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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]

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-

[loopsbian]

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?

[beatojuice]

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.

[loopsbian]

[ 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. ]

1/2

[beatojuice]

[ 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—

2/2

[beatojuice]

[ 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. ]

[loopsbian]

[ 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.

[beatojuice]

[ 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?