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[Memory] The Dotted Line

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 8:26 am
by Mannon
Glade 19, 110 AoS
It has been weeks now that she was living in Axel's mansion in Alfsos. If one could even call it that.
Mannon pulled the blanket tighter over her shoulders. Though Frost was slowly relinquishing its hold on the land, the drought in this place was still horrid.
He promised her luxury, a bed worthy a queen in softness and size. Instead, she was in one of the better rooms where the windows were at least still properly attached. But better not speak of the bed.
Before her, on the table with one leg shorter, laid papers. Some of which she despised seeing by now although they were necessary and a step closer to his promise. But there was one sheet that drew her attention again and again. She dreaded to tell him about it.
Her lover was colder towards her these days, more callous and careless. He’d brush her off more often unless she was bringing news about the partnership contract and even then it better be good news.
True marriage is troublesome, he told her, going back on his word. Let’s start with the partnership. We can always do true marriage later. And she believed him.
She brought the knees up to her chest and wrapped them under the blanket as well. How was she going to tell him?
But she didn’t need to ponder on that much longer. Without a knock, without announcement, the door to her room opened. Mannon jumped a little in her seat, still not used to the fact that no one in the house seemed to understand or follow the concept of knocking. Except perhaps, for the skeleton crew of servants that for some reason unbeknownst to her were still around.
“I heard you received a letter,” Axel announced, not bothering with a greeting, a kiss on the forehead like he used to, not even a smile. He seemed to have lost a lot of traits that mannon fell for. But it was likely the stress he was under that caused him to behave the way he did. Running a household like this would that.
“Chidie told you?” Mannon asked. Chidie was the manservant who hung around Axel the most. She didn’t like him and Chidie made it clear that he didn’t like her either.
“Yes. So?” Axel answered with a great degree of nonchalance. He closed the distance between them and stopped behind her. He now had an unrestricted view of the papers on the table, including the letter from her family.
He didn’t ask for permission when he picked it up. Mannon opened her mouth, but no words came. He didn’t need to ask for permission, right? No lies, they said to each other. So she sealed her lips and instead, she slipped off the chair. The cold ground made itself known even through the socks on her feet. But she took it as a distraction on her route to the window.
“What?!” His voice erupted behind her and Mannon drew her head between her shoulders. “What do they mean they refuse and you are to return immediately or you’ll be disinherited?!”
She looked back at him. His face was pulled in a horrible mask of anger, making the scar on his face look even more jagged than it was.
“Mannon!” He shouted her name. “Explain this to me!”
She gripped the blanket tighter in her fingers. She wished he didn’t shout at her so often these days. It would help her feel less like a failure on all fronts.
“I’m sure they just say this as a threat. They don’t really mean it,” Mannon offered. But she wasn’t so sure herself. The letter was signed by her mother after all and her word was final. But would she really make her own daughter kinless?
“Don’t they? They have consistently refused our demands---”
“Offers.”
“---and now they say they’ll make you worthless,” Axel said.
The pang of pain his words caused showed on her face. He might have as well slapped her.
“What are you going to do about this?” The man then demanded, tossing the letter back at the table.
“What do you mean?” Mannon asked, looking from the table to Axel.
“What do I mean?!” Axel’s voice jumped a notch and he took a few steps towards Mannon. She pulled the blanket tighter around her, feeling the fabric stretch across her back. “You run away from your family, ruin our plans for our happy forever after and now you can’t even convince your family to sign a bloody partnership contract!”
“They don’t agree with the terms!” Mannon raised her voice as well. In truth, her family did not agree with the whole arrangement, full stop.
“That’s your problem to solve! You were meant to convince them. Sell them on this! And you’re failing!” Axel closed the distance some more. His face was gaining a deeper shade of red.
“There isn’t more I can do!” Mannon pleaded back. Her hands poked out through the blanket and she rushed to Axel as though to stop an avalanche from crushing her. “Please! You’ve got to believe me. There isn't any more...I...we can still be happy. We can still have the life---”
He grabbed her thin wrists and jerked her hands from his body. The fire in his eyes was scorching. It no longer made her tremble with excitement. Her back rounded and she looked away. The blanket pooled at her ankles.
He didn’t say a word. His breath was coming in heavy gusts. His grip was pressing against the bones of her wrists and she tried to hold back the peep of discomfort that was creeping up her throat.
Eventually, his hold released and he stormed out, just in time not to see a few tears escape her eyes.

Re: [Memory] The Dotted Line

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:55 am
by Mannon
Adelaide Mannon Stål,

As a result of your actions, let it be known that you are hereby disowned from the Stål kinship. You may not claim the name or any benefits that come from it. Your access to the kinship’s resources has been fully removed.

If you ever wish to correct your predicament, you may attempt to seek an audience with the matriarch to plead your case with prior arrangement.

Until then, you are not welcome on the estate...



The letter was crumpled so many times already that the neat handwriting of their family’s secretary seemed to blur into the creases. Yet, Mannon stared at it with equal measures of hatred and despair still. She had been doing so for the past couple days. It did not change the fact that the damning sentence was staring right back at her. That it caused a rift between her and her lover, one she never experienced before.
She gritted her teeth, took a gulp of the cheap wine from her chalice and winced.
Disowned.
Kinless.
Worthless.
Nobody.

Her throat couldn’t take anymore, but she still released a chilling scream that made her throat even rawer as she threw the chalice across the room. Blood rushed into her face and veins popped along her neck. She no longer felt the tears that streamed down her face. And the wall now had a new abstract spot of wine on its faded tapestry. The chalice was rolling on its side on the ground.
She slapped her hand down on the letter again, crumpled it up, grunting. Growling. Her hair was a mess. She was missing a sock.
In her rage, she didn’t hear the knock on the door. She only saw the head of one of the older maids poke into the room weary and with hesitation.
“Miss Mannon.”
“NOT NOW! GET OUT!” Mannon screamed, but her voice was breaking. Her vocal cords could take no more.
“Miss please. I prepared some ointment---”
“OUT!” It turned to be more of a squeak than a shout and she cringed again.
The woman looked at Mannon with such a pity that she wanted to charge her, push her, tear at her hair. But she knew she could barely make a few step. Her thigh was still in pain from where she was hit.
“Get out,” Mannon whispered like a mouse crying.
After a moment of uncertain looks, the maid laid the chipped bowl on the floor and retreated as asked.
The young woman ended up staring at the door for a long while. She lost sense of time. She was so buried in her misery.
It was only when her throat was suddenly dry, hurting, that she reached for the carafe, bringing it to her lips. A thin stream of red liquid slithered down her chin. Her face twisted and a burp pushed out of her lips. She knew she was going to be sick again.
“There has to be a way,” she whispered to herself and her fingers relaxed, releasing the crumpled letter to the floor.
“I have to win him back,” she muttered to herself. “He is just as heartbroken as I am.”
She limped over to the aged bed with moth-eaten sheets, wincing with each step.
“I have to seduce him again.” And she nodded, sitting down heavily on the mattress. She inhaled a sharp breath at the shot of pain from her thigh. At least her back wasn’t as bad anymore.
Her throat called to her again and she cooled it with more wine. She had a plan. She just needed to get better.

Re: [Memory] The Dotted Line

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2020 6:51 am
by Haldir
Oh Look! I prescribe you one Review!


XP:
  • 5 {No Magic}
Pieces of knowledge:
Deception: Plan your moves well
Deception: Hide your feelings
Persuasion: Try to paint a better picture
Persuasion: Twist facts
Persuasion: Screaming sometimes does it


Loot:
  • N/A
Injuries:
  • N/A
Comments:
  • If you have any questions, comments or concerns, let me know. Enjoy your rewards!