dear_mun | on moving out of headspace at last.

Ah? But Esther, don't you know...?

[ A smile, slow and gradual. ]

Lady Saints are meant to believe.

[ And only do just that. ]

[She's blanching now. W-What is he .. ? Why is he here?]

W-What .. are you doing here?

[This lady here isn't 100% sure what to think.]

Not wanting to believe and not being prepared for the truth aren't the same thing!

Are they, now?

[ A hum, a clack of tongue, and the clatter of his military issue boots as he advances, but oh so slowly. ]

Dear me, I had thought both to be the same. Both are disgustingly weak responses, after all.

[ And he says, almost lovingly; ]

And I have never once thought you to be weak, Esther.

[She doesn't want to back up, but takes at least half a step back in spite of herself. She doesn't want to surrender any more ground to him.]

I'm not!

[Ah, how is he in her head already? She'd thought .. that she was stronger than this.]

If this is my fate, I'm ready for it!

Ah! Now that's the Esther I recognize, the one I knew so intimately in István. So bold and shining so fiercely in the wake of all adversity...

[ And yet she trembles before him still with wide doe eyes and her mess of scarlet hair. She is beautiful in this moment, and he is enthralled by her.

It has been a while, after all. ]

Tell me, do you remember how we fought side by side?

[He was beautiful. Why was he always so beautiful? Someone who had a face like that but did such horrible, horrible things..]

You don't .. know me anymore!

[She's angry now. Far too angry to deal with him.]

That was a lie! You were manipulating me then!

You wound me. Saying that I don't know you anymore...

[ He closes the distance between them then, hovering now just within an arm's reach. He could touch her, if he so wished. He could touch her, but he doesn't.

He has some manner of self control, after all. ]

You are beautiful, Esther, but so dreadfully stupid. It isn't I who doesn't know you...

[ And he leans forward, as if to divulge a secret. ]

It is you who doesn't know me. And with that in mind, how can you possibly call me a liar?

I'm not ---!

[How dare he call her stupid. But .. she felt it, sometimes. How could she not see that he had been manipulating and playing with her all along? Why had she trusted him, even after his betrayal?

Why would she continue to look for him, even after he was gone?]

You don't know how to tell the truth, Dietrich. Experiences with you have taught me that!

[Why is he so close? She refuses to back away, instead matching him glare for glare.]

[ Glaring? Who's glaring? Certainly not him. If anything at all, he gazes upon her with equal parts fascination and adoration. Esther, Esther, Esther — she always shined her brightest when they were together. Why can't she see...? ]

I was born in the Germanic Kingdom, to a Duke and his beautiful wife.

[ Though nowhere near as beautiful as Esther, of course. ]

But the Duke did not care a thing for his son, you see. And the wretched man, he tried to kill his own flesh and blood.

[ And the truth, as only he knows it: ]

So I murdered him instead.

[ He falls silent then, for a moment, maybe two. ]

Now, do you suppose that is a lie?

[The fact that he wasn't glaring, he was never angry - no, he always looked at her like that - just made things worse. Even worse than the fact that he was here of all places, here, when the last person she wanted to see was him.]

.. I d-don't ..

[Why was he telling her this? Why didn't he make up a story?]

W-Why would you kill him? He obviously needed help!

[Oh Esther, because everyone can be saved in the light of God, right?]

Why would you tell me this?!

What's to disbelieve, exactly?

Being here .. it's not where I belong. I have something important to do at home.

I see. I'm probably not one to say it, but...no, wait, maybe negotiations would be better than being demanding.

Of course they would be. But my mundane doesn't listen to that kind of reasonable talk.

You're right in that these guys are pretty unreasonable. But that's when give and take usually has to come into play. We don't get absolute victories, you know?

She's not exactly the most ...giving person.

I think it's the opposite, isn't it? Just that we don't like what they have to give.

.. I suppose you could put it that way. But she really ought to listen to me more.

*Yare yare.*

What about bribery?

on moving out of headspace at last.

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