upshore: (hahaha what // lulamae)
Miles Upshur ([personal profile] upshore) wrote in [community profile] ph_logs2024-07-03 01:01 pm

july catch-all | we came by the rising of the river

Who: Miles Upshur, Kitty Callahan, Alex Conklin, and YOU!
What: Rin's Stable of Blorbos getting up to no good
When: Throughout July
Where: Around the island
Warning(s): PTSD, religious trauma, existential questions, discussion of cult murder/death. You know. The usual.

A. on a river with no name, in the summer monsoon rain | Miles | Town Hall/The Library | OTA
Miles has just kind of resigned himself to being a single dad at this point. Lady, the Hattrem, hangs out around him, but basically does her own thing. Not that he blames her. Hell, he's getting better at dodging the braids when his head gets a little too loud for her liking. Negative emotional reinforcement, anyone?

This means that for Miles, every day is Take Your Kid To Work Day - which has resulted in him carrying Terry the Ralts around in what he's cheerfully calling a Child Sack, a half-swaddle, half-backpack. Maybe he's being a little too protective, but Terry doesn't seem to mind, and focusing on his newly-acquired Poké-Son is keeping him from mentally engaging with The Horrors.

He's in and out of Town Hall, in Cecil's office, working on newspaper stories, and poking into the library to do some research on the island. In particular, he wants to know more about that bonkers fucking cult. It's not unusual to see him with a stack of books in the library, taking studious notes, with Terry in the Child Sack napping at his feet.

B. to wash away luisa's bones from the ghost that guards her grave | Kitty | the Temple | OTA
The cult thing has definitely shaken Kitty up but good, and anyone who'd met the bubbly teenager last month might notice that she's gotten withdrawn and jumpy. In search of guidance - in search of anything - she's found herself wandering up to the Temple. It's probably a good idea to meet and greet the local deities, especially if the big nasty that she got killed for (shudder) is trying to destroy them. She wants to make it clear what side she's on. In fact, she's spending most of her time there, either getting up her nerves to talk to them, or getting up her nerves to talk to anyone else. She's got some Big Questions that she knows she might not like the answers to. She's often sitting to the side, out of the way, sketching the temple or scribbling away in her notebook. She might even overcome her trepidation a little and start towards anyone in the temple, offering a quiet "Hi."

C. she lays by the ride of firing anvils, in a house of cast-iron gates | Alex | Enforcer Offices | OTA
Oh, what fresh hell.

This whole cult nonsense had gotten a lot of people killed. Even though they came back due to the curse on the island, killing was still killing. And a cult? Jesus Christ. The closest he'd come to that in his sixty years of life was the Jackal and his fiercely loyal contingent of old men. Even then, the man calling himself Fontaine had had his limits. He wouldn't kill Marie or the kids. These cultists had no such qualms. They'd murdered everyone who'd shown up after getting that weird letter - the one that Alex had immediately stashed away as evidence for something while refusing to walk into an obvious trap.

Even though they'd all come back, it left him with a weird sort of survivor's guilt. He'd lived, and they hadn't. They'd made the brave, stupid choice to walk into the cult's jaws, and he'd stayed behind. Self-preservation, he thought. Cowardice, the back of his mind whispered to him. He countered that by telling himself that he hadn't survived as long as he had by making stupid decisions. Discretion being the better part of valor, and all that bullshit.

Guilt or dogged perseverance, or some combination of both, has had him furiously looking into everything he can. He's practically on the verge of making a Pepe Silvia board. Now this is familiar territory. It's oddly comforting. It reminds him of sitting in that little apartment in Vienna and hunting down the members of Medusa. Same general principle, he just can't make mysterious phone calls. That's fine. He'll figure something out.

Even if the cultists in the meeting are no longer around, there have to be some who've picked up the torch. And he's going to find out who.

D. and underneath red candles waits | Alex | Enforcer Offices | closed to CT
Cerrit had asked Alex to look after CT - or at least make sure she didn't get into any trouble she couldn't get out of. Well, that had been a bust, in that before he could do that, she'd gone and gotten herself killed by the cultists. Okay. Second time's the charm.

Next time he sees her, he walks up, holding a cup of tea. "Got a moment?"

for her killers to come home and for a fine revenge to pay | Wildcard!
[Hit me up on the discord server or on plurk at [plurk.com profile] Chatvert, or just jump in! The squad will be around the island at large, so they're up for being encountered anywhere.]
redlightgreenlight: (Unsure)

A: Library

[personal profile] redlightgreenlight 2024-07-03 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
The words from the festival games and the discovery of Linette still haunt her, so she's doing everything she can to find out more about the Leeds family, though she suspects that she won't get any information by going to the sole remaining Leeds family member. Which leads her to the library and town hall on multiple occasions trying to find information without arousing suspicion.

She's noticed that Miles person around, but has been purposefully staying out of his way, unable and unwilling to face the weird feeling in her chest when she sees him, but when she feels something grab her leg while sitting at a table in the library, she startles enough to scare the small green and white creature who rushes off to...Miles.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare him."
graveling: (backache)

B

[personal profile] graveling 2024-07-03 10:41 pm (UTC)(link)
The new priest meanders over quietly, in his brown robe and green stole. Very quietly. Wow, is he even blinking? Or breathing?

(No.)

"Balls, I don't really have the proper script for this. But I'll try anyway. You look troubled, sister."

Maybe Degas or Mulcahy would be better at this, but River taught him something: if you look at a situation and think somebody ought to do something, congrats, you're now somebody.
spaghettification: (profile)

A

[personal profile] spaghettification 2024-07-03 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
One of the library staff is there often when Miles is, a tall, broad-shouldered man in his sixties with eyes that were once the color of steel and now lean more misty and occasionally confused. He has a few quirks that might make him memorable to a patron. Like the fact that he never wears shoes or socks, and he's usually seen floating about six inches above the floor.

As you do.

He's made a habit of not asking what Miles is doing. But once he understands what's going on, he quietly sets a collection of news articles on the table, helpfully in passing.
thaumatophage: (Thinking // hollow_art)

[personal profile] thaumatophage 2024-07-03 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
The casual mien of the priest is enough to put her at ease. She's not normally shy, but she's pretty rattled lately.

"Troubled's a word for it," she says. "Freaked out, too. You know anything about those guys in red with the masks talking about the 'vile divine' or whatever?"
lasthumanvoice: (Default)

C-adjacent

[personal profile] lasthumanvoice 2024-07-03 11:06 pm (UTC)(link)
At some point Alex is in town hall for paperwork, when a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed freckly redhead bustles up to him with a notepad and a manic gleam in his eyes.

"Can I get a comment?"
graveling: (bitterness)

[personal profile] graveling 2024-07-03 11:14 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh, the fuckers with the Necronomicon. Yeah, I heard of them. Nasty-ass shit, right?" Very proper priesting going on here from Angel, it seems. Also perhaps a piece of information Kitty wasn't privy to before.
saintoflangley: (Bright and diplomatic // chatvert)

[personal profile] saintoflangley 2024-07-04 04:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Certainly," says Alex, collecting the paperwork he'd come to fetch and giving Cecil enough of a glance to glean that he's out for a scoop. "The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain."

Little shit.
thaumatophage: (Look down // hollow_art)

[personal profile] thaumatophage 2024-07-04 04:49 am (UTC)(link)
"The Necronomicon? No way." Kitty's eyes widen. She's culturally aware enough of her own world to recognize it. That, and she's pretty sure it's in the Triskele's archives somewhere, if it were real. It wouldn't surprise her. It doesn't really surprise her that it's real here, now that she thinks about it. But it's going to make things heaps more complicated.

"Anyway, ah. I followed the instructions in that letter, and then I got--" She mimes getting stabbed. She's trying to make a joke out of it, a bad habit she's picked up from Alec.
graveling: (internal)

[personal profile] graveling 2024-07-04 05:20 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't worry, it's in a safe place where cultists can't get to it now. The nomicon, I mean. As for you...that fucking sucks. Are you mourning yourself right now?"

It is a serious question.
lasthumanvoice: (and says what he wants to say)

[personal profile] lasthumanvoice 2024-07-04 05:24 am (UTC)(link)
"No one local has even heard of Spain. Can you at least rhyme with Anwyll or Braxtony?"

His disappointment is wholly theatrical.
saintoflangley: (Bright and diplomatic // chatvert)

[personal profile] saintoflangley 2024-07-04 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
"All right:
'There once was a man from Anwyll,
Possessed of a power of will,
When bugged by reporters,
He offered no quarter;
His secrets were not his to spill.'"

Alex leans forward, putting his weight on his cane. "Though I doubt you're here for my dreadful attempts at doggerel."
redlightgreenlight: (Kinda Happy)

[personal profile] redlightgreenlight 2024-07-04 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
There's something really soft about watching this traumatized man reassure his pet. Her heart skips when he says it's nice to see her, but she still has no idea why.

"Yes, just a little project, nothing I feel is ready for my boss or peers."

Subject change.

"I've seen you around researching too, anything interesting?"
redlightgreenlight: (Unsure)

[personal profile] redlightgreenlight 2024-07-04 08:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Her brow arches.

"Ritually murdered by cultists?"

That sounds somewhat familiar to Linette's murder, which plays exactly into what she herself is working on. But she didn't feel him get murdered, and she would have. Valdis inhales, suddenly unsure why she was so certain she would have felt him die. She barely knows him, so it's a preposterous notion.

"Was this recent?"
spaghettification: (smug)

[personal profile] spaghettification 2024-07-04 08:45 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes, that's me. And you're Miles." He gives a polite little nod and a hint of a smile. "Or Kim Downrive, perhaps? Kim for kilometers, I take it?"

He's European, the reference to the metric system hadn't flown over his head.
lasthumanvoice: (you just can't put)

[personal profile] lasthumanvoice 2024-07-04 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Cecil tuts quietly. "And there once was a man from Nantucket, whose dick was so long he could suck it. But I'm not looking for your secrets, you know. I don't think they'd really do me much good."
saintoflangley: (Smile // mhari)

[personal profile] saintoflangley 2024-07-05 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
The rejoinder makes Alex chuckle a little, but elicits no further reaction.

"Good. I'm not in the mood to be interrogated. Really ruins my whole day, and it's been a long time since SERE School."
lasthumanvoice: (how much you'll pay for)

[personal profile] lasthumanvoice 2024-07-05 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
"They have schools for that?" Cecil gawks. "I'd probably be in better shape now, with the whole occasionally oracular thing, if I'd gone to seer school. I've had multiple people try to teach me their methods, and it only works so well. Though Elias has gotten me working with an arcane focus more."
saintoflangley: (Profile // chatvert)

[personal profile] saintoflangley 2024-07-05 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
He's not about to correct Cecil. Old Saint Alex of Langley, the Crown Prince of Dark Operations, did have a bit of a reputation back home for knowing how people operate with an almost preternatural predictive accuracy. If there's a rumor that spreads about a possible arcane component to it, so much the better.

"Oh, yes. Graduated top of my class, you know." High school valedictorian, but to be fair, he hadn't said which class.
lasthumanvoice: (there goes your freedom of choice)

[personal profile] lasthumanvoice 2024-07-05 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
"If you have any tips I can add to what Shen Qingqiu and Elias gave me, I'd be grateful. I'm a little bit of a psychic broadband receiver, both for futures...and anything else that wants to hijack my equipment."

He doesn't lose a single watt of his shiny as he says all that.
saintoflangley: (Default)

/casually slam dunking a west wing quote in here bc im trash

[personal profile] saintoflangley 2024-07-05 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"To paraphrase: act as if ye have knowledge, and knowledge shall be given to you." Alex tucks the paperwork into his satchel.

"Put more simply: fake it 'til you make it."
thaumatophage: (So done with you // hollow_art)

[personal profile] thaumatophage 2024-07-05 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"I..." She frowns. "I don't know? I don't think so. I've just got a lot of big questions that I don't know the answers to. Like, okay, I died to get here. Them's the breaks. I hoped they wouldn't get through our defenses, but I guess they did."

What had happened to get her here? Her memory of it is fuzzy, like her implanted memories at al-Andalus. Best not to think about it. Maybe she isn't really dead. Maybe she isn't really here. Maybe she isn't...

"How do you know if you're real?" The question is abrupt.
maximumcake: (head scratcher)

Library

[personal profile] maximumcake 2024-07-05 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Max is on the hunt today for some very important, to him, information as well. He's trying to find any baking books that contain something similar to macarons. Try as he might, he just hasn't come up with a good substitute for almond flour. He's tried subbing in things like oat or flaxseed but the texture just isn't right and the cooking times don't align. So, he's taking a new approach.

"There has to be something in one of these, right Crumpet?" Max says to his fidough as they walk out of the shelves. He's carrying so many books in his arms that he isn't really able to see where he's going. This leads to him accidentally knocking into Mile's table.

"Ope, crap, sorry!" Max peeks out from around his stack of books, looking Mile's up and down to make sure he didn't do any damage. "You okay?"

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