Good deed are all well and nice. But Vesci still needs to keep a profit, and a presence, in this town. So she takes her cart out, and she sets up her table, and she waits. There were always unsavory young adventurers, raring to find something to keep them alive in those hellish labyrinths, and she had suppliers she needed to be around for when they peeled back into down. So she dons her brightest, most cheerful seeming silks, and she waits more.
Business is a little better today. Desperate fresh bloods, mostly, one or two.
Not enough.
She’s about to pack back up, wrap everything back into their sheets and back into her cart, when the smell of rot and damp earth hits her nose - that’s sharper, now, her sense of smell, she doesn’t think about it - from across the square. The Weald, leather, sickness...
Doctor Sutton. Vesci cannot fight the grin that spreads across her face under the sunny golden scarf, sticking a hand up to wave the good Doctor over as she roots around under the table. She’d come across a very curious speciment the other day, strange herbs and stranger bones, surely of interest.
You hear the ruffling of the curtain first. Then what appears to be muffled breathing and the shuffle of more fabric. There is the light scent of lilacs carefully hidden underneath waves of dark, upturned earth - as well as something darker. "I haven't done this since I was a little girl, oh la, there's my first one." The voice sang out confidently. "Oh, and Light be with yea and o'er all the deeds done on this earth. Do I, ah, just start listin? There must be some type of way about this."
A figure enters, the strange smell of earth and flora seeping through the confessional’s grate. Toustain smiles to herself at the voice - it was their (her?) first confessional in a long time.
“Light be with you, dear flame,” she says, a soft lilt to her own voice as she prepares to listen. “As a Vestal, I will invoke the Flame, the Goddess, to listen through me. Then you will list your sins, and then I will absolve you as a vessel of the Goddess. So... let us begin, dear flame.”
She clears her throat. “In the eyes of the Goddess, may this act be seen as holy and right. In the hands of the Goddess, may we be cradled, as flickering fires are shielded from the winds of storms. In the ears of the Goddess, may I hear for her, her vestal, and may these words be blessed.”
A breath, a pause. “You may confess your sins, flame... the Goddess listens.”
// ⛺️ (Their first night away from their guardians) or ⛵️ (An accidental adventure) if you'd like!
Bestnot to think of it, really. About the house, about her family,about...anything, really.
Shehadn't thought to buy a hat, yet, but had cut her hair already. She'dbeen calling herself “Julian”, sometimes “Louis”, dressed as she was (swordprominent on her belt; she was young and, practically speaking, homeless, not a fool), and she was quite certain she was wanted by the law by those and other names, and had no idea where she’d be by the end of the week; she hadn’t known that in a while, truth be told.
Herfather's most recent (Last, the last she'd ever see of him.)act, after throwing all the warning letters and bills and (“Goodgod, man, I know you're not taking her death well, but think ofyourself, your future, of Madeleine and what she's been forced to do;please, I entreat you to...”) regards from family friends intothe fireplace, was to order Madeleine to burn down the house, withhim in it, sitting before the fireplace with a blanket on his lap andthe entire wine cellar empty, scattered along the floor of the room.
(“Madeleine.You've grown into a skilled, beautiful woman, as fitting a scion forour house as a father could ever want. It is not your fault that ruinhas come to our family.”)
Don'tthink about it. Don't think about him.
She'dbeen going out and about, talking, wheedling. Her father still hadn'tnoticed, not at the very end, that at least half the cutlery was gone, having kept the banks andlenders and too many others appeased another week.
(“Iknow this is much to ask of you, and I only ask it because I know youare strong. You have always been focused on your studies, and anysocial blunders you may have committed when interacting with suitorshave always revealed wise, in time. I'm more proud to be your fatherthen I ever would have been, to call those men 'son'.”)
She'drefused, of course. She had truly been in her top form, dealing withher father's ignorance and alcoholism. She had known he'd be asleepwithin the hour of his passionate, lovingexortation, and so it was.
Butshe'd had quite enough. And had hadquite enough for years, now.
Oddjobs. Petty burglary. Self-burglary, in a way. Once, terrified,brandishing her blade at somebody and demanding their purse, hervocal affectation having been forgotten.
Easierto steal from the dead than deal with the living, she’d since learned. First her ancestors, and then those of other people.
Shewas three week's travel from her house, once opulent and shining.She'd acquired a healthy appreciation for wine and whiskey. It helpedlet her not think about things.
(“AndI know your mother would have been proud, so very proud, to see younow.”)
Shewas, presently, creeping out of an alleyway (A gutter.),the sky a curious shade between the pitch of night and the early ofthe morning. She was fairly sure she had to leave this town, today, but was not sure where she would go.
And then Madeleinesaw, on the outskirts of the little village, a carriage.
11. How do they see themselves: as smart, as intelligent, uneducated?
Toast doesn't consider herself to be the smartest person. She was educated when she was in an abbey in Chauventry, where she grew up, but she's lacking in her knowledge base, specifically in science and mathematics. She can read and speak fluent Latin, French, and English, however, and appreciates when knowing these different languages come in handy. Latin is for the church, French is for home, and English is for work - that's usually what she ends up telling herself. As far as other kinds of knowledge, her cooking is fair, but not excellent. Her baking is better. She's learning more about growing things, as she's trying to start an herb garden. As she trains in the Guild, she's becoming more assured in her combative skills, and as she heals more and more, she's able to do it better. The feeling of progress there especially is very important to her. Still, she considers herself naïve (or at least thinks that everyone else believes she's naïve) and from that thinking would tell you that maybe she's of average intelligence on a good day.
21. What are your character’s manners like? What is their type of hero? Whom do they hate?
Manners: Toustain is a please and thank you kind of person, and wants everyone else to be a please and thank you kind of person too. She likes her manners in everyday life, thinking that it allows for small shows of gratefulness and appreciation.
Hero: There's none better than Vesta herself. A kind and compassionate goddess who tends to the flame inside all people. A maker of homes, a symbol of protection, and when provoked, a firey, scorching presence. Toustain hopes to embody these traits and use them for good both in the Hamlet and out in the dungeons.
Who does she hate: Toustain doesn't like to use the word hate, honestly. But she hates those who threaten the safety of others - especially brigands and cutthroats. The dangerous creatures of the dungeons are almost forgivable, to her. To be this way is their nature. But when coming upon human targets, she feels much more of a conviction to kill - she expects more from those of her ken.
The trek back from the Weald always felt longer than the trek in. The branches overhead stretched further than before, all the more menacing int he fading light of the day. It had grown darker, the torchlight unable to pierce the dark at all.
Crevecoeur looks dully ahead, shoulders slumped as she pushes forward. Her feet are lighter than the two behind her, but they nonetheless felt uncharacteristically heavy, sinking too far into the soil with every step for her tastes. The last member of their party, a highwayman younger and less weary than the others, was dragging, limp, through the mud. He’s still drenched in ectoplasm, wounds weeping blood and slime in equal measure. It happened much quicker than anyone had expected, his being engulfed.
And now, the local gravedigger would have to handle him. Poor kid. Cursing, she picks up her pace, determined to get as far out of this hellhole as she could before they lost all their light and had to camp for the night. They wouldn’t manage to get out before that, she can tell, not lugging such heavy, spirit lowering cargo, but the further they were from the heart the better.
“Come on, boys! I don’t intend to be in the Deep Woods with all the beasties when we-” She pauses, noticing a campsite in the next clearing over- “... camp. Look sharp. We don’t know what kind we’re looking at....” Pulling a dagger from her belt, she approaches the camp, near silent if not for the body pulled behind her.
“You’re on the Heir’s land, stranger, and we’re instructed to clear it. Show yourself. Quickly.”
Crev can’t quite shake the idea that the smell of sickness drenching the area was... somehow familiar. But a lot of things were blighted, out here, and she wasn’t about to let her guard down for a half-remembered scent.
((An online Script RP that @dabbledincrochet and I did! We decided it might be fun to make it verbal, since we were invested in including the scene in our rp. It is rather long, but it was fun to do, and hopefully entertaining to listen to. Discussions of characters @devotiontodisease and @thelightschampion are present! The script is under the cut!))
Toast: Crev, there's a very valorous man
Crev: ....A valorous man
Toast: Y-yes, a valorous man
Crev: ...
Toast: Ser Randal-
Crev: (montage of randal screaming sermons in the square)
Toast: I met him in the abbey, I-
Crev: (superimposed flame over a picture of randal, the image warps)
Toast: he was very kind, and-
Crev: ("m o t h e r f u c k e r")
Crev: ... Oh, he's my neighbour. (Pause, debates telling Toast the real Randal) Should I tell him you said hi.
Toast: OH NO! NO ha, ha that's fine! No you don't have to say anything, no, nothing at all, no. No.
Toast: (screams internally)
: ... Toustain, you're not. Please tell me you are not doing what I think you're doing.
Toast: I'll probably see him around anyway, there's really no need.
Toast: You know. Morning prayers or vespers or mass
Crev: .... Right.
Crev: (silent horror)
Toast: ...he gave me a lily he found on the Old Road.
Crev: Congratulations?
Crev: I mean it was inevitable that some God Fearing type would show up and... well.
Crev: You tell me if he stops being so nice. I'll straighten him out.
Toast: No, I can't imagine... I mean, he carried…
Crev: (chinhands)
Toast: (LOOKS AWAY) He was nothing but kind
Crev: ....
Crev: Still. You're way too trusting.
Toast: if I can't trust a man who has devoted his life to fighting in the name of the Light, who can I trust...?
Crev: If you decide to trust or distrust people based on their faith alone, are you looking at them at all?
Toast:....
Toast: (she looks down, ashamed)
Crev: ... I digress. Just be careful. Don't let him break your heart.
Toast: SNORTS
Crev: Yes, ha ha.
Toast: Crevecoeur, I'm... my heart will be ready for such a task in some ten years. But I took certain vows... although the circumstances have changed, considerably.. my life has changed, drastically... such... pursuits would surely just cloud my vision and obscure the path. Love is. Holy. But for some it just isn't in their fate. I was chosen for this role, though I was young. Ten more years and then we'll see. I have to survive this darkness first.
Crev: People can break your heart without you ever loving them.
Toast: Are you planning on breaking my heart, grave robber?
Crev: Me? never.
Crev: You can get so much more money for a heart in one piece, ma chère!
Toast: You've been talking with Doctor Fetti, haven't you.
Crev: ... Doctor Fetti's here?
Crev: I'll be damned! She's my best customer!
Toast: (OVERTLY MORTIFIED)
Crev: ... Sorry. We just go back a significant while.
Toast: She was in the Tavern some time ago... I'd assume she's staying in the Inn, if her interests don't have her camping in the Weald
Crev: I ought to go say hello, when I have the time. I've known her... well. Since before I got into this vile business.
Crev: I sold her the first body I ever unearthed.
Toast: (strained) that's wonderful Crev
Crev: I'm sure you'd be just as excited to make me uncomfortable if one of your Church friends showed up, Toast.
Toast: In all honestly, her enthusiasm was contagious... pardon the pun.
Crev: Oh, hah! Consider it pardoned. She certainly is a chipper one.
Toast: Certainly
Toast: I admit that her fascinations are a bit... well they're a lot. But I admire her commitment. She seems so smart...
Crev: She's bloody brilliant. And a lot less cowardly than most of her trade.
Crev: I imagine she's here to take a peek at all the unsightly ailments that are bound to befall us?
Toast: She talked at great length.
Toast: like you, the Light makes her nervous. Can people only carry one kind of light in their heart at a time, Crevecoeur?
Crev: No, no. Once upon a time, I daresay I held as many kinds of Light as one can.
Crev: But. There is a darkness in people like us, those who deal in death and misery. We need a like darkness to trust what we see. And the Light has none of the needed like darkness.
Toast: and what of someone like me?
Toast: I venture into the Ruins and the Warrens just as readily as the rest.
Crev: You are human. You have doubts, desires, convictions. You have a like darkness.
Crev: Can God not?
Toast:...
Toast: Sorry.
Crev: You needn't apologize for your faith.
Toast: It seems it scares people.
Toast: I'm not used to something so beautiful being so feared by so many.
Crev: It does.
Crev: I have seen firsthand the most beautiful of things can do the most terrible deeds.
Crev: And as such, I fear the Light and the trappings associated.
Crev: ... And you cannot seem to wrap your head around that, yes? After living your life purely in radiance, the shadows I favor. They are what frightens you.
Toast: I have seen death. Last rites are no stranger to me. And I have seen suffering. The poor. The weak. Shadow is something that comes and takes, obscures beauty. A reach of sadness. The kind of thing that brings people to do the unbearable to themselves, and to others.
Toast: Of course I fear... darkness.
Toast: Perhaps you don't know this. But the Vestals, the original Vestals. The ones chosen... their job, at heart, was to keep an eternal flame lit. and burning brightly, for the people.
Toast: How can one not fear darkness, when their purpose is to illuminate?
Crev: You and I lead very different lives.
Toast: I fear in a way I disgust you
Crev: Why would you disgust me?
Toast: You fear the Light... I have worked my whole life to become as close to it as possible.
Crev: You are not my enemy.
Toast: Of course not!
Crev: I do not understand you. But I respect you.
Crev: In time, I suspect I could come to like you, perhaps.
Toast: I'm already fond of you, Crevecoeur. I think you're a very strong-willed individual. I think that there are many things I could learn from you.
Crev: Flattering. I suppose there is something to be learned about making something from nothing.
Toast: (teasing) but can you make wine from water?
Crev: Why would I want to? That would be horrible wine.
Toast: if the wine is miraculous it has to be good to the taste, surely.
Crev: Is that how it works.
Toast: i'd assume.
Crev: I have much to learn about a Magician's Wine, clearly.
Toast: That'd be the Light's wine.
Crev: Oh.
Toast: (laughs)
Crev: I'm out of practice, forgive me.
Toast: You're wholly forgiven.
Crev: You're far too kind.
Toast: No, not at all.
Toast: (nudges Crev)
Crev: (laughs)
Crev: isn't that a matter of opinion?
Toast: Tish.
Toast: ... Now that I'm thinking too much about it, perhaps you're right
Toast: Perhaps you should put a coin forward for my drink, so that you can be the kind one.
Crev: Hah. Me, kind?
Toast: I'm being a "good influence"
Crev: (Pushes a coin forward anyway.)
Toast: See? Look, miracles already.
Crev: That's not a miracle.
Toast: I believe you from a few minutes ago would beg to differ
Crev: You're just persuasive.
Crev: I can do a lot of things, but, I do not perform miracles!
Toast: Not yet.
Toast: (Drinks)
Crev: Oh, certainly, give me a month.
Toast: Perhaps a bit longer.
Toast: I'm a patient woman.
Crev: is there any virtue you don't embody?
Toast: (blushes)
Toast: Virtue is an ongoing struggle.
Crev: At least you try.
Crev: I certainly don't!
Toast: You do, I think.
Crev: Lies.
Toast: Are you not Patient with me?
Toast: have you not been Kind?
Crev: Having a trait and actively trying to have it are different.
Crev: And in any case, you've earned my Kindness.
Toast: I would argue that in your ongoing work, Diligence is of high regard.
Crev: Much to the Abbey's chagrin.
Toast: You were working against a force that also had diligence.
Toast: But see? Diligence.
Toast: Your virtue.
Toast: Everyone has a virtue that they are able to uphold more than the others. Where they truly thrive.
Crev: Oh, stop it. People are going to think I'm a good person if you keep talking like that.
Toast: I say it in earnest
Toast: You are truly Diligent.
Toast: And you have been in turn both Kind and Patient.
Toast: I'd argue for Humility as well.
Crev: Is it virtuous if I am diligent in Unholy work?
Crev: Your faith in random wretches you meet is staggering.
Toast: Every work in this world is Holy. I believe it's something that many forget.
Toast: Even in sin there is holiness.
Crev: You've lost me.
Toast: in Wrath, in killing... there is also Temperance - honor, absolution.
Toast: In... a breach of Chastity, one might find Kindness
Crev: Hm. Interesting.
Crev: I still refuse to go to the Abbey, but. Interesting.
Toast: (bashful) I'm not arguing you to to the Abbey, my friend
Toast: We're just talking and drinking.
Toast: Abbeys aren't needed for holy words, deeds, or thoughts
Toast: Through... a kind of glut (she raises her cup slightly) we have found chastity.
Crev: Have we?
Toast: Chastity is not limited to... a sexual.. endeavor.
Toast: To be chaste is also to train the mind. To engage in conversation, to enlighten oneself. Without examination and thought, one can't achieve a pure mind.
Crev: I would not bother attempting to be pure.
Toast: Perhaps the aim is not purity. But the outcome still remains.
Toast: The aim is to understand, yes? We can agree on the common goal of communication
Crev: Fair enough, I suppose.
Toast: And in God's mind, the most pure and noble are the ones who strive to understand and serve their neighbors with love.
Toast: Despite their differences.
Toast: Or perhaps, in a way, because of them
Toast: One does not emerge enlightened from a chamber in which one can only hear their own voice.
Toast: Through all people, God speaks.
Toast: The more bits of him you hear... the closer to become to understanding him.
Crev: (is increasingly uncomfortable)
Toast:...I've lost you again.
Crev: I'm still here.
Crev: Just. Ill at ease.
Toast: Here; let's make this fun for you.
Toast: in every person there is a darkness. No matter how small.
Toast: As you go through life and talk with many people, that darkness grows. That familiarity grows.
Toast: until you recognize yourself and that... darkness within yourself, within all others.
Toast: Until finally, you feel as if you are connected by this shadow. By an unseen force between all living beings.
Toast: And that darkness, while harsh, and sometimes frightening... binds you. To them.
Toast: It instills in you devotion.
Toast: To protect this familiarity. To recognize it as its own... sort of being. Something powerful. Something, in its own right, sublime.
Toast:...yes?
Crev: Close enough.
Toast: replace darkness with light, and you have me.
Toast: ...It really isn't much different, in the end, is it.
Toast: .... (eyebrows furrow. She looks at her drink)
Crev: No, not at all.
Crev: ... I feel as if I should apologize. I told you not to judge people for their faith. And yet I keep judging you.
Crev: I am deeply sorry. You don't deserve that. The brunt of my fear.
Toast: ...I feel as if the Light has hurt you.
Crev: (nods, staring at her drink)
Toast: (lays her hand over Crev's) You are, of course, forgiven.
Crev: ... Thank you.
Toast: ...I do mean it. When I say that you don't need an Abbey. Or a church, or a rosary.
Toast: ...I do not know if the Light has hurt you, or if it was... the place.
Crev: .....
Crev: To accept the Light is to accept that all it has done to me was done with purpose.
Crev: And believe me, I loathe sheer chance. But at least it is blind.
Toast: ....God gave us free will so that we may make mistakes. So that our mistakes impact others. I believe he watches. I believes he knows us, deeply, that our souls are what he sees.
Toast: But he is not a puppetmaster, holding us on strings.
Toast: He expects us to forge our own paths.
Crev: What is wrong with me is not something I can control.
Crev: And yet it is what set my path.
Toast: ...Then turn to your left, or your right... hack down the brambles... step on the thorns.
Toast: There are many paths.
Crev: It would not matter. I am here, am I not.
Toast: (small smile) Having companions to share the work may help?
Crev: (small smile) Perhaps a tad.
Toast: ...There is Light in you, Crevecoeur. Just as much as there is Darkness.
Toast: I see such bravery in you, despite your struggle. That's Humility as well, you know.
: It seems you can't help but be virtuous. I'm sorry, Crevecoeur but. (a pause. her head tilts so slightly) ..The light is within you... and you must come to not fear yourself .
Crev: (shakes her head, chuckling) Do you think if I ignore it, it will go away?
Toast: No, I do not.
Crev: At this point, I am just doing what it takes to survive. Spite and sheer stubbornness are powerful motivators.
Toast: Diligence, you mean.
Crev: No, no, I mean spite.
Toast: (small laugh)
Toast: (drinks)
Crev: The world is trying to kill me, and I won't have any of it.
Toast: This part of the world is certainly trying harder than most of the other parts.
Crev: Oh, absolutely. But what else is new?
Crev: If I can survive all that came before. Then we can survive now.
Crev: Many hands make light work.
Toast: Many hands make Light work, you say?
Toast: Perhaps there's a miracle coming after all.
Crev: (gasps, pretending to be horrified)
Toast: (snort)
Toast: Ah... I suppose I wasn't entirely honest with you earlier and that certainly isn't a virtuous way for me to act. You... said that you have seen Ser Randal about. You know of him.
Crev: Like I said, he's my neighbour.
Toast: I met him in the cathedral.
Toast: After a long night's work. Maintaining the candles, keeping watch over the sick.
Toast: Monitoring The Graveyard.
Crev: I'm not sorry.
Toast: And I fear I made myself a fool in front of him.
Crev: I'm sure it was perfectly fine. He doesn't seem the type to look down on a Vestal.
Crev: ... Aside from in the literal sense.
Toast: he is very tall.
Toast: but.. there was something about it. I lost my words, I couldn't think
Toast: The world was hazy with the dawn
Crev: That is generally how being charmed seems.
Toast: I was tired.
Toast: I was very tired.
Toast: And he thought that I might faint.
Crev: I'm sure.
Toast: What is that face.
Crev: This is my usual face.
Toast: .........
Toast: ...He was very kind of course. He kissed my hand. I've never... he kissed my hand, him, a soldier of the Light, it was out of decorum!
Crev: (snorts)
Toast: He knew me immediately by my garb! And still!
Crev: Perhaps he comes of noble lineage. I remember clearly how common a greeting that is among young ladies and lords.
Toast: Y-yes, but, I am not of any noble lineage...!
Toast: And I am a vestal , such things...
Crev: Trust me, you will be immune to such a gesture very soon.
Crev: It grows meaningless within... in my experience. Ten.
Crev: Not even.
Toast: .... (quieter) he was rather becoming... in stature, and his face.
Crev: Is someone having sinful thoughts.
Toast: NO.
Toast: no, I- Crevecoeur, please.
Crev: You don't need to feel ashamed. So he was handsome. You are allowed to think so!
Toast: I haven't yet reached the apex of my embarrassment and already I am ashamed...
Toast: It is alright for a gentleman to be handsome, but to Notice is something else altogether...
Crev: If it makes you feel better after, I can tell you what a fool I was when I was first introduced to my husband.
Crev: To err is human.
Toast: (MORE UNCOMFORTABLE)
Toast: ...(nods)
Toast: (clears throat)
Toast: ....I told you of the flower. That was when that moment happened. He... didn't just give it to me. He reached out, like this (pretends to tuck something behind Crev's ear. Her hand definitely smooths along her hair and cheek for a fleeting moment)
Crev: The cad.
Toast: I tell you it was hardly decorum!
Toast: I understand that perhaps he's been away on crusade, but...
Toast: (flushes)
Crev: That is hardly valorous behavior.
Toast: Certainly!
Toast: Hardly!
Toast: And that isn't the worst of it!
Toast: (drinks)
Crev: (raises her eyebrows)
Crev: He gets worse?
Crev: At this rate, I ought to chase him out of the Inn like a feral tomcat.
Toast: I felt myself at a loss for words. As one would be. Tired. In this. Morning. And. I was... taken aback. Stunned, really. His words came flowing but I couldn't quite understand in the least. I heard half a question and then nothing at all. Just his... it was a voice, but surely it wasn't speaking in a way I could understand.
Toast:...He said I looked faint, or something of the sort. Questioned my ability to keep myself upright and so he...
Toast: He...
Toast: He put his arms 'round me... he lifted me up. My feet off the ground, his hand at my waist, as if I was nothing. As if I was nothing at all.
Crev: Oh my- I won't take the name in vain around the Vestal.
Toast: And he carried me... me carried me through the cathedral, to the sleeping quarters
Toast: To be... carried.
Toast: And there was a gentleness..
Crev: (puts a hand on her shoulder)
Toast: ...
Crev: He didn't. Do anything, did he?
Toast: What? No! No!
Toast: No
Toast: no, of course not, no
Crev: Good. I wasn't in the mood for explaining bloodstains to the Innkeeper.
Toast: (laughs, if only to diffuse her own tension)
Toast: No... he set me down gently...
Toast: He was careful. And gentle.
Toast: And warm... like the feeling of the rising sun on your face.
Toast: No, even with his lack of decorum, he wouldn't dare touch me, Crevecoeur.
Toast: If anyone were to, in this Hamlet. They'd be killed, if the Holy Laws were upheld.
Toast: And I'd be killed as well.
Crev: I would fend them off.
Toast: Buried in the ground just outside the estate with no food and water.
Toast: Alive.
Crev: Permission to rob your "grave" if such a thing happens?
Toast:...If I have violated my vows, Crevecoeur... then God will judge me.
Crev: I cannot stand by such an injustice, Holy or not.
Toast: You must trust me to remain virtuous, then.
Toast: It's against Holy Law to shed the blood of the Vestal. I assume i'd be a beautiful corpse.
Toast: But I am... (she looks bashful) Chaste. And I strive to exemplify Temperance as well.
Crev: You're a blazing star in a place of shadows.
Crev: Not even this Ser Randal matches you, from what I hear.
Toast: Perhaps he was just out of practice and excited to be of service...
Toast: I don't want to hold him in contempt...
Crev: I will believe that when I see him improve.
Toast: Next time we meet I will be sure to be well rested.
Toast: ...I did try. (She looks frustrated for a moment, leaning in a bit closer, brow furrowed)
Toast: He offered me his arm and I... I refused.
Crev: ... Dare I ask why?
Toast: Why did he offer? Or why I refused?
Crev: Why you refused. I know why he offered.
Toast: ...Because although I've seen many women walking on a man's arm, those women can never be me. They were noble. They were... not dedicated as I am, to the Light. To God.
Toast: To be so familiar... my Chastity would come into question.
Toast: Especially with such a stranger...
Crev: (frowns, just a little)
Crev: I see...
Toast: It was right of me to refuse.
Toast: .....
Toast: Even in ten years' time I don't know if I could ever walk with my arm twined with another's
Toast: I'm already past marrying age by quite the fair amount.
Crev: Planning on being an old spinster, then?
Toast: I have no choice but to be.
Crev: There are many paths.
Toast: That path requires a good man who would take a very old wife.
Crev: From someone who knows the dealings of marriage. Consider a widower -- they are usually kinder.
Toast:... hm.
Toast: I suppose I will.
Crev: I say, having never remarried.
Toast: in the meantime, Ser Randal has to find his sense of decency.
Crev: But certainly. If he is so untoward again, tell me. I know where he sleeps.
Toast: What would you do, marr the poor man? He is a mountain, he'd crush you.
Crev: I will scold him like the old hen I am.
Toast: Scold! In my defense?
Crev: Always
Toast:... Crevecoeur...
Toast: ...If I was ever buried within the Earth, still breathing.
Toast: If I was truly virtuous.
Toast: If I had done no wrong.
Toast: God would let me emerge as pure as I went in.
Toast: You will not need to dig me up, my friend.
Crev: (smiles)
Crev: I thought you said God acts through the people.
Toast: People are flawed.
Crev: Not what I meant.
Toast: ...If God wants to bury me, then he would be testing me.
Toast: I only need but pass.
Crev: Perhaps he will act through a heathen like me.
Crev: Faith is all well and good, but do not let it kill you.
Toast: (takes her hands in her own)
Toast: ...It will not, Crevecoeur.
Toast: If you tried to unbury me, you would be hung.
Toast: or worse; drawn and quartered.
Crev: Your point.
Toast: Let me stay there in the dark and prove myself.
Toast: If I am virtuous, I will survive.
Crev: (disentangles her hands.)
Toast: ...It won't come to that.
Crev: Do not promise me what you may not be able to keep.
Crev: I told you that you can break the hearts of people who do not love you. You are not the one in danger.
Toast: As the one who would be buried alive, I think I'd disagree just a bit.
Toast: But rest assured... I see what you mean.
Toast: If Ser Randal is brash again, you will chastise him.
Toast: If anyone is, I'm sure you will.
Toast: The protector of my Virtue, Crevecoeur the grave robber
Toast: keeping me from my own shallow grave.
Crev: Isn't that a riot. A graverobber protecting anyone's Virtue.
Crev: But. Yes. I will defend you.
Toast: I found more irony in keeping me out of a grave.
Toast: You're going to give Ser Randal a run for his claim to virtue, Crevecoeur.
Crev: Oh absolutely.
Toast: (she smiles like a cat that's gotten the cream) Claiming virtue so easily now, Crev?
Toast: seems I may be persuasive after all.
Crev: Oh, no. But I'm very good at calling people's virtue into question.
Toast: I believe that.
Crev: Usually just standing next to them does the trick.
Toast: ...Let's just hope that I don't meet him again in the dawn.
Toast: There's something dangerous about it.
Crev: I'd buy that. Dawn in itself is dangerous, I'd wager.
Crev: Just look past him instead of at him. It helps.
Toast: (nods)
Toast: I'll try not to think of him at all. Which should be easy. I have much to attend to.
Toast: He is one Crusader. A valorous man, surely. But my time will hardly be devoted to him in any way. I have people to serve. I have blight and darkness to banish.
Toast: There are much bigger concerns than warm arms and white lilies.
Crev: Indeed, there is.
Toast: (Drinks)
Crev: ... Do you need me to buy you another drink. You seem troubled.
Toast: Another would certainly be a violation of Temperance.
Crev: Yes or no.
Toast: No.
Toast: I can't see any virtue out of another drink.
Toast: But your kindness is certainly noted.
Toast: my stalwart protector.
Crev: Oh, stop. You're going to make me blush.
Toast: I'm hardly able to see your cheeks
Crev: The wonders of Grave Robber Fashion.
Toast: A clever concealment
Crev: protection from sun and searching eyes.
Toast:...was your husband a widower, Crevecoeur? When you were married?
Crev: He was not. We were introduced when I was merely eighteen -- He was a tad older. We were married within seven turns of the seasons.
Crev: My father was a widower, I a child of his second wife.
Toast: And he was kind?
Toast: You said... widowers were kind.
Crev: Yes. My father was extremely kind.
Toast: I can only hope your husband was in turn
Toast: ..I don't like imagining you unhappy with someone who is supposed to love you so deeply.
Crev: ... He was. I miss him dearly.
Toast: ... (nods)
Crev: I believe the only time I heard either of them cross was when my father tried to discern whether he was good enough for my hand.
Toast: (smiles, puts her chin on her hands)
Toast: That sounds utterly enchanting...
Crev: What, listening to two men argue over whether or not my beau loved me or the promise of my dowry?
Crev: Truly, a spellbinding moment.
Toast: No, no (embarrassed) Just...the care.
Toast: To have someone fret over you..
Toast: It just... sounds nice
Toast: I apologize I feel rather ignorant
Crev: All is well.
Toast: But it was settled? And he did love you with his whole heart for ever and ever?
Crev: Until the day he died.
Crev: Even upon discovering I... my flaws. He still was all I could have ever asked for and more.
Toast: (looks utterly enchanted by all of this. She's enraptured)
Crev: (probably looks more than a little nostalgic.)
Crev: I was raised thinking I would marry the same as any of my kind -- to someone who could provide. A business partnership. But. I... I was very, very lucky.
Crev: That charm I gave you was given to me the night before I met him. That is why I believe it is lucky.
Toast: (softly) you were noble
Crev: (freezes)
Toast: ...?
Crev: I did not think I was so obvious.
Toast: You said business partner.
Toast: Common farmers don't... speak like that.
Toast: Even less of them have a suitable dowry worth arguing over.
Crev: (sighs, turning to Toast full on.)
Crev: Yes. I was. I am, I suppose.
Toast:...You don't need to be ashamed.
Toast: is that why you hide your face...?
Crev: Yes.
Toast: I knew you'd be beautiful if you only showed it.
Crev: I was not a homebody.
Crev: (slowly removes her hat)
Crev: I am Baroness Crevecoeur Beauchene. Nice to meet you.
Toast: ...I'm still just Sister Toustain, I'm afraid.
Toast: And you are beautiful.
Crev: Flatterer.
Toustain: That makes the truth sound like vice.
Toast: So you were noble... and you had a wonderful husband, who died, but he loved you, dearly.
Toast: And now you're.... here
Crev: Yes. I had to sell everything we owned to settle our debts.
Toast: Debts...?
Crev: His vice was gambling.
Toast: Oh…
Crev: He believed he would win well soon, and make sure my Widow's Third was enough to provide for me. But that win never came.
Toast: ...I'm sorry.
Crev: It is hardly your fault.
Toast: Still.
Crev: I was so... furious, when he died. But, now... Now I just wish I hadn't driven him to his illness.
Toast: Driven?
Crev: Yes.
Toast: What do you mean...?
Crev: (leans in a little) I am completely barren. This is the flaw the Light gave me.
Crev: We'd found someone among the staff willing to bear a child where I'd failed, but. Something about her got him ill. If I wasn't blighted this way, none of this would have happened.
Crev: ... So that's my tale of woe. It sounds like so little when spoken aloud, but. It was Hell on Earth for me.
Toast: No, your suffering will not be diminished...
Toast: Your inability to bear a child is no mark against you as a wife, Crevecoeur.
Toast: I am sure that you were kind and patient and loving...
Toast: (takes out a coin)
Toast: Though it would be a mark against me to have another flagon, I will indulge your sin a bit.
Toast: (presses the coin into Crev's hand)
Toast: if it helps?
Crev: (smiles slightly)
Toast: I don't want to drive you to vice but...
Crev: Thank you.
Toast: Everyone has their own way of coping
Crev: I'm bound to indulge in one vice or another. This one is marginally less harmful.
Toast: And in good company?
Crev: And in good company!
Toast: (smiles, almost pridefully so)
Toast: ...If you were the type to be inclined to the Light I'd offer blessings. Holy oils. Consecrations. I know you're not the type but I just wanted to say that I would.
Toast: Out of all the Holy things I have done, I find those slow rituals to be the most rewarding. The most healing.
Toast: The sweet scented oils. The incense. The touch of Holy fingers on your skin, blessing you.
Toast: I would offer that to you if I could, but instead
Toast: another round
Crev: You get enough of those oils on me as it stands, Toustain.
Toast: what do you mean?
Crev: the letter you sent, when I gave you the charm, et cetera. for some reason, my hands always smell like your oils afterwards.
Crev: I don't mind, but. I think that's about as close to Holy Ritual as I can stand until I make peace with my past.
Toast: (nods, understandingly so)
Toast: Someday then, perhaps.
Toast: I'll find a good nun to rub all the sin from your skin, and then some.
Toast: Unless you'd prefer myself.
Crev: I wouldn't have any skin left.
Toast: I think you're forgetting your place as my Virtuous Protector
Crev: I'm only virtuous for you, Toustain.
Toast: The way you say that almost makes it sound like a sin.
Crev: Almost.
Toast: Almost.
Crev: Luckily for both of us, not quite.
Toast: Drink your beer. Make a toast.
Toast: Make yourself silent for a while and enjoy the taste.
Crev: (raises her glass a little) A Toast, to Sister Toast.
Crev: (drinks)
Toast: Sister Toast is what the children of the Village called me. Where I grew up.
Toast: (imitating child) Sis Toast, Sis Toast...!
Crev: Oh. Apologies. I didn't know.
Crev: I shan't do it again.
Toast: No, no. They're fond memories.
[Toast: I don't mind.
Crev: ... Only if you let yourself call me Crev from time to time. I swear, I always think you're cross with me when you say my name.
Toast: (laughs)
Toast: Crev.
Toast: Alright.
Toast: I just like the sound of your name. It's so elegant.
Crev: It's suitably long and stuffy, yes.
Crev: But I'm glad you like it. My father named me -- more evidence as to why you should consider widowers, hm?
Toast: (blushes)
Toast: We can talk about widowers in some ten years or so
Toast: My devotion belongs to the Light
Crev: Yes, but what kind of friend am I not to tease you?
Crev: In ten years I'll show you how to flirt using a hand fan.
Toast: (BLUSHES)
Crev: What? It's an important skill!
Toast: Crev...!
Toast:...Well.
Toast: Maybe you could teach me sometime... sooner.
Toast: You know. Just for fun.
Crev: If you want!
Toast: ...(nods)
Toast: I won't be able to use that skill for a very long time. But it sounds like fun.
Toast: Noble ladies always looked so beautiful...
Crev: We tried our best. It was a daily endeavour to look presentable.
Crev: I'll try to convince the Nomads to bring in some handfans, I certainly don't have one.
Toast: (smiles)
Crev: They're fragile! It would have never survived my exploits.
Toast: I think fans are beautiful.
Toast: ...I like being a Vestal. I want to make that clear.
Toast: But I think I always envied the lives that nobles lived. It's a sin, I know. It's a rather large sin.
Toast: But they always looked so happy.
Toast: And elegant...
Toast: And so many of them looked in love.
Crev: So few were.
Toast: Oh...
Crev: As I said. Business partnerships.
Toast: They were very good at pretending...
Crev: Money, power, good lineage. They came first. We nobles are exceptional at pretending.
Crev: My mother and my father were... friends.
Toast: (looks downtrod)
Crev: But you have my charm. I'm sure you'll find love. Like I said. I got it, and not one eve after, I was love struck.
Toast: ...Should I give it back and then receive it again in ten years?
Toast: I don't want to get too lucky.
Crev: No, no, keep it.
Crev: I feel as if it's high time it had a new carrier.
Toast: If you say so.
Crev: I do say so.
Crev: It's done all it can for me.
Toast: I just wouldn't want it to go to waste...
Crev: If it so much as makes you feel better about a dire situation, it's serving it's purpose.
Toast: Dire?
Crev: Like I said. I believed in that thing so much, I took it on all my riskier operations. It brings luck in more than just love, I should think.
Crev: Or maybe not. They say Luck be a Lady, maybe it charms her.
Crev: In any case. No boon given to you is a boon wasted, Sister Toustain.
Toast: That's so kind of you to say.
Crev: Oh, drat, there I go with the kindness again.
Crev: You're a bad influence!
Toast: When you say that, I know I'm doing well.
Crev: You hush, and if you haven't done so, finish your drink.
Crev: It certainly doesn't taste any better if you let it air.
Toast: Just a few sips left. Here. Take it.
Toast: You'll get more enjoyment out of it than I will.
Crev: Ah, no, no.
Crev: I'm not looking to be nursing my head in the morning.
Toast: (laughs) Of course. You're careful
Toast: You're very smart. Like Doctor Fetti.
Crev: Knowing how much alcohol I can handle hardly makes me a doctor.
Crev: It just means I've overestimated that amount enough to know better!
Toast: Or one can practice Temperance.
Toast: Saves you from the headache altogether
Crev: Temperance is your Virtue, not mine. I've just got experience.
Crev: And, surely, this is preferable to my prowling about the tombstones?
Toast: Certainly.
Crev: Though my graciously staying out of trouble shan't help you with your rest issues if you indulge me much longer, you know.
Toast: I'm resting enough, I assure you.
Toast: It was only a couple nights and I rest during the day.
Toast: I won't. ...I won't be caught like that again.
Crev: I hope not. This may not be a den of the serpentine devils I grew up with, but...
Crev: Gossip is insidious.
Toast: ....I assure you. I won't give them any reason to doubt me.
Toast: I'll be Diligent.
Toast: And I'll practice Temperance, and Chastity.
Crev: It's not you I worry about.
Crev: But I appreciate your caution.
Toast: (nods)
Toast: And you'll be careful as well?
Crev: Moreso than usual.
Crev: I have a fairly strong sense of cynicism and self-preservation, you needn't worry about me.
Toast: And it seems you'll be worrying about me on my behalf
Crev: Well of course. You're a good one, Toustain. I don't want to see anything happen to you.
Toast: That's a lot of worry for one woman.
Crev: I've endured worse.
Crev: Wait until I find out what Fetti Sutton has been up to. Then I will be overwhelmed with worry.
Toast: ...Just remember that you don't have to worry alone.
Crev: ... Er. Right. I'll keep that in mind. Thank you.
Crev: What I've done to deserve your kindness escapes me. But it means more than you know.
Toast: (nods)
Toast: I should be going. It's getting late, the Abbey will be missing me.
Toast: (Stands)
Crev: (nods, standing as well)
Crev: Nice seeing you -- we ought to meet again, sometime.
Toast: I'd like that
Crev: (smiles)
Toast: If you go out there again, before I get to see you. Be careful.
Crev: If you insist. I'll take care of myself. But only if you promise to do so as well.
Toast: I promise.
Crev: Then it's a deal.
Toast: (clasps her hand one last time) Until then.
And in your cup may you find your answers in the eyes that stare back at you. For you nourish yourself, and so you may nourish this world.
Toustain drinks from the flagon. His lips are white and wet with foam when she pulls back, and she runs her tongue over the spots to clear them of debris. The ale was deep, but she can’t see that through the thick head of foam. She can taste the uncleanliness in the drink when she swallows, some sort of dirt or infection that was hopefully purged by the alcohol itself.
The hum of people is comforting. So many souls in one place was a sign of companionship; civilization. The fire in the back of the tavern blazes glorious heat through the structure, warming everyone within. Outside the atmosphere may bite and the wind may chill, but here, the cold’s fingers couldn’t grip and tear at Toustain’s skin.
There are some others here at the bar. She turns to the woman next to her and gives a warm smile, nodding slightly. “The drink’s good, but I think that the company of many is better,” she says. “It’s nice to not feel alone in these times.” The darkness crept outside, waiting for its prey. But the tavern door was closed shut, the holes in the ceiling covered with rough cloth and tarping. It was nowhere near the accommodations that Toustain was used to. But it was serviceable. And a smile never hurt.
