hotel: estelle

[shaft]

our cheese girl

Comments

week 0, monday, butterfly garden

[shaft]

[ It's nice to see a bit of greenery since they're essentially trapped inside. Claude's looking around, admiring the humidity. ]

Quite lovely, isn't it?

[mustbepurged]

[Estelle's in her pink and white canon outfit now. She's staring up at the treetops.]

It really is. It almost puts the gardens at the castle to shame.

[shaft]

That's right. Your profile mentioned that you're royalty, right?

[mustbepurged]

[She hesitates, then nods.]

Yes. I suppose there's no hiding it here...

[With her fancy dress and mannerisms, it's questionable if she was actually trying not to look the part.]

[shaft]

Why would you want to hide it?

[mustbepurged]

Well... isn't it normal to? I'm not normally allowed to just run around on my own, away from the castle... Without an escort, the safest thing to do is to lie low.

Besides, I don't really want people to treat me differently than they would otherwise...

[shaft]

Ah, yeah. Assassination attempts... I hope you haven't had to deal with too many.

[mustbepurged]

Oddly enough, the assassins I've encountered were usually after someone else...

[She looks like it only just occurred to her that that's kind of weird.]

[shaft]

... Someone else who's royalty?

[mustbepurged]

No... They were after my friends, an imperial knight and... um, a guildsman.

[Assassins are really weird, actually.]

[shaft]

So... no one has tried to assassinate you for being a princess?

[mustbepurged]

Well... not exactly...

[shaft]

[ ? ]

[mustbepurged]

A-a lot of things happened! Just... nothing all that simple.

[shaft]

[ Estelle you're killing him he's so curious. ]

I see. I don't suppose I can blame you for helping your secrets.

[mustbepurged]

I'm sorry. It's just complicated. Not just because of status or politics or anything like that...

[Hey remember how we're in the butterfly garden? Well, one of those shadowy butterflies chooses this time to flutter on over. Naively, Estelle lets it perch on her finger.]

...but because... I'm a poison.

[shaft]

[ Hello?

His brow furrow at the shadow butterfly before shooting up at her answer. ]

Pardon? Why would you say that?

[mustbepurged]

I was born with a power that harms the very world and all that live on it.

[More and more of those shadowy butterflies are converging, perching on her shoulder and atop her head. Her eyes take on a distant, glassy look.]

It would have been better for everyone if I died...

[shaft]

[ For a second, Claude had started to think that maybe he was getting better and having people open up to him.

Now, he's realising something isn't quite right. ]

Now, hold on a minute—

[ He reaches over, placing one hand on her shoulder and using the other to wave away the butterflies, shivering as their shadowy forms brush his hand. ]

You don't believe that, do you?

[mustbepurged]

[The moment the butterflies are displaced, she gasps, eyes wide and pleading.]

I... I have to get out of here.

[shaft]

[ He's not going to argue that. Nodding, he guides them both out of the butterfly garden and into the hall, keeping an eye on her expression carefully. ]

That wasn't the peaceful excursion I was hoping for.

[mustbepurged]

[Once she's outside, she takes a few deep breaths, trying to compose herself.]

I'm sorry... I don't know what came over me. It was like I couldn't control my emotions.

[shaft]

It's all right. [ He gives her shoulder a little squeeze, unless it seems like she wants him out of her space, in which he'll take a step back. ] It must've been those butterflies. They were toying with your emotions.

[mustbepurged]

[She's receptive to the touch, answering with a brief, somewhat forced, smile.]

I think so too.

I didn't expect the butterfly garden to turn out to be dangerous...

[shaft]

Unfortunately, I think we're at the point that we should assume everything is dangerous.

We're just lucky our food isn't poisoned.

[ Oh, that's not very comforting. But then again, he's terrible at comfort... ]