Mysteries

[a_gentle_boy]

[action, 846 Goldberg]
[It's been a long time since he's thought about the mystery surrounding the town. In his room, Lucas removes the third drawer of his dresser, dumps all of his clothing out, and takes out the small box that he had taped to the bottom of it. He spends some time reviewing his notes before reaching for the phone. If anyone walks in on him now, it's likely that they'll find him staring at a driver's license. The name is Richard Grey.]

[phone]
There are a few things I'd like to add to what's been being said over the phone lines.  Mayfield hasn't shown us anything new in a long time, so there are probably a lot of you who haven't heard this before.

Richard Grey, Evan Olney, a girl named Annie, and the man who's now Billy Smith were the first ones who tried to rebel against Mayfield.  Or... maybe they weren't the first; maybe they were just the only ones we've heard about.  There are others - Samantha Achewood was the first one to be droned.  William MacCready is the man we call the Mayor.  And the one who's really in charge of Mayfield is named Zemekis.  His first name is probably John.  There's not much we know about him except that he's in Lucy Smith's body, and he wants us all to stay in this town.  He's controlling the Milkman, too.  Or maybe the Milkman is controlling him.

These people fought their battle in a place called Westport.  They lost.  Billy Smith turned against them first, then Evan Olney betrayed them when it was just Richard and Annie left.  Evan became a man named Chief Grady, and for a long, long time, he was the one we all hated.  He carried out the dronings, he started some of the events.  Samantha Achewood became Jane Smith.  And Billy is Billy.

Both Evan and Samantha are dead now.  Samantha fought the droning and begged to die; Evan killed her out of sympathy.  Evan -- Chief Grady -- was punished by the town and killed as well.  This was just last year.  ...They're buried in the park.

If I had to guess, Annie is the town librarian.  She tried to escape last year during the April Fools' prank after fighting with Billy over the telephone, and she's the only other person who's ever talked about Richard Grey.

There are a lot of new people now -- the woman who did the surgeries, Jack Smith, the Postman.  ...And I don't think anyone ever figured out what happened to John Smith.  They might be Rick or Amy or the other people mentioned in the rest of the notes, but whatever the case, they're not on our side.  I think the Postman, at least, hates the town just as much as we do.

The really weird thing...

Richard Grey is dead.  His body was found in Westport two years ago.  This isn't the first time he's left us a message after he died, either.

Comments

[1_truth]

What was the first time?

[a_gentle_boy]

It sounded like a recording. Everyone who was trapped in Westport; we all heard it in our heads after we came back. He was telling us how we had to stand together to fight Mayfield and apologizing...

[theboywiththebook]

So...Mr.Grey is dead?

[Henry doesn't know how to feel about this.]

Than how did he get the message out to us here than?

[a_gentle_boy]

I'm not sure.

We heard from him before, like I said. It was almost like... a recorded farewell note.

[Phone]

[birthmarked]

Thank you. That's very helpful.

[a_gentle_boy]

You're welcome.

Back then, all of us shared what we'd found out with each other. We wondered and thought about it a lot, but... it wasn't enough to decide anything definite.

We should see about distributing them again.

[chalicejoker]

This is...quite useful. Thank you.

You say these others died without coming back the way everyone else here seems to?

[a_gentle_boy]

It wasn't the first time. Chief Grady had done so before. It might be that they can only permanently kill those who are native to this world.

We're... maybe we're just 'emulations' like what other people have mentioned already.

[bantorain]

There's no proof that body was real.

[a_gentle_boy]

That's true. But then, nothing else in Westport might have been real, either.

...The Netherlands was the one who found it, back then. I don't think he ever said anything to anyone - I didn't even know there was a body until he'd gone. There's no one left who saw it in person now.

[encored]

It's good that someone is keeping tabs on all of this information. [a small, thoughtful pause, and then:]

Do you think Sergei is tied into things in any way? It seems strange for there to be so many connections between Westport and Mayfield, but for that other town to be completely disregarded. It was clear that Lucy didn't want any information from there leaking over here, if their reaction was anything to go by.

[a_gentle_boy]

The Russian town... We sort of decided that there might be a lot of different towns like this, right? And that Mayfield and the Russian one had a lot of conflicts.

[notintwopieces]

[Jazz is busy scribbling things down furiously as he listens. And then the revelation that Richard Grey is dead. Oh. Well.]

So...I heard people talkin' that the city might be a VR simulation. Y'think that means maybe Grey got out of the simulation and is hacked into their computer systems somewhere, tryin' t'help us break th'system?

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas seems surprised for a few moments.]

...I always thought Westport was supposed to be... helpful, in a way. ...Like someone was trying to show us something important. The message he left us when we returned was like an apology.

Maybe you're right. But if it's true, I feel like he would have tried to come back for Samantha and Annie much earlier.

Phone

[atailoftwoworlds]

After he died....?

What was the first message he left us?

[a_gentle_boy]

When we came back from Westport. All of us who did heard his voice.

[ceasetoexist]

....Are you sure it was Westport, and not what the town said Westport is?

[a_gentle_boy]

...If the town calls it Westport, but it was actually someplace else, does the right name really matter?

It might have been where Mayfield used to be, if that's what you mean.

phone

[answerer_sword]

So would the recording be some sort of trick? A pre-recorded message broadcast to us at this time?

[a_gentle_boy]

I don't know.

...Maybe he isn't dead. Maybe the body was a fake. Maybe everything in Westport was faked. Or... maybe Richard recorded it in advance - we've heard one of those before, like I said.

[slave_of_suzumiya]

Grey's body was found in Westport? Huh, I didn't know that bit. Maybe I should try going over Nagato's notes again.

[a_gentle_boy]

No one knew that except the Netherlands and Mr. Canada. ...And after they left, me. But there's no reason to keep it secret anymore.

[roadroller]

The librarian did all that? Jeez, I was even here for that, but I must have missed it! Maybe those highway shenanigans were ill-advised after all.

- I mean, thanks! That filled in some gaps. ♪

[a_gentle_boy]

She said she was going to try to take the highway out. Her voice was a little strange over the phone, but it was definitely her.

Oh! ...That reminds me. We haven't thought about that gas station in a while -- That woman, what was her name... Bobbie?

[stabbywheelfeet]

About time someone compiled all that scrap.

... Do you really think it's a good idea to plaster it all over the phone lines, though?

[a_gentle_boy]

I don't think it can hurt. I'm pretty sure they know that we know all of this already, and since Grady died, they haven't really been droning or punishing people much, either.

[selematpagi]

Hmmmn... This is all very convoluted though! How could he send us a message if he's dead?

[a_gentle_boy]

Well. Either he's not actually dead, the message was pre-made, or his radio goes through time.

[Lucas has been asked this enough that he feels he has some leeway to be silly.]

[pnshandnslv]

Interesting... if this isn't the first time, then what was?

[a_gentle_boy]

When we came back from Westport. That time, his message was obviously recorded in advance.

Phone

[thenewnancydrew]

[ That clicking in the background? That's Bella typing on her laptop. She's typed up just about everything he just said. ]

Wait, he's dead?

[a_gentle_boy]

...I guess I spoke a little too quickly. A body was found with his identification on it. He might not be.

[kyrannical]

Thank you for sharing this information.

If you don't mind my asking, how did you find out about all this?

[a_gentle_boy]

...Mostly by being here a lot longer than I'd really like to be.

[crusthatecean]

Okay, see, I don't know any of this shit and I'm intensely dubious on whether it will matter if I know it.

[a_gentle_boy]

That probably depends on what you think it matters for. If the key to leaving Mayfield isn't beating the Mayor's head in until he lets us go, then it might be in understanding why we're here in the first place.

...I know you and your friends don't want to leave, but we all want Zemekis gone, at least.

[vedaandme]

How do you know all this?

[Clearly this boy had been in Mayfield much longer than Tieria had.]

[a_gentle_boy]

Little pieces of paper people leave for us to find, mostly.

[notalady]

He's in someone else's body? [The rest is bizarre enough, but that's... well, we might as well be talking about snarks and giants.]

[a_gentle_boy]

...What?

[Lucas doesn't even understand for a few moments what was being suggested. It certainly wasn't something he'd even considered.]

N-No, I just mean... Well... I don't really know. I guess that's possible.