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

Eliot Spencer | Leverage

[likeknives]

[OOC: Plotting post here]

Day 65 - OTA

[likeknives]

a. Morning: I've been sleeping a thousand years it seems -

This sucks.

Eliot coughs, sending a plume of dust into the air as he slowly gets up. He runs a hand through his hair and comes back with...ugh, more dust when he realizes that he's not wearing the same clothes as he went to sleep with.

It takes him another second to realize that what he was wearing were the identical pajamas from Baneberry Hall.

"What the hell...?"

He tugs at the material, both horrified and somehow resigned to the fact that this kind of thing apparently just happens in this place. He can't believe that this kind of thing apparently just happens in this place but clearly, it does.

The dust doesn't make any sense though. It's all around him, on the bed, like he'd been lying there for years. It's not possible, even if years had past--a person couldn't survive without food or water like that and yet here's evidence that some time has seriously passed.

"I hate this place."

b. Afternoon: Wake me up inside -

Eliot's a lot more cautious this time around when he goes out to explore the town and see what's up. It seems that with the...shift that happened the night before, things are back to normal. The people that disappeared? They're back and he's thankful for that.

And now it seems to be summer, which is...well. He can't even vouch for what's normal in this place anymore so, whatever. Summer it is.

He stops by the vegetable stand multiple times--all right, with the weirdness that's happened lately at least something has gone right. He takes some of the produce home, and comes back and takes some to the Gull so that he can make a few things later. He's not entirely sure if the stand will replenish--he can't believe that he's actually expecting such things to happen now--so he's taking quite a bit.

One might find Eliot with an armful of carrots or cabbages or peppers or any number of stand produce, purposefully striding towards one destination or another, occasionally muttering something under his breath.

It might sound important but he's really just going over recipes he can try with this stuff...

b

[setthetone]

It's great to see the missing people again.

It's especially great to see Eliot.

Not because they're overly close but because Carter never wants to find the man again like he did last time, all torn to shreds and... not alive. It's still haunting him, the images flashing in his mind whenever he sees the other. But it also makes Eliot his patient. And Carter checks in on his patients.

"That looks good. So what's for dinner?"

He's suddenly beside him, jogging up to Eliot and walks with him.

Friendly enough. Approachable enough. Easing into the conversation.

[likeknives]

Eliot has to admit he breathes a sigh of relief when he sees Carter again.

Not that he overly cares for him or anything like that, it would just be upsetting if he was hurt or just...didn't come back.

Unless not coming back meant people going back to where they came from, but there was no way to test that.

Besides, he left and ended up going to a fire dimension or whatever the hell that was, or if that was actually hell, so...

"Hey. Uh--probably gonna make a stew, but I might go with a salad, too. Who knows when we're gonna get somethin' this fresh again."

[setthetone]

"Sounds great. Now if only they could give us some decent clothes..."

His sigh is a bit theatrical but the struggle is real. If they don't get their stuff back, he will try and tailor some himself. He's stupidly upset about it, he knows, but losing his items from home makes him feel even more lost than usually.

"So you guys are all right then? I was a bit worried with the whole vanishing act..."

[likeknives]

"What, the weird pajamas aren't up to your standards?"

There's a smirk. It's not like the weird pajamas were up to his standards either, but he's not gonna miss an opportunity to tease Carter about it.

"Yeah, it was just the damnedest thing. We were all fine it was just like everyone else was missing. Did some exploring, and..."

Y'know. He trails off. Everyone saw some of his worst moments.

"What about you? What was it like?"

[setthetone]

"They're the wrong color."

He wants his blue scrubs back. He's in surgery, not... whatever these were used for and he tugs at the sleeves in disdain, wondering what Dr. Benton would say if he saw him in these.

But he sobers when Eliot continues. Some exploring. Some things left unsaid.

Yeah, sounds about right.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Found some things for the clinic, though. We were at this institution. They had old charts there, some equipment. Unless that's gonna disappear next."

He tries to make it sound light-hearted but it's getting to him. These random disappearances, they're just unsettling.

[likeknives]

Wanting the weird pajamas to be a different color sounds sad to him, rather than someone obsessed about fashion. With all the crap they've been through here he can see why holding onto those scrubs he had was so important. He doesn't feel like teasing him anymore.

"Yeah, well. Maybe we'll find new ones."

Maybe he'll go look for some new ones for him.

"That's where I was hangin' out most of the time. Tried to make sense of the paperwork but it was all smudged and ruined. Same clothes were there, too."

He shakes his head.

"I can't believe it. We were in the same spot but we couldn't see each other."

[setthetone]

He sure would appreciate it.

A lot.

"You were there? That makes no sense."

This is interesting now. He had thought the others had gone someplace else like last time but apparently not?

"Did you wake up all dusty, too?"

[likeknives]

"It doesn't make any sense," he agrees and shakes his head. It makes his brain hurt to think about it. Hardison was better at understanding this weird sci-fi or fantasy crap.

"Yeah, like it's been months or years. But that's impossible, too."

But he's seen the impossible. Lived it. Died through it.

"Did you...uh," he pauses, unsure of how to say it. Or if he should say it, but he has to know. "Were there...ah, objects, in that place? Objects that held...well. Memories."

[setthetone]

Carter slows when Eliot says memories, the bad ones returning viciously. Of course it makes sense that if they went to the same place that would be there, too. But still. Hearing it out loud is so weird.

Why is this town so weird.

"... Yeah."

He looks over, studying his face for a moment.

"You too, huh?"

[likeknives]

There's a very long pause, where Eliot starts to say something and stops several times. Finally, he just kind of gives up. He's resigned to his fate that the stuff they're talking about is weirder than any dumb sci-fi movie he's ever watched and nothing he can do can change that.

Just objects that held memories. That was a thing.

"...yeah. Me too."

Why is this town so messed up.

[setthetone]

"Did someone else see?"

He just assumes that's the case.

If he had to relive that memory by himself, he probably wouldn't bring it up in a conversation. Would just add it to the long, long, long list of things he's just dealing with.

But the sharing, the invasiveness of it all... that's something you'd want to get off your chest, he figures. At least that's how it is for him.

"Someone saw mine. That was... hard."

[likeknives]

"Yeah."

He doesn't want to talk about this he doesn't want to talk about this he doesn't want to talk about this hedoesn'twanttotalkaboutthis--

But it just comes out anyway.

"I'm sorry."

He genuinely, truly is. If his was as bad or worse as his own, if they were as bad as the ones he saw--he's so sorry.

"I had a few people see mine. Even someone who was...who was in it."

[setthetone]

"... Me too."

Carter's voice is quiet and gentle. He stuffs his hands in his pockets as they walk.

"Hardison?"

It's a wild guess that's... actually not that wild, knowing that they're from the same world. Not too many people in town who could be part of his memory, he figures.

obligatory trio thread

[sharker]

Waking up in her own bed again, Parker hadn't been alarmed by the dust covering everything or the white pajamas she'd found herself in. She'd had one thing on her mind, and one thing only.

Find Hardison and Eliot.

Ever since they'd woken to find themselves in Baneberry Hall, half the town missing, she'd lived in paranoid fear that the same thing would happen to them. That she'd wake up one morning or turn around to find an empty space where one or both of them were. Or maybe wake up in Portland, Nate and Sophie on to whatever came next for them, and Hardison and Eliot still here. Disappeared. Leaving Parker alone with no way to find them again.

She crashes through the house like a tornado, yelling their names frantically. And whoever has the misfortune of being the one she catches sight of first will get a half-feral Parker crashing into him, arms wrapping around him tight like an octopus.

[likeknives]

He hears her before he sees her.

Honestly, he's not sure what he expected other than, well, this, after hearing Parker yelling for them and crashing through the house, but quite suddenly he's got one Parker wrapped around him as he attempts to walk past his room and into the hallway.

"Parker!"

It's annoyed but it's not really annoyed. For anybody that knows him, it's a growl of affection. He gets it, it's terrifying waking up like this--things changed, in different places, with different clothes--he'll never be used to it.

"Hey, Parker--it's all right--"

Maybe you could let go of him a little bit so he can breathe or something and then they can make sure Hardison is okay...?

[ofthegeek]

No need to fear, Hardison is here.

Well, he goes from not-here to getting here, which is the same thing. He maybe would've been first in line to answer the distinctive upset-Parker signal, but he had to stop to have a sneezing fit.

That's fine, though. That's in the past. The future is now, trying to keep dealing with impossible things happening beyond their control or understanding. (No pressure.)

"What, we reunite without Hardison now? That's cold."

He doesn't even break stride, he just keeps his momentum up until he's slinging his arms around both of them at once. Which takes the bulk of things he was worrying about off of his plate, having them in reach. This is now a hug-containing hug zone.

[sharker]

"I had to reassure Eliot first. He's fragile."

Which isn't going to stop her from (partially) releasing her death grip on Eliot just to snake an arm around Hardison instead, pulling him close, half-burying herself in his chest. This is good. This is better. She relaxes a little bit, the coiled tension in her body starting to release as she breathes in deep just to smell them.

And then starts to sneeze, as the dust filling the room creeps into her lungs.

OMG I almost forgot this one, apologies!

[likeknives]

"Wasn't me, it was Parker--"

And this is now...this is certainly a hug that's happening.

"Fragile!? I ain't fragile!"

It's all grumpy, it's all sputtering, and he snarls like an angry dog. He doesn't move from the hug until Parker finally lets him go, though that may have been from the fact he physically was unable to with her death grip.

The dust is unsettling, though.

Eliot waves a hand in front of his face and grumbles.

"What the hell is goin' on this time? Look at this...it's like we've been gone for ages..." But that's impossible. He tugs at his weird new clothes and a troubled look crosses his face.

time doesnt exist for leverages anyway tbh

[ofthegeek]

This is a pretty good hug. Top ten list hug.

"Spoken like a fragile, fragile man."

Hardison was gonna ignore the sputtering and snarling, very dutifully for a stressful morning, but then he considered how that wouldn't be as fun. And any fun they can get is at a premium. Case in point: how creepy it is that they're dressed in new clothes and covered in dust.

"Yeah, not what I'd consider a comforting wakeup call. If you're gonna keep a man in storage, maybe lay on a tarp."

it's true

[sharker]

Parker hides her smile where she's tucked in between them. Eliot's griping is nothing if not predictable. And predictable is good, right now. Just like Eliot. And Hardison. She pulls back enough to look down at her clothes. Which happen to match Eliot and Hardison's clothes. And remind her of nothing so much as...

"Are we in rehab?"

She pauses.

"Or...an insane asylum?"

It would certainly explain a lot. Maybe none of this is real. Maybe none of it has ever been real. She pulls back further, looking for a two-way mirror. Maybe someone's taking notes on them right now.

[likeknives]

"Not fragile!"

He is not letting that one go.

But what Hardison says gives him a chill. It's so ridiculous, it can't happen, but he's already seen the impossible. What if they had been...stored somewhere? Parker's suggestion sets off his thoughts even more on the spiraling possibilities.

It kinda did look like they were at a rehab or an asylum?

"I don't...I don't know. The dust is--there's only so long a person can be kept unconscious without food or water. If this is impossible, then I'd say this place was just messin' with us."

[ofthegeek]

Now why does he get the feeling Eliot knows that unconsciousness statistic right down to the minute mark. If there's a weird fact, someone in this family will just know it.

"Wouldn't exactly be a big surprise if it was. Nothing around here is going for broke on that feel-good factor."

The opposite, even. Last known location and memory incidents considered.

"I need a shower and a change like yesterday, though. This is, this is-- I mean, dust mite country. A'ight, this is the nightmare scenario. The mystery's on hold."

In fact, let him disengage real quick so that he doesn't hit anyone with his inevitable next sneeze.

[sharker]

Parker lets Hardison go reluctantly, stepping back more slowly to look around. They're back in their old house in Mathias. Everything looks the same, except for the dust. And the clothes.

She wraps her arms around herself. She doesn't like the idea of anyone stripping and changing them while they were unconscious.

"Maybe it's a dream."

She looks back at the others suddenly. "Do you guys remember the -" And she stops, biting her lip. Maybe it's better if they don't remember Baneberry Hall or anything that had happened there. If Hardison seeing her worst memory, and her seeing theirs, had never happened at all.