queenofheartsrp | second stanza [video]

[Kuja is dressed in her usual garb, and the tail which was evident when she first arrived seems to have disappeared. She offers the Vine a bow. It is a bow without a particularly respectful air, more a dramatic gesture than anything else.]

Now that I have been here for some few days, I've decided to make the attempt to discover whether there are others here like me. Not of my kind, as I sincerely doubt that could be the case, but of a similar bent.

I am a poet, and an actress of no small renown, and I wish to know if there other artists here, like myself. Painters, sculptors, writers, or perhaps musicians? Even a patron of the arts. It would be a great pleasure to discuss aesthetics, as well as the passion and wonder of creation, with like-minded individuals. We might collaborate, combine our talents to reach ever more lofty creative heights. I don't doubt that this Garden would benefit from a stage performance, a concert, or a gallery.

[She pauses, and it is a practiced pause.] Relatedly, I have been browsing in the library, and there I found many volumes of verse. Having read them all, I am curious--does anyone possess more such books? This is a rare and most likely unique opportunity for a poet such as myself: to read verses from another world.

[As a side note, some may find that the library's collection of poetry has mysteriously decreased, as Kuja has ~~stolen~~ borrowed a large number of the books.]

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True, I will concede that point to you. [Machiavelli would be better suited to this argument although God knows that she sometimes wants to tell the man to shut up when he is being far too long-winded for her liking.]

There are those who would starve those they are meant to feed, kill those they are sworn to protect. They would take their possessions from them, have them believe that. [She remembers the Bonfire of the Vanities; the lieutenants of Savonarola who went against the principles they were meant to uphold.] If I can help those so that their suffering is a little less or so that they have the tools to help themselves, their loved ones and the other common people then that is what I will do.

[It isn't often that she's caught off guard but she is and she frowns. It isn't something she has given thought to and she has had so many years of being on the move constantly, in cities for only so long as it takes to conduct her investigations and missions.]

In truth I have not given it too much consideration. I will learn what I can from people here, broaden my horizons so to speak.

[So virtuous! It is a quality she once despised, but she can understand it at last. This desire to help others, this compassion, so fascinating to her now that she can experience it for herself. She can feel it but a little yet, nothing along the lines of what this woman says. So romantic, so poetic, like the hero's lines in one of Lord Avon's plays.] Now you remind me of someone from my home, in sentiment, if not in manner. I confess, your words inspire me. If it is ever in my power to improve the lot of the common people again, I believe I will remember what you've said.

A fine endeavor, and one that could keep you occupied for some time. The variety of this population is dazzling. I've learned much from those I've met already, and I've been here such a short while.

What do you think of the Queen's stated purpose in bringing us here, the bonds between women she means to foster?

[She might not have had such noble beginnings but she was taught the way of peace in all things and she had a support network to fall back on, people to steer her the right way and Rome was where she truly showed who she was, helping as many as she could. She isn't quite sure how to respond to those words but she smiles, a honest smile that reaches her eyes, even if those eyes are hard to see.] You honour me with your kind words madonna.

Even on my first day here I had my eyes opened to many things. [Like aliens and magic. She's still unsure about both of those things.]

I know that most from my country and from my world would frown on what the Queen plans. [Renaissance morals are strange things, Firenze a little different but female sexuality is rarely discussed and if it is, then it is very seldom positive.] I must confess that abducting us to a garden is still a very strange plan.

I do not speak kindness, I only speak truth. [Not that she doesn't lie, but she does not compliment others idly.] I find you a pleasant conversationalist, and I do not find many people so.

I too met a number of illuminating persons, from the very first. People who had things in common with me that I did not expect. On my own planet, I am unique.

Her aims are not what would be considered normal by the residents of my world, either. I myself find them absurd. Personally, it matters to me very little, the sex of the persons involved in such pursuits, but for me to be brought here for that purpose--it is laughable. I have no interest in such matters. [Not that she isn't well-informed where such things are concerned, as sex is a way of manipulating others--and Genomes are capable of it--but she had had other things on her mind, and that had not been one of the purposes she had been created for. Fleshly concerns had been very far down on her list and had not troubled her.]

Then I am even more honoured. [A lifetime of Renaissance politeness and giving the dead their dignity will never be forgotten.]

I am sure it must be strange to find that but still...comforting in some way to know that no matter what place we call our own, there are those we can relate to. We are not so different after all.

[It's nice to say those words with a positive meaning, rather than hearing them from the lips of someone who had a misguided sense of what they were doing.]

I have to wonder just how far she will go to have us pair off together and her true reasons for it. It is normal for it to be a man and a woman, normally agreed on with a bride price by the family and often for power and status, securing family relations far more than for love.

[Ezio's own...dalliances have been kept quiet, nameless, faceless women and courtesans for the most part, Cristina the chaste love of two young girls and Caterina something entirely different that still ended with the other woman riding off into the sunset.]

[Kuja appreciates polite words, so it pleases her to hear them, and she smiles.] Your own words do you honor.

It may be a form of comfort to know that others share certain traits. [At the same time, it was a reminder of what she had done, and what she will never be able to do. Lessons learned too late.] Yet those shared traits can make the differences stand out all the more. People can be so dissimilar, strikingly so. [Even the other constructs, they were not like her.] Those differences can lead to tragedy, and perhaps they should not be masked by sentiments we'd like to hear about how we are alike. [Kuja knows the woman does not mean it as a platitude, but it touches a nerve.]

I do wonder as well. [Her voice sharpens.] I do not look kindly upon being forced into any action, and I will not hesitate to retaliate if this Queen should use direct or constraining methods. [Kuja has not forgotten her claim of being a poet, but she does not see how it necessarily conflicts with her promise of retaliation.]

That is more or less the normal way among the nobility of my world, although there are exceptions, and of course much goes on that is neither known nor sanctioned by the common crowd. As it always does.