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The Village Mod ([personal profile] villagemod) wrote in [community profile] villagelogs2021-06-05 08:09 pm

063-064 » no matter how much / part ii (group A)

WHO: Group A members only.
WHERE: Mathias Township proper
WHEN: Days 063-064
WHAT: Matthias becomes a little larger and a little smaller at the same time.
WARNINGS: (PM this account to have a warning added!)
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ DEADLY AVENGER "Raiju"





DAY 063-064
NO MATTER HOW MUCH

“No matter how much suffering you went through,
you never wanted to let go of those memories.”
— Haruki Murakami

At first, in the calm following the storm, nothing seems amiss. When the residents awake, it is to another glorious morning dawning in the unsettling paradise that is Mathias Township. Indeed, it does seem rather glorious that morning, for there is sunshine in a blue sky that has been cleared of any remnant of the angry storm clouds from the day before. But before long, residents will start to notice signs of something being not quite right.

It should be a familiar sensation to most by now.

It begins as just a feeling, a strange hint of something in the air, a nagging voice at the back of the mind. They can't quite put their finger on it but there is something. Something wrong, something that shouldn't be — which is quite a statement in a town where everything shouldn't be. But then the pieces will begin to come together.

A person has gone who ought to be there. This in itself is not a strange occurrence, for many have vanished and then returned, or not. This time, though, it is one person, and then two and three... A dozen people or more have gone, with no trace of their whereabouts to be found.

No resident is alone, thankfully. There are others who also remain: friends, acquaintances, strangers. Others who are just as trapped in this nightmarish place.

As the hours stretch on and residents begin to venture beyond their self-claimed shelters and move about the town, they will find that their fellow captives are not the only things that have vanished. The Chasm is gone as well, the crack in the earth that once stretched across and cut off the western part of town. There is not even the smallest mark to show where it had once been; it has gone so completely that some might wonder if they had merely imagined it.






ABOUT THE NEW LOCATIONS

POPPY COTTAGE This bed and breakfast has a sense of casual elegance with the elusive quality of being both sophisticated and comfortable at the same time. Aside from being covered in dust and grime, of course.

PENHEW HOUSE Perhaps familiar to some in Mathias, this grand house is different from any of the others the residents have entered. It looks... new. Fresh. Clean. The usual thick layers of dust and grime that would be caked onto every visible surface are nowhere in sight; this absence may be a relief for some and unsettling to others. There are certainly other unsettling things to be found in this location.

THE OLD CHURCH Barely more than ruins, the property is marked by a crumbled stone outline that has no roof and only partial walls, nothing left inside besides a broken cobblestone floor.

BANEBERRY HALL From the outside, Baneberry Hall seems like your average rich person's house, but one would be mistaken to assume anything of the sort. Even the baneberries that cover the back lawn leading to the forest treeline are deceptive, for they appear harmless but are fatal to any human foolish enough to eat them.

The building is decaying from within. The rooms have begun to rot, from the parlors and libraries still done up in grand and expensive style to the bedrooms that have locks on the doors and bars on the windows. There are restraints in some of those bedrooms, while others are bereft of sharp objects. In the hall closets, there are identical sets of white pajamas of all sizes, and the offices have locked cabinets (that may be picked) full of a rainbow of sedatives (that will not replenish). The names on doors and in logbook lists are all smudged beyond legibility, and all paperwork has been water-damaged and weathered, leaving no indication of who may have been kept in those bedrooms or why. But within each room, there is an item that may be familiar to one of the residents now wandering its halls. As caked in dust and grime as anything else, each item is placed as if it belongs there, as if it might have been there for years. But it couldn't have been... could it?



ABOUT THE ITEMS FROM HOME

Within the unsettling walls of Baneberry Hall, residents may find OBJECTS that are uncomfortably familiar to them. Each item has one singular memory attached to it that, when touched in any way, will be experienced first hand, as if the person receiving it had lived it themselves. This person will endure all of the associated emotions and psychological reactions to the memory that the memory's owner experienced.

— Items may only be found within Baneberry Hall. These items from home are not all in one room or a specific location but instead are scattered throughout the bedrooms. (Only the items on this list are available to this group.)

— Ownership and possession of the item are important elements to this event. While the item is in possession of someone who is not its owner, it will continue to infect all who touch it with the memory that belonged to its owner. The item will also, before long, begin to make the possessor ill, both physically and emotionally uncomfortable and upset. This only occurs until the item is reunited with its owner, or until it is no longer in someone else's possession. (For example, if Person A finds Person B's teddy bear and carries it with them, they will continue to experience the bear's associated memory until they no longer have it in their possession, whether this means they have left it somewhere or it has been returned to Person B.)

— Recipients of memories will retain those memories even after the event has ended.

— When the owner of an item finds their item or has it returned to them, they will also experience the memory once themselves, having it returned to them as if they had just lived those moments again. The memory is only replayed once in their minds and then the memory effect of the object is gone. After this point, the item can be held by the owner or any others without consequence.

— If a person removes an item from its room in Baneberry Hall but does not remove the item from the property entirely, the item will be mysteriously returned to its original location when no one is looking. This is so that people do not have to keep close track of where items are going in the possible changing of hands, so the original owners can still easily locate the item without having to plan in great detail. Once an item is removed from the property, it will not return to its original location even if it is discarded by the possessor before reaching its original owner. Instances such as this should be planned among all involved parties, including the owner of the item.

— Once an item is removed from the property, please comment below so that information may be updated. Items that are not removed by the end of the event may reappear at a later time, so accurate records are essential.

— Before an item's memory is viewed by someone other than the owner, permission must be granted or requested for that memory to be viewed by another character. Because the experience is an uncomfortable one for the other characters, the viewing of memories not their own should ideally be kept to a small number.








CONDITIONS UPDATE
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 new boundaries.
— 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 from the western section of town entirely.
— 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.

DISAPPEARANCES AND DEATHS continue! Yennefer, Number Five, and Tony Stark have vanished and Ellie is still missing, though this may be difficult to tell with half the town also seemingly having vanished. Will Graham's body may be found within the ruins of the Old Church; he appears to have been frightened to death. (If someone decides to take care of the body, please report it below. For in-game reasons, this does not need to be coordinated across groups.)

ALCOHOL supplies have run dry, save for any dregs that have been squirreled away by individual residents. Moonshine can still be acquired by those in desperate need.








OOC NOTES
NEW MAP Thanks so much to Scy for yet another amazing new map of Mathias!

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. IC events are also helpful to know about in advance so they can be included in the log write-ups.

MOD STATUS For those who don't know, I run a summer program that is set to start in just 2 weeks. We've only recently been given the green light to go ahead in person, so it's a scramble to get everything pulled together in time. My non-RP life is going to be busy and chaotic for the next while and I am thus asking for your forgiveness and understanding as things continue to be slow, as I cannot guarantee timely mod responses beyond weekends, and even that is not guaranteed.

NEXT LOG Because of the aforementioned real-life chaos, the next log will be more relaxed and free form with everyone coming back together again and having a few chill days. It would be very much appreciated if some of the more intense investigations could be saved to take place in future logs, as the new locations that are opening up in this log will remain open in the next few at least and there will be plenty of time to explore all their mysteries.

ITEMS FROM HOME The items from home remaining in Baneberry Hall will not be available past this log, at least not in this form, so if you would like to play with these elements, you should not sleep on this opportunity. More things may show up in the future but, for now, this is the main event.

DW NOTIFS Back at the beginning of the year, the issue of missing email notifs was discussed in a code push plurk by Mark of the DW admin team. For those who missed it, the gist is that the issue with missing notifs is not going to be fixed anytime soon. The issue is so sporadic that the dev team has concluded the only way to possibly fix it is to redo the notification system entirely. This issue does not extend to DW's internal inbox, so short of checking every thread you're involved in, the DW inbox is the best way to make sure you're not missing things.

ACTIVITY CHECK Beginning with June's AC (posted at the start of July), all tags that consist of only dialogue will count as 0.5 comments, not just those that occur in an inbox thread. This applies to both AC and AP totals.



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myfavoritemurder: (the things I'll do for future spite)

[personal profile] myfavoritemurder 2021-06-23 06:53 pm (UTC)(link)
She does, to her credit, try very hard to listen and pick up as much as possible. She does it because she wants to spit and snarl and reject everything he says, and she can't do that if she doesn't understand it.

So she gets some of it, and what she doesn't get she guesses at, and what's too unfamiliar to make good guesses about she invents out of whole cloth. The effect she comes away with is very similar to the effect that Raylan had intended, even if the details differ a bit.

"But I don't want it," she says - turning her back to him, going to flop down onto a couch. "I could do this, but I don't want."

And there's the rub: between age eleven and now, she's forgotten how to want anything else for herself.
myfavoritemurder: (it's not backup‚ it's babysitting)

[personal profile] myfavoritemurder 2021-06-23 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
["Illusion" means nothing to her, but "magic"? That's practically the same word in both languages. Convenient!]

Why are you afraid? You don't know magic? Before Mathias, in your-- your village.

[Your home.]

There is no magic?
tinstar: (Serious bedtime)

[personal profile] tinstar 2021-06-24 12:12 am (UTC)(link)
That little bit of attention was already doing wonders for his neck and his mind, eyes sliding closed somewhere along everything as he sank into a relaxation he knew was going to be short lived, relatively speaking. He was putty in Tim's hands, letting him roam and wander with all that wonderful massaging pressure, only exerting enough effort to keep his chin from sinking and his hairline in reach.

Raylan hummed a note of acknowledgement at 'Let's be clear about a thing', one eyebrow uselessly lifting in curiosity and it all melted into a softly pleased smile. It sounded nice, and he wanted to believe it with everything but he knew better. Even with reassurances, he knew better. The memory that godknows how many people actually saw was proof enough as to why.

But it was nice to hear and he knew that it wasn't a reassurance Tim often, if ever, gave to anyone else.

As he moved onto his opinions about Neal, Raylan sobered but he was glad to hear some kind of opinion on it, some kind of company in his understanding and general knowledge. Some compassion for Neal from it. He knew Tim wouldn't use it against Neal. Hoped might be a better word; there was no guarantee what either of them would look like if one of them started taking strips off the other. That didn't make what Tim was saying any less right.

Tim slid his arms around Raylan and he couldn't help the lean of his head against blonde or lifting his hand to settle it over Tim's forearms in response, squeezing softly because doing so harder would have hurt himself. Raylan still didn't know who Lindsey was beyond context given - He'd assume blonde and has fucked him over. Those seemed to be the prerequisites for Raylan's type.

Raylan almost asked what he had done. The fingers on his neck soothed off the idea. He was surprised, in all honesty, to hear such a kind sentiment towards Malcolm's chances and he hooked his arm over Tim's knee, half hugging his shin with his palm as he rubbed his thumb up and down.

"We'll see if he sees it the same way. I didn't want to do it so quickly, wanted to be in better general shape for it but." He took a deep breath, eyes sliding closed again. "Either way, this is better than him walking in. I know I'm.. breakin' all the rules. I know 'I didn't mean to' doesn't carry much weight. Not when I'd try to pull the moon from the sky for any one of ya."

He took another deep breath and opted to take a break from that topic. It would go how it would go and he couldn't do anything other than cast his dice and see what came of it.

"Quid pro que, Clarice.. You said your day was eventful. What happened?"
tinstar: (In bed)

[personal profile] tinstar 2021-06-24 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
Raylan snorted, smirking crookedly. A break in tension was nice. They could pepper a little shit talk here and there.

Tim could have gone on but Raylan would have just argued that he knew better than to do what if's. Knew better than to build up that idea of what could be too high. The higher the expectations, the harder the fall and he'd already taken his tumble. Not again.

Giving up wasn't in his DNA though.

At Tim's answer, Raylan laughed openly. "Then lets sit down on a goddamned porch and figure it out, my steam isn't what it normally is."

He really meant any porch too and led them towards the closest one, breaking their pinkies apart so he could carefully lower himself down onto a step with a loud groan and a wince.

"What would you do with that lotto money, huh?" Since Tim could handle the what ifs.
walkingtrigger: (pic#14876719)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-24 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
A porch seemed like a wonderful idea and Tim was grateful when Raylan located one close by. He gave one last little squeeze with his pinkie, before they broke apart, slowly lowering himself down beside Raylan. Were it not for their public position he would have leaned against the older man, but instead he lay back so he was prone on the porch.

"Invest some of it, so I can look at retiring around a reasonable age. Donate the majority to charities out there helping veterans. Stop drinking cheap beer, go for that high ABV microbrew shit."

He was a simple man.

"What about you, Raylan? You will one of those big ole $250 million jobs, what is your next step?"
tinstar: (Hallways)

[personal profile] tinstar 2021-06-24 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
"A beach front property, one to rent out for extra cash on the side and stocks for the rest, I suppose. Maybe a new hat." Oh yeah. High goals. Since neither of them were going to lean, Raylan chose to bump their knees together. Another innocuous movement that they could play off if they got called out on it.

"Microbrew is exactly that you know. Shit. Any kinda IPA, if I'm honest. Nothin' beats what we grew up with."
walkingtrigger: (pic#14791796)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-24 02:05 am (UTC)(link)
Tim had known going in that it would be action rather than word that would help Raylan understand the depth of emotions for the older man. It was why Tim had walked into the whole mess knowing that if things went to hell, while he might want to retreat first to protect his heart, he would hang in there until Raylan told him it was over.

He had been gearing up to speak to the older marshal's comments about Malcolm, but when Raylan made the hard change of topic, Tim knew better than to press. He continued to rub his fingers through salt and pepper hair, then downwards to broad shoulders; rubbing and soothing.

"Eh, feels kinda pedestrian now," he said in a wry tone. But his next words came with a soft sort of compassion. "Saw Callisto's memory. That's a hell of a thing for a child to live through, then have to live with and I don't expect there was anyone around to protect her. Also saw Neal's memory. Damned if he did, damned if he didn't. I don't envy him the situation he found himself in, there's no ready answer to any of that." He talked from the perspective that Raylan had also encountered these memories, figuring if he was wrong the older man would let him know.

"Found Malcom climbing the walls of that big building, like a squirrel on meth looking for nuts," the description was if not fond, understanding. "He helped me get back here after I realized I'd over estimated my mobility. I tried to talk to him a bit about you. Pointed out to him that you need him, like he needs you."
walkingtrigger: (pic#14791799)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-24 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
"Ugh, sand." Tim groused, even as he returned the knee bump. He was starting to wonder what it would be like to be right beside the ocean though. Sand leading to water, rather than more sand and dangerous caves. People said the ocean was good for the soul, maybe Tim could find some peace there; with the right person.

"IPA, are those the ones that taste like grapefruit? I like my beer to taste like beer. If I want grapefruit, I'll eat a grapefruit."

He would, as they both knew. Tim's healthy dietary habits were well known around the office. Most guys and gals took chips, jerky and a couple of Slim Jim's on stakeouts. Tim Gutterson packed fruit and string cheese. One stick of string cheese could amuse the young sniper for almost half an hour!

tinstar: (Laughin)

[personal profile] tinstar 2021-06-24 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
"Trust me, it's better with a view and the air the ocean brings with it. Heal all your ills. Tell me you've been, at least once." He understood why Tim didn't like sand. He didn't blame him but he also thought enough of the ocean that he really did think that Tim might like it.

But Raylan smirked at the grapefruit.

"I'll leave that to you. Much more of an apple man, myself. IPA's always taste like badfruit piss. Then again, the only beer I won't drink is Colt 45 or Miller Lite."

walkingtrigger: (pic#14813472)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-24 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
"I ... actually now that you ask, I've never been to the ocean." Maybe if he'd gone in with the SEALs he'd have had ocean training, but it wasn't part of the water training for Rangers.

"Those are two good ones to avoid. Anything with a number in the name, like Mad Dog 20/20. Black Label is also pretty foul. Tastes like someone tried to brew beer through a sweat sock," Tim gave an exaggerated shudder. Though he couldn't leave it alone and had to ask.

"How you come to learn what badfruit piss tastes like?"
Edited 2021-06-24 03:09 (UTC)
walkingtrigger: (pic#14813474)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-24 02:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Though he was no profiler, Tim was a lawman and well versed in reading faces. He was preparing for the question he saw in Malcolm's eyes when the other man quickly changed tact and moved to leave.

"What did you want to ask, Malcolm?" The question was soft spoken and if the smaller man brushed it off, Tim wouldn't press further.
walkingtrigger: (pic#14791796)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-24 02:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Neal's reaction was not what Tim had been expecting and that probably showed on his face.

"They were all safe," he offered, wondering if perhaps something bad had happened to those people and Neal was afraid that was the memory Tim had seen.
conning: (screencaptures_051)

[personal profile] conning 2021-06-24 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)
He perceptibly relaxes, though not by much. The idea of Tim seeing one of the appallingly many times he’s put the people he cares about at risk—-he would have been running for the metaphorical hills and damn the fog.

It doesn’t soothe away the possibility that Tim saw something precious and private, but it’s something. It doesn’t make him feel better about the fact that someone is seeing the inside of his head at all.
walkingtrigger: (pic#14791799)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-24 03:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Feeling his way out here, the sniper moved towards the bed so he could sit down. He gave Neal plenty of space, unsure what might be going on through the other man's head.

Once he had settled on the dusty bedsheets he looked towards Neal, obviously curious but trying not to make the man feel trapped.

"Do you want to know what I saw? What I experienced?"
conning: (screencaptures_285)

[personal profile] conning 2021-06-24 03:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Neal licks his lips, then nods, before he can change his mind. He's still poised on the edge of fight or flight, bracing himself for whatever Tim can use against him now. He tucks his hands into his pockets, tries to force himself to relax, but he's been so frayed since his third death that even the pretense is hard to manage.

"Yeah. Yeah I do."
Edited 2021-06-25 02:44 (UTC)
myfavoritemurder: (did you know I know kung fu?)

[personal profile] myfavoritemurder 2021-06-24 04:12 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes, maybe we'll all have a party together," she says flippantly. "Or maybe I'll hurt him the way you couldn't."
abrightboy: (hates to break it to you but)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-06-24 10:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Malcolm paused and looked over at him cautiously, like one might approach a possible trap.

“Historically, my questions don’t go over well with you,” he pointed out.
abrightboy: (you what?)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-06-24 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
“It’s no less than he deserves,” Malcolm promises her. “I’m going to keep looking around. Maybe I’ll see you later?”
walkingtrigger: (pic#14791799)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-24 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Tim ducked his head in acknowledgement of this fact, then gave a small shrug.

"At least this time I can't get up and go anywhere," which was his usual MO when it came to questions. But then he held up a hand, trying to indicate his next words were genuine.

"Ask your question, Malcolm. If don't want to answer it, or I can't, I will say so."
abrightboy: (pays attention)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-06-24 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
He hesitated, but then gave in. "You're in bad shape. Why did you leave 1306 this morning, where lots of people would be willing to help you out, so you can be here by yourself, crawling to the bathroom?" he asked.
walkingtrigger: (pic#14813474)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-25 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
The younger marshal was quiet for a few minutes, considering how to answer in a way that was succinct but also hit the heart of the matter.

"I'm a very independent man, Malcolm. I have been all my life. My mother was an addict and my father was a very bitter, resentful man who loathed being burdened with a crack head wife and a child. As soon as I was big enough to be able to turn the knobs at the back of the stove, while standing on a high stool, I was in charge of feeding and caring for myself." He shared this in a matter of fact tone. No drama, just what was.

"The only thing that scares the shit out of me is being unable to do for myself."
abrightboy: (sadness)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-06-25 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
"Nobody is questioning your competence. But you were also in the military and you understand how much team work in life threatening situations saves lives," Malcolm pointed out. "Maybe Raylan is the only one you trust that much right now, but you could try trusting Raylan's judgement in who to trust."
walkingtrigger: (pic#14791799)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-25 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes, I was in the military," he agreed. "But I was a scout sniper. We're trained to work alone, broken off from the unit and on our own. Sometimes I would have a spotter, but it was me protecting them, not the other way around."

Reaching up to brush his temple with his fingers, Tim ran his tongue along his lower lip before lowering his hand.

"It doesn't work that way. I respect that Raylan trusts you and the others, and that's about par for the course. He wants to trust people, even when he keeps getting burned. I don't trust people, Malcolm it's as simple as that and I trust Raylan to be Raylan.

If you and I were both hanging off a cliff, he would save you and let me get my own ass out of trouble. He wouldn't do it to be spiteful. He'd do it because that is what he expects of me. To have his back and to be competent enough to get both of us out of the shit when it breaks."
abrightboy: (consider this)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-06-25 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
“So abandoning the prospect of any tangible connection to other people is… what makes you happy?” Malcolm clarifies. “I’ve had to be my only advocate in a lot of situations from a pretty young age but… having been historically unable to rely on anyone hasn’t made me enjoy not having anyone to rely on. We all need someone to pull us up the cliff at some point. If you’re dangling over the edge, there’s no shame in accepting a hand.”
walkingtrigger: (pic#14813474)

[personal profile] walkingtrigger 2021-06-25 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
"You're putting words in my mouth," Tim scolded but he did so in a gentle tone. A push back, rather than a shove and run. "There is a difference between ignoring an offered hand, and not ever expecting it in the first place.

I told you in the beginning; nothing scares me more than being in a situation where I am expecting that helping hand and it doesn't come. So I fight like hell for my independence."