middaeg | Vita agitas maledictus

Who: Lady Maria of the Astral Clocktower (

whomthebelltolls) and various! (Check prompt headers for openness of prompts)
When: Aureur, particularly around the event!
Where: Aefenglom, and the Dreamscape
What: Memshare stuff, mostly, but can be used as a catch-all for quests and the like.
Warnings: Oh boy Blood, gore, excessive violence, murder, human experimentation, body horror, cannibalism, addictive substance use and abuse, genocide, suicide (both ideation and comitting), self-harm, PTSD, religious institutions grooming people to use their blood and bodies for shady purposes, also probably some mentions of human trafficking, sexual assault/abuse in other peoples' backstories or memories. And the kitchen sink.

[1: SEMI-OPEN Memshare prompt - For people that had plans]

[What a curious little dream. The Hall of Mirrors, but some of them are indistinguishable - even if she knows, in reality, that many of the ones she's staring at bear some kind of decor upon them, especially her own - and yet here they stand.

She hears footsteps behind her, and cants her head briefly in the direction they come from. A familiar face, then, as she continues to investigate the mirror.] I wonder what it means this time? [And she pushes her hand against the surface of the mirror, immediately withdrawing it after as the surface ripples as it starts to suck her hand into it, like she's just put her hand into a pool of quicksilver.

She shakes her hand a bit, looking at it - no, it's... fine, then turns to her companion as though she's not quite sure she's seeing things properly.

It doesn't matter whose mirror it is - whether her own, or another - because the curiosity takes her and she motions toward it like she wonders if they should try... stepping through the surface. Maybe this is their chance to get home? After all, they fell out of the mirrors, maybe going back in them is the way back home?

It doesn't matter if it's her mirror or theirs, she is sort of curious, and wants to investigate. What in the world is the dream doing this time?]

[2: OPEN - In the dream]

[Clang. Maria's Rakuyo separates into its two sides as she pulls it apart, and sets up before her mirror. Those that know her well will probably note that, unlike before, the whole thing is coated in a fine layer of blood... and it's leaking yet even more. Still, she stands, her back to the mirror, her front to whoever wants to approach.

Her face is drawn into a dark scowl, and her ice-blue eyes rake over the other inhabitants of this dream with a deadly intensity. Too many people, too much curiosity - and none are permitted anywhere near her mirror any longer. The first person that approaches she appraises only briefly, before stepping forward as though to attack. And she will, if they take even another pace toward her.] Stand down. There is nothing for you in this mirror.

[3: OPEN - The Morning After, around Aefenglom]

[Maria awakens to tears on her face, and an awful, empty ache in her chest. In a daze, she stands, ad goes about her morning routine, mind still trying to parse all she had seen. All that had been seen. It's not until she sees herself in a mirror - a regular dressing mirror near the wardrobe in her room - that she finally stops to look at herself, even if it brings up memories anew.

Maria raises a single hand to the fresh tears that spill down her face, gently catching one on the back of a finger. She holds it up, looks at it, marvels a bit at the idea. It has been... so very long since she's wept, and yet, the tears continue to flow, seemingly without end. The Fishing Hamlet - she's not seen it with such terrible clarity in so long. Not heard the voices that curse and scream at her with such acuity since...

... Since before she claimed her own life.

She wipes at her eyes, notes they're red-rimmed and sunken in her reflection. She hasn't slept well. She supposes she won't sleep very well again for a long, long time, then turns back at a thought. A single, stray thought that brings her eyes to rest upon the Rakuyo and Evelyn that even now seem to sleep comfortably in their places beside her bed.

It would be so simple... she steps forward, and before she knows it, she has the sword in her hands, and is raising it up. The bite of cold, sharp metal against the side of her neck is as familiar as it is dreadful; she vaguely remembers how it felt when it severed through the muscle and tendons, what it felt like when the blood rushed out and her mind went woozy and darkness closed in rapidly at the corners of her vision. She doesn't move her hands, though.

What would be the point? She'd just wake up again. And again. Her curse is to live with what she had done, perhaps forever. She wonders if this is how Annalise feels, fated to never find rest, no matter how the journey of life wears on. It's fitting, the greatest among the Vilebloods would end up having to share that same, sorry fate.

The sword drops with a clatter, Maria turns back, unsure when she even got dressed, but knowing she needs to leave. Her bed suddenly has too many poor memories associated with it - a pity, considering how recently some good ones were made there - and she hits the town.

Right to a tavern.

Right to the alcohol.

She surrounds herself with several bottles, and she drinks. It's gotten harder and harder to lose her mind into the sway of the alcohol since her blood started to burn with a fire so similar and yet so not to the burn of the Vileblood corruption. Yet, still she tries.

Bottle in one hand, the other covering her eyes, she drinks, and that's how she'll be found the entire rest of the day, in a sorry state, trying so hard to forget.]

[4: Wildcard!]

[For all your Not-Memshare Needs! Maria is doing Pile's Plantagorium, Hold Birb Gently, and Dorchacht Devil for quests.

Anyone who wants to get in on the first prompt there, you can message me through PM, at Reslari at Reslari#9561 on Discord, or hit up my plotting post. You can also plot with me for anything else!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[That statement gets a laugh, the kind that's really meant for dark humor. The faux cheer is no better, most likely.] Oh, excellent. I'm madder than you are right now!

[She covers her face with a hand, then... looks at him, after a moment, one eye peeking out from between her fingers, her head tilted just enough to see him. It wasn't that funny of a joke... to her. Honestly, she was almost serious.] And you're bragging about it?

[She sighs. She can't even run with the joke - not that she would, really, anyway, but her energy's too low for even that.] So now what, you sit here and babysit me until I sober up and then, what? What's to stop me from just returning to the pub?

No, bragging sounds different. That's a cheerful but terrible revelation, thank you.

[But that is a good point. One that Alucard's silence makes it clear about having the answers.]

Honor system, honestly.

And you think you can trust me for it? [Her fingers close back again over her eyes, and she folds a leg up, so her knee is bent, then slowly moves it back and forth in an idle motion.] I've bad news about my habits in this place.

I don't have anything else I can do, unless you really want me hovering over you constantly.

[Alucard rests his hand on his chin, observing quietly.]

But I will fuck off if you insist.

I'll pass.

[A pause.]

On both of those. I'm sure you'll find out soon enough I'm not good company at the moment and get bored of your own volition.

I'm afraid that's challenge accepted, Maria. We'll see how long I last.

Well, if you don't get bored talking to me, you may get bored if I fall asleep. [Which actually sounds like a half-decent idea. Some little part of her yells that sleeping while exposed like this is a bad idea, but she has someone watching out, and it's unlikely anything will attack her on the lawn, unless Alucard himself deigns to do it.

Somehow, she doesn't think he's the type that would. No matter how cautious she is around others normally. And besides, the third part just doesn't... care. Maybe if she sinks into the earth and is reclaimed like the corpse she is, she can finally have the kind of rest she craves so badly. Maybe if he does kill her, he'd be doing her a favor. Put down a sick animal, before it hurts anyone else, or itself more.]

... And then I'll probably wake up with a sunburn, and hate my life yet more. [Now that she's thinking about it, she's still ghastly pale (perhaps moreso than before), and they are out in a place where the sun could use her complexion against her.]

Good thing it'll be evening soon, hm?

[The dhampir's not going to mind if Maria sleeps. If nothing else, it is a sign of trust, that no, he won't do something horrid to Maria in that time.

So to hell with it.]

Get some sleep then. I'll stick around.

You're sounding too happy about this.

[She squints, looks back down at him.

No drawing dicks on her forehead, Alucard.

Finally, she seems satisfied, and rolls back to look at the sky, once more. She doesn't fall asleep immediately, but she does close her eyes, because the exhaustion of the energy of the dream last night, and the alcohol actually are kind of kicking her ass now that she's on the ground.]

... Don't let me sleep all night. My back won't forgive me.

Vita agitas maledictus

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And bro of the year award goes to: Alucard