paradisa | xvii. dictated, action

Entry tags:

lucrezia borgia

xvii. dictated, action

Paradisa
For my Giovanni. If you would be so kind.

[ Lucrezia can be found at highest roof with a wooden box inlaid with pearls at her feet. It is small and finely made, but the real (belated) gift is within: a white silk shirt fit for a little prince with golden narcissus embroidered on its sleeves. She turns away after enough time, retracing her steps back to her room. ]

Ovid once wrote, est etiam placuisse sibi quaecumque voluptas: virginibus cordi grataque forma suast.

But mirrors never turned out for good.

[ Translation goes: Besides, all women take a secret pride in being fine or else they are belied; for when the conscious maid explores her mirror and finds she's handsome, she herself adores. ]

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[Kara had just been out for a flight, but there's Lucrezia, so she's going to hang out with Lucrezia. She drops out of the sky slowly, and despite the winter, wears only a hoodie and little shorts.]

Latin, huh?

There was something about mirrors in that?

Ahhh, but usually the conscious maid doesn't get sucked into a magical world when she gazes at herself in a mirror.

[ Girl, what are you wearing? Lucrezia hesitates before taking off her cloak to offer it to her. At least she's all covered. ]

Yes. The language of the poets.

[ Don't ask me which part though. ]

Yes. A looking-glass. All women take pride in being beautiful; even when a virgin sees into her mirror and sees she is handsome, she herself adores.

[She waves off the coat, not wanting to be rude, but also not wanting to take a cloak away from a human in the snow.]

It's alright, the cold doesn't bother me. But the language of poets? I can't say I know much about poetry.

Perhaps she is, figuratively. A world where she knows the reason why those eyes follow her.

Are you sure? [ She may not be human and all but it's cold out here! ]

The language of the learned. Though I find Dante's Italian as beautiful.

If it'll make you feel better, here--

[Kara laughs, and she flickers for a moment -- superspeeding away, and then right back again -- so it appears as though she magically changed outfits. She plops down to sit beside Lucrezia, now in jeans and a winter jacket, and a cute red hat with floppy ear-flaps.]

I'm afraid I don't know any Dante, either. I do know a bit of Italian, though. I'm really good at languages.

[ Oh no, that just has her gaping at her with shock. Lucrezia has seen some strange things in the castle but Kara looks so normal otherwise. She remembers to close her mouth after some minutes. That reminds her of Joshua. ]

Did you fly...?

Sort of, I just went really, really fast. Don't worry about it.

[ Lucrezia nods slowly. Swallowing crazy things hasn't gotten easier with frequency. ]

Dante wrote the Commedia, or the divine commedy as Boccaccio named it. What Italian do you know?

Just enough for basic communication. In my line of work, sometimes you end up working with non-English speakers, and it would suck to be unable to communicate with them.