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

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

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.]

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Mercy's injured heel is finally feeling well enough that she's been able to get out. And while Dogtown hadn't been a very nice place on her first jaunt, she knows it's likely to be an interesting one, and one of the places she can see about gathering herbs and mushrooms. She doesn't take anyone with her this time, though. No, that's where the danger lies, isn't it? Instead, she brings a book that should help her in identifying those things that are safe to touch and eat in this world. Better to familiarize herself if the comfort of the shops and ADI's cafeteria is taken away. And it feels frivolous, buying food all the time when there's so much of it freely available with the land.

It's a warm day, and she keeps to the shaded paths for the break from the heat that they bring. She spots a trail of mushrooms that look a little different from the others she's been seeing and, cocking her head, follows along the line, picking them and stowing them in a pouch inside her haversack as she goes.

She comes around a bend in the trail and sees... well, a very strange-looking man. Mercy blinks a few times, watching him as he sits atop the boulder, within a ring of the mushrooms. "Um... begging your pardon, sir, but are you using those mushrooms?"

It seems rude to go picking around him.

His eyes open slowly and a lop-sided grin grows when he sees a familiar face.

"Hey, Sister Mercy." Would she recognize his voice? He hopes so. Caduceus runs a hand over his pink hair (some of which is fading to white) and looks at the mushrooms growing around the boulder. He puts a hand down so he can lean forward to look at them.

"Huh, look at that. Didn't even cast a cantrip." He wonders if that's a sign from the Wildmother or from this new entity in his life, the one that calls to him. Caduceus knows there is good reason to be wary of things like that, but... death is death.

He eases down off the rock, all long limbs and lean lines. He's wearing some clothes that Bonnie found that fit him. ADI's disguise makes him look like he's under seven feet tall, but not by much. Caduceus finds himself grateful for that: he's disguised himself in smaller shapes, but the illusion can't keep people from feeling what he really is if they touch him too much.

The straw hat stays behind as Caduceus crouches down to look at the mushrooms. What delights him is the variety that has appeared.

"This is sheepshead," he says as he picks a cabbage-shaped one that's tucked near the base of the rock. He grins and walks himself forward without actually standing up to get to some black mushrooms. "Trumpets of the dead. These are great for stew and soup."

Now that the mushrooms have his attention, it doesn't occur to Caduceus to make sure Mercy actually recognizes him.

She does recognize his voice, and her brows jump up as her lips quirk up. Of course, she's aware of the odd effect that changes people's appearance outside of ADI. It had been the same on the boat. Seeing him in the broad daylight is a little different than the dead of night while blind with panic and pain.

"Caduceus! I ain't used to this looking one way, then the other when you're in different places. Sorry I didn't recognize you." She's crouching down with him, though. "I was thinking the same thing, though. Found a bunch of different mushrooms walking along this path, almost like they were leading me to you." But that would be silly, wouldn't it?

She does eyes the man to see how he reacts to that, though.

"I'm not used to it either. I didn't disguise myself this often before." And it'd always been a conscious decision on his part, or something he consented to each time. Caduceus continues to waddle along, looking at more mushrooms.

He peers up at Mercy, eyes bright.

"Could have been," he says with a wry smile. "Wouldn't be the strangest sign I ever got from the Wildmother."

Or whatever else he's becoming close to here.

"Oh, if you ever see these, just be careful," he says as he points out some innocuous brown mushrooms. "They're not poisonous, but uh... well. One time Calliope made tea with these and I found her sprawled out in the grove staring at the canopy. She said she was watching the ripples the leaves made when they shivered."

She'd been fine, and Caduceus had tried the mushrooms not long after that. Not the worst way to spend an afternoon, but he also wouldn't want these to take someone unsuspecting by surprise.

"Oh, we got ones like that at home." Mercy grins. "They're more yellow with brown spots, though. I seen Grannie squirreling them away for the little afternoon constitutionals she takes down at the pond some days. Went after her once and found her grinning and floating 10-foot off the ground. Wouldn't let me have none of it, though." The young woman sticks out her tongue and scrunches up her face momentarily. "Said it was for old folks who needed a little feather in their step."

She reaches down to pluck one of the mushrooms. "I'll keep it separate. Wouldn't mind knowing what it feels like. And maybe it'll help in my potion-making. Still trying to refine that sleep-aid I been working at. Reckon this'd help with relaxing."

"Well, when you decide you want to try it, I'd like to sit with you while you do."

Just in case. He's not worried about the mushrooms hurting Mercy, but... he does know that state of mind can be important when trying something like that. And it nerve hurts to have a chaperone when one starts following the soundwaves they can suddenly see.

He tips his head at the mention of a sleep aid, wondering if the wavy cap would help.

"I've got some things that'll help with sleep," he says as he looks up at her, curious. "What are you working on?"

"Oh, just a little tincture to help with nightmares. They've been eating at me since that seal business." She falters for a moment. "I appreciate you saving me, but it comes back when it's the creeping hour.

"But you're more'n welcome to drop by any time you like! It's... funny. Living with folk here, but it's still all so separate. You're living with Ms. Bonnie, right?" Maybe it's less... closed off there?

Caduceus gives Mercy a softer look when she mentions the whole... seal and kelpie thing. He's troubled to hear she's having nightmares, but he shouldn't be surprised given what she went through. He should check up on the other people he knows were trapped that way.

"I am living with Miss Bonnie. There are fewer rules, but I have to be like this all the time." He gestures at his human guise before moving to investigate more of the mushrooms that have sprouted up. "I like the freedom to come and go whenever I want to."

But Caduceus also spends some long days on ADI's property to look like himself. And to help. Helping is more important than some illusion magic, but it is a relief to know that people are looking at him and seeing him.

"You should come by for dinner, I cook most nights."

"I feel like I ain't doing half the cooking I'm used to," Mercy says with a quiet laugh. "We got Ren coming by half the week to make meals for us. He's right good friends with Akechi. I'd like that, though. I been wondering what the accommodations might look like. She was a colorful-looking lady when I seen her at the meetings with Reyes.

"Do you have your own room there, like we got in the apartments?"

"I did for a while, but I have a roommate now, Shiroe." Caduceus appreciates having someone around who has a working knowledge of magic, at least, even if he's using relatively little of it around Bonnie's.

"I've thought about seeing if ADI has more room. But I don't know that I'm ready to give up what I've got."

Having his own room would be nice, especially if it's not only a room that fits him, but a place where he can look like himself more often than he doesn't. Caduceus grunts as he gets up, returning to the boulder to grab his bag so he can collect mushrooms for himself. He picks everything that looks appealing, carefully separating the edible, the poisonous, and the edible-with-supervision varieties.

"Is living with ADI as strict as it sounds?"

"Shiroe? Can't rightly say I've met him, yet. Funny name." As if Caduceus is a normal name. It certainly seems more in the realm of what she's used to, though. "Like he's been sheering sheep!" She grins, but shrugs at the question.

"I reckon is stricter for some than others. I ain't had cause to sneak out, yet, but I hear it's like scaling a battlement trying to get back in if you're out past the creeping out. Been thinking about testing it out now my foot's playing nicer. But I like having a reason being out. A young lady needs her beauty sleep."

She bites her lip slightly and eyes Caduceus for a moment. "There's a lot of fine-looking fellows around ADI. Even chanced to get roomed with one, and he's got a friend who's over regular-like. Akechi and Ren, if you've met them?"

Caduceus tucks that away, and if he's lucky, he'll think about it later with some decent tea. Or he'll forget and it won't matter until it crosses his mind again. He looks over at Mercy when she mentions fine-looking fellows.

"No, I don't think I've met them," he answers, trying to place the names with faces. If they have met, it's been in passing. But they seem to have made an impression on Mercy, so he says: "Tell me about them."

He might be oblivious to people flirting with him most of the time, but he's been around enough people who go moon-eyed to be able to recognize it when he's paying attention.

Mercy continues gathering mushrooms, herself, as she speaks, a blush touching her cheeks. "Well, they're both tall and strong. Real fit. Akechi's got this longish brown hair that I been thinking about asking him if I could do up. I think he-he'd look fine with a few handsome braids." It would also give her an excuse to play with Akechi's hair for a bit. "He's so kind and protective. When I was having a nightmare, he woke up and ran right into my room, ready to fight of anyone who was hurting me. And he-he held me for a little after that while I was pulling myself together.

"And Ren..." A soft sight. "He's even kinder, if you can imagine it. Always over cooking food for us, helping with the chores, listening. I reckon he's Akechi's best friend. But he's just been sweet as sugar to me and Monika, too. He's made me tea when I was scared and just let me sit with him. He gives so much of himself away, I worry a bit, but... Oh, Mr. Caduceus, he's so nice."

Caduceus can't help but smile as he listens. He doesn't exactly have a lot of experience with what Mercy's talking about, but it's kind of nice to listen to her. Reminds him of his sisters, and he misses them.

He notices the blush as Mercy goes on, the way she rambles a little, the way she's very free with praise about both men.

"Have you told either of them this?" he asks mildly. Seems like a reasonable step.

"Oh! Oh, we ain't... I mean, I don't know if they'd- Um... I mean, I told them I like them? Compliments and the like. Not much of a reaction, though. I reckon they're used to that?" That would make sense. Akechi seems like he's very used to getting attention, maybe especially from Ren.

"You think it'd be worth it being more... direct? We're all so busy helping out with work for ADI, and we'll all be getting some soon, right?"

"I think it's always worth telling people how you feel," he answers. "Nothing is ever certain or promised, you can't ever know if the chance will come around again. The thing I hear most is people regretting what they didn't do rather than what they did."

Even if it doesn't go as well as Mercy might hope, Caduceus thinks she might be better for getting it off her chest than holding onto it and wondering.

Mercy chews her lip in thought. "I'll think about it. I've... told boys I fancied them before and it got... awkward." She likes what she has right now. Is it worth risking it for what could be?

"And how would she even choose between them? They're both fine, and what if they got to talking, saying I told them I like them both? That might be weird. Or-or if I asked the one first, they might take it wrong and think I was only going for the other like a second choice."

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

Dogtown

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cw: description of psychedelic mushroom use

cw: description of psychedelic mushroom use

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