acatalepsy_logs | ( the sickness: phase two )

( the sickness: phase two )

I ▫ main	IV ▫ premise			XI ▫ applications	XIV ▫ activity
II ▫ logs	V ▫ rules	VII ▫ bestiary	IX ▫ canon updates	XII ▫ taken	XV ▫ drop/hiatus
III ▫ ooc	VI ▫ faq	VIII ▫ setting	X ▫ mods	XIII ▫ reserves	XVI ▫ players

the sickness ends.

the temple.

The Temple, shortly after Astoria's burst of energy, is in a constant state of growth. Trees are bursting into existence from seeds in mere seconds, flowers are growing wherever magic lands . . . and the Temple is abruptly a-buzz with energy, magic crackling throughout the air. You may find a tree in your house, or flowers suddenly growing along the walls, or plants wiggling their way through the stone walls of the buildings of the Temple. All of a sudden, the place looks very overgrown.

The Forest of the Fey seems to be responding in kind, too. Sprites are exceptionally active, darting out of the Forest and into the Temple with increasingly regularity, playing basic little tricks on the members of the Circle they can find. Flower crowns are made at an alarming rate, and there might be a few fruit-food fights that break out with the sudden abundance of peaches and apples that appear on the grounds. Learn how to duck!

With the magic comes the sudden fluctuation of energy: canon powers flicker on and off, as do the powers granted by Astoria. You feel more like yourself, you suddenly have access to energies you did not have previously in the Temple However, it's a double-edged sword -- it is not constant, and it may be more trouble than its worth.

And, remember: the Sickness is not fading immediately. If you make it to Stage 3, then you're stuck with sensory deprivation for at least another week or two. Sorry, friends.

lake dona.

Lake Dona is a massive body of water, stretching outward for so far that it almost seems like an ocean until you see that the water is fresh. It is surrounded by long, leafy trees that dip into the water and has a variety of ancient ruins scattered around it -- weathered stones set into circles at seemingly even intervals, old buildings that seem to mirror the Temple in construct.

In addition to the ruins, there are a network of caverns tucked along the water’s edge, just underneath the surface on the western side of Lake Dona, that appear to go underground into murky darkness. The actual entrance to these caverns seem to be underwater, seemingly guarded by merfolk, but poking around may seem to be more trouble than its worth.

There is plenty of wildlife to be found within the lake itself, ranging from freshwater mermaids who would rather you stay the hell out of their backyard to a rather large and suspiciously friendly plesiosaurus-like creature (some would say that she prefers to be called Nessie) that seems intent on checking out who you are. The lake teems with odd-looking fish, most of which seem to be okay to eat, and plenty of plant life! But who knows what lurks in the depths below . . . that giant sea-monster looking thing has to be eating something.
PROMPT IDEAS: Here are some prompt ideas for this new area! However, don't feel limited to such ideas! Feel free to fish, to explore, to swim, to poke around . . . it's always possible Astoria may check in on your character, too, once she is feeling better! ;)

1.) The Great Pumpkin The overgrowth of plants have caused a massive growth spurt in a lot of the trees, including the fruit trees that sprinkle themselves throughout the Temple. However, the fruit themselves seems to be growing at a rather . . . alarming rate, resulting in a few pumpkin-looking squash growing to the size of small boulders in the fields. Hope you have a lot of spare time on your hands to make a hell of a lot of Temple-pie, because these squash aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

2.) Food Fight!: Those damn sprites are at it again, and are collecting fruit off the ground and throwing it at people. Fight back, organize, and conquer! Or not. It's probably better to just not.

3.) Part Of Your World: The mermaids within Lake Dona are a suspicious lot, and they don't take kindly to strangers stomping through their territory. However, they are receptive to music, so if you are so musically inclined, they will definitely be more inclined to be a little more playful than territorial. If you aren't? Have fun getting tossed into the lake head-first by a bunch of pissed off mermaids who want you to get the hell of their lawn. They don't take kindly to your type around here.

4.) Nessie: Within Lake Dona is a massive plesiosaurus-type creature which seems to be . . . oddly friendly? It seems to pop up at the most inconvenient of times. Are you sitting on the edge of the lake enjoying the water? Enjoy a massive ass dinosaur sticking its impressively long neck out of the lake to check you out and also scare the bejesus out of you. That being said, Nessie is an extraordinarily friendly being, and will even give you laps around the lake if you ask nicely!

5.) Caverns: The caverns within the lake are dark, deep, and menacing The merfolk inform you that you cannot go there -- no one can, but the merfolk sure seem to be keeping a careful eye out on it. Testing the boundaries indicates a weird magical field around the entrance of the cave, that works like a bit of a forcefield. Weird, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Hank raises his eyebrows at the poke, looking unimpressed.]

Thanks. Now I feel really reassured. I mean, I was assuming it was part of this whole... Whatever's been happening, but if it's not, what are we going to do about it?

[He bites the inside of his cheek, looking thoughtful and disturbed. Then he shrugs, smacking the back of a hand against his knee.]

It's not just the hands either. Do anything you want, I won't feel it.

[Then he perks up a little, in an annoyed sort of way, and shakes a finger at Minato.]

So you're lucky I was able to fish you out of that stupid water at all. I coulda knocked you further in, then where would you be?

[ Whoops- Or it might just be the flu!! Is it too late to assure Hank otherwise? ]

I'd be dead, probably. But you should also be careful... And not jump into the water when you can't feel anything. You could cut yourself on a rock and not notice. The wound would get infected and you wouldn't know. And then you'll die.

[ thanks, Minato ]

You said "Put you first." That's sound advice.

[For a second Hank just looks surprised. Then he looks down at the ground, a little smile curling itself up over one corner of his mouth.]

Don't tell me to take my own advice, that's dirty pool. Anyway, even if you weren't a little late on the no-swimming thing I don't think I could keep myself from getting cuts and shit if I wanted to. And you couldn't pay me to like... look all this over every day to check if anything's infected.

[With 'all this' Hank gestures to, well, all of him. Being here's shitty enough, he doesn't need to deal with daily mental images of his naked body on top of that.]

Who knows, maybe there's someone here who has like, antibiotic powers. It's not uh, not a big deal, have you seen the sorts of shit people here can do? I'm sure everything will like, magic itself better. Or uh, whatever.

[Hank's good at reassurance. Isn't he? That was probably really convincing, and confident, and reassuring. It's fine.]

[ Minato sucks at listening to advice himself, but he is very good at remembering them and keeping them in the back of his mind- to pull out those words of wisdom in times like this. ]

At the very least, check your hands and feet... [ He holds his hands out, palms up, prompting Hank to do the same. It doesn't have to be every inch of his body, but hands touch everything and the feet hold up the body's weight, so they'd be the two places to keep a close eye on. ]

It's no good to rely on magic too much, anyways. You go in, thinking things will be fine because you can just heal yourself, and you go overboard. There's still pain and all that, even if you're healed in the end.

[ And no magic brings you back from the dead if you neglect yourself, not without something going wrong, like becoming a zombie. ]

That sounds like experience.

[He grimaces a little because magic, but if this is the sort of thing that's going to be a problem here, he probably should at least ask about it a little.]

That the kind of thing that happened to you, people thinking everything's gonna be fine anyway, so they get all weird and reckless?

[Hank, obediently, stretches out his hands as he talks. There's a couple bruises, some fresh scratches from where he'd tried to climb up and get Sumo this morning, but he doesn't look down at any of it. He would have already noticed if there was anything too terrible on his hands, as much as he has to look at them to actually do anything.]

Mm... [ He's stalling, humming in his throat instead of answering right away as he stares down at Hank's hands. There's not a lot to tell about the scratches unless they get red or look infected, and by then it's a bit late, so even though it was his suggestion, he's not sure he's the best person to help spot check this sort of thing. He relies on magic, after all, to make sure he doesn't bleed out and die.

But he can't stall forever without seeming creepily fixated on Hank's hands, so eventually he sits back and hugs his knees. ]

Yeah.

[ He'll admit experience, and try to pretend it's not personal experience... ]

Sometimes it's confidence. Sometimes... you're fighting for something really important, so you forget about the danger 'cause it's not as important. Those sorts of times, it's good to have somebody watching out for you, so you don't destroy yourself. Like a team.

Yeah.

[Hank's gaze goes distant, face twisted up in a way that might make it obvious that something in that hit him a little personally, too. Then he looks up, trying to focus instead on Minato. Studying the kid's face, his posture, instead of thinking about himself, it helps.]

That's not specific to magic shit though, you know. Happens in the real world too.

[ With his preference to keeping to the background and out of people's attention, Minato can only hold his knees tighter and advert his gaze so he doesn't have to stare back, thankful when Koromaru wiggles his way in between them and sits on his feet, tail thumping the damp ground by the lakeside. ]

That sounds like experience.

[ He echoes Hank's words back, knowing full well that's just him being a shit. ]

Heh. [He breathes out a noise that's not really a laugh, glancing away, then looking back.] Well, being a cop gave me a lot of opportunities to learn all about teams and shit. Any guy who tries to lone wolf it like some kind of action movie badass is going to get fucked up real quick.

[And that, children, is the advantage of five decades of living: slightly more advanced deflection techniques. It's all even true.]

That's just how humans are. If we were all alpha predators who could do it all by ourselves, we never would of evolved the way we did. So. At least some of your magic shit taught you real life shit, too. Wouldn't of expected that.

[ Oh... The movies have lied to him. The police in them call for backup, but the chase scenes are always one policeman taking on the world, and they always looked so cool doing it. Doing things by himself is how he'd always lived too- thought he could get away with it for as long as he lived. ]

Well... Real life is real life. There just happens to be some magic involved. But those sorts of life lessons... it's no different no matter the circumstance, right?

I guess. I don't know anything about uh, any of that, so I wouldn't know. I don't know what kind of magic you were even doing.

[He raises his hands hurriedly, palm out.]

Don't- don't tell me. I don't want to know.

[ ...haha ]

Alright, if you're sure. The curiosity won't keep you up at night?

God, fuck no.

[Not for the first time today he tries to lean back on a hand, gets it wrong, and falls back a little before correcting himself. He darts an irritated, betrayed look at his hand, answering absently.]

I've got enough of that already. One thing I've learned in multiple decades of being a cop: never get too curious.

[ Minato's starting to think Hank should just stay in bed instead of hanging out here with all the rocks and twigs he can cut himself on, but then again, what if he falls out of bed...

He's mildly surprised, though, that Hank doesn't take the bait. Minato would have, without a second thought. ]

Curiosity is human nature... is what I thought, anyways. I probably wouldn't be a very good cop, for more reasons than one.

Well, yeah. But if you try real hard and believe in yourself, you can kill that human nature shit real quick. What're your other reasons? Not that I'm advocating for cophood, god, please don't be me, but I guess I'm - ha - just a little curious.

[He tilts his head with a wry shrug. Maybe he's a little bit of a hypocrite with the curiosity thing. It's fine.]

[ Maybe he's a huge hypocrite, but Minato would rather see that curiosity than not, even if it is uncomfortably directed at himself instead of Hank being curious in general. ]

'cause it's hard to talk to people.

[ vague, but maybe that'll inspire some healthy curiosity. ]

Have you met Mako? He's also with the police- said cops are able to get into the criminal's mind, and that's how they figure things out. That's tough.

Eh, that makes it sound like you got to have some kind of telepathy. It's not like uh, criminals are some weird other species and we have to dig into their brains and figure out how they work. You've just got to know people. There's a lot of stuff that goes with it, like, psychology shit, especially if you get into certain branches of uh, cop stuff. But they teach you all that, you don't got to know it instinctively. You've just got to have a feel for people.

[He shrugs, looking a little teasing for a second.]

But uh, being able to talk, that part helps. Like, you can't just go to someone's door and stare em down into confessing, that doesn't actually work.

[Excuse Hank while he gently, deliberately misinterprets you.]

[ Criminals embody some of the worst traits of people, though. Rage. Desperation. Things Minato might have been able to relate to once upon a time, until he found himself unable to relate to anything at all- anybody at all- slow to relearn again how to know people. It's not something that comes naturally, or easily, but he's gotten a lot better at it by now, he likes to think. ]

I know people who could probably do it. Stare at somebody until they confess...

[ Whether it's because they're that intimidating, or they just exude such a aura of authority, or... Minato holds Koromaru between his legs, and squishes his cheeks in between both hands. ]

Could you lie to this face? Impossible.

[He snorts, smiling.]

No, we're not talking about police dogs, that's a whole different thing. No one can lie to a dog. Why we haven't made one a detective yet is beyond me. But if you wanna put Koro on the force I can put in a good word, that is one hell of a stare.

[ Koromaru barks happily, glad for the offer for endorsement, and Minato lets him go so he can jump up and place his paws on Hank's knees. ]

I bet he'd make a good one. Is your place recruiting?

Oh yeah, we always need some good detectives. [Well how can he say no to the obvious request for pets? Hank rubs at Koro's head, raising his eyebrows at Minato.] What're his qualifications?

[ Koromaru seems happy enough getting pets from Hank, so that leaves Minato to lean back and try to remember how long ago he'd first met the dog. Summer time, before the festival... but it wouldn't be another month until he actually came to live with them at the dorm. ]

Six... months? Experience on the front lines. I can vouch for his speed, bravery, loyalty, intelligence... [ All good dog things, to which Koromaru barks proudly at the praise. ]

And he is very handy with a knife.

[Hank raises his eyebrows, watching Koro, who he’s started scratching behind the ears, and then looking at Minato.]

Okay, none of that is any of the things I was expecting. Should I even ask?

Depends how curious you are.

[ It's human nature, he knows it's somewhere inside Hank too, even if he feels a little bad about his obvious baiting him through the conversation. But he reaches over to scratch Koromaru behind the ears too, because even if it's unexpected, Koromaru looks like a smart and strong enough dog to do all of that and more, so it shouldn't be very surprising. ]

Well. [He sucks at his teeth, looking away.] Normally I’d go for it, but here? Maybe it’s cause I’m older than the rest of you, or maybe I’m just... I don’t know. But I gotta be careful about asking shit here. It’s like, uh- feeding a program into a computer in a code it can’t read. My brain doesn’t know what to do with... with the magic, and stuff. So. If you tell me what’s up with your dog you gotta promise me it won’t get too weird, otherwise-

[He shrugs, making an apologetic face.]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject