nightlogs | ❅ SHITTY LITTLE TOWN ❅ PART 1

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❅ SHITTY LITTLE TOWN ❅ PART 1

SHITTY LITTLE TOWN ❅ PART 1

Each year in this town, the winters seem to get harder and the summers seem to get hotter, and this was no exception. After several months of sweltering afternoons and sweaty nights, fall is finally starting to break the town’s fever, although with the cooler weather comes the death of the horseflies, leaving many of the town’s flat surfaces coated in bug carcasses. The sky is overcast, the air remains humid, and in the distance thunderstorms can be heard almost every hour of the day.

During the day, people go about their usual routines, working primarily at the slaughterhouse or mines during the weekdays, vegetating in front of the television on Saturdays, and sitting straightbacked and paranoid in the pews on Sunday, fearful less of the wrath of God than the ire of the neighbors. Evenings for the average person are filled with drinking at Nog’s or Auntie’s or peering at the TV until bedtime.

This is where our heroes find themselves, waking with a new lifestory that integrates them into this, the shitty little town.

PROMPTS

a) NOG'S

Nog's bar is the preferred haunt of most of the miners and slaughterhouse workers in this town, who meet to drink their woes away, complain about their supervisors and speculate on the personal lives of the people around them. Despite Mr. Goluboy's constant harassment, Nog has managed to keep his liquor license, and as such is one of the few successful businesses in town on account of all the stress-induced alcoholism. While one won't find fancy cocktails here, if they're just looking for a beer and some scuttlebutt, this is the place.

b) AUNTIE'S

"Auntie's" is the name of the old-school, 1950's-esque, 24-hour diner in the middle of downtown, with big red pleather booths, checkerboard floors and a jukebox. Typically, the only difference in clientele between Auntie’s and Nog's is that the people at Auntie’s wanted a burger or a stack of pancakes alongside their beer – but unlike Nog's, Auntie’s is only barely hanging on, constantly getting ticketed for waterspots on the silverware and not having enough napkins. Thankfully, one can get a full breakfast meal at Auntie's any time of day for a few dollars.

c) THE DOCKS

The town is alongside a lake, and once upon a time there was enough fish to sustain a modest fishing economy and a river that allowed for trade by boat with other nearby towns. However, with the mines' pollution, fish are no longer considered safe to eat, and only the water immediately adjacent to the springhead on the Warren Family Farm is safe to swim in. Draining from the mines has lowered the level of the river enough that it's no longer navigable. Residents will still occasionally use the lake for boating recreation, but fees at the marina keep going up (into Goluboy's pocket) and mothers are increasingly worried about letting their children get wet in that water.

d) THE SLAUGHTERHOUSE

The other major employer, owned by Ms. Cygne. Most of the locals who don't work at the mines work at the slaughterhouse, where the work is disgusting, dreary and grueling. Sometimes people get promoted out of the trenches and into admin. Yay.

e) BIG TOP CIRCUS COFFEE

Dick's Coffeeshop is in the bottom floor of an apartment building, and many locals have no idea how it hasn't been shut down yet, given that the owner is famously generous with his resources in a way that clearly irritates the city council. Dick offers jobs to those who Goluboy and Cygne won't hire at the mines or slaughterhouse and frequently sneaks day-old pastries to the hungry. The coffeeshop is one of the few areas where artists tend to converge, usually at the weekly open mic night; however, whatever one expresses at the coffeeshop is likely to be picked up by the town gossips, mocked relentlessly, distorted and spread around.

f) THE FARMER'S MARKET

Because Mr. Goluboy's malicious prosecution of small businesses has essentially shut down any legal avenue for a farmer's market, a few of the residents of the town have established a black market for homegrown fruits and vegetables, small-batch soaps and candles, and other small products. Words gets out through a whisper network, and a few times a month everyone in the know meets in a parking lot, opens their trunk, and does some bartering and selling with each other until they get found out. Sheriff Mallard and her deputies have arrested many people at these pop-ups and confiscated their products. By now, these pop-ups have around forty people trading and selling at a time, and the city council has announced that out of concerns for food safety the sentence for being caught vending homegrown produce will be increased to a misdemeanor with jail time.

g) THE LIBRARY

The library, once well-stocked and indulgently funded, is now kept alive sheerly by the passion of the one paid librarian, Aziraphale, and the volunteers who work there. There is no interlibrary loan program and there have been no new books in years. The library is reduced to loaning damaged copies missing pages, and story hours or public events are difficult to organize due to the complete lack of resources. The city council has also forced Aziraphale to put up a sign against loitering or using the library "for any purposes besides the borrowing of books." An organization of local busybodies drops in frequently to comb through the stacks for "objectionable material," which is then destroyed at Ms. Cygne's behest.

h) WILDCARD/NEW LOCATION

Feel free to set things around town anywhere you want or make up new locations.

i) THE SPOOKY WOODS

Outside the town, there are foggy, dense woods, difficult to navigate by foot due to thickets and brambles that come up to a grown man's waist. The city council has done what they can to ban people from going into the woods, and the gruesome animal maulings are a compelling disincentive.

Note: Let the plot mods know when your characters are going into the spooky woods.

OOC DETAILS
❅ OOC Plotting: Here. More locations can be found there. You can also ask the players running the plot questions there.

❅ Event Length: This part of the plot is to establish CR and characters' roles in town. It will last about a week and half before future parts that allow the characters to start digging into the mysteries of the town.

❅ New Characters: If your character is introing at this time, assume they arrived just in time at the location the plot takes place in to be caught up in the magic drawing everyone in. They would have gotten the Man in the Moon's spiel from the welcome page right before being magically sucked in.

❅ Opt-out: Anyone that doesn't want to play in the plot can handwave their character didn't go on the mission that put the characters in the location where they were sucked in. You can thread your characters back at the Pole or send them on another smaller mission with other characters.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"There's been a few black bear sightings. If we don't leave food out, we should be fine."

Miguel heard rumblings of the maulings and chalked it up to small town exaggeration, like the rest of the gossip. He'd yet to bump into any wildlife on the mountain that really worried him more than the structural integrity beneath their feet. So he operated on the usual hiking rules.

"The trailhead's this way."

Once she's packed, he gets going northward on the roughed out line of dirt they'd formed from many bootfalls of previous surveys. Miguel was close enough to forty to get a whinging knee here or there, but nothing that really obstructed these treks outdoors. The exercise and the high views from the trail were one of the things he'd deign to call pleasant about this town. Especially in the autumn.

Part of her wants to make a joke about her mom killing her if she gets eaten by a bear, but she gets enough crap from everyone about being young that she tries not to mention things like parents, as if somehow that will change anything.

"Cool, okay. The only food I have is sealed." Both inside her bag and inside packaging. Since they really aren't supposed to be out here that long, she only brought a few energy bars.

Skye falls into easy step behind him, keeping a wary eye on their surroundings despite the reassurances. There's something about the sound of crickets chirping that draws a small edge of worry, but it's the same thing she feels when she drops a piece of food and knows that Bear will get it before she can. It isn't any concern for safety, really, so she dismisses it.

After ten minutes of quiet, uneventful trekking, she pipes up, "Why does everyone have such a problem with these woods? They seem fine."

"Have you heard the locals talk? If it isn't gossip, it's superstition." he remarks glibly. “Stories of people getting lost here turns into Bigfoot developing a hunger for human flesh.”

There's a reason Miguel's haunts tend to be by himself at the lake, at work in a hole in the ground, or in the middle of nowhere at the mountain survey with the others. Then again, maybe that was part of the selection process for all this in dear ‘ol Minecorp.

An early risen crow calls and rustles a snarl of dry twigs above them as it takes flight. He’s undisturbed by the noise, trudging over a small stream.

Both of their legs should be long enough to make easy use of the flat stones to cross.

Skye snorts, amused at the assessment and not at all caring to hide her general disdain for the locals as a general unit. She might play nice one-on-one, but this place is so backwards compared to how she grew up.

"I heard some of them suggest there was a werewolf." There's a bit of a dramatic spooky voice for emphasis, because she isn't allergic to being a little silly sometimes.

The stream crossing is easy enough, and though she does casts a glance towards the crow, it doesn't strike her as anything unusual. "Thank god none of them have probably ever watched the Blair Witch project."

"Don't give anyone ideas. I'll be hearing all about the new window garlic for the vampire witch coven for weeks."

Miguel recognizes he's being snide, but he is rather sick and tired of this place and most of the people in it, and sorely missed his real home. The nice view of the old mountains and the sound of the stream at least sooth over the darker thoughts of being stuck here.

Besides, they still had a job to do.

"Here. It's this way."

They veer westward past a mossy boulder jutting out of the ground, through a clearing and towards the center of what one member of the team elegantly labeled The Big Crack (Miguel refused to call it that).

It was an area of subsidence, where some of the ground had started to cave in enough that it was noticeable with the naked eye. The slope of the trough had developed a fissure sometime between the completion of the new dig site and the lagging development in reinforcing all the old abandoned mines. Any significant movement at the bottom had a way of disturbing everything above if they weren't careful.

It could be nothing, since this part of it was in the middle of nowhere. Or it could be a headache for them later down the line, if sinkholes start eating people's sheds.

Edited 2024-09-01 07:18 (UTC)

There's something there, a brief flicker of anger-fear-hurt at the word witch but Skye doesn't understand it and so doesn't give it any mind, pushing the half-second of discomfort to the back of her mind. "I bet I could convince them I know voodoo."

It's the sort of joke she wouldn't make around most of their other coworkers, but even if they've never explicitly addressed it, there's a level of solidarity that comes from being visibly other. She trusts Miguel to understand that not only is she joking, but also who's expense the joke is at.

She keeps up the rest of the way, grateful that her equipment isn't too heavy. The distance is fine, she just isn't the strongest person in the world.

Once they're at the site (Skye would absolutely call it the Big Crack with a giggle), she frowns at the extent of the collapse, already making mental notes.

"There's an old coal mine under this area but it closed so long ago that we don't have accurate maps of the tunnels. They could be a problem if they extend far enough towards town." And because she can't help getting a jab in, "I've been asking Goluboy for the resources to do a proper assessment, but apparently he isn't too worried about it."

He should be, she thinks.

No explicit conversation is necessary when he still gets a 'Mike' here and there despite his top-tier scowling. Truly this place was a purgatory meant to test his patience.

"Maybe the threat of a curse is what will finally get the head idiot to start paying attention." he murmurs, mouth curled. Direct criticism of the boss was a no-go except for the few safe individuals, Skye now counted among them. It took a few months to get to that point, though. Miguel had grown to see a lot of promise in her after being impressed by her work ethic.

The bag is set down with a dirt-dulled thunk, unlatching the top flap. He was irritable because he was worried - and her confirmation appears to have disturbed the peace of being outdoors. He takes out the poles and the tripod for the spirit level, starting to set up the legs. So far, the Big Crack wasn't big enough to need measuring with a GPS, but it wouldn't stay that way for long.

"We haven't dug that deep into the coal seam yet. If we're already getting signs of trouble, then we needed to do that assessment yesterday."

If a curse would be enough to get people to pay attention, Skye would have broken out all sorts of nonsense at this point, but she's tried to rely on facts and logic, most of which has fallen on deaf ears.

She doesn't know if this will make a difference. Pessimistically, she suspects it won't, that they're only here to pretend at caring, but that won't stop her from doing the work to the best of her ability.

"Maybe he'll listen if you're the one saying it." There's no attempt made to disguise the annoyance in her tone at how often she's dismissed for being young. This is her first real job, and Goluboy loves to point out that she doesn't know mining like they do.

Fuck them, frankly. It's why's been working overtime on a personal project. "You said we have time before the rest of the crew shows up?"

"I'll have to press him on it. Even Goluboy can understand a downward trend."

Miguel is not ignorant to how even a room full of academics can look at Skye and dismiss what she says - and not just because of her age. That world can be shockingly dusty and old-fashioned sometimes, which is part of the reason why he didn't mind her coming in swinging with a ton of confidence.

He adjusts the level and walks over to her, handing her one of the rods. They'll need two positions to get a proper reading on the elevation. He checks the time when she asks the question, glancing at the bulky outdoor watch on his wrist.

"Yeah. They should have gotten to the end of the road already, but it'll take time for them to hike over here."

Odd that he hasn't heard anything on the two-way radio. That was the back-up for the spotty reception they'd get up on the mountain.

Edited 2024-09-05 04:14 (UTC)

There are a few more bitter things she could say, but she saves those rants for the weekly emails to her mom, rather than subjecting any coworkers to them. The sense of solidarity with Miguel is nice, but she tries to maintain a professional distance from all her coworkers.

So she simply makes a sound of agreement, before taking the rod, giving the area another once over before heading over to a good spot to get it set up. As with all her work, she's careful and precise.

"Can I ask you not to tell Goluboy about a side project I've been working on? It's not dangerous." The dangerous part is important, but she wants to hear his answer before she says much more about it.

His expression flattens somewhat. Not dangerous, she says.

"If it was dangerous, Goluboy would not be the first person I go to."

He would rather she feel comfortable telling him about possible danger more than be assured of his Company Loyalty. As much as this work could be wretched, Miguel likes to think he does his best to prioritize their lives, here. More than their fearless leader, anyway.

"What have you been working on?"

That was, evidently, the right answer to give; it means that Miguel cares more about safety than loyalty, which hopefully means that he'll understand why she wants to do what she's planning to do.

"I've made some small seismographs. So little about this place feels right. I want my own information instead of relying on the company." It isn't dangerous, it won't interfere with their actual work, so she thinks it should be fine, but it is technically stepping outside of her role.

This feels important, though, enough for her to take that risk.

"Seismographs?"

If it were someone else, he might have lost interest rather quickly. Their digging into the mountain was naturally going to generate a rumble in the earth here or there. Especially if they were already getting some sinking on the surface.

But it's different when Skye investigates - she had an eye for detail, and geology was more her specialty than his. So it piques his interest.

"Some activity is to be expected, right? What's caught your attention?"

"Do you trust Goluboy to put safety before profits?" The look she gives him is the look of someone who knows Miguel isn't that stupid, especially since he just confirmed that he wouldn't go to Goluboy if something dangerous was going on.

Skye finishes adjusting the rod, confirming the positioning, before moving back towards her pack. "MineCorp has equipment installed to measure seismic activity, but he won't give me direct access to monitor it, I only get reports." And who knows how edited those reports are, before they reach her. She'd much rather get the information directly.

His expression turns more perturbed now, wondering why she wiggled around his relatively straightforward question. Granted, Goluboy can falsify all sorts of reports to them if he wanted. Miguel is surprised he even would get into the weeds to her level (or know what a seismograph is).

"You'd think he'd know that seismic activity is something you can really cover up." he replies calmly, deciding to go with the story. "Have you found discrepancies in the data?"

This is of interest to him, too. It reflects badly on him if he designs something that collapses later.

Don't worry about it, Miguel.

"Low level activity might go unnoticed if no one is paying close attention." Which seems to be the case, that few people outside of Goluboy are keeping an eye on things, likely because he's directed their attention elsewhere. She's wondered, once or twice, if the animal attacks are a diversion, but that feels a little too paranoid.

Anyway, "Nothing definitive, but some of it just... feels off. I want to be more certain about what we're doing." She realizes that implying 'the vibes are bad' isn't very scientific, hence why she wants to actually gather more information before doing something stupid like questioning Goluboy.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

❅ SHITTY LITTLE TOWN ❅ PART 1

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