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

That's probably the smart choice. Wilhelm is not and never has been a licensed driver. The car in question, a sleek red Ferrari, is more a shrine to his brother. But that's something you save for your therapist, not spring on a random stranger. His actual answer comes in the form of a shrug, an idle kick at the dead leaves covering the ground.

"There's a road over there," he gestures. "Besides, I could make one right here if I wanted to."

He looks at her with a little smile.

"Or a train station."

"Did you at least make a fun road to drive on?" Abby doesn't quite get the concept, if she's honest. But apparently if you care about fast cars there are some roads that are better for driving on than others. Wellsbury's roads are incredibly dull, well paved, and only dangerous during snow.

As to the fun callback to her train station quip. She brightens up a little, putting an extra excitement to her answer, "So that's how I catchh the 4:20 to Seattle. I just make the train station, thanks!"

"Why would I make a boring one?"

Though, truthfully, Wilhelm wouldn't know what differentiates a good road from a bad one either. The road didn't matter so much to him; he just liked being in the passenger seat when his brother drove. For all its raw potential, there are some things you just can't replicate in the Horizon.

But, okay, Seattle — he knows that one for sure. He tilts his head.

"So you're American?" That's another rarity, finding someone from the same globe as you, however many dimensions or universes they are away.

"Because fun roads usually involve hills, cliffs, and sharp angles?" At least that's what she's seen in movies. If you want a good car chase there's gotta be reasons to actually have your hand on the wheel. City traffic is one thing, but you would need to conjure so many self-driving cars it isn't worth the trouble.

"Yeah- I suppose we haven't done the whole 'when and where' shit have we?" And, thinking about it. She also didn't hit one of the other important details. "Or who. I am American, a New Englander specifically. Year 2020. Name's Abby."

She doesn't make a move for a handshake, just rocks on her heels for a bit. Hands in pockets, super chill and casual but with a bit of energy to it.

His energy is a little more awkward, like he hasn't gotten used to being in his own skin after seventeen years of existence. But his eyes definitely light up at her answer. After almost a year here, meeting someone so, for lack of a better word, normal is like recovering a piece of the world he's left behind. They might have been friends.

"Wilhelm," he returns. "Also 2020. Wrong side of the ocean, though. I'm from Sweden."

In the grand scheme of the universe and all its iterations, though, it's close enough. As if she's shared the right password, he tilts his head in an invitation to join him as he starts walking again. The earbuds he'd been listening to before get shuffled into his pocket.

"Any magic, werewolves, superheroes?"

Well, that's a nice change of pace. Julie is fairly normal, but older than her. Someone both her age, and asking that question, is interesting. She includes a flourished jump to catch up and keep pace, mostly because it's fun to be a bit more energetic than strictly needed.

"In movies, sure, but those aren't real. Although drugs are pretty magical." Abby has not ever hid, from her peers, that weed is fun and drinking is a good use of a Friday night. And since being here has found even less reason to hide it. "So... You don't belong in this place either?"

That's the thought process, right? The call is for heroes and short of properly packing a bong, she's not useful for much.

As blunt as Abby is, she's not wrong. Wilhelm, when he was first summoned, wondered why the hell Ambrose and his mages would even bother. He has no special powers. He wasn't even good at fulfilling the mundane responsibilities piled on him back home, never mind meeting the expectations of greatness that come with being Summoned. So, standing among those with more years, experience, and skill, he has often felt a profound sense of unbelonging.

But it's not as sharp as it used to be. He waffles for a moment before settling on, "I guess not."

He shrugs, eyes wandering the tree branches stretched overhead.

"Somebody once told me that maybe it's not about who you are now, but who you could become. Like, your potential."

"So many people tell me I'm not reaching my potential before you add magic and destiny into the fucking mix." Abby can buy other people have untapped potential, but that's never a thing she's seen in herself. Mostly it's due with comparisons to her friends. Sure she was better than Samantha, but everyone was. And there were burned out houses smarter than Brody.

But Abby put herself in last place among M.A.N.G. and it wasn't close.

"Not that you don't have potential, believe whatever you want. But I'm sure whoever decided I belong here should be fired."

What he doesn't share is that it was the honest-to-god devil who told him that...

Until this moment, Wilhelm has felt that he's more or less stayed still all this time. One step forward, two steps back. The same mess of a kid he was when he first got pulled into this world, spluttering and naked, only with more trauma heaped on him. Now, looking at Abby, he sees a part of who he was back then, and suddenly he sees how far he's come. His doubts in himself don't blare as loud or loom as large as they did, just because there isn't as much room for them to echo anymore. He has people who, for whatever reason, believe he can be something more than what he is. Lucifer, Kyle, Istredd, Rhy.

It's kind of a dizzying thing to realize all at once.

"I mean," be begins, with a dry chuckle at her last comment. He had the same thought a year ago. "If there's one thing I've always been good at, it's disappointing my parents. But that's kind of the cool thing about being here. It doesn't really matter who you were in your old life. It's like a fresh start."

Wilhelm can sympathize with this girl; he knows how it feels to be made small by others' outsize expectations. He hopes she can find those people here too.

"Other way around, my parents disappoint me." Abby's life would be perfect if she didn't have to worry about meeting her dad's new girlfriend. Didn't have to clean up after the disaster her mom became in the divorce. They barely notice her, and what's going on with her anymore.

If they could notice she was gone, would they? Grim to think about.

All the 'clean slate' shit is getting to her, probably because she didn't have a sense of who she was before coming here. And now the one constant in her life, her friends, was also gone. Who has she become without them? "Just gotta pick a direction and fight to get there in a city that doesn't trust us, starting from scratch. Coolcoolcool, funfunfun."

Nothing in her voice carries the idea this is cool, or fun, in her mind.

Well, one thing that hasn't changed is his amazing ability to stumble past the right thing to say. Realizing that rather than reassuring her, he's just agitating the wad of anxieties that come with being suddenly dumped into a new world, he shuts up. He twiddles a strand of hair and studies the trees they walk past like they're supposed to take a test on it later.

It's harder for people like them. Outliers, dull lights amid a dazzling sky.

"What would you rather be doing right now?" he asks, trying a different tack. "Like, if you could do anything in the world. Name it."

Now, on its face, it was nice. To offer anything in the world. But since anyone could do anything here, more or less, it wasn't like Abby couldn't just make her own roller coaster or haunted house.

But, there was an avenue where having someone else to conjure a place would make it more interesting. So she'll make the social faux pas of answering a question with a question, "What's the prettiest city in Europe you've been to? Cause I've never left the states."

Well that's not really true, she was here. But she meant on her own accord without waking up in a cave pond.

He was just hoping that she wouldn't say hanging out with my friends, because there's nothing he can do about that. Rollercoasters and haunted houses, though within her power to create alone, are more fun when you have someone to share the experience with. Even if that someone was a stranger half an hour ago.

He wasn't expecting the question to bend back to him.

"Well," he considers slowly. Wilhelm hasn't travelled too widely either. You'd think that royalty would get to go wherever they want, whenever they want, but travel is all tied up in politics. Your family is a brand, and you're a product.

"I'm totally biased, but Stockholm is pretty great. I liked Copenhagen, too."

He didn't see what she was really asking, which might be an unfair ask. Him reading her mind, but she'll take a few steps into his path and just- grin. She wanted to watch him get where her mind was and how genius it was to ask him that rather than just go for any old activity she could conjure up herself.

"Show me."

It's not that he didn't understand why she was asking. It's just that he's never thought to conjure up a piece of a city, and he has to think a moment. Shuffling to a stop, he closes his eyes to get the picture right in his head.

Now, when people talk about pretty European cities, they're thinking about the old, historical parts. So he pictures the Old Town with its cobblestone streets and architecture from centuries ago, its rows of boats lining the lakefront, and slowly these things rise up around them. The trees fade, replaced by brickwork and spires and streetlights that aren't on yet. The only thing missing is the people. They have the whole place to themselves.

As Wilhelm looks around at his work, it hits him that he's never had the chance to really enjoy any of it. Going out inevitably turned into an event. But now...

"What do you think?" he asks, tucking a strand of hair behind his ear.

Abby twists and watches as his work takes form around them. She's never had a work form out like that, hers always forms in front of her like she's setting a stage. But she's never really worked on anything quite like this before either. She kicks at the cobblestones with her foot, then walks around looking at the boats and the buildings.

"Wasn't expecting so much color. I like it. Boston has some greenery but the buildings are pretty bland- one just bleeds into the next. I guess this is part of why people think cramming their life in a backpack and becoming a European vagrant is worth it."

She's got the slightest of smiles, nothing as mischievous as before, just appreciating a ghost town of a city section. Just- happy.

In different circumstances — like, if they were completely different people — it would be terribly romantic. A whole city to themselves, all these narrow cobblestone streets and charming cafes housed in colorful old buildings, the sun sparkling on the lake. None of this occurs to him, though, so he's just left with something like peace as he watches Abby explore their surroundings. He hopes it cheers her up a little.

At the very least, it might provide enough of a distraction from everything. Wilhelm knows how that goes.

"Pick a direction, I'll follow," he encourages her. He'll make sure the city keeps unfolding around them.

There's an irony that prickles at the back of his mind. The Royal Palace is several streets away — not his home, but the office from which his mother conducts her business as head of state. So, basically the brick-and-mortar version of everything he never wanted out of life, and everything he was relieved to have left behind. But who knows, maybe in his version of the city, there should be a nice park there instead...

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

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