Ariadne (building_dreams) wrote in madisonvalley, @ 2019-10-25 01:52:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed, !log, ~2019 october, ~25 points, ~~samirah al-abbas (daughter_ofloki), ~~~ariadne (building_dreams) |
WHO Ariadne & Samirah Al-Abbas
WHAT Checking in
WHEN Recently
WHERE Their apartment
WARNINGS TBD, will update if needed
STATUS Closed | Incomplete gdoc
Ariadne had quite a lot to think about as the dust settled on the latest Dome shenanigans. It wasn't an easy thing at all, to try to grapple with faith and feelings, to separate the two effectively. The space between her and Amaar felt wide, and yet somehow not wide enough. She could hardly forget the intimacy between them, especially when it had been so much better than she'd previously been able to imagine. The last thing she wanted was for her issues to impact any sort of mentoring relationship that Samirah might want with Amaar, so she continued to encourage her ward to attend whichever prayers throughout the day she wanted. Though she wasn't participating in the group, she was still praying daily, often for guidance as she continued her journey towards converting.
It had been a little while of this new routine and Ariadne wanted to check in with Samirah to see how she was settling in, not just to their new situation but to Madison Valley as a whole. Tea had become a fixture for these sorts of conversations, a realization she had only as she poured out mugs for the pair of them. "I've got a new blend I'm going to try today, I think," Ari decided as she brought the tea box over to the table. "What are you thinking?"
Perhaps not the most direct route, but she was doing her best.
***
Samirah wasn’t blind to things. Having lived in a world where the enemy used a lot of double talk, not to mention a father notorious for twisting words, helped her look between the lines. To say she was oblivious to Ariadne’s affection for Amaar would be a lie, though she didn’t know to what extent it was. The strange event that had just passed at definitely put a strain on everything. She hoped it was something all parties could recover from.
She looked up as Ariadne approached. Her eyes fell on the tea bags and she mentally took inventory. “I’m thinking I’m going to need to study more for my advanced Calculus class.” She felt shaky with the Hessian Matrix, but she was determined to get it.
Her lips quirked just a little as she picked up a blueberry herbal tea. “This one for tea, though. I feel like something a little sweet.”
***
“I was much happier with geometry and algebra, to be honest,” Ariadne replied with a smile. Samirah was bright and though their minds worked differently, she still felt a sort of kinship in that regard with her ward. It was a nice feeling, which made being a guardian worth it. Maybe that was the reason the Dome had matched the two of them together. Ari knew better than to try to find reason and order in the chaos of the Dome, but every so often she tried.
She took the tea and moved back to the counter to get them steeping in the hot water. Then she brought both mugs over to the table, grateful that the honey and sugar were pretty much fixtures there so she didn’t have to get them as well.
“Did school get thrown out of whack the other week?” She was curious, since certain things had definitely changed for her in that week. It stood to reason that it had affected Sam too.
***
“Some of the teachers were absent. A lot more drama in the hallway… but I’ve sort of learned to tune them all out.” When a teacher didn’t show up to class, Sam just studied. There had been rumours of affairs, cheating, favouritism, but it was easy to put them into context once it had become obvious something was affecting people under the Dome. When she had first arrived, it had been explained to her that often there were events that happened and they didn’t last forever, so Sam decided to try to wait it all out. Thankfully, it had left just as quickly as it had appeared.
“Is the counselling provided by the city here? I imagine there’s probably a lot of people who did or said some terrible things and some of them might not have the ability to cope well…” It was a thought Samirah had a few times now when she noticed the way some people looked at each other. “Is someone keeping track of the strange events? Do you know if any of them have ever repeated themselves?”
***
It was a good question, but Ariadne shook her head no. “I don’t believe there is. The locals here don’t understand it any more than we do and despite being a bit more understanding, they aren’t inclined to help us. There may be someone who has a background in therapy at the clinic, but for the most part? I think people tend to figure it out for themselves, for better or worse.” Ari certainly fell in that camp, though she was hoping it would all turn out for the better, whatever that might be in the long run.
“As for keeping track, I’m pretty sure WAMM Investigations does, and I know there were a few scientists, too. It’s beyond my understanding, truthfully, so I tend to just let it be. There have been repeats though. The fair is one, in springs up overnight every year with no warning. And there are future children that seem to appear every year as well. Those are the only two I know for certain that have happened multiple times,” she answered. “If you ask on the network, I’m sure those who have been here longer would respond.” They were used to those sorts of questions, she supposed.
“I’m glad it didn’t bother you too much. I feel bad that I wasn’t here and didn’t remember you.” That was something Ariadne hadn’t said before, but she wanted to say it now.
***
“I was hoping it would go back to normal sooner rather than later, so I tried not to worry too much about it. And I didn’t want to complicate things with you since you were obviously affected.” Samirah also didn’t hold it against Ariadne - she was clearly not in her right mind.
“Back home, we have something called Glamour. I’ve heard others refer to it as mist. It makes mortals see more normal things. So if I walked around with my axe back home, they’d likely see an umbrella. If a giant started to destroy a car, they’d see something that would make sense to them.” What they saw, exactly, she couldn’t tell you, but people never seemed bothered by strange things on the streets of Boston. “My Jid and Bibi can’t see through it. They’ve tried, but every time they find out who or what I am, they forgot within a half hour. So I’m sort of used to it.”
***
"I appreciate that," Ariadne replied honestly. "Most things, whatever they might be, tend to last for about a week, so anything longer than that might be cause for concern. Otherwise, it's best to let things run its course as best you can." She wasn't even sure what her reaction might have been, had Samirah tried to reason with that version of herself.
As she fixed her tea, she listed to her ward describe a mist type thing that impeded others from learning about her true self. "That would actually be quite handy around here," Ari mused. "I believe that's also how Magic Alley is warded, though how they managed to make themselves visible only to refugees is beyond me." She was enough of a fan of the source material to not question the results of Hermione Granger's, the Potters' and the Weasleys' magics. "It must be really hard for you though, to not be able to share that part of your life with your family." That was a hard burden to carry. "Maybe they'll come here and you'll be able to tell them. It doesn't seem like that's really a problem here, since I have no problem remembering you're a Valkyrie." There had to be some silver linings somewhere, all things considered.
***
She nodded at Ariadne’s words. “Maybe… though I’m not sure I’d like them to come. My grandparents are old and I’m not sure they’d really be able to cope well.” She wouldn’t wish trying to sort this sort of thing out on people like that for anything. “But I do hold out hope that -” She paused and flushed just a little, her eyes moving to the mug as she let her hands wrap around it as a distraction. “- my friends will find their way here. If I can’t find my way back, I mean.”
Sam thought of Magnus, then of her half sibling Alex and the residents on Floor 19. She tried not to let it go back to Amir, but it did, and the flush stayed on her cheeks. He was the only one who wasn’t part of all the crazy Norse stuff and yet, he had faced the strange with her and for her and survived, partially due to Magnus and his healing abilities.
***
The look on Samirah's face was one Ariadne knew well because she wore it herself many a time. "Friends, huh?" she repeated, nosing a little bit in a playful way. She wanted to know more about her ward, the sort of life she had and the people she knew. Having people from the same world made a difference, she knew that first hand, so she did want to be aware at least enough so that if a name popped up on the network, she could connect the pair of them. That blush told her that Sam was thinking of one person in particular and that was kind of interesting. There hadn't been any mention of it before now, at least not to her, so Ariadne was curious.
"Well, I'll keep my fingers crossed your friend shows up. If you tell me some names, I can keep an eye out for them," she offered. "It's the least I can do." She'd definitely do more, was an expert at meddling if Strange's thoughts on proposing to Scarlett were any indication. "I think it's safe to say there's no finding a way out of here, much as we'd all like to believe otherwise." She was far too practical for that, anyway.