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Video; UN: ShenYuan

[A two-part video is uploaded to the network.

Part one opens on Varre's house in Lumenwood, now covered up to the eaves in roses with the front door blocked by an especially large, almost human-like bush. The stalks seem unusually mobile even before the camera zooms in on an upstairs window, where a collection of vines are holding a backpack in mid-air and...apparently...stuffing things into it?

A borderline-panicked, disturbed young man can be overheard muttering 'what the fuck?' over and over, just outside camera range.

The camera holds more or less steady while the vines load clothing and several personal items into the backpack, including but not limited to a folding fan and one of Remina's memory boxes, before wrapping the entire backpack in a couple blankets and ungently throwing it at the camera holder's feet. He jumps. Really violently. It's scary, okay??

VO: Okay! Okay, thank you! That was very helpful. I'll be leaving now, thanks -- thanks again!

End part one.

Part two opens on Shen Yuan's pale, thoroughly-freaked out face.]

So, I...I hope this uploads okay. That was Varre's -- the creepy surgeon with the mask, always dresses in white? Some of you know him, I think -- that was Varre's house, which is apparently now being completely taken over by his fucked-up blood roses.

[Shen Yuan shudders.]

In the interest of disclosure, I had a qi deviation on the 5th, just before that big thunderstorm? And we ended up in a dispute.

I. I think I might've killed him.

[Several seconds of silence accompanied by visible emotional processing. This is not a man either used to or proud of his sudden descent into murder.]

I'm fine now [he says, like a liar] but I had to come back to get my stuff, and...you saw. They wouldn't let me into the house. I got them to do all of that by giving them some of my blood, but I'm not up for a second experiment. I don't think anyone should go near the place for a while.

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

[End video.]

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Wait. Wait! Whoever just posted that, ShenYuan or whatever.

[ Feel free to assume the username was more than a bit mangled and run together. ]

Was that the house where that crazy masked man planted those 'blood roses'? What in the world happened to them? Is that what they actually end up being?

[ She is going to need to talk to D. Like... immediately. ]

It's pronounced You-wuhn.

[Yes, of course that's the most important thing to focus on, here. He's traumatized, not a totally different person.]

Varre planted them, and unless there are two masked creeps in town who wear all white and style themselves as surgeons so they can collect people's blood...

Fuck, I really fucking hope there aren't two people like that in town.

I don't know if this is normal for them, we weren't from the same world. He was feeding them blood every day and

[Silence for nearly thirty seconds.]

We both wound up spilling a lot of blood over them, when I attacked him. They. They fucking --

[The call's abruptly ended. After a few minutes Shen Yuan continues via text:]

They ate him, after he fell over. The vines wrapped around his body and dragged him into the bushes, and he disappeared. I don't know what happened after that. Ask D maybe, I think he knocked me out.

I have no idea how much of this is normal. I never intended this to happen.

[ Gaia isn't going to argue pronunciation. It may sound odd but it doesn't appear to be the important part. She definitely has priorities. ]

You fought near these blood roses, that feast on blood. Spilled more blood. And you're shocked they ate one of you?

[ Apparently she needs to be spared from the lack of forethought on this fellow and Varre. Well there might have been extenuating circumstances. Either way, too late to be horrified now by her standards. Apparently. One can almost see her touching her fingers to her temples in barely restrained patience. ]

Oh good, D was there. I needed to send word to him about this video anyway so I'll be sure to ask. And frankly I have no idea where that fellow got those blood roses. But I think he mentioned they were from his world and he was planting them like some sort of experiment last I saw.

[ Of course she only literally saw this once, in passing, and decided to keep a healthy distance. Clearly she had done something better for her own well-being if this is a representative sample. ]

Are you new then? The worst things tend to be more commonplace than anything else here. And don't be quick to spill blood, even when you're not using it for magic. Anyway why don't you go over what happened that you'd even have thought it was a good idea to have a blood-drawing fight near something like these blood roses. Maybe we all can learn something from this experience.

~~I already said I was having a qi deviation --~~

[Wait, shit. This isn't a cultivator setting. This person probably doesn't even know what a 'qi deviation' even is. SY takes a deep breath and starts over.]

I was sitting quietly in my room on the second floor when something happened to cause my magic go wrong in my body, in a way that wasn't unknown in my previous world. It's called a qi deviation, and it's like having a seizure of the soul. I wasn't in control of my own actions, especially after Varre grabbed me. Before that I'd been focused on attacking his roses, but after that

I won't deny that I drew first blood, but I repeat that I wasn't in control of myself, and I wasn't thinking rationally. I know how dangerous spilling blood can be, and I'd never have deliberately chosen to antagonize him like that if I'd been in my right mind.

[ Well. That's certainly a valid reason for someone to be ~~so blitheringly stupid~~ out of control like that! ]

I understand. I'm sorry for assuming you did that with any degree of control over your actions. If this 'soul seizure' is anything like I can imagine, I understand why you wouldn't have been in your right mind at the time.

[ At least Gaia does acknowledge her mistakes and apologizes for them. ]

So what's needed is to figure how this er... qi deviation happened in the first place? When did this happen? Do you remember anything else about that day before it went wrong?

There was the thunderstorm, but it didn't start until after Varre and I were already fighting. There was a breeze before that, it blew the smell of the roses into my room and I remember getting so angry...It was like I couldn't stand to leave them alone for another minute.

Hm.

In my previous world, qi deviations were usually caused by someone making a mistake in their magical practice, or attempting a technique that was too advanced for them, or came from a magical tradition too different from their own. That couldn't have been what caused mine, because I wasn't even working on my magic at the time. I was just watching a movie.

Apart from that, qi deviations can also be caused by a serious physical or spiritual injury, or absorbing too much of a hostile kind of energy. I've been out of touch since the 5th, that bastard shoved a fistful of vileblood into my mouth so you can imagine how sick I've been. Did something else happen that day? Something to do with the ocean? I've seen a few posts talking about it, but nobody's spelling out what actually happened, at least not that I've seen so far.

[ Gaia appreciates that Shen Yuan makes his explanations of his world's themes easy to understand. And she has an answer that might be relevant... though that's delayed a bit by needing to comment about the whole 'bastard' part. ]

Yes. I absolutely see why you're offended that he got you to swallow vileblood because you were trying to kill him.

[ And the roses! It's not that Gaia thinks Varre was likely to be any better in the situation. But honestly, calling someone a bastard because they fought dirty against an unthinking anger ball? It deserved some dry sarcasm (in her opinion). ]

So I think you'll want to look for a video posted on the network by a man calling himself John Gaius. I suspect whatever he was up to that angered the Pthumerian Mariana might be related. Though honestly, I didn't trouble myself to pay attention too much.

[ You know, other than to note yet another person to be absolutely leery of at all costs. She will also provide a helpful link embed if the texting capacity is capable of that though it should be easy enough to search for at this stage if not. ]

Though if that storm was any example, I'm not looking forward to the next moon. If you hear about any efforts to appease Mariana before we come under her influence, do let me know.

[His mask is still streaked with dirt and gods only know what else, but his voice is clear and sharp-edged.]

I let you into into my home, into my confidence, and how is my trust repaid?

You've earned a miserable death, my lambkin.

[Oh god, oh fuck, oh SHIT. He's going to die. He managed to piss off ANOTHER psycho with a blood fetish and now he's going to be hunted down and die, it's the Human Stick arc all over again -- unless --

It's a long shot, but --

Shen Yuan initiates an audio call.]

"It wasn't me!" he blurts out as soon as the call's gone through, pale and sweating and hidden as best he can be in a disused room in Sanctuary. He risks a quick but deep breath (his life might be on the line, but that's no excuse to start babbling like Airplane) and says, "It was my body that killed you, but not my choice. Please let me explain. This one would never choose to make you his enemy."

Spare me your begging, little prince. I should never have been so lenient when you first insulted my Lord, but I wanted to believe your pleas then.

Tell me where you are, and let this all be dealt with.

No, please listen! I wasn't the only one affected that day, you can check the network and confirm it for yourself. Another Sleeper, an arrogant man named John Gaius, tried to challenge Mariana on her own terf, and her counterattack caused the storm as well as a wave of misfunctioning magic and wrathful behavior all over the city. What's more likely: that I would deliberately try to incite your anger, knowing how terrible your vengeance would be, or that my actions were compelled by forces beyond my control? You must know that there was no sense in my attack on you and yours; isn't that why you're so angry with me now?

Senseless, maddened violence brought me here in death. That it returns me to life does not absolve you.

I should have demanded restitution when you insulted Him. I may yet be punished for my failings, lambkin, and you will not escape your due.

If I wanted to escape all consequences for my actions, why would I have contacted you? It's your enmity this one wishes to avoid; if you can but calm your anger, I'll freely offer you redress. If you want my blood for instance, you can have it -- but peacefully. Please, there's no need for further violence between us.

[He seems to almost laugh.] Oh, lambkin, of course I'll have your blood.

Tell me where you are.

No, I won't do that. Maybe it's cowardly, but I won't deliver myself up to be slaughtered.

Which is better: to get some of what you want over time, or nothing at all?

Alas, a coward and a fool. Why should punishment ever be meted out on the offender's terms?

You did kill him.

[D went back to make sure. And to keep checking until he could collect sleeper ink]

You should stay out of that neighborhood to avoid further corruption.

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Video; UN: ShenYuan

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