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

"Uh, well," she starts slowly, looking at the dust covering her free hand, "I'm covered in dust and wearing some of the clothes they forced on whoever was kept at the creepy mansion on the other side of town, so I'm great. You?"

Oh yes, she certainly sounds great. If it weren't for the hangover from hell, she'd be just peachy. (Thinking of that phrase brings up thoughts of Sousa which doesn't help her mood one bit.)

"I woke up the same way," he says flatly, directing his tone more to Mathias and the general way it screws with people's heads. This time, it was different though. He can't help wonder what was going to be next.

His lips pull downwards into a facial shrug while he nods. "But you're okay otherwise?"

Bucky instinctively looks out the window that overlooks Stoker Park, the house easily seen down the street.

Is she okay otherwise? What a question to ask.

Daisy rubs the fingers of her free hand together, quiet for a few moments while she contemplates giving a fully truthful answer. Is she okay? Nope, not one bit. She's been failing miserably at not thinking about her own death, she's been dropped into some sort of fucked up purgatory dimension experiment thing, and the last few days...

"I'm fine," she answers in a tone that says she really isn't but she's also not going to talk about it. So, moving on.

"Have you noticed anything else weird? I just woke up and haven't really looked around..." Though, she's doing so now, trying to remember through the pounding cotton in her head how things should be.

He thinks belatedly that he should have specified that question in the physical sense of things. But Daisy doesn't sound hurt, though her tone sounds more raspy than usual, which he chalks up to having just woken up. Then she replies and he can hear that she really isn't.

It's something he has learned from being with the last version of her.

"In what way?" he questions back. Things in Mathias were always weird and it continued to make things weirder still. "You mean outside?"

"I don't know," she admits, leaning against a wall that's just as dirty as she is. "I guess I'm stuck in the 'when it rains, it pours' mindset. That's the saying, right?"

She's resting there for only a few seconds before she's up again, needing to move before she goes crazy from the frustration of it all. "I keep thinking about how the last time I woke up somewhere with no memory of how I'd gotten there, it was because of the Chronicoms. They froze us all in time or something and then—"

The words die on her lips as she flicks on the light in the bathroom. It's not the sight of herself that startles her. Not exactly. "What the hell."

Boy, does he know the saying and up until she says it, Bucky realizes how much he hates the phrase for basically being on par with his whole entire life. Just another hilarious sick way of telling him that it gets worse before it gets better.

And people wonder why he finds it hard to look on the bright side of things.

Bucky doesn't do much more than huff a not-so amused note while continuing to listen on. He can't help but understand all of it.

His brow furrows, hearing what she says next. "Daisy? What's wrong?"

"Hang on a sec..." She sets the phone down on the edge of the sink before turning on the water. He'll be treated to the sound of splashing while she rubs at her face, attempting to wash away the grime clinging to her skin. Then the water stops and there's silence for a few moments until she picks up the phone again.

"My injuries are healed. All those scrapes and bruises I've had for days — they're gone."

Concern mounts when Daisy puts him on hold and Bucky is ready to spring to the door and run over to the house if something even remotely sounds like an altercation or her struggling. He exhales, relieved to hear her discovery was one of the more positive side effects of being in Mathias. Then again, he's pretty sure it's just a case of the place having a sick sense of humour.

"Oh, yeah. It's hit or miss most times," he answers back. After his fall, he wasn't so lucky. "But I've heard of a few people being healed after they got here."

He looks towards the door again. Feeling that he needs to get out and do something outside the walls of the boarding house. The walls were already starting to close in on him.

"Hey, you up for breakfast? I can grab some stuff and come over."

That's weird. Not the cool kind of weird either, but the unsettling sort that left her feeling off-balance. She watches her reflection a bit longer, really not liking that this place could do these things to her without her knowing, before finally turning away.

It's stupid the way her pulse speeds up in an instinctive fight or flight response to his offer. A little concentration has it calm again but the cause behind the reaction is still there. The very idea of being in the same room with him right now just... It's so stupid but she can't do it. She just can't.

"You know, I'm actually not that hungry right now," she replies with the lamest possible excuse. This is Bucky Barnes, the man she'd heard stories of for years, who had been nothing but helpful and kind since she'd arrived. "I thought I'd go for a walk. But uh..."

Don't do this. Don't just run from the only connection you have to home.

"But how about later? For dinner or lunch or something."

It's a little hard not to feel the bite of rejection when Daisy ducks and dodges his offer, but he has to remind himself yet one more time that this isn't the same woman that was here a few days ago. Maybe she wants nothing to do with him.

Maybe he needs to give her the space she needs and forget about what happened before and move forward.

"Yeah," he says, his voice sounding nothing like how he was really feeling. "No problem."

A weighted pause.

"If something comes up, we'll cross paths sooner or later."

"Yeah," she agrees quietly, sensing that she's making a mistake but not having the strength to fix it. Not now, not yet. There's no one here to stop her from running and so she's going to let herself go.

(She knows herself well enough to guess that she'll let it go for too long but even that doesn't stop her.)

"If you need anything, you know where to find me, okay?"

You know where to find me, okay? Hearing her say it like that seems so... casual. He looks from the window to the door and then down at the floor.

"Same goes for you. Talk to you later."

Bucky returns the phone to its base and pauses only long enough to know he doesn't want to be there. He needs to move. So he gathers his hoodie and heads out, not entirely sure where exactly he plans on going.

065-071 » assign to oblivion / part iii

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