(no subject)

[souille]

WHO: Abigail and OPEN
WHAT: Having learned she won't be thrown in jail again, Abigail heads back to Thorne
WHEN: October
WHERE: Nott, Thorne, the Horizon
WARNINGS: None inherent, will edit as needed


I. Nott - Open

It had taken Abigail a while to get used to the little nooks and alleys that made up the slums of Nott. Now, though, she knows the shortest routes between her lodgings and the inns and taverns where she spends most of her time trying to win at cards to scrape up the coins for food, as well as the more obscure routes that she takes on the occasions when one of her marks has gotten angry and tried to take their money back by force if necessary. She's always on the move, paranoid about staying in one place too long, though she can generally be spotted all over the city - at the many inns trying to earn her keep, on the roof of a building hurriedly eating the food she's managed to swipe from a passing cart, at the docks swinging her feet over the harbour wall and watching the boats coming and going. Whenever she sees someone who looks familiar from Thorne she instinctively looks nervous, even when its those who've shown her kindness in the past, though she'll ultimately offer them a polite smile and ask how they're getting on.


II. Nott - Closed to Kylo Ren

The more she thinks about it, the less sure she is about her choice. At first Abigail had thought anything would be better than trying to eke out a meagre living in Nott, but even though Kylo had assured her that she wouldn't be imprisoned if she were to return to Thorne, there's still something that doesn't sit right with her about willingly going back to the people who'd kidnapped her in the first place.

She arrives at the meeting place they'd agreed with nothing more to show for her month in Nott than the clothes on her back and a few coins in a pouch tied to her skirt, hands clasped together tightly with her nails digging into her palms as she waits for his arrival, hoping she wasn't putting herself into an even worse situation but trusting that he really did think this was the best option for all of the summoned.


III. Thorne - Open

Once she's settled in, Abigail heads straight for the dining hall. She'd been perpetually hungry since she'd left for Nott, having to reluctantly admit that for all the prison food was basic, at least it had filled her up. Now she takes advantage of what the castle provides, piling up delicacies on her plate and taking her time to enjoy them. After she's finished she pokes her head around the door to the library, her expression surprised and rather delighted at the amount of books it holds.


IV - Horizon - Open

Abigail's domain is a forest, though the trees, plants and animals don't seem to belong to one location in particular. Snow-capped pine trees give way to ancient oaks, and racoons and red squirrels mix in the treetops. The river that cuts its way through the forest floor is clear as glass, though if you tried to follow its path you'd end up completely lost, or perhaps right back where you started.

Here and there are signs of a road, a railway track, an office building, even a dilapidated funfair, all of which are rusted and moss-covered, long since reclaimed by the forest. In stark contrast is Abigail's cabin, which is pristine, emitting a homely feel as you approach with soft lamplight and the smell of roasting meat.

Abigail can be found all over the place - lazing in the cabin, riding the rusty ferris wheel which somehow still works, hiking or hunting in the forest, skating on a frozen patch of the river. And sometimes when you're alone, you may feel something watching you, see a dark shadow moving through the trees.


[ OOC: Prose and brackets are both fine! Hit me up at viridianwings if you'd like a custom prompt for your character. ]

Comments

thorne

[neverlight]

The library loses some of its lustre when you've been here long enough, had enough chances to peruse the shelves. That doesn't make it a bad place to be — you wind up in a world nothing like your own, brushing up with some reading tends to be a good idea — but it starts to pale in comparison to everything else there is to do. Witness living history in the form of the castle's native residents and how they approach things; practise magic instead of just read about it.

But if you're new, then yeah, it makes a lot of sense to end up in the library. It had been — still sometimes is — a point of interest for Brad, after all. And he's never seen Abigail before — never went down to the dungeons all that often, and there were far more interesting goings-on when everyone was in the middle of escaping — so he'd guess that she's new.

And that she's seen better days, judging by how small she looks. Hopefully those better days are right around the corner, considering she's somewhere with resources now. But the spark of interest at the books — that's good to see.

Brad turns back to the shelf he'd been looking at before he'd heard the door open; thinks better of it and heads over to her instead, hand raised in greeting, a little wave. "Hey," he says, his voice surprisingly warm for him. "Been up here before?"

Her initial expression would suggest that the answer is no, but it's an easy enough way to get confirmation. If she has been, though, then maybe she's got some reading recommendations of her own. It never hurts to consider what other people might like and what you can learn from them.

[souille]

Abigail raises her hand from where she'd been tracing a finger down the leatherbound spine of a volume that's caught her interest to return his wave. The nerves she feels at being back at Castle Thorne are still evident in her expression, but for once there's a spark in her eye too at the idea of getting lost in the library.

"First time," she confirms. "Last time I was here, they weren't so hospitable."

[neverlight]

The pieces fall into place pretty quickly: now that's two young women he's aware Thorne had felt fit to throw in prison, for whatever their reasons were. That's not great, though he doesn't betray the sentiment externally, choosing to go with sarcasm so as to avoid expressing anything genuine.

"And yet they are now," Brad says, just a but of judgment at upper management's choices seeping through his words. "I guess when a bunch of people run out on you, it makes you reconsider your earlier actions."

But that's neither here nor there. (That's not true; he knows you don't get over things just like that. However shitty Abigail's situation might've been before, it takes guts to return to a place like this if you weren't exactly welcomed before.) Now, she's got free reign of the library, and that spark in her eye is encouraging.

"Name's Brad," he says, offering her a slight smile, as though he's dealing with someone who's going to resort to fight or flight and would prefer to avoid both. He nods at the book that had caught her attention, "What's that one about?"

[souille]

"Abigail," she replies with a friendly nod. "And you got that right. I feel like they didn't really think any of this through." What to do with them after they'd summoned them here, at the very least. So many of them had been imprisoned without good cause and she knew others who would never return to help Thorne after that. Abigail only had herself because it was better than any of the alternatives.

She glances back at the book. "Just a general history of this world, I think. Makes sense to start with a broad picture."

[neverlight]

For as much as he tries to brush it off, Brad's aware of how lucky he was to end up properly welcomed. He could have handled the dungeons — or at least, he likes to think so — but there's no denying that their circumstances in the castle proper are far better, no matter how disjointed, how on edge people seem to be nowadays. So he nods. "Hell of an unforced error on their part," he says. Not I'm sure they had their reasons, even though they must have, but what possible reason could there have been to imprison people like Julie, like Abigail? Unless he's completely missing something, and he doesn't think he is.

Besides, it's not like you debate someone freshly out of prison, freshly out of another undesirable situation as to why they were really there. Wouldn't do anybody any good. And for as much as he wants to make sure his reputation as a sociopath is intact, Abigail doesn't deserve that.

He glances at the tome, back at Abigail; can't help but wonder how much of the world she actually saw before she ended up back here. Certainly not that much, considering the time frame, but more than he has — he hasn't ventured beyond the city here at all. There hasn't been a need.

"Yeah, that's about what I did. All the magic and fantasy makes a lot more sense when you have some idea of where it comes from," he says. A beat, while they're still poking at Thorne's treatment of strangers in a strange land. "Thorne's got a pretty high opinion of itself and its place in the world, if you can stand reading about that, too. But the information seems pretty accurate. You know, as long as you've got a grain of salt to go with it."

[souille]

She takes the tome off the shelf and tucks it under one arm, glad to have confirmation that this is a good call. "I just hope it's not all too dense. I'm still having to come to terms with magic and everything without having to wade through the dry and dusty version. I doubt there'll be a CliffNotes version, though."

[neverlight]

"Yeah, probably not," Brad agrees. "World history's a lot easier to learn when you actually know what world you're living in. At least it's not like there's going to be a test."

Other than, you know, life in general being the test; how well you can adapt to living in a place like this. Though Abigail seems adaptable enough, if she's survived all that she has here so far. Something else she says catches his attention, though.

"You're from somewhere without magic too?" he half-asks, half-states, head cocked in curiosity.