Open | Network or Action | You're dripping like a saturated sunrise

[dorkify]

[ The woman on the screen is young and blonde. She smiles a little at the camera and waves then tucks her long hair behind her ears. ] I’m Gracie. I’ve been here for a few days trying to...adjust. [ Her brow furrows a little at that. ] I used to have a vlog back home--I graduated with a degree in communications--and I thought I’d start vlogging here. I figured I’d get to talk to some of you guys and it’d help me adjust. Anyway, I’ve heard a lot of things about this place and they are way too sci-fi for me to really believe them, but I want to. Things like time waits for you back home. I mean, I’ve got a shift that started five hours ago and Gemma hasn’t got anyone else to cover. Mom and I were...not fighting--she doesn’t fight with me; we disagree. Anyway, that’s not how I want to leave things if that’s the last I’m going to see of her, you know?

[ She leans back a little as a cat jumps into her lap.] This is Aslan. He came here with me. I was literally walking across my living room to go to bed and yet...somehow my favorite jeans and tee shirt are here hanging in the closet of the apartment I was given to stay in. Nothing makes sense. [ She worries at her bottom lip a moment before she releases it and begins talking again. ]

It’s not all bad though. Fancy phone PDA thing for one. There are some reasonably cool buildings around this place. Some of them...I’m not even sure they’re supposed to exist. Then there are some things that are too good to be true, like that no one has asked me for money, a credit card or a room number in any of the stores. I got the briefing. I understand that everything is free. I’m just wondering, what’s the catch?

[ She makes a face at the camera. ] Sorry. I’m not usually this Phillip K Dick about things. [ She pushes the cat off her lap and rolls a small golden sphere around on the table. ] With that in mind, I’m going to do some more shopping--can it even be called shopping when it’s all free? That’s more like high opportunity scavenging or something. I’m also going to figure out how to open this snitch I found on my table this morning. Unfortunately, there are no helpful clues like ‘I open at the end’. If I see any of you guys out there, feel free to stop me and say hi.

Gracie out. [ She waves again and clicks the video feed off ]

[ooc lots of options here for Gracie. Feel free to talk to her on the network or find her out and about pretty much anywhere in town. You can also have normal Gracie, affected (high) Gracie, or crashing Gracie. Be specific in the subject line and/or in the tag! ]

Comments

video; --> normal?

[bloomingprimrose]

[ prim is interested in a whole lot of all of this. since she's been doing better lately, she decides to actually poke her head out on the network. ]

Hi, Gracie. My name is Prim. I've been here for-- [ she has to stop and think about this because it's broken up for her and her memory of time is still wonky. ] A year? Maybe two? Total.

And um... what you said about time standing still at home. It's true. Some people can go back and forth all the time, but the one time I went back through my door, everything was exactly as I had left it.

[ she'd gone right back to the capitol. right back to the end of the rebellion. right back to the last time she'd see her sister for three years. ]

\o/

[dorkify]

[ Gracie is a little surprised, but very pleased to see someone respond. She doesn't usually interact with anyone that sees her blog in a real time basis. It's like face time, but with an open link or something. She smiles at Prim. ]

Hi, Prim. I like your name. [ She's a little taken aback by the amount of time that Prim has been here. She hadn't thought about anyone being here that long. However, when she tells her about the trip home, Gracie grateful and very relieved. She might miss her friends and her family, but at least her mother wouldn't put out an Amber alert. ]

Thank you. I could just see my mother calling out the National Guard.

[bloomingprimrose]

Thanks. [ that actually makes prim smile a little. it's been a while since someone complimented her name. it's such a small thing, but it helps. ] I like yours too.

[ and she's not just saying that, either. she's about to make things harder, though. ]

National Guard? What's that?

[dorkify]

[ It's nice to make someone smile and the compliment had been genuine. Gracie smiles in return and murmurs a thanks.

Oh. Harder. Well, she knows that things are weird here. She knows there's magic. She also knows there are people from different worlds here. She doesn't realize, yet, that the national Guard isn't in every world. ]

You know, like the emergency army?

[bloomingprimrose]

[ prim will very quickly make that realization happen. she shakes her head, still looking puzzled. ]

The emergency army in Panem was the Rebellion. There's... never been anything like that. Not that I remember. [ it could have once existed, but snow would have erased all traces of that. so... not in panem. ]

What does your National Guard do?

video;

[makeslouder]

[Blue is trying her best to be open minded about the new arrival. She really is. But it would be extremely easy to judge. It would be extremely easy to just assume that Gracie is like all the other blonde haired, bubbly girls that comprised Mountain View. Someone she doesn't want to bother with. (Even if that list tended to include ninety-nine percent of Henrietta's teenage population).

It would be extremely easy to group Gracie with all those other girls. Just like she had initially considered Gansey as the most Algionby of Aglionby boys and the rest of his group no better. She had thought similar of Henry too, hadn't she? When it comes down to it, Blue Sargent is nothing but a contrary hypocrite. Every bit as judgmental as those who judge her.

So she takes a deep breath and answers,]

It's not science fiction. It's magic.

video;

[dorkify]

[ Well, without meeting the other blonde haired, bubbly girls, Gracie can't say that she's not like them. She likes to think she's not shallow and pointless to get to know.

At least she's trying to get better? At the mention of magic, Gracie smiles. She's heard that this place is capable of magic. She's heard that all kinds of things are possible in this place. ]

Do you have magic back in your world?

video;

[makeslouder]

[If that's the case, then maybe she and Blue will get along fine. Blue doesn't have many (read: any) female friends. Orla's been the closest she's ever had to one and that relationship tended to be rocky for a while now. This girl isn't Orla though. Few people are.

When Gracie smiles and asks her question, Blue gives an uncertain grin in return. It is a nice change. Usually, she's used to more ridicule and disbelief when it comes to magic.]

We do. There's a ley line that runs through my town.

video;

[dorkify]

[ That's a goal then: friends

Well, she has been here a few days and done her research. Besides that, Gracie has spent her entire life reading books about magic and fantasy. She wants it to be real. Her brow furrows a little. She might want to believe in magic, but that doesn't mean she understands it. Fictional accounts of magic vary wildly.]

That's a source of power, right? The idea is that they run across the world and sometimes people can tap into it? Or travel through them?

video;

[makeslouder]

[Friends. That's not such a bad goal.

Blue's seen some of those books and when she was younger, she'd read one or two of them. It seemed the fitting thing to do given that she was cursed herself. But none of those books offered solutions to her problem and Blue didn't think it was all that becoming to sit around waiting for a prince to fix everything for her.

Non-fiction seemed like a much better choice from that point on.

Regardless, consider Blue a little impressed that Gracie replies with a thoughtful answer.] Spirits travel along them but no one I know has ever traveled through the one in Henrietta.

video → normal

[sanguinescry]

( Lydia's been here almost a week, just sort of soaking up as much information as she can. It's actually kind of nice to see someone on the network who's willing to admit that they've essentially been doing the same thing and it's even nicer to see that she's probably close to Lydia's age. She hasn't actually decided whether she wants to stay or go, but for the time being, she doesn't really have a choice since she can't find her stupid door. They keep saying it's around here and she's willing to believe that if only because everyone seems to nice, but...all the same. She can't find it right now, so the options are stay put and settle in or stay put and be a grouch. She's never really been the latter type. Might as well try to make a new friend, since they've got this little but important thing in common. )

Hi Gracie, I'm Lydia. I've been here about a week and I've been doing the exact same thing. I'm still trying to decide how I feel about everything, so at least you're not alone in that.

( Prada hops onto the bed and Lydia smiles a little as she scoops him up. )

At least we have our babies with us, right? I'd be taking this a lot differently if Prada wasn't here.

((ooc: casually using Holland's actual dog rather than the dog that plays Lydia's dog in the show because reasons.))

video → normal

[dorkify]

[ Gracie thinks it's the smart thing to do. Besides, there's a lot about this place to process and to find out. She's just turned 23 and she doesn't have any choice in staying or going right now either. Gracie isn't any good at being a grouch either nor is she any good at being alone, hence the video. It also makes her feel a little more normal. ]

Hey, Lydia. I'm glad that I'm not the only one. [When the dog hops up onto the bed, she smiles even wider. ]

Yeah, Aslan makes it feel a lot more like home. Was Prada with you when you came through the door? 'Cause I've heard things from home can show up here.

((ooc: ha! And I'm using Taylor's real cat 'cause I can))

[sanguinescry]

( Lydia nods a little, to both the sentiment and the question as she scratches behind his little ears. )

I'm glad I'm not the only one, too, you have no idea how relieving it was to watch your post. And yeah, I was taking him out in the yard to do his business before bed and when I went to walk back into the house, I...was here instead. In my pajamas and no shoes. So...that was awkward.

( She laughs a little at that. It's funny now. It wasn't then. )

[dorkify]

[ Lydia's recount of her arrival makes Gracie smile. ] Me too. I mean the whole arrival thing. I was wearing my boxer shorts and a tank top. I'd gotten up from the couch, picked Aslan up to go to bed. I showed up here instead.

[ Yeah it had been scary when she'd first arrived. She'd tried to convince herself that it was a dream, one of those super realistic 'naked in front of the whole class' dreams. She'd learned quickly enough that wasn't the case.]

It helped a lot when I first got here, having him. It still helps, but especially then.

[sanguinescry]

( Lydia laughs a little and then lifts her eyebrows. )

I think people would've gotten a little less of a show if I'd been wearing boxer shorts, but since I'd been staying at the lake house and there's no one way out that way...I wasn't. Hope Itinere enjoyed my ass while the free show was available. I was just in underwear and a tank top.

(She doesn't seem bothered by that, though, and she isn't. She's been completely naked when she wandered off in a mind-alerted stupor and half the Beacon Hills sheriff's office plus Stiles all just sort of stood there staring at her until she finally had to ask for a coat. Being caught in a pair of panties and a tank top is way less humiliating than that. )

Yeah, I get you. I know the feeling. ( She pauses for a second. ) Are you still going shopping…? ( At least, she's pretty sure she remembers Gracie mentioning that in the vlog… )

[adamparrish]

[ This girl talks way more than anyone Adam has ever known. Who shares stuff about their family, like disagreements that might as well be fighting, with strangers? No one. Except over-sharing girl.

Adam stares at the screen for a long time, feeling compelled to say something, because when someone shares things about themselves and admits to being unsettled to the entirety of the world, you should say something back... right? Maybe. Or not.

When this sepia photograph of a boy turns on the video, his face is a little smudged with grease. And the best thing he can come up with saying is the following. ] Most people here are okay, if that helps. You'll settle.

[ It's better than 'you talk a lot', which he'd almost said. So there's that. ]

[dorkify]

[ Fair enough. She does talk a lot. She does have a degree in communication so it's sort of a necessity? She smiles brightly at Adam's response. ]

That does help. At least I know it's not a town full of mean people.

[adamparrish]

[ The closest Adam has ever come to people who are so animated as Grace are the people who have known his situation back home and tried to over-exaggerate their kindness to him. Or, there's Ronan Lynch. Ronan's animation is less smiles ans more scowls.

Anyway, Adam is trying to figure Gracie out. There's always something behind a smile like that. Or maybe Adam Parrish is just that cynical.

He shrugs. ] Uh, yeah. They're okay. I mean I don't know everyone. But those I do know, and what I've seen, they're not bad. When bad stuff happens they try to band together and help everyone out.

[ He glances at the cat. ] Big fan of The Chronicles of Narnia?

[dorkify]

[ She's generally pretty animated. If Gracie is quiet and unanimated then she's generally either in deep thought, very serious or sad.

She's got a little dark in her life. Everyone does after all, but with Gracie a smile is just a smile. He'll have to go looking for other bouncy blondes if he wants darkness and issues. ] That's good. Have you been here a long time?

[ She reaches out and scratches at the cat's ears ] Big fan of books, but Chronicles of Narnia were some of my favorite when I was a kid. You've read them?

[adamparrish]

Yeah I've read them. When I have time to read, I like to. [ His home life has never allowed for much free time. But he's taken to frequenting the bookstore here in Itinere, reading lots of books that he used to wish he had time to read back home. Narnia is one of those.

Adam pauses a minute to try to calculate the amount of time he's been here. ] Over a year. Maybe a year and a half? So I've been here awhile. For the most part it's pretty peaceful.

[epeiste]

As Gracie is out and about, she'll come across something out of time and space. A Musketeer, in full Musketeer regalia, is riding atop a horse down main street. The Musketeer himself is rather large, broad and tall. Add to that he is atop a rather large steed, well... he looks like something of a giant.

As he comes upon the blonde woman, he pauses to press a finger to the wide brim of his hat and nod a greeting in her direction. "Mademoiselle. I trust you find yourself in good spirits this day."

[dorkify]

Oh, she notices that out of time thing and it makes her stop in her tracks, head tilting and face scrunching up in confusion. Giant is a really excellent way to describe her. It's also kind of stunning, the whole picture together.

In fact, it's so stunning and so out of time, that for a moment, Gracie doesn't realize that the man is talking to her. She looks over each shoulder quite comically before she looks back up (way up) to the man on the horse.

"Me? I mean...yeah I'm good. Good as good. Better than good." She looks to the horse. "Can I pet him? I used to have a pony. Her name was Belle. I haven't actually ridden in a while though."

[epeiste]

"Of course. He's a gentle giant, that's for sure." Porthos slides out of the saddle, tall leather boots landing heavily on the ground with a clank of musket, swords and daggers at his waist. He holds the reigns and walks to the front of the steed, gloved hand petting at the horse's neck.

"So long as you're not Spanish, I mean. He don't much care for the Spanish." He might be joking, but probably not. In Porthos's time, France is at war with Spain. There's no love lost between either of them for the other.

After he's removed his hat, he sweeps aside his blue cloak with a flourish and bows to Gracie. "Porthos du Vallon, mademoiselle. Perhaps you could share your name as well."

[dorkify]

Gracie steps to the horse's head, letting her sniff him before she lays her palm on his nose and strokes it gently. She looks up when Porthos gets down off the horse, surprised that he's as tall as he is. She's tall, but he's massive.

She laughs a little at his joke. "As far as I know, not Spanish at all," she assures him, taking in the outfit he's wearing. Something tickles at the back of her mind, but she can't quite figure out what it is.

His introduction gets a gasp out of her and her hand stills on the horse's nose. She recognizes the name and that makes the last piece of the puzzle click in. "You're a musketeer. One of the--The Three Musketeers from--" she stops herself from saying 'from the book' or 'that's impossible'. Maybe it's cosplay day in Itinere? If so, he is deep into his character. She realizes he asked her a question. Sort of. She blinks a little. "Sorry--I'm Gracie. I was just--you surprised me. It's very nice to meet you."

She's even going to attempt a little curtsey.

[epeiste]

For anyone who knows the tales, the pauldron on Porthos's shoulder with the fleur de lis on it, a pauldron scuffed and littered with the sharp edges of many, many blades after fighting in many battles, might clue them in. The fleur de lis, the symbol of the French monarchy. Porthos has heard that there are books that retell the exploits of the Musketeers, particularly him and his friends. It makes him a little uneasy and a lot prideful, not prideful of himself, but of his regiment.

Her curtsey gets a nod and he stands back up to his full height, wide-brimmed hat placed back on his head. "Well met, Mademoiselle Gracie."

Then he smiles a large, dimpled smile. He does like that the Musketeers have lived on well past his own time. That group of men, as hard as they fought and defended the crown, they deserve to live in infamy, for their tales of bravery and heroism to be told and retold. "Heard of the King's Musketeers, eh? One of the better ideas he ever had." Porthos says.