Disposal Procedures ((Open Thread))

[Spell]

"You're creating a self-fulfilling prophecy by doing this.." — "It is a bit self-defeating."

"Nay. I believe this is the perfect time." Jesse said to the two copies of her that lingered nearby the large screen the witch seemed fixated on. Many points of view were displayed on the screen: a family sitting at a table, the hustle and bustle of a crowd and someone walking through them, a single plate with half-eaten food and the sight of shaking hands gripping utensils. These were only a few, as there were many that had made up the entire monitor.

"I've done what I must with this experiment.. I could allow it to grow, but I would begin to neglect mine other research. The challenge was only a knock at mine door, as if telling me that I am still involved in the realm of Rhydin. I had almost forgotten."

She reached a hand and tapped at the screen. The point of views began to grow hazy. The happily sitting family seemed to grow confused before a sudden glimpse of panic. The one walking through the hustle and bustle of the city went from looking to the nearby faces to abruptly dropping to fast approaching concrete.

One by one — each of the windows on the screen turned red with [COMPLETE] blinking across them.

The three Jesse's looked to the right of the terminal and watched as multiple large tanks begin to fill with bright red liquid.

"I may as well make an appearance mineself this time around.."

-----------------

Many of those wearing the LoreTech earpiece began to collapse about the city unconscious, while others appeared suddenly fatigued and gripping at their chests. Hospitals and Watch stations within the districts of Rhydin City would soon enough be filled with worried and frightened parents.

(( Feel free to play into it! What would be known IC is the bottom portion about the collapses and fatigue, along with the possible link to the LoreTech device. ))

[Spell]

Explosion at Dockside Protest

Crowds in front of the Dockside Baronial Manor have grown throughout the day and local Watch have been seen angrily chanting alongside protesters. While the manor suffered minor window damage earlier in the morning — by the afternoon this changed when a member of the crowd unleashed a firebolt spell through one of the broken windows and caused unknown chemicals inside the warehouse to explode. 12 protesters were rushed to the Dockside hospital with minor injuries.

The protests were sparked by the recently discovered link between the "LoreTech" device and the mass collapse of many youth throughout the city of Rhydin. While many appear to have recovered this morning there are some victims still comatose. There have been 5 known deaths linked to the LoreTech incident.

We have been unable to contact the Minister of Education and Baron of Dockside, Jesse, for details.

[Death Knell]

I'm at the doctors with Lilly right now. She collapsed during practice. I'm not sure why but she isn't the only one here and I'm being told other clinics are beginning to see the same. If you hear about anything please tell me.

It was lucky that Ettyn was so sensitive. There was a dull roar of conversation filling Domus, the house that she and Anya called home, where several friends had gathered to eat their junk food and talk over the television after Anya’s IFL bout. It could be dizzying, hearing everything in a wall of noise, but over time the Wildling hunter had developed coping mechanisms for sensory overstimulation.

Focus on another sense. The fire was warm on her skin. Her clothes were soft and comfortable. She felt the gentle tension of blood pumping beneath the surface where her hand had settled around Dillon’s. Her muscles ached from a long day on her feet, prowling the trails of the Wilds, tracking packs and herds just to know what changes winter brought; but sinking into the couch and stretching out her limbs, she could feel the soft pain easing. Not just muscles but roots from the Heart of the Forest that spread across her chest like a spiderweb constricted her heart, pumping blood that was alive because of the death it fed on.

She was a reaper who followed the Old Ways, and the life in her body contained death in equal measure.

Her phone vibrated against her hip, just once, accompanying a bell tone that was among the sounds she had been tuning out. She dug out the device, the glow of its screen revealing the passing wisps of ghostly essence across her black eyes, and she felt that, too.

“I have to go,” she muttered, and called to her sister a name that would stand out from what she was usually called among these friends: “Rhosyn?”

* * * * * * * * *

i am coming to you. anya made a drayght with motherwort barberry and gimger. i am bringing it

* * * * * * * * *

The draught helped to increase Lilly’s blood flow and give her a steady pulse. It helped also that the doctors had removed the LoreTech device, redness lingering in the girl’s ear where it had been, but she remained weak.

Layla did not seem hale either, weakened though not to the point of collapse, which made Ettyn suspicious. She had come to understand what the Paine family shared, with their mortal lives and immortal memories — and purpose.

Life and spirit were intertwined, and when the spirit pulled away, life diminished. In the quiet of the doctor’s office late at night, she sat by Lilly and slipped into the trance that would allow her to See what was amiss.

Minutes passed, and when her black eyes opened again, they revealed the long trail of bright and lively essence that spilled from Lilly like grains of sand from a broken hourglass. But they were not hers alone — among the motes of light she saw the face of Layla, and others she had only heard of through memory, and those still to come.

Ettyn’s black eyes flickered restlessly. She would be little help with most of the cases that had occurred, and knew little about them - others were better equipped - but this one, with effort, she could fix.

She had seen the spirit broken and moved from the body in different ways before; but now she had the means to show them the way.

“We need to take her into the Wilds.”

* * * * * * * * *

The journey was as short as finding the grand oak tree that dominated the garden outside of the office. Ettyn pressed her hands against its trunk, and the Wildling roots in her heart sought entry; and though it took time for the old tree to remember its connection to the primordial forest, permission was soon granted. She pulled them through, Layla and Lilly, and they emerged through another tree one hundred miles away, an ancient ash in a Grove near the center of the Wilds.

It was chillier here than in the city with all of its light and machinery, but Ettyn had brought supplies. They built a fire and struck a tent, and in the pre-dawn hours her work began.

The firelight cast strange shadows, figures unfamiliar to all except perhaps Layla dancing around them, joining Ettyn with her long silver scythe. She followed the motes of light that had spilled from Lilly along the paths between life and death and beckoned them back. Names that she would not remember for many years passed her lips. Her spirit reached as far as it could, guiding the errant back with her scythe hooking gently like a shepherd’s crook.

She had not moved from her spot by the fire, and yet she had crossed many miles, reaching through the deep roots of the Wilds into liminal spaces. New muscles that she did not yet understand, spiritual and not physical, were strained to the breaking point.

By the time morning light filtered through the canopy and the very last mote had been returned to its place, Ettyn too felt on the verge of collapse.

She went through the motions of breakfast and coffee robotically. She saw that Lilly had improved, and Layla too, but remembered little else about this time. And when she reached her limit, she did not say anything.

She crawled into the tent and slept.

* * * * * * * * *

On waking, she vaguely recalled feeling the whisper of her sister’s mind, and sharing secrets between them. She had explained as well as she could; but her mind, body, and soul were all too exhausted to do anything but go through the motions.

She checked Lilly over. She tended to the fire. She listened at the edges of the Grove for any who would dare cross, but none did. Even the predators of the forest seemed to know when Death was about its work, and gave a wide berth when they could.

She slept most of the day away, and found enough strength for dinner and stories and song, and she smiled again for the first time since she had left Domus.

Then she slept again.

* * * * * * * * *

On Wednesday morning they returned to the city. Exhaustion lingered in Ettyn’s bones. Once Layla and Lilly were safely home, she trudged to a Watch station and then to a hospital to give her best explanation of what she had seen and sensed — that life had been siphoned through the spirit of one victim of the LoreTech devices — in case this knowledge could help the others.

She returned to Domus, found her favorite corner of the couch, and pulled a heavy blanket up to her chin. She needed to not think about anything for a while. She held the remote and told the television in a clear voice,

“Shrek,”

and it obliged her.

[Spell]

Official Statement from the Minister of Education

The terms of service clearly stated that the LoreTech device may require payment for certain activities "at a future date". These activities, for a period of time, were allowed free of charge to students. The contract did not state that the shift to payment requirements must be publicized to the public.

We will be discontinuing the LoreTech service. Thank you for participating in this experiment. ♡