solstice rpg

Who: Gretchen Schleinser, Manuel Tavarez (NPCs), Tayne and Jesse
When: late morning
Where: the church

It was a glorious sunny day on Eldritch Island, and the crossing on the ferry had been reasonable given the fact that the waters around this part of Oregon were notoriously choppy. It was a Monday morning, and instead of being stuck in an office, Gretchen and her co-worker Manuel were making a visit to a former colleague. That should have made her happy, but then Gretchen wasn't in the habit of being happy about much of anything. As Manuel pulled the car up in front of the church where Tayne Peregrine was now the priest, her long nails were tapping out an irritated staccato on the surface of her iPhone. With an exasperated huff, she finally tossed it into her stylish and streamlined purse, selected especially to go with her no-nonsense business suits. "I do not know how these people live out here. There's no fucking cell reception."

Gretchen looked like she should have been a soft, cuddly housewife or maybe a nursery school teacher. She was plump and blonde, long-legged and bosomy and almost uncannily pretty. That first impression was entirely inaccurate. Beneath the lapels of her suit jackets beat the heart of a ruthless barracuda.

Who: Tayne and Jesse and a door
Where: The lighthouse
When: Around noon

The sermon came easily, the day before, and hadn't taken much in the way of polish. It was, unsurprisingly to Tayne at least, about mistakes and atonement and perseverance. It was what he needed to hear, anyway, so it was apparently what the congregation got to hear, too. That left him with most of the evening and all morning to research a spell for Jesse's door-- not necessarily a good thing, but at least productive-- and even then he wound up with an hour to kill. The spell in question required it to be noon, so he only left for the lighthouse half an hour before.

His truck rattled up to the lighthouse and stopped in a short shower of gravel at its foot. Tayne climbed out, a duffle bag over his shoulder, clanking a little with the materials inside it. This was more complicated than the last spell, but possibly more informative, and certainly less likely to engage the door's magic, itself. Or so he hoped.

( He wished he could have known and understood more true things about life while he'd been living it, but then maybe that was part of the lesson he was supposed to be learning here. )

Who: Tayne and Jesse (duh <3 )
Where: The church
When: Late evening

After dropping his things off at the house, and stopping long enough to grab a bite to eat to hopefully quell his uneasy stomach from the boat ride back, Tayne made his weary way to the church to make sure nothing had been disturbed in his absence. He'd had one of the local parishioners locking and unlocking the sanctuary during the day, and checking to make sure everything was as it should be, but he wanted to make sure for himself.

Besides, maybe he could find some measure of peace in there, at least enough to let him sleep tonight. His sleep the night before, though exhausted, had been restless, and what he remembered of his dreams had been unpleasant. Jesse had been there, too, and that only made him feel worse.

So he headed through the familiar double doors, pushing one open, and flicked on the lights, so the room was illuminated by more than candles and reflected streetlights through the windows.

( The sanctuary and the company. )

Who: Tayne and Jesse
Where: In dreams
When: At night

The room was small and dark, but it felt crowded, like the shadows had mass, had eyes and were staring at him. The single light hanging overhead was harsh, and he hunched under it, sure that in its light, they could see everything. Every transgression. Every guilty feeling. Every little sin.

They could certainly see the big sin.

"Tell us again."

"What happened tonight."

Shoulders bent, head hanging low, Tayne looked even more guilty than he felt. The police had seemed to believe him, when this interview had really happened. Then, he had been shaken but confident, saddened and afraid but not guilty. He'd been the priest, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, with some strange circumstances that he couldn't explain, that was for sure. But here... here, he knew. He knew it was wrong, he knew he was wrong. "I j-j-just c-came upon them. In th-th-the alley. Bleeding. I j-j-just threw my rosary--"

( You got rotten taste in friends. )

Who: Tayne and Lux (NPC)
Where: the streets of Darkwater
When: late in the evening, right before the electrical storm

It hadn't been as productive a day as Tayne would've liked-- which was why he was still out and about well after dark, and not eating dinner at the nice restaurant attached to his hotel. The morning had been taken up with hiding in his hotel room from the downpour, not even able to sleep in with all that rain coming down noisily. He'd kept his window open the night before, and as soon as the storm broke at dawn, he'd immediately rushed out of bed to slam the window shut.

No water in his hotel room. None. No way.

Thankfully, it finally cleared up enough that he felt comfortable going outside, but that still shaved a few hours off his plans for the day. Throw in the blustering, and he'd barely visited half the people he'd intended to, and only made one purchasing errand. He was on his way back to the hotel a visit to the hospital, on foot, eying the starless sky with more and more trepidation and wishing to heaven he'd brought his truck. Shame on him for thinking the rain was done for the day.

( and an empty shell )

Who: Tayne and Natalie Price (NPC)
Where: the Prices' yard
When: mid-morning

There was fog all around, which served to make Natalie feel as if she could hide in plain sight. That was what she was doing this morning, sitting next to the base of a tree in her front yard, her damp hair straggling over her face as she bent her head to look at the ground. She was trying to dig a hole with a spoon she'd taken from the kitchen and not having a great deal of success given how thick the grass was. She hadn't yet gotten impatient, and nobody had missed her yet: her mother was conversing with her new attendant, and they thought she was in her room. But she'd sneaked out, something she was fairly good at. It was chilly, and she shivered in the t-shirt and checked skirt she'd put on after her shower. It didn't matter, though. Natalie didn't let the weather conditions affect her, usually.

The address Tayne had was about all he had to go off of, and the fog wasn't helping. It just made him edgy, all that water in the air waiting to condense right over him, or something. Ugh. But he'd promised, and he'd braved the ferry the afternoon before, and it was important, so he was going to do his best.

( Who are you? Are you nobody, too? )

Who: Jesse and Tayne
Where: St. Florian's
When: late afternoon

Jesse had spent the majority of the day sitting out on the catwalk with his shirt off, soaking up the light he'd been denied the day before and thinking about the problem of Natalie Price and her death wish. He was still convinced that the only other thing he could do was consult Tayne and see if there was any way he could help, and he only hoped that he could manage it without fumbling around and having his friend think he'd gone around the bend. He should just talk to Tayne about the dreamworld, straight up, but he was concerned that the priest would be self-conscious around him if he knew and believed that he and Jesse had interacted in dreams. There had to be another way.

( And good advice. )

Who: Jesse and Tayne
Where: the dreamworld
When: the wee hours

Jesse seemed to feel safest on the catwalk of the lighthouse, suspended between sea and sky, and it was there that he was lying, not minding the hardness of the iron walkway beneath him. His body was still, his posture relaxed, his face with its opaquely fogged over eyes turned up toward the heavens. He'd been wandering in dreams ever since the dark had fallen like a curtain over the horizon.

He'd been searching for the girl who wanted to kill herself, but he'd found no trace of her. Thus far, he hadn't encountered anyone he knew. The dreams had been either mundane or non-disturbing, and gradually he realized that he was walking in that amorphous space between one dream and the next. He was surrounded by fog, but he patiently picked his way along, feeling the sand beneath his feet give way to what felt like pavement or concrete. The air became cooler, the wind stronger, and he wondered where he would emerge. Squinting through the darkness, Jesse soon found that he could see vague shapes up ahead. It was some sort of building, surrounded by cacti. Huge ones. It was still dark out here, but he couldn't tell if it was dusk or just before dawn.

( Blood for blood. )

For Tayne and Jessalyn and Mikael...

Who: Tayne and Olivia
Where: Eldritch Bar and Grill
When: Lunchtime!

The lack of rain was a blessing, and a relief, and it urged Tayne to actually get out and about a little before the crazy weather decided it was going to rain on him again. He spent the morning working in the graveyard, pulling weeds and cutting the wider patches of grass, and now that it was noon, it was time to get eating-- well past time. He was starving.

Rather than retreat to the rectory, where he'd been most of yesterday, he hopped in the truck and headed for the little pub where Olivia worked. Even if she wasn't there, he could do with some fried chicken and a cold beer that didn't come from his own fridge. He pulled up, hopped out, and headed inside, hands in his pockets and a cowboy hat belying his calling-- he didn't even have a collar on today, just a t-shirt. It wasn't like the whole town didn't know who he was without it, anyway.

( Wouldn't want people to start thinking our Priest needed a bib. )

Who: Jesse and Tayne
When: late evening
Where: St. Florian's

Jesse had spent the day in a state of low terror once he'd gotten back to the lighthouse, and he wasn't entirely sure why. He'd rushed inside, for once savoring the sound of the lock clicking shut behind him and knowing that nobody could get in unless he let them in, and gone upstairs to strip off his wet and bloody clothes and take a shower. He had stood beneath the stream of water for quite a long time, occasionally looking at the scar in the middle of his chest. It seemed to be healing in some slow, time-lapse fashion; when he'd first gotten into the shower, it had looked as bad as the scars on his arms-- which he'd decided had to be some sort of reminder of what he'd done, or maybe a punishment, to still look the way they did after all this time-- but when he'd finally gotten out, it was less prominent, although still there.

The thought that had consumed him all day was, What am I? I don't eat, don't sleep, walk in dreams, and evidently I can't die. It wasn't that he didn't know he was something extraordinary, but each nuance that was revealed made him feel even stranger about it. Even worse than that was knowing there was another being like him, like a dark mirror image. A shadow, malevolent and unpredictable.

( You look like hell, pardon the saying.... )

Who: Jesse and Tayne
When: evening
Where: the cemetery, then the rectory

Jesse was feeling unsettled tonight, and he couldn't face an entire evening of sitting at the lighthouse listening for sounds behind that door. It was still way too warm outside, even long after the sun had gone down, and heat lightning flickered on a fairly constant basis in the sky. Earlier in the day, he'd used a boxcutter he'd found in one of the drawers in the keeper's quarters to cut the legs off of one of his many pairs of faded jeans to create a pair of long shorts, and he wore them along with one of his usual long-sleeved t-shirts. His feet were bare; somehow he didn't worry about getting his feet cut or injured. He just felt cooler with no shoes on.

He'd left the lighthouse with the notion of going to see Tayne, and he'd gotten as far as the cemetery just outside the church before encountering a ghost. It was a young man who reminded him quite a bit of one of the kids in his youth group a while back, and he'd seated himself next to a tombstone to talk to him. It was a nice distraction from the numerous things he had on his mind, and he quickly lost track of time. It was a blustery night, with those flashes of lightning illuminating the sky, and his voice was soft as he murmured to the ghost, who was leaning against him and clutching his arm, although he couldn't feel the phantom touch.

( It wasn't that he'd ceased believing in God or turning to Him for guidance; it was more that, after death, God seemed so, so far away. )

Who: Jessalyn and Tayne
When: Afternoon
Where: The church

Since she didn't have to work until later that night, Jessalyn decided to take the ferry to Eldritch to visit Tayne. She had no intentions of going into the woods to shift again, not after meeting that mean woman. The day was stifling in it's heat, and Jess tried to stay cool on the ferry ride over, although she was feeling sticky and uncomfortable by the end of the commute, even in her sundress and sandals. By the time she walked to the church and up the stairs, she was sweaty and wishing she had brought a bottle of water. Thankfully the church was cool as she stepped inside and started toward the front. With any luck, Tayne was around and she wouldn't have to start searching all over the island for him. Jessalyn was already imagining shifting into a small animal once she got home and finding the beach to splash around in the water for awhile.

Tayne was around, and he was really enjoying the warmth, since he was sure it wouldn't last. It never did. At least in the church itself, it never got that hot, what with the cool stone and the trees on either side. He was working on respelling the church, since it obviously needed it, currently in the farthest corner from the door. When the doors opened he immediately tucked the little wand of rowan he'd been using into his back pocket, where someone coming in wouldn't see it, and then turned to face whoever it was.

"Oh, Jess! Hey." Well, he didn't have to worry too much about magic with her around. And here'd he'd been thinking of calling her, just yesterday, hadn't he?

( There was a woman in the woods I met last week. She wasn't very... pleasant. )

Who: Tayne and Jesse
Where: The lighthouse
When: Afternoon

Between Mass and evening services, Tayne had a few hours free to do with as he pleased. He usually holed himself up at the rectory to recharge, but it'd been a few days since he'd seen Jesse, and he felt like he ought to rectify that situation. He had the vague sense that he'd dreamed about him-- again; he was equally sure, in a vague way, it hadn't been the first time-- and it left him wanting to make sure the guy was still around, and all right.

He had one of the tins of Art's cookies under one arm as he climbed out of his truck to land on the gravel of the lot beside the lighthouse, even though he knew Jesse didn't really eat. He just felt like he ought to, anyway. Maybe there'd been cookies in the dream, or something, heh.

It was something of a surprise, as he approached, to see the swarm of gulls and... were those doves?... that seemed to have covered the whole damn outcropping the lighthouse was on. And the lighthouse itself. "What in th'world...?" he muttered, frowning at the carpet of white and gray between him and Jesse.

( And lots of birds. )

Who: Jesse and Tayne
Where: in dreams
When: just before midnight

Jesse had just wandered out of a dream in which he'd helped a teenage boy rescue armadillos from a pit filled with jagged metal, and it was probably fortunate that he didn't seem to sustain harm in the dreamworld. The animals had been feisty, prone to scratching and biting. He'd left the teenager in a field with a stream of vividly green water running through the middle of it, waving farewell and walking until he hit a patch of fog. He'd found that it was a common experience for him to blunder around between one dream and the next, unable to see where he was going until he emerged somewhere else. It had ceased to make him uneasy by now, and he calmly put one foot in front of the other.

Suddenly there was a tree directly in front of him, appearing out of the world of white, and he put a hand on it as he maneuvered around it. A path became visible underfoot, a path that led upward into mountainous terrain. Jesse didn't mind climbing. The fog cleared as he made his way upward, and although he'd only been walking for about five minutes, it seemed as if he was up very high. The altitude made his ears pop, and he swallowed as he glanced around. There was nothing but trees and air-- chilly air-- and a stone house that looked almost medieval. From the chimney wafted smoke that smelled of wood and something almost spicy. Pine cones? He walked up to the door and stood gazing at it; there was a three-dimensional carving in the tall wooden doorframe. An eagle, proud wings outstretched, haughty profile tilted upward.

( a dilemma )

Who: Art and Tayne
Where: The Island Church
When: Early Afternoon

It was debatable if anyone knew how the mind of a golem worked. What made Arturion Stone decide it was time to bake more cookies and take them to the priest on the island was unknown. Perhaps he had some kind of internal clock, running on a different time from anyone else, or maybe there was golem logic involved. Regardless of the reason, Art woke up that morning and decided it was time to see Tayne again. The man knew what Art was, but had - apparently - accepted his existence. Others wouldn't have. Whether this had anything to do with Human logic or religion or was just part of how Tayne ticked, Art didn't know.

Some mysteries were best left unsolved.

( My favorite! )

Who: Jesse and Tayne
Where: inside the sanctuary
When: evening

Jesse had wandered into St. Florian's as soon as the outside air became dusky and dim, not exactly sure why he'd felt compelled to come here. He'd thought the church was lovely the first time he'd visited it on the previous Sunday night, true, but that didn't explain why he'd crept inside as silently as a shadow, lingering in the back to gaze at the darkened room with its stained glass windows, pews, confessionals and altar complete with flickering candles at the very front. There didn't seem to be anybody in the building that he could tell, and he stood for long moments breathing in the scent of furniture polish, of aged paper, of wax. It was calming in some way he could not have explained if he'd had to.

He moved forward, pausing at the altar to watch the candles flicker and glow, hesitated, glanced around again. Finally he settled on the floor at the far end of the confessionals, curling up in the small space between the booths and the altar, and there he sat for endless minutes. There was nothing but silence, nothing but his own heartbeat, nothing but a near-darkness that was not threatening but, on the contrary, warm and safe. Gradually his head dropped back, resting against the burnished wood of the nearest confessional booth, and his eyes became clouded opaque white. He wasn't asleep, but neither was he aware. Someone somewhere in the vicinity was sleeping, and he'd gone to join them in the dreamworld.

( I tried to help, but my light couldn't touch it. )

Who: Jessalyn and Tayne
Where: Church on Eldritch
When: Late afternoon

Jessalyn had worked the lunch shift at the cafe that afternoon, and when she clocked out, she realized she had no plans for the rest of the day other than to maybe buy some groceries. It wasn't the most exciting thing, and her brain worked overtime to try and come up with another plan before she resigned herself to spending the next couple of hours in the grocery store. Jessalyn was nothing if not thorough in her grocery shopping, and she tended to read almost any package she picked up. Then she had to smell it, of course, because if it smelled bad, she couldn't buy it. By the time she got home and changed into a sundress and cardigan, Jessalyn had come up with the thought to visit Tayne. It meant a fun ride over to the island on the ferry, and the opportunity to even shop at the cute clothing stores if she wanted to before she came home.

( Normal isn't always boring. )

Who: Jesse and Tayne
When: the wee hours
Where: in dreams

Jesse had no idea how he'd gotten here, but that seemed to be par for the course tonight. He'd been walking through what looked like heavy fog, unable to see more than six inches in front of him, when he'd suddenly emerged on a road he'd never seen before. All around him was utter silence, and he stood on the center line and looked around. There were trees at either side of the roadway, there was what looked like hard-packed dirt at the shoulder, and from where he was, he couldn't see any sign of habitation anywhere. Should he continue walking, he wondered, or should he push through some of those trees and see if there was anything beyond them?

He didn't have but a few seconds to deliberate. There was the squeal of tires, the revving of car engines, and then a Jeep was racing around the curve. Headed straight for him. Somehow, Jesse couldn't seem to move. He opened his mouth to scream, and both arms flew up to cover his face.

( Maybe we get along so well because we both want to help people. )

Who: Tayne and Olivia
Where: Out to lunch!
When: Midday or thereabouts

Today, Tayne was picking up Olivia. His truck needed exercise now and then, after all, and Olivia picked him up so often it seemed unfair that he not do the driving now and then. He pulled up to the apartment complex and parked, pausing there to shut his eyes and rub at the lids. His magic the day before had worn him out, so much that he'd slept much later this morning than he usually did, and he'd had to scramble a little to make it here on time.

He finally pulled himself out of the truck and headed up to Olivia's door to knock.

( I didn't know Priests were allowed to get cranky in public. )