WELCOME TO THE HIVE

[rysligparasites]

MOD PLOT: HAPPY ASCENSION DAY

It's a long journey to Kulen and you’re paralyzed for all of it. The parasites aren't very delicate about carrying you there and you may get prodded with the odd pincer, but they diligently protect you from any external threats so you arrive relatively unharmed.

They carry you into a series of tunnels and into the belly of the hive where they lay you down on the ground. You lie there, unable to move or speak as more of the parasites converge on you, chittering excitedly and smelling you with their antennae. As the paralysis starts to wear off, they roughly and enthusiastically help you up and guide you through the tunnels, excitedly showing you around.

Eventually, you'll meet a parasite with human features who will give you a stilted, but genuine welcome. Apparently you are a special guest who has been brought here to help celebrate their beloved queen's first ever ascension day! While you're here, they want to learn as much about YOU and your traditions as they can so they can make this the greatest party ever.

The parasites implore you to eat their human cooking which is mostly composed of various things (both edible and not) that they've deep fried. They worked very hard and they will be very offended if you don't finish it. They also invite you to contribute to their cave paintings which are entirely composed of parasites doing parasite things.

During your stay, you'll likely run into other monsters who've been replaced by doppelgangers. Maybe some of them have been here for a while. Maybe others have just turned up.

Your quarters are dark and maybe a little cramped given that you're sharing them with a whole bunch of insectoid creatures and maybe one or two monsters. Other than that, they're relatively comfortable.

Settle in and make yourself at home. You'll be here for a while.

Comments

[justbeingknife]

And now they've invited us to their place? So what's to say we're not gonna get infected all over again?

[ The description made Majima think John Hurt in Alien, and he was none to keep on a birthday surprise. Idly, he wondered if the slightly sore throat he'd been nursing was a sign of something worse. ]

[hantale]

Oh? By choice, or by situation?

[They're not soooo naive they've never met a human with odd or poor sleeping habits... Though they are rather close.

Either way, the conversation is a suitable distraction. Fran's fingers fidget, sheepishly tapping and twiddling over each other. It's a rather stark contrast from the winter festival, where they were happy, playful, and even a bit flirtatious.]

Not all changes are bad... The feeding and skin colour wasn't great, but I can handle the rest, for example. How are you finding it, so far?

[naturevsnurture]

She suddenly beams, as if the energy from the nonexistent food has already filled her. "Thank you, Reira! I'm so hungry I could eat a whole cow!"

Rhoda should know not to say these things, or else she'll end up finding an actual deep-fried cow on her plate or something.

[naturevsnurture]

[Rhoda stops and thinks about it for a moment. Is that why all the dumb students at her old school would roughhouse and tumble and such? Rhoda never cared for such activities; she preferred keeping herself clean. That isn't to say she wouldn't play outside, but she always was very neat about it.]

That sounds like what the dirty students at my school think. [She says this with no irony, as if yes, of course this guy would understand and not be insulted at all.] They don't care about doing well. They just want to roll around in the mud like... hm, pigs.

tie off you figure?

[soft_focus]

Well, Reira will just give her a thumbs up, and a beaming nod.

....and hopefully Rhoda won't get a cow head later.

[justbeingknife]

Well, it is kinda rough gettin' a good night's sleep with all the boats and lights and whatnot. I lived in the city, after all, right off the river.

[ He frowned a little at the fidgeting. ]

Ain't so bad, gettin' a solid eight hours in. Hey, you okay?

[hantale]

[Fran's head bobbed, gently nodding at the description as they tried to picture the scene. Their time in or near Bavan had given them a better understanding of just what Majima meant by lights and sounds. Before they have a chance to comment on it, though, another question sneaks in. Hmm... Their lips draw thin, looking up into Majima's eyes... eye?]

Ah-? Y-yeah... I'm fine. [Ugh, the lie isn't even subtle. Fran's been told off for hiding things like that before. Their eyes flick away, focusing instead on something distant in the cage. They let out a soft breath.] It's just... Mmmh, it'll be alright, I don't want to bother you with my problems.

[A deep breath in as they lean back into the wall. Perhaps only now it's a bit clearer, in the reflecting light, that there's still a glimmering trail lingering on the kelpie's cheeks.]

[scholiast]

(There she goes. Lucretia looks a little disheartened by the whole conversation, folding her arms lightly across her chest with a sigh.)

Well... that didn't work out the way that I thought it would.

(It would have been nice if the girl had wanted to leave. It would have given Lucretia something to strive toward, to help with. She feels so aimless being stuck down here, especially if they're not in any kind of danger.)

[scholiast]

Damned if I do and damned if I don't, huh...

(sounds about right honestly)

Do we... come back afterwards?

[scholiast]

I don't know about that... they're very, uh, fussy about how we're treated. Have you noticed?

(She'd tried to gently reject something that looked like a deep-fried piece of jewelry earlier and the bug offering it to her became so offended that Lucretia had had to pretend to put it into her pocket for later.)

[justbeingknife]

Looks like to her, we're not much different from the bugs.

Can't really blame her.

[ Because the thing was that monsters did eat people -- they were monsters. And as much as Majima insisted on thinking of himself as human, normal humans also didn't sprout fangs and claws come nightfall. ]

But I can't say I agree, either. I'd rather take my chances bein' hunted down.

[ Not that he'd know anything about that, HAHAHAHA ]

[scholiast]

That's fair. (Lucretia does know about that but– well, semantics, she gets what he's saying. Personally, she'd take her chances too. At least she knows she can count on her own abilities.

... Geez, except for the whole no magic thing. She has to stop forgetting about that, or she's going to get into really big trouble one of these days.)

It would at least be something to do. I can't react satisfyingly to anything happening down here, I keep... offending the bugs.

[justbeingknife]

What'd ya do, insult their antennae?

[ Thus far, Majima had been a... mostly decent guest, once he'd realized the bugs weren't going to follow up the paralytics with laying horrible embryos in his throat or anything. ]

I wanna see the damn outdoors again. It smells like dirt and old grease. [ And captive humans, apparently. ]

Did they take your laptop, too?

[scholiast]

No! I would never insult another person's antennae, (Lucretia says, mock-scandalised,) I just don't like their food. (and calling it food at all is very generous in her opinion)

But I know what you mean, I... don't like not being able to see the sky. (Even more so now that she is winged. It just feels bad, in a way she can't quite explain.) They took my laptop, and my journal. More or less everything I had on me at the time.

We'll be able to get them back... right?

[justbeingknife]

Long as we get outta here alive, I figure we can always replace our laptops.

Your journal, though... might wanna ask about that one. What'd they want with it, anyway?

[ Surely they weren't going to try and... deep fry it? ]

And while we're at it, what would they want with my wallet? They'd better not be tryin' to eat the leather.

[justbeingknife]

[ Say what now? He'd thought they'd steered around the apparently fraught topic of werewolf roommates. ]

Uh, hey, it's your choice and all. Just seems like something's really botherin' ya. That bein' the case, it might help to talk to someone about it.

[ Was Fran crying? Majima tried to recall something he'd said that might have upset someone, but he was coming up empty here. So instead, he just did his best not to stare at the trail. ]

[hauntpadour]

Yes, we do- would you like me to demonstrate?

[There are plenty of dark halls here, after all.]

[hantale]

[They had, then Fran had reminded themselves of it through their own dumb words. Once Charles had chastised them for saying they were 'fine' without meaning it, and that memory was lingering like a guest overstaying their welcome at a party.

It's convincing enough for Fran, though. With a light huff, their body tilts, sliding along the wall until their head bumps against one of Majima's shoulders.]

I've lost so many friends... Majima...

[It was just the leftover from crying early. But it seems they've started again, lips trembling through the shaky words.]

First Draco... Then Lucas and Ibuki... Then Wight... [Theres a deep breath, it sure doesn't end there.] Now Charles is gone. I loved him...

[It's been a really rough month, being kidnapped by bugs a day after your boyfriend disappears hasn't helped.]

[scholiast]

(Oh no, she hadn't even thought about that... if her notes become deep fried, she's going to be upset!!)

I don't know, I– assumed they were just curious. There's nothing of great importance in there, it's mostly observational.

(She smiles slightly then, the corner of her mouth twitching.) Well, they want us to like their things, so maybe... they want to try and like our things?

[scholiast]

... Yes. If it doesn't hurt you, of course.

[justbeingknife]

Gonna be some really confused workers at that pizza joint down the street from my office.

[ He put his fingers to his temple. ]

Wanna find one of 'em and ask about the journal?

[justbeingknife]

[ It wasn't like no one had ever cried on him before, but Majima hadn't been expecting it this time, and it was a slightly different experience having horns suddenly at eye level. Still, he could feel for Fran. And... oh. ]

Didn't realize ya knew so many of those guys.

[ He brought padded fingers up to the kelpie's head and patted the top of his hair. ]

I'm sorry. That's a lot to deal with all of a sudden.

[hantale]

[If it helps, at Fran's height it's more against the side of his shoulder than the top. Their head is tilted towards Majima so that one of those horns isn't digging into his shoulder.]

I'd never... made friends like this before... [A light sniff, it'll only be tears soaking into Majima's shirt this time.] It hurts.

How do you mortals deal with this?

[Is it not just easier to never make connections, and never suffer when they're broken? That's how Fran had lived until now, and it only left them slightly lonely. Now they just felt empty.]

[bound_skyward]

Exactly. Last time, they caused unspeakable suffering to us monsters, for several months before the end. We can't trust their kind. They might be planning the same, or worse.

[Kain doesn't want to think of what "worse than gestating freaky parasites for months" might entail, but he's sure such a thing is possible.]

The symptoms wouldn't manifest for a while, so we might already be infected. They've never brought us here, to their domain... so I don't know what that could mean.

[justbeingknife]

Great. How 'bout a little news to lower our spirits?

[ He brought his fingers to his temple, feeling the onset of a headache. ]

But there was a way to de-infect people last time, right? Get the parasite out? Maybe a nice prescription treatment?