hold your pretty head high ( open )

[antepone]

Who: Mira, you. A few closed prompts.
What: the eventening
When: throughout the event.
Where: all over Umui.
Warnings: death. gore. will update with more!
Notes: lmk if you want a starter. i'll also match format!

august 5-9.

[ In some ways, it feels familiar. She's not really thrilled about that; the fear of succumbing to something she can't control is terrifying. Something pricks at the back of her mind, flashes of an old memory clawing to the surface--

beneath the ground, surrounded by darkness and decay and the slow sound of something heavy growing closer

--she closes her eyes and shakes her head. Focuses on other things. She doesn't dare go back to Enso; she doesn't know if she'd infect others who, luckily, haven't been. Her food's running a bit low, but she's still got quite a bit. So. If she sees someone around, she'll come over with a smile. She's a little dizzy from walking so much, but she manages to not fall over. ]

Are you hungry?

[ ... of course, aside from trying to take care of people, she's... not doing much of that for herself. Often, she has to take a break to curl up somewhere quiet. Mira's started coughing up flower petals, and that? Seeing the blood-soaked violet petals?

It's terrifying. So much that she's not particularly aware of much else. ]

august 10-16.

[ It's getting much worse.

The flowers grow along her skin, bursting forth around her wrists and throat. She's in a lot of pain, and she doesn't really move from her spot near the mana pool on Umui. She can't move, exactly. Not without a lot of hurting. Still, she puts on a brave face, sits up (visibly wincing, naturally) if she notices someone coming along. ]

How are you doing?

[ It's a foolish question, but. It's fine. ]

Comments

lance: stage two.

[antepone]

[ When she sees him, flowers growing in patches on his skin, her heart sinks. Searching for Kaltenecker seems so long ago, and she wishes desperately that they were talking under much better circumstances. But... maybe she can help him. Maybe she can slow the steady creeping of flowers within and without. ]

Lance...?

[ Her calling out to him is so quiet, and she tries again even though it hurts: ]

Lance?

[thegoofball]

[At the beginning, Lance had hoped he would, some how, be immune. He had been running around Umui for a month by now, and everything had seemed fine. Any sign of this disease besides the flowers left behind seemed to all be gone.

But then people had shown up underground, and it seems like everything - everyone - has gone downhill so fast. (Maybe he had been sick the whole time - maybe he had been since since the dream of something killing him from the inside?)]

Mira?

[He blinks, putting his wrist to his mouth as he coughs - the left. The blooms of hydrangea are densest around his right shoulder. He can't feel much of that arm at all, anymore.]

Are you-? [Sick, too, is what he wants to ask, cut off by another, wracking cough.]

[antepone]

[ She winces--partly from seeing how terrible a shape he's in, partly from the fact that she's hurting badly--when she looks at him. His shoulder is wrecked, and she can sort of feel his pain... quite literally.

It's a lot harder to block out others' emotions when she's in so much pain. ]

Yeah, [ she says, voice impossibly hoarse. And I don't know how much time I have left, she thinks. ] Would you... join me?

[ She could use the company. ]

[thegoofball]

[There's the heavy pressure of guilt weighing on his chest, but even he can't quite place it. He can't really be to blame for all of this, and it's - it's not like he can fix things. None of them knew what they were getting in for, but it still makes it worse to see how everyone is getting, to hear the rattle of people's lungs and see the blooms across their skin.

It's one more thing trying to kill every one, but it's not something they can so easily fight.]

Yeah, yeah, 'course. [The smile on his face is shaky, but it's no less genuine. He'd rather their circumstances were different, that they were back to...to looking for Kaltenecker, to something better than flowers growing through them, but he...

He doesn't want to be alone. He doesn't want to leave her alone, either.]

[antepone]

[ He's trying so hard, and Mira can't help but give him a smile in return. It's weak, tired, but it's there and it's real. Relief tints the edges, too; if she's going to die, she'd rather not be alone forever how long he'll stay.

She feels another patch of flowers start to bloom at her chest. They leave behind a blood-soaked shirt, and a reminder of how much she's kept bottled up. ]

Have you... [ She coughs, and another few petals fall from her lips, and what remains is the taste of copper. ] ... been talking to anyone?

[thegoofball]

[The blood makes it hard to ignore that Mira's getting worse - they all are, aren't they? It would be so easy to fix it, to let things go, but...

He can't. There are things he has to take to the grave, feelings and secrets and truths. He can't burden other people with the truth, can't put that weight on their shoulders, so he buries it inside and tries to ignore the fact he can't feel much of anything anymore besides the pain.]

Y-yeah. [It both is and isn't a lie - does it count as talking if you're the one listening? If you're the one letting people lean on you as they purge themselves with all of their truths?] Little bit.

[But not enough.]

[antepone]

[ And neither can she open up, bare herself to even the person she loves most here. Mira can tell them to talk to her until their burdens are lifted, until everything weighing them down lessens until it's just a memory.

But she... she can't. Even when it matters most, she can't allow herself to be that vulnerable. ]

Then... it'll be okay. You'll be okay.

[ You. Not we. But god, does she sound relieved at the thought of it. ]

nari: DEATH.

[antepone]

[ It's getting much, much worse, and Mira's downright terrified. She's not sure how she can stop it now when every breath feels like she's being torn apart. She's scared, and part of her wishes she would have opened up, would have told... ]

Nari...

[ ... Maybe she's hallucinating. The flowers have started creeping toward her eyes, after all. ]

[everylittlesecret]

[Nari has been looking for Mira for days now. Unlike her best friend, Nari is pretty unmarred by the blooms. She was always the more honest one between them except for those feelings she once harbored for her friend. Those feelings are mostly gone now since Pyrrha happened.

It still hurts to see Mira like this. It's like a punch in the gut as she rushes over and grabs her friend's hands.]

I'm here, Mira...

[antepone]

[ Funny that, when she thinks she's close to the end, it's Nari who finds her. She tries, desperately, to not show how much it hurts for Nari to take her hands. She probably gets a little blood on them, and Mira can't even wipe it away. ]

H-hi.

[everylittlesecret]

[Nari watches Mira, letting go of her friends hand. She frowns and tries to see where the flowers are coming from and... it's not looking good.]

Violets... How much does it hurt, Mira? Where's the most pain?

[antepone]

[ Yeah, it's pretty bleak. The flowers are centralized on her wrists, her throat, over her heart. And then there's the ring of flowers around her head and near her eyes. Maybe it would be pretty, if not for what they mean. ]

I... don't think you can do anything, [ she rasps. There are a lot of pauses between her words, and she's breathing so, so hard. ]

[everylittlesecret]

.... I know I can't. Even if I could, I can't keep you from bleeding out... I can't.... there's only one option and I don't know if I can do it.

hifumi: stage two.

[antepone]

[ There are several people Mira's worried about, but at the top of the list is... Hifumi. She's just arrived, and she'd been there when this thing had started. Not even a month into her time here, and this happens.

Somehow, somehow, she manages to find her. ]

H-Hifumi?

[shogis]

[ she's so tired. bright red snapdragons have torn through the fabric of her jacket and are blooming from her shoulders. they're also on her palms, and there are early signs of them starting to sprout on her ears, too. her body hurts. she wants to lay down and sleep, but she knows that's not going to stop it.

hifumi is applying some antibiotic cream from her first aid kit to her blisters when mira approaches her. hifumi turns to her with tired eyes, gives her a weak smile. ]

Hello, Mira... Are you holding up alright?

[antepone]

[ It would be beautiful, if it weren't killing Hifumi from the inside. Mira takes a seat, her very bones aching as she shifts in an attempt to get comfortable. It... doesn't really work, but god, she is trying. ]

As... well as I can be. [ She coughs and a few petals, violet-colored and soaked through with blood, fall from her lips. ] What about you?

[shogis]

[ it certainly is. it's killing them all. hifumi frowns and holds back a wince as mira coughs up petals. that's...not a good sign. ]

I could say the same. But... Is there anything I can do to help alleviate some of your pain?

[antepone]

[ It sure isn't. But Mira's absolutely going to play it like she's not totally screwed up.

... which is remarkably hard to do when her throat is bleeding from where the flowers have sprouted. ]

I... maybe. [ It hurts to talk, and she moves her knees up against her chest. Her arms rest at her sides, useless. ] What about yours? I think, maybe... talking about things we've kept inside--I think that helps.

[shogis]

Yes, that...appears to be the solution to at least stalling off the disease, doesn't it?

[ talk about what she's been keeping inside... the only person hifumi's ever done that with is akira. even then, it took a lot for her to open up to him about the things she'd been bottling up in her heart. she hesitates, but sees the bleeding on mira's throat. ]

You don't need to say anything, Mira. I-- [ she coughs up a mouthful of petals into her hands. ] excuse me...I...I don't know where to start.

pyrrha: stage two.

[antepone]

[ It's later on, near the fifteenth, when Mira finds Pyrrha. By now, she feels like her whole chest has filled up with flowers. It hurts, especially her heart. And she's tried use her hands, but the flowers around her wrists make that absolutely impossible. She's hurting in so many ways, and she's reminded of just how much she's kept bottled up when she sees that red, red hair.

... maybe if she doesn't say anything, Pyrrha will just..... not notice her. That's fine. ]

[tokenflavortownie]

[Pyrrha feels almost the same. There was definitely the sensation of something in her chest. She could just feel it in her throat, every time she breathed. It was tough, painful sometimes, especially when coughing fits seized her and left her spitting out these dreadful, white petals. She had to stay positive though, for her own sake, and for Nari's, and for everyone else's. She had fluro; it was disgusting to drink, but she'd learned that it could slow the process down. Potentially help, even.

It was hard not knowing what to do. She didn't want to show that much.

There were more things to focus on than the encroaching illness affecting everyone she knew. There was... a birthday. Nari's birthday. It was coming up, that's the extent of her knowledge, and she wanted it to be special, despite everything.

There was only one person who knew ore about Nari than Pyrrha did, and she had been wanting to find Mira for a while. Not surprising that she takes notice.]

Mira! I was wondering- Oh my... are you okay?

[A bit of a dumb question, but as she draws near, Mira will probably notice the particular type of flower dotting her hair and even popping out several times on her bare arm. Not even Pyrrha had been exempt from this illness. ]

[antepone]

[ Oh, no. Mira's eyes widen, and there's a need, desperate and maybe a little foolish, to tear the flowers away. After all, Pyrrha's always helped her, always been there, reliable and strong.

If he's going to die... then she's glad she's leaving Nari in the best hands possible. Hers are useless now, anyway. ]

Hi. [ She coughs, and the violet petals follow. Mira wipes them away. ] I've been... better. What about you?

[tokenflavortownie]

...I've been better.

[She's also been worse. Try as the flowers might, she will continue to soldier on, until either she finally gives in, or the blooming vines creeping through her body did. It was tough, and many times she'd considered taking every Edelweiss in her hands and ripping them out just to feel like she wasn't suffocating in them.

And Mira... she was so nice, she didn't deserve to look so drained, or have these flowers dragging her down.

Pyrrha winced at the sight of more petals.] Mira, you look awful - I'm sorry, but... [She knows what Pyrrha means, hopefully.] I had no idea you had it this bad.

[antepone]

[ The Edelweiss. Mira's breath catches fast, sticking like the petals in her throat. It's not right--Pyrrha shouldn't be suffering. Especially with that particular flower.

Edelweiss, Edelweiss, every morning you greet me....

Mira coughs violently, roughly, and she turns her head against her shoulder. ]

It's okay. I... It'll be okay. [ She tastes blood, thick and heavy on her tongue, and she wishes she could tear them out. ] ... Do.... you need to talk about anything, Pyrrha?

[tokenflavortownie]

[As soon as she begins to cough, Pyrrha is by her side, holding out her hands in concern, but they aren't nearly as strong as they usually are.]

It's not really that important, just that I... [there's a metallic taste in her own mouth, but it isn't from blood. It's hard to swallow for a moment.] I-I just wanted to ask you something, about Nari.

[But now she's already believing that's a terrible idea.]