endlessflask | [ the village inbox ]

[Klaus finds the note on the bulletin board in Town Hall and squints in consideration of the task at hand. He hums thoughtfully and jots the address down on the back of his hand. He doesn't have much else to do, does he? And maybe he could find some fucking weed out there.

He leaves the building and heads down the street, fairly certain he had seen Stoker Park in his explorations earlier this week. Takes him a minute, and he definitely ended up turned around at first, but eventually he does wind his way down the proper street, glancing at house numbers as he passes by until he finds 818.

He trots up to the front door and gives a resounding knock. Wouldn't it be the worst if no one was home right now?]

[ It takes a few moments after the knock for someone to come to the door. There's some sound inside the house, like someone coming down a set of stairs and stopping at the door (likely to look through the peep hole to see who it is). Then the lock clicks and the door opens, and Eliot stands in the doorway. ]

Uh. Hello.

[ He's not really expecting anyone. He wonders if Quentin is, which is too bad because Quentin isn't here, and he doubts this is a Welcome To The Neighbourhood visit. ]

[Klaus hears someone moving around inside, so he knows at least someone is home.

When the door is opened, his first thought is: Oh, no. He's fucking hot. That's not fair.]

Are you the one that posted the thing on the board in Town Hall about the plants? [Because otherwise this is real awkward!]

Oh - Yeah. That was me.

[ He's quite surprised someone actually decided it seemed interesting. Eliot was prepared to just force Quentin to go with him, but now it would seem he doesn't have to. ]

Would you like to come in? We can talk about it on the doorstep but it might be a little more comfortable to sit down.

[He seems so... shocked by the idea, it's almost cute. Some people really do have nothing else going on here, buddy.

Klaus nods at the invitation inside.] Yeah, absolutely.

[He's not sure how much there is to talk about, it really feels more like the sort of thing you just have to dive into. Still, he walks inside and idly glances around the house. He's seen worse, he's seen better, which is just about the case of everything in this place, near as he can tell so far; but he decides not to comment on it. It isn't like these houses are really their choice, after all.

He rotates on his heel to face the other man again, hands resting at his hips.]

So... what were you thinking, with this little hunt and gathering expedition, anyway?

[ Eliot wonders what he should say. He wonders if he should have thought about an answer to this sort of question ahead of time, and if he wants to just admit that he's looking for the next best thing he can find to coke. He's never been shy about his drug dependency, but he decides to err on the side of caution.

At least for now. ]

Pharmaceuticals. You know, natural pain relief and salves for things. There's not really a pharmacy or a doctor around here and it might be nice to have some sort of first aid on hand.

[ And if Eliot can make tea that gets him totally blitzed, all the better. ]

Pharmaceuticals. [He echoes in a tone that has just this side of a knowing sound to it. And maybe he's wrong. Some people really are into all that new wave health stuff. Hell, he had subscribed to some of it in the 60's, himself, even. But...] Right. That'd be handy.

[A beat. A smirk.] And if we happen to find some weed along the way, I really won't be complaining.

If we can find cannabis plants growing in the wild in this climate, that'd be the best miracle I could ever ask for.

[ And absolute dream, really, and just what this whole town needs. But Eliot's not going to get his hopes up. ]

I thought I'd really tap into my potential witchiness, you know?

Fingers crossed. [He sing-songs those two words. Hope is dangerous, but damn, it would be nice.

He grins as the other comment, though.] Nothing wrong with that. Herbal remedies are better than none at all.

[Hell, in some cases, they might just be better.]

Yeah. I figure I wasted all that time in school, I may as well put it to use.

[ Besides, he's better in situations like this when he has something to throw himself into. He doesn't really like to think about his problems. But, you know, who does? ]

You went to school for... herbology? [Curiouser and curiouser.]

God. No. That'd be fucking horrible.

[ Can you imagine? The thought alone makes him want to barf, because he's had more than his share of agriculture in his life and he doesn't need to be throwing himself into a life of it. ]

I took a bunch of classes in the mystical properties of plants so we could plant our own garden and make the most amazing cocktails.

That sounds like the best class. [He laughs a little.] Teach me your ways, Master.

If you can find me some vodka then I would gladly impart my mixology wisdom. As it is, I'm not really into the idea of growing my own potatoes and trying to distill them or whatever. I'm a consumer, not a creator.

[ He wishes he had his flask on him. He wonders if his flask would even work here. ]

I keep hoping some will appear in the general store downtown, but, alas... [He spreads his hands in a wide shrug. He's only been here a few days, yet, but... a guy can hope, okay?]

I'll start getting worried when I start to think that drinking listerine is a good idea.

[ Because Eliot has standards, even if they're questionable at best. Still - an addict's gotta do what an addict's gotta do, right? ]

At least there's cigarettes. It's my last thread of sanity.

[ That, and having something to do. Eliot can focus on digging up plants and providing a needed service and he won't even realize too much that he's missing booze. ]

[Klaus wrinkles his nose a little at that idea. Even he had never been that desperate in all his years of addiction. No thanks.]

I guess they had to give us at least one vice to hold onto.

Ellie checks the board now and then, though nothing really catches her eye other than that bullshit creepy writing until Eliot's note. Stoker Park. She can find that, sure.

So she shows up and just knocks on the door like it's totally fucking normal to just volunteer to go out into the woods with some dude she's never met. Of course she's both savvy and paranoid enough to be wary of the invitation, but she knows a lot about the woods. Or at least she knows how to survive in them, which seems to be sort of what Eliot is asking.

When he comes to answer the door, he'll find this slight, probably half-feral seeming girl on his porch looking like she's considering running off.

"Hey, uh. Are you Eliot? You wanted to go like fuck around in the woods looking for something, right?"

Even after she talks, Eliot still spends a couple of moments just looking down at her. He's trying to decide if this is a joke, because when he made that notice, he was sort of expecting someone a little more grown up. But he has to appreciate her bluntness.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's me, and, yeah, that's the plan."

He really shouldn't judge anyone. He knows that, he really, really does, but he can't quite keep down his skepticism.

"And you ... Wanna go along?"

"What, is there something on my face?" she asks, mouth quirking up at one side. There is the remnant of the bruises she came here with, but they're faded out now, yellow and not so purple. But mostly she's just filling the space until he finally talks.

"I'm Ellie," she says. "Kinda funny, huh? Ellie. Eliot." Is it funny? Probably not. Lots of incredibly unfunny things make her laugh, though.

She catches that tone and just crosses her arms. It doesn't do her any favours as far as looking grown up. Technically she's an adult, but a young one, and a small one.

"I wanna go. I've spent a lot of time in forests. And like...I kinda want to see if there's any signs of animals out there. In case we run out of food, but just in general, you know? There aren't any in the town and it's weird."

Does Eliot really want to traipse through the forest with a smart ass barely legal? Not really. But she looks scrappy and the more she talks, the more Eliot realizes she's right. There's no sign of wildlife. He'd think that they'd move in after a town was abandoned, and even if there were still people here, there's not even a bird.

"Great. You're hired. Not that there's actually any pay involved, it just sounded cool." Did it? Maybe they're both tragically unfunny. "Do you want to come in?"

They can make a plan, maybe. Or at least figure out a rough idea of what to do beyond 'walk into the woods'. Also, while Eliot is keen to go as soon as possible, he wants to give it another day in case anyone else decides they're interested.

"Well, I don't think anyone is taking money here anyway," Ellie says back. Really, money isn't so much a thing where she's from anyway, but that's beside the point.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I'll come in," she says. She's awkward because she doesn't know who to trust. Everyone here has been trustworthy, and Eliot doesn't send off screaming alarms in her head or anything. He's younger than several of the others, but obviously not around her age. It doesn't really matter. You can live or die at any age; she doesn't inherently trust younger people or older people based on that.

"I have a knife. Fuck, no, that sounds like a threat." Wow, breathe, Ellie, she thinks.

"I mean...if we go out there and we find something, that's the only weapon I've found, you know? Whoever was in this town before us cleaned it out pretty good."

"You just found a knife lying around?"

Eliot lets her in and closes the door, motioning towards the living room. It's the most cleaned up room in the house so far and actually looks somewhat lived in (compared to most of the town).

But a knife seems like a weird thing to just find on the ground when, like she said, the whole place has been gutted.

"I guess going into the forest with something stabby and not just unreliable magic isn't a bad idea."

"Fuck, I wish," she answers, sliding into the house and towards the living room. All the houses are...so weird to her, abandoned yet not rotten and broken down and ransacked. This one looks like Eliot lives in it, more or less. Her own house, with her and Rey, looks much the same as it did when they arrived. Neither of them take much space or use many items, which probably just comes from their respective backgrounds.

"There's no way you'd believe how I found it. I don't believe it myself because it's really crazy," she answers. Then she catches up with what Eliot said and she stops to look at him.

"I'd prefer a gun. But did you say you do magic?" He's not the first to say it, of course, but she's still never seen magic aside from the crazy dream where she woke up holding that knife.

"Yes."

Eliot's used to people not believing magic is real. He more or less shrugs it off, because he's not sure he could manage a demonstration right now (at least, not without a few tries).

"Not like, pulling a rabbit from a hat bullshit. But it's also given me the ability to believe a lot of crazy shit that seems impossible."

He's matter-of-fact about it. She wouldn't believe him for a second if she'd just showed up here, or if she hadn't met John Constantine, or if she hadn't had a crazy nightmare that somehow summoned a knife out of nowhere. This whole place is batshit, so one more dude being like yes I do magic isn't that weird anymore.

It's funny how like a week can change your perspective.

So she shrugs and accepts it.

"This place is too fucking much," is all she says in response.

She doesn't sit down or anything, because she's wound too tight just as a thing, but she'll get there.

"That's a shame, though, because summoning pigeons outta thin air would be pretty sweet to see," she goes on, managing a tiny smile. "Or throwing fireballs at some freaky nightmare creature in the woods. Wait, is that off the table? Because if you can do that, it would be fucking awesome."

She actually doesn't expect there to be any nightmare creatures in the woods. Well, there probably aren't the kind she's used to, at any rate. But she feels like if there was shit like that, it would have wandered into town by now, right?

"Of course I can throw fireballs. Any good magician worth his shit can do that."

And manipulating fire is physical magic, which means Eliot has a more natural affinity towards it than others. Not that Mathias seems to care. Eliot can't really say when or where his magic will decide to work.

"This town does something to it. When I do manage to cast, it's weaker than it should be. And it's not just me it's happening to."

Ellie laughs at all of it, because it's so absurd. She can't even imagine it. She doesn't even know if Eliot is fucking with her. He might be. In this place, who even knows.

"Man, we don't have magic where I'm from. We just have bullshit and more bullshit. I've heard like a handful of people here say they know magic but the most I've seen is some dude bleeding flowers." But Eliot is the first one who's told her that the towns fucks with what he can do, or apparently what other people can do, too.

So that's...interesting.

"You think the town has some anti-magic field to keep you from poofing somewhere else or something?" Can magic do that? She doesn't know, of course. She just imagines that magic can do literally anything.

"I don't know. With the sun being fucked it's probably messing with the circumstances and I don't know the work around for it."

Yet. Or maybe never, which would be the worst, but Eliot has to assume that some day his magic will just click back into place.

"But let me tell you, even when you're from somewhere with magic, it's still bullshit and more bullshit. That's one universal truth."

"Magic has to do with the sun?" she asks. "I thought you just, I dunno, waved your hand and shit happened." It's pretty clear she knows nothing about magic, but like she said, they don't have it where she's from.

She snorts a half-laugh at that last bit. "Yeah, fair enough. I'm not surprised that the whole entire multiverse is just bullshit no matter what. At least I guess it evens it out some, huh? You get magic but it sucks. I get...uh, actually, my whole world just sucks."

She pushes all of that away as best she can.

"So...are you looking for, like, magic plants? Your note said something about plants, right?"

"Yeah. More or less."

What? It's not like he's going to tell her that he's looking for something that might be drugs, but the thought had crossed his mind that there might be more use in the plants than just that. He's not sure how potions might work here. He is sure that potions don't need to be infused with his own magic to work in strange ways, and folk remedies have endured through time for a reason.

Eliot also knows that his strengths aren't in mystery solving. He can put himself to use doing this until someone gives him direction.

"I'd go alone but if shit hits the fan, then no one will know."

She has no idea what kind of magical plants might exist here. She figures none, but things are so weird and sideways that who knows? They might. Or maybe, she thinks, they'll find bodies in the woods, some clue as to what the fuck is going on in this place. There aren't old cars or any animals or any trace of bodies, infected or otherwise. There's got to be something in the woods, right?

"I don't think anyone should go out there alone. This place is weird as hell. Sometimes you hear voices or you get so sick you can't walk forward alone. You're smart to take someone with you, I guess."

"Oh. Thank you."

People never really call Eliot smart for anything, so it's sort of a treat to hear it. Like someone's validating the fact that he's making a rational decision for once in his life.

"I mean, as long as there's not like ... A murderous clown lurking in the woods or something, I think it'll be mostly fine."

She laughs, because the murder clown thing seems absolutely ridiculous to her. Of course she doesn't think he meant it literally, but it's just an absurd image. She's seen some old movies, but she avoids the horror kind, so that's a pop culture reference that isn't in her databank.

"Come on. You and I could totally take a clown," she says. "I got a knife, you got some unreliable fireballs or something. No biggie."

"And telekinesis. Technically."

Which, honestly, Eliot doesn't think is that impressive. He's been around people with way cooler disciplines and talents that are significantly less traumatizing. At least, as far as he's concerned.

"Okay. Great. I'll ... Wait and see if anyone else wants to come along, then we can figure out when to go. My schedule's pretty wide open, so."

Ellie's eyes go a little wide at that mention.

"Telekinesis? Whoa, really? But, right, it doesn't work right so you can't even show me, is that how it goes?" That surprise settles into cynicism; it's easy enough to say you can do magic, but she's never seen magic in real life. She can't quite believe him.

"Either way, um...I'm at 1304 Phillips. There's a phone, but honestly I don't know the number. Phones don't work where I'm from. But it's easy to find."

"1304 Phillips."

Eliot nods, but he knows himself well enough to know he probably won't remember that. He excuses himself for a second and goes to the phone, where an address book is sitting, and promptly scribbles down her name and the address.

"If you're not around I'll slip a note under the door or something. Why this place couldn't give us cellphones is beyond me."

She watches him go. Writing it down makes sense to her. She's only seen busted up phones, never a working one.

"Yeah, okay. Just sign your name or whatever. Wait, you got magic and cellphones? That's not even fucking fair," she says. She wonders if magic cellphones are cooler than the regular ones. But then, the regular ones seem pretty magical to her in theory. The whole internet thing, which she's only heard of, sounds impossible. Maybe even cooler than fireballs.

[ the village inbox ]

re: plant exploration

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action; 818 Stoker Park

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