audio;

[hotspurred]

[Henry's voice may be recognisable from the Guard's announcement a few days ago. Yet on this occasion, unlike then, he speaks quickly and sharply with a forceful urgency. There's no time for him to lock this to the Guard.]

Pay heed! Hope's temple may soon come under assault by a monster far more terrible than its kin. Through savage harm it plans to lure out Hope. If you be within, do not leave the temple's protection unless you are prepared for death.

[The reason for his warning quickly makes itself known, faster than Henry would have liked. This voice, too, might be recognised by some.]

I will do far worse than kill.

[Every attempt at emotion is still off kilter, still too dampened by clarity and ice to sound right. It sounds like Kate but all the same it is not, not even a little. It lilts in all the right ways but it sounds like it hasn't ever felt emotion before this.

Which makes sense, because it was only brought into the world a few short hours ago.]

Preparing for death isn't very useful when I don't want you dead, Not yet. Not until your skin is peeling from the burns and every bone in your body is snapped in two. Or more. It doesn't matter that much.

[That is where he switches off his phone, so that it cannot prove a distraction in the fight ahead. Consider yourselves warned about the Torturedemon, Hadriel. There will be no replies from Henry, but feel free to talk among yourselves.]

Comments

[dedikated]

[ Are you kidding her, Em? The messages from Kate are taking half an hour at least to come through each time because she's just too tired, as if the fact that she's not even trying to keep her voice its usual level of unfazed isn't enough of an indication. ]

I don't fucking- [ She physically can't manage to move more than a few feet without her limbs shaking too badly to move any further. Trying to stop that thing would be impossible. She doesn't even know where she'd begin if she hadn't burned herself out on working on everything possible this week.

Her voice lowers to a hiss, one that's all exhaustion and reluctant admission; ] I am too fucking exhausted to move. What do you think I could do?

[unfollowing]

[Any respect Emily had for Kate falls away just then, whether for the moment or for longer, she doesn't know. But nobody talks to Emily like that, nobody gives her that kind of attitude, not when for once, she's not the one who did something wrong here.

And Kate clearly did something wrong.]

Are you fucking kidding me? This is your monster. Do not talk to me like I should be the one fixing your shit for you. How the fuck did this even happen? What the fuck is going on here? First Sharon pulls some fucking magic trick out of her ass and makes this shithole even scarier than it is on a bad day, and now what, you decided it wasn't bad enough?

[Her pause now is brief, but full of indignation, almost palpable through the audio feed.]

Stay the fuck away from me and my friends, Kate. Leave us alone.

[Before Kate can get a word in, Emily shuts off the feed. She hasn't given Kate reason to be angry at them (except maybe now), but somehow she gets the feeling she and her friends won't be seeing Kate or her monster anytime soon. And if they do? Well, Chris said something about a flamethrower.]