villagemod: (sᴛᴏɴᴇ)
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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abrightboy: (got his attention)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-04 03:07 am (UTC)(link)
“I’m on sedatives, two antidepressants and an antipsychotic,” he said, still stuffing his pockets until the shelf was empty and he rattled when he moved. “But the sedatives are for the general anxiety and panic and that’s a lot of what I’m struggling with here.”
sharker: (o rly now)

[personal profile] sharker 2021-07-04 07:14 am (UTC)(link)
Parker just stares at him blankly. Most of her pop culture knowledge is courtesy of Hardison, which means that it's largely Star Trek- and Doctor Who-based.

"There's a doctor here."

That is, unless Carter had disappeared along with all the others who had disappeared. But it's better not to think about that right now. She lunges close again, finger pointed threateningly.

"Maybe your secret isn't as safe as you think."
tinstar: (howdy)

[personal profile] tinstar 2021-07-04 01:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Raylan's grin simmered down to an easy smile, eyes guarded.

"I'd say this was all real cute if I thought you were playin' around. I think maybe it's time to go tend to the additional bruises you put on me, I can barely stand as it is."

He tipped his hat at her. "Ma'am," before taking his slow and ginger steps to anywhere else.
abrightboy: (face shrug)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-04 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[Yeah, it probably was, come to think of it.]

Well, my boss wanted to call for help, but who do you even call for something like that? I figured it was sort of like axe throwing, except… backwards.
tinstar: (No hat suspicion)

[personal profile] tinstar 2021-07-04 08:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"Somethin' that helps then. Good. About goddamn time she gave you somethin'." Don't think he didn't notice the liquor and everything that seemed to skip over Malcolm's specific needs.

"You think they're gonna refill?"
tinstar: (Hotel Cowboy)

[personal profile] tinstar 2021-07-04 08:46 pm (UTC)(link)
"It's always better than doin' desk work all of the time, I'll grant you that," he said easily. "There's always some work there for Marshal's but I don't think I'll ever become a Chief Deputy. Too many rules, too much paperwork. Should probably stop shootin' people if I want some of that to let up, I suppose."
abrightboy: (got his attention)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-04 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
“I’m going to check that,” Malcolm told him. “I’m going to check that first thing tomorrow. Once I collect as many as I can find. I might have to go home and get a bag or something.”

He paused, then - rattling - threw his arms around Raylan’s neck.

“Thank you.”
conning: (screencaptures_013)

[personal profile] conning 2021-07-05 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
Neal snorts, in spite of the little prickle of goosebumps that creeps across his neck. "I'd prefer for anyone these people felt the need to shackle up to stay gone. Either they were truly unhinged or they probably ended up that way."

He pulls the cupboard open. It's not a treasure trove, but there are still a few bottles inside.
conning: (screencaptures_060)

[personal profile] conning 2021-07-05 03:27 am (UTC)(link)
"If only." He opens the lock in a trice and stands back, gesturing for Malcolm to do the honors. "I don't speak pharmaceutical."
conning: (screencaptures_359)

[personal profile] conning 2021-07-05 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Get a little danger in there, too. A splash of intrigue."

He ponders that for a moment. "Our tagline can be something about how out of this world our services are."

He groans a little at himself. "Never, never tell Mozzie I said that. Any version of him you ever have chance to encounter."
thering: (Doc787)

[personal profile] thering 2021-07-05 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
"A hundred and fifty--" That's as much of a 'holy flaming shitballs' reaction as Neal is going to get from Doc. He wouldn't even know what to do with fifteen million dollars, let alone a hundred and fifty million dollar bills.

"You didn't keep one?" Doc asks with a little chuckle. Not a box of fake bonds, he means. Just one bond. Or the original one. "I know I would've." There's enough law-abiding citizens in Mathias and nobody ever said Doc Holliday would be a straight and honest influence on anybody. The only thing straight about him is his shooting. He's not even going to try and dress it up like he'd frame it up for sentimental value.

"I've noticed you... have a bit of a tremor in your hands, sometimes," Doc says, trying to be gentle about it even though he knows how crushing that can be to a man who needs those fine motor skills to be everything he has built himself to be. "You don't draw much anymore. Does it... not make you happy any longer?"
vampirebats: (pic#14493366)

[personal profile] vampirebats 2021-07-05 09:20 am (UTC)(link)
"WITSEC? Why the fuck?" He gives a curious look over his shoulder. Sounds like trouble has always followed Neal. "But I'm sorry about that. Must be rough, not getting to see your mother, even if you wanted."

vampirebats: (pic#14493394)

[personal profile] vampirebats 2021-07-05 09:28 am (UTC)(link)
He didn't need anyone feeling sorry for him -- he's never needed that his whole damn life. He'd thought, at the very least, he could count on Doc to have his back though... maybe not in a friendly way, maybe not in anything more than a begrudging way so neither of them died. For once, he's not confident at all about that.

And no, he can't convince him to feel any other way. So if he's gotta avoid the asshole to keep the peace-- he can do that. It still stings, but it isn't a surprise either.

"Fuck-- fine. Whatever, asshole."
vampirebats: (pic#14493367)

[personal profile] vampirebats 2021-07-05 09:35 am (UTC)(link)
"It doesn't, and he wasn't the first. Hell, I can't even say he'll be the last if I go back there. Doesn't mean I wouldn't choose another way if I could." Whatever he felt in that moment-- he'd just done what he had to for his people. That much was the truth.

He nods at that response though, a little relieved. "Most important part of this is... we stick together. This place will want to divide us, but people don't survive if they're all working against each other, if they don't watch out for each other."
vampirebats: (pic#14493375)

[personal profile] vampirebats 2021-07-05 09:36 am (UTC)(link)
"Nope. We're in the middle of a goddamn war-- or we were. For all I know, it's over with, long as we've been here." He shrugs his shoulders. "The other group-- they wanted to finish the job wiping us out."
conning: (screencaptures_823)

[personal profile] conning 2021-07-05 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Neal grins. It's gratifying to get that strong of a reaction from Doc. "The temptation was definitely there."

The grin drops away at Doc's observation, the question that follows. Neal self-consciously wraps his left hand around his right, even though the later isn't shaking right now. He told Malcolm that he couldn't paint like this. Malcolm insisted that he might not be able to paint a Monet, but he could still paint.

No. No, he couldn't.

"I just haven't been in a good place for it."

Even though it's supposed to be the place he retreats to when he needs it most.
conning: (screencaptures_198)

[personal profile] conning 2021-07-05 05:31 pm (UTC)(link)
He gets the coffee brewing, then goes back to set up the pot and broth for the soup, using bullion cubes, loathe though he is to do it.

"My dad was a corrupt cop," he says bluntly, because he hates dancing around it. "I don't know everything he did, my aunt never told me, but I know he shot his superior officer. There had to be more though, or we wouldn't have needed WITSEC."

Neal rubs his face. "I thought he was dead most of my life. My mom told me he was. That he... died a hero, got gunned down. But he wasn't. And he's alive out there, somewhere. My aunt told me the truth when I turned eighteen." He half-smiles. "Which is also when I learned that she wasn't actually my aunt, she was my dad's former partner. It was a lot for a kid."

He carefully avoids the question of how hard it is not to know where his mother is.
Edited 2021-07-05 17:32 (UTC)
abrightboy: (regretful)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-05 07:37 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'm so sorry," Malcolm tells him. "I'm sorry that they're probably in more danger without you there."
tinstar: (Laughin)

[personal profile] tinstar 2021-07-05 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Raylan nodded and before he could get much of any kind of answer out, Malcolm was rattling himself almost comically into his arms. He couldn't help but smile crookedly at it and hug Malcolm back.

"'Course. You know we've been looking for this kinda stuff for you. Oh and.. Pillowcase. Automatic bag and plenty around here to steal. I'll try not to look too LEO official while I'm not seeing you take any of these prescription drugs."
abrightboy: (secret smile)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-05 08:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Malcolm brightens a little. "Really?" He moves to the dough, reaching for it almost cautiously, squishing it between his fingers as he folds it over and pushes it into a ball. "The last time I touched dough like this was when I used to go to the kitchen to watch my mother's housekeeper make bread. I asked if I could try it - the kneading - and she let me. But my mother came in after, like, one turn and told me to get out of the kitchen before someone mistook me for a short order cook."

He folds it and pushes it again.

"It feels nice. It's... warmer than I expected."
abrightboy: (counterpoint)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-05 08:50 pm (UTC)(link)
"Maybe someone else was there. Maybe the team showed up and shot him because he was threatening us," he murmurs. "High velocity splatter could be from a bullet wound."
abrightboy: (makes a point)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-05 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
"I think they'd shackle any of us up," Malcolm counters good-naturedly, reaching into the cabinet and stuffing the bottles into his pockets.
conning: (screencaptures_106)

[personal profile] conning 2021-07-05 08:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"Good point." He looks out the door, toward the rooms. "Do you think that's why they put those little things from home around? To, I don't know, make us wonder if we'd been here and just didn't remember?"
abrightboy: (fond contemplates)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-05 09:04 pm (UTC)(link)
Malcolm smirked at him. "I have a prescription. For a couple of them," he teased back. "See, I take alprazolam therapeutically, but I also have a prescription for lorazepam, which is a fast-acting benzodiazepine, that I'm allowed to take for panic attacks," he explains. "I wonder if any more of these rooms have these little closets in them," he adds, stepping over to look up and down the hall.
abrightboy: (counterpoint)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-07-05 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Malcolm reaches into the cabinet eagerly, examining labels.

"Sedatives. All sedatives, same as the last one," he confirms, shoving bottles into his pockets. He pauses as he looks at one of them. "Except for this. I don't recognize this one. It doesn't even have a proper chemical name." He shrugs and puts it in his pocket too.