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

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.

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...?

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.

"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.

"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.

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."

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.

"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."

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.

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.

065-071 » assign to oblivion / part iii

obligatory trio thread

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OMG I almost forgot this one, apologies!

time doesnt exist for leverages anyway tbh

it's true

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