network } public { but this ain't seaworld, this is real as it gets

[stuckinastorm]

[The handwriting comes with the quick ease of someone who is used to journals of this nature - legible, but moving at a fairly even pace. It's one of the most comforting things about this place so far, that familiar way of keeping in touch with the rest of the community. Of the things they could have borrowed from Chicago? This was not a bad one.]

Why do I feel like I'm in the middle of a Lonely Island song? Enjoy getting that stuck in your head for the rest of the evening.

[She's not sorry. But there's a pause as she tries to focus. She did not open the journal to talk about how she's on a boat.]

Anyway. New. Still kind of getting used to things. Have a couple of inquiries, if you are so inclined.

First things first: I'm looking for people who, when I say "Chicago," realize it means something a little more than fabulous deep dish pizza and the home of the Bears. I'm particularly looking for the ones from a Chicago that just recently went ka-boom.

Angel, demon, Wanderer - though I guess we're all kind of Wanderers now - doesn't really matter. Hell, I'll even take those from a Chicago that didn't go ka-boom. A little bit of community can go a long way in a place like this. CLF need not apply, however, unless you want a bottle of what looks like really expensive vodka broken over your head.

Moving on.

Also, if you happen to know where I can find a guy named Robert Herron, let's chat. He's tall, with straight dark hair, blue eyes, looks like he's in his mid-forties. If you see him, tell him Claudia Blake is looking for him. He'll know who you mean.

[There's a beat.]

I hope.

[Moving on.]

Dad, if you're here somewhere, I'm at the bar on one of the upper decks. It's kind of cute, with this little anchor behind the bar and ... a very creepy waitstaff. I'm probably going to be there until this very expensive bottle of vodka is gone. So if you see this, drop by. You can split it with me.

[She doesn't really care about public versus private. In case you're not smart enough to figure it out, the guy she's looking for? Totally her dad. But moving on.]

Anyone have any idea what we're supposed to do around here?

[And with that, she'll end her journal ramble before her hand cramps. Flexing her fingers slightly she'll go back to picking up the glass sitting next to her and taking a long swig with a wince. The world just ended. She's pretty sure she's allowed to get super freaking drunk. She's perched on a stool, wearing clothing that seems a little worse for the wear, with tears and soot stains littered across the jacket, shirt and jeans. There's also a nasty gash on her forehead that she's managed to bandage up on her own, but it mostly just looks like the gauze is sitting there for show.

The problem when you bleed white blood.

All the same, she's going to sit there, with her drink, and wait for the responses to come back. Enjoy your day, ship. Feel free to bug the newly arrived guardian.]

Comments

network(ish)

[chaney]

[ derek looks down at the book, then up again over at the girl sitting at the bar who appears to be scribbling in time with the words as they surge to life on the page. experimentally, out of some mixture of curiosity and boredom, he responds in writing rather than spoken words. ]

Haven't seen T-Pain anywhere, so I think you're safe.

[stuckinastorm]

[She glances over as the words start to form, smirking a bit in response before she writes:]

So I take it that means no mermaids either? Not that I'm mermaid-sexual, but they'd still be pretty cool to see.

[chaney]

[ ah, so it is her writing.

which kind of confirms a few things he was wondering about the books. the entries within are penned by the passengers, and they apparently serve as some sort of magical means of communication.

if his life wasn't less than ordinary before he arrived here, he'd be questioning his sanity about now.

derek catches her eye, then drops his gaze back down and responds: ]

No mermaids. Just a lot of people who really don't want to be here.

[stuckinastorm]

Must be a miserable cruise experience.

[She does notice that glance, but if he's more comfortable writing, she can play along. At least until her drink is finished and she feels like getting up.]

Personally, I was heading somewhere else anyway. This place is as good as any.

[chaney]

Better than somewhere that apparently went "ka-boom?"

[ little does he know, this ka-boom-ed chicago is a popular predestination for the majority of the ship's residents. ]

[stuckinastorm]

[Honestly, she's going to be surprised if there aren't at least a handful.]

It was the end of the world. It was kind of like that Semisonic song. You didn't have to go home, but you couldn't stay there.

[There's a pause.]

Though I guess that only really applies to Wanderers. For most of us it was home.

[chaney]

I'm sorry that you lost it. Home is never an easy thing to lose, and it's something no one should have to face losing. Ever.

[ his family dying in that fire and the house being left in smoldering ruins isn't quite the same as the world ending, but he can relate. sort of. ]

[stuckinastorm]

Thank you.

[And she means that sincerely. He at least seems like he gets it, which is appreciated all the same.]

I'm just glad I made it out alive. And the funny thing about home is that it's usually something you can get back. You just have to have the right people.

[woundable]

[ So much of what Claudia is writing strikes Rafe as all too familiar. Angel, demon, Wanderer, CLF. While all of those things are important, there's one thing Rafe zeroes in on, despite Claudia's suggestion there may be more than one version of such a Chicago. ]

It went ka-boom?

[thine]

[The entire story is very familiar to James, but it isn't because he lived it. He had people in his home who did though. People who had become family over the past year. They were some of the first wanderers in his world where Rifts are still very new and rift activity is so low the supernatural world is still learning about them. He knows that world was destroyed by the opposite (too much activity), that it could (likely will) happen one day to his own world long after he's dead. He writes back after a moment.]

I know people from that Chicago. After it ended, they fell into my world, but that happened a year ago for them. [Rifts are funny that way.] I'm sorry.

[that it was destroyed.]

[stuckinastorm]

Yeah. Big ka-boom.

[There's a pause before she continues.]

But you know how the rifts work. There's probably a million different Chicagos that didn't.

[stuckinastorm]

[Rifts are funny that way.]

Thank you.

[Seriously. But it takes her another moment to figure out the rest.]

I think a lot of worlds are going to have that particular problem. We all had to go somewhere.

[thine]

Rifts are still new in my world. Most of the supernatural world there doesn't know about them yet, which was probably a good thing. [For those who fell through. Cause the CLF sounds like a terrible problem.]

It just happened for you. [It's a realization. James remembers the state of all of them when they ended up in his world, the worrying state. He doesn't know how she manages to come across so put together given what just happened.] Are you okay?

[stuckinastorm]

Sounds like it. The less people that know about them, the less can be scared and judgy about what comes through them.

[Not that some shouldn't be judged. But it shouldn't be all Wanderers, all the time.

There's a long pause about the second part as she considers.]

Physically? Yes. Emotionally is a bigger can of worms, but I will be eventually. Or develop the worst case of homesickness ever.

[action]

[thine]

[James was sitting near the door, which isn't far. It's why he is walking up, responding out loud.] Maybe it'll be both. Eventually okay while having the worst case of homesickness.

[It's not that he doesn't believe her, but the end of the world is... the end of her world forever, and James could use a drink anyway. He didn't drink before, because of the Mark, being a supernatural Hunter. He doesn't know if it is a good or bad thing that he does so often now.

He gestures to the bandage on her forehead.]

You do that yourself?

[stuckinastorm]

[She turns at the sound of the voice and smiles.]

You're probably right. But I'd like to think that eventually the homesickness will be a little less. Just ... need to find a new home.

[She's not sure if this is it. It seems to temporal for that, but she's willing to give it a shot anyway. Her hand wanders up to the bandage and she nods.]

First aid, not my strong suit. But there was a room on my way here that was pretty well stocked, so I took a shot.

[thine]

You do. Unfortunately, this ship seems more like a place between homes.

[But what happens if she goes through the door when her world is destroyed? He doesn't know if there is any way to answer that question. He reaches over for a bottle of rum and a glass. James only pauses to lean in and give the bandage a critical, concerned look.]

You didn't do half bad. It's harder to do it to yourself. [Than to do it to someone else.] You're an angel. [White blood, he can smell it even if it is white so it doesn't show up on the bandage. One of the skills of being a Hunter.]

[stuckinastorm]

[She nods as she considers that first part. She hopes that if her door opens, she'll just go to whatever world she was supposed to be heading to when she started. Until then, she's not going to worry about it. It's not like she's never fallen down a rabbit hole before.

She smiles at the compliment before raising her glass in return.]

I'll drink to my first aid skills then.

[She would be surprised, but he said he had people from Chicago falling through to his world. She wouldn't be surprised if angels and demons were among them.]

I am. Of the guardian variety, in fact.

[thine]

[James smirks softly, lifting his glass toward hers as if to say that he will drink to the same.

He takes a long drink from the glass as he sits in the chair beside her, looking at the bottle.]

Was being a guardian when the Rifts were at their highest activity make it more difficult? [Even without a ward, James know that guardians can be protective of anyone and everyone. It means they were the ones throwing themselves into the fray. Some of them even chose to be hunters like James did before he found he was meant to be a supernatural one.]

[stuckinastorm]

[There's a sharp laugh at that.]

You have no idea. Thankfully, I still haven't found my ward yet. That would have just made things even more complicated.

[Unfortunately, that's not going to last on the boat. Whoops. Sorry, Claudia.]

[thine]

[James sends her a sympathetic look, reaching over to fill up her glass. It looks like she could use it.]

Especially since it looks like you came through alone. [It would be terrible for a guardian to end up somewhere without their ward. James hopes she didn't face the end of the world by herself so he is sorry for whoever isn't here with her.] I know at the end of the world, you could choose who to go through the Rift with. Not that the Rifts are often kind from what I know about them.

[The people that lived with him shared a lot about what they did to that world, the good and the bad and the weird effects.]

[stuckinastorm]

[She nods slowly, because it's true. The people who wanted to leave together and wind up in the same world could stick together in order to try and make that happen. But Claudia gives a bit of a shrug.]

Unfortunately my person disappeared without me before it ended. So ... I'm pretty much on my own anyway.

[woundable]

No, I know.

[ He just also knows rifts work in other ways, too - meaning Claudia can be ahead in the timeline if they're from the same one, but he won't immediately jump to that conclusion. ]

I'm sorry, for - [ For losing what she lost. ] What happened?

[thine]

I'm... sorry about that.

[and he means that genuinely as he takes another drink from the glass in his hand, a long, long drink from it.]

Do you like being a guardian? I know some who hate the thought of finding their ward and others who don't.

[stuckinastorm]

[Oh. Tough question from the new guy.]

Well, wards do come with certain complications. Mainly, having to trust your life and sanity to a total stranger who had no choice in the matter but ... I don't know. It might be nice not to have this constant need to be moving and searching.

I think the restlessness bugs me more than anything. But again, I've never had a ward.