abraxaslogs | [OPEN] november/december catchall

[ Julia is very new to the Horizon, having only made her domain a day or two ago. It was fun, she had a great time, and she loves the space she's created, which looks like a nice treehouse of a kind. But it's only now she has stopped being skittish about traveling out and about, so she's walking around, looking at everything as she goes.

She's seen Aloy, having been to the Summoned party at her house, and also seen her around, but let's face it, the redhead can be a little intimidating. Or at least she is to Julia, who is a city girl and adapting slower than others to Solvunn's lifestyle. She loved her parkour set up at her house though and meant to ask to come back and try it, but it never seemed like the right time.

She glances up when she sees something flying and her mouth actually falls open, gaping at what appears to be a robot dinosaur. It's astonishing and honestly, super insanely badass. Julia may be new to the Horizon but she isn't new to thinking big so she pushes off the ground and flies into the air, having assumed as this place isn't real, you can do just about anything. ]

Aloy! [ She waves at her, hovering in the air, not as high as Aloy is flying, but not that far below. ] That is the coolest thing I've seen ... ever.

[By now, Aloy is accustomed to various Horizon shenanigans, to the point where she doesn't necessarily blink when someone flies up beside her. It's a little surprising, but not because she's taken aback by magic anymore--just that she's more inclined to land if someone expresses interest in her ride, rather than make them to the work.

Still, she's not exactly prepared for this kind of interruption.]

Hey--!

[She reins in the machine, trying to match Julia's speed (something of a feat when they're both in the air), seemingly unaccustomed to having to do something like this. Aloy is making the effort, which is what counts.]

Do you want a ride?

[ As Aloy and the robot dinosaur come closer, she moves forward to look at it, her hazel eyes amazed. She's only seen something like this in a dream or the type of thing a geek would draw that could only exist in their mind. Julia could have waved her down but this seems much easier, to take the questions to her. She seems to be hovering in the air like Superman, definitely the inspiration for the flying. ]

Julia.

[ She introduces herself again, regardless of whether Aloy needed that or not. There aren't a whole lot of Summoned to forget, but she is really new, and there was a good crowd of people at the welcome party. Her smile is bright and she claps her hands in delight. ]

Oh my god, can I? I'm obsessed. Does it have a name? What is it?

[ She's ridden horses but nothing like this before so she's not sure entirely how to do it, or what the comfort level is, so she waits for Aloy to direct her. She's easily moved and enthusiastic. ]

I can't believe you have a robot dinosaur pet.

Yeah, come on.

[The self-propelled flight looks to be fairly effortless, but she thinks Julia would accept the offer regardless, given her general enthusiasm. She scoots forward, up towards the neck of the machine, and gives Julia a little head motion, indicating that she can slot in behind her.

The last time she'd invited someone onto a Sunwing, they hadn't been nearly as enthused. The memory of it is enough for her to give a little huff of a laugh, making room. There's some configuration involved, and Aloy isn't necessarily the coziest person to sidle up against, but as they make the transfer she instructs Julia to lean forward and hold on to her waist.

It's a smooth ride, all things considered, and she takes extra care not to jostle them unnecessarily as they settle in. Aloy guides the Sunwing into a gentle bank, urging it forward.]

It's not a pet. Not really.

[Aloy has some affection for it, she supposes, but it doesn't have a name--she's never given them to the machines she overrides.]

This kind of machine is called a Sunwing.

[ Julia hops up behind her, having experience riding horses and the like, but this is ten times cooler than riding a horse. It feels so strange under her, being mechanical and everything, but also alive. Incredible. She was just flying so it shouldn't be a wonder to be high above the air, but once she settles behind Aloy and puts her hands on her waist, it feels like real flying. It's less hovering this way!

She leans to the side to look in wonder, still firmly holding on, smiling brightly the whole way. It's the kind of thing that seems like it should be right out of an awesome fantasy (sci-fi???) novel. ]

Sunwing. And you have these at home? I always dreamed of having a unicorn, but I think I might trade it in as a dream.

[ Unicorns are real, or theoretically they are real, she's just never seen one. They were always a thing from Fillory, so far away, and she wasn't there long enough to know for certain. Aloy's already seemed like such an impressive person, it shouldn't be surprising she has a badass mount on top of it. ]

Your world must be so wild. With all your cool survival knowledge and this.

[Aloy figures that if Julia had any issue with a flying mount, she wouldn't be so eager to hop on, so she doesn't hesitate when she urges the machine forward and brings them up a little higher. The Horizon is only a few square miles, so from up here she can see most of it, but it's a nice view, and a few laps around the perimeter is a good way to blow off steam.]

They're not usually friendly.

[So, maybe rethink that dream, but there's always this. Aloy's a bit hesitant to talk about the place she comes from--she knows, now, both from uncovering the truth of the Old Ones and from her time here that her current situation is exceptional, but she still doesn't find the circumstances of her world something to be admired. Not when so many died to birth it, and so many more might die if she's not able to make it home to set things right.]

It's certainly...interesting. Probably nothing like where you're from.

[A tacit invitation for Julia to, perhaps, talk a little about her own home.]

[ Julia loves the Horizon. She's still relatively new to it but she's explored what she can, and she tries not to just stomp into people's domains without asking, but if they're out in the open, she's probably wandered through. A psychic plane like this is extraordinary, it's too much opportunity for her natural curiosity. Looking down at it like this does make it seem smaller than she thought ... but also exceptional seeing so many different places lined up together. ]

We have our own wonders, that's true. I'm from a place called New York City, it's a humongous city. We don't have robots as sophisticated as this, but we do have a lot of technology. You can't go anywhere without being surrounded by people.

[ Which makes Solvunn a huge culture clash for her. Julia's struggled since she got here, but she's done her best to adapt. It's just so small and quiet and still, and stillness leaves a little too much for a mind to dwell. She doesn't need more time to dwell, so she's tried to fill her life up. But it'll never fulfill her like a three AM Japanese food run with Quentin would. ]

There's another world attached to mine called Fillory. It's more fantastical like dragons and gods and magic. The two worlds are usually a stark contrast to each other, but then I ended up here.

[ So she's not new to traveling worlds, but this is definitely different. ]

I'm from out West.

[She's only heard of New York City in datapoints, and she's sure if she'll ever make it out there--though if there's information that will help in the fight against Nemesis, she might end up there sooner or later. Aloy doesn't think it's a good idea to say to Julia that all she might find of it in her own world is ruins, but it's nice to think about what the great cities of the Old Ones might have been like, alive and full of people.

Solvunn is much more like her version of Earth than that of others, if one isn't counting the machines. She had to make other adjustments, ones it sounds like Julia didn't need to do.]

We have machines, but we don't have magic. It sounds like something you're already used to?

Like California west? Vegas?

[ Is there a Vegas with robot dinosaurs? Because that's a Vegas she could get behind. Although with Aloy's survival skills she has a suspicion it isn't the nicest of robot dinosaur worlds to be from. Someone who needed to live with parkour and traps has a good reason. She thinks the redhead is fascinating and getting this little bit more of detail is only making her moreso. ]

Yeah, I'm a witch, although they wouldn't call it here, I guess they say mage more? But it's the same thing, a natural magic user. I was born with it but I didn't know until I was older.

[ Julia doesn't know how much they've looked into magical genetics since she has no family members who have it, but she was always fated to end up in the position she did. No path outside of the one that was set in motion. If she ever did magic before, she wasn't aware of it; it's very probable that she and Q thought they were doing magic tricks but it was all real. ]

It's amazing that it's everywhere here though. I like the idea of everyone having access, you know? In my world's history, people were burned at the stake for being perceived as witches. Humans are kind of well-known for not liking the other.

[ But if everyone has magic, no one is an other, in that way at least. They do have vampires and werewolves and Fey here, and they all have their own thing, but magic is universal. She wishes her world could be like that. Maybe some day she'll make a world like that. ]

Okay so you're from the West, you guys had tech like this robot ... what's the year?

Like, uh. Colorado. But I've been to Vegas. And California, too.

[Though it's strange to call the places she knows by those names. If Julia has familiarity with them, on top of New York, then she can only assume she comes from a version of Earth that hasn't been razed and scoured of every living thing, then rebuilt from the ground up. She's told others, about her particular brand of apocalypse, but she always feels a little guilty doing so, even though she knows none of it was her fault.

Aloy would much rather hear about other worlds. She doesn't come from a place with magic either, but hasn't thought much about what this is like, for those who are familiar. What's clear is that there do seem to be a few constants, across most worlds--human conflict being one of them. For a moment, she seems reluctant to answer the question.]

I think...probably really far in your future, from what it sounds like.

[Not that it's Julia's future, necessarily--but Aloy is becoming accustomed to being a full thousand years ahead of everyone else from Earth.]

Or a future version of my world, I see. I've known about the multiverse for awhile, but it's hard not to think of it actively in this place.

[ They are mostly all from different worlds. Julia does generally think it's cool as a concept although bizarre and unwanted from a kidnapping point of view. But she can't help be pleased when learning about places, especially ones that include robot dinosaurs that can fly around. She finds Aloy fascinating just from experiencing that first meeting of the Summoned, and it's nice to have a reason to ask more questions. ]

Sorry if I'm peppering you with questions, one of the actual fun things about being here is learning about others, I think. If we're stuck here and everything, might as well.

[ Julia is still brand new and she's not fully adjusted yet. The Horizon she may have put her finger on quick, but she spent the first month or so really hating the situation from top to bottom. Now she's warming up to it, a little bit. Trying to see the occasional bright side. ]

Do you think you could show me your, like, parkour route some time? To your house? I noticed it when we all went there, and I wanted to try it out, but I'm not trained or anything.

Earth is pretty common.

[As in, many Summoned come from one version of it. Aloy has found it interesting, to learn about other worlds where her own home hasn't been decimated and reconstituted from literal scratch. It's nice to think about, in a way.]

I don't mind.

[The questions. Nothing's gotten too personal yet, but Julia will find that she pulls back accordingly, if there's something Aloy is hesitant to share. Thankfully, her treetop route to her compound is not one of those topics. She laughs a little.]

It takes some practice, but...I think you could get the hang of it. Just go slow.

If I ask too many, you can tell me to cool it. I get enthusiastic.

[ Her teachers always found that both a very endearing and annoying quality. Julia wants to learn, she's always loved school and reading, learning about the world, trying everything. She used to have a strong passion for life and big ideas for the future, before everything got mixed up. She and Aloy are only just getting to know each other so she'll pull back if she senses she's gotten too focused. ]

You think? [ She smiles, eager. ] Well you'd know. I'm tougher than I look, I'll have to give it a try once I see how you do it. That would be really cool, if you don't mind.

Sure, maybe...you can come over. Try it out.

[That's about as outright an invitation as Aloy gives. If Julia can find her way back, she'll make good on her promise to show her the ropes--both literally and figuratively.

For now, however, they've probably spent enough time in the air. Aloy urges the Sunwing into a gentle descent, looking back over her shoulder.]

You probably have other things you want to do, so--I'll see you out in the woods.

[OPEN] november/december catchall

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Sorry for the wait, stupid power outage :(

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Maybe we can wrap on this, but I love them!

to be continued