Serious Plots 6: Srs bsns

[Recaiden]

The guard, unwilling to actually defy the princess, thinking that he must have made a mistake, misunderstood earlier, lets Sarina by.
Soon after, the Queen admits her to that nowhere-nowhen space that is her parlor.
Currently it appears a layered web spun in the depths of space, over nothing, its anchors lost in the distance.
The Queen rests lazily at the center, her spiky many-colored skeleton clearly visible for the first time Sarina's seen.

[Deathkeeper]

[The Queen's Parlor]

Sarina is thankfully not surprised by the change in decor enough to visibly react. Mostly because visibly reacting on a web over nothing would possibly be fatal. She bows deeply to the Queen.
"Good evening, my Queen. I will be receiving poor news of your health and will think that I should be seeing you." she says, having kind of sort of figured out time travel speak.

[Recaiden]

Don't worry; you're perfectly safe here.

"How human of you, Sarina." Her voice is as deep and omnidirectional as ever, no trace of infirmity. "I am at peace, but I know you mean it as kindness."

[Deathkeeper]

[Queen's Palace]

"I hope it means a little. Of course, you've also trained me to be a spider, and that part of me gives me a more pressing need to be here. Namely, that my sister will be attempting to off me and probably the others once you're not here, so I'd also like to make sure you have time to work all that out should you have any Royal Will on the matter." she says. She's learned after all this time that the Queen often would much rather see Sarina bite off the heads of her enemies than do what the storybooks tell you princesses do. Though she never actually confirmed that CLO held her any ill will and Roth could have just been a pawn in the Queen's own machinations for all she knows. She did jump into this without much planning...

[Recaiden]

The Queen smoothly nods her head.
"It does."
"There is only so much I can do for you all once I'm gone. That's why I've gathered you four, so different children, for such different futures as we might have. If Oracle intends to kill you, what are you going to do about it? Which does the weave need more, between the two of you?"
"He's used so much Time putting this together, I could hardly not know. I don't intend to make things easy for him."

[Deathkeeper]

[The Queen's Parlor]

"I mean, that's your call isn't it? You have time to name a successor if you wished it. I really don't think it's my call. I'm the least experienced and probably least qualified. If he's dumb enough to come for me in person I'll roast him out of the weave, but in all likelihood he'll send enough at me that force will be impractical. If he's used all his Time I could try pushing him into some barren timeline, but even with little I think he can out-weave me." she tells the queen, sighing. She never wanted to be head-first into politics. Maybe in some nice timeline she got to be a scorpion princess, with exotic jewelry and lavish temples and no wars of succession.

[Recaiden]

"Child, if I could see far enough to know my best successor, I would have done so."
"But we will surely need a strong leader. So I leave it to all of you to prove yourselves. Whoever can take my throne at the center of the web is the one who deserves it."
In the gap between a set of spiderwebs, a view appears of the headquarters where the Queen could more usually be found, brimming with little spiders and living time-distortions. It will take a difficult, dangerous, lengthy process of temporal weaving to master the place and be mystically recognized as Queen.
"I have given you the minimum qualifications; whether you have improved enough since...we'll see. And our kind has a particular advantage when it comes to gaining experience. But character, mindset, those are harder to teach. Those, we only test in conflict."

[Deathkeeper]

[The Queen’s Parlour]

”I suppose having Time does give us advantages. I think-“ she stops, realizing something.
”Can you see far enough to know what my sisters would plan to do with our neighbors and our current alliance?” she asks.

[Recaiden]

"That's most immediate, most clear. Take a look."
Gaps in the web become panels, visions.

Under Seven-Hundred Swords Upheld, a conflict begins almost immediately. The humanoids of the Nexus are too much of a danger to the fabric of time, and have to be brought to heel immediately. The forest will suffer especially great losses, though the work continues.

In the tiny lens that shows Rose as Queen, the Wode is recast as a vast orderly garden. There is a tense but very productive relationship with their neighbors.

CLO seems unconcerned with their neighbors, though her vision depicts things not going terribly well for the Skullfort town.

And if Sarina were in charge, well...what would she do?

[Deathkeeper]

[The Queen's Parlor]

Sarina would fight, possibly literally, to continue a lasting partnership. She might even ask Alexis to marry her, for their own sakes and that of their kingdoms, so to speak. Less forest of darkness, more shadows and light. Less callous murder of sapient life, a little more compassion. As likely as that is to even happen, of course.
"So it seems I must help Rose or myself if I wish for everyone to stay breathing." she sighs.

[Gullara]

New Thread!