Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24123288-20150321160853/@comment-3293219-20150324122712

"No, absolutely not!"

Arrietty expected this reaction, though she didn't look forward to it and had done little to prepare for it...

"But Father..."

"No! I'll hear no more of this... Depravity! Begone!"

The Breton stood at the center of the chapel, watching as the elder priest limped away, towards the altar of the nine. He stopped in front of it and placed his hands its stone surface and slowly curled his brittle, bony fingers around it as if he wished to crush the very stone that it was forged with in his hands.

This left Arrietty in a precarious position, since she needed his approval and his services, if a wedding was to take place...

"Father... I can understand that this must be... New to you. But just because you don't approve of me and Toan, doesn't mean that it's not true." Arrie replied, in the most calm, diplomatic manner possible as she didn't want to be thrown out of the church.

"You allow people who are different race... Even people who are the same gender to marry in chapels, so why can't I marry Toan?"

The Priest loathed Arrietty's persistence, they both knew that it wasn't the same thing. Not to either of them... The elderly Breton growled and turned to face her, glaring at her with his softened yellow eyes...

"Because such a union is... It's..."

"It's a union, Father, it's... Love, it's..."

"Evil..." The Priest said, coldly, finishing off her sentence for her with a sour toned insult as he slowly turned back and faced the many stained glass portraits of the gods.

Arrietty couldn’t take it anymore, she found herself overcome with rage, a demand for answers and clarifications as to what act of evil she was supposedly committing here.

"How is it!? We aren't evil, it's not like this hurts anyone!” The Breton snapped at him, being stubbornly persistent as always. Arrie quickly walked to the Priest's side, so that he couldn't shut her out.

“We aren't even hurting each other, so how is it evil!?"

He had to hear her, he couldn't just dismiss this...

The Priest sighed and slowly stood up, turning to face her, with a stern shake of his head.

"Arrietty... You know as well as I do, that the people of the town will not accept this. Even if the gods do, even if I do..." The Elder sighed once more and turned to the front door of the church, listening to the yelling of the merchant, the birds singing, the giggling of children playing outside his doorstep and the droning of the townsfolk.

He found himself lost in it for a moment, wishing that life was always that simple and tranquil. Sadly, reality always disrupted the peace and forced him to work once more, forcing him to face the grim reality of his responsibilities as a servant of the nine.

"Open your heart to the noble secrets of art and love." Arrietty recited, her voice broke, due to pressure and a lack of confidence in her own memory, when it came to the commands of the nine.

"Treasure the gifts of friendship..."

"Seek joy and inspiration in the mysteries of love..." The Priest finished for her, turning away from the door and sighing heavily as he looked into the shrine, hanging his head and closing his eyes as he mentally cursed his weaknesses...

"Arrietty... I... I cannot... The villagers, they wouldn't stand for this..." He uttered, slowly standing up and looking up to the windows and then to the young Breton girl.

"I hear them... When they see you two, they... They see no good in it, if they knew that I allowed you to wed your brother in this holy place. They'd tarnish me, with the same brush and have this place burned to the ground." He stopped to sigh heavily, shaking his head as he walked away.

"Unless you can see some way to appease them... Then I cannot help you..." He uttered, woefully as he shuffled away, leaving Arrietty alone to think on his words...

As she slowly turned to look up to the front door of the chapel, she knew that she only had one option. She had to talk to the mayor...

She and Toan would be together...

She couldn't let them win...