♡ ⋆ ˙ ⟡ Closed RP account for Elise of Fire Emblem: Fates! Affiliated with The Officers Academy.
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Portrayal Notes:
Elise is coming from the end of the Conquest route! She may be a little spooked in regards to seeing certain Birthright units because of this, but don’t let that dissuade you!! She still wants to be friends :D
For castmates with supports, I assume they’ve reached support level A and had all the conversations that come with it by default, excluding supports locked behind Revelations. If you’d like them to start at a different point, please let me know!!!
As of now, Elise is also coming from her unpaired ending. However, if a 1st or 2nd gen fates mun comes along that would like to write Elise as their variable parent, I am more than happy to discuss it assuming it will not conflict with any TOA-canon ship she may or may not be apart of at the time of asking.
I’m aware she’s in Warriors but I personally haven’t played it and have zero clue what it’s about beyond the bits and pieces I’ve absorbed through threads, so I’ll be treating that like I do Heroes in that any relevant muses are free to recognize Elise from events in those games, but she is not the same Elise and as such has no idea what you’re talking about should you ask.
The discoveries she got from Uka sent the fox back into motion, this time walking away from the shore and further inland. She quickly passed over the forest, not wanting to be spotted by that lady and risk getting scruffed by that magic of hers a second time, slipping quietly into the next settlement as if nothing had happened. Bark carefully hidden within one of her pocks, staff in hand, a soft sigh and gentle steps- yet there was no time to waste in this little village. After all, Tamamo still sought answers and information.
And of course, resources. Chances. Victims to mess with, now that she knew they had been all truly lied to and most likely brought here for a hidden purpose. Guilt and regret had never touched her heart, but now that she knew all of that? Her delight would shoot through the roof at seeing their dismay.
Making her way through the edges of bustling streets and cramped alleys brought her to a library, at last. It was a good start- easy. No need to waste her energy talking to people, she could just grab a book and sit somewhere nice and far from everyone else. And then perhaps, if the book was interesting enough or had information she deemed important, then…she could just take it if needed. A leaf or two from outside could effortlessly hold the form of any book she laid her eyes on for a few hours, before giving in back to its original shape. It was easy, a little too easy in fact.
Which was why…she couldn’t help but feel a little excited when she spotted two women from the Academy, tail wagging gently. Tamamo had no idea who those two were- their scents suggested a pair of sisters, and that’s it. Normally the fox quickly withered at the idea of suddenly being joined by others for a task, but this…
…maybe they could offer a good enough distraction. Maybe they could help her steal a book or two, too. Or maybe she could just use them for her own enjoyment if they proved to be funny enough. She could already begin wondering if the younger one was the type to yelp if surprised by something unfortunate, a mental image that brought an oddly warm smile to Tamamo’s face. “...you’re here to look at some books, too? Hehe…I’m curious about something, so…” She pushed the library door open. “Maybe if we search together...we can find something faster.”
"Thank you for your help Elise." Camilla smiled warmly at her younger sister as they made their way to the library. "I found some books I wanted to go through yesterday, but that terrible headache just seemed to knock me out before I could do much." She shook her head.
Her hand slipped from the door handle before she could open it. She had been so clumsy all morning, something that had been frustrating her greatly.
Another hand slid to the door. Camilla paused as the Blue Lions instructor inserted herself into their conversation. Camilla didn't know much about Tamamo, but she dressed a bit too much like the Hoshidans for her comfort. The sly smile she wore wasn't doing any favors for Camilla either.
"Yes well that is the purpose of a library." Camilla forces a pleasant smile as Tamamo opens the library door. Until she knew if Tamamo could be trusted, Camilla wasn't giving any extra information. "Oh we're just going to look into some genealogy books, looking into some family trees and that." She waved her hand dismissively. "Most people find it pretty dry work, no worries if you want to go off and read on your own." She really hoped Tamamo would take the hint. She had the feeling that she wasn't that lucky.
Camilla led Elise into the library. "I'll find the books, why don't you find us a table Elise." She smiled warmly at her little sister, the smile turning weary at the sight of Tamamo following them inside.
“Of course! No need to thank me, hehe, any chance to hang out with my big sister is already the best reward EVER!” Elise beams brightly back up at her sister’s own smile as she skips along to keep with her older sister’s longer stride. It really is just so amazing they all ended up together in the same place despite being separated! Guess they must’ve all had the same idea of looking for Leo at the library. She can’t help but giggle even just at the thought of it all. The fact they all still get along so well so far from home they can find their way together like this just makes her so very happy.
What makes her less happy, though… “Are you sure you’ve been drinking enough water? Going to bed on time?” Elise frowns as they stop before the door to the library, watching as Camilla tried the door. And failed, despite it being very much unlocked. Her brows furrow together slightly. Well that’s not a good sign…
“Don’t push yourself too hard with the thinking while we’re in there! I can heal you, sure, but healing spells won’t do much if you keep getting new headaches you know—” An unfamiliar voice pushes through her lecture (both metaphorically and physically) before she can finish, leaving her momentarily stunned as she turns to face the stra—
Oh gosh she’s so fluffy and soft and she has a TAIL going wag OOOOOOHHHH GOSH SHE WANTS TO PET AND HUG AND LOVE AND SQUISH HER SO BAAAADDDDDD……..
“…Elise.”
“Huh?” The princess blinks, the sound of her own name snapping her out of her cuteness-aggression-fueled trance. Something about a table?? Get a table, right. Get a table, and don’t ask the fox person if you can pet her even though you reaaaallly really want to. Keaton said that kinda thing was rude to ask a stranger, after all. The stranger might not be a wolf, but she assumes wolf-rules and fox-rules are probably pretty much the same.
“Can do! I’ll find us a nice and big one!” Elise nods, already turning to scan the unfamiliar area for the best and most cozy (and ideally cleanest) spot. Oh, and she already sees a great one right over there! Hehe, Camilla’s gonna be so impressed with how fast a table-grabber she is. But first…
Her gaze returns to the fluffy fox friend’s face (pointedly ignoring the fluffy fox parts as she does so, for both their sakes) with a smile and friendly tilt of her head. “What’re you looking for? Even if it’s not the same thing, I can still keep an eye out for you when I’m looking for our stuff! Who knows? Maybe they’ll be next to each other! Hehe, libraries can be funny like that.”
Elise. A name to associate with the face was good. Given that she was a student, and he a professor (albeit for a different house), it seemed all the less like he was some random person trying to deceive her into something he stood to gain from. Elise hadn't seemed concerned about that possibility to begin with, but it was important to Mark that the fact that he was trustworthy be established.
...Which was the same tactic scammers usually also used. There really was no winning with the way he'd just accosted poor Elise out of nowhere. He should've thought a little further ahead.
"Well, I wouldn't say we can't sell anything," Mark mused. "We'd just have to be careful what it is we sell and how we present ourselves when doing so." He was speaking as much to himself as he was to Elise, forming his plans aloud as he explained them. Her input, or even just the act of having to explain things, would help cement the plans in his mind, or so he often found.
"But there's other ways we can help. This is an island, and even though it's been largely turned into an agrarian village, I'd bet there's still wild forage to be found if you know where to look. We could also provide services in exchange for coin or foodstuffs. I dabble in cooking myself, so if we can scrounge up enough ingredients and find a place to prepare them, I can whip something up. Having food to offer will make people a lot more amenable to us in general, I think."
Oh, wow. He’s super on top of this. She only was able to come up with the one plan off the top of her head! It’s been less than a minute, and he’s already spitting out like a million!! Guess that’s to be expected of a professor, of course. Man, she hopes she can be that good at ideas someday… Maybe she should try looking into joining one of his classes?
“Sounds like a plan to me! We could even do them all at once, kinda!” Elise nods eagerly, bouncing on the tips of her toes in barely-contained excitement. “We can look for the forage stuff along the path on our way to the job, use the job money to buy ingredients, then cook it all up! Oooh, if we’re lucky, maybe we can find someone who can pay us in ingredients directly! Or even food itself!”
The last one is a bit of a far-fetched hope (if it was so easy to get food just by putting in a little bit of work sweeping floors or stacking shelves or whatnot, they wouldn’t need to be here working for it on the stranger’s behalf) but hey! They can hope! Maybe they can get a job at a restaurant or something and they can give them all the scraps they were gonna throw out otherwise!
…Assuming this place… has…?? A restaurant…??? She knows there’s a tavern at least, and she saw Leo outside the library just a little bit ago, but as far as her town knowledge goes that’s where things begin and end.
“Where do we start? Do you have anywhere in mind? I just got here so I haven’t explored around much, so I’ll just follow your lead if that’s okay!” Hopefully at least the haver of the idea has a little better sense of a direction to offer than she does.
"Exactly," Leo smiles back. "I see you've become quite the capable young diplomat, Sister."
But what's this? A makeup mirror...?
Elise presses it into his hands, and Leo can immediately feel the latent enchantment within. Thank goodness it's not an attempt to coax him into playing dress-up, but rather some powerful magic. White magic, from what he can tell.
"I see... What a thoughtful gift. Thank you, Elise." Leo carefully opens the lid. The glass within has an iridescent shimmer to it, but its surface is dark — likely because Elise's is closed.
The prince lifts it to eye level, turning it this way and that under careful scrutiny. "Fascinating... I believe I recently read about a Faith spell with a similar function. This is Faith magic, is it not?"
“I think so!” Elise nods, flicking her own mirror open and sticking her tongue out to greet his comically-zoomed in eye with a bleh! that echoes back at them both through his own mirror. A sound which she can’t help but follow with a giggle, even if she can’t see the result of her silliness very well. Hehe, his face looks stupid from this angle. This thing is already so worth the allowance she spent on it.
“I can’t say for sure because I bought it instead of making it myself, but it’s not evil so probably!” The mirror clicks back shut with a flip of her wrist — the best part and sole reason she decided on the compact version over one with a handle. That, and transportation. Holding her staff all day every day is already kinda inconvenient on its own, she deserves to have at least one hand left free to do things.
“But if it does turn out to be evil, I’m not too worried. I’ve gotten pretty good at Faith magic while I’ve been here if I don’t say so myself, so I can probably fix it! Plus with both of us here, no evil mirror-thingy stands a chance! We’ll have it blasted into next week before you can say ‘I’m an evil mirror and I’ve come to kill you, rawr!!’”
Well, Mark had at least chosen a suitable person to help him in this task by complete coincidence. Maybe she was a bit too suitable. There was nothing wrong with her desire to help, of course-- Mark did indeed feel the same way as this girl-- but it would be better if they didn't go to quite such an extreme. Mark had spent plenty of time as the most muggable person in his army. He knew exactly the sort of spectacle the two of them would present, especially if they showed up trying to pawn an expensive earring off.
"...Um, m-maybe don't do that," Mark suggested sheepishly, a hand raised to claw at a scaly patch of skin on the back of his neck. "I'm not entirely sure there's really going to be anywhere around here that could buy something like that off of us anyway. They're... well, probably not dealing in such large amounts of gold around here, I suspect. We can find a way to take care of things without selling anything precious to you, I'd bet."
This girl presented the exact same vulnerabilities Mark himself often did, he feared. Her strong desire to help and willingness to trust people she just met made her something of an easy target, to say nothing of just how loudly she was speaking about her very expensive belongings in public. A quick glance was cast over Mark's shoulder to make sure they hadn't attracted the wrong sort of attention with those comments. It didn't seem like anyone was listening in, at least not yet. Quite lucky indeed. Still, the fact that they wouldn't get a good deal on such a pricey item probably wouldn't convince someone so keen on helping others. She, much like Mark himself, was probably willing to sacrifice that extra gold in pursuit of ensuring the starving girl got fed. He'd need something that she'd find more convincing.
"Besides," Mark added hastily, "they might think we, um, stole that, if we just show up at random stores trying to sell it. That would seem a little suspicious. We should probably try to draw less attention. Oh, um, I'm Mark, by the way. Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm a teacher back at Garreg Mach. You're with the monastery too, aren't you? I don't think you look like someone from around here."
Neither did he, to be fair. The two of them probably stood out like a sore thumb. All the more likely that they'd attract the wrong sort of attention together.
“Oh. Right, I didn’t think about that…” The princess’s gaze darts downwards to focus on her hands, now squeezing tighter around her staff and the pile of crinkling wrappers she shoves back into her pocket.
She doesn’t actually care about her earrings. Not really. Not to the point she’d call them ‘precious’. They’re cute and all, but she has like a billion identical pairs back home at the monastery — and even more back home at the castle, probably. Still though, she doesn’t correct him. Because in a way, he is right. They could trade her earrings for the food no problem, but considering the sheer volume of value even just the one crystal has, where would that leave the people they traded with? Is it really doing a good thing to help out a person in need if doing so just… passes the need for help to someone else?
She does her best to shake off the thought. Hopefully it’s not a question they’ll ever end up finding themselves needing to answer.
“Sorry for getting ahead of myself there. My name’s Elise! I’m a student from the Black Eagles house,” Despite the situation having a less-than-happy topic of discussion, Elise still smiles as she curtsies. “It’s super nice to meet you, Professor Mark! But, uh… if we can’t sell stuff, how are we supposed to get the food, exactly…?”
Upon hearing his name squealed with such joy, Leo turns almost purely on instinct, one foot braced back. His arms are open and ready, a grin on his face even as he winces—— "Oof...!"
There she is: his darling little sister. He grunts as his ribs squeeze painfully, but he's already withstood innumerable tackle hugs. If one of his ribs was going to crack, it probably would've happened already. Leo settles the young princess back on the ground, relieved to breathe again.
"Hello, Elise. It's good to see you, too. I actually just met Camilla in the library earlier — I came as soon as I heard they had one in town, but she still beat me to it." A soft chuckle. "As for Xander... I'm afraid I haven't seen him yet, either. But don't fret; it's only our first day here. I'm sure he's on his way to us already."
Leo pats Elise's shoulder affectionately. "It's a shame we can't all stay together in the same house, but you'll still treat your hosts well, won't you? Besides, we can meet up anywhere we like during the day."
Maybe it's because his encounter with Skoll is still haunting him, but Leo is terribly relieved to see his sister. As long as Elise is with him, he feels confident; unshakable. After all, he has to be, for her sake.
It’s only barely that she manages to keep the pout off her face. Two out of three siblings is great and all — definitely a big upgrade to the none she had with her before now — it’s still a shame they can’t all be together already…
But Leo’s right, as always! It’s only the first day, so there’s plenty of time for them to regroup before the festival. Though most important of all of course will be meeting up for the festival proper. Oh, just thinking about it makes her wanna jump up and down, she can’t wait!
“Well duh, who do you think you’re talking to? I’m gonna be the best, cleanest, most politest guess they’ve ever had! Hehe, after all, royalty’s gotta make a good impression of ourselves so we leave a good of Nohr, right?” Elise winks, because that is what cool people do after they deliver a cool line like that one. Though it’s a liiiittle maybe undermined by her own giggling. Just a teeny bit.
“Oh, wait! That reminds me!” She gasps, fabric rustling loudly as she fights with the poof of her skirt to bring around her pockets to her front. “This place is really big, right? Obviously I want us all to stay together forever and ever, but there’s no guarantee we’re gonna be this lucky to find each other again after we separate to go to bed again. Soooo…… Tada!!”
With a sparkling wave of her staff for a little extra flair, Elise produces two small, equally sparkling disks from her pocket — both hinged for quick opening and closing (and most importantly: protection) of the shimmering glass inside. Taking one of Leo’s hands in her own, she presses the plainer one securely in his grip. “It’s a magic mirror! I have one of my own too, see?” Elise beams with pride as she holds up the second mirror, shell bedazzled and painted pink in work clearly done by hand, very much unlike the untouched professional finish the other came with.
“I got them from the market a while back. They’re supposed to let the people who have each half connect to each other’s mirror to talk and see and stuff whenever they want! Kinda like a best friend’s necklace, but a lot more useful. I want you to have the other one!”
Mark had only just returned from the northern block when he spied a girl flitting about. For a moment, Mark wondered if she was the one he had been looking for, Arlie. It was a ridiculous notion, though, and he knew it. For starters, if Arlie did indeed live in the home Mark had visited, there was no way she would have seen his message. After all, Mark was traveling substantially faster than someone could with merely their own two feet. Whatever power this land held was wonderous indeed for someone like himself who grew winded from even a short walk. She didn't seem to have been home when he visited (or she had pretended not to be, at the very least), so there was a chance she was out here, but again, she would not have seen the note he left.
Regardless, Mark quickly identified that this was, in fact, not someone who lived here in Baile. For starters, this girl looked much too nicely dressed to live in the poor district of an already-struggling town. Besides, Mark was fairly certain he'd seen her on the boat anyway. All signs pointed to this girl being from the monastery, same as him. That meant she was the perfect person to approach.
"Um, excuse me!" Mark squeaked out, waving at the girl as he hustled her way. "Hi! Um, you wouldn't happen to also be from Garreg Mach, would you? I... was wondering if you might be able to help me with something. There's a girl I heard a rumor about, you see, that she's... well, completely out of food. Um, not that there seems to be much to go around here, but... you wouldn't happen to be able to help me with getting some for her, would you?"
She should’ve known better, really, to hope that heading deeper in and further away from the touristy streets might lead her to somewhere doing… well, better. It’s not at though that was the case in Nohr, and they hid what was going on quite literally beneath their kingdom’s surface far better than this place ever could.
At least as a silver lining, it’s familiar because of it! So much so it feels a bit odd walking around in her regular clothes without a basket of flowers on her arm. A shame, too, it’d probably be a pretty good uplifter for everyone if she could hand them out before the festival. That way, everyone could go into the festival with a little color! She wonders if she could find any around here…?
A sudden voice stops her before she can take to searching in the cracks between walls for those little stubborn flowers that are almost always there if you look. Elise blinks. “Out of food…?”
Oh no, it’s even more like Nohr than she thought…
“That’s terrible! Yes! I can and I am, absolutely! Gimme a second,” Elise shifts to pin her staff beneath her arm, freeing her hands to go digging through her own pockets. “I didn’t bring a lot besides my staff, but… I have a couple snacks leftover from the boat!” The ‘snacks’ in question are now mostly empty wrappers that spill out of her palm the moment she tries presenting their existence, but there’s at least two still intact! That counts for something, right? She hopes?
“Oh! Or I could sell one of my earrings and we could use that to buy food? I don’t have a lot of money on me, but these are real crystal, so I bet we could probably get a ton of bread or something for them! Whatever I can do to help, just say the word and I’m on it!”
Well then. What happened back at the tavern was… certainly an event that happened, but not one she quite knew what to make of. She feels a bit bad wandering off from the others, but what else was there for her to even do? It’s not like she could reach up on the roof to get him down herself, and even if she could, she was hardly strong enough to lift just his feet. And that was with help!
Elise sighs, holding her staff tight to her chest as she continues on with her aimless wandering in a random direction. She hopes Georgie is okay. It’s gotta be hard having even your own siblings turn against you like that, well-intentioned or not…
…Huh. Speaking of siblings, there’s Leo! What a funny coincidence! Or, actually not really a coincidence at all considering she was headed towards a library maybe-sorta with the subconscious hope he’d be inside — but he isn’t inside, he’s outside! So therefore: still a funny coincidence! A great one, at that!
“LEOOOO!!!!” Elise waves her arms high in the air as she breaks out into a sprint, launching herself at him in the most crushing of hugs a princess can manage. “There you are, hehe! It’s so good to see you, I missed you all soooooso so much! Such a jerk move to separate us all like that, right?? Have you seen Camilla and Xander yet? Are they with you?”
The young healer goes from confidently outspoken to shyly fidgeting the moment she sees Ayra, who restrains a sigh. This girl is far from the first student to find her intimidating, but even so, for her approach to elicit such a shift... It burrows under her skin uncomfortably, and she waits for the cleric’s explanation even despite the need for urgency. She was working diligently, so she no doubt realizes there is much to be done — which makes her hesitation worse.
She does manage to explain, though, and while her reasoning may be childish Ayra can see the merit in it. She, too, treasured the few times she could laugh in wartime... and, more than that, she worked hard to shield her nephew from the worst of it and put a smile on his face. The same was true for her babies, too, brief though her time with them was. She does not know these people, true, but neither does the healer...
And her wish is all the nobler for that.
Furthermore, she accepts the plain white bandages with a bright smile, as if to lead by example — and she goes on to assure Ayra that she needn’t help. This is not an immature child taking the situation lightly, but a dedicated healer wanting to do what she can for her patients.
“I do know,” is the answer, a smile her only indication of both approval and respect. “I will have a pen for you, at least,” so she no longer needs to use blood, “and I will see what I can do about the bandages.”
She’s already set off to procure a pen or a quill when she remembers to add, “Call for me if you need anything else. I’m Ayra.”
There was a part of her that would be lying if she tried to say she hadn’t expected an immediate rejection just a little bit. Much like when she would give ideas in the war councils on the rare occasion she wasn’t shooed away at the door, her attempts to help were more often than not shot down for being ‘impractical’ when it came to things like this. Or worse, taken as a joke that then goes unacknowledged. The fact she’s not only agreeing, but understandingwhat she means, too…!
To say her face lit up would be an understatement.
“Really?! Thanks so much! That would be super helpful.” Elise pauses in her work to tie the bandages ends into a pretty bow to smile back at her new favorite bandage supplier, pinning her progress down with one hand to free the other up for a big wave as she steps away. “I’ll take anything colorful you can find. I’m sure I can make something cute out of it, hehe! Oh— and my name’s Elise! Thank you again, Ayra!”
The floor is clear (he won't comment on the method used), they're in position, and on Elise's cue, he'll take the first step——?!
Leo winces as his sister begins humming. He tries to be charitable in all respects, especially when it comes to his siblings, but well, it's... bad. Bad enough that he takes the first step a beat too late, then struggles to adjust their tempo, expression locking in strained concentration.
Crimson eyes flick between notes and reality, adjusting, readjusting, calculating... It's an excellent demonstration of how theory fails to hold a candle to practice, but Leo wasn't keen on relearning that today.
He's left hanging while Elise briefly drops the tune to admit her own loss, then— Wait. Aren't I supposed to spin her here?! Leo gently guides his sister's arm up, up and... ...around... stiffer than a Hoshidan puppet. And here they part, briefly, to come together again with the grace of two waterfowl. Somehow, Leo doesn't feel like they're exhibiting much grace at all.
Time blurs. Not because it's a joyous experience, but rather because all else fades as Leo focus the entirety of his intellect on mastering the dance. By the end of it, his toes hurt from misplaced feet (and Elise is likely no better off), he's drenched in sweat, and he still feels more like a chicken than a swan.
Leo slumps into an upholstered chair on the edge of the room. Something digs into his posterior uncomfortably, but he hasn't the strength to care. Of course dancing isn't nearly as strenuous as swinging a sword or maneuvering a lance, but his mind feels ready to melt after an hour or two of failed optimization.
"...Forgive me, Elise," Leo groans, running a hand through his hair and fixing his headband. "I knew we would have our work cut out for us, but I thought I could smooth over our first session... What a fool I was. We'll need to practice hard if we want to be ship shape for the competition."
She’s trying to be optimistic about this whole thing. Honestly, she really really is. It’s not that bad, if you think about it! It’s their first try, so that means the only way to go is up and better! Not to mention no major feet injuries, another major and greatly notable success.
Yet still, she falters before she can say so, only able to wince sympathetically as her brother flops himself down in a less-than-ready-for-sitting chair. If even Leo’s tired, then they really were worse than she thought… (She thinks she may have heard a crack. Double yikes. She hopes whatever he sat on is okay. Not like she can ask him to stand and check when he so obviously needs the sitting, that would just be rude and uncool. Not to mention totally mean.)
“Sorry, Leo… I thought it’d be a lot easier to just get up and go with this stuff. Guess there’s a reason people usually hire teachers for this kinda thing…” Elise hangs her head in shame, gently fidgeting with the edges of her dress as she mumbles. Working hard’s fine and all, but making him feel bad about it’s a totally other thing. She can find a way to get them music for next time or buy some more cards, sure, but that still leaves a lot of the pressure squarely on his shoulders — and there shouldn’t be any shapes on his shoulders, much less stressful ones!
First and foremost this is meant to be fun sibling time. So if stress is involved, that means they just gotta stress someone else out instead! Someone who knows a whole bunch about Fodlan dancing that they don’t. Like…
“THAT’S IT! We need a teacher!” Elise gasps loudly at her own complete and utter genius-ness, rushing to grab her brother’s hands again — to pull him back up this time, rather than spin and dance. “There’s gotta be someone else practicing outside! We can…” Ask them to teach us? No, she can’t suggest that. Not when she can see the strain of exhaustion all the more clearly than before standing so close. Endless though her own energy may be, she can’t do that to him.
“We can… sit in on the lesson and observe for next time! That’s something people do to learn, right?”
Er, they don't kill all of them? They give a little... kindness? Well, if that's what she thinks, he supposes that's okay, too! Henry's head falls further against the bars as he hums in contemplation — maybe at the kill-or-not-kill, maybe at their tied hands. One of those questions can be a later problem though — while the pirates aren't around, Henry jolts his head up and sends rust crackling at his feet.
"Bugs!" he whisper-yells. "Maybe they can get us a knife or something... and then we can start KILLING—" er, not killing, "—sorry, or talking, nya ha! Just something that'll get us outta here!"
Laughter, as his head lulls from side to side with each ( quiet ) chortle. He glances back over at Elise, shutting his eyes in thought. See, he has a way to get the key, but now... he needs to get one — or many? — of the pirates down here. As hands glow violet behind his back, bugs emerging from thin air to swarm behind Henry, his grin grows even wider.
"As long as you can find a way to get someone who would have a sword or something, maybe we can get these guys to help us out," Henry muses, tilting his head back. The swarm of bugs condense into a thick cloud under his stare, light gleaming within violet. To the bugs, not Elise: "Hide and seek, alright? I'll count down — thirty... twenty-nine..."
The bugs disperse, and Henry slows in his count ( "twenty-siiiiiiiiix...." ) as he looks back over.
“Oooh! That’s— wait I’m sorry, did you say ‘bugs’?” Any of the usual unquestioning support she may have had to give is immediately cut of by the shock of oh my gosh he’s summoning a bunch of bugs WHY IS HE SUMMONING BUGS— HOW DOES HE KNOW HOW TO SUMMON A BUNCH OF BUGS?!?!?!!!?!??!?!!!
She squeezes her eyes tightly shut at the very first sight of the swarm, but it doesn’t stop her from feeling them, even after she jumps back from the bars so she should be feeling nothing. Like they’re everywhere in her mind, even though she doubts they’re probably not much further than the edges of Henry’s cell. After all, they’re friends now, right? And friends wouldn’t attack each other with bugs. Gross, icky, creepy crawly bugs ew ew ew ew ew…..
It’s hard to focus through the bug panic (she can still hear them skittering aboutttt this is the worsttttt….) but she still manages to somehow pick up on what he’s asking. Kind of, she thinks? He wants her to call someone down here, as she understands it. That’s easy enough and doesn’t involve bugs, she can do that. She’s just gotta shout something attention-grabbing!
Elise takes a deep breath, tilting forward as much as she can bare without starting to worry about bugs getting in her face to make sure her voice will carry up to their captors as she shouts, “OH, WOW! IS THAT MY SISTER HERE TO SAVE US? BOY, I ALWAYS KNEW YOU’D COME TO BREAK US OUT, JUST LIKE I SAID!”
It’s a very forced and probably obvious distraction (she’s never been very good at lying, though right now she so very much wishes it wasn’t one at all), but it still brings forth a flurry of approaching footsteps and something sounding like an unsheathing of metal. Hopefully something that means one of however many there are has a sword like Henry asked her for, but she can’t bring herself to open her eyes and check. Not when there’s still bugs. Eugh.
"Fire magic? Nope! Don't know nothing like that!" He smiles cheerfully, playing with one of his long sleeves. He's never made chocolate before, but surely there's a better way to heat the bowl other than using magic. After all, there were people who couldn't use magic, and they could cook all the same. "I'm a delicate little diviner! Why would I know offensive magic?"
He's lying of course. He knows that, and Elise knows that. He was plenty capable in battle. He was just also very lazy and way too beautiful to get caught up in battle.
And also he didn't have any fire tomes with him. But you know, it's more fun to play around like this.
The tomes and scrolls he did have weren't... exactly helpful either. "... I've got rats?"
“Do the… rats know how to make fire…?” It sounds dumb even as she asks it, but honestly it’s all she’s got. Plus it’s kinda possible? Rats got those little hands. They could probably cook if they wanted to. Anyone can cook.
…Nah, that’s silly. Who’d wanna eat something made by a rat? They’re cute and all, but they have diseases all over and would totally shed fur in the food no matter how many hairnets you tried putting on them. That’s a health hazard waiting to happen, and she is not about to feed her siblings a health hazard!
With rat helpers and direct fire out of the picture, Elise claps her hands together before scooping the bowl up and away from the table. “Alright, plan B it is! Hehe, I’ve always wanted to say that!”
A bright side to an otherwise not very bright plan: placing the bowl on the windowsill and hoping for the best. Even if she can’t focus beam a light laser at it, a little more direct sun’s gotta be better than no sun at all, right? “And now we wait! It’ll heat up eventually, so we should be good to leave it here and start grating everything.”
Ayra is no stranger to infirmaries packed full to bursting — although half the time they didn’t have the luxury of an infirmary at all, only a tent above their heads if not a green canopy —, nor to obeying a healer without question. In fact, she is primed for the latter after years at war and on the run. An infirmary is to clerics as a battlefield is to her, after all.
Nonetheless, this one’s words take her by surprise. She turned and went to the girl at once, needless to say, bandages held out for the taking — but what is this about other colors and a pen... A whole bunch of pens, even? Ayra blinks, shaking her head.
“I’m sorry,” she starts more humbly than usual, “but I can’t see what difference the color makes. Do you need these or no?”
“Er… Well, it doesn’t really. But I still do! It’s like…” Elise’s gaze darts away under the stranger’s stare, hands shyly fidgeting with her own gloves. Oh, gosh, she’s getting real serious-mature vibes from her… How can she explain this in a way that doesn’t make her sound like an immature baby?
“You know how people say ‘laughter is the best medicine’? I was just thinking, what if we made a bandage that made people laugh! Then it’d be, like, two medicines in one! Double effectiveness, hehe!”
Which would be super great, but it’s clearly not anything her bandage supplier has to offer at the moment. Which is fine, she still takes them with the same smile she would’ve given if they had been pink. Even if probably less excited about it than she would’ve been in the pink-timeline where things had gone that way. What kinda healer would she be to turn down help just because it’s not pretty? Besides, she can probably find something to pretty them up around here…
Elise shuffles across the ground to start wrapping up the worst of the scratches on the old man’s arms as she speaks, carefully drawing on a smiley face with the bits of blood that smear onto her gloves as she does. A little morbid, sure, but still an improvement!
…She thinks. She can’t quite tell if the response he gave upon seeing it was a chuckle or a cough.
“You don’t have to help, of course, I’m sure you’re super duper busy. But if you do see anything colorful, it’d be really great if you could throw it my way whenever you get the chance! We all need a little color right now, you know?”
Despite Elise’s conviction, Takumi was still surprised to see her whip out a bow from under her uniform cape. He watched, unamused, as she flipped it in the air and presented it with a flourish.
Well, at least he didn’t have to be concerned about Elise’s hand-eye coordination.
Was it too early to say he was already regretting his decision? Takumi decided to stay silent and follow Elise out of the room. She was—at some point—a friend of Sakura’s, he reminded himself. Just bear with her.
He walked (or rather, speedwalked) behind the Nohrian princess, listening to her ramble on about what she’d learned. How to hold and fire a bow? He sure hoped she knew how to do that, at least. How to fire multiple arrows at the same time? Takumi made a mental note to stand sufficiently far from Elise at the practice range.
It seemed like she had been gunning for a flashy style. Distantly, Takumi wondered if she’d gone to him because it hadn’t been working out.
As the two of them entered the practice range, Takumi made sure he kept an eye out for any sudden movement from Elise’s direction as he dragged out a set of targets, positioning them around the range. He’d rather not get skewered before the lesson even started.
“We’ll start,” Takumi replied, returning to his spot behind Elise, “by having you hit five dummies. One arrow at a time. I’d like to get a good assessment of your skill.”
Oh gosh. Five dummies is a bit more than one… but that’s fine! Nothing to be intimidated over! It’s not like he’s asking her to skewer them all with the same arrow like some kinda long dummy-kebab. Though that would probably be really cool and impress him a whole ton if she managed to pull it off….
No! Elise slaps her cheeks with both hands, only almost hitting herself in the eye with her bow thanks to not really thinking the action through. Now is not the time for thinking or super cool tricks! One at a time, like he said. Probably doesn’t matter where, and it’s a big target so that’s good. She’s hit things before, she can do it again! “Right, got it! Here I go!”
Taking a deep breath, Elise widens her stance to plant her feet beneath her shoulders like she’s watched other bow-users do. Just raise and fire, one after the other. Super simple! She’s just gotta pull the string back, point it towards target number one, and…
Thwip!
The arrow strike right dead in the center of the poor dummy’s chest, exactly where she was aiming! The sight of which lights up her face with joy, proper stance immediately forgotten in favor of excited hopping. “I did it I did it I DIDIT!! Did you see that?! I got it right!” Elise cheers, turning to face Takumi with a big smi— oh wait shoot there’s four more.
She clears her throat, shuffling back into position before he can judge her too terribly for being so unprofessional. Oops. “Sorry.”
Okay, four more. Even easier now! Just gotta do the same thing again, aim, and……….watch as the arrow soars entirely over the dummy’s head before bouncing harmlessly off the wall onto the ground.
That’s fine! 1/2 is still 50%! She can make it up with the next one! Maybe just a little more to the right towards the third dummy will… also. Miss— OKAY ITS STILL FINE. The fourth one! The fourth one grazed the side of it a bit! It didn’t stick, but that’s gotta count at least a little! Just like the fifth one, that…
Elise sucks in a breath as her final chance sails way past the mark once again. At least actually sticking into the wall this time, but… She cringes, clutching her bow in a tight fist as she turns towards the Hoshidan prince once again — fully, this time.
The princess questioned with a raised hand and tilted head, feet kicking idly beneath her desk. The word itself was something she was of course familiar with — even if she hadn’t met the people she did or lived in a monastery full of them, the word laid clear in her book beneath her other hand laid over her textbook: a large text header already covered in rainbows of highlight colors and scribbles of flowers despite them having only flipped open to the page moments ago. It makes the diagrams of magic circles and strings of text it looms over much less intimidating by comparison.
The faith professor smiles at her (yay!), pausing in his prior pacing before the room to clap his hands together in her direction. “Good question, Elise! A bishop is what we call one of the many ‘classes’ of individuals who specialize in the lighter side of magic,“ There’s a flurry of flipping pages and scribbling pens as he speaks. No doubt the work of those diligent students that manage to jot down every word. How do they all do it? Man, she wishes she could keep up like that. She gets lost way too fast to even try. “They’re a lot like the priests we learned about last week. They have an especially strong connection to the goddess, and through their faith does she allow them to do many great things, such as…”
The rest fades into background noise as Elise’s eyes trail back down to the picture in the book. A hooded figure with clasped hands. A perfect depiction of what a ‘bishop’ was meant to be — a faithful and perfect worshipper.
…Hm. There was that word again.
“Why does everyone always bow to this thing?” The young princess tugged on her caretakers arm, pointing up towards the intricately detailed carving overtaking the majority of the wall ahead, every fang, claw, and scale polished to a brilliant shine that somehow manages to glimmer even through the shadows it’s shrouded in as always. A stark contrast to the rest of the castle and its not-shiny stones and darkness.
“It’s not just a wall, sweetheart. That’s the Dusk Dragon.” The woman chuckled softly with a shake of her head, something that was only all the more confusing when she guided the both of them to a closer spot. Elise frowned. “No it’s not. It’s a wall.” A super cool wall that’s totally her favoritest wall of all time, sure, but still just a wall. “Dragons are big and they fly and move and breathe fire and stuff! This one’s flat and doesn’t move at all! Right?”
She totally was right, but still did her caretaker just shake her head again, “Well yes, but it’s a symbol of the Dusk Dragon. And as worshippers of the Dusk Dragon, that means we have to bow to show respect. Even if it’s not the dragon itself. It’s to show our faith and devotion.”
Elise’s frown only deepened, even as she followed Cassita’s lead in a bow, then joined her in placing one hand over her heart, and the other over one of the dragon’s claws. “But… we’re related to the Dusk Dragon, aren’t we?” Or, at least, she is by blood. Cassita, maybe not so much. But she’s family to her, so that makes her family to the dragon too, doesn’t it? “We should be treating him like family! Bowing to family’s just… weird. Wouldn’t the dragon feel left out? I don’t wanna make him sad…” She knew at least she would be, if her siblings were to suddenly put formal distance between them like that…
…But Cassita didn’t even respond that time. Only laughed, like she just told her the funniest joke ever. Which was nice and made her really happy! But what did she say???
Slowly but surely the laughing died down to the point her caretaker wiped a tear from her eye. Which one would think would mean she made her sad, but when she met her eyes again, she had the biggest smile Elise thinks she’s ever seen on her. “Well, we certainly wouldn’t want that! You’re right, that would be just terrible.” The little princess squealed as she’s scooped into the air to come face to face with her caretaker, and her smile brighter than even the dusk dragon’s shine behind them. It was nice, she remembers. She always hoped she could be bright like that too, someday. “Then what would make the dragon happy?”
Elise brought a hand to her mouth, thinking seriously about this most important of questions. “Um… Maybe instead of a bow, we give him… a great big hug!” Wait no he’s a wall you can’t hug walls they’re flat. “Or maybe just… saying hello and telling him about our day? I bet he’s missed a lot since he’s been gone so long, I bet it’d make him really happy if we can help catch him up on what Nohr’s like now!”
Cassita had laughed, and she had laughed that time, too. She still wasn’t sure what she said, but it had seemed to be the right answer. And maybe it was, considering the outcome of everything. Maybe their bond as family is what brought them all protection in the war, and guided them to victory:
Elise silently drags a hand down the hooded figure’s face. Does their goddess have anyone to make her feel happy, too, she wonders?
…Maybe she should take a visit to the cathedral to see her. Sakura works up there too, so they could go together. She bets it would make her extra happy to have two new friends to talk to.
...Right. So he's in charge of the scheduling, basically. Leo doesn't mind — he rather expected an answer like this, frankly — but it does make the corners of his lips twitch in amusement. He scrutinizes his calendar more closely, looking for a suitable gap in his coursework and training. Unfortunately, this leaves him entirely unguarded as Elise literally jumps at him on the word "jump," yanking him to his feet and out the door in a burst of scattered papers.
"Wha—?! W-Wait! Elise! —Ugh!" Leo barely manages to pull the door shut behind them, risking the integrity of his limbs as he's dragged from the doorhandle. Gods, he hopes nobody notices his room is unlocked.
Once freed of his sister's loving vice grip, Leo picks his way across Elise's room, careful not to trip over the threads and ribbons littering her floor. Stuffed animals, frills and lace everywhere, an overwhelming presence of pink... he could never mistake the room for anyone else's.
Leo accepts the cards, carefully shuffling through them and checking for additional instructions on the back. They seem straightforward enough, with detailed notes regarding posture, accommodations for height differences, and the appropriate tempo to follow. And apparently, Elise will be their musician for the night.
The prince sighs a little, tucking his hair behind an ear as he frowns at the cards. It's less than ideal, but how can he call himself a capable older brother if he can't make this work? "...All right, all right. I'll have a look, but... might I recommend picking up the floor a little while I study these diagrams? Pair dancing already poses tripping hazards, environmental factors aside... We'll want as much space as you can muster."
While Elise takes care of clearing the floor (or at least, he hopes that's what she's doing), Leo systemically works through the notes one by one. One hand softly taps out the rhythm on his thigh, while his feet subtly shift in suggestions of dance steps; his eyes dart from diagram to diagram as he puzzles over how one move flows into the next.
A dance instructor would probably be the wise move, but Leo isn't going to mention it yet. Not unless they prove in dire need of one. Once he's satisfied that he understands the basic structure, the prince lifts his eyes and smiles at his sister. "All right. Are you ready? We start like this, with your hand on my shoulder here, and our hands held like so... —ah, let me put these cards down, they'll only be in the way..."
“Huh? Oh— right! On it!” Elise scrambles to work with a gasp, scooping up everything that previously found its home on the floor up into her arms for the grand relocation: also known as ‘unceremoniously dumping it all in a heap on top of her dresser’. Leo’s right, when it comes to dances, every step has a teeeny tiny slipping chance — and with how much footwork is no doubt front and center of the cards she handed him to flip through, that’s like, a billion trip chances a second. And as everyone knows a billion times a teeny bit equals totally gonna trip. Thats the last thing jumping needs! Tripping is quite literally the anti-jump!
Thankfully The Pile is as quick and good as ever a cleaning solution as it ever was in Nohr, back when she was little and needing to quickly hide all her toys before Cassita came in and saw she hadn’t yet. Does it destroy any semblance of organization the mess may have had before? Yeah. Will future-Elise probably be really frustrated about this later? Also probably yeah.
But she isn’t future-Elise, she’s present-Elise! And present-Elise gotta dance!
Floor now squeaky-clean (or, well, not squeaky? She covered most of her floor in a pretty floral carpet when she first moved in, and carpet doesn’t really squeak. More like… static-shuffle-y-clean.) Elise adjusts her positioning to follow Leo’s instructions as close as she can, even glancing down a bit at the discarded cards to make sure she’s as perfect a form as can be.
“Ready! Uhm… I think it goes like… La la la da daaaa, la daaaaa… ♪ ” Elise hums aloud as she follows in her brother’s footsteps (literally) from one position to the next. Probably not as well as someone like Azura would have, if she’d been here, but she’s at least on key! And on tempo, she’s pretty sure. It’s a waltz, she knows that much, so it’s supposed to be slow. Is she rushing…? Better slow down, just to be safe. She hasn’t tripped or stepped on him just yet, and she’d kiiinda like to keep it that way.
“La la LA la la da la daaaa… ♪ Then there’s some part in the middle I don’t remember but then it’s like: dududududu BADADA BA DA!”
