[Action: Outside of 1670 Nelson today, Elmer stops at the mailbox to see some things with his name on it. Yay! There are two boxes (his lovely prizes from the April Fool's event), and an envelope in the mailbox. Curious, he opens that up first. Upon looking at the card, his usual smile slips into a confused look for about 2 seconds, after which he suddenly makes a strangled, pained noise and promptly passes out where he stands. Hopefully someone's around to find out what in the world just happened.]

---

[Phone call placed later in the day:]

Hello! So, whoever delivers things into Mayfield, I have a suggestion. When sending things to us, you should label what it is on the outside, so we know if we should be careful or not. People might get hurt.

I think... I think I died.

[Padmé's voice sounds quiet and confused, like she's still trying to piece things together herself.]

But, how is this possible? When you- [She chokes on the word for a second, before firmly grasping her tone of cool control.] When you die, one normally doesn't return from death. Is it the norm at this place?

[She pauses.]

And somethings still don't feel right. I'm so cold.

[A - 1488 Kramden Road]

[Well, this was new. Pinkie Pie has just found herself waking up in a doghouse, of all things. A doghouse! After giggling madly over this for several moments, Pinkie decides to emerge from the doghouse, only to realize that she has no idea where she is. There can be only one thing she can do now--ask for directions back to Ponyville!

She marches right up to the back door of 1488 Kramden and immediately begins knocking on the door.]

Hellooooooooo! Anypony home?

[If left unattended long enough, Pinkie's going to start breaking that door down through sheer force of knocking...or she might lose interest and go see what else she can find. Is she all that worried about waking up in a strange place? At the moment, apparently not.]

[B - Around Town]

[Pinkie Pie simply must explore this strange new world in which she has found herself. She is bouncing around town in her usual fashion, calling out greetings and salutations to everyone, even drones. If you happen to be a canonmate and someone she knows, she just might launch herself at you in a flying hug.

She may also occasionally be found staring and gawking at things in a very touristy fashion.]

[C - Your House, later that night]

[There is knocking on your door. If you should decide to open your door, you will be greeted with the sight of a grinning pink pony. Doesn't matter that you're not necessarily one of Pinkie's next door neighbors; she wants to introduce herself to everyone. Especially you.]

Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! I'm new in town, so I thought I'd just come right on by and introduce myself!

 [ Action: 913 Bilko  ]

The first object of realization to come to mind is that she is not 'sleeping'. However, if she had been in her proper state, this would in fact have been the second object of realization. The first would be that 'something was wrong', because under no circumstances whatsoever was she meant to awaken in the first place.

And yet, she is opening her eyes, and moments later, standing. The body knows how to do this; it is a matter of balance. Her arms however hang limply at her sides for many moments, and it takes a few moments before she even realizes she can move them.

And when she does, her eyes widen despite her seemingly calm outlook- hands. Fingers. They move with her will, and are coloured with the same tones as the people of the sky would be. ...Though 'her will' is a little fuzzy on the specifics at the moment.

There is a mirror at a dresser across the room- taking a few stumbled steps before at least partially figuring out proper walking she's able to study this appearance more closely.

It will not be for some time after however until she has come to enough conclusions to open the door and venture into the remainder of the house, still in a dressing gown and looking rather 'spaced' for her part. She has yet to realize it, truthfully; but being unable to discern even a bit of information on what has happened is at its base, frightening.

[ Phone ]

[Her words are blank, flat, and short, and she has likely only grasped how this device works after multiple minutes of examining it.]

Where is this.

[ following this log: ]

A

[ phone ]

Giles? Hello? [ This thing … did pick up, right? Oh, it must be the machine. ] Look, I know you’re all … life of leisure guy lately and all, and that’s great, really, you connect to your inner Kerouac. [ A beat. An exhale. ] But, I need you. Really need you. As in … not really sure what went on last night and need some … bronze-y Adonis-shaped gaps filled in. [ Cue shifty look at Finnick, then she hangs up the phone, sliding it back on the counter. ]

B

[ action, 750 PARTRIDGE DR ]

He wasn't there? [Look, Finnick may be in the middle of a difficult time in his life but he still knows what an answering machine message sounds like. He also appreciates the compliments about his beautiful body. :') Or would if he understood the significance of them. ANYWAY.]

Looks like it's up to us to save ourselves, in that case.

[And thus, he goes to the front door and walks out onto the front yard to investigate. It's worth noting that he did not stop to get dressed at any point between waking up and this moment, so he's still in his underwear. (They are boxers. ftr.) ]

[ MEANWHILE, BUFFY GOES CLAMBERING OUT THE FRONT DOOR AFTER HIM BECAUSE OH GOD UNDERWEAR -- at least she’s in her pajama pants and camisole. She has some sense of common decency, unlike her new roommate. Husband. Roommate. Whatever the fuck he is. ] Hey, guy, you can’t just -- [ O h. She looks up and down the street, coming to a slow halt on the front lawn. Which is manicured. As is every one up and down the street. ] Uhh …

[ Action: 1336 Benny Road. Morning. ]

[ To Wataru, he had expected to wake up in his bed and begin his day. However, as soon as he noticed that he wasn't in his house or...anywhere familiar, he instantly snapped to attention and looked around to what was in the room.

Yep, this wasn't Japan at all. And the picture on his bedside was definitely telling. He wasn't married, he didn't have children and, more importantly, where was his father's violin? Kivat? Or his friends?

He had a feeling that calling for them would be useless, but he had to at least try. ]

K-Kivat...? Are you around here?

[ He'll go searching around for the bat in hopes of finding it, however do feel free to run into him, housemates! ]

[ Action: Around Mayfield. Mid-morning. ]

[ When searching for Kivat became fruitless, Wataru set out to look for his friends. Though, with not knowing where he was had been unsettling. Still, he was hoping to see at least a familiar face around here.

Though, as soon as Wataru feels like his searching isn't bringing anything up, he decided to sit at a park bench and he rubs at his arm a bit uncomfortably. Just where had he been taken to? ]

A

[ ACTION: 1666 NELSON ST. ]

[ He'd told Lisa that the couch was fine for him tonight – insisted on it when she fixed him with that pitying expression, because he figured that if he needed anything right now, it was to be alone. It wasn't fair, bringing all this crap to her doorstep, but it was even more unfair to make her deal with what he was sure was going to be the most restless night of his entire life. Cas had put his body back together again, eased away all those physical bruises in the blink of an eye, but there was no easy fix for the emotional scarring. It just made it seem all the more ironic: looking and feeling fresh as a goddamn daisy while he was still beaten to a bloody pulp on the inside. His body was wide awake, but he'd never felt so tired and haggard in his heart. Which translated to either no sleep at all, or a night full of the worst dreams of his life.

So the couch was fine, he'd told her, leaving out the explanation.

It was probably two hours after lights out, when Ben was safely slumbering away, that Dean looked up to find her standing over the sofa, and then she was grabbing his hand and giving it a tug that was both firm and gentle at the same time. “Come on.” Her tone didn't allow for an argument, and he found he wouldn't have had the strength for one anyways. She pulled him into bed with her, and wrapped herself against his chest, where he could stare at the ceiling and squeeze out some tears without her noticing. She seemed to know better than to look for them. Before she drifted back asleep, she whispered: “I'm glad you came back” and he wondered just how long it was going to take for her to change her mind on that one.

Somehow, impossibly, sleep found him too.

When the light pouring into the room hit his eyelids, stirring him awake, it was easy to think for a moment that yesterday had really just been nothing but one long bad dream. But a glance through sleepy lids to his right ix-nayed that hopeful fantasy pretty quickly, when he saw that he wasn't alone in the bed, and remembered:

Lisa.

Any momentary fragile sense of optimism crumbled in an instant, replaced by a sick knot in his stomach. Which only knotted tighter when she stirred and he caught sight of something in the light.

Her purple hair.

He stared uncomprehending for a long moment, as if waiting for the punchline. Finally, tentatively, he just said: ]

… Lis?

B

[ ACTION: NELSON STREET ]

[ In a much less long winded bracket-based adventure, Dean's next move is to go play Nancy Drew and head out of his house to ~explore the neighborhood~. Opening people's mailboxes surreptitiously, glaring down freaky lawn gnomes, knocking on your doors, whatever. HE WILL FIND ALL THE ANSWERS. ]

C

[ ACTION: DOWNTOWN MAYFIELD ]

[ Or not, in which case he's going to head downtown to try and figure out what info he can about the town itself. He peeks in shop windows, eyes up the vehicles, taking specific note of the make, model, and year on each one, and then slips into a diner in hopes of pulling his best Marty McFly impression.

… Sadly, this is nothing new to his life. ]

[ ACTION: 462 STONE ]

[ When "Mother" woke her up for school this morning, her instinctive reaction? Was to bar the door with as much furniture as possible and start tearing apart the room she'd found herself in. And that's when she discovered the photo album beside the bed, filled with images of her and her ~happy family memories~ ... and not a single image of her actual family. Her parents, her brothers, not even her adopted brother, Jace.

And search as she might, not a stele or seraph blade to be seen.  She'd been stripped of every weapon, even the one that had been strapped to her thigh.

She flumped down hard on the bed, staring at the topmost picture, and rubbing at her temple, trying to figure out what in the world could have happened to make her hallucinate this bad. It hit her with a groan, and she dropped the album next to her on the quilt. ]

Great. Demon poison. Juuuuust the cherry on top of an already perfect day.

[ Further movement outside the door caused her to perk her head up again, and this time, she slid to her feet and looked around the room for anything that might serve as a weapon. A long silver baton looked like it would do the trick - even if it had two very not-intimidating tassels hanging off either end. Holding the baton like a bat, she shoved the furniture tower aside with a swift kick, and threw the door open. ]

[ ACTION: MAYFIELD HIGH ]

[ Yeah, fuck this noise. The mindless student body and faculty manages to be ten times more creepy than even the picket fence routine, so Izzy doesn't even make it to lunch period before she decides to make a break for it. She slips out for a 'drink' and then makes her way through the halls, casting surreptitious glances around as she attempts to locate the closest door out of here without being spotted.

This was all way easier when she could turn invisible. :|

Feel free to intercept her in the halls as a teacher catching her, or a fellow student. … Somebody should probably warn her about this droning procedure thing before she skips and finds out the hard way. ]

[Action: Around Mayfield]

[If you're wandering around, you may notice an unfamiliar man walking around as well. The strange thing about is he's sticking to the shade provided by the houses, trees, anything.

Hey, Dainn doesn't want a repeat performance of burning to death. Once was enough, thank you very much, even if he did feel a little strange. Or maybe he knew exactly why he felt strange but didn't want to...admit what he was now.

Either way, he's wandering around, looking for a way out or at least some information.


[Phone]

[Later on, a voice floats through the phone. The person sounds very calm for someone who just found themself in a different world and not dead.]

Is this a form of communication in this place? I'm quite surprised the afterlife would be like this...it seems rather nice.

[there's the sound of movement and Dainn drums his fingers on a table. solid. he doubts he'd ever get used to this.]

But if this isn't the afterlife, would someone be kind enough to tell me what this place is?

[a pause and then he laughs a little.]

And...has someone seen a boy named Solar Boy Django? We still have a lot to talk about!

A. [Action // 1664 Nelson St]

[There was a new arrival in the household.  'Mother' came down the stairs, looking around the house with a completely confused expression.  Who's clothes did she have on?  Who's house was she in?  She was studying for that stupid philosophy final, and then . . .]

Hello?  Is anyone here?  I'm not an intruder, really, I'm just lost.

B. [Action // Nelson St]

[A new face was out in the front yard at 1664.  She wandered to the sidewalk, looking up and down the road at all of the identical houses.  What horrible alternate dimension had she been dropped into?  She leaned on her white picket fence with a frankly horrified expression.  Clearly she needs a random stranger to harass her and make her day worse.]

[Action: 915 Bilko]

[Maladict had left her little package from the postman on the kitchen table, and had avoided opening it for a couple of days. For a start, she wasn't sure if it was going to be like those bees, which was not a fun thing to get in the mail at all. Angry bees rated somewhere between a rotting animal carcass and an STD as a desired gift.

Still, people talking about regains finally convinced her to give it a shot and open it, and inside waiting for her was her very first. She takes out the little back ribbon, her hand curling around it, staring a little dumbfounded]

Well, at least you gave me something I actually wanted for a change.

[And with that, she pins the ribbon to her shirt. From this point onwards, it will never leave her]

[Phone: Open]

You know what's not fun to wake up to? A creepy drone husband. Just when I thought he couldn't get more annoying.

Anyway, is there anything I can do to distract him? He keeps shooing me into the kitchen to make that 'special pot pie' so our family can have a 'nice hearty meal' together.

I can't reiterate enough how unlikely this is to work. So I need to make him...shoo. Maybe I can ask him to paint the fence or something.

A. [Action | 1245 Williams Rd]

[Well. This certainly isn't Xander's musty old basement. Which would be a good thing, except she'd gone to sleep next to Xander and she really expected to wake up next to him, not next to some... extremely bland human that seemed to think they were married.

Anya ditches the bedroom fast and starts looking around the house, picking up a knife from the kitchen just in case this is a demon dimension with things that will die upon being stabbed.

Eventually, she locates a phone.]

B. [Phone]

Come on, Xander! Pick up! [Her voice is slightly hushed and nervous sounding, like she doesn't want to be overheard. Too bad all of Mayfield can hear her.] I think I've been kidnapped and there's a man who thinks I'm his wife and where are you? Get Buffy to rescue me or something!

[She'd ask Xander to do it, but let's face it. Buffy's the big guns. Still, it's Xander she calls, not Buffy. She's pretty sure Buffy doesn't like her as much. Probably because Buffy's a demon racist. That or because Anya doesn't sleep with Buffy. One of the two.]

[Action; 456 Stone Street]

( Read more... )

[Action; Stone Street]

[If you're outside, you might just notice Clover running out her front door with little apparent regard for what lies in front of her, judging by how she nearly knocked the poor door off its hinges in her rush to get out.

It's hard not to be in a hurry when you're being chased by a horde of angry bees.]


[Phone]

[Later, after she's gotten out of her predicament, Clover decides a phone call would be a good idea.] Yo, guys. I just wanna--

[Wait, what was she even going to say? Was she just gonna go "Hey, Equius, when you were here before, we sparred a bunch and now I'm freakishly strong again so we could give that another go!"? "Fang, get your ass over here and watch me knock out this idiot drone in one punch"? Ugh, she really should have thought this through better, she tells herself as her free hand idly slides off the back of her neck and, without thinking, she smacks the table in--

CRASH.]

Oh, shit.

1. 310 Miller

[The last thing Connla remembered was closing his eyes as he was hugged to his father's chest. The same father who had given him a mortal wound but minutes earlier. At the time, child though he was, he knew that his time had come.]

[Which is why it's rather surprising when he feels the warm sunshine on his face. He groands and tries to pull the covers over his head. Since he was obviously alive, that experience with his father must have all been a dream...]

[Wait...covers?]

[He opens his eyes and sits up. He is lying in a bed, one softer than anything he had lain in, even in his mother's domain. Around him, the walls are painted white. The floor is covered in wooden strips. Sunlight is streaming through the windows covered in some strange, transparent rock.]
 
[This is clearly not his room from back home. Perhaps...the thing with his father was real? Perhaps he had just fallen unconscious instead of dying. And this was obviously one of the rooms in Emain Macha. It really was different from anything he had back home.]

[His clothes are different too. He's wearing a tunic with strange clasps and trousers. He wonders where his kilt has gone.]

[He carefully gets up and starts exploring the room. There is a strange wooden contraption consisting of a body and some...flaps? He stays away from it for now. He also stays far away from the strange trunk at the foot of the large bed and the transluscent structures connected to the wall. However, he does open one of the doors in the room. He finds that it leads to small storage room filled with clothes hanging from some sort of hook.]

[Pull one of the outfits off the hook, he frowns. These tunics, brightly colored as they may be, were too short for a Goddess' son. And they had clearly provided him with trousers instead of a kilt. They expected him to dress like some commoner!]

[He was just a little offended at the people of Emain. Surely, the son of the greatest hero should have been accorded better treatment.]

[However, he knows that he is in no position to criticize his seniors. Even if they were men who had lost to him, they were still his father's comrades and, as such, he owed them some modicum of respect.]

[Instead, he'll just open the other door in his room and head out into the hallway. From there, he starts opening the other doors out of curiosity. Most of the rooms shared much the same structure as his. In one of them, he was even able to find a tunic and a kilt that matched his size. However, when he wanted to change into the new clothes, he found that he could not undo the clasps of his current outfit. After a couple of tries, he finally tore it apart in frustration. He would have to apologize to his father for this later, but for now, he would go greet the residents of this fort.]

[Good morning, residents of 310 Miller. Your new son/brother is coming downstairs...dressed in one of his "sister"'s dresses.]

2. Olney's Tavern

[After finding out that he had to go to school in this town, Connla decided to walk to the schoolhouse. Of course, he's still dressed in what he believes to be a kilt.]

[Since he is unfamiliar with this town and all but illiterate, he ends up very, very far from his intended location.]

[Namely, the bar.]

[Now, if any other child had walked into an establishment filled with bottles of alcohol and populated by grown men and women, he would have been able to understand that it was not the schoolhouse. However, Connla had grown up in a training camp.]

Uh....hello. Is this the school?

3. School

[By the time that he has finally gotten to school, he is already late. He also has another problem. Namely, he has no idea where his classroom is.]

[His solution is to go up to every passerby, whether sentient or drone, and ask them if they know where his classroom is.]

Excuse me, but could you please direct me to my classroom?

A. [ACTION: 917 BILKO BOULEVARD]

[before the Once-ler even opens his eyes, the first thing that immediately occurs to him is how fresh the air is.

even when he's straddling the border between the waking world and his dream world, it's immediately apparent. sleeping, such as it is, isn't easy to accomplish anymore. it's always fitful and restless and not really sleep at all; light napping would be more accurate. once, all he had to do was bury himself under his quilt and concentrate on the steady rhythm of his heartbeat to lull himself into unconsciousness. it's a little more difficult now. his breathing isn't so steady anymore; it's hoarse and when he coughs it feels like his throat's splitting apart. the air's too sour and smoggy to inhale without launching into a fit of hacking and spitting, but like most things these days, he's gotten used to it. you didn't even need willpower to force yourself to accept things anymore - all you had to do was give up.

he's lived in the valley long enough for his body to grow accustomed to the air, so naturally it senses that something is very wrong here before his mind even registers the fact. buried under his blanket with his legs sticking out in uncomfortable directions (and wow, did he outgrow his bed or did it somehow shrink?), he yawns and smacks his lips together noisily, a little trickle of drool hanging out of the corner of his mouth. he really must've been exhausted because, gosh, he can't remember sleeping this well since - well, since -

since the trees were still -

...wait. waitwaitwaaaait - was it sunny?

the Once-ler's eyes flutter a little before wrenching themselves open completely and he confirms within the rough span of five seconds that, yes, it is sunny and no, he isn't in his room. and this DEFINITELY isn't his bed, it's smells like fresh soap and cotton and it's way too cramped like... like...

what. the. heck.

he slowly turns over on his side and all it takes is the sight of the woman's blond head for him to bolt upright in bed and shriek at the top of his lungs.]


B. [ACTION: 917 BILKO BOULEVARD]

[lovely day, ain't it? maybe you're on your way to work. maybe you're a girl scout making your rounds. maybe you're just out for a walk, looking to stretch your legs and take in Mayfield properly before the powers-that-be go nuts and end up putting a damper on what could otherwise be a very nice week.

if you're expecting a relaxing morning, you definitely shouldn't pass 917. really, you shouldn't.]

- Hey!

[this is why.

even if you don't hear it the first time, that single word is repeated with a little more urgency (and a little more whining) until you give in and follow it to the source, which just happens to be the mail slot of this particular house.

the slot is open and a pair of blue eyes are peering out, looking straight at you.]

Yeah, you! Get over here!