distant_one: (Default)
D ([personal profile] distant_one) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2022-09-20 06:06 pm

September Catch All

Who: D, his Left Hand, and anyone
What: September Catch All for D
When: Throughout September
Where: Various places.

Content Warnings:: Blood and gore, purposely slow death



Knowledge Is Power [open]

Learning something sounded easy. Even after finding out what it was he was supposed to learn, it wasn't truly that arduous a task. Simply one D didn't want to engage in. Many lesser prizes would have simply been abandoned as there was little enough that D actually needed. But this was something with a benefit that was hard to duplicate and hard to quantify.

'Knowing' someone was a bit subjective. D would just have to pick someone a lot more open and outgoing than himself.

The Great Hunt(er) [open]

D could easily be found visiting areas where the Bugge had died or been sighted during the day. His nights were otherwise occupied, but during the day he had time to investigate. When he wasn't stalking its trail or trying to lure it into a preferable area he could be found taking samples of soil, freshly spilled blood, or pieces of plants near where it had been killed.

When it came time to kill it, D deviated from his usual method of a quick painless kill. Shallow slashes as part of a running battle let blood spray everywhere except onto D himself. Only when the Bugge began to slow or its roars turned from anger to pain did he go in for the kill

Wildcard

acidjail: rights to use paid by me; do not take (03)

[personal profile] acidjail 2022-09-21 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
For the purposes of rendezvous like this one, Mercy has set herself up with the scantest scrap of a cleared shop at the outskirts of the Lumenwood, tucked well out of the way and riddled with her most subtle and treacherous wards. The tools she has kept there are an eclectic assortment, at first, second, and third glance - spools of gleaming wire, a scattering of lunar orbs, lead glass decanters, opaque vials, and other, less identifiable things shrouded under draped cloth. It's an ugly little place for ugly little purposes, and when she first spies D approaching through a filthy window, her lips are set in a slash of annoyance at the bulk of the thing he carries.

But then she reaches for it, and the first glimmer of the thing is enough to have her waiting at the door with a glossy sheen of anticipation illuminated by the pale light of distant street lamps.

"Come in," she says, without preamble, her interest as raw and unalloyed as every other feeling she's expressed around D to this point. She pulls to one side and gestures him in, where she has cleared a wide, bare patch of floor and laid out a tarp already, for practicality's sake. (Just because one can evaporate any number of organic fluids does not mean one should rely on that skill to substitute for simple, common sense precautions.)
martyrofduty: (g1deon!face oh?)

[personal profile] martyrofduty 2022-09-21 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
Without moving, Duty takes everything in about the scene. Two versions of D, each with one companion, and a spectator. If Duty is supposed to be someone in particular, it's not quite how the other memories have worked. His weapons are his own. They've known each other only a few months, but the figure up top reads wrong. He may look like D, but his body language, his voice, everything it wrong.

He doesn't react to D's voice, words just for him. He moves slowly and deliberately, keeping the rapier in its hilt, and gently setting it on the ground. It's ten thousand years old, maintained in good condition with love and devotion beyond its tactical value. He kicks it away lightly with his hands open in the air. Not a threat, it says.

Remaining are two pistols at his waist and a baton made of bone with a metal tip. One gun is loaded with bullets of Coldblood, the others regular. Not knowing what role is most useful—besides buying time—he doesn't say anything yet. Just a friend, ally, lackey, whatever anyone thinks of D's and nothing more. Certainly not the greater danger.
ananym: (The skin of my throat began to tingle)

[personal profile] ananym 2022-09-21 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
[ well. this is not what he expected. aircrafts? space ships? alucard knew a little of the science and he'd been putting in the work to catch up, but this is so far beyond the country of wallachia. and anything in the world. ]

Is that him?
martyrofduty: (g1deon!face casual shirtless)

[personal profile] martyrofduty 2022-09-21 05:31 am (UTC)(link)
Ignored, Duty waits. Though each moment stretches out long and slow, it's hardly a handful of breaths.

His left hand reaches his waist and frees the baton. In a smooth move, Duty lunges forward and extends both arm and weapon. The spear extends to its full length, and the metal point stabs between the opposing D's ribs straight to the heart. Metal, not wood.

He pulls the spear free before it can get stuck, retraction speeding the process up. It returns to full size, as Duty slides to avoid the angry rebuttal to his attack. His right hand clasps the hilt of his rapier as he goes past, drawing it from the hilt. The move leaves him a short ways away from the main battle.

Three things catch his eye. The spectator—D's father—watches, a god among even his children. D's left hand isn't where it landed. It not only speaks but moves on its own. Its path takes it toward the sword D's opposite so carefully separated him from. The mistake is leaving D's left hand intact, whatever that means for it.

Duty smirks and circles around the fight, so his attack keeps that action in their opponent's blind spot. He's used to being the distraction, and his heart sings at the combat. Fully armed with his primary weapons of the myriad, he isn't a dhampir, but he stops thinking and moves faster than conscious thought.
hammerbearer: (Gaia-Oh!)

[personal profile] hammerbearer 2022-09-21 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Gaia has been respecting the distance D keeps. Not, mind you, that she doesn't engage him in a friendly way, but she doesn't try to force him to stay or make up excuses to keep him there past the natural flow of conversation and she isn't 'more friendly than usual', as if she has to put great effort into it.

She acts as she always does with any of the people she calls friends. Of course if he had kept up the 'avoid Gaia's house' for much longer, she might have gone to track him down and have a few pointed words. But honestly? They'd both been busy, both the previous month and this one. The fluctuation of her powers, keeping the bloodtypes preserved and.... memory problems. Again.

Even if D didn't just have a way of finding out where she is, most times she's not at the outpost she's at home or near it, though it's not a matter of isolating herself from the latest problems. Winter is approaching and she's constantly learning how to or engaging in the last tasks of gardening and work to preserve and stock up the cupboard.

When D enters, she's in the kitchen, bottling up slices of fruits in a few forms she's been taught by the locals. Things are smoother there. Uri is- or was- napping on a bed made for him in the corner. The one thing of note are paper signs posted at each exit to the room which amount to Gaia telling herself where she is and what she's currently doing.

Nothing to worry about at all, D. Especially as of late, she's gotten into the habit of keeping a weapon of some type by her side. Bows and her hammer might not be great for indoors, but the dagger laying within hand's reach is most certainly not a paring knife.

The door opens and shuts and Uri is immediately restless.

"Hm?" Gaia is in tune to the canine's responses; a necessary survival trait for Trench's underlaying threats. But that has also come with a familiarity of what those responses mean. And there's only one (maybe two if you count Nico) for whom Uri reacts in this particular way. Only one of them would be so bold as to walk in.

Her heart beats a little faster. Not fear exactly, but she's not about to just go on faith that a certain dhampir is the only possible visitor in this scenario. Of course, most dangerous individuals wouldn't use the door. Much less have a key to use the door.

Honestly she wasn't even sure how many times D uses the actual door versus showing up but that's a whole other story.

"...D?" Gaia's voice calls out from right where she is if that's all the same to you, thank you very much. And her hand is resting on the hilt of the dagger, in case it proves her visitor is most decidedly not someone she recognizes.

...Which is another problem all by itself because why is everything Darkblood about memories, really.
fogsong: (35)

[personal profile] fogsong 2022-09-22 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
There's so much to absorb and Sharon spends several heartbeats doing so. Her cool gaze takes in the night sky and how the transports sporadically light it up like little stars; how the plants have wilted away; how the vampires around her are dressed and seemingly frozen with fear, their attention on a menacing, towering figure whose very presence demands everything. She burns the images into her mind but it's the wild, imposing figure that takes up most of them.

She shifts back a half step as something in the air shifts. When the man speaks, it almost sounds like D. He speaks like D. It's impossible not to see the similarities between the two. But she doesn't have the time to catch them all. He speaks and his voice makes her heart flutter with fear; drains her of her boldness; makes her want to uncharacteristically shy away.

And then it's as if the world is falling apart. The ground begins to shake and rumble and a building crumbles and D sweeps her up. He tosses her over his shoulder like she weighs absolutely nothing and she lets out a tiny, choking cry that gets cut off in her throat.

"What the fuck what the fuck——D, what the fuck," her words become shrill the more she repeats them. Her mind is racing and she can see them, the Nobility. Vampires. She feels an instinctive terror and clings to D; she doesn't try to pull away, doesn't try to get a better look at the surroundings, and just lets herself be carried away. She wants to do something, anything, to help but feels ultimately helpless to the the flow of this memory.
offinventory: (mood; arms crossed)

Ghostly Existence | Wildcard [Closed to D]

[personal profile] offinventory 2022-09-22 02:59 am (UTC)(link)
It happens on instinct. One moment, Murderbot is attempting to trigger its memories to return, the next an oversized fauna leaps out at it. It nearly fires the energy weapons in its arms, but they're no use against something like that. Murderbot doesn't want to explain scorchmarks in its sleeves unless its has to. It sprints out of sight and reaches for the code that keeps it off security cameras.

Are there security cameras? No. Do those matter if something regains line of sight? No. Does that measure help against noses or ears or any other sense? No.

The fauna, which it recognizes as the bugge now it takes a moment, stalks around the corner, sniffing. It approaches Murderbot, and Murderbot curses the lack of a bigger weapon, like the gun it brought back from a murder memory. This is going to end badly. For the second month in a row, it's sure, it's going to end up a squid. In a last ditch effort, it tries to send a message to 2B via its feed connection to the network.

Network connection unavailable.

That manages to quickly become second priority because the bugge walks right through Murderbot. It tentatively reaches out a hand to grab the animal. Its hand goes through the creature. Is this a squid thing? A magic thing? A magic squid thing? The bugge leaves because there's nothing here to... see? Feel?

Murderbot returns to The Entertainment Feed, pinging the network via its feed regularly. They go unanswered. It also still fails to interact with anything or anyone. Murderbot goes through the first four stages of grief and loops back around without passing acceptance.

It spends a day and a half going around Trench trying to get anyone's attention. It tries everything it would think to do, naturally, on its own. Like it is. Alone. Then it runs through the useless company training modules it hasn't deleted yet and follows those. Given the level of technology in Trench, they aren't much help. Then it queries its media (internal) for plotlines of this nature. As dumb as the scenarios are, they're something to try. It refuses to be abandoned alone on a populated planet!

In a fit of desperation, it even tries to make eye contact with people. A revolting process, even though no one looks back at its eyes. That'd be stellar if things were normal.

One source has the protagonist, magically shunned, seek aid from some beneficent monks. Murderbot, obligingly, goes to the next closest thing to a monastery. It isn't quite at "get a Pthumerian's attention" level of seeking aid, even after this long. Sanctuary. Thankfully the protagonist has a temper like Murderbot's at the moment, thoroughly tested and over everything. It shouts at everyone it sees, getting right up in front of them. It shouts at the animals, which it's pretty sure are omens.

Eventually, it spots a man sleeping in a tree, with a hat over his face. It's a suitably ridiculous choice of place to sleep that Murderbot decides if it has, for some alien-remnant contaminated reason, ended up in a serial, that's a marker of a significant plot character. Playing its part, it approaches the tree, about as close as it can get to SerialSleeper, and shouts, "HEY! WAKE UP, SLEEPYHEAD!"
acidjail: rights to use paid by me; do not take (06)

[personal profile] acidjail 2022-09-22 06:41 am (UTC)(link)
Mercymorn is already hitching up the skirts of her robe to crouch down by the steer, tucking a wisp of hair escaped from her strictly braided coif back behind her ear, when D speaks. She doesn't look up at him, but attentive focus is to be found in the cocking of her head as she listens.

"So you did this," she says, half-marvelling, as she rolls her sleeves up to her elbows. She holds her bared forearms up like parallel bars before her and does something that flashes subluminous and incinerates the faint pink hairs on them.

"Don't tell me how." The Saint of Woe does not tremble or shiver, but there is something about her that gives the impression of carrying current anyway. "There's copper wire on the side bench. Bring me that and the wire cutters - and third left vial in the blue painted rack, the clear liquid."

She holds her palm out flat over the stilled animal, a hair's breath from its hide, and a short, hot breath puffs out of her flaring nostrils as her eyes widen a single degree.
fogsong: (94)

[personal profile] fogsong 2022-09-23 01:53 am (UTC)(link)
There's not a lot to burn, not enough foliage to make setting the ground aflame anything more than a flashy show for the vampires to dash through, but everyone could burn. It takes her a moment to get started but it doesn't take long before fires begin to spark in the air——pops of orange and red and brilliant white light trail after them like fireworks.

But then it spreads. It grows. It shifts and takes shape in the air behind them. Every tiny spark in the air stretches out, thin, lengthy, and glowing white hot; a hundred thin glowing ropes line the stretch of space behind them like a fucked up fence. One of the vampires is foolish enough to try and barrel through. At first, they just tangle around the limbs and the torso like any other rope but then they tighten; they wrap them up and tighten. And tighten. Their clothes begin to smoke as the wires continue to tighten.

At the same time, she continues igniting spots in the air behind them, creating more wires. She pushes heat and fires out and it makes her heart pound with the effort. She tries to throw some of them back with telekinesis. She does whatever she can to create more distance between them.
offinventory: (mood; oooooooooooh)

[personal profile] offinventory 2022-09-23 02:38 am (UTC)(link)
Murderbot glances around after it sees SerialSleeper's face. It hadn't realized people as pretty as were in serials existed. Perhaps they are all this pretty? It's not like actors come to mining installations. If it somehow magicked itself into a serial, an actual serial, it's going to be so pissed. And PrettyFace can have a fist to it or nothing at all.

Relax, it's not a serial.

"Fun," Murderbot grumbles. Like this could constitute fun. Invisibility might be useful. Not being able to even climb a tree or interact with anyone at all is not fun.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Murderbot shouts back. It steps closer, however, because SerialSleeper has more of a reaction to it than anyone else it's shouted at. "OVER HEEEEEERE," it shouts toward the hand the guy is waving around. It isn't sure if that's required to sense it or more like decorative eyes on bots with visual sensors all over their bodies.
lightthedarkness: (Usagi) (I don't care!)

[personal profile] lightthedarkness 2022-09-23 03:08 am (UTC)(link)
Oh.

Joy.

Mr. Barely Apologizes and Bolts is in a boat with her.

Where was her inability to see NOW? She supposed she was mildly (okay, extremely) grateful it was her lack of smell this week. Usagi took a deep breath, turning her head as the boat moved and wondered what awaited them.

Already with the silent treatment, greeeaaat. She loved corpses and silence, it was her favorite.

As the boat started to move along she didn't immediately recognize anyone so she glanced back to D.

Should she even ASK? She already knew she was going to be met with stoic silence.

"You know," she said idly, not really looking at D. "Since I doubt you're actually going to talk to me, that or you're going to jump in the river rather than sit with me, I think I'm going to just talk to your Omen, or ya know, if that proves to be another wall of silence, I'll talk to myself." She was silent for a solid second before she glared over to him. "I don't know what I did to apparently piss you off considering your crap apology and the way you just fled," she looked over to him, scowling. "So why don't you just fall into the river now so you don't have to be near me again?"

Even sitting down he was frustratingly taller than her. She scowled and crossed her arms over her chest.

They were going to die on this boat, she was sure of it. He could barely talk to her so whatever working together they needed to do was clearly not going to happen.
Edited 2022-09-23 03:09 (UTC)

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