deercountry | Promises Promises/Insomnia

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Promises Promises/Insomnia

Who: Luz and you!

What: Accepting loss and dealing with NEW problems (yay)?

When: The first week of September

Where: Check prompts for locations!

A- Cellar Door

Luz would have said she was being needless emo. After all, there was rainfall here and she was depressed, so she figured being here would match her mood. How more dramatic did you have to be? But Luz wasn't in laughing mood, and it was everything she felt like right now.

Margot wasn't coming. She knew that now, she accepted it, and accepting that meant everything else that came with it. Margot was back in her world, robbed of her ability to think and reason as a person, back to her basic instincts as a wolf. No more playing and late night talks. No more huddles with her adopted sister. No more gardening. She wouldn't even remember Luz when she was there. It would be like she was never with Luz at all.

But Luz would remember. She'd remember and know that Margot wasn't just some person who wandered and left the dream. She was the sister she never had, the girl who'd share a room with her and helped her paint it and watched Eda cook as they eagerly awaited being fed and what the next day would bring.

She'd remember, and now, in the rain, she could at least cry with her hood up, and she'd be as much a passerby as anyone. Just some shadow person passing, weeping about something or other.

Or so she thought anyway.
thinky-Copy

B- Cassandra (The Disaster House)

Luz has had some time to think, and it was finally time for her to head to the place that would be her home. It's be nice, honestly, to have a place where there were more people her age, she reasoned. Obviously living with Eda and Margot had been ideal, and after that it had been the Doctors and Vira Lorr. Now she was at a new place, and a new place required a completely new way of living and, most obvious of all, would be redecorating her new place, which was the attic upstairs.

If you were visiting or a resident yourself, you'd see Luz busy at work already trying to make this place her own. There were already several stuffed animals, although Trenchwood seemed to have it's own ideas of what was cute, so the various creatures might be a bit off putting. There were several easels in the corner, one notably a wolf friend she was missing as well as one with various witches: Azura, Miss Hardbroom and of course her beloved Eda. The curtains were pulled back and there was air rushing in, so Luz was having a bit of trouble keeping all the papers from flying away.

"Darn it! This is the fifth time!"

C- Disaster House- I don't need sleep, I need clean!
needs-sleep

Was Luz getting a little unhinged because of her recent depression? Was she just overcompensating somehow? It was hard to tell. What one could SEE, however, was that it was the dead of night and Luz was not at all sleeping, but was instead intent on cleaning the disaster house, half mumbling to herself as she did so.

"I could tackle the living quarters, got to arrange the skulls. I don't want to get to the garden because I'll be crying again, or the greenhouse because I could probably die, or get poisoned. No good. Not going into Fern's room yet, I'll definitely die. The kitchen, YEAH! That sounds perfect!"

She had to go to the bathroom first.

"ARGH! WHY IS THERE A HOLE HERE?! VARIAN! THEY'RE JUST BATHROOMS!"

hunched-over

D - Drifting into Dreamspace

So after finally "convinced" to try and get some sleep, Luz finally had settled down, her omen (that was new) giving her a reproachful stare.

"I promise, I'll try!" Luz insisted, though Tempest did not look convinced. Luz blew a raspberry at the wolf and added, "thanks, you're the best" and closed her eyes, attempting to drift off. She'd been trying to do this the past few days, and doubted anything was going to happen, but figured if she couldn't sleep, she'd maybe go to the tower and get some reading done.

However, she DID drift off, just not in the way she though. For a moment, she felt a wave of color pass over her, and she figured that she was finally nodding off, but instead of that she felt light. She exhaled and felt herself leave, and for a moment, she was assuming she was unconscious.

But it was a strange feeling. She opened her eyes, and realized she was very much not awake, not quite. She was instead floating, drifting quietly down the attic steps and then out the door. She should have been freaking out, but her body felt so tired, and whatever was happening now felt NOTHING like that.

A passing though occurred to her. Maybe I should try these lamp location thingies out.

But where would she wind up?

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Look, it's not and she knows it, so Luz pouts a little. "Nope, I definitely don't go leaving my body to walk around non-corporeal like. So I'm going to have to chalk this up as one of my new magical abilities. Yay me."

Luz did not sound over enthused about this for good reason. Maybe if she started to learn how to do it on her own, things would be different, but for right now it was fairly inconvenient.

"Anime is real because it is fun, and honestly pretty varied! You might have to get a little more specific on which one I was talking about."

There are SO much anime that came to mind.

"Yay you. I thought randomly setting things on fire was bad, but at least I'm still in my own body for that one, and I can like... keep a fire extinguisher nearby," he scratches his cheek, thinking. "Jeez, what can we even put in place to help you with that? It's not like we can just tie a rope to your...mind so it can't go wandering."

IS there a way to stop that? He doesn't know, this is so very out of his ballpark.

"Well, lots of things are fun, but it doesn't mean they're real, you know. We can't quantify real-ness by their level of fun."

He's grinning, he's 100% messing with her.

"I think it happened because I didn't know it was possible. If I want to actually control it, I'll have to try and bring it out on my own. Not really sure how that will work since I was just trying to sleep before, but it might be more of a mental thing than just, you know, hooky spooky stuff."

She'd really have to try meditating, which she'd done a little of in Deerington but clearly needed to start doing more of here.

"Maybe not in boring world where you live..."

Luz could mess around just as much, thank you.

"Hmmm. Maybe there are other people in town with those kinds of abilities normally? Like I went to Mako for help because he's a firebender back home too," he rubs the back of his neck. "Maybe Korra? I know she's done a lot of spirit stuff. She might be a good person to ask."

He can't think of anyone else off the top of his head capable of doing anything like this. He snorts softly.

"My boring world of super cool science, you mean? I think not."

"Why didn't I think of-of course!" Luz whapped herself on the head. "Why haven't I asked Korra, of course she'd probably have an idea! Thanks for reminding me!"

Luz, who just learned you had that ability, the first correct step was telling Varian.

"Science is nice but it totally kills the vibe of fantasy," Luz said stubbornly. "ALTHOUGH, steam punk is kinda the marriage of both, so that's not completely true."

"Don't mention it. I don't know if anyone else here would be any help, but Korra definitely should!"

The first rule of Disaster House is to never take the first correct step. She's good. He snorts softly.

"Uhhh I'd say steampunk is all science, thank you. It's based in reality. Everything can be explained by its working parts."

Can it Varian, can it really?

"I'll ask her when I see her. She must have done something like that as the Avatar, they can supposedly access the spirit world all the time! I mean, they don't, but they can!"

It was Luz: a part of her was still waiting for people to get sick of her.

Luz stuck out her tongue. "Machinery is the main focus, but magic probably has a subgenre there too. There can be be LOTS of additions added in steampunk Mr. hater of magic. That's pretty much what steampunk is all about: using the stuff around you and making it work better."

"Yeah, exactly! This has got to be old hat to her! "

Maybe the people from that world are just going to be the most useful in this new world. How fun for them. He snorts, returning the gesture, so very maturely.

"Well, yeah, I guess," god he says it like it's pulling teeth. "Maybe you can improve magic with science."

That's not what she said and he knows it.

"Right, right! You know though, it wasn't really bad. My body was relaxed and I wasn't moving. It's more like I was floating, and the air was like heavy mist, I guess? It kept you anchored, so it was as if I was a kind of astronaut, only I could move freely?"

It was also incredibly hard to explain.

Luz raised an eyebrow. "You can say that when you use science to fight a guy who can literally materialize seconds behind you."

The Emperor came to mind, woo boy.

"Interesting," no, he really means it, it is. "So it didn't feel like you could lose your own body at any point?"

That's better than the alternative. If she can always get back to her body, then that means she might not end up being completely cut off from it.

"I'll have to observe it happening at some point. I want to see how vulnerable your body is while you're doing it- just in case we have to take precautionary measures to keep you safe while you're doing it."

Even if it means just standing around her body with BIG STICKS until she gets back. He snorts a little.

"I'm pretty sure I could manage it if I had time to understand the mechanics of his powers."

"No, not at all. The moment I lifted out of it I knew my body was still behind. I didn't feel like I was dying, or that something freaky was happening either. It was more like I was just suspended in some kind of fluid, and I was sort of working my way through it? It's honestly a little hard to explain."

She hadn't felt panicked though, which was probably why things didn't turn out in disaster. It still felt a if this was something she should be doing, that she COULD do without something happening to her body.

"That's not a bad plan. If you want to keep watch over my sleeping body, I can explore outside of it, and then you can help pull me back. I think it IS probably more about keeping my physical body safe. It's like the way that one wolf girl I met on the shore described herself being a wolf: it only happens when she's asleep, her regular body is just left behind like normal."

"That sounds...really strange. I wonder if there's a way to monitor that from the outside? Hmmm, probably not."

It's kind of hard to track someone's conscious after all. But he can take some comfort in the fact it didn't hurt her. That it didn't seem to cut her away from her body.

"Oh yeah, I remember meeting her. Yes, I imagine it's exactly like that. We can test out different ways to bring you back to us, use the most effective ways in an emergency," at least this IS something they can work with. "We'll be able to find the best ways to make sure you can do it without you having to worry about getting hurt or struggling to get back."

"From the outside? I couldn't say. It was my first time and, well, I have no idea what my unconscious body is doing. Maybe if I get a handle on it, you can run a test while I'm in that state?"

Luz wasn't going to deny Varian exploration of this extraordinary circumstance, after all.

"That's not a bad idea! Actually, I wanted to bring this up to you and see what you thought. There's a girl here who can do tattoos. She put herself on the network a couple of days ago. There's a way to get a tattoo that can track a person wherever they are, but she says they need an anchor, someone who was willing to get one so they know where that person is. I wanted to know if that was something you were interested in, in case you really want to know where to find me in case of an emergency."

"I'd be happy to try, anyway? I want to make sure you're safe if that's gonna happen. Don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Because he is not willing to entertain anything happening to her if he can prevent it. Which is why he entertains what Luz has to tell him at all. After all, that sounds like even more magic being foisted onto him when he's already pretty much at his limit for that. But this was important- and given how big the city was and how much he was worried could go wrong here...well. He lets out a soft hum.

"That...doesn't sound like the worst idea ever. We don't know what this place will throw at us- having that safeguard might be a good plan...and it's not like all of us didn't already have tattoos until recently," he offers a smile. "Yeah, sure, Luz. I'd do that for you."

"I understand. It isn't magic I'm familiar with either. So maybe at the end of the week I should try going into it on purpose. It'd be pretty scary if I'm talking to you guys one minute, then falling over and leaving my body the next!"

When learning about what would be required, her first thought was Fern: he was the type that definitely wouldn't have minded a tattoo, and at least someone in the house would know. When she was told the dye would likely not stick to Fern because he was a plant, her next thought was Varian. He wouldn't like magical part, she knew, but he would get the practicality of why it was happening.

"I didn't, so it would be my first one!" Luz sounded pretty excited about it. "Thanks Varian! I knew I could count on you! This way, if one of us gets into danger, the other will know about it!"

And not be caught off guard by a mental scream, thanks Dipper.

"Yeeeeaaaaah, none of us would find that the most fun experience, honestly."

There would be so much screaming. The entire house would be screaming. Except for Reaper, probably. It was a very practical solution, and one he'd take. For her if nothing else. At her comment he nudges her gently, snorting in amusement.

"I meant the Deerington tattoos, dummy," he teases lightly. "But no problem. I know I'd rest a lot easier knowing I had a quick and easy way to tell if you were okay or not."

Thanks, Dipper.

"I'm not sure it'd exactly happen that way, but I'm not about to pretend that it couldn't, you know? So better I try and make the attempt before that happens."

She was really going to have to ask how Reaper was able to do this to begin with. Darth Maul said something about him being made of mists, and she was very curious about how exactly that worked.

"I knew that! But I think it'd be a good idea too. I'll let her know you'd go for it, and we'll get an appointment set up, ok?"

Luz actually was both scared and excited about this, but mostly she just appreciated Varian for saying yes.

"'Course. Better safe than sorry."

Varian's tried to understand Reaper's makeup a little better, but the man is very unwilling to talk about it, even more so when it comes to trying to find a solution for him. Varian can't blame him, it sounds messy, but it still remains an unsolved mystery for the boy.

"Sure thing, just let me know when you need me."

"Right."

Luz had already what happened when they weren't playing things safe. They weren't going to repeat that mistake just because they were in a different place.

As for Reaper, Luz figured she might be better off asking him directly.

"I'll let you know once I contact her and she replies, ok? You...do know that getting a tattoo hurts a little, right?"

Varian snorts, rolling his eyes lightly.

"What, you mean stabbing people with needles to inject ink into their skin hurts? Gosh, wow, I never would have guessed."

Luz glowered. "Hey, I don't know if that exists in your world! I'm just covering up my bases!"

He is definitely remaining very amused at her expense.

"I guess I can't judge you for that, buuuuuut tattoos have existed for a long time, y'know. I'm not that ancient, thank you."

Luz continues to have to remember big brothers tease all the time, especially super intelligent ones.

"That was a brain fart. Of COURSE tattoos have existed, they were tribal. Man, my young brain must have been overriding my historical fact part."

That and, well, sometimes there was no telling what carried on and what didn't in other universes.

One day, she will remember this and learn to head him off at the pass.

"How tragic for you, must be all the modern pop culture slowly rotting your brain," he grins, shaking his head gently. "Sad. So very sad."

"Rasslefrassal," was all that Luz could manage to mumble there. Freaking brothers and their nerd wit. But he had her there.

"Well ANYWAY, I'll go make the appointment. No crying when it happens though, or I'll never let you live it down."

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Promises Promises/Insomnia

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