Tlazolteotl

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Oh @silver21, @Stanifly, @Auragreedia, @CyclingTortoise, and @BaronOBeefDip if there's anything specific you want to happen for your character's catharsis, please let me know (send a PM if you prefer) 😄

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Charlie's Catharsis

@BaronOBeefDip

Air huffed through Birkin's nose at the dad bod comment.

Charlie wrapped her arms around him and his body went rigid, shoulders pulling back on instinct. He caught himself. Forced his muscles to relax. The angle was wrong to return the embrace, so he allowed himself to be held.

For a moment, it was just them and the warmth.

She pulled back to wipe his face, and his hand rose. Hesitated. Then his palm found her cheek, thumb brushing across her skin.

"You managed to say it," he whispered. "So you'll be able to say it again. When we meet again..."
The rest lodged somewhere in his throat. His jaw shifted, working around words that couldn't come.

"You will find me, right?"

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

@Auragreedia they are all in the same location (the guy with the glasses's catharsis).

@silver21, @Stanifly, and @Auragreedia are free to explore the area, but you won't be able to get out of the venue.

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Charlie's Catharsis

@BaronOBeefDip

Birkin had just raised his glass to his lips when Charlie spoke.

"I love you."

The drink went down wrong. He sputtered, coughing violently, his hand flying to his mouth.

It took him longer than it should have to stop coughing. When he finally did, he stayed silent. His face was flushed, eyes slightly watery—whether from the coughing or from what she'd just confessed was impossible to tell.

Birkin's hands turned the glass in slow circles, gaze fixed downward.

"Are you sure?" His voice was quiet.

A simple question, but it had so much packed into it. Did she understand what being with him would mean? The judgment from others for loving a monster—for loving someone who inherited the sins of the original. His future was uncertain. His children's future, even more so. Was she absolutely sure this was what she wanted?... Him?

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Teresa's Catharsis

The server shrugs. "I mean, you can do whatever. Grab a drink, people-watch, stare at the wall for like three hours straight." He plants his hands on the bar and leans in. "But if you wanna get out? Usually that happens when you get whatever's eating at you off your chest."

━━━━━━ ◈ ━━━━━━

Morgan's Catharsis

"To some folk, this is purgatory." Glass clinks as she shelves the bottle. "But the calmness? The refinement?" One hand lifts, tracing Morgan's shape in the air. "That's all you, hun." The smile she gives him is quick but warm.

━━━━━━ ◈ ━━━━━━

Sirpa's Catharsis

The Keeper's gaze drifts to the businessman in the back, typing at his laptop with hunched shoulders, his face lit by the screen's glow.

One clawed hand extends toward him. Pulls back the boundary between catharses.

What they see is war. Smoke and blood and the rattle of automatic weapons splitting the air. Office workers scramble through trenches in their business casual. One drives a letter opener into a coworker's spine. Another swings a stapler, cracking it against someone's jaw. Commanders in blood-splattered suits roar from platforms of shattered desks. Somewhere, a presentation board explodes. Bodies hit the ground.

And there, crawling through the mud: the businessman. He drags himself forward on his elbows through the mud, breath ragged, chest heaving.

A shadow falls over him. He lifts his head to see a general standing over him. Spit flies from his mouth as he screams: "GET UP! MOVE MOVE MOVE! You worthless—weak—pathetic—"

None of them knew the businessman. But watching the general scream down at him, they understood that the two were father and son.

One motion from the Keeper and the boundary zips shut. At his laptop, the businessman continues typing like nothing happened. His coffee cup has gone empty, which the Keeper remedies. He never stops working.

"Everyone's catharsis is different."

Their attention shifts to the man staring at his mug—thirties, glasses, shoulders hunched like he's trying to take up less space. This time, the Keeper doesn't just pull back the boundary. They pull Teresa, Morgan, and Sirpa through it.

━━━━━━ ◈ ━━━━━━

Lost in Translation

The world shifts. Everything that was—coffee shop, bar, whatever they were in—dissolves. Sound crashes over them before they register anything else. Bass vibrates through the floor and into their bones. They're standing in a party venue now, surrounded by movement and sound. Bodies press close. The air is thick, sticky with sweat and alcohol. Music drowns out everything except the occasional shriek of laughter that somehow cuts through.

In the middle of all that life and energy, the man in glasses sits alone at a table, staring at his drink.

"Want to understand this place?" asks a young employee with short neon green hair and piercings glinting in the lights, all in black. "Figure out their catharsis. Maybe then you'll understand what drew you to yours and how to get out of it."

━━━━━━ ◈ ━━━━━━

@silver21@Stanifly@Auragreedia

Universally Perceived in Catharsis

What Can Be Universally Perceived In Catharsis (If Character Is In A State To Perceive Other Customers):

• The Keeper informs the group that they can do whatever they want here and that every person's catharsis is different (gives a peek into a businessman's catharsis), but "usually the way to get out is to get whatever's eating at you off your chest"
• To help them better understand their situation, the Keeper pulls Teresa, Morgan, and Sirpa into another customer's catharsis
• Note: While in the same catharsis, the three can all perceive the same things

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Charlie's Catharsis

@BaronOBeefDip

The weight of the question hung between them.

"I am... But in the way that matter most?" Something like regret crossed Birkin's face as he shook his head. "No."

The bartender appeared, sliding a drink across the bar. Her partner nodded once. "Thanks." He lifted the glass and took a long sip before setting it back down.

When he spoke again, his eyes found hers. "Whatever you need to say, if you can't say it in a dream, you won't say it to my face when we reunite."

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Okie dokie, so it seems for @silver21, @Stanifly, and @Auragreedia's group, we'll have an NPC demo. I'll wait to see if @Stanifly and/or @Auragreedia wants to reply first before I post the demo 🙂

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Charlie's Catharsis

@BaronOBeefDip

The bartender's expression remains unchanged as she wipes her tears. After a long moment of silence, he speaks.

"Interesting thing about twins," he says.

He gestures to one side of the bar. A spotlight cuts through the dim atmosphere, illuminating a man sitting alone at a table, nursing a drink. The light catches the sharp angles of his face as he glances at his watch.

"Same DNA. Same face."

A shift of his hand to the other side. Another spotlight flares to life, revealing an identical man across the bar, laughing with a group of friends, completely at ease.

"But if one does terrible things—" he nods toward the first twin, still sitting alone, "—we don't hold the other responsible." His hand indicates the second twin again. "We tend to recognize them as different people."

Lowering his hand, he continues. "Your William didn't kill his wife. Didn't infect his daughter. Didn't destroy that city. But everyone acts like he did. Expects him to atone. Even him, maybe."

The bar shifts. Charlie's own voice echoes softly from the shadows:

"I told him about what happened in Raccoon City. How he had killed his own wife, Annette. How he had tried to infect his own daughter, Sherry. That the entire city was wiped from existence... I think the realization of what his actions had caused resulted in genuine remorse..."

The echo fades.

"The sins of the father..."

The twin sitting alone reaches for something on the table—an apple, skin the color of dried blood, perfectly unblemished. Across the bar, one of the friends offers the laughing twin the same fruit. He takes it with a grin.

They both bite down.

Serpents materialize, coiling down their forearms, wrapping around their bodies. Laughter dies. Distant sounds rise from beyond—screams, gunfire, the rumble of explosions—before fading into oppressive silence.

"Those, we make the children carry. Forever."

The spotlights dim and extinguish.

A pause in the darkness.

"If you could see him right now, what would you say to him?"

A spotlight strikes the bar stool beside her. William Birkin is there. The light flickers, and with each strobe he changes. One moment something grotesque, inhuman, monstrous.

Flicker.
Human.
Flicker.
Monster.

The flickering quickens. Faster. Faster still, monster and human bleeding together until they're one and the same.

The spotlight cuts out.

In the bar light, it's just William sitting beside her. Charlie's Will.

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Not @silver21 slipping in some light horror! So many ants...


It's a very effective way to depict Sirpa's distress 👩‍🍳😙🤌

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Charlie's Catharsis

@BaronOBeefDip

A brief nod. "Thanks. They're reminders... For things I need to make right."

Adding the final touches to her drink, he slides the glass across the bar. His face remains stoic.

"When you say his work ethic is eating away at other aspects of his life, are you one of those aspects?"