The Door Opens

[lachtara]

WHO: Emet and open to any Kenoma
WHAT: After being confined, Emet gets out and explores
WHERE: Various locations around Achamoth
WHEN: Three days after this.
WARNINGS: None right now.

After his exit from the dinner party, Emet-Selch appears in his room amidst a billow of black and purple. He can immediately sense a change in the air, as if there are eyes watching him from some undefined place. The presence is the familiar one from the Dining Hall.

He inhales deeply and sighs. "Oh? Have I earned your attention now? How gracious." He takes a few steps to a luxurious cushioned chair and sits. As if in reply, the bolt on the door to the room clicks shut.


I. Days Later, The Door Opens
It becomes clear that the room is meant to be his prison. With no clear exit, fixtures that are impervious to magic or tampering, no assistance from the outside, and no food or water, the thought does arise on whether it is meant to be a grave as well. 

Three days on and the lack of nourishment has made him weary. Thinking turns difficult, as does all else. He resigns to sitting in the same cushioned chair with his head resting on the back, eyes closed as he tries to gather his thoughts for a viable solution. There is a book on his lap that he has since stopped reading for lack of clear focus.

It's then that the bolt to the door clicks noisily, indicating that it is unlocked. He drearily peeks at it from across the room.

Emet-Selch stands - steadies himself with a hand to his forehead - and makes for the door. Finding some food and water would need to be the utmost priority.

II. The Library
It seems that the natives take particular 'notice' of his presence. People part in an effort to avoid him as he moves through the crowd on his way to find the Library.  Many give the mark on his wrist a disapproving glance. Nevertheless, Emet-Selch can't help but give a small smile of delight. "A true blessing to move about wholly unbothered." He comments. Perhaps the Regent's ire is owed a commendation for this one thing.

He sighs. "Although that does make finding the Library a much more laborious task." So he explores as much as he can in order to find a room filled with books. Perhaps it would have more about this world. Or the meaning behind the sigil he now bore.

III. Magic Lessons
With that excursion out of the way, now comes the matter of looking for a place to work. There must be some open field or facility meant to train individuals - this city has a military, after all. So he sets out to explore the Citadel. 

Once he finds a suitable open area, Emet-Selch begins to work. His magic has been strange to him since arriving and this is a good opportunity to work on it with so few people vying for his attention.
 
He lifts a palm into the air and tries summoning his creation magic to make the smallest of things. Any observers may see him motioning at nothing in the air with his palm, a few glimmers of magic sparking in the air now and again as he tries to conjure. Frustratingly, nothing seems to take form...

IV. Other?
HMU If you'd like another prompt!

Comments

I

[vapour]

Childe is heading back from his daily training. Since he spends most of his days training throughout, that means he stops by before and after to see if there any progress on Emet-Selch's 's whereabouts . He has started to wonder if he was taken somewhere else with the inability to pull any hint that the elder's room was even occupied the past 70+ hours, but the short detours of exploring the citadel proved fruitless to locate the other. It would be suspicious if he looked too hard.

Which is one reason he is visibility surprised to see Emet-Selch emerging from the room this time and looking kind of like shit. Childe's retainer looks panicked seeing him but Childe quickly shoos them away to continue back to his room with his gear and not wait up for him. He's recently bathed and swung by the kitchen to get some bread, cheese, and water that he insisted on munching on as they walked back to his room rather than having his retainer bring him something more substantial once they returned to his room.

Childe greets Emet-Selch with a casual but chipper "hey." Once he's sure his retainer is gone, though, his expression turns serious.

"What the hell happened to you?" he asks in a quieter voice although it's still well above anything like a whisper. Despite having eaten some of the cheese cuts to not look suspicious, he hasn't touched most of the food or the water at all. Truthfully, he's been getting it daily in case he manages to find the other and if he was being punished by lack of nourishment—a common tactic in Snezhnaya ... which seems pretty obvious to be the case now... along with isolation (also very familiar.)

Despite asking the question, he holds out the plate and mug of water to Emet-Selch in concerned silence, clearly preferring he drink and eat over answering the question first.

[lachtara]

Attempting to search and find what he needs is not ...pleasant. Emet-Selch stalks the unfamiliar halls feeling progressively more faint. Needless to say, it's a welcome respite to have someone offer him food rather than have him continue to search.

Emet-Selch does not bother with an answer at first. He reaches for the mug of water that is offered to him, lifts it to his mouth, and drinks the contents all in one fell swoop. He exhales deeply afterward.

"It seems that my concerns upset our host." He leans against a wall to take some of his own weight from him and breathes in. Eating immediately afterward would only parch him further so he would need to wait before that. "They decided to air their grievances in the form of imprisonment and starvation." Amongst other things.

crawls back here ....

[vapour]

Childe stares, silent for a moment as he absorbs this. It's not that such a thing is unheard of for him, far from it.

"... So, that's the kind of ship that they run, then, huh." Not surprising, but far from the altruistic methods of discipline one would love to be able to say their leader built their empire on.

Fear and helplessness dictates compliance better than anything, they both probably know this better than most. Still, no one ever likes being on the receiving end of that bullshit, especially for attempting to bring attention to something valid. Sure, Emet-Selch could have taken a better approach, but Childe also finds that the Regent could have done exactly the same, especially since the Regent apparently already knows so much about all of them.

"Yeah, well, if it helps any you missed absolutely nothing fantastic other than the Regent airing out everyone's dirty laundry from the cave, with the exception of Ciel, Misa-chan, and Silco." He's sure it doesn't really, not when starving and dangerously dehydrated.

"Want me to get you something else and you stay here with this bit of food and drink? Obviously you can't have anything too heavy but I can get something that'll help you keep down in your stomach better than real solids."

[lachtara]

Though famished, he still makes a note of everything that is said. The cave, the exceptions, all of it would be more of interest if he felt any other way. Self-preservation needs to be the immediate interest.

"Yes, if you would." Emet-Selch says through a sigh. He finds somewhere nearby to sit and practically plops as his lack of energy gives way to gravity. It would be a relief not to have to make the journey all the way to the kitchen.

[vapour]

With a nod, Childe is handing the plate over to Emet-Selch before turning on heel and moving down the hallway back where he has come from. He doesn't run but he does walk like a man on a mission.

Childe returns perhaps ten minutes later, this time with a corked jug of water and a small tray that includes on it a bowl full of some kind of liquid mush that almost resembles porridge but with far less bulk to it. He offers neither nor does he otherwise attempt to hand them over just yet once he's back with Emet-Selch, however.

Glancing around a moment, the young man considers before hesitantly nodding towards his elder's room door.

"...I get you were stuck in there, but we should either go in or go somewhere else to talk. The hallway might be a bad idea unless you feel like using communion, instead."

[lachtara]

As his acquaintances leaves, Emet-Selch slouches in the chair with arms lazily hanging off the sides and closes his eyes. He can feel his body begin to settle from what little nourishment he's been provided so far, but it needs more to be truly at ease.

It seems like a while before he is spoken to again.

He cracks his eyes open and warily looks at Childe. "As much as I detest hearing voices not of my own in my mind, I will make an exception in this instance." In other words. No. He is not going back in there for a while.

[vapour]

[ Childe nods, although his smile is still somewhat apologetic for putting Emet-Selch out like that. (Or so he acts.)

Sitting down next to the older man he offers him the tray. ]

I'm sure you know to eat it slow, and feel free to dilute it more with the water. It's a little sweet. [ but it's better that way and more likely tolerated by the body with it looking for energy.

He'll set the jug in between them and shift to lean his head back against the wall, briefly staring up at the ceiling.

After about a minute of complete silence, Childe's voice will echo in the older Kenoma's mind. ]

I'm thinking this was a little bit overboard of a punishment for the circumstances. Do you believe they are trying to use fear to make us obey? Maybe it's just the situation where I come from, but withholding food is a really serious punishment, not something used for a slap on the wrist.

Three days is not the worst, but without water it's usually meant to send a message. Or do we somehow not actually need to drink water to survive, now?

[lachtara]

[ It's graceless to eat without so much as a utensil, but being graceful is the least of his concerns right now. He immediately adds the water to the bowl of fluids he's given, takes the bowl, tips it back, and drinks it all without a breath in between. Some spills down the side of his mouth which he wipes away with the back of his sleeve.

Oh, it tastes awful - as the noise he makes would attest to - but it has the sustainence that he needs. The difference he feels in his body is almost immediate. ]

'I can inform you from experience that we, indeed, still need nourishment all the same.'

[ He exhales deeply. ]

'The intent is to send a message to me; One that says they do not agree with my method of conduct. If the Regent's intent was to instill fear, they would have killed me in front of all of you. Instead, they chose to punish me while preserving my potential usefulness.'