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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The kitchen was the place to be, apparently. No one but Tim had cooked, if he cooked, he doesn't get to do dishes. House rules. After Raylan finished tidying the kitchen to a degree he was happy with, him and his mug ambled into the living room to nudge Tim's leg gently before he headed for the couch.

"Not too bad a shin-dig, I gotta say. Thought that there was going to be thrown down a few times but no one got punched. I'd call it a win. Good you made so much food, I'm surprised we didn't feed half the town."

Considering how many people showed up and how small their numbers were, maybe they had.

As a general rule, no one but Tim cooked in this house. That being because Athena was banned from turning on the stove.

He looked up with the older marshal came into the room, giving him a small jog of his eyebrows and a return bump with his leg before looking back to the monopoly money.

"It started as a small get together to welcome Jeff," Tim said, finishing with a stack of money and tossing it on the board. He leaned back in his chair, sprawling with was not something he typically did at the office. "Athena wanted you and Malcolm and anyone else in 1306 who wished too to stop by, Doc had asked about Candyland last time we talked and things just," his fingers danced, "grew from there."

Edited 2021-05-19 23:23 (UTC)

Was that the rule? Raylan would object when he wanted to cook himself.

Raylan's eyebrows lifted a little at the impromptu party part of it all. Part of the reason he'd bailed on 1306 fulltime was the parade of people he didn't know through his space and parties being thrown there. He wasn't sure he was going to be able to adjust to that kind of traffic.

"Suppose it's good that the boards are gettin' used. The house deserves to have a bit'a life in it." Instead of being haunted, which is largely what Raylan did in any home he stayed in by himself.

"Athena an' I have been playing some," Tim confirmed. "Building LEGOs sometimes."

Were Tim a mind reader, he'd do his best to reassure Raylan that having a parade of people and parties was not on the young sniper's agenda. Tonight was a one off, rooted in Tim's desire to not drink himself unconscious for a third night in a row.

"Hoping having Jeff here will give her a greater sense of stability. Then I'll be hoarding the LEGOs in my room."

"Y'all better not be playin' Risk without me," Raylan threatened lightly behind a drink from his glass. No, it was probably better that Tim didn't know about Raylan's issue with it. Not much good could come of it, he was sure.

"Me too. I'm hopin' they'll give it to each other, to a large degree. That's why I brought him here. Better that he spends gettin' his feet in a safe place with at least one familiar face. Though it feels real 'Twilight Zone' to look at him. Everythin' that happens on his face. I'm not that expressive, am I?"

He knew he wasn't that emotive, but that was a different question.

"I'll make sure Athena knows that one's off limits unless you're playing with us," Tim promised with a small half smirk that showed just a hint of tooth.

The younger marshal was methodically drumming his fingertips along the arm of the chair and action he seemed unaware of as he studied his partner. Inwardly Tim was wondering how long the four of them could share the second level before either Jeff and Athena took off for their own space, or Raylan retreated elsewhere. Afternoons like they'd had almost a week ago now were going to become trickier with Jeff also sharing the bathroom.

"You're expressive, but rarely is your expression a genuine reflection of where you are in your thought process." He answered the question within the question. "You have masks behind masks behind masks."

"Mm, then I'm still a half decent bullshitter," he remarked with a faint lift of his eyebrows, the sentiment washed down with another drink of shine. The 'Getting off the Wagon' exit for Raylan had long since passed, he could only mitigate and hold to his own rules. Do his best.

There were plenty of abandoned houses with good locking doors.

"How'd you feel about him. Jeff."

Tim expected that the first statement was kinda rhetorical, and so he let it pass without remark. The sniper had no intention of going dry cold turkey and he felt a brief rush of envy when Raylan took his drink, as well as appreciation for the way the man's throat looked when tipped back like that; but, back to the shine. Seventy two hours of hangovers was a bit much for him.

"Weird." He responded honestly. "Trying to focus on the fact that his being here is good for Athena."

"He suggested this was some Parent Trap kinda situation. Mathis is a pretty shitty summer camp, in my opinion. Couldn't imagine him in Harlan, they'd eat the poor guy alive. Didn't even know my face was capable of some'a the things he does with it."

Also known as 'This is really fucking weird' for Raylan. He was still trying to process the reality of the man, to say nothing of processing the reality of him in context against Raylan himself. There was a whole can of worms under there that the Marshal wasn't going to get into - there was plenty enough on the surface to keep him busy.

"At least he doesn't seem to be your evil twin?" Tim offered. His expression acknowledged that it was a weak statement, that he was also wrestling with the fact that Raylan and Jeff weren't just twins, they were nearly exact doppelgangers for one another.

He glanced around carefully for a moment, then leaned forward so he could speak in a softer voice.

"If it helps, I don't feel attracted to his face. It really does make expressions that straight up weird me out."

Jeff seemed like a good man and seeing Athena's joy at his presence genuinely made Tim feel a little better about things in general. But from a strictly selfish perspective, Jeff was so different from Raylan that a part of Tim felt the man should have a different face. Which was stupid, and Tim recognized the fact so he tried to focus on Jeff as a personality, rather than the handsome exterior packaging.

"If I've got the facial hair, doesn't that make me the evil twin?" By the Star Trek rules?

Raylan couldn't help but huff a little breath of amusement, face ducking down sheepishly before he turned his halfmooned eyes back over towards the sniper.

"It does but only a little." That gave Raylan something else to chew over later when he had the time; Tim being in love with who he was, not strictly because of what he looked like. Raylan was still something of a vain man though.

"He's already married and divorced once too. I don't think he had to kick a lotta people outta bed for eatin' crackers." Raylan took a deep breath. "He's gonna need some help, I think, when shit hits the fan.. It's been too long since Mathis has pulled somethin' proper. I still don't like it."

Thus the grave digging, the prepping he had done on the side today and a general counting of their goods.

"Designating you the evil twin was low hanging fruit; even for me." Tim said with a small smirk and quick wink.

Relaxing back in the chair the sniper made note of the sheepish duck of the head but he tried not to draw any conclusions. They were both working through a lot of mental and emotional gymnastics and there would be a time and a place for sharing where they were in the process.

"Thinking about sleeping with yourself?" Tim couldn't help a little teasing. "I mean, suspect there were more than a few twin fantasies kicked off tonight," he really is cruising for a sofa cushion to the face. But the younger marshal sobered then and looked a thoughtful for a moment.

"Not saying you're wrong," he began in a musing tone. "But best not lose sight of the fact that he's been a guiding hand for Athena. We both know she wouldn't respect the hell out of someone who didn't earn it." Which told Tim that there might be more to Jeff than first appearance suggested.

As for Mathias. "You thinking it's spooling up something big?"

A smirk and a wink - Raylan's lucky day. It broke a little smile over his lips as he watched Tim sink back into his chair.

The idea of sleeping with himself had not occurred, something Tim would likely be able to tell by the rolling confusion that moved over his face, one hand lifting and waving like he could dismiss the idea entirely. A man doesn't just start thinking about another man that way, least of all someone as soft and spazzy as Jeff.

He'd only meant that Jeff wasn't exactly hard on the eyes. If Raylan wasn't, Jeff must not be either if he's got an wife and kid.

"One day we're gonna havta ask how, ya know. Just to see if he's made of somethin' sterner underneath all that." Raylan was on the same line of thought.

He nodded at that last question. "Groundhog day wasn't shit. Storms on the horizon, there's just no tellin' what shape it'll come in til it's here. We need to batton down some hatchs. Make sure we're prepared." It was the same thing he'd been saying since the start of groundhog day, but now that they were out of the loop, they could actually do it.

The expression that moved across Tim's eyebrows suggested he wasn't so sure they had to try to suss out whether or not Jeff was made of sterner stuff. That seemed to be Jeff and Athena's business to him. But he also had learned to trust Raylan's instincts, when he wanted to learn about a man, so Tim kept his thoughts to himself for the time being.

"If you say we need to be prepared," Tim began and he was wearing that look that said he would follow Raylan into fire because when Raylan got like this the older marshal was usually right. "You're also right about that chasm and that building on the other side," yes yes he knew Raylan knew he was right, this was going somewhere. "Found something interesting when I was digging through old newsprint in that Historical Society building ."

Raylan had to. Needed to. Needed to understand this person that was walking around the world wearing his face and being so very drastically different from him. The weirdness hadn't ebbed. He wasn't sure if it would, honestly.

His eyebrows lifted a little at the admission. He'd been right about something and Tim was willing to give it air? Where was his pearls.

"Yeah? I'd ask what you were doin' there but I'm sure it was bein' up to no good. What'd you find?" Feed the Puzzle, Tim.

"I am going to ignore that like the proper adult I am," Tim said in his uniquely prissy tone. "But you might want to start checking your boots for LEGOs."

Would he be so dastardly? It was all together possible and now Raylan would have to worry about it.

"Mostly? A lot of disorganized clutter that I tried to sort," he groused before exhaling a deep breath and sitting forward with a more intense expression on his face. "Second night I was there, there were these like low quality weekly newsletters. Real amature stuff but they did give a good run down of things going on in Mathias. I was able to find and sort them by date, starting in the 1960s and going through the 80s, when they suddenly stopped."

Steepling his fingers and then releasing them Tim began to gesture gracefully, as he tended to do when working a case.

"I went back over that last issue and there was a note from the editor explaining that this would be the last issue. That he'd been invited to an upcoming rite at the Lodge. I read that article more than a few times but the word use, punctuation, everything about it suggested the writer was proud, even excited about the invitation."

"Very dangerous threat, deadly even," Raylan replied in faux seriousness, nodding his head but the curl of his lips around the edges twitched a bit. Oh, he fully believed that Tim would resort to it, given the right motivation.

As Tim spoke, Raylan's brow took a more genuine pinch, the steady inward curl of his features as he considered all of it with what he already knew.

"They didn't replace him? Maybe he was collectin' too much information," he muttered at the last words, leaning forwards with nudge of his hat back on his head. "Followin' what we were talkin' about earlier today.. If it was an honor. Bet a dollar he got given up to whatever was running this place.. The 80's really isn't that far from when the town stopped. Puts a crack in the idea that the tradition of it was lost.."

Cracks were a good thing, he wanted people to poke holes in it, suggest what made sense to them, things that his brain might never circle around to thinking about. Many hands made this work lighter.

He sighed and rubbed at his forehead, nodding again. "It's more than we had before. I'd be interested in seein' those newsletters. Just to get a feel for the place when it was alive."

It was in his bag of tricks! Though it would probably require a much more egregious transgression on the older marshal's part before Tim resorted to such diabolical revenge.

At the question Tim shook his head. "Going back over the newsletters I think this was a one man show but it'd be good for you to take a second look." That was simply solid law enforcement work and part of what a partner was there to provide. A second set of eyes, a second point of view. "Even if he got given up? It's weird Raylan, that final issue and his letter to his readers. It reads like a man who knows he isn't coming back. He's saying his goodbyes."

Tim sat and the far off stare in his eyes suggested he was mentally re-reading the newsletters.

"I got the impression he knew he wasn't coming back," yes he repeated himself there. "But he believed it was a good thing. Whether that proved to be the case?" The younger marshal could only shrug.

Raylan nodded. Something to do later, in that case.

"Yeah, and by that I mean put on a goddamn alter and had his heart cut out. Fanatics eat that shit up, why wouldn't he be proud to be offered up to his god in the name of steel and blood," Raylan said, bordering on a ranting kind of tone as he pushed himself up to his feet. He wasn't going anywhere but he needed to move. It helped him think.

"No, I'd expect him to be shootin' sunshine out his ass in joy to be chosen. I wonder if he's the one Athena saw gettin' drug down the tunnels. I wonder if there's a tunnel that connects there.. We still got a lot of doors ain't been opened. We'll need to get on that. Athena will wanna come." They had to start prepping for that too.

Tim let his partner's sharp commentary go without a remark. He knew how Raylan could get, and it was usually better to let the man use his words as a pressure release on his temper. In these situations Raylan was rarely looking for a response; rather talking just to bitch and so Tim waited and responded to what was a genuine question.

"Had the same thought," he said, leaning back in the chair and lifting his hand up to rest his fingers lightly against his forehead. It was a gesture that did not make an appearance often. It seemed to indicate a tired sort of resignation. "Went through every single newsletter from the first to the last looking for a picture, any picture to show her but there wasn't anything."

Without the glories of swearing, Raylan's violent tendencies would have gone wild. No, better he say a few sharply spoken words of frustration than lean into all that. He was glad Tim understood that without it having to be laid out in plain words.

"Shit," he swore, rubbing his eyes again before his hand dropped back to his hip in his own resignation. "I know we're not gonna find and put together all the pieces but I wish she'd give us enough for a fraction of a whole corner and not this piecemeal off 14 different lives and possibilities. At least back home we had leads we could follow, places to get into that we could actually get into."

Welcome to the root of his frustrations. It wasn't the terror or the general mind fuckary, or the magic fog. It was the puzzle offered that he couldn't solve.

Tim remained in his chair watching Raylan with knowing eyes. He understood that frustration. The very unique barb in the craw that was having everything in front of you but no way to actually pull the case together and gain conclusion on a matter. It was its own kind of living hell for men like them and Raylan had been in this pressure cooker for months now.

It bothered Tim to have to realize that he had no answer for his partner. Not at this time anyway. All he could do was keep trying his best to help cover ground that needed covering and let Raylan have time to see to his people. Then they could back each other up as necessary, but tonight was another dead end.

"Think I'mma head upstairs and gaze at my navel," he said, moving to lever himself up and outtah the chair. "You okay closing up down here?"

Tim didn't know where Raylan planned to spend the rest of the night and he found himself afraid to ask. Because if he asked, he knew his partner would tell him, and there were enough tigers chasing their tails in his head without adding that particular bundle of emotional landmines.

No, there was no answer. No fix. No help for their situation until Mathis decided to find it. He didn't blame Tim for leaving. He wasn't exactly the best company when he got this way.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod of his head, jaw released, eyebrows lifted with the movement. "I'll make sure everythin' is shut down and secure. Your little get together went well, you oughta be proud. Only a little blood on the porch. Go get some rest."

Raylan's head was still too busy, too full to consider not moving a little more before he even considered where his bones were falling for the night.

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059-061 » the place where you stop the story

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