paramnesiarules: (Default)
paramnesiarules ([personal profile] paramnesiarules) wrote in [community profile] ph_logs2024-09-03 04:14 pm

August/September top-level

Who: Helen Richardson ([personal profile] paramnesiarules) & anyone else who wants to meet the new Spiral-touched weirdo~

What: First meetings galore!

When: Last week of August and first week of September, before Dahlia's big birthday bash

Where: Anywhere there are people!

Warning(s): Discussion of madness, trauma, and depersonalization.

The Oak & Iron

On her first morning in this strange new world, Helen embarrassed herself terribly.

She'd been quite pleased with how she was holding it together -- sure, her memories of speaking with Mayor Poe were a bit fuzzy, and it took her a few minutes to remember where she was when she woke up in her room in the inn...but she'd stayed calm. Cool. Professional. She's gotten out of bed, washed her face, combed out her hair -- even taken a moment to admire the old timey charm of the secondhand clothes she'd been given, like something out of a period drama. She'd gone downstairs. She'd ordered breakfast -- just something simple, bacon and eggs and a slice of toast. She'd sat down and waited for it to come to her -- and that was when everything fell apart.

It was the smells that did her in. And the sounds. And the...colors. Her egg, when her plate was set down in front of her, was a rich inviting yellow, nearly orange. The bacon was red-brown with white streaks of fat, and smelled warmly of cooked pork and grease. At the table behind her, two people were talking quietly about a party that was supposed to happen in a few weeks. The wood grain of her own table was smooth and warm under her hands. Everything was soft and...somehow gentle. There were no hard corners or harsh smells, no eye-searing artificial colors. Everything was natural and gentle, homey even though it was just an inn. Like it had been designed to make people relax and feel safe -- and it probably had been.

It was too much. Helen tried to hold it back, tried to stop it -- but she failed. With no other recourse she covered her face with her hands as, as quietly as she could, she began to cry.

Greymare Library

The scratching of her pencil is awkwardly loud in the quiet room. Helen cringes and tries to draw more quietly, but she doesn't stop. She's almost done, and once her map of the island is finished -- maybe she'll feel better? Maybe she'll feel <i>safer</i>, once she knows where everything is and where it's supposed to be. Once she can be sure that she'll <i>notice</i>, if anything changes...

She draws a final line and puts her pencil down with a sigh. One last thing, and then her little project should be complete. She's not sure which of the people wandering the stacks are patrons and which are employees are the library, so she simply corners the first person she sees and asks them plainly, "Excuse me. Do you work here?"

Temple of Seasons

The local church is small and quaint, and seems to exert a pull on Helen that fills her with a quiet, trembling fear. The doors are thick and heavy, and seem to almost whisper to her, promising safety and tranquility, but -- she can't bring herself to touch the handle. She sits on the front steps instead, arms wrapped tightly around herself, and tries to pretend that she's just taking a break. Just a little rest, that's all. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Tawny Beach

The beach is crowded, but it bothers her less when she can look out on the open ocean. It stretches out to the horizon, a flat, blue plain broken with the white caps of cresting waves. Like a badly-installed carpet beginning to bunch and pull up from the floor, she thinks, and the thought is amusing rather than nauseating. In all other respects it is completely unlike an interior hallway -- and if her eyes should start to leak again, it's easily blamed on the salt air. Now if only she could shake this ridiculous and cliche conviction that people are staring at her, everything would be...just. Perfect.

mindflayed: (Default)

Oak & Iron

[personal profile] mindflayed 2024-09-04 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
"Must you?" Comes the not at all empathetic voice from a nearby table. Imbros has all his paperwork and journals haphazardly spread out as he writes up notes on the past few weeks.
when_a_grids_misaligned: (aside glance)

Oak & Iron

[personal profile] when_a_grids_misaligned 2024-09-04 04:27 pm (UTC)(link)
She's attracted the attention of the least colourful person in the room, some ghostly-pale white kid with an unruly black bird's nest of hair who's dressed in an assortment of clashing greyscale patterns. They're staring at her over a plate of pancakes.

"Are you just really hungover, or...?"

They mean well. They sound concerned, at least.
theydrewfirstblood: (side{ paying attention)

Temple

[personal profile] theydrewfirstblood 2024-09-04 04:30 pm (UTC)(link)
"Hey--you all right?"

If anyone knows the look, it's John Rambo: be small, be invisible, hold on tight so it doesn't hurt so bad. Keep your head on a swivel.

He's spending just a little more time at the temple, given that he feels more at church in the forest than anything, but he's taking this paladin thing seriously so he brings Serranai gifts here, too. He worships in the forest, but at the temple...

He sees it as visiting. Brings a gift for each of the Mothers, the most personal for Serranai...and today, he's in town, he's got offerings in his pockets?

And someone is on the steps. Looking kind of terrified...if this is an accident, he's a fluffy bunny.

Sinking down to sit beside the woman, John watches her, gaze and expression soft.

"S'ok if you're not. This is a good place for people who are kind of a mess, it's the whole reason I come here."
blindwatchersees: (pic#16898529)

The Temple of Seasons

[personal profile] blindwatchersees 2024-09-04 04:43 pm (UTC)(link)
As she sits, as people pass by and the doors swing open and close, the same smell keeps greeting her. It's that smell you smell when you walk into your house after a long trip, and know it's your place. Whether it's a trick or just a coincidence, the inside of the Temple is exuding the scent of familiarity.
mindflayed: (Feeding)

[personal profile] mindflayed 2024-09-05 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
"Supposed to be?" Oh that's a fun quandary. Is he inadvertently trying to be something he's not? That's fun.

"Why don't you tell me?"
blindwatchersees: (pic#16611377)

[personal profile] blindwatchersees 2024-09-05 02:04 pm (UTC)(link)
One way or another, her wanderings lead her to the boardwalk. The smell of the sea hangs heavy and light at the same time, fresh salt and spray tinged with the musk of organic life. It's threatening to rain, but the most that's fallen so far is only a shadow of what could be called a fine mist.

Suddenly, there's a thud of hurried footfalls on the wooden planks.

"Why, I'd recognize those curls anywhere! Helen! Helen, my lass!" It's a dapper-looking bearded gentleman who's calling to her, somehow dressed to the nines in commoner's clothes.
cacophonish: MOPI (scene27331)

Oak & Iron

[personal profile] cacophonish 2024-09-05 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Somebody's taken a seat at her table. How long has he been sitting there before he decides to make himself known? He seems content to sit there in companionable silence while Helen cries into her hands-- at least at first.

Then, eventually, he speaks up.

"I get it." He sounds sincere, totally sympathetic. Like, just the right amounts of sympathy. Not so little that he comes across as fake, and not so overdone that he comes across as fake and patronizing. "Bacon makes me cry, too."
spaghettification: (eyebrow)

Library

[personal profile] spaghettification 2024-09-05 06:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yes, I do. Welcome, is there aught I can help you find?" Siebren is, as usual, floating a few inches off the ground. This helps only a little with the sensation of being pinned down and shaken for information. Cornered, it's something he has been many times before. But he pretends that he doesn't notice it, now.
blindwatchersees: (pic#16611377)

[personal profile] blindwatchersees 2024-09-05 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
"Can't say how long- I've just been letting the walk take me where it will, and throwing time to the wind. Or, did you mean this realm? Been in this realm a few months." He's... wiggly. Full of energy. His excitement to see her seems undeniably genuine.
mindflayed: (Waiting)

[personal profile] mindflayed 2024-09-06 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
"For an Illithid, yes, that's normal." He's starting to wonder if there's a world out there without squids so he won't be mistaken for one.

"My name is Imbros." Running his fingers through his tentacles he takes a look at her, "And I'm guessing you're human?"
blindwatchersees: (pic#16611377)

[personal profile] blindwatchersees 2024-09-06 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Oh, I understand. I was rather scattered myself when I got here. I don't suppose you remember the big, horrible boat-thing? You were there for a little while, and then... oh, or that could have been another bit of you! Ah, but you have the same curls, lovely curls... the name's Sheogorath, at your service!" He bows dramatically, with a flourish of his hands.
spaghettification: (Default)

[personal profile] spaghettification 2024-09-06 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
"You would be more likely to find that information at City Hall, or with Jean and the militia, I think. A few, I can point out. Crane's Ridge, up past the mine. The clock tower in town gets used as one. And so forth."

He's keeping his cool. This is worktime, not time to panic.
blindwatchersees: (Default)

[personal profile] blindwatchersees 2024-09-06 01:10 am (UTC)(link)
"No, no, the Serena Eterna. Pocket dimension, utterly devoid of plant life aside from myself, dreadful case of feral crocs. Though I have met a princess! And seen a diamond- a big, fancy, red diamond with weighty, metaphysical significance. Ah, but you wouldn't care to hear about that. A company tour, eh? Sounds like a stuffy sort of shindig. Happy I wasn't there!"

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