expiationlogs | [open] verdant moon catchall

Who: Marianne & you
Where: Aldrip
What: August catchall
Warnings: None

i. a clean break

[ If you live at the inn, Marianne can be found going in and out of her room with a broom tidying. Having decided that she should cease shutting herself away so much, it feels like the right time to sort out the mess her room had become.

After an hour spent clanking around and moving things, her room does not look any cleaner despite her efforts. In fact, it's messier than before. How? Her real curse may be her inability to organize anything. So, she's resorted to boxing up the items she wants to part with and moving it out into the hall, with apologies to anyone who has to step around her pile. ]

Sorry about the mess. I'm doing a bit of tidying. If you'd like any of this, please, help yourself.

[ She gestures to the box of goods she's planning to rehome. There are jugs, pressed flowers, candles, books... ]

ii. uncanny admiration

[ Despite being fond of gardens, Marianne has largely avoided the botanical gardens where the statues of the Chosen are on display. She finds her own image carved in marble too embarrassing, too shameful for someone who had brought the town ruin not too long ago. With her newfound determination (and feeling plagued by it long enough), she arranges for her statue to be taken down and dismantled.

The next day, she thinks she can finally stroll the garden in peace...that is, until she sees an incredibly detailed carving of herself erected in a new location, again engraved with the words Savior of Aldrip. Oh, how those words make her hide her face in her hands. ]

It's back? I don't understand how.

iii. (don't) stop to smell the flowers

[ Marianne feels most at peace in the Aldrip meadows, though she still feels guilty whenever she comes across a strip of devastated land. She's taken to helping the fairies with their work to restore nature, bringing them seeds and whatever they request. This afternoon, however, she has trouble keeping her eyes open. The flower's sweet scent, the gentle breeze, the calmness all lull her to close her eyes and lay down in the grass. Once she's drifted off, birds gather around her still form, and one plucks at her hairband as she sleeps. ]

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It's been...six moons now, I think.

[ The first month she had hid herself in her room, distressed and sleepless, the guilt of her accusations weighing on her. She may not seem all that put together now, but she's doing better than before. Even the act of cleaning is a small victory. ]

I arrived with the first of the Chosen. What about you?

About two months. I was with the last group of arrivals. One minute I was steeling myself to enter a dragon's lair, the next I'm almost drowning in a grain silo! It was such a shock.

[ He laughs. Although in truth, to go from facing certain death to suddenly being here in relative safety had been...shocking, to say the least. He's still anxious about his companions. ]

I'm not sure what my friends will do without me. It'll be difficult for them to face the demons inside on their own.

[ She remembers the silo batch. They had been unfortunate. Hers had been a gentle awakening in the meadows, or as gentle as being spirited away and accused of a crime could be. ]

I can relate a little. I also left friends on the battlefield, and I pray they're doing alright.

[ She doesn't think they'll have more or less trouble - she wasn't anyone particularly strong or special, but she worries for them. If she could, she would be there healing their injuries right now. ]

A dragon's lair, though...what made you go there?

[ His expression grows sombre, even for one carefully navigating a crowded space with heavy boxes. ]

I had to. If I didn't, many, many people would have died and all the work I did to support and develop my home would have been for nothing.

[ Ah, so the dragon would have terrorized his home? Marianne thinks she understands. People and beasts could never live in harmony together. ]

I see...it sounds like you had no choice. I pray your friends are safe.

[ William pulls a slight face. ]

I would like to hope the same, but... They won't be if I'm not there. Not against the dragon, at least.

[ He's confident they can all hold their own against a horde of demons even without him. But the dragon? No. ]

Th-Then they should flee.

[ Marianne would wring her hands together anxiously except that she's still carrying a box. She seems to have forgotten where she was carrying it to, though, gripped by William's circumstances. ]

Maybe there's another way that doesn't involve fighting the dragon. Like making peace with it.

[ He opens his mouth to dismiss the idea. But then closes it as he turns the suggestion over. Make peace with the dragon? He supposes it is, technically, a possibility, as the dragon has been known to 'ally' itself with the gods from time to time in order to slake its lust for carnage. Who's to say it wouldn't respond to bribery?

His thinking takes long enough that they're able to deposit the first boxes on or by the cart Marianne is using. By the time he sets his burden down, he has come to a conclusion. ]

No, I don't think that's possible, [ he says reluctantly. ] That dragon - it has lived since the dawn of the world. It has no allegiance to any man, demon, or god. It loves only gold and battle. It would never accept peace. It would wait until I am no longer a threat to it and then it would kill me.

[ Gentle soul that she is, Marianne has compassion even for monsters, but she knows demonic beasts who only bring ruin have to be stopped. The blessings of the goddess can no longer reach those creatures. Was this dragon the same? She sets her box down with a heavy thump. ]

I'm sorry. It sounds like a terrible burden put onto you.

Maybe it is, but I've accepted it. I chose to swear my life to Gracefeel and I also swore to myself that I won't turn back or run away from hardship. Besides...

[ He shrugs helplessly and laughs a little. ]

If I don't try then who else could take my place? We knew the dragon would wake up eventually. When it does, it will ravage the land we worked so hard to rebuild. Humans will be driven from the area for good and demons will entrench themselves there. I might die fighting it, but it's better than doing nothing at all.

That's awful to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.

[ Do or don't, his life is on the line. It makes her personal troubles feel small in comparison. With her hands free of the box now, she clasps her hands together as if in prayer. ]

You're very brave, William.

[ Well, now he's just embarrassed. He waves his hands before him, laughing self-consciously. ]

I'm terrified actually. Haha... Who wouldn't be?

[ But yes, someone has to confront the creature. And that someone is him. ]

What about you? You said you left friends on a battlefield?

[open] verdant moon catchall

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apologies, had a busy few days!

no worries!

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