Seam 2.99: Almost-Home
"Stay a while, youāve been away for too long, honey. Supperās almost doneā¦"
STILL SYNOPSIS
Almost-Home's familiar, and pretty. A really, really pretty trap. At first glance, you may think youāre back home, or someplace docile and stable for once; a safe place. You might see flat suburbs, or pop-out buildings with nice people waving at you. You will see the golden sunlight obscured by things you canāt see, and paved roads always well-kept, holding the smell of barbecue smoke. You will feel relieved. Do not feel relief. That is how the seam hunts and entraps others.
Seam 2.99 is an asymptotic reality, it gets extremely close to being real, but misses the mark by a sliver of a percent. Most commonly, if not semi-permanently, it will look like a sprawling neighborhood frozen forever in a golden hour, its architecture shifting subtly to match whatever is given too much thought in your mind. Itāll try to get you to move in by convincing you that you already have.
Seam Groups
There is only one notable group in this seam, and they are deemed fairly dangerous.
- The Nearly-Settled: A group of former surveyors and skippers / dealers of the WSG, along with other non-related wanderers who got lost or decided to stay in the Seam; they gave into the illusion. They live in the houses, and truly believe they made it home, with some telling others that theyāre ājust about settled inā. The Nearly-Settled can be found within the Cul-de-sacs of Denial (inside joke for us, we needed a laugh amongst the depressing nature of the group), specifically within formerly vacant homes. They will try to convince you to stay, getting aggressive about their happiness when questioned. Some might even try to physically drag you and/or your group into a house to āhave dinnerā with some of the āfamilyā thatās over to visit, subconsciously mimicking the voices of those you personally love to prove their point.
Do not trust them. Not because theyāre bad people, but because they cannot help that they wonāt be people at all anymore soon; theyāre starting to look like the nighbares.
Seam Items
Thereās a few items we found in this seam, both found in abundance.
- Welcome Basket (I1-2.99): A wicker basket found on the doorstep of every house in eyesight, but never at any house boarded up, being worked on, dead, out of eyesight, or not occupied. It has some fruit in it that never rots and a card that says āWelcome Home, Lemenā (but for you or anyone reading this, itāll say your name instead). The card inkās always fresh, and the fruit rejuvenates you instantly, but makes you seriously sick if you leave the seam within the same hour.
- Garden Hose (I2-2.99): A green water hose coiled in some yards, but when touched, it springs to ālifeā and tries to constrict around the nearest limb and shove its upper part down the esophagus of the restrained. Afterwards, itāll turn itself on and pump what looks like water into the victim, but instead of filling them up, the liquid hollows them out until they wrinkle. Letting this happen for long enough will turn them into another hose.
If you manage to evade the initial constriction, or straighten it back out, it can actually be used as a weapon. The water output is like a firetruckās, but with far more precise pressure capable of cutting rock.
SKIPPER RECON
The Land
Yāknow those weird parallax drawings that show up in plays and games and such? I think there was one on the Gameboyā¦ What was the game? That thing, if you know what Iām talking about, then great. If you donātā¦ itās hard to explain. Like with most flat places, itās hard to turn your head if you donāt know what to look for. Well, it sort of snaps, your head that is, from left to right, as if there aināt a āmiddleā position. While you walk, like I said everything moves like a parallax with some depth.
Everything here looks like a real old, but nice neighborhood. The kind you might see a grandmama and your pops live in in their youth. Itās like that, but the super specific details might be something else for others, but someoneās gotta confirm it wasnāt the delusions of oleā Jax and co. We saw some cul-de-sacs that loop back into each other in some real weird ways, and the parallax effect or whatever is weird too. I passed the same mailbox six times while walking north. Grassā all manicured but feels like astroturf-mixed mud. Soil underneathās justā¦ grey static, like the placeās trying to stitch itself into Baseline.
The Sea
No oceans, but the water tableās odd. Every storm drain and backyard swimming pool is connected. Only the drains and backyard pools, nothing else. Gotta make that clear. Someone might be able to crawl through a drain and end up in a pool, like quick travel. Might be useful. The liquid is clear, smells like chlorine, and is far too viscous. It moves like syrup, just don't drink it like I did. Itāll make you REAL sick every three minutes or so. We left the place and I STILL feel sick. I hope thereās some kinda medicine or cure for this.
The Sky
A perfect, cloudless gradient of orange and purple. It looks painted. Thereās no sun, but there IS light. Like an old school lightbox, if you remember those. The ones used for old animation, Walt style. It was one of the only things that really tipped us off that we werenāt in Baseline but real damn close to it. While I was writing this, a lightbox just appeared in the grass. Go figureā¦ Anyway, thereās no stars. Just the gradient.
Time doesn't seem to do anything here! It's always like a late afternoon on a summer Friday. Iām not complaining, it feels nice, but the longer you stay in the light, the warmer you feel... After a few hours I started to call Jax sweetie, but snapped out of it when we took a breather in the shade. I wonder if it was the light, or the sky that caused that?
The Air
It was pretty warm, pretty stagnant, and had this annoying smell of freshly cut grass. That new car smell, but for grass, yāknow? Oh, and charcoal fluid too. Lemen had to remind me and May not to panic whenever we found something new, ācause it got harder and harder to breathe the more we freaked out. That by itself made me freak out more! But eventually, we got the hang of it.
The Weather
Static. No wind. No rain. No nothing. Just that heavy, warm stillness that happens right before a tornado, but the tornado never comes. You get what Iām saying? Itās calm, but too calm, like the entire worldās holding its breath, waiting for something real nasty to pop out. It made me real anxious all the time.
Unique Properties
Iām the first to experience it, right? So I get to name it, right? Iām calling it āMemory Moldingā. This place reads your mind, but I donāt think itās actually sentient. Figure of speech, a little: if you think about your childhood bike, you'll find it leaning against a fence. If you think about your mom, you'll hear her voice coming from an open window. But it never changes so much that it breaks theā¦ setting? The setting of the neighborhood it looks like. Never that. But small things? It aims to please. Itāsā¦ kinda hard to tell whatās real, and whatās not, but donāt get used to it. If you ignore too much of the Memory Molding, your brain will literally start to mold, like itās punishing you for denying it something it desperately wants. Your brain, not the Seam, that is. Right, yeah, and time keepers donāt work here. My watch stopped working, though I did see my own house somewhere. The number on the mailbox was right-on. But when I looked in the window, the furniture was on the ceiling. Close callā¦
Guess itās real worth mentioning this weird ass thing that happens after a few hours, or maybe a few minutes. It was hard to track, but often, everything will justā¦ fold on itself. Itās not dangerous I donāt think, but hell is it disorienting. The entire neighborhood will fold, itāll be like it just duplicated itself to the other side of you. A mirror effect, so whatever house you were looking it will be behind you, but upside down (except for the furniture and people). Think of it like this: youāre on a straight line, that lineās your life. Then all of a sudden, the top of the line bends, and now thereās two parallel lines connected by that bend at the top. Then the bend straightens out after a while, and itās back to being one straight line. I know, trippy and weird.
DEALER ASSESSMENT
The subjects here could be considered a swarm when hostile, and they can be VERY hostile.
Seam Subjects
- Nighbares (Subject 1-2.99): The natural denizens of this fine seam, they are the apex predators here, as well as one anotherās neighbor (of which they get their namesake). We chose this name for them because when provoked, they attempt to strip their victims bare of anything that isnāt like them, from flesh to secrets, and it is nigh-impossible to escape a swarm of them without some serious firepower, skill, or acumen, of which they have little of the latter. Nighbares are humanoid folks always visible in the peripheral. They can be seen washing cars, mowing laws, waving from porches, and are usually dressed in either 2020ās formal wear (Alpha-Earth time) or 1850ās casual wear (also Alpha-Earth time). The gap in attire is caused by many others ending up in this seam and end up staying, slowly making the nighbares realize theyāre a bit out of date. Do all you can to ignore the nighbares, as if you wave back at them, they freeze (all of them), and stare at you. If you then approach one, their jaws will unhinge and their skin will peel like an orange to reveal something abyssal in nature. Nighbares are extremely strong! However, not as bright. They will attempt to pin you down and begin the stripping process, aiming for the eyes and outer skin first before consuming your face to replace later. After the assault, they will go back to being as polite as they were beforehand.
I saw her erase the note she made on it, but May mentioned wanting to go back to Almost-Home and put one of the nighbares down. The one that looked like her husband, I think. It's very clearly memory molding, but May's convinced that in some ways... or in the ways that matter... it is him.
- Baring Paperboy (Subject 2-2.99): A small boy on a bicycle that rides down the street at a set interval. He shares an appearance with the nighbares, and can sometimes be seen off his bike when no nighbares are nearby waving. He ignores you completely unless you block his path, and I do advise against it unless you enjoy having your eardrums shattered like glass. The little shitā pardon, the little kid can yell quite loudly. Buying some of his newspapers will befriend him to you (you specifically, not your group)! Afterwards, he becomes open to trading with you and may even lead you deeper into the seam. We donāt know where he takes you officially. Do note that all paperboys look the same (unless altering itself to fit a memory, I believe, via memory molding), so keep good track of who you befriended and who really hates you. If a paperboy is nearby during a nighbare attack, unlike the nighbares, the paperboy will remember you and resume the attack himself if he sees you again. Do your best to stay out of the bike lane.
Something else May failed to note, or I guess didn't want to, but a quick update: she took one with us. As far as she could take itā take HIM, sorry, without him leaving the seam. I guess we'll consider him Subject 2.1-2.99. After some arguing, May gave him a dealer outfit and got him sanctioned by one of the higher ups in House Voidseed. Must've been out of pity. Honestly... I don't blame her. The kid memory molded to look like her "sweet little boy" she lost years ago. No shame in falling victim to that effect, but it's been days since we left Almost-Home. She wants to go back. To visit.
Gateways
Iām a woman of honor, so I will admit that getting stuck in this place wasā¦ slightly my fault. If you ask Jax, it was supposed to be āsimple shitā, an easy skip from where we were back to Baseline, but I convinced him to use a new skeleton key I made. It was supposed to be revolutionary. However, when that careless fool turned the lock, he broke it and next thing you know... we're all on a rather nice looking lawn. So yes, slightly my fault, slightly Jax's, however no one could have predicted falling further down instead of to the left!
It WAS supposed to be simple shit! The skip was easy as fuck, she used a prototype key. Y'know what prototype means? It means the door won't just open out, it'll open INWARD, smack you in the face, knock you out, and you'll wake up on a wet lawn. Don't let her downplay it.
Speaking of left, we did so by finding a dead home, for lack of better word, after around three days. A house completely empty and worn down as if it were being repaired. Such a thing did not match any of our memories, it was not nostalgic at allā¦ So we went in, the front door was unlocked, and we returned back to Baseline. Howeverā¦ a small part of me wishes we never found that exit, or at least, I did not open it for them. It was only found after we all stopped wishing we were home, but Godsā¦ I really, really did not want to stop wishing that. It was so nice there. With him.
ā¦After the experience, this turned out to be a wonderful thing. A seam like this so close to Baselineās a blessing, we can most certainly use it to our advantageā¦ or perhaps not, considering how dangerous it is. Ah but I cannot help but to think of all the business opportunities with the nighbares!
Helpful Legal Advice
When opening a gateway or providing the means to get to this place, please tell your group or clients to not enter any house, even if the door is open! Iām not sure what happens if you do, but we did see someone enter and never come out, however we could see them through the window. Acknowledging the nighbares is another no-no, but feel free to acknowledge the fact that they do not exist, even if we both know they do. Itāll be safer for you and future surveyors and travelers that way. And lastly, try your best and focus on something unfamiliar, hateful, or distasteful, like a messy breakupā¦ or a lost husband. Anger and resentment keeps things stable. Nostalgia destabilizes everything... However... in hindsight, this seam may be more dangerous than our data suggest... Ah, never mind!
