venice/chicago ♔ i need a summer like a winter in my heart

[romanticidal]

♬ Winter In My Heart - VAST

WHO || Rafael Giovanni, Buffy, Myri, Dumage, Kat, Gar [closed]
WHAT || The Knights regroup and then go their separate ways
WHERE || Knight's hotel room in Venice > Flight to Chicago
WHEN || July 7th
HOW || Actionspam

And back to the hotel go the ladies, ready to say their goodbyes, with Myri & Buffy heading to Chicago to reunite Rafael with Jade, and Kat & Gar meeting the rest of the team back at the castle to try to convince Wynn to let them remain on their mission...

[ooc; see subthreads!]

Comments

[witchwoman]

[That shakes Myri out of her staring session.]

Hmm? Oh, Amaranth is a he. [Saying it doesn't feel exactly right, but it's the easiest answer. Hearing his name, the familiar stirs and lifts his large head to look at Rafael, violet eyes blinking before he yawns and scratches behind his ear with a large talon-like paw.]

[romanticidal]

A beloved pet? Or perhaps something more?

[witchwoman]

[Well, he already knows that they're Shadowkind, so there's no harm in telling the truth, right?]

Amaranth is my familiar. I am a witchwoman.

[And even despite all she's seen since coming through to this place, it's hard not to say it while bracing herself for backlash of some sort.]

[romanticidal]

[ all he does is smile actually, as if pleased with the news ] Where'd you learn your craft?

[witchwoman]

[She looks up slowly, actually making eye contact and blushing slightly at her initial reaction to being honest.]

A woman was kind enough to take me in as a small child. She was also a witchwoman. Her name was Magretha.

[Was. Past tense. It still gave Myri nightmares to think about.]

[romanticidal]

Was this here? Or in the Shadow World?

[witchwoman]

Neither. Or... not in the way that you might be thinking. From what I have learned about the Shadow World, it is not the same place in which I am from.

I believe I am the only one in this world from Kardia Hodos.

[romanticidal]

[ he sits up a little straighter ] Another plane? [ his eyes narrow a bit as he seems to scrutinize her features ] Divine?

[witchwoman]

Perhaps? I honestly don't know. It was the only world I knew before coming here.

[She's used to the scrutiny, honestly. Her over angular facial features, elongated fingers, and the violet tint to her veins... These were all things that people pointed out as evidence that she was a demon.]

[romanticidal]

What was it like?

[witchwoman]

[Oh, now that's complicated.]

Wonderful. Terrifying. Exciting. Ever changing.

[She pauses and smiles at him]

It was not so different from this place.

[romanticidal]

I suppose it is very difficult to label an entire world much of anything.

You remember it, then. How long ago did you come here?

[witchwoman]

[She nods]

A half year's time. I remember more than the others. I would say I remember everything, but who could know if that is true?

[romanticidal]

My father felt much the same way. He could remember so much that it was easier for him to believe that there were not gaps at all.

[witchwoman]

What was he like? Your father?

[Sometimes these questions happen when you are talking to a girl who cannot remember her own parents :x]

[romanticidal]

A man with very deep convictions. Something I did not much appreciate while he was alive. [ there's clear regret there, a sort of lingering sadness ] He was very proud, as well, of who and what he was. When I was young, I thought him foolish for it.

[witchwoman]

[He brow furrows slightly.]

And what was that, exactly. Forgive me if I'm too forward, but I don't know much about the Shadow World.

[romanticidal]

Are you familiar at all with elvenkind?

[witchwoman]

Only that my name is reminiscent of their language. [She laughs through a shrug.]

I do not think we have such a race in my world.

[romanticidal]

Elves are a long lived people, with close ties to the natural world. My father arrived in the midst of one of the largest cities in America. You can imagine how difficult it was for him.

[witchwoman]

[She nods] Oh yes- I still find the cities here to be quite daunting. Life was much... simpler where I come from.

[romanticidal]

For them as well. He found others of his kind, and they banded together, but when the Great Depression occurred and they found themselves surrounded by despair of the worst kind: hunger, grief, desolation, they thought they might perish from the very sadness of it all.

They thought there might be an Elvish homeland, somewhere in this world, and took off in search of it. They found Italia.

[witchwoman]

[She sits up a little straighter because... well, she's been wandering in search of... something for most of her life. It's difficult to explain the Voice that guided her- or how empty she felt now that she could not longer hear it.]

Your father sounds incredibly brave. To walk away from the only familiarity you have in a strange world and seek out a better life.

[romanticidal]

It was, particularly in those times. They took a boat to Europe, and found nothing but difficulty, war and doubt everywhere. It was in Tuscany that they finally felt they had found a home. A land of song and natural beauty, with people who loved wine and food and song, whose language tripped off the tongue as readily as theirs did and who loved song more than speaking... There were many reasons they chose to make their home here.

[witchwoman]

But something must have changed. Shadowkind are not welcome there any longer.