xxvi. dictated, action

[lucre]

I have an emerald necklace, a collection of silk ties and keys to a chapel. Before that: a set of pearls, a doll made of porcelain and a Seal of Approval from the Easter Bunny.

[ Is she bragging? But of course. ]

I could almost start a museum of lost friends. We should, and name it nostalgia, a longing for people and places more familiar.

[ Speaking of the chapel, she is now standing by the front aisle of the church in the castle dressed in a dark blue with black velvet gloves. Her hair is wind tousled after the ride from the mansion but she is otherwise quiet and still as a statue. Some might think she is praying if not for her eyes wide open, fixed on the altar. ]

Comments

filtered forever

[wolfchild]

I have two necklaces and a bracelet, a pelt, two animals, gold feathers and enough swords and arrows to have mine own armory and too many letters.

[ she can play this game too. ]

forever!

[lucre]

The letters are the most valuable.

[ So she thinks, but then it's personal. ]

We can have an entire wing dedicated to your armory.

[wolfchild]

No one else can touch them.

[lucre]

The letters or the swords?

[hellofist]

[It's the maids that point Cass in the right direction when she goes looking for Lucrezia after her speak over the journal. It's the kind of thing that almost requires an in person meeting, a friend that's still here comforting one who has lost so many.

This is her first time actually going into the church, though she's run across the roof of it many times before. In this setting, she's the one who feels out of place watching Lucrezia in her pretty dress and standing so still. It's like something out of a painting. Something tells her now is a moment to be quiet, so when she steps up to Lucrezia's side she doesn't say anything just yet, choosing to reach out for her hand and link their fingers together instead.]

[wolfchild]

Neither.

[lucre]

[ The maids have a way of guessing where Lucrezia is off to by now, especially when she only ever frequents the orphanage in town or the castle, though this chapel is new.

For being the Pope's own daughter, she rarely steps into a house of God (and why must she if she is herself the holy daughter and thus requires no intervention aside from the Vicar of Rome himself?). She is thinking this time, not praying, wondering if there will ever be a point to all this waiting and losing and moving on to do it all over again. Cass's interruption is welcome, so she tightens her hold slightly to show her approval, smiling a little even if she doesn't turn to see her. ]

The conquistadores may rethink their quest for the Fountain of Youth if they knew.

Dictated.

[dorkwonder]

[Lucrezia's message about lost friends resonates with Tim on an unfortunate level.]

We should make some kind of monument for the people who have come and gone.

[hellofist]

[Sometimes, it's like she's just arrived in the middle of a conversation Lucrezia had been having with someone else just in time to catch the tail end of it. It's never a particularly negative thing, just another riddle about her that makes her so interesting.]

What's... conquistadores?

[Maybe if she gets definitions she can try to make sense of that statement.]

[lucre]

They can touch with their eyes then.

Dictated.

[lucre]

[ Unfortunate is right. ]

Something warmer than a stone monument, I hope.

[lucre]

[ A conversation with herself perhaps. Lucrezia sees little need to guide another to see her perspective when she doesn't care for those disinterested while those interested will try harder. ]

Explorers of distant lands. Queen Isabella, Isabel la Católica, sent the men in search of a spring that grants eternal life.

Do you want eternal life, Cassandra?

[hellofist]

[That's not something she's really ever considered, before now. Cass has already had more than one brush with death, she's already died and she knows that if she ever meets Shiva again, she'll likely die for good. In the end she's just too used to the idea that she won't live for very long.]

Don't think so. Would get boring, I think.

[A light answer, accompanied by a kiss on Lucrezia's cheek. She's here to cheer her up after all.]

dictated

[secondchances]

I don't even want go through my stuff.

[Sorry, Lucrezia. She's been here way longer and therefore has way more stuff from people that are gone.]

[lucre]

[ While Lucrezia thinks she will be the one left behind as everyone else dies all about her, for her without asking if that's what she wants (it is, mostly, until it actually happens). She smiles to herself at the kiss and bows her head, gladly accepting her affection. ]

Unless we all live forever. But then we might grow to hate each other and that would be worse.

dictated

[lucre]

But you have kept them?

Tim Alvin agrees.

dictated

[secondchances]

Yeah. It's not like I would get rid of them, even if I wanted.

I still have that pearl ring you gave me.

dictated

[lucre]

And the crown?

dictated

[secondchances]

Of course. That's a little harder to incorporate in my wardrobe, though.

aww matching icons

[hellofist]

[Cass doesn't like the sound of that either, especially not after everything that's gone on with Lucrezia and Steph. So, she'll try distraction instead.]

Have something, for you. Close your eyes.

dictated

[lucre]

[ She chuckles. ]

I should give you more dresses to match then.

:>

[lucre]

[ Distraction is good, so is pretending everything is alright, the way she has been doing when it comes to Steph. Maybe, maybe it will work. She bites her lip and looks into her friend's eyes first, needing to be sure to trust her enough to close her eyes and hold out her palm. ]

dictated

[secondchances]

I've still got those, too.

[hellofist]

[She's so cute with that little lip bite. Once Lucrezia's eyes are closed, Cass places a necklace in the palm of her hand.]

Should never forget... the people who leave. But, also don't forget... the ones still here.

[lucre]

[ She has certainly honed being easy to love into an artform, so much so that she hardly needs to pretend and so the mask becomes the person. Her eyes brighten at the necklace, to think that Cass would know to choose pearls for her and a style more familiar to her. ]

But-- [ She laughs with glee. This feels much like having a suitor, as much as she knows of it from books. ]

Shall I give you a lock of my hair in return, dear knight?