A Sword for a Mother
Log Info
- Title: A Sword for a Mother
- Emitter: Andelena
- Place: Andelena and Dolan's apartment
- Summary: Andelena and Dolan are armored and in their apartment, with Dolan occupying his time by studying wedding rites. They're having a conversation that turns primarily to the nature of Deliverance, Andelena's sword, and her intentions for Andelena as well as her opinions of Andelena's family. The two Daeusites are pleased to learn that all three share a common enemy in Andelena's demon-consorting mother, and resolve to right the wrongs that have occurred in Andelena's family.
Another cloudy day has settled on Alexandria in the month of Bernfleur, to the point where it seems nothing outside casts much of a shadow at all. The good news is that it's rather temperate, with the wind almost nonexistent and of a mild character to match the ambient temperature, and it's this small mercy that has a window open in the Donnelly apartment very, very briefly.
"Okay, that's enough fresh air," Andelena says, snapping it shut. The reason being, of course, the smaller of the two calico cats looking up at the window with bright and curious eyes from where she sits on the floor. "I saw you making eyes up at that, Spot. You're not meant for the outdoors. You'll be a fat and happy girl in here."
It's a small snapshot of normalcy, for Andelena to be talking to her cat like this--even if she's armored from head to toe in the process.
The other cat, Patches, is nowhere to be seen. Dolan, meanwhile, is curled up on the sofa, also in his armor, the jacket on over it. He's been quiet the last few days, mostly sticking to reading and studying, but he's also been playing with a spell or two. It is slightly unnerving to watch him completely abandon all senses for several minutes at a time, but he seems well-pleased.
He is currently reading from the wedding rite scrolls, and looks up at the admonishment. "We're going to be letting them outside when Jal'goroth's not a problem anymore, yeah?"
"Yes, but only if one of us is around to supervise," Andelena answers, picking up Spot in her gauntleted hands and nuzzling the kitten up to her face. This is something that Spot tolerates. It's a hard life to be a kitten so beloved by such a tall lady, especially when Spot is so small and so high off the ground... But the kitten starts purring when she receives little scratches behind those ears that look to be almost entirely too big for her head.
Andelena looks at Dolan. "I mean, I'd be heartbroken if one of them got picked up and stolen. Kids sometimes just see a cat that's out and about and decide, 'Hey, that's my cat now,' with no fuckin' regard for people's feelings. Adults do it, too, but it's worse than they do it, because they really ought to know better."
She walks with Spot over to the couch and sets down the little calico there, back to safety. "How's the wedding rite reading going?" she asks. "Still understanding it all like it's been what you've been saying since you came out into the world?"
"Yeah." Dolan turns and sets the scroll aside on the table next to him. "It's eerie, but it's so beautiful. I wish we could do the whole rite in it." This is probably grounds for murder, if one does not know the language." He lets out a breath that ends in a chuckle, lips quirking up into a half a grin. His smiles have become rarer of late. "So long as it's you on the other side of the altar, baby, we could cuss each other out before His altar and it'd still be beautiful."
It's at that moment that Patches puts in an appearance. Apparently the twisting movement prompted her to raise her head, and a patched head now pokes itself out from the neckline of the breastplate, forcing his chin up to accommodate head and ears.
There's a smile that matches Dolan's on Andelena's face, just to see him happy. "The whole rite? Bry, I love you. I'd do anything for you. But I'd probably accidentally say some unforgivable shit before the altar if I tried that, and that's not including me trying not to swear after I fucked up a word." The grin widens on her face with that sentiment. "But you're right, too. I'd never dream of doing it--there are institutions where I'd never dream of cussing at anyone if I can help it--but it would be us."
Then out comes little Patches from Dolan's breastplate. Andelena can't contain it. It's the happy, affectionate sort of noise that only leaves her when the cats are concerned and are doing something particularly adorable. "Look at you, baby," she coos. "Snuggled up with daddy, huh? That's the most adorable fucking thing I've ever seen."
Dolan snorts laughter, still trying to work around Patches. "I'd never ask, baby, because then I'd start laughing while you flailed and we'd mess up the whole thing. Patches, the side is easier." He lifts his arm and wiggles his fingers, and the kitten obediently slips out of the loosely-fastened side, yawning, arching, and stretching. "When are we doing it?" he asks offhandedly, watching Patches emerge and letting his arm in its leather cuff resettle. "I meant to ask Auranar, because I don't know shit about this kind of thing."
"I was thinking of either Firetide or Aestry," Andelena responds thoughtfully, scratching her hair. "I know back where I come from, this shit is scheduled many months in advance and then they send out floral-scented envelopes to every fuckhead that's ever huffed the heady scent of a noble title, but we're not doing shit their way. We're doing shit our way."
She looks brightly at Dolan. "Like you and I keep saying. You, me, and the Knight. None of that noble bullshit, none of me being forced into traditions I don't respect, outfits I don't want to wear, and most importantly: a man I don't wanna marry. Because the only man I do want to marry is right here in the apartment I share with him."
A voice comes from Deliverance, strapped to her sword-belt but sheathed. "The only thing that matters is that the two of you are married in the eyes of the Knight and in a way that satisfies you both, I agree," the maternal voice says with... a rather surprising amount of pride. Or maybe not that surprising.
"For all of me, baby, you could show up stark naked and I'd consider it the best outfit you've ever worn." This time, Dolan's grin widens further as Patches hops down, does a few ballet kicks, and rubs up against Andelena's armored leg. "I'll leave it to you, then. Just tell me when and where to show up and what to wear, yeah?"
His entire head turns toward the sword at Andelena's hip. "You like the idea, too, Deliverance, huh. You know - just who, or what, are you?" he asks thoughtfully.
"Well, I gotta figure out what the hell I'm wearing, too, baby," Andelena says, and there's a wicked glint in her eyes that suggests that she knows Bry would love it if she showed up in her birthday outfit to their wedding. She leans down and reaches over to pat Patches, her hands going carefully to scratch behind the ears of the little calico. One of the cats ambling away from Dolan and over to her is a treat that she considers to be rare and precious, after all, given how much the cats seem to be drawn to him in particular.
There's a thoughtful noise that comes from Deliverance, a hum of sorts. "It is a good question to ask," the maternal voice admits. "I serve the light, and the Knight, though in what capacity or position, I cannot say for certain. I am capable of my own thoughts and emotions, and I know Andelena's emotions quite well. What I know is this: I am a being charged with a decree and order above all others. Destroy demonkind."
"Then I think we ought to be just fine." Dolan seems satisfied with that, leaning back against the back of the sofa and grinning over at Andelena. "Why Andie, though? I'd think something like a talking sword would want -" and here he grins again, the expression one of genuine humor. "Oh, I don't know, a complete stuffed shirt of a Sunblade to work with." He starts to put his left arm over the back of the sofa, and thinks better of it, dropping it to his side.
Patches, meanwhile, starts at those huge gauntleted fingers on the tiny head, and ducks a little.
"Because I ended up in Andelena's hands, one way or another," Deliverance responds with a sense of amusement. "If I had landed in someone else's hands--perhaps in time, I would have awakened, but I think I was intended for Andelena in some fashion. It was to her emotions, her drive, the way she exalted the Knight's name and walked in His path, that I became... Myself. Awakened."
Andelena stops all of her attempts to pet Patches now with Deliverance's words, lifting a brow. She sits back up and looks down at Deliverance. "So what you're saying is... You're 'awake' because I'm the one holding you."
She looks at Dolan now. "Suddenly I understand what you've been saying about being 'just a farmboy', because... I am not that special that I awaken swords."
"Sure you do." The grin that Dolan had been wearing since this started, now threatens to crack his face in half, with a wicked glint in it. "You've been awakening mine since you were sixteen." The lone brown eye sparkles with good humor. "Seems we're accomplishing something, baby, because we're being given the tools we need to do our work, yeah? If I have to have two mothers-in-law, at least only one of them is a crazy bitch. I can live with that. She's here to help. And right now, we can use all the help we can get."
Andelena snort-snickers at Dolan's remark, the laughter shaking her and providing the rather entertaining jingle of armor that comes from such laughter. "Yeah, I sure have, huh?" she offers Dolan with a wicked grin to match his. "Given how long we've been together, I'm just thankful I still awaken your sword--but then again, there sure as shit aren't many ladies like me walking around every day."
"Please do not use my awakening as a copulatory reference," Deliverance pleads with a sigh. That gets Andelena laughing harder.
"Sorry Livvie, pretty sure people have been calling that an 'awakening' longer than Bry and I have been." She looks back at Dolan now, still grinning. "You have your light-touched, Bry, and I've got... a sword who's like a mother but really, really hates demons. I agree, we need all the help we can get."
"Damn right there aren't." The grin does not fade, and Dolan does not bat an eyelash at Deliverance's objections. The grin does fade, though, and he sighs a little. "I don't really even know what that is, honestly. Lana didn't explain much, and I'd never heard of it. Just doesn't seem good to me to bother them right now, yeah? I can't help them, and I've got my own problems to solve."
The rest of the grin fades, then, and he turns his gaze faraway. "Nah, I think that's for the best. Once I've got my head screwed on straight, I'll check in on them. Hope they're okay, but that kind of magic just ain't a thing I do."
"I don't know if anyone can really know what it means, if you get my drift?" Andelena says, looking thoughtful now as she considers Dolan's words. "To be... touched by Daeus's light in this way, you know. How often does that happen, you know? And because it's limited to you alone--you might be one of a very, very few?"
"It's true," Deliverance responds. "At least, I believe it to be. Both of you are in possession of things that are rare--an awakened weapon, such as myself, and the touch of light from the Knight himself. Perhaps the only way to know more is to experiment with it, Brydion."
Andelena looks down at Deliverance. "Does that mean I get to experiment with you?" she asks. There's a small grin on her face like she's already expecting Dolan's remark on that question.
"Yeah. I might have to play with it a little. Knowing what I can do might be really important." Dolan's still thinking aloud when Andelena comes up with that quip, though, and he turns his head to face her again, immediately. "Ouch." The tone is sympathetic, but the grin is full of his all-too-rare cheeky good humor.
That remark gets another round of snickers from Andelena, and Deliverance is... Well, she makes a few rather confused noises. "What--is this a copulation joke, too?"
"You know, I'm pretty fucking thankful that Livvie doesn't understand lust," Andelena says with a pat on Deliverance's hilt. "Or sex. Sex for swords would indeed be pretty painful."
"I'd really hope nobody out there has tried it, but you've seen odder things than that, Andelena," Deliverance replies with a sigh.
Andelena simply nods to Deliverance's last remark. "Yeah, I have," she says. "To be fair, both Bry and I have. As scary as the demon shit is... It can also be weird. I mean, talking books. That's fucking weird."
"Yeah. I've seen some weird shit. Magic makes for dealing with a lot of weird shit, if we're honest." He still hasn't moved from his spot on the couch. "Not all the weird is bad, though. Albus Kinkade seems like a good sort. He just got himself in too deep. When you're researching fiends, that can happen. It's why you don't play footsie with them, at all, ever. Stop them, dispatch them. Don't ever play games with one, because they'll find a way to make sure you lose."
He turns more to face her, now, stare intense. "As soon as Magpie answers, we'll need to know what she found."
"Never planned on ever playing footsie with a demon to begin with, Bry, and I sure as shit am not starting now," Andelena responds with a small grin, despite Dolan's intense stare. But she also knows when to respond with the same sort of energy, as she says, "We'll take whatever Magpie's got and figure out how to use it to end the demon once and for all."
"And then we move on to your mother," Deliverance says with a considerable amount of distaste. "She knows. She has to know. She's benefitting from it. She has to be judged for her crimes. Maybe once she is gone... your family can heal."
Andelena... goes a little quiet at that notion. "I have no clue if that'll ever happen," she says with a huff, finally. "Seb and I are the only decent people."
"No guarantee, baby, but you've got to try. I'll have her before the High Tribunal if I can just get enough evidence. Deliverance is right, she needs to face justice for her bullshit. I'm sorry, baby, but that is how it's got to be." Abruptly, Dolan stands, and starts to pace. "I won't make you lay the charges. I can lay plenty. You're going to have to sort out what's left. Let 'em hate me, they already do."
"You think I give a rat's ass about what my older brother and my father have to think about me?" Andelena smiles. "No, for everything my mother did to me when I was young--I don't care a single fucking bit if they hate me. My father's a pushover who cares only about his liege, and my older brother's only ever cared about what he wanted in life."
She lifts up her left hand and points to her ring finger. "You and me, though? We operate on virtue. We do shit beyond ourselves. We strive for good. And the fact this evil's what I sprang from? I want to be part of the effort to put it right the fuck down. So the Calogref family can finally put its shitty love affair with evil to bed, and so one day we can tell our children how good triumphs over evil, even when the evil comes from the heart."
Andelena grins widely. "I choose you over evil every damn time, Bry. You, me, and the Knight."
"Oh, you will be, baby." Dolan stops, and turns back towards Andelena, approaching her with something of a renewed smile and reaching up to touch her cheek. "You bet you will be. You're just going to have to help put it back together when I'm done with it. I don't care if your family hates me for tearing them apart, because you're right. Evil has taken root in it. We have to stop it, but you can't help restore it if they hate you. You deserve to have a real family. One that isn't twisted and broken."
Andelena leans in as he touches her cheek, smiling brightly, her eyes half-closing for the touch. Only a couple of inches away from a kiss, she says, "To be honest, baby? I'd been putting all my bets on an untwisted and unbroken family on the one we're gonna make together after we rip out the root of evil that's trying to get us both," she says. "Me, you, the Knight--and all of our kids."
She leans in for a kiss, and she pulls away a moment later. "... You know, I know we're both armored and all, and it's gonna be a pain in the ass to have to put it back on, but... You feeling what I'm feeling?" Wicked grin on her face there, of course.
"We'll put it back on eventually." Dolan's eyes light up at the suggestion, and his wicked grin holds all of his answer, and much, much more. He maintains the kiss, and reaches for the first of the straps holding her pauldrons in place. "The brace stays on, though, baby," he tells her, pulling away briefly. A dark moment, before he goes on, "So should I experiment with you, instead?"
That experiment's going to take a while. Demons can wait.