037-040 » the reason for time

[villagemod]

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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Comments

[bestfuneralever]

He laughs a little and shakes his head. "No, not- uh... shit, it shouldn't be complicated to tell you what year it was back home, but, um..." he squints a little and tilts his head to look over at Alec again. "my life's weird... time travel is a thing back home. Not for everyone, but-- it happens." He nods a bit, lines pressed in a line. He knows it sounds crazy, sometimes he's not sure his life was real, and hey, given all the drugs he's done, maybe it wasn't (it was, unfortunately).

"But okay, so...right before I showed up here," he points toward the floor, hands bouncing a bit before settling again. "it was 1963. But before that," he swings his hands to the left, index finger out on each hand. "and my proper time is 2019. But, like," and more vague circular hand waving motions are happening. He doesn't stop doing this, sorry, man. "I dunno. VCRs and record players and payphones were still in common use, you know?"

By Hardison's standards, though? Yeah. The tech in Klaus' home world, and proper timeline, was stuck largely in the 90s.

[ofthegeek]

Hardison tries to track all the gesturing like it makes any kind of sense on its own merit. It does not. It's a whole mess.

He bets Parker would get the full picture. Angles are her whole thing. Plus she believes in time travel already without needing a spooky hell town to lay out the impossible-things groundwork.

A world that can do time travel and hangs technically 7 years in the future from home, but still mostly does VCRs? Whew, and miss him with that traveling into the 60s bit. Doctor Who is all fine and good, but he's got survival instincts.

Perhaps the greatest shame is that he can't even properly show Klaus the cool tech stuff that he's missing. Some of which would definitely be illegal to know and/or make use of.

But time travel would also be super illegal on principle if it were happening, he feels like (and oh, he would know if it were something that was happening back home). Klaus would probably be cool about crimes. He seems like a cool with crimes dude.

"Vintage. Some people stick to stuff longer when it gets the job done instead of getting all space race about it, that's. That's cool." Can't relate. Sounds awful. On the other hand, hate to be rude to Klaus about things beyond his control.

Hardison pulls a face as he gets to his feet. There are mental gears turning, the precise natures of which he is not yet tracking. Absorbing new knowledge only to circle back around to it later on without warning, probably.

"Sooo maybe the Star Trek movie where they go back to the 80s to save the whales would be too on the nose? I can leave that one."

He's just gonna make Eliot watch it eventually, anyway.

[bestfuneralever]

He sticks around Klaus for any significant amount of time, he'll learn not to put too much stock in what he's doing with his hands. He just doesn't know how to be still, dude.

He snorts at that response. "It's killing you, isn't it?" Klaus has never cared much either way about technology, mostly because it wasn't like he had the money to upkeep anything. When he got kicked out of the Academy, his access to his 'allowance' was cut off and he was left to fend for himself at barely 18 years old.

Both brows arch up toward his hair as he watches the other man drag up to his feet. He's amused by this guy, he digs his energy. "Yeah, probably a little. I'm thinking comedy." Of any kind, honestly, he just wants something funny.

[ofthegeek]

"Oh, yeah. Yes. Actively. I'm basically a six-foot box of raisins 'cause my organs all shriveled up thinking about it."

That's a world judgement, not a personal judgement. Vitally different.

He does finger guns anyway.

"Don't go anywhere. Movie time is under strict no-takebacks laws."

There he goes... to bring back 'Spaceballs' and look extremely pleased with himself. There's no more natural Alec Hardison state than this.

[bestfuneralever]

He snickers and shakes his head. Man, he’s known him maybe ten minutes but he likes this guy. “I swear you’re not gonna die, we won’t let that happen.” In as much as anyone can prevent that in this place. But he’s trying not to think about that at the moment.

He lifts both hands in a pacifying gesture, “I promise, I’m not going anywhere.” But he grins the whole time. A goofy movie chill time is really just the kind of thing he needs right now.

[ofthegeek]

There are times in life when a goofy, nerdy movie can be just what the doctor ordered. As in, for more people than just him. Hardison finds a degree of comfort in that. And also an appreciation for Klaus thinking the raisins thing was funny. Priorities.

Considering his first two days here went above and beyond in their emotional gauntlet throwdowns, something low-stakes and familiar feels like it'll go a long way towards some non-heavy-thinking breathing room. And Hardison cherishes the value of that enough to look legitimately excited when he pops back in.

He holds up the generic movie rental place VHS case like a magical 90s talisman, as though it wasn't already super obvious that he was holding it.

"I got 'Spaceballs'." Look... actually, there's nothing to come after look. He's a big nerd, end of statement. "If you have a problem with Mel Brooks, better speak now or forever hold your peace."

[bestfuneralever]

"Oh, man... I think the first time I saw it, I was on acid..." He snorts, shaking his head. "I really don't remember much, so it'll be like seeing it for the first time all over again." Funny, he remembers it was funny, but that's a pretty generic memory that could have been attached to anything.

[ofthegeek]

Hm. Hardison takes a few beats.

Namely to wonder if that's crime-adjacent enough for him to pat himself on the back for being right about Klaus being cool with crime. Probably. Man, he's good. Absolutely clocked it, hopes Klaus is okay, can't judge him morally for a host of reasons but maybe especially because he's known him ten minutes and doesn't know his life.

If he judges anyone as a hobby, it's still Nate on principle.

"I've seen it sober enough times to have it memorized, so between you and me we can kinda Voltron into a regular target audience member. I think you're gonna like it."

Sorry fireplace, cooler and funnier things to watch now. Have a nice night.