—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

[uncourteous]

[ real or not— exaggerated or not, he's not sure why he's letting it bother him. it's not like he always had a pleasant upbringing himself, but he didn't necessarily take pleasure in other people experiencing their own traumas. ... despite how he behaves nothing less of a feral beast on the surface. that said, when she once again side-steps his question (except, does she really?), he releases something of a defeated exhale. ] You... [ coming from him, it may have seemed threatening or could have been taken as him being in a foul mood at her response, but that's not quite it.

instead, he's more like... swallowing down the fact that she probably wasn't going to explain herself. at least not today or now in this moment. which, was fair, and he decides to simply glaze over it, if that is truly what she wants. it's a consideration he doesn't normally spare, but well, she did confess some manner of feeling him before, right? maybe that was enough reason for him to be softer on her (softer is actually debatable, but listen).

still, it's hard not to find it kind of frustrating. but, the way she comes to his side and holds his arm, well. his brows furrow slightly, before moving forward as he always does. ] Stay behind me. It looks like if it is around, it's further this way.

Do you have any other sort of weapon here? [ all he has is a rusty dagger he pilfered off a body in the gallows. ]

[appeale]

[ she doesn't protest at all the command to stay behind him, not even as a token courtesy. it's pointless to pretend to be brave; she isn't the heroine in any situation, and those gestures won't touch anyone. no matter how hard she tries to present herself as kind, she knows nothing can disguise the selfish and cowardly heart of her. ]

No, I'm afraid not. [ there wouldn't be anything in this place that she could defend herself with. that was something she immediately understood when she first explored it after waking in the Shadowlands: it will only ever contain things that can hurt her. ] Maybe I can find a fire poker, at least...

[ hanging over the stairs and along the walls of the hallway, they pass several paintings, some askew or knocked down. the same four faces appear throughout them, at various stages in their lives, posed individually or together: an older man and woman, and two young men, one with a relaxed air and the other more severe. there's no sign of Rudbeckia herself in any of these paintings.

as they pass a portrait of the dark-haired man, Ruby glances at it, then shivers—shudders?—and presses herself even more to Callisto's side. ]

I-I'll look around. Let's just make it to my room first. Hopefully, I'll be able to light us a fire and we can warm up, too. [ she grasps for more words to fill space so that she can keep him from making any more pointed comments: ] Did it get particularly cold where you were from, Don Callisto?

[uncourteous]

[ there's comfort in the fact that she doesn't argue. if just explicitly due to their present circumstances. still, his eyes dart around both in curiosity and in the idea of trying to focus in on any hint of suspicious movement. but, he's not sure what is stranger, the atmosphere of the mansion itself, or the details it provided.

as they walk onwards, he sees the photos and if they are in her home, he can only presume they were family. ... and if judging by her reaction towards them, he could gather that they may have not been all too close. to be honest, it's not a sentiment he couldn't comprehends. no, all the same, from the innocent and naive child he had been to the jaded man he had been now, maybe, within his own assumptions, he feels an odd kinship between them.

but, perhaps beneath that, there was another emotion settling at the pit of his stomach.

at her words, he gives a firm nod. ] Well, since I am here, it is my duty to escort the lady. [ he says this in an easygoing tone despite everything, doing his best to entertain her questions, while also attempting to figure out what he could draw from her. ] I was out at war often, and so I wouldn't consider myself unfamiliar with the cold. There were times where we had to huddle together just for warmth. It makes one wonder what merit they saw in sending us there at all. [ but, well.. in all actuality, he figured someone had to. as the man who become emperor, it never crossed his mind to live any other way.

that said: ] What of you?

[appeale]

[ it's surreal that Callisto reminds her so much of Iske, and that she is here, walking with him arm in arm, trusting him to protect her. her husband had carried her in his arms on more than one occasion, but not once could Rudbeckia ever stand beside him like this; and even if he would kill any monster that appeared before Rudbeckia, she never felt that he would be doing so for her sake. she's not such a fool as to believe Callisto regards her as anything other than a nuisance, but... something feels different.

maybe it's just because he isn't someone who is predestined to kill her. ]

Me? Romagna is a very warm place, so I'm used to mild winters. It doesn't ever snow there.

[ she says that—and yet, the next window they pass no longer looks out into a sunlit garden. instead, it frames a field of grass on the edge of a dark forest, all of it blanketed in layers of the still-falling snow. Ruby's steps falter, just briefly. ]

... Ah... [ the air is too tense here for her to laugh, but she ducks her head, sheepish. ] But my family sent me to the North recently, and it seems like the castle where I stayed left an impression on me. It was very cold there, so that's why I'm hoping that there might be fireplaces here too.

[ while every other door has been shut, the one she pulls him towards at last is slightly ajar. ] Here, this one is my bedroom.

[ ... ugh. wait. should she act shy, even in this situation? ]