deercountry | 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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"Oh. Wow. That sounds pretty dark, Wesker."

You weren't going to hear Luz saying "Don't do that" though. Hunters had the power in their way, and if they were able to go around killing people as they pleased, no Sleeper would be safe. This was especially true when it came to corruption.

Luz raised her eyebrow. "Teeth? I think you may have lost me there!"

"It's a dark business, patching up Hunters or any other clinical work, but I'll spare you the details. It has its rewards, though, seeing them make a recovery, however that path takes them," he says.

He snerks dryly. "All right, poor attempt at a quip on my part. I was wondering if you wanted anything to eat along with your tea, though if you're not hungry, that's understandable."

Luz nodded. She figured this might be the case. After all, was it that much different from people in the Boiling Isles who worked the healing track? She imagined that they had to do it for the same thing, right?

Luz shrugged. She didn't get it. "No, I think I could eat. This might be a weird request and I don't know if you even have it but, toast with a little bit of Hummus?"

Now that she thought about it, Luz really ought to have checked if they even had chickpeas around Trench.

Hw rummages in the cupboards and the refrigerator, finding part of a loaf of bread, but no hummus. "There's small shop in Willful Machine which deals in tricky to find food items. I can send someone to fetch some."

Cypher at that moment emerges from the back of their Sleeper's collar. "Take it that's me cue?" the Omen asks, before dropping to the floor and bounding away, phasing through a wall.

"Making themself useful. Not that they don't do so usually, but they took it on themself. I wonder how many Sleepers can say their Omens are their better half?" Wesker notes, setting about slicing the bread while waiting for the critter to return.

"I'd appreciate it," Luz said. "If you can't, that's OK. It's the thought that counts."

Luz would go and find comfort food in toast and honey, though actually darkening the bread took some work. She gave Cypher a wave before turning back to Wesker.

"Mine is like a mom at times," Luz remarked, chuckling. "If I'm in trouble she can be pretty scary to the thing that has me on edge, and sometimes she can chide me! But I think that might have been what I was instinctively thinking about when she became a wolf instead of an otter."

"An otter would be adorable, but I suppose there's something more primal about a wolf. Imagine being the first humans in the Stone Age times, making friends with a friendlier young wolf and convincing the lupine that they'd have a steady supply of food and a warm shelter with these strange, two-footed beings who'd tamed fire," he muses, glancing back at the wall where Cypher had phased through. "I suppose mine became a weasel since I've been described as crafty and stealthy. Also, weasels are very flexible and adaptable hunters. They're small and slender, but they're incredibly strong for their size. If you scaled a weasel to the size of a wolf, they'd have twice the bite force."

"I sort of figured it had to do with all the experiences that shaped my time in Deerington, and then my time with Margot. I started to see wolves in a new way: they felt like a strength, and loyal and dependable, traits I've always admired. Out of that, I think Tempest came to be, and she knows enough when to be around and when to leave me be. But she's still one of my bets friends too."

At those words the wolf omen seemed to materialize by her side and hopped on her hind legs to give Luz an appreciative lick before returning to her four legs and retaining her dignity again.

"Weasels are pretty great! I've always like how fast they were, how quick they are to get away when they need to. Whoa, I didn't know that about their bite! Really?!"

He'll look straight at the emerging Omen, one of his rare true smiles crossing his face. "And there's the friendly wolf, delighted with her keeper and companion," he notes.

"In legends, weasels have a poor rep for being crafty, when in fact, they're highly intelligent and clever at maneuvering their environment. But there are also tales of their protecting their families, including those they have chosen as their family," he says, peering over his lenses at her, a gesture as close to admitting she's part of what family he has.

Tempest sniffed, as if scoffing at the words, but clearly seemed to be pleased with his assessment. It was, after all, tied to Luz, who clearly appreciated Wesker's words and advice.

"Sometimes being shrewd can be seen as sneaky and secretive," Luz said, "but that's because people prefer to have all the cards showing, so they knew everything about who they're dealing with. I think you need to have that cleverness, so you're two steps ahead of a given situation."

And that other thing he met Luz clearly understood, since she closed her eyes and was smiling softly.

"It's appreciated by the family it has, I'll bet."

Mother stands for comfort

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