Ayshela

during a recent phone conversation: "He was away at that point, doing other things. Secret things." he said. Yes, as i realized how that sounded, i burst out laughing.

Yep, and for the official note, i do have this well in hand so if you're not on that list you need not worry.

You did have someone else hosting it for you, i remember that. I had offered to host it for you, but you declined as someone else had offered first. Unfortunately i can't tell you who it was, as that's one of the extremely few PMs i don't have a copy of. =(

Gyr - understanding the circumstances of your group date, and that you have completed one... My recommendation would be to continue with the group date with your absent co-conspirator called away from the group - *but* given that you have completed the one and have the other in progress, you would be allowed to bid. I do strongly suggest, however, that you continue on with the second.

As with all things, there is more than one side to this. I understand your frustration, but there is more to this situation than has been reported here. As such, this is being dealt with *privately* as it should have been all along. Anyone else who is displeased with the results of their date - please PM me about it so it can be dealt with promptly, with the privacy and respect such matters deserve.

done. enjoy!

Napheen returned to her chamber, heavy sadness overtaking the anger at the unjust accusations. Turning over all her scrolls of protection, she looked once more upon the faces of her friends, and those she had believed were friends, and took her place leaving the door open to whatever had taken Hemahibe. Settling herself to wait, she drifted into an uneasy sleep. Sudden noises awoke her with the solid instinct to not move. Someone was in her chamber, moving carefully and carrying a peculiar torch which never flickered as it lit the room. Napheen scowled angrily as all her belongings were removed, then she suddenly felt herself lifted and carried into daylight. She was carefully placed into a very strange wagon. All her belongings were there as well, much to her relief, and it seemed that at least some of Hemahibe's were as well. Napheen cried out softly in fright as she heard the growling of strange beasts begin, and then the wagon began to move. Hemahibe must have been somewhere near, as Napheen heard muffled sobs and pleas to the gods for protection. "Fortunate," Napheen thought, "that all these beings will hear of our cries is the sighing of the wind." It seemed ages before the wagon stopped, and Napheen's head ached from the echoes of the growling beasts pulling it. They must have been beaten the entire way to have moved so quickly, and so angrily. The strange people were back, hauling Napheen and Hemahibe off the wagon and moving them and their belongings into an immense winged monster which shone in the sun, though it sat there unmoving as they were placed in its belly. It must have been displeased, though, as it growled and roared after Napheen's sight had been blocked by a shield being slammed over the opening. She felt as if she fell, surely from a great height, though the belly of the monster remained solidly under her and it continued to roar. Napheen could no longer hear Hemahibe, and hoped she was still close. "Osiris," she begged, "please watch over those left and keep them safe. Please guard them well and keep them from these beasts." She felt herself falling again, faster and harder than before, but just as she was sure disaster had befallen the monster stopped growling and the shield over the opening in its belly was removed again. "Napheen?" It was Hemahibe calling. "I'm here," Napheen answered. "Wherever they're taking us, I hope we go together." "As do I," Hemahibe said. They were taken once more and placed into a wagon. Napheen thought she would never hear the end of growling beasts, and felt sorry for the poor beasts forced to haul the wagons at such speed. At every turn she slid and banged against the hard side of the wagon, so she was quite relieved when finally the beasts stopped growling and she was hauled out of the wagon again. Napheen and Hemahibe and all their belongings were carried into a gleaming building and down long hallways lit by strange things which flickered slightly but looked nothing like torches. They were carefully and gently placed at opposite ends of a long room, all their belongings arranged around them. Strange people with light skins came regularly to stare at Napheen and Hemahibe, speaking strange sounding syllables that neither understood. Composing herself for stillness and extended sleep, Napheen cast her thoughts far away to those she loved. "Nehrathi, please my friend, be safe. Be safe with Esaneh, be happy. I guess we'll never know now whether Rahotep liked me - or perhaps we do, he did defend me." And with a small smile, Napheen drifted into endless sad dreams.

*giggles* yep and those who can't read an IC clue to protection get to play without it. been there, done that, just not usually here. LOL

*laughs* and you are all now on your own. have fun! Splendid scenario, Celes, i'd have enjoyed being able to play it out.

IMPORTANT: We are now about two weeks from the opening of the Winter Festival and one month from the Bachelorette Auction. Anyone who has not completed their date for the Bachelor Auction **will not be allowed to bid** at the Bachelorette Auction. If you are doing a group date which is currently dependent on the response of someone who has lost their net connect, i strongly suggest you continue on as if they have been called away and separated from the group. This is your gentle reminder that you are running out of time. =)

*g* two minds with but a single thought, i'd just come to do the same thing! May you have a splendiferously wondermous 25th, m'dear! *genuine guaranteed germ free huggles*

As Napheen continues to face accusation her disappointment and hurt is slowly overcome by anger. "I may be young compared to some of you, but that does NOT make me evil! I was trusted with beloved children - to guide, guard, and protect them, their lives, their wellbeing. I taught them much, *including* right from wrong and how to live happy lives in peace with those around them. "What kind of person would call this evil?"

*giggles* Dang, Vak, had to make sure you didn't start another run of being the first lynched by making sure *i* was? Perhaps it's time to borrow the "you'll be sorry"?? *g* spose that's one way to make sure i have *time* to be sick, eh?

oy.. popping back in for a sec to see if i had been shredded yet.. *sigh* yes, the accusation i referred to was Khe's IC accusation, as noted by Gryphon, for precisely the reason he stated. Nice to see one of us is coherent. O_o 'shela, grabbing antibiotics and heading back to bed

more likely ducking the fire of the violently disappointed, unfortunately. *siiigh* *drifts back into the shadows*

"Napheen" Upon hearing her name spoken in such cold accusation, Napheen turned in horrified bewilderment to Nehrathi. Insistently shaking her head, she stammered "I didn't, I couldn't, how could anyone think I could do such a thing? I didn't even know what happened, and I'm accused of being responsible for it? How? Why? "Someone must be desperate to divert suspicion from himself, from herself, to try to make me look guilty of something I don't even understand." OOC: oh heck, i hate first round accusations. talk about shooting blind.. umm. since i've been ordered to bed i can't come back later, either, so.. I accuse.. Knight/Khe, on grounds of having been too quick to accuse. *shrug* no clue, really.

Napheen wanders over to Nehrathi, glancing at Rahotep with a small smile as she passed. "Nehrathi, i'm so glad to see you. This is quite disturbing! Have you any idea what happened to Hemahibe? i only heard the last of the announcement, and i don't quite understand what's happening."

Somehow or other i came up feverish last thursday night and have been mostly unconscious since then. i'm *still* running low grade fever and sick as hell, so while i'll be doing my damndest to keep up my responsibilities here, i'll probably be limping for a while yet. If i've missed anything important, PLEASE drop me a PM kick to the head and remind me? And please, please forgive the decided lack of coherence that will no doubt show through. i've been awake four hours now of the last fourteen, and i'm heading back to bed. how sad is that? *sigh* *gentle germ free hugs and thanks for your patience* 'shela

*hugs Tattered* welcome back, i've missed you! was just wondering where you'd gone, the other day, so doubly glad to see you! dang, don't you hate it when they ask that? *sigh* *hugs* know what you mean.. the good's in there, it's just sometimes hard to see through the blood and through the tears. It does eventually wash away, or at least thin enough for visibility. It really does. *hugs*

oh gods, guys.. use 'shela wherever you need a bit of bladework, but i'm not going to be able to post on my own behalf. i've literally been conscious almost twelve hours of the last fourty eight or so and been sick enough my thirteen year old is sternly sending me back to bed as soon as i take my meds. i'm sorry.

*wordless hugs* *sympathetic smiles from one who understands better than you think* *another warm hug*

this question actually came about from a couple discussions with friends, and i was a bit startled to realize that my answer changed as i thought about the question. My initial answer was that i would choose blindness, because in hazardous situations i can *hear* full sphere, i can tell where someone is and with a fair degree of accuracy even what they're doing, as long as i can hear them. Even with excellent peripheral vision, however, i cannot *see* that full sphere, so i have found that i do better blindfolded than earmuffed, so to speak. And yet, in considering the question, i had to concede that i've finally hit a point in my life where hazardous situations are few and far between and i don't *need* to know where everyone is around me on a second to second basis. That being the case, while i would certainly miss my music and there are things i would regret never being able to hear someone say again.. subtle gestures, facial expressions, shifts in body posture or tension levels, sunrises, sunsets, one shaft of light through the clouds, that one perfect raindrop in the center of a leaf - these things cannot be detected with the other senses, or at the very least not readily if at all. Much of my information gathering about the world about me does come from what i hear, but i would lose *so* much more not being able to see! Given the situation at hand, i'd probably wait it out and see if it did become definitely deadly. If it did, though, i believe i'd choose deafness, much to my surprise.

*shrug* by the time i had time to look again and post, y'all had moved the story far beyond anything i can be at all of use with. specifically requesting combat *magic* leaves me out of the loop and i saw no point in posting that i was standing about uselessly. if you have use for my character short of as sacrificial distraction, feel free.

*huge hugs* hon, i think there's something to the theory that we were separated at birth, or some such. the darkest hours of the night are always the worst, and grasping the notion of "darkest just before the dawn" doesn't help much. i don't know that i'm going to really be of any help with this either, unfortunately. ironically, i don't deal well with unresolved issues - ironic, because i have so many of them.. and they plague my nights and bar the doors to sleep until i tackle them and wrestle them back into their steel boxes and stack them up for the next time they break loose. *shrug* i know too well how it can be, and the almost desperate need for 'no lectures, please.' *hugs* i think, for me, the difference between the two is that of logical knowledge vs. emotional knowledge. Logically, rationally, i *know* that successful completion of a task, surviving a situation, getting through *this* leg of the journey.. when done, it's done, and if i've come through the other side of it intact despite their best efforts, i've won. Logically, i know, the margin doesn't matter.. completion is completion, be it tasks at work or challenges of the heart, "just barely" is as successful as "no problem". Logically. Rationally. and leveled against that is the emotional knowledge that it does matter, that there is a difference between breezing through and just barely squeaking by. That having just barely survived it this time doesn't mean i'll be able to next, and i need to DO something about that. That even though the situation is past and done, even though i got through it, even though there's nothing to be said or done or changed NOW, it wasn't done the way i wanted.. i didn't complete it on my terms.. and so it doesn't *feel* done, no matter how much i logically, rationally, deeply KNOW i cannot go back and undo, redo anything. i wish i could, more often than you know, for all that's "pointless, wasted time and energy". Yeah, well, it's my time and energy. *shrug* i know you can "what if" yourself to death, and so i try to keep logical and emotional knowledge somewhere within the same ballpark, at least. Sometimes, though, they're not even on the same side of the freeway, much less in the same ballpark, and i'm not always sure which one needs to shift because each has a solid point to be made. Personally, i hate it when they go head to head. It *always* hurts. And neither one is necessarily wrong, which just makes it that much worse, trying to balance them and take the pieces from each which make a coherent whole. Sometimes.. sometimes, it won't, right away. Sometimes it takes setting it all down and walking around it and looking at it from several different viewpoints before grabbing the one you like best and picking it back up from there. Sometimes you just have to set it down and walk away from it for a while - as long as you know you can't just leave it there forever, because it will come back and haunt you, eventually. bits and pieces, really, is what it ends up being for me. when what my head knows and what my heart knows are so different, i end up kicking both viewpoints to pieces and building back up something that both can live with.. wishing the whole time it didn't hurt so much. *hugs*

Ayshela nods as Merelas comes and takes Gwaihir into the dining hall. It is long since time that all this madness came to an end, and only by stopping those affected by this place can whatever is behind it be discovered. Enough. She moves forward to stand by Merelas, adding her support. OOC: an accusation for Gwaihir