[OPEN] And so I'm having a wonderful time

[spaghettification]

Who: Siebren and You
What: Post-Cult Recovery, Information Dissemination and general Siebrenity
When:Mid-July
Where: Places and also locations
Warning(s): Discussion of mental health and trauma likely, along with cult event CWs. Also, heavy alcohol use.

1. A woman came up to me and said [Library]
Regardless of what's in Siebren's head, he still shows up to work. Sometimes, he focuses on simple matters; reshelving, cleaning, dealing with things that need him to be tol (or rather, to be not-grounded). Other times, he'll be at the reference desk, nose-deep into some sort of book. He's doing a very good job at presenting himself as stable and pushing himself to be useful. He's making a point of not isolating himself from his community.

Those who know him more than passingly, though, can tell he's distracted and a bit absent. Moments when he hangs like a bad internet connection. Perhaps it's time to check in on your local sad science grandpa.


2. I'd like to poison your mind [Oak and Iron]
If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget.

Siebren is drinking. Heavily. He's alone at a table at the Oak and Iron, a bottle of wine and a single glass in front of him, and he is getting himself thoroughly shitfaced. For better or worse, he seems a quiet, depressive sort of drunk rather than a disruptive one (though his bottle occasionally floats over the table instead of sitting neatly on it). But this is clearly not a celebratory sort of drinking.

Still, if you acquire a glass from the staff, he might be encouraged to share, just so he's not drinking that whole bottle alone.


3. With wrong ideas that appeal to you [Empty Pockets Open Mic]
There's a song stuck in his head. Oh, it has been there for a while now, but now, it's stuck deeper than usual, running around the edges of his mind at all hours. Luckily, there are appropriate times and places to pass an earworm along. Like open mic night.

While he warms up with some Phillip Glass, some Satie, he jumps into the main event quickly, a look of concentration on his face as he draws down the music of the universe and plays it back.

Catch him after his performance, before he slips out the back door?


4. Though I am not unkind [Wildcard]
[As usual, darkersolstice on discord to plot. Or throw yourself at me, I'm easy.]

Comments

Poison Your Mind

[blindwatchersees]

"Seems we can never meet when we're both having a good day," the old man mutters, as he pulls up a chair, plonks down a glass, sits down, and crosses his legs.

"I'm here to listen, not reprimand. Talk, or don't. But you've found me in that bottle and I'm not leaving anytime soon."

[spaghettification]

"You shouldn't be in my head right now. It might not be safe for you." The concern is sincere, tinged toward worry. He doesn't know if the Crawling Chaos is still within him somehow. He doesn't know if he might infect Sheogorath, somehow.

[blindwatchersees]

"Mijn vriend, I'm in your head whether either of us likes it or not." A rare concession for him, as he likes to pretend he has more control over his existence than he actually does, but Siebren deserves to know How Things Work.

"I'm rarely safe. Have I ever told you about the time I fought a war as a one-person army, more or less? Terrible sense of self-preservation..."

[spaghettification]

"Yes, but. I don't want my self to be a danger to you, even if you are not safe. And I'm feeling vulnerable."

Well, at least he's honest?

[blindwatchersees]

“We can only make of it what we can. Better to do that than sit still and do nothing because we’ve convinced ourselves we can do nothing. Now.. I know I’m already in your head, but I think it’ll be better if you tell me what happened yourself. Haskill’s always told me that talking helps, even when I feel like it’s pointless.”

1.

[mindflayed]

Hello fellow cult sacrifice who's name he doesn't remember. Imbros has been none the worse following that experience, not that it's easy to tell his mood without many facial expressions. But he's in a decent mood when he approaches the man shelving books.

"Do you happen to know if the library contains any spellbooks?"

[spaghettification]

"Not so much. There are books on magical theory, plenty of those, but for some reason the native magic users don't just publish books on how to do specific spells and make them available where just anyone can get their hands on them."

Y'know, where children might pick them up and try to do magic beyond their abilities.

"I can recommend a very nice book on beginner meditation techniques, though!"

[mindflayed]

"It was a longshot at best, but I figured I'd try. Wizards tend to keep things intensely private, though I haven't interacted with many necromancers. Maybe they're more forthcoming since they're planning to kill almost everyone they meet anyway."

He's not deterred though, confident that he can figure it out on his own. How complicated could bringing someone back from the dead be? He's over 300 years old and part of a race that time travels through realms. He's got this.

"Meditation? What... What for?"

[spaghettification]

"I don't know. It's in the same section as magic theory, so maybe it might be useful. I'm from a world without magic, I don't know how it all fits together." Siebren shrugs.

[mindflayed]

"There's no magic whatsoever, or you're not someone who manipulates magic?"

1

[liesdontfindyou]

Just as she said she would, CT comes by the library as soon as she's got the time to do so. She's going to be spending a fair amount of her free time here soon anyway, she thinks, but today is specifically for the sake of coming to see Sigma.

She wanders up to him at the reference desk. "Hey. How're you feeling?"

[spaghettification]

"I don't know. How am I supposed to be feeling? How do you feel?" He gives CT a quiet, uncertain look. No, she didn't touch the Crawling Chaos personally, but she was there. She had the same trauma of being sacrificed.

[liesdontfindyou]

CT chews the inside of her cheek. "...no worse than I was before, I think," is what she says, after a moment's thought. It's deliberately ambiguous as to if she means before they revived or before the cult situation entirely. "Unsettled, definitely. But, frankly, I'm used to that."

The background radiation of paranoia is pretty much her normal, these days. At least it hasn't got her hiding away.

"I don't know how you 'should' be feeling, but... any worse?"

[spaghettification]

"Worse than that night? No. But nervous. I don't know if it left hooks in me somehow. If it will come back to me, or try to influence me again."

He shakes his head, as if trying to clear it.

[liesdontfindyou]

"Well. Hopefully it will prove to be just nervous thoughts." She's not sure what else to do about it in the meantime. Is there a way to check or protect against something like that? She certainly doesn't know it, if so. "I'm sorry, Si—"

Beat. Right. "—was that actually your name you used, before?"

1

[pineapplesalmon]

"Good morning, Siebren!" Look at César taking a day off, because it's not only a weekday but late morning, as he walks up to him in the library.

Remember you're going to ask about a recipe book, remember you're going to ask about a recipe book, remember... César gets distracted talking to Siebren quite easily, but also wants to have at least a short conversation before asking.

[spaghettification]

"Morning, César." There's a polite nod and a warm little smile, or at least the moderate facsimile thereof.

[pineapplesalmon]

Somewhere at the back of his mind, César does note the facsimile nature of the smile, but he's not constantly on guard like he was when he first got here to immediately notice consciously.

Instead, he makes fun of himself a little. "Man, I need to get out more... how long have you been working here?"

[spaghettification]

"Months already. You need to come visit more regularly, perhaps. I can recommend you some novels by native authors. If you would like?"

He's content to go through the motions of a work-related conversation; it doesn't require all of his attention, honestly.

[pineapplesalmon]

"Months already?" César winces and looks a little guilty. "I really do need to come more often. I've got the time now, at least."

He brightens back up a moment later, because that's an easy fix, now. "I wouldn't mind some recommendations. I was also looking for a recipe book. A great way to learn about a culture is their food!"

1

[not_a_traitor]

After being absent for almost the entirety of June, Gaeta turns up for his library shift only a few days after the cult incident. He's grim-faced, but maintains his usual polite, deferential demeanor as he speaks to the head librarian: thank you for your patience and understanding, I'd be happy to take any extra shifts to make up for my absence if needed.

As he passes by the reference desk, he pauses.

"Hey." Quiet. "Good to see you."

[spaghettification]

"Hey. Good to be seen."

He isn't sure if/how to bring up the whole ordeal, or if/how to request his not-name not come up at work. There's a nervous, awkward expression on his face, as he looks up at Gaeta.

[not_a_traitor]

He's not wholly sure what to make of the look. It stirs up an answering uncertainty in his chest, one he squashes as quickly as he can.

"How've you been, since...?"

You know. Since.

[spaghettification]

"The part of me that attempts to quantify things balks at answering that question or its variants. I have been. I am here. I don't know if I'm managing to pretend to be fine sufficiently well."

He shrugs slightly.

"It was with me, in the end. Their god."

[not_a_traitor]

Gaeta's eyes widen. After throwing a brief look over his shoulder, he leans against the desk, forgoing all intention of starting his shift right away.

(He's been gone for weeks. What's fifteen or twenty more minutes.)

"With you? What do you mean?"