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goneawayworld2021-03-20 02:44 am
goneawaymod) wrote in goneawayworld2021-03-20 02:44 am
DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL - INVESTIGATION
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.
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He's tested it, and he can still throw just fine. But that's always been a honed skill and not part of his powers. "After that, I think I'd like to go up before we go down. Also, keep an eye out for a sporting goods store or something similar. We're going to want some rope if we're going to even consider going down in that hole."
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When they get to the food court, they'll see more of the same. Shopping bags abandoned. Sometimes purses, like whatever happened was disastrous enough people forgot to bring them. Some of the food on the tables looks like it was once dragged away and picked at by birds, but other tables have black rot in plastic containers that were probably meals left behind.
What kitchen they want to poke into depends on what food place they pick but one of them stands out more than the others. One of the burger places has cans of nonperishable ingredients piled on the counter and a cloth bag in front of the counter filled with more cans.
...and there's the sound of someone rummaging around in the kitchen and supply room of that restaurant.
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"Keep quiet. Someone or something else is here," Hiccup whispers, a fact which become immediately obvious once they actually enter the food court.
"Okay," he says, still whispering, "grab something you can hit somebody with. They could be one of ours, but I don't want to take any chances."
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"Brown is a hard light hologram now, but he can still do everything a dog does withut getting hurt, I could send him before us to open up a path."
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And he can. That, like his ability to throw, hasn't been hampered by the changes. This is training, not powers, after all.
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There's very little warning before a teenage girl erupts out of the kitchen and immediately splashes an open container of cooking grease in Remy's direction. Fortunately it came from a sealed container so it isn't rancid but if he doesn't dodge it, it'll both get in his eyes and make it hard for him to run after his assailant without slipping. If he does dodge it, he'll have to dodge wide, giving her space to get over the counter.
Whether he gets some in the face or has to dodge wide to avoid it, it gives his attacker some room. She runs out of the kitchen and vaults over the counter like a track star, grabbing the bag of canned goods on the floor.
She pauses just long enough for them to get a good look. Her face and hair are in monochrome like them, her hair in slight disarray, falling out of a once neat bun. But her clothes are modern and partly in color, flickering a bit, like she got them from some place deep enough in the mall that the monochromatic effect wasn't entirely in sway. It's almost like they're glitching in the black and white environment.
She doesn't say anything or try to communicate. She grabs her bag of food and starts to runs in a direction that goes deeper into the mall. They can either let her run and try to find her later, try to call out to her and hope what they say stops her, or chase after her. She's not going so fast that someone like Remy can't catch up.
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"Hold on!" Hiccup calls out. Toothless will probably catch up, but he won't. Not on a leg he's not used to, anyways. "We don't wanna hurt you, we're just here for answers!"
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Remy had just enough warning to be able to get his head out of the way of the grease, the suit jacket catching the worst of it. While Hiccup and Jennifer shout, he shucks it off and starts running after the girl. Which is probably not any more comforting, but they need answers.
At the end of the day, he's probably in slightly better shape than she is. He doesn't tackle her, though. The last thing they want is injuries. Instead, he reaches out, catching at her upper arm. "Slow down there, kiddo. We're new here."
He isn't very winded, but he will need a moment to get his breath back to say more than that.
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[It's Jennifer that she seems to respond most to, though. Another girl, only a few years older.]
[She stills swings her bag of supplies at Remy to get her arm free, but she stops running.]
You're not trying to drag me back?
[She frowns.]
Did they trap you here too? The soldiers promised to take us to some kind of zone that kept out the Stuff but it was a lie. They brought us to this town instead.
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"And we're definitely trapped here. Although we're not exactly 100٪ on the who, how, and why. Little bit vague on the when too, come to think about it."
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"They assigned roles to us. Looks like there is a response from a disembodied audience."
Guinivere points out with surprising intelligence.
She squints at the narrator's remark, which causes laughter.
"...And overall, very strange things keep happening."
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"Somehow, my entire way of talking was changed when I got here. I'm from Louisiana." Which really just sounds wrong when he says it like that, if the grimace is anything to go by.
"How about we find some place to sit down and you bring us up to speed on what's going on? Anything you know could be a help here. Not just for us, but for everybody in the town." Her parents were likely out there, somewhere. People she loved. Helping everybody would be a good idea.
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I'm sorry.
[She takes in a deep breath.]
Look, all I know is we were out there surviving, you know? It was a group of us. We'd go through the ruins and scavenge. Some of us had guns we stole from an abandoned gun shop. To fight the monsters. We'd hide in buildings during the Stuff storms.
And then we met those soldiers and went along with them because they promised we'd be safe. But they lied.
They brought us here and there were these scientists. They talked about an experiment or something? That had to do with the Stuff. They wanted us for something. They said they needed us under control of something they called "The Anomaly" to get what they wanted.
They would...they would talk about us and what they wanted to do with us like we weren't even there in the room.
[She shakes her head.]
I didn't find this place right away. I wish I had. All the others...they started turning. Either into people from the TV show, or if they fought it, they sometimes turned into..something else.
[Her eyes tear up as she thinks of the people who were watching her back.]
I think I'm one of the last ones left. They don't deserve this. We always had each other backs.
[Now a few tears drip down her face and she quickly wipes them away like she's used to trying to act tough.]
And I couldn't even do anything.
[She sniffles and shoulders her bag of supplies.]
You can stay in the mall. It'll help you not turn. I'll even share supplies if you help me find stuff. But...it's just safer when I'm alone. I'll stay in my section, you stay in yours.
[It's a gracious offer from someone used to surviving in a wasteland.]
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Especially for someone on their own. At least the New Hires had each other.
"Just a couple more questions though?" She looked ready to run off again any second one, but they still needed answers.
"Do you know who the scientists were working for, and do you have any idea what's going on with the giant hole in the floor?"
Hiccup had a very definite theory about the former. It just needed confirmation. However, he wasn't holding out hope for easy answers about the pit. He was still pretty sure if they wanted those they'd have to go down there themselves.
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"The Anomaly...What do you think it might be?"
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He glances to Hiccup and Jennifer before looking to the girl again. "Last questions, promise," he says, with the sort of tone that means he'll enforce it. It's a safety thing, and he does understand it. She needs a wall between her and the world. "But you don't have to worry about us staying here. Not if we're going to stop what's going on here."
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I don't know if it's a person or a something but they seemed to think it came from the war like...like a lot of things have.
[She looks at the ground and shrugs one shoulder, implying she's seen enough on her own to understand how that often works.]
We never found out who the scientists and soldiers worked for. They never said.
And the hole...that's a Go-Away bomb hole. They look like that everywhere. Some are big, some are small. You haven't seen any?
Do yourself a favor and ignore it. There's a little bit of Stuff still at the bottom of the crater, mixed with the rain. Stuff never dissolves. It's dangerous.
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"Thanks for the info. We'll try to get out of your hair now."
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Knowing she might be reluctant to leave her unarmed, Jennifer smiles to reassure her.
"We have yet to explore this place fully, we'll find something."
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Remy looks back to the girl and nods. "You go on and take care of yourself. You'll probably know if we manage to get this sorted out." This place isn't immune to the black and white, just resistant, after all.