— 02 / open / will there ever be an end?

[morns]

🧙 WHO: Kate & OPEN
⚔️️ WHAT: Some quest / TDM shenanigans (Library, Sync Magic) & a lot of terrible coping mechanisms.
🕒 WHEN: Throughout the month
🗺️ WHERE: Various spots
⚠️ WARNINGS: Disordered drinking, possibly more. Will update as needed.


— in the library.
↪ closed to Louis.

( honestly, Kate thinks this talk about something being hidden in the library is probably just someone looking into things too hard. who really cares how shelves are arranged or what symbols are etched into them?

it's like some people have never seen graffiti before.

but whatever. it's something to do, and she's not the only person — uh, if you can call this dude a person — who thinks that. and while going into a job like this as a team has risks, it also has benefits. like another set of eyes to keep watch as they crouch atop the shelves, surveying the room as best they can in the dark. )

The hell do they think we're going to find, anyway?

( it's. a library. )

— sync magic; pair up.
↪ open to two threads.

( relaxing?

well, this won't be easy. but as she enters the tent, it begins to hum with the din of background conversations, the hustle and bustle of people which makes it easier to believe she's somewhere crowded and busy instead of in an empty little tent.

there's way too much incense going on, though. but at least it's warm enough to slip out of the cloak she's been bundled up in pretty much ever since she arrived. and now the only question is... how does she pass the time with nothing to occupy her but fake noises of a non-existent crowd?

well, whoever walks in will be treated to Kate, mid stretch session, in the process of drawing her foot up to meet the back of her head.

fancy joining in? )

— sync magic; chill out.
↪ open to anyone.

( after a couple of attempts to practice this synchronised magic, Kate is ready to leave. ready to get back to her usual day, without the need for others.

at least, that's the plan until she actually finds herself alone, and things grow restless. the silence deafening, the empty space around her cold, and there is a bonfire there. one which looks warm and unlike anything she's seen before.

so... what's the harm? it doesn't seem like she's the only person drawn to it, either, as a generous crowd has already formed around it. )

That what all fires look like here?

( sorry, rando, she's just gonna ask you a question without any attempt at introduction. or, perhaps, instead, you'll find her stretching her legs out in front of her and drawing them back up repeatedly, running her palms over her thighs as though trying to quell an urge she hasn't satisfied. some need for contact which is best serviced by herself for herself, right?

maybe not, but she isn't going to figure that out alone. )

— barhopping.
↪ open throughout the month.

( she'd be lying to say she's slept fine since the illusions in the cave. lying if she said she didn't see the life seeping out of her brother's eyes, the gradual shift of his flesh into stone. the image lingers at the back of her mind, the probability of a future that weighs her heart heavy with worry.

it's all too easy to make the wrong choices. to trust the wrong person and let them get too close. or simply to be overpowered. and sure, Marc is strong and tall and a detective, he's hardly the first person most would think of as "at risk" for ingesting bootleg Hepatestryl, but stranger things have happened. like her arrival in this place, for one. her familiar, for another.

(a woman who heralds death. surely that can't be an omen?)

but there's one way to numb her mind to those thoughts, to draw across them with white noise — drinking. drinking and the idle hum of strangers talking about things she doesn't care about.

which is why, throughout the month, her semi-regular visits of bars in the city becomes a near nightly ritual, where she pulls up a seat and alternates shots and beer until her body prickles with the effects and it becomes easier to gesture to anyone nearby and ask; )

Want a drink?

( c'mon, she's still got several rounds to go before she wakes up hungover. )

— wildcard.

( want to do something else? feel free to write your own starter or message me at isanghae / isanghae#8071! )

Comments

ya good! <3 i hope hiatus is being good to you

[morns]

( that just gets a tilt of the head from Kate. )

So's everyone. That's the point.

( but then again, Kate thinks she means standing up on the piano, doing bad karaoke (not her), or stealing other people's drinks when they're not looking (may have been her, you can't prove anything), not... switching into someone else. )

Thank you! it is so far

[scarredhorns]

Really, everyone?

[Having lived the sheltered life she did, Nyuu is genuinely surprised to learn this. That doesn't make her blush fade, though.]

Even so, I do really embarrassing things. Probably more embarrassing than things that other people might do.

[She hides her face behind her hands and speaks in a low voice so that only Kate can hear. Since Kate is another woman, Nyuu feels like it's okay to share this with her. Girl talk, right?]

I start t-taking off my clothes when I'm drunk.

<3 I'm glad

[morns]

( well, she's definitely seen worse than a drunken strip show. )

Know a guy who does that sober.

( Ainsworth isn't here to argue the point, not that he could when he constantly wants out of his shirts. Still, the girl probably shouldn't do it at her place of work. )

Keeps saying it's because he doesn't want to ruin them if he uses his power.

( but has he ever used his power when they're hanging outside of work? no. )

<3

[scarredhorns]

R-Really?

[She uncovers her face.]

Does his power change his size or shape to the point where his clothes get torn?

[morns]

( she nods as she takes a drink. the alcohol makes it easier to loosen her tongue, Ainsworth's power as safe a topic as any could be here. like rattling off information to an officer, it doesn't really say anything which lets people in. )

'S a kind of shapeshifting. ( come to think of it, for all of the magic types here, Kate hasn't heard too much about shapeshifting here. not that she's really looked into the types of magic which aren't her own. ) ... Does that exist here?

( surely it would, right? it was so basic a power in the military that the signature of it is practically burned into her veins, the memory of the way shapeshifters hummed and flowed, an inky black flash in the corner of her mind. it seems bizarre to think that it wouldn't exist in other places. )