acidjail: rights to use paid by me; do not take (03)
Mercymorn the First ([personal profile] acidjail) wrote in [community profile] deercountry2022-10-06 03:30 pm

wolves in the middle of town | october catch-all

Who: Mercymorn the First, Paul Atreides, and you
What: October catch-all, open and closed prompts
When: Throughout October
Where: Various locations in Trench

Content Warnings: Depression, suicidal ideation (passive), body horror, memory loss

azurestar: (there's a thunder in our hearts)

[personal profile] azurestar 2022-11-02 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
Lance nods and slowly lowers his hands as well. He doesn't take it personally, understanding quite well exactly what he means. Then he grins a bit ruefully.

"Yep, Earth's where I'm from. Heard that one loads of times."

Then his brows raise slightly at the question, also a little impressed Paul remembers his name. It's not like they had a ton of encounters, though Paul's kindness while he was corrupted sticks out in his mind very well. It's part of what drove him to come see if he could help.

"My place? Dude, the beach belongs to everyone, don't sweat it," he reassures easily, and then bends down to pick up a piece of super-heated black glass, "Looks like you're having a hell of a day, man."
terriblepurpose: (008)

[personal profile] terriblepurpose 2022-11-05 11:52 pm (UTC)(link)
The continued presence of someone who doesn't know him well but remains unafraid, even casual about Paul's condition, evokes a feeling in Paul he cannot quite yet articulate to himself. All he is sure of is that it doesn't feed the stir of panic that has gripped him with some of his other visitors, and when he watches Lance bend to pick up the glass, he does not imagine him in any flames but the ones he brought himself.

"Something like that," Paul says, with a pale trace of the driest sort of humor cutting through the underlying tension in thin slits. He opens and closes his hands at his side and glances out towards the expanse of sand and water behind Lance, here in this place that belongs to everyone.

"Not every book you find in a dusty catacomb should be picked up...I don't think that's an Earth saying. I know it's not one where I come from, but perhaps it should be." As if thousands of years of stories don't already exist about more or less just that, if a touch less specific.

"It's not catching," he adds, because that, too, seems important. "As far as I can tell, at least."
azurestar: (clarity)

[personal profile] azurestar 2022-12-07 10:47 pm (UTC)(link)
He follows Paul over to his chosen hermit hidey hole cave. It's familiar to him. When he first got his powers, he went to go live in the wilderness, though it wasn't a cave. Didn't want to hurt anyone. Well, anyone else, or hurt them more than he already had.

"Well, it doesn't have to be a saying to be a pretty solid rule to live by," He nods as if that was a wise thing to say. Then he tilts his head when Paul said it's not catching, trying to piece together what he means.

"Oh, so it's a curse or something?"
terriblepurpose: (012)

[personal profile] terriblepurpose 2022-12-10 12:15 am (UTC)(link)
"I think so."

Paul sinks to the ground and folds his legs underneath him neatly, unconcerned by his knees on the stony cave floor. He closes his hands and leaves them that way as loose fists on his thighs, this lips thinning lightly as he contemplates how to expand on his answer.

"I'm not an Arcane Scholar, but I know a few things," he says, reluctance more than modesty curbing his tongue, "But if it's a curse, I still don't know how to break it."
azurestar: (one day)

[personal profile] azurestar 2022-12-11 08:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Lance flops down with far less grace, leaning back on his hands with his legs folded like a pretzel. From there he hums as he thinks about Paul's curse situation. He's even less of an arcane scholar than Paul says he is, so from that angle he's kind of got nothing. Doesn't mean he won't still try to troubleshoot it.

"So, you're turning into a human bonfire uncontrollably… anything else? Is it random or does it have a trigger?"
terriblepurpose: (057)

[personal profile] terriblepurpose 2022-12-14 03:40 am (UTC)(link)
There's a fascinating spot on the cave floor that Paul fixes his attention to as Lance asks his question. It's a scuff mark from something long past, some scraping damage left by a force strong enough to blemish stone. He wonders what it might have been.

"Fear," Paul says, finally, like a weight dropping from his mouth into a dark pool. "Fear of losing things that are important to me. It's as if it wants to...devour them. Consume them so completely there's nothing left. That took - trial and error."

A scorched jacket, a burned angel. Paul's handprint in the bark of a hundred year old tree. When he wades into the ocean it boils around him.