Inside 71: All I Want For Thanksmas Is You

[Deathkeeper]

All I Want for Thanksmas is You

Nim smiles.
”You’re welcome, detective. It was a pleasure to help you.”
Maybe some people wouldn’t like to help with things being straightforward. But he’s just happy that they solved the mystery at all.

All Sphinxed Up

Well, Nim has lots of other things to ask, but it sounds like Lydia wants to get straight to business. Nim ponders for a moment before he jerks himself up straight in a most familiar way and begins reciting:
”I’m full of feathers but I’m not for your head
But I’m found on those who are quite fond of the dead

And although you usually need me to fly
I’m grown near the earth and not in the sky
What am I?”
Nim gives her a super easy one given that he wants her to succeed.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Sekhmet returns to the park, this time in better circumstances. For one, she's got a bathing suit, a blue one-piece. For a second, she's had time to adjust to the new figure she unwillingly received on Thanksmas. For a third, she has a bag with her which is brimming with books. So many books, many of them quite old. Hopefully the heat doesn't ruin them. Sekhmet calls out, "Rose? Are you there? I wanted to talk to you, and, uh, try the hot springs." The pyread/succubus Charcoal is relaxing in one of the hottest pools and gives Sekhmet a friendly wave.

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

Rose has been making some improvements.

For one?

The ugly cyclone fencing keeping people away from the caldera is gone. Instead it's surrounded by tall hedges of climbing rose vines covering a lattice of stone. It's an important safety precaution to keep people from falling into the lava pit at the center of the park. Similar barriers of stone and flowers have grown up around the fissures and lava tubes. All the dangerous places someone might hurt themselves. A bit further from the caldera geothermal features abound. Bubbling mud pots, blasting geysers, and of course the springs of geothermal heated water just deep enough for someone to bathe in. Those closest pools to the caldera are clearly boiling. The next furthest away is a decent distance and it's merely quite warm rather than hot enough to burn a mortal. Each of the pools is about twelves feet across and more than a few have normal mortal folks relaxing in them. There are even a few ring-shaped hedges with strings of black crystals hanging on vines near the pools to serve as changing rooms for anyone who wants privacy

Wow! Rose has really done some work here.

As soon as Sekhmet speaks up there will come a voice from a nearby vent as it blasts steam into the air, Oh hi Sekhmet! Sure, I'll be out in just a bit.

And then about thirty seconds later?

Rose will step out of one of the little changing rooms wearing a simple burgundy strip of cloth warped around her chest like a bikini top, several little vines over her shoulders helping to hold it in place. She's definitely had to practice remembering to make her appearances clothed since people are enjoying her park and Inside has public decency rules. She trots over to Sekhmet, smiling all the while, and will move to give the woman a hug with both arms and wings embracing her.

Stepping back, she glances down at the bags. "What are the books for?" she asks.


[All Sphinxed Up]

Lydia raises an eyebrow at him and then hums thoughtfully.

Then sloooooowly she glances off to the side and flexes one of her-

"Wings."

POOF!

She explodes in a cloud of sand that gets absolutely everywhere.

And now standing in the middle of the sand heap is a human woman who looks like she's in her early twenties. Still wearing her glasses, still wearing her tee, and now wearing a skirt that looks like it's made of tawny feathers.

"It worked!"

It sure did.

[Deathkeeper]

All Sphinxed Up

Nim positively beams at her.
”Yes! Yes it did! I wasn’t sure if it would, to be honest. It seemed...almost too easy.” He had a plan B and everything.
”Well, I’ll give you time to celebrate if you’d like. I would sort of still like your take on what it’s like to be a sphinx. Given, well...”
Given that everyone bearing a mantle of Echidna’s children he knows of has spent at least a little time wearing it literally. Nim is hedging his bets here.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Wow, it looks really nice here! Rose's really cleaned the place up!
Sekhmet gladly returns the hug. "Oh, uh, I wanted to compare notes on some things. My mother, uh, mostly. But also," she reaches into her bag and pulls something out of a side pocket. It's the green crystal locket Rose gave Sekhmet. "I wanted to talk to you about my father." She starts heading for the pool close to the caldera. She's well aware of how hot it is, but she can take it. Plus then it will be easier for the two of them to talk in private.

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

Oh no kidding.

Most of the other pools are WELL away from the caldera since Rose doesn't want the water to be hot enough to boil people. The stream flows up past the caldera close enough to be headed, then pops up to the surface varying distances away. Rose is actually pretty proud of the plumbing job she set up. The only other people Sekhmet might have to worry about are the other nymphs who live at the park or possibly the odd fire-aligned dragon.

There aren't any dragons here today, though.

Rose follows Sekhmet into the spring, folding her legs under herself and giving a little "Aahh..." as she settles into the water. Being the park is one thing, but actually hanging out in the pools? That's a whole different experience.

She smiles widely over at Sekhmet.

"Okay, so! What did you want to know about your father? I only spent a few hours around him and most of it was crazy rambling. But I did learn a few important things, I think."

As for questions? Rose will let Sekhmet ask ans she'll answer as best she can.


[All Sphinxed Up]

"Believe me, finding a sphinx is usually hard enough on its own," Lydia says. "They usually don't live in places that are easy to get to."

Vaults of magical power.

Ancient libraries.

The road to Thebes.

You know, remote places.

"What's it like? Well... I'm smarter when I'm a sphinx. I hate to say it, but it's definitely true. I can remember just about everything I see and read and cross reference it. It's easy to make connections I wouldn't be able to otherwise. That's why I stayed a sphinx while I was trying to figure out Tristan's cure."

She looks down at the sand heap and sighs. Lydia steps out of the stand and leaves the room, shortly returning with a shop-vac. Time to clean up the mess!

"There's also an impulse to learn as much as you can. And to guard knowledge. I spend a LOT of time in the library when I get catty."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Sekhmet sinks into the pool with similar relaxed exclamations. She doesn't get to unwind somewhere actually warm often. And it's getting colder and colder outside again. She leaves her bag a short distance away so as to not risk getting the books wet. "Uh, everything? What he looked like, what kind of person he was, what he said about my mother, what he said about me. Just, uh, everything. What happened to him?"

[Deathkeeper]

All Sphinxed Up

Nim nods. All of this seems to line up with what he would expect and to some extent, what he experienced getting his mantle.
”And you seemed to have some sort of manipulation magic? It reminded me a bit of the way the local equestrians hold things. You also seem to have lost your regalia.”
The regalia must be from Lydia’s own temple. Sphinx isn’t usually portrayed as having shiny things on her. Probably because all the humans ran away when she went looking for a nice shawl. Very aggravating.

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"Well, first, when he was feeling a little more lucid I got him to tell me his name. Ananias Crowley," Rose says. She then goes on to give a physical description of the man. "He seemed genuinely concerned about you. And a couple times he wished that he had been turned into a succubus instead of what happened to him. Sapphira ruined his mind. He was almost completely mad. But he did say some important things. He talked about how important you are. And how important it is that your mother doesn't take you. And some things about Fate?"

And a whole lot of incoherent rambling.

"Your mother dropped him off at my apartment and told me to keep an eye on him. Then she came back the next day and took him again. That was the night of the Thanksmas party."

So all quite recent.

Rose looks ashamed of all this.

"Believe me... I wouldn't have been serving your mother if I had a choice. She tricked me and she would have killed me if I refused to help her. And... that thing she did to me. It made me LIKE the bad things she wanted me to do," Rose says. "Thank you again for helping me, Sekhmet."


[All Sphinxed Up]

"The magical manipulation?" Lydia replies. "Yeah, I can sort of control things a little? But only certain things. Things relating to knowledge-"

Like books!

"-and, umm... people who couldn't guess my riddles. I think that second one is so a sphinx can freeze people in place and eat them if they get it wrong..."

Oh.

Well.

That's terrible.

"I've never done that," Lydia hastily adds. "Eaten people, I mean."

Technically it could be used to seize control of someone and march them right back out of the library, too.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"Ananias Crowley? So my name is, uh, was, Sekhmet Crowley." Not anymore, Mrs. Brignole! She seems very concerned. "Why would he want to be turned into a succubus? What drove him mad? What did he say about Fate exactly? Do you have, uh, any idea what Sapphira did with him?" That last one gets Sekhmet very interested. She pulls one of the books out of her bag (thankfully her hands are still dry) and a pen, and prepares to take notes.

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

Nodding to the first question, Rose says, "I think maybe he didn't like being crazy? Sapphira did something to him that drove him mad. He said she took his mind. I'm not... sure how that would work. He kept saying that he wished he was like me, so I assumed he meant being turned into a 'priestess' of your mother. He would say 'I should have been you' or something like that. If I had known that what he was saying was so important I probably would have written it down. Sorry..."

Rose could have been better.

She could have done a better job of helping her new friend! If only she had known.

"He said Fate plays a twisted game when he was saying that you're really special, both sanctified and profane at the same time. I guess... maybe me and Charcoal are like that now, too?"

Maybe!

Rose isn't sure.

"I'm not sure where your mother took him after she left my apartment. She just picked him up and disappeared. But before that she told me that she probably wouldn't have any new tasks for me. The only things she really had me do was help her hunt Buttercups, watch your father, and..."

Rose trails off.

"...and steal that magic crown from the church. Umm... I should probably tell them I replaced that with a fake crown. It was probably important."

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Sekhmet jots down a couple notes and nods. "The highest echelons of my mother's cult are called "priestesses." They're all beautiful women. Even if they were men beforehand." Sekhmet considers. "He had an opportunity to be exalted to that level, and he didn't take it?" That sounds odd, for a power-hungry cultist. Sekhmet then gives an uncharacteristically bitter laugh when Fate's game is mentioned. "I know all about Fate's game. Remind me to show you my Purification set sometime. A gift from Fate himself." She would say it's a worse gift than the beauty she got from Sapphira. Also, it was technically given to Geneva, but after they opened it up and found the contents too disturbing to actually play a game, it was left at Sekhmet's home. She hasn't opened the box since. The crown is disturbing news. "You stole a magical item from a church for her? Which church? What item? Do you know what she planned to use it for?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Brimstone Park]

[All Sphinxed Up]

"The magical manipulation?" Lydia replies. "Yeah, I can sort of control things a little? But only certain things. Things relating to knowledge-"

Like books!

"-and, umm... people who couldn't guess my riddles. I think that second one is so a sphinx can freeze people in place and eat them if they get it wrong..."

Oh.

Well.

That's terrible.

"I've never done that," Lydia hastily adds. "Eaten people, I mean."

Technically it could be used to seize control of someone and march them right back out of the library, too.

All Sphinxed Up

Nim stops to consider this.
"That's fascinating. So it's not really prehensile feathers as much as using your wings to manipulate books specifically."
Nim rolls his eyes dramatically at the other comment. His mannerisms seem to change momentarily. "Honestly, I'm fairly sure that's like dragons going after princesses. Sure it can happen but not everyone does. Okay, Sphinx did, but only because Hera left very explicit instructions when she dumped Sphinx on Thebes and that last month of her life got made her entire legacy. Most sphinxes just guard things without any mention of eating people. So don't feel like your powers are all about that. Stupid Hera." Nim shakes himself a bit.
"Sorry, that seems to have become a pet peeve of mine over-night. Inheritor memories are...a thing all right."
Nim wonders if maybe Chimera can remember all the tombs that her ancestor guarded despite never seeing them. If you really want to see the Mantle's memories riled up just refer to Sphinx as the Sphinx of Thebes and watch those memories squirm about how Sphinx only lived there for like a month come on.

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

"I think your mother was hoping I would be heading her cult here," Rose admits. "I'm also starting to think that Buttercup did what she could to sabotage that just to spite Sapphira. I know she wasn't very happy about her daughters being turned into devils. I'm not complaining. I'm glad I didn't lose myself to meanness."

Rose doesn't want to be a meany!

Any sprite that is or was a Buttercup largely doesn't. All part of Buttercup's insidious plan to bring about peace via conformity.

She laughs a little at that last part about the priestess. "Haha... yeah.. men..." comes the stilted reply as she fiddles with her hear a bit. "Wowie I really got whammied, didn't I? I was Alexander. Then I was Buttercup. Then I was Alexandria. Now I'm Rose. Back in my adventuring days I disguised myself as a woman now and again and it was nice but I never imagined it would be full time."

Being honest with herself?

Rose, at no stage in her life after she gained the magic to alter herself early on in her adventuring career, was ever particularly attached to her sex. When you can mix things up depending on what the social situation calls for why would you be? That's probably why she was only surprised rather than upset when Sapphira made her a woman.

"I'm not sure what sort of man your father was before he lost his mind, but he seemed to really regret the things he had done in life. And he wanted you to be safe. I don't know how much I can contribute to protecting you, but I'll try."

Then crown talk!

"The Church of Binding Truth," Rose replies. "It's a church dedicated to Fate, based on what I've read. Your mother didn't tell me what the crown did or what it was for. I learned pretty early not to ask for hows and whys from patrons. She called it the Crown of Nebuchadnezzar, though."

She hasn't gotten around to checking online if there's any information on it. Probably not. It strikes her as one of those artifacts that's going to be really obscure.


[All Sphinxed Up]

Lydia watches curiously as Nim suddenly holds himself a little differently and speaks a little differently all of a sudden.

"Oh, I've seen Tristan do that before," she says, a little smile forming on her face. "When he starts talking for Chimera. Like the original one. He doesn't do it as much as he used to. I think the longer you have the mantle the more you give it your own voice. He would say the same sorts of things. That Chimera's job was to guard the tombs in the mountains of Lycia since some of them were doorways that lead to Hades but how virtually no one remembers that, they only remember her being killed by Bellerophon."

She finishes vacuuming up all the sand. She really should have thought about that before agreeing to meet in her dorm. There's probably going to be a little bit of grit in the rug for WEEKS.

"It's hard not to conflate the Sphinx with the stories about her. Stories have power."

[Deathkeeper]

[All Sphinxed Up]

Nim blushes. He barely even mentally notes the sand and how it likely notes that Lydia inherited her sphinx role from a more arid location than the temple he and Chimera explored.
"Right. Well. Oddities aside, I'm glad I could help. I didn't even have to use Plan B!" he opens his bag to show Lydia the statue.
"This little thing is magic. If you say its invocation and make a promise it seems to help. If it feels like it. I was thinking it might help people if they vow to get cured. But you didn't need it today." Not the best for scientific testing, but good for Lydia.

[Rebonack]

[All Sphinxed Up]

Lydia is smiling and looking interested about what's in Nim's bag.

Then she's not smiling and looking very concerned about what Nim just pulled out of his bag.

"That's a sphinx of black quartz," she says, her tone dour. "You didn't use it, did you?"

Uh oh.

This is sounding like one of those 'that's a cursed magical item' sorts of conversations.

"It's a cursed magical item."

See?

Told you.

[Deathkeeper]

All Sphinxed Up

Nim blinks.
"I mean, just once. And I fulfilled the vow and everything. I figured if there was any sort of curse it would be for breaking the vow after you made it." That would be the logical thing to assume about a magical artifact that judges promises.
"Am I going to have to make complaints to a shop owner?"
Nim let's be honest, that shop will have vanished by the time you get back there. That's how shops that sell cursed items work.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Sekhmet stares at Rose. "You were... I wouldn't have guessed. You, uh, act quite natural." Sekhmet thinks. "We, uh, have his hair. Aren't there people who can use that to, uh, find people?" But the crown is probably the more important concern for now. "Nebuchadnezzar... I'm, uh, sure I've heard that name before. But I can't remember. Maybe we could ask them? Oh, uh, but I can't enter holy ground, and, uh, you probably can't too now, because you're a devil."

[Rebonack]

[All Sphinxed Up]

"Yes, they curse you if you fail to uphold the vow. They're quite insidious," Lydia says. "I've done quite a bit of research on sphinx-related topics, and these came up more than once."

It looks like she's not particularly willing to even touch the thing.

Not that touching it is unsafe.

She just doesn't want to touch a cursed object.

"If you break a vow to a sphinx of black quartz it punishes you with an eternity of judging the vows of others. The victim is transformed into another statue and the one that changed them vanishes, appearing in some random curio shop or a treasure chest being cracked open by an explorer."

Oh.

Well, that's really bad.

Lydia takes a deep breath to calm her nerves a bit, then speaks. "Sphinx of black quartz: now voice thy misjudged name."

A voice comes from the statue, brief and stilted, like a person who hasn't spoken for years and isn't used to the sound of their voice. "Saera. Oh... oh gods I can speak?" A woman's voice, high and reedy.

Fun!


[Brimstone Park]

"I'm a natural actor. I was always really good at getting into roles," Rose admits. "This just felt like another one."

A bit more long term than usual, perhaps.

"I have a friend who knows about divination magic. A wizard named Hugo, he was one of my old adventuring companions. He lives in a little cottage way out in the middle of nowhere Outside. Or at least he did. The last time I visited him was years ago," Rose says. At the comment about holy ground Rose looks thoughtful. "Is that true, though? I'm pretty sure I was a devil when I went into the church the first time disguised. No one even noticed. If we can't go in there's a gaiad who lives in the church's cemetery grounds named Iris. I could talk to her and tell her what's happening. Let them know that Sapphira was forming me to work for her."

She's pretty sure they'll be forgiving.

...right?

[Deathkeeper]

All Sphinxed Up

"Oh. Oh, dear."
That's. Well.
The statue is in good company, at least.
"Well, that sounds incredibly specific but this is Nexus curses for you. Um...this sounds like a pretty serious curse." This is entirely out if Nim's league.
"This sounds like something you'd need a quest and a half to fix." Or an archmage. Which he doesn't have.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

"You probably weren't? I think you were just a mortal tiefling. Devils, uh, don't make good cultists. It usually takes a lot of effort to keep one in this world. We, uh, you and me and Charcoal are, uh, special. Because we, uh, originated in the mortal world, staying here is easy for us." Of course Rose is now a true devil, albeit one that's also a nymph.

[Rebonack]

[All Sphinxed Up]

"Where am I? What year is it? How... how long have I been like this?" the sphinx of black quartz, apparently named Saera, asks.

"You're in my dorm room at Inside University," Lydia replies. "The year is two thousand and twenty."

"...I'm not sure where that is. Or when that is. I remember hearing the voice of an old woman. Before that I was in possession of the chief advisor to the King of Luthenhal. He had used me to attain his position. Then he swore he would overthrow the King and take his throne. He failed to uphold his vow."

Whoops.

That might explain the scene title, wouldn't it?

Lydia glances over at Nim.

"There IS a way to break the curse. But it's touchy... A person can vow to free the soul trapped in a Sphinx of Black Quartz. You'll be given the means to do so, but if you should fail..."

Then now there are TWO statues.


[Brimstone Park]

"Oh..." Rose mutters.

Yay for being a devil?

She really does play for both sides now doesn't she?

"We should still try. Even if we can't go into the church grounds we can warn them," Rose insists.

[Deathkeeper]

[All Sphinxed Up]

Nim decides not to comment that the vow is rather odd. How could someone really fail a vow as open-ended as that? Theoretically it would only be failed at the victim's death. Could the curse ensnare someone as they died? He wouldn't put it past mages or whoever made these things.
"Okay, but what are the means to do so? What does freeing her entail?"
Because if the means to do so were, say, 'engage an ancient beast in a brawl to the death' Nim wouldn't be good even with the statue's boon.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Sekhmet blushes, her cheeks turning a deep black. "I'm, uh, not in a fit state of dress to go to church." This swimsuit, while modest as far as swimsuits are concerned, is waaaaay too revealing to wear into church. Her legs are completely bare! No proper lady should go into a holy place dressed like that. It helps even less that ever since that fateful Thanksmas party, Sekhmet's figure has changed to really fill out the swimsuit, and make it even more obvious how showy it is.

[Shadowcaller]

The chariot starts to slowly roll away with the imp that first touched it still strapped in.

"That's like five questions."
The cat sighs. These little monsters who captured her are pretty incompetent, aren't they? Except for all the iron they had ready.
"I have a name. You can call me 'Yone'." Separate answers.
"I'm in a group. It doesn't have a name."
"We all learned from the same teacher and are stuck in the Nexus."

The imp starts panicking and shouts for help.
Yet the other imps just laugh and starts to fly after the chariot, curious to see where it would take its passenger. Some of the braver ones will even jump on it if it starts traveling too fast.

All of this is lost on the boss imp however who doesn't really seem pleased by the answers.

"You- look Yone, all I want to know is if you're all blood cats, okay? I'm trying to categorize fey in the nexus according to this biological chart I've constructed." He raises his palm. "And before you say fey can't be categorized, I will say that you're wrong. It just requires a lot of effort which brings me to my next question. Do you have any parents or creators that you can recall? If so, do they look anything like you do?"

[Recaiden]

The chariot slowly picks up speed. It seems to be curving back around towards the place where it first entered the park.

"All what? Could you just show me the chart, and I'll show you where I fit in it?"
"Because like, of course we can be categorized. There's at least seven kinds. My group are all Outer or blank." It's probably worse than the imp imagined. You see, they have their own system of categorization!
"My parents aren't anything like me." Yone doesn't mind admitting that part. If these imps went to bother her parents...that would be hilarious.

[Rebonack]

[All Sphinxed Up]

"Breaking the curse is different for each sphinx of black quartz," Lydia says. "It usually is some sort of action related to the vow that they failed to uphold."

"Please don't try," Saera pleads. "You may fail. I would not wish this damned existence on anyone."

Well.

Only real way to break the curse would be to figure out what vow Saera broke. And it sounds like she doesn't want to tell.

Sounds like she has resigned herself to life as a very attractive bookend.


[Brimstone Park]

Rose looks Sekhmet up and down, absolutely baffled. "You're not?" she replies. "But you're wearing clothing isn't that good enough?"

It must be one of those churches that are really hung up on everyone needing to wear special clothing while being inside.

"I guess you didn't bring a change of clothes with you? I have some clothes back at my apartment that might fit you if you want."

Here we've got Rose, searching for solutions.

"Or I could conjure something for you but I think it would mostly be made of gossamer."

Possibly not. The infernal magic getting in there may result in some strange interactions.

[bc56]

Brimstone Park

Sekhmet looks a little exasperated by Rose. Of course the nymph and succubus combo leaves little idea of the importance of modesty. "I'm a princess, Rose! I can't just wear whatever scandalous outfit. It wouldn't be proper for me to show my legs in a holy place." Sekhmet has a shapely pair of legs right now, but she doesn't like flaunting them, or any other part of her body for that matter. "I, uh, don't want to go to your old place. Mother might be watching it." Alex's disappearance might have aroused Sapphira's attention. "If you could conjure something, I, uh, think that would be good? Something with a nice long skirt."

[Deathkeeper]

All Sphinxed Up

Nim angrily picks up the statue. "Sphinx of black quartz: now voice thy misjudged claim.

That is to say, I do not leave people behind to curses. In one minute I will make that vow regardless of whether or not you tell me. If you want to help me by telling me what it will be, it would be most appreciated. But staying silent will not stop me. The Nexus is a place where dreams come true and magic is everywhere. I will get this fixed."
He stares.
He isn't bluffing. If she stays silent he will speak the invocation and vow to free her.

[Rebonack]

[Brimstone Park]

Rose looks a little exasperated by Sekhmet. What's the point of having otherworldly beautify if you aren't going to flaunt it at least a little? It's like having a work of art and leaving it under a sheet all the time.

But, in the end, she relents. It's up to Sekhmet how she wants to present herself to the world, after all.

"I guess maybe going back to my apartment might not be safe right now. There are lots of important things there, though! Like my books and all my potion and scroll making supplies. Maybe I should just lay low for a while until she might not be looking for me anymore?" Rose reasons as she rises out of the hot spring and makes her way over to one of the rose hedges and picks a blossom. Then, gripping it in both hands, she pulls it apart.

But instead of just getting a torn up rose the blossom seems to almost unravel until there's a beautiful burgundy dress in Rose's hands. She could probably do other colors, but the more in common the conjured object has with what is being made the easier time the gossamer has filling in the blanks. It's long, long enough to cover Sekhmet down to the ankles. The back is open with a choker that goes around the neck to make room for Sekhmet's wings. ...it also has a scandalously deep neck-line strung together with little vines that sparkle with lime green crystals.

Rose smiles at the dress, clearly pleased with her work.

"How's this? Is it long enough?" she asks, holding it out for Sekhmet to examine.


[All Sphinxed Up]

The sphinx of black quartz remains silent. She's trying to call Nim's bluff. The statue feels heavy in his hands.

Lydia, meanwhile, looks concerned, raising one hand toward Nimrod.

"I really don't think that's a good idea."