deercountry | If you get a feeling next time you see me, do me a favor and let me know

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ryan akagi: billie sue

If you get a feeling next time you see me, do me a favor and let me know - SEMI-CLOSED

Who: Ryan Akagi [

chickenchoicejudy] and Close CR, with open prompts to be added when the event goes live.
What: Ryan is having a pretty hard time with the paleblood effects this month. Body of the post is a general summary of where he's at, and starters will be in comments.
When: All of March
Where: Various locations - likely haunts are Cellar Door, Crenshaw (specifically Mouse House or Min-Gi's place), and the boardwalk. Event locations to be added later!

Content Warnings: Severe hallucinations, severe face blindness, corruption, unintentional self harm (scratching).

It started mild enough - with mushrooms of all things. Nothing to actually worry anyone about.

At first he hadn't even realized they weren't real. There's plant life growing in abundance all over Trench and it made perfect sense for mushrooms to be one of those things. It wouldn't have even been the first time mysterious mushrooms popped up out of nowhere. Ryan leaves them be and barely thinks about it.

Then they start growing out of people. That's when it becomes apparent that...no one else can see them. He's moved to gently tug them off of people only to realize he can't grip them. His hand slips through and they vanish.

And that's...concerning. But it could be worse?

And about a week into the month, it absolutely gets worse. He starts having trouble recognizing people. People he's known for ages now catch him in the street and he can't make his brain put together the shapes of their faces into something he recognizes. Mushrooms obscure other features that might make identifying them easier - hair, clothing, frequently worn accessories. Any time he starts to focus on something, mushrooms start to sprout and block his view.

He makes excuses. He spends more time on the network because he craves interaction but it's less stressful that way. He texts people more frequently, even when he would normally see them in person. Even if they're literally nearby he might text them, just to make sure. Just to watch a faceless someone react when their Omni dings.

Sometimes he catches himself in the mirror and doesn't recognize who looks back at him, which is a problem he's never had before. He doesn't want to talk about it, because it feels absolutely insane to try and explain it to anyone, but also because he's lost any and all ability to recognize people by that point. Who would he even tell? But, it's also become impossible to hide. Not when there's no recognition in his eyes when someone says hello to him. Not when he texts someone several times to ask where they are, including when he's standing right next to them.

He's in a sea of strangers, and it's disorienting. It's even a little scary, particularly in public. He's losing his grip and it's slipping further and further from him, but maybe if he like, tried harder? This is a stupid problem he's having. A stupid dumb problem that he should be able to just...get over and walk off.

The mushrooms even grow on him sometimes. At his worst, small fluorescent green ones will sprout out of his right palm in the shape of a 202 and he'll scratch at it desperately, leaving harsh red marks behind. Even places will start to look unfamiliar, as the confusion only gets worse and worse as the month goes on.

[ooc: Top Levels coming soon, open top levels coming when the event goes live. Hit me up at

goodhotcocoa if you want something in particular!]

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[Trench is covered in plant life this month. It's beautiful and a welcome change after all of the snow, but it's unfortunately also currently blocking the door to Min's basement-slash-recording-studio-slash-cuddle-bunker, which is not ideal.

Ryan's come over to help, but the whole thing is a tangled mess of vines and dogbane and Peruvian lilies and forget-me-nots. There's no way through the door without cutting at least some of them down. Min's gone off to look for something to cut through it all with, but Ryan is still by the door. It's a shame they have to cut it honestly - it's kind of pretty?

But there's something catching Ryan's eye in the mess, something he didn't see before. Little brilliant blue mushrooms that don't really fit with anything else, but they just...look like they would be really satisfying to touch?

So when Min returns, he will see Ryan oddly focused...on touching an empty patch on the door, for some reason.]

[Weird.

Everything is weird right now, let's be real. It has been since... well. Since forever. The month turns and everything is different. A carnival appears on the boardwalk (their date was good, though), the weather turns to something crisp and fresh, and overnight, plant life springs up from every nook and cranny.

Not that Min-Gi really minds, but it's getting, um, invasive. These latest vines blocking off the recording studio / snuggle den is just plain rude. The house has some stuff, but not that much yet, and it takes him a while to find something slightly better than a butter knife.

Hey, do you think this will work?

[Coming back with a trowel that's seen some better days. Annd- huh.

He squints.]

What are you picking at?

[Ryan's still pretty absorbed in examining the door and the mushrooms. They're kind of wild little things - every time he tries to touch them, they bend out of the way a little bit. He'd question it more but...well, he's seen weirder things. Both in Trench and on the train.

Unfortunately, he's so deep in what he's doing that he doesn't process that someone's behind him until they're right there, and Ryan just about jumps out of his skin when he sees someone holding up a metal tool out of the corner of his eye.

But oh. It's...Min? Obviously Min. Min was looking for something to cut away the vines and he's back.]

Dude! You scared the shit out of me!

[He laughs it off though, and gestures to the door.]

I was just checking out these neat little mushrooms? They have a weird texture, like gummy candy.

[Except...there's nothing there. There is literally nothing there.]

[Ryan jumps and Min-Gi jumps but the moment passes immediately and without realization on Min's part why Ryan would jump in the first place. Maybe his footwork was a little light?

The mushrooms Ryan is talking about are, indeed, not there. At all.

He takes a small breath and crouches down on the left, brow furrowing.]

I don't see them.

Edited 2022-03-08 06:25 (UTC)

[Ryan...tilts his head at Min a bit.]

What? They're like, right here. The little electric blue things? See? You can't miss them.

[Except apparently he can, so Ryan reaches out to where they are and tries to grab one, only for it to idly shift away from his fingers.]

They keep moving away. I think they might be like, sentient or something? None of the other plants are though...

[It's definitely weird. Almost as weird as the fact that Ryan is literally reaching out to touch absolutely nothing. His fingers hesitate in the air, as if trying to focus and grab something squirmy, but there isn't anything to grab in that spot.]

[Min-Gi looks at Ryan, then the space he's trying to grab, then back.

What the hell even-

Okay, he'll try it, reaching out a little to blindly grope for whatever invisible mushrooms there might be lurking in the the nether-space of brain fuck in this city.

Nope. Nadda.]

There's nothing there, man..

[Ryan looks at him with total disbelief. But...there's no reason for him to lie about something like this? More damning is that the mushrooms don't follow Min's movements the same way. When Min reaches to touch, Ryan sees his hand go through them and his blood runs cold for a second. More than a second, because when he looks at Min again there's little electric blue mushrooms sprouting out of his hair.

...Oh.

Oh, he's tripping somehow. Despite...not taking anything that would make him trip. Yep. That's apparently a thing that's happening right now, and despite logic saying it's not real he can't take his eyes off of Min's hair.]

...H-Ha. Uh. Must've...been my imagination, or something. Pfft.

[He gives a small wave of his hand, but it's very forced. Pivot pivot pivot very desperate pivot--]

So! We should do something about this door! That'll totally work fine, probably! I mean, it's a garden tool, right? And they're...garden plants. So. Yeah. Great plan, man.

[As far as Ryan knows, he's alone in Mouse House. With the way this month is going though, that means almost nothing now.

The hallucinations have only gotten worse and worse. It's more than just mushrooms now, the mushrooms are growing out of people and he can't seem to focus on anyone's faces. There's just blanks in his head where people should be, and it makes everyone he sees completely unrecognizable. Sometimes context clues help enough for him to puzzle it out, but it's exhausting - especially since he hasn't been able to hide it from anyone. He keeps getting caught looking at things that aren't there, but there's plant life growing all over the city. How is he supposed to know which ones other people can see?

Ryan's sitting on the couch, plucking idly at the strings of his guitar and trying (really trying) to ignore the fluorescent green mushrooms wiggling on the back of his hands. He looks up though, when he sees a figure moving into the kitchen.

Shiro? Shiro always comes to mind first, but no. They're not tall enough. The others he doesn't have as clear-cut ways to pick them out of a crowd. He wishes he'd seen them come out from wherever they did, so maybe he could make a guess that way.

The guitar playing slowly comes to a halt as Ryan squints at this person, trying and failing to assign any kind of identity to them. Who is that? Is it someone who lives here? Should he be like, concerned? He isn't being subtle at all as he tries to work out this extremely difficult social math in his head.

Who is that?!]

Edited 2022-03-08 21:54 (UTC)

[It had taken a bit for Keith to recover after being rescued from Blue's psychic captivity. He was still exhausted and sore, recovering from having been forced to fight against the people who'd come to get him out. He couldn't really remember everything clearly, either, which seemed to be a recurring theme for him lately, and it was annoying. He yawned, gingerly making his way into the kitchen for a snack. He rubbed hif face, staring into the cabinets to see if there was something he wanted.

At first, he didn't feel the staring because his senses were a little muffled from the fatigue, and he was used to hearing Ryan plucking away at that guitar, so the sound didn't really register at first. But, eventually, the lack of sound for an extended period did catch his attention, and he turned to see what was going on.

He blinked a few times, meeting Ryan's gaze. They stared at each other for a few minutes as Keith tried to figure out why Ryan was staring at him. He'd noticed a weird thing with his coldblood powers since the month had changed over, and had been growing random plant life in places, so, after a moment, he turned to look around the kitchen to see if he'd suddenly added to the spring foliage again.

Nope... not that he could tell...

He looked back at Ryan.]

Is something wrong?

[When Keith speaks, Ryan startles. It's almost like he forgot people can actually see him when he stares at them. ...oops?]

O-Oh. Uh. Noooo...?

[Surely that answer inspires confidence, right?

Ryan moves to rub the back of his neck, but he stops halfway - he can still feel the mushrooms there, even if no one else can see them, and it's a sensory nightmare. So, he just awkwardly sets his hands back on his guitar. An uncomfortable beat passes, until Ryan just can't take it anymore.]

...Remind me who you are again?

[This is so weird.

Min-Gi hesitates for a moment longer before letting it go and turning the trowel around in his hands. It isn't very sharp and the vines are thick, but they're just plants. He bites his bottom lip and sits down cross legged to focus on forcing the blunt metal through the base of the plant. Maybe a butter knife would have been better.

He feels kind of bad for cutting this stuff away but it is totally blocking up his house. The flowers are nice and all (he guesses, he doesn't really think about flowers very much) but he really doesn't like the idea of nature taking over his safe little house. This is supposed to be a fortress.

It's silent work save for low grunting and curses but he's watching Ryan out of the corner of his eye here and there. This isn't something he should worry about, right? This is fine?

Min sighs as he rips out the lilies, collecting them into a bunch and handing them off to Ryan with a hunk of vine.]

If these things keep growing we're gonna have to change our band to Chicken Choice Tarzan.

[Since there's only one trowel, there isn't a lot for Ryan to do to take his mind off of what he's seeing. All he can really do is accept the flowers he's given. Mushrooms still wiggle and move, but Min's trowel moves right through them, even when he struggles to cut other plants. They still sprout out of Min's hair and it's so weird to not say something or reach over and try to pull them out himself. If Min knew they were in his carefully coiffed hair, he'd flip.

But.

But...they're not.

...Right?

(But if they're not, why haven't they gone away?)]

Ha. Yeah, man. Maybe you can swing around the house though? That'd be pretty gnarly.

[He feels far away from himself as he says all of this. There's a tense undercurrent, but he's trying really hard to seem like he's shaken the weirdness, like he's totally over it. But his eyes keep flicking up to Min's hair, because the mushrooms are honestly kind of distracting.]

[Those little blue buttons sprout into a circlet with wide, waving king oysters and gleaming amethyst deceivers. It would be a charming crown if it were real. Something befitting the prince of a forest or a summer maypole celebration.

But it isn't real.

It isn't there.

Min doesn't see or feel or hear them as they spread around his head. The king oysters almost look like antlers.]

Yeah, I guess so. That might be the silver lining.

[Grunting as he tugs off another section of vine. The cores are so strong and almost like string? What is this stuff!! And the trowel really just isn't helping very much at all. If only he had powers. Vileblood could acid the stuff away. Coldblood could burn them! Here he is being useless, hands covered in mashed chlorophyll.]

Two Tarzans in a town house. That's not nnnugh-! [Tug!] Nuts or anything.

[He can't be any more useless than Ryan, who is literally doing nothing to help but holding a bunch of lilies. Well, that and staring at Min who is sprouting a full on mushroom crown out of nowhere. He's gone from stealing glances to being totally unable to stop looking.

So naturally, his powers betray him, like they always do.

"What the fuck is that?"

He has a split second to decide what to do. Min just said something and Ryan didn't process it at all, not even a little bit, but he should have responded or said something. The crown is so vivid though - a little fairy ring growing on Min's head and he's growing less sure by the second that it's actually a hallucination.]

...H-Hang on, you've got. Um. Just, here--

[It's probably not real but he can't resist the urge anyway, in case they are. He reaches up and tries to...well, not pull them, because that would give him away, but casually brush at the top of Min's head like he's sweeping something out of his hair...just to see what happens.]

[Keith raised an eyebrow. Ryan was being the absolute picture of certainty right now.]

Okay...

[Silence. Awk-... waaaard.

But then Ryan broke it.]

Uh... Keith. Shiro's friend from home?

Are you okay?

[And of course, because they aren't real, absolutely nothing happens whatsoever.

Except Min-Gi stops mid tug with all his weight against the vine he's currently trying to pull out from between the floorboards blocking his precious cellar- a little startled (certainly unsettled) by Ryan's sudden thought and touch. His eyes track Ryan's hand up into his hair until he feels like he's almost cross-eyed. What is it? Is there something on him? A bug? Please don't be a bug. That would be so gross.]

Uh- dude, what? What's on me?

[And maybe it's the struggle of pulling or Ryan being weird or all of the above but he swears he can see a blurry glow around his boyfriend's hand and arm. It's red in some parts, but the longer he looks the more the...milky...energy(??) slips into a muddy sort of green-brown. That can't possibly be good.]

[It doesn't do anything. Ryan's hand just passes through, and he feels like he's losing his goddamned mind. But...he can't make himself say so either.

So, he lies. He doesn't want to scare Min, and he's probably already freaking him out as it is.]

Just, uh. ...Stuff from the door, I think. Little vines or whatever. Gone now!

[It's not gone. It's still there, sitting on top of Min's head, and Ryan feels kind of queasy. Maybe if he doesn't have to look at it though, it'll just go away on its own. Maybe it stop if he has a chance to stop thinking about it. So, he holds out his hand.]

Gimme a turn? Maybe my guitar muscles will help.

[They won't, but it's something to do other than just watch Min and freak out about imaginary mushrooms.]

[Well, it's not like Min-Gi can argue with that reasoning. He gives Ryan a funny look but lets go of the vine and falls back on his ass before moving to the side. His crows waves as he moves, almost like they're dancing. Or taunting.]

These things are made of steel or something.

[No they're not. Min runs his fingers through his hair to make sure he doesn't have any more vines or whatever on him before relaxing his stance to rest while Ryan has a go.

And you know, now that he's actually just watching him that weird glow is all over the place.

Now it's his turn to stare, brow slightly pinched, wondering what's wrong with his eyes. Come to think of it, the vines are kinda glowing, too, but it's more of a shining white.]

I think I was pulling too hard, my eyes are going weird. Maybe we're just not supposed to go down there right now.

[This was a bad plan.

It was a good thought, turning his attention away from Min to something else. But...that something else is more plants. And mushrooms flourish in between. There's plants everywhere though, so they can't all be fake. The vines are real. The flowers were real - he was holding them in his hands, able to touch them.

But now he has plants in front of him to cut down and...no idea which ones are actually there. He can't back down now though, so he just guesses, and Min will watch Ryan completely miss every third attempt or so. Each miss makes him a little more desperate the next time.]

Man, trowels really suck for this.

[As though that excuses any of that.

He stops though, and turns back to Min with shock and the tiniest amount of hope.]

What do you mean going weird? Is...something wrong?

[Is it the same something that's wrong with him? It's terrible of him, but he sort of hopes so.]

[Ryan kinda looks like he's drunk as he has a go but it's not like Min-Gi was getting too far, either.

He sighs and scrubs his eyes, shrugging helplessly.]

I don't know. Maybe? I didn't want to say.

[Does that sound dramatic? He doesn't want to scare Ryan or anything.]

It's like there's this coating on stuff. The plants here, you. It's probably just stress?

[Maybe a little dramatic, but not any more dramatic than what Ryan's been seeing. Knowing that Min is going through something similar kind of helps though. It makes it less scary to try and open up about if he isn't going to be dismissed as a lunatic.]

Maybe...[Ryan sighs, and sets down the trowel.] I guess I must be too? I can still see those weird little mushrooms, but uh. They started growing on you...?

[Ugh. He wants to dismiss himself as a lunatic.]

So...what does it look like for you? The coating, I mean.

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If you get a feeling next time you see me, do me a favor and let me know - SEMI-CLOSED

MIN-GI

Blood Effects (Early march)

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KEITH

SHIRO

MAKO

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At some point after getting rescued from Blue's

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