Camille O'Connell (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
therapize) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
entrancelogs2015-06-14 02:42 pm
therapize) wrote in entrancelogs2015-06-14 02:42 pm
What's my secret? Frankly, dear, forgive my candor.
Who: Cami O'Connell and You! (Also Dean)
Where: Anywhere! Although not where there are people as the event progresses.
When: 12th-15th (aka the Ghoul Event)
Rating: PG-13, maybe higher depending on what happens.
Summary: Cami's a ghoul, which hasn't been a problem to date. Now it suddenly is.
The Story:
[Every day of her life, Cami has lived under curse and blessing alike. She is a ghoul, as all O'Connells have been despite their position in New Orleans. Yet the kindness her family is noted for mixed with their position within the city has allowed them to live in peace there, even as protectors of the humans from other supernatural creatures. The coroner's office was always happy to help, since the city kept their pockets well-lined and their secrets safe. Then the witches used their magic, not once but twice, risking exposing the truth behind the O'Connell name to all that lived there. It had been a power grab of the most insidious kind, costing far too many lives, and it made Cami want to reject her family legacy.
But it's something she can't escape from, any more than she can stop the hunger. Even being brought to Wonderland, an entirely different realm hasn't changed who she is. Yet with all the hardships, at least Wonderland still provides what she needs to live and survive, the human flesh that sustains her granted through magic, without forcing her to do harm.
Or it did provide it, until one otherwise ordinary morning when the kitchen cupboards came up bare rather than offering up anything she could eat for breakfast.
With a wary look around, she opens and closes the doors again, several times as panic starts to set in. She can't keep trying, not with more people filtering in and out of the kitchen. Cami manages a grin and holds herself together long enough to get a cup of coffee before rushing away from the tantalizing smells, not of bacon or toast, but living humans, bustling about as they get ready for their day.
Whether its a glitch in the magic or a sign of an event, Cami doesn't know for sure. All she can do for now is go about her day; a sudden change in her routine is a dangerous sign, one that could expose her to those in the mansion unaware of her secret. It's something she can't risk, especially now that she's taken up the role of mansion therapist. Hannibal had been ousted thanks to his habit of murdering people to devour them, and so far as Cami knows she's not even a ghoul. Far worse for her and the people who trust her should they know the truth.
It isn't so easy, however, to focus on therapy when her patients smell so delicious. The coffee she drinks throughout the day does nothing to tamp down the hunger, or cover the scent of each person coming through their door. She tries to hold out as long as she can, but eventually Cami has no choice but to leave a message that she's ill, but would resume sessions as soon as possible.
There are other stops she makes--by the diner for one, to see if maybe the kitchen is the only place refusing to offer food, the bar to attempt the same. She stops at the latter, so hungry she forces down a cheeseburger just to have something in her stomach, even if it's the most wretched thing she's ever tasted.
Even if just a short while later, she rushes to the bathroom to be sick.
At the end she just gives up, resigning herself to staying in her room until whatever this is has passed. That isn't such a simple thing, however, when the scents and odors of the people around her still filter through her door. The joy of living with heightened senses and a hunger clawing at her from within, driving her mad with the want and need to eat. She tries to read, monitors the network to see if anything else has been said (if she's been discovered), even resorts to pacing just to keep herself moving and distracted.
Sometimes she ends up in the hall without realizing it--sometimes further. And the first time she actually runs into a person--
Cami's terrified of the thought.]
Where: Anywhere! Although not where there are people as the event progresses.
When: 12th-15th (aka the Ghoul Event)
Rating: PG-13, maybe higher depending on what happens.
Summary: Cami's a ghoul, which hasn't been a problem to date. Now it suddenly is.
The Story:
[Every day of her life, Cami has lived under curse and blessing alike. She is a ghoul, as all O'Connells have been despite their position in New Orleans. Yet the kindness her family is noted for mixed with their position within the city has allowed them to live in peace there, even as protectors of the humans from other supernatural creatures. The coroner's office was always happy to help, since the city kept their pockets well-lined and their secrets safe. Then the witches used their magic, not once but twice, risking exposing the truth behind the O'Connell name to all that lived there. It had been a power grab of the most insidious kind, costing far too many lives, and it made Cami want to reject her family legacy.
But it's something she can't escape from, any more than she can stop the hunger. Even being brought to Wonderland, an entirely different realm hasn't changed who she is. Yet with all the hardships, at least Wonderland still provides what she needs to live and survive, the human flesh that sustains her granted through magic, without forcing her to do harm.
Or it did provide it, until one otherwise ordinary morning when the kitchen cupboards came up bare rather than offering up anything she could eat for breakfast.
With a wary look around, she opens and closes the doors again, several times as panic starts to set in. She can't keep trying, not with more people filtering in and out of the kitchen. Cami manages a grin and holds herself together long enough to get a cup of coffee before rushing away from the tantalizing smells, not of bacon or toast, but living humans, bustling about as they get ready for their day.
Whether its a glitch in the magic or a sign of an event, Cami doesn't know for sure. All she can do for now is go about her day; a sudden change in her routine is a dangerous sign, one that could expose her to those in the mansion unaware of her secret. It's something she can't risk, especially now that she's taken up the role of mansion therapist. Hannibal had been ousted thanks to his habit of murdering people to devour them, and so far as Cami knows she's not even a ghoul. Far worse for her and the people who trust her should they know the truth.
It isn't so easy, however, to focus on therapy when her patients smell so delicious. The coffee she drinks throughout the day does nothing to tamp down the hunger, or cover the scent of each person coming through their door. She tries to hold out as long as she can, but eventually Cami has no choice but to leave a message that she's ill, but would resume sessions as soon as possible.
There are other stops she makes--by the diner for one, to see if maybe the kitchen is the only place refusing to offer food, the bar to attempt the same. She stops at the latter, so hungry she forces down a cheeseburger just to have something in her stomach, even if it's the most wretched thing she's ever tasted.
Even if just a short while later, she rushes to the bathroom to be sick.
At the end she just gives up, resigning herself to staying in her room until whatever this is has passed. That isn't such a simple thing, however, when the scents and odors of the people around her still filter through her door. The joy of living with heightened senses and a hunger clawing at her from within, driving her mad with the want and need to eat. She tries to read, monitors the network to see if anything else has been said (if she's been discovered), even resorts to pacing just to keep herself moving and distracted.
Sometimes she ends up in the hall without realizing it--sometimes further. And the first time she actually runs into a person--
Cami's terrified of the thought.]
no subject
Come to think of it, maybe she shouldn’t have offered Wirt any after all.]
It has to be. [Hopefully he’ll hear logic in her words rather than desperation; Cami doesn’t want to think of what might happen if somehow the mansion’s core has truly changed its fundamental operation.] It’s the right time for one, and besides, this is the only thing we know of that’s happening right now. There might still be more coming.
[Which isn’t so comforting a thought as she means it to be, is it? Cami shakes her head, blaming the hunger for throwing her off.] I mean, something that affects everyone, not just the ghouls.
no subject
R-Right. Right. [He'll take the logic and ignore the desperation, even though he's sure he hears it. It's terrifying to think about, that this is something that's unsettling Cami too. So his reply is more logic, in the hopes that he can do for her what she's trying to do for him.] Plenty of events have been like that, right? Where they start off with just one thing and then build to...other stuff.
[He's not good at being reassuring, or at least he doesn't feel like his is. It's difficult when he's not confident, when he can't make himself sound absolutely sure things will be okay. It's probably doing more harm than good.]
...I-I mean, Wonderland wouldn't just. It wouldn't just stop feeding us. ...Right?
[Gosh, he hopes that's the case.]
no subject
Right. [Although Cami doesn’t want to point out the other part of that precedent to him, that whatever follows has typically been worse, some sort of escalation of the circumstances already in place. Mounting paranoia, worsening hallucinations, and perhaps in this Wonderland might seek to make all the ghouls suffer through a hunger that drives them insane. She can’t put that on Wirt’s shoulders; Cami outright refuses, which is why she forces a smile and a sense of hope she doesn’t truly feel when she turns back to him.]
It wouldn’t. Whoever or whatever’s in charge here, it’s made it clear that it wants to keep us alive. [Why else bring them to a place where they don’t age or suffer a lasting death?] We just have to get through the next few days. We’ll be fine, Wirt.
[Somehow.]
no subject
He's glad he has the warm coffee to hold, because really he just wants to curl his arms over his aching stomach, but that's not going to help.]
Yeah. ...Yeah, it wants everyone alive, so.
[If it really wants to keep everyone alive, it wouldn't force the ghouls to get so hungry they can't stop themselves from killing anyone anymore. But that's so uncomfortable to talk about, so Wirt changes the subject.]
U-Um. ...How are you holding up?