( june event ) precautionary measures

[officialnotice]

Hey there, Pinecones! This infopost marks the start of the unholy mess that is the end of Arc I. Let me save you the trouble of urgently scrolling to the bottom: Our two mystery events remain a mystery, at least until the infopost upcoming on the 15th.

Now, on to the write-up!




PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES


ENVIRONMENT EVENT: Depowering Field
EVENT DATE: June 9th - 19th

By now, few haven't noticed the storm brewing in our cozy town of Wayward Pines, hidden just beyond the oppressive fog of quiet suburbia. No one's sure quite when it started. All they know is that last month, for the first time thus far, it broke through the clouds. Few who chose to get involved were left unchanged.

But so far, June has been... fairly uneventful. Peaceful, even. The birds are singing. The Sheriff has a spring in his step, and the Main Street entrepreneurs finally seem to find themselves at ease. Some might even think that after last month's mess, the storm has finally cleared.

They couldn't be more wrong if they tried.

There's no warning, no steady build up or slow decline. Out in the officially-sanctioned camping zones, each student, teacher, and chaperone attending the school year's last hurrah stumbles to their hands and knees, barely able to stop at that. But it's not just them — every single person unfortunate enough to be out in the woods at 4:30 PM on the 9th of June feels the strength leave their body in the span of a breath, feels their knees give out and any special abilities they have slip from their grasp like sand through their fingers. To those who've ventured too close to the fenceline, what they're feeling now is entirely too familiar. To those who haven't? It's exhausting at best and terrifying at worst.

To the town of Wayward Pines, however, nothing is amiss. Not until the first stragglers manage to crawl back to town to tell the tale.

IN CHARACTER

IT'S GOT THE POWER

At midday on the 9th, the intensity of the fence surrounding the town increases exponentially, and anyone more than 100 yards from town feels suddenly exhausted and de-powered. Comparatively, it's as if they were dropped ten yards from the fence, able to crawl reasonably and only outright stand if they're willing to tax all of the energy they have left. The closer they get to town, the stronger they start to feel, though staying on your feet is decidedly difficult outside of that 100-yard mark.

The town itself is unaffected by this change. Within the city lines, it's as if nothing is wrong at all, save for the more subtle signs, The farmers are coming home that much more exhausted — while the farm itself seems largely within the safe zone, those who work there feel just a little bit heavier as they go about their daily tasks. On top of that, the local wildlife have congregated well within the 'safe zone' just inside the treeline. Many local predators are taking advantage of the change to catch the distinctly more accessible prey, so while the screaming from the woods seems to have died down for now, that doesn't mean those woods are any sort of peaceful. This danger of predation stretches to any humans who venture into the trees. Additionally, many prey-type animals have joined the scavenger species in roaming the outer streets of Wayward Pines. Deer flock nervously to residents' backyards, willing to risk the proximity with humans over the immediate presence of hungry cougars and bears.

This continues steadily for nearly a week and a half, until early on the morning of the 19th. More on the events of the 19th will come a few days before the event.

OUT OF CHARACTER

THE BREAKDOWN

This chunk of June's event is decently simple — an environmental shift with few actual side effects for those who don't find themselves in the woods terribly often. Most characters will find their daily lives unchanged.

As such, there will be no catch-all for the Precautionary Measures segment of the event, aside from the Field Day & Camping Trip log posted yesterday. Players are by all means welcomed to post their own individual logs dealing with the ramifications of the apparent spike in the fence's area of effect.

Much like May's Sudden Recall event, we have no built-in paths to interact with the town or its NPCs through this piece of the event, but that didn't stop people from improvising beautifully last month and you're welcome to do so here as well. We'll provide a 'plot interaction' top-level in case such an occasion arises.

The infopost for the mysterious 'survival event' will go up on the 16th, and the meat of this month's event will be revealed in that.

Until then, take the next week and a half to ready yourself for the most action that Wayward Pines has seen thus far.

Comments

QUESTIONS

[officialnotice]

PLOT INTERACTION

[officialnotice]

We may not have any built-in routes by which to further investigate this segment of June's event, but should you have an idea of your own, drop it here and the mods will help you work out how exactly it plays out.

Note that this is just for the NPCing or DMing of various routes of plot investigation. If you have any outright questions or would like to assess the feasibility before you leap into an idea, please use the QUESTIONS top-level instead!

[sirnyxalot]

Presuming someone else doesn't take up ten thousand man hours of the man's time in the wake of the camping trip (Nyx was there, he has his concerns too), Nyx is going to go to the station and ask if the sheriff is in today. 8I

[officialnotice]

According to the apologetic receptionist, he's in and out all day, and should be back within a half hour if Nyx is willing to hang around.

[sirnyxalot]

Of course. He doesn't mind waiting in the least. He'll just have a seat wherever he's directed to and if there's any kind of reading material he'll spend the time poking through it.

[officialnotice]

The Sheriff rolls back in only a couple minutes later than anticipated, eyes finding the receptionist, then following her nod to where Nyx sits.

"Ulric," he greets. "This the kind of chat we should have in my office?" Is it long and/or private?

[holdmybeer]

Peter rolls up to the station and asks to see the sheriff. He’s got a… problem.

[officialnotice]

According to the apologetic receptionist, he's in and out all day, and should be back within a half hour if Peter is willing to hang around.

[holdmybeer]

He's not surprised. He'll tell her that he'll wait for him, since a half hour isn't that long.

[snipers]

The sheriff is getting a lot of visitors lately, isn't he?

And here's another one; Yukari finds her way to the office easily and, just for a moment, ponders sneaking in. It's a stupid idea, and she'll go in the front door and wait for the sheriff to return.

[officialnotice]

He strolls in about fifteen minutes later, gets the same nod from the receptionist as he has with each prior visitor, and follows the nod to Yukari.

"'Afternoon, ma'am. What might I do for you?"

[snipers]

Yukari gives him a friendly smile, and then bows politely.

"I think you've got a couple things of mine." Her hands fold behind her hips. "I'd like them back, please."

WHOOPS, enjoy another disgruntled citizen, sheriff

[royalpassport]

So, Jefferson's going to want to talk to the sheriff on the 10th or 11th, all wound up from having his usual exploration of the woods hindered by the increased intensity of the fence. That, plus Peter Pan messing with him about his daughter, leads to: storming into the police station all tense and crazy-eyed, demanding to see the sheriff or anyone who can get his daughter back from outside the town.

(And if asked for details or clarification-- since he doesn't actually have a daughter in Wayward Pines-- he'd mention Storybrooke, curses, evil queens, etc. and flagrantly disregard the rules in the official notices)

[officialnotice]

The Sheriff doesn't know precisely who has what family, around here. He seems to take this seriously enough at first, asking what Jefferson means by 'outside the town'. Is she missing? Is she just traveling?

But then the talk of 'Storybrooke' starts in, and his eyes go a little steely. He speaks in slow, careful tones from there. Tells Jefferson that he thinks he's having some sort of a panic incident, those are known to cause delusions. It's not Jeff's fault. He just needs to sit back and breathe and think about what he knows is real - like this town. Even just the chair he's sitting in.

He says he's not trained in helping people down from incidents like these, and he's going to call somebody who might better know how to help, if that's alright with Jefferson.

[royalpassport]

For the sake of trying to wrap this up as quickly as possible: Jefferson will remain super adamant and borderline hostile about the fact that he's not deluded/not crazy and needs to be reunited with his daughter (whether that means the powers that be bringing her here, or sending him home) regardless of what the sheriff or anyone else says. He'll be tentatively interested in whoever the sheriff offers to call, unless it's somebody from the hospital, in which case he'll be like NO and double down on the fact that he's not crazy. If somebody from the hospital shows up, or if he thinks he's about to be confined or arrested, he'll likely just run, or make an attempt to.

[postpartor]

Not a disgruntled citizen! Miraculous. Instead, it's Sharon Carter, coming in from patrol feeling somewhat fatigued and having heard the chatter (and seen the animals) pouring in to town.

She waves to the receptionist and unless stopped, will head straight to Danny's office to wait for him there.

[officialnotice]

The receptionist doesn't stop her, though she probably makes a tiny bit of friendly smalltalk on Sharon's way by. (She's pretty thrilled to have another woman on the force - the only other woman they've got isn't so easy to talk to.)

Danny strolls back in not too long later, greeting the receptionist in passing. He doesn't seem at all bothered to see Sharon in his office, taking in her expression and greeting her with, "How long have you been on the clock?" The 'you look tired' is unspoken but obvious enough regardless.

[postpartor]

She's still got another two hours, and she should get back out there, but she has to ask: What's going on with the woods?

[bird_thing]

Two weeks and no word or clue of his friends and Tobias has finally riled himself into enough of a panic to actually drive him into the police station in human morph, barefoot, spandex bike shorts, tight t-shirt, and blank faced despite the clear discomfort in his body language as he walks up to the front desk.

He'd like to report a few missing persons. Sort of.

[officialnotice]

Because we all know how much Tobias likes describing his buddies, the Sheriff pulls out a Missing Persons form and asks him who exactly is missing. Names, ages, identifying features.

[bird_thing]

Tobias stares at the Sheriff's hands rather disconsolately for a moment before asking if he can write the information down himself. Being in this building is unnerving enough for him already please don't make him talk more than he has to.

[00nothing]

On the 15th Alex shows up at the hospital with a referral from the Sheriff to see the therapist on staff. He seems to be more or less recovered from his excitement with the cop car a few days ago though perhaps a bit wan and easily startled.

[officialnotice]

The therapist is a woman in her early thirties, who introduces herself as Dr. Rousseau. She seems friendly and sincere, definitely a psychologist but not overbearing as so many are wont to be.

She offers him a seat in one of a couple of comfortable chairs, then asks how he's doing. What happened the other day must have been quite a shock for him.

[00nothing]

Alex sits promptly and folds his hands neatly into his lap, keen to appear attentive and agreeable and if at all possible avoid anyone looking too closely at his bike, or at least, not before he has the chance to himself anyway. There's no real familiarity here for him when it comes to psychologists, no unspoken instinct for how he should act or behave, but he figures the general one he's been using for his encounters with the hospital staff, with the sheriff, should do just fine.

Softly, and with a wince at the memory that's even mostly genuine, he agrees about the shock, says that he's still a little jumpy, maybe. Apologizes for it, even, ducking his head against his chest. He doesn't appear eager to meet her eyes.

PLOTTING

[officialnotice]