you wouldn't even recognize me anymore
not that you knew me back then
She’d love to answer Bastien’s question, but it’s pointless to do so without Isla and Cal present, so she just gives him a tight-lipped, very fake smile and shakes her head. “Let’s wait till we’re all here” She can’t physically develop any more crows feet or worry lines, but if she could, he might see more than he’s used to tonight. Luckily, the lovers-slash-council-members are hot on the Dionysian’s heels. Once they’re all seated, once she can feel all eyes on her ever as she looks down at the polished wood of the table, trying to figure out where to start.
Looking up at the other three, the Wraith finally opens her mouth. “I’m not sure how far back to go,” she begins, “Or if letters came, or who’s told whom what. So if there are things that don’t make sense, please hold them till the end and then I’ll answer as best I can.” Had Aurelia made it? Did the Remedy talk to Cal about these things, or to the Dionysian? All unknown, and yet she must begin somewhere, so the General takes a small, needless breath, and begins.
“I’d noticed Mabel was missing for a while. And I searched in Halo, in the Feverlands, in the Grounds… everywhere, it seemed. Nowhere to be found. So when I went to the Voice a few days ago,” had it been that recently? The phrase gives her pause and she has to confirm it for herself before continuing. “She told me Mabel was weak, and in Stormbreak. Along with several others of our siblings, who were mostly offline. I was able to talk to her, but it wasn’t enough, I couldn’t find her until they had her… in a box. The Priest, Gideon, and the Eye, Cian. Order members. From what I gather, and I still don’t quite understand the sequence of events, but Mabel found out that Gideon murdered Evelyn. And then… they took her?” shaking her head, Wessex finds it’s still a bit muddy in her head.
Perhaps she should have pressed the girl harder, tried to get more of the story out. Her tone grows sad and a little softer, remembering her sister’s rambling, nonsensical words and her pleas to go home. “Back to Stormbreak. Hid her somewhere in stone. She wasn’t very coherent at that point.” A duck of her head, briefly, before resuming. “But like I said, I did find them, eventually. They were loading her and some other boxes on to a skyboat. So I snuck on and went with them. It took them to the Draig.”
How to describe the screech of dragons and the smell of burnt flesh? They’d all been through LongNights here (except Cal), it both was and wasn’t as bad as that. “It turns out there were other people in those boxes.” She turns to Bastien suddenly, as he’d been in the Grounds the longest with her. “Do you remember that redheaded singer? The Outlander? I can’t remember her name, but her hair, and her face - I remember she was gorgeous. They strapped her to some kind of wheeling contraption and sent her into the Dragon’s meadow. Some kind of distraction, from what I gathered. She was burned alive.”
“And then they brought out Mabel, and to her credit, our sister fought like a hellcat.” She has to smile at the teenagers continual defiance, because that’s how she wants to remember the Occidendum twins. As scrappy, determined fighters, who got really fucking unlucky. “I tried to distract them, grab her, and teleport out, but Cian knew my trick and then this purple dragon, I think, zapped me further away.” The dragons still don’t make much sense to her - but they will, soon enough. “And that’s when the Voice took over Mabel’s body. She denounced Cian, said his Tower of bones will crumble, and then electrocuted him. It wasn’t enough, though. Mabel still died. I don’t know if she wasn’t strong enough to host our Goddess or if this gray dragon killed her.”
Wessex’s voice seems to shrink into something half its usual size, guilt and her own selfish truth growing like a tumor in her chest. “But I failed. I couldn’t save her.” She takes a big breath again and shakes her head. “And I couldn’t kill Gideon for what he did. I will, though. I promised Mabel I’d get revenge for both of them. Gideon fled using his compass, and I… left with Cian’s body. I lost everything else on me - chakram, cloak, anything in a pocket - but I did gain this.” She pulls out the Knowtbook from an interior pocket and places it gently on the table.
“Cian had a book that could tell him about events right after they happened. Or maybe as they were happening. Things he couldn’t possibly know if. I think this is it. Though to be honest, I haven’t looked at it yet.” Can’t quite tell if it’s worth it the losses. Not yet.
With that long(ish) story done, Wessex shifts forward and places clasped hands on the table in front of her, behind the book. “So that’s what happened. Mabel is dead. The head of the Order is dead. Gideon is not." I've lost some very valuable items and have no idea if I can get them back or where they went, "... And we have this book. And some shit I overheard.” So now it's up to the four of them to figure out how to proceed.
Looking up at the other three, the Wraith finally opens her mouth. “I’m not sure how far back to go,” she begins, “Or if letters came, or who’s told whom what. So if there are things that don’t make sense, please hold them till the end and then I’ll answer as best I can.” Had Aurelia made it? Did the Remedy talk to Cal about these things, or to the Dionysian? All unknown, and yet she must begin somewhere, so the General takes a small, needless breath, and begins.
“I’d noticed Mabel was missing for a while. And I searched in Halo, in the Feverlands, in the Grounds… everywhere, it seemed. Nowhere to be found. So when I went to the Voice a few days ago,” had it been that recently? The phrase gives her pause and she has to confirm it for herself before continuing. “She told me Mabel was weak, and in Stormbreak. Along with several others of our siblings, who were mostly offline. I was able to talk to her, but it wasn’t enough, I couldn’t find her until they had her… in a box. The Priest, Gideon, and the Eye, Cian. Order members. From what I gather, and I still don’t quite understand the sequence of events, but Mabel found out that Gideon murdered Evelyn. And then… they took her?” shaking her head, Wessex finds it’s still a bit muddy in her head.
Perhaps she should have pressed the girl harder, tried to get more of the story out. Her tone grows sad and a little softer, remembering her sister’s rambling, nonsensical words and her pleas to go home. “Back to Stormbreak. Hid her somewhere in stone. She wasn’t very coherent at that point.” A duck of her head, briefly, before resuming. “But like I said, I did find them, eventually. They were loading her and some other boxes on to a skyboat. So I snuck on and went with them. It took them to the Draig.”
How to describe the screech of dragons and the smell of burnt flesh? They’d all been through LongNights here (except Cal), it both was and wasn’t as bad as that. “It turns out there were other people in those boxes.” She turns to Bastien suddenly, as he’d been in the Grounds the longest with her. “Do you remember that redheaded singer? The Outlander? I can’t remember her name, but her hair, and her face - I remember she was gorgeous. They strapped her to some kind of wheeling contraption and sent her into the Dragon’s meadow. Some kind of distraction, from what I gathered. She was burned alive.”
“And then they brought out Mabel, and to her credit, our sister fought like a hellcat.” She has to smile at the teenagers continual defiance, because that’s how she wants to remember the Occidendum twins. As scrappy, determined fighters, who got really fucking unlucky. “I tried to distract them, grab her, and teleport out, but Cian knew my trick and then this purple dragon, I think, zapped me further away.” The dragons still don’t make much sense to her - but they will, soon enough. “And that’s when the Voice took over Mabel’s body. She denounced Cian, said his Tower of bones will crumble, and then electrocuted him. It wasn’t enough, though. Mabel still died. I don’t know if she wasn’t strong enough to host our Goddess or if this gray dragon killed her.”
Wessex’s voice seems to shrink into something half its usual size, guilt and her own selfish truth growing like a tumor in her chest. “But I failed. I couldn’t save her.” She takes a big breath again and shakes her head. “And I couldn’t kill Gideon for what he did. I will, though. I promised Mabel I’d get revenge for both of them. Gideon fled using his compass, and I… left with Cian’s body. I lost everything else on me - chakram, cloak, anything in a pocket - but I did gain this.” She pulls out the Knowtbook from an interior pocket and places it gently on the table.
“Cian had a book that could tell him about events right after they happened. Or maybe as they were happening. Things he couldn’t possibly know if. I think this is it. Though to be honest, I haven’t looked at it yet.” Can’t quite tell if it’s worth it the losses. Not yet.
With that long(ish) story done, Wessex shifts forward and places clasped hands on the table in front of her, behind the book. “So that’s what happened. Mabel is dead. The head of the Order is dead. Gideon is not." I've lost some very valuable items and have no idea if I can get them back or where they went, "... And we have this book. And some shit I overheard.” So now it's up to the four of them to figure out how to proceed.
but it all comes back to me in the end
WESSEX
