"So, what're your names?" Beth asked the slaves. "That way we can talk with each of you more easily."
"Names?" one of the young men Beth saved asked. "Why wouldn't you just tell us what our names are?"
Ralph had to admit. He hadn't seen that one coming. Maybe it was another aspect of the culture of this world, but he certainly didn't understand why things couldn't just turn out to be more simple than this. He didn't think that it was asking too much. Especially with all that they'd had to endure with how things on this world had continually been throwing them for loop after loop.
"If you'd like us to do that, we can," Beth said. "I just thought that you might like to keep the name you already have. Really, it's up to each of you." Beth paused, looking like she was considering something before she continued. "When I selected each of you last night, it was because I saw that all of you didn't want to be there." Beth then motioned to the young woman who had followed her in when she'd returned. "If she hadn't been stopped at the gate, I'd have been willing to let not only her disappearance go but also the money she'd taken. If any of you don't want to be around us, I'm more than willing to help you find a way to make a fresh start. I bought you so you wouldn't have to live that life if you didn't want to."
While Ralph understood what Beth was trying to convey, he wasn't sure it was sinking in to her audience. From looking at their expressions, she had a feeling that they felt like Beth was speaking in a foreign language to them, even though they could understand her words. Which Ralph was only able to assume meant that this culture didn't have a concept of helping slaves out. Even if a person was made a slave and really didn't want to be one. Except maybe if they ran and succeeded in eluding capture.
"So, what're your names?" Beth asked as she finished her mini-speech.
"My name is Aerbris," the young woman that Beth had to save earlier said. Ralph noted her lilac hair and light pink eyes and a build that Ralph was starting to get used to being called 'masculine' in this world, while for him is was still feminine.
"My name is Raeys," the young man who had told Ralph that Beth would be held up as she helped Aerbris.
"I'm Cinder," another young man said, his hair brown and eyes pink.
"My name's Serrith," a boy who looked like he was on the verge of being a young man said, his hair a light blue while he had one eye yellow and the other red.
"My name's Resith," a young woman about a year younger than Beth said, her eyes both a bright yellow, pulling attention away from her deep blue hair.
"I'm Laesith," a young woman who looked like she could almost be a woman herself said. She had pink eyes and ice blue hair.
"I'm Saethas," the last of the young women said, looking like she might be a year or two older than Beth. She had Ice blue eyes and purple hair.
Lastly, the little girl didn't seem interested in saying what her name was, though Ralph couldn't help but wonder if she even knew what it was. If she could talk that was, since he just realized he hadn't heard her say anything. She had azure blue hair and blood-red eyes. Ralph thought she might have been a vampire, but he saw her sleeping peacefully in the night and she certainly didn't have any vampire fangs that he could see when she'd eaten. Although, he wouldn't be surprised if there were other details that he wasn't quite aware of in regards to vampires that didn't actually make it to what was known in the mythology of vampires.
"Does anyone know what her name is?" Beth asked as she walked over and picked the girl up, which seemed to surprise the girl the most. Though, she quickly overcame that and wrapped her arms around Beth's neck, holding her close.
Everyone shook their heads and looked downward, as if they were ashamed of that fact. "It's not a problem if you don't know it," Ralph said, feeling like he should say something, even though he didn't see the point.
When the question continued to be met with silence, Ralph couldn't help but feel even more annoyed. Partly because this was making this topic take even longer. He was ready to move on to something else. Maybe even doing what he could do to get some more cash. Or maybe 'coin' would be the better term, Ralph thought idly as his mind wandered.
"Well, if you don't have a name, would you like me to pick one out for you?" Beth asked the girl, pulling Ralph's attention back out of his thoughts.
The girl looked at Beth like she wasn't sure what Beth meant.
"Or would you like to pick it out?" Beth asked, her voice sounding a little strained to Ralph. A clear indication that she was starting to run out of patience herself.
Ralph wasn't sure if it was a good thing when the girl responded by vigorously shaking her head. On one hand, it showed that she did understand them, even if she didn't talk herself. While on the other hand, they hadn't quite made much progress on getting the girl a name. Though, Ralph couldn't say that he was that surprised. After all, she did look like she was around four years-old.
Idly he wondered if they should at some point see if Amelia would be able to tell if there was something wrong with her voice or not. While she just might not like talking much, it was also possible that there was something else wrong with her that prevented her from talking. With how Amelia was the closest thing they had to a medical expert that they knew they could trust and understand, she would be the best option to figure out this problem.
"So, who would you like to pick a name out for you?" Beth asked the girl. "Just point to them and we'll have them pick one, okay?"
The girl didn't respond immediately and Ralph was about ready to just head out and find out what name the girl got in the end. If nothing else, he was losing interest in the situation altogether. What he didn't expect was just before he was about to head out, the girl pointed to him.
At first he didn't even notice, but when he did, he could only think of one word to say about the whole matter that he felt summed it up perfectly.
"Shit."
"That's not a very gentlemanly thing to say," Resith scolded Ralph.
However, the girl looked at Beth questioningly. Beth seemed to understand what the girl wanted to ask and gently shook her head. "That's not the name he picked for you."
To Resith, Ralph merely replied, "I couldn't care less if it's a gentlemanly thing to say, 'cause I'm not a gentleman."
The young woman smirked. "Yeah, I kinda figured that, though even for a man, you're much more feminine than I'd have expected."
Ralph ignored her comment. He didn't have the time, or especially the energy to deal with her. He hoped that they'd figure out a way to get rid of the slaves that Beth had saved so they could continue on more easily. Though, he couldn't be sure that it would happen very quickly. Especially with how his luck had been running.
Though, he also wanted to get this whole discussion finished, he was also supposed to give the girl a name, apparently. It wasn't a task he exactly was happy with, but if it would get this over with, then he felt like he needed to get that over with before they could really move on.
So, he looked at the girl who was watching him closely, as if he might try to disappear on her if she looked away. Which, on a side point, he figured would be possible if he didn't have this task before him in the first place.
"Agatha?" Ralph asked and the girl shook her head. "Mikasa? Andrea? Hailey? Cynthia? Nosferatu?"
The girl kept shaking her head at the names Ralph was suggesting. Though, when he said the last one, she paused, looking rather confused.
"Ralph, she's not a vampire," Beth protested.
Ralph grinned, amused that he at least got a reaction from someone with that name. "Oh, come on! She's got the eyes for it."
"I'm vetoing it, regardless," Beth said firmly.
"Fiiiiinnnne," Ralph drawled, though he really didn't expect anything else. "How about… Lily?"
Whether she was still confused about the name 'Nosferatu' or about the name 'Lily,' she didn't shake her head 'no.' Instead, she looked up towards Beth.
"Do you like the name 'Lily?'" Beth asked.
The girl didn't answer, but rather looked back at Ralph and didn't say or react in any other way. While it wasn't really a firm 'yes' or 'no,' Ralph figured he'd take her not objecting to it as her accepting it.
If nothing else, it would get them to move on from this subject. Something that he was all for.
"Okay, so she'll be Lily from now on," Ralph declared, eliciting a smile from the girl. Ralph couldn't say that he didn't like how that made him feel, but he certainly wasn't going to admit to it. He certainly didn't need his friends talking about that. Especially since he didn't care to make this a regular thing.
When it was clear that no one was going to say anything about the girl being named 'Lily,' Ralph clapped his hands. "Alright. So, what's the plan for the day? I guess we'll be having some go to the local church, though I'm not sure all of us should go as well," Ralph said before pausing for a moment. "If nothing else, I thought I'd do more performing and seeing if we can get some more cash to work with."
"Will you need any help?" Feon asked, looking torn at the moment. Like she was being asked to do both at the same time.
"Probably, but if you want to go to the church, you should do that instead," Ralph said, feeling a little surprised at why he didn't like seeing Feon look like that. He knew there wasn't anything about Feon herself that interested him, but at the same time, he sort of felt like it was a duty of his to keep her from getting down. For any reason.
Which also begged the question from him: Why? Why did this suddenly occur? He certainly hadn't had that happen on their way here. As he knew of a few times when Feon had looked rather depressed and he hadn't batted an eye at it. Not to mention that he knew he wasn't interested in her in a romantic way.
Yet, at the same time, he couldn't help but worry about what she thought of him because of… what? Either he couldn't think of a reason or his mind wasn't letting him know what it was up to. Which merely annoyed him for reasons he couldn't figure out.
"I can help him," Hesha offered. "That way you can go to the church and we can get some more coin."
"Sounds like a plan," Beth said. "I'll escort anyone who wants to go to the church and we can head out whenever everyone's ready to go."
Ralph was satisfied with that. He looked at Wes and they nodded at each other. While Wes likely wanted to take a look at the church, Ralph knew it was more out of curiosity than anything else. They'd both rather get more cash so they could feel more comfortable about what might occur down the line on their search for the griffin canyon. Not to mention the possibility of if they came across Charlie at any point and she needed help.
_
Beth wasn't sure what she expected when she entered the church. To her, it seemed like even calling it a cathedral was an understatement, even though that's more what it felt like to her than a regular 'church' would. Even seeing the outside of the building felt rather intimidating to her.
However, the inside drew her interest the most. They artwork around the inside felt like it was made specifically for this building, although she wasn't sure if that was true or not. Not when she hadn't seen any other buildings like this one.
She'd brought Feon, Aerbris, Raeys, Cinder, Serrith, Resith, Laesith, Saethas, and Lily. Beth had a feeling that the slaves she'd bought the day before, with the exception of Hesha's brother, were unwilling to act like they had a choice of their own.
Aside from Lily, that was. It wasn't clear what Lily knew or didn't know. Not when she was around four and didn't care to talk, even though it was clear she understood what was being said to her.
Though, Beth didn't worry about any of that. She hoped that being here would at least help them understand that they didn't need to be slaves if they didn't want to. Although, she couldn't say for sure if this church endorsed slavery, if they were neutral to it, or if they were opposed to it and unable to do anything about it.
Their footsteps echoed in the spacious building around them. Aside from the artwork, Beth had to admit that even the architecture was rather done in a fairly artistic manner. Much more than most modern buildings that she'd seen back on Earth.
As they moved in farther into the building, Beth wasn't sure if it was how empty it was, how nervous some of the people with her were, or something else altogether, but they were moving in a single large group. With Beth at the center, which she couldn't help but find rather annoying.
The only one who didn't seem to be affected by all that was Feon. If anything, she seemed more alive than she had been since the attack on her hometown. The day that had shattered the innocence in which she had viewed the world up to then.
Beth couldn't help but feel afraid to say anything at all. As with how their footsteps echoed, Beth couldn't help but feel like they'd entered a place they shouldn't be. Like if she spoke, someone would hear her voice and immediately throw her out without waiting for an explanation.
When they did finally see someone, They were almost in the middle of the first room. Where Beth could only feel trapped by everyone around her and how closely they walked with her. Which just made everything a little more painful overall.
The person they saw was a woman who looked to be in her mid to late twenties, had lilac hair, pink eyes, and was wearing an outfit that Beth couldn't help but compare to the catholic priests' outfit. While this one was white, and that was all that Beth could figure out was different due to her limited experience on the matter, she was at least happy to see someone else in there rather than just her and those she'd arrived with.
"How may I help you?" the woman said to them when she noticed them, though Beth wasn't sure what was going on herself. After all, they were there primarily because Feon wanted to go here, though Beth was pretty sure that she'd have at least wanted to take a look here to begin with.
Feon didn't wait for the rest of them to react before she started to dash over to the woman. While their footsteps echoed in here, as well as voices, Beth found that she couldn't hear what Feon and the other person were talking about. Although, Beth was pretty sure that it didn't really matter. That the woman would be making her way over to the rest of them soon enough anyway.
While she didn't think it mattered if she overheard what Feon was saying to the woman, Beth still held back, just in case. As far as she knew, Feon was telling her something that she wouldn't be happy about Beth knowing. While she didn't think it was likely, she still felt like she should do that out of respect, if nothing else.
That said, the others with her were making their way over to the woman as well. Though, they were going at different paces. Beth couldn't be sure if there was any reason for that, but as the woman talked with each of them in turn, they went over to where there was a place where they knelt and rested their wrists or forearms on a kind of board set on its side that was placed in front of what Beth could only assume was an altar.
If there was a name for it, Beth certainly didn't know what it was. The closest she'd ever gotten to religion was when people came by her door proselytizing for one church or another, with the rare exception of getting partnered up with someone who's religion seemed like it was part of their very identity.
Eventually, Beth was the only one she hadn't spoken to, but even then, Beth waited for her to come over, rather than walking towards the woman. Beth wasn't sure if there was a reason why she didn't do that or if it was simply because she didn't really feel like taking the effort to walk over to her, but regardless of the reason, they still ended up in the same situation where they were.
"How may I help you?" the woman asked, her tone sounding kinder than Beth had expected. "Or did you come here to try and help the souls of your slaves?"
Beth felt like she should be seeing some level of condemnation in the woman's eyes, but she seemed as friendly as when they'd first entered. Even though Beth hadn't really been able to make her face out then. The woman had light brown hair, blue eyes, and wore an outfit that made Beth wonder if Catholicism and whatever this religion was either had similar playbooks or if they had similar roots or something. Assuming this woman was a priestess, that is. Which Beth decided she should think of her as until told otherwise.
"I just came because Feon wanted to, and I offered to the others to let them come if they wanted as well," Beth answered, not sure how else to put it.
"Is there anything that I could help you with? Maybe something you'd like to unburden your soul about?" she asked gently.