player plot | when my time comes around, pt. 5

[cozen]

WHO: Everyone!
WHAT: Everything's fine and we're going to have feelings about it.
WHEN: August 15 9:49
WHERE: Primarily the Gallows! But potentially anywhere.
NOTES: We made it! You are all free of my tyrannical plot grasp! There is a final OOC post with some notes + space for plotting here.

This is a timeline where, some mild chaos aside, things for the last month have carried on as normal. Riftwatch hasn't lost anyone at all. There were no funerals. The work continued. The late afternoon of August 15 may find people at their desks, in the midst of meetings or debriefs, in the library, in the sparring yard. Or maybe afield, seeing to errands or meetings or missions somewhere else in Thedas. Maybe, if they are particularly unlucky, they are deep in conversation with an ally or embroiled in combat with an enemy agent at the precise moment when the magical connection between two realities closes and the diverging timelines snap together into one existence.

At that moment, everyone forgets what it is they were just doing. Instead they remember what they might have been doing in the world where a third of Riftwatch's number was lost, despite their hands suddenly occupied with the normal business of handling pens or swords or books they don't recall picking up.

For the always-living, it may feel as though they have been magically transported somewhere new mid-thought. For the dead—the formerly dead, the might-have-been dead—it will feel as though they have just woken up. Perhaps they'll have a vague sense of a dream they now can't recall, in between their last conscious moment amid the blood and screams in Granitefell and awakening just now in a quieter world, or perhaps they'll have a sense of nothing at all.

For a few hours, the worse world will be the only one anyone can remember. Over time, memories of the other world—the only one that really exists now—will filter in, competitive with other memories in a way that might require everyone to double or triple check whether they wrote a letter or completed a mission in that timeline or this one. But the memories of death and dying will never fade into anything less real.

Comments

[armd]

"I guess."

She should sit up, huh. Abby stubbornly doesn't want to but she's starting to feel self-conscious; when she pushes herself up to sit with her legs dangling off the edge of the bed the dog squints an eye open, but shuts it again soon after.

Not a big deal. Neither is this, okay? Abby is also trying. And she's realising that Ellie is here because Clarisse didn't want to go without her, but that they're both here because Clarisse didn't want to go without Abby either, and honestly, that really helps.

She looks at her. "Will you relax?"

It's fine.

[laruetheday]

Clarisse glances around like there's some mysterious other person Abby could be calling out, and then she points to herself, a silent, slightly offended me?

Seriously, is it that obvious? ... Maybe. She tries to loosen her shoulders up and unclench her jaw without making it too clear that she's doing it.

"I'm relaxed." So relaxed. She even kicks her boots off. Casual. This is fine.

Look, Clarisse has wished for a long time that she could somehow hang out with Abby and Ellie at the same time. She just a) didn't want to have to die to make it happen, and b) is discovering that now that her dream is coming true she's not actually sure what they're going to do. Talk about. Whatever.

[notathreat]

Elle presses her lips together in an obvious attempt not to laugh, but still makes a faint snorting sound.

She drops her head forward to hide a smile, realizes that they'll probably be all right.

"Are we all gonna get on the floor? Push the beds together? What?"

[armd]

"No," Abby says, even manages a little smirk, "No, I'm not sharing. You're gonna have to try and fit on... that."

She waves her hand dismissively at Clarisse's bed, which is the same size as her own. A single. Because it's for one person. And sometimes a dog, don't look at her.

This doesn't have to be weird. And she's painfully grateful that she doesn't have to be alone this evening. She'd thrown up a brave front when Clarisse told her she was going to go back to Ellie and stay with her for a bit, obviously she'd want to. But she hadn't been looking forward to an empty room, and whatever nightmares were waiting for her the moment she did find sleep. This is much better.

More sarcasm incoming, obviously she's feeling better. "We gonna talk about our crushes?"

[laruetheday]

Clarisse looks down at her bed. Okay, yeah, it's only supposed to fit one person, but she and Ellie tend to sleep close, so it won't be that much of a problem, right? She wouldn't have wanted to push the beds together anyway. That would just be weird. And sleeping on the floor? The stone floor? No.

So this is fine. And Abby's obviously feeling better, so that's good. Abby prodding at her seems to have sparked something in herself, too, like a little piece of her is waking up, coming back to life. It's... weirdly grounding.

"Yeah, Abby, good idea. Why don't you tell Ellie all about that blind date you went on a while back," Clarisse suggests, leveling a bland, innocent smile in her direction. Gotcha, bitch.

[notathreat]

Ellie's gotten a few chances to see Clarisse and Abby interact, but she's never been able to watch so openly. It's nice, actually. The gentle bullying, giving each other shit. They obviously care about each other.

It's comforting. Thinking that Clarisse has someone else who loves her too, who'll do nearly as much for her as Ellie would. Ellie knows what kind of friend Abby is, how much she cares about her people. It's one of the first things she admired about her.

And actually, she's a little relieved that Abby has someone like Clarisse.

It's a strange but not unwelcome feeling.

So Ellie follows the exchange like a game of ball, a small smile on her face. She knows they're pushing to keep things normal, but the more they do it, the easier it gets.

"Oh really? Who was it?"

[armd]

Abby groans. "Oh come on—"

That so wasn't a thing! And now it seems like it was. And it's gonna seem even more like it if she's cagey about it. She grimaces at Ellie. Enjoying this? "It wasn't a blind date, I got... Somebody dropped me a letter letting me know I was signed up for some matchmaking thing. Which I did not fucking sign up for.

"I thought it was her trying to make me look stupid, actually."

She is pointing at your girlfriend, Ellie.

[laruetheday]

"Wasn't me," Clarisse says, in case there's still any lingering doubt.

She leans forward. When Abby didn't bring the weird matchmaking thing up again it'd slipped her mind pretty quick, but now that she's reminded herself of it, she's finding that she's actually interested in hearing how it all turned out. Obviously not with Abby seeing anyone, unless she's the greatest liar ever, buuuut still.

"You went, right? So how'd it go?"

[notathreat]

At least Abby doesn't suspect Ellie of messing with her anymore. Although honestly... Abby seems like she'd have a good time on a date or something. If she's even interested in that stuff.

It occurs to her that she doesn't even know if Abby's interested in that stuff.

"My money's on Benedict," Ellie says, wrinkling her nose. She's fond of him, but it seems like something he'd do for sure. It could've been Mobius, but if it were he'd have probably put Ellie in too.

"But yeah. How'd it go?"

[armd]

Oh, she hadn't considered Benedict... Yeah, that could be it. She's making a mental note to harass him about it later, while Clarisse leans forward on the bed to question her. Abby frowns. She feels a little hot around the collar. "Yeah, I went." Because Clarisse had made the point that somebody might be trying to ask her out in a really unconventional way and she got curious, had wondered... In hindsight, why the fuck would anybody try to ask her out like that? It was so embarrassing. She is embarrassing.

Clearing her throat. "Don't get too excited. Strange showed up. He thought somebody had sent him the letter because they wanted to try kill him."

Super romantic.

[laruetheday]

Clarisse actually laughs, for the first time all day. She sounds genuinely delighted.

"Dude," is all she says. "That guy's old."

[notathreat]

Ellie, for her part, shrugs her shoulders and lifts her eyebrows.

"Not that old."

She might be choosing chaos on purpose.

[armd]

"It's not like I wanted him to show up," is definitely the wrong thing to say to these two vultures, but it slips out of her by mistake.

[laruetheday]

Clarisse remembers Abby mentioned Loxley back when this topic first came up between them. (And a clone?) This time she only says "Oh, right," and doesn't name any names, deciding to give Abby some kind of break for once instead of adding to her misery.

Except all that means is that Ellie is probably going to ask for a name instead, so... not an actual break after all. But the intent was there and that's all that matters!

[notathreat]

Clarisse knows her way too well, because Ellie doesn't even wait for Clarisse to ask before Ellie jumps on the opening.

"Who did you want to show up?" she asks, and tries to make her eyes very wide and innocent. She doesn't want Abby to think she's laughing at her, even if she is. Just a tiny bit, but only because of the Strange thing.

She's desperately curious.

[armd]

Ah, the rollercoaster ride of thinking you'd got away with it only to have to answer to Ellie Williams of all people. Abby thinks she would be well within her rights to tell her that it's none of her fucking business. Or, at the very least, that she wanted Nunya to show up. But... as previously established, she is trying, for Clarisse.

So, "Somebody more my age," is both true, and not-specific. And unlikely to be accepted. "Like Nina."

There you go.

[laruetheday]

Not the same person Abby named before, and also not someone Clarisse really knows... Hmm. Interesting. She'll have to look into this more, at some point when she isn't majorly struggling just to get through the day.

"Okay," she says, "but on this hypothetical date, would you rather go sky diving or cave diving?"

Inquiring minds need to know. Also she's trying to cut Abby a break from having to talk about the people she likes in front of Ellie.

[notathreat]

"Surprising, but great choice," Ellie admits, tilts her head to one side. "I didn't think she was your type."

Abby contains multitudes apparently.

And that's a great question, so she'll hold the rest of what she was going to say for the answer.

[armd]

Abby doesn't actually know if Nina is her type or not, she hasn't spoken to her very much. She was picked as bait and it worked. She shrugs, gives Clarisse a flat, unimpressed look.

"I'm not diving anywhere. Do we have to talk about this?"

She's starting to feel prickly and defensive. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it talk about hypothetical dates.

[laruetheday]

Clarisse rolls her eyes. Way to ruin her lighthearted half-assed kinda sorta subject change.

By the way, nobody asked, but she would go skydiving.

"Fine. Talk about something else."

[notathreat]

"I'd totally go skydiving."

Nobody asked her either, but. "Okay, fine. Both of you. Would you rather always have wet socks or always have a rock in your shoe?"

Clarisse is obviously really trying, so Ellie will do her best. C'mon, Abby. Get with the program.

[armd]

Oh, Clarisse was doing a would you rather. She wasn't trying to make Abby talk about going on a date for real in front of Ellie, or anything. She feels really stupid, then instantly grateful for Ellie jumping in with something else.

Let her think...

She mumbles, "Wet socks," and falls silent for a moment. Adds, "I knew a guy who broke his toe on a rock in his shoe."

Like is that fucked up or what. Also it was Manny but she won't be naming names.

[laruetheday]

"Socks," Clarisse agrees, like it's obvious. "I'd just stop wearing them."

She has to wear shoes into battle, but socks are optional, right?

"How do you break your toe on a rock in your shoe?" She turns to look at Abby again, a little skeptical. "Damn, was he putting them on at warp speed or something?"

Kinda funny to imagine, though.

[notathreat]

"The fuck would you wear? Sandals?"

Actually, didn't the Greeks just wear sandals most of the time anyway?

She winces outright at Abby's little nugget of information, wrinkling her nose. Yeah, broken toes are an absolute bitch, but geeze, guy.

[armd]

"No," Abby argues, "You can't take them off, you have to wear them, that's part of it. Otherwise I'd just tip the rock out of my shoe."

And to answer the question, "He said it got stuck in there at some point and he didn't have time to get it out before some shit went down and we had to run as fast as we could just to get out of there. It got stuck under his foot and... Yeah."

You can imagine.