004-006 » it was the possibility of darkness...

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone.
WHERE: Eastern Mathias.
WHEN: Days 004-006
WHAT: Where has the day gone?
WARNINGS: Will update as necessary. PM this account to have a warning added!
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Graham Plowman "The King in Yellow"

DAY 004
THE DAY OF DARKNESS

For those who ventured out on the third night, the day will look eerily familiar, for this is no day. The sun does not rise in the morning as it should, and the black sky still stretches ominously above them with no stars or moon to light their way. It is impossible to tell either the hour or the passage of time, a truly disorienting experience for those used to the normal cycle of day and night.

Beyond the safety of that initial cluster of houses are three blocks more of residential spaces, along with streets branching off on either side into neighborhoods. There are no lights on in any of these homes, though there are occasional streetlights illuminating the way. The unwilling residents of Mathias are welcome to explore these home, though it is wise to take care of being out in the cold for too long. The temperature hovers near the freezing point, dipping lower the further one ventures down those side streets. At a certain point, the temperature drops sharply and those comforting streetlights blink into darkness. These same conditions befall those who try to walk beyond the Mathias Public Library.

The silence from the start of the unearthly night also continues into what should be day. No sounds travel through that bitterly cold air and while there is no physical impact on any who wander outside, the silence feels oppressive and like the rest of the world has disappeared beyond their small circle of sound and whatever light they carry with them.


A NEW ARRIVAL

A terrible time to arrive in Mathias, surrounded by darkness and freezing cold. The newest resident will find herself shivering awake beneath a streetlight outside the Public Library, with no sign of how or why she has ended up in this unfamiliar place.

Best get inside, dear. It isn't safe in the cold.

DAY 005
NIGHT CONTINUES

There is still no sign of the sun. No moon. No stars. Nothing but darkness and painful cold greets our weary fellows on the fifth day.

Indeed, it seems almost monotonous, like this stretch of hours will be exactly as the last... until it isn't. At unpredictable intervals, the power begins to fluctuate within buildings where it had previously held steady. Lights flicker, central heating stutters, and as the hours wear on, there is the notion at the back of the mind that the electricity may go out entirely. Many houses and buildings in Mathias have fireplaces — it might be a good time to start using them.

DAY 006
SILENCE BROKEN

Across Mathias, the power fails completely. Now our ill-fated friends understand why emergency kits are so easily found in residences and businesses in town. Candles, matches, crank flashlights — these are the only means to light your way if you're foolish enough to move beyond the safety and warmth of a fireplace.

The silence is no longer relegated to the outdoors now, but has seeped inside. Sounds almost seem to be absorbed by the impenetrable blackness, disappearing into its depth so completely that one might begin to believe they never existed. The feeling of utter isolation becomes almost maddening, relief only provided slightly by the company of others. And then, suddenly, within that dark nothingness—

Voices. Indiscernible whispers from within the black, one voice or a dozen, with no source to be found. Lasting a mere second or for minutes or hours on end, coming from any direction or from nowhere at all, heard by only one person or by everyone, there is no shutting them out. Following the whispers is ill-advised, as they may lead away from the safety of a group, or out into the cold and beyond the point of no return.

---

LOCATIONS

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY A large brick building with a string of round lightbulbs draped across the double door entry way, the library resides at the intersection of Phillips Drive and Jackson Boulevard. The building is older than most in this area and coated in more dust than an ill-used library might usually see. There are a number of tall windows throughout the main room that are either broken with glass and debris scattered across a wide stretch of floor or coated in grime so thick that light couldn't penetrate even if there was any. There are lanterns with candles set around the room on lower shelves or the tops of pedestals, and low lamps with green glass are perched on reading tables at one end.

The books are what one might typically find in a small town library - classics, history, dry biographies, but nothing too controversial and nothing published after 1990. But these books are all collected at the front half of the library — toward the back is a different story. Almost as if walking into a different era, the shelves suddenly filled with old leather-bound tomes that smell add a musty smell to the air. Those shelves rise up toward the high ceiling, the tops barely able to be seen with one of the lanterns should it be lit, and as one reaches the very back of the library—

Streaks of soot cover the shelves, or what remain of them, and those along the wall are a blackened mess of what is left behind when books burn. From floor to ceiling, these shelves are a mangled ruin, and there is no way to tell what these books might have contained, or why the fire did not spread further into the room.

THE RESIDENTIAL HOUSES The stretch of new houses mentioned on Night 3 may still be explored as the night continues. Phillips Drive continues on for three blocks past where Mathias's newest residents took shelter, and the cross-streets of King Lane, Stoker Park, and Jackson Boulevard are also open for one block in either direction. Venturing beyond this area is met with painful cold and debilitating exhaustion.

The houses in this section of town are both locked and unlocked, ranging from pristine (if dusty) condition to rundown and falling apart, as if some houses have aged where others have not. The "oldest" houses have been overtaken by rot, interior walls missing whole sections, holes in the floors between levels. There is running water in all the houses in this area of time, but only the best condition houses have working electricity, though the electricity will begin to fail as the night stretches on. The corded landline telephones found within the homes are still working, thankfully, and new sets of numbers (this time without names) are easily found for each block.

As utterly empty as the "newest" houses seem to be, the oldest are... less so. There's a feeling that someone could walk around the corner at any moment. It is almost the sensation of being watched, or of there being thing else there that cannot be seen. Nothing in the houses is disturbed and there are no shadows springing out, so perhaps there's really nothing there at all...

THE BOARDING HOUSE Another large brick building at the intersection of Phillips Drive and Jackson Boulevard, the boarding house occupies the opposite corner from the library and seems to be almost as old as the larger building across from it. There are three stories to the building: the first floor contains the kitchen (fully stocked), dining room, shared living room space, and a half bath; the second floor has four single bedrooms and one full bath; the third floor also has four single bedrooms and one full bath. There is a locked door on the third floor that leads to an attic. Each room is furnished with a double bed, desk, and small table and chairs, and in each room there can be found the clothing and personal effects of the former boarders. The electricity and other utilities in the boarding house function just fine until the power fluctuations begin as in the rest of town.

Room 1 — unclaimed
Room 2 — unclaimed
Room 3 — Daisy Johnson
Room 4 — Max Guevara
Room 5 — Number Five
Room 6 — Phil Coulson
Room 7 — Claire Novak
Room 8 — unclaimed

To claim a house for layout designing/exploration or a room in the boarding house, comment here. House numbers will be generated in response to comments.

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Comments

QUESTIONS?

[villagemod]

Use this space to ask general questions about this log and the circumstances or locations presented within. Please direct more broad game questions to the FAQ.

[hellblaze]

first first first

re: houses (so people can see answers if similar questions!)
Is there a set "guideline" to the houses like Log 1? Such as them being from a certain economic class (middle, high, low), or general size? Or do we just get to really go ham with it?

[reydacted]

Does walking into the darkness/following the whispers produce results that are substantially different than Day 3 night? Also, are they able to navigate back to the beach?

[enduresurvive]

I assume there are still no weapons to be found, such as hiding in a garage or attic? (Ellie already has some hammers)

[warfares]

can books be removed from the library and brought back to the houses?

[thering]

I had... 3 questions. Just wondering if Doc might find books about himself or people he might know in the library and if there are illustrations/photos of them or the actual real people or someone else.

I'm not really sure how the sanity thing is supposed to work, for now will it suffice to just keep track of unsettling things that are making them doubt themselves or whether they did something stupid on one of the days?

And are there first aid kits in any of the locations at all? Are they self replenishing like the food? Y'all gonna give him heart palpitations at this rate.

[revvedup]

do the voices sound like strangers to the people hearing them, or can they sound familiar?

[tinstar]

Is there already wood piles for the fireplaces or is that something Raylan will be able to forge for? Following that, how close is the/a treeline to the houses?

[waywardsister]

Is the locked door to the attic of the boarding house just a normal lock that Claire could pick?

Re: QUESTIONS?

[fika]

building on the attic door for the immediate question, what happens when five will attempt to jump inside it?

and sorry, edit, secondly!! will the voices sound familiar, or indiscernible? five will likely follow either way, but even more blindly if they sound like his fam!

thank you!

[torsion]

In regard to the locked attic, would Jill have any better luck between a lockpick set and almost twenty years of experience of busting into hundreds of different locks?

If not, would her violence be enough? :) :) :)

Secondly, would it be possible to find a small hand axe or handsaw, if even dull? Fire wood obviously will only last so long and Jill would offer to cut wood and split the logs, but try as she might there is only so much she can do with kicking :(

LAST for the moment: Jill will be checking the water tanks of the toilets. Any baggies of drugs or secret diaries or anything?

[hellblaze]

Library questions!

- Are the tomes in the library magical or occult in nature?
- If they are magical/occult, which culture would they be from? Are they ancient (Sumer, Egypt, Babylonian, ect ect)? Or more medieval (Latin)? Or more modern (Crowley)?
- If ancient then are they able to be read at all?
- What are the consequences of taking one or ten home?

Now the real fun part....

- The burned section. Is it just the shelves and books that once contained things that are toast? Or is it the literal floor too?
- If the floor is burned toast then can it be broken?
- Is there any way to tell if the fire was started by natural means or by magical means?

Thanks luv, you're awesome.

[warfares]

is there any way to determine the source of whatever fire took out some of the library shelves?

also, is it only kept to a particular section of the library or did it spread--and if it was a specific section, which? or, is there a particular area that was especially badly hit?

[40seconds]

Are there ladders in the library? You know, in case any vertically challenged folks want to inspect the top shelves. Or the tops of the shelves...

MOD INPUT

[villagemod]

Use this space to ping a mod to weigh in on your thread, such as if your character is searching quite specifically in a location or interacting with something that requires feedback.

HOUSING

[villagemod]

Use this space to claim a room in the boarding house or a house for layout designing or exploration. Players are welcome to "claim" a house and then add/edit comments to provide details later.

For houses: Because there are just too many numbers to list, simply specify a street and the general state of the house you'd like to claim/explore and the mod will provide your house number. If your character is staying in a house from log 1, please also note that here!

[revvedup]

claiming room 4 for max guevara!

❖ Claire Novak | Open

[waywardsister]

[ ooc: Please see OOC Plotting here, or hit me up on inkcharm ]

❖ Day 004: Boarding House

[waywardsister]

[ Claire finds her way to the boarding home. The choice to abandon the Anders residence by the beach comes easily to her, truth be told - while usually quite alright with going at things alone, the house feels empty and still in ways she doesn't like, and doesn't want to examine further.

She misses Jody. Alex. Donna. Patience.

.... Kaia.

So she finds her way to the Boarding House, still feeling stiff and cold in her limbs from attempting to explore this place at... well. Night. Except it's still night. Seriously, screw this shit hole of a place.

She ends up on the third floor. Room number 7 - because 7, 8, 9 - and then... well. Then she discovers that the third floor has an attic door that's locked. And thus begins a journey.

Characters are free to encounter Claire during Day 4. At first, she's going to attempt to pick the lock. After that fails, she moves on to violence - shoulder vs door? The door wins. It should not be this sturdy. Still, stubbornly refusing to give up, Claire will then begin exploring the entire building, top to bottom and back up, to find tools, keys, anything - she does find her room key, which is useful.

Doesn't quite find a key to the attic door. Tools do some minor damage. Trying to battering ram it down with a heavy side table doesn't do anything except hurt Claire herself, who by the end of the "day" is sitting on the third floor, back leaning against that stubborn attic door, rubbing her left shoulder. To anyone who finds her now, after the ordeal, she will comment: ]

You know, in any good horror movie, this is when the door would fall open behind me, and I'd get dragged inside by some entity I could then punch in the dick.

🔥 john constantine | open & closed prompts

[hellblaze]

( head over to OOC Plots or ping me over on whisperstars if you want me somewhere! ♥

brackets or prose is entirely welcome. )

➝ day 4 (open/closed)

[hellblaze]

i. take a little walk to the edge of town, and go across the tracks.

[ When John wakes the morning of the fourth day? He expects to see the sun. Maybe not birds chirping and the like, but definitely sun. One can imagine his confusion when he looks out the window of the master bedroom of the Mulcalley house and sees that it is pitch black. He looks back at the clock beside the bed, then back at the window. Then, puffs out his cheeks.

If it isn't going to be light outside then there's no point in NOT exploring.

Armed with his trenchcoat, a mental note on how many cigarettes he has, and a flashlight? John Constantine ventures off into the night-that-should-be-day to see what just might be beyond the little bit of houses past the Mulcalley Home. ]

[LOCKED] ii. no grave can hold my body down, i'll crawl home to her.

[ The outside is cold--bloody cold. He gives a shudder under his trenchcoat and has to pause a moment to button it up properly. How long has it been since he's had to do that? He chews on that idea as his feet hit the street below him. He walks until he comes to an intersection, casually angling the flashlight up to look at the signs.

Phillips Drive | Jackson Boulevard

John sniffs at the cold air before swinging his flashlight down the street of Jackson Boulevard. That's when the large building with long windows catches his attention. ]

Well, now. That's new.

[ Or, old. Given the perspective.

John crosses the way and moves to the front of the building. He attempts to look in the windows to see what might be inside--too dark. Of course it is! Nothing in this place seems easy or simple for the first four days he has been here.

Christ, it's been four days already.

With a frustrated shout and kicking his foot at the building, John spins himself back to face the street. A few stomps later and he finds that he's glued to the spot. The thought process of why only lasts a few moments because it clicks in his head why he has. A familiar woman is standing under one of those pitiful street lamps. He stands there practically gobsmacked at it. Out of all the people to find here, he never expected...

Zed Martin. ]

Raylan Given | Open and closed prompts

[tinstar]

[You can find my plotting post here or hit me up on hellacopacetic

If you prefer brackets, lemme know, I'm flexible.]

Day Four ◄ Open

[tinstar]

The weight of the darkness outside, of the silence beyond the crackling of the wood in the fireplace, was starting to weigh on Raylan. It had been hours since the storm broke - at least three. Where was the goddamned sun. The walls weren't moving, he knew they weren't but every passing second, the room felt smaller and smaller. Unable to take it anymore, he dutifully put out his fire and slipped his knee length black jacket on. Armed the crank lantern he planned on using until it gave out on him when not under the streetlights, Raylan walked out into the darkness and towards the barrier he'd encountered the night before.

But no pain, no exhaustion, no need to try and hurl up his own boots. That should have been a good thing. It only made Raylan more suspicious and lost in his situation. Not to mention cold. He buttoned up his jacket and popped his collar before continuing.

He made his way up into town, noting the library before heading off down Stroker's Park off Phillips Drive. It was like the town decided to open up to them, which was ridiculous.. Right? There'd been too much and not enough over the past three days and the two hours of sleep he'd gotten the night before, having stayed up since he arrived, was starting to show in the depth of shadows on his face.

number five - the umbrella academy - open/closed

[fika]

( plotting here if i haven't bothered most of you already :) or hit my up at berezka)

☄ DAY 4 - DAY OF DARKNESS - open

[fika]

THE BOARDING HOUSE

( this place had already established an infuriating trend of complete disorientation - it’s as though every efforts had been taken to ensure that this place didn’t exist save for the fact that they were all physically here.

then, to add to things like a terribly inconsistent wristwatch and an oppressive restriction on the abilities five had grown so used to relying on, there was no sun. or moon. or stars. no day cycle to even speak of, replaced by the unrelenting darkness.

but the passing of the storm still reveals more to this town that isn’t, and five knows that answers don’t just come when you wait for them, so he sets out with a backpack he found, his notes and a small accumulation of supplies because habits die hard, and he’ll need as much stored energy as he could get.

he finds the boarding house in the unsettling silence, warm light from the windows, and that’s how he finds himself there, occupying room 5 because it was on the nose and bad humor. a room was all he needed, not a big house that was too quiet and too much all at once.

he can be found wandering the halls here, tracking away from the attic and the infamous door, looking a bit worse for wear and buried in his thoughts. so much so, he’ll likely not notice someone until he almost walks into them. )

( or wildcard it baybeee i’m open to anything ever )

zed martin | constantine | open

[chicartista]

( feel free to hit me up on the plotting post or on plurk @ shookspeares :3 )

DAY 5 - open

[chicartista]

( since she would have spent day four with john here )

𝐢. 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 (𝐣𝐨𝐡𝐧'𝐬 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞)
[ zed wasn't entirely surprised when john had left her in the house he had said was his. he seemed more standoffish than usual. but she hasn't pushed it, telling herself it's because they're here he's acting like that. or it was the cold. the fact there were no stars or something. she still isn't sure what to make of where they are or what happened. normally in situations like this, she'd rely on her powers but she can't now and deep down it scares her.

she tries meditating but it doesn't bring her the same peace it used to her. the inner battle she normally had for control over her powers was gone. she wasn't feeling anything, she wasn't picking up on anything. a part of her was relieved. but the other was worried. and all of it made her feel off balance.

after a while she opens her eyes and groans in frustration. what was happening?! and what had happened to her? why couldn't she connect with her powers? and why had the headache she had had since arriving never gone away if they weren't working? ]


𝐢𝐢. 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 (𝐥𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲)
[ it's later when zed decides she needs to get out of the house. did john really think she was just going to sit inside? she gets as many layers as she can find and bundles up. she probably looks ridiculous but she doesn't really care. she needs to know more about what's happening. and if john isn't open to the idea of them working together like they had been before then she'll do it on her own.

that's how she ends up at the library. at first, she goes through the books at the front. she wanders the aisles and her fingers brush over the spines. she's hoping she'll have a vision. that maybe if she keeps touching things it will kick start her senses again. but there is nothing. and by the time she ends up at the back of the library, she's tired and frustrated.

the books in the back are older and there is a smell. but it's the soot and signs of fire as she keeps going that get her attention. what had happened here? ]

daisy johnson | closed

[chuju]

[ just a few closed things this log, for the sake of my sanity... ]

day 4 » closed

[chuju]

don't wanna say i'm scared, what's it like being broken? — closed to constantine

[ The boarding house hadn't been hard to find, just surprising. Those still existed? She might not be the history junkie that Coulson is, but she's pretty sure those went the way of the dodo by the time disco set in. Yet, there it stood, just as dusty and mysterious as all the other buildings she'd wandered into in this weird town so far.

It doesn't take her long to decide to hold up here while continuing the attempt at getting her bearings. After far too many hours in the freezing darkness the night before, she's not eager to repeat that experience, and at least here they can find safety and comfort in numbers. While it's not something she often thinks about, the only time Daisy has lived alone in the last six years was that awful stretch after Lincoln's death, which isn't something she'd like to repeat. So, after giving the place a good once-over and turning on every light she can find along the way, she chooses a room and starts the cleaning process.

Twenty minutes in, the bed is stripped and the linens stuffed into the washing machine she found beside the kitchen, the surfaces in the room are wiped down, and her clothes are just covered in dust. But at least there's some music, thanks to the small boom box on the dresser and stack of homemade mix tapes. Daisy doesn't recognize a single song but it's better than the creepy silence. ]

into the dark, trying not to lose myself when i go too far — closed to doc

[ After spending a good while in the room she'd claimed upstairs, cleaning and rifling through the previous occupant's possessions, Daisy wanders back to the first floor of the boarding house, leaving more footprints in the dust along the hardwood floors. Standing in the living room, she looks around at the mess that is the space she's chosen to stay in for who knows how long, and just sighs. Without being able to properly use her powers and still slightly too weak to fight well, she knows it's better to stay inside, especially with the temperature dropping so low, but she can't just do nothing.

So, more cleaning it is. A broom located, she fails at beating the dust off the couches and chairs (your arms are still injured, dummy) but does manage to clear most of the floor. It takes a while and she loses track of time, but then again, that's pretty easy to do when the clocks are being weird and the sun refuses to come out. ]

kylo ren - star wars.

[warfares]

( feel free to hit me up at the plotting post here or at resurrectionist. )

⟴ ᴅᴀʏ ғɪᴠᴇ - ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪʙʀᴀʀʏ: ᴏᴘᴇɴ

[warfares]

( exploring after dark is possibly one of the more foolish things he's done since arriving. but, better that than sitting around, waiting for answers to come to him.

he finds the library by sheer chance—the ring of lights framing the door calling to him from the darkness. having no reason to be wary, he is quick to duck inside. he doesn't intend to linger, but this swiftly changes.

he spends some time wandering the shelves, plucking a book here or there and flipping through its pages. very little, if any of it makes much sense to him. he has no concept earth, of its continents and its people.

it doesn't matter. he doesn't intend on sticking around any longer than necessary. certainly not when there's a war to win, the last twitches of his mother's resistance to stifle.

still, a pile of books grows on one of the reading tables—everything from astronomy to history to children's stories. he has a particular weakness for ghost stories and romances.

later, he can be found inspecting one of the ruined stacks. fingers reaching out to touch the heavy, black soot and rub it between his fingers. )

Phil Coulson | AoS | Open

[40seconds]

[ Feel free to poke me @ starkravinghazelnuts if you'd like to hash out something else not covered here! ]

Day 4 | The Library | Open

[40seconds]

[ Coulson would be lying if he said that time hasn’t stopped having meaning. The lack of a sunrise or any kind of change at all in the impenetrable darkness makes keeping track of the hours difficult. The only way he can tell anything at all is when tiredness finally sets in and he has to nod off for a few hours, but even then, that’s really not much of a telling detail, because the cold weather just makes him feel like he’s dragging all the time now.

His ventures outside have been in vain, more or less, and he hasn’t really made any noteworthy discoveries, so for the moment, he’s abandoned outside exploration in favor of having a look around what seems to be a public library.

He’s unsure what he might find, but at first, his attention is drawn to the books on history and the biographies, and he spends a good hour or so picking up one sizable tome after another, leafing through if it’s not immediately captivating, and thoroughly examining it if it is. What he’s hoping to find is some clues about this place, something that might prove useful, but the contents of the books are rather dry and contain no revelations.

Eventually, when he’s had his fill of books, he goes exploring deeper into the library, and that’s when he finds the evidence of a fire. Now, Coulson can be found in full investigator mode, sometimes bending over to inspect the floor, and other times mounting a ladder to look at the books contained on the top shelves and the shelves themselves.

It feels like a pointless gesture, because it’s not like he has a lab at his disposal, or anyone to work said lab, but he has a dented metal cup that he commandeered for his own use and a partially scribbled on piece of paper. Said paper has been folded up, and he uses it to scrape some of the soot into the cup. It’s probably going to come to nothing, but stranger things have happened.

Finally, still carefully balancing the cup with the soot sample in it, Coulson moves to leave the library, but not before he lifts one of the mostly burned books from its equally burned resting place. And for good measure, when he returns to the intact part of the library, he pauses in front of the history section yet again, as if trying to decide what he should take from that section as well. ]

Ellie | The Last Of Us 2 | closed starters

[enduresurvive]

day 6 | for max

[enduresurvive]

Ellie's house had had failing electricity off and on the past couple days. It doesn't really bother her. She knows how to deal with the lack of electricity, even the biting cold. What's hard is the strange, absorbing silence. Rey isn't there 24/7, and even if she were, it's not like Ellie feels close enough to the other girl yet to do something like talk about anything super deep.

But the silence is hard. All there is in that kind of silence is Ellie's own demons, her thoughts a dark reminder of death and violence. She can't take it. So she goes out into the cold anyway.

Here, the voices chatter at her nonsensically. She can't make them out in any real way, but she ends up following them anyway. She can't figure out any other clue here, any answers. The darkness, the silence, the fucking multiple universes thing? It's just getting to her, or whatever. But the whispers lead her further out than she means to go. She has a flashlight, but the further out she goes, the less it seems to do. Eventually she just gives up and turns it off with fingers that feel half frozen.

The cold and the dark are worse than she could have anticipated. Not too far outside of the part of town that is (relatively) safe, she just...cannot continue. She doesn't so much fall over as she just gives up and sits there on the ground in the dark, out of it, alone. She'll probably just sit there and freeze, if she's unlucky.