[ryslig IC Inbox]

[defyingfrigidity]

WELCOME TO YOUR PRIVATE CHANNEL, QUEENOFICEOLATION. FOR SECURE COMMUNICATION, USE 013.11.221.20 *** QUEENOFICEOLATION has joined 013.11.221.20 <QUEENOFICEOLATION> I think I've finally gotten the hang of these devices. <QUEENOFICEOLATION> So! <QUEENOFICEOLATION> There's no harm in setting up one of these, yes? <QUEENOFICEOLATION> (Thanks to those of you who helped me do so and I'm sorry if I frustrated anyone)

Comments

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[The guilt has already settled in for Cassandra. How was she to take Felfri - that technological marvel - now? That place they once had fun in? Where she went on a date with Elsa, and pulled Javert out of the gutter. The trappings of something dark had always been there, but now...

...And, oh. Here it comes. Cass settles herself in. Her gaze slipping towards the ceiling.]

All of this... strife. It doesn't change. It just moves back and forth - or, there's some stupid third thing. It's like there's no end.

[defyingfrigidity]

... Yeah, you're right.

[Elsa's lucky. Even with her... unique circumstances, she grew up in a kingdom that was free from any serious kind of strife. They had knights and soldiers, but prior to the spirits reawakening, they never had to deal with anything worse than bands of thieves harassing travelers and ice harvesters. So it was... eye-opening, to say the least, when she first started adapting to Ryslig.]

... Is it even worth it, to try to find a way to make it all stop? After so many years, it's just the same fighting and horrors over and over again... it doesn't matter which side has an advantage or not. Innocent people just keep getting hurt.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Isn't it worth it to keep trying because innocent people keep getting hurt?

[Cassandra didn't have the life Elsa had. The protection... if not from herself, then from others. Her dream for the longest time had been to join the royal guard, and she was wholly aware of the risks of that position.]

I... can't sit by, as much as I want to. If we have to live in this world, I want to make it safer.

[She finds Elsa's hand. Fingers, rough and clawed, sliding in between smooth nymph digits.]

Especially for you.

[defyingfrigidity]

[Elsa pales a little at Cass's words. Oh - god, that really did come out in the worst way, didn't it?]

Oh, I- of course I want to do what I can to help the innocent people here!

[That hand grips Cass's hard. God... how cold did her words seem just now?]

But at this point it feels like the only way to make sure this world is safe for everyone is to make all the nonsense involving the gods stop. And there's more than just the Fog and the Fourth, all the other entities that show their faces from time to time... [Elsa shudders. She still remembers being used as a sacrifice for that ancient tree god.] It's... it's a tall order.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[They weren't cold. They were... tired. How could Cass feel what Elsa felt, having been here so much longer?]

It is. It- I know it's probably near-impossible. You and I, we've been here this long, and we've seen so much...

[Terrible things, that have happened to them both. All for the sake of trying to survive. She wants to believe an answer lies out there. Something that could lay all of this to rest. But that doesn't mean she wants Elsa to feel awful for her own reasons.]

...It just makes me restless, Elsa.