[Action: 339 Brady Lane]

[As everything's simmered down for the moment, Mika's going back to work to get some supplies that people need. Only there's a rather large box on the doorstep, leaving Mika clutching the doorknob tightly as she stares at the package.

What the hell did they pack in there this time?

Even worse when she knows it's got her name on it.

Closing the door behind her in case it's something that could escape into the house, she cuts the box open right there on the porch. Only to stare at its contents. Clothes? But...these don't look anything like her stuff. Why did they send it here? She pulls out a dark blue jacket with dark brown bands on the short sleeves, running her thumbs over the buttons carefully pinned to the shoulder straps of some weird harness.]

What the hell...?

[Another nudge in the box reveals some rather strange equipment, some huge headset and metal gloves, as well as a smaller pair of gloves that seem to have mechanical components in them. Pushing the front door back open, Mika decides it's best to ask the expert.]

Quinn? I got something really weird in the mail...It looks like a costume but I've never seen it before, and there's these clunky bits that look like they escaped a cyberpunk flick. C'mere a second!

[B. Phone]

Has anyone ever gotten a package of stuff that isn't theirs? Like...it's not even something that one of your friends back home had, and it's not something you've ever seen before? Because I just got a box full of stuff that isn't mine and I don't know what to do with it.

[She's not going to mention that it all smells like her, that's just weird and no one would understand why that's the most unsettling part.]

Also Ema, Doctor Banner. I know you two wanted some supplies, but it there anyone else that needs something? Might as well get it all in a couple trips...

[Phone | Unfiltered]

So yea...I've been here for a while, and got pretty used to all the stupid stuff that goes on here. It was all pretty weird but you could kind of get used to it after a while, and even start predicting when stuff would happen.

[There's a long pause before Arcueid speaks again. She doesn't really sound afraid, just maybe a little nervous.]

This is different...isn't it?

[Action | All around town | Late night]

[Once the moon had come up, Arcueid had decided to take stock of what might be going on around town. No goofy Phantasmoon, no silly antics, she's just moving about like a vampire do.

You may find her sitting on your roof, laying on the grass, or maybe just actually walking around like a normal person. The woman seems a little bit worn out tonight, no whimsical fancies to deal with.

Feel free to bug her, she'd probably appreciate it, actually.]

[It's been almost a full week since that Mr. Grey tasked the townsfolk with finding the Librarian's mementos. Six days since Virginia led the household into one of the portals, plus the hell raven she inexplicably won over—which turned sour quickly and forced their retreat back through the portal when somebody grabbed the memento. Virginia died in the first few moments of that, blown apart by bombers passing overhead.]

[As frustrated and angry as it made Balin to have Virginia die so senselessly like that, again—he'd seen Mayfield bring her back from the dead once before. So she ought to be back good as new the next day, right? Caesar came back that way, even if he was an amnesiac for a little while. Yet when Virginia didn't come back, Balin grew concerned. The week passed, day after day—and still no sign of Virginia, until this morning.]

[And she wasn't herself.]

[She didn't dress as she normally does. She didn't behave as she normally did—she was acting just like the other droned women of Mayfield ... and none of her belongings that the town had given back to her were around anymore. The garage-turned-stable was empty. The weapons and equipment she'd kept on her person had vanished ... so this was really it. Virginia had been droned for good.]

[It's the first time that Balin has experienced the permanent droning of someone he knows. While he's met plenty of people in town, rarely does he hear when the town disposes of them. This time, he's had front row seats—and it's left him feeling a little darker and a little meaner than usual.]

[ACTION - A (847 Goldberg, Morning/Late Morning, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Balin's stepping out of the house to go check the mail. He's wearing his red Mech Armor suit as usual—getting into the habit of wearing it most of time outside again, with the way things in town were shaping up. He's not enthused about going to work today, and is contemplating taking a day of as he goes to check the mail.]

[He was expecting the usual junk mail, but who knows, maybe Mr. Grey had left another note for everyone. He's much more surprised when he pulls out a thick packet envelope and two smaller ones, all addressed to him.]

[ACTION - B (Hospital and Downtown Mayfield, Late Morning/Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Well, going to work is officially off the table for today. What Balin found in those envelopes has made him driven. He's checking around town for sources of scrap metal—or disposable, purchasable metal items—so he'll be hitting up the construction site, the hardware store, and possibly the Greased Lightning Garage. After he's collected enough metal he'll head over to the Hospital to try and find a doctor there. Mordin Solus, if he can find him—but anybody involved with the medical laboratories will do. Failing that entirely, he'll just see if the Workstation can handle a direct sample ...]

[ACTION - C (847 Goldberg, Afternoon/Early Evening, HOUSEMATES/GUESTS)]

[By hook or by crook, Balin's returned home with the supplies he needs to get to work. He's fired up the workstation and (after making doubly sure that Caesar's yandere-streak-under-the-influence didn't result in any actual damage or tampering with the system) has started fabricating ... something. Taking one of the paper-thin yet not paper schematics, inserting it into the workstation, and processing his haul of scrap metal and organic samples into ... what looks like sand at first, but upon closer inspection are actually microscopic machines.]

[ACTION - D (Mayfield Outskirts, Early Evening/Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[It's another lovely evening in Mayfield. The sky always looks wonderful when the suns are setting—wait, suns?]

[Yeah, suns. Over on the horizon, there is a bright mushroom-shaped explosion rising up from the distant outskirts. For the folks who had been in Mayfield last Thanksgiving, it looks rather similar to that mushroom cloud. Yet it doesn't last nearly as long, burning itself out and not leaving a cloud of debris in its wake. Gazing upon it won't blind you or hurt your eyes, though it is pretty bright. There's no sudden city-destroying blast wave or intense heat either, yet there is a muted, distant explosion that sounds more like listening to a nuke go off on the television or over the radio than as it would experiencing the real thing.]

[And for those who can sense magic, psychic, or spiritual energies, they'll feel something akin to a bomb with a lit fuse—prior to the explosion, a somewhat low-level build-up of energies, then spiking as the explosion happens.]

[Feel like checking it out?]

[Action: Locked to 1667 Nelson]

[Mart snores loudly in his sleep and starts rolling around and blindly gripping at the pillow in his sleep. He grips something. But it isn't a pillow. More a person. A person named Annie Goldstein. This can't end well.]

[Action: Outside 1667 Nelson.]

[Outside, you can hear loud screaming, crashing, yelling, and swearing. Followed by Mart, in only his boxers, flung out the bedroom window and onto the pavement below. He slowly gets to his feet in a daze, more or less unharmed. Dare you approach and see what this is all about?]

Ow...

[Phone: Filtered From Drones]

So. I guess even not celebrating your birthday in Mayfield still counts. Now, I'm 18, and an adult by town standards. And... forcibly married. Can somebody fill me in about what this means?

And since the cat's outta the bag, would anyone want to help me have a belated birthday party or something? Shit has just gotten too damn crazy now.

[Action | 3478 Erwin | Morning]

[well well, it seems that today is Dainn's lucky day. a package arrived for him early in the day. seeing that Mayfield had yet to give him something he didn't want (besides clawing his eyes out that one time), the Shadow Immortal went to go get it.

the power he felt return to him cause Dainn to burst out laughing. it was back! his greatest power...oh was he going to have fun with this.]


[Phone | Open | Morning]

It seems we've dug quite deep into the puzzle that is this town! Wonderful...that means there are many choices before us on how to go forward.

[there's a pause and Dainn speaks again. he sounds rather amused.]

Speaking of choices, I have a question for all of you. If you had to choose between killing someone you cared dearly for, like a friend, lover or family member to save your own world, would you do it? Or would you let the world be destroyed?

...oh, and there is no way around it, no third option. That person has to die to keep your world safe. With that in mind would you still do it?

[only one person in all of Mayfield knows that answer. they'd also know that Dainn is leaving something out in that question...]

[Action: in front of 1486 Kramden]

[Neville is checking the post, not quite sure what will show up this time.

He opens the package and just stares.

Candy wrappers. Droobles gum.

The ones he saved from his mum.

All he can do is stare.]

[Action: Park]

[Neville is bound and determined to be as useful as he can. Things are getting worse. So he's practicing as many charms as he can think of.]

There has to be something else.