Amorality
This story is rated T for both violence and suggestive themes (it's about Peri and Niles; how could there not be violence and suggestive themes?). However, it's nothing worse than how the two of them act in-game.
It was just past sunset in Nohr, leaving Niles and Peri's home in a semidarkened state. Peri was busying herself in the kitchen, lit only by the orange glow of the fire over which she was cooking. Today was a special day—her and Niles's one-year anniversary of their marriage. She was making an extra-special dinner for the two of them. Indeed, she was almost done. She had just put the last menu item over the fire, pastries filled with a cream made from the still-warm blood of an adult male grizzly bear. It was one of Niles's favorite flavors (as well as her own). With everything else done, she started to clean up all of the cooking utensils, the bowls and spoons covered in flour and sugar and bear flesh.
Where was Niles? He said he was going outside for just a moment, but it had been almost a full hour since he left. He didn't go and die, did he? This would be the worst day to go die, their anniversary.
She was starting to feel a bit anxious, and the best remedy for that would be to start hacking through someone. Reaching out to a brass bell at the end of the kitchen counter, she rang it sharply, sending a cacophonous clanging reverberating through the halls.
A few seconds later, a young man dressed in a formal suit walked into the kitchen. "You called, Lady Peri?" he asked politely.
Ah, yes. This was a new butler, so he hadn't yet had any negative experiences with Peri's… particular disposition. That made this part easier.
"Yeah, I did!" she said. "Wait just one moment…" She grabbed an iron sword that was kept at the side of the kitchen in case of emergencies. Or for satiating her bloodlust. "All right," she said with an excited smile on her face, "I'm going to kill you because I have no idea where Niles is and I'm bored. While I'm waiting for him, I thought I might kill you to pass the time."
The first time the word "kill" came up, the butler just furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. But when the word came up a second time, his eyes grew wide and he stepped backward, stuttering.
"Lady Peri, did you… Er… You said…"
Peri's expression darkened. "You don't want to do this, do you?"
The butler inched toward the door, trying to restore a polite smile to his face. "L- Lady Peri, I'd love to serve your every wish, but..."
"Why doesn't any butler ever want to let me kill him?" Peri asked, pouting. "That's all I ever hire them for, and yet no one actually lets me do that!"
She suddenly lashed out with the sword in her hand, driving it into the butler's shoulder, eliciting a pained yell from the young man. She drew back her sword, letting blood ooze out of the wound she just created.
The butler stumbled back against the door, clutching at his side with one hand and groping frantically around for the door handle. "P- Please excuse me, Lady Peri, but I do resign my position as butler, effective immediately."
"Oh, that's no fun!" She lunged forward, aiming for his stomach region. The butler dove out of the way a fraction of a second too late, receiving a deep gash down the right side of his torso and along his thigh.
"Lady Peri! Stop! Please!" the butler pleaded as he crumpled to the ground, crawling backwards frantically and painfully. He groaned. "Those rumors about you were true…"
"I don't care about rumors! I just want something to kill, and you're a good a target as any!" She moved in front of the door, blocking his only exit.
"Milady, I beg of you! Don't kill me!" He quickly glanced around the room, trying to find something to defend himself with. Spotting the silverware cabinet, he tried to stand to reach for a knife, but his wounds protested, sending waves of sharp pains up his body.
"I won't not kill you! You're going to die, right now!"
At that moment, as Peri started to raise her sword and she walked forwards towards the butler, the door behind her opened, and a white-haired man in a button-down shirt stepped in, holding a bouquet of deep violet roses in one hand and what appeared to be a pink bath towel in the other. Everyone in the room froze.
"Oh, Niles!" Peri said happily, as if she weren't holding a bloodstained sword, with its victim huddled on the kitchen floor a few feet away. She set down the weapon and wrapped her arms around her husband, careful to avoid crushing the flowers. "You're back! Yay! I missed you."
Niles smiled at his wife briefly, but glanced back towards the bloodied figure on the floor and sighed. "Peri… Are you killing your butler again?"
"Of course! You weren't back yet, and I was bored and nervous about you! But you're back now, so let me just kill him quickly, and then we can get to the dinner I made. It's extra-special today, since it's our anniversary!"
"I know. I got you these flowers and something you might want to try on a little later, and I even got dressed up a bit for the occasion." He placed aside the bath towel and offered the bouquet to his wife, who took them gleefully and went to fetch a vase from the cabinet.
Niles, meanwhile, approached the butler. They hadn't had much interaction before, and the butler looked understandably nervous. Before the butler could say anything, however, Niles knelt down and took a small bottle of vulnerary from his pocket, silently placing it in the butler's hand. "Lady Elise should be in the castle with her staff if this isn't enough," Niles told him quietly.
Niles stood back up and turned to face Peri, who was admiring the rose bouquet. "Peri," he said, "I never thought I'd be the one saying this, but… we need to talk about this whole killing-everyone thing. It… needs to stop."
"What?" Peri said, looking up from the flowers. "You too? Why? People keep telling me I should stop, but no one's given me a good reason for stopping that I can understand. We kill people all the time in the army, and people are always happy about that."
Niles sighed. "It's wrong to kill people if they don't deserve it. And your butler doesn't deserve it."
"But how do I know if someone deserves it? He's my butler; I hired him. Shouldn't he deserve it if I say that he's supposed to deserve it as part of the job description?"
Niles shook his head. "Peri… I think there's something we need to talk about. We… really need to work on getting you to understand what's right and wrong. And for that matter, getting me to stop being so immoral, too, what with my not-incorrect reputation for sadism and all. We're going to have kids one day, and I don't want our children to grow up like us. We both grew up in rather unfortunate situations; our children should not have to suffer through a similar childhood."
"So I shouldn't kill him?" Peri asked, pointing at the butler who seemed to have applied the vulnerary to his wounds and slowly getting on his feet. "Aw, but I really wanted to! But I guess I trust you, so if you think it's for the best…"
"I'm afraid it is," Niles said, watching the butler make his way out of the kitchen. "I don't expect this to be easy—old habits die hard. To reform ourselves is going to take a lot of work. But we'll be here for each other, to help each other be better people every step of the way." He suddenly pulled his wife in close to him and they kissed briefly. "Still," he added in a low voice, "before we try to stop being bad, I believe there's some dinner that you've promised me? And maybe a little something extra afterwards?"
"Oh yes!" Peri said, unraveling herself from his arms and making her way to the fire, where she retrieved the pastries that were now done baking. "I've made all your favorite dishes! And grizzly blood pastries for dessert!"
Published June 19, 2016