VIDEO | UN: SEEINGTHEWORLD - CW: Luca finding the parasites from the TDM, minor injury

[schoolingfish]

[The video comes on. The feed is shaky, and the person holding whatever's being used to record seems to be backing up. But with what's on the feed, it's hardly surprising. It's a shot of the beach, and from the waves scurry dozens of fish on long, skinny insect legs.]

Sharks! What is that? What's wrong with those fish?

[Fortunately, there were no actual sharks coming out of the water, making it clear that he's using it as an expletive. Unfortunately, while all the fish are small, there are a lot of them and they're now racing toward him. Luca lets out a scream, and the viewers might see his tail whip into view of the camera to knock a few of the parasite filled fish away from him, making it clear that he likely was just in the water the parasite filled fish are now racing out of.]

Ohcarpohcarpohcarp get them away!

[With a final shrill cry, the 'camera' seems to get dropped to the ground and suddenly stops transmitting.]

Comments

Action - Private to Zib

[schoolingfish]

[Camilla, who had been transmitting to try and alert other Sleepers to Luca's predicament, decided to go on the offensive. Growing into a monster crab the size of a pony, she snaps her claws and stomps at them but due to their small size many of them are able to slip past her and scurry onto Luca, who's fallen back in his panic. He frantically fails and swats at them, the movement helping to dry him out and his scales recede, leaving him with a fleshy, human appearance. One of the parasites even begins to burrow into Luca's abdomen, getting far enough to draw some of Luca's sickly green blood. Fortunately for Luca, the ensuing panic is enough for him to activate his powers, and a thin, shiny coat of poison mucus starts to secrete from his skin, and the parasites climbing up him slowly become disoriented, though they weakly still try to continue their attack.]

un: trienemybest; video

[droptheious]

[OH SHIT OH FUCK OH NO.]

Luca?!! Where are you? [Ohhhhhh fuck the screen went dead. ] I'm coming! I'm gonna... comb the beach!

[He can't hear him but whatever, he's just gonna...comb the entire beach. All of it. It's gonna take hours. ]

[Some time later, after Luca's rescued/recovered] un: seeingtheworld; Text

[schoolingfish]

i'm okay. you don't have to worry.

but i think i confirmed that my poison powers are tied to fear

Re: [Some time later, after Luca's rescued/recovered] un: seeingtheworld; Text

[imaglyphwitch]

LUCA!

[Luz races down to beach, her staff in hand, eager to give the "business" to any of the parasites that dare to attack her housemate! The girl was acutely aware she couldn't protect Luca from everything but darn it, if she had the power and ability, she had to try, right]?

Luca? LUCA?! Where are you?!

Action

[schoolingfish]

[By the time she finds him, there's no parasites attacking him. Between Luca's poison and Zib's spider legs, the parasites are all dealt with. Still, when he sees Varian say he'll comb the beach, Luca decides he should probably go looking for him to make sure he sees that Luca's all right, and he finds Luz, instead. He didn't know she was here, but he's still glad he found her. Luca is looking a little disheveled, and a bit of green with red streaks is soaking through his shirt where one of the parasites tried to burrow inside. Luckily, it didn't get too deep before it was killed, but it was still enough for Luca to bleed on his clothes a little.]

Hey, Luz!

[He waves a hand to try and draw her attention to where he's standing.]

I'm okay, Zib was nearby. He helped me out.

video; un: doublehedgedsword

[laminae]

[Fern has started to run into those weird walking fish, and while he's been okay at taking them out, Luca is clearly in over his head.]

Dude! Get away from the beach and - I don't know, up somewhere high. I don't think they're any good at climbing!

[droptheious]

[Varian isn't far behind Luz, and his worry only grows once he sees that Luca's been bleeding. He can take some comfort that Zib was there to help him, thank everything for that, but he's still very obviously worried. ]

What happened? You said something about your powers and fear?

[imaglyphwitch]

Yeah, I think I missed that part!

[Luz was already rummaging in her knapsack for some antiseptic, as if Luca would need it, because that would have been something her mother would do, and old habit die hard].

Wait, Zib? What did he do?

[And yes, she was super glad that Varian was here too to freak out with her]!

Text (a while later after the parasites are dealt with)

[schoolingfish]

thanks. shooting you a message to let you know i got away

[schoolingfish]

Oh, I sent him a message earlier when I saw he tried to contact me.

[To answer Luz's question. Now for the rest of the questions...]

So Zib showed up and dealt with a bunch of the parasites, but Varian? Remember how I said I got that poison coating that one time? It happened again and it made it really easy to deal with the parasites that were already on me. This is the second time something's really scared me and I've gotten a poison coating, though, so I think it's part of my powers.

[laminae]

seriously dude?? what happened? where are you??

[zib]

[There's a sudden, metallic shiiing sound in the air, and suddenly, Luca might be getting splashed in the face with whatever blood or fluids the parasites still clinging to him contain. If he looks, he will see a familiar metal spider leg sticking right through the creature, thankfully stopping short of impaling Luca as well.

Another joins the first to stab another parasite, and soon enough, they're being pulled backwards and thrown through the air to land somewhere farther away, before Zib comes into view to lean over him.

There's four of those metal spider legs coming out of a strange device attached to the back of his head, in plain view as his usual makeshift hood has been pulled down to allow them free movement. But he pays no mind to them, attention firmly on the other boy.]

Luca? Are you okay?

[schoolingfish]

[Luca lets out a yelp as the first parasite gets impaled, splattering him with...well, he'll just assume that counts as blood. He's less startled when he sees the next spider leg, because he realizes what this is...and that he knows the person it's attached to. He looks up to see Zib. He's not particularly surprised to see the device on the back of Zib's head since...well, he's seen the spider leg before, and he figured it had to have been coming out of something.]

I am now, thanks to you.

[Sure, he's bleeding a little, but overall he's fine and he figures he'll worry about that later. He scrambles to his feet as quickly as he can and looks as more parasites seem to be on their way.]

Come on, we should run before more come.

[schoolingfish]

there's something weird in the fish

they attacked me, but it's okay. i got away, zib helped me.

i'm near the beach, going to look for varian since i'm pretty sure he's looking for me

video; un impala67

[venatoris]

Kid, you really should just lock yourself in your house, man.

[droptheious]

[God job, Luz, being Team Mom as usual. Varian's listening, frowning. He'll have to check up on Zib, thank him for helping Luca out. But Luca's right-]

Once can be a write off, but if it happens more time, then it might be leading to something. I think you're right. I mean, my powers react to my emotions, and Luz's dream walking thing got way worse when she couldn't sleep and she went kinda crazy. [Sorry, sis, he loves you but, y'know. ] Maybe they DO link to our emotional and mental states.

[laminae]

yeah, i've noticed
they're acting crazy
plus the legs and stuff

ok good
let me know if you guys need any more help, ok?

[imaglyphwitch]

[When it came to her housemates, Luz didn't even try to mess around: they were her family and she'd follow up until she was sure that they were safe. Strangely, thanks goodness Zib was there].

Varian's right. If something more messed up happens, it'll be better if we can see it unfold and then figure out what we can do about it.

[She won't deny it, that was pretty accurate].

[schoolingfish]

Yeah...but I'm sure we'll figure this out if the parasites are leading to something bigger. If I am right about how my powers work, though, at least this gave me a chance to get my powers figured out before whatever comes next.

[Sure, he might have gotten a bit scraped up, but it's not as bad as it could be, and now he knows that skin contact while he's terrified will hurt his opponent. That could be useful.]

And at least this way you guys know not to touch me if I'm scared.

[He doesn't want to accidentally poison people the way Varian accidentally lights things on fire, after all.]

[schoolingfish]

the normal fish parts of the fish doing even look alive. it's like whatever the leg part is is just wearing the fish

i will, thanks

Text; un Seeingtheworld (Hours later, after everything's settled down)

[schoolingfish]

no. i'm not going to spend all my time hiding in my house even if outside is scary sometimes

[droptheious]

It does, that's... well it's a step in the right direction, and we didn't have that before. Progress!

[He offers an encouraging smile because even if a bad thing happened, it did mean something good came out of it. ]

We definitely know to do that now. And who knows, maybe I'll be able to get a sample of it and test it out?

[Varian, no. ]

[imaglyphwitch]

Right, yes. I didn't know you could manage to protect yourself through your own blood! That's good to know!

[Did all Vilebloods have that ability? If so, why were they looked down on so much]?

VARIAN. Let's prioritize the safety of Luca first before we take samples, huh?

[schoolingfish]

[Take samples? That's an excellent--oh. Luz doesn't like that idea.]

But can't we prioritize my safety and take samples? I'm sure we could find a way to scare me into secreting poison without it being too dangerous, right?

[droptheious]

[Varian grins at Luca, then points at him, so Luz can see what's happening. In case she missed it.]

See? Luca thinks it's a good idea! And we can definitely do that. Like, you can have a safe, fun kind of scared too- like watching a horror movie or something.