jikan_rpg | Open - Ayakashi Curse

⌛ Who: Riley and whoever comes across him
⌛ What: Riley has been cursed by a stalker ayakashi! Now he's terrified!
⌛ When: Until he's cured and after he's moved into his new home
⌛ Where: Various locations
⌛ Warnings: Riley has a lot of trauma involving being stalked and hurt and people around him being hurt. That's sure to come out here.

A. Cursed!

Coming home late wasn't unusual for Riley. Even with their new residence being in a more unsavory location that didn't stop him from his usual pathway. So it wasn't any surprise that he was out late carrying a bag of new books and sweets on his way home. It was all fine and totally like he always experienced. Well until he realized that he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

Pausing, he stared into the distance then swallowed and started to move again. There was someone behind him. He was sure of it. His heart raced faster and faster until suddenly he found himself running and rushing for his home. Anyone who saw him would see a terrified looking young man with blond hair who kept looking behind him...

B. Paranoia

He kept trying to tell himself no one was there. He did. But every time he went anywhere he was sure someone was chasing him. It was the Fae all over again and while he was in a crowded street he suddenly took off running. There were tears in his eyes as he ran full tilt into someone. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Panicked, he looked behind him but couldn't see anyone. But he knew they were there!

"I'm sorry!" He just didn't know what else to say...

C. Cure

His adopted family decided that the best way to help their little brother was with a party. That meant that they had dragged him to Pete's and, for a change, someone had shoved alcohol into his hand. At first he was too nervous to drink it, likely even needing encouragement from his loved ones. He just kept looking around like he was convinced someone in the bar was going to get him.

But after that drink suddenly he was sloshed and giggling. Someone chasing him? What was that? Falling out of his seat at one point, he blinked then laughed again as he tried to start the second glass he'd been given. (Yes, only one drink had gotten him wasted. Just Fae things.) Seeing someone come over, he'd grin and wave his drink around without a care that he was spilling it everywhere.

Getting Riley drunk? Apparently that was the cure.

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"Last night. We thought maybe it was a curse so it wasn't real. So I...I tried going out. Because if it's not real then it can't hurt me. But there's definitely something there. I see it!"

And he knew it was going to hurt him. It was definitely going to bring him harm! He had no proof of this other than the curse was practically screaming into his senses.

"Curses here have a troubling tendency to be real." He sighs. "It's alright Riley, it will not hurt you while I am here. I don't need to see it to hurt it."

There are ways to hurt the unseen, and Maglor perfected most of them on the wide plains of the Gap, where the winds from the north carried more than illness.

Right. Maglor had a magic to him. It was based around music. As long as it could hear then his adopted father could hurt it. He tried his best to be reassured by that fact and allowed the tall Elf to lead him. Anywhere really. Riley wasn't about to fight it and just cling instead.

Maglor is leading them both back to where he stays, where he has wound protection into the walls of the house, blending his work with Elrond's own protections. But in the meantime he winds what protections he can around them as they walk, watching the shadows for Riley's stalker.

"...are we going to the house?" He was starting to recognize the path they were taking now. After all, he knew that house well since he still visited there regularly. Partially for sword lessons and partially because it was where some of his family lived and he loved them.

"We are, yes." Maglor hums reassuringly.

"Elrond and I warded the place, and Maedhros has reinforced them for us. You'll be safe there, until we can drive whatever chases you off."

"Okay." That sounded good. Wards would help. Even if the stalker wasn't real wards should keep him from seeing it. Right? Riley didn't even know if that was going to work but at this point he'd accept almost anything to help.

As they approach the little house Maglor hums a series of notes that sound like a ripple of water, and there's an answering thrum, the sensation of invisible walls rising, a great gate falling closed behind them as they cross the threshold.

It was a familiar thing, those barriers moving around him. He still came here frequently that he liked to think he still lived here even though he was most often sleeping other places these days. It was a home, after all. And that familiarity was nice even if the curse wouldn't let him fully be comforted.

Looking behind him, he saw the shadow outside the barrier and jumped and hid his face against Maglor's chest.

Maglor soothes him instantly, watching the barriers warily.

"I suppose you're too wound up to rest, hm? But you should eat, at least. I have some tea, and honeycakes, if you think you can?"

"I'll try."

Because he didn't want to miss out on honeycakes. He really wanted the sweets to be able to chase away the fear. Even knowing that they couldn't possibly do something like that.

Maglor draws him deeper into the house, keeping a wary eye on doors and windows, starting the kettle up and pulling the honeycakes out of the fridge (he loves this invention it's so much better than an ice room can he take one home) and setting them on the gridle to warm.

"What tea do you want? Chamomile? Mint?"

No caffiene for u

"Mint. Please."

Going to the table, he sat down with his back to the windows and door. It was hard to not keep looking over his shoulder but at the same time he didn't want to be looking that way and then there would be whatever it was. If he couldn't see it then he could believe it wasn't there.

It wasn't a tactic that was working at all but he was trying his best.

"Mint it is." Maglor agrees and sighs. "Would that I had athelas here! Ah well... a bite to eat and a warm drink will at least keep your strength up."

"What's athelas?" Might as well ask in the hopes of it being distracting. He wasn't even sure if that would help or not but anything was better than thinking about the shadow he knew was staring at him as they spoke.

"Kingsfoil, in the common. It is a herb that grew originally in the Blessed Lands. The traders brought it to Numenor, and when Numenor was sunk, the survivors brought it to Middle-earth. It still has a good deal of virtue to it, to ease the heart and heal the soul, and it is good for poisons."

So it was a healing herb. It had to be a little magical for it to be able to heal the soul and ease the heart too. He wondered if it would even work on him right now. He knew he would want it to. "It sounds amazing."

"It's only small things it can do." Maglor smiles at him fondly, hiding his worry beneath a smile as he sets the table for them both.

"But sometimes, a little heart's ease is exactly what a body needs."

"I know what that's like."

Unfortunately. After all he'd had his heart in unrest for six years now. He could find peace of mind now and then but it never fixed the entire problem. He wasn't sure it would until he could have real peace.

"Even so." He smiles at him fondly. "But we will have to settle for more basic things, hm? I hope that you will be able to at least rest here a while."

Open - Ayakashi Curse

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