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

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?

[witchwoman]

No. [She says, almost too quickly.]

...My abilities were not well received. In a way, by coming here, I have found acceptance. The Knights do not ask me to hide who I am, unless it might risk a mission. They welcome my Gift.

[romanticidal]

You are lucky then, to have fallen in with them so soon upon arriving here.

[witchwoman]

[Myri just nods]

Sometimes I wonder how I deserve such luck.

[romanticidal]

Why would you not? Everyone deserves a chance to live freely.

[witchwoman]

I had never known such kindness until I came here. Perhaps I had started to believe all those things the Blood Priests said about me and my familiar.

[romanticidal]

Then it is a good thing you left that world when you did.

[witchwoman]

[A smile lifts the corners of her mouth.] Yes, it would seem that it was the best thing that could have happened. I only hope to also impart such kindness and good fortune during my time with the Knights.

[romanticidal]

A very optimistic way of looking at the world. [ he smiles faintly ] It is wonderful to see, that.

[witchwoman]

[Myri's smile widens.] It has been a long time since I have had the fortune of such an outlook. Perhaps you will one day be able to have one of the same.

[romanticidal]

Finding Eterna again would certainly be a step in that direction.

[witchwoman]

[Myri is thoughtful for a moment.]

You really care about her, don't you?

[romanticidal]

Losing her... meant losing everything that had made my life worthwhile.

[witchwoman]

[Myri can't imagine such a loss. But still she tries to have an optimistic side to it.]

But now you know she's alive. Surely that must alleviate some of the hurt.

[romanticidal]

Some of it, yes.

Yet... I cannot help but wonder why she has not sought me out again, if she has indeed been here all this time.