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

[chicartista]

[ his coat is warm and it's like a jolt to her system. at least enough to break her out of the daze she's in. she still has no idea what's going on but she trusts john enough that she'll follow him.

she pulls his coat around herself and then slips her arms into the too-long sleeves. ]

Okay.

[ she'd follow him wherever, a house, back to the bar (was that even possible?) anywhere that he thought was safe. there were so many times where she had been warned against trusting him but it was times like these she knows she can. ]

I'll follow you.

[hellblaze]

[ oh, she should really know better than to trust him by now. it'll get her killed sooner or later. ]

Right. [ he pauses and gives a shiver, rolling his sleeves down and looking around. it'll take him a moment to get realigned. you can only really see as far as the light will shine. ] Talkative tonight, aren't we?

[ deflecting it all with humor. classic john constantine.

john steps back out into the darkness, the hand with the watch grabbing her arm again to tug her along behind him. he has every intention of making his way back to the mulcalley home. he's been there the last few days and, after getting in touch with the energies there? it's comfortable. a bit of a home base for now.

he lifts the flashlight enough to look at he to make sure she's alright before turning it to read the street signs and know where to turn. ]

I don't suppose you've managed to pick anything up in the short time you've been here.

[chicartista]

[ she gives him an 'are you serious look?' how was he so calm about any of this? she knew there were different types of magic but she had never heard of something like this. how could you be one place and then open the door and end up somewhere else? this wasn't the mill house - so how was that possible.

she doesn't protest when he tugs her behind him. foolish as it may be she still trusts him to get them somewhere safe. ]

John, I don't understand. Where are we? [ she looks at the streetlights when his flashlight shines on them. she doesn't recognize them. it's worrying. ]

I... no. [ she hesitates. everything has happened so quickly she hasn't been able to make sense of anything. and that scares her almost as much as not being able t pick anything up. ] I don't feel... anything.

[hellblaze]

A little town somewhere in the vague possible area of the Northeast called Mathias. [ it's a flat quick answer--and honestly all he knows. it's not about trying to keep information from her this time. he simply doesn't know.

then, he stops at that. he turns to look at her, white breath leaving his lips as he fights off a shiver. his hold on her relaxes just a bit. ]

And... this lack of feeling anything isn't because it's cold, is it?

[chicartista]

[ mathias? she's never heard of it before. not that it means anything but it makes her feel even more unsettled and she shivers even more in john's coat.

at his question she shakes her head. ]

I don't think so. I can usually always feel something but right now... there's nothing.

[hellblaze]

[ Nothing... that's not a good sign. John sighs, letting out a long exhale. Right. Well, they'll focus on that once they're inside warm. ]

Right, well. First we'll get ourselves out of this cold, yeah? Then we'll give a thought or two towards those powers.

[ Focus on a task - something important. Easier than having to face what happened before. ]

[chicartista]

[ she nods again and wraps her arms around her even tighter. while his coat helps, she's still cold. hopefully, that house he mentioned wasn't too far away.

how did he know about it? he couldn't have been that far ahead of her. it had only been a few minutes after he left the bar she had gone after him. ]

How long have you been here?

[hellblaze]

Time doesn't work the way it should here. But, old faithful says a few days. [ the hand with the watch raises then. given the conversation he had with five? he's honestly not sure how long it's been. ] Seems like everyone else showed up right about the same time.

[ a long breath can be seen leaving him. a streak of white warm air hitting the cold sky. another shiver wracks his body then. something tells him to look behind him--and he does. the lights behind them begin to flicker. first the street lights far away, then one by one, getting closer to them.

he takes her by the arm again and pulls her close. ]

Right... time to find the nearest house instead.

[chicartista]

[ his answer just gives rise to more questions. how could it have been a few days when she had seen him only minutes before ending up here? how could time not work properly?

she turns in the direction of the flickering lights. and she can't help but feel that dread creep back up. then she looks back at john. if it wasn't for the cold she'd be asking all the questions that whirl around in her head. ]

Don't people live in them?

[hellblaze]

[ time dilation between spells or dimensions isn't that strange. not that they've really covered that in her training just yet. he was hoping to keep the dimensional travel bit until further down the road. or really never. zed could do it - honestly most the time it's just astral projection - but he didn't want to throw more at her plate given circumstances. ]

They did at one point.

[ he flicks his flashlight back and forth to look through the sheer darkness of it all. his hand stays firmly around her arm as the cold starts to set in. he can feel his hands shaking. it brings up the recent memories of arriving at the beach.

then a bit of blue catches his attention. john turns, flashlight crossing over his path.

close enough, really.

john gives zed a slight tug before moving ahead of her to stride quickly over to the house. ]

[chicartista]

[ at one point?!

that just gives her more questions and for a moment she stops and stares at him. that sense of dread churns in her stomach even more and she pulls his coat around herself even tighter. what had happened to everyone? she can't help but imagine the worst especially after what they had just dealt with.

she moves again when he tugs her. she's almost nervous about going into the house. what if there was something in there that had caused the people to disappear? or if something worse happened to them.

but she follows anyway because it's cold and she doesn't want to be outside in the dark much longer. ]

[hellblaze]

[ there are plenty of working theories but nothing fully concrete. which is why he simply shrugs and hops up the stairs of the house. he looks around before looking back at her and giving a grin. there is a violent shiver that over takes him. he ignores it. with one hand on the door handle he squares the door to his shoulder and gives a good shove.

the door opens without much problems and he almost stumbles because of it. one hand goes out to steady himself on a table? couch? it's hard to tell when it's pitch black. john stands and turns back to her with a grin. ]

Fairly sure no one is home, luv.

[chicartista]

[ zed nods even if it still felt strange to go into someone else's house. but it's freezing so it isn't as if they have much choice in where to go. it was so cold outside staying out there wasn't an option and there was something unnerving about the dark. it just didn't seem normal. ]

If you say so.

[ she steps inside after him and glances around in the dark. it's hard to make anything out in the dark. ]

[hellblaze]

[ he clicks the door shut behind her. there is some fumbling before he finds the light switch and fills the living room with light. he winces at first, raising a hand to help block some of the light. ]

Bloody hell.

[ he takes note of the fireplace and couches in the front room. then he looks back to zed with a shrug and a smile. he slips his freezing hands into his pockets and starts walking down the way to learn the layout. ]

[chicartista]

[ zed glances around the room. there is something strange about being in this house, but then what isn't strange about this? after a moment she follows john down the hallway, she doesn't want to be alone right now. ]

Maybe they have blankets.

[hellblaze]

Up the stairs then, shall we?

[ before she can even answer to it, john is bounding up the stairs and flicking the lights as he goes. three rooms. he checks in each one: bedrooms.

the master bedroom is certainly cozy. ]

How about blankets and beds?

[chicartista]

[ she follows john up the stairs. it still feels like they're intruding. this is someone's home and somehow it still looks and feels lived in even though there is no one else there and john said no one had been here for some time.

she helps him find extra blankets. and then moves them to the bed in the master bedroom. the shock of the situation and the cold had made her tired. and she has so many questions she can't figure out what to ask first. maybe she can sort that out after a good night's sleep.

once the bed is set she slips the coat and hands it back to john. it's somewhat lost on her that they're sharing a bed. but it's for warmth, because of the situation. nothing else, she's too tired for it anyways. she pulls the blankets up to her chin and closes her eyes.

tomorrow she'll have questions, even if she can't help but think that john won't have all the answers. that must be driving him crazy. ]