abraxaslogs | [OPEN] The Wayfarer's First Steps..

WHO: Rinwell and YOU!
WHAT: Exploration and education in a new world..
WHEN: October
WHERE: The Free Cities -- Cadens proper, and Cadens Outpost 003
NOTES: Bracket text or prose welcome, will adapt to what you do!

I. CADENS OUTPOST 003

[ Since that magical message encounter, Rinwell has been even more suspicious lately of her hosts, and a reluctant participant in conversations with anyone native to the region who works at the Outpost. Small and suspicious, she's likely made a name for herself by hiding behind the pages of any books she can get her hands on: all extremely dry and extremely boring, even the one she bought in the city.

Other times, she finds herself making a hike up one of the towers, so she can take advantage of the view of the terrain stretching out all around the outpost. The city lies in the distance behind them, and the dunes stretch out and ripple with heat. Since she's quiet, and tends to perch out of the way with her book, the on duty guards leave her be, occasionally stopping to check she's had enough water when it's particularly hot. She can even sometimes be found there a few hours before curfew, gazing at the stars.

If approached, her book is open on her lap but unread, eyes firmly on the sky above. Then, a frown, before she turns to acknowledge your arrival with a question: ]

Is the sky here weird to you?

II. INNER CITY LIVING

a) [ There are regular wagons that head back and forth into town, and the latest outlanders have at least shown they're not opposed to work. Rinwell sometimes assists with loading, but for the most part, she'll board in the morning and not return to the Outpost until the latest time possible. Whether or not it's for her own good.

The Free Cities are amazing in their own right, at least to someone who's world has been under the thumb of another for centuries. In the short time she's been here, Rinwell has made herself known to several book sellers, as well local sweet merchants in the marketplace, and has started getting to know the local routes around town. Even here, old habits die hard, and she keeps her head down - most won't glance your way if you look like you know where you're going, after all.

That usually works, save for when you turn a corner and collide with someone coming the other way. ]

Oh! [surprise, as she stumbles back, before balance is lost and she lands on her rear with a wince] Ow..! Hey! Watch where you're going!

b) [ Now, with the rumblings of an approaching holiday, she can't help but linger near where the tailors peddle their wares, admiring the local fashions. She's no Shionne, the Renan was no slouch as the group's resident fashionista, but the gifted garb from the outpost is simply practical, not pretty.

One seller in particular catches her eye; though there are many pretty hair ornaments and trinkets, one particular gilded butterfly pin has her attention. ]

Oh, that's so pretty..

III. PAGE TURNING

[ The first time she was shown the first of several public libraries, she'd almost overstayed her welcome. Fortunately, at least one of the librarians has a soft spot for eager young learners, and Rinwell is not above using that to get access to books!

There's too much she doesn't know that she doesn't know. So she starts digging into things, at least, as best she can without drawing too much attention with her reading choices. History, of course, starting with the Free Cities; Magic is a little harder to get her hands on - they don't need it here, don't care for it here, or so the sales pitch goes (and the looks she gets imply she's a little too interested for their comfort when she asks). And of course, local myths and legends, old stories - all the better to get an idea on the difference between historical fact and historical fiction.

She's engrossed in making her newest set of notes, so much so that anyone approaching won't be noticed. It may take slamming a book on her table to get her attention! ]

IV. WILDCARD
[ OOC: PM me here or discord/plurk if you want to discuss anything in particular. Otherwise, drop me a top level and we can roll from there! :) ]

Threaded | Flat

[ A restless old man like Maxwell can't stay cooped up in a dire place like Outpost 003 for too long without getting a little wanderlust, insomuch as he is "allowed" after dark. Boredom enevitably gets the better of him, even if it isn't the guards so much as his own curiousity that keeps him from slipping into the throng of the Free Cities at earliest opportunity.

He's about to warn the young girl that the desert gets cold at night, before she speaks up herself. Is the sky here weird?

His jaw snaps back shut. ]

I beg your pardon?

[ What an incredibly vague way to ask such an oddly specific question. ]

[Alice isn't quite the same sort of intrepid researcher that Rinwell has shown herself to be, but she has no problems keeping with the spirit of it. Information is their best asset right now, after all, and with the two of them working together they are able to tackle... well, not quite twice as much as Rinwell could do alone, she suspects, but at least more of it.

She finds herself drawn to books on Thorne, which are clearly written with a certain negative slant but at least give her an idea of what the kingdom might be like. They summoned outsiders first, after all, and she hasn't forgotten her conversations with the likes of Jaskier and Geralt. There's something much, much larger going on here, and without someone to explain things to her she needs to figure it out for herself.

Every now and then, she leans over to check on Rinwell's progress.]

How is it going over there?

[ Ciri wasn't actually trying to get her attention, at least not intentionally. The slamming of books is a side effect of having a whole armful and setting it down at once, earning her a few dirty looks from others in the library.

Frazzled and distracted. Ciri hasn't noticed the vaguely familiar girl yet but she settles at the table across from her, starting to sift through her piles of books with a furrowed brow of concentration. Books on magic are not impossible to find in Cadens, as there are all sorts here, but it's easier to buy them from merchants coming in from other parts of the world rather than looking for them in the library, which carries a bias toward completely industrialized technology, and perhaps a few theorems on magitech -- as Ciri has learned after asking around quite a lot the last few days. These are the only books she's managed to scrounge up that might be even remotely helpful, and most of them have to do with harnessing magical properties toward practical uses in machinery. What she's really looking for is advice on suppressing magic altogether, but--

Well. This is a decent enough distraction, and she can't just keep distracting herself with liquor until she passes out, so books will have to do. ]

Excuse me. Mind pushing the lantern closer between us?

[ Ciri looks up, nodding at the oil lamp providing extra reading light as the sky outside starts fading closer into dusk. ]

[However hard the impact hits Rimwell, it hits Louis harder. Humans, Louis has found, are quite heavier than deer and a fair bit more clumsy. If he were any lesser animal, he'd have fallen down too, but instead he catches himself on his bad leg and balances on his heel for a moment before he settles to the soles of his feet again, looking mostly unaffected by the hit.

The little maneuver was excruciatingly painful on his new prosthetic, but one would never guess by looking at his face or gait.]

I would say you're the one who missed the bigger spectacle of the two of us. Perhaps it's time to visit an optometrist?

[His tone is cool and a little condescending, but he's speaking truthfully when he says that he sticks out the most of both of them. He is the only deer in the Free Cities, after all, and he has a rather hard to miss rack if he does say so himself.]

[ the way the town has transformed for the holiday is something of a marvel, and while sam has work to be doing and actually on his way to drop something off across town, he can't help but hover around the stores and shops that have been set up.

( there's also a strange sort of melancholy associated with it - that he's been here long enough to see seasons change, that he's now feeling a kind of attachment to festivals. it's been months, months, and yet here they all are. )

but the items, the gifts, the work being shown off - and that is how he comes across another girl, bent over the table of a craftsman. sam sees the sign, embroidered into her clothes, first - and then his gut turns. oh no, oh no-

he steps in - not too close, but friendly. he has to know... ]

They're something, aren't they?

I

III-ish - study buddies!

library.

IIa

ii.b.