apocalypsehowcomm | Log - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Closed)

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Log - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Closed)

Who: Mercy Graves, Aelwyn Abernant, residents (and friends) of A1.
When: Nebulously early in October.
Where: Apartment A1, Mercy's room
Summary: Mercy and Aelwyn made plans to have a sleepover with some alcohol in the mix and they are making good on that plan.
Warnings: Alcohol, underage drinking (additional cw's will be in tag subject lines as they come up)

[Aelwyn has promised her clever ways to acquire liquor, and Mercy has promised snacks, in turn, along with a comfortable bed to sleep in. The idea that she won't be falling asleep alone tonight is one that cheers her significantly throughout the day. She's seen the injuries people have come back with from Dogtown, and it's been worrying her. There are so many dangers in this place that she isn't familiar with, things she doesn't know how to warn people for. One month, it seems like there are slides eating people, the next it's evil boars. Now it's toys, she's heard. Strange toys turning up in Dogtown and making people act peculiar.

But all of that can be put away for tonight. Tonight, she gets to have Aelwyn over and they don't need to worry about anything. That music outside doesn't seem to penetrate the walls here in the apartment complex. Or it hasn't been bothering her much here. It seems safe.

Whenever Aelwyn arrives, Mercy is already dressed in her pajamas--purple with little skulls on them--and she greets the other woman with a grin.]

Come on in! I got sugar and savor, whatever you're feeling like for snacks, and I've figured out how to work the television, if you're wanting to watch the moving pictures. Got us set up in the living room to start.

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[Aelwyn visibly brightens as soon as Mercy starts speaking. She's come in a crop top and some sweatpants after looking up the appropriate sleepover attire on google. More than that though, she's come with two bottles of whiskey, and one bottle of one of the cocktails that she and Ren made back when they were still on friendly terms.

The circumstances have been bothering her too, though for perhaps different reasons than Mercy's been frightened about. This life of keeping secrets and causing destruction and questioning everything, being pursued and pursuing fear... it's not numbing in the way her old life was. Part of her really enjoys it. Part of her fears what that says about her.

But it is... isolating, having nobody to just relax with and talk to. But Mercy's the only connection she's actually fairly sure about. She's a... friend.]

Oooo, you've certainly got a selection. I have my own as well! Err, where should I put these? [She approaches the...... coffee table?]

That'll work fine there. We can take them into the bedroom once we tuck in for the night. I think Monika and Akechi are the sort who like rules a little more'n us. [She gives Aelwyn a wink.] Don't want them getting in trouble or thinking they will if one of the 'grown-ups' catches us with something we apparently ain't allowed to have, yet.

[Mercy huffs at that.]

I never heard of something so silly. Someone at ADI told me they went and outlawed alcohol completely at one point here. Future folks is strange.

Best keep our stash hidden from them, then. Just a secret between us delinquents. [She returns the wink in kind.] Well, I think your unofficial third roommate is a bit more of a rebel than the other two.

[Though, Akechi hasn't sold her out either. So either Ren didn't follow through on telling him about it or he's not quite as much of a snitch as one would assume based on that outward demeanor.

She sets the bottles down at the coffee table and drops against the couch with a dramatic yawn.]

It's like a government run by the sexually frustrated and repressed. Tragic.

I don't think they ever did that back home. There's probably some places where it's strictly prohibited but elven alcohol is extremely weak and the wine is mostly just grape juice. So we're good on that front.

Edited 2021-10-07 14:24 (UTC)

[Ren hasn't struck her as much of a rebel, but maybe she just hasn't seen that side of him, yet. Interesting. She does have to wonder what Aelwyn's seen or done with him that would lend that impression. Maybe she'll find out tonight.]

I been meaning to ask... You just got humans and elves where you're from, or are there more... races? We only got humans, far as I know. Well, humans and Great Beasts like the dragons they say guard the seas.

Oh, yeah, a whole bunch. Elves, humans, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, dragoborn, goliaths, orcs, goblins, gnolls... There's beings from other worlds that cross over and mingle in the ma - [Okay, she does remember how much of a struggle it was to explain this to Keith, so she'll simplify it a little.] In the mortal world.

Beings made from elements, or demons or angels. That kind of thing.

Have you ever seen a dragon?

Naw, nothing except what was on Brother Ainsley's old maps. But we had merchants who come in from the south every so often who said they'd seen them. Closest I ever got was iron dragons.

[She mimes shooting a rifle before reaching down to take hold of one of the bottles of spirits and pour herself and Aelwyn some before sitting down close to the other woman.]

I seen gunpowder do its work on its own, too. If real dragons are anything like that... [A quiet whistle.]

Can I tell you a secret?

[She lowers her voice conspiratorially and leans in, almost whispering.] Between you and me... they're not that tough.

[Actually, they are. Aelwyn's standards are just fucking ridiculous, because even as far as spell casters go, she's ridiculous. And she knew that when she and Penelope inevitably turned on Kalvaxus, they would have had the power to bend time itself.]

My baby sister actually killed one, you know. A really powerful dragon too.

Edited 2021-10-15 06:29 (UTC)

[Mercy's eyes widen in surprise and appreciation.]

I reckon it's in your blood being powerful, ain't it? What's easy for you and your sister'd be a right hard row to hoe for most of us.

[She offers Aelwyn a slightly shier smile.]

Wish I could see some of your magic like you had back home. Everyone I hear talk about it sounds amazing.

I'd say it's more in the way we were raised. [Abused, groomed for success, taught that their only worth was their ability to reach into the sky and tear the stars from the heavens. The prasing that it's blood... the elves would say it's absolutely blood but the logic never sat right with Aelwyn. It made something ugly and bitter inside of her swell.] My father's useless at practical casting. He can do the theory, chart up the right incantations, but in an actual duel? He's dead before he hits the floor.

[Back in Aelwyn's world, Adaine has in fact already punched his head off.]

I suppose that's true, though. If any dragons show up here, I promise that I shall protect you from their wrath. [There's an affectionate glint to her smile.] Maybe someday, after we find a way to leave this world, I'll be able to show you mine.

You really think we'll get to travel to everyone else's worlds?

[She can sense... something in that first bit, but she doesn't know enough about Aelwyn to grasp what it might be. Some sort of tension with her father, maybe? Mercy can appreciate not always having a perfect relationship with family. Brother knows she can respect it lately more than ever.]

I don't know there's much interesting to show you in mine... but I'd love seeing yours! What's it like where you live?

Maybe not immediately. But when I get home, or get access to a proper spellcasters lab, I can get a way up. A portal room of sorts.

[She considers that question, leaning her head against Mercy's shoulder in an affectionate manner. She's pretty sure that's what friends do, they lean on eachother and get in one another's space.]

My dear, if it produced you, I'm sure there's got to be something interesting. Besides, what's interesting to you might be totally mundane to me, and the same goes for what's interesting to me.

[Where does she live, anymore. Her house is a smoking ruin.]

My world... it's hard to describe. In a lot of ways, there's actually a lot that's very similar to this one, especially in Solace. But in others the differences are ludicrous.

There's monsters, and magic, and remnants of old dead civilizations. There's roaming bands of free lance adventurers who are unregulated by the law, who are tasked with slaughtering monsters like the ones we've encountered.

It's beautiful, in it's own way.

That sounds like some of the stories I heard from traveling bards.

[This is very okay. Mercy's been touch-starved for months now, and any chance she gets to cuddle is a welcome one.]

We used to place pretend that we were heroes going to fight the vagrants at the borders when I was a young'un. We got the Sidbutian Empire always baring its fangs at us just to the west. Evergreen's the first line of defense there. Same for Torland to the north, but they got their own problems inside without fighting Leigland.

Can't say I ever seen many monsters, but you hear tales of great beasts roaming. Boars with three heads and deer with antlers that twist in strange sigils.

[She's never seen any of this, but it seems like it could be true.]

People think things like that might be spirits or even the gods come to look in on them.

[She hums, listening alongside and shifting slightly to get comfortable.]

War, the universal construct, I suppose.

Where I grew up, it's a human country a lot like this America that we find ourselves in. But my family's from this elven kingdom named Fallinel, so we were there as the accompanying family of the elven diplomat. There hasn't been a big war for several hundred years but there's always invading hosts from the Mountains of Chaos or the Red Waste. Nothing that can't be stopped by a handful of highschoolers.

[She won't.... mention the very recent war that was started very intentionally by her.]

Those creatures sound fascinating, though... I'd love to see something like that.

I wouldn't mind seeing them, either! Just... just as long as they ain't anything like them kelpies. [Mercy can't help a small shudder and takes a bracing sip of her drink.]

But... Leigland makes war its business. They're all- we... [Mercy pauses.] My people was from Srada. That got eat up by Leigland a few generations back. We're all Leiglanders now, but it takes a long time for people to forget where their roots are. Especially ones that run deep. They always got a way of pulling you back toward them.

Mountains of Chaos, though? Who's naming places where you're from? [Let's lighten the topic a little.] Sounds like a little'un making a map for their games.

The nation that is Solace, the nation I was referring to, branched off from a place called Highcourt, which was annexed by Kalvaxus, Emperor of the Red Wastes. Before that Highcourt was it's own imperialist power, conquering neighbouring kingdoms and independent civilizations and subjugating them into servants of the crown.

Go back a few thousand years and the land itself that we call Solace was actually populated by these people called Halflings who would only reach my waste in height. Some of the older ones, or the elves who've lived here for thousands of years, they still consider it part of the old country.

[She smiles at the comment.]

In their defence, it's not entirely incorrect. It's like a volcano, except instead of lava, there's just an underground blackened lake as big as a small ocean that'll take you straight into the Abyss if you swim deep enough. Which is quite literally made up of elemental chaos and destruction.

But I think that's just the ridiculous Solisian way of saying it. Everyone who lives there has their own word for it, ranging from "Black Mountain", "Goblin Land" or something presumably much more profound in their own languages.

[Mercy begins trying to map things out in her head for Aelwyn's world. There are new names, but at least they're relatively easy to remember. Except Kalvaxus. That might trip her up. The mention of Halflings makes her grin to think about. She's known some shorter people in her life, but mostly, those had been children.]

Never heard of a... volcano. But that lake sounds mighty interesting. What would- I mean, if people are swimming around in chaos and destruction, ain't that gonna do a body harm? Or can you... harness it? Like... how you get a gun to work. It's all chaos you're packing down that barrel, but what comes out is something more controlled.

Precisely. That's basically exactly it, it's why there are societies that live up there in the first place.

[She's... a nerd. About magic in particular.]

On it's own, it's extremely dangerous, and even tampering with it can drive you irreperably insane. There's extremely high risks involved, but it's also a direct, concentrated connection to a well of some of the strongest magic in the multiverse. It can be tamed, it can be utilized, it's just like any particularly dangerous resource.

It's all about being extra careful.

[Can you see the hubris, Mercy? Can you? She does shake her head, though.]

At least, that's what all the people who try think. Personally, I don't need the boost, and I always preferred figuring it out for myself rather than giving away a part of me to something else. I've gotten this far without throwing myself into a vat of madness inducing acid. It's an interesting phenomena, though, that there's creatures who can live so close to it.

Edited 2021-11-16 04:18 (UTC)

[She sees... the edges of something sharper and uglier, but then they're softened as Aelwyn seems to take pride in her own abilities, absent something like that. No, she doesn't need to give herself away to anything. She's fairly amazing so far, and Mercy likes her like this.]

Takes a special sort of person to know they're better off without something others think'll give them something they don't got the grit to get the harder way. [She gives Aelwyn's shoulder a little nudge and winks.] But you probably already know that, my lady.

You ever seen any of these creatures close up, or fought with them?

[She winks back, grinning brightly enough that it's hard to tell that she's blushing just a bit. Praise from Mercy feels strange. There's no undercurrent of seething jealousy or appraisal like she's seeing a resource, it feels... honest.

Would she dip her hand into the lakes? She's not sure. Power for it's own sake has never really interested her. She needs power to be great, and getting it that way is what those who were never exceptional would do... but maybe. Boredom is a dangerous thing.]

Flattery will get you everywhere, darling. [She nudges her back, and lightly pokes her leg with her foot.]

If you mean fiends, yes, once or twice. My school's not so obsessed with fieldwork, so we've never ventured into hell or anything, but a lot of the magic I'm versed in is tied to combat, so occasionally we go up against monsters like that. [Except unlike Aguefort, Hudol cares if their students die. Mostly because it reflects badly on the school, and so many of the families sending children to them are influential enough to give them a nightmare of paperwork.]

Though, some of the species are fully sapient, and they're just around town. There was a goblin I met once who was a major buzzkill at parties. [And like, tried to kill her.]

God, I've feel like I've been talking about myself a lot...

Ah... well, I like listening to you. [Mercy's blush may be a little more obvious. She's just... fascinated by this completely alien world. It's much like learning about the one they're in now. Endlessly more interesting than her own.]

I'd ask more, but... if you want to know something about me, I don't mind talking, either. Most of my life's been at the Abbey, though. Only a few interesting bits in there.

Nonsense. [She reaches a hand forward, brushing a bit of Mercy's hair out of her face with a soft smile. This is platonic.]

You're endlessly interesting to me. I'm sure whatever's mundane to you will be considerably more fascinating to me. I'd like to hear about it.

[She laughs into her drink, suddenly feeling a bit bashful. She's never found herself to be particularly fascinating to anyone, let alone endlessly so.]

Well... I could tell you about something I don't really talk about with most folk. It's a secret between me and my brother.

[She smiles. She likes secrets. It's as if she's in cahoots, which is a relationship status she's intimately familiar with.]

Oh? Go on...

[Mercy leans in an lowers her voice conspiratorially.]

Me and my family don't get paid terrible much to put a body in the ground. It's hard work and someone's got to do it, but most folk don't think it's something worth one mark, let alone two. But they sure to go all out when they're having us dress them that are going down to rest. Jewels and gold, the sort of thing a body can't take with them wherever it is they're going.

So, me and Colm, we'd... see to giving those little trinkets a new life with the traders coming through town. It's keeping a piece of that person alive, the way I see it. Memories can go into things, you know? Ain't right just sticking it all underground when that ain't bringing nothing to the soil.

This is what I mean when I say you're fascinating.

[Her smile grows, her voice is just as quiet. There's a trace of affection in it.]

It's a brilliant way to earn more than what they're giving you. And you're right, it's victimless. When a person dies, it's hardly like their body is what they'll live on in, so why on earth would you bury half your wealth with them? All while underappreciating you, too, the people who actually see to doing the work. [In truth, Mercy could have confessed to anything and Aelwyn would have been delighted.] Did you ever get caught?

[Mercy hesitates. She's enjoying sharing with Aelwyn, but that's a bit closer, something she hasn't shared properly with most.]

Once. It- It weren't finding something that was supposed to be there, it was a body someone threw in one of our graves that wasn't supposed to be. They was too bashed in to tell who they even were except they were wearing one of the habits for the Brothers and Sisters of the Blind Mother. I only seen one other body that had that done to them, and if I don't see it again, it'll be too soon.

I found a cloakpin they were wearing, though. Something strange, looked special, maybe. I showed it to Colm and he got scared half out of the half-wit he's got. Me finding it and trying to figure out what it was and who that was... caused a lot of problems.

[She frowns, noticing that this is harder for her. She huddles up closer, loosely playing with a strand of Mercy's hair and resting her head on her shoulder.]

...I won't press if you don't wish to revisit it, my dear. Of course, you can tell me anything and I'll take it to the grave, but I understand if you'd like to keep things a bit lighter tonight.

Edited 2021-12-07 00:41 (UTC)

N-no, I want to tell you. It's just... a long story. [She puffs out her cheeks, thinking a long moment.]

But to make it shorter, the Abbot of Evergreen was leading a sect that didn't much care for any other religions. There's all kinds of in-fighting among the faiths, but the ones that're recognized are usually safe enough. But they didn't want none of that. They wanted to grow the Blind Mother's power, spread it farther than just the borders.

There was all sorts of trouble with that, but me and some other folk managed to put a stop to him. It's a hero's story! [Her smile fades.] I did a lot of growing up that winter, found out stories isn't the same as living through something.

[It sends a mix of emotions through Aelwyn that Mercy wants to tell her about her unpleasant stories, while Aelwyn could never really put that level of trust on someone who she wants to have a high opinion of her.

But maybe the difference is that her own stories are repugnant, and she was always the villain in every single one of them.]

I'm familiar with the type. I believe I've told you about it before, there was a cult that thought pretty similar about a year and a half ago now. Tried to open up a gateway to allow the armies of Hell to ravage the planet so that they could kill everyone before they had a chance to become nonbelievers.

[Heroism... she remembers Adaine coming home from her first day, her hair still matted with blood, shell-shock in her eyes, how she wouldn't come out of her room all night. It certainly isn't a fairy tale.]

You're very brave. It can't have been easy.

It weren't easy... and good folk got hurt because of it. We found out the Abbey'd been lying about their heroes for ages, too. It was all hidden in the records if you knew how and where to look. We found it, but all the evidence... it went up in smoke when the Abbey and the gatehouse burned down. Me'n the others who found it swore we wouldn't tell no one, either. It just- It wouldn't've helped none?

[Mercy frowns down at her drink and takes another long pull of it.]

All that was left who knew, who saw it, was me and Ciaran. He was just running from the gangs in Torland, hadn't arrived at the Abbey a season ago. And I'm... my people ain't known by most to be honest folk, even when we are.

[Ah, yes. A history baked in secrets with false prophets, false heroes and false villains. It's... familiar to her. She doesn't know the full story of the Nightmare King, but even still she's read over her mother's notes.

She nods. Nineteen years of dealing with her bigoted parents has made her familiar with the ugly nature of prejudice.]

Yes... if you'd tried exposing an established institution, even locally, that would only draw further ire, I imagine.

Is this the same faith that you hold onto now?

No. I was never a devotee to the Blind Mother. Me and my family just tend the graveyard there. We're children of Brother Earth. The Spring Tide is just... well, it's a healing order. I found out about it from folk visiting for a festival when I was real little. Then a cleric come up to help with the wounded after the Abbey burned.

She was good people, told me about how the Spring Tide was all about helping and healing and bringing life. I thought that sounded nice, so when she was leaving... I decided to go with her.

I see... that's a very noble cause. [She takes a large sip of her drink. She feels a bit out of her depth here.]

I've never been religious. [Is that true? Kalina is... something. Maybe not divine but certainly a vessel for a god. The Nightmare King would probably count Aelwyn as a follower. But it's not like she chose that.] ...My family sort of turns up their nose at anyone who bases their lives around faith in anything other than themselves. That way of thinking doesn't exactly work out all the time, though, certainly not for my parents. [Or for her.]

Edited 2021-12-22 11:20 (UTC)

You're not the first to tell me something similar, but it's... Where I'm from, the people without faith are nomads and vagabonds off to the west. Everyone in Leigland says they're evil, godless heathens. My people ain't much respected for our god, but we're a step above that.

[She takes a sip of her drink.]

It's good you got faith in yourself, but what about for after life you're living now? You ever think about what comes after it?

...Humans stress so much about that, it's insane.

[She shakes her head, frowning. She's a little miffed at being called an evil goddless heathen, even second-hand.]

I'm immortal. So the only time I die will be because I was careless and allowed myself to be killed. When that does happen, I'll either go to Aborea, which is the heaven where our people originated from, or be returned to a cycle of reincarnation.

I understand you have your faith, but in my world, this isn't theoretical. It's fact. [Kind of. She left out the part where she's probably too evil for Aborea, so she'd probably get the Abyss instead.]

Edited 2021-12-24 23:33 (UTC)

Oh! But that's... huh.

[Mercy's pulled out of darker ruminations as she tries to parse how that would even fit into her world.]

If you got a heaven, then don't that mean you got someone who created that, too? Or is it more just... forces of the world all coming together to make your people at the start? We'd still probably call that a god in my world.

[Aelwyn, ever the self centred one, just assumes that Mercy's world is part of the same universe as hers and that they have simply not mapped out the Great Wheel.]

We know who created us, though they never created Aborea, or any of the other worlds where souls travel after death. They're gods, yes, but they're not infallible. They feed off the belief of mortals like plants feed off sunlight.

There's no one singular creator, however. Just multiple different elements at play in an eternal tug of war.

That's my world, too, I reckon. Gods ain't perfect, but they're powerful, and giving your belief to them is giving them more power. I think that's why the Council in Leigland don't like folk who ain't got a god they believe in. They're holding all that power for themselves. Makes them more dangerous, in a way.

[She offers Aelwyn a small smile.]

Guess they're right in a way. You seem real powerful, even if you're not supposed to use all that here. You ever think, maybe, if you only scared the bad folk, that'd be all right to fuel your magic? I ain't saying you should, and I know Ms. Nia said it was a bad idea, but if you really needed it... just seems like the best way about it.

[Aelwyn preens at the compliment, reaching up a finger and booping Mercy on the nose.] Flattery will get you everywhere, darling.

[She chuckles a little at the question. It's a bit of a naive interpretation probably, but she's glad to know that she can trust Mercy not to see it as a black and white issue. That means something.]

I have fed. In little ways, so I have enough magic to be useful. Though, I'm sure if I went the full feeding route and targetted even bad people exclusively, some people would probably disagree with you about it being okay. [Like Ren, who is okay with targetting bad people, but only if he's the one targetting bad people and ruining their lives irreperably. If Aelwyn does it, she's mean.]

Oh, before I forget, should we start doing eachother's hair? We don't have to stop talking, obviously, but I believe that was part of the game-plan.

[It's a bit of a relief to know Aelwyn has some magic to call on if things go particularly poorly. Mercy giggles at the tap and scrunches up her nose for a moment.]

'Course! You want me to start with you? Truth be told, I been hoping... your hair's like gold. I ain't seen many folk with the like. We got lighter browns, but most folk are dark like me until we start turning with our own seasons.

Well, who would I be to deny such a request in your own home? [She grins, pushing her hair away from her face. It's long and loose today but she usually wears a ponytail.] I used to have it in a long fancy braid but... it's a lot more effort to maintain without magic, I must say.

Elves have all sorts of hair colours. There's elves with naturally blue hair, bright red hair, green hair... but most people where I grew up looked pretty similar to me, so I always found dark hair prettier, honestly.

[It sounds fantastical, really. Mercy tries to picture anyone with hair naturally those colors. She's dyed her hands and lips purple with berries, but hair would be a lot.]

Grass is always greener, ain't it? [Mercy huffs a laugh.] Reckon I could've got anything I wanted, looking like you back home...

[So long as it doesn't come with the drawbacks of being me, probably. Aelwyn smiles.]

Well, I'd say you certainly have the wits for it.

[She positions herself facing her back toward Mercy and sits pretty, and allows Mercy to do her thing.]

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Log - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun (Closed)

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cw: grave robbing

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cw: discussion desecration of a body, murder

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cw: fantasy racism/bigotry

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cw: fantasy bigotry

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