villagelogs | 024-027 » neither reward nor punishment

024-027 » neither reward nor punishment

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central/Western Mathias + ???
WHEN: Days 024-027
WHAT: The consequences of their actions.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here! The next log will be posted January 23rd.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Onryo" 怨霊

DAYS 024-025
CONSEQUENCES
“There are in nature neither rewards nor punishments —
there are consequences.”
— Robert G. Ingersoll
When the unwilling residents of Mathias Township wake on the morning of the 24th day, they will find themselves in yet another set of frustratingly unnerving circumstances. None of them are where they last remember being, and some of them have strange marks on the palms of their left hands. It's all incredibly unsettling, but truthfully they should be used to it by now. No one will remember traveling to their new location.

Residents can wake up anywhere within their new location and in any position. Curled up in a bed, sprawled on a couch, huddled beneath a coffee table, propped against a wall... Wherever they are, they will themselves to be in quite an unusual state. While they are wearing whatever clothing items they went to sleep in, plus their shoes and a coat. The newest arrivals to Mathias Township will perhaps stand out for being slightly more appropriately dressed than their new neighbors. They are all a bit damp, physically worn out, and half-frozen from their apparent walk through a blizzard.

Each of the four locations is inescapable — residents are trapped, with exterior doors and windows being shut tight and a blizzard raging outside. The locations are stocked with fresh food and water and a large pile of firewood for the fireplaces in each building. The circumstances residents will face, however, may vary wildly between locations as the forces at work in Mathias respond to the recent actions of certain individuals.

BOARDING HOUSE | GREY GULL
NEW HOUSE | MYSTERY MANSION

These residents will wake with a mark on their left hand palms, a spiraling black symbol similar to those some may have seen around town. All marks are identical and cannot be removed, but will have seemingly vanished from their skin on the morning of the 26th day.

Castiel, Daisy Johnson, Dean Winchester
Elena Gilbert, Elijah Mikaelson, Helen Magnus
Phil Coulson, Quentin Coldwater, Sherlock Holmes

DAYS 026-027
IN THE AFTERMATH
After their ordeals of the past two days, the unfortunate residents of Mathias Township will be grateful to find that they were back where they are supposed to be, a chill still clinging to their clothes in whatever place they went to sleep the night of the 23rd day. New arrivals will wake in the living room of the boarding house. None of the residents will wake with anything in their possession from the locations in which they were previously trapped, including any notes or documentation they may have made during their time there.

CONDITIONS UPDATE
— SNOW continues to fall heavily on Days 024-025, resulting in white out conditions from the wind that blows in gusts of over 35 mph; the temperature also drops drastically, making conditions extremely dangerous for residents. The blizzard clears on Day 26 and residents are left with a cold, calm world covered in white.

— THE FOG remains blocking the paths in the forest, urging residents to stay huddled within the town proper, and it also now blocks the northern section of town, beginning just before where residents know the chasm in the earth to be. Venturing into the fog is... ill-advised.

— DISAPPEARANCES continue to plague the town. Kylo Ren and Thomas Richardson have vanished without a trace.

— NO NEW DEATHS have occurred in town, but there is a new "grave" in the small makeshift graveyard near the schoolhouse. Rey's corpse has been moved and covered with stones to wait for the ground to thaw enough for a proper burial.

— THE LANTERNS will be gone from the morning of Day 024. No trace of them remains.

OOC UPDATES
— A GIFT for everyone! As a thank you for being part of this spooky little game, every character in the game is being gifted 2 Activity Points. These may be banked over here — instead of linking to an AC post, you may put "New Year gift" in that field. Happy 2021, friends!

— NEW LAYOUTS have been installed for our communities! Huge thanks to our Eldritch Librarian Stars for putting in the time to get this place looking shiny. (You may have also noticed some new page layouts being installed — these are also our Librarian's handiwork!)

— 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.)

— 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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[ elena's eyes narrow as she watches him, disregarding his question. she doesn't want to look around, and she's hesitant to do so before she looks to the side, drawing her bottom lip into her mouth as she tries her best to see if she can recall its walls. but she can't. she can remember the houses she's been in—or approximately the house she's been in—but this is new.

she lets out a breath and shakes her head. turning her gaze to him, she frowns as she looks at him. ]

Are you okay?

Yes, I'm fine.

( seems like they were both going to lie a bit. he doesn't want her to worry about him and she will, of course, try and not have anyone worry about her. in the end, they will both worry about each other despite all the lies. )

It's just very loud.

( and his hearing was already sensitive so it sounds even louder to him. it's burrowing into his head and making it throb. )

But, I'm fine. We needn't focus on me. We need to figure out how we got here and leave.

[ he's annoying.

elena doesn't make a move to go searching for a map or a slip of paper that will give them both information on how they can get out of wherever they are and the town. she's hopeful, but she's also given up some hope. ]

And you're hearing it even louder.

[ when elena looks around, it's not to find a way out. she's wondering if there's something like earmuffs she can give him. she turns on her heel and walks over to a set of tables near the window and looks as if there will be earplugs just waiting for him there. ]

It's all right, it's fine.

( he's had powerful witches in his head so he thinks he can deal with a little sound. he's not going to let it affect him too much if he can help it.

they both need to focus. pressing a finger to his temple, he watches her move and then shakes his head. )

Stop worrying about it, Elena. It's not an issue you need to concern yourself with. We've bigger things to worry about.

( like why they're here specifically. he doesn't think the choice of building is random. )

[ she sighs. ] We always have bigger things to worry about.

[ it's something she's coming to quickly resent. why can't she have a normal life where she isn't being hunted by powerful supernatural pricks? why can't she be the girl who got to live?

elena walks over to the window. it's something she hasn't studied herself, and she doesn't want to look at elijah when she closes her eyes and tries to curb that nauseous feeling. lifting her glass to her lips, she drinks her water, wanting and praying that it'll make her feel a lot better.

all she can see white. ]

When are we going to start worrying about the little things? Don't those matter, too?

Right now? They don't matter as much as everything else.

( little things like his headache don't matter when they've somehow lost time and been moved from one place to another. elijah rubs his chest, wondering if he'd been daggered somehow and then had it taken out when he'd been here.

but no, he knows how that feels and that isn't this. he swallows and turns in a circle, trying to figure out where to start. )

Have you seen anyone else?

No.

[ she feels a little guilty over it. sure, she's heard some noises, but she figures it was the bar groaning as buildings tend to do. she was a little more preoccupied with her spinning head and her need to try and right herself. she's no good to anyone if she doesn't feel well. right now, she's no good to him, but she wants to pretend that she is.

deciding she has to turn around and face him, she does so with her arms crossed tightly. ]

Have you?

Just you.

( he looks around, trying to find someone else through the thick darkness. he's aware of elena and he can hear sounds but it's all drowned out by the unrelenting noise from outisde.

he grimaces again, pressing a finger against his head before he shaking his head. he could not let this place get to him. he has to focus. )

Come on, let's see what we can find and see if we can leave.

( he has a feeling that leaving is going to be difficult. he doesn't know why, he just has a feeling. )

Maybe we should try the front door to see if we can leave.

[ sometimes the simplest answers are the best solutions. she doesn't sound like she believes it, though. despite being somewhat of a bubble of positivity, it's been a little popped since waking up with her neck stinging and her body feeling a lot more sluggish than she'd like.

she hadn't gone to the front door nor had she tried to slither her way out of a window and into the snow. elena had just wanted to feel better. isn't that what she always wants?

she doesn't make a move to venture towards the front door, staying where she stands. ]

All right. Come on.

( elijah starts moving first, stepping closer to her and putting a gentle hand on her elbow to try and encourage her to move. he's not going anywhere without her and if she doesn't move, he's not going anywhere either.

he doesn't take his hand away from her elbow as they start walking and his attention stays closely on her. )

How are you doing? Honestly.

[ she doesn't shrug her arm from his touch. elena lets him guide her, kind of preferring it. he's touching her through the coat she'd woken up with, and it's that touch that makes her feel a little less lost.

she does shrug a shoulder. ] I'm a little hungry. [ a nice, safe answer. ] Waking up in strange places tend to do that.

[ when she'd woken in that rundown house where they'd first met, she'd been a little hungry then, too. ]

We can look for some food.

( if worst comes to worst, he thinks he can probably get outside enough to get some snow that they can eat. it's not much and it's not tasteful but it'll be something.

he just hopes they won't have to do that. they make their way through the dark of the building, elijah with elena's elbow in one hand and using his eyesight to feel his way through. )

Tell me if you see something.

I see... walls, a steady floor... a lot of chairs.

[ she smiles, knowing that's not what he had meant. but she can't see anything, not in the way he can. all she can offer him is that. she's just a mere human who keeps needing him to protect her when she doesn't want that at all.

she should pull her arm from his touch, but she leaves it there. despite being stubborn enough to think she can do anything and everything, elena does like being looked after. ]

Did you want me to try and describe the wood? Because it looks like a type of oak.

Oh, I see your sense of humor wasn't frozen along with everything else in this town.

( elijah shoots her a look before he stops once they come across what looks like a bar type set up. there's bottles on a shelf behind the bar and he wonders if there's any food around here.

bars would serve food too, wouldn't they? )

I'm going to try and find you something to eat. Do you want to wait here or come with me?

Edited 2021-01-07 01:48 (UTC)

I'll come with you.

[ she says it quickly, not pulling away from him. the idea of being left alone isn't one that comforts her. she wants to be with him, know where he is at all times, make sure that she's not alone. now that she has company, she doesn't want to be without it. he's a nice distraction.

eyeing the bar, she frowns. ]

Do all those bottles look empty to you, too?

Yes.

( most of the bottles that his eyes have fallen on look completely empty. but there's no film of dust that he'd expect to see with bottles left abandoned.

he steps close enough to see, reaching a hand up to run along the glass. it's cold to the touch. )

No dust. Not even a slight covering.

( there's no breeze in here right now so he has to wonder why unless this is a recent thing. )

[ elena stays where she is, wrapping her arms around herself to palm her biceps. she watches him, lifts her gaze over his he'd and expects little particles to appear to signify dust. ]

But that doesn't make sense… Half of the houses here are filled with dust and rotting from the inside. How is this bar so clean?

[ wait, that's not a good question to ask. elena knows why it could be clean—anyone smart enough would come here, clean it up, and drink, drink, drink.

she sighs, feeling disappointed. ] Unless the people here have cleaned it. [ she mumbles, ] There goes that.

Why would people clean empty bottles?

( if they wanted this to look like a bar, they could just buy more alcohol to prove...that this was a bar. decorative empty bottles wasn't really something he understood.

he runs a thumb across a few more, shaking his head before turning back to elena. )

It would seem more logical to actually buy more alcohol instead of just keeping empty bottles shiny. There has to be more appropriate ways to decorate the area.

[ it's called boredom, elijah. ]

Where would you buy the alcohol from? There's nothing h—

[ nothing out here in the customer-facing section of the bar. elena doesn't move, but her eyes do brighten just a little. she still feels a little ick, but having something to preoccupy herself with is bound to make her feel better. she's just bored, just as she's been since arriving here. ]

Bars have offices, right?

They have to get their food and other supplies from somewhere. Somehow, things are getting in here.

( so, there has to be an office somewhere. he nods and gestures her forward because there has to be some place where the owner would make orders, conduct business. )

There should be an office around here. There could be business records and such, if we're lucky.

( they probably wouldn't be that lucky. )

[ she highly doubts they will be lucky, but if they find an office, maybe she can see that it had been lived in and used and... maybe sit down. she doesn't want to be standing anymore. telling elijah that is a no go.

looking around, she keeps her arms wrapped around her and softly begins to make her way from the bar. a hint of alcohol would've woken her right up, but... maybe there'll be something in the office. ]

Maybe there will be a nameplate with an actual surname to prove that people here weren't just like Madonna.

[ she's a little mad the school reports she found lacked a surname for poor little simon. ]

Madonna? Is she still around?

( she's not really elijah's favorite thing so he barely keeps up with her. funny to hear that she's still around and still popular.

he sighs, moving slowly through the halls lest anyone sneak up on them. he keeps a hand on the wall, feeling for any irregularities or things that might indicate something hidden. )

Still with me?

( she's moving slowly but he's attributing that to just waking up in a strange place. )

[ does he live under a rock? then again, perhaps he does—it'd make sense given that klaus seems to enjoy piling a mountain of rocks around his siblings every now and again. does he also band them from watching television, from enjoying music?

she should ask, but... she lingers behind him and watches his back. she doesn't have to be alert when she brings up the rear—no one's looking at her to do so. ]

Mhm.

[ she lets out a sigh, unable to help herself. she doesn't feel any desire to give him a quip. ]

Not wearing any socks is uncomfortable.

[ that's not the only thing that is. the right side of her neck where klaus had drained her blood feels tight and uncomfortable. ]

I'm sure.

( elijah stops and turns bac to look at her, frowning. he thinks there's something else, something more and while he wants to ask, he doesn't want to push her.

he doesn't want her to completely shut down and close him out from whatever might be happening. )

Elena — ( he steps closer to her, still looking her over. ) What's the matter?

Nothing.

[ she shakes her head, brows furrowed tightly, and then she relaxes her face and gives him a small smile. ]

I'm fine.

[ her best practiced answer. sometimes elena thinks this is the one thing she was meant to get right—saying she's fine when she doesn't feel as much. ]

I'm just tired of waking up in strange locations. This time I'm missing pants.

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