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

[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.

[romanticidal]

Word traveled. More and more Shadowkind came to settle, and the influx made the locals nervous. There were several cases of very dangerous groups or monsters appearing... it all added together to drive things into a very desperate state.

[witchwoman]

[Nervous locals. Myri gulps visibly, clearly dealing with her own PTSD right now. Give her a minute. She'll be cool in 2.5]

But your father chose to stay despite this. And he obviously made a life of it. Raised a family.

[romanticidal]

He fell in love with Italia. And with an Italian.

My mother's parents were devastated that she married an elf. They more or less disowned her. I never even met them. I do not even know their names.

[witchwoman]

Fear drives people to do terrible things. I'm sorry your family was not able to see past their prejudices.

[romanticidal]

I know well what fear can do to a person, so it is difficult to blame them for it. When I was young, I cautioned my father over and over to hide his heritage, to stop speaking out for elven rights, to stop putting himself in the line of fire. I wanted a normal life.

[witchwoman]

[How many times had Myri wished for the exact same thing? How often had she dreamed of a life with a mother and a father and no more running?]

But you stayed. Even now, you stay where Shadowkind are hunted. You could have gone anywhere else.

i thought it was really ironic when you brought this song up since... it was coming up!

[romanticidal]

[ Free - VAST ]

I was nothing if not rebellious: for them to tell me I should not stay was enough to convince me to fight for it. Things escalated quickly in my lifetime, because while in my father's life, the Veil had closed for a time and new Shadow ceased arriving, when I was only four, it had begun anew, bringing fresh waves of prejudice along. Everything changed quickly... [ he stares down at amaranth, lost in thought ]

We fought so many times, when he began protesting locally to have a temple to the elven god Corellon built within the city. In the end, he was killed for it.

His murderers were never caught. Never stopped. Never punished. It was then that the Resistance found me, while investigating the massacre. I had no longer any interest in school: I could only see now what I had turned a blind eye to before. Shadowkind being bullied, threatened, held back from all they wanted to do for who they were. My mother had no idea why I was suddenly engaged in fights at school, or what I was doing in the many hours I simply did not go.

mmmm give me all the VAST songs and I will be the happiest player

[witchwoman]

[God, listening to him was difficult, if only because her heart continued to ache for him. She knew what it was like. The situations were not exact, but close enough. She could only nod and try to hide the tears that threatened to fall.

For Rafael to come so far, given all the things that were stacked against him: A world that didn't understand, the loss of family, violence, hate, and fear... it gave Myri hope for her own future.

Except that until recently, she hadn't been fighting at all. She'd only been running. The courage she had mustered since joining the Knights seemed paltry compared to this man's decision to stand up for what was right as a mere child.]

I'm so sorry. [It's all she can think to say.] Your father sounds like he was a good man.

:3

[romanticidal]

A better man than I was.

I did not see how my secret was hurting my mother, who was still reeling from losing him. I did not see anything besides my own anger, my own desire for revenge on this world for all it had done and taken from us. She fell ill, and within two years, she was gone as well. We had barely been making ends meet. The Resistance did not pay, and I was spending less and less time with my job, even after I had managed to graduate from one of the schools I attended, despite barely going to class anymore.

[ he looks up, as if only realizing he's pouring out so much ] I wish I could be the kind of man my father was.

Re: :3

[witchwoman]

[She looks up when he does and smiles sympathetically. Share for share? It's all she can offer but for condolences.]

The witchwoman Magretha found me when I was young, a toddler, perhaps two? I couldn't remember anything about my parents or my home- only my name and that of Amaranth. She took me in. I earned my keep around her home and by beginning my lessons as soon as I was old enough to remember the day's work.

When I was six, there was an accident. [She gulps and looks down.] A fire. I tried to save her, but it was too late. By the time I pulled her out, she was gone. That was the first time I was ever called a demon. The man who started the fire, Moncriith, claimed that Magretha had bewitched his father to join her that evening, to... come together as man and woman. He came to kill her but hadn't known his father would be trapped as well. He said that my evil was brought to life by the fact that I chose to try to save a witch like Magretha rather than his father, and that he could see me for what I was.

[She looks back up at Rafael then] I was not as strong as you. I ran. Amaranth and I were alone in the world, running for as long as I can remember.

You lost yourself to anger. I lost myself to fear. But the past is not what matters, only the present. We can make better choices now.

[romanticidal]

You may be right. But the past is not always so simple to escape. When we choose a path, we leave a trail there, and affect more than just ourselves in traveling it.

[witchwoman]

[She thinks to the lives she was unable to save because of her own fear, the people she abandoned in villages that chased her out. She had never been strong enough to fight back, and so many more ill people would not live the night.]

I do not th- [Her voice cracks and she has to start again.] I do not think any wrong is righted by dwelling. We must learn from our travels and forge ahead.

...You can never see where you are going if you are constantly looking back.

[romanticidal]

I do not disagree, but I speak of more practical concerns. Your past does not disappear because you choose to leave it. There are consequences for every action.

[witchwoman]

It would seem we are two sides of the same coin on this matter. Perhaps a bit of both is best.

[romanticidal]

Perhaps, si.

... Do you miss it then? Your world?