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

[conning]

“No,” Neal said. He tried not to glare at Klaus—he was a guest, in whatever weird way a person could have guests when technically squatting in someone else’s house. “Do you make a habit of poking around other people’s bedrooms, or is that something that happened in Mathias?”

All right, apparently he wasn’t going to be polite after all.

[tinstar]

Oh, Raylan was paying attention, eyes coming up with an almost amused lift of them at Klaus's question. But Malcolm was defending himself and Neal was jumping in to do the same so the cowboy would hold off saying anything. Except the everything that his face said.

"Should we be monitoring the 'shine already?" Drunken stumble around the house and they're only in the middle of dinner yet.

[abrightboy]

Oh. Other people definitely heard.

Well.

Though it did clench at his heart, that they were protecting him.

"I get pavor nocturnus - night terrors - pretty much every night," Malcolm told him with a quiet matter of factness, looking over at Klaus. "My insomnia ends and then starts again with a horror show and if I'm not restrained I... walk. Or. Run. Fight. Break things. Fall down stairs. Trip over furniture. When I was fourteen I ran into traffic and almost got hit by a truck. A few months ago, at home, one of my restraints didn't hold and I went through a second story window." He gestured towards the ceiling. "But... if you're interested in recreational use, I can show you how to make them," he added, trying to lighten the atmosphere a bit after... all that.

[bestfuneralever]

Klaus doesn't say anything to Raylan, but there's a smirk, and a glance exchanged with him all the same--

But then Malcolm is explaining everything in full detail and whatever amusement at the situation there had been is replaced with the shock of arguably the closest thing to embarrassment Klaus has felt, possibly ever. "Oh." is the only thing he can even manage to say at first as his brain catches up with the catastrophe of the moment. He just laid this out in the open for everyone like that. Granted, most of the people at this table live with him and are probably completely aware. But it doesn't make for great dinner conversation.

"Shit, Malcolm- I wasn't trying to- I-I didn't know." And, belatedly, he realizes there's probably a reason for that. "I'm sorry."

[abrightboy]

"You couldn't have known," Malcolm assured him with a small, soft smile.

So, in a way, there was a freak underneath the awkward exterior.

"It's okay."

[tinstar]

"The belts are a recent upgrade. If you are lookin' to set up your own, you're gonna have to raid the closests we didn't. We're also fresh outta handcuffs. Pro tip, don't use bunjee cords."

What a way to stumble into the knowledge of Malcolm's nightly routine but it had been a long time since he had watched and enjoyed watching someone put their foot in their mouth. Sorry Klaus, he likes you, but there was no stopping that from happening.

[bestfuneralever]

"What kinda law enforcement are you, to not be able to offer me handcuffs when I want 'em, Raylan?" He shoots back at him, smirk on his face the whole while. Klaus is at an Expert Level of foot-in-mouth issues. Stick around, Raylan, you'll have plenty of opportunities for that.

[tinstar]

"The kind that's solid enough with a knot that it doesn't matter. 'Sides, I don't tend to use them much - I let my partner in law Tim do that. Tickles his fancy, I think. But if you want in 'em, there's a waiting list behind John Constantine." John had been promising to show Raylan how he got out of them for near three weeks now and frankly, Raylan wanted to see it.

[abrightboy]

“I do still use bungees in the straps,” Malcolm told them. “Just not in the cuffs.” He looked at Klaus. “The hook snapped on one a few days ago and I got this ugly scratch on my wrist,” he explained, tugging up the cuff of his sweater sleeve so he could see the healing scrape. “Though if you’re going to be awake when you’re using them, you might not have the issue with it snapping before you realize it’s going to snap.”

[bestfuneralever]

"I know, but still--" He can't imagine having his own issues dropped in the laps of a group of people at a whim like that. He makes a lot of trauma-jokes about his own upbringing and everything that came along with it, but doing that to someone else really wasn't his thing.

He at least has the decency to look sheepish. "Are you sure?"

[abrightboy]

"Not much we can do about it if I weren't. It doesn't change anything. It's okay. Really," he said, taking a small bite of his small piece of chicken.

[conning]

Neal, for his part, has relaxed since Klaus seems genuinely sorry and Malcolm seems as okay with the whole thing as can be expected.

He's just... real protective of his fellow New Yorker. Perhaps unreasonably so for only having known him a week.

It's been a really weird week.

"Malcolm's as good as his word," he says, with a sideways glance at the other man. He reaches for his moonshine.

[bestfuneralever]

"I guess that's true..." he concedes, "Still-- I'm sorry."

He smiles a little at Neal's comment and he nods. "I know. I've known him," he bites off the 'longer than you' that rests at the end of his tongue. "for awhile now."

[fika]

"Jesus Christ," Five mutters, a hand passing over his face.

"No, this is normal," said forlornly by the thirteen year old reaching for his glass of moonshine. "It's worse when there's seven of us."

[bestfuneralever]

"Shut up, Five," he growls, reaching across to kick him under the table.

[conning]

The thirteen year old reaching for moonshine certainly gets Neal's eyebrows up. Not as much as they might be if he hadn't spent so much time in France, but this is moonshine, not wine.

"Careful," he says, gesturing to the glass with his fork. "That stuff will knock you out if you're not."

He can't help being amused by Klaus's kick, even if he is still annoyed at the man. "So which one of you is the older sibling, again?"

[bestfuneralever]

"He is," Klaus' response comes almost instantly to that question, a finger pointed in his brother's direction--

--just as Five chimes in with a snappish, "I'm older."

Klaus (miraculously) finishes what's in his mouth before continuing, "I know that sounds crazy, but- look. He was trying to prove a point to our Dad and time-traveled to the future and ended up getting stuck living out the Apocalypse for half a century with his mannequin wife--" There's a hand pressed to his chest, features softened, tone weirdly genuine despite everything he just said, "lovely girl, honestly, we really hit it off that one time, remember?" that hand turns outward, pointing at Five.

Attention turned back to Neal, his words rattling at a faster pace as he finishes off the rest of his story. "Anyway- it took him, like, forever to get back to our time, and when he did, he fucked it up and now--" Both hands spread to either side in a wide shrug, "he's stuck going through puberty twice."

Go ahead and try to process that weird info-dump, Neal.
And consider: Every word of it is true.
He'll wait.

[fika]

For all the bullshit that Five puts up with in this family, for all the years spent away and the blood-stained ledger to get back, there’s certain things that test his patience to its limits.

It isn’t a particularly difficult thing to do, no.

But his demeanour still shifts, a bit more rigid. Far be it for him to think anything they did could ever be fucking normal; that he could pretend to not be haunted by the means to get to the end goals for one lousy damn night.

First, he takes a long sip from the moonshine, because he’s particularly petty, and because maybe he wants this shit to knock him off his feet, Neal. We all cope in different ways.

But by the time Klaus is done spilling the too-honest information, his mouth is curled into a snarl. “Maybe you need to learn when to shut up, Klaus.” It’s flinty, and his grip is tight on his cup. “Or at least not act shocked when nobody tells you shit.” Low blow but that’s what we’re going for between siblings.

Sure, some know of his history. Some know of his age and that’s not the issue here. All the bullshit of their lives has adopted an odd sense of normalcy, but Five, for all the feral frenzy of his disposition, has only ever relied on control. He decides who know what and where about him. It slips up sometimes, but a dinner party isn’t the place for it and the first thing he feels, in his experiences callously summarized, is panic.

Naturally, it culminates in anger.

Nothing to see here, really. Just sibling things.

[conning]

Neal has to take a minute. He thinks he's been doing pretty well handling all of this, between the vampires and the zombies and the aliens and the general, you know, trauma.

But that's a lot.

And it clearly doesn't make Five happy to have that a lot spilled so casually.

"I think it's my turn for an apology," Neal says quietly. "I can imagine the assumptions get annoying as hell."

[fika]

Five, to his limited credit, does his best to school the irritation. It doesn't necessarily work, and the smile he gives is serrated, in contrast to the dimples, and is more reminiscent of someone who's seen a lot more shit than a thirteen year old would.

As advertised, really.

"Oh, don't," is the strong recommendation on the offered apology. He doesn't need it. "But yeah, it's a pain in the ass, considering I'm 58."

[bestfuneralever]

Klaus opens his mouth to retort, but he snaps it shut instead. It's always so different when his siblings get snappish with him, rather than literally anyone else. What they think, what they say, matters. How he makes them feel, matters.

He practically crumbles right on the spot, feet dragged up onto the rung of his chair, all of his body language curled inward. His stomach suddenly feels like it's been filled with lead and he's quiet through the rest of dinner, left sipping his drink and staring at the remnants of his dinner on his plate.

[thering]

Doc knew that Five was older than he looked, that some timey wimey was involved, and Five has a saviour complex that you could practically see from the moon. Still, he did not know the whole story of it, and honestly, it wasn't Klaus's to share, however hurt he might have felt from the fallout of Five's disappearance.

Being the man who tries to broker the peace between everyone is a new role for a gunslinger who has always drawn first, pulled the trigger and tended to ask questions later. But a hundred and thirty years the long way around gives a no-longer-dying man some perspective and mellows him out considerably. Doc can still be hot-headed but he is also now more willing to ask first and shoot later, to take the delicate approach, and studying the ebb and flow of found family dynamics around the dinner table, he decides he ought to intervene before someone says something in the heat of the moment to shatter each other's love to pieces.

"Hey," he says quietly, getting slowly to his feet as other people start leaving the table, either for another helping or deciding that they're finished. He pats Klaus on the shoulder a couple of times. "Come along now. Take your drink, leave your plate. Come with me."

[thering]

So... Doc feels just a smidge guilty, because he had been the one encouraging Five to bring his brother along to dinner over to 1306. He can't claim to know Klaus all that well, but he knows the young man wears his heart on his sleeve and is more like Malcolm, open and expressive whereas Five is more like the cowboys, reserved and guarded. He didn't know that he was the type to keep running his mouth before he can put his foot in it even if, honestly, he would have still extended the invitation either way. But maybe he would have had a more active hand in steering the conversation before Klaus accidentally committed a half dozen faux pas.

Towards the tail end of dinner when people start leaving the table, Doc moves over to occupy the vacated adjacent seat, sitting down next to Five and forcing him to stay by wordlessly topping up his glass of moonshine. There is no mention of apocalypses and mannequin wives.

"You said there were seven of you," Doc drawls, screwing the cap back onto the moonshine bottle as though he's not planning on finishing the whole thing by himself. "You ever get together for family dinners, like this?" Raylan, Malcolm, Neal, Negan and Doc don't have the same dynamics like Luther, Diego, Allison, Ben and Vanya, but he can't imagine those dinners are any less awkward.

[fika]

To be fair, Doc, this wasn’t a shock. He shifts a little, reclines back into his chair when Doc slides into the one beside him, and his contemplations of leaving are put on hold, brows ticking up at the question. It wasn't the one he was expecting to come, and it startles a small, surprised snort.

“Well, let's see. There was no talking allowed at the dinner table, else we interrupt the riveting lectures of Herr Carlson, or whoever else Dad chose for the time.” Five sighs, watching the pour. “Sometimes it would be Homer’s Odyssey, so that the ancient Greek would stick.”

He remembers the moments of everyone’s small rebellions, too. Diego’s knife-marked armrest, Klaus’s blunts at the ripe and early age of thirteen. Allison and Luther, thinking they were anything but obvious in the puppy-eyed glances. He knows the things he missed thanks to Vanya’s book. Knows it only got worse with Ben’s death. They all skated by somehow, but he missed the fallout, pushed out into the periphery of written pages.

“Then, we’d all sneak out to the nearest diner, and eat as much ice cream as we could, until we’d all just get sick,” he ends that with a curl of a dimpled smile, there and gone.

“But, all of that was relegated to outside of the dining room,” he turns his attention to Doc. "And it's a surprise no one stabbed each other."

[bestfuneralever]

"I mean..." He waves one hand with a flourish. Yes. The answer is yes, he definitely makes habits of these sorts of things and it all long-predates his arrival in Mathias. "Aren't we all picking through other people's things at this point?"

He pops a forkful of food in his mouth. He doesn't wait to finish and definitely talks around that bite of food. "Plus-- I said I took a wrong turn." He's only been in the living room long enough for a drink that once with Raylan, it isn't like he knows the place that well. He isn't seeing the issue.