thenearshore | [Closed]

Entry tags:

[Closed]

Who: Agrias & Ovelia
When: Mid-March
Where: Ovelia's room in Agrias' Temple
What: Ovelia having a bad case of the sads

Agrias been approaching the second day since last laying eyes on her shinki. While she knew that Ovelia was alive, she also knew that the Queen was unwell. It flowed into her due to the bond they shared, her emotions and feelings. A sensation of listlessness, and a... void. An emptiness that she'd never felt before until now. It troubled her, to be honest. Was this all truly coming from Ovelia? The knight had known of the troubles that Ovelia had suffered through, but never had she truly experienced it for herself. It was overwhelming, in a sense.

She stood outside Ovelia's room, knocking once on the door. Solitude and rest were all fine and well, but this ran so much deeper. Agrias couldn't just stand by any longer.

"Lady Ovelia? 'Tis me. I humbly ask that you open this door."

But nobody answered, though she knew for certain that Ovelia was inside.

She knocked a second time and waiting, but still no response.

"Forgive me, my lady." The door was unlocked, and Agrias slowly made her way in. Immediately, her eyes fell upon the bed and their covers. She closed behind her, and approached the bedside.

"Ovelia...? Prithee, speak to me. Let me hear yon voice."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Agrias would find Ovelia in he bed, the sheets strewn about messily, her nightgown and hair disheveled from lack of change and brushing respectively. Her focus only barely shifted to acknowledge Agrias, briefly, before returning to... nothing. Her eyes looked heavy despite how much she'd been sleeping, bleary, glassy...

"It matters so much to you... Tis like a goddess to feel so, I suppose."

Edited 2019-01-07 04:13 (UTC)

"'Tis not because I am your goddess that I worry, Ovelia." Though it did offer added insight, having a direct connection to one's emotional state. She'd always had special bond with Ovelia, one that had become even more so since their arrival to this world. At times she was elated to see her spirits lifted as they were, but to see her as she was now...

Gods, if only she could tell her.

"I worry because I know not what troubles you so."

"Tis a demon with no name to curse," Ovelia shifted in the bed, her gaze turning to the ceiling, but really turning to nothing at all, still empty and void like.

"I find misery the only constant as I wade through the mire of my own soul... happiness is fleeting, and rare."

It angered her to see Ovelia like this. She deserved so much more. A life of prosperity and happiness. Why was it that so much had been unjustly taken away from her?

"My lady..."

Her eyes were fixated on the shinki. Though she yearned to see her up and about, she would make no such attempts.

"I know not how to rid you of the demon that haunts you. Would that I be able to slay it, I'd have already risen my sword against the wretched creature." Never to trouble her again.

"All that I can offer is my word. That I shall ever remain by your side." Fate made her into a goddess, yet Agrias would always remain a knight first and foremost. "This I promise to you, my dearest Ovelia."

Ovelia's eyebrows shifted, as if wincing, her eyes pinching closed for a brief moment before she shifted in the bed again, looking directly at Agrias this time.

"A promise like that from a goddess of vows... Truly it puzzles me to understand how you think I am so worthy of it..."

Agrias offered a brief smile as her eyes finally met with Ovelia's. "Allow me to ask of you, then." She moved closer to the bed, taking a step forward.

"Why is it that you feel as though you are unworthy? You've done no wrong since we first met."

That... was true. She didn't feel like she'd been particularly useful, but she also hadn't committed any grave errors or mistakes either. She'd been dutiful as a shinki, and even helped her Goddess take down some ayakashi, and answer prayers. So why...

"I do not truly know. But that worthiness yet still feels beyond my character. The nameless demon that plagues my heart tells me... I do not deserve this..."

"My lady."

Seeing Ovelia like this... Robbed of happiness even in another world. Agrias refused to accept that this would be the Queen's fate.

She had slain gods, turned her back on nobility and church alike, and would likely see her good name stricken from history much like Ramza's.

All not only so that she could serve her country, but her Queen as well.

"Would remaining at your side like this ease your troubles?"

Ovelia paused for a moment, thinking over what Agrias had just offered.

"Right now? Just... staying in my room with me?" It sounded... nice. But surely Agrias couln't just spend all of her time with Ovelia, right?

Agrias continued to be careful with her words. She dared not impose herself upon Ovelia, or pretend that she would be able to cure what ailed her.

What she could offer, instead, was her smile.

Her reassurance, and her support.

"I would remain by your side for as long as you would have me."

...

"It's such a selfish thing, to want to indulge that. What right have I to even take such an offer? But even so, to turn you away would be just as rude, indulging in my own misery," Ovelia sighed.

"... Stay here. Please."

Edited 2019-01-22 21:01 (UTC)

"As the lady wishes." Agrias gave a single nod, pulling up a chair and bringing it bedside. There were no complaints, no hesitation.

She said she would remain by her side, and that was what she set out to do.

Ovelia's room held plenty of books inside, which would be helpful in keeping her busy as she remained there.

"Know that I'll be right here, should you have need of me."

Ovelia nodded, settling back onto her bed and continuing her busy work of staring at the ceiling. But somehow, Agrias' presence, that she'd so selfishly wanted, made that feel less... empty of a gesture. That she wasn't just lost in the infinity of her malaise, but rather for the first time in what felt like days, her eyes seemed to actually focus. Which meant she really... didn't want to stare at the ceiling for long.

So she opted to stare at Agrias instead, who had taken up a book to read. The candle light of her room played fancifully on her goddess, casting light and shadow in flickers, that brought warmth to the person she already considered warmer than the sun itself. Her hair, her cheeks, her eyes... She'd seen her goddess as admirable before, a woman she could always find herself in reverie to, and yet...

This was the first time she was noticing just how beautiful Agrias was. At least, it felt like the first time...

Agrias remained none the wiser, content with her reading and simply being inside the room with her shinki. It was always a comfort, being able to stay so closely with her. She had protected and guarded her throughout the years, and was happy to continue that here.

As her fingers went to turn the page, her own eyes met with Ovelia's.

She offered her a smile.

Earnest and true.

"Have you want of anything, My Lady?"

... Did she? Ovelia blinked, realizing she'd been staring for some time at that moment, and some color moved into her cheeks, eyes turning away.

Had she want of anything?

"N-no, I... I was simply watching you read."

There was a small chuckle coming from the knight.

"Ah, if that's all. Please, feel free."

She didn't mind it, and it meant that Ovelia was focusing on something, and someone else, rather than her own troubles.

With Agrias' permission, she felt a little less self-conscious, her eyes slowly returning to Agrias' face, watching the candlelight flicker in her eyes once again.

Just watching Agrias like that... it filled her with such a strange sense of peace. The darkness of her mind, in that moment, seemed so much further away. She knew it would return, as it always did, but so long as she focused on Agrias' eyes, she felt...

Happy. She hadn't even realized she was smiling.

Agrias would continue reading through the book, truly content to simply being in the same room as her shinki. The minutes continued to pass, until she came to a realization.

"Ah, might I retreat into my room for but a moment? There is something important I would like to bring to you."

"So long as it is but a moment," Ovelia murmured in response. It was a selfish thing to ask, but in the state of mind she was in, that sort of self-consciousness escaped her.

"I shan't tarry, this I assure you." Agrias too wish not for the darkness plaguing Ovelia's soul to return. Her own room was close to the shinki's, and she was gone for less than a minute, if that.

When she returned, she did so with an item in her hands.

A jar.

And inside the jar were a number of folded stars. Colorful and bright, purposefully arranged.

"I'd been working on this for some time, though I feel as though I could've done better."

Some of the stars were crinkled and bent, true. The hours had been many, and the result was still flawed, in Agrias' eyes. But still...

"'Tis my gift to you, if you'll have it."

Ovelia's eyes widened just slightly when Agrias revealed the jar, pulling herself up in her bed to a seated position, leaning in close before taking the item.

The stars, even if they were imperfect, were lovely... Considering Ovelia's many attempts at paper-craft flower crowns, most of which she'd given to Agrias, she could appreciate the effort put into it.

"Tis beautiful... Stars like these are difficult to make... Why did you choose stars, milady?"

"Stars are meant to serve as guides, I feel. To help show ys the way whenever when we ourselves might become lost."

She sat back down, and looked at Ovelia.

"A source of warmth and light."

Ovelia simply looked at the jar for several moments before her eyes started to glisten. A guide for the lost, a source of warmth and light. She felt her hands start to shake as she felt herself start to be overtaken by... something. Something she did not know or understand, but it rushed through her like a torrent, a wild rapid that threatened to sweep her away.

She clutched the jar to her chest, pinching her eyes closed as tears began to streak down her cheeks...

Agrias saw the tears and immediately assumed the worst. "M-My lady?!" She reached out with her hands, yet dared not touch her. What could've possibly had Ovelia react like that? She truly thought that this gift would've brought her joy.

"Have I done something to offend?"

"Nae...," Ovelia sniffled, shaking her head. "No fault lies with you," the truth was, Ovelia didn't fully understand at all what she was feeling. A mix of anguish and longing that made no sense to her at all. It was buried deep in her soul, behind memories she could not recall, housed in the same dark corners as her depression but felt... different. As if part of it actually made her... happy?

But that same emotion is what drove her to throw herself between Agrias' arms, something she'd never presume to do otherwise, thinking it improper for a shinki to do so with their goddess. Yet in that moment, it was what every instinct she had was screaming at her to do...

Agrias' arms went around her almost immediately, having said nothing after the shinki had thrown herself into her so suddenly. She was all too familiar with the darkness that plagued Ovelia's very soul. It was an unseen foe that would be easily vanquished, and it angered her that it continued to torment her queen even after death.

She continued to hold her, her embrace was gentle though it brought their bodies close together.

Agrias closed her eyes, her head resting next to Ovelia's.

Ovelia remained there for several long moments, just soaking in Agrias' presence, letting that strength surround her, warm her, ease her shivering heart. After enough time passed, she let out a sigh, pulling away from the other, but... not too far. Still within arm's reach.

"To think I would be so blessed to be in the presence of such a star as you, my goddess..."

"I am not worthy of such a grandiose title, my lady." Unwanted as well, perhaps. Though she dared not give Ovelia reason to think that she'd done wrong. "Goddess perhaps in name and strength. But a mere knight, 'tis all that I am."

"You think too little of yourself," Ovelia shook her head. And she knew a thing or two (or twelve) about thinking little of oneself. "Have some pride, and know my words are true."

"I..." There was truth in her shinki's words, certainly. Though young, Agrias had already held many accomplishments to her name. Some of which would be seen unkindly throughout the pages of history. Still, accomplishments nonetheless.

Ultimately, she sighed and smiled.

"Then I would do well not make a liar of the lady."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Closed]

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

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

no subject

no subject