When Temenos ruffles her hair, Yuri doesn't think anything of it since there had been moments that he'd done this in the past. That's why she's not sure why there's a pause before he withdraws his hand. ]
...No, no. Not at all. [ he. looks briefly at his hand and then shakes his head, putting on a beatific and kind temenos smile. radiating warmth. ] Those waves are having quite an effect on us, aren't they? I feel as though I've been through the gauntlet in the past twenty-four hours.
Haha. Perhaps. Would you believe it if I said that I was beginning to miss the tedium of memorizing scripture? The sort not about flowers and saviors.
[ temenos says with a light, easy laugh - and then it gets ruined .2 seconds later because it's memory void time!!! ]
[ ah yes. the void. temenos looks less than pleased as he gears himself up for the memory void to begin...
[ when the apothecary and the cleric emerge from a small bedroom within the cathedral of the order of the sacred flame to talk to the pontiff, grim expressions on their faces, you're right there beside him, and you can tell with just one look that things can't be good.
you're barely ten years old, too tiny for your age, and holding onto the pontiff's white vestments as he speaks with the apothecary in hushed tones, tiny fingers clutched in expensive silk. you'd think he wouldn't know you were there, were it not for the way his hand comes to rest very gently between your shoulderblades, as you listen to the apothecary when she takes off her gloves.
"His fever's very, very high, your excellency. We've done all that we can, for now. Just in case, if you'd like to say goodbye..."
the pontiff nods, and thanks the apothecary and the cleric, who nod their heads and step out of the way. the words echo in your head like someone's slammed their hands into the church organ - "say goodbye?" - and your head whips up to look at the pontiff, who looks down at you.
he kneels to your side, and reaches to cup your cheeks. you can already feel the tears starting to well up in your eyes, and the breath you take in feels sticky and heavy in your chest; the pontiff's expression is kindly, and he wipes the first tears that drop free with his hand. "Temenos. It's alright: let's see to him. Perhaps he just needs our encouragement."
you swallow back the lump in your throat and nod, and the pontiff stands to bring you into the small room.
the bedroom is yours, of course - it's the same one you've slept in for years now. the bed on the right is unoccupied, but in the bed on the left is a child, laying flat on his back underneath the covers, a cool cloth on his forehead, his dark hair pushed backwards. he's bigger than you are, older - this is, of course, roi mistral, the church's other foundling, and your best friend, your older brother. he is your constant companion - you follow him starry eyed around the church, study scripture with him and listen to him talk, spend hours whiling away at the histories and learning hymnals and tending to the church's smaller duties with him, because he's like the sun. you've always seen roi as this figure ten times greater than you, but today, he looks so... small.
just the sight of him in that bed, shivering and wheezing softly, makes the tears well up in your eyes again. the pontiff keeps his hand between your shoulderblades and you grip even harder at the material of his cassock as you make your way over to the bed, and stare at roi, your lower lip quivering as the tears start to fall down your cheeks.
the pontiff leans over to brush roi's sweaty hair from his forehead, frowning. the room smells like medicine and sickness and death - he's so pale, so still, so wrong, and you're terrified, suddenly, to think of a world without roi mistral.
as the pontiff kneels, you come to join him.
"Let's say a prayer for him, shall we? Do you remember the proper order?"
you hiccup the right answer as you drop down. ] Bifelgan, Aeber, Draefendi, Brand, Sealticge, Alephan, Dohter, Aelfric.
[ the order you've been through a thousand times. pray to the gods in the correct order, and your prayers will have better fortune. your prayers are more likely to be answered. lessons you and roi learned together.
"Very good." the pontiff says, quiet and approving even under the weight of what must be his own sorrow - he looks for a moment longer at roi before he clasps his hands together and you follow suit, dropping your head down and mouthing the words. it's automatic as you make your way through each one, and the pontiff pauses slightly towards the end, and changes his wording. you listen attentively to him, hanging on the words.
"Dohter the Charitable. Giver of life, protector of health: Comfort and relieve your sick servant, and give your power of healing to those who minister to his needs, that he may be strengthened in his weakness and have confidence in your loving care.
Aelfric, the Flamebringer. May your light guide Roi back from the brink of death, as it has guided us all away from the darkness. We pray that you will lay your healing hands upon all those who are sick. We beg for your compassion on all those who are suffering so that they may be delivered from their circumstances."
he pontiff's hand falls on your back again, and then he pulls you into his side to give you a hug. you take in a deep, shaky breath and someone calls the pontiff's name - a soft "your holiness?" from the doorway. he releases you from the hug and stands, and after a moment, is called away, leaving you in the room alone.
the apothecary's words echo in the back of your head. "say goodbye."
you can't lose roi. you just can't. but there's nothing you can do, is there? you're ten years old, and you don't think of the logistics of medicine, or the holy magic the older clerics can wield in all of its warmth. you can barely do simple spells, but you look at roi, and your faith is as strong as it always is, as it will always be.
the gods will save roi. if you just pray hard enough, if you just call out to them enough, they'll save him. they'll save him. he's done nothing but good, his entire life. he holds your hand when you get lost, wipes your tears when you cry, helps you when you scrape your knee running up the hills to the cathedral with him, teaches you how to read and write, shares his snacks, whispers secrets with you at night by candlelight when you're supposed to be asleep. he's your best friend. he's your brother. he is good, and he has to be saved.
you feel determination and - no. it's desperation, for a lost child. it's complete and utter terror, and despair, and you reach out to the thing in your life that is the source of all of the goodness you have. you hiccup, and you clasp your hands together. and you pray. ]
Bifelgan, may you watch over our markets and keep them hale. [ between a hiccup and a sob. ] Aeber, our less fortunate, that you keep the wickedness from men's hearts. Draefendi, the huntress, for full bellies and endless bounty.
[ desperation colors these tiny prayers, this tiny voice, as you reach out to every god you know. it feels almost silly, sometimes - why would the god of dance care about saving someone's life? - but you do it anyway. you kneel by that bed with your hands clasped together and your head bowed on top of your hands, resting on the edge of roi's bed, and you beg the gods to save his life. I'll do anything. I can't do it without him. Please save him. Please save him. Please save Roi. Please. Please. Please.
you pray until your knees are numb, and you cry the entire time, until you're wrung out into nothing. you put your entire heart and soul and your faith - your strong, strong faith - into saving his life. it's not much. it's all you can do.
who are you, if not the faithful?
--
years and years later, roi mistral recounts this tale to the pontiff when you're sitting at the dinner table. he's laughing as he does, and the smile on his face is so genuine that it brightens up the entire room, even if he is being tacitly embarrassing. as usual.
"I woke up the next morning, and I touched something, and I realized the covers were wet. I thought I'd wet the bed! But I realized it was just because Temenos had fallen asleep with his face on it."
your ears are burning as you roll your eyes from behind your teacup. your crybaby days are long behind you, at twenty five. the pontiff laughs, and roi continues, animated and warm as he turns his attention to you, "But, you must have prayed all night, and with the gods as my witness, my fever broke. Surely, you're the reason I'm here, aren't you?" ]
Or, [ you say, lightly, lofty ] It's the Grapewood Panacea that the apothecary managed to get from the town next door.
[ roi scoffs, a ha! noise, and claps you on the back, hearty. it rattles you a bit, because he's the stronger of the two of you. "No, no. Your prayer for plenty saved my life. We always knew you'd be a powerful healer, didn't we? "
in the years that have passed, you know your answer - the grapewood panacea - is the correct one. roi's shining faith in the abilities of the church, and really, in you, are characteristic of him, and the reason why he wears the inquisitor's mantle now. his optimism is boundless. you feel the urge to put a pin it and prick it, mostly because it's your duty, even if self-imposed. reality checks are your forte.
you look at the tea in your cup, idle. ]
Hmm. Perhaps. I feel that Aelfric must have chosen me. When you use the holy magic, does a choir start to sing in your head? Does he not speak to you when you pray? When I ask him a favor, he says, "Of course", and that is what happened that night.
[ roi stops midway through picking up a spoonful of soup and delivering it to his mouth, blinking at you with wide, stunned eyes. it is almost comical, how fast he freezes, and asks, "What?"
a long moment of silence passes. roi's mouth works open and closed, and he begins to look and sound awed. "Really?"
you smile, cheerful as can be, and deliver your answer with no mercy. ] No, of course not. [ and then, with a touch of mischief and a touch of a scold, you add, ] Roi, must you be so gullible?
[ and roi just sighs, heavily, and kicks you lightly under the table, as the pontiff laughs; you smile to yourself, small and private, as you sip your tea. ]
--
[ five years later, roi bangs on your door in the dead of the night. when you answer it, he's wild eyed and terrified, holding an ominous looking archer's bow between his hands. he tells you of the bow. he tells you he's going to get rid of it - he tells you where it was found. as the inquisitor, it's his duty. he has to get this thing away from flamechurch, and as fast as possible. he's always like that - heroic, brave, brilliant. you've never seen him look so scared.
roi tells you he's going to get it destroyed, because he and the pontiff were unable to do so no matter how much magic they flung at it, no matter what they did. "I cannot trust the church. This weapon - it should no longer exist." roi looks you in the eyes, and he says - "The church has secrets. Extraordinary, terrible secrets."
and before you even have the chance to say goodbye, he's out the door.
you will dream of those words for years afterwards: roi disappears into the night, and never returns.
--
[ however. when the memory fades, temenos and yuri still stand in the void, and standing before them is this creature. its massive, tongue lolls out of its mouth, and it stares at them both with unblinking, eerily bright white eyes. it doesn't attack, or lunge, or even move. it just takes a heavy, ragged, pained breath.
[ oh i fucking hate this so much SISI THE IMPLICATIONS OF EVERYTHING HERE WOUNDS ME AND I'VE BEEN ON A ROLLER COASTER OF EMOTIONS READING THIS WHOLE THING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Yuri briefly ponders if the time when she saw young Temenos on the ship was when he was in the middle of praying for Roi when she sees this unfold. Perhaps her innate pessimistic nature still exists deep inside her when she thinks that despite all the prayers, Roi would have died. But then he didn't. She watches the pontiff, Roi, and Temenos sit around the dinner table, recalling those stories of those years past, and there's a small smile on her face to see Temenos happy like this with his family. But then the last segment appears. It's the familiar emotions with Crick. There's something in the church and that it can't be trusted. Does he die at the hands of the church as well, despite being an inquisitor?
...
The memory fades and Yuri stands in the void with Temenos. She only expected to be here with him, but upon seeing this creature, she's suddenly wary for different reasons. She knows it's not dangerous, but there must be a reason why it's here after those memories when it wasn't before. Then she thinks about the image in the mirror and the way it seemed attached to Temenos last Friday.
She has her hand up to her mouth with her gray eye wide. ]
at this point, temenos has seen this one a few times. in fact, there are parts of it he practically has memorized - the conversation had in the middle of the night in flamechurch, after all, he dreams of all the time. seeing his own childhood reflected back at him comes with a mix of something bittersweet, too; after all, he was a faithful child, who desperately believed the gods would save roi. as an adult, cynicism and doubt are what he does, the echoes of that tiny little boy as far gone as the past.
but this memory is amplified, made a thousand times worse, by what stands in front of them.
temenos himself falls silent. he's still holding his staff. he is white knuckling it, actually, in one hand, as he looks up at the monster.
its head dips. ]
... A creature from Solistia. [ temenos says, his voice quiet, not betraying a single emotion. forced steadiness.
the monster - it is massive, here, easily the size of a house as opposed to a horse - makes that familiar, same gurgly noise. and as temenos opens his mouth to say something, so does the monster.
it inhales, the noise rattly and awful, and wheezes out: ]
...no... longer trust..... [ - and here, temenos closes his eyes. ] - ... cannot be allowed... to exist....
[ Yuri is not a stranger to what monsters could be or their origins being based on horror enough to crush souls and willpower. But still, when she sees this creature and how the dots connect together, there's a quiet, sharp gasp when she hears those words. ]
[ the creature bows its head further, its long neck stretching out as it comes closer - massive, sad, glowing eyes, the same tongue lolling out of its mouth at its smaller size, slow and steady like it's trying not to hurt them.
temenos is silent as it does this, and then, after a long, long pause: ]
... The organization that was the source of many of the troubles in Solistia was known as the Moonshade Order. All of their members were insidious, but there were two in particular who we learned of through a journal we discovered not long before I arrived here. The first, Petrichor, was a huntress - the owner of the Darkblood Bow - who tormented magical creatures, and supposedly hunted Roi for sport.
The second, a professor by the name of Harvey, experimented using a type of magic known as the Shadow on human beings. [ ... ] ...Transforming them into monsters in a process that was likely unimaginably painful and torturous.
[ the big creature's nearly to them now - its head is nearly on the floor, as it slowly, achingly lowers itself down on its giant hooves. temenos very slowly lifts his hand, and after a moment, rests it on the creature's forelock, the same dark color as roi's hair. up this close now, yuri can probably see the scraps of fabric clinging in shreds to its back - the same teal and white as temenos' own vestments. ]
[ Absolutely rancid. However, Yuri's frown lets up when sees the creature coming closer and seeing Temenos put his hand on it. The same color of fabric that it still carried makes it seem like it really wanted its identity known.
... ]
I can't imagine just wanting to simply create a monster because you can. Even from where I'm from, they were used to create energy. Even then, they had to be carefully handled. How... arrogant, of these people.
[ there's this emotion that resonates in the void, something bitter and unhappy - angry, even, though it's low and bubbling. the creature gurgles, too, the noise almost achingly sad. ]
They wanted the world destroyed, and all of humanity with it. Treating Roi and others like their experiments was just a part of that.
Yuri reaches over to gently pat the creature. Despite her reservations about the treatment of monsters, this is too tragic, for someone who was once a person and had to live out the rest of his life like this. ]
... I hope that when you return, you'll be able to get rid of them like pest control.
[ the moment that yuri touches the monster too, it seems to settle. it makes this soft noise and slowly, slowly starts to settle down onto its haunches - its ridiculously long tongue bleps out of its mouth, and it licks her fingertips, followed by temenos', bunting its massive head forward.
and then, just like that, the creature begins to disappear, form turning to dust slowly but surely, and the void around them begins to fade, too.
he watches the creature melt away, the emotions spreading out to something melancholy, and says, with a soft laugh: ] We have. Only their god remains, now, when we return home.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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When Temenos ruffles her hair, Yuri doesn't think anything of it since there had been moments that he'd done this in the past. That's why she's not sure why there's a pause before he withdraws his hand. ]
Hello, Temenos. Is something the matter?
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...No, no. Not at all. [ he. looks briefly at his hand and then shakes his head, putting on a beatific and kind temenos smile. radiating warmth. ] Those waves are having quite an effect on us, aren't they? I feel as though I've been through the gauntlet in the past twenty-four hours.
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[ pretty temenos smile as always... ]
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[ temenos says with a light, easy laugh - and then it gets ruined .2 seconds later because it's memory void time!!! ]
[ ah yes. the void. temenos looks less than pleased as he gears himself up for the memory void to begin...
--
[ however. when the memory fades, temenos and yuri still stand in the void, and standing before them is this creature. its massive, tongue lolls out of its mouth, and it stares at them both with unblinking, eerily bright white eyes. it doesn't attack, or lunge, or even move. it just takes a heavy, ragged, pained breath.
doesn't it look awfully familiar? ]
no subject
Yuri briefly ponders if the time when she saw young Temenos on the ship was when he was in the middle of praying for Roi when she sees this unfold. Perhaps her innate pessimistic nature still exists deep inside her when she thinks that despite all the prayers, Roi would have died. But then he didn't. She watches the pontiff, Roi, and Temenos sit around the dinner table, recalling those stories of those years past, and there's a small smile on her face to see Temenos happy like this with his family. But then the last segment appears. It's the familiar emotions with Crick. There's something in the church and that it can't be trusted. Does he die at the hands of the church as well, despite being an inquisitor?
...
The memory fades and Yuri stands in the void with Temenos. She only expected to be here with him, but upon seeing this creature, she's suddenly wary for different reasons. She knows it's not dangerous, but there must be a reason why it's here after those memories when it wasn't before. Then she thinks about the image in the mirror and the way it seemed attached to Temenos last Friday.
She has her hand up to her mouth with her gray eye wide. ]
T... Temenos. Is... this...
no subject
at this point, temenos has seen this one a few times. in fact, there are parts of it he practically has memorized - the conversation had in the middle of the night in flamechurch, after all, he dreams of all the time. seeing his own childhood reflected back at him comes with a mix of something bittersweet, too; after all, he was a faithful child, who desperately believed the gods would save roi. as an adult, cynicism and doubt are what he does, the echoes of that tiny little boy as far gone as the past.
but this memory is amplified, made a thousand times worse, by what stands in front of them.
temenos himself falls silent. he's still holding his staff. he is white knuckling it, actually, in one hand, as he looks up at the monster.
its head dips. ]
... A creature from Solistia. [ temenos says, his voice quiet, not betraying a single emotion. forced steadiness.
the monster - it is massive, here, easily the size of a house as opposed to a horse - makes that familiar, same gurgly noise. and as temenos opens his mouth to say something, so does the monster.
it inhales, the noise rattly and awful, and wheezes out: ]
...no... longer trust..... [ - and here, temenos closes his eyes. ] - ... cannot be allowed... to exist....
no subject
Temenos...
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temenos is silent as it does this, and then, after a long, long pause: ]
... The organization that was the source of many of the troubles in Solistia was known as the Moonshade Order. All of their members were insidious, but there were two in particular who we learned of through a journal we discovered not long before I arrived here. The first, Petrichor, was a huntress - the owner of the Darkblood Bow - who tormented magical creatures, and supposedly hunted Roi for sport.
The second, a professor by the name of Harvey, experimented using a type of magic known as the Shadow on human beings. [ ... ] ...Transforming them into monsters in a process that was likely unimaginably painful and torturous.
[ the big creature's nearly to them now - its head is nearly on the floor, as it slowly, achingly lowers itself down on its giant hooves. temenos very slowly lifts his hand, and after a moment, rests it on the creature's forelock, the same dark color as roi's hair. up this close now, yuri can probably see the scraps of fabric clinging in shreds to its back - the same teal and white as temenos' own vestments. ]
no subject
... ]
I can't imagine just wanting to simply create a monster because you can. Even from where I'm from, they were used to create energy. Even then, they had to be carefully handled. How... arrogant, of these people.
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[ there's this emotion that resonates in the void, something bitter and unhappy - angry, even, though it's low and bubbling. the creature gurgles, too, the noise almost achingly sad. ]
They wanted the world destroyed, and all of humanity with it. Treating Roi and others like their experiments was just a part of that.
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Yuri reaches over to gently pat the creature. Despite her reservations about the treatment of monsters, this is too tragic, for someone who was once a person and had to live out the rest of his life like this. ]
... I hope that when you return, you'll be able to get rid of them like pest control.
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and then, just like that, the creature begins to disappear, form turning to dust slowly but surely, and the void around them begins to fade, too.
temenos doesn't respond right away, as he watches it - it's funny. weeks ago, he'd said to throné that was his only real plan, when all was said and done, to find roi's bones and bring him home to flamechurch, to bury him beside the pontiff, but will there even be bones left? is the creature he roi, or just some recreation? these are the questions that plague him, now, because that's how it works when you hunt down the truth - it only ever gives you more mysteries.
he watches the creature melt away, the emotions spreading out to something melancholy, and says, with a soft laugh: ] We have. Only their god remains, now, when we return home.
[ there's a beat, and then... ]
... Thank you, Yuri.
[ it's achingly genuine. ]
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[ With his light ultima nuke!! Yuri still hasn't forgotten the feeling of casting it in the previous memshare. She pulls Temenos into a tight hug. ]
And when that's over... you can give Roi a grave, even if you can't find his body. Having a grave at all... I'm sure that he would appreciate it.