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[beatojuice]

« un.owen » TEXT ✧ AUDIO ✧ VIDEO ✧ ACTION Beatrice ✦ Umineko no Naku Koro Ni
RESIDENCE ✦ Emerald District, Sumarlok
GEMBOND ✦ Ruby

Hoho, you dare to speak to the Golden Witch? Come, bring what tidings you may!

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[beatojuice]

[ That was the expected answer, but it revealed nothing. How long? And what took place? And how had her friend changed? ]

Yes, um. [ She does have questions, but she's finding that the words don't quite fit together. She stammers for a couple moments before she arrives at something to say. ] Salmon is fine.

[loopsbian]

Salmon it is, then.

[ and she moves to the kitchen, falling into her expected routine with an almost shocking ease. it's only when the bag is unloaded that she turns to look at beatrice - really look at her, take in her state, her reactions. ]

...goodness, are you quite alright? You're usually a fair bit more talkative, Miss Beato.

[beatojuice]

Oh, I'm...

[ She almost says she's fine, but she knows that she can't lie to Satoko like this, nor does she want to. She looks uneasy, if not quite upset. Trying to get her bearings, to re-acclimate herself to Satoko as a familiar presence. ]

How long were you gone? What happened?

[loopsbian]

How long...

[ a beat. satoko sighs, neatly folding the bag and shaking her head. ]

Miss Beato, I couldn't possibly tell you. I'm not the sort who counts the days, remember? [ she refamiliarizes herself with the house's kitchen as she goes, and while most things are the same there's the occasional mistake. she forgets where the silverware drawer is; she places a cup by the plates, almost absent-mindedly. ] If I had to guess... No, I wouldn't even bother with a number. Centuries, almost certainly, but past that your guess would be as good as mine.

[ she pauses, as if remembering something from long ago. then she goes back, retrieving the cup and moving it to its proper place. ]

As for what happened, that part is much simpler. [ she fills the hot water heater, prepares to get some tea ready. ] We played our game to its finish. The loops are over. And Rika...

[ she looks down at the kettle, lost in thought. ]

The Rika that truly understands me is happy at St. Lucia's with those horrid friends of hers, for now. I'm sure she'll have the time of her life, unfortunately.

[beatojuice]

[ Despite the enormity of that statement, that's what Beato expected. Her friend was just so different now— or perhaps everything that she was had simply become more concentrated. The way that she casually talks about centuries of time loops in the same tone as talking about dinner. ]

Ha, that's right. [ The time they'd spent together was a mere speck compared to that. But who was to say that her game might not have been just as long?

She listens as she explains her game with Rika, it's conclusion. Whether that was good or bad, she could not say, and in any case the Rika here was a different one, separated by a vast abyss of time. She wasn't sure what she should say about it, so she instead says something that she is certain of. ]

I see. Welcome back, Satoko. I'm glad you're here.

[loopsbian]

[ beatrice welcomes her home, and satoko smiles.

it's strange. she's almost alien, now - melted and refined down a thousand times over as many years, until she resembles something entirely new. but the smile she gives is quintessentially satoko, and more than that, it is genuine. it's the smile she'd let through when no one else was watching. it's the look she'd give only a select few, rika and the club and perhaps one or two others.

it's a look beatrice has been allowed to see before - at satoko's happiest, before rika found everything out. before chuuya left. ]

...mm. Me too, Sayo.

[ she won't stay here forever, just as she won't stay in hinamizawa forever. but for now? here, with a rika she can watch over... with miss beato nearby... with her closest friends still here to spend time with?

she'll stay for now. she has no need to leave this world behind just yet. ]

I don't suppose you could get some tea started while I cook? You've always outshined me on that front, after all.

[beatojuice]

[ When Beatrice first met Satoko, she wondered if she might be some disguise taken by lady Lambdadelta. She soon discovered that this theory was incorrect, and she's fairly certain that that holds now as well. But any haughty assumptions that the girl was less refined as a witch were soon dismissed as well, and she has no doubt that the witch in front of her exceeds her in many respects. Beatrice knows that she has the potential to claim that power for herself, that it may be necessary to accomplish her fondest desires, and yet... it will change her.

Still, when Satoko smiles, it is the same smile that the Endless Witch has come to cherish. It was still her. Maybe her reluctance since coming to this place was foolish after all. No matter what they became later, they were here as friends. They should cherish each fragment, rather than carelessly ripping out the guts and moving on. So Beatrice returns that smile, beaming brightly. ]

Most certainly. But do not deign to insult my pride so, my friend! You think me so unskilled that I cannot also take care of side dishes!?