[here they are... in the city... specifically, near the blimps. it appears that they can go up in one? nahida is weighing her options. should she, should she not...
when she spots gerard, she waves.]
Hello, Gerard! Have you ever ridden one of these before?
nahida, as expected, looks pretty down in the dumps! but when she spots gerard, she looks up and tries not to look so sad. (she kind of fails at it though.)]
anyway, after the trial, nahida's going to go for a walk to try and clear her thoughts and will come across gerard somewhere when she does so. when she sees him, she waves.]
[she is absolutely in here, yeah. she has a pile of books that's as big as she is.
when she notices movement out of the corner of her eye, though, she peeks out over the top of her book and studies him as he moves around furtively. she doesn't ask anything just yet, but... her curiosity is coming off of her in waves.]
anyway, once the dust settles a bit and gerard has had some time to get properly healed up, nahida will come looking for him! she is giving off vibes of extreme concern, because what the fuck. egg. why. injuries. why.]
[ gerard's emotions are ... mostly kinda blank. in that way where you've had a very anxiety inducing, traumatic experience and then you shut down for a while because, well. what else is there to do! ]
[me trying to speedrun a starter before work picks up again. hi we're in the void. nahida looks like she is desperately trying to keep her cool but it's obvious she's upset... still, she takes a breath and nods to gerard when she spots him.]
You move down the path, keeping your bearing through the forest. You arrive at a lake, and you can see some of the lines coming in. There are these wicker fish traps. They sort of are little baskets that fish swim into and can't get themselves turned around to swim back out again, a couple little clusters along this icy lake surrounded by thick conifer trees. You see some of them have some sort of trout in them, this is the chore you were assigned to do. It seems simple enough. Flying overhead, you see a white shape, and landing a little ways along the beach, you see a heron land.
How big? You can’t really tell from here. Are you worried about it being larger than normal? You’re not scared of herons anymore. Not at your size.
But this one - it’s pretty big.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
You throw yourself into the rushes by the edge of the lake, going to lay low, and you can feel yourself kind of hiding, and you look around. You still seem like your normal - human - size, but you see other frogs around you hiding here by the side.
“You guys got to get the fuck out of here. You see that heron? I could fuck it up, but you guys are toast.”
You hear a voice of sort of tittering laughter coming from the water. `Hello, Gerard.` You hear a familiar voice. Your eyes are big enough that you can literally turn them down without having to move your head to look into the water. Peering out from the reflection of the water is someone who immediately looks like, from their reflection in the water they should be standing right behind you, but swiveling your eyes to see, you see they are just a reflection in the water. You see the Princess Rapunzel - long, long, long blonde hair, dark eyes, cold expression behind a drawn smile - looking at you. You look frightened.
“What are you doing here?”
She laughs again. “Spying on you. You struck me as one of the less magical of your companions.”
“Okay, well, there's a huge bird over there, and he's kind of freaking me out, so go fuck yourself? See, I'm hiding from the bird. I'm spying on the bird. What you're doing is not spying. You told me what you're doing. I don't need to be magical to see you.”
“No, I don't believe you do. Is the bird sort of magical, or is it doing any spells?”
“He's big.”
“That was a nice trick, getting the book away from us. How much did it cost?”
“It cost a new friend.”
“You're a prince. Friends are probably pretty expendable, right? How many friends have you really had, other than Elody?”
“I mean, overall, not very many, but recently, like, seven or eight?”
“That's miraculous. Your friends seem to really value you as a person. I'm sure it's a comfort to know that they're not just sort of putting up with you because you'll tag along and swing your sword, prove a little bit useful.”
“I like to think that we have a rapport. We have snowball fights and whatnot.”
“Well, I'm not sure what your plans are. I was hoping to get an image of you up to some kind of scheming rather than hiding from a bird on the edge of a lake, but I suppose I can't be too surprised. I have seen some titanic feats of strength from my companions, the Beast, Cinderella, Snow White. Truly impressive acts of heroism.
I do not think I have seen any of my sisters strain more greatly than the Princess Elody to find something kind to say about you.”
You look up at the bird from where you’re hiding, and not at her in the reflection in the water anymore. “ I don't... I don't doubt that. But I haven't seen the Princess Elody in a while, and I think it's telling that I'm seeing you in this lake and not her or any of the other princesses. I think you're manipulating people, or not telling them the full truth.”
““Truth. You have a sword that tells the truth, right? …. Why don't you take the sword out and ask it if Elody still loves you?”
You don’t know if it works like that, but … you reach to take it out anyway. My master!
You see the heron whips its head around and starts to walk over.
You retreat further into the rushes. Bravely.
“Okay, Sword of Truth, settle a bet. It doesn't have to be you know, love love, but does the Princess Elody love me?”
“My master. The Princess Elody cares for you deeply.”
You hear a sort of chuckle from the water. “Not quite the same thing.”
“It's not, but seeing as the last thing she saw of me was me running away after I had already done that, I'm grateful that she still cares for me at all.”
The water shimmers, and looking towards Rapunzel, you see your reflection. You are at the most froglike you have ever been, and Rapunzel's words become almost like a hissing in your ear, and it's almost like you wonder if Rapunzel's somehow reading your mind or there's something deep in here that she has some ability to know, or perhaps more frightening, something that Elody has confided in her.
“Gerard, what do you think the odds are that it got into Elody's head that the virtuous thing to do was to fall in love with a cold and slimy frog, and that every kindness she has paid you in your life has been a testament to her charity rather than anything about you that would bring her joy?”
“I don't know that I can answer that.”
“It doesn't seem very fair to Elody that you can’t.”
“I agree.”
As you say, "I agree," you feel a sort of quaking of the Sword of Truth in your hand. You almost feel some kind of knightly sorrow coming from the sword, as though it feels like it's been manipulated into hurting you. You feel the stalking of this bird coming nearby. You're looking at your reflection and just wondering. You know that the way your fairy tale is supposed to go is that love is greater than all these other things, and true love comes, and you don't look like a frog anymore. You wonder, there's a deep convenience to the fact that the moment that the person looks past your curse, they are rewarded by you no longer being under the curse, and suddenly you're handsome, and suddenly you're not a frog anymore. How very convenient that in the moment of learning the lesson, you no longer need to have learned it. You hear on the wind, and it breaks it up so that Rapunzel's connection to you is severed because the wate ripples across, you hear, Oh … the bird is getting very close.
A voice. Not Rapunzel’s. The Baba Yaga. What would you be willing to give for what you seek, and would you give it to me?
“I would give it to you. I would give you my name, my humanity, for hers, for her name.”
You feel, somewhere within you, a book moving. You've accepted your own story. You don't even have a name in your own story. You're just a frog who becomes a prince. And you feel a change, and somewhere out beyond the edges of the Neverafter, you have asked that Elody's story be hers. Ribbit. You become enormous, split out of your armor, and the heron, frightened, flaps away.
You try to snatch it up.
A whole bird into your massive, frog mouth. It’s gone.
[YOU REALLY GAVE ME THE MEMORY WHERE GERARD VORED A WHOLEASS BIRD HELP ME i guess we should all be glad he didn't vore shenhe.
anyway. nahida is left contemplating that memory as they come out of it. she will probably think of it every time gerard ribbits at trial from now on, unless someone has decided to kill him, in which case i will be extremely sad.
...there's a lot going on there that she doesn't fully understand. but it definitely seems like a serious memory, and nahida wants to give that the respect it's due.]
That felt like it was... a turning point of sorts for you, Gerard.
[help i got distracted reading the murder confession + delete this and respond with something else pc and just. laughing.
anyway! where is gerard. is he still vibing at bad dragon or has he found somewhere else to be. wherever he is, nahida will come across him as she's out for a walk - and when she sees him, she'll head over.]
[ STOP HE FREED HIMSELF FROM THE BAD DRAGON MIND PRISON
for real though he’s been sort of forcing himself to wander around and not go sit somewhere and buzz in silence because that was sort of terrible, and when Nahida approaches he feels a little guiltier because he knows they’ve been avoiding each other a bit since last Thursday, and that is probably the opposite of what Nahida needs. ]
...I'm going to be looking into other options, too. People from other worlds have come to Teyvat before. If I can figure out how they did it, and recreate the process... maybe none of this has to be a permanent farewell. I'll have a lot of work to do once I get back, but... it will be worth it.
[she will have a project!! a project to facilitate as many psls as possible.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
week 0, saturday ... 1!
when she spots gerard, she waves.]
Hello, Gerard! Have you ever ridden one of these before?
no subject
I can't say that I have. I've ridden other things but not ... whatever that is. Do you want to? I suppose it can't hurt. Unless it drops us.
no subject
...so, I think it would be fun to give it a try. Let's go!
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
week 0, friday ... 2
nahida, as expected, looks pretty down in the dumps! but when she spots gerard, she looks up and tries not to look so sad. (she kind of fails at it though.)]
Gerard, hello...
no subject
Nahida. [ ... ] Did you know him well?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
week 0, saturday ... 2
anyway, after the trial, nahida's going to go for a walk to try and clear her thoughts and will come across gerard somewhere when she does so. when she sees him, she waves.]
...thank you for your hard work today.
no subject
I mean-- We did all sort of stand around and watch a small child dig through a corpse's pockets. I didn't think about that at the time.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
W1 - SATURDAY
It would be simple in the end?
no subject
[a beat.]
Is this what they mean about not seeing the forest for the trees...?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
W2 - MONDAY
he does look a little ... furtive, though. like he's doing something he should not be. ]
no subject
when she notices movement out of the corner of her eye, though, she peeks out over the top of her book and studies him as he moves around furtively. she doesn't ask anything just yet, but... her curiosity is coming off of her in waves.]
its not monday its tuesday im in hell
i'll be honest i thought you picked monday to avoid any discussions about if gerard has teeth
I WILL REFUSE TO ANSWER IF GERARD HAS TEETH
(no subject)
week 2, thursday
anyway, once the dust settles a bit and gerard has had some time to get properly healed up, nahida will come looking for him! she is giving off vibes of extreme concern, because what the fuck. egg. why. injuries. why.]
Gerard...?
no subject
Hello, Nahida.
[ gerard's emotions are ... mostly kinda blank. in that way where you've had a very anxiety inducing, traumatic experience and then you shut down for a while because, well. what else is there to do! ]
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
week 2, saturday
on the other, after that, nahida is exhausted. she looks a little tired when she spots gerard and waves over at him.]
...I'm glad that's over.
no subject
In the end she just used her own psych? So that is. Something.
(no subject)
week 3, friday
Hello, Gerard.
no subject
Hello, Nahida.
[ what can you even say in these situations. ]
I'm sorry about Shenhe.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
W4 - TUESDAY
no subject
anyway. nahida is left contemplating that memory as they come out of it. she will probably think of it every time gerard ribbits at trial from now on, unless someone has decided to kill him, in which case i will be extremely sad.
...there's a lot going on there that she doesn't fully understand. but it definitely seems like a serious memory, and nahida wants to give that the respect it's due.]
That felt like it was... a turning point of sorts for you, Gerard.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
W4 - FRIDAY - TEXT
no subject
I heard there was unnatural darkness at one of the scenes. As far as I'm aware, none of the three of us is responsible for it.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
week 6, sunday
anyway! where is gerard. is he still vibing at bad dragon or has he found somewhere else to be. wherever he is, nahida will come across him as she's out for a walk - and when she sees him, she'll head over.]
...Gerard?
no subject
for real though he’s been sort of forcing himself to wander around and not go sit somewhere and buzz in silence because that was sort of terrible, and when Nahida approaches he feels a little guiltier because he knows they’ve been avoiding each other a bit since last Thursday, and that is probably the opposite of what Nahida needs. ]
Hello. [ ... ] Are you doing alright?
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
W7 - SATURDAY
Seems like quite a few people are going back with you. That should be nice.
no subject
[she smiles]
...I'm going to be looking into other options, too. People from other worlds have come to Teyvat before. If I can figure out how they did it, and recreate the process... maybe none of this has to be a permanent farewell. I'll have a lot of work to do once I get back, but... it will be worth it.
[she will have a project!! a project to facilitate as many psls as possible.]
(no subject)
(no subject)