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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Day 21- open

[moderatelymaladjusted]

DAY 21 arrival-- cemetery, library

[There's really nothing like magic. How it makes you kind of numb to the whole 'waking up somewhere else than where you fell asleep'-thing, but also how getting used to a world without it was so much harder than he ever thought it would be.

Just a few years with it, and it was like trying to learn how to bike all over again. Except this time the bike didn't have pedals. Or wheels.

Quentin wakes up, dazed and so very confused, in the snow. Shivering as the snow seeps through every layer, soaking though his shoes and why the hell is even happening?

Somehow, the library let him go, or dean Fogg made a deal (ha!). For some reason, instead of being handed over to the McAllisters or the Library, he was here. In-- the snow. Not the worst place he'd ever found himself waking up, but also. No.

With both hands stuffed in to his armpits, Quentin makes his way past the creepy grave markers, and only realizing that he's on someone, when his foot slips and he falls down to his knees. That's when he sees it-- the pale, white face and the brown hair framing that face. Unfamiliar, but very much someone dead.

It's hopeless, but still--]

Hey? Hey, can you hear me?

(Quentin will make his way in to town, and find the library)

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm was making his way through town with his hands in his pockets, slipping past the cemetary when he noticed a familiar face he'd all but given up on.]

Quentin? [Called as he approached.] Quentin! You're back!

[moderatelymaladjusted]

[Quentin is not one of those people who just know voices. He can't identify friends from their footsteps, and he's never been able to figure out who's calling him, just by the sound of their breathing.

Still voice still sounds unfamiliar, though. But the enthusiasm has him turning around with a confused smile on his face anyway.]

Yeah? I mean-- hello?

[abrightboy]

It's so good to see you! We thought you were gone for good. Are you okay?

[moderatelymaladjusted]

I-uh, what?

[Aaand, Quentin is just going to take a step back. Librarians, after all, always come in suits and this really wouldn't be the first time one of them just knew things...]

I'm not not okay, if that's what you mea-- and really? What are you even-- [he makes a random, frustrated noise] What the hell do you want?

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm blinks at him and glances around.]

...Sorry, are you..... busy?

[moderatelymaladjusted]

What? I just-- no, wait. You know what, you can go back to Zelda and tell her that she's a dick. And that I want nothing to do with any of you, okay? How can you even-- after the shit you pulled? And-and you think sticking me here is what? Going to make me not hate you?

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm looks at him oddly.]

I don't... know a 'Zelda'. Isn't that a videogame?

[moderatelymaladjusted]

[Just... this face.]

Wait. Wait, so-- [Taking a deep breath, Quentin blows it out slow and he pulls his messenger bag a little closer to his chest.] Zelda is-- wait, if you're not with the library, why are you dressed like that?

[abrightboy]

[Malcolm glanced down at his suit and looked up at Quentin.]

Because I can't find any clothes here that fit me properly.

[He got back into the suit whenever it was reasonably clean. All the clothes he found that fit his build were too long on him. Clearly nobody with any muscle mass that allegedly lived in this place was... a bit on the short side.]

[moderatelymaladjusted]

And you picked that?

[Which, okay. Fair. Quentin knew people who knew about clothes, and who might even wear something like that. On purpose. But only because Margo knew how to rock it. Still...]

And it's just a coincidence that I ended up here, and not in some remote corner of the Neitherlands branch. Sure, why the fuck not.

[So not convinced, but...]

If you're not with the library, how do you even know my name?

[A beat]

... and I know I'm not wearing a nametag. I checked.

[abrightboy]

['That' is a ten thousand dollar bespoke English-tailored suit and the remark makes him frown faintly, because his wardrobe isn't usually talked about like a middle aged dad going to a parent-teacher meeting in a Hawaiian shirt and corduroy pants.]

You keep saying 'library' and I feel like it should have a big 'L' when you say it. I know your name because you were here before. I take it you don't remember.

[moderatelymaladjusted]

Jesus.

[Not that Quentin is going to drop his hands much, because you never know when magic might come in handy. But also, there had been 39 other timelines and who the fuck knows what could happen with those when magic slammed back in to the world.]

Okay. Okay, alright, let's say that's... what happened. That I've maybe, possibly been here before. That doesn't explain you. Or, you know, anything.

Library

[tinstar]

Raylan and his hat often came back to the library, chewing through the small stack of books that he'd collected beforehand and returning every few days to put drop them off and collect more. He opted to just leave his books on the tables, and commented every time as he dropped off a new set.

"Looks like you're managing to keep up."

Had he taken to talking to the library itself? Only sort of but only because it was a comfort that he hadn't realized he missed as much as he did. But once his hands were empty, it was back to the shelves, where Raylan perused up and down all the categories, picking out a few spines along the way to carry with him.

[moderatelymaladjusted]

Sure, waking up somewhere unfamiliar and unable to even find a phone would rattle almost every person Quentin knows. Just the whole fact that the internet isn't within easy reach is... unsettling. It's weird and the snow is covering everything outside, making even the thought about trying to walk out impossible.

Which is why Quentin set himself up the first place he found-- the library. Sure, Librarians were dicks, but the library had always offered solace.

There's nothing about where he is, no phonebook and no library computer to log in to. There's no secret book behind the main desk (because he certainly looked for one) and this whole place was just... deserted.

But, he's been reading in the back, away from the door and trying to dry out his clothes. The spells were a mess. Nothing worked like it was supposed to, and while it did remove most of the water, everything was still uncomfortably damp and annoying.

Until there's a voice-

"Are you talking to me?"

Because aside from the creepy abandoned feel of the whole town, Quentin hadn't really met a lot of people. He pokes his head around the stack of books on the table in front of him and a surprised smile breaks out.

"Oh, hey! Hello!"

[tinstar]

Raylan turned around at the voice, right hand snapping to an empty hip before he recovered, head tilting a little to the side as he started to amble forward, lips taking on a friendly curl. The news of Q vanishing had been late to his ears but Raylan had been sad to hear it.

"Quentin. Don't tell me this is where you been hidin' out. I hope you made your rounds, had a few people worried about ya. Myself included. But I finally finished that book you gave me. Pretty good. You'll have to "

Yeah, unfortunately, no one here had cracked the possibility, even the idea that there would be.. other any of them. Raylan, in his normal ass reality way, had assumed that Quintin, like Daisy, had simply.. reappeared.

[moderatelymaladjusted]

Okay, this deal with people knowing about him is starting to get a little creepy. Not the friendliness or the conversations, but that whole thing with knowing that other people knew things about him. Maybe they knew things he didn’t want people to know?

So.

Smile wavering a little, Quentin shakes his head. “I’m not...” he laughs a little, a disbelieving kind of sound before he gets up from behind the huge pile of books. “I’m Quentin, so hi? But I am also not, if that makes any sense. It probably doesn’t and I can’t really explain it, but we haven’t met before. Like, ever.”

Because crazy shit going on or not, Quentin would remember meeting a cowboy.

“Sorry?”

[tinstar]

Oh shit. It wasn't hard to read the slight confusion, the lack of recognition and it echoed over Raylan's features as he processed that. What the hell?

One finger came up from a turned hand, pointing at him in a very loose, lazy circle.

"So you got.. no idea who I am. Any... Mysterious headwound or somethin'?" Hazel eyes took a new assessment of the man in front of him, but it was all a bit far to stretch a very normal Marshal. "This ain't some.. Fog induced amnesia maybe? I mean, you don't.. didn't? seem like the type but.."

Tenses were going to be a struggle for a few minutes as Raylan continued to struggle to otherwise justify a lapse of memory.

[moderatelymaladjusted]

"I- uh, if I have amnesia, how would asking me help?"

Because that's just the first thing that blurts out of his mouth, and Quentin wipes a hand down his face. "No, I'm sorry. It's just been... a weird couple of days. On top of a weird couple of months. So..."

He shrugs, "I don't know, okay? I might just have lost all memories about this place, I mean, that happens, right? And- and yeah, maybe I hit my head, but I don't remember doing that. I don't really remember much of anything. Just... the weird stuff and then, waking up in the snow."

[tinstar]

Oh. Raylan's frown deepened a fraction. "Good point."

His hand fell a few inches but hung at his hip, a clear indication that he was still in the middle of processing all that but he lifted his chin and his eyebrows as he spread out his fingers, a reassuring gesture as he took a few steps forward.

"Alright, if you don't know, you don't know. Let me introduce myself," he said, gesturing hand splaying onto his chest as he did so and falling back down to his hip. "US Marshal Raylan Givens. And I know that you're Quentin Coldwater, here with Eliot Wagner. You're both Magicians and do the weirdest sign language I've ever seen in my life. I'm just a quickdraw that doesn't know a snake from a hole in the ground when it comes to all that so you'll have to forgive any.. stupid things that might come out of my mouth." He finished on a gentle smile.

"How far back do you remember? Few hours? A few days?"

[moderatelymaladjusted]

“What?”

Sure, Quentin looks down, kind of expecting spores or a gun or something. A horse outside, maybe, with a presentation like that. But all of that just rushes straight out of his head and he makes a punched-out sound, taking a step forward. “Waugh. Eliot Waugh?”

“Tall, brown eyes, very well-dressed? And he- we showed you magic?”

He tuts his fingers through the most basic Popper, shoving his open palms towards the ceiling, hoping it works this time around, and small sparks shoot out from both of his hands, floating for a second or two before vanishing.

“Like this?”

[tinstar]

Shit, he didn't know that either? Raylan was batting ten for ten in uncomfortable surprises and the next time this happened, he'll have learned to be a little more careful. He blinked at the sudden rush of hand movement, watching the light flare up with no small bit of wonder in his otherwise cautious expression.

"Y-yeah, yeah pretty.. pretty much like that. Well, only you showed me, he just confirmed that he does the same kind of.." Raylan gestured as though that would explain it. "That. I'm sorry, I didn't know you weren't here with him.. He's.. still here, last I checked, anyway.."

That probably wasn't helpful, since it looked like Quentin would be wanting to find him right away. "I can give you the address he was stayin' at, if you want?"

[moderatelymaladjusted]

"..."

Quentin is about to open his mouth and go 'what' again, when he snaps his mouth shut, exhaling loudly through his nose. "I'm not-- we're not really-- so, yeah. Eliot is- a friend." And he tugs his hair behind his ear, fidgeting. "But he's here? Yes, I'd like his address, or just the general direction he might be in."

Just... act like a person, Coldwater. "It's nice to met you. Even if-- so, what's a sheriff-uhm, a marshal doing in a place like this?"

[tinstar]

Raylan was not trying to insinuate anything beyond a familiar knowledge between them and so he squinted a little at the clarification that Quentin felt the need to make. Okay - Noted.

"Not a problem. I don't have a pen on me so you'll have to settle for a torn out page and a charcoal scratch from the heavier burnt area."

He had to crack a smile at the question that came back, features curling. "Same thing you are. No damned idea. Currently? Returnin' some books and collectin' new ones. Somethin' to keep my mind busy at night. You're not gonna give me shit for tearin' out a back page that ain't being used, right?"

[moderatelymaladjusted]

"I... might?"

Honestly, probably not. Mostly because while a small part of Quentin wilts at the sight of books being torn apart, he also knows it's the stupider part of him. He shakes his head. "But if you want, I have a notebook? And a pencil. For note-taking."

In case someone mentions 'hey, I know you and this is a weird as hell kind of place, have a sandwich'. Specific, yet it happened. "I'm not really," Quentin tries to clarify," here just to take my mind off things. I'm looking for something. Anything. That might explain more about... this."