un: man's greatest treasure (text)

[reparo]

[ooc: backdated to Sand In Your Eyes (end of)]

Hello, Hermione here, currently writing this from the exit of Ra'esh's temple.

We've found water for the sandworms in a pool, in a cave. We also found a woman in that cave. Her name was Marath, she was alive, and she was tied to the altar and chained. We've set her free - and if anyone has a word of criticism about that decision, by all means, convince me why any living soul should be chained to an altar and left to rot and to thirst and to die. I'll wait.

Anyway, Marath's people are the ones who occupied Uruksithar. She claimed she was left behind because she warned them not to go into the desert. Once freed, Marath ran (rather athletic for someone of her condition if you ask me) and left myself and Vi locked in the temple.

Don't worry, we're out now. Keep an eye out for Marath, if you can. And don't drink the water from the cave if you make it there, it felt...oozy.

[ooc; If you'd like some context, here you go.]

Comments

un: owllady

[traaaaaash]

i keep getting the impression that i should just keep snacks on me at all times

[reparo]

She cared more for water, to be honest.

un : dappled peals of the parted seas (voice)

[beitangmoran]

How did you confirm that she was alive?

(voice)

[reparo]

She sounded coherent, and upon drinking water she seemed to recover her vitality, and also it wouldn't have mattered. Alive or undead, I'd have done the same thing.

un: magic wand

[faceblocker]

oozy. itchy. not great for swimming

need a new water bottle now

[reparo]

Well, you got us out, so the least I could do is give you my water.

Sadly my waterskin is full of oozy pool water now.

un: eclipse | text

[soloritur]

[ Marcos would have done the same if he found a chained woman in a temple, but also he has no idea what to make of this. It feels like someone should be checking on them. ]

I haven't seen her, but someone must have. You still have the water?

[reparo]

I do. I filled my waterskin with it before the whole fiasco happened, if you'd call it that.

What I'm worried about and wondering is why nobody ever thought 'hey, a bit odd that there's a woman tied to that altar and she's talking'?

un: ut malum pluvia | audio

[somebadnews]

[ Five would love to criticize. Why do you get yourself involved in everything, Hermione? (Says the guy who was probably right behind her in the temple, but she doesn't need to know that.) ]

Why the alter? That sounds more like she was a sacrifice.

audio

[reparo]

Sacrificial, or punishment - according to Marath at least. From the few words we managed to pull from her, the poor thing had been left behind like that by her people.

[growlies]

( It sounds like the kind of punishment that Hades would enact on someone - don't want to go somewhere so chain them where they are, leave them to rot. It sounds like this lady was maybe not completely alive. She should have died already, shouldn't she have? Her story doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Why would she have been chained up if she didn't want to go with? Seems easier to just have killed her or left her behind where she wanted to stay anyway. No chains necessary. Why in a godsdamned temple? Maybe a sacrifice to a god but she was still talking, moving. Mostly, Red's just fucking pissed at her (Marath, she'll remember the name, she'll keep an eye out, she'll unleash a certain amount of anger on her if she ever does find her - no one fucks with her people) for running off and locking Hermione up in the temple with no clear way to escape.

Before she brings up any of that though: )

Are you okay?

[reparo]

Hi, Red. Yes, we're good. I'm fine, minor scrapes. I'll be fine.

Feeling a bit foolish now, but I couldn't leave her there just in case she was undead. That felt unspeakably cruel.

un: hopscotch

[clavesregni]

Are you both alright?

[reparo]

I can't speak for both of us, but we're in one piece at least.

un: V

[techmaturgy]

How did you get out?

[he's just. he's just checking.]

[reparo]

Brute force.

un: Black Prince; text

[blackscales]

I noticed the symbol of Ellethia at the entrance of that temple, the one we suspect the White Wanderer is leaving places he visits before us.

text

[reparo]

I keep wondering if he's some sort of time traveller. If we might never meet him. Or maybe he's been the Merchant all along.

un: strange

[rehandle]

[ Well if it isn't his favourite witch.

Everything she's said is undoubtedly a significant and notable discovery, possibly of the this might be a regret one day variety, but he hasn't been here long enough to have anything to say about it in the way the others clearly do. No, what Stephen Strange's attention has fixed on is the description of the water.

Oozy. ]

The pool water didn't happen to look anything like this, did it?

[ There follows a snippet of visuals: a little, (very) vaguely humanoid blob made of something viscous and mostly translucent. Something that looks almost exactly like the pool water from the temple might look if it had congealed itself into some kind of tiny lifeform that waves as it's watched, a habit it must've picked up from the Cloak because it certainly did not pick it up from Stephen. ]

[reparo]

It definitely was not waving at me! Are all your belongings sentient?

un: anzhi

[balancedwire]

What do you mean it felt oozy? You're alright though, meimei?

[ He'll keep an eye out for Marath but he needed to be sure that his little sister and her companion were really alright. ]

[reparo]

I meant it did not have the consistency of normal water. It also make my skin itch - have you ever had hives? Kind of like hives.

[A pause, then lighter:] But other than the hives, yes I'm well!

un: mccoy ; voice

[homeostatic]

Good work, both of you. I'm glad to hear you're safe.

Mind giving us a more detailed description of Marath? What condition was she in?

voice

[reparo]

[There's such a relief to hear VALIDATION and approval, thank you Doctor McCoy.]

When we found her, she looked weakened. If not for the fact that she happened to ask whether I was her mother, I would've thought she was a statue. She was responsive, thought, albeit lethargic. She had lost track of time, so couldn't tell us how long she'd been there, but she knew why she was there.

We freed her legs first and she could barely stand on her own. When we freed her arms, she asked for water. I noticed her skin looked diseased, as though rotten or dried out, but strangely it seemed to recover very quickly as soon as she drank. She drank two whole waterskins before she shook Vi's hold off and ran.

un: white pawn; text

[chosenbylight]

[Oozy... He's not sure that he really wants to know.

The question he does want answered however is:]

She locked you inside? Are you alright? How did you get out?

[He is a good friend who Cares about all of these things.]

[reparo]

More like she slammed the door shut and we could not exit. I don't think she actually locked the door.

We're fine, though. Vi punched a hole in the wall - it was marvellous.

un: polaris | text

[chromiums]

[ by now, she's been filled in by marcos and they're intent on trying to tame a sand worm, but she's still got a few questions. ]

Was she hurt? Are either of you?

And how do you mean oozy?

[reparo]

She did look hurt on first impression. I told Dr McCoy about it, her skin looked dehydrated and rotten, but she bounced back quickly after drinking water? Quickly enough to escape without us, at least.

We're not injured beyond bruised egos, to be honest.

And what I mean is - it felt more like gel than water. Or more like slime.

audio. un: a civil serpent

[inferus]

( Existing in a group with mortals might be the actual, one true method for killing the devil. And here his world believes him to be impossible to kill (and that is mostly true), but it turns out he merely needs this unique circumstance to be thrust upon him.

Wrath imagines he is one of the only ones among them to regularly punish creatures for eternity: mortal souls, monsters, worse for eternity as that is his responsibility and his duty. Beneath his House, there is someone chained and imprisoned there who will remain. In the garden, her wails can sometimes be heard, and they would make most of these mortals wince in sympathy and insist she be let out or that they would be allowed to see her, but Wrath knows better about the consequences of doing so, of allowing one's emotions to rule their decisions.

He can sense her anger, but he can also sense the pride within her statement refusing to hear a word against the choice she- they have made. his voice is the sharp blade of a general: )

No one's decisions should be free from criticism. That particular path leads to stagnation and does not allow for the adaptability, which is required to survive.

In truth, you have no idea what you've set free nor the consequences for doing so.

audio

[reparo]

[There's a soft sigh, mostly because she's exhausted with all these men and their stupid distrust of every living thing.]

Alright, criticism has been noted. It's true, I have no idea what I've set free, nor the consequences, and I'll live with those - but I would have found it more difficult to live with not taking action, when I saw something cruel happening.

un: headless ragdoll

[matermali]

If she was left alone for as long as it sounds, I can imagine how she must have felt when freed. Sense and gratitude does not always triumph when freedom has so long been denied. Isolation worsens it. It changes how a person behaves.

I am glad to hear that you escaped whole.

Did she say why she warned them not to go?

very nice username, as usual, miss ives

[reparo]

I think you have the right grasp of it. I've seen it in people, and I've seen it in beings who are not people - but I think sincerely that Marath was just a woman. Or perhaps a young girl.

I could not get that answer out of her. She was vague in her answer, unfortunately. Have you ever heard of the Greek myth of Cassandra?

un: bee

[allforthecause]

[ He waits a while, reading through the replies that are visible to him and taking it all in. It’s clear that there is a lot of history he’s missing, but also a lot of people who apparently can’t see the decent thing to do when it’s in front of them. And with Maarva constantly on his mind since he arrived, he can’t help but want to call it out. ]

You both did the right thing.

That’s no just prison. That’s a death sentence. Torture.



If it goes wrong, if it was a mistake -

Well. We deal with it then.

[ A little more fatally than chains. ]

a good bee

[reparo]

[It's been a difficult half-an-hour-to-an-hour since escaping the temple and reporting the incident, and since then she's felt raked over hot coals and given several sentences in Detention. So reading that, spelled out so simply, makes her shoulders drop with relief.]

It definitely looked like torture - I couldn't think of it in terms of 'what are a few hours more until someone else comes to decide for me'.

And I doubt Vi would've been the waiting kind.

[Not that she's throwing Vi under the bus here, the girl is amazing and can do no wrong. But she did jump in the pool asap to look for the key.]

To be fair, as I was unchaining her I kept looking out for danger, thinking that if this is a mistake, I can deal with it on the spot. Surely someone who just runs instead of immediately attacking isn't all that bad?

un: dollhouse

[thedreamer]

You're both safe, most importantly! For the moment. None of us are at all safe but that's hardly to do with you. Really, though, everything will absolutely be fine.

[ You know, that thing people say when everything is actually the opposite of fine. Though, releasing Marath is the least of their worries and the Doctor is more curious about her than anything else. ]

And I'll certainly go looking for her. Recently freed, possibly undead creatures need a bit of help as much as anyone.

[ Welcome to the neighborhood party is a go. ]

[reparo]

[Aww, damn. That one makes her smile - just, the kindness. It's incredible.]

Thank you, The Doctor. I don't think I've set free an ancient evil who will siege the land any more than I think we freed a woman left behind as sacrifice.

un: slothbaby

[cosplayqueen]

Uhhhh since when are we Team 'Let's not rescue the chained up lady'? Seriously??

Anyways, glad you and Vi are okay even if we haven't met before. :) You feeling okay now??

[reparo]

It's what I was thinking - apparently there are a lot of people who are team 'let's not rescue anyone without a committee meeting'.

I'm starting to feel better about it now, yeah. And we're meeting now! Hello, I'm Hermione.

Wait, I already said that in the post.