My angsty baby qifrey no good terrible introduction to the great hall
one day Im actually going to flesh this out into a fic but for now take this.
Qifrey wakes up to darkness and water and cold. He wakes up dying because he is trapped in a small dark box that slowly drips water onto him from circles he can feel carved into the box. The box is his whole world. He was born dying trapped in this hell. The only thing he remembers is how magic is made (he wont realize until much later how deliberate that is). By the time the witches pull him out from the box its mostly full. (Later as a teenager hell morbidly recreate the seal and time how long it took the water to fill. Its close to 60 hours. 60 hours he was in that box burried alive though he didnt know it at the time. He just thought he was born into hell)
the witches (knights and his future master) are gentle pulling him out gentle wrapping him in something warm he cannot name but thinks hell die if anyone tries to take it from him. Theyre gentle holding him. They arent gentle in their voices, assuming hes out of it or just not caring as they discuss how best to get rid of this new problem. Erase his mind now send him away take him to medical then erase his mind take him some where else interrogate him then erase his mind. Its not until his future master starts arguing back that he might not have been branded at all that the boy learns he has a body that it means something that whatever a brimm cap is is the ones that stuck him in that hell. That he probably wasnt born in it. But it still feels like his whole world. He just learned there is more than the box. Its a lot qifrey thinks his breakdown can be excused. Especially given the rain it sounds just like the box hell. Theyre gentle when they carry him away, memories (all three of them) intact.
Qifrey is not gentle as they try to take him to the great hall. All the boy knows is that these people who saved him who introduced him to the world outside of the box hell in the same breath they talked abkut getting rid of him, are trying to drag him back under the wet now. He kicks he screams he is hysterical and he doesnt know how he actually got under the big wet. But he wakes to a rain room with a single bed and a heavy locked door and it doesnt matter that nothing is actually getting wet the rain is still there. (Later his master will explain that the rain rooms are considered soothing to the witches under the sea for some insane reason) needless to say. Each time he awoke he was quickly not a wake as the violent hysterics returned as soon as he was awake enough to hear the cursed rain.
When he is finally allowed to stay awake. He stops sleeping. The questions start. Who are you what do you remember tell us the brimm caps plan you bastard. When his future master visits the interrogation is different less loud, still gentle. Who are you what do you know of magic (the boy can actually answer that one. This seems to disturbed the witches more) are you comfortable.
Six months he lives in the rain room. Every second of it is torturous. Qifrey doesnt say that to anybody. He may not remember anything but he has been listening. Knows that these people hold power over him is slowly is learning the shape of this watery world hes been dragged to. He misses the sky he cannot remember.
His new master takes him to the healing spiral first. These questions are different too. Theres a lot of cursing and murmurs about his memory, how skinny he is, the length of time hell have to stay in this new room hes not allowed to leave. (At least this one doesnt have rain). He catches one murmured clearer than the rest. Based on the ugly purple scars around his wrists, ankles, and neck he was held immobile prisoner for ten. Maybe twelve years. The knowledge sinks in. He had not been resistaned in the box the brimm caps had buried him alive in. He had been held prisoner before that for at least ten years. Why had they gotten rid of him? Why did they have him in the first place? How old was he?
Its the first question he dares to ask. He makes sure to do it when there arent any witches around. How old am I? He asks the lady doctor attending him. Its hard to say she replies because of the state of his body. He could be ten he could be fourteen. How old do you feel? She asks him. He doesnt know
