01

[marriedthebloke]

Characters: AU Sola-ui and you
Setting: Her room, the cafeteria, and other floors of the Tower
Format: I'll match anything you do
Summary: Sola-ui wakes up to the weirdest "kidnapping" of her life.
Warnings: None for now


1. Room 1-01

[As she wakes, up Sola-ui realizes that she doesn't know when or why she fell asleep. The last thing she remembered, she was joking around with Diarmuid on the kitchen floor. She had clearly been awake, but...]

[Right now, she's clearly lying on something softer. As she slowly sits up, she realizes that she is in an unfamiliar room, wearing clothes that she has never worn before. She cautiously steps out of bed, hugging her arms to her body and shivering a little because of the thin, skintight suit.]

[Her first guess is that she has been kidnapped. It worries her to know that someone has enough skill to kidnap the wife of a magus right out from his own house. Likely the kidnappers had also erased her memories of the kidnapping for whatever reason.]

[She starts walking around the room, trying to discover some sort of evidence that would indicate the identity of the offenders or their skills. Though, given the amount of planning and power it required to kidnap her, she doesn't believe they would be stupid enough to leave any sort of evidence behind.]

[The room certainly looks cozier than the usual basement or holding cell. Four beds, each with a trunk at the end. There's even personal items strewn around. These beds wouldn't look out of place in an actual bedroom. Her investigation is at first confined the items left in the open. Next comes the trunks, starting with the one next to "her" bed.]

[She almost gets a heart attack when she opens the trunk to find one of her own mouse familiars leaping at her. Looking down into her trunk, she can also see her clothes and a dagger she had seen from around the house. This discovery only makes everything more confusing. Why would someone go to such lengths to kidnap her and bring her things along, but leave her weapons and familiars? What were they trying to do?]

[At least she has her clothes back. Since there seem to nobody in the room at the moment, she quickly removes the bodysuit to slip on her real clothes. Following that, she sits down on a bed, waiting for someone to come give her an explanation. Even if they were her enemies, they owed her, as a lord's wife, that little bit of courtesy.]

2. Cafeteria

[Sola-ui is sitting at a table, staring at her oatmeal. Hunger and curiosity drove her to finally leave her room. However, she is reconsidering her decision if she has to eat this slop.

[After a long while, she finally lifts up the spoon, takes a sip, and smacks her lips. It is followed by a frown.]

This might be the worst oatmeal I have ever tasted. Not even the slightest hint of flavor! Cold and clammy as well. My husband could cook better than this.

[And when she compares something to her husband's level, she is certainly showing her disdain.]

3. Any floor (morning)

[After a horrible breakfast nowhere near what her "aristocratic" tasted buds were used to ingesting, Sola-ui is walking through the floors of her new residence. It's a strange place, but walking down these hallways gives her a strange sense of excitement. It's very different from the tedium she had settled into after marrying Kayneth, after all.]

4. Any floor (evening)

[Of course, since she is caught up in the excitement of finally being in a new place, she loses track of the time. Morning slips into evening, and monsters start emerging. Seeing as how she has no fighting skills, she is easily cornered by the slobbering beasts. All she can do is retreat, hoping desperately that they would leave or someone would save her.]

Comments

[marriedthebloke]

Derry?

[She asks again. Once she sees his face, she knows that he is Diarmuid. But he looks older, and tired and sad. She wonders what could have brought about this change.]

A-are you alright?

[oathshackledbird]

[The repetition of the nickname finally shakes Diarmuid out of his indecisiveness.]

I should be the one asking you that, Lady Sola-Ui, as I am your...servant.

[It is harder than he would have expected to say that. While he would never name Kayneth as his master again, he does still find himself feeling duty bound to protect Sola-Ui. Wouldn't that make him still her servant?]

And why are you calling me by such a name? I don't understand.

[marriedthebloke]

[She frowns.]

Is this a joke? Why are you being so formal?

[She should be the one asking why he would address her by such a name.]

Can't you recognize your own nickname?

Sola totally needs to start spreading that nickname around so others start calling him it....

[oathshackledbird]

If that is my nickname, it is one you never told me.

[Kind of like the clothes in his trunk that she'd bought for him and never given to him, maybe?]

I would ask you not to use it so freely if so. I don't know that Mas...that your fiance would much approve. I know he can't fight very well right now because of his injuries, but that is no reason to anger him any more than necessary.

[This is..odd for Diarmuid. He doesn't know where she is from in the war and that aside, he has been told that neither she nor Kayneth survived the war. Yet, here she is alive and well. He has to watch what he says for for fear of upsetting her unnecessarily.

Well, mostly well. Her insistence that he should know that nickname is bothering him.]

She just might!

[marriedthebloke]

Diarmuid Archibald El-Melloi.

[Her voice is stern and cold.]

This is no place for jokes. Stop speaking nonsense. Now, have you seen your father or sister anywhere in this place?

She should! It would embarrass him so much!

[oathshackledbird]

Father? Sister? What are you...

[And then it hits him and all Diarmuid can do is bring his hand to his forehead and shake his head in denial. This is obviously not his Sola-Ui. Much like the Kariya and Waver who had arrived this month, she is from a pretty different world from the one he knows.

A very different one if she is implying what he thinks she is implying.]

Lady Sola-Ui you know well I have no sisters and if my father is here, I would be greatly saddened. This is no place for a lover of life and beauty such as he.

[marriedthebloke]

Diarmuid, have you seriously forgotten the very girl you once sworn to serve?

[She has heard of alternate worlds from Tohko, but she has yet to apply it to herself. She cannot bring herself to believe that this man who looks exactly like Diarmuid is not him.]

W-what exactly is going on in that head of yours? Can't you remember anything of your family? Of our family?

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid shakes his head, sadness filling his eyes. So much for not upsetting her.]

I'm sorry, Lady. I have a feeling that what I remember of your family and what I remember of my family is going to be very different from what you remember.

[He stresses parts of that sentence to very definitely point out the separation he's made between his family and her own.]

You are familiar with Second Magic, aren't you? This tower seems to run on it at times.

[marriedthebloke]

I...yes. It exists but...

[She shakes her head.]

Surely things can't be that different. I'm still your mother, aren't I?

[oathshackledbird]

No. I'm sorry.

[There is regret in his gentle voice. He really hates causing her pain, but he can't let her believe a lie either.]

I lived and died thousands of years ago. There is no way that you could be my mother. Honestly...

[Diarmuid places a hand against his chest.]

...this person you see is not even human. I'm a magical being called a servant--the soul of a hero brought back to life through very powerful magic.

[marriedthebloke]

[She stares at him in stunned silence.]

You speak of impossible things! C-can such magics exist? Is there a magus powerful enough to access them?

[oathshackledbird]

I can't speak for things on your world, but they most definitely exist on the one I came from. They call us and support us with their magic so that we may fight for them in a war.

[Though Diarmuid knows now just how much of a farce that war was. Thinking of it brings a bitter look to his face.]

In that war your fiance, Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, was my master. His fiancee, a version of you, was the one who gave me the magical energy needed to remain in the world. It was a bit of an unorthodox arrangement, but it allowed him to have a servant and still be able to use his magic at full during the battle instead of having it limited because he was supplying energy to me.

[Not that it had helped them when all was said and done, but...]

[marriedthebloke]

Ah...

[So was that the way she and Kayneth had given Diarmuid "life" in his world? It still sounds very far-fetched.]

In my world...you were my child. Mine and Kayneth's child.

[She looks away from him. It is disappointing to know that this Diarmuid either has only false memories, or indeed came from a different world.]

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid is quiet for several moments not exactly sure what to say. It was one thing to suspect that was what she meant, but another completely to have it confirmed.]

I'm sorry. This must be very hard for you. I can't say that I know what you are feeling exactly, but there have been times when I have really wanted my family here as well. Sometimes, they are the only thing that can truly bring you comfort. However, it is better they aren't here. This is a terrible place, especially for children.

[marriedthebloke]

And what about for you?

[She knows that he might not be her child, but part of her cannot stop thinking of him as the schoolboy who she had left back in her world.]

[oathshackledbird]

[He tilts his head at her, confusion in his eyes.]

What about me? If you are worried about if I can take care of myself, please don't be. I am a knight trained and a servant on top of that. I'm fine.

[It's not completely a lie. Diarmuid's fine physically. It's just the mental part of himself he's having problems with.]

[marriedthebloke]

If you are so sure...

[She is just used to fretting over her Diarmuid.]

But if you are anything like the Diarmuid of my world, please trying to keep in mind that you can't push yourself too much. Physically or mentally.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid is silent for several moments, a sad look in his eyes.]

I take it some things never change about a person no matter how different two worlds are. It sounds like he is in the habit of hiding things from you when it comes to his true state?

[If so, it might be harder than he thought to keep his own state from her if her son is as much like him as he sounds. Diarmuid can only hope that it's not true, and she's just grasping at straws...

Yeah, he doesn't believe that for a moment. He's a parent himself, after all. He knows how it feels.]

[marriedthebloke]

He would not have told anyone, for fear of burdening them.

[Every time, she had needed to sit him down and pull confessions out of him. It helps that she can notice his moods as well as the warning signs that he gives off.]

But...I try to help. Do you have anyone here who does the same for you, sir knight?

[oathshackledbird]

Yes, that sounds like me.

[Some things really are universal constants then. Waver's Diarmuid had been the same way.]

He's fortunate to have you as his mother.

[Wow, saying that is really weird.]

It's good you have come to know him so well, and I am sure that he appreciated your efforts even if he never said it.

[Diarmuid carefully avoids her question about whether he has people to turn to here. He does, of course. But lately, after how bad things had been in February, he's not talked to them about himself as much. It's just been easier to keep it inside so that he doesn't add any more troubles to those that his friends already are facing.]

[marriedthebloke]

I don't know about that.

[She did try to protect her son and coddle him. But in the end, Diarmuid would share the fate of all magi of his status.]

I just do what I can for him. Someone needs to be there for that boy.

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid's lips press into a thin line.]

So, even in your world I'm not good enough for him. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. It is just a shame your boy has to suffer for it.

[marriedthebloke]

Kayneth...loves him.

[As much as a father can love an absolutely disappointing son.]

Are you saying that your version of Kayneth did not respect you even though you were a hero?

[Her tone is an incredulous one. Not just because of Kayneth's behavior, but because she still cannot quite come to terms with the fact that this Diarmuid is a legendary hero.]

[oathshackledbird]

[Diarmuid just barely keeps himself from blurting out that of course Kayneth hadn't respected him. Who ordered someone they respected to commit suicide? What he does say, though, is only marginally better.]

I was a...replacement. I was never good enough for him. It didn't matter that I was known for my honor and loyalty. He never trusted me, never cared that my only wish was to serve him, and that is what ultimately led to our downfall. I am pretty sure, though, that he never saw any failing in himself. It was all my doing somehow.

I won't say that maybe I sometimes did things that could be seen as wrong, but how was I to know what was right when he would tell me almost nothing about his plans or wishes?

[marriedthebloke]

...

[Hearing the pain in his voice makes her want to step forward and embrace him. But she has to remind herself that he is not her son.]

I see. So then you would say that Kayneth has done you wrong?