deercountry | ☣️ merely a trick of the light

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☣️ merely a trick of the light | OPEN

Who: Bigby, OPEN
What: Catacombs shenanigans, blood blisters, and resisting the moon.
When: Throughout March
Where: Catacombs, then the woods mostly.

Content Warnings: Trauma, blood, probable gore, body horror, blood blisters in prompt II

☣️ I. CATACOMBS

A. arrival

[Aw shit, here we go again.

The last thing Bigby had been doing was trying to keep himself calm and a clear mind, meditating for what felt like hours on end. If nothing else, his rage is quelled with the knowledge that Illarion is not dead or gone, merely displaced, yet he still knows nothing of how to reach him. Alternate dimensions are not impossible for him to fathom, though he has no knowledge on how to traverse with meaning in order to reach his dear friend.

So, suffice it to say, he's been in a mood that he's been trying to temper with his usual tactics. How unfortunate that it's been interrupted by the whim of an entity.

Bigby rises up from the dirt, grunting as he takes stock on his surroundings. He picks up the bag of supplies and briefly sorts through it.]

Supposed I ought to be grateful that I've been granted some means of rations before traversing the dark, as I once had.

B. untouchable treasures

[It's with a frustrated growl that Bigby shoves the rusted doors open, only to be faced with innumerable treasures, enough that would make his old companion the Antiquarian salivate at the sight. Trinkets, bobbles, so many a thing glittering. The smell of a hot, fine meal, exquisite clothing that reminds him of days in a noble's court.

None of that matters much in the face of a well loved work bench, an alchemist's tools left in immaculate condition. That is too familiar.

But he is beyond those days -- and thus, those kinds of temptations.]

Best we move on. Pay none of it any heed, tis nothing more than bait.

[Even if he does feel the tingling urge to reach out and touch, he does not, and instead scoffs at the sight of it as if it were an insult.]

C. til death do we part

[There are some companions that, of course, he does think to miss in some ways, even if he certainly doubts the sentiment is much returned for what he is. Still, it does make him hesitate when he sees familiar figures in the darkness, ones that truly mean much to his heart. Yet, there is one that stands before the others curtained away by the lack of light.

There is a woman, golden hair in curls, her head bowed as if in regret. Her clothing easily marks her as a noble, despite its tattered state, caked with filth and dirt of the catacombs.]

What use are my words? You are not her. She has long since passed from any plane of living! What mockery I am given.

[She does not react, and Bigby grits his teeth for a moment, his hands clenched.]

...Your fears, your choice, your betrayal -- all that I could forgive... if you had kept your promise. Too long I spent hoping, and that it was a lesson to let it rot in the dark just as I had. Did you ever regret it?

[And still, to his growing frustration, she says nothing.]

D. as above, so below

[THE KINDNESS OF THE WORLD IS BEHIND YOU: HELL IS AHEAD. AS ABOVE, SO IS BELOW. THAT WHICH HAS BEEN, WILL RETURN AGAIN.

Before the pitch black hole waiting for them, Bigby gazes down, finding even his eyes cannot make out what is waiting within. He hesitates, an unusual thing during this entire trek for once; everything else he'd just about faced with determination and vigor.

Here, he pauses, torch in hand.]

Something stirs within. Ah, I wonder... what is expected of us now?

[And so it is: he is here, to perhaps listen to your sudden confessions should you have any. Whatever urge is there for him, he seems less disturbed by.]

☣️ II. INTO THE WOODS

[In the forest, it is where the red mounds filled with blood are, pulsing and ready to pop. Whether they're growing out of trees or unearthed, they are terribly delicate sacs, pungent and corrupted.

It is, at worst, irritating for Bigby; he has been reluctant to move into the city truly, and here the foliage bears a sickening fruit. The beasts this blood summons are things he does not particularly fear, and the hounds that feast on them are fine enough company for the moment.

Besides, he has his own pressing matters as he sighs and walks on. That's about when he notices you, and he scowls.]

Hail and be wary; best you keep your distance from these accursed things, lest you wish to be a meal for beasts yourself.

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[You know what's terrible? Being underground. You know what's worse than being underground? Getting yanked down there without any kind of warning. He'd just been on his way to barter some potions and miscellaneous herbs and mushrooms. One second, on the streets of Trench. The next? Underground.]

[Needless to say, the sudden change of location makes him want to hide. Since he's facedown in the dirt, it means curling up into a ball before trying to dig deeper into the ground. Once he's nice and alone, then he can claw his way up to the surface again.]

[Right?]

[Maul is in the woods, spending some time in contemplation. With his newfound desire to do better than he has been before, he's been trying to undo some of the lessons his master had taught him. To that end, he's been going back to a time long ago before Sidious' evil had spread into his mind and corrupted him.

Back when he was a child on Dathomir, Maul loved spending time in the woods, far more than he ever liked playing with other children. (Which also just proves his awkward nature in dealing with people as an adult was innate long before he became a raging psychopath.) Right now he's slowly tracing the trunks of the trees and the few plants starting to bloom now that spring is right around the corner with his clawed fingertips.

He looks up when he hears someone talking to him, body tensing before he recognizes Bigby as being a Sleeper he's seen before on the network. Maul does like the way he talks, for it's very similar to the cadence and vocabulary used by Maul himself.]

I assure you I can take care of myself quite handily no matter what beasts come near.

[ Kaneki does no appreciate being yanked and thrown around either; he has just arrived to Trench and now it's the third time he has been shoved somewhere without a saying in it. He hopes this isn't the norm but what does Kaneki know? He is way too new.

Now at the catacombs, he grabs what is offered, however he does need the food. In fact, he considers leaving it behind for other people, but when he hears Bigby nearby, he opts to offer it to him instead]

Would you like mine? I won't really need it...

[It is a rare thing for Junia to be subdued. Her silences tend to the sulky and overbearing, scattered with pointed sniffs and tilted chin. But she has been mild, nearly meek, since they found each other once more in dark tunnels with exhausted eyes and stoic resignation.

There is only one ghost that follows her. A stern, forbidding older woman dressed in austere temple garments much like Junia's own, the only mark of her office the holy seals and the dangling brands fixed at her waist. The Mother Superior looks on as Junia ducks her head and averts her gaze from the golden bauble of a corpse.]

What was the promise?

[A soft, small question, her prayer beads working between her gloved fingers in continual repetition.]

[ The man in the forest looks like nothing much. He carries no weapon and wears no armor; he doesn't even wear gloves. He is dressed in simple blacks, and you could almost mistake him for a lost civilian. But no normal man has eyes like this: black from edge to edge, with a burning white ring like an event horizon. There is an air of power to him, and an air of something wrong.

He blinks at this greeting, then cracks a smile as though charmed. ]

Duly noted, mate. But I'm not too worried; I think I'm getting the hang of this blood magic.

[ Understatement has always been very funny to him. ]

Anyway, then I might get to meet another good dog.

[Varian hadn't been doing too badly in the catacombs, in all honestly. He could handle the puzzles and things that required cold, hard logic. That's where he's always excelled. He'd thought now they were in the home stretch that he'd get out of this mess unscathed.

Oh, how wrong was he.

He's been getting better- with the whole self-loathing thing, especially after his beasthood. He's been making a genuine effort in looking after his mental wellbeing, in trying to not let things fester and to actually heal from his past traumas. But it's a work in progress and there's a particularly fresh trauma in his mind.

So he stumbles, clutching his head, his eyes staring off into nothing as his breathing starts to become more laboured.]

Oh no. Nonononono.

[Ah. This was probably the worst case scenario.

There was something about having attack Melius that bothered Bigby the most. Perhaps because Melius has always seemed the most innocent, someone to be protected. And regrettably, that horrible alternate version of the abomination took advantage of all that.

He still remembers the taste.

Bigby hesitates, bag in his hand, and he looks at the argonian burying himself.

Mood, honestly.]

...Melius. [His voice is soft and hesitant.]

[Ah. This man. He remembers him a number of times on the network as well. Bigby tilts his head, and soothes himself despite all manners of impatience burning beneath his skin. He has not spent years battling himself to just lose it now.]

Of that, I've no doubt for you. Still be it best I give warning to those unaware of what these sacs contain, and what they bring.

I do not see you here often. What brings you?

[The boy earns a curious glance, Bigby's blight green eyes searching him to have a better understanding.]

Do you not eat, child?

[It isn't the strangest thing he's encountered, but he certainly wants to better understand what could be seen as needless selfless behavior.]

[For once, her voice is soft and careful, almost delicate. For all that she parades herself as right and reason, Junia is humbled right now. And in a way, Bigby can see why, in the stern gaze of the woman. Or, well, whatever the body is meant to be.

The promise. Ah.

Bigby frowns to himself.]

...That she would have visited me in my cell.

I used to count the days. It turned to weeks, to months. Even after a few years, I'd been foolish to hope.

I have been given to much contemplation recently. Thinking over things in my past. When I was a child, long ago, I used to wander in the woods of my home planet quite a bit. It was the first place where I ever connected with the Force.

[He glances around the woods. Even with the blood pollution forming the creepy pustules, he loves the feeling of how they brim with life. The Force sings with it, flowing all the way through him. Maul hasn't felt this balanced and secure in the Dark Side for a long, long time.]

I'm not here!!

[More digging. Burrowing. It does not do much good. Some plants start blooming up around him, but Melius doesn't fully dig the hole he's trying to make. There's too much rock in the way.]

[But, he finally stills. And lifts his head ever so slowly up over the edge of the uh. Depression. He's made.]

... Hi.

[He hasn't seen Bigby since the Incident. But he trusted Varian when his friend agreed it had probably all been an accident. Something about corruption, right? His tail curls closer.]

Um. You're um. In the. Ground too?

[NAILED IT.]

Edited 2022-03-15 06:11 (UTC)

[That snaps Junia's attention back to Bigby, astonished confusion that gives way to unbidden sorrow that in turn draws behind a veil of resignation. She worries at her lower lip, apparently not content with only the outlet of her beads.]

...even if she were to have wished to -

[Junia shakes her head, quieting further (she will not look over her should, she will not-)]

Would such a thing have been permitted?

[ UHHHHhhh.

well ]

No-- [ he is a lying liar. But it's not like Kaneki can say what he eats ] I mean, I can handle no food for a long time. So it's alright if you take it.

[ kaneki will not, he will just leave the mushrooms behind ]

[Don't worry about the depression you've made, Melius; Bigby is a master of depression.

Still, he braves his own personal doubts, the anxiety in his heart. Despite having convinced himself he was unworthy of this young being, he also knows he cannot continue to be a coward.

So he kneels to address him a bit more closely.]

Yes. I am.

I suppose whatever enlightened being is responsible for causing us to be here saw fit for a reunion. Though if you desire otherwise, I shall take my leave.

I fear I know not what you reference about this Force. Yet I am no stranger toward contemplation.

[He chooses a stone to lean against, one that's sufficiently away enough from the blood blister.]

You sound unbalanced, as it were. Am I wrong?

[There's a pause as he considers the carefully phrased answer. There is, of course, something untold here, but it isn't Bigby's place to press. So, he simply nods, taking what he is given.]

Well. Advise me if that changes, for whatever reason.

[He'll take the other rations, then. For now.]

I have not seen nor heard your voice before. Have you recently arrived, fellow Sleeper?

I could not claim to know that.

[It is a defensive answer, and he knows it. Even as he digests the moment and considers, eventually and slowly his heart withers.]

...Likely not. For all that I'd endured in the hands of my torturers, why would they allow a kindness? It was their pleasure to make me writhe, not console.

[True that this man is so unassuming and yet so alarming passively, yet Bigby is not one who can afford to judge. After all for what he harbors inside, someone else's unusual situation could be perceived as sin when it is more complicated than that.]

They are fine enough beasts, true. They do us a favor for the time being.

What brings you here, then? Or is it for their companionship?

[The way Varian reacts is immediate to Bigby's attention. The abomination stills for a second, watching his young friend before he tentatively reaches out to him, to place a hand to his shoulder.]

Varian. You are safe with me.

[For both his mental and physical well-being. Bigby would do much to ensure Varian's safety in all respects.]

Speak to me. What ails you?

[It sounds good, actually. To just lay here in the dirt and ride this out, and let Bigby go off on his way. No awkward conversations then! But, on the other hand, that would leave him alone in the dark. That's... something he can't stand.]

[So he shakes his head. And, reluctantly. Starts to peel himself out of his dirt hole.]

I um. I don't... want to ... be underground alone.

[Too many nasty things in the dark. Too many memories of angry, chittering howls.]

Then you will not be.

[There's a pause, then he offers his hand out to the Argonian.]

No words can express the amount of guilt in my heart for what I had done to you. I was... not myself.

[Fortunately, Maul has had to explain what the Force is to people so often he's got a pretty concise explanation by now for people when he first meets them and needs to explain it to them.]

The Force is an energy field found in all living things. It is in you, me, the Omens, the monsters, the plants and animals out here in the forest. Those that are sensitive to it can use it in many different ways such as to become faster and stronger, move things simply by thinking about it, and even read the minds of others. There are two sides to it, Light and Dark. Not to be confused, you understand, with good and evil. I myself follow the Dark Side of the Force.

[He strokes the petals of a tall flower that has bloomed next to him gently with his clawed fingertips.]

In a way, yes. I have been unbalanced for a very, very long time.

Tis too easy for people to confuse the dark for being wicked. That much I do know. Albeit it is also easy to fall down the hill of its twistedness.

[To collapse to one's worst desires and instincts is something he does fight against, every minute of his life. Even if he doesn't entirely understand the Force, it is enough that he is aware of how often a person fears the darkness.]

Most people are. In that, you are not alone.

Do you need to be left alone? Each man has his own needs, after all.

Okay.

[He hesitates. Not because he doubts what Bigby's saying. Varian talking about corruption and turning into a monster was probably what happened. No reason to think anything else. Especially when Bigby says he wasn't himself.]

I um. Varian... said that too. [He'll take the hand and haul himself to his feet, brushing himself off.] About um. People... being monsters. By accident.

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☣️ merely a trick of the light | OPEN

Arrival

II

Catacombs - Arrival

til death do we part

ii.

D. as above, so below

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