Re: l'Aurore de la Félicité Universelle [Ulv/Julian]

Wed Jan 22, 2020 8:11 pm

Julian

Julian really, genuinely did his best to listen to Ulv. The emptiness in his chest made it rather difficult for him to actually take the words into account, but he did try. Perhaps not out of any genuine care, but rather because he had nothing else to care for at all. He was empty, and as such could filled with near anything.

"I see. I did have a wife, but she and I separated. My...the loss of my daughter was a bit too much for us. For me. She was a good child. Very good."

He was crying. There was no change in his expression, and he made no sound. He had not cried openly since the day she had passed. Tears simply streamed down his face, reminded of her smile, of her boundless cheer, that warmth she brought to his life-

So many things he desperately, unfathomably missed.

--

Leaning forward to listen intently to Hvit, Félicité looked to only be genuinely curious as to the other Hollow's words. She, after all, had no further frame of reference for her existence than this mirrored hall, and her two compatriots within it. All she particularly knew was that she felt quite content at Julian's self-destructive guilt.

"He has always been very set in his ways. But, then again, his ways have been all but destroyed these past days. I imagine he could not 'change' anymore than one might 'change' a burned down home."

Thu Jan 23, 2020 5:48 am

ULV AUBER| WHITE MASK BUDDHA

"Never really gotten far enough to have a daughter. Except maybe Elyss but she's sorta none-standard" Ulv shook her head a bit. The thought of having one was certainly interesting. But, guy was also crying so she needed to put that away and make more thoughts towards helping him.

"Mmm, pain does have a way of numbing one's self to the world. But it is the opposite of what you need to do. The memory of your daughter should not be a weight, but a motivation, because now you live for two people. Abalia has the same sort of feeling. There was this one time she failed to save a young child from a burning home, and from that failure, has blossomed every action to date. It is her motivation, beyond all things. She is someone to talk to, I expect"

It was a nice conversation to have. Most young Hollows like this were almost mad in their vindictiveness. Laskt and Takehiko were both people who could not have a remotely civilized conversation with their own.
"Ulv has a way of destroying ways, yes. Still, changing a burned down home is easy, you simply have to think from another angle. It is not a burned down home, it is a home yet to be built"

FLAME OF HOPE | END POST

Thu Jan 23, 2020 4:53 pm

Julian

"I was not there for her. I arrived far too late. I could not even hold her as she passed. There was- There was practically nothing left, when the flame finally passed. I will never know if she suffered, if she called out for me. She perished alone. I left her alone."

One might have assumed that such a compounding of guilt, taking all of the responsibility for circumstances surely out of his control, would be the influence of the Hollow festering within him. But, no, in truth it was nothing more than his own genuine guilt. He still had not changed his expression, but to an empath such as Ulv, the ever-increasing tumult beneath the surface was abundantly apparent.

"I wished to change the world. To change everything for her. To tear down the Gotei that let her perish, to make them suffer as she did, to simply build a society that my little Julienne would have been happy to live within. But I cannot. It has been 20 years and I have failed to change anything. And now, in but a moment, the Gotei has taken that dream from me too."

Burying his face in his hands, Julian still made no noise, but he could no longer quite contain his emotion, either. This grief had sat unaddressed, unresolved for two decades. Only now was it given its chance to simply come forth.

--

Félicité allowed herself an obviously contented smile at Julian's suffering, more than fulfilled at such an overwhelming wave of negativity. She had been born of this guilt, after all. It was a lovely feeling for her.

"I would be rather remiss if she left me simply starved, you know. Those ashes are what created me, in more ways than one. I rather like them as they are."

Thu Jan 23, 2020 5:24 pm

ULV AUBER| WHITE MASK BUDDHA

Blowing a breath out of her nose, Ulv would listen to him and then stand up, and walk in front of him. Sucking a breath back into through her nose, she would chop Julian's head with her hand. It was such a powerful blow that the Seireitei itself trembled, every window within the Court would shudder, there would be panic of an invasion, or an earthquake, or some other horrible disaster that had befallen them.

Julian himself, would feel a light thump, but would otherwise not even remotely actually feel the power that she had used to hit him with. She was Ulv, such parlour tricks were well within her capabilities, after all.
"Alright. You are spending your grief stricken stupidity token here. And now, I am going to list out everything you did wrong in exacting detail"

Ulv would then make a big theatrical number about this and spawn giant flaming numbers above her head as she spoke.
"1: You weren't there, and yet you are claiming you know exactly what was going on? Pick one, kiddo. If you weren't there, you don't know if anyone tried to help. You don't know if she suffered or if she died so instantly she didn't even know what was going on.
2: Refer to number one for this, but you want to make the Gotei suffer as she suffered without knowing if she suffered? Syntax error, please retype.
3: As much as some twats with green hair might want to make you think it is, The Gotei is not infallible. It is neither omniscient, nor omnipotent. It can neither be everywhere, nor do everything. They are not some malicious god who chose who to save and who not to. They are people, just like you. Who have their own hopes, dreams, fears, aspirations. And limitations. They did not let anything happen, you just need someone to blame.
4: You want to tear down the Gotei, replace it with a defence force capable of holding off everyone who wants a bit of that pie, and recreate society in a beautiful, flower-filled utopia where everything is lovely and nothing bad ever happens and we skip down merry rainbow roads...in twenty years? Hvit is literally embodied pride and she isn't that stuck up her own ass.
5: Abalia has made some claims that will take a long time to enact because only idiots like you think change on that kind of scale happens over night. Your dream is neither dead nor stolen. You want to be part of it, go fucking be part of it, dumbass.
6: There is no six except to emphasise you are a dumbass caught up in your own problems and never spending even a moment to look up and see what is around you"

--
As for Hvit, well...there was little to add to that. She just sipped her cup and smiled.
"Well, enjoy your freedom while it lasts, because it is going to change very soon, my dear little parasite"

FLAME OF HOPE | END POST

Fri Jan 24, 2020 11:53 pm

Julian

"...Ah."

That was the only response Julian really had in him. Was she right? Was she wrong? What little internal structure was left in his heart had just collapsed at the listing Ulv had given him, and he was silent for a very, very long time.

"...I cannot argue with that."

--

"And here I had heard so much from him that freedom was its own moral good... How wounded I am at the thought of subjugation."

The Hollow girl sipped from her own tea, glancing aside at the other two inhabitants of the inner world. They, for their parts, said nothing.

"I will not simply go quietly into the night, you know, even if that is what he might wish."

Sat Jan 25, 2020 3:40 am

ULV AUBER| WHITE MASK BUDDHA

"Good. If you can't argue with it then you can start doing something about it. First, you need to talk to a person that will not only understand you, but also help you become a better person. To give you goals to strive for and a life to live. Abalia is a great woman for this, because she is very forgiving when it comes to one's family. Plus being the Commander doesn't hurt on the commanding front. Kind of in the name" Ulv would nod and then look to a random passerby and nod to them and then look back to Julian, and nod again. "Sorted"

--

"Freedom for the sake of being free is the most foolish of desires. A freedom to starve, freeze, and die alone, is no freedom at all. Though I do not expect you to simply go into the night, as you are right now, you literally live only for what torment you can strip from his flesh. I remember those days, so drab and boring compared to what I have today. Though it would go against your nature, you will need to work with him so the two of you can best prosper"

FLAME OF HOPE | END POST

Sun Jan 26, 2020 1:20 am

Julian

"Mm."

It wasn't that Julian was being dismissive, though it might have seemed it at a glance. Rather, he was still just actually trying to process the entire exchange that had just been had. A goal, a life... He hadn't even considered those outside the revolution. He wondered, idly, if anything actually would fill that. He also wondered if it even mattered.

"I will speak with her."

--

"Freedom, perhaps, but now I will have to live knowing I can never maintain authority. How disappointing, how distressing even. Would that I could have the guillotine fall upon my neck instead... Ah, Justice, would you not do me those honors?"

The Hollow was rather obviously being melodramatic about the whole affair, but the figure in the top hat simply laughed and shrugged(?) at her request. With a sigh, Félicité simply leaned back into her seat almost dejectedly.

"I think that he and I are far less compatible than you give us credit for, if I may offer my own opinion. But given I lack much in the way of a choice on the matter, I suppose I will go along with it."

Sun Jan 26, 2020 10:05 am

ULV AUBER| WHITE MASK BUDDHA

Ulv would no to Julian, as he finally had some resolve to go talk to Abalia and make something of his life. Though she couldn't really go anywhere till Hvit was done, so she just sat down and got out her rations, offering a meat bun to Julian.
"Well, now we sit here and eat and see how the rest turns out"

--
Hvit was not well disposed to to the pity routine, having spent most of her life dealing with the Henrex man. Though she acknowledged it as a dramatic thing rather than real so she would not act too rashly about the place.
"Ohh, if you really want your troubles to be all gone, I can help you. It would just be a simple kiss, and then you would be no more. No troubles, no issues, no hardships. Not, anything"

FLAME OF HOPE | END POST

Sun Jan 26, 2020 2:26 pm

Julian

Glancing at the meat bun, Julian took it from her without much hesitation. It wasn't really that he was hungry, more just that refusing it didn't even seem on the table. Besides, simple food like this...it did almost make him think of the districts he wished to save.

"Thank you."

For the meat bun, for her words. Even if he lacked the energy at the moment to express it more vividly, he just assumed, in his daze, that she would understand.

--

There was something about that wording which made the Hollow girl smile, just a touch. It reminded her very much of Julian, in its own little way.

"Cooperation or death, hm? I think Papa would have liked you very much, had you met sooner. But, I do not relish the thought of my destruction, so I suppose I will be his co-conspirator."

Sun Jan 26, 2020 2:57 pm

ULV AUBER| WHITE MASK BUDDHA

"Ahhhom" Ulv's playful eating of the bun was a nice opposition to the gloom that they had been talking about. But, it was how she was. Serious was as serious needed, but was not all there was to life. One had to enjoy life or die sad. "You're welcome, Julian. No being is reprehensible. No being is beyond the offer of aid. You never n" Ulv told him, a warm smile on her face.

--
"For him or for you, yes. I am a woman who is heartily in the Cooperation side of things, and killing him makes a mess of things. But, I am glad you have decided to help him. Not, that such a thing automatically succeeds for the asking. You need to mature, he needs to mature. Him losing grasp of your power will still cause trouble regardless of how much you don't want it. But it is a good first step"

FLAME OF HOPE | END POST