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

Aw, look at them! So wholesome. She gave one last mocking sticking out of her tongue to big nose jerk face, and walked out of the memory, smiling pretty happily.

Too bad Luca wasn't actually there to see, or that there wasn't a little more Guliana. She seemed like cool people.

When the memory fades, Luz will find herself back where she was before she touched the Winter Mourning. If she looks for Luca, she'll find him pretty quickly if she looks in the Tower, because he's sitting next to the telescope, reading a book on astronomy.

Luz, who was looking for Luca, found him and immediately gave him a hug.

"You didn't tell me there was some creeper trying to kill you, or that you had a super cute friend besides Alberto! Shame on you!"

Luca returns the hug, even though he's confused about what sparked that. Until Luz said something about Ercole and Giulia.

"Oh. I think I mentioned I knew a human that showed me what a phone was, though."

That's...not quite the same thing as saying he knows a 'super cute friend besides Alberto', though. And he certainly hadn't mentioned Ercole.

"I'm guessing you saw the memory through the Winter Mourning, then?"

By this point, he's seen several instances of people seeing memories by touching those things, so it's the most logical conclusion. Either that, or maybe someone else who had told her about it.

Look, she was worried about him even if it was just a memory recollection. She could definitely relate to feeling the fear of being rejected, and the idea that something bad was going to happen to you and no one would do anything about it.

"'A human' is not the same as describing them at all! You know that adjectives go a long way in visualization, right?"

Maybe she should get a hat like Guliana. It looked pretty nifty.

"Yeah. That was a pretty tense moment. I thought you guys were really in trouble, so I...kinda got involved? Luckily the one-armed guy really saved the day."

"Oh. Right. But I never really paid attention to whether she was cute or not. Just that she's nice! And helpful! And knows a lot about the surface!"

Because he really does like Giulia and value their friendship, there's just something different about his feelings for Giulia compared to his feelings about Alberto.

"Massimo. That's Giulia's dad. He took Alberto in after that, too."

"Of course, you wouldn't! You were experiencing the human world for the first time anyway, right? She happened to be someone to give you answers to those questions. She sounds and looks nice, honestly."

It did seem like Guliana was all about helping Luca out. That was really good of her.

"He seemed like a quiet, but caring guy. I could tell the people in that place respect his opinion. He definitely made the difference being there. After him, you barely needed me!"

Luz knew all about good parental figures.

"Yeah, she is really nice! She even gave me an astronomy textbook!"

Which is honestly the best gift Luca could ask for.

"Well, I mean...of course he made a difference being there. He's the one that stopped us from being killed in the original memory."

After all, while everyone who saw the memory intervened, the truth was, he'd survived it all without them once. But not on his own. He'd have never made it without Massimo.

"Ooh, Astronomy! Space science!"

That had to be pretty cool for someone who had only lived in the sea for a long time.

"I guess he's always going to be the one to save you guys since that's the true memory. Also, I'm willing to bet it meant a lot to you at the time, so you cherish it a lot. I have memories like that too, now."

Heck, she made a few of them in Deerington if she was honest with herself.

"Yep!"

And he loves space science!

"And yeah, it did mean a lot to me. Although...it wasn't really that long ago. That was the day before I showed up here."

Which he feels the need to clarify, since the 'at the time' makes it sound like she thinks it happened a long time ago. Granted, it feels like forever ago, since his life then and now are worlds apart, but in the scheme of things, it's only been a few months.

"Heh, we have to have a few scientists around here who specialize in that! Maybe we can continue those studies there?"

Luz, you need it too, you went to school remember?

"Oh right, right! What am I even talking about? For you that would have happened right before you were here, so it doesn't feel that long!"

Compared to the year it had been since Luz left the Isles and had gone from Deerington and then Trench, which felt WAY too long.

"Oh, I'd love that! I want to learn all about space! And...honestly everything, but space seems pretty amazing! Just knowing there are a bunch of other planets and giant balls of fire out there..."

Luckily, there's a school here, so he can definitely keep learning for as long as he wants to. Which, honestly, will probably be forever.

"Oh yeah, it gets SO much cooler! And keep in mind, there are people here who have TRAVELED into it and seen it up close! Ask Lance or Shiro, they'll tell you a lot! They're both super smart too!"

Hunk was too, but Luz thought of him more as a cooking companion she still had a lot to learn from.

"But of all of us, I think Fern's probably seen some of the wilder stuff."

"I want to ask them everything! I mean, I've never met either one of them, but...isn't Lance that crazy guy I saw ranting on the network?"

After killing Reaper? He's...not sure that's who he'd want to ask.

"I should ask Fern about stuff he's seen, too! I've already asked Dib a bunch of stuff, and he's seen space, too!"

"He's not crazy, trust me. He's just been through a lot. He and Reaper have a...complicated relationship. But yeah, talk to Shiro, he's probably one of the most straight forward guys you'll ever meet!"

They knew plenty, and Luca would want their information.

"Fern's more of a play by ear kind of guy though. You'd probably want someone who's really versed in how all of that stuff actually works."

"Oh. I...don't really know anything about him outside of that one video. And what Reaper said about it."

So not the best first impression.

"But yeah! Shiro would probably be a great person to talk to from the sound of it!"

"We've met since then. Like I said, their relationship is 'complicated'. Reaper wasn't underselling it. Mostly, Lance is a good guy, but since coming to Deerington, his life has been pretty rough."

It was pretty bad. Poor Lance.

"Shiro is honestly one of the more nicer guys I've met around here. He's the best!"

"I guess I'll just take your word for it."

Luca knows there's probably a lot to the story. Maybe sometime he'll meet Lance when he's more...mentally stable so he can get a better sense of how he usually is. Shiro, on the other hand, he has no impressions of, so it's a completely clean slate. Luz is doing a great job making him sound pretty great, though.

"I'll have to keep an eye out for him! I definitely want to ask him about a million questions about space!"

"Trust me Luca: everyone's got a story, and its always going to be pretty complicated and personal. I learned that when I became friends with Darth Maul."

A decision that a lot of people she interacted with generally did NOT understand, as they mostly viewed the Sith as temperamental and with evil intention. There was more to him than that, and the same went for Lance.

"I think he'll be glad to answer that. My impression is that he misses those days being out there."

"Yeah, I guess you're probably right. Maybe I just need to meet him in a context that isn't...you know, that to understand."

And maybe he'll give Lance a chance if he ever meets him.

"I can't blame him. I'm sure if I got to go out there and explore the stars, I'd miss being out there, too."

For Luca it's just a fantasy, for Shiro it's something he actually had.

"It was a pretty horrible way to meet someone. 'Hey look, I killed this dude that tortured me in the past, it was awesome' does not endear people to many. Then again, Darth Maul has done less and still gets the worst impression."

It didn't help that he looked like an angry red demon, but that was just physical appearances. He was also pretty scary when he wanted to be! Lance, by comparison, seemed tame.

"I hear you. I think I might feel the same way about magic and flying if I was still under the impression that both of them were just a fantasy."

And it would be nice to see actual space instead of just hearing about it or watching a documentary in school.

"Yeah...I know the humans here aren't like the people back home, and I'm sure Maul has done stuff for people to not trust him, but..." He bites his lip. He doesn't want to jump to conclusions, especially when everyone here had been so nice to him, but...

"...I kind of wonder if some of that is related to the same kind of reason why humans hunted us back home?"

Because Maul looks like a monster. Just like how Luca looks like a monster in his natural form.

"Actually, I shouldn't say that Darth Maul's done less. He did kill Varian, almost kill Fern, kill Margot and almost kill me and other people. But he wasn't in his right mind at the time!"

Granted, he did a lot of not great things when he WAS of sound mind, so it wasn't saying much.

"People are scared what they don't know or understand. They look at the things that make you different and imagine you might be dangerous. It's mostly in their heads, but...they find it easier to think of you as different."

Boy did Luz get that. Look different, act different, you ARE different, to most people.

"Oh. That's...bad. Really, really bad. But...I'm guessing it was this place's influence?"

It's pretty horrifying and scary to hear regardless, but he supposes if Maul wasn't under his own control...it's still horrifying to think about, and makes him wonder what other people in this place might end up doing. Still, it does let Luca know that there might be a bit more to people's distrust of Maul than just his looks. Still, he knows that can be a factor.

"Yeah...I've noticed that myself. Mostly back home, but people seem wary of vilebloods here, even if they are fine with the whole sea monster thing."

That's probably because of the whole blood drinking thing.

"Part of it is this place, and part of it are echoes of his past. If you want to know more about it, you should probably ask him."

In other words, it was definitely not her story to tell. There was quite a bit about Maul taht required explanation, but after she had seen his memories, she had promised him that she wouldn't tell anyone of the history she'd seen. She was sure that Luca was bound to ask him on his own anyway.

"Vilebloods seem to have some kind of complicated history around here. I'm not a hundred percent on the details, but I think that people are scared of the whole way they can poison stuff? It seems really dumb."

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