Let me Crawl Inside Your Veins (Wide Open)

[bridge_princess]

Who: Parsee bridge_princess and You!
What: February Open Log
Where: Pretty much anywhere
When: February (after the 8th)
Content Warnings: Body Horror, Blood, Roots and flowers growing in things like lungs and other places they don't belong. Probably some serious self loathing here

Prompts below!

Comments

Guess Who's Back? - Heavenly Blanc/Shrine Bridge

[bridge_princess]

Parsee re-appeared after a week long appearance, looking more surly than most had seen her in a while. She was standing there, at the entry to her bridge, the void behind her, and their newfound world before her. Glaring around for a second, she grunted and muttered to herself. "Is this better?"

The memories were coming back to her, memories of people trying, of people she was getting to know. How long had she been gone? How many still remembered her? She frowned, trying not to think about it, not to worry about it.

Finally, she grunted a quick chuff of a grunt and started making her way to her usual haunts. First stops were going to go to be the Shrine and Heavenly Blanc. In both cases, she was easy to find, chewing on her thumb, staring at the place that didn't look at all different, but not going in. She fussed, waiting to be sure before she actually made her way back in, like she was trying to decide if she belonged.

Heavenly Blanc

[forwearemany]

"Parsee!" Hope you're okay with getting a hug right now Parsee, because that's exactly what Legion is going to do, or at least try to. They're very gentle about it, at least--they don't run up and tackle her or anything, just kind of hurry over and wrap their arms around her, if she doesn't stop them.

She had left. They were uncertain if she would return.

[bridge_princess]

"ACK! LEGION!"

That was about all she got out before she was scooped up in a Geth's arms. Sure, it was being gentle, and that was good even if she could probably endure a rougher hug? But she was initially surprised at the reaction. On the one hand, she knew that Legion cared, but old habits died hard. Still, after a second, her hands snaked around and she managed a little chuffing sound.

"Ngh, how long was I gone?"

heavenly blanc

[pragmatism]

Zhongli happened to be visiting Heavenly Blanc at around the same time. He's heard of Parsee from a few other residents, but his own habit of wandering the void made it rare for him to encounter other people. This time, he's lucky to run into her while she's standing outside of the cafe/bar hybrid.

"Is anything the matter?"

She's been standing outside for a while. Maybe she's waiting for someone?

Re: heavenly blanc

[bridge_princess]

"ACK! Nothing!" Fuck, she hadn't been paying attention and a stranger had managed to show up behind her. He probably hadn't even snuck with how pre-occupied she was with staring at the bar. The youkai fidgeted, and started to calm down a little before turning. "It's... it's fine. I just was away for a while. Wasn't sure if I was still welcome at the bar is all."

Because soooo much had changed in the last week, right Parsee?

[theforgottenboy]

She doesn't have to go far into the shrine to stumble across Cole, hunkered down beside a ley line with his frequent chickpeewoo companion huddled up beside him. When he notices Parsee he's quick to stand and face her, the pink critter hopping up and clucking fussily at the sudden loss of its comfortable resting spot.

"Parsee! You're back. I didn't know if you would be."

He may not be the type to go in for hugs or whatnot, but he sounds relieved.

[bridge_princess]

"Cole? W...Were you waiting for me?!?" She couldn't tell how long it had been exactly, but the sight of him there, by one of the leylines connected to the shrine, looking up at her in that fashion? It made her think for just the briefest moment he might have been. Nah... he couldn't have, not that long.

"U...Uh, yeah. My memories are still kind of coming back. Fast, but they're coming. What're you doing?"

WHAT DID I JUST EAT?!?

[bridge_princess]

"THE HELL IS THIS?!?" The shout was loud, almost fiendishly so. Parsee was hollering, running around, grabbing for a cup and trying to plunge it into the local river, glugging on it as she reacted very poorly to ... something? If one took the time to look around as they came on the scene, there was a half-eaten fruit of red and orange color, and she was drinking a whole lot of water.

Well, tamato berries were supposed to be insanely hot weren't they? Certainly seemed to be the case today at the very least.

[koopacrusher]

After hearing the shout, Bowser moves to the area, stopping at the abandoned berry. He picks it up and takes it with him as he moves to the river. At the moment, he's wearing the doctor outfit he recently recieved, as well as the top hat that has his emblem, rather than the stethoscope or head mirror.

Despite the fact that the fruit was partially eaten and on the ground, Bowser simply eats it himself, showing no reaction to the intense spiciness. Then, he turns to Parsee and crosses his arms.

"So, you're back."

[bridge_princess]

"Uuuuuugh," she was about half a pint into drinking river water when she flopped like a dead fish onto a rock, looking over at the big guy as he emerged into her field of vision. Oh hey, it was the guy she'd been discussing fire with. She should really warn him that she'd been trying to convince fire to burn properly before it burned him.

That could wait for a moment, though.

"Yeah. Apparently it thought I needed a vacation from sitting by my bridge here so it sent me to sit under my bridge there. Positively scenic." She snorted and laughed once. "Haven't been back long, but someone said it's been... about a week?" It'd been years for her, so that was weird.

Something Doesn't Feel Right - Train (early symptoms)

[bridge_princess]

She was feeling light-headed and dizzy when she happened upon the train. It was probably the damned thing she'd eaten. She was deciding that these random fruits were a very bad idea. They were just a little too unpredictable, so she finally flopped down on the seat of a train that had just come into the stop. She wasn't alone and glanced in the direction of whoever it was sharing her car distantly, eyebrow raised.

"You feeling alright? Something ... ever since I got back, something doesn't feel right." Which was to say she hadn't quite felt right since the Chinkon rite, and she'd known it. It was like she was somewhere between one state or another, and it was leaving her out of sorts. She felt incomplete, wan, wrong. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

But she'd sort of expected this to be unpleasant. Spirits didn't like being purified, not like this. So, maybe that was what it was?

[starshower]

[Tifa had been feeling fine, contrary to what much of the Void had been feeling lately. Dizzy spells, light-headedness, headaches, chills... She had started to wonder if or when it would hit her, and if there is anything she could do to prevent it, if only to be better able to take care of those who are suffering.

It's that train of thought (no pun intended) that's occupying her so much that when Parsee's voice rings out from several benches away, it startles her back to reality.]

Me? Oh... [Well, there's no one else on the train with them right now, so she must mean her.] Yeah. Haven't been hit with the bug that's been biting some.

[Thank goodness.

She leans forward in her seat, arms propped on her knees.]

That the thing bothering you? Or something else?

[Never mind the fact that Parsee had disappeared for some time, which she'll get to after.]

[bridge_princess]

[She coughed once into a cloth, grunting and wincing a little before shifting her seat so she wasn't facing Tifa. She didn't want to get the other woman sick, after all. there were some gifts you shared, some you didn't. So, she wedged herself into a corner on the train bench while the thunder outside rumbled softly. No hurry to get anywhere. She really didn't have anywhere to be, so why not just ride the train.

The question made her grimace some.]

Been feeling a little weird. I think it's the disease, but it might be something else. It's like I'm ... I don't. Almost like I'm floating in my own body. Trying to find a mooring to hook onto. Ever since the rite.

Which... might make sense? World might be figuring out exactly what I am. So it's not sure about that right now.

[There was something else. I was driving her to distraction, but she wasn't a girl comfortable about talking about her feelings with others. It might blurt out eventually, but she was as likely to swallow those feelings. Which, naturally, was the source of the current problem.]

No No No No NO! - Around Town - Coughing up blood/petals

[bridge_princess]

It had been close to a week since she'd returned, and things had gotten worse progressively. On the one hand, she almost felt like she was in an out of body experience as she went through the first few days, but now she was getting an increasing fever that only seemed to be getting worse by the day. The cough she struggled with made her frown.

"I'm a spirit... since when do spirits get sic...," hack! There. On her hands, flecks of blood. That couldn't be good. That wasn't good at all. But... with those flecks of blood were a pair of rose petals, one a deep red, one a bright yellow.

"No...," she said, her eyes shooting up as she coughed again, a few more petals going flying. "No no no no! This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening!" She started to run, only to feel the pain in her chest as she struggled, having to keep it to a slow walk, looking for someone, anyone... except Rinoa. This had to be a joke, right? She knew what this was. This was absolutely a joke.

But if she so much as heard Angelo bark, she'd go the exact opposite way. Fuck, what if Rinoa saw her like this? What if she knew what this was?!?

[bazooker]

At the same time, Haru had been worried sick about what was going on around the Void lately. Between people getting sick and getting hurt, she was trying her best to make sure that everyone was safe here! Parsee was no different as she heard her friend coughing nearby. Wasting no time in rushing over, Haru looked over at Parsee before walking right over to her.

"Parsee! We need to get you to safety!" She shouted not caring if she was being too loud right now. "You are no shape to be moving right now!"

[bridge_princess]

"Wait... HARU?!?" At first, she was really out of sorts, because had Haru seen her cough up petals? There was a real chance she knew what that meant, which meant that she might know.... oh wait, she'd said safety? Thank god. She could play along with that. Safety meant they were going away somewhere, somewhere she didn't have to deal with what she'd just seen or admit things to other people.

She was so grateful when she grabbed her hand. "Please. Somewhere. Anywhere. Not here." She might see her!

[blue_eyed_obsession]

Kaiba had been riding on a bit of a high ever since he had seen one of his longterm goals come to fruition and he got little more than a slap on the wrist for it. Sure, he'd gotten an earful later but nothing could erase the look of an enemy's face when the trap had been set and revealed, not from his memory and not from cleverly hidden recording device he'd planted for such purpose. Aside from that a few of his other projects had gotten off the ground as well.

He was taking a break that he didn't necessary want, but he had to maintain the regular inspections if he wanted to keep abreast of any new developments. Hearing the incessant coughing initially, Kaiba frowned and halted his footsteps trying to get a sense on the direction of the source. The shouting soon followed, tensing he pivoted to turn the other way in time to see the blur running towards him.

"What isn't happening?!" Barking the question with some intensity to try and snap her out of her panic. When he looked past her to see if she was being pursued he saw nothing.

[bridge_princess]

Fuck. Kaiba. Not exactly who she wanted to talk about this with. But the order slapped her right out of her initial freak out session into mild irritation which was at least something. She could have gone on like that for hours, so it was better to be annoyed and calm than the alternative.

She coughed again, flowers going everywhere, having to spit the petals out of her mouth while she leaned against a tree and glared at him like this was his fault. "I'm coughing up rose petals. That's what's not supposed to be happening, duh." She grumbled it. "This place is trying to force my hand and I don't like it."

This is fine! Everything is Fine! - Anywhere! (Gore/Body Horror/Blood/Coughing Flowers)

[bridge_princess]

She was avoiding Rinoa. At some point she'd have to see her, but she couldn't do it, not like this. Not with petals starting to poke their way out of branches that were jammed along her collarbones. Yellow and red roses blossomed at the edges of her fabric and she moved with a sort of hobbled state, finding somewhere to sit and rest for a while, fitful, fighting with coughs, whole rose blossoms going flying in the process.

The moment that someone came on her, she gave them such a look. It was a little frightful. She was scared and angry, because she was intentionally avoiding the situation, but she knew that wasn't going to be an option. Another cough, and she hacked up what looked like a marigold. "This isn't funny you! I get the point, I get the point!" she practically shouted at the flower, as if it were at fault, which... it kind of was?

[forwearemany]

They were ... well, they weren't doing much. Like her, they needed to sit and rest, and they'd been hobbling around trying to find a spot, favoring a leg that, she might be very surprised to see, was half destroyed by blossoming red anemone flowers.

They were ... unfocused, not paying attention to their surroundings. It was a testament to just how badly they were doing that they almost didn't notice her at all. But then she started yelling and they stopped and stared for a moment, before finally speaking.

"Parsee?"

[bridge_princess]

"Legion? The hell happened to your leg?" Because that sort of thing wasn't normal for Hanahaki was it? But of course this damned place couldn't even get old wive's tales or new urban legends right, so why should she be surprised. She was still freaking out something fierce right now, but immediately deflecting to focus on his problem seemed like a wonderful idea.

(OOC: Gave it a thought? Feel free to explain Overgrowth to her. She still has flower petals themselves [Red rose petals] to help her only interpret this as possibly about Rinoa. Especially when it doesn't go away until after she talks to her.)

Roses are Red - Closed to Rinoa (CW: Definite body horror issues here), Mt Silver

[bridge_princess]

She'd managed to get down one of those awful buries that tasted like a snowball. And now she was sitting here on top of Mt. Silver in the middle of the leyline nexus. Crumpled up there by the bench, she ignored the cold thanks to the berry, another few in a little sack next to her. She shot a message out onto the 'network,' her thoughts irritated, confused, annoyed.

Rinoa? If you're here? If you're not mad at me for hiding?
I'm on the mountain. I need to talk, ok? No rush. I'm not going anywhere.

Afterwards, she scooted away from the mana mists, until she was on a stable place to sit, the sack of fruit in her lap. And she just kind of ignored the snow. She wasn't exactly a pretty sight right now. She'd waited too long, and she knew it. It was getting close to two weeks now, and there were marigold blossoms, Rhododendrons, Yellow Roses and Red Roses sprout like a collar from the collarbones and shoulders, pushing her top open a little. They poked out of her top and sleeves, and the pain was enough that she wasn't moving much. Blossoms lay scattered on the ground around her, some flecked with blood, and her face was beet red with embarrassment and heat.

She glanced up, the moment she heard someone coming closer, hand fumbling in the bag to grab one of those fruit and toss it. "Eat this... helps... with the cold," she said before they could introduce themselves.

[pinwheels]

Luckily, she was at the MARKETzone when the message came through the ley line network, or she might have had no way of knowing that Parsee was still around, let alone that she was looking for her. The message introduced a question - had the other been hiding this entire time, letting Rinoa think she'd somehow been dragged back home? - but there was no anger with it, just a quiet concern over the feelings that leeched into the message, irritated and confused.

Her own response was short, to the point: I'm on my way.

Getting to the top of the mountain took longer than she remembered, largely because last time she climbed it, time wasn't a thing in the Void. And when she reached the top...

Well, it wasn't what she was expecting.

"...Parsee?"

Even as she gathered the fruit into her hands, Rinoa took a few steps toward her friend, her brows furrowing in concern. She wasn't the only one the girl had seen dealing with the flower infection; friends of theirs from any number of different worlds were dealing with it. But this had to be the worst case she had seen yet. Compared to her worry, the cold was nothing.

"This thing... it got you too?"

Are you okay? What can I do to help? The words were there, ready to be spoken, but dying on her lips before she could voice them aloud. Not that Rinoa was sure she could do anything at all - she'd never seen anything like this before now.

[bridge_princess]

She coughed once into a hand, looking down at the rose petals that littered it and grunting. When Rinoa had shown up, she was both not surprised because she thought she was starting to get a bead on the woman, and surprised because of her usual self-loathing. Why would she come? Because she was Rinoa, and that was just something Rinoa would have done. She was having trouble looking up at her, mostly because she was incredibly uncomfortable and embarrassed. But hearing her voice, it made her swallow painfully before speaking. Her voice was a little ragged and wheezy, but that was probably no surprise.

"Been this way... since I got back. Was going to see you then, but saw the petals. You know what this is then? Why I have it?" She sounded mortified, a hand going to her forehead with a little rustle of leaves. It wasn't really fair in her mind, because she'd already confessed that she might be interested, so shouldn't that have counted for avoiding this?

"You... came, though. Sorry, the flowers scared the hell out of me." Because deep down she thought that she knew how Rinoa would respond, and part of her would rather just deal with the disease than that, but at some point it had gotten too much to bear.

Wildcard

[bridge_princess]

(As always, I'm up for anything! Shoot away!)