deercountry | Mother stands for comfort

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Mother stands for comfort

Who: Luz and you (and specifically with Luca)
What: Luz tries to resist the hex, and not mutate herself until she finally falls to beast hood
When: Middle of February (sorry Luz, no birthday for you)
Where: All around Trench

She'd read the sermon and was sure that was when the trouble began. Luz had thought, after getting others who'd been sympathetic and lent an ear to her troubles, that she might be able to ride out the crazy of this month, that she'd get to her birthday in relative peace. Unfortunately, things didn't get better: instead, Luz found herself plagues by the past: her father leaving, the scorn of being that "weird" kid in her class, and the things that came with her Deerington and new Trench memories.

After Varian, Luz had been meticulous about trying to keep such thoughts from consuming her, trying to talk to others when she could, listening to advice and meditating more than she probably had any month. But the thoughts kept coming, and no matter what Luz did, she found she was feeling more depressed by the day, even though she interacted with people and did her best to keep her smile up.

And then one day, she found it was starting to feel worse than usual, enough that she even resorted to turning to her bird form if only to escape those memories. Now they were starting to compound, and images of the cave men and the Blood Cultists and their attacks on her began to plague her nightmares. It got so bad that she woke up feeling the cuts in her skin as clearly as she had back then, and she would be breathing hard and be so anxious she stayed in bed.

She had no idea how to stop this, and moments where she started to consider self-harm surfaced, shocking her so badly she took a cold bath, shivering and in tears, wondering what would happen next.

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"No lie."

It was a hard, raspy reply, one that sounded very much not like Luz. The reason there was, of course, the need for blood was purely her corruption, and somewhere in there, there was Vira's young friend trying to get out. The more direct way of trying to get her to a place where they could administer to her was probably a good idea.

If she were to listen to reason.

"Fresh?"

Because now, apparently, there had to be caveats.

"No lie..." But oh she did have to say that didn't she? Vira-Lorr winced and gave an apologetic smile. "Mostly fresh. Preserved and prepared. It will be warm, but preserved." No, she'd thought about being deceptive, but not in this. Luz was showing every sign of being more than a little aware, so she wasn't going to assume she was bestial or foolish right now.

The answer came in a snarl, one that seemed clearly dubious about receiving only lukewarm, non-fresh blood. Of course, the beast was still hovering around being Luz still, so this was really the only reason they were having a conversation like this in the first place.

It was also because it was Vira Lorr, and though they didn't have a Bond, a part of Luz still remembered who she was. That was something even corruption couldn't fully make her forget.

As they approached the building though, the beast seemed to show signs of reluctance, starting to sidestep and growl as if seeing someone it disliked.

It seemed she might need a little bit of reassurance.

"Easy," Vira-Lorr said in a soothing tone. She stopped walking and turned to the side so that she was facing Luz and able to look at the building. "I will call them to send one person out. Just one. We're going to help you, ok?" She was trying to keep this as calm as possible. For all that Luz wasn't as imposing as, say, Winter in beast form, she was still making her nervous. Natives had seen and seemed glad that this beast was being kept under control, taken to the treatment facilities. As long as the sleeper had this in control, they kept their distance.

Taking her omni out, she started to type out a simple message, telling them to send only one, and assuring them her protection, that they needed to calm her and sedate her so she could get treatment.

The creature kept the growl in its throat but seemed to at least be thinking about what Vira was saying. It was fighting the natural urge to flee and attack another bystander, because at its base there was a promise of blood mixed in with her memories of this Sleeper. It tried to assure itself that it was the blood it wanted, as it craved some this instant, but it had been running and feeding for some time and was tired. In its bones it could feel the fatigue and the fighting Luz was doing to try and come back. It was feeble and needed help, but could at least manage to swallow the urge to feed and continue to run.

"Stay."

It managed that small request, the humanity in Luz still begging to be seen, to remember it was her despite all of this and her own self doubt right now.

"Luz, dear. I'm not leaving even if someone tried to make me." She offered her a solemn smile and walked in a little closer, offering a hand to rest on the beast's shoulder if she was willing to let it happen. "I'm going to make sure we get you the help you need. Blood and anything else."

She definitely wasn't about to leave her friend in danger. No thank you.

Vira stared into the eyes of the beast, and in that moment, there was none of the amber color of the monster craving blood: instead, it was the warm brown of the girl that admired her so much. Even in this state, where she was holding onto the scraps of herself and falling into conflict with corruption, a part of her still couldn't help but want to cling to Vira now.

"Thanks. Thank. You."

It was, however, getting easier for the beast to talk, as if it were starting to come easily now.

She quickly added a message that she was seeing signs of improvement. The reply back assured her that if that was the case, different staff were being sent. As one might have expected, they knew to send very different people if corruption couldn't be reversed.

Smiling at her friend, she nodded. "You're my friend, Luz. It's always a pleasure to help." She was just glad enough of Luz was in there to help in the first place right now.

As it turned out, even corrupted Luz recognized things that resonated in her. With everything that had happened in Deerington, it was hard for Luz to ever truly forget Vira, even if the beast was still overpowering her urges right now.

There was still so much Luz needed to overcome.

It did, however, trot to the building as Vira had instructed, then looked back at her expectantly.

She followed soon afterwards, and the door eventually opened. While she rested a reassuring hand on the beast's shoulder, one of the Ministers came out. They had first a transfusion set up, but as soon as they saw Luz, they put the needle away and produced a bowl before giving her a quizzical look.

"I believe we're already making progress. I will stay with her throughout," she said. That got a nod, though there was a slightly annoyed expression as they started to pour out warmblood for Luz into the bowl. It was pretty obvious to the minister that Vira-Lorr was playing favorites here and that she was making sure someone didn't get taken to the wrong sections of the Luminarium, where patients didn't always leave.

The beast saw the blood and lapped up at it eagerly, wincing a little at its lack of true warmth, but taking it in nonetheless. It was all the more loyal to Vira for this, acknowledging that she had helped to make this happen. It would only be when Luz came back to herself that she'd realize how much Vira had actually been watching over her.

For now though, it gazed reproachfully at the blood minister, and gave what seemed to eb a warm look for Vira, graduating in her eyes from "prey" to "mate" in the friend sense.

"Why don't we go inside? They can give you some more blood, and that will help." She said it with a nod to the minister, who looked lightly relieved. It had gone better than expected and, while transfusions might be more easy to use in this situation, eventually the blood could be used to try and heal her.

And, at the very least, being in a secured location would help them help her.

(OOC: Would you like to handwave a passage of time after treatment? I wasn't sure whether or not you wanted to play it all out.)

(OOC: We definitely can handwave treatment, but would you mind playing out Vira and cured Luz]?

(OOC: Love to. You wanna fast-forward to the two of them with her recovering in a private chamber?)

(OOC: Sure, we can do that! If you want to color it a bit, I'll have Luz react to coming "back" to herself).

[Hours passed. Blood was offered, and treatments were had. It took a while, particularly because Vira-lorr was intent on the mildest, least invasive methods being used. Eventually, though, as the blood and the ministrations were working, she was finally getting more relaxed.

She looked tired as she leaned against the bed in the treatment room, sighing up at Luz.]

Feeling a little more yourself?

[Luz stirred after a long sleep, opening her eyes and then immediately groaning. Ugh. Her body felt like it had been squeezed like an accordion for several hours, and she had a pretty horrible headache. She threw the covers over her and wrapped them around her protectively].

Yeah. If feeling like death is myself, I guess I am. Where am I?

[She smiled more broadly, reaching over to pat her on the hand and wink at her while she leaned against the bed with her shoulder. Vira-Lorr looked increasingly relieved, now that she could see her friend was getting well.]

Mmmm, the Luminarium at the moment. They're making sure that the beast state's cleared before they release you. It's... good to have you back.

Rawrlg.

[Incomprehensible, sure, but it was Luz's feeling right now. As she focused on Vira, Luz started to look slightly green].

I think I'm starting to remember bits and pieces. I didn't do anything too weird, did I?

Oh, only tried to drink my blood. It was a little alarming, though I think you were scared off when I showed you it was acid. [She winked at her and smiled all too mildly, considering what she just said.]

But it kind of helped. You couldn't feed, so ... we could talk. Sort of. How bad is your head pounding right now? I don't think a hangover cure will help.

Your blood?! So that's the kind of creature that I turned int-ow. OW. Ok, no getting excited. Oh darn. I became a vampire beast. Fiddlesticks.

[She was still rubbing her head, trying to soothe the pretty severe headache that was dominating her existence right now. She didn't even want to think about what would have happened if a hunter got a hold of her].

I didn't think you could talk to people so easily in beast mode. Argh. It's...not great, I guess. I can't really give an accurate assessment. It's painful though.

It could have been a lot worse. You became a vampire beast that could be reasoned with. Very important distinction. I think a lot of the others have not been quite so fortunate.

[She reached up to pat her friend on the shoulder.]

From the little I've seen, those transformed aren't usually as easy to work with. It's often a one-way street. It's good that you weren't quite that completely gone.

Not really thrilled about that vampire part though. That was one of the first things that attacked me in Deerington. But at least you could talk to me.

[That was how Varian and Scorpia had also brought her around before].

Maybe a part of me was unwilling to forget you. We've been through way too much to forget each other, after all.

I believe that, unless we are beyond salvation barring death, there's still some glimmer of the person that we were in. You probably hadn't fed enough to lose your mind completely, so it may have been only a recent transformation.

But I also like the thought that our bond of friendship was what called you back.

Maybe you're right about that. We were able to bring Varian back from his corruption, and his was worse! Maybe with mine, it took a bit of a nudge.

[More than that of course, since Luz still had only hazy impressions of that mode].

I'm thinking that might have been the main factor, otherwise I might not have even heard you.

Re: hehe

Re: hehe

Imagine Luz is creepier and more imposing than this

Those icons are too adorable for a Chupacabra

Well now you get a sad(ish) one!

Re: Well now you get a sad(ish) one!

Re: Well now you get a sad(ish) one!

Re: Well now you get a sad(ish) one!

This icon is beast Luz right now

Haha the most adorable of beasts

Vira Lorr is a great friend

She's trying definitely!

Re: She's trying definitely!

Re: She's trying definitely!

Re: She's trying definitely!

A little while later

Re: A little while later

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