[i'm not crazy, i'm just a little unwell]

[majorlyugh]

WHO: Major Lilywhite
WHERE: The fountain, around the village
WHEN: July 23, then July 24th - the end of the month
OPEN TO: OTA; specific thread for Ravi.
WARNINGS: N/A

---

[Arrival - July 23, Early Evening]

The first thing Major notices when he breaks through the surface of the water is the sudden rush of air in his lungs, making his brain vibrate and buzz in his skull. It's a feeling he hasn't experienced since .. well, since he was last human. Does that mean that he's no longer a ... ? Huh. Will have to come back to that one later.

The instinct to survive, gather his bearings, figure out his sudden location change override any inkling he has to focus on the very human sensations he's experiencing. He crawls his way out of the fountain, tumbling up and over the edge of it, rolling onto the ground. On his back, he catches his breath and stares up at the sky overhead for a few seconds before the feeling of the fabric clinging to his body finally sizzles a few nerves in his fingers, and he realizes he isn't wearing the henley he remembers wearing, nor is he wearing the jeans he'd had on. Instead, he's wearing a .. very vibrant pair of magenta .. well, for lack of a better word, scrubs, and there's something digging its way into his back.

He sits up, loosening the straps of the strange pack he has on to take a look at it before deciding to get out of the open and somewhere sheltered. No weapons, no bullet-proof vests .. no hungering for brains. There's that weird buzzing in the back of his skull again.

He gets himself up, slips the pack back onto his shoulder, and begins to wander around the town.

[From July 24th to the End of the Month]

Major's memorized the layout of the town; it isn't all that large, and from his preliminary investigations, it also seems like there isn't a clear way out of the place. He's mostly stuck to the outskirts, having found some shelter in what appears to be an abandoned cabin somewhat near the river's edge (he thinks it's a river, anyway). He takes the subsequent days after his arrival to do more exploring of the village, this time venturing closer to the heart of it, as well as exploring the river to what he thinks is the southeast of his new "home."

He eventually finds himself wandering into the Inn at the center of town, intent on interacting with and asking the others any of the question he hasn't already gotten answers to.

Comments

For Ravi

[majorlyugh]

OOC: Continued from here

"Look, I appreciate the invitation and all, but I mean, I'll join you for the pizza and CoD, but you can take that bubble bath on your own," Major replies with a great deal of sympathy in his voice, as though he's trying to let his friend down easy with his romantic rejection. "It isn't you, it's me."

He exhales a deep sigh, then lightly tosses his hands up in the air as though defeated and surrendering.

"As long as it's the nicest." He lets out a bark of laughter as he reaches down to swipe another large splash of water over at Ravi. "You wish, man. You wish!"

[zomboligist]

God, Ravi's missed Major more than he can stand to describe. It's not just the connection to home, but it's the way that Major can sass him back with ease, making Ravi feel comfortable ribbing someone else to the point of near-tears. "Please, I could have had you a hundred times over," he scoffs. "How many times have you been at my mercy on the table?"

"That's power, bitch," he says, and instantly regrets it. "I shouldn't have said that, it sounded awful, I take it back immediately."

[majorlyugh]

"Pffft, says you! You would've had to fight off the hordes of women I had throwing themselves at me constantly, with some guys thrown in there, too." Major rolls his eyes while giving Ravi a playful shove. "Yes, because I trust you to live up to and follow that - what's it called? The Hippocratic Oath? Do no harm or whatever? Do no harm, do not take advantage of a vulnerable yet disgustingly attractive human-but-also-probably-a-zombie under your care. I'm sure that's in there somewhere."

He gives Ravi a light tap on the shoulder with the back of his hand.

"Yo, dude, if Peyton were here, she'd give you a feminist kick to the balls."

[zomboligist]

The look on his face is one of abject sorrow and he realizes that it's been months since he's actually thought about Peyton. It should be a good thing, in a way. Things hadn't exactly ended off so well, what with her leaving him because of Liv's zombie condition, but they were getting back on track. Besides, he's got Helen here, but it's something else to realize how long it's been since you thought of home.

"I've told you before," Ravi says, trying to overdose in wit and sass to avoid feelings, "you're far too handsome, I'm just going to have to start working in scars. That, or have you considered the zombie white hair on a permanent basis? I think you could make it work."

[majorlyugh]

Major's fucked up a bit, he realizes, as soon as he sees the drop in Ravi's expression. He immediately dons one of sheepishness and repentance himself, nudging his friend with his elbow lightly as means of an apology. Thoughts of Peyton, of course, stir up thoughts of Liv for Major - and, soon enough, their expressions mirror each other. He thinks to ask Ravi if Liv's shown up at all, or if .. anyone they know from home has. But, based on the downward turn of Ravi's mouth, Major thinks he probably already knows the answer.

"I'd totally rock it, Billy Idol style, I think. I can't get my lip to do that thing that he does, though," he says, trying to imitate it, but mostly looking like he's about to sneeze. "And hey, at least you've got Princess Sparkles going for you. She's something to be envied and admired."

[Arrival - July 23, Early Evening]

[scepterschild]

Wanda was standing outside of her home with her gaze focused on her six fully grown chickens. Her palms were pressed to the makeshift fence she was leaning on while a puppy ran happily through the yard. Unlike Lilywhite, she was wearing green cargo pants and a white tank top. There wasn't any indication that she had scrubs, let alone wore them. The only thing she wore that implied that she'd received a pack like Lilywhite was her boots, which were the exact same as his.

She was lost in her thoughts, her expression grave as she sorted through the recent changes in the small village.

The puppy wasn't so lost as Wanda and catching the strange scent of the new arrival took off towards him. Wanda knew that the small fence around the yard wouldn't keep the dog in but she was usually good at staying put. Riza had trained her after all and Clint was now taking up that mantle. The only problem was that the pup didn't listen to Wanda all the time.

She went running after the pup, using one hand to jump over the fence. Wanda paused when she saw the strange and then sighed as the puppy begged him for attention. "Sorry about him." She walked over slowly, a little guarded but not willing to leave her pup's side.

yay!

[majorlyugh]

While Major walks around, he's trying to subtly uncling his drenched scrubs from his body, but it doesn't seem to be doing much. He thinks of peeling the shirt off of himself, stuffing it in the pack, but as he's about to do so, he hears the approach of some sort of creature. Given its cadence, he figures it has more than two legs. He's still on alert, so he drops into a bit of a defensive stance, but at the sight of the puppy, he lets out a bit of a laugh and bends a knee to greet it.

As he stroked its head and scratched behind its ears and under its chin, he glanced up at the woman with a bright smile. For all his defensiveness .. it all seems to melt away at the sight of a seemingly human face and the gentle nipping of a puppy's mouth on his fingers.

"Nah, no need to apologize," he says warmly, glancing down at the dog. He speaks in typical puppy speak to it, "Who's a good puppy? You are! You're such a good puppy! Aw, you're so friendly!" He looks back up at the woman. "What's its name?"

<3

[scepterschild]

Wanda watched as the man's demeanor relaxed. It was obvious that he was new and Wanda wasn't in a hurry to take away his smile. This place felt like it was in short supply of smiles.

"She's a Norwegian elk hound puppy." Wanda exhaled, feeling her lips tug into a soft smile. "I keep forgetting her name. She belongs to a friend of mine." She was a glorified dog sitter for whenever Clint decided to leave the pup at home. Wanda didn't mind, they were something like a small family, but it took a lot of energy to keep up with the pup. Which was probably why Clint stopped taking her hunting.

"You're new." It was a statement, not a question. "I'm Wanda."

[majorlyugh]

"A Norwegian elk hou-- wait, have I suddenly wound up in Norway?" Major asks out loud before answering his own question by adding, "No, you're speaking English without a Norwegian accent. You're - Russian? Polish? Yugoslavian? Something else I'm not mentioning for fear of already having offended you?" He preemptively winces a little, apologetic if he has offended, and brings his attention back to the puppy.

"Aw, little thing. I hope she has some totally badass name fitting her lineage. Freya or something. Wait, no, Freya had a bunch of cats," he backtracks, thinking better of it. Not that it matters. The creature has a name already, anyway; you don't have to come up with one for it, Major. "You'd hate them, wouldn't you? You'd hate the cats?" he asks the puppy, framing its face with his hands.

He thinks of Minor, the Bassett Hound he'd acquired for a brief period of time through .. some tricky circumstances, and feels a pang of sadness and nostalgia.

"That obvious? Was it the soaking wet clothes that gave me away?" he asks, glancing back over at her with a continued smile. He stands, going to wipe his hands off on his pants only to realize .. well, that doesn't help much. They're still wet. He instead gives a bit of a wave, motioning with his hands to show that he doesn't think they're really handshake-ready. "Wanda, nice to meet you." He gestures towards himself while adding, "Major."

[scepterschild]

Wanda laughed softly, shaking her head when she spoke. "Not Norway." Though she wished that they were somehow on Earth. At this point in her stay she doubted it. "I'm from Sokovia. It's near Russia." It's a small country, one that she didn't expect people to know about. It was a battle ground for others battles, ruled by Russia much like Kazakhstan.

It wasn't just the wet clothes that tipped her off but that was one of the larger indicators. It was also the way that Major held himself that suggested that he hadn't been in the village for every long.

She gestured behind her, towards the house at the end of the row. "Do you want to come inside? I have some blankets, a fire and soup. You can also change if you have dry clothes in your pack." She'd been in the middle of feeding the chickens, the dog and herself so everything was already ready. Considering the summer heat she didn't keep the fire going long, just long enough to cook, but if it'd help someone she can toss another few sticks on the fire to keep it going.

July 25; Inn

[thegreatexperiment]

Sam tried her best to make herself useful where she could, but the fact of the matter was that there wasn't much of a call for a geneticist in the aftermath of an earthquake. Really, aside from patching a few wounds here and there, she was fucking useless. But after awhile, she just decided to own it.

It was the second time her world had come crumbling down on top of her. She figured she ought to get good and used to it by now.

In the evenings, when the clean-up activities died down, she usually found herself sitting in the kitchen of the Inn. Food still seemed super strange and exotic to her, so she didn't eat more than a few bites here and there. Mostly, she just liked sitting up on a counter, sketching on some of Jude's homemade paper. For some reason that she wasn't nearly introspective enough to investigate, she'd taken to drawing the sky. Dozens of different skies, actually. Some flooded with sunlight. Others darker. And many of them broken. Just like the Los Angeles she'd left behind. Crumbling. Ruined.

Okay, it was becoming something of an obsession, really.

Fortunately, there was people watching to distract her. And when she happened to raise her eyes and catch sight of a truly hunky newcomer...well. That was a lovely distraction.

[majorlyugh]

Major scans the room for a brief second, subconsciously gathering something like intel about the other villagers. They all seem to be so .. at home here, even if they seem like they're here due to a glitch in a randomized generator. He's no longer carrying the pack, having decidedly left the thing back in the cabin he's unofficially claimed as his own, and his scrubs - though garishly bright - are dry. It's obvious, he thinks, to the others that he's still new, given the glazed and deer-in-headlights sort of vibe he's giving off (look, he's trying, okay?), but not so new that he's just crawled his way out of the fountain. He wonders if people randomly materialize in various locations or if everyone has the distinct pleasure of almost drowning upon arrival.

He makes his way over towards the bar, figuring it's as good a place as any to start trying to get some answers. He rests his forearms on the counter, giving another glance around until finally landing on a young woman with hair as bright as his scrubs, albeit a different color. She's furiously scribbling away and creating interesting pictures as a result.

"Hey, I know this is kind of a weird question to ask, but .. where the hell am I?"

[thegreatexperiment]

Well, if nothing else, that proved that he was a n00b. And if Sam still felt the urge to paint him like one of her French girls...yeah, she'd deal with that in her own way. A human libido. Who knew?

She pointed the tip of her pencil at him. "Not a weird question," she said. "In fact, possibly the most normal question anyone could ask. And spoiler alert: When I tell you that you're in history's biggest Skinner Box, being experimented upon by unknown and clearly evil overseers, the normal response should probably be 'what the fuck?' followed by a rapid succession of the five stages of grief.

Sam uncurled her long legs, swinging them over the side of the counter and sitting up. "Ready? Okay. You're in history's biggest Skinner Box, being experimented upon by unknown and clearly evil overseers."

That was Sam. Subtle as a sledgehammer. And she was trying to be friendly.

[majorlyugh]

Great.

Skinner Boxes. He remembers learning about those in undergrad. He wonders if he's a rat (like the ones Ravi kept in the morgue, named after Star Wars references) or if he gets to be a fruit fly. Does this mean he'll be electrocuted into behaving?
Or maybe baked alive instead?

After some morose consideration, it seems only right that he should be subjected to something like this. He couldn't have expected to have done what he did and get away with it all scot-free, no consequences, no repercussions. It's some karmic form of justice, he thinks, to be caught in a glass cage and experimented upon considering ..

"So, yeah. What the fuck?" he asks with a laugh. "I mean, do we at least get like, treats or something? Ice cream? Brownies? Really good hair days?"

[thegreatexperiment]

Okay. Sam liked him. And Sam didn't like anyone. So that was saying something. She gave him a laugh in return. It was a rusty sound, like a hinge that hadn't been used in awhile. But at least it was genuine. And coming from a girl with blue hair, genuine was definitely a precious and rare gift.

"Haven't figured out the pattern yet," she said. "Sometimes, rewards just appear. A guy I knew got about three thousand gallons of ice cream one day. And this other woman got some chemicals to make soap. Can't really figure what they did to earn it."

Sam herself had received no such gifts. Then again, she was doing her utmost to be a royal pain in the ass to whoever was running the clown rodeo.

She bounced her heels against the cabinet. "If you're in the denial stage at this point, I can slap you to prove this is all real."

Inn

[learntthehardway]

Diana's spent her few days she'd been in the town to explore as much as she could. She'd also explored a bit around the town and had managed to find a hot spring and a waterfall. Both, she figured might be useful at a later time. But nothing she had found had given her any clues about why she was there, why she had been brought there and how to get back home.

By the time she wandered back into the inn, she was hot, had streaks of dirt on her face and even had a few twigs that had broke off in her hair. She just needed a bath and food... And perhaps sleep. Sleep hadn't been something that had come easily to her since she'd arrived and she blamed it on her mind not being able to slow down and not being able to try and think of ways to get back home.

Diana hesitated just inside the door and then began heading over to the counter to order a drink and then realized that she was about to walk right into someone. "I'm sorry. Where you going to order something?"

[majorlyugh]

Major instinctively reaches a hand out to steady both himself and the person he almost collided with, gently touching the inside of his fingers to her bicep. There's some little spark in the back of his head that is surprised at the hardened muscle he finds there, but not in a negative way. If anything, it's a sort of delighted surprise, and his eyes flick up to the face of the woman attached to the muscle.

With a pleasant smile, he shakes his head, dropping his hand to his side.

"No, no, my fault entirely. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. People say that we're more accident prone because we're always staring at our phones, but some of us," he gestures towards himself, "Are just a tad absent-minded without a handheld device." In truth, Major had been on his way out, still caught in a curious whirlwind of where the heck he'd wound up, but at her question, he glances back towards the bar with some quiet consideration. "Ah, I wasn't, but mostly because - I wasn't sure what to even order? There isn't a menu or anything, and if it's anything like a Starbucks, I don't wanna look like an idiot and order a medium instead of a grande, you know?" he asks, turning back towards her. "Would it be super rude of me to offer to buy you something though if only so I can pick at your brain," Haha, nice zombie joke, "for some answers?"

[learntthehardway]

Her eyebrows lifted a bit. The man she'd almost run into certainly talked a lot, but he made sense. But he was also mentioning things she was familiar with. Phones, Starbucks... But still, he certainly could talk and by the end of his rambling, she found herself smiling slightly. Thankfully people who talked didn't annoy her, maybe it was because when she'd been younger she had asked a lot of questions and had talked all of her tutors' ears off when she wasn't attempting to escape them to go and watch the warriors training.

She looked at the bar and then back to him and shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think it would be rude, though I must warn you that I haven't been here all that long myself so I might not have a lot of answers for you. If any." Her smile grew as she motioned to the the bar with a slight wave of her hand before she took a step in that direction herself. "So if you don't still want to buy me a drink, I do understand. But shall we?"

[majorlyugh]

"Warning taken," Major says, following her over to the bar before taking a seat on one of the stools, pulling out the one beside it for her to sit on. "Then we can turn into conspiracy theorists while we try to make sense of it all. I can learn how to make shelter in the woods out of branches and leaves and animal droppings or something while waiting for the End to arrive. But if I start hearing voices and predicting a Doomsday, I'm blaming you," he teases lightly. He glances over the unmarked bottles of things stored behind the counter with some consideration. "I arrived here broke as hell, so hopefully they work on some other kind of system."

[learntthehardway]

Diana followed him closely and took the seat that was offered. She really didn't know what to make of this man, he had some... Interesting ways to look at things. Conspiracy theorists? She laughed softly and shook her head. "You can't blame me for those things. Seems like they're ideas you've already had." She leaned her elbows against the bar and then turned to look at the bartender. "From what I've seen, they seem use to people like us who've come with little or no money." She looked back to the man and shrugged. "Hopefully this is one of those times."

July 27th; Inn

[the_scandal_of_italy]

She had found a drawing pad and pencils in the village, apparently left behind by some that had been taken from the village. While unfamiliar with pencils, she was grateful for the opportunity to practice sketching with easier tools, producing clearer, prettier images. She could continue her project without trouble or smearing, a relief for a woman that was a perfectionist in her artistic endeavors.

While she had seen Major wandering around the village, Lucrezia had yet to meet or speak with him. He had seemed intent and focused on exploring and less with socializing, at first. But once he entered the Inn, her uncertainty disappeared. She glanced up from her work and smiled, gesturing to the chair across from her. "Have you found your bearings yet?"

[majorlyugh]

"Me? Oh, uh. I guess, though having an iPhone with GPS on it would be pretty handy right about now," Major replies with a bit of a tight smile. He's not really had a chance to interact with too many of the others in the village, though he's seen or passed by a number of them. His brain catches up and remembers the woman's face, though he can't quite recall where or when he'd seen her while he was running around.

"Thanks," he says, placing a hand on the back of the chair. "Though, before I sit, do they sell food here? .. Also, how do I get the food? Can't imagine this place has ApplePay or anything .. which I wouldn't be able to do, anyway, being without a phone," he mutters, flicking his head towards the counter.

[the_scandal_of_italy]

She doesn't ask questions about what an iPhone or GPS is. She has been in the village long enough to know that certain things existed in other worlds and futures that she didn't know or would recognize. "Sadly, we must content ourselves with the gifts we are given by the observers." There were some things she dearly wished to have from home as well.

"The food is communal." She answers, setting aside her drawing pad and pencil. Gesturing him to follow her, she leads him to the kitchen. "Lunch is served daily, but we must cook or clean to contribute. Have anything you wish." Within reason.

[majorlyugh]

"The .. observers," he repeats, brows lifting with curiosity and overwhelming suspicion. "That doesn't sound ominous at all." Were they caught in a cage of some kind? Was this some really, really elaborate virtual reality simulation? Maybe his actual body was locked up in some dungeon, comatose, while this whole village, its people, everything was merely a projection from -- No, okay, that's how you spiral, Major. Let's .. keep it together. At least for now. You just got here. "So, what do you mean by 'observer,' exactly?" he asks, following her back to the kitchen.

He glances around at the items stored, from top to bottom, before looking over at her. He raises both brows again, but this time in a way that seeks confirmation.

"Yeah?" he asks, turning back towards the food. He settles for a small bowl of berries and a carrot. "Is .. this okay? Too much?"

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"If only I could reassure you that it isn't ominous, but we know very little about who they are or where these gifts come from. There are simply packages on the front porch, sometimes with items we need or animals." She smiled sadly, lifting her shoulders in a light shrug. "I was told very little about them, only that they provide us gifts. I made a wish for fabric and not long after, it was waiting for me on my porch. Though I don't think that is common for everyone."

He earned a peal of laughter, "You can have more than that, my lord. There is plenty to share. If you are hungry, do not hesitate to take what you need. You will be asked to contribute later, but for now, eat as you wish."