(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

[nachetanya]

If I was a murderer, Clover, I can promise you you'd be my first victim! I can't think of anyone else I'd rather kill, as unpleasant as you are!

[ She laughs at this, with no small amount of surprise as she leaps out of the way of the tree. Oh, that sounded fun. This sounded fun...

"It is fun, isn't it? Allowing yourself this thrill?"

She was feeling feverish, her muscles a little weak but he spirit strong, the mark on her body growing up her arm and neck as she did so. She wonders how shit Clover feels? But right now. ]

Doesn't that make me generous to be talking with you like this?!

[servileness]

That's sickening! You're sick! Like I'd let some FAKE ASS HOLIER-THAN-THOU BITCH GET TO ME.

[ Clover's disgust and anger override the physical ailments of the curse. As always, her emotions overpower her. ]

I'll never let you get the best of me!

[ Even if she's a terrible person inside, even if she's just as fake as Natalia, Clover would rather rip off all her nails than let Natalia best her.

She would rather rip Natalia to shreds.

No, that's not right. That's not how she should think. She hates this. ]

[nachetanya]

Oh shut up Clover! You're worse than me in every way! In fact, I bet you were a murderer too! You have to be?! Why don't you tell me all about it?!

[ Right?

How could Clover be better than he... more... sacred? ]

[servileness]

[ Natalia is right. Four is a murderer, too, but she will never ever hear that from Clover, not here, not now, not from her dying lips. Never, never, never! ]

Fucking prove it! There's nothing to tell you! Even if I'm fake, I'd never be as bad as you! At least I never fake concern! [ That's a lie. ] I know better than to be a murderer just because I'm a fake. Phony in your past life, phony in your present life— What's real about you?

What kind of two-faced bitch could be better than me? Hmm?

[ Tell her, Natalia. ]

[nachetanya]

[ To that, she is briefly shaken. That's undeniable? But it's also Clover. It's Clover's words. And so while she was wide eyed for a moment, she quickly rallies, waving her rapier in the air and summoning three more blades to spin above her, becoming larger as they do. Giggling, she responds, ]

I'm the one offering to help a difficult person like you! You never fake concern?! I'd say don't make me laugh, but it's too late for that!

[servileness]

Are you threatening me?

[ She sees those blades and their size. There's no question about it. ]

Laughing while you're about to skewer me— What a saint you are! What a hero you are! You're really showing how different you are from your past self! You're really out to save the world with this so-called help!

[ She spits every word like sarcasm's acid, but she needs to find a way to defend against these knives if Natalia is going to attack. Provoking isn't going to help at all, but like hell she'll roll over and be meek in front of Natalia. The mature, high road isn't going to be taken tonight. ]

[nachetanya]

Not at all! Like I said, I'm laughing!

[ Shut up, trees. No, no, she's not threatening. The blades spin more, the shape of them distorting. One continues to look like a human-sized broadsword as she final size finishes but the other two spin and narrow their points, becoming something more like massively oversized foils, or perhaps even spear-like. Reveling in the feel of unleashing her own power like this, she continues to giggle.

... What a hero ...

Saving the world ...

She wonders, of course, what that other self even did. She knows of the Braves by title, she can feel their importance in the pit of her stomach, but ... ]

You're still not talking about you, Clover! What you're running from?

[servileness]

Like hell I'd tell you! Like hell you'd even listen! Like hell you'd even care! You would never care! All you care about is looking better, seeming better, when there's nothing you can do to be better!

[ Clover leaps to another nearby tree and almost misses the landing. The more she fights and screams, the more her curse flares and spreads.

She feels like she's dying, but she can't show weakness now, not in front of Natalia. ]

[nachetanya]

I have ears, don't I?

[ Ears confirming everything Clover says ... But ah, that's not her own voice that's saying it. It's the trees. The trees... She spins the blades again, and though she's not targeting the one Clover is in, she begins to have them whirl wind around her and chop several of them down. Splinter more of them as her blades rip these mighty oaks apart. She conducts it as if it were a symphony. ]

[servileness]

[ Even Clover didn't want to do that much destruction, so she's stunned into silence for a brief moment. It's a little frightening what Natalia is doing, is actually becoming.

She's saying all these things to hurt, not for them to be true. It's laughable.

She jumps down from the tree she's in and lands gracefully, something inhuman, something monstrous. ]

Stop! Do you really want to be the monster you remember? Because that's what you're looking like!

[ A majority of the insults she flung at Natalia could be reflected on herself, and seeing her former roommate act like this is chilling. It's repugnant. ]

[nachetanya]

[ The monster...

Was she a monster?

Was that her of the past a monster? The blades now having turned the space around them into a particularly wood-strewn near clearing, she looks at Clover and... And she flicks the rapier down, having the swords vanish. Honestly, it felt good to use those powers, it felt good to be able to stand. But at the same time, it spread her curse further. A purplish mark has curled in flower-like shapes half up her face. ]

Don't I always look as such to you, Clover?

[servileness]

[ She's so tired, and she's about collapse. She can feel a fever coming on.

Her stance doesn't relax once the other blades are gone, but there's no point in lying here and now, is there? ]

I think you're a horrible smug bitch and I hate a lot about you, but I don't usually think you're a monster.

[nachetanya]

[ Her head feels so fuzzy and it's weird hot hot her body feels against the cold air. She pants a little, and smirks at Clover. ]

Oh, I'm touched! [ And she takes a half-step forward close to her. ] Do you still hear the trees?

[servileness]

What's it to you if I do or not? It's none of your business.

[ She's so woozy. She stumbles and slumps to the ground. ]

God, your voice is so grating.

[nachetanya]

I just want you to return the favor of honesty I gave you once!

[ She says in her most pleasant tone even as she sees Clover stumbling in the snow. She ... can't help it, she smirks a little. She's winning this, isn't she?

... Right back at you on the voice, Clover. ]

[servileness]

Excuse me?! What fucking favor did you ever do for me?! I asked you if you needed someone to listen to you and you said yes, so I'm the one who did the favor! How ungrateful can you be!

[ So what if Clover was completely reluctant to do that little thing? So what? She still did it.

Ugh. Shouting is not good when you feel feverish. She hates Natalia. She hates her she hates her she hates her.

She wants to claw that smirk right off her face. ]

[nachetanya]

But you're thinking even now how much you hate me, aren't you Clover?! It's written all over your face! So I gave you plenty of things you can throw back in my face now!

[ So it's a favor for her, in a way... But she is grateful. Was grateful? That argument gave her clarity, even if she also hates Clover. And right now, to be looming over her as the other is going to be the first to collapse from the fever they both have...

It's giving her so, so much joy? Even as she feels her own head getting fuzzier. But she refuses to go down first.

... Go down first? It's cold and snowy out here. Neither of them should go down... ]

[servileness]

I can think of something else to throw into your face! You—

[ None of them should go down, but Clover does. She's down and out.

The fever (and Natalia) wins. ]

[nachetanya]

[ HAH!

... She goes to her knees too. God she feels hot. She feels hot and it's cold out here and that's probably bad for both of them, because that could mean hypothermia? That elation in her petty victory lasts only long enough that the next cruel whisper from the tree comes. She groans and looks down at Clover, her expression softening.

... She could actually die or at least be very injured out here if she leaves her.

What with having a prosthetic arm her upper body strength is more limited, but hopefully with some effort she can get Clover on her back at least. She can carry her as far as a cave or something if she doesn't weigh the whole universe. And then probably collapse herself so hopefully those helpful townspeople can find her (again) ]