OOC [memory 01]
His door had been clear when he first came home from Medical island, stepping inside only to retrieve his coinpurse before leaving again to forage a dinner from the marketplace.
Except that, when he opened the door and stepped out, he had enough time to register that there was a small thing right at eyelevel before it collided with his forehead--and that it was cold and hard--before the world wrenched below him and his vision faded away.
It faded back in, and quickly, but did not lessen his confusion about what was going on. He was...inside? In a large, stone building, and what appeared to be a grand hall, standing on a red and gold carpet, flanked by men in armor and women in mages' cloaks, all at attention. He sat, though it made no noise, and out of the corner of his eyes, he saw another person at his left--but only a flash, a woman all in white...then his eyes focused on a small, official-looking man standing before them, then moving out of the way.
Paladin was baffled. Was this a memory? It couldn't be happening in real-time--it was dead silent, the air sterile, and he knew of no great stone halls in Edensphere, much less one outside his door. He couldn't control his body, either--though he wanted to look around at the hall, at the woman beside him, at himself--he felt different, radically different. He had to have been wearing some kind of armor, heavy and hard and though he couldn't hear, he could feel the way the plates and leather binding them shifted as he moved. And his face--there was something about it, something unusual and artificial, with weights in his hair and ears...
There was a new person now, walking up from the end of the hall, and Paladin felt his mouth smile and heart warm at the sight of him--a thin man in a cape and mask, short silver hair and with a cocksure walk. This man approached them--he had to climb a dais to do it, Paladin noted--and both he and the woman he was seated with rose in greeting. Paladin felt his mouth moving in words and a smile--there was something on his lips, he was sure of it, they were painted in some way--the other man behind his cloth mask, and with one last joke directed at the woman next to him (he got another glance at her; strawberry blonde and with white and gold jewelry) the masked man turned away and went to stand beside the red carpet.
Two more people were proceeding up the carpet now, and again Paladin felt his heart swell with fondness for them. They were...clearly not human, he noted, the largest of them standing level with the middle of his chest and with an impressive brown beard, the both of them with glowing yellow eyes. They too approached the dais and bowed to him and the woman beside him, then filed away in time for the next to approach them. On another level, he was realizing that what was going on had to have been some kind of ceremony--but why was he at the head of this hall, clearly receiving people who must have been paying respects? Who was he?
He was full of questions, but found himself caring less and less about them as the memory progressed. It was so obvious to him that whatever the ceremony was, it was a happy one--every new face widened his smile, his heart practically sang with every stolen glance at the woman next to him--beautiful dress, a veil, covered in jewelry, serene in her bearing, he was learning--and he found himself swept along by the emotions filling him.
The next one to approach him was a large, bare-chested man who Paladin knew he both liked and respected immensely--he knelt before him and clasped his arm strongly, then made way for the next: a trio, an older man with two very small children--his son and daughter, perhaps? They did not walk slowly and deliberately but rather almost ran up to the dais, the little girl pausing to curtsey before the woman to his left, but the little boy playfully ran around Paladin and jumped onto the chair behind him. Their father corralled them, but even so Paladin couldn't stop the smile on his face--as they bowed to him, he felt the woman beside him touch his hand, quick, warm, and gentle--why?
Then came a young man, slender and frail, almost sickly in his appearance--yet he carried himself with grace and Paladin felt only affection and high regard for him. After was a woman, wiry and almost wild, with a thick mane of green hair--she approached them with a sweet smile on her face that Paladin returned, feeling in him a surge of caring and protectiveness--almost paternal in scope, despite the fact that she couldn't be much younger than he.
They were all there, then, it seemed, looking up at him and he at them fondly, though he could not banish a lingering sadness, looking at all these people so clearly very dear to him--there was something missing, a face, a smile he longed to see. Whose? He asked himself, but there was no answer for him. He turned to see the woman again, and managed another fleeting glance at her (she had a lovely smile) before the rotund man from the very beginning of this ceremony approached, with something in his hands, and Paladin was kneeling and--
Had he control over himself, he would have pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. What he was holding was a golden crown with a red jewel in the center, and now the rotund man was before him, holding the crown out over him and placing it on his head--it wasn't a joke, or a trick; it was real, the weight of the crown settling on his head undeniable.
And then he knew that even if he could have heard a thing before in this memory, he wouldn't have been able to now, with what looked like cheering and thunderous applause from all assembled here. There were flower petals being thrown about now, clouding his vision, but he could see the people who had paid their respects were surrounding him, his heart was soaring, and he was turning to the woman who had been ever at his side...
The third thing he saw, now that he could finally see her in full, was that the red jewel in her diadem matched the one in his crown. The second thing he saw was that the utterly gorgeous and luxurious dress she was wearing had to have been a wedding dress.
The first thing he saw was that she was the most beautiful woman in the world.
She smiled at him, through the rain of flowers, and he at her, then she leaned up and he leaned down and he was back in Edensphere, sprawled out undignified on his own front step. The world seemed unbearably loud now, he couldn't process what he had just seen--he had a wife--he was a king?! Shocked, he ran his fingers through his hair...or at least, he tried to.