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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Ain't feeling sorry for myself if I didn't have the confidence that you lot didn't need an extra hand.

[ John raised his head giving Raylan a look. Touchy. Though, really, it was why he didn't drink around others. It always brought out the worst strides of himself. ]

Or maybe I'd just rather not deal with Mathias and her lovely pack of issues for one bloody day. Or several. Aimin' for the several, but, I doubt we'll be so lucky to hit that bloody mark.

[ He rolled his eyes and pushed himself to sit up with a loud sniff. ]

Oh, I could do loads more than light vandalism... might even do big enough if I found the right matches, yeah?

Edited 2021-01-09 06:28 (UTC)

[Raylan paused at the answer, turning half around to look back at John. Well that was better than nothing.

The confidence was nice and all but it glossed over reality.]

Never could understand buryin' my head in the sand. Problem's still there when you come up for air. Better to deal with it out right.

Look - you don't wanna go out there, fine. You want me to leave, fine. Alls you gotta do is say so. Hell, I ain't even askin' you to burn nothin' down, though I'm sure it's an option. But I ain't hidin' from where I'm at. I can sit in here and bitch and moan with you, or you can come with me and bitch and moan in a hall. In motion or something. Do somethin' with your bones.

Sometimes, Raylan, the world is a scary place. It's got all sorts of monsters that you need to just forget about for a few days. Sometimes? You just want off the ride.

[ His tone was flat and eerily serious -- even for him. The things John Constantine had seen. While Newcastle and Astra were certainly the worst? He'd seen so much evil. Demons, Hell? You expected that. People? Well, evil people were always the worst of the bunch. The ones that were truly heinous and despicable. ]

All I bloody said was I didn't want to deal with Mathias's spooky mystery box for a day. Nice bed, some whiskey? I really doubt we'll be seeing this for awhile. So why not bloody enjoy it while we can?

What has got you wanting to piss and moan other than the state of our fair town? Oh, and the fact that we woke up in our jammies and knickers.

My job don't let me off the ride. You ain't my tour guide. [And he didn't want off the ride. That being said, he won more than John lost, putting them at different ends of it all. Raylan got validation, John got damnation.]

Nice underoos,[he commented with a smirk and a gesture before bothering with anything other than his primary, passing point.] But my bed is nice enough at the house and I've never much enjoyed wastin' a perfectly good buzz layin' around. We can't go anywhere, nothin's chansin' us. You can sleep at home. Back with Zed, shit, you like layin in an empty space, thinkin' of what you ain't got with you?

[Because he did not. Through all of it, Raylan was utterly casual, far too into his own bottle and head to be flapped by John's self-loathing that he felt an echo of but would never succumb to. Water, meet ducks back, in the kindest way his social toolbox would allow.]

Trust me. I've got no damn idea who the hell is the tour guide on this road of life... but I'm not much of a fan.

Just be lucky I didn't go to bed naked last night, yeah? [ Too bloody cold in Mathias to do that right now. Not to mention Zed and him sharing a bed now? Well, naked happened in different ways. ] See, that's a difference, ain't it? I use it to wind down and meditate on the things. I'm not one for working when I'm drinking.

[ He just made a face at the question. He was worried about Zed. But, he had also learned, Mathias liked to do things in her own time. So, as long as Zed was with someone and she was safe? Fine, he'd take that as a win for now. ]

What, and be sad I missed a show, [Raylan retorted with an amused pinch of his features as he took to leaning on the closed door frame, bottle popping open in his hand as he took another drink.]

Wind down, [The words were scoffed out.] You're a better man than me for bein' able to wind down. [He considered the bottle in his hand.]

I use it to shut things up. Fuzz the edges till everythin' ain't quite as sharp and bloodlettin' as it was before. Makes realities more... tolerable.. [His tone had drifted off into something almost dreamlike, but he snapped back into reality and looked over.]

How do you meditate if you can't get the back of your head to shut up?

Missed something at least. [ He forced one of his sly grins before running a hand down his face.

He hated that feeling of being sober faster than he really wanted to be. ] Not really a better man, mate. Just know when to put my feet up and give it a break. Usually I sit my sorry arse down in front of a mirror that shows you the past and drink until I pass out.

[ Really, he wasn't a better man. ]

Guessing that moonshine doesn't quite do the reality numbing bit hat you're used to. [ John gave him a sympathetic look. ] Usually I just take another drink and spark a ciggy.

[Raylan didn't know what that meant. Well, he knew what that meant but not how to not get eaten up in himself while doing it. His brow furrowed a little bit, jaw tensing slightly as he pointedly did NOT look at the mirror that was on the wall.

He didn't dare.]

Why embrace it? Why relive it and run towards it and try to correct it? [He didn't smoke, though the idea was a good one right about now.] You got one?

[Raylan ambled back over and sat down with a grunt on the floor.] I never look back. What's the point. I know what my flaws are. You know yours.. No fixin' what's happened, what is. [For all his steadfast views on the future, it was all a guise for the running that Raylan did frighteningly well.]

And I like the moonshine, [He continued, one finger half cocking up at John before falling again.] But it don't quite do the job. Helps me sleep. I'll give it that.

[ Seeing friends that passed in that mirror was an odd sort of comfort. Even if, ultimately, it was partially John's fault they were dead. Gaz especially. Oh, sure, sometimes the previous owner of the mirror (Jasper) would show up. It wasn't as upsetting to see Jasper. Jasper died of his own faults... though he didn't appreciate Jasper coming back from the beyond to drag his sorry arse into this whole bloody fight of the Rising Darkness. ]

Because, that's how this path of mine is. You either fight the fight or you don't. You have to make the choices no one else is willing to make. Because they're hard, because they're nasty. Someone has to make them so normal people can sleep in their beds at night none the wiser about what the world is really like. Because normal people can't handle this sort of world.

[ He reached into the pocket of the trenchcoat again and held the box out for Raylan to take. ]

Good to remind yourself of how you screwed up. No point in running away from it. After all, you'll be passed or damned at one point or another for it.

[ John's gaze had dropped to the floor, rolling the cigarette between his lips. ]

Oh, our livers will thank us in a few years.

[Raylan found no comfort in it. Just more things he refused to think about.

But he fought. He made those hard choices.]

You say that to me like I don't do those. [the box was taken and flipped open, a cigarette propped between his lips as he handed it back.] I've killed over thirty men, John. All with reason. All not mistakes. I'll be damned for it or I won't but lookin' back doesn't change the fact that they were justified.

It feels like you regret having to do what you do. I don't.

[ John gave Raylan a look. They had had the conversation before - he knew that the Marshal did. Hell, he had to. He was in law enforcement. All he did was feel the need to explain anything he did these days. There was always a 'Why' attached to things it felt. ]

Well, let's hope you don't get one of your best mates killed either by accident or on purpose.

I don't like the price that big magic has. I don't like the price this life makes you pay -- because we never pay that price. They do.

Gimme a light, [He muttered as he settled his bottle between his knees.]

I don't plan on it. 'Course, it's hard to kill anyone without my weapon of choice and a reason.

You say you're lookin' back at your mistakes.. What's that mean for you? A different spell? Just a different action? Movin' sooner? We all wish we could move sooner but.. [ He could understand where that would knock around. He'd had a few of those himself.] If you're lookin' to not make them pay that price.. I'm curious what that looks like.

[ He reached his fingers over to the cigarette. With a click, a stream of fire appeared in them to light it. The lighter was in his pants back at the house with Zed. Which meant a bit of magic was needed to keep up the vices. ]

Oh, there's ways.

[ Not that he really wanted to think about it.

He pulled his hand back and sighed. He ran his hand down his face again. John looked down at the floor. There was Gaz, he could always tell him about Gaz, but... ]

My best mate back home, Chas. Some prat of a warlock who was always trying to get power had gotten his hands on the soul of Chas's daughter. Went to a psychic bloke I knew. Had him connect to her soul to try and find where she was -- who had her captive. Oh, we found out alright, but... Faust immolated my once friend from the inside out. Burned alive in front of us.

He didn't deserve it. If I hadn't of gone to him, then it wouldn't have happened. Zed tried next and got hurt as well. People die in my line of work. They roll the dice and they either live to roll again or they don't.

[Raylan inhaled with a smile, catching it up in his fingers to withdraw it from his lips with an exhale.] Still my favorite trick. [Would probably always be his favorite trick, but he was a simple man.

Alright, Raylan didn't know what immolated meant at its core, but he was smart enough to figure out that it had something to do with combustion.

Yeah. He was glad for both the cigarette and the booze between his knees at that story.]

I'm sorry for Chas and his daughter.. Couldn't imagine what kinda levels of mad I'd go, in the same position.

I'm gettin' the picture that your life is kinda shit, for all the good you do. And I know askin' this is probably not gonna work but what the hell. Let me worry about my choices, huh? I'm not an idiot. I don't think you're bullshittin' or exaggeratin'. And I still don't care. We ain't got a lot here. Here doesn't have to be like there. Shit, you comin' back to life proves that, doesn't it?

Find me a pair of handcuffs, mate. I'll show you a better one.

[ With all the innuendo included. ]

We got Geraldine back in the end. Suppose that's what really matters in the big picture, yeah?

[ Except every death weighed on him. Especially if he felt it could of been avoided. He looked down at the floor, a deep frown settled on his face. What was worse was the deaths that were his fault -- the ones he directly caused and had a hand in. Astra, Gaz. ]

Sure, mate. Easy enough. [ John wished he could simply not care about the choices they did. But, once people crossed his path? He knew that in the end, he'd be held responsible to some degree. Why did he bait people down the path? Why didn't he keep them safe? Actions and consequences. ] Bit harder to change your life and the path of your fate.

All coming back to life did was prove our souls aren't free from Mathias. Even if the body dies.

[One of these days he would, just to see whatever John was so giddy about being able to do. If it was as impressive as the lighting of the cigarette, Raylan was looking forwards to it. ]

I suppose, if you're not lookin' at the damage done by havin' gone in the first place..

[Not that that was anyone's fault, really.]

My fate is locked down on some bullet shot by some idiot, no matter what happens here. And I ain't looking to change that, just escape it as long as I can.

[He shook his head, taking a draw off the cigarette.]

The fact that we're not free of Mathis, even in death, only gives us more chances to burn the place down on our way out, once we find it. [The idea provided him more resolve than anything else.]

Maybe one of the spooky scribbles will end up with a bloody bullet. Wouldn't put it past this town that makes no sense.

[ He sighed and leaned all the way back on the bed. It was a small plop sound as he stared at the nice ceiling above them. He missed the other bed. While this one was nice? It was missing the company he'd quickly grown accustomed to having. ]

Might want to salt the ground too. Make it so nothing can live here.

So long as it comes the way it's suppos'ta [Raylan was disturbingly fine with the finality of his own mortality. He credited staring at his own headstone for so many years, for being where he was from. He grew up sure that he'd never leave Harlan alive.

Raylan chuckled under his breath, head rolling back onto the edge of the foot of the bed where he was sat before he turned halfmoon, fully amused eyes over at John.]

No hope for anything ever, huh? That's alright, [It was easily conceded and he was too drunk to be bitter right now. John was who he was and that was okay. Raylan would keep the few seeds of hope that were still in his pocket, those long far off hopes that would have nothing, really, to do with him, and plant them where he could along the way.]

How long you think we'll be stuck here? Til the storms over?

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024-027 » neither reward nor punishment

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