(Closed) Dying is easy

[searingwing]

Who: Diluc, Kaeya, Catra, and Diluc's Cr (if you know Diluc, you're good.)
What: Diluc returns to life and the aftermath
When: October 15 mid-morning to October 18th.
Where: Diluc and Catra's residence in Cellar Door.
Content Warnings: Body horror, cursing, mental health issues, mentions of substance abuse

Visions are a light to those who are lost (closed to Catra and Kaeya)
[Darkness.

Cold darkness where the dwindling air was starting to leave him concerned. Him? Him. That sounds right. His name and whatever he is, eludes him. His memories feel like fragments of something sharp raining down, but unable to come together.

He tries to put it together. Again, he's denied. But pieces of a memory surfaces to give him just enough to realize how he might have...died. Ice. Shouting. Sharp things and the light inside him crushed under an oppressive loneliness too deep to get past.

The air is almost out. Something bursts above him and light pierces his space. He tries to swim away, but the liquid is starting to drain.

The featureless grey surface of Diluc's Vision flickers then bursts into brilliant red light. Motes of fire dance on the air and fade. Diluc Ragnvindr is once again, alive.]

Day 1, Lord of the Bathtub(open)

[After the initial flurry of activity and panic. Diluc is left to drift in a body of water. It isn't the sea, but it will do for now. He's a small red squid swimming back and forth inside the filled tub. He can't put his memories together just yet. He keeps trying and that's tiring.

But he does it anyway. When someone comes into the bathroom he sticks a tentacle out of the water as he drifts closer to the surface. If he's friendly with them he grips the side of the tub and pulls himself up enough to get a glimpse before he sinks back down.]

Day 2, Almost but not quite (open)

[It feels like he's been slowly piecing himself together. There's not enough there to find his way back out of the water. At least, not yet. He can recognize the people that visit and trace letters on their hands with his tentacles. It's progress.

The light from his Vision feels within reach. If he could just remember everything then he could push himself all the way back to himself. To the duties waiting for him.

He jets water at nothing and streaks through the water. By now, small shells and pretty stones glint from the bottom of the tub. Little gifts. Sometimes he drifts over them, brushing past them as he circles.]

Wild card
[Got an idea? Pm me and I'll set up a custom starter for you. House details.]

Comments

[torpour]

[the writing takes a while-- but it's fortunate that nehan has a sharp memory, and diluc is writing on his right hand, and the erune can piece together what the squid wants to say before everything is said and done.]

Crystals from your corpse, hmm... [interesting that he would be offered this, when they're practically strangers. he hums more as he rubs one tentacle between his thumb and forefinger.]

I wouldn't know how to examine crystals, my expertise is in organic matter. Still, it's an opportunity to know how death works in this place, when it's already not permanent. [now that's a statement he never thought he would say.] I accept-- and when you transform back to your usual self, we'll talk about your compensation, among other details.

Have you felt hunger since coming back?

[searingwing]

[He gives two tugs to the finger in reply. Nehan is the closest thing he has to an alchemist on Albedo’s level. They both have the table side manner best left desired but he would be an idiot not to ask for his help.

Stranger or no. They need answers and risks are worth everything. He blows out bubbles and writes,]

No. I’ll be able to tell you if the magic in my blood lingers in the crystal. Once I return to my usual self.

[torpour]

I see. [no, he doesn't, but he'll pretend to understand these things. and why nehan, of all people?] And what do you want me to do with that? Turn it into jewelry for you?

[he gingerly takes another tentacle between to fingers and waggles it around.]

You seem to be a little more morbid than I took you for.

[searingwing]

[He waves a tentacle as if brushing off the remark.]

No. We know very little about how we were changed crossing over and how much. Only two Sleepers have died here, myself and another. If you have the same findings as his results. We'll know it isn't specific to the Sleeper or Blood type or at least, be closer to that.

We can't defend against what we don't know.

[torpour]

Ah. Of course. Hence why you turn to a doctor for help. [he gives diluc a pat, before simply leaving his hand there and giving him a rub-down. in reality, he's just fascinated with touching a squid for the first time, that hasn't been killed and cut up for calamari.]

All right then.

Then afterward, I'll make them into jewelry for you, as a reminder not to die again, because you don't strike me as the sort of person who would walk into death willingly.

[searingwing]

[Being given a rub-down is the weirdest sensation he's ever had. It makes him feel very small. It almost distracts him from what Nehan is saying. A doctor.

Ah, that explains a lot.

Or at least a few pieces. He had been a stranger offering help. Nehan hadn't needed to treat him. But he did, so he extended kindness in turn. He wiggles his tentacles.]

I'm not sure if I should be surprised you're a little morbid too. I don't plan to die again but, I will accept your reminder gift.

[torpour]

[nehan pokes at diluc's tentacles, hoping to irritate the man.]

I'm a doctor who has delved into many different practices, I've seen all manner of troubles with a person's body. You surely had some idea of this, since our last meeting, otherwise you wouldn't ask me this favor.

Did you expect anything else out of me?

[searingwing]

[He does get a little irritated at the constant poking. He wraps his tentacles around the fingers and holds on. No words for the moment just a soft squid blowing bubbles at the fingers in his grasp.]

[torpour]

What's that? Do you think you can stop me from prodding at you?

[of course, nehan continues poking at him, and squishing his little body.]

Ah, blowing bubbles too... You must be mad. [he doubts diluc is actually mad, but he still says so.]

[searingwing]

[If he were human he would have made a noise. As a squid the answer is a tiny squeak. He isn’t a fan of being squished and poked.

He moves one tentacle to write because that’s the best way to communicate.]

Why are you poking me in the first place?

[torpour]

Because it annoys you. [such a simple answer... but nehan hasn't been one for simple answers, even if this one is true. he has a deeper motive for it.]

You strike me as a man who holds himself so rigidly that you take everything seriously. That makes for an unpleasant sort of person, so it might as well be my duty to knock you down every time you get too rigid.

I'll call it practice if I do decide to work with the Nightwalkers.

[searingwing]

[Diluc stops blowing bubbles. Unpleasant sort of person? He turns that over in his head and anger sparks like a flame in the depths of the night.

His tentacles ripple and shift like someone trying to cross their arms but there are too many. He drops them. He had never expected to hear something Kaeya said once. He sighs, as much as a squid can sigh.]

Fine. But don’t expect me to be quiet about being annoyed.

[torpour]

Are you going to squeak and blow bubbles again? [despite everything, despite the ever-present gloominess hanging around nehan like a second skin, he sounds just a little amused.] You're like a little toy.

Go ahead then. I'm not scared of you, even you in your regular form.

[searingwing]

[As a rule, Crepus made sure his son knew every social rule of what he should and should not do. Losing his temper in public was among the do nots. His fiery son dutifully obeyed. But sometimes it’s difficult to remember that age old rule.

Diluc doesn’t squeak. He does blow bubbles then writes.]

I don’t want to be feared or fight. I concede you’re not wrong that I am rigid. It’s necessary.

[torpour]

No levity at all? What a miserable existence, and coming from me... For instance, that's saying something.

[because nehan knows what it's like to be nothing but miserable. but he's been given the chance to live with children, and to be with his own child, and that's managed to inject some brightness in such a long, sad life.]

I should really bully you, then. You take yourself so seriously that I shouldn't at all.. [and to make good on that comment, he gives diluc's tentacles a merciless tickle that would have had a child leaking snot from laughter.]

[searingwing]

[He starts to write No you shouldn't bully me! a little more aggressively than his usual writing when Nehan tickles him. He lets out a tiny squeak of surprise and jerks back. But he is between his hands and can't exactly escape. As if to mock him the little rubber duck Kaeya left in the bathtub as a joke goes drifting by.

He wriggles and twists, squeaking again. He can't communicate anymore so well, whatever he'd say is lost.]

[torpour]

[poor little squid, nehan thinks. but he can get away with this easily because diluc is a squid, and not a human man. in his usual form, diluc can only be attacked with words. nehan should take advantage.]

You'll just have to endure until I leave. [he gives the squid a pat.] I cant do this to your proper form, after all. Not until I fully recover from my arrival here.

[not that it's... a lot to recover from. nehan is still quite pitiful in his regular state, he thinks.]

[searingwing]

[His mind reels. What the hell is he like when recovered? He's not sure he wants to find out. He settles and wraps himself around the patting hand. No more tickles.]

...recovery?

[Or he can ask. He's concerned and Nehan has been helpful and in his own way friendly. Sort of. He cares about this odd doctor.]

[torpour]

[nehan has mercy on him for now, and gives him a gentle pet.]

My limbs are usually weak, but my arrival here made them even worse. But my issues have been lessening lately, and I believe that I'll be fine by next month at the latest. [a sterilized response, as if nehan was talking to a particularly anxious patient about their symptoms rather than a squid about his own issues.

but really, the fact that he had a crutch and an eyepatch among his personal belongings that washed up on the beach should tell diluc everything.

that nehan is always in a bad state.]

[searingwing]

[It’s weird to be petted. It settles him. He has time to think that over. Yes, there had been aids in Nehan’s bag. Like how Vision users have their Visions in their bags.

It isn’t difficult to put the pieces together. He waits a few moments before he writes.] It took about that long for most of us to return to our full power and our memories of fully settle. Though some of us merely went back to sea. A companion of mine was among the later.

[torpour]

If today is a better day that others, we wont have to deal with convulsions or muscle spasms. [nehan's tone is bland, like he's not discussing some sort of body horror. but the worst is yet to come.]

But if it's a bad day and I have problems over your tub, I suppose I can simply come back as a squid.

... Do not take that seriously, I haven't had a spasm in a week.

[searingwing]

[He clamps back a horrified squeak but a little of it comes out in a burble. Being a squid isn't all that dignified. He pats the hand above him.]

Don't die and rot in my water.

[Surprise, he has a sense of humor. But he pauses as he adds,]

...Huh. This made me realize I can't summon my omen like this at all. Not even a spark of magic.

[torpour]

[nehan tugs on his tentacles.]

If I'm dying, I will crawl under the floorboards of your bed and stay there. [now that he's said that, he's obligated to do so. and perhaps that moment wont be so far off than anyone would think, since he knows he's so weak.]

And you wont be able to dig me out properly, because I'm a small Erune.

[searingwing]

I'm not opposed to demolishing a bed to deal with a situation. I'd get rid of the bed and move you to a more dignified location. And you wouldn't be rid of me then. I'd watch over you until you were back to yourself.

[A bed is nothing. A person is everything in his mind. Especially an odd one he is starting to respect and like. Even if Nehan bullies him to no end. He pushes back against the tugging fingers.]

[torpour]

Going to such lengths for someone... hmm. [ah, perhaps nehan should use this as ammunition to bully him, too.

and he's never been above hitting low-hanging fruit.]

I'm not interested in you that way. I prefer my men with fur. Or horns.