024-027 » neither reward nor punishment

[villagemod]

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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Comments

Clearly we both need at least 1 kissing emote

[tinstar]

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.

Clearly!

[abrightboy]

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.

[tinstar]

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.

[abrightboy]

“...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.

[tinstar]

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."

[abrightboy]

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.

[tinstar]

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."

[abrightboy]

"Oh. Good," he noted. "The hooks on those bungees are only designed to secure a load of so much weight against so much force; I think the belts will hold me a lot better, with the bungees as... straps, basically."

He looked sidelong at Raylan. "Is it your turn tonight or did I use it up this afternoon?" he asked.

[tinstar]

"Hope so," he said in agreement with a faint lift of his eyebrows, gaze kept in a vague thousand yard stare up their path.

He looked over at the question, a fond little smile teasing at his lips before he ducked his head and looked forwards again. "No usin' it up. Besides, Doc could do with a full night's sleep after our.. travels. Gives him all the couch to sleep on. Since I know you don't go back to sleep, I'll just.. take your bed for a few hours if that's alright."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm couldn't help his own smile slipping out.

"Yeah, that's. That makes sense; that's totally fine."

He fell silent for a moment, then looked at Raylan.

"I'm worried about... disturbing Neal and Negan. If they're going to sleep upstairs. I mean, they haven't said anything - they've been really nice about it - but they haven't had consecutive nights of the random banshee alarm clock yet, either."

[tinstar]

Nevermind that Raylan might take some selfish joy into settling into a bed for a few hours, something he'd never thought he'd actively miss while not out on a sting. He was glad for the approval; he'd feel less guilty smelling the pillows for Malcolm's musk.

Raylan looked over and shook his head a little. "If they can't stand it, I'd understand, like I'm sure you would. They're free to leave, if they want. Plenty of houses up and down the block. 1306 is our house. It can be their house too but.." That was their choice, completely. Regardless of what Neal and Negan decided, Malcolm wouldn't be alone. "They were warned."

He looked over with a smile again. "No one's leaving you."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm smiled down at the street.

"I don't know what I'd do without our house," Malcolm said plainly. "I'd probably be wandering around town talking to myself and creeping everyone out."

I think we can let this one end?

[tinstar]

"Let's not imagine what that'd look like, for both our sakes," he said with a smile over at him. He didn't want to say that Mathis might make them anyway, force them into that kind of mad desperation.

"I told the same thing to Doc the other day: Don't invite the trouble. It'll come faster that way."