eswareinmal | Choose Your Own Marital Adventure!

Characters: Everyone's Favorite King and You!
Where: The Castle Courtyard
When: 19th of Rebirth's Decline
What: Mawwiage. Mawwiage is what bwings us togethew today.

The townspeople have wasted no time in setting up the bit of green by the castle with all the decorations from the Height's Moon Dance and the Ball of the Slain Monster, making it look utterly festive and down right gaudy. Young ladies, dressed in their finest pressed together, looking as if they would explode with excitement while the young men stood more stiffly, though with no less anticipation.

Finally, the King stepped onto the hastily arranged platform, a huge grin on his face. "My people! Since yesterday, I have been flooded with papers!" he gestured to the attendants on the side who had two large sacks that looked positively overflowing. "The love that these heroes show for you truly knows no bounds that they would be so willing to sign themselves over to this, eh?" he joked, getting a laugh from the crowd.

"So today, let this all come to a momentous conclusion! Bring the sacks!"

There was a near deafening roar as the attendants drug over the bags of paper, the King all the while grinning up a storm.

"Now! Let's see who the lucky ones are, shall we?" he exclaimed before pushing up his sleeve and plunging his hand down into the first bag, papers fluttering and escaping off into the air as he pulled out a single crumpled paper.

"The names are....!"

[[OoC: If you want your characters name chosen, reply with their name in the subject line! Just an onlooker? No subject heading needed! The King will pull as many names as people want. Have fun!

edit: Also! Feel free to puppet the nameless NPCs!]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

((ooc: Any paper with Giles' name on it is going to be a forgery, but I'm cool with there being a few in there!))

Giles is here as a spectator. He hasn't signed anything, and so he knows that a marriage is not in the stars for him, thank heavens for small mercies. But he knows that there had been plenty of people in the market sniffing after Helios' signature in turn, to say nothing of what Lavinia might have been up to or what Ginia might have done in exchange for something that looked even a little valuable.

That said, he's also here for some entirely selfish reasons - namely, he's here to look for whoever might have orchestrated this farce so he can hopefully indulge in the chance to beat the hell out of them.

The invisibility clasp is nestled in his bag, in case a hasty escape is needed. Other than that, Giles keeps to the walls, and avoids eye contact with anyone he doesn't recognize.

But when his name is pulled out of the bag and called out for all to hear, any thoughts of slipping away fly apart at the seams. Giles just gapes at the King, his ears ringing and his mind a blank.

"...what?!"

Edited 2012-09-10 00:45 (UTC)

Ginia is there in the crowd. She's not sure why she's there of all places at such a ridiculous event. Some sense of hero-ly obligation, or maybe because she knows her name is on a few slips of paper. Some had been signed to get the person away, others in order to steal off with an item. Now she kicks herself for her foolishness.

On the plus side, she doesn't believe the paper is any way legally binding and it wouldn't be the first marriage she's slipped away from.

On the other hand, after the disaster of the last few days, after her utterly shameful behavior and how much she hurt the ones closest to her... hell, that anyone would want her is almost some odd twisted relief.

However, when she hears Giles' name called, she jerks to attention. The crowd murmurs appreciatively and applauds. Oh yes, there was that dreadful business with him and the rogue, it's good he found someone who will take care of and love him. He's such a respected figure who deserves so much.

Ginia bristles under the words, but... well, maybe they are right. Maybe there is someone better for him.

Giles, for his part, is already rummaging in his bag by the time his would-be "bride" hurries up to grab him by the arm and greatly impede his efforts. He's just that bit too restrained to actually shove her off...or maybe she just has that good of a grip.

Wildly, he looks up - and, like a trick of fate, he sees Ginia. And his stomach drops as his heart feels like it's being squeezed in a vice. And even though they're across the room and she can't hear him, even in the midst of the scene, his lips move to form a word, just one word:

"Wait."

Please.

In a sea of hundreds of people, many already quick to part and let the new not-so-happy couple go forth and receive their blessings from the king, it's remarkable Giles even sees Ginia. However, there is luck and there is fate and the distinction between the two is very, very thin.

Ginia balks as he sees her. She should leave, go before she causes anymore pain. Goodness knows she's done enough over the last few days, even enough in just the morning.

But words have power and that single word means everything.

Once, he pleaded for her to stay and she ran.

Sound of mind once more, she can hardly do the same.

Ginia flickers out of sight, only to reappear several feet in front of her, the crowd quickly parting as she appears between them. She shadow jumps yet again until she's in front of Giles and his "bride", cutting off their path. Silver and emeralds glimmer around her neck, a sign of Giles' love and Helios' care, undeserved in Ginia's opinion.

She doesn't meet Giles' eyes, can't meet his eyes. Instead, she grabs the woman's wrist - not gentle, but not rough either - and looks the woman in the eye.

"Let him go. He's not yours to marry," Ginia says, her voice calm and quiet.

Salvation arrives, and it's the most beautiful thing Giles has ever seen. She can't look at him, no, especially not with the bandage still covering the cut to his face. But Giles can't take his eyes off of her, with a new necklace glittering at her throat, with magic that gives her back her voice at long last.

The woman, as they've probably both come to expect, is completely oblivious to all of this and what's transpired in the past. She merely looks over eher shoulder to glare at Ginia - one look at her is enough to see that she's a young girl, a girl who's probably lived a very simple life and, much like most of the villagers, hasn't had to think too hard about a lot of things.

"You had your chance," she snits, before making to turn away.

You had your chance.

The woman may not mean too much by it, just a small jab as Ginia's nothing more than another rival for Giles' affection, but it cuts deeply. Did she have her chance and subsequently lose it? Is Giles just the last in a long string of failed relationships?

Ginia tries not to think about it. She lets the woman go and watches her walk away, still unable to look at Giles. The woman takes a few steps, looks over Ginia, snorts derisively, and keeps going. As the crowd whispers and chatters over this new turn of events, Ginia takes it as her cue to go, using the shadows to shadow jump a few feet away.

Giles misses grabbing hold of her sleeve by the skin of his teeth. He looks wildly around through the crowd for any further sign of her, unwilling to let it go at just that.

When he thinks he catches a glimpse of her a few feet away, Giles starts towards her...and then he stops, remembering himself. Remembering everything, and why Ginia might not want to be near him.

Shamefaced, this time he just looks after her, silently searching her face for any hint of what might come next, or what she might want or need him to do.

Ginia stops and glances briefly over her shoulder, enough to see him, but not really look at him. She can't look at him yet, maybe not ever again. Not after cutting him, not after hurting Helios. Yet there's still the necklace around her neck. It feels almost like a collar because she knows they want her back and one day she will return to them, but why they still accept her is what she can't figure out.

Forgiveness is a strange and tricky thing. It isn't something she can ask for and she feels she doesn't deserve it, but they'll give it to her anyway, wrapped up in layers of love and concern.

But even knowing all this, she turns away and continues on, literally disappearing out of sight. Wherever she came from, she can't go back.

It's a sour note on a day of weddings, but hell, everyone's in for a bunch of disappointment anyway.

On this, what is supposed to be a day of weddings, Giles feels like the one getting left at the alter.

He doesn't stop her, though. He can understand, or at least thinks he does, why she might need her space. No matter how much it hurts to stay standing there, he doesn't stop her.

Instead, before anyone else can accost him again, he finishes pinning the clasp to the cloak, and goes looking for Helios.

Choose Your Own Marital Adventure!

Rupert Giles

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject