065-071 » assign to oblivion / part iii

[villagemod]

WHO: Everyone
WHERE: Mathias Township proper
WHEN: Days 065-071
WHAT: The residents of Mathias reunite under unnerving conditions.
WARNINGS: (PM this account to have a warning added!)
NOTES: Plotting post over here!

RECOMMENDED ♫ Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross "Outside"

DAY 065-071
ASSIGN TO OBLIVION
“No matter how much time passes, no matter what takes
place in the interim, there are some things we can never
assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away.”
— Haruki Murakami

Only two days have passed since the town was fractured, leaving residents cut off from those they'd come to know and even care for. A mere two days of wandering the new streets, uncovering more secrets that continue to make little sense of this strange place. Two days with sunrises, sunsets, and nights that seem like any other.

And yet.

When residents wake on this third day, they will find that much has changed. All around them, wherever they may be, there are signs that time has passed without them. Dust covers everything, indoors and out, even areas that were spotlessly clean seemingly hours ago. The residents themselves are covered as well, dust clinging to their hair, skin, and clothing—

Clothing that they may not have been wearing when they went to sleep. Each resident, regardless of the state they were in previously, is now clad in a pair of white pajamas, with long pants and button-up shirts. Those who thoroughly explored Baneberry Hall will easily recognize these articles as identical to those well-stocked in the decaying great house. On top of this, the clothes they wore from home have disappeared, along with anything else they may have brought with them when they arrived or items from home that have been found within the borders of Mathias.

There is no sign that anyone has entered their place of shelter, nor is there any sign of what may have been done with these items or how they came to be wearing these clothes. The dust all around them is undisturbed, almost as if they had been sleeping there for quite some time, though it seems impossible for such a thing to have occurred naturally.


THE NEW ARRIVALS
The newest arrivals to Mathias will wake up on the lawn of Town Hall, at the center of the little town square. They, too, are bereft of any items from home and clothed in the identical white pajamas. There are shops all around them, with houses just beyond, and at first glance, everything seems almost picturesque. Except for the silence that is at times so complete as to be maddening... Welcome to Mathias.

---

SUMMERTIME
— When summer arrives, so too does an outdoor stand in front of the General Store. Sporting a handpainted sign proclaiming Whateley Farm, the stand is overflowing with a variety of produce: berries, plums, carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, green beans, leeks, onions, peppers, potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, and garlic bulbs. These do not replace the produce offerings normally found inside the market, but they do behave strangely. The stand replenishes sporadically, sometimes every other day or every five days. There is no discernible pattern to when it replenishes, nor is there any sign of how it came to be there at all.

— With the now-complete reverse change of season, much of the autumn debris has cleared from around town. Only a few stray leaves and fallen branches remain, their crisp colors at odds with the warm summer days. The forest has also cleared of much of the fall detritus, making it easier to both follow the paths and potentially spy things that might be out of the ordinary.

---

CONDITIONS UPDATE

— THE WEATHER Summer has arrived in Mathias, bringing with it warm days that average 70°F and comfortably cool nights. The skies are clear throughout the week save for Day 68 when a light rain falls from a grey sky throughout the day.

— THE FOG has maintained its 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! Max Guevara and Liz Brundy have disappeared, and now that everyone is back together, residents will notice that Yennefer, Number Five, and Tony Stark have also vanished.

— 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

— 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 My non-RP life is busy and chaotic and I continue to ask for your forgiveness and understanding as game things continue to be slower, as I cannot promise timely mod responses beyond weekends and even that is not wholly guaranteed.

— ITEMS FROM HOME All items from home that characters would normally possess have vanished for this log and will return in the next. This includes clothing and possessions they had when they arrived in Mathias, items that were found in the rain, and items that were found in Baneberry Hall and removed from the property. Items from home that were left behind by other characters no longer in the game have also vanished. (All other items and clothing still remain, it is only items from characters' homes that have disappeared.)

— BANEBERRY ITEMS The items from home that were not removed from Baneberry Hall in the last log have vanished from the property. These items will not reappear in the next log. (Please be sure to comment in the appropriate spot on those logs about the state of your character's item for inventory purposes, ie whether they were removed from the property or left behind.)

— 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 points, not just those that occur in an inbox thread — this applies to both AC and AP totals. This adjustment is an extension of what has been in place since the start of the game: that all dialogue-only inbox tags counted for a half-point. Since such tags have occurred regularly in log threads as well, the half-point status is simply being extended to all tags regardless of location in order to be fairer in point distribution. (Examples will be provided in the AC post to assist with proper counting.)

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DAY 65 (Morning): Phillips Drive Commune

[bardish]

Jeff wakes up with a sneeze, setting off a cloud of dust from his pillow. Which results in another sneeze, and soon he's sitting up, nose wrinkled in discomfort, trying to hold back a third (and dear god, please be the final) sneeze.

What the fuck is-- Oh, there he goes, sneezing again. Jeff scrambles out of the bed, eyeing it suspiciously, before casting his gaze around the room. Fuck, the whole place is coated, like it hasn't been cleaned in years. Jeff opens the window, like that'll help, then cautiously steps out of the room, half-expecting to find the house now completely empty instead of just mostly empty.

What's going on? And what the fuck is he wearing? These are not the t-shirt and pajama pants he went to sleep in, they're... Oh. His stomach sinks, and he grimaces, looking down at the familiar outfit. He'd seen this just yesterday, in... in the fucking hospital. Baneberry.

(And Harmony Grove.)

Swallowing back his nerves, Jeff makes his way down to the kitchen, but finds it too dirty and dusty to want to bother with food or coffee. Fuck it, he's awake enough, and his appetite's already shot. It's only through dumb luck that he finds Raylan's note-- addressed to Tim-- and in spite of everything, there's a little surge of hopefulness lighting up in his chest. Does this mean...?

He races around the house-- houses, really, because once he's done in 1308, he's going to run to 1306, and check out the other inhabited houses on the block, trying to take stock of who's here and where the hell had they been before?

Jeff probably looks like a crazy person as he bursts onto the scene (any scene, really, on Phillips Drive), still in his institutional PJs, eyes wide and a little frantic with excitement. And, just like he arrived in Mathias, he's barefoot again. Definitely doesn't help him look sane and together.

"Oh thank fuck, you're here!"

[abrightboy]

“Raylan, th…” Nope. Hair isn’t long enough. “Oh. Jeff, right? You’re back. That’s good. Um. Have you seen Raylan yet?” He gestures towards 1308. “Is he over there?”

[bardish]

So, on the one hand, Jeff knows that Raylan's the established one here, and Jeff's the outsider who's still bumbling around like an ungainly and overexcited puppy. He knows it, logically, and he knows that it isn't personal.

But Malcolm's hardly the first person to greet him this way, and every "Raylan-- oh." still stings a little. Like the part that's unsaid might as well be: Oh. It's you. Lesser-Raylan. Fake-Raylan. Raylan-if-he-was-a-total-wimp-instead-of-a-cool-swaggering-cowboy.

(It's possible Jeff is projecting here.)

Anyway, watch him brush it off with a smile and pretend he isn't totally insecure!

"I'm back? You're back, dude! You, and Raylan, and..." And who knows who else. "Um. I haven't seen him, though. Raylan." Real Raylan, his insecurities supply, unhelpfully. "He left a note, though, so he's here. He's just not." He gestures towards 1308 as well. "Here."

[abrightboy]

“…Oh? What did the note s… wait, were you here the whole time, except we weren’t?” Malcolm clarifies.

[bardish]

"That... he was on the other side of town?" Why does Jeff sound so uncertain? He read the note, and that's what it said! And yet, there's a questioning lilt in his voice, like he's not sure if he's conveying the message properly.

It's a lot of pressure.

"And yeah-- uh. Me and Athena? And Klaus! I ran into him, too. And Kirigan-- he's cool, do you know him?" Wait, Jeff's veering away from the point. "There wasn't a lot of us, but we were here, and it was like... more than half the town just vanished. None of us knew if you guys were dead or lost or-- fuck, I don't know, man! It was really fucked up!"

[abrightboy]

“That’s what happened to us, too. Except you guys were gone and I was here with Raylan and Doc and Neal and Alec.” He pauses. “Kirigan… tall, dark, wears a cape?”

[bardish]

"Huh," he breathes out. "That's so fucking weird."

Weird, but... good, honestly. At least nobody was alone, or in, like, a state of oblivion. At the description, though, Jeff perks up. "Yeah! That's the guy." He hums thoughtfully. "Talk about a statement piece. So few people can pull off a cape..."

[abrightboy]

"So... if you're back, does that mean Athena is back, too?" he asks. God, Raylan and Doc would be so relieved. Doc is always worried about the young ladies being harmed or taken and not being able to do anything to defend them.

[bardish]

"Yeah." He smiles. "You should go see her. Don't tell her I said it, but she was pretty shook up by..." Well, by everybody disappearing. More than Jeff was, but that's to be expected. They're her people, and they totally vanished without a trace. Jeff, meanwhile, doesn't exactly have people here.

Just... neighbors. Acquaintances created out of necessity.

"Anyway, she'll probably hug you and punch you in the arm, so be prepared!"

[abrightboy]

“I think she’d rather see Raylan than me,” Malcolm tells him. “Though we’re doing better than before. She enjoyed learning about murder,” he shrugs. “So… you’re okay? Nothing weird happened to you before waking up this morning?”

[bardish]

"Luckily, there's an unlimited number of people Athena can see," he points out lightly. Just a little tease! But on a more serious note, he adds, "Look, not to meddle, but I think it'd mean a lot to her if, ah... if you-- and Raylan and anyone else-- went to see her, before she heads out to find you herself, you know? Get the drop on the kid! Beat her to the punch!"

And now it's Jeff's turn to shrug. "I'm okay." Like he ever answers that question with anything else. "There was a little bit of weird, but honestly it ranks pretty low on the scale of weird shit I've experienced, so all things considered I'm pretty good." He gestures around them. "Just another fucking day in paradise!"

Dial back the cheer, buddy.

"What about you? Anything crazy happen?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm nods with an uncertain smile at Jeff's announcement, but at his question, the smile turns wry.

"We found an insane asylum, but at least I could harvest its goods. I'm on some of those medications at home and I haven't had access to them since I got here. Had some pretty horrific withdrawals after I arrived. That's sort of how I fell in with Raylan and Doc."

OH, YEAH!!!

[thering]

Jeff walks in on Doc in the midst of changing out of the fall 2020 asylum chic collection into a set from Poe's. He's already got flattering skinny jeans on but he's not wearing anything else, discarded white top on the dusty floor next to the tools scattered about in front of their backup refrigerator, and a blue flannel shirt in one hand when he lifts his head at the sound of Jeff's voice. While he never clarified if he was that Doc there are definitely some scars that might suggest gunfights and attempted shankings.

"...I am. Morning, Jeff. Is someone hurt?" Usually 'thank fuck you're here' spells trouble, and he is happy to drop working on the fridge for something more urgent. Doc gives Jeff a once-over just in case he's bleeding out of three holes but he looks alright. And though he does inject some humour into his tone, it's not impossible to read something withering in that half-second critical, narrow-eyed look.

"Lost your shoes again?" They all have, if it's of any consolation.

[bardish]

Oh no, he looks good without a shirt. That's what Jeff notices before the scars, because he's got priorities, though one could argue that he ought to rearrange them. Still, he's quick to look down at the tools, then the fridge, mindful of not ogling the shirtless cowboy as he lifts his gaze back up again. That's not what he's here to do, after all.

His excitement pretty much drains out of him at the nonchalant greeting. The look doesn't help, and fuck, it leaves him feeling stupid and childish. Was he the only one bothered by over half the town disappearing then reappearing? Or is he just the only one who can't keep his shit together and act like a man?

"I, uh... No? No one's hurt, as far as I know. I'm just..." He fidgets, reaching up to rub the side of his neck nervously, before forcing a cheery smile. "Happy to see signs of life again."

He looks down at his feet, as if only now noticing their nakedness.

"Oh! I guess so. I ran out of the house so fast I didn't even notice." A beat, before he gestures to the tools. "Are you working on something?"

[thering]

They're not terrible priorities, all things considered, although Doc would have done much the same if he were in Jeff's shoes. Made an effort not to ogle. Whilst. Secretly, quietly, discreetly ogling any chance he might get.

"Oh. Of course." Doc cracks a smile and follows it up with a small laugh. "Unh- this has happened before," he tries to explain his nonchalance about their current situation away. "On more than one occasion, as a matter of fact. The men or women upstairs whisk us away, separate us in some arbitrary manner, cast us to some far flung place out of reach from each other and throw us back where we came from after some indeterminate length of time." It's not the first time Doc's awoken under a layer of dust and he expects it wouldn't be his last.

"We did look for you, and Athena, along with everyone else we could not find, but we could only hope for the best." Doc is clearly not the best at multitasking, if the way he puts on and then tries to tuck in his unbuttoned flannel shirt is anything to go by. With an annoyed-at-himself little sigh, he tugs his shirt back out and buttons it up first.

"Ice had built up in the refrigerator in our absence, and I do believe there is some water where it ought not to be," he muses as he looks over his shoulder at the fridge, tugging on and straightening out his shirt collar. "I can sort it out later." He doesn't bother asking for help or a second opinion, switching the topic back over to Jeff.

"I should like to hear about the adventures you had been on over the past couple of days. And of course I am happy to answer any questions you might have as best I can."

[bardish]

This has happened before? It's happened multiple befores? Jeff makes a little face as he processes that, then files the information away as something that's just good to know.

And hey, at least they looked.

"We did, too. Me and Athena. It, um... Hit her pretty hard." Harder than it hit Jeff, but that's to be expected. He barely knows anyone. Hardly had a chance to get past introductions before they were all split up.

He opens his mouth, about to offer some help-- hey, he's a homeowner, he's got some DIY skills!-- but Doc moves on from the matter in a pretty decisive way. Jeff closes his mouth and offers a slight smile as he nods.

"There wasn't much in the way of adventures." Just Jeff freaking out over things in mirrors, then brushing way too close with his own past (and that was before he literally relived his own memory), then stealing some drugs on a shameful impulse... It's nothing he wants to talk about. He glances down at his pajamas, wishing he'd thought to change before racing over to 1306. He doesn't want to think about Baneberry. He doesn't want to think about Harmony Grove, either.

"Did you... happen to check out that house with all the mirrors?"

[thering]

"...I see. I don't think I can do much, but I can go over and speak with her later," he offers. He suspects that, between the two cowboys, she would be a lot more thrilled to catch up with Raylan. Of course, both hats will end up showing their faces at some point.

"I did. Would you like to take a seat?" Doc gestures over Jeff's shoulder. He can choose between the recently constructed bedroom in the garage, where there is a bed that's had its dust shaken off the sheets, or the couch back in the main house that hasn't yet been fully cleaned up.

"That house was where I was whisked away to last time we were split up. Back then, there was a-- a black spectre in every mirror, and a cloth that was draped over each one. You could never see it behind you where it ought to be standing, but it moved every time you took your eyes off the mirror. Never said or did anything, menacing as it did look. And the cloth cover, it either never stayed off or never stayed on. The whole experience was rather unsettling, truth be told."

[bardish]

"You don't have to do much." Jeff shrugs with a smile, then adds, "Just being around is all it takes sometimes."

However much of an outsider Jeff might feel in the little community here, all that really matters is Athena doesn't feel that way. She didn't say as much to him, but after the past couple of days, he's pretty sure it'd go a long way, just having the others come over to see her.

"Oh yeah-- thanks," he says, moving over to the bed and settling down on the edge of it. And he listens, as Doc shares his experience in the house, his own stomach twisting itself into knots at the descriptions. Jeff looks a bit nauseated, and he doesn't manage to hide it very well.

"The cloth was off when I went there. In every room, all the mirrors were uncovered. The, uh... spectre... I saw it, too." He forces a little laugh, trying to play it off, and adds, super casual, "Fucking weird, dude. Hey, total segue, definitely not related to anything, but do you have any... gifts? Magic, powers, anything like that?"

Don't mind him, he's just trying to work out a little theory he's got with the shadow in the mirror. A detective, he is not.

[thering]

"I will keep that in mind." He's guilty of that swooping in, trying to fix everything and making things worse in the process more often than not when sometimes all people want is for him to be around. But it's hard to hold back.

"You saw it too? Did it try anything with you?" That Jeff saw the spectre has Doc's interest piqued. He did not see it when he was there, with Raylan. To be fair, after spending an inordinate amount of time staring at the mirror in the entranceway almost trying to will it to appear, as soon as Raylan walked into the house his attention was split between making sure Raylan didn't hurt himself even more and whatever horrors were still lurking in the house.

Jeff's question is admittedly a little out of left field. For the most part, Doc has lied by omission. Never felt the need to go around advertising. Also, he didn't like the stunt Dolls had pulled, back in Purgatory. He can't imagine anyone finding the prospect of being strapped down, experimented on, poked full of holes all that appealing. But everyone in this house knows and some people not in this house know, too. There's no reason to tell an outright lie to Jeff.

"The names nobody 'round here calls me is John Henry Holliday. I've been around a hundred and sixty six years." He's also never unintentionally missed a shot and he's a pretty fun lay, but they can save that kinda magic for later. His immortality is tied to his ring, which he doesn't mention, not least because the ring along with all the other things he'd come into Mathias with have all gone missing.

"If it's all the same to you, son, most people have used the term 'eternal longevity' instead of 'decrepit old man'." He's still pretty badass even if he's gotten the shouting at young people from the porch down pat.

[bardish]

He shakes his head. "No. Mostly it just stood there, not doing anything, just... being creepy."

But that's how it starts, in his experience. Little things, easily brushed off the first few times they make an appearance. Oh, it's just a trick of the light. Just seeing things. Just his imagination, acting up because he's too tired, too drunk, too high-- or not high enough.

And, okay, he's really trying to hold the history fanboying back, but as soon as Doc gives his full name, Jeff's eyes start to go wide with boyish excitement. It's like he's six years old and just stumbled into the living room on Christmas morning to find a fucking mountain of presents.

"Holy shit!"

There's a tiny part of Jeff that's crowing right now. I knew it!. Except he didn't really know it, did he. He'd just thought it was, most likely, a funny coincidence. A playful nickname.

"Decrepit is about the last word I'd use for you." He's really doing his best not to grin and get all goofy and weird (well, weirder than usual) at the man. But it's just so fucking cool. He's talking to Doc Holliday. The fucking Doc Holliday!

For the moment, he's totally forgotten all about his budding theories about magic and the shades in the mirrors.

[thering]

Yes, Jeff did indeed lay his eyes upon the very naked torso of the Doc Holliday mere moments ago. He's got fragments of the history of the Frontier burned into his eyes, carved into his skin.

"Thank you kindly," he replies quietly with just the slightest twitch of a smile. Nobody can simply stare sullenly when they're getting fawned over and while Doc realises that just about everyone has some image of him in their heads that is a blend of fact and fiction, he is nonetheless flattered by the way people respond when they find out who he is. He's still learning humility but he's getting better with each subsequent encounter.

"I am afraid that is the extent of it and I have no spells or miracles to offer. Although I have met others here who are capable of some extraordinary things." The most Doc can do is some card and coin tricks, throw knives at spinning wheels and shooting pennies from an impossible distance. The magicians here are definitely drawing upon some other power he doesn't comprehend.

"Are you looking for some... unnatural solution to an unnatural problem? While I've no expertise in the area it seems to me sorcery is an insidious, costly crutch. The price of which is not usually worth paying."

[bardish]

Jeff is going to do his very best to commit every detail to memory-- respectfully! He has so many questions he wants to ask (oddly, many of them being about the state of dentistry in the 1800s) but it seems kind of gauche to just launch right into all of that. Doc may be the Doc Holliday, but he's still a person, not a walking talking museum exhibit. So Jeff will try to do his best to leave all expectations at the door and try to talk to him the way he'd talk to anybody else-- in much the same way he'd try to treat any celebrity like a regular person, too.

He's definitely on the edge of his seat now, though, buzzing with an excited energy that he does his best to tamper down. There's also a smile that he keeps having to bite back. Come on, Calhoun, keep it together. Don't act like a weird history groupie at the handsome gunslinger.

"Oh-- no, no I'm not looking for a magical solution here..." He shakes his head and offers a wry smile. "But as someone of the sorcerer persuasion, I should totally take offense to that!" Jeff shrugs, then, wringing his hands together. "It was just this... stupid theory I was working on. Like, if the mirrors acted any different with people who aren't..." He gestures vaguely. "Unnatural."

It's pretty clear that he includes himself in the 'unnatural' category.

[welladjustedwhitly]

Ainsley is confused by the layers of dust on everything in the house and in search of shoes she can wear to go do her daily checks of the bulletin board and scope out what else around town might have changed in their not-really-but-sort-of absence.

That's about the time someone's crashing through the front door like the damn Kool-Aid Man.

"Uh... hi?"

[bardish]

"Oh, hi!"

There's definitely a nervous, pitchy strain in his 'hi!' Here he is, barging in on a woman who's probably twenty years his junior, dressed in hospital whites like an escaped mental patient. The last thing he wants to do is come across like a total maniac in front of this stranger, buuuut he's pretty sure he might be too late on that.

He's sure as hell feeling pretty foolish now. Jeff rubs the side of his neck, offering a weak smile.

"I... uh.... live next door..." he offers, an attempt at an explanation. "And I don't usually make a habit of bursting into people's houses like this. It's just, uh. The past few days? This place was totally abandoned..."

[welladjustedwhitly]

"...Oh." She tilts her head a little to one side. As explanations go, that wasn't a great one. He looks at a lot like–

That thought's abandoned immediately when he mentions everything being abandoned. Her eyes widen and her brows lift. "Yes, it was totally weird, right? Like two-thirds of the town was just gone and that other part was opened up. Did you see the creepy hospital?"