network, action;

[traceofeffort]

[network | 7/1, morning | Lisa's room]
[Lisa's been practicing in her free time for the last few days; she'd come to the perfectly reasonable conclusion that, if things like art are valuable to Krajina Božstiev, then she could probably play and attract attention - and maybe money - that way. But boy, it's not normally this hard. As she kicks the camera on, dressed casually with her guitar in her hand, she's frowning.]

Y'know, I was gonna talk about plans for the other side, but... I just still feel kinda awful. It's kinda hard to move my fingers the way I want to, and I sleep all night and still don't feel right. Do any of the rest of you feel like this? Anyone that went into the cave the other day, maybe?

[Her fingers pick at the strings, seeming stiff but managing a credible acoustic cover of. Is that dance music? Her frown deepens, biting her lip a little bit before she shakes her head softly. Given she hasn't left, she hasn't gone all in on her makeup yet... which she probably should have done. Her eyes are bloodshot again, and her irises are turning that funny shade of yellow around the edges. Something's not right... did she miss the post on the corruption?]

Anyway. I still need a dress for the party, assuming we find a way to fix things so it exists. I don't want to be that girl that buys a dress on the day of the function. Heaven forbid I need to get it adjusted at all. So I'm gonna see if I can play over there, on the other side tonight. I can afford it, but I'd love a little extra pocket money. My fridge has never been more full, and when I can keep my roommate's paws off it, there's all kinds of interesting stuff in there. I have no idea how it'll go, or if I can get my damn hands to cooperate, but! Hopefully Roselia will have its first interdimensional live tonight.

[Softly, she sings, not looking at the camera but instead glancing at her fingers as she tries to play.] Hold me now, and leave me nev- oh, damn... I thought that break would be enough, but maybe not... [Scowling fully, looking at her fingers a moment, she turns off the feed.]

[action | CW: violence | 7/1, afternoon and evening | Krajina Božstiev, various locations | corruption: moderate to heavy]
True to her word, Lisa makes it to the other side with her guitar in its bag on her back, not really looking any better but seeming a little more alert? She's got a few stops to make first though, heading to the market to take a look around the various tailors and see what they have in their stores. Having something custom-made would be both beyond her budget - in either world, even with the skewed exchange rates for certain things over here - and too vain to her mind. No, she can work with what's on the mannequins, even if the styles are a little strange to her modern sensibilities. Oh well, when in Rome... or well. Wherever this was.

She'd brought a cloth bag to place the dress in, along with a hanger, so once she was done she set up shop in one of the taverns, this time playing music. None of her softer songs would do for this crowd; the energy was harsh even before she started, so she opened with rock covers and went from there. She got a good reaction - and some coin - for her trouble, so she kept up this set, feeling the energy start to flow through her, replacing the tiredness she'd been fighting all week with a more manic energy. She could feel her fingers getting sore now that they moved right, but she didn't care. She couldn't care. Everything was fine. This was right. As the crowd seemed to grow restless, her sound shifted into something harder, and her heart started to pound in her chest. Her blood burned, veins darkening into vision on her arms, and she couldn't bring herself to think this was worth worrying about.

She couldn't sit still - couldn't stand still. Heat poured from her, sweat dripping from her forehead, her shoulders, her hands, everywhere, but there were so many people, she didn't think anything of it. It was so easy to lose herself in the pounding in her ears, in the roar of the crowd as they seemed to come to their feet almost unwillingly. And so she rose to that burning in her heart, playing a guitar riff that felt both completely familiar and horribly alien at the same time. Both hers, and not hers. It didn't feel the same on her acoustic guitar, but she didn't care. It gave off a different energy. Not the same focused sound, but something almost discordant, but just harsh enough to do the job. As she tried to focus, getting into the song, the heat reached a peak, but instead of her boiling over, instead the it seemed to erupt from somewhere in front of her. A thrown punch. Shouting. Descent into madness.

No, this wouldn't do. They're not paying attention to her anymore. They're just fighting now. That's not how this is supposed to work. They're supposed to listen. To adore her. To shower her with praise, with cheers, with the glow of penlights this civilization won't develop for hundreds of years, with money. They're supposed to look at her, and not look away. Not fight each other over who knew what. It didn't matter. Their problems were nothing against her show. She couldn't let them go on like this. She won't let them go on like this. She won't allow this-

Her guitar strings vibrate softly as she sets the instrument down by her dress, last notes before the first chorus fading into the evening, cracking her knuckles before she leaps off the stage into the crowd. She didn't know how to fight, per se - she'd gotten some self-defense training, but these days it manifested more as slightly defensive brawling. She wasn't much good at it, but she felt like she was good enough for this. And between swings, the taste of salt not seeming to leave her mouth as her face and everything else was drenched in sweat, she kept singing, the chorus coming to her lips as she let her fists lead her through a determination symphony she'll make them listen to-

((Lisa is lost in a jealous, possessive, if misguided rage, courtesy of the corruption, and it's going to take a fair bit to pull her back. I'm assuming the city guard is going to catch on to things pretty fast, and she's not going to calm down in time to get out of getting dragged off, but she's not going to seriously hurt anyone. I'm totally game for her to run into other Different in here, but nobody's going to be able to truly stop her - anyone that tries is liable to eat an elbow to get them to let go.))

[action | 7/1, night, into 7/2, late morning | Krajina Božstiev, city jail]
It's a somewhat more subdued Lisa that anyone visiting the jail will find, absent any of her things. She feels crusty, dirty, stiff; there's still a fine layer of sweat on her brow despite the slightly chilly night. Her arms are bruised, and there's a good one on her cheek, too. Her knuckles are bloody, and in a bit of vanity, even without a mirror she can tell her makeup hasn't quite held up. Oh, and she's in jail for fighting in public. Boy, she let herself go tonight. Forget a blue rose in bloom, she feels like she's just a wilted flower. Her arms still show an impressive collection of black veins through the splotches, and they're starting to spread down her legs and across her face. Something's wrong, but for the life of her she has no idea what it is. All she knows is that she needs time to cool off, and they're going to release her in the morning. Hopefully her roomie doesn't eat everything in the fridge in the meantime. The thought joins every other less than pleasant idea on her head, leaving her in a somber mood, and when someone finds her, she'll be sitting with her knees tucked under her chin and her arms pulling her legs close. Hopefully someone at least rescued her stuff before it disappears into the night.

Comments

[traceofeffort]

That's just about enough to short Lisa out; he said it with such a straight face at first she almost can't believe it. If she were reading this she'd be screaming at her screen, but she's not - he's here so he'd hear that and probably worry about her even more, bless him - so instead her face is on fire and she's hiding it behind her hair even more... but she still isn't letting go of his hand, either.

"I-I, uh, y-yeah, I know, I just! It's too early in the day to burn something like that! What if I trip and break my leg or something, or-" She forces that train of thought to a screeching halt. "N-never mind! Um, I... ugh, I can't think straight." She can't take a deep enough breath to get her head properly sorted; she can almost feel steam coming out of her ears. She's trying, please forgive her. "But- thank you. I... get what you mean, I think."

Somehow, she feels better than she did when he'd just finished whatever that spell he worked was. How strange.

[bearshermark]

Elliott laughs, equal parts nerves and amusement. His face is stuck in a smile.

"I'm afraid I probably won't be able to help if you break your legs, so uh- yeah." His heart takes a moment to flutter with nerves of its own to see and feel her still holding onto him.

"A-anyway, sorry, I'm not trying to embarrass you."

[traceofeffort]

"Good to know!" She chirps it out almost automatically, trying to get herself under control - and that's not working because she's just realizing she's still holding his hand because Lisa Imai is a disaster of a human being, no matter the instance. "Sorry, um... you probably want your hand back, ahaha..." Slowly, almost regretfully, she lets go, her hands dropping back to her sides, feeling like she probably keeps ruining her relationship with him because she has no idea how to function around him anymore. Not since... the beach... party... oh no what signals was she sending then aaaaaaaa-

"It's fine!" she squeaks, even louder than before. "You're fine. You're not doing anything wrong, you've been perfect. It's... it's me. I'm doing a very, very good job of screwing things up for myself because I have very good self control usually but occasionally no filter?"

The former's a problem when something takes it away from her - yesterday - and the latter seems to keep happening.

[bearshermark]

Elliott retrieves his hand with a grin, slowly curling and flexing his fingers. He starts a bit when her voice pitches louder, then huffs an amused breath.

"That makes two of us- but don't worry," he says, grin widening. "One day when you're famous, I'll tell your fans the story of how you were held overnight in jail one time for getting into a brawl in a bar and literally no one is gonna believe me."

[traceofeffort]

"No. No, nobody will. I barely do and I'm the one that got arrested!" Still a little screechy but now that she's being distracted with work, as it were, she's getting back to normal volume. "And the more of the truth I tell the less they'll believe me! Maybe I should take a picture like this..." A single beat. "No, forget that. I don't even know what I look like right now. I probably don't wanna know, do I?"

[bearshermark]

Elliott looks her over- smudged make-up and tangled hair, a smattering of surface injuries so far as he can see. On top of that, she looks exhausted.

He shrugs, smothering another smile. "A little roughed up, but I think a picture might just manage to look heavily staged. Looks like you might have rolled in the dirt and over a few rocks for effect. Without a broken nose, black eye, bleeding, or sick, hungover look, you're still too pretty for it to really sell, I think. Then there's the veins, and that'll just look photoshopped and weird.."

[traceofeffort]

Lisa... has no idea what she's supposed to think. He said she's pretty (!!) but that she doesn't look beat up enough to be useful (seriously?) and that the veins will just look edited in (oof) so it's... "-all kind of a wash, huh?" She groans. "Maybe I should have had you take a picture when I was still in the cell. Then again, that probably would have looked even more staged, huh." She shivers. "Granted, me wanting to put hands on you wouldn't be staged. It was even worse last night, even if it felt-" She looks down at her hands, before letting herself fall onto her back, looking up at the sky. "-different. Really, really different. I'm afraid of who I was last night."

[bearshermark]

A part of Elliot's brain stops listening mid-way through, swiftly preoccupied with interpreting Lisa wanting to put hands on him in an array of differing variations. From 'yes, she was literally just holding your hand' to a short-lived dive into the gutter that he's immediately and embarrassingly grateful she's not looking at him for.

His face turns beet red and if not for the very, very serious tone the conversation is taking and the guilt of thinking stupid things like that while she's admitting her fears to him, Elliott likely would have made up some way to excuse himself.

He rubs at his face in an effort to smooth out the heat in it and pinches the bridge of his nose, very firmly telling himself that now is not the time to ask after or otherwise wonder about Lisa's combat capability.

He clears his throat. "D-do you uh.. have a full set of the teardrop stones?"

[traceofeffort]

...she's pouring her heart out here, why is he- oh no, what did she do now? Lisa takes a moment to go back through her words just now and is mortified, going red again herself, before rolling side to side in the grass briefly with her arms pulled to her chest and groaning louder, mussing her hair even worse and getting her clothes even dirtier, not that it matters now. "Okay, so clearly I can't be trusted to open my damn mouth today, but you know what, let's come back to that, okay? I want... to make sure that we have some kind of understanding of what happened, in case this isn't the last time."

She takes a breath, face still red but the promise of dealing with it later letting her compartmentalize somewhat. "Yes. Yes, I have a full set and change. A couple extra labradorites, but clearly success was too much to ask for. Still is, I think."

[bearshermark]

Elliott shifts off his legs and draws them up to his chest in order to better hide the renewed burn of embarrassment with. He's almost positive they're evenly matched on that front now, and even knowing that doesn't really help.

"Okay," he manages through his knees, then takes a deep breath and manages something a little less muffled. "I um- I know they're supposed to help, but I guess it's not complete uh.. immunity. A-and we don't have to- I'm really sorry, I know that's not what you-"

Nope. His forehead drops back to his knees, hands pulling at his own hair. "Just.. brain being stupid."

[traceofeffort]

"Nope, nope, shut up, later", Lisa sings out with only a little bit of a waver in her voice, "we can both be stupid teenagers then, I'll be right there with you. Elliott, no, it's not immunity, and even if we were we can't count on that. We can't!" She doesn't know how to sell that she's terrified of what she was yesterday, and she figures she'll just let go. He calmed her down enough that she's not going to snap and do something she'll regret... probably. "I thought I was going to kill someone! For a minute I thought I was going to kill you!" Her hands fist in her hair, and she props herself up on her elbows just enough to look Elliott in the eye. "I can't play shows if I'm going to force people to listen! That's not what this is about!"

Dimly, she registers that she's going off the deep end again. Not the same way as before - not violently yet, but she can feel that she's not stable, but she's more lucid this time, and maybe that'll be enough to keep control.

[bearshermark]

Elliott nods, oddly grateful for her frustration to sober the frission of embarassment so he can focus on the real problem. It helps that he also feels suitably awful about the whole thing. There's a very serious issue Lisa's dealing with, and she's terrified of herself.

He meets her eyes flinchingly.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry."

He just can't imagine wanting to kill someone at all, let alone being possessed to actually try. He shivers and wrings his hands.

"But it's not you, okay? It's not you. This corruption has gone on too long, and it might be that we have to force the priests out of the temple to fix it."

[traceofeffort]

He's flinching. He's scared of something. Scared of her? He's wringing his hands. He's afraid.

Afraid of her. Afraid for her. Are those the same thing? They're not, but does that matter? They're close enough and she doesn't want him to feel either of those things-

The realization is like a bucket of cold water on her head, and she comes back to herself with a gasp, falling flat on her back again. "Holy shit I don't know how to handle myself. You're right. I don't think it's me, but I can't stop it. I'm not..." Smart enough, special enough, strong enough- "It just keeps coming. I need to get out of here before I hurt you. Before I hurt someone else. I need to go home, and I need to scream into a pillow again, and I need to figure out how to make myself not be like this. At this rate, they're going to find my roommate dead in my apartment and then you'll really get a picture for my fan club." She's just babbling without the filter again, though this time it's more out of fear and self-disgust than anything else. She'd scream in frustration, but she recognizes that if she does that now she's going to attract attention, and given she just got out of the cell they'd probably throw her right back in. Hell, it's probably even still open, knowing her luck. On that note, it's not luck, but wasn't one of the stones...?

Reaching for her handbag, fumbling through it with shaking hands and wild eyes and throwing off any attempt to stop that anyone might make, she digs until she finds the rose quartz she's been carrying for a week now, gripping it tight in clasped hands, feeling its smooth edge press into her palms and willing it to do something, "anything, these damn things are supposed to be blessed, fucking help me already!" She probably doesn't realize she's gone verbal but it's not like it can make anything worse at this point, Elliott probably already thinks she's crazy, and hey, at this rate she can just prove it the hard way-

[bearshermark]

His eyes sting. He might not be an empath like Anakin, but her distress and fear reaches him clearly enough. She's afraid of herself, she's afraid to go home, and the stones aren't answering her call. He'd thought he could help, but his power is mediocre at best and it's not nearly enough even if he could focus on it, but he's too rattled to even try it now.

So he does the only thing he can think to do, well aware that it's probably really stupid, but anything is better than sitting there and watching helplessly.

Elliott moves for her, closing his arms tight around her shoulders in hopes that it might serve to help ground her in any sense of the word.

"I'm sorry, this is all I can do."

[traceofeffort]

She's losing grip. She can feel her nails chipping against the useless rock in her hands, her muscles ache from trying to coax something from it, she can sense Elliott staring at her like some kind of pity case even with her eyes squeezed shut, she's losing it, losing it losingitlosing-

-warm. Lisa wasn't aware he'd even moved, didn't understand why her eyes were wet, but a large chunk of tension leaves her as almost swiftly as it came. Some tiny part of her mind is screaming that she's filthy in an actual physical sense, this is terrible, but the shot of calm that runs through her silences that along with most of the rest of it. Elliott was crazy enough to help anyone that needed it without their asking, the thing earlier he'd probably do for literally any of them. This... this was something else. Something she couldn't explain away as her needing his help again. And it brightened something in the darkness that helped her shake off whatever the hell was in her system yet again. It's... different this time, though. It feels further away, even more than the last time she thought it was fading. Like there's a crack in the press of darkness, and light - color - was streaming into her heart. She'd... she'd be fine. For now.

She wraps her arms around him gently, quartz still palmed in one hand, feeling tiny and humbled and terrified and a million other things but clinging onto this person that's given her so much of himself without asking for anything in return. "This-" it's in a whisper, not wanting to break the moment and find it's just a delusion and she's actually doing something terrible- "this is enough. I'm sorry. I'm..." What is she even supposed to say to him? Apologize for being a disaster of a girl that can't keep her head on straight to (maybe literally) save her life?

[bearshermark]

"Not your fault," Elliott assures even while his voice wavers. "It's not."

But that this last-ditch effort is doing anything to help settles the uncertainty at least. He doesn't feel threatened when her arms come around his back, and tears are staved off with a shaky inhale.

"We'll fix this, okay? I promise. You'll be okay."

[traceofeffort]

"It's not," Lisa agrees, still not daring to rise above a whisper as she continues to draw strength from her friend. "I... I trust you. I'll be okay. We'll fix it."

She feels like she's made of glass. She knows, intellectually, she can handle it. She also knows if she pushes herself much harder she's going to break. Again. She's tired of breaking. Do they make screen protectors for people? Maybe that's what therapy is, kinda sorta not really? Maybe she needs to look into that. And wow she's out of it if she's letting her thoughts drift this much. But... not dangerously so. Not right now. And she'd like to keep it that way.

"We'll fix it," Lisa repeats, a little more strongly, a little bit of energy and drive returning to her voice, a little more strength in her arms around Elliott. "I am so tired of needing to be saved. I want in."

[bearshermark]

He laughs, a little thready, but reassured by the growing strength in her arms. He's under no illusion that he could manage that himself.

Elliott sighs a bit into her hair.

"Yes, we'll fix it. I'll camp the temple all day and report back on when might be a good time to get in there and do this. We should have pressed sooner to avoid it getting this bad, but.. I guess sometimes things like this are necessary."

[traceofeffort]

Lisa would take offense at that lack of belief, but then belief is apparently in short supply for both of them right now. This is... nice, and she could stay like this a while. If she thought it'd help signifcantly, she probably would. But they have a job to do, now, and he can't do it while she's clinging to him like a life preserver. And she... probably can't do anything to help at all, but she's not going to repay kindness with apathy.

"We should have done more," she manages aloud. "More, faster, better. But we're not heroes. We're a team of vaguely like-minded idiots. And we're doing the best we can." She gives a sound somewhere between an amused huff and a sob. "Even if we're not doing any good. Sometimes you have to crack a few heads. Yolks. Whatever the expression is."

[bearshermark]

Elliott briefly tightens his hold.

"Yeah. It might be late, but we'll get it done and no one will have to suffer anymore. You'll be okay and both worlds will be safe from corruption."

He eases his grip and straightens a little, ready to release her when she is.

"But did you want to go home first? I can stay here and check things out."

[traceofeffort]

Lisa can't help but smile at his optimism. "That's the plan, y'know? I just hope it goes well. I don't wanna do this again. Once is too much already." There's... less pain there, and more just a statement of fact.

She feels him easing up to let her go, and recognizes she probably needs to let go too or risk being creepy, even if she'd like to stay like this a bit longer. After another few seconds and a slight squeeze herself, she lets go and drops the last little bit to the ground again. She grins up at him again, and is surprised to find there's no hesitation in it.

"I should go home," she admits. "I'm filthy, I need to make sure I'm prepared for whenever our mission comes around, and honestly I just need to be... not here." Not that this should surprise him. She takes a deep breath. "I'll be okay."

[bearshermark]

Elliott raises his arms above his head in a stretch, then pushes himself to stand.

"You will be," he nods, returning her smile. "I'll escort you to the portal when you're ready to make sure to make sure you get to the other side, then head back to the temple. I'll put a call out on the network when I've come up with some sort of idea of how we can take it."

[traceofeffort]

Lisa laughs very, very softly, almost just an amused breath of air more than anything else. "What, don't think I can..." Then she trails off and her face falls a little bit. "Well. I guess you probably wouldn't think I can get there on my own. Not after-" She doesn't have to finish the sentence, as she sits up, looking at him with a small frown.

"Be careful, okay? I know you don't need me to watch your back - not like this - but if this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone."

[bearshermark]

Elliott grimaces. Goddess, he's stupid.

"It- it's not that I think you can't," he says hurriedly. "It's not that. It's just.. if I knew for sure how this corruption spread.. I know I have to be careful- we all do- so it's better to go together if we can, right?"

[traceofeffort]

"I know you don't," Lisa says calmly, with a tiny shake of her head. "But until we get this fixed, all bets are off. I don't trust myself very far right now. Not until I get home, get a shower, and figure out how to untangle all this. It's... complicated, y'know? So together is fine with me."