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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You seem whole, to me. [A little strange, compared to some of the people Mahalia knew. A little dramatic. But not like an incomplete person.]

He's a warden. [Born human, but taken into service.] A... guardian of the natural world. He's birdsouled, and so he sings as they do. It comes easier than human speech, to him.

I have, ah, abilities... hmm, potential, in my blood. [Even though magic seems the easiest term to use when talking to the people here, she still can't bring herself to refer to it like that. Only the people who fear and hate it call it magic in her world.] Sometimes it gives my singing strength. But I haven't really learnt any of the true spell songs he uses.

I do, do I not? [She smiles, a little bitterly. She had been made to seem whole, but also to be disposable.] I am whole enough. The parts that make up that whole are unusual shapes, that is all.

A guardian--I am something like that, myself, or I was. [She had been meant to preserve the souls of Terra by destroying the souls of Gaia. A cruel, thankless burden.] Singing like a bird--their voices are sweeter than humans', so that is no sorrowful duty. You can understand the speech of birds as well?

To exercise power through music, what a beautiful idea! My own power has no melody to it, but I wish it did. You should sing--not often, but always. It is one of the finer arts, I feel. A song need not only be a song. It can be a spectacle.

We're all unique, in unique ways. [Although Kuja was clearly far more unique than most of the humans Mahalia had met.]

He loves his work. [It was arguable that he had a choice in the matter, but Jast truly devoted everything to his duties, and Mahalia would rather look on the love he gave than think of what he could do if he was freed from it.] Yes, and speak it. Though I am still learning. [Sixteen years of learning. Perhaps she would never be as fluent as her godfather, but that didn't mean she'd give up.]

Ah, I don't know if I'm strong enough for anything like that. [She dips her head a little. She felt she had grown stronger, in some ways, in the Gardens. But being away from Jast meant her studies in song had suffered, even if there were birds here that would humour her.] Not yet, anyway.

Very true, but I mean the ways in which I am set apart from animals and other such living beings.

You can sing the song of birds as well? So talented. [She beams.] You must demonstrate for me. I have some ability to communicate to beasts and make my will known, but that is not speech, precisely.

Oh, but you should! I've been searching for an artist to perform at Xion's party. If you would be interested, I don't doubt the guests would love to listen to your sweet melodies.

There is... speaking, and singing. [It was complicated. The birds made everything into songs, really, any simple piece of communication woven with so many layers of metaphor and imagery. But there was communication, and there were the greater pieces of song.] Would you like another song?

Xion is a good friend of mine. I've been making decorations for the party, already. [She wanted her to have as good a birthday as possible, but standing in front of that many people to sing was a strange idea.] I'm not sure about performing.

second stanza [video]

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