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 didn't know that whatever he felt was reaching for Raylan wasn't in his own head: a reaction to the weird energy of the place. But there was no need for anyone to stand in a ruin. He was easily steered away from it by Raylan.

"What do you think?" he asked, leaning to look over Raylan's arm at the screen.

[tinstar]

It didn't matter, it played into Raylan's head as much as it did in Malcolm's.

"I think we got some possibilities and not a lotta hope beyond waiting to see. At least three of these spots - here - here, and here," he said, moving the picture around, "Are good possibilities. Btu we still can't get there." He frowned at the picture for a moment more before handing the phone back.

"Be careful with your battery. Unless you got a charger hidden somewhere."

Needing something to do, Raylan sighed out of his nose and eyed Malcolm's previous nest. "Is that where you stayed?"

[abrightboy]

"I keep one in my inside jacket pocket," he told Raylan. "I use my phone for everything. I have some heavy duty nitrile gloves and a penlight too."

He followed Raylan's gaze to the cushions and the overturned table, looking a little mortified.

"Oh. Yeah. I didn't think it was a good idea to be outside at night. But I didn't want to sleep. I figured... if there were a lot of books, I'd have something to do to keep me up."

[tinstar]

Raylan gave him a look, honestly surprised at that. "You a Boy Scout or something? Damn." It made him wonder what kind of charger Malcolm had.. And if it'd fit his phone.

"Let's clean that up before we got perusing. Unless you want people askin' questions about the fort that's been erected."

[abrightboy]

"Never know when I'll get called to a crime scene," he said with a shrug.

At the mention of the nest, Malcolm looked over at it.

"Oh. Yeah. I guess I don't... need it anymore," he conceded, stepping over to pull the table upright.

[tinstar]

He bobbed his head in concession and followed to help right the table, moving over to the books to pick them up and investigate what kind of titles Malcolm had busied himself with.

"Gotta say that I'm glad there's at least a library here. If they're not going to give us whiskey or answers, at least we have entertainment."

[abrightboy]

There was a selection of classic titles. Dumas. Verne. Wells. Entertainment.

"Yeah, I guess I gravitated to it for the familiarity," Malcolm acknowledged. Books had been a companion of his even before his father was arrested. They never judged you.

[tinstar]

"These aren't light names," he said as he stood up and glanced around the library. "You think books put themselves back at night or not?" Without waiting for an answer, Raylan started sticking the books in random spots, eager to come back later to see if the library reorganized itself.

"I started readin' when I was young to get away from the noise of the house," he offered as he emptied his hand to the last, turning to stare at the cushions. "Better than listenin' to the noise of Arlo and Francis argue.. 'Course, I was readin' Hardy Boys and Stephen King at that point. Whatever fiction that I could.. Treasure Island, some Issac Asimov."

[abrightboy]

"I read Treasure Island when I was a kid," Malcolm said, brightening. "And I had alllll the Hardy Boys books. My mother thinks I didn't get into crime solving until after my father was arrested, but I always liked mysteries."

[tinstar]

"They're good for keepin' a brain busy," he agreed with a pull of a smile. "Where'd you get these from?" Once he was directed towards where Malcolm found the cushions, he'd start chucking them that way.

"You went from Hardy Boys to Dumas. Pretty big jump."

[abrightboy]

As the cushions were tossed back over to the chairs in the reading corner, Malcolm smiled weakly.

"My dad used to read it to me. He'd even... act bits of it out."

[tinstar]

"I'd say that's cute except for the whole him turnin' into a serial killer. Least your daddy did somethin' nice for you, that ain't nothin'," he said as he started perusing the shelves, looking for something to take home with him.

[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?"