villagelogs | 021-023 » the ghosts of fallen leaves

021-023 » the ghosts of fallen leaves

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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▶ 01 TOWN HALL ( OPEN )

( it's still snowing outside.

the constant thick sheet of snow reminds him of times he and his family had traveled through places like switzerland and iceland, trying to find a place that they belonged.

but mathias is different. mathias is something that elijah hasn't dealt with before and he would rather not deal with again. the loss of his siblings is one thing but the feeling of being caged is enough to slowly prickle at him.

he shouldn't be here but he is. and he's trying to make the best of it. elena helps with that because she's much more optimistic than he is but there's only so much she can do.

it's been getting harder to keep the red door in his mind closed as the snow falls, as the spectres die, and as he deprives himself of all but but the basic amount of blood.

he tries to busy himself though and that's what finds him at town hall, standing in front of the bulletin board. he's gone over the various notices more than once but he feels like he's missing something so he's back again, reading them anew. )

▶ 02 EYES ON YOU ( CLOSED TO DEAN )

( he attends the funeral elena decides to have for the spectre because he wants to be supportive.

it's a simple ceremony, perfectly suited to someone like elena but elijah finds his mind wandering. his eyes scan the people assembled, hearing their heartbeats and knowing that blood thrums through their veins.

he swallows and tries to fight off the hunger that comes with that realization but he can't quite do it. there's a familiar face nearby, one that elijah's spoken to and that's who he focuses on. specifically, his eyes slide down to dean's neck, staring so intensely that he thinks he can see the thump of a pulse against dean's skin.

he knows that he needs to eat more, he knows that he needs to face what's going on in his head but he's doing this instead. he's staring, tuning everything else out but the sight of dean's neck.

that's probably not too healthy. )

▶ 03 WILDCARD

( if you'd like to do something different this day, feel free to throw it at me! )

Edited 2020-12-21 17:22 (UTC)

( It's not the weirdest, or rudest, Dean has ever crashed a funeral before. Stumbling out into the night with the lantern he'd left behind, he hadn't expected to join a makeshift funeral procession. But, that's what he does.

There are times when he doesn't focus on Elena, but Elijah, the suspicious and untrusting friend. When he does glance over, it feels more like Elijah is looking at him, too. Is it that Elijah doesn't want him here, doesn't feel like he belongs? Does Elijah think Dean is a wolf in sheep's clothing? Here to help Elena find something to wear one day and crash a funeral the next, all for unsavory reasons?

He looks down at himself, because, it almost feels like his fly is undone, or he's wearing something funny. Or, he actually did something to the guy.

Meeting his eyes again, or trying to, he frowns, questioning his intensity. He has no doubt in his mind, now, the trajectory of Elijah's stare. His own gaze turns to narrow-eyed suspicion and mistrust himself. He doesn't think it's the alcohol that's saturated his system.

He knows what hunger looks like. )

( he's being too obvious, he knows, but he can't stop himself from staring. he doesn't have a reason as to why he's latched onto dean, of all people, but he has.

he keeps his eyes on dean even after dean discovers that he's looking, watching the thumping pulse in his neck until he manages to pull his gaze up and onto dean's eyes.

he knows he's been caught but elijah doesn't care. if elijah so chose, he'd step forward and attach his mouth to dean's neck and take what he wanted.

but, he doesn't want to do that in the middle of elena's funeral. he still has manners. )

( Elena and Dean speak, briefly, about finding his lantern, his day, and the funeral, but he can feel Elijah's eyes piercing into him. Is this jealousy, is this carnal?

Is it blood?

Elena moves on to someone else, someone who's joined them, and Dean point blank stares back, his shoulders rising and falling. What, Elijah. )

Very nice of you to come, Dean.

( see, he's just watching you, dean. you're being paranoid, there's nothing on his mind.

elijah glances at elena briefly, watching her move around the small group before he takes a step closer to dean. )

I'm sure Elena appreciates it. ( everything was fine. ) She told you what happened, I assume?

I pay my respects.

( Dean tenses up, but doesn't take a step back. They're in public. )

A shadow took out one of the spirits. Now we all have lanterns. ( Like the one behind him. ) How do you know Elena, again?

( his own lantern was currently out of action as elijah hadn't really been thinking about the possibility that a light going out would mean that he too would be taken out.

but, he was still here, wasn't he? )

I knew from before. ( before this place. ) Why?

( what concern of it is yours, dean? he doesn't think he needs to go into further detail than the fact that they knew each other. )

Because you've been staring at my neck like it's a steak. And she asked about people coming back from the dead. Not hard to put two and two together, Elijah.

( Choosing instead to work from facts, Dean speaks plainly. He's not accusing Elijah of anything. Just taking two things he knows. )

You think I've come back from the dead?

( well, that's quite the accurate guess, isn't it? elijah doesn't go so far as to admit it because he doesn't want to make it that easy on dean.

he can't. that wouldn't be fun. )

Don't worry, I have no designs on your neck, Dean. It just happened to be where my gaze fell.

( Maybe. Maybe not in this town. Cas is still part angel. Why would a vampire not still need to vamp? )

As flattering as your mouth-watering is, you're not my type. ( Gaze. Fell. Right. ) Do you have a handle on your situation?

( Or does he need to look out for Elena, and every other human here. )

My situation? That's cute.

( he was fine, dean, thank you. no on needed to worry. he had it under control. )

You're so sure that you know me and why I what I do, aren't you? Because you are...what? A person who knows demons?

( he's not that impressed. )

I don't know you. I know vampires. Demons. Ghosts. Wendigo. God himself. He preferred the name, Chuck, and fancied himself a writer. He was a douche. I know monsters. Are you a monster?

( he doesn't need you to be impressed. )

Aren't we all monsters in some way, Dean?

( that isn't an answer, he knows, but it's also the truth. everyone he's met has been harboring some sort of darkness. it was how they dealt with that darkness that made them monsters or not. )

Are you?

( a question for a question. )

You wouldn't want me under your bed or in your closet.

( It's as straight an answer as Elijah is going to get. He is more than capable of being the monster. He has been the monster in the story. He's had kids grow up and come after him. He's had to make the worst decisions. And yeah, Elijah, he's had to kill his fair share.

There was also his stint as a demon. But, the only monstrous thing he really did was go after Sam.

Not to downplay that. )

( at that, elijah can only smile before he gives his head a quick shake. it's cute that dean thinks he'd be worried about him.

but elijah will let him have that for the moment. )

No, I probably wouldn't. I prefer my sleep to be undisturbed and you strike me as the type to make a lot of noise, maybe even snore.

I don't snore.

( Sam sometimes snores. )

Are you a vampire, Elijah?

Unless something's happened the last time I checked?

( he holds dean's gaze, one corner of his lip curling upward. )

No.

( he's not ready to tell anyone but elena that just yet. all in due time. )

Then watch where that gaze falls next time, or buy me dinner.

( Ja feel? )

You're a very paranoid young man, aren't you?

( elijah chuckles, unable to help himself. but, he tells himself that he needs to be a little more discrete if someone like dean is able to pick up on what he is. )

You remind me of my brother with that paranoia. It's almost a comfort.

( Elijah doesn't really remind him of anyone. He's odd and intense in a way that might normally fluster Dean in his younger years, especially without Cas' presence nearby. But, in this case, Dean is still catching the buzz from the afternoon. )

Just looking out, Elijah.

Looking out for what? Threats?

( probably smart. though, he doesn't want to be a threat to anyone here. he'd prefer to do that back home where all his enemies are waiting for him, glasses of wine in hand. )

That's a good thing to look out for but you're looking in the wrong place. That's not me.

Maybe. This isn't a peaceful, safe town.

( He's gotta keep his eyes open. )

If it's not you, it's not you. Elena mentioned them. You're from where she's from. You also didn't blink when I mentioned demons. So. What's your experience been like, Elijah?

With demons? I didn't blink because I've been around religion throughout my life. And I've lived in New Orleans.

( which he thinks might tell a great deal about why he hasn't really reacted to such things. )

New Orleans is a hot spot for people who believe in demonic activity. You can hardly walk down the street without coming across the shop of one who practices dispelling supernatural forces from the city.

That, and all the hoodoo.

( He gets you. )

Witches. Also real. There are fakes - and inexperience - sometimes that's more dangerous than the real witch. Heh. ( It's not funny. He still lightens up, though. ) I like Nola. Nothing like a good hurricane.

Yes, I'm sure all the people who've lost their livelihoods in hurricanes will agree with that sentiment.

( or they probably wouldn't. he scoffs, gives his head a shake. )

You should write a book, all this knowledge that you're willing to share. It might be helpful.

➤ day 021 ( open and closed starters )

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