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]

"Osso buco. No chance of making one here." Neal makes a wistful little noise. "The Lombardy region is gorgeous. Considered stealing the Corona Ferrea while I was there, but something that hot never would have sold."

[bestfuneralever]

"Such a shame." he pouts at the thought. They've got food, and plenty to last them by all accounts, but it's still a rather limited menu in a lot of ways. "Oh, yeah? Didn't take you for a larcenist." If anything, it just makes him cuter. He's surrounded by all these gorgeous men and only such a fair few of them that would dare look his way. Cursed, truly.

[conning]

"Larcenist, forger, gambler, confidence man." Neal salutes Klaus with his drink. "I've done it all, and what I haven't done I could do if I wanted to."

[bestfuneralever]

"Fancy. And all I've done with my life is a fuckton of drugs." He snorts and takes a long drink from the glass in his hand. Not something he's proud of, but certainly the truth. And what's worse-- he was stone-cold sober all through his three years in the 60's, of all decades, honestly and.... well. He sure dove off the edge of that cliff, didn't he?

[conning]

"Never too late to turn over a new leaf." Neal takes a drink of his own. "Though as far as new leaves go, this isn't the best place for them."

[bestfuneralever]

He scoffs at that, "Yeah, I'd say." He isn't sure if he could accurately say he's seen worse. Maybe in some ways, that's true, but there's just this ever-present unsettling sensation gnawing at his bones in this town that just never completely goes away. Somehow, that makes it feel worse in a lot of ways.

"But I did... the new leaf thing." He nods once, lips pulled together in a line for a moment. "For three years..." And then Dave in the 60s happened and... well. His will was only so strong, and things went so, so wrong, and-- "At least I know I can do it." For more years than he cares to put a number to, he wasn't sure he could drag up enough will to stop. But those three years proved him wrong.

[conning]

Neal tilted his head, curiosity and alcohol making him bold. "Why not do it again? If you know you can?"

[bestfuneralever]

He spreads his hands in a wide shrug, “I’ve only really stopped the once. I mean- I’ve done plenty of thirty-sixty-ninety day stints or whatever through the years, court mandated stuff, but...it’s harder to stay away than it is to just dive back into it all, you know?”

He tips his head back and chuckles softly, a hollow sound in the back of his throat. “Plus, sometimes I think it’s the only thing keeping me together in this place.” A smirk curls across his lips. “But I know that’s just the addict in me.”

[conning]

Neal's expression is... not closing off, exactly. Just going a little more distant, a little more scrutinizing. "What're you going to do when you run out? Of your..."

He gestures with his glass. "Go-tos?"

[bestfuneralever]

"You okay?" Klaus is too observant not to notice the subtle shift in Neal as the conversation took this particular turn. He doesn't sound particularly pushy about it, though; he probably won't pursue it further if Neal brushes it off as nothing.

He shrugs a little. "Suffer, I guess?" A tittering sort of laugh that's coated in more nervous energy than real humor escapes him. "I mean, this is the only thing we have. The clinic is- there's nothing to get high on to speak of in there. I- um..." He shrugs again. "Go back to doing yoga like it's a religion, I guess..."

He hasn't exactly given the idea a lot of thought. With the way things just go sideways here all the time- sure. The moonshine probably could run out. But why consider the beyond when he is just trying to force his way through each day-by-day at this point.

[conning]

Neal smiled almost at once, blue eyes bemused. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Why wouldn't he be?

His smile stayed just as steady, just as mild. "What happens if you're drunk when something goes bad?"

[bestfuneralever]

His features shift in a subtle way, not really disbelief, but almost a silent invitation of, 'Well, if you wanna talk about it...', without ever having the words need to pass his lips to get it across.

"Bad like- what? Somebody's hurt? Or... We're being attacked by ninjas because it's Mathias and why not? Or...?" He feels like he needs a better from of reference before barreling into answer that question.

[conning]

"An emergency. An injury, sure, or something worse. What if someone needs help and you can't give it? What if you need help because you're drunk and it hurts someone else?"

He lifts one shoulder in a shrug.

[bestfuneralever]

"I mean- I don't get blackout drunk any more. It's... not like I used to be." He doesn't want to go backwards down that road, anyway. "A lot happened, really fast back home, and... I had to- sober up. Grow up. I might drink sometimes, but I don't think I'll ever guzzle a countless number of drinks like I used to. And the drugs-" he shakes his head. "They were worse than the booze, I'm finally free of that."

A beat and he relents. "Well, physically, at least. I know the temptation will always be there. I just have to watch myself, you know? I allow myself certain things-- booze, weed-- and nothing beyond that, because if I go over those lines, I know I won't come back, you know? And-- I know that's not how they do it in NA, but... I can handle it. I have, for three years. I actually only started drinking again like... three days before I showed up here."

He knows some of everything he's saying just screams addict who hasn't given up, and in some ways he hasn't, but he's tried going cold turkey clean and it never works, never sticks, and he's learned how to handle himself over the last few years. It may be hard to believe that he could still indulge and not fall face-first back into a mountain of coke or something else just as drastic, but his tactics work for him, even if they don't line up with the way every professional would tell anyone how to handle their addictions.

But to circle back to the actual question? "I dunno... I guess the answer to your question is...I'd just deal with it. Get in the moment, handle what I could, pass off what I couldn't? And if someone got hurt because of me..." His eyes drop to the table top, and he squeezes his eyes shut tight against memories of Dave, of screaming for a medic. His voice drops to a low whisper. "I'd never get over it."

[conning]

I allow myself certain things. I can handle it. The phrases stick like barbs under Neal's skin and he can't tell if he's sick with sympathy or memory. It's how the way back to a bad place starts. Allowances that they can handle. The vicious part of himself that Neal always keeps on a short leash wants to point that out. The part of himself that remembers a mother who cried every time she failed to quit the bottle can't bring himself to do it.

He really can't make himself do it when Klaus finally stops talking. Because he knows that face. He knows that voice. Someone already has gotten hurt, maybe worse, and Klaus blames himself.

That hits too close to home for Neal to stay self-righteous. He sits up a little more in his chair, the antagonism smoothing out of his face and voice.

"No one here is going to let something happen to anyone else if they can prevent it. We just... have to help each other."

[bestfuneralever]

He has no idea what Neal is thinking as he sits there, mulling over everything Klaus just dropped on him. Something twists sharply in his stomach and all he can hope for is that the guy won't make some sort of scene about it.

He tries to be upfront and honest about who he is, what he's done, because honesty is supposed to make everything better; but he knows better, knows how easily those honest words can make someone judge a person, color how they view them in a way they can never get beyond. It's something he has to accept, but it doesn't make it any easier when the possibility of some sort of sharp rejection lays on the table between them.

But Neal's features soften, his voice is all quiet resolution and it makes all the knots in Klaus' stomach unravel at once, a small smile touching his face. "Yeah," he nods a little. "I know. We will. It's who we are." Even if it's only who Klaus is by virtue of who he was raised by and how; it's all still there, ingrained deep into the muscle memory and automatic reactions, no matter how much he might occasionally battle against it and try to let the 'flee' part of his brain win. It never really does in the end.