Mazhigigika Miludin do Din Nolurun Dou [Magilou] (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
spinatalltale) wrote2017-08-31 07:24 pm
spinatalltale) wrote2017-08-31 07:24 pm
[WEEK 4, WEDNESDAY: Lief]
[by now, she's peeked into the rooms of a few others. caught glimpses of illusions that didn't belong to her, of scenes that had no emotional impact on her heart but rendered other people on this island speechless with fear and grief. she's purposefully avoided hers and Laphicet's door, knowing that whatever was on the other side wouldn't be anything pleasant]
[until now]
Oh brother. . . I wonder what it says about my own recklessness that I'm doing this. . .
[and so! with a sigh, she steps forward, hand brushing against the handle of the door. she gives it a twist, pushes it open, and--]
[-- Velvet's eyes, devoid of color, devoid of everything that made her Velvet, flickering towards her. her hands clawing at Artorius's, which are wrapped tight around her neck, suffocating her and wringing the last remnants of life and defiance from the woman's body]
[Magilou's breath hitches in her throat for the barest of moments]
[and then she slams the door shut]
. . . no thank you!
[until now]
Oh brother. . . I wonder what it says about my own recklessness that I'm doing this. . .
[and so! with a sigh, she steps forward, hand brushing against the handle of the door. she gives it a twist, pushes it open, and--]
[-- Velvet's eyes, devoid of color, devoid of everything that made her Velvet, flickering towards her. her hands clawing at Artorius's, which are wrapped tight around her neck, suffocating her and wringing the last remnants of life and defiance from the woman's body]
[Magilou's breath hitches in her throat for the barest of moments]
[and then she slams the door shut]
. . . no thank you!
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He is not the one who inflicted illusions on you before, is he?
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He was too "pure" to commit that sort of dirty work.
[she is well aware Lief won't understand her explanation, but she gives it, anyway. out of context]
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... Who would you consider worse?
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[she'll have to explain to him what she means by this, but give her a moment. she pushes away from the door, rolling her shoulders back in a shrug as she diverts her gaze from Lief]
. . . Melchior Mayvin. That's the name of the man with the illusions.
And the Shepherd was just as bad as he was, only in a different way.
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And what did each of them do?
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[only one person on the island thus far has managed to get this story from her. she delivers it in an even tone, not a single drop of emotion in her words]
Lief.
Have you ever been so angry you've wanted to tear the world into pieces, regardless of what casualties may lie in your wake?
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He hasn't really had time to reflect over this experience yet—when it happened so soon before arriving here—but...]
I do not think I have reached that level of "anger", but I have an inkling of what you may mean.
[When it comes to fury, he's become rather good at directing it straight at the source, keeping it away from everything else. At the same time, he can't say that something in Magilou's words doesn't strike close to home.]
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[that sort of description probably doesn't sound too flattering, but]
She was the epitome of hatred and rage, a violent storm that destroyed anything in her path. Where I come from, such powerful negative emotions can produce a substance called "malevolence."
And malevolence can cause someone to lose their humanity. To become, from a normal person's perspective, an actual monster-- a daemon. That condition is called the "daemonblight."
[she closes her eyes, her smile turning wry]
The Shepherd and Melchoir attempted to eliminate malevolence and save humanity form the daemonblight.
[but why is that bad. . .?
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Sunder them away from humanity completely, turning them into nothing but former shells of themselves. Obedient, good little creatures with absolutely no free will.
Velvet-- with a fire in her heart and a storm in her golden eyes-- fought to prevent that.
[not for the sake of humanity as a whole, of course. Velvet's reasons for bucking against the Shepherd were very personal, and she'll get into that later]
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And perhaps he can think of himself, in some of his darker moments. When he thought Jasmine and Barda had died in the north, and cold fury was all that was left to fuel him.
Hatred can consume a person. But it alone does not make a villain.]
... I see now why you have been very vocal in the significance of doing as one wishes.
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Hey, don't get me wrong. I know this place isn't exactly like home. Nobody here is enough like the Shepherd and his minions for that.
[but]
Freedom is the most important thing to me, right? I stand by that.
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[Though he believes that societies of complete order can function if everyone within such a society desires it (Tora seems to be doing just fine, even if Lief knows that he'd personally find living in their culture stifling)...]
My country once fell to ruin because the royal family, for generations, placed too much faith in their laws and did not learn to think for themselves. Because of their mistakes, we lived under the enemy's rule—under oppression—for sixteen years.
[There's no bitterness in his voice, however. At least, not towards the royal family.
... He doesn't know quite why he's saying this, particularly when it's a slightly different sort of freedom, and he knows he'll probably never feel as strongly on the issue as Magilou. Still—]
So I agree that freedom is important. It is something that many people perhaps do not cherish unless they know what it is like to be without.
1/2
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But you managed to drive them from your land, right? Or is this a different enemy.
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[...]
Since our country's beginning, the ruler has been tasked with safeguarding an item forged to defend the land from invasion. It has power only in their hands.
... But the Enemy was clever and so rotted the court from the inside. Eventually, the royal family became so bound by the Rule, designed by the Enemy's spies, that they learned to frighten any action that would contradict it, even when the law had no logic behind it. They became isolated from the very people they meant to protect, as well.
They did not realize they were being manipulated—that the luxury they lived in was hollow—until it was too late.
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[ah]
It's similar.
[she says quietly, but that ever-present smile is still there]
Not exactly the same, but similar. The religious organization that followed the Shepherd's every word-- the Abbey-- came into power when the monarchy handed over the reigns of government to said Shepherd. And that was only because Artorius demonstrated an ability to combat the daemonblight of which everyone was afraid.
[. . .]
The safety, provided to the masses by the Abbey. . . was a false sense of security. It was total theocratic control, to the point of where the Abbey encouraged even the most normal of citizens to betray their own wellbeing for the "good of the whole."
My. [lightly! like this conversation isn't super serious] I had no idea we came from such similar circumstances.
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It is rather strange to think of.
[Magilou isn't someone he would've immediately thought to have much in common with him.]
... You said the Shepherd is dead, correct? What did your government do from there?
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The Shepherd is dead and the Abbey is in ruins, but the monarchy still exists. And I happen to know one young prince who didn't exactly approve of the Abbey's methods.
[she shrugs!]
But other than that? Who can say what'll happen to our world? We did, after all, help plunge it into complete and utter chaos.
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[As he imagines Magilou knows well.]
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Oh dear. And here I am, making you think I was a part of a band of world saviors.
We'd be arrogant to say that our method is the only way to secure a better future. Truth is? We're not completely sure of that.
[but]
It's at least a future where humans are allowed to be human.
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[...]
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[but that's all she says about it, because. heck. he's not wrong]
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Perhaps.
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Well, anyway. . . now you know. I suppose they were going for shock value with my illusion, but it's awfully hard to knock me off of my game when I already know the Shepherd is dead and Velvet's quest was successful.
[she plays it off, and she plays it off well, but truthfully? seeing Velvet-- the woman she admired more than anything-- with that dead, empty look in her eyes bothered her far more than she'd be willing to admit]
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[He knows that his must be—both on an emotional and a physical level, his mother would be incapable of such an act—but that doesn't make it hurt much less.]
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[heh]
If they think they can break me by showing me an image of the strongest, most determined person I know bowing down at the hands of her enemy. . .
They'll have to try a lot harder than that.
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[His mother is one of the strongest people he knows, after all—someone who never gave in.]
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[talk about personal questions]
[but hey, this conversation was personal from the moment he saw what was in Magilou and Laphicet's room]
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My mother apologized for not being able to "save" me before killing herself.
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I assume in reality she's a much stronger woman than that.
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[so he doesn't get caught up in the grief and pain of watching her take her own life]
I get the feeling we'll all need to be remembering those sorts of things from here on out.
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About your mother. What is she like? Other than strong.
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... She is the sort of woman where, at a time when she, my father, and my father's friend were threatened, the enemy thought her to be the weakest one—the one he need not fear. That she was nothing more than a dull, painted doll.
[a beat]
And because he thought her to be harmless, she tricked him into looking out a window and proceeded to push him to his death.
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. . . wow.
A woman after my own heart!