Tlazolteotl

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

also just double-checking, is it safe to assume that everyone else besides Wesley is still hearing gibberish from Sirpa?

@Stanifly

My assumption was that only Wesley understands Sirpa now! Apart from the Keeper

@silver21

SOOOooo... about that... (if you do want to know, I can say it, but I was going to address it whenever I do my post)

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

My muse is returning now that I’m free from my professor duties 😈

@silver21

I have a character in mind that I want to bring in but he has very clear themes of wanting to die so I wanted to check in first and see if that would be triggering for anyone bc if so, I will bring in a different character who does not have that going on lol

@silver21

I am good with it👍

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Lost in Translation

@silver21@Stanifly@Auragreedia

Westbound's face drains of color. He half-rises from his seat, one hand outstretched toward Sirpa as if he could catch the words spilling wrong from her mouth and stuff them back in, fix them, undo whatever just happened.

"Huh."

The employee appears from behind Westbound, watching Sirpa with raised eyebrows.

"You must be pretty damn empathetic." Her head tilts. "To let someone else's Catharsis bleed into you that easily."

She steps toward Sirpa. Leans in, close enough that Sirpa can see the party lights shimmering in her eyes, and says:

"You'll need to be careful. Get too lost in the fog and you won't make it home."

The employee straightens and raises a palm toward the silver hero and the cybernetic cowboy.

"Not a threat. A fact." The words come clipped, matter-of-fact. "Got somewhere to be? Help him."

She looks at the three of them, then jerks her chin at the venue.

"Is it loud? Find a way to stop the music." A glance at Teresa. "Walking in circles? That's 'cause you gotta have a destination in mind."

Her gaze shifts to Westbound. "And names have meaning."

Morgan says something. So does Teresa. To Sirpa, they sound just like the crowd did before—words twisted into nonsense.

The conversations around them, on the other hand, make sense now.

"—no way, he actually said that to her face?—"
"—this song is so overplayed—"
"—I need another drink before I deal with that—"

The notepad on the table—the same one Westbound wrote in earlier—reads differently now.

My name is Wesley.

━━━━━━ ◈ ━━━━━━

@silver21@Stanifly@Auragreedia

In This Catharsis

• Westbound appears shocked and distressed by Sirpa's condition
• The Keeper warns Sirpa to be careful or she'll lose herself
• The Keeper gives hints: stop the music if it's too loud, have a destination in mind, and names have meaning
• Sirpa can no longer understand Teresa and Morgan, but can now understand the conversations around them
• From Sirpa's perspective, Westbound's notepad now reads: "My name is Wesley"

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Vicis' Catharsis

@Stanifly

From behind the bar, the entity—a soft flicker of golden light, no taller than a child—answers in a surprisingly cheery voice. "Why, thank you!" They bob in place. "An acquired palate! Oh, wonderful. We have options. So many options." They lean over the counter, light pooling warm on the stone. "Depends on how hungry you are!"

A smaller flame splits off and pops up. "Let's see, let's see. Faerie hearts on a bitter herb salad with a sharp vinegar dressing!" Another little flame joins it. "Cherub cheeks! Rich and fatty, seared rare so the fat just melts. Served in peppercorn cream sauce."

The entity's flames swirl brighter. "Crystallized déjà vu if you want something sweet. Tastes like something you've had before. Some guests order it twice without realizing!"

A spark snaps against the stone. "And oh! If you're the cannibalistic type? Soft-boiled wyrm egg. You crack the crown, drink the broth first. Thick and savory, faint sulfur bite. Inside there's a little wyrm, soft enough to eat whole, bones and all."

Their light softens, and warmth spreads across the bar. "Any of those pique your interest?"

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

@Stanifly An elder wyrm was definitely not on my bingo card!

A supremacist elf and proud wyrm meet at a bar, sounds like a start to a joke...😂

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

Were they ingesting a part of the man when they drank something here?

@Stanifly

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

The Elven Supremacist

@spiral origin

The bartender listens, unhurried, polishing a glass with a cloth that has surely seen a thousand nights like this one, and there is no rush in him—he is old enough to have seen and heard it all.

"History rarely gets the details right," he says, and behind Aelvira the low murmur of conversation continues, the clink of cups, a burst of laughter from somewhere near the hearth. "Stories get simplified, embellished—the uncomfortable parts smoothed away until what remains is only the shape of what happened, and none of the weight." He sets the glass down and reaches for her empty cup. "They forget how hard the child 'with but one season of combat experience' must have trained to defeat a champion of forty-seven years, even if she was naturally talented."

The older elf refills it, and the Evermead catches the lantern light, honey-gold and slow.

"Or why the child entered the tournament at all."

He slides the cup back toward her, and lets the unasked question settle between them.

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

<Snipped quote by Tlazolteotl>

I was just thinking——are the drinks helpful? Like would they stabilize the drinker a bit? Or are they more related to the catharsis they’re in, like the drinker shares more of the guy’s experience? My initial thought is that it’s the latter but I wanted to see what you had in mind. Like ik you said it’s up to us what the drinks do but I also don’t want to mess up the plot lol

I will post tomorrow. We’re making our way through finals week and I’ve got so much grading to do 💀

@silver21

No worries, thanks for letting us know!

As for the drinks... well, since this is still the "demo" I've kept things pretty simple, so there really isn't much anyone can mess up. Feel free to get creative! (If anything, I'd like to support any creative ideas people have where ever possible)

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

@BaronOBeefDip & @Tlazolteotl yep that do be the green tea drink! I'm not really affected by caffeine (I wish I was so I could just chug it and stay awake for a week straight..) but it's more of a "I should drink water instead of sweet drinks" type thing

@Stanifly

It took me a long moment to realize that in some countries, green tea's sweet 😅

◈ 𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐒 | Κάθαρσις ◈

@spiral origin Welcome aboard! It's great to have you 😄 If there's anything in particular you want me to do, let me know (send me a PM if you prefer)

@Stanifly OOo! A new character! Nice! Oh speaking of which, everyone else (@BaronOBeefDip@silver21@Auragreedia
@CyclingTortoise), please feel free to make more characters if you like!