queenofheartsrp | (no subject)

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[There's a new girl in the gardens today.

It's probably easy enough to see that she's new. She's still wearing the white shift she'd awoken in, after all, apparently electing to carry her own clothes in her arms. The only change is that her hair is now tied back with a band that sparkles strangely in the light, and a battered pair of yellow sneakers protect her feet. She has her school uniform bundled under one arm, and with the other, she holds a scroll in front of her face, reading closely and determinedly as she walks through the grass and the flowers without any obvious destination in mind but a clear determination to get there.

But every so often she pauses, looks up, looks around. She sees an orchard with crisp autumn leaves in the ground, and she wants to go and jump in them. She sees a field of glistening snow, and stops herself from going to make snow angels. She comes across a riverbank heavy with the heat of summer, and shakes off the drowsy impulse to take a nap, despite the fact that traveling dimensions is hard on a kid.

And she is just a kid, still just a kid. However, she resists the temptation to play like one and, after one last look of longing towards the beauty around her, instead trudges on, reading as she walks, having no clue where she's going but determined to get there all the same.]

((ooc: Chihiro's most likely to be found not walking at the "season change" areas of the garden, but otherwise, there's a small girl still in her shift and reading her scrolls and heading somewhere. Bother?))

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[Kuja has settled herself in one of the Garden's warmer areas, a bright summer spot. She's reclining on a velvet cushion along with a large, silvery egg, her hands settled on the surface of it. Her fingers gleam a faint but noticeable blue.

She doesn't fail to notice Chihiro's approach, looking up without bestirring herself. An unfamiliar girl is hardly a strange sight in the Gardens. Kuja inclines her head.]

Child.

Hm?

[Chihiro looks up, sees Kuja sitting in the warm sunshine with her silvery egg. The woman looks so regal - along with a bit preoccupied, both hands on that silvery egg - that Chihiro gives her a proper bow as a silent apology for interrupting whatever it was she might have been interrupting.] M-Ma'am. Hi. Sorry to bother you.

[Well, here's someone who shows the proper respect. Kuja wasn't particularly irritated by the intrusion, even in this less-frequented part of the Gardens, but if she had been, that would have mollified her.]

There's no need to ask my pardon.

[Caring for a dragon egg takes a great deal of time but isn't particularly entertaining, so in truth, she's a bit glad of the interruption (not that she'd admit it), as it breaks the tedium.]

I don't believe I've seen you before.

[Not that that necessarily means she's a newcomer. Kuja can be reclusive at times.]

Um, well, I-I don't think you would have. You see, I think I only just got here. I woke up with all these notes, and this cat, and my clothes all folded up.

[She still hasn't changed back into the clothes from her world, besides her shoes.]

My name is Chihiro.

I thought you might have, and that that would be the reason I hadn't seen you, but one never knows.

[It had been the most likely possibility, though someone might easily have elected to continue wearing the shift, or that could be their usual style of clothing, or the Queen could be performing another of her tricks; anything's possible.

Most people's garb doesn't attract her notice, regardless. So plain. Much of her attention remains focused on the egg, as her powers aren't yet back to full strength. She nods.]

That is the common experience. Some novelty would be pleasant.

I am Kuja.

It's nice to meet you, Miss Kuja. [Another bow, just for good measure - can't go wrong with politeness.]

I don't mind. I mean...at least it means there are people who can explain it to me. Besides the scroll. [She's not sure she can trust the scroll, especially if it was written by the Queen.]

I guess it's kind of like school. [There, that seems like a...nice, safe, familiar analogy for an impossible or possibly not-so-impossible situation.] The older students can explain where everything is to the younger students.

You as well.

[Kuja appreciates her time manners (so unlike some of the other residents) and nods again.]

What explanation is needed? It is a kidnapping. We live here, as the Queen wishes, and someday we will disappear. If there is anything you need to find, you may ask a cat to take you to it.

It's all quite simple, though I suppose there are details others are eager to explain. [She runs one hand over the egg, raising the other to execute a brief, dismissive wave, not thinking highly of these details.]

I have been here some time, myself.

So...if the Queen wants us to leave, we'll leave?

[It's something. Chihiro can be very persuasive, when she wants to be. Well...more "persistent", than "persuasive", but the results tend to be the same.]

I need to go home. Mom and Dad will be really worried about me.

That does not seem the be the case. It is more that she cannot keep hold of her prizes indefinitely, and at times they disappear at random, sometimes for good, sometimes to return again.

Is that so? [Kuja returns her hand to the surface of the egg.] It makes no difference. Most people here have someone they wish to return to, though there are others whose lives are empty, or ended.

"Prizes"...?

[That really does absolutely nothing to reassure Chihiro as to her new surroundings. And, really, only increases her determination to find the Queen.

There's always a way to win your freedom back...]

...is there anyone you miss, Miss Kuja?

Yes, she desires our presence here, our happiness. We dance and sing for her entertainment. We are the gilded birds for her gilded cage. That is the reality of our existence here.

[The question takes her by surprise, the blue magic at her fingertips flaring briefly.

Her answer, when it comes after a brief delay, is sharp. Who would she miss?]

No. No one.

[Chihiro finds herself stepping well back at the first signs of magic, unsure of just what Kuja is doing but primed to run in case it's bad.

She actually reacts more to the glow than to the sharpness of her voice.]

...oh.

Well, um...good for you. I guess that helps. Or at least it makes it easier when you can't get home.

[The magic, after its flare, simply surrounds the egg she's tending to, suffusing it in a pale blue glow.

Even as she talks to Chihiro, it is her primary concern, hers.]

It does not. I am separated from the consummation I desire most. My rightful fate. [She looks up, hands still on the egg.]

If there is one thing I cannot abide, it is a tyrant who robs others of their choice, of their will, of their freedom. Any enemy of freedom is mine also.

[...Chihiro gives a little half shrug. She's thirteen. Thirteen year old girls in Japan don't have very much freedom. Actually, on that note, this place might be seen as an improvement, because at least it seems she won't have to worry about entrance exams for a while.]

Then I hope you make it to your..."consummation"...really soon. And, um, I hope your egg hatches soon, too. It looks like a lot of work.

[To Kuja, the matter is a philosophical one. Attending school she wouldn't see as a lack of freedom or an instance of tyranny. Yet she sees no reason to speak to children differently than she would to an adult.

She smiles. It isn't that she wants to die, but she must.] I hope so as well.

Oh, it will take some time yet. You're correct, dragon eggs are not easy to hatch.

[...

...

...a very strange look comes over Chihiro's face at the mention of dragons.]

I didn't think dragons hatched out of eggs.

Ah, do you know something about dragons?

[Kuja brightens. Dragons, she likes.]

There are many different creatures assigned the general term "dragon" by intelligent peoples, so in some ways it is a fairly arbitrary term and cannot be assigned to a particular family or genus. In your world, I don't doubt there are different kinds of dragons.

This is the egg of a Silver Dragon from my world. As such, it is dear to me. Let me show you.

[Again, Kuja removes a hand from her egg, but this time, she has a particular magic in mind, not relating to her care of the egg. She creates a fleeting illusion, a full-sized image of a Silver Dragon, strong and alive.]

She will be beautiful.

[...as she listens to Kuja, Chihiro has a sense of falling, a swooping in the pit of her stomach that speaks of unimaginable depths and speed. She presses a hand to her stomach.

But then the picture of the Silver Dragon appears, grand and mighty, and the feeling changes to one of flying. Mystified, Chihiro reaches out a hand to touch the picture, only just falling short as it flickers away.]

...yeah. They're different, in my world. Smaller.

I don't really know that much about them, though. [She says this as though she doesn't quite believe her own words.] Besides the stories.

[Kuja isn't the most empathetic of people, far from it, but even she picks up on something in Chihiro's manner.]

No? Yet you seem to know something of them. Dragons may be more elusive in your world. The worlds we come from do vary greatly. In Gaia, there are much smaller dragonlike creatures, but larger ones as well. I once encountered the King of Dragons himself.

I do have a dragon companion here, already. One native to this place, I suppose.

[She is a shameless dragon collector. Well--really, she gets along with dragons better than people.]

...there are dragons that live here already?

[...she wants to see it. Her. Him. Whatever. Very, very badly.

Chihiro gives a little half shrug, almost as an afterthought.]

Maybe. I mean, I've never seen one before, so I don't really know that much. If they're still around, though, we never get to see them.

Oh, there are monsters that live in the caves, but there are other creatures residing in the gardens themselves. As for dragons, no, not many, but I was able to locate one. Unusual, but that's all the better, isn't it?

[She doesn't miss the girl's interest--well, the child is polite and likes dragons, so she's less annoyed than she might be otherwise.] I could call her here.

A shame. They're beautiful creatures. I could tell you much about those I know, but I cannot illuminate the mystery of the dragons of your world.

...can you please call her here? I mean...if she's not busy. I don't know if dragons are busy a lot. [She pauses to think, and then adds:] They're usually protecting something, back home. But sometimes...sometimes they don't.

Of course. I doubt she's busy. There's precious little actual work to be done here. But dragons do protect things, yes.

[She doesn't use her voice but magic, as she calls for Tropius. They've known each other for some time now, and they share a connection, much as Kuja did with her Silver Dragons. Beasts, she gets on well with. Better than with people. Tropius doesn't take long to arrive. The plant lizard might not technically be a "dragon", but it's close enough for Kuja.]

Tropius, this is Chihiro.

[Tropius lowers her head.]

You may have a fruit, if you like.

[She offers magnanimously. Tropius doesn't mind the fruit that grows from the underside of her neck being eaten. Although Kuja's normally not interested in these social gestures, she can do them when she wishes. And she does enjoy showing off.]

[...

...Chihiro just stands, staring and wide-eyed and open mouth and obviously more impressed than she can ever remember being.

When Kuja makes her magnanimous offer, she reaches up, finally manages to reach high enough to gently pick a fruit from Tropius' neck, and bites into it, all without taking her eyes off the creature.]

Wow...

She is beautiful, is she not?

[Tropius makes a low noise that sounds not unlike her own name, regarding Chihiro in a friendly manner.

Kuja smiles, without removing her hands from the egg she's tending, and Tropius turns toward her.]

The creatures who live in the Gardens proper are amenable, for the most part. I would take care before entering the caves, if I were you.

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