open | excuse my ego, can't go incognito

[sophos]

Who: annabeth chase + perhaps you!
When: post emergence event, mid may into mid june
Where: thorne, the horizon, nocwich
What: post event stuff & catch all
Warnings: none right now! will add if/as needed!



[ open & closed starters in the comments! feel free to reach out communism or romanitas @ disco for wildcard plotting/custom starters, or adjust the set up of a prompt as needed! ]

Comments

[sophos]

[ if she was being a little more mindful, if she wasn't giving in so wholly to her desire to be distracted from her own thoughts, annabeth might have noticed more clearly the way wilhelm watches the forest. casing her surroundings is an action she's all too familiar with herself. ]

[ she's doing it now - glancing out at the woods, listening and making sure nothing's about to jump out - but she's doing so with a little more carelessness in the sense that she's trying to focus more on the bike. she's not afraid of anything out here, even if there's always a chance she should be. ]

I'd ask what gets delivered here besides letters but I suppose it's still at the very least frowned upon if not illegal to go through mail.

[ her bike stumbles over a particularly big root and it throws the balance off, but she leans away from the tilt of it and manages to keep it upright. it does not seem to make her want to slow down. ]

I thought we didn't need to get jobs here.

[ordinar]

[Wilhelm can't spare too much time staring into the woods, checking the shadows for movement. There's the trail to contend with. It wasn't made with wheels in mind — that's what the road is supposed to be for. Stray rocks and roots, which are no matter for a horse to bound over without breaking stride, create an obstacle course for bikes. He has to swerve to avoid a ridge where a large flat rock pokes out of the worn earth.]

No, but it's nice to have the extra cash. Otherwise you're relying on the castle for everything. [Throwing his head back, flipping his hair with obvious facetiousness, he adds:] How else could I afford my luxurious lifestyle?

[But it's true he has little trouble finding things to spend his money on... He definitely doesn't miss being broke, back before he picked up the courier gig. Back when the crown was stingier with their coffers, and the only way he had to make a few coins was picking up odd jobs around town.]

[sophos]

[ luckily, the ability to focus on multiple things happening at once comes easily to her, and while it's not too crazy in the woods on this trail, she's able to keep note of the forest and the way forward fairly well. ]

[ annabeth lets out a short laugh at the luxurious lifestyle remark. ]

Oh, yeah, I'm sure delivering packages lets you roll in the money.

[ but still, it's probably not a bad job to have, if she ever decided to pick one up here. right now she is enjoying a lack of responsibility more than she probably should be, even though he's right about the idea of having to rely on the castle for too much. she doesn't think she wants to stay that way forever. ]

I haven't really had a job before, much less something more medieval. [ she's barely been around for school lately, how is she supposed to hold a job down?? ]

[ordinar]

[No, it's not a bad job to have at all. A few days a week, he spends his afternoon biking around until his messenger bag is depleted of letters and parcels. With housing and food covered by the castle, all of his wages get funneled into fun things, like a round of drinks at the Mute Lute or a new color of nail polish. It feels like freedom.]

I never really had a job before either. It's a lot better now that we have the bikes. When I started, I had to do it on foot. And it was winter.

[Despite his complaints, Wilhelm hadn't minded it so much. Fall ushers in bad memories, and as the months hunch into winter those ghosts linger cold and thick. The job got him out of the castle, gave him something else to focus on.

As the trail bends into the woods, it narrows. The ground stays well-worn beneath their wheels, but the underbrush encroaches on the edges of the path.]

Hey, they're holding up alright.

[The bikes, he means, on this off-road test.]

[sophos]

[ it's job possibility she files away, for now. she can deliver mail. how easy is that?? the cold wouldn't even get to her too much, she thinks, whether or not that stays the truth. she'll just prepare herself for it. not that she wants to be here until another round of winter. ]

That's what jackets are for. [ a beat. ] Or cloaks? Is that more the style here?

[ she is impressed by the bikes so far, happy they're holding up, and already thinking about the next time she'll take one out. she should not also be thinking about bringing a greater challenge to them, but she's considering it. it's hard to go as fast as she'd like to with the underbrush growing as it is now, but it presents a different challenge she can roll with. no pun intended. ]

I'll admit it, I'm surprised and a little impressed. But I guess the earliest bikes might not have had rubber use either.

wrap soon?

[ordinar]

Either. Or both, when it gets really cold.

[In the jackets versus cloaks matter. Winter feels a long way off with summer heat hanging thickly around them, but while Annabeth tentatively prepares for a change in seasons she hopes she's gone by, Wilhelm takes it as an inevitability that he'll still be around. This is his life now, and this is his home now.

As the trail skirts around a large boulder, and he stretches his arm out to drag his fingers over its rough face, he chuckles.]

I'm just glad they're not falling apart. I'd hate to have to explain that to Viktor.

yes that works!

[sophos]

[ does she want a cloak now? maybe. she is but seventeen and could be persuaded that a cool cloak might be fun. ]

I could probably try to fix them, if they break. But so far it doesn't look like that'll be a problem.

[ she steers her bike around a large rock in the trail. she wants to test them, not actively try to break them. ]

Anywhere we could go a little faster with these now?

[ordinar]

[Correct, cloaks are fucking sweet. Wilhelm has had two years to get used to Thornean fashion. He used to feel like an actor in a play, putting on all this ye olde stuff, but now he can appreciate the style — and the advantages it offers.

As for her question, he scans their surroundings, trying to recall the lay of the land.]

I think there's a hill coming up, after we get past the trees. [He shoots her a grin.] I'll race you down it.

[sophos]

[ annabeth squints over into the trees where wilhelm does, trying to get a sense of the path ahead herself. it does look like they're approaching a bit of a downward incline. ]

You're gonna lose.

[ and that's all she says before she immediately launches into the race, without waiting for a ready-set-go or countdown of any kind. she starts pedaling much faster, perhaps a little recklessly in her goal to pass him before he even realizes, but all the more determined to win. ]