villagelogs | 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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yes, I've heard that as well.

( but that means very little to him when he thinks he can survive and even get through it. he's not going to let the stories scare him off.

the fog might be their only way out of this place and he's an original. there's no one better suited for this. )

But I'll be fine, Elena. You know what I am.

[ an idiot.

when she looks at him, she sees someone, not a vampire, who she wants to keep by her side. yes, elijah is useful tactically to have beside her, but she doesn't want him because he's strong and powerful. his company has been one of the most constant things in her life over just a few short days.

pushing her chair back, she stands and crosses her arms against her chest. ]

How do you know that fog isn't filled with vervain? It can still hurt you.

But even then, it won't kill me.

( yes, it would hurt and yes, he would be very angry that it hurt so badly but he would survive. he would survive and live to fight another day. )

I've dealt with worse than vervain over the span of my life, Elena. My own brother has put daggers in my heart. Vervain is absolutely nothing.

( except a nuisance. )

[ she has never had to deal with elijah when he was determined to hurt himself. maybe teaming up with her and assisting her to possibly survive the ritual had been an example of him putting himself in harm's way, but she hadn't believed him helping her had been a demonstration of elijah on a suicide mission.

something in her gut is telling her this is the worst idea he could've had in a very long time, and a part of that reasoning is her fear of being left alone.

her frown only deepens. ]

How do you know that? What if this fog is something that can?

Unless the fog is made of a ash from a white oak, then it is not going to hurt me. That is the only thing that could kill me.

( not that he particularly wants to burn or be ripped apart or anything like that. while he would recover, it would be quite the annoyance and he has better things to do than that. )

It could be our only way out of here, Elena. Is that not worth the chance of me going through to it?

[ she shakes her head. ] No.

[ the only time self-sacrifice is ever worth it is when she's the one doing the sacrificing of herself. too many people have died trying to protect her. while she understands that he wants to find a way out for the both of them, it's still a potential sacrifice. she trusts nothing of this place; with the way the people talk about it, it's not safe. ]

No, I don't. There has to be another way. If a witch can't get through it, there's no way to tell that you can.

[ a magic user and a magical being are one in the same, aren't they? ]

There's no way to tell except walk through it. I want to try, Elena. For you, for me, for all of us. If there's someone who can get through it, it's me.

( and he knows that she knows that. he's an original vampire who cannot be killed save for by one thing. he's the best choice. )

It's not a sacrifice. We need to find a way through it and I can do that. It won't kill me.

[ she's shaking her head as he speaks, frowning deeply. ]

What if you can get through the fog. Who's to say that people like me can?

[ she's human. john's human. as far as she knows, everyone in the town aside from elijah and possibly henry are vulnerable humans who can get hurt and killed. elena doesn't want to be left behind. ]

There's another way and it's not through it.

How do you know?

( there's no way she could know because she hasn't been through the fog. no one has. people have gone in and not been able to go further.

he thinks he can. )

How does anyone know until someone tries? I can try and I can see if it's truly passable or not.

[ she shakes her head, throat feeling constricted and tense. he's not listening. hasn't anyone told him about the fog? hasn't anyone told him about how people have died here? elena can barely understand how someone can die here and come back, other than it being some purgatory where life and death have found a middle ground for them to exist in.

she steps away from him, venturing over towards the bed. she turns to face him, frustration sharpening her features and voice. ]

Because John said that he died because of the fog! And he's not mundane like me, Elijah. If he can die, I can die, you can die. All of us can die.

Elena, you don't know that. For as long as I've been alive, one thing has been able to kill me. If this fog could kill me, I would know.

( that's what he wants to think, at least. he's confident and secure in his opinion. )

Do you want to get out of here? Do you want to get back to Mystic Falls and those you've left behind?

( because if yes, he needs to do this to see if there's a way out. )

[ she has nowhere to go but a hole in the ground. elena grits her teeth and angrily drops her gaze. if she can be selfish, she wants to go back home. maybe if she completes these trials like hercules did, she'll be able to prove she deserves to live.

her breathing is long and laboured through her nose. when she lifts her gaze to him, her lips are pressed in a tight line. she then tilts her head and arches her brow slightly. ]

If you go into the fog, then I'm going with you.

Absolutely not. You're not going into that fog with or without me.

( does he dare try and argue with someone as stubborn as elena, though? will he able to convince her with just words? )

I'm an original vampire, Elena. I can survive this. You will not. You're not going and that's final.

( becaus that'll work. )

I'm going in and that's final.

[ she knows digging her feet into the ground is irresponsible when it comes to this. elena won't be able to survive. being the doppelgänger doesn't mean she will survive this… but if you jump, i jump jack.

he's the only person she knows here. he's her responsibility, whether he likes it or not.

defiantly tilting her head up, she dares him to keep fighting with her. hell, she dares him to pull a damon and try and compel her. ]

If you can go in, I can go in. My life isn't more valuable than anyone else's.

021-023 » the ghosts of fallen leaves

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