abraxaslogs | Some days I look in mirrors

Entry tags:

Some days I look in mirrors

Who: Claire Fraser, ota and closed starters
When: October log
Where: Solvunn, Nocwich, the Horizon
Notes: I went with handwaving Claire's finished home, it's been too long now, BUT if your character would've helped then they did! ~~also please ignore the fact that I accidentally tagged this with Adora.~~
Warnings: None so far, will edit if needed. And brackets, prose - go with your heart.

𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑢𝑛𝑛

[ Claire's new home is tucked just short of the woods. Her gratitude for the help she received has been expressed in simple but filling meals, baked goods, doctoring, and helping with most chores. She's realized with a home of her own she must be settling, but she tells herself it's more to have her own space and feel comfortable. The home is two stories with her small bedroom upstairs that contains the space she works and spends the most of her time. One of the walls is completely plant-filled, and somewhere nestled in comfortably, is her new lizard. The downstairs has a kitchen with a hearth, and a built-in nook to sit and eat on one side. With a small sitting area made up of donated furniture, the other side of the downstairs is for seeing anyone who needs intense care and looking after, or drop-ins needing some sort of treatment.

Anyone dropping in is welcome and will not only be assaulted by plants and wildflowers in abundance, but bees will buzz lazily and drunk on nectar before flying back to their homes. They're tucked back just a bit, but the bee houses, lovingly painted by Nanaue, are bright and visible. She's left the back wall on the bottom floor windowless so that her friend can paint to his heart's content. When visitors arrive, the door is opened with a smile in greeting, able to see who's approaching from the front window.

Even though she has her own home now, she still makes sure to contribute, helping with cooking communal meals which helps her meet newcomers, and taking care of the animals which reminds her of Jamie. It all keeps her busy, and she can't say she doesn't like it. She still visits with the local Solvunnites she's grown fond of, and there are a few children she plays with outside with no shame in how silly she looks. ]

(𝑡ℎ𝑒) 𝐻𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑧𝑜𝑛

[ Gone is Lallybroch from Claire's domain. She'd been thinking of changing it anyway, but something very large managed to take out most of it during the rifts. That makes it easier to change things, though it's still rustic and full of flora. There's still plenty of space for her to entertain outside, and around back is where anyone can come for human anatomy lessons. Separate from that, there's a garden and greenhouse so that she can both learn and teach about different plants. It's a place for her experiment too, trying out her magic without accidentally causing damage to real plants in her home.

Anyone heading inside will be met with comfortable warmth, more plants, and a gray cat that doesn't seem bothered by much. There's always a setup for tea or coffee and something stronger if wanted, along with furniture meant for sinking into a good book.

She does like to explore other's domains, but if it seems closed off, she won't poke around...much. ]

𝑁𝑜𝑐𝑤𝑖𝑐ℎ

[ Claire has come to enjoy the walk to the portal, and if anyone happens to be heading out as well, they're happy to join her. She's dressed for the cooler air, pendant hanging just below her throat and basket in hand. In the square, she can be found purchasing things like flour and other cooking items for her own simple kitchen. Claire even picks up a trinket or two for friends, stowing different things beneath her goods in case she happens upon someone. Because she's rubbish at knitting, she can also be found weaving in and out of different shops to browse mittens and cowls.

When she rests the first time at mid-day, it's near the stage with a drink in hand. Every now and then she looks around the crowd as if searching for someone and in truth, she is. This is her only chance to look for Jamie or Bree, and she takes it each and every month. Eventually, she continues her day and when she's ready for supper, slips into an establishment, finding a seat at a table that could fit two. And a lucky thing too, as she's managed to come in at the height of mealtime, apparently. Anyone is free to join her.

With her basket on the ground between her right foot and the wall, she sits back and thinks of a friend or two she wouldn't mind joining her, almost feeling as though they're near, while leisurely eating her meal.* It only makes her think that she must check up on others soon, especially those she hasn't spoken to since the rifts. ]

[ *ooc note: Claire is able to determine someone's location to her within about 120 yards. (Think the length of an American football field), so if you want her to be surprised because she was literally just thinking you were on your way, lmk in the subject! ]

𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑑

[ If none of these work, please feel free to whip up a starter! We can plot on discord @ lifewasawillow or PM. My plotting comment from the last CR meme can be found here. If I owe you a starter and I haven't poked you, please poke me! ]

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[ Claire looks somewhat dubious, but she also trusts what he's saying. ]

I suppose the way to any creature's heart is through its stomach. So be sure to give me a good handful of snacks and hopefully I'll still have a hand after feeding.

[ Now she's teasing, and as their ordered selections arrive, she thinks about the animals of Earth. ]

We don't have anything like the animals I've seen other than your standard farm animals, boars, and such. A long time ago we had dinosaurs, millions and millions of years before my lifetime. They were giants, some gentle, some predators. I went with my uncle once to a country where they'd unearthed the largest fossils they'd ever found. We're talking about an animal over forty feet long and fifteen feet high, with teeth that could crush a building.

[ She looks excited as hell about that, Claire loves dinosaurs and went to more than one dig site in her life, though her uncle was more interested in ancient artifacts. ]

I'll show you sometime, in the horizon.

Claire has been in too many situations she tried to fight, tried to change, tried to force to her liking. It never worked, it made things worse, and keeping track of lies was so exhausting. What she's leaned into here is not letting herself fight a battle she won't win alone. They'll have to work together, between factions, and it's slow going. As long as it takes, she'll be part of the effort to leave, whatever she can do to help.

That doesn't mean she can't enjoy herself in the meantime. As he speaks of home and the people he misses her smile brightens, though if he's looking at her face, he might see a flicker of distate cross her features at the name Dhugal, which to her is a name she'd rather never hear again if she can help it. Still, it's no fault of the young man's and so her smile is present again within seconds.

"A lot of this can be...overwhelming, to say the absolute least. I don't blame you for being in your head about things. Just as long as you come out every so often and let someone in on what you're thinking, hmm?" Her smile warms into something motherly, before she takes a few bites as he asks her who she misses.

"I know Jamie would be capable here, and seeing my husband again would be a breath of fresh air. We were separated for twenty years before being reunited again for less than two years before I arrived here. We've hardly made up for lost time, but he would get on here just fine. Better, I suspect than even his homeland, for all the laws banning his way of life." Maybe less so now that some of the restrictions are loosening, but too little, too late. An entire way of life has been lost, and Jamie still wouldn't be allowed to wear his tartan. Here, he could be everything he'd ever wanted to be, including, possibly, a leader. But that's a pipe dream, she knows by now.

"I do have someone here I care for in Thorne, Lord John Gray. He knows me a fair bit better than I know him because he's from so far in my future, but we've become quite close." There's no one else she'd wish to see, even as badly as she misses all of the kids, she would never want them here.

I don't enjoy playing political games. I spent a year or so of my life with Jamie trying to sabotage a war effort. It took its toll on both of us.

[ Her voice has the barest hint of a waver in it, but she continues on after a sip of tea, voice even again. ]

And after my stint here, I suspect there's more to look forward to because of our situation, so in the meantime, I would really love to stay out of it here. History, on the other hand, is fair game. I do like learning about the bones of a place. Any interest in history?

Sometimes.

( it definitely wasn't his strongest subject and not something he actively sought out back home but this place is different. )

When it comes to this place, I do have an interest since this place shouldn't exist and be bale to do what it does with all of us. I'd definitely like to know a little more of how this place came to be.

I can definitely do that. We'll make sure there's a veritable feast for wyverns in there when you stop by, and they'll appreciate that, too.

[ That's said with a chuckle to match, though he'll leave any (intended or otherwise) mischief in there for later and put it to rest now. Their orders appearing takes far more precedence, and so does the explanation she gives him.

So much so that as he listens, Claude forgets all about wyverns for a moment over what Claire describes. There's the obvious comparison to Demonic Beasts when it comes to size - at least probably so, but bringing them up again isn't on his to-do list. Not when that enthusiasm's quite catching. ]

Gods. That sounds like the sort of things I've only read about in books, or seen around the edges of the desert by Cadens. At least when it comes to predators, that is, since there's some nasty creatures lurking around from which I've been mostly fortunate to keep some distance. I'll absolutely take a Horizon visit for them, though. [ A beat, since it is the Horizon, and so logic only dictates - ] Are you thinking about creating one of those dinosaurs there?

[ Pulling a hearty laugh out of her, Claire claps her hands together quietly, in an amused gesture. ]

You're right, I do. There's a saying that includes children keeping you young, so I think that's proving to be true.

[ She would never claim to have been mother of the year at any point of Bree's life. First she was consumed by grief, trying to grapple with what she thought was Jamie's death while carrying their child. Then, after Bree was born, watching her prefer Frank while Claire took time to follow her dream, was too much. She hated that it wasn't Jamie, but it should have pushed her to do more with Brianna when she could. Instead, she threw herself into becoming the best doctor, the best surgeon, and the chasm between them only grew. She was always just out of reach from her daughter, though Claire's love for her has always been infinite and unconditional. She was no Al Munson, but Carol Brady, she was not.

Still, like Eddie, there's no point in bringing it up and dragging them down. She's dealt with these feelings long enough that they pass in a blink by now. ]

Unless you count the goats, I think you can definitely take the title. If you really did feel up to it, we could put together a one-man concert. It might wind up sound like heavy rock from ye olden days, but I bet it would be popular.

Young-ish, I suppose. In a manner of speaking. Only a few hundred years at the time when I started out!

[ He appreciates Claire's sentiment, but he's also quick to pivot away from mention of his own Jamie. As it is with friends he's lost. ]

They were brave, though, all of them. They always are. So you're a traveler and a time traveler, and your Jamie sent you off back through your portal at the Battle of Culloden. You were separated? For how long?

I know it's impolite to ask, but what the hell: how old are you, generally?

[ If he was young at only a few hundred years, and he looks young to her now, then how old is he? She doesn't need an exact number, but she's curious if he's out of the hundreds yet. ]

As for the forced separation, it was twenty years. That must be a blink of an eye to you. In any case, we were finally reunited for a little over a year, and now, well. Here I am.

[ For as much as she's come to terms with being in Abraxas, she says that a bit sourly. She would not rather be here than with Jamie, and she finds it rather rude to be parted from him again. ]

Are you separated from anyone you care for?

Nothing of the sort with me! Never a worry, ask away. I'm nearly...oh, about a thousandish these days, give or take a stray week or two.

[ Really. He does lose track. Easy enough sometimes, can you blame him? ]

A blink of an eye from a certain perspective. Twenty years is a long breath for me, but for you, missing your husband, it must have felt a thousand years. Only to be separated again — I am sorry, Claire.

[ Her question, though, he nearly ignores. From anyone? Oh, countless. Far too many to name. So he goes with the easiest thing — ]

My TARDIS, I miss her terribly. She has numerous safety protocols in place, she's alright out there, but it's always been us.

Oh, absolutely; what sort of power is it that manages to pull us all across time and space to one spot? I'm not sure what I think or believe, but perhaps it's some lab out there in space, and we're an experiment.

[ She's been here too long, thinking things like that. ]

What a sentence that is.

[ Her eyes pop just a little; he's the oldest person she's met by far, and not even by a little. She doesn't quite know how to follow that up; he's an alien (to her) over two thousand years old. She has no idea what the next question should be, so she's stalled and then they've moved on, which turns her look of surprise into one of soft thanks. ]

It was difficult, in ways that were...[ Inhaling, she closes her eyes for a moment, briefly remembering the pain and the hurt, the grief that threatened to swallow her whole. Then it's gone, and she squeezes his arm for a brief second before finishing her thought. ]...well, I survived it, and I'll survive this. At least now I know he's waiting for me without worry.

[ She's glad to move on to a different topic, and he seems to adore his ship, so: ]

Your ship isn't just that, you're without your freedom, and I'm guessing that isn't a position you find yourself in often?

Yeah, that's...something I don't think any of us ever thought we'd say.

( he says wryly. he doesn't really know what he believes but a lab in space is as good an explanation as any. )

The thought of being someone's experiment kind of gives me the creeps but it makes an unfortunate amount of sense too.

[ Claire laughs as she tries to imagine accidentally creating a living, man-eating machine, even where nothing is real, and she shakes her head with amusement. ]

Can you imagine? I would be responsible for too much havoc. No, I was thinking more along the lines of the full-size skeleton. Although...perhaps in the Horizon a tame one could be thought up? I've only ever recreated my gelding so I can ride now and again.

[ But a wedding present is easy to recreate, she knows exactly what her horse looked like. A dinosaur could be some sort of horror show. ]

I honestly didn't really give it much thought until now. Rather feels like I'm caught in a snow globe though, someone watching from somewhere else.

[ That's unnerving, but now she'll be thinking about it and most definitely asking others their opinions. ]

Although, who knows? Perhaps we can say that of any world.

We might need to stop talking about this or I'm going to get a complex no matter where I am.

( and he already has enough complexes. he laughs though because it's a moot point, not something they can really do anything about it right now. )

I would say being blind means I don't feel people staring at me like I'm in a snow globe but I think I might feel it more. Get that creeping niggling up the back of my neck.

I think that's more like bringing you up to the rest of the chaos happening in there.

[ With yet another grin since he contains laughter this time around, and while he's not responsible for any of the chaos - yet - he's heard some stories about what others have done. The bones being created makes far more sense, but Claude's still going to run with it. Just because. ]

Were they common in your world? The dinosaurs I mean, if only because if you're from the same one as anyone else maybe they could help? I created the younger version of my wyvern in the Horizon on my first trip in, but Hilda and I worked together on the others in the aerie and it was a little easier. Maybe there could be a variety of dinosaurs that way.

[ Totally not at all for his own curiosity. Definitely not. ]

[ That gets another laugh out of her, and hell, maybe for the sheer fun of it she could grab a few others from Earth and make 'living' versions that she can make go away as quickly as they came. ]

That's not a bad idea; they died out so long ago no one knows what they looked like—[ She pauses mid-thought. ] Have you met a man called the Doctor? He's a time traveler, it might be he knows what they look like and could help. It can't hurt to ask, anyway. I wouldn't doubt it if there were dragons once, to be honest. It isn't all that far-fetched, and I always thought it would be supremely fantastic.

[ She always did love and feel sorry for the dragons in fairytales, slayed for no reason other than being bound to a human they didn't ask for. ]

Not often, no, but we'll find our way back to each other. We always do. Like you and your Jamie, from the sound of it.

[ His voice is hopeful, a gentle smile on his face in return. ]

[ A smile matches the Doctor's, small and still hopeful. She's been reunited with Jamie once, she doesn't doubt she will be again. ]

I suspect your friends consider themselves quite lucky to travel with you, and you think completely the opposite.

Oh, yes, I've met him. It was an interesting conversation, to say the least.

[ Said fondly because that interest was genuine and now that Claude's thinking about it: with someone able to visit the stars, time traveling fits right into that picture, too. That conversation was nothing less than fascinating to him, and it's possibly a sign of how many things he's come across in Abraxas that this information doesn't get more than that plus a nod of agreement. ]

Sounds like we - [ because he's fully volunteering to help (or more like "help") - ] should start with him for the scientific aspect of it and what to look for. That or maybe he knows some books with pictures for comparison since I've seen some of the same in Cadens' libraries for animals and whatnot here. Though if we're getting into the possibilities of what might've existed in your world once upon a time, it might not hurt to add pegasi to that. They're up there with wyverns in flying mounts in Fodlan, though I might have to defer to Sylvain on those since he knew- knows someone with one.

[ Probably, Claude realizes; just because he's thinking of Ingrid as he knew her from across a battlefield doesn't mean that's true for Sylvain. Maybe he and Hilda can work on that one otherwise, too. ]

[ There have to be others she can ask too if needed; perhaps in this the more the merrier, and beyond a very rough idea, she wouldn't know what was strictly correct or not. It sounds fun, and now she's certainly penciling that in for a project somewhere down the line. Claude's comment about the Doctor does make her chuckle, but she's chatted with the man a few times and while deeply kind, he's certainly an interesting character. ]

I'm sure there are books about some sort of ancient Earth beasts around here somewhere, there seems to be a bit of everything else. But pegasi, yes, those were big in myths, never actually proven to be real.

[ She knows one! She thinks, unless he wasn't using the plural formation. In which case, she's dead wrong. ]

Kelson caught his breath, pausing in mid bite to look up at her, shocked by the circumstances that had forced her apart from Jamie. He put the food down to regard her more fully, take in all the details. "Twenty years? You were separated for twenty years." He repeated, because that was horrid. He could guess as to what any of the circumstances causing such could be, of course, he'd be wrong about all of them.

He got a little grumpy too. "In the past Gwynedd had similar laws, banning an entire way of life. An entire people. I cannot say it ends well, and I am still trying to repair the damage. I do hope that his homeland is capable of one day doing the same. There is so much that has been lost, so much irrecoverable." He was still going to try though. Hopefully it wasn't going to get him killed.

"I have met John, he seems quite a nice fellow. It must be difficult to be so far away from him as well, to have someone you know just out of reach."

"If you can believe it, John is my third husband, but with him so far in my future, that was certainly a shock. We do our best with my getting to know him. He's a patient man, and he makes a wonderful friend if you'd like another."

Her life, if Will can stand to know a bit more, is complicated. If she'd arrived with her things he would have seen two wedding rings, one on each hand. Soon she'll have a third, so it's a good thing on Abraxas, both hands are free.

"One day, laws will change and what was outlawed will be repealed, but the damage is done, and a generation was raised without any tradition. I'm glad you're fighting for it back home. It isn't easy."

If not, the Horizon surely will. Have you been to Istredd's book tower? He's a mage who was summoned here over in Thorne and he's created a library that's... whatever a stronger word than enviable is.

[ Probably a good resource, though in the same breath he wonders if Istredd might also have just his own books on pegasi if they exist in his world. Something to ponder later since the mention of them being a myth to Claire has his expression brightening again with a short laugh. ]

You know, I heard that about wyverns from everyone I mentioned them to upon first arriving and I think they were plenty skeptical. I've learned there's wyverns around the Free Cities since then though I think they're considerably less friendly than the ones I'm used to. The pegasi around the monastery for flying lessons were nice enough though still not my favorites. But if we're going all out here - then we can bring those to show you, too. Might be a decent trade for the dinosaurs, right?

I have been; on top of Istredd being a wonderful mind, his library is in excess of enviable, I agree.

[ It's fantastic, and she's a little disappointed that she spent so long, based on a single experience, believing there were no books with substance available. She's never been so glad to be so deeply wrong.

Claude's laugh triggers a grin from Claire in return. ]

I'd say we've worked something out then. This is turning into quite the demonstration, we might as well invite all our friends, too. That way everyone can witness the absolute madness of ancient and mythical beings. I'm beginning to very much enjoy the imagery of it all.

[ And the relative safety of simply making it all go away if things tilt into 'too far' territory. ]

We seem to come up with incredible ideas when we're together. Speaking of which—[ She makes to grab the large bag at her feet that she'll give over as well, to present the plants for Hilda. ]—are you ready to see what I've managed?

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Page 6 of 7

Some days I look in mirrors

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my slowness, please forgive me! I adore this thread so much

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Sorry! <3 Will is eating Kelson's muse so bad

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sorry for the delay, the holidays have me behind!!

the holidays do be like that!