deernet | video, un:charon

Entry tags:

video, un:charon

[Lysithea appears on the screen in front of a doorway painted mint green, looking grim, but resolute. Her arm is in a sling and she has obvious scars and cuts across her face and neck, but at the very least, she is in one piece. She couldn't say the same for some of her friends.]

I am one day late.

I am pleased to announce...

[And here she makes a gesture with her good hand, and it becomes clear that this is a recording through the eyes of her Omen. The bird flaps back a few feet to reveal a recently renovated building that looks, if not grand, at least, well... intact.]

The grand opening of the Patisserie Lysitherie. Located in the Willful Machine, [address here], five minutes' walk from the closest Lamp Friend.

[Lysithea steps inside and her Omen follows to showcase part of the interior.]

...I'm sure I've prattled on about my business long enough, so I won't bore you with more details. Just know that our trade rates are exceedingly reasonable, and we seek to procure only the finest ingredients from the docks. It is winter, of course, so temper your expectations accordingly. Additionally, all purchases will come with a package of Weeping Wafers, our first in-house concoction. The taste is nutty and earthy with hints of nutmeg and almond. It's delicate - and not excessively sweet.

Most importantly, it is made with raw, diced Weepers.

After the... occurrences of the previous month, I imagine we could all benefit from their magic. If you seek mental stability, come by and we're happy to provide you with free samples. Don't take too many, though - I don't know what the effects are if you overdose.

...Well, that's all. Thank you for your business.

[...It is evident that Lysithea has no idea how to end this. After a moment, she looks around awkwardly and then dips her head as if in a bow before the transmission cuts.]

[action, ota, at the Patisserie]
[Lysithea will be manning the sweets shop during business hours. Her employees are welcome to join her when they're free - she could use some extra help, given her dislocated wrist. Drop by to sample normal baked goods, Weeper products, or simply strike up a conversation.

On slow days, Lysithea can be found eating her Weeping Wafers and fingering what appears to be an old research journal of some sort.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mm...

[As the kettle begins to gently bubble, she gives a slight shake of her head.]

I have to say that I encourage you to look for something beyond being supportive and proud of your friends. It is a testament to your good nature and heart that this is a motivating factor for you - but I don't know if it is wholly sustaining.

But I don't disagree. I was hoping for that from Trench, too. I suppose after the first month, I realized that was a vain hope.

[Luz didn't say anything at first. She was formulating ideas in her head about how it had been more than just her friends, but they had, she had to admit, been a big part for her. If she had come to Deerington and it had been nothing but misery and strife, she'd have turned away and never looked back. She would have forgotten it once she was back in the Boiling isles, and all that trauma would go away].

It's...not just them. I was pushed to the brink of me, and for a little while, I think I was at a point where I could have gone crazy. Everything felt wrong, and I felt miserable, and I didn't have Eda. But I kept going, and I pushed through. I got stronger. I want to know if I can be me, REALLY me, in a world that's still fighting me. I want to know what Luz, magical girl bitten by a vampire, survivor of cannibals and monsters, can do in a world where I make my own strength.

[That was as honest an answer as she could give, though she knew that she was only starting to understand some of what she meant].

What happened to you in the first month?

...You were bitten by a vampire?

[Lysithea blinks. ...But this is probably wholly beside the point.]

I think I understand. You're talking about the need for self-determination. Independence. You're at the age where you desperately need to prove that you can flourish.

Sorry - that sounds condescending. I say that because I was exactly the same in school.

[She is still mostly exactly the same.]

The first month was the river of blood and corpses, of course. That was a nice return to what passed as normal in Deerington and here in Trench.

Yup. Almost died. It was pretty bad. Eda was still there at the time though, so I was OK.

[Granted, the vampire didn't bite to kill, but you still got awful close].

I remember that, actually! You could say I might have even gotten a little inspired by you back in Deerington. You were mostly able to stand on your own two feet, and I wanted to do that myself. I wanted to continue seeing what I could do without, well, a parental figure.

[Even if she missed both of hers very, very much].

Oh right! Is it sad that it was kind of tame in comparison to Deerington? Of course, when I first arrived last year there were zombies. Strangely, that was also pretty tame compared to what happened later on.

Oh -- I hate to think I was an influence in any way.

[Lysithea, looking back at her sixteen-year-old self, is not convinced that she was a good influence. The kettle is properly screaming now; she removes it and begins to prepare the tea set.]

But that's a normal part of growing older, too. It won't help if I say that you're already fiercely independent and entirely capable of determining what path you shall follow in life, will it?

[She pours out a cup for Luz and slides it over.]

I think everything was tame in comparison to that tower now. Although I might have forgotten some of the worst parts of Deerington.

Why? You didn't even have someone like Eda to help motivate you, and you've done pretty well for yourself! Your magic has gotten better, and you own a business! If anything, I'd say you've done pretty well for yourself!

[It wasn't like Luz didn't note that Lysithea was imperfect back in Deerington: she'd been pretty blasé about her impending death and she'd been persnickety at times, but ultimately, she'd been a really great friend and the two of them had managed some pretty impressive magic together]!

I did sort of stumble into that a bit myself, but that was after dying and losing people in Deerington so. I feel like somewhere in the transition between Deerington and Trench I could have used some therapy.

[In other words, it felt like Luz had sort of fast forwarded some of her gradual development, so now she just thought that she was sort of fragmented a little there].

It was different. There were literal monsters in Deerington, but they didn't hide what they were. The Zealots are different. They have the ability to reason and think, and they still do what they do and don't think they're monsters.

It makes them scarier than monsters, honestly.

Well --

I did have four years to grow up in between some of those events.

[Lysithea smiles and pours herself a cup of tea as well, before taking the tray and sliding it onto a small table where she kneaded dough. She gestures for Luz to sit again.]

But thank you.

And I agree. It's worse when you're faced against something that shouldn't be monstrous in nature. A perversion of what ought to be. You certainly do need someone to talk to, but I'm not sure if anybody in this town is qualified.

Perhaps that's why we're having this talk.

I find... that self-reflection helps me get where I need to be, sooner or later. But an outside perspective is always invaluable.

Yeah, that was pretty lucky.

[Luz was wondering if she maybe should have tried going back to the Isles for a bit before coming here but figured she would have just missed everyone so much she would never have wanted to leave. She wanted things fresh, and she wanted to do it
on her own as much as she could].

You're welcome!

In their head, I guess they were trying to appease the gods or whatever, but they didn't see anything wrong in hurting us, and that's the thing that's disturbing. What kind of god wants you to end someone's life slowly and painfully like that?

[Luz sighed. Lysithea was probably right about the lack of psychiatrists].

I think it helped we were both there too, experiencing the same thing. It might be harder if we'd gone through the farm, but in a different way somehow.

I try that myself, the self reflection. Sometimes it helps, but other times I definitely need other people, or I feel like I might go crazy.

[Lysithea takes a sip of her tea - after adding several spoonfuls of sugar, of course.]

I won't hesitate to say - in some ways, being concerned for you helps to distract me from my own feelings about the matter. Or rather... it feels as if - helping you will help me, by extension.

...I have seen such things before.

[Her teacup trembles slightly as she places it down on the table.]

That time... there was nobody who could be saved. So at least -- we were able to help. Even if only a little.

[Ah yes, the trite and true approach of drowning the tea in sweetness. Luz knows that well, though thanks to Vira's influence had actually moved away from it. A little.

She uses honey now].

I know that feeling. I get it whenever Luca, the boy in my house, is freaking out over something happening to him. He's a Vileblood, and he's also technically like natively human, so he's always trying to make sure he's not seeming weird or odd. So I help him as best as I can, and it helps me too. It wasn't that long ago that I felt just like him.

[She still did, sometimes].

I'm sorry that happened to you. I don't think how many times that we see it, that it gets any easier to deal with. But I'm glad we helped a little too. I honestly felt pretty helpless back there, the first time.

[Which was a funny thing to say since the second time that was literally true].

[How dare Vira-Lorr sway others from the gospel of sugar into the church of bitter tea? She'll have to have words.]

Heartache is best resolved by facing those challenging memories and emotions. But that's far easier said than done. When I think about that tower, I remember how... detached I had to become. For my own sake.

And in so doing, I can't quite connect to those emotions.

So in the meantime... the best thing I can do is help others talk through their own.

[She gives a faint shrug.]

More tea?

I wonder where they went. The people we unhooked from those machines. We don't have any real way of knowing where Moon Presence took them.

[Luz nodded quietly].

Me too. I was doing my best to try and rationalize what was happening. That the parts we saw there were people who gave up their organs to further what the zealots were doing, or at least make it seem humane. But not a thing in there was like that. It was all to cause misery as long as the blood was the end goal. I still can't...wrap my head around what makes people able to see others as things.

[And honestly? Maybe she just never would. She understood now, at least, an enemy that want to obliterate you had to be beaten, even if the end result was death. That didn't mean she liked the idea of it happening].

The talking is helping. A little bit.

[She nodded. Tea and talk were definitely giving her a little more room to think about everything, at least].

I hope they're all right. They would have definitely needed help getting out of there.

I know I did.

[...]

If you want something badly enough... and you convince yourself that it's more important than anything else in the world...

[Lysithea's voice is a bit odd as she says this - but the next moment, the cadence has returned to normal.]

Well, I've never believed in the goodness of humanity as a whole. Only in the goodness of what one individual chooses for themselves. I would say... it's better off if we don't understand.

[She refills the tea.]

There's usually a moral to these things, isn't there? I wonder what it was supposed to be this time...

...And if people don't matter, I guess. That's the scary part.

[Though why Lysithea sounded like that when she said it caught her off guard. There was still so much she didn't know about some of her friends that it tended to catch her by surprise].

That's sad though. People, just in general, should have enough respect for each other that they want to let them live their own lives. If we all have to keep worrying that someone might attack us at any time, how is that any way to live?

[Luz gladly sweetened her tea and munched on a cookie quietly].

"Don't get caught by crazy people? Horror video games are better staying video games?"

...There's no moral, is there?

[Lysithea smiles wanly.]

No, it's just nice to try to believe that there's some sense in suffering. Perhaps... seeing the purpose is to see the truth - to see the darkness that underlies Trench, as much as it did in Deerington.

If that is the case, then perhaps we pluck up our resolve.

[...]

Later, though.

For now, we should... rest.

Sure doesn't feel like one here.

[And that was upsetting for a number of reasons].

That's what I was thinking, and I've been struggling with that notion the past few days. I just don't get the WHY. If we were brought to Trench to move on from Deerington, why are there other people coming too? What's the big plan really all about?

[That was something that seemed impossible].

Any tips on how we could actually do that?

[Lysithea responds by standing up, reaching behind her, and bringing over a jar filled with Weeping Wafers.]

Non-mentally altering sweets are also acceptable.

Not to make light of the situation, but our options aren't very broad. As you say, there are too many questions, no answers, and a perpetual fountain of anguish.

So...

Really, we only have the comfort we can provide each other.

I'll take what I can get. And the "non-mentally altering" part is super important, by the way. That way you don't hallucinate a bird running after you and make your first impression with someone be that you like taking drugs.

[She was sure they got the message, but still].

Then maybe we do more searching. See what else we can find out. For now, well, we gather and talk about what we find out.

That's true. These talks really do make me feel comfortable, actually.

...Erm.

[A pause.]

Well, I'm glad and I appreciate your company as well, and as minimal comfort as we can provide each other, I... think it's important that we do so.

But what was that first part again?

So do I!

[Luz sighed here].

Yeah, uh, I happened to get a whiff of a moving mushroom, and I hallucinated a big monster bird was running after me. With two completely different people.

It was pretty mortifying.

[Lysithea nods slowly in comprehension.]

Ah. Yes.

The hallucinogenic ones. I had a few run-ins myself.

Well... shall we speak of more pleasant things for a while, then? I think we've about exhausted our 'trauma processing' for the day. You know, I saw an interesting recipe for a mushroom cake that I might want your opinion on...

((And I think we can fade to black for them here, if that works for you!))

[Luz sighed, shaking her head].

One of the people looking after me thought I was intentionally just tripping on drugs. It was pretty mortifying.

[At the cake, she looked questionable].

Uh, yes, let's...talk about that.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

video, un:charon

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