SCAWWY 😱 kate

[concoctive]

Nowadays the hellebore plant has strong associations with serenity, peace, and tranquility, but this has not always been the case. In Victorian times the flowers of the hellebore plant signified delirium, and some cultures today still see the flowers as representing stress, anxiety, and scandal. Also known as the midnight ruffle, black hellebore leaves, root, and underground stem (rhizome) are used to make medicine. Be careful not to confuse this plant with white hellebore, which has been used as a poison. Despite serious safety concerns, people take black hellebore for nausea, worms, kidney infections, colds, and constipation.

Comments

[sootprints]

[ kate arrives a little later than him, having taken some time to change into clean, soot-free clothes. she stops nearby and nods. ]

Yes. It wasn't as horrible as last week, but... it was a lot, wasn't it.

[concoctive]

... I'm glad nobody died today, at least. We can call that a victory if nothin' else.

[ half muffled into the table, before he raises himself upright again. ]

How many more are we gonna lose before we get anywhere?

[sootprints]

... Too many, I think.

[ simply and sadly. ]

I hope we start finding some real solutions soon. As I understand it, the bits of information that float around tend to show up at the end of the week... so there may be something new, today or tomorrow. I hope.

[concoctive]

I hope... I hope so, too. We can't let go of that.

[ of hope, of wanting to find some answer that isn't just despair. but he looks at her, before reaching for his satchel and opening it up. from within, he produces the wooden box and the bandage-wrapped shape. ]

Was talkin' to Lavi about these, 'cause their group last week got somethin' similar. Like maybe they're spell ingredients that we're gonna have to collect, or keep from the cult, or use against 'em... info-wise, I'm not sure if I've got anythin' you haven't maybe heard.

[ kate's a smart girl. ]

[sootprints]

Oh...! That's right. I believe Lavi found a "tongue"...

[ ......

looks at the box. hesitant. ]

Is it... something similar?

[concoctive]

Eurgh... [ his reaction shows that he has. unfortunately. seen this tongue. ]

Not as, uh, gross? As his? At least in my opinion. I haven't seen Ash's, but he told me what it was - what I've been holdin' onto for me, Tot, and Geto is a wing and a millipede.

[sootprints]

A wing and... millipede?

[ looks at the box. remembers that it seemed to move during item check. ]

...... a living one?

[concoctive]

That's dead, fortunately. I dunno if I could handle that on top of it already bein' so unsettlin'.

[ looks at the box ]

... wing moves sometimes, though.

[sootprints]

Oh...

... Wait, that's actually much stranger...

[concoctive]

Ain't it..?

[ he'll open the box and unwrap the bottle for her to see... because they're awful.

1. A small wooden box, with runes engraved into its cover. Inside is a torn-off wing. Even bisected from its body, it flaps on occasion, charged with some kind of pure, holy energy.
2. A glass keepsake bottle, plugged up tight with a cork. Inside is a very large, fossilized millipede with an overabundance of eyes, unmoving but unsettling to look upon. ]

It's weird as all hell, but I mind it less than the millipede. It's the eyes.

[sootprints]

[ looks inside.

yikes. ]

... The eyes are a lot...

[concoctive]

Not a fan. Ash's is, uh, a bottle with a fairy in it? Full of teeth?

[ he pokes the box so that the wing flaps a little. ]

But... maybe they're an answer to a question we don't know just yet.

[sootprints]

[ nods... ]

I suppose it's best to take good care of them, then...

[ these terrible little trinkets of horror. ]

... Oh, I was meaning to ask. Are you still without a partner, Alfyn?

[concoctive]

[ he will carefully put them away with a returned nod, before glancing up. ]

For right now, yeah. I'm... I heard, through the grapevine, that someone that's lost their unpartnered match can save somebody that's partnered and is about to lose 'em. I'm thinkin' of maybe offerin' to do that, though I don't know how.

[sootprints]

Oh... good. That's why I was wondering... Now that we know this is a possibility, would it be all right if I point someone in your direction if I learn that they need a partner? Especially if their life is in danger.

[concoctive]

'course you can. If we can save lives through this... even if there's a risk with partnership, I'd take the risk over not doin' anythin'.

And I'll try to find other folks that are unpartnered but lost theirs, too, that way we can maybe build a net for everyone to rely on.

[sootprints]

[ nodding! ] I'll keep you in mind.

I know of a few other people who lost their partners... some who really wanted their wish, and some who seemed indifferent about it.

[concoctive]

I don't really mind not havin' mine... there's not anythin' I'd use it for, so I'd rather help somebody else with it.