luministi | [003] / θ-3

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[003] / θ-3

[the Doctor and Sophie are at a table by the front windows in an open café in the southern shopping plaza. the building overlooks the botanical gardens, making for a pleasant and quaint atmosphere--the sort of atmosphere the town professes to exude. however, the scene inside the café is far from pleasant or quaint. in fact, the two appear to be in the midst of a rather heated discussion]

[Sophie has a cup of tea in front of her and is slumped over the table in a fashion that would remind her alarmingly of some of the stooping she did as an old woman. however, she is certainly not bothered about her posture at the moment. her face is extremely flushed, though whether from fever or anger is anyone's guess, and she is glaring severely at the man across the table from her] I am calm!

[the Doctor, his face reddened not only because of the impossible fever sweeping through his system but thanks to his deep annoyance with the woman he's sharing his table with, only rolls his eyes and barely manages to keep himself from throwing his arms up in the air in a completely dramatic show of frustration.]

Oh yes, that's calm. Next thing I know, you're going to be smashing your tea cup to the ground and professing the same thing! I only said you needed to relax or you'll get yourself into a deeper state of exhaustion than you're already in!

[scoffs, still glaring] And I'm sure your insults are perfectly calm as well! What we need is a solution! Until we have that, no amount of "relaxing" will solve anything.

Look, even if you won't, you've got to eat something. You need the fuel to keep functioning. [of course, the last thing he actually ate was a bag of candy floss and a corn dog a few days ago, but he doesn't exactly need food all that often.]

[he pushes a plate of pain au chocolat, or chocolate-filled croissants, her way, forcing his tone to be a bit gentler.] Humour me, will you? We can eat and solve riddles at the same time. It's called 'multi-tasking'.

[eyes him for a moment more and then sighs. reluctantly picks up one of the croissants, nibbling on one end of it. she's really not hungry and is a bit apprehensive that the food she attempts to eat might come back up in the middle of their conversation] You might be surprised, but we have multi-tasking in Ingary.

So what ideas do you have about the riddle? Or have you spoken to anyone else about it?

[he takes one as well, but merely keeps it on a small plate beside his glass of ice water. he reckons if his temperature continues to climb, he might even pass for a human in a thermal scan. it's an amusing thought, at least.]

Spoke to--[his previous self]--the other Doctor about this, but I've been trying to work out a solution of my own instead of solving the riddle. [pulls a face] My...own efforts haven't been nearly as successful as I'd hoped, so I'm giving that riddle another go! Got a few ideas of my own, of course, but let's see how the others are doing, hmm? I heard a few of them were up to something, but I was a bit busy at the time.

[he takes his CAT out, setting it on the table in front of them so both he and Sophie can be seen in a video broadcast to all the residential CATs.] Ah hello, there we are. How is everyone feeling? I gather no one's solved the riddle yet, but maybe we need to rethink things a little. Get a fresh--well, relatively speaking anyway--pair of eyes and ears on things. Where are you all at?

[ooc: Joint post! If you couldn't tell, the Doctor is blue and Sophie is orange. We'll both be tagging around. Join in the discussion so we can solve the mystery!]

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Ah, well. There are... lots of statues here. And I was going to check the Kirin statue first, but it's kinda high up. It's eye, I mean.

So I guess I need help checking all these 'beasts'. And if there are some healthy people who can climb ladders... [Fuu closes her eyes for a beat. Even the thought of climbing makes her feel tired and dizzy. Heck, standing is going fun.]

That is... if you think I'm on the right track? I'm just... not sure what else to do.

Oh, but it does seem like the Poseidon sundial is the place from the riddle. There is a ...small indentation, smaller than the coins we got from the first day's riddle, under the statue.

[has a sip of his water before speaking] No, let's stay away from ladders. No one's in any condition to be doing any of that, and besides, the Kirin statue doesn't sound right. There are other "beasts" around, and we can't limit ourselves to just the statues either.

[but he smiles a bit wearily at that last part] Now that's where I agree with you. Can't be more obvious than "guardian of the sea". Just how Resarci and his team missed that, I don't know.

[ooc: Just as a heads-up, we'll go Fuu-->the Doctor or Sophie-->Fuu, etc, so we can keep the three of them in the same train of thought, so to speak.]

[ooc: okay!]

Yah. And they had four days to think about it. And they're healthy... [She's not bitter. Honest.]

But, um, okay. I'm happy to stay away from ladders too, but what other beasts are there? [She frowns a bit as she thinks it over.]
There really weren't too many stone statues that were beasts, were there.
Then there were... topiary animals? Cranes, elephant... dragon, bears, dogs... I'm sure that there was more, and they're all beasts. It will take forever to search them all!

Is there anything else? Anything...
[Fuu rests her head in her hand and closes her eyes, thinking of what other beasts she's seen. The lion-and-sun coin...]

Oh! And the gift basket. There were lions in the gift basket.

They probably didn't eat at the Chrysalis. Wasn't half bad there, besides the poisoning incident, that is.

You're right, though. There are a lot of beasts, but think carefully about what was said in the riddle itself. Riddles like that tend to be filled with more information than riddle solver realises. There has to be something there that we're overlooking.

[glances at Sophie to make sure she's still eating that croissant.]

[frowns bitterly at the table] And isn't that interesting? None of the town's residents ate at The Chrysalis. We're the only ones who did.

Hmmm...what other information could have been about that "eye of the beast"?

[catches the Doctor looking at her. makes a face and takes another nibble]

[ooc: Sorry to break the posting order, but you addressed me, and I'm going to be out all day, so I figured this would reduce confusion!]

[ooc: it's all good! ^^]

[Fuu gives the Doctor a rueful grin.]

More of 'the devil is in the details' and 'don't miss the forest for the trees?'

[Taking a couple deep breaths she recalls the poem. She'd memorized it because, simply, her life depended on it.]

I'd discounted the first part because we don't need to know where the poison is from right now but...

[She blinks. With a smile she points at the Doctor.]

You're slipping, Doctor. The poem said 'wrath of the sea' and 'guardian of time.' But you said that the location couldn't be more obvious than 'guardian of the sea'. You mixed it up.

I- I feel like I'm grasping at straws here, but could it be that the earlier lines relate to the later lines? 'Hounding you discreetly...' So, maybe the beast is a dog?

[his eyes flash with annoyance. now is not the time to get pedantic with him, Fuu, not when he isn't well.]

The only guardian guarding "time", so to speak--[besides his other self and Braxiatel, but fortunately for them, they haven't got a base spoken of in the riddle, so it isn't them]--is that statue of Poseidon forming that sundial, and since he's the god of the sea, it stands to reason he's the guardian of it as well.

[he sighs and takes another sip of his water to cool off--literally and figuratively] It's a possibility.

[His irriation does not go unnoticed, and Fuu flushes (even more) with shame.]

I- I'm sorry. I mean that I'm taking your advice sincerely...

[She straightens up on the seat.]

I'll take even the smallest possibility at this point. So I'll go check--

[Trying to stand, she staggers from weakness. She feels like she's floating, and not in a good way.]

Uuh. I'll go ahead and message doctor Resarci.

Take it easy, Fuu. If you brought your bicycle with you, use that to lean against.

Ahhh, the good Doctor Resarci. Let us know what you find out.

[She smiles and nods.]

Thank you. Will do.

[the same nurse that Fuu met before arrives by bike in the botanical gardens, stopping near the topiary chihuahuas that Fuu mentioned and parking her bike. she steps over to the dogs, bending down to take a close look at them for a moment before she straightens and waits for Fuu to arrive]

[Fuu comes, slow and steady, walking with the support of her bike. The combination of the pins-and-needles feeling of the fever and the dizzying floating of her exhaustion is quite concerning, but she's made it.]

Nurse Hope. I hope that I haven't called you out here in vain.

[A deep breath.]

I think we're looking for a removable eye that could fit in the indentation that you found at the sundial.

[She gives the nurse a wan smile] At least, I'll try to help as much as I can. But I'm depending on you.

[studies Fuu skeptically] Yes, I see. You don't look at all well. Have you been to the clinic?

[leans over by one of the dogs, reaching out to tug at its eye] Oh! That did come off quite easily. [straightens, turning back to Fuu with the small object in her hand] But what would you like me to do with it, now that we have it?

Eh, no, I haven't. I'm afraid I didn't make it there.
[No, she was too busy trying to solve the riddle. And sleeping. In the greenhouse...]

[Fuu blinks in surprise. She hadn't been quite certain if it was the right choice. Well, she still didn't know until they got to the sundial. Or until Nurse Hope did. She wasn't sure if she'd make that walk.]

Ah, if it's smaller than the coin, then it might work. If you could please hurry to the Poseidon sundial and try putting the eye into that indentation you found the other day?

And... I know that doctor Resarci wants to analyze the antidote that is found, but if the others feel as ill as I do, there might not be enough time. Please, I'd like to volunteer as the first test subject.

Then as soon as we're done here, that's where you should be going!

Ohhh, of course! [nods with a smile] I will do that. Won't you come along?

[shakes her head] Oh no, I couldn't allow any such thing! Proper testing is needed, whatever the situation. But Doctor Resarci will certainly inform everyone as soon as he has an antidote. I know him very well, and there is no way he would allow anyone in town to die.

[Would I come along? Fuu can't help but laugh sarcastically to herself about that. Did the Nurse want her at the clinic or the sundial? Neither was a Sunday stroll.]

[She sighs at her insistence that the proper testing was needed. She doesn't have the strength to argue the point, for all that she might like to have. After all, they are speaking of the man who waited four days to alert them to the fact that they'd been poisoned, right?]

I'll do my best to follow you to the sundial, Nurse Hope. But I don't know that I'll have energy for much else after that.

[nods, pocketing the chihuahua's eye and fetching her bicycle] Then I'll have you brought to the clinic after that. But first, we'll see if you've found the antidote. I'll meet you there!

[starts off toward the exit at a brisk pace--probably too brisk for Fuu to catch up with. but don't worry, Fuu, she won't do anything at the sundial without you!]

[Fuu nods in confirmation. She'd really rather rest at her home, but she's not going to bring it up now. Gosh, but she hopes that she's found the antidote. She doesn't have the strength to continue on much longer.]

[Never has the walk to the library seemed so long.]

[ooc-ish: And what she wouldn't give to have one of the healthy residents come help her out XD]

[watches Fuu approach, frowning slightly. as the girl nears, Nurse Hope takes several long strides to reach her and then takes her by one arm, helping to support her for the end of the walk]

Here we are. You think I should put the eye into the slot at the base, correct? Can you stand while I do it?

[She smiles kindly to the nurse, thankful for the hand. The support of the bike was okay, but it certainly wasn't meant to be a walker. Leaning on her bike heavily she nods.]

That's right. If you would please.
I'll be okay now that I'm standing still.

[nods] All right, we'll see if it fits. [crouches down by the base of the sundial, once again taking care not to touch her white uniform to the ground. takes the eye out of her pocket and attempts to fit it into the indentation in the pedestal--

--and it fits. there is no fanfare, just a simple whoosh of air as a segment of rock slides out of the way like it's some sort of panel]

Wow! I think there's something in here... [reaches a hand into the new opening. she withdraws it, straightening, and shows Fuu a small vial of purple liquid. smiles widely] I think we have something for Doctor Resarci to test now.

[Fuu just stares at the vial in amazement. It worked. They had the antidote. She feels overwhelmingly relieved and incredibly tired.]

I- I'm so glad. So glad... Please, hurry with the treatment...

[She doesn't know what else to say right now. Allowing the bike to rest on it's kickstand she slowly sinks to the ground. Oh, but it feels nice to be sitting.]

[A very exhausted-sounding Fuu sends you a voice message shortly after finding the antidote.]

Doctor, we did it... We found it.
Thank you for your help. Couldn't have done it without you...

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[003] / θ-3

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[letting him know what she found out]