Serious Plots 9: Srsr and srsr

[5a Violista]

It's probably bad that nobody's really all that curious about where the ranger is.


The person, of course, wants to know why but decides to do it anyway. And has a question about how important it is, if they should wake up the person who's sleeping, or if they should wait for the two people who are out to come back. (They should be back in an hour.)

Everyone who's here gets together.

[Recaiden]

'Important news', Ein tells them.
So yeah, pretty important. Should probably wake up the sleeping person. The two outside the camp, though, they don't need to wait.

Ein focuses on remaining visible, and adjusts the fox pelt nervously, and then goes in front of everyone and says.
"The ranger and I found a way back to the other side of the mirror, the normal world."
"Later today, anyone who wants to will get a chance to to back."

The priestess expects some people to have strong feelings about this, so they don't launch into the rest of the speech right away.

[Rebonack]

[Scorching Depths]

Rose will immediately move to comfort Sekhmet when she begins freaking out.

"No it hasn't been hundreds of years. That pod was enchanted to pass through time quickly compared to the outside. I don't think it's been more than a few hours at most," she says. "That might be a problem if your friends haven't been tending to your body. That's long enough for tissue decay to begin setting in."

Not a whole lot, but rigor mortis at least.

"I'm... not actually sure how you would get back to your body? It's probably where you left it. Or at least nearby. If VIGIL has medical facilities it's probably alright if they acted quickly."


[VIGIL]

They acted quickly!

Geneva is not, in fact, in the room at the moment. She doesn't have any medical training and she doesn't want to get in the way. What she's doing instead is being back in her lab using her bridge equipment to see if she can't make a passage to the Scorching Depths and figure out what happened to Sekhmet.

[bc56]

Vigil Lab
It's surprisingly easy for Geneva to make a connection to somewhere.
But where the portal should reach a burning hellscape, instead a billowing white cloud of steam pours out. It's scaldingly hot, and completely obscures any attempts to see through it.

Scorching Depths
"It hasn't?" Sekhmet looks hopeful at Rose's response. "But how can I get back? I guess I can, uh open a portal?" One appears with no visible effort, leading out to the surface of Vigil's Skybase, where Sekhmet last remembers being. Of course her body's not there, but she heads to the portal anyway. However she encounters a new problem. At the portal, her hands hit an unseen barrier, and she's forced back. "No!" She rages for a moment and blasts hellfire at the uncooperative doorway in frustration. "I can't leave, I don't have a strong enough anchor anymore!"

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil

Prumathe continues holding and squeezing Sekhmet's hand, hoping desperately she'll awaken soon as the nurses and doctors work around him. He'll try not to get in the way too much, but it's likely to be a little awkward anyway.

"I love you, Sekhmet. Please come back to me. Please. I love you."

[Rebonack]

[VIGIL]

Geneva won't be going in herself, of course.

No, she's going to be sending several drones off toward the palace.

Hopefully they won't get eaten by flying devils or something.


[Scorching Depths]

Speaking of devils!

Rose is looking concerned. Especially when Sekhmet starts freaking out.

"I'm not really sure what a suitable vessel would be. That isn't something I've ever researched," she admits. Vessels to house archfiends had never been a pressing concern for her. "If you like, your highness, I can look into the matter and try to secure a vessel for you?"

[bc56]

Vigil
The drones confirm lots of steam and humidity. That's not normal for where Geneva was trying to connect. Is she sure she got the right place? It'll take them a little while to reach where the palace should be in either case.

Meanwhile, Sekhmet continues not responding to Prumathe. At least her condition is stable, but her silence is most likely heartrending.

Scorching Depths
"Okay, uh, that sounds good. I, uh, think it needs to be a magical object or being of significance." Sekhmet sits down disheartenedly. "Uh, while you're out there, can you see if Prumathe is okay too?"

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil

Prumathe's going to start crying and continue telling Sekhmet he loves her, and holding her hand. He's being gentle, rubbing it slightly, and desperately hoping she comes back to him.

[Rebonack]

[Scorching Depths]

Rose ponders.

Rests her elbow on one hand and her chin on the other.

A powerful or significant magical object.

Then?

A flash of realization!

"Hey! What about that crown we brought back to that church? That was a powerful object would that work?" she inquires.

If it DID work then Sekhmet would just need to wear it all the time while she's in the mortal world.

Kind of tacky but better than being trapped in hell.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
"Oh, uh..." That might work. It's definitely powerful enough. But... Isn't that thing supposed to drive people crazy? "Uh, that's cursed. It's not a good idea to use it." She thinks about it. "Do you remember the other artifact we got then? The bag of enchanted bones? I think that might be safer. It's in a locked cabinet in my cabin at GLoG. Uh, you might need a key. Prumathe has one, I think."

Geneva's drones have finally emerged from the top of the steam cloud. There's the palace, but it looks different. And who are those two succubi standing on the balcony? One of them is huge and shining like a sun, the other quadrupedal.

[Rebonack]

[Scorching Depths]

"Driving you crazy wouldn't be good, no," Rose agrees. "A bag of bones? That seems a bit mundane but if you think it would work then-"

A buzzing sound draws rapidly closer as a little quad-copter hovers into view! From the speaker attached to the device comes a concerned voice.

"Sekhmet?"

Oh hey!

It's Geneva!

Rose isn't sure what this weird flying thing is but the voice from it doesn't sound hostile, at least. She watches it cautiously.

"I thought something like this might be happening, there was no medical reason why you suddenly lost consciousness," the drone warbles. "I kept your body stabilized until we could get it to the infirmary. What's going on? What happened to you?"

Story time!

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
"They're, uh, not just bones. They belonged to a really powerful..." Sekhmet trails off. "Geneva!" She's speaking through that little flying golem! Good, that's someone outside to talk to! "So I'm not dead? Is Prumathe all right?" She has her priorities in order. Speaking of which, someone should probably tell Prumathe that his wife is sort of still alive.
With the important questions out of the way, it's now story time.
"Uh, I'm queen now." Sekhmet looks like a queen, tall and regal, clad in beautiful elaborate clothes of flame and bedecked with golden jewelry. That's really all the story Sekhmet has to tell though.

[5a Violista]

It is important news! With strong feelings!

Well, almost nobody wants to stay. Some people very strongly want to leave. Some people ambivalently want to leave. Some people left loved ones behind.

"How do you know it works?" one of them asks, not wanting to raise their own hope. "Is...how?"

[Rebonack]

[Scorching Depths]

"Prumathe is fine, he's in the infirmary with your body," the drone broadcasting Geneva's voice replies. She's getting to the part she's certain Sekhmet will find more important first. "I'll inform him immediately that you're fine. Well, for a certain definition of fine at least. Technically your body is dead. I would hypothesize that this is due to your soul currently being... well. You know. Standing right there. Instead of inside your body where it's supposed to be."

"Hello... small machine?" Rose pipes up uncertainly. "We're trying to get Sekhmet back to her body. She needs an anchor and the item we need is in Sekhmet's home in the mortal world. She said her husband would have the key?"

Speaking of informing?

Geneva has been keeping psychic tabs on Sekhmet's body looking for any signs of mental activity. And given how close Prumathe is to Sekhmet's body it's hardly even a bump to reach out to his mind as well.

~Prumathe? This is Geneva. I'm in contact with Sekhmet. She appears to be sustaining some kind of spiritual presence in her mother's former domain. She's fine, but currently unable to return to her body. It sounds like she and one of her subordinates are presently working on a solution to that problem. If you could come to my exotic matter laboratory, please, that would be appreciated. I'm sure you and Sekhmet would like to be able to speak with each other.~

Well!

This is mostly good news, right?

[Recaiden]

"The ranger already went back! She's a little dizzy because everything's mirrored there compared to here, but it works."

Ein spreads their arms out to gesture at the camp.
"But before you decide to go back, look at this place. A whole world, with just us here. You could do anything!"
"Back on the other side of the mirror, it'll all go back to normal, ordinary. This could be your chance to do something important."

[5a Violista]

Ein is effective at getting some of them to reconsider.
Sure, all of them like the conveniences of society, but...
...
While some have legit reasons to go back, a few realize that those conveniences come at the cost of a mind-numbing dead-end job and nothing else. They would be dumb to go back just for that.

Mindy, however, wants to go back, though. Not sure if she wants to go back home, but given the choice she wants to first grow up and do whatever, which she can't really do here.

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil

Prumathe squeezes Sekhmet's hand once more before getting up and obeying the voice in his mind. He'll ask one of the nurses for directions, and head on down to Geneva's exotic matter laboratory.

[Recaiden]

"Everyone who's going to stay and build a new world here, you can go."
"Everyone who wants to go back, it's going to go this way..."

Ein explains how they'll work with their family in the real world to open a portal, but it has to be way up in the air, so they'll have to be carried up through the portal and don't worry about that, and that everyone should organize themselves into groups of four.

"Mindy, you'll have to fly through the portal yourself. Uh, being allergic to dragons runs in the family." Although there will be a couple creatures without any dragon allergy there.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
"Uh, Geneva, one second." Sekhmet focuses. She's been to Geneva's lab before. She pictures it in her mind's eye and peels away the layers of reality in front of her. And a portal opens. There's Geneva, at the control console for her devices. And Prumathe should be here soon. Sekhmet can't pass the portal herself, but she can open it for others to do so. She calls through the portal to her friend. "Uh, how's this?" She picks up where the conversation left off. "There's a, uh, fiendish relic I've been keeping safe in my cabin. I think I can convert it into a device to allow me to go, uh, back to my body. Uh, speaking of which, it would be, uh, helpful if you could bring my body here."

[Rebonack]

[Geneva's Lab]

Oh.

Well.

Or Sekhmet could just open a portal directly into Geneva's lab.

She would really prefer to keeps portals confined to the Bifrost device but she supposes she can make an exception given the current circumstances. She doesn't bother to SCIENCE! at the portal to hell since she has already had a chance to study them pretty thoroughly with Sekhmet in the past.

"Alright, I think we can probably arrange that. Prumathe should be here in a few minutes. It'll take longer to move your body since it's on life support. Those machines are a bit on the bulky side. Regardless, I'll put in a call to begin transferring the equipment here."

Geneva leans to one side a bit, peering past Sekhmet at Rose.

"Who is your, ah, friend there?" Geneva asks.

"I'm Rose, Queen Sekhmet's Chief Minion," Rose replies.

Geneva gives Sekhmet a questioning look.

[bc56]

Scorching Depths
Sekhmet looks exasperated at Rose. "Rose, you're my friend, not my minion." Sekhmet is uncomfortable with having minions anyway. "Is there a different title you want? Uh, captain of the guard or, uh, something?" She knows Rose is a warrior type. To Geneva, she says, "Uh, I met Rose last Thanksmas. She needed my help with a, uh, problem."

[Rebonack]

[Geneva's Lab]

"I can be your friend AND your minion, but if you prefer we can think up another title," Rose relents.

"Do you offer advice to Sekhmet? What about Chief Advisor?" Geneva suggests.

They'll probably be brain-storming title names until Prumathe arrives.

This?

This right here?

This is deeply important business.

[Earl of Purple]

Vigil

Prumathe will arrive as fast as he can, hopefully without getting lost. He'll follow any sign he can, for the science department from the medbay, and when close enough to Geneva's lab. If she's able to track his mind, Geneva will be able to track his progress and maybe nudge him back on track if he takes a wrong turn here or there.

He'll enter and look for Sekhmet, finding her through the portal. If he can see it, he's going to run up to it and through it to give her a big hug and burst into tears. "I thought I'd lost you." Hopefully the portal isn't, like, thirty centimetres across and for communication only, because in that case he can't do the crossing over, or the hug, just the tears.

[bc56]

Scorching Vigil
The portal is easily wide enough for someone to walk through. When Sekhmet sees Prumathe through it, she smiles broadly, and when he runs to her, she spreads her arms to embrace him.
She looks different; she towers over him by almost a meter, is clad in raiments of flame and elaborate golden jewelry, and is imbued with an imperious, supernatural beauty, but she's still Sekhmet beyond a doubt. She bends down to hug Prumathe tightly. "It's okay, you found me again. When I heard you'd gone to confront mother, I was so worried!" Her fiery aura touches Prumathe, but does not harm him. "I don't know how I'd have lived with myself if she'd hurt you!" She holds him tightly and cries with him, as long as he wants.

[5a Violista]

The few people who decide to stay end up staying in camp...and probably will tell the two people who were outside of camp what happened.


Meanwhile, the rest end up splitting into about three groups of four.

"Oh. I see," Mindy says. It's really an unfortunate and one of the worst allergies, she thinks, but she says, "Well, good thing I'm actually pretty good at flying and still have my coat and all." If she were an adult, then she wouldn't have her coat and then wouldn't be able to fly. "Maybe they should try practicing being less allergic." Makes sense, that's totally something you can practice.

[Earl of Purple]

Scorching Vigil

"You're bigger now. Just as beautiful. I love you, Sekhmet." He smiles but doesn't let go, not yet. "The Hive helped, d'you believe it? Do you still have a link to them, here? Can they hear us? They threw an arrow at your mother, hitting her in the eye, and it cracked her up and the injury glowed. So I stabbed her there and then that barmaid from Trog's came out of nowhere and vomited light into her wound and she collapsed and flashed. I... think she's an angel now, not a demon. She's alive, but... I'm not sure she's an issue. I think she's handed herself in to Vigil for trial." Sekhmet wasn't there, so has no idea how bizarre it actually was.

[bc56]

Scorching Vigil
"Really?" Sekhmet keeps hugging Prumathe too. "No, they can't hear us here. This place is shielded from them." Actually, the shield is intended to stop anything inside from psychically affecting things outside. But it works both ways. As she speaks, Sekhmet shrinks in size, until she's roughly the size he remembers. "I love you too. But there are things we need to talk about... Alone." She gives him a quick kiss, and if he's willing, releases him.

[Recaiden]

"That's not the sort of thing you can practice!" Ein protests.
But maybe it is? If they had a dragon to practice with, maybe they could build up an immunity?
((They could not; it would just kill them))

It's not long after this that Ein once again lifts up the mirror, and way above the camp the portal opens, and through comes one, two, three...seven flying hive creatures all told. Three of the big balloon-elephants, and four wormish bat-winged creatures, which are still big but not nearly as much. The ones with wings immediately have some trouble with right being left, and left being right. The floating ones don't mind much, though.

[Earl of Purple]

Scorching Vigil

Prumathe glances at Rose at that. "Yes, really. The Hive carried me from Inside to Vigil. I have your stuff upstairs. What happened? Where did you go when you vanished? And sure, we can talk about whatever you want." Prumathe will back up a step, but keep a hand on Sekhmet- holding hands, perhaps, just so long as he's still able to feel her.

[bc56]

Scorching Vigil

"Uh, first, where in our cabin did you put the key to the locked cabinet? The one where I keep my magic books." Regardless of Prumathe's response, she relays that information to Rose. The view through the portal shifts to show the interior of Hawthorn Cabin at GLoG. "Rose, uh, go through there and get the bag of bones from that cupboard. You know what it looks like. Prumathe and I will be back soon." To Prumathe, she confides, "I, uh, need those bones in order to get back into my body."
Then, leading Prumathe by the hand, she begins to leave the balcony. Steam swirls around the two of them, and to Rose and Geneva, they just disappear.
To Prumathe's eyes, steam swirls around them, and when it clears, they are somewhere else. The room is a richly appointed bedroom with plush, bloodred carpet and gold ornamentation. Two doors lead out of the room, one to a luxurious bathroom with golden fittings, the other to an oversized walk-in closet full of fancy, very revealing clothes. "This was, uh, my mother's bedchamber. No one should interrupt us here." Sekhmet sighs. "There are, uh, a few very serious things I learned from what, uh, happened today. Uh, the first one is that when I disappeared, uh, one of Mother's cultists had summoned me in order to turn me over to her. That could, uh, happen again. It, uh, might be even more likely now that I'm queen." She needs to steel herself before the next bit. "More importantly, uh, Prumathe, I, uh, I'm...
This is clearly difficult for her to say to him.
"I'm immortal." Maybe not the revelation he expected.
"I, uh, don't want to live forever without you."