DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL - INVESTIGATION

[goneawaymod]

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call...The Twilight Zone.

LINKS
OOC FAMILY INFO/WORKSHIPPING
PLOT PART 1
NIGHT EVENT
NETWORK POST

MAP


Click for larger map

Darlington High School: The town's high school, home to various cliques of teenagers, and containing secrets that can only be discovered after dark.

Sheriff's Station: The sheriff seems like a typical sitcom sheriff, neighborly and helpful, but the sheriff's station has carefully guarded files that might be of interest to the New Hires.

Abandoned Factory: In such a sunshiney town, why is there an abandoned building?

Library: Information about the town can be found here, including a section with town records.

TV Studio: The possible source of strange broadcasts that can be found on TVs in Darlington.

???: A completely unassuming house.

Abandoned Mall: Another abandoned building, and one that's outside of time. This shopping mall is a decade or two early for the time period in the sitcom. Perhaps something useful can be found inside.

Murnjgod Appliances: The TV's in the window of Murnjgod Appliances sometimes display cryptic messages that might offer clues or puzzles to be deciphered.

DETAILS

The first night and day don't leave them much freedom. The sitcom scenarios keep them occupied periodically during the day and evening and then whatever brought them there dragged them "home" the first night around 10 pm and then battened down every door and window of the building they were each in.

The second day is much the same. Forced scenarios, some free time in between. It's only at night fall that something relaxes, like the world is letting out a sigh. There is a sense of pervasive fatigue like whatever was pushing them through this has just exhausted itself trying to control all of them at once.

That means the doors and windows stay unlocked that night, allowing some of them to move around.

The streets are empty - emptier than streets often are in reality. There's no one driving home from a late shift or walking their dog. There are no barking dogs for that matter, either, despite them sometimes being visible in yards around the neighborhood.

Sitcoms tend to move to interior settings at night. So the streets are eerily quiet and empty. At 10 pm on the second night, instead of dragging them home and trapping them, every light in town other than their own house lights and the street lamps turns off simultaneously.

Their doors lock once but almost as if it's for show, a bluff to make them think they're trapped again. They can be unlocked and opened this time. The houses all have flashlights, and sheds full of tools that can maybe be used to break into places.

It's time to get to the bottom of this.

Comments

ABANDONED MALL - Remy, Jennifer, Hiccup

[goneawaymod]

The abandoned mall is definitely out of place in this whole scenario. It's not even an earlier mall like the 1960s. Anyone with exposure to the early 21st century will be able to recognize it as being from maybe the late 2010s. The signage inside is not for Darlington. It says "Clarksdale Mall" - a much more mundane town name.

The windows and doors have been boarded up but there are places with loose boards that can possibly be pried out of the way for them to climb through. Mind the broken glass.

Once inside, they'll see something very unusual - an area in the center of the mall that seems scooped out. It's like something burst through the ceiling and scraped a section of the mall out with a melon baller, digging all the way through the concrete foundation underneath.

Re: ABANDONED MALL - Remy, Jennifer, Hiccup

[wherenoonegoes]

Hiccup and Toothless didn't have any experience with the 21st century, but the building had still looked out of place. Especially all boarded up like it was. It was clearly a place the pair wasn't supposed to be in, and their almost incurable sense of adventure had drawn them there.

They'd bumped into Remy and Jennifer outside the mall, and now Hiccup was trying to get them in there. Luckily, he'd had the foresight to arm himself with a crowbar, so pulling the boards away from one of the windows had been fairly easy. So had climbing through the hole he'd made. Pulling Toothless through after him had been a bit more difficult, but they'd managed.

"Y'know, I don't think being turned into a dog made you any less heavy. You guys coming?" he says after he turns on the flashlight he'd also had the foresight to bring.

[poor_unlucky_girl]

"Hello." Jennifer greets him with no enthusiasm, sounding feeble as usual. She does lean to pet Toothless, though.

As Hiccup turns on his flashlight and leads the way, she follows him. After reaching the center area, she gasps.

The unlucky girl gasped: what could have made such a massive hole and why?

When the others look around going 'who said that?' - which the audience found hilarious -, 'Guinivere' sighs.

"Oh, I have a narrator, by the way."

Cue the laughter getting louder.

[kingofneworleans]

"Hopefully, we won't be needing stealth."

Remy couldn't help but grimace at the laughter and the narrator, but there's nothing to be done. And grimaced more when he banged his shin against a bench that he hadn't seen because his eyes weren't right.

"Should have thought to bring my own flashlight, though."

Still, he makes his way forward, eyes adjusting to the low light after a few minutes, toward the massive hole. "Well, now. What's made this, I wonder."

[wherenoonegoes]

"Oh, I can think of a few things, and absolutely none of them are something I wanna deal with in an enclosed space."

Despite his commentary, he shines the light around and down into the hole, trying to estimate how far the bottom goes and if there's an easy way down to it.

Toothless sniffs at the hole to see if any odd smells are coming from it.

"So, what do you think the odds are on our answers being down there?"

[poor_unlucky_girl]

Jennifer looks around nervously.

"We are going to need more weapons. We should explore this floor more before going down there."

LIBRARY - Merton and Rowena

[goneawaymod]

The library's lights are all out and the doors are locked. But they can be jimmied open by someone determined enough with something as simple as a screwdriver.

The library inside is old fashioned to say the least. No computers; the most advanced piece of technology is a microfiche. Everything is organized by card catalogue, and there are multiple dusty rooms of local materials: one for newspapers, one for local history reference materials.

There's also a darkened basement. While other lights can be turned on in the library if the two of them dare risking discovery, the ones in the basement apparently can't. Hope you brought a flashlight

[freakenstein]

Breaking into the library with a screwdriver and rubber mallet was crude but it got the job done. Stuffing them back in his backpack with the few other supplies he'd managed to gather together (a butcher knife, an extra belt, salt, flashlight, rubbing alcohol, a rag, rope, and four former chair legs sharpened into stakes), he pulled the flashlight back out, clicking it on and sweeping the light across the room and over the ceiling as the door closed behind him.

Going into this alone was more than a little nerve-rattling, but it was a hell of a lot better than sitting on his hands. The house having actually let him out made it feel like a now or never moment. That or maybe a trap. Probably the latter knowing how these kinds of things tended to go. But nothing had stopped him from getting here. It was just eerily quiet and dark, the town somehow feeling even more fake at night. Like an abandoned set.

Carefully picking his way toward the card catalog he left the lights off, not wanting to broadcast that someone was in here. Pulling out one of the drawers, if only to see if the cards had anything written on them at all, he winced at the sudden loud scrape and creak of the thing opening.

[paganpoetry]

One advantage she feels she has over the others here - and she does feel the need to count advantages, especially stripped naked from her magic - is that she lived through the 1950's. Aside from her powers, her joie de vivre being inexplicably and terrifyingly ripped from her, and aside from the invisible audience, nothing here registers as frightening so much as "ah yes, I forgot we hadn't improved on in-person security patrols yet." So when she made it to the library, naturally gravitating to books where magic wasn't available, she wasn't set back by the microfiche or preference for printed media. She immediately started putting any film-looking things from the student film club cubbies on the microphiche when she broke past the front doors and explored the library.

"Hello? Yoo hoo?" She keeps the microphiche projecting as she steps away from it and investigates the muted barely-perceptible noise coming from the card catalog. "Is that you joining me or someone who.."

Sans magic, she wraps her hand around the paltry turkey-carving knife she stole-

"-means to put me back in my place?"

[freakenstein]

First instinct upon hearing another person? Duck and hide!

With a sharp hiss of something that was meant to be a curse but came out as "fudge", he clicked the flashlight off and ducked out of sight as best he could, scrambling to the side of the card catalog. Not willing to risk making more noise by rustling in his backpack, he holds the heavy flashlight to his chest like he was willing to sacrifice it as a bludgeoning tool if necessary.

But listening as the other person spoke and drew closer, it quickly became apparent that this wasn't one of the locals. Which probably should have been relief, but there was just enough threat to those words to keep him on edge.

"Joining!" Pulling himself back up from his shoddy hiding place he put the flashlight down on the catalog before stepping out into the open with his hands up. And to make it clear he was also not one of the Darlington variant Stepford Wives, "Just looking for answers. Not trying to put anyone in their place."

[goneawaymod]

The microfiche already has an article inside, like it was left behind by someone in a rush.

But who? Was someone else trying to find answers too?

The article inside is older but not 1950s old. The newspaper it's from is dated April 2, 2011. It's called the Clarksdale Gazette and is clearly a local paper.

Clarksdale High School student wins national film award

16-year-old Joshua Nichols, a student of Clarksdale High School, has brought home the 3rd place prize from the All American High School Film Festival. The national festival welcomes student film-makers from all over the country to compete for over $400,000 in scholarships. Nichols' short film 'Oculus' won 3rd place in the 'Best Horror/Sci-Fi/Fantasy' category netting Nichols a $10,000 scholarship and a $5000 cash prize.

"It feels great," said Nichols. "I almost didn't submit anything. I didn't think I'd win anything in a million years. My friend Duncan convinced me to so shout out to my friend Dunc for believing in me, what what!"

Nichols says his college plans include film school and that he hopes to gain entrance to UCLA's prestigious film program. However, his ventures in film aren't the only direction he wants to go. He hopes to work in television too and has his sights set on making sitcoms someday.

"I love film but I think TV's the best medium to work with. There's so much more you can do with serialized stories and comedy has always been my favorite. I watched a million sitcoms growing up, everything from 'The Office' to the classic stuff like I Love Lucy.' My dream is to be the next Greg Daniels or Michael Schur."

Nichols say he plans to use the cash part of the prize towards his next project, a half hour short film that plays with elements of classic television.

The article is accompanied by a picture of a young man with blonde hair and shy body language holding a little statuette.

There's something very odd about the picture:

It's in color.

HIGH SCHOOL - Stacia and Cammie

[goneawaymod]

The high school is eerie at night, its dark windows staring back at them like empty eyes. It's easy enough to get in, either by jimmying a lock or climbing through a cracked open high window.

The bigger challenge is figuring out where to go once they're inside. The main office has paperwork to potentially look through, but there's also a records room, the principal's office, a film club room, a photography lab, and the nurse's office.

They'll have to figure out where to go first. Fortunately, they had some time in the school as "students" to get oriented.

[tr1xx]

As Cammie stares at the empty school, she can all but hear Yaz or Chase in the back of her mind, telling her off for being so reckless as to come out here alone. Nevermind that she’s prepared herself with a baseball bat from the house, a flashlight and some tools from a toolkit shoved haphazardly into a dinky little purse she found in her room. She’s in the middle of an unknown environment in the dead of night, they’d be right to say it’s dangerous, but she was hardly going to just sit around and do nothing.

She considers the windows, but she’s only 5’1” and only recently started becoming anything close to athletic. Not to mention the dress she’s stuck in; she picked the most practical thing she could find, but the two guys in her house are a foot taller than her, so no trousers for her. Climbing up through a window is all but out of the question, alone like this.

Instead, she starts using the tools to bust a lock. It’s not the least noisy thing in the world, putting her on high alert for anyone that might hear. Luckily, despite looking like they belong in the 50s, the hearing aids from her room are as good as her normal ones— so she hears the sudden, second source of movement without issue.

She spins on her heel, wielding a screwdriver like a weapon instead of the baseball bat, which she remembers a second too late. Fuck. Please be another actual person and not some monster, she’s not keen to know what injuries feel like when it’s not a robot body in a suit of armour taking the hits.

[credit_not_blame]

Stacia got to go on this adventure with pants, at least. She's also got a backpack full of tools and/or bludgeoning devices from the LaValley garage, plus a kitchen knife sheathed in the oven mitt she's secured to her thigh with several long strips of cloth tape.

She pauses when the other girl whirls around, giving her a once-over.

"That baseball bat is probably a better bet than the screw driver," she says. "For future reference."

[tr1xx]

Cammie slumps with relief and lowers the screwdriver, pinching the bridge of her nose with a groan. “Ach, shoot. Yeah, I realised that the second I turned around. But, in my defense, this was already in my hand.”

She gives Stacia a once-over of her own; clearly a New Hire and she looks prepared, which are both good things. Pants, which Cammie is a normal amount of envious of, given the circumstances.

“I think I almost have the door open. Uh, I’m Car— shoot, Cammie. Don’t think we’ve met yet? Haven’t met most people, really. Didn’t even know one guy’s name until this place made him my ‘brother’.”

[credit_not_blame]

"It's not a bad weapon," Stacia agreed. "Especially if someone gets in too close for the bat to be effective. But that's also the range where everyone gets covered in blood, and I prefer to avoid that."

Now that the stand-off has ceased, she moves into sneaky-conversation range.

"Nice to meet you Cammie, I'm Stacia. This place will try to tell you 'Stacy', but it's a filthy liar. I'm glad you know your way around locks, I was considering the benefits of a brick to a window, and those are noisy."

ABANDONED FACTORY - Wrath and Saturday

[goneawaymod]

There are plenty of broken windows to get in to the factory through. The biggest question is where to go once inside. There are rows upon rows of shelving, rusted tools all over, and broken down conveyer belts.

They can try to work their way in deeper. Sunken in flooring suggests maybe an underlevel of some kind. There are also different offices to snoop through with scattered, moldy papers, cargo containers that might be holding something of interest, and broken down stairwells going upward that must lead somewhere - climbing them may be tricky and dangerous.

Re: ABANDONED FACTORY - Wrath and Saturday

[pain_train]

Wrath's not exactly dressed correctly for infiltration; her housewife wardrobe is all skirts at various levels of starch, and nothing but heels. Her best option has turned out to be a bathing suit and a pair of shorts stolen from North's side of the closet, cinched tightly with a belt, and a long, dark coat over them both. She found a pair of flat sandals to wear from their supposed daughter's room that are mostly the right size. She can fight in heels just fine if she has to, but they're not great for either climbing or being quiet, so better safe than sorry.

She heads to the old factory with a flashlight, a coil of rope from the garden shed, and a crowbar from the garden shed. That seemed like the most multi-purpose tool that could also act as a weapon, though she also took the biggest chef knife from the kitchen, sharpened it to a keen edge, and has it wrapped in fabric and tucked in the belt.

Once near the old factory, she approaches with caution, scouting out a broken window that she can fit through without cutting herself, and climbs in. She drops quietly to the dusty floor and turns her flashlight on, sweeping it over the dusty ruin inside.

Re: ABANDONED FACTORY - Wrath and Saturday

[wheyoftheadept]

Saturday had taken the high road, climbing a tree to the roof, then jumping across. Roof access was always easier. For a formerly-arboreal species, metahumanity sure did have trouble remembering to look up.

Once across, she'd found a skylight with the lock long since rusted shut. But the metal had warped a little, with exposure, just enough to wiggle the tip of her crowbar in, once she'd gotten it good and greased. Both the crowbar and the lubricant were courtesy of her assigned-father's garage.

Then she'd dropped down to the catwalk without thinking, landing hard and scraping her shin and having to bite back an outcry when it hurt. She hadn't botched a landing since she was six - hadn't had pain actually hurt since she was seven. When the wave was done rolling over her, she'd bitten the thin top layer of skin off her lips. She licks them, soothing the ache briefly, and freezes at the sound of movement far below.

Carefully, she leans over the side. There's a beam of light passing over the dusty racks, illuminating cargo containers. She can't see who's casting it, though, which is why she ever so softly slinks, low and slow, down to the edge of the nearest broken staircase, planning to see the flashlight person before they see her. It's probably one of her people, but why take a chance?

Re: ABANDONED FACTORY - Wrath and Saturday

[pain_train]

Without her hearing augments, Wrath wasn't able to hear the skylight being jimmied open. The rough landing on the catwalk? A bit louder. The instinct that she's being watched, fine-tuned by battle? Even louder.

She stops in a space where there's room to fight and room to run and hefts the crowbar. Then she says, very softly since it doesn't take a lot of volume to be heard through an empty building like this: "I know you're there."

Re: ABANDONED FACTORY - Wrath and Saturday

[wheyoftheadept]

Yeah, but I'll bet you don't know where, Saturday thinks, and stomps on that unnecessary competitive impulse. She's got a good look at the woman now, and knows her.

"It's Saturday," she calls, just as softly. "I know how to make pie, remember? Be with you in a second." And then she slips through the railing, dropping with somewhat more grace to the floor, though it jars her hands something fierce. It is a more human amount to drop, she supposes. Now she has to think about things like that - awful.

"Hey." She straightens, dusting off her palms. "Sorry to spook you. Heard you after I made entry, didn't have a visual on ya til now."

The other woman looks and moves and reacts like a professional, so Saturday is fairly confident she'll understand.

SHERIFF'S STATION - North and Rogue

[goneawaymod]

The sheriff's station is shockingly easy to break into - it's wide open! - but this comes with a catch. It's the only location that's still open at night. The night deputy is in there with his feet propped on his desk reading a newspaper.

They have a few options here: see if they can get information out of the deputy, knock the deputy out and tie him up, trick the deputy into leaving on a crime tip etc. - or some combination of multiple ways of handling it.

They won't be able to look around until they figure out how to handle the deputy problem first though.

[bothbarrels]

North and Rogue spend a few moments discussing what they should do about this before entering. Rogue could hurt the deputy pretty easily if she wanted to, but they decide on offering up a false report and seeing if that'll convince the deputy to leave his post.

North heads in first, acting as though he's in a panic.

"Deputy, I'm so glad I made it here," he says. "Old Mrs. Davenport's dog is on the rampage terrorizing the neighborhood kids again, and I swear the thing looks rabid."

[just_rogue]

She was hot on his heels following in, and looking as exasperated as she could muster to play along.

"Yes! He was chasing little Timmy right down Maple street barking at his heels! So either Timmy has bacon in his back pocket or there is something wrong with that dog."

This would be the queue for the sitcom laugh track if there had been one, but life tended to lack them. So she simply looked as put out as she could and batted her eyes at the man in charge, big pretty green eyes.

Oh come on, it was a thing of the time, big strong men loved to prove their were big strong men who could take care of things right?

[piper90npcs]

"Well, little missy, I'll get right on that," says the Deputy, trying to impress her, despite looking about as impressive as Barney Fife. "It's probably bacon tho, that dog has bitten many a rump roast to get at...well, a piece of rump roast."

Laugh track.

"I'll be right back to let you know the job's done!"

He leaves, not thinking to take the keys to the lockup with him. Why would he, in a sitcom like this?