deercountry | [open] bad doggie!

Who: Nehan + OPEN (one thread closed to specific people)
What: Someone (Nehan) died before someone's (Nehan's...) birthday, and not of fun. Featuring the aftermath of said death, an angry squid, and a doctor who's bad at taking care of himself.
When: forward-dated to Jan. 19 and later
Where: Primarily in Nehan's house, but the death thread is set in the wilderness.

Content Warnings: Violence, beasthood, death, paleblood powers, traumatic memories of near-death experiences, some nudity, Nehan-typical self-loathing, mentions of sex, Jan. TDM-style body horror. More TBA as they come up.

a: squid time

[nehan's tub is modest by human standards. large for a man of his (usual) size, but massive for a little squid, almost transparent save for its rainbow-colored insides, the most prominent of which is sunshine-yellow. the squid is absolutely tiny, no bigger than an adult human's hand.

there's a grab bar attached to the wall next to the tub, and the edge of the tub opposite it, clearly for nehan's use when he's an erune, because what will a squid do with those? he cant even reach them. though he's definitely trying, swimming back and forth, and occasionally reaching out with a little tentacle in an attempt to reach it.

but of course, he cant reach it, and that frustrates the squid enough that he jets out a little bit of dark ink. literally farting in anger, this one is.]

b: cant sleep (cw: really morbid jokes)

[the evening after nehan's squid was retrieved from the water and returned to his house, he returns to normal. annoyed as he rises from inky water and having to clean himself, but still, he's a skinny, scarred erune again, without the additions he gained over the past months. an erune that needs a long, long nap, and will head straight to his bed to have said long nap without even drying his hair.

if anyone chooses to stay longer and keep vigil over the once-squid... well, no one is stopping you, not even the omen, who is guarding the door to the basement underneath the stairs, and will not move away.

nehan might not be too much of a host however, when he's bedridden, having gone through a traumatic death and unable to control his limbs well. every time his left arm or leg has a spasm, his expression twists into one of chagrin and irritation, and he clutches at the limb until it stops. he tries to lay under his bedding just to lessen it... but well. that doesn't work as well as he hoped, and it's not proper medical procedure, but when it comes to himself, nehan has never cared a goddamn bit. still...]

... Stay a little longer. Without anything to do, I'll have another death soon, and this time of boredom. [that was a joke. but it's bad and he knows it's bad.]

c: winter mourning's last hurrah (nehan's memories/cw: eventual near-death experience)

[there is a winter mourning in nehan's house, a wreath laying in the seat of an armchair in the living room, and despite looking innocent, it is still active. and if it's touched, instead of dragging some poor unsuspecting bastard into a dream, it drags them into a memory.

the nehan in this memory is an adult, just like the one in bed, recovering from his violent bout with death-- but he's also different. seemingly younger, more filled-out, less scraggly hair, and lacking in the eyepatch and crutch that has become nehan's signature. but his ears have much less fur on them and are tattered at the ends, the shadows under his eyes are darker, and he's sporting fresh bruises on his face, like he's just been in a brawl. or more than just a brawl-- he looks like he's been beaten within an inch of his life.

still, he's walking amongst a crowd that doesn't seem to notice him, in a crowded marketplace in a bustling town with airships flying high above them. he looks like he knows where he's going, and behind him... behind him is another nehan, walking much slower, bearing a crutch and an eyepatch-- the nehan most people know, by now.

he pauses when he notes he's not alone, turning around and ears twitching, then tilts his head towards his younger self as if to say come along.]

d: the days after: achelliac (cw: nudity, self-loathing)

[achelliac's usual clientele may be sailors, but at least they don't turn nehan away. and, as he finds out, some of his fellow customers are fascinated enough with him that he just decides to indulge them with what they want. even if he's here just to deal with the aches of his body that still linger after his rebirth. at least he's no longer suffering from muscle spasms.

the hot springs will deal with what other aches he gets in this place, in any case, that's why he's here-- get himself up to snuff so he can get back to work without problems.

making his way to the pool from the showers is always an adventure in going slow to accommodate his too-thin, too-scarred body and not slipping, just because he leaves his cane with his clothes (he needs a new crutch, a cane just isn't the same...). though he's right at the edge of the pool, he pauses when he sees another man there already.]

May I, or do you prefer privacy? [perhaps he should have asked that before he got naked...]

wildcard
[[ hit me with your best shot-- everything is a-ok and will match prose or action, but the actual boss battle is restricted to certain characters. nehan dies on the 19th, revives as a squid on the 22nd and is returned to his house on the same day, while his headcanon birthday is on the 20th. thanks to #justpalebloodthings, nehan can admit that his birthday is coming up to any palebloods. he is also a paleblood, so people can speak to him more freely as well.

people are free to come and go as they like. snooping is encouraged, but the basement is guarded by nehan's omen. i'm also open to changing the memory in prompt c. if we haven't threaded yet, we can just handwave the first meeting and nehan giving out his address. if you're unsure, just ask! ]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That gets another little laugh out of him.] Then we will find something to do with it. Perhaps after five years of spring we will have enough to felt.

[Iskierka, however, seems more enthusiastic about the offer. She tips her head the other way, bobs it, then carols cheerfully at Nehan in encouragement.

Illarion tips his head like he could look sidelong at her, one eyebrow raised in what might be surprise.]

Or perhaps she will make a nest again.

[He wasn't expecting that.]

Edited 2022-02-03 02:21 (UTC)

Whatever she does with it is not my concern, as long as she takes it off my hands.

[and from those warbling sounds, she does sound like she'll do so happily.]

And make no nests in my own house, as well.

I would not ever presume to dictate where a lady builds her nest, [Illarion replies to that, mock-serious.] But I do not think you will need to worry about this, unless you wish us both to spend much more time in your house.

[Which would make it much easier to keep Nehan on a regular diet...]

[the erune has to shake his head.]

I'm adverse to the idea of sharing a house with someone else. [that's not entirely true, he's fine with sharing with his child, with the eternals, the other children if need be... but people other than them? no, he is not comfortable with that. he would prefer being alone in a large empty house rather than bump into someone else every day and have to adjust his work and habits around them.]

[...but would also be intruding. Illarion expected as much.]

This does not surprise me. It is better to have one's space at times, not so?

[Then, because it's been tickling at him,] How were you coming by the bruises?

It's... an unfortunate side-effect of my shedding. [he doesn't even bother picking up the ice pack again, even if the ice has slowly begun to melt.]

I shed into a time of my life where I had an unfortunate drug in my veins, but I managed to sweat it out of my system in battle against another Sleeper.

Ahhh. [Combat drugs had a long and storied tradition among Nephele's militaries at they had anywhere else; Illarion understands this instantly. Although it is, as Nehan says, unfortunate.] That is a very hard way to be given back a piece of yourself. Is it one you had used before? Will you suffer more in withdrawal from it?

[He holds out his hand for the ice pack, suddenly curious about something.] Might I? Your ice.

[without missing a beat, nehan leans over and places the ice pack on his guest's knee.]

It's a special concoction made by my clan for very specific occasions-- and I took it for that occasion, at the time. No lingering effects save for exhaustion, unless you consider a sense of guilt over what you'd done under the influence as part of the side-effects.

[but nehan wont say that he's created worse things than trancensia.]

[open] bad doggie!

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cw: drug use

cw: even more fantasy drug use