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

[fika]

Seems like an aversion to sleeping as they should was a common, running trend here in Mathias. Were Five a better friend, he might even offer some unsolicited advice on getting some rest. But he isn't.

A snort, jaw clenched and working as the gears turn in that brain of his. Did he really get this wrong?

Shit, he's so sure that this is the right thread to follow - because that's whaat he's always done. Perhaps relied on an ability that was only half-baked, even before he got here. Maybe, his appetite was bigger the bite and for all his purported smarts, he doesn't quite learn because a part of him wants this to be the solution.

Because it would be in his hands then. His to succeed or fail at.

But are the risks too great? He already doesn't know where and when this is, as Doc astutely pointed out. He's risking getting stuck in a 1964 without a breadcrumb trail back, and for what? A 25% or less chance?

(Better than no chance, is the petty thought.)

"Maybe," he concedes. Complacency was a dangerous thing though, and he hoped to ensure a lack of it, acting in extremes as he always had. "Maybe the more information, the better."

He heaves another long suffered sigh, coughs the last of it as his ribs constrict. How many more weeks of this?

Hands on his hips, and he stares at the notebook he had set aside on the chair at one point or the next, quiet for a long time. "...You said there were more people here. Need any supplies?"

He is, after all, not limited to the same spatial confines most people are. It isn't a direct answer to saying he won't do it. But this - this broke away some thread of madness that's festered too long, like riding out the last waves of a bad high.

[thering]

There's a look of concern that fleetingly ghosts over Doc's face at Five's cough. A blink and you'll miss it kind of furrowing of the eyebrows and tension in his jaw. There isn't much he can do beyond imploring that Five get some rest, but he has already done that, to limited effect. The last thing he wants to do is push his luck and turn people frustrated by his 'incessant nagging' away to brave dealing with their injuries on their own.

"We should be alright for three days. Bandages are running low though. I've put a pillowcase through boiled water, just in case, but it's not ideal." They are the kind of people who can make whatever work, who won't ask for more than what life has given them, who can make things happen out of what little they can scrounge together, but Doc had considered braving the snowstorm for another first aid kit from the General Store. He doubts anyone will have gone there in this weather.

"If you want to stay for some food, we have enough for you. I hope you know this door is always open." They might be somewhere sometime in New England but they take their hospitality with them wherever they go. And should the shit hit the fan in the most spectacular ways, Doc would never say 'I told you so' even if he might think it. He would only ask what they can do about it, how to fix it, how to move forward.

[fika]

It isn't Doc's fault most of the town residents - injury-prone as they all seem to be - have absolutely zero capacity to listen to a professional medic's advice. You can bring a horse to water, as they say...

Given the abhorrent weather, walking out of here can go two ways - Five will return to the sleeping Klaus, and take the time to review everything he has until he finally rests, shocking everyone who knows him (including himself), or he will go to the house on Hill Lane, and jump to 1964. But, with every word spoken the latter seems all the more unlikely to happen at this very instance, evident in the drop of his shoulders.

"Well, let me know if that doesn't turn out to be the case. It's easier for me to get things than you right now," not meant to be an offensive statement. Its simply true. Unless, of course, Doc wanted to hitch a ride along with him for essentials.

He scratches at the back of his head again, never knowing quite what to say at Doc's hospitality. "I — appreciated that." (If you listen closely, you might hear dial-up modem tones). "Hey do you have any brews against nightmares, or something?" A clarifying beat: "I'm not asking for me."

[thering]

Nope. He is too old to be getting flung here and there with Five's 'special technique'. He would rather walk even if the temperature is below freezing.

"I would not ask you to make a special trip there but should you be in the store today and the first aid kit is available, I would appreciate you taking it with you. There is no hurry bringing it here." They technically lose a kit if it is still there tomorrow, since it would not replenish. Having two available is always better than one.

At the mention of nightmares, Doc gets up and moves to the wardrobe which he has rebranded as his own, pulling open the bottom drawer and retrieving two vials. "I do not have a specific cure, but I did find these lavender tinctures from the botanical store. While I cannot testify to how old they are, the smell is still well preserved. It is said that a drop or two in a pillow will aid a more restful sleep."

Doc does not ask why or for whom or what. He simply hands them over. Whatever Malcolm is dealing with cannot be solved by tinctures, but Doc has set aside enough for him that he can be giving away the rest.

"Give them a try. See how you go."