villagelogs | 037-040 » the reason for time

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037-040 » the reason for time

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central Mathias
WHEN: Day 037-040
WHAT: The dead return and the living wake to changes within Mathias Township.
WARNINGS: Some explicit sexual content in threads. (PM this account to have a warning added!)
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Kammarheit "Sleep after Toyle, Port after Stormie Seas"

DAY 037
THE DEAD RETURN
“The only reason for time is so that everything
doesn't happen at once.” —Albert Einstein
The dead return to Mathias forever changed by their experiences. Waking along the beach, near the tree line, or among the graves, they will find that their bodies are not as they remember them. They are whole again and not torn to shreds by the shadow creatures that cannot be described, but they are also not as they were before the Hunt. These residents will find, so strangely, that their bodies are in the physical state in which they first arrived in Mathias — any injuries or recovery they have made since their initial arrival no longer exists, as if their time in Mathias has simply been a horrible nightmare. Except they all now carry a last reminder of the Hunt with them: spiderweb-thin healed scars marking their injuries from the Hunt. Those who were injured by fire in the other realm also carry those burns with them.

The dead are not the only things that have returned to Mathias. Inexplicably, fall is back, with the temperature finally reaching above freezing and snow falling from trees to reveal beautiful autumnal colors. As the sun rises higher in the lightly cloudy sky and the day warms, the snow begins rapidly melting, puddles growing in the slowly revealed grass and little rivers forming in the streets. And with that snow comes the frozen blood from the deaths to the Hunt, tinting the street river on Phillips Drive a sickening shade of red.

Another oddity that residents will notice: houses with broken windows from the encounter with the fog on Day 015 have now been completely repaired, though any boards put in place are still there somehow. A small bit of good news, at least? And truly, how kind of Mathias to clean up its own mess.

Finally, alcohol is back. Enjoy in moderation, friends, for more will not be arriving the following morning.

THE NEW ARRIVALS
The newest arrivals to Mathias will wake up on the beach near The Grey Gull. It's quite chilly out with their wet clothes, but surely there's something to help warm them inside the restaurant. Indeed, their timing is perfect, for alcohol has finally returned to Mathias Township — and not just the cowboys' homemade moonshine.

DAY 038-039
THE CHANGE OF SEASON
The continued warm weather proves that the unseasonable shift of the previous day was not merely a fluke. Once again, the sun rises and brings with it a temperature that feels almost spring-like, save for the fact that each day there seem to be more and more leaves on the trees in hues of red and orange. For those who have been in Mathias for some time, this new type of weird may be almost normal at this point, but newer arrivals will likely find it quite odd.

The gently trickling river running along Phillips Drive is still somewhat pink in color as the snow continues to melt and refreeze each night. By Day 040, the bloody snow will finally be gone completely, though the relief will be... short-lived.

DAY 040
THE BLINDING WHITE
In the late morning of Day 040, when the sun is visible through patchy greyish clouds, the fog sweeps into town like a like a tidal wave. It moves in quickly and without warning, not from the waterfront but the forest, cascading through every street in a thick wave of white. Rather than a soft blanket enveloping the town, it is a heavy weight pressing down, blotting out the sky in a way that almost feels suffocating, for none can see further than their outstretch hand.

Those outside when it rolls in are left wandering blind, stumbling toward shelter as you're unable to even see your feet beneath you, let alone any obstacles in your path. Perhaps you call out for help, hoping for another voice to guide you toward shelter or simply another living soul. Or perhaps you were lucky enough to already be inside when the fog descended, quickly closing doors and windows to keep it from creeping in.

Unlike the last time the fog swept into the town, residents who encounter it are not immediately killed. Instead, they are simply disoriented, possibly losing their sense of time and place, and it is only after prolonged exposure that they will begin to feel off. A sense of being ill will cling to them if they are in the fog for too long, including dizziness, lightheadedness, or nausea — the time it takes to manifest varies from person to person, as does the duration it will last after leaving the fog.

By nightfall, the fog still has not dissipated.

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE WEATHER conditions are fairly typical for late fall: chilly "sweater weather" days and nights that can dip just below freezing. You don't want to be outside without a coat, but it won't kill anyone if they bundle up. Probably.

— THE FOG remains blocking the paths in the forest beginning a few dozen yards past the treeline, urging residents to stay huddled within the town proper, and it also now blocks the western section of town, beginning just past Hill Lane, before where residents know the chasm in the earth to be between Hill and Stine Road. Venturing into the fog blocking these areas is ill-advised.

— DISAPPEARANCES continue. Castiel and Sam Winchester have vanished, and Dean Winchester has not returned with the others after his death during the Hunt.

— THE GRAVEYARD has now seen around a dozen burials, both below and above ground. With the weather warming, though, something may need to be done about the handful of temporary graves aboveground...

— ALCOHOL has returned to Mathias! A small stock of beer and cheap wine may be found at the General Store, and some homes may have a small store of alcohol in the fridge or pantry. The Grey Gull has also been restocked with its lower-end offerings of a variety of alcohol types. Alcohol does not replenish in the same way as food.

— THE GREY GULL has been cleaned up and stocked with moonshine. Along with the newly restocked usual offerings, the place almost seems like an actual bar again.

— THE GENERAL STORE is in a bit of a state following the brutal slaughter of two residents during the Hunt. Cleanup on aisle 3, anyone?

OOC NOTES

— FOOD is now being mysteriously restocked as per usual, including inside homes and at the General Store. Alcohol is not being restocked. Use those rationing skills, friends.

— REWARD REDEPEMPTION is back and will soon have a new option for anyone looking to spend big AP and learn a bit more of the lore of the town.

— MADNESSES due to the Hunt have been earned by Klaus Hargreeves, Ellie, and Malcolm Bright and may now be claimed. Players may also claim additional sanity loss from the aftermath of the Hunt; only losses from the Hunt itself have been deducted from totals thus far.

— SANITY REGAIN is now available! Players will submit a form with some details of the progress their character has made and the mod will review and decide on the numbers of points that will be regained.

— MOD STATUS The usual reminder that it's mostly just Amy steering this ship for now, so things will probably be pretty slow for a while. Apologies in advance, and please don't feel shy about pinging me if you're stuck waiting for something.

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He's reaching for a handhold when Bucky asks that question. It gets him to pause. "I... Because I need to."

As soon as he says it, it clicks that there's no logic to it. There's no reason. He just needs it, aimlessly and desperately. He stays hanging on to to the rock, one foot braced to start climbing, but he doesn't move. Not yet. "...How long have we been gone?"

Reason enough, Bucky thinks. He knows how he would answer if he was in Neal's shoes and has been when it comes to having control over someone's thoughts. For him, having that choice is still very new, but he has it.

He watches the other man -- who apparently has a schedule to keep.

"Over a day," he replies, his focus blinking upwards. He estimates the climb to be at least a thousand feet, maybe two and tricky in some places where the rock smooths making ledges too far in between to maneuver. "Hey, there's got to be someone here that wants to know you made it back."

Hopefully it's something that hasn't occurred to him yet.

Neal blanches and immediately starts shaking his head. "I can't. I-- What if the others didn't come back? What if it's just me? What if they did, what if-- I can't do it, I can't see them die again, and if--"

He's very quickly starting to have trouble breathing again as the names and faces rush in. What if he is the only one who came back? (Has he really? How can he be sure?) He slowly lets go of the rocks and crouches down on the sand, curling into himself. Raylan burning, Eliot burning, Negan getting ripped apart.

(Get it together, don't be so weak, stand up, stand up, stand up.)

He can't breathe. "Oh god, Daisy."

He's up again, taking several steps back toward the Gull. Both hands are shaking now. "Oh god, what if she didn't come back."

Bucky unconsciously moves a step forward, watching Neal with brows knit together in concern. Seeing him breathe heavier flicks something off in his brain; a memory that is so vague and hazy and voices were distorted but he could hear himself say Steve's name. Calmly. Considerately. Instinct told him to reach out but Neal moves away again too quickly.

When her name is spoken, it registers in a way that pointed to Neal feeling something for her, enough that she is the catalyst to get him moving as quickly as he does back towards the town of Mathias.

With him moving in the opposite direction, all he has left to do is make sure he makes it back to the place that Neal thinks she is. And if Daisy isn't there, he can at least stay with him until he finds her.

Because there is a need to see her with his own two eyes, too.

He walks, feeling like a robot, slipping occasionally on the sand and then on the mud as they get into town. He tries not to think about how red the ground is. Tries not to wonder what's his. Are there bits of him churned into the mud?

His focus is getting to Daisy's house. That's all he's thinking about.

After waking up in the melting snow and finding her own grave, Daisy's main thought has been finding Neal. There are others she's concerned for, of course, but so many of them can handle themselves when it comes to trauma while Neal can't. He's too good and too innocent; everything in this stupid town is breaking him and she can't let him face that on his own. Because if she came back like this, then maybe he did too.

Her progress is slower than she'd like, her wet clothes chilling her already cold body. But she pushes forward, ignoring how unsteady and weak she feels because that will only lead to a dark spiral of remembering the barn and how helpless she'd felt then too...

It's as she nears King Lane that she sees them, those two figures that are instantly recognizable. She starts running then, not even realizing she's doing it, the splash of muddy red water sounding so far away. It's more like a jog really, just enough momentum to keep her upright, but it gets her closer to the people she cares about.

Bucky follows a few feet behind Neal, there to help if his legs simply couldn't hold his weight or if he decided to veer off and go back towards the lighthouse. To him, it's nothing more than making sure the guy gets from point A to B without breaking something. But Neal and now Daisy had just returned from death, so anything was possible.

Seeing Daisy was a relief and seeing her pace quicken the way it did indicated what he already had guessed ten minutes earlier. That the two were together.

So, when they spot one another, he slows and stops just long enough to watch the reunion. He can't know what the two have been through over the past few days but he has seen the damage to whatever attacked the nine people who died.

Edited 2021-03-01 00:36 (UTC)

Neal runs to her. Wraps her up in his arms and hangs on. She's pale, bedraggled, looks like hell, but he can't imagine he's much better off.

"Thank god," he mumbles against her hair, repeating those two words over and over like they mean anything to him any more.

He draws back just enough to get a look at her face. She's so pale. "What happened? Did something else happen?"

Her heart is racing in her chest as she clings to Neal, telling herself it's because of adrenaline and not that she's pushed herself too hard. She certainly doesn't acknowledge that she's using her grip on Neal to keep herself standing. It's only when he asks those questions that she realizes he'll be able to tell something is off.

Crap.

"Nothing happened," she assures him with a shake of her head, holding up a bare arm for him to see skin that's no longer covered in varying shades of bruising. "This is how I first arrived here. I don't know why I'm like this now."

Glancing past him, her gaze catches on the other man still standing a ways back. "Bucky..."

He only stays still long enough to witness the embrace before deciding each was safe and together before taking a step back and turning. Bucky can't say he relates and maybe that's what made him feel oddly out of place. So, he starts back towards the direction of the boarding house.

No, he didn't expect to hear his name.

Before even taking another step, he angles himself, turning his head to look to his left at where the pair were, silently raising a brow in silent question to Daisy calling him.

Neal draws back enough that he can turn, looking between Bucky and Daisy. Somehow it's not a huge surprise that they know each other.

It registered that Bucky was walking away, and Neal frowned. "Where are you going?"

Edited 2021-03-01 01:58 (UTC)

She's glad that Bucky stops and turns, even if it's not as much as she'd hoped for. Sizing up the distance between them, she carefully extricates herself from Neal's arms, planting her feet solidly to balance her weight.

"He's not going anywhere yet," she says, answering Neal's question herself. She starts walking then, her steps slightly wavering, but she's not going to stop until Bucky's close enough that she can slip her arms around his middle in a hug.

It's hard for Bucky not to look a little guilty when she said his name. He's not used to people calling it out, period, making the reaction somewhat of a default. He's been a ghost for far too long; his face and reputation one to be feared. But here was Daisy, moving towards him with intent and he wasn't sure which way it would go while the fight or flight instinct rushes to the surface, as it typically does now. Blue eyes dart to Neal worriedly.

Until he realizes this wasn't what his mind wanted to believe it was.

Hands move out to either side of his body awkwardly and as he looks down at the top of her head Bucky tries to understand the gesture. The moment that it hit him was the moment his flesh hand came to press on her back.

Other than Steve, he can't remember the last time someone hugged him like this.

Something about the way Bucky reacts, from the moment he turns until the moment he hugs Daisy back, breaks Neal's heart. He really has to wonder what kind of long story makes an embrace seem that foreign.

Neal trails after Daisy, feeling tired down to his bones.

He injects a little levity into his voice, forces a bit of fake cheer. "Daisy, this is Bucky. He likes pancakes. Bucky, this is Daisy. Don't worry, she's like this with everybody."

Figuring it's a safe bet that Bucky can count the number of hugs he's gotten in the last 70 years on one hand, she does her best to make it a good one. Firm grip, her body against his, cheek pressed to his chest. It's only when she feels his hand on her back that she considers easing up, giving him one gentle squeeze before letting go and gingerly stepping back.

Neal's introductions catch her attention, pulling her gaze back to the man who's stolen her heart, and by the end of them, she's actually smiling a little.

"Not everybody," she counters weakly, glancing toward Bucky with affection before focusing on her thief again. "We met a few days ago. Bucky's from my world."

Then, to Bucky: "So you like pancakes, huh? Me too."

Bucky glances at Neal, going along with it but also knowing that Daisy would straighten things out. He can still feel his heartbeat pounding inside his chest in anticipation of a fight that never came and to himself, he made a little mental note to work on that.

Habits.

Giving a nod, he gestures over to Neal with an appreciative nod. "He makes some good ones. Can't say I ever had chocolate in my pancakes but I think I could get used to it."

Edited 2021-03-01 04:27 (UTC)

Neal almost makes a quip about rationing, but then he remembers the way things were before they'd been attacked. The food situation. Suddenly it doesn't seem that funny.

"Did anything happen to all of you? While we were... gone."

He'd never had chocolate pancakes. Another piece of the puzzle that is Bucky Barnes. She'd forgotten what wartime meant for the people still at home — from what she remembers, Bucky hadn't shipped out right away, so he'd gotten to deal with things like rationing. Add in that he and Steve grew up during the Depression and...

They really do have a lot of lost time to make up for.

"Are you okay?" she adds gently to the other very important questions Neal's asked.

Neal's question is given pause. A normal person wouldn't have dealt well with what they saw the morning after nine people were killed in such a grisly manner that even those who had experienced horror like that were affected. A normal person would have flashbacks and nightmares and ceaseless nausea because the sight is permanently etched into their brains, replaying over and over. That sort of stuff changes a normal person dramatically, but for Bucky, there isn't any more room in his mind for trauma.

He isn't a normal person.

Daisy's question pulls his attention to her and he stares at her for a longer moment than it felt like for him before he chillingly answers. "I'm fine."

Glancing back to Neal, he shakes his head. "Not really. There was an earthquake though. Strong, but not enough to create too much damage."

Neal feels a prickle of something uneasy move through him, leaving goosebumps along the back of his neck. It's something about Bucky's frankness, the simple declaration that there's nothing wrong. He means it, too. Neal can tell.

"Another earthquake..."

He looks off toward the lighthouse, remembering the way the library tunnel opened up after the first quake. What if the second one blocked the cave? Without meaning to, without thinking about it, he's walking away from the two of them, back toward the beach.

The way Bucky says those words... A few of the puzzle pieces connect together. That coldness and distance — of course, he's fine. How could any of this compare to what he's been through? And if he's barely begun to process all that trauma, which Daisy would bet good money is the case, then why would any of this affect him in any meaningful way?

Mention of another earthquake leaves Daisy in a sea of relief that is so distracting she doesn't at first when Neal begins to wander off. When she does notice, it's with a doubletake, followed by a concerned, "Neal?"

He straggles to a halt, eyes still on the distant lighthouse. "Yeah?"

Neal blinks, registering how distracted he sounds. His attention is still on thoughts of the cave, that little slit in the rock, the darkness and the cold inside. The shadow he would have sworn he saw moving toward it from the lighthouse proper. Heartbeat picking up, breathing getting quicker--

Neal closes his eyes and shakes his head, forcing himself to turn around.

It's little moments like this that remind Daisy just how normal Neal is. He sounds so distracted, so far away with his mind on something else, and he seems to struggle with something before he finally turns around again. Bucky wasn't affected at all and Neal is too affected — she's falling somewhere in the middle and trying to pretend she's really just fine.

Moving closer with slow steps, she reaches out to gently touch the arm of that green suit he'd looked so good in on their picnic date. That seems like a lifetime ago now...

"Neal, you should go home," she advises him, watching his expression carefully. "It'll be good for you to see your friends." To see that they're alive and safe.

Home. Right. Malcolm. Doc. That was where Raylan and Negan would go first, too, he assumes. "Yeah."

He brushes his fingertips against her cheek, worry blossoming to replace the anxious need of a moment ago. "Wait, no. Not yet. You need to rest, we need to get you--I'll stay with you."

He shakes his head again, like that will somehow knock things back into place. "Where are you going?"

She reaches up to catch his hand with hers, pressing a kiss to his fingers without looking away from his face. There's something there that worries her... even scares her a little.

"I'm going home to rest. Bucky will walk with me, right?" Glancing over her shoulder, she doesn't wait for confirmation before focusing in on Neal again. "You need to make sure your friends are okay. They'll be worried about you."

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