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.

navigation | faq | setting | mod contact

Comments

[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?

[conning]

Columbia, University of Chicago, and the Pantheon-Sorbonne in Paris.

[ For one chain of degrees, anyway.

He shrugs a little further into his suit jacket, like that will do anything to keep out the cold. ] And before this I was in my apartment in New York City.

[ Getting ready to go undercover as an expert in the restoration of Egyptian antiquities, but details. ] Beautiful fall day. Was getting ready to walk out the front door.

[notanemptymotto]

Quite the arrange of places. Tell me, what was your favorite part of the Pantheon-Sorbonne? [ Her head tilts towards him with her eyebrows perked.

Really. ]

That explains why you're hardly dressed for the weather. [ And also shows that they could be anywhere or at any time. ] Hm. Time and locations don't seem to be overlapping much to explain what drew us here.

[conning]

[ He unconsciously mimics her little head-tilt, a smile lighting his eyes without ever touching his lips. ] Favorite part?

[ Neal brushes his fingertips along the brim of his hat. ] Les Bouquinistes on the Seine, Le Caveau de la Huchette, Jardin du Luxembourg, Le Musée National Eugène Delacroix. I can't even pick a favorite part of the Latin Quarter. Forget the school itself.

[ He exhales softly, watching his breath steam in the air. ] I'm getting that impression, yeah.

[notanemptymotto]

Impressive. Here I thought you might be lying.

[ There is a playfulness in her tone to it. Still, an uneasy smile takes her face. If only because she simply does not know how to take any of this quite yet. First priority is to warm the pair of them.

Hopefully these houses have heating. ]

I get the feeling very little here might explain how we arrived. Or, what might of pulled us in. Not on the surface level anyways.

[ Her eyes fall on a house and she nods to it. ]

This way!

[conning]

Lie about loving Paris? Never.

[ Neal falls into her wake easily--he's always been a willing follower when it comes to a self-possessed woman. ] What d'you mean, pulled us in? I'm assuming hired muscle and heavy sedatives.

[notanemptymotto]

You'd be surprised who does.

[ She's English, after all. ]

Or something more... unusual. I'm afraid that is far more common in my line of work than the heavy sedatives. Unless I'm in t he middle of an operation.

[conning]

Philistines.

[ He squints into a blast of wind and snow, already mourning his shoes. ]

Okay, I'll bite--MI5? Interpol? Unless you work the other side of things.

[notanemptymotto]

Ah, exactly how I feel about coffee.

[ There is a tone of lightness, though, she is entirely serious about it. Coffee is very far below her standards. She'd rather be cold than drink it.

She climbs up the stairs to one home and tries the door handle. It twists. Then, the door opens.

Her eyebrows perk up. ]

A doctor, honestly. I run a private practice.

[conning]

Dr. Magnus, I don't think we can be friends.

[ Neal keeps his voice quiet, peering past her inside. It's dark. Quiet. Warm, though. ] Doesn't look like anyone's home.

[notanemptymotto]

Well, that is certainly a disappointment. I was growing rather fond of your clever wit.

[ Her hand gently moves across the wall before she flicks the light on. It illuminates the area, revealing a normal looking home.

She shifts to the side for him to enter behind her. Then, her makeshift hood comes off. ]

I hope they won't mind the intrusion.

[conning]

Keep complimenting me and I might be able to look past our differences.

[ He steps further inside, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling. Yeah, it's a perfectly normal looking home. Nothing out of place--that is to say, nothing strange. There are keys in a bowl on a side table. Shoes piled by the door.

Neal touches the side table's surface gently, and his fingers come away covered in dust. ] ...I don't think they're around to be bothered.

[notanemptymotto]

It's not hard to please you, is it?

[ At least now the large bruise on the side of her face is rather easy to tell. Helen takes off her mismatched gloves as she wanders further into the house.

She takes note of the dust once he speaks up again. Then, she frowns. She quickly makes her way to what seems to be the living room. Dust... dust everywhere. ]

Good lord... VHS. It's been some time since I've seen one of those.

[conning]

I'm a man of simple pleasures.

[ He follows her, carefully taking everything in, disturbing things as little as possible. This place is giving him the crawls. ]

Yeah... But it doesn't look old, either. It's pristine, except for the dust. [ He migrates through the room, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It's like a museum exhibit portraying the home of an average American family, albeit one that's twenty years behind the times. ] Wherever they went, they expected to come back.

[notanemptymotto]

Hm. Or easily excitable?

[ It's all teasing of course. ]

It would seem that way. [ Helen nods to Neal's judgement of the area. She steps into the living room further, looking at the walls and state of the knickknacks all over the place. ] I'm surprised the electricity still works. Obviously, they haven't paid their bill in some time.

[conning]

I prefer to think of it as childlike wonder.

[ He likes it, the teasing. It's reassuring in spite of all of this. It gives him stable ground to strike out from. ]

Yeah... Doesn't make sense. But what else has, so far?

[ He makes his way through to the kitchen, turning the water on and off in the sink. ] Municipal systems in general seem to be operating, which hopefully means authorities of some kind.

[ He turns around, finally getting a good look at Helen's face, and pulls up short. ] ...Are you okay?