((OOC: This is the mood post for Lazarus to spend his 20 saved up XP to learn Nightmare 4, Shatter the Mind. Hopefully it will suffice. Also, since the Amber Hill thread is still going on, can we just assume this happens afterward? I wont use Nightmare 4 until after then.))
The sun outside was shining bright throughout the day, the birds were chirping, and the wind was blowing gently. However, deep within the walls of Amber Hill, the dim lighting and stale smell of dusty air conditioners were the only "natural" comfort the inmates were offered. As strange as it was, these patients received no day care; doctors and orderlies would almost get to the door to enter the wing just to be distracted by something else to draw them away. Their mad screams and howls all fell on deaf ears, and when the occasional security guard passed by their cells they only reported their loud behavior to the Head of Security, Mr. Smith.
And even deeper in the Asylum was something far more sinister -- the sleeping form of Dr. Lazarus, tucked away in an area of his home where light never touched. Even with Dr. Ith Lazarus' slow loss of humanity over the years, one fragment of being mortal still remained -- dreaming. Today the doctor was treated to a nightmare from twelve years before: Coral Kincaid.
Dreams were never clear, but Lazarus remembered the sight of her gnawed wrists, the floors slick with blood, and his inner beast urging him to give in and lick the freshly spilled liquid from the floor. Suddenly there he was, standing in the same spot observing Coral's lifeless body. His beast, restrained, had enough and burst free. It was a hairy, terrible, demon of a creature. At least six red glowing eyes, a barbed tongue, and greasy black hair. It snarled at him, displaying hundreds of sharp fangs as its lips curled back. He tried to move backward to escape this terrible physical manifestation of his metaphysical beast, but his legs felt rooted in place, his reaction time was slowed. All of reality but the beast seemed to be weighted down, and Lazarus couldn't escape -- it was as if the very air had become more dense.
The body moved. At first the finger twitched, then the arm. Coral's lifeless body slowly stood. The gaping wound in her arm was dripping blood at an ever increasing rate, and the corporeal beast began lapping it up from the floor. She looked at the ugly creature and began petting it, her hand running through its thick ebony hair. That's when she noticed Lazarus; her head snapped up and gave him a bloody grin. The doctor couldn't move, he was sweating too -- a cold sweat. This was fear, a feeling reminiscent of Eye of the Beast. But no, it was more, this terrible creature peered deep within his soul and reflected fear itself. Coral laughed, a terrible noise reminiscent of the sound of glass breaking and screaming. Dr. Lazarus recoiled in horror, crumpling to the ground, and grasping his hair. It took everything he had, but he managed to force his eyes open -- only to be treated to the sight of his beast moving in toward him for a snack, with Coral behind grinning widely. In the creatures eyes, he saw his true unmasked face reflected, eyes wide in horror and mouth agape in mid-scream...
Dr. Ith Lazarus wakes up from his day sleep, the hour is late and the sun is down, his eyes dart around in the darkness. For a moment he is feral, running to the hidden door and frantically grasping the handle trying to escape. A full fifteen seconds passed before reality set in and he realized it was all a terrible nightmare. It was a dream Ith, get a hold of yourself. Ah, but with this frightful dream came new insight -- insight which needed testing.
Cell nine held one of Dr. Lazarus' "favorite" patients, Melody Smithson: a chronic paranoid schizophrenic who is "blessed" with paranoid delusions that cause her to think just about everyone who looks at her is planning to rape her. The doctor walks to her cell and gazes inside through the window. Laughing cruelly, Lazarus opens the door and approaches her. "Ms. Smithson, I've been thinking that we need to expose you to rape in order for you to conquer your fear of it." He leans in to the terrified woman, locking his bloodshot fearsome eyes with her terrified ones. "And because it would be unethical for an actual rape to occur..."
Shatter the Mind
Confronted with her worst fear, rape, Ms. Smithson screams and falls to her knees, unable to move. She just lays there, hands entwined in her hair, sobbing to herself. Lazarus stands over her, a new understanding of fear, Yes, this experience was worth the nightmare.
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