WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO CRACK THEIR BONES?

[sputnik]

Who: Konstantin Veshnyakov + ota!
What: an opportunity to encounter the alien parasite inhabiting Kostya's body / various other threads.
When: mid-late May / June.
Where: various places in Milton.

Content Warnings: This character comes with a parasitic alien entity by default. He's also experiencing Glimmerfog sickness, but it's in its early stages. More detailed warnings in various prompts within.

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INFO !

■ — Kostya's in the early stages of Glimmerfog sickness. His little alien horror can sense this and is going to yeet itself out of him at random times / places in Milton.
■ — This scenario can be played with in a variety of ways, with varying degrees of horror. If needed, please let me know if there's anything you'd specifically like to indulge in or avoid.
horreur / plotting post
■ — Details on the alien can be found here. As a note, it will be staying more underdeveloped / larval in these threads, so although it may get aggressive, it won't be capable of doing too much damage... apart from biting, if you get close enough to its mouth... It WILL try to suck your blood if that happens!

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A — THERE IS A KILLER AMONG US

This is the option to chat with Kostya before his little alien freakout, for anyone who might like some build up, to get in some initial cr-building, etc. For anyone who wants this option, I'll reach out to see how you might want the alien reveal to go down later on in the thread! OR if you might want to just have them talk and not have an alien reveal, that's fine too!

[ It's common for Konstantin to find difficulty sleeping, and so the earliest days of the sickness pass by without any real awareness to the fact. It's fine if he's mildly drowsy; he can handle it! As usual, he's prone to taking walks from his cabin on the town outskirts and into the center of things, perpetually looking to keep himself busy. Maybe you catch him:

— getting in some physical fitness, taking walks and jogs around town (stopping to smile at anyone he might see out on a porch front or passing by; he'll be happy to chat, even with strangers. Maybe you'll end up inviting him in at some point! Certainly there's no danger of this man throwing up an entire alien or anything like that)
— at the hunting/fishing supply store, which is a much less-traveled area in Milton and mostly always empty... But today there is a lone cosmonaut inside, looking for a fishing pole.... and seeming a bit lost about it, standing with his hands on his hips, frowning thoughtfully. He's only ever lived in the city and in outer space, and neither of those options have exposed him to fishing.
— at one of Milton's remaining empty cabins, with the front door wide open to let in some fresh air as he pokes through dust-coated furniture to look for any home decorating items he might be able to snag...
— wildcard options! Kostya could be just about anywhere, but for this thread, it would work best if it's somewhere there aren't too many people around. ]

B — I'M A LARVA WRAPPED IN SILK

This is the option for Kostya's alien to start making an appearance at one of the mentioned locations, but it will not fully emerge from his body. Things will still get pretty gnarly, as it will visibly be seen coming upwards, but he will not actually throw it up. Once it settles back inside of him, Konstantin will wake up (so basically this thread option will involve him shortly coming to again and your person dealing with that!) Content warnings: seizure, parasitic horror, emeto / vomiting associations.

[ It happens with little warning. All of a sudden, the other occupant in the room will begin to tremble — and it's immediately violent, his body commanded by convulsive jerks that wrench him back and forth. He'll only remain upright for seconds before he's unable to hold himself, losing control of everything, falling to the floor hard and fast.

Konstantin is not a small man; about six feet tall and with the athletic build befitting his title as a Hero of the Soviet Union, hitting the deck is a rough process, hard and heavy. He might slam into something, knock nearby objects over — might even fall into you. Ultimately he'll end up on his back, however, and it's there that he keeps convulsing, back arched inwards and head hitting the floor beneath him as he spasms. His eyes loll back, gagging against the strain of his own throat.

As quickly as it starts, it seems to stop. The man's body goes completely limp, eyes shut, mouth slack with a thin stream of drool that slips from the corner and puddles to the floor. Every muscle has been forced to shut down, leaving the cosmonaut unconscious and unmoving. It's then that the creature can safely start to make its exit from the body that's progressively becoming sicker with some strange illness.

Something is happening to the man again. He remains unconscious, eyes shut, but his body is moving once more — softer spasms this time, torso rippling. His mouth parts and his throat convulses with movement as he dry heaves there on the floor as though needing to vomit. The creature makes its way up from its nest within his stomach, pushing itself from the safety of the organ and up into its host's esophagus. The journey takes some time, and then you'll see evidence of it — some thin thing wriggling under the skin of his throat, pumping itself upwards slowly, cautiously. But it pauses all of a sudden, waits. It can sense you're there, and it's completely vulnerable outside of him. ....What will your reaction be? Maybe it isn't worth coming out right now. ]

C — DON'T LOOK EVIL RIGHT IN THE EYE

This is the option for Kostya's alien to immediately make a full appearance at one of the mentioned locations. It will emerge from his body and can be interacted with as a separate entity. Its reactions will depend largely on how someone reacts to it, but if you have any preferences or thoughts here, please reach out to me! For this option, Konstantin will remain unconscious for the entire thread, so interactions will only be with his alien. Content warnings: seizure, parasitic horror, emeto / vomiting, an alien that is very worm-like and also has features associated with a variety of spooky creatures like spiders, snakes, lampreys...

[ It happens with little warning. All of a sudden, the other occupant in the room will begin to tremble — and it's immediately violent, his body commanded by convulsive jerks that wrench him back and forth. He'll only remain upright for seconds before he's unable to hold himself, losing control of everything, falling to the floor hard and fast.

Konstantin is not a small man; about six feet tall and with the athletic build befitting his title as a Hero of the Soviet Union, hitting the deck is a rough process, hard and heavy. He might slam into something, knock nearby objects over — might even fall into you. Ultimately he'll end up on his back, however, and it's there that he keeps convulsing, back arched inwards and head hitting the floor beneath him as he spasms. His eyes loll back, gagging against the strain of his own throat.

As quickly as it starts, it seems to stop. The man's body goes completely limp, eyes shut, mouth slack with a thin stream of drool that slips from the corner and puddles to the floor. Every muscle has been forced to shut down, leaving the cosmonaut unconscious and unmoving. It's then that the creature can safely start to make its exit from the body that's progressively becoming sicker with some strange illness.

Something is happening to the man again. He remains unconscious, eyes shut, but his body is moving once more — softer spasms this time, torso rippling. His mouth parts and his throat convulses with movement as he dry heaves there on the floor as though needing to vomit. The creature makes its way up from its nest within his stomach, pushing itself from the safety of the organ and up into its host's esophagus. It's in a hurry, alarmed; it lets the man's natural reflexes help urge it up and out, and suddenly Konstantin's body reels, mouth parting wider as something small and quivering spills from his throat and onto the floorboards with a wet plop.

At first, it looks like a mass of slime, but you might realise quickly enough that it's a sort of sac, a viscous membrane. The thick, protective coating is something the creature produces to keep itself and its host undamaged by its violent exit from his body.

The mess stays still enough for a few long seconds, but then its pulsing intensifies, and something begins to squirm within it. A writing thing emerges, but not easily, seeming to struggle with the task. Finally the thing that just came out of the unconscious man is revealed: a worm-like creature, body long and thin, consisting of a head, little vestigial protrusions that perhaps suggest limbs stuck in development, and ending in a tail.

It seems like too many things put together — something at once reptile, insect, invertebrate — its little head is hooded, much like a cobra's, but its mouth is only a round hole, lined with sharp little teeth. A cluster of eight black eyes glint, spiderlike, as the thing slowly writhes wetly on the floor. ]

Comments

[chuju]

[ It's trying to communicate with her.

The realization hits her a moment before it starts moving toward her and Daisy tenses, fight or flight demanding she do something, anything besides just sitting there. Her primal human instincts are insisting there is a Thing creeping closer and she should run—

But she doesn't. The sounds it makes don't seem threatening. If anything, it reminds her of a little child she'd met on a planet whose name she couldn't pronounce. The girl had never seen a human before and was so curious that she'd rambled away while the adults talked. It had been precious, and she can't help but wonder if this is something like that. Curiosity rather than predatory intent.

Don't get her wrong, she is absolutely terrified of the slithering creature moving toward her, but she's also incredibly aware that some beings can sense fear and stress in others. Some animals on Earth can, of course, but she'd also encountered more than a few alien species during her year in space that could tell when some of her crew were tense. Since she can't afford a misstep here and now, Daisy calls upon every ounce of her SHIELD training, pulling in slow breaths and focusing on keeping her heart rate low and steady. It isn't easy, but when it's the only alternative to running screaming from the room, that's a damn good motivator for putting in the effort. ]

Sorry, I still don't understand. [ She makes her voice softer than before, almost gentle. ] Just don't try to eat me or anything, okay? Neither of us will like how that turns out.

[sputnik]

[ Faced with this strange human(?) now, all the alien can do is react to how she feels, what she does. She isn't attacking it, she isn't harming its host, and she's... calming. It feels this happen, the measured breathing, the heart within her chest slowing, its pulse steady. Soothing. The creature, almost bizarrely quickly, loses its edge in response. It won't harm her unless she harms it first — a sentiment they both seem to feel and abide by as they remain at this stand-still with one another.

And when she speaks again, it's softer; the alien is especially aware of this, too. The tone of a voice, its volume. Vasiliy speaks to it this way, soft and careful, and it's very different from being shouted at by the humans before.

So while it doesn't understand her words either, it understands that she feels like she means no harm. And that leaves room for curiosity, an opportunity to learn, even if so cautiously. It inches a little closer, trying to figure more of her out — but then hesitates when it nears a beam of sunlight coming in through one of the cabin windows. It isn't used to being out in the sun, has never been exposed to its light shining through a window — doesn't even know what that beam is.

So it starts inching forwards again, but as it begins to pass through the light, it feels the brightness of it — abrasive to its larval body, a creature meant to be in the safety of darkness, not exposed to the sun. It makes a shrieking sound, and starts writhing like a worm suddenly unearthed. The light does hurt, but mostly the creature's frightened by the experience, body squirming fitfully. ]

[chuju]

[ They've only just met, the Inhuman and the Creature, but already she's beginning to pick up little tells of its mood. The sounds it makes, the way it moves, how it watches her. As creepy and gross as it is, there's also something a little cute about it. She finds herself slowly feeling endeared to it, which makes it easier to shove her fear back into the shadows where it belongs.

Trust humanity to make something Scary into something Cute. But maybe it can't help what it is, how it has to live, what it is capable of. Should they punish and revile something for being what it is?

Ever since her transition, Daisy has faced that hatred herself. Every day of her life on Earth, she had someone look at her like she was a thing, and she'd watched baseline humans hunt down other Inhumans to the point where there almost weren't any of them left. Whatever this creature is, if it isn't harming Konstantin, then it has as much right to live as anything else.

The sound it makes tears through her like a clawed hand, gripping hold of her heart and jumpstarting her instinct to protect. Half-rising, she panics for just a second, torn between trying to do something directly for the squirming creature or taking care of the light that had caused its reaction. But after that second, she makes her decision, standing and looking around the room they're in. The place seems to have been fairly picked over, but there in the corner is a small stack of carefully folded blankets, as if someone were preparing for whoever might move in next.

Keeping her distance from the poor creature, she hurries around the edge of the room to those blankets, grabbing them before again skirting around to reach the window. She does her best to tug closed the old, flimsy curtains before hanging the blankets on the rod as well. They don't completely block the light, but the solid beams are diffused into a gentler glow.

With one blanket still clutched to her chest, Daisy turns and peers into the room that has grown significantly darker. She stays where she is as her eyes adjust, peering toward where the creature was and hoping it understands she's trying to help. ]

Are you okay? [ It feels ridiculous to ask, and even more ridiculous to be hoping to hear that soft chittering again in response. ]

[sputnik]

[ Not too long ago, the creature emerged on an Aurora night here — and was terrified by the cacophony around it, the snaps and crackles of lights and sounds. Car alarms blaring, things turning on and off and on again, the swirl of bright Aurora lights dancing in the sky. The creature was so afraid it could almost only shut down.

The man that its host lived with... helped it. He crouched down low to where the alien was cowering under the bed and placed a blanket on top of it to hide in. The material muffled sound and kept the lights away from its vision, and it was able to calm down. And after that, when morning crept in and the Aurora faded away, the man actually picked it up and helped it back onto the bed. Nudged it to its host so that it could return to his body.

It understood that the man saved it. And when the woman rushes to stop the light, to make it less harsh and abrasive, now something muted to a glow that doesn't hurt its sensitive cluster of eyes and its soft, newt-like skin, the alien understands that she's saved it from pain, too.

The shrieking stops, and so does the writhing. Instead it lies there on the floor, depleted of energy for a few long moments. But finally it gathers the strength to lift its head again in response to her voice, looking around the significantly darker room, the atmosphere so much more comfortable. Staring right at her, it gives another one of those softer chitters; there's no trace of hostility left at all. It almost just seems to be... speaking to her. At the same time, its hood ripples with movement, but not the flaring defensive gesture from before — just moving up and down, curious, attentive. ]