Fate / Stained Inheritance

-Why are you helping me

If you're the one who's got to break the silence… fine, you might as well find one thing out.

"Why are you doing this?" It's wrong. Gray's helping you. It's not right. You don't get treated like this. You don't get helped, you don't get saved.

"Nobody deserves to go through this." A simple answer, Gray not even pausing in her treatment of your wounds to give it.

"How would you know?" It's been years. Years and years of being an object she thinks she can understand what you've been through?

"Because I've been there." Gray says simply. You stop and stare. "Everyone loved me. Everyone celebrated when I woke up with this face. Everyone called me beautiful."

Wait- woke up with?

"But who I was didn't matter. Nobody cared when I cried, nobody cared when I woke up screaming about how I'd forgotten what I looked like. None of that mattered to anyone. None of that mattered for the vessel they wanted me to be." You see Gray pull her hood back just a bit, giving you a slightly better look at the face she hates. "He was the first person I'd met who disliked this face. He took me away, to somewhere where people finally saw me as me. I know what it looks like when someone is used to being treated as a thing."

There's not much you can really say to that. You can see her blinking back tears. This must have been why Ruler was fine with her. You've lost this one. You flop back against the wall, holding out your bitten hand to her wordlessly.

You wince as Gray applies more disinfectant to your hand, before starting to wrap your hand in bandages. "My mentor… he wants things to change. He's stamped out the worst things Mages do in his department. I don't expect you to trust him. But at least you don't have to be afraid of him."

Gray might be alright but him... You'll see about that. Maybe. With Gray having finished patching you up, you and Ruler stand, eyes glancing over to Kiara as she approaches, hiding a brief yawn. Lancer, Flat and the Professor have already left. "Well, it's heartening to see you back with us. But it is getting quite late. Do you have anywhere to stay? If you don't, I do have a room you could use~"

You feel Ruler tense as Kiara makes her offer, giving a very, very brief shake of her head "Don't." A quiet whisper, barely audible.

Gray cuts in. "I know a place you can stay as well. It doesn't have to be with the rest of us either, there is somewhere secluded you can use."

You're exhausted. You do need to sleep soon.

[] Trust Ruler, turning down Kiara in favour of Grays offer. After all this, you think Gray is on the level.
-[] Go with the entire party to wherever they're set up.
-[] Just go with Gray to the smaller place.

[] Take Kiara's offer and stay at the church.

[] Turn down all offers, find somewhere abandoned to hole up for the night.

-Trust Ruler and go back with Gray alone

Ruler doesn't want you to go back with Kiara… And now you think on it, you're not sure about Kiara either. She's friendly, and she's easy to listen to. Almost too easy. Like you could end up hearing nothing but her voice as it just slips into your head. Still, she seems like the sort of person who'd have somewhere waaaay more comfortable than what you're used to. Something really indulgent. It's tempting…

No. That's exactly why you shouldn't take her offer. "Just the small place. Thank you." You nod to Gray, quickly leaving the chapel, the cool night air clearing away any lingering desire to stay along with the sweet scent of the chapel incense. Gray and Ruler follow you out, Kiara stalking behind them to close the doors, a faint smile on her face. "

"Good. She's the sorta woman who's way more dangerous than you'd think" Ruler says, casting a glare back at the doors. "You didn't break out to land back in honey.

"Just a moment- I've got to make sure they're not worried about where I've gone." Gray says, before jogging off to where the rest of her party is, briefly talking to them before starting to make her way back.

"Well, all in all, that could have gone a lot worse." Ruler says, pulling you behind her as she leisurely jogs towards Gray. "What's a couple of panic attacks compared to the first day of freedom? So. where's the place?"

"Ah- it's this way. We'll go by the main roads, so there's enough traffic that we won't be disturbed." With that, Gray begins leading you westwards, taking you towards the place. As you travel, Ruler does end up making conversation with the pair of you. It's nothing serious, and she's clearly steering the topics away from anything serious, but it helps pass the time and stop you from realising how tired you are. It's still a little strained, but towards the end you are able to have something like a casual talk between the three of you.

Eventually though, you reach the safehouse- it's towards the North, a small apartment in a somewhat rundown looking dorm-styled building, but one that seems mostly empty. Opening it up, Gray lets you and Ruler go in first, locking up behind you and sliding a ward in place behind you. Ruler steers you to the bedroom and you just collapse onto the small bed there, sound asleep before you even hit the mattress. The faint murmur of Ruler turning to Gray the last thing you hear.

Pick an interlude

[] A Casters Work
[] A Duel of Archers
[] A Rider and a Knight
[] An Assassins Prowl
[] An Endless Pyre

QM note- mostly a winding down update for the end of Day 1