—i play the heroine, i play to their sympathies.

[appeale]

WHO: rudbeckia de borgia & etc.
WHERE: various locations
WHEN: check subject lines
WHAT: catch-all & overflow log
WARNINGS: will update as needed. see individual threads for specific warnings and mind ruby's character cws

Comments

[pyojeol]

[Sooyoung has the nerve to look disappointed as she follows Ruby to the staircase, though she guesses that it makes sense for the other girl to be nervous about that -- and not about something especially embarrassing squirreled away somewhere among her rooms. Or maybe she DOES have something embarrassing... Sooyoung's on the look-out... for science.]

It's fine, I'm used to big houses. And I'd expect the Borgias to have a huge one.

[Even if Ruby's version of the Borgia family is different from the one Sooyoung's read about... speaking of,]

Are your tethers your family?

[SHE JUST OUTRIGHT ASKS I GUESS]

[appeale]

No, but one of them is something my eldest brother gifted me!

[ she had very nearly succumbed to the urge to throw it down the stairs, the first time she stepped inside this place.

it is very quickly dawning on Ruby that she needs to lie a lot during this next half hour, or however long it takes to resolve the problem. Sooyoung is hard to predict—sometimes it feels like she hardly has any interest in the details of Ruby's life or personality at all, and then she goes and asks some prying question so pointed she could break bedrock. there's nothing that can be done to change this place and the things inside it, so all that's left is to pretend they mean something else.

also, not to let Sooyoung wander. with that in mind, Ruby links their arms together, shivering and huddled close to seem as though she's just seeking warmth. ]

It's so cold even in here... —Oh, see, this is my family.

[ there's an enormous painting hanging over the grand staircase that Ruby points at as they approach it. in the centre of the portrait is presumably the Pope, seated like a king, a woman dressed luxuriously and standing at his right side; stood to the left are two men who look to be in their twenties, the younger with a sword at his hip and a priest's stole draped over the shoulders of the older.

Rudbeckia is not in the painting. ]

[pyojeol]

[Sooyoung looks up at Ruby's prompting.

Her first thought is the size. Which, again, should probably be expected, but still. This isn't a shiny photograph from a studio -- it's a true, honest to god, painting. The style of it reminds her of Kaizenix -- portraits of royalty, and the inhabitants exhibit that air too. She looks from one face to the next, arms still linked with Ruby, expression duly impressed despite herself if also confused, because yes she's looking for Ruby and the fact that she isn't there doesn't escape her --

and then her eyes land on the man with the stole, and her expression twists into half-dismay, half-disbelief.]

-- Holy shit.

[She points with her non-linked hand at the man,]

That's your brother? That guy?!

[a bit dramatique, but entirely honest in that Sooyoung really took one look at Cesare and went 'YOO JOONGHYUK??????']

[appeale]

[ she only laughs brightly at the dramatics. ]

Yes, that's Cesare. It would have been hard to picture him, since he and I don't look very alike.

[ when she looks at the Borgias together like this, it really seems so obvious that Rudbeckia isn't one of them. it was common knowledge that she was illegitimate at best, and she's sure there were people in Romagna who suspected the whole truth, but... it goes to show what a useful political piece she was that she didn't suffer more from that. her father had been able to threaten her more than once with his benevolence and discretion regarding the matter.

that aside, it isn't hard to guess at what might have gotten such a strong reaction from Sooyoung, mostly because Ruby went through the same thing. she adds, sheepish: ] Actually, when I was under the influence of the cursed food at the Harvest Festival, I mistook Signor Joonghyuk for my brother... Isn't it a funny coincidence?

[ Seriously, what kind of torture is it for a man to have both the appearance of Cesare and the personality of my husband? ]

[pyojeol]

[Sooyoung's face snaps from disbelief to a grimace of sympathy. She can only imagine how well Joonghyuk handled that. Though maybe he was nicer to Ruby while she was hallucinating...? At least, as nice as he's able to be...]

That guy's got a little sister too, younger than you.

[there are funny coincidences, and there are Coincidences. She can almost see Dokja's annoying little comment underneath her novel, accusing her of plagiarism for similarities she couldn't control? She feels like he'd say the exact same here.]

Is yours obsessed with you too?

[Not that she can blame Joonghyuk for wanting to safeguard his only living relative in a world filled with apocalypse and evil, but since when was Sooyoung ever fair to him.]