a. [ laura returns to the pit a mess, cuts and scrapes across her body where she'd struggled, up her arms and hands where she'd fought to get back. laura stumbles back into the pit and immediately turns to the wall, searching for an entrance that isn't there. if anyone quizzes her now, she won't be especially helpful. broken sentences about a ritual cut off by her touching at her nose and mouth for evidence of the burst orbs that had choked her. there's no cheerful spin or laid back jokes this time — laura is freaked out, and she isn't bothering to hide it.
once she's calmed down, she tries her best to give a decent account of the whole, awful event to anyone that wants to press for details. it's a struggle to recount, she looks like she's going to be sick most of the time. at one point she thinks that she's crying, but laura lifts het hand to wipe the tears away and finds it sticky with blood instead. ]
b. [ any hope of a productive conversation is lost after that. the next few hours are panicked and desperate, and she seeks out anyone else who might have gone through the ritual with the hope that someone--anyone--might have found a way to stop this.
of course there's no such luck. fear turns to paranoia and laura starts to shrug off any attempts at help, any kind of reaching out at all. not a particularly intimidating figure on most days, it's very likely that someone will make the mistake of getting too close, and if she's touched on her worst day laura will take even herself by surprise when she shoves the approaches back with a kind of force that she shouldn't be capable of. ]
c. [ it doesn't break until after the visions come. by the time her symptoms start to settle laura is bloodied, and bruised, and exhausted. she's much more subdued after the ordeal, any attempts to keep her spirits up are well and truly left behind, and instead she just gravitates towards anyone that might have stepped up into what looks like a leadership position.
she's quiet, and searching, looking around the pit with something that might have been determination if she wasn't so bone tired. whatever she's looking isn't immediately clear, but the grim set of her mouth softens, and she whispers less to stay quiet and more because she's worried about her voice breaking. ]
We have to get out of here. There has...there has to be something. Anything.
WEEK TWO • open to all
once she's calmed down, she tries her best to give a decent account of the whole, awful event to anyone that wants to press for details. it's a struggle to recount, she looks like she's going to be sick most of the time. at one point she thinks that she's crying, but laura lifts het hand to wipe the tears away and finds it sticky with blood instead. ]
b. [ any hope of a productive conversation is lost after that. the next few hours are panicked and desperate, and she seeks out anyone else who might have gone through the ritual with the hope that someone--anyone--might have found a way to stop this.
of course there's no such luck. fear turns to paranoia and laura starts to shrug off any attempts at help, any kind of reaching out at all. not a particularly intimidating figure on most days, it's very likely that someone will make the mistake of getting too close, and if she's touched on her worst day laura will take even herself by surprise when she shoves the approaches back with a kind of force that she shouldn't be capable of. ]
c. [ it doesn't break until after the visions come. by the time her symptoms start to settle laura is bloodied, and bruised, and exhausted. she's much more subdued after the ordeal, any attempts to keep her spirits up are well and truly left behind, and instead she just gravitates towards anyone that might have stepped up into what looks like a leadership position.
she's quiet, and searching, looking around the pit with something that might have been determination if she wasn't so bone tired. whatever she's looking isn't immediately clear, but the grim set of her mouth softens, and she whispers less to stay quiet and more because she's worried about her voice breaking. ]
We have to get out of here. There has...there has to be something. Anything.