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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"All the time in the world today," he promised with a smile as he ambled around behind Malcolm, fingering a few of the empty hangers with an idle finger. The smile spread with a huff as he watched Malcolm change racks.

"I'm tellin' ya. We go through a few houses here, I'm sure we can find you somethin' that fits. I'd loan you some of my shirts but I've only got 3. You might be able to find some tshirts? If you don't mind a scoop neckline."

Malcolm huffed a smirk over at Raylan.

"Yeah, I hear scoop necklines are very in this season," he joked. "I have a bunch of scavenged t-shirts I just don't have warm shirts."

He pulled a sweater off a shelf and held it up. "What do you think?"

"Shouldn't it matter less if they're sized 'lumberjack'?" he teased with a glance over before dedicating his attention, chin lifting a little. "I like the color. Almost matches your eyes." Not that he would have said that if anyone else was here but.. they weren't.

He should have been looking for belts.

"Do you need to try it on first? Gonna model for me?"

“I will,” Malcolm said, shrugging out of his coat, “because I’m only taking it if you don’t think it makes me look completely ridiculous. I’m telling you, no men lived in this town that had my build and were even half an inch less than six feet.”

He pulled the sweater on over the relatively thin long-sleeved shirt he was wearing. The extra room in the chest let it stretch to accommodate his shoulders, overall it fit just snugly enough to layer easily under his coat without being uncomfortable under the arms. And it didn’t hang over his hands.

He turned around with a flourish.

“What do you think?”

Raylan chuckled and took up post, hands propping on his hips as he watched Malcolm strip and pull the sweater on. The turn with the flourish was cute, if Raylan let himself admit it.

"I think it suits you." Matches your eyes. But he knew that was.. beyond inappropriate. "You fill it out nice too. Is it thick enough to be worn by itself under your coat?"

He smiled broadly at Raylan's approval. At the question, he looked down at it. "Oh, maybe. I wonder if it'd be itchy." He rolled back one of the sleeves and pressed it to his neck. "Seems like it'd be okay," he observed. "I'm going to take it." He gestured towards the racks he'd come from. "You don't need any lumberjack sized clothes do you?" he asked. As he turned, he spotted a rack with sweatpants. His eyes widened slightly and he gravitated over there, shuffling through it.

Shaking his head, Raylan took back to his amble, eyeing a box of shoes and accessories that might hold some belts. Better that then maybe staring a little too openly at Malcolm and his new sweater.

What was happening.

"Nah. I'm only one shirt and several pairs of jeans away from what I got at home. Jeans are harder here, lean and tall makes shopping a little more specific. This is where I picked up my jean jacket though, and all of the flannel I've got... You really don't mind the fit of women's clothes?"

"I hear pantyhose are a little uncomfortable but I don't think it's going to come to that," he said, giving Raylan a cheeky sidelong glance as he came around the rack. "If they bring a tailor or a seamstress into this place, though? It'll be a whole new ballgame."

That earned a proper laugh as he glanced over and squatted down to start to shuffle through the box. "I'm sure between you and Neal, you'll have the poor soul wrapped up in orders to last for months. Though I'm sure you'd look great in pantyhose - The belts, they gotta be real leather?"

He had a few pleather based options, which would likely work for a little while, but not as long as leather would.

Malcolm huffed a laugh at the remark, but he glanced over at the question, momentarily confused before he remembered what they'd even come here for.

"...Belts? ...Oh! Um, no. Anything is better than what I have now, as long as it'll hold my weight and I can punch more holes in it."

He draped a pair of sweatpants over his arm and glanced over a couple of shelves, noticing a plastic package of five sleeveless undershirts. He picked it up and held it out.

"Aren't these what you... wear?" he asked. He knew they were. He'd spent enough time staring at Raylan's shoulder blades moving under them.

Raylan smirked at the way Malcolm remembered and turned back to the box, pulling a few out and pushing up to his feet, looking them over til Malcolm called his attention again. Unsure what Malcolm had, Raylan ambled over and huffed a breath, eyebrows raising.

"It is. My prefered form of undershirt. We'll take that too," he said, taking it from Malcolm and tucking it under his arm. "I've got the belts, left a few here, but we've got plenty of time. I can find a box to put it all in," he said, glancing around in the start of that action for one that would work. Maybe he just upends the scavenger box and he takes that.

Malcolm drew up beside him by the time he found the box, throwing in a couple pairs of sweatpants and a package of short-sleeved undershirts for himself. He glanced around, feeling like he was forgetting something, then remembered his coat, jogging over to grab it, pulling it on as he returned to Raylan's side.

"Find anything else you liked?"

That was what he chose to do in the end, taking a few seconds to set up the shoes in a row and more neatly pile the remaining belts before he stood back up, box in hand. He shook his head.

"Nah. We came here for you anyway, I'm alright. Plus, I got these nice new undershirts," he elaborated with a grin. "You good? Got everything you want?"

"This should hold me over for a bit," he said. He looked up at Raylan. "Now you and Doc can stop worrying about whether I'll freeze every time I step outside," he teased. He paused and looked at Raylan a moment, then squeezed in beside the box to give Raylan a tight hug.

"Thank you," he said quietly. "For everything."

"Somehow I don't think that'll stop us worrying," he admitted with a pull of his smile. They cared about Malcolm and while fretting over his physical needs might have fallen into the 'caring for' category, they did it because they cared about him.

The hug was a surprise and his mouth opened with a little noise as his off arm hovered around Malcolm for a long moment before almost hesitantly settling around his waist and squeezing gently. Raylan didn't even know the last time he was hugged - it couldn't have been that long, right? But three weeks felt like forever and he knew he had nothing real to go back to.

Why couldn't he want something?

"Just trying to make sure you're takin' care of." He pulled back a little, enough to bring Malcolm's face into focus. "Really, it's okay. I ain't good at much so helpin' where I can is.. nice.." He was acutely aware of how not far away Malcolm's face was or how his lips looked or..

"I'm glad you decided to stay in the house."

Malcolm's eyes wandered Raylan's face and he nodded.

"Me too. Though. It would have been stupid not to. I try not to be stupid more than once a week," he joked weakly. He didn't pull any farther away. "Why do you say you're not good at much? You seem like you're probably good at a lot of things."

Raylan knew what this feeling was, this he was familiar with and Malcolm wasn't pulling away..

"I've only ever been good at two things. Shootin' and.."

Shit He couldn't think, clear by the fact that he was leaning in with slow tentative intent and dark eyes to steal up Malcolm's lips. If his other hand hadn't been full, it would have been in the equation, but as it was, it was full and he wasn't going to drop the box so haphazardly. Not when could be the one thing to keep his hands busy if the impulse went south.

After a few long seconds, Raylan broke the kiss with an unevenly heavy breath, eyes wide and unsure. "That was- I'm.."

Sorry? Was he? His head was spinning a little too much to know and there was a sense about him that tensely suggested he might scamper away at any second. It had felt very similar to kissing a woman but with a whole host of fears and insecurities that he'd looked at in the eye before.

Malcolm’s heart was pounding by the time the kiss broke. Could Raylan hear it?

There had been a very brief moment, when it started, where he’d asked himself if it was real, because part of him didn’t believe it could be. But he leaned into it, because if it was real, not responding would be a hell of a waste of everything he’d been sure would never happen to him for weeks now.

When the kiss broke, Malcolm’s hand was still fisted in Raylan’s collar, though he didn’t remember grabbing it.

Raylan hesitated, but he didn’t pull away. Malcolm’s eyes darted across his features this time, then he leaned urgently in to kiss him again.

He couldn't, if only because his own was thrumming in his ears and in his palms, enough so that he hadn't noticed the tight fist in his collar. Though if he had, it would have been just as entirely welcome.

A throaty, needy sound broke in the back of his throat as Malcolm kissed him back. To hell with the box, Raylan thought as it was unceremoniously dropped so he could wrap his other arm tightly around Malcolm, bringing him flush against his front. He'd thought about kissing Malcolm and Doc both far to much in the past couple days, in Doc's case, the past week or so and it was honestly a surprise, with his record, that he'd taken that long to kiss one of them.

He didn't know what this meant. He didn't know where this was going. For the moment, he didn't care.

When the box hit the ground and Raylan pulled him close, that was what pulled a little note from the back of Malcolm’s throat and his free hand fumbled for purchase around Raylan’s ribs, settling just below his shoulderblade.

When it broke, Malcolm’s grip didn’t and he looked up at Raylan breathlessly. Was this okay? He hadn’t seemed sure at first. Malcolm had wanted this, of course, but had resigned himself to it being a hopeless fantasy. Part of him remained afraid of making things awkward and Raylan then wanting him to leave. But at the moment? Most of him was plastered up against the warmth of Raylan’s body, held in his arms and he was trying to temper the impulse to be absolutely giddy about that with caution. Searching eyes looked for any sign that Raylan thought he’d made a mistake and ended up lingering on his lips. He wanted to do that again.

His blood felt like it was on fire in his veins, one hand sliding up Malcolm's back before both of them tightened as he breathed in that same minty pine scent they all wore so well now. Malcolm was soft, solid, warm and seemed to fit perfectly against him. Something he'd no doubt be thinking about later.

As it broke, Raylan found himself feeling very unsteady and more than a little lost in the big blue eyes that were tilted up at him. Shit. He swallowed thickly, hands loosening a little.

"Sorry," he said quietly with a voice that was just meant for them, despite them being alone, and with no real remorse for having done it, no matter how right or wrong it was. There was suddenly quite the internal battle going on between his needs and his values. "I.." Couldn't help himself. Didn't mean to. Totally meant to.

"Was that wrong?" The question was almost reverently whispered as he studied Malcolm's face, like Raylan was going out on the very thin branch he was to have asked it at all. But of everyone here, Malcolm and Doc were the only ones that made Raylan feel like he could have feelings without being completely drowned in shame.

“...Wrong?” A whisper seemed about the right volume and he matched it. “I...” He could see some sort of conflict going on in Raylan’s face and he didn’t know enough about what was at war to really understand the question. “Didn’t feel wrong to me,” was the only answer he could offer with certainty. “Surprising, yes. Wrong, no. The good kind of surprise, though... I’m talking too much.” He swallowed thickly. “You don’t have to be sorry.” Even if he never wanted to do it again.

Everything in him expected to get a different answer, despite the way that Malcolm had kissed him back or clung to him. Like Malcolm would wake up and see all the things wrong with him that left him to be so alone at the age he was. See all the reasons why he was left multiple times by the woman he loved. See all the reasons kissing him scared Raylan, in its own way.

"I like it when you talk for some reason," Raylan replied with a soft curl of his features, though he was sure he'd regret saying that at some point once Malcolm started digging into something he didn't want him to. He knew he had to let go, otherwise they were going to kiss and fall into each other and do god knows what out here where anyone could walk in onto it. His hands loosened a little more and would fall away easy when they broke, but he started that process with an equally soft - "We should go. Stay out here too long and Doc's gonna come lookin' for us."

When Raylan responded by saying he liked it when Malcolm talked, tension broke across his face with an expression that looked like it could turn into a laugh or a sob and came out somewhere in between. Only when Raylan’s grasp loosened did he realize he had a death grip on the Marshal’s collar and he let go of it almost sheepishly as his other hand fell away. He smoothed it down carefully before stepping aside to pick up the box Raylan had dropped.

“We don’t want him to worry,” he agreed quietly. He didn’t stop or hand the box off to zip up his coat. The sweater would make up the difference. They were in motion. His blood was still on fire. He’d be warm enough.

As worried as Malcolm had been about all of it, Raylan couldn't handle this like an ox in a china shop. No matter how confused he was feeling, roughness wasn't something that came naturally to him in this field. He watched Malcolm's face as he pulled back and smoothed out his lapel, feeling like he could breathing freely without the whole brain distraction that was Malcolm against him.

No, the sharp cold of the outside was better, a contrast against the way he felt, too warm under his jacket, under his skin.

"I didn't take all the belts, but there's at least three in there. Just in case you break another, we got a back up."

024-027 » neither reward nor punishment

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Clearly we both need at least 1 kissing emote

Clearly!

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I think we can let this one end?