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They've left him alone in his cell.
He can't really be said to be lucid but he has very acute instincts for when there's someone and when he's alone - it's the last of his senses to depart him - and he's alone.
And then suddenly he isn't.
kobold and post-Angband Maedhros
Okay.
Things are currently - better than they'll get if he messes anything up. Not tolerable. He tries to send her appreciation.
lurkingkobold
...
She sends a wordless acknowledement, and then goes still, her thoughts careful but not guarded. Something's wrong, she caught that; she doesn't know what it is, she doesn't know if it's something she can fix at all. She's still doing better than leaving him, she thinks - she flinches away from the thought, aware that he's probably watching, but it's still a reassuring touchstone. Beside the point, though; there's a long way between 'better than that' and 'actually good enough'. So, what might the problem be... basics, food, water, warmth, safety, companionship... she still doesn't quite believe that he doesn't need to eat. She'll bring that up again later. Water, warmth, sorted out as well as she can. Safety... they talked about that a little, but she can certainly go into more detail about it... if that would even help, which it probably wouldn't, if he thinks she's just lying. That might not be one she can fix; at very least probably not anytime soon.
She can ask, though. Is there anything I can do that will help you feel safer?
I do not think so, no.
Maybe a way to teleport somewhere definitely fatal but you said you tried that and ended up in Angband.
lurkingkobold
Sigh. Yeah. Don't want to, it'd involve more... thinking about what I was doing, which is why that's not the impulse that grabbed me. But I have hunting spells that'd work.
lurkingkobold
I know you don't believe that this is real, but I know it is.
But. Yes. If that's what you need.
If this is real, then I am not currently a prisoner and want a way to prevent it from ever happening again.
lurkingkobold
Right. I...
She takes a deep breath, lets it out, shakily, takes another.
Okay. What kind of trigger do you want.
lurkingkobold
She's gone for nearly three hours. If he's paying attention, he may notice the quiet sounds of things appearing in a nearby cave.
When she does reappear, she's accompanied by a furry brown animal skin larger than she is, which she carefully wrestles over to the other side of the fire and spreads out to dry.
lurkingkobold
She works on the fur, her thoughts focused on the work at hand, or planning for future projects, or speculating on the weather of the next few weeks and how it's likely to affect what she can gather. She thinks of him only distantly, as a factor to take into account in these things.
After a few hours, she goes down to her pantry and returns with some fruit, which she bakes. These wouldn't keep anyway, it won't hurt anything if you'd like to have some.
If you want to try dissolving sugar in water for me to drink I could attempt that. I sincerely don't think I could eat, it's been too long.
Thank you.
She still seems vaguely distressed. He tries to sing something - not aloud, broken ribs, but over osanwe.
lurkingkobold
She freezes. Not tensely, she's not afraid, she's just stopped moving, almost stopped breathing, until the music swells and she lets out a quiet, awed whimper.