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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Who's John Henry?

[The coffee cup is almost empty and he gets up to find a refill, snagging a piece of bacon as he passes the plate. He eats it slowly, following Dean's gaze to the door at the end of the room.]

The noises. [The shadows] Maybe setting up a buddy-system, so no one goes alone is... a good idea. [Not something he had that much personal experience with, since they always went their separate ways and things always fucked up.

And Dean's thousand-yard stare is really kind of creepy.] Are you okay?

( He breaks, half shaking his head as he comes to again. )

Yeah, I'm great. John Henry's a cowboy. Gentleman's gentleman. He's upstairs.

( Doc Holliday's secrets aren't his to tell. Wait, he missed it, repeat again, Quentin? )

Where are we taking our buddy system? Upstairs? Are we taking group bathroom breaks like girls at parties? Careful how much of that freak flag you fly, Coldwater.

What? That's-- I don't even know what the hell a gentlemen's gentleman is and-

[Jesus, Dean, low blow. Quentin snaps his mouth shut, swallowing the last bit of bacon.] Right, yeah. I don't think that's how that even works. [The 'you're a dick' is implied.]

I should probably go and make sure the living room didn't catch on fire. Thanks. For the-- coffee. And the bacon.

Yeah. More where that came from.

( Sorry, Quentin. Dean really has four settings for people he doesn't know well. Also, the living room can be seen where they're from but, sure. Return from whence you came, dude. )

[Right.

With that, Quentin leaves, heading for the couch in the living room. Somewhere soft, where he can curl up like a crazy person and watch the fire flicker in the heath.

Sure, it might not have been the best idea in the world, but freak flag? Quentin knows, intellectually, how he is. How he’s seen, most times, it’s just that the latest quest and years of being near-isolated at Brakebills, muted that. For a little while. The knowing. Wilfully ignored, is more like, since Eliot made it so very clear with his whole speech about That’s not me, and it’s definitely not you. Not when we have a choice.

His thoughts fall back in to the old familiar grove, the well-worn path of self-loathing. He didn’t get to make sacrifices for the people that he loved, Eliot made sure of that when he shot the Monster and Alice destroyed Julia’s shot at being a goddess straight after. It had all been this huge mess, and now he was trapped. Again. Here.

He stays by the fire, thinking. Trying to find a way to be useful. To find that one thing that will fix this, and comes up empty.

A little more than an hour later, whether Dean is there or not, he walks back in to the kitchen, empty cup in hand, and starts the water running to clean up.]

( He'd played that wrong, gruffly. Borderline rudely. Well, all he can do now is clean pans he used, clear any finished plates, and grab a strip of bacon here and there.

An hour later, Dean's still in the kitchen, but at the kitchen table. Coffee is a liability at this point, much like his mouth and entire body, but he keeps making it. He tries to play off the shiver he's feeling, looking above him.

Is that a draft? )

Did the living room go all Backdraft?

[Shoulders hunched, Quentin half-turns with a dish towel in his hand.

He is not good at reading people. He’s not effortlessly easy to get along with, he talks too much or too little. Moving his lips as he reds and Quentin knows this about himself, it’s running on repeat - an endless loop- inside his head and today, now, is no exception. He still shrugs, placing a hand on the kitchen counter.]

No? It’s fine. There’s nothing- there’s nothing wrong in the living room. Except the mirror. There’s something not right about the mirror.

Don't pull the cover down.

( It's equally as brusque, quick on the trigger. He doesn't know what the spirit inside the mirror can do, but he doesn't want to find out. Not until he has the right instructions. What are ghosts like here? )

[Too late for that advice, and Quentin would have pulled it despite it, but he just shrugs.]

It... it didn't stay off.

[It's not much of an explanation and it probably doesn't make any sense, not even in context and Quentin turns back to the dishes. Not many are left by the sink, but rubbing the soap-soaked rag over them, gives him something to do with his hands.]

The cover. And-- who even does that. Covering mirrors. It was-- I know it was some stupid superstition back in. Way back, to stop ghosts or spirits from being caught inside of one. But why the hell do it here?

[The plates and cutlery clanks against the counter, and Quentin uses the towel to dry them off, hands moving slowly.]

Maybe this is a cult.

( He doesn't get that, it's true. He and Doc Holliday returned the covers back on every time. )

Might've been. It's more than superstition. It's religion, too. Jews in mourning cover the mirrors when they sit shiva.

( Also, if you've seen what Dean's encountered, you might want to keep the mirrors covered, too. )

Jesus...

[Turning fully, shirt pulled up to his elbows and both hands wet with suds, Quentin gestures a little wildly while talking, soap suds flying from his hands.]

I-- I don't think this is a jewish cult. But I'm also not ruling it out. Ruling anything out, no matter how... weird, would be stupid.

[The brand? Tattoo? The drawing of spirals inside spirals on the back of his left hand stand out against his pale skin and Quentin keeps talking, kind of warming to the idea.]

And also? I don't really think it's fair to call me a freak. I'm-- I'm just-- plenty of people like fantasy novels and staying together isn't a bad idea. I was alone when I was taken or whatever. I might even have been alone before I got here, I just don't remember... what I'm saying is, going off alone seems like a dangerous move. Because who the hell knows where we'd wake up next.

( Alright. So, the kid had to get shit off his chest. He respects that. He wasn't saying this was a Jewish cult, or a religious thing. )

You're right.

( That's his apology. )

That fantasy novel knowledge might come in handy. Like staying together.

Oh...

[Not what he was expecting, and Quentin exhales loudly, sagging against the counter.]

Yeah, uhm. Yeah. I'm glad you agree.

[As a show of good faith, he pours a cup of probably-stale coffee and pushes the cup at Dean.]

( That gets him a smile. You're a difficult one. But, he likes you. He raises it in response and takes a sip. )

I'm more of a horror guy. Horror. Action. Cowboys. And, some days there's nothing better than a good rom com.

( This is Dean responding in good faith. He doesn't tell just anybody this. At least they're alone in the room. )

[That's kind of all it takes, before Quentin's face lights up in a smile and he wipes his hands on the (hopefully) clean dish towel.]

Cowboys are awesome. I went to cowboy camp once? Like, I know it was just two weeks, but- [a pause to finish up the rest of the dishes and then he takes the step closer, hip propped up against the counter.]

You learn real life skills there. You know? Like ropes and shit. Rom coms were... more my friend Julia's idea of a good time. I mean, I'd watch them with her. But. [His face makes a face]

Yeah, you gotta' be in the mood. You like Tombstone?

( This'll thrill Quentin something real. )

Isn't that a really old movie about the wild west?

[It rings a bell, but it's kind of vague. Foggy. Like most of the things his dad used to watch on the television while Quentin played at being in Fillory with Julia, just a faint idea of yellow desert lights and that show-down music playing as the clock strikes noon.]

I think my dad liked it.

Not that old. Maybe the original...

( Hm. He's going to have to check. )

So, John Henry. The cowboy upstairs. His name's John Henry Holliday. As in, Doc Holliday. As in, the Doc Holliday.

It's old.

[Not black and white old, and not as old as that campy 80s tv-show about the Fillory books. But old.]

He... has a big- [curling his fingers under his nose, Quentin continues-] mustache? And--Hey, I've met that guy. He has an amazing hat and-- didn't he die? In.. 18-something? Now I really wish I'd paid more attention at cowboy camp, because I'm sure we heard about that. Or about... something cowboy-related and then this guy just... I-- and. Wow.

Books said he died. Doesn't mean he died. I've died.

( So, there. )

Fine. It's old. He's old. I'm old.

[Ditto? Is that like the thing that happened to all of them? Quentin's fingers itch for his notebook and a reason, any reason, to start just demanding answers from people. That itch to find the solution to all of this shit.]

Well... yes? That's not- I mean, you don't look like, way old? You don't even have a beard and-and, yeah. So... he's Doc Holliday. That's... I probably shouldn't go ask him about it, but. Dude, that's kind of awesome.

Yeah, it is. I - you think bears make a person old?

I think that- yeah, really old people have beards. Or they should because who wouldn't want like this long, Gandalf-like beard that you can- ][Holy oversharing there, Coldwater] Plenty of old men have beards, and it's- it could be a thing.

Yeah, I don't do beards.

( Stubble, sure. )

Gandalf had a damn cool one, though. You got me there.

Uh huh, and-and you can actually store things in- [Quentin snaps his mouth shut, because really? Talking about anything from the timeline-that-maybe-never-happened was too much. Even when things weren't crazy around him, and here? Over dishes and leftover bacon bits... it was kind of worse.

The normality.

He turns back to the rest of the dishes, putting plates and cups away in the cupboards.]

I should go... I have some stuff. That I forgot upstairs, and hey? Who knows, maybe I'll run in to that cowboy again.

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024-027 » neither reward nor punishment

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wrap soon!

I am really bad at that, but here goes! Q out!