Arthur Lester (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lestercraft) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
silentspringlogs2024-01-29 09:49 am
lestercraft) wrote in silentspringlogs2024-01-29 09:49 am
Part Two: The Dinner
Who: Arthur & Helly Lester and anyone who actually goes for the invite
When: Evening of Jan 29th
Where: The Lester Household
Open/Closed: Open! Come one and all from Haven Street.
Applicable Warnings: Discussion of January events, mass conspiracy (it's us, we're the conspirators)
It's even odds, he thinks, whether people thought he was off his rocker in making a post like that, or if people would believe he's actually trying to contact people the only reasonable way he knew how. It was certainly much faster than trying to contact people individually, especially in this weather, and hopefully between himself and Helly that they've met enough people to get a decent turn-out.
The more they can learn about this place, the more they can trust each other, the better. Right now, trust is all they have.
The lower floor of the house is well lit, even if all the windows are curtained and shut, and there's a record playing in the lounge, audible from outside - something jazzy and dated by the standards of the time, but a bit of Hoagy Carmichael and Billie Holiday is settling his nerves, if nothing else - and the kitchen is... sparse, clearly underused but for the stack of mugs by the sink, but with some effortthe blind leading the blind he and Helly have at least put together a salad for people. Theoretically they'll be bringing their own food too, make it at least ostensibly a potluck.
When: Evening of Jan 29th
Where: The Lester Household
Open/Closed: Open! Come one and all from Haven Street.
Applicable Warnings: Discussion of January events, mass conspiracy (it's us, we're the conspirators)
It's even odds, he thinks, whether people thought he was off his rocker in making a post like that, or if people would believe he's actually trying to contact people the only reasonable way he knew how. It was certainly much faster than trying to contact people individually, especially in this weather, and hopefully between himself and Helly that they've met enough people to get a decent turn-out.
The more they can learn about this place, the more they can trust each other, the better. Right now, trust is all they have.
The lower floor of the house is well lit, even if all the windows are curtained and shut, and there's a record playing in the lounge, audible from outside - something jazzy and dated by the standards of the time, but a bit of Hoagy Carmichael and Billie Holiday is settling his nerves, if nothing else - and the kitchen is... sparse, clearly underused but for the stack of mugs by the sink, but with some effort
cw: mild ableism??
[Margaret echoes the word with a dubious tone, regarding Arthur with a suspicious gaze. Perhaps unfortunately for Arthur, he's explaining the situation to someone who has little to no patience for belief in the unusual or the occult. Major Margaret Houlihan's feet are firmly planted in the mundane world, regardless of how bizarre war can be.
But she's encountered many soldiers thinking they've spoken to God after a traumatic incident, or even believed they were God. The shell shock had addled their brains, and she couldn't blame them for it. Perhaps this is a similar situation. She scrunches her face up, trying to come off as sympathetic as possible, though judgement can still be heard in her tone.]
Are you sure it wasn't something else? [A pause.] If you'd like, I can examine your eyes for any signs of damage.
no subject
With all due respect, Major. [With a tone that is threatening a massive shortage thereof.] If you can come with a better solution for how this many people of such different creeds and times were gathered together in Maryland, America in the year 1960, where we have been receiving flashes of other people's memories, where mannequins have come to life in a- an admittedly clumsy but clearly targeted attempt to fucking kill us - I'd love to fucking hear it. But in the meantime, as I do have physical evidence to confirm the existence of the supernatural in my world, I feel perfectly reasonable in positing it as a potential explanation.
no subject
But these--Even if they seem fantastical, there must be a logical explanation! Science or technology could've advanced to the point where something like this was possible--top-secret government research, maybe, or, or--
[Even if Arthur's words make more sense than the leaps in logic she's had to make to have everything conform to her narrow world view. She scowls and crosses her arms, continuing to desperately cling to her reality. Fearful of what might happen if it comes untethered.]
Well, whatever the case may be, we can't confirm either way if it's magic or science, can we?
no subject
Quite right. What we can confirm is that we no longer have access to whatever supernatural powers we may have had before we arrived, for those who did, nor does anyone from the future retain their own armaments or superior technology. We can't confirm how those are being limited, nor why, but we can so far confirm that we are on our own - whatever higher authorities there are in this place are not on our side.
mild threadjack - he'll wait his turn in the convo
[Papyrus's voice is cautious, bewildered by the details he heard but not disbelieving of supernatural things in general.]
Was that the only supernatural incident in your, uh, time? Or were there... any other kinds of magic? [He adds, a little rushed, almost a little defensive for bringing it up:] To better compare to what we're going through now!
Re: mild threadjack - he'll wait his turn in the convo
That was my- my first, as a matter of fact, but certainly not my last. Afterwards, as I travelled with- w-with a new companion, who was more familiar with this world than I, who could- see, for me, explain to me what we were looking at... we discovered more. Creatures that attacked us, unnatural- magical items, people who had been corrupted by this- t-this self-proclaimed god, a being of such massive power that he could inflict madness on people who'd had a-a- a crisis of reality, I suppose.
[Which is a lot, and when he says it out loud he can definitely see why people might not believe him.]
B-but, er. More relevantly, I've had to deal with this god, the King in Yellow's cult, that became... obsessed with me. For what I became host to when I opened the book.
no subject
[Not necessarily the most alarming mention in this list of dangers that Arthur has, apparently, faced... But the first one he can make sense of - given some of the old plans for King Asgore to become like a god - without feeling like he's about to implicate himself as a skeleton or something.]
And a cult. I think attacking creatures is pretty relevant, after those mannequins... But maybe cult is the right word, for that, uh. Movie, about 'America.' Not many cloaks or daggers, but a lot of very important phrases.
[It's pronounced only slightly awkwardly, like he's gotten used to it over the last few weeks but hadn't had cause to use it before then. And the rest of his tone is a soft admission - he's been circumvent about it so far, but he also got kidnapped and drugged for subversive behavior.]
no subject
The propaganda. Brainwashing, or an attempt to. Less... insidious, than the King's efforts, but still dangerous. The more they repeat it, the more we might start to believe it - especially if playing along with it means we stop fighting the pain they put us through. Being shocked when we tried to look away, or succumbed to exhaustion.
[He sets his jaw with a grim press of his mouth shut briefly.]
Common tactics for these groups, to make you question your own sense of reality, to cause you enough doubt to force you to trust their perception of reality instead of your own. That is why we need to make sure we remain allied, that we remain on the same page. None of us here are from this place, we all have our own universes, our own- friends, families, back home. If we forget those, we're as good as lost.
Sorry for the delay!
[He swallows hard enough that he can't help but think it's audible halfway across the room. Human bodies sure are terrible about all these extra sensations and signals of emotions, and this fearful recognition is up there. The same awful experience, grouped in with anecdotes like those...]
That sounds so terribly... effective. Normally it's good to focus on the here-and-now! Not get bogged down in sad memories and maybe-could have beens! But... You're saying... Groups like these, push people to do that until...
[Papyrus can't quite bring himself to finish the sentence, and trails off. He's already been thinking it's better to lay low and keep figuring things out, especially since he doesn't have the confidence of magical defenses here to work with. But if that's the kind of thing their kidnappers want them to be thinking...]