Elarrapal - Cracks in the Facade
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Aitas
Oct 5, 2025, 8:39:17 PM10/5/25
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((North Oparis Branch Settlement, Uwe II))
Despite all their talk of progress, the government had never quite moved in such a way that would let her claim such a formal offense. They’d let rot overtake the trees, let mines poison them, wait until they’d hollowed out and then cut them down.
They did not wish to leave burnt limbs and opportunities for their foes. No, let the trees wither until whatever the prophets might call had grown weak indeed.
Norsel had forgotten that. And Imeris was still strong, roots still intertwined with the world, the cities, a network that spanned the continent and twisted roots under seas.
But that was not what had brought a familiar face back to her path as she darted away from Norsel’s guards.
Hopper: Careful…
Wong: Elarrapal! How good to see you again! I was literally just thinking about you when you decided to drop by!
The voice was certainly familiar, and it was easier to pick the face from the crowd when he moved between her and Norsel’s thugs.
Elarrapal simply stood there, her gaze directed at the so-called guards.
Hopper: This is Elarrapal? So she is a trouble-maker… ::Shaking her head:: Hide your tricorders, but run passive scans. Look for any traces of dinitrogen pentoxide or similar chemicals.
Galanis: Are you… sure?
At least some of the strange group before her seemed utterly overwhelmed at the situation.
Saavei: Response
Wong: You know you’ve said some truly illuminating things earlier and I really just had to share them with my friends here. I think you’d enjoy meeting them.
She recognized one of the figures, as the one who’d bandaged her now-severed arm before. That he’d left Imeris and arrived here without her noticing was strange indeed.
Elarrapal: This hardly seems the time.
Guard: Get out of the way! That woman is a menace. You don’t damage Norsel Corp. property and just walk away.
Hopper: Seems we’re here right on time, then. ::Showing them her fake government credentials:: Internal Security. We’re here to have a few words with Elarrapal.
It seemed Norsel had given her at least one detail of use. The credentials were good, certainly. But a truly skilled forger would have avoided issuing them on such unlucky dates.
Saavei: Response
Wong: What do you say? I think they’d like to hear about your visions!
Elarrapal: ::through gritted teeth:: I think you should speak less of matters you do not understand.
Hopper: ::To the Guard:: We may also need to ask you, or your employer, a few questions once we finish with her. ::A look to Ikaia:: And tend to her wounds…
Guard: Fine. Keep her away from here. ::Turning back towards the crowd:: Alright, you all have one minute to clear out of here before we start pressing trespassing charges!
Hopper: That was tense… Ik– ::realizing she didn’t know Wong’s undercover Uwezo identity:: Doctor– is she okay?
Elarrapal: ::to Hopper:: No. ::then to the guards:: The people have every right for complaint, for Norsel assaulted Imeris itself.
Wong: Response
Hopper: Do what you can to stabilize her injury. Elarrapal, you’re going to be alright… My name is Rob’Ynne, and these are my associates – we’re with Internal Security, investigating the recent explosion in the Irudaimu Sector… ::Looking over her shoulder at the scene:: What in the breeze happened back there?!
Galanis: Na’ev. Security Analyst.
Did children truly learn so little? No, they looked no older than Elarrapal, and thus she had to wonder again just how they had missed so many things.
Elarrapal: Has Internal Security forgotten the old forms, then? Norsel burnt my branches.
She used the form there wherein she spoke for Imeris, and not merely herself.
Wong/Saavei: Response
Hopper: At the moment, evidence is pointing us towards Norsel’s involvement in the incident, though he is not our only suspect. Any cooperation from you, or information you could share, that might aid our investigation would be appreciated…
Galanis: We aren’t here to apprehend. Just gather branches.
Elarrapal held up the stub of her arm, still glistening with blood. She’d begun to feel a bit faint, though the wound was closing.
Elarrapal: We grow short on those.
Wong/Saavei: Response
Hopper: And what about the Uropal tree – how does that factor into this?
Elarrapal: The same as it always has. That they would sacrifice such trees to scrabble a bit more quickly for their minerals. That they would shatter the network of their thoughts.
Wong/Saavei: Response
Galanis: That matches some of what I’ve been able to piece together. The official narrative is a simple conflict over resources, but the roots of this problem seem to run much deeper than simple mining rights.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei: Response
Galanis: ::quietly:: Her injury and our presence seem to be gathering… attention. We’re going to need to move again soon, somewhere we can speak and treat her properly. The longer we’re in the open, the greater the risk we run into somebody potentially affiliated with this Norsel.
Elarrapal: He will be occupied enough soon. Norsel forgets that the trees have their own defenses, and Imeris is still strong. Already they are drawn to his door.
She turned her gaze enough to indicate a cloud of insects with scaled wings and tiny claws streaming toward the broken door. The sound of feet thudded on the other side of a wall, some running away, and other, larger bodies moving toward where she’d just left.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei: Response
Galanis: Is there anywhere nearby you know of? Some kind of shelter, or at least a quiet place behind some trees?
Elarrapal: You have none of your own, then? With your false credentials and a new star hidden in our skies?
How unclear it all had been. Would she have seen any flaw in their identification if Norsel had not spoken of the matter? Would she have guessed, with every panicked defense around the project and its costs?
Hopper/Wong/Saavei: Response
Elarrapal: If you wish to ask details of Norsel then we should follow what my sacrifice has drawn to his door. He’ll call in more guards soon enough.
Perhaps his arrogance would delay him. But only a little.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Galanis: Response
Elarrapal: Whoever you are, none of you have harmed my tree, or bear the black mold of Urso’s dreaming, which cuts the soul and self asunder.
The trees were hard to comprehend, at times. The slow-sap green of their dreaming. But there had been periods when all of them shared the same nightmares. The same warnings.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Galanis: Response
Elarrapal: Then let us move, before we all find ourselves short on limbs to spend. You are not prophets; Imeris will not grant you the same succor.
She took one step forward, her feet unsteady on the earth and wood beneath her, and then another.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Galanis: Response
Tag/TBC
Despite all their talk of progress, the government had never quite moved in such a way that would let her claim such a formal offense. They’d let rot overtake the trees, let mines poison them, wait until they’d hollowed out and then cut them down.
They did not wish to leave burnt limbs and opportunities for their foes. No, let the trees wither until whatever the prophets might call had grown weak indeed.
Norsel had forgotten that. And Imeris was still strong, roots still intertwined with the world, the cities, a network that spanned the continent and twisted roots under seas.
But that was not what had brought a familiar face back to her path as she darted away from Norsel’s guards.
Hopper: Careful…
Wong: Elarrapal! How good to see you again! I was literally just thinking about you when you decided to drop by!
The voice was certainly familiar, and it was easier to pick the face from the crowd when he moved between her and Norsel’s thugs.
Elarrapal simply stood there, her gaze directed at the so-called guards.
Hopper: This is Elarrapal? So she is a trouble-maker… ::Shaking her head:: Hide your tricorders, but run passive scans. Look for any traces of dinitrogen pentoxide or similar chemicals.
Galanis: Are you… sure?
At least some of the strange group before her seemed utterly overwhelmed at the situation.
Saavei: Response
Wong: You know you’ve said some truly illuminating things earlier and I really just had to share them with my friends here. I think you’d enjoy meeting them.
She recognized one of the figures, as the one who’d bandaged her now-severed arm before. That he’d left Imeris and arrived here without her noticing was strange indeed.
Elarrapal: This hardly seems the time.
Guard: Get out of the way! That woman is a menace. You don’t damage Norsel Corp. property and just walk away.
Hopper: Seems we’re here right on time, then. ::Showing them her fake government credentials:: Internal Security. We’re here to have a few words with Elarrapal.
It seemed Norsel had given her at least one detail of use. The credentials were good, certainly. But a truly skilled forger would have avoided issuing them on such unlucky dates.
Saavei: Response
Wong: What do you say? I think they’d like to hear about your visions!
Elarrapal: ::through gritted teeth:: I think you should speak less of matters you do not understand.
Hopper: ::To the Guard:: We may also need to ask you, or your employer, a few questions once we finish with her. ::A look to Ikaia:: And tend to her wounds…
Guard: Fine. Keep her away from here. ::Turning back towards the crowd:: Alright, you all have one minute to clear out of here before we start pressing trespassing charges!
Hopper: That was tense… Ik– ::realizing she didn’t know Wong’s undercover Uwezo identity:: Doctor– is she okay?
Elarrapal: ::to Hopper:: No. ::then to the guards:: The people have every right for complaint, for Norsel assaulted Imeris itself.
Wong: Response
Hopper: Do what you can to stabilize her injury. Elarrapal, you’re going to be alright… My name is Rob’Ynne, and these are my associates – we’re with Internal Security, investigating the recent explosion in the Irudaimu Sector… ::Looking over her shoulder at the scene:: What in the breeze happened back there?!
Galanis: Na’ev. Security Analyst.
Did children truly learn so little? No, they looked no older than Elarrapal, and thus she had to wonder again just how they had missed so many things.
Elarrapal: Has Internal Security forgotten the old forms, then? Norsel burnt my branches.
She used the form there wherein she spoke for Imeris, and not merely herself.
Wong/Saavei: Response
Hopper: At the moment, evidence is pointing us towards Norsel’s involvement in the incident, though he is not our only suspect. Any cooperation from you, or information you could share, that might aid our investigation would be appreciated…
Galanis: We aren’t here to apprehend. Just gather branches.
Elarrapal held up the stub of her arm, still glistening with blood. She’d begun to feel a bit faint, though the wound was closing.
Elarrapal: We grow short on those.
Wong/Saavei: Response
Hopper: And what about the Uropal tree – how does that factor into this?
Elarrapal: The same as it always has. That they would sacrifice such trees to scrabble a bit more quickly for their minerals. That they would shatter the network of their thoughts.
Wong/Saavei: Response
Galanis: That matches some of what I’ve been able to piece together. The official narrative is a simple conflict over resources, but the roots of this problem seem to run much deeper than simple mining rights.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei: Response
Galanis: ::quietly:: Her injury and our presence seem to be gathering… attention. We’re going to need to move again soon, somewhere we can speak and treat her properly. The longer we’re in the open, the greater the risk we run into somebody potentially affiliated with this Norsel.
Elarrapal: He will be occupied enough soon. Norsel forgets that the trees have their own defenses, and Imeris is still strong. Already they are drawn to his door.
She turned her gaze enough to indicate a cloud of insects with scaled wings and tiny claws streaming toward the broken door. The sound of feet thudded on the other side of a wall, some running away, and other, larger bodies moving toward where she’d just left.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei: Response
Galanis: Is there anywhere nearby you know of? Some kind of shelter, or at least a quiet place behind some trees?
Elarrapal: You have none of your own, then? With your false credentials and a new star hidden in our skies?
How unclear it all had been. Would she have seen any flaw in their identification if Norsel had not spoken of the matter? Would she have guessed, with every panicked defense around the project and its costs?
Hopper/Wong/Saavei: Response
Elarrapal: If you wish to ask details of Norsel then we should follow what my sacrifice has drawn to his door. He’ll call in more guards soon enough.
Perhaps his arrogance would delay him. But only a little.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Galanis: Response
Elarrapal: Whoever you are, none of you have harmed my tree, or bear the black mold of Urso’s dreaming, which cuts the soul and self asunder.
The trees were hard to comprehend, at times. The slow-sap green of their dreaming. But there had been periods when all of them shared the same nightmares. The same warnings.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Galanis: Response
Elarrapal: Then let us move, before we all find ourselves short on limbs to spend. You are not prophets; Imeris will not grant you the same succor.
She took one step forward, her feet unsteady on the earth and wood beneath her, and then another.
Hopper/Wong/Saavei/Galanis: Response
Tag/TBC
Elarrapal
Prophet & Anti-Warp Activist
O239307A10
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