deercountry | Luca catchall post - Fun vileblood issues!

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Luca catchall post - Fun vileblood issues!

Who: Luca Paguro and open!
What: Luca's memory flashback, as well as generally sneaking around the Disaster House/Town/getting caught in snares because he's a vileblood and there's two blood types hunting him this month
When: Throughout the month
Where: The Disaster House or anywhere in the Trench

Content Warnings: A thirteen year old boy getting hunted like an animal, both in his memory and in the 'present day' prompts

Luca's Memory – Trying to escape Ercole (OTA)

Whoever touches the Winter Mourning will find themselves witnessing a hunt. Maybe they'll see out of Luca's eyes, a passive observer forced to make the same choices he made, or maybe they'll take on the role of someone else in the setting. Alberto, perhaps, or one of the people trying to catch Luca. Maybe they'll even be able to do their own things, make their own choices.

Regardless, the memory starts with Luca and Alberto in sea monster form racing through the streets on a bike. They're terrified, desperate. Ercole has gotten in front of them, but the hill's too steep to try and turn back and go up. Besides, they need to get back to the water to be safe, and to do that, they need to pass Ercole. Luca stares in horror as he keeps pedaling forward, and Ercole lifts his spear, ready to throw.

"You should have left when I told you. Now...I'm going to kill some sea monsters!" Ercole says, and his cackles fill the alley as he balances on his bike, his spear raised in the air.

Then, just in time, Giulia, a red headed girl who had caught up on her own bike, rams her bike in to Ercole's own, sending both of them tumbling to the ground. Luca and Alberto race past on their bike, but Luca glances back. Giulia bounces roughly on the cobblestones several time, rolling down the steep and rocky pathway.

"No!" Cries Luca.

"Giulia!" Alberto calls out to her.

Not willing to just leave her like that, not knowing if she's okay, Luca stops the bike and he and Alberto race over to her, helping her up. This was a mistake. They're surrounded now. Many of the townsfolk are just standing there, watching to see what happens next. Others seem more ready to participate in this hunt. Some have harpoons. Some have nets. They whisper.

"Look at that," says one villager.

"You're not going anywhere," says another.

Ercole, however, is quick to call dibs. "Guys! I saw them first! The reward is mine!"

Luca tries to be brave. "We're not afraid of you!"

"No," responds Ercole, "But we're afraid of you. Everyone is horrified and disgusted by you, because you are monsters."

The memory may end here. Or it may continue on for a few more seconds, so the viewer sees Giulia saying that they aren't monsters, and Massimo coming out of the crowd to tell them that the boys are Luca and Alberto. Either way, the memory wraps up soon unless the viewer is an active participant and was able to make a different choice in the course of events.

The Disaster House – Open to anyone who would be at/around the Disaster House

Luca's skittish. He's been hunted before, he knows the feeling. He knows the mortal terror, the constant hiding, the fear of discovery. The worst part is, this month even people he loved and trusted seem to be turning on him. Nowhere is safe. But this house...it's still home.

He sticks to the shadows, staying out of sight, easily startled if anyone spots him. Still, there are times he lets his guard down. Enamored with all the pretty antler decorations around the house, Luca decides to make his own. He takes a couple of antlers he's found tying them up with ribbons and decorating them with little twigs and springs from the greenhouse. At one point he even starts having enough fun with his crafting to relax enough to hum a little tune, enjoying himself as he pretties up the antlers, holding them up to see how they're coming.

Other times he can be found grabbing things from the greenhouse or the kitchen to eat. He doesn't know how to cook, though, and this month...this month he's too scared to find someone around the house to help him, so he might just start eating raw ingredients as is just to avoid coming out of hiding.

Out And About – OTA

But of course, living in a household with all bloodtypes can be quite stressful to a young boy during a season where he's doomed to be hunted by two of them, so he ends up spending quite a bit of time away from the house this month. Of course, he heeds the warnings he's been given about cold weather and bundles up. A dark grey wool coat, gloves, boots, a hat...dressed up as well as he can be as he heads out into the harsh winter.

Still, as unused as he is to this sort of winter weather, Luca does stop to marvel at the snow. It really is pretty, and he never imagined it looking quite like that. He stomps it down to crunch it, squeezes it in his hands, experimenting and examining it, fascinated...until he hears anyone else coming by.

Like a prey animal, he's likely to hurry off to cower in the nearest hiding spot, before staring in horror at the obvious tracks he's left in the snow.

Trapped – OTA

Luca is trying to be careful, staying out of sight, avoiding other people and obvious traps. Not all traps are obvious, though, and there are so many this month that he's bound to get caught at some point.

He panics when he feels the snare tighten around his leg, pulling him up. He struggles, and he wants to scream, but he doesn't dare to. He's helpless now in a place filled with people who want to hunt him. If he wrong person comes...he has no hope of survival. They'll just slaughter him right there. He has to get himself down.

He can't get himself down, he soon realizes. He can't get up to his leg. He can't do anything here. Tears well up in his eyes, and he wants to cry, but he's too terrified to be anything but silent. He'll die if anyone sees him...and he'll likely die here if they don't.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"That wouldn't by any chance be a woman who also tells fortunes, would it?"

But that would be a good way to get Varian to calm down, which was really what Luz was shooting for.

"Supposed to feel? How do you mean?"

"I think so? But I was only interested in the salt."

As for how water's supposed to feel...he's not quite sure if he can't describe it. He's not sure if humans can tell the difference. Well, they must be able to, or else why would they add it to their baths?

"I just mean how salt water tastes better and feels better when I'm in it than fresh water. I'm assuming humans are able to notice that, too?"

"I think I know who was going to give you the salt, if we're thinking of the same person. I lived with her for a little bit in the other town."

Oh, right, he was explaining the differences between salt and fresh water. Now it made sense.

"Oh yeah, they can. For one thing, salt water tends to dry your skin more if you're human. Fresh water is more for drinking anyway."

"I'm not sure if they are. I think this might have just been a native lady? She had a lot of stuff like crystals and other odds and ends, but it's just a booth in the Willful Machine."

Which he was mostly interested in because...well, he prefers saltwater.

"Oh. Why don't humans just drink salt water?"

He's noticed a lot of the water they drink (and offer him) is all fresh water, which Luca can drink, but he definitely prefers salt water.

"A native lady? Ok, maybe we're not thinking of the same person. Well, that doesn't matter anyway. As long as we get something for Varian, it'll be good."

Luz liked saltwater for sailing and catching fish, just not so much for drinking.

"Because it has salt in it, Luca. Salt is fine for food, in little bits. Too much and it can be really gross, you know?"

He probably didn't though.

"No?" He's staring at her like this is completely new to him. "I drink salt water all the time. I like it. Actually, the Ligurian Sea has even more salt than the ocean here."

Since the salinity of the Ligurian sea is higher than most oceans in general. That's part of what kept it so warm and cozy all year round.

"You're native to saltwater Luca, of course you like it. Regular human beings can't consume salt water directly because of all the salt. People's blood pressures would go through the roof. That's why we drink fresh water, it has no salt in it."

Not to say that some drinking waters on the market were necessarily sticking to that, but Luz wasn't going there right now.

"Oh, well, yeah that makes sense. I guess it just didn't occur to me that humans wouldn't be able to drink saltwater, too?"

It's a good thing he found out now, though. He could imagine if there was ever a shortage of freshwater in this place, he'd have assumed the humans would have been able to just drink the ocean water.

"See, being a vileblood is making your mouth go all out of whack. When you turn human, you try drinking JUST salt water. It's a lot. Regular humans definitely can't have something like that."

The sodium intake alone would be disastrous.

"I'm not sure if that's the vileblood or the fish boy. I also don't know if drinking saltwater in my human form would even change how it tastes. I mean, water's what makes my body turn back into my...sea folk form." Ahiru told him he should call himself whatever he wanted to call himself, and not feel like he should call himself a sea monster just because that was what he was 'officially' called, so he decided to take her advice. "And I don't really know if my human form changes my sense of taste, anyway. I could probably drink salt water no matter what form I'm in."

"It might be a combination of both. Obviously, you're going to be used to salt water no matter how you slice it, so why wouldn't you think that humans would be fine drinking salt water?"

Luz smiled. "Who knows? It's pretty interesting though, no matter how you look at it. At least you're able to do something most of us aren't able to, right?"

"Yeah," Luca agrees. "I mean, I already had stuff most people can't do. Like breathe under water, turn into a fish person, swim fast, and now all the vileblood stuff I can do, but it's an additional thing, at least!"

"And that's all OK! You should have some obvious differences between humans and fish boys! But just remember there might be some things that are going to translate different. Also, just be careful that there might be times where you might lose your Vileblood abilities, like a few months back."

"You're right, so I probably want to avoid relying on them too heavily."

He doesn't want to get in the habit of assuming he can poison anyone who attacks him at a touch, for example, and then let his attacker get way too close.

"I guess at least with fish stuff, that's something I can always rely on."

"If you have any questions about that kind of stuff, just ask me or...Varian."

Right, because Fern was grass and Ahiru had SOMETHING going on that Luz didn't know all about yet.

"Good! You never know when you might just need to yeet yourself into the ocean on a whim."

"Right, yeah, of course! I will, but sometimes I don't even know enough to ask a question. Like...it just doesn't even occur to me to ask if humans can do something or drink or eat something or whatever."

Because sometimes you have to know enough to realize whether something might be an issue, and while Luca has learned so much about humans since he got here, he feels like there's still so much to learn.

And yeah, being able to yeet himself into the ocean on a whim is good. Fortunately, he actually does understand what she just said, because while the word 'yeet' did not exist in his time, the magic of this place is translating everything into Italian for him regardless, just as it's making everyone else understand what he's saying.

"Yeah, that's always good. I mean, I don't know how often I'll have to do that here, but if nothing else it's helpful when I want to help new Sleepers get to shore."

Because they both know some Sleepers wake up way out in the ocean.

"Well sure. You've kinda blended in with us pretty seamlessly, I can see why you sometimes wouldn't really think about it. But I know you don't want everyone around here knowing your true fish boy origins, so if you're ever curious about anything, just ask!"

She didn't want everyone knowing who he was without his consent, after all.

Luz, please, for the last time, stop using your slang with people who would obviously have never heard that word before though.

"Right! I'm glad you're always there to give them a hand. You know, you're a pretty great person for that, have I mentioned it before?"

"Thanks! I'm actually getting more comfortable telling people, since it's kind of becoming more obvious that no one's going to kill me just because of what I am, but I'm still not quite ready to just tell everyone, so it's kind of nice having some people I can ask questions!"

Even though it's sometimes hard to even know what to ask. Still, he's pretty curious about a lot of human stuff.

"Thanks, I think you have, but it's really not much harder for me to swim out there than it is for the people on the beach to help people out there."

...okay, it actually was, because sometimes he has to tow people all the way back, and sometimes there are pirates, but it's still definitely doable, and he can spend as much time as he needs out there without worrying about drowning, which he can't say for the other sleepers who might emerge from their squid forms out there.

"See, that's fine! I might have mentioned it to one or two people before I knew you wanted to keep it a secret, so I didn't say anything else about it afterward. Honestly though, since Fern is always a plant guy, unless you're tromping around as a fishkid, I don't think anyone's really going to mind."

That was his decision of course. Besides, if anyone so much as looked at Luca funny, they'd have to deal with three angry teenagers right off the bat.

"Sure, but still. It isn't something you have to do, so if no one else tells you, trust me, it's appreciated! If you ever encounter any trouble though, just try and throw me a message through the Omni. And I mean anything, ok?"

"Yeah, you're probably right. Honestly, since no one seems to mind Fern, they'd probably be fine even if I was tromping around as a fish kid."

Which is really a huge comfort. He also doesn't hold it against her that she might have told a few people since...well, he hadn't said anything about wanting to keep it quiet yet.

"Don't worry, I'll definitely send you a message if I get into trouble. Either through the Omni or my omen."

At least, as long as he can. He remembers when he was in the tower he wasn't able to send messages out.

"Exactly! Now granted, I don't think you would, because you probably need water, right?"

She wasn't sure exactly how that worked. Would he turn to his true form if it rained? If it snowed? She'd just have to wait and see: it seemed rude to ask.

"Good! Also, if you send it through your omen, expect me to 'ooh' and 'ahh' over it a little. You know me and small animals."

Also, omens seemed to work when they were in the factory, so maybe omens in general were the better idea.

"Yeah, I do. Turning human when I'm dry is kind of an automatic thing, so I don't have much control over it."

Which also created the possibility of accidentally turning into a sea monster when wet, which certainly was a problem back home.

"I mean, you're always welcome to ooh and aah over her even when I'm not in danger."

"Right, that's true. Gotta make sure we get you an umbrella for when it starts to snow, now that I think about it."

And some hats.

"Good! I was totally going to do that! Does she not need to be in water?"

"No. She seems to be fine wherever she is."

Of course, many species of hermit crabs live on land, while others live in the sea, but regardless of which kind she is, omens can survive wherever. Luca's already seen one orca omen swimming through the air.

"Oh, right, makes sense. Like how Tempest can seem to appear with me whenever she seems to feel like it. At least, she does sometimes when I'm alone, and she did in the farm."

Now why did Luz have to go and mention the farm? Even doing that, Luz looked slightly uncomfortable thinking about it. Still, that it had happened at all gave her hope that Luca or any of her other housemates could summon their Omens in that sort of situation if they needed to.

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