FEBRUARY 2021 EVENT: PART ONE

[robbies]

 

CHAPTER TWO, PART 1: A LIGHT LUNCH

Good times, great olives, Uliveto's.

INVITES AND INSISTENCES | BISQUE AND BREADSTICKS | FONTINA AND FOCACCIA | MUNDANITY AND MISHAPS

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INVITES AND INSISTENCES

After a fairly low-key January, you start hearing the buzz on February 1st: The Happy Homes Association is inviting you to a luncheon on Friday! Stylishly dressed women in coats and hats are inviting everyone they know in the neighborhood, coming up and knocking on your door to invite you personally to come along. “Noon on Friday at Uliveto’s,” one of them tells you with a bright smile. “There’ll be food and drinks, and the whole community can get together and mingle a bit!”

Whether you’re home to answer the door or not, you’ll receive a small card advertising the event — it’s a fundraiser, after all, and they need your help! Pay just $3 and your food and as much as you’d like to drink are covered.

But some of the HHA members are a little more insistent, roving the neighborhood in search of anyone who’s just moved to Santa Rosita in the past few months. Their almost too-wide smiles and slightly-vacant eyes are a dead giveaway that these neighbors aren’t all at home, and they aren’t willing to take anything less than a “Yes” when they ask you if you’re coming. You’ve got to wash your hair? They know a hairdresser over at the salon on Main Street who can fit you in today. Groceries? Why, their daughter can take care of that for you in a jiffy! No excuse will fly with these Robbies; they’ve always got an answer and a way for you to make an appearance.

It won’t end once you’ve agreed, either (even if you just agree to get them off your back!). With the promise of another guest at the luncheon, the Robbies are quick to suggest that you should help them! There are so many people in the town, after all, and with more people volunteering to spread the word, they can make this the most successful fundraiser ever! (Or, well, at least the most successful since last year’s Little League candy sales!) Look, there’s another of your new neighbors over there — why don’t you go and invite them now? Your new friends from the HHA will be right here to support you and help you out!

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BISQUE AND BREADSTICKS

On Friday, February 5th, Uliveto’s is easy to find — just follow the train of cars headed to North Santa Rosita, where the restaurant sits just off of Main Street with a parking lot that’s packed full. Hopefully you’re willing to walk, because it looks like the luncheon is in full swing! But as you get closer, you see that the ladies of the HHA have things down to a science as they welcome neighbors, invite them to join one of the many tables set up in the half of the restaurant they’ve taken over, and integrate newcomers into conversation.

“Oh, hello!” one of the ladies gushes as she spots you. “I’m so glad you could make it! It’s a little cold today, but you should try the tomato bisque — it always warms me right up! Come with me and Betty can get you all set up with your meal voucher; have you ever been to Uliveto’s before? It’s just divine; the salad and breadsticks are all you can eat and the pasta — golly, my mother never even tried to outdo it. We’d just come here instead!”

Before you know it, you’ve paid your entrance and have been shown to one of the large party tables (or maybe they’re multiple tables pushed together? What restaurant normally has tables that seat 20 people?), a waitress offering you the drinks menu and asking if you’d like to start with a glass of (nonalcoholic, of course!) wine. Once she’s gone, you’ll finally get a chance to look around the interior of the restaurant. The walls are a warm yellowed beige, and fluted columns break up the space with clinging ivy and grapes hanging from planters near the top. A mural is painted on the far wall of a terrace looking out over rolling hills and vineyards, and the soft music of an accordion reaches your ears…

“You all right, hon?”

One of the ladies at your table is looking at you expectantly. Don’t forget, you’re here to mingle and socialize! Time to break out that small talk!

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FONTINA AND FOCACCIA

As the luncheon continues, you may be able to notice some of the HHA volunteers scurrying back and forth, taking turns manning the doors and the small table where Betty’s taking donations and issuing meal vouchers. Watch long enough and you’ll be able to see that all of them are ultimately reporting to three ladies who confer at a smaller table set back from all the mingling, talking amongst themselves and from time to time making notes in a small ledger. At about half past noon, one of the women stands, calling out, “May I have your attention, please?” She has to repeat it a couple times to be heard, but after a minute or two everybody settles down. The woman nods toward all of the guests, then turns back to the table, allowing one of the women to stand and make herself known. Tall, graceful, and neat, she takes a look around the room as she speaks — does her gaze linger a moment on you? Good afternoon, everyone. For those of you who may not know me yet, my name is Rosemary Craven, and I’m the head of our local Happy Homes Association. A small wave of applause breaks out from some of the ladies; Rosemary seems to indulge them for just a moment before she lifts a gloved hand to quell it. Please. I can only manage what I’m given, and the fine women of the association give me plenty to work with. Their efforts to organize this luncheon for all of us today showcase the dedication we should all strive for. Ladies, please stand and be recognized. Today’s fundraiser is to benefit our town as Founder’s Day approaches in April. We’ve got big plans for the funds we raise — who knows? Perhaps we’ll be able to afford some yummy treats for the children. Who doesn’t love an ice cream cake? Your generosity today makes all of this possible. You’ll forgive me for not giving you hard numbers, but I’d hate to be so gauche in such a lovely restaurant. Let me assure you, though, that the Happy Homes Association is here to help you in whatever way we can, whether that’s by helping you redecorate your homes, bringing over home-cooked meals, or teaching you some new skills — and speaking of new skills, I’d like to invite all of our new neighbors to talk with me personally if you think you might be interested in helping us out from time to time. Sewing might not be your forte, but everybody’s got something they’re good at, and we can always use the extra hands. I’ll let you all get back to your meals. If you have any questions for me, please seek me out. I’ll be sitting just over here with Maude.

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MUNDANITY AND MISHAPS

After the luncheon, things in Santa Rosita continue on as normal. The weekend comes and goes, the work week begins, and the cold February wind blows… But when you wake up on February 10th, some of you are missing.

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OOC INFO

Welcome to the first part of February’s event! You can use this entry to top-level for the event, but feel free to utilize the log and network communities as well. Sign-ups to have your character abducted are located here; please fill out the form provided along with any other pertinent details.

You may play with the townsfolk NPCs as necessary in your threads; non-Robbied neighbors will be cordial and happy to make small talk and will try to maintain the pleasant atmosphere. Robbies will, as always, be mindlessly optimistic and complimentary about everything—you may find that most of the Robbies have congregated at their own table and are bubbling with excitement over just about anything.

There will be a top-level posted for Rosemary below. If you would like to have your character interact with her, comment with your starter there. The mods will respond to tags for Rosemary until February 15th.

Any questions can go in our FAQ thread below. Try to check and see if your question has already been answered on the plotting thread first here.

Remember — part 2 of this event is coming February 15th!

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Comments

[weifinder]

( He's shoving napkins into Levi's hands, at this point, and standing back with an apologetic look. Also a look, to the side, as he gestures up and toward the hall, down which way the restrooms might be found (restrooms are incredible, public, and all over the city, it's quite convenient in his opinion): )

Trying to help! This is way too much, we should wash it off in the restroom, these things aren't doing anything.

( The napkins. What are they called again? His mind's blanking, so it clearly can't matter too much. )

[peninhand]

"So, they're not all-powerful..."

Good to know. Again though, it reminded her of what she had herself done back home. Whilst she had technically had the power to do anything, she had been bad at it. It had been a learning process, she had broken things while learning... But eventually she'd gotten better at it. So much better, it was scary. If there was any similarities here...

"Then we're fighting against the clock." Not literally, but... "They may get better at messing with us. If we want to avoid a terrible fate, we need to stop whoever is doing all that quick."

[fanoperator]

Puffing out a breath once they're safely inside, Huaisang takes off his own coat, brushing it down to make sure that no snow lingers. "I'm sure you figured out by now, Ethel is one of those locals who seem... empty. Nothing in them with cheer. No capacity for anything else. Flattery is safest with them. It makes us seem compliant."

He shivers, chewing on his lower lip. "Thank you for providing at least a temporary refuge against that. I'll try to sneak back to my own home soon."

[fanoperator]

"I'm not sure." Huaisang furrows his brow slightly, lashes fluttering with innocent confusion as he tries to imagine the 'neglect' that Rosemary described. "But I suppose I've been abandoned by my husband, so perhaps that's what she had in mind. So strange, though, that Mrs. Craven was aware of my missing husband. Every other local that I've spoken to has been convinced that I arrived alone and never had a husband at all."

The disparity is very interesting, and he's curious as to why Rosemary has better awareness of the strange changes in this town than other locals.

"At least there are liquor stores in this town. You just have to know where to find them. And then keep a stock in a cabinet at home. Just in case."

[bibliophilicbells]

[Quietly:] Good.

[There's understanding in Aziraphale's voice, at least, and in the way he surrenders the breadbasket — places it on the table, something of an offering.

It seems he may be full, for the moment.]

[reek]

What sort of work does he do?

[ Theon steals a sideways glance at him, still tense. It’s true, he has no desire to work for money, but the larger problem is that he just doesn’t know how. In a world where no one is carrying swords or daggers, he isn’t trained in anything particularly useful, and the threat of war seems to be nonexistent.

Still, he would rather a child not outdo him. He’ll have to decide what makes him useful sooner or later. ]

A group of old crones said I needed to bring them three dollars in order to pay for wine.

[ That’s literally he got out of it. He really needs a drink. ]

[reek]

Maybe where you come from.

[ He suspects that even at age twenty-four, he would still be known as “Eddard Stark’s ward”; just a kinder name for something more sinister. There are times when he wonders if he would have ever seen home again without Robb taking his place as King in the North, but it’s a thought best left in the corner of his mind, tucked away where he can’t think about it too deeply.

He nabs a breadstick and takes an angry, impolitely large bite. ]

My point is that you look more of a child than I do.

[ Yes, really. ]

[reek]

[ Deep down, Theon feels the same way about death being nothing. But he has childhood memories of being told that when an ironborn dies, he goes to the Drowned God’s watery halls where he can drink and feast to his heart’s delight. These days, he doesn’t consider himself to be a godly man, but he only has so many memories of home, and voicing disdain or doubt of any of it out loud would feel wrong. ]

Keep going? Like a chicken after you’ve cut its head off?

[ He furrows his eyebrows. That is not what happened to the kennel master. Theon would probably feel worse about killing him if it had. ]

No, I don’t. Do I look like a vintner to you?

[vampirella]

"I'll have to stop by and have a chat with her myself. Maybe she can give me more details on what the menfolk are getting up to. I'd desperately hate my Ian getting involved." She's a good actress, and that's a fact, but there are just some pretty lies she can't sell. For example, that she's at all worried about some dreadful fate befalling her husband. Carm can't quite manage to sound properly sincere, and honestly didn't even bother to try.

Liquor stores about is at least a promising way to wind down after this stressful mess of a party. "What a darling you are. I'll have to sneak around until I find one, I do like a glass of wine to unwind." That's the nicest possible way of saying she drinks for sport practically any time she has the opportunity.

[callhousekeeping]

[ And it says something that a woman who hangs out with ghosts, serial killers and is a vampire is having trouble taking him seriously. This is a woman who accepts what people tell her at face-value, mostly because she's so regularly surrounded by the impossible.

And yet this man has found the one thing he could say that would make her be like "nuh-uh, no way are you that". ]

I know a bit about anonymity. It's easier than you're making it out to be. [ Though she does recoil just a touch at his fingers so close to her face. ] No. Are you a scopolamine junkie?

[callhousekeeping]

Getting me to do anything I don't want to is a fool's errand.

[ Wait... ]

Well, present location excluded. That's more of a mystery than I have the emotional capacity to think about at the moment. Maybe if we'd been given real wine.

[callhousekeeping]

[ Look, Diana, we can't all be giants. The Countess is supremely disappointed in how short all the heels are -- what, exactly, is a woman who barely breaks five feet to do?

She can't help but laugh airily at the idea of sewing anything for herself. She hasn't even basted a hem since her early twenties. In the early '20s. ]

God no. I've never been gifted in homemaking. It was always my mother's greatest frustration. No, I got the name of a seamstress from one of those women at the luncheon, I've decided to give her a trial. I have so many of these big bolts of fabric, and no clothes.

[ Well, no good clothes, anyway. ]

[fanoperator]

The idiom is lost on him--clocks are a new technology, and he can't understand how fighting them would be useful to their situation--but he agrees with the rest. "I know I'm paranoid, but I agree it's best to assume that they'll only get more powerful and better at what they're inflicting upon us. But I don't yet have any idea how to unravel the puzzle."

Helping himself to a seat, he smooths down his skirt as he thinks. "The locals are very discouraging of any attempt to question the situation or to change it. The forest is filled with deadly monsters, and the road out of town has been blocked off since I've arrived. It's also heavily guarded. I don't know how the town gets food or supplies--there's no trade in or out of town, and no farmlands large enough to feed a town of this size. The whole place is an illusion, a cage, that only conforms to its own rules."

from the end of the second book! so he knows of ramsay, but nothing has happened yet

[reek]

[”..more in our compliance”. That resonates with Theon, and it sparks the desire to comply even less. After ten years of compliance, he’s had more than enough of it. It doesn’t matter, anyway. Even if Theon wanted to blend in, he doesn’t know how. Everything is so different here, he isn’t certain what to do in any situation. But pouting never hurt, and that’s just what he does, all over a glass of grape juice. ]

I do not intend to comply.

[ Little does he realize, compliance is probably for the best. ]

Aye. I arrived a week or so ago.

[ Assuming all of this is real and not just another one of his night terrors. He isn’t so certain yet. ]

[the_caped_crusader]

Just Bruce Wayne. And just ignore them, they're likely to find someone else eventually...

[ he eyes the women like he might predators in the middle of the jungle, their friendly eyes searching the crowd for the next person they can ply their food and suggestions onto. ]

We're in America, by the way. It's a continent far West of where you come from, separated by the ocean. Likewise, California is a state on its Pacific Coast, or what you might call the Western United States.

[the_caped_crusader]

Billionaire philanthropist.

[ also the guy who the cops call, but he doesn't feel the need to elaborate on that at the moment. ]

[the_caped_crusader]

Does it? It seems kind of arbitrary to me.

[ demon children during halloween, santa's workshop during christmas, strange behavior hidden underneath bizarre, overly friendly smiles. again, he can't help but think of the way a child might perceive the world, but no reason to bring that up. ]

What makes you think so?

[13thcommander]

Call it intuition.

[It's something small and whining in the back of Erwin's mind, but he can't describe it. Not yet.]

It feels like we're being played with. Perhaps not entirely maliciously, but played with nonetheless. I've felt like a mouse trying to avoid a cat since I got here.

leaving the door open for a truly brutal canon update, I like your style

[13thcommander]

You can go against them, if you wish. But I'd advise caution for now.

[Erwin takes a sip of juice and glances up at the stage and the HHA ladies gossiping.]

Things have a tendency of getting nasty around here, and you don't want to attract unnecessary attention.

I take it you're from a world very different from this one? I am too, and this place takes some getting used to.

[13thcommander]

You're not the first person I've spoken to today who was disappointed by the wine.

[Okay, Erwin likes this woman. She's got that rabble rouser energy he can appreciate, and he offers her his hand.]

Erwin Smith. It's a pleasure to meet you.

[undiagnosed]

Redistribute your wealth, bitch. [he shoots back immediately like he doesn't wish he had that sort of money to live his life even more extravagantly.] Friggin'... Batman-lookin' asshole.

[a beat, then:] Oh, tell me you're working retail here?

SLIDES IN HERE, SUPER LATE, SORRY ABOUT THAT

[inpersonation]

... Yeah. That’s a good point.

[ noelle now looks away, unable to hide her grimace because she knows the feeling of how fortunate and lucky one could be if they met someone semi-decent. the only thing keeping the group she's stuck with in-check is the fact they're outnumbered. if the tables were turned-

she tries to change the topic and, thank fuck for her, she looks up and sees one of the many strange fuckers smiling at her and angelo as the woman hurries by them for something. one of the women at uliveto's, she realises, because she was trying to ask why noelle had so many breadsticks in her pockets. ]

Angelo- Can I ask you something? [ to both change the topic and to bring up an observation she and another kid had spoken about, she asks all the same, ] Did you notice how the people in the restaurant were, um, all focused on one table in particular?

[undiagnosed]

[he really does have a way with people.]

Well, yeah, if you do nothing with your life. [archer shrugs, retracting his hand from her face and leaning on it again.] No. I'm from New York. Like utter hell I'd live in a shithole like this by choice.

[inpersonation]

[ well now— that’s a weirdass confession to make. where the hell did he come from? the middle ages or something?

noelle makes sure to nod in sympathy all the same because hey— it’s been a pain in the ass for her to find something to get her out of the house. one too many condescending pats to the head as she’s cooed that she’s much safer/better at home. ]

Would you like some recommendations? [ she looks up at the ceiling like she’s trying to remember something from much earlier. ] I was looking through the morning newspaper with my dad and I spotted some job openings.

None of them were a good fit for me, for one reason or another, but maybe you could look at them? It wouldn’t hurt to try!

[peninhand]

"I think being paranoid is the right course of action in our predicament."

It was better to be safe than sorry. If the paranoia was misplaced, at worse they'd lose some night's sleep. The stakes were too high, there were no such things as being too careful here. She knew that better than anyone.

Still... Even with such risks, Monika did play the part assigned to her as a mother and wife, and was having perhaps too much fun with it. As shown when she brought Huaisang a glass of a non-alcoholized drink along with a slice of cake the moment he had seated himself down. There was probably something to be said about the irony of them worrying about their neighbors while Monika did actually enjoy playing her role.

"An illusion..." Or a program. You could code food directly into it. To her anyway, it was more easily believable than magic. "I talked a bit about it with a friend. I think the best way to start piercing the secrets of our cage would be a poll."

Polls always worked.

"We would all take it then find what we all have in common. I don't believe we're here by coincidence, there's probably a common thread between us all."