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WELCOME TO NOTT!

WELCOME TO NOTT!

Welcome to Nott! A blend of old world Thorne and new world industrialism, densely packed wooden buildings surround a section of ancient stone architecture at the lake’s edge. The city rises up against the horizon and is easily seen from a distance, lacking any farmland or outposts around it to distract the eye.

The city gates are wide open. Whatever may be happening back at the Thornean capitol, there’s no obvious hint of it here. Busy citizens are going about their day, guards in local uniform patrol the streets with little urgency, and no alarm bells or horns are sounding. It appears,at least on the surface, as though no one is concerned about escaped prisoners here.

But it certainly is a bustling place! Sounds and smells assault the senses right from the gate. The streets are filled with vendors and panhandlers and criers shouting out deals and directions and soliciting money, hawking food and services and shops. There seems to be a tavern or a public house on almost every corner. A cool wind comes off the lake and the scent of the fish market carries through the city. People are everywhere and no one seems to notice or care that much about strangers - aside from wanting their coin.

It’s the perfect place to hide out from Thorne while staying within Thorne’s borders.

Within a few hours of arrival a city guard will approach each escapee from Thorne - regardless of what their standing was back at the castle - to politely inform them that Lord of Representatives Lyle Vela would be happy to receive them at the House of the Lords at any time today. Each character will be given a handwritten invitation marked with an official seal that gives directions to the House of the Lords, a sprawling Old Nott building on the lake that overlooks the city. The invitation is of course optional and there are no repercussions for declining.

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Susan finishes off her pie, licking her fingers, before she takes the chocolate from the other girl. It feels almost like clay, sticky and soft, and she can feel her finger and thumb sinking in, leaving imprints in the surface. She tries not to let her doubt show on her face, just shakes her head.

"It ain't gonna be horrible," she says, firmly. It occurs to her that she's not just talking about the chocolate, when she makes that pronouncement - that command, really, because it's less of a prediction than it is a threat to the world to be goddamned fair for once. None of this is going to be horrible. She won't let it. She's thrown her lot in with this girl, with this city, and they're going to make it work. On her father's face, she promises it. "It'll be just like ye dreamed it. And if it ain't, somehow, I guess we'll just go find another dream."

I wanted to meet you and I wanted to assure you that you won't be punished here. I visited the capitol just months ago when they were showing off you lot. They chose who I spoke to and made sure it was a brief meeting.

[Lyle's expression indicates that he didn't appreciate the way it was handled at the castle.]

But now I have a chance to meet some of you at your choosing and without the eyes of the royal family or their loyal magicians on us.

You're certainly saving me having to ask how they treated you. Again, calm yourself.

[The lord holds up a hand and lowers it slowly to emphasize that she should settle down.]

I would like to have a conversation with you. Now sit down and once you've settled yourself I'll have something to eat brought in. You look as though you haven't had a decent meal in weeks.

But I thought--

[ She stops herself from finishing the sentence, having assumed that she'd been thrown in jail here because of her crimes in her own world, and not wanting to give him a reason to imprison her again.

Instead she tucks into the food with relish, sneaking some of the fruit inside her tunic when she thinks he's not looking so that she won't have to worry about stealing to eat again later. ]

What exactly is it that you want from me?

[ Because there has to be something; it would be far easier to just leave her to die. She's become a pawn in a game that she doesn't even know the rules to. ]

Abigail flinches when she hears the sharp whistle pierce through the air. She fervently hopes it's intended to get someone else's attention, but glances back just in case, her heart sinking a little as she recognises Susan. She trusted the others who'd been brought here and were released from prison as little as her captors themselves.

"Me?" she asks, quietly hoping she's mistaken her for someone else.

You thought that as a part of Thorne we would blindly agree with and do whatever the capitol says? The capitol doesn't rule here. The royal guards don't defend us. We take care of ourselves.

[Lyle either doesn't notice or doesn't care that Abigail is pocketing food.]

I wanted to meet whichever of you accepted my invitation. When the royal family displayed some of you two months ago I was only able to meet with carefully selected approved 'guests'. And I'm certain they were watching, or the people I met with had been directed what to stay. Likely both. To be blunt I'd like to know what in the hell is really happening at the castle. How did they treat you behind closed doors?

Eponine nods, pressing her fingers into her square of chocolate.
"It has that smell, don't it? Sweet and rich and that altogether. Like it should taste of - of cream or butter but sweeter."

Her fingers tremble as she lifts the chocolate to her nose to smell it. She's spent that long dreaming about this day that she can barely believe it's true. Even being able to go into the shop, with money in her pocket and a fine dress on her body had felt beyond amazing. She'd had to wait outside the shop just to still her heart, and once inside, she had, for once in her life, been so overwhelmed that she couldn't even ask for what she wanted. Instead, she'd nodded dumbly when the shopkeeper had pointed to his wares and had counted out her coins in that same stupor to pay for it.

" I almost don't want -"

But she does, suddenly and all at once. She crams the piece of chocolate into her mouth before she can change her mind.

And promptly, she bursts into tears.

It may be a far poorer and less comfortable place than the castle, there may not be whatever she wants to eat on hand, but Nadine feels better here in the slums of Nott than she has since coming to this world.

She doesn't often leave the cheap inn room she shares with Flagg for the first day or two. Enough money was pocketed on the way out to cover rent for a few nights to start with, and it doesn't seem like it'd be hard to get more. She does spend some time around the inn, though, in the common room with a mug of watery ale, just trying to listen and get a better feel for this city.

But eventually she emerges from the inn, dressed in a simple local outfit, to explore this new place that's going to be home for the foreseeable future. She seems in a much better mood than she has been in all her months in Thorne, her expression less guarded and nervous. There's a blue kerchief tied over her hair to hide her horns. She ventures to the docks first to wander the fish market, the smell of it reminding her of home. Her first home, the place she'd spent almost forty years of her life, New Hampshire. There were so many little towns that smelled just like this. Even the way the vendors shouted reminds her of the crab men who'd yell from doorways and the sidewalk. Once or twice she's even tempted into spending a little of the pocket money she had - a little waxed paper pocket of some sort of fried freshwater shrimp sort of thing with a sauce the smells like nothing else she knows, a dozen salted little lake crabs in a pouch made of old fishing net.

Eventually she makes her way to the lakeside, to sit on a rock and watch the water and eat her other-worldly street food. It doesn't feel like they're in any immediate danger and it's nice to just be without worrying about who's watching, who's listening, how anything she said or did might be taken...that part's over, she and her people are free - to an extent - and Flagg is no longer a captive or bound by whatever magical chains Thorne had put on him. Nadine feels like she can breathe, she can relax.

And maybe even enjoy herself for a change.

[Eponine is not great at self control - especially over her mouth. Especially when she's nervous and trying hard to make a good impression and seem confident. But give her credit. She tries. She really does try because she can see how annoyed and impatient the Lord is becoming and she really doesn't want to end up back in prison straight away.
So she nods to herself, and she takes a breath and, with a backwards glance to the window, she slides into the indicated seat. It's all she can do to stop herself from clapping her hands and exclaiming over the idea of food - real food, she hopes, hot and fresh - instead of a bun or even worse, the scraps she was fed in solitary.
She fidgets nervously, twisting her fingers through her ripped prison uniform until in the end, she sits on her hands in an effort to control herself.]

I'm... I mean, it is just - Sir, will you send me away? That's what the Queen in Hayle did, you know? She gave me a meal before she had the guards from Thorne take us back.

"Nadine?"
Her peace and quiet is shattered by Eponine plopping down on the grass just yards away from her by the lake. Eponine smiles. "I haven't seen you so much since we came, you know? But it's good here, isn't it?"

Indeed, Eponine's probably looking better than Nadine's ever seen her. Not healthy: her build is still alarmingly skeletal and she's still not properly clean. But there's a spark of life in those oddly green eyes that definitely wasn't there in Thorne's dungeons.

"Look -" she pulls aside her apron and shows Nadine a purse bulging with coins tied about her impossibly thin waist. She glances up at Nadine, eager for approval.
"I have enough for food or sweets or that if you will join me? Don't tell Susan though. I said I'd share everything with her... but I'd rather share with you."

"It looks like we had the same idea. But you're much better at it than I am." Nadine chuckles a little as Eponine shows her the pouch of pilfered coins. The young woman's looking better, now that they're away from the castle. It's good to see.

"And I'm sorry I haven't been around much, but it's been a long time since my husband and I could have any time in private." It isn't even just about sex, it's about...a need Nadine has to be close to him, one that hasn't been sated by touching hands through prison bars. Something about his energy, his true and unhindered energy, she can feel it. She's needed that.

"We should have plenty that everyone can share...but here, want to try one of these?" Nadine holds out the netted pouch of salted crabs. "They're not sweet, but they're really good."

Once a thief, always a thief.
It hadn't taken Eponine long to wend her ways into the slums of the city, skulking through backstreets and alleys until she had found the beating heart of the place, the taverns and pubs. At first, all too aware of her prison garb, she'd stood in the shadows, watching, waiting. But clothes are easy to come by, and Eponine was soon garbed like a local. Her dress was deliberate - bare sleeves to invoke trust, folded material and layers to conceal her spoils - and no shawl so she might look genuinely cold to garner sympathy.

Now, she watches Abigail from her seat by the bar, next to some local who is too enthralled with her hand on his leg to complain about her drinking his gin as she approaches.
She catches Abigail's eye and at once draws a coin from one of the many hiding place in her skirts.

"Hey, will you have a bet for me as well?

"Then let me. I earned my keep doing this and far more in Paris, Nadine. You are too pretty to be caught anyway. Me, I blend in with another street rat, but you are too pretty. If the police ask, they'll come banging but me, I can lie and they will arrest someone else. Not you though."

She chuckles. "You were together, no?" She raises an eyebrow and chuckles. "You are relieved? I miss it, you know? It weren't never nice but now - gosh, I miss him pulling my hair and that. I want someone to pull my hair and push me against the wall."

Eponine's expression darkens. "I shan't share with Julie, that witch. I will share anything with you or Flagg or Susan. But not that wicked witch."

"It's nice when it's someone you like a whole lot. Someone who cares about you. It kind of sucks otherwise."

And being pushed against a wall and hair pulling...Nadine agrees, those are pleasant things. But she's sporting fresh red marks on her neck and shoulders from her own recent activities, Flagg's teeth marks still visible in her skin. Rough encounters are the only ones she knows.

"And just keep ignoring Julie. I know you two don't get along, I'm not asking you to, but she's one of our people. She's helped me." Of course Nadine has, in theory, authority over Julie. Not that she exercises it. But her position as Flagg's wife offers her a certain sort of protection in that sense.

"It's easier to avoid her here, anyway."

[ It had taken nearly a week on horseback for the group to reach Nott. By virtue of being the only one with experience riding a horse when they decided to take them, Julie had sort of assumed a leadership role in this expedition. After tasking Nadine and Lloyd (as well as Susan and Eponine, courtesy of Nadine) with stealing as much gold off the frozen Thorneans as they could, Julie had sprinted to the stables and came back with three horses.

Honestly, it had been quite a while since she was on a horse. Several years, at least. But she'd had an uncle with a ramshackle little farm, and she used to spend time there while her parents worked, so she'd learned to ride before she could drive. When she brought back the horses, she told everyone their names as marked on their stalls, with a kind of respect that she doesn't have for most humans -- she put Lloyd and Nadine on a cream mare named Pearl, Susan and Eponine on a chestnut colt named Spider, and for herself, a big black stallion called Baron. She and Susan, with varying levels of frustration, coached Lloyd through riding a horse.

And so they set off in search of Nott.

For several days, they rode from dawn to dusk and slept on the forest floor, at night. Courtesy of Flagg, the former prisoners had their uniforms transformed into acceptable clothes, so that when they stumbled on the occasional village, they were able to barter for food without being pegged as escapees.

When they finally reached Nott, they found a tavern fairly quickly, mostly out of desperation, and paid for three rooms. Flagg and Nadine to one, Susan and Eponine to another, and Julie and Lloyd in the third. They would still need to find ways to make money, but now they had beds and baths and warm meals twice a day. ]

01 | The First Night [closed to LLoyd]

[ They arrived in the late afternoon and spread out to their separate rooms, eager to get away from each other. Julie had snagged a bottle of wine off a table in the tavern downstairs, then commandeered the bathroom and soaked for hours in the tub, scrubbing herself free of the grime of imprisonment and travel. When she emerges, naked and hair damp, she stands in front of the mirror in the firelight, closely examining the half-inch or so of root that's now showing; as it turns out, her natural color is a gingery red that she has to bleach out to go pink. She makes a face and mutters to herself. ]

I gotta get somethin' done with this.

[ But there's nothing she can really do about it right now, so she tousles her hair and grabs the wine before climbing into bed, swigging off the bottle. She stares at the wall for a moment, like she would if there was a television there, then looks over at Lloyd, offering him the bottle. ]

Hey. I want you to teach me how to go to the Horizon.

02 | Coast

[ Julie has never in her life seen the ocean before arriving in Nott. The closest she'd ever gotten was the Pratt County Lake, a tiny, pathetic thing barely deep enough to swim in. So it's with a quiet sense of awe that she sits and watches the waves roll in and out, absently eating some bread she took from the tavern. It's shocking, how vast it is, and how loud, but it's beautiful and fascinating.

She eventually walks down the beach itself, holding her shoes in one hand and holding up her skirt with the other. Seagulls fly out of her way as she strolls in the surf, breeze blows her hair around, and she stops to pick up a shell every now and then. ]

03 | Horizon

[ The first time Julie returns to the Horizon is like walking back into home after a long vacation. Her domain is a gorgeous nightclub, with a huge staffed bar and a light up dance floor. The music is a perfect volume, loud enough to party but not so loud that you can't sit and have a conversation in a booth. Fancy drinks flow freely, colored lights flash in patterns, and people she's never seen before crowd the dance floor.

But when you turn away from the bar and the lights, the room gradually fades to darkness and emptiness, like an abandoned warehouse in a horror movie. Go far enough into the blackness, and there's the sound of creaking metal and industrial fan blades slowly turning. It's haunting, really.

The side you choose to visit really says more about you than Julie. But she'll meet you either way. ]

04 | Wildcard

[ Anything you want, or contact me at

sarahwand or bitchcraft#2753 to plot. ]

Edited 2021-09-06 00:05 (UTC)

[ Abigail takes another mouthful of food while trying to figure out the answer he wants to hear. She hopes he's not too disappointed with the truth, as she doesn't have too much ammunition to give him. ]

I mean, I've never been thrown in a medieval dungeon before, so I don't have anything to compare. They didn't torture me, though. Honestly for the most part they just let me be, I kept my head down.

"I don't even care if I love him. Sometimes it's good just to feel alive. 'Sides, no one that's nice ever loves me. So it doesn't matter. You take what there is and it's good to feel wanted even for that while."

It surprises Eponine that Nadine even clarifies about the person caring about you. Eponine has long given up that she'll be cared for, especially by any man that's half decent, and she's readily accepted that she'll have to take what she can get. She reaches over to touch one of the bruises on Nadine's neck.

"It's good, isn't it? When it's intense like that. When they're so mad? Me, I hate a beating but that - that, not so much."

She sighs dramatically though. "You know she attacked me for nothing, no? That woman is a danger, I think. When you lose your temper so, and there is no control? She's mad, that one. She will get herself in trouble, you know, just as my Ma and Pa did. I don't know why you put up with her. She ain't so nice about you."

That's a lie. Eponine's never talked to Julie about Nadine, but who cares? She dislikes Julie and Eponine's bright enough to realise that her best hope for revenge is driving a wedge between Julie and the rest of the group.

Edited 2021-09-06 19:36 (UTC)

Abigail's accrued a modest pile of coins, although she's fairly sure she's only moderately good at the game. A combination of being a quick learner, the poker face she's crafted to survive back in her own world, and the mostly middle-aged men underestimating her ability have worked in her favour. Still, she feels a little nervous as she takes Eponine's coin as her wager - the stakes are higher betting with someone else's money.

She needn't have worried. The disappointment in her opponent's face as she turns her cards over, before he's even revealed his hand, tells her everything she needs to know and she rakes another four coins into her pile. The man demands another round, but Abigail feels she ought to quit while she's ahead, gathering her winnings and giving Eponine her share.

"I'm hoping it's not just beginner's luck."

"That's as maybe, but at least you stop now."
She accepts her winnings with a smile, hiding the coins in the folds of her skirt.
"Me, I prefer my fingers - see."

She looks around quickly, and after only a quick glance at her mark, she leans back in her chair. She reaches, subtle and swift, and relieves a bulging pocket of it's purse within seconds. She slips the coin bag into her skirts too, before grinning at Abigail.

"I suppose it is as much chance as yours, but I feel safer, you know?"

[Susan watches him closely, grey eyes intent. She's still thinking of the Horseman's Association, how easily they'd drifted from loyalty to a distant capital. How distant lords aren't real; how she herself had never been strong for the Affiliation that was, to all intents and purpose, her royalty.]

[It's not a thought that has aim yet, but it's one, she thinks, worth holding.]

Aye. Aye, they'll do that, I guess. Why risk aught else but what they want ye to see?

[She half-smiles, wry, almost as if sharing a joke, and shifts in her seat. Not at ease yet, maybe, but a little less visibly tense.]

Anyroad, I guess ye've met me, now. So, what happens next?

"Aye, you." Susan lengthens her stride, approaching with a smile that's intended to soothe. Gods, the woman's skittish as a filly. "I know 'ee, don't I? We had some sort of a palaver, back..."

She gestures vaguely northwards. It seems good enough for now.

"It's good to see 'ee the right side of the bars."

It's not a comfortable thing, or a particularly kind one, that Susan's first, instinctive reaction is Oh, for fuck's sake. She has to clamp down on that uncharitable impulse, that sense that it's just so unbelievably stupid to cry over something like that. She didn't cry when Nadine gave her chucklit that first time, after all, although it had been the sweetest thing she'd ever tasted and a kindness she'd sorely needed. So why should Eponine?

Because she's dreamed of it this long, Sue, and she's never had a thing of her own. The thought sounds achingly like her father's voice. So cut her some slack, won't you?

She sighs, and leans over to, a bit clumsily, put her arms around the smaller girl, patting her shoulder. "Hey. Hey, 'Ponine, don't cry. Hold up, I've got a kerchief somewhere, just wait..."

"Okay, that's a lot to unpack."

Nadine sighs and looks out over the water, trying to put the right words in the right order.

"First of all...you really shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Love comes out of like, and nice people like you. I like you, Susan likes you, we're nice people. I more than like you, Eponine, I care about you. You've just had it rough, and a lot of people telling you that you're worthless. But people say that kind of thing because they're the ones who have something rotten inside. They need to be cruel and tear people down to try and feel better about themselves. But it's not true, you're not worthless. You're clever and you're sweet and you're resourceful and loyal to your friends. Those are really good things, sweetheart."

Eponine's lack of self respect or confidence isn't new to Nadine. She's seen the same in plenty of the homes and facilities she grew up in. This is just what happens to the unwanted ones, the kids who grow up without loving support or encouragement, who get thrown away.

"Secondly...none of this happened because Randall was mad." She gestures to the marks visible at the edges of her blouse and kirtle. "That's...just how we like to enjoy each other. Without holding back. We love each other, we're passionate about each other...it's like losing yourself so entirely in it that you aren't even thinking, just feeling." There wasn't anger in it, even if there was something dark. "You can have intensity without anger."

Eponine deserves that.

"Third...Julie and I have worked it out. She had her reasons for being angry at me at first, but it was just a weird misunderstanding. I think she's just had a hard life, too, and she's scared. Sometimes when someone's scared and doesn't want to show it, they turn the scared into mean. And I accept her because she's one of my husband's loyal people. That makes her my people, too."

[ Bucky clears his throat and sits down. He'd spoken to Lyle once before and the man had thanked Bucky for his honesty. It's a funny thing, because Bucky finds himself holding back a lot these days and not only since he came to Thorne, so he hadn't felt very honest, but sometimes it's a little hard to hide disdain.

Back then, he'd been dressed a lot nicer, but now he's taken care to blend in and keep his metal arm covered. His clothes aren't flashy and he's not even sure about what's appropriate here, but they're comfortable and free of dirt. ]

We meet again.

[ He's lost some of the tension he'd had in their first meeting at the banquet, though he's still got a stiffness that won't quite leave his spine. ]

I hope you're not going to ask me to go back to the castle.

Bucky just shrugs his broad shoulders at her. He's been looking for work, too, and it doesn't escape him that she might be someone else who'd escaped from the castle, so he walks up to her despite the glaring to get a closer look.

"I think most of the work here is fish-related. Did I see you on my way here?"

He's trying to be sly in the way he's asking her if they came from the same place, but he's not sure how well it will land. He's already changed his clothes and taken precautions to hide his arm, but he's still pretty sure he's sticking out in ways he isn't aware of and maybe a few that he is.

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Page 2 of 10

WELCOME TO NOTT!

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Nadine Cross | The Stand | The World

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Julie Lawry | The Stand | The Wheel of Fortune

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c/w for quite alarming views around relationships

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looking for work