von varley

undercover

If they went towards the training area, she fears her plan could be easily scrubbed. Should they move elsewhere, though.. It would only raise Edelgard’s suspicions. As they walk past the classrooms, the guards’ sly attempt to peek their heads in is rather poor. There’s a slight pause in front of each door, as if to see who (or what) is inside. If that is part of their duties, she finds it irksome. She can tell when people are trying to learn something, subtle as they might be.

Much like Bernadetta says, their course takes them past students and into the gardens. This is not the direction of the vault, but she supposes that would be too easy. They must have an object they intend to retrieve. Edelgard’s presence in itself makes it difficult for her to blend in- A student calls out her name with a wave and the guards immediately turn around. She takes a tiny step in front of Bernadetta, looking them directly in the eyes. Should their eyes be filled with deceit, she wonders if it will show. Hubert would be able to pick up on that before even she could.

She intends on keeping her promise to Bernadetta, for she will not interrogate them. Not here, anyways. Instead, she simply looks at the pair and says, “Ah. Is it so alarming for me to enjoy a cup of tea?” A hint of a jest in her tone, albeit difficult to tell. “No, no. Of course not. We’ll be on our way,” is the reply she receives.

Before they completely leave, Edelgard feels a need to call out one more particular: “Is something the matter? Was my name so alarming to hear?” Simple, vague. “Not at all,” the other replies. “Nothing for you to concern yourself with. Let us guards do our job while you students do yours.” As they leave, she spots a crunched piece of paper in one of their pockets. Perfect.

Edelgard sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Their lies are more than apparent.” She puts a hand up towards her mouth as she whispers, “I swore you wouldn’t have to interrogate them. I intend to keep that. However.. Once they pause again, I need a way to get them to drop that paper. Will you assist me?”

Edelgard’s attention is hyperfocused on the guards. While Bernadetta is doing her best to keep an eye out for potential dangers and steer Edelgard in the right direction, she can’t help but get a little distracted, taking quick and nervous glances up at her house leader. Even at an angle, Edelgard is intimidating in what a striking silhouette she makes, eyes focused like the very animal of their house. The thought of those eyes being focused on Bernadetta makes her shiver, but...a small part of Bernie can’t help but admire how pretty Edelgard looks. Like a hero out of a story or-

Bernadetta squeaks and jumps at the sound of a student calling out Edelgard’s name. Oh no! Oh no, Bernie should have totally been watching out for that, she should have done something to try and avoid the student’s attention so that they wouldn’t be sold out! Guilt, nasty and consuming, immediately flooded through the tiny noble. Before she could even try to start apologizing to Edelgard, she moved in front of Bernie and put her out of sight from the guards. Oh...Bernadetta’s eyes widened in surprise before tearing up. She sniffled miserably and quickly shrunk down small behind Edelgard.

Bernadetta held her breath the entire time Edelgard talked with the guards. It felt like she might pass out before they finished! Thankfully, that did not come to be, and Bernadetta was able to breathe again with a heaving rush of oxygen. “I’m sorry!” She quickly squeaked out before Edelgard could start to scold her. “I promised I’d help and I failed that, I’ll do better next time I promise, so- oh?”

Bernadetta blinked. A paper? They had something like that? And Edelgard noticed? “You’re so impressive Lady Edelgard...” Bernie whispered to herself before realizing that her classmate was very much still waiting for her to answer. Bernie jumped and gave her head a quick shake before nodding frantically. “Y-yes! Definitely! Bernie can help out with that, just name what you want her to do and she’ll do it!”

doubt comes in​

The very sight of her sent waves of pain through his head, although there were no apparent visual cues- the ice in his lone eye piercing as ever.

The person who stood before him, clearly unsettled by his presence, seemed more resolute than the shards of memory he had to compare the present with. There was still fear, but singed by newfound bravery. A conviction he doesn’t remember seeing before, not in those eyes. Apparently those five grueling years had treated her well enough.

Tch.

But of course, life is always easier when you are on the aggressor’s side. Freely trampling on others’ lives, looting to your heart’s desire since nobody has the strength to stop you. One’s growth always comes at the price of someone’s suffering and Bernadetta’s case most definitely fits within such logic. She’s an eagle- imperial dirt. Her fear and discomfort are just a mask, she most likely displays a disgusting toothy grin when her arrows pierce through the flesh of those who dare to stand against the Empire’s murderous streak.

A scoff. “Shut up, I will not listen to your nonsense that you don’t want to fight or hurt anyone.” He stepped closer, eye locked with her gaze. “The moment you chose to walk that woman’s bloody path, you chose to hurt and kill. Patrolling an area like this…it’s much easier to kill and disturb weak villagers, isn’t it?” The corner of the beast’s mouth pulled into a crooked smirk, the gloss of his teeth visible. A mixture of malice, raw anger, and something else that was hard to point out. Bitterness, sorrow, frustration. 

“Prince Dimitri is a dead man. I am no prince anymore thanks to your grotesque Emperor’s deeds.” He pointed each word with raw disgust and anger. “Not that I am worthy of donning that name at this point, either.” Dimitri was dead, long gone. Because what he saw in his reflection wasn’t Dimitri, wasn’t the prince of Faerghus- a monster, a disfigured, broken and hateful wild beast who barely qualified as a human being.

One by one, he burned each and every single bit of memory he had of Bernadetta during their academy days, because they no longer mattered. It was meaningless to hold on to memories of someone willing to join such a brutal and vile side of a war, the Bernadetta he had met was gone. What stood before the beast now was…another beast, but donning a lamb’s skin. The boar had long shredded his’ to pieces.

He could just reach and grab her, bash her head against one of the nearby trees and move on to the rest of the soldiers camping nearby. No talking, no chase, just a swift death- enough to sate their begging for more imperial blood, getting one step closer to that wretched woman, but he stayed put and that only made him angrier. Why?

This is his enemy, if he doesn’t kill her and her group now they’ll continue expanding the Empire’s reign of terror. Bernadetta isn’t his friend, she has never been. Never. Because friendship didn’t matter in wars. Because if he doesn’t kill her now, she’ll kill him. “Hah, you say as if you cared. I won’t fall for your lowly traps let alone allow some imperial rat to touch me.”

The tree bark was torn under his grasp as if it were no more than a twig. “Give me half a reason for me to not take your head from your shoulders at this very moment.” Another step towards her. 

“Or shoot, and we shall see who’s going to be needing help fairly quickly.” 

@minorindech​

Dimitri walks like a statue. Large, imposing, immoveable. He was always taller than tiny little Bernadetta, but now he feels as though he looms, wide enough to add a terrifying weight to his height. He feels inescapable. Bernadetta swallows nervously.

She’d heard the rumors, of course. The claims that Prince Dimitri was no more. She remembers crying over the memory of her classmate in the quiet of her tent that night. She does that often, whenever there is news regarding anyone they know. Bernadetta was never quite able to grow thick skinned in the way some of her friends were. 

But Dimitri now...Dimitri barely looked like a person now. A great, hulking form that loomed in the dark and watched you with cold, dead eyes. A wild boar Felix’s voice echoes in her mind from the few times he spoke to her about his childhood. Bernadetta shivers. She is not a hunter like Petra. She is not ruthless like Hubert.

She is terrified. But she has people depending on her. Soldiers she needs to keep safe. She’s not going to disappoint people here and now.

His voice is still commanding, but Bernadetta doesn’t squeak or flinch or falter like she used to when it attempts to bowl her over. She quietly readjusts her grip on her bow, still keeping the arrow trained on Dimitri. For every step he takes forward, she takes one back. Her back foot leads, gently brushing against bush and branch and trunk as it guides her path without needing to turn away from him. Bernadetta has always been small and fast. Dimitri is no doubt stronger, but he would still have to catch her...Bernie’s very good at not getting caught.

“W-we’re trying to protect the people here! To keep them safe!” Defensive anger flares up, but Bernie stays steady. Edelgard...Bernie would be dead if it wasn’t for Edelgard! Bernie would be married off to some horrible man who didn’t care about her if it wasn’t for Edelgard, Bernie would be... “E-Edelgard wants to stop something much bigger than all of us! She doesn’t want to kill innocent people o-or even you! If you just-”

No...no. It doesn’t matter what she says, it seems. Dimitri is too far gone, too wrapped up in his pain he can’t detangle himself from it. He reminds her of herself when she was younger, except where Bernie wrapped herself in a nervous panic to keep herself safe from her mind’s tricks, Dimitri wrapped himself in a seething, consuming anger. One that spilled down from his jaw to splatter on everything around them and leave it to rot as much as him.

Bernadetta didn’t want to fight. But Bernadetta wanted to die a whole lot less.

The tree’s bark shattered loudly under his grip. Bernadetta used the opportunity to take one slow, steadying breath.

“If I gave you one, would you even listen to it?” She asks. Tears start to well in her eyes. “I’m...I’m sorry, Dimitri. I hope you can forgive me someday.”

sewn together

She finds it a shame her friend never had the chance to see her perform on stage, but Dorothea isn’t going to pry. Although the brunette may have left the opera company to become a student, she always would have the spark of a songstress within her. Even now, she hummed as she perused the racks with a smile. “Thank you, Bern. I would’ve loved to have seen you there, but who knows? I’m not opposed to putting on a show at the monastery!”

Dorothea is sure the children would enjoy it, if nothing else. She giggles as Bernadetta praises her choice of dress, finding herself agreeing at the idea. “A necklace, hm? You know.. You’re right about that! You really do have a keen eye for fashion,” she says with a playful wink. “This dress looks like the perfect choice to me. Simple, yet elegant. Stylish.. And unique.” Her words soften to parallel her happy expression, intent on keeping it for herself.

Walking up to make her purchase, she fiddled with her small bag. Dorothea didn’t have much money on her, but she did have just about enough to make the deal. It is much cheaper than if it had been at some fancy store in the Empire, that much is certain.

Rapidly closing the bag, she moved back towards Bernadetta and sustained her smile. “Before I go accessory shopping, I’d say it’s about time for you to pick out your own dress! We’ve talked colors and styles, but.. Sometimes, you’ll know the perfect dress when you see it. If nothing here is calling your name, there has to be something at one of the stalls. I’m confident in that!”

“Oh, at the monastery? I think that would be really cool!” Bernie’s eyes sparkle a bit at the thought. Dorothea is already so impressive in everything she does, Bernadetta couldn’t help but imagine how Dorothea would blow everyone away with how wonderful she could be doing something she was talented at. “D-do you, um...do you have a favorite show? I’ve only ever read about operas, and all the stories seem so wonderful and dramatic...and scary! I can’t imagine what it’s like to deal with all that tension in person...”

But it wasn’t time for Bernadetta to get wrapped up and enamored in the idea of beautiful opera stories just yet. Dorothea politely reminds her of that as she speaks up about the dress. Bernie jumps as her mind snaps back to the moment and nods frantically. “Oh I just...well you’ve probably worn much prettier stuff before so I just thought...I, um. Y-You’ll definitely look amazing at the ball I think!” Bernie...Bernie kinda hoped she would be brave enough to stay long enough at the ball to see it.

A dress for Bernadetta next now though...her eyes fell back to the rack, back to the soft green dress with delicate tulle sleeves that she had spotted. She carefully pulled it out of the rack and held it up in front of her. It was really pretty...It reminded her of flower stems or the soft colors of the undersides of carnivorous plants. Bernadetta smiled wide. “I think I like this one!” She announces. The dress was simple, but that just meant she could have fun embordering little flowers along the bottom of it...oh, she could add on a tiny garden of her own to it with her thread and needle and make it look even prettier!

@popgag | lance +1

Books were supposed to be the one safe thing in the world. Books couldn’t hurt you (except with very good plots that usually had plenty of catharsis and the ones that didn’t simply weren’t for Bernie). Books definitely couldn’t yell at you. And books would never, ever, drag you off to places you didn’t want to be in and tell you to stay there for an indeterminate amount of time until they decided it was okay for you to come back now.

So why was it that that was exactly what this book was doing!?

Bernadetta sniffled. Everything around them was so...non-descript. There was grass that seemed to stretch on forever under a light blue sky. Bernadetta couldn’t see anything in the distance at all, not trees, not rivers, not anything! The road itself seemed to stretch out before abruptly fading out of sight, as though it was only there for set dressing.

Well...except behind them. Behind them stood a large gate, tall and imposing. Behind it, Bernie could see what looked like a village...she thinks? Not one she recognizes, nor any kind of flag or banner floating in the wind that might give them some idea of where they were.

“This is...” Bernadetta sniffed loudly again, twisting the edges of her hooded sweater in her hands. “W-we can’t really be in a book, can we? There’s no way that magic like that exists, right?”

“You there!” Bernadetta yelps loudly and jumps backwards to hide behind Alois.

"Someone promised this would be the finest water I ever tasted but it just tastes like water. I do not understand. Can you tell the difference or is it just me?"

"H-huh?" Bernadetta flinches at the sudden sound of a voice. The woman who approaches her is...another Eagle, right? What was her name again? Oh, Bernie, come on! You should at least remember your fellow Eagles!

"Um....really? Someone said that?" Bernadetta frowned curiously at the bottle the woman holds. Could it really taste that different? It was just water, wasn't it? It wasn't like ocean water...Bernie had heard that that was really salty and bad to drink. But she had never noticed a difference in water taste before.

"I-I-I uh, I haven't tried it." Bernie admits sheepishly. She's not sure why she feels so embarrassed about it. It's literally just water...

"R-really? With Bernie? You're absolutely sure you won't regret it and try to get revenge on me for being a complete waste of your time later?"

Despite the fear and slight tremble that shakes her form, Bernadetta hesitantly steps forward to join Inigo when he holds his hand out to her. She's...she's had some practice with dances. Enough that she didn't stick out as particularly bad when she did get dragged off to balls, but it wasn't her favorite thing.

Still. Inigo had invited her! Bernie specifically! She had to at least try, right.

Taking a deep breath, Bernadetta took her place and fell into step as Inigo guided her. The dance was unfamiliar, but Inigo was a good lead. Bernie found it wasn't that hard to figure out how to step and where to follow him.

Bernadetta freezes in place.

She doesn't know who this is. She doesn't know who this is, but she can feel the waves of terrifying presence that roll off of him in just one sentence. She wants to scream, but she swallows it forcibly and uses that energy to instead make sure she stands ramrod straight and looks into the camera and doesn't burst into tears just yet.

If Hubert was scary, this man was a nightmare. If her father was scary, this was...

Bernadetta doesn't even bother to look at the photo when it's passed to her. She takes it with a polite nod and offers the photo to the man without looking. Good, quiet Bernadetta. Noble daughter of Varley. Definitely not a recluse weirdo, no, she could be noble too she could-

"Thank you for the honor." She manages, voice wavering on every single syllable. Tears are welling up in the corner of her eye and she has to fight super hard to keep them from spilling over, but she manages it.

It's scary.

Except it's also not.

Everything slots in like it's not quite right. Like it's bathed in a blue light (that makes Bernadetta's skin crawl, that makes her want to scream and cry, she's sorry you know? She didn't mean to be useless, she didn't mean to let them die) that tints her memories and makes everything feel like it should be different. But it isn't.

She and Cynthia almost died, didn't they? And they wanted to...they took Bernie to...

Memories of underground and a strange civilization threaten to entrap Bernie in miles of rock and drag her deep down within memories that don't quite feel like hers (except they are, but there's things missing all the same now, she thinks). A scream breaks her out of it. For once it isn't hers. And for once she doesn't flinch.

Bernadetta blinks. Cynthia, loud as always (since when was there an always?) and full of life comes crashing into Bernadetta, sending the two of them crashing to the floor. Bernadetta grunts painfully as they land awkwardly, but thankfully not with too much pain. "Cyn-Cynthia!"

Bernie remembers...she remembers being scared. She remembers being so, so scared of the monsters in the dark and what they wanted from her. And she remembers Cynthia, just as scared but oh so brave...Tears start to spring up to Bernadetta's eyes. She wraps her arms tight around her classmate and hides her face against her as she starts to sniffle.

"Bernadetta, let us take a pho.. a foe-toe." That was what others preceding them called it anyway. They were already next in line and Petra had an idea of how to pose judging off discarded copies.

When they are settled in front of the device, Petra holds up her two fingers behind her classmate's head while being as nonchalant as she could. Hopefully, she wouldn't mind.

"O-oh! Petra! You want...with me? Really?" Not that Petra couldn't ask for that! Petra was a princess, right? Bernie should be totally honored that Petra would even want a picture with her and she definitely was! She was just...surprised! Did her classmates really want to remember annoying, weirdo Bernie? "U-um...sure, okay. Do you want to, uh...do something?"

Bernie wasn't good at this, a fact that was abruptly clear the second they settled into place in front of the projectionist and Bernadetta's mind blanked. She had done portraits before. Horrible things that took a long time and that Bernie had to stand still for a long, long time for and make sure to absolutely not make any expressions or movements or else her father would bark at her angrily from out of frame for wasting time and money...Bernie much preferred being on the other end of the exchange, and being the one doing the portrait.

I could make a lovely portrait of Petra. She thinks, glancing up at her classmate as she settles in as easy as breathing. Petra would look lovely, soft tones and colours that Bernadetta wasn't as familiar with working with in portraits...she wondered what-

There was a flash and Bernie jumped. Oh no...oh no, she totally zoned out and missed her chance completely! She bet she looked horrible, just staring off into space. When Petra holds the photo out for Bernie to look at, she almost wants to turn her gaze away. Almost. Something peeking out from behind Bernie's head catches her attention, and instead she leans in closer to squint at it.

"Huh? Bunny..?"

Two fingers stick out from behind Bernadetta's head, replicating the look of bunny ears. It's...kinda cute. Bernie even giggles a little bit until she remembers who she was taking the photo with. Her face goes pale.

"Y-Yuri!"

When they were younger, Bernadetta had always been quicker to laugh. There had been less to be scared about, and the boy who worked in the gardens that had been her only, precious friend was always so good at making her laugh. With a single word, a well timed comment, an gesture that was meant just for her, they had always known just how to send Bernadetta falling into a flurry of laughter.

She hadn't laughed like that for a long time after they left. And now, still, they do it just as easily.

Bernadetta's fit of giggles wrack her body so strongly that she has to grab onto Yuri's arm for support as she folds over. She'll feel horribly embarrassed about it and apologize later, but for now all she can do is laugh and laugh at the silly little joke Yuri had told her. She doesn't even notice the flash of the projectionist's spell.

"I-I'm sorry! I-I'm trying for the photo, I am! I promise!" She wipes the stray tears from her eyes with one hand and clings tighter to Yuri as she forces herself upright. When straightened, she opened her eyes to find the projectionist offering her a little piece of photograph paper. "Huh?"

As always, when she squints down at the image printed on it, Yuri looks beautiful. Smiling easily and looking handsome. They don't look at the projectionist though. No, instead that charming smile is directed towards Bernie, who's face is still visible even in her unladylike posture and wild hair as she is captured forever mid laugh.

It's the type of thing her father would hate. Her stomach flutters with butterflies.