[EVENT] The Simulation Ends

[sixthiteration]

WHERE: 6I Fountain Park & Elsewhere
WHEN: April 1
OPEN TO: ALL - Mingle
WARNINGS: N/A

---

In the snug circle of an old park, a fountain sits burbling beneath a broad, midday sky.

Once-neat paving stones have buckled and cracked from the slow nudge of wayward roots. Benches stand covered in lichen and rust. Three paths push into the underbrush like the spokes on a wheel, the encroaching forest creating lush tunnels through the dark.

But the fountain stands singular and pristine, brightly splashing in open rebellion of the deep, muffled sounds of a place long ago gone to seed. A vibration hums through the ground, there and quickly gone, and the water in the fountain trembles, lapping against the high walls of its cool, pale reservoir.

Far, far away, in a place that isn't really there, people begin to blink out of existance.

It is the first of April.

It is precisely ten o'clock in the morning.



[Please see event details and guidelines here.]

Comments

Claire Temple | Group 4 | OTA

[theluckygirl]

Like clockwork, the nurse had still made regular passes by the fountain and had done so the evening before. It always made her think back to the day she arrived. There hadn't been any new arrivals as of late and that both relieved and saddened her. Still, Claire knew that there was always a possibility of being there to help a new arrival. She didn't, however, fathom having to go through the whole process herself for the second time.

But, there she was, hanging off the edge of the fountain after surfacing, coughing and sputtering before a hand is offered to pull her out. It's freezing and why that surprises her is a mystery but she clings tightly to the towel placed on her shoulders for a short minute before she's heading to the house she and Karen shared.

Less than 15 minutes later, she's returned after making a few more discoveries. One of which being her hair being several inches longer than it was the "day" before and the newly acquired piece of jewelry on her wrist that couldn't be taken off.

There's still plenty questions that will need answers, but for the moment, Claire is going to help as many as she can until there aren't any more people.

Or, animals.

Not until Group 9

[dann_0]

Danny draws a deep breath as he breaks the surface. He gasps a few times and then the icyness of the water hits him and he finds it hard to take deep breaths. He makes for the edge of the fountain and climbs out and directly into the arms of a woman who has already rescued him from drowning once.

"Claire?"

Danny has a not too bad looking beard, his hair is a mess and overall he just looks like a mess.

[theluckygirl]

For the past hour and some, Claire has been sitting by the fountain edge, arm in the water waiting to help the next person out and get a towel around them as quickly as possible.

When he says her name in that curious, uncertain way, Claire nods while rubbing his arms and getting some warmth into his limbs. She recognizes him right away.

"Hey, Danny. You alright?" she questions.

[dann_0]

He shivers and cuddles into the towel around him, pulling it tight. "What happened? What is going on?" This all seemed strange. He looks around, trying to figure out where they are.

"I.. I am alright, just cold and wet."

[theluckygirl]

It was beyond strange and it had them all speculating and not reaching any sort of certainty besides the fact that they seemed to be exactly where they were. But with a very big, obvious difference.

They all looked like mountain men and women.

"Wish I could tell you, but we're still in the village and looks like everything is as it was before. Your stuff is where you had it last, too."

Besides the disorientation that everyone seemed to have after crawling out of the fountain, Danny seemed okay. Yet, she was still a nurse and checked him over regardless.

"You remember where that is?"

[dann_0]

He looks around and shakes his head. "The village we met in. The one I came to through the fountain." He sighs and then looks around. "Steve's here? Have you seen him yet?"

He moves to sit up more looking around, but he doesn't fight her when it comes to checking him over. Part of him is happy for it.

[theluckygirl]

Claire nods as Danny slowly puts some of the pieces together. It wouldn't answer everything, but it was a start. And something told her they were a long way off figuring out the whole truth.

"You came through it again. We all did." she tried to explain. "As for Steve, I'm not sure. People are arriving in threes every 15-20 minutes."

She hadn't yet met Steve, but she did know who he was and knew Danny and him were friends. It was a small village, after all.

"Did you live with him?"

[dann_0]

"We all did? Why?" He runs a hand over his face and notices his beard. "What the hell. Claire, do I have a beard? How much time has passed. What is happening."

At the question, he calms though.

"Yeah, I live with him and Mary."

[theluckygirl]

Alright.. he's kind of adorable and reminds her of the Danny she knows in her world.

Claire smiles and nods, cringing a little. "Yeah, you do. And really long hair. I can't explain that either, but it seems where we were last might have been maybe a holding place. Or, maybe it wasn't even real."

That was an eerie thought altogether.

[underpinnings]

Just as the last villagers are accounted for--names taken, loved ones spoken for, long hair and beards examined, wrist bands compared--a pair of antlers broke the water. A loud, honking call directs attention back to the fountain, followed by a second, then a lower sound altogether. A family of moose surface at one side; a cow at the other, and being pinned to the fountain's edge by the cow's forehead, a human figure.

Sputtering, soaked, in the same scrubs as the rest--but with close cropped hair and a black backpack, saving his spine from the hard stone.

Owen puts one hand on the cow's head, the other on the fountain, and pushes enough to roll over the edge. Momentarily prone, he's quick to his feet at the drop of a shadow, then down to a knee as his balance proves shaky. Feels like sea-legs. Looks like a woman standing over him, and the hand patting the side of his pack doesn't find the usual weapons.

His gaze darts incredulously back to the cow, watching it get a leg over the stonework, then back to her face. "Where am I?"

[theluckygirl]

It's like something legitimately of the Twilight Zone. People arrive. People disappear. People return to the same place looking like homeless bums in a place that looks the same, but isn't. Claire remembers hearing Mark point out the absence of the canyon, and since her own arrival some three hours earlier she has discovered a few additions to the place they were all initially brought.

She spots Owen through the animals and immediately leaves them to Clint and the other strong men and grabs a blanket before dropping to her knee and looking him over; the scrubs, the pack on his back that she sees easily enough when lowers to prevent from falling. He's new.

"I really wish I could tell you. Most of us just call it the village, but it isn't quite the same village it was before today."

She's not sure she's helping much with the confusion he's probably feeling.

"You probably have a lot of questions and I'll try to answer them. Me being Claire Temple. What's your name?"

[underpinnings]

The village. That's auspicious, definitely not another pie in the sky death-trap advertised by word of mouth on the empty prairie. Owen takes a grounding breath through his nose, and nods, trying to at least appear to follow what she's saying.

"Right," he says, sweeping another look over the crowd. "I'm Owen." Just Owen; he's been just Owen since his teens, never sure the weight and connotation his father's name might carry on the coast. If pressed, he might give his aunt's. They don't seem to have drawn interest from the crowd, and she hasn't given any call for their attention.

It's just her, with a blanket and an offer. No weapons on his pack; no telling what's actually inside of it. Watching two men heave the cow over the edge, a few more dance around the family of moose, his immediate question isn't much to do with villages or what she means by today. "How the hell did they get in that thing? Why is it even that deep?"

[theluckygirl]

"Under the circumstances," Claire started, eyes looking him over for any visible injuries. Not many ever did have them, but if they did, it was from getting out of the fountain, not bringing it with them from wherever they were from. "It's good to meet you, Owen. I'm Claire."

She fixes the blanket atop his shoulders; the temperature outside making it a huge risk for hypothermia to set in if immediate action isn't taken. Claire knows what is in his bag, too, so after glancing over at the fountain and looking at the moose family she shakes her head.

"I wish I could tell you that, too. Like the way you arrived here today, that's how everyone you see here arrived. But this is our second time coming out of that fountain. The first time was in a place that looked almost exactly like this."

Still with her, Owen?

[underpinnings]

Up to a point: he could believe in the kind of world where people woke up in scrubs, no memory of how they got there, no signal as to why. Certain kinds of people thrived in the post-infection world; turning survival into a game, building safety out of control.

But why an overgrown park? Why the animals, why put these other people through it again, when they clearly remember the first time?

"How exactly are we talking," he asks, one hand taking up the edges of the blanket to hold it in place. Conditions would make this a better conversation had indoors, but he isn't so sure he wants to be closed in anywhere yet. Whatever hideous turn this is, at least he can see the sun again. "This is just--some abandoned park?"

[theluckygirl]

None of it made any sense to anyone; the few who had the talent were the ones who could pick things out quickly and decipher them into rational explanations. Like Watney. Only, even Claire could notice the differences almost immediately this time around, and the way most looked after their re-arrival suggested the last place was a dream, or simulation.

Giving the immediate area a cursory scan, Claire stopped where the canyon was. "The terrain changed. We have buildings in the settlement that have magically been restored and everyone one of us, except for you, looks like we stepped out of a hippie tour bus into a downpour."

Shaking her head she looked back to Owen. "Last place wasn't any kind of abandoned park. So, I'm pretty sure this place isn't either."

Motioning to the bag on his back, she added, "You'll find some dry clothes in the backpack. I suggest changing first. The inn has rooms over there, or you can use the clinic which is that building there."

After that, it would be easier to give him the full tour and what she's experienced since her own arrival.

[underpinnings]

It was harder to notice, if he didn't focus on the men in the crowd, but when she points it out he runs his two good fingers back through his hair. Nothing different about it, and the patches of hair feel normal enough along his jaw. If he could spontaneously grow a beard, now would be the moment--standing out in the middle of some upheaval is usually the precursor to getting blamed for said upheaval.

Getting out of his wet clothes, into some semblance of uniformed and ready, is his best option. If nothing else, it might be assumed he found time for a trim.

"Clinic," he decides, gaze flicking between the indicated buildings. Anyone there likelier to be distracted, and better supplies. If he couldn't get his hands on any, at least he'd have an idea for later--and some insight into the community. Two steps, three, he doesn't look to see if she follows as he tries to piece the rest of it together. Different terrain, buildings in better repair. "So it's a different place," he posits, any other concept beyond him.

[theluckygirl]

He may have looked fairly innocent enough, but given he was new and there were things in the clinic that could be stolen for whatever reason (drugs were limited to over the counter) Claire went along with him, if only to play the unofficial welcome committee. If he had any more questions, she could do her best to answer.

"Yeah, we're definitely not where we were. Not sure how, but it feels different." she tells him as they walk. "But we all came through and no one was left behind which are small blessings."

A beat.

"Mind me asking how you lost your fingers?" Claire asked, deciding it was a fair question and maybe one that would tell her if she needed to be suspicious.

15 minutes later

[beallmysins]

Jax doesn't know what the fuck is happening. He'd gotten used to the village being a fucking nightmare nine days out of ten and he'd gotten used to not having anything approaching normal conveniences; he's done enough stints in jail and prison to be used to lockdown and no tv, it's not like he can't handle it.

What he can't handle is a goddamn mind fuck and after climbing out of the fountain for the second time since coming to this place, he scans the grounds for a face he knows. Claire is the first one he picks out and it's a good thing - he likes Claire and knows she doesn't tolerate bullshit.

"What the fuck is this," Jax says, coming close to her. "I've been here for a fucking year, trapped, and now it's all a dream?"

[theluckygirl]

When Claire hears Jax's voice, she turns and sees him, dripping wet and remembers almost immediately his disdain for cold weather. Oh, she can only imagine how pissed he is and it would be an outright lie if she didn't say her infamous New York temper was ramping up. You wouldn't know it though.

She moves towards him, pulling a folded blanket out from under her arm to drape over his shoulders.

"Sure looks that way." Claire answers, unfolding the towel next she grabs from a nearby pile brought over by Kira. She hands it to him. "Here, try and dry off as best as you can. You and your California blood won't do well against hypothermia."

She smirks. Just a little teasing. Enough to maybe get him to not lose his shit completely.

[beallmysins]

“Yeah, gonna freeze my balls off otherwise,” Jax says, taking the towel gratefully. His hair’s longer than it’s ever been before and he needs to at least trim his beard if not shave it off outright. He looks like an asshole without facial hair but this itchy, scraggly shit is not going to work.

“You look a hell of a lot better than I do right now, I bet. Don’t have a mirror but I think I probably look ten miles down the road past shitty.”

He’s a little vain, after all.

[theluckygirl]

Luckily for him, she's able to do basic haircuts as a result of the single semester of cosmetology she took back in high school. She also had a decent pair of scissors that could do for trimming his beard, too.

Claire can't help but laugh. "My face does, but my legs are looking pretty manly."

It's not as bad as she's saying it is, but the point is everyone is definitely missing some time.

Unfolding the blanket, she steps closer and pulls the blanket around him and over his shoulders.

"As far as I can tell, everyone's houses are still standing and our things have been somehow ported over, too. You should go put something dry on."

[beallmysins]

"Well, thank god for that. I spent a long time getting that shit together." It's not the best he could do but he'd hustled for everything he had and it's been a while since he's been stuck with scrubs. He looks down, expecting black, and he's shocked to see red instead. Huh.

"I think they got the wrong color for the scrubs. I've always had black ones," he points out. "Never had any red ones. Never fucked anyone with red ones, either, so I don't know how I would have ended up with any."

[theluckygirl]

Claire looked down at his scrubs, narrowing her eyes a little at the dark, wet material that was no doubt going to dry as red. She had her light grey scrubs, same as the first time she crawled out of the fountain but hadn't heard anything about people having this particular problem.

"Really?" she looked at him, brows lifting in surprise. She suddenly remembered something else. "Oh, and the thing on your wrist seems to be a communication device of sorts. You can't remove it. I've tried."

She takes another look at the fountain and then back to Jax. "Come on, we'll talk as we walk."

The man needed to get out of his wet clothes.

[beallmysins]

Jax is fine with walking and talking and, as he does, he fiddles with the wristband. It doesn't seem to be coming off and it does seem to be red. He doesn't know how he's gotten thrown into this camp but he guesses it's no different than the black. It's still a shitty color and a shitty division of the group that probably means less than nothing. He's been in prison often enough to know how these things go.

"Glad you came back through. You're one of the only people here who has any sense," Jax says. He likes Claire. She doesn't take bullshit, no, but she also seems to understand what it's like to live in a world that isn't some medieval shit or spaceships - her shit is real and tangible.

[theluckygirl]

The colours didn't make much sense to her either and she often forgot about them altogether most days. But seeing people in their scrubs reminded her of them and it was too random to not mean something. But like all the other puzzles and the reason for all the weird happenings in the last place, answers weren't likely to show themselves.

His compliment had her turning her head again to look at him. It came as a surprise; a very nice one and she smiled, genuinely touched.

"I can think of a few places I'd rather be," Claire laughed. "Thanks, I am pretty glad you came back through, too."

A pause and she nods before looking ahead again.

"You remind me of home."