RP:DisBard
This is a Bard's Guild RP.
Summary: Brennia receives Pilar’s resignation and flies to Chartsend in attempts to find out what went wrong, despite her growing irritation with the sun. She finds out more than she bargained for and is threatened with demands.
Pilar sat on her porch, the sun low in the sky. Dusk in Chartsend was a lovely time, but she didn't feel so lovely. The disappearance of one of her housemates weighed on her mind. In the chair next to her, her remaining housemate, a woman with long purple dreads and golden eyes, was quietly whittling away at a block of wood. The table between them had a pitcher of lemonade and two glasses on it. Pilar was absent-mindedly chucking a ball for her old dog Medli to chase and bring back. She was as content as she could be.
Brennia was meandering through Chartsend trying to find Pilar so she may chat with her and get a clearer understanding of what she might have done wrong. She sees a ball being tossed about and a dog chasing after it, but when the dog returned to it’s master Brennia saw the woman she was looking for. She couldn't help herself as a kind smile spread across her lips, “Madame Pilar! Merry meet to you.” She reaches the end of Pilar's steps until she's welcomed to join them, or not. “Just the woman I was looking for,” her sultry alto timbre lowers now that she's closer to the pair and then Brennia spots her company, who is also greeted with a smile and a nod, “and merry meet to you.” Liberty blue eyes squint in the light and her wings curve around her like a cloak in a protective manner, from the sun that is.
Pilar | The dog looked at Brennia, head cocked. Pilar patted Medli's head, unsure if Brennia had received her package or not. She wasn't acting like she had... But then, she'd come looking for her. "Good evening, Madame Smyth," Pilar said politely. The other woman had stopped carving and looked at the avian. "Evening," she said. Her face was neutral, hard to read. Medli trotted up to Brennia, ball in mouth and tail wagging. Pilar finally looked at Brennia. The vampire looked quite tired. "How can I help you?"
Brennia knelt down to the dog and took the ball it was offering with a scratch behind its ear before giving the ball a toss when she stood upright again. Her free hand goes up to her forehead to give her eyes some shade from the setting sun to determine when the sun will set, hopefully soon. Her arm drops when she looks back upon Pilar and though her facial features still give off a kindness there was a sense of sadness, “you may be able to help me with some information. I received your message and I am saddened to let you go. I wish I could persuade you to stay with us because I enjoyed your talent muchly last night, but that is not why I am here.” Her hands fold together under the protection of her wings in order to stop her fingers from fidgeting as they do when she gets nervous. “I apologize in every way for whatever it is I have done to offend you so, but who was it you were talking of in your letter?” She seems genuinely clueless and hurt.
Pilar | Medli took off to chase the ball. Pilar, meanwhile sat up straight. "You... You don't know? I'm sorry, I thought..." She shook her head. "The Larketian monarchy has been persecuting witches. Forcing them to register, harassing them for performing magic, forcing them to live in a camp in the woods if they want work, executing them without trial, letting witch murderers go free..." "Don't forget having them shot while protesting," Yozenra added. Pilar rubbed her neck where the scar was.
Brennia looked relieved, only for a moment, when the sun finally set below the horizon and they were now covered in shadow, but she kept her wings cloaked over herself. Once she hears negative things about the King and Queen, her facial features drop. It was obvious now that Brennia had no idea what has been going on. She looked less hurt and more upset now, “oh..” Was all she offered while and an awkward silence ensued when she picked up the que that Pilar had been shot with an arrow through the neck. Visibly conflicted she tucks some of her own silky black hair behind elongated pointed and pierced ear, “that is quite unsettling, I agree.” Her voice became a little smaller and uncertain, “I've been a little preoccupied with the college and the guild that after the Larket Benefit I helped with I have not kept up with the recent events, but I am not excusing myself from this.” Some more silence, “I truly am apologetic for my ignorance on this matter in making you play for the dignitaries… Although,” a soft sigh escapes Brennia, “you may not agree, but last night was not about the king and queen in my eyes. It was about celebrating a new, possibly nervous, set of parents to be and I do not take my celebrating that back or regret it.” A kindness returns to her face, “where I am from, childbirth is rare and when it's decided upon it is celebrated with parades in the streets and I believe lives of the innocent are sacred no matter who.” She offers an apologetic smile, “I’m sorry, I've gotten a little carried away… There are certain things coming up and I may be able to help them with reason, but believe me I hope I can have a hand in stopping this for I do not agree with these things you speak of.”
Pilar | Yozenra scoffed. "So are you going to throw a party for every pregnant person in Lithrydel, or just the 'important' ones?" "Yozenra..." Pilar murmured, though she secretly agreed. The vampire looked to Brennia. "Last night made it clear to everyone that you and the Bard's Guild support the decisions made by the Larketian monarchy. You can't have it both ways. You can't throw them a party and condemn what they're doing at the same time. You can't take back last night, but you can make it clear the Guild doesn't approve and won't have anything to do with bigots."
Brennia let her gaze drift on over to Yozenra and a kind smile returned to her lips, “if I know them, yes.” She the focused down on Pilar, “it seems I have done that whether I knew of their intentions or not, but they are still just people, living beings, and deep down people can be reasoned without violence, without hateful words…” She has seen this battle from the other side before. Her father was a bigoted and evil man who she did not agree with on so many points. “We have to unite and fight that ugly small minded thinking with love. We must educate and empower the ignorant just as you've done for me, but without the hateful terms because fighting this with violence will only make the minority look as they've been painted.” Brennia’s confidence finally broke a little and she steps back while looking down. She's always been talked at like she was a child for her will to converse things out rather than fight.
Pilar | "Have you ever been discriminated against?" Pilar asked. It was a serious question. "Have you ever had to face people who wanted you dead for the color of your skin? Have you had to watch your people rounded up and exterminated? You can't stop that kind of hate with sunshine and flowers, Madame Smyth."
Brennia's brow quirked at the mention of skin color. ‘Did she really just ask me that?’ Her smile remained while she wasn't going to give Pilar the satisfaction of bringing her down to that level, “I think you would find that if you want something done that it will be easier with friends rather than pushing people away.” She felt the end of Pilar’s beratement was more condescending and aimed to hurt rather than respectful and not at all the way herself uses the term. “Some people can be a powerful ally if you let them in - If you extend a hand and ask for help because if you never ask for help then help will never be given.” She was looking less hurt by Pilar’s actions and more disappointed when a defeated sort of sign escapes her, “I do hope you reconsider your decision for you will be missed even though we barely started. Merry part until we merry meet again,” she refrains from formalities at this point and just leaves it at that. Maybe one day Pilar will see that out of pure kindness she traveled all the way to Chartsend just to ask her to stay when she could have just written and with a heavy heart Brennia turned back to the path in order to backtrack to town in order to find a room.
Pilar, herself, had dark skin and had in fact watched her entire family be slaughtered because of that. Pilar glared at Brennia, taking Brennia's naive response as a 'no.' "I'll return when you and the Guild take a stand against Larket and its treatment of witches, and not a second before."