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Journals & Backgrounds / Re: Manon's Journal
« Last post by Fiverine on April 08, 2024, 10:12:49 am »I did something a little reckless. Not wanting to accompany my father and the twins on their ogre patrol, I found out from a retainer named Kashia where they planned to go. Then I went there alone ahead of the others, thinking they'd arrive to find me sitting atop a pile of ogre corpses. I'd never fought an ogre before but imagined I was more than a match for any of them. I wasn't exactly wrong. One on one or even one on two I could dispatch the brutes fairly easily, but once they were aware of my presence and charged me en masse I had to beat a hasty retreat. I expected them to be heavy hitters but underestimated how difficult they would be to injure, let alone put down. Naturally, father's party then conveniently came riding over the crest to rescue me. At least they didn't find me roasting on a spit, I suppose.
I know I should be grateful. And I would have been if father hadn't launched straight into one of his "Manon you have disappointed me!" lectures, with the twins sneering and rolling their eyes at me in unison (which never stops being creepy). They also entirely overlooked that I'd slain nearly a dozen ogres entirely on my own. Father turned it into a big triumph for Yanis and Anais and told me and the slightly embarrassed retainers at length how amazing they are. Nearly as good as Nael, he said. The twins lapped it up, but once the accolades were over they began accounting for how many ogres each had slain, how effective their orders to the retainers had been and so forth. I'm sick of them already. They'll seize every opportunity to remind each other who should be heir now and remind me that I'm the black sheep who can't do anything right. I decided right then that I would deny them their next opportunity for either.
The next morning, fate gave me my chance. Whether intentionally or by mistake, Kye the steward left a letter to father on my desk. The plantation farmers are having trouble with boulders being hurled at their defences and begged for father to send someone to do something. I sent a reply to this Farmer Jason assuring him I'd investigate personally. A few boulders thrown at a farmyard without a major assault following sounds like a few stray ogres, not a warband like the one I encountered on my solo patrol. I can handle this, and I'll grab all the rewards and praise. Not because I really want them, but because I don't want father or my siblings to get them.
I know I should be grateful. And I would have been if father hadn't launched straight into one of his "Manon you have disappointed me!" lectures, with the twins sneering and rolling their eyes at me in unison (which never stops being creepy). They also entirely overlooked that I'd slain nearly a dozen ogres entirely on my own. Father turned it into a big triumph for Yanis and Anais and told me and the slightly embarrassed retainers at length how amazing they are. Nearly as good as Nael, he said. The twins lapped it up, but once the accolades were over they began accounting for how many ogres each had slain, how effective their orders to the retainers had been and so forth. I'm sick of them already. They'll seize every opportunity to remind each other who should be heir now and remind me that I'm the black sheep who can't do anything right. I decided right then that I would deny them their next opportunity for either.
The next morning, fate gave me my chance. Whether intentionally or by mistake, Kye the steward left a letter to father on my desk. The plantation farmers are having trouble with boulders being hurled at their defences and begged for father to send someone to do something. I sent a reply to this Farmer Jason assuring him I'd investigate personally. A few boulders thrown at a farmyard without a major assault following sounds like a few stray ogres, not a warband like the one I encountered on my solo patrol. I can handle this, and I'll grab all the rewards and praise. Not because I really want them, but because I don't want father or my siblings to get them.