beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young [OPEN]

[counterattack]

Who: Law & YOU
Where: Aldrip and the surrounding area
What: Settling in, getting up to hijinx, with a timeline anywhere from shortly after the TDM to the end of the month
Warnings: Probably nothin'.

Prompts in the comments, some open and some closed! Please feel free to drop any wildcards in the comments as well if there's something else you'd like to do. Law also has a toplevel at the Day of Devotion log, here!

If you'd like to plot something out, you can reach me on discord at tarocchi#8388, or on plurk at astrologies!

Comments

[counterattack]

[ The silhouettes the moonlight makes out of everything and everyone on the beach makes it hard to tell just what he's seeing, or who. It isn't until he's nearly flopped himself down entirely already that he realizes it's Shionne standing there, but the realization doesn't make him hesitate more than maybe a fraction of a second. Down he goes, digging his shoes into the sand. He can tell just by the outline, the shape of her dress and the fall of her hair, before she speaks up.

Even if she hadn't, he'd be comfortable here. After all, he hadn't left the inn to get away from anyone, necessarily, just... to get away from himself. His own head. And that didn't work, but honestly, did he really expect it to? It's all too commonplace by now for one or more of their party to be up past bedtime, lingering by the fire or loitering someplace on the fringes of their campsite, to silently drop down across from them and maybe not say anything, just... be in each other's company.

Even Law, loudmouth that he often is, appreciates the quiet times, too. ]

It's... confusing. Kinda thought I'd be glad to see a sky without either of them in it, but it's not like that at all.

[ The goal was never for Renans to disappear. That's not how you broker peace. Law searches the sky in silence for a few moments, finding the fathomless expanse a bit overwhelming to look at for too long. ]

Do you ever... miss it? Lenegis?

[thornygunner]

[She can understand the desire to escape yourself. She feels that way everyday, but it's starting to fade away the more she spends time with others.

And even if he didn't have the guilt of what happened in Cyslodia hanging over him, just witnessing the murder of his father would have left a mark on anyone. She doesn't even need to be close to her family to know the truth of that. Besides, it's nice to be alone while not being totally alone.]

I know what you mean. Even on Lenegis, you can see both Rena and Dahna in the sky sometimes. I wonder if it's the same on Rena, looking over at Lenegis and Dahna in the sky and imagining life on them.

[She only knows that the Sovereigns go to Rena, but no one ever sees them after they ascend to the throne.

Law's question drags Shionne out of her thoughts and she looks over at the martial artist with a quiet look as she tries to figure it out.]

I don't know. My feelings about Lenegis are... complicated.

[counterattack]

[ Law only gives the thought of what it must be like for the Renans to see Dahna in their sky consideration for a moment or two, then shrugs it aside. He can't assume it's anything sympathetic to the plight of the planet they conquered, and he'd rather not think unkindly thoughts if he can avoid it. He just doesn't have it in him for that kind of energy right now.

Instead, he focuses on Shionne when she glances his way, eyebrows raising. It's not exactly surprising that she'd having complicated feelings, just given what he knows about her, or—rather, given how she acts. He'd have to assume something similar of Dohalim, too. Still, it might be the first time he's heard her tell him what she's feeling before, other than, like. Annoyed and impatient. Or confused. Usually about Alphen. Which, to be fair to her, even Alphen is confused about Alphen, so. ]

You... wanna talk about it? I don't know a whole lot about Lenegis and what it's like there. The people I used to work with didn't bring it up very often.

[thornygunner]

[She's not naive at all to think that any Renan on Rena gives a crap about what's happening on Dahna. The Renans on Dahna don't care and they've been raised and encouraged not to see the Dahnans as worth any loss of sleep. Of course, Shionne and Dohalim feel differently, but that's only after exposure to the Dahnans and leaving Lenegis that she cared about them.

She hasn't shared anything about her past and she's not sure if she wants to start now, but it's kind of nice to have the offer from someone she knows might actually care about how she became the way she is.

And isn't blaming her for everything ever Renan has ever done in the last 300 hundred years.]

No, I doubt anyone involved in the Crown Contest will talk about Lenegis. It's sort of seen as an honor to come to Dahna and help if you're not one of the Lords involved. Who else is going to help the family's honor and get enough Astral Energy to become Sovereign, right?

[She looks back up at the moon, wondering if she should bother continuing talking.]

Guess that's just one more thing that's different about me than the other Renans.

[counterattack]

[ Even if he hadn't traveled alongside Shionne for all this time and seen the good she's willing to do (irrespective of whether she confesses to actually caring about that part, and doesn't just call it "convenient" when she takes the opportunity to do something to help Dahnans directly), he still wouldn't be willing to blame her for everything Rena's done. It's not possible for any one person to be responsible for something like that. That's something he was raised on, but it's not really a lesson he fully understood until after he left Cyslodia. Deposing Ganabelt wasn't a magical cure-all for the realm, and he wasn't the only one doing bad things.

Legs crossed, Law bends one knee up so he can lean on it, listening intently. For the most part, he knows the gist of what she's saying, but it's different hearing it coming from a Renan themselves. One of the most difficult things to contend with is the lack of understanding between the people of the two worlds. It's not as if there's a lot happening by way of breaking bread and explaining their reasoning going on between either side. ]

It wasn't like that for you? I mean— I guess it wouldn't be, but...

[ Well. He'd kind of had to assume Shionne wouldn't be all that concerned about Renan glory or what her family must think if she's... y'know. Doing what she's doing. Unless they're some kind of rebel family, too?! Or—wait. Maybe she doesn't have one at all. ]

Is it... just you?

[thornygunner]

[Law's questions pull her out of her melancholy spiral that she can feel at the edges of her consciousness and she shakes her head.

How long has it been since she's thought about her family? Longer than she can really recall. There's only so many times you can fall asleep crying because you're so lonely and scared that you forget that you were every anything but that.]

I don't know. I haven't seen any of them in a really long time. It's not like I could have much of a normal family experience.

[She looks down at her hand and lets a bit of the despair that could eat her up spike, seeing her thorns spark around it.]

I can't touch anyone with hurting them, so when they handed me over to scientists, it's not like it was that surprising.

[counterattack]

[ At first, Law only answers with a quiet, very gently aghast noise. Only gently, partly because he doesn't think it'd come across so great to go geez, what the heck?! and also because it doesn't really land as the shock it might to someone else. It just kind of tracks, y'know? That whatever went on in Shionne's life, it was probably pretty screwed up. Still, it's kind of a gut-punch to hear her say out loud. It's an even bigger one to hear the resigned sadness in her voice and not really be able to do much about it. ]

"Not surprising"? That's messed up. You're still... I mean, even with your thorns, you were still their family. You're still a person, not—

[ What, a slave? An experiment? It's kind of hard not to feel a particular sort of revulsion, that good ol' is there no end to the twisted things Renans are willing to do? Somehow, it's almost even worse, having heard from Dohalim and now Shionne as well that they'll just as soon turn on their own people. Their own family. For what?

But then he kind of has to remember that, under the right circumstances, Dahnans will do the exact same. They're not so different, in the end. Law sighs through his nose, shaking his head in mute disgust. ]

You didn't deserve that to happen to you, Shionne.

[thornygunner]

[She's touched that he's upset on her behalf. None of the Renans would even blink if she said that. Her family name was worse than trash. She didn't know why, but the Imeris line wasn't able to compete in the Crown Contest at all, despite being extremely powerful Arte users. Shionne has a bigger array of Artes than any of the Lords they've fought, but she had to escape Lenegis to come to Dahna.

It's a slap in the face to her family, of course, but she doesn't know why.

But they both know that their world doesn't actually care about what people deserve. Did the Dahnans deserve to be slaves? Did the Renans deserve to be masters? No to both of those, but things are what they are until they're changed.]

Maybe. Maybe not. Life doesn't work that way, but that's why Alphen is out there trying to change things, right? Isn't that why you're fighting with the rest of us? To change life for Renans and Dahnans both?

[counterattack]

[ It is what it is can only get you so far, and Law doesn't think he'll ever lose his taste for a healthy amount of righteous outrage. Tacit acceptance of the way things are spits in the face of everything he was raised to believe, and by this point in his life, he feels it's his solemn duty to stay mad. ]

Yeah, that's true. Everybody should be allowed to choose their lot in life. Renans, Dahnans... if we're all just following the rules of some stupid contest, then it has to end.

[ That's always been the heart of the matter, right? The Stupid Contest. As always, he'd prefer to keep things simple and digestible. If they end the Crown Contest, everything will be fixed. The end. ]

Alphen might be the big hero, what with the Blazing Sword and all that, but he got it from you. So really, in a way... we all have this hope because of you. You're making a big change for us all, too.

[thornygunner]

[It's his desire, his anger, to make sure that things change for everyone that mirrors Alphen's that she admires in both Dahnan men. Not that she's said it or will do so. She doesn't truly understand what it's like to be them, but she does sympathize and empathize with all of the Dahnans. Unlike Dohalim, her life hasn't been cushy and filled with happiness. So, she does get it, to a point.]

I don't disagree with that. Until we completely sabotage the Crown Contest, that's just a dream. [And deal with Lenegis's retaliation, but she does wonder if she'll be around for that.]

I...hadn't thought about it like that. [Freeing the Dahnans was always secondary to actually saving the entire system from the thing that still haunts her nightmares.] I always thought of it as using him and the rest of you to accomplish my goals.