open; i should have seen it when my hope was new

[ensorceler]

who; Anne Boleyn & OPEN
what; After a failed visit to the church, Anne wanders until she eventually ends up at the new orphanage.
where; City Royale; the church and orphanage and dark city alleys in between.
when; January 31st, after leaving the party early.
rating; PG for now.

[ Perhaps it's all of the proverbs, or maybe the food doesn't sit right with her, but Anne doesn't stay until the party ends for once, leaving early without much of a word to anybody. She first goes to her room on the second floor to trade unforgiving red for mourning black, wrapping herself in a heavy cloak to shield against the cold she's preparing for.

It may not be an overlong walk to the city proper, but Anne's leg aches still, calling back to a time in Paradisa she can never be permitted to forget, no matter what mercy she was allowed in following her life to her death. She is ever reminded that she has yet to see Heaven, and though the flamboyance of the Eastern party had called out the queen in her, the woman in her still cries in the dark halls of her mind ever so. The woman has been trapped; trapped by a new loss that chokes and strangles her prayers.

She rides the horse she'd long since been borrowing to the city, stopping before the church and hugging her cloak tight about her as she enters. Who she mourns need not be public. She can only hope that in this one place she is allowed to speak as a Christian woman should, to kneel and plea and thank. To not weep but bow one's head in humility. Her former loss has been most humbling, but this is suffocating.

So she does weep even though she should not, because this is something that will show no mercy. Anne doesn't stay for very long, but when she leaves with her eyes dry, she lets the horse remain tied up just outside, feeling in a daze as she wanders away, her breath fogging the air and her steps remarkably silent for someone paying so little attention to where she walks.

Soon her leg will remind her of past pains here, of her husband's pains and betrayals at home, perhaps when she finally stops unexpectedly at the outlandish orphanage built by The Once-ler. For now she merely wanders and pretends at breathing. A ghost has little else to do. At least Anne is hardly in a fitful state as she had been the last time she wandered these streets at night. This isn't a woman looking for anything, anymore. ]

Comments

[ensorceler]

Anne nods only somewhat awkwardly, because The Once-ler was more than that, in a sense of family but not quite. To say such would only be catering to the whims of a castle's curses, but some feelings do not disappear simply because of everything else returning to the 'norm'.

"Yes, and he worked for me. I am she who commissioned him to build this home for troubled youths. How much more I would have had him accomplish if only he had stayed, and all he would have made his own."

[toobravehearted]

Just because someone doesn't wear their heart's on a sleeve doesn't mean everything is forgotten when relative normality is restored. A lot of people just pretend they are doing fine because that's far easier. That's the trouble with being here. Friendships made and forged and then they're so quickly taken away, snuffed out on a whim and he's of the conviction that the castle does it on purpose. Is it so different from the regular journey of life, though?

The Doctor nods slowly. "He might come back." Might, might not. Might remember, possibly not. "Not many get the chance to leave much of themselves behind, here. But this, there will be people that remember."

The hour though is late. "It is cold out and you must be tired. Might I escort you to your horse and lead you back to the castle if you are ready to return?"