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

[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. )

[reydacted]

[ caught too soon. she rolls her eyes, in no mood for his sanctimony. strong words from someone who uses a false name and hid behind a mask. ]

I thought I was supposed to be the naive one. Why would I cooperate with you? You're my enemy.

[ isn't he?

either way, she decides to reject him and the path. too many twists. she sets off straight in one direction. she'll have to hit an edge eventually. ]

[warfares]

We're not at war, here.

( his jaw is aching from how tight he'd clenched it. teeth grinding along teeth.

he says it like he can make this true by sheer force of will. but, she darts away from him, running blindly into the forest, and with a growl that's more predator than man, he gives chase. )

[reydacted]

[ she runs, trying to keep as straight of a path as she can, boots splashing through the water and doing her best to not slip on leaves of trip over woody debris.

it doesn't matter that what he says is true. because she needs it to be. on the other side of a line drawn in the sand is the only place she knows how to keep kylo. to admit differently was to admit that he still had the power to hurt her. but this bait is tempting. what is she to him here, without the galaxy dictating what they should be?

she decides there is one other acceptable solution that they could be. it's breathless, partly as she pants with her full effort to gain ground and partly because it almost has her laughing with the karmic absurdity of it. ]

No-- we're nothing here.

[villagemod]

It will only take around thirty seconds of good sprinting for them to suddenly emerge into a large clearing in the midst of the forest, grass stretching out in front of them for some distance before reaching the ruins of a stone building at the opposite treeline. Most of what remains are the foundational stones, the rest having been worn away by time.

[warfares]

( kylo's attention cuts to rey, lingers there a moment as if to say "well, shit" and then he's moving forward, moving past her, heading toward the ruin. )

[reydacted]

[ it's enough to make rey forget the chase as well, leaving it and the full implications of what she's admitted-- that it's just her holding herself back now --behind as the ruins provide a thankful distraction.

she slows as she approaches, remarking: ]

Is this even the same architecture as the town?

[warfares]

I'm not sure.

( calling it architecture feels generous. once close enough, he drops into a crouch, palms skimming across the stones as if they might be persuaded to give up its secrets.

sadly, he hasn't that particular skill. )

[reydacted]

[ something like this shouldn't throw them back into a tentative truce so easily, but it seems they've reached yet another moratorium on their fighting.

rey circles around the perimeter with a scavenger's eye. ]

Only the houses on the edge of town were decayed. This is far beyond that.

[ that troubles her for some reason. like it's indicative that they're much farther than she would have really guessed. ]

[warfares]

It was probably built earlier than the rest of the town.

( which means that the chances of finding anything useful has sharply decreased. even so, he picks his way through the wreckage, overturning stones and looking for anything out of place. )