Can't stop won't stop

[justice_is_blond]

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Myrobalan Shivana and Anders
RECIPIENT: All denizens of the Gallows
WHAT: At long last, a cure for Rifter Valley Fever.
WHEN: whenever
WHERE: wherever
NOTES: None applicable.

Good evening.

[Anders’ voice is tired, but calm and collected.]

As we set up to make sure we reach everyone, we have an announcement: we've found the cures. Myr?

[If someone can sound gently frazzled, Myr does.] Magebane first, to clear up the infestation. You should’ve gotten yours by now, but if we’ve missed someone, [all too likely they have,] you can stop by the infirmary for it. Serah Colin is managing our supply.

[There’s a too long-pause and a half-audible aside--something about “forgetting”--before he adds,] Rifters will want to speak to Madame de Cedoux since she’s not liable to forget you’re here.

That's the easy bit. [There's the noise of papers and then Anders continues:]

Rifters, we need you to bring an object you're willing to be bound to for a few hours. It's temporary, and it will stabilize your presence here for the other two stages. If you don't have one, we'll provide books.

The third step is a little complicated. Rifters need to experience and process a lot of different emotions, the more complex, the better. You're becoming like spirits; this will establish your… personhood, so to speak.

Non-Rifters, if there's something out of place in your living quarters, or things you can't remember getting, you may have strong ties to a Rifter and they may need your help for this third step. The binding should mean that you'll be able to remember them and their significance to you when you see them.

[There's a pause and a quiet huff of air.] It may take time and work. Patience will be key.

The Lady Thevenet, Enchanter Hawthorne, and Serah Averesch will be helping with the binding process.

And if that all weren’t complicated enough, [gentle sarcasm,] there’s one additional step, once you’re feeling like your old selves again. You’ve come loose from Thedas in all of this, and you’ll need to have one of our templars reinforce your being a part of the world and not the Fade.

I’m told the process can be disorienting, but it’ll also be very brief. Ser Ashlock has volunteered himself for that.

[Anders clears his throat.]

Potentially more than merely disorienting, as one who has… experienced that. But as you'll be bound the effects should be lessened, and know that we would not call in a Templar to do this unless absolutely necessary.

Once you're cured, Rifters, please check in with myself or Myrobalan so we can check your name off the list; we need to make certain no one is missed.

If you've any questions, please ask. We'll be here until the last Rifter is cured.

Comments

Worst reassurance ever

[utulien_aure]

Perhaps it is not the only path, but I am loath to discard a possible solution when all our lives may linger in the balance.

I am volunteering. If the healers here have malicious intent, or are simply mistaken, there need not be more than one of us who suffers for it.

Accurate assessment.

[laurenande]

You have suffered quite enough already, Fingon. Please do not--I would not see you trapped or twisted.

[You aren't getting this cousin and she is having a minor panic attack--this is a bad idea, a very bad idea. The last guy who did this, well, it ended very badly. She still wears a ring that has a third of him in it or she would if she hadn't lost the damned thing, that's how badly it went.]

I could not bear it if I lost you in this way, any of you, to binding like this. Not here, not in this place.

threadjaaaaaack

[tar_minyatur]

Well, why don't I do it then. I mean, I'm going to die anyway, and us Men aren't... you know. Bound. The way you Eldar are.

[laurenande]

[You cannot hear her recoiling but rest assured Elros, she is.]

I will not trade in your life so casually, either! They are suggesting creating items of power, using us as the fodder, do not simply allow them to use you because you are mortal!

[tar_minyatur]

But better me, than you. [ Elros points out logically, and in his eyes is the same light that sent Tuor out to sea with Idril, seeking the impossible, that sent Earendil out after them, that sent Elwing over a cliff in defiance rather than yield to those she hated, that sent Luthien before her out against her father ]

The Eldar are bound to the world, but Men escape it. If this is false, then I can get out, cousin. Far easier, I think, then you.

No, Elros. Bad Elros.

[utulien_aure]

No. Absolutely not.

[Fingon could just imagine the number of people who'd be furious at him if he agreed to that proposal. Makalaure might just disembowel him for merely hearing it out.]

LEEEEROOOOOY....

[tar_minyatur]

Better me than you. [ Elros shrugs, and now Fingon knows how everyone else feels when he does this sort of thing ]

Men are not bound to the world the way the Eldar are. I can get out easier, I think, if something goes wrong. It's the last great adventure, cousin. And well... you can't actually stop me, you know.

[utulien_aure]

[Your great-great-grandfather handled that lesson about sixteen years ago, Elros,
try another excuse.]

In Arda, perhaps that might be valid. [Key word: might]. This is Thedas, and it sounds as though we are all in the same situation.

I may not be able to, but I know who can.

[tar_minyatur]

[ But he likes this excuse ]

If you tell Maglor, I am totally going to pull the Maedhros card. And maybe things are different here, but you don't know that for sure.

[utulien_aure]

[You are an awful little troll and he's not helping you escape M&M for a month]

And yet, as you've remarked yourself, Maglor can be harder to manage that Maedhros when he's decided to dig in his heels.

[And while they're having this argument, someone else is just going to walk in and prove this works first, aren't they?]

Elros, please. I could not look my cousins in the face if aught were to happen to you when I could do something to prevent it.

[Also Turgon, Idril, et al, but he'll stick to relatives Elros actually knows.]

[tar_minyatur]

[ That's blackmail! ]

I know, I know, I'm the baby and must be protected. But I'm not. I'm old enough to make my own choices and chose what risks I will take. And how do you think I am going to face Maedhros if I let you go?

[utulien_aure]

[Be grateful it's only a month.]

Do you think I would not do the same for Maedhros? For Maglor?

[This taste of his own medicine thing is terrible, next time he is just walking in and will wait to terrify reassure others afterward.

...And thinking like that won't help matters either. Fingon considers a moment, then offers.]

But if you believe I'm not treating you as an adult, I will try to watch myself. And here is my offer: come with me to the infirmary. Our lady cousin would prefer none of us go without someone to watch our backs; why not follow her advice and settle this matter at the same time?

[tar_minyatur]

[ Uggggghhhhh fine ]

I know you would offer for them, for Maedhros especially. But it feel stiffling, Fingon, when everyone seems intent on keeping me safe. [ Not cousin, not right now ] I don't mind being their baby sometimes - it seems to help. But I'm not helpless. I haven't been in decades and it was them who taught me how not to be.

[ He listens and then nods ]

That's fair.

[utulien_aure]

[Now let's see how long it actually lasts

Sighing] I have no intent to treat you as a child; I've ordered Men younger than you when I needed to, and I know what they are capable of.

[He eventually had to stop asking their ages, though, lest he be tempted to treat a bearded warrior and father the way he would normally would an elf of the same age.]

But I would prefer to risk myself before any other, whether they be kin or not. I will try to respect your autonomy, but it is hard for me to change that.

[Nodding back] Let us go, then, before someone else demands the right to go first.

[tar_minyatur]

[ Answer: no where near long enough to sooth Maglor & Maedhros ]

That's fair enough. [ Elros nods, and relaxes out of his tense unhappiness ] I'm the same, as Maedhros has undoubtedly moaned about, but I just... it feels like everyone is particularly focused on me.

[ He nods ]

I'll climb down from the window, since they're both asleep. [ For once. A MIRACLE ]

[utulien_aure]

["The day after Dagor Dagorath" might not be enough to soothe Maglor and Maedhros, let's look for more reasonable stretches of time.]

I think Maglor is his more immediate concern... but you are not wrong. He's grown more overprotective with the years.

[Of course, he's ended up with more dead relatives over the years as well.]

I know it's less interesting, but do try the door first?

[tar_minyatur]

[ ... the day after, perhaps? ]

Much worse. [ Elros agrees and pouts. ]

But the floorboards creak! Still, I'll give it a go.

[utulien_aure]

[Now you're pushing it, Elros. Keep doing it, Fingon will find it amusing]

Someone really ought to do something about it one day.

[Shaking his head.] Any other time, it would be your business. But I'd rather not see what happens if your arm fades out while you're climbing down.

[tar_minyatur]

Ah, good point. I just wish the insubstanital...ness was stable enough for me to risk walking through the door.

[ Such fun could be had with that skill, if only he didn't feel so unwell ]

[utulien_aure]

If anything, I have suffered the least of any of our number here. And even were I not, someone still must step forward.

[Well of course he isn't getting it, no one's mentioned anything about rings or people who might have chosen to turn themselves into one.]

You have known these people longer than I, and have ever read hearts more deeply. Do you truly think they would purposefully entrap others?

[laurenande]

Yes.

[Oh, Fingon, did she not tell you the tale of her imprisonment? Maybe another time. Right now she is convinced everything will result in death or betrayal but the purposeful entrapment? She is completely sure about that.]

They cannot be trusted, not to a man. Be wary at least and do not allow them to do their works without heavy scrutiny.

[utulien_aure]

Including the healers?

[Most of what he's heard is that she was rather well-admired among the elven population- he can guess how well that was received by the authorities, but the specifics have rather passed him by.

This is becoming alarmingly common, actually; he didn't even know that a certain pair of twins were his nieces' grandchildren until Elros was around to tell him himself]

It seems I am bringing Elros along with me, lest I find he has gone without company at all. [A slightly bemused tone at that; Fingon can usually count on being the person first in line, and it's odd being beaten to the punch.]

There is a second pair of eyes, at least. I'm sorry I cannot comfort you more.