Working out of the doldrums

[imaglyphwitch]

Who: Luz and various, depending on the heading
What: Finding ways to keep herself busy!
When: November
Where: Disaster House/Farther Shores



A) Scars (in and around the disaster house)

This had been hard for the days after the second capture: sleeping on her back was a no-no, and anyone who'd heard her during the night knew that she was feeling pretty uncomfortable, so there was definitely no sleeping on the floor: the bed was a must. After that though, there was no more sleeping.

Because, well, nightmares tended to claim Luz's thoughts. It was bad enough when they were about the dark warehouse but then they started mingling with the cave and the mountain men and now Luz's dreams were pretty much built around being a snack while being bled dry. So if you weren't actually in the Disaster House you might see Luz up on the porch, a drink in her hand and eyebags for days.

What a time to be alive.

B) A-boat scavenging we go! (OTA)



Look, it's been a hard week, and Luz can't just stay in her house going crazy, no matter what her body might say! So Luz is bundled up pretty tight, bag on her back, and is already gone from the house to start looking over some of the boats in this newest arrival of Sleepers. If you were also looking to search through the boats you might find a rather chipper Luz, who's managed to extract a few rare goods from one or two boats.

"Hey, give me a hand! Maybe we can find some stuff easily, together!"

C) And then there's a time for fighting. (OTA)

So much for a peaceful search! Not that Luz thought it was going to stay peaceful in the first place, but she had definitely been hoping she wouldn't be thrown into the scary, violent side of things until a little later! But nope, there was literally evil blood coming from the ground, and Luz's glyphs, while effective, definitely was not going to be able to hold against ALL these enemies.

She could definitely use some help.

Comments

B, possibly leading into C depending on how much shenanigans you want here

[zib]

[Zib is indeed here searching the boats, in particular for any valuable material that could be used for fixing his ship, or for any other inventions he has ideas for. There's a small pile by his feet of any metal that looked decent enough, using a metal hand extending from a cable in the PAK on the back of his head to reach for and grab whatever is out of reach for him... until he hears Luz's voice.

He doesn't have time to retract and try to hide it because it's currently holding something heavy, so as a result he sort of gives an awkward glance at her, and then at the metal hand before looking back at Luz.]

...Depends. Are you opposed to what kind of hand we can offer to help here?

[... It's a joke. Or at least an attempt at one.]

[imaglyphwitch]

Oh, I don't see why not. This might be a bit more than we can handle on our own, after all.

[Luz. Nerd. Appreciator of puns. She was also pretty fascinated by the big appendage coming out of Zib's big head].

You have any luck so far?

[zib]

[Okay, good, no awkward questions about the PAK yet, much to his relief.]

Well, I've mostly been looking for any scrap metal or the like that could be used for any possible inventions, and especially for... well. I need to replace a few parts of my ship that had crashed recently, after all.

[He has no doubt that he can get it to hover and drive around Trench again, but... probably not able to risk running into Cynthia or anything else that might be around to prevent space travel. Which isn't great, but that's the hand he has been dealt here.]

What about you?

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz was not from Zib's world: she was not about to start asking questions unless he supplied the answers to begin with].

Oh, right, I did see the network post! I did try to tell you that you wouldn't just be able to leave, you know. There are plenty of smart people who've been brought here, and trust me, they'd leave if they could. You can fly it of course though, otherwise I wouldn't be able to fly around on my staff.

[Well. That made for a loaded answer].

Looking for exploration, and a slight distraction.

[zib]

[Zib huffs a bit at that.]

I know you did, but look, I can't just give up and not try to find a way. I refuse to just accept defeat if an idea worth pursuing is given the opportunity of testing here.

[The metal hand puts down what it was holding, seeking again to dig through what's here as his own method of distraction, even if he does ask--]

So what is it that you are trying to distract yourself from? Just so I know not to potentially step on a landmine while we're talking here, so to speak.

[imaglyphwitch]

Hey, that's all you, Zib. I had already felt that there was only so far I could go, but I pretty much live with a scientist, so. I knew that you'd test out your limits anyway. Besides, it's not like you met Cynthia before anyway.

[Luz had known full well that this place was supposed to be their NEW world and what not. Just being able to leave would have been silly].

Oh, nothing here! I just...had some pretty rough experiences some time ago, so I was pretty much trying to see what I can scrounge up for the house. A new adventure is always welcome over rampant depression, after all.

[zib]

That's not my--ugh, forget it.

[He doesn't really want to argue about this anymore, instead focusing on the task at hand.]

I'd ask what these "rough experiences" were, but then again, I guess you would not be trying to find a distraction if you were wanting to talk about them.

[imaglyphwitch]

Forgetting!

[Ok, it was Zib, so she could at least speak about this plainly].

Being offered as a sacrifice in this warehouse of blood sacrifices. It was pretty harrowing, and something I do NOT recommend.

[zib]

Oh... yeah, that doesn't sound like a good recommendation.

[Thank god, for once Zib is agreeing on something being too extreme even for him.]

I'm sorry you had to deal with something like that.

[imaglyphwitch]

It's an understatement to say it's not.

[From the many many bodies to seeing Lysithea have to mercy kill one of the mangled to Luz HERSELF being harvested for blood? There was little doubt as to why Luz had to immediately put it out of her head, because otherwise she'd have never wanted to leave the house].

Be glad you weren't there. There was way too much stuff no one's meant to see. So yeah. the less I think about that, the better.

Which is why I'm here!

[zib]

... I hate to say it, but I've probably had worse than being offered as a blood sacrifice happen to me, depending on who you ask back home.

[He's mentioned the Nightmare Realm to Luz before, but that's honestly only the tip of the iceberg of the list of fucked up things that have happened in his universe.]

But I still wouldn't want to get involved in this sort of thing I can avoid it, so I am glad I managed to avoid all that somehow.

[imaglyphwitch]

Hey, if you had something worse happen, you can keep the crown of 'bad situations that got worse very quickly.' I just want to be able to sleep peacefully again.

[She definitely didn't need to see the sights and smells of that place in her nightmares over and over, whether she was awake or not].

Just try to stay away from those blood zealot guys and you'll be fine. In the meantime, distractions will suit me just fine, so I'm here, looking to see what I can salvage. Might be something important for the house, or at least something Varian can use.

[zib]

Fair enough.

[Speaking of Varian, though--]

I have to admit, I'm not really sure what would be useful here for that guy. We both like science, but he's called an "alchemist" rather than a scientist, right?

( a )

[danserai]

[ ahiru peeks from the doorway, concerned. ]

Is everything all right?

Re: ( a )

[imaglyphwitch]

[Aw crud, stop looking pensive Luz! This is the one person you don't want to freak out!
Luz turned to Ahiru with a practiced smile on her face],

A-Ahiru, heyy! Yes, I'm fine. Just sitting out here, uh, thinking about blood matters and things! How are you doing?

[danserai]

[ ah. not okay then. ahiru comes closer, brushing down her dress before sitting down next to her. ]

I'm okay. It's been fun, even with the mushrooms being weird.

Did something happen with . . . blood . . . stuff?

[imaglyphwitch]

[Nope, definitely not ok. So much not OK].

Oh right. I totally forgot about those mushrooms! Ugh, what a pain.

[Could she lie about this? Luz thought a moment, then sighed. No. It wouldn't be right, to do that when she hated being lied to herself].

Well. Some of us got kidnapped off the street by these crazy worshippers, and taken for sacrifices. Without getting into really, really bad details, there was a lot of bloodletting and corruption stuff going on. It was really bad.

[danserai]

[ oh. that definitely sounds intense. ange had mentioned something similar too. she extends her hand quietly if luz wants to hold it. ]

It must have been very scary.

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz takes her hand. Acting tough wasn't going to get her anywhere, after all. She'd been trying to do that the past few days and just felt worse for her trouble].

It was terrifying. The second time was worse though, since they didn't actually have me letting out blood the first time. Definitely didn't think something like this was going to happen so soon.

[danserai]

[ she squeezes it gently. ]

Things like that should never have happened at all.

. . . Do you feel safe now?

[imaglyphwitch]

No. They really shouldn't.

[That was a good question. Luz wished she had an easy answer].

Do I think they'll kidnap me again? No, not right now. Am I still scared about it? Absolutely. I'm still having nightmares about it.

[danserai]

You don't have to handle it alone.

Do you want me to stay with you tonight?

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz was quiet a moment, taking this in].

You don't mind hanging out with a depressed teenager?

[danserai]

Of course not. We're friends.

And you would do the same for me.

[imaglyphwitch]

[That was sure comforting. Luz gave Ahiru a big smile, and gave her shoulder a pat].

I would, honestly. The last thing I'd want would be what happened to me to have happened to you. Truthfully, I'm not someone that can just BE alone.