>>6309708You would raise your eyes to the heavens and ask Ansàrra for support, but feeling the sky as empty and uncaring as it is now makes you feel a chill down to your very soul.
So you do not.
“The transactional nature of your faith is plain,” The Stilladìa recounts. “You are but one of many. The difference between that and what I do is just a signature on a binding contract.”
“You can shove your contracts—”
“Thank you,” she claps her head, producing a sharp sound of not-quite skin that makes you jolt. “But there are almost forty thousand souls listening to his conversation, and I would not have their ears dirtied.”
“How considerate,” you chuckle.
The tension between you two raises, then, like a mounting tide, it passes past you, and you deflate again, all wind out of your sail.
Amidst the trough, you wait for her to say something, but she does not.
<span class="mu-i">Think with your own head.</span>
This is <span class="mu-i">still</span> Bragia Lacresta sitting across to you.
You loathe the tiny excited jump your stomach makes upon the notion.
You may not feel ready to either listen to her or to ask her to leave you alone.
Also, she did care for your hand over the past few days.
You might have lost it for good without her.
But maybe, just maybe… if Ansàrra is not listening right now…
You open your mouth again, and this time, it’s to give voice to a question.
<span class="mu-r">Your family. The Frigéian merchants that ruined all of you. Doesn’t she feel even a bit of remorse?</span>
<span class="mu-b">The difference with Bragia of old is… uncanny. Why did her body change so much? Is she even alive?</span>
<span class="mu-g">She called your faith transactional but… what does Ansàrra gain out of everything that happened? You truly can’t see it…</span>
<span class="mu-s">You also have another question for the merchant filth (write-in/suggestion; I mean, i's a once-in-several-lifetimes chance)</span>
well that grew far beyond what I had planned. Five thousand words of pure update plus everything else plus the summaries. Scratch Ansàrra, scratch the Stilladìa, I have given my soul to /qst/. And what’s worst is that it feels so good being back. Thanks for playing… I’ll look forward to your votes tomorrow. 