I’m a maker of fine graves // Open Log

[thatsreallygreat]

Who: Caduceus Clay thatsreallygreat and YOU
When: post event
Where: ADI, Bonnie's, Dogtown, random park
Summary: Open prompts; happy to match style
Notes: visual reference for Caduceus's human disguise when he's off ADI property; (source)
Warnings: instrument that makes a sound like a person screaming; general references to death/decay



Bonnie's

Helping Bonnie with projects around the house is one way to get a little extra earnings, and Caduceus is happy to do it. He's tall, so at some point Bonnie sent him around to change lightbulbs all around the house - including in rooms where people are staying. He'll knock first, of course, and hold up a lightbulb with a bemused smile.

"Come to add a little light to your life." He thinks he's hilarious, thank you. "It'll only take a minute, or I can come back when you go out."

Sometimes he can be found down in the communal kitchen, cooking relatively large meals for anyone who might want to grab something to eat. Everything he cooks is vegetarian, though if someone requests a meat dish, he might be willing to make it. He'll just need someone else around to do the tasting. When he can, Caduceus does both breakfast and dinner. And if anyone wants to keep him company while he cooks - or better yet, help him - he'd welcome that.

And when the house is quiet, Caduceus might be found in his room, all seven feet of him crammed into a bed that does not fit him. He doesn't complain... though he does tend to leave the door open, even when he's sleeping, to avoid feeling too closed in.

ADI

Medical
"I don't want to die--"

"Mr. Smith, you aren't going to die, but we do need to treat that injury." The nurse standing by the bedside is clearly trying not to sound too exasperated. Caduceus, for his part, stays placidly behind her. And towers over her. The man in the bed doesn't sound placated.

"I heard what he is. People say things he touches die."

"Well, that isn't exactly accurate," Caduceus chimes in, calm despite the roundabout accusation that he might be killing patients. "I am a healer."

The patient doesn't seem willing to budge, though, and looks at the pink firbolg like he might be Death itself. The nurse gives Caduceus an apologetic look, but he bows out, thinking it better that he not aggravate a somewhat hysterical patient. Instead, he finds another occupied bed and approaches, hoping that the somewhat loud conversation wouldn't put anyone else off.

"Hi, I'm Caduceus. What are you here for today?"

Counseling
He shares a room with some of the other counselors, though they are never in there at the same time, and Caduceus has added a few personal touches as he can. Plants, in particular. They brighten up the space. He also find a comfortable rug that matches absolutely nothing else in the room. He likes it and so far the other counselors that use this room haven't removed it.

He gets water heating for tea, tickled by the electric kettle and willing to admit its convenience. He sets out his own box of loose-leaf tea along with whatever ADI has on hand.

Caduceus looks up when he realizes someone is in the doorway.

"Hey, need someone to talk to?"

The Bone Flute

After checking through the bag that arrived with him, Caduceus is delighted to find his bone flute. He almost blows into it right there in Bonnie's, then thinks better of it. Instead, he heads outside and finds a relatively quiet park. There don't seem to be a lot of people around and he picks a spot under a tree.

He runs his long fingers over the flute, smiling at the memory of finding it. Keone had been strange, but he liked her. He liked the harp she'd made for Yasha, too, and in that moment he misses Yasha. It'd be nice to sit with her and play their weird instruments. He'll just have to do so in memory of her, and hope that she is will and safe wherever she is.

The trouble is, the flute... doesn't exactly make the sort of music that most people might recognize as music. He blows the first note, and it sounds like a person shrieking. Caduceus pauses and nods a bit as he gets comfortable holding the flute again. Actually playing it means the duration of the notes is shorter - and sometimes longer - and it creates the most eerie cacophony.

And if someone rushes into the park, worried that someone is dying, well... it wouldn't be the first time.

Dogtown

Caduceus is taking advantage of some decent weather.

He heads toward Dogtown at a leisurely pace and picks a trail that feels right. He carries his staff with him, though for the most part he's only been using it as a walking stick and... well... a whacking stick. The last time he tried to call on his spiritual guardians, they had swarmed him and he isn't eager to try that again just yet.

Now and then he closes his eyes as he walks, just sort of taking in everything without seeing it. Caduceus stops when he sees a boulder that strikes him as appealing. He stands for a long moment, considering it. It feels like the right place to stop. He leans his staff against the rock and runs his hands over it before climbing onto it. He arranges himself somewhere comfortable and takes his straw hat off, leaving it in his lap. Back straight, eyes closed again, Caduceus tries opening himself up, searching for the Wildmother.

He feels... something. It isn't her, but there's almost like an echo of her. An aspect. And a familiar one, at that.

He breathes in deep and exhales slowly. He can hear and smell the life all around him, but there's far more than that. There always is. Beneath fallen leaves there is decay and growth. He can smell the damp earth, made rich by death and able to sustain the living. Agents of change move and grow: insects, fungi, scavengers. In a moment, he is as aware of the inevitability of it all, the natural process that will continue whether or not anyone wants it to. No matter how much interference there is, death will always happen. It is grounding in a way that the understanding of that cycle always has been. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Clay to clay.

As his mind wanders, he thinks of the strange roots he's seen. Meditating like this, he becomes vaguely aware of them again. And he is vaguely aware that he has manipulated them in the past by casting Path to the Grave. He'd seen the dark tendrils wrap around the kelpie moments before Tak killed it.

Caduceus feels a faint, warm breeze and it brings a serene smile to his face. He tips his head into it, comforted by it, just as he is comforted by the cool of the rock beneath him. Life and death. One can not exist without the other. And he is content in knowing this.

Anyone approaching the rock along the path will certainly notice the awkward-looking human with pink hair sitting on it, apparently meditating. They might also notice the ring of mushrooms that have sprouted up around it in a spiral.

Wildcard

[Please feel free to toss a scene my way if you have something you want to play out! I'm also happy to write more specific starts, so let me know if you'd like one. You can PM me here or find me at givemedragons; also happy to exchange discord information. I will likely update this with event prompts as needed when that goes up.

When he is not on ADI property, Caduceus looks like a very tall, lanky human with pink hair and pierced ears.

Oh, also happy to match style! If you prefer brackets, go for it.]

Comments

[thatsreallygreat]

[As a human, Caduceus is still tall and lanky. His hair is still pink. But the rest... definitely passes as human. He blinks when someone bursts into the clearing in armor. He lowers the flute and tips his head as Keith looks around.

And he cracks a smile at the mention of the screaming.]

Oh yeah, that was me, [he announces, sounding pleased.] Or rather this. The flute. I got it from a woman called Keone. She was neat.

[He turns the flute over, and for the knowing, it is absolutely made out of some kind of bone. There is no real mistaking that if one looks at it long enough.]

[marmoron]

[ if that explanation was meant to be reassuring it misses the mark by a mile. though keith's seen caduceus around adi, he hasn't actually met the guy while he's being disguised as human. of course, shiro had mentioned him before -- something about burning his hand on a mission, though shiro hadn't exactly seemed keen on giving details for whatever reason. point being, whatever favor caduceus had going in his favor as a result of being in shiro's good graces, it only extends so far as: ]

Is that a femur?

[ one eyebrow raised eye, the incredulity seems to have only intensified. cool, nobody is dying or hurt or whatever, but apparently there are people making screaming instruments out of bones. lovely. ]

[thatsreallygreat]

You know, I hadn't thought about what bone it might be, [he admits as he starts to examine the flute more closely.] If not a femur, possibly a tibia or something like a radius or ulna.

[He doesn't actually know what kind of creature the bone came from, and honestly hasn't thought that hard about it. It's a bone. Whatever it belonged to is no longer using it.]

Definitely a mammal or bird, though.

[marmoron]

...Guess a bird would make sense.

[ hollow bones and such. btw, he hates that he's thinking about how one would practically go about making a flute out of bones, thanks. ]

So is screaming... your idea of relaxing music? Or is this your version of a cry for help?

[thatsreallygreat]

Oh, neither. The screaming is just when you play one note hard. It actually makes music if you try.

[The music is kind of eerie and haunting, but it's music none the less. Caduceus likes that. He thinks the screaming is neat, too, but he understand that not everyone might appreciate it the same way.]

I'd given it to my sister. Was kind of surprised to find it among my things when I arrived here.