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

[bardish]

The dancing lights come from such a simple, silly, stupid spell. All flash, and not a whole lot of purpose in the days of flashlights and electricity. But Jeff worked on it for months, back when he was a kid. Practicing, tweaking, perfecting it, as he imagined how such things used to guide his Gifted ancestors through the dark way back when. It was the first ritual he'd built up completely on his own, without anyone's guidance.

So he's always had a fondness for it. Plus, it used to be great to play with on stage, in wilder bursts of color and sparks, coming a long way from the little will-o-the-wisps he'd sang to life as a boy. Made the crowds go nuts.

He's back to his roots today, too frustrated and afraid by recent failures to try anything more complex than the most stripped-down version of the spell. And finally-- finally-- it seems to be working just right. They dance, and they glow warmly, and they seem stable. God, he could almost cry as he keeps on singing at the lights.

There's a starman waiting in the sky
He'd like to come and meet us
But he thinks he'd blow our minds
There's a starman--

And he stops mid-verse, looking in Parker's direction as she approaches. He catches the uncertain way she says his name, like she's not totally sure if it's him, and remembers what Raylan had mentioned, about them meeting.

"Parker! Hey!" He lights up with a smile that's both genuine and-- he hopes-- as Jeff-like as he can possibly make it, as if to prove he's really him and not his cowboy counterpart. And then he seems to realize the lights are still there, drifting around him, and actually looks a little sheepish. "Uh. These are harmless, I swear."

[sharker]

At any other time, she would have been enchanted and thrilled by the lights. Real, visible magic, and not something scary like the ghosts or unsettling like the chasm disappearing had been.

But right now, there's only one thing on Parker's mind. As soon as he grins at her, she knows, and she positively lights up in response.

She's running for him before he's finished speaking, throwing herself into his arms and practically knocking him over as she bowls into him.

"You're you again!"

[bardish]

"Oof!" It's a small miracle he doesn't tip over, his legs being too long to take the sudden shift in weight without totally losing his balance. But, much like a Weeble Wobble, when Jeff catches Parker, he wobbles, but he doesn't fall down.

"Glad to see you, too!" he laughs. "I heard you met Raylan."

[sharker]

Parker pulls back as soon as he says Raylan's name, glaring.

"Yes," she says venomously. "He stole your face. And he threatened to shoot me."

[bardish]

It's so weird being on the other end of the 'who owns this face' debate. Jeff's gotten so used to the implicit accusation that he has no right to look the way he does, like he'd stolen Raylan's face, not the other way around, that it throws him for a moment.

He opens his mouth, prepared to defend Raylan's integrity. Of course there was no stealing, and Raylan had simply come by their shared features honestly, the same way Jeff had. It was all just a cosmic coincidence-slash-parent trap!

But he closes his mouth as soon as Parker mentions the threat. There's a moment where he just has to process that, eyes widening, before he opens his mouth again.

"He-- he what?"

[sharker]

"Stole your face," she says again, a little impatiently, before quickly looking him up and down, comparing him to her memories of Raylan. "And your hair. And probably the rest of you, too."

She can only assume. She has no idea where Raylan is now. Maybe he'd wised up, and after Parker had scared him off in the church ruins, he'd decided to make herself scarce.

"Oh!" She scowls as she remembers a further indignity. "And he said you weren't even a wizard. Just some stupid musician."

Which is obviously not true. She'd seen the magical lights he'd conjured with her own eyes.

[bardish]

"Oh-- no, no--" He waves his hands frantically, shaking his head. "Raylan didn't steal my face! I like to think of it more like a really peculiar twin situation-- a cosmic Parent Trap, if you will!"

(The 'if you will' is definitely tacked on to try to make his theory sound both plausible and super scientific.)

The gasp Jeff then lets out is one of betrayal, the hurt completely naked on his face.

"He said... I wasn't Gifted?" Look, 'stupid musician' he can take. That's pretty accurate. But not a wizard? "And-- more importantly-- he threatened to shoot you?"

That doesn't sound like the Raylan Givens he knows. But then... does he really know Raylan Givens?

[sharker]

She won't, pretty clearly, by the look on her face. Parker sniffs dismissively, looking away.

"He said he was a sharpshooter. Fastest gun in the West." Or...something. She can't remember exactly what it had been, now, but that sounds close enough. "But maybe he was lying about that too. Because he was lying about you! I saw your magic!"

Jeff looks hurt, and honestly, Parker can't blame him. But she also feels a little bad, because after all, she's the one who'd brought him the bad news. "You're definitely a wizard. I bet he was just trying to...to make me turn on you. To make me think he was the real one and you were the fake!"

[bardish]

Oh, he said he was a sharpshooter. Okay, that sounds a lot more plausible than Raylan just outright threatening to shoot Parker like a total dick.

But he still doesn't get why Raylan would say he wasn't a wizard. Maybe it's just the precise terminology that his twin objected to? 'Wizard' probably conjures up images of Merlins and Gandalfs, pointy hats and big long beards, not middle aged suburbanites in flannel and Birkenstocks.

"No, Raylan's--" He was going to say nice, but that doesn't seem the appropriate word to use, not with Parker and all the wrong feet those two got off on. "I don't think he'd just... lie about me. He's never seen me do anything with magic. Maybe he just thinks I can't."

There's a possibility. What if Raylan just thinks he's crazy and has been humoring him this whole time?

[sharker]

Maybe. It's possible. But Parker doesn't look convinced.

"Why didn't you ever show him?" Clearly he can. Her eyes widen with a sudden thought. "Are you hiding it from him on purpose? You don't want him to know the full extent of your powers?"

Maybe he's not just a twin, but an evil twin. Maybe Jeff has to defeat him in battle! She presses a hand to his arm, reassuring. "Don't worry. I didn't tell him anything." She frowns thoughtfully. "And I don't think he believed me, anyway..."

[bardish]

Why hasn't he shown Raylan or, hell, anybody what he can do? He used to love nothing more than to sing and perform and show off. Magic had been everything to him, and god, there was a time when he craved nothing more than the attention and adoration it used to bring him.

He wishes he had a quick and easy answer for Parker's question. It's complicated seems like a fucking cop out, especially to somebody who actually defended his honor and integrity! And he owes it to her to be somewhat honest, right?

"It's not about Raylan. I, uh... used to do a lot of stupid, reckless shit. It ended up blowing up in my face," he admits, with some reluctance, like he's letting her in on a totally embarrassing secret. "So... I don't really show anyone, anymore. I guess it's like stage fright."

And hey, even if she's wrong about Raylan being some evil (but wickedly handsome!) doppelganger, Jeff appreciates the effort! So he lights up with a warm smile and pulls Parker into a hug.

"Thanks for looking out for me. Sorry he didn't believe you."

[sharker]

"Oh."

She gets that. Parker understands more than most what it's like to have a past, one that you maybe regret. One that's maybe full of mistakes.

She tenses a little when he hugs her, not prepared for the unexpected contact. But it's Jeff, and after a moment she relaxes, reaching her arms up to hug back.

Looking out for him? "But I didn't do anything," she protests, not wanting to take credit where she doesn't deserve it. "He got away."