001-003 » a chilling mathias welcome

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: The east end of Mathias, along the waterfront.
WHEN: Days 001-003
WHAT: The newest residents of Mathias Township are welcomed with a storm.
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: A small love letter from your mod. This spot can be used for plotting.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Deadly Avenger "Mara"

DAY 001
THE ARRIVAL BEGINS

Is it the whooshing crash of waves on dark jagged rocks that wakes you? Perhaps. It might also be the near-continuous rumble of thunder growing closer every second, the vibrations almost seeming to come from the wet sand beneath your hands. Or maybe it’s the shivering of your own body as water recedes from the pebble-covered shore, the cold sinking into your very bones as a chilled wind picks up. It could be any of these things that rouse you from a deep slumber that leaves you feeling groggy and out of sorts--

But it’s the fear that gets you moving. A deep, intense terror grips your chest and squeezes the breath right out of you, and you know without a shred of doubt that you have mere minutes before whatever it is you’re so afraid of arrives on that stretch of rocky beach to greet you. Even if you want to stay rooted to that spot and faced it head-on, your body betrays you, a survival instinct etched into your genetic code forcing you to seek shelter.

Welcome to Mathias. You should probably run now.



THE STORM ARRIVES

When the storm crashes into the small township, it's hard to remember what life was like before it. The ocean becomes a raging thing, waves rising and falling as if trying to attack whatever they can reach along the coast. Any foolish enough to venture along the beach have no hope of surviving the encounter; their bodies will be swept out with the current, gone in the blink of an eye.

The wind is a howling beast, screaming between buildings and driving spikes of cold into any crevice it can reach. The rain is just shy of freezing, every drop like a shard of icicle trying to itself into your skin. It will bite at your nerves and leave you shaking if you stay out in it too long, so you had best get inside if you haven't already. You certainly don't want to attract the attention of the lightning that arcs in the sky like a vengeful god ready to unleash its wrath.

The Grey Gull restaurant sits at the edge of the town along the beach, and just a few yards away are two parallel rows of houses lining what might be a picturesque street if the world weren't beginning to resemble an apocalyptic landscape.

Move quickly, and choose wisely.

DAY 002
THE STORM RAGES ON

The storm has somehow become even more violent overnight. The world outside your shelter might be trapped in an endless night, for all you can see through the thick covering of storm clouds. Lightning continues to streak across the sky, thunder following almost immediately in its wake, threatening just how near those spikes of electricity truly are. You can see them touch the shore at times, even the street between the homes, but never the buildings themselves. A blessing, perhaps, or an oddity to take note of?

Some may be foolish enough to try venturing outside. They are welcome to, of course, that is their right, but the rain is still like ice and that lightning is so very near. You may try heading further into town, and you can certainly see buildings beyond this row of houses, but should you walk toward them...

Well. It is far from a pleasant experience. Exhaustion sinks into your bones so quickly that it leaves you reeling, and every second you push through it makes you physically ill with a feeling that you might collapse at any moment. The second you turn away from that path, however, you feel infinitely, and even more so each step back the way you came.

Something wants you to stay where you are. Perhaps you should.

DAY 003
THE CALM DESCENDS

The third day begins much as the second, with waves crashing upon the shore and thunder booming with such force that the ground seems to shake. It feels very much like the world might end right there, torn apart by a force of nature unlike any seen before. Any who venture outside at this time are almost immediately afflicted with a terror so intense that they can make it no more than a few yards or the short distance to cross a street before they become incapacitated by the fear that sets their heart beating dangerously fast. The term scared to death may very well become literal this day.

And then, suddenly it stops. The rain, thunder, lighting— all if it just stops and the silence that fills the night is deafening. There are no sounds of life within the town, no car motors or dogs barking or the voices of anyone beside those new arrivals in the immediate vicinity. In fact, none of those things even exist in Mathias. There are no cars, no animals or insects, no other people. There is just... emptiness and silence.

It may be best to wait until daylight to move further inland.



THE NIGHT DARKENS

For those who are foolish enough to leave the relative safety of the cluster of houses near the Grey Gull, they will find their journey quite chilling, in a very literal sense. There is another row of houses beyond where they had been, branching off on either side into a neighborhood. There are no lights on in any of these homes, though there are occasional streetlights illuminating their way. But as they continue further, reaching a third block of houses, those lights begin to dim, until they have gone out completely, and what had previously been a simple fall chill becomes biting cold as the temperature sharply drops.

In all of this, there is silence. No sounds travel through that night air to comfort them, and even looking up to the sky stretched out above them offers little reassurance. That sky is black, without a single star and not even the faintest outline of the moon to guide them. All that reaches them here is the barest hint of light traveling from the way they've come. The longer they linger outside in this place, the colder it will become, and any light they carry with them will slowly begin to dim as well.

Truly, they should have waited until the sun rose once more.

---

LOCATIONS

THE GREY GULL is what one might expect of the most frequented restaurant in a small coastal town. The wrap-around porch is lined with white chairs characterized by peeling paint. Exposed wooden walls and worn seating speak to its many years of existence, and the mishmash of décor confirms that the owner never much cared for how the place looked. What mattered here was the food, and faded chalk menus advertise soup specials and a daily pie. The bar appears to have once been well-stocked, but all the bottles remaining are unfortunately empty. There is, however, quite a bit of food in the kitchen that is somehow as fresh as if it were purchased that day.

The second floor of the restaurant is a sparsely furnished apartment. There are no personal items to be found; perhaps it was waiting to be rented out to someone.

THE HOUSES are well-kept, middle-class homes, four lining either side of the street. Their doors are unlocked, windows unshuttered, and everything within feels like the owners might return at any second. There is running water and electricity, fresh food in the fridge, photographs on the wall... but also dust everywhere. If you didn't know better, you'd say the place had been abandoned for years, and yet nothing has aged. It is both strange and unsettling, and yet no matter how hard you search, no answers may be found within these homes.

What can be found within them, however, is a phone. One single black phone within a main room of the house, and beside it, a list of handwritten numbers and names that have been crossed out.

1302 8-5491 Thomasen
1304 8-9256 Lyrie
1306 8-4712 Anders
1308 8-3201 Mulcalley

1301 8-0415 Sanderson
1303 8-6762 Reese
1305 8-9132 Evers
1307 8-9025 Hirano

Should your character choose to shelter in one of the houses, you are welcome to choose the features of that particular unit. Please reply to the comment thread below with the details you decide upon, specifying the house number in the subject line.

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Comments

day 2 (closed to five)

[reydacted]

[ Surely with the houses seemingly vacant and abandoned, no one will really miss anything Rey can find. Her scavenger instincts are ringing strongly right now, and any collection is an advantage. She will be happy to share with the small population that seems to have found themselves stuck here, but she's not sure everyone will.

It's all she needs to justify her expeditions and explorations into the houses. They're so different from what she's used to, the appliances look strange and the clothing in the closets she's peeked into are nothing like any style she's ever seen before. She snags a backpack from one, but any tools she finds are totally analog and a bit primitive in her opinion. She doesn't give up, though. She climbs through an unlocked window on the ground floor of the next house, finding herself in the kitchen. She starts to root around in the cabinets and drawers to take anything that looks mildly interesting. ]

[fika]

[ Five was, effectively, forced to stay put for a short while, in one of the houses lined up in the neat picturesque row. He's exhausted his powers with determined efficiency, and found himself in the former Thomasen house, clothes damp and cold.

He had just finished steeping over-sweetened black tea, venturing into the living room and away from the kitchen when he hears the rustling, distinct from the billowing noise of terrible weather outside. The latter is more an ambient howl now, flashes of lighting and booming thunder.

Five creeps back through, hugs the wall out of instinct before peering around.

When he sees her, rooting through the cupboards, he snorts. ] They got some Honey Nut Cheerios, if you're interested.

[reydacted]

[ Her shoulders jump up, startled, as the cutlery she was holding slips out of her hands and clatters on the kitchen floor. She turns her head sharply and-- man who let a kid in here.

She scoops up the forks and knives, slipping a few into her bag before she puts them back on the counter.

There's probably far better questions to ask but she's not gonna move past it without knowing: ]

What're cheerios?

[fika]

[ kid excuse u he is an!! adult!! He looks at the assortment of cutlery splayed on the ground, but the question gets a chortle out of him.

because the assumption here is that there's a place and time that cheerios may not exist. which, not unlikely. just...he never thought about that.] It's a sweet cereal.

Here. [ he moves easily over to the tall pantry cabinet besides, before scooping up a box from there.

there's definitely more pressing questions to be asking here than enlightening one to the existence of honey nut cheerios, but this was refreshingly mundane compared to everything else around them. ] For all the shitshow oh unknowns here, they're surprisingly well-stocked.

[a far cry from the last time he got stuck anywhere. ]

[reydacted]

[ She takes the box, eyeing it warily. It's hard to turn down food when a) she's hungry and b) she's eaten her share of questionable things as a scavenger. She flips the tab open on the box, sniffing curiously, and pulls out a handful. ]

It's the fact that they are so well stocked that's unnerving. [ Naturally she is talking with her mouth full because what are manners. The conversation is oddly casual for the circuits that are firing in her brain. No bodies, so it wasn't like they were killed here. ] Even when you're running you take some things. And supplies get picked over quickly where I'm from.

[ She looks down at the box taking another handful. Whoever was chasing them wasn't interested in cheerios. ]

[fika]

[ He takes a sip from his mug, one hand in his pocket and leans back against the counter with one leg cross over the other at the ankle. ]

Like they up and left. Doesn't look like it was in a hurry. [ He nods, in thoughtful agreement, barely noticing her so-called lack of manners. he grew up around 6 other siblings. this was heart-achingly familiar.

He only glances back up at her at the mention of another place.] Oh yeah? And where would that be?

[reydacted]

Nowhere. [ She waves the question off in between chews. She's hungry and takes food when she can get it, even if there is an unexplained relative abundance here. ] Just some backwater junk planet. You?

[ For has oddly as he's dressed, it doesn't occur to Rey that he might be coming from a place that doesn't think of travel on quite the galactic scale. This place may be bizarre and primitive but it's got to be bizarre and primitive to everyone right? ]

[fika]

Planet? [ And she thought she was being elusive. Likely, she still was, but that gets a surprised look her way. ]

Does that mean you're not from Earth? [ Now this was interesting, if true.

Sure, this place seemed a little outdated, a small fishing town off of some coast in what he could only describe as new england, but it wasn't space travel primitive.

Of course, he doesn't immediately offer up an answer to her own question, though not entirely for the purpose of being vague. ]

[reydacted]

What do you mean Earth?

[ It'd almost make sense in a way if this is some planet cut off from the rest of the galaxy for whatever reason. It would explain just how different and primitive this town was, with no travel buzzing overhead and not a speeder to be found.

The question is then, how did it get that way and how did she end up here. ]

Is that where we are? What sector is it in?

[fika]

Sector? [ Her confusion is echoed right back with his own. So much so it has him setting his mug aside. ]

Okay. So, really different worlds. [ He concludes, mostly to himself, before taking a breath. ] Look, lady, I don't know how to answer that.

I'm from 2019. Or, most recently, from 1963 Dallas, Texas. That's my timeline. [ never mind that the longest planetary travel he was, ultimately, aware of, was when Luther got sent to the moon. God knows the big manchild hadn't stopped complaining about that one. ] No sectors. Just plain old countries and states.

So what the hell is able to pull people out of vastly different timelines?

[reydacted]

[ Rey's face should make it abundantly clear that she has no way to place those numbers or locations, putting aside the fact that they apparently go backwards. That's just got to be an odd convention that she's misunderstanding, right? ]

Are you the only one from there then? No one else came with you?

[fika]

No. [ he answers a bit too quickly and a bit too defensively for the rest of the composure he's been keeping.

he frowns, and crosses his arms. ] No - I was with them right before though.

- and you? [ it seemed like a very specific question to ask. ]

[reydacted]

[ A pause that is just a touch too long to not be suspicious. ]

No. It was just me.

[ ok rey ]

I've never heard of anything like this. Time travel, that's just... preposterous. Maybe if something ripped a hole in the wrong spot of hyperspace but I've never heard of anything like it.

[fika]

[ she's a terrible liar, and it doesn't take a trained time-travelling assassin to notice that.

it near as much confirms his question, and he snorts into his mug.

sure jan ] ...you're saying someone ripping a hole in the time space continuum is more likely than - what? Time travel?

Those two things aren't far off of each other.

[ never mind that traveling through outer space is a technical form of time travel if its relative to earth but - well, not really the point of the discussion. ]

[reydacted]

[ don't look at her like that five. ]

I'm saying both seem ridiculous.

Out of all the planets why this one? [ and then she narrow her eyes, examining five carefully. ] Why yours?

[fika]

[ what look.

he's picture-book innocence here...]

Gee, I don't know, I'm not the welcoming committee. [ he squints right back. because are you for real, rey. ]

[reydacted]

[ she lifts a brow before going back to her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. there's still utility in this conversation, but she knows she may not be welcome forever if she keeps throwing accusations out.

also she is trying to distract from the fact that she still has pilfered silverware in her bag. ]

I'm just remarking that you're the one who doesn't seem so shocked at time travel. Or counts the years down instead of up.

[fika]

It's because I'm not. [ he's the most helpful here.

she can keep the silverware. he almost cracks a smirk at the soft clink it gives as she tosses the bag over her shoulder. ] And that was because time travel still is a crapshoot no matter what you do.

[ listen, sure. he can't fault the suspicion. he's equally distrusting, but the main point remains in, perhaps, his low expectations of people.

does he expect one person to be competent - or incompetent - enough to cause an event as monumental as this? no, even if it's his downfall. not even the handler, and she was absolutely batshit enough to break space-time, if only to spite him.

but the fact still remains - he was just as lost as rey. his smile is polite and serrated. ] Look, lady, I don't know how we got here. I don't know why it's Earth, but from the others I met here, you - and the guy that looks like Batman's cousin - are the outliers here. Not me.

[ he raises his mug. ] Enjoy the forks.