Numb Little Bug (OPEN; TW/CW)

[monday meadow weekly]

TW/CW: Use of Druid shrooms, anxiety, panic attack

April 30, 2027

Having come from America to Britain, Monday knew nothing about Walpurgis Night, but she had access to the Worldwide Wizarding Web and a new mobile phone to replace the one she'd had that had been lost to the fire that had destroyed Hogwarts. Seeing that the holiday involved bonfires, Monday wasn't too sure that she wanted to partake in the festivities. She enjoyed a good party as much as the next celebrity kid, but fire had become very much a no. After being reminded by one of her colleagues at Witch TV that she was part goblin and therefore more resistant to fire, Monday eventually gave in and agreed to go.

The night had been going on for some time, and it was probably around ten o'clock or so. Monday wasn't too sure, because she ended up consuming a pastry that she realized too late contained Druid shrooms. She hadn't been sure why she had felt so sleepy; she hadn't even had alcohol. Tripping, though, was bad, and Monday was becoming desperate for some relief. As soon as she could feel her heart rate quickening, she went to sit down, where she had been leaning up against a tree and shakily trying to text her siblings. At least it would be early enough that the ones who were at Ilvermorny would be able to respond, but it wasn't as though their parents could show up to take her home—or to St. Mungo's.

Monday looked up from her phone, finding it difficult to keep looking at the screen. Everything that was happening around her was like a ringing in her ears. She felt sick, but she couldn't see any of the people with whom she had come to the celebrations. Not knowing if she needed a Healer or to sleep it off, she tried not to let the panic overwhelm her.

OOC: OPEN!

[Deleted]

Everything here had strange words, strange meanings and generally sounded... well off. Virva had her doubts about why she'd ever come to this country when it was so far from home, but she knew her soul. She'd been craving adventure and the strength to protect her kin. She'd never expected to find it in a different place than where she'd been looking. Having a newborn child had been rough and while back home everybody helped in raising a child... that did not apply here at all. Or not that she'd seen. She had friends, but she was longing for home more and more. This place had once seemed to be home, but that clearly no longer applied. About everybody she'd been close to at some point was now gone or too busy to see her regularly. Times... changed.

She sighed with her baby girl on her arm, smiling as she saw the raging bonfires. She smiled down at little Inari as she rocked her dear child. "Onko hän iloinen tänään?" She asked with a big smile. "Kasvat tosi nopeasti! Ehkä me menemään kotiin Vapun jälkeen..." She suggested to the little girl. Yes, perhaps that was the best plan there was currently. What else? She could do without her job after all. Besides, Inari needed to be around people that would understand her. They were too few in number here.

She spotted a girl at that point, as she was walking around, a girl that didn't seem to be doing too well. Or well, Virva guessed as much from how she sat herself down after leaning against a tree. There were tiny subtle hints of distress on her features and she seemed to be shaking. So Virva hoisted little Inari up on her arm as she approached the young woman, who seemed to be only slightly younger than herself. "Are you okay?" She asked the other girl, extremely grateful in that moment for all the English lessons she'd had of late. "You seem a bit shaken.." She said as she crouched down by the other girl, not wanting to tower over her if she wasn't doing too well.

monday meadow weekly

[monday meadow weekly]

TW/CW: Use of Druid shrooms, anxiety, panic attack

April 30, 2027

Monday didn't know for how long she had been sitting there, but she did recognize the redheaded young woman who came over while carrying her baby. She worked for Witch TV, too, although she wasn't an intern; she made nature documentaries. Viv… Viva… Something. Admittedly, Monday didn't know whether that made it better or worse, and she wasn't in the state of mind to be able to figure out which it was. Either way, she was definitely tripping at an event where people at work were going to find out, if not the public in general. This was bad—and something that no amount of SOS text messages to her siblings was going to fix.

"Are you okay?" the redhead asked, crouching down. "You seem a bit shaken…"

Merlin, thought Monday, it was probably so obvious. When she spoke, her words ran together. "I ate—I ate a pastry that, um…" Monday stumbled over her words some, her heart still pounding. "I, um… I think there were mushrooms in it." She realized immediately that that must have sounded stupid, unless she were allergic to mushrooms, which she wasn't. "Like, um, 'shrooms'… Like psychedelics…?"

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Being a druid, Virva was far more aware of the 'magic mushrooms' than most mainlanders might be. They were quite potent and things could go wrong if one didn't conduct themselves properly with them. So as the girl mentioned she'd eaten pastry that might have included mushrooms that was a lot more clear to the non-native speaker than the words that followed.

"Druid mushrooms are quite something. Luckily I know them fairly well. They were part of celebrations back home too." She tried to reassure the girl with a gentle smile. She put little Inari down on the floor (the girl was about eight months old now, after all) and then seated herself. While the child found an instant interest in the ground and everything on it (spiders naturally included) Virva knew she had almost nothing to worry about. Inari was as much druid as she was mainlander and Virva made sure she wasn't being kept away from everything that nature included. There were few things that she wasn't capable of dealing with when it came to protecting her baby, so she wasn't as naturally inclined to worry. So even as she kept an eye on the child that found two small rocks to play with in the grass, she looked at the other young lady. "First thing you should do is probably get rid of your phone." She said with a nearly imperceptible wrinkling of her nose in distaste. She still hated technology.

She sighed for a moment as she conjured up a pair of flowers, one for her daughter and one for the other girl. Inari found it utterly fascinating of course. "Äiti!" She squeeked, pointing at the flower. "Se on kukka." Virva told her and kissed her forehead before leaving the child to their own devices as Inari studied the flower. "I found that most people get a lot of anxiety from their phones. You can't be sure who will respond next, what they will say or sometimes you get worried because they don't reply fast enough. Those sort of concerns don't go well with those mushrooms you ate." Regardless of intention, Virva wasn't going to judge her. Or at the very least not about her choice of consumption, considering she wasn't sounding overly sure if it even had mushrooms in it. "Nature, in my experience, is a lot more soothing. Flowers especially, and snowflakes. They don't judge, and they can be ever so beautiful to look at. I always feel the worries flow away when I surround myself with nature, but that might be the druid blood talking. Still, perhaps you're willing to try a druid cure to what seems to be caused by one of our mushrooms?" She suggested kindly. She'd found that motherhood had made her quite a bit more patient than she'd once been. Or well, on some fronts at least.

monday meadow weekly

[monday meadow weekly]

TW/CW: Use of Druid shrooms, anxiety, panic attack

April 30, 2027

The redhead explained that she knew the Druid mushrooms well, setting her baby down upon the ground and then sitting down for herself. When the other young woman then suggested that she get rid of her phone, Monday wondered if she had started to hear things. Get rid of her phone? This was an emergency! She couldn't do that, not when most of her family was across the world from her!

According to the redhead, though, it was the phone that was the cause of all of her anxiety, which didn't pair well with the mushrooms she'd eaten. Monday wanted to scream and nearly did. It didn't help that a giant bonfire brought back terrible memories of her sister Charlie levitating her paralyzed self out of a burning Hogwarts. She took hold of the flower that she had been given, staring down at it as she dropped it into her lap. Unless the flower was going to be able to counteract the mushrooms, Monday wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with it.

At the mention of a cure for the effects of the mushrooms, Monday's eyes widened, and she looked back over to the redhead. She wasn't desperate, but… Okay, she was desperate. "Please," she begged. In that moment, she would do anything—even toss her phone into the bonfire if that would do the trick.

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

There was something strange in the word, something that hinted at something a lot deeper than just general anxiety by a bad trip, but Virva was hardly planning to point that right out. No, she very much intended to let the girl share what she saw fit. She'd give the best possible help she could with what knowledge of the fact she currently had. All she knew for sure was that this mainlander should never have touched whatever had put the mushrooms in her system to begin with. She obviously wasn't equipped to deal with it and had nobody to help now her trip was going south.

She gave the girl an encouraging smile. "Let's start by putting your phone in your bag, and your bag off to the side." She said calmly. "In my personal experience the mushrooms are almost an extension of yourself going out into the world. They enhance your perception and emotions. If something makes you feel bad, it'll be worse. We're going to break your concentration so we can redirect it towards something better." Something calmer that invoked a more safe feeling. "Or, alternatively and slightly more dangerously, we can explore exactly what is making you feel bad. Although back home we didn't usually do that without some form of spiritual guide. I certainly can't recommend it." She said in all honesty. It was better to tell her rather than try to make things better to end up only making things worse. Then she took a deep breath. "But I can promise that in this world, there is very little I can't face." It came with her heritage, not quite as much in the sense of being a druid but even more so in her northern roots. She'd seen more winters and cold weather than she knew warmth. Life in the north had never been quite that gentle. She'd learned from that in ways she could hardly explain. It didn't quite change anything for her that she was aware of though.

"Whichever route you choose to walk, I'll be here to help you. Remember that."

monday meadow weekly

[monday meadow weekly]

TW/CW: Use of Druid shrooms, anxiety, panic attack

April 30, 2027

As much as Monday didn't want spiritual guidance so much as she wanted to throw up, the redhead's words sounded like the sort of thing that her mother might have spouted off after getting into some niche self-help nonsense. That made the whole thing both frustrating and sort of comforting in a way that would have seemed totally weird if she were to try to put that into words. With the instructions to put her phone away, Monday shoved her phone back into her bag as quickly as she could, moving as though touching it might burn her.

She tried to focus on what the documentarian had to say about breaking her concentration, and she looked up at her nervously. Some sort of Occlumency lesson while tripping on mushrooms wasn't what Monday had pictured when she had come to this celebration, and she fidgeted with her hands. "Just tell me what I need to do," Monday blurted out anxiously, hoping that it wouldn't take long for her to start feeling zen. Maybe she should have gone on one of those yoga retreats her mom had been on in the past. Some chakra something or other must have been useful.

Trying not to sound rude because she really didn't want to lose out on getting help, she tacked on, "Please," though it was a little delayed. Monday swallowed, but her mouth was dry. She felt like she was floating—but not in a tranquil way. She was detached from her body; she had to have been. "I want it to stop."

@virvatuli

[Deleted]

Virva found the girl to be quite good at working herself up. Whatever was going on wasn't pretty, that much was obvious, but for some reason the girl was so tense she was like a coiled snake, ready to strike and insert the venom of fear into others. Too bad for that part of her that Virva wasn't going to panic when there was absolutely no reason to do so. So she guided the girl in stead. Virva silently just took hold of the hands of the other girl and put a flower into them. "Look at it. Focus on it. Tell me the colour. Feel the leaves, tell me the texture. Find all the individual veins between the pulp. Try to distinguish every individual grain of powder on the stem." She spoke in a soothing voice as she took her wand out and cast a few protective charms around them. In part so she could focus without little Inari walking off to the woods and making friends with the local squirrels while her mom was distracted.

After having cast the spells to create them their bubble she smiled again, sitting down crosslegged in front of the other girl. "Describe in detail." She instructed. "And if needed, feel free to voice other thoughts that come to your mind. The feeling of the evening breeze touching your skin, cold with the promise of rain in the morning. The grass you're sitting on. Mention whatever you notice." Also because that could help in figuring out whatever was going on. People were most commonly calmed by nature because nature was part of them. Things that brought disturbances often caused powerful ripples. Virva certainly counted electronics amongst them, but she knew she was the odd one out there. "Now, talk, and keep talking unless I interrupt."

monday meadow weekly