❅ SHITTY LITTLE TOWN ❅ PART 1

[nightmods]

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.

Comments

i.

[hallelujahjunction]

[Dan's on the hunt for another drink and a conversation. He earned enough money selling caricatures today to get drinks at Nog's instead of shoplifting vodka from the grocery store, so he decided to treat himself. He finds it ironic that now that he least has the financial capacity to treat himself, he thinks he needs it the most. Getting through every day as the town's least-beloved, rumpled, battered nuisance feels like a Herculean effort that should have a cash prize at the end, and instead, every once in a while he manages to buy his own whiskey at the bar before he gets hassled into leaving.

He hasn't been hassled yet. There are some guys from the slaughterhouse eyeballing him, and he's very intentionally avoiding their eye contact and looking for someone, anyone, whom he can rope into a conversation long enough for the guys to lose interest. Dan never starts fights, but the guys who work at the mines and slaughterhouse always have bad moods they need to take out on someone, and the homeless alleged sex offender is an ideal target.

He sees Crowley and he decides that that's his target, but only because he doesn't have many better options. There's nothing that a well-dressed professional like Crowley's going to want with Dan. He's sure Crowley will humor him for as little time as he can get away with, but with the guys at their booth glaring at Dan, he decides to try and take shelter's in Crowley's company quickly.]

Hey, if I tell you a joke, you mind spotting me two dollars? That's what I need for more Jack. [Dan sits down next to Crowley at the bar, intending to stay.]

[demonicmiracle]

[There are rumors about Dan; Crowley remembers them spreading when he rolled into town, a few of the locals dragging out newspaper articles and talking about broadcasts they'd seen, and he'd approached it with the same grain of salt he approaches most gossip.

There's a danger in associating with the man, but regardless of what Dan has or hasn't done, he's never struck Crowley as dangerous himself. He knows dangerous men, after all.]

We'll start with one, and you can have the other if the joke's decent.

[He fishes a crumpled dollar from his pocket and offers it out.

The game is a bit stupid, but it feels necessary, to keep a little distance.]

[hallelujahjunction]

Much obliged.

[Thank goodness Crowley's humoring him. Dan takes the dollar and slips it into his pocket with impressive sleight of hand. Once upon a time, Dan was a dealer in Vegas; many times upon a time he was a card-counting thief who only narrowly avoided getting kneecapped by security at the Luxor.]

You ever seen a dog bowl? [He grins, and when he does a careful eye can see a missing molar.] If not, don't worry about it. They ain't very good at it.

[The joke's stupid, but Dan hopes his delivery is winsome. Catching a glimpse of those guys in the mirror lets him know that they're still watching him. He wonders if they'll try and harass him when Crowley's here, given that Crowley has a bit of a reputation about town as well, although not nearly as toxic as Dan's. Government officials aren't Dan's favorite people either, but in this town people take the work that's available, and Dan can't begrudge someone for working for The Man.]

[demonicmiracle]

[It's a deeply stupid joke, but Crowley was expecting something a little better crafted, so the stupidity of it startles a laugh out of him.]

That was bloody awful.

[While it might not count as decent, he'll still pay for it, holding out another dollar bill.]

You here 'cause I've got money, or was there something else I can help you with?

[The question is fairly neutral, he's mostly asking out of curiosity, without minding whatever the answer may be.]

[hallelujahjunction]

Good. I was hoping if I couldn't might make you laugh, I could might make you groan. Glad I got both. [He takes the dollar, folds it in half and tucks it into the breastpocket of his jacket, where he's been keeping the entirety of his fortunes.]

Safety in numbers, [he says, lowering his voice and cutting his eyes towards the guys still glaring at him from across the bar.] If you don't mind talking to me until they lose interest, you'd could be saving me a lot of grief.

[In this miserable town, people tend to take out their aggression on whatever soft target they can find more than in other places. Dan's had his belongings trashed, been pushed around, had cold water and garbage thrown on him while sleeping in an alley, been taunted to do degrading things for a dollar by teenagers with cameras on their phones. He's seen people harass the homeless like that in other cities, but this is the first time in his life he's had to modify his own behavior and be so paranoid about people around him for fear of being bothered.]

[demonicmiracle]

[As a seasoned expert in being somewhat shady and also being a gossipy bitch, Crowley resists the natural urge to look where Dan is indicating, mostly because he doesn't have to look to know exactly the sort of men being referenced.

They're the same men that he carefully avoids, since he's committed the apparently grievous sin of wearing jeans that are a bit too tight.]

The honesty's appreciated. [Which is the truth; it might have rankled a bit if he'd felt used, so Dan being open about why he chose to strike up a conversation helps soothe any potential hurt feelings.] Might not have chosen the best person to chat to, but I suppose the job helps, hm?

[It adds a layer of protection that he wouldn't have, otherwise, and he's been known to extend that protection to others when he can.]

[hallelujahjunction]

It do. They reckon the police will listen to you if things get hairy and the cops get called to break it up.

[Dan's father's heart would have broken to know his son was breaking bread with a government man, but Dan's sure he'd have already broken his father's heart a hundred times if his dad had seen where Dan's life has taken him.]

But just because I got ulterior motive don't mean I can't enjoy the conversation, right? [When he smiles at Crowley this time, it's genuine. Dan is sincerely interested in other people, and now that he has Crowley's attention, he wants to know more about him.]

[demonicmiracle]

[Crowley tips his head in a moment of thoughtfulness; he'd simply been thinking about the fact they're less likely to go after someone with a 'respectable' profession, but Dan's got a good point.]

Never considered that, but I suppose they would. The cops, I mean.

[It's always nice to have extra cards in his pocket, when it comes to ways he can protect himself, so he appreciates the new angle to play, should he ever need to.]

The answer has less to do with ulterior motives and more to do with whether you've picked a decent conversationalist.

[The implication here is that Dan has not picked a good conversationalist, on account of Crowley is an asshole. He can be a good conversationalist, it just usually requires being far more open than he wants to be.]

[hallelujahjunction]

I can make a good conversationalist out of a scrap of rawhide. [Dan's uniquely good at talking to people, which is part of why it's been so heartbreaking to him that no one wants to give him the time of day. He's a social animal. He convinces himself he isn't, but he is.] I might would be surprised if you were the one man on this green Earth that I couldn't might shoot the shit with.

[He raps his knuckles on the bar counter and signals that he needs a refill, which is provided in spite of the known likelihood that he's going to dip without closing his tab.]

You got a reputation for being snarky, sure, but that ain't the worst reputation in this room.

[demonicmiracle]

Handy skill to have, that is.

[It's been a long time since he's felt the urge to flex those particular muscles; he used to be a better conversationalist, a lifetime ago, could charm the best of them, but these days it's more effort than it's worth.

Or it's just another thing that Luc took in the divorce.]

That's my reputation? [A hint of amusement, a dash of skepticism, since he's certain there's been much less kind things said about him.] If it makes y'feel any better, yours might not be the worst, either. I've heard some rumors about ol' Frank over there.

[It's possible he made them up because Frank called him a slur, but that's between him and God.]

[hallelujahjunction]

I've got to have some things working in my favor. [And when he's not stranded in this town, Dan's gift of gab does a great job of keeping him alive and fed and clothed and doing the job he loves, traveling the southern border leaving stockpiles of supplies along well-traveled migrant routes.

It's incredible how something as small and pitiful as a rumor about his RAP sheet seems to have ripped that silver tongue right out of his mouth.]

Oh yeah? Tell me what they say about Frank. [He's unlikely to repeat it; he doesn't have a spiteful bone in his body, and having been the subject of public scorn, he has no desire to turn that indignity on someone else.]