iv. dictated

[heloise]

Many of you expressed a need to return home for the sake of some great purpose, as if the castle's choosing is not so arbitrary.

Or perhaps it is because we all believe our purpose great.

And, a man's home is his castle.

[ Lucrezia is lying on the snow by the duck pond, hiding from the festivities today. Her white and gold dress serves almost as a disguise, though her blue coat forming a puddle nearby does not. She watches the sky and haltingly hums a song. ]

Comments

[assassino]

[Guess who is out riding, mounted on a big white stallion? He pulls the horse to a halt a safe distance away, to avoid trodding on her. That doesn't stop him from leaning over in the saddle to look at her, though, the top half of his face obscured by his deep hood.]

You're likely to turn into an ice statue, laying in the snow like that.

[heloise]

[ She turns her head at the approaching sound, squinting her eyes at him. She can hazard a guess of who he may be. Always a grand entrance, eh, Ezio? ]

No. My heart will keep me warm.

[assassino]

[Such is his nature.]

And what, pray tell, keeps your heart so warm?

dictated

[kamenriderdecade]

So, you think maybe it's kidnapping people integral to the safety of the universe to doom all realities to extinction?

[Despite his serious tone, he is joking. He's just bad at it.]

dictated

[heloise]

[ Wow, she never thought of it that way. ]

Perhaps we all think we are integral to the continuity of our world. And, perhaps we are.

dictated

[secondchances]

You're in no rush, sounds like.

dictated

[heloise]

[ She laughs. ] I have no universe to save.

[technohap]

It all depends on what we left behind.

[heloise]

What did you leave behind, Henry?

dictated

[craggyfaced]

My purpose is great, though my part in it is likely not.

What is it you are thinking on, lady?

forever!

[heloise]

You are simply too modest, Sir Durge.

I am thinking of home, my family's table.

[succubitch]

There are a few who seem to prefer things here. I think it all depends on what we have to go home to.

[heloise]

You have the Senior Partners to return to.

dictated forever;

[amiable]

It's not bad if people want to go home, is it? Being homesick is normal here.

\o/

[heloise]

Not at all. I am not immune to it either, though I have no great purpose to serve as an excuse.

Are you homesick, Uru?

dictated;

[blue_sniper]

And what if we can't return?

dictated;

[heloise]

[ Oh no! ]

I am so sorry.

action ]

[impetuous]

[The singing draws his attention. He takes a few steps toward the duck pond until he can see her. He smiles.]

Second time we meet, and you're lying down again.

action ]

[heloise]

[ And it wasn't very good singing at all. She laughs, shifting a little so she can see him. ]

Gwaine. This time I am drunk with music.

[gunslinger]

Well, doesn't everybody have an important purpose to at least one other person?

[heloise]

Surely. If not then he must be the loneliest person.

[voice]

[wishmadeinfire]

So you think the Castle chooses us because we have thoughts of great grandeur in our own worlds?

[voice]

[heloise]

I thought perhaps the castle chose some of us because of our role in our respective worlds.

[peacockherald]

<sub>[Oh Havens, song. When was the last time he heard a song? He couldn't even play one now, thanks to this castle, and that had cut him to the bone, the loss of that. At least he could still hear it and appreciate it.

He followed the sound around the duck pond to the not unattractive young woman lying there in the snow.]</sub>

What sort of song is that, milady?

_{[Always a gentleman, a habit born from years beneath his mother's tutelage.]}

[heloise]

[ Poor man. He should have stumbled on a more proficient singer than this one, stumbling over the notes and barely remembering the song! She doesn't seem bothered by it however, laughing at herself as she sits up to greet him with a bow of her head. ]

It is a song for dancing, messere, by the maestro di capella of the Spanish embassy.