middaeg | ( closed ) july catch-all

[ While sharing too much information about food poisoning isn't ideal, all things considered, it's relatively benign, and he's glad Howl takes it with stride. Even if he wasn't expecting such a... dramatic flair about it. This is a different demeanor than the man he'd initially met in the Coven. ]

Dance with the Angel of Death? Why do I feel as though you've shared a few dances with her yourself? [ He resumes working, handing off branches at a faster rate than before, now that he's got something of an idea of which crops are at their peak. He looks at Howl curiously. It's obvious his appearance changed since the last time they spoke, but he didn't bring it up. It wasn't any of his business, but he is, admittedly, curious. He shakes his head. ]

Unfortunately for you, plant, that's hardly a secret. [ Back to Howl. ] I did notice you changed your look drastically. Is there a reason?

I have. Sometimes by choice, sometimes not.

[ Howl returns Siegfried's curious look with a grin, instantly regaining his good mood. After a moment, he takes a seat on the ground, folding his long, thin legs underneath him and setting the branch he's working on in his lap.

Siegfried is asking about him, about his hair. He may as well answer honestly before the shrub does it for him. It's regrettable that so many people saw him that first week he was here, hideous and shameful. At least there's nobody here to eavesdrop on this conversation aside from the plants. ]

This is how I'm meant to look. It's how I was before I arrived, but the spells I used to correct my appearance were nullified by my transport, apparently. [ Finishing a branch, he takes the next one but avoids eye contact. ] Thankfully, it isn't too expensive to find a similar enchantment via potion in Aefenglom.

I see. Not that my opinion matters, but I think you pull off both colors well.

[ Says he, who knows absolutely nothing about fashion or aesthetic and despite having Beautiful Anime Hair™, only the basics of grooming. ]

Still, I'm glad you were able to secure an enchantment to give you the color you prefer. It must have been a morale boost to find it.

[ At some point, he's clipped enough branches that removing the individual stems becomes more important, so he gathers a bunch of them, sits opposite to Howl, and begins removing them.

For a long moment, there's silence, and Siegfried is glad for it.

Until a soft voice, barely above a whisper, cuts through.

"Tell him about the time you became a runaway fugitive so you wouldn't get executed for killing your king..." ]

[ Howl would prefer to move on from the topic of his appearance, specifically the tangential topic of how ghastly he looked when he first arrived here, so he offers no response to the compliment. Silence sets in instead. Howl wonders idly if Siegfried will say something else to continue their conversation, but he does not; Howl glances at him and sees him diligently focused on their task.

If he's the kind of person who can be comfortable in silence, all the better. With a smile, he returns to his work as well, content to listen to the ambient sounds of the midday around them - until the plants choose to interrupt again.

That statement is a bit shocking, although with it being the matters of another world, he has no reason to feel any amount of anger or fear towards Siegfried upon hearing it. He doesn't know anything about this king or the context of what happened, after all. Still - it could be a sensitive topic.

Howl raises his eyebrows, but keeps himself from looking up or pausing his work. ]

...You needn't tell me. I can leave if you want.

[ He is indeed a fan of silence. He doesn't mind conversation, and Howl is pleasant company, but his demeanor lends itself to naturally falling to silence. It's a consequence of being completely alone for so many years.

Siegfried frowns at the plants' next truth, momentarily pausing the plucking of his branch and setting it down. It isn't a pleasant memory to be brought up, to say the least, but Siegfried is more annoyed with the blatant disrespect this fauna is exhibiting more than the information itself. ]

No, it's alright. It's not exactly a secret back home, anyway. But it is highly convenient that these plants share everything but context.

[ And he feels bad that Howl is made to feel uncomfortable. ]

I didn't kill him.

I found King Josef bloody and on the ground, and I was framed for the murder by the perpetrator.

[ He continues plucking stems off now that he's set the record straight. ]

But that thing is correct, I ran away and lived in solitude— [ Which explains a lot of his social ineptitude. That and the fact that he raised himself, essentially a feral child, until he was a teenager. It was Josef who taught him knighthood and etiquette, and most importantly, it had been Josef who was the first person to show him kindness. ]

—for ten years, until I could enact a plan to bring the real murderer to justice.

[ He eventually steals a glance at Siegfried as he tells his brief story. Howl has no reason to judge him for it, but it does make him wonder if what he was told about his profession as a knight was true. If it was... surely, it would have made his situation uniquely dangerous and shameful. ]

How did you know who did it? [ He'll ask that first. He senses there's much more to this story than those few sentences. ]

[ It's odd to revisit this part of his past right now. Although it's been over ten years, the loss of his king still hurts, the memory is as vivid as if it had happened yesterday. He pauses his work for a moment. ]

The murderer was a trusted advisor named Isabella. King Josef and I had both recently learned that Isabella had been poisoning one of our villages' water supply with byproducts of a magic spell that gave her youth and beauty.

[ So Howl is right, there's a lot more to the story, and that's without getting into how that magic happened, the primal beast Sylph, and Fafnir. He just doesn't want to make it too confusing. ]

She killed him and framed me because we were the only two people who knew her secret.

[ The plants themselves have grown eerily quiet, as if they too are listening to the story, though one branch nearby sways in the wind and makes a soft sound, as if it's about to speak. ]

[ What a sad story. Siegfried had been deeply betrayed. He is not a knight - not really, not anymore, not exactly. In the same way that Howl is not really, not exactly a wizard.

The soft sound from within the branch catches Howl's attention. He picks up his head and looks into the leaves and flowers with a frown. Before it can say anything more, he plunges his hand inside and closes his hand around two tufts of fluffy blooms. By the time he's pulling his fist out, the plant is speaking, but it's talking about him now.

Nobody knows Howl's secret - the secret behind his powerful magic, it says, and upon hearing it Howl's eye widen in surprise. Because he can't tell anyone unless they already know about it. That's a term of his contract with the demon that ate his heart...!

Oh. He'd intended to get the plant to stop torturing Siegfried, but he hadn't expected it to bring up that. He looks at the branch with a shocked, empty look on his face. ]

[ The way Howl grows quiet and frowns makes him speak up, almost, to tell him that the murderer had been brought to justice, and that he serves his country once more, although not officially in knighthood. But he supposes that's inconsequential here, and the plant begins to croon softly, anyway, despite Howl's attempt to shut it up.

Siegfried has half a mind to stand up and leave so as to avoid further invading Howl's privacy, because he's had quite enough of these plants sharing such matters. Ultimately, the secret's out before he can make up his mind, and it's so beyond what he expects that he's stunned into momentary silence. Then he idly continues plucking at a stem, but he's far from productive. ]

I'd like to give you the same courtesy you gave me. You don't have to explain anything, Howl.

[ His tone is calm, and despite the metaphorical bomb that had just dropped, he feels concerned, above all. He's had run-ins with demons himself, specifically, of bringing down men who'd contracted with them and used their newfound power for evil, but Howl didn't strike him as such a man. ]

Although I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious.

[ Howl doesn't look back to Siegfried. He's still too stunned to form a proper response. The truth is that he can't explain anything to his friend, even if he had gone so far as to demand it from him. As the plant has revealed, the contract's terms prevent him from telling anyone about it who doesn't already know. And Howl can tell, as he's been able to tell for the past seventeen years of his life, that the plant hadn't included enough details for Siegfried to qualify as someone who "knows" for purposes of the curse on his tongue.

But for Siegfried to know this much is already a shock. The only other person so knowledgeable is Madame Suliman. How would people react if his secret were exposed? Would they react as she did?

Howl squishes the two flowers in his hand, mashing the fine woolen petals between his palm and fingertips. ]

...I was apprenticed to the Royal Sorceress. When she found out about my contract, she ordered it to be forcibly broken, with methods known effective for nullifying demonic power. [ Howl pauses, his brows furrowed. ] I had no intention of letting that happen, and she had no intention of giving me a say in it, so I left.

[ A flicker of confusion crosses Siegfried's features, just for a brief moment, before the realization of what might be happening dawns on him.

Initially, he thinks this may be Howl's way of politely changing the subject. But it really doesn't seem like that's what's happening here. ]

This contract sounds like it's extremely important to you.

I'm sure you know of the dangers of demonic contracts. I've had a few run-ins with demons myself, never positive, but I won't claim to know your circumstances. [ So any opinions he has are irrelevant, no matter how many bad experiences he's had with any human joining forces with the demonic. So he simply asks: ]

Is it worth it?

Edited (missed a sentence ) 2020-08-30 03:19 (UTC)

[ The wizard with his enchanted hair and skin, who normally holds his head high flashing charming smiles at passing young ladies, more confident than the most spoiled miniature dog, now sits with his back slumped and his face turned away as he listens to Siegfried's voice. He looks like a child being cornered by a beloved uncle to confess a shameful secret. ]

You heard the flowers. [ He stares into the bush blankly. ] I've never talked to anyone about this before, and I still...

[ Ideally, he'd like to flee and find a spell to make Siegfried lose all memory of this conversation. He knows it isn't out of the realm of possibility, but it would take time and money he may not have, and the situation could escalate in the time it'd take to execute such a plan.

With that in mind, Howl takes a deep breath, and the pause allows him to give it a second thought. At a minimum, Siegfried hasn't prejudged him as harshly as he'd always expected. For whatever reason, he appears willing to trust Howl with his own deep secrets. That's right - they do have mutual dirt on each other at this point, and that could be heightened if Howl felt inclined to be a snake about it, for his own self-defense.

After what felt like a long moment of internal debate to Howl, but was only a few beats of silence in reality, Howl reaches out and plunges his hand into the reeds, letting flowers slide along his skin freely. The plant titters gleefully.

Worth it! they chatter to each other. Can you say it was worth it to be born? To have loved and lost? Oh, he wants to say yes to save face, but the truth is so much more complicated.

If Howl can't yet talk about his contract, he'll let the flowers do it until he can.

He was well aware of the dangers when he made the contract. He was only ten years old, but as clever then as he is now, well-read, studying magic, and familiar with what was known of demons. His young age can be no excuse - it can only be an explanation! For he made a contract not for power, wealth, or even fame. Rather, he gave his heart to a dying demon to keep it from dying. A tender child's bleeding heart, so full of empathy that he bound himself to a demon without a second thought! ]

( closed ) july catch-all

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