[ After their last interaction, it's been difficult for Hilda to ignore the worry she had over Jayden's wellbeing. She had tried to send her own updates when she could, but there was little news on their front, and honestly, being told that they've all moved to Nocwich to mobilize for...something probably isn't helpful.
The first thing she notices though is that the words aren't a jumbled mess. She's so used to seeing them now that she has to do a bit of a double take. She can puzzle that out later though. ]
[It's a surprise on Jayden's side as well when the words show up clearly, etched into a part of the nearby wall, and he blinks at them as if seeing things; that's not an uncommon occurrence, especially lately, but doesn't seem to be reason here. It seems like something's just gone right, for once, at least for the moment.
And with both the network and his mind being more clear now, he also finally notices that Hilda is calling him Jay, which is... Not a bad thing, by any means, just strange. Even if she's the type to give everyone she knows a nickname, it's unusual for him to have even a passing acquaintance outside of his coworkers, where's an inherent professionalism and cordial distance that absolutely doesn't allow for nicknames.
Except that one older lady who he's pretty sure just misheard his name and now it's too late for either of them to bring it up, but she hardly counts. Jayden isn't totally sure of her name either, after all.
But he realizes he's been staring at a rock for several seconds, and she'd asked questions that he shouldn't be delaying his response to, and so he quickly refocuses. He'll come up with some remark to make about the 'Jay' then if--when?--he sees her in person again.]
I'm okay, but the whole situation down here's taken a turn. I think some people got out; they were going through a passage that opened up, and I can't say for sure what was on the other side but they didn't come back. The rest of us that are still here are in a different part of the place now.
[And of course there's more to say on that, but this is probably enough to throw at her upfront.]
[ One perhaps unintended side effect of this entire ordeal is that Hilda has become more willing to accept stretches of time between messages. The convenience of the messaging system in Abraxas had spoiled someone who was used to already having to wait for letters to arrive at her doorstep, but thankfully, she's retuned to being (reluctantly) patient because there has been no other choice but to be.
That will not stop her from pacing around the Caden's library where she had been assisting Alucard with some research efforts, however. Soon enough Jayden's writing comes through scrawled on the table in front of her. ]
[He's a little concerned when she reacts with surprise to the first part of the information; does that mean the news hasn't spread, or does it mean that the people who were trying to escape haven't been able to contact anyone? He hopes it's the former, and that if it's the latter it's just issues with communicating like before. Nothing worse.
He's about to confirm her question when two more come in, and yeah he gets the sentiment clear enough even through text. If things were different he might've given a flippant answer like oh you know, hadn't had enough of the pit just yet, but there's no need for that right now; there will be plenty of time for sarcasm in the future, provided he lives and all that.]
It was one at a time, the place was falling apart, and the cultists weren't too thrilled with us leaving. I don't know exactly what happened with the way out, but we don't have access to it anymore where we are now.
[It's a very surface-level summary for now, but the additional details aren't really necessary to get the idea and he doesn't want to go into them anyway.]
[ The news has probably started to spread, but there's also the distinct possibility that Hilda might have dozed off during the that time and missed the message. The library - any library, really - seems to have that effect on her. The thought of missing something creates a sense of anxiety in her, and she's quick to start cleaning up, realizing that she needs to find Petra as soon as possible so they can leave if that's what they have to do.
In her haste to pack she bangs her knee against the table and she lets out a whined curse that also manages to slip through in her message to Jayden. ]
['Shit' is definitely a word he would use to describe the situation, so he thinks nothing of the accidental comment, though it is a little amusing when she clarifies it was an accident. Maybe because everything is just so terrible and absurd that literally anything normal and not-awful has some sense of levity to it.]
Everyone in here's hanging in there. No one seems to be in immediate danger, but I'm not sure how long that'll last; it's all starting to catch up with people.
['It' being everything: injuries, exhaustion, and illness being only a few of the many issues. And they have a new one in particular he needs to get to, but which he's been doing his best to put off mentally acknowledging unless absolutely necessary, so he answers her other question first.]
They aren't. They've shut us in another room and they're outside it; I don't know what they're doing, but I think they're really rattled, so they're just improvising.
[And okay. No more stalling. Just tell her.]
But remember how I told you before that there wasn't enough water? Well, now we've kind of got the opposite problem. The place is flooding. It's slow right now, but I don't know how long that'll be the case.
[Or the unspoken but likely clear addendum of 'or how long we have'.]
[ Interjecting and asking what sort of state Jayden specifically is in on the tip of her tongue (or is it mind?), because she doesn't necessarily believe his blanket statement of "alive" from before. But then he's describing other awful things that she has to try and process while shoving everything into her satchel. To say her mind is doing cartwheels is a bit of an understatement now that she also has to ignore the throbbing in her knee that will no doubt blossom into a bruise overnight. And people think she's lying when she says she bruises like a peach.
She bursts from the doors of the library, stopping just at the top of the steps, something like abject horror appearing on her face at the reality of what Jayden isn't saying. ]
[ It can't be any stupider than say, 'How long can you hold your breath for?', right? Her feet manage to move as she rushes down the steps and back towards the Sarstina. ]
[On his side, Jayden has started pacing, carefully avoiding the slowly-growing puddles as if it matters at this point if he gets his shoes wet.]
I can swim, but that's not going to matter at some point.
[And not just when the whole place fills up, but once it gets too deep for people to rest. But that's still a time off, and dwelling on the ever-present dread is not going to help either the people trapped or those looking for them, so he tries to refocus on her questions. The only problem there is that he doesn't have a very useful answer.]
I don't know. The whole thing was too chaotic to keep track, but I think it's something like half the Summoned left? It's more than just a few people anyway, and it's not just us, but there's still some people native to this world here too.
[Probably not information that will help much. There has to be something he can tell her that isn't just how terrible things are; something that might actually help. Something. Anything. Get it together and think of something.]
There's less of the cultists now too. Probably still too many for those of us that are here to deal with, but less than before.
[He doesn't know that even more have left in search of those who escaped, but the numbers were thinned out a bit in the shrine monster's departure, and that's something, right?]
[ Imagine if you didn't know how to swim, or if you were scared of dark, enclosed spaces. The thought makes Hilda's stomach churn and the roils continue as she continues to parse out what Jayden is telling her. It's been painful to think that the Abraxian natives have been stuck down for the same amount of time if not longer, but her capacity to truly be concerned and worried is already stretched thin worrying about the ones that she cares about.
The curfew is still in effect and the streets of Cadens continue to be the eerie ghost town that they have been for the last two weeks when the sun begins to set. She tugs her cloak a little tighter around her as she hastens her pace towards the inn. ]
๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. [ Unless some of them went after the ones that escaped, but she shakes that thought from her mind for now. ] ๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ?
[Both being able to swim and less cultists. Both are better than the alternative for sure.
As for her question, the answer is... Complicated, and he's not sure it's helpful to tell her that they probably could make decent improvised weapons from the bones of all the dead bodies in this room. Somehow that probably won't be encouraging, and he knows she has enough to be worrying about right now, so he'll leave that part out in favor of a single, but still more positive case.]
Someone has a mace, which I think they got from one of the shrines somehow.
[It's gross and creepy, but what else is new. He takes a deep breath, sorting through his thoughts and going over the situation to try to offer her anything else she might need to know without her having to ask, not wanting to distract for much longer. He distinctly remembers the stress and pressure of being on the other side of trying to find someone before it's too late, and she has multiple someones to be looking for.]
We have a better water source now, and a little food, so those aren't pressing problems. The cultists seem distracted, so they're ignoring us for the moment, and with any luck it'll stay that way. It'll be awhile before the flooding's a problem. We're okay right now.
[It's easier to make that seem true when it's just a written message, though since he has to think it to send it, perhaps he'll be able to believe it a little too.]
[ That sounds like a cursed weapon if she had to wager a broad guess. She doesn't even need to see it to guess that it is because she's dealt with enough "relics" in her lifetime to know what a creepy weapon sounds like. ]
[Everything about this entire situation has been so weird and terrible that he really hadn't considered whether it was possible for things to be actually cursed, but if anything is, this might fit the bill.]
Yeah, probably. A few people might have some small weapons I don't know about too.
[And that's true, without having to go into the whole bone knives thing.]
I don't know if they're going after the other people, but that's probably a safe guess. They're just
[The message is only half sent, as he's suddenly distracted by a bang on the sealed door of the room. It's several long seconds of waiting to see if anything else will happen--it doesn't at least not yet--before he sends another message.]
Sorry. I'm not sure what they're dealing with, but I think it's probably a lot of things. Flooding, monsters, part of the place collapsing, whatever their grand plan was falling apart, you name it.
[ Being sassy probably isn't useful in this particular situation and thankfully there's enough self-restraint left in Hilda that she refrains from saying anything of the sort.
She doesn't expect the sudden drop in communication and she almost sends a panicked one back just as she turns the corner towards the inn. ]
Yeah, but for once those things are their problem, not ours.
[Sort of, anyway. More like they're everyone's problem now, but the Acolytes having to deal with any of the things they've inflicted upon everyone else is a nice change of pace.]
Something hit the door, but it might've been a rock or something. Whatever it is, it didn't come through, so nothing to worry about right now.
The place is pretty unstable, so it really could've been a rock. Or a monster, but there's no monster noises, so I'm going to go with rock.
[Is that hopeful thinking? Maybe. But is it really all that hopeful to be choosing to believe the cave is collapsing more than it already has, even if the alternative is a monster?]
Okay. I'll let you know if anything important changes.
[ She can't help her excitement. She's nervous, but it means that they're one step closer to getting to them out of there. She can only hope that the situation hasn't become more dire. ]
[He's sitting up against a wall, half dozing--sleeping is easier said than done with no dry surfaces remaining--when the words scrawl across a nearby rock, and so he has to blink at them for a moment before he realizes they're not part of a dream.]
Good news is a nice change of pace.
[He feels like there are other things he should say or ask, but it takes several seconds before he figures out what one of those things is.]
[ It feels easier to focus on talking through everything, giving Jayden a play by play, than to focus on the things she's quickly stuffing into a pack for their journey into the mountains. ]
[Between the use of 'us' when describing that group, and the way she'd said in her first message that 'some of the Summoned' were on their way to the cave, it seems that way.]
Still low enough. We're all just kind of perpetually soggy.
[Which sucks, but then again, in some ways the water's been a nice change from being bloody and covered in dirt. But in others, it's really annoying, and he mentally rambles the next part rather than really thinking about it before sending it.]
Last place I was before I got here was wet all the time too. Just rained nonstop.
[ There is some truth to that statement, but if they were to peel it back to the root of the matter, the true culprit behind Hilda's indeciveness is her anxiety and belief that she'd be a detriment to both teams. She isn't a tracker, doesn't have any skills that could help her survive in the mountains, and certainly "can't" throw a weapon around. What she's also purposefully leaving out is that she's reluctant to leave Petra alone. ]
Makes sense. Sticking together's probably a good idea anyway.
[Cold or not. He doesn't know much of anything about her relevant skills, but there's at least a small amount of safety in numbers, and mountaineering is dangerous all on its own even without the potential of Acolytes or monsters or who even knows what else.
Being warm and dry sounds like some far off possibility, but at least he can take a little bit of enjoyment from complaining about Philadelphia.]
Just in some places. I was visiting a different city for the case I was working, where it rained all the time. Where I live has normal weather.
[Which is a totally objective statement of course.]
[ Teasing and jokes have been admittedly a little difficult the last several weeks, even for her, but she feels like even her poor, slightly off-colour ones have been landing with Jayden. And if this one happens to not land? Well, that's okay, not every joke was going to be a hit. ]
[Indeed it lands just fine, and he's joking in return. But although he means the light response, he also feels a strange mix of emotions that he could identify if he really thought about it, but he has zero intention of actually doing so and instead just ignores them.
Fodlan sounds vaguely familiar, but he's not sure why or if he's just imagining it, so he doesn't ask. But it does get mentally filed away for later, as right now he gratefully takes the distraction she offers.]
Yeah. It's the capital of the country, so it's real historic. Lots of things to do when I'm not working.
[Then he realizes something, and adds--]
You'd probably like some of the museums; lots of historic jewelry and that sort of thing. I don't know anything about it except there's a huge diamond that's supposed to be cursed.
[ Because he will come back and in one piece. As paralyzed as she is by anxiety, there's still a small part of her that wishes she could go to both places. Guilt lingers there as she thinks about not being able to go and get Jayden and Blake by extension but she had made her choice.
Hilda can't help but laugh a bit at his statement about the cursed diamond despite her words. ]
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The first thing she notices though is that the words aren't a jumbled mess. She's so used to seeing them now that she has to do a bit of a double take. She can puzzle that out later though. ]
Jay! What is it? Are you okay?
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And with both the network and his mind being more clear now, he also finally notices that Hilda is calling him Jay, which is... Not a bad thing, by any means, just strange. Even if she's the type to give everyone she knows a nickname, it's unusual for him to have even a passing acquaintance outside of his coworkers, where's an inherent professionalism and cordial distance that absolutely doesn't allow for nicknames.
Except that one older lady who he's pretty sure just misheard his name and now it's too late for either of them to bring it up, but she hardly counts. Jayden isn't totally sure of her name either, after all.
But he realizes he's been staring at a rock for several seconds, and she'd asked questions that he shouldn't be delaying his response to, and so he quickly refocuses. He'll come up with some remark to make about the 'Jay' then if--when?--he sees her in person again.]
I'm okay, but the whole situation down here's taken a turn. I think some people got out; they were going through a passage that opened up, and I can't say for sure what was on the other side but they didn't come back. The rest of us that are still here are in a different part of the place now.
[And of course there's more to say on that, but this is probably enough to throw at her upfront.]
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That will not stop her from pacing around the Caden's library where she had been assisting Alucard with some research efforts, however. Soon enough Jayden's writing comes through scrawled on the table in front of her. ]
๐๐ข๐ช๐ต ๐ข ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต?
[ She knows she has to tell the other Summoned if they hadn't already been alerted by those that had managed to make their escape. ]
๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ "๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ถ๐ด"? ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ?!
[ It probably wouldn't take a genius to figure out that she sounds more than a little annoyed with that last message. ]
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He's about to confirm her question when two more come in, and yeah he gets the sentiment clear enough even through text. If things were different he might've given a flippant answer like oh you know, hadn't had enough of the pit just yet, but there's no need for that right now; there will be plenty of time for sarcasm in the future, provided he lives and all that.]
It was one at a time, the place was falling apart, and the cultists weren't too thrilled with us leaving. I don't know exactly what happened with the way out, but we don't have access to it anymore where we are now.
[It's a very surface-level summary for now, but the additional details aren't really necessary to get the idea and he doesn't want to go into them anyway.]
no subject
In her haste to pack she bangs her knee against the table and she lets out a whined curse that also manages to slip through in her message to Jayden. ]
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต! ๐๐ฉ - ๐ด๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ช๐ต? ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ? ๐๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐จ๐ถ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ?
no subject
Everyone in here's hanging in there. No one seems to be in immediate danger, but I'm not sure how long that'll last; it's all starting to catch up with people.
['It' being everything: injuries, exhaustion, and illness being only a few of the many issues. And they have a new one in particular he needs to get to, but which he's been doing his best to put off mentally acknowledging unless absolutely necessary, so he answers her other question first.]
They aren't. They've shut us in another room and they're outside it; I don't know what they're doing, but I think they're really rattled, so they're just improvising.
[And okay. No more stalling. Just tell her.]
But remember how I told you before that there wasn't enough water? Well, now we've kind of got the opposite problem. The place is flooding. It's slow right now, but I don't know how long that'll be the case.
[Or the unspoken but likely clear addendum of 'or how long we have'.]
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She bursts from the doors of the library, stopping just at the top of the steps, something like abject horror appearing on her face at the reality of what Jayden isn't saying. ]
๐๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ?! ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด โ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ธ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต? ๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ?
[ It can't be any stupider than say, 'How long can you hold your breath for?', right? Her feet manage to move as she rushes down the steps and back towards the Sarstina. ]
๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ? ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ?
no subject
I can swim, but that's not going to matter at some point.
[And not just when the whole place fills up, but once it gets too deep for people to rest. But that's still a time off, and dwelling on the ever-present dread is not going to help either the people trapped or those looking for them, so he tries to refocus on her questions. The only problem there is that he doesn't have a very useful answer.]
I don't know. The whole thing was too chaotic to keep track, but I think it's something like half the Summoned left? It's more than just a few people anyway, and it's not just us, but there's still some people native to this world here too.
[Probably not information that will help much. There has to be something he can tell her that isn't just how terrible things are; something that might actually help. Something. Anything. Get it together and think of something.]
There's less of the cultists now too. Probably still too many for those of us that are here to deal with, but less than before.
[He doesn't know that even more have left in search of those who escaped, but the numbers were thinned out a bit in the shrine monster's departure, and that's something, right?]
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[ Imagine if you didn't know how to swim, or if you were scared of dark, enclosed spaces. The thought makes Hilda's stomach churn and the roils continue as she continues to parse out what Jayden is telling her. It's been painful to think that the Abraxian natives have been stuck down for the same amount of time if not longer, but her capacity to truly be concerned and worried is already stretched thin worrying about the ones that she cares about.
The curfew is still in effect and the streets of Cadens continue to be the eerie ghost town that they have been for the last two weeks when the sun begins to set. She tugs her cloak a little tighter around her as she hastens her pace towards the inn. ]
๐๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ. [ Unless some of them went after the ones that escaped, but she shakes that thought from her mind for now. ] ๐๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ?
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[Both being able to swim and less cultists. Both are better than the alternative for sure.
As for her question, the answer is... Complicated, and he's not sure it's helpful to tell her that they probably could make decent improvised weapons from the bones of all the dead bodies in this room. Somehow that probably won't be encouraging, and he knows she has enough to be worrying about right now, so he'll leave that part out in favor of a single, but still more positive case.]
Someone has a mace, which I think they got from one of the shrines somehow.
[It's gross and creepy, but what else is new. He takes a deep breath, sorting through his thoughts and going over the situation to try to offer her anything else she might need to know without her having to ask, not wanting to distract for much longer. He distinctly remembers the stress and pressure of being on the other side of trying to find someone before it's too late, and she has multiple someones to be looking for.]
We have a better water source now, and a little food, so those aren't pressing problems. The cultists seem distracted, so they're ignoring us for the moment, and with any luck it'll stay that way. It'll be awhile before the flooding's a problem. We're okay right now.
[It's easier to make that seem true when it's just a written message, though since he has to think it to send it, perhaps he'll be able to believe it a little too.]
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[ That sounds like a cursed weapon if she had to wager a broad guess. She doesn't even need to see it to guess that it is because she's dealt with enough "relics" in her lifetime to know what a creepy weapon sounds like. ]
๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต? ๐๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ? ๐๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฆ๐ด๐ค๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ?
[ Because she hasn't forgotten about the picture that Jesper had posted out to the Summoned. ]
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[Everything about this entire situation has been so weird and terrible that he really hadn't considered whether it was possible for things to be actually cursed, but if anything is, this might fit the bill.]
Yeah, probably. A few people might have some small weapons I don't know about too.
[And that's true, without having to go into the whole bone knives thing.]
I don't know if they're going after the other people, but that's probably a safe guess. They're just
[The message is only half sent, as he's suddenly distracted by a bang on the sealed door of the room. It's several long seconds of waiting to see if anything else will happen--it doesn't at least not yet--before he sends another message.]
Sorry. I'm not sure what they're dealing with, but I think it's probably a lot of things. Flooding, monsters, part of the place collapsing, whatever their grand plan was falling apart, you name it.
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She doesn't expect the sudden drop in communication and she almost sends a panicked one back just as she turns the corner towards the inn. ]
๐๐ฉ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต? ๐๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ. ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ?
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[Sort of, anyway. More like they're everyone's problem now, but the Acolytes having to deal with any of the things they've inflicted upon everyone else is a nice change of pace.]
Something hit the door, but it might've been a rock or something. Whatever it is, it didn't come through, so nothing to worry about right now.
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๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ณ๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐'๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ค๐ธ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ.
[ Especially now that she knows most, if not all, of her messages will get through. ]
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[Is that hopeful thinking? Maybe. But is it really all that hopeful to be choosing to believe the cave is collapsing more than it already has, even if the alternative is a monster?]
Okay. I'll let you know if anything important changes.
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๐ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฉ, ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ข๐บ, ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ.
[ Several days later, she sends a message in part to check on him and in part to keep him informed. ]
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ท๐ข๐ณ๐บ ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐๐ข๐บ! ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.
[ She can't help her excitement. She's nervous, but it means that they're one step closer to getting to them out of there. She can only hope that the situation hasn't become more dire. ]
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Good news is a nice change of pace.
[He feels like there are other things he should say or ask, but it takes several seconds before he figures out what one of those things is.]
What about the others?
[The ones that got out.]
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[ It feels easier to focus on talking through everything, giving Jayden a play by play, than to focus on the things she's quickly stuffing into a pack for their journey into the mountains. ]
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต.
๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด?
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[Between the use of 'us' when describing that group, and the way she'd said in her first message that 'some of the Summoned' were on their way to the cave, it seems that way.]
Still low enough. We're all just kind of perpetually soggy.
[Which sucks, but then again, in some ways the water's been a nice change from being bloody and covered in dirt. But in others, it's really annoying, and he mentally rambles the next part rather than really thinking about it before sending it.]
Last place I was before I got here was wet all the time too. Just rained nonstop.
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[ There is some truth to that statement, but if they were to peel it back to the root of the matter, the true culprit behind Hilda's indeciveness is her anxiety and belief that she'd be a detriment to both teams. She isn't a tracker, doesn't have any skills that could help her survive in the mountains, and certainly "can't" throw a weapon around. What she's also purposefully leaving out is that she's reluctant to leave Petra alone. ]
๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฎ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐บ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ. ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ? ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐บ.
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[Cold or not. He doesn't know much of anything about her relevant skills, but there's at least a small amount of safety in numbers, and mountaineering is dangerous all on its own even without the potential of Acolytes or monsters or who even knows what else.
Being warm and dry sounds like some far off possibility, but at least he can take a little bit of enjoyment from complaining about Philadelphia.]
Just in some places. I was visiting a different city for the case I was working, where it rained all the time. Where I live has normal weather.
[Which is a totally objective statement of course.]
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[ Teasing and jokes have been admittedly a little difficult the last several weeks, even for her, but she feels like even her poor, slightly off-colour ones have been landing with Jayden. And if this one happens to not land? Well, that's okay, not every joke was going to be a hit. ]
๐๐จ๐ฉ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ข๐ธ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ. ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐ง ๐ข๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ค๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ด ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ข๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ?
[ She figures it might be a nice way to at least keep his mind off the slowly rising water levels. ]
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[Indeed it lands just fine, and he's joking in return. But although he means the light response, he also feels a strange mix of emotions that he could identify if he really thought about it, but he has zero intention of actually doing so and instead just ignores them.
Fodlan sounds vaguely familiar, but he's not sure why or if he's just imagining it, so he doesn't ask. But it does get mentally filed away for later, as right now he gratefully takes the distraction she offers.]
Yeah. It's the capital of the country, so it's real historic. Lots of things to do when I'm not working.
[Then he realizes something, and adds--]
You'd probably like some of the museums; lots of historic jewelry and that sort of thing. I don't know anything about it except there's a huge diamond that's supposed to be cursed.
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[ Because he will come back and in one piece. As paralyzed as she is by anxiety, there's still a small part of her that wishes she could go to both places. Guilt lingers there as she thinks about not being able to go and get Jayden and Blake by extension but she had made her choice.
Hilda can't help but laugh a bit at his statement about the cursed diamond despite her words. ]
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด?! ๐๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ด, ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต'๐ด ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ. ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต.
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