[ Claire isn't uncomfortable with silence, at least not with this particular silence, and she merely watches the flames in the hearth. But then he speaks again and she hums, giving his question consideration. ]
If it's real to me now, and it's as real to you, then the answer is yes. Everything in the Horizon becomes a sort of alternate life to the one we're living. Some might—and I'm sure do—argue being here is better, because we can create what we want.
[His eyes take in the grounds, every crumbling inch of stone and every swaying blade of grass. Each idealised and imagined into life to mirror a life worth living.]
But where is the challenge? The satisfaction of overcoming adversity and earning one's place in the world? Life might as well become a game of who can sprint the fastest through this wonderful field.
[Or away from a crowd of children. He continues watching the flame burn within the hearth.]
[ Claire agrees, to a degree. But she can't help but empathize with those who find a reason to stay in their makeshift reality. ]
Because of a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was war, I was separated from my husband, Jamie, for twenty years. Before arriving here, we'd only been reunited for a bit over a year, and most of that was spent searching for a kidnapped nephew. Now I'm without Jamie again, and I must admit that being home is a comfort.
[ And she could stay here, and sleep in the room that's a poor replica of the space they shared, if only because there's no way this reality can capture the essence of a person. ]
That being said, a sense of balance is important. As you say, life must be lived. And for as odd as it is that we're on this star, there are still things to do.
[Crane listens attentively. He collects his thoughts without opinion or judgment.
This is something he had not envisioned doing - listening to other people's traumas - yet he knows this is precisely what he would and will always do. In this makeshift reality or out in the world. Perhaps it is a comfort.]
Indeed. There is much for both of us to be getting along with.
[ Claire would, at any time, listen just as attentively. She never minds that, and doesn't mind offering advice when asked.
Thinking about her plans for Solvunn, she smiles and actually brightens quite a bit. ]
I've just discovered my first bit of magic. I can grow plants; only from a seed to a sprout for now, but think how much more could be planted and harvested, if the crops have such a head start? Beyond that, I've built bee hives and I'll try to set up some sort of clinic once a week for anyone to come with their medical issues that need to be addressed.
[ It's surprising to her, how quickly she's found her day full with a routine, but it keeps her busy, and she's grateful. ]
[His nose wrinkles at the mention of magic. Seeds that sprout in a day? Crops that don't require a full turn of the seasons? He can hardly believe it two weeks later.
Honestly, this world is insane.]
To establish a practice? I am more than aware there are plenty of individuals who will benefit from both physiological and psychological attention. But I've just got here. I'm still trying to settle in.
[An insane world, indeed. Maybe he'll fit right in?]
[ If he asked, she'd demonstrate, but his reaction is understandable and she laughs softly, though not at him. ]
I know, I was resistant to the magic as well. The first time I saw someone actually do magic, I'm not sure my mouth closed for hours afterward. There are people here who can heal others with a touch.
[ That's difficult for her at times; she's more than glad magical healing is something that exists; she wouldn't advise someone come to her when another could heal a wound in an instant with no lingering pain. Claire seems to be almost antiquated in Abraxas. ]
A practice is a good plan. Although I can't help thinking of Lucy, Charlie Brown's sister. Five cents for psychiatric advice.
[ Unsure if he knows what she's referencing, Claire moves on. ]
I only mean because here, you may have your work cut out for you. It won't be boring, in any case.
[Crane collects his tea. Comics? He hardly reads those. But he is familiar enough with popular culture to recognise a name or two; to know she is referencing something.]
Good. Life must never be boring, after all.
[The challenge of living is surpassed only by the challenge of his work. He sets his cup back upon its saucer. Oh, the challenges of work and life. How he loves both.]
I'm certain there will be plenty to poke my fingers into.
[Magic. Minds. His work had always been to explore and understand the latter.]
Quite, in fact, my talents were needed badly only a few weeks ago. A man's hand was shattered and there was no one to use magic to heal him. It took four hours, but he's healing.
[ There had been so many awful injuries, she knows every healer—magical or otherwise—had worked tirelessly, all over the factions. ]
You managed to avoid something that took all of us by surprise.
I've seen a lot, Dr. Crane. Things that I would very much like to forget if I could. But it was nothing like what I saw happening to the taken.
[ Putting down her teacup, Claire leans forward with her elbows on her knees, keeping his gaze. ]
I was allowed to see via magic what was happening. Human sacrifices, organs sacrificed. Before I was cut off from the connection, a man was having his eyes gouged out.
[ He doesn't strike her as the type to scare, and she isn't saying this to do so. ]
When I arrived, I had a false sense of...not security, but it all seemed so tranquil. Especially in Solvunn, and then as it turns out, the main perpetrator was living there all along. I'm not telling you any of this for shock value, only to explain that there's an underbelly, and I don't believe anyone knows how dark it is, exactly.
[Ritual sacrifice. Horrors of the body. Mania of the mind.
He keeps her gaze and reveals nothing of why all three are familiar. Memories of physically restraining patients, controlling them with psychotropic medication. Driving his experiments insane. Sacrificing their hope for recovery. Sacrificing their lives.
It takes him a while to deliberate on what he's learned. To fashion a response and murmur in consideration.]
How profound is the mind? Deeply. I would not worry about figuring out how deep the rabbit hole goes. That it exists is worry enough.
[Hardly comforting but he doubts she scares easily.]
Quite, and I'm sure that isn't the last we'll see from the depths. The tension between all of the factions has been high for a long while now, from what I understand.
[ But they can move onto better topics, perhaps. ]
I've had good luck meeting kind people since I've arrived, and someone from home has even appeared, though I'm not sure I necessarily would have wished it on him. In any case, there've been good moments here and there.
[ Claire smiles to indicate 'here and there' is only a joke, there have been more nice moments than she can count. ]
[Crane smoothes his trousers and adjusts his hands in his lap. The depths of humanity is one side of the coin, their achievements the shining example of the other. There is plenty to talk about in both cases.]
Same as anywhere, really.
[He looks inside himself, distracted.]
Regardless, I am glad you have found yourself some appropriate company. The soul does long for the comfort of home, after all.
At the very least, a well-known familiar face. For me, at least, this isn't the first time I've had to figure things out in a place I never intended to be.
[ Looking at the hearth she watches the flames as she chooses her words before her attention focuses on him again. ]
When I was much younger, or perhaps not much older than you are now, I traveled in time quite by accident. I knew no one, I was lost. A stranger in a familiar, yet unknown place.
It is, though I don't want to bore you. In fact, I wouldn't dare to be so cavalier about it in my own time lest I find myself one of your colleague's patients.
[ She smiles with the understanding of exactly how crazy it sounds. ]
But there are so many different people here from different walks of life, I'm not quite as worried.
[He listens with the patience of a psychiatrist waiting out a reluctant patient.]
We're all worried but you have a healthy way of making sense of the transistion. In the face of losing our loved ones, it's worth finding other relationships that hold meaning.
There's no shortage of people here who are merely trying to cope the best they can. Nothing about how we've arrived makes logical sense; if it's science, then it's beyond any from either time period I've lived in. There's a particular bond, that all of us are in the same boat, so to speak.
[ Of course, there needs to be a willingness there from both parties. ]
[ She gives him a cheeky little smile, knowing how ridiculous it sounds. ]
And my life wasn't all that extraordinary before, either. This, I think, will be one for the record books.
[ Abraxas as a whole, she means. Nothing can top this, and if it can, she doesn't want to know what it is. ]
No doubt all of us will have something strange to tell those we left behind when we eventually leave this place. Would you tell anyone, with the knowledge you have and the work experience? Because surely a patient who told you they were brought nude and unwillingly into a new world after being pulled from water would be written off. A creative birth story, perhaps.
[He closes his eyes and listens to her words, lulled by the crackling sparks of the fire.]
Or a symbolic one.
[His voice is relaxed and calm. Thoughtful with a pinch of authority and knowledge.]
Water can embody the flow of life. A nude state of being indicates vulnerability or the need for humility. There are plenty of ways to explore a tale without outing one's self as a sociopath.
[ It's nice to have a conversation like this, casual and contemplating without the heaviness that usually surrounds the topic of Abraxas. Claire hums in agreement with his last statement, nodding a bit. ]
You're the expert on this topic, and I agree with what you said.
[ No buts, sometimes new perspectives and a fresh voice helps think of things differently and she's always open to that. ]
When you first arrived, what did you think? I'm only curious because coincidentally, I was drowning at the time I arrived. For weeks, I thought I might actually be dead.
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no subject
If it's real to me now, and it's as real to you, then the answer is yes. Everything in the Horizon becomes a sort of alternate life to the one we're living. Some might—and I'm sure do—argue being here is better, because we can create what we want.
no subject
[His eyes take in the grounds, every crumbling inch of stone and every swaying blade of grass. Each idealised and imagined into life to mirror a life worth living.]
But where is the challenge? The satisfaction of overcoming adversity and earning one's place in the world? Life might as well become a game of who can sprint the fastest through this wonderful field.
[Or away from a crowd of children. He continues watching the flame burn within the hearth.]
no subject
Because of a multitude of reasons, not the least of which was war, I was separated from my husband, Jamie, for twenty years. Before arriving here, we'd only been reunited for a bit over a year, and most of that was spent searching for a kidnapped nephew. Now I'm without Jamie again, and I must admit that being home is a comfort.
[ And she could stay here, and sleep in the room that's a poor replica of the space they shared, if only because there's no way this reality can capture the essence of a person. ]
That being said, a sense of balance is important. As you say, life must be lived. And for as odd as it is that we're on this star, there are still things to do.
no subject
This is something he had not envisioned doing - listening to other people's traumas - yet he knows this is precisely what he would and will always do. In this makeshift reality or out in the world. Perhaps it is a comfort.]
Indeed. There is much for both of us to be getting along with.
[He lightens with curiosity.]
Have you made any plans?
no subject
Thinking about her plans for Solvunn, she smiles and actually brightens quite a bit. ]
I've just discovered my first bit of magic. I can grow plants; only from a seed to a sprout for now, but think how much more could be planted and harvested, if the crops have such a head start? Beyond that, I've built bee hives and I'll try to set up some sort of clinic once a week for anyone to come with their medical issues that need to be addressed.
[ It's surprising to her, how quickly she's found her day full with a routine, but it keeps her busy, and she's grateful. ]
And you? Any plans so far?
no subject
Honestly, this world is insane.]
To establish a practice? I am more than aware there are plenty of individuals who will benefit from both physiological and psychological attention. But I've just got here. I'm still trying to settle in.
[An insane world, indeed. Maybe he'll fit right in?]
no subject
I know, I was resistant to the magic as well. The first time I saw someone actually do magic, I'm not sure my mouth closed for hours afterward. There are people here who can heal others with a touch.
[ That's difficult for her at times; she's more than glad magical healing is something that exists; she wouldn't advise someone come to her when another could heal a wound in an instant with no lingering pain. Claire seems to be almost antiquated in Abraxas. ]
A practice is a good plan. Although I can't help thinking of Lucy, Charlie Brown's sister. Five cents for psychiatric advice.
[ Unsure if he knows what she's referencing, Claire moves on. ]
I only mean because here, you may have your work cut out for you. It won't be boring, in any case.
no subject
Good. Life must never be boring, after all.
[The challenge of living is surpassed only by the challenge of his work. He sets his cup back upon its saucer. Oh, the challenges of work and life. How he loves both.]
I'm certain there will be plenty to poke my fingers into.
[Magic. Minds. His work had always been to explore and understand the latter.]
no subject
Quite, in fact, my talents were needed badly only a few weeks ago. A man's hand was shattered and there was no one to use magic to heal him. It took four hours, but he's healing.
[ There had been so many awful injuries, she knows every healer—magical or otherwise—had worked tirelessly, all over the factions. ]
You managed to avoid something that took all of us by surprise.
no subject
[One moment to sip his tea, one more to savour its scent. He sighs quietly and sets it back upon the table. He shakes his head.]
What you descrive. It sounds like an awful mess.
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[ Putting down her teacup, Claire leans forward with her elbows on her knees, keeping his gaze. ]
I was allowed to see via magic what was happening. Human sacrifices, organs sacrificed. Before I was cut off from the connection, a man was having his eyes gouged out.
[ He doesn't strike her as the type to scare, and she isn't saying this to do so. ]
When I arrived, I had a false sense of...not security, but it all seemed so tranquil. Especially in Solvunn, and then as it turns out, the main perpetrator was living there all along. I'm not telling you any of this for shock value, only to explain that there's an underbelly, and I don't believe anyone knows how dark it is, exactly.
no subject
He keeps her gaze and reveals nothing of why all three are familiar. Memories of physically restraining patients, controlling them with psychotropic medication. Driving his experiments insane. Sacrificing their hope for recovery. Sacrificing their lives.
It takes him a while to deliberate on what he's learned. To fashion a response and murmur in consideration.]
How profound is the mind? Deeply. I would not worry about figuring out how deep the rabbit hole goes. That it exists is worry enough.
[Hardly comforting but he doubts she scares easily.]
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[ But they can move onto better topics, perhaps. ]
I've had good luck meeting kind people since I've arrived, and someone from home has even appeared, though I'm not sure I necessarily would have wished it on him. In any case, there've been good moments here and there.
[ Claire smiles to indicate 'here and there' is only a joke, there have been more nice moments than she can count. ]
no subject
Same as anywhere, really.
[He looks inside himself, distracted.]
Regardless, I am glad you have found yourself some appropriate company. The soul does long for the comfort of home, after all.
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Home isn't strictly a place for me. I grew up nomadic and lived that way until I was thirty or so.
[ Setting down her teacup, Claire looks up at him, curious. ]
Do you have anyone from home you would want here? Not that I wouls wish all this on anyone, necessarily.
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There is a man I respect. One who educated me on the inner aspects of human behaviour. His company here would be interesting if nothing more.
[Seeing Ra's here would certainly be fun.]
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[ Looking at the hearth she watches the flames as she chooses her words before her attention focuses on him again. ]
When I was much younger, or perhaps not much older than you are now, I traveled in time quite by accident. I knew no one, I was lost. A stranger in a familiar, yet unknown place.
no subject
He lifts a brow as what she said rises to the surface.]
That sounds like quite the table.
[Travelled in time? Is everyone in this place insane?]
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[ She smiles with the understanding of exactly how crazy it sounds. ]
But there are so many different people here from different walks of life, I'm not quite as worried.
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[He listens with the patience of a psychiatrist waiting out a reluctant patient.]
We're all worried but you have a healthy way of making sense of the transistion. In the face of losing our loved ones, it's worth finding other relationships that hold meaning.
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[ Of course, there needs to be a willingness there from both parties. ]
Have you met any others with strange tales?
[ Because certainly, she isn't the only one. ]
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I have. This world has plenty of strange tales, though I am loathe to admit not all are fascinating.
[Some people, Blake, are boring and annoying.]
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[ She gives him a cheeky little smile, knowing how ridiculous it sounds. ]
And my life wasn't all that extraordinary before, either. This, I think, will be one for the record books.
[ Abraxas as a whole, she means. Nothing can top this, and if it can, she doesn't want to know what it is. ]
No doubt all of us will have something strange to tell those we left behind when we eventually leave this place. Would you tell anyone, with the knowledge you have and the work experience? Because surely a patient who told you they were brought nude and unwillingly into a new world after being pulled from water would be written off. A creative birth story, perhaps.
no subject
Or a symbolic one.
[His voice is relaxed and calm. Thoughtful with a pinch of authority and knowledge.]
Water can embody the flow of life. A nude state of being indicates vulnerability or the need for humility. There are plenty of ways to explore a tale without outing one's self as a sociopath.
no subject
You're the expert on this topic, and I agree with what you said.
[ No buts, sometimes new perspectives and a fresh voice helps think of things differently and she's always open to that. ]
When you first arrived, what did you think? I'm only curious because coincidentally, I was drowning at the time I arrived. For weeks, I thought I might actually be dead.
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