Almost large enough to be considered a theme park while remaining free to the public, Terrace Park is rumored to have been the site of the Grand Hollowheart's defeat, leading to the Hollowhearts first accepting a pact with humans. (+2 Fame, +2 Endurance)

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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/04/2014 6:14 PM

What she did know was that whatever he was saying was some serious Cammie-happy-hour stuff. This was a movie plot, not her life. She was just some problem child with shit parents and a kid brother. Her genre of movie was the slice-of-life underdog tragedy on a good day. The shard, the time travelling, it was just a narrative device to drive home a theme or make a really big metaphor or something. It wasn't supposed to be a plot coupon she cashed in after her... what, sixteenth birthday? She was seventeen now, so it was a year late anyway.

Life wasn't supposed to be like a movie at all, no matter what Cammie said. She'd have been plenty happy going her whole life without the fantasy knocking on her door. It was probably karma coming to bite her in the ass for using the shard after she'd figured out what it did, instead of throwing it away like she should've done. All she'd ever done with it was shoplift and run away from problems.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/04/2014 6:14 PM

She suddenly knew that she didn't want to hear anything he was going to say about this deal. She'd ask the important questions and get out. She'd already wasted too much time here as it was. “How did you find me?” she asked. He looked surprised by the sharpness of her voice, but when he didn't respond, she just asked him again. “How did you know where I was?”

“I-I don't have a read on you exactly... But I can sort of sense something. Akala calls it a psychic resonance, and if I jump around a lot I can narrow it down.” Charlie rubbed at her temples, wincing as her fingers brushed her cut. This was just getting better and better. The fantasy didn't just come knocking, it had a tracking device.

“What do you want with me? You and this Akala guy.” Faber paused again, but this time she didn't rush him, since he seemed to be mulling it over. He did that a lot, especially when she asked questions. Either he liked to take his time, or his brain just didn't work that quick.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:20 AM

Faber said, “Nothing, for now. It'd be nice if we could keep in touch though. I mean, in case something happens... The glowing thing is new, and I started finding others after that, so...” He trailed off. It was good news to her--- these people knew almost as little about the situation as she did. Or maybe Akala was keeping things from Faber, which also made sense. If she was picking teams, he wasn't the first one she'd choose either. This Akala might be a more prudent ally, though considering she wanted nothing to do with them and theirs, he was more likely going to wind up as an enemy.

It might have been a movie but she was thinking in game terms too. She hoped it was a game. At least in games, the characters had choices, even though ducking out from the call to arms wasn't usually one of them.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:21 AM

It would be nice if we could keep in touch. Faber was giving her a choice, whether he knew it or not, and she was going to take it. “Don't,” she said. “Thanks for today, but I don't want your help or your shard conspiracy, alright? If you know what's good for you, you'd leave me alone.” She wasn't sure that she was in any position to be making threats, but it wasn't too tough to intimidate Faber. His expression faltered again. Charlie didn't need to see any more. If she stuck around, he'd try to rope her back in, and now that she knew that he could get out himself, she had no obligation to take him back to where they'd come from. She willed herself home, opened the door, and ducked through before Faber could think of something to say. She slammed it shut behind her and leaned on it, sighing.

A soft gasp made her look up, and she found Elliot staring at her with wide eyes. She tried for a smile. “Hey there, pipsqueak. What's up?” She knew what she looked like: a cut bleeding down one half of her face, a bruise blooming on the opposite cheek, her clothes bloody and ragged. Her smile might actually have made it look worse.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:21 AM

Elliot put a finger to his lips, crawled off the bed, and ran down the hall to fetch the first aid kit. Charlie slumped to the floor, relieved, tired, and in too much pain now to put up much of a brave front. Not that it mattered if she did; Elliot had seen her like this before, and she figured he'd probably see her like this again. She might have had to explain herself to her parents, but not to him.

It was messed up. She knew he shouldn't have had to know what to do, but she appreciated his help all the same. Wordlessly, he ran back into the room and opened the kit. With deft hands, he picked out the bandages, the bottle of alcoholic sanitizer, and the gauze. He handed the sanitizer to Charlie, who upended it onto a cotton ball and began dabbing at her cuts. He followed with the bandages when she was done.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:23 AM

The bruises they could do nothing about. Those would heal. One of her ankles had swollen up. Elliot fetched a pack of ice and a towel for that. There was still the matter of her broken ribs. Elliot couldn't help, and she didn't want to go see a doctor. It was stupid, but medical care wasn't free, and she didn't want her parents involved. “I'm going to go see Dave,” she said. Elliot's face was grim, but he didn't say anything. She kissed him on the forehead and he let her, even though she looked like a thing out of a nightmare. “I'll be back soon, alright?”

With that, she pulled out her cell and shot him a text. Got in a fight. Ribs didn't make it. Got any painkillers? Dave had his dogs and he'd cleaned up his act, but he'd been in more shit than she had if they were talking cumulative experience. Whenever she got really messed up, she'd go see him. Five minutes later, she got a reply. Come over. That was it. No demand for an explanation, no questions, just an invitation or an order for her to get her ass to his apartment. She had to wait another fifteen minutes so it looked like it took her time to get there, but she opened her bathroom door and came out in the hallway of his floor.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:30 AM

When he opened the door, Dave cursed. “You look like shit, you know that?” he said, standing aside to let her in. She limped into his apartment, the ice pack still wrapped around her ankle, and shot him a grin over her shoulder.

“I feel like shit. How was closing?” she asked. His apartment looked exactly as she remembered: small, dingy, lived-in. His clothes were thrown up against the couch and on the floor. There were a couple of unwashed dishes in the sink, and take-out containers poked up from the garbage bin. The little table in the kitchen was clean though, as were the counters. Dave didn't like having junk with food residue piling up. Even before he'd gotten his dogs, he'd been like that.

He gave her a considering look, then said, “It was alright. We got someone rushing in at the last minute buying an emergency film for his kid back at home, but otherwise nothing new.”
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:31 AM

He meandered into his bedroom, and came out with a bottle of pills. They rattled as he shook them. He tossed the bottle and Charlie caught it, unscrewing the cap and taking two, swallowing them dry.

“You're only supposed to have one,” he said, sitting down beside her. She snorted, and her ribs reminded her of why they were here in the first place. She winced.

“Screw instruction labels. My sides are hell right now,” she said. He laughed, because it was a joke, but she could tell he didn't think it was funny. One of his dogs wandered up and put her head on his knee. He stroked her face absent-mindedly.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:45 AM

“What happened, Charlie?” He had asked her after all. Well, fair enough. If he showed up at her place with his face beaten in, she'd want to know too. And she owed him for pills, so there was that. She wanted to take a deep breath but she thought better of it, and took a series of short ones instead. It wasn't the same.

“Some thugs from St Atherton caught me on the way home. Eleven to one is shit odds, I tell you what.” He could infer the rest. They were kindred spirits, more or less: people who ran alone and didn't listen to anyone if they could help it. Packs of assholes like Johnny were everywhere, whether it was schoolyard bullies or bona-fide gangs or corporate legions. It didn't matter what they called themselves. They wanted folks to fall in line, and Charlie wanted to do her own thing. She'd probably be fighting in some form or another for the rest of her life.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:45 AM

“You'll never believe it, but I was bailed out by some skinny kid with this crazy guitar,” she said. She was deliberating how much more to tell him. He knew she couldn't take eleven people on her own, and she'd rather omit parts of the story than lie outright if she could. “He was scrawny as hell and couldn't punch worth shit but they couldn't touch him either. You know that guy who could dodge bullets in that show we saw last week? It was like that. Geez.”

Dave grinned. The story was just crazy enough that he bought it, more or less. “What, for real? Some good samaritan bailed you out, just like that?”

“You bet. I got some serious divine intervention today. Better make a donation next time I hit up the church,” she said.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 4:54 AM

That was a joke too. They had their respective spiritual opinions, but neither of them went to church. They weren't part of any organized religion, and they wouldn't have been too welcome even if they were. “But I'm serious. I think he had one, maybe two cuts on him when we were done. I wanted to check him for wires.”

The painkillers kicked in not too long after that, and she broke off from their conversation with the excuse of being too messed up from the pills. She was feeling a little fuzzy, but she played it up for all she was worth. She didn't want to talk or think about what had happened after the fight, and she was honestly hoping the painkillers would help her forget. That probably wasn't how they worked, but she could hope. “I told you not to take two pills,” Dave said. “You wanna stay over, or should I see you home?”
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 5:01 AM

Oh man, that was a big question. Charlie marshaled her thoughts into order. She promised Elliot she'd be back, but tomorrow was a Sunday, and neither of them had to be anywhere. She wasn't going to be much help to him in this state. She fished around for her phone and dialed home, hoping it would be Elliot that picked up, and not her folks.

“Hullo?”

“Hey, Elly. It's Charlie,” she said, hoping her voice didn't sound too thick.

“Sis! What's wrong?” he said, his voice dropping down into a whisper. “Did you get to see Dave?”

“Yeah, I'm at his place right now. Listen, do you want to come over? You could play with Buster and...” What the heck was the name of his other dog? She couldn't remember. “You could come play with Buster. How's that sound?”

“Charlie, it's nine.” He sounded worried, or maybe scared. She figured she might as well break it to him. “Are you not coming home?”
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 5:05 AM

Raising Elliot was like walking a tightrope. She wasn't old enough to be his mom, but the older she got, the more she took over the role of parent, mostly out of necessity. She tried to keep him sheltered from the worst of everything, but she hadn't liked being lied to as a kid and had promised herself not to do that to him as much as she possibly could. So she said, “I could if you want, but it's probably better that I don't. If dad saw me, he'd flip out. If you need me though---”

“No, it's okay... I'll be fine on my own. It's just for tonight, right?” He didn't sound as if he was going to be okay though, and she knew it.

“Look, I'll send Dave to pick you up. You know him, mom knows him. We can have movie night.” She glanced up at Dave, who had been following the conversation. He shrugged. It was their deal. Even Cammie was in on it. She remembered when they'd babysat his dogs while he was between homes. That was how Elliot knew Buster.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 07/05/2014 5:07 AM

As long as he didn't leave without giving some kind of notice, Elliot probably wouldn't get in trouble. On a Saturday night, mom was too drunk to care, and dad wasn't even in the house. Sleepovers on Saturday were actually a fairly regular thing, since half the time there would be hell to pay Sunday morning at the Bishop household.

“You wanna come with?” Dave said as he grabbed the keys to his car. Charlie did her best to send him a withering look. “Alright. Want me to pick you up anything? There isn't much in the fridge.”

“Ask Elly if he's eaten. I don't think I'm gonna be able to keep down anything tonight,” she said. She laid down on the couch carefully on her back after he left, and tried not to drift off. She wanted to be awake when Elliot got here, though that was easier said than done.
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Re: Charlie's World [Self] [L, V just to be safe]

Postby crow » 12/23/2014 7:29 AM

Charlie must have drifted off after all. The next thing she knew, Dave was walking through the door, with Elliot in tow. She swore; she hadn't even heard him leave. Her head felt muzzy, though her sides definitely hurt less. It was sort of weird, since she felt as if she ought to feel something when she moved. She had to press on her own side, searching for the pain, just to make sure she was still injured.
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