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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Quark's Bar

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[stringup]

[ It still makes her turn pink, but she doesn't protest it. ]

While it's true I have more people here that I care about...don't you count as a lover? What if you're the only one I want? And what if I...

[ "Want a family with you one day, even though it's impossible?"

But she finds it too difficult to say outloud. If she voices this, maybe the bubble of wishful thinking will burst, as it always does, inevitably. ]

[markofnobility]

[His smile grows, and he has to close his eyes, or her face will make him cry. He doesn't want to cry again. he wants to luxuriate in this joy while he can]

If I end up being your only I... would be too happy to bear.

[stringup]

I told you before, right? You're...the only one who looks at me like a treasure to be cherished.

[ An experience she had given up on ever having until then. ]

And, well...I got jealous too, for a little bit.

[markofnobility]

Wha- when?!

[Has he unknowingly given her reason to doubt him? Sure, many of their fellow Seekers are very good looking but-]

cw: negative self-talk

[stringup]

When you told me about Hubert, and I realised you had feelings for him at one point. Which I know is ridiculous, considering what happened.

[ She suddenly finds it hard to look Ferdinand in the eye, knowing how silly it must be for her to even feel that way. ]

I just...felt jealous that he ever had your attention. And some ugly little part of me couldn't help but wonder if...I wasn't just some fleeting fancy, compared to him.

[ Because even though what little she knows about Hubert doesn't paint a flattering picture, the tired girl that is so used to smothering all wishful thinking in the name of facing reality still had to remind herself, would someone really pick a gloomy, awful, selfish girl like you if they had a choice? How do you know this bright and beautiful man won't tire of you, or wake up and see you for what you really are one day?

So don't dream. You're unlovable unworthy useless damaged ugly irredeemable trash a bad sister a bad daughter a failure of a human being—]

But...you kept showing me how much you adored me, and eventually I realised how silly it was to be jealous of a man I've never met. So I let myself believe in you.

[markofnobility]

Wait- Hubert?!

[Sorry babe, it takes him a moment to process this.]

You... are very different people, I promise you that. Hubert... ha... I suppose at least in part my feelings for him were a desire for his approval as much as anything.

[Not that it wasn't romantic, in it's way. But looking back now he knows it was somewhat misguided as well.]

He is devoted to Edelgard, and part of me wanted someone to look at me like that. I was jealous, I think. Even if he had some affection for me-

[-and he thinks maybe he did]

- it was never a relationship on equal footing.

[stringup]

[ She thinks she can understand some of it, at least. Wanting (wishing, really) for someone to be devoted to you. That maybe just this once you don't have to keep trying and keep enduring in the hope for a reward that never really seems to come.

...It takes her a while to speak again, a part of her almost afraid to ask, like the question might somehow pierce the veil or dispel the magic of young love. Even now, there's still a part of her that expects reality's cold wake-up call after letting herself indulge in wishful thinking and dreaming. ]

And...what would you say about us?

[markofnobility]

...I feel you have always seen me for who I am. And you have let me see you, as well. You have done in weeks what that man did not bother to for five years.

We are side by side.

[stringup]

[ Oh. This is...

She scrubs at her eyes, trying to keep herself from crying. But her heart feels so full right now that it could burst. ]

How could I not want to be by your side when you keep giving me so much?

[markofnobility]

You give me as much in return!

[He brushes his thumbs under her eyes]

I am sorry, we came here to relax, not work each other up more!

[stringup]

I know, but you still put my heart at ease.

[ She leans into his touch, while her hands reach up to thread themselves through his hair. ]

Thank you. For listening to me, and indulging in my wishful desires.

[markofnobility]

[Ah... he does love when she plays with his hair]

Lay down with me? I will listen as long as you wish.

[stringup]

Even though you've already listened to a tragedy?

[ Though even as she says that, she's leaning against him like she's trying to get him to lie down. ]

[markofnobility]

[He shifts to kick off his boots and they go sliding across the floor- oh, so that's how his room got how it did, huh? That does he flops over for her, laughing]

Even so.

[stringup]

[ Luckily(?) for Ferdinand, Velvet doesn't try to climb onto him so much as she leans over him a little, enough that she's within reach while she plays with his hair. ]

Then...tell me what you'd like to hear, while you help me with my hair?

[ It's still up in its braided bun, somehow. ]

[markofnobility]

Hmmm... tell me something happy?

[he reaches up to start unwinding her braids with gentle care]

[stringup]

Hmmm...there's a girl back home who I think would be happy to hear you talk about weapons.

[ A beat. ]

She's basically a child, before you get the wrong idea. But she's also a blacksmith by trade. I think you might actually get her to talk more than three sentences at a time.

[ Yes, Velvet considers that a happy thing. ]

[markofnobility]

A friend of yours?

[ Ferdinand hopes he can meet any friends Velvet has, though considering her service to the Lover he is surprised she has any to talk fondly of.]

[stringup]

More like a colleague at where I ended up after I left the Lover.

[ Psyche, Ferdinand, do you expect her to admit she had friends??? ]

She's a stagehand, but she really kind of does a bit of everything that doesn't involve paperwork or anything highly technical.

[markofnobility]

So, your friend.

[Sorry babe, he knows you wouldn't bring her up if you were not fond of her in some way. Not when speaking of happy things]

[stringup]

...It feels weird to call someone who's practically a child a friend.

[ But like. She's not not a friend, either. Maybe more like a younger sister. ]

[markofnobility]

I suppose it is a bit different. But you know what I mean.

[her hair finishes unwinding, and he starts running his finger through it]

I would like to talk about smithing with someone from your home though. Learn the differences. I have already picked up much from watching you work.

[stringup]

[ Velvet silently leans into Ferdinand's touch. Her own hands have settled closer to his shoulder, fingers brushing against the sides of his neck. ]

She's normally quiet. So quiet that sometimes we look away for five minutes, then next thing we know she's disappeared to heaven knows where and there's a fifty-fifty chance we find out where she is because some incident has happened.

[ She sounds only somewhat exasperated. ]

...We can't help but worry, since we're certain she's actually rather contemplative, yet she doesn't express herself much. So I think it'd be good for her to talk to someone who's especially interested in something she knows she's skilled at.