sixthiterationlogs | [EVENT] The Simulation Ends

[EVENT] The Simulation Ends

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.]

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"I'm a medical examiner," he clarifies, "and I was a lab scientist before that," he clarifies, as if this is what they need to be talking about when they're struggling their way out of a strange fountain in a place that looks identical to where they were before, only...

Squinting around them as he manages to get his bearings, he notices that there's no one else around them, but there's also one distinctive thing missing in the distance. "Kira..." He grabs at his shoulder, barely even noticing that his scrubs are a different colour now and there's something on his wrist. He's mainly trying to turn Kira around to point out the complete lack of looming canyon in the distance.

Kira is still venting nerves in his pass of the fountain edge, almost glad of the wet hair for the task it gives his hands. It isn't until he's made a full turn back to Ravi that the man catches him, mid-step and mid-bitch.

"What," he asks, similarly taking in the empty park, grown over benches. The inn sits at the same distance it always has, but there's something looming about it today. The windows seem oddly dark, for the one building with electric lights. His little watch says it's just after ten in the morning.

Then Ravi turns him, and the hand at his shoulder points up over the treeline. The pointed tips of the pines blur against grey-blue, and this time, there are no glasses in his pocket. "Ravi, I can't see that far, what?"

"Well, either we've found some sort of technique for flattening the earth or we've suddenly come to an identical fountain in an identical village, but no canyon," he says, squinting to try and figure out if there's just cloud cover or something? It seems ridiculous that everything else would be the same except this one thing.

Unless maybe their benevolent overlords just got done with their mountain phase and canyons are so last year or something. "Come on, I need to shave and cut my hair before someone mistakes me for the greatest Bigfoot discovery of all time," he says, glancing to where the other woman (Nerys, he thinks), is also getting out. "I can bring it back, with some blankets?"

He squints, giving the treeline a second look. Had there been anything beyond it, in his impressionist idea of the world that far from his face? In all honestly, he hadn't spent a great deal of time looking up, beyond an idle check of possible weather coming in.

The canyons had been there so long, he wouldn't think to make sure.

"Fuck," he breathes, catching up to Ravi's request. "Yeah, no--I need to check the house, and we should probably tell someone. At least about the fountain, if they've already noticed the scenery change."

"Is there really no one else here?" It's not like he can take the sample size of their immediate area as proof, but there's an eerie stillness and quiet to their surroundings that makes Ravi think that they're not exactly brimming over with people that are going to be able to give them answers.

Shame, because a part of him had been hoping for some actual locals or natives, but it seems like they're just being shuffled between various variations that are practically the same. "We could leave a note? Ask Nerys to tell them?"

He's had to get used to the world always feeling kind of empty, with the loss of that extra sense. If he feels the emptiness of the village less now, it's for feeling it acutely all of the time--and with Manhattan as a metric, it's always been quiet.

But Ravi's question has him sweeping a concerned gaze out along the park. He can't see that far along the ground either, but it seems a little strange to not see anyone, even just passing through.

"I don't know, maybe we should just--take a quick look? Dry clothing, anybody home, meet back at the fountain if we don't find one or either?"

Ravi isn't entirely sure he wants to be splitting up like this, because it's a little bit like a horror movie, but on the other hand, his entire life became a zombie flick in the blink of an eye, so maybe deserted village isn't the spookiest and craziest thing to happen to him.

"Why not?" he permits, because at least he can find something to wear. "Though, someone should probably stay," he adds. "For people who might come through, or much beloved animals..." After all, he hasn't seen Minor and he's already lost a dog once to unfortunate circumstances, he's not keen to do it again.

"Nerys and I are basically the same size," he says, the logic catching up to the non sequitur moments later. "I'll bring you some fresh clothes," he promises her over one shoulder, knowing there should be more than one pair dry at the house. And a makeshift sled for other supplies, if they really are going to have to drag the village back up through the water.

"Honestly," he adds, turning back to Ravi, "if you don't want to trek back to yours, I've got plenty of shit at the house." His arms and legs might stretch the hems a bit, but if it saves time, Kira will live.

"I should wait here," he says again, that dutiful need to stay in case Major comes through and Helen comes out making him wary to go find anything else, even though he definitely wants to see if he's going to have a home at the end of this. "If you don't mind...?"

He gives Kira a hopeful look, not wanting to ask too much of him, but hopeful that he can at least ask this much.

"I'll hurry back and take up watch so you guys can get some fresh clothes," he says, understanding the impulse, if not the impetus. "And if I see anyone else, I'll send them out first."

Not that he does; as he passes between the inn and adjacent housing, the buildings are silent save a creaking that could just as easily be the trees. Wood in the thaw, a sound he's only just learning in this place. If he wasn't used to pushing past the sense that he shouldn't be out alone, he'd walk back and at least bring Nerys.

The house is much the same, save a layer of dust. Along with his hair, it's a sign of time passing unattended--but Bodhi's tea set is on the counter, his clothing is in his room. It fits even worse than before, hanging off of him, and his journal fits in his waistband when he decides to bring it. The entries stop in the same place, the handwriting matches, and it wasn't moved from the bedside table.

When he returns, towels over one arm and his hair wrapped back in one, there's a fresh trio of faces to pull out of the fountain. After passing along towels and writing down names, he lets Ravi know: "The houses are covered in dust, but our things are all there--animals too."

Ravi is still fairly sure that he's about a heartbeat away from a nervous breakdown, which is in line for his life, but he nods when Kira talks about being back soon. He stays where he is, trying not to let the moments in between consume him as he thinks about whether Minor is there, whether Major is safe, and what this means. From the perspective of the scientist in him, there are implications to this that he's not sure he wants to think about for very long.

Everything is the same, apart from minor elements.

That seems an awful lot like they're in a new experimentation stage and the controls are changing. He waits, through the next round of people (not Major), and when Kira returns, there's at least some good news. "Did they seem like they'd lost weight or grown hair? Any physical changes, like us?"

"If anything, the bird looks fatter." Probably for having not seen him in--however much time. "They still--seem to know me." The detail doesn't sit right with him, for all that it should. The more things stay the same, the better he should feel; but Kira can't shake the sense that this is different, and more of it should follow suit.

He can worry that thread later: if everyone is going to come through the fountain today, they're going to need kept track of. And, apparently, someone to bully them into warm clothing.

"Ravi, go change your clothes. I will make sure I am standing right here when Helen or Major climb out, and I'm sure they'll appreciate not having to tend your stupidity if you catch a cold."

He would get yelled at if he ended up catching his death from cold, wouldn't he? Grimacing, it's not that he wants to get up and leave, but Kira's right. He's doing no good sitting here. "Fine, just make sure they know that I'm here and I'm all right," he insists, already making plans to head to the house to change.

He needs to make sure Minor is fine, because he knows that it'll be one of Major's first questions, and he ought to swing by the hospital, because that'll be one of Helen's. "You're sure?"

"I have a few people of my own to watch out for," he assures him, clapping a hand to Ravi's elbow. The squeeze is gentle, but insistent. "Go on. Get dried off, trim that down so they recognize you."

With the wonder it does for hiding the hooked scar behind his ear, Kira might not shave most of his off. For Ravi, he can't imagine the pros to outweigh the cons--maybe after it's dried and trimmed.

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[EVENT] The Simulation Ends

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