Luca catchall post - Fun vileblood issues!

[schoolingfish]

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.

Comments

[imaglyphwitch]

"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.

[schoolingfish]

"Yeah, Camilla appeared while I was there, too."

Which was fortunate, even if she might not be the fastest or most powerful omen out there.

[imaglyphwitch]

"That's a good omen. They're comforting, even in a place like that."

Heck, Luz's might be pretty strong, but it was really her presence there that had given Luz the strength she needed to keep going.

[schoolingfish]

"Yeah. I mean, even if she couldn't do much, I'm glad she was able to appear."

Plus Camilla can sometimes be stronger than she initially appears when the occasion calls for it.

[imaglyphwitch]

"I think that has a lot to do with how we think of our Omens. They're like a part of us in a way, and seeing them gives us a little lift, I think."

She'd certainly felt like she could feel and move on when Tempest had appeared for her at the Farm. She wondered if the reason she couldn't bring her Omen out was because of how fragmented her emotional state was at the time.

[schoolingfish]

"Yeah, I think you're right. I also think they sense what we need and help us. Like one time Camilla got bigger when I got scared, so they do what they need to so they can protect us."

[imaglyphwitch]

"As long as we keep our heads clear and aren't too freaked out," Luz added. "They won't show up if you're really, really stressed out and are too frantic to bring them out yourself. It might be a whole 'state of mind' kind of thing."

That was her experience anyway.

[schoolingfish]

"Right. Okay, that's good to keep in mind. The one time I got really freaked out she was already out when I got to that point, so that's probably why things worked out. Of course, that ended up being nothing...I saw an orca omen and panicked."

Which, when you're usually a sea creature, an orca can be terrifying.

[imaglyphwitch]

"An orca?! Like a whale? That's an omen?! Awesome! Who's was it anyway?"

Good to know, of course, that Omen's wouldn't just disappear when you were especially agitated, but Luz should have figured that much anyway. If Tempest was already out, she just got more protective of Luz and stayed around.

[schoolingfish]

"It was Kyle's and...I think orcas are scary. But that one was fine! He let me know he wasn't going to eat me."

Which is a perfectly reasonable concern. Sure, orcas don't eat humans, but Luca's not a human.

[imaglyphwitch]

"Yeah, I could see that. Those guys get pretty big. It might scare me too."

Maybe not? She liked most animals, but from Luca's perspective she could see why that one would give him pause.

[schoolingfish]

"Yeah. I mean, they're big enough to eat sharks and dolphins and sea folk, so they're definitely big."

Humans were safe from orcas because humans were land animals, and not part of the potential typical diet for the species. Sea monsters (or sea folk as he's been referring to himself lately) are technically more fish than anything, and don't have that advantage.

[imaglyphwitch]

"That would scare me too. Like, if someone's omen was a hippo, or a Rhinoceros or a Moose, that would be pretty scary too. Big things that can kill you generally make smaller animals by comparison pretty uneasy."

She sure as heck wouldn't want to be opposite one of those bigger animals herself, even if they were cute. She at least felt more at ease knowing they were omens.

[schoolingfish]

"I don't know what any of those things are, but yeah. Especially when it's something that would definitely eat you if it could."

Sure, omens didn't go around eating people, but it's hard to ignore instincts when it's an animal that definitely would if it was the real thing.

[imaglyphwitch]

"They're really big and creepy creatures that could kill you if they felt like it. Trust me, if I brought out some pictures of them, they'd probably creep you out."

Luz couldn't blame anyone getting a little iffy about certain animals, even if they were omens. There were going to be some instincts that simply would not go away.

[schoolingfish]

"Oh, yeah. I'm sure they would."

If they're anything like orcas, he's sure it would trigger his 'scary predator' instincts in his brain.

[imaglyphwitch]

"Let's just worry about the ones here though, clearly they're scary enough!"

Really. They were. VERY scary.

[schoolingfish]

"Oh, yeah, I guess you're right about that. There's definitely a lot of scary things here."

Omens, natural born creatures, monsters, beasts. Strange events that took them to strange and horrifying places.

[imaglyphwitch]

"Right, and we haven't even met all of them. According to Fern, I totally got possessed by a ghost and I don't even remember it! That's how weird it all is."

For a start, anyway.

[schoolingfish]

"I don't think I want to meet all the scary things here. Well, except for maybe things that seem scary, but aren't so bad once you get to know them."

Since sometimes scary things weren't actually all that bad. After all, people back home were afraid of Luca, and he's not bad.

[imaglyphwitch]

"I don't either, and honestly, I don't think we've even scratched the surface of that one yet. Hopefully we don't for some time."

Luz did NOT need to know exactly how many monsters were underwater, for instance.

"Yeah, I agree with more of what you said. That doesn't sound too bad, and at least reminds me things aren't always as bad as they seem."

[schoolingfish]

"Yeah, I don't want to, either."

Though he does have to keep his own advice in mind and remember not all scary things are bad.

"And at least no matter what happens, we have each other.

[imaglyphwitch]

"If we have to encounter more scary things, let's make sure we know about it from each other. That way, we'll be able to tackle it on our own if it comes up again!"

Luz absolutely agreed with Luca there. The power they gave to each other on that end, the better.

[schoolingfish]

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea! Really, everyone in the house should share what we run into. Between all of us, we should know everything there is to run into! Without having to learn first hand."

Because he figures the less learning first hand about scary things, the better.

[imaglyphwitch]

"Exactly! We have enough things that are trying to kill us, we might as well get the drop on some of it before it messes with all of us! Besides, I don't want it messing with you and Ahiru more than it should."

At least she, Fern and Varian were used to Deerington's shenanigans. The last thing she wanted were the two newcomers to the house having something horrible warp their whole perception of things.