Event Eleven.

[awashmods]

"Four ducks on a pond, A grass-bank beyond, A blue sky of spring, White clouds on the wing; What a little thing To remember for years -- To remember with tears!"

he day is normal. It's a bit chillier than it's been, the nip of fall in the air, but as the new people in the Town settle in... things have gotten peaceful. And yet. When everyone goes out to greet their neighbors, to hug their friends, to shake hands or make eye contact or who knows what -- they'll realize very, very quickly that nothing about today is normal at all, actually. Hopefully nobody minds a little extra sharing today. Welcome to Awash's eleventh event log, everyone! Further information on this event can be found here at the OOC post. You are welcome to start your own posts or logs for this event as well. If there are any questions, please ask them here. Thank you!

Comments

[troubadamsel]

[Maribelle feels her horse hasn't been getting enough exercise, so she can be spotted elegantly riding it throughout the entire town. While she is sociable, touch is a bit much, so all it's going to take is eyecontact, and she is polite enough to nod a hello...]

Happy Memory

In the hills of damaged wilderness, Maribelle's hands are roughly bound together in front. As a result, there are feelings of aching wrists, as she's been struggling to free herself. No luck so far - there's a hard grip on her shoulder, from a ruffian trying to keep her still. Try as she might, she can't fight without her magic. A wicked woman happily mocks her plight.

"Poor, stupid girl... are you really worth fighting a war over? Years from now, you'll only be remembered as she who destroyed House Ylisse."

Horror overcomes Maribelle, her resistance dying. "No... that's not... Oh, Lissa... Please, no..."

Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind magic blasts by her side, knocking the ruffian over, and slicing open the ropes binding her! Her hero? A small boy...? He runs into the fray!

"Maribelle! Go! You're free!" He says with great excitement, relieved she's unharmed.

Despite her safe rescue, she's still startled. "RICKEN?! What are you doing here?"

"Just run, we can talk about it later!"

"Oh, is this your little boyfriend?" The evil woman sneers. "Isn't he just precious."

Ricken whips around, anger clear in his face. "Don't talk down to me, witch!" With a wave of his hand, book tome in arm, he gives her another hard blast of -

"Nngh! W-wind magic?"

"Come on, Maribelle!"

"Right!" It's a struggle not to smile, as she and Ricken race off to join their friends in combat.

Sad Memory

The royal army is together, but not whole, as they run into a muddy landscape covered in the old bones of a dragon. Cold, pouring rain endlessly cries from the sky above, as if the gods themselves mourn the loss of their beloved ruler. A toughened warrior tries to talk some sense into the Prince.

"Hurry! There should be carriages waiting just through the ravine!"

The prince is silent. No one can blame him. Maribelle shakes, and finally gives into the urge to weep openly, her face hot with tears. She doesn't want to fight anymore. She just wants it all to stop. A hand squeezes hers, but it's difficult to tell whose it is.

"Emmeryn..." She whispers to herself, as the warrior and now tactician try to awaken the Prince from his misery. It feels as if this is a wound that will never heal.

Wildcard
[Wanna just pet the horse? I mean, make your own prompt!]

Happy

[asano_san]

[Keigo has only had one memory-sharing experience so far, and it was eye-opening but nothing severe enough to make him hate the idea of having contact with others. It's always good to see a...well, not always friendly but definitely familiar face when he's walking around, too. He's halfway to a greeting when he catches Maribelle's eye and the memory floods through him.

The pain in his wrists reminds him of the feel of a snare around his ankles earlier in the month and he would swear there's someone right behind him with their hand clamped tight to his shoulder. He even leans into the imagined feel of the wind a little.

And then it passes, with an ending that could be the end of a scene in a tv show or movie.]

I see why you needed to learn magic!

[troubadamsel]

[Maribelle staggers a bit, startled... what in the world just happened? She's so wobbly, she almost falls off her horse.]

Wait... did you just see that?

[asano_san]

I did. The town is doing weird stuff to us again!

[He can't help but notice she looks a little unsteady.]

Are you all right? Do you want me to help you down from your horse?

[troubadamsel]

[She shakes her head, trying to concentrate.]

No, I'll be all right... how much did you see, exactly?

[asano_san]

A woman with a really, really low-cut dress and stockings [important details] had you tied up and your friend came and saved you with some of that wind magic.

It was like I could feel it, too! [He rubs a wrist with the memory of it.]

[troubadamsel]

[Well, if they're going to talk, she's going to dismount.]

I see... That was an important time in my life. Ricken saved my life, and I owe him greatly.

[asano_san]

Why did she want you in the first place? I didn't really understand that.

[Something about fighting wars and destroying houses, but what did Maribelle have to do with that beyond helping with the fight?]

[troubadamsel]

It's a bit of a long story... The simplest version is, that woman is a high-ranked general for for a country adjacent ours. They were just looking for an excuse to start a war, and sent their barbarians to a village to attack it. I went in to stop it, and...

... Well. In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have gone after them without any weaponry.

[asano_san]

[He wouldn't have gone in to stop it at all.]

No, you shouldn't have!

Were you safe after that, or did she ever come after you again?

[troubadamsel]

Oh, they definitely learned I was not to be trifled with!

[they did not, mari.]

[asano_san]

That's the Maribelle I know!

[Without really thinking about it - both the taking his life into his own hands in touching Maribelle and the possibility that touching her might trigger his own memory sharing like it did with Shiho - Keigo pats her on the shoulder.

In contrast to Maribelle's memory, this is a city scene. It starts with startling explosions while Keigo is out to buy juice for his sister. The dangerous villain and the hero of Keigo's story appear soon after. Of course, being Keigo's story, the hero then bullies him into a room for the night. From there, he's just a witness to a crazy fight in the streets and in the sky.

[troubadamsel]

[The touch she might have allowed, if not for the memory flood. As it is, she jerks in surprise - ]

What in the world... who were those men!

Sad

[inheritance]

[Whatever strange magic is going around the town again, it has Izuku being a little more cautious than normal, remembering not to greet people with a friendly touch at the last second.

When he sees her riding by, Izuku waves and smiles up at her, but keeps what he thinks is a safe distance away. Of course, all of that caution doesn't help with it just takes a moment of eye contact to set the magic off sometimes, as he's about to realize.

He staggers back once the memory's played out, looking a little dazed.] What--what just happened?

[troubadamsel]

[Maribelle is so startled, she wobbles on her horse a bit, almost falling off. She manages to straighten herself, and turns her head away, bitter.]

You... Damn this place! Why can't it leave well enough alone?

[inheritance]

[As soon as she wobbles, looking like she's about to fall, he rushes forward, just in case she does. When she manages to catch herself, Izuku lets out a sigh of relief.]

It's...just what the town does. Are you okay?

[He's asking about the memory, and how she feels right now, of course.]

[troubadamsel]

[She doesn't say anything right away. After a moment, she sighs, hard, and begins to climb down.]

Go ahead, ask.

[inheritance]

Only if you're okay with it, Maribelle-san.

[As curious as he might be, he knows how it feels when the town just completely disregards your feelings and shows something private to others.]

[troubadamsel]

I'm not okay with so many things about this place, why should this be any different?

[Boy, that memory sure made her bitter...]

[inheritance]

[Normally, he'd reach out and try to comfort her, but given the circumstances, Izuku keeps his hands right at his sides, even as he flashes her a sympathetic look.]

Because of the way you're acting right now. [It's a bit blunt, for him, but there's no judgment in his tone.] Letting someone else see the memory already hurt you enough--I don't want to make it worse, Maribelle-san.

[troubadamsel]

[A long stretch of silence follows, her back to him. Fingers clench, unclench. Sighs.]

... Lissa had an older sister. The true ruler of Ylisse. Everyone loved her. She tried so hard to bring peace to our land, to give compassion to our enemies, even at their worst.

She was taken hostage by the leaders of Plegia, a neighboring kingdom. They wanted a trade. Her life for our most powerful treasure, the Fire Emblem. It's a powerful item, handed down through generations of Ylisse rulers. Handing it over would be as good as surrendering our will. But gladly would we have done it to save her.

[Voice breaks, and she needs a moment, shutting her eyes tightly.]

[inheritance]

The Fire Emblem. I remember what you said about it before. [And suddenly what she said about it falling into the wrong hands makes a lot of sense.

Izuku hesitates for another second before his resolve breaks. His friend's hurting; he can't just stand here and do nothing. Even so, he takes precautions, settling his hand on her shoulder, careful not to touch skin directly.]

I'm so sorry. ["Lissa had an older sister." Had. Even if Maribelle didn't say what happened, Izuku thinks he can put the pieces together.]

[troubadamsel]

[This time, the touch is appreciated. She reaches to squeeze his hand, whimpering quietly. It had been some time since this happened... but it still hurt, a raw wound.]

... The battle was atop a rocky cliff, deep within the desert. They were going to execute her in front of their army. We interrupted it, but we couldn't get any closer. It was her life, or the Emblem. Our prince, his sister, struggled with the choice, but, Emmeryn... Oh, Emmeryn, she loved all people so much, even the wicked of Plegia...

... She... she walked off the...

[She breaks off for another whimper.]

[inheritance]

[His heart jumps into his throat. Though he'd had a feeling how this would end, the details of it are much worse than he would've imagined.

And Maribelle and her friends had seen it happen.

Wordlessly, Izuku steps closer, drawing her into a hug this time. Sometimes, a touch to the shoulder just isn't enough to convey all the comfort he wants to. Like now.]

[troubadamsel]

[And with that, the last of the dam bursts. She cries against him, hands curled up to his chest, eyes shut as tears roll down her face. It's horribly undignified.

If only she had been stronger... if only they had gotten there sooner... if only...!

Agonizingly slow minutes pass before she calms down, trying to clean her face.]

I-I'm sorry, that was...