{Every time I see the moon shine

[shadowthief]

WHO: Inej Ghafa & OTA
WHAT: Various things.
WHERE: Free Cities & the Horizon, unless otherwise noted.
WHEN: The month of March 2022
WARNINGS: At any given time, any of the following may arise in Inej's narration: stealing; murder; descriptions of touch aversion, anxiety, depression, PTSD; heavy trust issues, paranoia; mentions of past instances of prostitution, slavery, sexual assault. All others will be appropriately labeled where necessary.
NOTES: HMD | Info | Permissions | Inbox

it reminds me of what life should bе

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{Exploring » OTA

[shadowthief]

i. city streets

OTA

She had begun to get the feel of the primary settlement of Solvunn under her feet when Jesper arrived, and the Summit had created the perfect way for her to go back with him on the heels of it all. She's starting over in another unfamiliar city, so she takes her time, taking in all the things that make Cadens what it is. The obvious military prowess of it, but also the amalgam of people, cultures, architectures that flood every which way. There's no real sense of consistency in any of it and it makes something in her ache with familiarity.

She moves at a meandering, wandering pace as she begins the arduous task of mentally mapping out the city, stopping to browse at shops or to investigate the wares of a street vendor. She makes note of the academic buildings and the museums to return to later, takes in the sounds of the people bustling about their lives. She walks it during the day to initially familiarize herself, but she can also be found walking at night, and hopefully, she doesn't startle you by seeming to materialize from the shadows.

ii. eclipse

OTA

Inej saw the strange lightning-like flash from the window of her room the night before and wandered onto the roof to see if she could tell better where it might have come from, or what it was with no luck.

As she wanders downtown this afternoon, there is an eerie darkness spreading across the city as the eclipse settles into place. She hears murmurs from a few locals, some worried, some unbothered entirely, others mentioning something called The Singularity's Eye, which immediately gets her attention.

She starts first by heading to the library to see if she can find any sort of stories or accounts of similar events in the written records. Eventually, she goes back to the streets, asking locals that might listen to a Summoned asking questions. Maybe you overhear her and get curious, or she mistakes you as a local in her search for answers.

iii. wildcard

OTA

go for it, I'm open to pretty much anything~

nighttime city streets.

[wiedzminka]

Ciri can feel eyes on her. It might not be a hostile gaze, but her guard goes up immediately on instinct, sensing that shift in the air, the weight of someone else's presence as she moves to walk past a narrow alley between shops. She's had a couple of ales at a nearby tavern and was just walking home without paying particular attention, but years of running and fighting for her life have honed her instincts beyond what a little bit of alcohol can dull.

Her hand lands on the silver dagger at her hip, its pommel carved into a snarling wolf's head. She stops, shoulders tense, bright green eyes catching the flicker of a lantern down the street just enough to glint in the darkness.

Naturally, she assumes someone who doesn't realize how stupid the idea would be is considering picking her pocket.

"Try it if you want to lose a couple fingers."

[shadowthief]

Luckily, Inej has spent the last few years in Ketterdam, and threats were just currency there. She doesn't flinch or even blink when one is thrown her way from the other girl. The thing unseen, but felt quite thoroughly inside her chest, is her surprise at being... caught? Known. It isn't common for people to notice her, if she doesn't go out of her way to make them do so. Jesper has been around her for years, and still, she spooks the daylights out of him on a regular basis. Kaz is the only person that has ever really found a way to sense her, and she was never really sure how he'd done it, only that once he had, he never stopped.

She moves into the spare bit of light cast from a window in one of the buildings in the alley, hands in a position of surrender to show she means no harm. "I am only out for a walk," she says simply. "I mean no harm nor offense, miss."

Still.
Inej knows exactly where the push dagger she received nearly upon arrival in Solvunn is tucked away, and how quickly she can grab it should she need to defend herself. She just hopes she doesn't need it.

[wiedzminka]

Ciri's eyebrows rise. The tension eases, though, and her hand falls away from her dagger when she sees a woman with her hands up. (Not that she couldn't unsheathe it improbably quickly if needed anyway.)

"Just taking a walk through some dark alleyways, watching the people who pass by on the street? Not a very creative excuse. Or perhaps not a very good walk."

[shadowthief]

With the other's weapon lowered, Inej puts her hands down and chuckles a little at the comment. "I'm new, and I like knowing the cities I stay in, inside and out, in light and dark. A mental mapping, that's all." She may call it an excuse, but it is actually the truth. An innocent happenstance.

"My name is Inej," she offers in a sort of show of good faith.

[wiedzminka]

"Mm. I see."

And if the woman is telling the truth, Ciri can relate to that; she has similar habits, making sure to learn the winding alleyways, mapping out the easy traversable parts of the rooftops.

Someone being new in Cadens is hardly something to bat an eye at; people come here from all over, all of the time. But perhaps there's something in the way the other woman says it, or something about her that draws Ciri's attention, and after a beat she asks, "Where are you from, Inej?"

[shadowthief]

"Immediately? Solvunn. I moved during the summit, for family that's arrived here. He could not have prospered in a farming community, so I made the choice to move." Inej doesn't have any issue telling that truth, either. She has nothing to hide, in that regard.

"Before that, I was in Ketterdam, though I'm not sure you'll have heard of it." All the... different worlds the displaced population among the arrival cities of this world represent are wide and varrying and vast.

[wiedzminka]

Ciri blinks, a flicker of curiosity. She hadn't expected that; proportionately, they're a tiny fraction in this enormous city, and yet at the same time she can't exactly be shocked. They have a way of finding one another, don't they?

Another Summoned, then. And one who'd actually moved. Ciri's aware not many took the opportunity at the Summit, though it hadn't surprised her.

The fact the woman actually goes into her reasons for it too is also unexpected, and a little-- almost cute, she thinks. The justification, as if she expects to be questioned about her choices. Ciri wonders if she has any idea who she is (it's not entirely pride, either; she is fairly well known around Cadens, if one knows who to ask).

"I'm Ciri," she finally offers her name.

"Lucky for you they were so generous at the Summit then. Your family the type to sneak around in dark alleys looking like they're about to rob people too, or is that just your special quirk?"

[shadowthief]

"It was quite the perfect timing, I'll admit. Couldn't have planned it better myself, if I'd tried." It really had just been luck. She was preparing to need to do weeks worth of travel across the lands just to get to him just before the Summit had been announced.

"That's just me, I'm afraid there's nothing quiet and sneaky about Jesper," she says it with absolute fondness in her voice, despite the apparent sort-of-insult to his stealth ability. He would agree with her, so she doesn't feel bad for it at all.

[wiedzminka]

There's a spark of recognition in her eyes at that name. Ciri lets out a faint snort through her nose.

"Ah, yes. We are acquainted. Among the least subtle people I've ever met."

She cocks her head, curious now.

"He's your family, then?"

[shadowthief]

"As a brick through a window," she says it with fondness, even if it is also simultaneously a little bit at his expense. Having the common ground of a friend– does Ciri consider Jesper a friend? Inej isn't sure– does help a bit, regardless of the initial tension of this meeting.

She nods, "He's my best friend, but he is as much my family as my own blood." They've been through far too much in the last three years together to be anything less.

[wiedzminka]

Ciri laughs briefly, nodding. Something about her expression softens.

"I see. Fortunate you were able to join him here."

She understands.

Turning away again, Ciri waves over her shoulder, not bothering to linger, but making note of Inej as someone she's potentially interested in running into again when she's not on her way somewhere else.

"Be seeing you around, Inej. Keep that idiot out of trouble."

[shadowthief]

"Very." she agrees with a nod. The convenience of the Summit had come just on the heels of their talk of her making arrangements to move, it was wildly perfect timing.

"See you, Ciri... I'll do my best." She watches for a moment before turning to continue on her own. Like calls to like, and Inej is certain they will cross paths again.