beatojuice | Noctium Inbox

That is to say, I agree completely! Friendship between witches is a mysterious and powerful thing indeed! I would curse any foe for my peer, the great witch Satoko!

[ Well, there's no taking back having said that. ]

Edited 2021-06-21 02:28 (UTC)

Precisely! I'm glad you understand, Miss Beato. Why, there are things I can tell you that I've not even told Rika!
So don't make such vulgar assumptions as us not being friends.
I may have only met you recently, but you are as true a friend as any!

[ Well that was good. She was afraid that she would drive off one of the only people that understood her. Who was, apparently, her friend. She had seperated herself from humanity for so long, even before becoming a witch, that the idea was somewhat startling to her.

But it felt good? ]

What a pleasant thing to be held in the esteem of a great witch.
I, admit that my position was such that finding true confidantes proved a challenge.
Would you like to come to my lodging? We have not spoken between witches since that most peculiar of dreams.

[ She's feeling lonely, okay? ]

[ see that? that's why you're friends, beato. because you pat her ass so very nicely. ]

Of course! I'm still in the process of recovering from the past few days' festivities...
But it's hardly enough to keep me from seeing a dear friend.
Is now alright? Rika's out and about for the day, so I've nothing better to do...

[ She's really a pretty nice person when she isn't trapping people in eternal games or doing murders! And she wants friends so bad. Ones she hasn't created through magic. ]

Yes, that would be splendid indeed.

[ Maybe if she were in better spirits she'd tease about being surprised that two lovers who just had a ceremony like that are apart at all on a tropical vacation. But she didn't really want to poke at her jealousy again, and on reflection, it's obvious that the pair had a lot to still work through.

Satoko probably felt lonely today too. Beato was too emotionally exhausted to muster up much outrage on her friend's behalf, but it seemed like Rika was still Rika.

So she tells Satoko her address, really just a short walk down the beach. When Satoko is at the door, she opens up, looking... somewhat different. Definitely very un-witchlike in an oversized souvenir t-shirt ("Filia? I hardly met 'er!"), sweatpants and flip-flops. To say nothing of having the body from their dream. ]

Thank you for joining me. Um, I don't actually have much to do either. I have snacks and tea, though!

Edited 2021-06-21 05:23 (UTC)

[ well, this wasn't what she expected. there's a clear sort of surprise on satoko's face, but not an unwelcome one; it only takes a moment before she smiles brightly up at the other woman. ]

Miss Sayo! I'd not expected to see you, ah.... [ like this, she nearly says. but that doesn't seem quite right? besides, it's not the woman's appearance that's the issue, it's seeing it outside a dream. so she stutters on her word, and hems and haws for a moment, before finally settling on: ] Well, you know!

[ There's a sort of fussy uncertainty on her face, and her fingers don't stop fidgeting and smoothing over her clothes. She's plainly nervous, still insecure at being seen in this form not as Shannon or Kanon but as herself. She'd thought that she never wanted to reveal it to anybody again, to try as much as possible to act like it did not exist. But for some reason being seen as Sayo by Satoko, not the soft sanitized creature she'd shown George, but this had made her feel something she wasn't sure how to describe. She'd shown herself to Battler once their game had concluded, but that was very different. Wasn't it? ]

Ah, If it bothers you, I'll change back. Cinderella will put her gown back on.

[ What Satoko said had gotten to her. Friends. Sayo looks tired and fragile and certainly under the weather, but alive and animated and warm, all fidgets and nervous laughs. ]

I just, um, wanted you to see that this was... r-real. It's different to see something like that in a dream, I think, so!

[ But seeing such a pleasant smile for this face felt like nostalgia for a thing she never experienced. After she had cried and raged and cursed love and dried to drink herself into oblivion, she clings to that smile all the tighter. ]

Ah, a gesture of, um, friendship suiting the Endless Witch! Or so forth.

Edited 2021-06-21 20:37 (UTC)

Oh, what nonsense! It was just a surprise, that's all. [ satoko doesn't even think twice about her answer, stepping in and quickly removing her shoes. ] This is how you wanted to look today, isn't it? Then you shouldn't have to take it back!

[ as always, things are so simple when satoko says them. a shame that the truth of a situation often isn't so black and white. her shoes finally off, she wanders further in...

...straight into sayo's kitchen, where she sets a bag on the counter and starts unpacking it. ]

It's hardly worth mentioning- [ -she sets two bento boxes, or at least something approaching them, out- ] -but I did make some food earlier in the day. I assume you weren't in a position to cook this morning, yes?

Right, ah, indeed. Merely the whim of the fickle Golden Witch. [ Her voice lowers as she adopts the rude yet haughty speech patterns of the witch yet again, but it's even more stilted and artificial sounding than usual. ] I do whatever I please!

[ Beato removes her sandals, unsure of why she put them on just to greet a guest, eyebrows raised at Satoko's destination. The boxes come out and that shaky facade of confidence cracks again, and she's just a depressed, hungover girl showing the most vulnerable side of herself to a new friend. She doesn't think she's ever had anybody want to take care of like this, or at least not act on it so directly. Before she can do anything tears are already coming to her eyes. God she's pathetic. ]

T-That's, you really didn't have to— I, ah, got something from the food stalls, um-

Hmm? If you're worried about my cooking, I'll have you know I'm more than capable enough! Perhaps I'm not at your level, or Rika's, but I'm certainly not as bad as whatever it is you're expecting!

[ she sounds huffy for all of five seconds. and that's when she turns to sayo and sees- well, everything. her body language, her expression, the tears in her eyes. satoko gapes like a fish out of water for a moment, finally stumbling for words. ]

Ah- Miss Sayo? Are you, um... [ a beat. ] We can stick to the stalls, if you'd prefer?

N-No, you misunderstand, ah—

[ Well, this was just wonderful. She's already so wretched, lovelorn and self-loathing and hungover and disgusting and now her friend thinks she's talking down to her, shunning her. Why did she do this? Why is she so bad at this? No, she can't let everything fall apart around her. She was free now. She wanted to live. She just had a bad couple days, right? It wouldn't just be like this forever, right? She takes a shaky breath.]

I-I think, that was very kind of you. Th, thank you. I just felt that, ah, well, I'm not used to these sort of gestures. It, ah, it actually makes me... quite pleased? I would, er, l-love to have some, truly.

Edited 2021-06-22 07:28 (UTC)

[ the concern on satoko's face is evident, etched into every pore as sayo tries to collect herself. but if satoko understands anything, especially after these past hundred years, it's this: sometimes, the kindest thing one can do is not call attention to these things as they happen.

(even if it's hard for her to understand. even if she would want to be held, right now.) ]

It's... Thank you, but it really isn't so magnanimous a gesture as that. In truth, I made this for Rika, before I knew she wouldn't be around.

[ there's a sadness of her own hidden away in her voice - both for the way her partner seems to have disregarded their vows to one another and for the way she might have misrepresented herself to one of the few friends she can speak to. ]

[ Sayo's heart sinks ever so slightly. Of course it was too much to hope for that anybody would put that much thought in. But it was okay. Her friend had no way of knowing the state she'd be in, and in any case just this was more care than most people she'd known had shown her. Even the fact that Satoko had apologized like that lifted her spirits. As far as she knew the other witch wasn't clairvoyant. So this was indeed a great kindness. She wipes her tears with the back of a hand, offering a shaky smile. She does want to be comforted, wants to be held. But she certainly didn't want cloying pity either, so Satoko's discretion was a relief.]

No, I— truly, thank you for thinking of me. It is your effort, your work, and you have given it to me. And I hate wasting food, and, um, I'd really wanted to try your cooking, so—

[ But as she's speaking, Satoko's words hit her with a delayed impact. The sadness in her voice.

before I knew she wouldn't be around.

Sayo wanted their love the succeed. She truly did. But right now she feels a hot stab of anger toward Rika. For all that Battler had abandoned her for those six bitter years, for all that George had casually ignored her feelings and misgivings, and Jessica tried to fit her into her expectations of a loyal friend and cute boyfriend, none of them had been this callous, had left her alone without a shred of pretense. Just a day after they had pledged their love to each other. ]

She's... not around? What is she doing?

[ Sayo can't hide an angry quaver to her voice. The cruelest witch in the universe indeed. It had almost been amusing, the way she saw Bernkastel toy with Lady Lambdadelta's affections, showing affection from afar to the clingy witch. Now those memories are nauseating as they come to mind. ]

Edited 2021-06-24 04:59 (UTC)

[ is sayo... angry? it's not at her, she's sure of that much. so then... for her?

is sayo- defending her? ]

That's... Ah, well, it's... [ she shifts from side to side, trying to not let too much of that nervous uncertainty shine through. ] She said... That we'd probably made quite the mess, yesterday? And, well, I told her that was normal, of course. Expected, even! But she insisted on going to check, and taking care of errands herself, and, well...

[ and now she's ended up here - alone, with an extra lunch to share with a friend instead of her new partner. her wife. her handfast. it's a bitter pill to swallow. ]

I'm... I'm sure it's nothing. Really, Miss Sayo.

[ Sayo's anger calms an iota upon learning that Rika had at least given Satoko some kind of reason for leaving her alone today, as opposed to just disappearing in the morning and leaving a note. But only a bit.

It's true that Rika had suffered terribly, and that Satoko had even played a part in that. She sympathizes deeply with that, she knows too well the ways that despair and loneliness leaves scars on the heart and turns one inward. She hopes that the two of them will be able to face each truthfully and mend all that is broken, but maybe they couldn't.

That doesn't change that Rika had hurt her friend. Perhaps Satoko's sins were greater, but she doesn't even know about those yet, and it doesn't excuse this new outrage if she had known. ]

No, there are no excuses for this, Satoko-san. It may be true that you two still have a lot to work out, and the time will come for that. It may be difficult for both of you. [ It certainly had been no easy thing for Beatrice. ] But this was a vow of love, a sacred commitment! And the next day, she decides against your protests that she wants to be somewhere else!?

[ Every time she had been abandoned and lied to, all her resentment at never being understood, stokes the bitterness like the bellows of a forge. Her voice becomes edged with that venom. ]

It's not nothing! Your feelings matter! You matter! Does her love really mean this little to her?

Edited 2021-10-07 00:19 (UTC)

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