The city is at war [open]

[thetyrant]

Who: Logan and YOU!
Where: Atam, Keeliai, surrounding waters
When: April 8-13
What: landfall, and then Logan fleeing back to Tu Vishan.
Warnings: there will be at least one panic attack and thoughts of wanting to die.
Notes: I'm putting headers under the cut in the main post here, feel free to respond to any of them, just put the date (and location, if necessary) in the subject of your comment so I know where we're going with this :) You can answer in prose or actionspam, I'm okay with either!


April 8
[Wow, that quarantine thing fucked Logan right up. He's hidden in a side alley of Atam, praying no one sees him, sure he's going to die. Did they give him some kind of poison? What if "quarantine" was just a pretty euphemism? He doesn't know any other explanation for why he wants to throw up, why he can't breathe, and why his heart won't stop pounding or slow down. It's like there's a rabbit in his chest, battering his ribcage to get out.]

[He closes his eyes and leans his head against the wall, clutching his knees tightly, shaking like a leaf. Just let me die here, he thinks. Let it be done with.]

[Strangely enough, he hasn't heard the Crawler hissing in his ear nearly so much as usual, since he got onto land, but he's been too panicky to really notice.]

April 9
[Logan remains in Atam, exploring the city and trying not to piss anyone off too much. He suspects the way to not get in fights is to be deferential and be as little intrusion as possible, but he's a king, dammit 8|]

April 10-13
[Logan has fled back to Tu Vishan, with no interest at all in trying to get back to Atam. He did bring a small sword with him, and he can occasionally be found in the Metal district, getting a feel for it wherever there's enough space.]

Comments

April 8

[suoxi]

[ Inara is as equally stressed out by the quarantine episode as Logan is, though she is a bit more skilled in handling trauma. She has been dealing with the terminal nature of her disease for a little over a year now, and to be so coldly reminded, Inara is shaken.

She's not so distracted that she doesn't notice a figure trembling in the alley, though.

She pauses in her walking and looks closer, eyes peering. ]

Logan? Is that you?

[thetyrant]

[The mental reaction wheel starts spinning, Scott Pilgrim-style. It lands on "flee" so Logan starts trying to struggle to his feet, even though his legs aren't really working. He doesn't know where this alley goes, but wherever it is, it has to be more pleasant than facing Inara in this state.]

[suoxi]

[ too bad she's faster than you, Logan. At least, she is right now. She steps into the alley and kneels, reaching to at least help him to his feet. It is Logan. ]

What happened? Are you all right?

[thetyrant]

[Except that when she touches him, he shrinks away like her hands are burning him, and ends up just knocking himself back against the wall behind him. He's in simple clothes, but he has his sword belt and weapons -- too bad, because the clothes make it obvious that he's drenched in sweat. His left hand is clenched so hard his knuckles are bone-white, so he probably couldn't draw a weapon if he tried.]

Go...g-g-go, they... [They've poisoned me, I'm going to die he wants to say. Get out before they get you too.]

[suoxi]

Logan.

[ Inara remembers going through something similar to this before and how difficult it was to pull him out of it then. She takes his hands and gently squeezes them. ]

Logan, listen to me. You're alright, do you understand? It was a simple procedure to ensure we did not bring contagions into their land.

[thetyrant]

[He's shaking badly and his right hand, the one not clenched, holds hers tightly, seemingly incidentally more than anything else. He's struggling to breathe, his breaths shallow and shaky and panicky, and he doesn't try to waste the breath on speaking again. He's not actively rejecting her anymore at least, which is something.]

[suoxi]

[ she holds on to him tightly, making him look at her. ]

Focus on me, Logan. It's fine. You're going to be just fine.

[thetyrant]

[He squeezes his eyes tightly shut and turns his head away, refusing to look as he fights inside his head, but that just seems to make the voices louder. All right. Let's try it your way.]

[So he looks up at her then, eyes wide and wet and dark, right hand holding hers like if he lets go he'll slip away, the left still clenched tightly into a fist. It takes a long time but slowly, oh-so-slowly, his breathing begins to level out.]

[suoxi]

Deep breathes -- slow and deep through your nose, and out the same way. Slowly.

[ she smiles her encouragement at him, smoothing a free hand down his arm as he starts to calm down. ]

[thetyrant]

[He tries. He can't really control his breathing at first, but he wrestles with it and it gets easier, slowly. Soon his breathing still shakes a little, but he's getting some oxygen to his brain at least.]

I...I d-d... [Apparently speaking is still too much to ask.]

April 12th | Metal Sector

[brbparadise]

[Mavis is on the hunt for scream cheese. There's no hope of finding it here, but she's been searching for something familiar the more that the kedan side-eye her and treat her like some terrible monster. (And just when she'd been thinking that people liked monsters.)

She stops when she sees him, staring curiously from beneath the shaded safety of her oversized parasol.]

What are you doing with that?

[Mavis knows the difference between a sword and a pitchfork, but that doesn't mean that he couldn't use it like one...]

[thetyrant]

[He turns quickly, a little startled -- but not abruptly, never abruptly, and he's feeling calm enough not to do anything silly. Even if he does seem to hold that sword awfully tight.]

Practicing. Different swords feel different in the hand. This one is new. [He goes back to the forms he was going through before -- they're not especially strenuous, he can still talk.]

[brbparadise]

New? Oh my gore, did someone steal your old sword?

[Because the concept of, say, collecting swords doesn't really occure to her.]

[thetyrant]

No, nothing like that. It was simply old, and damaged from seawater. [the forms he uses are simple and efficient, designed to make use of speed and reach more than strength.]

[brbparadise]

Oh. [That makes sense, though she's still a bit worried about a human with a sword. Still, it only has one point and pitchforks have a lot more, so it can't be that bad...]

So. [She moves in a wide circle around him, making sure to stay well out of the range of the sword's tip.] You're practicing because it's a new sword. Are you going to go fighting people with it?

[thetyrant]

[He frowns a little, considering that.] Probably not. It's only for protection, should I need it. Many have had...indiscreet brushes with the kedan, recently.

April 10!

[saisamour]

[ Marius is on the way to Cosette's when a series of chance and unfortunate events—avoiding two groups of delinquents about to wage war on the other, but stepping right into the path of a bicycle; assisting the wounded and highly irritated kedan to the nearest clinic; the kedan's wife chasing him down for daring to harm her husband; several wrong turns—sends him to the Metal Sector.

He stares in astonishment at the strange, almost unearthly structures and modern technology, the sector's bright, flashing lights reflecting in his eyes. What magic the future holds, to construct a world beyond his imagination! If Cosette could see this, how would she react? Would she be delighted, or as disbelieving as he? Lost in his thoughts he almost does not see the Logan, and he jumps with a start when he does. Thankfully, he has stopped at a safe distance, but he still feels the urge to say, ]

Monsieur, pray be careful with that sword.

[thetyrant]

[You totally just almost got stabbed. Good job, Pontmercy.]

[Fortunately, Logan's aware enough to probably not wound any bystanders, although he hasn't stopped practicing his forms.] And I pray you not to walk into it. [He's not generally moving all that quickly, going through the motions slowly. At least so long as someone is close -- once Marius backs up he moves more quickly.]

[saisamour]

[All in a Pontmercy day's work, my friend.]

But...

[He does step back a little more, but he continues to eye the sword warily. What if someone speeding by runs into it? What if it is a child? He takes a deep breath and steels himself.]

Are you certain that is safe? I may not have walked into it, but others may not be so fortunate.

[thetyrant]

I saw you coming and doubt you would have been done any injury. [He lowers it though, resting the tip on the ground to turn and look at Marius, one kingly eyebrow raised.] And I don't see any alternative, do you?

[saisamour]

[He might have been staring at the sword too long because then a cold sweat trickles down his temples, and he raises one hand unconsciously to his arms, which are decorated with scars from the barricades that sneak up to and beyond the rolled-up sleeves.

So he tears his eyes away from the sword and blinks in confusion, almost failing to catch Logan's words.]

Alternative?

[thetyrant]

Alternative place to practice.

[saisamour]

[Huff huff off-put look. But... he will remain polite...!] Perhaps a place less populated would be a more acceptable alternative. The woods?

[thetyrant]

[The woods. With animals, and shadows, and wind, and strange noises and too many places to hide and generally being, when paired with extreme paranoia and anxiety, an epic recipe for disaster.]

No. The ground would be uneven.

[saisamour]

[You appear to have a lot of issues, bro.]

But monsieur, surely that is only a minor setback!