[1:40 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: When the caravan broke to make camp, Alexandra walked along the edge of the designated area.
She was, of course, in her regular battle gear. Ready for anything, like any respectable guard.
"I wonder how Julius is doing, back in Dovania..." Alex mumbled aloud, hardly realzing she was speaking and not thinking.
[5:05 PM] LadyDeme: Delphine had put her gear aside, for the moment -- save Hyacinth, who was preening himself on one of her shoulders, and a map, which she'd folded open before her. It'd been the one she'd bought, eventually, from Terra -- of 'Former Floribian Territories,' a term which still made her sieze up with a loss that might have been anger. She strolled around the perimeter, looking out towards the horizon. It wouldn't be far now... But how near would their route go?
She looked up when she heard the guard captain speaking to herself. The bird quieted itself, and Delphine approached very quietly, opening with,
"If the caravan is going that way next, perhaps you could write him a letter? Who is this 'Julius' of yours, though? A lover, perchance?"
[5:09 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Hmm?" Alexandra turned to Delphine, "Ah, Delphine. Good evening. Ah... Yes, Julius is my lover. I hadn't thought to send a note with the caravan. I'll make a point of it, thank you."
[5:25 PM] LadyDeme: "You're welcome. Of course, getting one back to you might be a little tricky...But our next goal is the capitol, and it's not too far away from Dovania..." She looked over at Alexandra from the top of her map. The trip to the capitol would complete for Finn a loop around Junith's north -- her own loop would be ended not long from now, either. A repetition, where she could see the difference of time in her actions.
"Perhaps have the reply sent there. But I admit, I didn't take you for the type. Have you been together long?"
[5:29 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Perhaps," Alexandra nods.
"And I can see how you'd think that. Its, ah... Its a rather hush hush relationship. Not many back home know," Alexandra admitted, "Though I don't think I need to worry about it spreading with you."
[5:46 PM] LadyDeme: "Not if you'd rather keep it hush-hush. My tongue can wag like a dog, but at the end of the day, I've no interest in doing others ill." She smiled, though: this sounded just a little scandalous. Which was an interesting relationship to know of, and frankly, more power to her. Delphine approved of an innocent scandal. "That does get me a little curious, though,"
She folded her map and leaned in, all attentive.
[5:48 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Oh?" Alexandra tipped her head, "Then please, walk with me."
Alexandra began moving away from the camp altogether, "Tell me, what are you curious about? It'd be quicker than spilling my guts in attempt to cover everything."
[5:57 PM] LadyDeme: "Well, everything, frankly. The stories of people are always the most interesting, and this sounds like an interesting one. What would he normally be doing?" She asked, falling into step alongside Alexandra.
[6:01 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "He's a knight of the Royal Guard, same as I," Alexandra explained, "He'd have taken the role of captain in my absence as well."
[6:09 PM] LadyDeme: "I see... Is that part of what you were fretting over? How he's taken to it?... With any luck, Damonia will manage to avoid their attention. Just a while longer..."
Knowing that she was away, when the war came down, had to be weighing on Alexandra. Delphine tucked the map under her arm as she walked. Hyacinth took to the air and flew around them, as if he was forming a little closed room, to speak freely.
"Though I'm sure that even if he weren't in your job in a crisis, you'd be thinking about how he was... There was -- well, I guess is... Someone I was rather fond of, who I only spoke to through letters, for a while. I don't think he ever so much as noticed, and maybe that's my bad... All the same. Worrying about people is a type of love, too."
[6:12 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "I suppose that's my main concern, though I don't know if its so simple as that," Alexandra nodded, "Worrying... Something I've been doing more and more, and a relatively scarce feeling to me. Before now I rarely had much to worry about."
[6:30 PM] LadyDeme: "With a job like yours? It seems like a knot of worries to me, willingly undertaken or no."
She couldn't help but feel that was true the world over -- though, admittedly, she'd expected a guard captain to have quite a few concerns. But perhaps those had simply been tasks -- duties to be fulfilled, things to be carried out. An unbroken line. In that regard, compared to the past, the present was undeniably full of worries. She had them, too... Even if she's started suspecting she hadn't come out here to die for something better than herself.
"...The future seems a little uncertain right now, doesn't it?"
[6:33 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Very much so," Alexandra nodded, "Its been so long since I couldn't easily anticipate and prepare for a situation. But everything's so unfamiliar, and there's so many situations I've never had to even consider before I came with our refugee prince."
[8:00 PM] LadyDeme: "I can sympathize... I never really anticipated my life might involve going to war. Or declaring war on a God... Or even so much as being in a situation where I might need to hurt someone." She really hadn't imagined it. But there they were -- and she had, in limited ways, hurt people... And she wasn't sure that continuing how she was would be enough. She wanted it all over, as soon as she could. She tilted her head, smiling sadly.
"...That sort of thing?"
[8:03 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Right, amongst other things. I've never been forced to retreat, but since I've been here its happened not once but twice," Alexandra sighs, looking around then down at herself.
[8:14 PM] LadyDeme: "I'm honestly amazed I've gotten this far -- I really... I really came to Damona, expecting that in doing so, I'd rendered my life forfeit. I thought I'd... accepted that, somehow. And yest, here I am. Frankly, I want a refund on those expectations, I'm very disappointed," she said with a chukle. She sighed and rested the side of her face in her hand, as if she wasn't wholly sure what to make of it. Being alive. She'd laughed about it, sure. But she'd felt her death was very near, and very real.
"It's reminded me that this war is just another phase, in something larger. That -- and, I mean, I'm foolish, but I'm not so blind as to think I'm in the clear, but -- that I'm coming towards a dawn, and through a dusk that might have seemed quite final."(edited)
[8:19 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "I hope that can be said for those of us who remain. Injuries can be healed, but I couldn't bear to lose another," Alexandra thought aloud, "But if we can reclaim Floribar's capital, that means the war can't be far from its end. I just hope I can last that long."
[9:39 AM] LadyDeme: "I wonder about that... It honestly sounds less like an ending, and more like a turning point... But I'll work and pray likewise." Her expression dropped just a notch, thinking about the lost. Some dead, some deserted, some simply gone. It added up, slowly, and she wondered now if Finn didn't have half the troops he might have, had things gone a little differently.
"And after that? Back to your work and your secret lover, and advising your queen? She'll probably have more busy days ahead."
[10:04 AM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "I dearly hope so, but I'm not sure at the moment. I'll return home regardless, but I fear things have changed and I'll not be welcome back into the guard," Alexandra admits.(edited)
[12:32 PM] LadyDeme: "You think the war's altered things significanctly? Or that the queen has come to value their counsel of your obvious loyalty?" Delphine's feelings about such loyalty were probably more than a little complex. But something like that, freely given, was a treasure that couldn't be trampled on or thrown away. "...Or, having come so close to your home, has it dawned on you that you've become someone different, the passage of time suddenly clearer, the closer you get to the end?"
She added that bit half-jestingly... But there was something serious in her tone as well, or something a little knowing in her smirk. Perhaps because, to her, that was not only what was possible, but what she could feel, and it hit something wistful in her grey-blue eyes. She didn't think she was a different person -- but she could feel distinctly that passage of time.
[12:56 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "If only it were that. I could deal with being a war grizzled veteran or having more paperwork to deal with back home," Alexandra sighed.
[1:48 PM] LadyDeme: "Then?" Delphine asked.
[1:51 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Eh..." Alexandra grimaced, "I'll need your word that this won't leave your confidence."
[1:58 PM] LadyDeme: "Of course." There were things that wouldn't stand up to, and Delphine knew it when she gave it... But unless Alexandra planned to assassinate Finn or something, it'd be fine to not tell.
[2:35 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: Alexandra looks around one last time, then leans in to speak.
"I... The reason I've been thinking so much lately... It's," Alexandra sighs, "I'm with child, Julius's of course. I've no idea what to do. He and I have been together so long, we'd both long concluded, falsely it seems, that I was barren. So I'd never planned for this, at all."(edited)
[3:08 PM] LadyDeme: For a second, the variety of implications swirled around in Delphine's head -- worry, for starters, since 4 months (give or take) along was no position for a lady to be in on the battlefield. "That is a lot to take on, in the midst of the war. Do you... Intend to stay here? I don't think anyone would blame you, thinking of the two of you now... And... Otherwise..."
Delphine's face momentarily darkened. She'd had a certain talk with her mother as a younger girl -- seperate from the sort of talk her natural philosophy tutor might have given her. Eventually, she shook her head. As worrying as it was, unless it was truly dire, Delphine wasn't sure she could recommend it; not this far along. It wasn't in her.
"It's such a risk."
[3:12 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "That's amongst the things I've been thinking of," Alexandra sighed, "Putting aside how obvious this makes it that I've been less faithful to my oath as guard, abandoning my assignment would be frowned upon. Especially since my reason for leaving would be one that shouldn't have happened for this exact reason!"
[3:22 PM] LadyDeme: "Ah, there's an oath about that..." Of course there was. Because it's not like people didn't like making everything worse and more complicated for themselves like that. Frankly, it wasn't an oath Delphine would have had any interest in keeping, herself. A flurry of advice, suggestions, hopes, congratulations, all whirls past inside her mind, a wild slam of concepts that beats across her. "I... I think I'd say more if you knew what you want. But I am worried, now, and I'm sure there's magic that could aid you here, if you wanted it. It'd be a weight off my mind to help."
[3:28 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Would it affect the child? If not, I'll welcome whatever help I can get," Alexandra asks instantly, "In a brief while, the bulge will be too much to safely hide beneath my breasplate. That time is what I fear most honestly. I'll doubtlessly be labeled as reckless and selfish. I suppose there's some truth to it, but I just don't know."
[3:52 PM] LadyDeme: "Well, I meant things in a more positive way, effects-wise. Protections, that sort of thing. I'm sure there must be something to ease some of the strain; fighting on horseback would more or less demand something like it." That protective insinct made her chuckle, relieved that it wasn't, perhaps, as grave as she fully imagined it. "Reckless? Yeah, I'd call it rather. Selfish? ... Well, I think a person ought to be a little selfish, from time to time. Still, that's... likely not a secret you can keep for much longer, but I've heard of it being done. Not in a war, granted."
[3:57 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Of course, I'm sorry. Look at me, its not even born yet..." Alexandra sighed, "Yes, I've needed Copernicus to go slower than her usually does, and have often needed help getting in and out of his saddle. Thank fully that ranged staff has made it easier to keep things slow. Something to ease any part of that would be welcome."
[4:08 PM] LadyDeme: "We'll see what we can find then." Delphine said, with a little extra pep in her step. She couldn't help but grin at that little apology.
[4:10 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "I look forward to it, thank you. This has made it a bit easier," Alexandra smiled back.
[4:15 PM] LadyDeme: "And while you're worried about the future... I don't think anything good can come of not sending notice to your queen, as well: or asking Julius to. Whatever you'd hope for, come the end of this, would be served by the honestly. You might need her to help you get away with bending a few rules," Delphine pointed out, with a chuckle. In the end, it wouldn't matter to her if Delphine were in the young queen's shoes: an oath like that would be hardly worth considering, and Alexandra seemed rather worth the trouble.
[4:21 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "It sounds like I have some writing to do then," Alexandra smirks, "Thank you, for the console and everything else. Its helped me realize I can't simply do it all myself."
[4:50 PM] LadyDeme: "Well, it takes a village, doesn't it?" Delphine said. She'd been raised by more of a community than by either of her parents, so it seemed only reasonably to pitch in. And even reckless or selfish as it was... Well. Her reasoning, most reasonings, were wholly reckless. And she was sure if she didn't have some selfishness to her, she'd not be able to make it through. Perhaps she wouldn't -- perhaps Alexandra wouldn't. But that was something she could just do what she could on, rather than sit back and wait for it. "I wish you luck, about things back home: best case, we'll be waiting in the capital just in time for some replies."
She sensed a shift in the air, and looked back to her map, unrolling it with some care to take.
"I've got... My own 'back home' to worry about, soon enough. I think we're still a ways off, but not much -- I've been trying to keep track, for what difference it'll make. It's good to get my mind off it, a little."(edited)
[5:10 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Thank you, I hope your prayers are answered," Alexandra nodded, "I hope you can resolve your own dilemnas. If you need an ear, by all means please find me. It would be the least I could do."
[5:30 PM] LadyDeme: "I'll keep it in mind... Thank you." I'm going to borrow a horse and go riding off home. I just know it... Well. Maybe I can manage, somehow. Delphine thought with a sigh, giving Alexandra a little nod. "I might pick your brain for advice, later. Not about this, I mean -- about the future. If I go out to see home, I'm sure I'll start getting an idea of problems that are waiting for me. But for now, I guess I should leave you to your letters."(edited)
[5:32 PM] Ulamog, the Omnom Cthulhu: "Of course, I welcome the occasion," Alexandra nodded, "And thank you."
[5:33 PM] LadyDeme: == End RP ==
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