itinere | OTA || Outside the Apartment Building

Entry tags:

OTA || Outside the Apartment Building

To say that Lydia was more than a little bit lost was an gross understatement. She hadn't wandered off in a trance in a long time and even if she had, it wasn't likely she'd end up in a completely different city, at least not without her car, but here she is all the same.

The personal device had welcomed her and Lydia had balked for a moment before her curiosity had gotten the better of her. She's made her way to the mentioned apartment building and she's trying not to think about the fact that she's definitely supposed to be tutoring Stiles in about an hour...and going to "a friend's house" after that. Both of them will notice she's gone. At least, there's some comfort there, because if they notice she's missing, they'll come looking for her and then maybe they'll be able to guide her back home.

She stares up at the building and can't quite make herself head inside because, well...isn't that sort of resignation? In a way? Instead of actually heading in, she looks back down at the PDA. What the hell, it's worth a shot, right? She can't be too far from home, she tells herself, so she'll recognize the name of the place as soon as she hears it and then she'll know which direction to go to head back in the direction she originally came.

network text;

So...no, but really...where am I right now? Which town?

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[ alaina is still trying to get the hang of these communication devices. somehow text is trickier than video. who would've guessed? eventually, she makes it work. she apologizes for any typos. or would if she knew what typos were. ]

It's a place called Itinere. You should have walked through a door here, but if you're like the rest of us, the first time wasn't intentional.

[ literally the most helpful. ]

( Lydia pauses in thought at that. ...did she walk through a door? Was that real? She'd just sort of chalked that up to something that made no sense that she thought she remembered, but which was not an actual memory.

Being a banshee is complicated and confusing, okay? )

Okay...so California, or...? And no, it wasn't. It was definitely not intentional.

Considering I don't know who or what that is, I have to say no. If you can find your door, you might be able to get back.

[ if not... well then lydia is stuck here like the rest of them. ]

( Lydia blinks, confused. )

...wait, you don't know what California is? The state of California, in the United States of America, or...?

( Her brow creases with concern. )

I didn't see a door. ...I'm really confused.

[ .... ]

This will probably be easier to explain in person. Can you describe your location? I'll come down to meet you.

I'm in front of this apartment building or whatever. Some girl just came down, Jill something?

[ yes, good. jill is good people. ]

Good. Jill can explain a lot for you, too. But to answer your earlier question, no. None of that is familiar. I'm from a place called Thedas.

( Lydia looks confused for a moment, staring down at her PDA. )

Well, I guess we're in a similar boat, then...I've never heard of Thedas. At least, not to my recollection.

[ yeah the whole thing is ridiculous. ]

No time like the present.

[ it's a joke but ummm... lydia is welcome to pry. alaina's been laying her life bare lately. ]

In the meantime, if you can't find your door and get back, there are plenty of places to stay or explore and things to do for now.

Edited 2016-03-10 02:22 (UTC)

( the idea of not being able to get back doesn't sit well with Lydia. people will be missing her. ...she'll be missing people, like her mom. she'll be missing Derek. it's still new and she isn't ready to give it up because she walked through a magic door during a banshee trance and got herself lost in the ether. )

Maybe once I can wrap my head around all of this, yeah...? What if I find a door and it isn't mine...? What happens then...?

[ alaina is right there with her. she's got a lot to do in thedas but since she hasn't managed to get back through her door in months, she can't even comment on the passage of time. ]

Far as I know? Nothing. It won't let you through unless it's yours.

Well, that's a relief. I'd rather run into a wall than fall down a rabbit hole.

( It was bad enough being lost as it already stood. Compounding it with ending up in an even more confusing place she didn't belong was not on Lydia's list of things she wanted to do while attempting to go home. )

Thank you. For your help.

You're welcome. I'm sorry I don't have better news.

[ but helping people is kind of alaina's thing sooo she tries. ]

My name is Alaina Trevelyan. If you need anything again, helping people is what I do.

Oh, God...sorry. I was so caught up... It's nice to meet you, Alaina. I'm Lydia. And I appreciate that very much.

I've had worse introductions. "Hi, thanks for saving me from those demons, now please seal the hole in the sky."

[ she means it as a joke, but in all seriousness... that actually happened to her. a lot. ]

But good to meet you, too, Lydia.

( Lydia...really isn't sure what to make of that, if she's honest, so she decides not to address it at all, for now. Maybe it'll make more sense once her head isn't spinning. )

Hopefully, if I can't find the stupid door, I'll be able to meet you in person and then you can tell me about home. I love learning new things. ...when I'm in the mindset to actually absorb the knowledge, anyway.

[ yeeeaah welcome to thedas. welcome to alaina's life. it's never easy and it never makes sense. ]

Anytime. Good day.

It's hard to miss the red-headed girl standing outside of the tall apartment building as Jill exits. She's dressed comfortably for the Springtime weather and has just slid a large pair of sunglasses onto her face when she looks up to see the unfamiliar face. Given everything the city has only recently been through, she likes to think that even if she doesn't know everyone personally, she can recognize a face. This is definitely one she hasn't seen before.

Jill might not be the best welcome wagon, but she can spot confusion and uncertainty when she sees it. Being an empathetic sort of person, that means she can't just leave the girl standing there like this. She steps closer and gives the girl a small, crooked smile and a wave that's more a slight waggle of her fingers.

"Hey. I'm Jill Leighton." she offers a hand to the girl. "I don't think I've seen you around here before."

Lydia looks up from her PDA at the movement in the corner of her eye and then back down again once she notices that it's just someone leaving the apartment building. She's still trying to figure out the significance of the blue doors and whether that was actually her imagination or not. But she looks back up again when she sees in her periphery that the girl has approached her.

A small smile graces Lydia's face when she sees the girl wave and smile as well.

"Hi," she replies, clearing her throat and wrinkling her nose a little. "No, um I just got here. I think? I'm sort of lost," she admits. "I'm Lydia. I was...where...what is this?" she asks, showing the girl the PDA. "Sorry, hang on, there was a note," she says quickly, shaking her head and bringing the PDA back to her own view so that she can search for the note she'd seen when she'd first looked at the thing. Maybe this girl could give her a little more guidance.

"I know this is all pretty confusing." Jill offers, watching Lydia fiddle with the PDA they all have. It's standard issue, everyone's is the same. "I know I was a little lost when I first got here. And when I say a little lost I mean can't see the forest for the trees lost." Maybe it would help to know she wasn't in the boat alone, the boat, being here in the dome.

"This is Itinere. It's... I don't know but it's a dome. I know that looks like sky up there but, think Truman Show but not on Earth and not a television series." Which is a lot to take in, so she pauses for a moment.

Something normal might help to break up the insane sounding truth. "I'm from Alabama. US of A. Earth." So weird that all of that is required here for some people, Alaina comes to mind. "How about you?"

The other girl seems fairly confident and it's already starting to lead Lydia to believe that the other woman is familiar with this place before she even comes out and says so, in not so many words. "...have you been here for a while?" she ventures, more curious than wary.

Lydia hasn't seen the Truman Show, but she knows the premise in passing and the idea of being watched like that makes her really uncomfortable. It shows on her face for a flicker of a second before she forces composure. "Great..." is all she can come up with for a response.

The other girl says where she's from and Lydia nods a little. Alabama, she's heard of. But then Jill goes on to specify the country and then planet and Lydia blinks. "Uh, California," she replies after a short moment to recover from the confusion that came with that kind of unexpected specification. She doesn't add the rest, because it's a given if Jill is from Alabama, she thinks.

"Oh yeah, for just under a year." Which seems a little unreal to her, that she and Lucy have been here that long. Here isn't so bad though, that much she knows. Even with what just happened, the place being attacked and destroyed, it still doesn't seem so bad. Jill grew up with nothing, a side note to her parent's daily drama. Here is a walk in the park compared to that.

Now the buildings are magically repairing themselves from the ground up. They're all in various states of repair. The apartment complex is completed though, thank goodness.

"I've never been to California." In truth, she's never been outside of Alabama, except for this. She's not well traveled at all. "There's a beach here." She offers, hoping that will help to soothe what she knows is a strange experience. "Is there anything I can help you out with?"

Lydia chews her bottom lip a little, half in thought and half in worry. "That's a long time..." she thinks aloud, tucking her hair behind her ears and looking back down at the PDA for a moment. She wants to ask whether Jill tried to leave or if she likes being here, but it feels like not matter how she asks, it'll come out sounding rude and ungrateful for the other woman's help, so she decides not to.

"I didn't live near the beach, but I used to go a lot," Lydia speaks up, trying to find some common ground with this woman that isn't revolving around their presence in this place. "Before things got crazy, anyway. So...I haven't been in a while. Maybe I'll check it out."

She looks back at the PDA and then her eyes return to Jill. "I don't...I mean it said I'd have somewhere to live, but...?" she lets her voice trail off because it sounds weak in her head and she thinks it'll come out sounding even worse. She has no idea whether she should trust it or where to go or what to do from here. ...and she's kind of hoping Jill picks up on that and runs with it, because she doesn't want to have to say it out loud.

It is a long time. Jill nods and tries not to think too much about it. If she wanted to, she could go right back through the blue door that brought her here. Well, she thinks she could. Sometimes it's locked. Most of the time it's open. She knows others whose blue door to their home world is always locked. She'll consider herself lucky.

She doesn't miss the remark about things getting crazy for Lydia. She's curious, but she doesn't ask yet. A person should have a chance to settle in and get a foothold in their surroundings before there are too many questions about a world and life they might not be able to get back to.

"You probably have a room in the apartments. Just go to the front desk and you'll get a key." She knows it sounds too easy. But it's really how it works. "And don't be freaked out by what you see when you walk in. This place... it has a way of catering to people. Some apartments are bigger on the inside and they'll be whatever you want them to be. You can wish things into existence if you think too hard about it."

It sounds insane, but how else does Jill end up with killer shoes? "I know it's weird, but... people have even wished entire buildings here. Homes and businesses."

With a nod, Lydia forces what she hopes looks like a genuine smile. She doesn't want to look ungrateful, because she isn't; she actually does appreciate Jill's help, but that doesn't make her want to actually be in this place any more than she did two seconds ago. "Thanks," she says.

Jill's addendum of a vague warning throws Lydia off a little, if only because it sounds almost too casual in tone for the words the other woman is actually saying. Lydia files that away under the "been here too long; this is normalized" folder and just assumes that, if she's stuck here long enough, it'll feel the same to her eventually.

But then the other woman elaborates and Lydia finally looks a little bit hopeful. "Whole buildings? Well...what about...people? Or pets?" she wonders. If she can't have her mom or her boyfriend, that's upsetting, but if she can have her dog, Prada, that might lessen the sting a little, just because it'll be a little slice of home.

People? Jill has never really thought to try that. The only person she could and would ever wish here is already here. But she can think outside of herself and knows that other people surely have others that they wish were here with them. Even Lucy has probably wished her parents here before. And the fact that Lydia poses the question, of course she wants others here, not to be alone.

Jill's features turn softer, something akin to empathy even though she wishes no one else from home here. She knows what it's like to wish you weren't alone. "I'm not so sure about people. Pets, I'm pretty sure I've seen a few people here with pets." She really hopes that helps, hopes Lydia wakes up one morning with whatever pet she misses curled up with her.

The expression on the girl's face leads Lydia to believe, before Jill even answers, that the response she's about to get isn't going to be the response she wants to hear. So Lydia mentally braces herself for that particular (and peculiar) brand of disappointment.

A weak smile crosses her face. If she's stuck here more than a couple of days, then hopefully she can wish Prada here. He's her baby and having him around again would at least help her get into a semi-comfortable routine and she could let him distract her instead of spending all kinds of time in her own head the way she worried she was probably going to.

"Well, that's better than nothing, I guess...?" she asked more than said. "Anyway, I'm sorry, I won't keep you. You're clearly on your way somewhere..."

Lucy steps out of the apartment building dressed in a bright yellow mini dress and startlingly high heels. She's weighing her options today : shopping or stopping off at The Houndstooth. Coffee. She's going to start with coffee. It's always the best way, she's turning to head to the coffee shop when she sees a beautiful redhead looking utterly confused. She's seen people show up in enough strange cities to know that Lydia has got to be a new arrival. No one looks that confused otherwise. She walks toward her with a bright smile.

"Hi, Pretty. Don't worry, it's mostly safe. I'm Lucy," she sticks her hand out to shake. Lucy considers herself an excellent welcome wagon. This has nothing to do with the truth.

Lydia's still trying to wrap her head around what's going on and sorting through her memories to decide which ones are real and which ones aren't. Had there been a door? Really? Or was all of this some kind of messed up hallucination that was part of the banshee thing she just hadn't experienced yet until now? Usually her hallucinations were more auditory than visual, after all, if she had them.

The blunt compliment as a greeting catches Lydia off guard and surprises a little laugh out of her in spite of her confusion. She takes Lucy's hand to shake and then lets her own fall back to her side. "I'm Lydia, hi. ...mostly?" she asks for clarification, eyebrows lifted in question.

It's a lot to process and wrap one's brain around even if the possibility of hallucinations aren't involved. Lucy doesn't begrudge her the confusion. Of course, Lucy isn't big on judgement period.

The laugh is good. Lucy has discovered that most people like compliments. Besides, she generally tells the unflinching truth and Lydia is gorgeous. She's not really hitting on Lydia so much as she's flirting because she that's how she interacts with pretty much every living thing. "Nice to meet you, Lydia. You know minus the weirdness." She nods her head at the second bit. "We're still recovering from a post-apocalyptic scenario minus the roasting babies thing. Personally, I think we got grounded by the guys that run this place for not being grateful enough. Anyway, most days are more like this."

Safe, pleasant weather, almost everything you could wish for. Literally.

"Likewise, Lucy," Lydia replies, because she's sure that Lucy is a pleasant person and it's not fair to be rude to her just because everything is confusing and upside down. Although, honestly, the more this woman talks, the more confused Lydia becomes and it probably shows on her face, her expression both lost and daunted.

"Okay..." she responds, because what else is she supposed to say to that. "Who runs this place?"

She likes to believe she is! She's a friendly and optimistic one at least, but she wouldn't blame Lydia if she were rude to her. Being brought here is a little stressful and it definitely turns everything upside down. Unfortunately, that's sometimes a side effect of talking to Lucy. She dives right into something and doesn't consider context or prior knowledge needed for the conversation.

"An old guy that looks like someone's grandpa and a pretty blonde that looks like someone's mom? They're not human though. Or at least, I'm pretty sure they're not. They look that way though. They're...the old guy is creepy and the blonde is nice, most of the time."

Lydia's eyes narrow in thought as Lucy answers. "If she's so nice, why are people here against their will?" Lydia asks. It might not be true for Lucy, or anyone else, but it's true for Lydia, so she figures it counts.

Her arms cross over her chest to hug herself as she frowns. She has plans. She has friends and a family and a life; Lydia didn't ask for this. "Where can I find them? Creepy doesn't scare me. I'm used to creepy."

"I said she was sort of nice," Lucy points out. "And not everyone is here against their will. For some people, that blue door goes both ways. They use this for a vacation spot...or something." Lucy refuses to admit that she hasn't tried to see if the blue door goes both ways for her. She doesn't want to return home. Her father's gone and her mother's out of her mind with grief and Lucy is in deep denial about it all. "I think they need us here to power something. I don't know what or why or even how."

"You can send a network message to them. They'll get it and answer probably?" She's not entirely sure about that and she wrinkles her nose exhibiting that.

"I didn't mean to imply that everyone was, but I imagine I'm not the only one who is, is what I meant," Lydia counters gently, because she certainly hadn't meant to offend anyone.

Lydia files that thought away, reminding herself to look into contacting them later. How hard can it be to get them to direct her to the right door so that she can just let herself out, anyway? As it stands, she's a drain on their resources. Lydia just got her so she certainly can't make any contributions, but she's still going to require food and water, at the very least, to survive, so now she's just a leech to their economy which, as Lucy has already stated, is currently already in repair. Surely, they'll see the validity of her points and agree that she's more of a burden than a commodity and they'll direct her to the right door and send her on her way.

Lucy says that the people here are needed to power something, but she can't think of any way that their mere presence would be useful at all, so she's sure Lucy just must be mistaken. After all, so far Lydia's impression is that this girl is really nice...but she's also a little flighty.

She didn't offend. Honestly, Lucy is difficult to offend and she was even before she went to live in the City, experienced everything she had there then came here. She shakes her head. "S'okay," she assures her with a smile. "I just didn't know if you knew that sometimes it works for others."

Good luck with that? Lucy honestly wouldn't know as she's never asked, but she suspects that others have. She'll have to find out about the economy eventually and when she does it'll make more sense that whoever has brought them here is getting something from them.

She's not wrong about Lucy. She is very flighty. "If you've got questions, I've been here for a few months. I might can answer them."

The worst part is that, even though Lydia doesn't feel like it right now, if she's stuck here long enough, she can already see herself starting to call it home. Things back in Beacon Hills are crazy at best and she's nearly always staring down her own mortality. If things are calmer here, then Lydia can see herself getting...well, used to that.

So, she nods and gives another little smile, not wanting to let herself wander too far down that train of thought.

"Thanks, I appreciate it, Lucy," Lydia replies. "I won't keep you right now. I suppose I should look around and figure out what the hell I'm going to do with myself. Thanks for answering my questions," she says with a grateful little smile.

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OTA || Outside the Apartment Building

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