001: Slippery when wet

[dann_0]

WHO: Danny Williams
WHERE: Fountain/Inn
WHEN: Friday 17 -> 22
OPEN TO: All
WARNINGS: Some mentioning of violence, almost freezing to death and possibly some nudity once he gets inside somewhere warm and can change clothes

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Fountain/Inn Nov -17th
The cold water comes as a shock to Danny's system. He had been... well not really safe or sound for that matter but at least warm in Colombia. The last thing he remembered was calling Grace and talking to her before the guards had caught on and dragged him outside to deliver a beating. He had blacked out in the middle of it and now he is surrounded by freezing water. He blinks and sees the light far above him. It feels too far but he has no choice but to swim for it. An eternity later he breaks the surface and gulps in cold air. He can see the edge of the pool and swims for it even as he can feel his strength leaving him by the second. He manages to pull himself out of the fountain, soaking wet and for a moment he just kneels at the side of it, looking around the area.

He wants to just lay down and rest, he feels so tired. And cold. His whole body shakes with the cold and it is hard to think and to breathe. But he sees a house with lights and he feels like he can almost feel the warmth reaching for him. He somehow manages to get to his feet and stumbles towards the inn. By the time he gets to the door, he doesn't have enough strength left to raise his hand and push the door open and instead he just collapses against it.

After he gets dragged inside and changes to warm and dry clothes he will be hiding next to the most convenient heat source until he feels human again.

Inn+Outside Until 22nd
Danny spends a lot of time at the Inn. Even days later he feels like he hasn't quite gotten warm again and he likes staying somewhere it is nice and warm. The fact that there are people here who can explain where he is and what is happening is a bonus as well. After a few days, he starts to get a little bit of cabin fever though and packs on as much clothing as he can before he sets out to explore the village and get a feel for the place.

Comments

[elderflowermacarons]

"Not when I'm in the room it's not." There's some falseness to that bravado. He lost a lot of his looks after Wonderland and its nasty lich overlords, but he's still not bad, certainly, and faking it until everybody buys it is a common tactic of his. "Taako," he adds disinterestedly, making no attempt to remember the name.

[dann_0]

Danny laughs and then nods. "Maybe not." He shrugs. Taako isn't exactly his type but he knows better than to tell the guy that.

[elderflowermacarons]

Given the hollow glass house that is Taako's ego, it's probably for the best not to poke him when he's on a roll. "Well, welcome to Craptown. Everything sucks and it's boring."

[dann_0]

"Yeah? Why do you say that?" Danny is finding it hard to believe that somewhere you can randomly appear in the middle of a snow storm for what seems to be no good reason is actually boring.

[elderflowermacarons]

Taako is used to a world where the snow storm generally conceals frost worms and dire elk, so he's a tough sell anyway. "Snoresville. I know from existentially devastating horror prisons and this is just a disappointment."

[dann_0]

"Yeah? What kind of prisons are you used to? Where are you from?"

[elderflowermacarons]

"Put your feet up and buckle in, fucko, that's a hell of a ride," Taako warns him extremely obliquely. "You wanna hear about the carnival of torment a couple of liches used to harvest raw suffering, the spooky behemoth-sized judges who turned me and, like, almost all my dudes to stone for a year, the wholesome family fun of being locked in a hundred repeating years of running from a reality-devouring horror... Apparently I'm going metaphysical. Also, just, like, jail? I've done those, too."

[dann_0]

Danny just looks at him like he is talking nonsense. "What?" He doesn't know what half of that means. Carnival of torment? Reality-devouring? "Are on something?"

[elderflowermacarons]

While Taako's approach to communication is deeply unhelpful, he's being completely truthful about his experiences which, though admittedly a bit out of the ordinary, are perfectly comprehensible if you're from one of his worlds. "Don't think so, but alchemical tampering's not a bad explanation for how everybody gets here. Might explain whatever's tamping down the arcane forces, too."

[dann_0]

"Arcane forces?" Danny comes from a world where expressions like that only live in fantasies. "Listen, I have no idea what you are talking about. You have to slow down and explain what the hell you mean"

[elderflowermacarons]

Well, no, he doesn't have to. He's having a great time being obtuse and annoying. But for the sake of moving the plot along, Taako settles into the nearest chair with a faintly predatory grace, draping over the arms in a decidedly liquid fashion that lets his hair trail on the ground from three feet up. "Planar system's greatest transmutation wizard." He gestures expansively to himself. "Y'know what, I'mma go ahead and make that transmutationist, fuck sorcerers, I'm better. If it weren't for the massively complex arcane dampening field they've got on this place I'd have burnt it to the ground by now. ...Which ain't strictly speaking transmuation, but my sister's an evocation specialist. You pick things up."

[dann_0]

"You mean you do magic? What exactly is transmutation?" Danny just sounds so confused. He has never heard of anything like this.

[elderflowermacarons]

"Well, not right fucking now. Place has it locked down, and whatever's doing it is letting whoever's in charge do whatever the shit they want." Taako looks huffy and oddly petulant. "Transmutation's changing the nature of shit. Textbook examples are straw into gold, princesses into frogs, that crap. Which is fun. Also covers, like, levitation. Since you change the nature of the thing's relationship to gravity. Schools of magic are kinda bullshit, man, I don't know."

[dann_0]

"What you mean is you can't actually do magic right now?" That sounds like a convenient excuse and Danny is definitely sceptical about this claim to be a wizard.

"What schools of magic are there?" Now he is mostly just humouring this guy, not really believing him.

[elderflowermacarons]

He wouldn't be indignant to be doubted so much as confused. Taako's world breathes magic. He never stops to consider whether it means anything to the other poor bastards stuck here. He just goes ahead with his lesson. He's not bad at being pedantic, exactly--his apprentice is already a pretty good wizard at twelve years old. But it's lucky for the kid he's something of a self-starter. Taako doesn't organize his thoughts for anybody's benefit. "Transmutation, obvs. Evocation is basically forces. Heat, cold, electricity. That's Lulu's deal. Illusions--self explanatory. Abjuration is shields and barrier, boring bullshit. Conjuration, got a pretty decent sideline of my own there. Enchantment's... putting magic in stuff? I don't really have a good source on that one. Divination, that's insight and foreknowledge, also not my bag. Necromancy, eh, honestly, I figure it's more of a mass squeamishness than a school of magic. No internal consistency. My sister's boytoy loves that shit, though."

[dann_0]

"You got schools and capes and owls and all that shit too?" Yes someone has watched a certain movie series. "Classes and books and stuff." He shrugs. "Lulu is your sister?"

[elderflowermacarons]

"It's my school, actually." Yes, there are others. No, they don't count. "And I look fantabulous in a cape, so."

[dann_0]

"Oh, it sounded like a name. Owls delivering letters and stuff? We got that in books where I am from."