Thuoth Hurts the Ones He Loves?|Neo'anar, Anarlina

[Darastrix]

"I can imagine," Zira murmured, looking down at his hand. "I was thinking of Sain or someone of comparable strength when the other idea occurred to me, so you're probably right. Where should we go? I don't exactly have any restraints on me at the moment." He knew the nearest spot to find some, but that was absolutely out of the question. It was bad enough when the Curious tried fishing for details about him and Schuldig. He was not giving them more fodder.

[Kender Bard]

"We could go back to my room, else we could teleport to your house," Sunray suggested. "Or we could go back to my house. Those are the only places I can think of, though."

[Darastrix]

Well, he did have plenty in his home that would work to keep him from removing the ring. But that wasn’t exactly the kind of thing he wanted to advertise to Sunray. “Your room,” he decided. “More private and close to the temple if we need a priest for some reason.” He wasn’t sure why they would, but it didn’t hurt to over-prepare in some cases.

“I guess I’ll take this, too.” He picked up the sword by its belt. “I can’t very well leave it for someone to find if it’s dangerous somehow.”

[Kender Bard]

"Just don't put it on," Sunray reminded Zira. "Come along."

Back at his room, he tidied up the place a bit before gesturing to the bed. "I used a silken rope." he explained, picking it up from where it had been stashed. He blushed again, but not quite as bad as before. "Hold out your arms and I'll bind you."

[Darastrix]

Zira flushed a bit as well and resolved to not ask where Sunray had gotten the rope. He moved to the bed and situated himself on his stomach. Forces, but he was not looking forward to this. "You don't actually need to tie me to the bed," he said, crossing one wrist over the other. "Put the ring on the upper hand, and there's no way I could reach it. I can talk you through the binding if you're not sure."

[Kender Bard]

"Well all right," Sunray said. He'd elected to do so, figuring that once the pain had really set in, he'd stop at nothing to get the ring off. But evidently Zira felt he wasn't going to succumb to that. Who was Sunray to dictate how a man should be tied up? He bound Zira's hands as instructed, holding his ring for him. "Ready?"

[Darastrix]

"Ready as I'll ever be," Zira said, tensing for the pain he knew was coming. "Do it."

[Kender Bard]

"Here goes," Sunray muttered and slid the ring off.

Sure enough, the quill uncurled and proceeded to stab Zira in the arm. Sunray winced and rubbed his hand as he watched, phantom pain already snaking its way up his arm.

[Darastrix]

Zira bit back an exclamation of pain behind clenched teeth and buried his face in the pillow, the fingers of his bottom hand digging into the mattress. He stayed mostly still for the first several minutes, tensing and trembling at the pain radiating from the wound. When he reached the point where he would have pulled the ring off had his hands been free, he let out a muffled moan and tried to pull his hands apart, only to be stopped short by the rope. Right. He wasn't supposed to take it off.

After that point, his struggle became more obvious. He wasn't fighting against the rope so much as he was just trying to find some way to deal with the pain. He twisted and writhed, curling up one moment and stretching out to kick against the mattress the next. He spread his wings abruptly, heedless of anything that might be in their path, and beat them in a few powerful strokes before fluttering them so quickly it looked as though the muscles were spasming.

[Kender Bard]

Right, wings. Sunray scrambled, trying to catch things knocked aside by Zira's impressive wingspan. He grimaced, watching Zira's suffering, but there wasn't much he could think to do to help his friend.

Twenty minutes later, though, and the ordeal was over. The ring, like it had for Sunray, obediently withdrew from the wound on his hand, drew runes painlessly onto Zira's finger in a band, and curled up on the finger again, attuned.

[Darastrix]

Zira gasped with relief at the cessation of pain and let himself go limp, panting for air. Why had he felt the need to endure it like that? Just because Sunray had? He wished he'd been able to pass out.

~Sunny? If something like this ever happens again, talk me into taking something, please.~

[Kender Bard]

Sunray smiled weakly. He'd fetched some more healing water by this point in time and leaned over Zira, dribbling some of the precious liquid over the wound on his hand. "Aye," he agreed. "The same here. There, though, that should feel better and at least you're done with the ordeal. As far as I can tell, we'll never need to go through that again."

[Darastrix]

"Forces, I hope not," Zira murmured fervently, closing his eyes at the water took the edge off his wound. "I'll be asking Schuldig to come and bring some mindmelt if we do." He almost wished Schuldig were there now. He was surprisingly good at being soothing sometimes.

[Kender Bard]

"Mm, what are you going to do now?" Sunray asked Zira. "I need to speak with my brother and sisters and Lyra on the matter. Then do some research and visions; Thuoth wasn't very forthcoming with what precisely it is I'm to do in my role as one of his 'chosen.'"

[Darastrix]

"Ryder said that Thuoth would use the rings to gather us when the time comes," Zira said. "I think whatever role we have to play will become a bit clearer then. For now, though, I think I need to figure out what to do with that sword. And Cadogan, maybe. It's possible he doesn't know there's anything the matter with it. And...could you untie me, please?