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 figures he should check the notice board on his way out, just in case there's anything important or useful on there, which means that he reads Scratch's note at the same time as the actual guy is still putting it up.
.. small talk isn't necessarily Billy's speciality, but he is kind of curious upon reading the note. Curious enough to look over at Scratch and ask: "Are you working on some sort of project?"
no subject
Scratch laughs, though he's really probably the only one of the two who finds the absurdity of the question to be hilarious. Imagine. What a joke.
"I'm a writer, I've never really been that handy. Usually I just throw money at things and it happens."
no subject
It sure is a first impression to get from a person, though Billy doesn't seem to react all that much. His facial expression is carefully neutral, even now.
"I fear that might mean things will be more difficult for you here," he points out.
No money here, after all. The other guy must have found that out already too, despite being relatively new. Sure, there's bartering, but that also involves first getting something worth bartering in the first place. It's not all that different in the long run.
".. though some people here are helpful enough that you might get some volunteers either way."
no subject
Scratch raises his eyebrows, pressing his lips together momentarily.
"It probably always starts out that way, right? Everyone banding together, lending a helping hand ... Then someone finds some invaluable resource and starts to hoard it, then suddenly you've got factions all over the place starting some sort of localized war."
A pause.
"That hasn't started happening yet, has it? I'd like to be here when it does."
no subject
His facial expression is otherwise still very carefully neutral, but that eyebrow gives it just a hint of surprise, or maybe it just means he's thinking in the light of what the other man is telling him here.
"You would like to be here then?" Granted, Scratch really isn't bringing up anything that Billy hasn't thought about himself. Despite the general charitable nature he's described of some people here, he's seen the way things go down when bad situations get worse.
He doesn't feel like going through that a second time.
Still, it's exactly because he's so familiar with these situations that he knows there could be a variety of reasons moving Scratch here, and he'd definitely like to know in advance which ones those are.
So-- "Why exactly?"
no subject
As far as Scratch is concerned, that sounds like a great time. He can't think of anything else he'd rather do than help cause a little chaos and ruin.
That's probably not what he should say, though, so he doesn't. Instead, he just shrugs.
"Seems like a better way to die than just freezing to death or dying of boredom."
no subject
Though he is just telling the truth. Freezing to death? Also sucks. And yes, Billy might not be boredom's biggest hater, but he still dislikes it more than he'd admit to, especially to certain people. But having an all out war?
That might just suck even more.
"So please do not go around giving some of the people here ideas. I feel like some of them are merely looking for an excuse."