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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And it was 2020, kid. Time's not fixed. Not like how we think. Sounds like you have experience with that and Jane.

( He takes a break from inhaling his sandwich to sit back. )

So, what do you mean, Jane messed up a bunch of timelines?

She-uhm, it's a long story.

[This cup of coffee is very interesting. Brace yourself for a ramble, Dean.] Her brother had made some really big mistakes, okay? No wait, so. It all starts with Plover, the British writer? He wrote these-these fantasy books back in the 1930's, about Fillory. And the main characters, the Chatwin children, went there and had these great adventures. They were made kings and queens of this amazing fairy tale land. Except... it really happened? Plover was just... writing what the real Chatwins told him. It-they-- something was done to Martin. He was the hero of the story and he-- the god of Fillory? Ember. Locked him out of Fillory, for being boring, and that's why you can't read about him in the last book. Because he couldn't get in to Fillory anymore. And by the way, Plover is a dick.

Anyway, Jane. She wanted to stop her brother from killing a bunch of people, and. Somehow, she picked me. To stop him. From burning down Fillory and killing people. Every time I failed, she-- made me do it all over again. Reset time. Changing one thing from each timeline, until I just. Didn't fail.

[By stepping down and letting the better magician do the job, watching her succeed and die in front of his eyes.]

The magician-uhm, witch? That you killed? It was just the one, right?

I've killed other witches. The witch from Hansel & Gretel. That was me. And, a witch who tried to Bourne Identity me. I don't make a habit of it. I'm not a witch hunter. But, there are bad witches.

( He's just a hunter, hunter. )

Also, I followed... half of that. So, Jane Buffy'd you.

Okay, that's... yeah, no. That's good. Not sure if killing people is always the way to go, but. Yeah, there are bad witches out there.

[He takes another bite of the sandwich, just to avoid talking and to make his mouth shut up.]

That's one way to put it. She groundhog-day'd me. And it wasn't even me. I mean, it didn't have to be me, but she was just-- stuck. On me. For some reason. We ended up solving it and she left me pretty much alone after that. And your musician- god? Did he-uhm, leave you alone?

Only long enough to take out other me's he created and the worlds they were in. Real hand of God.

( He won't argue against or for killing, but the first witch was turning people back into children to eat them and the last one screwed someone financially and then whammied Dean. There are witches who deserve to die. They're bad witches. He can disagree all he wants. )

Did you feel special before she gave you the full Phil Connors?

He sounds like a dick.

[Oh fuck you, Dean.]

I-- yeah, so maybe I did? Maybe I thought that I could really make a difference in the world, and maybe I could even save Fillory. Which... I did. Kind of. Alice did the saving because she was the best of us, and she was willing to... do what had to be done. But yeah, I felt special for a hot minute, wouldn't you?

He was.

( Real grade-A dick meat.

Fuck you, back, because that hits hard and deep. Did he feel special. How honest is he going to get with this strange kid. Buffy-light with Season 2 hair. He takes another big bite. He chews, he thinks, and wipes his hands and then wipes his mouth with the same dirty paper towel. )

I didn't.

[With great power comes... being a dick. Maybe it was like a rule? Even Alice became a raging dick when she turned in to a Niffin and maybe it wasn't the endless fountain of magic in her that did that, maybe it was just what having that much power does to someone. It really would explain so much about Penny...

He shrugs, hiding behind the coffee-cup again.]

Yeah, well... I did, and then I didn't and everything was kind of a shit-show after that.

No more Jane, though. She just-- fucked off to where-ever and stayed there. More or less. Did your Chuck do that, or-- did he put you here?

If he put me here, then my buddy says it didn't last. I helped take care of him once and for all. Space time continuum. ( He tilts his head, leaning back again, resting his fist on the table, still grasping the dirty paper towel. ) He wants me to kill my brother. I doubt he'd separate us.

( It's a loaded thing to say, probably crazy coming out of nowhere to Quentin, but it's the truth. One of Chuck's agendas was fratricide. )

That's... a suspiciously specific want.

[Jane just wanted him to kill her brother because she couldn't do it herself, so... point? He leaves most of the sandwich on the plate, looking at everything else in the room but Dean.]

Yeah, I-- I get that. Space time? I had-- we saw. Pocket universes? Different timelines. There was even this timeline that just. It didn't happen? Because timetravel paradoxes doesn't make the universe explode. I still remember it, but. It never happened.

[Shut up, Q. Remember the one rule- don't talk about it and it didn't happen.]

But. Yeah. I guess things are- uhm, horrible everywhere? I don't even know if that's a good thing or not. And-- good. That you didn't kill your brother.

( Does he not like his sandwich? Dean painstakingly crafted a gooey egg, crisp bacon...

Dean will eat the rest of your sandwich, Quentin. )

I did in every other reality.

( Good for him, then? )

Yeah, universe only explodes if the universe's creator makes it so. ( Ass. ) Was the timeline that didn't happen, was it in your head or was it uh, fabricated? Faked?

[You show me yours and I'll show you mine? Quentin nods, looking up.]

That's... really fucked up. I died? Or, I lost my friends in grizzly accidents. Oh, and once, I lost my Shade and killed a lot of people. But. She reset them all. Until I got right.

[The sandwich is fine. It's probably a perfectly good sandwich, being completely wasted on Quentin.]

I- [a deep breath, because. Dean, as kind as he is, is not going to be the first person Quentin ever talks to about the Time key, but Quentin is the worst liar.]

We never found out either way. Why the memories are still there? If it really happened or if it was just. Something that happened outside of time. [Fifty years was a lot of time spent on it, though, and Quentin still remembers being 30, 52 and 70. Working at the mosaic, trying to solve a puzzle he no longer believed in and had stopped hoping for a solution to, years ago.] It was just one of those things. Do you remember? Those other realities?

Shade? That like a shadow?

( Peter Pan? No, he's not going to verbalize his J.M. Barrie thoughts. But, he's thinking them, Quentin. Oh, is he thinking them. Oh the cleverness of Dean. )

My brother dreamed most of them. We were in one where we weren't even born. Called that one apocalypse world. Then there was the Bad Place. But, there were others. Temporary ones. This dick of an archangel trapped Sam in one a long time ago. Said he watched me die over a hundred times. And before that, a Djinn got to me and had one of those It's a Wonderful Life experiences, 'cept, I knew it wasn't right. Gave it up. And Sam saved me from being bled to death.

It's the kind parts of you? Not your soul, but. The parts of you that care.

[Another shrug. That sounded a lot worse than most of the things Quentin had had to go through, the quests and trials of being who he was. What's depression and fantasy worlds against watching your family dying over and over?]

My ex-girlfriend had to drink a huge cup of god jizz once.

[Quentin's mouth blurts out.]

So, your soul.

( That's exactly how a shade sounds, Quentin. )

You - what? Was that -- ( Who just says that? It's one thing to talk about dragon penises with your brother and your angel, but. ) ...Alice?

( Only name he's named so far. )

No? It's not-- if you lose it, it doesn't go to heaven? But if your soul dies, it does? At least I think it does? I never really heard about it, but the Underworld was there so. Why the hell not?

[Quentin nods, drinking even more coffee. Yeah, it was a weird thing to say, but anything to get away from the topic of killing loved ones.] Yeah. She-- someone had to do it, and she. She was the strongest one. The best one. And that's what she had to do to win the fight we were in.

The Underworld. So, your world's like -- Greek.

( Well, there's a difference he recognizes. )

Not - from - not straight from the source.

I-- no? I'm American. And I don't really think gods have-- I don't think they really care that much about nations. Or borders. Or us.

[Dicks.] She- no. He just gave it to me? Because I asked for help and he. Ember, the god- wanted to help and he gave me this big cup. Of his... essence. I was going to be the one, but. As I said, that plan had already failed so many times before, so this time Alice did it.

Right. She - took one for the team.

( Very noble of her. )

There a Hades, too? We probably have a Hades.

Maybe? I think I might have heard about that one from Penny. But he was probably just one of many and for the old gods? They wouldn't even hear us out, or let us out of the office. Just-- handed us cakes and sent us back.

[Really-- dicks.]

And yeah, she did. She-- was amazing.

Cakes. We got old gods, too. Killed some of them myself. Very big on human sacrifice.

( Like, all old gods. )

Uh huh. We didn't-- kill any of the old gods? Just the one in Fillory, and we should... no, I needed to do that for many reasons, but the results were. Bad.

[Who knew old gods would be so cruel to humanity if you killed one of their kids?]

Some? Like, one than one?

[What?]

Off the top of my head? Zeus. Calliope. Vesta. Moloch. Chronos. Plutus. Veritas. Eve. Samhain. Cacao. Odin's sons. Oh, and I killed Hitler. Nazis wanted him back, transfused the blood of his remaining ancestor... Shot him point blank.

( To Dean, this is both a grocery list and a list of trophies, especially when he mentions Hitler. That's one of his greatest. )

Uh--

[Sandwich is officially forgotten, and Quentin sits up a little straighter, cup cradled in his hands.]

And. They just let you? Not- I don't mean the nazis, or. I also mean the nazis, but the gods? You got away with it?

[He wants to believe. But killing the Beast cost him Alice, and getting her back almost cost him his Shade. Getting magic back... cost him everything. And this guy just kills them? He eyes Dean more curiously.]

But you don't do magic?

I can do magic. Anyone where I'm from, they got the right words and ingredients, they can do magic. My brother's the apprentice. Former.

And the gods didn't let me. They were killing people, or their kid, or possessing other guys in order to, yeah, kill people.

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