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

[setthetone]

The CIA? Oh wow. You must have seen some crazy things I'm sure...

[Maybe a bit like Dean and his wild stories of witches and demons and being from the future... Carter is about to ask what year she's from when he spots the colorful bruises circling her fingers.

He frowns, holding on a moment longer after the shake.]

Are you injured, Agent Johnson?

[chuju]

[ Crazy things. Hah. He has no idea.

She frowns as well when he asks that question, recognizing something in the way he looks at her hand. Crap. This is not what she'd signed up for when she'd stopped to chat with someone who looked like he could really use a friend. ]

It's nothing I can't handle.

[setthetone]

Looks painful.

[And that's putting it mildly. If whatever is hiding under the fabric looks anything like that... But there's something he recognizes in her tone of voice, too, so he doesn't push immediately.]

Would you maybe like to come inside? It's freezing out here. ... And I can practice inviting people into my new home.

[chuju]

[ Whether it's painful or not is something she chooses not to comment on. Stuffing her hand back into her coat pocket, she thinks for a moment before sighing deeply, her breath puffing white in front of her face. ]

Yeah, okay. I can help you put things away, if you want. We can choose a closet or a room and tuck away all their things — in case they ever do come back.

[ Maybe then it'll be easier for him to stomach the idea of living in someone else's house. ]

[setthetone]

That... that sounds good, yeah. Thank you.

[He likes that idea. Keeping the things. And if they come back, well. He'll profusely apologize and recompense them, explain to them that it was an emergency situation.]

So what happened?

[Carter nods at her hands while shaking off the snow on his shoes and slipping out of his jacket.]

Were you attacked? I had my first run-in with mirror ghosts not too long ago, it was really freaky...

[chuju]

[ Following him inside, she follows the example of wiping off her shoes, trying to dislodge as much snow as she can. There's probably dust everywhere in the house, so she isn't keen on taking off her shoes entirely, but can do her best not to track in more mess. ]

I wish I'd been attacked, I've been itching for something to actually fight here. [ But she's guessing he probably won't share that sentiment. She shrugs off her backpack and leaves it on the floor beside the front door, laying her snowy coat on top of it. ] But no, it's...

[ Well, if her guess is right and he's some sort of medical professional, she's probably not getting out of this line of questioning. Might as well just get it over with. ] Hairline fractures and ruptured capillaries. Both arms.

[setthetone]

What?

[Carter stops and turns around to look back at her, a little stunned. Memorabilia and photos are suddenly forgotten when he takes another look at her bandaged arms. What he saw had looked pretty grim but he hadn't expected it to be this bad?]

That's-- did someone take a look at that? I'm a doctor, I can help.

[chuju]

[ Score one for Daisy, she'd been right on the mark. Unfortunately, that now means she has to fend off a Concerned Doctor. Her favorite kind.

She crosses her arms and shakes her head, expression both serious and a bit resigned. ] This happens a lot. I know how to handle it.

[setthetone]

[A Very Concerned Doctor, even. And her words aren't exactly making it better.]

What? What do you mean 'it happens a lot'?

[chuju]

[ Looking down at her boots doesn't help, nor does turning her gaze up to the ceiling. There's no way out of this and now she just has to hope everything goes as well as it can. ]

How are you on the whole "everyone here is probably from a different universe" idea?

[setthetone]

Uh.

[Right. That. Carter ponders that for a moment, puffing his cheeks.]

Working on that one. It's somewhere up there with "the supernatural is real" and "people are from different times, mostly my future"?

[He rubs the back of his neck with a somewhat bashful smile.]

Does... what happened to your arms have to do with that?

[chuju]

[ Well, at least he's familiar with the concept. He could have been a total skeptic like Sherlock, the thought of which really helps to keep things in perspective. ]

Yeah, it does. [ She sighs heavily, feeling a hundred times more exhausted than she actually is right now. ] On my Earth, there are people with an alien gene mixed into their DNA that, when activated, gives us unnatural abilities. We're called Inhumans. I can manipulate vibrations. There's usually some sort of price to our gift; mine is that when I shake the world around me, I sometimes shake my own body too.

[ It's a lot to absorb, all dumped on him in one go like ripping off a proverbial bandaid. Sorry, doc, she really does feel a bit bad about this. ]

[setthetone]

[That's quite the bandaid. And quit the rip.

Carter stares because he steeled himself for this one, thinking he was ready. No, really, he did. Some supernatural cause for the bruises. Even a curse, yeah, maybe her hands were just cursed, sure.

But then it goes into a completely different direction and he's not prepared for the mental whiplash of that one. His mouth opens, closes, as he nods along, then shakes his head, then nods along again, his facial expression having as much of a hard time to keep up as his mind. It feels like Dr. Benton at rounds, rattling down an impossible task with three questions laced into them and then just leaving him with it.

Carter, suppose your patient has alien genes mixed into their DNA. They come in here with multiple fractures, self-inflicted by internal vibrations. How would you proceed?]

Uhhhhh.

[It's a long, strategic sound, trying to buy his mind more time.]

"Inhumans"? That's a bit harsh, don't you think?

[chuju]

[ Truthfully, Daisy feels a little guilty for the journey his expression goes on while he processes what she says. Even people from her universe who saw NYC be invaded by the Chitauri have a hard time processing Inhumans, and here she is dropping it on someone who probably thought aliens were only in bad sci-fi films.

In the end, he seems to take it pretty well, though. He even manages a full, coherent sentence. She's proud of him for that, even if the actual content of the said sentence takes her aback. ]

No one's ever said that before. It's what we've always called ourselves, for thousands of years. [ She's never once considered it a bad thing, so trying to wrap her mind around that idea is visibly difficult for her. ]

[setthetone]

It's just, just because you have some alien DNA in your body doesn't mean you're not human, right?

[... Wow, he really said that out loud, didn't he. He really strung those words together for that exact sentence with a straight face. Alien DNA. This is his life now.

Carter shrugs, then holds up his hands.]

But hey, you know, if it works for you who am I to say it doesn't?

[His eyes dart back to her hands.]

So these... tremors, how do they manifest?

[chuju]

[ With such an innocent sentence, he's immediately endeared himself to her. For years, she's had people telling her she's a monster, an abomination, a weapon against the human race. And here he is, completely out of his depth but still accepting her as she is. She can't help the range of emotions that play across her face, from confusion and shock to hope and heartache.

It takes her a moment to visibly collect herself before she can answer. ]

It depends on the intention. If I was, say, shaking the entire room, that's not localized to any one area and it's a little easier on my body. But it's also a lot harder to control. [ She looks around for a second, noticing a book that's been left on the nearby coffee table. Lifting her right hand, she sends a tiny burst toward it and the book slides off the table to skid across the floor a few times. ] Something like that is controlled and focused in my arms.

[ Crossing her arms, she debates for all of two seconds before continuing to dive in. He's earned that from her. ] Usually I would wear specially designed gauntlets to help focus my power and divert the vibrations from my own body, but I wasn't wearing them when I was brought here.

[setthetone]

[There's a silence that stretches out. Carter isn't sure if it's something he said or if it's just a very emotional subject for her. He certainly doesn't expect people to see her differently from how he sees her - and if he knew he'd be outraged.]

Do you know what these gauntlets do? How they-- how they divert the...

[No, who cares about that, he's not an engineer, there's no way he could build something like that anyway.]

... what exactly it is they're diverting? Where does the tremor start? In you? Do you... send it? Like a seismic wave?

[He stares at the books and it's obvious that the gears in his head are turning, that he's trying to make sense of it from a physicians perspective. This is new and unfamiliar to him, yes, but what's more important to him right now is that there is a problem for his patient and he has to find a solution.

God, he really hopes he remembers enough high school physics for this.]

[chuju]

[ The way he's so focused on the problem, coming at it from a purely practical perspective — it reminds her so much of Simmons that it makes her chest ache with a longing to see her sister again. It's only been a few weeks but after so many years together, those weeks feel like lifetimes. But Simmons isn't here and neither is Fitz, so she has to face this problem on her own. ]

I honestly couldn't tell you all the specifics of what the gauntlets do, the people on my team who made them for me tried explaining it to me a bunch of times but it got technical really fast. [ She's less with the knowing the science behind her gauntlets and more about the thorough testing of each new version. ]

They're like arm braces — tight, because compression helps, and armored because I usually only wore them when I was on missions. But I had others for when I was healing after an injury; they'd help speed up the healing process and keep me from making it worse with minor uses of my power. Which... happens a lot here. [ Her voice goes a bit quiet at that last part. Without her gear or any of SHIELD's fancy medical resources, she's been playing a constant game of one step forward, two steps back. ]

When I'm doing something like that [ a vague gesture toward the book ] it starts inside me. It's kind of like a seismic wave like you said, but it's focused on my arms because that's how I project it. The shaking in my arms increases but it's always there. All of me is shaking all the time, like a thousand bees trapped inside me.