safe and sound

[firstroar]

Who: Blue & a cast of many (whether they like it or not)
What: A psychic goes beastmode, abducts friends to keep them safe; others come in to rescue them from starvation. Opt-in if you wanna join here!
When: Early March (about 2, 2.5 weeks give or take)
Where: A cottage in Crenshaw

Content Warnings: Gaslighting, mental/emotional manipulation, mind control, starvation, kidnapping/forced captivity, eye gore

---

i. a staggered and swift descent
closed to Flynn & Yuri

The great consolation of having Yuri returned in any living state cannot dam the flood of corruption coarsing through Blue's veins. It's sunken into his waking thoughts now, bending even the most innocuous of notions into matching shapes with the original, crooked shadow which lingered deep in his subconscious. The disease has crept in carefully enough as to remain a comfortable part of him just as anything else. After all: Negative emotions are natural, and Mu is hardly one to be repulsed by one's own native feelings.

The vibrant red of his irises has waned to something grimmer, and his sclera has blackened entirely: Given his soft, pale complexion, he looks more and more a porcelain doll than any living thing, and even then, porcelain gradually gives way to something more like glass.

He hardly seems bothered by it...so long as they are here. His family, safe. Unharmed. Yuri is...he's still a little monster, but the soul is there, easily perceived even with a psychic sense so bent off-kilter by corruption. It helps blind Blue to the horror, to look to Yuri as something to be protected - a child...one in quite the fell state of being, troubling but still fiercely loved.


Don't.

When he feels Flynn's thoughts stray to the outside, to the idea of leaving, Blue's thoughts call out ahead of him. If they're in the same room, his eyes fix in his direction in tandem with the sickly lion at his side.

Not yet. You can't.

And he has good reasons for it! Yuri isn't remade yet. The weather is foul. There are no sea-monsters to fight. He can't prepare food alone.

So many reasons...and if he doesn't have enough, he'll just...gently press on Flynn's thoughts, just ever-so-carefully tilt them in his favor.

It's okay to do so for now because of those reasons; Flynn would do the same for him, surely.

It's for his own good.

---

ii. a kind shepherd
closed to captives

Hello.

The thought carries over from the pale blue specter nearby - the one whose shape is unmistakably Blue's. It's a little distorted - fuzzy, as though a bit out of focus on a screen - but those kind, red eyes are unmistakable.

Wherever the target of that greeting is, Blue can proceed to them with little care for the surroundings; he can only see what they see, after all.

Do you have time for a visit today? I would be very happy for your company.

Those who agree can find themselves led to the cottage, wait for the locks to click open before the offer to help themselves inside is given. Perhaps Yuri or Flynn are in view - reading a book, cleaning up a shelf, cooking - or perhaps they're upstairs asleep. Either way, Blue is not. And Blue is...

...Not well. His face is lined with hairlined cracks - that porcelain visage failing him. Perhaps some dread variant of the crystalline affliction many Sleepers face in the cold season? Yet it is not just joints that seem affected. Even so, Blue greets them from his spot in the den, seemingly oblivious to the dreadful state of his appearance. At his feet, the lion barely opens his eyes, his fluffy, elegant mane becoming stringy and thin - looking like some he was caught mid-aging timelapse, perhaps.

It's an unnerving sight to be sure, and yet any worry Blue senses is worry Blue is going to work to mitigate through his sincere gratitude and kindness.

He holds out his hand.

"Hello again," he says, smiling. "Will you join me?"

---

iii. stay
closed to captives

How long has it been? Since leaving the house. Since...since eating? There are things here and there to munch on perhaps, but if one loses track of time, one can also lose track of healthy habits - especially in an atmosphere so coddling. So suffocating.

You can still chat with friends on the Omni, sure, but asks to visit or go home are met with some very strong resistance; you can hardly find it in you to agree to leave! It's nice here. Safe. Blue needs you. You...need him? That's right, isn't it?

Yes. That's right.

There are others here, too. Some are familiar, some may be strangers, but...everyone is an important person to Blue here. Safe. Together. Extra company is nice, right? More people to spend the unending hours with. Cards, books, this-and-that on the Omni network...what else do you need? Food. Water. Your other friends. Fresh air!

As the days pass, Blue's frame grows more and more fragile. His omen is gone, withered, forgotten. The Mu looks more like a translucent ornament than a person, and moving him too much causes such pain... No, better to let him rest here, up in his room. Keep an eye on him until he's well. Perhaps after that peculiar, crystalline growith growing out from his eyes will be the worst of it and he'll take a turn for the better; all fevers have to break sometime.

Until then, surely you can keep vigil a bit longer, right? You already did leave to fetch supplies, visit friends...remember?

That...really happened, right? You only just got here to check in a moment ago, so best to stay a while.

---

iv. beseiged
open to captives & rescuers

Things cannot continue like this. Too many days gone, too many missing moments, too many concerned friends now driven to action. The tipping point is a sharp and sudden moment of lucidity, when Yuri can finally break the spell of the place and call out for help. It's only a moment, though: How can Yuri fight back against his own beloved family? They promised to care for each other, even beyond death.

Those who find their way to the cottage are greeted by an undeniable feeling of pure dread before they even manage to get inside. It permeates the very air around the place, stifles and practically chokes the air inside, and it's poisoned the minds of Blue's captives. The moment Blue senses the purpose behind these new arrivals is the moment the houseguests are sparked into action. It's no longer safe - they're under attack! Monstrous visages are painted over the faces of friends and acquaintances here to help, their voices twisted into gnarled snarls and roars. It's what Blue had warned could happen - danger from the outside, trying to destroy the safety within!

They need to fight. They have to fight. Blue, too...

And Blue...

The specter is all that greets them, no bodily form to be found. Faint notions of the mental ties which bind his captives to him can be discerned by those with paleblood or a psychic sense, and it's those who Blue focuses on stamping out the hardest.

You can't have them.

His will presses into the little house, rattling it.

My precious friends...my family...

YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM.

[notes: captives can be freed from the psychic snares by blunt force to the head/knocking them unconscious and removing them from the cottage. likewise, anyone with a Doorway nameday gift (the sword) can sever the emotional bond outright, instantly snapping the victim out of it. it's up to the victim what kind of backlash/consequences that can have.]

---

v. shattering the beast
closed to Diluc

Diluc.

Why is he...

I wasn't wrong. It isn't safe. We're being attacked! Help me!

Blue's ghost billows and reforms in front of the fire-haired man at the foot of the stairs, arms out to bar the way. Whatever earnestness can be conveyed is not coming from his face - most of his features are obscured in the suggestion of crystal.

Our enemies are the other way. Not upstairs. That's where he is - what's left of him. A hand-sized hunk of blood-red crystal set upon his nightstand while the rest of his corporeal form crumbled to dust.

He doesn't lament it because there is no time to lament it.

Help them, he insists, trying to push raw concern and purpose at the man. They're being taken away! By monsters. Monsters, not friends. No friend would pry them away from Blue.

Comments

[searingwing]

More than you probably have ever guessed. Mondstadt loves you. Almost as much as I do.

[Diluc leans into Kaeya’s touch as the part of him building resistance speaks from within the tie between them. No. You’re not to blame. I came because I couldn’t shield you. This way, when the time comes to act, everyone will be freed.

No matter the cost to him. I don’t know what the outcome will be. But whatever happens, it isn’t your fault. It isn’t even Blue’s. The corruption has set in. To an ancient being like him there is likely a lot it could feed on.]

[unmelting]

You have more faith in me than I do in myself in that regard, I think.

[But he does want to believe that it's true, too. He loves his city, and for all that he still has his secrets, he wants to do what's best for it.

Leaning closer into Diluc, he holds tight to that connection between them, the faintest bit of clarity. Whatever happens... it's the city's doing. Kaeya can't hold his friend to blame for the corruption seeping into him.

They all walk that edge, here. I'm glad you're with me, despite it all.]

[searingwing]

You have the black market considering you one of the powers within it. You have a great deal more pull than you think you do. [He holds him tightly, tucking Kaeya up against him as the music continues.

That tiny connection. He holds it tight. Despite it all, I’m glad to be with you too. But you’re right, this is the city’s doing. It’s up to us to make it right. They’ll deal with it to the terrible end.]

[unmelting]

Mm... very questionable pull. Though I'm quite proud of it.

[He's all too happy to stay close, to listen to Diluc play, to the sound of his voice. Kaeya doesn't remember the last time he slept, can't be sure when he ate last. This is all a dream that goes on too long, but in this moment he's genuinely comforted.

As right as it can be, mm. We'll deal with it, somehow.

There will be a moment. A chance. They just have to wait for that moment.]