cancry | Avaritia Arrival Log

The butterfly flutters its wings anxiously but doesn't take flight quite away. Given that this appears to be the same butterfly that was spooked away by Wolfsbane... you can understand why it seems a little nervous.

It chimes again, though, as if in response to him.

[ Yeah he can’t blame you butterfly.

He carefully takes a few steps forward though, hand still out stretched. Maybe flying is a little difficult and it would rather step into his palm? ]

It’s all right - you can trust me. I won’t hurt you.

I promise to keep you safe. I’ll always keep you safe.

The butterfly inches forward a little before finally taking flight in a pretty lopsided sort of way and landed squarely in Achilles' palm.

For a moment of anticlimax, all he sees and hears is the bustle of the casino continuing to move around him.

Until, quite suddenly, he doesn't.

In the when and where this memory takes place, something is terribly wrong. The details of it have been washed out as usual, blocked out in broad swathes of white light and gold shadow, but even then there's surprisingly little impression of wherever this took place - there's a sense that the location matters not at all, because what matters most is the memory of a girl, crying and crying like her heart has just been broken.

Her companion is stunned. You can't see them well, but their unease and discomfort comes through just as clear as her misery. "Ah... ▇▇▇... what's wrong? I don't understand..."

"They're all gone!" the girl chokes out. "I went to see them and talk to them just one more time, but they were gone! It was that Revenant! I just wanted to say one last goodbye, but now...!"

Her companion is silent. It's clear that they don't know what to say. "▇▇▇, I... um... I'm sorry. I thought they'd all been destroyed, but if there was one left, then that would've been enough..."

Their words do nothing to quiet the girl's tears. They reach out to her hesitantly, like they might be able to help with their touch, but then their hand falls back to their side and the two of them stand there in shared misery for an uncomfortably long time. But then the girl's companion speaks up, their speech slow and halting.

"I... I can't do anything about your family now... and I'm sorry. But... maybe..."

The girl shudders as she wipes her eyes with the back of her arm. "M–maybe what...?"

Her companion doesn't say anything more. But then they take a deep breath and pull themselves up to their full height.

"Maybe... if I could give you the power to stop it from happening to anybody else, then..."

The girl stares at them, with a mix of confusion and slowly dawning awe. "▇▇▇▇... a–are you saying...?"

Her companion nods. "Yes. If you agree... and only if you agree... then you could become an Executor."

The girl looks dumbfounded. "... I..."

And then with an abruptness that hits like a truck, Achilles is suddenly back in the casino, slumped into one of the chairs at the slot machines.

The butterfly has vanished.

[ He sits there for a long time, completely dumbstruck as he processes what he just saw. And there’s... a lot to process but first things first...

Could he have made out at all what the companion looked like...? ]

Unfortunately not. The memory was degraded enough that details are hard to pick out. The most he would have been able to tell is that the girl and her companion were probably around the same height, going by the way they interact with each other physically, but that's about it.

[ Fuck. Okay. So no descriptors for this potential person they might have to keep a look out for now. Okay.

He stays sitting, eventually bringing his hands to his face and running them down. Right. Okay. That. All right.

Then wordlessly he gets back up and quickly walks out of the casino.

He’s going to look for Rei and he’s not going to stop for anything else until he finds her. ]

[ He won't have to look SUPER far, assuming that he tries checks out Executorhaus in Limbo relatively early on. She's got herself a big ol' pile of books from the library as usual and she looks up from the one she's reading when she hears him approach. ]

Achilles...? Is something wrong?

[ He stops in the entrance of the room when he sees her and for a few moments doesn’t move even when she acknowledges him.

And then, very quickly, he strides towards her, kneels down and gathers her up in a big, tight hug. ]

[ Okay she's getting more used to all this huggin and stuff but this is still pretty sudden and that combined with his weird reaction when she addressed him has her worried. But it's Rei, so that's just business as usual. ]

Ah– w–wait a second...! What's happened?

[ He holds her even tighter, closing his eyes as his mind repeats the memory again for him. ]

You’ll... have to forgive me a moment. I saw something that perhaps I maybe shouldn’t have... and I was compelled to find you post haste.

[ Rei stiffens. ]

W–wait... you saw another...?

[ It doesn't take a genius to figure out just what he might have found to make him act this way. ]

I saw another butterfly, yes. It does not matter what I saw though - it is a memory that should have been private and not for anyone else’s eyes, much less mine. I apologize.

But...

[ He pulls away from her in that moment, keeping his hands on her shoulders. ]

I have something important to ask you.

[ She shifts a little uncomfortably from one foot to the other, feeling as though she wants to avert her gaze. But eventually, she dips her head in a nod. ]

... r–right. What is it?

Rei.

[ He looks her right in the eye, his gaze and hands on her gentle ]

Would you like to become my daughter?

[ Rei takes about six full seconds to process that before she can open her mouth and start to respond. ]

I... Um...

[ Oh, never mind. Give her another four I guess. That's enough time for her to start spluttering in surprise like the Rei we know and love. ]

W–wait a second...! W–why are you asking all of a sudden...?

[ He frowns for a few seconds, then decides it’s better to be honest with her instead of hiding what he saw. ]

If those butterflies and memories really are yours... then you became an Executor because a Revenant killed your family. You didn’t want such a thing to happen to anyone else.

[ He takes a breath to steady himself. ]

I didn’t see them. I don’t know what they were like. And most of all, I’m not trying to replace them. But if I am being honest with myself, I have already seen you like a daughter to me for a long time now and I... hate thinking that such a horrible thing happened to you.

This may be the afterlife and our ultimate aim may be to eventually move on. We may not be here for long... but I would like to still be there for you, in a way more than a comrade or mentor.

I want to provide you with all the love and care you deserve, Rei. I want to give you the world.

[ Her family.

It comes as a shock, somehow. Obviously, she must have had parents in life, she must have had some sort of family before coming to Purgatory but hearing it is still a shock, somehow. But when the shock wanes... and all Rei feels is a dull sense of discomfort.

She should feel sad, shouldn't she? If she felt strongly enough about it to become an Executor, then shouldn't those same feelings resonate with her now? Even if she doesn't remember them yet, they were her family. But there's no sadness, no mourning.

Rei doesn't feel anything at all.

Her hands grip the hem of her skirt tight, just like they always do when she's too wound up to talk. Her head's spinning and she doesn't know what to say – doesn't know if she can even speak at all just yet. ]

... Is... is that really okay? [ Her voice is vanishingly quiet. ] There's still a lot of things we don't remember. If things change or... or it turns out that I did something wrong and that's why I was by myself, th–then...

That doesn’t matter to me, sweetheart.

[ He doesn’t even hesitate. ]

If you did do something bad, depending on what it is I might scold you a little but... I told you before that there was nothing you could do to push someone away, didn’t I?

There’s nothing that could come out that would change how much I love you, darling.

[ Rei's throat ties itself into a knot and she can't speak. Her mind is still whirling, reeling at the sudden bombshell of information, things she knows about herself but still can't remember. She'd been on her own for so long before the other Executors had arrived and now she has friends, a family. It's almost too much.

But eventually, she manages to nod. Her eyes are overbright, on the verge of swelling with tears. ]

Mm. [ And then a little more effusively, with another nod. ] Mhmm...! Y–yes... I... th–that'd make me... really happy.

[ He doesn't say much else now. He was prepared to tell her she could think about it, that she didn't have to give him an answer now or ever really. He was prepared to assuage any worries that she might just be a stand in for his son, that he wouldn't love her as much (he does).

But when she agrees to it he just smiles softly in that way he always does and takes his hands off her shoulders, silently opening his arms to invite her in for the hug this time. ]

Edited 2021-03-14 19:26 (UTC)

[ Rei's just a tiny little thing but when she steps in for that hug, it's with enough force to almost overbalance him. She doesn't say anything – she really, truly can't right now, but she buries her face into his shoulder and clings onto him fiercely.

It's overwhelming. It's a little frightening – having something means you can lose it, after all, no matter what. But... Rei trusts him. If Achilles tells her that he really and truly won't be pushed away then she'll believe in him. ]

[ He almost falls back but corrects his balance right away. He holds her tightly, even tighter than he did before, and begins to stroke her hair with one hand. ]

...You don't have to change what you call me right away if you're not ready yet or don't want to. But please know... I can think of no greater honor than being your father.

So thank you for letting me, Rei.

Avaritia Arrival Log

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