faderift | (OPEN) There's always more to you than there are of them

WHO: Abby n' pals
WHAT: Catch-all open log for the month
WHEN: September
WHERE: All about
NOTES: Will update as needed. If you'd like something specific, hit me up and I'll write you a starter!

𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐝𝐮𝐭𝐲
Abby is stationed out on the docks this evening, a posted sentry in charge of Riftwatch's section of the piers on an unusually still night. The air coming in off of the ocean is cool. The weather could stand to be a lot worse, but it's not the most exciting job to have been assigned. She's been standing here for an hour already with a few to go, whiling away the time by idly stretching, and shadowboxing the space in front of her when nobody is around to catch her doing it.

It's odd, not having to stand around and specifically listen out for sounds of infected. Abby keeps thinking that she'll hear one, the old expectation lingering in the back of her mind. Maybe it's for that reason that a sudden stagger of footsteps has her reacting instinctively, defensively.

She draws her sword. It's nothing fancy, basic issue, and she has only half of her armor on for this watch: a cuirass on over a long-sleeved, quilted shirt to keep her warm.

"Who's there."

𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦, [𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝]
It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Leave a little something, nothing– exorbitant, or dramatic. It gave Abby time to sit down and pen a few things to people she has been deliberately keeping herself from thinking about and it helped in the smallest of ways to get it out and then leave it behind.

It takes a few days after the disastrous run in with Ellie for Abby to realise that what she's left there could be read by anybody passing through, but she wouldn't– would she? The possibility clings to her anyway, and makes her feel self-conscious. Those words weren't meant for anybody else.

So she trails down toward the courtyard the very same day the moment dusk falls to retrieve them, but– well, she didn't mark her notes on the outside and a lot of people have been here both before and after her.

Abby has to search, painstakingly careful with the folded pieces of paper that don't turn out to be hers.

𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝
(If you feel like writing your own: Abby is usually found in the library, the training yard, out doing menial Gallows work for the Forces division, or exploring Kirkwall. If you have a dog fork it over)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As Abby selects her training weapon, Glimmer begins stretching out and limbering up. When Abby returns, Glimmer lowers her staff into a guard position and grins. She wonders if maybe she should go easy on the teleportation at first. Abby probably isn't used to it... But then she'll need to get used to magic.

"Okay. Let's go." Glimmer isn't able to restrain her grin. When it comes down to it she really just loves a good scrap. Is that bad?

Glimmer is stretching across the way and it makes Abby grin to see it. She loves a good scrap too, made evident by the way she's bouncing slightly on the balls of her feet, keeping warm. "If I start trying to use this one-handed, yell at me."

She's getting better at curbing the impulse but the lighter the weapon is, the more inclined Abby is to try and wield it like a fucking crow-bar. She's supposed to be practicing, after all.

Abby paces in front of her for a silent moment, sizing her up, trying to keep her movements a surprise. When she finally bolts forward, it's with one shoulder forward, instinctively dropping her stance to try slamming it into Glimmer's sternum.

Glimmer knows that she can't teleport as much as she used to, but it's still just instinct for her, even after all this time out of practice. There's a twinge, a burst of sparkling light and Glimmer simply vanishes out of Abby's path to appear behind Abby.

"Not quick enough--!" Glimmer crows and there's a blast of light and energy. It's not enough to do serious harm, but if it hits Abby it'll feel a bit like having someone slam a well-swung practice weapon against her armor.

Abby has good reflexes but even she can't anticipate a move like this. She stumbles to a halt with a grunt of surprise, having expected her shoulder to make even the slightest bit of contact, and barely turns as Glimmer shouts from just behind her, the sound triumphant.

The blast both winds and over-balances her, and Abby goes forward, down onto her knees, her palms shooting out to catch herself before she hits the ground face first. Wow. That's something else for her to get used to. A different center of gravity, and the strange distribution of weight due to her armor.

"Christ," she pants, but doesn't miss a beat in whipping her sword around to try and get Glimmer in the ankles.

Glimmer is looking pretty smug and pleased with herself for the moment. That changes when Abby whips around with the practice sword. Glimmer had half-expected Abby to get back to her feet first and the attack from the ground catches her half-guard. She stumbles back, trying to be mindful of the need to preserve her energy for teleportation, then hisses as the blade catches her shin. There's a blossom of aching pain and she jumps back before leveling her staff.

"You're faster than I expected," she admits. "Nice." And then she lets loose another blast from her stuff, the pink and white sparkle of energy shooting towards Abby's chest.

"Not bad right," Abby pants, grinning- that's all the break she gets before she's surging up onto her feet to go after Glimmer again, but the energy catches her right in the breastplate and makes her stumble backward and stagger. Okay. Coming at her head on isn't going to work, she needs to think about this.

She leans into the momentum, taking herself a good few steps backward, her stride carrying her out of reach. Not out of range, of course, but maybe she can dodge better with more distance.

Also, taunt Glimmer into teleporting into her own range. "You just got the one trick? Or..."

"Oh, I have plenty of tricks," Glimmer crows in response. Of course, her bag is smaller than it used to be. Here teleportation is shorter ranged than it used to be and it wears her out faster--but at least she has her staff, right? She spins the staff in an arc and holds out a hand which begins to glow with that same pink-white light.

"You'd better get used to fighting people with 'em," she says and then vanishes in a cloud of sparkles and reappears in the air about about ten feet up, aiming a kick down at Abby.

"Yeah? Let's see, then." She really is mocking her now, watching her like a hawk to try and determine any tells that will alert her to the teleport before it happens, and–

There. Glimmer is gone at the same time that Abby turns sharply on her heel, ready to strike. Her sword slashes viciously through... air. But Glimmer crashes down out of the sky on top of her, and kicks her right in the shoulder that Ellie stabbed her in.

Abby yelps without meaning to, the armor taking most of the impact but still delivering a sharp twinge of pain that vibrates down her arm right to her fingers. She drops her sword with a clatter, and a curse.

Glimmer is all triumphant pride, until she realizes that it's possible that she's really hurt Abby when they're supposed to be practicing. She lands on her feet, stands with a grin--then realizes that Abby's sword is on the ground. She reaches out, touching a hand to the struck shoulder.

"Oh no! Oh no, are you okay? I'm sorry!" She's fussing and fretting almost right away.

"I'm fine," she says tightly, sucking in a breath, her hands on her hips. Rotating her shoulder in its socket isn't the nicest feeling, but the ache stretches out slowly as she wrings her hand. Would have hurt a lot more if she hadn't been wearing the armor.

"Sorry," she offers after a beat, her expression slightly sheepish as she ducks to retrieve her sword. "Should have said something. You good to keep going?"

"Are you sure? That looked like it really hurt. I wouldn't have hit you that hard if I knew you were already hurt--" Glimmer starts to protest, then trails off and sighs as Abby stoops to pick up her sword. She's reminded frustratingly enough of Adora and the struggle it had sometimes been to get that girl to slow down and take care of herself.

"Yeah, I'm good. Just go easy on yourself, okay? If you're not careful you might just hurt yourself worse..."

"Yeah, I'm sure." Abby waves her off; it's easier to skirt around the subject. She isn't talking about it, she's keeping that fateful encounter with Ellie close to her ribs. A bitter little secret. Who would she tell about it, anyway? She doesn't know anybody here well enough, she's still finding her place, and her people.

"I just have to get better at dodging you," she jokes, giving Glimmer a little 'come at me' gesture with one hand, sword at the ready again. "Don't hold back, okay."

(OPEN) There's always more to you than there are of them

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