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]

"It's all of it," Neal says quietly. "It's the voices in particular. Hearing things when I was in the Gull, and then again in the library yesterday..."

Yeah, he hasn't mentioned his trip to the library until now to anyone but Malcolm. Even odds as to whether he was hiding it or just trying not to think about it.

He knocks back more of his glass than is probably wise.

"...And it's Rey," he says, feeling strange at the admittance. He never met the woman. Doesn't know anything about her, except that she came from another world, that she was Ellie's friend, and that she's dead. "I've seen bodies before. I've seen people get killed. It's not that it's easy for me, it's not, it's just."

There was a particular kind of horror to finding her body there in the snow. "Her eyes were frozen open. Her fingers... If she'd still been alive, I don't know if they could have been saved. The tissue damage--I'm not a doctor, but. She was frozen. She had frost in her eyes, and I kept waiting for her to blink, but."

Neal doesn't know why it bothers him so much.

[thering]

"The library?" Doc doesn't know what happened in the library. "Do you wish to talk about what you heard, in the Gull and in the library?" he asks quietly. He has a rough idea, if it's similar to what was in the house he was in. Still it doesn't hurt to have Neal talk about what's bothering him.

As for Rey, however, that is difficult. Even for someone like Doc who creates dead bodies.

"Forgive me for initiating inappropriate dinner talk, but. Perhaps it is not simply a matter of being confronted by a reminder of our mortality." A memento mori shoved in your face when you least expect it in amidst all the confusion is one thing.

"Perhaps it was her loneliness, frozen in time. This... feeling like she had been abandoned, left to the elements, like common refuse left on the side of the road. That no one cared for her. That some stranger would perchance stumble upon her on an aimless roam and feel completely inept, unable to help her. Maybe it is that which is bothering you?"

[conning]

"Just... voices," he says, his own voice very quiet. "I'm not sure what there is to talk about, really. None of them said anything I could understand. It wasn't even a language I recognized, in either place, which believe me, that's unusual."

Neal takes a deep breath as Doc speaks, closing his eyes as the man goes on. His tone drops to a whisper. "Maybe. Yeah."

He shakes his head as the image of Rey half-covered in white rises up in his mind's eye again. "Yeah. The fact that it would have been so easy to just. Miss her. That if it had snowed a little more before I showed up, she would have been covered. Just left there. And in a place like this... who would have known where to look? What even happened? And she didn't come back."

Neal hasn't really adjusted to the idea of the dead returning, not really. Somehow it only makes the fact that some don't that much worse. "No one where she's from will ever know what happened to her."

[thering]

Doc takes his time refilling his glass and setting the bottle back down, giving some time for silence and reflection in their conversation before picking up his glass and continuing.

"I honestly don't know what to tell you, Mister Caffrey. I did not know her well, and she did not deserve to die alone so far from home." He can see for himself how easy it is to get caught up in everything happening in 1306 to struggle to try and extend their watchful eye beyond the house without being stretched too thin.

"But she was cared for. I have spent hours looking for missing persons. Daisy Johnson and Quentin Coldwater returned, mostly fine. Sometimes they are not quite so fortunate. I would not use the number of daylight hours or the things we get caught up in in this house as excuses for our failures, but we care for everyone all the same." Doc takes a drink of his moonshine and points at Neal as he swallows and keeps the burn down, a more casual toned down gesture than the bad habit Raylan has been imparting.

"We found you when you were hurt. And if you ever disappeared from this house I would come find you. Even if I have to grab our shovel and dig deep into the snow covering every square inch of town, I would come looking. This much I can promise you."

[conning]

"I'd look for you too," he says quietly. "All of you."

Even Negan, and Neal doesn't know the man that well. The idea of any of them being out there alone makes his heart ache. No one deserves to die here. No one deserves to be so thoroughly lost to their home and the people in it.

"I'm..." He's not sure how that was going to end. "None of us are equipped for this. People aren't meant for this kind of thing."

[thering]

Not that Doc would leave Negan out there to die, but the man hasn't been doing himself any favours to gain Doc's favour.

"The people still around are more important. Especially Malcolm, and the young ladies. And if it's between me or anyone else, don't bother with me." He's meant to be dead for a hundred and thirty years now. It's fine if his time is finally up. He would not place his own life above anyone else's.

"People are meant to survive, Mister Caffrey. I have done a great many things I am not proud of, but I would do them all over again if I could ensure everyone gets off this sinking ship." He can't promise that they would be able to leave, or that they would still be in one piece and of sound mind if they do. All he can do is try to shoulder the burdens that he wouldn't wish upon anyone else.

"Let's just take things one day at a time."

[conning]

"Meant to survive," Neal repeats softly. He agrees with that. He does. Life is the most precious thing in the world, the most precious thing in any world. He's not used to seeing life pushed this way. He's not used to seeing people bent to the edge of breaking. There's always been a solution, an ending, a warm embrace waiting at the end of the day and the relief of knowing the worst is over. Yes, sometimes there were sharp pieces left to pick up, and yes, sometimes the only way to do it was bare-handed and alone. But there was always someone waiting with bandages and booze significantly better than the cowboys' moonshine.

He studies his glass, the admission coming slow and only with the help of the alcohol: "I've never known so many walking wounded."

[thering]

"Maybe you've just never looked that closely before. I know I wouldn't want anyone coming too close, were I one of them." He is most definitely one of them. He just. Musters up as much courage and energy as he can manage to try and keep soldiering on, hard as it is with no finish line in sight.

"We have your back here, Neal. I know it is easy to say, difficult to accept, impossible to believe. But I hope you will keep it in mind, the longer you stay here. With a few more good days under our belt, we will come to be in a better space to deal with all this... cruelty that befalls us." A few more good days and a few more glasses of moonshine never hurt, either.