[ Knowing what Claire knows now about Thorne, every message that she's sent to John that's gone unanswered makes her feel a little more nauseous. Surly he's alright, or he didn't keep something from her that has him running. She sends an initial message, then two hours later another when she hasn't heard back. When that one receives nothing, when she hasn't heard from him after an entire half day, she secludes herself the best she can to send another note. ]
[ She's heard there's fire, that there's been murder, but none of it confirmed to her. Claire can't even fathom what's happening, and that scares her for him. Without realizing it, she's twisting the ring on her finger that he gave her over solstice, a nervous habit. ]
[The last few hours have been chaotic, to say the least. John had not been asleep or in his room when the fighting had broken out, thanks to the warning message from Geralt. For better or worse he had been nowhere near the danger either, not that he supposed he could have done much to prevent it either.
Immediately on alert at the sound of booted feet running down the corridor, he had intercepted the Royal Guard on their way to raise the alarm. The King was dead.
It had not taken long for chaos to ensue after that, as fighting had broken out in the East Wing, and with his orders given to help his fellow summoned to the safe room, and the shock of being sealed in after that and the fighting amongst them that had followed…
The wall shimmers with Claire’s message and John winces slightly. Understanding that he had likely ignored at least one other earlier in the chaos. Sliding down to sit against it, running a tired hand through his hair, he replies:]
[ If anyone happens to be watching when she sees his familiar hand, they'll see Claire visibly sag in relief, needing to reach out and brace her hand against a wall for a moment simply to tell herself he's fine. ]
𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡. [ Her next thought is after she realizes it's all true, there's been murder. ] 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝.
[John had been weary, tired after a night of no sleep and barely any rest, but now he is wide awake and concerned for her. There may be fire and murder here in Thorne, but now that they are sealed in the safe room, the worst they have to deal with is crowding and infighting.]
𝓒𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓮, 𝓽𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓶𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵.
[He is stuck in this room for god knows how long, please — should he be worried for you too?]
[So long as this fog isn’t poisonous, John supposes he doesn’t have to worry quite as much. Jesus, the fright she just gave him. With him trapped half the world away and absolutely useless, with no ability to do anything about any of it.
He relaxes at her reassurances but only a fraction. This is going to be a very long few days of being trapped in here, he can tell.]
[ Biting back the rest of her thought, she chastises herself momentarily. It won't help to go down that path, the line of thinking only borrowing trouble. ]
𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑡𝑜𝑜, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒.
[ She pauses, then sends another thought, knowing she needs to get back to it soon. ]
[John does not wish for her to worry, and yet at the same time. The Admiral is known for his naval prowess. She is not wrong to be concerned about such things.
But now is not the time for such conversation, when they are trapped as they are, with no way of acting upon such thoughts. Instead, he addresses the last piece of her note, with something of a wince.]
[He has his duty. Unfortunately he cannot promise her more than that, for better or worse.
He is a soldier. He had felt purposeless before enrolling himself in the guard, although he cannot say for certain whether finding himself in such a position now is better or worse. He certainly had not anticipated this, back then at any rate.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
after claire is underground, the few hours after chaos starts
𝑅𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝑆𝑜, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡, 𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼'𝑚 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑦. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑖𝑓 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝐺𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑡, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑦𝑜𝑢.
[ She's heard there's fire, that there's been murder, but none of it confirmed to her. Claire can't even fathom what's happening, and that scares her for him. Without realizing it, she's twisting the ring on her finger that he gave her over solstice, a nervous habit. ]
𝐸𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑒'𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔.
no subject
Immediately on alert at the sound of booted feet running down the corridor, he had intercepted the Royal Guard on their way to raise the alarm. The King was dead.
It had not taken long for chaos to ensue after that, as fighting had broken out in the East Wing, and with his orders given to help his fellow summoned to the safe room, and the shock of being sealed in after that and the fighting amongst them that had followed…
The wall shimmers with Claire’s message and John winces slightly. Understanding that he had likely ignored at least one other earlier in the chaos. Sliding down to sit against it, running a tired hand through his hair, he replies:]
𝓒𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓮. 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓼𝓸 𝓼𝓸𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓴𝓮𝓹𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓪𝓲𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰, 𝓶𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻. 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓮𝓷𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱, 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓘 𝓯𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝔀𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓮𝓭 𝓫𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓼𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓪𝓽 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓮𝓷𝓽.
𝓘𝓷 𝓷𝓸 𝓲𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓪𝓽𝓮 𝓭𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓪𝓼 𝓲𝓽 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓼 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝓻𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽. 𝓘 𝓯𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓶𝔂 𝓼𝓾𝓼𝓹𝓲𝓬𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓐𝓭𝓶𝓲𝓻𝓪𝓵 𝔀𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓻𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓽, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓽 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓽𝓸 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝔀 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓻𝓬𝓱𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓷𝓮. 𝓘 𝓭𝓸 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓫𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓮𝓲𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓻𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓵𝓼 𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓿𝓲𝓿𝓮.
no subject
𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡. [ Her next thought is after she realizes it's all true, there's been murder. ] 𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑢𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑝.
[ A breath. ] 𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛—
[ She sounds like a proper scared wife and reels it in to give him details about Solvunn. ]
𝑊𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑜𝑓...𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑎𝑠, 𝐼 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑏𝑖𝑡𝑒.
no subject
[John had been weary, tired after a night of no sleep and barely any rest, but now he is wide awake and concerned for her. There may be fire and murder here in Thorne, but now that they are sealed in the safe room, the worst they have to deal with is crowding and infighting.]
𝓒𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓮, 𝓽𝓮𝓵𝓵 𝓶𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵.
[He is stuck in this room for god knows how long, please — should he be worried for you too?]
no subject
[ She clarifies at least that, perhaps one less worry that they'll all choke to death on a cloud of poison. ]
𝐼'𝑚 𝑒𝑥ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑, 𝐼'𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡. 𝐼 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝐼'𝑚 𝑎𝑙𝑟𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡.
[ She only invokes her title to enhance her oath, he's someone she's bound to, and she won't lie to him about her own circumstances. ]
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠...𝑖𝑡'𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒, 𝑖𝑓 𝑤𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑓 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑑.
no subject
He relaxes at her reassurances but only a fraction. This is going to be a very long few days of being trapped in here, he can tell.]
𝓘 𝓲𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓪 𝓹𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓭𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓬𝓪𝓷𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓬𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓵. 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓰𝓵𝓪𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮, 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓘 𝓭𝓸 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝔀𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓷𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰.
[Least of all because here in Thorne they do not have the supplies to last that long…]
no subject
𝑊𝑒'𝑟𝑒 𝑣𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑎, 𝑤𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑏𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑒. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑓-
[ Biting back the rest of her thought, she chastises herself momentarily. It won't help to go down that path, the line of thinking only borrowing trouble. ]
𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑠𝑜 𝑡𝑜𝑜, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒.
[ She pauses, then sends another thought, knowing she needs to get back to it soon. ]
𝐼 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐽𝑜ℎ𝑛.
no subject
But now is not the time for such conversation, when they are trapped as they are, with no way of acting upon such thoughts. Instead, he addresses the last piece of her note, with something of a wince.]
𝓜𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓮𝓹𝓮𝓼𝓽 𝓪𝓹𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝓲𝓮𝓼 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓼𝓸, 𝓶𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓪𝓻. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓲𝓽𝓾𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓲𝓷 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓷𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓼𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓾𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓻𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓷, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓘 𝓪𝓶 𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮.
[For now, at any rate.]
no subject
[ There's a pause, and then she can't help but somewhat ruefully send: ]
𝐼𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚𝑠 𝑤𝑒'𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑢𝑝 𝑖𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑙𝑠𝑒'𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑠.
no subject
[He has his duty. Unfortunately he cannot promise her more than that, for better or worse.
He is a soldier. He had felt purposeless before enrolling himself in the guard, although he cannot say for certain whether finding himself in such a position now is better or worse. He certainly had not anticipated this, back then at any rate.]
𝓑𝓮 𝔀𝓮𝓵𝓵, 𝓒𝓵𝓪𝓲𝓻𝓮, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝔂 𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮. 𝓦𝓱𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓻, 𝔀𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓭 𝓪 𝓭𝓻𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓽𝓸𝓰𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻, 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘. 𝓢𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓵, 𝓲𝓷 𝓯𝓪𝓬𝓽.