sixthiterationlogs | [MINGLE] Wendi-go-go to the inn

WHERE: 6I Village and Inn
WHEN: 27-31 July
OPEN TO: ALL - Mingle
NOTES: The Wendigo threatening the village will be killed mid 28 July, with a Blue Lily, per these threads. Plot details here. Note: The final fight is close enough to be seen from the upstairs inn windows.
WARNINGS: Wendigo attack mingle, please warn in comment headers if discussing violence, gore, or related trauma. Possible mentions of character death.

The urgent warnings come from villagers returning south from the lake: a creature twice the size of a man, antlered and voracious. Larger than any they've seen on the plains, stalking its way to the main village. Some might have their own names for this hunger in a skin of shadow; others might remember that it was the first to claim a life, in their village's short history.

Whatever context one has for it, best to secure all pets and loved ones before it arrives. With weapons and food stores at the inn, the call goes out to gather — And to bring back any tools, because there's no telling what doors and windows can do to stop such a creature.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She had the same thought. For them, perhaps, but for the rest? This place would be a prison. For herself, she was at least used to being confined to one place and never being allowed to leave. She shouldn't wish this exile on others, but a selfish part of her was grateful. She wouldn't have to be alone anymore.

"I was exiled by my family." She confessed softly. It seemed they had similar experiences, though they never talked about it before. "They gave me an island that I was not allowed to leave. It was beautiful, but it was a prison. I should view this place as the same, but I can't, not when there are others with me."

Sirius leans back against the window sash, silently watching her as he takes a slow drag and then blows it out of the side of his mouth, out into the night.

"My prison wasn't beautiful or metaphorical," he finally says, tapping away some ash. "It was dark and dirty and sent everyone in it mad. I'll take this— That—" He motions across the hall. "Over being back there."

She is fascinated by the smoke, watching as the clouds curl against the darkness. The smell was as sharp as she remembered, but less unpleasant. She had begun to associate it with Sirius, for all that meant. Someday, she might be curious enough to ask to try it as well, but for now, she was content to watch.

"Why were you imprisoned?" She asked him in a gentle voice, not wishing to upset him with the memories. Though it seemed probable they were always with him, as hers were always with her.

"I was framed for murder," he answers, the words flat but spoken without hesitation. For all that they're true, the sentence feels unbalanced, incomplete, the whole story so much broader and less simple. Yes, he was framed for murder, and that's why he was sentenced to Azkaban, but whether he deserved to be there was another matter entirely.

"And you?"

"There was no evidence to prove that you were framed?" From the sound of things, it didn't seem so. An innocent man reduced to a prison that caused madness, she couldn't imagine and it made her feel sick to consider for very long. "Is there any way for you to escape, aside from here?"

She shook her head, turning back to look out the window. "It is punishment for what I am. My father and Zeus believed that I had maliciously sought to become a Pharmakis. My exile was meant to keep me under watch and guarantee that I would not rise against them."

"Let's just say the magistrate wasn't particularly interested in the actual facts of the case." And Sirius not particularly capable of giving them, even had Crouch been. At least not then, not immediately after, and it had all happened so whiplash fast.

"And no, not that I know of. Somewhere else might've killed me; perhaps I was lucky." He smiles, but it's entirely sardonic, and falls quickly away.

"What is a Pharmakis? I've never heard of that before."

"He wanted to make an example of you?" She asked, moving away from the window and the frightening sight in the distance. The shadows could be anything, they only knew that it was the others fighting. The outcome and everything else, it was a matter of guess work and that no longer sat well with her. Not during this conversation.

"Perhaps you were? You are here rather than there. It is no safer here, but there are no bars." She needs something positive to hold to after so much darkness and pessimism.

"It is an ancient word for 'witch'."

"You could say that," Sirius replies of her first question. "More specifically, I think he just wanted it done and over. It was at the end of a long and bloody war, and I made a neat little bow to put on top, say it was sorted." There's a thread of clear bitterness in his tone, but he sighs it out, rubbing at his eyes with splayed thumb and middle finger. "Truthfully, I don't remember much. Probably better that way."

Just like this place, and its impossible and entirely unearned luck.

When he opens gray eyes again, his stare is pointed but subdued. "Then more's changed for you than just the scenery," he allows with an arch of his eyebrows. "D'you mind the loss of it, your magic?"

"Memory is kind that way." He would be spared from the torments that such a prison could bring. "Was there ever a chance that you would be released?" If it was captivity, than there had to be a time when they would let him go, whether through ransom or something else? "I hope the Observers extend your reprieve."

It's a strange thing to say to someone, given what they were witnessing, but they both were spared from something worse.

"It's a loss of myself." She answered, looking down at her hands. "Being a witch, it's what I am, it's all I have ever been. It's almost as if they removed my voice or legs. I need my magic."

[MINGLE] Wendi-go-go to the inn

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject