( For a long while, Joy goes back and forth deciding whether or not to do this as a video rather than text. She hates her voice; it's embarrassing. Joy Shapiro-Krushelevansky was born prematurely and moderately deaf due to a fall her mother suffered in her third trimester while pregnant with Joy. The teenager has had hearing aids for what feels like forever and she'd had speech therapy when she'd been little, so she's learned to read lips and if she's got her hearing aids in, she can hear all right, but when she talks, her voice sounds deep and gravelly like it belongs to a woman in her late forties who spent the better part of her life smoking a pack a day of cigarettes.

Being fourteen means being self-conscious and she hates, hates, hates when people she doesn't know can hear her talking. Once she gets used to a person and knows that they aren't going to judge, she's fine.

Ultimately, in spite of her own discomfort, Joy decides to go with video instead of text because it's just easier to talk than it is to type when Charlie's awake, because he's a little fussy these past couple of days. If she's not holding him and he's not sleeping, he's screaming. )

Um...so...hi, I'm... ( She shifts a little in her chair and the infant in her arms stirs, which makes her take pause. He doesn't awaken, so she continues, but lowers her voice a little. ) I'm Joy and I just, um, wondered if anybody knows whether we can call home from here or no. I can't, anyway, I don't have a cell phone, but if it's a thing that's possible, I wondered if somebody would, um, mind if I borrowed their phone to send my mom a text once in a while just so she knows that me and Charlie are still okay and she doesn't freak out ( and do something humiliating like show up here. ) but if not, then that's okay. I just thought I would ask.

Ever since her dad died, life has been tough for Joy. It's always been complicated; her mom used to be a famous writer and she's a total Smother. Joy herself is the product of her mother hooking up with her ex for a one night stand at, of all things, a funeral. Joy's biological father, Bruce, is a jerk and his wife is even worse. Joy has a newly gay grandma, a complete jerk of a grandfather, and an Aunt Elle who is literally the coolest person she's ever met.

And last year, just before Joy's bah mitzvah, her dad had a heart attack and died. Joy hadn't known that he and Joy's mother had been planning a new baby via a surrogate before he died, but she found out after the fact. Several months after her dad's death, Charlie was born. Joy might only be fourteen years old, but she's been taking care of him ever since. She decided it was better to give her mother some time to pull herself together and for Joy not to have to juggle school on top of everything at home, so she packed up Charlie's diaper bag after a month of the struggle at home and stepped into Itinere. So far, it seems okay.

She waits until it's warm to dress Charlie for the weather before heading out to check out the town, wandering down the streets, in and out of stores just to see what's there. They've been here about a week and the past several days of it, he's been fussing. Maybe that's just what one month old babies do. Fuss. And it isn't like Joy knows how to make him stop except that she's learned that he likes to be held. The problem is, Joy's sick of the same four walls, so maybe she can keep Charlie happy while she also explores. It seems like the best of both worlds, so what could possibly go wrong?

The thunder cracks high above and Jill is hurrying down the street to board up the windows of the Houndstooth again. She's been in Itinere long enough to know that something isn't right. This place seems to go through cycles of peace and perfection and experiments that range from ridiculous to horrific. With Lucy safe at their apartment, Jill is going to take care of the Houndstooth.

When she sees the first monster she becomes the most cliche monster movie chickadee in the world and screams and runs in the other direction. She slips into an alleyway between to buildings and waits it out for a bit before continuing on to the Houndstooth with her heart beating a mile a minute.

She'll be at The Houndstooth boarding up windows for the better part of the day before heading back to her apartment and Lucy. She has to run and hide a few times from several winged beasts on her way.

The City has been flooded with these violent creatures for a week now and it doesn't look like there's an end in sight. Jill and Lucy have been holed up in the apartment building for that week so at least they're safe enough. She's sent texts to her friends, making sure they're safe and even broadcasted that the Houndstooth is closed for the foreseeable future and please everyone be safe.

There's one day though, a day when she steps out onto the balcony of their shared apartment that Jill finds a heart, a fresh, still beating heart. "What in the world?" She whispers to herself as she leans in closer to look at it.

Flashes of memories hit her, Hawke and Isabella. She can see them, the love affair between them, the push and pull, and she smiles for a moment because she's getting this glimpse into her friend's life, a part of her life that Hawke has spoken about frequently.

As the visions end though, when Jill is left with just the live heart, the implications make her stomach roil. She grabs her phone and sends out a text.

The morning dawns early for Hawke. It might also for certain people in Itinere as the communication device gets knocked over. And then turned on by a very inquisitive and large dog nose. The dog licks the screen, clearly pleased with himself for figuring out how to turn the thing on, and then glances up at the bed. Clearly there's someone in it, though it's hard to tell who from this angle.

The dog quietly steps forward and then--

POUNCE.

Hawke yelps as the mastiff-looking dog licks her like crazy. "Cailan, stop. You know you're not allowed on the--"

The sound of her mabari's name stops her cold. Finally managing to shove him off of her, she sits upright. The dog, happy now that his mistress is awake, leaps off the bed, barking and dancing around the room. He has clearly been pent up too much. But Hawke isn't focused on that. She's focused on the fact that her mabari is somehow... here.

"Cailan!" she finally calls, sliding out of bed so she can throw her arms around him. The dog finally stills long enough for that before wriggling out of her arms and flopping over to roll onto his back with his feet comically pawing the air. Hawke can't help but laugh. At least until one of his paws shoots the communicator at her.

"You came back and you let the entire world know? What a drama-monger you are. Someone might start thinking you're Orlesian."

The dog immediately stops rolling, ears back, and growls.

"Not me, of course. But someone might."

To which the dog whines in a "but whyyyy" tone. Hawke laughs and turns the device off.

Later on, Hawke can be found playing in the snow with her mabari, looking actually happy for once. Likely happier than most people have seen her. They do a bit of hunting at some point, too, which is mostly just Hawke telling the dog to go fetch something yummy and waiting to see what happens. But they can be found around the city as Hawke introduces her fierce war hound to Itinere.

I know I haven't really hopped on here since I got here a couple of days ago but...hi, I'm Cam. I'm going to go get a drink and this is my open invitation for someone or someones to join me, because drinking alone is really, really sad and I really don't wanna be that guy. Don't make me be that guy, okay?

Admittedly, Cam can't really complain about the digs here. It's actually a really nice apartment. It's like someone took the loft he and Sophie were sharing in Manhattan and upgraded it into something more spacious and less roach-infested. He likes that part of this whole deal. The part he's not so into is that she's not here, as far as he can tell, and he's lost his door. He looks for it for a couple of hours every day, but the promise that time sort of stops on the "other side" makes him feel less guilty for not really going all out while he's looking. He's not keen on the idea of leaving Soph alone in New York, that's for damn sure, but if time isn't moving forward with out him; if that's really true — and rumor has it, it is — then maybe the fact that he hasn't found his door back yet is a sign that he should take a minute and regroup; enjoy his life for what it is for a second instead of treating every day like a full time job that never really pays and gives no time off.

He loves his sister and he doesn't feel like she's a job all the time, but...well. He's done everything for her since he was eight years old. This feels like a chance to just...take a breather and he deserves one, doesn't he?

So he drops a line on the network and then he heads out. Maybe he'll meet someone; maybe he'll end up drinking alone, but either way...it's getting him out of the apartment for a minute because he's not entirely sure he can resist that golden sphere if he doesn't and something tells him he ought to wait on that until he can find out what's actually in there without having to open it to find out for himself. It's a random magical place that dragged him out of his real life and then closed the door behind him and hid it. He thinks it's fair not to entirely trust the gifts he gets while he's here.

Cam makes his way to the nearest bar and settles on a stool, his feet touching the floor with no problem even when he's sitting because he's so goddamned tall, and he orders himself a beer before pulling out his PDA to check the network again. Why not? He hasn't had a beer in a while. It's hard to enjoy a drink when you're on big brother duty twenty-four seven.

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

Mass Text:
Ask and you shall receive. The Houndstooth Grill and Tavern now broadcasts all sporting events on a ton of TV's. I think I kind of love whoever runs this place. For now.
Grand opening this Saturday.
Are you ready for some football? Hope y'all come by. And Roll Tide!