deercountry | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Willow Rosenberg (

frogfear) and you!
What: Open and Closed Starters
When: Throughout March
Where: Throughout Trench

Content Warnings: Amnesia, probably mentions of death, hallucinations - will update as necessary

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[She had figured half the town probably saw the post on the network. Maul popping off again, threatening to target those who had cursed him in the first place. Then again, she hasn't exactly been advertising her role.]

Yeah. Maul's handiwork. He said he ate one of those chocolates, and getting a little extra murdery was the side effect.

[Oh yeah. That, he saw...and Vyng promptly tried to share some pipeleaf with Maul in an effort to get him to calm down and reconsider his piss-poor communication style.

But he never knew Willow's piece in all that, no.]

Murder munchies. Never a good combo.

[Sounds like something out of the Dream. Vyng pats the space next to him, and then adds:]

Do you want to talk about it?

[She pads forward, apparently accepting the invitation, and flops down beside him with a huff. These last several weeks have been far too reminiscent of Deerington for her liking, but all she has to compare to is what she's been told by those around her, and what she's managed to pick up on her own since coming back to shore.]

There's not much to talk about, I don't think. I don't remember it myself. He told me what happened when I got back.

He did?

[It would've been easier to just leave Willow with her confusion. But it sounds like Maul at least sought her out to explain himself.]

What was Maul's vibe like when he talked to you?

He regretted it, I think. He left a bunch of messages for me - they were kind of all over the place. He says he's going to change. I don't know how true that is, though.

[She'd like to believe it, but it's easy to have doubts in light of what she knows of Maul's history. Fully trusting he intends to turn over a new leaf doesn't feel like it's worth the risk if it means she might be killed again.]

I think he wants to change. He knows his usual M.O. won't get him far in this place, anyway.

[Whether pragmatism alone is enough to make the change stick remains to be seen. Like Willow, Vyng wants to believe it is. But he also knows the harm Maul's narrow worldview can inflict on others — and, by extension, himself.]

That sounds about right, and he knows he's on thin ice with most of his friends too, I think. We just have to wait and I see, I guess. But this whole Sleeper versus Sleeper thing gets old fast. It's not even the first time I've had problems with him.

[Willow fully expects him to at least try, but perhaps still experience some backsliding on occasion. Hopefully it won't be of the fatal variety.]

You're telling me. We're all in the same boat. No reason to piss in it.

[But he's preaching to the choir.]

But how're you feeling now? Are you safe where you're staying?

Yeah, that sums it up pretty well.

[Okay, maybe not exactly the analogy she would use, but it works.

She glances up at him and away again as the mushrooms she knows aren't actually there appear to bloom across Vyng's face.]

Kind of weird still. Jumpy a lot. 'Cause, you know. The everything. I'm safe at home, though. There's a bunch of people I live with that I know from Deerington - they're trying to help as much as they can. Some new faces too, but they seem nice.

Yeah. You do seem...twitchy, bud. [He covers one side his neck, where his gills flare in and out with each breath, with a pale hand.] You keep looking away. Am I that gross?

[He's not offended. But also, he's not used to making other Sleepers uncomfortable with his appearance.]

No, no. Nothing like that - you're not gross or anything.

[She pauses, licking her lips. She knows from her talk with Paul that she's not the only one seeing mushrooms where they shouldn't be, but it's still not the easiest problem to address. No one really wants to talk about seeing things they know aren't really there.]

I've, um. Being seeing mushrooms since I got back? They're everywhere, and I know they're not real - that it's just in my head, but I dunno if that makes it better or worse.

Mushrooms? What kinds of mushrooms?

[Sounds a little like a ghost-root-induced spirit walk...albeit one with a highly specific theme.]

I don't know - they're nothing I recognize from my world. I know I'm not the only one seeing them either. A couple other people mentioned them too, so I don't think it's a matter of coming back... wrong or anything. Or any more wrong than not being able to remember stuff.

[She drops her head down on her paws. She hates exactly all of this.]

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