Time to Feel Incredibly Foolish

[blonde_techie]

She hasn't been dressed in a toga since college and she's not anywhere near drunk enough to think this is anything but cold. Roxy tightens her grip on the candle and looks at the altar thingie Kendra gathered all of them around.

"So, what are we supposed to do, other then, y'know, wish for him back?"

Comments

[nation_jsa]

She's feeling disgustingly young and stupid right now. She doesn't want to look too deeply into herself for the answers. The more she does the harder it gets to live with herself as she is now. Let the scroll do the heavy lifting/ she thinks. Her own heart lurches at the thought, but what does she know about all this magic stuff anyway?

"Read the scroll, I guess. It's a resurrection scroll, right?"

[middle_amazon]

"It is, but -" Troia frowns. This isn't her primary area either. It's the blind leading the blind here and she's frustrated Kendra isn't helping. Troia can sense she knows more about this then she wants too, but she's just...standing there. She moves her head around to take care of tension in her neck. "Carter's spirit is split into different parts in keeping with his beliefs and the curse. some of it's here, but some of it seems...stuck."

[blonde_techie]

"Stuck? Like a ghost or something?"

[nation_jsa]

"Or something..." Kendra murmurs. "So what does it say about a crowbar?"

[abluntobject]

As the ritual is performed, both Donna, and especially Kendra are bathed in a soft light. A few moments later, a vaguely hawklike spirit manifests behind Kendra, looming over her protectively. Then, all of the doors in the place slam open and shut, wind sweeping through the place. Things go crashing to the ground, like a thousand poltergeists at once.
As things quiet, there is an image of a jackal faced, serene looking being holding out a pair of balancing scales, perfectly in balance with one another, and the girls present gain some sense of where they must go, but at the moment, Carter is neither whole, nor anywhere in the process of resurrecting on his own.

[kathy_duquesne]

"...well," Kathy states. "That was odd."

She turns to Kendra. "Let's do this."

[nation_jsa]

Kendra grew up Christian. This should not be happening or real. This should all be a fairy tale swept away by Jesus who was in turn another fairy tale. So much for that. This place, if anything, feels more "real" then anything she consciously remembers. It feels like home and...Damn it. She squares her shoulders and walks right up to Anubis and demands without thinking. "We seek King Khufu. He has been split by dark magics, and his Queen must reform him."

As soon as the words leave her mouth, she's embarrassed and ashamed for no clear reason. They felt perfect but they aren't her...or they shouldn't be...or...

That was too comfortable. Nothing here should be.

Nonetheless, she can feel a part of him here by her now, more powerfully then anything she let herself feel before - and that's too comfortable, too.

[blonde_techie]

This is not her place, so this is the part where she shuts up - until that figure manifests right by Kendra's shoulder. "Look!"

[nation_titanse]

"Wait a sec here..."

[nation_jsa]

Kendra breaks from her story. "What?"

[nation_titanse]

He pokes the fire with a stick. "Assume I know nothing. No hero scuttlebutt. No big bad magic juju - and while we are at it, pretend I know nothing about ancient cultures of the anything other then the Dinne." He does, of course, know more - in spades. More then he lets on. That's how Killswitch had been able to use him this last time. How he might again. He pushes that thought away and mollifies it a little with the thought that the knowledge also let him bring Donna back from Hades. "How the hell did you pick all that up and why does it sound like you'd do anything to get that knowledge away from you?"

[nation_jsa]

"So I'm speaking to the only hero on Earth that doesn't have it in her head I'm married to Carter since before I was born or something?" She's not sure whether to be relived or annoyed by that.

"In the beginning Hawkman was a prince in Egypt named Khufu. A Thanagarin ship crashed, some Nth metal was found and -" She sighs. "I'm hazy on some of the details, but I think it was magically enchanted and then used as weapons and tools by Khufu and his intended, princes Chay-Ara to keep the peace. When they were murdered and cursed by Hath-Set, who's like one of the first supervillians, they found out the Nth metal had changed them."

[nation_jsa]

Kendra responds to Roxanne's puzzled look. "his khat is his physical self. Magique destroyed Carter's body and we still don't know why she did it rather then just teleport him up to face off with Dr. light the way the others did. She could have been working for Hath-Set, the priest who murdered the first incarnation of -" she stops and breathes in. Instead of more cobblestones and dark tunnels they reached the desert at night. Before them is a splendid palace in the distance surrounded by lush green gardens. As much as she doesn't want to have the thought she can feel it in her heart as strongly s she's ever felt anything. She knows she could walk in blindfolded and know every sight and smell better then anything from Kendra's memories - which makes her terrified.

Home...

[blonde_techie]

"Hawkgirl..?" No response. "Kendra..?" Nope, nothing. Not even with her snapping her fingers in Kendra's face. She's going to get her ass kicked, but - "Chay-Ara?"

[nation_jsa]

"Mmmmhmm?"

[kathy_duquesne]

Kathy raises her eyebrows. "Someone's taken a bit of a mental powder," Kathy sighs. She looks around the rest of the landscape. "Come on, Kendra." She pulls her arm to lead her friend towards the palace. "Let's go."

[abluntobject]

The palace is a wonder of ancient architecture to be certain. There is no sign of modern material, or anything bonding the rocks together besides sheer weight, and that they're cut to fit together perfectly. As such, while the structure doesn't rise particularly high, a single story, behind twelve foot high walls, it is sprawling, extending well into the surrounding desert, with everything designed to greet the rising sun.
While the outside walls are bare, everything protected is inscribed with hieroglyphics, tales of the greatness of Khufu and his ancestors, written over and over lest some important name or deed be forgotten.

Currently, the massive gates are open, receiving processions of visitors, mostly dressed in bright and hopeful colors, and all bearing one or more women who are carried on the backs of elephants or camels and tended to by multiple slaves, each dressed more fancifully than the last.

[kathy_duquesne]

Kathy doesn't even blink at the gratuitous displays of wealth. She merely strides up to the front door, looking for a guard.

"We're looking for Carter Hall."

[abluntobject]

"There is no one by that name here, foreigner, all of the guests have been carefully screened. Are you here to present a bride for the king's consideration, or perhaps to join the harem?"

[blonde_techie]

Roxy goes a little pale. "Harem?"