Week Six

[letsplayamod]

You've survived, for lack of better wording, the latest week of trials and tribulations. This one had been more costly than most: Typhon's machinations have brought your group to nearly half the size it was when Athena first brought you to this island. Whether it ends with him or with you is still too soon to make out. One thing's for certain. Things cannot be allowed to continue as they are.

Speaking of continuing, the next floor has been revealed to you. Just how far down this island goes is a bit of a mystery, but you get the feeling that you're close to something important. Maybe that thing Athena wanted you to find before Typhon does. You can ruminate on that as you watch the waters below. Waves still lap at the cliffs, but it all seems lower than it did weeks ago. Like the ocean itself is shrinking...

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[markofnobility]

True, true. I think I will surprise you with it when the time is right.

[Dread]

[stringup]

[ One fear. ]

Why do I feel you've only become more of a tease over time?

[ Velvet, you've been dating for like only 3 weeks. ]

[markofnobility]

Once I gain my footing I can not be stopped, of course!

[stringup]

[ You know what. She's just going to ignore Omega outside in a bit of pettiness and cup Ferdinand's face in her hands. ]

So I'm going to have to learn, is that it?

[markofnobility]

If you wish to compete with me!

[stringup]

Perhaps I do.

[ And with that, Ferdinand, don't mind her kissing you on the lips. It's chaste but not quick like she'd usually do. ]

[markofnobility]

[Oh! He is as surprised as she probably intended him to be. But that doesn't mean he doesn't kiss back, the attempt a bit fumbled by his grin]

[stringup]

[ He can't keep being cringe if she kisses him, clearly!!!

That said, Velvet seems to be trying her best to not be the one who parts first. She is not usually given to such whimsy, but him framing it as a bit of a competition has her wanting him to eat his words.

Whether that's a good idea is a different story, since she's just getting redder and redder. ]

[markofnobility]

[In the end he breaks first... if just because he's laughing softly]

Oh! Dearest please do not faint!!

[She so red!!]

[stringup]

Just who do you think I am?

[ Says lady who is as red as a tomato and is probably only still standing because it's literally impossible for her legs to turn into jelly. ]

[markofnobility]

You are my dear Velvet, of course.

[stringup]

[ She shouldn't feel so elated at "my dear Velvet", but she is. ]

...And you're my ridiculous, wonderful Ferdinand.

[markofnobility]

[Here, in this room for the dead- this happy moment leads him to think of the future. Good and bad]

That I am... perhaps it is selfish of me to hope, that no matter what that will not change.

[Either of them could die. And having seen her reaction to Misane's corpse he can't hold back a little fear. That she will go someplace that he can not follow]

[stringup]

[ When he brings it up, she can't help but think about the uncertain future before them too.

...Ah, no wonder she used to simply not think about it. ]

...Are you worried about what would happen if I die, or if you do?

[ And the unspoken question that nonetheless is still hanging there: Or if you or I end up betraying one another by killing? ]

[markofnobility]

Yes.

[To the spoken and the unspoken, his eyes tinted with fear. He can't think of anything Typhon could offer or threaten that would make him take any of their lives. Not now, after everything. But he's sure some of their dead thought the same at the time]

1/2

[stringup]

[ Velvet can certainly think of at least a couple of temptations that, weeks ago, would have pushed her to the brink. But now when she thinks of Ferdinand, and both the people still here and those who have since departed, she knows she would be too ashamed to face either of her siblings if their survival was based upon another hill of corpses.

(And, well... certainly Ferdinand would be angry and disappointed in her if she faltered. She isn't so sure how many of the others have expectations of her that she could fail for them to feel similarly. Expectations meant she mattered, in some way; expectations also meant more ways to expose her garbage self.)

That said, she knows this playbook; the Lover and the Walker were both allies and friends for good reason. There will always be that one thing that will turn out to be one's asking price, even if they didn't know it. ]

...I can't promise you I won't turn into another horror to blight the world.

[ She thinks they both know that, though. She once uselessly damned her soul for her family without a second thought; she will almost certainly become a nightmare if Ferdinand ends up taken away from her, whether by his own or someone else's hand. ]

The only thing I can promise you is...

[stringup]

[ The hands that are still cupping Fedinand's face grip a little tighter, forcing him to look her in the eye if he wasn't already. Like that night when he swore on his name for her happiness, and something strange and terrifying had filled him, there's a cold fire in her eyes. ]

...No matter what happens or what you do, you'll always be mine. From the tips of your hair down to your very soul. Don't think that you can escape me even in death.

[ It is, possibly, something of a threat.

It is also a selfish declaration of love, from someone who was both doomed and saved by love. ]

[markofnobility]

[The grip is oddly steadying, and as she speaks many things fill his eyes. Fear, of course- but that was nothing new. Fear was an old bedmate he knew he would never quite shake off. He would be a fool to not fear her at least a little. But something else too. A strange desperate relief. This was that unnamed thing he had been chasing since he was old enough to want. From his father, from Edelgard, in the end from Hubert too. Familial, platonic, romantic- the means were less important than what it meant.

Want him, need him, tear him apart with your teeth and swallow him whole to sate your hunger. It doesn't matter as long as for once, just once, he is what you need. That someone would look at him with the same fevered adoration he felt for them. That he could be, even in just the moment, the priority.]

... you really do say the most romantic things, Velvet.

[stringup]

[ Velvet gives a dry laugh that, in a different situation, might have even come off as humorless. She relieved that he still knows to fear her even a smidgen; he'd be a true fool otherwise. But his own relief fills her with a mix of other emotion too.

Even before her life had taken that fateful turn for the worst, Velvet had figured romance was for other people. It was for people who didn't have to keep a household functional in the absence of an attentive parent or secure their siblings' futures. Something she could only experience through storybooks. She didn't have the time for it, and sure enough, no one would look at a dreary and tired girl in that light.

She still doesn't know what she did for him to love her so, but he has given her so much love with such abandon that he lets her dream, at least a little.

Her thumbs gently stroke Ferdinand's cheeks. ]

I think I got it from you, Ferdinand.

[markofnobility]

Ha... perhaps. I would apologize for it if I was sorry in the least.

[he tilts into the touch like a pleased cat]

[stringup]

You're looking like a cat who got the cream.

[ That is to say, he doesn't look the least bit sorry, even as she's basically rubbing his face affectionately. ]

[markofnobility]

Am I not?

[huhuhu]

Hmm... but perhaps we should go. I fear if the dead are here they have already seen more of our personal business than they should!

[stringup]

Ah, yes.

[ Velvet lets go of his face, but still holds out a hand for him to take. ]

...Though I can't say that I'd hate it if they feel jealous.