deercountry | Catch-All: Featuring Swords

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Catch-All: Featuring Swords

Who: Fakir (

lludw), and OPEN
What: Catch-all for a nerdy knight boy and a sneaky viking boy, featuring general prompts where they poke around things and Winter Mourning memories where there's violence.
When: late November through all of December
Where: Generally around Trench, Gaze and the Arcane Archives (Fakir), the frozen boats and Pandora Hearts house (Lucius)

Content Warnings: Memories contain warnings for animal attack, child endangerment, parental death, and assumed drowning (Fakir) and child endangerment/abuse and mental health issues (Lucius).

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You're radiating a great deal of energy... It might catch a spark.

[but perhaps not if his attention can be so quickly redirected; Blue can work with that.]

Look to the window on your right. I'm here.

[He's what? But he does indeed look over to his right and spots the pale-haired young man. He does recognize this one - from that first day on the beach. He'd been kind.

But there's still some cause for suspicion here.] I thought it was just omens who speak into people's minds.

Not just omens.

[and not just Mu, either; there are all kinds of things in this world.]

Some of the Pthumerians can, too, should you ever cross paths with one.

[Meeting a Pthumerian seems like a risky proposition, in Lucius's view. He'd prefer to avoid it, at least for the near future.]

But you're a Sleeper.

[Lucius turns towards the tea shop. Whatever suspicions he may have about telepathy, this is someone who he 1. knows to be helpful and 2. appears to have deeper understanding of blood powers. He'd like a face-to-face conversation, without glass and half the street between them.]

No, but I am a Mu.

[turns his gaze toward the door expectantly, following the progress of the boy on his way in. the lion at rest by his feet lifts his head, too, tail idly flicking once and thumping off the dusty floor.]

My kind can do this. It's something I was able to do, long before coming to this land.

[When Lucius enters, he stands by the door for a moment, adjusting to the light and the lion that from the look of it is the man's (the Mu's?) Omen. He steps rather carefully towards the table.]

Thank you, for your help before.

[First: establish common ground. It'll make anything that follows easier.]

[the lion doesn't even raise his head to regard the boy, just watching him with a quiet-but-watchful countenance. Blue's own gaze is softer, more thoughtful than wary.]

It was a while before, wasn't it. You must've had your hands full...trying to get a handle on this world.

[he gestures to the empty seat across from him; it's there, should he wish it.]

[Lion or not, it is simply another Omen. (Well, not simply, but certainly completely unlike a wild animal.) Lucius takes the offered seat.]

I guess you've had a lot of things to get used to, too.

[Blue gently nods.]

Where I am from...change is much, much slower, if it happens at all. [save for the spark of immense change that is Jomy Marcus Shin.] Here, it happens with every shifting of the moon...so very quickly. If one is not careful, one can lose their footing in...more than one case.

[but that may not be the case for someone young and spry as this lad, and that is a good thing.]

[Change, Lucius thinks, is a sudden thing. It may build up for a while, or there may be no warning at all, but no matter how it happens, the fact of it happening is a shock.

Lose their footing, hmm? Or suddenly be placed on solid ground. The problem is when you're not sure which one will come next.]

Or...lose control of something?

[Is that what he had done? What had caused this man to reach out to him?]

[again, Blue nods. he's a sharp lad - constantly thinking, considering and reconsidering...a very active mind, but not always in control of all faculties, as a child seldom can be.]

The moon...our own blood... It's a lot to adjust to. To keep on top of. But we are, at least, not alone in this.

[he pauses.]

You are...not managing alone, are you?

[...He's not, he realizes. He'd started out doing so, certainly, and takes comfort in the fact he could do so again. Working with others can be beneficial, but you should never rely solely on that. But he's stayed at Break and Alice's (and the other Alice and Oz's) house more and more these days. It's practical. 'We can use each other,' Alice had said. He does in fact have the choice to rely on a few people, should he want to.]

...No. [The word does come out more hesitantly than he had meant it, so he follows it up with a question. A classic way to deflect from talking about yourself.]

Do you have people? [Given the physical threats around, he expects the man could certainly use it.]

I do.

[there's no hesitation to that, and Blue's expression even softens when he replies.]

I've been...very fortunate here. To meet so many kind people...even when so many frightening things can happen in this new and unfamiliar land. Our shared newness...may only last for so long, but we can reforge bonds through the time we spend here together.

[his mouth curves up a bit.]

I can sense it a little...the shape of bonds you carry. Ties to others. [whether they become lifelines or shackles is up to the boy.]

[It's hard not to be put at ease by that softening of expression and that fond explanation of meeting kind people. But it's harder not to feel alarmed by the man's last observation. He knows that Palebloods can do such things (and perhaps Mu can as well). And this observation is probably harmless enough. But it still feels like a step too close.

Redirect. He did come in here for a reason, after all. Use that.]

Like sensing energy?

[he nods gently.]

In a way. Think of it like...vapor, coming off of someone. But instead of steam, it is emotion, thought...connection. Such things...come off of everyone. It's as part of a person as hair or eyes or skin.

[But everyone sees hair and eyes and skin. Most people can't see emotions or bonds.]

You've always been able to see it?

No.

[his gaze drifts away, watching the bodies moving outside. their bodies, their minds.]

I was a boy when it happened. But...I do not remember what it was like anymore. What it was like without this sense.

It was a very long time ago, and the memories of my youth were taken from me.

["A very long time ago"? He doesn't look that old, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything given what oddities most Sleepers seem to be.

The memories were taken. Not lost. It's a specific wording. If you can speak into someone's mind, can you also take from it? That would make for such a terrifyingly easy way to control someone. Lucius imagines, if this is the case, that it was the result of some battle amongst the Mu. The idea of a culture not at war with itself does not occur to him.]

...Can't you get them back? With this power.

[there's a lull in the conversation as a server comes buy with a refresh of Blue's tea and asks if the boy would like anything. if there's any hesitation, Blue assures:] Get what you'd like; I can trade for it.

[after the server's left to tend to orders:] I have tried. Getting the memories back, that is. Myself...the other Mu...we've all made efforts to reclaim them. [he picks up his warmed cup.] But we have never been successful.

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Catch-All: Featuring Swords

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