villagelogs | 037-040 » the reason for time

Entry tags:

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.

navigation | faq | locations | report updates

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Neal glances between the two of them, leaving off with the batter for a moment to claim his own coffee. "Wait, I think I missed something. Five decades? Is this part of that complicated history that definitely doesn't involve being a time traveler?"

Without thinking about it, he slides an arm around Daisy's waist on his way back to his ingredients, kissing her in passing. It's simple, casual, something he did a hundred times with Sara, and somehow with Daisy it feels just as right.

From his station at the counter he adds quietly, "You don't have to talk about it." Neal shoots Bucky a small smile, at once hesitant and trying to be reassuring. "I can make up wild conspiracy theories of my own to fill the gaps."

The smile he had up until that point abruptly disappears, his eyes drop down into the coffee he's holding when he realizes that his honesty has managed to back him into a corner. Bucky knows he has a choice here; to talk about it or not. He wants to.

Bucky's eyes dart to Daisy, for reasons, he wasn't sure. Was it for reassurance? Support? Maybe for her to tell Neal so that he didn't have to. Or maybe he didn't have to tell him everything. Trust was such a hard thing for him to have. With anyone.

It's a long moment, but Bucky finally looks back to Neal. Yes, this was going to be hard for him, regardless of how lighthearted the situation was.

"I'm 106 years old," he starts, speaking softly and hesitantly. Seeing the smile on the other man's face, he wants to believe that means what he thinks it means. No pressure. His choice.

And he's choosing to tell Neal now. Or at least some of it.

"I was serving in World War II when I was captured by an enemy organization who experimented on."

The unexpected kiss is enough to momentarily distract Daisy from the question Neal had dropped. It feels normal, natural, and so many other things she hasn't had in... possibly ever. And Neal doesn't seem to even think twice about it.

But then he's being so Neal about that question, making sure there's room for Bucky to avoid answering, and she falls even more in love with him for it.

She watches Bucky as she can almost see the thoughts churning in his mind. If she were in his situation, she'd be panicking right about now, struggling to figure out what to do next, so she gives him a small smile that she hopes offers a bit of comfort. It's his choice and she'll support whatever that choice is.

It would be a lie to say she isn't proud of what he chooses.

"He didn't just serve in the war," she informs Neal, moving around to the side of the island so she can reach over and set a hand on Bucky's forearm. "He was a hero."

She'll leave her hand there if he lets her, otherwise she'll pull back and give him his space. But after just a moment, she turns to Neal and explains, "It was HYDRA. They're the ones who..."

Quietly, to Bucky she says, "I told him a little about what happened to me before I woke up here."

Neal slowly sets his work down, turning so he's facing them properly. It's impossible to miss the resemblance between them in the moment, and Daisy's aside to Bucky--a little about what happened to me--makes him feel unexpectedly like an intruder. It's the first realization that Daisy has a whole life of trauma he has no knowledge of, no way to understand. How much worse must it be for someone who's lived as long as Bucky?

How brutal must their world be?

For a second, just a second, he feels completely inadequate, another clueless civilian trying to understand soldiers. For an even more brief, guilty moment, he's jealous that Bucky knows more about what Daisy's been through than he does. That passes in an instant and leaves him aching with shame.

Neal searches for a moment more, looking for something to say. A smile just barely tips one side of his mouth. It's not a happy expression. "Seems like they have a thing for heroes."

That was just it. Bucky didn't want Neal to have to consider any kind of wild conspiracy theories he might have knowing him. It is unfair and dishonest and that's not the person he wants to be. And when Daisy says the words, feelings of denial and guilt come rushing back as they always do. She told him the first day they met that he was a war hero, but he simply couldn't convince himself that he was. It felt like a lie. Especially with how many lives he's destroyed since then.

Still, the question that keeps coming back around is if he isn't the Winter Soldier or James Buchanan Barnes anymore, who is he?

His eyes drop, partly in embarrassment and to hide from whatever judgement Neal might have without knowing for sure if he even will. He feels exposed and his breathing picks up while he weighs that fight or flight instinct for what seems like the fifteenth time in the last minute since things went from good to extremely tense and heavy.

Yet, he remains still as Daisy's hand sets down lightly on his arm, providing that reminder that he is in a safe place. That's when he tentatively looks back up at Neal suddenly he feels that he's ruined what should have been a lovely breakfast. Why didn't he just keep his mouth shut?

"I should go," Bucky says quietly and apologetically.

With anyone else, Daisy would have immediately followed that up with something like don't you dare, but with Bucky... Taking the extra few moments to consider her words is becoming second-nature, making sure she isn't say something that would be perceived as an order on an instinctual level.

"Please don't," she says instead, giving his arm a squeeze of gentle pressure. There's a bit of humor in her voice with the next words, affection in her gaze as she glances over at the other man in the room. "Neal's probably going to start being a cheesy dork soon and I could really use a friend to suffer with me."

(Are they friends? Somehow that word feels too small and limited to describe the place Bucky has started to fill in her life.)

Neal takes his cue from Daisy, giving her an exasperated look and plucking an apple slice off the counter to throw at her. "I am not cheesy."

He can't argue that he's a dork. Compared to the two of them, he's the dorkiest man alive. When he smiles at Bucky this time, it's practiced and easy and warm. Not entirely honest, in light of everything, but he's too good at pretending for that to be an issue.

"Besides, I've got way too much pancake batter for two people."

It's what he needs to hear; to feel like he can belong. It's very brief, but he hears the echo of a young girl, his sister, Rebecca, whose face he can't see. She's laughing, calling him a 'fat head' before the audible memory is completely gone.

After seeing Neal's smile, he looks at Daisy, making that direct eye contact momentarily before it slips away and he nods subtly.

Maybe one day soon he'll accept the idea that these two people care or, at least, have a sense of compassion that he can gain something from. Perhaps open up a little more and learn that it will help him feel less alone.

That, yes, he can have friends.

He picks up his coffee mug and flashes an awkward smile, hoping that doesn't happen again during the visit.

That flying apple slice and easy smile seem to do the trick, and she's so grateful to Neal for going along with the shift in tone. This dance between the three of them is like waltzing over emotional landmines — all three of them have small things that could trigger an explosion and they have to mindful of that when they're together. But, thankfully, they all still want to try.

With a last little pat to Bucky's arm, Daisy steps away, retrieving her coffee mug before taking a seat a few chairs over from Bucky. It gives him some breathing room and also makes it easier to look between both men as she turns slightly in her seat.

"I meant what I said," she informs them with an easy smile. "We should have a movie night. After a long day of failing to figure out this place's secrets, it would be a good way to relax."

And rest. Because she's back to needing to do that now. The dark circles under her eyes might be beginning to fade, but she's still moving slower than usual, if only by a tiny bit.

"We absolutely should. I still need to show you To Catch a Thief. Which I found a copy of, by the way. I'll bring it back over today."

No, he had absolutely not forgotten her ignorance of Golden Age Hollywood cinema. Neal busies himself with the last bits of prep before checking the pan and doling out the first bit of pancake batter. "I could probably make caramel corn. Haven't tried in a while, but it's doable with what we've got in town."

Without knowing for sure what the future held, Bucky is hoping that there'll be fewer bad moments during get together's and more lighthearted times. If he's being honest, he's tired of constantly looking vulnerable in front of people and wishing that folding himself back into the general population - be it in a pocket universe like this one or his and Daisy's world - would be easier than it has been.

"I haven't been to one since '43 and that was mostly to get caught up with what was going on overseas."

A pause.

"I didn't know there was a cinema here."

Just thinking about how different going to the movies must have been back in the 1940s is enough to make her head spin. She'd seen life in the 30s and 50s and could guess and what it had been like in-between. Add in the war and how everything had revolved around what was happening overseas...

What would Bucky think of the fancy theaters they had in their world now? Those ones with reclining seats and giant screens where you could even order alcohol to go with your overpriced ticket. She hopes he gets to experience that one day.

"There is, actually. It's tiny, just one screen, but it's got the old machines with actual film strips that I have no idea how to use. That," she points over to the TV on the little cabinet stand in the living room, "is a lot easier to figure out, and there's a rental place full of options here."

It's hard not to react when Bucky says he hasn't been to a movie theater since 1943. He manages, though. "Are you more of a For Whom the Bell Tolls or The More the Merrier kind of guy?"

He can't help looking Bucky's way to see what kind of reaction he has to the television, since Neal's suddenly unsure, somehow, if Bucky's had much exposure to that kind of thing. Weird, given his longevity, but... Neal knows there's more going on here than he's privy to just yet.

The idea of there being a way to watch movies at home didn't really occur to him. Sure, he had learned about the little mini film screens that one could sit on a stand or hang on a wall as one would do with a picture. Still, when Daisy points out the advancement in technology, he can't help but look and then glance back to her with a further questioning look, as if to ask "how?".

"Read both books," he answers, slowly pulling his gaze from Daisy to Neal. "Not bad. I was more of a fantasy guy than reading about love and war, though."

His eyes drop slightly, brow pinching and he looks deep in thought for a short moment before looking up again.

"I did see Casablanca when it came out in '42. That was before I got shipped off for specialty training."

The look Bucky gives her is one that immediately makes her want to hug him. The man may have lived through a century but he's missed so many pieces of normal everyday life along the way. Things that were outdated in present day in their world would still be completely new to him, and that just makes her more determined to help him catch up and feel more at ease with the year he's finally settled in.

"I haven't really seen anything from back then," she comments before taking a sip of coffee. (She has a feeling Neal is going to immediately want to fix that problem.) Then, a second later, she frowns. "Well... The Wizard of Oz is really old, right? I saw that once at one of the foster homes."

Just because she knows the references doesn't mean she's seen all the old stuff.

More directly addressing Bucky, she gestures at the TV again and tells him, "I'll show you how it works after breakfast."

He grins outright when Bucky says he's a fantasy fan, glad to have something to smile about after seeing the look Bucky gives Daisy. It's unexpected, the same way his love of pancakes is unexpected. Neal enjoys being surprised.

"We'll fix that problem," Neal says to Daisy. "The Wizard of Oz is from '39, yeah."

The smell of grilling apples starts to fill the kitchen. "Fantasy movies... A few in '44. There were a lot in '46, but you missed The Ghost and Mrs. Muir by about four years. It's a good one. That's based on a book too."

Bucky looks at the two evenly, nodding along at Daisy. He watches her smile and notices how happy she looks for the first time. Sure, she's smiled, but right then.. well, he hopes that he'll see this more often.

Talk about something he's familiar with pulls him back and when she offers to show him he nods almost dumbly like he wasn't sure why he was agreeing to something.

"Wizard of Oz?" Simply saying the title brings back a memory and he smiles fondly, keeping it for himself. That day was a special one and shared with his sister and Steve. He can still hear her laughing. He flashes a smile. "Yeah, I've seen it. But not the other one."

Feeling a little embarrassed for drifting off the way he did he sets his cup down and moves over to the stand that Daisy pointed out.

This smile of Bucky's looks a bit different than the others. Good different, like whatever is making him smile was a happy thing he hasn't thought about in a while. Like the other smiles she's seen him wear, it looks damn good on him, but she'd like to see more of this one in particular. He deserves to have nice memories to help balance out all the bad.

"There are some tapes in the cabinet," she calls over to Bucky as he moves to the TV stand. "A few classics, but we'll probably have to hit the store to find most of the essentials. Especially anything really old."

Is that a teasingly pointed comment in Neal's direction? It sure is, said with an affectionate smirk that lights up her face.

"Especially anything truly classic," he counters easily, poking at the pancakes with a grin on his face.

God this is nice. It's so stupidly normal. So refreshingly banal. After everything else...

He pushes those thoughts aside, free hand unconsciously going to his abdomen to brush across the scars that bisect his abdomen. No. Not that. Not now.

Yes, it was something normal and easy. The teasing especially which he's not so sensitive to take seriously. He owes that to Steve in the moments they could get before he left. Maybe to Sam, too. The banter between the two is... comfortable.

He smiles as he lowers down to open the little cabinet door, seeing the stack of six rectangular, inch or so thick black boxes with the title of each movie facing outwards.

"Either of you seen To Catch a Thief?" he asks, pulling it out to look at it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

037-040 » the reason for time

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject