will you witness me in a pit of fire | march catch-all

[terriblepurpose]

Who: Paul Atreides, Junia, and associates
What: Event prompts, Fated Leviathan aftermath
When: March
Where: Various

Content Warnings: General event warnings, fungal hallucinations, hallucinations of corpses, discussion of death

Comments

[holyjudgmental]

[The question catches Junia on an unguarded side (even more than her sides are, in general, unguarded), leaves her blinking and puzzled instead of taut with anxious fretting. She expected to be scolded for lax discipline of a child in her care, and finds herself interrogated about witches -

- and nerves return to shivering, a new type of implication arising.]

The name is not known to me.

[Junia narrows her eyes in turn, folding her arms over her chest as she lifts her chin and sets her feet shoulder-width apart. It is a forboding look she has perfected. That is rarely has the intended effect from her height is not the point.]

It is not known to Cedar, either. If you mean to accuse my charge of witchcraft, I bid you state so plainly, sister, so I may correct your misapprehension.

[rosae]

( It's bold — stupid — to ask it outright like that. If the woman reacts the way Rose is already expecting her to... what could possibly happen?

(She'll kill her, she thinks. She doesn't know how, or what with, or if she stands a chance at all, but that's the only thing that can happen. Rose has to kill this woman if she has a connection to Them.)

'The name is not known to me.'

It could be a lie, except the Brethren didn't seem capable of lying about that. About her. At least not in this sense. Their hatred of that little girl ran so deeply that they were almost proud to spit on that name. They wouldn't pretend not to know it. It was their greatest enemy, their scapegoat, their lamb to slaughter because they needed to slaughter something.

...But if there's any ounce of relief in Junia's reply, the woman's next words have a fresh wave of fire (ironic, that she should feel that in her spirit) flickering within Rose. )

I would never do that. ( Her own eyes narrow again; she seems to take personal offense by such a suggestion. And it does touch a particular fear in her, because the child she'd met did not seem to be an ordinary child. Golden-eyed... speaking of strange things. It would be too easy for someone to see them as a threat. Truthfully, Rose has no idea what they're capable of. They could have some sort of power reminiscent of witchcraft, like Sharon does now, and what would happen to them if this woman discovered that...? )

I'm here to protect them. To make sure no one lays a finger on them.

( It seems she and Junia have the same agenda, here.... )

Horrible things can happen to a lost child in a place like this. A place that... condemns anything that seems different, or strange. Tries to burn it away.

( She lifts an arm angrily in gesture of the nearby coals. Of course, Rose doesn't know the particulars of how this church functions... but she's assuming. She has to. )