Orange, yellow, red. Blinking doesn't make it go away. The room is painted and pulsing around him, almost seeming to breathe. Lortel doesn't seem alarmed though, even though she's starting to wiggle and wobble at the edges, too, like she's a burning gas, no longer solid.
When did the world change; it was frozen, and now... it's this...? ]
You're so calm, Lortel. Haha! I thought I was the best at keeping a straight face.
Hardly. You couldn't hope to challenge me on that front, [ she beams, working even harder to keep the mangled snarl of her true feelings both off her face and out of the murmur. there's just nothing behind that smile of hers.
quietly, in the back of her mind, she makes a note that she really ought to see if there's anyone in the city with genuine medical expertise. ]
It takes forever for her words to reach the part of his brain that processes them as concepts, not just sounds. Down there in that deepening pool, though, there's still logic working lazily.
Close his eyes... that's a strange suggestion, when it seems more important than ever to pay attention to their surroundings. ]
Oh... because I'm the only one seeing these things. I'm sick.
[ Staring into her eyes, which now loom large before him, he can only focus on the deep, deep of their green for so long before he notices the reflection in them, of the room warping. Silhouettes of objects grow long wisps all around the edges. Like fire. Like cilia, all moving ceaselessly.
Picture frames take root in the walls. Chairs twist into the table they're arranged around. The doorway distorts so strangely it no longer looks like a way to escape from this.
Ivan has to wonder if he's merging too, but Lortel's forehead leaned firmly against his stops him from looking down.
[ keeping the murmur clear of her ever-mounting panic while still projecting the calm she thinks he needs to feel is, honestly, one of the hardest things she's ever done. the cognitive dissonance of it threatens to make her physically ill.
nevertheless. she keeps her spine straight, and she holds him close. ]
Keep talking. I'm right here. You're safe. We're safe, right now.
[ A little overstimulated, Ivan gladly rests against the cushion Lortel offers both physically and mentally. Things only get harder to comprehend as the whole world wriggles like worms of color. It's just his eyes that are wrong, she reassures him.
Good, a good thing that it it was him, and not someone with a smaller body. It would be a bigger shock to their system... ]
Mm, I hope none of this is making it over to your mind. It's a bit much...!
[ Hahaha... ]
Why don't you have Till sketch what's left of that one so we have a record of it...?
It would be fine if it did, [ she tells him, serious as anything, ] if it would help.
[ she nods against him. the only reason she hasn't already set aside the mushroom that triggered all this is that it means she'd have to take her hands off him, and she's not willing to risk it. ]
I will. I'll pass the information on to those who'd make good use of it.
[ those who would protect theirs with the knowledge, rather than seek to harm. Megumi, she thinks. Arthur. well, she's got time to think about it. ]
[ Do her hands still have five fingers each? It's starting to feel like more, scratching against him in unknown sequences. Flies buzz behind her voice—the black kind, not the ones that drink from flowers—a thousand misshapen and miniscule throats trying to copy her words and getting them just slightly wrong.
He has to search the distortion to understand her, but he still does.
He still does.
And there's just one more thing he has to ask of her, very important. ]
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[ she has no idea how straightforward she should be. would denying his delusions help, or make things worse? ]
Shh, shh. [ she lifts her hands to cup his face, thumbs skating over his skin, hoping the touch will be even a little grounding. ]
I'm safe. We're safe. There's no danger. Trust me, hm?
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[ His pupils have grown large.
Orange, yellow, red. Blinking doesn't make it go away. The room is painted and pulsing around him, almost seeming to breathe. Lortel doesn't seem alarmed though, even though she's starting to wiggle and wobble at the edges, too, like she's a burning gas, no longer solid.
When did the world change; it was frozen, and now... it's this...? ]
You're so calm, Lortel. Haha! I thought I was the best at keeping a straight face.
no subject
she is quite, quite sure. ]
Hardly. You couldn't hope to challenge me on that front, [ she beams, working even harder to keep the mangled snarl of her true feelings both off her face and out of the murmur. there's just nothing behind that smile of hers.
quietly, in the back of her mind, she makes a note that she really ought to see if there's anyone in the city with genuine medical expertise. ]
Would it help to close your eyes?
no subject
His thoughts are slowing down.
It takes forever for her words to reach the part of his brain that processes them as concepts, not just sounds. Down there in that deepening pool, though, there's still logic working lazily.
Close his eyes... that's a strange suggestion, when it seems more important than ever to pay attention to their surroundings. ]
Oh... because I'm the only one seeing these things. I'm sick.
[ Blunted, barely there panic. ]
no subject
manipulating her own feelings to flood the murmur on purpose... is a skill she's rapidly been honing, these last two months.
she is Lortel Kehelland. she would smile at the end of the world.
surely, she can do at least this. ]
Maybe, [ she hedges. her hands pull him down until their foreheads bump. her thumbs continue to brush, mindless and comforting, across his skin. ]
I won't let anything happen to you, Ivan. I'll make sure you're safe. You belong to me, after all.
[ it's a promise she means and a complete lie. there is no help for them.
still, she thinks. whatever it might take. ]
Just focus on me. Tell me what you see.
no subject
Picture frames take root in the walls. Chairs twist into the table they're arranged around. The doorway distorts so strangely it no longer looks like a way to escape from this.
Ivan has to wonder if he's merging too, but Lortel's forehead leaned firmly against his stops him from looking down.
So senseless. ]
...we are just tendrils, we were always tendrils.
no subject
nevertheless. she keeps her spine straight, and she holds him close. ]
Keep talking. I'm right here. You're safe. We're safe, right now.
no subject
Good, a good thing that it it was him, and not someone with a smaller body. It would be a bigger shock to their system... ]
Mm, I hope none of this is making it over to your mind. It's a bit much...!
[ Hahaha... ]
Why don't you have Till sketch what's left of that one so we have a record of it...?
no subject
[ she nods against him. the only reason she hasn't already set aside the mushroom that triggered all this is that it means she'd have to take her hands off him, and she's not willing to risk it. ]
I will. I'll pass the information on to those who'd make good use of it.
[ those who would protect theirs with the knowledge, rather than seek to harm. Megumi, she thinks. Arthur. well, she's got time to think about it. ]
no subject
He has to search the distortion to understand her, but he still does.
He still does.
And there's just one more thing he has to ask of her, very important. ]
Don't tell him I've been doing this.
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she doesn't ask what he means. she nods against him again, so he feels her do it, and cards her fingers slowly through his hair.
shh, shh, goes the murmur. ]
I won't, Ivan. You have my word.