onceuponacomm | the final afterparty

the final afterparty

[

That sure happened, but everyone, by some miracle, made it out alive. No one else died, nothing blew up, no arson was committed, we're all still here. And being here, being present despite everything that just happened, is really important. This is for everyone, McGillis and Yuri included (and Jack, if he wants to party from the dungeon), because they all need it. Even with the new revelations, nobody should be left behind.

The party takes place in the bar again, and it probably looks a little...odd? Because there's all the alcohol in the back, and then...there's a bunch of donuts on one of the tables. Two whole baskets of donuts from the bakery, provided by Tenn. Next to the baskets is tea provided by Koto. Have at it, everyone. ]

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[She hesitates a little at first, before confessing.]

I... am not certain about how to feel about McGillis, though he has always been kind to me. I do believe that he has his reasons, as did everyone else before now. My offer at the meeting was genuine, even if it was mostly for efficiency's sake than genuine mercy.

[It stings a little that McGillis and especially Yuri took it, but whatever. It's not like she'd have done if someone tried the same trick. She seems to deflate a little by his second statement.

Still, he's not wrong. Patience has never been a virtue of hers so much as something she's forced herself to stomach.]

Yes... I suppose that's true.

Do you think they'll actually go through with executing Jack?

[That's a good question.]

I think that depends on how dedicated to their rules they are. They technically haven't broken them in any case; everything they've done has been within certain bounds. I'm not sure he'd forego an execution entirely.

And Yuri said that Hamelin was acting within the context of his role as well, with little more in the way of autonomy than any of us... I don't believe she was lying about that.

[But maybe more than a bit biased.]

If anyone knows how to weasel their way out of it, it'd be Hamelin I suppose.

[That just gets a soft, noncommittal noise out of him; perhaps we'll see.]

I have to question what's getting to you tonight. I understand frustration at the trial, but this level of despair is unusual.

[She smiles a tired smile, rubbing her head.]

I'm not sure, specifically. Yuri and Jack didn't surprise me. McGillis did, though in retrospect that was extraordinarily foolish of me.

I think I'm just getting sick and tired of this game. And of living this way, in general. Lying to everyone, having to worry about which of your "friends" will be kind to you one minute and slit your throat the next...

[What Jack said isn't... wrong. About playing house and pretending that any of these people are important in the face of her wish - they aren't. But still... ah, she should have killed these feelings long ago.]

And Hubert would agree with Jack, which pisses me off a bit.

I admit that Jack isn't altogether incorrect; I don't feel I've made much secret of how my priority is to return to Terca Lumireis alive, rather than making friends. I also don't particularly feel guilty about it. My priorities are what they are, and anyone claiming that we could get close enough to one another in a month and a half for it to make that much of a difference in the scheme of things is delusional at best.

But I won't say that being here has changed nothing, either; it's...a complicated subject, I suppose.

[...That said.]

Who is Hubert, exactly?

[He's maybe heard the name in passing here and there, but he isn't terribly familiar with Edelgard's situation.]

He isn't incorrect. Objectively, on a pure mathmatical level, my wish would save far more lives than what I could possibly sacrifice here. While I like these people and it's been... nice... having friends, if only for a little while, I can't prioritise them, even if part of me wishes I could.

But I've made no secret that I think this game has been rigged against us, and that perhaps the easiest way to ensure your wish won't come true is to kill for it, and be killed for it in return.

[She smiles, a little bit less depressed at the chance to talk about her friend.]

He's... my retainer. The future Minister of the Imperial Household, my right hand, "bodyguard", and spymaster. He's been with me since I was four. He's a dear friend, and he's stuck by my side even after my family and I were all betrayed by just about everyone else in the empire. He shares my contempt for the system of nobility that has been plaguing my homeland for hundreds of years. He's always been able to keep me grounded, and offers his advice no matter how blunt, despite our difference in position.

My situation at home is a lot more similar to this game than you'd think. I'm a student at an academy run by one of my two greatest enemies, in a classroom packed with the children of the nobles houses that I will soon be destroying. They're all good people, victims of an archaic system they only serve because they don't know anything better. Hubert feels I've allowed myself to get attached, and that it will only hurt more when they inevitably stand against me once I'm declared a villain.

[He'll actually join her properly as she tells him about it, letting her speak for as long as she likes without standing over her; it's decidedly more casual than he usually is with her, but he feels that maybe that isn't a terrible thing at this point.]

...He sounds like a good person to have by your side. Realistic, if a bit unpleasantly so at times; I find that having one you can trust with you no matter the circumstance is invaluable.

I served as the right hand of our Emperor for five years or so, before he passed away shortly after the war. He kept the corruption out of the Empire; his passing was a great loss to us, and on a personal level I miss him dearly.

[That much does seem to be true; as...odd and screwed up as Alexei is, he does genuinely love the Empire, even if he hates what it's become.]

My own allies and I have never been friends, however; the Empire is strict, with regards to position, and due to personal circumstance I've found it safer to keep my distance from those that aid me. I suppose I'm envious of you.

He is. I think I'd go mad if I didn't have one person I could trust by my side... I wouldn't call myself a particularly open or trusting person at heart, though most of my relationships have hardly been something you could define as friendship.

I have other allies who have agreed to help in my plan, and we're a lot less familiar. Some of them I wouldn't say I even like. Some I'd say I actively despise for the things they've done. People have multiple reasons for partaking in a revolution, and social or societal change is not necessarily even the most common.

[And then there's her biggest enemies, who happen to be funding her for now. She starts to relax a bit more as well, her own pose less formal than she normally would carry herself around Alexei.]

It's hard to maintain that level of professional distance with someone who has been by your side almost every day since you were four. Though, it's still... complicated. There's a large difference in rank. And I think he has a habit of putting me on a pedestal, and believing that it's his responsibility to do any of the more unpleasant work necessary for our goals.

[Being children in gilded cages created by the adults who you trusted the most will do that.]

What was he like? The Emperor, I mean.

[Mm. He'll take all that in, considering without trying to interrupt her; he does seem like he understands, however.]

The closest I have to someone like that is Raven; he's been by my side for ten years. He insists on doing what I can't; I'm bound by rules and obligations in ways that he is not, and he insists on ensuring that I don't have blood on my hands.

[Despite everything, he's still present-tensing Raven; it's difficult not to, all things considered.]

As for the emperor... The Heurassein family line is ancient, said to be descended from the Goddess herself and blessed by holy entities known as the Children of the Full Moon. The appointing of our rulers is done partially by vetting through the Knights and the Council, and partially through divine revelation by way of the holy sword Dein Nomos.

[He doesn't have the actual relic on him; his version of Dein Nomos is...different.]

Despite all of that, he was surprisingly reasonable, and both willing and eager to help his people. He was fond of me, for some reason I never really understood; I'm not one of the nobility, I never have been. And yet he accepted me into the Knights, and he oversaw my promotion into power. He wanted me specifically to serve as his right hand, and he trusted me with aiding his people in a more direct way than he was able to.

He legitimately wanted the best for us. He was a firm ruler, but he was fair. Unfortunately, he was also in poor physical health - something that was kept from me and everyone else. He died suddenly, just as the war was coming to an end. I...wasn't able to be there, when he passed. It's something I regret, to some extent.

[She smiles at his comparison between Raven and Hubert.]

I'd say Raven is a lot better at playing the part than Hubert is. Hubert has a bit of a habit of playing the role of a sneering villain. It works well for intimidation purposes, but part of me believes he enjoys it for the drama of it all. Raven is a great deal subtler about his loyalties, I probably wouldn't have made the connection that he was working for you if we weren't in such a unique circumstance.

[Bloodlines... Interesting. Their system seems... flawed, but more democratic than the Empire's. She doesn't think she'll be taking any notes from this practice, though, it seems like a lot of unnecessary religious rituals.]

Your emperor is decided by vote, then? Or is there a special body of government in charge of that.

My own family is descended from the blood of the Goddess directly. Or at least her eldest daughter. That's the popular story, and the gospel as put forward by the church, but we have access to my ancestor's private journal, and I know that he and Saint Seiros were lovers at one point and that she directly gave him her blood, and that's what gave him the power of the first of my crests.

Ironic, considering I am aiming to depose that same woman.

[The other was harvested from the descendents of the anti-christ, but don't worry about it.]

...Do you suspect you could do something about it?

[Oh, you absolutely don't want to take any notes from the Empire's practices. The whole thing is deeply stupid and they haven't had an Emperor for ten goddamn years.]

The Knights and the Council are each permitted to bring forth candidates for the throne. Ultimately, the decision comes down to... Well, as I said. Divine revelation. However long it takes us to get that - it seems the Goddess has better things to do than actually appoint anyone at the moment.

[He is so sick of the current succession crisis, Edelgard, it's a fucking mess.]

...And if you're asking me whether I believe I could have done anything about his death- [He's about to say of course not, because that entire situation was a lot, but now that he thinks about it?] Theoretically, I suppose? I know that I possibly could have, but I don't know how well that would have gone over in practice.

[She's dead silent for a hot minute. Staring in wide-eyed horror at the implications of that political system.]

...They... rely on... direct divine intervention to choose a leader...?

[Alexei, sincerely.... she is so fucking sorry for your loss.]

...Dear fucking goddess. And I thought relying on genetic blood curses because we were told by a dragon that they're a gift from the divine was bad... You have nothing but my condolences for having to deal with all of that.

[She has to take a moment to shake herself from just... that. That being the system of government and succession where Alexei is from. How do you even have any degree of faith in humanity after watching that...? What the fuck.]

...You could have? How do you mean?

[The sound that gets out of him is quiet; almost a laugh, but it's so fucking bitter.]

Believe me, it's exactly as it sounds. We currently don't even have the specific relic required to carry out the ceremony. Though I'm not sure if I would prefer that or the genetic blood curses, honestly.

[It's. It's fucking stupid. It's so fucking stupid.]

As for that... I don't recall if you were present at Raven's execution. But he had a device implanted into his chest for the purpose of keeping him alive. A replacement heart, capable of reviving the dead.

It was my design. Something I created after losing all of my men in battle during the war. It didn't save everyone; for most of them there wasn't even enough to save. But it did work.

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the final afterparty

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