➵ INBOX

[shootyourshot]

« ARROW.OF.JUSTICE » TEXT ✧ AUDIO ✧ VIDEO ✧ ACTION ASHE UBERT ✦ FIRE EMBLEM: THREE HOUSES
RESIDENCE ✦ Residency
GEMBOND ✦ Emerald

Ashe here! Sorry I missed you! Leave me a message please so I can get back to you.

INFO ✧ PERMISSIONS ✧ KINKLIST ✧ EXTRA

Comments

[shootyourshot]

[He still takes a distinct step back, determined to keep his space. But he does give Bernadetta a tired look.]

Because I didn't want to cause anyone any trouble. It mattered, I just-- honestly, if I had any inclination that Khalid was hurt, I would have said something. Instead, I thought it was just me, and... I should just keep it to myself instead of bothering anyone about it. I don't like burdening others, and that's what it felt like at the time. Just another burden.

[He's taken care of other people for almost his entire life. He enjoys it normally, but asking for help or even allowing himself that much? Difficult for a person like Ashe.]

I appreciate you saying that, but... I think at this point, I just need to hear it from him, if he wants to say it.

[Digging into his pocket, he takes out a handkerchief. He hesitates, as if uncertain about crossing the border he's made for himself.

Eventually, he offers it to her.]

For your knee.

[persecutetioncomplex]

You matter too, Ashe. 'Just' you or not, that... that matters. It's... it's not a burden, when people who you care about reach out to you for help or comfort, is it?

[She takes the handkerchief.]

Thank you. It, um... it might take a little while, for him to contact you. He's, uh, probably going to be really mad at me, for a while. But you deserve a proper explanation in his words, and... and an apology, too. Okay? You deserve that.

[shootyourshot]

I... guess not.

[He blinks at that, baffled.]

Mad with you? Why? Because you came to talk to me first?

[persecutetioncomplex]

Yeah. He...

[She goes quiet, for a moment.]

I told you things about him. That's... a big deal. He'll be mad. But... something had to give.

[shootyourshot]

I guess so, but... I don't think that's fair on you at all. Maybe those are the kinds of things that Khalid should have told himself, but it does help with the perspective of why he acted the way he did. And who knows when he would have told me?

[Shaking his head, Ashe continues:]

Please, just know you deserve better than that. Or... at least, I think so.

[persecutetioncomplex]

I think we all deserve a little better than what we get.

[And Goddess, it's taken so long, for her to hit that point. To think she deserved anything at all, failure that she is.]

He's balanced on an edge, right now. And... and hopefully this will nudge him away from the side he's buried himself in for so long, but... it was a risk, and it got taken. And, um. Now I'm going to go and see how it pays off.

...I hope it gets better. For all of us.

[shootyourshot]

[That's a pleasant surprise to hear from her. Enough that, finally, Ashe smiles a little, despite his own feelings.]

Well. If nothing else, I'm glad you realize that.

I know this was hard, and I appreciate you hearing me out. Just don't forget to be kind to yourself, too. I know you have our best interests at heart.

[persecutetioncomplex]

[She smiles back, weakly.]

...I'll cut you a deal. If you can remember to be kind to yourself, then, well, I'll do the same. Or, uh, do my best, at least.

[shootyourshot]

Oh, uh.

[CALLED OUT OOPS]

I-I'll do my best, then. For both of us.

[persecutetioncomplex]

Y-Yeah. Me too.

[There's something intrinsically sad about both of them needing the incentive of somebody else's happiness to pursue their own, but no Empire-born child worth their salt has the time for that sort of thorny introspection, so she tucks the thought away, where all the others go.]

...take care, Ashe. Even... even if I someday disappear back to what's waiting for me, the way other people have, okay?

[shootyourshot]

...Things wouldn't be the same without you either. It's you I've bonded with, Bernadetta. Not any other version of you.

You should know that.

[persecutetioncomplex]

I know.

[She tries so hard, to make that distinction for everyone. To minimize the hurt and pain that will come, when they go back to their lands with same-faced, same-named, same-hearted friends who have never set foot in Noctium.]

I'm, well, it's a little sad to think none of you will visit me, when I'm... back. But maybe Dimitri will. ...I think he will, if, uh, if anyone... knows where I ended up, when the smoke cleared. He's kind like that.

[shootyourshot]

He is, despite what he says about himself.

I don't regret all that we've experienced together, you know. Not here, even when it's hard. I've really adored our time together. And I hope we continue to have it, for as long as possible.

[persecutetioncomplex]

Me too. ...thank you for coming, Ashe. I'm... I said it a few times, but I'm sorry I lost it. Being with you makes me really happy, and it's... it's comfortable. It was as scary as it was wrong, to get paranoid over it.

[shootyourshot]

It's all right. I'm... sure it hit very close to home with you.

Call me if you need anything else. Please. And... I'll, um. Try to remember to do the same.

[persecutetioncomplex]

Honestly, this place... it feels a lot more like 'home' than the manor did, for... ages, honestly.

Yes, I will. It's a promise.