Text/Action // 04 I've Got the Remedy

[scientize]

[The following text has been sent out to absolutely everyone the morning of July twenty-fifth:]

ATTENTION RESIDENTS OF ALIUNDE.The city's medical staff will now be administering an antidote to the poison that has spread throughout the city. Please proceed calmly to the hospital if you have come into any contact with the frogs or someone who has

Comments

[morbidmausoleum]

[Seeing dead people? Not really a new thing for Dinah.

[But that doesn't make it any less unpleasant, when the dead people in question are the only two human friends she's had since she moved to Bizenghast. They've done nothing but stare at her, sad and faintly accusing. And they aren't the only ones. There's Hides and Cagey and all the other ghosts who came out to support her in the battle with Maphohetka. There's Edaniel and Edrear and their poor dead sister Elala.

[She'd swear she even saw Maphohetka herself, heard the bitch laughing and laughing as the others ask why she abandoned them at the final battle.

[She doesn' t have much love for hospitals or doctors (particularly not here) but after a few days of the staring and the whispers and the laughter, she figures that whatever they're putting into her can't possibly make things worse. So shortly after the announcement goes out, she can be found curled up in a chair in the waiting room.

[Her knees are drawn up to her chest, and she rests her forehead on them and mentally goes over the recipes Eike gave her, trying to avoid the fit she can feel coming on - the same type the ghosts used to drive her to before she signed on with the Mausoleum.

[God, she's glad she called in sick before it ever got this bad...]

[scientize]

[There was something about a young girl curled up and looking vulnerable that just struck a soft chord with Naomi Hunter. She may be exhausted from the long week's unendingly difficult work and desperately wanting nothing more than to crawl into bed at that very moment, but a tender look passes over her tired face as she approaches the girl.]

Are you injured? [Naomi kneels down, beside Dinah, moving to rest a delicate hand gently to the girl's knee.]

[morbidmausoleum]

[She flinches at the unexpected contact, and when she looks up, her eyes are distant at first. It takes her a moment to focus in on Naomi and register the question.]

Um. The post mentioned an antidote for the frogs' venom...?

[scientize]

Then you came just in time. When were you bit? [Waving over a nurse, Naomi keeps her dark eyes and attention on the younger girl in front of her. Her gentle, reassuring touch doesn't move in the slightest.]

And tell me, how do you feel? Are you having difficulty focusing?

[morbidmausoleum]

Um... [She looks down at her knees for a moment, trying to think. Trying to filter out the angry whispers and accusing stares long enough to think.] A day ago.

[How she feels takes a little longer.] ...I haven't been able to eat or sleep. And they won't let me focus.

[scientize]

I understand. The same thing has been happening to everyone who's encountered the frogs. Thankfully, so far, the cure has been working perfectly. I just need you to concentrate well enough to answer a few questions for me before we begin.

First, what's your name?

[morbidmausoleum]

[She manages to stay focused on Naomi the entire time she's speaking, and answer the question without the sort of long delay that might indicate her being distracted by whatever she's seeing and hearing.]

Dinah. Dinah Wherever.