June Catch-All

[flame_emperor]

🧙 WHO: Edelgard von Hresvelg and YOU
⚔️️ WHAT: After a month of having her general all to herself and practicing her magic, Edelgard is ready to get down to business and start building some bridges. Tea, painting practice, and some teru teru bozu-making.
🕒 WHEN: The month of June
🗺️ WHERE: Around Camelot and
⚠️ WARNINGS: None leap to mind!

A Tea Invitation (CLOSED TO THREE HOUSES CHARACTERS)

A letter is delivered to you by courier, your name inscribed on the envelope in elegant handwriting, and sealed with the familiar eagle insignia of the Adrestian Empire. Breaking the seal, the letter unfolds and is read as such:

I would be pleased if you would join me for tea and light discussion. I believe a clearing of the air between us would be beneficial to both parties, and there are matters concerning our different worlds I would ask you about, as I'm sure you have about mine. Please reply at your earliest convenience.

Edelgard von Hresvelg.

Should you agree to the meeting, you'll find Edelgard waiting for you at the appointed time. Fortunately, the weather has held and the veranda is sunny. The tea is brewed and has a familiar scent to it; it seems she's managed to procure your favoured blend, or at least the last she knew to be your favoured. She has forgone the crown and severe hair-buns in favour of a sidetail.

"I'm pleased you could join me. Have a seat, and I'll pour you a cup."

Some Happy Little Trees

Byleth was all too quick to see to it Edelgard was well-stocked with painting supplies not long after their arrival. It was a touching gesture, and Edelgard was eager to get back to it now that she had a surplus of time to devote to it. During the war, she'd never felt comfortable spending too much time on it even when the odd moment of free time since it seemed...wasteful. When there was so much else to be doing. However, free of the war and even with the responsibilities of magic studies, she felt more at ease practicing her craft. And Brocéliande and the surrounding countryside provided an abundance of material.

Today's study are green fields near the road to the Red Springs. Set up with her easel and chair Edelgard works, but it's a slow process. The sound of movement on the road catches her attention and she glances behind to see if someone is lingering.

"Can I help you?" She asks. Normally she's not adverse to conversation, but she'd prefer to focus on getting over the art-block she's having.

Wetding

Edelgard has a specific gift in mind to replay the art supplies Byleth gifted her, but that will take time to gather the necessary funds. While this quest opportunity doesn't supply money, a gift basket to liven up their living quarters will suffice in the short-term. But the sprites will require a selection of dolls to make their choice, so enlisting aid in crafting the dolls only made sense.

"I'm almost finished this one. Hand me the blue ribbon, would you? I just need to tie it off."

Later on, you get a message from Edelgard asking her to join you in the hotel room. She's looking out the window when you enter and she waves you over. "Come, you're just in time. The sprites have arrived and I thought you might want to see the results of our hard work." Below, the wedding ceremony is almost ready to start.

Obligatory Wild Card Prompt

[Feel free to throw me a curveball if you like, I'm happy to roll with whatever.]

Comments

[sereneadherent]

"I don't mind at all." Marianne sincerely doesn't. The way in which her Fódlan--the Deer's Fódlan--is favored among the people she knows has not escaped Marianne's notice. She's prayed several times in gratitude that she isn't alone in how she remembers her world, just as she has in gratitude that she's been given a chance to repair bridges long burned back home. "The other Deer are doing very well. It's a little strange, that we all seem to have arrived from different parts of what has happened and will happen, but we managed to move past that quickly. I think either Dorothea or myself come from the earliest point?"

Very, very strange, thinking in such a way about history. Things that were so uncertain for Marianne are foregone conclusions to Claude and especially Flayn. Frankly, Marianne doesn't like to think too much about it.

Her face falls a little at Edelgard's response, although she's hardly surprised by it. Edelgard was always standoffish at the Academy aside from her own. But still, Marianne finds herself wishing she had at least tried.

The sad expression is brief, however, as the conversation shifts to Hilda. "Hilda's quite creative once you get to know her. I've only seen her break out her paints a few times, and she doesn't bother with anything so large or grand like landscapes and portraits. She sticks to small doodles and illustrations." Marianne pauses, then laughs a little. "Usually in the margins of her notes, even now that we're adults and she should know better."

Marianne's voice is soft and fond as she speaks of her classmate, not too dissimilar to how Edelgard speaks of Byleth. "More often than painting and drawing, she makes jewelry. It's a wonder to watch her while she does it--she's so focused, you could hardly believe that it's her." Marianne holds out her wrist, showing a delicate golden bracelet with two small blue stones set into the diamond-shaped charm that dangles from it. "She made this, for example. She told me it was a practice piece that I could have, but I think she just said that so that I wouldn't feel so bad accepting the gift."

"I wear it every day, especially now that... well, that she's not here." Out of all the Deer who aren't present, it's Hilda that Marianne misses the most. The reminder of her friend is nice, but it doesn't hold a candle to actually having her nearby.

[flame_emperor]

"Yes, I've wondered about that myself." Edelgard admits. "If being summoned here can pick us from specific versions of our world, why can it also not all pick us from the same time? It's curious." But this is powerful magic; far more powerful than anything even the mightiest Adrestian sorcerer has ever come up with, and Edelgard doesn't pretend to know how it might work. "Well, I suppose it's probably a question without an answer to it." They're here, and that's what matters.

The disappointment on Marianne's face is palpable, and reminds Edelgard of her own regrets as well; not needing to shut herself off was a lesson she had learned too late, and one that her counterpart in the Deer Fódlan probably never did. But then the subject turns to Hilda, and Marianne comes alive in a way Edelgard has never seen before from the Edmund heir, either version of them. Just talking about Hilda seems to fill her with happiness, and then Marianne shows off the bracelet. "My goodness." She breathes out, admiring the craftsmanship. That's not a "practice" piece by any means. "You could sell a piece like that in Enbarr and make a tidy sum off the profits. Ah, not that you should." She adds, quickly. "The craftsmanship is astounding. Hilda made this for you?"

...Come to think of it, shortly after Deirdru fell, hadn't something crossed Edelgard's desk? There were so many reports that demanded her attention in the days following the Alliance's fall, but...yes, come to think of it, there was a leave request submitted by the Black Eagle Marianne. It had been non-specific as to the exact nature of the request, only that she wished to return to Alliance territory to attend some sort of personal matter...but nothing to do with the affairs of House Edmund, or her adoptive father the Margrave, or so it had seemed. Edelgard had granted it, given Marianne's dutiful service up till that point, and the young lady had departed...

...And had met up with their forces after Edelgard deployed the Strike Force to personally oversee the defense of Fódlan's Throat against that Almyran force. Which meant that she'd either been very close to or already in Goneril territory when Nader's forces attempted to break through. And Edmund was not close to Goneril.

Curiouser and curiouser...

"It's beautiful." Edelgard says finally. "I shall have to see if our Hilda will take commissions when I return home, I'd be pleased to have something even half as splendid as this piece." A practice piece indeed!

She reaches for her cup, to take another drink. "It sounds as though you're both very fond of each other." She says before taking a sip.

[sereneadherent]

"I can't even begin to understand how any of this world-traveling magic works," Marianne concedes with a shrug. "I suspect you're right that we'll probably never know the answers to our many questions about it." It's the sort of thing that probably drives Claude nuts, but she's more or less made peace with it. Knowing one way or another doesn't really change anything about why they're here and what they have to do.

Edelgard's reaction to the bracelet confirms what Marianne already knew: it's no mere piece of practice handed over out of charity. Hilda had given it to her not long ago, actually--just after the troops regrouped in Gareg Mach after the strange attack at Fort Merceus. She'd insisted it was a meant as a pick-me-up to a friend, nothing more, please don't read too much into it, it's just a practice piece, it just seemed that Marianne could use something nice after something so scary, that's all. It was all oddly awkward, especially given how Hilda is usually so confident and astute.

And then there was a whispered conversation between Hilda and Balthus soon after that had stopped aburptly when Marianne had gotten too close. She'd meant to ask her friend about it, but she found herself plunged into the Bay of Avalon before she had the chance. Rather than try to rationalize on Hilda's behalf (and ultimately set herself up for disappointment should she be wrong), Marianne instead is doing her best to appreciate the gift as it was given. From a friend.

"That's all very nice of you to say. I'll pass the compliments back to Hilda, once we've completed the quest we're here for and I get to see her again." There's really nothing else to say but that. Edelgard doesn't need to know the whole story of the piece aside from what Marianne's already told her.

Marianne nods in response to her hostess's observation. "Hilda was my first friend back at the Academy, despite my best efforts to be left alone." Even now, five years removed from it, Marianne still wonders why Hilda had decided that she was worth all the effort. "She helped me out a lot, and I would repay her with pastries and tea. As we got to know each other better, the moments we spent together became... much more special. Especially now, with the war."

After a pause, Marianne realizes how that sounds and quickly rushes in to quell any assumptions. "O-of course, all of the Deer are special to me. They're the closest thing I've had to a family in a long time, and I don't mean to sounds like I'm playing favorites or anything."

Oh look, she has a cup of tea. She takes a drink from it. Better that than talking herself further into a hole.