EVENT ∞ LOG — July 125

[thediadem]

Event ∞ Log

In the Flesh

Jump ⇅ :: Visits — First Contact — Hitchhikers — Notes

∞ Prologue ∞

It's not real, it's not real.

Somewhere in the Blocks, late at night, a young woman repeats the words over and over, fumbling with her room key. She doesn't dare look over her shoulder again, begging her hand to obey. Her fingers are stiff and smooth, and it makes each movement more difficult. Eventually, the door gives way. She stumbles into the apartment, slamming it behind her and locking several bolts.

Leaning back on the door, she lets her key ring fall to the linoleum as she holds her hand up to her face. It isn't just her fingers now. Painted plastic has taken over her entire right hand, spreading up her forearm toward a ball-jointed elbow that creaks painfully. She grabs her neck with her flesh hand, sucking in a sharp breath as she tries to steady her heart.

It's not real, it's not real...

She takes another breath, then turns on the light. The bulb flickers. Hazy light flood the room with an incessant buzz.

She freezes.

A figure stands in the opposite doorway. It doesn't move, stuck in a pose with an outstretched hand—one made of flesh and bone. Her hand.

She screams.

Info & Mechanics — NPC Forum Post — Event Interaction ::: ⇅ Top

Strange Visits

Panorama

For the first week or two of July, life goes on as usual. You have a lot on your plate—jobs, loans, rent, that creep who won't stop staring at you when you're filling up your car—and the last thing you've got time for is other people's problems. Or maybe you find room to listen, anyway? Whatever the case, it's mostly a lot of stories and pointing fingers: a shopkeeper accuses his friend of stealing from him, somebody claims their boss must've skipped town to avoid paying the employees, and a woman is frantic about her missing husband. He never goes anywhere without telling her.

If you decide to look into it, none of the incidents seem connected. After all, people frequently go missing in the Diadem, friends betray each other, and businesses often go bankrupt, leaving their workers to pick up the pieces. Funny thing, though: here and there, you swear you glimpse a figure who isn't entirely flesh. Their features are just...a bit odd. Is it your imagination? When you move in for a closer look, something gets in your way and the figure disappears.

On the other hand, you think to yourself, it's not as though everybody on this planet looks standard. If a man can have horns, why can't his skin also be a bit plasticky?

Use the Event Interaction comment any time you need specifics or some direction for an element you're engaging within the event. This can be an NPC victim your character is questioning, an aspect of the diffusion zone your character is testing, or anything along those veins. While you're encouraged to make things up on your own, too, if you're ever unsure of the results or the answers you might get, approach us there!

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First Contact

The Fringes

Inevitably, you take the risk and head back into the Fringes. It has what you need, and the bizarreness in Panorama isn't making the city feel like much of a refuge, either. Besides, long trips aren't unusual for anyone in the Diadem. As you drive, you might even find yourself reluctant to return to the city. After all, there's so much across the multitude of diffusion zones that regardless of how dangerous it can be, perhaps some part of you is attracted to the thrill of the unknown.

If the promise of loot isn't enough, a note on the Forum might be. Here, you'll scroll across a brief message from who else but the ever-eager Felix Bjurstrom, joined by his daughter, Olive "Ollie" Bjurstrom. (Looks like he's got a new phone again!) If nothing else, the investigative or curious nature in you gets you going. What if this is a piece of the puzzle you need to go home?

If you want your character to scavenge items, check how that works. The Map identifies where each Quadrant is located.

Among the Shadows — Abandoned Mall

©

In Quadrant 1, about a 10-hour drive from Panorama, a standard American shopping mall rises through the cracked and broken highway. A portion of its vast parking lot melts into the road ahead and behind. There are cars in the parking lot, each one perfectly preserved: no rust, no dust, nothing.

The mall's lights are on. The moment you step inside, you'll notice that you're not alone. Inside, shadow corpses are everywhere, frozen in time. Their bodies show no signs of distress. If you try to touch them, a dark, ashy residue coats your fingers. You see a young couple linking arms, a mother bending over to pick up her child, and a man ordering his last meal at the KFC. It's as though they all just...stopped. While eerie, whatever force swept through here is long gone.

The upside is that nobody will bother you while you look around—aside from other fluxdrifts, of course. The shops and their offerings are stuck in the 90's. Big electronics are cosmic touched, rendering them worthless, but smaller electronics like cassette tapes, CDs, and Walkmans are all viable. You can also grab clothes, snacks, and (cheap) jewelry.

And, as you pass by the store windows, you see many mannequins on display. That's normal, so you don't think twice. At least, until you swear one of them keeps moving around the store. Though its pose never changes, it almost appears to...follow you? That can't be right. You must be seeing things.

Zone Effects
Touching any of the frozen shadows will cause the victim to believe that their companion(s) have transformed into monstrous creatures. Attempts to approach you will only register as an attack rather than placating gestures, while words will sound like snarls or spoken threats. An induced panic will make it more difficult to think logically and see through the hallucination. The illusory creatures can take the form of anything that might frighten or threaten you the most.

You can break free of the illusion through a variety of methods, including your own willpower, being knocked out by your friends, or seeing/hearing something that makes you realize it isn't real. The hallucination isn't overly intense, but it can cause a bit of havoc among you and your companions...and increase the likelihood a mannequin might make contact unnoticed.

Wall of Refuge — Strange Temple

©

In Quadrant 1, about a 6-hour drive from Panorama—and on the way to the abandoned mall above—stands a geometric structure made of metal and stone. Sharp angles shoot up from the ground to form a distorted hexagon. The gateway is littered with sigils: some weathered by time, others freshly carved into the rocky surface. They glow when you drive forward, beckoning you closer. Come in, whispers an unknown compulsion in your mind. You are home.

You may succumb to the whispers for any number of reasons: sleep deprivation, desperation for a place to rest overnight, or a need to hide from raiders or dangerous creatures lurking in another nearby zone. Regardless, you give in and enter the triangular entrance. The stone gate lifts to grant you passage, revealing an effigy of a multi-limbed being. A deity? A symbol of power? Though you're unsure, you continue deeper. Your footsteps echo across the cavernous halls.

Behind you, the heavy gate slowly closes with a rumbling finality. Despite the chilly entranceway, the interior of the temple is warm and inviting. Candles line the walls. Fountains flow peacefully. You can enter one of the many rooms to find a soft bed, fresh cakes, succulent meat, and fine wine available for you. Behind a silk curtain is a steaming bath lined with soothing floral herbs and oils.

Meanwhile, throughout your explorations, you might sense a figure or a shadow in the passageway. A glimpse of shiny plastic appears oddly out of place in a temple of this kind.

Zone Effects

• If you are a believer and decide to trust the gifts bestowed upon you, then you may safely indulge. The wine will warm you up, the food will fill your belly, and you can sleep through the night. When you awaken, you can safely leave the temple refreshed. Your vehicle will be outside, untouched, as if some power within was protecting your belongings.
• If you are a heretic and doubt the offerings you've been graciously given, the gifts will begin to rot and all amenities will crumble to dust. The more your cynicism betrays you, the more the temple will take until nothing remains except the oddly textured walls bearing down on you. As you examine the surface, you realize the stone is built from a manifold of dozens—no, hundreds—of twisted bodies. Their arms are raised in reverence, piled upon each other like human bricks. Their gaping mouths are frozen in a silent scream. As for you and your companions...what fate will await the nonbeliever?

The Last Stop — Foggy Town

©

In Quadrant 4, about a 3-hour drive from Panorama, east of the currently unused train tracks, a thick mist rolls through the highway. Here, the sky darkens rapidly into night and the temperature drops. If you've traveled unprepared, presuming the heat in Panorama spreads into the Fringes, you'll find that's not so. A chill spreads into your bones and creeps up the back of your neck.

Then the ground rumbles. The tremors shake your vehicle. Maybe it even makes you lose control briefly or sends you swerving off-road, straight into the fields. And in the middle of the fog, you see it: a figure standing in the middle of the field. Behind it are a few houses, making up a tiny rural town. The houses are dilapidated, many crumbling. Supplies within are minimal, and many items are broken or spoiled.

Do you approach? Do you drive past? Merely staring for a second too long will be enough for the hitchhiker to choose you as its ride, but its appearance may not be all that keeps you in place. In the distance is another bigger shadow. A much bigger shadow. It looms in the distance without true mass or form. Within the void of its body, a searchlight sweeps over the misty town. It does not move. It simply looks while the ground shakes. Each time its light catches a glimpse of something that doesn't belong—an animal, a vehicle that drove too deep into the tall grass, a raider that went too far into town—a sonorous howl reverberates through the zone.

Then the shadow will teleport to its target and crush the intruder without mercy before retreating back to its watchful post. And the intruder is indeed crushed: any living organism caught by the Light Guardian will be flattened with a horrifying crunch of broken bones and squished organs.

Zone Effects
While the Light Guardian can't be defeated or confronted, you can outrun or hide from its sweeping beam. If you stop far enough on the side of the road, it won't notice you...but you can still watch as it mangles an unfortunate raider or traveler. Possibly, you see the spray of blood or hear the screams before you run. Perhaps you realize how easily you could've met your own gory fate.

If you've left your car and gone too deep into the town before you realize the danger, you can do one of two things: you can risk hiding in an abandoned house in the town and hope that the sunrise comes. In zones like this, the day/night cycle is unpredictable, and many places are permanently cast in darkness. Or, you can try to run back to your vehicle and pray you don't get caught.

Alternatively, you've plowed directly into the field when raiders in pursuit force you into the zone. Should fortune favor you, they'll be obliterated by the Light Guardian while you flee. The beam tracks quickly, but can only shine in one direction at a time so the key is to bob and weave.

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Hitchhikers

Anywhere

Not everyone who enters the diffusion zone will pick up a mannequin, but the possibility is there. Once you make first contact, you will gain a hitchhiker. Unlike most aspects of the diffusion zones, this one has gathered into a storm, meaning the effects will breach even normally stable and anchored strongholds like Panorama.

Some fluxdrifts will brush off your problems while a few might believe you. Others will offer solutions in their own way, including a doctor who'll pay to obtain strange plastic limbs. Not everyone will pitch in to help. The city's big, populated, and somebody on the street turning doll-like doesn't affect them (...until it does). They've got a job to get to and mouths to feed.

Unwanted Passenger

When do you first notice your passenger? At any point, really. Perhaps it goes like this:

You glance in the rearview mirror and glimpse a figure in the backseat. When you spin around, there's nobody there. Then it happens again. This time, you realize it's not a person, but a dummy. A mannequin. It's sitting upright. And is it...wearing a seatbelt? Or maybe it's thrown itself across the back bench as though somebody tossed it there, uncaring.

This time, when you look back, it's still there. You pull over and dump it on the side of the road. That's taken care of, you think. You drive some more. For a few hours or even a day or two—depending on how long you've traveled—you don't think much of it. Then suddenly, it's back. And it keeps coming back no matter how much you try to get rid of it.

Or it goes like this:

You return from a standard trip into a diffusion zone. It went pretty well, you think. You found some clothes at a creepy mall and now you're ready to get some sleep. When you open your trunk to retrieve your belongings, you notice a mannequin stuffed inside, limbs bent at odd angles. You're a little weirded out, but you decide to dump it on the street and move on.

You shower. In the bathroom mirror, the mannequin suddenly appears behind you. Over the next few days, this continues. The mannequin appears in a booth across the diner as you're eating your eggs. It's behind a shelf in the corner store. It's in your closet. Each time you check, it vanishes...but then, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's right there in plain view. It'll even let you throw it away, burn it, anything you can think of. But it always comes back.

However it plays out, you realize that people around you do notice it...sometimes. That doesn't mean anyone will believe you that things are just that weird. Most people have better things to do. They don't know you, after all, and even if they did, well, this place does have a habit of driving people a little crazy. Witnesses casually push the mannequin aside and tell you that's a funny prank. Your regular waitress pats your shoulder and suggests you get some sleep. You're not looking well. The shopkeeper demands you take that thing before you go. He's not responsible for your junk.

But there's a small chance you run into someone who seems to be going through what you are. Unfortunately, they seem to actually have it worse and aren't making much sense. Still, you can try questioning them and see what answers you get. At least, before you lose them for good. For some of you, the victim you run into is in especially bad shape...and you have to wonder how long before you end up the same.

Trading Places

For some of you, the mannequins might not do more than be a nuisance. While that's not ideal, either, it doesn't completely upend your life. Others are less fortunate. If you're one of the latter, you'll begin to notice symptoms.

The first time it happens, you're startled to hear the mannequin speak. To begin with, its voice might be guttural and unnatural, incapable of stringing more than a few words together. Then it seems to learn. It talks in full sentences. Its voice smooths out. It starts to sound more and more like you...right down to your speech patterns and accent. As symptoms progress with varying intensity—over days or weeks—you realize with dawning horror that you're losing parts of yourself. When you wash your hands, you notice a part of your skin is smooth and shiny. The next time the mannequin appears, its previously plasticky appearance is more flesh and blood.

Eventually, the mannequin becomes independent. It shops with your money. It steals while wearing a face that looks nearly identical to yours, especially from a distance. It calls your friend and says the things you would never say out loud to them. They're thoughts you've had, sure, but you know better than to hurt your friend's feelings...except apparently, you have. And now you can't even use your own voice to explain yourself. Your leg has been getting stiff. Your joints don't bend properly.

Meanwhile, the mannequin is now striding around smoothly. Its appearance is still uncanny and odd if anyone pays attention, but at a glance, it easily passes as a part of the crowd. As its final act, it's even absorbed small bits of your abilities if you have any. Not all of them, but enough to cause trouble. Throughout everything, you cannot harm your hitchhiker. Some unknown force stops you any time you think about it. You simply can't.

Related Incidents

The impact isn't contained only to those directly affected. The hitchhikers' influence spreads through the city. For some incidents, it's difficult to trace back to the source. For others, that's a little easier. Regardless, these occurrences could help you determine how to solve your own situation. Alternatively, if you've escaped unscathed, you can still find yourself dragged into a situation involving someone else.

Return to Sender

July 11 — The Forum: An anonymous poster contributes this bit of information that might catch the eye of those affected. You can try the same method, but it's a risk going back into the diffusion zones. No one can guarantee the specific zone you found the mannequin in is still standing. Further, you have to remember where you made contact to begin with.

If you decide to try it, be sure to take a friend. The less independent the hitchhiker, the more likely it will stick to your side even as you return it home. If the assimilation has progressed too far, though, you might have to utilize methods such as duct taping inside your trunk or strapping it down with ropes. It may struggle and say vile things to you or your companion.

Victimless Burn Victims

July 14 @ 03:00 — The Pavilion (East End): A handful of troublemakers grabbed some freaky mannequins wandering the street and, in a drunken stroke of genius, set them all on fire for no reason other than that they wanted to. Not only has this resulted in damage to the corner store nearby, but Enforcers have linked the incident to four hospitalizations at roughly the same time. Doctors from Saint Margery's Hospital (located in the Blocks) report that all four individuals suffered massive shock and claim to have endured unimaginable agony as if they had been "set on fire."

Curiously, none of them bear any physical wounds and, by all accounts, are completely fine (trauma aside). Notably, all four individuals were also suffering from various stages of "joint stiffness" and "hallucinations"...which have since completely vanished. You might wonder, is this the solution? Or perhaps the better question would be, is it worth it?

The Sculptor

July 15 — The Pavilion (Medical Clinic): Around July 14 onward, word begins to spread that a Dr. Maggie Wright (who insists on being called the Sculptor, though nobody seems to heed this request) will not only do an amputation for free, she will pay you for your limb if you are boasting an "unusual trophic change to the skin, resulting in a smooth and shiny texture." All she asks is she gets to keep the sample. Her promise is that she will study it to find a more permanent cure and, if she does, she will return the limb to you for reattachment.

Some end up trusting her. You wonder, maybe she could help? Dr. Wright will happily accept you as her patient if you agree. Her methods are indeed proper and sterile: she'll put you under and provide you with plenty of pain meds. She appears to have all of the equipment required to preserve the limb, too.

If you're suspicious, you can also pay her a visit, but you won't have much luck getting her in trouble or sniffing out any evidence of nefarious deeds. Her office hasn't got anything strange, she is indeed a real surgeon, and there are testimonials from patients who've had success under her care in the past. Plus, nobody's going to her who isn't doing so voluntarily (they've signed waivers)—even if you could argue how much desperation plays into their decision. Still...the thing about her "title" is a bit weird, right?

Dr. Maggie Wright is 5'2, Caucasian with a light Northeastern accent and silver hair often worn in a bun. She's in her 50s and looks fairly good for her age. Her voice is soothing. She has intense, wide blue eyes, which some might find unnerving, but that's not necessarily her fault.

∞ Notes ∞

• Mannequin contact is not required. Not everybody who goes into the diffusion will make first contact, and many won't. Characters can explore the mall, the temple, and the foggy field without ever picking up a hitchhiker.
• The diffusion zones described are only examples. Others will exist where mannequins can be found, including grocery stores, gas stations, abandoned parks, and more. You can make up your own, but check with us if you have any questions about limitations!
• The speed and intensity of all mechanics are entirely up to you. Generally, the earlier a character makes first contact, the more severe their consequences.
• Investigating the zones or helping others are perfectly fine ways to participate! Since the hitchhikers are meant to be more insidious, it won't be strange if your character isn't in the middle of the action right away or notices things a bit late.

Questions? Ask here

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Comments

[oomfies]

[ There's a distant rev and rumble of an engine that she immediately writes off. They're probably going too fast for her to signal down anyway and, wouldn't it be so awkward if she tried to and they ran off? Not worth it. Never worth the disdain she'd feel at a job not done well. So she ignores it, crumbles in on herself a little more and starts sniffling once her nose starts running.

But then.. That engine. The engine , it keeps — sounding. Running? At a constant. Not far away, but close, constant. It's then that she looks up and sees a man. Forehead wrinkling at her figure, sunglasses kissing his hairline. Are those mutton chops?? Why do they look so.. Not bad? ]

Um.

[ Is she okay? She wants to say yes because it's embarrassing and too vulnerable to say no. In the end, she refuses to say anything, looking particularly pathetic when her lips press firm against each other in the interim. After a moment of silence, ]

My ride, uh — [ What's a kinder way to say they didn't want her in the car?? ] they had to, um, go...

[carcajous]

[ His eyebrows touch the bottom of his raised sunglasses. Some asshole left her in the middle of nowhere?

Sure, it could be bait, she could be a hell of an actress, and maybe a different rider might've abandoned her, too, in case she spells trouble—but Logan's not so much trusting as he just hasn't got as many reasons to play it cautious. Not a lot can take him out. Mostly, he sees a girl in tears on the highway while night's starting to dim the sky, and that's where his mind's at.

Besides. Trouble seeps through the cracks sooner or later, anyway. ]

Where're you headed?

[ He'll turn around and bring her back to the city if he's gotta. But he is trying to make good time toward the mall to see about that missing girl. ]

[oomfies]

[ Where is she headed? To her, it seems like a silly question. The mall. The place with clothing and jewelry that'll make her feel normal. But then she remembers other people have different priorities and her anxiety ramps up — what if he's heading somewhere else entirely and she's, she doesn't know, doomed to die on the side of the road??

Her mouth opens and warbles closed in thought. ]

Um, um...

[ Her mouth is suddenly clammy, tongue dry, despite how wet her eyes are. Fighting with the fact it'd benefit her to be honest versus facing the humiliation of how fucked she is by being here alone. It's after a moment of silence she decides to speak, voice particularly small. ]

The mall?

[carcajous]

[ With one foot on the asphalt, Logan waits, expectant. Does she know where she's going? For a second, he's thinking maybe she doesn't, that she just hopped the first ride out of Panorama and prayed for the best; then she says the mall, and he looks her up and down before deciding: she's probably not heading there to search for a missing girl. Hell, if she was any younger, he'd think she was the missing girl.

The mall's still a bit of a ways off. By his estimate, at least. Not as though there's an exact map, and there's every chance it'll have vanished by the time he reaches it, but Logan's reasons for getting out of the city are less about the destination and more about...well. Getting out of the city.

Somethin' in the air lately makes him antsy. ]

Alright, c'mon. [ He tips his head toward the back of his seat. ] Get on.

[oomfies]

[ Oh, she can feel an even sillier question hit her skull. Rattle around in her brain as her sniffling stops and she looks a bit stupefied by what is, by all means, exactly what she wants. A ride! A way out. The universe is finally looking out for her!! (Yay!) Her eyes flick to the back of his seat and then back to him, apprehension hitting her like a freight train. That isn't a car, the pretty machine he sits on.

Also, this is a man.

But she has keys, so she might be fine? Why is she only thinking about this now? Wouldn't they technically both be in danger if something happened on this bike?? The motorcyle. She ambles up, grabbing her bag of things and approaches. Stops when she's close enough she could get on but— ]

Like.. Just on??

[ There it is. The question she knows is stupid, can recognize how stupid it sounds as she leaves her mouth and her face flares hot. Oh god. ]

I mean, I know on. Just.. Shouldn't there be a helmet??

[carcajous]

[ What? What is it, what's the problem?

Alright, so he probably doesn't register as the most comforting option for a girl like her on an empty highway, with dirt on his jeans and the thick aroma of earthy tobacco clinging to him from a cigar he discarded several miles ago. If she'd let him assume that's all it was—that she's not eager to jump on a strange man's bike at dusk—he'd get it.

But somehow, he isn't expecting her to bring up auto safety. Really? Out here, that's her other big worry? ]

Hey, you wanna sit on the road overnight, be my guest. [ A beat. Her cheeks turn pink. The lines on his forehead soften. Ah, shit. If she starts tearing up again, he's gonna feel like a real jackass. ] I won't let anything happen to you. Just keep your feet up and hold tight, understand?

[ He'll even go slow, just for her. Clipped impatience aside, he is waiting, wheels straightened forward so she can hop on easier. ]

[oomfies]

[ But.. But — he smells! Like cigars and, well.. Mostly that. She tries not to scrunch her nose when she presses her lips together in what most definitely is a pout (and vague delight at what most definitely is her medication working properly, if it means she can even smell the aroma).

Truthfully, without that reassurance of his she probably would've cried. But now that she has it, Logan gets a Lottie that meekly kicks a rock. That thumbs at her hair and eventually sighs out— ]

Yes! I understand..

[ She swings a leg over the seat as cool she can. Mostly, so she feels less lame when she straddles it, now settled behind the broad expanse of this stranger's back. Feet up, and hold tight. The words are loud and clear in her mind, despite the hesitant way she moves. Arms awkwardly going around his middle, a head looking over the side to glance at the way her heel flexes up and off the ground.

Fingers interlace together once she feels semi-confident she did it all right. ]

Is this good?

[carcajous]

[ His sunglasses drop back over his eyes. Behind the dark lenses, they roll up to the darkening sky while she hems and haws for another stretch. C'mon, kid, he hasn't got all damn day.

Eventually, she does swing over the seat. Logan gives her time to get balanced; last thing he needs is for her to go flying off. He doesn't seem all that comfortable with a passenger, either, less anything to do with riding with one and more because he's just. Solitary. Once in a blue moon, he'll take a rider on the back. But she's light enough, and Logan is heavy enough, that the added weight makes no real difference. ]

Ready?

[ Once he takes off, there's not much talking to do over the rumble. On his own, he can go a while, sometimes drives all night. But he's a little too aware of the girl hitching along, how much she's obviously not cut out for this kind of thing. When they pass by a corner store sitting on anything but a corner, he slows down. Lights are on. ]

Need a break?

[oomfies]

[ There really is not much else other than the road and trying desperately not to get wind in your eyes (see? This is why he should have helmets!). The time spent cruising down on his bike she's mostly used to duck her head into his jacket, trying to get comfortable without slouching too much.

(As if passenger posture matters when he can hardly see her, but still. What if someone drives by and sees how she's shrimping? Gross.)

She's given up on being self-conscious about her arms around him by the time he slows down. The overwhelming rev of the engine easing and Logan's voice becoming like a breath of fresh air. She almost wants to hear more of it, desperate for anything that could resemble a radio or Spotify's Top 100 before she sees it.. A store!! Not exactly 7-Elevan (or the mall..) but, anything is better than nothing. There's no consideration for volume when she replies nearby his ear, ]

Ohmygod, yes!

[ Her butt is killing her. How long has it been since they started driving? She's so bored. She unintentionally squeezes at his middle, trying to peek over his shoulder proper to see if there's anyone else parked at the corner store. ]

Can we go inside??

[carcajous]

Alright, hey— [ Logan tilts his head away from her. Jesus. ] Keep it down, will ya?

[ Both for the sake of his extra sensitive hearing and, well. Whatever might be lurking inside that store. He's hoping nothing, but you never know. Last time he opened the door to a little shop perched on top of an idyllic hill, the cat in the window morphed several tentacles and tried to suck the skin off his skull, so he's been cautious ever since.

He shuts off the engine. ] Wait here.

[ The door jingles when he opens it. The windows are grimy, with handwritten signs and posters plastered around inside. The cigarettes look like they belong in an era four decades back. But nothing tries to eat him, and he can't smell anything or anyone hiding. For now.

He steps back out and waves her inside. ]

[oomfies]

[ Lottie, ever diligent, and also entirely depending on this stranger for a ride, does in fact stay still. Sits by herself on his bike before realizing the kickstand is out and she can stand. So she does — but she doesn't linger far, dutifully waiting for.. Whatever it is he's checking for.

When she steps in after the all clear, she realizes why he asked her to wait. Her nose isn't clogged, so the first thing that hits her is dust. The smell of old. Her nose twitches as she looks around, sees sparse shelves. Stray debris and inventory litter the floor. It's dirty but clean enough for her to wander, to pick at something that looks like twinkies on the shelf. ]

This is so weird..

[ Out of a movie, goes unsaid. ]

[carcajous]

[ She's not wrong. It is weird as hell. He's driven up and down the Fringes since he got here, and all of it continues to be unnerving, like a little itch at the back of his neck that tells him he shouldn't be here. Or more specifically, that none of this stuff should be here.

But it is.

He tugs down a box from a high shelf, flipping through it. Her comment makes him look over. ] You never been out here before? [ A pause. ] How come you were hitching a ride?

[ Where's her car? Didn't she get one? Doesn't matter if she never knew how to drive, he's seen a couple of elf kids haul themselves around just fine. Not like you gotta learn how to do anything except hit the gas and turn the steering wheel. ]

[oomfies]

[ Well. No, she has. Once or twice when the commotion is too hard to resist, when life gets too boxed up and boring. She's found a couple of things about herself on the ride through: she hates driving, and she hates parking. The road makes her paranoid (reminds her of times in the desert, times scouring up the mountain roads to her Auntie's inn) and a little scared, so— ]

Carpooling sounded like fun?

[ A half-lie, in that she only carpooled to avoid driving. To nap, like she could when Esther drove. Feel a little at peace and still explore. She makes a little face at the treat in her hand the longer she thinks about how well that turned out her, tossing it somewhere in front of her on the shelf.

Her eyes catch a dusty, smudged mirror behind the counter. Hung up on the wall and she winces — her hair. Bigger than usual, with the wind.. She paws at it as she looks to his murky reflection somewhere behind her. ]

You've never done that before? Take a trip with some friends?