001 - Adding a bit more Flourish to it - [OPEN]

[babyhunter]

WHO: Clary Fray
WHERE: Fountain & Village & River
WHEN: August 1st to August 6th
OPEN TO: EVERYONE
WARNINGS: Drowning? (Note: Scrub color is black.)

---

Fountain: Arrival [Aug 1]

Clary inhaled, feeling a cool rush of water fill her lungs. Her chest burned while panic tightly constricted around her heart. She flailed wildly in the water, kicking her arms and legs out in a futile effort to swim. The water stung her eyes when she tried to open them. Clary had always hated opening her eyes underwater but she needed to see.

'I need to breathe! She thought, forcing herself to calm down enough to escape a rather pathetic watery death. After everything she's been through, she's not going to have 'death by water' on her tombstone. Clary saw a blurry smudge of light in the distance and swam towards it.

She broke the surface of the water, coughing and gasping for air. Bright orange hair plastered to her cheeks and neck as she made her way to the fountain's ledge.

It was only when she was pulling herself over the edge of the fountain that she felt the weight of the pack on her back. A groan of complaint vibrated through her torso, even as she managed to tumble herself and the backpack onto the pavement. Clary was laying on her back. The backpack was a surprisingly comfortable pillow though that might have just been in comparison to the water. The sun shined pleasantly in the sky, warming her limbs and face.

Clary decided that it wasn't worth getting up. She'd happily lay there until someone told her to move. Maybe she was in central park? That's the only place that she can think of with a fountain. Either way, Clary knew that someone would find her and she'd sort it out then.

Around the 6I Village [Aug 2-4]

Clary really didn't know what to think of this place. She had named the village Salem in her mind, the broken buildings and dreary feeling reminded her of a town where hundreds of girls burned at the stake. It probably wasn't the best name but the village was surprisingly less daunting with a name attached to it.

She wound her way through the houses, inspecting the ones that were broken and then knocking at the homes that looked like someone lived there. If no one replied, she'd peak inside to see what was there. Clary was naturally curious and not at all shy or hindered by the unknown. This wasn't nearly as scary as trying to get Simon out of the Hotel Dumort.

Clary would take the time to stop and stare at the houses or setting around her. She tried to figure out how she'd draw it: what colors she would use or how certain objects might appear out of focus. At the end of each day, she'd find herself at the inn, usually hungry and sitting at the bar like a ghost might come and take her order.

She was new at this whole survival thing and Brooklyn had pizza. She really missed pizza.

At the River [Aug 5]

Clary was both happy and sad to see Izzy in the village with her. She was happy to see her friend and to know that she wasn't alone but it also made her think about home. How was her mother doing? And Simon? What about Jace? She wondered if any of them missed her. She didn't particularly worry about Alec missing her; he was with Magnus and starting towards his happiness.

She missed her sketchbook. It gave her the ability to get all of her worries out of her head and onto a piece of paper. Without it, her thoughts jumbled together in a messy knot that she didn't know how to untangle. A groan pulled from Clary's lips as she took a seat near the water's edge. She watched the waves for a few seconds before pulling off her scrubs and jumping in.

Clary hadn't been in water since almost drowning in the fountain a few days before and as much as she wanted to avoid it, she felt gross. She had never gone this long without a shower. After drenching herself in water, she floated lazily on the surface of the river.

"This place feels too much like the Twilight Zone." She mumbled to no one in particular.

The Breach Between 6I and 7I: Small Earthquake [Aug 6]

Clary first heard about the mysterious second village at the inn, when she had eavesdropped on two people discussing their plans to cross the breach. She hadn't asked about it then but she couldn't stop thinking of the possibilities that lay on the other side of the ridge. Peeked by her curiosity and her ever-rampant thoughts, Clary decided to head to the breach to check it out for herself.

She wasn't completely unfamiliar with bouldering but the path was not as clear as she thought it would be. She took careful steps over small rocks and then slipping between larger boulders that stood like giants in the path.

Clary was halfway through the breach when the earth began to shake. She'd gotten used to the small tremors over the last few days but she hadn't been standing in a small crevasse in the ground back then. A surprised scream tore from her throat as she ran back the way she had come. Peddles and rocks loosened from above her, falling on her head like rain drops falling from the sky.

She ran out of the breach, stumbling to the ground as the earthquake ended. Clary's head was shaking as she tried to regain her balance. She tasted blood in her mouth and felt a soft sting along her cheek. If she had managed to get out of that with a bloody lip and a few thin cuts then she was happy.

"Okay. Maybe I won't go that way." Clary was talking to the rocks and seriously hoping that they could feel her displeasure.

Comments

Around the 6I Village

[theintercessor]

Someone knocking wasn't entirely new--but that someone not being Credence circumvented Jude's expectations as he pulled the door further open. He's been in and out of the house all day, moving between the short yard and the kitchen while he mixes another batch of paper. The sheets are staked flat in the yard, raised slightly above the ground, with already-drained sheets knocked out of his repurposed window screens to dry a little more on them.

Behind him, the house is humid and smells mildly like soup and laundry, some the plants releasing their scent into the steam. The largest pot he has boils on the stove, and he's sweaty and soot-streaked from feeding it when he stands in the doorway, taking in the girl on the other side.

Jude pushes a hand up through his hair, momentarily out of his face before it starts to flip back down over his brow. She looks to be Samantha's age, but he can't recall seeing her before. "Yes," he eventually answers, "Can I help you?"

Around the 6I Village

[babyhunter]

For a few seconds the cat had caught Clary's tongue and ran away with it. Judging from the hanging pieces of wet paper outside she'd been able to guess that someone lived here but for some reason she wasn't expecting anyone so... normal.

Her lips parted and then ten different questions rushed to mind. "No." Wait. "Yes." She corrected herself quickly. Vibrant green eyes glanced pass him before turning to look back at his face. "What are you doing?" It looked like he was making paper but for some reason that didn't click in Clary's head. She knew the process of making paper but it was outside of her sphere of comfort being an art student who always had paper.

It was then that Clary realized there was no paper, nothing to draw on... It hit her harder than she cared to admit and she outwardly winced. "Sorry. I'm new. I'm poking my way around." She tried to sound calm. This wasn't the first time she went to another world though this time she hadn't been expecting it.

She was 100% not sure what to expect. At least this guy spoke English?

[theintercessor]

Through the start-stop of words, Jude's shoulders prop up slightly, lifting his posture up off the door frame, then relaxing back under his worn scrubs as it culminates in her admission. He'd been far more cagey than curious when he arrived, but things had been muddled even before the fountain. Dangerous, if anything he recalls is real.

"I'm making a batch of paper," he answers evenly, letting his back open the door all the way as he moves into it. "Boil it inside, dry it outside. Sometimes people get journals and things in boxes, but there's no guarantee, so I try to make it when I have time."

Glancing over her again, he notices the tattoos--same style and random placement as Isabelle, but that's where the similarities between them seem to end. Maybe something in the attitude--if she's this gung-ho about knocking on doors this fresh on the ground, maybe she's the type to run around with a machete, too. "Uh, do you want some water or something?" Anything more complicated, he'll probably have to point her back to the inn, but when someone knocks on the door, you try to offer something.

[babyhunter]

Clary rarely thought about her Shadowhunter marks. Over the course of the last few weeks they had become natural for her to wear and she sometimes forgot that they were there until she needed them. It wasn't second nature to her like it was to Izzy, Alec and Jace.

Her attention turned towards the drying paper, her expression thoughtful before turning back to Jude again. He seemed nice enough and Clary figured she'd get an ax-murder vibe if he was really going to do anything strange. She wasn't defenseless but she didn't have her Stele or her sword and she was used to accidentally running head first into a dangerous situation.

At least her father wasn't here.

"Sure." Water sounded good considering how hot it was outside. "You think there is a place that I can get some paper?" To be able to sketch again, even if it's just a little, would be magical for Clary. Maybe they could do this D&D style and trade or something. Not that Clary had that many useful skills growing up in the concrete wilds of Brooklyn.

Arrival

[fightsinheels]

Even after a near-disastrous earthquake, it feels like there's nothing to do around this village. At the very least, there's no demons to slay, which leaves Isabelle to help with boring, mundane things. Cooking, cleaning, tending to crops, that sort of thing. Isabelle fills her downtime with exploring, which has at least gotten a little more interesting with the quake giving them more land to work with. When she's not doing that, she indulges in some working out, either by sparring or jogging.

Right now, it's jogging, in yoga shorts and a sports bra in order to survive the sun and the weather. It's not as hot as it had been, but it's still warm enough that just stepping outside and walking around can work up a sweat. After this, maybe she'll take a dip in the river to cool off, then treat her skin and hair to a dip in the hot spring.

It's too hot for the hot spring, really, but with very few beauty products to work with, Isabelle can't really afford to skimp out on what options she has. The water of the hot spring makes her hair silky and smooth, and her skin nice and bright, so she'll continue to make regular trips to it to keep herself looking nice. Just because she's trapped in this stupid canyon doesn't mean she should let herself go.

She's jogging around one side of the fountain when she almost steps on something bright orange, and she takes a quick step back, shifting into a stance that makes it look like she's ready to fight.

"By the Angel," she breathes, recognizing that hair and face just a second later. "Clary? You're here?"

Arrival

[babyhunter]

Clary wasn't all that surprise to hear Isabelle's voice. Of course, she didn't know where she was but she's yet to entertain the idea that this wasn't New York or the Institute or another strange place that she's somehow fallen into. Portal's were like that, weren't they? She was still a little bit fuzzy on how they worked though Clary had a surprisingly steep learning curve.

She opened her eyes, blinded for a few seconds by the sun, before looking over at Izzy. "Hey." She slipped her shoulders from the backpack and sat up. Her scrubs were black and clinging to her frame. "Um..." Now that she was really looking around she was suddenly very confused.

She didn't remember stepping through a portal. She'd comment that this was a dream but if it was Izzy would be in her fighting leather, not a pair of yoga paints and bra. It was just how Clary saw her: fierce, beautiful and at times intimidating. She was less intimidating now that she had gotten to know Izzy but dreams usually accentuated the apparent qualities in a person.

Clary decided that her train of thought was stupid and let it slip into the back of her mind. "Where is this? And why am I dressed like this?" If she was going to ask a question about clothes, Izzy was definitely the right person.

[fightsinheels]

Hey, Clary says, like she hasn't just climbed her way out of a fountain, like she's not sitting in the dirt of some mysterious village, like Isabelle hasn't been stuck here with no way out for four months, like Clary hasn't seen her in four months. It's casual, it's easy, and Isabelle is left standing with wide, disbelieving eyes, stunned into silence for what's likely to be the first time ever.

Just as it begins to dawn on Clary that this isn't quite right, Isabelle gets her senses about her. The other girl looks around in confusion, and Isabelle drops down to her knees to throw her arms around Clary's neck in a tight hug.

Finally, she's not alone anymore. Finally someone has figured out where she is and has come to get her out. With two of them here, surely they can figure out how to get back home.

[babyhunter]

Clary blinked, her arms belatedly rising to return her friends hug. She didn't know that it had been four months since Izzy had seen anyone from home. Isabelle had been standing next to her when they woke up her mother. It had only been a few moments ago and now… now Clary had no idea where she was.

Silence stretched a bit before she untangled herself from the other Shadowhunter. She stayed close, keeping a hand on Izzy's shoulder to assure her that she was here with no intentions of suddenly vanishing. Clary didn't know how likely that was but it felt important. Bright green eyes studied Izzy, the confusion in her expression growing with each passing moment.

"Are you okay? What's happened? Where is…" She looked around again. "-everyone." A block of ice settled in her stomach as chills prickled uncomfortably at her skin.

Around the 6I village

[frankensteinian]

He's a little surprised when he hears a knock on the door. He doesn't really have visitors. He sees people at the inn every day, or runs into them around the village. The only real visitor he ever has is Claire, and she no longer feels the need to knock first, what with him living here alone.

He makes his way to the door (thankfully his ankle is much better by now and there's no sign of a limp anymore) and opens it. Standing outside of it is someone he doesn't know, and he doesn't remember seeing her around the inn, either. She must be new.

"Can I help you?"

Around the 6I village

[babyhunter]

Clary was surprised when someone answered the door. From the outside, this house hadn't looked like anyone was living in it but here he was, standing there looking down at her. Vibrant green eyes met Erik's gaze with very little awkwardness and no fear or uncertainty.

"Probably not." She admitted with a sideways twist of her lips. "I didn't think this house was taken." Though it was also minimally damaged compared to some of the others in the row.

Clary turned to look left and then right before pushing some of her bright orange hair behind her shoulder. The Shadowhunter rune tattoo's were burned into her skin, marking her neck and arms with the twist and swirl of ancient patterns and letters gifted to the Shadowhunters by the angel. "You think there would be resident signs or something." She had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't anything like Brooklyn or the Institute.

[frankensteinian]

"If we had any paint or extra wood lying around, we might have those." Mostly the residents know which houses are occupied, though. It doesn't take long to figure it out. "Maybe we could mark on the map which houses are occupied. If it's not already there."

[babyhunter]

Clary wasn't sure if he was joking or not. His expression didn't really change making him appear very serious. If she were to draw him the lines on his face and neck would be very pronounced and angular, like the edges of cut glass. She'd try not to use too much shading giving the impression of someone who would be immovable until broken.

It was an interesting though but she realized that he probably wanted her to say something and not just stare at him. Right. Words. Those are usually useful.

"There's a map?" Not what Clary was planning to say but the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Then she waved a hand, animating a bit of backtracking. "Hold up. Why not just carve something in the door frame?" It was just wood and any rock would do the trick.

Clary didn't actually know what sort of resources were here yet. She was learning.

River

[zomboligist]

"And yet, no Rod Serling," Ravi replies to the girl who's been speaking out loud. She probably hadn't been talking to him, but seeing as he's currently bent nearby to fetch a new sample of river water for his newest round of experiments, he thinks it'd be rude not to reply. That, or it's creepy that he's replying right now, but either way, he's socializing, look at him go.

"Sorry," he says, wrinkling his nose when he realizes that this could look creepy. "I wasn't actually staring. Or lurking. I'm definitely not stalking," he clarifies. She is in not much at all, though, which means that he probably shouldn't look too long. "That said, if this were a Twilight Zone episode, I have to think that it would be more interesting. I don't remember them being so long and drawn out with menial every day tasks."

River

[babyhunter]

Clary hadn't noticed that Ravi was there and startled when she heard his voice carry over the currents of the river. She curled her feet down so that she could turn and find the owner of the sudden, though factually correct, voice. Orange hair plastered to her neck and back as she looked over at him. "If Rod Serling was writing this I think there would be more twist and turns or something like Animal Farm where animals started talking." She moved her hands when she spoke as if that made her statements more clear.

There had been a time when Clary would have gotten embarrassed but she felt surprisingly comfortable now. It was hot out and the white cotton underwear she was wearing wasn't to different than her bathing suit. It was a strange realization but she'd more embarrassed if someone had watched her undress more so than catching her in this state.

She smiled when Ravi attempted to state what he hadn't been doing. "Okay. What are you doing?" Because that was a more interesting question. "Also how long have you been here?" Isabelle had mentioned that people were showing up here but she hadn't had a firm grasp on the timeline.

[zomboligist]

"Don't tempt them, if my rats start talking back to me, I'm going to know who to blame," Ravi says with an accusatory pointed look at her, like she ought to know better than to tempt fate, despite the fact that Ravi has absolutely no idea what she's like, seeing as they've just met. He's still trying not to stare exactly, because it's weird and awkward and more pervy than he likes.

Sort of staring through his hands so he doesn't see anything at all, he tries to keep his attention away. "Here? Staring at you? Definitely not long enough to be creepy," he promises. "I'm just collecting some water," he says, "I'm using it for experiments, which aren't mad scientist like at all," he vows.

[babyhunter]

The last time Clary had been faced with this much awkward had been with Simon. She wondered how he was doing and hoped that he was alright. No matter how much has changed he was still the boy that she'd grown up with and she couldn't help but worry about him.

Clary exhaled. "Let me put my shirt back on." She slowly waded towards the shoreline using the black scrub shirt as a towel before tugging on a white tank top. She then slipped the scrub pants back on before loosely tugging on her boots. "There." Clary looked back at Ravi with an awkward smile. She wasn't as confident in so little clothing as Izzy was.

"So you're not a mad scientist and if your rats start talking I'd check to see if you're on something first." She paused. "There was that episode where the woman wanted to go on a diet and she got these glasses that made food talk to her and she starved because she couldn't eat." It was a messed up episode which was why it had stood out to her.

arrival

[warriorborn]

For a brief, heart-stopping moment, the first thing Benedict thinks of when he sees wet red hair is Folly.

He's wondered what would happen, should any of the people he knows back home turn up. Some of the residents of this habble knew each other before they arrived; some are friends, some mere acquaintances, some are clearly more like enemies. He's watched many of them forge lives together, sharing jokes about life back home, settling into old routines as best they can. What would that be like for him, should his cousin, or any of the Guard turn up?

That Folly would be the one to turn up first had never occurred to him, but once it did, it was all he could think about. She would be so confused, so lost, so distressed to be without her jar of crystals. Would she even be able to speak directly to him? Without her crystals, she would lose the crutch she used to interact with the rest of the world. He started casting about for things to use in its stead as he dropped what he was doing and raced forward, all in the split-second before he realized that the girl crawling out of the fountain was not, in fact, Folly, but someone else.

Well. He's already on his way over, he might as well continue.

Standing over her, he clears his throat. "Ah, miss," he starts, eyeing her black scrubs and thinking another one. Just like him. Should that mean something? Perhaps. "You might be more comfortable inside. Changed out of those wet clothes, perhaps?"

arrival

[babyhunter]

Clary had heard someone walking behind her but she hadn't considered that they'd be heading in her direction. Couldn't someone just lay on the side walk using a backpack as a pillow while completely drenched? Okay, she would freely admit that what she was doing was weird.

Bright emerald orbs peeked up at the stranger from behind thick eyelashes. It was to bright for her to open her eyes fully or to see more than a shadowy cut out of the man standing next to her.

Thin fingers rose to her forehead brushing away the bright orange strands before pushing herself up to a seated position. "Ah, yeah. I thought about that but the sun felt nice." It wasn't doing an awful job of drying her. "I don't know if I have dry clothes." She hadn't looked inside of the backpack yet.

Another second and Clary was pushes herself to her feet. "Where is this exactly?" She hadn't looked around before now and had assumed that she was somewhere in Central Park only this wasn't New York and it wasn't like any of the places she's visited before.

at the river

[beallmysins]

Jax ends up at the river more often than not because he likes swimming, goddamnit, and it's easier to take a dip in the river and go back to work on roofs and clearing out houses than to go back to his own house to take a bath. The redhead is new, though, and Jax makes a note of it; this place has more hot redheads per capita than goddamn Ireland and that's saying something. At least he knows he's not related to any of them here.

"If you care about me being naked, you probably want to go downriver," Jax says, stripping off his scrubs. "Because I'm not swimming in all my clothes just to avoid offending you."

at the river

[babyhunter]

Clary didn't mind swimming in her underwear. It was the same as being in a bathing suit and as long as someone didn't watch her strip down it didn't feel any different or intimate. What struck her as odd was the fact that this guy was going to swim naked and decided the he needed to announce it. That felt excessive and for the first few seconds she couldn't find the voice to reply back to him.

When it was clear that he was going to strip down completely she turned away to avoid seeing Jax in all of his naked glory. She wasn't as comfortable with nudity as some were. Not to say she was a prude but walking around naked certainly destroyed the mystery of it.

"Thanks for the heads up." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. She'd wait to hear the sound of him getting into the water and then turn back around. At least that way she doesn't have to see what the cold does to his… yup, she's not even going to think about that. "For the record. I was here first." Clary had no interest in giving in to some self-important jerk. "Do you just strip down in front of everyone? What if I was under-aged? That's creepy." Considering how old he looked it was probably creepy given the age gap anyway. That was something else that Clary really didn't want to think about.

[beallmysins]

"Haven't seen anyone underaged yet so unless you're announcing that you are, I'm not really worried about it. Besides, it's just swimming and I'm in the water," Jax says, shrugging a little.

"It's not really going to matter that much in the grand scheme of things. Not like we're hooking up or anything. Worried about your precious virtue?"

[babyhunter]

She wasn't underaged but admitting that wasn't going to help her point.

Clary turned back around when she was sure that he was in the water, her palms rested on her hips while bright green eyes directed a sharp glare his way. "Hardly." Her skin was marked similarly to Isabelle's with dark runes painting ancient shapes into her otherwise pale flesh. Clary had less than the veteran Shadowhunter but she was slowly gaining more marks with each new adventure.

"That doesn't mean you have to make your need to strip my problem." This was definitely in the top ten stupidest things to argue about but Clary didn't care.

The Breach;

[repressings]

Every day, he gets closer and closer to the breach. He circles it, wary, similar not to a predator but instead prey. He looks not because he wants to attack it or explore, but because he finds it unsettling.

An entire village, apparently abandoned. Apparently rich with things the other does not. Not exactly a utopia, either, but Credence is still convinced it's a trick of some sort. Everything is, every little kindness the villagers are given turns into ash. It's a matter of time.

So he walks, and he stares, and sometimes he thinks and sometimes he doesn't. As he approaches it, he notices someone disappear into the small crevasse--only for the ground to rumble and for Credence to momentarily tense, crying out in fear and shrinking as small as he could as a knee-jerk reaction to it. The three days spent in a cave in peppers his mind, and he's learned to fear even the faintest of shaking in the ground.

When he looks up from his hunched up position, the girl is there again. Closer, with honeyed red hair stark against pale face. The red on her lip, too--

--he gasps, concerned, moving towards her, his normal self kicking in.

"Miss! Are you hurt? You're bleeding."

The Breach;

[babyhunter]

A few different thoughts skittered through Clary's mind when she heard the unfamiliar voice. The first was, 'what blood?' which made her lick her lips and think, 'blood tastes really coppery and kind of gross'. The final thought was something along the lines of 'who is this?'

It was then that Clary finally looked at Credence. He appeared rather skittish, polite but also a little withdrawn. Maybe she was imagining it? Clary tried to picture how she would have drawn him in her mind. It was always easier when she did that but for the moment, nothing inspirational came to her. He'd be in sharp focus, that much she knew, and it would be a drawing of his whole body but the rest of the page would be blank. Maybe his shadow but nothing else.

Clary blinked at him before realizing that she should really say something.

"Yeah, I've had worse." She shaken but Clary rolled with the punches as they came at her regularly. "You okay? You weren't near the rocks were you?"

[repressings]

I've had worse is a rather alarming thought to Credence, casually said or no--but the stranger seems pretty fine with it, and Credence's worries are temporary mollified. Enough that he's able to look at her for three whole seconds before hunching in on himself again, his gaze fixed on her left shoulder instead of making eye contact.

Baby steps. He can at least hold a conversation now.

"I'm fine, miss, thank you for asking. I just saw you run in, and--well, there have been problems like rocks falling. I'm pleased you're only bleeding on your lips."

Oh. Wait, no--

"Not that I'm pleased you're bleeding, I'd prefer it if you weren't, but I mean that you seem like you're okay."