LOG: see them talk and see them drown [open]

[cacophonish]

Who: Jeff & OPEN
When: Anytime in November
Where: Around town, Bonnie's, docks
Summary: In which Jeff goes back to his routine, tries to get his music career going, and gets further acquainted with the Spiral.
Warnings: Entity induced delusions and gaslighting in Prompt III.

I. GET INTO THE GROOVE, BOY

After all of the nightmares and trauma of the past month, Jeff's eager to return to what passes for life as usual in Gloucester. So, as soon as the random bouts of narcolepsy and sleepwalking stop? He stops showing up at his admin job with the ADI. It's probably for the best. Jeff's really not cut out for white collar work.

If you're at Bonnie's, you can sometimes find Jeff in the living room, practicing guitar. Or maybe he's helping Bonnie out with some odd jobs, like watering her many (many) plants, or making some attempt at organizing the kitchen. He might need an intervention before he arranges everything in some esoteric way that makes no sense to anybody but himself.

It's also not a totally uncommon sight to find Jeff in the communal bathroom, fully clothed and fast asleep in the shower. There's no supernatural excuse for it. You can be nice and wake him up, or just turn the shower on and let cold water rain down on him.

(He also has a habit of blasting music sometimes. This week, it's Red (Taylor's Version). Hey, he's gotta support artists taking the rights back to their music!)

Around town, you might run into Jeff busking on street corners, though he's unusually skittish if approached, startling easily and looking like a rabbit that's been cornered by a fox. Maybe some of the nightmares have had a longer lasting impact than he'd care to admit.

If you're out at night, you can find Jeff hanging out at any dive bar he can get into, trying to bum drinks off patrons. Buy him a drink? Chase off whichever poor, unfortunate soul he's hitting up? Start a bar fight? Drag his drunk ass home? The possibilities are endless in what passes for Gloucester's nightlife.

At some odd hours-- either late at night, or right around dawn-- Jeff can sometimes be found dumpster diving at local businesses. He's got it down to a science. Want to lend a hand? With a partner, he could loot an entire Thanksgiving feast.

II. THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SALT & PEPPER GANG

The whole week, Jeff's buzzing with excitement, inviting anyone and everyone to come see him play at The Toad In The Hole, a bar near the docks. It doesn't matter if he knows you or not: if you're with the ADI, or he sees you at Bonnie's, he's shoving a scrap of paper at you with the time, date, and address scribbled on it. Could he just send a link to The Toad In The Hole's Facebook event page? Sure, probably. But he's still not totally on board with the whole social media thing.

Anyway. Things are looking up for Jeff! Sure, last month was a literal nightmare, but he's just going to pointedly ignore his trauma and move on with his life (even if he's still not entirely, 100% convinced that he's awake or alive, and that's fine). What matters is: he's going to be on stage, performing, for the first time since he was stolen from a promising career and dumped in this shitty little town, 25 years in the fucking future. Sure, he's just playing guitar and doing backup vocals for a cover band who needed to replace a member after he moved to Florida, but at least it's something. And locally, the Salt & Pepper Gang are a big deal. They're a beloved Gloucester institution!

From the frontman of a wild LA band on the rise, to playing second fiddle to a bunch of dorky white collar dudes in their 50s, it's... a pretty big fall, but honestly, Jeff just considers himself lucky he gets to perform at all. They almost didn't let him audition, taking one look at his baby face and figuring he wouldn't know any of the songs in their repertoire, all the greatest hits of the 70s and 80s. But he convinced them to let him play a Zappa solo, and that was enough to get them to give him a real shot. A couple weeks of rehearsals later, and here they are, ready to debut a setlist with their newest (weirdly young and totally out of place!) member.

Anyone who comes around to The Toad In The Hole the night of the show will be in for a disappointment: a last-minute cancellation by the Salt & Pepper Gang. Apparently, the wildly charismatic lead singer, Dr. Dan, got into a bad wreck as he was leaving his dental clinic, and while doctors are optimistic that he will regain consciousness, it's going to be a long time before he'll be performance-ready. Probably for the best, since Jimmy Magill the drummer just broke his wrist in a freak accident while taking his dog for a walk. As for the bassist, Big Bill? Nobody's been able to get in touch with him all day...

Weird.

You can find Jeff out front, though, sitting on the curb with his guitar case. Apparently, he's not allowed in the bar without the band, since he's still considered underage, thanks to the mistake on his state ID. He looks like he's trying not to cry as he hugs himself and tries to keep warm in the New England chill. God, he's fucking pathetic.

"It's all my fault," he sniffs.

III. HE WAS THE SUN BURNING BRIGHT AND BRITTLE

He finds the mushrooms out in Dogtown one day, in an odd clearing that he doesn't think existed the last time he was out this way. Yeah, it's not like Jeff's got the whole place mapped out, but his wanderings have taken him out here enough times that he's at least reasonably familiar with the area.

He's pretty sure the clearing wasn't here before.

Maybe.

Who knows.

The mushrooms are pretty fucking weird looking, with veiny, fractal patterns all over their caps, and smaller fungal offshoots growing off of each other. All together, they seem to be growing out, not in a fairy circle, but a spiral.

Jeff crouches down and really studies them, even though he doesn't know a fucking thing about mushrooms out in the wild. But there's something about the veiny lines and weird patterns spreading all over that he can't help but stare at. Are they moving? Changing? Growing before his eyes?

He doesn't know how long he's there before the thought comes to him. Eat me, he thinks, with a giggle. Jeff picks one of the mushrooms from the dirt, and it's like something else is moving him, puppeting his limbs, as he stuffs it into his mouth and starts to eat it.

The next thing he knows, he's back in town. How many hours have passed? How'd he even get here? Who fucking knows. He doesn't really care, to be honest. His head's just... it feels like someone shoved a bunch of cotton balls in his brain. His memories from life before Gloucester are... they don't make any sense. There's a disconnect. Like if he thinks about LA, and his friends, and his mom and dad and brothers and demons in his head and magic-- all that magic-- it feels like he's just watching movie clips. None of it feels real. It's not real. He may not be sure of much, but he knows that much now, with perfect clarity.

It's like waking up from a dream.

Yes, his name's Jeff Calhoun. No, he wasn't born in 1974, that's insane. He must've been born in 2002, like it says on his ID. Is he even from LA, or was he just... some fucking kid from nowhere, who ran away from home years ago, and only made it as far as Gloucester? His mom isn't a witch with paint and clay, and his dad can't spin words into magic. That's all just fairy tales, a fantasy life dreamed up by a lost, lonely boy.

He can't be the only one with a head full of lies. Does anyone else know?

Whether out on the streets, in a local shop or at Bonnie's, Jeff will stop anyone he finds-- recognizes-- from the ADI, grabbing their arm with a wide-eyed look of absolute conviction, laced with fear.

"You've gotta help me. I need-- I need to get out of here."

Gloucester, he means, and away from the ADI. He needs to find the truth of who he really is.

IV. WILDCARD
[ toss anything at me!! you can reach me at weeyotch or weeyotch#8200. ]

Comments

[cacophonish]

Nah, she's... She's an artist. Everyone blamed her for this really popular band breaking up, 'cause she got with John-- got with one of the members and they all started fighting or whatever.

[ He sighs. ]

Doesn't matter if it's a coincidence. These guys were, like, a big deal in town. There's not much of a music scene here. People talk.

[chainreactions]

(Ooookay, that first part, unimportant. What's important is the second bit, and Kurapika realizes belatedly that he's not great at this type of advice. Life or death situations, great at. Creating intrinsic plans to achieve a goal? Terrific.

Dealing with this type of sentimental thing from someone he's just met a few seconds ago? Not great. He's not exactly tactful... He can try, can't he? At least it'll give him something to do. It's not like they'll let him in any way. His brain is already overloaded with information from all the studying. Might as well stay for a while.)

And people will continue to talk, no matter what you do or don't do. It's an unfortunate fact of life.

(Getting that out of the way, it's Kurapika's time to sigh.)

If you have a goal in life, stick to it. Everything else doesn't matter. If you want to make music, make music that pleases you. Create your own music scene and grow in it. You really don't need anyone else.

[cacophonish]

I wasn't planning on giving up. I've been at this since I could pick up a fucking guitar. [ Generally speaking, Jeff tends to come across as a pretty weak person when he's not on stage. He speaks softly, he doubts himself, he'd sooner run than stick around for a fight. But when it comes to his music, he always speaks with conviction.

But that strength in his voice fades again as he goes back to hugging himself, fidgeting and bouncing one of his knees to keep blood moving. Fuck, he's not built for New England. ]

I-- I feel bad, okay? They were nice guys. I liked them.

[chainreactions]

(Kurapika isn't exactly that cold. Having spent his entire life living in a forest, until his clan was no more, he's more than used to much harsher climate with only a modest house to keep him warm. Therefore, he doesn't think twice about taking his jacket to drape over the man's shoulders once he notices the shivering.

It should be warm enough, Kurapika's body does produce quite a bit of heat.)

I understand that, but-- what exactly happened? Did you harm them yourself in any way? Feeling bad and taking guilt for things you haven't done are two different things, and from what I've heard, you're tilting more towards the latter.

(He'd know. He oozes survivor's guilt, so perhaps this is hypocritical of him to say. Either way, it's not about him, is it?)

[cacophonish]

[ It's a surprise, when the other boy puts his jacket on him, and Jeff blinks, then looks aside at him and offers a brief smile in thanks. He appreciates it, even if his own smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. ]

There's rumors, um, that bad things happen if you... if you get too close to people. I mean, people who aren't... [ He waves a hand vaguely. ] like... us.

[ Affiliated with the ADI, he means. ]

I just thought it was a coincidence, the first time. Now I don't know.

[chainreactions]

Perhaps it's something you might bring to the attention of the higher-ups. In the meantime, you cannot be alone in the music department within ADI when there are so many of us.

(Not Kurapika, though. This one understands the theory behind it, but has no interest in picking anything up. What are hobbies other than reading and studying?)

[cacophonish]

[ The truth is, he probably heard it from the ADI first and just didn't listen. He's got a problem with that. Fuck the rules, et cetera. ]

Yeah... [ He does perk up a little at the suggestion. ] Yeah, that's true. Maybe there's other musicians to hook up with, like, around the office or something.

[ Not that he ever goes to the office. But it's an incentive to start, maybe??? ]

[chainreactions]

Put up some flyers. Someone's bound to reach out.

(Maybe. He thinks. Probably. There is a likelihood that there is at least a few musicians in such a big organization, no?)

[cacophonish]

[ He makes a face like he's considering it, then flashes a smile. ]

Maybe I will. [ Then: ] I'm, um. I'm Jeff. You new here?

[chainreactions]

It's been around a week.

(Give or take. Kurapika absolutely hates it, quite honestly. He had better things to do, he had been very busy, and now, here he is.)

Kurapika.