a_gentle_boy | Entries tagged with sideswipe

( Preluding events.... )

[action 1]
[Lucas is on his hands and knees, crawling around! In the middle of his yard, in the middle of your yard, in the middle of the sidewalk, and, uh. In the middle of the road, blocking traffic obliviously! His walking table is intelligent enough to stand in front of him so in case any cars come, Lucas is not run over but swerved around, instead. None have so far, though.]

[action 2]
[The scent of the stinkbug is strong in your house! Whether this is because the stinkbug is actually hiding in your house or because Lucas is covered with the stench and is rummaging through your cabinets is up for debate.]

[action 3]
[Lucas is nowhere to be found for this one. Instead, you now have a rather grotesquely large bug crawling on your hand, legs, or if you're feeling particularly adventurous, head and face. If you play this one right, you may become privy to a bizarre and moving tale . . . The stinkbug is the keeper of memories, telling the truth of the story behind the formation of the Nowhere Islands, Lucas's home.]

[voice]
[That night, when all the commotion had died down, Lucas will make a call that he continually toggles between public and private before he finally decides he has nothing to lose.]

So . . . Um. Everyone knows that there's a dance coming up by now, right? ...It sounds like it might be fun. After everything we've gone through . . . maybe it will be a good opportunity to relax and get to know more people. ...I didn't want to go to the last one, but it turned out to be pretty OK.

[After some more awkward hemming and hawing, eventually, Lucas gets to the point.]

I, ah. Actually, I'd like to ask a favor. I-I . . . I'd like to ask.... That, um. It'd be nice if -- . . . Possibly. It's OK if there's no one who can, b-but if anyone could teach me how to dance........

[action]
[The days of January have passed relatively uneventfully for Lucas. He's had a lot to think about, and a lot to consider. For now, though, each time passes much like the rest, and he will take happiness in whatever peace he can get. His routine is fairly straightforward.

1:

( Lucas attacks your front door with newspapers. )
2:

( Lucas plays piano. )
3:

( Lucas draws you )

[voice]
[A phone call is broadcast to everyone later that night.]

Hello? A-Ah. This is Lucas.

I've been thinking a lot lately, and there's something that's been on my mind. I guess I want to ask . . . How long has this town been here? How long have people come in and out? Does anyone really know? But what's more important is . . . does anyone really remember everyone who's been here?

When people get droned, we think they've gone home, right? It's the hope we have, and a lot of the times it's true, but can we really be sure that it's everyone? Sergei -- the Russian man. He, um. Didn't he say that they were in a lot of pain? That some people who were droned . . . that they were still inside. If that's so, then . . . then we can't just forget about them, right? Even if one person is still here as a drone, we can't forget about them. And either way, it's terrible to forget the people you've become friends with at all. To forget about the people who've come to Mayfield and who've gone.

............. I know I've already started to.

Does anyone think we should maybe start keeping track? Just . . . something so that the people who come here won't ever be forgotten. Maybe even signatures. So if you do start to forget, then you can look back and see everyone's name and remember. Small things like . . . Miss Margot, and how she was always caring for her sister. Fuuko and how much she loved starfish. Mr. Zero, and how fun his gym classes were.

It might be a bad idea. Or too much work. But . . . Well. I guess if you don't want to talk about that, maybe we can just share stories of people who've been here and how important they were to us. I'd love to hear that kind of thing.

[Please specify 1, 2, 3, or voice. Although the actions are really just default Lucas interactions if your character has no interest in this topic.]

[filtered and whatever]
[The voice that speaks into the phone is strangely calm. After having suffered a severe shock and half-believing he had been transported back to Westport, Lucas wisely decided to remain at home.]

Please listen, everyone. There are some things you should know about these people.

We called them the hazmat men when they first showed up in Westport. They started off pretty slow and they weren't much of a threat, but as the days passed, they became much faster, stronger, and smarter. I don't know how they'll behave now, but to be on the safe side, you should assume that they're at full power.

If you have to fight them, you should know that there's nothing underneath the suits. Blunt force won't do anything and they won't react to getting hit. What you need to do to break through -- stabbing or piercing or shooting works. When the suit is opened, they release a lot of poison gas that can kill you if you're too close. If you touch them or if you inhale any of it, the chemicals will burn you badly. Some people died from the gas alone.

They attack with axes and they carry gas sprays with them. Don't let them touch you. The best thing to do if they're chasing you is to run. They're not too fast.

[filtered to Vince]
Mist -- . . . Vince? If you're free sometime soon . . . Sometime really soon, preferably. And, um. If you don't mind having to pull off a small miracle. And . . . If you promise not to yell at me or anything when you see me.

I really need a haircut.

[filtered to Luke, Wy, Shiraasan, Lyn, Ness, and Duster]
Are you all OK? Did you make it through the night?

[open call]
Did anyone find out anything interesting at the party? I think I might've gotten something . . . I don't know if it's important. It seems as if Billy is nice as long as you play along -- He likes fire a lot, and he likes it when you don't mind about him setting them. If you say anything about it, though, he gets upset really quickly.

It might be nothing. I don't know. If anyone runs into him, though . . . try and humor him. . . . Maybe things would have gone differently if I agreed.

[For anyone who runs into him, Lucas now dons a stylish hat pulled down low over his face, and a strip of cloth cut as a mask wrapped around the top of his head with a single eyehole for his right eye. If anyone asks, he is playing cops and robbers. He bumps into things a lot.]

[to Mariya and Sideswipe, easily overheard if anyone cares to]
I'm sorry I yelled yesterday. It was the wrong thing to do.

But I'm not sorry about most of the things I said. I believe in Mr. Netherlands, and even if you don't understand why he did what he did, he did have reasons. He wasn't just being selfish or stupid. It's not my place to say whether you were right or wrong, anyway, so if you want to tell him what you told me yesterday, please do. I'm sure he'll be willing to explain to you. And even if you still don't agree with him afterward, that's fine. Just as long as you've talked about it.

It's not right to call people things like idiot or stupid in the first place, but even more so if they're dead. That's why I was upset. But anyway . . . I'm sorry again.

[open call]
. . . Hello? Um. Is this . . . Is this the right number? This is Mayfield Elementary . . . ?

I'd, um. I'd like to call in sick. Lucas . . . Last name? Ushiromiya. . . . . . . . . There isn't any -- A-Ah. Lucas . . . Lucas Fawlin . . . Grade 7. No, I just haven't been feeling well . . . Ah. Mostly fever . . . . . . . . A hundred and um. Three or four. U-Up my . . . No. No. My mouth . . . A few days. No. I haven't seen the nurse . . . Um. Not yet . . . My parents . . . ? They're not home. And I . . . I don't want to bother them . . . I don't know. I . . . I really don't think I can. I don't . . . But I -- I know, but. It's just . . . I'm really not . . .

. . .

O-OK. OK. I'll try . . . I'm sorry for the trouble . . .

[Ten minutes after this call is made, an unsteady figure walks out the steps of 846 Goldberg, his face flushed and his eyes glossy. Twenty minutes after that, the boy slowly begins to kneel to the sidewalk somewhere on the route to school, but fails to make it all the way before collapsing forward. He does not get back up.]

((Feel free to make responses to the phone call or anytime that Lucas is spotted on the street, either after he faints or before.
EDIT: For continuity's sake, I'm going to refer to Margot as finding Lucas first if I make any reference to this simply because she had the first thread. I wasn't expecting so many replies; thanks everyone! He'll still remember everyone's kindness to him, though.))

[He awoke in a bed. That was strange. He had gone to sleep on a chair, having successfully made it around the neighborhood to visit anyone who was ailing. The Netherlands hadn't yet returned when he'd snuck back into the house, pretending as if he had never left in the first place. What was even stranger was that he was apparently in his pajamas and . . . looking out the window . . . There was no haze. There was no rubble. There were no hazmat men. There were no corpses.

. . .

He slowly walks downstairs as if in a trance and sees the familiar sight of his kitchen. Tears immediately coming to his eyes, the boy rushes to the telephone.]

Hello?! Is this Mayfield? Am I . . . Am I back?! Did we win? Did . . . Did we all make it? Is everyone. Is everyone OK? Mr. Netherlands? Mr. Netherlands, did we beat them?

Is this real . . . ? If this is really Mayfield, someone please answer me. There were so many things we found in Westport. And last night -- Last night, that voice. Richard Grey's last message. You all heard it too, right?

EDIT:
Kay's right.
We all found clues over there that everyone should see. I have a copy of the note that Kay and I found in the library and the one that Miss Alice and I found in the car. If anyone wants to come see them, that's fine. We should all get together sometime soon.