026 》sweet troubled man are you giving or taking?

[thering]

characters: Malcolm, Neal, Negan, Raylan, Doc
location: 1306 Phillips Dr
date/time: day 26 morning
content: the reset Playstation button was pressed
warnings: tbd

After the strangeness of the past two nights they were likely fully expecting to awaken in the same strange, different, not-so-new anymore places they found themselves in in the past two days.

Instead everything seems to have reset, again. The three permanent residents and two guests are back in 1306, exactly where they had been two nights ago. Malcolm was in his own room, Neal was in Doc's and Negan in Raylan's master bedroom. The two displaced cowboys are downstairs sharing one too-small couch, a night of drinking culminating in fighting over couch space and who gets to be the bigger spoon.

The fire in the fireplace had gone out and their Winter 2020 Collection of bespoke lanterns have vanished, but nothing else seems to be awry.

Comments

[vampirebats]

"Spook Detectives. Goddamn, never thought I'd miss dealing with walkers. At least that was the only weird shit." Mostly. There were weirdos all around him, but hell, he can deal with crazy too.

"Sate something? What kind of crazy shit are you talking about?" Sate what? "I hadn't planted any roots, actually. Know some guys who live though though. Looks like hippie Jesus... Klaus."

[tinstar]

"Walkers?" Like.. things that walked? Raylan had to huff a laugh at the trading of their questions, each of them seemingly equally confused.

"What a fucked up place, ain't it. I don't know and I don't like throwin' around the words like 'lesser deity' or demon, but it's somethin' that's for sure." He nodded again. "I know a few people stayin' up in there. Klaus isn't bad but I've never been one for the whole.. dorm room life thing.." He glanced at the living room with something of a wince before looking back at Negan.

"I'm hopin' we're skippin' all that shit here." Even if they were starting to fill up.

[vampirebats]

"Sorry... uh, you guys apparently call'em zombies." Not a word he's ever heard used for them, but you know, he can roll with it. He's heard weirder names.

"I don't know what to think. People say deities and demons, but shit... it's all over my head. Sometimes I feel like I took a crazy pill and I'm nowhere near getting off the ride." Much as he might want to.

"Depends on what kinda dorm room shit you're talking about, but I think we're doing alright so far."

[tinstar]

"Ah. I always liked Romero movies but the way they've taken off the past few years.." Raylan shook his head. "I think I can guess the start of that term." They got up, they walked, thus > Walker.

"It's like religion took steroids. Bet money you can guess whereabout's I'm from, hell, my granddaddy was a preacher but that's.. not what they're doin'. It's some fantasy book bullshit, but I can't tell them that." He had a sense that Negan wouldn't judge that position.

"Pranks and assholes that make existing a battle of faces. I've already done that shit once, I don't need to do it again."

[vampirebats]

"Heard biters, diseased freaks, dead ones... Man, they got a lot of names." But yeah, basically. They got up, they walked. It was the obvious name for the freaks.

"Well, goddamn, finally someone who said it." He huffs out a laugh. "This all sounds like shit you'd see in a movie, doesn't it?" Not in real fucking life.

"I mean, some guy told me about exorcising demons... like, real honest to fucking God demons." He knows exorcisms have taken place back home, but those were all ultimately bullshit in his opinion. Definitely not the headspinning, puke spewing kind.

There's a pause at the explanation of what he's worried about before he lets out a laugh. "I can't imagine any of the guys under this roof being big damn pranksters, can you? I can't say I'm not an asshole, but I can play nice."

Malcolm, Neal, Doc... they all seem like good guys from what he's seen. Raylan too.

[tinstar]

"Well..." Raylan half started, the word and the bob of his head apologetic enough in tone and feeling to suffice. "Last time I said it outright, it didn't go over well. Figured I wouldn't make that mistake a second time. 'Course it sounds like that. Number of movies that we got about the world ending one way or another. You ever seen Outbreak?"

But Raylan found himself grinning as Negan continued. "Crazy right? Never knew the bible thumpin' in Kentucky would payout to real stories. You been talkin' to Dean or to John? Seems like they got different flavors - I'm tryin' real hard to not dive into it." It made his head spin.

"Nah, I don't think so. Neal and Malcolm seem like the type to prank us by findin' fancy clothing and tryin' to stuff us into it. Henry's more of a plastic snake in my boot type. Nothin' worth punchin' and no, I haven't figured out what type you are yet."

[vampirebats]

"Hey, I won't hold any shit against you. I wish I came from a world where dead walking around seemed like a fucking movie. Is that the one with the chimp and the nukes?" And bleeding eyes, but excuse him, he's not going to be fucking crass... right now.

"Talked to both of them a bit. Dean thought I was his dad, apparently." He's not sure he should feel proud about that. Goddamn, is he hold enough to have a grown son already?

"Me?" He makes a sweeping motion towards himself, as if shocked by the very accusation. "Me, I'm an asshole and I might bust your nuts a little, joke some, but nah. I'm not gonna prank anybody." Not when he'd rather stay with a group.

[tinstar]

"You'd be the first. Yeah, that's the one. Dustin Hoffman; I can never remember the fuckin' lady with him," he said, the swear only half under his breath.

"His Dad? That's a new one. What is it, just the face? Didn't you have a similar mistake with Malcolm?" Malcolm had said as much and Raylan was very curious.

Raylan grinned and lifted his eyebrows again, a deep suspicion that was 97% playful. No one declares their own innocence like that without a few exceptions having been made in their past. "Well I can't say I'm not pleased to hear it. Jokes I can handle. Someone puttin' shaving cream in my boots is askin' for trouble."

[vampirebats]

"Maybe we should just be glad we didn't get dragged into that mess... I'm willing to believe we could get dragged into fucking movie land after all this crap." He's willing to believe a lot more than he was previously.

"He showed me a picture and damn-- that guy? Looks just like me. Face, build, everything. It freaked me right the hell out a little bit. But you're not wrong about that... Guy I know has a longer beard, fucking shampoo commercial locks of hair, but he's a dead ringer for Malcolm. Still catches me off guard sometimes." But somehow, he thinks Jesus wouldn't be nearly as willing to tolerate him.

Hey, he's done a lot of shit in his past. Can't hold that against a guy, can you? "Shaving cream, huh. You really did have a fucking experience, didn't you? Don't tell me you never did any dumb as shit stuff back in your youth like that though. Didn't most guys?"

[tinstar]

"Can't argue that." His face pulled with a theatrical wince to put a point on just how glad he was that they hadn't gotten pulled into such a place. "Though I can't assume this place is any better, considerin' what you and Doc found in the museum."

It was a fishing hook - he already knew most of the gist of what happened, but he was curious what Negan would give up on his own.

"I hope it's not a trend that continues. I know a few faces I don't want to see again here if I can help it." Boyd. Boon. Avery. Ava. "Oh no, the dumb shit we do in the South in our youth is a little more extreme than that. We send people snipe huntin or get them to come out campin' and scare the hell out of them with stories of the folks up the hill who'll come down to eat 'em. Real fun place to tell stories, when everyone's got a gun and been shootin' rats since they were ten."

[vampirebats]

"Yeah..." If he looks a little haunted for a moment, he seems to cover it up pretty damn quick.

"I'd recommend not going in that goddamn place if you can help it. Creepy as shit, those spores--" He still doesn't want to think about what they might be doing to them if they actually breathed any in.

There's a laugh he huffs out at that explanation. "Hey, I'm from Virginia, born and raised. I know a thing or two about the dumb shit guys get up to in the south."

[tinstar]

"Really? Well, that explains the accent. 'Least neither of us are likely to set a car on fire out here." Very faint, but there to ears that were tuned to that kind of stuff. It also made him fractionally more comfortable - the south being what it was, it was a flavor that people not familiar tended to make a lot of assumptions about.

"You mind if I ask you about that? I've already chewed Doc's ear off but call me a sucker, I like knowin' both sides of a story. He didn't mention what kinda museum it was, come to think of it."

[vampirebats]

"If we found a car that we could fix up and use? You're damn straight it's not gonna be set on fire." What a waste. And there aren't any assumptions Negan's making, not based on that. He's got people from all over -- plenty of good old boys.

"Guess not. What do you want to know?" His memory of that's fuzzy in parts, but hey, he can try to share at least. He's not against it.

[tinstar]

He liked the cut of your jib, Negan, more and more.

"What kinda state was it in? Dirty, I'm assuming but was it set up? What is it, like a.. natural history museum?"

[vampirebats]

"I--" He pauses. "It was as shitty on the inside as it is on the outside. Rundown. It's the damnedest thing, you know, I remember being shit-your-pants scared, but I can't force myself to think about it too much or remember what it was that scared me. I think there was a storage room and then--" He gives a shiver, shaking his head.

"Wish I could tell you more. I don't remember seeing anything to even identify what kinda shit the museum had... maybe it was nerves. I'm typically not like that though." Sure, he gets fucking scared on occasion, but not to the point where any coherent memory is gone.

[tinstar]

Raylan's eyes narrowed more, chin lifting slightly in thought and a suspicion that had nothing to do with Negan or the telling, but Mathis herself. What was this place doing to them? Negan didn't look like a pothead or not enough of one to excuse lapses in memory like that, and he trusted the man's own assessment of his faculties.

"Huh. Well, I suppose notin' the holes in it all might give us a pattern in of itself." He took a deep breath and shook his head a little. "I don't think this place has any limits, so fuck it lets get drunk, right?"

He rarely put such a fine point on the alcoholic level drinking that he did but his patience with the township was waning quickly.

[vampirebats]

Hell, he hasn't had pot in so fucking long, he's pretty damn sure it's not that. But it's worrying that this place can mess with his mind. If he's not sharp as a tack... well, what the fuck is he, really? He shakes his head.

"Maybe. Thought about going back, but... fuck it. Last time was bad enough." He's not a coward generally, but the spores spelled out bad fucking news.

"Especially when you can get drunk instead. Why the fuck not, am I right?" He's not usually this reliant on drink, but... goddamn, this place makes it easy.

[tinstar]

Raylan chuckled and bobbed an uneven nod. "You're not wrong. One look is good enough for now. Mathis gives us plenty to worry about that ain't that. No use in opening more can's of worms than we can handle as a group."

Not to mention the possibilities of fall out from it. No, they had plenty on their plate now.

"Once we run outta moonshine and the shit to make it, then we can worry about it. I'm sure it'll still be there, right?"

[vampirebats]

"Hey, that's a deal. Won't be anything better to do than go snoop around a creepy museum by this point. Although I bet Doc'll have a thing or two to say, if we ever go back."

He doesn't want them to. He can't blame him either. "Maybe we start off with the less creepy shit when the day comes."

[tinstar]

"He's got a thing or two to say about most everythin', easy enough to handle with a little reason." They say ignorance is bliss. It wasn't untrue. But considering how well Raylan felt he knew and related with John Henry, to say nothing of the few arguments he'd gotten into with the gunslinger already, he was sure he could smooth the edges of whatever came of his own curiosity.

But he supposed Negan had a point. Logically speaking. Except- "What are our other options again?"

[vampirebats]

"You know, that's hard to say because this whole town gives me the heebie jeebies." He wrinkles his nose, trying to think of some place that wouldn't result in any horrifying encounters.

Wanna wrap this one up? Handwave the rest of the conversation? Sweet not yet dead men lol

[tinstar]

"I still vote we burn the town hall down. See what Mathis does with that." They couldn't scare a town but he'd be damned if the idea to try hadn't been kicking around for three plus weeks.

I think so, yes!

[vampirebats]

"Goddamn, I'm not against that one." Burning shit down, seeing if they got a response. Might not end well for them, but... fair's fair after they keep getting jerked around.