silentspringmods: (Default)
silentspringmods ([personal profile] silentspringmods) wrote in [community profile] silentspringmemes2024-02-02 11:33 pm
Entry tags:

TDM NO. 2


TDM № 2 : February 2024
Part I; Chapter 3. Out of the Mist Your Voice Is Calling

premise & faq rules application invite requests NPCs calendar story so far taken


Hey, neighbor, welcome to the very first TDM for Silent Spring, a semiprivate suburban 60s horrorgame based loosely on the likes of We're Still Here, Holly Heights, and similar. Characters wake up in the uncannily idyllic early 1960s suburbia of Sweetwater, Maryland, an integrated bedroom community of Washington, DC - in the same household as a complete stranger to whom they have apparently always been married, at least according to the eerily and unwaveringly chipper neighbors who seem to know a little more than they should—or, if they're under 18, they awaken as the legally recognized child of the aforementioned couple. This TDM will give you a place to test out the setting and get some sample threads if you're going to apply for an invite.

OOC TDM plotting/who's who


Openings

As of this TDM, a total of 18 player slots are open. Players may app up to two characters; one of the two will not count toward a player slot.

There are 8 openings for players who app at least one Wife;
There are 4 openings for players who only app a Husband;
and there are 6 openings for players apping at least one character under 18.

Game Tone and Blanket Warnings

This game and its world, including this TDM, heavily feature nuclear panic, the Red Scare, conformism, sexism and restrictive gender roles, heteronormativity/gender binarism as it relates to being forced into a 'nuclear family', surveillance, gaslighting, brainwashing/propaganda, disinformation, pollution/contamination, poisoning, loss of control, and uncanny valley. IC consequences can involve anything from social shunning to sleep deprivation torture, brainwashing, and nonconsensual administration of large doses of haloperidol. These are the crux of the game and cannot be opted out of — this game offers a very specific flavor of horror and it is up to players whether or not they want to engage. The atmosphere is a dystopia, and while people can certainly bond with each other in extreme circumstances, the point of this game is not an ingame domestic AU, found family, 'adopting' other characters, etc.

universe/setting information, role assignment, and FAQs

I. National Everyone-Smile-at-One-Anotherhood Week

Maybe you were on your deathbed, taking your last gasping breaths. Maybe you had just drifted off into sleep. Or maybe you were just in the middle of another ordinary day—but whatever the case may be, you now wake staring at an unfamiliar popcorn ceiling, dressed in a coordinating pajama set or nightgown straight out of the Sears catalog. A complete stranger lies asleep beside you. Perhaps a dog or a cat you don't recognize lies sleeping on a red tartan bed on the floor behind the mahogany footboard.

This is your house, but it’s not your house: on one of the twin dressers in the room, the morning light reflects off the cover glass on a framed photograph of the two of you standing side-by-side and smiling like figures in a Norman Rockwell painting, maybe with a third, also unrecognizable younger party in the foreground between you. A Civil Defense booklet titled ”Survival Under Atomic Attack” hangs halfway off the corner of the dresser, its pages and cover curling upwards with wear atop a dogeared Macy’s Christmas catalog. The other dresser hosts a watch box and a compact radio: yours, if you’re the one wearing the coordinating flannel shirt and pants, or your new husband’s, if you’re in a babydoll-style nightie.

It’s not immediately clear if you’ve found yourself in the fifties or the sixties, at least until you throw on the robe hanging on the back of the bedroom door and head out into the driveway at some point. There you find a rolled newspaper tossed onto the concrete beside a shiny new car, dated February 2, 1961.

Prompt Details:

— All characters wake in a normal human body with any disability aids (including glasses or contact lenses) converted to the most common form of them in the 60s unless a modern development like a sip/blow powerchair is needed for them to be playable. Although cutting edge technologies like myoelectric limbs were just starting to come around at the time, they were not common and readily accessible, and therefore are not allowed.
— Characters have no powers, and regains will not happen in this game. If they biologically need something to function that is fantasy in nature (ex: have to drink blood), that need is gone and replaced with only a normal human’s needs.
— Characters will find their belongings, up to 3 items from home, around the house in normal places for each item to be: a book on the shelf, a framed photo on a flat surface, etc. Items that don’t exist in the regular universe in 1960 may not be brought (ex: gameboy, pokeball, wizard’s staff).
— Characters may bring one normal, non-livestock pet, or may meet said pet for the first time when they wake up in Sweetwater. They can also be petless.
— No items or weapons from after 1960 are allowed, and no weapons more powerful than a hunting rifle or handgun can be brought with them. One weapon per character.



II. Smoke gets in your eyes

A few days after characters arrive, a large tower of black smoke begins to rise against the February sky, a dark column at the treeline just beyond the cooling towers that mark the location of the distant Sweetwater Atomic Energy Plant. The radios, if characters turn them on, advise of a two-day controlled burn going on in the forest during the dead season, managed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and suggest that characters keep windows closed to minimize “nuisance smoke” in the home. The whole town takes on the faint smell of smoke as the wind pushes it toward the patchwork of subdivisions: not the pleasant smell of wood burning or food cooking, but something much less organic, a close neighbor to the smell of burning plastic. Characters may, from time to time, notice the faintest passing metallic taste in their mouths.

Otherwise, it’s a slushy, snowy Maryland winter like any other, and the previous month’s snow—which had mostly melted by the time of the controlled burn—returns before too long, dusting the town in a few shallow inches of brilliant white. It’s enough for school to close for a few consecutive snow days—perhaps a good time for newly assigned children to explore the town or earn a few dollars shovelling driveways?

The salt trucks and plows do a pretty good job of keeping the streets cleared, but something odd begins to surface on the surface of the pavement as they continue to salt and scrape: numbers spraypainted on the pavement, varying by location: 1, 2, 3, or 4. Characters have about a week to realize that the numbers correlate to sectors in a quadrant covering what seems to be the entire town before roadblocks appear at the major street junctions connecting adjacent quadrants, manned by civil defense and the Sweetwater police force.

A disaster preparedness drill, the radio informs them, will be taking place for the next week. Characters who do not have critical business in a sector other than Sector 4, where Haven Street and the neighborhood bunker is located, will not be allowed to pass through, and those that are allowed to pass through for critical work (such as at the hospital in Sector 3 or the fire department in Sector 1) are subjected to trunk and body searches.

Unfortunately, most of the shops in town, including the grocery store, are clustered around the town park in Sector 1, unavailable to Haven Street’s residents. As the week goes on, neighbors may have to swap and borrow to make sure that they have everything they want—not need, of course, because the government of the town of Sweetwater would never let this go on long enough to create a serious need without providing for the citizens trapped contained within the cordoned sectors. Might as well get to know each other!





III. Everybody's somebody's fool

You didn’t think Valentine’s Day would come to pass without a quintessential 1960s cocktail party, did you? On the 14th of the month, Marjorie again plays hostess in the large, well-groomed neocolonial at the end of the cul-de-sac, offering a spread complete with cheese balls, deviled eggs, and fondue. Or maybe shrimp are more your character’s style? Either way, there is no shortage of rather… quirky hors d’oeuvres and assorted canapes to blunt the effect of the cocktails her husband mixes up, or her signature punch, if characters would rather have that.

While characters’ closets contain an item or two of cocktail attire from the 1960s lives they’ve stepped into, there are also a lot of other things in their closets, things that would catch some glances or invite gossip by the NPC partygoers. It’s best to avoid a faux pas in an environment like this - maybe some second opinions on outfits are warranted? And of course, it wouldn’t reflect well on one spouse for their partner to show up underdressed… or to not show up at all without a pretty good alibi.

Characters may notice, at various points in the night, that Marjorie’s gaze wanders from person to person, that at times she seems to be watching different partygoers. This probably isn’t the best place for subversive speech, but it’s a good chance to meet one’s neighbors, and perhaps an even better chance to try and get some information out of Marjorie.




IV. Don't tell me why, kiss me goodbye

cw: non-graphic depiction of woman in labor

When characters go to sleep on the night of the 15th, the edges of the town again begin to merge with their unconscious minds as they did on New Year's Eve, a sequence of fragmented images: a beautiful young woman’s face contorts in agony, the bindi above the bridge of her nose crumpling between tight brows as she pants through bared teeth, her shoulders shaking with suppressed sobs. Two older women, both with salt-and-pepper hair, stand on either side of her in an urban hospital room, rubbing her back as it jerks with her weeping. The roots of her hair are drenched with sweat; tears stream around the hand of her mother-in-law as it rests on her flushed cheek. A young woman with hair tucked under a scrub cap leans over one of her elders and says something to the soon-to-be mother.

Two occupied pairs of loafers face each other on a glossy tiled floor. A woman’s voice echoes over a speaker: Now boarding, Flight 17501, DCA to LaGuardia. First-Class passengers on Flight 17501 from DCA to LaGuardia may now board. The same hand that wound into the telephone cord reaches out and shakes a broader one several shades darker, decorated with a proportionally heavy chain-link watch.

“Professor.
My congratulations to your daughter.”


A few days later, the televisions downstairs crackle to life, playing in black and white a short video. The young woman from the dream stands in front of the camera in what appears to be a walled garden, wearing a short-sleeved shirt with a plain but brightly colored sari flaring out across it sidha pallu style and holding an infant; her thick black hair is now in a long braid tucked to the right, capped off with trendy Sadhana cut bangs. She waves at the camera, then holds up the baby’s wrist as to wave too. The child is small, and young—maybe one month old.

She says something, her brown eyes warming, although of course the soundless film doesn't capture her words. The camera comes closer to the baby, showing her face, giving different angles, then pans out, sweeping across the garden: well-kept, clearly maintained by someone who cares about it quite a bit. Guava and Chinese hibiscus border the brick wall with a well-pruned mango tree standing sentry, and the compound leaves of a young neem tree sway gently in the breeze in the foreground. One of the women from the delivery room, somewhere in her fifties or sixties, steps into the screen to stand beside the new mother, looking into the camera with the same eyes, her own creased at the edges with decades lived.

Be careful. I love you, she mouths in Hindi, although the video has no sound—and characters, even without any prior knowledge, will find that somehow they know the exact content of what was just expressed—and more than that echoes in their minds.

Be careful.
I love you.
Ishani needs her grandfather.


The young woman smiles a little thinly at the the camera as the video comes to an end, her eyes glistening, and says something in parting, again waving and holding up the baby’s hand as though to wave too; the older woman presses a hand to her lips and blows a kiss with a wistful smile that holds a trace of pain—and briefly, characters look at the screen and realize that her face has metamorphosed into that of someone they care very deeply for, holding direct eye contact with them, visible to any other parties in the room. The video ends, leaving them—and, if they’re unlucky, another member of the household—standing in the living room, staring at a blank screen.




V. Becoming what we are, collapsing stars

Characters attending the community college’s Spring/Summer semester to begin training for their new careers may notice a sign-up sheet posted outside of some of the classrooms in the science and engineering wing: a series of talks on astrophysics, open to the public, is being held by visiting lecturer Vikram Ravichandran, a tenured professor in the Physics Department of the Indian Institute of Science holding degrees in astrophysics and theoretical physics from the IIS and Oxford University, respectively. It’s quite an honor to have someone so qualified teaching in a little town like this, isn’t it?

If any characters puzzle about what might bring a man across the world to give talks in a town like this, their curiosity is dismissed, and they’re simply told that the professor is teaching while he looks for a quieter suburban life outside of the frenetic pace of Bengaluru. Who wouldn’t want to live and teach in America? His choice seems self-explanatory enough to the Americans of Sweetwater.

On the 19thth, the first talk is held, a thoroughly normal lecture on recent academic thought on the origins of the universe, followed by light refreshments, offering attendees a chance to meet their new classmates or perhaps to introduce themselves or pose questions to Dr. Ravichandran—although how much can be safely shared with him, as always, remains a looming question mark.

For the most part, though, Vikram has an approachable air—he's tall and speaks with a deep voice, and is certainly very intelligent in an eccentric sort of way, but he smiles and laughs in conversation throughout the night, diving deep into explanations with evident relish when asked. He gives the impression of someone who has been in academia for quite some time; with tenure has come the ability to relax. As odd as his presence in the town of Sweetwater is, he does seem to sincerely enjoy teaching—those particularly attentive to their surroundings might notice his name on the cover of one of the communal textbooks left out on one of the tables in the science department’s study area on their way back to the parking lot.

Notes:
— The Community College is now open! It features a cafeteria, campus center, library, gymnasium, athletics field, pool, and assorted classrooms. Characters who are registered as students have free access to all parts of the campus; characters who aren't students can access most of it, although they can't check out library books or access the gym or pool.



Players may keep TDM threads canon if both players are admitted, and TDMers are encouraged to play around with multiple possible family member matches. Have fun!

full navigation
requel: (pic#16658661)

sam carpenter | scream | ota

[personal profile] requel 2024-02-03 11:23 pm (UTC)(link)
( oh hi, i'm a ~test subject~! if anyone would like to plot anything specific with sam feel free to hmu or add me [plurk.com profile] shookspeare to discuss. if you're not familiar with her sam, she's in her mid twenties and is the daughter of a serial killer. she is struggling with her own violent tendencies and the fact she also kind of likes killing people but she desperately wants to be good. the items she'll have with her are - her father's ghostface mask and knife and maybe something of her sister's. sam is also mixed and is visibly latina which might draw some attention. sam also has mental illness, possibly bipolar disorder so... that's fun.

i'm happy to play in either brackets or prose so feel free to change the tense if you like.

SOMEONE WIFE HER UP! 🖤🔪)


I. ARRIVAL/DON'T TELL ME TO SMILE
!! CW: MENTIONS OF MURDER/VIOLENCE !!

[ bailey was dead. that was the last thing sam really remembered. the look on his face when she stabbed him the last time in the throat after he begged her for mercy had been priceless. it was what he deserved and it felt good killing him after everything he had put her and her friends through. after all the people who died because of him. maybe she was the killer that bailey thought she was but she was still better than him.

her sister had been right next to her. sam remembers that, she remembers turning to look at tara and then... sam's eyes fly open. a ceiling, a popcorn ceiling was above her. her brow furrows, this wasn't the old theatre... the ceilings were higher there. it takes her a few moments to realize she's in a bed. it's her bed, it feels familiar but at the same time it's not her bed. her body goes tense when she realizes she's next to someone, she turns her head slightly to see it's a man - a man she doesn't know. sam practically jumps out of the bed.

her first instinct is to look for a weapon. because when it comes to fight or flight, sam will always choose fight. that's when she notices the picture on the wall, it's her and the same man that was in bed with her and they're... together?! and they look happy, like a couple... like a happy couple?!
]

What the fuck?!

[ then she realizes she's not covered in blood anymore from her fight with bailey, ethan and quinn. had she finally snapped and gone crazy? she looks back at the man on the bed and then moves so she's on top of him, straddling him and pinning him to the bed. ]

Hey! Wake up!
III. EVERYBODY IS SOMEBODY'S FOOL
[ sam hates her cocktail dress. she hates the shoes. she hates how impractical it all is. she likes clothes that are easy to fight in, easy to run in. the lack of pockets also make it near impossible for her to have a weapon on her. she had found her dad's ghostface knife in the house she had woken up in and she tried to keep it concealed on her for the most part but outfits like this made that difficult. she had managed though. the knife was pressed against her spine. not the easiest to get too but it was the best she could do and forced her to have perfect posture.

right now she's just trying to get a feel for everyone else who's here. she had hoped that maybe her sister was here but at the same time... she wouldn't wish this (whatever it was) on tara.

sam isn't the type to trust people, not anymore. but she's still looking for someone who could be a potential ally even if it was just temporary.

she's hasn't touched the food and the cocktail in her hand hasn't been sipped from either. she wanted to keep a clear head right now.
]
WILDCARD
( something else you'd like to do with sam? maybe you see her wandering around town? or spending too much time in the shops looking at knives? idk. THINGS. )
aluminumandash: (it was hard to take sides)

I lmao

[personal profile] aluminumandash 2024-02-04 01:38 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Like that he's awake. Funneled into the narrow confines of consciousness: her weight bearing down on him, her breathing harsh to his ears. The man's eyes meet hers for less than a heartbeat—wide, not panicked—then he draws his legs up under the covers. Plants his feet and bucks his hips, the movement sudden and forceful. If she falls forward, he'll try and lock down the arm closest to the side of the bed, use that leverage to roll her to the floor.

He's not big, but he's bigger than she is and used to moving fast. ]
requel: (Default)

bwhaha

[personal profile] requel 2024-02-04 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ the movement catches her off guard. she's not thinking clearly enough to prepare herself for him to actually do something in response. she's on too high an alert, too inwardly panicked. it's only as she pitches forward and he grabs her arm that she reacts - attempting to loop an arm around him and pull him down to the floor with him. ]
aluminumandash: (where you can go blind)

[personal profile] aluminumandash 2024-02-04 09:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She gets her free arm around one shoulder—Rust's worried about his eyes and throat, not being dragged down with her. But he has the dubious advantage of still being under the sheets, and it's the sheets and bedspread that cascade to the floor, leaving Rust half-hanging over the side of the bed. If she recovers quickly, she has about a split second to grab him by the hair or slam his head into the bedframe—otherwise, he'll push himself back onto the mattress and roll to the opposite side of the bed.

Either way, he snarls out a: ]
The fuck do you think you're doing. [ The accent's pure Texas. ]
requel: (pic#16658687)

[personal profile] requel 2024-02-04 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she doesn't go for the hair, instead she aims a kick towards his head. whether she makes contact or not she scrambles to her feet. her eyes are narrowed as she glares at him. ]

Who the fuck are you?!

[ she snarls right back. her eyes darting around the room for a brief moment, there are enough things in here to be used for makeshift weapons but not enough that could really do any actual damage to him. ]
aluminumandash: (it was hard to take sides)

rng'd how well the kick went...incredible work sam

[personal profile] aluminumandash 2024-02-05 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ The kick catches him in the side of the head. There's a crack as it hits the bedframe; Rust lets out a groan, black spots swarming his vision. Doesn't hurt, though, not now. He rides the adrenaline, hoisting himself back onto the bed and clambering off the foot of it, intent on cutting off her path to the door.

He's got half a foot on her, he realizes along the way. She's young.

It's not enough to stop his words from coming out in a ragged torrent. ]
Fuck you. These aren't my clothes and I don't fucking sleep. [ Blood dribbles out of his nose and he wipes at it distractedly. ]
requel: (pic#16658631)

bwhahaha i'd say sorry but not sorry

[personal profile] requel 2024-02-05 10:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ she glares at him, not seeming the least bit bothered his nose is bleeding from her kicking him. honestly, she's glad he's bleeding because if he kidnapped her it's the least of what he deserves. ]

Yeah? Well these aren't my clothes either and this isn't my fucking house! So who are you and what's going on?!

[ the last thing she remembers was killing bailey but after that... it's kind of a blur. was this some other crazed member of the kirshe family? that was the last thing she needed right now. but what other explanation was there? because if this guy wasn't responsible for kidnapping her than... who?! ]
aluminumandash: (and I were the priest)

dw there are few people more deserving of a kick in the head

[personal profile] aluminumandash 2024-02-05 12:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's been on his feet a minute, feeling worse for it—his face is starting to hurt, throbbing like a second pulse. His right eye wants to close. He ignores it and sizes her up, figuring the odds of her taking a run at him. Dresser's next to him; he can yank out a drawer.

The anger that's been with him since he woke, the rush he's been riding, has begun to ebb. He can separate it from himself. ]
You didn't think to establish that before climbing on top of me? [ He huffs air, an inarticulate scoff. Runs his tongue over his teeth. His gaze slips to the dresser and he reaches for the photo there, thinking to smash the frame, help himself to a nice piece of glass.

He doesn't get that far.

Rust jerks back a step. He can't afford to take his eyes off her for long, so he doesn't. He says: ]
Cohle. I'm a cop. [ He wrenches the ring—the fucking wedding ring—from his finger, holds it up. ] You got one of these?
requel: (Default)

tbh as long as he doesn't try to frame her for murder/try to kill her she won't do it again... maybe

[personal profile] requel 2024-02-05 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ sam scoffs at him, what sort of question was that? ]

I woke up in bed in clothes that aren't mine with a man I don't know, didn't really make me want to stop for conversation.

[ she doesn't add the fact that she was literally just fighting for her life. it wasn't like she was out at a bar drinking, she might have been less likely to jump right to attack him then. she's still on edge, it's obvious. her entire body is tense.

she seems to get even more tense when he says he's a cop. of course he's a fucking cop. but some of that tension wanes a little when he holds up his hand and she sees the wedding ring. she instantly looks at her own hand and a horrible feeling twists in her gut. sam holds up her hand and reveals a ring.
]

...what the hell?!
Edited 2024-02-05 18:20 (UTC)
aluminumandash: (you'll end up the same)

lmao sadly cannot say he's never done those things

[personal profile] aluminumandash 2024-02-05 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Why didn't she bolt straightaway, that's the next question. Looking at her, the way the word cop winches her expression tight, and knowing how she fights, he can guess. But a guess is all it is. ] Trade. [ Rust cocks his wrist, light dancing off the ring: an unspoken offer to toss it her way. He'd tell her to just give the one on her finger here, but he doesn't expect that'd be especially well-received. ]

Know anyone who'd pull something like this? [ He watches the question land, then takes his eyes off her long enough to sweep the room. ] What's your name?
Edited 2024-02-05 23:21 (UTC)
requel: (pic#16658637)

rust pls

[personal profile] requel 2024-02-06 12:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ honestly, running would probably make the most sense. but there are too many knowns right now, before she did anything sam wanted a better idea of what was going on.

she nods in response to his offer, easily catching the ring. she studies it, compares it to her own. she rarely wears jewelry save for a necklace. jewelry could get caught on things, jewelry was useless if you had to fight.
]

I did... but no way they could have done this. [ she means richie and amber, the ones who initially tried to set her up for murder all so they could inspire some stupid slasher movie. but they were both dead and honestly... something on this scale would have been beyond them. even if they had detective bailey's help.

she looks up when he asks her name. she takes her own ring off her finger as she looks at him and tosses it to him.
]

Sam.

(no subject)

[personal profile] aluminumandash - 2024-02-08 22:03 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] requel - 2024-02-09 07:35 (UTC) - Expand

not at all 😘

[personal profile] requel - 2024-02-11 04:41 (UTC) - Expand

😌

[personal profile] aluminumandash - 2024-02-17 16:31 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] requel - 2024-02-21 20:12 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] aluminumandash - 2024-03-03 13:42 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] requel - 2024-04-01 08:20 (UTC) - Expand
brittlest: ([007])

iii

[personal profile] brittlest 2024-02-08 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
If you're not going to drink that, the least you could do is hand it along to someone who will.

[The man occupying the chair Sam's edged close enough toward to warrant criticism looks tired. His suit a degree or two rumpled, and the man himself is in possessed of that deep-socketed and waxy look of a someone who recently—maybe very recently indeed—has been ill. In the light of this sitting room, one of many that Marjorie's guests are milling about, his shaded eyes are nearly as dark as his suit jacket or the polished wood of the walking cane hooked lazily against his knee.

There is a slow loose jointed quality to his wrist as he raises his own rocks glass to sip from. The guy's clearly making a very purposeful sprint toward being drunk.

And has apparently been watching her just long enough to note that it's not a shared ambition.]
requel: (Default)

[personal profile] requel 2024-02-10 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
[ she turns in the direction of the voice, still trying to appear like the 1960s wife she's supposed to be. hopefully, she hasn't drawn too much attention to herself. ]

I'm savouring it.

[ she gives him a slight smile and then takes a sip to prove that to him, as she gives him a look over. it's hard to tell if he's like her and also just found himself here. and she isn't going to ask him outright. she wants to be careful ...for now at least. ]
brittlest: ([028])

[personal profile] brittlest 2024-02-11 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
[He makes a low You don't say, hum across the lip of his glass in answer, swallowing down whatever mouthful of cocktail he's pulled from it. His forearm unfolds lazily across the arm of the chair after, the glass tangled in his fingers settling there at the very edge.]

Naturally. Gods forbid you over indulge and risk missing out on all the excitement here.
requel: (pic#16658664)

[personal profile] requel 2024-02-21 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ she shrugs, still wanting to play the perfect housewife or whatever the fuck she was expected to be here. the idea of it made her skin crawl - the idea of nuclear family in general did that to her. it wasn't as if she had great role models in that category. ]

Not having fun?
pharadyne: (oops?)

I. Arrival

[personal profile] pharadyne 2024-03-03 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[Norton's eyes fly open as he feels a sudden weight on top of him. He's been in Sweetwater for a few months now, and so the sudden appearance of a strange woman in his bed isn't entirely unexpected, although it's no less unnerving for that. He stays very still.]

Hello. Sorry. I'm sure you have a lot questions right now and I have only a few answers. You've been kidnapped--not by me, I was kidnapped too--and now as far as this town is concerned, we're married.
requel: (Default)

[personal profile] requel 2024-03-18 08:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ she stares down at him, her brow furrows. and for a brief moment she wonders if she's simply lost her mind. the balance of her sanity had always been delicate so maybe she had finally just... lost it.

she stays on top of him though, clearly still ready to attack if needed.

sam's about to open her mouth to start a barrage of questions - where am i? where is my sister? what happened? who are you? but the word marriage causes her to pause. it was one thing to see the pictures, to feel the ring but actually hear him say it?
]

...what the fuck?!
pharadyne: (innocent face)

[personal profile] pharadyne 2024-03-21 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
Fortunately no one's requiring that as far as I know. But I doubt they'd let us divorce even though the marriage is unconsummated.

[He pauses, then tentatively offers a hand to shake, a bit awkward in the position they're in.]

Pleased to meet you, I'm Norton Folgate.

requel: (pic#16658646)

[personal profile] requel 2024-03-22 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ her brow furrows a bit more. what the hell was actually happening? there is apart of her that's afraid she's finally had a mental break. that her hallucinations had finally manifested into something much more extreme. but she had been so good for so long, she was taking her medication and at least trying to go to therapy. before her hallucinations had always presented as her dead father but he was nowhere to be seen right now.

she takes a deep breath, trying to focus to ground herself in something. anything.
]

Do the names Wayne Bailey and Richie Kirsch mean anything to you?

[ she knows he could lie but hopefully there would be a flicker of something if he did. she's still on top of him, still ready to fight if need be. ]

Sam.

[ she's not going to give her full name or more details about herself until she has a better idea of what's going on. ]
pharadyne: (innocent face)

[personal profile] pharadyne 2024-03-22 08:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[There's no hint of recognition in Norton's eyes, just curiosity.]

Not a thing. Are they American? They sound deeply American.
requel: (pic#16658652)

[personal profile] requel 2024-03-24 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ her brows furrow even more. but he has to be telling the truth - richie was dead and she had literally just killed bailey. and even then whatever this is was would be beyond their capabilities. so what did that mean? was she dead? or had she really finally lost her mind?! ]

Yeah. [ she gets off of him but it's still clear she's ready to fight if need be. ]

American. ...very American.
pharadyne: (pic#14399440)

[personal profile] pharadyne 2024-03-24 08:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[Norton pushes himself upright to sit with his back against the headboard.]

So, Miss Sam. Where are you from? America, I assume, from the accent, but it's a large country and also the year might be useful to know.

I'm from London, 1954.
requel: (pic#17095231)

[personal profile] requel 2024-04-01 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[ for a few moments she just stares at him. london, 1954 she had lost her mind, that had to be it. what other explanation could there be? she had just finally... snapped. sam had always thought this day would come eventually, in the back of her mind as much as she didn't want to admit to it. she just thought it would be a lot less... sitcom rerun looking and a lot more, bloody.

she takes a deep breath. trying to will herself to stay calm.
]

New York... California, originally. 2022.
pharadyne: (beaming)

[personal profile] pharadyne 2024-04-02 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
2022? Golly. So you know all about the smart phones, and the apps and... [He tries to think of other things his twenty-first century friend, Andy Davidson, has mentioned. He wants to seem savvy.] ...the Mulder and Scully variety act.

You'll probably feel like a fish out of water here in Sweetwater. Much closer to my time than yours. Oh, and you should probably know that the locals are absolutely nutters. Totally barmy. This town is deeply weird and if you talk about it publicly, they'll torture you.

But other than that, it's not too bad, as far as these things go.
requel: (pic#17095220)

[personal profile] requel 2024-04-02 06:37 am (UTC)(link)
Nutters.

[ she echoes the word, because she feels like she might be that right now. she runs a hand over her face, pinching the bridge of her nose for a few moments as she inhales slowly. ]

...this can't be real.

(no subject)

[personal profile] pharadyne - 2024-04-06 16:02 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] requel - 2024-04-07 02:02 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] pharadyne - 2024-04-07 04:21 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] requel - 2024-04-09 08:33 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] pharadyne - 2024-04-20 16:39 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] requel - 2024-04-24 18:56 (UTC) - Expand