Void Rift (rp) - Intermission

“Is there any chance I could get help finding Lady Gaia for an apology? I... clearly went overboard.”

 

"Ofcourse. I'm gonna be in the church if you need me."

I'll go to the church.

 

"She's locked herself away, last I heard. She hasn't even spoken to Mortius," Praecantatia says, "You might want to apologise to Artemis, though. She got hurt by your reaction too."

 

"Where is she?"

"Sorry, but I can't let you do that. It's still technically a crime scene, can't have anyone going in and out right now."

 

Sigh.
"Yeah.. okay."

"I'll leave you be then. I'll tell the other guards if I find something."

 

"Outside on the islands. She wanted to spend some time with nature after she woke up." Praecantatia says.

 

Ihra nods, starting to head out.
“Did Aj already go back to his mountain thing?”

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“Thank you, it’s surprisingly rare for a visitor to give us any assistance, nonetheless without giving us grief.”

 

Praecantatia nods.

"Tenebrae took him back, after we killed him. She only had compliments for him." Praecantatia mentions.

 

“Ah, I need to apologize to her too... she probably saw me summon... well, her. I guess age hasn’t helped me stop screwing things up.” She sighs. “Alright, thanks. For everything. I took it way too hard while riled up, all we can do is our best. I... I can’t save everyone, anyways...” She says, heading outside to search for Artemis.

 

"It didn't convince Lux anyway, he could see Tenebrae." Praecantatia shrugs, before chatting with Stephanie about getting back to work.

Ihra is still watched by the demon girl as she walks through the living room, though outside feels like a fresh new morning. The robotic golems are still visible pacing out the forest, the front door leading out where it should rather than a portal this time. Birds chirp and fly through the air, which feels a little crisper today.

 

"Gotta find a way to pass the time somehow."

 

Ihra levitates just above the ground, looking for Artemis as she periodically calls her name.

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“What’re you waiting on?”

 

Ihra eventually finds Artemis sitting on a floating island far from the center, a few trees around her. She seems to be digging a hole with a stick under a tree stump, flicking earth as she does so. A small vine ladder/bridge seems to connect back to the main islands, starting from an arrow buried in the far-out floating island; presumably how she got over the gap.

 

Ihra approaches her, moving her wings enough to make her presence known.

 

Artemis glances up, leaving her stick buried in a rather small hole under the tree stump. At first glance, she looks fine, but judging by the way some dirt seems to have stuck onto her face, it almost looks like Artemis was crying.

 

“I was expecting you to shoot me after... that. You should’ve.”

 

Artemis looks at Ihra for a bit, before going back to digging her hole in silence. She looks almost childlike as she does so, gently picking up a worm and putting it out of her path of digging before continuing on.

 

“Look, I’m really sorry. I felt betrayed, but I know I’m the betrayer. I just... I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me and my home, and with you and Aj’s acts in history books, you’ll be celebrated for eons to come. Things were so bad after the test, though... I wanted to say goodbye, there’s no reason to bother with me anymore after that.” She confesses, tearing up. “I thought maybe you’d want a trophy to remember me by, then desecrate to forget.”

 

Artemis pauses as soon as Ihra begins to talk, bits of dirt being wiped clean by tears. Artemis gets up and hugs Ihra tight, sobbing, clearly not in a good emotional state.

 

Ihra hugs her back.
“I’m sorry... you deserved better than me.”