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alois scholz || 25/25 || bein sad n stuff

Alois doesn’t flinch much during the procedure. Weeks of hard labor prepared him for this. July picked through the wounds delicately enough that there wasn’t need to recoil. His father’s hand was warm, but he was most certain that would change soon. Disappointing kin wanted to ache, but some part of his memory faltered. He couldn’t place it. Perhaps it would come to him later.

„I did zis to someone else,“ Alois responds, looking at the wound. He watches the blood slowly roll off his hand and threaten to drip onto his father’s wrist. „I met someone, you see. Someone who did a lot of terrible sings to me. Not directly, of course. He changed my place of residence, sabotaged my friendships, and he shot my dog.“ He paused, drew a breath. „My dog, who had nossing to do wis’ anysing he wanted to accomplish. My dog was my family. Is still my family. He means as much to me as July does, as you do. And now he’s dead, because he got suspicious. A dog, who could not voice a word of what he learned, got suspicious. And for zat, he had to die.“

He swallowed. He didn’t feel the first tears because of the heat rolling off his father. „His name is strange to me. Bristling Vale. He wore my face and used my voice and played my life. And I hated him for it, so I pushed glass down his sroat.

„Don’t worry, someone stopped me before I could kill him. She protected him, for you, and so kindly informed me zat I deserf’e murder or slavery. But… I realized somesing. I am no inhuman being like Bristling Vale, and for zat, I am lesser.

„Please answer me honestly, Father. Who do you lof’e more? Him, or me?“

Ezra: 25/25, burn time

“Brace,” says Ezra crisply, and he puts his other hand atop the cleaned wounds. This one sears, but only for an instant; he releases Alois and September takes over, a pot of something clean and minty-smelling in her hands. “Alois, I am no more capable of loving one child more than another than any other father. I only love you differently. Vale is my son; he stood once where you do now, made many of the same challenges to my authority. There is a reason I sent him to take over your life when I took you. But you are my son also, and I love you just as surely.

“You are a good person, dear boy. But you needed focus, still need focus.” His sincerity rings out in the gentleness of his hands. Here, in this moment, he is not callous. “I am sorry for what was done to your dog,” he says. “But I am not sorry that I took you.”

alois scholz || 25/25 || actually asking pertinent questions

And brace he did - Alois winced and recoiled reflexively at the burn, but his father would not allow him to pull away. Ezra’s hand parted and there he saw the freshly-seared wounds, bleeding no more. He allowed September to salve it as she saw fit. „Am I to turn out as he is, zen? Is zat what it means to be a tithe? I heard it was murder. Only in ze Bible are zere instances where a fat’er must purge his own son from ze world in a proof of piety. I can’t imagine zat case being true here, too.“

He wiped his face with his wrist, bottle still in hand. His thumbnail starts to edge around the glass, thereby breaking the wax seal that binds its cork. „I don’t want to lif’ in a world where all zat is promised to me is disgust. A world wis’out magic is… Unkind. I don’t want to go back.“

He set the bottle against the tile with a soft clink. Reaching into the back of his sarong, he pulls a mask of delicate gilding, shaped like a butterfly. He held it up for Ezra to examine, but not to burn. „I won’t really be needing zis.“

Jack Hawthorn | 25/25 | w/sinistritch in the alcove

"See, hear, smell, taste. The fact that I'm conversing with a man who speaks in chorus is perhaps the least interesting detail in comparison to others," Jack said with a tight smile of his own. "No offense intended. Tribute selections aside, I've thoroughly enjoyed the view. But I won't be able to do much with what photos I have. The paper hasn't been fond of the columns I've submitted before, for one."

He had always been fond of the supernatural, of the idea that something more existed beyond the senses. Not even the were incident had been enough to shake his fondness, though it had tempered it with a healthy sense of caution. (And even now, the Eldritch Gentleman's reasserts that quiet paranoia to keep alert.) The court was a veritable blessing, still, albeit one spoiled by the tithing and all.

"For another, I doubt I could use these for work in any reputable media in Ashdown." But that was neither here nor there; it wasn't work that had brought him to the ball, and he doubted either gentleman cared to hear about it.

Jack leaned forward and clasped his hands together, his camera dangling precariously at the edge of his lap. "How long has this celebration been going on anyway? And how does a sacrifice keep this....Enemy at bay? Is there a specific trait or requirement beyond the mask keeping in each tithe taken? Or does it differ each time on the whim of the court who can choose?"

Susan Greer - 25/25 - being a giant nerd baby and making weird indescribable gestures in Temp's direction

Susan jumped. She hadn't expected anyone to approach her. She thought she'd done a good job of being small, unnoticeable. She'd been staring at Temperance's handwriting for a long time; green eyes trailing along the familiar, firmly applied slants of ink. She hadn't even read the notes more than once. She'd been too busy thinking. Remembering.

A hot blush spread across the young woman's exposed collarbone and she took the note as it was handed to her. She hoped this wasn't some sort of weird summons or something. She'd done her best to avoid the creepier court members, and she didn't want to end up forced to be around one. Like the Burning Man, or the Lady she'd been hearing about.

She swallowed, held her breath, and unfolded the bit of paper.

More of Temperance's handwriting.

She glanced up from her place among the empty corner of seats. She found Temperance easily among the rest, almost too easily. She pressed her lips together, made a gesture with her hands that didn't quite mean anything, then shrugged and slumped into her chair; avoiding any further instance of their eyes meeting.

She was still flustered, barely able to think. She didn't know whether she was ok or not, in all honesty.

[25/25 | EVE]: G A Y D A R __A C T I V A T E D

The fox-bodied Eve perked up at the sight of Susan and, after offering a small bow to Melany in thanks for the company, she padded over to sit nonthreateningly between the two girls. Her expression appeared relaxed and innocent, with a touch of goading. Come on, don't let her get away!!

Ezra: 25/25, omg

"No," says Ezra, though his gaze is on the mask. "That is what it means to survive the tithe, to fail the tests after this evening." He frowns at Alois. "To be a tithe doesn't mean to die. Not truly. For one of them, yes. But it won't be you."