[Video] VI [Failed!Lock to Cross & Lavi]

[1mistress_nomaster]

[She's in the Church, only familiar thing really to her, and it's so very accidental, but she's just... staring listlessly at the alter, fingers fiddling with her device. Looking but not really seeing. It's meant to be private, but she's just not concentrating at all. Usually, she'd rather die then let people see weakness like this, but it's such an old fear and frustration that she hardly even stops to wipe away tears, let alone think. Not that she cried for much more then frustration most times, and certainly not since she lost the war with Mary of Guise.

This was frustration, and a great deal of fear too.

At the very least she's manages enough to make sure Lin can't see this, she refuses to give the woman that satisfaction most of all, and she wished she could slap her again. Nor does she even know how to ask this question, so she's just blunt about it.]

Tell me, when I return, if I ever leave this cursed, wretched place, am I to be executed? Is that why everyone remembers me so much? 

[it clicks off]

Comments

voice; private

[outsidehistory]

[He does successfully lock it so that she has that small comfort at least.]

You do not walk up to that platform, my lady, though you send others to it. You reach an old age before your natural death.

video; private

[1mistress_nomaster]

[Give her a moment, she's just going to sob into her hands then from sheer relief. She's still shaking badly though.]

Thank-you, very much.

voice; private

[outsidehistory]

You had to do nothing more than ask, my lady. I just thought that you would prefer not to know.

video; private

[1mistress_nomaster]

I don't, I didn't, I still never want to. But I was informed that was how I was to end my reign. [Seething, quietly.]

[beanstalk]

I'm going to assume you meant to send this to someone.

[1mistress_nomaster]

I did. [She's not even annoyed that he's seen this.]

[beanstalk]

And you really want to know your future?

[1mistress_nomaster]

No, not really. But if that is my fate, I'd rather have as much time to prepare for it again as is possible.

[Locking-Text]

[azrthmtrnznthos]

[Have a locked text, clearly from Raven.]

Elizabeth, this...went to everyone. You didn't lock it appropriately. I can show you how to lock your posts, if you want. In the meantime, here's a code.

[INsert basic code here for locking.]

video; private

[1mistress_nomaster]

I care little if it did or did not. As long as Mistress Lin does not see this, and I know I managed that much. [She just blinks tiredly, because honestly in the end it didn't bother her like it normally did. She wasn't used to privacy after all, and if she was to be executed, she'd do it in front of a crowd.]

Re: video; private

[azrthmtrnznthos]

Ah...I take it she said something to upset you badly. If it's what you're worrying about then unless that's what happened in her world...she's simply trying to hurt you.

You were not executed in the version of history I learned. You died a natural death, of old age.

[Video]

[chrysalis_ex]

Are you all right? [ Softly asks. ]

[Video]

[1mistress_nomaster]

[She tries to smile, honestly. It doesn't work.]

I've been better.

[Video]

[chrysalis_ex]

Can I help in any way? [ She hopes she's not prying too much. ]

[counterintel]

Executed.

Have you done something to warrant it?

[1mistress_nomaster]

[She raises an eyebrow at that, her laughter dry as she wipes at her face.]

You know little of my world, 'warranting' it means someone succeeds in a rebellion against me, and I have many enemies because I refuse to do as they wish. Resent me because I am only a woman, and women are supposed to be weak. It could be the sons of the men I had executed before coming here, it could be a foreign nation and King, it could be my cousin Mary. [she had so few friends, really.]

But if it is what my people want, it does not matter if I warranted it or not, I will submit to it.

[counterintel]

[Well - he wasn't to know. He sighs softly, listening all the same.]

Mn.

[It isn't much, he supposes he understands. When there is a need for something, even if it seems cruel - like the annihilation of an entire clan for the benefit of an entire village?]

So it is a possibility? Don't you wonder that back home?

[offline]

[shunshinoshishi]

[ Shisui hadn't seen the message, having only just got back from Konoha a while ago. His eye has been looked into both by Itachi and by Yukio, and instead of wearing a bandage around it, he has it closed. Shisui has no idea that Elizabeth is in the church at all, and had only ventured out because he had been bored, and was looking for some place quiet to think.

But upon entering, he hears the distinct sound of sobbing echoing throughout the empty church, and his brows knit in a frown. It doesn't take long for him to recognize who it is, for who could mistake that elaborate dress?

Pushing his own personal concerns away, he pads over to the altar, doing his best to not startle her as he approaches from behind, then quietly takes his place beside her on the floor, sitting down cross-legged, about a distance of three feet between them.

He says nothing, but only observes her from where he is sat, as quiet as ever, letting her cry over whatever it is that bothered her.

...Eventually, he looks up at the altar and at the paintings over it, faded and peeling, crumbling in places. There are people sat around a large table, dining. Not just any people, he guesses, noticing the remnants of a halo behind one person, who is obviously supposed to be the center of focus. The man's face is half peeled away, yet there is a faint smile, though the eyes stare off into the distance, as if they carry a secret.

What is the significance? he wonders silently. What is the significance of a bunch of people sat around a dinner table? Oh, perhaps they are saints. But--

Shisui's eyebrows dip in a slight frown as he looks to Elizabeth once more, only to look back up at the men painted above the altar, accusing.

Why don't you look at her?

...Couldn't they see she was hurting? ]

[offline]

[1mistress_nomaster]

[Misery she found, compounded itself in silence, and when the only thing she could hear was her own crying, it seemed too loud to hear anything else, certainly not him. But then misery also loved company.

It's only after she's exhausted, that it sort of dies itself, sobs just become little hitches of breath, and she wasn't one to wallow, because if she started down that path, she'd never stop. Best to let this be done as quickly as possible, like poison from a wound. Only this one would fester no doubt for awhile, like any deep fear did. Trying to hide it though, she pulled out her handkercheif, that she had embroidered with that swan, and pressed it to her eyes, drying them.

Except apparently, she wasn't alone as she would of thought when she looked up again. She doesn't startle though, barely even blinks at him when she sees him. Normally she'd be overjoyed, fuss over him like she had before. Right now, she couldn't manage a smile. For one so usually animate, she's dulled.

Just one slow breath in, before dropped her eyes down and away.] I had no thought you would come to this place, my lord Shisui. Shouldn't you be resting for your eye?

[Because she had seen, and she'd been horrified, but there were others to take care of him, he had his family after all. She had nothing, and the bitterness made her swallow down.]

[offline]

[shunshinoshishi]

[ By the time she addressed him, Shisui had taken to a meditative posture, trying to contemplate his own actions. The sobbing had died down, he noticed. Yet though the building seemed quieter, the silence itself hung heavy around them.

There was nothing liberating about it; there was no peace of mind.

When he spoke, he did not look up from his position. ]

I had meant to visit this place when I was here last.

[ And only now does he look up-- though not at her, but at the dilapidated mural above the altar. He disregards any comment about his eye, because at the moment, all that is trivial. ]

Were you looking for answers?

[Video] the latest

[and_above_all]

Hmm..

[Kiriko gives her a sympathetic look - but also of quiet confusion. He had thought she didn't want to know.]

Not that I know of, my lady.

But, I...

[He doesn't want to disturb her, but if she truly had changed her mind... He takes a deep breath.]

When I had asked the same question.. about the war.. I was told that we all come from different versions of history. In other people's worlds, my country may lose this war... but in mine, I may still win. I may still survive.

[He shuffles a bit. His voice is quiet, and one of true empathy.]

...So the future is still uncertain for the both of us. Don't believe you are fated for either outcome. ..Does that make sense?

[Video] but the bestest <3

[1mistress_nomaster]

[She doesn't give anything to his confusion really. She was far beyond explaining herself, just looked at him blankly. Tired, so very tired.]

There is always that. I do know what you speak of, the only consolation I had the first time I was in the tower was that I was not dead yet.

[But it was the flicking between the two possibilities, it wore you down, it dragged out every last piece of you and laid it bare.

She thought she'd never have to suffer that again.]

[Video] <3 <3 <3

[and_above_all]

It's is easy to drive yourself crazy, thinking about what will happen when we leave here...

[She sure looks like she's been through a lot..]

Is there anything I can do?

Anonymous TEXT

[and_my_pickaxe]

[Lin can't find it in her heart to be sorry. Her rage properly fed, she just stares at the screen. ...Stupidly, she can't find the energy to be proud, either. There's only a sense of... adequacy. She's properly given her revenge. All that is left is a complete and utter lack of desire to deal with the other person, now that she's drawn blood.

The text is anonymous, but it is clear who sent it.]

Consider us even.

[reaction, mwaha]

[1mistress_nomaster]

[The rage is still there when she saw the message. The want to hit her again, all too much like her father. It's a matter of sheer will that she doesn't throw the device through the wall and break it.

But there is certainly no reply from Elizabeth. She wouldn't stoop so low again.]