(open) prevolt

[servileness]

WHO: Clover + you
WHERE: All around Recolle, Pesgare, Magatus
WHEN: the first half of April
WHAT: Clover tries her best to keep herself together, but she's ultimately too much of a melodramatic hot mess to do so. If you want to get insulted, come to Magatus.
WARNINGS: None really unless you count that Four is a very extra, terrible person. Violence. Mentions of self-harm.

i. an unwanted new strength (recolle)

a. when one door closes

[ It could be at the grocery store. It could be any building at Recolle Univerity. It could be at the Towers.

Either way, for some reason, Clover is in a rush, and in her hurry, she pushes a door open too hard, and it crashes into the wall hard enough to leave a dent. Or she pulls a door open, and it comes off one of its hinges.

She freezes in her spot. flabbergasted. Her face turns pale. ]

What do I do...?

[ She can't be terrible enough to make this a hit and run, can she? She has to hold herself responsible, but she can't afford these repairs. ]

b. you throw it away

[ Clover has broken one too many doors already, and she can't deal with another one. She's getting desperate. She doesn't want to deal with this anymore. She can't take it anymore. She's done. She can't face the music.

That's why she hides her contraband in her purse, and she dashes (a little too quickly) for the nearest alley. If there's no dumpster, she moves on. When she finds the nearest dumpster, she stops before it. There's obvious hesitance in her movements, but she reaches into her purse and takes out a broken doorknob.

Catch her in the act of running from alley to alley like a suspicious runaway or in the act of throwing away the evidence of her crime? ]

ii. rescuers down under isn't a ghibli movie (pesgare)

[ If a tsunami caused damage, and there are calls for relief services, of course Clover will go. How could she not? How could she look herself in a mirror if she didn't help?

Of course she stays underwater longer than she should. Of course scales develop where they can. The scales covering her hands make her feel hideous. She's helping, but that's what matters, doesn't it?

Instead of a cliff by the sea, Clover can be found at the dam. The problem is instead of using tools like a reasonable person, she's using her bare fists to break it apart, turning them into a bloody mess. If you're nearby and also working on the dam, she'll turn to you, gesturing as if the skin on her her knuckles isn't broken: ]

Will you let me handle that instead?

iii. the upcoming battle (magatus}

[ Despite its cold climate, Magatus usually gives Clover a sense of odd comfort. A curse is not that.

The forest and its whispers immediately take her down. She tries to drown the voices out first by covering her ears and then by her screams. ]

I'M NOT LIKE THAT!

[ Clover can't bear it anymore. Her newfound agility and strength has her climbing a tree in no time. She rips branches from the trunk and hurls them as hard as she can. They crash into nearby trees and slam onto the ground. Leaves and needles that lasted winter flutter to the ground. ]

That's not who I am! I don't want this! I don't want to be that kind of person!

[ Clover can be found in the midst of all her destruction, or she can be found when all her energy is spent.

She'll be curled on the ground with her face covered by her hands, the lurid green light of the curse mark on her forehead shining through her fingers like a beacon.

There's no use hiding all her failures. ]

iv. wild card

[ If there's anything else you'd like to play with, hit me up via PM or at defenestrates! ]

Comments

iii

[compendiem]

[ Darkness. The cold. These are things that Minato didn't mind, once upon a time, because it let him pretend that the world was standing still and he could stop a while and catch his breath. What he couldn't stop were the thoughts in his head, and in this place that he regrets now visiting, those voices aren't even his own anymore, but more, making them truth.

It's his neck where a sliver of silver-blue light shines, jaw to sternum and trailing down into the his shirt where the rest of the damage is smothered under a heavy coat. "Don't fall asleep in the snow" is something that he had to be reminded again and again, and he tells this to himself now, trudging through the forest, teeth gritted every time he hears the crackle of splintering wood through the crisp air, following the screams of fury and resentment that are almost unrecognizable. He almost wishes it were unrecognizable.

He's tired. He's cold. ]

Clover... Stop.

[servileness]

Stop? Stop what?

[ Her voice comes louder, harsher than she's ever spoken to Minato before. Her rage, her terror, the darkness of her heart is consuming her.

If you tell him the truth, if you tell him about his heart stone, he'll abandon you. If you tell him that you need him to need you, he'll go away. If you tell him how broken a person he is makes you feel better about yourself, he'll hate you.

There's another crack of a branch being torn torn off. ]

The whispers won't stop, so how can I? How can I? Hmm, Minato, can you tell why? You'll just leave me anyway. You will. You will!

[compendiem]

[ Just like you left your grandparents. Abandoned them when you couldn't handle it anymore, with no thought towards how they might feel.

The thought intrudes before Minato can get a word out, freezing in place and his eyes finding the ground, a glance towards the left like he does whenever he's deliberating something in his own mind. The guilt grips immediately around his heart, but these aren't new thoughts, and he's had this conversation with himself before. ]

I... don't know what voice you're hearing, but if you calm down and talk to me...

[ You can't promise her you won't leave, can you?

He presses his lips together tight, silent. ]

[servileness]

[ What if, instead of a box being dropped on his head, it's a large tree branch? Watch out below, Minato, because Clover's answer comes in the form of gravity doing half her work. ]

Calm down or come down? Which is it? Both? None? What will you do if I do?

[ He doesn't deny that he won't leave her. He doesn't address her accusation, and it only fuels her self-hatred. He can't see it because she's still up in the tree, but her faces twists into something ugly. Terrible. He'll hate her. He will. He will. The whispers are right. They're right.

They can't be right. Clover screams. ]

You'll think I'm a monster anyway!

ii

[breakingvoice]

[and of course Lina's been here, too, and of course she's been underwater too long, and her legs are shimmering and shining in such a way that it might be a little difficult to tell where they separate anymore. but as she follows the sound of pounding fists, she gasps (trying to ignore how thirsty she is) and her eyes go wide.]

Clover! You need to stop that right now! You're hurting yourself!

[servileness]

[ Surprisingly or not surprisingly, hearing Lina does get her to stop. At least the scales on her hand are less recognizable with her hands all wounded. Seeing the amount of scales covering her sister also doesn't surprise her because Lina answering the calls for help is far from shocking. ]

It doesn't hurt that much.

[ It's an honest enough answer. After a while, she became numb to the pain in her knuckles. ]

[breakingvoice]

That's not the point!

[it really isn't, and she's making her best pout and all but crossing her arms over her chest as she gets closer. the only thing stopping her is that she wants to reach out to Clover and examine her knuckles personally.]

They make tools for this, Clover. Are you feeling all right?

[servileness]

I'm testing out the tool Retrospec gave me this month.

[ She looks down at her bloodied hands. That's not a straight answer to Lina's question. She could lie and say yes, but she's fighting against being a terrible and dishonest person, figuratively and literally. ]

I should invest in gloves. What do you think?

[ She's not all right. ]

i.b

[floret]

[ Jamie doesn't think he's ever particularly been in the habit of turning up unexpectedly, but just lately, it seems like he can't help it. Today he's in a nice alley about to smoke a nice weed (the lighter's in his hand! it's lavender!) when, suddenly... Clover shows up. She seems pretty focused on whatever it is she's doing (throwing away some trash?), and he's not sure she's seen him; he wonders whether he should call out a greeting.

For now, he goes ahead and flicks the lighter. Which might be loud enough to alert her to his presence, assuming she wasn't already. ]

[servileness]

[ The doorknob goes right back into her bag when she notices Jamie, which is almost right away because she's trying to be hypervigilant.

She narrows her eye at his lighter and then tries to look for what he needs the lighter. ]

What are you smoking?

[ Whatever it is, it sounds like she won't approve. ]

[floret]

Uh.

[ It's not like he knows her super well, the month in hell aside, but he knows it's not unusual to see her moving with purpose; he is, however, a little startled by how quickly she's able to redirect that purpose. Like she's a super-advanced Terminator or something that can instantaneously rotate objectives. But, like, in a mature and genial way? (Maybe???) ]

It's pot...
Do you want some?

[ She obviously won't want any, but he was already asking before he thought better of it!! ]

[servileness]

[ Jamie, what kind of imagery is that....

Clover frowns. It could be a worse drug, for sure, but she'll ask one more question before her final judgment. ]

No, thank you. I try to use any drugs if I don't have to. Do you have chronic pain?

[ aka is this for recreational or medical use? ]

iii.

[blacksong]

[Rose didn't think anyone else was around when she suddenly woke up with a mark glowing pink between her collar bones. Once the voices started, she could only hope there was no one around. Even if she can chalk this up to life being hellish as per usual, she doesn't need anyone to see her covering her ears with her hands like a child as she tries to ignore the whispers.

She already knows she's a failure of a sister. She already knows she isn't the sister any of her family wants or needs. And now, she thinks daily about how she's apparently just a horrifying, heartless monster underneath it all. Rose doesn't need the reminder.

But, for better or worse, she recognizes the bright, green call of Clover's curse mark. She knows she's not alone, and she knows exactly who's here.

And in that instant at least, it's all too easy to ignore the voices. Her little sister is hurting. That's the only thing that matters.]

Clover. [Her voice is steady, almost gentle.] Hey. What's wrong?

[servileness]

No.

[ Clover thinks the trees have a new trick and have morphed their whispers to sound like her sister. Her denial has reached a point that she's stopped trying to listen to words. She can't deafen herself, but she can refuse to understand.

She curls in on herself even more. She keeps her eyes shut because seeing makes the reality of the forest that much greater. ]

I don't need to hear what a monster I am in Rose's voice.

[ She whimpers, sad and pathetic. She's not strong enough for this. ]

[blacksong]

Clover. [The hand she puts on Clover's back is gentle, but her tone is firmer. She can't imagine what her little sister might've seen, and it breaks her heart to think that whatever it was, it's made her think like this.] You're not a monster. I would never think that. Do you really think I would?

[The only monster here is me. She doesn't need the forest's whispers to tell her that.]

[servileness]

[ The touch is solid, and Clover's eyes fly open. She stares at Rose with wide, wide eyes, and her breathing goes shallow. She's struck with fear because the flower is there and real and she remembers Zero.

What about Zero? Isn't that why you've been afraid to talk to Rose? You'll hear that she actually is Zero in her memories, too, and not just yours? Aren't you dumb to think that flower could exist in any other world?

Instead of answering her question, instead she asks: ]

Who is Zero?

[ Does Rose know? What does Rose remember?

Four is a monster. ]

ii

[livens]

[ wow, those fists are kind of a bloody mess, though? hinata accordingly looks kind of distressed because hey clover what the fuck? ]

Shouldn't you let me take care of those instead...?

[ her hands, he means, and he gestures to clarify. ]

[servileness]

[ Sorry, Hinata, that your first encounter with Clover has to be when she's having a quarter life crisis.

She looks down at her hands, and she shrugs. ]

They'll be all right. It'll heal eventually, but if it's too unsightly, I should get them wrapped.

[ She'll concede on that point. ]

[livens]

It's not about being unsightly, it's about taking care of yourself...! They could get infected if you don't, you know?

[ CONCERN ]

III idk let's see if they kill each other (sorry)

[nachetanya]

[ Natalia's hardly ever been to Magatus. She'd been in Respatrum several times Bosuma several times more, and a few times, including earlier in this month for relief efforts, to Pesgare. The north, though? Only once to confirm that indeed, her small town was nowhere to be found. The very long drive up here is probably a big part of why.

Either way, she decided to come. She decided to come and, well, whatever limited exploration she was considering doing was cut short by way of the darkness, by way of that curse. It's what's got her out into the forest, even if it seems like a real fool's errand to her. Stupid. For her part, the echoing sounds of the north see her looking perhaps a little colder than usual, not quite on guard, but ...

Well, her small rapier is at her side, as much as she hates that and it's hard to miss that snapping sound and shouting. It's what gives Clover's position away. So she starts this off... more or less as you'd expect ]

Oh, those trees must be being very rude to you, Clover!

don't be sorry!! let's be super awful

[servileness]

[ Oh, she does not need Natalia on top of everything else. She does not need to show her weaknesses, doesn't need to hear any of Natalia's comments along with the whispers. ]

Shut the hell up, Natalia! No one wants to listen to you!

[ Of course, Clover lashes out.

If Natalia looks up and can see through all the darkness and foliage, Clover's rage is out in the open for anyone to see. It's the most unrestrained she's been in front of her former roommate. ]

Fuck yeah let's do this

[nachetanya]

[ At that... she laughs. She laughs loud and snappish at that, but cuts it off just as quickly. She's got her own tree whispers, of course, but what she ends up saying is. ]

Oh, that's far from true, isn't it?! More people like me than you, certainly!

[ ... She's not having a good time. It's reflected in how naked that attack was. ]

the promised ghibli wildcard;

[selfloving]

[Manah has a task to complete but knows she's running out of time. It seems unfair, she thinks, to be given a job that relies on other people. Couldn't she just have completed something on her and, and with much more ease?

That's probably the point, a cold and bitter reminder bites at the back of her brain in a voice she doesn't quite recognize.

Well, there's about a day left, still. She passes by a few residential buildings that must be familiar to her, but of course, she can't name who lives there, so she turns around and passes by them again. Maybe a bar would have been a better place for this. A cafe. A nice place with plenty of people in good moods. So why does she seem drawn to these places instead? A girl coming home catches her eye but seems completely unfamiliar. Maybe Manah should go after all.]

[servileness]

[ Clover's on her way back to the dorms from class, the library, volunteering, something or another (or all of the above since that's how she packs her schedule). She brightens when she sees Jasmine in the distance. Her mouth opens, but her voice stays lodged in her throat.

Jasmine can't be said. It's alarming, but it's not going to stop Clover from greeting her sister. ]

Hey! What brings you here?

[selfloving]

[If anything, she seems surprised that Clover's talking to her. Manah stops at the question, turning around to full face her. She considers it for a while, as if thinking about it enough will make it make more sense. Her eyes (red; Manah thinks she should be wearing contacts, but where did that come from?) narrow slightly in confusion.]

... I guess I was looking for something.