe.

His body fell to the ground, consciousness departing his body.

********************

The man moved closer towards the rest of the Guilders, using one chair as a stepping stone to stand atop one of the three circular tables, continuing his performance in the middle of the assembled guilders, his hips jiving from side to side, his knees rising into the air and outstretching a kicked leg in turn, his head tilting and turning this way and that. The lights above centred on the tables and Guilders, illuminating the entire scene and everyone watching. He carried on moving, jumping on to the table where Amy and the starstruck Trixie sat. The man flickered his hand out towards Trixie, pointing at the young girl as he faced and bowed his head in the opposite direction. His free hand moved towards his fedora, and at last the man took it off, to reveal…

…yet another fedora! As the man continued his awe inspiring routine, he spun and landed on his knees to face Trixie, the table not even rocking as he placed the fedora gently on top of Trixie’s helmet. The man jumped up, standing on his tip toes, before slowly turning away again and continuing on, leaving Trixie to cheer on with Amy next to her. 

The man reached the table with Selan and Marise, and as his body continued to kick and sway in beat to the music, he reached into his suit pocket and outstretched an item towards Selan; a rose. The flabbergasted woman didn’t know what to do, but reacted with courtesy as she took it. Under the shadow of the fedora, the man smiled, and Marise was one short step away from breaking into fits of uncontrollable laughter.

“Aaow!!!”

********************

“Sylvester ‘Don’ Capuello, H Rank Guilder supreme, pleased to make your acquaintance!!” The man flashed a sparkling smile. His sublime hair may have been mysteriously gone, cut short by his father in the Tabul mission four days ago, but even now, with his shorter, slicked back hair, there was no denying or mistaking it. 

This. 

Was!

Don Capuello!!

“I’m here to follow you anywhere, Big Sis!”

---

Memories… Happy memories. Sad memories. Memories of the last five months, since she first met Don. So much had happened since then, to her, to him, to all of them. And it was only just beginning. This couldn’t be the end. It just couldn’t.

Gods… please. Please save this man. Save him.

Estelle was suddenly, and rudely jostled from her slumber however, when an ear piercing scream erupted from inside the room. She sprung to her feet, her eyes widened in alarm turning and spinning to the rest of her friends, all who similarly awoke with a start. They all looked at each other in silent disbelief. That scream… it was Josette! And that other sound… a particular whine that all of them could hear…

“No!” Estelle screamed, charging forwards and bursting through the door into the room. No, no, no!!

She stopped in her tracks as she looked at the scene in front of her. The rest of the Pride:- Marcus, Selan, Dylan, Trixie, Amy, Lisette, Moira, Syed and Lucien, they all rushed in as quick as they could, almost threatening to slam into the back of one another. Aria and Xan looked to each other in the corridor and said nothing, bar keeping their heads held low. 

The heartbeat monitor…

Nothing but a ringing noise and flat line.

Tears began to swell in the Pride’s eyes, and crying led to fitful wailing. There was no holding back the flood of tears that were to follow. No dam big enough. 

Don had… 

Don had…!

...vanished?

“Wait… where’s Don?”

The bed was empty, the pristine white sheets thrown haphazardly around the mattress. Where there should have been that irreplaceable obnoxious bro, was instead an empty bed, devoid of his dead body. Wires and tubes lay swaying back and forth in the room, as a gentle breeze wafted in from the open window.

Open window?

“Where the… where the hell is he…?” Estelle’s jaw dropped. It was then that she started to realise it wasn’t just Don who had gone… all of his bros had! 

Josette’s voice tightened in fury as her eyes became transfixed on the window. She stomped towards it. “That motherfu-”

As everyone raced to the window and billowing curtains, Selan walked to the empty bed. Atop of it, in the centre, was a piece of paper with a heart etched in red crayon, and a crude picture of a person, who she could only make out was… 

And in the centre of the piece of paper. A diamond ring. THE diamond ring.

“…Don?”

Her body tensed up and her head lifted as her ears heard the sound of music, drifting in from the open window. Being played throughout the hospital speakers… and indeed, music that was being broadcast from every speaker across the island. The synthesized notes of a keyboard and bass guitar playing. What… what was that?

********************

“Dude, wicked shot!” “I know right?” “Dude!”

The group of six burley, muscular volleyball players were even now playing well into the night on the beach, practicing their skills and strategy for the next time they’d play. The beach warmly lit by the glow of lamps dotted around the beach – Los Paraisos being a resort that never truly slept. And then, in mid play, the muscular dudes all stopped one by one, the beachball slamming into one of their faces as their faces turned… to hear music coming from the speakers. Coming from within the strip proper. 

********************

“Goddamn that little rat fuck. When I catch him I’m going to fillet and gut him and then serve him up for dinner, the useless fucking donk… ey?” 

Gordon Dennis’s stalking of the Los Paraisos streets, with sharp knife in hand in the middle of chasing the perpetrator of his Hells Kitchen Restaurant burning down suddenly stopped, his ears picking up a distinct… unavoidable melody. What… what was that? 

His eyes widened at the far end of the strip, and at the gigantic video monitor that overlooked the entire main strip. A gigantic video monitor that showed…!

---

Dreams

Los Paraisos: La Macabaret: Stage

Deft, supple fingers glided over the white and black keys of the keyboard, playing each one note perfect, as his friend across the stage rang out the dulcet tones of smooth, harmonious notes in accompaniment. The stage lights glaring in front of them reflected off the bass player’s sunglasses in a brilliant flash. He nodded to the keyboardist.

And then twirling sticks led to the introductions of the drums. His hands a flurry, drumsticks beat against the drums and cymbals as his head bobbed up and down in tune to the beat. And not soon after, the electrical wail of a guitar joined, completing the instrumental portion. And from behind…

From behind, silhouetted against the bright, voluminous stage lights in front of him, a man smoothly walked onto the stage, straightening his jacket by his collar and using a comb to smooth out his perfect hair as he walked towards the microphone stand at the front of the stage. And then, upon reaching it, he snatched the stand in his hands and leaned low to his right.

It begun.

World turns black and white
Pictures in an empty room
Your love starts fallin' down
Better change your tune

Don snapped the stand low to the left, clutching it tightly as he sung with all his heart, his open jacket blowing behind him, exposing his bandaged chest. He shot his right hand up, into the air. 

Yeah, you reach for the golden ring
Reach for the sky
Baby, just spread your wings

The La Macabaret ceiling above them started to part and slide open, as the stage itself began to rise, higher and higher, through the ceiling and up onto the ground level above. The stage itself shot out mist and danced in a sporadic kaleidoscope of strobe lights, as the stage rose up, and up towards the stars above. From his production room, Ken over watched the performance that was taking place in front of him, and he folded his arms in front of his chest, leaning back and nodding in contentment. A small tear trickled down his cheek. 

We'll get higher and higher
Straight up we'll climb
We'll get higher and higher
Leave it all behind

Once reaching ground level, the stage came to a lurching stop. In front of the stage was Freddie and the rest of Don’s bros, who all stood with their arms folded in front of the stage, acting as their bros’ security against, well, the proper La Macabaret security. Freddie looked over his shoulder and flashed a thumbs up to Don, who thumbsupped without breaking stride. Serena and Mathias, who stood next to Freddie watched Don with a happy, grateful smile, and little Mathias cooed.

Run, run, run away
Like a train runnin' off the track
Got the truth bein' left behind
Falls between the cracks
Standin' on broken dreams
Never losin' sight, ah
Well just spread your wings

From behind Don, and inbetween the rest of his performing bandmates, the centre of the stage continued to rise, higher and higher, with steps protruding from it. Don snatched the microphone from out of the stand, and began to climb up the ever growing monolith.

We'll get higher and higher
Straight up we'll climb
We'll get higher and higher
Leave it all behind

A close of Don’s face embraced the giant monitor overlooking Los Paraisos, and everyone throughout the strip could see him, the island hear him. Even the Pride within the Los Paraisos’ hospital could see him through the window, and Don momentarily paused in his climb, to point and smile directly at them. But they knew who he was pointing to. 

So baby dry your eyes
Save all the tears you've cried
Oh, that's what dreams are made of
'Cause we belong in a world that must be strong
Oh, that's what dreams are made of

And suddenly the island burst into cheers, as the Capuello Rockers’ song hit its instrumental. The floodgates to the stadium grounds were opened, and in poured mass upon masses of people rushing through to partake of the rocking. Tom dropped to his knees, rocking his guitar as hard as he could, snapping his head back to throw his pink hair out of his eyes as his hands rocked that damn guitar hard. Cid on the keyboards, Jerry on bass, Clive on drums, all of them gave it all of their passion. Their manly passion, as above them their bro, their Big Bro, climbed on ever higher into the starry sky, the cord of his mic seemingly limitless, as the still rising stage grew taller and taller, until it finally reached its peak. And on there was yet another microphone stand and, emerging from a hole placed in the very centre of the platform’s top, rose another guitar, enveloped in ethereal light. A unbelievably wide grin stretched from ear to ear on Estelle’s face as she watched.

Yeah, we'll get higher and higher
Straight up we'll climb
Higher and higher
Leave it all behind
Oh, we'll get higher and higher
Who knows what we'll find?

So baby dry your eyes
Save all the tears you've cried
Oh, that's what dreams are made of
Oh baby, we belong in a world that must be strong
Oh, that's what dreams are made of

Don placed the mic into the stand and snatched the guitar, twirling it around and then leaning down as he lifted the guitar’s head up, and played it like the god that he was. His head arched back, to look up at those twinkling stars up above, as streaks of light shot into the sky above him and lit up into beautiful rainbow constellations and explosions. His bros below firing one firework up after another. 

And in the end on dreams we will depend
'Cause that's what love is made of
Pachamac Member

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