othellovonryan

[The door will open very promptly.]

[Have a turtleman with a purple bandanna.]

Come on in.

Do you wish for a liquid refreshment or caloric snack?

[Cue very distant ding of "Someone actually paid attention!" for Tryse that will puzzle her for hours.]

[Wylan's fingers are knotted together as he regards Donnie. It's... different to see a turtle so large and not the small turtle Wylan expected.] N-No. I think I would rather get to the process at hand.

[At least he's still several inches shorter than Wylan?]

[~~Wait until he sees Raph~~]

Okay.

[And he's going to start scanning Wylan's emotions.]

Please leave the vase outside. I'll be pulling away the jealousy as we talk.

[Wylan's strongest moment at the moment is jealousy, even when it's seemingly dormant. He pauses to set the vase by the door and then return to Donnie's side. Looking deeply uncomfortable, he sucks in a breath and allows the jealousy to grow, swallowing down the vomit as it rises.]

[Donnie is very quickly pulling away the jealousy. Its not a hard emotion to identify. He'd been feeling it for the mystic for almost two years until he finally unlocked his own powers.]

They must be someone special.

[Enjoy the freedom from the feeling, Wylan.]

[Just when he thought he might be about to throw up, the jealousy subsides and it's like Wylan can breathe again. He blinks and looks over at Donnie.]

That was you, wasn't it.

[He's staring for a moment, before understanding his mission. He tries to think back to the very first time he felt jealous, and his thought linger on his father, on the cruel words, on how he would be sent away long enough to be forgotten.

He remembers standing at his father's office door the night he left, not about to beg, but still wishing he could stay goodbye. And then on the browboat to Belendt for music school, how he was attacked, how he barely got away. How he felt a deep jealousy for those who could read as he wandered through the streets. And then Jesper. When he so easily forgot Wylan the first time.]

[Oh that is a surge of more there.]

[He's pulling on that quickly. He really doesn't want to deal with someone being sick, the smell had been bad enough from the vase.]

That is correct. This would be the active part of the boon.

[Wylan nods, figuring he should push out the worst of the jealousy as possible while here.

Jesper forgetting him in Ketterdam, Jesper forgetting him again here at the Temple. The apparently innumerable people who had shared all sorts of intimate moments with Jesper, when Wylan had believed their relationship special. Oh no , this is worse than the vase, this is that rib-cracking pain. The pain of being forgotten, pushed aside, unwanted.

Just like his father.]

Is it just jealousy that is a problem? Because that is a lot of other emotions too. [He is focusing on the jealousy part, but the rest is pretty hard to miss.]

Also we should talk because I think you are assuming this is doing more than it does and it may make the actual solution harder?

What other emotions? [Wylan was so sure it was just jealousy, but if he can figure out what else may be the problem, then maybe he can find solutions to them as well.

Like his father found a solution for him.]

It's a 24-hour reduction in jealousy, right? That's what I need until I can... talk through things with J-- the person I care about.

Fear, insecurity, pain. [Thanks, boon, for making it easier to identify emotions.] Which can be part of jealousy, but they are quite intense.

Yes, but what I am currently doing is the Active part of our boon. As long as I'm near you, I can take away the jealousy. But that is me being near you. The lingering effects after you leave my presence are not long. You encounter the trigger again, and the jealousy is back.

But there is a deeper part of our boon and THAT is twenty-four hours.

But is also means going deeper into your mind. Part of your mindscape. In there, changes can be made, but the limitation is those changes revert back in twenty-four hours. So we can't go overwrite part of a person's personality on a whim sort of thing.

[This is why Wash said pragmatic enough to use it.]

I'll do it. [Wylan volunteers easily, without hesitation. He needs this to work in order to maintain his relationships.] Whatever the cost. I'll do it every morning if I need to.

[Wylan pauses to turn toward Donnie.] Please. I love him.

....

[Honestly, he expected at least a little trepidation, but he supposes love IS like that.]

All right.

So how it works is I'll need you focused on the jealousy. The deeper dive will bring me to a mindscape of your current, active mental state. So if you're happy, I go into a happy room, if you're afraid, its a room of your fears, stuff like that. So to get rid of your jealousy, you'll need to be focusing on all the stuff that makes you jealous here and I'll find a room based on that.

The first time will be the tricky part because I'll need to identify the parts of the room that are producing the jealousy emotions, but as long you focus on the same thoughts each morning, it should bring me to the same room, and I can destroy the jealousy items pretty quickly until you go through some big character development that alters it.

Some limitations, I can only do a dive once a day, so if I end up in the wrong room, we'll need another Egg.

Probably Crow and T- [He pauses.] Crow. Maybe Aloy if we're desperate. [He does not know Tryse's deal with Minnow, but he knows there's Something.]

Or we just pass that day.

Also if I have another reason to do the dive, I'll warn you ahead of time and either we get Crow, or pass that day, but most of the time, we should be good. Okay?

[Wylan nods along as he listens. Focus on the jealousy. Make sure to get it right. Can only be done once a day, so Wylan needs to make it count. He pales, but otherwise looks resolute.]

Should I sit down? Or is it better standing?

Definitely sitting, we will both be zonked out in the real world.

Also we should probably discuss trade, though you are definitely giving the 'will pay any price' vibe.

Which I would suggest not having all the time, and you're lucky I'm notoriously bad at not undercharging.

[Wylan nods as he looks around for a place to sit down.]

I would. Pay any price. If I could give my voice, or my knowledge of plants and chemistry, I would, willingly.

[Oh wait, this is what Donnie meant.]

I don't have much beside some beginning tinctures.

Edited 2023-07-10 20:53 (UTC)

[There are definitely couches, some comfortable chairs, and actual pillowfort that needs some straightening out, but turtles just never take it down.]

Are you a singer?

[He does grab another bowl, Just In Case. (Hopefully not, he hates the smell.)]

[Hm.]

I can take stock of what tinctures you have, in case you cover a function Tryse doesn't. Chemistry isn't likely to have anything surprising, at least nothing applicable here since any differences are likely to be world specific, and unlikely to be adaptive enough for a new understanding.

But plants may have something. Flora can develop in vastly different ways due to the environment of the world and that may help understand some of the stranger plants here.

We can start with that. If it proves truly unprofitable, we can renegotiate later.

I'm a trained singer, yes.

[Wylan nods.] Back in my room I have a supply of the usual flora plus the moonflowers that have appeared. I'm working on sleep tinctures for those who struggle to sleep. I've yet to find toxic flora yet.

Do you need them now or after the removal of the jealousy?

I'd love to hear it sometimes, I adore music.

Ah, the moonflowers. So you can touch them?

We can organize something with those, at least for a while. I can't touch them, but they could be quite useful.

Maybe the sleep ones, it depends on the side effects. I don't like feeling...fuzzy. And I was also suggesting an exchange in knowledge. I'm a scientist. Which I know is a generic title because then people ask 'what kind of science,' and my answer is simply 'yes.'

You can bring them later. This is a daily thing, so its only fitting the price will be done in pieces anyway. Its like a subscription fee.

I play piano and flute much better than I sing.

Moonflowers. I can bring those over and my notes on the sleep-causing flora.

[Wylan finally smiles and finds one of the couches to sit on.] Thank you Donnie.

Instruments are also good.

Only in a sealed container. It affects magic users.

You're welcome.

[Sitting down, legs crossed, which isn't necessary, it just helps him.]

Now.

Give me your hand and focus on those feelings. I'm going to stop pulling them away, but hopefully I'll have us in your mindscape before your body reacts.

[But hands him the bowl anyway.]

[Wylan reaches out his hand and focuses on being told that Jesper has multiple partners, how absolutely stricken he was learning of such a thing, how he felt as if he stood in front of his father's door, about to depart for Belendt, long enough to be forgotten ringing in his ears.

The nausea starts up and Wylan grabs for the bowl with his other hand, not allowing any other feeling but that intense jealousy to touch his soul.]

[Donnie has stopped pulling, but he is monitoring his feelings. Making sure there is a lot of jealousy and]

[Yes, that should do.]

[Which is when he pulls them into Wylan's mindscape.]

[Wylan is just about to start losing his breakfast into the bowl when he feels them fall deep into somewhere in his head. He can see himself at the door to his father's office, not knocking, but not leaving. He's being sent away, long enough to be forgotten so his 'proper heir' is the only one known.

And then there's a fight on a boat. A much larger man with his hands around Wylan's throat, trying to make him permanently disappear.

The real Wylan sucks in a breath as he watches as the colors wash and blur until it's another more current version, facing Jesper and Jesper tells him that he'd been forgotten. It's hard to watch from the outside as the other version of himself gets up out of bed, upset and vomiting into a vase.]

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting

Re: Day 103, after the minnow meeting