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Sivetrys's adventuring party meets the blue girls
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"Oh, angel, angel..." Zan squeezes Uma (hard, but not too hard, she's frail). Something's hurting her, really badly, something about Rids, something she can't even talk about... Zan feels horrible for asking in front of her, but she needs to know. "...Luto, what happened to Rids? Besides the Dominate."

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"...i-it killed her and t-turned her undead, it was horrible, and U-Uma - noticed first, when we ambushed it  and -"

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...Her arms go slack as her brain replays it again and again and again. "Had to be me," she whispers. "It'd've used her to escape the silence. h-h-had to be me." She's shaking. 

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...Rids will need a Resurrection, she'd said. Zan can fill in the blanks well enough. 

She shifts around, sandwiching Uma in a hug between her and Luto. "Oh, angel..." she whispers. "You've been so brave - you've both been so brave, and I'm proud of you both and so so sorry this happened."

Tears continue to flow down her face, but she keeps her voice and breath steady.

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Luto is content to cling to the half of her family that is presently alive. (It still hurts, of course, but it's a lot less scary, with Zan here.)

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she sees the body explod -

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- no. That's not what's happening.

She remembers the body exploding. That was hours ago. 

She's in Highhelm (the buildings she's seen are incredible. She's read that the staircase is a marvel of stonework, and the ventilation is exquisitely engineered - she's seen several diagrams, but never been here before...) 

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the body ex no, that's not what's happening.

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Zan is here. Zan and Luto are holding her. That's what's happening now. She clings, with all of her meager strength.

With effort, she forces words past her lips. "I keep - seeing it - feeling like - it's still happening,"  and she hates feeling so scared and helpless, when she knows the danger is over...

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Oh. Gods. "You're having flashbacks - it's over now, angel. You're safe. I've got you. We're all going to be okay. We're in Highhelm, in a room in The Honorable Vagabond."

She rubs her hands against Uma's back, hoping the contact helps ground her.

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She almost snarls. Yes, she knows that, Zan. The memory, like a poison in her mind, but no Remove Poison she mixes could -

 

 

- wait. 

"There's - a bard spell - for memories -" she struggles out. 

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Oh! Something Luto can maybe help with! 

"I'll go ask Linzi," she says, extracting herself from the sandwich with one final squeeze.

"...Linzi is a halfling bard in the other party," she adds for Zan's benefit, "she seems sweet, you'll like her," and then she's out the door.

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Next door, Linzi is reading.

Normally, she adores reading. It's among her favorite activities in the world - a fascinating picture into someone else's perspective, their values, their world. She can step into the past, or visit another continent, or even other planes of existence. And these are books from a city that she's visiting for the first time! Dwarven books! Dwarves have an entirely different literary history than humans, which Linzi has zero experience with, and she's really very curious, because humans give a very distorted view of the world, and also have this nasty habit of stomping out other races' literary and oral traditions, like for no particular example, halflings -

- Anyway. This is not recreational reading. She's actually barely even reading right now - more like systematically skimming through (borrowed, on collateral) books that might have something about mental effects, and scrivening off relevant sections that might come up. Because Ekundayo said that Tristian seemed to know he was about to be snatched, and that - implies some stuff? About how maybe he was enchanted, or something?? And that is Linzi's department. So Linzi is researching possibilities. She admittedly knows most of them already, but she doesn't know everything, and it's worth looking up.

It's something to do besides worry, and she's still too anxious to sleep. Even though she's very tired, actually, but she's tired in that unhelpful aaaaaaaaaa way instead of the way where she can actually sleep, she expects at some point Jubilost will pointedly hand her a sleeping draught but he's off doing things that might actually matter, finding diamonds for the other party, unlike her, reading books for answers she mostly already has, like how she's the blindest and dumbest idiot for not noticing that something was up with Tristian -

- Suffice to say, she is perfectly happy to be interrupted. She marks the place in the latest book she's trying to extract information from, (with a ribbon, obviously, not something barbaric like a dog-ear) and then goes to the door, looking a little bit like she's scrambling for a distraction.

"Luto! Hi! Uh - Sivi mentioned Zan is better, I'm really glad!" And then she registers Luto's expression. "Is - everything -" nope nope don't say okay, everything is not okay. "- can I help with something?"

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Yeah, Luto is in a hurry and is just aiming for 'do not cry at the anxious kind bard'.

"Hi Linzi. Do you have a spell that suppresses memories? I don't really know the details, but Uma said there's a bard spell that can, and -" she takes a shaky breath before continuing "- she could really use it."

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"Modify Memory? Yeah, I have it, actually I've even used it for suppressing traumatic events for Tristian - not that it was for him, exactly, but he asked if I could, and - oh, but I don't have anymore fourth circle spells today, um. Yes I am so happy to help her, because, uh, yeah that - sorry for not realizing sooner and offering!!!"

Oh no she's getting a bad grade in barding!!! It's exactly this reason she was expelled from school actually she was expelled for irreverence and not kissing Irovetti's ass, but anyway.

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Oh no she's getting a bad grade in not distressing the kind anxious bard!

 "No need to be sorry! It's super not your job to realize, right, and, and, Uma can be really hard to read, I didn't notice," and whoops now she's feeling another wave of guilt about how she's been treating Uma -

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- she forces herself to take a deep breath and slow down.

"...anyways, it sounds like you know the spell and how to use it for this, and you could cast it on her tomorrow, which would be such a help, thank you."

She's still pretty worried about Uma now, but... 

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Nodnodnod! "Yeah! I'll be - um, well, not happy exactly, considering the circumstances, but - yeah, I will."

....

Would it be weird to ask for a hug and/or for Uma to make her something to knock her out so she can get to working on that Modify Memory sooner rather than later...?

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Well, Luto has definitely demonstrated both hugginess in general and a willingness to hug Linzi in particular! So probably that wouldn't be weird.

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Hmmmm, probably it would still be weird, but, but you know what, person she is narrating this to in order to get herself through this? She will be brave! So take that!

"- Um, do you think Uma could make me something for sleeping? I'm in the, the - too tired to sleep kind of phase, but I really should sooner rather than later, so, um."

Victory.

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...Uma really seems like she needs to not do anything more complicated than be held and cry right now. Probably she shouldn't say that?

"I'm good with herbs and could brew some tea that's good for calm and sleeping," she says instead, and then adds "...would you like a hug?", because Linzi looks like she could really use a hug. 

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"Oh! Um. ...... yes please. To both. Tea might work."

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Hug first! (Luto continues to be a really good hugger.) 

Once Linzi is Sufficiently Hugged, she'll investigate the suite's facilities for boiling water.

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Absolutely available! There is a marvelous little spigot in the wall, which dispenses water. Similarly, there's a little closed wood burning stove (smoke pipe leading out of the closed space) that is already lit. (With Tristian absent, Sivetrys is now the only one in this party with access to Spark, and sometimes Jubilost does actually need heat for some of his work.) Linzi fetches a kettle, and so tea can happen without all that much logistical fuss.

"... Are, um, your party members likely to also want tea?" offers Linzi. "Because we can go over there with it? Or, uh, not if you guys still need space?"

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She thinks for a moment. "I should double-check, but it should be fine? Uma could really use some calming tea, too." And, uh, Linzi really doesn't seem like she wants to be alone, right now.

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