areyto | EVENT | SETTLING IN

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EVENT | SETTLING IN

SETTLING IN

Initial quarantine period is over, but the newest arrivals in Llave, known colloquially as “Los Aparecidos” (The Appeared), remain largely restricted to the shelter for two primary reasons: one, as they are currently stateless, meaning they have no rights to citizenship anywhere, what to do with them continues to be debated; and two, it has become rapidly obvious that many have zero knowledge not just of the nation they find themselves in, but of the wider world around them.

The former has been explained to them via the lawyers who have taken their collective case, and further clarified by the prime minister, Rosario Alonzo de León, when she and several members of her government return to speak again with the arrivals. A highly intelligent and capable woman in her late forties, she makes a point of sitting with each newcomer to Llave to converse about their experiences thus far and what concerns they have.

As for the lagoons in characters’ knowledge, steps are being taken to address these.

Classes are being held now, in order to prepare the arrivals for whatever happens next. Characters will be taught a variety of skills, including but not limited to communication methods such as mail, phones, television, radio and the Internet; use of appliances, including basic lessons on modern utilities; and general safety rules both inside and outside the home. Characters can request specific classes or volunteer to help teach their companions. (And for anyone learning or helping to teach how to read and write, a reminder that the Spanish alphabet consists of 27 letters: ‘ñ’ has its place after ‘n’. And ‘ll’ and ‘rr’ have their own sounds.)

The woman organizing the classes has become well-known to the arrivals: Evelyn Burgos Peña was a clinical social worker before leaving her previous work to assume the duties of First Lady when her wife was elected. Aside from spearheading the new education efforts for the arrivals, she has also been working diligently with the Bajari Bara to establish the second change in the daily routine.

Due to the generally acceptable behavior during the Day of Heroes, characters are now sometimes permitted to leave the shelter to visit Old Nona. These group excursions are not every day, and last only a few hours. One of these excursions is tied to a class to which all are invited. Rather than make learning more about Llave itself a tedious lecture, on the week of November 22nd, the museum characters arrived at has opened its doors to them for a special exhibit on the island's early history. Characters are accompanied as they were during the Day of Heroes by a guide and an escort of Bajari Bara.

Characters are reminded being permitted outside is a privilege. Until the matter of their legal status is resolved, they have few rights and fewer legal protections. Behavior and curfew are both strictly enforced, and violations will result in the loss of this privilege.

Otherwise, the routine in the shelter remains the same. Caseworkers still check in daily and will refer those who present a need or who request it to the appropriate mental health professionals. Hot meals continue to be provided three times a day along with snacks. A projector was brought in and a different movie is aired every night (General Audiences only—remember, there are children present), with the shelter staff providing snacks to make it a movie theater experience. Entertainment items—books, games, sports equipment, art supplies, etc.—are available and can also be requested (though no promises are made that characters will get exactly what they want, especially if the item can double as a weapon).

Possession of weapons remains strictly prohibited and any visible weapons will be confiscated. Any who attempts to flout this rule, starts fights in the shelter or in Nona or attempts to break out will be swiftly separated from the rest by the Bajari Bara. Further violence will result in consequences according to their actions.

THE MONTH'S HEADLINES

Red chickcharney seen celebrating during the Day of Heroes.
Tombs found disturbed in Nona's Old Cemetery.
Santa Cecilia cattle farmers on high alert after cows, sheep found mauled.
Unidentified flying object spotted off the coast of Bimini.

OOC PLANNING POST • NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ she cannot talk and neither can she laugh. yet the low growl with its spontaneous breaks sounds strangely like she is laughing at him.

mal lies down as if to achieve the utterly impossible goal of appearing harmless. her head alone takes up the span from home base to the pitcher’s mound. the rumble that begins in her chest has more in common with a cat’s purr—if the cat weighed several tons. mindful of her size and strength, she bumps him (very) lightly with her snout. her shoulder drops: an invitation.

the warmth she normally radiates is a heat to rival the sun’s rays—a necessity once she is high enough in the air. her scales are as purple as her hair, her head crowned by twin horns, three ridged lines traveling down her back. spikes grow in regular intervals down across her spine with the only significant break occurring just before her wings, those almost delicate-looking stretches of skin and sinew over bone.

the place where her long serpentine neck meets her new, powerful body. where a rider can theoretically grab onto the smaller spikes of her neck and be held in place by the larger ones on her back. ]

Edited 2020-11-28 04:29 (UTC)

I can't believe you didn't tell me you're a dragon. [It's whined with a huff, but he's all grins now, melancholy forgotten as he takes the invitation and climbs atop carefully.

Her scales are a heated blanket beneath him and he starts for a second, taken off guard before he acclimates to the warmth. He moves his way carefully along her neck, stepping lightly for fear of hurting her and then settling himself in a place where he can safely take hold of the spikes.]

Mal, you're a dragon! [He chirps excitedly, actually laughing.]

This is so cool!

[ no, she did not tell him. instead, she painted dragons on her clothing and in her art, arrayed herself in dragon-themed jewelry, and even her engagement ring's band is a golden dragon curling around a purple diamond. but nico is correct. she did not, in fact, tell him.

newly dragon mal huffs her agreement with him. when she feels him settle (a sensation like an ant tickling her skin), she raises her head. her wings open. each one is longer than a car. the skin drapes delicately over fine bones.

with a sharp downward beat, she launches them both into the air.

she has never felt awkward on land. daughter of hades, the earth, the dark, the underground is her inheritance. mal is a fairy before she is a demigoddess, though—and it is the sky that feels like home.

nona is a city of concrete and asphalt. she passes from thermal to thermal, each one tossing her higher and higher. within seconds, she has climbed above the city and keeps climbing. the ballpark shrinks away. nona grows small. the city is revealed to her: the mix of old and new, the cars on the streets, the green bay, the train snaking away into the mountains.

a view of green peaks dominates one half of the scene; the blue rolling waves of the caribbean sea rule the other. the sky above them is a clear, cloudless blue and the ground below them far, far away. opening her mouth, mal roars her joy. ]

[He's met horse girls, Mal??? Maybe he just thought you were like that but with DRAGONS.

The sensation of leaving the ground wipes the grin from his face for a minute and he holds tight to the spines in his grip, his entire body feeling like it's being turned inside out. It's different from the inside out of shadow travel, if just as abrupt. Once they're high enough though, he opens eyes that he hadn't realized he'd slammed closed and the sight of the island beneath them chases away the rest of his doubts.

He's been in the sky before, but never like this. And never when he wasn't so consumed by end of the world prophecies that he could actually appreciate it.]

Wow. [It's beautiful. It's wonderful. And all the better for being with Mal, for being with his sister. The boyish grin returns and he lets out an excited 'whoop,' growing brave enough to throw one arm in the air.]

You're amazing, Mal! This is amazing!

[ tell her something she doesn't know. 😌

she banks gently, and follows the coastline east. the sun hovers almost directly above them. nona's populated center surrenders to green and blue. the whole of the city looks like an act of defiance actually: humans exerting their influence over nature. an attempt to impose grids and straight lines onto weaving vines and crooked trees.

mal is betting on the plants.

before long, the ground shifts beneath them to rock and sand and inevitably gives way to water. they fly above magnificent rocky formations jutting out of the sea. now over the sea, mal decreases her altitude. coral reefs wind through the water below. she follows the line of them to a smaller island chain sitting off the coast of llave. many aren't islands, but cays and islets just barely rising above the white-crested waves. choosing the largest, mal spills air from her wings and descends.

mindful of her brother clinging to her back, mal brings them in for a gentle landing on a white beach littered with seashells and dry seaweed. various sea creatures retreat into burrows or the waves on her approach. lying down on the sun-warmed sand, mal turns her head that she may catch sight of nico from the corner of her eyes. her eye crinkles warmly. ]

[He's as careful dismounting as he was mounting, stepping lightly until he can catapult himself down into the sand to move in front of her for better eye contact.]

We just went flying, Mal. And Zeus didn't even try to knock us out of the sky! [He says it like it's a revelation even if Mal had insisted that wouldn't be a problem, because for him, it is a revelation.

Now that he's safely on the ground again, he gives her another once over, reaching out to run a gentle hand along he scales.]

You're really the coolest sister.

[ if nico has never seen a dragon winking at him before, he is definitely witness to it now.

the same purple fog as before envelops mal's dragon body. her head lifts to the sky as it covers her entirely. no sooner has it hidden her completely from sight, that it collapses inward as if being sucked by a vacuum. and it is mal in her humanesque form standing on the sand.

there is a change, though. instead of the clothes given to them, she wears a pale dress made of multiple layers of a fine, gauzy material varying in shade from deepest purple to palest blue. the dress features a dramatic high-low skirt. the cap sleeves are shaped like a dragon's wings. fingerless gloves made of the same gauzy material stretch up to her elbows. a gold and amethyst and sapphire hand chain stretches from her middle finger to her elbow, the metal and gemstones laid out resembling the bones in her hand and forearm. a gold dragon coils around her neck, its head resting against the hollow of her throat. another dragon wraps around her ankle, her feet bare on the hot sand. and across her brow a circlet of gold and purple diamonds marks her status.

mal looks down at herself. ]

Ah. We're doing this again.

[Nico, still grinning but now with an air of mischief widens his eyes at her appearance and then raises an eyebrow.]

...I feel like I should bow. Am I supposed to bow? [He doesn't exactly snicker but he's also not not snickering.]

I mean, you look very nice, Mal.

[ mal playfully smirks at him. ]

You are supposed to get on your knees and pray.

[ she makes a point of looking him up and down with a grandiose air. ]

Peasant.

[Nico laughs and gets on one knee, kneeling as if in fealty.]

Like this? [Only he can't hold it and he falls over laughing, cheeks aching from how hard he's smiling. He lays there in the sand and starfishes his arms and legs, blinking up into the bright sun and letting out a soft sigh.]

Still can't believe you can turn into a dragon. One of my friends back home can turn into a bunch of animals but you're so much cooler than him.

...thanks for taking me out like this. It was kind of a tough day.

I am very much one of a kind.

[ mal joins nico on the sand, though a second later a wide black parasol pops out of the ground. her skin has never been a fan of the sun, and her new clothes—while infinitely cooler and lighter than her previous attire—don’t provide much in the way of sun protection.

for a moment, she lies back, feeling the heat of the sand on her back, and listening to the sound of the waves. her hand finds nico’s.

turning her head, she catches his eye with a smile. ]

What else are sisters for?

[While Nico isn't especially great at tanning, he's also clearly not as smart as Mal and his lips turn up a bit at the shadow that falls over them both. It feels better, the heat of the sun still warming them but the comfort of darkness lying over them like a blanket.

His fingers curl around hers in response, saying all the things he doesn't know how to say. How the bad day was getting to him. How he couldn't stop thinking about Jason. How he missed his home. The thoughts aren't gone entirely, they linger in the back of his mind, but they don't feel nearly so overwhelming. Not in the shadows with his sister's hand tight in his.]

I can't think of a single thing. Man, I feel terrible for all those people out there who don't have sisters. How sad for them.

[ the corner of her mouth turning up in a smirk— ] Well, I’m stuck with a brother. Can I trade you in?

[He sticks his tongue out at her.]

Nope. You're stuck with me forever. [His eyes gleam with amusement, and it doesn't entirely conceal the affection hidden beneath. After a moment of silence, he turns to face her, a question in his eyes.]

Mal, after we make it home, do you think we'll be able to find each other again?

[ she opens her mouth, closes it. ]

Of course, [ she lies.

her smile stretches to her eyes. she waves her hand casually. ]

That's just…what? Ripping a hole in the fabric of reality? Easy. I can do it in my sleep.

[He snorts and something in him relaxes, the question in his eyes settling. He flops back onto his back and lets his eyes closed, toeing off his shoes and socks so that he can feel the sand beneath his feet.]

Good, it better be. [He squeezes her hand anyway. There wasn't a need to worry about that right now. Not when they were here together. Now was the time to enjoy what they have.]

If you don't come meet me, I'm gonna come to you. I'll crash your wedding. Don't think I won't do it.

Oh-ho! Is that the attitude we're taking?

[ sitting up, mal tosses a handful of sand at nico's torso. ]

You know what? Dude's gonna be the ring bearer now. He's a dog.

[The noise Nico makes at that can only be called a tut of disgust.]

Absolutely not.

Mm. Too late. Evie is going to be my maid of honor. Jay and Carlos are on train duty. I have my flower girls.…

[ mal trails off, deliberately allowing the pause to stand. ]

Wedding party is full up. [ she shrugs. ] Oh, well.

No way, if you can fit a dog into the wedding, you can fit me. What other jobs are there? Come on! [He's repressing a smirk at the ridiculousness of the conversation and he throws an arm over his eyes to conceal the amusement here.]

How come there's no brother of the bride role? That's just rude.

You're rude.

[ and she tosses more sand on him 😌 time to bury her worthless brother 😌😌 ]

Hey! [He tosses some sand back her way and draws the shadows up around his front like a shield, emerging only to flick more sand at her.]

Oh!

[ the girl who started the sand fight is very offended that the boy she was in the process of burying would respond in kind. shocking and appalling turn of events.

grabbing a handful of sand, she shoves his shield aside in a bold attempt to shove sand down his shirt.

consider this war. ]

[With a yelp, he rolls away, years of fighting instinct apparently put to work to protect him from handfuls of sand. He also pulls his shield back up a second later, stretching it wider around his front.

He clumsily swipes the sand between them in an effort to send a spray of it over her.]

[ with a squeal, she flinches back. the parasol jumps to her hand. she brings it up to protect her from the onslaught. from behind its open top, she throws more. the only care she takes is to avoid nico's face. everything else is fair game. torso, arms, legs.

his feet seem like a weak point. ]

Through the gap, follow the map, my brother's feet to trap!

[ vines spring out of the sand, and coil tightly around nico's ankles. ]

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