[open] same stuff, different hell

[lightschampion]

Who: Alan Wake & OTA
What: Moving into a cabin, getting some much needed r&r
When: Early September
Where: 24 Basin Overlook, Hot Springs


[A - Moving In]

[By now, Alan had for the most part gone through his initiation of this strange new world he found himself in. So unlike the Dark Place aside from its otherness. ...and aside from some familiar faces (in one case, extremely unwanted). He'd been born and raised in New York City, and while it'd had its fair share of rough winters, it was incomparable to this frozen wasteland. If he'd felt a fish out of water in Bright Falls, he was one on an entirely new planet here. Still, he knew the only thing he could do was press forward and survive. The name of the game for over a decade. Just another setting change, he told himself.

Considering the climate, shelter was on the very top of the list. He'd spent the first night in the Community Hall while he got his bearings, but it wasn't a place he cared to make a permanent residence. Too crowded; he needed his own space. And so he'd set out to find a place to claim as his own.

Which leads him now to an abandoned cabin he'd wandered in down one of Milton's streets. It's a bit of a fixer-upper, but sturdy enough, he decides. Anything is better than outdoors, and hell if he's going to be sleeping in a cave.

The door to the cabin, for now, remains open as he attempts to clean the place up. Bring out broken furniture and try to break them down for firewood with a hatchet he'd found inside. Sweep the dirt and debris out. Try to clean the dirty windows with a wet piece of cloth. It's a bit more physical labor than he's been used to lately, maybe a bit much for one person.

It's not the shittiest place he'd ever lived in, at least, he thinks.]




[B - Hot Springs]

[Alan Wake needed a fucking break from it all.

Between the last thirteen years of never ending loops of death and insanity and the fact that he was now trapped in yet another hellhole, all he wanted was for something to go right. A little comfort. A little treat. God knows he'd kill for a bottle of whiskey or three, but he'd yet to find any.

What he did find, however, was something a little better(?). While scavenging for supplies and trying to get a lay of the land, Alan had stumbled across a cave that seemed a bit different from the others. Instead of ice, there was flowing water. Most importantly, it was warm. Upon following it, the writer eventually found himself outdoors again, but standing before several pools of water with steam rising up from them.

He'd never been to a natural hot spring before, but he knew one when he saw one.

After some thought, he decides he may as well enjoy this stroke of luck, especially while no one's around. He doesn't doubt that others have discovered a place like this by now, a little pocket of luxury in the wasteland. And so he strips off his clothing, setting it aside where it's in no danger of getting wet, and makes his way into one of the pools.

"Fuck," he eloquently states as he lets himself sink up to his chest in the hot waters. Warmth was a rare indulgence, even back in the Dark Place. It's going to be difficult to peel himself out of here, he knows it, but for now he's sure as hell going to enjoy it. Alan rests his head back against a rock at the edge of the pool, closing his eyes and letting out a content sigh.]




((ooc: If you want to use another format, I'll match it!))

Comments

moving in;

[obscurissime]

( Well, life in Milton is about to get more interesting, isn't it? Thank God, because Scratch is officially bored of how aggressively Goody-Goody people are around here. Everyone acting like they're some sort of stand up, good neighbour type, when he knows that they're all a lot shitter than they let on. All it'll take is one thing to turn this place into a real fucking Mad Max type situation where they all turn on each other.

And he'll be happy to say "I told you so."

But now he has Zane, who can be annoying but at least offers good conversation. More importantly, Alan's here, and nothing brings him joy like fucking with Alan. Scratch is actually in a reasonably good mood as he steps outside, planning on going to the community hall to see if anything new's been put up. He's distracted by the activity happening across the street.

Oh, for fuck's sake - )

You just love being close to me, don't you?

( He yells it across the road. )

[lightschampion]

[Broken furniture probably didn't make for the best of firewood, but it'd do for now. Alan's in the midst of clumsily hacking through his second busted chair when he hears an all too familiar voice calling out from near by. All too familiar, because, you know. His own.

Which only means--

He looks up suddenly, eyes narrowing when he sees the figure standing across the street. Alan hadn't run into him since their initial meeting here, thankfully, but it seems like his luck's run out. As if he had any to begin with.]

I'd be happiest in a different universe from you. Fuck off.

[He yells right back. Scratch doesn't seem to be dangerous in the way he was last he saw him in the Dark Place, likely more of an annoyance now. Not harmless, but not with the same powers that always managed to overtake Alan before.]

[obscurissime]

In case you didn't notice, I was here first.

( It's very mature, two grown men with the same face and voice, yelling at each other across the road from their front yards. )

Why don't you fuck-off to another street and do us both a favour? Or better yet, migrate to Lakeside.

( And maybe trip and fall into the lake monster's stomach. )

[lightschampion]

[The absolute pinnacle of maturity.]

I was here first in the general sense. Pretty sure that supersedes everything else.

[Fuck, don't tell him that Scratch lived in the goddamn house across the street.]

And I'm not letting you tell me what to do!

[obscurissime]

( You know what else is mature? The way Scratch flips Alan off right now. )

That's not very neighbourly of you, Alan.

( Pot, meet Kettle. )

hot springs

[friendsfordinner]

[ Fun fact: Hickey knows Scratch as 'Alan Wake.' So when he sees this man in the hot springs, he knows exactly who this is. The thing is, it's not the Alan Wake he's expecting to talk to. ]

Wake, [ Hickey says, with a little nod. He's still fully clothed but is planning on changing that very soon. After all, it's been a while since he was in the hot spring. There's too many people and too many aspects of Hickey that he'd prefer to keep secret. Still, Wake's not a narc. Wake won't ask too many questions. ]

Two months after all that business with the Darkwalker and everything's gotten back to normal. Newest crop of arrivals, doubt they'd even look at us differently once they learn what happened. After all, we were coerced. [ Even if he's pretty sure Scratch would have done that anyway, just for shits and giggles. ]

Lucky us, eh? [ Hickey slips off his coat, then his sweatshirt, then a long-sleeved thermal as the base layer. ]

[lightschampion]

[He hears the footsteps before he opens his eyes, and sighs to himself. So much for a relaxing time on his own. Yes, he knew there was no way a place like this could be a hidden secret, but he would have at least hoped for more time until company arrived.

The confusing part, however, came when the newcomer addresses him as if he knows him. Alan opens his eyes, looking up. The man doesn't look familiar, not from the Dark Place and not anyone he's yet to meet in this world.]

...Coerced, huh?

[Two things strike Alan.

One, he was probably once again a victim of identity theft.

Two, there was something sketchy that had gone on, and Scratch was naturally part of it.]

[friendsfordinner]

Exactly. Coerced, manipulated, however you want to phrase it. The people here are willing to overlook anything as long as it happens at the right time and happens under the proper circumstances.

[ Hickey continues to take off his clothes. Trousers, long-johns, underwear. There's the slightest moment of hesitation before he strips off his underwear as well, dong out, fully naked, keeping an eye on Alan to see how he reacts.

Hickey's positioned himself so that he's facing Alan—so that there's less of a chance that the man will see the scars he particularly doesn't want Alan to see. ]

[lightschampion]

[Once he's down to his underwear, Alan glances away. Modesty and all that, really.

What the hell had Scratch been up to? It'd be naive to even entertain the thought that he'd behave. It wasn't in his nature.]

Human nature, I think. Even more so when you're fighting to survive. But you think the new people would still shrug it off?

moving in;

[sukeltaja]

[ Tom has brought a housewarming gift. Luckily for Alan, it's something genuinely useful: he's been ice fishing despite his little lake incident. He doesn't knock in the least, arriving and dressed a little more appropriate for the weather, a big puffy 90s parka somehow swallowing his tall frame. ]

Making room for me? [ He announces his presence by saying this as he just waltzes right in, familiar soft smile on his face. ] That's great! I'll take whatever room you're not using, man. Thanks.

[ He holds up one of the fish he's caught. The hooks have been removed, and it's not on the line: he's literally just holding the dead animal by its' mouth. ]

Hungry? We have to actually eat here.

[lightschampion]

[He'd just finished up fixing the kitchen cupboards and drawers best he could when the cabin receives an unexpected visitor. Alan realizes he should have just left the door closed to signal that he was not in the mood for company instead of continuing to air the mustiness out, but when he looks up to see just who walked into the cabin, he realizes that it wouldn't have mattered either way.]

Wait, who said you were living here?

[sukeltaja]

I did.

[ It's calm and as a matter of fact--it's a decision he's made, it makes sense, so that's that. He's wandering to where he assumes the kitchen is, grabbing a knife and flopping said fish onto the counter as casual as can be. ]

You're too tense. You're always too tense. I'll fry some of this for you since there isn't a single bottle of campari here--I've looked, by the way.

[lightschampion]

I'm pretty sure it's good manners to at least ask someone if you could be their roommate.

[And Alan was so very looking forward to having this place all to himself, no matter how lonely he'd been in the Dark Place.]

I'm sure you have. And wait, is that a fish?

Moving in

[solitarysoul]

[Levi is pretty sure he's seen this guy around, so its a bit odd to see him just now cleaning out a house. Did he want multiple places, like Rorschach did?

The boy with the oversized coat and a rifle over his shoulder stops his patrol and heads towards Alan's new place.]

Your old place not cutting it?

[lightschampion]

[He supposes, by now, the windows are as clean as he's going to get them. Unless he scavenges windex from somewhere, water from melted snow will have to do.

When Alan hears someone addressing him, he turns around, brow furrowed.]

Old place? Unless you mean the community hall, this is the...only place.

[solitarysoul]

[He blinks.]

Y-you don't already have one? I thought you did.

[Is this another different version of someone? "Alan" hadn't been staying at the community hall since his arrival however many months ago.]

[lightschampion]

No. I've only just gotten here.

[A pause, and he lets out a small groan, pinching the top of his nose for a moment.]

You might be mistaking me for someone else. There's...another man here, who unfortunately looks just like me.

[This really was going to be a Thing, wasn't it?]

Hot springs

[desperate_times_right]

[Chloe has been coming to the hot springs a lot since she’d started turning into a wolf. Not a lot of ways to wash off the wet dog smell around here, after all.

There's a guy in the water already. He looks like Alan Wake if he were ten years older and grew a beard. He also looks just as relaxed as she wants to feel.

Chloe strips down and sinks into the water on the other side of the spring.]

Hey.

[lightschampion]

Ah--

[Alan tried to shake off the brief moment of awkwardness; it wasn't as if he had watched her undress or anything, and a hot spring was a hot spring. He hadn't been in any unisex ones before, but then again, this was the first one of this sort he'd ever been in to begin with.]

Uh, hey.

[He wasn't known for being an amazing conversationalist.]

[desperate_times_right]

[Huh, this is the quietest one yet.]

You're another one of those guys, huh?

[lightschampion]

Another one of--

[Well, she's obviously already met Scratch. Perhaps Zane, then.]

The original, at least when it comes to the name "Alan Wake".

hot springs

[readytosee]

[It's not often that Casper Darling takes breaks. No, normally he'd just work until he couldn't anymore, and then push himself a little further. So he wasn't planning on using the hot springs, merely exploring them a little and adding them to the map he was trying to make.

That is, of course, until he sees a familiar face relaxing against the rocks, and Darling sets his bag down to make his way over, settling on the rocks behind Alan and leaning down (carefully) to press a kiss to the top of the man's head.]

Well hello, you. I wasn't planning on getting in, but if you're here, I might change my mind.

[lightschampion]

[All he'd wanted to do was relax. Pretend for a few moments that he hadn't gone from one hell to another, that he wasn't going to exit this cave back into a snowy wasteland once he was done. But then he heard his voice.

His voice. Far too close to him. Alan startles as he spins around, and a few rapid thoughts occur to him.

First: It was absolutely his own voice, but not in the same tone and cadence that he was so used to hearing from Scratch.

Second: Did this guy just kiss him?

Third: Why does the man he's now staring at look vaguely familiar.]

Wh-- Who are--

[readytosee]

[Well, that's what he gets for being sneaky, he supposes. He moves around to be sitting more in Alan's line of sight, rather than behind him, sitting cross legged on the rocks.] I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. You looked so relaxed, after all.

How are you? I haven't seen you in a bit. Which is my fault, really, I lost myself in work for a while.

[lightschampion]

[Oh, for fuck's sake. Since the moment he unfortunately stumbled across his worse half here, Alan had a feeling that he was going to run into more mistaken identity situations like this.]

I don't think... I'm who you think I am.