An Awkward Conversation [Closed]

[Unnamed Mercenary]

In a well-lit room, two people sat on separate seats. While the room was well-designed and made to be cozy, their conversation hadn't.

 

Franz gave Edda direct look with his next words, “what exactly have I done?”

 

Edda Eglantine peeks up over her knees to look into the fire. "You've- I... Nothing, and yet, if it weren't for them, he'd still be- and I could be... here, anywhere, without consequence and I-" She stops and chokes on her own words. "Why must I think such terrible thoughts? I never did, before I had met you."

 

"I- ...I'm not sure what you really think, honestly." Franz sat in the seat wondering why he'd even gone to Edda's room in the first place. To check up on her? Make sure she hadn't been kidnapped or left again? See if she was ready to make some new quip or personal attack against him for being Garlean?

 

He wasn't used to seeing the normally composed girl actually trying to express herself. Or express something.

 

He peered over from his seat, leaning in and resting an arm to his knee in interest. "And just what are these terrible thoughts you've been holding back?"

[Edda]

"That's none of your business!" Her body goes rigid, her voice cold and biting - a reminder of what it had once been before she had left. The words seem to leave her in a flurry of anger that she suddenly seems to regret. She attempts to relax once more, her body shrinking away from him and the light of the fire.

 

"I'm sor-" She begins again before cutting herself off abruptly, like a bad reflex. "But it's not, is it? What cause is there in telling you anything? I don't even know why you're here, why you keep- keep pretending." Edda looks at him from the corner of her eye. There is a tiredness in her look, a foggy air around her that makes her presence seem far away, and out of reach.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

There. A reaction. There was something Edda was hiding beneath her normally composed expression. If anything, he figured the recent events would have brought the defense down.

 

He kept his position in the seat as something between an intrigued smile and a smirk crept up on his face. "I would say of all the people here, isn't it my business? It's obvious it has something to do with Garleans at this point. Would it not be easier to simply speak about, rather than wearing another cold expression?"

 

"Besides...I thought we've already established that there is no 'pretending' around you, save for groups where a facade may be necessary. Am I not allowed to worry just as much as any other person?"

[Edda]

That ugly smirk helped nothing, and Edda bristled noticeably. She set her feet on the floor, unfurling out of the cocoon she had curled herself into and sat upright, her spine set in rigid formality. "Of course you're allowed to worry," she began. "I simply know I've given you no cause to - at least in regards to me. Deny it all you like, but I'll play no part in your mummer's farce."

 

She delivered her words with a clarity that she had not possessed since her return to Still Shore. Her expression faltered for a small moment, as if she were near tears. "You play games with me, Garlean." Edda leaned back in her chair and turned from the fire to look at Franz. "If ever you- You seem to-" The moment of clarity was gone, and Edda licked her lips, her brow furrowing. "There seems to be something you would like me to admit to you, so... Though I believe it is clear how you feel towards me, your motives I could, couldn't imagine." She frowned, displeased with the jumbled mess of her words, yet carried on. "What is it - exactly - you want to know?"

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Franz adjusted his position in the chair, returning to a proper way of sitting.

 

"I'd love to know why you hate Garleans as much as you do. Most others seem to have overcome the their hardships from the last five years."

 

He wondered if she could do it. Perhaps with a little more provocation, she might answer.

 

"As always, anything you ask of me will be answered with the truth, whether to my benefit or not."

[Edda]

"You would like that, wouldn't you..." Edda shifted in her seat, turning on her side to face Franz fully. Her shoulder rest against the back of the seat, and lifted her feet up to rest on the chair once more.

 

"Shameful of you- really... To say that we overcome them yes, but that- that does not mean it is so easy to forget." She closed her eyes in thought, a calm expression on her face that seemed is if it were recalling a distant memory. There was a long moment of silence, long enough to make it seem doubtful that she would answer Franz's question at all. "It was my brother, he- He was killed, during the..." Edda trailed off, feeling no need to complete the sentence. It was enough. She sunk further into the armchair and sighed. Her eyes remained closed, as if seeing Franz's face would be too much to bear.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

His response was ready almost immediately. "What use would it bring in forgetting a painful memory? It leads to no completion, no resolution. So I'm to be judged from the actions of those who fought in a war, and of those who went against the general population's instruction?"

 

He gave her a moment to let the words sink in. 

 

"I'm sorry your brother killed during 'that'. I'm sure I lost comrades as well during that madman's plan to destroy everything. I can accept the guilt the guilt of the nation I identify me with, but I still implore that you do not judge individuals for the crimes of the whole."

 

"..."

 

Franz removed a certain glamour normally kept around his forehead. "Don't bother answering the other questions if you don't want to. But if anything, please look me in the eyes and answer me just this one concern, truthfully."

 

He'd wait until she did, solemn expression now. Franz had had his fun poking and prodding for answers that Edda didn't seem to want to answer. 

 

"What makes you always try to recede back to that cold, controlled expression and your thoughts on Garleans? Your brother's death from Garleans, the idea that Garlemald has continued its attack on Eorzea, or something else? What makes you push away from those who would want to help you?"

[Edda]

"Help me?" Edda scowled very suddenly and looked down into her lap. "Don't be snide. Where were you- any of you before, then, if you had truly wanted to help me? You were already caught up in your own happenings that I was- just happened to be..." She bit her lip and made a small, frustrated noise in the back of her throat.

 

"Did you only come here to lie to me? The only one who helped me was a perfect stranger at first, and I-" She stopped suddenly, he breath hitching in her throat. She covered her mouth with her hand, as if realizing something, or perhaps out of a short-lived reflex. Edda looked up at Franz with glassy eyes, fixated on that horrible third eye. "What do you want?" She asked after a long pause, her voice muffled behind her hand. Her voice was barely audible, quiet and distant, a sudden shift from her previous disposition, as if she had just now noticed Franz was in her room at all.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Franz got up from his seat and began pacing slowing back and forth, avoiding any sight of her. In a patronizing tone,"Yes....of course! Let's trust the crazed stranger who "rescued you" from wherever you'd been. Gone one day without any notice, only to turn up because a psychotic woman is having a mental breakdown and happened to mention your name! Let's not forget she was responsible for the injuries you suffered."

 

He turned to face her. "Do you even know what that feels like? The type of pain experienced from watching such an atrocity? Or do all people only register as strangers, servants, or "social obligations" to you?" Waving a hand in her line of sight. "Am I even visible? Or do you just see some filth emitting noise in your general direction?"

 

"I'm not even sure why I bothered trying to help Miette while she stabbed me so that she could be 'saved' from whatever ailed her mind. Bothered to not just get rid of her after the first few arrows she shot at me. Bothered to listen to her begging to 'rescue' you. People like you..."

 

He paused momentarily. 

 

"People who are perfectly content to stop trying. People who won't take action."

 

He sneered at her. 

 

"Or will you have me be the liar you seem to accuse me of being so often? Would that make the world easier to hide away in? Would you prefer I rescind my word about not lying? Are truthful words too difficult?"

 

He began to walk around the room, looking for the tray that had likely been left in the room. A tray of some simple food he'd left for her the other evening that she could stomach. Eventually finding, he could only assume her newest 'servant' was too busy being interrogated to handle it. Picking it up, he started to slowly walk towards the door, stopping only to reapply the glamour before exiting. He supposed if she wanted to respond, he'd listen. 

 

Mustering up the most genuine-looking smile he could. he turned back to here. "Is there anything I can get you besides the deceit you've so kindly requested?"

[Edda]

"Yes, there it is again..." Edda shifted in her seat, swinging her legs off the chair to let her feet touch the floor. "Such a scornful side to you, and how easily provoked it is now." Edda spoke softly into her shoulder, her head turned to the side, away from Franz. "And yet, I wonder - if perhaps I'm the only..."

 

Edda did not finish her thought, and instead stood and walked over to the door in three great strides. She grabbed Franz by his free wrist, as if her pathetic strength would ever be enough to prevent him from leaving. She tugged on his arm once, and looked straight into his eyes. They stood close, Edda's frame still small against the luxury of her room, her eyes wild with emotion that could not be placed.

 

"Of course I can see you," Edda hissed at him, her voice low and shaking, as if she were near tears. There was a redness in her eyes that could only be seen while close. "Just as you see me. And what primal pleasure you must have felt, seeing me in such a state. What pain could there have been? The same pain you felt when I ceased to trust you? The kind of pain you experienced when I provoked you into violence? The pain that I inflict by doing anything I can to see you miserable?" She tightened her grip on his wrist and drew in closer. Her expression broke, her brow knitted and her eyes bright with a thin sheen of tears.

 

"Is the truth not difficult for all of us?" Her voice grew even quieter. "I would not have you lie to me, but I cannot bear these acts of kindness, either. I am not so weak as you seem to think, yet I know I've done nothing to deserve your charity." Edda glances to the empty tray in his hand, the memory of warm food that had stuck in her throat, tight with unbidden emotion. "Do you not see me?" She looked back to Franz, and with her free hand traced a small line on his forehead. It was a ghosting touch, close to where his third eye would be, now hidden. "Do you not remember that pain? Recall that, and all the poison I've said to you, and what damage I've caused- Recall that, and look me in the eye and tell me I didn't deserve it."

[Unnamed Mercenary]

The moment she'd grabbed onto he felt it. A pain surging through the back of his head. The two tangled knots of aether that made 'him' desperately tightening as if to prove they were but one being. 

 

He ripped his arm from her grip, gazing at Edda in shock. "...deserve?" He was searching for the words to say as he tried to keep conscious. "Nobody deserves to be treated horribly." He was unsure whether those were his own words, or the words of the man who had died saving him. It didn't matter, he meant them either way.

 

As the man looked down to face her, all there was was pain. Pain on her face. Pain likely on his. The pain he was experiencing now. "Pain can heal. Regrets...do not."

 

He looked around the room, dazed, as if he didn't recognize parts of it. "...need...go...", the rest of the words only mumbled.  What he was aware of, was that he did not want Edda to see him like this. As he pushed past her to the door, managing to open it, leaving the room. 

 

Franz would get very far before a crash could be heard. The tray toppled over on the ground and the unconscious man sprawled on the floor, likely being greeted by the past.

[DoomsdayClock]

Sometime into their conversation, Miette had made her way back down the hall towards Edda's room. Though when she had heard the voices within, the elezen had paused and opted to bide her time before striding within. Truth be told she didn't like the idea of someone privately seeing Edda without her presence to safeguard her, and she recognized the voice from within as one of the "heroes" who had stopped her. More so as the one she had squared off against many times. Any eavesdropping ended when Franz came through the door and crashed to the ground in front of her, causing the elezen to gasp as she took a quick step back to avoid his frame.

Her mind raced over what she had seen, what was going on here? Her faraway eyes lingered on the man's form, before she took a breathe and resolved herself to action. As Franz lay there, she stepped one boot down firmly on his back, walking on him, over him as she looked through the doorway, in to her charge.

"Do not worry yourself, I will handle this matter for you my lady. "The woman replied with a gracious bow, done while planted atop the man's back.

Miette stepped off him, and bent over to curl a hand into that shirt, gripping him near the back of his neck, and with a grunt, she dragged his body across the hall to his own room. Annoyed with how heavy this oaf was, she cursed under her breathe and fumbled to open Franz' door.

"Too many cakes no doubt, carrying a tray with him and all."She shook her head, pulling Franz fully within, before leaving him sprawled out on his own floor.

"Much better...now no one will trip over this. "She muttered, snatching up the tray and bringing it within as well.

She set the tray down on the floor in front of his form, making sure it would be the first thing he saw when he came to...and upon it she left one of her arrows across it's surface. A warning. To offend Edda, to cause her distress would not be tolerated. Once done she closed his door and stepped back to Edda's room, closing the door behind her as she strolled in.

"All better my Lady, I do hope you are not too distraught?" A delightful smile spread across her features.

[Edda]

Edda's breath stuck in her throat as she watched Miette. The feeling of Franz wrenching his arm out of her grip was not unexpected, but the memory of it sat in Edda's heart like a glacier. The sight of him recoiling as if burnt was enough - a feeling of cold washed over her body, and she could only stare back at Franz as he spoke to her, and could only stand stock still as he left.

 

Edda watched in silence as Miette moved Franz back into his room after he fell. She felt a chill run down her spine, seeing him like that, and tucked her hands into her sleeves. There was a part in her that wanted to run forward and see how badly he was hurt, but her legs felt like lead, and the thought in itself seemed dangerous as well. "Is he still breathing?" She wanted to ask, but it felt daft of her to say. Miette had far more expertise in such things, and would have been able to tell without Edda prompting her to check. "Did you put him somewhere comfortable?" A wretched thought. It was kind enough of Miette to move him in the first place, and Edda had not the strength to help with lifting him to his bed.

 

When Miette returned, Edda cracked a small smile at Miette. "I'm alright," she managed to croak out. "Thank you, Miette." Edda shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. A part of her wanted to embrace Miette and cry into her chest, as she had done some nights before. But although her throat felt restricted and tense - a familiar omen of oncoming tears - she found herself stalled at that point. Instead, Edda turned and went to bed, slipping under the sheets fully clothed. She closed her eyes and found not one moment of sleep.

 

After lying awake for several bells, Edda rose and exited her room. She closed her door, careful not to wake anyone, and entered Franz's room across the hall. The door did not open all the way, stuck on one of his legs, where he was unceremoniously deposited on the wood floor of his room. Edda tiptoed around him to take a blanket and pillow off of his bed. She draped the blanket over him twice, setting it on him the short way by accident the first time. She knelt down by his head and lifted it with one hand, still covered by her sleeve, careful not to touch him directly. She slipped the pillow under his head and stood, observing him for a moment - sprawled on his belly on the floor, his neck twisted painfully to the side. The arrow on the tray remained, and Edda figured it best to not remove it. Satisfied, Edda returned to her room to finally sleep. It would be easy to pretend as if it wasn't her - such a simple kindness would be expected of Jancis or Reinette. Before she drifted to sleep, the words from her heart that she had been unable to say flooded into her mind. The chance to say them was lost now, perhaps for good - but he was unhurt, and for now, that was enough.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Franz awoke, shivering on the floor of his room, around the fifth bell of the morning. Like usual, dawn would be approaching shortly, and the dark night would fade into twilight as the sun rose in the sky. Unlike most mornings, a sharp pain lingered at the back of his head, and the floor had done nothing to keep him comfortable. Were it not for the pillow and blanket that someone had draped over him, he likely would have awoken far more chilled, and in far more pain, from having slept with such terrible posture.

 

Groaning a little as picked himself up, he saw the tray he'd dropped and the single arrow. Didn't think Miette would be the one to drag me back here, let alone provide a pillow and blanket. He imagined his nearly 200 ponze self was not most portable of bodies, and more likely, was not something the slender Elezen could pick up with ease. She likely did drag me... Inspecting his clothes, he'd seemed to have cleaned the floors as well when moved, brushing off as much of the dust as possible. Dirty clothes still on, he decided it was time for the morning workout anyways. Some sweat and blood flow would likely help the headache. A warm-up jog and two-bell swim didn't do much to stop it, however. 

 

Returning to the Still Store just before the eighth bell, a slightly wet and sandy mess, he showered and changed into a fresh set of clothes. At least it won't be obvious that I feel terrible... The pain hadn't gone, but it was bearable. He could never be sure what he'd remember until something provoked the memory anyways. Just as any other day, he made the same simple breakfast, a pot of tea, and checked up on any news. Perhaps he would spend a few days by Gridania. The Starlight Ball was coming up, and the venue nearby. And there was always some more research to do.

 

He would contact Edda afterwards. He couldn't face her for a few days, and Miette would likely want her arrow returned.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

A letter is written in proper Ishgardian text.

 

Miette,

 

I know we may have our differences in opinion, and I will respect that. My actions the other night were uncalled for, and I wish to make ammends for them, in whatever way I can. While it does not justify my behavior, I do trust that what was said to me was the truth. May you find the possibility to forgive me, know that my door is always open.

 

Signed in a proper signature, was "Franz".

 

The letter would then be rolled and sealed with wax, waiting to be opened upon its eventual delivery.