Winchester/Fairfield Expedition - The Town of Fairfield

[winfield]

[You saw the towns some time ago, but it still took a good couple hours of treading past the farmland around it before you actually reached it. They have a distinctly "old western" type of feel to them, with their dusty, unpaved dirt roads and the collection of buildings-- most of them obviously wooden-- sitting side-by-side along either side of the road.

More observant residents may notice that the nearer they come to the town, the more people that look up and notice, and subsequently hurry off or head inside. And even if you didn't notice it as you closed in, it sure becomes apparent once you step under the archway of the town; there's no one around. The tumbleweed that rolls by almost seems to be mocking the residents.

Another thing that becomes apparent is the state of the town. Besides having gone eerily quiet, some of the buildings have been wrecked. There are gouges in the wood, where it hasn't been punched through or torn apart. Rails are broken, and a few of them even have damaged or missing doors.

Are they too late?]

DR. BREWER | HEATH | RECONSTRUCTION

((ooc: No sections this time. Comment freely and make your own! There will be a section by the mods soon~ Sections updated!))

Comments

[hard_talker]

Damnit. [he winces. his guilt and paranoia just went up a few notches, which was the opposite of what he was hoping for] We were talking a couple weeks ago and got cut off. I'm worried something might've happened to her. Those bug-things got most of the people she was with.

[vesania]

They did? [He frowns] They caused a lot of trouble, but they didn't deserve that. Those things have been a menace since they showed up.

I'm sorry about your friend, I wish I had some answer about her for you.

[hard_talker]

Yeah, I - I don't think anyone deserves that. ... It was just a few months ago that they showed up, right? There weren't any - actually, no, you know what? I have a better idea.

[he pats the boombox] Dr. Brewer, I'm not tryin' to be rude or anything, but. You mind if I record this?

[vesania]

[He arches a brow at the boombox, before smiling]

Tat wouldn't be a problem, so long as you don't ask me to sing.

[hard_talker]

Nah. It's just that sometimes people forget details by the time we get back to where we came from, and I figured ... maybe a recording or two might help keep the facts straight. [he looks around] Is there a place we can go sit down, maybe filter out some of the background noise?

[get in out of the sun? maybe? before he has his own roast, minus the Comedy Central special?]

[vesania]

Sounds like a plan, and we're more than willing to help you guys out. [He's start off towards one of the buildings] Here, this place should be quiet.

[hard_talker]

Great, thanks. I mean - we were able to get here in about a day and a half, so ... if you need help, we're pretty close. We would've gotten here sooner, but somethin' chased most of our horses outta the damn stables.

[he rolls his eyes as he follows the good doctor toward the building. sure, he knows the dinosaur did it, but he still can't help but wonder if someone else pointed it in that direction For Reasons]

[vesania]

[People are douches after all]

It's good to know you're close. Maybe we can set up something really good here.

[hard_talker]

I hope so. I gotta admit, 'till recently, we didn't even realize the place was this close. Our maps were kind of, uh ... ancient and not that great.

[he lets Dr. Brewer lead the way into the building, then starts looking for a good place to set up]

[vesania]

[There are some chairs and tables nearby, seems this place used to be a post office. Or perhaps it's Nostos' idea of what an old west post office SHOULD be]

Really? Not much contact with the others outside of Nancy's crew, huh?

[hard_talker]

Not really, no... I mean - I've met Flora and Goldfleck, myself, out at Mineas Well? ... And there was a group of people who went down to Lente's Point before she disappeared, and got to talk to her. I wasn't with 'em, though.

[he sets up the tape recorder, and starts unwrapping a fresh tape] You haven't heard from her, either, I take it ...

[vesania]

Not for a long time. As for Lente...well, we didn't really want to be split up and she has that issue with the menfolk. It doesn't make visiting easy.

[hard_talker]

Split up? ... Okay, I'm gonna hold on to my questions 'till I get this rolling, or I'm gonna get ahead of myself.

[popping the tape into the deck, he gets comfortable at one of the tables and starts while Brewer does the same]

This is Mark Hunter, here in Fairfield with Dr. Brewer, September 3rd, Year ... Six? Screw it. I'll label the tape when I get back and can check. Anyway. We've come out to the town in answer to a distress call sent via radio, and the good Doc here was cool enough to let me interview him. [he clears his throat]

Thanks for doing this, Dr. Brewer. And I'm just gonna say right now that if there's anythin' you feel like you can't answer in the interest of the safety of the people you're with, you don't hafta. I'm not gonna be a jackass about it.

[vesania]

[He seems perfectly comfortable with the recording, in fact, he seems to relax even more. Memories of home come flooding back, sitting down in his office, talking to a man who claimed to be from a whole different planet, recording tapes just like this to try to figure out the mystery inside that man's head]

It's not a problem, Mr. Hunter. I've got nothing I need to hide.

[hard_talker]

I 'ppreciate that. ... Now, just t' sum up what you've already told me, so we're not repeating ourselves ... you said that the Collectors showed up and attacked you just a few months ago. And that kid, Heath, he says you guys are from Cair Draconis, the one that got infected with the virus based off sins, right?

[vesania]

That's absolutely right. Draconis was a safe place to stay, aside form the occasional change of setting, it never did anything to try to harm us...right until that virus was unleashed on us.

[hard_talker]

Do you know where it came from, originally? I mean, we found your notes, we know you're the one who was able to actually figure out how to cure it...

[vesania]

I didn't figure it out, a resident before me did, I just deciphered her notes.

[He leans forward, steepling his hands together and letting out a slow breath]

For what I managed to determine, Draconis fed on its residents in a different way to Paradisa. Where your castle feeds on you constantly, it seems Draconis lets its resident number raise to a high level, before releasing the virus. lot of people died, or succumbed to the virus, it seems that's when the castle fed. En masse, like a python eating an antelope. After such a big meal, all it needed to do was bide its time, let it's resident number grow again before repeating the process.

[He moves to sit back in his seat] I think we might be the first people to escape out of that, and we lost so many of our residents to that in the process.

[hard_talker]

.... Oh, that's just fucking creepy. [he shudders - then remembers something creepier] Almost as bad as what I heard happened to Libet ... do you know anything about that one?

[vesania]

From what I understand, Libet tried to kill it's people with kindness. Unlike us, I don't believe anyone survived it.

[hard_talker]

Kill 'em with ... but ... they said they drained it, and that's why they were dying ... they wanted to stay with it because--

[the words die in his mouth. "because it had been so good to them". his eyes widen]

So that was ... it was on purpose. It wanted them to use it up like that. Like ... like some crazy suicide pact. [he chokes on the words, feeling ill. to him, something like that is even worse than what happened at Draconis, or what Paradisa does to them]

[vesania]

It's entirely possible. Libet fell long before Draconis did, so all I'm running on is rumours and conjecture. Given the complete lack of surviours, we may never know. But one thing for certain is that all the castles feed differently.

[hard_talker]

Wow. ... Do you know about how the others work, or is that just conjecture, too?

[as he speaks, he's flipping through his journal, looking at what it picked up of others' conversations. he doesn't want to be repetitive, after all.]

[vesania]

Conjecture. I've not even come across anyone from the other two. I recall one has some sort of force field...no one at all has ever been near it.

[hard_talker]

Huh. Do you know which one it is? The name of it, or even the symbol? Anything new would be good, we barely know anything about the other castles. We only really knew about the Insolitus passage connecting Paradisa and Libet 'cuz the Doctor found it pretty much by accident while he was out there...

[he sighs. Dr. Brewer and Eleven probably would have talked about everything until the cows come home, and it's moments like this, the big moments of discovery where he's reminded of just how much is OUT there, that he misses his old friend the most. it's almost like a phantom limb pain for a second heart he doesn't have. but he's not about to change the subject and say how much they would have gotten along, as much as he wishes he could. they may not have much time, and he doesn't know how long the crystals will keep his precious boombox going - oh hey, there's a thought]

Have you seen these before?

[he turns the radio around briefly so that Brewer can see the crystals wired to the back]

Lente said something about a "mother crystal" they could get charged off of...