open ♔ socialization log (summer pt 2)

[wynn]

WHO || Everyone! [ota]
WHAT || Shenanigans.
WHERE || Anywhere in the castle, surrounding environs, London, Andres, etc!
WHEN || Any time in Summer / continuations of threads from the last post when it hits captcha
HOW || Actionspam

[ The castle can be a happening place, even on more mundane days. This log is for random interactions over the course of these few months. Because not everyone is into parties, ok. Characters participating in the following missions are asked to wait until their missions have concluded before tagging into things that take place chronologically after said missions: Ravenloft, Shadow Bermuda, and City of Blood If you aren't certain if that applies to you, please ask! Characters who are not currently squired in may also post, as their characters are living in the castle awaiting their ceremonies.

You are encouraged to start your own threads and tag around, and feel free to threadjack into any on-going threads that aren't specified as 'closed' in the subject lines since people can enter into rooms even in the middle of what's going on. WE ARE BIG ON THREAD-JACKING HERE. You can also specify 'single thread', meaning you want only one response for all participants, rather than multi-thread, where a number of different scenes/threads can be done as replies to the top prompt.]

On this log:

Lance/Malina/Cora/Kate/David | continued
Abigail/Alice/Amelia/Kali/Sean/Thea/Winter | continued
Gwen/Rose/Kenzi/Sawyer/Avaleen/Frankie | continued
Erica/Natasha/Sara/Wanda | continued
Mars/Sebastian/Doyle/Deryn | continued
Jaime/Killian/Carol/Tdiddle/Han | continued
Myri/Andrew/Faye/Thoster/Clark/Neal | continued
Baal @ training rooms/firing range/movie theater/billiards/bar
Alex/Will/Dante | continued
Lila @ library/firing range/dragon's fire wing/
Astrid @ med center/library/starbucks/front desk
Sarkney | continuedw
Buffael threads | continued
Emma/Skye | continued
Drax @ training room/bar/outdoors
Elena/Sam/Snow/Bo/Dennis/Groot/Miles | continued
Topher @ computer lab/dragon's light/round table room
Sark @ library
Ella @ dragon's fire wing
Christos & Steve | continued
Jeanne d'Arc @ stables/kitchen/training room
Regina/Snow/Emma | continued
Willow @ the library
Henry @ the library / grounds
Paige @ castle ground
Nyna's resurrection @ Dragon's Light wing

Comments

> David (continuation)

[immuno]

[ That's actually smart enough that it shuts Lydia up for a second. She's not too proud to acknowledge a good idea. ]

Limiting and funneling waves of infrasonic vibration. [ She thinks on it a moment, tongue against the inside of her cheek, and nods. ] That could work.

[generaldavideus]

[He nods for a moment, still consider so not focused enough to gloat about the fact that she's agreeing with his good idea.]

Have you ever screamed voluntarily? Or has it all been based on circumstances in the field?

[immuno]

Not like that, I haven't. That's ... Whenever it happens, it's because something died.

The first time, in Wales, that's how I arrived through the Veil, in some kind of fugue state, locked in a barn full of corpses.

Then this time, when we found a bunch of mummified hands crawling around someone's house. We hadn't seen the rest yet, but some guy was using the parts to make a flesh golem.

[generaldavideus]

[And there's a brief moment where he makes a face because wow, Lydia, what kind of creepy missions do you get sent on, before he shakes it off and moves on.]

Why don't we try it?

[Just like an experiment. His fort save is awesome, he should be fine.]

[immuno]

You have no idea what it could do to you. Last time, it stunned and paralyzed my team. What if it's gotten worse?

[ oh no she had a feeling and cared about david's well-being s.o.s. ]

[generaldavideus]

[Awwww, you do care, Lydia. But unfortunately for David, he doesn't care so much about himself.]

I think I can handle it. Or I can go get hearing protection if you think it will help. But how do you expect to get a handle on it if you don't practice with it?

[immuno]

[ The logic of it is unfortunate, really. She grinds her jaw, searching for an alternative, wanting to be able to tell David he's wrong. Lydia likes being the know-it-all, now that she's grown into her confidence about her intelligence, but she doesn't know it all where this is concerned. In fact, she barely knows anything. ]

Fine. [ She starts untwisting the wraps on her hands. ] But if we have to call Solace when this is over, you're going to be the one to explain.

[generaldavideus]

No problem.

[It's probably not the first time he's had to call the cleric when he's training someone, and it definitely won't be the last. He glances around for a moment before pointing to the door.]

Want to try taking this outside? Just so you're not effecting everyone in the castle?

[immuno]

[ She nods but adds, ] We should take a hike.

[ The castle grounds are large enough, and the further, the better as far as Lydia's concerned. ]

[generaldavideus]

[David is in agreement with that. Besides, if there are any harpies still lurking in the woods, they deserve what they get.

That bias is never going to die.

But some nice handy time skipping to get out to the woods, and he glances around to make sure that they've got some good distance that they won't upset the resident werewolf. Or the bear. With that, David will move to stand behind her - not that it will help really, but it's at least a start.]

I know this is an involuntary thing but is there anything that you remember feeling before it happens? Something that flips the switch from girl to banshee?

[immuno]

It doesn't work like that. I'm not Dr. Jekyll, and the banshee isn't Mr. Hyde. I'm both. [ She shakes her head. ] It's like ... A lapse. Everything else goes out of focus, and it's like I'm standing in a graveyard, and all I can feel is death choking me until I just— [ She throws her hands up indicatively, trudging haphazardly over the gnarled roots of the wooded grounds. ]

[generaldavideus]

[He nods, rubbing his chin for a moment, trying to consider the best way to approach this.]

Okay, so don't try to push yourself to the point where you lose control, but try and summon that state on your own, and when you're ready, scream, aim it that way.

[He points to the forest away from the two of them. He doesn't expect her to be able to get it perfectly the first time, because this is the first time she's doing it on cue, so to speak, but it'll be something for her to aim for.]

[immuno]

[ Slowly, she nods, letting the impudent teenager facade wear off as he helps her out. She turns towards the open expanse of forest and lets her eyes drift shut. She exhales slowly, a meditative countenance settling over her features. She remains like this for a while, silent and centering herself.

It's been several minutes by the time she opens her eyes, rolling them at the same time, and throws her hands up. ]

This is pointless. I don't feel anything.

[generaldavideus]

Sometimes figuring things out requires doing things that seem a little pointless.

[He can tell she's trying, but he's not going to let her give up that easily. There has to be something in there somewhere that will allow her to do this on her own. They just need to give it a little time.]

Try again. Deep breath, clear your mind - don't try and force it, just try and find it.

[immuno]

I don't even know what I'm looking for. And you don't even know that this is going to work.

[ But the alternative, she realizes, is continuing to be plagued by it. She softens somewhat, eyes him, and sighs the reluctant and petulant sigh of a teenager who has to eat her vegetables. With a roll of her eyes, she gazes out into the darkness of the forest, light barely filtering in through the tree tops to dimly light the space beneath the shade cover.

This time, instead of trying to reach out for something, she opens up. Listens. Senses. Like David said, tries to find it. It's a quiet sound, like a murmur so low that it's almost a hum, and it's not making words. It doesn't sound like it did before, at the morgue, or with St. Andrew.

When she steps forward, slowly stepping around trees to head deeper into the forest, it's not in the daze she'd entered in Wales, that she'd come through the Veil in, or the way she'd felt when she screamed in L.A. She's cognizant, and actively following the noise. ]

[generaldavideus]

[David doesn't discourage her or try to distract her. He gives her enough room to explore whatever this is, but keeps moving fast enough that he can keep her in his line of sight in case she runs into trouble.

This is her ability, calling, whatever you want to call it. She's the one best equipped to figure out how to use it.]

[immuno]

[ It doesn't take long—a couple minutes, maybe—for Lydia to reach her destination. One hand resting against the broad trunk of a tree, she leans over the gnarled, visible roots that jut up out of the soil. The rustle of nearby underbrush signals an animal slipping off, quick and stealthy, but before them lies the carcass of its last meal.

Not a person, maybe, but dead all the same.

In fact, as she leans further into the tree, hips tilting against it, Lydia looks relieved by that. No corpses in the woodlands near the castle. Still, she shakes her head. ] Well, it's not a very specific radar, is it?

[generaldavideus]

[He tips his head to the side as he gets closer before shrugging.]

Apparently not. But at least you didn't go into a fugue state this time.

[Which he thinks having control over her actions is a bonus.]

[immuno]

Great. [ Said slowly, and with no shortage of simmering sarcasm. ] "Not as crazy as I could be." [ She turns away from the dead animal, wrapping her arms around herself as if to guard against the creeping loss of control. It's only then that she notices he has properly approached, and her eyes flash as she registers it. ]

[generaldavideus]

[David isn't so dense that he doesn't pick up on her discomfort (wisdom 14) and he takes a step backwards, giving her some space so he's not hovering like the massive giant he is.]

It's a step. A small step, but a step nonetheless. We can keep working on it.

[immuno]

[ She softens, somehow comforted by the breathing room. It's not David's presence that's unwelcome—in fact, she's grateful he's here, doing this with her, even if she's too fragile in the immediate moment to articulate or quantify it. But it's overwhelming, too, and terrifying to take on what is inside of her that she doesn't understand, and it leaves her claustrophobic. ]

The problem is that we don't know what it's a step to. Name one person whose life got easier after they became something supernatural.

[generaldavideus]

[She has a point. No one says becoming supernatural makes life easier.]

It's adjusting to a change, just like anything else. And yeah - some of the places it leads to might not be the best, but at the same time, you can't understand what's happening to you if you don't ... take the leap. There could be some good in there too.

Would you rather keep letting it happen to you or would you rather take control and understand it, for better or for worse?

[immuno]

[ For a long moment, she wears a thoughtful expression, distracted by the conflicting desires. Ultimately, what she really wants is to stop losing control—for better or worse, no matter what it means. It's not that she necessarily wants to get rid of any other abilities; she just wants to stop freaking out without warning.

After mulling it over, she nods, softening. ] I want to control it. [ She says it aloud, as if that makes the commitment more firm. ]

[generaldavideus]

[He nods in agreement.]

Then we'll keep working on it. And hopefully between the two of us, we'll be able to figure it out.

[immuno]

You're really going to help? [ She searches him for a moment, disbelieving—mostly because they've got a lot of blood between them and most of it's bad. Lydia's maturity (or lack thereof) is to blame for a good deal of it, which is why she won't articulate precisely why she's surprised. ]