Open Horizon Catchall

[nadine_he_loves]

Who: Nadine and YOU! (One closed starter)
When: November
Where: Horizon/Nadine's Domain
What: Catch-all for the month
Warnings: Will add as needed



[Following Halloween night, Nadine's been spending a great deal of time in the Horizon. Her domain is familiar, comforting, safe. Or at least offers a very solid illusion of safety. Particularly the square. She's often sat on a bench outside the little church, watching the clouds or the fall of autumn leaves and just thinking.

She has a great deal to think about.

Since she was twelve years old, Nadine has known the path of her life. She'd known the rules, known what she had to do, and known where her future led. And she had, for the most part, followed the rules and did what she had to do. Yet here she was, alone - by a certain definition - in a strange world, with none of the things she's been promised.

There's anger left in the wake of Flagg. Anger and fear and a sense of loss she doesn't know how to navigate. Whatever joy there is in the idea of freedom, it's overpowered by all the rest. What would she even do here? What would any of them do? She isn't the only one who's had the rug pulled out from under her. How is she supposed to take care of Lloyd and Julie? And then there's Susan... She isn't even sure exactly how to take care of herself in this world.

And then there's those tantalizing thoughts that hover at the edge of her mind. The ones that do find joy in the prospect of freedom, and how close it truly is. She's already had a small taste of it. There's so much more to life than what she's experienced, the chance to just live is right here. If she's willing to take it.

Sometimes, to try and quiet the storm of thoughts in her head, she wanders to the edge of her domain to add a little something. A pond with geese here, a winding stream with a wooden bridge, a spray of wildflowers... it's just something to occupy her mind, to keep her busy...and maybe just catch the attention of anyone in a nearby domain. A part of her has no real desire to be alone.]

Comments

Closed to Julie and Lloyd

[nadine_he_loves]

[She asked them to meet her in her domain. It just seems safer, to talk about these kinds of things in the Horizon. Nott, Nadine suspects, is full of ears that are always listening. It just seems like that sort of place.

She's sitting in the gazebo to wait for them, dressed plainly in jeans and an over-large black sweater with a cowl neck - the sort of things she used to wear before the desert.

They need to figure out what to do now. Nadine can't speak for the other two, but she's not nearly as inclined to take vengeful action against Thorne without Flagg to take charge.]

sneakin in here

[cointosser]

[It is no surprise that after his rather lovely night with Nadine -- and having left little time for talking by the end of it -- he was curious about. Well, everything. Certainly Julie is a very intriguing woman, but moreso the woman who trusts her friend to, well. Petition a relative stranger to show her a good night.

(And perhaps he wants to ensure that he did so. He thinks he did, but... well, even one with his expertise can experience doubts. It was a lot riding on his shoulder. One may even consider an entire woman's history with romance was.)

As ever, Jaskier loves to explore others' domains. It's much harder to find one in particular. So this time he is only on his horse, a highly decorated beast with emblems of The Sun all along her bells and flowers braided in her mane. Much easier than dragging a wagon around with him, and because he needs to leave Moglad behind to watch his vineyard. (No offense to the moogle, but he intends to find Nadine alone first.) He passes all his usual haunts -- the mountain ranges, the dark, depressing forests, and the ice caverns -- and is quite sure he's passed this place, with its bright autumnal leaves and unfamiliar buildings. It's so quiet, however, that isn't quite sure who could be here.

So it's his second time around that he actually sees a woman on the edges. As he approaches, a spring in the step of the horse that leaves spots of green grass in its wake, he realizes -- oh.

It's her.

Isn't it?

Jaskier has a moment of hesitation; honestly, while he hasn't forgotten anything from that night, the drugs had left a sort of shimmer over everything, and he'd seen her in costume (and then nothing at all.) But at second glance, yes. It must be her. It's only that this place, with its cool air and nestled quiet, are the polar opposite of Julie's frantic and overwhelming domain.

He likes it. It is exactly the sort of place a man takes his horse for a relaxing ride. As he rides up and the horse's bells gently chime, he gives her a wave and then a bow from his saddle.]

Why, good afternoon, my lady. I daresay it must be Destiny that we've finally run into each other again. [That's a bit of a joke. He slides off his horse's saddle, giving her a pat to be still.] How are you, Nadine? All of this must be yours, is it not? It's lovely! Especially the colors.

[Autumn was one of his favorite seasons. How could it not be? Between the turning of the leaves, the winds, and the painted sunsets, it was a season of inspiration.]

[baltimores]

[ Turns out it can be kinda rough, spending your days isolated, alone, cut off from just about everything and everyone. It's still better than prison. Whatever it is Amos is dealing with now, it's not that. He has freedom of mobility and, comparatively, that's enough. And when you always feel empty, having nobody else around doesn't really make a difference.

Or at least that's what he'd thought, but there are things that still aren't. Going away. There's a part of him that's still pissed about prison, but he tries to keep his anger tamped down, and has mostly succeeded. And then there's a part of him that, just, fuck.

He's got nobody here. And maybe he'd liked having people around, after all. Got used to having something nice, and it wasn't even his fault when it was taken away.

The Horizon is the only real option Amos has for any attempt at quenching that emptiness, that bottomless feeling that he'd thought was normal for him but now just. It sucks. But even the Horizon isn't good enough, because the Roci is empty, so he wanders.

The spray of colours, the newly blossoming wildflowers — that's new. And looking beyond that, Amos realizes he's been here before. It's different now; before it had been white, opposite to the endless black of space, and he'd been curious, so he'd come. Now it looks... fake, really. Like one of those postcards they use to trick tourists into coming to different parts of Earth, look at how idyllic it is, the perfect place to kill time, spend money, and remember, there's no trash here, human or otherwise.

Amos blinks, remembers Nadine's Earth is not his own, and maybe it's not fake for her.

So, alright. He can take the wildflowers for what they're probably supposed to be, commit, head over to inspect them, hand raised in awkward greeting at the woman among them for just a second. The last time he saw Nadine, she... had still wanted to talk to him, despite, well, him. It's been a while since then. But maybe it's still okay. ]