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[grice]

Who: falco grice, others, and you!
What: a catch all for the month including a player plot, general prompts and event prompts in the comments, all open!
When: december; date will be in the header if any!
Where: waves hands at too many places

Content Warnings: possession, violence, gore, self harm, child death, war imagery, child soldiers, racial oppression, genocide, forced experimentation, torture, mutilation, gun violence (against children)


see below for open prompts of all kinds! if you have any questions or would like to plot something specific, hmu at liberos!

Comments

[grice]

[ falco having little to no memory of what came next would mean . . . there was nothing, only a gap in time. that, perhaps, if he wasn’t of paleblood. what he imagines had happened was what happens here, woven subconsciously into a manipulated nightmare he hardly knew was being done in the first place.

but here it was— and it was about to become a new story. falco is being placed in a cold metal chair with restraints, and it’s one that can fold back into a table. right next to this is a second table, an iv drip from the 60s and a row of surgical equipment, gauze, buckets of residue from the others before him . . .

ah, and this thing. an iron vice for the mouth with bolts and clips at its joints. it looks much like a beak from the angle it’s put in, resting right next to the prepared materials.

for the time being, they haven’t taken notice of luz. for the best, or for worst. there’s a way out down the hallway, it seems, leading to a tunnel that turns like a maze— and clicks, hauntedly. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz's eyes narrowed, and she hid herself well before finally exhaling making sure she didn't make any loud noises otherwise. These guys were no different from the Zealots, only it looked like they were going to take great joy in messing around with Falco. She knew she was going to have to create a distraction, and then she was going to have to quickly remove his restraints.

First step was diversion. Luz pulled out her glyph, and then managed to blow it onto the table, and then activated it. The glyph acted slow, but soon the whole table was set ablaze. That should keep them good and busy while Luz disappeared again, working to set Falco free].

[grice]

[ that wouldn’t usually happen— but it does, and in flames engulf the table and causes the shadowy glitch of a memory-fiend to keep its attention squared on the problem. how that happened, there were hardly many answers— it makes for an emergency barrel of water or even an extinguisher while pushing falco’s own table-chair away,

luz can work fine on falco now; she might want to take the iv out first, to wake up as soon as possible. the rest of the restraints are easy; only leather buckles and such. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luckily, Luz worked well under pressure: Deerington had pretty much been the impetus for that, and thanks to the farm, she knew how to quickly remove needles from someone without jabbing them by mistake or breaking it. Once that was done, Luz removed the buckles and restraints, then took Falco in his arms, took a deep breath and hit her invisibility glyph.

Better to at least be out of sight while the memory fiend was busy].

[grice]

[ she’d have to haul around some dead weight, but at least falco was pretty small. his metabolism was also on the high end, and in a few minutes he’d be squirming to in the witch’s hold.

his voice is barely a whisper when he sees her, ] Luz—? [ and the rattling sound of a thrown metal tray shoots his eyes open. looks like they’ll have to run, now, and as soon as he could, he put his feet back on the floor, but still kept a hold on luz’s hand. ] Th-that way—!

[ to the tunnels. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz was lucky enough in her endeavors to have finally upgraded her "weak nerd arms" into having a little more muscle and was a little more adept at keeping quiet in that kind of situation.

Escaping monsters who are intent to kill you definitely got you pretty practiced in that sort of thing. Unfortunately, Falco was still only coming to when she heard the tray, and luckily, he responded quickly].

Don't have to tell me twice!

[Luz moved him forward, careful not to jerk him too hard but still intent on getting out of here. She'd honestly been captured and messed with more than she would have liked, and she didn't intend on having it happen again]!

[grice]

[ behind them, they’ll hear skitters and cracks— what’s coming up from behind them are porcelain-faced dolls, that may look like they’re design to match the face of their loved ones. it’s too bad that when they talk . . . it’s eerie and programmed. Hi! Why would you leave me? Don’t you want to just stay down here forever?

as they scramble for the two in various corners of the tunnel, forcing falco to eventually shove luz out of the grasp of a doll that looked like gabi. there’s one way guided by the lull of a blue light, though: the mourning stag. ]

The deer, Luz!

[ it’s almost over; they just have to meet it. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

[Oh boy.

The last LAST thing Luz needed to see was a porcelain doll that looked like her mother, tear stained and sad, coupled with one that resembled Eda looking regretful. Luz visibly winced, but the words were lucky enough to make her turn away.

And Falco pushed her out of the grasp of one doll while Luz managed to give one resembling Varian a well-earned kick before seeing the one that looked like home.

Deer. It was always Deer].

Got it!

[Luz slammed a glyph down and an ice platform gave her a launch straight toward the deer, though she missed her mark slightly and did bash into the floor a few feet away. Luz scrambled up, bloody nose and all, toward the stag].

[grice]

[ as if falco would keep running! luz helped him, and even if she hadn’t, it wasn’t going to be now that falco would sprint ahead of her. he catches up and helps her to her feet, quickly, and as the dolls gain— ]

Go first, I’ll cover you!

[ he didn’t know with what, yet— but finds a crowbar attached to one of the side pipes of the tunnel, and breaks shortly for it to keep their backs protected. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz turns back and sees he's having some trouble, though he's at least keeping them back. So she races back, bloody nose and all, and puts her arm around his shoulder and then drops a fire glyph at the feet of the dolls and activated it.

That would keep them busy]!

Ok. Come on. I gotcha. Let's go talk to that stag!

[grice]

[ luz was a real trooper. swinging the bar into such fragile faces meant shattering glass when he lined up a strike of a doll to close to them. he’d still lag behind this way, but it was fine—

even more surprising was when luz came back. ]

Right—!

[ the closer they got to the mourning stag, the closer they were to realizing they were waking up, where they were before this mess, will antler ornaments and from what felt like just a vivid dream.

falco may be quick to find luz, though, wherever she may be at the time. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

[By the time they find the stag, they're back to where they started, only Luz is doubled up on the ground, unceremoniously crumpled up and untidy. How did she always wind up in these positions?

But on seeing Falco, she straightened up, looking at him with genuine concern].

Are you ok? Was it traumatizing? I can't believe that stuff happened to you!

[grice]

[ oh, luz . . . it’s not even half of the story. recognizing the concern and even before that, falco was already kneeling down to tend to her. despite his heart racing a moment ago, he felt like weight was dropped right off his shoulders. ]

It didn’t go the way it actually happened— because you were there.

[ she didn’t see the surgery. she didn’t see the outcome. in a sense, falco was glad, and her stepping up to it to change something and help him, even if the past’s damage was already done— it meant something.

he keeps a hand on her shoulder. ]

Thanks for doing those things.

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz had a feeling there was more to this story: heck, he was being taken and the only reason she was able to do anything was because she was a Paleblood. Seeing what had happened to Rapunzel here, she was just glad that Varian hadn't seen that, he would have gone ballistic].

How did it go? What...what did they do to you?

Of course I would! Those people were monsters. I just wish I'd have been there back then.

[grice]

They did what they wanted. Our friends found us and got us out after.

[ he didn’t want to give much detail, but it was there, in the memory, or at least hints were. ]

I had to keep it on for a while, but someone else helped me get it off.

[ oddly enough, he has no scars to tell that story, and the lack of it almost makes it look unreal. like it didn’t happen, because physically, it didn’t look that way. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz was too busy trying to get him out to have noted exactly what was going on, only that she didn't want him experimented on. She was at least glad that she was able to get him out. No one deserved any of the things that were happening in that memory].

And I guess no punishment came to those guys, did it? Typical.

[Luz has a few scars of her own, courtesy of last month].

[grice]

We never found out who it was.

[ maybe if there had been more time, they could’ve. but then again, falco was sure he didn’t want more time in santa rosita. there’s something that pings him though, with unease. ]

Punishment?

[imaglyphwitch]

Ugh. That's unsettling.

Well yes, put them in jail or something to make sure they don't hurt anyone like that again! Otherwise they can just do whatever they want to other people too!

[grice]

[ oh, falco murmurs, both quickly and apologetically nodding. ]

Yeah. Sorry— I’ve just . . . Heard worse.

[imaglyphwitch]

[Luz looked away a moment. She could make a guess what she thought he was going to say].

No. Not that.

Not again.

[grice]

[ without even saying it, falco’s sure they’re speaking the same language. his frown grows and so does the sympathetic crease in his brows. eventually, he decides it best to put a hand on her shoulder. ]

I don’t like those things, either.

[imaglyphwitch]

It's important to stop bad people. I'm not, you know, naive, and think that everyone is nice and just need understanding. Some people are just awful and won't stop until they spread their misery. But there are some steps you shouldn't cross. They can lead to some bad places.

[Lus had realized that back in Deerington, and intended to never forget it again].

[grice]

[ he can get where she’s coming from, a little more in line with his choice of thinking. the worst had been that falco had crossed that line, twice— but on both occasions, his memory was blanketed. perhaps he couldn’t remember for the best, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know it happened. ]

Have you seen it?

[imaglyphwitch]

The line? Yeah.

[Luz crossed her arms a little here and looked uncomfortable].

And I hope I don't ever have to make that choice again.

[grice]

I’m sorry you had to.

[ he’s sorry that anyone really has to. it stings terribly fresh, with the exorcism still leaving emotional scars on a handful and physical on dipper. ]

Sometimes my home didn’t have many choices, but if I could— I always tried to make new ones.

[ until he couldn’t. ]