Kishinami Hakuno (岸波 白野) (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sealeted) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
felldenlogs2019-11-05 05:00 pm
sealeted) wrote in felldenlogs2019-11-05 05:00 pm
Entry tags:
[closed] all I can do
WHO: Hakuno and the Warlock
WHAT: Tea and a reunion
WHERE: Warlock's Landing
WHEN: The day after the Audience
WARNINGS: N/A
[It doesn't feel real.
To be fair, she hasn't seen her friend in person since the very first time they met. To be fair, the only indication of his absence in her life has been a notable lack of replies to her frequent notes and letters. It would be easy to convince herself that he's just been busy, or away on a trip of sorts, and it wouldn't even count as a lie, really. It shouldn't feel like an impossible boon, her heart aching with every beat on the boat ride over, even if it really is.
Except, Hakuno Kishinami is far more versed in losing things—people—than in regaining them.
Her throat is aching, as they dock. The invitation, in that now-familiar script, is gripped firmly in her palm, but even with that and the Landing lit up and lovely, magical and magnificent, she can't quite shake off the quiet, cold roots of doubt worming their way through the pit in her stomach as she trails up through the beautiful front garden.
He's here, she tells that sad, negative expectation with more confidence than she actually feels, even after seeing the Priestess whole and comparatively hale again yesterday. I'm going to walk in, and he's going to be here.
She takes a deep breath, and knocks on the grand door.]
...Warlock?
WHAT: Tea and a reunion
WHERE: Warlock's Landing
WHEN: The day after the Audience
WARNINGS: N/A
[It doesn't feel real.
To be fair, she hasn't seen her friend in person since the very first time they met. To be fair, the only indication of his absence in her life has been a notable lack of replies to her frequent notes and letters. It would be easy to convince herself that he's just been busy, or away on a trip of sorts, and it wouldn't even count as a lie, really. It shouldn't feel like an impossible boon, her heart aching with every beat on the boat ride over, even if it really is.
Except, Hakuno Kishinami is far more versed in losing things—people—than in regaining them.
Her throat is aching, as they dock. The invitation, in that now-familiar script, is gripped firmly in her palm, but even with that and the Landing lit up and lovely, magical and magnificent, she can't quite shake off the quiet, cold roots of doubt worming their way through the pit in her stomach as she trails up through the beautiful front garden.
He's here, she tells that sad, negative expectation with more confidence than she actually feels, even after seeing the Priestess whole and comparatively hale again yesterday. I'm going to walk in, and he's going to be here.
She takes a deep breath, and knocks on the grand door.]
...Warlock?
no subject
Good day, lady Hakuno. I'll be your escort. [ He gives a tip of his head before turning back toward the courtyard beyond the gates.
Leading her through the courtyard, full of gardens that continue to bloom and fountains still bubbling despite the cold weather around them. They don't spend long in the outdoors, leading her into the building to the right and through a corridor. The room that Hakuno is led to has overstuffed furniture, warm paint on the walls with interesting art, piles of books around most surfaces, a fire in the hearth. ]
Make yourself comfortable, my lady. The Warlock will be along shortly.
no subject
[Oh, of course. An attendant makes sense; the Priestess has them, Death has them, almost without question, the Emperor must have them as well. It makes sense, for an attendant to be the first person she sees, and it's ridiculous, the way her heart sinks more and more with each step into her friend's beautiful home.
Any other day, and she would be staring at each and every turn with wide, glittering eyes. As it is, she settles onto a cozy chaise and stares at the merry hearth, trying to beat back old memories.]
...he's going to be here.
[It's little more than a murmur, but it's almost desperate, in its delivery.]
no subject
Expecting someone? [ His tone is playful, betrayed only by the tension he carries in his shoulders, his stiff posture. There are many things to be concerned about right now, the safety and well-being of his friends being one of them. It's a relief, no matter how short-lived, to see Hakuno well. ]
I could leave if you have other plans. [ He's quick to tease, to ease the uncertainty in the air. ]
no subject
There are a million things she could say, but her head goes blank and she loses a little time, and instead of saying something clever or charming or witty, she's hugging him, and something very small and sincere slips out instead, unpolished and unsteady.]
W-Welcome back.
[She sucks in a breath, soft and quick but with a wet little hitch she can't quite hide.]
...thank you, for coming back.
no subject
It's new, and it's welcome. Between Hakuno and Rey, the Warlock cannot help but be grateful for the presence of the Otherworlders, no matter the cost of their arrival. ]
A pleasure to return home, and to see you once again. [ A hand lifts, settles upon her head to pet through her hair once, soothing. ] How have you fared this month, my friend? I heard it was a difficult one.
no subject
[Another shaky breath gets dragged in, but being able to keep her face hidden against his chest helps, as does that gentle touch.]
I really... was taking it easy, here. I wanted to just... it doesn't matter. I know the mindset I need to be in, now that things are serious.
[Want does not easily coexist with War. She knows that.]
Um, let's see... I technically got cursed for a little bit, but Gilgamesh and I killed the right monster before I forgot too much. I learned some new spells for melting snow and growing plants. There's, um, there's multiple dead goddesses getting revived, last I heard, and the Priestess wants us to kill one of them. One of Death's attendants told somebody that our leaders ruined everything and knew what was wrong the whole time, and she's being punished, and the Gods Wood is shut to us. But I got to hold a baby animal for the first time yesterday, so, you know. That was exciting.
[She cried then too, but she was also about four cups deep in mulled wine.]
...but, were you... were you okay? While you were gone?
no subject
It is odd to exist in Death's Court for extended periods. Time does not flow concurrently with the rest of Fellden. [ It does not excuse his absence, despite not being able to return of his own volition. ] I apologize that I was not here to assist. Death believes I... meddle. [ His seclusion to Death's Court was its own form of punishment for how he interfered in September.
The Warlock doesn't want to linger on this, on the memory of how he failed his own people during the feast, how he failed them again last month. ]
If it is any comfort, the leaders of the factions do not do this to be willfully destructive to the world around them. They are both doing what they believe to be the right choice, even if they aren't the best ones to make.
no subject
[Demon piglet. Whatever, Baecon is unquestionably adorable, and she was heavy and warm and real in Hakuno's arms. Her heart is still recovering.
She listens to him quietly for a moment, and her heart aches for a different reason.]
I—before... before I was here, I knew somebody. She... was very emphatic about saying she loved me.
[If she had a week with him, she wouldn't be able to finish describing BB, and so she doesn't start. Not really.]
At one point, she decided to keep me in... a pocket dimension of sorts. It was dark, and cramped, and a-all—all I could do was crawl. Crawl and crawl and—time didn't work very normally there, either. I crawled for... for forever, it felt like, until I had all but forgotten everything but the need to keep moving forward, but not much time had passed outside at all by the time my friend got me out. I... really hope it was better than that, for you.
[Her voice only wavers once or twice, but her gaze, at least, is steady.]
I had... heard a theory like that before, when I went to the Jarl. And burning the magic candle at both ends to bring in Otherworlders definitely has to have a cost to it. But—
[She grimaces against the words on her tongue. She wants, palpably, to keep him out of this, but the lack of another perspective is as grating as it is dangerous. Information has been the only thing keeping her a step ahead, in struggles like this.]
...the Priestess is more volatile than I've ever seen her, since coming back. She's—really angry about Temperance, and she sent one of us out to gather up cards that might be a conduit to her, and she tried to send another to assassinate a member of the Court who he said seems to have special significance to Death. How bad is Temperance? How dangerous would it before Death to have a favored person? The Emperor's wife isn't even dead. They've hidden and lied a lot about history and—there's... there's someone like you, who they think was the one to steal Temperance's soul. Somebody used 'magic not seen in a millennia' to get to her.
[She pauses, and looks up at him.]
What did Temperance do?
no subject
Temperance began a rebellion that made the war even more volatile. Your faction leaders had each other to contend with, now with an additional group that was powerful, well-organized, and led by a God much like them—but worse. [ He stops, clarifying. ] They thought she was worse. An immortal soul in a mortal body, connected to mortal emotions and a mortal lifespan. When you've lived your life as an immortal and face mortality, it skews the world around you in a brand new way. [ Words that Temperance once spoke to him, when he asked her the difference when going from immortal to mortal. ]
Her rebellion was effective and could be lethal. Ran sting operations to take our soldiers, supply lines. The Priestess knows that people could rally behind Temperance, that Otherworlders might. It is a threat to her seat of power, a threat to a war she's determined to continue.
[ It is an unfortunate reality. Temperance wasn't perfect, by no stretch of the imagination, and the Priestess will remember the worst of her and how it impacted the people of the Temple.
He doesn't blame her for her aggressiveness in trying to deal with her. ]
Death having a favored person could be misconstrued as it choosing sides in a war. It wouldn't, Death takes its role in the world more seriously than it would ever let on and cares for people here on an individual level, rather than viewing the factions as anything worthwhile. It won't stop others from seeing its favoring of someone as a step toward one side of the war or the other.
The wife of the Emperor is a complicated situation. The Emperor believes she is dead. [ It's all he's able to say on the subject. ]
no subject
[She sighs and lets her forehead fall against his chest.]
I—don't want you hurt, or punished, or taken away again. You can just—you don't have to tell me. You don't have to tell me any of this, but I have to at least ask, with things getting this crazy. If I ask something that's off limits, just tell me 'can't' or 'won't' and I won't press it. I-I don't...
[Her voice dwindles, because it's one thing to think it, but to say it out loud feels dangerous, even with her link to the network shut away in her jewelry box. And it feels silly and childish, besides.]
I don't want you in this war at all. I want... I want you safe, especially now that I know there's some dangerous God-tier soul-stealing magic user on the loose. When I heard about Temperance being stolen from Death, I just... I just kept thinking, 'what if they took you too?'
[On the Near Side of the Moon Cell, the enduring central rule was this: every week, two wizards would clash, and one would win, and one would die.
Hakuno knows which one she wants her friend to be, but if there is any way to spare him from anything like what she endured there, then she wants him seize it wholeheartedly. It's selfish, she knows, but she's learned not to flinch away from her own selfishness, by now.
She uses the roiling sea of questions in herself to drown away those thoughts for now.]
...did Temperance... did her rebellions ever turn out like the feast did? Did she ever choose to attack innocent people or... was it just targeted at soldiers, each time?
no subject
[ He flips the card to be upside down, the Magician turning skeletal, terrifying. ] We can also be reversed. Circumstances can push us that way, resurrections, a large expenditure of our power. [ The card is turned back to normal, upright. ]
It could be that her followers are attempting to bring her back reversed so that she falls in with their ideals. It is where the biggest concern originates with Death and myself, that she comes back and is the opposite of how I recall her.
no subject
She hears the firmness in that never, and something... clicks.
Not like a puzzle piece, but a switch to some mechanism she's still deciphering herself, deep down.]
But she's never been brought back reversed before. Because she always fought to protect.
[She is on a precipice. If she takes the next step, even if she doesn't accomplish something, she will have opened a door in her heart and mind not easily shut. The moon on the palm of her hand feels like a weight, almost.
The command seals on the back of it remind her that she has never in her life failed to step forward, regardless.
Slowly, she lets her gaze drift from the card to the Warlock's face, and her expression is completely, utterly blank. The silence stretches, and when she breaks it her voice is at the softest volume yet, barely more than a murmur. It feels impossibly loud, to her ears.]
...could her normal route of rebirth be kickstarted? Without... undue outside influence dictating the terms.
[If she should really have die again at all, something that mysterious internal mechanism has yet to clatter upon, then Hakuno believes she deserves to meet that end as her truest self, if at all possible. She believes that very, very deeply.]
no subject
At her question, the Warlock pauses for thought. He'd considered a great deal in relation to Temperance's soul being stolen, to her rebirth by the hands of someone else, a forced resurrection on someone who should have been laid to rest and left alone. Unfortunately not all see it that way. ]
I don't know. I also have no idea as to if outside influence can dictate her status upon revival or if it's a post-resurrection effect that they can place on her.
There are a great number of unknown variables when I've never witnessed such a resurrection of this variety before.
no subject
[Her brows crease.]
Is it good to have a foundational Goddess be mortal, in that case? I thought... I don't know. It didn't occur to me, that she was really severed and buried permanently, before all this.
[She cups her cheek, thoughtful and troubled anew.]
I thought... well, it doesn't matter. You all aren't tied to a Throne or a Grail, so the rules being different should be obvious.
[The rules of this place...
Hakuno looks up again, suddenly.]
Is an oath from one of you not to reverse binding enough? Or is that just putting the cart before the horse? Would being forced into breaking one reverse you, do you think?
no subject
The repercussions of breaking an oath are always meant to be fitting. It is an unfortunate possibility that making such a promise and having it be broken could, in turn, reverse me, or whoever the one is to make the promise with her.
It is a good idea, the problem is the amount of variables within it that could reverse whoever brokered the deal with Temperance prior to, or during, her revival. There are very few Gods who would benefit from being reversed.
no subject
[She skims a hand through her hair and chances a glance at him, setting her jaw. That question... apparently hadn't wholly been intended for Temperance's protection, and so now she's carefully sorting through what scraps of information and inspiration for something workable.]
Is reversal like staining a piece of paper, or flipping a coin? Do the same things that cause a reversal... reverse a reversal?
[She lets her gaze fall, and her head thumps back against his chest.]
...what... what do I do if it happens to you? You've got just as much to stretch you thin as the other two do, if things get serious.
[And all signs point to things becoming very serious, soon.]
no subject
[ The Warlock hesitates at the question: there has never been a point in history that he had been reversed, never a moment that it was a consideration to be made. While the division between the Priestess and Emperor may have been something to come close, it was never quite that dire. Now though, with so many old Gods waking and reviving, it is something he must consider. ]
If a situation were to arise that reverses me, it would be a dire one indeed. Never before has it been a problem. [ That said, things are certainly becoming more pressing now that Otherworlders are here, with so many new factors involved. ] Three things I would put confidence in would be Rey of the Court of Stars, a favor owed to Neria Surana, or my mother in the Witchlands. [ The corner of his mouth upturns, smirking. ] Mother figure, is more accurate. The eccentric woman at the cottage, if you have visited. If all other avenues fail, she will know what to do.
no subject
...you're my friend. And—the Priestess's friend. So I'm telling you this now, from Otherworlder to God: don't publicize your preferences. Neria of the Court of Stars has already been marked for death by the Priestess.
[Because of Death, after a fashion. Though the lion's share of the blame for her alarm was planted at the hands of Hakuno's own Servant, the results are stark and unchanging.]
no subject
Does Neria know? Have you or someone trusted told her of this? [ If not, he'll need to send messengers post-haste.
That isn't the most pressing of the subjects at hand though, not by far. ]
I have a far greater number under my care that would suffer should the Priestess decide that I am partaking in favoritism to one faction or the other.
no subject
[She sighs.]
My Servant is the one carrying out the task. He set this snowball in motion when he tried to... well, basically put battlefield dibs on her, for some point in the future. It's usually one of the better forms of respect enemies get from him, but we don't—he's going to absolutely hate having it twisted like this. He wanted a glorious clash with a worthy rival, not some assassination errand. But... from what I've seen, she's well-liked across the board. Hopefully someone's said something by now.
[She blows out another, slower breath and there is something bitter and tired buried in it. She wanted to leave assigned deathmatches behind her, but a Moon is a Moon no matter where you go, she supposes. Cell or Temple, the similarities still bleed through.]
Then I recommend you get a little more... circumspect about your favorites from here on out. Especially among the Stars.
no subject
[ The Warlock moves past her into the room, retrieving a short glass and pouring from a decanter before taking a seat. Something rages behind his eyes, staring long into the abyss as he puts true thought into the situation he has created for himself, his people. ]
It is for their protection that I must draw back from the happenings of Otherworlders.
[ Said more for himself than Hakuno but intended to give reason to them both. ]
Returning to my initial neutrality is the best recourse I could afford them.
no subject
[She moves after him, plopping down across from him and still unvarnished and honest, as her gaze bores into him.]
But is that something you can still manage without hurting yourself, when off the top of your head you listed Rey and Neria from the Court of Stars as people you would put your confidence in before you mentioned your own mother?
[After a beat, her gaze softens. So does her tone.]
...you didn’t even realize. Did you?
no subject
In fairness, Neria and Rey would be far easier to convince than my mother.
[ Briefly his gaze lifts to her before moving beyond to settle on the fire in the hearth. ]
I had let my fools heart take priority over my people. A mistake I will not make again. [ It visibly pains him to say it. Not only to admit that he truly hadn't realized but to accept that he had allowed his emotions, his heart, to guide him rather than the even head of a leader. ]
You'll be escorted back to the mainland, my lady. The Landing will no longer be accepting visitors.
no subject
[But the most Hakuno has ever led in life was the Student Council, and nearly none of them survived due to the sort of enemy they were up against. She has seen a slaughterhouse or suffering NPCs, the closest thing she has to a ‘people,’ but the memory of Leo as he handed over the Presidency on death’s doorstep is what has her rise from her seat once more and move to sit at the Warlock’s feet. She rests her cheek against his knee and squeezes his hands, so much bigger and older than her own. More power contained in each than in any wizard she ever knew, back then.
Her eyes aren’t sharp, but they’re fixed upon him, large and dark.]
I have lost every friend I have ever made. Forever. They were lost to me before I came to this place. They were often lost to me by my own... by my own hand, more or less, because that’s part of what it meant, to be in the Holy Grail War. You win, and you get to live. You lose, and you’re immediately erased by that ‘world’ itself.
[Her grip tightens.]
So, you do whatever you need to, to keep your people safe. To keep yourself safe. I’ll be really upset if you get my best friend hurt, you know.
[From danger or the weight of having half a dozen to a thousand deaths weighing down each breath, she doesn’t say.]
I’m still going to write to you, almost everyday if I can manage it. I’m still going to send you things that are probably nothing compared to what you could get on your own. I’m still going to think of you as a very dear friend, and it has never been necessary for you to return any of that, as generously as you have. I’ll miss it if you stop writing back altogether, but as long as I get some type of confirmation that you’re still alive, I won’t let it get me down.
[She kisses his hands in hers, once. Firmly and briefly, like a seal to a letter.]
I’ve had a lot of sad goodbyes, though. Ones... ones that I would have done almost anything to prevent, but couldn’t. So I’d at least like the tea I was promised and one last hug, before I have to go.
no subject
I think it best if you leave, lady Hakuno.
[ A disjointed statement, eyes never leaving where he stares into the fire.
The reality of his decision is settling heavy upon him but it is his burden to bear alone, as it always has been. ]
An attendant will see you safely back.
no subject
[She sits back and looks at him quietly for a moment.]
...take better care with any bigger promises from now on though, okay? If I ever do meet your mother, I'd prefer if it were for a happy occasion.
[She attempts another smile and knows it was a mistake when she feels it falter and her eyes sting. She's on her feet the next moment, with more grace than she has a right to, and her throat closes tight on the word 'goodbye' so... so, she tries something else. She steps back from him, and curtsies, a mirror of the night they met.]
Take care of yourself too, 'my lord'.
[She moves to the doorway with a shallow, parting nod and closes it behind her, leaning back against the heavy wood and burying her face in her hands. She indulges in one soft, shaky sob, a sniffle, and then scrubs her face furiously with her sleeves before the promised attendant intrudes.]
It's okay.
[Her voice is very, very small again.]
It's okay. He's here. He won't... he'll be safe. He'll be here. It's...it's going to be okay.
[She takes another shaky breath—this one slower, deeper—and exhales.
When the attendant arrives to see her out, the only evidence of her turmoil is a faint redness to her eyes. When they inquire, she brushed them off politely.
She doesn't try to smile again.]
...I'm alright. I was just... I just stared into the fire for too long, that's all.