[video]

[fireflyheir]

[previously unknown secondary uses for windsock hoodies: impromptu scarves, which John has wrapped around most of his face, because what even is this. Admittedly it doesn't help the arm situation much, but that's what he's trying to find a jumper for.]

Okay, it wasn't this cold last time! It can't have been that long. [with a glance at the ceiling] Seriously, what is this place's deal?

Comments

[manicurious]

You just get right down to business, don't you?

It's not like we had a vote or anything - I think he may have infiltrated the place and messed with it while I was the only one living here. I had tried to make everything pleasant and welcoming in case I got any visitors, but that was far from what I had in mind.

Unfortunately I don't know how to regain control of things. I thought I knew, but I was proven wrong.

[chainsawspistice]

Yes
And You Are The John Human
Should I Take Your Arrival Here As A Harbinger Of Jades Imminent Appearance As Well

[tactilekonesis]

That's kind of the thing. Luministi's not exactly a normal town, even if they want to try their hardest to make it seem otherwise.

... Maybe. I hadn't thought about that.

[fireflyheir]

haha yeah i guess!
basically he's sneaking around behind the scenes. got it. when was this? have there been other things he's changed?
so we need to find another way to crack into the system. what was the way you did know, though?

[fireflyheir]

Heh… well, that does seem kind of obvious now. [he grins lopsidedly] What else is different about it?

Is there something we can do to find out?

[fireflyheir]

yeah, that's me!
uh… i don't know about that! i haven't seen her so far, but i haven't been outside yet
why do you say that, anyway?

[action]

[fireflyheir]

[creepy.]

Sure. [following, and he crinkles his face when he reads the message, teeth pressing into his lip.]

Wow. That is exactly the kind of message that makes a guy feel right at home! I haven't even been here long enough to do anything, what about you?

[manicurious]

Well, I was here by myself for about 7 months.

The first sign of something strange going on happened in the 6th or 7th month, when I received a strange message. I didn't do anything about that message because it promised that I would finally be getting some visitors, which I was excited about after such a long time by myself.

That was something like 4 months ago.

Since then, let's see...

Well first of all, people started showing up again after such a long time of no activity.

I got locked in a laboratory with one other person.

I sent distress calls to a particular device which used to serve as an emergency contact, but found that it was stolen by Mystery Asshole.

A set of sundials in town which had been broken before were somehow restored.

Our life support systems started shutting down.

Some friends of mine who had gone to another planet to look for someone came back with a guy who we think used to work with Mystery Asshole.

Said guy helped us reset the life support systems.

Somewhere along the line something went wrong and the generic townspeople were toggled on. Which would've been fine except they were zombies.

The person I was locked in with shot me in the face to keep me from turning into a zombie.

I finally got to leave the stupid laboratory.

We all had our memories replaced, but they came back somehow.

Mystery Asshole murdered Proctor, the guy who was helping us.

It started getting cold for some reason.

I and a few others finally broke the only rule I was given about a year ago. I was to never permit entry into a certain room, but given the circumstances I condoned it.

That was where I thought we could regain control of things or at least send some people home. Neither of those ended up being the case.

And here we are now.

[chainsawspistice]

Dave Then Rose Arrived Before You
If Youre Here Too It Only Stands To Reason That Jade Will Be Next Does It Not

[Action]

[moveslikestrider]

I know right? You can't feel like you're part of the neighborhood until they accuse you of stealing their lawn flamigo. I've been here a day or two. Not long enough to do more than eat and get settled. [Dave shakes his head and tucks his hands under his armpits. He's a little cold still.]

[tactilekonesis]

For starters, the townspeople're like robots. [he frowns] There was a time when they were shut off, so we had to turn them back on... but we somehow made them zombies instead, so we had to fix that ourselves too.

Nnnot that I know of. Someone else might know the answer, but I'm not too good with machines.

[fireflyheir]

…
holy shit.
and… i guess that's not entirely over yet
what was supposed to be there?

[fireflyheir]

… So they're kind of like NPCs? [man. But hopefully they're more intelligent than salamanders.] That's good. It sounds like it was pretty bad like that.

[John nods.] Okay. Is there someone you'd recommend I talk to?

[fireflyheir]

yeah, that does make sense
at least a little bit
i'll keep an eye out!
what about you guys, though? do you think any of the other trolls will arrive?

is rose still here?

[manicurious]

What I'd expected to find was a variety of complex machinery, which I believed was responsible for making people come and go. It all seemed to fit into a certain sequence of events, but when we actually got to see and touch these "machines," it turned out that they were no more than decorations.

Aside from that all we found were some empty picture frames, which

Oh

Oh god

I'm such an IDIOT.

[Action]

[fireflyheir]

So does this mean I need to hide the flamingos when you come over? [John laughs, and shakes his head.] Just in time for things to get shaken up again, huh. [He notices, and moves a little closer, bumping Dave's shoulder with his own.]

[fireflyheir]

so someone faked all that? what were they covering up?

what? what did you think of?

[manicurious]

You saw it when you arrived too, right? The man and the flash of light?

When I first got here, I thought that someone was taking an embarrassing photo of me coincidentally at the same exact time I was somehow transported here.

But now I believe that someone taking a picture is exactly how we got here.

The room that I was supposed to be guarding once contained a collection of photos of everyone who was brought here in the same manner.

It wasn't any kind of machine that I was supposed to protect, it was those pictures!

I don't think it has anything to do with controlling Luministi as a whole, necessarily, but I think that it has everything to do with what happens to all of us while we're here.

[fireflyheir]

yeah…
which means there's a photo of each of us somewhere
so… basically, it's kind of like… voodoo or something?
and this asshole probably has them.
shit.

[manicurious]

It's only a theory that I thought of within the last 30 seconds but yes that basically describes it.

He had told me that there was a clue right in front of me while I was in that room, and the only thing there was a table with the empty picture frames that used to have all of our photos in them.

I can't think of anything else he could possibly have been referring to.

[fireflyheir]

yeah
was there anything on the picture frames?

[tactilekonesis]

Except without the repeating dialogue.

If you haven't talked to Ichijou yet, you should. He's pretty good about this kind of stuff. [He has to think about the others...] Fuu and Sophie're also pretty knowledgeable. I think they, along with the Doctor and Hawk, have been around the longest.

[fireflyheir]

Definitely better than the salamanders, then.

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out for them. What do they look like?

[Action]

[moveslikestrider]

I'm the dude that rides them down the street if you're not careful. Hi ho Flamgiko! We'll ride off into the palm tree and coconut littered sunset. The southern cow boy on a long legged fowl. [He bumps John in reply, being childish about it. He's fine dude.]

[tactilekonesis]

You know how to make filtered calls on the CAT, right? When you highlight their names, a picture of them'll pop up.

Sophie's got red hair, Fuu's a Japanese girl with blond hair and green eyes, the Doctor's some British guy, and Hawk... well, he looks like he just stepped out of some video game.