mental link | morning of day :039

[perroquet]

[ The ever present mental music that plays from the bard's end of the connection grows invasively louder sometime after breakfast, and it is rather anxious. The morning has been heavy enough already with packing getting underway, but this is due to something different. While the music in him is clear as ever, his thoughts stumble across the connection sloppily and desperately. ]

( I require a detective... I think. Oh dear, this is quite dire… )

[ He knows of several, but with the situation being as dire as he claims, well... he may need as much help as possible. All hands on deck. ]

( I believe someone has discovered that I am not Carbauschian, and... has poisoned me. )

[ The pauses between coherent thought are more than a bit dramatic, but he's being quite serious. ]

Comments

[theycalledmeacurse]

[ Rogue recognizes that voice, the stream of music that accompanies it, and she feels a familiar sense of concern at the message that is sent out across the link they all share. So of course she responds right away. ]

( Why do you think someone's poisoned you, sugar? What are your symptoms? )

[perroquet]

[ Rogue's mental voice is new. The memory of her is fresh yet distant - it comes back as a blend of rolling waves and sweet concern, the smell of drink in his sweat and Garstal meat smoking on the beach. Sugar. He recognizes her by that. ]

( I... may have exposed some skin between my gloves and sleeves while performing in the town square last night. I had to tear holes in the tips of the gloves in order to play in public at all, and someone must've seen- )

[ It's embarrassing to admit, but he does believe it. ]

( The symptoms are quite strong. Chills, dizziness, pain... I may be running a fever. It's all come on so quickly. )

[theycalledmeacurse]

[ Everything had been so chaotic the night before, she supposes it could have happened quite easily, especially given his condition. But the symptoms he describes -- they could be anything. Any number of poisons from Earth would do that, and that's not even taking into account the fact that they're out here on an alien planet. ]

( Have you had anything to drink or eat recently that might have been compromised? Have you touched anything new with your skin? )

[ Until they figure this out, the only thing to do is approach this logically, so that's what she does: one step at a time. ]

[aluminumandash]

( Sleep it off. )

[perroquet]

( Really? You choose now to try and have a sense of humor? )

[ You can't cure poison with sleep or sarcasm, Detective. ]

( It feels like I am dying, Rust. ) [ Again with the dramatics, but he breaks out the first name to emphasize his seriousness. ]

[perroquet]

( Oh no, the food's been wonderful here. It's actually made me significantly healthier since arriving... )

[ Pained as he is, his thoughts can't help but wander for a moment. He had always been too thin back home, his options often limited to bland vegetables. But the Hyrypians know how to do vegetarian well, and he'd eaten his fill each day. The results were... something Lakshmi could dig her hands into. With more meat on his bones, he'd never been held or handled quite like that before-

He suddenly waves the memory away, like the mental equivalent of clearing his throat. ]

( Ah- anyway, uhm... no to having touched anything new either. The gloves still my hands mostly covered. )

[theycalledmeacurse]

[ Well, then. Right. Either it's some crazy alien poison he's been given that no one else is suffering from, or-- ]

( Sugar, exactly how much did you have to drink yesterday? )

[perroquet]

[ The question ruffles him. The sound of a violin bow slipping on a note echoes in waves across the connection. ]

( Yesterday? Yesterday the little drink I had left was taken and hidden from me. It was very rude and uncalled for- )

[ But it hadn't stopped him from partaking again at dinner, and he may have been lightly intoxicated during the performance and distractions. The climb back out of the bottle is a steep slope to be sure, but one he's sure he can climb again at any time - just not right now. ]

( If I am to die from poison at what is likely the hand of the Enemy, at least let me have one last drink. )

[iuno]

[ he'd planned to tune out whatever public announcement is going through the Nest this time, but at the word detective, Juno perks up like a dog that only recognises a few words and doesn't let that deter him from reacting. it's a little pathetic. he's so desperate to make himself useful in the only way he knows how that he'll take anything these days.

he considers, all his thoughts weighted and a keen little spark of interest: detective. ]

( Detective? Sounds to me like you need a doctor. )

[aluminumandash]

[ Tension, like the coiling of muscle, at the use of his name. His mental voice hard and flat: the floor you wake up on. ] ( Yeah, I've been hungover too. )

[ A pause, then with ill-concealed impatience: ] ( Nobody here's been poisoned, alright? Stabbings all round. )

[ryohji]

( Is that so? )

[ someone's not taking this nearly as serious as gildor might hope. ]

( What do you think gave you away? )

[perroquet]

[ The quick reaction is promising, though Gildor doesn't recognize the voice that responds across the connection. He's also desperate, (because, well... he's dying, or thinks he is) and will take all the help he can. ]

( Doctor? Well, eventually yes. I am a healer, but my spells only help in slowing poison, not curing it. )

[ And those spells have already been cast as a precaution. He's bought time, though his mind and the music echoing through it remains quite frantic. ]

( Is that an offer from a doctor, or...? )

[perroquet]

[ The lack of seriousness in Kaji's tone is noted. His reply comes across with the sound of a single string being plucked repeatedly in mild annoyance. ]

( There were at least a hundred pairs of eyes on me last night. I am quite comfortable performing, but I'm afraid I may have shown some skin between my sleeves and gloves. )

[perroquet]

[ He knows hangover. He's been thoroughly acquainted with that hard floor and all the forms it takes. Cold wood and damp hay and slimy cobblestone. ]

( I know my hangover symptoms, and this isn't them. You already made certain I wouldn't be visiting them again. )

[ It's not a thank you. If he is dying, Rust has denied him one final drink by taking what he had. Impatience is met with impatience, because he may be arguing on limited time. ]

( It certainly feels like there's a knife in my gut. )

[ryohji]

( It's not a show without a little skin peeking through. ) [ what's worse, in this he sounds deathly serious. ] ( They don't know what we look like beneath these robes. Unless you think you were targeted by our enemy. )

[aluminumandash]

[ A flash of derision. Rust suddenly more present, leaning in. ] ( If you care at all about Keya or catching whoever did this, you'll cut that shit out. I can't do my job with one-tenth my brain dozed off in a puddle of drool. )

[ Or maybe it'd make it easier, in the long run. Dangle a bottle in front of him, lead him around that way. Addiction was a pretty fucking simple business.

He lets the thought pass. An attempt to cover it up as much as anything: ] ( You seriously think you've been poisoned, you're gonna want to induce vomiting. )

[perroquet]

( Excuse you, I am not that sort of showman. Not that there's anything wrong with those who are... ) [ Is that the fever rising or is he embarrassed just half-imagining himself as anything different than a first violinist in a formal orchestra? Perish every thought of it. ]

( If our Enemy or any potential associates were in the crowd last night, I doubt they would've been effected by my magic. And no, they don't know what we look like beneath these robes, but... that just makes me all the more anxious. )

[ He doesn't know what they look like beneath the robes either. Or what the Rabadoceans look like, for that matter. The most he can identify is difference in their footfalls against the ground. ]

[whereabout]

[ Ah. The music is a giveaway; this must be the guy Bakugo and Seth both mentioned he should talk to sometime, when they caught him playing.

But...well. This is probably not quite the moment for a jam session. ]

( If they were to suspect one of us, they'd have no reason not to suspect all of us. And nobody else has mentioned anything. )

[perroquet]

( Already done. ) [ At least he had the decency to purge before making the call, but that decency is running thin. ] ( Though if you don't start taking this seriously, I may just have another go. )

[ He remains silent to the jab at his bad habit. No response is formed into audible thought, however - one of the cellos in his mental orchestra stops with the sound of a string snapping.

Instead of allowing himself to be picked apart, he decides it's time to make Rust induce vomiting with magic talk: ] ( I've also already cast spells to slow the effects of whatever is left in me, but I can only delay poison. My magic cannot cure it. )

[perroquet]

( Nobody else put themselves on display last night as a distraction. )

[ So it makes sense to him that he might've been seen and subsequently caught. There's a certain lack of understanding of one of the main senses in his mind, and an anxiety that stems from it. He's aware he's not exactly conspicuous, even in the robes. ]

( I'm afraid a part of my robes may have come undone while I was playing in the square. I'm not entirely sure, but... )

[ But he's already rationalized it and become somewhat dramatic over it, is what. ]

[whereabout]

( We've got a tight-knit, obviously secretive group. If anyone suspects you, they'd have every reason to come after the rest of us. But nobody's even tried to snoop on our quarters, so far. )

[ He's been specifically watching for that, and all's been clear. ]

( If anyone suspects anything, it's nothing concrete enough to justify action, let alone action that drastic. )

[iuno]

( Nope. Detective. )

[ he just felt like there should be a disclaimer that his job is to solve crimes, not help someone who's poisoned and still alive. ]

( If you're poisoned, someone's going to need to know where it came from to do anything about it. Anyone get a chance to slip you something? )

[earthborn]

( What makes you so sure it's poison and not an allergic reaction to something? ) [Or booze.] ( What poisons one species isn't going to poison another, even if you do share enough biology to eat the same food, makes it kind of a pain in the ass. )

[She's not concerned, either about Rust, or the situation.

If someone thinks one of their number is an alien, then the danger is only in who thinks it. One of the Enemy-connected aliens? That's a real and pressing problem. Some random guy from last night? Well. They have a word for the kind of person who'd go around telling people that members of a rival political faction have been replaced by pink-skinned monkeys from space.]

( If someone was trying to poison you, you might as well try tosleep it off while you lay low: not dying from poison is the thing aliens do. Come see me, I can make you something that might bind a common poison, if you're really all that worried. )

[aluminumandash]

( Can't hurt. ) [ Not unless he's swallowed something corrosive, in which case the damage is done.

Low-grade irritation at the mention of magic. Any concern vanishes with the thought of Gildor waving a wand around while allegedly in the throes of death.

Slow, inexorable: ] ( You hear what I said? )

[perroquet]

( I don't know if you've been present, but there have been murders taking place. All of them stabbings so far, but... )

[ Another 'but...' because his logic is steadily being dismantled. It's logic built hastily on pain and panic, which is always the worst kind yet the most stubborn. Even pointing out that all the murders so far have been stabbings is a hole poked in his own reasoning. ]