Julie Lawry (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
princessvegas) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
abraxaslogs2021-10-29 08:55 pm
princessvegas) wrote in abraxaslogs2021-10-29 08:55 pm
HAPPY HALLOWEEN ABRAXAS
Who: Julie Lawry and YOU, everyone
Where: The Horizon, Julie's domain
When: Halloween
What: P A R T Y
Warnings: alcohol, drugs, general party stuff. please put cws in subject lines if they come up!
01 | WAIT
It isn't hard to find Julie's domain. As she had told anyone who visited her prior to this evening, all you ever need to do is follow the music. For a hundred yards in any direction, muffled bass radiates through air. Neon illuminates the entrance in pink, lights a path along the pink carpet and pink velvet rope barricade. The huge double doors are what stick out. Covering the frosted glass, lit from behind, are dozens of bloody splatters and handprints, some of which appear to have been dragged off to the side. Written in giant letters of blood, the door reads TURN BACK NOW.
True to the invite that everyone accidentally received in their vision (most people also got a paper copy left in their domain -- like hell was she going to put in the effort and then throw it away), the doors of Julie's club remain firmly closed until exactly 10pm. At 10, the neon abruptly extinguishes itself and the music goes silent, leaving the area in pitch black quiet. The doors swing open on their own and fog floods out as screams echo from within. The bass starts back up, reverberating at frequency designed to shake the human body from within.
The screams raise to a fever pitch as the lights suddenly come back on, timed to sync with cannons that fire black and red confetti over everyone waiting. It's time.
02 | DANCE
Inside, the entire club has been decorated to appear as if it had sprouted in a desolate forest under a harvest moon, represented by a massive orange orb suspended from the ceiling. Barren trees sprout from the slick black floor, moss and spiders cloaking their protruding roots. In the upper levels of the branches, bodies swing in nonexistent winds, hanging on rotted ropes, bloodied sacks covering their heads. The bar is draped in more moss and spiderwebs, and a bartender dressed as a very convincing zombie is already pouring drinks into the many glasses waiting to be drunk. The bartender's name is Steven, if you need anything, and every drink he makes is the best drink you've ever had. There are tubs of water where you can bob for miniature bottles of Fireball, which must be immediately taken as a shot upon winning one, and some tables bear trays of shot glasses, each one with little floating eyeballs or brains in the drink (they're gummies, and safe to consume). There is a buffet of candy and various creepy snacks against one wall, though it also bears literal dishes of drugs for the taking; bowls of pills and plates of cocaine, and of course, a whole cauldron filled with large blunts and packages of edibles in every variety imaginable, all free for the taking.
The booths and seating are all black now, and look like they've been left to decay for years. More orange orbs light each table. The music is loud, but only comfortably so -- never so loud that it makes conversation difficult. The dance floor is lit from underneath, and strobes in time with the beat. There are already people dancing, although fewer than usual, and though they're all in costume, they ignore everyone unless directly interacted with. These are manifested people, designed to make sure that Julie is never alone, and she doesn't have the heart to unmake them, so instead, they're used as moving decor. The DJ booth looms large above the dance floor, set into the VIP balcony. Blood persistently drips from the edge of the balcony, though it never seems to accumulate anywhere in particular. A separate, smaller stage is set off to one side, with a professional karaoke setup; it's not lit up for use, but can be with the flip of a switch.
03 | SCREAM
If you move through the club, as if to get to the back wall, you'll find that the light gradually grows more sterile and the music fades as the furnishings become sparser and sparser. Eventually, you'll find yourself in what appears to be an abandoned, empty warehouse. The floor is filthy, and there's an ominous industrial fan set in the far back wall, wooshing as it slowly turns. The overhead lighting flickers off and on.
There's a separate structure, two stories and boxy, that's been roped off to prevent entry -- private quarters that Julie put in later, a lofted apartment in case she wants to be somewhere a bit more quiet, with the modern conveniences that she doesn't have outside the Horizon.
But there's a larger structure, shrouded in darkness, and this building-within-a-building has a wide open door. Screaming and violent noises ring from within, and a crooked sign, lit up in black light with glowing white print, points the way in, asking everyone who sees it FEELING BRAVE?.
Inside the haunted house, there is only black light and various glowing colors, all mimicking the negative of a scene from a horror movie. Following the path and noise seems safe at first; though there are creepy things and the feeling of phantom cobwebs accosting you at every turn, there is nobody around. That is, until you turn the first corner. As you do, people in all black with only neon and fluorescent paint to define them begin to swarm at you, cackling and brandishing glowing weapons. They're surprisingly energetic for manifested people, and Julie has worked very hard to get them to do what she wants. They're aggressive but in a defined way; they chase but don't touch, lunge but allow people to escape. They seem to come from nowhere, every time you feel just a little bit less nervous. (If struck, they respond only by immediately leaving the area.) The sound effects crescendo as you come out of the other side, where a table of picture frames hold photos of your funniest scared faces during the experience. They're free for the taking, although of course they can't be taken back to Abraxas, and a celebratory drink accompanies each snapshot. A pink carpet leads the way back to the club.
The night is yours.
[ ooc notes: The pictures are mostly to give a vibe. Since the Horizon is amazing, feel free to presume things look much much much better IC. If you would like a better idea of what her domain actually looks like, please click here! ]
Where: The Horizon, Julie's domain
When: Halloween
What: P A R T Y
Warnings: alcohol, drugs, general party stuff. please put cws in subject lines if they come up!
01 | WAIT
It isn't hard to find Julie's domain. As she had told anyone who visited her prior to this evening, all you ever need to do is follow the music. For a hundred yards in any direction, muffled bass radiates through air. Neon illuminates the entrance in pink, lights a path along the pink carpet and pink velvet rope barricade. The huge double doors are what stick out. Covering the frosted glass, lit from behind, are dozens of bloody splatters and handprints, some of which appear to have been dragged off to the side. Written in giant letters of blood, the door reads TURN BACK NOW.
True to the invite that everyone accidentally received in their vision (most people also got a paper copy left in their domain -- like hell was she going to put in the effort and then throw it away), the doors of Julie's club remain firmly closed until exactly 10pm. At 10, the neon abruptly extinguishes itself and the music goes silent, leaving the area in pitch black quiet. The doors swing open on their own and fog floods out as screams echo from within. The bass starts back up, reverberating at frequency designed to shake the human body from within.
The screams raise to a fever pitch as the lights suddenly come back on, timed to sync with cannons that fire black and red confetti over everyone waiting. It's time.
02 | DANCE
Inside, the entire club has been decorated to appear as if it had sprouted in a desolate forest under a harvest moon, represented by a massive orange orb suspended from the ceiling. Barren trees sprout from the slick black floor, moss and spiders cloaking their protruding roots. In the upper levels of the branches, bodies swing in nonexistent winds, hanging on rotted ropes, bloodied sacks covering their heads. The bar is draped in more moss and spiderwebs, and a bartender dressed as a very convincing zombie is already pouring drinks into the many glasses waiting to be drunk. The bartender's name is Steven, if you need anything, and every drink he makes is the best drink you've ever had. There are tubs of water where you can bob for miniature bottles of Fireball, which must be immediately taken as a shot upon winning one, and some tables bear trays of shot glasses, each one with little floating eyeballs or brains in the drink (they're gummies, and safe to consume). There is a buffet of candy and various creepy snacks against one wall, though it also bears literal dishes of drugs for the taking; bowls of pills and plates of cocaine, and of course, a whole cauldron filled with large blunts and packages of edibles in every variety imaginable, all free for the taking.
The booths and seating are all black now, and look like they've been left to decay for years. More orange orbs light each table. The music is loud, but only comfortably so -- never so loud that it makes conversation difficult. The dance floor is lit from underneath, and strobes in time with the beat. There are already people dancing, although fewer than usual, and though they're all in costume, they ignore everyone unless directly interacted with. These are manifested people, designed to make sure that Julie is never alone, and she doesn't have the heart to unmake them, so instead, they're used as moving decor. The DJ booth looms large above the dance floor, set into the VIP balcony. Blood persistently drips from the edge of the balcony, though it never seems to accumulate anywhere in particular. A separate, smaller stage is set off to one side, with a professional karaoke setup; it's not lit up for use, but can be with the flip of a switch.
03 | SCREAM
If you move through the club, as if to get to the back wall, you'll find that the light gradually grows more sterile and the music fades as the furnishings become sparser and sparser. Eventually, you'll find yourself in what appears to be an abandoned, empty warehouse. The floor is filthy, and there's an ominous industrial fan set in the far back wall, wooshing as it slowly turns. The overhead lighting flickers off and on.
There's a separate structure, two stories and boxy, that's been roped off to prevent entry -- private quarters that Julie put in later, a lofted apartment in case she wants to be somewhere a bit more quiet, with the modern conveniences that she doesn't have outside the Horizon.
But there's a larger structure, shrouded in darkness, and this building-within-a-building has a wide open door. Screaming and violent noises ring from within, and a crooked sign, lit up in black light with glowing white print, points the way in, asking everyone who sees it FEELING BRAVE?.
Inside the haunted house, there is only black light and various glowing colors, all mimicking the negative of a scene from a horror movie. Following the path and noise seems safe at first; though there are creepy things and the feeling of phantom cobwebs accosting you at every turn, there is nobody around. That is, until you turn the first corner. As you do, people in all black with only neon and fluorescent paint to define them begin to swarm at you, cackling and brandishing glowing weapons. They're surprisingly energetic for manifested people, and Julie has worked very hard to get them to do what she wants. They're aggressive but in a defined way; they chase but don't touch, lunge but allow people to escape. They seem to come from nowhere, every time you feel just a little bit less nervous. (If struck, they respond only by immediately leaving the area.) The sound effects crescendo as you come out of the other side, where a table of picture frames hold photos of your funniest scared faces during the experience. They're free for the taking, although of course they can't be taken back to Abraxas, and a celebratory drink accompanies each snapshot. A pink carpet leads the way back to the club.
The night is yours.
[ ooc notes: The pictures are mostly to give a vibe. Since the Horizon is amazing, feel free to presume things look much much much better IC. If you would like a better idea of what her domain actually looks like, please click here! ]
no subject
[ Julie's brow furrows just a little -- the joy of the party isn't gone from her face, exactly, but instead simply tinged in the sadness of thinking back to what life was like before Trips. When she was little. ]
My mama wasn't that bad, but my folks... well, ain't much of anyone in my family doin' right by theirs. I used to pretend I was an orphan sometimes, when it was real bad, because then at least I'da had a chance of gettin' out. Let's just say there were definitely days I woulda taken a nun over what I had.
[ Her bloodline is white trash through and through, with all the negatives that implies, and while she didn't doubt that her parents loved her, they had still been drunk, physically fought, punished her with violence until she was old enough to fight back or run away. Many of her more distant relatives were even worse, often jailed or deeply involved with drugs. When the best you can hope for is an aunt and uncle with a ramshackle farm who can't afford to feed you more than two nights a week, well, you stop hoping for much change at all.
The superflu, which killed everyone that Julie had ever known and left her standing alone in the middle of nowhere, was ironically the best thing that ever happened to her. ]
no subject
She lifts her drink in the other woman's direction in something of a toast.]
To being better than where we came from. It sucked, but we got out of it. And I don't know if it's true, about suffering making a person stronger, but I do know that you are one tough woman.
[Whatever else may be said about Julie, she's strong. Nadine's seen similar circumstances break so many, in ways that aren't repairable.]
no subject
After all, that seemed like something Flagg would do. Pick a woman with a great life, all set for success, so that he could corrupt her. It's what Julie would do in his shoes. So it's interesting to hear that it wasn't what she'd thought at all.
She raises her glass in return, nodding, then exhales through her nose and leans in a bit closer. ]
Hey, I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry, for what I said in the dungeon. What I told you about.
[ There's no elaboration, and Julie pointedly does not say that it wasn't true -- every word she had said in anger was true, but she had been working under the assumption that Nadine knew and was lying. But she knows that it's not how she would want to find out the same thing. ]
no subject
Don't worry about it. I...haven't exactly been fair to you all the time, either. We're in a weird situation, it doesn't bring out the best in people. You were kidnapped into a strange world and thrown in a dungeon, I'm not going to hold it against you.
[And she just doesn't think about it. It never happened to her so it isn't real. Even assuming it did happen in the future...that's not her future anymore. She's not that woman, she's...whoever she is here and now.]
I'm...I'm not great with people. People that aren't kids, anyway. Kids are so easy! I understand them, I get how they think. Other people...but I guess that's what happens when your only friend growing up is a magic man inside your head. I had some...really weird formative years.
[She usually doesn't open up quite like this, but she finds herself just saying things. And not being overly concerned about it, either.]
Anyway I'm just trying to say sorry for the times I've been a bitch.
no subject
[ She exhales hard, takes another drink and slumps in her chair for a minute before offering her hand to Nadine. ]
Clean slate, both of us. We're in it together now.
no subject
[They're both here, and not dead, and Nadine is beyond questioning things. She's spent too long questioning them. The details are a mystery to her, but that's alright. Lloyd told her enough, and Julie is right. It's a clean slate - sort of.
Nadine's not sure how clean her slate can be wiped at this point.]
Yeah we are.
[She takes Julie's hand, glad for a chance to start over. They hadn't gotten off on the best foot.]
And god knows we need each other these days. I'd much rather have you in my corner than against me.
cw ableist slurs i'm sorry julie is like this
[ She is still Julie, after all. ]
Now come on, you need to dance, woman.
no subject
Oh, Nick? He had a stick up his ass. A lot of them did. And just so hell-bent on putting things back the way they were, like what we had before the plague was actually working.
[Despite her fondness for a couple of the citizens of Boulder, most of them had grated on her nerves. There was just something so disappointing about watching them try and rebuild the same society that was lost.
And then she shakes her head, unsure.]
Oh I...I don't know, I don't dance. Not where other people can see me, anyway.
no subject
Julie leaves her drink on the table and gets up, holding her hands out for Nadine. ]
Oh, when you're in my club, you dance, Queen Nadine. C'mon, don't make me pull you outta that chair.
no subject
[A pause, but only a brief one. Maybe it's the drug, but Nadine's feeling much more chatty than usual.]
He was a fantastic kisser.
[Selfish asshole, but a very good kisser.
She contemplates Julie's hands for a moment then sighs and takes them. What's the harm? It's a party. She's dressed like a stripper angel and she took drugs, dancing isn't going to drastically change her experience tonight.]
Alright. But I'm not good at it.
no subject
[ But thinking about Larry reminds her of the trial, of the change in the air that day, and one thing that Julie will never tell Nadine is what it was like in the courtroom. In those last few minutes before the end.
She shakes it off as much as she can (she's going to have to do a few lines soon, to really get it out), grins at Nadine's cooperation and takes her hands anyway, pulling her toward the dance floor. ]
Sis, half these people ain't even real, and the rest are all off their tits. You don't gotta worry about bein' good.
[ It's not something she ever worries about, anyway. Julie's dancing is mostly bouncing around, moving her hips, waving her arms. She holds Nadine's hands and guides her along, laughing. ]
no subject
[An understatement, but she never knows quite how to talk about Harold even when she isn't intoxicated.
But she lets Julie lead her, awkwardly trying to find the rhythm of the music and move along with it. She doesn't remember the last time she danced, really danced. Maybe back in school sometime. There had to have been dances...]
Yeah, you need to realize I just worry a lot, in general. Being a spy does that to you.
no subject
[ Julie laughs and doesn't let Nadine fall victim to embarrassment or gawkiness. One of the greatest gifts in life is the freedom to dance like a trashed white girl (no matter who you are), and she does not intend to let it pass her guests by. ]
You ain't a spy anymore, and you ain't alone anymore either. You can loosen up now.
no subject
[Boulder hadn't been the problem, in Nadine's eyes. It had been the committee that led it and their obsession with playing Big American Heroes. If they'd just kept to themselves...
She shakes her head, not about to waste any more sleep over Boulder or what had happened there.]
Huh? Oh, yeah. I killed him. He deserved it and Randall didn't care, he wasn't useful anymore. He thought...he thought he was going to be rewarded like some fairy tale hero or something. That little shit thought he was somehow more important than me, like somehow he was the one pulling the strings and calling the shots. I just let him think that because that was the plan to get him to do what Randall wanted. That's the whole reason I was there, to keep an eye on what they were doing and to manipulate Harold into turning against Boulder.
[If nothing else, the conversation is distracting Nadine and she's not so hung up about the idea of making a fool of herself in public. Talking about Harold will do that.]
no subject
[ Julie also never had dreams from the witch, so she can only imagine reasons people might go to her. But Flagg had reached Julie first and closed her in his grasp before the witch could even try, and her devotion to him had been deep and true ever since. ]
Men are dumb as shit. All of 'em. They all think they're the star in their own superhero movie, and the whole time, women are the ones makin' the world turn. [ Even Flagg had made mistakes in the name of his ego, mistakes that Julie fully believes a woman would not have made. Women listen, they heal cracks. Their plans work out. ] You'd think they'd figure it out after thousands of years, but nope, they all just keep fuckin' up.
no subject
[Some great cosmic force had decided, there'd never really been any choosing. Any illusions of it were just that, illusions. But it had been comforting, in a way, just knowing the path her life would take and where she'd end up.
More or less.]
Mmm, Harold was barely even a man. There's no way he was twenty one. And he was a sad, angry, cruel little asshole who hated women and decided everything was everyone else's fault and the world owed him. I'm pretty sure if the world hadn't ended he would have been a special breaking news report. And he never saw it coming. Everything he said, everything he did to me and he never saw it coming. He watched me shoot his best friend and he still never thought I'd turn on him.
[There's a surprising note of pride in Nadine's voice as she shares that particular bit.]
no subject
Again, it snuffs out as quickly as it ignited, because that isn't what Julie wants. It's irrelevant. Nadine is the queen, no matter what, and she wants to respect that out of love for Flagg. Her opinion means nothing, especially here and now.
Brows furrowing, Julie watches Nadine, doesn't stop dancing but allows herself to slow down. She can see why Flagg would target an incel, and she can see why he would have Nadine kill him. But there's something about that phrasing that makes Julie's stomach clench. ]
You did good. Fuckin' red-pill loser deserved it. But what do you mean, "everything he did to you"? Did he hurt you? Did Flagg know?
no subject
[Things that hadn't even transpired in Nadine's own marriage bed, which says a great deal. Tomorrow she may regret sharing all of this, it's not something she ever shares in any detail, but for now...a part of her wants to talk about it. And a part of her thinks maybe Julie can understand some of it.]
Maybe that's why Flagg didn't care that I killed him. I wasn't supposed to, but...No. He was a slimy little creep with nothing but hate in him and he didn't deserve Vegas or whatever praise might have been coming his way for building a bomb.
[He didn't deserve it and she wasn't going to let him have it. Or share her own place and people with him. He'd been a tool, nothing more, used and then tossed aside when his use was over.
It means something to Nadine that it was her decision to end him. It had been, she thinks, something important.]
And he thought I was weak. I'm a lot of things, but I'm not weak.
no subject
And she doubts this, hard. Perhaps it's the difference in gender, the way that women and men see the world. Or the bad taste that indulging misogyny leaves in her mouth. Maybe it's just that she's now close enough to Nadine to care specifically about her.
God, maybe being brought back to life made her soft. She's going to have to bully someone later to remedy this feeling.
But for now, she goes still, stops dancing, but still holds Nadine's hand. ] No, you're not weak at all.
[ Another pause, as Julie feels the need to do something to make this right, in some small way. Julie died for their vision of the world, but so did Nadine, and she had to keep living afterward, even if it was only for a little while. They were all supposed to be rewarded for their faith in New Vegas, and New Vegas is gone too, just like Flagg. But maybe Julie can help reward Nadine.
She looks around the dance floor, then catches Nadine's other hand, pulls her close. ]
So the only people you ever been with are Flagg and some 4chan shitstain Elliot Rodger wannabe? We're gonna fix this. Tonight.
no subject
[Which she knows isn't much in comparison, but it's something. Nadine's never liked looking at it so...honestly.]
But, uh, I...I don't know...
[It's not a very firm protest. The idea holds appeal, it does. Her sex life here, at least, had been very good. Maybe on the rough side, but it had been good. And so had been after, when Flagg was sated and there was that brief bit of time where he was different. Quieter, content, like a great wild cat full from a big hunt and ready to doze in the sun.
But now her bed is empty and she realizes she's long since given her virginity where it was promised and there's no longer that sacred duty to keep herself from the hands of any other man.
Still. She isn't sure exactly what Julie has in mind.]
no subject
Yes. This is what they are going to do. They are going dick-hunting. Julie's mind is made up. She beams at Nadine, looking around again, taking mental inventory. It's so fucking wild that everyone here is hot. She wonders if that's the Singularity's preference. ]
Yeah, and you shoulda got to fuck him, too, but you didn't. Nadine, you're finally free to do whatever the fuck you want. Big Daddy ain't here to get mad and eat people over it. We don't know if he's comin' back. And you paid your dues, so why shouldn't you have fun now? Look at all the choices.
no subject
Nadine isn't sure it works like that. Especially now, the pact made so long ago sealed and her sharing Flagg's bed so long. She isn't an idiot, she knows it's changed something in her. But that doesn't matter right now.
Whatever her connection to Randall Flagg is, he's gone. Not just off to some far part of this world, but gone entirely. That place inside of her where she's nearly always felt him is empty. There's nothing there. Now isn't the time to think about that. It's okay. It's fine.
And Julie is making sense, or so it seems right now. Nadine had paid her dues, and thensome. She'd given up everything and for what? To be abandoned in some strange world. And it would be so nice to just lose herself tonight. To be with someone just for the enjoyment of it, no sense of duty or fulfilling some destiny...what's that even like?]
Okay, okay. Say I agree with you. That would be assuming anyone is going to want to sleep with me. It's no secret I'm married.
no subject
[ She's almost giddy, and it's probably the part of her that likes to break rules, but she can't help but squeal softly and bounce in place. ] What do you like in a guy? Surface level only. Appearance and general demeanor. This is for tonight only.
no subject
[It's not a stalling tactic, Nadine honestly isn't sure. And it's a little hard to focus, the lights and sounds slowly taking on a quality she can't put a name to.]
You have really pretty hair.
[Not an answer to the question, but an observation she felt compelled to make. The way the light's hitting it, the color, the way it moves...she's never noticed just how pretty it is.
But they're in the middle of a conversation and Nadine tries to think of things she likes in a guy.]
Uh, men. A good smile, I guess? Not too serious. Good looking? I don't know, I've liked two men in my entire life and based on that I'm into dark gods and rock stars.
no subject
Making an "ugh" sound that's only semi-serious, she shakes Nadine's hands in her own, does a single dramatic stomp. ]
Come on, Nadine. You never thought any other men were hot? This ain't a boyfriend, this is a good-lookin' sex toy who's not a complete asshole to you. Good smile is as deep as we're goin'. Skin color, hair and eyes, height, build. And I can't really make promises, but I'll take preferred dick size too. I'm right more than I'm wrong.
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