Week four

[letsplayamod]

Two more of your fellow gods, your companions, your friends, have met their end together. As you turn in for the night, and a new week dawns upon you, it's starting to be a bitter experience. Just how much of this will you be forced to take?

But all isn't just despair. The morning is brighter than the last. The storm clouds that previously plagued almost every day have dissipated, and this week brings plenty of sun and a friendlier breeze. Not to mention, another floor of this strange temple has revealed itself. Whatever lies within is your domain, not Typhon's. Keep it tight in your grasp, because you never know when you'll lose it.

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Quark's Bar

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[markofnobility]

Oh?

[He tries to shove down the anxiety of what he might hear. It can't be good with how scared she seems to be about it.

Assuming it's the motive, anyway. He shifts around a bit, trying not to let his mind wander]

[stringup]

You remember the, uh, whole tears of blood thing that happened a couple of weeks back?

[markofnobility]

I do. You saved me from those soldiers.

[because of course that's what he remembers]

[stringup]

[ Of course that's what he remembers, ugh. ]

That...wasn't because of whatever power I had before here. Not quite, anyway.

[markofnobility]

I see... and I take it not the one you gained here, either?

[Or why be cagey about it?]

[stringup]

If it were, everybody should be bloody worried. [ Since it totally doesn't look ominous or anything even though her title is Goddess of Craft. ]

No, it's... [ A pause. It's hard to tell if it's because she's trying to figure out what to say, or because she's hesitating to say it at all. ] it's because I made an oath. And when I go against its tenets, shit like that happens.

[markofnobility]

An oath..?

[What kinda oath would have helping people as a problem??]

[stringup]

[ Okay, now she's bracing herself for whatever reaction may come. ]

...To end all life.

[markofnobility]

...

[He knows, logically, he should feel horrified. What an awful concept to even consider- but it's such an... extreme thing he just looks befuddled]

Wha- how is that even a possible oath to take??

[stringup]

You would think that, but apparently it is and there are things out there that really wish for everything to cease.

[markofnobility]

And you swore an oath to such things?! But why-

[Then the end of the last trial plays in his head. Young, desperate, foolish girls making choices they can't take back]

[stringup]

Because I was a stupid bitch who didn't want to die and didn't understand what I'd signed up for.

[ Even when it'd been plainly stated when the choice had been presented to her. ]

[markofnobility]

...

So not so different then what happened to Alex, Wendy, Ai and Lebkuchen.

[And himself, he doesn't say]

[stringup]

[ A don't think she doesn't remember what you said back when they all first met Athena, Ferdinand! ]

I'm pretty sure none of you promised to end the fucking world in exchange, though.

[markofnobility]

And we did not agree to butcher each other either. Yet here we are.

[stringup]

[ Touche. Velvet's gaze turns down to the hands in her lap. ]

...Anyway, it looks like even here I'm still bound by that oath.

[ Even if there haven't been any new major incidents after that first one. ]

[markofnobility]

So it is not just not causing death, but preserving life that causes this reaction.

...then why did you help me?

[stringup]

...I just didn't want you to die an idiotic death to some undead creature.

[ Which is technically true, but... ]

[markofnobility]

[He laughs softly at that]

You are certainly too late to stop me from dying an idiotic death. Still... it is clear to me you do not believe in these oaths you are bound to.

[stringup]

[ "An idiotic death", said with that laugh, huh. ]

...I don't know. I think I did, just not enough.

[ In a way, it would've been so much easier if she had. ]

[markofnobility]

[he frowns at that, a mix between sadness and fear in his guts and eyes. What did Velvet do, before they met? What horrors? Surely any beings who would want the end of life would not use anything but the most detestable methods.

And even believing in that a little suggests it's own horrors. He can't imagine it- he is suddenly very aware of a vast gulf between them; even with his own very unclean hands.]

Why?

[Why believe in it? Why not believe in it enough?]

[stringup]

[ She starts and stops once, twice without managing to get a word out. Surely whatever answer she has would only disappoint Ferdinand. Maybe even make him hate her, because nothing she can say will change the fact she was complicit in terrible things. It would be the right thing, the easier thing; she is not likeable, shouldn't be liked by someone who can still hold on to such idealism, and shouldn't let herself be attached to such a person, anyway. She shouldn't even acknowledge the life she had before except to disavow it; she gave up all right to it the night she swore that oath.

She still finds herself afraid of how Ferdinand will react. If even he forsakes her, then what hope does she have that anyone will believe in her here in the face of Typhon's trials? ]

I thought that...a world where everything I had could be taken away from me due to some petty, selfish, or greedy whim was better off gone. I just—couldn't stomach how miserable the work was.

[markofnobility]

Ah.

[It's not an unfamiliar concept to him. A bitterness that burns until you have to lash out at everything around you.]

To fall without any satisfaction... I think I can understand, to a degree. And how do you feel now? Are... are we in danger from you?

[stringup]

Uhm...remember how my plaque mentioned I quit my previous employment?

[ She's not going to answer the last question yet because even she isn't exactly sure how much danger or lack thereof she poses. ]

[markofnobility]

[He huffs a laugh that has little humor in it]

That it does. Then... for you too this place is a second chance.