solstice rpg

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: 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: 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: 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?? )

Who: Christian and Gwen
Where: Gwen's car, and on the road
When: Midday and onwards

By the time Gwen met him at his house, Christian was more than just impatient-- he was positively bursting. He needed to tell her about Sorcha, he needed to tell her about Sorcha having the same vision. It made him eager to try and find someplace he'd seen, in the more "normal" visions, rather than apprehensive. It was like one little thing-- knowing he wasn't alone-- had tipped him from uncertainty to excitement.

Some of it had to be real, right?

So he sat on his front porch, Thyme snoozing restlessly in his shirt pocket, his journals in his lap and his toes tapping with less rhythm and more spasmodic energy.

( it felt as if I should be alert. Myself. Even if myself is still a little wrong.... )

Who: Gwen and Sofia
When: late afternoon
Where: a cafe on Eldritch

Sofia had woken up in blessed, blissful silence. Whatever had gone haywire the day before was apparently over. She'd gone to sleep eventually, near midnight, with earplugs in and a blanket over her head. Besides the disturbing idea of a living corpse in the house, the chattering of the spirits that she simply could not hear over, much less banish, had been keeping her awake. But they were gone in the morning. Sofia had checked in on Shoel, made sure she was sleeping peacefully, and gone by the spa to put in a few hours of work. It had been very bad timing, with Lola leaving them for a while, and she wanted to keep the girls unfrazzled as much as she could.

After their last client had departed and they'd shut down, she'd locked up and left. A phone call to Shoel later, and Sofia gone wearily to her favorite cafe and settled down with a flavored coffee. And her tarot cards. They were spread out in a compact pattern on the small round table in front of her. She worried her bottom lip and took a sip from her large mug as she consulted them. The weather outside seemed ominous, and the cards were not much better.

( Seems it's going to storm later. )

Who: Christian and Gwen
Where: The phone, then the lighthouse
When: Morning, about 8:30AM

As soon as Christian had gotten that horrible, awful, confusing, unexpected vision written down, he'd scrambled to find the phone. Gwen needed to know. Even if he was still only wrapped in a towel. There was no one here to see him, and all his windows were closed, and this was more important than clothes, dammit!

He hit her speed dial and bounced on his heels. "Gwen Gwen Gwen Gwen Gwen," he repeated over and over, waiting.

( By a locked door. )

Who: Gwen and Christian
When: Afternoon
Where: Christian's house

It was Saturday and technically Gwendolyn's day off, but she hadn't been able to make it over to Christian's during the week to to check on him like she would have liked. So instead she took the morning to clean her house, work in her garden, and then dress in a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt to drive to Christian's house. She hadn't called, but she imagined he would be home. And if not home, she could stop in the bookstore to say hello. He hadn't called her in any kind of despair since Sunday, so that was an incredibly encouraging sign.

Stopping in front of his place, she grabbed her purse, as well as the casserole dish she'd made for him, and walked up to his front door. Shifting the glass dish in her hands, she knocked a few times and waited.

Yes, Christian was home. He was curled up on the couch with a book and some classical music playing in the background. He jumped and spilled his tea-- now cold, since he'd been reading for some time now-- at the sound of the knock. After a little swearing in German at the wet splotches on his carpet and trousers, he set the tea on a side table and called, "Who is it?"

( And maybe Scrabble. )

Who: Joel and Gwen
When: seven-ish
Where: the Marina

Joel had been aware that there was some sort of event going on at the Marina. He'd seen some ads for it, heard murmurings since he'd gotten back into town, but it hadn't really sunk in until he was out for his nightly walk and oh look. The Marina was filled with tons of people. It usually wasn't the sort of scene he would be caught dead in. But if he was going to watch Darkwater, he had to watch Darkwater. And what better way to do it than to mingle a bit with the locals. He promised himself that he didn't have to talk to anyone, and continued forward.

He got himself a hot dog and a soda and found a clear bench to sit on, far enough away so the band wasn't as blaring. It was a good spot to people-watch, and that was what Joel commenced doing, filling his mouth with food every once in a while.

Who: Christian and Gwen
Where: Phonelines
When: 8:20PM and onwards

The instant the lights had gone off, the vision had come up, and Christian clung to the handles of his bicycle in a terror as he saw a gory murder unfold before his eyes, somewhere he didn't recognize-- the next town over, the next state, halfway across the world, he didn't know. It was over quickly, but everything was still dark inside the ferry dock. Even the full moon seemed distant, blocked by the roof. The panic was still there, as it always was after seeing something like that, but intensified by the fact that he couldn't seem to see.

Pulling out his cell phone, the light from the cheap little screen was reassuring. It was automatic by now, he dialed Gwen's number. Gwen, who would be safe on the island, where hopefully she at least had power.

( the hesitant hugs always amused her )