[Open] You reach deeper until you can find the strength.

[everybodysterrible]

Who: Abby and You!
What: Catch-All for...
When: the Month of April
Where: Free City: Sarstina, Cadens Shopping District, Horizon, Others as applicable.
Warnings: Usual Abby swears as punctuation warning.

If you want a specialized start just message me and I'll add one.
[Open] - Sarstina
[Open] - Cadens Shopping District
[Open] - The Horizon

Comments

[Open] Sarstina - Drinking

[everybodysterrible]

Abby had finished her shift of helping around the Inn to pay off her room and board. She hated it, but she hated the barracks more. Having the freedom of nobody’s eyes on her was worth the work. She still hated the work, but she begrudgingly accepted she was getting something.

Plus, she worked in a tavern, and so a mug of ale after work wasn’t terribly hard to do. She’ll aim for sitting with people close to her own age, more likely to get a good conversation if they don’t send her away. And nobody her age will try to take her ale away from her.

Of course, she’s not very tall, and nobody would believe her if she tried to claim she was eighteen. Abby was sure when she actually was eighteen nobody would believe she was eighteen. So anyone who has issues with underage drinking might want to suggest she make better life choices if they spot her. Not that the law cared, or Abby cared, but others might.

[philancer]

Mag hasn't actually let him start working behind the bar again yet. And anytime he'd tried, she'd shooed him away with a look he knew better than to argue with. Even if the bandages he still wore made his still-healing wounds look worse than they actually were. But considering his hands and forearms still resembled a mummy right now, maybe the woman's stubbornness was understandable.

That didn't keep Sylvain from being bored and getting a little tired of the coddling when all he wanted to do was get back to a normal routine. Or what masqueraded as one in this place, anyway. So he might sink down on a bar stool near Abby with a little more aggravation than normal, heaving a deep, put-upon sigh at his most recent failed attempt.

"Fine, but you're at least gonna let me have an ale, since I'm still your favorite, right?" he manages to muster a cheeky grin, earning him a fond eyeroll and a slide of a mug across the bar. He casts a curious glance over at Abby, not recognizing her as someone he's seen around here before, but he's missed a lot over the past few weeks, so maybe that's not so surprising.

"Need a refill?" What's a drinking age, that sounds ridiculous.

[everybodysterrible]

So, one hand, guy offering her alcohol was weird. On the other hand, alcohol. The culture shock is real but she's not going to just say no outright, it'd be rude or something. And rudeness in the face of getting more to drink seems like a bad idea. She'll study him first, size up the guy offering her the drink.

"Probably, but that might be the culture shock talking." He didn't seem bad by any measure she could count, there was the concerning level of bandages going on. She'll nod towards his arms and ask outright, "Did you win or lose whatever fight you were in?"

[philancer]

He glances down at himself and wrinkles his nose at the reminder of the bandages. Not like they were easy to forget, unfortunately.

"Yes," is his wry answer, because it's either 'both' or somewhere in the middle of them, he hasn't decided yet. But he does wiggle his fingers at Mag to get the girl a refill, even as he takes a long swallow of his own.

It's so nice to have something to drink that isn't terrible-tasting and probably dirty water.

"Are you one of our new Summoned, then?"

[everybodysterrible]

That 'yes' didn't sound very yes-like. But it also sounded like he didn't want to focus on it too much, which felt like something to just respect.

"Yeah, Julie got me set up with Mag here. While I figure out what the fuck I'm doing." Abby tapped her fingers on the bar, thinking about all this. So much she hadn't gottne figured out and she felt like she should. In spite of how obviously stupid that thought was.

Still, no point being rude, "I'm Abby."

[philancer]

"Sylvain," he offers with a smile, going to hold out a hand and then hesitating and waving the gesture away instead. That would probably be more painful than either of them want to deal with right now.

"The Inn's a good place to settle. Always plenty of people here willing to help out when you need it, and it's often the first place new faces show up, if you're ever looking for someone else. The whole 'figuring out what the fuck you're doing' can take a while sometimes. Or maybe it's just an ongoing state for some of us."

[everybodysterrible]

This look, the 'are you fucking serious trying to shake hands with those injuries' look. She's judging your reflex hard, mostly out of shock and understanding why Mag wasn't letting him work right now. The look eventually melted into a quiet little smirk, her hand playing against her lip after. She does get having reflexes that aren't quiet gone, and he is being polite enough. She should be nice. "We can call in a rain check on that handshake. I'm apparently not going anywhere."

The inn wasn't as bad as the barracks, but it still wasn't what Abby would call her style. Not that she got a lot of say on what her style was here. "So how bad was the culture shock for you, coming here?"

A roundabout question of what sort of world he came from, since 'normal' didn't really apply anymore.

[Open] Cadens Shopping District - The Grind

[everybodysterrible]

Mag was great, really. But working at the tavern was not working in a coffee shop. And she didn’t want that either. So she’d started checking if anyone was hiring in the shopping district. However with her lack of magic or new magic, it pretty much was ‘promise I don’t suck’ and hope for the best.

Which would work better if Abby was a people person. She wasn’t. So far a lot of ‘we’ll think about it’ and ‘you can go now.’ Which has moved Abby to being very patient and careful. In that she is walking up to anyone that seems half-way reasonable to ask, “You wouldn’t know anyone who would hire a girl solely off her skill with glitterglue and papercrafts?”

[catholica]

Matt definitely isn't a shopper. He tends to buy what he needs and then he doesn't shop until the very last minute. He's not someone who's going to go out and shop for fun ever.

But, he's out today, hoping to pick up a few things when he senses that someone's coming close by. And then they quietly ask a question and he raises his eyebrows.

"What's glitterglue?"

He's old.

[everybodysterrible]

"Kinda self-explanatory. It's glue, with glitter in it?" Old people are really bad at putting together meaning. Of course the natives wouldn't know what this is, and maybe some summoned don't either. "It sticks stuff together and makes it sparkly."

She huffs out a breath, her search for employment is just one annoyance after another. "High school didn't prepare me for job on a parallel universe with magic. Or honestly to get a job at all."

[catholica]

"High school?"

Jesus, this place doesn't care who it takes, does it? Matt raises his eyebrows, unable to hide his surprise even if he's still curious about the glitterglue and how messy it is.

He's seen glitter get everywhere before.

"Honestly not sure what you might be able to find here. Nocwich might be better but they only open to us once weekend a month."

[everybodysterrible]

"Yes, high school. I don't look-" Give Abby a moment, she hasn't figured on 'blind guy' when she walked up to him. Yes she'll just wave her hand in front of his face because she's that sort of girl. "Oh."

Well that sucked, how'd she walk into that? She is not on her A game today apparently.

She'll just huff and cross her arms, "Even when it was open, the whole place was closed due to whatever mushroom based apocalypse happened before I got here. Not that working there for three days a month really works."

[catholica]

"Did you just wave your hand in front of my face?"

Even if his senses weren't what they were, he would have guessed that because people seem to do that to him no matter what. He chuckles, leaning against his walking stick.

"Ah, yeah. That." Yeah, he remembers that. "Yeah, I spent the last...I don't know how long imprisoned during that mushroom based apocalypse. Not really fun and probably not great for looking for a job either."

[everybodysterrible]

That answers the whole 'blind' question completely. You don't need to ask if someone does something like that. "Nope."

Said with the conviction of a teenager well skilled at the little lies. Such as 'I wasn't drinking' or 'I'm fine.' It was an obvious lie, but her effort on it was solid.

"It meant that the creepy night forest of B-movie monster villages was closed, and that's apparently the local spa." Which was a lot of words that shouldn't go together, but here she was. "I doubt that's really impacting my job hunt. Do you know anyone hiring someone with no actual talents, skills, or work ethic?"

[Open] The Horizon

[everybodysterrible]

You know what’s really disconcerting? Existence.

Abby opened her eyes, and there she was. Existing. Where did she come from? Why was she here? Where was here? She didn’t know any of that. She knew math, didn’t know where that came from. Didn’t seem very usefu either, given everything else at hand.

She looked over the jeans and large sweatshirt, which was long enough it might as well be a dress. It obscured most of her body well enough. The sweater had the sigil for The Lovers on it, taking up the majority of the front. Clothes that didn’t feel right, not that she could name what was wrong. They felt familiar, but not. “Okay Abby, time to pick a direction.”

You can’t go the wrong way, if you don’t know where you’re going. Right? Which just compounds how obviously she has no idea what she's doing here.

[princessvegas]

When entering the Horizon, the vast majority of the Summoned wind up by default in their own domain. The first time Julie was brought here, by someone now long gone, they entered in his domain, a replica of the hotel they'd both lived in that she could not remember.

But Julie is not like the vast majority of Summoned, not when it comes to this. While she does usually appear in her club, she can, if she wants, appear anywhere in the Horizon. And because Julie's experience in the Horizon is so vastly different than anyone else's, she doesn't want to push that onto Abby.

So she brings them near the center of the entire Horizon. There's a wide crater there, and in the direct middle, there is a towering slab of stone, so tall that it seems to disappear into the sky when you're close. The Singularity.

(In her mind, Julie can feel it stir. It's always there now, even outside of the Horizon, but often quiet. She's always aware of it, like one might be of a sleeping pet in the room, but where it used to leave her when she departed the Horizon, it now remains, solid and present in her head, always.)

"Howdy, sugar." It comes from a few yards away. Julie leans against a lamppost, the only one visible anywhere in the area. She's chosen to appear not in her usual, glittering dress; instead, she wears a skintight black romper with a short, almost miltary jacket. Her earrings are large, golden Wheel of Fortune symbols, nearly big enough to brush her shoulders, and the gold chain around her neck has what appears to be a cracked animal tooth hanging from it.. Her hair, bright bubblegum pink, is pulled back into a slick ponytail, perfectly curled on the end. She wears black eyeliner in a wing sharp enough to draw blood, and there are tiny gold stars at the inner corners of her eyes.

The lamppost disappears as she pushes off it to walk. Her heels click on the ground as she approaches. "I know, you don't remember me, it's normal. Julie. I brought you here. You feel okay otherwise?"

[everybodysterrible]

Black and pink seems like good mix, for her. Whoever she was. Sure she got a name, but Abby had a name. And nothing to go with it. Abby looks around to see if she was maybe talking to someone else. Which seemed unlikely. Just her, this woman, and a stone towering into the cosmos. Well, guess the towering stone isn't talking to her, so she heads toward Julie.

"Can't remember feeling worse?" Her hand twists up the hem of her sweatshirt as she approaches. Abby's not really keen on someone else having such an upper hand over her. She can't doubt what the woman says, but she can't confirm it. Other than the woman is confident enough in ways Abby wishes she could manage. "Where exactly is here? And I guess why did you bring me?"

[princessvegas]

"Here is the Horizon." She says it with a vague gesture around them. "It's a place that's kinda... both real and not real. Like we're all sharin' one little town in our own heads, and we can come and go as we please. I brought you 'cause it's your first time, and everyone needs someone who's been here before to bring 'em the first time. Like an invitation. Outside of the Horizon, we're together. Holdin' hands."

Everything about Julie's tone and stance suggests that she is really trying to keep it as understandable and even as she can. She doesn't want to 'have the upper hand', but it's difficult when you know everything and the other person knows nothing.

"Next time you visit, you can do it on your own," she continues, slowly beginning to walk. There's nowhere specific they need to go. "You get your own little space here for yourself. We call it a domain. You can make it into whatever you want, anythin' you can imagine."

She glances at Abby, smiling. "Don't you feel it, deep inside? Like you wanna make stuff?"

[everybodysterrible]

"So... a shared dream?" Real and not real, in their heads, but can come and go as they pleased. It explained the disappearing lamp post. And the stone that didn't make any sense. Abby flexed her fingers about, trying to feel for holding anything. But she was pretty sure that's not how that works.

Abby falls in as a shadow, just behind Julie as she walked toward wherever this place had to go. Running a tally of what she was feeling, it took a few moments to categorize what she was feeling. "Yeah, it's there, under the existential dread and loneliness. And the fear you're full of shit and this is some elaborate trick."

Sure she shouldn't say that but it was what she was feeling. She did want to build stuff, it was about the only positive feeling she had in her head right now.

[princessvegas]

"Kinda. 'Cept it's not a dream." Talking about the Horizon, there is something softer in her face, fonder. This place means so much to her, so much more than anyone can truly understand. It's more of a home for her than anywhere else she's ever been.

(The Singularity lazily nudges at her mind, seems to curl around her like a cocoon. She embraces it. The past months have been so hard.)

"Things you do here, make here, they're real. They're just not in the same place as your body. But everything you create will be here when you ain't, least until someone unmakes it. People will remember the things you say and do to 'em here. So, y'know, try not to use the Horizon to be a dick." Which, Julie thinks, is at least solid life advice. Try not to be a dick for no reason. Even if it's advice she doesn't always follow herself.

Julie snorts, smiling. "Well, I promise I'm not full of shit. Not when it comes to this. And I'm not trickin' you. There's nothin' for me to get outta that. I'm just here to be a guide. You're the first person I ever did this for, by the way. Brought here."

Pausing, she tilts her head and peers at Abby. "Then let's go make some shit," she says brightly. Looking out from where they stand, there are many domains visible, in bits and pieces. Snow-capped mountains rise next to skyscrapers and stone towers. Crumbling castles next to sleek, glass buildings and cozy little towns. Animals move around their respective habitats. Some spaces are blank, empty white voids waiting to be filled. Heavy bass club music plays softly in the air from one corner (Julie's own domain) to meet birdsong and industrial noises and waves in an ocean.

"You wanna pick a spot? Any of the empty ones, they ain't assigned. Or we can go look at other people's stuff."

wildcard - hope this works

[ordinar]

Wilhelm's domain has never quite settled into itself, like it's still figuring out what it's supposed to be. The landscape shifts every few months. There used to be a beach hidden by a curve of cliffs, a grassy slope that later scorched to ash, and he couldn't get it to grow back. Now, there's a lake lined with trees, all kinds of secret spaces along the shore. A house tucked into the woods, and a meandering road cutting through, although he still hasn't learned how to drive.

He doesn't get a lot of visitors here. When he's in a social mood, he tends to visit other people's corners of the Horizon. His is for himself.

When Abby happens upon him, he's wandering around the lake. Sure, he could go for a walk in the real world, but there he can't imagine earbuds into existence so he can listen to music. Besides, since getting abducted from the trails by insane cultists, he's been wary of venturing too far from the castle. Realizing that someone else is there, Wilhelm startles a bit and pops his earbuds out.

"Hey," he greets. There's a question implied in the look he gives her.

She looks around his age, which is rare enough to hold his interest. He can probably count on one hand the number of non-adults he's met here. As for what might catch her attention, he's got on similarly modern clothes. Jeans and a hoodie, except where one might expect to find a brand's logo, there's the emblem of his arcana, the Tower.

[everybodysterrible]

Abby's second visit into the Horizon was a little less- question filled. Helps to know who the hell she is, after all. She still hasn't created a domain of her own, and is content to wander and see what she could make, before she makes anything. She's got her doubts, but she can't investigate them without investigating everything.

This wasn't screaming 'do not enter' so much as whispering the sentiment. It felt uninviting to get to, but worth it to find. Reminding her of some of the cabins her parents would take her to on vacations. A lake, a woods, all the nature home didn't have but without any actual struggles. The way she was used to it.

Plus, there was someone her age. A new and welcomed sight after the closest she gets is still 'out of college' aged people in the Cities. "Hi. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

[ordinar]

It's less the specific landscape and more the space that Wilhelm likes. Space to let his thoughts breathe instead of getting all cramped in his head.

"Not really," he shrugs. "I was just, you know..."

The rest of the sentences fizzles out with a vague gesture to the trail they're on. He has a real way with words. Shifting his weight, he pushes a hand through his hair.

"Um...are you looking for someone?"

Maybe she hasn't learned how to think her way to the right spot in the Horizon. It can be tricky sometimes. Has a new crop of Summoned been, well, summoned? The customary welcome party that marks their arrival never got put on in Thorne. But the usual way of things had been shaken up by the events of the last few months, and it hasn't properly settled back into place. Moreover, Rhy and Istredd, who have led the charge in organizing the welcome parties of the past, have been occupied with other matters.

[everybodysterrible]

"I get it."

The thing about a vast not-real-but-also-real space where you can have whatever you desire is that it's easy enough to make space to just decompress. And Abby knows a little bit of what that looks like.

Now, a normal reasonable person would answer a perfectly valid question sincerely. However, well, he seemed like an easy mark. And Abby is not one to resist temptation. "Looking for the train station, 3:15 to Cincinnati is suppose to run today and I want outta here."

All said with the conviction she believed every word. Like there was definitely a train station, and a train, that would get her out of here. Because without her friends to do bits with she will just have to settle for messing with people who ask questions.

[ordinar]

Halfway through her answer, Wilhelm realizes it's a joke. But also...where the fuck is Cincinnati again? It sounds sort of familiar. Well, anyway, though he shakes his head and rolls his eyes, a grin hangs at the edge of his lips.

"I don't know about a train station," he says, fidgeting with the earbuds he's got curled up in his palm. "I have a car. Too bad it goes everywhere but out of here. Sorry."

For that last part, his tone touches on sincerity. Though he can't claim to know half the Summoned from the Free Cities or Solvunn, he's leaning toward the hypothesis that this girl is fresh out of the water. He remembers what it was like, waiting to wake up from this weird dream, only to be forced into the conclusion that it's not a dream at all.

Now, he's never sure if he wants to go back or just stay here.