[Her heart catches in her throat and she lets out a devastated sound. She goes to him, the horror of the situation settling in her stomach like a rock.]
Cobalt.
[She moves towards him, dropping to her knees beside him to rest her hands on his cheeks.]
What happened to you...?
[Forget literally everything else for a minute. She's really upset right now.]
[ Cobalt appears freshly dead. His expression is twisted into a mask of fear and pain. Tears are still wet along the sides of his face. One of his antlers has been broken off, and a tuft of foliage is growing out of his mouth. ]
[ Under the skin of his arms and neck, you can see the bulge of the roots that have grown through his limbs. ]
[ There's a red-tipped spear laying beside him on the floor, just out of reach of his cold, outstretched hand. ]
[She lets out a sob as she takes him in more thoroughly. It hurts. It breaks her heart in half.]
Cobalt... it's okay. I'm going to fix it.
[Joining his own tears are her own, because she can't bear to see him like this. She smooths out his hair, as if that can somehow fix this absolute horror that's been done to him. When she looks up, blinking through tears, she notices the spear he couldn't reach.]
Ah- [She reaches across him to pick it up, taking it in her hands and looking it over.]
[Well, she'll take it. She also can't bear to stay here any longer than necessary, even if it physically pains her to leave him alone. She looks around the room for a moment, wondering if there's anything else she could use. After that, she looks around for an exit.]
[ It's just an operating room, albeit one that's completely covered in roots. You can leave through the same door you came in, if you wanted. Nothing is stopping you.]
[ Looking back toward the door, you can see the end of the yellow cable laying there on the floor. Nothing is plugged into it. ]
[Your eyes track over the room, searching for the missing element.]
[ This was probably a perfectly functional operating room at one point before it was consumed by roots. They've pushed their way up through the floor tiles and twined around the cabinets, pushing out tufts of silver leaves here and there around the room. ]
[ There are cupboards and drawers along the walls, half of them already open to some degree as if someone was rummaging around in them before they got sidetracked. ]
[ You keep searching until you see the disconnected black plug for the flood light cable tangled up in the tree's branches above, as if the tree grew so abruptly underneath it it yanked the wires apart in its sprint to the ceiling. ]
[She's immediately frustrated that it appears to have torn wires apart in the black cable. Will it still work? Can she reach it? If it's too high up, she fully plans to climb the tree to get to it.]
[It's a bit out of reach, and the branches have wrapped around it as if greedily swallowing it up.]
[So you climb! The tree feels rough and tree-like beneath your hands. It also feels like a tightening of your chest and throat, like a grief so strong your heart might break. It feels like terror and horror and desperation and confusion and pain. It feels like loss, and guilt. And bark. ]
[Oh. Fresh tears immediately begin spilling down her face, eventually enough to cling to her chin before dripping down that too.]
Cobalt.. it's okay. I'll protect you this time.
[She clings to the tree for a moment, as if hugging it, and tries to collect herself. She has to gasp for air, because the weight of all of these emotions hitting her at once is overwhelming. Eventually, she reaches for the cable and the branches holding it captive. It pains her, but she tries to bend one back without breaking it if she can. If she can slip it loose she will. Otherwise, she'll reach for another branch to untangle from the cable. She's careful, treating the tree with the same care that she treats Cobalt himself.]
[She'll have to break a few branches to get the cable out, and every time she does, that snap of breaking wood feels a bit like relief. Like a thorn getting pulled from a wound.]
[Leaves flutter to the floor, and it starts to feel a bit better.]
[Thank goodness. It feels like a weight has been lifted and she's so glad. She climbs down from the tree with the black cable and then moves to connect it to the yellow one.]
[You plug it in, and the room seems to brighten, like a weight being lifted. The harsh fluorescent ceiling lights start to look like sunlight, instead, gently filtering through the silvery leaves and dappling the floor.]
[The room seems... calmer now, somehow. Cobalt's expression looks less frightened and more like he's simply resting. Things overall feel a little more hopeful.]
[Oh, thank goodness. She looks back at Cobalt, frowning. Moving to crouch beside him again, she rests a hand on his cheek, relieved that he seems more at peace.]
I'm going to go for now, okay? I need to help Wednesday and the others. I'll keep them safe.
[Her thumb traces his skin, where the tears had been marring it. She moves away from him, hands pressed tightly to her chest as she moves back to the exit.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Re: Arboribus
[Her heart catches in her throat and she lets out a devastated sound. She goes to him, the horror of the situation settling in her stomach like a rock.]
Cobalt.
[She moves towards him, dropping to her knees beside him to rest her hands on his cheeks.]
What happened to you...?
[Forget literally everything else for a minute. She's really upset right now.]
Re: Arboribus
[ Under the skin of his arms and neck, you can see the bulge of the roots that have grown through his limbs. ]
[ There's a red-tipped spear laying beside him on the floor, just out of reach of his cold, outstretched hand. ]
Re: Arboribus
Cobalt... it's okay. I'm going to fix it.
[Joining his own tears are her own, because she can't bear to see him like this. She smooths out his hair, as if that can somehow fix this absolute horror that's been done to him. When she looks up, blinking through tears, she notices the spear he couldn't reach.]
Ah- [She reaches across him to pick it up, taking it in her hands and looking it over.]
A spear...?
Re: Arboribus
[ While holding this spear, you can cast Fira at will. ]
Re: Arboribus
Re: Arboribus
[ Looking back toward the door, you can see the end of the yellow cable laying there on the floor. Nothing is plugged into it. ]
Re: Arboribus
A cable...?
[She moves towards it, grabbing it up. Where might it lead to? She at least knows it needs to be plugged in somewhere. Now to find where!]
Re: Arboribus
[ This was probably a perfectly functional operating room at one point before it was consumed by roots. They've pushed their way up through the floor tiles and twined around the cabinets, pushing out tufts of silver leaves here and there around the room. ]
[ There are cupboards and drawers along the walls, half of them already open to some degree as if someone was rummaging around in them before they got sidetracked. ]
[ You keep searching until you see the disconnected black plug for the flood light cable tangled up in the tree's branches above, as if the tree grew so abruptly underneath it it yanked the wires apart in its sprint to the ceiling. ]
Re: Arboribus
[She's immediately frustrated that it appears to have torn wires apart in the black cable. Will it still work? Can she reach it? If it's too high up, she fully plans to climb the tree to get to it.]
Re: Arboribus
[So you climb! The tree feels rough and tree-like beneath your hands. It also feels like a tightening of your chest and throat, like a grief so strong your heart might break. It feels like terror and horror and desperation and confusion and pain. It feels like loss, and guilt. And bark. ]
no subject
Cobalt.. it's okay. I'll protect you this time.
[She clings to the tree for a moment, as if hugging it, and tries to collect herself. She has to gasp for air, because the weight of all of these emotions hitting her at once is overwhelming. Eventually, she reaches for the cable and the branches holding it captive. It pains her, but she tries to bend one back without breaking it if she can. If she can slip it loose she will. Otherwise, she'll reach for another branch to untangle from the cable. She's careful, treating the tree with the same care that she treats Cobalt himself.]
no subject
[Leaves flutter to the floor, and it starts to feel a bit better.]
[You successfully free the black cord.]
no subject
no subject
[The room seems... calmer now, somehow. Cobalt's expression looks less frightened and more like he's simply resting. Things overall feel a little more hopeful.]
[The light has been restored.]
no subject
I'm going to go for now, okay? I need to help Wednesday and the others. I'll keep them safe.
[Her thumb traces his skin, where the tears had been marring it. She moves away from him, hands pressed tightly to her chest as she moves back to the exit.]
no subject
[exit]