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

[waywardsister]

Behind it... I assume an attic? But whatever it is, I wanna know. This place has too many goddamn questions and too few answers.

[ Claire frowns at the door, and then kicks it for good easure. It doesn't budge, and she swears. ]

Tried lockpicks and my shoulder so far. I think I might upgrade to tools and heavy furniture next, if I can't find a key. But really, this should have budged, y'know? I'm not just a pretty face, I'm good with these lockpicks. And the shoulder - usually.

[revvedup]

[ as another pretty face who's good with lockpicks and her shoulder, max frowns at the door as she stands. she gives the door a hard shove herself, putting a considerable amount of her strength behind it, but nothing budges. ]

Maybe we can find a slim jim or something. What were you using to try to pick the lock?

[ an unfolded paper clip might do the trick, if she hasn't tried that one already. ]

[waywardsister]

[ Claire pulls a set of Lockpicks from her pocket and shows them to Max. ]

These. Don't usually fail me quite this hard - not a normal lock like this, anyway.

[ The woman is... strong. how strong, Claire can't tell, but by the way the door rattles, it's a safe bet she could wipe the floor with Claire.

Good to know. ]

[revvedup]

[ well, shit. max's eyebrows go up in obvious surprise at seeing the kit - sure, the girl is capable of more than she looks, but she wouldn't have necessarily pegged her as someone who would have her own kit, especially when you can do a fair amount with just a couple paperclips. ]

Nice kit. [ she stands back, studying the door and frowning at it. ] I'd go with something we can try slim jimmying in with before we start throwing furniture, but I don't know where we'd find one in this place.

[waywardsister]

Thanks. Always useful to have.

[ Hunters often have to go places they're not meant to be. Paperclips do a fine job in a pinch, of course. But why make things harder than they need to be?

Says the girl who hacks credit cards to get by. ]

Alright, alright - fair point. I was gonna give the place another pass to see if keys might not magically appear anyway.

[revvedup]

[ true, but sometimes you're without your supplies and you find yourself needing to improvise. she seems the type to appreciate that. ]

We can look for one while looking for the other. [ max turns and gives the door a final once over, frowning at it before she turns and starts heading back the way she came. ] Where were you looking for keys before?

[waywardsister]

Unoccupied rooms. There's no like... office or supply area where I'd expect spare keys to be kept.

[ Claire hesitates, then decides to remember her manners. ]

Claire, by the way.

[revvedup]

[ she nods in response before offering her own name. ] Max. [ she frowns at that statement, beginning to head down the stairs. ]

That's...weird. [ she tries recalling details, like the state of the room she'd claimed - someone had definitely lived in it at one point. ] Something like this place - people who own these kind of buildings usually keep records of who comes and goes, or at least who's lived there.

[waywardsister]

Yeah, you'd think so, right? But I found no office or the like. It might not be on site... If I had the name of the owner and like.... a phone book or something, I could find the adress. Maybe they have an office in their home...

[ Claire rubs her forehead, annoyed with this place. She feels, every moment, half a step removed from finding an answer. Instead, there are more questions. ]