beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young [OPEN]

[counterattack]

Who: Law & YOU
Where: Aldrip and the surrounding area
What: Settling in, getting up to hijinx, with a timeline anywhere from shortly after the TDM to the end of the month
Warnings: Probably nothin'.

Prompts in the comments, some open and some closed! Please feel free to drop any wildcards in the comments as well if there's something else you'd like to do. Law also has a toplevel at the Day of Devotion log, here!

If you'd like to plot something out, you can reach me on discord at tarocchi#8388, or on plurk at astrologies!

Comments

INSOMNIACS UNITE

[aintyourdad]

[ Joel doesn't sleep much, these days. Whether it's because he's getting older, or his trauma, or the fact that he spent the last six months or more traveling with a kid and needing to keep watch over their various encampments, or some combination of all of those things - a full night's sleep just isn't a thing he's capable of.

That, and he's recently been kidnapped to a strange place with no one he trusts, so he simply cannot let his guard down.

So yeah, he wanders a lot at night. Patrolling, getting the lie of the land, whatever. He's wary, is the point. There aren't many people around, despite the fact that there doesn't seem to be any kind of curfew. Most people just don't seem to have any reason to be out late. Which is fine by him. He prefers being alone.

Which means he's surprised, and not necessarily in a good way, when he climbs a rise of sand on the beach and there's a person there. Ah, great. Probably someone who's going to want to talk, make nice, tell each other things. ]

Not much nightlife here.

sleep is for chumps

[counterattack]

[ Having another person come upon him here and say something that, he realizes, is directed at him and not someone else isn't necessarily unwelcome. Could he use someone to talk to? Maybe, yeah. Not about what's on his mind, if only because he's not sure he could ever just dump all his problems onto a complete stranger in an unfamiliar place, but... about nothing? Could be preferable to sitting here ruminating. He hates thinking too much, after all, and that's exactly what this is.

At the very least, it's not a total surprise someone else would come along. Even at this wild hour, Aldrip doesn't ever seem like it's completely asleep. Or maybe that's just the hypervigilance talking. ]

That's probably a good thing.

[ "Nightlife" is kind of an unfamiliar word, at least in the modern sense of what it means, but he gets the drift. ]

Not sure I've ever been anywhere that was so... naturally quiet. Peaceful?

[ Is that the right word? and also, but is it peaceful, though? are both present in that question mark. ]

Sorry if this is your spot. I can move.

[aintyourdad]

Doesn't belong to me.

[ Joel's not exactly claiming property here. He doesn't mind a little company, as long as it's not annoying - as long as he's not being asked prying questions about himself. He's fine talking about this place, though. ]

You a city boy then? [ Joel remembers what downtown Austin used to be like. The crowds, the noise, the lights. He'd never especially liked it, which was why they'd lived out in the 'burbs when he could afford the down payment on a house. ]

[counterattack]

[ Any other time and he probably would be annoying, by virtue of his lack of an indoor voice. Right now is Serious Business Emo Times, though, which calls for the quiet, Serious Business voice.

At any rate, cool, he'll just cross his legs and settle in for the long haul. ]

You could say that. I was born in a small village, and the last place I lived was a city, but it's more that... most places where I come from are all hushed-up at night. The quiet felt tense, even in the wilderness between towns. Like walking on eggshells, y'know? But here, everybody settles down for the night like they don't got anything to worry about.

[ A one-shouldered shrug. And then, after a pause, a quick glance aside. ]

Almost everyone, I guess.

[aintyourdad]

[ Joel shrugs. ]

We just got kidnapped. No matter how nice this place seems, it's a prison, and we were brought here for a reason. Letting my guard down would be stupid.

[counterattack]

A prison... I guess it is, yeah. Dragging people in on false charges and everything.

[ Well, false is debatable, but he's more comfortable with denying it than letting on that there might be anything complicated about it. ]

What I wanna know is, where're all the prison guards hiding, then?

[aintyourdad]

We'll find out, sooner or later. Sooner or later, someone will step out of line, intentionally or not, and we'll find out how this place really works.

[ Joel knows it. Feels it, deep in his bones. No one ever got kidnapped by weird, alien strangers out of charity. This situation is going to get worse, not better. ]

[counterattack]

You'd think somebody would've done it by now, just to see what would happen...

[ He can think of a few who that'd make good candidates. Himself included, honestly. If not for most of what's keeping him up at night, and the good sense of his friends to stop him from popping off, there's no doubt he would've picked a fight with someone by now. ]

Worse comes to worst, we find out when it's time to answer for those so-called crimes.

[aintyourdad]

The assholes who dragged us here probably want us to get comfortable. Let our guards down. Won't impose the really nasty rules until they think we won't expect it, or won't be able to fight back.

[ Which is why Joel has no intention of letting his guard down. ]

[counterattack]

Sounds like you know what to watch out for.

[ With the implication that he does too, although he doesn't come right out and say that. Even out here on the beach, you never know who's listening in. For all he knows, Joel could be sussing him out. ]

It's not enough if only a few people do, though. If the majority get swept up in something they can't control, that's a hard thing to break out of. People will do anything just to keep out of trouble. And not everybody can fight for themselves.

[aintyourdad]

Everybody isn't my problem.

[ What, does this kid think Joel is some sort of do-gooder? Please. ]

People are people, always have been and always will be.

[counterattack]

That's true, but that doesn't mean they're all worth writing off. Especially not if you're lucky enough to be able to fight.

[ He can't help himself, he's a born and bred Man Of The People. Even when he was off being an asshole, he was still driven to want to do the right thing, whether he was capable of it or not, and has to assume most people have that impulse somewhere down in there.

It's just buried deeper down for some more than others. ]

[aintyourdad]

Mm-hm.

[ Joel's response is neither confirming nor denying, frankly. He hasn't determined the usefulness of most people here, yet. Until he does, he's keeping things close to the chest. ]

When the time comes to fight, we'll see who the fighters are.

[counterattack]

Guess so.

[ Under normal circumstances, he might be more invasive, if only in a good-natured way—what about you? What do you do? Do you train? Do you need a sparring partner? But he follows the cues here and doesn't come right out and show his hand, either. That, and he just doesn't really have the energy for it at this insane hour. ]

You ever think how out of everything they could've accused you of, they picked the weirdest thing? I dunno if that's just me. I can't figure out their angle.

[aintyourdad]

They're just tryin' to get into your head. Looks like it worked.

[ Joel shoved his little paper in his bag and hasn't looked at it in weeks, not since he realized he couldn't destroy it. ]

[counterattack]

...I guess. Yeah. I should probably just ignore it, but I kinda counted that as part of staying on my guard.

[ And yet he kind of looks like he hadn't really thought of that until now. ]

I just don't get why.

[aintyourdad]

The why matters a lot less than the how we're gonna get the hell out of here.

[ Whys, as far as Joel is concerned, are largely a waste of time. ]