villagelogs | 059-061 » the place where you stop the story

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059-061 » the place where you stop the story

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern/Central/Southern Mathias
WHEN: Day 059-061
WHAT: Time returns to "normal" and Mathias grants a reprieve.
WARNINGS: (PM this account to have a warning added!)
NOTES: Plotting post over here! The next log will be posted the weekend of ~~May 15th~~ May 22nd.

RECOMMENDED ♫ Nathan Johnson "Foul Play"

DAY 059-061
A BRIEF REPRIEVE
“There is no real ending. It’s just
the place where you stop the story.”
— Frank Herbert
Residents awake to a peaceful morning with the sun shining and earth remaining still. There is no unsettling shaking to rouse them at dawn, and time has continued moving onward as they slept. Whatever state they were in the night before, they remain that way now, for good or for bad.

On the surface, there seems to be little lasting effect on the tiny town from that strange series of days, save for the memories of any traumatic experiences residents may have faced — but there are always consequences within Mathias. The perpetrators of acts against the town are tormented by nightmares of those acts being used against them, and those who did not raise a hand to stop those acts of destruction may yet face consequences of their own. For now, however, the unwilling townspeople should do their best to rest and recover from the disturbing ordeals of late, for this reprieve from the madness shall surely be shortlived.

THE NEW ARRIVALS
The newest arrivals to Mathias will wake up on the beach near The Grey Gull. It's a bit chilly out with their wet clothes, but surely there's something to help warm them inside the restaurant. They may even find some alcohol within — and not just the cowboys' homemade moonshine.

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE HISTORY MUSEUM has not fared well with the return of "normal" time. The once esteemed wooden building is now a charred ruin, the recent fire leaving behind little of the contents within for study. The structure is unstable and it is not wise to venture into the ruins for long.

— THE WEATHER conditions remain fairly typical for early fall: warm days and cool nights. It feels almost like spring arriving except that there fewer red and orange leaves on the ground and more of them oddly returning to the trees and slowly fading to green. It's like watching one of those nature documentaries that have a timelapse of the seasons, only it's going in reverse.

— THE FOG has retreated from some areas!
— Residents may now wander the southern stretch of the forest surrounding Mathias Township — it is possible to leave the paths but potentially unwise to do so.
— The fog has also retreated farther into the western section of town, now stretching across town between Stine Road and Shelley Drive. This has revealed the Chasm in the earth that stretches from one side of town to the other between Stine and Hill Lane.
— Access to the northern section of the forest is still blocked beginning a few dozen yards past the treeline; this section of fog will urge residents to stay huddled within the town proper by inducing a physical reaction of panic and fear.

— DEATHS & DISAPPEARANCES continue! Max Guevara has vanished into the fog. Claire Novak's body can be spotted on Day 059 facedown at the bottom of the Chasm between Hill and Stine, near Phillips Drive; by the morning of Day 060, her body will be gone. (Attempts may be made to reach her body but will likely not end well for those involved. Such attempts should be reported under Exploration.)

— ALCOHOL is still in Mathias! Just barely. (Supply is running very low after recent town events.) 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 was also restocked with its lower-end offerings of a variety of alcohol types. (Alcohol does not replenish as food does.)

OOC NOTES

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— FUTURE PLANNING If you haven't, please answer the questions here for future log planning. I will almost definitely need some of these answers for the log going up the weekend of May 15, so act quickly! Late submissions will not be considered for that log.

— UPDATES Don't forget to report updates as they come up! Changes to locations (like toppling a few bookshelves in the library), big plots you have coming up that will affect the game (parties, major property destruction, etc), or exciting discoveries that may tie into the game's mythology (even the things provided by the mod) are very helpful to have in one place so relevant page updates can be made.

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

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[ Plotting ]

[ Narrative ]

He remembers well the last time he fell like this, the slow-motion effect turning each second into ten and amplifying the pain of every hit that his limbs take on the jutting rocks that had helped him get up the cliff, to begin with. But it isn’t until he hears the sickening crunch of his spin snapping across the sharpened edge of a giant formation that his body instantly goes into survival mode and pulls him into a state of unconsciousness.

Over the next several hours, he wakes periodically but quickly becomes overwhelmed by the intense white-hot pain radiating throughout his back and legs before going under again. The next time he wakes, Bucky semi-coherently remembers the day would eventually reset and it's a small relief knowing that the pain would soon be over. So, he bides his time, working through the shock and pain before it all becomes too much again.

But the day does not reset and there is no earthquake to mark that it has.

When Bucky wakes again, the sun is shining and he can hear voices, warped and distorted. He can’t hear who it is or what exactly they are saying and without being able to move or holler loud enough to even be heard, there’s nothing that gives away his location.

However, to a keen eye, several yards off the large formation of rocks where he’s laying, one will be able to notice a familiar, albeit damaged black and gold cybernetic arm. And as the voices get closer, Bucky musters up every bit of strength he has and lifts his right arm up, hoping it will be enough to draw the attention of whoever is nearby.

Waking up without an earthquake alarm clock had been an immense relief — which had quickly been dashed when Daisy realized that meant Bucky wasn't there. He'd gone to the boarding house the day before and hadn't been there when she'd gone to sleep, but she's become so attuned to his presence that she sometimes doesn't wake up if he moves around; it's a big departure from her usual light sleeper state that has her waking at even the quietest sounds. Which means that he hadn't come back last night.

She tries to remain calm, rationalizing that Bucky's probably fine, but when her call go his room at the boarding house goes unanswered, she starts to panic. After what happened with Neal just a few days before, she just can't shake the worry that something might have happened to him. And if the day didn't reset... Maybe he'll find her ridiculous for going out to look for him. Maybe he'll find it endearing. Either way, she has to know he's okay.

Having Neal at her side makes it easier, especially when all the usual locations turn up empty.

Once they'd moved him to the house in Stoker Park, Bucky spent until later in the evening in and out of consciousness. When he was awake, he was doing his best to get through the pain, focusing on the two people because they had such an amazing grounding effect on him that the pain seems almost tolerable. Until he shifts the wrong way and suddenly hot pain surges from back to front and spreads into his limbs.

He can only guess that the healing that came with HYDRA's super-soldier serum was doing what it was meant to do. But far more slowly than it would had he been in his and Daisy's world. Mathias, however, was taking some sick satisfaction in watching him suffer. As it did with plenty of others.

Bucky slowly opens his eyes and fixes them on the fan above, blinking a few times until he remembers where he is.

Finding Bucky on the beach had been a nightmare come to life. Neal had put her through the emotional wringer plenty of times by now but she'd never seen it happening, only the aftermath. It's so much worse when she can see the pain he's in and she can't do a damn thing to help him. She hasn't felt this helpless since—

When Neal mentioned the thing Malcolm was putting together, she'd urged him to go. They didn't both need to sit here worrying when there's nothing they can do. Better for him to have a little break and come back steadier for it. Bucky needs them both to not fall apart right now.

For a while, she'd tried reading a book. When that had failed, she'd put on a movie, some ridiculous spy feature from the 1970s that she kept at a low volume. After 20 minutes, she couldn't tell you what the plot of the thing was, because she kept looking away to check on Bucky. That's how she sees that he's awake seconds after he'd opened his eyes. She leans in closer, having already been settled beside him, and makes sure she's in his field of vision before she reaches up to gently brush her fingers through his hair.

"Hey, you." There's no disguising the worry in her expression, but at least her affection for him is there too.

His eyes, looking even more vivid with the contrast of the redness and bruising on his face, move to her. He blinks again, this time to bring her into focus and when he can finally see her clearly he slides his hand towards her leg.

"Hi," he says, his voice raw and raspy from not being used. After licking his lips and swallowing a few times, his eyes well up. She only said two words and yet, he could tell how worried she was and it was too much. When he speaks again, it's barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry."

There were going to be questions and he had things he needs to tell her. Yes, he is the way he is because he made a dumb choice, but under any other circumstances, he should have been able to take care of himself. As he's been doing for years.

She wraps her hand around his, holding it carefully while her other ghosts the back of her fingers across his cheek, not wanting to put pressure anywhere that would hurt. He looks so broken just laying there like that...

Pushing back her own tears, she shakes her head, long lightened hair falling around her shoulders. "Shh," she tells him, her voice wavering ever so slightly. "You can do the whole apologizing and making it up to me thing later. Right now, you need to rest. Would you like some water?"

He'd do more than just make it up to her. Daisy needs someone who will be there because testing any kind of limit, especially there in Mathias, was a foolish thing to do. She needs to be able to not worry unnecessarily; to not be another reason to stress over the what-ifs and maybe's. And if that meant letting this place uncover whatever truths it had to without getting too involved then he would. For her.

Turning his hand slightly, his thumb moves along the side of her hand, a tender response to her words. "Yeah, I do," he nods mentally preparing for the challenge of something so simple. As she does that, Bucky listens and peers around slowly to see if he can hear or catch sight that would tell him if Neal was close by.

"Where's Neal?"

Daisy loves Neal. She does, more than she thought she'd ever be able to love someone. But with how reckless he's been, with or without some strange compulsion behind the urges... Bucky's right, she needs someone to be steady for her. A rock she can count on to stay firm while the rest of the world falls apart around her. Having Bucky play that role in her life will only speed up the process of her falling in love with him too.

She gets up to get a glass of water for Bucky, placing a straw in the glass to make it easier for him to drink since he can't sit up on his own. A special trip to the General Store had been her few minutes away from the house, one brief productive task that she'd desperately needed. Settling back down beside him, she holds the glass close, moving the straw to his lips so he barely has to move to drink.

"He went out for a little while, but he'll be back soon," she explains with a soft smile. "Malcolm was having some sort of group thing and we both thought he should go and support his friend. I told him I'd stay with our Sleeping Beauty."

Bucky would have told Neal to do the same thing. They took care of each other, sure, but things have been rough for the other man and the last thing he needs right now is to have him be another reminder of what the township can do to people. Daisy doesn't need it either, but he's grateful she's here with him none the less.

He pauses before taking a drink to huff out a breathless laugh. "If that's the one I think it is, I think I got robbed out of my kiss." he looks at her with a small smile before taking a few swallows.

"Anyway, he's prettier than me." Bucky lets out a laugh that instantly turns into a grunt when the slight movement sends a flash of pain through him.

Bucky isn't going to be alone for any of this, she's set on that. Whether it's herself, Neal, or someone else visiting the man, he's not going to spend one minute of this alone unless he asks for it specifically. He's been through enough without that anxiety added in.

Daisy quickly sets aside the glass before moving her hand back to his hair, combing through it gently in the hopes of offering some comfort while he weathers that bout of pain. After a few moments, she offers him another soft smile, though there's no hiding how concerned and worried she is about him.

"I wouldn't say that," she informs him, trying to bring a bit of levity back to the conversation. "I'm a very lucky woman to have two gorgeous men around me all the time. And as for that kiss... I think we can do something about that."

She reaches up to tuck her hair behind one ear before leaning over him and carefully pressing her lips to his. It's not the kind of kiss she wants to give him, a far cry short of the physical reassurance she craves, but it'll do for now.

He's never really understood how healing someone's touch can be until he realizes how alive Daisy's makes him feel. It brings him a sense of calm that he can only feel and not put any kind of word to. But then no one really could if they've never experienced a certain situation or been able to understand how it makes them feel.

Watching as she nears, he closes his eyes and takes in the soft warmth of her lips on his and then slowly opens then again when she draws back. For a moment, Bucky finds himself just looking at her while feelings of guilt try to move back into the way. He pauses, brow pinching slightly as he makes the decision to bring it up anyway. The last thing he wants her to believe was that this was an accident because of his own stupidity.

Finally, after a long moment, he tells her. "It wasn't an accident, Daisy. I was pushed."

Daisy has always been someone who finds comfort in touch. She'd been deprived of it as a child, never having a loving parent or lasting friends to give her hugs or a hand to hold. Her team has filled that void over the years, each of them welcoming her unspoken need for closeness, but now with Bucky and Neal... It's different in the best way.

When he says those words, she finds herself desperately wishing that she could cling to him with every ounce of strength in her. Instead, she just goes very still, turning over his word choice and all the implications therein. It wasn't an accident of carelessness or bravado, he was—

"Did you see what did it?" The question is posed very quietly, her expression torn between panic, anguish, and rage. What, not who.

She knew something and part of him isn't sure he's ready to hear about a similar experience she had before he got to Mathias. But there had been no warning about the supernatural presence that he damn near came face to face with; the shadow man that had nothing in the way of a face or anything else for that matter.

"Yeah," he gives a vague nod. "It was some kind of shadow man. I saw him as I was climbing up and then heard him in the lighthouse when I went to go check it out and then again after when he pushed me. If any kind of message was received, it was that it didn't want me there."

The intensity of the pains in his body had subsided enough that he wasn't slipping in and out of consciousness. He still couldn't sit up, but as of the early afternoon, he was able to tolerate a fairly flat pillow under his head. Talking was hard but only because of the large bruises and cuts to his face and jaw that didn't stop aching.

He remembers Carter's face when he sees it, though. The man had been there to help him the day before and despite not knowing he was an actual doctor, Bucky still was happy to see him come by again so that he could express his gratitude.

"I'm sorry, I definitely didn't catch your name yesterday," he says lightheartedly, though the poor attempt at a smile was lost when he winces from a sharp pain shooting across his back.

It feels good, being able to help.

Not that Carter wishes affliction or injury on anyone, quite the contrary. But there is a certain agency in all this, in helping someone recover from the town's attacks. In doing his job. After the paralyzing helplessness of the Hunt, it's actively doing something for the people here, for this cursed and plagued community they've built and that he can't help but feel closer to with each passing day.

Of course he misses the luxury of x-rays and tests. As it is, there's almost no way for him to check for internal bleeding, to monitor Bucky's vital signs. They're not out of the woods yet and if there are any sudden complications, well. He'd be flying blind...

Which is why he smiles broadly at the greeting, pleased to see Bucky in much better condition, comparatively.

"But you remember me. That's a good sign," comes the cheerful reply as he sets down his bag with his field gear. His patient is awake and alert and that's not a given after the injuries he sustained.

"John Carter. You know, you gave us quite the scare yesterday..."

His experiences with doctors haven't exactly been the greatest, enough to willfully put his life into the hands of people he doesn't know. However, in Mathias, he doesn't particularly know of there to be any HYDRA members. Then again, he never thought he would be in a position to actually need medical care. But here he was.

"Yeah," Bucky glances over. "Kind of scared the hell out of myself, if I'm being honest."

The whole ordeal has been one that has been playing out over and over again in his head during his waking moments. When his eyes are closed and his body is doing what it needs to heal, he's dreaming about two falls now.

He's barely out walking for five minutes when his back starts screaming in pain and forcing him to stop where he is and take a seat on the nearest curb to rest. He wouldn't be outside had Daisy returned when she said she would. In fact, the more he tries to remember if she said anything about where she was going, the more he came up empty. The last time he saw her was that morning when she'd helped him move around the house. It was a little too much and he tired so fast that when he didn't even get back upstairs to the room he'd been recovering in. Instead, he laid down on the sofa and passed out hard. When he had woken up again later in the afternoon, she wasn't at the house.

So, after several hours, he goes looking for her.

Edited 2021-05-18 21:10 (UTC)

Doc had been checking in on Bucky ever since he did The Stupid Thing. Sometimes it seems that whatever fumes linger after the fog clears up in this town, it's pushing everyone towards reckless, self-endangering behaviour. Or maybe it was their propensity towards foolishness that marked them out for reaping into this town to begin with.

Whatever the case, when he arrived at the house and saw Bucky gone, he cursed under his breath and set his supplies aside, bolting straight out the door. Between Malcolm and Ainsley, Neal and Negan, Tim and Athena, Ellie and Yennefer, Five and Klaus, Bucky and Daisy, and who can forget Raylan McStupid Givens and Wynonna Goddamn Earp, it's like trying to herd a litter of feral puppies. Except Liz of course. Faultless, beautiful, tragic Southern damsel that she is. He can't ever bring himself to blame her for anything.

Two geriatric men running around playing hide and seek ought to be more amusing than it is but in their current state, Doc catches up easily to Bucky.

"Young man. Mind tellin' me what in damnation do you think you're doin'?"

It was right around the time that Doc found him that Bucky decided this was the worst idea he's ever had, though it was the only thing he could do given he had no phone numbers for anyone and Daisy had been gone for half the day by that point. He needs answers, though he suspects the worst. She wouldn't leave unless she knew she'd be back within a short amount of time.

Bucky is hunched over a small picket fence along the front yard of an abandoned derelict house, his fingers turning white with how hard he was holding onto it. But he hears the other man he considers one of two friends he's made in Mathias, though he doesn't look up; too busy making sure he stays upright because if he goes down, there was a good chance he wouldn't be able to get back up again.

"Daisy," he says once he knows Doc to be close enough. "Have you seen her?"

"No I have not. I have been too busy looking for your sorry ass," he quips. "You look like shit." No, Doc isn't cranky this morning at all after finding out that he's managed to fence one feral puppy in only to have lost another. What gave that away?

He doesn't know how to help an injured one-armed man without undermining his own strength and determination, or jeopardising his dignity. Clearly Bucky didn't think he needed the help or he wouldn't have made it this many yards out of bed. But he can't stay here admiring the abandoned houses and the white picket fences fantasising about all the lives neither of them got to live. He doesn't even look like he can stay upright.

"I will scour every inch of this town looking for her," Again, he doesn't say, because this isn't the first time Daisy Johnson disappeared on them. "After you let me take you back to bed." Doc steps in closer and offers an upturned hand near Bucky's, offering to take his weight, slide his arm up under his and walk him back if he's willing.

He can always smack Bucky into submission and drag his body back into the house, but he'd rather not. There's something particularly uncomfortable about beating on a one-armed veteran.

Had Bucky a little more first-hand experience in having people around him who actually care, he might have been able to pick out the subtle warmth behind Doc's chiding right away. The observation, however, seems to remind him how bad he does still feel and probably look, and yet, Bucky's focus seems to be on someone else. Not himself.

Blue eyes that seem to be more vivid than they usually are, regard the other man in a way that almost seems like he's struggling against the defeat that he knows can't avoid. Clearly, Mathias has been able to control him in ways that only HYDRA could and there's a feeling not so far back in his mind that tries to tell him that he can't trust anyone there. And yet, there were a few there that he knew he could. One of them being the man who was trying to help him now.

If Daisy was gone, maybe it was better for someone else to make that final realization, though it wouldn't be something final until enough days had passed or he, too, disappeared.

He gives a nod in surrender and lets go of the fence to move his hand to Doc's, adjusting slowly to make the trek back to the house as quickly and painlessly as possible.

"What's the longest a person has been gone before they come back again?" Bucky questions, wincing as he takes the necessary one step in front of the other. He refuses to believe she's truly gone. But, he needs to know exactly how long he can possibly be waiting.

"Several days," Doc replies after tipping his head to one side and giving it some thought. If they... 'die' - Doc doesn't believe people actually die here, or perhaps he doesn't believe people actually come back to life which invalidates their dying by association, but that's another theory to be picked apart on another day - they tend to return faster. But he doesn't want to plant that thought in Bucky's mind, so he doesn't bring that up.

"Unless she had gotten herself trapped somewhere, I have not met anyone who had been gone, whether taken by some mysterious entity or otherwise, and remembered what happened to them while they were gone, either." She is a fairly capable woman - he imagines she wouldn't so easily get stuck somewhere. But he would have thought the same of people like Malcolm and Neal who have gone and gotten themselves stuck in unpleasant places before, so he's keeping his mind open.

"I cannot and would not offer you any reassurances at this stage, much as I would like to." A man who could not have subsisted on false hope for all those decades he had been trapped alone would not be so cruel as to give another man false hope. "But I will do my best. Which means I cannot be worrying about you while I'm out looking for her."

It's not as far or tedious of a trek back to the house as it would have been out of the house, with Doc's help bringing Bucky back. Lord help them both if Bucky don't wanna stay put.

"Should I bring you some food or can I do anything to get you settled before I go?" Doc asks as they start up the porch.

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059-061 » the place where you stop the story

bucky barnes | mcu

day 59; closed to daisy and neal

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day 59; evening - locked to Daisy

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day 60 - locked to Carter

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apologies for the delay!

Day 61; Evening - Open

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