Sameen Shaw (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cactusy) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
singillatim2024-09-02 11:52 am
cactusy) wrote in singillatim2024-09-02 11:52 am
[open] arrival
Who: Sameen Shaw & OTA
What: August 2024 TDM prompts, getting bearings
When: Mid- to late August
Where: Milton and the surrounding environs
arrival / you lying next to me TDM prompt
It doesn't make sense for this to be real, Shaw thinks, because reality rarely involves falling asleep in a New York City flophouse and waking up completely alone in the middle of nowhere - but it also doesn't make sense for it to be a simulation, because the simulations hadn't worked like this, either. That means that this is more confusing than unsettling - and all that confusion does is make her angry.
No enemies are in sight, which is a bust for her; it means she can't jump right into a shootout, take down some kidnapping bad guys, and get some answers. She does keep her handgun out and at the ready as she walks along, keeping up a brisk and steady pace in an attempt to ward off the chill that she can already feel seeping through her tight jeans and leather jacket. It just figures that this crap had to be pulled on her when she was woefully underdressed for winter weather - but she can at least count herself lucky that she'd passed out fully dressed. As much as this sucks, she knows it would be downright impossible if she were barefoot and wearing PJs.
Luckily, she spots the far-off lights of town in a matter of minutes, which spares her from having to cross her fingers and pick a random direction to walk in. She has no illusions that this place is going to be either safe or full of friendlies, but considering the lack of immediate options at her disposal, she can't afford to be picky. She'll sneak over and scope it out, do some recon, and get a feel for what's going on before she makes herself known. Whether she approaches as a civilian or as an agent going in guns a-blazing will depend on what she finds.
Or that's the plan, anyway. What actually happens is that she tromps across a small frozen pond that's been completely hidden by drifting snow, and the ice underfoot only makes itself known when it cracks unceremoniously under her feet, depositing her into two feet of slushy, marshy, freezing water.
Methuselah's feast TDM prompt
One way or another, Shaw will find her way to Milton. Maybe whoever helps her out of the water takes her there directly, or maybe they warm her up elsewhere and she makes her way to town on her own later. Either way, she eventually ends up in a free bed in the Community Hall, where she'll crash for ten or twelve hours straight.
Shaw herself isn't sure how long she sleeps, but it's comparatively warm, and there's no immediate, obvious danger, so she'd guess that it's a good long while before the smell of fish stew wakes her up. After that, barely a minute passes between her opening her eyes and dropping herself down into an empty chair at the feast table. Questions later. Sustenance first. She's halfway through with her bowl of stew and plate of grilled fish before she looks up for long enough to turn to one of her seatmates.
"So - where are we, and what's with the old guy?"
hot springs
Freezing cold water is fine for sponge baths and washing clothes, but for someone who just recently took an accidental bath in a pond and isn't looking to repeat the experience, the hot springs sound a lot more enticing. Shaw makes her way there a few days after her arrival, the blanket from her bed wrapped around her shoulders (she'll want a way to dry off and warm up before redressing, she figures). Once in the cave, she sets the blanket aside, the strips down bare and walks directly into the water, letting out a heavy, relieved sigh as she settles herself down on the rocky bottom and sinks in almost to her nose.
"That's more like it," she murmurs, more to herself than to anyone else that might be nearby. After a moment or two, though, she does glance over at her fellow bather. "Guessing the conditioner in town's all out, though."
[OOC: Feel free to reply with either prose or brackets; I'll match format!]
What: August 2024 TDM prompts, getting bearings
When: Mid- to late August
Where: Milton and the surrounding environs
arrival / you lying next to me TDM prompt
It doesn't make sense for this to be real, Shaw thinks, because reality rarely involves falling asleep in a New York City flophouse and waking up completely alone in the middle of nowhere - but it also doesn't make sense for it to be a simulation, because the simulations hadn't worked like this, either. That means that this is more confusing than unsettling - and all that confusion does is make her angry.
No enemies are in sight, which is a bust for her; it means she can't jump right into a shootout, take down some kidnapping bad guys, and get some answers. She does keep her handgun out and at the ready as she walks along, keeping up a brisk and steady pace in an attempt to ward off the chill that she can already feel seeping through her tight jeans and leather jacket. It just figures that this crap had to be pulled on her when she was woefully underdressed for winter weather - but she can at least count herself lucky that she'd passed out fully dressed. As much as this sucks, she knows it would be downright impossible if she were barefoot and wearing PJs.
Luckily, she spots the far-off lights of town in a matter of minutes, which spares her from having to cross her fingers and pick a random direction to walk in. She has no illusions that this place is going to be either safe or full of friendlies, but considering the lack of immediate options at her disposal, she can't afford to be picky. She'll sneak over and scope it out, do some recon, and get a feel for what's going on before she makes herself known. Whether she approaches as a civilian or as an agent going in guns a-blazing will depend on what she finds.
Or that's the plan, anyway. What actually happens is that she tromps across a small frozen pond that's been completely hidden by drifting snow, and the ice underfoot only makes itself known when it cracks unceremoniously under her feet, depositing her into two feet of slushy, marshy, freezing water.
Methuselah's feast TDM prompt
One way or another, Shaw will find her way to Milton. Maybe whoever helps her out of the water takes her there directly, or maybe they warm her up elsewhere and she makes her way to town on her own later. Either way, she eventually ends up in a free bed in the Community Hall, where she'll crash for ten or twelve hours straight.
Shaw herself isn't sure how long she sleeps, but it's comparatively warm, and there's no immediate, obvious danger, so she'd guess that it's a good long while before the smell of fish stew wakes her up. After that, barely a minute passes between her opening her eyes and dropping herself down into an empty chair at the feast table. Questions later. Sustenance first. She's halfway through with her bowl of stew and plate of grilled fish before she looks up for long enough to turn to one of her seatmates.
"So - where are we, and what's with the old guy?"
hot springs
Freezing cold water is fine for sponge baths and washing clothes, but for someone who just recently took an accidental bath in a pond and isn't looking to repeat the experience, the hot springs sound a lot more enticing. Shaw makes her way there a few days after her arrival, the blanket from her bed wrapped around her shoulders (she'll want a way to dry off and warm up before redressing, she figures). Once in the cave, she sets the blanket aside, the strips down bare and walks directly into the water, letting out a heavy, relieved sigh as she settles herself down on the rocky bottom and sinks in almost to her nose.
"That's more like it," she murmurs, more to herself than to anyone else that might be nearby. After a moment or two, though, she does glance over at her fellow bather. "Guessing the conditioner in town's all out, though."
[OOC: Feel free to reply with either prose or brackets; I'll match format!]
no subject
"Uh- Well we're on Earth for one. In case you're from somewhere else." She had to clarify because she wasn't from there.
"Outside of that we're in a place called Milton in Canada. I have no idea where that is in reference to anywhere else around here though."
no subject
She swallows, then continues.
"So, what, you're an alien? 'Cause you look pretty normal to me."
no subject
"Oh! I have heard of that one. There's another guy around who's from there too." Look at her, paying a little bit of attention to things.
"Kind of, sort of I guess? I mean. I'm a human and all that. But I'm from a place called Remnant. I don't think it's anywhere near here." She says with a little bit of a shrug.
"The stars and moon are all wrong for one. But- Apparently that's a problem with this place in general."
no subject
Not that she's any kind of astronomer. Later on, when it's fully dark out and she doesn't have hot food in front of her, she'll have to take a second look.
"So, uh--" She wipes fish juice off her mouth with the back of her hand, squinting slightly at Ruby. "You seem pretty calm about all of this."
Says the woman who's kept up the same quasi-monotone for this entire conversation. Stones and glass houses, Shaw.
no subject
She can't help but grin awkwardly at the next question and gives a little shrug.
"Do I? I mean I guess. I've been here for nearly a year now so I guess I've just kind of accepted it?" Which was probably a little weird herself. "It's also not my first time getting thrown into weird and new places. So I guess there's that."
no subject
And people talking about being from unheard-of planets with missing moons.
"So, a year in - you got any clues about what's up with all of this? Because I'm working with nada right now."
no subject
"Not a ton, to be honest. I guess my working theory is that this uh- planet might have been pulled into somewhere else like all of us were.
The guy in the notebook said that all the stars he saw were wrong. So that feels like it makes the most sense to me. What if they weren't exactly wrong, but they were different because this place is somewhere else?"
no subject
She takes another bite, wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, and adds, "Real or not."
no subject
"It's not all it's cracked up to be, trust me. It was a mixed experience at best." She kind of died, and came back. It was a whole thing.
"Seven thousand fake realities is a lot though. How do you end up keeping track of all that?"
no subject
"I didn't," she says simply. "I stopped being able to a long time ago. I stopped trying not too long after that. Keeping track of what happened in which simulation doesn't matter, anyway; the only thing that matters is keeping track of what's real and what isn't."
no subject
"I think it's a lot easier said than done though. But you're totally right." There's a pause and then. "Did you end up getting back home? Or were you still stuck in it before you got here?"
no subject
"I was out," she says, slowly, and not particularly convincingly. "Probably. That thing about figuring out what was real and what wasn't? Wasn't always easy."
Was barely ever easy, if she's honest.
"I was pretty sure I'd actually escaped, and it was over. But this place throws that theory for a loop."
no subject
"Yeah. I guess I know a thing or two about that." She said a little sheepishly. She had been on a fairly bizarre trip through another world, and while a lot of it didn't feel real. It definitely had been. And the parts that hadn't been real, well someone had been really good at setting up the pieces that it felt real.
"I'm pretty sure I had made it home too. At least I know this place isn't the same as the other places I had wound up before. But it's not home either, I guess if that makes sense."