villagelogs | 065-071 » assign to oblivion / part iii

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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, are we screaming? Are we making a mess? That's cool; Callisto's always up for messes. With the way she storms into the record store, one could be forgiven for thinking that she's an irate music fan, ready to take Jeff to task over the noise and destruction - except she immediately grabs the first cassette tape she sees and hurls it across the room herself, sending it spinning into the already chaotic fray.

Whatever magic this is, she likes it.

There's definitely a moment when Jeff's heart stops, and he looks at Callisto like a deer staring down the headlights of an 18-wheeler. Oh god, oh god, oh god, this stranger's going to think he's some kind of maniac here to fuck shit up and cause problems and--

And there goes another tape.

Jeff blinks, trying to process the plot twist. Not only is he not in trouble here, but she's joining in on his musical carnage? It's funny, how quickly his guilt and shame morph into something closer to giddiness. It's been a long time since performing his rituals have gotten him to feel like this, and he rides the moment, chases the feeling as he picks up his voice again, shifting to another song for structure and focus.

And the world could die in pain
And I wouldn't feel no shame
And there's nothing holding me to blame
Makes you want to feel, makes you want to try
Makes you want to blow the stars from the sky

For the first time since his arrival here, he actually sounds happy when he sings. The scattered tapes and records rise up from the ground, moving together like a whirlwind, until he tilts his head up at the ceiling and they follow suit, lifting up, spinning out, crashing into the windows and walls. A few of them rain down from the ceiling, coming right for Jeff-- and Callisto, too, if she's standing in the line of fire.

"Ah-- shit!"

Duck and cover!

Edited 2021-07-03 18:06 (UTC)

At first, Callisto is distracted by the magic: instead of joining in, she stops to watch as the tapes rise and twirl. But then he sends them crashing, and just like that her interests shift back to destruction. Rather than ducking, she snatches a record out of the air, then throws it like a discus. She's not aiming for Jeff, but she's not not aiming for him, either.

Jeff covers his head, not that it helps much, since he still cranes his neck to peek up at the tapes as they start to rain down, one of them coming waaaay too close to smacking him right in the face. Thankfully, it just bounces off his arm, and just as he's about to straighten up and relax, he sees that record flying in his general direction and quickly ducks out of the way.

That's two close calls in quick succession. He lets out a breathless, slightly nervous, slightly giddy laugh, picking up the record and flinging it back, like they're, what, playing a game of frisbee instead of trashing a sacred music store?

"Not a fan of the music here, either?"

"Small English; I don't understand," she says with a sharp grin, catching the record and throwing it back. She aims for the head this time, because she doesn't really know how not to be terrible.

"I don't suppose you're one of the ones who understands my language...?" she continues, switching to Ancient Greek. "There are a couple of them."

"Oh." She's the first person he's met here who isn't totally fluent in English, and Jeff can't help but feel some sympathetic tug in his heart. It must be so frustrating, so isolating, being the only--

FUCK SHE JUST AIMED FOR HIS HEAD. Jeff yelps and flails his hands up, trying to catch it in time. He pretty much immediately fumbles and drops the weaponized vinyl.

"Um." What'd she just say? Jeff winces and shakes his head apologetically. "English." He sighs, and murmurs, "Boy, I really need to learn some more languages..."

Taking a few steps towards her, he points to himself. "I'm Jeff."

The fumble makes her laugh, totally repentant, though she at least refrains from lobbing anything else at him for the time being.

"I'm Callisto," she says, because random bouts of hostility doesn't necessarily mean she isn't willing to have a conversation with him. "Small English. Some. I'm--"

Hmmmm. She doesn't actually know how to say she's learning.

"I'm listen. To your weird talk."

It's not as if she has much choice, after all; trying to seriously teach others Greek would take even more time and patience than trying to pick up English.

Jeff grins a little at 'weird', nodding in understanding. Okay. She knows a little bit of English, and he... knows approximately zero words in her language. He's not even entirely sure where she's from, having no real ear for this stuff as it is. God, he barely even passed Spanish...

"My talk tends to be weirder than most." So he'll try to keep his usual levels of swearing and anxious rambling reined in and toned down. The last thing she'd probably want to hear is a tidal wave of gibberish.

Or... maybe she'd enjoy learning about the many and varied applications of the word 'fuck.'

Jeff looks at the store around them, the mess having grown even more chaotic with Callisto's arrival. Coming down from that brief adrenaline high, it kind of makes him wince to look at now. Fuck, he's gotta clean this up... He picks up a nearby record.

"Sorry," he says, gesturing at the mess around them. He doesn't even know if it merits an apology or an explanation, since she seemed totally happy to join in. "Bad day."

Edited 2021-07-05 21:09 (UTC)

"All days is bads days," she says with a dismissive sniff, striding over to snatch that record from him - and, if she's successful, hurling it across the room. Clean-up might turn out to be a bit hard with her hanging around.

"What is this?" she asks, giving a little kick to a cassette tape that's lying on the floor. She's popped in here a time or two, while exploring, and has never been able to figure out the point of this shop.

He watches the record go sailing with an agreeable hum. Well, she does have a point. It's not like there's been a good day since he washed up on Mathias's beach.

"Oh!" Jeff leans down to pick up the tape, turning it over in his hands. At least he recognizes this one. Mötley Crüe, Dr. Feelgood. God, he hasn't listened to this album in at least a decade, maybe two, but there's something about it that'll always awaken his inner 15-year-old. "It's a recording. Music." He starts humming the titular track, figuring melody is a lot more of a universal language, anyway. "Want to listen?"

Callisto gives him a nod, encouraging him to go ahead with it - less because she's interested in the music itself, and more because electronics in general are still strange, foreign things to her. She's curious.

"It's an instrument?" she asks in Greek, miming strumming something.

065-071 » assign to oblivion / part iii

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