sixthiterationlogs | How come they never call free space?

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How come they never call free space?

WHO: Ashley Magnus
WHERE: Around the village
WHEN: Last half of October
OPEN TO: Anyone
WARNINGS: None applicable except the Observer is mean

What's the worse that could happen?

Unarmed. No back up in the form of the Sanctuary. Little tech. Ashley is not in the best of moods about this place, and a few weeks there isn't making it much better for her. Trying to avoid outright stealing from others, such as taking knives and such from the storerooms and not returning them, Ashley has been on a hunt to try and make things easier for her in ways she's familiar with. Sadly there is little in the place that really feels normal, except for the plethora of abnormals that can be found in the forests and waters.

It's while studying those, seeking to find ones that might have natural weapons she can utilize, that Ashley watches some birds picking open the purple seeds she's found throughout the woods. Waiting and watching to see that they don't keel over from it, she picks a moment when one is just opening a seed before darting forward and scaring the bird away. It hasn't killed them, so she's willing to take a chance. Maybe it's a chance she shouldn't take, but listening to that kind of inner logic is never priority with Ashley.

Which is why, moments later, she is rushing through the woods towards town, amazed at her speed, dashing around trees and delighting in the ability that she knew could do her well. Careful not to run into people, though when it looks as if she might, panic grips her, causing her to phase right through people and objects in her path the same as she phased out of the fountain when she arrived.

The aftermath

Sometimes that mental question of, What's the worst that can happen? is answered in a swift and harsh manner. Such as finding herself bent double, puking up what seems to be everything she's eaten for the last few years, and then curling up against the foundation of the Inn, not making it much further than that before her eyes close.

Even the next day she still feels disjointed and not completely okay, following advice she's heard from others and heading down for the springs to try and see if a soak will help with the dizziness and the lethargic state of her body.

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Ashley nods at that, wincing as she makes a face. "Sorry, my head hurts," she admits, though it might be obvious with the way the rest of her is apparently hurting. "I've seen the machine, but..." She lifts her shoulders in a just barely there shrug. "Maybe. I've wondered how they give us abnormal powers," she admits. "I... I had another the moment I arrived. Someone told me that is normal. That when you get here, you have them."

Which she hates more and more now that she's coping with the pain of what she had enjoyed only an hour earlier. "That one didn't make me hurt like this though."

And later she will try and figure out what the difference is but for now she just wants to not feeling like she's dying.

"Looked like a damn walnut. It was cool too. Got to run so fast. Like a car fast," she admits, drinking the water, and smiling at Hawke though. "Thank you. I appreciate it. I really do."

She's used to having her mom there when things get bad, when the things that go bump in the night bump her, so having someone taking care of her, worrying about her and trying to see to her pain is nicer than maybe it should be but it makes her feel better in a lot of ways.

"Hadn't thought about that. You would think someone that does a lot to push their body would think about that first," she says, shifting the glass to offer her hand. "I'm Ashley. Nice to meet you. Wish it was in a better situation."

[ooc: i lost this tag somehow, so glad I found it!!!]

"Don't be sorry. I'd give you some herbs for your head if I had any from home." She may not be as good as Anders as it, but being with him so long gave her some extra knowledge on how to help others. Cures for temporary illness or pain. Hawke blinks, surprised. "Wait, we have powers? You mean without the machine?" This is news to her. Yes it is probably written in the inn, but she's unaware if so. She assumed the only option was to take the risk. She frowns and looks at her hands, as if expecting somehow they'd show some impressive skills, but she has no idea how to set it off.

"I don't know what a car is," she admits, "but that does sound bloody brilliant to be honest. Obviously with a terrible price, but it's an attractive prospect." She shrugs. "And maybe something to know if we get any trouble here. Yes it'll lead to this, but it could be an emergency type of thing." Hawke has seen absolutely no danger so far, but she knows there is some. She knows it's likely only a matter of time before this brief peace goes away. If their only option is to run, having super speed might be worth the aftermath.

"Don't worry about it. I haven't had this kind of hangover before, but I've had many other versions of it." Her smile is fast and bright, settling down comfortably on the ground and taking the hand with a firm shake. "Nice to meet you too! Same here. If you feel like vomiting anymore let me know, I'll hold your hair. I'm also an expert at that." Most of them held their liquor well, but her elf friend was too innocent to be good at drinking. Which led to a few bad nights. "You usually push your body with powers?"

Ashley nods, though it's a shallow movement, not thinking about how much even that might hurt until she winces. "Someone told me it's why we were different colored scrubs when we arrive. It has something to do with it but I can't work out how they're managing that science experiment," she says, voice rough and rising and falling with each breath.

Ashley nearly smiles then, nodding. "Oh trust me. I was taking advantage of it, right until I collapsed." Before that though, it had been amazing. "So long as I survive it," she says softly, waving a hand lazily. "I assume I will, but wasn't betting on it about thirty minutes ago."

That makes Ashley smile, nodding. "I will take that offer if I need it. Only ever had my mom for that, and that came with chiding me for overindulging," she says, obviously imitating her mother with a light, lilting British accent.

"No. I usually avoid them as much as I can," she admits, knowing it sounds a bit sharp but she knows the consequences of experimenting. "I was looking for a snack, not taking that risk with my body."

"Ooooo. So it's a clever type of color coding. That'll make it easier to advise people when they appear on what they get." But they have to know what it is before that can happen. Hawke has no idea how her sister uses her magic, so she's not sure what to grasp for within herself to make it work. "Have you figured out yours? I can't say I've always wanted to have magic, but I'm not going to say no if it's already in me." She calls it magic because it's what she thinks of with meta abilities, and that's all her experience can use as a term.

The British accent Ashley's mimicking isn't that dissimilar from Hawke's own, although hers is lower and droll. Ferelden is no where near Britain of course, an entire different world, but apparently accents can sound alike on matter what. "Your mum and mine sound similar that way." Or was, in Hawke's case, but as cavalier as she is about her own death, she's not the same for her mother's. It was too tragic to ever make light of. Some day maybe she can refer to her without feeling the pang of sadness and guilt, but grief takes time.

Hawke considers it, rubbing a hand across her jaw. "I wonder if it's something that can be controlled with time? The thing you ate. Or in smaller doses." She smiles and shrugs. "I'm an opportunist. If something seems like it'll be helpful in a fight, I'll find a way to use it." And knowing her, she's likely to make herself sick several times over testing it out. "But you're right of course, not wise to play with things once you know what they could do to you." Wisdom is not one of her defining characteristics.

"Or for them to keep track of who they've given what to. My own though, yeah," she says with a nod, shifting nervously as she thinks about it. "I was with someone else before I woke up in the fountain. I thought he was still there, and drowning. A friend got me to the edge, but I was still trying to find him, and next thing I know? I kind of went unsubstantial and fell through the side of the fountain. It didn't change, I did," she admits, having put a lot of thought into that moment and just what happened. "So.. if it's like that? Yours is there, you just have to figure out what triggers it."

"Maybe it's just a mom thing. NO matter what the world." Which is a thought that amuses her, and makes her smile. It definitely offers a connection, another reason to work together. If for no other reason than the lives they've left behind are not all that different from one another.

That gets a nod and a smile, understanding the sentiment well, even if right now she's not feeling good about it right then. "When it was going on, I through about how I could use it to go to the further reaches of this place and see what's there, without having to make an expedition of it. The cost though..." She isn't sure in that moment if it's worth it or not. With most things go, in a few weeks, a month or so, and she's not likely going to think of it quite as bad.

"Oh, certainly, yes they would do that. But just because it's good for them doesn't mean it can't be good for us too." Ever the optimist. "Really it's better than us trying to figure it all out in an accident. Powers take time to control." That much she knew well. She watched Bethany over the course of her life try to learn. It required such discipline. "Interesting! So you were intangible. That'll come in handy if you ever need to escape a fight. Or let attacks go right through you." Hawke really hopes her powers are as handy. Her strategic mind will make quick work of it."

Hawke nods in understanding. "The cost is high. It seems like more of an emergency thing. Unless we can break it down into reasonable slices." It's funny, she's coming up with the idea, but has no idea how to do the execution. She's not a scientist or much of a brain honestly. But she knows how to kill and how to survive, so she thinks in those terms often. "There are all manner of interesting beasties and plants around here, aren't there? Are they here for us to use, I wonder, or for us to try and survive?"

Ashley certainly looks less than convinced in all of this, uncertain and not at all happy about any of this going on. "I guess you're right. I just... I'm not sure if I can trigger it again that easily. Not to mention, honestly? It feels off to be able to do. Kind of been a thing my whole life. Surrounded by the different and all, but not part of it."

And if she's abnormal, what does that open her up to? Could she end up like Druitt? It's frightening in ways that Ashley will never admit.

"Maybe, but you have to have volunteers, and accept that after they'll feel like they were hit by a Mack truck without the broken bones." She pauses, considering that. "Well there's that. I had none, though what if I had run into a tree, at that speed?" Her nose wrinkles up at the thought. "That's one way to die."

"Wow, are you me? I feel in complete simpatico with you right now." Hawke smiles and shrugs at her, understanding exactly what she means. "I was surrounded with magic users but didn't have any of my own." Her father, her sister, her lover, her friends. They were all powerful and she usually was keeping up as best as she could as an ordinary person. And rarely did Hawke really covet those abilities, because they were double edged swords. Useful, yes, but with serious responsibilities. "But in our world, if you don't use them, you can get out of control and that leads down very bad pathways." Very damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Hawke makes a face. "Yeah, that's one way to die. It'd probably be fast." She taps a finger against her chin. "People must've died here before. We can't all have survived." She wasn't necessarily talking about the fountains, although there was that. But there were super powers and strange animals and plants. All it took was one wrong choice to end it. "Does it sound weird to ask people who many of us have died so far and how? Bit grim I guess."

Ashley chuckles at that, grinning. "Hey, you never know. Other worlds and all. My mom was different, and all her friends, and everyone that lived at the Sanctuary with us was different in one way or another. Except me. Now here, it's normal not to be, I guess." Though she doesn't sound entirely certain about that belief, but she'll keep going and do what she can while she's there. It's the one constant that Ashley is entirely certain of in this place.

But she still isn't sure she's comfortable with it all.

Ashley chuckles, though the sound isn't strong, nodding. "Fast is good," she says, amused with herself, and with Hawke at the pun. Even if it isn't intended.

"Maybe weird, yeah, but can't help but wondering. They can't all have just mysteriously disappeared, can they?"

"Yeah even the abnormal are now the normal here. It's a great equalizer. Even if we do have new gifts, they're all related in a way, since they're new to us." Hawke frowns and rubs the back of her neck. "My sister would struggle without them, for certain, but I think she could adapt. My ex though, I think he'd have a mental breakdown." She doesn't know why she's bringing it up, she rarely speaks about Anders, although that is partly because so many people had Opinions of him now back home. "So much of his identity is tied up in being a mage, it's what matters most to him." More than her, and yes, she's bitter about that.

Hawke didn't hear it until then and chuckles. "Very fast." She'd just been zipping around! Lesson learned. She nods somewhat somberly at the question. "They could but it does seem very unlikely. And it's possible if someone dies out there, we all assume they did disappear. And there probably wouldn't be any way to know for absolute certain. Only they would know." Very grim. "Best if we all think about that and go out in pairs whenever possible."

She nods at that, offering a bit of a smile. "I know a few like that. God, I can't even imagine Tesla here without it," she admits, trying to think of it. "Might drive him even more mad," she adds, chuckling a bit because even thinking about him and what he might do is like home.

"Makes you wonder though. If they do die here, and we just assume they went back like everyone seems to think... what happens to the bodies?" Which is not the best thought to have, but Ashley knows she's not going to get it out of her head any time soon.

Anders would hate it. And what about Justice? Would he be here too, burning the sanity away from him? Hard to say. Best not to worry about that. "Powers are useful, especially in a battle, but if they become a crutch, you're better off without them I'd say." Spoken like a non-mage, though. It isn't a part of here blood and identity, not the way a mercenary was for example. "I say that now but wait until I figure mine out and I'm lazily using it all the time." She laughs. Honestly if she found out she had intangibility, she already would've been messing around with it.

"Don't know. If they make us appear here, I supposed they can make us disappear just as easily. Or maybe we'll find a skeleton in one of those beast's bodies one of these days." Feeding them to the native animals? Why not, if that's all the people here were to you. Meat and curiosities. "There was some rumor going around where people thought we were...." She tried to remember the word. "Copies. So I suppose if that was the case, they could use our bodies to make another."

"I'd rather stick to things like I know them. Just being without a gun is dragging me down enough here," she admits, making a face. "I would love to just get a pair of knives, or even a handful of smaller throwing knives."

Anything that made her feel she isn't taking from the others here by hoarding any weapons they might have but are meant for living not killing.

"Not to mention we don't know how far the lands here go, or where those tubes feed us into this place," she points out. "It's a guess not anyway we can know. Not until we find the evidence."

"It would be nice to just once see one of the guns people keep talking about!" Seriously every other person talks about these guns.

"Well we'll keep rolling on and hope that we'll get that evidence. I don't know that they'll keep us in the dark forever. They'll want something eventually. We just have to hold on until then."

[ooc: okay to wrap? trying to get through these ones from Oct!]

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How come they never call free space?

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