[Day 3 - LN] Hail to the King (Limited)

[Mina Gideon]

She shivered. This was weird, but she swallowed and nodded. "We were drawn here- just like them."

[Craig Walker]

Craig eyed the blood red sap dubiously not yet sure if his curiosity was strong enough to taste it yet. He regarded the tree "You have called out to us, reached into our dreams, what are you? What does your....patronage entail?"

[Jack Doyle]

"I've tasted your gifts, Apple King, and paid the price for them." Jack added. "I would know more about you before trading in anything else."

[Dapper Dog]

“We are the King of the Land, we do not experience this thing you call time as you do, but we are as you would conceive old,” the voices responded. The child turned from the Lost and offered her bounty to waiting supplicants who hungrily lapped up the sap.

The voices continued, “Serving the eternal mechanism, we are the fulcrum between this land and the beyond. The great families know this truth and have prospered. Ape-things lives are short and miserable, we have the power to make such misery bearable.”

“Nothing is gained without an exchange,” the voices finished.

[Mina Gideon]

"We're hardly miserable. Time works differently for us as well, King of the Land... What sort of an exchange do you suppose?" Mina was nosy af.

[Dapper Dog]

“The eternal mechanism must be maintained. Your machinery must be oiled and maintained, so it is with the land, and the land demands flesh and blood,” the voices replied.

“Ape-things call this sacrifice, silly word. Simply maintenance,” it finished.

“In return the bounty of the King will be shared; long life and what you consider wealth.”

[Mina Gideon]

That rubbed Mina the wrong way. She knew about oil and maintenance. She survived oil and maintenance. She bore the scars, her fingers metallic and oilslicked, her throat scourged from poisoned oil, her heart removed and replaced with gold and lead.
She stiffened, the back of her neck bristling again.

And yet. And yet.

Mina stepped closer.

[Jack Doyle]

"I've already lived a long life, bound to another with no will of my own." he glanced at those feeding on the sap. "What happens if they no longer partake of your gifts?"

[Craig Walker]

That rubbed Mina the wrong way. She knew about oil and maintenance. She survived oil and maintenance. She bore the scars, her fingers metallic and oilslicked, her throat scourged from poisoned oil, her heart removed and replaced with gold and lead.
She stiffened, the back of her neck bristling again.

And yet. And yet.

Mina stepped closer.

Walker put a hand on Mina's shoulder "Mina are you....are you sure about this, it feels....dark." craig was likewise a little enticed but he didnt know how he felt about the whole thing "how much sacrifice and how often?" He asked of the tree following up on the other Lost's questions

[Dapper Dog]

"I've already lived a long life, bound to another with no will of my own." he glanced at those feeding on the sap. "What happens if they no longer partake of your gifts?"

The cicada voices replied, “Then long life and wealth are no longer provided, the mechanism demands maintenance, without offering it cannot be maintained. This is simple and clear, ape-thing surely sees reason.”

The child cupped more crimson blood sap and offered it to Mina.