abraxaslogs | Open Horizon Catchall

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.]

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[ He allows her to and watches her hands around his own. Hers are so soft and well-manicured. Lloyd offers a wry smile. ]

Thought that was supposed to be my job.

[ He's always aimed to take care of her and Julie since he got here, and it's not about to stop without Flagg around. Hell, he cares pretty damn deeply for both of them and they've all been through a lot of shit together. In for a penny, right?

It's uncomfortable thinking about all that uncertainty. Fact is, he doesn't know what he wants. He's always deferred to what somebody bigger and meaner has wanted because he's not a leader. Never has been. What the fuck is a follower without a leader? It might have been easier if she was asking for his word. ]

We take care of each other.

[She squeezes his hands encouragingly, and thinks back to the conversation they had back in Castle Thorne, so many months ago.]

But maybe I'm Catherine the Great after all. She didn't become the Great until she lost her husband. And I'm not going to let anything happen to you or Julie. Or Susan, because she's one of us now.

[That's not a debatable point, she and Julie already decided.]

We can still have so much of what we were promised. We'll just have to work a little harder.

I won't let anything happen to any of you, either. Not as long as I can help it, anyway.

[ Shit happens, he knows, but as long as it's within his power, they'll be safe, too. Lloyd is quiet for a long stretch, mulling things over. ]

So.. The Free Cities, huh?

Yeah, eventually.

[Nadine release's his hands and move to lean against the railing instead.]

Word on the street is that war between at least two nations is probably coming. And Nott probably isn't the place to be when that happens. But Julie has a job here, and I have access to what I need to learn magic, so we're going to get what we can out of Nott before leaving. I'm going to get a job, too. Find some mage or herbalist and try and get an apprenticeship or however they do it here.

What do you need me to do?

[ He doesn't have a job, but he's pretty damn good at stealing shit, especially since he doesn't do it on the side of Nott where they reside. Don't shit where you eat and all that. ]

Pretty much exactly what you have been doing. But...it would probably be a good idea to learn how to use some kind of local weapon. Julie and I don't trust the guns they have here, so those are out. But a sword or knife or bow or something. We've got to be able to defend ourselves and I'm nowhere near being able to use magic like that.

[She's getting closer, but it's a hell of a lot harder now without Randall guiding and helping her. She wishes he'd stayed long enough to actually properly teach her some of his magic, not just...spark it in her, or whatever. The potential exists but it's nothing she can figure out on her own.]

And...we should probably be networking a little bit more. Or I guess I should, you and Julie are a lot better at people than I am. But it's good to have people we can call in favors with, or who'd be willing to help us if we need it.

Learn a weapon, got it. Should be plenty of opportunities to do that. I wouldn't trust those guns as far as I could throw 'em, they look shady as fuck. More likely to blow your own hand off than blow somebody away.

[ He's becoming pretty familiar with the city's lowlifes, so he should be able to find somebody to teach him something with a bribe or two. Nadine isn't the only one that needs to work on networking with their own people. ]

I'll work on that, too. Never hurts to have somebody owe ya one.

No, they look like the kind of thing they used in the Revolutionary War. Not reliable. Which means guns weren't invented here that long ago.

[Which is...interesting, and something to file away to think on later. It's hard to gauge just where on the curve of invention this world is, doubly so because of the magic. Magic is going to influence how technology develops.]

But it really doesn't. I have...a couple of people I think I could reach out to, if I had to, but...I wouldn't bet money on them helping. And we're going to need help at some point, Lloyd, we are so out of our depth here.

We've been out of our depth the minute we got here, y'know? First, we were struggling with Flagg bein' locked up, then he goes and leaves, leavin' us to deal with the aftermath.

[ He exhales, dragging his fingers through his unruly hair. He's not mad at Flagg, but he's..disappointed. Like the worst case of blue balls in the world. They were gonna rule this place, but now it's going to be harder to steer the ship. Lloyd's not even sure what he wants to do. Being dead at home means this is the only place that any of them have got any more, so it would suck to destroy it. ]

I'll work on it, I won't let ya down.

I know you won't.

[The smile Nadine turns to Lloyd is genuine and warm. They may be on unsteady footing right now, but they'll figure it out. Between them, they can likely handle anything this world throws at them.]

I know we can rely on you. We're gonna be okay, Lloyd. Hell, you and Julie lived most of your lives without Flagg. And it's not like we're just some hangers on, we're the inner circle. I'm his wife, you're his right hand man. We can figure things out ourselves.

Didn't do a whole lot of livin' before Flagg, but I get what you're saying.

[ In a lot of ways, his life didn't really start until Flagg. Not that he'd gotten to do a whole lot of living it in hindsight, but damn it had been good. Not so much the last few days, but there was a lot going on.. ]

We've fuckin' got this, whatever it is.

Open Horizon Catchall

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