Mr. Scratch (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
obscurissime) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
singillatim2024-05-02 10:11 pm
obscurissime) wrote in singillatim2024-05-02 10:11 pm
( open ) i'm with the regulars
Who: Scratch and OPEN.
What: Settling in.
When: Early May.
Where: Around Milton (Basin Overlook, the actual basin, community hall...), primarily in evenings.
Content Warnings: None intended, but really that could change and will be updated if it does.
For a guy who's used to the idea of travelling between realities, the whole Ending Up In Some Winter Wilderness isn't too jarring for Scratch. What's jarring is that all he remembers before getting here was a too-bright light and the feeling of what he can only describe as pain or discomfort. And, yes, his self-appointed nemesis was there too, which has Scratch almost entirely convinced that said nemesis is behind this. He's also determined that he's stuck here. At least, for now. Despite his best efforts he can't slip his way back into the Dark Place he comes from, which is very upsetting, so he'll bide his time by playing along with everyone else here.
In his first few days, Scratch takes the time to get familiar with Milton, mostly venturing out in the evenings. The sun isn't exactly his friend, and he hasn't gotten used to the idea that he won't cause him harm just yet. The home he chose for himself had a heavy plaid (gross) jacket inside to be insulated against the weather, which he wears with great reluctance. Too bad this hick town doesn't seem like the sort where anyone was wearing obnoxiously overpriced designer parkas, but he's going to keep his eyes out. Just in case. Until then, the plaid will do, keeping out the bite of the cold as he gets a lay of the land. One of his early stops is the community hall. He recalls it from his initial arrival, when it'd been filled with warmth and a disturbingly welcoming feast, considering the circumstances. He takes the time to survey the message board before leaving a note of his own. He'll take the time to make small talk with anyone who might also be around.
If anything, the homey apparel makes it easier to get into character.
Should someone be interested in answering his query, he can indeed be found spending much of his time at his chosen home on Basin Overlook. Like everything else, it's far below his standards, but he's drawn to the multiple wood burners. He doesn't bother tidying up outside. The ground is too frozen to tend the dead garden, and keeping things alive is sort of the opposite of his schtick. Inside, though, he's content enough to clean the place up. The cottage may be beneath him, but that doesn't mean he has to live in squalor. Others living on the street, or even those passing by, may notice the soft light of fires burning in the windows and are welcome to come by and knock. Or maybe you're fortunate enough to catch him chopping wood for them, which is actually very enjoyable to him. He seems to know his way around an axe.
Beyond the town itself, Scratch spends a day or two down and around the basin itself. There's a purpose to his visits, his keen eyes open as he looks for anything familia. He'd even take a sense of déjà vu, knowing that his writer counterpart leans heavily on motifs and recurring themes these days. He finds nothing of the sort. What he does find, however, is a pleasant surprise. As he walks through the snow along the edge of the basin one evening as the sun is just setting, his foot crunches on something. A quick look has him pulling up a photograph, in a now-broken frame, of an averagely pretty blonde woman with an averagely nice smile.
"Well, I'll be," he says to himself. Judging by the look on his face, someone nearby might assume he's just found something very delightful indeed.
While he spends the majority of his first few days in these places, he does his best to take in the whole of Milton. Those going about their own business will likely see him making his way around and are welcome to bump into him.
What: Settling in.
When: Early May.
Where: Around Milton (Basin Overlook, the actual basin, community hall...), primarily in evenings.
Content Warnings: None intended, but really that could change and will be updated if it does.
For a guy who's used to the idea of travelling between realities, the whole Ending Up In Some Winter Wilderness isn't too jarring for Scratch. What's jarring is that all he remembers before getting here was a too-bright light and the feeling of what he can only describe as pain or discomfort. And, yes, his self-appointed nemesis was there too, which has Scratch almost entirely convinced that said nemesis is behind this. He's also determined that he's stuck here. At least, for now. Despite his best efforts he can't slip his way back into the Dark Place he comes from, which is very upsetting, so he'll bide his time by playing along with everyone else here.
In his first few days, Scratch takes the time to get familiar with Milton, mostly venturing out in the evenings. The sun isn't exactly his friend, and he hasn't gotten used to the idea that he won't cause him harm just yet. The home he chose for himself had a heavy plaid (gross) jacket inside to be insulated against the weather, which he wears with great reluctance. Too bad this hick town doesn't seem like the sort where anyone was wearing obnoxiously overpriced designer parkas, but he's going to keep his eyes out. Just in case. Until then, the plaid will do, keeping out the bite of the cold as he gets a lay of the land. One of his early stops is the community hall. He recalls it from his initial arrival, when it'd been filled with warmth and a disturbingly welcoming feast, considering the circumstances. He takes the time to survey the message board before leaving a note of his own. He'll take the time to make small talk with anyone who might also be around.
If anything, the homey apparel makes it easier to get into character.
Should someone be interested in answering his query, he can indeed be found spending much of his time at his chosen home on Basin Overlook. Like everything else, it's far below his standards, but he's drawn to the multiple wood burners. He doesn't bother tidying up outside. The ground is too frozen to tend the dead garden, and keeping things alive is sort of the opposite of his schtick. Inside, though, he's content enough to clean the place up. The cottage may be beneath him, but that doesn't mean he has to live in squalor. Others living on the street, or even those passing by, may notice the soft light of fires burning in the windows and are welcome to come by and knock. Or maybe you're fortunate enough to catch him chopping wood for them, which is actually very enjoyable to him. He seems to know his way around an axe.
Beyond the town itself, Scratch spends a day or two down and around the basin itself. There's a purpose to his visits, his keen eyes open as he looks for anything familia. He'd even take a sense of déjà vu, knowing that his writer counterpart leans heavily on motifs and recurring themes these days. He finds nothing of the sort. What he does find, however, is a pleasant surprise. As he walks through the snow along the edge of the basin one evening as the sun is just setting, his foot crunches on something. A quick look has him pulling up a photograph, in a now-broken frame, of an averagely pretty blonde woman with an averagely nice smile.
"Well, I'll be," he says to himself. Judging by the look on his face, someone nearby might assume he's just found something very delightful indeed.
While he spends the majority of his first few days in these places, he does his best to take in the whole of Milton. Those going about their own business will likely see him making his way around and are welcome to bump into him.
no subject
He steps closer, reading it once he's up before humming.
"Doing some interior design?" he wonders since that's about all he can think of when it comes to the dilapidated houses around Milton.
no subject
Scratch glances over, then cracks a smile.
"Oh. Yeah. There's a smashed window in the place I chose, and I don't know anything about fixing that."
no subject
Now that he thinks about it, he wonders if there is any duct tape still stuck somewhere in Milton. Maybe something to do today.
"Could always move to a better location but if you're settled, you're settled. I know these houses are super nice."
Ha ha.
no subject
Maybe when this general store re-opens...
He puts a pin in that to revisit later.
"Can I be honest? I think it's the Finnish heritage in me, but I found this place with a sauna, and I don't think I can pass it up. Busted window or not."
no subject
Not that Peter's ever been in a sauna before but he knows what it is, at least. He's just never been a fan of sitting and sweating himself into dehydration.
"Everything else is broken or busted here and you find something with a sauna? That's pretty lucky."
no subject
Scratch shrugs.
"I'm surprised more people don't build them. If you can get a fishing hut up over the ice, you can get a sauna." A pause. "I don't know how easy it is to find stones under all this snow, though."
no subject
And he hadn't really done a lot of looking into it, obviously. Peter Parker wasn't meant for spas. Just seemed like a lot whole of sweating and doing nothing else.
"I haven't really gone looking for much more than a place to sleep at night so I don't sleep in the snow. So, I don't know either. But, there has to be some somewhere? All this forest and stuff? Stones would be out there too."
no subject
"Well, there you go. Now you have something you can do besides following your basic survival instincts."
He smiles, looking like he's just made an absolute fantastic suggestion and it wasn't at all rude or somewhat uncalled for.
no subject
Had he volunteered to do something? He thinks maybe he'd made a suggestion that had been turned into something but he's not exactly sure.
"Be better than what I've been doing which is just...kind of walk around and think that I should be doing something other than walking around."
no subject
He'll concede that much, even if it sounds like a ridiculous waste of time. But what does Scratch know? It's not like there's much else to do around this place from what he can see.
no subject
Because he's definitely been feeling a lot of that ever since his arrival. He knows that he can do a lot of things as Peter Parker but he'd be able to help even more if he could be Spider-Man too.
That's just not possible.
"I hadn't even really considered trying to decorate or revive the place I'm staying in. I guess I thought that would make it feel...just all the more real that I'm stuck here."
no subject
Scratch makes an exaggerated sort of thinking face.
"Might as well make the most of it. There's always someplace worse to be than the place you're in right now."
Trust him, he knows. Except that he generally likes those places.
no subject
"Guess that's a good outlook to have."
Better than Peter's, at least.
"Gonna guess this isn't the worst place you've been."
no subject
Also, you know, he technically died there, or at least a part of him did. So that makes it rank pretty low on the list of minimal places Scratch has been.
no subject
Not a total shithole but it can have its moments of not being the greatest place to live. Especially when something or someone decided it was a prime spot to attack.
"Never been to Arizona. Guessing it's hot and, well, a total shithole if I believe you. Which I do."