>>48769549"Everyone in this room stands out, we have the wrong look," you answer. "Most folks down there look like you, with the whole..." you gesture at her features - the olive-colored skin, the almond-shaped eyes.
"...You have a point," Emily agrees. "It'd be like if I tried to infiltrate the Rose Cult up on the second floor. They seemed. Interesting, incidentally."
"They didn't let you through the front door, huh?"
"Nope."
"Catherine, I'd like you there both to help guide and mentor Emily through what it means to be Chosen, and because I want the answer to 'how do I kill it' for the various hazards when I get down there," you tell the Chosen of War. "You've both been briefed on the...admittedly vague...desires Lora's expressed for Emily's service and why her orders are not currently valid. You're the only person here who might understand, even a little, what she's going through."
"I'm going for my winning personality," Scribbles says wryly.
"Actually, yeah. You have a knack for getting people to talk. You'll have to cross the Broken Jaw first, mind -"
"/Fuck/," the Lamia swears.
"-but we've got winter gear for you," you continue, smoothly. "It'll be waiting in the Roost."
"And I can fly," Flitter guesses.
"/Absolutely not/," Jack's ghost interjects, manifesting to full and irate visibility. "You're safe /here/."
"Your killer is down there, Jack," Flitter objects, buzzing up from the surface of the table with a pleading expression. "Don't you want to be avenged?"
"No," Jack says flatly. "I want you to be safe. You are not safe in the Sunless Sea or the Mire, and certainly not in the Gauntlet Below. You're staying."
You and River share a worried look.
"Jack," you begin, "you can't dictate what the living do or don't do."
The ghost's furious glare goes to you. You stand, slowly, in answer.
"Jack, /no/," Flitter begs. "She's your friend!"
"She's putting you in danger," the ghost murmurs, as his spectral form ices over with jagged armor.
