ph_logs | Supression Request: These Feelings [November Open]

Who: "Slasher Face" Jean and YOU + 1 Closed
What: Jean fuckin' died y'all
When: Early November (before Voyage of the Hollow Men)
Where: Oak & Iron, the Community Board, Around Town, the Temple
Warnings: Discussion of death, Bad Feelings, likely shit from Jean's dark-ass canon, traumatic flashbacks, burning/scarring
Notes: Just getting on this early while I have spoons

Containment Breach [Oak & Iron | Closed to Zelda | CW Traumatic Flashbacks, Burning/Scarring]

Jean wakes with a start, and the phantom feeling of cold. Their clothes are ill-fitting butcher's slops, smelling incongruously of wet dog, and the uncomfortable sensation is almost enough for them to center themself.

Almost.

The sensation of burning starts immediately, and the contrast between their mind's insistence that they are freezing to death and the reality of the crawling heat against their left cheek draws a gritted sound of pain from their throat. Over the course of nearly a minute, a skull and crossbones is scorched into their face, and they have to take awhile to just breathe.

It's in vain. The tally mark comes next.

Jean has no idea that it's been exactly 24 hours, which means they're trapped in the inn; after all, it's well after dark. A familiar face might be needed to coax them out from under the table. Goddesses know the staff don't want anything to do with this.

Org Chart [Community Board]

Signup sheets go up on the community board, asking for volunteers for three emergency teams, just beneath a note explaining the idea.

To better effect emergency responses to the ongoing siege of Marrow Island, Comrade Jean (Pumpkin Hollow Recovery Task Force) is seeking volunteers to staff and lead response teams which will coordinate on own initiative during notable crises. The teams are as follows: COMBAT TEAM: Directly combat curse incursions with a focus on harm reduction and pro-active containment; protect citizens and infrastructure through violent force. MEDICAL TEAM: First aid and triage, preventative care, bodymen. The grim work of aid during a disaster or surprise attack. COMMUNICATIONS TEAM: Detect and report emergencies, coordinate activities between all teams and citizens, swiftly and effectively transmit information on the disaster in a concise manner. Volunteers are encouraged to leave their names and phone numbers on the forms provided below, or to contact JEAN or MADAM PRINCESS ZELDA directly at their homes or anywhere in town. These teams are not sanctioned or sponsored by any existing organization on MARROW ISLAND and are strictly voluntary; however, JEAN is offering combat training to any citizen or Task Force member that desires it, regardless of volunteer status, during their shore leave between the hours of 6 AM and 1 PM.

[OOC Note: Feel free to leave a drive-by to just handwave volunteering, to seek Jean out in person for a thread, or even to attend training!]

This Meeting Could Have Been An Email [Around Town]

With the events of the festival heavy on their mind, Jean is making an effort to check in on friends, peers, and potential assets, not that those divisions are particularly clear in their mind right now. Did you make plans with Jean before the catastrophe? Here they are to follow up. Consider this the catch-all for That Thing That Was Plotted, but it's also the chance to catch Jean at the Oak & Iron getting their coffee, haunting the tailoring shops again with a distinct thought towards actually spending money on clothes, interrupt them grocery shopping, or otherwise gently find (and possibly hold) the nugget.

Fuck You, Pay Me [The Temple]

At some point when Jean feels like they've got ducks in a row, they come into the Temple of a morning to provide a strong contender for least reverent prayer in recent history. Curiously, they've washed up extra hard first, combed their messy hair and even shined their shoes, but...

Well. Jean doesn't kneel before the altar, and while their tone is quiet respect, the words...

"Your enemy seems to think you exist, Manager Kora, and that you have some manner of power, some stake in me. I fought too hard and too long to choose for myself only to end up here for reasons I couldn't control, and as amazing as that is...I don't work for free. Not ever again, not after the Library. I am not your plaything. If you want me as your employee...then we need to talk. And if you won't, kindly stop by the City, make an appointment with R-Corp to rent their cloning vats, and use them to go fuck yourself."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"...To remind you...I wonder if that's what went wrong with Elena. Though, hahaha, I doubt vampire politics in the City were particularly powerful. Still..."

After ten thousand years of memeing about it, Erik finally learns that Jean has vampires at home.

"I can empathize, I think. It's easy to think of people as...bundles of skills and assets! This one does X, that one does Y, get the job done. But I'm. Really sure! I'd go mad if I followed that down!!"

"Vampire politics in your city?" Hold the goddamn phone. How is this the first he's learning that vampires do exist in Jean's home?? How did that never come up?

The part of his mind not reeling from the previous revelation has enough humor left in it to laugh (internally) at Jean claiming not to already be mad. They certainly aren't well.

"It can be all too easy to reduce a life to such things. It's done on purpose, to make taking life easier. And that is why it is dangerous."

"Yeah! I didn't really have a good way to bring it up after you went public with your own status, the culture shock might be a bit...so they prefer 'bloodfiends' as a name! Like! On purpose! But they're accepted as human citizens under the Head and mostly they just live their lives as far as I can tell! There was this terrorist for a bit, the Elena I mentioned, she was a Star of the City for a bit...the Library killed her some three times back to back, with her screaming all the while that she's supposed to be a predator."

"...I think she might have had something to learn from the role of the Wolf, if she'd only payed any attention."

"They prefer to be called that?" Jean is right, he does find that shocking. "This is the first I've heard of other vampires in other worlds being openly part of human society and yet they still want to be called by such a name?" He doesn't know if he should laugh or cry. How could that possibly help their public image?

That one of them lauded herself as a predator while screaming in defeat surprises him less. "Some refuse to ever learn. I've had to kill my share of those kinds of vampires."

"She did not help the bloodfiend public image! The one I used to know ran a cheap motel where the fee was part blood. Nice lady, very safe rooms."

"No, I imagine not. I am glad to hear she was the outlier." Really, though? Bloodfiends? It doesn't even sound pleasing to the ear.

"The one you know operates much more like the average vampire business owners I also know. Many of them have bars or restaurants that cater to curious humans who want to pay for the experience in blood. Some of us don't involve blood in the business at all. I owned a land brokerage company. I had alternative means of feeding myself."

"Honestly Lord Erik, when in the City your average baseline human has pretty strong incentives to kill you and sell your intestines, it's a relief to know when someone wants a body part that won't kill you and will tell you up front that they're after it. I suppose maybe that's part of why they're..." Jean sorta Gestures with both hands. "They're just people like any other. Sure, their variation on baseline humanity offers some cheap strength, but the City is already deadly! Already dangerous! Part of why we don't bother to use guns is even a chucklefuck grunt like me can block bullets! So it's not like being a vampire is terribly special...and being marked as different enough to notice is hardly a blessing either."

"What shocks me is how mundane acts of extreme violence seem to be in your city, and the ways you have had to adapt to it. Even I still fear a gun when it's in skilled hands." He has wondered more than once if he would actually win a fight against Jean if they came to blows. He isn't confident he would.

"But, I do see your point. Asking forthright for blood is by far the lesser of evils. Which is why I conduct myself here the way I do, as well."

"It's appreciated."

Acts of extreme violence. Are they extreme? Is that what it is? They feel so normal to Jean; if anything, this place has unusually gentle violence...

(The memory of freezing to death with Annabel's kiss on their lips floats through Jean's mind, and they shudder).

Their voice softens: "You'll need the right weapon to block them, but I can teach you to dodge bullets, Lord Erik. If you'd like to learn."

He taps a finger against his lips while he considers the offer. Well, in a place where he can't die permanently if he makes a mistake, what could be the harm?

"Yes. I'd like you to teach me that. Thank you."

Jean offers their hand out to shake. "We'll need a gun, I already have good targets! The first step is observing proper shooting action..." they pause. "Actually! If she's amenable, you could learn a lot observing Zelda's practice with me there to help. Either way, when we're supplied, we'll begin."

"All right." He takes their hand and grips firmly. "I'll be interested in seeing what she can do. Shall I leave you to do the asking?" They are a couple, after all. Don't think he hasn't noticed.

"If there is some other service I can trade you in return, you'll let me know?"

"Of course! We've all got to look out for each other. Our enemies certainly won't, hahahahahahaha, ha..."

Supression Request: These Feelings [November Open]

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Wrap soon?

Yeah, want to cap it off?

INDEED sorry for the delay