abraxaslogs | WELCOME TO NOTT!

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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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[ The rabbit doesn't exactly look happy about the situation, but Julie has always had a knack with animals. There just weren't very many left to love after Trips. She also has not realized yet that she's the one manifesting the rabbit into a solid form, into tameness. She seems to consider the idea of a second impression, if it can even be called that when she can't remember her first, then looks up at the high ceilings, the balconies. ]

This whole place is just for you? It's so big.

Well, it's for anybody, but I'm the only one here.

[ He follows her gaze up and up toward the ceiling, his focus landing on the topmost balcony, illuminated a deep red. When he looks back at her, it's with a grin. ]

Want me to show you around? Or we could go find your domain, see where you ended up. This place lets you create whatever you can think of. It's real fuckin' neat.

I get my own place? Like this?

[ There is a kind of delighted innocence in her voice -- without a lifetime of feeling lost and alone, oppressed by the poverty and isolation of where she's from, there is no need for her to have a constant guard up, no need to use her armada of defense mechanisms. It also helps that she has not immediately deemed Lloyd inferior to herself, at least not in any meaningful way.

Still clutching the rabbit, she takes a few steps away, still looking up at the seemingly endless number of floors. ]

Where would it be?

Maybe not like this, but someplace that's yours, yeah. [ He gestures around the facsimile of The Inferno, devoid of all its people, vaguely. Sure, it could look just like his, but with a gal like her? No way it was.

He shrugs a shoulder and grins easily. ]

Why don't we go lookin'? Betcha it's close.

[ There's a moment where she's just silent, looking around, then she begins to walk very confidently toward one exit. She doesn't know why, but something makes her feel extremely sure that she needs to go this way, that what she's looking for is that way.

She does stop to put the bunny down, where it remains docile and quietly hops away from them. ]

Why's your place all empty like that? Don't casinos usually have lots of people in 'em all the time? That... I feel like that sounds right.

[ Lloyd follows behind her, interested to know about her own domain, too. What will it even look like? He has a few ideas based on what Julie is like, but whether or not it'll be what he thinks is a different story. His hadn't looked like he expected the first time, either. ]

They do, but y'know it didn't really feel right putting a bunch of fake people in here that say the same stuff over and over. It felt lonelier than just having my rabbits.

But ain't there other people around to visit? Like me?

[ She opens the door without much hesitation. There's no specific reason she can point to, but she knows that she belongs on the other side, just as much as she knows her name, or... well, okay, she only knows her name, but she's very certain of it.

As the door swings open, the sound of pounding bass music floods the air. Neon lights scatter over the floor before she can even enter, and glittering confetti fires over them from conveniently timed cannons. They're behind the bar of an apparently very busy club, dozens and dozens of bland, forgettable people filling the dance floor and booths. The bartender does not seem alarmed by their presence, either -- in fact, he hands Julie a champagne flute without any prompting. She takes a sip, and it's not just champagne, it's a cocktail, and it's perfect.

It's loud and crowded and excessive, and she feels so comfortable. ]

Wow.

Yeah. I'd much rather wander into other people's than sit in mine.

[ As soon as she opens the door, it's like stepping into a different world. The bass beats so loud he can feel it echoing in his chest, and the dark club with flashing glitter and neon lights blinking around makes it feel something close to home, yet so surreally different. He looks to Julie who fits so perfectly in this atmosphere with awe, feeling so damn lucky he managed to snag her while also knowing that she can be a bitch. It's the lifestyle, it comes with the territory.

Lloyd grins at her, leaning against the bar as she sips her cocktail. ]

Yeah, I'll say.

[ Julie comes out from behind the bar and it's like the crowd suddenly turns on, as if they were only idling before she was there to pay attention to. The feeling, for Lloyd at least, is most likely familiar, not unlike how it used to be when they walked through the real Inferno.

But now, he isn't the star of the show. She is, and it's so obvious. They gather around while never being in her way, they raise glasses to her, raise their voices too. She feels like she's in a bubble as she floats through them, and it's a feeling that she can't really put words to.

She knows she's never felt like this before (because she only remembers feeling at all over the past 45 minutes or so), but she also somehow knows that this is also exactly how she has always wanted to feel.

Before the crowd can swallow her entirely, she looks back over her shoulder at him. ]

You comin'?

[ It absolutely gives him the same vibe as walking through the Inferno. Like the party sleeps until they get there, then it's all for them. She fits so much better into this lifestyle like she was made for it instead of turned onto it. He loved the vibe and the attention he got back home, because who doesn't like feeling as if you're the most important person in the room?

He watches how the crowd of unremarkable people dances and cheers, but never gets in Julie's way, never do anything more than cheer her on and give her praise when she needs it. Lloyd doesn't waste a second, pushing himself off the bar and following her into the throng of people with a wide grin. ]

Right behind ya, gorgeous.

[ The clubgoers ferry them both (but mostly Julie) across the club, dissipating a few at a time as they reach the other side. By the end, it's just the two of them again; Julie has long since finished her drink and lost the flute, her cheeks aching from smiling.

She doesn't keep smiling much longer.

Where the club should theoretically end, have a wall to close it, there is only blank space, vast and haunting, suffocating from emptiness. The furthest wall, where the structure actually ends, has a large industrial fan set into it, makes an eerie, repetitive whoosh as it slowly rotates. It seems to suck happiness straight out of the air, the longer they stand there, and Julie is suddenly very frozen, unable to walk out no matter how much she wants to.

Instead, she stares at the spinning fan blades, locked in place with a feeling of existential nothingness that permeates down to her soul. ]

[ The difference in moods is almost jarring, like an unexpected slap to the face. The grin slides off his face as he takes in this vast nothing of space, that industrial fan spinning and reminding him of the sound of an axe swinging through the air. Brown eyes flit about the space before looking to Julie in confusion.

His question about what this place is dying before he can make a sound. Her haunted expression spooks him because he's never seen a look like this on her face. She's always the unflappable one. He wraps his hand around hers, aiming to tug her back into the fray. ]

Hey. Jules, c'mon. You don't gotta be here.

[ It takes her a second before she can even understand what feeling this place is evoking in her, and the scream of realization dies before it ever hits her throat. Though she doesn't know why, she knows intimately, in her very soul, that she will die alone in this space. That there will never be anyone else, just her and her thoughts, echoing in perpetuity, until her mind is gone and she can't go on anymore.

She's never felt this way before, but it's so familiar.

Lloyd takes her hand and she looks at him dumbly, having forgotten he was there. But he is there, so why does she feel so alone? She can barely parse what he's saying, and when she does, she can't make her legs move. ]

It's so empty.

[ It is empty, and it gives him the creeps more than the empty husk of Vegas he'd first conjured with no real reason as to why he had. He has to remind himself that this isn't where she wanted to be, but something her mind made to play tricks. ]

Yeah, it is.. Do you know why? We can change it into something else. I can even help.

[ He's not too keen on sticking around if she doesn't want to change it, but he's not going to leave her, either. ]

[ She doesn't know why it's like this, and she doesn't know why she feels this way, and it's all reflected in her face now, her lack of defenses and inability to manipulate a situation she doesn't understand. Her hand is limp in his and she shakes her head. ]

It's supposed to be like this. I just know it. It... it can't be changed.

[ Everyone who left her alone is dead, can't come back now. ]

[ He squeezes her hand to pull her back into the moment, standing in front of her to block the view of the fan. ]

Lots of things can't be changed, darlin'. Doesn't mean you have to stick around. Let's go outside and go exploring. See some other people's domains and shit. Give ya inspiration.

[ He steps in front of her and that's enough to let something click back into place, to let her grab the reins back from the spiraling dread within her that this space creates. She still doesn't feel in control, not like she did, but Lloyd manages to refocus her just enough. ]

Did you change yours?

After I remembered what I needed to, it did. It's just missin' the people, but those can't be replicated how I'd want. They don't feel like they should and just creep me out. Kinda like this space right here.

[ It's a small step, but he'll take it. Pulling her arm gently to wrap around his, he links their arms together and starts to steer her back into the fray. ]

Sometimes, I dunno if it's the Singularity or what, but it picks things from your memories that you'd rather not. As soon as you can remember again, it should change back.

All right, I s'pose if... if it'll be better when I remember.

[ Her brow is still knit, but she lets him herd her, take hold of her arm. How can she have forgotten something like this? It feels like drowning but there's no water.

Frowning, she looks out at her people, her clubgoers, then back to Lloyd. ]

Do they creep you out? [ Julie's creations certainly aren't perfect, but they're fairly accurate and lacking in creepiness, in her opinion. They're like Sims, acceptably realistic. ]

These ones are okay for the most part. Nothing really compares to the real deal, though.

[ Lloyd takes a moment to consider a few of them, up close and personal as they are. There's nothing particularly memorable about any of their faces. Plain, generic. Boring, really. Not as unsettling as the shadow people in Nadine's domain used to be, anyway. ]

Not really, I guess? Kind of like talking to a robot.

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WELCOME TO NOTT!

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