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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Comments

Malcolm Bright | Prodigal Son

[abrightboy]

Plotting Post.

Day 65 - well after dark; locked to Doc

[abrightboy]

It's Doc's night. When he first ran out the door in the early afternoon when Raylan's note in his pocket, he'd told the cowboy not to wait up. Maybe he'd be back or maybe he wouldn't. Or maybe he'd be late.

God, that seems like a year ago, when he thought he was joining Raylan for the promised dancing date. He goes upstairs when he gets back to 1306, to his empty room. There are flowers on his pillow. ...He turns on the light. Neal. Neal made flowers out of licorice and put them on his pillow.

He feels like he's going to cry again. Is his heart going to burst or collapse? Where is Neal? Probably in bed already. He hopes that's where Doc is, too, so he's easy to find.

He turns and unplugs the lava lamp, tucking it under his arm and heading back downstairs, letting himself into the garage where there is, indeed, a dark lump in the blankets on Doc's bed. He plugs in the lava lamp and turns it on, then crawls into the bed and presses his face between Doc's shoulderblades.

[thering]

Doc had had something of a long day. He'd wandered the town a few times, checked in on everyone, made sure that all those who had been separated from them had returned. Worryingly, he thought he might spend some time with her, but he has not seen Liz. Yennefer and Number Five he is less worried about. Both of them have proven more than capable of taking care of themselves and he has convinced himself they will turn up eventually, scowling and nursing a few cuts and bruises no doubt. And it's not that Liz can't, but if she was trapped somewhere it's not as if she could call out for help.

He had entertained the thought of spending the night with Wynonna, but since he was to be on Malcolm duty, he would stay until he was certain Malcolm is fine. There are plenty more days to come that he can spend with her.

He wouldn't have been able to stay awake even if he'd tried, but he's never so tired that activity between the sheets go unnoticed. Bad old habits maybe, that old nagging paranoia of getting shot in his sleep.

"Malcolm," he greets quietly and a little hoarsely with his eyes still closed. He can always tell who's crawling into bed with him even with his eyes closed. He doesn't realise anything is wrong at first, draping a heavy arm around the young man's lithe frame with a quiet little grunt.

"Good night?" he asks, dropping the 'did you have a' prefix to make it seem less like he's asking because it's customary to, leaving it vague enough that Malcolm can just give him a simple one worded answer and they can both get some sleep.

[abrightboy]

“No,” mumbled Malcolm into Doc’s clothes. “Raylan didn’t invite me out to go dancing. He invited me out to make a confession. It was not the good time I thought I was signing up for.”

But they hadn’t broken up, so it could have gone worse. Probably.

Day 66 - Locked and OTA

[abrightboy]

Morning - Locked to Neal
Neal was not in bed the night before, it turns out. Negan isn't anywhere to be found in the early hours of the morning either. Malcolm isn't sure where he's gone, but he carefully puts the Twizzler flowers into a baggy and he puts the baggy in his pocket and he heads out to look for them. He checks the beach for Neal. And the Gull. Then he walks through the Town Square. The fruit stand is new. He thinks Neal will like that, then remembers his mood the afternoon before.

Maybe not.

Soon he's eliminated common areas and he starts walking up and down the streets of houses.

"NEAL?" he calls now and then.

Later morning - Locked to Negan
Negan had been concerned that maybe it wasn't a good idea for him to come back to the house. The first place Malcolm looks for him in his absence is the house he followed him to after punching him.

Afternoon/Evening - OTA
Find him wherever works for you. He'll probably walk the town. He has energy to expend.

Night - Locked to Raylan
[Exactly where this happens will depend on outcome of ongoing threads.]

[vampirebats]

It's not exactly moving out. He's been moving from place to place, sleeping wherever he finds a spot while he tries to figure out what the hell to do. Lucky for Malcolm, he's returned to this house, despite all the now uncomfortable memories it carries with one Doc fucking Holliday.

He slows his steps when he sees Malcolm down the street, coming up from behind him. He tries to act casual as he clears his throat. "You looking for someone, Malcolm?"

[abrightboy]

"Obviously," he huffs, trying to sound tough like Negan and only managing to sound like the toughest nerd at science fair. "I'm looking for you; you haven't been home."

[conning]

Neal sits in the living room of the flower house on Stoker, back against the wall, in spite of the risk of proximity to Bucky and Daisy. The whole place is filthy, the flowers themselves coated in grime, bright blossoms he made a month ago dulled with dust that probably isn't worth cleaning off. He'll have to tidy things up, though. He just showed it to Parker, just told her she could go there whenever she needed to. He didn't want her to see it like this.

He turns a blossom in one bandaged hand, rolls the four little pills he took from Malcolm's room between his fingers with the other. He didn't go get more moonshine. The headache roaring through his skull is something of a deterrent to that. Aspirin didn't do much to make a dent. He's knocked back some water, but even that was done without much interest or focus. So his head feels like it might split open. It'll pass. At least for now it's a distraction.

He raises his eyes a little, studying the man standing at the opposite side of the room. Glenn, half-dead. Neal's stomach turns, but he doesn't get up.

"What are you looking at?" he says, like the sick joke will make the hallucination less present.

He closes his eyes and leans his head back against the wall.

That's about when he hears Malcolm's voice, calling his name. He grits his teeth, willing it to be a new and exciting sign he's going crazy, but Malcolm calls out again, and Neal... He wants to swear or cry. Both. But the tears get put on lockdown, calm gets forced onto his face. He's gone out of the blue and into the black and no one needs that from him right now.

A glance at the far wall tells him Glenn is gone.

He pauses before he opens the front door, gathering himself for another moment before he steps out onto the porch. "Here," he calls softly, as though Malcolm wouldn't see him come out.

[abrightboy]

Neal… looks terrible. He turns to face him when he spies movement from the side of his vision, but he isn’t expecting him to be so drawn and haggard.

His look grows in concern as he approaches.

“What happened to you?” he asks, like he’s talking to the victim of a mugging.

Afternoon/Evening

[nottevintersoldier]

Dorian can be found at any given time during the days following, walking around town and getting his bearings. He's constantly in awe of how different this place is compared to the world he's from and he'll be seen either peering through windows of shops or homes or carefully exploring inside buildings where he's able.

When he spots the lonely fellow wandering along he'll stop his investigating to toss a greeting his way.

"Hello there!" Considering he hasn't seen many people about its still sort of nice to see a new face.

"Sorry to bother you, new to town and all, I thought perhaps you could help me?"

[abrightboy]

Malcolm is at the fruit stand, putting a watermelon into a pillow case, when he hears the voice. He looks up. "Hi. Um. I'd be happy to. How long have you been here?"

Night 66

[tinstar]

While it was true that Neal had said that Raylan could come home, Raylan took his time doing it, just in case Neal changed his mind. He wanted things to be okay with the New Yorker and the conversation they'd had with Malcolm had helped, only time would settle back the comfort and trust that had been shattered over everything. After that conversation, Raylan had gone up to the lighthouse to see Tim. Things had gone well, better than he expected, but he still needed to decompress. To wash his bruising face, take a shot and a deep breath, thank whoever was listening for what he got to have.

It felt a little strange walking into 1306 but it only took a few steps for Raylan to slip back into the coat of home he wore here, and make his way upstairs to Malcolm's room. Ever the gentleman, he does knock first, like he was warning Malcolm he was coming in before doing just that. Eyed darting around the room, they settled on Malcolm with a soft curl of his smile.

"May I come in?"

[abrightboy]

All of Malcolm’s bruises were on the inside, but they were starting to dull like the ones on Raylan’s face would in time. Raylan’s face - even bruised - still held its power and when it appeared in the doorway, Malcolm brightened visibly.

“You can always come in,” he said tugging on the far restraint he’d been fiddling with when Raylan arrived. “I had to hook two straps together on each side,” he explained. “So they’re long enough I can get myself in and out.”

Day 67 - OTA

[abrightboy]

[Open to anything; let me know where.]

cut off one thread and two more shall take its place

[conning]

Neal leaves a note when he goes out in the morning. He hasn't really slept, still feels like a variety of kinds of shit. His ribs ache, his jaw aches, his heart aches. The note is pretty simple.

I have an idea for a project. I'll be at 505 King if you feel like helping clean a house.

-- Neal

He keeps the invitation, such as it is, open.

[abrightboy]

He wants to take that as a cue that Neal is feeling better but he needs to know. He can clean a house. He heads over to King Street to see what their wayward artist is up to.

He taps on the frame of the door as he lets himself in.

"Neal?"

Day 68 - Locked and OTA

[abrightboy]

Morning - closed to Klaus
By the time Klaus'... misadventure filters back to Malcolm, it's too late to go looking for him, but first thing in the morning - before the sun is even up - Malcolm is searching Philips Drive for the wayward medium.

Afternoon - OTA
[Find him around.]

Night - Nightshift locked to Doc
Malcolm's dream is different tonight, though it's just as fitful.

He jerks with a start when the Surgeon takes his hand. He startles in his sleep, jerking towards the edge of the bed. "What are you talking about..." he murmurs. He rolls over abruptly. He wakes, screaming, straining at the restraints to the point that it's clear he would have toppled over the edge of the bed without them.

[bestfuneralever]

The... ah... incident the other day still weighed on him, and none of the things he had been upset about were (or truly even could be) fixed, but the immediacy of the danger was gone, at least.

Malcolm will find Klaus curled up in a ball on the couch with a blanket draped around, still in #1305, where he will always be easily found now when he hasn't wended his way over next door.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm lets himself into 1305 and stands over Klaus with his arms crossed. At some point the intensity of his gaze will make the medium look up.

Day 69 - Locked

[abrightboy]

Morning - Locked to Ainsley Whitly
First thing after getting out of bed, Malcolm went to Ainsley's room and shook her awake almost frantically.

"Ains. We need to talk. We need to talk."

Yes, he was jabbering. No, he hadn't taken any of his meds. They needed to talk.

Later Morning - Locked to Ainsley Whitly and Raylan Givens

Malcolm needed to tell Raylan what really happened to Endicott and that Ainsley wasn't to blame.

Night
[Perhaps Doc and Raylan will come home needing medical attention.]

Morning

[welladjustedwhitly]

Ainsley jolts awake at the sudden insistence of a very frenetic Malcolm. "Jesus, Malcolm!" She sits up and pushes her hair out of her face. "What? What? Calm down, what is going on?"

[abrightboy]

“I know what happened to Endicott,” he says shakily. “I dreamed it. But it wasn’t a dream. I know it was real. I know it was real.”

AFTER MALCOLM TALKS TO JEFF, I can't remember what day that is RIP me

[citharede]

Athena is, shocker, at the piano house. She entertains herself for a while riffing on pop songs, playing Ye Olde Never Gonna Give You Up a couple of times before blending seamlessly into classical pieces and eventually wrapping back around to a mournful piano ballad. Her voice carries well, as though the piano didn't already announce where she was.

[abrightboy]

Malcolm gathered up some cookies Neal made and headed out for that ruined house Raylan told him about, where she kept the piano.

He leans in the doorway, waiting for the music to stop before tapping on the frame.

“Hey. Brought some cookies,” he says, holding up the container. “Like welcome back, sorry we’re still here cookies.”

[citharede]

Athena half-turns at the knock, lighting up before Malcolm is even done talking. She swings away from the piano, onto her feet, and maneuvers around the cookies to give him a hug.

“Hi! Jeff mentioned he saw you, but.” Well, she didn’t expect him to seek her out, and it feels probably too good that he did. “Two important things. First: I stole you a bunch of stuff from that creepy asylum place. Second: did you make those cookies or did Neal because no offense but I don’t trust your ability to cook for some reason.”