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

— PROJECT HELP Your mod needs help with some projects!

— 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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Malcolm started wiping up drops of tomato soup on the counter.

"I'd like to say 'yes'. I guess I am... for the most part. But I can't figure out where I stand with Tim and Wynonna hates me more every time I see her." He looked over. "I really wanted to get along with you and Doc's friends from home."

"Tim's.. figurin' some shit out. Just give him some time. He's tryin'." Letting Malcolm in here wasn't nothing. Letting all these people in weren't nothing, even if Raylan wasn't over the moon about it.

"Why does Wynonna hate you? What does that mean?" Fill him in on the punching, Malcolm.

“I’m not sure I’ve determined what it means,” he admitted. “But one of the nights near the end of the loop.... after the fire, I think. Doc was staying with me for night shift but I woke up in the middle of the night, before the reset put us out. I went downstairs. She came in with a mostly empty bottle of moonshine. She was very drunk. Belligerent. I thought she knew about... the house but. When I told her Doc was in my room, she thought that meant we were having sex. I cleared up that misunderstanding, but she decided she wanted to talk to him, but she was getting louder, so I told her I’d go get him, just in case anyone upstairs was still asleep. Perhaps unwisely, I attempted to take the bottle out of her hand. She hit me in the face. Then Doc came down. I think he heard me hit those bottom few stairs and slide to the floor.” He shrugged. “I thought by now it would be water under the bridge, at least. I wasn’t expecting an apology. I tried to talk to her tonight. Just. Offered to get her something from the kitchen. You know. A peace coffee or... whatever. She seems to think I owe her an apology. The rest of the conversation went even worse. I’m not really sure... what I could have done differently, short of.... letting her rampage through our house in the middle of the night?”

Raylan took that all in, his brow furrowing the further along Malcolm got and part of him kicked himself for sleeping anywhere else.

"You're just not havin' a lotta luck lately, are you. Probably not the best idea to try and take a bottle from a ragin' drunk, so I can see the probability for you gettin' hit but.." He shook his head, face ducking a little.

"Maybe she's a bit like Arlo when he got to drinkin'. No right answer to any of his questions. Silence was worse. Not much you can do about them kinda people."

Malcolm nodded. "And then the reset happened, so it's not like I have a bruise to show for it, but... I didn't want to make trouble for Doc," he admitted softly. "I was happy for him, when she arrived. He loves her so much."

If the house wasn't brimming with people, Raylan would have reached over and given him a hug, but he was chained in spot by more rules that he didn't know how to break out from and survive whole for having done so. So many strings to hold him in place like Gulliver's Travels.

"He does. More than he'll admit. I hope he admits it to her. They're cute together in there. Even if he insists that they're not somethin'. She loves him too. I don't know if she's let you see it but.. She does."

"I did see it," he admitted. "I... think that's one of the things that made her mad," he confessed with a wince. Oops. "It's going to be another situation where people in our house can't bring the people that matter to them to our house because of me. And it's just going to... end up with more part time houses. More... rotating dinners. More... everyone trying to be everywhere and spreading themselves thin." He looked at Raylan. "It wears on you. I know it does. I don't know how to help make it easier. I tried and I think I made it worse. I'm sorry," he said sincerely.

It almost hurt to not be able to bring himself to touch the profiler but this is what Raylan knew he had signed up for. Until he could talk himself out of this boorish spot he couldn't quite root himself out of.

"Don't," Raylan whispered roughly, the low hand at his hip gesturing out a little. "It's not your fault. Not everyone in this world was meant to like each other. Can't all come up winners and Ti-." His jaw clamped back shut before he let anything spill that he had no right to.

"There's no way to fit all these people in one house. We're not the boardin' house and even if we were, we'd still run outta rooms. Dorm life ain't for everyone darlin', that's all." There would be splits. Raylan and Malcolm left to worry about Doc while he took care of his own if she wouldn't come hunker down with them.

It was weights they would have to carry. If they couldn't, how would Malcolm survive anything about the hardships of Raylan's life?

Malcolm shook his head. "It's not that I think everyone should live together or anything. It's just. We can't even have gatherings all together. Not really. Just... sprawling ones like this. And... I just. I really wanted to make it work with your friends. Yours and Doc's. Not so we could all live in one house but so we could all be... a family together. A community, at least." He lifted his arms and let them drop back to his sides. "I can't tell how messed up I've gotten off my meds. Is it that bad? Be honest. Really. Because I... I might need a different strategy with people."

"Malcolm," he urged softly, glancing at the living room before he crossed the kitchen, closed the distance between them so he could slip his fingers into Malcolm's hand like they'd start at the Gull.

"Conflict or not, we are a community. Bound together by common ties of wantin' to get the fuck outta here and carein' about the people that have gathered here. I can't tell you what you oughta be doin'. I don't know what you were like on meds. All I can say is make sure you're not treatin' them like a case to solve. People don't like bein' seen as well as you see 'em, that's all. I know you're smart enough to understand the whys. We're all just beasts with well practiced coping mechanisms and masks. Take 'em away and you're gonna get what's layin underneath."

The hand taking his slowed that anxiety spiral he was rambling through. He watched Raylan's face as he talked then looked down at their hands.

"I just... you gave me fair warning. I thought I'd kept it really... dialed down, at least with Tim. But I can only... be... who I am." He squeezed Raylan's hand. "I don't... I don't need you to fix it or anything. I didn't want to be the thing stretching you thin. And I didn't want to... see you less. But I understand that it is what it is." He looked at Raylan's face again. "And I just mean it would be easier if we could all be together. I don't want you to feel like there's more you have to do. You do too much already."

"There's nothin' wrong with who you are," Raylan assured quickly, with a serious downtilt of his chin as he met Malcolm's eye. "Nothing."

He took a deep breath, eyes dropping back down as he continued.

"I know. I know what you mean darlin'. And I don't know that there's anything I could do beyond promise you that it's not all together you. Some people just don't get on is all. You're not streachin' me thin, I-" He choses this. This was better than the alternative.

"I'mma be fine. If you're fine. If they're fine. We'll all be alright."

Malcolm ventured a small smile.

"I'm fine," he promised. "Because of you," he pointed out. "Because of Doc. Because of Neal and Negan and Klaus. We're all fine." He brought Raylan's hand to his mouth and set a quick, gentle kiss to the back of it. "And if I can help with anything else, just tell me what you need."

"We love you, Malcolm Bright. In case you were doubting it." Raylan's head ducked a little for the kiss on his fingers, wishing he could drawn Malcolm in and put several kisses into that blond hair of his.

"Knowin' you're okay is what I need. Knowin' you're all okay is my top priority here. Once I've verified that, I can look to handlin' other things."

"I have more... affection around me here than I've ever had around me in my life," he told Raylan. "If I have to go back home alone... it's going to be harder than it was."

"You already know that if our worlds are the same, both Neal and I are gonna come lookin' for you, right? And if it's not.." Raylan set his thumb to brushing back and forth over Malcolm's. "Maybe you can carry us with you. Remember that people can love ya. That you're worth it."

These specific people, surprisingly, did love him. These people from possibly another dimension, even though they've seen him at his worst.

He wasn't sure it would cross over to the place he's always existed, just outside of everything. But Raylan's quiet confidence in his worth made it seem... like maybe it could be possible.

"It'll... it'll be better if you guys are there," he admitted. "But I'll try to remember."

And when Malcolm was at his best, he might start to have more issue with these people, how they were working here. Raylan was worried about that too. Would Malcolm feel the same way when he didn't have his issues flaming up in full force? The profiler was an emotional creature without his meds, however still sharp and brilliant. Raylan wondered how much of that stiff, judgmental looking man he'd met those first days so long ago was the Meds and how much it was Malcolm himself.

"I'd write you a note to keep in your wallet.. if you have one.. if you wanted. Just in case. Maybe that would make it back with you. A reminder that you were here. That this was all real, even if we aren't ever able to explain it." He looked over at him again. "I know I'd like to be there. If I had the choice."

Edited 2021-05-30 13:25 (UTC)

Hoping to get close to
A peace I cannot find

The song was getting close to the end and Malcolm was afraid the silence that followed would break the spell.

“I have a wallet,” he said, cautious hope in his gaze as he looked up at Raylan again.

If he knew Raylan was concerned Malcolm wouldn’t feel the same leveled out, he would respectfully point out that he recognized kindness whether he was raw or not. There wasn’t one single thing he could point to that made him fall for Raylan, it was a complicated package deal and that wasn’t something he could have foreseen in the terse if amicable man putting a hole in a wall to steal pipes. He had no context at that time to understand why, when forcibly confined, the most important project they could be working on was building a still.

He understood it now. But everyone was convinced they could escape if they just applied themselves when they arrived. Everyone new was appalled that the people stuck here for days and weeks and months on end had made no progress on that front. What were they doing with their time? Playing house? Babysitting a madman? Building a distillery? Why weren’t they doing something important?

Everyone learned before too long.

“Write me the note,” he said. “I’d like that.”

A beat.

“Can I write one for you, too?”

Edited 2021-05-30 13:56 (UTC)

One day, one day they would dance. Raylan didn't know what lengths he'd have to go through for it but it was decided. He needed this small man in his arms, blasting a happy brilliance up at him.

"I will," Raylan answered, tilting his body a little closer to Malcolm's on angle as he took the chance, them being alone, to slide a hand across Malcolm's cheek to draw him into a kiss. Chaste as it was, it promised all the things that Raylan could provide behind closed doors, all the things he wanted to provide in open doors, if that was the opposite.

"I'd be sad if you didn't," he admitted with a quirk of a smile, their faces so close together. "I want to keep you, Malcolm. Impress you onto my heart long term."

If he was looking for that smile, he got it, full wattage.

That sentiment was everything.

"I'm not going anywhere that you're not," he murmured.

"Good." Raylan brushed his thumb up and down on Malcolm's jaw, reluctant to pull back. "Have you eaten today DJ Bright?"

Lingering in his space like that, Raylan could get him to answer any question. Like the faint scent of his skin and his breath and his shampoo was a truth serum.

"I had half an egg for breakfast. Nothing since then," he confessed.

"Mm somethin's better than nothing. If I can find a can of chicken noodle or tomato soup or somethin', would you eat a little?"

If he had powers, he planned on using them for good.

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