[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

[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.

[chainreactions]

Then speed up the process. I'm not from your world. I don't know what that entails.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Protective magic. Wards, deterrants, runes, barriers, that sort of thing. Essentially, if you were to attack me randomly, at least in my old world, the attack would simply bounce off unless it could breach my external shield.

I do branch out into other schools, especially conjuration. I created a spell that can summon beings of pure elemental energy that serve my whim, for one. [A previous version existed but hers is vastly more overpowered. She won't get into how.]

[chainreactions]

Magic in my world does not exist. We deal with life-force, although it's not known to the general public.

(And likewise, he won't get into all the applications of that.)

I can conjure a set of chains, each with its own ability.

[aelwyn_aberration]

[That is. That is the same thing. Bitch, she's gonna kill you.]

Perhaps we can write out the details of our specific powers later, if we both prove trustworthy.

But brief tangent aside, the ADI are not receptive to the idea of creating a way for people with powers to feed in ways that allow them to recharge that power without causing too much damage. I believe Bonnie over at Bonnie's Flophouse is a bit more receptive, but still.

[chainreactions]

There's a lot at stake, although I do believe that it's in their best interest to allow us to feed them slightly in order to flip the tables on our side. There are all sorts of powers in this place, after all. Someone might be able to help.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Yes, I agree. [She thinks most people would.]

I understand the reasoning, but even besides the tactical advantage of gaining power, all they're doing is making it so that they have absolutely no way of regulating or keeping track.

I suggested they allow us to experiment on captured creatures and I was dismissed out of hand. It's a little... [There's a lot of directions she could take that sentance, but she's a bit curious to see if Kurapika will take it in the direction she's actually thinking.]

[chainreactions]

There's also the fact that we could have very well lied under their noses. I didn't disclaim being a Nen-user.

(But most importantly, he'll fish a paper from a notebook, offering her one. On it, he writes on his own alphabet the nearly-full extent of his powers, leaving Emperor Time's consequences out of it, and hoping she'd be honest in turn.)

[aelwyn_aberration]

Smart. I didn't disclose the full extent of my magic either. So far, the people who know about it largely think it's limited to some basic mental suggestion or elemental combat.

[Beau is an exception, but she actually trusts Beau pretty well for the most part. Ren knows that she can pull off illusions, but not so much that she can create simulacrum of people.

She takes it, reading with a hum. She fishes out one of her own notebooks and gets to work writing out her own spell list. It's a bit more extensive, but she's doing her best.]

[chainreactions]

(With all the explanations that Nen can require, it's no doubt that his list is, well, colossal. All the little details out there for her to see, and he doesn't mind, considering he's receiving her own.)

I see. If need be, I'll offer my services. As is, my only focus is to return home.

[aelwyn_aberration]

I take it there's something waiting for you? Family? Friends? Some grander ambition?

My first roommates were more or less the same in that regard.

[chainreactions]

Revenge for the former. Every Kurta has been killed and tortured, our eyes plucked to be sold in the black market. I'm bringing them home.

(He doesn't hide the fact that this strikes a deeper chord, his eyes turning into a dance of scarlet hues as a response.)

[aelwyn_aberration]

Jesus.

[That's... a lot. She doesn't know how to respond to it at all, so she just looks... a bit disturbed.]

[chainreactions]

I need to return so I can take my brethren home. That's my only focus.

(And he won't back down from it.)

[aelwyn_aberration]

Yep, I can see that... Well, I'd like to figure out a way to escape from under the thumb of these entities so we can fight them from an external point. There's not a lot for me back home, but if I have my full power I should be able to get you back to yours.

[She says, full of hubris.]

[chainreactions]

I don't care for the apocalypse. I'll aid in your cause if it will get me closer to my goal, but other than that, I'll simply do what I'm asked of from ADI, and research as much as I possibly can. You're welcome to come to my universe if you so wish, though I'm afraid I won't be supportive in such a transition.