012-014 » even the air itself was grey

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central Mathias.
WHEN: Days 012-014
WHAT: The weather is behaving strangely. Again.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Michael Andrews "Liquid Spear Waltz"

DAYS 012-014
“The overcast skies had the colour of deadened stones, and seemed closer than usual, as though they were phlegmatically observing my every movement with their apathetic emptily blue-less eyes.”
—Simona Panova, “Nightmarish Sacrifice”

Rain has returned to Mathias. While those who remember the storms from nearly two weeks ago may fear reprisal of such tumultuous weather, this rain is far tamer. The cloudy grey skies let loose a steady drizzle that remains constant from start to finish, which is in itself, perhaps, a bit unusual. The patter of droplets against windows, small streams forming in the roads and on grass as the ground becomes saturated, all of it may seem normal to some, but a little too normal to others.

What is without question abnormal, however, is the sun. Though it cannot be seen distinctly behind the thick grey clouds, its light remains as constant as the rain throughout these three days. Hour after hour, regardless of the time of day, there is light in the sky. Unchanging, an inescapable reminder that Mathias is not home, and none who are brought here have any control over what will occur in this place.


NEW ARRIVALS
Once again, more unfortunate souls have been brought to Mathias by unknown means, deposited at the edge of the forest near the empty houses that tell of those who once lived in this strange little town. They may find themselves wandering through the trees until they encounter the strange fog that envelops the town, or stumbling upon the rotting remains of houses that have felt the passage of time more than others.

---

LOCATIONS
LIGHTHOUSE Residents will notice the lighthouse to the north of Mathias, situated on a cliff that is above the town level. Even the most observant individuals will not have noticed it before now, which might be quite unsettling to some. There is no path available to reach the lighthouse at this time, though residents are welcome to try — they will be blocked by fog in the forest and a sense of unease that becomes debilitating if they walk too far along the beach.

NO NEW LOCATIONS are available for exploration at this time. Residents are welcome to further explore available locations, including utilizing AP rewards at locations they may have previously explored.

CONDITIONS UPDATES

— CLOCKS continue to be unreliable. Some may keep irregular time at different rates, while others have ceased to work at all, each having stopped at a different time.

— VOICES are not openly haunting our residents, though they may still be occasionally encountered in the more heavily decayed buildings where some rooms seem to almost swallow whatever light tries to enter them.

— WEATHER conditions are both typical and atypical for late fall. Temperatures consist of chilly "sweater weather" days and nights that can dip below freezing — you don't want to be outside without a coat when the sun goes down. A constant light rain continues for all three days, only stopping on the night of the third day. And for all three days, there is constant cloudy grey sunlight, with the sun unable to be seen and tracked from behind the cloud cover. Darkness will return to Mathias on the third night when the rain stops.

— FOG continues to block the way of those wishing to travel further than the Town Hall, and all who venture into the forest will be met by its impenetrable wall after a few hundred yards. The fog will allow none to pass; those who try will find themselves overcome by fear and panic so intense, they can physically do nothing but flee back the way they came.

OOC UPDATES

— HOUSING LISTINGS now have a permanent home! A few of these may have been missed or information might have changed, so please do submit updates as needed, including if your character moves into a new location or if there are rooms still available at said location.

— NEW PLAYERS are still arriving with each new log, so make sure to keep an eye on our ooc intro post. (An easy way to do this is to track the post — click the bell icon, select More Options, and track when someone makes a new top-level.)

— INFORMATION may publicly be shared between characters at the bulletin board in the town hall. This is meant to be a permanent place for pieces of the Mathias puzzle to be shared and archived to both help information be shared ICly and to allow new players to easily dive into the mystery.

— THE CALENDAR has been updated through the end of the year. With the approaching holiday season, we will continue a lighter log schedule, but as always, players are welcome to create their own logs, conduct intensive investigators, and make more terrible decisions. (The mod is always happy to enable these shenanigans, never hesitate to reach out with ideas.)

QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LOG?

HOUSING DESIGN/EXPLORATION

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Comments

day 13 - library (open)

[reydacted]

[ nothing. there is nothing she can read.

rey sits among a pile of books torn off the shelf, tucked between the stacks and shelves, hidden from view from the main reading area. each one she flips through seems not to yield what she's apparently looking for and it's speedily moved to the growing pile behind her that looks like it's about to topple. while persistent and stubborn, she's been at this for a long time now. frustrated, she leans back and blows out a puff of air through pursed lips when she covers her eyes with folded arms. ]

[abrightboy]

[Until the previous day, when two cowboys helped him find a house to claim, Malcolm had been sheltering at the library. Wandering in town, still suffering the effects of withdrawal and more intense symptoms of the illnesses his medications mitigated, he couldn't sit in that house all day, rain or no rain. He found a raincoat in one of the closets and he pulled it on, the sleeves a little long, perhaps, but it was a fine fit. When he found himself outside the library, he walked up the steps and made his way inside.

He was not expecting to find a woman in the middle of a pile of books, looking like she was maybe going to fight one of them. For all the time he spent curled up in a corner of this place, he'd never seen her.]

Something in particular you're looking for? [He pushed his hood down.] Maybe I can help you look. I'm pretty good with the Dewey Decimal System.

[reydacted]

[ rey starts, surprised that another person had snuck in without her noticing. it's in her nature to have her guard up, but she's trying to not do it as much here. as far as she can tell everyone else is as stuck in this unfamiliar place as she is, and with the exception of the only person from her home, they seem mostly harmless.

she shakes her head, speaking with a light accent. some have called it british even if she's never heard of the place. ]

Is that what they use to catalog the books?

[ rey turns a book in her hands, looking back at the sticker that marked the spine. she recognized the numbers, but this alphabet was ancient. ]

I'm trying to find something written in Aurebesh.

[abrightboy]

Aurebesh. Is that a city or.... [He shrugs expansively.] A... writers' collective?

[reydacted]

It's uhm-- an alphabet?

[ oh yikes. struck out again. so many hear seem to share a common understanding of this planet except for her and kylo. ]

I understand what we're speaking, but the letters-- [ she pauses to hold the book up ] --are completely different. No one writes with them anymore.

[ no one really writes on real paper either but... ]

[abrightboy]

An alphabet? ....Where are you from?

[reydacted]

[ she blows a frustrated breath out through tight lips. another strike out. ]

Not here. Let me guess, you're from Earth.

[abrightboy]

Are you... suggesting you're not from Earth? [Asked delicately.]

[reydacted]

Why is everyone here from Earth?

[ she is mostly mumbling to herself as snaps the book closed, running a hand through her hair before leaning forward to rest her arms on her knees. ]

No. No, I'm not from Earth. I had never even heard of it before I woke up in this town.

[abrightboy]

I'm sorry to hear that. This town looks like a town from Earth. I don't know why they'd choose people from another planet.... Where are you from?

[reydacted]

[ she shrugs. they're stuck here now. it's at least a fitting exile for the other half that washed up on the beach with her. but she's been keeping pretty mum about him unless someone else puts two and two together. ]

I'm really from nowhere. [ jakku was where she grew up but it's not home. never has been but especially not now that she knows how she ended up there. ] We don't really stay on one planet for too long right now.

[abrightboy]

....Who's 'we'? [He's a curious person.]

[reydacted]

Oh-- just, uhm. You know. The people I travel with.

[ she waves her hand around sort of generally. the temptation of being a nobody again is tempting, when the alternative is explain an entire galactic war with the leader of her enemy also here. and she is just letting him live his life.

yeah, being a nobody seems like the better deal right now. ]

We're sort of transient. Like... traders.

[hellblaze]

[ john sulks in at one point, slowly sitting in another seat of the reading area, hunched over. his shoulders are high and he lets out a long sigh, unlit cigarette on his lips. normally he doesn't need to debate on lighting one up, but, he's just trying to focus on just keeping himself contained. its been a rough two weeks, and it isn't going to get better.

he looks over at the woman blowing dust off the books and raises an eyebrow. someone is still looking, huh? good for them. ]

[reydacted]

[ rey isn't caught off guard this time when she hears and sees another man come into the library. she glances up from the next book she's inspecting, giving him a curious look as she tilts her head.

he doesn't look great. her voice, when she speaks, carries a light accent. ]

You alright?

[hellblaze]

Oh, yeah. Bloody fine. [ he mumbles it around his cigarette. That means it's opposite. ] Stuck in a town with no way to learn much of anything.

[ john sighs and gestures at what she is looking at. if anything she sounds like someone born in england but is well traveled. though, he has his doubts given her demeanor. ]

You find anything in those books?

[reydacted]

[ rey nods sympathetically, sighing as she leans back set just behind her. ]

Well. I'm having a little problem in that I can't read them. This isn't an alphabet I recognize.

[hellblaze]

[ that makes him pause. john looks back at her, eyebrows raised as if to say 'seriously?' he sighs, standing up and walking over to her with the cigarette remaining unlit. a few strides later and he is standing beside rey, looking down at the book. ]

You can't read English. [ he tilts his head at her. ] Yet, here you are, speaking it.

[reydacted]

English... We're speaking Basic.

[ she holds the book open to him to confirm. ]

We call this 'High Galactic.' It's another way of transcribing the language Basic, but it's fallen out of practice. Along with parchment too. [ she flips the book back, running her thumb over the pages. it really is a marvel. ] These would be in a museum where I'm from.

[hellblaze]

[ english.... basic. funny name for the language, but, the multiverse can vary drastically despite only being a single vibration away from one another. he looks at the book, raising an eyebrow at her. ]

We call that English in my reality. Both spoken and ah, written, as it is. [ he reaches over to grab a pen and paper that someone left on the table eons ago, scribbling his name on the paper and holding it up to her: john constantine. ] Suppose this is 'High Galactic' as well then?

[reydacted]

Yup. [ she nods in affirmation. ] High Galactic.

[ she stands, taking another piece of paper (it was so abundant here!). without knowing it, she too is writing her name. it's just three script runs when she holds it up. ]

And this is Aurebesh. Resh-Esk-Yirt. Rey.

[hellblaze]

Suppose that's your name then - Rey.

[ he gestures if he can take the paper, then writes how her name sounds to him. rey. then, another gesture to the paper that he wrote on. ]

John Constantine. [ that might be a bit harder in her known language. ] The surnames a bit ancient.

[reydacted]

[ she takes the paper back with her name written in the two alphabets, examining it. she thinks they are one-to-one for letters which is a comfort. maybe it won't be impossible to wrap her mind around a different system.

she shrugs at the comment about his surname. it's all... well, english to her. ]

I'm just Rey. No family name.

[hellblaze]

[ looks like it might be time to find a hooked on phonics book. ]

Lucky you. [ john takes a seat beside her, the cigarette in his mouth coming to life on its own. cheap magic is working so far. ]

Looks like you could use a bit of help in your studies. What is it you're looking for?

[reydacted]

[ sorry john, rey-- who grew up in the absence of an obligation to social niceties --has no problem ignoring his question. what's she's looking for likely isn't here.

what's more interesting than that is his trick. ]

How'd you do that?