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

[aprofoundbond]

I'm sure it enjoys a nice cup of coffee before it decides to ruin people's days.

[Castiel has grown much more skilled in the art of sarcasm from his time spent with the Winchesters and among humans in general; he can employ with greater finesse than his initial attempts, and, indeed, generally makes use of it much more often than he once did. Deflection by way of carefully choosing his words.

He arches an eyebrow at the mention of 'cowboys.' He wonders how much Dean knows about these cowboys, given his obsession with them.]

The cowboys?

[hellblaze]

[ The tone elects a snort from John. Well, at least he found it funny. It seems like Feathers is learning how to talk to John in the right ways. That's a good sign. ]

John Henry, usually wears a black cowboy hat. Used to be a dentist from what he told me. Marshal Raylan Givens wears the white one. They usually hang around the Brain-y Harvard Boy. Likes to ask about three thousand questions whenever he talks to you.

[aprofoundbond]

[Castiel nods as Constantine describes them. Henry, he's met, of course. He doesn't know this Marshal Raylan Givens, nor Brain-y Harvard Boy.]

I know Henry, but I'm afraid I'm less familiar with the other two you've mentioned.

[He tilts his head, considering for a moment.]

And they're all of them cowboys?

[He would venture to guess that Dean probably already knows all of them.]

[hellblaze]

Oh, don't you worry, Feathers. When you know one? The other two will eventually show up. Bunch of bloody ducklings.

[ There isn't malice in his tone, but, perhaps an annoyance. Only because John Henry and he are no longer on speaking terms--and Malcolm has always annoyed him. ]

Harvard Boy isn't. Comes from the side of the law, but not in the South.

[aprofoundbond]

Now I'm imagining a bunch of ducklings dressed like cowboys. An interesting mental image. [But not a bad one, Castiel thinks, smiling a bit at that particular image. Kind of charming, if he really thinks about it.]

So, a law enforcement agent from the North, then?

[hellblaze]

Come back and tell me if that mental image is accurate.

[ He really wants to know if someone else sees it that way. ]

Probably around New York. Didn't really bother to ask.

[aprofoundbond]

You'll be the first to know if that mental image turns out to be in any way factual.

[Castiel has gotten better about taking words literally over the years. In some cases, he still struggles a bit, but he thinks he can parse the meaning of what Constantine implies when he calls them a bunch of ducklings.]

New York is very populous. And he's also a cowboy, as well as law enforcement?

[hellblaze]

Oh, I look forward to it. We all need a good laugh now and then.

[ He really does hope they all line up like ducklings crossing a road. Might not have the feathers, but, oh it'll be a laugh. ]

Some sort of profiler I gather. Person who shoves their nose into the business of others and psychoanalyzes them.

[aprofoundbond]

Several good laughs, if this place is any indication.

[Not that laughter could really fix their problems, but Castiel believes that they all should take advantage of any chance for levity that they can.]

A profiler? Sounds like dangerous work.

[hellblaze]

You're not wrong about that, Feathers.

[ Laughter is usually a coping mechanism. Not one of the ones he deals with the most, but, his usual is out the window. Moonshine can only scratch the itch for so long. ]

He's the one that signed up for it.

[aprofoundbond]

I like to think I have a sense of humor, having spent so much time among humans now.

[Specifically, the Winchesters, and, particularly, Dean. Castiel has picked up much in the way of human habits, and learning to deal with unfortunate circumstances through sarcasm and humor is certainly one of those habits.]

This is true. And he's a friend of yours, then?

[hellblaze]

Really? Tell me a joke then. Let's see how well you've developed.

[ Putting him on the spot! John wants to see what Cas is made out of. Go on, Feathers. Entertain him. ]

I wouldn't call him a friend. Then again, I haven't got many friends. Mostly colleagues. People that I owe favors to, or who owe me.

[aprofoundbond]

[Well, Castiel thinks, he supposes he walked right into that one by bragging about his own sense of humor. He sighs, but he indulges Constantine nonetheless, pulling out a joke that went over his head the first time he heard it years ago.] Why is six afraid of seven?

Ah. You're one of those people, then.

[Castiel shakes his head. What is it with certain humans and being unable to admit to having friends, he wonders.]

[hellblaze]

....Cat's got me tongue, mate. Go on. Tell me.

[ He raises an eyebrow. This should be entertaining to say the least. ]

The type of person that's better off without mates so they don't die? Yeah, one of those.

[aprofoundbond]

Because seven eight nine.

[After hearing that joke from the Winchesters and bungling the joke response the first time around, Castiel has taken this particular joke to heart over the years. It's become his default, the hat trick he pulls out whenever he's asked if he knows any jokes.]

You can't stop making mates, as you call them, any more than you can stop death.