we don't own our heavens now, we only own our hell ( OPEN )

[extramuralise]

Who: John Irving (extramuralise) + OPEN!
What: Arrival, TDM thread continuations, & more!
When: Throughout May.
Where: Milton & surrounding areas.

Content Warnings: canon & character-typical warnings for The Terror likely, such as potential mentions of body horror / trauma, disease, starvation, death/violence, cannibalism(?), religious evangelism, period-typical prejudice... & so on, as well as spoilers.



✒︎ i. |  LITTLE'S CABIN

It's not exactly a space built for two grown men to live inside, but luckily, living on and off boats for most of one's life teaches a man a thing or two about sharing close quarters— and anyway, Little and Irving are two men unlikely to get in one another's way. Irving doesn't take the invitation for granted, and spends his days — when he's not exploring the greater Milton area — tidying up the cottage as it can, making sure his presence is barely felt in the already small, humble building.

(Easily done, since it's not like he turned up here with much more than the clothes on his back, anyway.)

No one but perhaps the small handful of people he already knows are likely to turn up at Little's door to visit Irving, obviously, but anyone visiting Little at home might encounter him in or about the cabin, either tidying up or beginning to go over the community store accounts in a ledger he's found. If there's a kettle, he'll put it on for company, and if not... well, no sense in a wasted trip regardless, come inside and warm up a bit.

✑ ii. |  MILTON

Irving's been given a quick tour or two of the overall town, but during his early days especially, he's taken to wandering around town to get a better sense of the area. He's keen to begin going through the accounts and inventory records of the community's supplies, but beyond that, he's fascinated at the haunting sight of the nearly empty ghost town.

Naturally he visits the church, in awe of both the building and its resilient construction, exploring it with pious gravity. The graveyard, however, is left untouched; looked upon but unexplored. He'll likely visit it whenever he's in town, wistfully hoping services will be held there again, before continuing onward to the community hall.

✒︎ iii. |  BASIN

The basin is somewhat more treacherous of a trek, but Irving is grateful to have made it once he's there, the sight of game heartening to his peace of mind— and the overall vista itself, simply breathtaking. A good place to, apart from hunting and fishing, also disappear when one wants to be left alone with his thoughts, perhaps; to reflect silently in that lonely cold.

🌊 w i l d c a r d｡

[ Choose your own adventure! Hit me up with anything else, or PM / plurk me @ reggiemantle to discuss in further detail! Happy to also write/respond to personalized starters. ]

Comments

[solitarysoul]

He's not sure what to make of those stressed words but whatever.

"Yeah. I-i don't know if you'd call us friends or anything, but we've both been here since the beginning. And we both sleep in the community hall mostly. So we've talked and stuff."

Well, 'stuff' in this case is largely him listening to her play her violin.

[extramuralise]

"You both..." Did he say they both sleep in the community hall? As in, together, in the same room? "Does the community hall house separated dormitories of any kind, then, or do you all bunk together in one room?"

The thought rather appalls Irving to consider, quite frankly, but he makes an effort not to jump to any conclusions before he has all the necessary information.

"And what exactly do you mean by, 'the beginning'?"

[solitarysoul]

"No, its mostly just one big room. There are enough beds, though, so nobody has to double up or anything." He's not paid attention to if anyone wants to or not. "Oh, um, t-the beginning...I mean when the first of us showed up."

[extramuralise]

Maybe Irving would understand this arrangement a bit more if Levi and Kate were both, well, somewhat younger, because certainly it would make some amount of sense to him if the community hall were serving as a would-be orphanage of sorts: a group home for children who have found themselves stranded here alone without their families.

Indeed, perhaps if they were younger, but they must be... what, fifteen or sixteen at the youngest? Old enough, in other words, that one would think they each could have any number of better options available to them.

Just for now, at least, Irving decides to put that particular concern aside, to focus instead on the one he may be more capable of resolving.

"But why do you choose to call it that?" His curiosity is piqued, admittedly. "Beginning of what?"

[solitarysoul]

Levi is blissfully unaware of any issues Irving may have with him and Kate living under the same roof. "Well...its the beginning of us being here. Of the interlopers."

[extramuralise]

Irving's eyebrow raises slowly with unease.

"But how can you be sure of that?"

[solitarysoul]

"Well, um, we all showed up at the same time and, um, everyone here was dead. Except the old man."

[extramuralise]

That earns a long, drawn out pause in response, as Irving is briefly rendered speechless by the harsh gravity of that statement— never mind the implications of it, as well, assuming the boy is right. And assuming he's telling the truth.

"Everyone was..." He slowly trails off, unable to put voice to what Levi's just told him. "As in, you found all their bodies?"

[solitarysoul]

"...Yes." Having seen so much death in his life it wasn't as big a deal for Levi as it might be for other people. But he understood that other people were more likely to be shocked or freak out about it.

[extramuralise]

"I..." Irving doesn't know quite what to say to that, and clears his throat uncomfortably. "I-I see— well then, h-how very awful that must have been for you."

And therefore, perhaps Kate as well? Among how many others had also borne witness to such a gruesome town-wide tableau of corpses, and how then had they all been interred or disposed of?

Irving isn't sure he wants to know the answer to that question, but even if he did, he certainly wouldn't be asking it of a child.

"Good job you didn't all become ill from the exposure alone, then, if they'd not even yet been buried."

[solitarysoul]

He shrugs. It's old now.

"I don't think it was an illness that took them...but they've all been buried now." Probably. The wolves may have dragged off a few. "So you don't need to worry about it."