Matias’s Friday night odd encounter(Matias)
Date: 2025-07-18 23:24
(Matias’s Friday night odd encounter(Matias):Matias)
[Fri Jul 18 2025]
Arcadia Park
It is night, about 71F(21C) degrees, and there are clear skies. The mist is heaviest At High and Lake/span>/span There is a waning crescent moon.
(Your target discovers a cursed object in an antique shop that begins warping reality around them – doors lead to wrong places, reflections move independently, and time skips erratically. They must either destroy the object or find its previous owner to break the curse before they become permanently trapped in the distorted space.)
Sitting on the beach with Derek and Jasper who may or may not have drifted off, there is distinct conversation in the background from Malin and Charlotte chattering about stuff. Eloa’s attention is focused on Derek as she hugs her knees, dressed in only swimwear as she rubs her cheek against her knee. “Sorry Eloa no come back yesterday Derek. Things got.. very crazy.”
“So I heard.” Derek mumbles after Eloa, his attention still looking about with mute curiosity before he gives a single nod thereafter, then closing his eyes for a beat, taking in the sounds of the beachside.
“What did you end up hearing? Eloa is curious.” Eloa asks Derek as she sits on the sand, her hair blowing back behind her, rippling in the wind as she enjoys the night air. Crisp just after sunset.
The party in the park goes into the evening hours, the skies are clear, the moon is waning, and it is pleasant. As Eloa and Derek discuss ‘things’ with Jasper there as well, in the distance a ice cream vendor is pushing a white and chrome cart ahead of himself with a lantern hanging from the pole the umbrella would hang in the day. He is calling out, “Ice cream, cones and sandwiches, bowls and waffle bowls. Shaved ice, any flavor! Perfect for a warm night!” just the thing for people with moods to have at the end of the day.
“Just about what’s happened as of now. I hear lots of things.” Derek supposes with a shrug, crossing his arms and looking over his shoulder to Jasper as he arrives. “I think the elections might be back on for this evening?” he states softly, before his eyes drift over to the distant ice cream vendor with a flit of his brows. “…More treats.” he muses.
Turning to put his dry clothes on, Jasper ticks his head up upon hearing the ice cream vendor’s voice. “Could be later in the unless it’s been rescheduled,” he tells Derek before he turns to look at the cart. “Yummy.”
“Oh yes.. Oops elections is soon. Eloa totally forgot about them.” Lifting her head, Eloa smiles a little as she hears the advertisement for ice cream. “Ooh do you either of you want ice cream? Eloa could probably do with something sweet right now. After everything that happen. Will be Eloa treat if like.” She lifts her hand, waving at the ice cream man.
Derek gives a shrug. “I suppose ice cream would be in order. I do need to get back to dress in a while, though – I was trying for Treasurer.” he mumbles, drawing his arms close as he squints. “Maybe a single scoop as a treat.” he decides.
The ice cream cart continues along the path getting progressively closer to the party going swimmers drying on the sands. When Eloa waves the man down, a man in a striped apron with a little paper hate, greying hair, and a puddgy kind face, he stops and looks at the grass before beckoning the group to walk the short distance to the path.
Groaning a little because that means she has to get up, Eloa gets to her feet, her hand dusting sand off of her curvy ass to reveal the bikini tan lines she has visible around her thong before she makes her way towards the cart with a squish of her hips. “Is there positions that no so public? Eloa kindof want join but also kindof.. not want be too public you know?”
“I wonder who’s going to be the mascot?” Jasper says with a nod towards Eloa. “Like, isn’t it hot to be wearing a mascot costume?” Adjusting his clothes, he then turns to make his way towards the cart.
“Also are the elections still on? Eloa heard she was in clinic.. And Jenny wanted be mascot.” Eloa tells Jasper as they walk.
Derek shrugs. “They’re all public. That’s… kind of the point.” He props himself up, making his way off nonchalantly to the cart alongside Eloa and Jasper. “The entry was updated in my calendar, so… maybe?” he supposes with a shrug.
As the group approaches the cart there is a little sign that lists the ice cream flavors. Your normal choices and the shaved ice any flavors! At the bottom of the chalkboard menu there is a message: Ask about our park scavenger maps! The group of students missing the elections, a representation of the non-voting public of any country. Civic duty is dead. But ice cream is here! The kind-faced pudgy man says, “What can I get for you all?” he motions to the chalkboard sign.
“What is the park scavanger map?” Eloa asks as she looks at the flavors. “Can Eloa have… shaved ice with cola flavor?” Follows after as Eloa continues to rub sand off of her bikin clad body, especially from th heart shaped tan mark on her butt.
“Chocolate chip cookie dough.” Derek states evenly after the man, before appending, “Please.” a moment later, an aloof expression presented as his green eyes scan the chalkboard with mute curiosity.
“I’ll have vanilla, please?” Jasper tells the vendor while looking at the chalkboard.
The ice cream man begins to scoop the shaved ice from inside the carts cooled interior into a bowl (because you get more with bowls than cones) and then uses a pump from a bottle of liquid cola flavor to color it that coca cola brown. Popping a plastic spoon into he he offers it to Eloa. “Two dollars.” and then the same kind of bowl is produced for Derek with a homemade not out of the box chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream is put in, several scoops to fill it up and a plastic spoon. “Five for the ice cream.” he informs Derek. Those emerald green eyes turn onto Jasper a kind smile on his older face, “Vanilla. The best flavor.” he agrees with the vanilla going into a waffle cone. “Also in a cone. Three dollars.”
After dispersing the treats the ice cream man goes, “Oh scavenger maps. We have these encoded maps of the park and a decoder ring. You use the wring to decode the map to find the list of items and hints of where to find them.” he pulls out an actual high quality rolled up map… and what appears to be a brass ring with a compass like device on top with an outer ring of numbers and letters which can be turned. “It is a free game, if you finish it and bring me proof free ice cream for a year. One per day per person.”
Seeming excitedly as the man scoops up shaved ice, Eloa takes the bowl when it’s offered to her and uses the spoon to dig up a chunk of ice. She scrutinizes the ice for a moment but surely a man offering icecream.. Paid for ice cream and not free icecream on a beach in summer is legit right?? Rightt??? So she drops a couple of dollars in coins on the cart and then brings the cola flavored treat to her mouth.
“Do you take card?” Derek wonders idly to the ice cream man with a flit of his brows, his left hand drifting to his pocket and procuring an AmEx Platinum Card, extending it nonchalantly.
As the man details the scavenger maps, Derek’s gaze tracks up thoughtfully, as if envisioning that process. He crosses his arms, humming softly.
“Oh no is Eloa’s treat.” Eloa assures Derek as she pulls out a 10ner and picks up the two coins instead.
“Mhm, cool,” Jasper replies to the vendor, about to reach into his pockets until he looks at Eloa. “You sure?” He wonders of Eloa.
“Afraid not.” the emerald-eyed ice cream man tells Derek. “Cash only, but if you kids are short a few dollars. You can always try the scavenger map and win or come back tomorrow with the money.” he claims as if he is always here but the trio have never seen him before. He is very picturesque. The Eloa pays and the man smiles wide. “Now where were you keeping those bills, young lady?” he says with a tease towards the bikini clad woman. After the change is dispensed he holds out the free scavenger map towards Eloa with the ring used as a scroll seal, such a tidy package. “For the lady buying treats for the boys. You deserve a year of freebies.”
“Mhm..” Eloa tells Jasper smiling as she pops her spoon into her mouth, holding into it with her lips as the lecherous man asks her about where she keeps her money. She looks down at her bra then at the giant bulging bag that has half a dress spilling out but doesn’t comment. “Taaanks.” She mumbles around the spoon, trying to juggle the bowl of shaved ice, the map and the ring at the same time. Given it’s rather hard, she looks at her two companions. “aan elpp arrry.” She mumbles.
Derek’s brows lift momentarily, and he retracts his card then, pocketing it. “That’s fine,” he supposes after Eloa, crossing his arms. “…Thanks.” he states softly, clearing his throat as he extends a hand to take up his bowl of chocolate-chip cookie dough scoops, delicately moving to take a spoonful with practiced refinement. “Good.” he murmurs more to himself than anything, a simple observation.
“Thanks,” Jasper smiles, receiving his ice cream before licking the treat. “Very yummy.”
The shaved ice and ice creams are really good. Like out of the tasters childhood good, sweet nostalgia in cold treat form. As the group leaves the ice cream man pushes his cart down the path which rounds a bend and he is gone. When they turn around walking towards the sandy shores of the park lake they notice the party has wrapped up… and if they had towels laid out someone took them! The moon is still waning, the air is still pleasant, the sea breeze coming from the east, but they are alone in the park now. If they check their phones none of them have signal either, network must be down.
Frowning as her phone buzzes, Eloa hands Jasper her bowl of treat as she continues to hold the spoon in her mouth. The map is given to Derek along with the ring. Or tried to anyways, Eloa doesn’t seem to care too much about it falling to the ground. “Get matias and go somewhere safe.” Eloa reads her message out loud, frowning, “Is From Lykaia.” She holds her phone up, trying to send a text but it seems like she has no network connection.
Derek clears his throat, seeming to tense up slightly. “…Oh, dear.” he mumbles as he gives his phone a glance. “I lost track of time.” he murmurs, squinting at his sudden lack of bars. “I’ve… gotta go.” He’s then off on his way promptly, evidently in response to some unforeseen circumstance, giving Eloa and Jasper a little wiggle of his fingers as he hastens off.
“That means something’s wrong,” Jasper tells Eloa, holding her bowl while he upnods towards the departing man. “We should go find Matias first, then for a safe place.”
“I think Matias might have decided to come to beach? Eloa not sure…” Frowning as Eloa sets the map down, she holds the phone up into the air, spinning around in circles as if trying to find a way to get reception. “Derek is part of hand. Maybe something happen with hand and howlers?” She asks frowning more.
When you speak of the devil they appear as Matias comes walking through the park with his hands tucked into airy linen pant pockets with the breeze tugging at his attire. He seems very non-plussed and has not noticed Eloa and Jasper yet. Odd he is also missing the election.
Still spinning in circles, desperately trying to text the devil, Eloa almost trips over when she notices Matias’s signature nonplus walk rather than recognise his face. “Matias!” She calls out, waving her hand at the man, “Lykaia say we need get somewhere safe. Derek then rush off looking like something is wrong. Probably something happen to the hand?” She asks him with a frown, “You hear anything?”
furrows his brow as Eloa and then looks at Jasper with a curious expression. “Is this Lykaia?” he wonders with a hand slipping from his pocket to offer a hand to Jasper for a handshake. “Professor Matias,” he introduces himself brazilian accented english with an added, “Is everything alright Eloa?”
“This is Jasper. You know Jasper. Do you need more glasses.” Eloa wonders of Matias as he moves forward. Jasper doesn’t wear nearly enough armor or carry enough big weaponly to be Lykaia! “I don’t know… Earlier Lykaia mention elliot feel someone die after a howl. Now she text say go hide with you. And also Derek rush off after seeing phone without saying anything.”
“Yeah,” Jasper says as he gives Matias a nod of his head. He takes a bite out of his eyes cream before he shakes his head. “I’m Jasper,” he tells the other man, his other hand occupied with holding Eloa’s bowl. “Either wolves howl when they die or they have been killed by one…”
The latino man finishes shaking Jasper’s hand and looks to Eloa with a perplexed expression, “Who is Lykaia and Elliot and Derek?” he asks with a sincere curiosity, his stoic expression blended with a confounded and expectant one. “We should be safe here in the park, you know there is no worse place to attack me… Which wolves are we worrying about?” he inquires to Eloa … On the ground the compass like portion of the decoder ring is pointing to 5/25 like a compass pointing to true north. It seems to be twitching and making a quiet rattling sound.
“Oh no… Matias.. Did someone get to you?” Eloa asks in horror as the looks at the man who can’t seem to recognise everyone he knows. The poor snowcone is melting at this point in Jasper’s hand as she gets up and moves over to cup Matias’s cheek, looking into his eyes. “What year is it? Who is president?” She demands of the man.
Jasper quickly finishes the rest of his vanilla treat while he frowns. “Is it me or do I tend to get mistaken for someone else sometimes?” He shakes his head once more and tells Matias, “The only wolves to watch out for are the ones that lost control and the Howlers.”
A hand reaches up to take Eloa’s hand an gently but firmly lowers it from his cheek. “No one has gotten to me Eloa, who would bother. We just got here.” he says in a chiding baritone of a voice giving Eloa quite the disapproving glower either for the bikini or the touching. “It is 2025 and President is Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.” he says confidently in a brazilian accent english. Then to Jasper, “Well we have never met, I am normally good with faces. Okay so Howler’s, how big is pack?”
“Matias you no remember alot of people! Like.. everyone! You know Jasper! You know Lykaia and derek! And you literally just negotiate with howlers yesterday! Oh my god sit down!” Eloa reaches out to grasp at Matias’s sleeve, trying to pull him down towards the sand. “Jasper help me! Someone brainwashed him.. Or something… Also..” She frowns a bit at the compass on the ground, “Is that thing moving on it’s own?”
The decoder ring with the inner and outer rotating elements and a compass like hand in the middle of a glass cover indeed is twitching in the grass, the hands pointing at 5/25 as the object jitters and makes soft ticking noise in the sand while securing the unopened map. Matias resists Eloa trying to pull him down, his hand catching the one holding his sleeve. “Eloa.” he says firmly. “I am -fine- , your father is not here and unless this young man is going to attack me we are safe.” he assures her with a fleeting and hard look at Jasper as if daring him to try!
“I was there when I helped you with the investigations,” Jasper speaks, frowning even more. “Something is wrong.” Turning to look at the compass, he then says, “I think that compass would lead to the truth.”
“Matias is always getting cursed or something. Too many young girl students trying to get his attention by give him curesd object.” Eloa tells Jasper with a frown as she keeps a hand on Matias’s sleeve but bends down to pick up the map and the compass. “Okay we follow compass.. Stranger things have happened.. Here you take map.” She tells Jasper before turning back to Matias, “We go on adventure now Matias! Please trust!”
“Yes, an adventure,” Jasper says with a nod, taking the map and examining it. “And I won’t hurt you, Matias.”
As the map and compass like decoder ring are split. The map appears to be of Arcadia park. There is a path leading through the park from north to south. There is a little drawing of an ice cream man and sitting in the bottom right outside of the park is a young boy with a map and a decoder ring looking confused. Between the young boy in the right corner and the ice cream man on the path appear to be different points of interest. Each of them has tick marks like the kind prisoners keep on the wall |||| with \ across to make five. Judging by the map the group is currently where the ice cream man is and the boy must be where they are going. The first point of interest has a five tick mark and then if you count the trees around the lake twenty-five check marks. The second point of interest has 7 check marks and if the forest is the larger number another twenty-five. Meanwhile Matias adjusts his airy linen open shirt and says, “I doubt the girls at Windermere are going to be that interested. I am not that much older than a senior, there are probably silver foxes for them to moon-eye at.” he says with a side nod to Jasper. “Very well an adventure.”
Staring at the map, Eloa seems to have.. no idea what she’s looking at but she follows the compass! The way it points! And drags Matias with her probably crinkling his sleeves. “Do you know any girls at windermere Matias?” She asks as if trying to see if the man has been implanted with false memories or just.. anmesia.
Following Eloa while he carries the bowl of the melting snow cone, Jasper asks, “Did you taste anything weird while eating, like something was slipped in?”
The latino professor says, “No. Though I am hoping to meet Professor Kane before my first class.” if Eloa follows the compass like decoder ring they just find the path the ice cream man was on and begin to head towards the southeast edge of the park. As they round the same bend with trees as the ice cream man Matias vanishes like he is fading away and it is suddenly bright in the afternoon. There are families ahead of them playing in the park. If the compass decoder is check it is now 7/25 …
“No not really but … Matias?” Eloa cries out as the man starts disappearing. Her hand on his sleeve tightens but it’s like she’s losing her grasp. “Jasper help!” She cries out, trying to hold onto Matias in a hug as if that would stop him from disappearing. “matias!”
“Ah shit!” Jasper mutters, turning to hold onto him as well until he notices the skies. “Wasn’t it still night? We have to move fast!”
The latino professor now dressed in his normal blue blazer and jeans is walking northward along the path checking his watch and then spots Jasper and Eloa. “Eloa, you are here for Professor Kane’s natural magic class. Normally you are not awake for this.” he says with some surprised before nodding to Jasper and greeting him casually, “Mister Meadows.” those slate-grey eyes drifting between both Windermere co-eds though Eloa gets a subtly disapproving look for the bikini. “Is a little odd to wear a bikini to class though, should put on a dress before you find them by the lake.” The brass ring with the decoding compass atop it now at 7/25 continues to make a soft ticking sound, jittering slightly in the hand of its holder.
“Wait a minute…” Jasper pause for a moment as he turns to look at the compass. “It’s related to memories and time. Back then, he had not met me before, and he mentioned first class…”
“What the… ” As one Matias disappears and the other reappears walking down the path, Eloa seems… even more confused, “Was there something in the ice cream?” Eloa asks Jasper now as she goes to take the bowl and chuck it in a bin because she’s a nice person! “Are you… real?” Eloa asks as Matias gets to them and she reaches forward to poke his arm, trying to see if he’s corporal. “This thing says 7/25… is maybe month.. and year?” She asks frowning.
The compass indeed appears to have 2 outer rings which can be rotated to make different number combinations. It is moving of its own accord but with the map and manually turning it perhaps a quicker path to the child could be found. Matias raises his eyebrows, “Am I real? Yes… Are you two okay?” and then he looks at the brass ring somewhat suspiciously, “What is that?” he asks.
The next spot with the child appears to have one tick mark and then a skull shaped 0 beneath it.
“Um… ” Eloa shares a worried glance with Jasper, “Maybe we go to where the child is? But what if that turns Matias into a child?” Eloa asks Jasper as she looks at the ring and the map.
“Can’t be June twenty-fifth since it has not come yet,” Jasper tells Eloa with a slow nod towards Matias. “Twenty-five days, twenty-five parts… But the skull there means death… Let’s head to where the compass leads.”
The latino man looks between the pair and then the decoder item. Stepping back from it very slowly he says in a cautious manner “If that is causing timeskips. You need to destroy it or find someone else to take it. Or you will be lost skipping around until you die or lose the item trapping yourself in whatever time you lost it.”
“But you’re the one skipping through time.” Eloa points out to Matias, shaking her head, “We could try destroy it.. But lets follow compass and find child first.. I think is.. that way.” Strangely Eloa seems to be less worried about Matias now that she realizes there’s some time skipping going on. “We just need destroy right?” She calls over her shoulder as she navigates poorly through the path.
“Right,” Jasper replies, walking close alongside Eloa and Matias. “Destruction can end whatever this time magic thing is going on. I think this is where Professor Kane was doing the field trip to the park.”
When Eloa and Jasper begin moving they see the decoder ring begin to spin wildly the arrow acting like a spinning top. When they look back Matias is gone and the night and day are transitioning very quickly the temporal magicks apparently becoming less stable the longer this skipping is occurring. The nearer they get to the park southeast corner the more they see… The 63rd Legion assaulting Arcadia park, the sky aflame, air acrid with brimstone, warriors slaughtering… then skip… The park is gone and they are standing in the woods of Old Haven before the city in-between came. They keep moving and … skip… they are back in Arcadia park, the time is hard to tell, the compass is beginning to grow hotter and gotter but they see a young boy maybe 10 on a tricycle with a map looking at it with a confused face. “I wish I had my decoder ring.” he says petulantly, pouting at the map.
The carefreeness turns into more worry as lthey see the legion assaulting the park and time seems to skip back and forth. “Hey! Little boy! Here! Over here!” Eloa calls out when she finally sees the young boy on a tricycle talking about a decoder. “Is one of these things?” She waves at the kid, holding it. There’s a moment of hesitation though as if Eloa wonders if she can use the time skipper like hermione uses it in harry potter but it’s too late she already flagged the boy down!
“My decoder ring!” the boy says with excitement… pedaling his tricycle up to the pair of strangers. Survival instincts of a 90s era young man. “Now I can win free ice cream.” he holds out one hand all grabby hands for it.
“What… the hell was all that?” Jasper murmurs upon seeing the shifting surroundings. “Was that the past and future? What was that forest just now?”
“I think so… that was before this place came to be no?” Eloa calls out to Jasper as she hands the little boy the ring. “Do you think we can still make the elections?”
Eloa says “Oh wait we’re supposed to go safe place..“
As the boy gets the decoder he turns the outer rings and… the world blurs with Eloa and Jasper appearing back at the lake with Matias standing there apparently in the midst of a ritual but when they appear he pauses and goes, “Where have you been?”