[catch-all] my body is a cage;

[dreamflowers]

WHO: Jade and You.
WHAT: Catch-all log for April.
WHEN: Month of April, namely after the Shard-Bearers have awakened in their respective Resting Rooms.
WHERE: Various, but mostly Old Springstar (and Skysong).
WARNINGS: Psychosis due to the Arcane Fever stuff. I'll mark in the subject headers for anything heavy.

Prompts will be added in the comments. If there's anything specific you'd like me to whip up for you, feel free to hit me up in a PM, discord, or plurk (whippoorwill). This will be especially helpful as Jade's Arcane Fever will result in her struggle to discern what's real and what isn't, potentially causing her to hallucinate alternate versions of characters! Fun times.

Comments

Old Springstar;

[dreamflowers]

[Waking up in the dusty room of an orphanage, surrounded by dead flowers and other trinkets had been the last thing Jade expected at the end of their little journey into the dreamy unknown.

[No, wait. Scratch that. Having been asleep for over a century was actually the last thing, but that's neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things.

[What she should have expected was the first thing that had been asked of her by her negligible caretaker (descendants of the orphans she had assisted shortly after the assassination of Springstar's Tribune, she later discovered) concerning the state of her health. Jade hadn't noticed it as fast as she should have -- probably due in part to her struggling to think straight since she awoke.

[Most might chalk it up to grogginess. But then the caretaker's face started to melt, pieces of their body turning inside out. Words spoken no longer strung together properly, until all Jade could hear were screams echoing off the walls.

[It was at that point that Jade knew something was terribly wrong. After excusing herself from the Meri's care, she promptly took to the streets, barefoot and half-naked, wearing only the scant clothing she had been dressed in during her long sleep.

[More notably, her skin glows a deep indigo, almost purple -- with skeletal patterns burning into her flesh. Every now and then, her eyes flicker as she walks the streets of what had once been Springstar proper, as the visages of the figures around her twist into various shapes. Some remain more than mere shadows of their ordinary selves, while others turn more monstrous or unrecognizable.

[Whether she runs into a Shard-Bearer such as yourself, whose face she can discern from the hallucination or not, it matters very little. Your face distorts like all the others, and Jade sharply withdraws the moment she sees you, the cold glow of her skin flaring.]

Blazes! Sorry. I didn't see you.

[Probably because she had been walking with her head down, eyes mostly closed so as not to look at the warped world around her.

[Clearly, her caretakers had no idea how to treat the Arcane Fever that plagued her, or else it wouldn't have reached the advanced stages that it's at now. Jade can barely stay vertical, and can scarcely concentrate on the road in front of her as she sways and starts to lose her focus all over again.]

I'm f-fine, [comes to inevitable answer to the inevitable question she doesn't need to be a Prophetess to see coming.

[Except she's not really fine.]

Skysong;

[dreamflowers]

[When it had become blatantly obvious that finding an Apothacarius armed with the knowledge of what Arcane Fever even is let alone how to treat the damn thing was a vain effort, Jade had no other choice but to take matters into her own hands.

[Which is easier said than done when she's walking around half-dead and glowing, wasting even more of her time having to dismiss any interrogation attempts so that she can get into the heart of the matter.

[Fortunately, she's not completely dead yet, or else she would have keeled over days ago after she woke up -- assuming she ever woke up at all.

["Honestly, I don't even know how you're still standing right now," was among the various comments she had gotten during her hunt for alchemical ingredients. When Old Springstar seemed to be a bust, she (albeit reluctantly) ventured into Skysong, traversing the islands while struggling to weave between real people and hallucinations vying for her attention.]

For the love of... You'd think they'd have nightshade somewhere on this blasted island. [Jade mutters under her breath as she exits one of the many establishments she had been scouring. It was bad enough that she was just starting to get used to the original Springstar, now she's having to re-learn the lay of the land (or lands) while struggling to maintain a sane state of mind...

[An endeavor she's failing miserably at this point: Out the corner of her eye, another phantom shadow lingers on the other side of the street she stands on -- just one of the many that has followed her around since she awoke.

[It is then that she closes her eyes, takes a breath. You're not real.

[But it lingers even when she opens her eyes.]

Oh, fuck you, [she tells the hallucination out loud.]

Wrecking ball; OPEN

[dreamflowers]

i. Uptown (Old Springstar)

[Finally having managed her Arcane Fever to a somewhat more endurable level to the extent where she isn't at risk of dropping dead any second, Jade only slightly glows now, but not enough to where the effects of what ails her are actively making her trip all the balls. For better or for worse, she'll live.

[Which means it's high time for her to make good on her little promised romp into Skysong, a place of which its very existence represents everything she's always despised about the bourgeois on Vyn, and that just won't stand.

[Of course, her "journey" begins in Old Springstar, where she properly equips herself with the necessary gear -- spray paint, blunt weapons, whatever she can get her hands on that she can't just do herself.

[Once she's ready, she closes her eyes before shooting a mental communion to certain relevant parties:]

Interested in a little high-class chaos? Come to Uptown for a good time.

[Otherwise, she can be found in said Uptown, mentally preparing herself to ascend into Skysong proper whilst testing a metal bat (or bat-like club), experimenting with the feel of each swing. It's not something she's used to, but it'll do.]

ii. Skysong

[Alternatively, she might already be in Skysong proper, because of course it isn't just a one-off event. Jade's been making the most out of the cover of night, sneaking into homes, ransacking what valuables she could find, before leaving with a comically large bag to simply chuck over the edge of the floating island itself.

[Why? Because she can. Plus material wealth is bullshit. Really, they should be thanking her for relieving them of such frivolities. Just like how they should be thanking her for every window broken and every fancy statue/poster defiled with obscene graffiti to prove just how pointless their assumed peaceful existence here is.

[Most of all, every vehicle of which she telekinetically releases the brakes, only to send sailing down the steepest hills and towards their metal demise. Those things are dangerous! Send them back to the oceans!

[She's careful, of course. Or as careful as one whose sole purpose is to recklessly sow discord can possibly be. If nothing else, evading authorities is a cakewalk when you can zip away without being seen in a matter of seconds.

[Magic is great like that.]