deercountry | November Catch-All (Mostly Closed)

"She's settling in, I think. Admittedly, I am not pleased that this place thinks it's all right to snatch children away from their homes to this squid-strewn hellscape, but she's here so better to make her as safe as possible."

He can't help a little laugh at that, nodding.

"Mm, well. A concern, to be sure, but she's very good with her pyro skills. Still she is just a little girl. Though given who her mother is, and who Klee is, I wouldn't underestimate her."

But he would do whatever he can to protect her, and he's well aware he's not the only one here who thinks that way. Lumine and Diluc, at least, likely Venti too. And likely Lumine's twin as well, if he thinks about it.

He hasn't noticed the movement at all -- an unfortunate side effect of having a very obvious blindside - so doesn't even have any mind to pay it. Or the next little stirring of leaves that follows after.

"I have a lot of questions in regards to Alice," he says, thinking on what Klee had told him about her. "She seems interesting, to say the least-"

His sentence is cut off by that same movement coming into view, a little mushroom with feet that hobbles right through their conversation, being closer to Childe than Kaeya. It doesn't stop, innocently spraying spores as it marches on towards nowhere at all, walking between the two men without a care in the world. He looks down at it, confused at first. He's never seen a walking mushroom yet, and it dawns on him far too late to realize that the next moments would prove to be some of the most terrifying ones yet.

Thankfully that wind keeps the spores away from Kaeya, but Childe breathes them in before he can think to move away, and his vision suddenly warps into something unlike he's ever seen before. The ground seems to melt, and every tree around them twists into abominations that begin to loom over him. Kaeya's form seems to morph into a grotesque version of himself, hunching over with mandibles that seems to grow out of his face, legs bending the wrong way with several arms with claws that grow from his shoulders and sides. It was almost if his form were liquid, rippling and unstable as if it could grow more appendages as it needed to.

He stands there frozen, pupils dilated. Childe tries to move, but he finds he can't at the moment, almost as if he were suffering through sleep paralysis. He can't even scream if he wanted, unable to communicate what was happening.

"Interesting is the only word for Alice in many ways, and somehow it still doesn't quite cover it all." Kaeya chuckles to himself, thinking that he should tell Childe to spend a bit more time with Klee but then imagine that level of chaos as an adult genius, but he doesn't get the chance.

Instead, there's a little mushroom invader.

For a moment, Kaeya finds himself staring at it in bemusement. He thinks he vaguely remembers someone speaking about walking mushrooms and that it wasn't a good thing.

He looks back up to Childe and it is very clear that something is wrong.

Oh. Oh shit.

"Childe?" He begins, taking a step towards the other man and, well, drop kicking the mushroom as hard as he can. Away! Far, far away! Too late though. "Hey, can you hear me?"

That mushroom in his vision looks like a mutated projectile of fungus that flies past him and nearly hits him in the head, even though it's no where near him. Childe loses his balance, stumbling backward from the mushroom and Kaeya taking a step closer to him. That one step looks like Kaeya's monstrous new form grew even bigger and now looms over him. He struggles to compose himself in this new horrifying reality, only worsened by the warped sense of time and movement. Childe grimaces; he needs to figure out this situation before he gets killed. He looks terrified, but is becoming determined to survive.

Kaeya's question only comes through as a chittering sound, and somehow he manages to draw his blades and swing one of them at Kaeya, not realizing who it was he was swinging at. His arm feels like it's moving in slow mo, but it's moving just as fast as he normally moves when he attacks, trying to defend himself against a monster that isn't really there.

The attack is unexpected -- and quick. He's seen Childe fight before in their little foray into ghost hunting, but he hasn't faced him yet. No time like the present, he supposes.

His own blade is in his hand just in time to fend off that slash as Kaeya darts away. "Hey! That's a little rude, friend."

But he knows that he's not exactly getting through to Childe right now. Whatever that mushroom did, it's clearly gotten the other man caught up in it. He really hopes he doesn't have to kill him to make it stop. Granted, he will, but for now at least that's plan B.

Plan A is to try to shake some sense into him, knock him out maybe, outlast whatever toxin the fungus got the harbinger with. "And to think I was starting to like you," he sighs, even if he's quipping to himself. His Vision lights and ice races down his blade as he swings it across in an arc to set ice spreading over the ground.

Ice spreads all over the ground, but Childe doesn't even recognize it as such. All he knows is that his strike was blocked, and that hard clang between the two men's blades sends a shock through his body that he wasn't expecting. A familiar one, one that has its roots in reality. It makes him falter, and the ice spreads under his feet, making him slip and fall onto his side with a thud.

"Ngh-!"

In his nightmare, he begins to sink into the ground, colors enveloping his arm as he struggles to get up. He looks up at Kaeya, still the same monster looming over him, but was it really? What happened right before this? Childe's mind swims as he tries to make sense of the situation, dragging himself across the ice until he finds something with more grip. Wasn't Kaeya with him? Were they both transported to wherever he is now?

"Kaeya," he calls out, "answer me..." is all he manages before he seems to forget how to move his mouth, looking around for the man while keeping the 'monster' in his peripheral.

This is not a good situation. Kaeya can't just leave Childe here, of course. No knowing what the other man would get into -- who would take advantage of his disorientation and hurt him, or who Childe might hurt unintentionally.

And he'd really rather not kill him since, well, that'll make things awkward later. Besides that, he wouldn't wish re-squiddening on anyone. Maybe he could wear him out, but this usually-cheerful asshole has more stamina for fighting than Kaeya thinks anyone should have, something he witnessed first hand in their ghost hunting adventure. Still, an option. Incapacitating him would be better. Quicker.

Still he hesitates when Childe falls, lowering his sword. Getting through to him would be the best option, but how-- His thoughts slam to a halt when he hears his name. Ah. Maybe there's hope for that yet.

"I'm right here, Childe." He speaks, slow and calm, voice level but projecting. "You're not yourself right now. Your senses are lying to you. Can you hear me?"

Please hear him.

The words are a garbled salad of nonsense, but he can tell where they're coming from. His jaw still doesn't seem to want to move, and he doesn't relax at all, pushing himself up onto his feet in what seems like years. He has to calm down and think, but it's difficult when even the soft breeze of late fall sounds like a roaring howl in his ears. He turns towards Kaeya, cautious, but recognizing that the abomination he sees before him answered him.

Just before this happened, that mushroom sprayed him in the face. Then there is a way, if this is what he thinks it is. It takes a minute, but he manages to find his voice again. "My basket," he manages, "find it. Find the medicinal mushrooms I picked in it."

The basket doesn't lie too far away, in sight of both of the men. Childe can't see it, it blends into the watery landscape that seems to flow and ebb beneath his feet. If the locals were to be believed, that might solve this issue, and boy did he owe Kaeya an apology after this.

Kaeya is quick enough to put together what Childe is getting at. And he's thankful that the other man apparently has gathered something that might be a help already. He nods quickly. "I see it."

With that he moves, slowly still, given that he doesn't want to do anything to spook Childe and set him running while he's still caught in the haze of this delusion. He picks it up and looks through, trying to remember what he's been told about the local fungi.

This one, isn't it?

He hopes. The last thing he needs is to give Childe something that'll make it worse. "Well, here goes nothing either way I suppose, he murmurs to himself." He takes out the mushroom he's identified and holds it out to Childe and approaches slowly, like he's coming closer to a cornered, wounded wild animal. "Here."

It takes all of his willpower and reason not to pull his weapons out on Kaeya once more as he approaches him. His survival instincts are in full gear, but he knows that all is not what it seems to be. Childe keeps an incredibly tense and watchful eye on Kaeya as he reaches out to take the object in his hand, holding it between his fingertips as he takes and and examines it. It looked something more akin to a piece of a body part, a gruesome texture covering it with some kind of mucus or slime. There is no slime of course- just a trick of the delusion.

The worst part now is that he knows he has to eat it. The monster didn't attack him, and that's a good sign. But putting this thing in his mouth? That's going to take some courage too.

Here goes nothing, he thinks, popping it in his mouth. Childe reflexively shudders, closing his eyes while he chews and swallows the mushroom.

When he opens his eyes, the world has returned to normal, and recognition flashes in his eyes when he sees Kaeya. Smiling, he laughs in relief, mildly embarrassed in front of the other man.

"It really was just a hallucination. Goodness, what a nightmare..." He holds a hand up to his forehead, finding it almost surreal that the very environment around him was such a hellscape only seconds ago.

"Are you alright? There was a moment where I definitely tried to kill you."

"Ah good, you're back with us." He offers a smile that contains a genuine note of relief. He makes his way closer, cautious still. That wandering mushroom did quite a number on Childe, and very quickly too. That's a little disturbing to put it mildly.

The next question has him waving a hand. "You definitely tried to, but you weren't at your best, thankfully." He reaches out to set a hand on Childe's shoulder. "I'm sure if you were, I'd be somewhat closer to dead right now."

A pause and he adds, "There was a moment there where I thought I might have to kill you. And that seemed like it might put a dent in our burgeoning friendship."

November Catch-All (Mostly Closed)

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cw body horror, hallucinations

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