The Twenty Second Trial

[hot_mess_express]

Who: You
When: Day 49, Morning
Where:

The entrance today is a huge, ornate stone archway. A gossamer veil glittering like starlight upon water hangs inside it, fluttering as if caught in a gentle breeze. It's impossible to say what might lie beyond; even if you walk around the other side — and it's perfectly possible to do so — you just see the same thing.

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Winners are Ginger, Thyme, Jasmine, and Licorice!

Comments

[featherbeaned]

[ It hurts, it hurts a lot, but Mao smells like blood and pain; he's hurting too. ]

[ So she tries to stand, to get to him so she can help him somehow. ]

[beeknighted]

[aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh]

I-It's dangerous to move if you're hurt.

[featherbeaned]

You're hurt!

[ And up! And moving! ]

[beeknighted]

I'm not that hurt!

[featherbeaned]

Hurt enough! Sit, Mao! Sit!

[beeknighted]

Can I sit somewhere further away?

[THERE ARE SO MANY DEAD PEOPLE]

[featherbeaned]

... Yes!

[ see, she's not unreasonable. ]

[ but she is wobbling after him ]

[beeknighted]

[MAO WISHES SHE WOULD SIT

but he is going to get himself a good distance away, drop down to sit, and bury his face in his hand.]

[featherbeaned]

[ YOU'RE NOT HER MOM ]

[ She sits back down once she's closer to him, with a couple of feet distance. ]

Maaaoooooooo ...

[beeknighted]

[OH BUT SHE'S HIS MOM]

Yes?

[featherbeaned]

I wanna help. How can I?

[beeknighted]

...I don't know.

You're hurt. How do I help you?

[featherbeaned]

[ Good question! She thinks on it for a minute, and eventually comes to a highly valid conclusion - ]

I want you to pet my ears. But I don't know how to get back to being myself.

[beeknighted]

[Looks at his bloody hand, ummmm...]

I'll get you even messier, but I could pet your hair? Would that help?

[featherbeaned]

Might. Maybe. [ She looks at his hand, too. ]

[ Normally she'd offer to lick it clean because she doesn't give a fuck, but hm ]

[ maybe not right now ]

Or ... or! We could go! And get clean. Then you can pet my hair.

[beeknighted]

. . .

Getting clean would help, I think.

[featherbeaned]

[ Makes sense to her. ]

Let's go. [ Wobbles back up to her feet, though she stumbles halfway, her breath hitching with a ragged cough. ]

[beeknighted]

Are you sure you can walk? Do you...

[He hesitates, Mao had wanted to offer her a shoulder to lean on but he's still so worried what if he tries to eat her too]

...I could find you a walking stick?

[featherbeaned]

[ COUGH COUGH. ]

[ eugh ]

S'okay. My legs are okay.

[beeknighted]

Blood loss is also bad for you.

[featherbeaned]

Yeaaaaah ... but ...

Hard to hold a stick with - [ waggles her arms vaguely ]

[beeknighted]

. . .

[Considering offering her his shoulder again but... but no. He's bad.]

We can walk slowly.

[featherbeaned]

Slow. [ Slow is good. ]

[ To Thyme, because she vaguely assumes that maybe his "home" territory will be most comfortable for him. ]

[beeknighted]

[Oh he does NOT want to go back to Thyme, not after he hurt Felix, he probably hates him now. So he just assumes they're heading to Clover.]

Let me know if you need a break.

[featherbeaned]

[ Cheeps quietly in answer. Which, that might seem weirder in this form than it does when she's a dragon. ]

[ And cheeps morph into snatches of song, soft but oddly ... resonant. Like an audio hug. ]