Prescribing Sanity. TWW w/Room 12 [Tag: Ethan]

[Ethan Kaul]

"I've only been roomed with her once, but after that, not once have we been in the same room. And no, the event doesn't count. We've been wall to wall, but that's literally we closest we've been."

"That's so fucking weird," Ethan mumbled, rubbing his chin, "Why would she match you up if she doesn't intend for you to be together?"

If Geoff and Hannah were somehow "fated" to be married, then why weren't they kept together? Surely their captor would want them to live out a traditional married life: living together, making a home and a family... The revelation that the couples were being kept apart only reinforced the worry he had that this wasn't all about marriages at all, and that possibility frightened him. At least if it was about matches then being married meant he could stay safe, now he wasn't so sure that was going to happen. They were all equally screwed, so it seemed.

So what was it about then, if not matchmaking?

His thoughts were interrupted by Geoff's question, and his brow furrowed as the man continued to speak.

"Ethan, did a blonde woman visit you? Or do you know of a blonde woman that's spying on single men? She came to Noah, and a few weeks ago I found a folder with medical bills and a picture of a very plastic induced woman with the name Helena H. scrawled on it. It's her, and she may be working for the matchmaker from hell. I honestly don't know, but I do know she's here."

"I haven't been visited by anyone," he replied honestly, "But I know about what happened between some blonde girl and Noah... and the questions that whole situation raises."

Ethan let out a soft sigh, "I wouldn't be surprised if that picture is her, considering the only people I've heard of visiting others are her and that Teddy guy. Both of them have entered rooms as well..."

The mention of finding a photograph sparked up a memory of Ethan's, and he couldn't quite believe he'd forgotten to tell anybody about it. Maybe Geoff would be able to piece together the information better than he could...

"A few rooms ago, Daniel and I found a list of names. I'm thinking they were baby names, since they were split into boys and girls, and some had little hearts and stuff by it. I don't know if that's relevant or if it helps, but could it belong to the blonde woman?"

[Geoff Alen]

Geoff didn't know how to feel when Ethan answered his question. Relief that she had left him alone? Concern that her visit with Noah went sour? No, no, Hannah that Noah was okay. Dazed, but not fatally wounded. Ethan would probably wind up in a similar predicament. Or mayeb he would, too. The engineer agreed

"I wouldn't be surprised if that picture is her, considering the only people I've heard of visiting others are her and that Teddy guy...." Ethan said

"Teddy?"

It was the first that Geoff heard the name. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something slouched in the shadows. A teddy bear. A really ratty one. So there was another person wandering around. He had been visiting rooms, but Ethan didn't tell him which ones. Did they teddy bear belong to him? He played with the arm of the bear, making him wave at him. Probably the friendliest greeting he had right now. A "it's not an escape room but there still might be clues" part of him wanted to tear up the teddy bear. 'Tear the stuffing out of it' if you would. But if it belonged to Teddy...well, he didn't want to get in trouble.

"A few rooms ago, Daniel and I found a list of names. I'm thinking they were baby names, since they were split into boys and girls, and some had little hearts and stuff by it. I don't know if that's relevant or if it helps, but could it belong to the blonde woman?"

Geoff nearly threw the teddy across the room. Baby names. He hadn't considered that the woman was pregnant.

"It would explain why she came to the matchmaker in the first place. A pregnant woman looking for a much better baby daddy. Do you remember which names were marked by hearts? It could be a clue."

A clue. Ha. Perhaps the whole 'escape room' thing hadn't left him after all.

[Ethan Kaul]

"Teddy?"

Ethan's brow furrowed. Had nobody actually given Geoff the name of their other mystery visitor? Or had the engineer not even known about him, not connected the dots between Keiari's traumatic experience and the man who had caused it all?

"You remember the first time we talked, Keiari and I mentioned that she had undergone something traumatic but we didn't give the details?" Keiari had been too distraught to recount the events, and Ethan had quickly ended the conversation.

"Well, Teddy is another one of our visitors. And, according to Dorian, he's our kidnapper's son. I'm not sure how much you've heard..." he paused to let Geoff reply, not wanting to rehash old information when it would do them no good.

The baby name list was also a point of interest in their conversation, and he cursed himself for not mentioning it to Dorian. Maybe he would have known who the author was, considering his connections with their kidnapper. It would be good to have some confirmation of it belonging to the blonde woman, at least; that would be another puzzle piece fit in place.

"It would explain why she came to the matchmaker in the first place. A pregnant woman looking for a much better baby daddy. Do you remember which names were marked by hearts? It could be a clue."

The dark haired man racked his brain for the names, hoping they hadn't escaped his memory somewhere in the midst of the trauma. He couldn't remember them all, but he could recall a few of the most significant ones, the ones with hearts beside them.

"Liam and Lailani - those ones had two hearts - Samuel, Layla..." he thought harder, "There was some indecision about whether to go for Amelia or some other variant of the name, and then some were crossed off or had question marks beside them. If I remember anymore I'll let you know, but Daniel has the list."

God, he wished he knew what they meant. Some of the names sounded similar, but there wasn't really much thread connecting them. And, as much as he would have liked to believe Geoff's 'baby daddy' theory, it didn't make sense. If someone was kidnapped, surely if they found a pen and paper they would use that to write a note to their fellow kidnappers, to use it to recount information and connect the dots, not think of baby names. Then again, some people weren't as logically minded as he was, he supposed.

[Geoff Alen]

"You remember the first time we talked, Keiari and I mentioned that she had undergone something traumatic but we didn't give the details?"

"I...didn't know how long ago the said traumatic event was, so I didn't want to get her scared again by pressing her," Geoff said. He remembered the panic attack she had in the very first day in the basement Daniel had been there to help him calm her down. All he had done was awkwardly ask her how she took her coffee. It had helped, but he had only done a small tidbit of it. Remembering Keiari's fear in that situation, along with the game, well he didn't want to be seen as the bad guy yet again.

"Well, Teddy is another one of our visitors. And, according to Dorian, he's our kidnapper's son. I'm not sure how much you've heard..."

"Yeah, I know about Dorian and his part that led to this...dysfunctional family revenge bullshit, and that Teddy works for his mother. I don't know him personally, but I know of him." There was a teensy bit of sympathy for Dorian the more Geoff throught about it. This man cut out a toxic part of his life only for it to literally force itself back into his life, along with several others that were somehow intertwined. Jessica said that Teddy was harmless though, so the images of Teddy didn't make sense.

"So Teddy was visiting Keiari...and then matchmaker mom came in..." Geoff was putting the pieces together. The image of the angry obese - or as some of the kids called it, "extra thicc" - woman with a gun, glaring at them with her black eyes was the only image Geoff had to go off of. Keiari being shot at, and Teddy helplessly standing by as he couldn't even help her because of his mother. "Poor girl." She had made it out okay, at least physically. Mentally, well, she was lucky to be holding some of her sanity together by threads.

Ethan's recollection of the baby names didn't leave much either. The names were generic younger people names. But the fact the list had names crossed off was interesting. "The fact that Helena wasn't on there debunks that, I guess," he sighed solemnly. Innocence was getting lost in this place. Teddy was probably fairly young. Geoff looked again at the teddy bear. Ripping it up would just be mean spirited. But he could at least press the sides of the bear, curious if anything was hidden...

(Action: Geoff checks the teddy bear)

[Ethan Kaul]

"I...didn't know how long ago the said traumatic event was, so I didn't want to get her scared again by pressing her."

"It wasn't long before we talked. She got a bit... emotional just thinking about it, which was why I had to cut our conversation short, but she's healed a little since then."

At least, Ethan hoped so. It had been a while, but then again, if this Teddy was still alive who was to say there wasn't the possibility of him making more contact with her? The thought sent a shiver down his spine. God, he hoped Keiari was okay.

Geoff had seemingly been told quite a bit about the whole situation, which he was glad for. It would save him the time of recounting that information, and dealing with any shock at one of their fellow victims having been involved with their kidnapper.

"You're right, Teddy is the son and apparently the henchman of our captor," Ethan sighed. Part of him felt sympathy for the man, knowing what it was like to have shitty parents (although not on that scale), however ultimately he was causing harm to them. Whether he had the mental capacity to realise it, however...

"So Teddy was visiting Keiari...and then matchmaker mom came in..."

"Basically. Teddy gave her food and stuff, but then she burst in with a gun and chased Keiari around this place. Luckily the gun jammed, but she was so close to being killed... eventually, our kidnapper tazed her, and then she woke up in a room with me."

At least he was a familiar face. He couldn't imagine going through that and then being forced to reply on a stranger for comfort.

Talk turned to the baby name list, and Geoff expressed his disappointment at Helena not being on the list. Ethan racked his brain, but the name didn't ring any bells, so he supposed this 'Helena' must be the mother rather than the child.

"Definitely not on the list. Nothing really close to that either, so I guess Helena is the blonde woman, and maybe the writer of the list. That's the only explanation I have, anyway."

[Madge Baker]

ACTION: Geoff checks the teddy bear.

RESULT: 8 - When the man has finished his close investigation he came to the conclusion that nothing in particular stood out in this old plush toy... besides a small torn silk tag sewed to it's bum. It stated: "Happy Birthday, Mar- ...." and the rest of the letters have vanished with time.

Sadly the plush toy is too big to be kept in a pocket/hidden BUT if u want to you can tear away the tag and keep it (no rolling needed, it's hanging in there by a tread).

[Geoff Alen]

"Definitely not on the list Nothing really close to that either.

Geoff was so close and yet so far when it came to figuring out Helena’s role. So she wasn’t connected to this strange system of hierarchies and matches. Stuff was still on the table for her involvement. Was Madge training her to shoot a gun like the one used on Keiari?

But what did the plastic surgeries have to do with it? Was it blackmail to keep her in her place as a dutiful slave? Hannah suggested she was doing it to keep herself looking honorable. But why would Madge hide them?

”So I guess Helena is the blonde woman, and maybe the writer of the list. That's the only explanation I have, anyway

”Hannah did say that Helena was considered dishonorable based on old Chinese systems. Pregnancy could be the dishonor. The surgery...no that doesn’t make sense. She couldn’t have been pregnant to have intense surgeries to her face and body. Botox doesn’t kill the baby per se, but there are a lot of unsafe chemicals. Heck, it’d hurt the mother more than the unborn child...unless the child was out of her system and then she went with the procedure....”

Ethan’s point of her being pregnant had promise, but the holes were bigger than Swiss cheese. The list could have been written by Helena, or maybe someone else. Maybe it belonged to a past victim? Geoff looked at the teddy bear.

“Happy Birthday, Mar-“

”Well, someone in his family cares in a way. The teddy bear has a name here. It’s not Teddy or Theodore, but it starts with Mar...” Geoff reached for the tag and pulled it off, saving it in his leather jacket pocket. Hopefully, someone could recognize the handwriting.

[Ethan Kaul]

"Hannah did say that Helena was considered dishonorable based on old Chinese systems. Pregnancy could be the dishonor. The surgery...no that doesn’t make sense. She couldn’t have been pregnant to have intense surgeries to her face and body. Botox doesn’t kill the baby per se, but there are a lot of unsafe chemicals. Heck, it’d hurt the mother more than the unborn child...unless the child was out of her system and then she went with the procedure....”

Ethan sighed a little. While all of Geoff's theories were sound, there wasn't a lot backing them up. How did they know for sure the woman was Chinese and not from another part of East Asia? How did they know this Helena was definitely the mother of the child, and that there wasn't more people working for their captor, or, even worse, it was a previous victim? There were so many possible theories that it almost blew his mind, and he really wished he had some sort of writing utensil so he could keep them all in his memory.

"Maybe... If our kidnapper is even Chinese. I don't know how it works in other countries, really," he began thoughtfully, "As for Botox during pregnancy, actually there's no evidence to suggest it's harmful, but I can imagine if she knew she was pregnant no sane doctor would operate on her or inject anything."

He paused for a moment, a new idea forming in his brain.

"Have you considered whether the baby is actually alive or whether the mother suffered a miscarriage?" Ethan pondered, "And, if there is a baby, where is it? Because I haven't heard or seen anything to indicate whether this place is safe for a child, but if Helena is both the mother and the mystery woman visiting our rooms, the baby would have to be somewhere nearby."

That is, if the note was recent. He wished he'd checked the quality, to see whether it could have been written recently.

"This place is definitely not child safe, or even pregnancy safe with the amount of chemicals she pumps into our systems."

Geoff, however, seemed preoccupied with something else.

"Well, someone in his family cares in a way. The teddy bear has a name here. It’s not Teddy or Theodore, but it starts with Mar...”

"Mar..." he frowned, racking his brain as to whether there were any 'Mar' names on the list, "I don't think there were any of those names on the list... Could there possibly be another accomplice? Or maybe another child?"

[Geoff Alen]

”I keep forgetting not everyone’s seen the matchmaker’s face,” Geoff muttered. ”She stormed in during the last game I was in, full flesh and blood, ticked we messed up. She was a huge hulking woman. Like if Jabba the Hutt put on a geisha costume....or whatever nationality she was trying to appear beautiful in. But I’m maybe...85% sure she’s Chinese.”

Maybe Ethan was right. Maybe she wasn’t Chinese. But everything seemed to point to the origin being Chinese. If she were another ethnicity, she’d be serving them sushi or pho. He had seen enough cooking shows to differentiate Chinese food from, say Thai. But agree to disagree.

Babies cane back into the picture. Ethan was pointing out more holes out loud. Was the baby even alive. ”To be honest, I’d rather a baby not be a factor at all. Yet the list is a piece to this puzzle. I never said getting them to fit would be easy.”

[Ethan Kaul]

"She stormed in during the last game I was in, full flesh and blood, ticked we messed up. She was a huge hulking woman. Like if Jabba the Hutt put on a geisha costume....or whatever nationality she was trying to appear beautiful in. But I’m maybe...85% sure she’s Chinese."

"Geisha are actually Japanese, so probably not that if she's actually Chinese," Ethan added, "All I know is that she's large, Asian, and evil. And that's all I need to know too, it doesn't matter what twisted reasons she's chosen to do this, cultural or otherwise. She's kidnapped and murdered a bunch of people, and right now I'm more interested in how to escape that and bring her to justice than motivation or what country she's from."

Although, it would be good to know more about Helena... From what he'd heard about the girl, she wasn't the same ethnicity as their kidnapper, unless the blonde was dye. So what the hell was she doing here, why was she assisting that woman, and how far was she willing to go to do so? That was far more interesting than their kidnapper's motivations.

Besides, he hadn't exactly noticed the food like Geoff had. He hadn't had much chance to, given which rooms he'd been put in, and when he had been allowed more food than just bread and water he'd just scarfed it down without question or even looking at what it was.

"To be honest, I’d rather a baby not be a factor at all. Yet the list is a piece to this puzzle. I never said getting them to fit would be easy."

"Well, no, it's not ideal that there's a child involved, but it is a clue. And right now, we need to work with what we've got."

[Geoff Alen]

"All I know is that she's large, Asian, and evil. And that's all I need to know too, it doesn't matter what twisted reasons she's chosen to do this, cultural or otherwise. She's kidnapped and murdered a bunch of people, and right now I'm more interested in how to escape that and bring her to justice than motivation or what country she's from."

Ethan sounded ready to knock out the crazy woman's teeth. At least he and Geofff\ were on the same page as having their anger focused on her. Geoff didn't know many fo the people that had been unfortunate to be killed like Ethan did. These people were acquaintances to him. At least, some were. Kim had been Others he had gotten to know much better like Noah, Katherine and Hannah, and heck, even Ethan was falling under the radar of someone he was wanting to see come out of this alive.

"At least we can agree on putting her in her place is what we want to happen.

[Ethan Kaul]

"At least we can agree on putting her in her place is what we want to happen," Was all Geoff said in reply, and Ethan nodded to himself.

"Damn right it is," he agreed, "I hope karma hits her where it hurts."

He'd already lost enough as it was, and he knew that Huxley was unlikely to be the last of his loved ones to die. And, even if someone's death it didn't hurt him, it was bound to hurt somebody else. That was enough reason to want to see his kidnapper's demise.

It was good that he and Geoff were on the same page about that at least, although he had no doubt that pretty much everyone who had been captured was. But Geoff had a specific reason to be mad, after all, he had been married off to a stranger in their first week pretty much. Even if he liked his match, that was probably enough to piss him off at least a little more.

Ethan decided to change the subject ever so slightly, in the hopes that he might be able to find out some good news for Sawyer.

"Do you know a girl named Kim by any chance?"

[Geoff Alen]

The drive in Ethan's voice told Geoff the whole story. The kid had lost so many people, and did not want to lose anyone else. He put a hand to the wall, like he had done with Sawyer when she showed distress. The kid may not have wanted physical comfort, but hey, guys could cry, too. He wasn't as close to Ethan as he was some of the others.

Thankfully, the subject changed. Kind of.

"Do you know a girl named Kim by any chance?"

Geoff's heart skipped slightly, snd he felt the strangest sense of lightness. Did Ethan know anything about Kim? Or was he in the 'hey Kim's disappeared' camp? But there had been lots of activity going on, and something must have happened involving Kim. Was she hurt? Dead? No, no, it couldn't be that. There would have been something that gave away bad news. This was just a question. No need to overanalyze everything. Just answer the question, and then you may get what you want to hear.

"Yes. Yes, I do know her. We were...are...more than just friends. I never got the chance to confess to her face before she disappeared."

He still remembered the near-miss kiss. It wasn't a full-on duck, but deep down there had been something...awkward. Maybe it was fear of getting hurt because he was technically married? No, that wasn't quite it.

[Ethan Kaul]

"Yes. Yes, I do know her. We were...are...more than just friends. I never got the chance to confess to her face before she disappeared."

Shit. Well, that wasn't good, on many counts. Ethan had been intending to inform him of her disappearance - whether he knew her or not, it was important that everyone keep up to date - but it seemed that not only was he aware, but he had some sort of feelings for her. The poor guy... and poor Hannah too, for having to be married to a man who loved another, regardless of whether she had any romantic feelings for him. In a way, he, Sawyer, and David were in the same position as those three, if he'd assessed the situation correctly, anyway.

"I'm... sorry to hear that. I was going to let you know that she had gone missing, and so far there's been no leads, but I'm just hoping she'll be okay."

Better not to mention their rivalry and potentially antagonise Geoff. He wanted to keep everyone on side, so long as they were proven to be trustworthy. And, even if not, it was better to keep your friends close and your enemies closer after all.

[Geoff Alen]

Me too”

The small fledgling spark of hope about knowing if Kim was safe went out as fast as a static jolt. Ethan was just on the same level as he was in terms of what happened. Or maybe not. He didn’t like proving people, especially with everyone at rock bottom or, heck, even lower than that, but if it gave him some answers, it would better than sitting in the dark twiddling his thumbs.