Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-5543592-20150428005035/@comment-3293219-20150429092955

"The Warrior's over the barn..."

Arrietty's eyes slowly opened as she broke free from her doze and slowly turned her head to face Toan as he stared up at the moonlit sky, trying to connect the mass of dots above him into a tangible image of some kind.

"I see him..."

"You woke me up for that stupid warrior?" The Breton grumbled, closing her eyes and rolling over, so that she could go back to sleep. There was a giant, floating sweetroll with her name on it, somewhere in the realm of dreams.

"S-Sorry... I didn't know that you were asleep..." Her brother sighed, slowly sitting up and turning towards her.

"Still, he's there. I can see his axe, pointing to the east."

"Mhmm... I can see my axe pointing at you, if you don't let me sleep..." Arrie mumbled, stirring her legs as she tried to get comfortable again on the hard, cold surface of the wooden roof.

Toan sighed and continued to stare up at the stars and the red swirls in the sky, that looked like they were formed by a paintbrush, held by the clumsy gods as they tried to connect the stars together to show their true form.

"Rie?"

"What?" Arrietty's response was just above the usual, inaudible growl that she usually responded with, when people pestered her, whilst trying to sleep.

"Are you... Worried about Dad?"

The Breton's eyes shot open now as she slowly rolled over and turned to face Toan, finding herself curious as to what brought this on.

"No, why?"

"Well, he comes home drunk a lot more than he used to..."

"So do half of the men in the village..." Arrie pointed out, which was quite true actually, since the entire village burst into life at around 11PM, when a number of intoxicated citizens came stumbling home...

"Some just do it more than others, usually, because they've got a reason."

"It's been a year, Rie, we can't exactly pretend that it's not becoming a problem."

"You're right, because it's isn't a problem. Nothing bad has come of it, it's just his way of coping, so if you really want to help him? Leave him alone." Arrietty's tone grew a little harsher as she spoke, not really liking the fact that their father came home drunk more often than not but he wasn't violent or angry or even upset, it could've been so much worse for them, for everyone.

"Look... Toan? Just let me worry about Dad, okay...

If it looks like it's getting too bad? I'll stop it, you know I will..."

This got a smile from her brother, even if it was forced, it wasn't a great assurance but it showed that she cared at least.

"I know... I just... I just can't help but think that mum wouldn't want us to be like this. It's like he... Just stopped being a person, y'know? He goes out in the morning and comes home and passes out, I don't think that we've had a conversation in months."

"He'll come around, it might take him a little longer than it did for us but he'll come back." As Arrietty spoke she rested her arm on Toan's stomach, gently wrapping her arm around him and placing the other under his back as she rested her head on his chest.

"And I'll be here, no matter what... We'll be safe, so long as we look after each other."

Toan closed his eyes as he pulled her in closer, wrapping his arm underneath her ribs and placing his left hand on her back as he gently lay his hand on hers.

"I know..." He whispered, gently tilting his head to the side and resting his cheek against her forehead. Staring up into the night sky as the images just turned into a mass of dots again, slightly shimmered now...

"I miss her..."

Arrie just sighed and pulled him in closer, trying not to show that she was thinking the same. She had no doubts, when it came to her family, clan Muldoon could survive anything, even the end of the world.

"Me to..." She sighed, falling still as she had finally gotten comfortable.

"Let's try and get some sleep, okay?" Her whispers almost fell silent as she felt the sting of Toan's tears as they gently rolled onto her forehead, prompting her to close her eyes as she tried to ignore it as she focussed on trying to sleep.

"Oh... And the warrior's over the church..."

-

Arrietty's eyes slowly opened as she found herself to be struggling to keep them open. She was in a dim, torch lit room, that was cold, dark and dank...

The Breton could feel the tight leather straps already digging into the flesh on her arms and around her ankles and though her injuries had been healed, she found the places where they used to hurt to be incredibly uncomfortable. Though she didn't feel the pain of being booted in the stomach anymore, she did feel a mild stomach ache and her burned foot prickled as the straps dug into it.

Arrietty slowly lifted her head up and saw where she was, an empty prison cell, with nothing but a chair, designed to hold her down. In her delusional state, Arrietty had no idea what to expect, though she didn't think that she was in a barbour's shop.

After using all of her energy observing the room, Arrietty's head simply slumped forward and she drifted off to sleep again, groaning as the straps cut into her ankle...