eachdraidh | hermionenet / seelie locked

HERMIONENET / COMPASSES

To anyone that owns a device that can read this notice:

Please return your device to me for additional protection and charms. This won't come with any charge, but it is something that needs to be done. It will make it so that no one but you can use your device and, should it be stolen, it will turn into a harmless little lump of fool's gold, with a promise of a replacement from me if you need it.

If you can't come to me personally for any reason then, please, let me know. I'll do my best to either visit you or send you information on the runes for you to perform yourself. Thank you.

SEELIE LOCKED

[ The video feed shows a harried, tired looking Hermione sitting behind her desk, head held high as she smiles, leaning forward. ]

As always, if anyone is in need of potions or charmed, protective cloaks for the upcoming battles, let me know. Artefacta will be happy to provide them, and we can enchant items you already own as well. Just let me know through your lockets and I'll arrange it all.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

As long as you don't go around telling people that we've been meeting up we'll be fine. I'm a Marchioness now, I can't be getting into that kind of trouble.

[ She does try to grin, to nudge him as she works on his compass, and she turns it over in her fingers as she makes sure that it's working properly. She can't test it herself, of course, but... ]

I... I'm not sure. I'd like to think that there's a way out for us, that there's a way to go home, but at the same time... [ She sighs. ] I don't think I'll go home.

Don't worry. I'm still made of trouble, but I know my limits. I'll make sure your fancy title's protected.

[He's aware of the risks she's taking by being here, the risks that so many are taking by helping one another on opposite sides. Watching the way she uses her magic on the compass, he peers back up at her when she speaks again.]

Hey, I went home. You know, most people have been telling me that the people who disappear, they never come back here, that I'm probably one of the few who ever have. Now I don't know why, but I like to think it's to help you guys get there too. To ... somehow find an end to all of this so everyone can go home. Or at least get us all through this. [He huffs a chuckle, shaking his head.] I mean, I can't do much beyond offering a few snow days and whipping up some ice lollies, but I am still the Guardian of Fun, so I'll try not to let you down there.

[He tilts his head while leaning against his staff and even a winter spirit can offer a warm smile.] It's not over yet.

[ Hermione... Really doesn't want to be the one to do this, and she looks over at Jack with a kind of reservation that she can't hide, uncomfortable and a little on edge. ]

You didn't go home. When people here leave it's because their connection with this world has been severed, and they end up... Floating. That's what happens. I don't know about people who come back, but there's a reason there's always a shard left behind when people disappear. They just hover, floating away in some space between this world and their own.

[ She turns her head away, pursing her lips, before she swallows. ]

The snow days would be nice. I'm just focussing on keeping my friends alive for now - it's the best I can do.

[ And, then, she holds out the compass. ]

[He may be the one who's the embodiment of ice, but if someone finds the stronger method of icing over the other, Hermione winds in that category. His smile wavers, breath hitching up as he tries to decipher what she's saying, head already staring to shake slowly as he tries to build up a laugh to deny her explanation.]

That ... that can't be right. I went home. I remember it. And Hic — ! [His grip on his staff squeezes, a hand rising to ruffle through white hair.] The Shuck, he said it, he said Hic went home. He said he was fine. That's ... ridiculous. Floating? Come on, that doesn't even make any sense.

[Still in complete denial of her words, he tries to keep his smile though it's blatant in his struggle to hold it together that his confidence has already been shaken, reaching out for his compass as he swallows hard.] Our friends are gonna live through this. And we will go home.

[He has to believe in that.]

[ She doesn't mean to break his heart the way she does, but she knows that he has to be aware. Not knowing is worse than being educated, she knows that better than anyone, and the ache in her heart presses and weighs her down more than she can find the words to admit. ]

But it's true. The monarchs told us themselves, and it's - look. [ Reaching around her neck, she draws out a chain and shows it to him; hanging on the bottom of it is a dull, lifeless shard, empty of any power. ] This is my friend's shard. He disappeared and this was all that was left of him when I went to check on his room. There's nothing I can do to change that except to fight for the people that I love - that we love.

[ She smiles, reaching out and putting a hand over his. ]

Of course they'll live through it. I won't let anything else happen to them if I can help it.

And you believe the monarchs? They're the ones who shoved us into this war in the first place and told us to fight each other for no solid reason! How do you know they're not just telling you what they want you to believe? They want you here fighting for them, of course they're gonna try to make you think there's no way home. Because if there's no where to go, then what else can you do but choose to stay here exactly where they want you?

[Denial was something Jack could be quite an expert one, having dabbled with that fight for three hundred years, always wanting to believe he was meant for something better, denying the hurt he felt from being invisible for so long despite never knowing what it meant to be seen, to be loved. And he'd first gained that here, meeting his friends that he'd grown to cherish, friends he wanted to believe didn't just end up in a world without hope.

Seeing Hermione pull out the necklace, his lip quivers, having seen an empty shard like that once before, the one that Hiccup had left behind. Thrown off into silence, he jolts when she touches his hand but doesn't pull away, simply gazing down at her fingers, trying to make sense of it all.]

There's people back home in our worlds without shards at all. Not having them doesn't guarantee you're just thrown off into some void of empty space or whatever. There's no proof. So I'm — I'm sorry but I'm not gonna believe that's the only possible truth.

I believe in what I've seen and what evidence is in front of me! Our shards tie us to our world and to this one, that's why we can use Shard magic here, and without our shards we can't go home. That's how it is! It's not a matter of believing the monarchs when I know I can't trust them completely - it's a matter of seeing what has happened and understanding that one plus two equals three!

[ Hermione shakes her head, huffing out a noise as she turns her gaze away. She feels a tight, anxious feeling in her chest, as if she's going to end up suffocating somehow, and the way that it bears down on her is something she can't avoid. She's a Marchioness and she's been here long enough to understand the way she has to survive and handle this - and that means accepting the bad things with the good.

When she stops feeling bad, John had said, that's when she become a monster. She won't become a monster.

Her hand grips Ron's shard and she tilts her head, looking at Jack sadly before she breathes out. ]

I'm sorry. I'm only telling you what I know, Jack, what I've learned from - everyone, really. I wish I had more answers for you.

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