02 | video

[unnaturallygreen]

[The feed opens on the remains of a pretty grisly scene, in Sigyn district. There's dried blood all over the place, like someone beheaded another person here, and there's some graffiti reading "the deer jumped from the cliff". Then it turns around, and oh, look--Elphaba does not, in any way, look happy.

In fact, she looks downright pissed.]

All right. [And yes, she sounds more than a little angry. She sounds like she's going to fly straight off the handle any minute now.] What in Oz happened while we were away?

Comments

voice;

[badwolf]

Thiazi happened.

voice

[unnaturallygreen]

Something more specific than that would be appreciated, but all right, Thiazi just happened. To what?

voice

[badwolf]

To the city. To us. She... infected us, somehow. Some of us worse than others. The ones who had it worse off, they were completely taken over by her- minions.

[unnaturallygreen]

So she turned those people into her own personal spies. [She lets out a breath.] I'm almost afraid to say it, but they did something more than just spying for her. Didn't they?

[It's not a question. The dried blood in front of her is confirmation enough.]

[badwolf]

I don't- [ She hesitates, if only because it's all so fresh, so raw and it hurts to think about. But it isn't like the others don't deserve to know. ]

I don't think there was much spying going on. It was more ... Ransack the city. Destroy as much as possible and- kill even more. A lot of people died. Not just travellers, but some of the natives, as well.

audio.

[mulletrock]

[Dean doesn't want to be on a video feed right now. Not when he's in pain and pretty pissed off himself.]

Chances are you wouldn't believe me if I told you. What's up with your skin?

audio

[unnaturallygreen]

[Wow, Dean, not the best way to introduce yourself. Elphaba's already snappish and on edge after encountering the lovely little scene, Dean's comment only serves to set her off.]

I don't know, why? Is something wrong with it? [A pause, then:] I should've known this was coming. Yes, I know I'm green, no, I'm not seasick or sick and neither did I eat grass as a child, and as far as I know my mother didn't eat anything like it either, and yes, I have always been green.

[She sucks in a breath.] Now will you please answer my question, because chances are I would believe you.

audio

[mulletrock]

According to the gods Thiazi poisoned a few of us. No one was sleeping, everyone was kinda nuts.

So, is it some weird kinda jaundice?

[unnaturallygreen]

Sleep deprivation usually drives people nuts, I've found, but not to the extent that they turn an entire city into something resembling a warzone. What else?

No. I'm perfectly healthy, I just happen to be green.

[mulletrock]

Well, the ones that were poisoned started attacking the rest of the travelers. Before it was all said and done a lot of us were dead.

You sure?

[Audio]

[no_dreams_for_you]

[Everyone is back to normal now. Gaara sounds as dry and monotone as usual.]

A curse from Thiazi. It altered everyone’s mental states, to various extents.

[Audio]

[unnaturallygreen]

Right. To what extents, exactly? Did she inspire some hapless Traveler to go vandalizing the city, or something?

[Audio]

[no_dreams_for_you]

Not one – several. She corrupted select individuals, and ordered them to kill other foreigners. There were casualties suffered, from our efforts to subdue them. It was necessary to kill them, in order to restore their sanity.

[unnaturallygreen]

[She's quiet for a moment, a little stunned by what she's learning about what transpired while she was off to Vanaheim.]

I'll say. [It's quiet, a little weak. She'd known there was a war going on here, known that it was the reason why she and everyone else who wasn't native to the city were pulled in, but she'd known it distantly. Now the effects of it are right in front of her, and she wasn't even there.

She feels a little sick.]

I'll help clean up. At the very least, it's one of the few things I can do.

[Video]

[cursedtosleep]

Elphaba, how could all this happen?

[video]

[unnaturallygreen]

I know that Thiazi's at fault here--from what I've been able to gather so far, she'd managed to infect the people here somehow, some more than most. Those people, she turned into attack dogs, to ransack and destroy as much of the city as they could. Not to mention kill as many people as they could as well, though that much was probably obvious enough.

[She did her throwing up some time ago, once she'd managed to reach her room, but she's still far too uneasy around these scenes. Her imagination is working against her, here, conjuring up gruesome murders from what's been left behind.]

That's as far as I know of it. [And they'd been so blissfully unaware of all this going on, while they were in Vanaheim. Well, she knows now, and she wonders if she could've done something, had she stayed behind.]

[Video]

[cursedtosleep]

[She gasps. She... she couldn't believe it. That someone... those poor souls. Those people, what they must be going through...]

We must do everything we can to help, then. To clean up the city and offer what we can to those who wish for it.

[unnaturallygreen]

I'm planning on doing that, at least, though it won't be easy. The entire place looks like a warzone.

[video]

[soulcontracts]

Are you typically green, or is this related to the city?

[video]

[unnaturallygreen]

[Right, yet another one. Figures. Her tone is rather snappish when she responds.]

No, am I green? I'm sorry, I didn't notice. [A breath.] Let's just get this over with, shall we? [She holds up four fingers, putting one down for each point.] No, I'm not always seasick, I didn't eat grass as a child and as far as I know my mother didn't eat grass either, I'm not jaundiced and am in fact perfectly healthy, and yes, I typically am green, and I always have been.

[video]

[soulcontracts]

[ His brow creases, expression similarly irritated by her little tirade. ] Don't be an idiot. I can't think of a case of jaundice in history that would cause someone to be green, and grass hardly has that effect. Carrots, however-

[ Johannes cuts himself off with a little shake of the head. ]

Interesting. Are you human? - and this isn't meant to be an insult, fraulein, as I can tell that you're prickly about the subject, but making assumptions in this place is a foolish thing to do.

[video]

[unnaturallygreen]

[You're really not helping your case here. Her lips press into a thin line, and she's all but glaring at him.] Yes, I'm human. I just happen to be green, and don't ask me why, either--I wish I knew.

[And a huff, and an eyeroll.] And you wouldn't believe how many people have asked me if I've eaten grass before.

[tradingsecrets]

I'd love to know that myself.

[The normally easy going Finnick looks rigid and tense all over, his face a little pale. He's obviously outside somewhere, but he had seen Elphaba on the network and recognized her.]

[unnaturallygreen]

[She runs a hand through her hair.] From what I've managed to gather, apparently Thiazi managed to corrupt some of the people who stayed here into her own little army, for the sole purpose of forcing them to destroy as much as they could. Which, as you can see, was a lot.

[tradingsecrets]

Yeah, I noticed. Well, there isn't much we can do except move forward and try and help people build again.

[He rubs a hand over his face.]

Is everything okay where you are?