-Break-
Location: Frumos Castle, Blesteosteo
With one step after another, he moves his body forward, stopping at the two giant doors in front of him, before letting out a deep breath and walking in with the two chairs swung over his shoulders.
And there he sees, hanging from what looks to be a giant intricate hexagonal bookshelf, Draga craving into it with her hands, with an exasperated look on her face and sunken cheeks.
He stops for a moment, taken aback by the sure intensity of her concentration, yet as his grip loosens, he lunges forward and places a seat underneath her, catching her before she falls.
For a moment she rests on it, and then he mind awakens like she has rested for 8 hours as she quickly moves around on the chair, getting a feeling for it, before she raises her head up and says, "It seems you managed to complete my challenge. I stand corrected."
Dripping her chair with its back touching his own, he takes a seat and says, "Thank you for that; from an artistian like you, that compliment means the world."
Laughing, she says, "To think you'd say such a thing to a murderer like me."
"Don't flatter yourself too much; there was already a serial killer abusing me for a year before I met you; all you did was twist the knife."
"On that note, I should apologise for Acrono. He often communicates information between the Frumos and those responsible for receiving Nightfall produce. I should've noticed something was wrong with his heart long before it ever reached this point."
"I think he was very good at hiding it, but someone managed to push him over the edge and paid the price for it. It's no use trying to blame anyone for this other than myself."
"Very mature of you. Now I can hope whatever request you ask of me will be kind."
"Do you know any way to get a girl you love to get over her fear of you?"
"No chance. Move on."
"With his head hanging low, Captivant says, "You're mean."
"I had thought you'd learned the value ot the truth, you big baby. Or do you need another lesson?"
"I doubt it. But if said request is a bust, I guess all I can do is thank you."
"Your thanks is appreciated. I will remember the face of the arrogant bastard whose thanks reached into my ear as he understood my superiority."
"You're rather talkative and emotive today; were you on your period before?"
"Be quiet, or I will kill you. No, I wasn't. This seat is so overflowing with emotions that I can't help but feel them."
"It's probably due to my Regalia."
"I've read your books have felt said, Regalia. What is embedded in this seat, this chair here, is something more than just what a Regalia could amplify. Even if you were a Nightmare, I still think you'd be able to get your heart across; you should be proud of that, and of everything that you've gone through allowing you to craft this tool in front of me, and as a thank you for this I will tell you about myself."
"For free."
"It's unfair to request someone show their heart so intensely and not do the same." Taking a moment to stare up at the rooftop, she says, "My mother and father were annoying people. My mother was a pushover who'd always find a way to socially distract from anything that could cause an issue, and my father was a tight ass who always wanted to intervene in his daughter's life in every aspect.
They were at the core of everything annoying pests who I wanted to swat away every day. Yet they were powerful; my mom could de-escalate any situation, making her particularly good at human-Nightmare relations, while my father was precise and never let any little flaw slip past him. Together there efforts and their human-looking appearances made it so that they were able to recover a large amount of Nightmare remains that were sold out of the country.
Pests, but pest I was proud to be the daughter of, yet others weren't, and on a meeting back from a foreign country they were attacked, killed, and deboned like a couple of sacks of meat. The lumps of their flesh ripped off like cattle aren't something my mind could forget; the idea that even the best of us humans could be targets like this disgusted me. But society didn't have the same view. People moved on; they cried, they prayed, they gave all the condolences their mouths could carry, but they continued on like it was just a normal day, and my heart couldn't take such an action. So I rebelled in whatever way I could.
I desecrated the buildings, making a particular choice to set the prized churches on fire. I weaponised the movement of cursed tools within the country for the sake of making people bow to my will. I gathered others who were very dissatisfied with the situation across the country, and used them to go and attack those who caused any issues with our people, and I even made large disruptions at whatever public holiday happened till they felt my rage."
"So what made you stop?"
"Fear of the Queen's retaliation got to me; she finally stepped in and made my antics stop. By forcing me and all of the rest of my friends to live with her for around 3 years. The prehistoric hag kept us all next to her despite all the trouble she always faced, and beside her I remember what it felt like to be a child again, sleeping with their mother for the first time. It allowed me to gain some perspective, if only a bit at a time. My mother and father lived very principled lives for the sake of suppressing any fear of hatred that would cloud their eyes; the only things they cared for were helping the common.
They worked to accomplish their goals, holding back their evils with those principles. And here I was simply rampaging in anger. I asked myself a simple question that day: Do my actions truly help people? When people are suffering, when lives are at stake, that's when more than ever your mind and heart must be calm, but I had failed to reach that standard and instead tried to masquerade my suffering as revenge, when in truth the act of helping others was just a cover for my anger.
Many say I've changed, but I rarely feel like it. Now I can help people without change, and act towards my desires without the hatred I have for the world clouding my eyes. The principles I've inherited from my parents, and the way I act within them, are just a stopgap used to help me stay in line enough, and sometimes they discourage me from doing otherwise foolish things like sending an annoying pest who entered into my room outside mere moments after he enters."
"I am sensing some animosity from that sentence."
"I'm sure you enjoy it, worm; I know how much perverts like you love it."
"If you were to add a KAY!, I HATE YOU SO MUCH! While fluttering your eyes and having an outwardly rejecting while inwardly expecting posture, I would totally like that."
"The light of the Messiah hasn't cleansed you yet."
"Hopeful it will one day; apparently it's a process."
"Then enjoy the food in here before your process continues. Don't feel shy requesting what to it before the doors hit your butt on your way out."
"How heartless, but I will take you up on it, and besides, the meal I want is right here."
He moves his head backwards, placing it on her shoulder and says, "I am going to need your help, you annoying bitch."
"Rejected. I have better things to do than to hang around a man so in need of a scrubbing to his soul."
"Nasty words, but wouldn't you say it's a caretaker's job to help the person that they started on the correct path?"
"I have connected your soul to the greater caretaker the world has ever seen; you should be fine."
Her hand pushes his head back up, and he says, "I knew that had a weak chance of working; good thing I came prepared for it."
He holds up a piece of wood in his hand, and Draga's eyes quickly move towards it as her hand reaches out for it, making her lunge over Captivant, before landing on him. Turning to him, she says, "You bastard. Where did you get such premium material?"
Holding the pice of wood in his hand, with a smile Captivant says, "I wondered why you showed me that wood when I first came into here, but looking back on it is must've been because my family constantly looks at such material and would be capable of appraising the best from the worst, and this is some I got my father to appraise. For a furniture-loving ice princess like you, I am sure this would've been an undeniable gift."
Smiling in the best way her cold and tough face can allow, she says, "I will humbly accept the gift."
"Gifts from the Nightfall come with interest."
"I am rich; I will give you whatever you want."
"How about your time?"
Bones start to emerge from her hair over towards Captivant's throat as she says, "No, try and desecrate me by referring to me as a prostitute, or else I might now allow your pretty little head to remain on your shoulders."
Staring down at her, he says, "I am sorry for offending you. So I won't offer this as a gift or reward, but as an offering of what I hope to give you. I have a lot of things I have caused that I need to change, and I can't ask the woman I loved, the man who mentored me, the friends I've built, or even the parents who love me so.
Unfortunately, my pride has led me to no longer burden them with the disgusting behaviour inside my soul. Yet I think more than anything, I am scared to be left alone with myself. Zackery said that everyone needs someone who watches them and keeps them in check, so I want to ask you to be that person for me, with all that I can offer in return being the ability to discern good and bad quality materials."
Looking at his face, Draga says, "You know that you're requesting a member of this country's government, a Nightmare, even to accompany you across whatever place you mean to go. Not only is this selfish, but it's disrespectful to assume I am somehow a last resort for a common man."
"Sorry, did it come off like that? It's just that I wanted someone who I can trust and respect. And as an artisan, and a person, the only one who I think I can do both is you. Someone who is the closest to being Captivant that I've met. I think your existence is beautiful."
Staring at his face as he speaks, enraptured by her, she says, "You trying to get me killed? You know what happens to idols around here."
"Sorry, I was just trying to be truthful."
Elbowing him in the stomach, she turns her body on his lap ill her face is in the opposite direction, and says, "Okay, I will come with you."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, but I am not doing this for free. I expect you to be paying for all our lodging and protection."
"I promise, but are you okay? Your skin colour feels like it's changing? Do you have a fever? Should I touch your forehead?"
He reaches his hand forward, and it is quickly swatted away, as she says, "Don't touch me."
"Ow, okay."
She places her hand on her red face and says, "Control your eyes, boy; they are dangerous. Or I will pluck them out."