| Opening Log

[shadowqueen]

Everyone's waking up at once, covered in bits of rubble, temporarily without abilities and with a lurking headache. The castle looms around them, irrepressibly gray, huge and silent. The only noises are the people, rustling as they extract themselves from their sarcophagi and look for exits along the arching walkways.

Better take a look around, and see if anyone else knows what's going on.

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Comments

[kaderp]

I think so, as well. To act with only the knowledge of my own morality is much better compass, I feel, than to live fearing an eternity in a Heaven or Hell based on my own deeds.

[pridegoesbefore]

Answering to oneself certainly makes for simpler justification--


--I am not climbing that.

[kaderp]

[he eyes the obstacle in their path with consideration, then glances back at Narcissa.] I can help you over it, if you would like.

[pridegoesbefore]

[Doubt and a hint of derision colour her expression.]

You'd have to carry me-- no, I'll find a way around it.

[kaderp]

I can carry you. It will go quicker, I think.

[pridegoesbefore]

No, no! I'll manage!

[She craves intimacy, but it needs to be at a point where she's comfortable. Being carried by a stranger doesn't meet that criteria.]

[kaderp]

But-- are you sure? [He frowns, a little taken aback, and then he considers for a long moment.]

Would you like my boots, then? They will be too big, but-- I am used to going without, and it will not slow me down any, and they are certainly easier to climb in! [he'd offer her his robes, too, but they wouldn't actually help cover anything.]

[pridegoesbefore]

Perfectly sure. I'll find another way around it.

[She gathers her cloak more firmly around herself and begins to pick out a path to the left of the pile of rubble. Her high heels are not suitable for this, so her steps are deliberate, delicate and precise.]

[kaderp]

If you are certain... [he looks a little unsure, and after a moment, he jumps over to help kick some of the rubble out of the way-- and in a few cases, lift it up and roll it out of the way. stronger than he looks, go!]

[pridegoesbefore]

[Well. That's certainly helpful; with her magic not working yet, Narcissa wasn't about to do any sort of manual labour and would have picked an easier if more circuitous path-- but since he's taken the initiative...]

--I do hope the rest of this place isn't as dilapidated.

[kaderp]

From what I have seen so far, I'm afraid it all is. [HRNGH that's a bigger piece of rubble, and he strains a little when he drops it, hood falling off as he stumbles.]

--This place must have been unoccupied for quite awhile...

[pridegoesbefore]

[His exertions expose what is unmistakeably a human femur.]

Or previous hostages didn't survive to escape their sarcophagi... ugh, that's morbid. Now I'm wondering how many dead people are around us--

[She stops short, staring at him. What if there are people she knows here? Or worse, knew?]

[kaderp]

[He frowns at the femur for a long moment before going over and putting it carefully inside one of the larger pieces of sarcophagus, laying another on top of it. It's the best he can do as far as a burial goes, right now.]

It seems they have all been here... long before any of us arrived.

[pridegoesbefore]

[She watches him, head tilted, but makes no comment on the makeshift interring of their find. This isn't the moment to discuss burial rituals across their cultures.]

I certainly hope we don't meet the same end.

[Those heels continue on their careful way through the rubble.]

[kaderp]

I don't think we will. We are still moving, after all! We can leave this area-- unless there are more out there, I would not worry.

[pridegoesbefore]

Less a worry and more a legitimate concern, I'd have said, but since we are still alive...

[Ugh. So much dust and dirt and rubble and this horrid headache.]

[kaderp]

We are, and I have no intentions of allowing that to change. [for either of them, although he doesn't specifically say it.]</small

[pridegoesbefore]

Aren't you a knight in shining armour.

[Her hand drifts once more into her hair, massaging the dull ache at the base of her skull.]

[kaderp]

Knights are European, aren't they? I don't think I could be one. And shining armor would be harder to move in.

[pridegoesbefore]

As a generalisation-- yes-- and long ago-- out of fashion-- [Sidestepping around larger pieces of crumbled sarcophagi.]

Well, if they can't move in armour, they're dead. That said, they're usually on horseback, the horses are also armoured-- is that a door?

[kaderp]

[Kadar hops a step forward and then brightens. A DOOR. They are making progress, and hopefully nothing deadly or dead is behind that door.]

It is! [and almost automatically he goes over to it and listens, first, before making any moves to open it.]

[pridegoesbefore]

[Her left hand twitches in preparation to draw her wand-- but she doesn't release it from her sleeve. Magic has not yet been returned to her. Instead, she stands a reasonably safe distance from the door, within easy distance of a sarcophagus big enough to hide in or behind. No sense in death or injury when she's only just got here.

Wherever here is.]

...after you.

[kaderp]

[He nods, a little distracted, carefully peering around the door. He steps in and darts out of sight-- and then steps back in, a moment later.]

It's safe, as far as I can see.

[pridegoesbefore]

[The disappointment on her face is obvious.]

This looks like the dorm rooms we had at school... only smaller.

[kaderp]

Dorm rooms? [a querying look. he's not familiar with the term.]