i feel the love, and i feel it burn, down this river every turn

[oyashiromama]

[The trial, as usual, was taxing. It's for different reasons every week, but what it all comes down to is there are fewer of them than there were, and that keeps on happening. The note comes, as it always does, earlier than last week, but still with some delay. There's a note slipped under everyone's door. ...One under Gold's door because of course Silver will be staying there, she knows.]

Please come to the dining room, if you would like not to be alone. There will be food, and there will be some cards and board games if you need a distraction.

- Hanyuu & Elda

[True to that, there are a variety of foods. It's nothing too fancy. Rice, grilled fish, eggs in various styles. ...No creampuffs this time, it seems Hanyuu thought that would be a little in poor taste. Also a bunch of fries? ...Really spicy fries, like incredibly so.

On a far table, board games brought from the games room have been left out, along with many decks of cards.]

Comments

[foundfate]

[Definitely an okay start, and Watanuki will take up the pen next, to add another paragraph.]

The world was focused on all the little details- who was this man? How had he won Viktor's heart? What would happen to the star now? But Viktor, he only cared about one thing: the life he was about to build with the one he loved the most. Not everyone got their 'happily ever after', but he felt like he was one of the lucky ones.

...

too cheesy?

[matchbreaker]

Probably, but that man was ridiculous.

[ Elda hums. This needs one extra bit to go over the hump.

And so: ]

For the new Nikiforov couple, everything except that happily ever after was immaterial, at least for that moment. The two laughed, kissed, and planned how they would go about their honeymoon, the world purely theirs.

[foundfate]

[yeah, fair point. It needs to be over the top for him.}

I think that sounds like a great ending.

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda nods, looking at the paper before her. She... smiles, just a little bit. And she shakes her head ]

I wouldn't mind seeing what that Yuuri boy of his looked like. Viktor wasn't my type, but he was handsome.

[foundfate]

Oh, he did a drawing once. I bet if we found it, you could see. He, er, he had black hair that was kinda messy, and he wore glasses.

[matchbreaker]

[ . . .

Looks at Watanuki.

... Looks up and down.


Shakes head ]

[foundfate]

...okay look, I know exactly what you're thinking, and I told him the same thing too.

[matchbreaker]

[ Wordlessly pats him on the back...

As long as you know... ]

[foundfate]

[Oh believe him, he knows. That's actually a huge part of why he's been reluctant to do anything about his feelings for Orihime.]

ANYWAY we have one left don't we?

[matchbreaker]

[ One? ]

Did you do Killia's already?

[foundfate]

[DUE TO THE MAGIC OF threads happening simultaneously TIME SHENANIGANS, there is already a paper up for Killia.]

No, someone else did. Unless you want to add on to what Silver already put up there?

[matchbreaker]

[ OH... ]

... No. I think that's darling, actually.

[ She's barely even looked at it. Rather, it's the fact that Silver took that initiative that she'll acknowledge ]

So that leaves Tethras.

[foundfate]

[Oh well, she'll probably read it later right.]

Here, I'll start it off then.

Being a Viscount was never easy, but it did come with certain perks. Getting to make decisions on laws was nice, as was watching the faces of smug nobility fall when they realized that their leader was none other than a common working man. But the best perk was being able to fill the dozens and dozens of empty rooms in the castle with all the children that life had left parentless. If nobody else could put a roof over their heads, then at least he could. Even if his second-in-command lectured him every time he brought home another kid from the streets.

[matchbreaker]

[ As Elda reads this, she... frowns to herself. Not because it's bad - far from it - but it does reveal how little she really knew about the man ]

He aspired to be nobility?

[ She asks this, questioningly, as her pen dances around to try and find words. ]

[foundfate]

Not aspired, he was nobility. It's actually quite a story, how he became viscount. Apparently the city he lived in needed one, but nobody wanted to take the job. So they just picked him to do it, and he said 'okay.'

[matchbreaker]

That rogue of a man? [ She actually laughs at that. How... how boorish. She can't help it, she laughs out loud at that.

It hurts, a little.

But she moves past that, it hurts more for this boy, she's sure. And so she draws a few more circles before penning in ]

Neither parenthood nor his status defined the man, however. Known for his writing, loved for his deeds, the true calling of Varric Tethras was instead adventure. Often, he would leave his office vacant as he journeyed to the corners of the land, fought terrible monsters, and claimed forgotten treasures. Those treasures funded that city of his, and those journeys saw new gifts for those children he had taken in. For all of his questing, he carried his burdens well.

[foundfate]

[It does hurt, oh god does it hurt, but he's keeping it together for now. He needs to do this.

He wasn't planning on adding this last bit, but it goes too well with what Elda had just written. Plus it just feels right, given his promise to Varric.]

But his heaviest burden, the one that had haunted him for years, was washed away one summer evening. He was getting ready to turn in for the night, but a glowing apparition bearing a familiar face was waiting for him. He couldn't help but grin as he said, "Long time no see."

A ghostly smile was the only response, but that was alright. Because in that moment he finally received the assurance he had been waiting to get: everything was going to be okay.

[matchbreaker]

[ She read that, and that really begs a question, but it'll be one that she won't ask. No, Elda will just close her eyes, and then nod to herself. Opening them, she claps hr hand together and pulls out two fresh sheets. ]

Okay, now you rewrite all of Varric's so it's on a clean one, and I'll take Viktor's.

[foundfate]

Deal.

[Time to re-write with his nicest handwriting, then!]

[matchbreaker]

[ As will Elda! And if anyone's seen her script, it's an immaculate, perfect cursive. The sort you'd expect of a classical noblewoman.

Yep. ]

[foundfate]

[Watanuki's handwriting is nice too, but not nearly as nice as hers.

Still, eventually he finishes, and it's time to tape them up!]

There.

[matchbreaker]

[ It's what you call comic juxtaposition with her personality.

Still, she nods, and yes, taped and- ]

... There it is. We did it.

[foundfate]

We did.

[A pause.]

I want to say something like 'hopefully this is the last time', but I think that's not going to be the case.

[matchbreaker]

So even you?

[ She huffs, putting a hand on her hip. On the one hand, it's nice, but on the other... ]

[foundfate]

I don't think we can avoid the fact that people are going to keep dying until we find a way out of here. It seems like, for all the searching we do, there's only so much progress we can make in a week. So until we escape, people are going to keep dying. It...it sucks, but that's how things are.