westwhere | open | oh it's a mad, mad world, i'm drowning in

Entry tags:

open | oh it's a mad, mad world, i'm drowning in

WHO: Anyone wanting to find lamp oil, other oils, and the Remembrance's new hideout.
WHEN: After the TDM event! Before the next game event.
WHERE: In the Mouse House.
WHAT: In the spirit of adventurers the worlds wide, people go hunting for more lamp oil, only to find... dark water barrels, and the Remembrance's attempts to establish itself again.
WARNINGS: They're trying to make those womb walls again at the base; there's a potential at all times for violence; language potentially explicit.

You can find plot information or ask questions here! Keeping it simple, but here's a vague timeline of some possibilities:

Meeting outside the orphanage and searching through abandoned homes and businesses for lamp oil. Or sneaking into not so abandoned places and making off with some supplies.

Discovering a series of seemingly abandoned warehouses, and finding a means inside, with light. Much of what's there is junk. Be amazed by what you find.

In at least one warehouse there's large barrels! Which might be oil! These turn out to be dark water when opened.

Within minutes of the dark water barrel discovery, members of the Remembrance enter from an underground walkway, and confront the people by the barrels. Playact as part of the movement ("wake up!"), or else prepare to run.

If you played like you were part of the movement, be drafted into helping cart the black water barrels to the new safe-house, where it's apparent the black water's being used to recreate the womb walls of the former Remembrance headquarters. Or you might be tasked with chasing after one of your fellows who failed their acting chops.

If you failed to play along with the Remembrance, run, run, as fast as you can, and try not to get lost in the warren of paths. Or end up meeting a Rodent Of Unusual Size, which may or may not be wearing a paper crown.

Find a way back to the orphanage with whatever spoils of the day you managed to keep your hands on. Share information. The Remembrance is rebuilding, just as weird womb wally as before.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Choose your starting poison, and I'll write us the lead in:

His nose catching the scent of lamp oil, or cooking oil. Breaking and entering an abandoned house.

Finding a way into the warehouse; he's located a window with promisingly broken boarding. Let him spot you as you stand on his shoulders to pry the board free!

Staring down into the dark water as the Remembrance members arrive, let's act the part.

Only once we see what they're up to, let's get out as soon as we can. While being continuously interrupted with gofor tasks.

[ Do you want to give me a starter for 1 or should I go? ]

( He pauses, then lifts up his hand to gesture Hermione over, jerking his chin toward the boarded up, squat dwelling to their left. )

Got a feeling on this one. Any moral objections to breaking and entering, love?

[She is wrapped up in the same cloak she's had since Taravast, which has worked in the past to hide her from sight and make her easy to ignore by others, as well as keep her warm; right now, she's hardly invisible in it, despite the dark, but she wishes she could be. It would make this part easier, if she had Harry's Invisibility Cloak.

She takes note of his sniffing, a little knot in her throat as she considers what that might mean overall, but he interrupts her with a question.]

I've come along with you, haven't I? [Not her first B&E, and what does this say about her? If Harry or Ron ever end up here, she'll have to tell them the experience of infiltrating Gringotts has stayed with her, and she might be a bit of a klepto-for-justice. Anyway.]

Let's be smart about it. [Her wand comes out but she hesitates.] Can I put a spell over both of us? It'll make us a little more inconspicuous. I can also undo the lock.

You'll find people change their minds all the time. Morals are somewhat negotiable.

( He gives her a long, considered look, no sign of a smile on his features. He still has no idea of his own walking-magical-energy-leaking existence on that plane, being no one who uses magic, but he does appreciate that he's felt very little skin crawling sensation down here, as opposed to up in Serthica proper. )

Which spell, what limitations, and what duration? Take the lock, no objections there.

( If she can manage that more smoothly, all the better. )

Desperate times shouldn't excuse bad behaviour, but...[She squints at the house number and shrugs.] These people could afford to pay taxes and chose not to, so - Alohamora.

[At least the unlocking spell is quietly whispered, even though the door opens with a creak. She glances at Licyn now, heart in her throat.

Hermione isn't evil, alright? She's not morally corrupt. She's just been taking from those who hoarded wealth, because she knew they wouldn't notice the loss. Except that creepy merchant who collected skulls, he can notice the loss, he deserved that.]

I'll stay close - if you hear anyone, give me a signal and I can put that unnoticeable spell up. It won't turn us invisible, Licyn, so do be careful.

( quirking an eyebrow, and opting against his thoughts on taxes -- he's been taxed for above the table jobs and all sorts of things despite having no permanent residence, and little applicable use of taxes outside of road maintenance.

also wildly different world contexts, but that he can guess at without needing or caring for specific details. )

How does it sound like you're singing when you breathe that spell?

( more muttered than a directed comment. it's just clear to him there's a cadence to what she says, short as it is. )

So start screaming and run once you've cast it, can do. ( dryly stated, with a sideglance, and then he's taking the lead into the house, moving remarkably quietly through the front entrance. dust is apparent along all walls and heavier in the corners; a lived in place, but not so recently, and not so long ago as to be truly abandoned. hence the lock. someone downsized? cautious? in a den of drug users and giant rodents, it makes sense.

he leads the way towards what resolves into being a long, narrow kitchen, cocking his head to the side as he regards the cabinets, then the pantry door, and another one, which smells damp. )

Time to get to opening things. Doors first or last?

( asked with a glance to his partner in crime. )

[ shall we two or three it up? ]

( He squints up at the window, turning toward Xie Fei with a brow quirked up, his lips following not long after. There's no ledge, and the window is on a flat surface, boarded incompletely over but intact from what he can see. )

Think if I hold you steady on my shoulders, you can pull those last boards free? Leaves slightly less evidence of who's in or out if glass doesn't end up all over the ground.

( Also, he doesn't feel like dealing with glass. So sue him. It tends to cut up something wicked, leaves blood around, attracts attention, all things he prefers avoiding. )

Fine, I can step on you.

[ Because surely he doesn't expect her to sit on his shoulders like a child. Gripping the scabbard of her sword at the middle, she huffs out a determined breath, waiting for her foothold to present itself before she boosts herself up.

She's wobbly, but not so shaky that Fei can't get one side of her sword under the bottom board of the window, using it as a makeshift prybar to get it free. ]

Oh, please.

( Said with a hint of amusement, putting in the innuendo that he knows she's going to ignore. He's rock steady as he holds her up, hands at her ankles to reinforce her when she's prying the board off.

Another application of pressure, and it eeeks free, leaving the board dangling from one side of the window. One more yank, out it goes. )

Watch your head. [ The board comes free as she says it, the momentum making her shift side to side, momentarily caught off-kilter. Fei pitches forward, grabbing the board above the one she's wrestled free. ]

Get closer, I can fit and break it open from the other side.

( he doesn't remark so much as grunt and duck his head next to her ankle. hah! she's one big shield in a certain sense. then she's asking for him to get closer, and he eyes the wall with the distaste of a person not fond of rubbing up against strange surfaces.

and so he sighs, but shuffles closer, aiming to keep her footing steady on his shoulders. )

Close enough, or would you prefer we're both kissing stone?

[pikachu, I choose ~~you~~ 3 going into 4 or however the spirit moves us

also can start if you want me to, I'm flexible, sticks leggy out, etc]

( Licyn grimaces, nudging against Izumi's side as the Remembrance members direct them to help along with the rest in moving the barrels. There's a trap door down into a cellar that leads out again, and the heavy containers need to be rolled and lowered into the cellar, before they can be further taken away to...

... the searing base, which is not something he looks forward to.

He smiles anyway, expression otherwise flat. )

What I would have given for any of these to be nothing but pure vegetable oil.

( To be something other than this dark water, this black water, this nonsense of horror that spawned the last room with its womb-walls and the sack dolls that were its what, creation? )

Imagine all the fun ways you can use that much cooking oil.

[Honestly, either they have the best luck or the worst, because how can looking for simple lamp oil land them directly into this town's Big Bad?

...Are they the Big Bad? They're something. Specifics aren't important.

But Kanesada just helps roll this current barrel where directed, not even glancing at Licyn. This is their new job and they need to do it well. Not because they actually want to join these lunatics, but the two of them have eyes. It's just simple espionage. Information-gathering.]

Man...you could fry so much food.

[...Crap, now he's hungry.]

( the town's Big Crazy, and stormstruck luck it is to be here now. Licyn stares down the line and into the trap door, and the consuming dark below. one light flickers in its glass: ironically, that at least does run on oil. )

Fry dough, fry bread, fry chicken... fry chicken skins...

( hungry is a great place to be imagining things which are edible, but a terrible place to be abandoned in. the duo in front of them roll their barrel forward, ropes tied on so the lowering can begin. )

[This was a mistake. He could go for literally anything right now and Licyn isn't helping.

Of course, Kanesada kind of started it. Oops.]

I haven't had good rice in so long. Or hot pot.

[BIG SIGH. But they still have a job to do, so he stops talking long enough to help get their current barrel lowered into the hole.

With that single light, it's hard to see how many barrels they've collected, but he can make out more than a couple.]

Okay! Time for another, yeah?

[Or at least time to pretend to get it and actually get the hell out of town.]

( the remembrance guy shakes his head, gesturing down the ladder. )

Time to get them rolling along, so down you go. Those two have the last barrel, nothing more to do up here.

( licyn's eyes narrow a touch, and he sighs, slinking forward as if utterly unconcerned by anything that's happening. )

Still going to be more than one trip back to roll out all the barrels, love, won't it?

( there will be time to run later. take their moment for now, pretty boy izumi )

[Going down into the dark scary hole is not the greatest idea ever, but...sure. Okay. If it keeps them from looking suspicious, then they'll do what they must. Besides, it should earn them more information to take back to the others.

He glances at Licyn and gives him a quick smile. No problem.]

Many hands make light work and all that.

[Then he descends the ladder and immediately tries to get used to the dim light. He's not the best at seeing in the dark, but he's not the worst, either. It shouldn't take him more than a minute to really adjust. But for now, he'll just keep the current barrel rolling.]

( Licyn snorts, fluttering his lashes as Izumi looks away. )

Light hands make happy work, love.

( Then he's down, blinking twice and sidling up along Izumi, barely offering a toe to keep the barrel rolling. Leaning in close, he murmurs: )

Give the slip once this sets down, wherever that is?

[...What does that even mean, Licyn?

But he notices his companion in crime here is hardly working, so he reaches to grab for Licyn's wrist to at least make him pretend like he's helping. Light hands may make happy work for the one not doing any of it, but some of them are trying to blend in.

Still, he rolls the barrel a ways past the nearest Remembrance member and leans in to answer.]

Yeah. Were you able to get a count on how much is down here?

( watch licyn helpfully try holding izumi's hand instead of using it to push and instead using his foot to push the barrel forward, which it does go, quite happily. )

Seven up above, three already below.

( More than three ahead, but they weren't the first barrel down, he'd just noted what was present and waiting to move before it'd started in the process. )

What do they want this much of that for?

( He may not have allowed himself to remember the burlap doll sack birthing moments. At all. )

[He tries to tug Licyn's hand down to the barrel, but...well. Now that would be a little awkward, wouldn't it? And Kanesada would force him into working if it wouldn't cause a little ruckus and draw more attention to them than necessary and...fine. Fine! You win, Licyn! Ridiculous man.

Kanesada still huffs in displeasure, but doesn't pull his hand away.

Anyway, by Licyn's count, that's at least ten barrels of that black water tar stuff, which isn't a huge number, but that's still ten barrels and far more than what they should probably be allowed to have.]

Nothing good. These guys are stubborn with whatever their plan is.

[If losing one headquarters doesn't deter them very much, then it just goes to show that they really believe in whatever they're doing. Not great news for everyone else, probably.]

( He smiles, a small quirk of his lips at Izumi's huff and tugging, then sees if he can entangle their fingers. Tugs on the hand to bring it up towards his lips, though he speaks by his hand, rather than kiss it. )

Getting lighter up front, I hear more voices. You're not feeling unwarrantedly heroic, love, are you?

( their barrel comes to a rest in the lineup, two ahead being pulled up and shoved through to another cellar, to the left and halfway up their current tunnel's wall. )

licyn mansbane

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2 that ends up at 3?

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3 and 4 mix giving us...

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