Mostly Closed Catch-all for November

[azurestar]

Who: Lance (azurestar) and CR
What: Catch-all for November, after this
When: All of November
Where: Prufrock, Cellar Door, Crenshaw

Content Warnings: discussion of death, murder, trauma/ptsd, psychosis, past torture

( ooc: this is a catchall for Lance this November after his conflict with Reaper and then Maul, though I am trying to keep my new threads this month limited in number, if you have CR with Lance already you are welcome to come plot something with me here or on plurk at spypigeon and we can start something here in this log or I may ask to wait till next month while I get his inbox more caught up and under control if I've already got too much going on, either way I'm happy to plot always! )

Comments

[onerthes]

[She happened across and up to the cart, patting once at the horse's main after letting it sniff at her hand. It didn't seem to calm Bob down much though. She could see a pair of those mushrooms over it, kind of waddling closer. They were doing something in terms of movement that would have made a Tonberry proud. Just meandering their way idly, they behaved as if they were completely innocent.]

Oh... those little mushrooms are walking. I'm not sure if that's cute or ...

[She was trying to remember what she'd read about mushrooms that could move.]

(OOC: Did we want hallucinations or to destroy those things ahead of time?)

[azurestar]

[Lance looks instantly panicked when she mentions the walking mushrooms and he turns his head to look… just in time for the spores to reach him. He sputters and falls over yelling.]

Oh shit! Shiiiit!

[He's on the ground trying to keep the spores away from him, but it's too late… Bob is startled enough that he bursts forward to escape the spores, breaking a piece off the cart to get free. Then he stops at the next street and waits because he's out of the danger zone now, all is fine. For him, at least.]

[onerthes]

Wait, what? What's going on?

[She'd collapsed onto her rear. The cacophany of the horse rearing and running only made it harder to fully comprehend. You know, until the little guys were just aa bit closer and shaking clouds of spores. Her eyes went wider and she blinked.

Ugh, her head was swimming. the world around her was swimming and she could feel her head starting to pound already. Thankfully the mushrooms weren't wandering closer, but the effects were getting to her already.]

Ngh... what did... they do?

[azurestar]

[Lance gasps as the world around them shifts, the shadows he has always seen off and on at the edges of his vision for so long since the Winter Lantern ate part of his mind come crashing into the foreground. "Terrifying hellscape" hallucinations is what he's heard will happen when those spores are breathed in and he's trying not to panic.]

They cause… hallucinations.

[He manages to explain before the hallucinations start really taking hold. Knowing it's not real does not help much for coping with the sight of buildings that suddenly take on the nightmarish quality of pumping organs. He can also feel his grip on reality loosening a bit, but he holds on tight.]

It's not real, not real… not real.

[onerthes]

Oh that's just lovely... I'm going to sautee them. You know that?

[She was trying to keep her breathing even. She saw the same things he did, more or less. A world livid and alive, like the beating intestines of some great beast were waiting right behind the walls. It was like October all over again. Sucking in through her teeth, she was having to calm herself, trying to put a hand unsteadily on his shoulder. It wasn't working well.]

Did they say a cure?

[azurestar]

I'll help.

[He says in a trembling voice and then jumps practically out of his skin when he feels her hand on his shoulder. But it doesn't take him long to realize it's her and he immediately goes to wrap his arms around her middle and cling. He shakes his head with a little whimper, eyes closed tight. Oh wait, that might be worse because he's hearing things too.]

N-nope. Dunno any cure.

[onerthes]

[She could feel him there, and she didn't care if it felt like a snake trying to coil around her. Despite the fear, she gripped more tightly to him and started to back up, towards a wall. Distantly, she could hear footsteps, and they sounded like thunderous rapport, getting slowly closer.]

I... don't think we're alone.

[They were not, but those mushrooms weren't farting around with whoever it was. They danced and started to scamper away quickly, the figure slowly getting closer looming like inky darkness. It was hard to target and she gripped her blade with her free hand, growling.]

Whoever you are, stay back!

(OOC: You can do the cart rescue or me whenever we want.)

[azurestar]

[Bob, giant, lovely, brave and beautiful Bob sees the two of them in potential danger and comes barreling back over. Zealots are slow walking towards them like the Terminator and it's horse to the rescue.

He comes to a halt close-by and noses the back of Lance's hand where it's latched around Vira's waist and Lance screeches, letting go. But then he hears the horse snort and looks over… and feels sick. Bob does not look like Bob to him, but… but he can tell it is Bob. He knows from the touch. And also because he's hearing Bob speak to him… yes, that's completely normal.

He grabs Vira's hand and starts to pull her to the cart.] C-come on! Bob's right here with the cart, we can trust him! He said so!

[onerthes]

That's not how any of this works! Horses don't talk! But fine, if it gets us out of here!

[Just call her Wilbur? She was grabbing where his hand directed, hauling herself up and over the lip of the wood, arm extended to him. Her eyes clenched shut, the world a swimming sea of awful colors that made her want to be violently ill, but as long as the two of them could get inside, the cart could do the rest, right?

Wait, was Bob his omen? She'd have to ask him later.]

[azurestar]

Then why did he just say 'yippie ki-yay motherfucker'?!

[That was all in Lance's hallucinating mind, of course. And as they both get on, fumbling and freaking out and just trying to trust what they're seeing is something else, the Zealots send lightning attacks their way. Lance turns around to look compulsively and then SHRIEKS at what he sees as Bob darts forward down the street, running as fast as his big bulky body can go.]

WHAT ARE THOOOSE?!

[onerthes]

That was NOT what I heard!

[As the horse began its race to get away from the lightning strikes, thunder echoing and sending her hands swiftly to her ears to protect them. She saw nothing more than black phantoms, horrible things that chased after them, practically bleeding fire and power.]

I don't know! I've never seen the like! Faster, Bob!

[azurestar]

Then get your ears checked!

[Bob goes faster, though it's unclear if it's because of Vira-Lorr or because he's scared out of his horsie mind. Lance for his part is increasingly more freaked out and detaching from what's real. He turns to look back at the zealots again and yells, firing off a blast of star power without thinking and then immediately curling in on himself when his body's injuries protest.]

Aughhh. We gotta… we gotta go up.

[onerthes]

Aren't we going up already? It feels like a spiralling...ugh, closing eyes.

[She managed to get a shot off, though if it actually hit anyone, she couldn't tell. One thing they were fortunate for... the zealots didn't have a pale or duskblood in them. They couldn't afflict the mind of the horse and nobody could stop time to catch up. They were powerful but they were quickly getting outdistanced.

There would be easier prey than these. Their shrouded, awful visages were fading and she could feel herself sick to her stomach.]

Need...ginger.

[azurestar]

We are?! But the spool is pulling us down again!

[Lance starts hyperventilating and his voice is trembling with something… a little unhinged. Then he yelps when a fireball whizzes past their heads and it looks like it has a thousand flaming eyes. He fires a blast at it and it creates a mid-air explosion a few feet in front of Bob. The horse whinnies and rears up in fear, halting abruptly. Lance is thrown forward onto the horse's back. He scrambles and clings as Bob starts swerving down another path wildly out of control.]

It's okay Bob, I killed it!

[onerthes]

[The one advantage of this haphazard path was that Bob was taking them well away from those things. the downside was that it might be a while before they got out of this completely. Vira-Lorr had to control her stomach's lurching while she reached up to grab for Lance, to yank him back in. Or at least, she assumed it was lance. He looked like a Galran with tentacles for hair.

...]

Get back in here you. I hate those mushrooms!

[azurestar]

[He yelps as what feels like a cold claw grabs him and pulls him back. He flails and thwacks Vira… in the boob. With the back of his hand.]

Wh-what was-?! What are you?!

[onerthes]

Easy!

[She pulled back and rubbed her breast as the cart careened down the alleyway, keeping her eyes closed. Bob was finally starting to slow down, gradually.]

Close your eyes. Breathe. I think... I think they're gone. Nobody's throwing fireballs now, or whatever that was.

[azurestar]

[He doesn't realize what he hit, just that it looked... agh. Vira's voice is starting to distort, and he's desperately trying to hold on to the knowledge that it's her and this was the doing of the mushrooms. But his grip is starting to slip. He's always been especially vulnerable to this stuff since his mind was broken and feasted on by the winter lantern, and now after the upheaval of killing Reaper and then fighting Maul so recently, he's shaking and bending over where he sits, gripping the side of his head and closing his eyes. Trying to breathe, and because of his injuries, the breaths come out rattled, wet and shallow.]

It n-needs to stop… Are you-? Are you okay? N-no what are you?

[onerthes]

It's me, Vira-Lorr... I'm alright, but ngh... I feel really sick to my stomach. Bob's running pretty hard.

At least... I think that's bob?

[It was Bob. And actually at this point the cart was coming to a rest. The feeling of the world spinning was all vertigo. She was starting to come out of it, slowly, but boy did she want to lose her lunch. Good thing she hadn't eaten yet.]

[azurestar]

It's… he's not… he is?

[The car stops and Lance doubles over to hug his knees, trying to keep his shit together and not doing so great with that.]

M-maybe I gotta… burn it out. Right? Burn it out…

[onerthes]

Easy there... it's a drug. A hallucination. It'll fade. Don't try to burn anything. That could make things much worse...

[She was holding herself and breathing softly, trying to get her heart rate to calm down.]

Keep your eyes closed. Bob'll run if anything happens... I'll let out Sharona, in case.

[Her own omen emerged, lingering by the cart, out of sight of either. It could sense her distress, but thankfully they'd given the bastards the slip for now. They had to wait this whole thing out, though.]

[azurestar]

[He wheezes and breathes heavily into his knees and tries to hear what she's saying for what it is. But his brain is distorting it. What he does hear is snippets that get mashed into something… different.

He lifts his head and reaches over to grab her shoulders, expression pleading.]

D-don't put a Sharona in Bob! What's a Sharona?? [Then he blinks and her face, oh god-] AHH! WHAT ARE YOU?? A SPOOL DEMON OF THE DEEP?! P-please don't eat my brain!

[onerthes]

ACK! I'm not a spool demon! You look like a mushroom head right now, Lance? It is Lance, right?

[Sharona? What's a Sharona? Oh, right, her omen was currently pacing, out of sight and out of mind. It had an eye out in case there was any trouble. Vira-lorr gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. Swirling colors were everywhere, but with her eyes closed she knew it was a lie.]

Keep your eyes closed. That way you know it's all illusions. Just breathe slowly. Relax. I think we're safe for now... mushroom noggin.

[azurestar]

Y-Yes? I don't know? M-maybe?

[Is he Lance? Oh god, now he's having an existential crisis and breathing fast. He closes his eyes and starts touching his face all over and then his chest and body.]

Is this my body? Am… am I supposed to have this face? How many arms am I supposed to have? A-and you didn't tell me what a Sharona is! Is it a mushroom?

[Deep, heavy breaths, but his lungs are… not in the best shape, and neither is the rest of him and he coughs. Blood ends up on his hand when he does, but it doesn't look like blood. But then it does? The visions are fading a bit, he looks around and everything looks a bit less wavy. He coughs again and more red, oh good, it's red now, not bright yellow.]

[onerthes]

Sharona's my omen. Like Bob's yours. [At least she assumed Bob was an omen, but right now she was sufficiently confused that anything was possible. She settled back into a position, lying on her back as best she did.]

She isn't a mushroom. She's a pokemon. I don't think they can be mushrooms.

[Tell that to shroomish.]