Chapter Text
Poppinsville is a weird town, although it looks like any other suburban Maryland town. Townhouses all in a row with fences of various shapes and styles, a local shopping district near the centre of town with local and small businesses, and a larger shopping centre along the main road with a gas station, a Walmart, and far too many fast food restaurants (the Chick-fil-A is on the road out on the other side of town though). However, something is off…
The air seems to bend and twist, and to a newcomer Poppinsville is very unsettling, but the locals justify its comfort. There are way too many stories of local creatures and they're nearly all just accepted as a fact or at least a likely possibility.
In any other town, a Burmese python getting lost in the streets would make it onto the news. In Poppinsville, it’s an average Tuesday. No one questions the fact that someone looks like they haven’t aged a day, it’s just common.
A particular story to tell would be the one office building that faces backwards towards the other. It has a back door no one has seen open, and a large window that faces towards an office. Inside, there is an office table with a chair on either side accompanied by a computer facing towards the chair closest to the wall. A typical solo office setup. The strangest thing is that no one ever sees anyone enter, although sometimes people will just appear in there. One person will already be sitting by the computer, then another will come in, from seemingly nowhere, and sit in the other chair, they’ll talk and complain and then as the one closest to the door is about to leave, the other will give them a red gift bag with a mysterious object inside. Usually, a positive response is given and the person who ‘came in’ person will ‘leave’. Though they go towards the direction of the door, they never actually seem to open it. It also is worth noting how the posters and decor in the room and their outfits change, even down to the hair and glasses on the person at the computer each meeting. On top of all that, some swear both of them look nearly identical, besides things like hair (wigs?) and glasses, but others claim they can’t see it.
However, nothing can touch the house on the hill. Affectionately nicknamed by those who live there - ‘The Statehouse’. It is quite a big house, not quite a McMansion, but close. It always seemed to be bigger on the inside
The people living there seem pretty normal , apart from their discomforting auras and probable immortality. I mean they have normal names, maybe… actually is it Marius or Mary? Cause I’ve heard him refer to himself as Marius but his friends(?) have called him Mary before (is Mary his dead name, or more like a nickname? He does exclusively wear Maryland flag-themed clothes. He’s pretty comforting to be around to be honest.. More than the others in my opinion.) In fact, pretty much all of the people living in ‘The Statehouse’ have alternate names or have been straight-up referred to as US states. Heck! Some have introduced themselves as a US state, even after previously introducing themselves with a normal name.
I guess that’s why there’s a popular theory that they are the US states, or at least personifications of them, all living in the same house. Huh, I guess I’ll subscribe to that theory, it would explain a lot. But if that’s the case, then who's that man in the suit? Gov? Oh! He’s the government. That’s not creepy at all…
Although most of the people look normal enough - that doesn’t mean everything’s alright there. I mean we’re talking about the house that houses the man who owns the constantly escaped Burmese Python. Juan, or Florida… Now he’s pure chaos. With his accomplice, Loui, they are the main reason everyone skips a knock on their door during Halloween. That, and the time Mike with that stuck-up hipster, Cal got stuck in a conversation (read: lecture) about the origins of Halloween. Oh! That and the fact that the gun on Tex’s belt is probably real.
Overall, there’s six reasons off the top of my head to stay away from that house. From the real ass magic Loui can perform, Gov when pissed (who is supposedly that really cold kind of terrifying), York’s bat, Tex’s gun, Cal’s lectures. Oh! And definitely the fact that Alaska could probably kill you, and no one would ever know. Everything about Florida is nightmare fuel. (Seriously, what sane man keeps a gator?! ‘Swamp kitty’ my ass, that thing could seriously kill you! Wait, never mind. Florida is definitely insane.)
I’m still wondering how any ‘healthy treats’ got there that one year though. Eh. There’s approximately 50 people there, I guess it wouldn’t be shocking if one of them was some kind of health freak.