untrueheart | Act 1

[For two days, Rue has spent her time deep in the forest, surviving on the supplies provided in a small but seemingly abandoned building. On the first day she saw no one, and spent her time as far away from the storybook bearing her name as possible, forcing herself to ignore the black wings on her back. Doing a terrible job of it.

On the second, someone came by, but she hid herself in the surrounding forest until they were gone. It was a stranger and she didn't want anybody to know she was there. Never mind that she was fairly sure this was outside the walls- somewhere she couldn't even imagine going. Not yet.

But on the morning of the third day, self-preservation wins out over uncertainty, and Rue (with her book, so no one else would find it either) walks from the small house until she finds a small lake, following its river upstream and coming within sight of a village with no wall.

There had been spare clothes in the house, so she wears a large jacket despite the heat, to cover her unfortunate wings; it turns away some of the rain that starts up part of the way through her walk. Eventually she stops under the overhang of a shop, staring around at the unfamiliar village, wondering if she ought to stay out of sight.

Too afraid to open a book labeled with her name - a book that might tell her story - she hasn't even come to understand just how different that story is about to become.]

[[ooc: Rue was at New Feather station bb, and she can be under any roof overhang you want but the Item Shop is the most likely one for running-into shenanigans.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Then I...have a lot to learn.

[Rue allows the tiniest amount of something like trust to edge its way into her voice. He didn't seem so bad.]

And you'll have a lot of other people here who will help you with it. We've all been through the same thing when we first arrived.

[See, Rue? This place really isn't so terrible after all.]

[It has yet to seem all that terrible. The unfamiliarity and confusion are difficult, though.]

You're being so kind.

Huh? Why wouldn't I be?

[He seems genuinely confused by this.]

[Rue just shakes her head. It's not worth talking about.]

How sweet. [The confusion is very endearing. She wonders if he does it on purpose.]

[And now he's blushing, because that's one habit he can't quite seem to break no matter how hard he tries.]

Oh, um, thanks, I think. I just don't like seeing anyone upset, that's all.

[He flusters like someone else she knows.]

Weren't you? When you were stolen from your life?

I was. I was really upset and scared, but the people here were kind to me. They helped me get settled in and made sure that I was okay. I don't know what I would've done if they hadn't.

Is that what you intend to do with me?

[It is sweet, and a pure-hearted gesture she does not feel she deserves at all.]

Well, yeah. I can't just leave you out here in the rain all by yourself.

[Sweet is what Emil does, as Rue will undoubtedly learn.]

Then you will escort me? [As she raises a hand, expecting to take his arm.]

H-huh?

[Um. What do? He's never escorted a girl before.]

But I've never... I mean, I don't... o-okay, I guess.

[And he raises his own arm a little bit so that she can take it if she wants.]

[She hooks her hand around his elbow from the inside, smiling.]

Thank you, this is quite courteous.

Oh... y-you're welcome. Um, where are we going?

[Someday Emil will not get nervous and blushy around cute girls. Today is not that day.]

[Not what she expected to hear.]

Why should I know? I haven't the first idea where anything is in this village.

Well, um, we should get your stuff from the store if you haven't already, and then we should find you an apartment, and...

Then let's do that. [She almost called him by another name, which highlights for her that she doesn't know his name.]

You haven't introduced yourself.

I haven't?

[DAMN IT why does he keep forgetting to do something so basic?]

I'm sorry! My name's Emil-- Emil Castagnier. What's yours?

It's Rue. What an...interesting name you have, Emil.

It is? I always thought it was kind of boring. 'Rue' is a lot prettier.

Thank you. [With the kind of shattered pride that sidles up to "I chose it myself".]

... right, so, um, we should probably go find your stuff first...

That sounds perfect. Take me there.

It's just that store right over there.

[And he points to one of the buildings with his unoccupied arm before taking a step, indicating she should walk with him.]

We should probably look for your clothes first before we try to find any of your other stuff.

I don't have many other things. [An elaborate and well-decorated bedroom aside.] Perhaps my pointe shoes.

[The red ones, which would make no sense to him, so she doesn't say it.]

[Action]

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