#1318

emperor and empress: *flabbergasted* yo when did you experience that how come that wasn't reported what was your kishiar doing having you unfed and famished for days? the travesty!

yuder: (oh no)

yuder: i mean, that <insert yuder's go-to excuse for his 1TL experience> happened before i joined the cavalry

emperor, saddened: it's my fault for not being able to care for the people that you had to experience not eating for days

empress, also saddened: no, it's my fault for not representing the emperor well

yuder: (oh shit)

Mabosstiff from Pokémon Scarlet and Violet

"bedraggled old man out of the rain"

Waking back up on the cold floor of those creatures' home was distressing for Louis. His hands were trapped painfully behind his back with manacles - or so he thinks. They're unlike any manacles he's ever seen before. Not to mention the infernal buzz of the candles. No, not candles. What are those bright buzzing bulbs? He didn't know how to ask the creatures. He didn't speak their language.

He still didn't know if they were of the Watcher or of the devil. He couldn't name the strange devices that they poked and prodded him with. He didn't understand the material that the walls and floor were made of.

Instinctively, he started to fight the manacles. Perhaps if he could find the weak point. Don't they always have a weak point?

"You won't get them off that way."

"You'll need a key."

"Joan?"

"Hello, my love." His wife responded, looking down at him with very little pity. That was strange. She always had sympathy, even when he didn't deserve it. "It seems you've landed yourself in a... precarious situation."

"How are you here? These creatures - they must be of the Watcher if you're here."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that. Perhaps they are the same as us. Creatures of Her creation." The former queen paused, glancing around the room. "Or perhaps they are Her servants. After all, angels always start with 'be not afraid.' Are you afraid, Louis?"

Silence stretched between the two. The answer was obvious by the king's trembling. He didn't feel much like a king right now. Perhaps he needed to be humbled. Perhaps that's what this was. Perhaps he needed to atone for all of the times he yelled at his wife. For the distance he had felt from his eldest son.

"Do you know what's going to happen to me?"

His wife's expression softened then. The righteous fury of a woman scorned (had he scorned her?) melted into the woman that he had known and loved.

Right? He had loved her. Right? The mother of his children, the woman who was by his side since they were teenagers. If his hands were free, he'd reach for hers. Holding her hand always grounded him.

"I do know." She eventually said. "You will have to be very brave, husband."

His heart sank into his stomach. Her words filled him with a sense of dread, the sort that made it hard to breathe. Before he could choke them back, tears flowed down his face. He tried to cry silently, but he failed.

The king of Willow Creek sobbed like a frightened child.

Kneeling in front of him, Joan finally touched him. A hand on his face, wiping his tears. The touch was soft and familiar. He was expecting her to feel cold, like someone who had been laying in repose, but she felt so very alive.

"Shhhh. Shhh." She soothed, as if he was one of their sons. "It will be over before you know it."

"Perhaps we will meet again by the end of it."