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

ellie

[enduresurvive]

Ellie said her piece at the town hall meeting.

Feel free to come talk to her afterwards to ask her about her knife, the museum thing, or the tunnel idea.

Other options: remember that Ellie has a guitar! She asked for it on the bulletin board, which people may have seen. She also has a pun thread going on if anyone else has a terrible sense of humour.

[ghosthuntuk]

Melanie won't bother beating around the bush with this meeting-- they're all here for the same reason, and she's going to cut straight to the point. "I don't think we've met, I'm Melanie." she starts easily enough with an introduction. She doesn't have any reference for who said what until they speak, but luckily her lack of sight has sharpened her attention to voices. Once she hears the voice, she'll know which facts to question them about.

[enduresurvive]

Not that Melanie can see her, but Ellie looks maybe the slightest bit wary, but that's just her underlying paranoia that other people are actually awful. She wants to think the best of people, but...well, it's been a long few months before getting to Mathias. At least everyone here has actually been pretty cool.

Ellie's hesitation probably conveys her wariness just the same, though.

"Ellie," she answers after a second. "Have you been here a long time, or did you just luck out and show up right before this?"

[ghosthuntuk]

She can't see her, but that doesn't stop her feeling the tension hanging in the air around the other woman. Not something she'd judge someone on, personally; she understands feeling tense and paranoid in a place as twisted up as this one, and she has barely even gotten her feet wet in Mathias. "Just got here about a week ago, I think? Time's hard enough to keep track of for me these days," she scoffs softly, an amused sound more than anything else.

[enduresurvive]

"Yeah, time doesn't seem to matter too much here. It's just one big bunch of steaming bullshit after another," Ellie says, wry and cynical. She's at just about a month herself and it's a lot, or so it seems.

"I guess I've been here since the beginning? Or since people started showing up here after whoever was here before us peaced out."

[ghosthuntuk]

She laughs softly at that. "Sounds familiar," she admits with a slight shake of her head. If there's one thing the Archives got her used to, it was that she was never going to expect the right things to happen, and the well of surprises never empties.

She nods a bit. "Fair enough. What d'you think happened before? Any running theories?"

[enduresurvive]

Ellie shrugs, though of course Melanie can't see it; it's just her normal reaction.

"I don't know. See...back home we didn't have shit like magic and whatever. I mean, you heard all the weird shit people said, right? Malcolm thinks maybe no one actually lived here. John thinks people absolutely did. I...guess I kind of agree with John. I think people lived here. Who the fuck could fabricate the whole place to make it seem like people with lives and families lived here? Maybe my imagination just sucks."

It doesn't, but she's out of her depth in this place.

"So I think something terrible happened, but most people had some warning. Maybe they were in on it. I don't know. Maybe they never had shit like cars here to begin with. What I can't get over is that there's no animals or bugs or whatever. Like...how, y'know?"

[ghosthuntuk]

She smiles a little, a tiny quirk of her lips. She remembers a time when she thought all those sorts of things were the stuff of fiction. She longs for that sort of simplicity in the world again, but she's learned the hard way that once that kind of thing touches you, it never fully lets go, no matter how hard you try to get away from it. "I definitely think there were people at some point. There's too much around for that. As for what drove them out... well, it could be anything, really." She frowns a bit at that last part, head tilting slightly. "None? No animals of any kind?" That is weird. There were animals still even in her world's Apocalypse.

[enduresurvive]

Ellie would very much like to forget about magic and alternate worlds, but...well, that's not possible here. Maybe she'll always remember it now, if they survive this place, if they get out of here.

"Yeah. I mean, there's that creepy ass message on the board that says he is coming. There was that freaky fucking shadow dude. The things with the lanterns. Something happened. Were they people before? I guess I don't know."

She's quiet for just a moment.

"No. No animals anywhere. Not in the forest. No rats in the walls. No birds."

[ghosthuntuk]

Melanie could think of a he or two that might fit that incredibly creep-tastic bill, but that's just her own personal bias bleeding through and she knows it. Jon and Elias have nothing to do with this bloody town. Well, probably. "That's not natural." By any standard of things. Of all the things she's learned today, it's the simplest thing that puts her the most on edge.

[enduresurvive]

"No, it's not. I mean...I guess nothing here is natural but the animals thing really gives me the willies." And it's held, too. Things here aren't very consistent, but the lack of animals and insects seems to be.

"Whatever happened here must be some crazy unnatural bullshit too," she says. "That's totally out of my wheelhouse, though. I don't know anything about magic or whatever. But I do know that this whole place is super fucked up."

[ghosthuntuk]

There’s just something that sits so wrong about that Melanie can’t even explain. Even after The Change, animals still existed. Twisted more monstrous versions of them. But they were there. “I don’t like it either.” She admits with a slight shake of her head.

“I just there was more to go on...” she mumbles. That was how it started in the Archives though, wasn’t it? And what good has digging for more answers done any of them?

[enduresurvive]

It sits wrong with Ellie, too. The Infected absolutely go after animals too (though they don't seem to be prone to the same effects from the fungus as humans are), but there are still animals. And insects. This town is just fucking wrong.

"I guess that was the point of this whole meeting thing. Dunno what we learned, but..." She shrugs. "Maybe the people who are good at figuring this shit out will come up with something. I just wanna figure out how to go home, you know?"

[ghosthuntuk]

"Takes time, I s'pose." She sounds annoyed with that fact, but it is what it is. She can't change it by pouting about it, can she? She'll just have to start researching, investigating. She nods a bit at the sentiment. "I understand. Maybe it won't take much longer." If Helen would just show up, she could get them out no problem. Though Mathias screamed The Spiral almost as much as any of the others, so far. She's really beginning to loathe it here.

[enduresurvive]

Ellie is skeptical, but what does she know?

"I hope you're right," she says. "I've been here, like, a month. That's how long those of us who first woke up here have been here. I mean...the ones who are still alive." They've lost at least two permanently. "Something's gotta give eventually." That's as close to hope as she can get.

because we can't have enough, don't know what you're talking about

[cholesterol]

Dean knew about the spores from Doc, heeded his warning and even helped board up the outside. But, he's still skeptical of that being what's there. Something tells him this place feeds on their shit, their fears. Hell, it provides its' own. But, the spores? Damn specific.

"Ellie," he says, putting his finger up. "You ever see Nightmare on Elm Street?"

[enduresurvive]

She recognises Dean, of course. He's the music guy. Besides, she has a good memory for names and faces. Sometimes she wishes she could forget a few, but you know.

"Nightmare on Elm Street? That's horror, right? Nah, I don't really do horror stuff. Why?"

[cholesterol]

"Cause of your story. What happened. You dreamt of the bowl, the knife. The blood. You woke up and the knife was in your hand. Straight out of Nightmare on Elm Street. There's precedent. You think you brought it straight out of your dream?"

What are your thoughts?

[enduresurvive]

"What, seriously? That's...like in some horror movie?"

Well, that's fucked up and nuts at the same time. So basically, that's just Mathias for you. She's lived with real life horror forever, so horror films don't really do it for her, generally.

"I don't have a better explanation, considering I have the knife now and I didn't when I went to bed. And I don't think Rey ever heard me leave the house. Not that she's alive now to ask her."

[cholesterol]

He nods in return.

"Rey, she..." She froze to death? If he remembers right. (He thinks he does.) "If you dreamt, actually dreamt, that rules shared dream out." Which, makes him feel better about Quentin's idea. Like they're all in Quentin's head.

[enduresurvive]

Ellie figures she froze to death too, but...well, who knows? This is a weird place and there are inexplicable things that happen to people. How did Jill die? What was really in the fog? She doesn't know those answers, so she just nods.

"I'm not the only one that's had some weird ass dreams either. So...I don't think this town is a dream. Anyways, how would that work? We're still from places that aren't alike."

[cholesterol]

"Yeah, I know. Another uh, citizen had a theory. It's borked now. So, at least we're running on process of elimination. You... doing okay?" She never looks like she is, but does Dean? Do any of them?

[enduresurvive]

"Citizen," she says with a snort. "More like kidnapping victim."

She shrugs at his question. "As okay as anyone else here," she answers. It's a non-answer, and it might not be entirely true. Everyone here is having a rough time, but not everyone was having such a rough time literally just before waking up here. She can't shake that off, even a month later. Trauma festers like that.

wrap soon?

[cholesterol]

"Anything gets too much, you can say so." Dean will probably never admit it, but that doesn't mean he's not all for Ellie's mental health.

can wrap here if you like!

[enduresurvive]

She shakes her head. "Don't worry, Dean. I'm good." She is, until she isn't. That's how trauma works, especially when you lack the requisite skills to deal with it other than literally just murdering people.

"This place is a lot, but...back home is too. I'll be okay." Probably.