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?

[heloise]

[ She closes her eyes and smiles. ] Memories. I can see my mother and my brother dancing at my wedding day.

Come sit with me, Ezio.

[assassino]

[He really isn't interested in getting wet, but he dismounts anyway, dropping into the snow beside her.]

Were they happy to see you wed?

[heloise]

[ She chuckles, turning toward him. ] No.

Did the castle grant you a stallion?

[assassino]

No, I borrowed it from the stables. I haven't found one for my own yet, or wait for the castle to bring me mine.

[smile.]

I imagine they thought you too young.

[heloise]

[ She waves her hand against the snow to make a one-winged angel. ] My brother is a jealous one.

Does your stallion have a name, Ezio?

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.]

[assassino]

[Jealous? Hmm.]

He must be protective of you.

The horse is named Maximus.

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.

[heloise]

He loves me above all. [ Even God. Is that heresy? ]

The greatest! He is not a modest horse, is he?

[kamenriderdecade]

...well, if we're all major figures in our respective universes, removing us could have some serious effects.

For example, it would change the future, maybe for the worst.

Maybe even cause a time paradox.

Multiple time paradoxes across several different realities, if major enough, could cross over each other, causing those universes to bleed into each other.

And when worlds begin to merge, that's when the apocalypse starts.

[Cause that...is kinda what was happening back in his universe.]

dictated

[heloise]

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

[heloise]

[ Her head is spinning. ]

Worlds do merge in this place, but time does not move in our respective homes, as I have been told.

This is like a great sleep, a joint dream.

dictated

[secondchances]

But you've got family and friends to get back to.

[assassino]

I'm glad to hear you have him, then.

[laugh]

Not at all. He's very vain, but very courageous.

[kamenriderdecade]

Strange. Hard seeing a point to such a stagnant and needless journey.

dictated

[heloise]

As you do, Stephanie?

[heloise]

Perhaps it is a temporary refuge, for the weary.

[heloise]

Tell me about your sister, Claudia?

[ She tries to draw similarities between the man and the stallion. ] That is the best you can say about a horse, is it not? That it is courageous.

[kamenriderdecade]

I couldn't see why it would take something from us, however.

Unless our loss is something we could do without for a while.

Although that hardly explains why some lose something physical, like prized possessions.

[heloise]

Then the castle deems them unnecessary burdens for our stay here. Then the losses are lessons?

It is an appealing theory.

dictated

[secondchances]

Yup. The friends tend to pop up here every once and a while, though.