hilda valentine goneril ♡

But then when push came to shove, well, there really wasn't a whole lot else to do around here. At least during the day. It's probably not the best idea to go snooping around someone else's house during the day again.

At least she isn't the only one here!

"Everyone else seems to be pretty happy. I know I'd like totally appreciate it if someone noticed that I wasn't feeling great. Let's go say hi!"

The two girls look to be around the age of 10-12. In sharp contrast to the jubilant air of all their classmates (which actually isn't that huge, the class doesn't seem to break past 12), they radiate an air of worry.

"Calvin's missing?" the older looking one of the duo asks.

"Mmhm," the girl with light green pigtails replies. "When I woke up to go to school today, he wasn't in his bed. I went downstairs and asked our butler, but he didn't know where he was either. I wanted to wait longer, but I got told I needed to go to lessons..."

"Do you have any idea--" At this point, the older girl takes note of Hilda's and Tina's approach, turning to them. "Oh! You two aren't staying with me and Daddy, are you?"

"Wait...Calvin?" Tina doesn't consider for a second that maybe just jumping in on their conversation might be considered rude. She recognizes that name and she's excited to contribute. "So like that must mean you're uhhh...Calvina? No... CALLIOPE! Happy birthday!"

Oh but wait. They're very clearly not happy. And she even said something about Calvin being missing.

"It's your birthday? Aww! Happy birthday!" She felt the need to express the sentiment, even though the girl's day clearly wasn't off to a great start.

"No, I'm not staying with you. I've been placed... elsewhere." She almost gave the name of her host, but something stopped her at the last second. She doubted a girl from a place like this would have spent much time in the area that she was staying, anyhow.

Though Calliope's eyes widen at the birthday wish, she does at least smile a little for it. "Thanks. I wish my brother were here to hear you say it too." She nods at Tina's sympathies. She speaks somewhat soft-spokenly. "I'm really worried. We've never been apart for long..." The older girl thinks in the background before some realization seems to strike her. "What if he went to the northern forest? One of Daddy's guests spoke a lot about checking the Tree of the Goddess. I bet he took his new sword there thinking he could face anything that hit him and save the tree. But he doesn't know there's been reports of the wildlife going crazy in the forest. Daddy told me so this morning."

"The Tree of the Goddess?" Hilda repeated, audibly confused. "Wildlife going crazy? What do you mean by that?" Well, presumably the girl was just repeating what she'd been told. "Did your Daddy give an example, I mean?"

Having spotted a few faces that she recognised from the academy in the distance, she approached to find herself at what looked to be a school. Immediately, she spied two girls exchanging worried, hushed words while their peers bounced around excitedly.

"What's going on?" she asked one of her fellow Deer. "I just got here." She nodded towards the duo. "Should we check that they're okay...?"

"Listen, can you stick around here for Pia to find you? You promised her you'd get her something, if I recall correctly..."

Though Hilda wasn't sure how she felt about the little girl, she also wasn't in the business of making empty promises to someone who clearly had nothing.

Unfazed as ever, smiling as always, Azama followed diligently after Hilda.

When she turned on him, however, he had to stop --

And he could but laugh.

"I don't recall making any such bold promise," he replied, casually waving the thought away, clearly quite amused.

But no, no, he knows what Hilda meant. Eyes crinkle with mirth.

"... Thanks," she said begrudgingly after a pause. "I'm going to explore the island a little bit more." The nicer parts of it, hopefully.

Camilla took the ring back and covered it with her glove. "My hostess mentioned something about how I shouldn't be flashing it around. The librarian believes it's a replica of a ring the town founder once owned." Camilla didn't mention that she didn't believe it was a replica.

"It's probably for the best if you don't mention it too much to the other townsfolk." Camilla warned. "I'd hate for the wrong person to get the wrong idea. Though if you do hear anymore information about it, I'd be most grateful to hear." She gives a warm smile.

She nodded. "No problem. I'll keep an ear to the ground, but otherwise, my lips are sealed."

She glanced towards the back alleys. "I met a young girl, Pia, in the alleyways over there. Seems that she doesn't have much to her name, bless her. But she showed us her secret hideout. It's this abandoned shack, but you have to navigate a maze of alleys to get there. I don't know if I could find it again." Not that she would want to... "It was kind of strange that it's just sitting there empty. She didn't seem to know who owned it. But otherwise, nothing of note to report."

She hadn't felt like she had been very successful, she was given a lead and then immediately got hit with a terrible headache and needed to go lay down.

Suddenly an idea struck Camilla. Maybe leaving the library wasn't such a bad idea?

"Hey actually, do you think you could help me with something?" Camilla tugged off her glove and pulled off the mysterious ring, "I can't make out this engraving, do you have any ideas on how to figure it out?

If there was one thing that Hilda was usually quite well versed on, it was jewellery, but the ring that Camilla presented to her was unlike anything she had ever seen. She accepted it gingerly and turned it over in her hands, peering at it from every angle.

"Hmm... I can't make it out either. I wonder if anyone in town would have some sort of magnification glass to make it a little clearer. Maybe a doctor would have something? Though you'd have to figure out some excuse to borrow it, I guess."

As far as Hilda knew, Camilla wasn't one of the... lucky individuals being hosted by Gracie at her cosy home. She tried to feel grateful that she'd swindled her way into this excursion, but it was difficult not to miss having her own bedroom.

"Have you been up to anything fun?"

The person he was forced to hold hands with was someone with pink hair who was slightly shorter than him. Gods, just what has he done to deserve this other than being a model student… Regardless of the answer, he was now stuck in this situation much to his apparent confusion.

All he could really do in this situation was introduce himself at the very least…

Well, if Marth seemed downhearted, she'd have to bring enough positivity for both of them.

"So, now what?" she asked brightly, holding their clasped hands up between them. "Show me all of the saintly things you do in your day-to-day life. Let me guess, go to classes? Train? Study?" An angelic smile spread across her face. "Orrrrr... We could skip all of that boring stuff and go find somewhere to sit and relax. What do you say?"

"always nice to run into you, hildy!" a teasing smile greets the other as she hurries over, quickly smoothing out the front of her blazer. "sure thing. working on something secret~?"

with that quip comes a flash of mirth sparking behind her eyes, and one hand is quick to accept the parchment. but no sooner does she skim over the note's contents than dorothea's coy smile fades, her weight shifting from one foot to the other.

"...hang on. you're being blackmailed?"

her voice registers softly, though with a bite of indignation to it. a swell of anger pulses as she recalls her own would-be exploits at the hands of so-called patrons, and a hardening expression shows just how little she cares for those who coerce.

The change in Dorothea's tone from her greeting to her realisation was comforting, in a way. Hilda hadn't quite reached the stage of outrage yet, and it was heartwarming to have a friend by her side to get angry on her behalf.

Now that she thought about it, though...

"Like, what kind of sick joke is this?" she asked indignantly. "I don't even know if they have anything on me... I don't remember anything in particular, but I also can't swear that I didn't do anything stupid last night."

She leaned back on the bench with a huff, throwing the letter down between them and crossing her arms across her chest.

"What am I supposed to do here? Risk it and see myself embarrassed in front of the whole monastery? Meet my blackmailer and give them the power? Ugh!"

Lo and behold, there it was, as eclectic in appearance as it had been described. Hilda approached the door with the confidence of somebody who assumed they should be there, excited to see what awaited her in the mysterious shop. A bouncer stepped in front of her before she could pass the threshold.

"Excuse me, miss? Can I see your card?"

Hilda rocked back on her heels, blinking. "My ... what?"

"Your membership card?" he prompted. When Hilda didn't answer for a beat, he continued, "Or are you here to make use of our new promotion?" He looked around. "With your partner?"

Hilda recovered herself and latched onto the opportunity that had been presented to her. "Yes! My partner! Now, where have they got to... Hmm... One second, sir, I'm sure they were around here somewhere..."

She casually sauntered away, looking left and right.

The first person that she saw stood alone, she approached: a blue-haired girl that she didn't recognise. She also appeared to be peering at the shop with interest, so Hilda seized her chance.

"Hey! I'm Hilda." She inclined her head towards the store. "Did you want to take a look inside?" She leaned in and lowered her voice. "They're only letting people in if they're in relationships, so... I know this isn't the most conventional of introductions, but what do you say about a little ploy?"

Hilda Valentine Goneril had not been invited to a party.

It had all started a few days ago with cries of delight in the common room as the invitations began to arrive. The Herald of Spring Festival. An excuse to sail out across the sea, miss some classes, and have some fun. There was just one problem: her invitation never arrived.

Gossip around the monastery told her that the power to issue invitations had been bestowed upon the faculty. They had been instructed, the grapevine said, to send them only to those deemed "virtuous" enough to attend. Apparently, she hadn't made the cut.

She seethed silently. She was virtuous! And besides, what kind of party was made better by everyone in attendance being a morally upstanding citizen?

There was only one thing for it. She had to convince one of the faculty that she was worthy.

She donned her most chaste dress, painted her face with her most angelic makeup, and, most importantly, sought out a staff member with whom she had never interacted.

She walked directly into the knight's path carrying a box of materials, almost bumping into her.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I can hardly see over this thing," she apologised, eyes cast down. She couldn't, either. She'd stacked the box so high with miscellaneous items that she'd picked up that it was a miracle she'd targeted the right person at all. "So much to do... Have we met, miss? I'm Hilda."

In fact, when one of her professors had outlined her punishment, she'd laughed. Oh, ha ha. Seriously, though, when is my detention?

She'd refused to believe it until the spell was completed, and, after an experimental tug, she found her right hand well and truly sealed to that of another.

"Really?" she called after the mage, who was already scurrying away. "All of this for lying to get out of ball clean-up?"

She was not graced with a response.

Heaving a sigh, she turned back to her "role model", as they'd called it. Truth be told, if she was going to be forced to hold hands with anyone for a week, she could think of worse faces to have to look at. The blue-haired student that faced her had handsome features and kind eyes. Having her hand in his gave her a strange sense of security; she had the immediate impression that he was the protector type.

"Well, nice to meet you. I'm Hilda. I'd offer you my hand, but, well..."

But she had a point. There were three paths presented to them, and no indication as to where any of them might lead. The natural assumption would be that another exit could be found on the lower floors, as opposed to the second—

Yet why make the staircase so obvious? Who would be curious enough to venture further after being shot at?

Too late, she remembered that, while Diamant had always done a great job of protecting her, it was usually from danger that he had walked them into. It was like he was innately driven towards trouble in case there was anything he could do to resolve it. Hilda, on the other hand, would prefer to run in the other direction.

But not alone.

"What, so you want to leave me by myself in the creepy murder house?" she demanded. "Come on, let's get this over with. You first."

If he was dragging her into this, he may as well act as her shield.

As they began to ascend the stairs, Hilda kept her guard up, her head on a constant swivel and her ears straining for any noise that might be out of the ordinary. It was eerily quiet and still after the shot that had been fired.

They were about halfway up the staircase when Hilda spotted something amiss.

One stair appeared different from the others: its centre was dominated by a slightly lighter and almost imperceptibly raised wooden panel that looked as thought it would depress if one were to step on it --- which Diamant was only moments away from doing.

"Professor, wait!"

She opened the envelope and pulled out the note. It was short and unsigned.

“I have a compromising video of what you did last night. Meet me at the Amiibo Gazebo after the sun sets today or else.”

She flipped it over to see if there was anything else, but the page was otherwise blank.

Leaning back on her bench with a huff, Hilda thought back to the night before. The Ethereal Ball... Had she done anything compromising? She didn't think so. But a video being publicly released to the contrary would be a less-than-ideal way of jogging her memory.

But what kind of creep would try to blackmail somebody like this? Had they done it before? Would they do it again? How could she stop them from getting away with this without putting herself in danger?

As she mulled over what she should do, a familiar face entered the courtyard. Hilda's eyes lit up. If there was anybody who she could trust to listen without judgement, keep something quiet and help her to brainstorm a plan...

"Dorothea!" Hilda waved her over using the parchment. "Could you take a look at this?"