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

[abrightboy]

“That’s amazing. Do you… do you think you’ll still be happy there if they’re different?” Malcolm asks carefully, focusing on his scrubbing more than he really has to. He’s afraid to look at Neal. Consolation prize.

[conning]

"Of course." There's even a tired bit of enthusiasm in the words. "Seeing where the divergences are, how they affected the later movements of an entire field? Getting to actually study that, rather than hypothesize? It'll be strange, but..."

He'll probably feel stupid more than once, and that isn't exactly an enticing prospect, but the rest makes it worthwhile. Another small shrug, though Malcolm doesn't see it. "And imagine if the touchstones of different eras are different too. Entirely different paintings, or the same paintings but differently composed."

There's a building enthusiasm in the words, the topic drawing him out of that shadowed place he's been existing in for the past two weeks. "Would the artists' lives be different? Their techniques? Their politics? How would that change things?"

He finishes the section of ceiling in question and steps down to move the ladder over and resume. "And what if everything is the same? What does that say? Theoretically? Philosophically? There have to be at least a few differences somewhere."

[abrightboy]

At some point while he’s talking, Malcolm’s scrubbing stills and he turns to watch him, to watch the growing enthusiasm.

“I’d love to hear about that,” he says softly.

[conning]

Neal looks back at him, a trace of surprise in his eyes that vanishes quickly. No one ever wants to hear him talk about all of that, even Peter, half of whose job revolves around art. Of course Malcolm wants to, though. Of course he does.

Quietly, Neal answers, "I'd like to share it. It'd be nice, to have someone I can talk about it with."

A tilt lilt of amusement seeps into his tone, "Or talk at about it."

[abrightboy]

“I wonder what else will turn out to be different,” he muses, turning back to his work. “Maybe your favourite hotdog cart will be on a different corner from where it is in your world. Maybe the Guggenheim will be on the wrong street.”

[conning]

"I'd be able to go where I want," he says, half musing and half mystified. "I'd be able to travel again. Go back to France. Spain."

See the world. An entirely different world. Neal exhales softly. "Weird to think about."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks over.

“What if we just… went around the world? Just, like, took a year and went around the world?”

[conning]

Neal meets his eyes, surprised again. A year, a whole year, traveling wherever they want, together.

"You'd want to? You have your cases, your family in New York."

[abrightboy]

“None of them would be going anywhere. Maybe we’ll need to decompress after this and who else would understand?” he points out.

[conning]

Neal makes a softly amused noise. "Good point. I don't... I don't think I've ever really taken time after something like this."

A pause. "Nothing is really like this, but after... anything. I keep going. I get away."

[abrightboy]

“Most people do,” Malcolm assures him. “Fight or flight tends to default to flight. But it’s not… just that. I feel like… you deserve to have something good happen to you. You deserve to get something that you want.”

[conning]

I think you deserve some happiness.

Peter's voice. That memory, made so searingly present again. He stops cleaning slowly, turning to look at Malcolm. "The memory that Raylan saw..."

He licks his lips behind the construction mask, tastes dust in spite of the protection. "He saw me break into Peter's house. He saw me crack the safe in Peter's bedroom, take pictures of classified documents he had inside so Mozzie... So we would know what was safe to sell from a stash of plunder from World War Two that we stole from under the FBI's nose. Peter called me, while I was there. He told me..."

Neal trails off for a moment. "He said I deserve some happiness."

He lets that hang in the air for a moment, trying to find something else and failing.

Finally, he says, "I don't know that I do."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm looks over. “Did you steal the treasure?” he asks curiously.

[conning]

"I didn't turn it in. I wouldn't give it up. Not until Mozzie forced me to choose one way or the other. Not until Matthew Keller kidnapped Elizabeth and made what we wanted irrelevant."

It strikes him then, the odd kind of parallel there is between his situation and Raylan's, in a way. Neal shakes his head. "Maybe Mozzie didn't tell me when he took it, but I didn't tell him to give it back, either."

[abrightboy]

“So it didn’t make you happy,” Malcolm concludes.

[conning]

"I don't see how that matters," Neal says, quietly. It doesn't. The choices were still made.

[abrightboy]

“What would have made you happy?”

Most of the time people don’t think about why they do things, but there’s always a reason.

[conning]

Seeing those paintings hanging in a national museum. Having heirlooms returned to surviving family members. Getting to see it happen.

He's never thought about it, what might have happened if the FBI had recovered all of that treasure on the day they went to look for it. In passing, yes, but that wasn't what happened, and there was too much fallout to deal with from what did.

"I..." ...don't know.

I think that's the first outright lie you've ever told me.

He looks away. "I doesn't matter."

[abrightboy]

Malcolm’s expression softened.

“Of course it matters. Neal, has anyone ever asked you what you actually want?”

"i doesn't matter" freudian slip much

[conning]

His chest feels squeezed. He doesn't know what Malcolm wants from him. He doesn't know what the right answer is. He doesn't know what he wants. He knew back in New York, but he'd only started figuring it out. Now, with his life there a wreck, his life here in pieces, and his future up in the air--

"It doesn't matter," he insists, still quiet but firm. "Malcolm, I..."

He can't have what he wants here. If he goes back to his New York, he'll be returning to people who will probably think he ran away, and how is he going to convince them otherwise? If he goes with Malcolm, if he can go with Malcolm...

"Back in my world I'm a ward of the state. It really doesn't."

[abrightboy]

“If I went with you there, I’d still care,” Malcolm tells him matter of factly. “You still have choices and it’s hard to make the right ones for yourself if you won’t admit that what you feel is of any consequence. But it is. When Peter said you deserved some happiness, I’m sure he meant it, but if you don’t know what that looks like, then he can’t possibly.”

[conning]

He closes his eyes, telling himself it's the dust making them burn.

"Some of us don't get to just have what we want," he says quietly, repeating Malcolm's own words. "So what's the point of trying to decide? Go with what happens, make that what you want. It's all anybody can do."

[abrightboy]

“Do you want to go back there?” Malcolm asks, looking over.

[conning]

He'd been able to answer so confidently, back during the party. Yes, he wanted to go back. No question.

"I don't know," Neal says, hating how often he's been using those words lately. "They won't believe me if I say I didn't run. If I tell them I was kidnapped they'll want to know by who. No matter what I do, no matter what I say or what I can get them to believe, the system will probably have me back behind bars. I don't want that."

He finally looks up at Malcolm again. "I want to believe maybe Peter could find a way around it. But even if he can, how long is it going to be before what I saw comes true? I want to go back, part of me does, part of me always will. But I don't... want the life I'd have if I did."

[abrightboy]

“What if we end up back there exactly when we left and nobody even knows you were gone?” Malcolm suggests. “We don’t know that will happen more than anything else but… if we found out, would you choose to go back there instead?”