[Everything feels wrong. Luca does not need the growling from Torgal to decipher that much. He can tell by the litter of feathers, the gouges left from a blade, that something went terribly in this place. And while Joshua's voice should be reassuring, he knows that in this current state, it isn't.
Not when anything could be using his voice.
Beasts it's all gone wrong. And while he knows he should turn away and flee, the idea of another creature continuing to wear his beloved feels so impossible to swallow.
Luca turns to Torgal.]
Go. Joshua... our Joshua, will be back soon. Wait at the Inn for him.
[For now, Luca squares his shoulders, turns, and steps into the treatment room.]
[ It isn't a command that Torgal likes. The frost wolf whines, low and deep, ears pinning back. He clearly doesn't want to leave, knows how wrong this is. But when Luca advances, he doesn't follow. He simply stands in the hallway, holding Joshua's blade in his jaws, watching.
Joshua's body is, indeed, in the treatment room. But, like all of the Fake People milling about in the Grove, his body is deflated and odd, moving like a limp balloon. The far wall is lined with the fleshy spires of the Nature's Mockery, too, but no sign of any struggle there. Simply a lifeless body being piloted by something inhuman.
And the moment that the Fake Joshua spots Luca, its whole demeanor changes. Where once was a horrible, sagging mockery of a person is now a beast consumed, body tensing and shifting as it rushes to grab at Luca, Joshua's mouth stretched wide, way too wide. ]
[It is as he feared, then. At once, he wishes he still had his flames. He would gladly burn this all for the sin of harming his beloved. The thought that Joshua is gone, his Joshua, in any case, makes him angry enough to summon the flames to do it. Or would, had the connection not been severed.
Instead, he can only dip to the side, out of the way of the coming onslaught, but also away from the safety of an exit. He shifts into proper position, arm and blade outstretched, body canted to the side to reduce the target. He slashes once, then twice, at "Joshua's" torso but -
It feels wrong. He feels wrong for harming the other man, despite knowing that it isn't truly him.]
[ This thing may possess Joshua's body, but it possesses none of his combat prowess. It's painfully easy for Luca to slash into the torso. So, so painfully easy.
The mockery of pained noises, however, is still Joshua's voice. ]
Stop...! Don't...!
[ Not that its actions match up with the pleas. Even as the mouth forms the begging words, the body still angles to try to push Luca back towards the fleshy spires, mouth otherwise gaping and chomping. ]
[On his own, strength against strength, they would be evenly matched. In fact, Luca has always enjoyed how equal they are to one another. Now, it is a burden. Eespecially when the voice takes Luca aback just enough to make him stumble.
His hand sinks into the mass with a sickening noise. Luca snatches it back just as quick, swearing even as he does. Whether or not it comes entirely free, it doesn't matter. The hand with his blade slashes out, trying to catch that traitorous throat. If he can sever vocal chords, maybe the bastard will stop speaking.]
[ Luca's hand sliding into the sticky, fleshy mass seems to be just what this thing wants. It makes a sound, similar to Joshua's voice hissing out a "Yessssss" as it moves to grab at the rest of him, push the rest of him into the snare of flesh.
But it can't, before Luca's blade finds its throat. Any noises cut off into a wet, gurgling sound, and it recoils, twisting and turning in on itself violently. But, Luca has his wish - the creature can't seem to speak again, or at least is too injured to do so. ]
[Something on Luca's wrist burns, but he ignores it. He also ignores the burn in his eyes as he watches the thing wearing Joshua's skin choke on its blood.
He jabs again. And again. He knows he's distracted from any other threats, but cold fury seeps up and into every strike that Luca issues. Joshua was gone, he knows this. He had been taken, just as Clive had. And while there was a chance that he would return, as so many often did during the worst of these months, there was a chance that he did not.
But unlike before, when Luca had struck out against the forest aimlessly, he has a real target this time. And he will not stop until he has made this creature suffer and bleed for the sin of mocking him with Joshua's face.]
[ Luca's assault is vicious and unforgiving, and the Fake Person wearing Joshua's skin quickly turns into a mess of blood and other fluids. But the initial assault is all that seems to stagger the thing - once it has unfurled itself from the pain, it almost seems like it powers through, still pushing forward at Luca in an effort to push him back.
But from out in the hallway comes a bark, and before it can push him too far, Torgal is barreling into the side of it with claws and teeth, throwing it off balance. ]
[Once more, Luca finds his hand — then the entirety of his forearm, and part of his back — sinking into the sickening mass. For a brief, heart-stuttering moment, he thinks that this might be it. How stupid, to have let rage blind him so. If Joshua were to come back, then surely he would be devastated by his absence.
But then, the pressure lifts, and Luca watches as Torgal surges past. It's enough of an opening for Luca to stumble out of the mess, albeit with the faint feeling of something stinging across multiple parts of his body.
This time, he doesn't make the same mistake. If not for his own sake, then for Torgal's. He sprints to the exit of the clinic, then turns to the wolf.]
Torgal, come!
[He will not let Joshua's beloved companion be lost.]
[ With Torgal's added assault, the creature stumbles back, giving Luca the opening he needs to leave. Torgal, for his part, continues to snap and claw at the thing until Luca calls his name. Only then does he cease, turning to tear down the hallway after Luca. But not without grabbing up the blade he'd dropped on the floor first. He knows this blade is important to Joshua - he isn't letting it be lost.
But once they're free from the clinic, out in the biting cold air, he will whine loudly around the blade in his mouth. He can smell the lingering stickiness on Luca. ]
[As Luca stumbles out into the open, he cannot help but feel that something is wrong. His body already feels terribly heavy, as if it were still being held back by the Beast within the clinic's confines.
But he can't dwell on that. If Joshua is well and truly going to come back, there are few places for him to be able to do so. The Inn would be the logical choice, but since when has logic ever been chosen over cruelty in this world. No, he'll have to fight from the moment he wakes.
Luca knows this.
Which is why he stumbles toward Joshua's home. He extends a hand, one that aches strangely, in the hopes of at least offering Torgal some comfort. No doubt, he's upset from all that they've both seen.]
[ Torgal isn't sure why Luca passes by the safety of the Inn and turns toward the house, but he follows obediently all the same. Clearly, something is wrong. Maybe Luca doesn't want to bring it back to the Inn. That makes sense.
When the hand reaches out to him, Torgal butts his head up into it. He'd lick, if not for the blade in his mouth. There's a questioning whine, but obviously, he can't ask anything. ]
[Each step seems slower than the last as Luca hobbles toward Joshua's home. He manages to open the door, holds it for Torgal to slip through, and then shambles toward Joshua's room once it's shut. His body feels so heavy, in a way that he attributes to exhaustion. It had been a difficult fight, he supposes, and beyond that.
Grief. Right...
Joshua won't be in his room. There's a chance that he never will be again. And for some reason, that sends Luca to his knees. A small, choked sound escapes him as he does.
He can't wallow here. He should at least clean up, then curl up in Joshua's bed for a time. But his legs don't want to work, and his body just feels so tired. Instead, he pitches forward, curling up on the floor. Just for a moment, while he weeps himself into a slumber. Once he's awake again, he'll do what's needed.
[ Each step of the way, Torgal is at Luca's side. When they arrive in Joshua's room, he sets the blade on a nearby chair, and then curls up at Luca's side while he crumbles.
And that's where he will remain, even after Luca has succumbed to the disease and transformed into something inhuman, rooted to the floor. He only leaves to feed himself or get a drink. Even in a state of un-death, he is a faithful dog.
And so it lasts for the next three days, until one evening when Joshua's bed abruptly fills with his unconscious form. It isn't for long, though. After a few moments, Joshua sits up sharply, gasping for air, eyes wide and searching. The last he can recall, that... that thing was crawling down his throat, and he'd tried and failed to scream before all went dark. And now, he's... home?
Torgal barks, getting his attention, and Joshua lets out a ragged breath. But when he parts his lips to speak to the frost wolf, not a single sound comes out, and his throat aches and burns as though his vocal cords had been torn out. He winces, pressing his fingers to his throat.
And that's when he sees it. The mass of what looks like sinew and nerves, rooted to his bedroom floor. And the feather pendant around its "neck".
Luca.
He staggers as he stands, nearly tripping on muscles that have only just been freshly replaced and stumbling to his knees before what once was Luca. His lips part to speak Luca's name, though there is no sound, and his hands hover uselessly, unsure of what he could even do. ]
[To call what Joshua comes upon a mess is... well, putting it mildly. Yet it it is not an entirely unaware mess. His eyes had been the last to go, leaving him in a blackened world filled only with agony and his own thoughts, but he can still vaguely feel. He had tried to bury himself in memory at that point, to think of anything but the agony he was in.
Torgal, at least, had been a comfort. He wasn't alone, and when it became clear that he was no threat to the beast, he took comfort in that.
Now, though, there is the presence of another. He cannot speak. He cannot move. All he can do is hope. Hope that Joshua will not hate him for the way his own mind begs to be put out of his misery.
[ Joshua can't even tell if Luca knows he's there. But the... the mess that was once Luca is clearly alive in some way, that much he can tell. It's flesh, but not flesh, and the subtle twitches of whatever it is tells him that this thing is suffering. That Luca is suffering.
The thought makes his chest ache, and he exhales sharply, pushing himself to stand up. He can't let Luca continue to suffer like this.
The room is freezing. But of course it is. He hasn't been staying here, he's been staying at the inn. The fire in the hearth isn't burning, nor is it burning downstairs. Because of his own affinity for fire, he has left the flint downstairs, unused since Dion's departure. With abilities vanished as they are, he finds himself in desperate need of it.
But not for lighting a fire in the hearth.
Standing, he flexes icy fingers, swallowing down a hard lump in his throat. Torgal is kind enough to direct him to his sword, which returns to its scabbard at his belt. Collecting a blanket from the back of a chair, he kneels, and gently gathers the creature that once was Luca within it, then wraps it over and carefully carries the bundle downstairs. He retrieves the flint from the mantel, and then outside he goes, with Torgal at his side.
For all the snow, it doesn't take long to spark a flame in the outdoor fire pit. Once it is burning strongly, Joshua lifts the blanketed bundle, pressing his lips to the fabric covering the being inside, in the hopes that the pressure will convey. He doesn't know if it will or not.
With a quiet sob, he lays the bundle over the flames, and stands vigil with his hand on the pommel of his sword and tears on his cheeks and in his lashes, until naught is left of the creature and his heart but ash. ]
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 03:58 am (UTC)Not when anything could be using his voice.
Beasts it's all gone wrong. And while he knows he should turn away and flee, the idea of another creature continuing to wear his beloved feels so impossible to swallow.
Luca turns to Torgal.]
Go. Joshua... our Joshua, will be back soon. Wait at the Inn for him.
[For now, Luca squares his shoulders, turns, and steps into the treatment room.]
cw: body horror
Date: 2026-01-10 04:14 am (UTC)Joshua's body is, indeed, in the treatment room. But, like all of the Fake People milling about in the Grove, his body is deflated and odd, moving like a limp balloon. The far wall is lined with the fleshy spires of the Nature's Mockery, too, but no sign of any struggle there. Simply a lifeless body being piloted by something inhuman.
And the moment that the Fake Joshua spots Luca, its whole demeanor changes. Where once was a horrible, sagging mockery of a person is now a beast consumed, body tensing and shifting as it rushes to grab at Luca, Joshua's mouth stretched wide, way too wide. ]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 04:54 am (UTC)Instead, he can only dip to the side, out of the way of the coming onslaught, but also away from the safety of an exit. He shifts into proper position, arm and blade outstretched, body canted to the side to reduce the target. He slashes once, then twice, at "Joshua's" torso but -
It feels wrong. He feels wrong for harming the other man, despite knowing that it isn't truly him.]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 05:05 am (UTC)The mockery of pained noises, however, is still Joshua's voice. ]
Stop...! Don't...!
[ Not that its actions match up with the pleas. Even as the mouth forms the begging words, the body still angles to try to push Luca back towards the fleshy spires, mouth otherwise gaping and chomping. ]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 05:39 am (UTC)His hand sinks into the mass with a sickening noise. Luca snatches it back just as quick, swearing even as he does. Whether or not it comes entirely free, it doesn't matter. The hand with his blade slashes out, trying to catch that traitorous throat. If he can sever vocal chords, maybe the bastard will stop speaking.]
Do not - dare use his voice.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 06:21 am (UTC)But it can't, before Luca's blade finds its throat. Any noises cut off into a wet, gurgling sound, and it recoils, twisting and turning in on itself violently. But, Luca has his wish - the creature can't seem to speak again, or at least is too injured to do so. ]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 07:29 am (UTC)He jabs again. And again. He knows he's distracted from any other threats, but cold fury seeps up and into every strike that Luca issues. Joshua was gone, he knows this. He had been taken, just as Clive had. And while there was a chance that he would return, as so many often did during the worst of these months, there was a chance that he did not.
But unlike before, when Luca had struck out against the forest aimlessly, he has a real target this time. And he will not stop until he has made this creature suffer and bleed for the sin of mocking him with Joshua's face.]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-10 06:36 pm (UTC)But from out in the hallway comes a bark, and before it can push him too far, Torgal is barreling into the side of it with claws and teeth, throwing it off balance. ]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-11 05:28 pm (UTC)But then, the pressure lifts, and Luca watches as Torgal surges past. It's enough of an opening for Luca to stumble out of the mess, albeit with the faint feeling of something stinging across multiple parts of his body.
This time, he doesn't make the same mistake. If not for his own sake, then for Torgal's. He sprints to the exit of the clinic, then turns to the wolf.]
Torgal, come!
[He will not let Joshua's beloved companion be lost.]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-11 06:10 pm (UTC)But once they're free from the clinic, out in the biting cold air, he will whine loudly around the blade in his mouth. He can smell the lingering stickiness on Luca. ]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-11 09:25 pm (UTC)But he can't dwell on that. If Joshua is well and truly going to come back, there are few places for him to be able to do so. The Inn would be the logical choice, but since when has logic ever been chosen over cruelty in this world. No, he'll have to fight from the moment he wakes.
Luca knows this.
Which is why he stumbles toward Joshua's home. He extends a hand, one that aches strangely, in the hopes of at least offering Torgal some comfort. No doubt, he's upset from all that they've both seen.]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-11 09:59 pm (UTC)When the hand reaches out to him, Torgal butts his head up into it. He'd lick, if not for the blade in his mouth. There's a questioning whine, but obviously, he can't ask anything. ]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-12 02:05 am (UTC)Grief. Right...
Joshua won't be in his room. There's a chance that he never will be again. And for some reason, that sends Luca to his knees. A small, choked sound escapes him as he does.
He can't wallow here. He should at least clean up, then curl up in Joshua's bed for a time. But his legs don't want to work, and his body just feels so tired. Instead, he pitches forward, curling up on the floor. Just for a moment, while he weeps himself into a slumber. Once he's awake again, he'll do what's needed.
By the time he does, however, it is too late.]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-12 02:45 am (UTC)And that's where he will remain, even after Luca has succumbed to the disease and transformed into something inhuman, rooted to the floor. He only leaves to feed himself or get a drink. Even in a state of un-death, he is a faithful dog.
And so it lasts for the next three days, until one evening when Joshua's bed abruptly fills with his unconscious form. It isn't for long, though. After a few moments, Joshua sits up sharply, gasping for air, eyes wide and searching. The last he can recall, that... that thing was crawling down his throat, and he'd tried and failed to scream before all went dark. And now, he's... home?
Torgal barks, getting his attention, and Joshua lets out a ragged breath. But when he parts his lips to speak to the frost wolf, not a single sound comes out, and his throat aches and burns as though his vocal cords had been torn out. He winces, pressing his fingers to his throat.
And that's when he sees it. The mass of what looks like sinew and nerves, rooted to his bedroom floor. And the feather pendant around its "neck".
Luca.
He staggers as he stands, nearly tripping on muscles that have only just been freshly replaced and stumbling to his knees before what once was Luca. His lips part to speak Luca's name, though there is no sound, and his hands hover uselessly, unsure of what he could even do. ]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-12 03:27 am (UTC)Torgal, at least, had been a comfort. He wasn't alone, and when it became clear that he was no threat to the beast, he took comfort in that.
Now, though, there is the presence of another. He cannot speak. He cannot move. All he can do is hope. Hope that Joshua will not hate him for the way his own mind begs to be put out of his misery.
What a foolish way to go.]
no subject
Date: 2026-01-12 04:02 am (UTC)The thought makes his chest ache, and he exhales sharply, pushing himself to stand up. He can't let Luca continue to suffer like this.
The room is freezing. But of course it is. He hasn't been staying here, he's been staying at the inn. The fire in the hearth isn't burning, nor is it burning downstairs. Because of his own affinity for fire, he has left the flint downstairs, unused since Dion's departure. With abilities vanished as they are, he finds himself in desperate need of it.
But not for lighting a fire in the hearth.
Standing, he flexes icy fingers, swallowing down a hard lump in his throat. Torgal is kind enough to direct him to his sword, which returns to its scabbard at his belt. Collecting a blanket from the back of a chair, he kneels, and gently gathers the creature that once was Luca within it, then wraps it over and carefully carries the bundle downstairs. He retrieves the flint from the mantel, and then outside he goes, with Torgal at his side.
For all the snow, it doesn't take long to spark a flame in the outdoor fire pit. Once it is burning strongly, Joshua lifts the blanketed bundle, pressing his lips to the fabric covering the being inside, in the hopes that the pressure will convey. He doesn't know if it will or not.
With a quiet sob, he lays the bundle over the flames, and stands vigil with his hand on the pommel of his sword and tears on his cheeks and in his lashes, until naught is left of the creature and his heart but ash. ]