First Message ⨕ Video ⨕ Both Courts (backdated before the event)

[vaccinations]

The locket shows the face of a young teen, her face and hair are dirty and she's staring at the locket intently. Like she doesn't exactly trust it. When it clicks on her eyes widen and a grin comes across her face.]

Oh shit. It's real. Real magic locket. Alright, imps, starting to believe that you weren't totally fucking with me. You got me on that one. Not that I believe all of that shard stuff. You woulda thought people would notice something like that. [The locket spins on it's chain once before she grabs it again and observes everyone seriously.]

Alright so. Most important things first. Where's a girl gotta go to get cool magic stuff? The locket's not bad, but I'm talking the good shit. Like flying powder and wands and fire powers and breathing underwater. If they dragged us here, they better not hold out on us. I already asked the imps to give me a dinosaur to ride but they said I had to wait for "boons" or whatever the hell that is. I mean how can you drag me here and then make me wait? It never works that way in any book I've read and I've read every book about magic left in Boston. [An annoyed huff! It's barely an exaggeration. She really did read every book about magic left in the boarding school.] Those imps were dicks or else this is a major secret character test.

[Then her face drops into a more neutral expression, Like there's a lot bubbling beneath the surface but she's trying to cover it up as best she can.]

Okay, next important stuff. I'm looking for a guy named Joel. He's big, gruff, wears flannel, comes from the great land of Texas. [She even imitates a Texas accent for emphasis! It's terrible tbh.] He's probably kinda grumpy and stomping around right now.

[She's so clearly worried that the forced neutral expression isn't doing much for her. But still, trying to keep it together. It's hard with the conflicting feelings of "holy shit magic" and "oh my god where the fuck is Joel."]

...Joel, if you hear this, say something over the lockets. I know it's weird as hell but just. Do it.

Comments

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[poeticend]

[ Needless to say, Riley is incredibly relieved, when she sees Ellie's face over the locket. The one big issue she'd had being dragged here, is that her friend had been seemingly left behind to deal with the runners and Riley's big ass mistake. Like shit, how is that fair? Riley is the one that dragged Ellie out to the mall. She's the one that blasted music for the whole damn world to hear. If anyone should be left to deal with the runners, it's Riley, not Ellie.

But Ellie's voice reassures her. At least, it does at first. Because in Riley's mind, it means she wasn't left back in that mall all alone. Not only that, but imps means that Ellie is in the same place she is, in Caer Schima. ]

You know, as crazy as all this magic shit is, I'm not surprised you're into it. [ She grins down at the locket. It's a little weird, and she doesn't really understand how it works, but that doesn't really matter right now. ] But seriously, it's good to see you, girl. I was--

[poeticend]

[ The last part of the broadcast actually registers, then, and Riley's face goes from happy to confused to a little weirded out. Ellie's looking for some asshole before her? What the fuck? ]

Who the fuck's Joel?

[vaccinations]

...

[If Riley's expression is confused, then Ellie's goes beyond completely baffled. Her eyes widen and seem in danger of popping out of her head and all of the color drains completely from her face.

She's had this dream. Almost anyone who has lost someone dreams of seeing them again. But it's been so long and she's tried so hard to suppress the memories of the month before she left Boston that it seems a little alien. Her stomach churns and she struggles to know what to say. One of her trembling hands grips the locket.]

Riley. What the fuck?

this is hideously late, my apologies.

[poeticend]

[ This doesn't feel right. Ellie's reaction isn't anything like what Riley had thought it would be. It's almost like she's seeing a ghost, but shit, that doesn't even make sense. Sure, they had just been faced with a sticky situation ( Hah, what an understatement) but it wasn't one they wouldn't have been able to get out of...right?

Riley frowns down at the locket, then focuses her attention elsewhere and picks at something on her vest. ]

I should be asking you the same question.

video;

[nowthatsfunny]

[ Tess doesn't know why Ellie seems so attached to Joel - the last she knew, Joel would barely look at the kid and the thought of taking her anywhere had been repulsive to him.

She also has no idea if Joel is here or not, or what's going on, really, but that doesn't matter, either. ]

He'll show. Eventually, he'll show, and we'll punch him when he does, for being late. [ That's reassuring, right? ]

[vaccinations]

Or he'll lecture us for getting kidnapped by stupid imps.

[She purses her lips for a few seconds. Joel hadn't let her down. Even when she was sure he would ditch her, he'd changed and stood by her. Why would it change now.

So she nods.]

He'll show.

[nowthatsfunny]

[ It's ridiculous to think he'd be here - or is it? Ellie's here, after all. But. Who knows. Tess is just barely keeping her head above water, so to speak, she might as well quietly be having a breakdown.

Maybe saying it is what she needs to do for herself, as much as the girl. Joel has been the one steady thing in her life for the better part of a decade, after all. ]

I'd be okay with that, at this point.

[vaccinations]

Yeah.

Me too.

Caaan't be too picky when you're being abducted.

[A beat. She needs to follow it up with something.]

You okay?

video.

[brainiest]

You have to ask very nicely and do some jobs for the kings and queens to get magic, unless you've come here with it - that's what happened to me.

[ Look at the wand in her hand, Ellie! ]

That's what the boons are for. You prove you're here to help and you're rewarded, I suppose.

[vaccinations]

What kinda jobs? I mean. I used to scrub floors and shit back at school. But I've never had a real actual job before.

[She is looking at the wand. Really, really looking.]

And definitely never had any magic before.

[brainiest]

There's been all sorts, really. Fighting shadows, gathering feathers, defeating some worms, healing some sick imps or faeries... All sorts of jobs.

[ She waves her wand and whispers 'Lumos'. ]

I was born a witch, though.

[vaccinations]

...

How'd you get born a witch? Seems totally unfair if you already know magic and are just getting more magic.

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[playmakings]

[ Oh! Someone her age. Well, she's a good four years younger but teenagers! Teenagers. She can deal with teenagers. Even slightly crass ones.

Sorry, Ellie. Disney canon isn't exactly filled with f-bombs. ]

I'm waiting for my magical powers, too. Hadn't really thought about dinosaur--that would be neat.

[vaccinations]

Right?

I mean you could just ride it everywhere and no one is going is going to fuck with you.

[playmakings]

What type, do you think?

I mean that you'd want.

[vaccinations]

T-Rex.

No fucking contest.

video;

[firith]

Are dinosaurs very fearsome?

[vaccinations]

Man, you don't know?

They're like 50 feet tall and have a fuck ton of teeth. Or else can just stomp you flat into a pancake. Which is totally awesome and that's why they're my favorite animal of all time.

[firith]

They sound very much like dragons, in that case. Are they only ever around fifty-feet tall? I have seen fire-drakes far larger, with even the smallest requiring a mountain to house it.

[ Just going to give her a look of Do better and impress me, kid. Because that's how Thrandad rolls. ]

[vaccinations]

Well, we don't have any dragons. [She's not bitter at all. Actually though, she sounds a little more disappointed than bitter. After all, she'd kill to live in a place with dragons. I mean that's even a step up from dinosaurs.] Or magic. Or cool shit.

Just dinosaurs. I mean, we used to have dinosaurs. I guess for now... giraffes are pretty cool. [A shrug. Like you're not gonna intimidate her, man!]

video;

[shittybirthday]

Ellie. Jesus--

[ Oh Jesus, Joel thinks through the pounding rush of relief roaring through his ears and in his head, she's alive. Jesus Christ, she's alive.

He swallows thickly. God, though those weird-- imps or whatever the goddamn hell they're called had kind of explained how he'd wound up in this place (in between him attempting to shoot them out of sheer bewildered alarm as they'd dragged him through a forest), he can't wrap his mind around it, and he particularly hasn't been able to wrap his mind around it on account of being worried out of his goddamn mind where Ellie is. Matter of fact, he'd been angrily demanding to know what those imp assholes had done with her - where the hell is she?!, he'd been demanding with increasing urgency, to no avail - but they'd given no answers. Just dumped him at the edge of the forest they'd dragged him through with a large, dark castle-like building looming ahead of him in the distance.

But he's found her now. He's found her. That's all that matters. There's a look of deep worry in his hard, world-weary eyes as he peers at her image in the locket. He's a little sweaty, some dirt smudged on his perspiring face from where he was dragged through the forest. ]

Jesus, you alright, kiddo? Are you hurt?

[vaccinations]

I'm fine. I'm... I got to eat. There was a shit ton of food.

[God the look on his face kills her. She'd been worried about him too, of course. Hell, it had been eating away at her the second she woke up here alone and without him. But she'd been distracted by all the wonderful things she'd found here. Magic. Food. The fact that for once she wasn't being hunted by infected lurking in every shadow. It was strange how the human mind could hold both distraction and utter concern all at once.

She twists her middle and index finger of her right hand in the palm of her left like she's slowly grinding out her thoughts.]

Fuck, I'm glad you're here.

[shittybirthday]

Yeah. Yeah.

[ Simplistic though it sounds that he's only agreeing with her that he's just as glad she's here, the weight of relief in his voice is heavy.

He lifts a hand to rub it briefly, anxiously over his beard. She looks fine from what he can see over this locket thing, she sounds fine - but he's not going to be completely convinced of that until he's got her with him, close to him. Safe and sound. The mere thought of being separated from her, especially in this bizarre place, only makes him all the more anxious to find her. ]

Look, uh. Just-- tell me where you are.

[vaccinations]

In a castle.

The imp castle or "Unseelie" or whatever.

They said this was my room. ...It's pretty weird. Having a room. And it's not a shitty dorm room either.

[She shrugs trying to make conversation because somehow this situation is difficult for her to navigate. She's never been away from Joel. She's never felt remotely safe. But here she was in a big castle with her own room and all the food she could ever want.]

audio

[ziggyzoggy]

Depends on what kind o'magic.