Holy War Burst: S3

[18:02] <@Oxford> The little boy's eyes are wide like saucers, moist and glimmery in the sunlight. His older sister's, though, are narrowed, and now that the initial shock of being visited by an angel is wearing off, her father's command to trust no one and stay in the house return to her. Young minds are so adaptable to the extraordinary.
[18:13] <@Oxford> Outside, Lily and Naida feel the wave of holy energy sweep over them as Henriette's hallowed ground pushes back all signs of war. The smoke on the horizon disappears, and the hayfields, criss-crossed with treadmarks, begin to straighten back up, unbroken.
[18:13] <Lily_Blevins> She sniffs the air, her nose twitching.
[18:14] <Henriette> As if shedding some insect-like shell, the angelic visage remains for a while longer before fading into the air. Henriette, meanwhile, lost in a haze of weakness, wanders back out of the house. What was she doing there again? Why had she even gone in? The world seems fuzzy and confusing like a strange impressionist painting. Also, it's a little bigger.
[18:16] <@Oxford> The fresh, clean scent of laundry drying on a line fills Lily's nose, banishing the char and carnage from the battle just on the other side of the hill. Her and Naida see Henriette stumble out onto the porch of the farmhouse, looking slightly odd.
[18:19] <Henriette> It's barely recognizable as Henriette, actually. A blonde-haired child wrapped in an immaculate white dress approaches them. She can't be older than 12 or so, but the shimmering, somewhat translucent wings give it away. The angelic features that were once so prominent seem to vanish when directly looked at as if their power lives elsewhere now.
[18:20] <Naida> Naida raises her eyebrows and looks between Henriette and Lily.
[18:22] <Lily_Blevins> "Henri, what did you do?"
[18:24] <Henriette> "Quoi? Je ne comprends pas ce que tu veux dire." Glancing around, she frowns for a moment and continues, "I mean, what are you talking about, ma belle?"
[18:25] <Naida> Fumbling in vain to find a way to make a reflection for her, Naida feels like an idiot. "Look in the reflection of the window. Or make your own mirror."
[18:25] <Lily_Blevins> "Well, first you cleansed this area somehow, and now you're back before puberty."
[18:26] <Henriette> Both Naida and Lily can tell that while this is Henriette, it's somehow... not all of her. "Have you both hit your heads? I went in to... well, I..." Her little eyebrows knit in thought. "What did I do in that house? I don't remember..."
[18:28] <Naida> "What's in the house?" Suspicious of everything always being the worst, her magical symbiote crawls over her skin.
[18:30] <Henriette> "There was..." she shakes her head. "Ch-children...? Yes, children, et they were afraid, afraid someone would come. Their parents went into town..." Suddenly her eyes brighten, and her head turns towards a distant road. "We have to go. Now."
[18:31] <Lily_Blevins> "Where?"
[18:33] <Henriette> Henriette is already walking to where her head turned. She knows the path, even if she doesn't know the destination. She's walked it before... with Papa. And yet she hasn't. That's not her Papa. "They left for town. They told her to protect her brother, but they haven't come back."
[18:34] * Bardy ([email protected]) has joined #WorldWarBurst
[18:34] <Naida> Naida takes a few steps towards the house before catching a reflection of herself in the mirror. "...Lily, maybe you should check the house real quick. I'll keep up with...uh...Henriette."
[18:34] <Lily_Blevins> Lily nods, putting on her hat to cover up her cat ears.  "Sure!"
[18:35] <Naida> *in the window
[18:36] <@Oxford> The road is lined with blossoming wildflowers. Low stone embankments show where it has been levelled to make passage by cart easier over the rolling hills.
[18:37] <Lily_Blevins> Lily heads into the house's kitchen or living room and just sits for a bit, listening carefully.
[18:39] <Henriette> As Lily enters the house, she can feel something or someone watching her. It's almost hostile at first, but it eases after a moment, as if allowing her to pass. It's quiet in the house, the soothing smells of freshly baked bread wafting through the air, just like before the war.
[18:39] <Naida> Skipping through the shadows, which bend to her in greeting, Naida quickly catches up with Henri and walks alongside her in silence.
[18:40] <Lily_Blevins> If they're kids hiding, they probably don't like strangers, so she's just gonna' stick here in case they need something or if someone pops up.
[18:43] <Henriette> It's not hard to catch up to her, even as she walks at a grueling pace. She turns to look at Naida, her eyebrows basically fused together. "I think I did something rash again, Naida. Or... she did... whoever is still watching over that house."
[18:44] <@Oxford> After about a kilometre of walking along the road in silence, the landscape changes. The wildflowers are sparse and ragged, and the dirt road becomes rougher underfoot. They seem to be passing out of the hallowed ground, though at least they're far enough from the battle that the smell hasn't returned.
[18:46] <Naida> The literal biomask hides a nostalgic look as Naida thinks about Rosa and Violet. "...did you split in two?"
[18:47] <Lily_Blevins> Let's see...Lily takes a bit of a quick walk outside to see all the entrances/exits to the house, and thinks of her own experience as a child who didn't want anything to do with her mother.  If the kids are hiding, they don't want to be found, except by their parents.  She doubts they'd escape, considering it's a WAR going on, but keeps an ear out for anyone landing outside from the
[18:47] <Lily_Blevins> upper floor, or anything similar
[18:49] <Lily_Blevins> She reasons there's no reason to announce her presence, movement in a house is pretty easy to hear if you're staying still and not talking.
[18:50] <Henriette> "N-No," Little Henri replies. "Not exactly. I don't think we were ever one person like that to begin with. She just needs me to help her. She's too big to do anything by herself. Like trying to put your hand down a drainpipe that's too small to reach something." Her pace slows some, fear starting to seep in now that the real world is coming back. "But they were scared, et I wanted them
[18:50] <Henriette> to be safe. I wanted someone to be safe in the middle of all this."
[18:51] <Henriette> "My analogy does not really hold up well for what I think happened after that."
[18:53] <@Oxford> The windows are all closed, at least, and she'd likely be able to tell if they were opened. As it happens, Lily has more patience than a young child: she hears a creak on the stairs, and the soft footfalls of tiny stocking feet.
[18:53] <Naida> "Then who or what is...'She?'"
[18:54] <Lily_Blevins> She waits a bit, trying to stifle a yawn.  A bit like stalking prey, but she's not hungry right now.
[18:56] <Henriette> "I don't know..." Henriette answers after a moment of thoughtful silence. "Me? Kind of."
[18:58] <Naida> "...but it isn't one of those...things. The hostile ones."
[18:59] <@Oxford> There's another creak from the direction of the stairs, and a small, round head appears at the corner between the steps and the ceiling. When the little girl sees Lily, she doesn't run, but she doesn't come forward either. She just sits and watches.
[19:00] <Henriette> In the house, there seems to also be something hovering just over the children, a bright glow, diffuse and comforting.
[19:01] <Henriette> Little Henri's hands wrap around her pendant, which fits into her entire palm now. "Like what happened with Lily and Rosalyne? No, I don't think so. You know there are those big structures ancient civilizations made? You stand at the bottom and look up and they just go on forever? It is like that. Mais I do not think I have ever seen the top."
[19:02] <Lily_Blevins> She brings her hand up, in a beckoning gesture, similar to the ones that certain statues of cats in the orient hae, and smiles.  The child might notice that her pupils are a bit big, and her features carved out with the care of a porcelain doll.  "Hi.  My friend asked me to keep you company, so I am.  Let me know if you need anything, otherwise I might take a nap~."
[19:05] <Lily_Blevins> She puts her hands back in her lap and keeps still.  No sudden movements, nothing aggressive.  She's dealt with scared animals, had to coax them into letting her near, and while it's not the same, she imagines being a kid with a weird sorta'-adult showing out of nowhere might have a similar mindset.
[19:05] <Naida> "Maybe you found the other side of those things. Instead of creating a being based in a twisted reality, you created a virtuous one." Aside from the faint remnants of past mutations, Naida steals glances at Henri to watch for any other malformations.
[19:05] * Raitaki ([email protected]) has joined #WorldWarBurst
[19:06] <@Oxford> "Er...er du en engel?" the little girl asks, walking carefully down the stairs but stopping on the last step. She has light brown hair, tied back in braids that look like they're coming undone, and she watches Lily through the railing like a visitor at the zoo's lion cage. Half curiosity, and half fear.
[19:08] <Lily_Blevins> Well, she doesn't speak Cimbrian, but she got that.  "Ssssort of.  More like a fairy."
[19:09] <Lily_Blevins> She makes sure to make the shaking hand gesture associated with maybes and possiblys and sort ofs, best to talk a bit with your hands.
[19:11] <Henriette> Naida never got to meet Henriette when she was actually this age, but she seems like any other normal child except for the sort-of-there halo and wings. Her skin seems untouched, though, as if she'd never scraped her knee playing with friends outside or gotten sunburned at the beach. Her hair isn't as long as the old Henriette's, too. It falls down in waves to her shoulderblades, perfectly
[19:11] <Henriette> brushed. "Maybe... Or maybe she's the real one, and she just used her power to make me so I could help her. I don't... I don't really remember anything since we fought those tanks."
[19:11] <@Oxford> "Hvor kom den hvide man ga?" the girl asks, not quite grasping Lily's tenuous hold on the Cimbrian tongue. She leans forward to look around the foot of the steps, bending almost to her knees.
[19:14] <Naida> "If memory dictated identity, I have more than a few nights of existential crises to make up for." She lets her magic recede into the pendant and grins. "In any case, where exactly are we going?"
[19:14] <Henriette> As if called for by name, a Henriette looking much more like the one who went into the house in the first place flickers across the glass surfaces in the kitchens. She has a serene smile on her face, like a mother comforting her children.
[19:15] <Lily_Blevins> Let's seee...mmmm.  She knows a tiny bit.  "Er...zoe...ken?"  She blinks at the image, but decides to let it go.  "De...ouders.  I think."
[19:17] <Henriette> Little Henri nods and points down the road. "There's a town that Pap- the children's father and mother went into. They went there to see a doctor. The mother was sick? No... pregnant? I'm not sure. I remember like I was there, like I was the girl. It's strange."
[19:18] <@Oxford> The little girl blinks in confusion, but shakes her head.
[19:19] <Lily_Blevins> Correction.  "Er...oh right."  Dammit Cloral.  "Forældrene"
[19:20] <Naida> "Did you do your telepathy thing?"
[19:23] <@Oxford> The girl nods, deciding to trust the sort-of angel for now, even though she doesn't talk very good.
[19:25] <Henriette> "I guess so." She doesn't say anything else for a while. Then, "Did she... I... mess up again, Naida?"
[19:27] <Naida> "As far as I know, no children have been emotionally scarred, no abominations have been spawned, no one's been injured, and you're trying to help them...though in a potentially anachronistic way. So I'd say no, you haven't messed up."
[19:29] <Henriette> Little Henri nods, satisfied with that answer. "I hope we find them," she says.
[19:31] <Naida> Discreetly hiding a frown, Naida half-hopes they don't. Optimism doesn't survive long these days.
[19:34] <Henriette> "Oh, um... oh..." Henriette says, coming to a stop. "You're going to think I am an idiot, but we should probably transform and fly there. It is too far to walk. I guess the girl didn't know when I... saw her memory."
[19:34] <Lily_Blevins> Lily nods back and leaves her be for now. If she wants something, she'll say so.  She thinks.
[19:37] <Naida> Eerily glowing 'eyes' bear down on the miniature Henriette. "Assuming everything works correctly for you at the moment, lead the way."
[19:38] <Henriette> "They should..." Little Henri attempts to summon power from her pendant, looking for the same familiar feeling of a warm comforting blanket wrapping around her.
[19:40] <@Oxford> After a quiet wait, the little girl gets up and walks to the kitchen of the house, her footsteps soft on the smooth wooden floor.
[19:42] <Lily_Blevins> She gets up carefully, watching in case the girl needs any help.
[19:49] <@Oxford> A warm glow snuggles in around Henriette, lifting her slightly off her feet as she transforms. Small wings covered in fluffy white feathers pop out from her shoulder blades and flutter experimentally.  A golden halo settles in over her head, causing her hair to rise towards it as if drawn by a static charge.
[19:52] * TemporalMech ([email protected]) has joined #WorldWarBurst
[19:52] <@Oxford> After a moment of waiting, the farmgirl walks back into the living room, cradling a large carafe of water in her arms. She has a glass in the fingers of one hand, but the condensation on the carafe makes it slippery, and she has to stop every few steps to readjust it so it won't slip out.  She gradually makes her way over to Lily, sets the pitcher down, and pours a glass of the cool well water.
[19:53] <Henriette> The light twists around her torso, her dress tightening a little bit. The skirt flows out to her ankles where ribbons blossom from her shoes and tie into little bows. She smiles at Naida, a delicate, fragile look, as she says, "It would seem that it still works. Is it different?"
[19:55] <Lily_Blevins> Oh!  "Umm...oh.  Tak!"  She nods, and takes a sip.
[19:56] <Naida> The bioluminescent fungus clinging to Naida adopts a more menacing visage in response to the radiant light. The shadows receding from Henri seek solace with Naida. "Conceptually similar, yet...different. Simpler?...why are you asking me, can't you just look with your own powers?" Her playful smirk ends up far more sinister when the mask imitates her face.
[19:56] * TemporalMechanic ([email protected]) Quit (Ping timeout: 240 seconds)
[19:58] <Henriette> "Oh! I guess I can. It just... didn't occur to me at first. I do not really feel different from before. I feel as if I have always been like this not... however you say I was..." she says. She doesn't actually summon a mirror, though. Instead, she just trails off and looks down towards where she thinks the town is. "Shall we?"
[20:01] <Naida> "Daylight's burning. Not that it's particularly an issue."
[20:04] <Henriette> Her shorter wings flutter with a rustling like pigeons taking flight as she zips ahead of Naida, a bright smile on her face. She's flitting back and forth, as if it's her first time flying again. Or ever, for that matter.
[20:04] <@Oxford> The sunlight pours in through the living-room windows as Lily drinks. The little girl looks thoughtfully for a second, and then runs back into the kitchen, returning with another glass. She pours herself a cup, stopping halfway up so that it isn't too heavy.
[20:05] <Naida> Naida glides within Henriette's shadow, a grim wraith stalking the young seraph.
[20:08] <@Oxford> Airborne, Henriette and Naida make much better time. It's only a few minutes until they've covered the twenty or so kilometres to the next town. The roofs of the houses are mostly shingle, with some thatched sheds and out-buildings. The streets, however, are thick with soldiers.
[20:14] <Henriette> "We should land... I'm not sure where the hospital is, mais I can blend in, I still have my scarf," Henriette says, tugging at what has become a small sky-blue frill at the top of her dress. It's a good thing it is still daylight, too, because the little angel is glowing like a Christmas star.
[20:16] <Naida> "Untransformed...I may very well stick out even more. I'll just stay in the shadows and follow along."
[20:20] <Henriette> "Very well. I cast a long shadow anyway, or I used to!" Cheerfully, Henriette lands and becomes her "normal" self again. She lands a bit away from town so they think she's just approaching. Once Naida's also positioned, she makes her way to the nearest soldier, trying to take stock of the town. Why are there so many soldiers here?
[20:22] <@Oxford> The soldier is leaned against the entrance to a small alley between two sloped roofs that looks out onto the main road. Worn trucks with hastily-painted crosses on the sides go by every couple minutes, driving faster than the rare civilian traffic. His uniform is Cimbrian, and he eats a greenish apple with gusto.
[20:25] <Henriette> Trying her hardest to look worn out, Henriette approaches, trying to put on the mask that she's a Cimbrian girl whose parents left and never came back. It's not hard. She remembers them leaving. "Herre soldat? Kan du hjaelpe mig, tak?" She tugs on her skirt hem in order to look even more innocent and lost.
[20:26] <@Oxford> It isn't a difficult act. He goes down to one knee to bring himself to her level. "Of course, darling," he says in Cimbrian, tucking the apple into pocket. "What's the matter?"
[20:33] <Henriette> "M-My parents came here looking for a doctor. Mama was sick, and they told me to hide, but then men with guns came and... and I got worried they wouldn't come back, so I came to find them. I don't think anyone saw me... Please help me find them, sir?" Little Henri's eyes well with real and actual tears that she herself didn't really expect. A large part of her suddenly wishes her mother
[20:33] <Henriette> was there to wrap her in that big linen apron she wore whenever she cooked.
[20:40] <@Oxford> The soldier nods sympathetically. "The hospital here has been taken over for the army, but they might still be there. Do you see that big round building over there?" he asks, pointing out what looks like a large meeting hall with an unusual domed roof. "That's where they would be. Just stay on the side of the road, and follow the ambulances."
[20:40] <Naida> A small bipedal pachyderm with empty eye sockets sits in Henriette's shadow at the periphery of the soldier's vision. It seems to imitate the small girl, but attempts to look directly at it fail as it relocates, and it disappears completely after a few seconds. Someone must not have had enough sleep.
[20:43] <Henriette> Nodding vigorously, she walks slowly towards the hospital and then stops. She turns towards him and says, "Thank you, sir. Umm... my Papa says I should say thank you for keeping us all safe." Then, she glances around furtively before walking quickly back where she was headed, unsure why she said that.
[20:46] <@Oxford> He nods and waves her on. When she's out of sight, the soldier rubs his eyes a little and mumbles something about coffee.
[20:50] <@Oxford> Up ahead, Henriette can see the ambulances unloading in front of the hospital. Pairs of stretcher-bearers carry out four mangled bodies one after another on simple canvas stretchers. Three of them are silent, but one keeps screaming for his mother.
[20:51] <Henriette> She keeps going, trying to stay strong, but holding her skirts are two small, trembling hands. They're alive. She has to keep believing that.
[20:54] <@Oxford> She slips inside the hospital between a pair of the stretchers, and is quickly jostled aside by a nurse, who doesn't bother to look down at her before moving past. Everyone seems to be in a hurry here. Doctors, nurses, and orderlies all rush from one small bed to another, shouting orders at one another to be heard over the din.
[20:56] <@Oxford> The big room is filled with three long rows of beds, as far back as Henriette can see. The patients let up a sort of collective moan that doesn't seem to come from any one source, but prevades the field hospital like an inhuman miasma.
[20:57] <Henriette> Little Henri tries not to get run over in the bustle as she makes for whatever looks to be a reception desk. The names. What are their names? She only thinks of them as Mama and Papa, but she's heard their names before. She's sure of that. It's overwhelming, all the sights and sounds and sickening smells. Involuntarily, her hand reaches out for someone... anyone. "Naida?" she whispers.
[20:59] <Naida> Henri's shadow shudders briefly. "I'm here." Naida calls from the shadows, unconcerned with anyone else hearing amidst the cacophany.
[21:01] <Henriette> Nodding back tears, Henri steels herself. A desk? Someone whose attention she can get?
[21:01] <@Oxford> The new patients are brought directly to a tall and haggard doctor, who examines them while they're still on the stretcher and points his finger to one of the three rows. Naida notes that the majority of the medical staff are busy with those patients in the middle row, while those on the left and right are only tended intermittently.
[21:02] <Henriette> Maybe it's best just to look for them. She knows their faces. She knows how they sound. Let the memories lead.
[21:05] <@Oxford> The row on the far right is for those fatally injured, for whom nothing can be done. The left is for those likely to survive without assistance, and the center seems to be for those in need of urgent life-saving care. Henriette can go down one row at a time.
[21:06] <Henriette> Left first. She has to be optimistic. If she lost them, what would she do? Shaking her head, she balls her fists. Not her parents. Theirs. Get it together, Henri. Left side.
[21:10] <Naida> Naida scans the patients as well, torn over whether she'd rather see old friends here or not.
[21:10] <@Oxford> The men here are showing signs of shock, concussions, and serious cuts and scraps. Even though they have the best chance of surviving, many are still a patchwork of bandages and gauze. The screaming is a little quieter here, replaced by a slaughterhouse hush as the listen for sounds from the other end of the hospital.
[21:11] <@Oxford> Finally, at the end of the row, in the back left corner, Henriette sees someone that looks familiar. Her mother, laying on white linens with an intravenous line in her arm.
[21:13] <Henriette> Another dark thought enters her mind. What if she finds one but not the other? What would that other Henriette want her to do? Her eyes flit to faces- There! "Mama!" she calls, instinctively, running for the bed. The fact that she probably looks nothing like their real daughter doesn't even cross her mind. Her small hands clamp tightly around the woman's other arm, the one without the
[21:13] <Henriette> IV, looking for a sign that she's okay.
[21:16] <@Oxford> The woman stirs but doesn't waken, her eyes flickering behind weary-worn eyelids. A deep voice intervenes. "Young miss? I'm sorry, but you're mistaken. This isn't your mother." It's Papa.
[21:18] <Henriette> Shaking her head, she tries to get her bearings. "N-No... no, you are right..." Her mother is dead. She's been dead a long time. "I... I forgot myself for a moment. I-Is she okay?" She looks up into Papa's eyes pleadingly. "Are you both okay?" Suddenly, there's a strange look on her face, one that doesn't belong on a young girl.
[21:21] <@Oxford> The man eyes her carefully, but nods. "She needs fluids, but she's recovering. I had to stay by her side to keep them from kicking her out to make room for another soldier, though. Army comes first," he adds, under his breath.
[21:25] <Henriette> "I see..." she says. She takes his hand in both of hers, looking up into his eyes. "I came to tell you that your children are safe, sir. They will be safe until you get back. I promise." Her image seems to waver, wings and halo more visible as she makes contact. Her scarf is having trouble maintaining the illusion for so many different people in so many mental states.
[21:28] <@Oxford> He blinks, questioning what he just saw. Wings...? But if the stories about angels are true, it's better to accept it. "Thank you," he stammers, bowing his head. "Thank you."
[21:33] <@Oxford> He turns to gaze at his wife, and the sight of her looking so frail makes him wrinkle his face to keep the tears back. He squeezes her hand gently. "Did you hear that? This girl says that Danor and Izel will be safe until you're well. You see?" He turns back, but Henriette is already gone, slipping back between the rows of wounded. A few downy feathers lay where she stood on the hospital floor.
[21:33] <@Oxford> /session