deercountry | (Open) This is Halloween

Entry tags:

(Open) This is Halloween

Who: Luca Paguro and Open
What: Catch all for the month
When: Throughout October
Where: The Black Parade, the Devil's Dive, the Disaster House, the beach

Content Warnings: A child drinking paint thinner (with no ill effects)

Black Parade (Open)
Luca knows by now, thanks to a certain network post, that if he wants to eat something without feeling that weird floaty feeling he'll have to eat poison. And he would, really he would, but who could possibly sit there eating whatever toxic thing they come across when there's so much delicious food here that he's never had before?

A lot of the food here seems to be seasonal, and Luca doesn't want to lose his chance to try them while they're still around. Besides, the loopy feeling wasn't that bad.

And that is why Luca is currently eating a candy apple, staggering around a bit because he definitely should not be eating said candy apple, while marveling at the puppetry and various festivities. At least it seems he's taking some precautions in this place. While he's made absolutely no effort to stay sober, Luca seems to have taken the local's advice to wear a costume to heart, as he's currently wearing a mask and costume. Or he might not have cared about the warnings of ghosts at all and just thought dressing up was fun. With how he's acting right now, it's really hard to tell how much Luca actually took in.

Devil's Dive (Open)
And once again it seems that Luca completely ignored the advice to not eat non-poisoned food. It's not really his fault, though. He'd never had nachos before, and ever since he came to this place, he'd discovered nachos were amazing. Is it his fault that nachos aren't poisonous?

That's how he justifies sitting there, getting progressively more impaired as he chows down on nachos.

"These are delicious! I don't know what the orange stuff is, but I love it!"

He might be seen in the same outfit he wore to the black parade, though he sometimes switches out the costume for the sailor suit he got when he first arrived, though he keeps the same mask on.

He continues to enjoy the nachos until eventually he leans back too far and ends up tumbling to the ground along with his chair.

"...ow. I'm all right."

And then staggers and stumbles as he both tries to get back up and tries to set his chair upright again. He's definitely fine, though. He'll insist on that fact if anyone asks.

Decorating the Disaster House (Open to anyone who has a reason to be outside the Disaster House)
Luca wants to do a good job, so he decides he's going to actually do what he's supposed to do. He won't eat or drink any real food or drink until he gets this done.

At first he just waits a few hours until the effects of his last meal wear off, then he gathers some supplies for a fairly easy Halloween decoration he wanted to try. A mirror, an old black and white picture, glue and some paint thinner.

He sets to work, disassembling the mirror and removing it from the frame, sitting down and working out where he wants to place the picture, and generally trying to carefully craft his 'haunted mirror' for the house. Then he notices he's starting to get thirsty. Again. And if he gets a drink of water, he'll just end up all weird again, and have to wait it out until his head's sorted out, and if he does that, it'll take forever before he can make anything.

He stares at the paint thinner. The guy on the Omni said vilebloods can only drink poison, right? He's a little nervous, picking up the bottle and staring at it for a moment. If he's wrong...this could be very, very bad, but...what reason would that guy have to lie? And he does need to figure out a way to eat and drink without going all loopy.

Unscrewing the lid, Luca brings it up to his face. Cod, that smells terrible. Well, here goes nothing.

Luca chugs the paint thinner.

It tastes...strangely tolerable, and as he downs it, he realizes he does feel refreshed. For the first time since the month began, he can drink without any ill effects. So he keeps drinking.

Fishing (Closed to Fern)]
Luca had been feeling lonely lately. Sure, he loves all the new friends he's making, but he misses his family, misses being in a world with others of his kind, but most of all, he misses Alberto. It had been so hard to leave him, but at the time he'd told himself that he'd write letters and call and that it would only be nine months. Now...he's totally cut off from Alberto, and he has no way of knowing if he, or anyone else from Luca's world, will ever wash up on shore.

Well, maybe this fishing trip with Fern will help distract him a bit from his thoughts. Even though fishing still reminds him of Alberto, and how good Alberto was at helping Massimo out with the nets. Still...it'll be nice having some help catching some fish. Fish that will apparently get him drunk all month when he actually eats it, but still...

He trudges over to the dock, not even noticing the rotting corpse of Alberto as he goes to find Fern, hoping Fern's fun personality will help distract him from his train of thought.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fern nods as he listens, hoping this helps Luca out a little. Starting with the Vespa thing sounds pretty safe, and he's glad it is. He's heard of scooters before, so when Luca explains everything clicks in his mind. Right, of course a seamonster kid would want to own one, what better way for him and his best friend (??) to travel wherever they want?

"Sounds like a fun way to see the world," he replies. "You could have all kinds of adventures together."

"Yeah..."

He sighs.

"We didn't end up doing that. We won the race, but when he realized how much I really wanted to go to school, he sold the vespa so I could go."

Well, that's a total swerve in the story. Fern doesn't hide his surprise and confusion at this - getting a Vespa and traveling the world sounded like their end goal, so for Alberto to sell it....

"What happened to going where you two wanted?" He asks, "School won out?"

"Yeah. It was just...when we went to the town, I started learning about science from Giulia, one of the humans we met, and how the stars and space and flying machines worked and that she learned it all from school and...I really wanted to do more science and learn how stuff worked, and I kept bringing up wanting to do school instead."

So Alberto was just giving Luca what he wanted, though Luca likes to hope that Alberto got what he wanted out of it, too.

"There was also a human there who looked out for us and kept the other humans from harpooning us, and Alberto really likes helping him fish, so...I'm kind of hoping he changed his mind for himself, too."

Because while Luca knows Alberto was giving up what he wanted for him, Luca likes to hope Alberto is getting something he wants out of it, too. Besides, he suspects Alberto needed a father figure, but he doesn't want to get into all of that and Alberto's abandonment. Stuff like that is for Alberto to share if he wants to if he ends up showing up.

Oh. Oh geez. It sounds once Luca got out of the water and started learning about the wider world he discovered his nerdy side. That's totally legitimate, Fern has known a lot of nerds in his life and he'd never begrudge them for being passionate over things like science, but what that would mean for Alberto....

Yeesh, he doesn't even know the kid and he feels bad for him. It couldn't have been easy from going about talking about running away with your... friend, to said friend wanting to go to school instead. At least it sounds like the kid had someone else there, so he wouldn't be completely alone.

"Maybe. Fishing's got a good way of bringing people together," Fern says thoughtfully, remembering back to his fishing adventures with Will Graham before he had left. "Plus, it sounds like you two care about each other a lot, and those kinds of feelings don't just go away. If you were home I don't doubt you guys would figure things out so you're both happy."

"Yeah, fishing's great! And Alberto's really good at it. We were able to fill the entire boat with fish when we went out together, and Alberto ended up having to swipe at seagulls to keep them from stealing our catch."

Sea monsters tend to be really good at catching fish.

"And yeah. You're right. I'm sure we'd find some way that we could both be happy...if was home. But I'm not. Alberto isn't here. No other sea monsters are here."

And that...makes him feel pretty lonely, even if he has new friends.

"You're the only plant person here as far as I know. How do you deal with...you know, not having other grass people around?"

Fern has to hold back a chuckle at that description. "He sounds like a real professional." Definitely the kind of kid he'd want to go fishing with, if he ever gets the chance.

He does grow a little more somber at that remark, though. Yeah, he gets what it's like being the only non-human whatever and surrounded by normal people. Shifting a little, he frowns. "Well, I wasn't really like the other grass people back in Ooo, so I've always kinda been alone."

That... probably doesn't help Luca at all, so he thinks on this a bit more. "It's not easy. Even if you have a lot of friends and family it isn't really the same, y'know? You got stuff going on that no one else does and they don't fully understand. I think... it's just something you gotta live with."

"You weren't like any of the other grass people?" That sounds so lonely. "What do you mean? I mean, I wasn't always like a lot of the other sea monsters because I was curious about the surface, but I wasn't really the only one interested in the surface. What made you so different from all the other grass people?"

Of course, it means that he's not totally in the same boat as Fern (even if they're literally in the same boat), but he's still curious about that because it makes him kind of sad to think there's not other grass friends and family that could show up for Fern. The next part, though, he could relate to, and was pretty helpful in it's own way.

"Yeah. I mean, it's nice that I have so many friends here and I wouldn't trade it for anything, but it's not like any of them can just jump into the water and swim like a sea monster or would think a sea cucumber looks delicious or have ever had their bodies suddenly change withou--"

He pauses, thinking about it.

"Well, I guess you could relate to the changing thing."

And talking about it with Fern is making him feel less lonely. It reminds him that they have some things in common, and while their bodies might not be doing the same thing as each other, they still have being unique in this world in common.

"It's... complicated. And doesn't make a whole lot of sense," Fern starts. He isn't going to just dismiss Luca's curiosity, far from it, he just needs to make sure the other boy understands that trying to understand his whole nature is kind of an exercise in futility.

"I can definitely relate to the changing thing. I wasn't made how grass people back home are usually made." He's guessing it's the same way most other creatures are made, though he isn't going to go into that kind of detail here. "I'm like this 'cause I come from a sword made out of grass. I used to be two swords, that one, which was cursed, and another one, which used to be a normal human. Finn. Uh..." He reaches up, rubbing the back of his head. "Finn got stuck in a time loop, and interacting with another time... version? Variant? Of himself broke that other Finn out of the loop he was in, which caused a paradox. But instead of just exploding like all the other paradoxes he - me, I guess - exploded into a sword."

And if that's hard to parse, he isn't even finished yet. "The Grass Sword was this cursed sword made by a wizard back home. His whole deal was making cursed grassy objects, and he really liked the whole 'blade of grass' pun, so... boom, he made me."

"Oh, wow. That is complicated. And...I can see why there wouldn't be a lot of other grass people who are like you."

How many grass swords were going to be created, after all? And how many of them would go through a journey like that before becoming a person.

"I just hatched from an egg. So...pretty typical. I change, but nothing as dramatic as all the change you went through."

Luca reaches down into the water, running his hand through it before pulling it back out of the water to show Fern his green, scaled hand and the webbing between his fingers.

"Whenever I get wet I turn back into a sea monster. I know we change even more in the deep sea, but I've never gone deep enough to do that change."

Fern nods softly. The Grassy Wizard had made some other cursed grassy objects, but as far as he knows he was the only sword the guy ever made. He's fairly sure he's the only one who combined with a Finn, too.

Still, he and Luca still have that commonality between them. It isn't easy being the only one of your kind surrounded by other creatures who have their own kind with them. On top of that, they're both kind of black sheep, and that doesn't make things any easier.

"This has gotta be more than enough to deal with, given most of the Sleepers here are human," he says, gesturing at Luca's hand. "Being a squid isn't really the same thing. They aren't gonna understand what it's like being a sea monster."

"Yeah, I mean...the squid thing for them is some weird fluke with this place. For me, being a sea monster is what I am."

Because while they might technically be squids now, it's not like they're going to really see themselves as or consider themselves squids in their day to day life.

"But hey, at least we can be weird in this place together."

And dead Alberto is beginning to fade, because while Luca might still be on his own, and he still might be without Alberto, it still makes him feel less lonely knowing he's not alone in being alone.

"Anyway, you were going to show me how a fishing pole works, right?"

"Exactly!" Fern nods vigorously at that. He'd noticed some reactions of other Sleepers towards the squid thing were very... temporary, one-off, not too bothered since they were back to their normal forms quick enough. Luca's case is a whole lot different from that.

Fern lets out a little chuckle at that. "Right, weirdo solidarity," he agrees, noting after a moment that Alberto is growing more and more translucent. Privately, he's very glad he is - he's creepy, and he's hoping it means that Luca is feeling a little better.

"Oh - oh yeah, d'ya know how to tie a fishing hook?" With Alberto fading he'll shift and grab their fishing poles, along with lines and hooks.

Exactly. Weirdo solidarity. It's a nice thing to have. As for being able to tie a fishing hook...no. No, he cannot. Luca shakes his head.

"Nope. No idea."

"Okay, that's no big deal," he responds. "Uh - your ghost is fading, by the way. So things are looking up, huh?"

He says that as he gets everything ready, then holds one of the fishing poles out and demonstrates how to tie a hook to the line. "It's pretty easy, as long as you can tie knots."

"Huh, I guess so."

He is feeling better. As for the fishing line...he has tied knots before while helping on the farm, but he still leans in and watches carefully.

"I think I've got it."

And then, to confirm whether he understands it, he takes another fishing rod, tying on a hook.

"How's that?"

Fern is glad that he's feeling better, and leans in a little to examine the knot when Luca is done. "Looks good! Next up are the worms."

He's going to go ahead and pull out a box he had brought along containing live, wriggling worms. He figures Luca isn't going to be wigged out by them, being a sea monster and all. "We usually used gummy worms back in Ooo, but there're only real ones here so we gotta work with that," he says, holding his hook up. Picking up a worm, he impales it on the hook.

Fern's right about Luca being fine with the worms. His family gathered sea cucumbers and the like to eat all the time, and worms weren't that different.

"What's a gummy worm?" Luca asks as he stabs the hook through the worm.

Fern waggles his fingers in demonstrations. "It's kind of like a regular worm, but made outta sugar. Still squishy, though."

With their hooks baited, he turns a little. "Okay, then we just throw the hooks out there and wait for a fish!" He says, flicking his pole back and then forward, sending his hook far out into the water.

"If it's made out of sugar, wouldn't it just dissolve in water?"

He's not surprised that fish might like gummy worms. He loves sugar, after all. He's just surprised they could hold up in water. He watches Fern, and tosses his own hook out, though he does it somewhat clumsily and it doesn't go nearly as far.

"This kind of fishing seems a lot less active than the other ways I've fished before. But...it seems like it would be nice if you just want to hang out and talk to someone. You probably don't catch as many as quickly as with a net or just catching them by hand, though."

"Nah. Dunno how it worked, but they never dissolved."

It was probably science, on PB's part. Making all her candy citizens tougher than normal so they wouldn't just wash away the first time it rained. He's never given it much thought before, but that seems like a reasonable enough explanation to him.

He watches Luca's attempt, nodding a little. It still isn't bad for his first try. "Yeah, it's supposed to be more for fun than food."

"Oh, that makes sense. And explains why I never did it this way. Back home we'd mostly farm fish, but if we wanted something not on the farm we'd just go out and find it ourselves, but fish was our main source of food...and then when I went to the human town, that was a fishing village, so of course they wanted to catch a lot."

After all, they wouldn't be able to sustain themselves catching fish one at a time.

Fern nods along at that. Yep, nets would be needed for a whole fishing village instead of just fishing poles.

"What's it like farming fish?" He's curious, he's heard of farming crops and stuff like cows and pigs, but not fish.

"Well...you have a crook you herd them with, and you bring them to different fields of seagrass and seaweed to feed...you keep an eye out for boats and predators, and you shut them up in the barn at night. It can get kind of boring sometimes, because there's not much to do when they're grazing other than keeping an eye on them and checking them for parasites from time to time."

So...a lot like farming any other livestock.

It does sound incredibly boring. Fern is pretty sure he'd last about five minutes before his attention would start wandering, and he looks sympathetic.

"Dude, that's so lame. At least with fishing you can just hang out with a friend and shoot the breeze, no need to keep an eye out for danger."

(Open) This is Halloween

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