021-023 » the ghosts of fallen leaves

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central/Western Mathias.
WHEN: Days 021-023
WHAT: A cold storm approaches.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Emily Kinney & Lauren Cohan "The Parting Glass"

DAYS 021-023
THE WORLD TURNS WHITE
“Are ye the ghosts of fallen leaves, O flakes of snow,
For which, through naked trees, the winds A-mourning go?”
— John Banister Tabb
The howling wind is what wakes the residents of Mathias each day now as the world turns slowly into a bleak stretch of white. Snow continues to fall in thick curtains of flakes that accumulate on trees and rooftops, swirling sideways in the gusts of wind that bow trees and whistle through any crack they can find. The drifts of snow grow taller against the buildings and the wind makes the already freezing temperatures feel bitterly cold.

By day 022, the far ends of streets begin to resemble the hazardous fog with how little becomes visible as the winds pick up. Buildings can still be discerned as dark shapes but the weather's warning becomes clear — a storm is coming. And by day 023, the storm arrives properly, the wind still screaming through the streets like a winter banshee announcing so many deaths to come. These conditions are far from hospitable and only the truly mad would be foolish enough to venture outside in weather such as this.


THE NEWLY ARRIVED
With an embrace of wintery white, Mathias offers a chilly welcome to its newest residents. They awake along the southern treeline bordering Mathias, near the small makeshift cemetery containing a handful of wooden markers erected without names or signifiers of those buried within. And not far from them is the schoolhouse, where in a snowdrift they will the frozen corpse of a young woman named Rey.

LIGHTS IN THE DARKNESS
“A lantern can give you light only when you light it”
— Munia Khan
When residents wake on the morning of day 021, they will find outside in the snow the abandoned lanterns of those shadowy spectres who have moved so silently through Mathias. Each nestled in a patch of frozen white outside their door, the lanterns are now cold to the touch, the half-burned candle within each one seeming to have been lit so very long ago. Inside the glass encasement is a small rolled piece of paper, upon which is written:

keep it lit
There is nothing more, and the prior owners of these lanterns will not return within these days.

There is one lantern waiting outside the building for each resident wherever they are sleeping — the exception for this is those who may have already claimed a lantern as their own. Removing a lantern from its resting place results in no apparent reaction, nor does lighting or not lighting it. However, whatever residents ultimately choose to do with these lanterns should be reported.

---

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— SNOW continues to fall, resulting over the three days in upwards of a foot of accumulation. The winds blow in gusts over 35 mph.

— 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 still receded from the town proper and much of the eastern and northern beach, with the path through the northern forest to the lighthouse still clear on day 021. On day 022, however, as the storm worsens, the fog returns to the paths in the forest, urging residents to stay huddled within the town proper or else.

— DISAPPEARANCES continue to plague the town. While Zed Martin has returned, Rey's corpse will be found in a snowdrift near the Schoolhouse; she disappeared on day 018.

— THE STRANGER is gone.

— THE SPECTRES are gone.

OOC UPDATES

— DISCOVERIES have been collected and collated for your review. Please note that this is OOC information only, put together for the purpose of helping you as players see connections and possibilities for CR and your own character's potential avenues of exploration and investigation. (If we are missing something, please report it so we can add it to the list.)

— AP REWARDS have a new option now — Ideas may be requested if you find yourself stuck. You may now claim up to 2 rewards per log: (1) idea and (1) other reward.

— SANITY may be regained in two ways: self-medication and treatment. In Mathias, this means such coping mechanisms as drinking or drugging oneself into a stupor that allows them to face their fears and issues, or talking to someone about those fears and issues. Since both of these will take some time, best get started. (A form will be added to the Sanity page.)

— REMINDERS — Don't forget about the bulletin board. Please continue reporting your updates to locations, plots, and discoveries. The map of Mathias has been added to the locations page for ease of reference. Make sure your character's sanity level is kept updated. Prospective players are still joining the TDM, so it's recommended to track new top-levels so you don't miss them.

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Comments

➝ day 21 | open

[notanemptymotto]

i. i was looking for a breath of life, a little touch of heavenly light.

[ She takes an extreme leap of faith. Her hands cling into the suit that the man wears as they tumble off the rooftop. They both yell. There's the sound of his time portals opening.

Then a sudden stop.

She gasps at the pain of the sudden impact as it spreads through her body. Her breath comes in short gasps as she raises her head, the thin black fabric shrouding her face and much of her vision. Her mismatched gloved hands come up to pull the fabric from her face, allowing her to see just where she's landed. ]

Bloody hell...

[ Snow.

She pushes herself up then, scooting to the side in the snow as she finally realizes what is besides her. Grave markings. Unnamed graves. She looks side to side, her injuries clear to see for any who might be beside her. There's a sense of panic as she pushes herself up and takes a few steps back. Like many she is dressed in a more modern sense, but it's obvious there is some sort of filmy texture to her outfit.

Her body whirls side to side, disorientated in the white powder beneath her. ]

ADAM!? [ Her voice echoes on the wind around her. Her tone is sharp, hoarse, and full of bitter anger.

Helen Magnus has arrived in Mathias. ]

ii. a little vision of the start and the end, but all the choirs in my head sang no.

[ Night is falling quickly on the small town that Helen finds herself in. She can feel the bitter cold through her clothes, and even more so on her aching side and the injury she knows is on the side of her face. She wanders down the streets and their signs.

She turns down Jackson Boulevard.

Then her eyes settle on one house in particular. She walks up the steps, stopping when she sees a lone lantern. Helen kneels down to pick it up, turning it over in her hands. ]

Dear God, it has been quite a few years since I've seen one for more than mere decoration....

i.

[conning]

[ Neal winces and ducks, like somehow the shout is going to become physical and smack him upside the head. He's freaked right the hell out, and someone else appearing from nowhere, beat up and furious, is not helping that situation. He holds his hands up in the universal sign of 'please don't hurt me.' ]

Neal, actually.

[ Yeah, the whole Rat Pack look pretty well marks him as not supposed to be here. Still, there's some iota of relief in having someone else show up.

At least it's not just him and that body in the snow, now. ]

Hi. You look very mad.

[notanemptymotto]

[ Helen looks the man over and inhales deeply, a frown on her face. No, he is very much not Adam - too tall for starters. She offers a look of apologies as she tries to calm herself down. The sudden spike of adrenaline certainly isn't helping. ]

Neal. [ A soft and traveled British accent for the man too. ] My apologies, it's hardly at you. Or...

[ She turns slightly, gesturing to the sheet of white around her. ] ...wherever we might be. Did you just awake in the snow too?

[conning]

Well. That's a relief. The last person that angry in my general direction was less forgiving and more... armed.

[ Cough. Anyway.

He tucks his hands under his armpits, doing his best to keep them warm. ] I did.

[ His expression goes bleak, and he gestures toward Rey's body, still mostly hidden in the snow. ] Not all of us get to be that lucky, I guess.

[notanemptymotto]

It seems I've misplaced the few makeshift things I had. [ She perks her eyebrows in a way that implies she might be serious.... or joking.

No need to drag everyone into personal business as it is.

Helen sighs and pauses at the gesture. Then, her eyes travel down to see the woman below them. There's a gasp of surprise at the body, but, nothing more than that. In fact, seeing a corpse is hardly shocking to her at all. Merely the fact that there is one with them at all.

She kneels down beside the corpse, gloved hand gently touching her face. ]

Dear God. Completely frozen... though it would seem she's been out here for some time. Damn.

[conning]

[ Neal looks away, feeling queasy. ]

Yeah. Seems that way. [ He rubs his arms, looks down at the body, then away again. Toward the school. ]

Might be... better to go inside. Do you think we can move her?

[ He forces himself to look down at the corpse again. ] It doesn't... feel right. Leaving her here.

[notanemptymotto]

[ She looks up at Neal with a frown, shaking her head. ] Not unless you mind some digging and carrying her there. The warmer she gets, the faster decomposition can happen.

It might be best to find someone in town and inform them. She may have family here. [ Helen stands and turns her head, blinking at the snow. There are houses in the distance. ] Unless there's no one else here.

[conning]

Yeah. That's... yeah. [ Decomposition. He shivers, from more than the cold.

He follows her gaze, spotting the houses himself. ] Might as well look. [ A pause. ] Didn't get your name.

[notanemptymotto]

Ah. [ She stands up slowly, doing her best not to disturb the woman they've found. Her head tilts back, despite how roughed up she looks. ] Dr. Helen Magnus.

I wish our meeting was under better circumstances.

[conning]

Likewise. I've never been a real fan of kidnapping. [ He shivers and gestures toward the houses--'after you'. ] Doctor of what, if I may ask?

[notanemptymotto]

I can't imagine someone who would be. Unless they are the kidnapper. [ She turns first, being careful of the body underneath them, and making a few timid steps forward.

If only to see if someone might jump from the snow at them. ]

Medical doctor tends is my main doctorate. Although, I have several other degrees.

[conning]

Yeah? Me too. With the several degrees part, not the medical part.

[ Never mind his degrees were all obtained without ever attending the schools in question. He knows his shit, okay, the only thing the papers did was get him legal access to resources that would have been... complicated to acquire otherwise.

Anyway.

Neal falls in beside Helen, looking back one more time at the body in the snow as they start to move. ] Don't suppose we'd get lucky enough for you to remember how you ended up here? Because I have no idea.

[notanemptymotto]

Oh? Where did you study?

[ She has the feeling it isn't entirely academic. Still, it is a light weight conversation that will help keep their minds on something other than the tragic display. Helen wishes she could say it affected her more. However, treating battle wounds in Verdun does a hell of a time on desensitizing the mind to corpses in harsh conditions. ]

No. I was nowhere near this sort of environment. In fact, I was on top of a building with... an old acquaintance of mine. Sunny, warm. The exact opposite of where we find ourselves now.

Do you have any recollection of how you arrived?

ii;

[cluing]

A bit archaic, really. They don't quite fit the otherwise retro theme of the town.

[ Hello, neighbour.

Sherlock was just outside of his own newfound home, next door to the one she's seemingly chosen. He's looked at the lantern sitting on his step as well, of course, but deemed it - and it's message - wholly uninteresting.

But he hasn't run into many people yet, so he feels naturally inclined to talk. Not at length, of course, but by now he's clearly noticed there are no locals. He'd like to know where they all came from, then. ]

[notanemptymotto]

[ Helen turns her head to look at the voice that is familiar in accent, but that is regrettably all. She leans back on her ankles, the lantern in her hand, giving him a gentle expression.

Hello indeed, neighbor. ]

Oh, on the contrary. It's simply a far more retro design. [ Helen stands with the lantern nestled in her hands. ] Although, gathering from your tone, you're not one for the retro style.

[ Retro. The word makes her scoff slightly. She remembers living through these styles. ]

[cluing]

I'm sure there's plenty to be said about retro as opposed to classic or vintage.

[ But Sherlock isn't really the one that wants to get into it. Not now, anyway, but if the opportunity came up he'd probably enjoy the discourse. ]

Me? No. I prefer the modern, in every sense.

[notanemptymotto]

Hm. Straight lines and no sense of character. A very strict way of seeing the world.

[ She gives a small shrug before she gently shifts how she carries the lantern. ]

Have you been here long?

[cluing]

Character makes things messy. Just arrived today, in fact.

[ In regards to her question about how long he's been here. ]

I felt that, given the way the weather seems to progressing, it'd be in my best interests to find shelter. I don't think anyone will be returning to their homes any time soon.

[notanemptymotto]

Messy is interesting. [ A nod. ] This morning for me as well. Not the warmest welcome I've had. [ At that, she gestures to the snow behind him.

She turns to the door that is behind her. Her eyebrows raise slightly. It seems like the occupants could return at any moment... yet, she had yet to see someone in this town that would seem like a local. ]

Care to join me to find some tea?

[ Apologies to the locals could also come later. ]

[cluing]

[ Messy is annoying.

Normally he'd shun such an invitation. Sherlock enjoys tea as much as the next person, but usually alone. However - she's also just arrived, and perhaps he can find some sort of common ground between them that would bring them both to this place. ]

I'd be delighted.

[notanemptymotto]

[ She gently opens the door to the humble abode and steps inside. Her make shift hood comes down and she gently places the lantern on the small table beside the door. It seems very of the period -- which is to say older. Hm. ]

It looks rather like a New England town, doesn't it? Though, I'd think there would be more blues involved.

[cluing]

Most likely. The trees along the edge of town are particularly abundant in Maine, but until the snow melts and the flora can be examined, it's nearly impossible to pinpoint a state for certain.

[ Sherlock follows her inside, noting the home is quite similar to his in the sense that it's well maintained but abandoned without anything of value being brought with the occupants. ]

[notanemptymotto]

Maine. Hm.

[ She supposes it makes sense. Possibly New England, after all.

Helen looks over her shoulder at him. ]

Are you a scientist of sorts? Studying fauna isn't quite in someone's normal scope of hobbies.

[cluing]

Of sorts, yes. You'd be amazed at how useful an in-depth knowledge of flora and fauna may be. I'm particularly good at identifying muds, though not so much outside of Great Britain. Trees, though, trees are easy.

[ He sees himself into the kitchen, assuming that, if tea exists in this home, that seems the most likely of places. ]

[notanemptymotto]

Quite the hobby. Scientific career, by chance?

[ She follows after him, gently placing the lantern at the counter. A shift happens. She turns her head back to it, opening the small glass door attached to it. Out comes a small piece of paper.

keep it lit.

Helen blinks once and tilts her head. ]

Now, that is rather ominous.