|
Post by Lavinia on Jun 2, 2009 20:43:33 GMT -5
Lavinia became very grave, and drew her wrists closer as though going to fold her hands over her heart. Then you don't know...
She hadn't had time to notice that the princess was quite rude. She attempted to figure out how to word such a terrible piece of news while the bartender drew nearer to the harrowed and mad-seeming Greek maiden to get her something to drink. It wasn't until he pulled away again that Lavinia reached out to place the stump of her wrist over Cassandra's hand sort of tenderly.
It has been a very long time since all that you relate now.
|
|
Cassandra
- Masterful Virgin -
Beware of...oh, never mind.%\1\%
Posts: 26
|
Post by Cassandra on Jun 2, 2009 20:50:45 GMT -5
This was unnerving Cassandra fairly badly, and she needed a drink more than ever. For a moment she continued to eye Lavinia strangely. "Don't know what...?"
This was interrupted as she turned to the bartender, shortly requesting, "Something powerful," and turning back with a concerned look. "...How long?"
|
|
|
Post by Lavinia on Jun 3, 2009 16:24:38 GMT -5
For a moment it was Lavinia's turn to be confused and eye Cassandra oddly, although not unsympathetically. Didn't you know this would...? She shook her head, not managing to complete the thought as Cassandra's question, and expression of concern, instead found their way into her consciousness. She frowned now instead as she failed to do calculations. Longer than I can relate, she finished finally. It happened before I was born, and I am... Of course she only looked approximately eighteen. Millennia. Two, she added, more specifically, in a helpful tone of thought.
|
|
Cassandra
- Masterful Virgin -
Beware of...oh, never mind.%\1\%
Posts: 26
|
Post by Cassandra on Jun 3, 2009 18:02:30 GMT -5
Cassandra did manage to get the hint of that question, and it annoyed her. "Well, it isn't like I get perfectly clear visions! It's not 'There'll be a battle in three days', just 'Blood! Death! Carnage!' And I didn't see anything like this city." She leaned back, taking the drink hastily proferred by the unsettled barkeep.
Still, she was interested to know when...or where she was. The reply was, well, unexpected. Her eyebrows raised, lips pursing in alarm. "You...don't say. Two millenia. Of course. ...Funny, you don't look a day over 1800," she added with a sigh and snark.
|
|
|
Post by Lavinia on Jun 3, 2009 19:01:26 GMT -5
Lavinia lifted the stump of a wrist as though lifting her hands to imply Cassandra should back down.
You are not the first seer I have met, she replied rather more sagely than Cassandra's behavior really warranted. But Lavinia took that sort of thing very seriously. There does not seem to be a standard. How could I know.
She was more sympathetic about Cassandra's confusion over the time, probably because she was as alarmed that Cassandra did not know as Cassandra seemed to be. She had forgotten long periods of time herself, yes. That was different. She did not think she was still in Rome in its glory days. Haven't you noticed the strange attire and customs and technology around you here in Paris? Her own lips were pursed, an indent between her brows, as she looked back at her with concern.
|
|
Cassandra
- Masterful Virgin -
Beware of...oh, never mind.%\1\%
Posts: 26
|
Post by Cassandra on Jun 3, 2009 19:22:31 GMT -5
That Cassandra did, leaning back even farther into her seat, unhappily, gulping her drink. "Oh, no? It figures, really." She snorted. After all, Kalchas had been a seer as well. "And forgive me for being a bit abrupt, having your home destroyed around you when you could see it coming tends to do that."
She sighed heavily in response. "Yes, I could tell that time had passed, obviously. I did sail for quite a long time before...somehow arriving here. I was not aware, however, that mortals such as myself were routinely gifted with millenia of life, at least without their knowledge." She flipped a lock of hair out of her face in irritation.
|
|
|
Post by Lavinia on Jun 3, 2009 20:27:15 GMT -5
Lavinia rested the stump of her wrist on Cassandra's shoulder and rubbed it a little inefficiently.
I am so, so sorry. She sighed very unhappily. It is very hard to keep living.
|
|
Cassandra
- Masterful Virgin -
Beware of...oh, never mind.%\1\%
Posts: 26
|
Post by Cassandra on Jun 4, 2009 11:58:48 GMT -5
That wasn't very helpful, but Cassandra did try to relax.
"...I see your point," she replied gloomily after some time. "What...if you don't mind my asking...happened to you? Another god being the way they are?"
|
|
|
Post by Lavinia on Jun 4, 2009 14:18:49 GMT -5
Lavinia looked so very sorrowful and tragic that there was an element of comedy to it - which she herself, of course, did not note.
If I knew, came the reply, surely I would have spent those millenia trying all that was in my power to make him reverse it.
She had up until very recently blamed a long-deceased Goth queen, or more accurately, her Moor lover, given that Moors were popularly known to do all sorts of evil things with magic in Lavinia's day and days since, but since Heike's reaction to the curse, or whatever it was, had been so strong, she supposed, after a very long time and a very long grudge, that what had happened to her was indeed beyond the two.
|
|
Cassandra
- Masterful Virgin -
Beware of...oh, never mind.%\1\%
Posts: 26
|
Post by Cassandra on Jun 4, 2009 17:52:29 GMT -5
Cassandra had never been fond of the comedies. The world was a serious place, or so she held. It was what made her so studious, and part of why she had spurned Apollo in the first place. At least now she didn't laugh cruelly, or even smile, at Lavinia's expression.
"Hmm. Fair enough." She took another sip. Typical, gods meddling with human affairs. No doubt a curse placed on her to keep her alive...maybe by Ares, or Hades...or...wait...
"You're here on a sort of quest, I see. You will...you will find solutions, eventually, but they may not be ones you like..."
|
|
|
Post by Lavinia on Jun 4, 2009 19:40:48 GMT -5
Lavinia pulled back and tilted her head, looking at Cassandra strangely. It did not quite occur to her that she'd been told a prophecy, because it was so very vague a statement. She wrinkled her nose at her after a moment in something like skepticism. Why such a vague statement, after all, deserved skepticism, she couldn't know, but it was a strange but specific gut reaction.
Quest. The tone of the thought was flat. Of course. I have certainly set out with a purpose, what else?
But put into this train of thought made her only more moody, and she leaned forward and bit down on the edge of her glass, tilting it down so that drink inside of it could run down her throat.
|
|
Cassandra
- Masterful Virgin -
Beware of...oh, never mind.%\1\%
Posts: 26
|
Post by Cassandra on Jun 5, 2009 22:41:49 GMT -5
Well, that was how they came to Cassandra, and when she had a vision she had to share it. It wasn't quite clear to her if that was part of the curse, or her simply being impulsive. Either way, she sighed, embarrassed, and stared into her wine.
"I...can see that. No, though, that was--that was a vision. I saw something then, again. It really happens when I least expect it. So." She paused. "I don't believe I've got your name?"
|
|
|
Post by Lavinia on Jun 6, 2009 13:33:56 GMT -5
Lavinia understood at those words and felt both faintly ashamed of herself and faintly surprised. Of course she hadn't believed her, because she knew who Cassandra was and knew her story well enough. But she couldn't bring herself to believe it in spite of that. She found herself sort of hoping that Cassandra had lost her ability, but she knew this was absurd. How strange all of that was. She took another pigeon-swallow of alcohol and tried not to make the glass tumble over in haste.
It still sounded preposterous to her. Still, at least it was vague. It would be easier to not be bothered by later, under those circumstances.
Lavinia Andronicus, she told her. Only daughter of... Titus. It upset her thinking about it. Of course, Titus Andronicus had been dead for two millennia, hadn't he? Maybe she had relatives somewhere, very distant onces, scattered about Italy, and hadn't even known. This thought made her very glum.
|
|
Cassandra
- Masterful Virgin -
Beware of...oh, never mind.%\1\%
Posts: 26
|
Post by Cassandra on Jun 6, 2009 13:41:19 GMT -5
Awkwardly shifting in her seat, Cassandra finished up the cup. It was always the same: they doubted, either laughing it off, or in worse cases, being hostile. It was even more embarrassing when one considered the current condition of her appearance: long sea voyages after fleeing in haste were seldom conducive to health.
Well, she would find out for herself what it would be. Either way, she nodded. "Interesting name. I'm not aware of the style." Sadly, her own dynasty had died out there--at least, almost certainly it had. Then again, perhaps some cousins might have had descendants living around Turkey and Greece.
|
|
|
Post by Lavinia on Jun 6, 2009 14:07:27 GMT -5
After a long moment of being gloomy and sipping as well as she could at her glass - this was very difficult to do without hands, after all - Lavinia thought, sort of guiltily, but wanting to clear the air, I know why I don't believe you. It's not really because you're not believable, just, you know. Because you've been cursed. Even though I don't, I know that I should and that it's true.
Not the most helpful, but Lavinia had a very sympathetic and sorrowful expression on her face.
|
|