TO EVERYONE

[princessvegas]

[ In her domain, Julie sits in a booth, bent over the table with a stack of paper and pen. She bites the tip of her tongue in concentration, then starts writing invitations. She intends to leave them all over the Horizon, fliers more than proper addressed invites.

Soon, all of the off-worlders are able to see writing in their vision. This writing appears to simply be written on any nearby surface: a tabletop, on the page of a book in place of the text, in a pool of water. It sparkles to summon attention to itself, just enough of a twinkle to earn a glance. ]



[ It's signed at the bottom, Julie Lawry.

Soon, other thoughts may begin appearing in your vision, sparkling until they catch your eye. Your own thoughts can be broadcast too. If you put in a little effort, you can even send them directly to a specific person, or a group.

And most of you are welcome to the party. ]

Comments

[Open]

[rinwell]

[ Seeing sparkling letters out of the corner of one eye, letters no one else can see, almost has Rinwell concerned she might be getting sunstroke out in the desert. It's not as hot here as in Calaglia, but she was raised in a land of ice and snow - it's a big difference for someone like her. It's a relief when the message disappears after a short time, and she retreats indoors to find some water in the mess hall.

Probably just a bit dehydrated, right?

When the message reappears, she'd successfully relocated back to the barracks, and there's a flinch in surprise as the words overwrite what she was reading, taking up space opposite some very boring diagrams in her copy of "Peace & War: Notorious Battles of the Free Cities" (3rd Edition).

She stares at the invite for a very, very long moment, wracking her brain over the contents. ]

WHAT'S A HALLOWEEN?
~Rinwell

[ ..well. she didn't mean to shout that. or reply at all, actually. ]

[princessvegas]

[ Julie is very carefully and concentratedly copying her invite over and over (she needs a lot and copiers are not a thing in Abraxas), but when she flips to a new sheet, it's suddenly taken over by someone else's writing.

She doesn't know what's happening. This is not something that she's encountered in the Horizon before. With a sharp look up and around at her surroundings, she says out loud: ]

What the fuck?

[ There's no one near her -- her horde of fabricated clubgoers are all out on the dance floor, having a good time, and the bartender isn't paying her any mind.

Outside of Cadens, where Julie has never been, comes more twinkling. ]

What the fuck?
- Julie Lawry

[open]

[gardienne]

what dreadful penmanship

- eponine

[Eponine definitely didn't mean to send that but between her lack of literacy skills, Julie's handwriting, her being freaked out by the message to begin with, as well as still coursing with adrenaline after hurting Susan, it takes her ten minutes to decipher Julie's invitation]

why a scare at a party?

[princessvegas]

[ In all honesty, Julie still does not know what's happening or why she's seeing these messages from other people, but this one in particular doesn't get the cursory "what's going on?" discussion. Oh no. If she's going to have to read this shit, it's not gonna be from her. ]

I'm surprised you can read it at all. This isn't for you.
- Julie Lawry

[not_caroline]

oh shit its spreading

fucking telepathys a plague now, were all getting infected with other peoples brain rot
- coraline

[Hers is the curling script of someone who's learned cursive and promptly decided it was bullshit. Much more immediately legible than the party invite.]

[princessvegas]

You figured out how to control it yet?

[ Wow excuse you child, Julie has perfectly great handwriting. Sorry that you don't know basic skills that have been used for centuries. ]

[skitter]

#dislike - skitter

[Taylor is half-asleep when it comes across her pillow, her first night in Solvunn, and it startled her awake. So sorry, Julie got the first-shock response.]

[princessvegas]

Well, fuck you too. Consider yourself uninvited.

[falcony]

[ so this may or may not have been what sam had been thinking about just a day or so ago when he'd been missing his cell phone more than anything else in the entire world. but you know what? he's not going to kick a gift horse in the mouth, here.

what julie will get is going to be tight handwriting. a little rushed. ]

oh hell yes
now we're talking my language.
anything i can bring?

[princessvegas]

[ Now that she's used to it, she does suppose it's not that different than texting. She just has to be more careful about filtering her thoughts. ]

Sam, are you in the Horizon? I gotta talk to you. Face to face. Bad shit is happening.

But no, I'll take care of everything. You better have a good costume.

[fourarmedandangerous]

What is this sorcery? Why do you contact me?

[Such forms of communication are not unheard of in the Realms, but it has never been Goro's preferred method of long-distance magical communication, if he must use it at all. And...not like this, with the text appearing in the sands of a nearby dune in the desert surrounding Cadens. He doesn't like it.]

You waste power on something as trivial as...this?

[Can you mentally "write" a sneer? The distaste is palpable at least.]

[princessvegas]

[ If the derision is clear in his words, then exasperation is clear in Julie's. A written eye-roll, if you will. ]

I'm not wasting anything. I don't even have to think very hard. It's just happening, to everyone, apparently.

Everything is magic here. Get used to it.

open

[extendedbrutalpipemurder]

[ curiouser and curiouser.

The response comes in a neat cursive: ]

Aren't you concerned that close association with those of us in different parts of the world will be viewed with suspicion by those in power? Tensions are rather high between the states at present, or so I understand.

-E.B.

[princessvegas]

Couple of things.

1. None of the natives can access the Horizon. It's just us.
2. Their tensions are stupid as fuck.
3. I already spent a month in the dungeon, so it's hard to give a shit what they want.
4. I am not gonna waste a chance to throw the best Halloween party that's ever existed just because some assholes want to fight about a big old piece of stone.

[wiedzminka]

[ This is. Certainly unusual.

The response is as unintentional as her reading the apparent... invitation. To some sort of party. With costumes and scares. Is this a normal thing in this sphere? ]

What the fuck?
— Ciri

[princessvegas]

Which part?

[gynvael]

[ There's a more hasty, scattered— ]

the fuck

[ before a clearer, deliberate message comes through in a bold, precise script. ]

This is new.

[princessvegas]

Yeah, you're telling me. Sorry if it bothered you, I didn't know it would happen when I started making the invitations. Like on paper.

[cointosser]

AH!

[That's Jaskier's reaction to most startling things, initially. He stares at the writing that is now splashed somehow across his dinner, even curling around the forkful of braised rabbit halfway lifted to his mouth. It's hard to say whether that exact reaction is the writing, really, or because he dropped his fork and it splashed rabbit broth on his rather nice chemise.

He blinks several times, until the words sort of. Disappear. His response comes quickly, because Jaskier simply never holds anything back and he cannot simply allow these words to appear and then turn to nothing. Despite that his words come fast, the writing is exquisitely curved and decorated, swirling cursive that appears as if written by the tip of a quill:]

Ah. Er. Hello? Which trickster or god speaks to me now? Singularity, is that you? I certainly hope not. [That's almost sort of a joke. Somehow, words in his head is far less startling than other things he's dealt with. But also startling. Even if they have a signature attached.

Wait. A signature. Julie. Does he know a Julie? Certainly it's not a very good goddess name. (No offense, Julie.) Ah, wait. Wait. Hadn't Geralt once mentioned a Julie...? In the Horizon? But how?

That would be the most important question to ask, certainly.

It's not the question Jaskier asks. With exuberance.]

I'm sorry, Julie's magical script, did you say a party?

- Julian Alfred Pankratz

[princessvegas]

I'm not the Singularity. It's probably making this all happen, though.

[ Julie is an excellent goddess name, by the way -- plenty of ancient Romans and Greeks were named Julia. But she wrinkles her nose at the other person's name. Not that she claims to know every single person dragged into Abraxas, but she sure wouldn't forget a name that makes her think of pancakes. ]

Yeah. A Halloween party.

[frontlinetitties]

[Who knows what the fuck is happening here, but you had her at the word 'party'. One must ask the question, however--]

Do parties generally involve scares? Is this a thing?

~Gideon

[princessvegas]

For Halloween, yeah! Scariness is very important at Halloween.

[jealousbitch]

fuck yeah, it's about time a fucking rager happened at this place!

wait

how the fuck did you write this on the table

[ The replies come scattered and in quick succession, the handwriting no better than chicken scratch. ]

[princessvegas]

I'm not writing on the table, it's magic bullshit. I'm thinking of it like texting with your thoughts. But I don't think we can send pictures or emojis or anything.

Your handwriting is fucking terrible, Lloyd.

i hope you don't mind this HELLA late

[aquaveiled]

[ So first there has to be a moment of shock because, you know, words appearing out of no where aren't...the strangest thing that's happened, but they're definitely not typical at least for this world.

But! Once she deciphers what she is seeing, she is only too keen to respond.

Unfortunately her own attempts to heed the call of the looping, sparkly text are... ]

ĥ̸͎̹̚ê̵̻͇̲̭̦͛͆̄l̴̲̓͆̌͜l̷̨͎̙͖̂̉͗͝o̸̫͊

[ Well, she's trying. ]

Į̶͇̄ ̸̮̳̇̒̄d̴̢͚̬̈́̋o̴̱̝͒̇̿ ̵̯͓͈̄̏͝ĺ̸̤̖̞í̴̢̭̪̑̓k̵̠͉̜͌̾ȩ̸̌̓ ̶̛̣̮̊p̷̝̤̊͊ä̸̯͘ȑ̷̹ṱ̷̻̽̐͘ͅi̷̦̜̗͊̇̚e̵̫̰͚͒̑̈́s̴͍̰͐̉̅!̴̰̪̂

[ Oh crap, that's not good. Give her another moment. ]

ん乇ﾉﾉの>

[ Nope. ]

ԋҽʅʅσ?

[ Close! ]

H͎e͙l͙l͙o͙ I͎ l͙i͙k͙e͙ t͙o͙ p͙a͙r͙t͙y͙

there is no such word as late

[princessvegas]

[ Um, what the fuck.

Even after an entire afternoon of different sparkly handwritings flying through her vision, this catches Julie off-guard. She's never seen writing like this, and no one else seemed to have issues communicating in plain English. So she is tentative when she answers. ]

That's... great. What's wrong with your messages?