mayfield_rpg

[Well. Alright then.

There was a small secret Pokey kept, had managed to keep to himself despite all the towns attempts to drag everything out of him. Even despite his confession on Valentine's Day, there was one last little thing. And that's that whenever the time for new people to arrive in town rolled around, he'd keep an ear on the phones. Just keep listening in the off chance that someone he knew that had gotten taken away would call back, would show up again. And he would ignore the call, or just be the sardonic asshole he usually was and hide any happiness he had that someone he cared about was back.

He's got to say. You're the last person he ever thought he'd hear back from Frances. And hearing you shouting over the phone just roots him in place. Someone could break into his house right now and he wouldn't care. The very foundation could begin to shake, and crack, and tear itself apart around him, threatening to bury him under debris and he wouldn't even begin to notice. He's just standing there, deadlocked in thought and feelings and not really sure what he's supposed to do.]

[He takes a step towards the phone. And stops.

Do you really remember? You're saying you do, but do you remember everything? Do you remember him? It's a ridiculous concern but he can't stop shaking it. What if you have forgotten who he is? In the long run of things, that probably shouldn't mean much but to someone as ego-centric as Pokey it is the big concern he has at the moment.

But then that's pushed aside, flooded away. By worry. By guilt. He has no clue where you've been but if it's true that you were at home, then he just feels like crap that you're back here. You don't deserve this. On the other hand, if the machine is true-

And what's he even supposed to say? Hey it's been a long time I'm so happy to see you by the way I have a massive crush on you? Should he just ignore her? Avoidance to problems has always been one of Pokey's main tactics when he's found it wasn't a problem he could break or shout away by any other means. And for a moment he thinks about just leaving it there. About lying to himself and convincing himself this is some trick of the town's. That maybe he's fallen over the edge of insanity and is hallucinating. Hearing things he wants to hear.

But if it is Frances he can't just leave here there. He looks at the phone, as if he's dumbfounded by it, before taking a breath and taking it.]

[One thing Pokey has found he can be very good at is concealing his emotions. It was something he naturally had to learn to get by with his parents, especially his dad, and it's a skill he maintains to this day.

He wasn't sure he could do it at first, but once he starts talking he finds he can.]

You're back.

You've got a lot to catch up on. For one thing, we're in disarray: managing a group like the K.N.D. in the conditions here has proven to be impossible with the frequency of people getting droned and sent back home. Only a few of us who were part of the group even remain, and none of us with enough training or knowledge of the group to maintain it. The way the town works in that regard is too great a hurdle to overcome in maintaining a group with any cohesion unless multiple rules and factors were to be put into place to try and assure the group's survival.

There's also been a lot of changes to the infrastructure of the town since you've been gone. It's been about a year and a half, on this end at least, since you were last here. I can fill you in of what's happened via a written report in a couple of hours or by tomorrow at the latest.

[He should say more. He feels like he should say something else. He's trying to maintain composure, maintain control of what he's saying by talking about just business. About something neutral. But even know it's getting hard.

He should give a better greeting. That he's happy she's here. About how much he's missed her. Thanking her for what she taught him, maybe even inadvertently, that's kept him going for the last two years and made him who he is now.]

I'm sorry you've gotten thrown back in this dump. No one deserves this.

[If she's ever been happy to hear a male voice, it's this one.

A year and a half, though... She couldn't have been back home for more than a week or two... The KND here is gone; probably means most of her fr-- comrades from back home are gone, too. But, Pokey's still here. So that's something. Maybe.

She replies in her usual tactful manner.]

You've been here a whole year and ya still haven't managed to get out?! Stupid.

[huff] I'll take that report, though.

[He has no clue why her responding like that is such a relief to him. But it is. Maybe he's just happy that it turned out he got a response at all, and that what he heard over the phone wasn't just some crazed hallucination.]

I think we can get out. But as for finding one we need to hunker down. It's become pretty obvious that trying to bring the fight to our captures is going to fail. That being the case we need to hunker down for a defensive war.

Yeah alright. Where are you at so I know where to bring it?

I'll be the judge of that. Just let me catch up first.

[she knows where she is now because she's going to fight an assassin] 625 Topper.

[He frowns at that. That isn't a suggestion, that's a fact as far as he's concerned. There's nothing they could do to hinder their opponents here by taking the initiative. They have to wait for them to make a slip.

But the last thing he wants to do right now is start a fight with you first thing, so he'll just be quiet on that.]

Alright. Give me a little bit and I'll be over.

Also. Do you know who you're living with yet?

[Because oh please God he's hoping you haven't gotten shacked up with psychos.]

Some stupid guy, but he's no threat. I haven't met anybody else, but from the pictures I'd guess there's a girl, too.

[Well. That didn't help half as much as he'd hoped but he guesses he'll be able to at least get a look and see if he recognizes anyone in the photos as a threat. He wishes you would take this a little more seriously, but considering you haven't had an additional near two years worth of experience with the town.

God. He just hopes you don't start fights or anything stupid.]

Yeah. Alright. See you soon.

[And a few hours later there'll be distortion in the air over the lawn of 625 Topper as Pokey and his mech materialize there, Pokey carrying a folder containing his report under an arm.

He stops at the door for a moment before, finally, knocking.]

[She answers the door, no longer in her pajamas but in the least hideous green dress she could find.]

About time ya showed up. [looking over his shoulder] What's that?

What, Josephine?

[He looks back over his shoulder, making sure they're looking at the same thing. Really, that was probably unnecessary. There was very little else she could be talking about.]

She's my Time Distorter. Time traveling device along with land travel and teleportation, and mobile weapon platform.

Oh, right. I remember her. [She shrugs it off.] It's a bit fuzzy, ya know. The report?

Do you feel alright?

[It's hard, and he tries to clamp up, but after hearing it's fuzzy sets off an instinctive reaction in him. And he can't hide the genuine concern in his voice once it makes its way out.

So he shuts his mouth and holds the folder out to her. It's a fairly detailed report, and he's managed to list a document of all the important events to have occurred from October of two years ago to present ~~and here I intended to have a typed out report to post a link to but I'll have to wait til tomorrow to finish it otherwise assume he has all the information present in the "story so far" section~~]

[~~shhh james I've been here I know what happened~~ She takes the report from him and starts flipping through it. But, she looks up for a moment at the tone of his voice.]

... Yeah. I'm fine.

Okay. Good.

[Shit. His face slips into a small smile at that and he just does his best to readjust it.]

There's something weird with some people who've come back. One kid came back a while back who had been here before and didn't remember his first time here, only to recently regain his memories.

I don't know if that was supposed to happen in the town or not. There's evidence the town is....degrading. Or their control is.

That's good. They might just break themselves down, even if we don't do anythin'.

... [man is he like sick or something what the fuck is wrong with his face] Do you feel alright?

Huh?

[And back to his usual blank, somewhat sour expression.]

Yeah. I'm fine. I'm just perfect. As always.

Honestly, that'd be in our best interests. At the moment they still possess a considerable amount of power and near infinite control of the town. But they're making more mistakes. Our best chance at striking at them would be to wait until they wear themselves out, make a mistake, and take advantage of it.

For now, we can focus on weapon-stockpilin' and trainin'-- and maybe gettin' everyone to work together so we're not all a bunch of useless morons when the time finally comes.

[She gets to one part of the report, and pauses.]

... The cop, Grady. He's...

I've made a couple M.U.S.K.E.T.s at least. Just for practice, and in case you're unarmed right now you could use one. Stockpiling other weapons and supplies shouldn't be too hard. Getting reorganized and training may be harder. There's a growing lack of kids in the age range the K.N.D. usually accepts. It might be in our best interest to be more lenient with the age restriction, if possible.

Dead.

[He says it normally. Unphased. He's seen so much of it and died so many times himself in the last two years he just doesn't care. Let alone about Grady.]

His real name was Evan Olney, and apparently had originally been some kind of runaway or resistance fighter against the town until he betrayed the others with him and took the position of Police Chief. The position is currently held by "Jack Smith", the "father" in the Smith household.

It's really changed, hasn't it... [She stops looking through it and puts it on some surface inside. She'll read it later ~~where she can react without feeling like a loser in front of him~~.]

I'd be alright with teenagers, if they're trustworthy and 'round the lower end. But no adults.

It has. In a lot of ways. It's hard to believe it's the same place as it was a couple years ago.

[He nods a little.]

That's fine with me. Most of the low end ones I know should be pretty trustworthy. ...There's a load more crazy and dangerous adults here than there had been, and most of them are busy fighting with each other a lot of the time, so it might be best to ignore them entirely if possible.

Sounds good to me. If they start attackin' kids, though, I'm not just gonna stand by and watch it.

I won't either.

The only way any of us have a chance of beating the people here is to work together, whether it's against the town or the psychos here.

Edited 2012-04-12 07:17 (UTC)

It's like the sayin' goes, "You're either in, or you're old."

Haven't heard that one before.

I should probably leave to start working on stuff and let you read the report. I'm still at 502 Ricardo, if you need me.

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