Lemons

Amygdala Circuit

Twitching erratically, Quinn was barely able to control her breathing as she was half-led, half-dragged away. In, out, in, in, out, out, out. Shallow aborted half-gasps. Camille said something. Two words, maybe three, but it was like speaking through deep water until her voice came into focus.

"--the wall. There’s nothing else. Stare at it."

She did. The featureless gray concrete filled her field of view as she focused on it to the exclusion of all else. Gradually, like a receding tide, the black fuzz retreated from her vision, and the world bled back in through her senses again. The unseeing terror in her eye abated, replaced with a familiar horror; one that held her beneath the water, but at least let her breathe. And breathe she did, the dead parodies for breath deepened into a rhythm that, while far too fast, was at least functional, and slowing as she went. The air was no longer thick. It didn't reach into her, close around her, grasp hold of her limbs. Her unnatural stiffness and the twitching faded, and color began to leak back into her face as she stood steadily again.

The crying was the last to go, and she angrily rubbed the tear tracks from her face until she felt mostly certain that she looked...if not good, at least passable. Acceptable. Like she wouldn't be embarrassing two countries with her mere presence. A trio of long, drawn out, shuddering breaths--one, two, three--and she dropped her head, letting it rest lightly on the concrete. A few more moments like eternity passed before she stood straight again, turned, and looked up at her captain, eye nearly overflowing with misery.

But it was a quiet misery. A misery that may drag her down, but that she could hold; wouldn't crush her beneath its weight until she found herself alone, away from duty and judgement.

Her voice was thin and reedy as she spoke, then she pulled in another breath through tight teeth and repeated. And this time, it matched her eye. Desolation. Misery. Need. Guilt. But again, quiet. Placated, lurking beneath the surface, as long as she wasn't alone in a quiet place, and they didn't listen too close. Weak, but stronger. Strong enough.

"I'm...sorry, Captain." She held her hand up in a trembling salute before she let it drop limply to her side. "And...thank you."

Amygdala Circuit

And Quinn was excited. The last time she'd been planetside, it had only been to transfer her over to the Ange from the Aerie. And the last time she'd spent any actual time down, it had been the duel, and the less she thought about that the better. So as the elevator began its descent, she took a deep, calming breath to still her excitement.

She wasn't bringing much down with her; she didn't really even have that much to bring. Some clothes. The laptop Casoban had given her. Phone. Some snacks. And her new dress, of course; if she was going to wear it anywhere, might be down there! At the moment, she was wearing the jacket that Besca had given her before she went down to Mona's: the gray one, with the paired yellow stripes. She had her arms crossed, and her finger tapped at her her upper arm with a rapid tap-tap-tap. Her face was spread in an uncommonly wide smile.

As they left the bounds of the Ange and emerged into the hardlight sheath, she looked down, and...the smile lessened. She was excited. She really was. The bay below, the ocean reaching to the horizon; the afternoon sunlight, whipping and flashing over the waves. The patchwork of the Casobani fields stretching out one way, and in the distance she thought that maybe she could see some fraction of the Euseran cities, though she wasn't sure. It was beautiful, and she was excited. But...it felt...off. Less, somehow. Almost hollow, in some strange way, like there was a parasite eating the excitement from the inside. And as the minutes went by, and they dropped further--as Cantimine came into focus beneath them--it only grew hungrier. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

It was wrong enough that as she stepped off the elevator, it wasn't with the same steady stride that usually characterized her. It was slower, if only a bit. Halting. Almost a stumble, though not quite.

She took another deep breath. What was going on? Was she getting sick? She felt so cold. Cold like she hadn't felt in a long time, a chill that she recognized in her bones but couldn't name. She only realized that she was shivering after she heard her teeth chattering. Shook her head distractedly. She had to be sick. Something was wrong with her. It was fine. Cyril was right. She just needed to get out and get some air. That's what she'd done in the central plaza after the first time she'd gotten sick on the Aerie, Besca had led her out and she'd felt better after she'd breathed. That was all she needed. She screwed her eye tight for a second before opening it and walking with a more sure stride up to the barrier that separated the landing zone from

the street full of people the sound of music SCREAMING the smell of copper and iron SAFIE her heart throbbed in her ears as she stumbled back until she collided with someone, she couldn't tell who, face suddenly ashen, ghost-pale as all the blood drained out of it. Black fuzz encroached around the edges of her vision, narrowing it down to a tunnel of muted gray shapes as tears poured freely from her wide, terrified eye. In the distance she though she could still see the water of the lake the sun that GLARED AT HER the SCREAMING THE SCREAMING THE SCREAMING the fish full of BLADES glass in her feet glass in her throat BLOOD SO MUCH BLOOD run run RUN QUINNLASH RUN to the bay. Her head was filled with cotton, thick cotton that drowned out her thoughts and left her with nothing but the images and the deafening sound of her heart. She tried to speak, but all that dripped from her numb lips was a terrified, almost inaudible squeak. She tried again; another muted nothing-sound. She felt like she might faint. Tried again, and this time what came out was understandable, if only the barest whisper:

"Not...not...again...not again..."

Umbra Rose Condos

Will do, once she receives a possible bowl of blood icing to lick out of!

Umbra Rose Condos

I'm kind of tied up waiting for Dragonydas (no rush of course).

Umbra Rose Condos

@Expendable Oh my GOD. That's AMAZING. Dear lord.

Starlight Cove: Oceanside Memories

I shall make this offer again: I actually legit love doing stuff like that, if y'all send me an image you kinda like, I can set it to proper size and toss it to you in a header.

Starlight Cove: Oceanside Memories

Having asked a bunch of questions of the GM, I think I can answer a few of these in their stead so you don't have to wait too long @Xaltwind.
1: Modern technology. Just quite secluded, think like Stardew Valley.
2: Modern firearms, because it's modern technology, but I don't expect we'll be seeing much of those.
3: Yes, notable asterisk. The magic is kind of...different. As yet, I believe Mimi's the only one who's plotted to figure out a kind of magic, and it's more being especially in tune with nature than anything else. It's kind of...barely fantasy, more like Reality+, with some nature spirits and cave monsters.
4: DFA temperate. Temperate weather, relatively high humidity, strong variance in seasons.
5: I don't think there are any monsters on the surface, though @Carlyle might correct me on this one.
6: Humans. Like I said, not much fantasy, just a few little hints of it.
7: Yes, there will be plenty of cookies to go around.

Umbra Rose Condos

@Expendable If Velvet knew what Qaymu was thinking she would be personally offended. She is just fine at chess, thankyouveryMUCH!

Umbra Rose Condos

The triumphant return of your friendly neighborhood vampire!

Umbra Rose Condos

_{Late Afternoon
Velvet's Room > Building 1 Cafeteria
Interacting with: N/A}

---

Ah, summertime!

Humming a tuneless song, Velvet walked down the wooded trail. Around her, the flora of her homeland flourished: oaks, hawthorns, chestnuts, and all the wildflowers one could ever want. Gnarled roots jutted out of the path, and she made a game of hopping from root to root. Why not, right? Occasionally a breeze would blow through, setting the branches a-rustling and the leaf shadows dancing, and tousle her uneven hair. It was the perfect temperature. Not too hot, not too cold. All things considered, it was a perfect day, and the feeling of the sun on her back made it all the better.

Wait.

The sun? No. That wasn't right. That wasn't right at all. Shouldn't she only be out at night? The sun would--her breath began to heave, and she stumbled towards the edge of the path and towards the darkness beneath the trees. She...she shouldn't be out here in the daytime! She'd burn up! She--

I hope you'll pardon my intrusion.

And just like that, the panic faded away as a figure walked from beneath the trees. The light of infinity shone in his eyes, and night trailed in his wake. I didn't want to interrupt your walk at first. It seemed like such a nice dream.

Velvet heaved a long, slow sigh as a narrow slice of a crescent moon formed in the sky, stars filling the gaps between the leaves. Now that the sun was gone, she felt far more comfortable, even if it was just a dream. "Am I supposed to tell you 'nice to see you again' or something like that?" She stroked the back of her hair nervously, looking up at the sky and refusing to meet those eternal eyes. "So, what do you want? You're not gonna tell me it's my turn, right?"

The figure laughed, though the sound was a bit thin, then slowly shook his head. Not just yet, miss Alviva. Your kind are notorious for how long it takes until you come to me. I promise, one ageless being to another: when it's your time, I'll let you know. No, he leaned against a hefty white oak, I was simply visiting an old friend in the neighborhood is all, and I thought I'd drop in to say hello.

"Well, you can drop out, how about that?"

No answer was forthcoming, and as she dropped her head from the sky to demand an answer of him, he was already gone.

---

Her eyes opened to the creamy eggshell of her room's ceiling and she blinked a few times to adjust to being in reality again. A few seconds passed as she tried to work up the will to do things. It had been some time since the two of them had spoken.

Then she huffed in a harsh breath and levered herself to a sitting position. Ooh, ouch. Her arm was clearly still hurt, and she delicately unwrapped the blood-soaked bandage to find the place where she'd been bitten a large, angry red scab halfway to being a scar. A quick rap to her chest confirmed to her that the same was true for the slashes there. All told, not too bad. She'd be right as rain by three in the morning, at the latest.

For now, though, she had a craving. And not blood, this time. No, she had a craving for pastries. For cake. For ice cream. She was in the mood to eat something sweet. And given that her fridge door had been torn off--she winced in embarrassment, did she really do that last night?--there was only one place to get that right now. It was seven according to her phone. She'd slept for twelve full hours. Yeesh.

As she trotted through the halls, she found herself humming a tuneless song.

A minute or two later and she'd arrived in the cafeteria and walked cheerfully up to the serving window, rapping her knuckles on the frame and ducking her head in through. Her eyes had reclaimed their starry luster, and they glowed a faint red. "Hey, Borkus!" She grinned, fangs giving her a mischievous quality. "Do you still have some of that blood icing? I wanna lick it out of the bowl!"