abraxaslogs | [OPEN] I don't like to think ahead

Being shifted from one kind of treatment centre to another does not fill Gideon with joy. Okay, sure she'd been in a bad way when she'd been retrieved from the pit, but lounging about and resting isn't something that comes easily to her. The medical staff are frequently having to shoo her back toward her bed at the hospital, trying to prevent the still-healing girl from performing drill wherever she can manage it. She's swift to return to push-ups and sit ups and squats the moment staff backs are turned, or doing laps around the hallways late at night when the hospital is at its most sedate. Filling her free time with physical activity is something she knows, something that quietens the space in her mind that might otherwise be given to dwelling. This becomes more evident at night; anyone close to or passing her room once she's finally succumbed to sleep might catch the restless, inarticulate sounds she makes. She puts on a good show, but what happened during those weeks in the pit was enough to fuel nightmares.

Once she's given the all-clear, she's not quite up heading out into the desert alone just yet. Instead she sticks closer to home for now, frequenting the baths regularly, finding peace in the heated waters. Caden's training grounds are also a popular haunt as she endeavours to build her strength back up, and to eat up the hours with physical exertion rather than overthinking.

Evenings often find her in one of Caden's many taverns, cheap and cheerful drinks dulling the edges of her memories, making them easier to carry. The Surly Wench is still a favourite, despite that it's no longer her home, but she's just as likely to be found at Mag's or any of the city's other watering holes. Being alone doesn't especially appeal to her right now, so whether she’s glimpsed you around Cadens before or considers you a friend, she’ll be eager to drag you into conversation or offer to buy a round.

She spends more time than usual in the Horizon during her convalescence, and throughout the month that follows. Her domain is still stark and imposing as it has ever been - a carbon copy of a Cohort outpost she'd once seen in a comic - although it now has the benefit of the beginnings of greenery crawling up its sun-bleached walls. Small, fragrant flowers bloom from these clinging vines, a touch of softness left behind by a friend - one she can only assume has vanished - who'd attempted to help her decorate.

She can often be found in the training room, running through drill, the feel of her standard issue two-hander a cold and solid comfort after weeks with no sword at all. Whilst most of the building is bleak and unforgiving, it now also sports a somewhat incongruous bathing area, where she can also be found, quietly submerged and staring out at the craggy yellow rockface beyond it.

She's just as likely to be found wandering through the domains of others, though, and if she catches sight of the owner she'll be quick to offer a guilty wave or an "oops, my bad!" kind of shrug. Whilst she will apologise for the intrusion, she won't show any indication of wanting to leave. Maybe she's looking to be invited in?

Edited 2023-04-08 20:51 (UTC)

Come at me!

[Spending time actively choosing a space that she'd like to inhabit has been an experience. Even the cramped rooms she and Harrow had shared above the Surly Wench had been less of a choice and more of an impulse decision based upon necessity; there was space for them, and it came cheap so long as Gideon was prepared to do some security duty when the bar downstairs got rowdy on busy nights. Thoughts such as do I like it here? or even does it have everything I need? never factored into it.

As such, the search has been overwhelming, and many of the apartments she's viewed either evoke no feelings in her whatsoever or feel far too grand for her, despite their modest reality. In the end - after a process that spans several bewildering days - she settles on a relatively simple space that nonetheless feels excessively roomy to a girl accustomed to living in far more cramped conditions. All the light and openness had been Al's idea, one that had made her feel weirdly edgy at first, but has swiftly grown on her. The dark, cramped confines of her rooms above the Surly Wench felt uncomfortably close after being trapped in an underground pit for weeks on end. This place - spanning the top floor of a building in an altogether more salubrious location - has none of that feeling at all.

It's all bare bones for the moment, but she thinks she can imagine what it will be like once she's put something of her own personality into it. A heady prospect after a lifetime of making do. Standing right in the centre of it now, it's all a little overwhelming.]

Fuuuuuck me. I swear it gets bigger every time I look at it.

[She says, a small soft-yellow leosylph who's colouring reminded her of bleached desert sand perched on one broad shoulder. She turns to look at Alucard, big-eyed and a touch intimidated. A touch excited, too.]

It seems kinda crazy, you know? All this space for just one person.

[A comment that may seem absurd to someone who grew up in a literal castle.]

[Alucard had made a point of trying to find apartment locations that were close to his office and were roomy. It wasn't just because of the pit, but because he had seen what the room above the Wench looked like. Small. Cramped. Too much of Harrow lingering in memory, and moving on meant not hewing close to that set up. Light was a luxury, but one that seemed appropriate given recent events as well.

But besides setting up showings, Alucard stood back and let Gideon think about what clicked. Like he and Jaskier knew when they walked into their office, sometimes the gut is what makes the decision about space.

The place echoes with just the two of them. Alucard has a box in his hands, and he grins over at his friend.]

You'll get used to it. And your friend will take up plenty of room too. [And probably cause some chaos.] You have fruit and vegetable shop below, and I'm three blocks over. You're set for a good, long time.

Lenore's domain is a welcoming place. Overgrown paths riotous with flowers lead in toward the little castle at the center, whose doors stand open, and an encouraging breeze tugs visitors inside. A few rooms are clearly labeled with "Private, thank you" in gold lettering and beautiful script, but those forthright signs make it more clear that anything unlabeled is welcome to be treated as public.

Lenore herself can be found curled up with a book in an alcove just off of her library, in a gown that makes it quite clear that she's learned that Horizon fashion doesn't need to be constrained by practicality. Brightening happily at the sight of Gideon meandering into her library, Lenore watches for a moment, expression pleased as she takes in the sight of Gideon seeing the dazzling room. With so much to look at, it might take a few seconds for Gideon to notice Lenore lounging cozily to one side, so Lenore doesn't do anything to draw attention to herself--though she is hard to miss for long, with her banner of red hair and her glittering dress (which keeps wafting butterflies of fabric and light which dissolve into sparkles once they drift a few inches away from the gown).

[Gideon's new pal flutters her wings lazily from her perch on Gideon's shoulder, almost as though she's aware she's being referred to. Gideon, meanwhile, groans loudly for dramatic effect.]

I got free food at the Wench, half the time. I mean, it was super basic, but I didn't really notice at first. I'm just used to eating out, you know?

[She's seen the box in his hands, and she's curious...but she's not about to pass up the opportunity to lay some innuendo down. Perhaps predictably, she waggles her eyebrows lewdly whilst flashing Al a smirk. When in a new situation, fall back on what you know.]

Notice that I'm not responding to the low hanging fruit.

[Gideon, he's seen your hot new babe. He approves. He does not need details.

Alucard and the box go right over to the kitchen counter. There's a little bit of a jostle, and Alucard waits for his friend and her new buddy to join him.]

And yes, I'm aware of your dire lack of cooking skills. Hence the box.

That's because you're a prissy little bitch.

[And yet it's said with all affection of a term of endearment. She follows him into the kitchen area though, eyes on the box, still possessing a secret, girlish excitement at receiving gifts despite the length of time she's been here. The kitchen itself is - like the rest of the bright, airy space - in need of some revamping, although as far as Gideon herself is concerned she's living in the lap of luxury. Her own kitchen!! Okay, so she has very little idea of how to use one, but it seems the very height of glamorous excess.]

But yeeeeaaaah, I wanna see what's in the box.

As I am so often reminded. Don't encourage Lenore to start on that too.

[Only Gideon can call him that. Just like only Gideon can call him Al.]

Go ahead.

[Inside is Baby's First Kitchen. Two cast iron pans in large and small sizes, two pots with lids that are likewise large and small. A few wooden spoons, a spatula, a little thermometer for checking the temperature of meat. Moreover and more importantly though is the dinner wear.

Alucard, somehow, managed to find soft grey plates that have little skulls and bones painted on the perimeter - and the set has matching bowls and mugs. It is service for four, along with flatware. Four feels ambitious, but so does doing dishes every day.

At the very, very bottom is a thin journal. The tile page reads:

A PRISSY BITCHE'S GUIDE
TO
MEALS SO EASY
AN ALIEN FROM A BONE PLANET CAN MAKE THEM

And there are indeed twenty page of very, very simple recipes within.

And a shopping list for baby's first stock up of the kitchen.]

It does take her a moment. The whole place exudes luxury in a way that Gideon has never so much as imagined. It surpasses the grandeur of castle Thorne, and whilst the ball in Nocwich had been the very height of glamour, it had none of the airy femininity that this place possesses. Even now, after so long spent in Abraxas, she's always quietly floored by the implications of exorbitant wealth that comes - for her - with so many paper books. She couldn't feel more out of place standing here in her dusty Ninth House cavalier's garb, unwilling to touch anything lest she leave it smeared and sullied.

Just as Lenore suspects, though, it’s not long before the shimmer of diaphanous fabric catches at her attention. She turns then, blinking like someone who has stepped out into dazzling light for the first time in a long time, and her gaze falls on Lenore. Immediately her quiet astonishment gives out onto a genuine grin.

"Oh, hey! This place is yours? It's fucking beautiful," she says, as she strides across the distance between them, stopping only when she's standing before Lenore who is - quite frankly - the most resplendent aspect of this excessively sparkling room. "You look totally banging, by the way."

She's a veritable poet.

With Sylvain and Claude back in the safety of their shared room in the Sarstina, Hilda's days are no longer tied to the hospital and the temporary role of caregiver that she had slotted herself into. Normally she revels in free time, actively seeks it out in an effort to avoid work. But today she finds herself a little lost to the wind, as if the carefree days she spent before this ordeal had never happened and all she knows is how to fill it with relentless busyness.

It's disgraceful really, not to mention out of character. An unfamiliar restlessness courses through her veins and while the kneejerk reaction is to fuss over her friends that are home but still on the mend, the sight of them forms an even stranger knot in her stomach. Now that Marianne is here with a far steadier hand than she when comes to healing, Hilda forces herself to the baths instead. Because when push came to shove, choosing to turn her restlessness on herself had always been a soothing balm for whatever else ailed her, even temporarily.

With her basket of her various soaps, shampoos and conditioners in hand she slips into the baths. People mill about, each relaxing or lost to their own thoughts. For a moment she wonders if she should have dragged Marianne or Petra along to stave off her own thoughts but then notices a familiar shock of hair. Relief prickles across her skin and she floats over with a grin and her little basket in tow. "Gideon, welcome back!"

"I assume that's your way of saying exceptionally attractive," Lenore comments, setting her book properly aside and rising to greet Gideon. She lifts a half foot off the ground as she does so, which brings her up to a more comfortable kissing level, though she doesn't yet initiate any kisses.

For now, she slides her arms lightly around Gideon's shoulders, leaning into her comfortably in order to make sure Gideon knows that she's very welcome and desired here. "Are you hungry? Do you want food? Or sex? Or something else, I suppose, but those things seem like the important priorities."

A friend in Solvunn has taught Nanaue how to get to the secret special place. He doesn't stay very long, but he loves to explore! So many new places. He especially likes the gas station and its convenience store. Everything is free!

Which is how, whenever Gideon next tries to go to her bath, she will be greeted with the upper body of a shark with arms spread out, multiple plastic sunglasses balanced on the top of his large, wide head, seemingly enjoying the relaxation of warm water.

Even if most of that warm water has been displaced onto the floor...

She's glad to see Lenore. Thrilled, even. Their brief tryst in Nocwich had been one to remember with immense joy and just a touch of amazement, feelings which solidified into ride or die friendship when Lenore had come to her aid in the pit. But being greeted like this - casual and immediate offers of food and sex, two of her very favourite things! - leaves her head reeling. Her face radiates heat, quite abruptly. Her hands flutter light and tenuous as butterflies to Lenore's waist.

"An 'it's nice to see you Gideon' was honestly all I was hoping for, but that greeting was like, eleven out of ten," she says, still blinking in starry-eyed surprise over the rims of her mirrored glasses, “Wheeew!”

Gideon has been in Abraxas for coming up on two years now, and in this time she's learnt a whole bunch of stuff. Sharks though? Never seen one before. Huge man-shark-things with jealousy-inducing biceps and a pile of sunglasses lounging in her bath? Absolutely fucking not.

She is, for one rare and out of character moment, shocked silent as she steps into her bathing room and is immediately faced with this bizarre sight. People so rarely wander into her domain that she has to wonder if she dreamed this up? An uncomfortably swole fish-person does seem like the sort of thing her imagination might bring into being, but she has zero memory of doing it. Some kind of monster, maybe? Should she be trying to kick his...her...their? Ass?? Instead, what she does is stares, and then asks very eloquently:

"...the fuck??"

[She spares Alucard only a fleeting glance before she's descending on the box with palpable excitement. What she finds inside is...a bunch of utensils. Cooking stuff. A tiny thermometer the purpose of which she can only begin to guess at. Plates and shit. With badass skulls on them. Way more than she actually needs, which immediately sparks the thought of people coming over to her apartment someday. To eat things and like, drink wine together.

She's already feeling that big, warm sweep of overwhelm all over again even before she finds the journal at the bottom-- after taking out each of the other items with a carefulness and reverence which is entirely uncalled for. She reads the inscription, and immediately some of the hot, tight tension in her breaks around a laugh. Still, the aqueous quality of her eyes as she turns to swat her friend playfully on the arm is something of a giveaway.]

You're such a dick.

[She grins, before dropping the journal onto the counter and sweeping Alucard into a crushing embrace.]

Thanks. I love it.

[Alucard offers his friend her privacy by focusing on her new companion. The creature, it seems, like butt scratches, and he is content enough to oblige for now. He can hear where Gideon is in the box anyway. The clatter of the utensils, the shifting of plates, and then the noise of pages turning.

He's hit and then turns, smile small and warm and so pleased to just be experiencing this moment.]

You ate bone paste. I had to dumb it down as much as I could.

[It's pressure that's the game? Alucard hugs back,, matching strength for strength.]

And damn right. It took a long time to find the perfect plates.

The uncomfortably swole fish-person does not seem nearly as bothered or confused as the person who entered the room. But upon her arrival he does sit up, angling his head (causing the tower of sunglasses to fall INTO the water) and blinks a pair of dark, beady eyes at her.

One massive hand raises up, and gives a wave.

"Hel-lo."

In the days after her Summoning, Marianne mostly makes herself useful by serving as both animal caretaker and courier. Both jobs revolve around the Leosylphs that are being brought as emotional support for the overflowing number of patients here. Given what she's gleaned thus far from friends and the whispered conversations that have taken place around her, such support is necessary. She knows that many--if not all--of the patients were abducted, and that what happened to them while they were abducted was traumatic.

Marianne's no stranger to trauma, so she takes her job seriously. It's not the most helpful thing she can do, but it's important all the same.

Today, she's delivering Leosylphs to patients who have been labeled by the hospital staff as being especially restless and in need of companionship. This room she approaches is the last on her list, and she gives the door a firm knock.

"Excuse me, um..." Her voice trails off as she pauses to read the name on the door. "Gideon? I have a delivery for you."

Okay so those tiny, dark little eyes and the way they glint at her are decidedly unnerving, but paired with the wave and comical sight of the sunglasses-tower tipping from fish-guy's head into the water, Gideon is already leaning toward 'not a threat'. At the very least, the unusual being in her bath doesn’t seem to be immediately volatile.

"Yo," she says, and waves back. She doesn't come any closer - not yet - but nor does she display any signs of reaching for her sword or running the fuck away. "Where uh...where did you come from?"

[She makes an exaggerated sound of constricted breath as Alucard hugs her, despite that the pressure and intensity make her feel good. Warm and centred in a way that she’d never been outside of Abraxas. The little leosylph seems to decide this is a predicament best kept out of, and flutters off to land on the window seat where it immediately begins preening itself.]

The plates fucking rock.

[She says, finally releasing him.]

But you're gonna have to explain why I need a thermometer. Something to stop me from burning my mouth in my eagerness to devour my meals, maybe?

"Solvuuuuuun."

This time he remembers. Last time, he did not. And tried to eat Michael.

His head bobs up and down in a nod.

"Me property owner!"

It seems he is very proud of this.

(It's also not true).

But hmmm. He sniffs the air through his nose holes, his gills fluttering as he speaks.

"This you magic special place?"

Her domain. He's trying to ask if this is her domain.

"It's nice to see you, Gideon," Lenore purrs in echo, dipping each word in sensuality so that the polite inanities sound downright vulgar. Leaving one arm draped over Gideon's shoulder, Lenore retracts the other one enough so that she can gently steal Gideon's glasses. Sliding them onto her own face, Lenore gives Gideon a playful and sultry look over the top of them, which is made easier by the way that they immediately start slipping down her nose trying to escape since her head is smaller than Gideon's. "Are you going to answer any of those questions?"

Geez, this guy has a lot of teeth. Like, why would anyone need that many teeth? There are questions right there on the tip of her tongue, urgent ones, such as what's the toughest thing you've ever bitten through? Impossible to know whether or not she'd be committing some kind of social faux pas though; she has, after all, never met a fish-guy before.

Both his answer and his question establish that he must be one of the Summoned though...which opens up a whole new realm of questions regarding what kind of world a fish-guy comes from inside her head, but that too can wait a minute.

"Oh, yeah? Well you're doing better than I am, dude. I just rent a place in the Free Cities. Fuck knows how much it'd cost to buy somewhere," she shrugs, takes a tentative step closer, "and yeah it's my magic special place. It's kinda lame, though. All that concentrating and manifesting and shit gives me a headache. I'm Gideon, by the way."

[OPEN] I don't like to think ahead

OPEN - recovery/Cadens

OPEN - Horizon

OPEN - wildcard!

CLOSED - Alucard

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BATH

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yessss

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Re: yessss

hospital!

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