asgardeventide | [001] Video + Action for Freya District

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[001] Video + Action for Freya District

[A timid woman appears on the feed and to some... she may look familiar, but there's something different about her.]

H-Hello? Everyone can hear me, right? [She gives the bracelet a curious look.] My name is Beatrice Castiglioni, I have only been here a few days and... Could someone explain to me these recent contests I have been seeing? Some of them looked quite fun.

[She puts on a nervous, but warm smile.] By the way, does anyone happen to know a man by the name of Kinzo Ushiromiya? If so, please let him know that I am here.

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No... mine is Growth. We're the minority, there, but it's still a useful power.

What can you do with Growth?

My own is Energy Transfer, but I haven't tested it out yet.

Growing plants, mostly. We can also manipulate them to an extent, and use them for self-defense. But I never tried the latter.

[ Oh, she knows Euri got that one. ] I think there are enough users with that ability in your house. One of them will answer you clearly if you asked.

That does sound useful. Perhaps if you had plants with plenty of water in them, you could protect yourself from a small fire. Or maybe even use them to trip others by their feet.

I will do so when I get the chance, then. The maid explained some things to me, but I'm still curious to see how it works myself.

I had a similar idea. [ Protect herself from the fire... heh. ]

Hm, I'm sure you can get easy help with that.

Yes, I've heard Freya's house is quite large in numbers.

[But she could focus on those sort of things later. She was trying to make new friends in this world, after all.]

You know, I learned a few Japanese words from Kinzo before he left me in the care of a doctor. "Hana" means flower. If you put that together with "ko" it translates into "Flower Child."

My own name, Beatrice, has several meanings. In Latin, the meaning is "voyager through life," then in Italian it's "bringer of joy." It's also the name of the holy lady from Dante's Divine Comedy.

Edited 2012-07-22 22:24 (UTC)

[ Hanako blinks when she's told this. There's a short pause. ]

My name means Flower Child, indeed. Or... flower girl, too, if we go by gender.

I assumed your name was italian... it has a pretty nice meaning. I have read the Divine Comedy. It's one of my favourite classic books. [ At this point she debates whether she should tell her about the "other" Beatrice or not. Now that she's reflecting about it, this woman could even be a completely different person than the witch she's used to know. ]

It's one of my favorites too! Dante was a brilliant writer. ...Or perhaps I should say is a brilliant writer since his name is still well-known even to this day.

Kinzo said he also read the Divine Comedy and some of Machiavelli's works too. I did not think Italian writers were read by so many of those in the East. I regret saying that I haven't many Eastern books, though. [Perhaps she could find some here.]

You're right. Though I haven't read many of his other works.

[ She's slightly perking up, at the prospect that this Beatrice might be a big reader like her. ] The Great Library basically has every book you'd find in all existent worlds. You'll find those eastern books with no doubt. I might show you around, since that's the usual place I go to.

I would appreciate that. Perhaps we could have tea together some other time too.

Tea... oh, we also have a tea room right next to the library. It'd be convenient if we went there after collecting books. [ Mighty convenient. That place is a godsend, to her. ]

Oh, that is convenient! I would like that very much.

Back at my home in Italy, the servants would usually just bring me tea while I was reading.

Then we can set a date and time, and I'll guide you through the library. I can't promise that we'll be able to visit the whole of it. It's that large.

... You had servants? [ She must be rich... ]

That's alright. It's not as though I will be going away anytime soon, nor am I in much of a hurry. [Well, okay. She was in a hurry to see Kinzo again, but it looks like she's stuck here for now.]

The Castiglioni family is one of Italy's oldest noble families, so yes. [She doesn't use a brag-like tone when she says this, though.]

Edited 2012-07-23 04:31 (UTC)

I will make sure to show you the most important bits of it, then. I've been busy lately, but I could find a time for the both of us. [ She just wants to have bookworm shenanigans, ok. ]

... I haven't known that. That's impressive. [ Shows that she should read more history books. ]

I'm sure we'll be able to work out a schedule that fits with both of us.

It is, but being born into a noble family is not as grand as it sounds.

I will probably be more free after the Travellers Festival.

... It's not?

Travellers Festival?

Well... it's true that you have a lot of money and if you're wealthy enough, a bunch of servants to cater to your every whim, but it's also a rather restricted lifestyle. It was such for both Kinzo and I.

It's a festive day we decided on to protest against the gods' mistreatment towards us. They hand out curses and force us to do things just for the sake of getting reactions out of us, and they even caused some deaths. We decided that we won't stand for that anymore.

I see... a happy wealthy life without freedom is... not happy, is it?

I-I did hear a bit about the curses that the gods push onto people here sometimes, but I haven't heard about people dying from them. The Travellers Festival, though... What exactly do people do during that time?

No, it's very gray and dull, like this city, or rather, how this city used to be. [Because it looks pretty colorful in some parts.]

Edited 2012-07-27 17:50 (UTC)

It happened a couple times. Once, some people died when they were given their original powers back for five minutes. And the other time was when they sent some people in a camp where they were exposed to attacks from fire demons. There were casualties there, too... [ By now she made a habit out of giving out this sort of information, though it.. still stings her. ]

... Did you ever think of running away from that kind of life?

That's... [Beyond cruel, especially killing those people after giving them false hope of regaining their powers.]

I did, but I did not know where I would go, especially with the war in place and the rank my father held. However, in the end, I did run away. It just happened in an... unexpected way. [And she does mean a very unexpected way.]

That's terrible... I know. They do that to control us and make sure we do as they wish. They have no care for us.

[ Growing somewhat curious. ] An unexpected way? Did someone help you?