BACKSTORY: ANOTHER BORDER

[returnjourney]

BACKSTORY: ANOTHER BORDER

"Slowly, painfully, I realized what I had been reading from the very first words of his journal. My husband had had an inner life that went beyond his gregarious exterior, and if I had known enough to let him inside my guard, I might have understood this fact. Except I hadn't, of course. I had let tidal pools and fungi that could devour plastic inside my guard, but not him. Of all the aspects of the journal, this ate at me the most. He had created his share of our problems―by pushing me too hard, by wanting too much, by trying to see something in me that didn’t exist. But I could have met him partway and retained my sovereignty. And now it was too late."

― Jeff VanderMeer, Annihilation

Introduction

March 23rd – March 31st, 2022
Welcome to the backstory log for the "Another Border" simulation! Here, we play out big moments in our characters' AU histories. We've included a list of ideas below; feel free to experiment and figure out what feels right for your character's past and motivations. Consider what specific moments might have prompted them to venture into Area X!

This log is set before a simulation begins, to give players a head start on ironing out the specifics of their AUs. During this time, Peregrine life will continue as normal.

If you have any questions about the event, please ask here. You can familiarize yourself with simulation basics on our events page.

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Ideas

1. Your first meeting with an important or influential person.
2. Doing something important for someone.
3. A time you really screwed someone else over.
4. A personal loss in your life.
5. An injury, illness, or similar struggle.
6. Domestic events: falling in love, getting married, building a home, having a child, navigating a change in a relationship, divorce.
7. Getting a new job or a promotion.
8. Discovering a passion.
9. An important religious or philosophical moment, a moral challenge.
10. An event that changed how you see the world for the better.
11. An event that changed how you see the world for the worse.
12. A sight you saw or place you visited that made you consider your place in the world.
13. A dark night of the soul.
14. Learning about the discovery of Area X.
15. Getting your Area X assignment.

Comments

[nineteenfortyfive]

She tries and fails to not look relieved. He's the easiest company, in some sick way, and there's silence only broken by their footsteps as she leads them to the kitchen, to the stools neat and tidy around the kitchen island, everything all metal and white and black. Clean and pristine, like a medical office despite shutting out the housekeepers. She used to love to clean. It's kept her busy.

There's a part of the endless counter space that's a coffee bar, and Claire sets it to brew, then turns to bring over the cream and sugar.

"What happens after this?" She asks.

[omniavincit]

“We drink it.” Hard to tell if he's joking; he sounds uncertain. He's chosen the farthest stool but his gaze hangs on her, his eyes wide. He touches nothing: hands in his lap, out of sight. He has no sense of the future, a future—no way into it. Why should events link up, why this implausible chain?

When she sets the coffee in front of him he peers at it—it looks black—and reaches for the cream, adding a splash and observing intently as it's absorbed into the coffee. Another splash. His brow is almost comically creased. The coffee begins to lighten—dirt to mud to sand. He puts the cream down, wipes his hand on his shirt.

From his pocket he pulls something held tight in his fist, the way a child might conceal a living, squirming thing. He opens his hand: in his palm is the head of a thistle, a shock of purple bursting from a spiked sheath of woven greens. To the touch, though, it's feathery—like running a finger along a bird's wing—and delicate.

He doesn't remember picking it. Doesn't know if it was meant to fly.

[nineteenfortyfive]

Maybe if the weight of this reality wasn't so heavy, she'd chalk that comment up to his humor. As it is, it just saddens her, and she sits--the stool beside his, needing to carefully angle her long legs so that her knees don't knock into him. Her coffee remains black and untouched as she faces him rather than the counter. He's like sand slipping through her fingers, and she almost says as much before his movements keep her quiet.

She's about to offer him a napkin when she looks to his hand to see a thistle. She's never seen a real thistle, come to think of it. Botanical books, silly Scottish romance shows. Engraved on Robbie's wedding band. He's so proud of his Scottish heritage, even if scant and distant and no one would look at him and think of Scotland.

"Where did this come from...?" Claire asks quietly, eyes flitting from William's face to the thistle and back again. She begins to reach out for it before thinking better of it and dropping her hand. Afraid.