Cecil Gershwin Palmer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lasthumanvoice) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ph_logs2023-10-03 12:35 am
lasthumanvoice) wrote in ph_logs2023-10-03 12:35 am
Entry tags:
[OPEN] Maybe Things I've Misremembered, Maybe Things I Just Forgot
Who: Cecil Palmer and YOU
What: Settling in, making friends
When: October, generally
Where: Pumpkin Hollow
Warning(s): Description of panic attack in Prompt 5
1. Birds and heights and movie credits [Downtown Pumpkin Hollow]
Maybe you're shopping, or trying to go to work. Maybe you're heading to get a bite to eat. You're going to be delayed, though. There's a reporter waving you down, running up to you, preparing to ask questions.
2. Crowds and puppets, dying in a fire [Town Hall]
A large sign--no, not a sign, it's not that legible from a distance. A grid? Some sort of grid is posted on the wall of the Town Hall building. It has seven columns, each one of five rows plus a header. Days of the week? Oh! It's a calendar. Cecil has posted a Community Calendar, thoughtfully for anyone to use, to mark off days they'll need extra help at their shop or when they might be having a sale or throwing an event.
He's even taken the time to mark October 8th as the day the next edition of the Gazette comes out, and the evening of October 7th as Simchat Torah (with the preceding week marked out as Sukkot). Alright, he's guessing on those, based on the phase of the moon on his arrival, but look, he'll find time to mark his celebrations as best he can all alone.
Still, if you come to look, you're going to be offered a pen to add something of your own. Birthdays? Holidays from your world? Odes to long-dead gods? Here, have a pen!
3. Ferris-wheels and certain blues [Fall's Promise Cemetery]
"It features a plethora of carved headstones of varying ages and states of care..."
Cecil's first visit out here was to get a scoop, to see if there was information to be gleaned from the headstones. But upon seeing the condition of things, well. He left, and returned the next morning with a scrub brush and a bucket of soapy water borrowed from a local business, taking both to the moss and grime coating each pale stone. It's simply not proper, in his mind, leaving the stones untended and dirty. Even if death isn't working properly, even if new graves aren't regularly being added, it's just the done thing, to ensure the resting places are cared for.
He might be singing to himself as he cleans, so if you're meandering past, you'll hear someone bellowing modern music off-key. Whoops, sorry for that!
4. Oh, but mainly losing you [Wildcard]
Find me at darkersolstice on plurk, discord, tumblr, unsplash or elseweb to plot or request a custom starter.
*****
5. And this growing sense of distance that keeps building in my mind [Commercial District]
Perhaps you're headed for the Shady Merchant's shop. Perhaps you're just doing your shopping. Either way, you might pass a huddled form crouched against the side of a building, having a near-silent panic attack, struggling to breathe. It is Cecil, and he has visited Calloway and now everything is Bad.
Help? Help.
What: Settling in, making friends
When: October, generally
Where: Pumpkin Hollow
Warning(s): Description of panic attack in Prompt 5
1. Birds and heights and movie credits [Downtown Pumpkin Hollow]
Maybe you're shopping, or trying to go to work. Maybe you're heading to get a bite to eat. You're going to be delayed, though. There's a reporter waving you down, running up to you, preparing to ask questions.
2. Crowds and puppets, dying in a fire [Town Hall]
A large sign--no, not a sign, it's not that legible from a distance. A grid? Some sort of grid is posted on the wall of the Town Hall building. It has seven columns, each one of five rows plus a header. Days of the week? Oh! It's a calendar. Cecil has posted a Community Calendar, thoughtfully for anyone to use, to mark off days they'll need extra help at their shop or when they might be having a sale or throwing an event.
He's even taken the time to mark October 8th as the day the next edition of the Gazette comes out, and the evening of October 7th as Simchat Torah (with the preceding week marked out as Sukkot). Alright, he's guessing on those, based on the phase of the moon on his arrival, but look, he'll find time to mark his celebrations as best he can all alone.
Still, if you come to look, you're going to be offered a pen to add something of your own. Birthdays? Holidays from your world? Odes to long-dead gods? Here, have a pen!
3. Ferris-wheels and certain blues [Fall's Promise Cemetery]
"It features a plethora of carved headstones of varying ages and states of care..."
Cecil's first visit out here was to get a scoop, to see if there was information to be gleaned from the headstones. But upon seeing the condition of things, well. He left, and returned the next morning with a scrub brush and a bucket of soapy water borrowed from a local business, taking both to the moss and grime coating each pale stone. It's simply not proper, in his mind, leaving the stones untended and dirty. Even if death isn't working properly, even if new graves aren't regularly being added, it's just the done thing, to ensure the resting places are cared for.
He might be singing to himself as he cleans, so if you're meandering past, you'll hear someone bellowing modern music off-key. Whoops, sorry for that!
4. Oh, but mainly losing you [Wildcard]
Find me at darkersolstice on plurk, discord, tumblr, unsplash or elseweb to plot or request a custom starter.
*****
5. And this growing sense of distance that keeps building in my mind [Commercial District]
Perhaps you're headed for the Shady Merchant's shop. Perhaps you're just doing your shopping. Either way, you might pass a huddled form crouched against the side of a building, having a near-silent panic attack, struggling to breathe. It is Cecil, and he has visited Calloway and now everything is Bad.
Help? Help.
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He glances to one side, away from Cecil, and then after a moment picks the correct direction toward Cecil's new home.
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As fragile a cloth as Cecil is right now, Chris gets an uncertain look, like there might be some implied threat in there. Like there’s a danger he’s still, still bracing for, even in the face of this kindness and help. After all, he still thinks the person who used Lot 37 at home was his friend (former friend?) and intern, Dana. He doesn’t trust that anyone won’t use him, right now.
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Chris is oblivious to Cecil's suspicions, especially since he's got no interest in using Cecil for anything. It's merely that the close timing of their arrivals on the island makes Cecil one of the easiest people for Chris to recognize and they have no reason to wish Cecil ill.
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(If Dr. Winterbottom could hear Chris now, she'd probably make snide remarks about them doing an awful lot of medical counseling for someone who doesn't want to take over as physician...)
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And Pumpkin Hollow didn’t seem like it was going to be any different in that regard.
“Being the voice of community radio meant that I had to appease the Sheriff’s Secret Police and the City Council and Station Management, and having feelings sometimes put that goal at risk, you understand.”
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Chris leans into Cecil just a little, as a grounding measure -- a reminder that he doesn't have to be just in his own head. "I'm so sorry that you've gone through that. No one deserves to live like that."
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"Sometimes, we can think we deserve bad things when it isn't true. And it helps to hear someone else refute it, outside one's own head."
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He makes a joke of it so easily, instead of leaning into the gratitude he feels. The exhaustion is starting to hit, but they're almost to his home. He only slows a little bit, as his feet start to feel heavier.
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"Once I drop you off, would I be welcome back? I could swing by the tavern and see if there's any cookies. I find sweets can help afterward. Get the blood sugar up, that kind of thing."
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Once Cecil is safely home, Chris goes running off back to the tavern to check the baked goods situation. They will be back later with some jam thumbprints (apricot flavor) and a few thick slices of a molasses loaf cake, all boxed up.
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By the time Chris is back, he's shoes and socks off, and sitting on the floor in the living room. He'd be lying down, but Chris is bringing food. Sitting is better than that.
(There's totally a table and chairs, and a little loveseat. But floor time is now.)
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However zie gets inside (Cecil let zir in, door unlocked, whichever) Chris will imitate Cecil insofar as sitting on the floor. The fact that Chris is wearing slippers makes it far easier to sit cross-legged without worrying about footwear.
"I hope you like apricot jam; that's what's in these cookies. I'm not sure about the molasses cake, but it smells nice. Kind of like gingerbread." Chris offers up the box (lid off) and the sweets inside. "It's funny to realize how many flavors I liked at home are imports and less likely to be here."
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Zie sits quietly, just humming softly to zirself. (It's a slow version of Long Black Veil, which has been covered by many, many artists over the years.)
Chris is just waiting for if/when Cecil is ready to talk about what happened... what had him so frightened that he panicked in the streets? If it had been a monster, surely more people would be affected? Maybe that's the wrong assumption to start from.
Nobody knows but me...
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"You're going to eat some of these, too, right?"
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"It's too bad I'm not any good at playing instruments. Calming music might be nice."
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