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

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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Home has never been the sacred space for Neal that it was for Raylan. When he was a kid, it was a place to be walked into by Marshals and social service workers when his mom didn't answer the door. Then it was a place to store necessities, nothing that mattered, because anything that mattered got hidden as a matter of course. Then it was nowhere, then it was prison, then it was June's, which is still in many ways a public space.

He watches Raylan's face, trying to figure it out instead of asking. It feels like he should know. It feels like a test, even though he knows on some level it's not. Raylan isn't that kind of person. He doesn't bait strings for Neal to reach for and miss.

Neal finally closes his eyes and shakes his head, just a little, an admission he's ashamed to make.

Raylan's 'home' for years has been a single motel room, one that was frequently broken into, shot up or taken over by LEO's.. Usually from said shooting. But those issues weren't here and that allowed him to find a little more security under the rooves that he'd taken to as his own. They were safe, as safe as they could be considering where they all were.

The great Equalizer.

"Because you're part of my house. You're important and how you feel about it is too, no matter the reasons or nuances. Because I don't want to come home only to drive you off by bein' there. Bein' arrogant isn't worth that."

God, Malcolm is proud of Raylan’s capacity for understanding.

“Are you going to come home, too?” he asks Neal softly.

A fresh well of tears makes the world go hazy.

It's going to hurt, Raylan walking into Malcolm's room and closing the door behind him. It's going to hurt, but not as badly as an empty house on the far side of town. It's going to hurt, but not as badly as walking away.

He nods this time, blinks a few times to clear his vision. "What about Negan? He's been... avoiding it. Because of..."

He's got a feeling Raylan knows what he means.

"Yes," he assured Malcolm with a nod and another rub across his back, fingers tightening against him a little as Raylan's focused moved back to Neal.

"Negan?" He glanced between them. "What, because of that.. Because of what he did? You saw that?" The question was for both of them if the way his eyes danced back and forth between them were any suggestion.

Malcolm nodded. “And I talked to him this morning. He thinks he might not be welcome at the house. I think just about everyone saw it.”

"I've been seeing that man since then," Neal reluctantly admits. "The one he killed. The one we saw him kill."

He gives Raylan a look he doesn't realize is pleading. "Negan needs to come home, too."

The way he smiled.

Raylan glanced between them before looking down at the floor and swallowing before nodding. "Yeah. Okay. I can't promise anythin' but I can talk to him. I already told him that he can't pull that shit here. Not just on 1306 and 1308 but anywhere. We might have to kill or defend ourselves but.." Not all that.

"Where's he staying?"

Malcolm gave Raylan the address of the house he knew of. “But I think he’s been staying in more than one place,” he conceded. “If he’s not there, you can find him the way I found Neal this morning,” he suggested, giving Neal a knowing smile.

Neal manages a little bit of a smile back.

"He might also be in the new houses," Neal adds. "The ones on the farthest edge of town. I was out there last night when I ran into him."

Or rather, when Negan ran in and stopped Neal from demolishing a living room. Details.

Which reminds him. He gives Raylan another shamed look. "He knows. I told him."

A pause, then for emphasis, "Everything we talked about."

Including Neal's own feelings.

Edited 2021-07-05 03:36 (UTC)

Raylan looked at Malcolm and nodded a little, brow furrowing. "How'd you find Neal this morning?"

The mention of Neal and the man himself talking drew Raylan's eyes over to those blues, half hoping to find the answer there. He knows. Everything we talked about. Raylan opened his mouth, head tilting back a little and closed it again, nodding.

He took a deep breath. "Give me a day or two to get my shit in order, and if he's not home, I'll hunt him down, see if I can't talk him into comin' back. I'll talk to Doc too. Get everyone on.. Somethin' of a similar page."

The same thing he'd been trying to do with Tim and Malcolm, which had turned out terribly. Maybe Neal and Malcolm were wrong to look at him like he could fix something. Maybe they were putting their hopes in someone that had lost their touch along the way. He hoped not.

Malcolm was sure they weren’t. Tim was an outlier; Raylan had an almost unimpeachable record of bringing people together.

He nudged Neal’s knee playfully with his own. “I walked up and down streets shouting his name until he came out of a house.”

Neal feels the same--and Doc is different. Doc is part of Mathias, not part of something that existed before Raylan ever arrived.

Neal glances over at Malcolm, the corner of his mouth tipping into a smile for a moment. "Like a stray dog."

"Just one that wandered," Raylan assured with a pull of his smile. "You're not a stray, Neal. Not here."

He looked between them. "So we're all okay? For now?"

If so, he was going to suggest they go pick up what Neal had dropped and ask about what the man was up to.

“A lost boy,” Malcolm told Neal. He looked at Raylan hopefully, but then looked at Neal. He was the only one who could say.

Neal nods slowly, looking from one of them to the other, still not sure about anything but knowing that this part of the conversation, at least, is done. He winces a little as he uses the couch to lever himself upright.

Raylan nodded back. "Then hows about we go get stuff you dropped outside the shop door. You were up to somethin' before you saw me." He followed Neal to his feet, setting the cup on the coffee table with a soft smile towards Malcolm. A silent 'thank you for the effort of the tea'.

"Can I ask what you were gettin' into? Didn't get to see much of what was in your bag to do any guessin' of my own."

Everyone is getting up, nobody looks like they’re about to initiate round two of the dust up. Malcolm meets Raylan’s smile with a small one of his own, then gets cautiously to his feet as well.

“So… everyone’s coming home tonight?” he makes extra certain.

"Yes," Neal says, to Malcolm first, since that seems the more pressing question. He even punctuates the answer with the smallest brush of his fingertips across Malcolm's arm.

About the supplies, he's a little more cagey, ducking his head in slight embarrassment. "It's nothing yet. Just an idea I have. I don't know if it'll go anywhere."

"Yeah," Raylan followed Neal's answer with his own. Neal said he could come home and he planned on it.

"Then I won't press." Hazel eyes turned to Malcolm. "I'm almost scared to ask where you were headed before you came across us."

“I was looking for you. I found Neal and Negan already. I told Doc last night I’d try to gather all our lost souls up.” Nevermind that Doc’s advice was to let them come in their own time. “But if you’re coming home tonight, I don’t have to bug you about coming home tonight,” he teased with a huff of a laugh and a glance at the floor.

Neal smiles, fractionally, trying to mean it.

"I'm going to go pick up where I left off," he says quietly. Just as quietly, hopefully without being stopped, he heads for the door.

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065-071 » assign to oblivion / part iii

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