2021-09-21 - The Circle Opens

As it turns out, rumours spread just as quickly in Gray Harbour as they do in other towns. Despite only arriving recently, the young man had been exposed to all sorts of wild tales - some believable, and some truly not. This, however? This piqued his interest unlike any other story that had fallen across his ears. Plants that continuously grow despite sustaining irreparable damage? Yes please. He'll have some of that to study.

So here he is. Having arrived a good couple of hours ago, Percy had set up a little station to quietly observe the broken mushrooms. Not far from his backpack, a small tripod can be seen that features a rather expensive looking camera. The lens is pointed directly at the ring of mushrooms, taking a photo automatically once every minute. While it does this, the young scientist crouches next to the site, eyeing it warily. "Psilocybe semilanceata..." He murmurs, flipping open a notebook to write some things down with a short pencil. "That would explain some of the stories..." More mumbles and grumbles his senses taking in all of the sounds of the night sky as the occasional drizzle falls on him. Bugs chirp. Owls hoot. Even toads and frogs can be heard croaking in the background, but they don't deter the man conducting business. "But look here... A different species mixed in. Hm."

By the time the clock strikes midnight, various samples had already been collected, secured and stored in his pack. He was about to give up and give the rumours he heard no basis! Ingesting these shrooms would give people all sorts of crazy experiences. That is, until... the clock tolls.

The fungus grows.

Percy's eyes nearly pop out of his head.

Immediately approaching the ring and crouching down next to it, the brown-eyed man watches incredulously as the mushrooms grow. "...oh my God." As he squints and examines the fungus more closely, the moon comes out from behind some clouds to shine its light down. The subsequent iridescent glow from the plants, followed by the dark 'pool' of liquid in the ring causes his head to tilt in curiosity. "This is unbelievable."

When Percy peers at the puddle he sees a face in there, but it is not his reflection. In fact it looks like some sort of snapchat filter for the face is that of one of those Big Girl dolls that are popular among young girls. Except it blinks at Percy and it's plastic face frowns. "You're not Petre. Who are you?" Asks a child's voice.

The world around the scientist seems to still. Sounds become muted and the world beyond the mushroom circle seems to be behind a thick layer of glass. Before Percy can answer the Big Girl is pushed out of the way and a G.I. Joe shoves into view to glower at Percy. Then looks off to the side, probably at the other doll, and back again. "Where's Petre? What have you done with them? Don't make me come through and beat the answer out of you, boy!" This voice is older, but still youthful. It's weird really. The tone and temper of that GI Joe makes one think of some army general. It's beady painted eyes stare hard through the portal.

For a brief moment, Percy doesn't believe what he's seeing. The reflection that he expects to see in the pool, ringed by iridescently glowing mushrooms is not his. It's sort of... a morphed version of him? Then, of course, it clicks. The young man takes a steadying breath, lifting a hand to wave. "I'm not Petre. I'm Percy. Are you... are you the same being that contacted me before?" He's referencing a previous encounter inside the Dream sphere, of which is very much unlikely related to this event.

As the world stills around him, dulling in its colour and muting in sound, Percival looks around him with some wonder and suspicion. The reflection that he looks at morphs too, its now transparent appearance making it look more like a window than a puddle. Bright brown eyes widen and blink, startled by the sudden appearance of the G.I. Joe shoving his way into the frame. "I'm - I'm sorry, I don't know... I don't know who Petre is--" Percy stammers in immediate reply, leaning back just a smidgen. "I'm Percival. Percy. Who are you?" He never believed he would ever talk to toys as an adult, but here we are!

"Do you have a name? Where are you contacting me from?"

"Percival? That was my cats name!" The GI Joe says with sudden childish happiness. "But you're not a kitty. You look like a kid though," The elation returns to a less surly childishness. The Joe turns his head away in a way that belies being just a plastic doll.

In the direction of the first toy scene, that Joe rudely shoved aside, the Joe speaks, "Do you think he's been chosen and Petre?" Only to have the Big Girl doll shove its way into the view. It's a tight fit and the Joe grumbles and adjusts.

"We are looking for Petre. It has been many sleeps since they've come," The Doll explains, sounding more mature than the Joe. "We are not the ones who you talked to before. We...we are-"

"IT'S NONE HIS BUSINESS!" The Joe interrupts the Doll.

"Percy!" The man protests, clearly not enthused by the idea of being called Percival by anyone outside of his Mother. "Just... just Percy is fine, please." Ahem. His eyebrow does twitch just mildly when he's told he looks like 'a kid'.

"Well, you look like a toy." BOOM. "Most human beings aren't going to relate to you if you choose to paint yourselves in such a form." The following wrestle between them as they wrestle back and forth is met with a confused look. For a moment Percy looks like he's about to say something - surely, his lips definitely move. But... no, nothing. He just kneels there in stunned silence. "I don't know anyone called Petre. I only just arrived in town. How... how many nights has it been since you've seen them?"

Percy gasps in surprise when The Joe barks so suddenly. "It's alright. I guess you don't have to tell me who you are. Maybe what you're looking for? I am new in town, but I can probably try and find someone or something for you. I think it's a small place."

The Joe seems unfazed by being called a toy. In fact he is much more interested in having a little kids' style slappy fight with the Big Girl doll. Until from somewhere beyond the field of view someone calls, in a mild panic, "Tommy, we need your fire!" And the two instantly stop.

The Joe turns and salutes Percy and nods, "Excuse me Percy, Eye is in trouble," And it is hard to tell if he is suddenly talking about himself oddly or what. But the Joe ducks out of the view as well with a shouted, "COMING!" While the Big Girl doll looks worriedly to her right after the Joe. A normal doll's features are not animated, but this one is. It's like watching a live action Toys. Her baby blue eyes with too-long red lashes that match her pigtailed curly hair focus on Percy.

"My name is Annabelle and I'm a monster killer," She says very formally, putting her hand over her broad lace collar as she speaks. "But you can called me Anna. We are looking for our friend who has been gone...oh my...almost three months now by your time telling I think?" She pauses and looks thoughtful. Looking much like Percy does when doing intense calculations. "Yes, that sounds about right. Have you, by chance, seen a young redheaded person with a love for green and perhaps slightly pointed ears? Depends on their mood really."

Percy cannot quite believe his eyes. The little kids' style slappy fight is something he would normally see in the movie Toy Story. But here? From beings across the Multiverse? As his mind tries to process such events, a his mouth tug just a little upwards into a shy, confused grin. It lasts just a beat though as someone else makes themselves known from beyond the pale, transparent window. The young man squints, leaning forward.

"I'm sorry, Anna. I haven't seen anyone like that." The entire introduction made to Percy is taken in as much stride as the young scientist can muster. It all comes very quick, so much so that he's reasonably sure he missed out on a detail somewhere. "I only arrived here a few days ago; what I said was no lie. During that time I've barely... well, seen anyone, if I'm being honest with you." With a grimace he leans back onto his knees, feeling the cool air of the very early morning wash over him as a breeze sweeps across the ground. The breeze is felt a bit more than he expected - perhaps because he has actually started to sweat a bit.

"What do you mean, monster killer? Do you have monsters where you live?" Pause. "Do you need to help your friend? Uhm, 'Eye' was it?" Then another pause. "Wait. How do you tell time?" That last question is posed with utter fascination, seemingly forgetting everything that had just transpired. Fortunately he regains a little bit of composure however, taking a deep breath to settle himself. "...we should talk about that later. Was your friend taking by a monster?"

"Ah well, that is too bad," Anna says with a sigh. From a distance away the sound of fighting can be heard. But it very much sounds like what you might hear from a kids show or that old Batman series from the 60s and 70s. When she looks back those glass eyes blink and she looks surprised. "Well, yes we have monsters here. You do too, they just hide in human skin," The doll explains before finding herself giggling. "Eye is fine for now. Sleeping. You sure have a lot of questions...but I suppose I did too the first time."

Annabelle turns at a muffled shout and hollers back, "No, Petre isn't here either. I'll check the next ring." When she turns back to Percy she smiles her pretty doll smile. "Sorry, Percy, I need to keep looking for Petre. Keep an eye out for someone like that for us and tell them we could use help and the sugar supply is dangerously low." Then she reaches out and through the portal and taps a mushroom. It seems random which one is tapped, but it causes the ring to begin to shrink rapidly as she pulls her arm back. The portal is closing slow enough to say a few final things and Annabelle the doll waves cheerily at Percy.

"Absolutely," Percy agrees with a tiny grin. This wasn't the first time he had been told that he had a lot of questions. "I just want to learn as much as I can about you and your world. How you communicate with us, how travel is made between our worlds... and more!" The strange sounds of combat in Anna's background are heard, but he tries not to let his attention drift too much. Unfortunately however, much to his chagrin, the window between the two is already closing. "O...okay! I'll try and keep a look out for you, Anna. And I'll tell him that the sugar supply... is... low..." As he says those words he sort of slows, not quite believing what he's saying there.

"Wait! Wait! How do I get back into contact with you if I find him?!" The hurried question is posed just as the ring is nearly closed. "Do I come back here? Will he know what to do?"

The closing pauses and Anna appears. She is peering at Percy with a puckered and bemused expression. "They'll know what to do. As for getting a hold of us...uhhhh" Anna pauses and looks very thoughtful. Her bright blue eyes squinting in the process. "Oh! Eat one of the mushrooms before midnight. Then wait at a circle. That...yeah that should work. Okay bye now!" Another wave and the circle again starts to close.

When it is almost gone Anna's voice shouts one last thing, "Just don't eat the-" And the portal closes, cutting her off on the pertinent thing. It would seem Percy has found knowledge and perhaps an old fashioned missing persons quest. Only it's an...alien? Well, the scientist has a vague description and name. That's something to start with.

"Eat one of the mushrooms?" Percy repeats as Annabelle disappears from behind the window, staring incredulously at the fungus which he earlier identified as a hallucination drug. "I... I guess I could try that." Then her final words catch him, causing an immediate frown.

"Great." He intones in a way that suggests everything is definitely not great. Regardless, the young man rolls back onto his feet and stands up straight. With renewed energy he starts to assemble and pack everything up. New discoveries were made! And he had to find this alien.