[ChicletPrime]

Chapter 3: Bouquets & Dirges

• this has to be Rafayel - the mermaid skeleton on the face card is a dead giveaway
  
• oooh wedding... for Talia? I know that name. she was in the story where we learned Rafayel was an opera singer at one point.
  
• Talia's getting married? aww, all best to you and your future intended! 
  
• Rafayel isn't going to attend Talia's wedding... for why? that's an odd thing to skip if you've known each other as long as i suspect you've known each other.  unless the intended is an EVER plant or something.
  
• oh, its a diversion? because Raf has a surprise in mind or something? 
  
• "Why are you so stingy with your blessings?"  "I blessed you when you made the pact. Any more would be pointless."
  
• pact? blessing? oooh, i like this!
  
• so Talia's more of a casual sort of person, dancing barefoot on the grass. i had the impression in the other card that she was more of a sophisticated sort of lady, but sounds like she's more bohemian.
  
• nice. the gathered Lemurians are gossiping - this person she wants to marry doesn't stand out at all and they seem collectively piqued by it, and that Talia deserves somebody more outstanding.
  
• i wonder how many of his people are still surviving in hiding.
  
• Rafayel sees a familiar face he hasn't seen since "the disaster". since the disaster is in quotes, i'm guessing it was more of a fashion faux pas than anything serious.
  
• "Raymond is dead." 
  
• you come to me, on the day of my wedding... to give me happy news? 
  
• yeah, Talia's pleased as very alcoholic punch about that little tidbit.  
  
• random thought as i'm imagining this wedding in the flower garden .. how often can his people even get together in any sort of crowd? coming together is an advantage of numbers, but also a great way to take out a whole bunch of them all at once. alone, you're more vulnerable if you're found out, but together might be worse. huh.
  
• yeah, the next line basically says that nearly all the survivors are here at this wedding, which means there really isn't many of them left. a few hundred, at best? 
  
• "I'm not getting married because I've forgotten the past but because I want to live in the present. We're all looking for an anchor, a reason to live."
  
• Rafayel shakes his head. "Lemuria is more important." 
  
• Talia: "But what about you? When your own heart is devouring you, is there anything that can pull you back? Can you really let her go?" 
  
• The light in Rafayel's eyes dim. 
  
• "Rafayel, have you ever thought about your own wedding?" 
  
• "No."
  
• Rafayel doesn't want connect with her or connect strongly in this lifetime? Too intent on extracting revenge on EVER and trying to protect the remnants of his people? 
  
• Light yellow gardenias = freedom, happiness, rebirth
  
• he wants to take a bouquet of them to a relative's daughter's funeral? "her father can no longer give her flowers."
  
• is... is the father now also dead, along with his daughter, so now Rafayel has to adorn her grave alone? 
  
• oh MAN
  
• freedom, happiness and rebirth indeed. good lord. 
  
• he's at RAYMOND'S funeral? oh fuck, is the daughter buried ON THE GROUNDS? oh no no no, she's the skeleton in the atrium, isn't she? 
  
• /holds head in pain WAIT A MINUTE
  
• was Raymond Lemurian? is that HIS daughter displayed in the atrium? what the fuck is going on
  
• ...and Talia is there, and she sings a dirge. for the daughter? it has to be the daughter, Talia is glad Raymond is dead.
  
• and as Rafayel turns to leave, an old biddy calls him a murderer! 
  
• well, to be fair...
  
• wow, she outright yells out her accusation across the entire room of mourners. paparazzi descend like doomsday!
  
• and Raf just... looks around and then leaves.
  
• this is wild. Raymond cannot be the dead father, can he? unless this is incredibly dark and he was somehow at least partially Lemurian and he sold his daughter to EVER to experiment with her blood which is why Talia and Rafayel both came to offer their condolences for each side of that tragedy. please, i really hope i'm misinterpreting this. 
  
• Lemurians marry mortals. Talia just got married and its heavily implied she did before as well, so perhaps they pass along their bloodlines, diluted but still strong. The burden of loneliness? to have a family to love, even if it's only for a time, even if you give them a gift that others will kill them for.
  
• Rafayel goes back to Charles' flowers and takes some flame lilies (errata: i have tiger lilies in my front garden) unsure if he should give them away or not.
  
• "For now, he still has a chance to get a good night's sleep. Until he must face the never-ending tsunami of his dreams alone."
  

that was fairly wild. please tell me i am wayyyy off track with what this story seemed to be saying.