welcome to mayfield: day 4

[mayfield_mods]

[This carnival seems to be getting less and less maintained by the day. Your nerves aren't the only thing fallen apart: what were previously holes in the sky have expanded to cracks. What parts of the sky that haven't fallen into that strange, warping nothingness are full of brown smog-like clouds.

The carnival itself has become filthy, with trash and grease spots littered everywhere. The walls of the tents, wooden stands, and houses seem to be slightly melted, for lack of a better term. The holes of corrupted nothingness aren't confined to the sky anymore: pockets of nothing litter the carnival, shifting tears in the fabric of reality that hurt your eyes to look at.

A faint buzzing noise fills the air, making it difficult to concentrate. If you listen long enough, it starts to sound like voices. For your own sake, it's probably best not to listen to what they have to say.

You're also not alone here anymore, for those of you operating under the assumption that you ever really were. If you've been missing the friendly drones of Mayfield, fear no more, because scattered throughout the carnival are a few drone families seeing the sights, riding the rides and playing the games. Curiously, unlike the drones back home, these ones don't seem to notice you at all, acting as if you're not even there.

Also curiously: their features are warped nearly beyond recognition. Some are missing limbs or facial features; others appear to have had those features scrambled by Picasso's paintbrush, with mouths on their scalps or teeth on their fingers. Still other drones appear to be fused together at the wrist, or waist, or face. None of them seem to be any more aware of their deformity than they are of you.

...and yet, somehow, you can't shake the feeling that when you're not looking at them, they're looking at you.

New here? That's alright; your missing friends have had plenty of time to get acquainted, and they'll be happy to show you around. Just watch your step, because some of these old rides need some maintenance...]

OOC: If your character damages or affects the carnival or town in a noticeable and normally permanent way, please comment here.

Comments

[theboywiththebook]

[Still not falling for it.]

Eat and I'll tell you.

[It's an ultimatum...but he could be lying.]

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas assumes an unamused expression.]

Henry...

[theboywiththebook]

[Sorry, he cares about his friends.]

Lucas...

[He points to the food. He's looking a little desperate.]

...please.

[a_gentle_boy]

[...

Sigh... Lucas takes the bag of chips and opens it. ...He slowly takes a bite of a single chip.]

Alright... Thanks.

[theboywiththebook]

[Henry smiles. Score one for Henry.]

No problem.

[Now onto information. Henry pulls out an ad that he found in one of the houses. He lifts it to show Lucas.]

There's this.

[a_gentle_boy]

[Of course, there's really only one thing that jumps out. Lucas stares. He will also subtly slow down his chip-eating whenever Henry looks distracted enough.]

'State of the Art Suspended Animation and Enhanced Reality Programming'...

It looks like it's true, then.

[theboywiththebook]

[Henry curiously looks at him.]

You know something about this? You know what it means?

[Because to Henry, he's getting the feeling it's like something a comic book or a game would do.]

[a_gentle_boy]

Like what we've heard about it all being fake, right? An 'emulation'...

[theboywiththebook]

An emulation? So...what does that mean?

[a_gentle_boy]

I don't know, exactly.

But it's why we don't ever really die, I think. And why the town can rebuild itself so quickly and why we can be droned...

[theboywiththebook]

So...we're in a place that won't let us die and can fix itself and drone us...

[Henry thinks for a moment.]

It sounds like...like a computer.

[Because, as Henry thinks more and more about it. Yeah, it definitely sounds like a computer. A computer could restore things that are lost, like files, look at how Emma figured out how he found her.]

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas nods a little.]

Right. That's what I've heard, too. I don't know anything about computers, but... it would be like it was only happening inside our minds.

[theboywiththebook]

[Henry could explain about computers, but there's more to share.]

I also heard this conversation going on in the Tunnel of love with General Olivier, Jenny and some man.

[Henry passes his notebook with said conversation to Lucas.]

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas's face whitens the moment he begins to read.]

A-Ah... But -- who was speaking? Did you see them?

[theboywiththebook]

No...just voices. Lucas, does this mean, that the man trying to help us...helped start this?

[Because at the time Henry didn't have time to process this news with what had come after.]

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas looks trouble for a few moments.]

Memories. ...It must be memories, preserved in this place. But who...

[He shakes his head.]

At the beginning, Zemekis... I guess his first name is Johnathan. This was an escape. It was supposed to be a place to hide, I think, from the war. A war. Richard Grey lived here, along with all the others I told you about. It was only after he realized what Zemekis was doing - the droning - that he decided he needed to escape.

I think Zemekis did this all himself. It sounds like they were there by invitation. And they didn't suspect anything at first...

This carnival and this place... It must be in the past. Long in the past, back when Mayfield first started.

...Zemekis is Lucy Smith now. But why...?

[He trails off there, looking troubled. This wasn't... new information, per se, but it was definitely confirmation of everything that had been suspected in the past.]

[theboywiththebook]

[Henry listens, still very confused by all of this. He doesn't get it. Why would this Zemekis guy do this? He was evil, no doubt about it. But to keep them all stuck here like this and put them through constant torture?

But he kind of understands the past thing.]

So...we're inside an old memory of this place? But why is Zemekis, Lucy?

[a_gentle_boy]

It's just how he wants to show himself to us. But I guess it wasn't like that before...

[Well yes now that he thought about it, no one would have wanted to enter Mayfield if its leader had been a scary little girl.]

The real Zemekis is this person - Johnathan Zemekis, who opened Mayfield to people who were looking for... for a Better Place to Live.

[theboywiththebook]

I wonder what he really looks like...

[Henry's picturing a monster. With tentacles. Probably as giant clown too.]

A better place to live, huh? Storybrooke's better than here...

[And from Henry, THAT'S A BIG DEAL.]

[a_gentle_boy]

I think a lot of places are probably much better.

[Lucas will hand the notebook back to Henry.]

Try to get this back to Mayfield if you can. ...Ah. Maybe I should try and memorize it, too.

[theboywiththebook]

[Henry takes it back, looking to Lucas. This stuff is important and he agrees. It needs to get back to Mayfield.]

Right...memorizing it would be good.

[He opens it back to the page with the conversation.]

We better get started.

[a_gentle_boy]

[Lucas reads it over again. ...His head was a little unclear, still, but he'll do his best at imprinting the words in his mind.]

Henry... What were the voices like?

[theboywiththebook]

What were they like? Um...well, it was a man and a woman talking. The man was Richard but, I don't know who the woman was.

[Henry's reading it over as well, trying to absorb as much as he can.]

[a_gentle_boy]

So the woman was 'doctor'...

[Lucas considers.]

That's probably Miss Johnson, then. The one who did the operations.