[Log : Open] sometimes the only road to take is the darkest

[aelwyn_aberration]

Who: Aelwyn Abernant & YOU
When: November
Where: Around town, the ADI library and archives, the docks.
Summary: Aelwyn attempts to bury herself in work and schemes, goes house hunting, spirals in paranoia and rage.
Warnings: Paranoia, PTSD, referenced drowning, and that's it for now!


I. i bet my billionth dollar on a hopeless case (early november)

[Aelwyn has been lingering around the apartment complex ever since the event. She still does her work, she still shows up in person sometimes, and she’ll still wave hi, but it’s pretty obvious to anyone who knows her that she’s in a slump.

She’ll go out some nights and not come out until the next day, but today, for whatever reason, she’s sitting just outside the apartment staring up at the foggy morning. She appears to be smoking and wallowing at the same time.

Get you a girl who can do both.]

II. the devil on my shoulder has a knife to my face (mid november)

A.

[Back to work, Aelwyn has been hard at work in research, particularly looking into the Deadman family, the Lullaby Girl and the Fenix Down circus. One day, while stirring sugar into her coffee before returning to her desk, she’ll sigh and look to anyone in the library.]

Hey, are you busy? I could use a second opinion on something.

[She gestures to the computer she’s been using.]

B.

[This time, it’s after hours, late at night. Her energy is a lot less professional and calm and a lot more manic and bordering on paranoia. She’s obsessively reading over missing person cases, gnawing at her lip. She looks like she’s about to pop, given the amount of tension in her.

She’s been here the last few nights, trying to find something, and mumbling something about work if anyone asks what she’s been looking for.

And suddenly, with no real warning, she does in fact explode, and tosses her notes aside, sliding them and the whole keyboard off the table in a rage.] Fucking useless! I could’ve done all this in seconds and now...

[She simmers down in a moment and seems mostly surprised at what she just did before she goes to pick what she threw around and put it back on the desk without another word.]

III. you begin to understand you’re no hero in this story (20th of November)

[Aelwyn can be spotted on the docks, staring at some of the passing ships. She comes here, every now and again, to look at them. Cruise ships, cargo ships, yachts, the lot. All so full of people…

She’s experienced it now, drowning. She remembers what it was like. Kalina said it was you or them. Anyone else would’ve made the choice, or they’d have died. And now, they’re dead, and you’re alive. It doesn’t matter now.

So, it’s some kind of contradiction when she just can’t stop imagine these ships sinking suddenly, and all the people on them struggling in vain to get to the surface, to swim to safety even though nowhere is safe. Penelope said that killing made her feel like a god. Aelwyn lied and said the same, when in actuality all it made her feel is sick.

Why did she come here? She can’t even remember. And then her eyes zero in on a large, expensive yacht, docked right there, and a bunch of people – children, really – only a bit older than her partying on it. They’ll be gone in the morning. She could sink it. She could sink it with all of them on it.

It’s unsettling. She hadn’t realized she was hunting, so she turns away to go back home and leave that well enough alone, breaking out of her disturbed trance. It takes her a few moments to realize she’s not alone, but she’s glad to be freed from her own mind.]

Do rich people normally buy giant party boats here? Were my parents just unimaginably boring? I never got one of those.

[She knows the answer to that, her parents were in fact unimaginably boring.]

IV. you’re just another wretched pawn (December 1st)

[Some time in the middle of the day, you might find yourself receiving a text from Aelwyn.]

Feel like taking a day trip to Rockport? Work related, naturally. I’d go alone, but I don’t want to end up missing.

V. Wildcard (DM me and we can work out a closed prompt!)

Comments

CLOSED TO KURAPIKA

[aelwyn_aberration]

[Aelwyn, noticing Kurapika on the couch, will drop down and plant herself on a chair nearby. Despite seeming pretty dejected for the last while, her spirits at least seem to be up at the moment.]

Are you in the mood for a chat? I figure I should probably give you some pointers about this place, considering I’ve been here a fair bit longer.

[Maybe Kurapika will stick around. If so, she’d like to prod him a bit, see if he can be trusted or relied on.]

[chainreactions]

(Sometimes, a change in scenery does wonders when trying to get one's head around something. Therefore, he leaves his room and finds comfort on the couch, his hair in a ponytail to not get in the way of the intense reading--

Oh. She's never home, is she? This is an opportunity to prod her a bit, see if she can be trusted.)

As long as what you have to say is valuable, I'm all ears.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Lovely! Because what I have to say is always valuable. [She claps her hands together gently to start herself off, Melanie King style.]

First off, I imagine they've given you the whole speech on power usage, yes? That you should avoid using it because there's a massive cost that's not worth it in the end?

I don't go to the new orientations, but did they specify what it is for you yet?

[chainreactions]

I'll be the judge of it.

(Listen, he had to put down his book!! She has yet to unlock the softness in this boy, anyway.)

Becoming an Avatar, correct?

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She's used to bluntness. At least it's honest. She just smiles.]

Not quite.

It's more just feeding the entities, and once you start feeding them you become more and more reliant on them the more you do it. It's more similar to an addiction than a pact. Do you have pre-existing powers, Kurapika?

[chainreactions]

Unless you disclose your own in full detail, I'm not discussing my own.

(But that being said, he's aware. He felt the delicious thrill of chasing prey. It was horrifying.)

[aelwyn_aberration]

[That answers her own question. Kurapika has power and is thus, already marked.]

I don't keep it a secret, darling. I'm an abjurative wizard. If you want a full list of my spells, I can lend you my spellbook and watch you try and fail to make heads or tails of it.

CLOSED TO JEFF

[aelwyn_aberration]

Want to go out tonight? There’s a place nearby that’s reasonably quiet and I could frankly use the break. Actually scratch the question mark, be there or I’ll attack you with a swarm of bees.

[She knows how to make a point. But she isn’t prepared to be turned down considering she’s already at the place.]

[cacophonish]

i was gonna say yes before you threatened me with bees

now im gonna say FUCK YES

where?

[aelwyn_aberration]

Good! I'll call off the bees.

I'll send you the location. It's where I tend to go to get away from work.

[Or the prying eyes of the ADI anyway.]

[cacophonish]

ok be there in a few. i just have to make myself pretty

[ By which he means: put on something clean. Oh, but, one more text before he heads out: ]

want me to bring anything?

[aelwyn_aberration]

That'll take some work.

But no, nothing in particular. I'll be waiting.

[cacophonish]

you're right. i'll just save time and shoot for halfway presentable

[ Ok ok, he's wearing clean clothes (and... layers. Fuck this increasingly chilly weather.) and thus leaving now, off to meet up at the address Aelwyn sent his way! ]

CLOSED TO ROMELLE

[aelwyn_aberration]

[It’s a cold winters morning while Aelwyn waits for Romelle just outside the apartments. She got starbucks, considering she only sleeps four hours anyway she had the time to kill in the early hours when she could see her breath freeze.

When she spots her would-be companion, she raises an eyebrow at her.]

Ready to go?

[romelle]

[ Does she look ready? Romelle thinks she does! Except ready means she's wearing this atrocity with a pair of baby blue tights and a mercifully normal brown coat. Her ears are carefully hidden under her blonde hair which is braided - evidently, she has slightly better taste in hair than anything else.

Aelwyn gets a bright smile though, as Romelle remains largely unaware to the affront to good taste she is currently presenting. ]

Absolutely! I haven't been on a girls' day out in-- way too long, I don't want to count the years. Thank you for taking me, Aelwyn.

[aelwyn_aberration]

[Dear god, this girl needs her help more than she thought. Oh fuck, how does she approach this tactfully. She told Keith his bright red jacket looked bad and he declared a blood feud against her that's lasted to this day.

Well, Romelle's not a man, so maybe her ego isn't as fragile as an uncooked egg. Maybe? Hopefully?]

...First of all, I absolutely love your braids, darling, they're adorable. [She has a braid herself, we assume, based on very inconclusive canonical character art. She hesitates on the next part... how to say this delicately.]

But um... do you want to borrow some clothes...? I don't know if that look particularly matches this world's... fashion? [SHE IS TRYING SO HARD. SOMETIMES YOU'RE AN EX-HIGHSCHOOL MEAN GIRL BUT NOW YOU JUST WANT FRIENDS.]

[romelle]

.... that bad?

[ At the least, Romelle doesn't seem particularly surprised by the frankly pained expression in Aelwyn's eyes. She's been told by various ADI workers to look less conspicuous but she's not really figured out which part of her outfits make those comments happen. She personally thinks she looks great, thank you!! ]

Like, "can't be seen with lest we be outed as aliens immediately" kind of bad?

[aelwyn_aberration]

Um.

[Aliens or worse, hipsters.]

...Yes, that bad. All the more reason to go shopping though!

[She is going to give this girl such a makeover, dear god.]

[romelle]

[ If Romelle is discouraged, she doesn't let it show for longer than a second. (She still thinks she looks cute, thanks.) Her smile returns effortlessly. ]

I am greatly looking forward to your guidance! So many of the clothes people wear here are so boring compared to what is actually available - but I think together we shall figure out something that is interesting and humanly fashionable.

Oh, that reminds me!

Was adjusting to human dress hard for you or do your people dress similarly?

I

[myfavoritemurder]

[Morning or not, Callisto is just wandering in herself, looking distinctly ratty and rumpled and cold, despite her puffy coat and ski pants. She very nearly walks right past Aelwyn, but ends up slowing instead, trying to get a better look at that little smoking thing that she appears to be... sucking the vapors out of?

Huh.]

Are you thinking about setting the building on fire?

[It pays to check!]

completely missed this apparently

[aelwyn_aberration]

[She chuckles, blowing smoke out from the side of her mouth.]

Not yet, but I'm certainly keeping my options open. I take it the question was prompted by this?

[She raises the cigarette.]

it happens!

[myfavoritemurder]

What else?

[Callisto asks rhetorically, sitting down on the step beside Aelwyn.]

Are you a seer, then? Does taking in the smoke give you visions?

[aelwyn_aberration]

No. My sister is, though.

[She turns a playful smile toward Callisto.]

Would you like me to tell you, or should I let you keep guessing?

[myfavoritemurder]

One more guess.

[She says, leaning in to take a closer look at the pipe - and then she gets a whiff of the smoke, which makes her wrinkle her nose.]

I've got it. You know it makes you smell awful, and it's a good way to keep people from coming up to talk to you.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Well, that hurts my feelings, Callisto.

[She takes one last drag of the cigarette before flicking it to the curb.]

But no, not really. [She tilts her head and hums. Why does she smoke? At first it was just... rebellion. Empty underhanded rebellion, to get herself addicted to nicotine. A real gotcha, that one. But now...] It's calming. Helps me think. And it's an excuse to be alone, so I guess you're not wrong on that count.