Terre Haute

[paradisamods]

[Today, our intrepid explorers have finally made it to Terre Haute. It’s mostly grassland, and on the outskirts small spotted lions, about the size of leopards prowl around. They seem to be more interested in the strange antelope running around than in any people, however. Towards the edge, lies a cliff face, looking out to sea, on occasion giant whales can be seen breaching the water.

Of the weird thing they came to look for, in the distance is a cylindrical shape, lying on its side. But between them and it is a strange village. One made up of excessively tall wooden huts, all of which have electric lights, turned on, though how they’re creating such power is a mystery, they are still very much inside the dead zone.

The residents of this off little village are wandering around, going about their buisess. The residents being a group of bemused looking giraffes. Perhaps you will even see some familiar non-giraffe faces milling about.

Welcome to Terre Haute]

[[GRASSLANDS AND CLIFFS | TOWN SQUARE | JUICE BAR | DANCE HALL | THE ESCALATOR | MIRROR CONTROL ROOM ]]

Comments

[encryptedlock]

Of course not. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. I mean it. [Besides, like York wouldn't feel protective towards a little green digital guy.]

There are still a couple from then, yeah. The Doctor left and came back, so he wouldn't remember you but he;s still here. Chie, too. Let's see, who else did you know? Eva came back and remembered everything but then left again....

[kindnessing]

[ Ken smiles gratefully. Even after four years of this nonsense, York is still that sincere. ] Thank you.

So it's just them... [ ... ] Well... I'm glad they at least got a chance to leave and start fresh. [ The castle wears down on everyone after a while, even people as cheerful as Chie and capable as the Doctor. He doesn't expect York to remember all of his old friends, but those were the friends they shared. ]

[encryptedlock]

No problem.

[And York nods.] But--well, like you see here, sometimes people do come back and remember now. The first time, this place turned into Paris and some people thought they were French and everything, and they only remembered the castle after some of us talked with them for a while. You guys are the first ones we've found out here so far.

Oh! And about a week ago, there was some kind of big...meteor spaceship thing that landed in approximately this area. That's what we're here to investigate. We're about four days' travel northeast of the castle.

[kindnessing]

[ - Well, that's definitely an unnerving thought. What if he had thought he belonged in this town? Bizarre. He put that thought aside very quickly. ] I wonder why the castle decided to change that. [ To give people a false sense of hope, maybe? ]

[ Ken nods! ] A girl named Jane told me about the meteor... Uh, spaceship, I guess. [ Well... Technically, the Dead Zone did contain all of the world changes, so it made sense for him to turn up here. Tangentially. But during a time when the castle hadn't changed...? It doesn't seem to be following its own patterns. (York, this is Ken in deep thought... He's still listening, but he's preoccupied with a puzzle now!) ]

... Well, whatever it is, the giraffes don't seem to have any interest in it. They haven't mentioned anything like it since I got here.

[encryptedlock]

No idea, but hopefully we can find out while we're here.

[And York nods as Ken thinks about it a bit. He's a sharp kid, maybe he can come up with something once he puts some thought into it.]

Yeah, they're, uh--well, I'd say bizarre, but who knows what's normal for talking giraffes anyway?

[kindnessing]

This wouldn't have been my first guess. [ He's still preoccupied with the problem, but... god these giraffes were weird. Nice and charitable enough, but... ]

... Jane told me that the meteor fell two weeks ago, causing an enormous earthquake, and that the city has been rebuilding since then. I don't know a lot about giraffes and these huts, but if they're about as strong as the stone buildings I've seen in the city... [ Do you see where he's going with this? ]

[encryptedlock]

[He really does.]

Yeah. I haven't looked at them at all, but there are two main possibilities. First, they have some kind of power and it's protecting them - we know there's got to be something because they have electric lights. The other one could just be that they're made out of more flexible material. Like in Japan, right?

--Or they could have rebuilt everything really quick. Who knows?

[kindnessing]

[ Ken huffs a laugh to himself. Far be it for him to say that he knows a lot about Japanese architecture, but that's common knowledge, at least. ] That's true about our buildings, but I don't think anything would have survived an impact that strong from such a short distance away. Even if the buildings could weather it, if the earthquake was strong enough to reach you guys all the way back at the castle, there would have been a lot more damage to the ground itself, right? I mean... I'm kind of surprised that we're not sitting in a crater right now.

I'd probably go with your first theory, unless they can terra-form way faster than any method I know of... Which would technically fall under that theory anyway. [ Magic is just a process science hasn't explained yet! Ken's rule of thumb at the castle for pretty much everything. ]

[encryptedlock]

Huh. That's a good point. I mean, the other possibility is maybe it could have triggered some kind of fault, but hell if we know anything about the tectonics of this planet anyway. But it probably would have at least knocked down some trees or shattered some windows or something.

[York nods.] Maybe we could ask them and find out?

[kindnessing]

That'd probably be the best idea. It's a little difficult to get a straight answer about anything if it doesn't pertain to their interests, though...

[encryptedlock]

Worth a shot, anyway.

[He mutters, almost to himself.] Why giraffes?

[kindnessing]

[ Ken... just shakes his head. ] I've tried asking them where they came from. The most, um, coherent answer involves conveyor belts and the planet Neptune. They're not terribly consistent about it, either.

[encryptedlock]

Yeah, I'm going to go with small brains on this one.

Or craziness. Craziness is a distinct possibility.

[kindnessing]

It's better than an invasion, any day. [ Crazy is a step up from aggressive, no matter what. ] They're strange, but I don't think any of them would hurt a fly... Unless this is all an elaborate mindgame. [ ... Ken's been here a week too long. ]

[encryptedlock]

Oh, definitely. And depending on how friendly they are, we might be able to mark this place on our map ass safe to spend a day or two on a future expedition. Might be nice to take a juice break, you know?

[kindnessing]

Can we make a note to make it a short juice break? They're very generous, but I think I've had enough conversations about giraffe spots for a lifetime.

[encryptedlock]

[York chuckles.]

Definitely.