‘‘‘Rosemary and Romy’’’
They were apart for most of the morning and the afternoon, but they had enough time to meet for lunch. After getting food from the dining hall, they sat outside together on a bench.
Rosemary’s shoulders were hunched forward as she picked at her lentil sandwich. “I can’t stop thinking about the driver on the news last night.”
Romy tried to look casual instead of panicky and almost choked on the bite she just took. After a slightly awkward recovery, she said “He’s just another crackpot. No need to worry over nothing.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Has this been bugging you all day? Did something happen in class?”
“Nothing happened. We got our syllabus and talked about goals for the semester.”
“And you’re okay?”
“I didn’t have a panic attack, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“Good. Good. That’s good.“
There was a lull in the conversation. Romy chewed her tuna sandwich. Rosemary just stared off into the distance, pretending to be interested in the sight of a guy playing hacky sack.
After a minute or so of this, Romy asked “Do you like your professor?”
At the same time, Rosemary said “I’m going to visit the driver at the hospital after my afternoon class.”
Romy pinched the bridge of her nose. “Really, Rosie? Really?”
“I have to do this.”
“You don’t ‘‘have’’ to do anything. You can just ignore this. It’s not your business.”
“I’m making it my business. If I don’t confront this thing now, it’ll eat me up inside until there’s nothing left.”
Romy tried to be strong. She really did. She almost said “No,” but the idea of Rosemary out there alone, possibly in danger, did her in.
She sighed exaggeratedly. “Then I guess it’s my business too.”
Rosemary’s eyes lit up, and the corners of her mouth curved ever-so-slightly.
“Don’t look so smug,” Romy muttered. “And eat your damn sandwich, already.”
Edited by emilyorthoclase on Jul 30th 2018 at 12:26:18 PM
RPG Hillbilly
Sara was sitting in a chair behind her desk in the college library and was trying her best not to fall asleep on the job. The story of the frightened driver and the so-called "monsters" he had claimed to see had kept her up all night and she could not get a proper night's rest.
"Maybe I just need some caffeine or something to keep me going." she whispered to herself before standing up to walk over to the vending machine outside.
Sara didn't know what the hell was going on in her town, but she knew something wasn't right.
An Ordinary Oddball
Alex Sharp
Alex was reading through news stories on her laptop in her dorm room when she happened across an article talking about a trucker apparently getting attacked by monsters. Huh. Interesting.
Was there some kind of supernatural investigation club at this college? She hoped there was. Or else she would be the one to start one!
Maybe college wouldn't be so boring after all...
I wear the skin of the Elder Things, having come unto my own.
Blood Mage Apologist
Jack Hawthorne
Jack scanned the article displayed on his phone, sipping from a can of Pepsi. Shit had gone down, it seemed. A destroyed diner, a destroyed truck, and a guy that apparently had PTSD from some horrible thing happening to him.
There was a lot to be said about not believing everything you read online, and he wasn't exactly sure that all of this had happened, or even that it was all what it sounded like.
Could've been a gas leak, terrorists, random huge-scale vandalism, whatever. Certainly not monsters.
But something felt off about it. Kind of like that drink he'd had a couple of nights ago at that party.
Apparently reading and being drunk were, at worst, mutually exclusive, and at best a stupid idea.
Maybe it was just because he'd always been taken in with the unknown. Maybe it was because fate intervened. Maybe it was because he had nothing better to do.
Whatever the reason, the college student resolved to visit the guy. Maybe bring flowers, say he was a relative or a close friend or whatever. The latter would probably work better and might not even be that illegal if he wasn't in critical condition.
Wooze looks at Glass with a 'please take her away' look
That Friend Nobody Likes
Werner O'Brien
Werner looked up from his phone. "Yeah, that is weird." He told Rick, his roommate.
"Doesn't look much like a hoax, but, then again, some of those hoaxes can be pretty convincing." He continued.
"This warrants further investigation. You wanna come along?" He concluded. After Rick replied in the negative, Werner put his book down, grabbed his wallet and car keys, and left. It wasn't like he had anything better to do. At least currently.
Umm... so, I was here, I guess. If I wasn't, someone hacked my account. So, yeah.
RPG Hillbilly
Upon buying a Mountain Dew from the vending machine, Sara could not help but think about the incidents last night.
She could not get it out of her head and needed to find out more.
"That's it, I'm going to try and visit the trucker and see if I can get to the bottom of this. Maybe there were other possible witnesses as well who have not come forward yet?"
Hospital
They took the train from the college into town, down to Santa Lucia Hospital, arriving around six in the evening.
They immediately made a beeline for the receptionist, Romy leading the way. She was better at these things than Rosemary, so Rosemary hung back, looking sad and serious as Romy spoke to the receptionist.
“Hi, my sister and I are here to see our uncle.” Sniffle. “He crashed his truck last night and -“ Sniffle. “-and we’re just so scared for him...”
She trailed off, sobbing dramatically, while Rosemary hugged her so Romy could sob into her shoulder. Romy had always been good at fake-crying while still looking cute. It was one of the many things Rosemary was jealous of her for.
RPG Hillbilly
Clad in her typical attire of the CCR T-shirt, jeans, sunglasses, and blue headband, Sara entered the hospital waiting room to find two girls talking to the reception, one of them crying and asking to see her uncle.
Walking past the two girls, Sara turned to the receptionist and asked a few questions.
"Um, can I see the injured trucker from last night? I'm with the trucking company and I need to get a statement from him regarding the incident and any damages to company property."
Surrounded by weirdoes
"Man, what a mess" Another voice said, looking at the destroyed building, broken glass, concrete and whatever remains of the truck filling the place. It was still a lot earlier, as a young man decided to go for a run before class, but what he heard surprised him and made him giving a look.
Didn't look like it'd be a bomb which caused quite a few questions. The monsters thing was questionable, but, there are more things on heaven and earth, right?
Walking away, the crime scene was left there, casting a shadow over the town.
—- Santa Lucia Hospital
The receptionist looked on as the kids cried and to the woman came in, looking somewhat serious. Sighing, she looked at the records. Checking for the names, she found the one. Robert Shay.
"Room 303" She said, simply "And don't give him too much stimulus, he is in no condition for it"
Wake me up at your own risk.
Santa Lucia Hospital
Romy sniffled out a “Thank you” before walking away, Rosemary by her side.
They glanced back at Sara while walking off before turning to one another.
“Do you think she’s who she says she is?” Rosemary asked.
Romy hmphed. “Why would she lie to get close to him?”
“Same reason we are, maybe.”
“She’s being emotionally blackmailed?”
“Don’t pretend you’re not a little curious,” Rosemary chided as they got into the elevator.
Blood Mage Apologist
Santa Lucia Hospital
Jack showed up at the hospital a few minutes after the other curious investigators had, bearing flowers. If you wanted to convince someone you were a friend of some random injured trucker, flowers were your best asset.
"Hi," he said, flashing the receptionist a brilliant smile. "I'm here to see my friend Robert? Robert Shay. We've been friends since high-school and I heard he got hurt recently," he said, putting on a concerned face.
"I wanted to bring him some flowers and tell him I hope he gets better soon. I know its not a common cold, so I doubt positive encouragement will do that much, but he's a good friend."
All of that was a bold-faced lie, of course, but the flowers would hopefully draw the woman's attention away from his body language, and it sounded plausible.
Wooze looks at Glass with a 'please take her away' look
Surrounded by weirdoes
Looking at Jack with a critical eye, the receptionist only gave instructions to keep it brief and not do anything that could get him too agitated.
In the room, an older man was on a bed, fearfully looking at the shadows as if they could attack him. Robert Shay saw the world just changing in front of him, and what he saw completely terrify him.
Wake me up at your own risk.
The Hendrix sisters quickly reached the floor where Robert was being kept. Once they reached his room, they exchanged expectant looks.
“You’re better with people than I am,” Rosemary said.
“He’s gone through a traumatic incident,” Romy replied. “He needs someone who can connect with him. That’s you.” She mock-punched Rosemary’s arm. “Besides, I’ll make an excellent lookout.”
Rosemary smiled and went inside as Romy leaned against the wall.
She sat down next to Robert’s bed, hands folded.
“Hello,” she said. “I’m a friend. I...I went through something similar to you a while ago. I was wondering if you’d like to talk about it.”
Surrounded by weirdoes
Robert looked at the girls with vacant eyes, as he started to talk.
"It was just another day, I made the trip and went to eat, when a purple light appeared, then they came" His voice started cracking at the end, and his breathing is off "Green skin, so ugly, so savage, they started breaking everything, everyone was running and I had to hide, they had me, but they ran away with another light" He started truly hyperventilating and his heart accelerated.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Rosemary’s stomach clenched as Robert began to panic. He was traumatized and terrified and reliving it, and it was her fault.
She had to help him through this. Or try, at least.
“You’re safe now. I promise. They’re not coming back for you, you’re going to be okay. Just keep breathing, okay? In, out, in, out - breathe with me, come on, breathe with me - in, out, in, out - can I touch you? Is that alright with you?”
——
Just outside the room, Romy continued to watch for anyone who might be approaching the room.
Stefan Kingston
While the young man in there underwent a breakdown, outside a group of people dressed in letterman jackets and jeans walked down the hallway. At the head of the group was the undisputed leader of their number - Stefan Kingston. He liked to believe everyone in the entire town of Lucia knew him.
After all, who forgets a face this handsome, and a body this astonishingly hot? He tensed his pectorals and shoulders - they'd been allowed to go on campus to test out the weight room, and more or less they were basically students by this point - only attending high school as a formality.
Stefan thought back to the weight room, and his proud display of a 395 lbs bench press. Usually the best lifter and the best looker ended up being the quarterback or at least that was the common perception. In Stefan's case, he outlifted most of the team handily - and the sheer number of women who'd been to his bed vouched for his looks.
However as they passed by Romy and that room, the guys seemed to start cracking jokes. Stefan however decided this was odd enough to deserve some attention, "Hey, is anything goin' on in this room here?"
The runningback Stu promptly chortled and went to the front, next to Stefan, "M-Maybe the freakin' nerds are having some crazy nerd orgy..."
Stefan visibly rolled his eyes - Stu Vanderton made up for the fact he was a skinny guy thick only in the legs by being the craziest on the team about sex. Fitting given how little of it he gets.
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Oh, god, high school jocks. Romy sucked in air through her teeth, but forced herself to smile politely and twirl a strand of hair around her finger. She had to stall for as long as Rosemary was in there.
“My sister’s visiting an injured friend. That’s what you do in hospitals, you know.”
She looked over the football players, trying to understand the appeal. Boys in general had never caught her eye, but she could maybe understand it from an academic standpoint. Their leader was good-looking, in a Ken-doll-come-to-life-on-steroids sort of way.
“What about you guys? Finally getting treatment for all those head injuries?”
She playfully tapped the leader on the forehead and giggled.
Stefan Kingston
Stefan kept his cool and chuckled when she poked his forehead - he briefly wondered if this girl knew who he was, due to him being kind of famous, he guessed. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, and gave a smile, "Well, we're here to check if the accommodations are fit for guys like us. I mean, gotta have a place with good sports therapists, for the biggest studs in the whole town."
Stefan promptly took off his letterman and a single glance basically made Stu sigh and take "the King"'s jacket.
He promptly took the opportunity to preen, gesturing at his build, "And out of a lot of hot guys, I'm the hottest. Stefan Kingston, in case you didn't know." He gave a cocky smirk.
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Romy nodded. “Good thing you told me you’re hot. I wouldn’t have been able to tell otherwise.
“Anyway, nice to meet you, Stefan. I’m Romy. And your...fellow studs are?”
Stefan and Guys
Stefan stopped his display and crossed his arms, though showing a slight, wry smile. He looked over and saw some of the other guys looked a bit peeved that Romy talked about their captain that way.
For Stefan's part however he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well, right here is our Runningback Stu..." He pointed at the lithe guy who'd made the rude remark earlier.
He pointed behind himself at a guy somewhat bigger than Stu - a rather unruly haired ginger boy with slate blue eyes, "This is our Fullback Rick O'Malley."
Rick promptly used his most common pick up line at Romy, inciting exasperated groans from the other jocks, "Wanna get lucky with the Irishman?"
Stefan just wiped his forehead a bit, Wish you'd be less of a stereotype, Ricky. You're cute but I don't want to have to hear this every time you meet a girl.
Stefan then continued, pointing at two quite large guys at the back - one was an African American with a shaved head and the other was a somewhat pale blond guy, "And these fine gentlemen are two of our linebackers, Darryl and Allen."
Those two seemed less rambunctious than the others, calmly waving at Romy.
Edited by NickTheSwing on Aug 21st 2018 at 1:24:17 AM
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Romy burst into giggles after Rick spoke, though she made an effort to contain herself as she waved at Darryl and Allen.
“All if you are townies - uh, local boys, I take it?”
She paused as she realized something - if they were locals, they had to know about any weird stuff that had happened in Lucia prior to the start of the semester.
She had to be subtle. Not too subtle, though - these guys seemed okay as far as football players went, but they didn’t seem all that bright.
“I have to admit, Lucia’s a pretty quiet place. I’ve heard smallish towns like this are hotbeds for secrets and conspiracies and whatnot. But I’m sure none of you know anything about that.”
Surrounded by weirdoes
Robert's breathing started normalizing, while he looked at Rosemary as his body started going back, lying on his back once again.
"They went down the street, and got into a place with lots of old houses, but I know nothing else" His eyes started closing.
Wake me up at your own risk.
Rosemary stood up as Robert started to drift off.
“Thank you. And I’m sorry for spooking you. I won’t bother you anymore.”
She lightly patted his shoulder in goodbye before slipping out of the room, and immediately walking into a crowd of people - boys, around her age and wearing letterman jackets.
Romy was still there, thank god, and Rosemary took her by the hand to center herself. She nodded vaguely in greeting before looking down at the floor.
Each guy seemed confused by the line of questioning, let alone what Romy was saying - conspiracies? Secrets? Well, it wasn't like they lived entirely uncomplicated lives, each guy had their own little secrets and such they tried to keep out of the public light.
Stefan smirked a little and said, "Well, I can't imagine there being any of that in a place like Lucia. Can't say any of us have many secrets...we're just a bunch of dudes, living our lives."
Inside however, Stefan wondered if that remark about secrets and such was a hint she did know about him, and suspected him of something personal. No, no she doesn't have anything on me. I've been nothing but straight as an arrow.
The rest of the guys mulled about a bit, and Stu asked, "What, are you a fan of rumors and stuff?"
Then a nearly identical girl exited the room, and their attention was on her instead of that line of questioning.
Stefan breathed and crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Wow, the two of you look a lot alike...I'm guessing twins? What brings you girls to the hospital area by the by?"
Sign on for this After The End Fantasy RP.
Lucia City, Midnight
Another city, another stop, and another cargo handed over. Just the life of a trucker, he surmised.
The city of Lucia is a strange one indeed, mixing up old fashioned buildings and modern ones mixed up like vines, the lights leaving strange shadows all over the place and the noise of the making an eerie echo that might haunt you.
But that’s not this man’s business, as he stopped at a diner, taking his time, leaving. A strange purple light illuminated the place making him close his eyes for a second. Looking around, but not seeing anything, he shrugged and walked to his truck, but a loud noise made him turn. His face twisted into pure horror at the sight as ‘’something’’ approached.
A scream rang through the night.
Alma College, the next morning
Within all the modernity, the Alma College is, on the outside, frozen still in time. Old buildings littering the campus, with the green of the grass and with all the trees creating a beautiful picture.
Of course, there is always a buzz in the air, with all the young people running around on their own, and the one thing that gives these places life: rumors. Particularly on certain groups. On their phones or whatever they had on hand with internet and a screen, several people were looking at a strange video taken last night.
In it, a man ran from strange green figures wielding clubs and rustic looking spears. While there weren’t injured people, a destroyed diner and truck proved that something happened there. The traumatized driver could only mutter “monsters” over and over. A more concrete sighting has occurred.
What will this do to the city?
Wake me up at your own risk.