a wounded deer leaps the highest. | march catchall (OTA)

[azurestar]

Who: Lance (azurestar) and YOU
What: March catchall for Event, some TDM and more.
When: All of March
Where: Trench, Jungle Level, Catacombs, Farther Shores, Trenchwood etc.

Content Warnings: hallucinations, ptsd, will add more as they appear

( ooc: All prompts have multiple ways to interact with them, read carefully! Deer weeks are roughly the first 2 weeks of March. )

DEER WEEKS

[At the very start of March, as the clock struck midnight, and the Paleblood hallucinations kicked in, Lance panicked and turned into a deer to try and escape them. He had just experienced something harrowing that rocketed his corruption to rather high levels and beasthood was probably on the horizon, and instinct kicked in, the faint memory of a month when he was a Bear after his life took a sharp downturn and he needed to not be a human surfaced and he took it as a cue. It has merely stalled his corruption increase and he's still suffering some mild hallucinations, but he's mentally more deer than Lance and that is practically a vacation to him.]

i. trenchwood
[The mystical, glowing deer with three stars in its antlers wanders Trenchwood when it needs to forage at night and during the day. At night, it lights up the area it stands in, diffusing through early morning mists and breaking the dead of night darkness. With it, there walks a coyote with the glowing eyes of an omen, but it stays at a distance, keeping eyes and ears out in the perimeter for threats. There also lurks a massive white direwolf, larger than most average horses, hunting and keeping watch at a further perimeter than the coyote, but ever present.

When the deer spots someone, it stops and looks tense and unsure, stars in its antlers and around it twinkling rapidly. If you give off a non-threatening appearance and 'energy' (he's still an empath, he can tell), he'll continue to watch and engage. If you appear threatening and have a threatening energy, he will scream and take on a stance like he's about to charge. But there is also a strong chance he will bolt. Also, he is mildly hallucinating and jumpy, even if you are not threatening, he may scream.]

ii. farther shores
[It may seem like a strange place for a mystical deer (elk?) to hang out, but this deer is Lance, and he loves the ocean, it brings him comfort. And this week there are plenty of squid washing ashore, and new sleepers. Though he is a bit more deer than Lance, he still wants to be there if someone he knows shows up. He can be seen walking primly on the shores, sniffing around for any sleeper squids in need of help. The cherry blossoms of the false spring cling to his soft fur and get stuck in his antlers and somehow the three stars and the stars that twinle around him don't burn them up.

His coyote omen can be seen loping several feet nearby along the shore and the giant white direwolf is far off on the rocky areas above the sea caves looking down. Much like the last prompt, if threatened or otherwise spooked by you, he may scream and charge or bolt. But he can be coaxed to come over closer to civilization, to the boardwalk. Trenchies hold deer as sacred and he'll be given a lot of space to walk and stares and maybe you can even use him as leverage for a free pass at one of the carnival games... if you can get him to go there.]

iii. trench
[Very rarely, he'll go into the city, and usually into areas where there aren't a lot of people and at a time where there aren't a lot of people. He gets overwhelmed, you see. He can be found mostly in Cellar Door, Willful Machine and Crenshaw late at night, lurking by his, Hunk and Bolin's house, businesses/homes of his friends and Shiro's Mouse House. Again, he is tailed by his coyote omen and the giant white direwolf at a distance, and he is especially skittish here... but he seems to be looking for something. Or someone.

As time draws on, he is more and more Lance, and he is noticing that Bolin and Keith are missing and Diluc isn't at his business. He's nervous, instinct tells him something is wrong, so as the week goes on he can be found walking around town more and more. And his drive to find them allows him to walk among more crowds, where Trenchies give him awed stares and even small bows of their heads and... a bow gets tied to one of his antlers as he passes by a child on their parents' shoulders. All of this seems to have him looking increasingly overwhelmed and confused. Help?]

iv. jungle level
[Though he's still a deer on "vacation" and also searching for Keith, Bolin and Diluc, The Moss King don't care about all these extenuating circumstances. He hears the drumming and his ears perk up in interest, the excitement grows. Is that a sign of where to go to find his friends? Edelya, the wolf and his omen hear it as well and follow him more closely to find it. They locate the game on a stump and Lance noses it open. Yes, he plays the game with his omen and his hyper intelligent direwolf, somehow heavily compelled to do so despite all his current concerns.

And then there's a mystical deer, his coyote omen and giant wolf daughter in the jungle. He's the only one who inadvertently gave blood when he picked up the piece with his teeth, but they came in with him. Awesome. Love this for them. Immediately, they are set upon by a stampede and luckily, they are able to keep up with it, being four legged themselves. If you find yourself in the path of the stampede of rhinos, Lance will run out ahead and pick you up in his antlers. The stars that hang between them move out of the way to accommodate you and you're off!

Or, if you don't want to run into this mystical deer and its odd predator companions in the middle of mortal peril or some other way, feel free to spot him running through the jungle exuding panic and psychic thoughts of 'shit!' 'holy crap!' 'where's the exit??'. OR toss your own challenge at him! Open to all challenges in the event and invented ones, go wild!]

BACK IN BLACK

[It's after finally escaping the jungle and then seeing Yuri's post that leads him to Keith and the others where he and Shiro rode to the rescue, that Lance finally turns back to himself. It happens in the middle of the night on the farther shores as he stares out at the ocean. The hallucinations are less here and seeing his friends in trouble, hurt and then getting his horns stuck in a wall like that… he felt handicapped, the whole ordeal woke him up more, made him more Lance than deer. He knows he needs to change back and try to brave what comes.]

v. carnivale
[After changing back to human, he just sort of spent the night on the beach… and woke up after a shed to another blood type. He sees the shed skin nearby and notices that he's no longer hallucinating mushrooms. His corruption is still up, but it's lessened enough that all he needs to cover the worst of it is a regular sized eyepatch rather than the large one he'd switched to that covers 1/4 of his face. His skin is still off in color and flaky, and he still has fangs, but his mind is closer to normal and without the hallucinations panicking him… he lets out a breath of relief and heads to the boardwalk to check out the last couple days of the carnival.

He can be found playing the carnival games, helping late sleepers to win their prizes with his sharp-shooting skills. Or just winning whatever prizes he feels like on his own to take the edge off of suddenly being human again. Some of the creepy dolls he wins, he just makes a face at and hands to the nearest child or even you.] Uh, I think this suits you way better.

[Other than that, he can be found both during the day and at night hanging out on the carousel or ferris wheel, munching on carnival food and just chillin. He probably looks pretty out of place as a grown young man on his own, lounging obnoxiously and incorrectly on these rides, feet up on a horse head or over the side of a ferris wheel cart. Is he drunk?]

vi. welcome back to the jungle
[He hears the drums again as a human and it's like he gets temporary amnesia about when he was brought to the jungle as a deer. He finds the game board and perhaps he finds it with you and you play it together, or he'll do it alone or with his omen again. Either way, he's back in the jungle and he's not… having a good time at all. Long story short: last time he was in a jungle setting he was tortured and killed. Upon immediate arrival, he'll start having a trauma response, breathing hard and backing up, body glowing blue-gold from his CRAU powers.] N-no, nope. Not… not this.

[Aaand, he might back right up into a trap, like quick sand or sentient vines or a giant frog. Stop him? Otherwise, later on he can be found looking around frantically and hopping from fallen branch to tree and trying to hide in the brush even when there doesn't seem to be any dangers. At least not ones you can see, pff. Even though he has survival skills, he's not immune to getting into bad situations, feel free to rescue him from a crushing massive anaconda or quicksand, any of the challenges or invented ones are welcome.

Or he can swing in and rescue you from a rushing river, a stampede or the mosquitoes, again any challenges and ideas are welcome. He may go a little overkill if it's the Trophy Hunter who is after both of you though, like… creating four small spheres of light (stars) and making them blow up (supernova) through a wide area he thinks he sees the Hunter. That's a lot of damage. He's breathing hard, eyes wild and then a bullet zips by his cheek through the fire and smoke.] AW, COME ON!

[He's glowing again, gearing up for more firepower, looking a biiit wild. But his powers are still not working correctly and he really should not… do that.]

vii. dark places of the world
[Getting sucked down and squeezed into a dark death hole is also… not his idea of a great time. Last time he was in underground tunnels was also deeply traumatic, but at least there's not corpses everywhere, that's an improvement. He'll have a similar immediate trauma response to the catacombs as he does the jungle when he first arrives, the sound of screams echoing in the distance and the smell of this place strongly brings back some flashbacks. He glows again (more muted because this place is damping all his powers), lighting up the space and starts frantically looking around and hyperventilating.] The deep place, i-it… shit. N-no. Nooonono.

[And with that, he'll crouch down and hug his head, rocking a bit. Eventually, he will pull out of it enough to start into the catacombs, finally seeing that there is a shrine here to the Moss King and it might not… be the deep place. Maybe. Shut up. He grabs a survival pack from the cubbies and heads in, only way out is forward, he can figure that much. The further in he goes, the less his powers work, he can't even seem to make a star to light the path and resorts to the flashlight in the pack. The whole journey, he is battling claustrophobia but when coming upon tight and narrow spaces that require spelunking skills to get through etc. he'll stop, tense and not happy at all.] You're kidding, right? Nah-uh, no way. That can't be the o-only way through. And do I hear nasty cave water on the other side? It'll- It'll totally mess up our skin!

viii. the incomprehensible maze
[The smells of corpses and the feeling he is not alone has Lance more and more on edge and jumpy. The sounds that are heard are sometimes heard by both of you… and sometimes only heard by him. The only signs he can make out are english and Spanish, and he tilts his head at the rest like it keeps moving around before his eyes.] The hell is that? Did that sign just give us the finger?!

[No… no, it did not. But regardless, it eventually leads you into a room with a challenge. If it's the dark water, Lance will hesitate and make a face before sighing and walking in… and boy, he sure has vertigo all of a sudden and is clinging to you. If it's the house on fire, he will immediately run in to save the "victims" and will need to be saved. If it's the room full of treasures, he'll find it easier to pass through since he doesn't yearn for treasures these days, if you're going Gollum on him he'll give you a weird look and won't get it but will exasperatedly try to physically drag you forward. In chronology of the seasons, he is not an expert in the patrons at all and will need help… please help, he's very lost and very stressed. And lastly, he'll absolutely be running for that exit and right into the mushroom pit, either grab him or tumble in with him.]

ix. dark places of the heart
[Then the corpses start to follow him and he's panicking again, grabbing onto you and asking if you see them too. He sees his mother, his sisters and brothers, his father and grandparents. And he sees Allura and Chloe and he's shaking with emotion and fear, guilt and grief. Tears manage to escape his eye (left is still covered by an eye patch due to corruption).] I'm sorry, I-

[The corpses of his loved ones each stop their pursuit when he stops and they don't attack… he doesn't know what they want, though. He's shaking like a leaf and looks over to you, not understanding. Or the corpses are your loved ones and he's giving you concerned glances and places a cautious hand on your arm, not sure what to say or do, but he'll follow your lead.

Much later, it's black hole with the warning 'hell is ahead…', and he stands in front of it beside you, breathing hard and fast and looking like he's about to have a breakdown. It's crushing him, he already has so many immense feelings of inadequacy and this hole is finding ones he barely even knew he had, it's finding every dark crevice and wound and pulling it open. He trembles and his knees feel weak, his voice lost and reduced to a small whimper in his throat. Are you suffering the same? Who will crack first and start admitting how horrible they are? If it's not you, Lance will start talking with a tight reluctance and pain, he's trying not to… doesn't want to, but he has to.]

I'm not a good enough pilot or Paladin, I failed as the second in command, I failed the team, I'm just some dumb kid from Cuba way in over his head and I'm weak, I couldn't fight off all the magic bullshit that made me h-hurt p- I'm- I deserve everything that happened to me because I wasn't enough, I-

[He takes in a sharp breath and stops. Placing his hands over his mouth, tears starting to all from his uncovered eye. Corruption is starting to build, the scar under his eyepatch widening to reveal a dark nebula under his skin. He hasn't admitted enough to fulfill the needs of this challenge, but these are things he's struggled to admit to for years.]

x. try to breathe
[From mid-March to the end of the month, in between the times he's in the jungle and catacomb levels and after, he can be found trying to just go about something resembling normal life in Trench. He'll avoid those blood blisters the moment he sees one burst on another (NPC) sleeper and has to fight off their beast form. If you'd like to team up in driving the beast outside of Trench to try and get them back to themselves… or kill it, he won't say no to a partner in hunting.

He can be found crouching by the blood hounds and talking to them like they're people who understand what he's saying.] Nice antlers, I had a pretty sweet pair of 'em a couple weeks ago.

[Other than that, he spends a lot of time down on the Farther Shores as usual, and can be spotted talking to the Ocean/Mariana once or twice, especially late in the evenings. The water lifts abnormally up like a still wave to 'interact' and a few times, Lance seems to be glowing and venting his feelings, pacing and making stars that he sends high up to blow up and make small aurora borealis and disturbing the surface of the water.

Lastly, he seems to have won some prizes in the levels… one is that shitty T-shirt that he is absolutely wearing over a long sleeve shirt while he talks to a glaceon. He seems to be sighing.] I mean, not to look a gift pokémon in the mouth or anything, but I've got a lot of animals to look after already… what do you even eat?

[The glaceon tilts her head at him and just lets out her cry in a questioning tone.]

WILDCARD

( ooc: I've given a lot of prompts, but if you still want something else or something specific, that's totally fine! either toss a prompt at me or if you want to plot, contact me at spypigeon or on my plotting comment. Also, in the second half of March, Lance can still turn into a deer if he gets stressed enough in the Jungle level in particular. If you'd like to interact with prompt iv later in March, feel free to wildcard that Lance got stressed as a human and turned into a deer right before your character's eyes or something. )

Comments

THE WOODS

[shiro2hero]

[That... vision or whatever it was from Sasuke had said the woods. He'd seen the deer bolt that way. The Lance Deer. Deer Lance? Dance? Wow, all right. Maybe he's too exhausted for this. Maybe the Warmblood effect is more draining than he anticipated. Walking all the way out there means stopping to rest along the way. More than he'd like. He'd taken a dose of honey, in place of painkiller, and set out.]

[And once he gets there, he wishes he'd brought more.]

[Nevertheless, Shiro just slogs forward. Pausing now and again to lean against a tree or prop himself up with his Omen. He came this far. He's not leaving until he sees for himself that Lance is all right.]

Lance?

[azurestar]

[It is evening and he's managed to elude a monster that came busting through to where he was chilling out and it's brought him closer to Trench. He was just thinking about heading over to the farther shores, but then his keen deer ears catch the sound of some movement far off.

He's about to bolt when he hears Shiro's voice in the distance call his name. Oh… dammit. He has no idea if that monster is still around and it sounds like Shiro is fumbling for some reason. He heads in his direction, glowing stars in his antlers and twinkling around him in the low light. Eventually when he comes up on him, he snorts a breath out of his nose and tilts his head.

'Injured?']

carnivale

[retsuden]

[ Sasuke actually likes carnivals. It's probably a shock to anyone who knows him, but he's always been a fan, even if he mostly just walks around and watches. He's not a fan of most sweets, he doesn't particularly like prizes, but he does like competition and the chance to watch people bonding with others. So it's sort of like the perfect setting.

He's taken a break from the games himself, though, and was waiting to go on the Ferris Wheel when he saw the familiar figure lounging and taking up a good chunk of the seat. He pushes himself ahead of the line (ignoring protests, of course) so he can go up to the ride, casually pushing Lance's feet to the side so he can take the seat across from him.

What's up, friend. The shorter sleeves of his outfit and the open neck of the shirt show the remains of what look like burn scars, but they're already starting to fade. At least his eye is back to its normal black for now though, which means they're both safe from anything like their last meeting happening again.

He's just relieved that Lance is in... mostly one piece. ]

I see you're human again.

[azurestar]

[Lance is wearing trench appropriate clothes as he lounges in the ferris wheel cart with a bucket of garlic knots and corn dogs on the floor of it nearby. There's also a small bottle of the only alcohol he could find and most of it is gone. His eyebrows go up when he sees Sasuke once the wheel stalls to accept more passengers.]

Oh. Yeah. It was time, I guess.

[An awkward pause and then he gestures towards the bench across from where he's sprawled. A silent offer to join him, though he's sort of avoiding eye contact for now. And he still has a patch over one eye, but it's a smaller one since the corruption has receded enough.]

YE MAZE

[velvet_teen]

[ Once again, Alice is made to socialize with strangers and also is stuck underground. At least, she agrees, there are no bodies. Well, no fleshy bodies. Just bones. Bones are fine and anybody who is scared of skeletons that aren't even moving around is a huge weenie. This is sincerity and not mere bravado, both of which Alice is known to employ. Before the true horrors of the underground awaken, she has an important question to ask which may shape her future in Trench itself. ]

What's this finger you're gabbing about? Is it another skeleton?

[azurestar]

[Lance looks at his traveling companion who is far too young to be here in his opinion. He's been more on guard because he's a big dumb hero at his core and wants to protecc… but he's also an idiot who runs his mouth.

Right… the finger. Well, if she can wander horror tunnels filled with danger and skeletons and voices and moving signs (those last 2 are all in Lance's head), then she can learn what the finger is.]

Nope, it's a super rude gesture you show to people to piss them off. Those letters are totally moving into the shape of it. Look!

[He points to the sign in front of them where they stand and it is… not shifting at all.]

welcome to the jungle.

[fattyhands]

[ vi wanders onto the scene in no spectacular fashion. she’s loud though. with the foliage thick and plentiful, in just about every direction imaginable, she stomps her way through with the same finesse of how she shoves bushes and limbs out of her way. she’s having a time but she’s determined to keep moving. to what end? she’s not entirely sure, but it beats sitting around a bullshit game board, twiddling her thumbs.

stepping into a pocket of space not overgrown is a relief… up until she notices she’s not alone. she pauses there, eyeing up the dude held high on a tree trunk, secured with a tight wrapping of vines. a narrowed gaze later, vi starts closer.

a familiar board game is at the base of the tree. vi adjusts her grip on her own board, tucked there on her left, resting on her hip. ]

What’d you roll? [ she tips her head back, voice somewhere between judgmental and amused. ] Tree hugger?

[azurestar]

[This is just his life, it seems. And if his powers were working on his command right now, he'd just burn them off himself. But his powers have been off for a while now, and this jungle level seems to be making it worse and limiting it more. Or maybe it's just psychological, fuck if he knows, this whole situation is kind of a nightmare and he has a bit of trouble keeping his thoughts ordered through it all.

When the woman with the pink hair appears, his brows go up and his head tilts where he's sort of upside-down. His visible eye (the other covered by a leather patch to hide corruption symptoms) blinks owlishly.]

Uh, I'm not doing the hugging here, clearly these vines just can't resist me. I mean, I am pretty irresistible, but I've really gotta get out of here. [He chuckles nervously, eyes darting around and he swallows.] Mind giving this totally handsome stranger a hand?

iii. trench

[droptheious]

[Varian's heading out from The Potion Hut for the end of the day, stepping out of the shop when he sees...the deer wandering around. Now, he's well aware that's a Thing Sleepers Can Do- he never did it himself, and he wasn't aware that it carried over into Trench. So when he sees the deer, he doesn't automatically think Sleeper.

Still, the people are getting kinda...pushy and while Varian might be two years away from a place where he can actively speak to and semi-understand animals, he can tell the poor thing is stressed out, so he wanders over, trying to shoo the crowd away.]

Hey, hey. C'mon now, give him a little breathing space, okay.

[azurestar]

[Ah small goggle man. Thank you, he is just trying to go search the next block for… what again? Though, keeping focus in deer form is hard sometimes, he's more and more himself this week than deer. But he's also found himself distracted by people wanting to feed him rare fruits or all the pretty lights on the boardwalk right now. And of course, too many Trenchies getting excited about a deer, that's very distracting.

When some of them take a step back he leans his had down to bump Varian's shoulder with his nose, sending a feeling of anxious gratitude. Then the stars in his antlers blink a few times erratically and the thoughts 'thanks varian' are sent psychically. Lance's mental voice might not be easy to recognize at first depending on the person receiving it.]

Boy I seem to like putting these two in bad situations, don't I?

[imaglyphwitch]

[There was a lot that was coming up on Luz here. All of her insecurities tended to mount up and rebound on her with the intensity of every single thing that had come upon her. All the people she was missing. The decision to move on to Trench. The decision to take on the cave guys. Her own corruption.

But now that she was seeing Lance, who she KNEW had his own insecurities mingled with the death of his loved ones and the people he cared about laid bare, she could feel her own desire to want to help him override those painful memories. This wasn't the time for her to be crippled by her own feelings! If anything, that was what this mass of darkness wanted them to do, to fail and to let everyone see them at their weakest.

So Luz did what she did best. She took his hand, and pushed back against her own pain to reassure him].

Lance. You've been through a lot. You're not weak. You're one of the strongest people I know. Other people might have crashed under this pressure. You keep going! You're strong, and definitely stronger than this thing in front of us!

guess it's just fun to torture them

[azurestar]

[Lance isn't an empath right now, his blood shifted to vile with a shed in the middle of the month, so he can't get a gauge on where she's coming from. But he's gotten good enough at reading people that even through that darkness crushing in on his head and heart he can tell she's pushing something back.

He pulls his hand back, placing it with his other over his mouth and shakes his head silently. Afraid that if he tries to communicate to her verbally he'll just spew more dark feelings. The list of his insecurities could have them here forever and the hard truth is that there's no magic words that can overcome them in a single moment.]

trophy hunter bonding moments

[hijinxer]

[ the only kind of jungle jinx has any experience with are those of the concrete variety. which is to say, ya girl here is not having the best of times. seriously, it'd been enough of a weird experience to get warped into this amount of sprawling green and rugged nature to begin with. jinx really did not need murderous terrain and hostile flora and fauna to deal with on top of that.

but weirdly enough? when some idiot rolls the goddamn trophy hunter into existence? that's something jinx is more than comfortable dealing with.

or well. someone beats her to it. she watches the boy practically uproot half the trees in the immediate vicinity with a powerful blast, then scowls when the hunter apparently doesn't die. growling, she emerges from behind her cover of the trees behind lance and calls out: ]

Get down, Sparky!

[ mind you, that's all the warning lance gets. jinx fires her pistol, taking several shots right at the hunter's head. and no, she doesn't miss.

the trophy hunter crumples and falls to the ground. looks like they'll have about five seconds of peace before someone decides to get back up again. ]

[azurestar]

[The yell, even though she does not say his name, gets his immediate attention because who else could she mean? Right? He's very sparky. And sparkly. Also, definitely familiar with combat enough to just do the thing. Drop. Hit the deck. All that good stuff.

He drops and looks up at where the shots hit the hunter, then he low whistles and gets to his feet when the guy falls. Though, something tells him that it's not gonna be the end of it. It's never ending.]

Nice shot!

[And time to put distance between them and the hunter because he sees him twitching. He heads closer to where Jinx is, eyeing the hunter.]

Why won't he die? Are you seeing this? Tell me you're seeing this. [He is genuinely asking in a really whiny voice because come on. Why doesn't it ever end?]

Wildcard - later in the month. Jungle (let me know if this works)

[searingwing]

[A bullet chips the wood away from to the far right of the space Diluc is hiding in. When he saw the Hunter couldn’t be taken down by his own magic. He changed tactics.

There was no helping it. When one can’t take their foe down. See if other hazards could fix the problem. Except this one seems too good. Wonderful. He will have to outrun and out hide him.

He scans around him and his sight lands on Lance just far enough out to not know the danger ahead. He ducks and weaves through the underbrush and emerges to the side of him, making his approach known only when he was close.

He steps out of the underbrush with a sigh.] Lance. There’s a problem ahead. Come with me and we’ll take a way around it.

[At a first glance he seems himself but that glance will reveal his red eyes are slitted, his ears are covered in fur and come to tapered points. His red hair is patterned with black stripes. A long tail lays still behind him and his hands and feet are tipped with sharp claws that retract as he settles.

He speaks again,] It’s a Hunter.

[azurestar]

[He has been having a not great time. Already, he's dealt with the hunter and getting tied up and almost eaten and basically… every trigger he has for a Jungle setting has been hit. He just… needed a break, alright? The corruption has already started to increase to concerning levels again.

He's resolved to climb high into a tree and just get away for a bit there, and when he was on the first branch, he heard Diluc's voice. He glances at Diluc with his uncovered eye, not willing to show the other side of his face right now since it's… not great. And then he says the word hunter and his breath catches.

He groans and slams his face into the side of the tree, hugging it. His voice is hoarse and shaking, a little broken and unhinged.] Nooo, don't say that.

[It's not entirely clear if he's talking to Diluc or a voice only he hears (both, probably).]

Welcome Back

[onerthes]

[They were playing together. Or at least she'd come on the board at about the time that he was checking it out. And, as she did, Vira-Lorr had a look in her eyes that said she was anything but happy. Over her shoulder, she slung a feather cloak, something that might just have been a little familiar to Lance.

You know... from that time Roderic had wanted to play games.]

I came prepared. If this fucker wants to play games, then I have my old tools for how we beat them at their own game. [Pause...] Go team fish?

(OOC: Wanna have them run into some giant mosquitos and have to high tail it?)

[azurestar]

[Lance is sort of out of it, his brows drawing together in confusion, visible eye blinking owlishly, because this game is familiar and he's compelled to play it. But his head is foggy from the corruption and magic still pulling him to play…]

What? [Then he swallows thick when she says 'go team fish'] W-what does that have to do with it?

[But he rolls and they're sucked in. Seeing where they are, he remembers flashes of when he was brought here as a deer and takes in a sharp breath as he remembers the Dome… and all the trauma he suffered in it. He starts to hyperventilate and the scar under his eyepatch grows as corruption rises with his emotions, revealing a darkness under his skin. And of course, he's glowing blue-gold.] N-no, nope. Not… not this.

[Instinctively, he's backing up and looking around frantically, trauma response and flashbacks coming in full as he sees movement and shadows not there. But there is a buzzing… giant mosquitos are approaching behind him and he doesn't seem to notice.]

viii

[vibing]

[ Yuri snorts a laugh, for all the world unaffected by all of this, but inside he's reeling. He was just trapped in a house, trapped by someone he considers family, who's dead and decaying, who will come back (he has to come back, Yuri has to take better care of him, he has to be there like he said he would be), and now he's trapped here, too. Trapped here in this dank, dark place.

He raises his hand to give the sign the finger right back ]

What, you insulted by that? Didn't have much trouble insulting my fighting.

[azurestar]

[The voices in Lance's head call this the deep place, which is a thing that has a lot of trauma association for him, so he's not doing great either. But, despite the twitchy trauma symptoms, he's functioning, surviving. And he deals with crap like this by talking. A lot.]

Insulting? Nah-uh, that was just a little bit of fun competition!

Carnivale

[tempredmental]

[Keith hadn't expected to see Lance at the carnival with all the crazy stuff that had been happening. Frankly, he almost didn't come himself, but he'd been getting restless. Keith didn't sit still very well, even when he was still somewhat sore and exhausted after the experience of escaping from Blue's house. Well, being rescued, but that was symantics.

He paused, staring at the doll that Lance was blindly holding out to him, and frowned a bit before looking back up to him to see if he'd realized who he was giving the doll to.]

Uh... I don't think.

[azurestar]

[Lance is startled to hear Keith's voice in response to his offering of the doll. He jerks and drops the doll, his visible eye widening (yeah, the patch and all other corruption signs are still a thing but… improved a bit).]

K-Keith. What're you doing here?

[There's more inflection in his voice, though it's still muted, he still looks and sounds like he's got a gaping hole in his chest. He hugs himself lightly, hands coming to grip at his elbows.]

VII!

[asas]

[ the only places out were really through. shōyō could understand that and prepare himself as fast as he could; boots, gloves, clips, wires, flashlights and equipped backpacks he’s only ever seen on discovery channel, as chilling as it was, dangerous if the beasts of trench were anything to go by—

it still had the tingle of an adventure he would never be having, otherwise. he’s not alone, his corruption has come down to a safer layer; if he had their support, he could do this. from what he sees when he turns his head from the tiny space he’s attempting to squeeze through, back and front touching the walls (smaller than the first, of rock and bone), lance needs the support just as much. ]

Hey, hey, s’okay— [ a light strapped around his head shines down on the other, and shōyō promptly steps out from the lessened space and bends lower, holding out his hand while his entire side clicks with equipment. ] We can get through it if you come with me. You just can’t stop now.

[azurestar]

[Lance has also gotten his equipment all set up on himself and he keeps fidgeting in it. This sucks, he does not like tight spaces and he does not like the deep pla- tunnels, catacombs, whatever. He eyes that offered hand, still wanting to resist, his one visible eye (the other behind a patch) narrowing.]

Who says I'm stopping? M-maybe I just think there's a way better direction to go? Who wants to get their pores clogged up by corpse water?

vi.

[sallyface]

[ Yeah, he should have anticipated getting so completely turned around that he can't tell if he's going in circles or not. Every time he thinks to stop and continue the game so that he can get this over with...he hears something. Or he thinks he sees something. He's not so much panicked as he is really nervous and his heart beats fast for the first time in what feels like forever.

Thankfully, a bright light in the distance leads him to something new. Bad idea to follow it? Maybe. Maybe this something new is just death. But, at least it's not what he thinks is the same giant tree for the fiftieth time in a row.

While he's somewhat expecting death, he's not expecting Lance. Sal rushes forward, scanning the area for what might have him so spooked, but he sees nothing. What he does see is Lance unknowingly about to back into a frog, only visible to Sal because it's moving into position, mouth slowly opening the closer Lance gets. Despite his own fear and what he assumes is Lance's that his empathy is picking up, Sal doesn't hesitate with someone's life on the line.

He remembers the useful info someone on the network gave, remembers that they had said something about the frog's shitty gag reflex. It's all he's got right now, so knowing this, he searches for a big enough rock that he can at least pick up, and as soon as he's close enough he chucks it into the frog's gaping maw.

Not bad for a guy with very limited visibility. ]

Lance — behind you!

[ Fortunately, the frog appears to be having trouble with the rock now in its throat. ]

[azurestar]

[Lance had been caught in a PTSD melt-down, flashbacks to his last experience in a jungle experience overrode his ability to see dangers. And saviors. Though Sal was absolutely in his line of sight, he doesn't really see him until he yells and it's louder than the voices in his head.

Instantly, he's turning on his heel, because he's a fighter and instinct is sharp even when he's paralyzed by trauma. His feet and hands fall smoothly into a defensive stance and his entire body was already glowing a blue-gold and it flares like a burst of plasma from the surface of the sun as he fires an unrefined blast of energy from his palm. It goes through the frog's head, takes the top of it clean off and luckily, it doesn't make much of a mess since it's cauterized by the heat.]

Sh-shit, that's… frogs aren't supposed to be that big! [His voice is shaking in shock and disconnect, as is his body.]

X

[survivalthroughhate]

[It's the end of the month and it looks like a number of prizes have been given out. As Lance is talking to his Pokémon, there's going to be a curious little Mankey coming up to him. He looks the human and his fellow Pokémon over for a moment as he grumbles in his little grunting voice before he starts to climb on Lance like he's a human jungle gym. He seems to be having a very good time until a familiar voice rings out.]

Cranky! Where did you go?

[Cranky turns his round little body towards where Maul is coming around the corner and narrows his eyes at the Zabrak who is now his owner. Maul pauses when he sees the Mankey is climbing on Lance and a look of alarm crosses his face.]

Whatever you do, don't move. This creature has a very bad temper if you make it mad.

[The fact that Maul is still sporting a black eye (though with his skin tone it's technically more of a shiny purple than anything else) shows that clearly enough.]

[azurestar]

[Lance yelps when something starts climbing on him, and then he freezes automatically when he's warned. But then he slowly looks over at who is doing the warning, and up at what's on him.

He raises an eyebrow.] So… you got a taste of your own medicine, then?

[The glaceon tilts her head and makes a curious sound at Cranky up there on her new master friend.]

Carnivale

[foulhussy]

[ Kainé hasn't had many opportunities to go to things like carnivals before. She's been an outcast to society, first for her body, and then for becoming a half-Shade, and kept away from large gatherings of people, as much out of habit as anything.

In Trench though... well, somehow or another, she'd gotten dragged into a lot of things she didn't quite expect. She keeps mostly to herself, but she comes down to see if there are any new Sleepers that need help, and well... there are a few moles that seriously need a whacking.

She's just wrapping up a game when a familiar face at the next stall approaches with just about the most hideous doll that she's ever seen. ]

Why the fuck would I want that nasty little bastard? Also, damn, you look like shit.

cw: creepy doll image in link

[azurestar]

[Lance looks down at the doll he won and was offering to her. Then he looks back up with an innocent look on his face. Or as innocent as he can manage through the corruption making him look "like shit" and dulling his expressions.]

Aw, but he made me think of you. Just look at his… uh… eyes. [Yeah, his eyes are fucking weird and nasty. Then he snorts.] I like to think I look better than the last time I saw you, at least. But yeah, thanks for noticing.

[Trench]

[subject_013]

[He might at some point, spot a black-furred deer about the size of an elk, munching on an unseasonal pineapple plant growing out of the side of a building. The black deer pauses and turns his head. At first, he lowers his head slightly, putting one hoof to the side, as if bracing defensively. Then he relaxes, head tilted, his red eyes on the bow on Lance's antlers. He approaches slowly and sniffs at the bow.]

[azurestar]

[Lance too is the size of an elk in body and antler shape, and he still has paleblood abilities in this form, he can sense there is something different about this deer. Something different like the way he's different. The three stars in his antlers blink in a bit of a nervous pattern and he tilts his head in confusion. He steps sideways a bit nervously, the soft ethereal glow of the star cloud around him dimming and then surging as he is not really sure what this other deer is looking at or aiming for.]

iii

[chickenchoicejudy]

[Outside of Mouse House, Ryan is pacing.

It's pretty late in the evening and he's trying to collect himself before he goes inside. He's restless, and thinking is coming easier to him if he moves around a little while he does it.]

Okay, so. Shiro's probably here. Probably Adam too...been a while since I've seen Keith...so, like, obviously whoever I run into in there has to be Shiro or Adam! Easy!

[Is it easy though? Is it? What if one of them has someone over? If he opens the door and there's several people in there, how quick can he make an excuse to bolt to his room? He doesn't really want to have to guess who's who, especially with people he sees literally every day and should know like the back of his hand.

He whines and ruffles his own hair in frustration for a second before pulling himself together.]

Maybe no one will be there and I don't have to think about any of this!

[He doesn't seem to fully realize that he's talking to himself...or that there's a deer approaching.]

[azurestar]

[As a deer with three stars between his antlers and smaller twinkling ones in a cloud of light around him, he looks like a mystical god of the forest. Especially at night. But no matter what time of day or night, he definitely looks rather out of place in an urban location.

As a deer, his brain is a bit more deer than person, and when he's especially stressed is when the hallucinations and face blindness kick in. But otherwise the deer magic that became apart of him has helped to diminish that paleblood symptom for the month. He's pretty stressed lately as he keeps looking for Keith and Bolin and now Diluc, he is pretty sure… but especially Keith.

So he's been coming back here more and more and right now he isn't sure who is in front of the house talking to himself. But he hears it say the name Keith and his ears perk up and he practically doesn't hear anything else as he trots the rest of the way over.

'Keith? You see Keith?' he projects the thought out along with a feeling of urgency and aching worry that comes from fearing for someone you care about deeply. The three stars in his antlers blink in a pattern that matches a morse code translation of the same words.]

dark places of the heart, the earlier flavor

[arclightning]

They're not real.

[ Mako says, stubborn and sharp. He doesn't shake off the hand, though, and Lance can probably feel the tension running through him like a livewire.

Clustered behind them, half-burnt and barely standing, are two adult figures, and behind them many more. One of them is smaller, older, with a red scarf draped around her neck, clinging to the arm of a taller person. All of them look a little bit like Bolin, except for the burnt woman at the front, tall and elegant, with long hair pulled away from her face and a comb glinting in her hair.

The man beside her wears the same red scarf. Mako looks at it and then looks very determinedly ahead, his jaw set. ]

We're getting out of here.

[azurestar]

[Lance can utterly relate to that sentiment and wholly agrees. Maybe if he were not under so much mental strain just being down here, he'd have the presence of mind to tell Mako that these things are almost always something they can't run from. But the deep place that his shadows keep reminding him was going to consume him eventually is pressing in, he keeps hearing shit and seeing shit and in fact he wasn't even entirely sure he wasn't hallucinating these things.

The fact that he doesn't recognize these people helped to sort of remind him that they are likely real and probably here for Mako. And damn, they look like Mako and Bolin's family alright. Shit, he's going to follow Mako's lead right now because corpses even when you don't know them trigger some fight or flight instincts in him as well.]

Y-yep. No arguing here. [His voice is hoarse and tremors a bit, and he shoots Mako another concerned look with an expression that says he wants to ask something, but he doesn't. For now, anyway.]

wild

[firstroar]

[it's been many, many days since the corruption reached its peak, since Blue was felled and the house of captives freed. a few days since Blue's pale form washed up on the sands, since his weary-yet-steadfast family gathered him up and carried him back to that very same house.

Blue doesn't remember it yet. he knows...something was wrong. he was wrong, but...he doesn't recall. he's...scared to recall, given the apprehension that wafts around those beloved people of his.

he should ask... he should remember.

he doesn't want to. not yet. does that make him weak? he can only assume so.

well. he'll be weak...for a little longer.

he can sense all the strife out in the city, even from the doorway of the house in Crenshaw. he stands, barefoot just a few steps shy of the house, wrapped in a blanket with his lion omen at his side keeping him upright, bright uncorrupted eyes watching some invisible spectacle on the horizon, shivering now and then with the late-winter chill.

watching until a Sleeper's presence draws near and pulls his gaze away to them.]

/rips self away from RL to tag finally

[azurestar]

[Lance was on his way to check in on things at Mouse House, and he hadn't noticed his feet taking him down this road. When he was a deer, things were more muted and simple, but not completely and it created a strange out of body haze to his memories of that time.

But sometimes subconsciously, and helped by corruption, his feet will take him places that he treat with hooves. And it's not until he spots Blue that he starts to realize where he is. It takes him a couple minutes of confused staring to place the face, but…]

Oh, hey… you're uh… back.

[The events of this month have ticked his corruption back up to the point where he has a patch over his left eye again and his skin is ashy and off, fangs in his mouth, so on and so forth. It also causes his tone to be a bit flat, but not any less awkward.]

x!

[mehanizovati]

[the one very good thing about having an omen that probably weighs more than you do is she makes a very good mobility aid. in this case leaning a little against the enormous pink creature makes viktor's trip through the willful machine all the easier. even ignoring his leg and lungs it helps to have a very big lizard that parts crowds pretty easily.

his trip was a success, mostly in the market for scrap he can use to either start making himself a temporary back and knee brace or, more likely, toying with the possibilities of lunar energy and what can be made with it. his pack is stuffed with the metal, mind on the possibilities when he hears a somewhat familiar voice.

it takes a moment to place it- ah, the first person he spoke to here, apparently talking to the dogs. it makes his lips quirk, amused as he gets closer to say,] Antlers? I see they are very serious about their deer theming in the Trench.

[he offers a nod in greeting, rio tilting her head curiously.]

[azurestar]

[Lance looks up and over to Viktor, recognizing his voice, but his struggles with corruption levels mess with his memory so he needs a second to place how he knows him. His left eye is covered by a simple leather patch, but what's underneath is not as bad as it has been in the past, it's just something he doesn't wanna get questions about.

It's also why the bloodhound has come to be near him, and when Lance turns away, it begins to draw corruption from him. He blinks at the sensation, but doesn't really think anything of it and huffs a weak laugh under his breath.]

Yeah, deer are a big deal around here. It's a long story… nice giant salamander, by the way.

Wildcard; end of the month

[dialscientist]

[March as been.. it's been hard. Mostly for warm and palebloods, but also for all those around them.

Min-Gi has been trying to keep his head down but this entire month has revolved around Ryan, his hallucinations, and the horrible faceblindness that's been jacking his corruption up through the roof.

By the end of the month Min's own stress is about ready to jettison him deep into corruption as well, but he seems to have a fail-safe or two.

He's felt sick to death all week but today has been the worst. And right as Min-Gi thought he was on the cusp of a panic attack (not that he has the vocabulary to name it that), his body gives up and dramatically blubbles away to his squidself. Right there in the middle of the street on the border of Cellar Door and Crenshaw.

Just a little blue guy about to get trampled into the cobbles. Help.]

[azurestar]

[He hadn't planned to turn into a deer again, there's consequences to doing it too much/often. But getting pulled into the catacombs jungle far too many times and then hunted down by the hunter again was too much. He came close to beasthood and then panic shifted on instinct. But it was harder this time, like the magic was being weakened by something.

Now he's finally out of the jungle level again, still a deer and with roughly a week left in March. It feels less than that somehow. He's walking slow and tired, sluggish through the streets, not really sure about how to get to… wherever he's going. Home? What's home?

His head is hanging low, and that's what prevents him from stepping on the tiny squid in the middle of the street. First he smells it, and then he sees it right in his range of vision. Did someone die? Well, he's just going to cautiously approach, and as a deer he not only has a mystical star glow around him, he radiates warmth and for some that can be comforting.

Will telepathic communication even work here? Well, he can try. It takes him a second though, because his brain is scrambled, '…Hi?']