abraxaslogs | April Catchall - Open and Closed Prompts

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April Catchall - Open and Closed Prompts

Who: Nadine and Various - open prompts in post, closed prompts in comments
When: April
Where: All over Cadens, Nadine's Domain
What: Catch all for the month
Warnings: Will add as/if needed

Open Prompts

1 - Horizon

Nadine's domain - a quaint little slice of a small New Hampshire town - has been gloomy and stormy for far too long. It wasn't something she intended, it had simply happened. There's a sort of shabbiness that's crept in as well, the buildings taking on a worn and ill-maintained look. She supposes it's due to her recent moods, too much grief and upset spilling out into her mental realm.

Of course, she hasn't been here in a good few weeks, either. Maybe that's part of it. Either way, it needs fixing. First, the black storm clouds need to go. And the snow. It's spring, there should be greenery and blue skies with puffy clouds and birds singing. Easily enough achieved.

And maybe...it's time to change things up a little. Not much, she likes this little town square with its white wooden church and park with skeletal carousel, the stores, the red schoolhouse, the rolling farmland beyond that gives way to woods as her domain flows into the others around it. But it's been essentially the same since she made it.

Walking along the four streets that make up the square, she inspects the various storefronts. Some of these can be changed. Maybe...a café or something. And a little library. Or a hole in the wall movie theater...

Sometimes she thinks she's not creative enough to fully take advantage of her domain.

2 - Cadens

At this point, Nadine is a lot more familiar with the streets of Cadens - at least the ones she frequents. It's a huge city, and there's plenty of it she's yet to explore. But she's growing comfortable here, and starting to think of it as home. Odd as that seems.

It also means her mind is more prone to wander as she's going about her business. She's heading back home after doing her shopping, arms full of paper bags and boxes. She has a new pamphlet of recipes to work on, and a project for her anatomy class to work on. It's going to be a busy evening, but she likes keeping busy. Especially when it's a productive busy. She's enjoying her work, and her classes. And she thinks she might be good at all this. It had started as just something to do, but now...there could be a real career in it all. And why not? She'd thought on more than one occasion that she'd probably make a good nurse. Here, now, why can't she be a healer?

Lost in thoughts of potential futures, Nadine isn't paying as much attention as she should be. Too late she notices the group of teenagers, running and laughing and paying even less attention than her. Trying to move out of their path, she missteps on the curb and drops her armful of goods.

Little wooden boxes go tumbling. Bags spill open. Dried plants and packets of scales and small bones and stranger things spill out on the sidewalk and into the street. Nadine lets out a mild curse, sighs heavily, and crouches to try and gather up all of her things....

3 - Wildcard

[Anything else, go for it! Nadine's all over the shopping district and where the Academy is. If you'd like a specific starter in comments, hit me up!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Geralt gives a tip of his head that neither confirms nor denies. Hard to say when he isn't certain what she's thinking of. He's nearly had his head taken off more than once deep out there, but closer to the city gates, it might be some cat-sized scorpions at worst.

If he ever discovers a giant worm, he'll have to note that down as yet one more unforeseen species.

"Vegas." He remembers. That's where they all trekked towards, at the call of the demon. Or her husband, as it were. "Is that what took you there?"

Her...motorcycle? A vehicle? He assumes. He's seen what a car is by now—Horizon magic to thank for that—and he's been made aware that's what people use when they come from worlds where horses are no longer common to ride.

"Yeah, Vegas is in the desert. There's practically nothing around it. Just scrub and sandy dirt. Before the end of the world it was a popular vacation spot - all casinos and theaters with spectacular shows and fancy themed bars and a bunch of other stuff that probably wouldn't mean anything to you."

Geralt's world is as vastly different from her own as she can imagine. As evidenced by his question. How to explain a motorcycle? Nadine frowns thoughtfully, puzzling it over a moment.

"A motorcycle is like...if you know what a bicycle is, it's like a big, thick bicycle that has a motor engine in it. It has a big thick wheel in the front and in the back and a wide front with handles, and a seat in between the two wheels. Your legs go on either side."

She outlines the shapes with her hands as she explains.

"Kind of like a horse, but with wheels and a motor. And a whole lot faster. Which was good, because Vegas was almost a thousand miles from where I was beforehand." The bike made it that much quicker, the difference between trying to walk and using a vehicle a matter of weeks to months.

Not that she'd made it to Vegas.

"Never seen a desert until this place. Our continent's entirely north."

They exist, on faraway land masses further south of the seas, but that's not a distance Geralt's ever travelled. He thinks of bars and casinos—things he's only briefly glimpsed in the Horizon. He has a better grasp than nothing at all, but it still can't come near what it truly looks like in reality. Cadens alone is a bigger city than he's ever seen. He can't conceive of a place that might be triple its size or more.

Horse with wheels, though—that, he can almost imagine. Almost. His brows furrow in concentration. Cars hold no interest to him. Much like a carriage, Geralt has little desire to travel inside a boxed up construction. This, on the other hand. Hmm.

"You'll have to show me." He pushes the low hanging branches of a tree out of the way, for her to duck between a narrow lane between two cliffs. "Julie described Vegas like a lawless paradise. Said she was drawn there by Flagg."

"Yeah, sure, next time we're in the Horizon I can show you. I could even take you for a ride, if you wanted."

Nadine may not be very skilled at riding a horse, but she can handle a motorcycle just fine. And honestly it would be kind of nice, to be able to show Geralt something she thinks he might like.

"I really can't say much about Vegas after the plague. I never actually got there, I ended up here instead. Before, though, I saw it on TV and read about it a lot. It was nicknamed Sin City, because it had a reputation for wild times. A lot of the stage shows were exotic dancers - they performed in very little or no clothes. And everything's open all night and people would go to party and gamble and live life on the wild side."

She ducks under the thoughtfully held branches, glancing up as they enter the little path between the stone.

"But it was where Randall made his base, and I get why. It's a big city, it's open space all around it for miles and miles and miles, it's full of giant hotels and a high tech infrastructure with all kinds of stuff to keep people occupied and live in a way they never could have before. It was already half of the kind of world he wanted to make."

That world did hold an appeal. A world where the was a place for all those who had no place. All the outcasts, all the loners on the fringe of society who didn't want to be but found no way to change their lot. All the downtrodden.

"But he did draw people to him, you could say. He...put out a signal, I guess you could say. Dreams. Not quite like the ones he sent to me, but similar. Some people connected to something in them and went to him, others didn't. I've...I've known both."

She tells him, and Geralt walks, quiet. The ground slopes upward where they're going, the terrain uneven, rocky. A small lizard scurries from one boulder to the next.

A signal. That's one term for it. He considers what she means, when she says I've known both. Puts it aside for now. Even after all that he's been told, the pieces are scattered at best. He wonders, suddenly, if Flagg was trapped in Nadine's sphere. Unable to go home, it makes sense the demon—or entity—might seek to rebuild a broken world into something far more...suited to his desires.

It's not a topic he's brought up with Nadine. He's only ever spoken to Julie about it, and that was entirely unintended. Which is not to say it isn't a topic he wants to touch on. He does. But he knows, too, that some conversations can wait. There were other matters which took precedent.

Things have settled somewhat, though. Including Nadine. And while Geralt is good at leaving a subject untouched, he does not exhibit much delicacy when he decides to finally broach it.

He climbs up the path, and asks with little preface, "Did Julie tell you what we spoke of some weeks ago?"

Julie has passed on a great many things, but Nadine is certain she knows what Geralt's referring to. Considering the context.

"You mean about Randall?"

Which is answer enough, she supposes. None of it had come as a surprise to her, she'd only been able to confirm it. She follows closely, picking her footing carefully, not outwardly bothered by the shift in topic. There's plenty she's never told Geralt. No one has the whole story, the few who'd come close now gone. It isn't painful to talk about, not exactly.

Embarrassing, maybe, in a way. But it doesn't bother her to talk about it, to people she can trust with the knowledge.

"Yeah. I'm guessing there's some gaps in the story?"

Who else but her could fill them in?

Somehow, he's expecting—more reluctance? Hesitation? He isn't certain. The less concerned Nadine is when it comes to speaking of Flagg, the more concerning it feels. He can't tell if a disconnect exists or if it's something else.

Truthfully, it isn't the gaps that's caught his attention. What Flagg may or may not be, what his role was or grew to become in their world or where he came from, it's less important than what he means to Julie and Nadine. Geralt has learned the former. The latter remains a more complicated matter.

He doesn't expect it to be a problem in the immediate future, whether or not this demon or man will return. But he also knows better than to ignore it.

"From what I've gathered, he terrifies everyone. Even those drawn to him." Perhaps especially those drawn to him. "Except you."

Nadine has no reason to be hesitant. Geralt already knows more than enough, it's not as though there's any shocking secrets to be revealed. Not really. Just extra parts, some more context to the whole story.

"He's terrifying," she agrees, because it's true. Even if she doesn't personally fear him, exactly, she's well aware of how dangerous and frightening he is. Maybe more than most, having seen what she assumes is his true face.

Besides, this sort of context...it's important, she thinks. To understand why she loved him - why a part of her will always love him. Why it's all so complicated for her. It isn't as though she's under any false delusions as to what he's like, what he's capable of. She knows. The things she'd done for him...

But that's not what Geralt's asking about.

"Besides, he's not dangerous to me. It's not like he saw me as a kid and went 'wow, that's what I want to marry!'. We're soulmates. In a literal sense, not some romantic metaphor. There's no one else for him but me, it was decided by forces much greater than even him. So I'm scared of what he could do to people I care about, but I'm not afraid of him. Not like that."

"It's different, for me. He scared me the very first time, before I even dreamed about him. But when I did...he didn't come to me as The Dark Man, he didn't threaten me, he was...he was like an imaginary friend, that was real. He was there for me, he listened to me, he kept me company when I was sad and lonely. He was just Randall, and he was all mine."

A secret friend, a dark guardian angel that - at least in her youth - she could always depend on. That sort of tie is deep and lasts long.

Except you, he says, except the moment it leaves his mouth, he wonders if that's true. Maybe she is afraid. Just in a different way.

He grows quiet. Is that what she believes? That Destiny will not allow her to be harmed, because they've been bound to each other? Since she was a child? For awhile, he doesn't answer. They climb to the top of the hill, where the flowering herbs grow in thick yellow and purple patches, sprawling along the dry grass.

He squats between the blooming plants while she gathers the first of what she needs. "Nadine..." There's some care in the way he finds his words. "Have you ever denied him something he wanted before?"

From what she's said, he's fairly certain he knows the answer. But part of him is beginning to question whether she knows it, if she really knows it. He does not say, quite yet, that the people important to them both are beginning to overlap. That to fear for your own and to fear for yourself are two sides of the same coin. That often, the threat of the former carries far more weight.

Demons are only as powerful as the people who choose to feed them. He's learned that lesson well. Flagg's potential return is not his main concern. He's concerned about where Nadine will find herself should her husband or another like him come along once more.

Nadine settles in on her knees when they reach their destination, opening her satchel to begin collecting her herbs.

She considers Geralt's question very carefully. It's a fair one, she understands where he's coming from. And it's true, rarely did she ever say 'no' or exert her own will over Randall's, but...

Rare isn't never.

"Once." How much detail to offer? It's Geralt, and the context is important, but there are still some things Nadine keeps close to her own heart.

"Uh...there was a guy. We met on the road. I didn't immediately go to Randall, he wanted me to be his eyes and ears in Boulder, the other civilization springing up after the plague. I was dealing with Joe, I told you about him, and he was still...really feral. And I was one woman in a dangerous world with nothing but a gun and a wild ten year old. We just started traveling together because it was safer for me and Joe, and he was going to Boulder. Nothing ever happened, but we...we could have been close, in another life. Anyway, I was supposed to kill him. I was told to kill him. I didn't. I made sure he'd be safe, actually. And instead I did kill one of Randall's loyal followers - it was purely personal, I don't want to talk about it. I don't think Randall was thrilled, but he told me it was fine."

There had been, as far as Nadine knows, no consequences. Of course she knows enough now to understand it had been futile anyway, but...she'd gone against her orders.

"The point is that I'm too important to his plans."

And what happens when you aren't any longer?

Something tells him she won't be able to say. That perhaps she can't consider a time when she wouldn't be important to the man she thinks is her soulmate. She's killed for him. That much is clear. And as much as Geralt wants to tell her the only thing this man has done is use her since she was a girl, he knows that will do little good.

She's trusted him enough to tell him what she has. In the end, it feels more important to keep that trust than to try and undo what she's spent most of her life believing.

"Forces brought Ciri and I together, too. She was promised to me before her father even knew he had a child, but I never wanted to...claim her away from her life. I didn't return for her until the war took her home and her family. She was thirteen, fourteen summers old."

Not much older than when Flagg had come to her. Maybe that's what makes all of this crawl so deep under his skin. How easily Ciri could have been Nadine, had things been different.

"It was some time, before she trusted me. One of the first things she finally told me were the men she killed one night." There's a small pause. "You don't owe me your past or an explanation. But if something happens, if you ever aren't sure of your path—you can come to me."

Nadine shakes her head.

"You already know I've killed people. Some I regret, but that one...it didn't have anything to do with Randall or Vegas or any of that. He...wasn't a gentleman to me. He wasn't a gentleman at all, but at least I had some protection thanks to Randall. Not every woman he was going to meet could say the same."

She assumes Geralt will infer what she's saying, without her having to give any details. Harold deserved it. Harold was a creepy, nasty person that didn't understand boundaries or acceptable behavior. The world, even what was left of it, had been better off without him. It had been a service to what remained of humanity, and she will never feel guilt or shame for it.

"And I...I appreciate your concern, or however you want to put it. I know what Randall is. I'm not proud of any of this, but it is what it is. Some part of me is always going to be his. I don't know if it's because of how he's been a part of my life, or because of whatever little piece of him he gave to me but I'm pretty sure it's the second one. I'm never going to be entirely free of him, Geralt, but I'm as free as I'm ever going to be and I'm living my life for myself now. I'm not pining over him, I'm not mourning whatever life with him I lost, I'm finding my own way."

Slowly but surely. And it's hard, she won't deny it, but it's getting better. She has a support system, friends, more of a family than she's ever had before. And she'll do whatever she has to, should it come to that, to protect them.

Even from Flagg.

Yeah. He can gather. He does not think of taking lives terms of deserved or undeserved, exactly; his hands are hardly clean enough to judge. But there are deaths he regrets and then there are deaths he doesn't stop to think twice over. He knows what Nadine means when it comes to the latter.

He reaches out to pluck a wriggling, camouflaged spider from within a flower patch creeping towards her hand. It gives an unhappy hiss.

"I've lost people to something not unlike his kind. Consumed by fear and anguish." He puts the spider aside, where it scurries off elsewhere. He wants to explain, maybe, that it is more than what he's learned of Flagg that's stirred his concern, that it isn't only about her past or connections to mysterious forces. It's what he knows from his own world, too. "I'd prefer not to lose more, is all."

But she's found something for herself here. A stretch, perhaps, to call it happiness, but it's more than emptiness, too.

He lingers for a moment on what she means when she says, whatever little piece of him. The question sits on his tongue. He's asked her plenty, though. After a second, he lets it go. Maybe he'll bring it up during their trip back.

He offers her a handful of the herbs he's gathered. "What else are you in need of?"

No reason not to find everything while he's already out here with her.

Nadine watches with widened eyes as Geralt so calmly and easily snatches the spider and sets it on its way elsewhere. She hadn't even noticed it...

"Well. I can promise you this. I'm not consumed by either fear or anguish. Not anymore. It's like they say. What doesn't kill you just makes you tougher. I'm a lot tougher now than I used to be."

That much she's certain of. She can't claim to be free of either, but she's not consumed or ruled by them.

Sitting back on her heels, she pulls out a folded piece of parchment from her pouch and consults it after tucking away the herbs Geralt gathered.

"Okay...something called fanged betty, that's a plant. Grows low on the ground, little curved thorns, dark red flowers with a yellow center. And...uh...'strand of gold-horn serpent' which I'm pretty sure is snakeskin from a snake that has a gold horn. Unclear if it needs to be fresh or shed."

That was, at least, what the illustration in her book indicated.

There's the faintest curl to his lips. "Fairly sure you were always as tough, Nadine."

He dusts off his hands and waits for her to consult her notes. He's learned both plant-life and wildlife in these parts, but it isn't the same as the Continent he'd memorized for decades. Some things, he's still discovering.

Like whether the snakeskin should be fresh or shed. He considers.

"We'll find you both." May as well while they're out here. Whichever one she won't use, he'll find something to do with it. A new toy perhaps for the gryphon. "Let's start with the plants."

He stands, taking a second to orient himself before he picks a direction. They're by the caves, he recalls; that's where he turns, the rocky path sloping downwards.

"Thanks. They're both pretty pricey in the city, it'd be a lot better if I can just get them myself."

Nadine knows she's in an advantageous position, having Geralt to accompany her out into the desert. Not every herbalist and alchemist can just go collect materials themselves.

She gets to her feet and tucks everything into the appropriate pocket or pouch and follows after Geralt, glad she'd invested in a good pair of comfortable traveling boots.

"And I guess I'm learning how to skin a snake today. I'm collecting all kinds of interesting new skills here."

He keeps in step with her as they walk. It's nice, being out here with her. For as long as they've known each other, the miles that separated them means this is the first time they've done something as simple as go on a walk. Outside the Horizon, in any case.

"They must be rare or hibernating during winter. Only ever saw the one."

It'd looked as any snake, aside from the small horns on its head. He'd paid it little attention beyond making note of it—more distracted by the giant flightless birds that roam about.

"Your book say where they like to nest?"

"There wasn't much information like that about it. Just a general line about where it lives and then all the properties its parts has and how to prepare it and a list of recipes it's used for."

In hindsight, Nadine supposes she should have checked one of her books specifically on local wildlife, but she had underestimated the vast range of landscape around Cadens. Despite her trek across the US, she grew up in New England. You can throw a rock and it'll pass through two more states before it lands. She's used to thinking of small areas.

"Snakes in general usually like rocky places with lots of low brush, at least snakes where I come from. Oh...I think it did mention they can be found adjacent to wide open areas..."

He hums. Not the most narrowed-down of answers. "Maybe one will surprise us."

In fairness, he should've also asked before they left. He'd admittedly presumed all of her ingredients would be flora. Not too important, though. He can track down a snake. Might simply take a bit more time than they meant, but he hasn't got anything else planned for his day.

"The fanged betty should by here." He stops by some open caverns—narrow, and sloping downward. At the mouth of the cave, by the grass, the flowers bloom, some still budding. There's a thin sap from their leaves, sweet-smelling. He rubs some of it between his fingers, testing it, but other than leaving his skin somewhat sticky, it doesn't appear dangerous. "You've worked with these before?"

"A little bit."

Nadine unshoulders her bag and pulls out a jar, to get to work harvesting.

"It's mostly used in things for indigestion and upset stomachs. And hang-over tonics are very popular so it's something I should have on hand. It doesn't actually cure anything, on its own, but the oil from it coats the throat and stomach lining to ease the discomfort of acid reflux and throwing up. So used with other ingredients it can really help with a hang-over tonic."

She's a lot more solid on her plant usage. Even alien plants she's never heard of before, most she can correlate to something she knows. Not so much the animal and Other types of ingredients.

It's relatively quick work, slicing off whole stems carefully and depositing them in her jar. Once it's full, she stands and wipes her sticky hands on her tunic.

"Alright...let's go find a snake."

Mm. Hangovers. That effect he experiences much less than other people, at least where drinking is concerned. He listens to her talk while she works, adding a few of his own harvest to her jar.

Find a snake indeed.

He treks across the desert, making sure she keeps pace with him. Normally, he's more prepared to track a creature down—knows where it nests and finds its hunting grounds and the signs it leaves behind—but this is only a snake. Not much more than a desert hare or a boar. He does remember its horns, though. Or rather, what looked more of the beginning of some antlers. They're delicate and he suspects they may shed them over time. So that's what he looks for: signs of discarded bones and antlers. It leads them over some hills and towards some rocky earth.

He crouches a few feet away, studying the antlers that are just barely visible between the bushes. Shouldn't be much of a problem. It isn't especially large. Still, something makes him pause and he finds himself placing a hand on Nadine to keep her from moving forward.

"Wait." He scans the area. There are, in fact, the remains of what looks like mice and small rabbits. But there are also the remains of what seems to be larger prey, and what looks suspiciously like the shell of an egg. Hm. "Your book doesn't happen to say how big they grow?"

Nadine stops when Geralt tells her to, following his eyes as he looks around. She sees the same things he does.

"It doesn't."

And it doesn't take long for Nadine to understand exactly why Geralt is asking. But maybe there's something else in the area? Deserts are full of things, aren't they? Coyotes and...big lizards. Who knew what else, here.

This is why Geralt is with her. She's armed, and she knows how to use her sword, but she doesn't have any experience using it outside of training. If there's some big dangerous animal or something out here, that's not anything she could handle on her own.

"The illustration doesn't have anything to judge scale by."

Hm. Geralt peers at the clump of reddish fur, what appears to be a single claw. There are a number of predators roaming about. Fewer that swallow things whole and leave behind little to no bones. Whatever it may be, it's something that he doesn't want Nadine running into.

"Wait here."

The snake slithers along. He can't hear anything else nearby. If they're lucky (when is he ever?), he can snatch it, take it back, and sort out the matter of if they need its shed skin someplace safer. Which is what he inches forward to do: moving silently along the rocky ground until he's within reach. A twist is all it takes for the snake to go limp.

And that is when he hears it: a hiss in the distance. He turns. It is not fast, but it's steadily looming closer from behind Nadine, large antlers attached to its serpent body. Its very long body. Hard to tell if it's scented them yet. He doesn't think so, but it will soon.

"Nadine." He motions for her to come his way. "Slowly."

Oh. Shit.

The first thing she does is look over her shoulder, it's automatic.

Nadine is aware that there are all sorts of monstrous things roaming the wilds of this world. She's seen illustrations. She's seen weird animals kept as pets here and back in Nott. But encountering something large and dangerous on its own turf is something altogether different. There's a sudden cold feeling in the pit of her stomach and her breath catches.

She doesn't hesitate to follow Geralt's instruction, slowly moving towards him and turning to walk backwards, to keep that thing in her line of sight, wondering if she should reach for her weapon or not.

"What do we do?"

Majority of the time, when Geralt isn't being paid to slay a creature, he keeps out of its way. But out in the open, he can see no real place to slip past without drawing its attention. Which leaves one option.

"Kill it." They do need its skin. His attention is fixed on the snake as it slithers forward. "Stay back."

He's never fought one; he doesn't actually know what it can do. It's the downside of landing in a world where none of the monsters are what he's spent his life studying. Last thing he needs is to learn the hard way it can spit acid from twenty feet.

Sword in hand, he steps forward, direct in its line of sight. A hiss greets him. The serpent rears back—a strange glow to what was once a plain set of bone antlers that shines golden under the sun.

Explains the name. Good to know. Less ideal: the increasingly bright glow. He stops where he is, eyes narrowed as he searches for a tell, a sign of what this means. There's a ringing in the air, faint but growing—although he isn't entirely certain Nadine can hear it. It's sharply pitched, a shrill whine, and around them the dry earth begins to stir. A set of smaller antlers break through the dirt, a flickering tongue. And then another.

April Catchall - Open and Closed Prompts

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