abraxasnet | @all (during the week everyone's in nocwich)

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@all (during the week everyone's in nocwich)

I know everyone's a little preoccupied at the moment, so I'll keep this short.

I didn't think it'd be a problem to wait a few weeks to visit the Horizon for the first time, but obviously that was a mistake, so I'm hoping someone can help me out with getting there sooner rather than later. I've heard you lose your memory the first trip, and I get that people might not be interested in babysitting right now, so I don't care if you just abandon me there; I'll figure it out.

[Is this a terrible idea? Probably, but it still seems entirely worth it at the moment. He isn't a total idiot, though, so he also adds--]

And if there's anything in particular that might be good to know about the whole thing, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Thanks.

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It's pretty straightforward; long, slow breathing, try to let yourself unfocus on the world, that kind of thing. It feels like falling asleep, and then having extremely vivid dreams. You'll need to be in physical contact with someone who's been there before, the first time, if you want it to work.

[She thinks a minute.]

...You did say someone'd talked to you about the side effects, right?

[Oh, right, now he remembers why he'd been so bad at it. All of that is exactly opposite of how his brain usually works, but perhaps the deep exhaustion of the last several weeks will actually be useful for something.]

Okay. That doesn't sound too bad.

[Side effects, though, sounds a little ominous.]

Aside from losing your memory the first time? I did hear about that, but if there's anything else, I don't know about it.

Yeah, it's complicated. I've got a working theory that it brings you closer to the Singularity, somehow— you might start to show the ability to work with the local "magic".

[Yes she's putting quotation marks on this. Shepard doesn't believe in magic, magic is just a word for something you're unable, or unwilling, to explain. But it's not like she's going to be conducting scientific research anytime soon, and she has to call it something.]

At least that's how it worked for me. It might've just been a coincidence, but the timing is pretty suspicious. It's not so bad.

[That is not even slightly what he'd been expecting to hear; when he hears side effects, he thinks more of what happened with the technology he used at home. This is... Really cool, actually. He'd heard about the possibility of learning magic, but hadn't even had a chance to begin looking into it before everything had happened.]

Is there any downside to that? Being able to use the magic of this place?

Depends.

[There is a brief, but noticeable pause while she tries to find the words.]

Listen, the one thing I know about stuff like this is that there's always a cost associated with it. It might not be obvious upfront, but the other side of having... abilities... is having to watch yourself, be your own babysitter, or deal with the consequences of failing to do so. Or choosing not to.

Which is, incidentally, part of why I've been stuck in this fucking bed for so many consecutive days. So take that however you want. I'm not your mother.

[There are certainly multiple ways he could interpret that, and he'll have to consider them in more depth later; he'd like to ask, but from her last comments he gets the sense--whether accurate or not--she's not interested in elaborating, and he has no interest in annoying her when she's offered to help him.]

I'll keep that in mind. Magic's not a thing where I'm from, so this is all new to me.

[And he feels he should ask--]

It's not going to affect your recovery? To show me how to get into the Horizon?

No clue. I'm not too worried about it; been spending half my time on the Horizon anyways.

[It is boring here, you see. She is not a good patient, by any stretch of the imagination.]

Magic isn't a "thing" for me, either, back home. But when in Rome... Oh— I'm Shepard, by the way. You'll probably need a name, if you're trying to actually find me.

Right. I'll come find you, then.

Anything you want me to try and grab for you on the way?

[Might as well offer, if he's going to trek through the halls anyway. Shouldn't be too hard to procure a snack or something of the sort if she'd like something brought to her.]

Wow, we haven't even met and you're already offering to run contraband for me. You're gonna go a long way in this outfit, uh... Whoever you are.

[For some reason, it's always so easy to forget introductions, communicating like this.]

Anything you got that's more sugar than good sense, I'll take it.

[Jayden can and will forget to introduce himself even in person, and even in a professional setting, so remembering to do it on the network--even when she just gave her own name--is going to be a neverending struggle. But at least now it crosses his mind.]

Sorry. I'm Jayden.

[Nailed it. But at least the offer of contraband seems to have been well received, though he sure wishes they had some actual contraband, but that's not something he's about to admit.]

Got it, something with sugar. I'll see what I can find.

[And it takes about twenty minutes for him to figure out where Shepard's room is, dodge healers in the halls, and find something that hopefully qualifies as a dessert, but he does eventually knock on the door.]

[The fastest way to someone's heart is through their stomach, and that's never been more true than for Shepard. Then again, as a biotic, he caloric requirements are high enough that she might legitimately need the snack; regardless, the knock is a welcome interruption to the tedium of the day.]

It's not locked!

[Actually, she's still getting used to that, even after so long. Back home, unless the door was locked, you just came right in.]

Payment up front. You can pull up a chair while I'm eating.

[The room is spare and small, but very clean. Shepard herself looks a fright; her face is a city street-map of glowing scars, her arms bandaged from wrist to shoulder, and everything about her is still just a little too thin, too pale and sallow. In absence of food, the demands of her biotic powers had turned to the only source of calories present: her body itself. It'll be a few days yet before even magic can repay what that gamble spent.

Even so: a small price to pay, for freedom.]

[He opens the door when she calls out, stepping into the room and carefully shutting the door behind him. He briefly takes in the room and its occupant--he thinks he vaguely recognizes her, since they'd both been in the pit and it's hard not to have seen all the faces there--and it's no surprise she looks somewhat terrible. The glowing scars are a bit unusual, but in a cool way.

He does not glow, being pretty standard human, and doesn't look all too great either. Often a little pale even normally, he's very much so now, not done any favors by the combination of blood loss and exhaustion and malnutrition. His left arm is bandaged from his hand upward, though his sleeve covers most of it, and most of the rest of his injuries are similarly hidden out of sight except for some bruising.

But none of it's so bad that he can't ignore healers' recommendations, hence being here. 'Payment upfront' earns a hint of a smile, and he crosses the small space to hand over the promised snack with his unbandaged hand; it's shaking a little, something that's been near constant for awhile now, but at least he's not dropping the precious bribe.]

Hopefully this'll be worth your while. And thanks, for offerin' to teach me.

[He really does appreciate it. There isn't enough to do in this place, especially not when trying to keep one's mind off of things.

Pulling up a chair is easier said than done--he underestimates how much coordination something so simple still requires--but he manages it without toppling either himself or the chair.]

Yeah, I really squeezed you into my busy schedule.

[And with that, she'll dig in, practically inhaling the snack in three enormous bites and a subsequent search for crumbs. It's just enough time, really, for him to manage the chair— it's a fairly heavy one, but it's already not far from the bed. Someone else had visited recently, and sat with her.]

Right. So, first thing is, make yourself comfortable. Second, don't fall off the chair.

[Briefly, Shepard expounds on the basics of Horizon meditation— simple enough, since 'basic' is the sum total of her knowledge. Breathe in for so many counts, out for a longer count, how to find your focus, and how he'd know he'd got it right.]

...You ready for the shakedown run?

[Okay, he's failing the first step--there's no real way to make himself comfortable at the moment, though he can easily ignore that--but he thinks he can manage the second. No promises, however.

He pays careful attention to Shepard's instructions, determined to get this right, but anxiety is starting to creep in all the same. He's nervous both at the prospect of failing and, at the same time, succeeding, but he's made up his mind and does his best to clear his thoughts.]

Yeah. I'm ready.

[It's a bit of a struggle. His determination both helps and hurts, keeping him from giving up as he initially has a difficult time, but also causing him to overthink the process itself. It takes several minutes before he finally starts getting the hang of it, but then finally it works.

When he wakes up later on it's a bit disorienting, both because Shepard's room isn't exactly a familiar place and he'd just had a very strange case of amnesia, but he soon shakes it off and offers very eloquently--]

That was strange.

[Not in a bad way, in fact perhaps the opposite, but still. Strange.]

[The room might seem strange after his little trip to dreamland, but it's changed in other ways too. His chair's been dragged a little back, and there's someone— something else sitting by Shepard's bedside, though on the other side. Norman probably remembers seeing Garrus at times, in the Pit, but this encounter is a bit closer and more intimate than any of those times.

He's also slumped over halfway into Shepard's lap, no less swathed in bandages than she, and snoring audibly. So there's that.]

Yeah, it's pretty bizarre the rest of the time too.

[She does not seem alarmed by the situation, in the least.]

You might try getting your practice in before bed, most nights. Build up a little corner of the place all your own. Mine's the big silver space-ship, if you ever need to find me.

[Oh. Huh. Jayden suddenly feels like he's intruding on something, which is probably a little ridiculous since it's not like they didn't know he was there, but he's still slightly flustered all the same. The only reason he doesn't get up immediately is that he needs another minute or two to be able to stand up.]

Uh, yeah. Space ship, right--

[Wait a second.]

A space ship? There's space exploration where you're from?

Try space-colonization. Before getting stuck on this dirt-ball, I spent eleven out of every twelve months in space. [She offers a shrug, one-handed. Eh, what can you do?] Got a few competing inter-planetary governments, plenty of politics to go around, and hey—

[She indicates the sleeping lump, he with the talons clutching at her blanket.]

Space aliens. It's not so bad.

[Spending time in space sounds very, very cool. Contact with other species is also very cool. Space politics, however, sounds like a nightmare.

Her gesture at Garrus when she says the part about aliens, as well as her last comment, makes him wonder what the story is there; he'd presumed they'd met in this world, but perhaps not? Summoned being from the same place isn't really something that had crossed his mind much for several reasons, and he's simultaneously curious and hesitant to ask.

The latter wins out, and so he decides to try getting to his feet instead, which he's pleasantly surprised to find is not quite as difficult as expected.]

Well I won't, uh, keep intruding. Do you want this chair somewhere specific before I go?

[Seems only polite to put it back in its place if it has one.]

Leave it. The nurses around here get paid to be anal about everything else, they can complain about the furniture too.

[Shepard does not submit to convalescence with grace. She also doesn't submit to much of anything, gracefully or otherwise, but that's different.]

If you find yourself in Cadens anytime soon, we'll see you 'round.

[He's not about to argue, really just kind of relieved not to have to try to move the chair, even if he might feel slightly guilty about making work for the nurses. Not guilty enough, though.]

I live at the Inn, so yeah, see you around.

[He almost says thanks again, but thinks that's probably too much. So instead he just offers a small awkward wave farewell and steps out of the room, careful to shut the door gently behind him as he does so.]

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