solstice rpg

Who: Christian and Jesse
Where: Jesse's lighthouse
When: Late afternoon

The ferry ride home had been depressing. Christian had gone from panicked and frantic to defeated and uncertain. Obviously he had failed, and now maybe she would kill herself sooner, and it would be all his fault. He'd shooed Ava off when they got to his house-- she was reluctant, but he didn't want to face Jesse with her there-- and disappeared inside to huddle in his blankets upstairs with his kittens.

When he finally dragged himself out of the house again, the kittens came with him. He slumped down the street, out of town, and up to the covered doorway to the lighthouse with one kitten in one pocket and the other continuously trying to climb out of the other. He was the picture of misery as he knocked heavily on the door, and hunched his shoulders, fully expecting-- against all odds-- to be yelled at and punished for his failure.

( It did not go well. )

Who: Christian and Ava, and NPC Natalie Price
Where: The mainland, residential district
When: Morning

There were three Price families in Darkwater. Christian and Ava had already been to two of them-- neither of which were the right one. Christian had a headache and was feeling more than a little discouraged as they left the second and headed for the third. "Even if she is there," he began-- not for the first time, and with his hands buried in his coat pockets, wishing to hell he could have brought his kittens-- "what do I say to her?"

Ava wasn't entirely sure why she was there. Okay, so she knew why, but it was making her nervous. She had never dealt with anything like this before, but if her telepathy could come in handy, now was the time. She just couldn't help but worry about this girl, and of course Ava feared the possibility that she and Christian would only make things worse. With any luck, things would go smoothly and they would leave without feeling discouraged. At Christian's question, Ava glanced up at him with a frown. "I'm not sure. Maybe you'll know when you see her?"

( I have a secret that nobody knows. )

Who: Christian and Jesse
When: morning
Where: Christian's house

Jesse had been trying so hard to find the girl who desperately wanted to die that he thought maybe that's why he hadn't been able to. Maybe it wasn't possible to force oneself to go into one dream or another. There was still so much he didn't understand about how the dreamworld worked, as well as the fact that the girl he'd seen made him feel an urgent sort of desperation as he wondered if it was already too late. But as soon as the sun rose Thursday morning, he came out of his fugue state and sat straight up on the catwalk, gasping, her name on his lips. He'd seen her again, talked to her. That had to mean she was still alive.

He made himself wait until a decent hour, although it was still early by most people's standards, before dressing in fresh clothes and literally running over to Christian's home, where he knocked on the door, then shifted nervously from foot to foot as he waited.

( I found her. )

Who: Christian and Sorcha
Where: Sorcha's house
When: Early evening

Somehow, when he got off of work, Christian wound up just... walking. The streets were wet, but the rain was starting to slack off, and everything smelled fresh and clean and damp. He snugged his coat around him, even though it wasn't exactly cold, and drifted. Things were whispering, with the sound of rain that wasn't actually falling anymore, but it wasn't a hallucination he really minded-- it was so light and quiet that it was almost pleasant. He'd have to remember to take his medication when he got home that night, though he didn't think he'd missed it that morning. Probably something had just leaked through.

The drifting turned vaguely directional when he found himself in Sorcha's neighborhood. He hadn't seen her in a few days, and she hadn't called him again, but he could maybe stop by... see if she wanted to share dinner with him, maybe. There ought to be food in him sometime soonish, after all, right?

He finally wound up at her door, and stopped there a long moment, listening to rain that wasn't falling and trying to make that last decision whether he would risk annoying her, or not. In the end, though, he knocked, and put his hands into his pockets to wait, looking a little dreamily out across the street while he did so.

( And getting along. )

Who: Christian and Ava
Where: A coffee shop on Eldritch
When: Mid-morning

When Christian woke up, not with a headache or a vision but with the thoughts of all his neighbors crowding into his head, he knew he was in for a long day. He certainly didn't want to be home listening to those conversations, and he knew they'd be home all day, from their thoughts. It might be better than dwelling on suicide-girl, but not by much. And work wasn't until noon....

... so he should call someone who would understand. There was an idea. He hadn't tried contacting Ava since their conversation the week before, so he gave her a quick call and suggested coffee out. He'd had a free meal the day before... he could afford it. And she could meet his kittens. After all, he was quite happy to introduce them to everyone he knew. Except maybe his boss. Maybe.

( Just because I want to know doesn't mean I have to know )

Who: Christian, Jesse, and Gwen
When: Midday-ish
Where: A cafe with outdoor seating by the ferry dock

After a lengthy conversation with himself before he left to go get Jesse, Christian had finally given in to himself and brought the kittens along. Schatten was comfortable in a coat pocket-- yes, he had a coat on, albeit a light one, despite the heat of the day; Christian nearly always wore a coat, if he could get away with it-- and Kummer kept climbing out of his pocket to ride on his shoulder or pounce something nearby or claw up and down his pants leg or otherwise, well... get into trouble. His name was well-chosen, Christian thought more than once along the way, given what it meant.

He collected Jesse with much nervousness, and several more rescues of Kummer later, the cafe where Gwen waited was in sight. "She is on her lunch break," Christian said, for the third time. "You do not have to eat, though she might."

( And suicidal young women. )

Who: Christian and Gwen
Where: Out and about!
When: Late morning

It had taken a little while to get out of Darkwater and to somewhere with a pet store-- a pet store, anyhow, that Christian had vetted and would actually take animals from. He had a small list within an hour's drive from Darkwater. Each store-- or shelter, or rescue operation-- on the list had cats, dogs, mice, hamsters, guinea pigs, and even ferrets, or at least the facilities for one. He'd checked. The trip itself had been a little less fun than it could have been, as Christian was excited about having company at home again, still upset about the vision the day before, jumpy (as usual), and didn't really want to talk about it, but it could have been worse.

"It's there," he told Gwen as they approached the first stop, pointing, his journal open in his lap. "There, next to the electronics shop."

( ... or two! )

Who: Jesse, Christian and Sorcha
Where: the lighthouse
When: shortly after 2

Jesse had been sitting on the catwalk at the top of the lighthouse for hours now, soaking in the intermittent bursts of sun. He'd realized at about noon, when the sun was brilliant in the sky overhead, that there seemed to be something in it that he needed. Driven by some impulse he didn't quite understand, he'd removed his long-sleeved shirt, and he sat cross-legged, looking like someone deep in meditation, the rays soaking into his skin. He'd felt low and lethargic when the previous day had been gloomy and overcast, as if he were somehow missing a vital energy, and today? Well, today he felt energized. The longer he sat out in the sun, the stronger and more serene he felt. It's like it's food, he thought, a faint smile on his lips as he kept his face turned up to the brightness. The sun. The light.

( why must I see this? )

Who: Sorcha and Christian
When: late evening
Where: phoneland

Even though the family dinner at Turlough's place had gone relatively well-- no major arguments, no psychotic killers, no shots fired-- Sorcha still found herself relieved when it was over. That many McDonnells in one place was a bit overwhelming, and it wasn't as if she was wildly social, anyway. By the time she'd left, she'd felt tension all through her neck and shoulders from keeping the necessary defensive posture the whole time. Necessary to her, at least. Normally the long ferry ride was a bit of an irritant, but tonight she didn't mind it. Halfway through, she got out of her car to stand near the rail, despite the fact that it was chilly outside. She'd taken out the barrette that had held her long red hair back in a ponytail, and it fell all around her shoulders, strands of it lifting in the breeze as she gazed down at the churning black water. In this light, everything at ocean level looked black, she noticed. It was fascinating.

She had on a light jacket over the long-sleeved shirt and jeans she wore, and she tucked her hands into the pockets as she decompressed from an evening with her siblings and pondered random things as the ferry churned its steady way toward Eldritch. She thought about the books she'd purchased on Monday and had not yet read, and that brought up thoughts of Christian. He'd been a bit odd when she'd seen him, which he'd hurriedly explained was because he hadn't been taking his medicine. Maybe she should call and check on him. They'd made plans for him to show her the lighthouse sometime, but she hadn't heard from him. She pulled her cellphone out of her jacket pocket and flipped it open, then found his number in the contacts and dialed it, putting the phone to her ear.

( The optimist sees the doughnut, the pessimist sees the hole. I'll let you guess which one I am )

Who: Ava and Christian
When: Late afternoon
Where: Booklovers

After M left that afternoon, Ava cleaned up the remaining bits of weeds from the back yard before she washed up again and left the house to run a few errands. It wouldn't do to stay inside and jump at every stupid little noise in the house, and being out and about would help keep her mind off of things. She ended up buying a new pair of flip flops and a couple hair clips, and as she walked by the book store, she decided she wanted a new journal. She didn't frequent the book store all that often, but the nice thing about it was that she could roam and browse without having anyone staring at her, waiting for her to make a choice.

Stepping inside, Ava gripped the white shopping bag with her new purchases and immediately began to look around for the section that would hold journals. She knew it was likely they might be more expensive, considering this wasn't Barnes and Noble or anything, but that was okay. She liked buying original items that you couldn't always find elsewhere. That was a big reason why Eldritch was way cooler than Darkwater, in Ava's mind.

( And it doesn't even go that badly! )

Who: Christian and Gwen
Where: The police station
When: Early afternoon

Christian had one phone call. They only gave it to him once he'd calmed down enough to be at least somewhat rational, probably correctly guessing that he would have called the mayor or the chief of police or senator's assistant or someone else who was at least marginally in charge. It took a couple hours before that state of semi-rationality came, because being picked up by police and dragged away screaming in a police car and thrown into a cell did not do good things for his mental state.

By the time he could breathe properly and speak properly without babbling and was no longer seeing tormentors coming out of every bar of his cage, it was early afternoon, at least. Christian, still trembling but at least mostly in control of himself again, asked meekly for his phone call, and was led out to the phone attached to the wall-- they'd taken his cell phone away, along with his wallet and keys-- to dial the only number besides his own he knew by heart. Hopefully Gwen wouldn't be too angry....

( Omitting truths is just as dishonest as lying )

Who: Jesse and Christian
When: Night
Where: In dreams

Ever since about nine o'clock that evening, Jesse had been out on the catwalk of the lighthouse. The door leading inside was securely shut, and he was lying on his back on the metal walkway, his feet on its flat surface, his knees bent and his gaze directed up at the starry sky. There was nothing to be heard from this height except for the wind and the incessant sound of the ocean. The Guardian did not move, nor did he react to anything around him. He wasn't asleep, but all the same, if anyone had spoken to him right then, he would not have answered. His eyes appeared fogged over with white, with none of their deep blue visible at all. Pieces of chestnut hair blew over his forehead, were pushed back by the wind, but he didn't notice. He was not quite there.

He was walking through what seemed to be fog, and up ahead was a light. Streetlight, the moon, the sun? He couldn't tell. Jesse wasn't sure where he was, and for a few moments he wondered if he was dead again, cast out of his body, likely to show up at one random place or another. It was a thought that gave him a brief, sinking sense of despair.

( A little help escaping the nightmare. )

Who: Christian and Leroy (NPC)
Where: The streets
When: Early evening

Somehow, Christian hadn't made it home yet. None of the streets in Eldritch looked familiar, and he kept wandering down them, hoping one might magically become the one he needed. Where was his building? Where was his little townhouse? Why hadn't he found it yet? Not that he was fretting. Not more than a little, anyhow. Some of the vagueness had left him, but it had only left behind confusion. nothing seemed to be making sense, and he had somehow gotten lost in streets he'd memorized years ago.

He walked with his long coat on, even though the day still held a lot of the blistering heat of before the sun went down, ignoring how warm he felt because the coat felt safe. Stopping under a streetlamp, he stared up into the light, as if maybe by blinding himself, even temporarily, he could finally see where he was going.

( They knew crazy. )

Who: Sorcha and Christian
Where: Booklovers
When: afternoon

Despite the incredible heat, afternoon found Sorcha out walking rather than driving her car. It was a novelty to be someplace where a car wasn't strictly necessary unless one wanted to go to the outer reaches; she'd read in the tourist information she'd picked up that the island covered no more than nine miles from tip to tip. She did have a wide-brimmed hat on, delicately woven straw with a white band at its base, mostly to keep the sun off of her face and shoulders, and she wore a loose sundress in lavender and white leather Keds with neatly rolled-down socks. Her long, heavy hair was contained in a braid, which would hopefully help her keep cooler, as well. It didn't take her very long to reach the Shoppes, and she almost immediately purchased an iced coffee, which she sipped at as she wandered around the outdoor booths. Once she'd finished her drink and thrown away the cup, she made her way over to the bookstore, where she figured she'd kill two birds with one stone: look for more reading material and check in on Christian.

She pulled the door open and stepped inside, glancing around curiously. Bookstores, whether used or new, were almost always interesting places.

( All's well that ends well, at least. )

Who: Christian and Jesse
Where: The lighthouse
When: Morning, around 8AM

After sleeping most of the day before, Christian's sleep had been fitful, and he woke before the sun feeling rather like he was still asleep. Everything was dreamlike, and though he knew he wasn't actually asleep or trapped in a vision-- he knew what that felt like-- he still didn't feel quite there. Not even coffee helped, and he had two cups of it to make sure.

By the time the sun had come up, all he'd decided was that he didn't want to go to work like this-- not like he had a choice-- and that he'd make good on his promise to visit Jesse. Provided that whole strange day hadn't been a dream, in and of itself. Which, at the moment, he wasn't sure about.

Since he still hadn't replaced the bike he'd left behind-- at the lighthouse-- he walked. He wore his coat, despite the clouds being conspicuously absent, and brought Rosemary in his pocket, and drifted out to the lighthouse to knock on the door. If Jesse actually was here, it wouldn't do to barge in on him. If the door was even unlocked. If Jesse even existed.

( an anchor )

Who: Christian and Sorcha
Where: The phone
When: Late afternoon

With the rain gone, leaving behind only a heavy sky and chilly wind, and the hallucinations gone for now, Christian managed to sleep the whole morning away, and most of the afternoon, too. By the time he woke, feeling a bit sluggish and very hungry, it was almost four, and by the time he actually felt awake and comfortable, after a late lunch and a shower, it was almost five.

He slumped down onto the couch, opening the door to Rosemary's cage-- she hadn't died yet, apparently resilient and not minding being alone, now-- and picked up the phone. For a moment, he just stared at it, then he dialed Sorcha's number. What had happened that morning seemed like something she should probably know about. Maybe she'd have some idea of what was going on, or some outside opinion that believed him and understood the situation.

( And maybe friendships. )

Who: Christian and Gwen
Where: Gwen's house
When: Morning, fairly early, 7ish

The morning wasn't really shaping up very well. When Christian got back to his townhouse, the door was locked; apparently it had either locked behind him automatically, or even in the throes of a vision dragging him across the island his body had somehow remembered to lock the door. And of course he didn't have a key hidden anywhere, because that was a security risk.

Gwen, however, did have a key. She was a safe person to keep an extra key with, since she lived several blocks away and no one was likely to steal it from her. Unfortunately, if he was lacking his keys, he was definitely lacking his cell phone, so he had to walk. After walking across the island twice already today.

( I would not mind something boring and mundane, for once. )

Who: Jesse and Christian
When: 5:45 a.m.
Where: the lighthouse

The storm had been raging since the wee hours of the morning, and very few homes on Eldritch Island had power. The island was darker and more isolated than usual, the winds high, intermittent hail falling from the clouds as dawn approached. It was a day that showed no signs of becoming more temperate anytime soon, and at a quarter to six exactly, the sky lit up with a brilliant flare of lightning. Rain pounded down, thunder boomed, and lightning pulsed overhead for long moments... and on the sparse grass of the clearing in front of the lighthouse, the Guardian materialized, curled up into a ball, his nude body as white as marble and his chestnut brown hair plastered to his head.

( who are you? are you real...? )

Who: Christian and Sorcha
Where: Phone, then Sorcha's apartment
When: About half an hour after the psychic wonk

( If there is purpose to anything, your purpose in this must be to stop it )

Who: Christian and Gwen
Where: The phone, then Gwen's house
When: Morning, about 8:30AM

As Christian never watched the new as night-- he found it left him more paranoid and nervous, so that he didn't sleep well, and when he did, it gave him horrific dreams-- he had spent the evening contentedly reading a book and playing with Thyme. Since she was all alone, now, he was giving her extra attention in the hopes that she would hold on, if just for his sake, rather than give up out of mousy loneliness.

It may even have worked, since she was still alive and kicking the next morning, and quite happily ate the food he dumped into her tray.

( What if they come for you, too?? )