abraxaslogs | INTRO LOG #2

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INTRO LOG #2

Intro Log #2

It has been two months now since the initial group of summonings first took place. Castle Thorne, or at least the part above ground, is buzzing with a vibrant air of hope following the 'success' at the Singularity. Eager smiles and excited chattering are to be found in nearly every corner of the castle and surrounding town. The honored guests may find grateful looks turned their way more often than not. A new and brighter day seems to be dawning on the kingdom.

In the dungeons it's a different story entirely. The mood is somber and uneasy. The prisoner taken for trial has yet to return, and no word has come regarding her or her fate. There has been no mention of any further trials as of yet and guards seem to have little patience for unruly behavior or even conversation. Some seem to not even look at or acknowledge the prisoners at all.

[ Feel free to continue threads from the TDM here or start your own! As cell and room assignments will be short-lived due to this month's event, you're free to assume whichever cellmates and roommates you like instead of officially signing up as long as there are ICly no more than four people in a cell or room at once. ]

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Horizon

It's easy for Coraline to slip back into Horizon - the first time she does it, it's by accident, lying in bed a few days later. She's certain she's just lucid dreaming at first, until she realises she recognises the clothes she's wearing, that the constant tugging in her chest is suddenly everywhere and everything, and she...

Scowls.

Still, it's a chance to clean up the fucked up forest she left here last time, and after that she comes back pretty regularly every few days, exploring other areas now that's she more... confident's not the word, but it's definitely in that vein. She knows herself now, knows that other people know their selves, and that makes everything feel a whole lot less dangerous.

The entire time, though, two big wolfhounds are always following her. Regular ones, grey and a tawny brown with yellow irises, but they're very affectionate and generally just Good Dogs.

Prison

She's always going to make the rounds down here, checking on her old cellmates, but now there's some intent to it.

She still checks on them, of course, but now she's approaching familiar faces in other cells, coming up close but never touching the bars with her bare hands.

"Hey, can I ask you something? About the whole Horizon bullshit."

It's not hard to realise that there are new people in the cells, either, and she'll pause beside them with her hands in her pockets, and the Tower symbol in stark blue embroidery on her silken tunic. "So, what're you in for?"

Wildcard

[If you have anything else you'd like to thread with her, feel free to throw something down or hit me up at Maniette to brainstorm!]

Estinien has been regularly returning to the Horizon since he rediscovered it as well, only in his case it's been more along the lines of every day, multiple times a day. There's little else to do in his situation, after all - when not keeping Himeka company, there's not much else for him, and he needs a break from that every now and then.

It most often happens at night, however, when he would otherwise be sleeping. It's become a practiced thing, by now. He slips into the right mental state more easily each time.

He usually arrives, and leaves, from within his valley, but he's been becoming more and more adventurous. After all, he's learned that he has little to fear here. He survived death, after all, and the Horizon is emptier now than it was before, with fewer people buzzing around. Their creations are still there, and he hasn't much interest in interfering with them, but with the context of life in the real world, he's much more fascinated with what people chose to make.

Though, he remembers himself also being fascinated with the choices of a certain wood nymph he met in her horrid forest. He finds himself arriving there again, but instead of a dragon this time, he's just an elf. He journeys primarily on foot, traveling with great leaps instead of on wing. This time, he arrives at the forest's border instead of plunging straight into it.

It seems calmer now. Has its keeper returned? He enters carefully, watching for signs of the disorientating effect it had on him before.

There's a very different air to her domain, now: sun filters through the achingly tall trees in golden glints on the greys and dull greens of her forest, and the air of menace has all but faded completely, and no hunting call follows Estinien's steps.

However, as soon as he makes any move to look behind him, the path is - again - gone. Pity, that.

Alas. At least he knows in this context that, worst come to worst, he could simply wake up, or force his own alteration onto the setting if its maker isn't there to help him herself. She did insist that, last time, all he had to do was ask politely to be released after all.

And the forest is so much more agreeable, now. Though he frowns a bit, seeing he's about to become lost once again, he carries on at a more leisurely pace, taking in the alterations. He does like forests, after all - especially when they don't seem to be screaming for his death.

While he takes his time, eventually he will call out for the forest's owner. He's having an alright time so far, but he doesn't plan on staying here all day.

"Girl!"

It's the baying of hounds that he'll hear first - but just two this time, with no horrible tremors or sounds of pain to them; just regular, barking dogs, that rush out of the bushed nearby - two wolfhounds, healthy as anything - and lunge playfully around him with ears pricked forward and tails wagging as they circle him.

It's a few seconds later there's a sharp whistle and both dogs retreat, and Coraline strides casually in on a path that forms under her feet. She's still in the same punk outfit, but she's taken a strand of her viney hair to tie the rest back in a loose ponytail, and she looks at the elf with a raised eyebrow.

"Someone got a new look."

He's a little concerned when he first hears the baying, not necessarily because he's terrified of the dogs but more because he's not hoping for a fight of any sort - but it quickly becomes apparent that they are nothing like the ghoulish things that had been following her around before. He had initially taken a step back, but then changes his mind, settling into his stance as the wolfhounds lunge with a playful energy.

He lifts his hands to ward them off, though there's a faint quirk to his lip as he does. He's never had a dog of any sort, and he's not very familiar with being around them in this sort of environment. He's always appreciated the concept, though.

Those don't manage to frazzle him too much before they are called off - it seems their mistress is here after all. Estinien crosses his arms as she approaches, noticing that she's opted for the same look as before, with a few alterations. He lifts a brow, but seems amused more than anything else.

"I thought I might be better received this way," he says, lifting a hand to indicate himself. "My previous incarnation was the product of an addled mind. But not yours, I see...?"

"Nope." The man's actual form... she wasn't expecting an elf, of some kind, but she likes it. And only partly because it's not a fucking dragon. "It's my Mien, it's my real form. Realer than the human everyone sees me as."

The dogs come back to her and weave circles around her, and she pats them both with warm, playfully rough motions. "You're in the dungeons still, right? Right near the doors. I saw you in the yard sometimes, but you were always with that girl with the horns."

"So you are that girl," he says, that information confirming his guess. "The one that was released."

He's only had limited exposure to work off of, so it had been a process of elimination more than anything else. Her demeanor was the same, and he'd seen her come in to visit that Jon man while he waiting on death row.

Strange to hear she's not actually a human, but not entirely without precedent.

"Aye, I am," he says. "And I don't expect to be released, either. Though I'm not in as sorry a state as your friend."

"Coraline," she confirms. And since he's worked it out himself, she's not going to bother showing off her Mask. It's just nice knowing he's not shocked by it.

At the mention of Jon, though, the furrows of bark on her forehead crease as she frowns, and she sticks her hands in her jacket pockets.

"Yeah. Jon... something happened, after we all got back. He's not sure, so, I'm asking people for him." She flicks her head slightly, an automatic motion that makes a few strands of leaves her ponytail missed flick back over her shoulder. "After you got out, you didn't hear any voices, did you?"

There had been a lot to take in, the moments after getting back from the Horizon. Honestly, his gaze had turned in Jon's direction, but mostly because he was covered with an unusual amount of eyes. He'd seem startled, but not in a way Estinien felt he needed an explanation for. It had been a trying experience for him, after all.

He tilts his head, indicating his interest. There's no familiarity in his look, but he'd like to hear more.

"I did not," he says. "Besides the guards barking at me, at least. Did he have a vision?"

She shakes her head. "Something spoke to him, he said. In a different language, something about how a messenger was coming. Jon was..." She shrugs her shoulders awkwardly. "A bit freaked out by it, to be honest. He couldn't really tell me much more."

Couldn't or didn't want to - Coraline was fully aware of how much it scared him, but she at least won't reveal that.

Estinien again finds himself fortunate that none of these concepts actually sound that strange to him at this point in his life. Instead, he can't help but feel a flutter of hope in his chest at the idea of anything out there watching their situation and sending a messenger. To Jon in particular, even... the man that Thorne intended to kill.

He takes his breath away despite its tenuousness. Even if it was frightening... it was something - anything. Anything other than a future of imprisonment and helplessness. He rocks back on his feet for a moment, having to shake off his surprise before settling again.

"A voice... from a higher being, then?" She may notice how much having any sort of lead at all seems to raise his spirits. "Mayhap our connection to this realm is not all that forged in our visit to the Singularity."

Desire was always a tricky emotion for her to sense, with as many forms as it came in; but she's come to recognise Hope fairly well. The desire for things to be better. She just watches him with a careful curiosity.

"Maybe. It's gotta be powerful, since he heard it even being a prisoner. One of Jon's whole things is that he can just know things, so. Maybe it could sense that, maybe it picked him on purpose because it knew he could understand it."

"Himeka - the 'lizard girl' you saw me with - she has a similar ability, but as far as I know she's heard nothing." Granted, it was caused by her connection to Hydaelyn, so maybe that's being interfered with too much to work. "Though it may have only had the strength to speak to one."

Estinien is no expert on these things, but it's enough to make him wonder. A difference in method, perhaps.

"It could be it's a part of the Singularity itself - though I suppose we can offer little but idle speculation as things stand." He frowns, considering. "We are running out of options. If anything could yet interfere with his execution, I would be full glad of it."

"Kiryu's already been trying to ask for his freedom, but we all knew that was never gonna work. And I'm not sure we can break him out," she huffs, "Since even when your magic does work, it doesn't as soon as you go back into the dungeons." She shifts to fold her arms; one of her dogs yawns and lies down nonchalantly. "So the best way to get him out is probably get him released as a servant and run away with him, or steal him from the execution."

Or at least, those are the best ways she can see.

"Him being taken out as a servant would seem unlikely given the severity of his 'crimes' - and if he were, only as a way to trick subversives into showing their hands." Given they had him under heavier guard than everyone else on the way to the Singularity, he can't see how they'd allow him to just wander the town unless it were part of some trap. It would be ludicrous otherwise.

"Not that overpowering the Thornean mages seems any more likely." He frowns, not looking happy with that answer, either. "Even when using subterfuge, if any of them lay eyes on you, they will be able to divine your nature."

He only knows for certain that the prisoners are marked, but honestly, he can't bring himself to imagine that the guests aren't as well, even if the meaning of the brand is different.

She looks annoyed, and when she moves to pull herself up onto a branch it nearly seems to move down to meet her.

"Yeah, that's why people were trying to act all subtle about us having a giant meeting to talk about shit." She climbs onto the branch with ease of experience, and lets both legs dangle. "Jaskier and that big goth dude tried running one to get all the information people got from Horizon or whatever. Pooling our resources and shit without being subversive."

She just scowls. "Fuck the wizards here, honestly."

"Jaskier mentioned as much to me," he admits, crossing his arms. He's not sure who the 'big goth dude' is, but he also isn't that concerned with it. "What I'm concerned with is who among the guests genuinely sympathizes with their keeper. Who would stand against us were true 'subversion' to take form."

His impressions of the guests are limited, mostly because he's only gotten to see most of them in an amnesiac state or during occasional visits to the dungeons. The ones that were most sympathetic tended to come down there often and of their own accord.

That he agrees with 'fuck the wizards' seems to go without saying.

She snorts abruptly. "Ronan probably is. You'd think I said I was gonna kill him personally, for saying I think we should embrace this place and own it before Ambrose turns us all into weapons for it." She folds her arms, leaning back and letting herself topple backwards and catching herself with her legs before she falls out of the tree completely. "Probably there's more but Ronan got into a fight with me over it so he definitely does."

"Ronan..." Estinien murmurs, trying to remember if he's ever seen the man. One of the guests that hasn't been gracing their cages, he imagines. He did meet him in Horizon?

"I'm not sure I'm familiar. He is... enthusiastic about following Ambrose's plans, then? Is there aught else you could tell me of him?"

Estinien honestly agrees with her about owning the Horizon, so from this limited perspective, he feels like he'd be inclined to agree with her side of the argument.

"He didn't want me recording him, for one." In a surprising display of core strength and flexibility, she tilts her head back so she can look at Estinien the right way up, while she's still hanging by her knees. "He was one of the welcomed people before I got released, I don't really know much about him besides he's a brat."

There's one thing that can be said for Horizon: there's certainly a lot of freedom in how to explain things. She pulls herself upright and brushes the branch she's sitting on with one hand, and the bark starts peeling back and shifting on the tree's trunk - at about six feet up, a profile starts forming, head and shoulders of Ronan for Estinien to recognise.

Well, that was less informative than he hoped - though he's presently surprised by her creating an illusion of him to witness. He hasn't seen the man, as expected, but now he'll be able to keep that in mind if he ever does see her. He appreciates having warning of Thorne sympathizers.

There's one thing he doesn't understand, though.

"...A recording of what? Were you taking dictation?" Though audio recordings are a thing in his world, they are not a thing he has been exposed to.

The question makes her blink in surprise as well. "Oh, um. Kind of? Jon can make things called tapes and a special player for them, I was using it to record what people were talking about, when they let me. So we can replay them later, and other people can listen to them as well."

She pauses to consider it. "I guess it's like a book that reads itself to you."

His brow furrows, but he can mostly piece together what she's talking about. He nods. Ah, so it's like an orchestrion roll, then. He knows that things like this exist, somewhere, and somehow sound is recorded, but when left to his own devices it would never be his first thought.

"Canny of you to do so," he says, at least able to see the bright side of it. He contemplates it for a moment. "I would be interested in hearing that, were the opportunity to present itself."

"If I remembered more of it I could play it here, but that's really why I recorded it," she muses. "D'you think I could get you out on loan for something, so we could play it somewhere private?"

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INTRO LOG #2

Coraline Finch | Changeling: The Lost | Tower/"""Honoured Guest"""

horizon

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