scene xxv

[encored]

ACTION;
A) [In the morning, Charles can be found living up to his actual age, being an old man and setting up a chessboard in the park! Someone save him before he starts feeding pigeons and wearing sweater vests. He doesn't seem to have a partner to play with. Not until you walk by, that is, at which point he smiles and gestures to the other side of the table.]

Why don't you take a seat? Let's have a match. [SUSPICIOUS... No, he's just that bored and in a rare social mood.]

B) [Or maybe you catch him a little later on, after he's packed away his chess set and is out walking his, uh... Horace. The giant beast actually seems pretty tame, all things considered, only stopping to sniff moving things (like you, whoops!) and occasionally making gross growling noises and drooling on the ground. So majestic.

For the unfortunate citizens, these two losers can also be found in much less docile situations - Charles trying to shoo his droolbeast away from a drone it's attempting to gnaw on, or perhaps Horace lolloping down the road with a few geese in its mouth.]

PHONE;
[And carrying on with the trend of being utterly unruffled by everything that happened over the weekend, Charles will pick up his phone in the early evening with a question for the masses.]

I'd like to know your opinion on concerts. Proper orchestral performances, I mean. Who here enjoys them? If something with that sort of music happened to be available in the city, would you attend? [His little fancy cultured self is starting to feel more deprived than usual okay... Having at least one other star performer now, all that's left is to gauge the interest of a potential audience.]

Comments

[encored]

[if Mayfield is ever in dire need of more rudeness, they can step up and fill the gap like some sort of rude superheroes...]

It would be miserable if we had boring personalities on top of the drones, isn't that so? I don't think I could bear staying in a city like that. [because apparently all the strife on its own isn't bad enough...]

Yes, yes. I was simply curious since things have been a little quiet recently. It's suspicious, you know?

[extraordinarily]

[PRETTY MUCH]

Of course it would! That would be the worst!

[Haruhi pretty much cringes at the mere idea of a town full of boring people.]

Yeah - it's been too quiet. The stuff that's been happening lately haven't even been half as bad as the stuff before it! Makes you wonder, huh.

[encored]

[they both have their priorities in order too, it seems!] Wouldn't it just? The drone to non-drone ratio was in the favor of drones when I first arrived as well, so I've experienced how frightfully dull it can be.

But there isn't much to wonder about. When they're quiet for this long, it usually only means that they're gearing up for something particularly gruesome.

[extraordinarily]

[Priorities? They don't seem to exist.]

Huh, really...

[But then again, her whole house sans her "husband" is full of drones. And she also knows that one of her previous incarnations was here when everything 'began'.]

That sounds boring! But it does seem like the calm before a huge storm. So that pretty much means that something big's going to happen pretty soon. Though we don't know when that 'pretty soon' will be.

[encored]

[clearly not!!

the question is met with a solemn nod. it was so boring he only survived because he's a hermit.]

It wasn't near as lively as a half-year or so after my arrival, and the population has only grown since then. As much as I dislike some of the morons here, it's infinitely better than the way it was before.

That does appear to be the case, yes. Remaining on one's guard is usually the best way to handle the possibility of things going sour here.

[extraordinarily]

But if you keep on guard all the time, you'll become paranoid.

[Which is pretty much read as: don't think too much about what's going to happen. It'll only give you a headache.]

[encored]

It isn't truly paranoia unless it's unjustified, you know? [no it is still definitely paranoia... he would do well to take Haruhi's advice this time around, really.]

Either way, the saying 'better safe than sorry' exists for a reason.

[extraordinarily]

[

What, Charles? How does that even make sense? But whatever, Haruhi's not going to care.]

Exactly! Though it's best not to worry about it too much.

[Since these things always catch everyone off guard to begin with.]

[encored]

[his is not the most sound logic, sadly...]

Well, yes. Everything in moderation. Obsessing over it won't do anyone any good, but a little preparedness can go a long way. [a small shrug.] That's what seems to work the best, at least.

[extraordinarily]

[Some logic that is.]

It's kind of hard to actually prepare for something that you don't know, isn't it?

[encored]

While we can't prepare for things down to the detail, certain patterns have cropped up over time that make it easier to predict a few generic things. A lull in noise from our captors usually indicates that something large will happen soon, unusual behavioral patterns from the drones points to a disturbance in the town powers, that sort of thing.

[and excuse him for a moment while he goes to shove horace out of the way since droolbeast was impeding pedestrian traffic...]

[extraordinarily]

That makes sense. Though we haven't exactly heard anything from our actual captor.

[Sure the people who didn't act like drones were different, but they weren't exactly the Big Cheese of Mayfield.]

[encored]

Lucy Smith, you mean? She has been terribly quiet lately. [so quiet, in fact, that he isn't entirely certain people who missed out on the last April Fool's event would be aware of her importance.]

[extraordinarily]

No, not Lucy.

[Something that she's totally being serious about.]

[encored]

Who, then? Grady wasn't ever responsible for our arrival and you'd be hard-pressed to get a word in with him now, anyway. [because those are clearly the only two candidates for head honcho who even remotely make sense...!]

[extraordinarily]

You haven't heard the record where this little drone girl was going, "And I thank the one who brought us here -" have you? Because she was talking about some guy nobody's ever seen or heard about. There is a theory that he's disguised as Lucy, but there's no proof.

[encored]

Zemekis? You're correct in saying there isn't any proof that he's Lucy, but there have been a few hints indicating that. There was a chalk drawing in the school in Westport that depicted a crowd bowing down to a young girl with pigtails, for example. She's also shown that she possesses powers unlike other key figures.

[extraordinarily]

Yeah, Zemekis.

[Haruhi personally hasn't been to Westport, but this information is all good. She'll take it all in, sighing.]

So? We -- 'we' meaning Mayfield as a whole -- have powers too, so this isn't a huge shock. There's a possibility that she's not truly in charge, but is in the top tier.

[encored]

[there's a moment's pause as he mulls the possibility over, and he eventually gives a lopsided shrug.] True, I suppose. I'd like to think we would know who was behind this entire charade by now, but that might be hoping for a bit much.

[extraordinarily]

True, since it's already been three years. At least, that's what my documents say.

[Documents that she got from a friend, that is.]

[encored]

I can account for at least two and a half of those. There were a few who had been here before my arrival, so I'd imagine three or so years would be a correct estimate. [which for some reason feels like a long time whenever he says it out loud, even if it's a drop in the bucket for him.]

[extraordinarily]

I had a...

[There's a pause. She doesn't know if she can actually call her a friend. Were they actually friends?]

Well, a brigade member of mine was here for a really long time and wrote a bunch of stuff which accounted for three years.

[encored]

Had... They aren't here any longer, then? It's a good thing they had the foresight to keep so many notes. I don't believe many people do, since it seems like a frivolous activity in the face of so much chaos. [he looks thoughtful for a moment, placing a hand to his chin.]

It might be a wise idea to see how many other people are keeping notes on hand and try to collaborate and create something of a history book.

[extraordinarily]

She got droned twice! Which really sucks, but it's not like I could do anything about it.

[She just shrugs. But at least the notes that she left behind.]

Yeah! Not only history, but a huge information book about this town.

[encored]

It happens to some. To others, they never get the chance to return. [he shrugs as well, since he's pretty good at distancing himself from the topic by now.]

That might be a wise idea, don't you think? We could compile a timeline of things that have happened so we could check for similarities between the days when things go sour in town.