abraxaslogs | open | excuse my ego, can't go incognito

[ annabeth has known gods were real for nearly her whole life. she probably shouldn't have known so young, but it's not like she can do anything about it now. she's less inclined to be forgiving of herself as a god, mostly because she is less forgiving of gods. and she knows - despite all the differences - the patron of the craft hadn't grown from nothing. it's not so reassuring to think about never getting a handle on her fatal flaw. ]

[ but she thinks about cassian as a god and the cassian before her, and finds it easier to make the distinction between them as entities, even if she doesn't want to create total separation, for selfish reasons. he's more guarded here, like he was when they first met in the library. she can recognize it again now, the way he's always on edge and ready to go - but he stays anyway, and she wonders if that counts for something. ]

[ she smiles at the droid, once again charmed by the sense of awe she gets from bee. ] I'll probably try brick too, at some point.

[ but when cassian speaks, she looks upward, squinting a little, before standing up again in one swift, easy motion. ] I made up the specifics of the house, but it could be from my world. We have cabins like this. The plantlife, too.

Edited 2024-05-29 02:51 (UTC)

By choice? I know clans, as a concept, can be... territorial.

[ that sounds diplomatic enough. annabeth has certainly run into her fair share of exclusive, closed off clans in her questing ventures, and the way merrin speaks of her own and her planet gives her that impression. it's not like she was allowed to leave camp half-blood for several years herself. ]

I never left Earth till I got here. But it's not really easy for most people back home. [ she pauses. ] I think in any kind of universe, there's always going to feel like an endless list of things to see. I'm not sure I'll even get to see everything just on my planet.

[ she looks briefly out at this strange sea and thinks of the atlantic. maybe the pacific too, but she has her preferences. she thinks of percy somewhere out there swimming, and it almost feels like if she turned around, the cabins would be within walking distance. ] I like to think so, though I'm definitely biased. I'm glad the storms are gone. Makes coming here easier.

[ never mind all the supernatural weirdness. she is mostly just ignoring that part. ]

[ part of her hadn't been expecting a real answer, but when it comes, she automatically tunes in to listen. she's fairly attentive despite the noise around her, only getting distracted once or twice, but she manages to take in everything he says regardless, nodding along once in a while. ]

Yeah. I can see that. Plays can tell us so much about the cultures they come from, regardless of how... good they are. Even just having the written plays from another time is valuable.

[ she wants to say their genre preferences kind of make sense to the species, but she's not sure if that's, like, offensive? not to mention she's still learning about how the residents of nocwich even function. ]

What other means do you prefer then?

Agreed.

[As hardly a dramatist - the flair for it just came naturally from both parents - Alucard knows he can't offer more insightful commentary. He's content enough to abandon the subject, focusing on a much easier question.]

Situations like the Square for one. Culinary arts would be another, I find it more revealing than many give it credit for. What other culture would think to make blood wine other than a vampiric one? [He's aware that the bloodwine is a little bit of an alienating topic for some individuals, but it is a very good example.] It is a far better introduction than the one we initially received when this place first opened. The people of Ikorr were overly formal and elaborated little on what they presented, going so far as to have art with no titles beside them on display. Luna was much more welcoming.

[ the harshness in her expression at being interrupted dampens once she hears and sees it's heather, becoming something a little apologetic. annabeth gets in the zone and gets annoyed when it's disrupted. some things never change, and maybe it even comforts her a little when she realizes. ]

Sorry. [ she hurries it out quick, genuine but no less eager to get it over with. ] Hi. Um. Welcome, I guess.

[ she liked heather well enough before the collective hallucination, but she knows they got closer during it, and maybe it's a little hard to shake. and it's not like she knows how to... welcome people into her domain, not when she sort of wishes she didn't have to. at least it's the athena cabin. ]

[ but it's also the first time she's seen heather since they've been back, and she's still in the midst of grappling with who she was for a few fake centuries, so there's a little underlying awkwardness even as she stands up tall and pretends otherwise. ]

[ annabeth's mind is swimming roughly 75% of the time on the regular, but it's been kind of on overdrive since the singularity spit them all back out and she arrived back in thorne, with very little to do but think. most of the time she's okay with that. lately, sometimes, she would rather not. it's a good thing she's pissed off at her mother. but considering how closely she'd come to resemble her mother, it's like a cycle of agitation. ]

[ she's traipsing across the castle grounds roughly a week after returning to thorne, passing by some of the late morning sessions, when she spies wilhelm. she pauses, but he looks like he's either finished or between trainings, so she makes a bit of a beeline in his direction without giving herself time to really overthink it. ]

Hey. [ it does not sound like a proper greeting so much as a call for attention. there's a difference! she moves closer to where he's sitting and crosses her arms. she's come out of the illusion with a streak of gray through her hair, but otherwise she looks the same as before it. ] Is that bike offer still on the table?

[ should she probably ask how he's been? yes. is she going to? no. she saw him and thought of the bikes and decided why the fuck not? it's a good a time as any, and she could use distractions. ]

Edited 2024-06-01 20:10 (UTC)

It's kind of cosy.

( in a good way. and it was interesting to see what kind of things were important to each person, at least that was what heather assumed the horizons were. her beach had some meaning to her and she guessed that this meant that annabeth was a camp kid. or lived in a cabin back home. undecided )

Can I sit down?

( she doesn't want to intrude too much, having just wanted to check in on how the girl was after... the whole thing )

[ she should probably be weirded out by the concept of bloodwine, but mostly it does strike her as a very good example of what they're talking about, and she spends a moment thinking on it. it's definitely gross as far as she's concerned, but it checks out when she puts it against vampires. ]

Food and drink make sense. Like, so many cultures have bread and alcohol, but looking at how they make them and the variances can tell you a lot.

[ she hums. ] I guess the introductions can be telling too. How long as this place been opened for the Summoned to visit?

[ her face flickers with a smile at the compliment, despite herself. annabeth loves this cabin, despite everything. just wait till you find out how much of a camp kid she is, heather. ]

[ she gestures at the chair she's just created and pulled out into the middle of the room. it's not going to stay there, but she's still planning the layout. ]

Go for it. Sorry it's not much. We don't usually get guests or visitors in here, so I'm kind of in the middle of trying to... redecorate it. [ she needs to create a space for people to hang out instead of just nerd out, apparently. ]

Edited 2024-06-01 15:48 (UTC)

Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing with my space.

( she'd made it cosy enough for her but it had been the quickest idea of the things she'd needed in that moment and she hasn't decorated since )

So if you figure that out you should let me know. It's... empty, though that part works for me.

( if her beach was cluttered it wouldn't be functional. or maybe her mind just wouldn't be able to settle.

she does take the seat, turning it a little more so she can better face annabeth )

I just came to see how you were.

Precisely so. The other one I've found interesting is what cultures will put into sausage or other means of eating ground meat. It speaks to thrift, as well as a spice pallet. A noble is less likely to eat a blood sausage or head cheese, but during the winter months, it may be what gets a farming family by.

[There's a small shrug before Alucard moves on. He's accustomed to both of the listed dishes and has found blood sausage to be perfectly delicious with the right herbs and spices added. If it is a simple preference or weird underlying vampire genetics? He's decided not to question it.]

About a year and a half now, including the three month closure. Prior to it, there was no means for us to meet in person across the various territories.

There's still a lot I want to do with mine. [ she is completely enamored by the potential of the horizon, even if it makes her wary after the whole false reality bit. ]

[ she hovers awkwardly for a second, before sitting down in another chair. she makes a face, because it's not very comfortable - she'll have to work on that too. ] You can do anything you want. I'm not sure I can decide what to fill your space with for you.

[ ah. annabeth sort of falters for a moment, mostly because there is maybe something unfamiliar about an adult like heather asking after her. she's not sure chiron's concern for her well-being is the same thing. but she supposes it makes sense, given how close the two of them had gotten, fake or otherwise. ]

I'm okay. I'm just glad to be back and out of there. What about you?

Edited 2024-06-01 20:09 (UTC)

( you know she hadn't actually expected for the question to be asked in return. so it makes her pause, a little surprise on her before she figures something out )

It's a lot to process. I wish I didn't remember all of it.

( maybe that was a blessing. maybe it was a curse. but having certain memories of certain people was strange to reconcile )

But I'm focusing on trying to get around magic again, especially since I apparently can learn it. ( that's one thing she was taking from that future )

Jesus Christ.

[ It’s pretty clear that Eddie hasn’t run into a whole lot of closed doors in the Horizon. He’s been in Abraxas for two years, and he’s meandered his way through new and old domains with minimal resistance. But he gets it—even if the edges of domains are blurred and hazy, this is still her place. So he rolls his eyes, takes a step backward, and knocks “shave and a haircut” on the wood of the open door. ]

There. Better? All forgiven?

[ Of course it is! He grins and doesn’t even wait for Annabeth’s response before he steps back inside. He lets his gaze sweep over the beds and trunks and tables, and he doesn’t know what’s with these kids and their summer camp thing but hey, what does he know? He’s never been to summer camp in his life. Maybe it’s a truly religious experience. It doesn’t matter anyway, because he doesn't dwell on those things. He's all about that collection of nerd shit--the books, the armor, the maps. When he takes that in, his grin only widens. ]

You know, maybe it was the whole owl thing, but I thought I smelled a nerd.

[ she pauses. ] I've never thought about it with sausage. But you make a good point. Social status and wealth definitely play a part in food variety too.

[ annabeth had arrived when this place was closed, so the experience of suddenly no longer having the option isn't there for her, but she can imagine the frustration it would have caused. it helps a little that she's still very much getting to know this world and the people scattered across it, made even more challenging by getting thrown into a fake reality so quickly after arriving. ]

[ she's still curious though. ] I'm from a world where transportation is a little easier and faster to come by, so being so cut off is strange. Which territory are you from then?

[ annabeth is all about the deflection - though it was very much a genuine question towards heather too. ]

It's weird to remember as much as I do, especially when it was never real in the first place.

[ and the things she forgot while in the throes of illusion - sometimes she thinks she hates that part more. ]

Me too. I've been trying to practice some of the simpler spells. I managed to light a candle the other day. [ and she does sound a little pleased with herself for that. ]

[ there is a lot for annabeth to still learn about horizon rules, and she might have bypassed that in favor of immediately getting creative with her own. perhaps that backfired a bit, but at least she's really getting the immersive experience as people meander in without warning. ]

[ she wrinkles her nose when he belatedly knocks, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes. but he did grant her the knock, albeit in the most sarcastic way possible, and the snark of it almost feels like something she might do, so she'll let it slide. he steps inside immediately after and she tries not to grimace, because that was the whole point of setting up the athena cabin this way - the starting point. she's literally here redecorating to create a space for people to just burst in. ]

[ except when he drops the nerd word, she physically cannot restrain it, and her eyes finally roll. ] Because no one's ever called me a nerd before. The owl is a symbol of Athena.

Do I know you?

I suppose it isn't a necessity in your sphere the same way it is for the residents of the obști back home. [What is the modern need for sausage in the 21st century? Alucard's not considered the long arc, even though he's the one that brought up the topic.]

I reside in the Free Cities, although I was among the batch that Thorne first summoned. Back then, they were the only territory doing it, and they put about half of us in their dungeons for reasons I've still not quite figured out. Where is it that you have landed?

My mothers chose it, yes, for themselves and for us. Outsiders were not only unwelcome, but rejected, punished. It was to protect us, but it did not, in the end.

[ It is, however, a pleasant conversation with Annabeth and though Merrin has little to hide about her life and sometimes (or often) might lack or even disregard social etiquette that says 'don't dump your sad past on someone you just met,' she does have the sense and preference to keep this lighthearted and not heavy, at least on her end. She never minds hearing anything that someone might wish to tell of their own life, though. ]

I do not care to protect myself, it is why I enjoyed exploring the galaxy when I had the ability to. I want to know it — its beauty and pain — and the people in it. Though we are all of us...stuck now, here. Together, at least.

[ The tranquility of the water is captivating and she finds it easy for her own gaze to linger on the gently lapping waves, the way the light from the ocean seems to bend a bit on the horizon. Maybe she will attempt drawing, if only to try and capture this in all its glory. A gentle glance back to Annabeth for a moment, though — ]

You do not find yourself troubled, after recent events? You need not speak of it, we do not know each other, but you can if you wish to be heard.

I just don't really eat a lot of sausage. It's not like it doesn't exist - I mean, it's pretty big for the pizza industry.

[ she prefers mixing it with olives on her pizza, though the olives are the bigger pull. ]

[ but her expression shifts with some recognition and definitely interest. it draws her attention far more than sausages. ]

I'm in Thorne, though I haven't been here very long. Someone was telling me about that - how they almost executed some of the first Summoned and shoved a bunch in the dungeons, but they were able to escape. So you're someone who's been here from the very start?

Uh, probably not, but after what happened a few months back, I hesitate to say for sure.

[ He beams (with all of his teeth, including his new Horizon-assigned vampire fangs) like it doesn’t really matter—because in the long run, does it really? He imagines they all knew one another in the span of those eight hundred years, and while none of I was actually real and he may not remember every single one of them in the real world, it’s hard to consider anyone a true stranger now. ]

It’s not an insult, you know. In fact, I’d call it the highest of compliments.

[ Whether Annabeth likes it or not, Eddie does use the cabin as it’s meant to be used. He bursts in and immediately weaves his way over to her collection of nerd stuff. He doesn’t touch. In fact, he keeps his hands woven behind his back, but he does admire maybe a little too close for comfort. But hey, nerd shit attracts nerds. ]

Are you just an admirer or is the armor yours?

[It is, perhaps, best to leave sausage aside for now and focus on the real questions, to which Alucard nods in confirmation.]

I am, yes. There's very few of us left, and many of those who were chucked into the dungeons left for the Free Cities or Solvunn the first chance we were offered. Out all of the territories, I believe Thorne has continued to merit the most disdain due to the relative lack of freedom it offers in comparison to the other two.

[ she thinks immediately of what she's heard of the amazons - there are definite differences, of course, even glaring ones, but they were certainly full of territorial hostilities. honestly, annabeth herself can be and has been territorial over her friends - but she's one person, not a clan. ]

Sometimes the old ways... need a little changing after a while. But I don't blame you for leaving and wanting to see more of the universe. [ that much she certainly understands. she was so desperate for a way out of camp for so long - it's funny how now she just wants to be able to stay at home for a little while. ]

[ she startles at the question, though the only sign of it is the way her eyes snap over to merrin sharply. it's a kind offer, and maybe a strange one for someone like annabeth. ]

I'd be more surprised if someone wasn't at least a little bit troubled. [ she pauses, trying to consider how she might want to steer the conversation. ] I wasn't here very long before the Singularity sucked us all in, so mostly there's just double weirdness to figure out.

Gods, it's really hard to tell, isn't it? [ annabeth feels like she barely got a handle on some of the people in thorne, and now there's even more faces and people she crossed paths with in some made up capacity - maybe she has actually met more people than she can possibly remember. ]

[ nerd has definitely become something more affectionate when her friends use it, but he definitely doesn't sound insulting either. just... weird. vampire teeth included. she's glad all she got from the horizon was the return of a streak of grey through her hair. ]

Are you a nerd then? Starting to feel like it takes one to know one. [ she's not blind to his fascination with all the stuff inside. when non-athena kids come in, they don't usually take as close a look around. ]

Some of the armor is mine. [ she shrugs. but considering the way he barely resisted reaching for it, she decides she can make a nice offer. besides, it's not like it's the real armor from home - but she did make it as realistic as possible! ] You can touch it. It might be heavy.

Edited 2024-06-03 23:24 (UTC)

[ sausage begone. it's already out of her head. ]

[ she wrinkles her nose a bit. ] I've been getting that impression. Like, we get free beds and free access to lots of learning - but there are a lot of expectations and curfews.

[ annabeth is aware she has perhaps never sounded more her age than in this moment of disdain over curfews. in some ways it's been nice to not have to worry about lodgings or food - but it definitely comes at a cost, the more she hears about the other territories. ]

I guess the "Free" part of Free Cities isn't an exaggeration? Did you choose it, or just end up there when you fled Thorne?

open | excuse my ego, can't go incognito

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CASTLE THORNE | CLOSED Ω WILHELM

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