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.

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"Not...right away, no."

He knows it's only going to get worse from this point onwards. There's no way he can make this sound good- and he doesn't want to. He made some god-awful choices and he can't sugarcoat that.

"I was...really angry. By the time I got back, dad was completely encased. Rapunzel got her powers from this...flower that was hidden in the vaults. To find out where it was, I drugged the guards with truth serum and then convinced her to help me steal it, even knowing it was treason," even if she was the princess, he knew her father would not take kindly to such things. "When I got it, I left her to take the fall. Didn't matter anyway, it didn't work. So I...decided I needed to get her, instead. Try her power on it."

"Oh."

Leaving someone to take the fall for treason is pretty bad. Especially someone taking a risk to help you.

"Did you do something to set things right later? I mean, she lives here with you, and she seems to like you, so I'm assuming you did something to make up for that, right? And did her powers work to free your dad?"

Because Luca definitely wants confirmation that his dad came out okay...though he assumes he did since Varian says he wasn't freed right away, so he definitely was freed at some point.

"...Yeah. Oh. And no...not right away. It got...a lot worse first. Things are good between us now, great! But...I did a lot worse to her first."

Because hooo boy did it get worse.

"I knew she wouldn't come to help me, so I decided to make her. I kidnapped her mother," he sounds horribly guilty about that. "I set a bunch of automotons on the guards that came for her and captured Rapunzel and the king when they snuck in to save her. I...threatened her mom with the same amber that trapped my dad, forced her to help. It didn't, it hurt her but her powers couldn't break the amber."

It was all for nothing. He'd done so much damage and got nowhere.

"I...I was really angry. I attacked them, tried to kill them. Rapunzel managed to figure out her connections to the rocks to stop me before I actually killed someone, but it was way, way too close. I spent the next year in jail, until I got out and helped a bunch of people take over the kingdom while Rapunzel was away. Brainwashed the king and queen and everything."

He's just gonna...charge on, because at least they're getting to the better part.

"When Rapunzel came back, the people I aligned myself with revealed they planned to kill everyone in the kingdom with a weapon I'd created. I...didn't want that. I didn't want anyone to die. So I helped stop them. She used the powers she'd learned away to free my dad and I spent the rest of my time there doing everything I could to make up for what I'd done."

"Oh."

This keeps getting worse and worse, and Luca is so glad he's seen Rapunzel and knows everything worked out between them and they made up, because right now his friend's past is starting to sound really bad. He understands why Varian did it, he was desperate to save his dad. Still, learning Varian kidnapped and threatened Rapunzel's mom, tried to kill them when Rapunzel wasn't able to save her dad, and then helped take over the kingdom. At least it's clear he really feels bad about all of it? And he stopped the people who wanted to kill everyone in the end! And has been working hard to make up for it!

"Wow. That was...a lot. But you changed! And...you did it because you wanted to help your Dad, even though that doesn't really make it okay, but...you're better now. And...did I ever tell you Massimo used to be a sea monster hunter before he met us?"

And now Massimo was the one who saved him and Alberto, and even adopted the latter.

"And now he looks out for us. So I know sometimes people can go from being really bad to really good."

Not that Massimo knew they were people when he hunted them, so it's not entirely fair to say he was really bad at the time.

The whole thing was a mess and Varian regrets every living second of it- that much is clear in his manner, in the way he holds himself. Even now, years after the fact at this point, his past weighs heavily on him. He doubts he'll ever be able to carry what he did easily- he doesn't want to. That would minimise the pain he caused others, he thinks.

"I did change- and I never want to be that person again- and yeah...it was a lot, sorry. But you- you deserved to know."

Luca's been living under their roof for a while now, he was long overdue learning who he was living with.

"I think I remember you saying that, and yeah- people can change if they really want to. I believe that more than anything," he kind of has to, after everything. "I'm glad Massimo changed, too."

"That's okay...I mean, what you did obviously wasn't...but I'm still glad you shared it. And you're not that person anymore, so that's what really counts, right?"

After all, at the end of the day, what matters is that it isn't who Varian is now.

"And I'm sure you've done a lot to change if you and Rapunzel can be so close now!"

Because Luca feels like if there's anyone who would be angry at him for what he did, Rapunzel would have the most reason, so if she forgives him Luca's certain he must have earned it.

"I'm glad Massimo changed, too. I mean, obviously, since Alberto and I would be dead if he didn't but...you know, he's a really great guy now. And he even adopted Alberto!"

"It really wasn't. I'm never going to excuse myself for that or say it was anything different," he did terrible things and he was a terrible person- no point pretending otherwise. "And no, I'm not that person anymore. That does matter a lot."

His expression softens at the mention of Rapunzel.

"Yeah...things are really good between us now. In my time...not hers, she's a little behind me, I'm her Royal Engineer. I've...done as much as I can to help the Kingdom after nearly destroying it."

He still chose to live in Trench above Corona, but at least he did make sure everything was settled and good back home before he did so.

"Awww, that's good for both of them. They can be their own little family."

"Wow, so Rapunzel hasn't even seen all the good stuff you're going to do yet and she still is so understanding? Wow...she must be incredible."

Sure, he's sure Varian has earned forgiveness, but Luca's also sure a lot of people wouldn't be willing to accept that someone's earned their forgiveness if they were simply informed of all the things they've done since without actually seeing it for themselves.

"And yeah, it's really nice. I'm so glad Alberto was able to get a dad."

Sure, he was sad that Alberto didn't get to study and learn with him and he misses him every day, but he remembers all those marks on the wall of that tower and he's glad Alberto has someone who won't leave him alone in a place like that.

"That's Rapunzel for you. She's...honestly the best person I know, the best person I'll ever know, likely."

It's really hard to beat Rapunzel for her sheer ability for forgiveness. He doesn't think he'd have been...well, anywhere without her giving him a second chance. Rotting in prison for the rest of his life, if anything.

"Yeah, from what you've told me about him, it sure sounds like he deserves someone who'll be there for him while you're in school."

"Oh, yeah. Definitely."

Only...now Luca's in school in another time and another place, far away from Alberto.

"Of course, if they were here we wouldn't have to be separated at all. They could live down by the water and fish all day, and the school here's right near the beach!"

But they're not here.

"I mean, you were here a long time before Rapunzel showed up, right?"

"Exactly! You could both live pretty easy, and of course, he'd be more than welcome to live here if he ever showed up. There'd be like...no question about that at all."

Because people from home were important- so desperately important. Hell, the fact Cassandra is living outside the house makes him continually worried. He wants her to be safe, under the same roof as him and Rapunzel. But that's...not happening. So he has to live with being anxious about it instead.

"Yeah. I mean- she showed up in the dream a couple of times, but she doesn't remember it and it was never for long."

"Yeah! And it wouldn't even matter how full up the house might be, because he could just share my room!"

The dream. He remembers hearing about that.

"Never for long? So she just went away again? I hope she's here longer, then, because I'm sure it's nicer having people from home around."

"There you go- you guys will be just fine."

He nods, his smile a little drawn.

"Pretty much, yeah. She'd show up, be around for a month or so, and then vanish again. This is the third time I've had her here now," and good lord, does it hurt every time she vanishes again. "I really hope she sticks around, too. I've missed her. And Cass."

Messy as things with Cassandra are, that is very true.

"Yeah...that must be hard."

He can imagine it. Having your friend there, only to lose them again and again. Sure, he'd planned on going to school and leaving Alberto again and again, but that was different. For one thing, he fully intended to call and write all the time. For another, Alberto knew how long he'd be gone for and when he'd come back. To be totally cut off and not know if he'd see her again, only to get his hopes up, and then have it ripped away again...

"It wasn't the most fun, honestly, no. The first time she came here, she was from a time before she'd even met me so that was...definitely the worst."

Because he'd been so damn desperate to cling to her- he was still new to the dream, still scared and desperate for the comfort of home. And he might as well have been hugging a stranger. He'd hated every waking second of that, it had been awful. He wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"Oh wow. Yeah, it would be hard if someone from home showed up, but they didn't even know me yet."

He pictures Alberto, or Giulia, or worse, his parents, seeing him and not even recognizing him.

"At least a Rapunzel who recognizes you is here now?"

"It isn't an experience I recommend in the least, nope."

He chuckles, nodding.

"She does! And she's only a few months behind me this time instead of a few years. It's much easier to deal with."

"Yeah, I mean...okay, depending on which few months that could make a huge difference, since I only saw a human close up for the first time three days before showing up here, but at least a few months is probably a lot easier to catch someone up on!"

"Hah, that's a good point! Imagine how freaked out you'd have been if you'd shown up here fresh out of the ocean."

Hah HAH. Imagine that.

"Oh, yeah, that would've been terrible. Especially since my mom always taught me humans were just here to do murder and I wasn't even allowed to stick my head above water, so I would have been terrified!"

"See? You probably would have spent your time screaming at us- at the whole city! Until we showed you that you were safe, anyway."

"Oh, definitely. It would've been a disaster!"

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Luca catchall post - Fun vileblood issues!

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