abraxaslogs | ( open — august catchall )

So, it'll probably take me a few hours since I can't really drive and all.

( he gestures up at his face and then laughs. he'd gotten used to walking but in new york, it was never that long a walk. sounds like he'd have to figure out another way to get to and from places where she'd come from. )

Uh, not married, no kids. I don't even have plants.

( not very responsible that way. )

The state of my refrigerator back home would tell everyone not to put anyone in my care.

Ah, "only eats takeout", check. So, not a cook, not a gardener, no pets. Definitely not a tennis player. What do you do when you ain't lawyer-in'?

[ Part of this is standard background digging on behalf of Wanda, but she is genuinely curious as to what hobbies a blind person might have. She imagines many common ones aren't much of an option. ]

Bein' here makes a lotta stuff we used to do pretty hard. What with... y'know, no technology.

( that's a good question and it's not like he can go saying what he does do when he's not in court. or he could but he doesn't want to give that away just yet. )

There's not a lot of free time away from the whole lawyer thing. I do a lot of stuff off the clock just to make sure I'm prepared when I'm on.

( but he knows she's asking for hobbies and such. )

I like to walk, which i know sounds boring. But it's interesting in New York. Something new to see everyday. My friends and I, we've got a bar that we hang out in and drink shitty beer until we're as close to drunk as we can get. I'm a pretty good pool player too.

Pool, for real? How do you know which balls are yours? Or, like, where they end up after every shot? [ Screw Wanda for the moment, this is legitimately fascinating. Julie spent much of her life in dive bars, playing pool and darts, because there was little else to do. ] I feel like this is somethin' I would actually like to see.

[ If only to say she's seen it. She was willing to bang a deaf guy just to say she did it, she can definitely spare some time to just watch a blind guy shoot pool. ]

You got a lotta friends, or are you more of a lone wolf type?

Oh, I don't. I have to rely on the friends that I play with to not lead me wrong. Doesn't always work.

( he laughs though, rubs a hand against his cheek. he was a pretty good pool player but the colors of the balls? not his strength. )

Usually, I have someone helping me, telling me where things are so I can get an idea for the shot. But I just have to have a good partner. And not be too drunk. So, I lose a lot. But I do get the balls in the holes. Just not always the right one.

Guessin' you probably don't make a habit of bettin' on the games, then. Can't trust anyone when there's money on the line. Or muffins.

[ Unless he has only particularly upstanding humans as friends. Still, never know who could really use an extra twenty bucks. But he still didn't really answer the question of whether he surrounds himself with friends or only takes to rare exceptions.

Her mug clunks against the table when she sets it down. ]

What are you gonna do here for money? Go to the university and learn their law?

You know, hadn't really thought about it but I should. Money makes the world go round.

( he hasn't even started looking. he's just been trying to keep his balance here, get his bearings, figure out what was going on. )

There's a university?

Edited 2022-09-08 11:17 (UTC)

Oh sure. There's a couple of 'em, actually. My friend, she lives upstairs with me, she's goin' to the medical academy. I mean, she started learnin' stuff back in our world, emergency first aid stuff, then she worked as a healer's apprentice here for about six months before she enrolled. Her name's Nadine Cross, she takes care of all the Summoned for just donations. Her office is called Salves and Stitches, it's just down the street. She gives out candy.

[ Might as well plug one of the family businesses. The "donations" aspect is very much enforced by the fact that, if Julie is in the office and sees anyone with a closed purse (when she knows they have coin), she will straight-up pickpocket them while Nadine works. ]

Anyway, I'm not sure which school they teach law at, but you can just go down there and talk to 'em about classes. If anythin', I'd bet their law here is easier than our weird system was.

My clients would love someone like that back home. They can pay me in baked goods and then go get medical attention and pay in donations? They'd love it.

( and he'd appreciate someone like that being around too because he knows how tough it can be for people that need the help the most. )

I might check into that, thank you. I don't know if the idea of going to law school again is really enticing but I'm sure it's necessary since I can't really just wave around my license and say 'I did this in New York, let me have a job here!'

She tries her best. I mean, it ain't the kind of medical care people like us are really used to. Like, modern medicine and shit. It's... well, it's past leeches, but pre-penicillin. Nadine treats the Summoned 'cause most of us don't trust the natives, and she consults in the Horizon for people in Thorne and Solvunn. And I know there's a doctor in Thorne, like a for-real doctor. From regular modern New York. His name's Stephen. So we have okay care, all things considered.

[ Julie snorts. Based on what Abraxas considers to be a full medical education, she's pretty sure law school can't be that much harder. ]

Yeah, I'm inclined to think that it's not gonna be all that hard. Probably like, a year of part-time classes. How did people become lawyers in like... 1890? I feel like they didn't go to years of law school and then pass the bar. I feel like it's mostly just that the guy who reads the best gets a suit and business card. Now he's the official town lawyer.

Edited 2022-09-08 17:11 (UTC)

Hey, it's better than nothing.

( and for awhile, that's about what he did to himself. nothing except put a bunch of bandages over his bleeding wounds. claire had helped a little but he couldn't just walk into a hospital with the things he did. too many questions. )

Well, I don't want to brag but —

( matt acts like he's straightening up a tie he's not wearing before he shrugs. )

I can do okay with reading. If I have to study, I will. It's gonna make me feel like I'm in college again and that's just gonna make me feel old.

Will you still feel old if you don't hafta eat ramen and frozen macaroni for every meal? 'Cause all those cheap, college kid kinda meals here are... not stuff you wanna eat.

[ She's pretty sure she can hunt him down one of those "all-in-one" cans of food-goop they were given at the peace summit. Convenience food in Cadens is not to be trusted. ]

Anyway, if you don't wanna do that, you better come up with somethin' quick, or else Mag'll put you to work washin' dishes or fixin' squeaky floorboards.

I think I'd be pretty shit at that considering the blind thing —

( matt gestures at his glasses and then laughs. )

Can you imagine me trying to sweep something? I'd just sweep a bunch of nothing. But I get what you're saying. I can't just loaf around. I wouldn't want to do that anyway. I'd get bored.

I'd give you advice, but my best tip proooobably won't work for you the same as for me.

[ That tip being that you just hook your roommate up with this world's equivalent of a rock star and then convince him to support you both financially. It works great, but has several prerequisites that Matt just can't fill. ]

Do you know Sam? He might be able to help you find somethin'.

Sam Wilson?

( was there another sam around here? could be but he's pretty sure that she means sam wilson. )

I know him, yeah. I met him when I first got here. He was kind of a welcome wagon even though he was bedridden.

That's him. He tries to set up everyone he can, I'm sure he can find you somethin' to pay the bills for now.

[ Julie might not be on the best terms with Sam right now -- long story -- but she won't deny all the help he tries to provide to the newly Summoned. He's one of the very few among them willing to make the connections with locals that allow for them to find work and housing. ]

The only other job that's popular with us is monster huntin', so, y'know, our options are real limited in general.

Yeah, not much of a monster hunter. Wouldn't really work with me.

( it would work but he also has no real urge to go hunting for monsters. he'll gladly hunt for other things, other people but not monsters. )

There a lot of monsters around here?

Out in the desert, sure. Pretty much everythin' out there is fuckin' terrifyin'. The city's fine though. I guess monsters are like any other kinda big animals -- they mostly stay away from humans unless they're desperate.

[ Which is not to say they aren't dangerous creatures. If anything, she's pretty sure most are much more aggressive and vicious than things like bears and snakes. But she's come to think of monsters as just large wild animals, rather than active predators of humans. Just like a bear or a panther or a buffalo, they aren't out there trying to get tangled up with people. ]

Lots of bandits too. Merchants and people travelin' pay for escorts when they go between cities.

Yeah, I'd heard a little about things like that just —

( it makes him curious but he knows that going out there alone would probably be pretty stupid. he's more than capable but one man against monsters that he's never faced before? it wouldn't go well and he'd probably end up getting yelled at. )

You've been? I know you've traveled between cities but did you go that way? Through monster...land?

[ As someone with close ties to many of the hunters, Julie does not recommend going on one's own. ]

I mean, I never saw anythin', but technically yes. When I went to Aquila, I took a wagon, and they always have escorts to be safe. And there was one other time that I was a few hours out from the city, but I had someone with me that could fight if we needed.

So, don't go alone is what you're saying.

( a smile flickers across his face. he hadn't been thinking of going anywhere but good to have it confirmed. )

It's at least a comfort to know that we can move around some. Even if there are monsters out there trying to stop you from doing anything and everything.

Yeah, I wouldn't suggest it. There's folks who'll go out there with you, if you wanna explore, but like I said, it's a desert. Mostly just sand and rocks.

[ But traveling to the other cities themselves is another story. ]

Oh, sure. We can technically go wherever we want, long as we don't cross the borders. You can hire portals to go to the other cities, but it's expensive. Wagons are cheaper. Just make sure you have a couple spare weeks -- Aquila takes about a week each way, and I think Libertas is two weeks.

That's good information to know.

( not that matt has any reason to visit the other cities save for his own curiosity but that tends to be enough for him to do what he wants to do. )

Which would you recommend if I wanted to visit one of them? Which one's better? More interesting?

[ Julie had spent her life extremely restricted in where she was able to go. Before the end of the world, she'd never been further than a few hours from her hometown. In the year or so after society collapsed, she walked across multiple states to get to Vegas, and she unironically considers that time as one of the highlights of her life.

She is very into visiting new places. ]

I suppose it depends on what you like. Aquila's a beach town, it's real relaxed and colorful and the people are super nice. I never saw the ocean before I went there. Libertas is... it reminded me a lot of Vegas, but like, with less neon. It's showy and fashionable, there's casinos but also a ton of art and museums. Not as many history and science museums like here in Cadens, their museums are all about different kinds of art. They have fancy restaurants and you can get just about anythin' you want there.

[ Which is absolutely code for "hookers and blow". ]

Huh.

( maybe aquila then. new york was a big city with a lot of that culture that she made mentioned of (and the hookers and blow too) but the beach town was a new one, something that maybe he'd like to try.

he imagines himself on the beach, feet in the sand with a suit and tie on and laughs because that's not how it goes. )

Never been to the beach before. Even trying to imagine myself there is laughable. So, maybe I'll try that and see if I can enjoy sand and water and all.

( open — august catchall )

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)