first one to make that doctor who joke loses

[birdsbirdsbirds]

Who: Everyone! All of you!
Broadcast: Maybe!
Action: Definitely!
When: Anytime during the toxic moon event!

---

[boy oh boy, isn't everyone just so excited to explore this... charming... place...?

this is a game-wide mingle and the timeframe isn't super-important, so throw in with whatever you want! play war games, go shopping for gas masks, get lost in the wilderness, hide up in the Iskaulit and refuse to set foot on the moon, anything goes.

here's the main event info post for reference! have fun!]

Comments

Syeira

[child_of_bhaal]

[Status: Poisoned]

She wears the standard issue mask for all of twenty seconds, before she can't stand it anymore. She takes it off, and that's that. At her first opportunity she sells it, and won't be found with another one on, if she can help it. She is not immune to poisons. She staves off the effects by using magic, but it wont last forever. And the spell can actually make the onset of symptoms worse, without proper medical attention.

After the first six hours, she'll suddenly appear quite unwell, breaking out in a light sweat, coughing, and feeling nauseous. This won't stop her from going out to the planet, and spending as much time as possible off the ship while she has the opportunity. She will absolutely muscle through this and not complain, much.

[Catch-all]

Syeira will spend as much time off the ship as she possibly can. Which may be less than usual, if she's sick enough. But she'll avoid participating in the war games, if she can help it. Though she doesn't mind watching, just for fun. But you can bet she'll go out and explore the woods.

Poisoned

[goldenglasses]

[Vash doesn't know Syeira, but when he passes by her he can't ignore that light sweat on her brow and the lack of mask. So he stops and turns back towards her.]

Hey there, are you okay? Have you lost your mask?

[child_of_bhaal]

[She is...not well. But she will smile and fake her way through it. Even though she's completely given away by the sweating and how she's a little paler than she ought to be.]

Oh, no, I didn't lose it. I uh...[She coughs a little into her hand.] sold it.

[goldenglasses]

But why? You really shouldn't be outside without one. The natives here say it can kill people.

[child_of_bhaal]

Couldn't see or talk with it on.

[Cough.]

It's not really that bad out here.

[She's totally fine, nice stranger.]

[goldenglasses]

[If only Vash knew about the magic she could use he would feel much better about all of this.] But you're coughing. And it's not that hot out here to be sweating. [Unless she was just in one of these war games he had heard about, but he's not going to mention that.]

[child_of_bhaal]

Well, you know, pollution.

[That sounds like a reason to be wearing a terrible, suffocating mask.

Rats.

Ummm...]

But it's not so bad. Really.

[Yes, Sye. That'll convince him, surely.]

shopping shopping!!

[dontthinkaboutelephants]

[Arthur sets out as soon as they both have their masks on (hers after a bit of pleading from him). The journey to the clothing shops indoors (where they can take off their masks, thank God) isn't very long.

It's hard to talk with the gas masks, so Arthur doesn't try to. He just glances at her and touches her shoulder while they walk, a silent note of concern, since she'd been ill earlier.]

Eeee!

[child_of_bhaal]

[She put the mask on because he asked. A lot. And so she did it. The entire walk though, she keeps messing with it, unable to help it. It's oppressive, like a hand clamped over her mouth and nose, stifling her airways. If she needed to scream would anyone even hear? She tugs at it, wiggles fingers under the straps, like a child pulling at dress clothes that are too stiff.

If she looked ill before, she might look worse with the mask on now, the sweat on her brow growing more pronounced to the point of dampening her hair, her breathing shorter, as she tries to get air that her mind says isn't there. She's distressed and trying to not be distressed in front of Arthur, because he's already worried.

They can't get to the shops fast enough for her.]

[dontthinkaboutelephants]

[Arthur's watching her with wide eyes, watching her get worse and worse as they go on. He'd intended on going to a shop down the street, but he sees that won't do. He leads her quickly into a smaller shop nearby and stops her in the entry.

His fingers slide up, gentle and careful, and they extract the mask quickly from her face.] Sye...

[He has to swallow a lump in his throat. If he's right, he's feels like an asshole.] God, I'm an idiot. You don't just dislike the mask. Am I right?

[child_of_bhaal]

[The first thing she does, the moment that mask is off her face, is take a deep breath. And then coughs, because she'd been breathing the miasma in the air, and it was finding a temporary home in her lungs. But still, she feels like she can breathe again.

And though her body language says she's relieved, better, feeling safer, she still tries to gloss over everything that she was just feeling. She's used to pushing aside her feelings to care for the comfort of others, emotionally, mentally, physically.]

No, it's fine. I'm fine.

[She's fine now.]

[dontthinkaboutelephants]

Syeira. [It's said a bit sharper, but it's immediately followed by him reaching out to take hold of her hand, hold it between both his own.] You don't have to hide things from me. My best friend hid things from me, when things were bad for her. And she died. I never even had a chance to know she was hurting.

[His voice is quiet, to keep the conversation between them, but it's said urgently. He doesn't share things like this. He doesn't. But, with Syeira, it's different.]

[child_of_bhaal]

[Everyone's touching me so much lately. The thought flits across her mind, as he takes her hand again. Not offended, just observing. But she can't focus on it, because she's being scolded.

She sighs, meeting Arthur's eyes steadily. Determined.]

I'm not going to die from something being on my face, Arthur. I just can't breathe well with it on. Like I told you before.

[Most would leave it at this, a brush off and done. But Syeira needs to reassure, so her expression softens, she squeezes his hand gently.]

You don't have to fear for me.

SYE NO (the poison option)

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[it's not as though Robin's been very good at wearing his own mask... today he's dressed in all the same dark leather and "hey look I'm a douchebag" jacket as usual, with the unique addition of a wide-eyed bird mask hanging pointlessly around his neck.

he walks up to her while she's looking pale, sweaty, and obviously sick. he's a little tired-looking himself, but his blood has been keeping the worst of the sickness at bay. he pats her arm by way of hello.]

Hey. You don't look so good.

[it's more of an observation than a warning, but there's an absence of his usual smile all the same.]

ROBIN YES

[child_of_bhaal]

[Oh but it is nice to see Robin. He gets as bright a smile as she can manage through the nausea and headache. Which is about half the wattage of her normal level of super pleased smile.]

Robin, hi.

[Her smile turns immediately wry at his observation.]

Yeah, I know. I have been duly scolded and informed I am a terrible person for being outside without a mask. But as I cannot stand to wear one in a very serious way, and if I don't get off the Red Fish for a while, I will surely go mad, you are hereby relieved of all obligations should I drop to the ground.

[There's a tired, self-deprecating humor in how she says it. She's had some time, and a nice talk with Arthur, to come out of her shame spiral. (Which she blames being unwell more than she does Allen for how easily she dove straight into self-loathing over his lecture. He was still rude, but she's usually better at seeing other people's points of view) So she's just going to poke fun at herself about it and call the situation past.]

Not that I expect you'll lecture me, with your own mask off your face. [She taps the long rubbery beak.] That is terrifying, by the way.

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[he absorbs all of that explanation without anymore than a slight raise in his eyebrows, and an eventual tilt of his head. whatever he was expecting to hear out of her, this apparently wasn't it.]

... Huh.

[...and that's all he says, for several long seconds, before he says anything else.]

All right. That's fair. [he glances down at the bird mask before looking up again, refusing to move on just yet.] But if you're interested, I know a charm that'll help keep you from throwing up your insides.

[child_of_bhaal]

[She is sick and she has the urge to lean, or otherwise touch other people, to seek comfort, which normally she would suppress firmly. But she's slowly growing accustomed to casual contact, thanks to Arthur and Cas, and this is her first time being actually ill for longer than it takes to swig some antidote.

So she gives right in to the impulse and leans her forehead on him, round about the shoulder area, with a grateful and yet miserable groan.]

Yes, please. I will pay you. This is awful.

[birdsbirdsbirds]

[his posture stiffens, but only for a moment. as soon as he realizes why he's being leaned on, he brings one of his arms up to wrap around her shoulders in something resembling a gentle hug.

he's the King of Suffering, after all. how could he not love someone looking to him for comfort? at the very least, this core calling of his is a lot more appealing than the thought of moping around the city for another hour.]

C'mon. I think I see a doorstep we can loiter on.

[he'll nudge her in that direction. it's probably the front of some business or an apartment complex--but the steps are wide and no one's going to run them over if they take a break there.]

[child_of_bhaal]

[She doesn't hold that stiffness against him. It actually makes her appreciate the hug all the more. And she will let him steer her as he likes, because she trusts Robin.]

Oh, excessively minor law breaking. Let's do it.

[Said like a sick person who gives zero fucks if someone is forced to walk around her, if it means she can not be standing under her own power for a few minutes.]

Sometime later in the month

[mortalcoil]

[Coil hasn't really been around enough to notice the extent of Syeira's habits when it comes to this little moon. as soon as the locals granted him a mask and permission to roam, he was off into the trees like a shadow, with no intention of returning to the ship unless he absolutely had to. so, with both of the Red Fish's captains spending as much time ashore as possible, it's little surprise that they've crossed paths only occasionally.

he'd seen her looking ill once or twice during his brief stops home, and had spotted her without her mask while wandering the sidelines of one of the wargames he'd participated in, but that was about it. he'd assumed she probably tested the limits of this place, like many of them had, and had since learned her lesson.

so, when he finally comes back to the ship to spend a bit of extended time resting his own poisoned self, he's not expecting for her to be there as well, and still suffering the effects of spending time unmasked on the moon's surface.]

omg I'm so sorry

[child_of_bhaal]

[Yes, she learned exactly the extent of how long she could be out in the poisoned atmosphere before she would absolutely have to crawl back onto the Red Fish and rest. And when it comes to her limit, it's right at the line where she will probably fall down in a fevered swoon if she stays outside for one more minute.

So she's back on the ship, with it's filtered air, looking like death warmed over and clearly putting all her remained strength into not falling directly onto her face. She doesn't even notice Coil at first, and she's usually quite aware.]

[mortalcoil]

[he's planning on spending so little time on the ship that he doesn't even bother taking off his mask. it's not like he needs to be heard speaking clearly anyway. so, it takes seeing her like that to even slow him in his mission to get in, rest, and get out as quickly as possible.

he even tries to pass her by once--glancing over with only a minimal hesitation before he carries on his way down another hall. he's got work to do.

but, eventually, something weighs on his mind enough to get him to circle back around a few minutes later. on the second pass, several minutes after he'd busied past her the first time, he returns to peek in on her, trying to catch her eyes from the other side of the room.]

[child_of_bhaal]

[By this time, she's found her way to the floor beside the wall. Her head tilted back, she stares mostly into middle space, feeling like death. It takes a minute again for her to notice Coil has come back and is there, waaay over there, looking at her.

She meets his gaze, notices the purposefulness of it. He meant to get her attention. So she immediately starts to push up to her feet. It's rather awful, her body full of aches and nausea, and everything around her is either too hot or too cold. But she gets up. She's been in worse conditions before. And she attempts to look aware and capable and not like she'd love to just curl up and nap for a week.

Need something?

She signs because, talking is more effort right now.]

[mortalcoil]

[the sharp rise of his eyebrows should be a pretty good indicator of how well she's pulling off that act right now. it's kind of pathetic--at least in his mind.

so, after dithering around where he's at for another moment, he decides to step in and cross the room instead of head off to wherever he was originally planning on going. yeah, he's not leaving this one alone without a bit of investigation.

'what's wrong?' he signs on his way over.]

[child_of_bhaal]

[Oh. She must be very bad off if he's coming closer and questioning her. She's not the lying sort, even when she's well, so she doesn't even bother to deny it.

Air outside. Sick. I'm fine. Okay so she's lying to herself. He's just there to see it.]