The Old Fashioned Is Commonly Held To Have Been Invented In 1880

[crushed_pearls]

Who: Erin Peters and YOU
What: Settling in, dealing with things, making friends
When: Late March
Where: Oak & Iron, the woods, around
Warnings: Discussion of death & the ethics of suicide, trauma, whatever you bring with you




Gallery Style | Oak & Iron

Oak & Iron undergoes a few renovations, just a couple days' worth, to expand the bar area and add labels in Braille (thanks Gerry). When they're done, Pumpkin Hollow has a new bartender, a winged lass in a blindfold wreathed in the scents of sex and gunpowder. She quickly picks up a reputation for almost prescient service; good suggestions for drinks, never leaving a glass empty long, and a firm hand for when you're cut off. Though every now and again there's an odd dance where someone isn't cut off and instead drinks enough to, not to put too fine a point on it, fucking die - except they don't die, and instead just get normal drunk.

A rather extensive cocktail menu manifests too (thanks Magne, with your working eyes). It's cut up into various flavors, with the ingredients clearly laid out (thanks Max Maximum, with your knowledge of food allergies), but at the tail end of the menu is a change in theme; two sections labeled by nation instead of flavor. The countries in question are Gallery, and Japan.

Gangster Style | The Woods

Here's the needle Erin has to thread: she can't overload herself socially, but she also can't listen to the urge to isolate. So one day she goes out into the woods just at the edge of town and digs a pair of graves in the soft soil, leaving the dirt in a huge pile off to the side. You might find her out here, just laying in one, trying to listen to the sounds of the forest, but if she knows you, well, you might have been invited. "Six feet deep, best rest you'll get."

Tourist Style | Wildcard

Come get your bird lady.

Comments

[crushed_pearls]

"...If you're still degrading but no one here can die right..." The full implications are hitting Erin pretty fast. A death loop, agony without escape. "I never say this, 'cause I fuckin' hate wizards, but have you consulted with the damn wizards about this?"

[decohere]

Ava shakes her head, face buried in her hands. But they're not solid enough to conceal the absolute misery.

"No." She doesn't know any wizards. Not well enough to have anyone poking at her breaking body. Well meaning or not, she has decades worth of being subjected to experiments and tests traumatizing her. "It's fine. I'll just come back."

[crushed_pearls]

"I -" Erin shuts her mouth. Frowns, chewing her lip; a thin trickle of blood escapes as she forgets, again, how sharp her teeth are, and it stains her collar. "...There's something else I'd like to try, if you're willing. A greater blessing, of healing. I don't know if it'll do anything at all, but worst case I'm out a little bit of power I'll get at my next shift at the bar."

[decohere]

She wants to be hopeful, but this is a woman that's experienced so many offers of help that haven't worked. "It's just... more complicated. I think. Than people realize. Quantum particles aren't... easily observed or understood, much less stabilized within a... system that was never meant to harness them. I've gone through so many types of treatments. Just one calculation goes wrong, and it hurts more. The frequencies of energy have to be exact, but by nature they're not... predictable," Ava explains, strained against the pain. Two years she had been spared the worse of this.

"The only source of energy that's ever managed to reverse the damage... is from the Quantum Realm itself. Which. Might not even exist here. And if it did. The technology isn't advanced enough to tunnel into it..."

[crushed_pearls]

Erin nods, remembering the wisdom of the Autumn Court: don't involve magic until you're actually sure that it's going to help. Still, it's. So frustrating, to see a friend in pain and not be able to lift it from them...

"If there's anything I can do, now or in the future," she murmurs at last. "In the meantime, drop by the bar, yeah? We got Max cooking, I'm on drinks."

[decohere]

A small nod, accepting that much. She'll have to find time for it.

"What has you down here, then...?"

[crushed_pearls]

"This is gonna sound like a joke, but it's self-care." Erin sighs, bops the back of her head against the grave wall. "Gotta cut the fine line between me time and people time. It's peaceful down here. Feels safe. Sometimes there's squirrels."

"...I missed squirrels."

[decohere]

"Oh, sorry I interrupted," Ava knows how necessary it is to just get away sometimes, not be bothered by anyone else. Sometimes it's up on the giant golfball of the sports deck, and sometimes it's six feet in some dirt.

[crushed_pearls]

"Two graves are usually for revenge, but in this case it's an invitation." Erin offers a hand out. "I promise lass - you won't get polite excuses out of me. If I need you to fuck off I'll gently and lovingly instruct you to fuck all the way off."

[decohere]

Ava takes the offered hand lightly in her own, her touch like static. And smiles gratefully. "It's easier when people say what they actually mean," she agrees. Because her anxiety loves to make a mess out of misinterprations.

"If it gets... bad enough. I'll... consider it, okay?" She knows it will. Inevitably. But. Part of her is hoping maybe... maybe the physics in this world is somehow kinder.