(june intro) WELCOME TO WAYWARD PINES!

[officialnotice]

INTRODUCTION LOG

JUNE 1ST - 3RD

AFTER THE ACCIDENT

There was an accident. The details are hazy and obscure, but it's still the first thing you remember. Maybe a car wreck — metal and broken glass everywhere, and the sirens and the screaming. Maybe your bike hit a rock and you careened uncontrollably off a mountain path. Maybe something less mundane, even impossible seems to have happened to you. You can't quite make out the details, not who was at fault or why. Try as you might, the chaos is all you can truly remember.

It's also the last thing you remember from before waking up.

When you open your eyes, the accident is gone, replaced with white sterility. Perhaps somewhat alarming at first, until you blink at your surroundings and realize that you're in a hospital bed. You try to move but are sluggish, covered in a scattering of minor injuries you only vaguely remember receiving, not to mention the possibility of the partially healed remnants of other, seemingly older wounds.

It's a shame you won't be able to tell the difference between the two. Your memories are an indiscernible fog where they're not absent altogether, only a few standing out in your mind with any kind of certainty.

If the room happens to be empty when you wake, it's not for long. Nurses bustle in, taking your vitals and asking your name and anything else you might remember. Don't worry, they tell you. You'll make a full recovery here. Much of what you say (especially anything unusual, anything about monsters or magic or outlandish technology) will earn placating speculation of head trauma from the accident. You'll be told to stay put, not to push yourself, and to wait for the doctor to clear you before you leave.

Then you'll be left alone. Or maybe you'll find yourself visited by loved ones: family, or friends. You've lived here much or all of your life, so of course you have those things. Of course they already remember you being here, and may remember visiting you in the hospital while you were still unconscious.

Either way, the hospital's population is quadruple the usual, and you get the impression the nurses are working themselves ragged just running damage control. You might hear talk around the hospital of other small population spikes over the past few days, though many patients appeared to be well enough to be released the same day, and the same might be said of you. Or at least the staff doesn't seem to be too concerned. You can even leave your room without much fuss, any doctor or nurse that might try to intercept you getting called away almost immediately to deal with something even more pressing.

Of course, it's not so unusual to settle in until you're discharged, either. You may choose to wait for loved ones to come pick you up, even speak to your fellow patients, whether roommates or others wandering the halls. The more enterprising and suspicious might even consider it an opportunity to poke around for a few basic answers.

JUNE 1ST - 4TH

GETTING USED TO HOME AGAIN

However you get there, outside the birds sing a joyful song, and though the air is just a bit crisp, the sky's as sunny as you've ever seen it. It's bright enough to make you squint for a moment before you feast your eyes on the quaint little mountain town of Wayward Pines, though that might just be some sort of side effect from your accident. Trees line the street at regular intervals, carefully manicured and slightly waterlogged from the recent flood. Cars cruise by at a safe and respectable speed. Fellow pedestrians spare you glances, some wary, others concerned or just friendly. It probably depends on how clothed you were when you left the hospital.

This isn't even the picturesque city center, though a colorful nearby sign reads "Main Street" with an arrow pointing due south, followed in smaller font by a list of businesses you don't recognize (could be a good direction to head in, though — maybe it'll jog your memory), and one that you might: Wayward Pines Sheriff's Department. You've likely caught wind by now that any clothing or other items you had on you at the time of your accident are being held by the Sheriff until you're well enough to claim them. Not to mention the keys to your home, kept locked and safe at the station for you. That should probably be your next stop, though if anything's missing in what they hand over you'd be the last to know.

It's time to get home, to recover from your ordeal and try to sort through your memories. Do you remember this house, the pictures of family on the walls and how to navigate to the bathroom in the middle of the night? Maybe it's easier with loved ones living with you, helping you get settled, or maybe you're on your own. Either way, over the next few days it's a good idea to try to remember your routines, to get out and finally visit Main Street if you haven't already. Maybe you even remembered that you work in one of the more familiar sounding shops, or elsewhere in town. Makes sense they'd give you some time off to recover and get reacclimated to your life here, but eventually you should probably get back to work. You haven't seen your co-workers in a few days, and besides, you have to be able to put bread on the table.

JUNE 5TH

GLUG GLUG'S GRAND OPENING!

Town hall is listening, and town hall has heard you loud and clear (their surveillance equipment is of the highest quality, after all). While there appears to have been some... clerical issues and red tape concerning the highest voted name, when the fifth rolls around the newly completed and lovingly anointed Glug Glug's opens its doors to the public for the official grand opening!

For an old diner, this place has undergone an amazing transformation, with a ground, second, and basement floor all open to the public and offering a wide variety of entertainment options within:

The ground floor features a long bar along one wall where one can order coffee, tea, soda, hot chocolate, whatever your little caffeinated heart desires, as well as alcoholic drinks 10% or under — provided you can show some form of ID, of course. Linda, perched at the bar with a mimosa in hand, will tell anyone who listens that she voted for Pubby McPubface, but honestly, who's listening to Linda, anyway? Pastries and small appetizers are also available at half price for the special event, and card and board games make inviting and colorful centerpieces on the tables scattered around the room (there are classics like Monopoly and the rousing game of Jenga in the corner, amongst less common fare you may not have played before, like Cards Against Humanity and Settlers of Catan).

A lounge on the second floor overlooks the ground floor and features plush couches and chairs, ambient lighting and a pleasant, relaxing atmosphere to contrast with the low buzz of activity below. A small balcony out back provides a peaceful, quiet view of some of the very pines after which our town was named.

The basement is where anyone interested will find music, dance, billiards and booze. A small stage on one end features regular local live performances, with a vast stretch of the room devoted to a dance floor and just a few private booths set into the wall around the edges. The bar down here serves the harder stuff to those that can prove they're old enough to be handling it, and one corner of the room is devoted to a billiards table and two large pinball machines.

Technically the basement level is open to all ages, but getting down there requires showing your ID and getting your hand stamped, and anyone under 16 is highly encouraged to be accompanied by an adult. And, of course, anyone caught sneaking drinks to minors will be summarily kicked out, as well as reported to Sheriff Griffith for a good talking to about, you know, civic duty and such. It's honestly not worth it, you know how he goes on.

Today is supposed to be a party after all, let's not spoil it just yet.

MOD NOTES

Welcome to our fifth mingle log for newbies and oldbies alike!

This log is meant to cover characters' first five days in Wayward Pines. Characters for this round will appear staggered in the hospital between the 1st and the 3rd, and a CR building event will occur on the 5th, after everyone has had a suitable amount of time to get settled in town. For the most part, only the five memories detailed in your character's application are remembered throughout the duration of this log, although their false Wayward Pines memories may also begin to surface (in those who've opted to utilize this mechanic) as the week wears on. These memories, as noted in the FAQ, feel very real and are accompanied by as much emotion or sentiment as a real memory would be.

PLEASE INCLUDE IN SUBJECT LINE: Character Name, date, location, and Open or Closed, to help keep things organized and make your character easy to find.

If you have any questions regarding this intro log, feel free to ask them on the FAQ or the relevant plurk.

Comments

[avicula]

'course I am.

[ her response comes quick and easy, even if it's a lie. she has a beer, she's played some darts, why shouldn't she be enjoying herself? briefly, her jaw tightens. now that she's sitting here, she's not so sure coming over and approaching him was a good idea at all.

it isn't his fault that she remembers spending many evenings sitting with him, that she remembers him worming his way, little by little, past her walls. it isn't his fault that he's not johnny. so she forces her shoulders to stay relaxed and manages a half-smile. does he realise yet that they don't really know each other? they probably don't, and she can't outright tell him, not here. ] Are you?

[aeturnus]

On and off. Still recovering from that thing.

[ He waves his hand vaguely and lets himself relax further back into his seat. It isn't a lie; even though he's recovered physically with no issues whatsoever (as always), he's having trouble keeping his head on straight as more and more memories pour in. ]

Wouldn't do to stay cooped up, though. [ He pauses, hand flexing while he's in thought. There's something kind of distant about his thoughts and he wants to make sure. ] How have you been? It's... been a while since we hung out, isn't it?

[avicula]

Right. [ "that thing". the accident. as far as dutch can tell, they've all woken up here after an accident — all except the mayor, apparently, if steve and poe's network post is to be trusted. dutch is inclined to think that it is.

her half-smile twists a little, sardonic for a moment. ] Yeah, it's been a while. Why, did you miss me? [ she's joking. ]

[aeturnus]

Thought you might have missed me.

[ It's a joke back, and his expression says it's more of an apology than anything, an opening for her to come back into the fold if she wants. He's better now than he was and can deal with having a friend over, or going out, or whatever if she needs it. ]

[avicula]

You wish.

[ dutch remembers that the last time they'd spend time together and several times before that, she'd been beyond the immediate need to deflect, but knowing that none of it is real, was real? that has her on edge again.

it's not quite starting from scratch because she can't help but care, but it's several steps back at least. if he's counting. ]

[aeturnus]

[ Of course he notices, and his position doesn't change so much as his demeanor. Little less confident, more open and loose, almost vulnerable, to show he doesn't mean anything by being here. That's not what he expected nor is it what he wants. Something is happening beneath the surface here and he itches to know what, aches to figure out how to resolve it. ]

Maybe I do. [ He waits a beat. ] Do you want to stop by later this week? We can rent a movie, just hang out.

[avicula]

[ it's not a bad strategy to deal with dutch: the show of vulnerability and the admission take the wind out of her sails and deflate the ball of tension inside her quite effectively. she'd be angrier about that if she didn't know that he isn't trying to play her, that it isn't a strategy for him but honesty. ]

Depends. Will I get to pick the movie?

[aeturnus]

[ That gets a smile out of him, genuine and wandering into teasing. ]

As long as I don't have to send Iris to her room when we put it on.

[ He's pretty lenient about that, but there's just some things that Iris could probably wait on having shoved in her face by the media. ]

[avicula]

How old is she now? [ dutch is pretty sure if she thinks about it, she'll be able to figure it out from memory. she'd rather not do that, though. if he just tells her, at least she has a reason to know. ]

[aeturnus]

Fifteen.

[ He laughs, head tilting to the side like he knows it sounds ridiculous. More than anything, it's the violence he'd like to shield her from rather than the sex and drugs and rock 'n roll. Those things happen, but in most movies the action goes pretty far for totally gratuitous reasons. It all depends on the instance. ]

Getting older on me every day.

[avicula]

Guess I'll have to start calling you old man now.

[ he might remember that dutch has a tendency to give people ridiculous nicknames, from the descriptive "soldier boy" all the way to "sugarpants". ]

[aeturnus]

I'm only surprised you didn't call me that sooner.

[ It's no secret in the town that something is up with Roman's biological clock. He's just... always been as he is right now. Never aged, hardly changed aside from hair styles and personal fashion. Maybe there's questions about it behind his back but for the most part it's a peaceful acceptance he's found. So what? If he wants to raise his kids here where no one makes a big deal of it, well. That's probably the best offer he'll get for a long time. ]

Do I get another choice?

[avicula]

What do you think? [ where before, the teasing was more forced and decidedly more acerbic, it comes naturally now, easier as she settles back into a familiar rhythm. (it shouldn't be familiar, but it is.) ]

[aeturnus]

Think I'm stuck with old man for now.

[ He leans back into the chair again as it looks like she's opening back up. He doesn't know what's causing the tension but hopefully he can help relieve it, even though he doubts she'll tell him the issue now or in the future. ]

I've been called worse, anyway. Must have been.

[avicula]

[ if she ever gets the opportunity, away from cameras and prying eyes, to tell him about the fact that all their memories are fake, that this town and whoever is guarding it is messing with their minds, about the wall, she will. if she does, it'll be easy enough for him to put two and two together, but she certainly won't outright admit anything. ]

Pretty sure I've called you worse. You don't remember? [ a beat. ] How long since the accident? [ her tone turns sour again over that last word. ]

[aeturnus]

[ There's a grimace and he raises a hand to tilt it back and forth. ]

Couple of days. Less than a week. Five? Five.

[ He nods, lets his shoulders slump. ]

Lot of people got caught up in it, I heard. Doesn't make it less frustrating, for me or for you.

[avicula]

Lots of people getting into accidents lately.

[ dutch was in one, a month ago. allegedly. she doesn't remember the accident and more and more, she's inclined to believe it never happened. that the hospital is simply where it all starts. she's not sure yet what it is, but still. ] Must be something in the water.

[aeturnus]

Or something on the air.

[ He looks at her and starts as if to say something— Pauses. Thinks more. Then tries again. ]

You didn't see anything about five days ago, did you? Nothing even happened?

[avicula]

Or that.

[ dutch's lips twist, and she hides her expression behind her bottle of beer, downing the rest of it. ] I must've been looking the other way. [ there are cameras everywhere, after all. dutch knows how these games are played and she isn't going to give herself away unless it really matters. ]

[aeturnus]

[ He hasn't been so big on noticing the surveillance. Of course, it's impossible to miss the signs warning of the rules and what all they're supposed to be doing here but it's just... always been like that, right? Weird, but safe enough. Livable. ]

That's a shame. [ He closes his eyes, tips his head back briefly. ] My temporary memory issues aside, do you have any movie in mind?

[avicula]

[ livable, sure — but dutch has no intention of living like this, a lab rat or whatever it is that they are here. not in the long run. ]

Something loud, I think. [ no, she's got no idea yet. ]

[aeturnus]

[ Give it time, and his own thoughts will sour. Turn in two different directions, tear him down the middle. He's thankfully free of that doubt for now and has plenty of less dangerous things on his mind. ]

Something loud, then. I'll make the popcorn.

[avicula]

I'll bring beer. [ dutch responds, and if he's worried about alcohol around iris, well. beer is already the watered down version of what dutch initially had in mind. ]

[aeturnus]

At least make it good beer.

[ Nah. Drinking ages are fairly arbitrary and he remembers days when children younger than Iris could drink and be fine as long as they were supervised. Different times and different values. This one's pretty harmless. ]

[avicula]

Just for that, I'm bringing the shittiest brew I can find. You're probably still too polite to tell me off for it and pour the spill down the sink.

[ she smirks. ]