( open ) you cut me deep

[winscenario]

Who: James T. Kirk & you!
What: Finding out about his blood magic spell (blood telepathy) + Odin's compulsive honesty curse
When: Early/mid April
Where: Around
Rating: PG? Just a bit of blood but not expecting anything more.


I ▹ BLOOD MAGIC

Jim should have figured they wouldn't come back from that cave entirely unaffected. The last time he died he ended up with a soreness in his shoulder and down his side that has never quite vanished, sometimes even prickling and feeling a little numb, so when he actually can't sense anything different in him for days after they come back, it starts to feel like something is just strange or off.

It starts with vague dreams, at first; he can hear droplets fall, something dripping, dripping... it's not until the third night that he notices that the droplets are dark red, thick, pooling on the ground, spattering around. Then he begins to hear voices. Unintelligible words, and it's his voice reaching out, calling, the whispers and the sound of the falling blood drops growing louder and louder, almost deafening, until everything goes still and quiet and all he can hear is his own voice:

Listen to me.

He doesn't know what compels him to try this in the morning, but he does: he goes out to the field at the farm, and he takes out a sharp knife and nicks himself on the finger with it. There's a prickle of pain and he hisses, but instead of focusing on that, he closes his eyes and thinks of a specific person, someone he knows, and reaches out with his mind.

The message is short. A test, just to see if it really does what he thinks it should or not. Somewhere in the city, someone should be getting Jim's voice ringing in their head...

This is Jim Kirk. I'm at the farmland in Sigyn's district. If you can hear this message, please come meet me here.

II ▹ COMPELLED TRUTHS

Like many others, Jim doesn't escape Odin's curse. He's not a secretive person by nature, however, nor does he tend to lie, so he doesn't worry much that he might say something he doesn't want to. However, depending on what hour of the day someone runs into him, he may be feeling less or more frustrated with the curse that compels him to speak the truth, even when unasked or unprompted.

On the other hand, he might instead run into someone else who's affected. He won't use that to his own personal gain, though he might tease just a bit if he's comfortable with the person... But he won't be mean, really.

((ooc: for this prompt, basically feel free to write up your own starter as you think might best suit the compelled truth curse! I'm open to anything at all.))

Comments

I.

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm hasn't been quite right since passing out in the cave either, but he's chocking that up to trauma response. He technically hasn't been right since his father was arrested for being a serial killer when he was 10. At first, he thinks the voice in his head is something that he's imagining. He'd be lying if he'd said he'd never had auditory hallucinations before. This one is too specific though, and he recognizes the name of the supposed sender.

He's relatively close to Sigyn's district on his rounds, so he heads over to where the farm is. Malcolm finds Jim near the barn.

"Hey," he says. "You're Jim Kirk, right?"

[winscenario]

Jim turns at the greeting, a little puzzled that the guy knows his name. His eyebrows arch when he takes a good look at Malcolm, though. He doesn't know his name, but he does remember him from the cave-- and wasn't he the guy who escorted the orcs along with John into the city?

"Yes. You," he pauses, breathing slowly. "You got my message, I'm guessing?"

Not that he was thinking of this man in particular, but he's still getting the hang of it, so maybe it just got derailed on the way.

[prodigalmess]

"I did," he replies, "but you weren't trying to send it to me."

The body language and the words tell him that much. Jim's confused as to why he's there.

"I thought maybe it was a general distress signal, albeit a calm one."

He would have been remiss to not at least come and check it out.

[winscenario]

"No, I was trying to reach someone I know."

Not that this isn't good anyway, especially for a first try. Jim's actually pretty pleased with the result, though he has a feeling it'll take time for him to get the hang of it. Unfortunately the only way he can practice is by making himself bleed, so he'll have to figure out how to go about it.

"It wasn't a distress signal, though. Sorry about that," he smiles apologetically. "I was trying to figure out how this power works."

[prodigalmess]

Malcolm shrugs. He's not mad or anything. Better that it's not a distress signal. At least he did his job and checked it out.

"Is it a new one?" he asks. "I'm Malcolm, by the way. Malcolm Bright."

i.

[trafficreport]

Voices in his head. That's new. Not as new as he'd like, but...yeah. New enough to raise some red flags. Jet was more or less on the cusp of dozing off when the voice cracks into his head and he snaps awake promptly.

He's not sure if he can answer it. Nonetheless, the idea of someone being able to speak to him in his head is enough to drive him to seek some fucking answers for it. The whole thing reeks, to Jet, someone who's survived due to being a hyper-paranoid jackass, as a fucking trap.

So he arms himself before heading out. He approaches warily, combing the farmlands for anyone who might be suspicious. Armed, though not visibly. Looking for all the world like someone who expects to be ambushed at any second.

The farmlands aren't too occupied today. The only person in the vicinity gets the full brunt of Jet's suspicion, which isn't admittedly terribly overt as he draws near. He's laconic as ever when he speaks:

"You Jim?"

[winscenario]

It all looks like anything but a trap, although for anyone that's sufficiently paranoid and with just enough bad experiences, that may seem all the more suspicious. But no, it's just Jim in the middle of the wide open fields, with his shepherd dog by his side, a couple cows walking off in the distance. He's pressing a cloth to his hand, finger curled into the fabric to try and stop the bleeding, when he hears his name.

He looks up, realizing he doesn't know the guy. Message must've derailed again, huh. He'll have to work on that.

"I am. Sorry-- you got my message, I take it," he smiles, making his way to the new visitor. "I'm still getting the hang of that ability, but I wanted to give it a try anyway. It was supposed to reach someone I know."

[trafficreport]

Jet takes him in with the same seeming neutrality he uses to take in everything. Sizing someone up as a prospective threat comes as second nature to him. That being said, nothing about this guy screams ambush. Dogs. Cows. A bleeding hand?

There've been more auspicious beginnings to traps.

"Yeah," he answers at last, the word a low, rasping pull. "Voice in my head."

What was that about, by the way? Suspicious as hell if you ask him.

[winscenario]

The whole set up looks entirely too peaceful to be a trap, and Jim seems to be completely unarmed, aside from the small pocket knife he's used to cut himself. That's back in the pocket of his jeans by now, and in his plaid shirt and dirty boots, he looks every beat like a farm worker right now.

"Ah. Yes, I... sorry about that, I wasn't sure how that would work," he smiles apologetically. He can only imagine how weird and uncomfortable that must have felt to him. "It's this new ability I just got, apparently I can send messages to other people with my mind. The only downside is I have to make myself bleed in order to do it."

[trafficreport]

"Bleed?" That...doesn't sound consistent with the magic that most people here seem to end up with. Jet's single eye narrows fractionally as he glances down at the cloth the guy's holding up to his hand. "That an accident?"

It didn't sound much like one. It sounded like an intentional message. An intentional, telepathic message.

That raises some questions. Most of those go unspoken.

I.

[madcuriosity]

Alice had been in her room when she saw Jim go out into the field. When she then heard a voice in her head, she blinked. Was Jim yelling? But it didn't sound like he was yelling? But how could she have heard him? Was she imagining things?

Maybe he was yelling.

Alice shifted so her feet were danging off the side of her seat before sliding off with a slight jump at the end. She then went to the door and headed towards the captain, Thor quick behind her, having become quite protective of her whenever she was outside on the farm.

"Captain, did you call for me?" she blinked a bit owlishly. He didn't LOOK like he had yelled it. So how had she heard him?

[winscenario]

Scotty was the first to notice the approach, barking out loudly and rushing towards Alice, tail wagging eagerly at the sight of his friend. Thor may not yet be very keen on stepping away from Alice, but Scotty still got plenty excited whenever he saw him and got to interact with him.

"I did. Well... kind of. Sorry, Alice. It's not important or anything, just... a new ability I was curious about," he smiled at her, fisting a cloth in his hand, finger curled into the fabric to try and stop the bleeding.

[madcuriosity]

Alice giggled and reached out, petting Scotty and then petting Thor with her other hand to ensure that neither dog was ignored. She looked up at Jim.

"A new ability?" she brightened up considerably. "How exciting! What is it?"

[winscenario]

Jim nods, chuckling as he watches her pet both dogs. Meanwhile he hides his injured hand behind his back, so she won't worry about just a little bit of blood. It'll heal in no time, anyway.

"I can send messages from my mind to someone else's, it looks like. I don't know how far it reaches, but for now I just wanted to see if it worked at all."

[madcuriosity]

"You can send- ah! That's how I heard you then? You spoke directly to my mind?" Alice paused in petting the dogs, much to their chagrin. "Well, it did work! I didn't hear you yell, I wouldn't have been able to from such a distance! That's splendid, Captain! Not having to yell will come in quite a bit of handy! Can I send you a message back and you'll hear it?"

ii

[tealeafs]

For now Chizuru is still very blissfully unaware of what's going on. Maybe she's just gotten lucky - because she sure is affected by the curse as well, but she's been so busy with various chores today that she just hasn't had much time yet to talk to other people. And it's kind of hard to blurt out the truth to someone when you don't have someone to talk to!

But as usually with chores, you inevitably have to go and be out and about for one sooner or later. Chizuru frowns a little as she makes her way through the city, seeing so many people looking awkward or angry. Is there something going on?

She's too worried of seeming unaware or downright dumb to ask just any random person. But then she spots someone she does know - Jim, looking kind of frustrated. That makes her quicken her pace for a moment to get closer to him, giving him a half-worried, half-curious look.

"Ah.. Sorry, but is something wrong?" She doesn't specify whether she means it personally about him or wrong in general, but she's curious about both anyway.

[winscenario]

Seeing Chizuru does bring a smile to his face at least, troubled though he looks. He likes her a lot, and she always makes him feel comfortable and at peace. He also feels safe knowing that there's nothing he would want to keep from her. Well, there are bits about his private life, but hopefully they won't get to that.

He opens his mouth to tell her that no, nothing's wrong and he's perfectly fine, but something else comes out instead.

"Yes, yes something is wrong. This stupid curse or whatever it is makes me run my mouth constantly and I can't stop telling the truth, and at this point it's just getting a little too exhausting and I'm done, just-- done."

He heaves a long, pained sigh, head tilting up and eyes closing.

"Sorry about that."

[tealeafs]

Well, at least that's a very clear demonstration of what's wrong right off the bat. Not knowing about the specific curse going around, Chizuru actually looks rather taken aback when he says that - mostly since she didn't expect him to be so forward about it. She's seen him emotional before (though more sad than frustrated, but still) and that sure didn't come out that easily.

But a honesty curse would explain it.

"Ah.. no!" She looks like she's struggling to find the right words for a moment, not wanting him to feel awkward yet at the same time--

Well, at the same time she can't help but blurt out the truth too after a moment or two.

"It's alright! You don't have to apologise, I don't mind at all.. I-I mean, it's slightly surprising, but I'm actually rather glad that you're being honest with me about it so I don't have to worry about what could be wrong."

At least it's not far enough from something she'd usually say that it doesn't stand out to her yet.

[winscenario]

"Sorry," he heaves a sigh, a hand running through his hair. It's not the compelled honesty that bothers him so much, at least in this case. He has no reason to lie to Chizuru about anything, after all. It's just gotten tiring and frustrating, finding himself blurting out thoughts without his mind so much as filtering them before they're out of his mouth.

But-- let's backtrack a little, there. He frowns slightly as he looks back to her, tilting his head. "Hold on. Why are you surprised I'm being honest? I may have not been willing to share everything about what's on my mind, but I've never lied to you."

[tealeafs]

That question definitely gets her to look more flustered. When he puts it that way, it does kind of sound bad, doesn't it...

"N-No, it's not that I think you're a liar.."

That's honest too. Because being a liar and just lying about being okay when you're not - which is what she's seen people do so often - are different things in Chizuru's mind. The former is a much more consciously malicious act.

"It's just that back home a lot of the people I knew would pretend to be okay even when they weren't a lot of the time.. So I kind of got used to that and always fuss over people even they say they're fine." It's definitely more honest and straightforward than she'd usually be about it, so even Chizuru is starting to look kind of surprised now after she says that. She puts a hand over her lips, like she's wondering how that slipped out.

ii.

[iustise]

Unlike Jim Kirk, Lord John Grey is a rather secretive person, by necessity as much as anything else. The first time he inadvertently blurts out what he is truly feeling instead of the polite niceties he is used to demonstrating, he chalks it up to stress, perhaps. Lack of sleep. The next few times it happens, however. The fact that he simply cannot stop himself in their delivery...

He's willing to believe this has something to do with the gods, and if he simply waits it out then the affects will wear themselves away. He by no means wants to hang about his habitation in Heimdall to potentially indemnify himself to his roommates, so he takes to wandering the streets of the city with Gustav. Praying against all else that he'll be able to spend a quiet day on his own and then return at the end to sleep it off.

Fate, as it would have it, seems to have other plans.

"Ah, James," John greets the other man, finding themselves suddenly face-to-face. "I had hoped that we might not run into each other today." He colors slightly as the words spill from his mouth, far too painfully honest and direct for his liking.

[winscenario]

Whatever God curse affected him, it's later in the day now and thankfully has started to fade. The compulsion to run his mouth is still there, but he manages to catch himself most of the times, and he's figured that there's no harm in risking a quick trip across the city to find some things to cook dinner.

Scotty's by his side, trotting along happily, and when he spots Gustav he barks and rushes out to meet his buddy. Likewise, Jim's expression brightens when he sees John-- though it dims ever so slightly, giving way to a puzzled look when John says that.

"Well, that's one way to say you don't want to see me," he teases a little, though he's quick to figure out why John would even say something like that to begin with. "Curse got you too, huh?"

[iustise]

Unaware of John's own consternation, Gustav wiggles in response to Scotty's barking and rushing towards him, barking his own greeting and hopping excitedly in place and feeling very irked as to the fact that John has him on a leash just now and he is thus not able to simply bound around and play.

John, on the other hand, catches that look that passes across Jim's face and his own expression pinches somewhat, before he offers the other man a nod. Fighting with himself not to offer as honest an answer as he does, but it's no use. The curse still has him fully in its clutches.

"It isn't that I don't want to see you," he reassures the other man softly. "Simply that I am afraid of what it is I might say to you just now, with my tongue thus dangerously loosened."

[winscenario]

At least Scotty's not on a leash, so he's more than happy to go out and meet Gustav himself, dancing around both him and John playfully. He'll calm down eventually, he's just very excited right now.

"I see," Jim nods slowly. He doesn't take it to heart, honestly. After all he knows all too well how that feels. "Well, we can just... go our separate ways, if you prefer. But I doubt there's anything you could tell me that would upset me."

[iustise]

"I think that you might be surprised," John says, offhandedly, watching Scotty and Gustav dance around each other and willing his mouth shut. Unfortunately for himself, it seems to have a mind of its own today.

Raising a hand, he runs it over his face, before shaking his head at the other man.

"No, I... It's good to see you again, James. That is, I've missed you, and I'm. Sorry that our last meeting has created this distance between us," he says, which is far too direct for his taste, but it is the truth. Which is rather the whole point of this whole affair, he supposes.