keep your expectations in check.

hapi, ashen wolves student. affiliated with the officers academy.

[haaapi]

#HAAAPI.    *   i guess i'm used to betrayals by now.     affiliated rp blog for hapi, ashen wolves student in the officers academy.   ✦

     *    navigation      …      stats.    ✦    current plotting.    ✦    info.

01.   hapi's canon point is suspended just before the events of cindered shadows, but details may be subject to change. for now it's fine to assume there are still rumors about a cursed girl with hapi's physical description, and that she gets ostracized by whoever can put two and two together. 02.   hapi will not mention abyss or the ashen wolves, but if you feel like your muse would have pestered her about her origins or done reasonable snooping, you can assume she called herself a prisoner of the church and left it at that.

[bigbadbaltie]

save a horse. don't ride one

[Riding/Flying +1] w/ @haaapi

[bigbadbaltie]

Oooooh, that burns. With a hand over his heart, Balthus winces and sniffs in a dramatic gesture that Hapi's savage words just might make him cry. They won't, of course-- it's nothing different between the two of them, even when he tries his hardest. What does draw a scandalous gasp from him is the mention that even in his most dire of straits... there's no offer of a ride. Sure, maybe there's mud dripping off of his face that makes him look like a swamp monster, but that's no reason to shirk the duty of giving a helping hand to a dear ol' friend! "That's alright. That's fine! You know me; I'll bet you anything I can keep up with you no sweat." Shrugging his coat off, he grimaced at the fact that the formerly white fabric was now completely soaked through with the muddy waters. Maybe this meant it was ruined, and he'd have to get another one. Either way, he slings it over his shoulder with a sigh. "If you win, we go into town and I buy you a fancy meal. If I win... you gotta be nice to me for one whole day. Whaddya say?"

Oh, and Hapi's already taking off by the time he finishes his offer. With absurdly high steps to get himself out of the sludge, he lets out a grunt of effort-- once he's finally free, he starts jogging to keep up, even as he feels like his pants are made of lead. Thankfully his belt will keep them up, a silent prayer of gratitude offered to the goddess for once in his life. Being pantsless wouldn't help, not at all. "Hey, maybe we'll get--" A huff of exertion there, picking up his speed to try and stay in step. "-- lucky, or somethin'. It's about time that I get a win under my belt; today's gonna be the day~!" Hapi's more than likely right, but you can't start beaten before you even begin. "We'll get that little ol' mare, and I betcha we'll find that flower too." ... There's a long silence that comes, his brows furrowing further and further as he wracks his brain. "Say... what's that flower even look like?" @haaapi

[haaapi]

with what money...is what hapi had almost volleyed back. but she lets it go, knowing balthus's casual passion for making losing bets, and tucks away her free dinner for later when she inevitably wins.

because she does. effortlessly, on horseback, although to his credit balthus keeps up faster than any man weighed down by mud could. he has always been anything but average—she knows.

with a tug of reins hapi dials back the canter of her steed, just enough for him to maintain his tail. it wouldn't do to lose him out in the wild, too. when all was said and done, reimbursement for a runaway horse wouldn't set her back any meals, but all the bounties on his head couldn't replace balthus himself.

"glowy," hapi answers his question with a shrug. "i don't know. i figured it was yellow from how they described it, though. if we actually finish this job, i'll do you one better and make it a week of customer service voice hapi, since apparently i'm depriving you."

she's spent too much time with balthus today. his bad habits are trying to become hers. still, if it was in the stars for them, it would have to come after the more pressing issue of the lost mare.

hapi is no hunter; smaller game would have long escaped her, but the loudly trampled brush gives way to a larger clearing within an expanded thicket, sunlight dappling above their heads as the canopy of leaves grew denser. she stops her steed entirely. left, right, she glances about for more clues. it affords balthus more than enough time to reach her side.

"damn. can't tell which way it went from here. unless..." her gaze squints at the ground, but the newfound shade from their surroundings made her search of it less forgiving. "do you see any tracks down there?"

[milafaithful]

winds of paradise

Hapi + Silque, any +1 (herald)

[milafaithful]

Careful, careful now! The cleric slowly picks her way barefoot across the beach, balancing a tall glass in each hand, both filled to the brim. When her own drink overflows under her clumsy care, sweet, cool liquid running down her palm, she brings it up to her lips, the sharp citrus sapping at the heat of the sun overhead.

But, ah, it would be impolite to do that with someone else's order, wouldn't it? So Silque keeps her focus on the cup in her spare hand, willing herself to keep it, well, mostly intact.

"Here you are, Hapi!" As she sets the glasses down on the rickety table, Silque's eyes curve into gentle crescents. "I do hope most of your drink is still in there, haha... But the stall owner also gave me these!"

Fishing around in the stack of napkins, she produces two paper umbrellas, only a little crumpled. The green one plops into her own mint lemonade, and finally, sighing happily, the girl settles into a reclining chair with drink in hand.

The sunlight is almost a physical weight, warming her from the inside out. It's second nature to go boneless against the seat, tension draining from her shoulders. Silque closes her eyes, content, but she can almost still see the scene before her, serene and perfect — the waves, lapping softly against glittering sands; the blue sky, faintly streaked with cloudy ribbons; and of course, the people she shares Mila's blessings with, enjoying the sun without a care in the world.

"It's important to stay hydrated, right?" She laughs, delighted. "Now we can really rest without worry!"

@haaapi !!

[haaapi]

"still full enough to me. thanks, sil." silsil? silquey, silky... ky? she'll have to come back to it when more inspiration strikes.

but not now. clear waters, blazing sands, and no clergy in sight—well, at least not that of seiros, which was respite enough as far as hapi was concerned. taking the drink with one hand, the other hooks a finger into her sunglasses to flick them down the bridge of her nose, revealing two eyes the same color as her own lemonade. they peer at silque's mint one. the hot pink umbrella that goes into hapi's drink seems to complement the other's, and hapi pantomimes a toast between glasses.

"what'd you get? looks all green, but good." her sunglasses snap back up proper with another flick. then her lips wrap around the curly little straw. yum, peach.

the cold sip revitalizes her. parsing the picturesque peace around them, hapi almost takes a deep breath of seaside air, but she catches herself, knowing how little and how much might be too close to a sigh. right—even in another dimension, there's no end to that part, no real relaxation to be had for her. still, maybe she can live vicariously through silque, whose laughter and winning smile could make every day feel like a vacation.

hapi stretches back on her seat, one reclined leg crossing over the other. "delicious drinks, nice company, a pretty beach. i know we should probably question the super suspicious orb, but i kind of don't want to go back."

[haaapi]

* MY MONSTROUS CURSE SUMMONED THE FELL DRAGON DUKE OF THE NORTH WHO MADE ME HIS FELL CONSORT?!

herald '26 ✦ (via cinderedscans) do NOT reupload to other sites. please support the original work! ♡ hapi & alear

[haaapi]

the tome in question was said to boast a gaggle of miraculous spells that could raise or ruin a man. naturally, that also meant it was forbidden. the shady lady herself might have jumped at a chance to flip through its pages. running the gamut from curatives to curses, it called for a conquest that few mages could resist.

hapi's interests sat with the latter. it was her curse, namely, that had gone without any leads or countermeasures for as long as she could remember. not even the dubious texts scrounged out from the library of abyss had done a thing for her plight.

no, that trail had gone cold, so the hope for a cure was a dream she had abandoned long ago. better to anticipate worse and be pleasantly surprised than expect anything from a world like theirs. still—with time to kill, and a warm body who had been willing to take the plunge for a card alongside her, scoping out the goods was worth enough of a shot.

"yeah, we're here for the membership. couples special, right?" hapi breezes to the doorman, casually looping an arm through alear's to sell the story. the award for best liar went to a different wolf, but the only thing meaner than hapi's tongue was her poker face. after all, a shop with a bouncer must mean business. she can't afford anything less.

"an item?" he tosses a glance between them. "you two?"

and it lands a bit warier on hapi. figures. he isn't the book she's here for, but read him all the same she does. like anyone else who knows the rumors, he's wondering who in their right mind would risk it all with her. hapi shrugs. "what can i say? a guy who keeps me happy isn't one i need to sigh around. monsters don't scare him, either. tell him, 'leary." / @reddaydreaming

[haaapi]

herald plotting

just throwing out a potential idea for bow +1 with hapi, who is an ashen wolf. the angle is to con the client with "game" meat to inflate the ledgers without thinning the regular animal population at home. hapi's curse allows her to summon monsters. among these are giant birds, giant crawlers, giant wolves, and wild demonic beasts. however, she cannot control which will appear.

i'm thinking that she's just made a sarcastic quip about monster meat that your muse hears but unironically wants to pursue. maybe they just care a lot about the ethics or commission, maybe they just REALLY want to kick some monster ass, etc.

the main issue is that hapi's relationship with her curse will make her picky with this prompt. they'd have to be someone adamant enough about this idea for the both of them, as well as someone capable of convincing hapi that they're strong enough to kill monsters. i can be reached through tumblr messages for further discussion. thanks!

[haaapi]

hand holding

hapi is the delinquent side of this prompt, unjustly accused as the culprit for a recent monster attack. for the "model" side of the prompt: i think this will work best with a muse who's either nosy, chivalrous, or implicated enough by the attack to care about the truth, because hapi doesn't.

it'd be a bonus if they also cared about challenging hapi on why she doesn't, until hapi decides to drop said truth on them. because what can your muse really do afterwards with it?

if you'd like your muse to encounter someone jaded for whatever reason (maybe you want their views to be challenged, maybe you want them to befriend hapi, maybe you're bored), she has no shortage of criticism on how administration runs the monastery. it usually sits beneath her general apathy, but i think this prompt could bring it out.

i'm interested in exploring the lack of empathy from authority—how its gross negligence and misplaced priorities on governing garreg mach have miserably failed residents like hapi, who continue to face discrimination and harassment on multiple fronts.

below the cut are other prompts i'd be open to if anyone's interested or needs an unaffiliated muse, but less specific in direction:

authority +1

hapi got mistaken for faculty, so she's making card towers with a handful of invitations. the ability to play god with them might briefly amuse her. she doesn't actually care who the invites go to, it'll just be another internal snub @ authority and how the people in charge get to decide how 'worthy' others are.

secret shop

she heard rumors of a book in stock that might help cure her curse. if you didn't get to hold her hand from the other prompt, we can either make them do it here or figure out another approach to sneak into the shop.

poisoning

AKA if you just want your muse poisoned, she's the unaffiliated warm body for the job.

[haaapi]

* the second most dangerous game

herald '26 ✦ bow +1 hapi & henry

[haaapi]

not even a life of piety could humble the acolytes from gold to be made and face to be saved. they had changed their tune so easily. it was no new behavior, but laughable nonetheless. add enough coin to any equation and the deal was as good as sealed.

while divvying up the plots of hunting ground between its unpaid laborers, the church had placed great emphasis on pleasing the client. hapi would have thought it to mind the monastery's own food sources until it dawned upon her that the very wealthy could simply import supply directly onto their plates. and disillusioned with the order again she became.

"we're never gonna meet our quota." how many wheelbarrows was it again? ever the optimist, her flat voice cuts through the air as plainly as her misfired arrow, echoing after the third pheasant that had just escaped their pursuit. hapi squints at its shrinking silhouette, shielding her eyes from the midday sun.

the sole highlight of today's mission may have been the company she kept—the only company, in fact, who had not groveled on their knees to be paired with anybody except her. hapi had quickly learned that for better or for worse, there was never a dull moment with henry. more promising yet, he was among the exceptional few who had yet to treat her like a freak. whether that was because he fit the bill himself or not was neither here nor there.

"it's all the same when you're hungry enough. skin the prettiest rabbit out there and it'll look like any other hunk of meat." she muses, dry as today's arrowheads. "if we could send a few monsters their way and be done with it..."

yeah, right. they would sooner feed on the client before the other way around. hapi lowers her hand from her face and perches it on a cocked hip, tossing a glance over to her hunting partner.

"hey, what's that look for? relax, henny penny. i was kidding." she sobers and prepares to roll out an apology, taking the lapse in henry's pace as an indicator that she would have to temper her tongue around him, too. a pity. / @corvusi

[haaapi]

herald plotting

just throwing out a potential idea for bow +1 with hapi, who is an ashen wolf. the angle is to con the client with "game" meat to inflate the ledgers without thinning the regular animal population at home. hapi's curse allows her to summon monsters. among these are giant birds, giant crawlers, giant wolves, and wild demonic beasts. however, she cannot control which will appear.

i'm thinking that she's just made a sarcastic quip about monster meat that your muse hears but unironically wants to pursue. maybe they just care a lot about the ethics or commission, maybe they just REALLY want to kick some monster ass, etc.

the main issue is that hapi's relationship with her curse will make her picky with this prompt. they'd have to be someone adamant enough about this idea for the both of them, as well as someone capable of convincing hapi that they're strong enough to kill monsters. i can be reached through tumblr messages for further discussion. thanks!

[haaapi]

* felis fuscus // felis alba

herald '26 ✦ spectacle, elegance yuri & hapi

[aubins]

it’s nothing short of a miracle. yuri can’t remember the last time he was this close to an animal without wanting to scratch his own face off.

of course, this miracle in particular just happens to be named hapi.

“what can i say? i just can’t help being charming. even cats can’t resist.” which isn’t false, strictly speaking. his fondness for animals generally doesn’t go unrequited upon first meeting, though when rebuffed a few too many times by a mockingbird trying his best to temper the itching of his nose, even the most curious of strays learn it’s for the best to try their luck elsewhere.

the uncomfortable build up to a sneeze still creeps up on them every few minutes. but relief, mercifully, comes in the form of a wave of hapi’s hand rather than the usual follow through. the cat in his lap is pliant enough in the absence of said sneezing, limp in his hands even when he goes to lift him to hold out to her. the second draws closer as he does, brushing briefly against his ankle, violet gaze pinned firmly on where yuri’s hands hold ross.

“they seem comfortable enough,” he offers, a brow raising. “want to give it a shot?” ross meows in what might be agreement, though he blinks a little warily at hapi; bobo only nudges her head into his ankle until he finally sets the other down between him and his fellow wolf. “well, they’re the only ones that don’t look like they’ll maul your face off the moment you get close, at least.”

[haaapi]

the miracle named hapi isn't too sold. restorative glow dimming from her palm, she raises a brow right back, then chances a downward peek. bobo slinks through yuri's ankles with an appreciative purr after her brother's been liberated. ross twitches his whiskers and glances back up at yuri to gauge their mood on it all.

“and still risk getting it clawed off? i know it's not all pretty like yours, but i still wanna keep my skin on.” despite that, there's truth in the observation. hapi slinks out of her seat and hunches to a crouch, elbows hooking over her knees. the pair of cats regards her like an entirely different creature.

“bobo. bo peep. bonbon,” she calls, monotone, still feeling around for a nickname that sticks. the cat with the lighter coat stares back at hapi like she's an idiot. a look that just screams my name is bonnie, stupid. how dare a human address her as anything less? and rose-colored eyes toss their half-lidded glance back up at yuri as if to say, see?

“sheesh. talk about cold shoulder.” but hapi tries her luck with the other one. the black cat blinks and tilts his head, not seeming opposed per se, but still sizing her up—risk versus reward. “c'mon, rossie-ross. i know you small animals can smell death and all that, but it's not me.”

she'd argue that she doesn't smell at all. surely just the same as yuri? and from where she's squatting, hapi holds up an open palm to them, wiggling her fingers expectantly. “gotta seal the deal, yuri-bird. you have anything they'll nibble from?”

[bigbadbaltie]

save a horse. don't ride one

[Riding/Flying +1] w/ @haaapi

[bigbadbaltie]

Hah! Horse riding? No problem. Hapi always made it look really simple, with how she could so easily skirt around the battlefield without breaking a sweat-- granted, she'd been doing it for... as long as Balthus could remember, honestly. He's a sharp man, though, if he does say so himself; there's no way he couldn't pick up on it quickly. The first 1/8th of a mile goes swimmingly. No hang-ups, no obstacles, and he almost thinks he could start falling in love with something this relaxing. "We're lookin' for some weird flower, right?" He calls over to his companion as he leans over his steed's side, ignoring the fact that it lets out a pitiful little wheeze as it struggles to keep itself upright. Baltie baby's a big man, you see. "I don't see why it's gotta be us-- WOAH!" Clearly, this horse has decided: No more. No more! I'm done with this! Nobody appreciates my hard work, and for a reward, they put this fat lard of bricks on my back?! No! It whinnies and kicks backwards without a warning, which has Balthus leaning forward to wrap his arms around its neck as a plea for mercy. "Woah, buddy. Woah! It's okay! H-HEY DON'T DO THAT! I'M GONNA FALL, MAN! Y-- WAH!" It doesn't care. It shows no mercy. And with a final buck and rising onto its hind legs, it whinnies again in what sounds almost like victory when Balthus slowly slides off and lands face-flat in the mud. The horse takes no time to begin sprinting wildly through the brush, sparing not a single look back for the life it so eagerly leaves behind. Nevermind the once-white coat that is now a beautiful doodoo brown, Balthus's face is absolutely caked in mud. "Owwww, ow... What the hell?! Yours never does that. What's mine's problem?" Wiping his face with his sleeves, it does absolutely nothing to fix the mud problem. "Aw, god damn it. Are we gonna have to go wrangle him? I don't think we can just. Leave 'em. Not without gettin' charged for em... And you already know I don't have that kinda dough on me." @haaapi

[haaapi]

haaa. horse riding.

baltie baby's still just a man, you see. a man who just has to have what he wants when he wants it, ever indulgent to his own detriment. today it's the horse he picks, tomorrow it's a shiny coin. the day after that, it'll be the once-in-a-lifetime coolest pair of gauntlets he'll swear he'll ever lay eyes on in this life, never mind how many times the big bad wolf ends up crying wolf himself.

from the peace of her saddle, hapi just chews on the noa fruit she's holding while she watches the full spectacle unravel. her mount stares along in like fashion, a sprig of hay undulating from the corner of its snout. aaand... sploosh. there it is.

all right. looks like the mud's finally settled. and for that matter, good thing it was her turn with the weird hat balthus had insisted on sharing between their heads for the occasion. hapi tosses the rest of her fruit in front of her, letting her companion catch it from the air with a satisfied snort.

“wow. yours was a mare, right? not even she wanted you.” figures. big baltie didn't just underestimate his weight; he didn't even recognize the touch of a female. a little tut from hapi and her mount starts trotting forward—but while she does tug her reins to slow beside her ‘unhorsed’ friend, she doesn't come to a halt.

“i'd let you ride with, but i don't want you getting me all gross and muddy.” and she's not telling him to strip. ew. not that he even had on a shirt beneath that coat to have fended off a little more of the grime. “get those steps in, b. that flower's as good as gone, but i'm not footing your bill.”

what's another debt on his head, she could have said, but no. (no, truthfully, she'd never leave balthus in the dust.)

so hapi steers in the lost mare's direction and gives the heel of her boot a bounce. her horse starts into a light canter, diving into the brush after it, and she doesn't bother throwing back a glance. he'll follow. there was no keeping down the king, after all.

[haaapi]

* felis fuscus // felis alba

herald '26 ✦ spectacle, elegance yuri & hapi

[haaapi]

one can't come near them, the other can't get them to come at all. the café gone abuzz is garreg mach's newest slice of paradise for anyone who's into cats, but it still doesn't solve either wolf's problem at large.

...one of them, though, gets to enjoy some minute relief. and only thanks to his right hand (that's to say her literal one) of the day.

“this sucks.” hapi complains, voice even flatter than normal somehow. she's always keeping herself in check, it never stops for her, but she'd still say it's taking everything she has right now not to sigh. the moment it looks like yuri-bird's got another sneeze coming on, the point of her chin digs deeper into her propped palm while her other hand waves through the air like she's shooing away the light glowing from it.

“i wanna hold rossie-ross too.” never mind the only other cat that's been brave enough to slink this close, tailing after the first cat like his shadow. both of them have taken to yuri, who she still has to keep at a few arms' length. most of the other cats have more or less congregated at the opposite side of the café. hapi's lost count of the number of slit-pupil daggers keeping tabs on her from afar. “why do you get to hog him and bobo?”

it's the kind of greed they must condemn in the book of seiros, not that hapi has ever cracked it open to check. but anyone who knows her and her condition enough won't think anything of her griping—offhanded remarks fired into the air just to fill it with something less unpleasant than beasts. by how much was simply left up for debate. / @aubins

[haaapi]

hapi help me my room smells like fart and i cant get it out please

think about it this way, b. now you can tell people you finally have gas money.

[lynarc]

[haaapi]

—

The visiting chamber that they've herded her into is furnished just enough to accommodate three, and maybe they think the close quarters will keep her in check from inviting any larger guests, not seeming to realize that she's lived here for three years just fine without their help. What's worse is that they couldn't be any more obvious about how they've surrounded the perimeter of the shoddy chapel with the rest of their numbers.

The pair of knights they've sent in haven't let Hapi out of their sight since they walked in. She leans back on the seat for two, helping herself to the elbow room as she gets an earful of their questions. The chair across from her seats a man who's got a few shinier baubles on his armor than the rest of the unit, including that of the gangly young squire standing beside him, which must make said unit his.

She can't tell if she's especially shocked to have been sought out by a bunch of important people. A bumpkin like her wouldn't know their coat of arms from any other graffiti, but they’d called themselves the Knight of Seiros. To begin with, what exactly made her so worth finding?

But ever since nine year-old Hapi set foot outside her parents' village, stupid child hooked on wanderlust that she was, everybody who's found her since has wanted something. The first person to cage her had demanded the most so far—eight years of her life she'll never get back—but Hapi is ready as she'll ever be to see if this Church's orders are about to beat that woman’s.

“—I guess it does sound pretty bad. I got fed, though. A roof over my head.” Idly, she rolls said head backwards, letting her gaze land on the ceiling's lattice. “Leaked even less than this one.”

From the disparity in their postures, it’s clear that the head knight cares far more about propriety than she does. Steel boots flat on the ground, ankles uncrossed, back straight and thick as a cedar's trunk. Beside him, though, the greenhorn squire has the pluck to interject:

"But, you were still experimented on!"

Hapi is stretching, arms lingering above her head for a few moments. For another one, it looks like she's about to yawn, and she can hear their breaths catch.

“So what?” But instead, she picks back up where the squire had left off. “Aren't you gonna carry out your own ‘procedures’ for all that stuff you're telling me about, too?”

Call it procedures, call it experimentation. It's all the same. They all want to use magic on her and see how her blood reacts. “Bet your boss won't let me walk if I change my mind, though. I wouldn't make it halfway to the next village before you made me a jailbird again.”

Meaning Hapi could just forget about finding a second secluded church to live out the rest of whatever life she had in peace.

“You don't trust us,” the knight tries to say delicately, “nor anyone else, for that matter.”

“Getting kidnapped kind of does that to you. What, you don’t have any issues?”

“I can understand where you're coming from—”

Hapi almost thinks about sighing at the man right then and there to make a point. It'd make things far easier.

“—but you'll never get anywhere better in life like that. Are you happy with staying alone? With never being able to return to your village?”

And minutely as it does, that much does snag Hapi’s attention. She thought she was speaking to a knight, not a preacher.

She shifts in her seat to something that passes off as a little more proper, but she still slants against the armrest to prop her chin on a palm. Rose-colored eyes stare impassively at the older man.

“Yeah, so... here's the thing. What's ‘better’ to you?” She asks. Without waiting for his answer, she starts examining the nails of her free hand. “Getting promoted to a super-knight? Starting a big family and growing old together? I don't need all that. I'd either just want this curse gone, or be left alone.”

If the Church can't provide her one or the other, they're useless. All of these burly knights, dispatched for one girl when they could be out there handling real problems. Returning lost children to their families. Feeding the needy. Saving the world or whatever it was they thought they were signing up for when they were all the same age as the squire in front of her—it takes a chump to be a hero, but a special kind of stupid if you're gunning for Church's Chump. A bit belatedly, Hapi notices that the boy is peering at her more intently than earlier.

“Looking for scars?" Maybe they're not totally stupid. Dark magic is a nasty thing. It gives and takes, no matter how willing the participant. That destruction in tandem with all the familiarity might be why Hapi uses it herself—and she’s good at it, too. Who'd want someone like that running around unchecked? “I don't have any where you can see them.”

Dark magic knows her body better than anyone ever will. When Hapi turns her full gaze to the squire, he stiffens at its candor. There's nothing particularly scant about the cuts of her clothes, but they're still generous enough to make most people think there'd be something on display to show for the hurt.

“If you’re still curious, you’re out of luck. I'm not in that kind of business.” The remark is just off-color enough to flood the squire’s face with it.

“N-no, I—” But knowing he's lost to her tongue, he resigns himself to keeping his paws in front of him and turning obediently to his master.

The older knight doesn't humor Hapi’s brazenness at all. He pinches his nose and draws out a sigh, dangling the luxury right before her nose without even realizing. Humans take so much for granted.

“Look, I can tell you're a smart girl.” Oh, great. He must think she’s just so starved for praise. "Spells and curses aside, you wouldn't have made it this far on your own if you weren’t."

She wouldn't have, no. That same intuition is exactly why she’s long suspected that the blades on their belts have already decided how this meeting would go from the start. It was fun for a second or two, but Hapi feels her interest waning in record time.

“A little skepticism is healthy,” the knight continues, “but at your age, so’s relying on others a little more. The Church has dealt in holy magic for generations. You don't know for sure that it can't cure you, do you?”

No, she doesn't. He got her there.

But at this rate, she really doesn’t think she can take any more of the man’s life coaching. So without further ado, Hapi finally stands with another lazy stretch.

She’d only wanted to make these Church people squirm a little—give them another story to tell with all the other ones that must be floating out there about her, a strange girl who makes monsters appear when she breathes the wrong way. She wasn't really going to give them a hard time, illusion of choice or not.

“All right, all right. Enough preaching. You promised you'd protect me, right?” And knights have a better chance at keeping their word than strange women in the forest. “Let's just go.”

Because ultimately, he’s right. Hapi doesn't know if this Church of Seiros has the means to find a cure for her curse. There's just as little to suggest that they don't as there is to suggest that they do.

She knows she can't find out until she leaves this place, too—because like it or not, there really are some things she can’t achieve alone.

By the time everyone's saddled up and ready to go, there isn’t much to load into the carriage, but Hapi watches the squire from before place some bread with her clothes. An olive branch, maybe. She couldn't care less either way, but she won't say no to a snack.

“I’m sure this goes without saying, but while we’re on the road—”

“Keep your expectations in check and I'll do the same with my sighing. Like I've been doing before you came along,” she punts in just because she can. “‘Kay?”

She thinks that this has to be the most she's talked in one day for years. It almost makes her sigh.

“I'm beat. If that's all, I'm taking a nap in the back.”

—

Burrow Street is darker than any other place she's been.

When Hapi gets dumped there, it's done with the lesson that what she doesn’t know will hurt her later. Just because they hadn't found a cure, after they offered to help, she'd have to stay in hiding for the rest of her life. 

It was for the greater good, they'd said. They were protecting people on the surface, they'd said. But she knew right away that as far as the charitable church was concerned—

“‘Better you than me’, right?”

Hapi bites back a few different types of curses with that mutter, hands digging into the pockets of her skirt as she slinks off to learn more about her new birdcage. The first thing she picks up is that the roofs here leak even more than the chapel’s.