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]

Malcolm considered them both, pivoting in place to look at one and then the other.

"Six has more windows facing seven, if we're looking to keep an eye on it," he offered.

Hooks and fasteners. Right. He would probably need something like that as a permanent solution... were they thinking of this place as 'permanent'? He supposed they had to, with no way out.

[tinstar]

"Fair enough," he said, gesturing that way as he turned and headed towards it himself. "The little blonde girl used to live here - Claire. Twenty if she's a day. She was here last night. Might find this place with no useable chairs, considerin' when I saw her those first few days. You get to meet her?"

[abrightboy]

"Blonde named Claire. I don't.... think so. I've only met one woman here. At the party last night. I was on my third glass of the moonshine; I don't remember her name." A beat. "I don't actually even know if she was real, to be honest."

[tinstar]

"What'd she look like?" The question came as he stepped up onto the porch and tested the door, finding it closed but not locked, and opening it into the living room with a look around and a pause in his stride.

He gestured Malcolm in behind him as he continued. He didn't expect to find anything in the house, but he wanted to clear it just to be sure.

"Anyone home?" he called out, accent drawing out with it.

No answer.

[abrightboy]

"Um. Brunette. About my height. She got into an argument with John later," he noted. "I think they're in a relationship. Or I hallucinated him in the sort of relationship my brain thinks he'd be in. Basically: a contentious one."

[tinstar]

"Zed," Raylan supplied as he stuck a head into the kitchen and looked around before glancing back. "I saw that argument too. He loves her, won't say it for some stupid bullheadish reason. They're both real. She's apparently a Dreamer, a.. A psychic I guess. Saw him in some dreams, came to find him."

He moved onto the next room.

"Artist though. Maybe we can talk her into drawin' a map.."

[abrightboy]

"Zed," he said, snapping his fingers. "That's right."

He followed Raylan through the house with a mild glance around each room. He was interested in the layout of the bedrooms. They hadn't come across one; they must have been on the second floor.

The patio stood out as they passed the french doors, though.

"That's a nice space," he said, gesturing to it.

[tinstar]

"I do love me a porch," he admitted. "I don't think we'll find anything upstairs but.. Pay attention to the pictures. You'll find the one I was talkin' about, the group photos."

He didn't ask if Malcolm wanted to lead the way, taking it himself with a stride.

"You feelin' that moonshine from last night or are Doc and I the only ones to suffer?"

[abrightboy]

"It's hard to tell," he admitted. "I've had a headache and nausea and blurriness all week. But. I don't see how it could possibly not. I'm not accustomed to a large amount of alcohol."

"How many bedrooms are there?" he asked as they got to the second floor. "I need the one farthest from... the others. And the street."

[tinstar]

"You hold it well...I don't know but judging by all of these damned doors, plenty for you to choose from. Don't know that any of 'em are any further from the rest but.." He gestured in invitation as he headed towards the door in front of them.

"Found the bathroom. Two sinks. Not bad."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm moved past the other doors to try the door at the very end.

A modestly sized bedroom.

“I’ll take this one,” he said, looking it over.

[tinstar]

Raylan nodded and headed toward what turned out to be the Master bedroom. "We'll let Doc pick his spot when he gets here, I'll take whatever is left. Or my chair. Which is still comin'."

With a deep breath and an adjustment of his hat, he stepped back into the hall. "It'll do well enough for livin'. Ain't got much to bring over. What do you wanna do about your suit?"

[abrightboy]

He looked over. "I'll... try handwashing it in the bathroom sink," he said.

He and Doc weren't sharing? Don't let that be so damned interesting, Malcolm.

"Um. Why would you sleep in a chair? There are lots of beds."

[tinstar]

He nodded again. "I'll bring it over too then. Let you ruffle around for somethin' clean and better fittin'."

Just for curiosity's sake, Raylan walked into the last bedroom to have a look, stepping in and opening the closet doors as Malcolm asked. "And none of 'em my own, in a place I don't trust. First 6 or so days, I ran on all of two hours a night, broken in that chair. Wasn't til the seven that I collapsed at John's house. Hell, I'm surprised you slept at all, considering your anxiety issues."

He looked over. "Why would you sleep in the library?" There were plenty of beds. It wasn't accusatory or stabbing, just a friendly echo. He headed back towards the door of the room. "Make yourself comfortable, find somethin' that fits. Go find your hardware. Pretty sure I saw a handscrew in onna these garages, if you can only find larger gauge."

He patted Malcolm on the shoulder and headed back towards the stairs.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looked at the floor when Raylan mentioned the library. He hadn't slept there. He'd sheltered there. The previous night was his first actual sleep and only with the help of copious quantities of alcohol. Still, he nodded at the subsequent instructions, turning and wandering back towards the bedroom as Raylan headed down the stairs.

[tinstar]

A few minutes later had Raylan stepping back up onto 1307's porch, still fully expecting to see Doc sitting there where they'd left them. The 'House Hunt' hadn't taken long at all, maybe ten or so minutes since they hadn't bothered to go to 1308, so Raylan expected a little bit of helping work before they got to the moving work.

[thering]

They hadn't been gone long at all so Doc hadn't gotten very far. He cleared out the food and did the dishes while finishing his gasoline coffee. They're still wet on the rack, designated as a task for later when he does a round of the house and picks up all the empty bottles. The broken glass got swept up and wrapped in some dusty old newspaper.

Other than that, the empty bottles are still lying around and a few articles of clothing that could not possibly belong to them are still strewn here and there. Evidence of Malcolm's patching up haven't been cleared away yet so the water is still there and the first aid kit is open, devoid of bandages.

"I take it there was not a sex shop," he quips when he turns his head over his shoulder while placing nearby bottles into the sink and spots the brim of a white hat to accompany those footsteps. No second pair of footsteps, so Malcolm must be getting settled down in the new place.

"We should take turns keeping an eye on him." A man needs some space but he can't be running around like that again. "Least until we are sure he won't do that again."

[tinstar]

"I come free of fleshlights, lubes or whips," he joked with a smile as he ambled in, shrugging off his coat to toss over the back of a chair before squatting down to tend to the first aid kit. One of these random piece of clothes would be sacrificed for it's cleaning up, in a minute.

"Honestly Doc," he said, grunting softly as he stood up and set the now closed and latched kit on the counter, leaning on hip against it. "I don't think there there's gonna be a time we ain't sure he does somethin' like that. I can see why he's on meds, even if I don't understand the clinical side of it. Help means either we find him his drugs or we start doin' a.. slow burn kinda therapy, moment to moment. I don't exactly got my licence in mental health and I don't suppose they were handin' them out when you were around." He nodded as he glanced down briefly. "But I think you're right. We can do four on, four off, if that works for ya. I'd rather give up a few hours of sleep then wake up to this again."

[thering]

"Flashlights? Huh." Who knew they sold flashlights at a sex shop. For finding the keys to those cuffs you might have dropped in the dark maybe.

"Story I heard was, back in the day when the boys didn't come back right from the war, waking up screaming thinking they were getting attacked and hurting people for no reason, wild look in their eyes, some folks just took 'em out back and put 'em down. Said they ain't never coming back from the war, called it a mercy." Of course a lot of things have changed since the Civil War but, no. He'd rather scour every inch of Mathias for medication than have to do anything too vigorous with a hemp necktie or a butter knife.

"I'm not sure I can count to four, but we'll work it out." Four hours that is. Time passes strangely here and he doesn't trust any of the clocks.

"He alright, you leaving him alone? He seems to... find your company reassuring."

[tinstar]

Raylan chuckled but let the mishearing pass. Better to not break the old man with the perversion of the newer age. As Doc continued, Raylan got the spare clothes and draped it over the spills, encouraging them to absorb with his boot toe.

"No one's puttin' him down like he's some mad pig. He's not that kinda crazy. Sane enough in the daylight. You ever seen a hog gone mad?" Raylan shook his head. "Only danger he is, is to himself."

Leaving the shirt to do it's work, Raylan started picking up empty bottles, as many as he could fit into the crook of his fingers. "He's a grown man. Had to have made it this far by taking care of himself for a little while. Nice enough, but a little too talkative for my headache. We gotta make sure we grab up his suit too. Gonna handwash it in a sink or somethin'." He looked over at Doc. "I don't know why he's.. reassured by me. But if it makes things easier, I'm not gonna argue against it."

[thering]

Malcolm would probably balk at being compared to a hog. He seems like the kind of gentleman who... would know what half the stuff in Zelda's Beauty Supplies are supposed to be used for.

Doc used to run a bordello back in the day and he overheard all the ladies gossiping over all the little details they would pick up on. Coupled with thousands of hours spent at a poker table and all he can say is it's a damn shame the Marshal isn't picking up on the cues. Even if it does make for a bit of entertainment.

"My guess? Probably because you were good to him in the lighthouse." And he won't say anything else about the matter. Wiping the kitchen counter down after all the bottles are cleared, Doc checks the cupboards for anything they might want to bring over to the new place. No point letting food and supplies just sit around here.

"You can take his suit. I'll take the chair." He's got his own bag of things he had acquired over the past week or so where he'd taken the first aid kit out of, but otherwise he's traveling light.

"We'll come back for the uh... well. We should bring the shine with us. We have enough empty bottles to be making more anyway and no point leaving it all here."

[tinstar]

It wasn't that Raylan didn't notice. It was only that his mind didn't jump to any serious consideration of anything with a dick wanting to get close to him. It wasn't the first time a sexual act had been subtly proposed, but Raylan remained firmly, willfully ignorant of how deep the implication might go.

"The man needed help," he responded with a shrug, as though that was reason enough. "It might not have been a mine, but the feelin' of being trapped was." You don't leave people behind.

He nodded at Doc's direction. "If you think you can manage all the doors with it. I ain't got anythin' other than a shirt and a couple of books, leaves plenty of room for bottles. I'll set these in the bathroom for fillin' later."

Which he headed off directly to do. There seemed to be a duffle in every closet of some size or shape and Raylan found one to cram the suit, his shirt and books into. Only one bottle was tucked into it - he wasn't going to chance anyone breaking.

"You think a second batch won't be a problem? I don't know what our fundamental goods are lookin' like," he continued as he stepped back out into the living room, duffle in hand.

[thering]

Tell you what though. If Doc ever got trapped in a mine he would lose his shit faster than Malcolm has even if he's only screaming on the inside.

"I'll be fine." He ducks in to the bedroom he'd been occupying and shoves the first aid kit into his own bag before bringing it out and leaving it on top of Raylan's prized chair. The shine can wait for their second trip. Doc's gotten some basic cooking supplies out of the pantry as well so it might make them feel a little better that they're making a second trip for other things beyond just a big crate of alcohol.

"We do need more yeast, but it's stocked in the store. Might take my time with this one." Now that they have at least a dozen bottles to tie them over, there isn't the same level of urgency. And while he's not going to make some kind of experimental organic hipster brew, a couple of steps that he'd rushed through the first time he can probably go slow now. He can probably make a bigger batch too, since he's got the time to be making extra cornmeal from scratch.

Going to the front door, he pulls one of the outdoor chairs over to hold it open so they can just move in and out more easily.

"Presume you two picked somewhere nearby? You came right back real quick."

[tinstar]

If Doc said it, it must be so. Raylan hung back so Doc could step back in for the chair, which Raylan really thought he oughta be carrying but they'd already sorted that out.

"If takin' your time will result in something even fractionally less harsh, my throat will be eternally grateful. 'Sides, I think the only dedicated drinkers-" He wasn't going to say Alcoholic. -"are you, me and John. Who knows how those kids are feelin' this mornin'." The curl of his shit eating grin gave his estimation of how they'd fare.

"Yeah, just next door. Figured, with both on either side bein' empty, we had our choice. Malcolm pointed out 1306 has more windows lookin' onto this place than 1308. Three bedrooms uptop, he's already picked his. You pick yours, I'll take whatever's left. It's got a garage too, though I ain't looked into it yet."

[thering]

Yeah. Dedicated. That's one way of putting it.

The chair isn't too heavy, but it is bulky, so he's taking it slow when he's picked it up. Probably wouldn't bother him too much if he left the Hiranos with a souvenir scratch on the door or doorframe, but he wouldn't like to put the chair through an unnecessary beating. The moonshine brewing operation will be doing worse things to the place.

He would say he's not too fussy, but he will move things around a room so it doesn't feel too cramped, and he likes having some light pouring in even if he would never admit to pitch black darkness unsettling him.

"We already have the lay of the land here," Doc agrees. "No sense in venturing too far." And that has the added bonus of not having to lug the chair too far either.

"I did always like the sound of a garage, though we have nothing to put or do in it," he admits quietly with a small smile. There's a light rain once they've stepped off the porch so he doesn't linger too long, moving briskly towards 1306.

"Is it too late in the morning to be trying to get some shut eye in?" he laments while hovering outside the front door.