username: lady of the willow tree | audio

[aprescoup]

( She has long suffered, her great sigh speaks, every fool that's walked this world. ) ...you took more dead. Why are you like this? You want friends? I buy you friends. Three for five coin pieces, at the market. You are ugly, maybe I pay seven. And you are fools! No one likes you. I pay nine.

Pah! What is your luck? What is my luck? These other clapping seals in their little frills, with their little cakes and their little cups, they are playing their little games. And they come to me with messages. I I have the look of a saint now, who delivers word. How fortunate Karsa is. How grateful.

Look here. Pay attention. ( She spits out the words: ) First come the beggars, the Bessis. What is their puny fire worth now? I breathe hotter each morning. They ask for their captives, to hide their shame. Imagine! You kill, and you kill, and you kill, and then you keep your dead 'allies' like vermin, and it is not good, when you are found out. Who could have thought?

( And softer: ) The others. The Attaryl, for whom speaks the red woman, Vannozza. They want their dead. For burial. Ha! As if she will not use them to say, looooooooooooook! Look what my cousin's good friends! Look. But the witches... these are their dead.

So, talk, choose, and — ( The transmission seems to flicker, her voice first feeble, then doubled, then she shrieks: ) No. No. You do not dare, you do not presume, you do not, you fur-clad pink pig, you do not dare —

( But Karsa falls silent. To a quiet backdrop, broken only by a rhythmic drip, speaks undead Lord Anurr of Sa-Hareth — who has not been seen since arriving in Sa-Hareth. He seems to borrow the voices of multiple men, women and children, never settling on the one: )

H elLo   Li TtlE   FrIenD S. HoW   Ha VE   YoU   Be EN?   GoOD?   Yo U   ArE   Go OD   peOPlE.

Go oD   ThIn Gs   SHOUl D   HaPpE N   T o   GoOd   Peop Le.   And   GoO D   EnDing S   to   Th Ose   Who   HAV e   SuF f e Red   LoN G.

N o?   Y E s.

And   Th E y   havE SuFFer Ed,   ThEse   AtTa ryL.   An D   N oW   ThEY WoU l D   Be   Use D   aGA in?

No.   So   Man Y   BuRNs. So   ManY   WA I Ls.   I heAR   ThE M   FroM   HerE.

GiVE   Them   To   ME.   Th E Y   Will   Be   O U R   BrothER s   In   SA-HARE Th.   Fr E e.

( As quickly as Anurr interrupted, his voice disappears. A long heartbeat's silence. By the time Karsa recovers command of her own transmission sorcery, she is quieter for it, rattled. )

You... that. That disgusting creature. That... well. Well, you heard him, didn't you? You heard him. Tell me what you wish done. You cannot have it all ways. Only one answer.

( ooc: the floor is yours, threadjack away, debate the fate of the six undead claimed in the Bessis tower disaster, plus the three previously weaponised by Wei Wuxian. Characters with 'ownership' of the dead get final say — please state it! All the undead will go to the petitioner with the highest number of votes. Haltham Anurr will not be answering any comments. )

Comments

[paperbutterflies]

[ Sizhui considers, but the answer doesn't change. ]

Not for myself, no. For what can happen to this realm, somewhat, yes. Even though some people might have invited what is happening, I am sure that most did not, so they do not deserve for things to get worse.

[aprescoup]

Men have the fate they have earned.

[paperbutterflies]

What about children?

[aprescoup]

Can children raise a weapon? Do they have teeth? I have no pity for 'innocents.'

[paperbutterflies]

Perhaps, but what exactly did they do invite such a fate?

And if this, or worse, is the world they grow in, how many of them will be able to not make it yet worse?

It is hardly a matter of pity, only reason. Unless you like the world as it is and want to keep it this way, of course.

[aprescoup]

What does anyone do to invite disaster? For one to live, another must die. You choose to stay small and put, while it kills you, that is your trouble.

[paperbutterflies]

Some people do a whole lot to invite disaster, and then find ways to avoid the worst of the consequences. Some people try to avert it, and get hit with the worst.

And some, yes, stay small and put, and get killed by it.

[aprescoup]

Why concern for those who do not concern for themselves?

[paperbutterflies]

[ ... hah. ]

It is how I have always been taught.

[aprescoup]

No! No. It is disrespectful. They want to die. You let them die. They do not want to die? They fight. Who are you to decide for them?

A fool.

[paperbutterflies]

I can fight better than most. Faster. I can help those who fight, and the rest...

If they want to die, they can find ways to die which will not get others killed, too. The choice is still theirs.

[aprescoup]

You have a soft heart. It would go well pan-fried.

[paperbutterflies]

Perhaps, but nobody has yet managed to try it.

[aprescoup]

Maybe they think you are too young. The meat, when it is too young, it can be too tender, it can fatten more.

[paperbutterflies]

Mmm. Maybe. Then I will be ready for them.

That said... What do you wish about us who have arrived so? To stay and do something, or to go?

[aprescoup]

Of course, to go. What can you do? Nothing. What have you done so far? Of value. Think. Nothing.

[paperbutterflies]

Mm... what do you find of value, then? I think that might be different depending on who is answering.