myfavoritemurder: (should I kill this guard?)
Callisto ([personal profile] myfavoritemurder) wrote in [community profile] apocalypsehowcomm2021-11-13 11:25 am

[LOG] I don't need a new love or a new life [OPEN]

Who: Callisto AND YOU
When: Mid-November
Where: Various places around town!
Summary: A feral warlord arrives in town and is about to make that everybody else's problem.
Warnings: N/A at the moment; will edit if that changes

A; ARRIVAL; OTA

[Callisto pops up in what she imagines to be some sort of shrine. It's unadorned and impersonal, giving her no hint about what god it's dedicated to, but there are basins to place offerings in and segregated booths for private contemplation, so she's pretty sure her initial guess is right on the money. For a long moment, she's still: her hand braced against the wall, and her eyes squeezed shut against the harsh bright light. Her head swims. Her legs nearly buckle.

But then she pushes through it. Despite the weakness and disorientation, she pushes off the wall and spins for the door, one hand on the hilt of the dagger in her belt. She's dressed head to toe in leather armor, wearing a sword strapped to her back, and to say she looks out of place would be an understatement - but there's no hint of self-consciousness to her as she strides down the hall, boots clicking on the hard floor.]


Who are you?

[She snaps at the first person she sees - though she is, of course, still speaking Ancient Greek by this point.]

What have you done with me?

B; ADJUSTMENTS; OTA

[The next several hours are an absolute whirlwind, and one that's more exhausting than energizing. Believing everything she's told, at least, isn't a problem: for a woman who comes from a world filled to the brim with gods and magic, ADI's explanation sounds perfectly reasonable to her. Being recruited, however, is a little more hairy. "Sure, I'll help you with your little apocalypse problem," she says to the ADI rep who does her intake. "But you'll have to do some things for me in return." And when they don't immediately promise to harness their considerable power and technology to help her destroy Xena, she balks. Hard.

It takes time, but a tentative agreement is reached. ADI might be unnecessarily squeamish about the idea of aiding and abetting her vengeance plans, but they do seem to be her best shot at returning home, and so she agrees to fight for them - reluctantly, and with strong conviction that she's getting the short end of the stick here, but she's faced down more hopeless-looking situations. She's sure she'll eventually find some way to leverage this one in her favor, too.

But honestly, the big-picture stuff is the easy part. It's the day to day stuff that's disorienting. Powerful, mysterious beings and travel between worlds is far easier for her to wrap her head around than a thin, hard rectangle that everyone insists isn't magic, even though it somehow holds currency and keeps track of her finances for her. And yet it's not long before she sees it in action, because after finishing up with all the preliminary introductions, the very first thing they do is hustle her off to find more "suitable" clothes - an idea that she dismisses as unnecessary only before they leave the building and hit the cold winter air. Others might encounter her on the street outside a clothing store, right after her very first car ride, leaning her forehead against the brick outer wall of the building and waiting for the waves of nausea to pass. Soon after, she can be found inside the clothing store itself, sorting through everything with a perplexed and critical eye. Coaxing her to pick up anything other than a winter coat and some snow pants might be a bit of a struggle.

ADI Housing is next, and after making sure she knows which apartment has been assigned to her, this is where the intake folks finally leave her to find her way on her own. For the next few hours, she just wanders, paying zero mind to the difference between public and private spaces. She investigates the gym and the laundry room (final verdict: complete and utter mysteries), but if anyone is prone to leaving their apartment door unlocked, they might also find her inside, poking through their stuff.

She is, on the whole, on the subdued side of things this evening, skulking around rather than stomping around. She rests in common areas, sitting on the floor, glaring unprompted at anyone who passes by. And when late evening comes and she starts hearing talk of the guards locking the doors soon, she heads for the exit - slipping out, rather than in, before curfew hits. Bundled up in her new coat and ski pants, she aimlessly wanders the downtown streets for a few hours, seeking out nothing in particular, simply getting the lay of the land. Bus stops end up being of particular interest to her, and though she never tries to board a bus herself, she always stops when she sees one coming, watching the passenger disembarkation and embarkation process with a vague sort of interest.]


Where do they go?

[She asks out loud, if there's anyone standing near her.]

What's the farthest anyone has ever traveled on one?

[They too must be magic, she reasons - maybe even mysterious and not well understood, like the forces that brought her here. If she gets on the right one, she wonders, will it whisk her away across worlds?]

C; ROOMMATES; CLOSED TO EMILY DYER

[When she's told that she's being assigned an apartment, Callisto initially dismisses the idea. She has little use for indoor spaces, particularly when it comes to living in them: she hasn't lived in a house since she was a teenager and hasn't felt at home in one since she was a child, and she doesn't see either of those things ever changing.

But once she gets a load of this world's climate, the indoors ends up being a bit more appealing, and she does have some level of curiosity about... well. All of this, honestly. This means that when Emily comes home, she'll find an unfamiliar winter coat and pair of snow pants spread out to dry on the living room floor, and a leather-clad stranger in the apartment kitchen, fiddling with the stove burners. She's got one lit at full blast, and is leaning in close, examining the writing on the control panel.]


Do you use these to cook?

[She asks, by way of greeting.]
bossyboiler: ((shadowy) 2)

clothing store

[personal profile] bossyboiler 2021-11-14 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
[ Kate is on the hunt for a pair of winter boots. She needs something that will provide insulation for the wet and snowy months that are to come. She is mostly content to mind her own business.

It's as she's trying on a different pair of brown boots that Callisto catches her eye. Kate stops what she's doing to look at her. They are either new in the ADI sense of the word or they are an LARPer gone rogue. Either way, Kate help but to ask... ]


Are you okay?
abrightboy: (stares)

B; ADI housing

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-11-14 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
Malcolm steps out the door of apartment B1 and almost runs right into her. His step stutters to dodge her and his hand stays on the knob of the apartment door to steady him.

“Excuse me,” he tells her politely.
abrightboy: (a bit smug)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-11-14 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
His eyebrows go up faintly, his expression more academic curiosity than anything else.

“Well, it wasn’t an order,” he concedes. “Are you new here?”
bossyboiler: ((coral) 8)

[personal profile] bossyboiler 2021-11-14 02:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ She's not okay. Okay. Maybe she's just cold? Or maybe Kate needs to get her head out of her behind and realize soon that Callisto is new-new. ]

That's a problem on this planet. They call it fast-fashion. It's not meant to be mended but thrown away instead.

[ Not liking how the boots on her feet feel, Kate takes them off and puts them back into their box. That box then goes onto a stack. She doesn't like to leave a mess for others to clean up. Kate stands and puts back the boots that she has definitely decided against. ]

Are you looking for something warm?
chainreactions: (wrNAQ0m)

b

[personal profile] chainreactions 2021-11-14 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
(Kurapika is also not at ADI, even while curfew seems to be closer than otherwise. He doesn't plan to sleep. Instead, he'd like to spend his time getting to know the town he suddenly finds himself in against his will. The more he knows, the safer he'll be, and the less problems he'll attract due to ignorance.

So, people-watching and pondering on what he knows seem to be the plan. It's the voice that awakens him from his trance, eyebrows raising in surprise.)


They're buses. They follow a pre-determinated path in a loop, so it depends on which bus you get on. You can tell by the numbers they display. As for the furthest, they can go for as long as one is willing to drive them, provided there is enough fuel and the conditions of the vehicle are pristine. Do you not have those where you're from?
Edited 2021-11-14 05:31 (UTC)
abrightboy: (pretty pleased)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-11-14 01:06 pm (UTC)(link)
“I’m from somewhere else,” he admits. “But I guess I live here now. Do you need someone to show you around?”
chainreactions: (OyEKfd9)

[personal profile] chainreactions 2021-11-14 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not magic, it's science. There's an engine inside the car, and the it converts energy from the heat of burning gasoline or alcohol, in other words, fuel, into mechanical work, or torque. That torque is applied to the wheels to make the bus or car move.

(Nerd.

Calmly, Kurapika finds a seat at the station, waiting for the next bus to come.)
chainreactions: (FPYjwYC)

[personal profile] chainreactions 2021-11-14 09:03 pm (UTC)(link)
If you don't believe me, feel free to pick up a book on engineering.

(He's not stopping her in any shape or form!!)
abrightboy: (pays attention)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-11-14 10:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Malcolm cocks his head slightly.

“Do you not have a home here?”
abrightboy: (pretty pleased)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-11-15 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
"I see. You're proud of it. But that's just to hide the pain behind. What happened to your home?" he asks curiously.
abrightboy: (makes a point)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-11-15 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
He lets her push him, lets his back hit the wall.

“No,” he says simply. “You look angry. But what you’re showing me isn’t what’s interesting. It’s what you’re hiding that’s interesting. And this rage is protecting you, because I saw it. The pain that consumes you. If it helps, I can only see it because I know what that looks like.” A beat. “What it feels like. How old were you?”
abrightboy: (hates to break it to you but)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-11-15 03:05 am (UTC)(link)
He does hit his head. Not quite hard enough to see stars, but he’s sure he would if she tried.

“No,” he agrees. “I’m not.” He tilts his head slightly. “So what was that smile?” He’s asking himself more than her and he holds up a finger as he reaches a hypothesis. “You wanted it to scare me.”
abrightboy: (concession)

[personal profile] abrightboy 2021-11-15 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
“Probably not,” he concedes.

But she was a child, just as he’d suspected.

And when you’re a child, ‘everything’ is basically one thing.

“What happened to your family?”

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