( SETTING INTERACTION. )

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Non-Event Explorations


As of 2/3/24, this is the new page where all character interactions with the setting/explorations/etc unrelated to events will reside. Here are some examples of the types of things to post on this page:

- My character would like to search the library for xyz, would they find anything?
- My character is going to approach an NPC outside of an event and do xyz, what happens?
- If my character goes asking around for x, what will they be told?

Examples of things that should still go on the FAQ:

- What kind of books does the library have on x topic? (Character is not specifically searching the library IC).
- Does the town have x facility?
- Is my character able to do x?

And, when in doubt, it's fine to just post the question on your best guess and I can move it as needed!

Comments

[lestercraft]

Arthur's Latest Scheme TM is investigating the stock in the shops and restaurants of Sweetwater! He's going to be asking in the diner where they get their fresh ingredients from since he's never had better ones and wants to know where to get them for his wife, when the greengrocers restock so he can come back when his favourite baked beans or whatever are back in stock - basically going to as many locations as possible with obvious out-of-town supplies, asking as innocuously as he can where the supplies come from or when they restock.

At the same time, Numbers and Wrench have been recruited to keep an eye out for any delivery trucks in town; Arthur's using the information he gets to point them to specific shops, but has advised them towards anything with fresh produce, like butchers or greengrocers, or with out-of-town stock again like canned goods from the general store, and advised them to tail any resupply vehicles to try and work out how, or even if, they are capable of leaving the Sweetwater barrier.

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Where produce, dairy, poultry, etc are concerned, he’s told for the most part that it’s local. Consumer goods will be met with an ‘Oh, I don’t know where specifically they make this’ or guesses as to the general state or region - the townspeople interpret the question as being about where the items were made, not where any truck comes from. Restocks are scattered throughout the week with no apparent pattern, but as is the case in the outside world, it’s usually on specific days.

Are they tailing the trucks in a vehicle?

[wwrench]

So Arthur will be passing any leads he does acquire to Numbers, and he and Wrench will start the process of keeping an eye out on those businesses that have mentioned goods that were made in other states. They’d start with pure observational efforts to narrow down the comings and goings of those restock vehicles, with a particular eye towards trying to determine the general direction from which they enter and leave town, and whether or not the truck always gets driven by the same person, or whether the delivery driver ever rotates.

I think after some investigation and acquiring a general sense of time of day, day of the week, and party responsible, they’ll be hopping in a vehicle to follow. (The plan is for Wrench to drive, Numbers to dictate, and Arthur to come along if he’s willing!) Probably follow at a casual distance to start with, but if they approach the barrier of Sweetwater that Arthur’s told Numbers about, Wrench is prepared to accelerate and attempt to either tailgate/barrier drift his way out right behind the delivery truck, or to just… breech.

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The trucks enter and leave town on the main road that cuts through the center of town and leads in the direction of the atomic power plant (in the northwest) and DC (in the northeast). The trucks leave at the northeast border point, heading toward the DC area.

It's usually the same delivery driver, and the truck does indeed cross through the barrier... but Wrench's vehicle does not.

Instead its wheels spin in place, wearing down on the asphalt until the interior of the car begins to smell like rubber, and the engine begins to overheat as the needle on the RPM gauge ticks higher and higher. The car doesn't even gain a millimeter of ground.

[lestercraft]

Well no-one is happy that they can't break through the barrier. All three are, in fact, reasonably pissed that all their hard work didn't get anywhere.

So time for Plan B: Actual Crime!

It's Arthur's suggestion again, and the three of them execute it together: they're going to steal the fucking truck. In the first week of April (after the public suicide), while the delivery person is taking a palette into the shop, Numbers and Arthur are going to climb into the rear while it's open and close it behind them, and Wrench is going to take the passenger seat - because he's holding the driver at gunpoint to get him to drive out of town. And together they are going to DRIVE FOR FREEDOM.

They are all ICly aware this is probably going to get them punished, but y'can't make an omelette without committing a few major felonies! If they get stopped at the border, Arthur and Numbers are already prepared to jump out of the back and do a runner.

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As they approach the barrier, police sirens come on and lights begin to flash in the rearview mirror. When they reach the barrier, the truck encounters the same resistance that the car did, wheels spinning fruitlessly as the smoky smell of hot rubber begins to enter the cabin.

Arthur and Numbers may get past the first or second patrol car, but they'll be cut off by backup and arrested before they get too far.

wwrench: The deputies who surround Wrench shout for him to drop his weapon and put his hands on his head. Before further proceeding with Arthur and Numbers' punishment, what does Wrench choose to do?

[wwrench]

S I G H.

Well, Wrench will definitely be aware of the flashing lights in the rearview mirror, and he's not going to engage them in a firefight when he and Numbers don't have a clear plan for that. What he wants is to give the two men in the back of the truck enough time to try and get to the barrier. So he'll open the door to his side and pitch the gun out. Like, heave-ho the sucker far away from the truck.

After that, he's going to get out himself. His hands won't be on his head, but he'll have them raised above it. At least at first. Placating position of surrender, but he's going to start walking towards their squad car. And he's going to keep walking towards them. After he's made sufficiently clear his hands are in the air, he's going to gesture at his ears in a very universal "I-can't-hear-you, I-don't-know-what-you-want-from-me" sort of gesture. Pointing at his ears, shaking his head, covering his ears, and continuing to walk towards them even if they raise their guns on him.

If any of them tackle him to the ground or anything like that he's going to be SO OFFENDED and try to fight them off in a very innocent sort of "what's-happening-why-are-you-doing-this-I-don't-understand" manner.

WHAT COULD HE HAVE POSSIBLY DONE WRONG?

[silentspringmods]

Interestingly, they seem to know already that Wrench is Deaf, or at least some of them do—even though they still shout.

'Put your hands on your head! Don't come any further!' Et cetera et cetera, although it's at least accompanied by the universal sign of a flat hand extended, fingers spread, as though creating distance between the officer issuing the commands and Wrench himself.

They do, indeed, restrain Wrench, bringing him down onto the hard asphalt, although it takes three of them to do it--Americans weren't overly tall in the 1960s, and he's taller than every single one of the officers that show up. He's cuffed and squeezed into the back of the same car Arthur and Numbers are in, and a squeeze it is—although at least there aren't those pesky seatbelts to worry about on the bench style back seats behind barred windows, because this is the sixties!

Some of the officers stay to examine the truck, while others turn around and follow the patrol car that drives the three to the station. The driver shakes his head. "You boys are in big trouble."

Once they're unloaded, they're brought to separate interrogation rooms and cuffed to the center bar of the table, just out of reach of a pitcher of water and a small pile of rags. The two of them with sight will notice a flat gurney-like structure with body straps beside the table. At this point, their paths diverge.

WRENCH'S INTERROGATION.

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[wwrench]

Once he's accepted that their fates are mutual and they're put into the squad car together, Wrench is going to be relatively docile for the ride. If his hands are cuffed behind his back he's going to be pretty annoyed with that and will likely do some light twisting around, but nothing much to give the impression he's trying to escape. If he's cuffed from the front he'll be signing to Numbers as much as he can. Nothing much, just a little bit of, It's fine, nothing new, we got this. And also probably holding onto Arthur so the dude doesn't go flying around any tight corners.

He'll have a moment of displeasure when they're led off separately. Particularly when his path diverges from Numbers. He might yank or try to pull away and go with his partner, but when he sees that's futile he'll let himself be led into the room.

Wrench would give a cursory glance at the room's staging, but he's not going to touch. He'll just sit and wait for whoever's going to interrogate him and how they think that's going to go.

[silentspringmods]

His hands are, indeed, cuffed in front of him. He's left to wait in solitude for about thirty minutes in the clockless, unremarkable room before the police chief, Dick Clark, enters the room with Norman Pollock tailing behind him holding a black leather doctor's bag in one hand. Both remain standing; Norman watches him with annoyed indifference, while Dick sets down a pen and a steno pad on his side of the table and leans forward, staring him in the eye and putting his weight on fingertips spread across the edge of the table to bring them closer to eye level without sitting himself.

He scratches something out in loose but not necessarily sloppy hand; it's readable, but clearly belongs to someone who never really bothered to learn proper penmanship.

You're in big trouble, Mister.
It's in your best interest to cooperate and help us understand what's going on here without taking up Dr. Pollock's time.

He spins the pad around and slides it and the pen across the table.

[wwrench]

Wrench is a natural at dissociation. After he's mentally catalogued the contents of the room, he just waits. Until he catches the movement of the two men entering the room, he stares at his hands. When they come into view, he looks up. He keeps leveling the same detached gaze at Dick right on through the man's attempt at intimidation, but when the pad and pen are presented, the corner of Wrench's lips quirk for just a second.

"Mister?" Come on, Dick. Do you want to wag your finger, too?

Much as he can with the handcuffs still in place, Wrench picks up the pen and writes his affirmation under the other man's line.

Okay.

There's an incredible chasm between cooperating and making things easy, isn't there?

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Why don't you start by telling us what happened?

[wwrench]

Enough rope to hang himself with, then. Wrench glances at the question on the page, then up at the expectant faces of the doctor and the chief of police. He knows by now what these men are capable of. He's seen the aftermath of their so-called interrogations more than once. There's no part of him that's eager to know Numbers or Arthur might be headed for that fate again. Could he prevent that, or is it already too late? Did they start their questions with him?

It's not a crime to want to leave town for the day, is it? You can't hold an entire city in lockdown when we haven't done anything wrong.

His handwriting probably doesn't match the time. It's casual and loose, but neat. It loops into itself in the kind of half-script designed for fluidity and utility.

ARTHUR'S INTERROGATION.

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The door swings open and footsteps in two slightly different cadences on the linoleum floor indicate not one but two sets of feet, then shuts heavily behind them—not slammed, but heavy, and made of metal.

The voice of the town's police chief is the one that addresses Arthur first.

"I have Dr. Pollock here with me, Arthur. The two of us would like you to help us understand exactly what happened here. You've been getting up to a lot of trouble lately."

[lestercraft]

Arthur has been nothing less than ramrod stiff since he's been separated from the other two. Because without them he has zero concept of where he is (besides the obvious, an interrogation room at the station), how long anything has been or even who or what is in the room with him.

When the door opens, he actually relaxes a fraction, just from the sheer fact he's not alone.

"What can I say, officer?" he returns, bitter and wry. "I've never taken well to my mind being toyed with."

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"It's interesting that you say that, Arthur, because the grocer you and your friends just finished terrorizing could certainly say the same. What would make a law-abiding citizen do that? You have your own car. You make good money. By all appearances, the only reason to steal from your neighbors would be to deliberately disrupt the peace and quiet here."

[lestercraft]

"Perhaps I've poorly represented myself, then," he comments flatly. "I wanted to leave town. I don't want to fucking be here and the fact of the matter is we physically can't, even if we get someone local that we have seen leaving to assist with the task. We are trapped here like- mice, in a fucking cage."

His glare darkens, hands curling into tight fists as he tugs lightly at his cuffs. "You're not an unintelligent man, Dick. You can't tell me you think that's right."

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"I don't know what you're talking about, Arthur. If that were true, how would Mrs. Hăk get fruit and candy from the other side of the world for her little grocery store? You stole a truck and the engine failed. This kind of paranoia—correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Pollock, but this kind of paranoia just isn't normal or healthy."

"You're right. It sounds like he could be having another episode. We could always give Dr. Casey a ring."

NUMBERS' INTERROGATION.

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After about thirty minutes of Numbers being left alone in the clockless, undecorated interrogation room, the town police chief, Dick Clark, enters the room, followed by Norman Pollock. Both of them remain standing, but Dick leans forward, resting his weight on his fingertips on the edge of the table, bringing himself closer to eye level with the man cuffed to the table.

"You've been up to a lot of trouble lately, Grady. I was so sure you'd decided to turn your act around after your last brush-in with the law."

[workingthenumbers]

If Numbers is bothered by Dick calling him "Grady", he doesn't show it. He cracks a joke about being a bad egg and how he should've checked before introducing rogue elements like himself and Wrench to a nice little neighborhood like this. He's going to try and needle for information about what Dick or Norman know specifically about him, seeing just how much they've done their homework.

He's dropped any act of pretending to play nice--though, if asked directly about the hijacking, he'll just make a comment about how he "needed a change of scenery".

[silentspringmods]

"A change of scenery from Sweetwater?" Dick casts an incredulous look at Norman, who just blandly raises his brows. "I can't think of a single thing you wouldn't be able to find here."

Dick proceeds to ask him if he understands the severity of his crimes—armed robbery, carjacking, et cetera—and again asks him for his motive, as well as why he didn't just use his own car.

It would seem that Dick and Norman know a fair amount about what he's been up to—an uncanny amount, although they aren't wise to the book club. It's clear that these aren't just things that a passing observer would know, and it implies some level of surveillance, or perhaps the participation of eyes other than just their own.

If Numbers continues to dodge questions, that's when Norman takes a more active role, stepping forward and leaning against the table between them as Dick makes room for him, arms crossed over his chest.

Look, he'll say, It's going to be a lot easier for you if you cooperate. We don't want to get the place all wet— a clear allusion to the waterboarding setup at the short end of the table to Grady's left, completely prepped and ready to go.

[workingthenumbers]

With the intention of being annoying, Numbers will point out that they don't have a strip club. Unless they do. In that case, ignore this.

But anyways, with regards to his motive, he continues to dodge the question with stupid comments like "I always wanted to drive a truck like that, you know how when you were a kid you'd pump your arm and try to get them to honk the horn?" or shit like that. But once Norman steps forward, Numbers gets a little more pointed with his comments.

His humor disappears and he's more aggressive, asking them what purpose it is to keep people here if they don't want to be here. What the point of the whole "nice and neighborly" charade is when there's clearly something wrong with this town and the people involved--Dick and Norman included.