mayfield_rpg | [ oo1 - a cold and broken hallelujah ]

[ 432 Peepers Street | Morning ]

[Shilo, you're the world to me.

His vision swam in a sea of black and red, his daughter's face a pale moon in the spotlight's gleam. Nothing seemed to hurt anymore, his wounds unimportant and superficial, his crushing guilt abating as the night's opera drew to a close. Marni was calling to him, lifting a lamp in the darkness to light his way home. He closed his eyes...

...and then Nathan Wallace woke up. The early morning sun is bright, cheerfully warm on his face. Someone is beside him, a sensation he hasn't felt in so many years. The woman is unrecognizable, her fair hair in tight pin curls, her sleep as sound as death.

He's not sure precisely how he made it outside, but he's standing on the front stoop in his pajamas blinking in the light, the steps cold on his bare feet. Pushing glasses that aren't his up his nose, Nathan stares at the cookie-cutter houses around him, at the white picket fences and the still, postcard-like quality of the scene. He sags back against the front door, nudging the metal basket of fresh milk beside it with his ankle.

He died. He died, he knows it. Is this the afterlife, some form of Heaven distilled into the shape of 1950's quaint perfection?

Or is it Hell?]

[ Phone ]

[Residents familiar with a certain Watcher might recognize the voice on the other line, though it's absent its customary dulcet accent, Midwestern American replacing Giles' upper-middle class British. Nathan is hurried, anxious.]

Is there anyone out there who knows what's going on? What is Mayfield?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

A Prison.

Prison? What do you mean?

I mean what I said. You are trapped. We are all trapped.

How is this even possible? I was- [He cuts himself off severely, reining in his composure.]

I wasn't here before.

I cannot say, because I do not know.

[phone]

keen_incisions - 2012-02-11 23:20 (UTC) - Expand

Re: [phone]

captainofthe10th - 2012-02-11 23:23 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-11 23:40 (UTC) - Expand

captainofthe10th - 2012-02-12 00:09 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 00:34 (UTC) - Expand

[He's been on the phone a lot today. How unlike him.

That voice on the other side, though. Is Giles making fun of him for being a drone yesterday? No, that can't be right.]

Mayfield? It's... Well it's Mayfield. I'm afraid you're trapped here like the rest of us, mate.

What do you mean by trapped?

How else would I mean trapped? There's no way out of this town.

I don't understand, I- I'm not supposed to be here-

[Oh Marni Marni Marni, where are you?]

None of us are. We all got plucked from our lives, or otherwise, and brought to this hell hole.

(no subject)

keen_incisions - 2012-02-11 23:46 (UTC) - Expand

eyesofaserpent - 2012-02-11 23:51 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

eyesofaserpent - 2012-02-12 00:42 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 01:03 (UTC) - Expand

eyesofaserpent - 2012-02-12 01:06 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 02:43 (UTC) - Expand

eyesofaserpent - 2012-02-12 02:49 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 03:19 (UTC) - Expand

eyesofaserpent - 2012-02-12 03:24 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 04:11 (UTC) - Expand

eyesofaserpent - 2012-02-12 04:19 (UTC) - Expand

From what I understand it's a town we've all been kidnapped to, and horrible things will happen frequently.

'Horrible things'?

[Just make this man's day brighter, why don't you...]

Very very horrible! The walking dead, strange experiments, explosions, complete destruction. It's like being in some sort of hell.

[Yes, this has to be Hell. And there's no one less deserving of Hell than Nathan. brb, face.in.hands.]

Phone

tenei_star - 2012-02-12 02:56 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 04:13 (UTC) - Expand

tenei_star - 2012-02-12 04:16 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 05:10 (UTC) - Expand

tenei_star - 2012-02-12 05:46 (UTC) - Expand

[That's...odd. An effect of Giles's revival?]

Mister Giles? Are you alright?

I don't- [There's a tone of familiarity there he finds discomforting.]

Who? Who is this?

[ Giles picks up the phone and immediately falters, pausing with a mug of tea raised halfway to his lips. He hears none of what is said, too focused on the voice. There's something impossibly surreal about it, so familiar but somehow distorted.

Surely he heard wrong, but-- ]

I, I'm sorry, who is this?

[...what the fuck. His paranoia already thrown into overdrive, Nathan finds himself at a loss for words when this new voice, distinct but undeniably known to him, returns over the phone.]

Nathan. Nathan Wallace. Who are you?

Rupert Giles.

[ No, he's certainly not imagining it. The name is entirely unfamiliar, he's -- mostly -- sure of that, but it's...

It's like listening to himself attempt an American accent.

Is this Mayfield's latest attempt to drive him mad? ]

Ah. [Everything he's thinking is encapsulated in that one sound. So this is the man he's been mistaken for.

The silence is awkward, filling the void left behind his note of affirmation. It's a tactic he's used in his favor before, a dare, waiting for the other man to proceed.

...there's also the fact that he knows fuckall what to say. Nathan is no closer to understanding what this town is, only that it's a place that they can't leave and that those in charge are conspiring to keep them all there for some unknown reason. It isn't good enough. Giles can probably hear Nathan's suspicion over the line.]

phone

watchher - 2012-02-12 02:13 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 02:35 (UTC) - Expand

watchher - 2012-02-12 04:56 (UTC) - Expand

I'm sorry sir, I can't say I know. I just came here myself.

However, I've heard of...people being drones. Are you living with anyone that isn't well...creepy? Or at least self aware?

Yes, yes! There are people here, claiming to be m-my wife- [Oh shit don't lose it don't lose it calm calm calm shhh shh- Nathan's voice strengthens and he continues,] -a-and children. I've never seen them before in my life.

[He can't help it; he jumps. Oh man. He's one stressed out man.]

They're...not your real family, no. They're what's known as drones; I understand that it's something Mayfield does in order for you to...'fit in'?

I'm so sorry that it's like that for you. But when new people arrive, they'll likely come to your...residence.

You don't have to like them, but at least they won't pretend everything is wonderful and lie to you.

Or at least, not about that.

[If stress were to take on physical form, it would be encapsulated into the form of one Dr Wallace. He can't help it, it's like an old, viciously abusive friend. Nathan can't recall what his life was like before stress.]

How do you know this?

phone;

derpaheal - 2012-02-12 02:07 (UTC) - Expand

keen_incisions - 2012-02-12 02:55 (UTC) - Expand

derpaheal - 2012-02-12 05:26 (UTC) - Expand

A friendly little town. [mad sarcasm up in hurr]