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[erbier]

Shame on us; doomed from the start.

May God have mercy on our dirty little hearts.

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[atowncalledtreffy]

[Trevor opens the door to a wealthy-looking Victorian bedroom, smelling of saltwater and dark, dark, dark. It's not usually his style, but it's preferable to his own cabin.

He gives a nod to her and opens the door wide]

C'mon in, make yourself at home. I know I did. Books are on the chair there.

[erbier]

[ Neither the sights nor the smells are familiar and curiosity touches her expression. She keeps her hands politely folded and doesn't pry about what is what. ]

Thank you. Is this... your inmate's?

[atowncalledtreffy]

[He shakes his head, drawing the curtains to a stormy, cold, Northern town below]

He's an inmate, just not mine. We're friends.

[erbier]

[ She nods. This explanation makes sense, for the most part. ]

You enjoy living with someone?

[ She goes over to collect the books, looking over their titles curiously. ]

[atowncalledtreffy]

I...did, yeah. He's over in Florian's cabin now, though. It's just me here. But I used to be with two other people here, I think they were before your time.

[The titles are all to do with women of history and myth that Trevor would know, growing up with sisters who all were warriors and hunters in their own right. Historical figures range from Boudicca to Joan of Arc, and mythological figures from Artemis to the Triple Goddesses.]

[erbier]

[ All this room hopping. She can't even imagine. She shakes her head to herself. ]

There's so many...

[ She was lucky to hear a single tale of a woman's heroism in her own world. The misogyny was thick in Godking Dreus's religion. ]

[atowncalledtreffy]

Yeah.

[He nods a little]

These are just the ones I know. Artemis was a favorite of my sister's. Goddess of the Hunt, so you can bet how popular she was in a family of hunters. We followed Christianity, but sometimes it was nice to pretend, for a while.

[erbier]

[ She doesn't know what a christianity is, but there are enough context clues to put together the sentiment. ]

It is evil to be goddess.

[ She doesn't say this with any conviction, she's just reciting what is believed in the mad king's palace. ]

[atowncalledtreffy]

[He spares her a strange look]

That's..a weird thing to say. Why?

[erbier]

[ She pauses in fawning over the books, and glances at him, ]

To covet power is a sin. There is no one before the Godking.

[ She knows how this sounds to people. She knows the reality behind this doctrine was manipulative and cruel. ]

[atowncalledtreffy]

Sounds like my priests back home.

[He says, without any judgement or conviction. Trevor settles his back against the opposite wall, looking out the 'window' to the sea below]

...You know, in my family, the last name goes through both the men and the women? Apparently the Belmonts believed in sharing power. Sharing responsibility for the family, more like. So that if the only one of us left happened to be a woman, we wouldn't all die out.

[erbier]

And is that a responsibility that you want?

[atowncalledtreffy]

It's one I already fulfilled.

But I mean...more like women are equal to men. Not generally in the world around us, but in smaller, more important ways. Celebrated, even. I don't think it's evil to take pride in your work.

[erbier]

[ He always tries so hard, it's... charming (?) in its own way. Also bemusing. ]

I was quite celebrated as a gentle lady, as a saintess. My responsibilities... were to ease what suffering I could and then to die and leave nothing behind me when our world burned.

[ She comes closer to him, letting the last book slip out of her hand and back into its pile. ]

Lord Dreus is... dead now, but the Admiral has intervened in my martyrdom.

[ Where does all this fit in the story he is trying to tell her? ]

[atowncalledtreffy]

Well. The Admiral always was kind of a piece of shit. I'm guessing he took you without asking, too?

[erbier]

[ She tsks at him! Don't swear, she's a lady. ]

Of course. I dedicated myself to that ending, and he has chosen to rewrite it.

[ Which is definitely why she is very not cooperative about the whole 'Graduation' thing. ]

[atowncalledtreffy]

[He grins back, rough around the edges and unapologetic for it]

I feel the same way.

I got my girlfriend pregnant; I killed my family's biggest pains-in-the-asses; I saved the world. I was tired, I wanted to see my parents and big sisters in the afterlife.

Instead I wake up on this ship, with half the people I just killed to save the world gloating that they just graduated.

It's complete bullshit. Pardon my language. If we get lucky enough to be at peace with our own deaths, why the fuck does he get to come between and kidnap the dead?

[erbier]

[ She outright blushes. She normally has a chance to stop such a tirade and tell someone not to be so forward with her, but he barrels right along. ]

...Because he has the power to. And we've not enough to stop him.

[atowncalledtreffy]

Yeah.

Can I ask you something stupid and probably pointless?

[erbier]

If you must.

[ What else do you say to that? She smooths out her skirt, still a little flustered. ]

[atowncalledtreffy]

If you could graduate tomorrow, would you go back to being dead?

[erbier]

[ She contemplates this somberly. There was a point when her answer would have been instantaneous. Despite her hesitance, the answer itself has not yet changed: ]

Yes. I belong with Lord Dreus, just as I promised.

[atowncalledtreffy]

You sound like you were in love with him.

[erbier]

That's quite enough.

[atowncalledtreffy]

Sorry.