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

[abrightboy]

"It was shortly before he started chloroforming me. My feelings are mixed. But I do love the story," Malcolm said matter-of-factly. He gestured to the shelves Raylan was scanning. "What sort of books do you like?" he asked, picking a few of his books back up from where they'd been set to tuck them under his arm.

[tinstar]

Raylan turned his head to look over at Malcolm like he'd grown a third one. "As in more than once? Think he automatically gets the shitty Dad of the Year award."

Having turned back to the shelf as he spoke, Raylan continued. "Sci-fi. Mystery/horror. King, Asimov, Verne but only 20 thousand leagues under the sea, I never read any of his other books. Gumshow mysteries too, when I can find 'em."

[abrightboy]

"I found one of his victims in our basement; he needed me to forget. But I guess he knew chloroform wasn't a viable longterm solution. I found out recently that he took me on a camping trip around that time with another serial killer that he was mentoring and a plan to kill me."

He riffled through his own little stack of books and held out the Mysterious Island. "This is the sequel to 20000 Leagues Under The Sea. You might like it."

[tinstar]

It was good that Malcolm was holding out a book because Raylan was no longer focused on them and it took a focused blink down at it to jump back to the other side running topic. He took the book and stared at the cover for a minute before looking back up at Malcolm.

"You got a lotta family problems, don't you?"

[abrightboy]

“I... think it would be more accurate to suggest that I have one family problem that has pretty much broken my psyche and ruined my life,” he said evenly.

He gestured to the book.

“You find out what happened to Captain Nemo,” he promised.

[tinstar]

Ryalan stared at Malcolm for a long moment before looking down at the book with a grunt of acknowledgement before he tucked it under his arm.

"You uh.. Wanna take any of these for the house? In case you need something to read?"

Anything that wasn't trying to navigate this clearly confusing and infuriating man that was Malcolm's father.

[abrightboy]

"I'm going to take these," he said, picking up the five books that made up the rest of his pile. "Do you think that's okay?"

[tinstar]

"I think if there's a library lady here, she's gonna have a lot more on her mind then the books that are missing. We're not the only ones." Raylan shook the book a little before setting it down on the table and going back to his idle peruse, even if his mind was otherwise rolling over everything he'd heard.

"I got loaned another book that I gotta finish and hand back too. Quentin reads fantasy. Though I guess his turned out to not be such a fantasy. Still, I think we've all snagged a few books. So long as they all come back.."

[abrightboy]

“Quentin loaned you a book? Did it arrive with him or did he find it here?” Malcolm asked, interested.

[tinstar]

"He found it here. Been correcting it," he said with a brief look over, eyebrows raised like 'how do you like that for a story' before turning back to pull a book off the shelf. "Never much found any on my own that didn't bore me inside the first two chapters, but he seemed pretty enthusiastic about it, considerin' it was part of his thesis to Yale."

Thank god Raylan had gone to collage; the last thing he needed was to feel stupid among the rest, considering everything else.

[abrightboy]

"A...fantasy novel was his thesis to Yale?" Malcolm clarified. He'd been so interested in the magic school Quentin went to instead, he hadn't thought to ask what the man was going to major in.

[tinstar]

"Apparently, it was about the philosophical and moral implications of the beginnings youth-oriented fantasy literature, in his own words. I dunno - I'd read it." And that was saying something.

He glanced over. "Where'd you go to college?" Clearly he had.

[abrightboy]

"Harvard," Malcolm told him. "I did my degree in psychology and then applied to Quantico instead of graduate work." He looked at Raylan. "Did you do a degree before Glynco?"

[tinstar]

"Bachelors in Criminal Justice and Law Enforcement," he replied with a nod as he turned and picked up the book that Malcolm had originally handed him. "They don't just hand out these stars to anyone. University of Kentucky. Not exactly stand-up against Harvard and Yale, but it got me where I needed to go..

Speakin' of, you ready? I don't wanna be in here any longer than we have to be." Not after seeing the back.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm nodded, shifting his books to carry them more easily.

"You know," he said, looking sidelong at Raylan as they stepped outside. "I'm not... one of those people who looks down on the non-Ivy League universities. It's admirable that you chose a career path and you followed it."

[tinstar]

Raylan tucked his own up under his arm so he could shove his hands into his pockets as they stepped back out into the crisp air.

"Good, means you're not a total asshole," he replied as he scanned the horizon and the street again, just in case anything had changed. "Mostly it's got to do with Kentucky itself. It's not exactly high on the academic list of respect for its institutions. Or any other list."

He didn't express the tell of admiration - he didn't know what to do with that either. He was only trying to get himself out of a shitty situation.

"Harvard your choice of school?"

[abrightboy]

"Yeah. I liked their program. I liked the work being done there in criminal psychology, specifically. And I liked that it wasn't in New York."

Not a total asshole. He had a feeling that was high praise from Raylan.

"What's wrong with Kentucky?" he asked curiously.

[tinstar]

He nodded at the answer, eyeing the path ahead before looking down at his boots as they kicked leaves out of the way.

"Same thing that's wrong with New York with the addition of everything that's wrong with Kentucky. Small towns are hard to get out of; the entire state is a gravity well for people to get stuck in."

[abrightboy]

"How did you get out?" he asked impulsively.

[tinstar]

"Collage. My Aunt Helen got the money together to get me up outta the coal mines and onto something better for myself. Saved my life. Without her, I woulda stayed in the mines for the rest of my life." He glanced up at the road, briefly catching Malcolm in it before he looked back down.

"Your father why you choose to get into the field you did?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm shook his head, looking down at the pavement.

"My father's twenty-three plus victims are why I chose to get into this field," he said solemnly.

[tinstar]

Raylan wondered if the men he'd put in the ground would count as victims, regardless of what they'd done.

"Tryin' to make up for his sins hm?" He huffed a little breath. "Son's curse, ain't it... You got more family than him?"

[abrightboy]

"I'm trying to make up for my sins," Malcolm said. "If I would have just.... opened my eyes sooner, I could have saved more of them. As it was, I couldn't even save the one I found," he explained. He took a breath. "My mother and my sister still live in New York," he told him. He looked over. "Are you still in touch with your aunt?"

[tinstar]

Raylan shook his head a little. "Not since we put her in the ground at Arlo's house." He wanted no pity, no sympathies, no apologies and so, said it as casually as anything else.

He looked over. "Didn't you say you were a kid?" he asked, face pinching in confusion. "The fact that you reported anything at all and saved any of 'em is amazin' on its own." That couldn't be the sins he was talking about, surely.

[abrightboy]

"Is it? That's what Gil says too," he allowed. "I was ten. Going on eighty."

He wondered how Raylan's aunt died, but with the look on his face when he skated past it, he wasn't sure he should.