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Bastien De Rosieres
the Dionysian
Ambassador for the Hollowed Grounds / Artist

Age: 41 | Height: 6' 2" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 10 - Int:
PITTORE - Mythical - Gremlin (Disappearance)
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#1
Start by admitting that from cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay
Bastien had no idea how long it had been since his world had ended, but he did know that time had the gall to keep going; that in of itself was offensive. Outside he heard laughter; even worse inside the room Azrael occasionally smiled or laughed in his arms and he found himself resenting his own child for that. Rexanna would never hear the first words of the child they had waited so patiently together for, and he wondered if they were even worth listening for without his wife there.

Sometimes, he left Azrael sleeping on the bed opposite, sat on the floor by Rexanna's bed and leaned his head on the side, by her hand. If he closed his eyes and imagined just right, it could be like she was just napping; like he was waiting for her to awaken.

He was reminded of the great hero Achilles mourning his Patroclus, the rage and sorrow; the way the warrior had kept the corpse in his tent for many weeks after. He didn't have magical herbs to keep Rexanna's body fresh, but he hoped her Voice-given skin might hold longer than than the average humans: when they could step back out into the Hollowed Grounds, he would build her a funeral pyre more mighty than even those legendary heroes could have dreamt of.

Of course, as someone prone to dramatics, there was a part of him that had considered suicide: the door at the front of the temple offered an easy enough solution. The linchpin holding him back was Azrael, who would need a father: had this happened a week or so earlier, he did not know if he would stay. With a heavy sigh, he stood up and went to hold his baby again, softly singing a song from his past with a weak voice.
Come to the Cabaret, old chum
Bastien
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Evelyn Occidendum


Age: 23 | Height: 5'5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#2
EVELYN

The Queen was dead.

Tragedy had struck them, casting a darker tone over an already dark and dreary time. Evelyn had admired the Queen, had looked up to her as a sovereign majesty, an example of Ascended brilliance to aspire to. The girl had hovered at the entrance to the room often of late, wanting to enter but lacking the courage to step across the threshold - knowing what still wandered within, the husband and the child who mourned the passing of their wife and mother.

But they were Ascended brethren as well, as so finally the girl granted herself permission to try, to approach, to see for herself the death that the accursed door had wrought upon the Penumbra. With hearing far beyond her capabilities from before she and her sister had attended the Voice's shrine for the first time, she sensed the movement from within the room, guessed at what it meant, and then heard the voice softly sing a tune as yet known to her.

"Hello?" her soft singsong voice came, her tone guarded but clear, sounding during a pause in the song that drifted from the room in deep and well-practiced tones. "I'm Evelyn," she offered. "Come to pay respects to our fallen Queen." She held no offerings in her hand, no gifts to send along with the Penumbra's lost soul to wherever it might go (she was unaware of whether it resided in Mort's hall of souls, or returned to the Voice's care, or was entrapped forever in the clutches of the monsters) - she had nothing but herself and her words to give to this moment, and hoped she would be permitted that much.
innocence
is but an illusion
Bastien De Rosieres
the Dionysian
Ambassador for the Hollowed Grounds / Artist

Age: 41 | Height: 6' 2" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 10 - Int:
PITTORE - Mythical - Gremlin (Disappearance)
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#3
Start by admitting that from cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay
Bastien looked up from his slumped post to see who the next visitor would be: when it was someone he only vaguely recognised but had never actually met before, he wasn't sure if that was better or worse than the close friends. The tired, bitter part of him wanted to bite back that whoever she was, she had never known Rexanna; that his wife had been so much more than a Queen.

But he did not have a monopoly on grief. With a sigh and a nod, he motioned for her to come in. "Her face is burnt on one side...do not let it shock you. Much of her beauty is still preserved." Bastien had grown very used to the sight of his wife's marred face in the last day, but he knew it might be shocking for those not keeping post. "...Did you know Rexanna, Evelyn?" He asked, shifting Azrael higher up in his arms.
Come to the Cabaret, old chum
Bastien
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Evelyn Occidendum


Age: 23 | Height: 5'5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#4
EVELYN

She complied when he granted his permission, entering the room with slow, purposeful steps. It was difficult for her to decide what to focus on, her gaze drifting between the baby within Bastien's arms, and the body that lays on the bed beside him. But as she approached, offering a small, sad smile to the baby, a solemn nod to the man, she soon found herself drawn to the bedside of their fallen queen.

She was beautiful, even if the evidence of her cause of death so plainly marred her face. Evelyn didn't know what she was supposed to feel, how she was supposed to act, when presented with this situation - what did one do, when one admired another from afar, an invisible fan, a new member to this family of Ascendeds Wessex claimed existed, and an idol of that family dies?

"Only by name," her voice replied back, softly and respectful, her tiara bowed as baby blue eyes consumed the body laid out on the bed. After a few quiet moments, she turned to the man, settling in a nearby chair. "Would you tell me more about her?" There were no words of comfort, no offer of condolences, at least not yet - the girl was curious, she wanted to know the woman she admired so much for being a monarch and holding a position of true power in the government of her home, so that she might offer words that were less hollow, less full of fallacy and generic commiserations to the man and his child.
innocence
is but an illusion
Bastien De Rosieres
the Dionysian
Ambassador for the Hollowed Grounds / Artist

Age: 41 | Height: 6' 2" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 10 - Int:
PITTORE - Mythical - Gremlin (Disappearance)
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,399 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#5
Start by admitting that from cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay
Evelyn walked in slowly, with the kind of grace and respect befitting a visitor to the Queen: as much as Bastien had never relished in his wife's royal title or the implications of it, it was useful now, where people seemed to treat her reverently, as they ought to. That she acknowledged Azrael and himself as well as she approached earned her points: whoever this stranger was, Bastien thought that he liked her.

In the sort of abstract, far away way he was thinking of anything at the moment.

"She is radiant." Bastien began, finding that he did very much want to tell someone about his wife. "When we first met, I immediately wanted to paint her portrait with a background of gold...I made that painting many times, yet I don't think I've ever quite captured her beauty: and now I don't think I ever will. Because..." He took a sad breath, looked at the wall before him; if he looked at Rexanna while he spoke he would surely cry. "Her beauty is not just in her appearance. It is in her wit, her intelligence...the way she knew just how to play along with my performances and extravagance. The way she could so easily balance conflicts, be a diplomat...her strength, with all she had been through."
Come to the Cabaret, old chum
Bastien
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Evelyn Occidendum


Age: 23 | Height: 5'5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#6
EVELYN

With a quiet reverence, she listened to him as he spoke, letting the man's colourful words paint a picture of how the queen had been in life now that final death had taken her. Final death, she wondered idly, if that was the correct term for when an Ascended's final spark of light was blinked out of existence. She had thought the concept of it nearly impossible, but then, she was also still very prone to bursting into flames from sunlight, so she was well aware that they were not impervious to harm and death as they may come across.

It was a topic she supposed she would discuss further with her sister, and perhaps the Wraith.

Evelyn notes, that though it is subtle, the man speaks of his fallen queen in the present tense a lot, but eventually turns into past tense. She wonders at it, for when her family had perished, when she and her sister had gone to the Voice's shrine to look for another way to survive, she had immediately known that her parents and other siblings were gone, that they were no more. It was nothing more than a curious observation of how others might grieve - a quiet realisation that perhaps she was doing it wrong, or at least, differently.

"You should keep painting her." Angelic tones offered. "Keep painting her, so that one day you might get closer and closer still to displaying her radiance. You'll never capture it - you can only hope to show it to the world. So we know her, as you did." It was a tall order, but the girl didn't know what else to say. If he were a younger sibling, she might know what worlds of consolation she should say, but in this, she was in utterly unknown territory.
innocence
is but an illusion
Bastien De Rosieres
the Dionysian
Ambassador for the Hollowed Grounds / Artist

Age: 41 | Height: 6' 2" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 10 - Int:
PITTORE - Mythical - Gremlin (Disappearance)
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,399 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#7
Start by admitting that from cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay
Bastien could tell that Evelyn was trying to help, trying to be gentle and good - so he did not react as he might do to the advice from anyone else, with a dismissive snort and 'what point is there if not to capture her correctly?': instead he simply nodded, tried to let out the tension in him with a soft breath. "I think for a while it may be too painful to pick up a brush at all." He said quietly, knowing it was true.

Nothing had ever stopped him from wanting to create before, but Bastien could feel that along with Rexanna, something within him that drove his desire to make had died.

"I think I will have to speak to our lady Voice, to find a way to continue." He decided, though there wasn't any satisfaction in his voice for having come to this decision. "...I do not think there is anyone else I can trust to give me guidance, anymore."
Come to the Cabaret, old chum
Bastien
Base Code by Sky!
Evelyn Occidendum


Age: 23 | Height: 5'5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: N/A - Strg: 10 - Dext: 10 - Endr: 10 - Luck: 5 - Int:
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#8
EVELYN

She nods along to his words, accepting them as truth, at least for him. For her own grief, when her family had succumbed to the famine, her truth was in acknowledging their existence and the part they played in herself and her sister in Ascending. They were not radiant like Rexanna was, and while she missed the steadiness that was family life, she was also young, and able to turn her attention to the future - for she and Mabel had a future now, thanks to the Voice.

So it is no surprise that her attention is piqued when he mentions her, the lady, the Voice who gave her this second chance at life. "The Voice will surely know the way." Solemn words were given, a small nod following. The girl so desperately wanted to ask if she could attend the shrine when he did - but then she looked again to the bed, to the body of their fallen Queen, and she allowed a small, sad sigh to leave her lips instead.

"Will you… hold a service for her, when Longnight ends?"
innocence
is but an illusion
Bastien De Rosieres
the Dionysian
Ambassador for the Hollowed Grounds / Artist

Age: 41 | Height: 6' 2" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 10 - Int:
PITTORE - Mythical - Gremlin (Disappearance)
Played by: lancydulac Offline
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Posts: 1,399 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#9
Start by admitting that from cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay
Bastien was not sure that anyone really knew a way past this: how could there be one, when Rexanna had died? Goddess or not, he doubted the Voice's ability to bring her back to him, and without that as a possibility there was nothing the Goddess could do more than give him distractions and advice for the future: still, he trusted no one else more to do that.

"I will, yes. We will be ah...arranging for her body..." He had to take a breath here to control himself, to really realise that yes, he was talking about his wife's corpse. "..privately, but then I intend to hold a ceremony at the Sanctuary. You would be welcome, of course - the more to celebrate her life, the better." A ghost of a flicker of a smile appeared on his lips, so briefly it would be easily missed.
Come to the Cabaret, old chum
Bastien
Base Code by Sky!
Evelyn Occidendum


Age: 23 | Height: 5'5" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Natural | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: N/A - Strg: 10 - Dext: 10 - Endr: 10 - Luck: 5 - Int:
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#10
EVELYN

To celebrate her life, yes, because she had a life worth celebrating. Evelyn couldn't help but to compare, to examine the differences between the death of the queen to the death of her family. Perhaps this was her way of grieving at last, her way of recognising that they had passed without being remembered by any other than she and Mabel. They had not earned greater recognition, so stuck in their ways that their stubbornness had cost them their own lives, and the lives of most of the their children.

"I will be there." She said simply, with a determination. "My sister will be too." She added, knowing that Mabel would definitely join them in this celebration of the life of the queen, their fellow Ascended. Had she seen the smile? She didn't react to it, if she had seen it - merely offering a solemn nod and another glance to the body of the queen. "Thank you, for hosting me. I want to… help you, and others of our family, going forward." She paused slightly, if only because she wasn't sure whether all Ascended saw themselves as a family in the way that Wessex did.

"I used to have many younger siblings." She said as she looked back to the ma and the bundle in his arms. "My sister and I are capable babysitters if you ever need."
innocence
is but an illusion
Bastien De Rosieres
the Dionysian
Ambassador for the Hollowed Grounds / Artist

Age: 41 | Height: 6' 2" | Race: Ascended | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
Level: 5 - Strg: 20 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 20 - Luck: 10 - Int:
PITTORE - Mythical - Gremlin (Disappearance)
Played by: lancydulac Offline
Change author:
Posts: 1,399 | Total: 8,707
MP: 0
#11
Start by admitting that from cradle to tomb
Isn't that long a stay
"Good. Thank you." It was pleasing to know that there would be a decent crowd at his wifes memorial, even if there being such an event made him want to scream out at the heavens. While he was still lost in a fog surrounding everything, he managed another smile and nod at the news that Evelyn's sister and herself would help them going forward.

Quite what help he'd need he wasn't sure, but he was certain there would be some needed eventually.

"..Thank you, but I hope you understand I do not know if I will be able to let them go for quite some time, not after this." There was comfort in still having some remnant of his life in his arms, something alive and real that connected him to Rexanna: a heavy burden for a child to carry, but one that felt inevitable. With one last sad smile to Evelyn he watched her leave and held Azrael closer, letting his face crumple as the door shut.

{FIN}
Come to the Cabaret, old chum
Bastien
Base Code by Sky!


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