028-029 » the winds of change

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central Mathias.
WHEN: Days 028-029
WHAT: A town meeting is called.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Ikiryo"

DAY 028
SOMETHING ON THE WIND
Another day dawns in the fair town of Mathias. The sky is a blanket of light grey, tiny specks of snow lightly falling as the hours pass. It makes the town feel almost quaint, the scenery quite peaceful in its winter garb. But beneath the veneer of peace there is a pervasive dread of something approaching. Something inevitable is on the wind, something that has come before and will come again...

Throughout the day, residents will consistently experience feelings of deja vu, that sense of having done or seen or said something before that can never be fully recalled. It happens again and again, tugging at the back of their minds, the memories just frustratingly out of reach.

Residents will also notice a note pinned around town:




The note can be found on the town hall's bulletin board and the front doors of many town establishments, including the Grey Gull, the library, and the boarding house. At the bottom of the note it is specified that the meeting will take place "tomorrow, when the sun is over the town square."


NEW ARRIVALs
The newest arrivals to Mathias will wake on the frozen lawn of the town hall atop a snowdrift. They had best hurry inside and get warmed up before hypothermia sets in.

DAY 029
A GATHERING OF MINDS
In the late afternoon when the sun hangs over the town square, residents will converge upon the Town Hall, where a larger meeting room has been filled with rows of chairs. After most people arrive, John Constantine stands and addresses the room... and then sits again. A grand introduction, truly.

Residents are encouraged to share their experiences and information they have gathered in the town while holding questions until the end. Rather than getting tangled in the intricacies of each person's tale, it seems better to absorb the broad strokes and try to connect the puzzle pieces to get a look at the bigger picture that is the mystery of Mathias Township.


THE INEVITABLE
As the meeting comes to an end and residents begin to converse among themselves, the feeling of something approaching and sense of deja vu begin to build, becoming almost oppressive as night falls. An hour after nightfall, residents learn the reason for these sensations that cease immediately as the earth begins to rumble. The buildings shake, furniture tumbles, and breakables crash to the floor as the earthquake sets in without warning.

The tremors last around a minute, far longer than a normal earthquake, and then the town settles again. There are no aftershocks, which many may note is quite unusual. Residents will find quite a bit of mess in their homes and other locations around town, but there is no structural damage to be found despite the intense shaking.

---

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE WEATHER is fairly typical of a northern winter. The sky is grey, the temperature hovers just below freezing during the day (colder at night), and a light snow falls during both days. Residents should bundle up when going outside and not venture too far into the dark night...

— 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 with Sherlock Holmes being the latest victim of the town's unsettling whims.

---

OOC NOTES

— TOWN MEETING STRUCTURE The town meeting section of the log is designed for characters to share any information they would like to with the other residents in attendance. ICly, characters should "hold questions until the end" with the intent that they can get the Big Picture first and connect any dots they see. OOCly, this means players should post their character's information sharing tag in the Meeting section, but the actual conversation about whatever they share happens after the meeting proper in the Mingle section. That way, these conversations can happen however players prefer, be that one-on-one or in small or large groups.

— HOUSING Please be sure your character's housing arrangements are up to date on our list. We're missing a few people and it really helps to know where everyone is for planning. Frequent updates for wandering characters are perfectly acceptable.

— THE BULLETIN BOARD has been updated. Players should note there is a change to the wall near the board that may be of great interest to some residents.

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Comments

III

[thering]

After Klaus almost killed Doc with the sex dungeon talk - he's not a prude but where he normally can cover for Malcolm's... occasional outbursts, it was impossible not to address that question directly - he had three glasses of moonshine in quick succession and the rest of the night kind of just rolled on by like a rug slowly and gradually being pulled from under them.

"Young man," he addresses as he adjusts his hat, legs spread wide to keep Klaus from hitting the floor although it leaves him vulnerable to getting his family jewels robbed. "There is a perfectly good empty seat over there." And yet Doc isn't in a hurry to shove him off. He barely fidgets, shifting only to accommodate Klaus's weight.

He has barely seen Klaus since he discovered Five's body. They have certainly not talked about their little heart-to-heart. It... is good to see him in such good spirits now. And Doc is already on his second bottle of moonshine so he gives no fucks about playing a game of gay chicken he knows he cannot win.

"I've nothing to tip you with for your lapdance."

[bestfuneralever]

"Is there? I didn't notice." He doesn't even cast a glance in the direction that Doc is indicating the empty seat exists in, just grinning ear-to-ear. He certainly thinks he's funny, even if he's the only one that gets the joke.

He hasn't seen Doc in.... forever, at this point. If he's not mistaken, not since his breakdown after finding Five dead on the beach. That conversation alone had sealed Doc's fate to becoming capital-I Important to Klaus, but that didn't make him know how to face him after that. He wasn't avoiding him on purpose, at least not consciously, but honestly, how do you look at someone after they see you like that? He isn't equipped with any good coping mechanisms, and Hargreeves never learned how to process things in an apporpriate way. Subconscious avoidance was almost as thoughtlessly natural as breathing.

Still. The night has been good, he's had some moonshine, and all potential awkward feelings have melted away. Well, for Klaus anyway-- Doc might be feeling a little awkward with a grown man in his lap.

"Aw, you're sweet, but you don't need to pay me, except in a little time spent." He grins again. The comment sounds more suggestive than he means it to be, but... he doesn't bother correcting it, either.

[thering]

Tonight is more of a celebratory night. Of what, he is not sure. No special occasion that he knows of. But at the very least, everyone that is currently in this house is alive and well, which is more than he can say than the last time he laid a heavy hand on Klaus. What happened that day will stay unspoken between them unless Klaus wishes to speak of it. Five returning to them had been nothing short of a miracle, but even such a blessing cannot unbreak a heart and a spirit that has felt such a loss so deeply. Doc is always here, for conversation. He can't promise he won't be drunk and ornery, but he can promise that he will not shy away from grappling with the difficult things this town has put them through.

"Well lucky for you son I do believe we have the rest of the night." He keeps his hands and elbows a safe distance away from Klaus, holding a drink in one hand with his other arm draped over behind the armrest. "We are approaching the maximum number of people we can accommodate here, but you are welcome to stay the night." With all the drinking and lounging around, he isn't going to ask either of the Hargreeves boys to leave tonight. Although he would walk them home, if they insisted.

[bestfuneralever]

"The luckiest." He grins, and there's an honest sort of sincerity in that comment, despite the light, airy way he drops it in like a joke. He's good at that, hiding his truths in masks of humor. "At least no one can drive home drunk tonight," says the one who legally isn't allowed to drive. In two timelines.

"So, dish the deets, old man. Where you been? Find anything weird lately?"

[thering]

"Other than yourself?" He ribs gently but good-naturedly. "Apart from two days spent in a quaint model house with some strange noises and phantoms in the mirror, I have been mostly holding the fort down here." If Klaus gets the feeling that that is what Doc does with his time, mostly - holding down forts - he would be right.

"I called upon your room the other day," he mentions. "Only your brother was there. Brought him some dinnerware for the both of you that you can use after the incident at the Boarding House. I do hope he shared." Five does seem a little spiteful at times.

[bestfuneralever]

He snorts at the response, knowing it's all in good natured teasing. "Yeah, besides me." His eyes widen in a nearly comical way, "What, no way! I saw the freaky shit in the mirror, too. We were in some McMansion. I think the running theory is it's mmmmaybe--" He squints with the drawing out of that word, face scrunches up in some physical approximation of the sound. "that Lodge everyone keeps talking about? But nobody knows since we were stuck inside, with no way to check out the outside, or know how to get back to it."

"I wonder where I was..." He doesn't often stray far from the boarding house. His best guess is, "Probably a cigarette run." He nods sagely; it makes the most sense. "Aw, that's sweet of you. Yeah, he shared." Probably. Honestly, dinnerware isn't high on the list of things Klaus would pay all that much attention to, but even he can't imagine Five being stingy over a dinner plate.

[thering]

"With Raylan?" he confirms. There were only the two unfamiliar houses that he had heard about and he wasn't with Klaus so he is assuming that Klaus was in the same one as Raylan's. Otherwise, there would be three then, and he would be asking Klaus a lot more questions.

"I went looking, for those new houses. Could not find them. Though the fissure in the ground had been consumed by the fog too, so. I suppose it may be beyond our reach, for now." He wonders if the being that Malcolm calls the Shadow Man who had been on the other side of the crevice would survive the fog, or if they would be finding a body once the fog recedes and finally find out who or what that entity is.

Curling a fist, Doc tries to suppress a hiccup. He's starting to be a little too far gone to be making coherent conversation about the fog and the strange houses and all the rest of it. Clearly, the answer to this is more libations. Breathing out a sigh, he finishes his glass and reaches over to pick up the bottle from where it's sitting on the floor next to the chair leg. The move is swiftly aborted as Doc ends up grabbing onto Klaus's hip - did he just giggle? - when Klaus almost gets displaced and slides off.

"Am I at least allowed to bend over and get a drink?" Come on, Klaus. You have a spine. Use it.

[bestfuneralever]

"Yeahhh, Raylan was there." He nods, he'd whined at the cowboy about being surrounded by pretty, (probably) straight men who wouldn't give him the time of day.

He shrugs a shoulder haphazardly, "They're probably in the parts of the town we can't get to." Like the whole half of it that they had only just seen after the Shadow Man showed up or whatever. "Better to fuck off from the fog." He mutters bitterly. He has an issue with it, and since he can't punch fog (probably), he'll just grumble instead.

Klaus isn't expect the shift and even though Doc corrects it quickly, it doesn't stop the jarring sensation of suddenly being unbalanced to stop in time. He lets out a surprised laugh and grabs Doc's shoulder. "No." He smirks. Never ask him for permission.

[thering]

Well. He's still in a house full of pretty, straightish men so that much hasn't changed at least. Although hopefully most if not all of them would give him the time of day.

Doc has no qualms holding onto Klaus with both hands but he would rather be able to hold onto a drink with one. He can at least multitask that much without incident.

"Would you grab it for me then?" He's asking as if he'll suddenly become sober if Klaus doesn't move off his lap in the next few minutes.

[bestfuneralever]

The whole town is pretty men, it's honestly just rude.

He smirks at the question and twists, arching across Doc's lap to reach down and grab the bottle the man had been trying to grab before. In a fluid motion, he swings back upright and holds the moonshine out like a prize (and really, isn't it one?). "Ta-da!"

[thering]

"Thank you kindly." He can't hold Klaus and grab that bottle at the same time so he waits until Klaus is settled back down again in his lap before plucking the bottle from his grasp.

"Don't mind me drinkin' straight out the bottle." Usually he at least pretends to be a gentleman, pour it in a glass, take his time with it. Klaus and Five are 1306-adjacent. They can probably get a peek of less-inhibited-Doc and he would be able to live with it.

"Hope tonight has you feelin' good." The few faux pas aside.

[bestfuneralever]

"Who cares?" he huffs an amused sound that doesn't quite make it to a laugh. He settles, half-leaned against Doc in a hazy slump. He certainly doesn't mind that; he was known to turn up a whole bottle that way in a night. Or more than one. If they could get some vodka, some of that whiskey from the mansion... these guys might be surprised how much liquor he could pack into this wiry, too-skinny body without a hangover.

He hums softly and nods, "Yeah. It's nice." he agrees with a thoughtful purse of his lips. "I never had friends before," he says off-handedly. his voice has a sort of floaty nature to it. He's definitely not sober by now. "So it's... it's good. It's really good. You guys are good. I like it here."

A beat.

And he corrects--

"Not--" A vague circle of his hand. "the town, but... here." He shifts that same hand and points at the floor. "This house. This house is good." And the people in it. Klaus isn't the type to assign familial meaning to people who weren't his siblings, but if he were, this might be the closest he has to it besides his actual brother (who, technically isn't his actual brother at all), in this town. There's a sort of safety in 1306 Philips Drive that Klaus appreciates.

[thering]

"Yes. It is." They've worked hard to make it feel that way. How the house feels is no mere accident. But Doc is also psychologically removed from being part of it. He lives here. He looks after the people here. They look after him in turn. But it is still the house he is temporarily residing in. He has not claimed it as his home.

"Should you and your brother ever need another place to stay, for any reason, you are welcome here." He's not sure if his drinking sessions with Raylan are as open, but certainly they wouldn't mind if Klaus came for a drink and ran his mouth one night. Few faux pas could bother Doc.

Taking a big drink out of his bottle, Doc dangles it in front of Klaus, offering for him to finish it. Bottoms up - although Klaus should probably keep his bottom down. His support cowboy is starting to be a little less sturdy.

[bestfuneralever]

The smile that breaks across his face is this completely genuine thing. He's sure it's specifically and carefully cultivated that way, but the sense of truly being welcome somewhere? That goes a long way for a guy like Klaus who has always been shoved to the sidelines as unimportant. (Not like Vanya was, though, his mind supplies helpfully). He dispels the thought. "Thanks." His voice is light, soft in ways he doesn't get often because he's usually too busy making jokes to survive.

"Oooh, don't mind if I do," he coos, taking the proffered bottle to take a long drink from it. He relaxes further into the feeling the moonshine leaves behind, a small smile on his lips. He's glad he came here tonight. Social fuck-ups aside, this was a good night.