[ NPC Open ] Hands of time will wring my neck.

[itsjustabaddream]

Who: Dr. Neil West (itsjustabaddream) & YOU!
What: Ocularum recruiting and meeting, his office, hardware store, research
When: Late May, early June
Where: Oh you know, around
Warning(s): Content warnings will be on specific threads!

Moments pass.

[ The doctor is in. ]

As usual, you can easily find Neil in his makeshift office, reading or writing as he awaits his now more abundant appointments. Maybe you're here for yours, or perhaps you'd like to make one. The door chimes as you enter, and the room is filled with the smell of coffee and pastry. Can one of his little enchanted pots offer you a hot beverage? A teapot and a coffee carafe with dopey faces and tiny legs toddle around on the refreshment table, waiting to serve.

"Hello there! How may I help?"

Shattered glass.

[ Recruiting ]

A flyer hangs on a lamp post outside each trolley station in town.

"Interested in esoteric knowledge, demonology, or wizardry education? Looking to discover the truth behind the barrier? Seeking proactive solutions to the problem, rather than biding your time waiting for the goddesses to act? The Ocularum needs sharp, progressive minds to aid in the effort of deciphering this mystery. Come to Northwest Hollow and look for the open eye."

The symbol of the Ocularum marks each one. Perhaps you catch Neil posting them and can ask him about this. But if not, you can always see him at the meeting...

Hands of time.

[ Ocularum Meeting ]

If you follow the instructions on the flyer at the time and date listed below the main text, and find the open eye symbol above the door to West Dream Analytics, you will find that Neil has gathered his people in his office waiting room. Once everyone has gathered and the appointed time chimes, Neil will lead everyone past the threshold of his catty-cornered desks and open door frame, past his treatment office and living space, down into his basement.

Red wallpaper lines the walls and dark hardwood paves the way. The walls of the room are full of arcane artifacts and scientific or magical equipment, as well as shelves and shelves of books on the occult. In the center of the room, there is a table. Grab a seat, Neil will happily share the Ocularum's objectives--- unobstructed truth. A task force to seek a solution to the barrier that relies on people, research, magic and science, not gods. He hands out pamphlets on local demons and leaflets about the local magic system, offers magic lessons. "And for those interested in more hands-on research, or even providing protection to those performing it, I have a few projects lined up..."

Care to study some paranormal life? Learn some magic? Want to ask him a question? Dr. West is an open book--- to an extent.

Where's that chime?

[ Hardware store ]

It's pretty uncommon for Neil to come all the way into town. He's pretty far out and not always a particularly popular person. Besides, he lives near the farmland, so he's able to buy most of his groceries directly rather than go to the store. But today, he has to go to the store because a teenager broke his window with a rock. Again.

In a rare moment of vulnerability, you can find Neil West at the hardware store trying to purchase some supplies to patch the broken glass until his new window is made, looking incredibly lost. Help.

Close your eyes and you'll leave this dream.

[ Wildcard ]

Attend one of Neil's research projects studying the Paradesium ruins, Brutoks, Lake Sal-Co-Penn, the Tristitia, the Whispering Trees, stardust, ghosts, or anything else. Or throw something at me! I'm open to anything. DM me on Discord!

Comments

Shattered glass

[astrogator]

It's on her journey back out to Northwest Hollow that Tayrey notices the new flyer - and the man pasting it up. Curiosity prompts her to stop and read it, and she can't help but nod in approval.

'If everyone just sits and waits, that barrier will never come down,' she remarks, as if it's a simple fact. Tayrey recollects Neil West from their prior meeting, and she has the wariness of someone with good reasons to avoid therapists, but that's a purely impersonal matter. Call it principle. The man himself, she knows little about, and she's going to compliment a good idea when she sees it.

[itsjustabaddream]

"Precisely," Neil agrees, turning to her as he finishes putting up the poster. "Tell me, miss, roughly how much do you know about the barrier?"

[astrogator]

She gives him a confident smile. 'It's Lieutenant,' she tells him. 'Lieutenant Tayrey, peace and prosperity to you.'

As for what she knows? Not nearly enough, she thinks, but she'll answer. 'I don't know as much as I'd like,' she says, 'I know it went up - six standard years ago or so, and the effects it has. But not the cause, and not how we tear it down.' Tayrey shrugs. 'I'm all about taking action, but it's probably outside my skillset. Can't negotiate with it, can't shoot it, and I could tell you what was going on at a quantum level if I had the right equipment, but I don't.'

[itsjustabaddream]

"Ah, pardon me, Lieutenant. Pleasure to meet you. Dr. Neil West." He offers a handshake.

"As for the cause and removal, those things are still being determined. However, we do know why it has the effect it does. Recently, two of my Ocularum associates managed to find a way through the barrier. This unfortunately involved temporarily commandeering the ferryman's boat, but it did allow them to borrow his methods of coming and going, and once the barrier was breached--- they realized that Marrow Isle is no longer a part of the world. It is in a bubble dimension all on its own. The things we see beyond the dark ring of water, the mainland in the distance, it's all an illusion. Even what we see of space from here is a facsimile. That is why it is impossible to leave--- it requires equipment specialized for extradimensional travel."

Where's that chime

[preacher_in_reticence]

Degas is at the hardware store as well, looking for the best paint for the shelves River's installed in the temple, when he spots Neil down the way. And like, he could cold shoulder the man, pretend he hasn't seen him, but the look on his face is...it's enough.

"Dr. West. You seem...troubled. How can I help?"

[itsjustabaddream]

Neil nearly jumps out of his skin when Degas calls out to him, then clears his throat and straightens out. "Reverend Clayton. I assure you, it's no trouble, I'm just--- attempting to figure out how one patches a broken window temporarily."

[preacher_in_reticence]

"In the summertime, with something like cloth so that insects can't get in, or some sort of screen perhaps. Have you already spoken to the glazier about getting a new pane made?"

Degas turns toward the shelf, looking for an appropriate patching material.

"If it's a standard size, they might have one in stock already."

Wildcard -- Research and Therapy

[tisnotthehouse]

Tarantulas is busy this month raising the money he needs to pay off his debt to the demoness Claunthe, but he considers that more reason to keep up with his magical studies, not less. The more skilled he becomes in Practical Magic, the more he can apply it to mercantile means.

"Not to mention," he absently says to Doctor West as the two of them review a large diagram copied from one of the doctor's books, "One mustn't get so caught up in the minutia of daily survival that they forget the overarching goal. Magic is part of the physics of this universe; I need to understand it, if I'm to have any hope of understanding the things that happen here."

[itsjustabaddream]

Neil chuckles at this. "Well, if you're looking to cut back on minutia, Practical Magic is a very good place to start. I know a lot of magic, but I know very few things as useful as being able to read books and stir tea without using my hands."

"Speaking of, how is your control coming along? Are you able to manipulate a spoon without looking yet or are we still getting there?"

[tisnotthehouse]

"I can pick it up," Tarantulas reports. "But I'm still having trouble with bending it. I'm getting in my own way, I think," he admits ruefully. "I keep thinking about all the atoms in the metal, the mathematics behind the way the magic must be working on them to make them move..." He grins slightly. "The day that I finally scrape together the resources to make an electron microscope will be an exciting day indeed."

Where's that chime?

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 happens to be in at the same time to pick up more wood for his carving projects. When he sees the man looking utterly lost, he changes his course, the tap of his cane on the floor preceding him as he makes his way to Niel.

"You look as if you could use some advice, or am I mistaken?"

[itsjustabaddream]

"Mm?" Neil looks up, then smiles. "Oh hello there! You're one of the new farmers, yes? I do believe you and your... partner, I presume? Just moved into the house closest to my business."

[be_seeing_you]

"Yes. Peter Starr. I've taken up the orchard with my wife, Ava. I'm sorry I haven't been to visit yet, but the farm needs more attention than I anticipated." He's learning to do it all on the spot, so that doesn't help.

"What are you shopping for?"

Moments Pass

[redlightgreenlight]

It had been some time since their first conversation, and since then she's barely seen the dreamwalker around except at the potluck and perhaps once or twice around town. But now her nightmares are being soothed by a white horse who seems...amused, or perhaps irritated by her, and as Neil is the dream expert she hopes he may know something.

"Well," she replies to his greeting. "I have a dream issue and you claim to be the expert."

[itsjustabaddream]

"Oh?" Neil closes up whatever he was working on to give her his full attention. "I'd be happy to. How can I help?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Sensing he's interested, she moves deeper into the room.

"My kind don't dream, there's a reason for that. There's also a reason for why I do, but they are never happy dreams. Lately a horse has been...chasing them away."

Perhaps this sounds crazy, but she's sure it's not the craziest thing he's heard. Dream are a strange landscape, even when they aren't filled with monsters.

Shattered Glass

[spaghettification]

Siebren sees Neil in the process of posting flyers and sort of awkwardly lingers while he does. He feels silly; he knows literally nothing of magic, and that would make him less than useful to this "Ocularum", right?

But the approach sounds more familiar than the alternative.

"Hoi, you are involved with this...project? Group?"

[itsjustabaddream]

Neil smiles politely at the question, turning to give Siebren his full attention with hands folded behind his back. "Group is a good word, or organization! And yes, I'm the founder of it. If you have questions, I'd love to answer them."

[spaghettification]

"I hardly know where to begin." He lets out a sheepish little laugh, looking down (an inevitability given his floating) at Neil quietly. "I come from a world wholly without magic or demons."

shattered glass

[liesdontfindyou]

The first time CT sees one of the flyers, the person putting them up is nowhere to be seen. But, following a hunch, she makes sure to pass by another trolley station and, sure enough, there's the guy.

When she approaches, it's deliberately casual and not at all like she was actively seeking out an encounter. She reads the flyer again, on the slower side of speed-reading, then asks, "This is your work?"

Re: shattered glass

[itsjustabaddream]

"That's right. Does it interest you?" Neil offers her a copy."

[liesdontfindyou]

CT takes it and studies it closer, even if she has already read it twice now. "It might. I know nothing of magic at all, my world is far more technological than anything else, but... I've had a certain amount of experience with the sort of attitude you seem to be opposing."

A visit

[witheredpeonies]

Annabel had called on her sending stone before showing up, and she's brought a quiche from a local bakery with her, because you don't show up empty handed.

"So. What have you heard already?" Launching right into things the moment Neil opens the door.

[itsjustabaddream]

Neil chuckles warmly at her abruptness. "What have I heard about what?" He stands aside to let her in.

[witheredpeonies]

"The cult of Nyarlathotep, and their involvement with several prominent figures in the island's history, including the late mayor Larkin."

Surprise, bitch, she's just going to drop the plot heavy in your lap.

"Also, their knowledge of Japhet Leeds' deal with Prince Aster, who created this whole island for him to lord over."