villagelogs | 018-020 » what he hides

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018-020 » what he hides

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central/Western Mathias.
WHEN: Days 018-020
WHAT: The fog recedes!
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Graham Plowman "Edge of Darkness"

DAYS 018-020
THE HIDDEN REVEALED
“Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead.”
— Benjamin Franklin

As the sun rises in the distance above the sea, the fog slips away from the unsettling town, winding through streets and across buildings until it is nestled soundly in the forest. There it waits, ready to snare any who dare test its limits — residents would do well to remember what happened the last time they encountered the fog so intimately.

With the fog receded, the western portion of Mathias is now revealed and available for exploring. There are more businesses on the town square and even some on the street that runs off the square. The schoolhouse is nestled by the southern treeline, not from the little makeshift cemetery at the end of Jackson Boulevard that is courtesy of a few kind residents in town. To the far north of the square is a sprawling garden, now covered in snow, and a greenhouse that once supplied the botanical shop. And to the west, beyond the square, is another residential district of the same size as that to the east. What is different, however...

These buildings are all in some form of decay. From the beginnings of rot to completely collapsed and little more than a pile of proverbial bones, none of these homes are anything resembling livable. Well, as far as one can tell, at least. For between the streets of Hill Lane and Stine road there is a crack in the earth. A dozen feet across and fifty feet down, the crack extends from one side of the forest to the other, either end cut off by the fog. The view to the other side is clear but there is no way across.

THE NEW ARRIVALS
There are quite a few new faces in Mathias on this day. Awaking throughout Day 018, they will find themselves laying in the snow beside that unsettling crack in the earth, houses both quaint and decaying surrounding them as the snow begins to cover their bodies. Best get inside and warm up, dears.

SPECTRES IN THE NIGHT
The days are short now that winter seems to have set in unseasonably early. Though the clocks in Mathias fail to properly keep time or sometimes even work at all, the sun rises around 8:00am and sets at 5:00pm. There is far more darkness than light in these days, but in that darkness there is, in fact, light.

In the distance all across Mathias, there are lanterns lit against that darkness. Their lights dance across the snow, the warm flickering shining like tiny stars and offering an almost ethereal glow to the crisp white snow. It would be a beautiful sight to behold... if it weren't for the shadowy figures that held them. With partially raised arms, the figures hold the lanterns and walk the streets of Mathias, drifting in between buildings and disappearing into the forest. Still yet, there are some that simply stand in place, as if waiting for something or someone.

No matter where or when these figures are seen, they always seem to be facing away from our residents, and attempts at reaching them are all for naught. They will fade from view if one gets too close, and return to sight when that distance is regained. And in the morning, those lanterns may be found in the snow, their lights extinguished but their glass somehow still warm.

STRANGER IN THE SNOW
Those investigating the western part of Mathias and venturing near that inexplicable crack in the earth will have the most unsettling feeling of being watched. Most of the time, there is nothing there and no one to be seen, but then—

On the other side of that expanse, sitting on a porch, in the shadow of a home, or standing in the oddly moonlit street, there is a man. His features are shrouded in darkness and not much can be discerned about him, but instinct tells you he is dangerous. There is a sense deep in your bones that he is maliciously amused.

He makes no move to speak, nor will he respond to any attempts on your part. Instead, he sits, or he stands, and he watches. By the end of Day 020, all sign of him will be gone, along with the eerie feeling of being watched.

LOCATIONS

Unless otherwise noted, all new locations have working electricity and other utilities.

BENEDICT BOOKS Nestled quaintly on the square surrounding the Town Hall, a thick layer of dirt covering the front windows. A portrait hangs at the front of the store to illustrate the namesake of the little shop... that may, in fact, not be so little. Dust covers everything in sight and detritus litters the wooden floor, as if someone left the door open and allowed half the forest inside. (more info)

MATHESON ANTIQUES Also on the town square is an antique store that is a lesson in chaos more than culture. The items within are stacked haphazardly, creating narrow aisles running throughout the space. Furniture, light fixtures, old revolutionary and civil war memorabilia, all of it is jumbled together with no rhyme or reason. Indeed, one wrong move could create an avalanche of aged wood and peeling paint.

POE'S CLOTHES Located on the town square, this shop carries only the basics. Loose jeans in a few sizes, khakis, solid color dress shirts and blouses, flannel in various styles, socks and underwear.

SPIN RIGHT ROUND RECORDS On the square across from the beauty store, the music shop is as dusty as everything else in this town has been. Tables line the walls of the long shop, filled with rows and rows of vinyl records, while a few wall shelves display cassette tapes for sale. One side of the store is for New items, while the other holds the Used section with items for resale. Residents may recognize some of the artists but many are unfamiliar to them.

CLINIC Outside the decayed, crumbling building just north of the square is a still miraculously intact sign with the name of the clinic's doctor, Dr. Ken Suzuki. There is no way to treat patients in this location, but with care, some salvageable supplies may yet be found in the remains.

BARKER BOTANICALS Not quite a flower shop and not entirely an apothecary, the botanical store to the far north of the square is something of an amalgamation of both. With a few broken windows to let in the rain, parts of the shop have been overtaken by nature, the house plants growing beyond their pots and rotted flower petals littering the floor to tell of seasons past. The still unclaimed walls are filled with decaying plants and jars of dried herbs and other vegetation, along with a few essences and tinctures.

GREENHOUSE A few dozen yards from the botanicals shop is a sprawling garden, now covered in snow, and a greenhouse that once supplied the botanical shop. The glass is still miraculously intact, though covered in grime so thick that one cannot see inside.

GALLERY The gallery is essentially a large empty space with framed and matted black and white photographs of the town lining the walls. There is a small selected of prints available for sale near the front entrance, and a few rooms at the back of the building — a dark room for developing photos, a small office, and a locked room.

MOVIE THEATER This single-screen theater is quite small, having only 40 seats, but there is a large collection of movies in its storage room. These are all old film reels however, so hopefully someone knows how to thread a film projector.

HISTORY MUSEUM Across the street from the Historical Society, this once esteemed wooden building has seen better days. Windows and doors are boarded up and there is visible rot and decay on the exterior walls. Part of the roof has fallen in and the accumulating snow threatens to collapse the rest of it as well. It is not wise to venture within.

HISTORICAL SOCIETY This brick building has also seen better days, though in a different sort of way. Where once had been carefully cataloged collections and cozy reading rooms for aficionados of local history, there are now stacks of bankers boxes and weathered tomes in every nook and cranny. There is no organization to any of it, everything seeming to have been stashed in a hurry and then left forgotten. Anyone who dares to dive into this archive will need to devote quite some time in order to find anything worthwhile. They will also want to bring their own light source — the electricity does not work here and the windows are quite dark from the accumulated dust and grime.

SCHOOLHOUSE A much smaller school than most of our residents might be used to, there are only a half-dozen rooms in the building, with a few comprising classrooms, meeting areas, and workspaces. All ages were taught here, and one might almost imagine the sound of children's whispered voices and distant laughter while within the empty building.

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— SNOW continues to fall in Mathias. Days 18-19 see light snowfall that very slowly accumulates, but the snowfall turns moderately heavy on Day 20 and sees significant accumulation. The temperature hovers just below freezing and dips lower when the sun goes down.

— 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.

— THE FOG has receded from the town proper and much of the eastern and northern beach. The path through the northern forest to the lighthouse is now also clear.

— DISAPPEARANCES continue to plague the town. While Daisy Johnson has returned, Zed Martin, Rey, and Quentin Coldwater have now vanished without a trace.

OOC UPDATES

— MADNESS has now been unlocked. Congratulations to Inky for Claire earning the first Madness! Who will be next? (Please be sure to keep your sanity updated regularly; Stars has created an amazing tracker for anyone to use if they'd like.)

— HELPERS are officially in residence! Kelly is our Registrar and Stars is our Librarian — both of these delightful members of our community are helping behind the scenes to keep things organized and updated (and doing wonders for the mod's own sanity levels), so please give them some thanks for their hard work!

— REPORTING updates is still a thing that your mod and helpers beg you to do. Changes to locations, plot notes that affect the community, and discoveries should be reported over here so these can all be noted in their appropriate places. (For clarification, reported Discoveries are not public knowledge unless a character has ICly shared this information.)

— A MAP of Mathias now exists, thanks to our wonderful Librarian! Please note that it is not to scale and there may be a few minor errors due to your frazzled mod. Expect updates in the future as more secrets are revealed.

— BULLETIN BOARD — don't forget about it. That's all.

CLAIMING AP REWARDS

Normally, only one AP reward can be claimed per log, but due to the plethora of new and old locations to explore, this restriction is being relaxed. Instead, for this log only:
— Players may spend AP on up to three rewards, though only Spot Hidden may be repeated.
— If a player is spending multiple Spot Hiddens, they must be with different characters and in different locations.

If two characters are investigating the same location together, they may each spend a Spot Hidden on that location. Players should record their spent AP after the AP request has been approved. Sometimes there is nothing to Spot with your Hidden and the points will be "refunded" to use elsewhere.

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"Neither. Both." He laughs a little. Honestly, more a compliment than anything, but Klaus isn't the best at being up front about those sorts of things, either. Joking is better. Easier.

He lifts his eyebrows as he accepts the glass. "I didn't, so I appreciate the warning." He eyes Raylan over the glass as he takes a careful sip of the stuff. He's right. It's awful-tasting, but he's not sure he cares too much.

Raylan smirked and shrugged. "I'll take it, I suppose. Better than remindin' you of that one asshole who did you wrong one time."

His own drink had him baring his teeth slightly as he swallowed but he grinned like a vicious idiot. "Delightful, ain't it. Next batch, we can send a bottle home with you. Tempt the fates. You come over for somethin' specific or just to kick around?"

"Exactly." He gestures to emphasize the point.

He smiles at the offer. "Thanks." He definitely appreciated that thought. "Fate never cared about me much anyway." he laughs and makes his way over to drape across a chair, glass in hand to sip on when he feels like. "Nothing really. Just tired of staring at the same four walls. Figured I'd stare at someone else's walls for awhile."

He points vaguely, "And look at that. No chalk on yours." He smirks a little. He adores his brother, but sometimes all the timespace equation stuff just makes him feel a liiiittle claustrophobic.

It was something of a silver lining but when the situation in whole was total shit, Raylan would take what he could get. Klaus seemed pretty laid back and that itself was a silver lining - meant the Marshal didn't have to stern face or keep himself within carefully drawn apathetic lines.

Scoffing, Raylan dropped himself into a chair across from the younger man and glanced at his walls. "I can't blame you. Small town feelin's is a little suffocatin', even for those of us used to it... And chalk? Five writin' on walls now? Somethin' fantastical, I'm assumin' - no one draws borin' shit on walls anymore."

How was it that he sounded a little disappointed by that?

He laughs, "Yeah, you're tellin' me. I'm from the fuckin' city, man. This town is a spec." He wasn't one that was particularly made for small town life, personally, but no one in Mathias got a choice in the matter.

"He's always done that," he shrugs, tipping his head back slightly. "Equations, probably timespace ones. He thinks he's gonna find a way for us to get home... and if anyone can, I'd put money on my brother. He's done that sort of thing before." Sort of. But he won't bother getting technical with it. Timelines. Extra dimensions. It's messy, and it's not like Klaus understood it well enough to explain anyway.

"I'll take any theories or possibilities of gettin' out, even if that means paintin' or cleanin' the walls once he's done," Raylan admitted with a sigh and an adjustment of his hat.

"That mean he's doin' alright, small town vibes or not? Last I saw him, he was passed out on our couch." Well. Was, until Raylan's interrogation. It wasn't passed out drunk, it was passed out tired with broken ribs but that was Five's business to tell, not Raylan's.

He chuckles a little with a nod. "Yeah, I think we all would." He certainly hasn't met anyone who would rather stay in this fog-covered hellhole.

"Oh, yeah. I mean- all things considered. The ribs aren't great, even though he tries to hide it. He's not as good at that as he thinks." Or Klaus is just more observant than people give him credit for. But he notices, the little ways Five shifts because something got suddenly uncomfortable or those hitches in his breath when he moves wrong.

Raylan chuckled, eyebrows lifting. "So you know about the ribs huh? Suppose I shouldn't be surprised, bein' brothers and all. I'm an only child myself so I avoided any of those kinda responsibilities." He imagined there must be some with siblings.

"What about you though, you seem like a .. free enough soul. You really grow up in the same house as him? He's.. quite a character." To say the least. Five had oozed personality, even in the short period that Raylan had talked to him. Five sounded like a fifty year old man.

"Mmhm. I think he'd rather I didn't know, but--" he shrugs, the only end to that sentence there really is. Truth is, it's not exactly an easy injury to hide, and Klaus is nosy. He eventually badgered the answer out of him.

He chuckles lightly. "Mmm, we did. All seven of us, and we couldn't be more different from one to the next." he admits, shaking his head a little. He misses the others, wonders where they are. When they ended up. If they might show up here, eventually.

"That whole sibling thing?" Which might as well be badgering until someone relents, Raylan generally knew how it worked, despite being an only child himself.

"Seven's a lot. I'm sure it made for interestin' times. My house was empty of other kids and it was interestin' enough, so I can't imagine it gettin' louder." Not much was louder than an angrier drunk rampaging through a house.

"How you settlin' in? Now that he's back and things are, for now, half level. Hard start." Raylan was curious about Klaus, such a striking difference from Five which only backed up the statement he'd just made.

He nods a little, "Mmhm." Something like that.

"Oh, you have no idea." He grins as he thinks about the way things were when they were kids. Memories he doesn't usually touch on, actually. "But at least with 19 bathrooms, we never had to have that mad-scramble to get there first or worry about the hot water." He laughs at the mental image of it. "Allison would've won that game, every time-- she'd just rumor us to let her go in first." Especially back then. Teenagers aren't so different than toddlers in wanting what they want, when they want it; they just have more capability about themselves to get it, and Allison had capability in spades.

There was no stopping the huff of a laugh in surprise at the number and a shake of his that he half covered with an adjustment of his hat.

"That's a lotta bathrooms. We only ever had two at the best." One back in the old house that Helen took over but he wasn't about to pull out a show of that kind of poorness in front of someone with 19 bathrooms. His chin lifted a little as he continued.

"What's that? 'Rumoring' you. Is that her.. talent?" What did they call it? Superpower? Gift?

"I think Dad was expecting to start a fucking boarding school or something," He admits with a roll of his eyes. "I hated the uniforms." He groans.

He sips some more at his drink and nods at the assumption. "Yeah, it's like- uh... hmm." How to explain Allison's powers. Mind-control was both terrifying to hear and not exactly right. There isn't really a non-scary way to explain it, though, is there? "She can compel people to do things, think things, say things.... but it's more than that, too. It's like-- her words rewrite reality to make whatever she says, be true. Even if it wasn't, it is when she wants it."

He's never considered how scary his sister's powers sound from the outside until now. Explaining it not only to someone on the outside of it all, but someone who came from a place where powers like those of the Umbrella Academy weren't even real. "She got in....really big trouble for it a few years ago, and she doesn't use it much these days, though."

"He made you wear uniforms? It the same one that Five is wearing? If that's the case, I can't say I blame you. God save us from knee high socks. I was always glad we didn't have to deal with that shit in school."

Then again, Harlan's schools were so poor that Raylan knew the uniform wave wouldn't hit down there for maybe another decade, if at all. Best they ever got was from that one Astronaut.

Raylan frowned gently, head tilting back a little as he eyed Klaus, chewing that over. "That... sounds like a hellva power." A dangerous one, to mess with people in such a way. "What about the rest of you? You see ghosts, Five teleports, Allison can.. rewrite someone's reality.."

With that listing already, he was almost concerned about what other powers had somehow grown up all in one house.

"Mmhm," he nods. "Yup, that's exactly the one. The girls had skirts that matched." He shakes his head. That was not his favorite part, and oh, did he ever get into some trouble trying to 'liven up' the uniforms.

He nods a bit at that summation. That is true, and he's sure it's hard to wrap his mind around. The absolute breadth and scope of Allison's powers is hard to wrap his own mind around some days, he can't imagine what it's like for someone who didn't grow up around it.

"Oh, well-- Luther, he's-" 'Number One' stops dead on his lips. He knows they all know, on some level, about the numbering. Five is... all the proof one needs of that, but he still hates using those designations, no matter how second nature they are to pull out. He settles in for the explanation of this, because it's not something he minds talking about (later, he might wonder if Five will be pissed he just laid all of that out like that). "the leader, and he's got super strength. Diego- he... I forgot what Dad called it, but he throws stuff really good?" He laughs a little and expounds on that. "Like... he could throw a knife from around a corner and still hit a target. Physics-defying shit, you know? Then, uhm..."

Don't mind him while he counts off silently on his fingers. Right. Number Six. Ben. The thought of their fallen brother still twists knots in Klaus' stomach, and it visibly takes him a second to find his words. "And Ben, uh- he... he had a portal--" His hands move to hover above his stomach. "In his stomach and- and there were, like... Eldritch level horrors in there. They just--" More miming is happening, like his arms are reaching out from his stomach and there's a strange, throaty noise to add to the performance. "Tentacles, and they just--" He yanks his arms in opposite directions harshly and makes a popping noise. "rips anything in their path apart."

There's a part of him that almost doesn't even seem to truly process that for how gruesome it actually is, a dissonance that would only be ever-wider if Raylan were to ever realize all these things he's hearing were normal, day-to-day's for them as pre-teens. "And then there's-" 'Number Seven'. "Vanya... who we thought up 'til very recently didn't even have powers, and we're still figuring that out. But sound manipulation I think is...a good summary?" He just won't mention how the Apocalypse back home was sort of her fault.

Twice.

If there was one thing that Raylan was grateful for having grown up in the country, it was that - avoiding uniforms. Uniforms meant money that no one in Harlan had.

Luther sounded alright, pretty straightforward superhero comic book stuff but things only got weirder as Klaus went on. It was only due to him counting his fingers that Raylan could start to piece together where Klaus fell in this. The decorative storytelling helped distract from the sharpest edges of Fucking Weird™ but it wasn't enough to stop the deer in headlights stare of subtle confusion as he tried to swallow all that down.

Ben was noted too, and the past tense of 'had' but Raylan was already up to his ass in questions and that one was... well, death was never easy for anyone.

"What's Five's name? The way you counted them all out - you're what, three or four, right? Why do you all get names and he gets a number?" If Klaus was in a talkative mood, Raylan couldn't help but put a saddle on that horse and ride it, much like he had Will Graham. Only difference was that Raylan wasn't trying to figure out if Klaus was fresh off a murder.

The increasing look of 'No, really, what the fuck?' that travels its way across Raylan's face is kind of funny; it always is, to watch the journey that people's faces go through on their way down this conversation. Klaus has never claimed his life was anything less than weird.

He's silently appreciative to not receive any Ben questions at the moment. He huffs softly, blowing a stray hair out of his face before he takes a swig from the bottle beside him. "Well, we all have numbers... Dad didn't bother naming us. We didn't get names til later, after he built Mom." Sometimes, it's hard to remember not everyone's mother was a literal robot. "I think we were ten? Anyway- Five never picked one, I dunno why, really. I guess maybe he didn't ever find one he liked?" He shrugs. "And you were right-- I'm Number Four."

"Jesus," Raylan breathed, turning his cup up to stare at it like it would make more moonshine appear in his cup. Who didn't name their kids? He could take several stabs at why, with what he'd already learned and none of the answers were great.

But then his brain processed the rest of what Klaus said and Raylan nodded as he got up to pull the moonshine bottle out and poured himself some more. "Built your mom. Okay." 'Okay' being a placeholder for the buzzing in his head.

"And here I thought my childhood was messed up." He turned at the waist, face pinched again. "Built her?"

"Yeah. I don't- I hate the numbers. I'll still answer to it, you go a decade or so with a name, you get used to it, but..." He shrugs. "I don't really know what the designations were... The order he got us? The usefulness of us? Danger-level?" He shrugs again, this time, flopping one hand in his lap. "Never did figure it out. Guess we'll never know, now." Klaus isn't so sure he wants to know, truth be told.

His face registers on a delay as he realizes-- "Oh. Right. My bad-- Grace- our Mom- is a robot. And our uncle was a monkey." A beat. "Literally. And he talked. He went to space, too!" He gives Raylan a sheepish look. "Did we ever mention our lives were the least possibly normal thing you could probably imagine?" And he hasn't even gotten into what Reginald considered parts of their core curriculum.

Edited 2021-02-13 21:29 (UTC)

Raylan just stared.

"I must have missed that memo." Though, honestly, with everything he'd already learned, what he should have come away with was 'It can always get Weirder'. "This is some fiction book kinda-" You can't call it bullshit, Raylan. "Life story. Just. Ya know, I thought I had a handle on it too, ain't that crazy?"

He shook his head and downed his cup, wincing with a bearing of his teeth at the burn down his throat.

"Dare I ask what you were doin' before you got pulled to this place?"

"There were comics and stuff about us, when we were kids. So, I guess that makes sense." He nods a little. And that part, at least, probably shouldn't be too surprising? Weird hero kids doing what the cops couldn't-wouldn't? And with crazy powers to boot? Yeah. That gets its own buzz.

He grins a little and shrugs, hands turned up, the 'Hello / Goodbye tattoos visible for that moment. "I dunno. Do you?" He chuckles softly. He'd let Raylan guide this tour de weird fuckery.

"I mean to ask about those," he said with a gesture, narrow hips taking to lean against the counter, cup abandoned on the counter for now as one hand propped on the counter while the other found a place on his hip.

"Well go on then, tell me. Unless it's building robots and trainin' monkeys how to talk."

No, Raylan didn't understand the greatness of Pogo or what that meant. One thing at a time.

"Hm? Oh!" He brightens up. "Okay- so. These were the first tattoos I got on my own." A beat, and a very rushed explanation, with a gesture toward the circled umbrella on the inside of his left wrist. "Dad did this to six of the seven of us, when we were like thirteen. It sucked. But!" He spreads his hands, palms out and facing so he can see them properly this time.

"These were my choice. A kind of in-joke with myself, and my siblings, since I talk to ghosts and everything..." He's practically giddy, amused even all these years later. "Dad's name for me was The Séance, ssso I became a walking Ouija Board." He waggles his fingers for emphasis.

Finally, something that Raylan could break a smile at. The smile broke into a grin at the wiggling fingers. After everything else, a tattoo on the wrist was just another drop in the fucked up bucket - "Good to see you takin' somethin' back for yourself. If it's not too much of a shock, tattoos aren't somethin' I got, but I'm always amazed by what people get on their body. I'm just glad it's not the ink I'm used to seein'."

No one needed any Nazis, current or former, around.

Raylan's grin is practically infectious, and makes Klaus' own widen just that much more. "I've got a bunch, actually, if you wanna see?" He shrugs. Klaus is not a creature made of shame, and luckily for Raylan, none of them are actually in particularly bad or intimate places.

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enjoy the show with your explanation, Raylan

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