middaeg | There's nothing like a trail of blood to find your way back home.

Entry tags:

bloodborne: lady maria

There's nothing like a trail of blood to find your way back home.

Who: Lady Maria and CLOSED prompts
When: Auguril
Where: All Over
What: Closed stuff that doesn't quite fit in anywhere else
Warnings: Oh boy. A Witch overburdened with magic hallucinations due to a weak Bond exacerbating underlying mental health issues, including depression, PTSD, and suicidal ideation tendencies. Also general Bloodborne warnings, because I'm sure stuff about her past is going to come up.

Individual threads in headers below. If you would like one, hit me up on Plurk:

Reslari at Discord: Reslari#9561 or at my plotting comments located here.

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Mm, well, anything that you want done because the task isn't your favorite then.

[He thinks he's made his point though, and so Alucard's attention returns to food. Perhaps it's a little unorthodox to dunk cheese into a little bit of honey, but he does.

A good balance of sweet and salty from the semi-firm cheese. He can be content with that, but--

--weird, how Maria suddenly turns to look. It's rather like a cat staring at something that isn't there.]

I suppose that's correct, for better or worse.

We'll figure out what needs to be done when we get out there, but I suspect it will be much weeding.

[Not that her garden is overrun, but it is large, which means that there are usually quite a few weeds that need to be nipped off every day.

She doesn't comment about his eating habits. She just bites into a third of the little snacks and then resumes sipping tea. For someone Maria's size, three of those things shouldn't be nearly enough, and yet, she doesn't make a movement to get any more.

Instead, she closes her eyes, trying to will the little hallucinations at the corners of her vision away, so she'll stop glancing around like she's expecting something or someone else to walk into the kitchen. Or, more accurately, like they're already there and simply trying to hide out of her sight.]

Feel free to leave at any time if it bores you. It's not going to be a particularly riveting day.

[It may be more interesting for him, than her, considering he has to watch her jump at shadows and stare at things that aren't there, and listen to voices that aren't his.]

Weeding is fine. I fully expect at least a few of the weeds to have some level of sentience and demand more work before they're properly destroyed.

[Alucard hopes that it'll be a good distraction at any rate. It is becoming all too clear that Maria is in need of that much, and it makes him think. Think about other good distractions, ways to force her out of the city.

His own eyes remain on Maria, but the concern is somehow muted. Just enough. A trick learned from growing up in the house he did.]

I'd like a little time of out my own house, I think. I've been sleeping in the basement with Trevor since Sypha departed, and I'm rather sick of those four walls.

You've been here too long. Most weeds are fairly easy to deal with... and if they are stubborn... well, we have magic for that.

[She's not really admonishing, but she does almost - almost - sound amused at the idea of sentient weeds.]

It does get oppressive after a while, doesn't it? I can even have windows in my room to let in the light, and it's still too... quiet.

[But he knows that. She purses her lips.] ... And the quieter it gets, the noisier it gets.

Perhaps, but maybe I think we both need a bit of a fight.

[Low stakes, enough to make them sweat a little. Nothing more.]

One's own mind is always the worst associate to have in these situations.

Ah, perhaps we do. I need more excuses to expend mana, anyway. [She reaches up, pinches at the bridge of her nose. The Bond hasn't failed to the point of migraines yet, but... it's getting close. There's a lot of pressure in her head many days.]

... And especially now.

[Once she's done massaging her nose, she tips the teacup to her lips. Only a bit left now, then, and they can get their work day started, so to speak.]

--Perhaps it the weather is good this weekend, we can go on a small excursion?

[Something to look forward to. But also something to pin in memory, with any lucky.]

If you need anything else, you need only ask.

There's nothing you can do, Alucard. [She shakes her head, voice slightly muffled by the teacup.] Even going out and expending magic is only a temporary fix, and could even make the problem worse, eventually.

[Like the way water rushes back to a puddle after a carriage splashes it out, she's pretty sure it would just build right back up within a day.]

... Let us just complete this task for today. If you need a spare hat for the sun, there should be one in the closet by the door. [She's not even making a vampire joke, it's just that sunburn is Very Real, and he's about as pale as she is.]

[He might snap normally, point out that he knows what a closed circuit is, but he stops. It isn't productive and only going to make it worse.

Complete the task for the day. That's probably for the best.]

--I actually will take you up on that. Less because my skin needs it, and more because I quite like the look of it on me.

[He's learned he loves sunhats with big ol' sunglasses this summer.]

[A gentle raise of an eyebrow, and then Maria sips the rest of her tea. When she places the cup back on the table, it's with a normally neutral expression. She doesn't know how much Alucard has figured out, considering how little she ever talks about what's going on with her, and how little she's talked to him about it, but the less she tries to reveal things the better, probably.

Honestly, unless he asks. But he seems to be avoiding that, and that works all the better for her.]

... Well, fashion or practicality, there should be an extra one or two there - ah... Giorno's old hats. Don't worry, he was well-groomed.

--Well groomed and subtle, or well groomed and eccentric?

[It's meant to be a joke, although Alucard knows he's treading on thin ice. Maria's given enough away for him to make an educated guess now - those she shared bonds with are gone, and she's been left alone yet again - and that aches far more than his own loss.]

I'll survive either way, I promise that much.

Very eccentric. But I think we could find at least one hat that doesn't have too much going on with it. [For as much as that was a joke, Maria takes it in stride... and rather seriously. Like. Giorno's a JoJo, man, there's probably something in there that is an insult to even the most garish of 1980s fashion.

But for all that Maria has revealed about the emptiness of her home and the way it's affecting her, it's the failure of her Bond that she's still keeping closer to her chest. She'll consider herself successful, so long as he doesn't figure that one out.]

You won't have to worry about being seen in public, at least, if we cannot find something... plain.

[She starts to her feet, and turns out of the kitchen and back toward the common areas near the front of the house.]

I'm about to have my eyes be overwhelmed, aren't I?

[This feels more like guessing at a basic truth rather than a joke.]

You'll have the memory, as well I. I think that shall be more than enough.

[With that, Alucard rises to his own feet and follows after Maria. He's quiet as he moves, still making no sound when he walks. Of all the things he didn't lose in coming here, it seems that is the one.]

Perhaps. I'm not sure how he last organized it. With luck, his plain white hat will be on the top.

[She remembers him having at least that one. Well, plain white with a black band around it, but close enough. And it would go with any outfit.

Once at the closet, she opens it to rummage about. Surely enough, there is a plain white sunhat in there, buried under... well and truly hideous colored hats, and a few other items. Maria sighs, shakes her head, and pulls it out.

It's a bit rumpled, from time just sitting in the closet, but she straightens it out as best as she can, before handing it over to Alucard.] Unless you want one of the others. You're free to look.

Mm, and I never have luck.

[Plain white is sort of the opposite of Alucard's whole thing - but he can't be picky, even if he'd just prefer a black hat.

Looking at the collection though? Alucard can barely keep a small laugh inside because good lord but there is a riot of color hat he's looking at right now.]

No, I....I rather think that this will suit. It takes a certain type of personality to make some of those other options work and work well

Yes, I do think only Giorno could really pull it off. It would make... giving them away rather difficult. [Not even for sentimental reasons, it's going to be difficult for anyone to want something this garish. Eventually, she'll probably just throw them away, if Giorno doesn't return.

Either way, she hands the hat over without another word and then motions toward the front door.] We'll just step out the front, here. It's a longer walk, but... [Well, they'll be outside, and Maria really just needs to get moving now. The house is starting to get stifling again.]

Or you can indulge in sentiment.

[Alucard does, that much is clear. His eyes linger on the riot of colors as he reaches up, adjusting the hat by just a hair.]

Lead on.

[And out they go.]

You know, you're welcome to my home if you'd like a few hours or a night away from this place.

I get out whenever I have the chance... [Not usually overnight but she does spend her time...

... Well, mostly at bars. Lots and lots of time at bars. She traces her fingertips delicately along the wall as the path juts over near it, before winding back in toward the side of the house.] The emptiness of the house is not the worst part of this.

--Out without having to be in public, let me phrase it like that.

[So, nor bars.

Alucard follows, eyes only ahead.]

I am sorry that is the case. Loneliness is my own greatest problem in these moments.

Mm, but I like the bars. [She raises an eyebrow back to look at him, and then... it falls back into place. She's pretty sure she sees him haunting around some of the bars she frequents, and she'snot sure if he's on the lookout for her, or something else.

She looks forward.] ... Loneliness is a new thing to me. I spent a very long time in isolation, with no company but the ringing of the clocktower bells, and the reminders of my failures on all sides of me. For years... decades, perhaps centuries. I know not, I was dead. But I was never lonely then. I understood I deserved it then, I think; something I believe I've forgotten in the time since I arrived here.

[Alucard's absolutely been keeping an eye on bars, mostly out of concern for Trevor. But he knows about Maria's situation now, and that means keeping an eye out for her too.]

May I impose a few interpretations of what you've just said?

[She makes a noise that might be a huff of amusement.] Sure. Let's see if I can't quantify it later to make it seem worse than anything you suppose.

[Because she still hasn't touched upon her failing Bond.]

As someone who was contemplating a deep isolation before arriving here? I felt it was an appropriate matter. Not precisely punishment for actions I had taken, but fair compensation for their gravity. I would be lonely, but there were a myriad of reasons that I ought not to be in the human world.

[There's a long, tired sigh.]

Being here disproved what I thought was true. That I never deserved what I was going to put upon myself, and that it is better in the long run to accept risk, loss, and learn to deal with loneliness without falling into a state of harm - to myself or to others.

I see. But I also see some differences. Foremost among them is that I never had a sense of loneliness before I came here. If it was anything, it was very mute. It does not take a mind-reader to know that I prefer my own space and my own company to others in the majority of situations.

[She goes to clasp her hands behind her back, thoughtful, as they wind around another path to the garden. She makes for the nearby tool shed, before she speaks again.]

But it is not me who decided upon that particular isolation. Oh, certainly, my death was my own doing; but the Nightmare? That was created by people I had wronged so deeply, that their grief, and their rage, and their thirst for justice created an eternal hell especially for all who would ever take up arms and join the Hunt. They decided I deserved it - that all Hunters deserved it - and in truth... I have no reason to argue. The wrongs I committed I did so willingly, and so, too, do those who take up the onus of the Hunt.

Light, and love, and happiness are not for people like me. I had forgotten that. I'll simply not make the same mistake again.

[The small toolshed's door creaks a little as Maria unlocks it and swings it open.] ... Well, I doubt I could make such a mistake again anyway. The voices and nightmares are doing an excellent job of reminding me constantly, day and night, of this truth.

They are though.

[Alucard's usually not this blunt. He'll engage with the other things isntead but.

No. Better to be to the point with this.]

Your past environment would have never allowed for them, that much is a truth. But you're not there anymore. You're here. You've made it clear that you want to remain here. If such things were not truly meant for you, the opportunity to access and experience them even for a fraction of time would not be made available.

[Alucard knows he's being too sharp. He doesn't care.]

Everything else can be worked through. I cam here having done the worst thing I could have ever done, I've had my losses, and yet here I am all the same.

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whomthebelltolls - 2020-09-02 10:53 (UTC) - Expand

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