010 » something wicked this way comes

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: ???
WHEN: Day 010
WHAT: Spooks happen. Some sanity loss may occur. (More on that next week!)
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Thank you so much for your patience with this! My Friday was much busier
than expected, so I'm very sorry for the lateness on getting these out to you all.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Gyuki"

DAY 010
“We make up horrors to help
us cope with the real ones.”
—Stephen King
The day dawns but few wake to see it. Only one, who has been exempt from the strange happenings about to unfold. She will face a day like any other, a farce of normality in an utterly abnormal universe — but she will face it alone. For none who will experience these strange happenings are to be found in the town until the next morning dawns. Each has been taken, whisked away to another layer of the town, peeled back and exposed like a raw nerve.

Mathias screams and there are none who can hear it.


THE DETAILS
Each exploration, encounter, and revelation happen separately from one another. Though some may include the same locations, none will overlap in time or space. The circumstances laid out in each prompt are exclusive to that situation — do not assume the answers someone else received will also apply to you.

Players may ask questions as they normally do for logs, but these should be kept as part of the designated thread. You may create a subthread under your header for questions, or intersperse them with your "tags". Your responses may be formatted as IC tags or as a more OOC "telling" what your character does rather than showing.

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DAY 011
All characters involved in this event will wake on the morning of Day 011 in the exact location where they began to sleep on Day 009, but they will find themselves covered in a layer of dust just as thick as that which had covered much of Mathias. The dust does not extend to their surroundings.

The memories of what they encountered or saw remain clear in their minds, no matter how impossible they might seem. Sights, sounds, smells, all may be recalled with crystalline clarity, even if they wish it were otherwise.

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Comments

[warfares]

I don't know.

( he manages to sound calm as he says it, which is good, because descending into a state of panic isn't going to do either of them any good. he blows out an annoyed breath all the same, longing for his lightsaber ㅡ if nothing else, he could use it to mark a path when they eventually decided on their route.

ㅡ which gives him another thought.

stepping off the path, he drops to his haunches, picking through the carpet of leaves in search of stones. something larger, maybe. sharper. anything that can gouge the wood properly. )

But I think that it's more likely that we're in the forest surrounding the town than we are somewhere else.

[reydacted]

[ that's her instinct too, but can they really be sure? especially with no evidence of how they woke. she stands again, hands on her hips while her eyes blink up at the sky. if the sun was out, she'd at least be able to orient themselves. she's learned moves from east to west, and she's got enough energy to walk a couple klicks and back if needed. ]

We should split up and scout. Count our paces and then meet up again.

[ rey has never seen a horror holodrama. ]

[warfares]

( for a moment he seems to consider it, but then he shakes his head. )

If we had provisions, maybe. ( because even in the best case scenario they're probably looking at wandering for a few hours. )

Better to pick a direction. Stick together. Eventually we're bound to find signs of life.

[reydacted]

I've done okay with less.

[ it's not meant as a brag or a jab, but a plainly stated fact of her reality. she doesn't think she is going to win this, and has the feeling he's been emboldened rather than discouraged by their little chase the other night. they'd lose the day to either fighting or chasing, and he'd probably sling her over his shoulder this time and it doesn't seem nearly as comfortable. she raises her hands to yield, turning to start down the path. she doesn't look over her shoulder to check if he follows, she knows he will. ]

[warfares]

( he's about to tell her that 'now's really not the time' but she cedes, and he's surprised enough that he doesn't press the matter further.

rather he plucks up one of the most promising bits of grit — the stone smaller than he'd have liked but with a wicked point. workable — and then he's following after her. long legs eat up the ground until they're even, kylo tucked against her side.

after a few moments he'll pause to mark their passage, digging the stone into the bark of one of the nearby trees. )

[reydacted]

[ her elbows brush against his, and she bristles at it, sidestepping to put distance between them. they've gotten much too familiar with each other much too fast. really just her, letting herself be coaxed into enjoying the appeal of a warm body on a cold night, inexcusable no matter how many arguments she made about utility. even she knows that if that was true she wouldn't have fled as soon as she woke in the morning.

his cloak is still tucked under her bed. she should probably return that.

(but maybe she'll keep it, this planet's climate really leaves something to be desired. ]

They all say they're from here-- Not the town, but Earth.

[warfares]

Earth is a terrible name for a planet.

( but he'd heard something similar ㅡ noticeably from claire novak, who had the sense to at least seem a little apologetic about it. )

[reydacted]

It's the only one they occupy. Their moon is moon. Sun is sun. They call it the Sol System.

[ this is a much more comfortable line of conversation. they are so kriffing stranded. and she thought jakku was in the middle of nowhere. ]

Everything's in High Galactic. [ a pause, and then a confession, keeping her eyes forward as to not betray the fact that it makes her feel at a distinct disadvantage compared to everyone else. ] I can't read it.

[warfares]

Must be an old colony.

( humanity did have that tendency to spread like balmorran flu when left unchecked. although that didn't really tell them much more than the fact that at some point, likely millennia ago, some bored coruscanti decided to go on an extended vacation somewhere in the unknown regions and never made it back.

his head tilts at her admission, looking at her, then away again before she can catch him and draw the wrong conclusions. )

I could teach you. Though that would require your willingness to share space with me for longer than a few moments, and I know how much you enjoy that.

[villagemod]

The path they follow twists and winds through the trees that are so thick they cannot see the path beyond each turn. After a few minutes, they'll come to a fork, with one path curving to the right and the other to the left.

[reydacted]

[ his offer makes her bristle. she resents the implication that she has anything but the very best of reasons to want to stay away with him. not to mention she hasn't forgotten the last time he offered to teach her something.

thankfully, the path forces her to focus on a different decision.

neither seems more correct than the other. glancing between the two she decides to at least keep track of where they've been in case they have to double back. before the split, she digs her heel into the ground, trying to sweep all the leaves and debris out of the way. she grabs a stick and carves an aurek into the path. left receives one tick mark and right gets two. she underlines them having apparently decided that they'll take the right path. ]

So we can double back if we need to.

[warfares]

( surprise gives way to something more pleasant. amused, he shakes his head, and wonders what anyone might make of the symbols rey scratches into the earth. )

Clever. ( although it doesn't answer the more immediate question: which path to choose. he casts his senses outward, seeking, but the force remains frustratingly silent.

he folds his arms across his chest, head tilting. )

Have you noticed how quiet it is?

[reydacted]

Yes.

[ both physically and often through the force, but the latter is often a relief. it unburdens her, creating distance from her own destructive power. it's almost like it was before it was awakened...

but she isn't about to talk about that with him of all people. she's not going to openly admit her struggles when she's still got the comfort of deniability, eyes searching the forest for one last counter point to her statement. ]

There's no animals. Not even insects. I wanted to try and go fishing but I'm not sure there's even anything in the ocean. An odd place to settle, but I suspect it hasn't always been like that.

[warfares]

No, I expect not. Which begs the question: what could be so terrible as to drive everything away?

( nothing good, obviously. and judging by the fog that enshrouded so much of the town and its neighbouring surroundings, nothing natural either.

he doesn't wait for her answer. rather, after surveying the fork a second time, he decides to pick a route at random and begins to head down the rightmost path. )

[reydacted]

[ and they must have been driven away right? no bodies was comforting and unnerving at the same time.

she walks in time with him, no suggestions to split the party now. effort really is better spent walking, or if they need to, making shelter later. she's silent again as they walk, head up and scanning, always scanning, but her mind is somewhere else.

everyone else seems to have been randomly picked, from this planet of course but scattered throughout it. no one is connected except for... ]

Everyone else that I've talked to has come alone.

[ she's hoping to hear otherwise from him, but there's no ignoring their connection if even time and space won't break it. ]

[warfares]

And it troubles you, being here with me.

( one needn't be a mind reader to recognise that. and he understands, is the thing. they're at war. they should be tearing this place apart trying to murder each other.

it'd be so much simpler if they were trying to murder each other.

instead, they seem to have settled into an uneasy tolerance of each other. too fraught to be considered a real truce. )

[reydacted]

Yes.

[ she shocks herself even with that honesty. perhaps he's rubbing off on her. she doesn't love that.

as if the forest heard her plea for another topic, they wind around another twist to find a second fork. she carves besh into the dirt, more tick marks on both the right and the left. ]

Pick.

[warfares]

Liar.

( there's no bite to it, though. it has the feel of something that's een said out of habit more than any real desire ㅡ a reflex.

he spends a moment considering, brows furrowed as if trying to will an answer to announce itself. the fork looks more or less identical to the last. whatever choice he makes they'll be blind. then, blowing out a frustrated breath, he jerks his head to the left. )

[reydacted]

[ she squints, flashing a contrasting look. it feels odd to act out this pattern without all the stakes.

maybe she should change that.

she eyes the right path before acquiescing. ]

Go on then.

[ she definitely isn't planning on going down the other path. not at all. ]

[warfares]

( rey's ready agreement should've been a red flag. as it stands, he allows himself to think that they might finally be making progress.

in retrospect perhaps it was a little too much to hope for. )

[reydacted]

[ she manages to delay long enough without suspicion. killing time by scraping mud off her boots while he puts a bit of distance between them.

her light steps are practiced from a lifetime of trying to sneak away from danger.

she takes the right. ]

[warfares]

( it doesn't take him long to realize that she hasn't followed. he casts his senses, again, wider this time, and is met by more of that oppressive silence.

she could be masking herself. she'd done so before ㅡ and, by all accounts, was quite adept at the skill if his months of chasing her had been any indication. it would be a cruel trick to play, considering.

fingers lift to rub at the bridge of his nose, a frustrated breath whistling through his teeth. he allows himself a moment to entertain the thought of leaving her to her fate and continuing on his own path. just a moment.

then, he turns and starts retracing his steps. )

[villagemod]

As they follow the paths, either alone or together, they will eventually notice something familiar. A particular tree, a collection of rocks, a certain unusual mark in the dirt... They are traveling in circles, whether intended or not.

[reydacted]

[ cresh. cherek. dorn. she marks her path with precision even if the letters are drawn with progressive nastiness in the dirt, telling herself it's for her to keep track and not a map to be followed. the force eludes her, so she can't be sure if kylo is stalking her through the forest. but she suspects he is. she jogs at a clipped pace in bursts, balancing the need to maintain her stamina with the need to maintain distance. physical and otherwise.

another fork ahead. she jogs to it, her mouth falling open as she comes upon it.

aurek.

with a frustrated grunt she breaks her stick and tosses it into the forest. ]

[warfares]

So good to see that you remain the same duplicitous liar. ( he might be a little annoyed.

it's his own kriffing fault, of course. he'd allowed himself to be lulled into complacency despite every instinct he possessed railing against it. she'd lied before. beautifully, too. and fool that he was, he'd believed her.

had gone willing. )