he’s been watching her for a while now,
sitting inside that room with her knees
pulled to her chest, wondering, hoping
her royal protector will come to save
her soon.
she draws a lot, he’s found that
out, and it’s always pictures from
memory. whether it’s a scribble
labelled mother or a full page
with the word daddy or corvo,
every mark has a meaning.
the outsider knows how scared
emily must be. maybe she could
use a friend… or maybe even a
little excitement to lighten things.
the world slows, twists for the time
being, and he steps from the void
and into the real world, fingers
laced behind his back and brows
arched in false concern. the god
looms for a moment, glancing
over her shoulder, and then
gives a small cough to catch
her attention.
the cat is undoubtedly beautiful. more beautiful,
even, than dunwall tower, emily thinks. but it's
not the sort of place you'd want to live in——
no, it's too beautiful for that.
when her grief subsided enough that she might
get up and wander, she wandered; it helped to
keep the sad thoughts at bay, just for a while,
even if she hadn't been allowed to really talk
to the other ladies who lived there.
( madame prudence wouldn't allow the girls
to talk to her, and the pendleton brothers
insisted that she leave the whores be. )
but then the golden cat opened its doors to
business once more and no longer could
little emily wander as she once had; especially
after two nearly successful attempts at escape.
it is when locked away and left to her own
devices, that that dreadful tempest of emotion
comes rushing back, surging through her like a
wave. it undulates like the sea——first frustration,
rage that fumes, then guilt, helplessness, and
finally she is only sad.
dirtied knees pulled to frill-adorned chest, the
sadness creeps with the cold up from the floor
and into her bones, spilling over cheeks salty
and raw not long after. in these past six
months little emily has cried so much she
wonders at how she has not yet drowned.
the air around her feels heavy. full. frigid.
faintly familiar——she has felt it in her dreams
before but she can't quite recall it. and then,
a foreign voice pulls her from her suffocating
sorrows;
emily uncurls and rises without really realizing
it. she turns, slowly, and now she stands face
to face with...
"how do you know my name?"