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

[tinstar]

"Tim," he started, a hand coming up to slide around Tim's jaw, fingertips dipping into his hairline. "I did not bring you break-up lunch and flowers. Who says you weren't allowed? All I just went through; 'course you're allowed. It's why I went through all of it in the first place. Not to give you up."

[walkingtrigger]

The younger marshal continued to look confused.

"Last night," he began, leaning his head slightly into the comfort of Raylan's hold. "You called me, but I thought that was all it was supposed to be. That you needed time for yourself, maybe time for you and Malcolm and," Tim licked his upper lip and looked down at the scruff on Raylan's chin. "I was afraid to ask and hear you say no."

The sniper gave a watery chuckle/sob and closed his puffy eyes for a moment before he whispered, "I don't know how you're managing ... any of this?" Not the managing of himself, of Malcolm and of Neal. But how Raylan was doing; himself.

[tinstar]

Part of him had wanted Tim to show up and kiss away his soul aches and pains, reward him for his sacrifice, the effort, but the other half of him was glad Tim didn't. Raylan felt he deserved the isolation, the loneliness, the self-loathing. Like a whipping to remind him what he'd done wrong.

"He went home. The better option, considerin'. It was Doc's night anyway. Maybe he.. made him feel better." Raylan hadn't. "You shoulda asked," he whispered, leaning in to press a kiss against Tim's forehead. The hand at his jaw slid back around his shoulders and Raylan leaned their weight on the counter.

"I plan on getting blind drunk tonight, mostly," he huffed, with a sad truth to it. "It's mostly one moment at a time, if I'm honest. Step one then two than three.. Some steps got added in that I wasn't plannin' for but.. It all had to be done. Woulda been uglier if I hadn't, you gotta believe that. Might be hard now but.. It was for the best. You know that right?"

[walkingtrigger]

They both knew it was for the best. Even if there was a little part of Tim that wanted to ask why it was for the best. That selfish bit of child that no one ever completely gives up, but which is managed by growth and adulthood.

"I know," he confirmed, because he did but it also felt as if Raylan might need to hear the reassurance as well. The sniper went into his lover's hold, his arms wrapping tightly around Raylan's torso, long fingered hands splayed up along the line of his spine as he pushed his face against the older man's throat.

"In case it needs to be said, I am humbled by your bravery," Tim continued. "Already knew you were strong, stronger than we give you enough credit for, but what you did to protect him, to protect me?" The sniper made a few aborted noises, as he picked up words and set them down as inane. Eventually he leaned back and looked into Raylan's face, bloodshot eyes searching.

"I cannot imagine you're alright, Raylan. Tell me, what am I missing?" He whispered back the words that the older man had used on him just the night before.

[tinstar]

Somehow, Raylan's next breath was easier to take with Tim wrapped around him such a way and he relaxed into the hold a little more weightily. He did need the reassurance. "Doesn't need to be said, strictly speakin'.. but I can't say I don't appreciate hearin' it."

Tim pulled back and Raylan met his eyes without hesitation, but not without some pained sadness in his eyes.

"You're gonna tell me I'm silly. But I risked everything and now everything's different in a way I didn't expect it to be. You were fine with me goin' over there every other night, you know what it is to be trapped in your own head. Everyone's so damned worried about what my dick is doin' to realize it's not in rotation most of the time. Yeah. Malcolm is important to me, just like you're important to me. And Henry. I can't leave any of you alone. I won't leave any of you to bein' alone. I can't. Not anymore. Not after so many people failed to make that bar. Not since I know I can. I am good for them, just like I am good for you and you're all good for me. And I know everyone wants my everything, but I promise that y'all would get tired of me. I know you would."

[walkingtrigger]

It was Tim's turn to listen with quiet intensity. His turn to draw a hand up and around until he could cradle the side of Raylan's throat; stroke his jawline with his thumb.

"I think there are at least two of us who would argue that promise," he said softly and the only reason he didn't say three is he knew Doc was a different brand in his own way. "But I ain't here to do that today."

Because he understood what Raylan was saying and he'd had four years of watching it in action. The view Raylan had of himself had been twisted by so many important people in his life that Tim didn't expect there were any mere words that could ever prove a point. It had to be done through action and Tim exhaled through his stuffed nose as he acknowledged that in this respect he was failing the older man.

"It's not about your dick," he said with a wry quirk of the corner of his mouth. "At least not for me. But it is my weakness in this," Tim admitted. "I have no excuse for being weak, all I can offer is I didn't expect it."

He was dancing and flattened his lips at himself, before taking a deep breath and looking back up to hazel eyes.

"I ain't proud of myself for this next bit. You did the right thing. But I guess there was a part of me that held on to it just being you and me in the know that somehow gave us something that was just ours," Tim looked pained at his own words; for a bevy of reasons. "A part of you that was just mine, which isn't thinking I can hold on to with all this, but I don't know the right way of thinking to replace it. Not yet."

He caught his lower lip between his teeth, then leaned in to wrap his arms around Raylan again, whispering against his throat. "I'm sorry you've been, are being, hurt in all of this Raylan. You asked me about what I said earlier. Let me clarify my sentiment. I don't and I won't ever regret loving you. I regret the hurt I'm bringing on you."

[tinstar]

Raylan's chin tilted a little into that hand along the bottom of his jaw, unsure hazel eyes taking in whatever he could glean from Tim's features and his eyes as he spoke. He wasn't here to do that today. Raylan couldn't help but worry he was here to do something else. Something else for Raylan to shoulder and carry out in his already bruised and heavy heart.

Whether or not Tim should have been weak wasn't Raylan's place to say. He was feeling what he was feeling and there wasn't anything to be done about that but accept them.

"You already got a part of me that just us. Just ours. All that history you and I got in our heads ain't for nothing." For what that was worth. He could understand where the sentiment was rooted. Malcolm had a similar feeling. He didn't know what to do about any of it, except continue to be there.

"You got knowin' what I'm like as a father, as an asshole, as a hillbilly... I didn't ask if you regret it. I asked if you still wanted me to get to you. That's the important part - I've been hurt before. It'll happen again. I'm used to it."

[walkingtrigger]

Tim leaned his forehead against the center of Raylan's sternum, taking in deep breaths of the older man's scent through his stuffy nose. Eyes closed the sniper's shoulders curled a little as he tried to melt back into his partner.

"Raylan. If I had my druthers I want you all the time," he admitted softly. "In as selfish, possessive, pee on your cowboy boots way as I could manage. I'd put a ring on your finger, matching it to one on mine and the only one I'd share you with would be Willa." He was too tired to keep dancing around, making the appropriate noises without laying bare impossible desires that he knew made him an asshole.

"I am trying to reconcile all that want with the reality of what is here for us, here for you. Every ask I even consider making towards you, I spend hours in my damn head, testing it for sounding like a reasonable adult. Not a lovesick teenage asshole."

[tinstar]

Raylan was quiet for a long second, hands spread out over and around Tim's back.

"Hellva marriage proposal though," he started with a hint of levity that didn't have much ground to stand on. No matter which way he asked it, Tim wasn't ready to say either way if he wanted to keep this going or not. If he wanted Raylan to be coming around or not.

Raylan took a deep breath and nodded, pressing another kiss into Tim's hair. "You don't have to do that but I'm smart enough to know that sayin' so doesn't make it so... I'm not gonna push, darlin'. All I can say is that I'll be here when you decide, okay?"

[walkingtrigger]

"Marriage proposal will involve me peeing in your hat," Tim responded with a watery hint of levity, but also something in his voice; a flash of hope. A dream.

Raylan's response confused him because he honestly thought he had answered the question. But as he pressed his cheek against his partner's chest, soaking up those soft kisses to his hair, he began to recognize that maybe Raylan needed things spelled out in black and white for a bit. At least while they all worked to navigate the interpersonal shades of grey.

"Raylan. I want you. I wanted you last night, so desperately it was an ache like nothing I can remember feeling for another person. I want you tonight, today ... I don't want to let you go now that I have my arms around you and your arms around me. I'm scared that when I let go, you're going to walk out that door, come to your senses and tell me to pound sand."

[tinstar]

Apparently, he did need it. There was a lot swarming around in his head, a lot of information that he hadn't gotten to chew through with a clear mind to say nothing of the punches he'd taken a hour and a half or so before. His brains were trying their best and Tim's last statement sounded too much like the man was still mid battle to land on either side. Plenty of people could profess their love and then still tell him to not come back.

He couldn't let go of how close it felt like Tim was to doing exactly that the night before.

But that wasn't happening and the words were followed by clutch of relief in his chest, a tightening of his hands around Tim's shoulders as he breathed in the scent of him. Realizing that he hadn't said anything yet, Raylan nodded into Tim's hair. "Okay. Alright. Then we'll figure this out. Even if it takes time. Nothin' worth fightin' for is easy. Just please don't piss in my hat. I'm rather attached to it."

[walkingtrigger]

"No promises," Tim gave another watery chuckle, this one coming with a shudder through his entire body as he stepped closer to Raylan and hung on tight enough to bruise.

He wasn't kidding about not wanting to let go. The sniper agreed with everything the older man had said, about things taking time and being worth fighting for, but at the moment he was incredibly reluctant to physically let the older man go.

[tinstar]

Raylan huffed and turned them so that he was leaning back against the counter with Tim between his wide spread legs, taking another deep breath of him. He let a few long seconds pass before he spoke up again, sensing that Tim and needing himself to just linger in this for a few minutes, to pull them back from the edge they'd been tightrope walking across.

"It won't be tonight but.. Expect me to find and crawl into your bed at some point. Just to wrap around ya. You better tell me what house you find to post up in so I can find a window to sneak into."

[walkingtrigger]

Given the opportunity to scoot a little closer, Tim took it. There was nothing sexually suggestive in the action, though maybe it would have been better all around if they'd just been about sex. But no. This was about craving and finding comfort in his partner's arms and in having his arms around the older man in return. Life just felt a more manageable like this.

"I'll leave a trail of 'shine bottles," he responded, voice muffled from where he had his face pressed into Raylan's shirt. His tone was soft, in a way Tim didn't allow outside the bedroom. "Even leave the door unlocked. You resemble a newborn colt, with his legs in a knot, trying to stand when you go through windows. Don't need you falling on your head without your hat to cushion the blow."

[tinstar]

"Thought you were on the wagon. And the hell I do. I'm graceful. You're just shorter. Easier with those stubby legs."

[walkingtrigger]

"Figured the last thing we needed to add to this mess was my being blind drunk," he muttered. Truth was he'd wanted to be sober and ready if Raylan had called, or shown up needing him.

"I do not have stubby legs," he huffed, reaching to give the older marshal's hip a cheeky pinch.

[tinstar]

"Don't you worry darlin', I'll pick that slack up for ya."

Raylan chuckled at the pinch. "Sure you do. S'why you don't clear six foot. But I think it's cute so you're alright."

[walkingtrigger]

"Oh don't you worried, I'll make up for lost time," Tim responded in a tone that suggested he would absolutely be protective over his stash of booze. Store that shit in his stomach if he had too!

"It's called being 'fun sized' you ass," he play growled, bullying against Raylan with his shoulders, pressing them even closer together and his arms tightened suddenly as he felt tears prick at his eyes.

Please, please don't let me lose this.

[tinstar]

"You can't steal my line and use it against me, that's not fair," he muttered with a chuckle into Tim's hair. "But I prefer pocket sized. Though you are a lotta fun.."

Raylan pressed another kiss against Tim's head, arms wrapping tighter right him for the bully in. "C'mon. Let's finish lunch. Gotta keep your strength up for all this cleanin' you've taken on."

[walkingtrigger]

"Only Judd Truth allowed to do that?" Tim sassed back, snorting at Raylan labels him pocket sized. He briefly considered letting the older man have a pass when he followed up with saying Tim was fun, but the desire to pinch his partner's ass was too great and so Tim indulged.

"I'm eating that other grilled cheese. You make a reach for it, I will lick it in your hand." Of course to get to either sandwich they had to let go. Tim decided he wasn't going to be the adult in this situation and let Raylan go. The cowboy was going to have to peel him off.

[tinstar]

"Mm-hmm," he chuckled but the pinch made his hips jerk to one side with a sharp sound that was followed with a proper laugh, head pulling back to look down into Tim's face. Tim, who clearly wasn't ready to move yet.

Raylan's lips curled further and one hand subtly slipped off Tim and reached out towards the goods. To lick his hand meant that he'd have to move.

WHAT WOULD HE GIVE FOR THE GRILLED CHEESE?

[walkingtrigger]

The laugh sounded so damn beautiful to his ears, Tim felt his heart ache as his lips twitched upwards into a grin of his own. But then Raylan was making a play for the grilled cheese!

"Oh no, sir." Tim teased, shifting himself so that he remained pressed up against Raylan. Then, because he knew Raylan wouldn't play fair, the younger marshal curled his fingers inwards and traced a tickle line up towards the armpit of the reaching arm.

[tinstar]

Just as his fingers were about to brush the grilled cheese, Tim found the perfect spot and Raylan curled with more laughter as his hands hurried to stop Tim's from their continued assault.

Alright. Yes. He was ticklish. Sue him.

Raylan tried to manage his sternest look as he looked back into Tim's face. "No need to be all rude about it. This is not the licking I was promised," He teased, one hand sliding around Tim's face and drawing him up into a kiss.

They could both play dirty.

[walkingtrigger]

This round of laughter resulted in soft answering laughter from the younger marshal as he tried to get as much of his tickle assault as he could in before Raylan shook him off. He allowed his hand to be caught and met that stern look with a softness that stripped years out of his eyes. It left him boyish in a rare way.

"Well hold your hand up and I'll ..." was as far as he got before Raylan's mouth came down on his own and Tim decided that sass could wait. Turning his hand in the cowboy's he threaded their fingers together as he returned the kiss and while he knew it couldn't go far, his lips parted in invitation and he whimpered a soft note of welcome.

[tinstar]

Yeah, that's what he thought. Raylan smiled into the kiss as their fingers laced together and he squeezed gently, deepening the kiss for a long moment of moonshine tinted love before breaking it gently.

"Don't worry, okay? I ain't goin' anywhere. Not until Mathis makes me."