un: sieglindesullivan / video

[grunehexe]

Greetings, Audentes. It is I, Sieglinde Sullivan- also known as the Green Witch. I am sure you are occupied with your own matters during this valuable personal time, but I must interrupt for three announcements, if you might lend me your ear.

The first is that Date Masamune, one lord of Oushuu, has been transferred to a different team. I know that not many of you have been with us since Chantes, but he was a valuable team member, and he will surely be missed.

[By her, perhaps most of all, but she manages to keep a straight face, hastily moving on.]

The second is that it has come to my attention some of our members come from worlds where literacy is not as prominent. Access to book learning is one of the most important aspects of an education, so I shall be using some of my time here in Oska to improve this situation. I am able to instruct in multiple languages, but I shall be focusing primarily on what many worlds call English, as I found it the most useful for communication during the period when our translators were defective. You may join open sessions in the castle library each day from an hour past noon.

On that note, thirdly, I need your assistance with one of those new pupils. As much as I prefer to work alone, I am afraid this issue deals with a delicate combination of spellcraft and science, and so I shall be opening up this project to others of like intellect hopefully differing experience. Graham, if you would like to say a few words?

[She reaches forward to turn her magitech brooch. revealing a certain rugged Huntsman. Said huntsman, for his part, was listening. Which explains why his first word seems more relevant to her second announcement than her third.] ...Pupil? [He's aware that means student, and feels as if he might have to explain to Sieglinde he can indeed read and write... though perhaps his handwriting leaves something to be desired...

That can be a conversation for another time, however. There's more important matters at hand to discuss now.]

Those of you present in Perdition's Rest might recall, I have been heartless for a long time. I've asked Sieglinde to help me try and find some kind of solution, though it occurred to me the secrecy didn't aide in finding a solution. [Talking to Koltira had reminded him of how much more he could do. He owed it to himself, and perhaps those who cared about him and wanted to connect to him better, to do all he could instead of asking Sieglinde to do it for him.] If you think you might be able to lend aide, or have any questions about my condition, I'm here to answer them. Even if there's no perfect solution, I'd ... I'd like to feel things, again.

[Feel things properly is perhaps the better way of putting it, but considering this is a great deal more than Graham tends to talk already, he nods and indicates that's all he has to say, and Sieglinde takes back the video.]

How anyone capable of lending a productive hand could deny such a sincere appeal I do not know. I have seen we have new recruits among us, so we look forward to hearing from you if you have experience with medical surgery, curses, or other magics.

Thank you.

Comments

[grunehexe]

I have heard tale of the average centaur... perhaps it is the same with many races, that they might have some exception.

[When it comes to Achilles' relation to the man (centaur), it is a story she has read before, but it seems rude to say so, and there is a difference in the telling she nods along to, smiling somewhat fondly, bittersweet.]

He did, did he? He left me books as well... mostly those that contain spells I might study. What a generous king we lost, in Zeta-12's deserts.

[She had missed him most of all... and now Masamune would be added to that list.]

Let us make reading that tome the goal, then. Perhaps some of the tales may be simple enough to be used as primer as well.

[heelies]

I mourn the loss of so great a king, who walked as do the deathless gods, whenever he chances to cross my thoughts, and then too do I lament that never was I able to repay in kind the generosity he has shown me.

[Salacious favors aside...

He likes not the implication that the task must be simple in order for it to be within his reach, yet past his pride is the understanding that in this matter he is yet green, a child once more, and he must give himself over to be shaped by more masterful hands.]

Very well - with this goal in my heart I shall apply myself to my studies just as I once so assiduously applied myself to learning the arts of battle and of medicine.

[grunehexe]

As do I. ... He inspired much in me, [salacious thoughts aside], and this "team" is lesser for his absence.

[Gilgamesh had been one of the first to make her feel as if she could truly do it- reclaim that title from what it had been twisted to become and truly become the sort of Green Witch she wished to. - But then he was gone.]

If that is the case, then I do not doubt we shall have you reading in no time at all. I look forward to having such a pupil.

[heelies]

[There is much he could say, yet Sieglinde has already said it all in this one simple utterance, he inspired much in me, and thus he need only nod solemnly.]

As do I look forward to having such a well-learned teacher, Green Witch.

[He speaks true, no matter how strange it seems to him that he should learn from one who possesses not even half his years and is a maiden besides: some social mores he is learning to loosen himself from.]

Moreover, I am certain that the gallant son of Menoetius, Patroclus, would delight too in learning letters, should you wish to take a third pupil under your small wings.

[grunehexe]

[She had no doubt she would live up to those words- after all, she had to.]

I would gladly welcome Patroclus to join us. The... more the merrier, as I have heard it said.

[heelies]

Then it shall be just as it was in those by-gone days of youth when I and Patroclus studied side by side with Chiron as our master. Indeed, for all our daily toil we were merry nonetheless.

[Here is the primary reason why these memories shine as his most cherished.]

[grunehexe]

I never had classmates in my studies, nor a teacher in my youth... so it shall be as enjoyable as it is educational.

[Nice distraction + educatin' some Greeks/bearded fellas, get]

[heelies]

[Sieglinde's true designs come to light: to gather for herself a retinue of ruggedly handsome men.]

Here is a countenance more befitting a maiden.

[So he teases warmly, pleased to see her shed her solemn pall even if for only a moment. Well does he know the sharp ache of finding one cherished so suddenly stolen.]

Yet I find myself astounded, for how can it be that there was none to teach you all that you have learned?

[grunehexe]

[It's just a moment, but it's a nice reminder for herself as well- that even though a day previous she'd walked into a room she expected to be occupied by someone perhaps more important to her than anyone only to find it empty, it wouldn't stay all bad.

She tries to smile a bit wider, and lie a bit better to cover the falter when she says the word "mother".]

My mother- the previous Green Witch... she died in childbirth, so I was left instead with her duty and the manor libraries. The books were my teachers, and I read them all at least once until they revealed to me everything I needed learn.

That is how I know the importance of letters in a world that values them.

[heelies]

[For her sorrows, he murmurs in solemn sympathy:]

Although you have met with suffering so early in life, you have nevertheless taken it upon yourself to bloom into a clever and stalwart young lady, and for this you ought to be commended, bright-eyed Sieglinde.

[grunehexe]

[There had been a time when she responded to all compliments arrogantly, expected praise and flattery for the wealth of her talents and breadth of her astounding intellect... but that had been before everything crumbled and the lies were made clear. She can still manage it, of course, particularly around people she views as lesser than herself in some way but... from people she actually cares about?

Her gaze flicks down, cheeks slightly pink, humbled by the praise.]

If I did not know you for a man who speaks freely of his thoughts and gives little to untruths, I would say you flatter me overly.

[But she appreciates it. It helps.]

[heelies]

Then you need not worry, for indeed do I hate like the gates of Hades the man who speaks one thing but holds another in his heart.

[This he says as warmly and lightly as a springtime breeze.]

Very well - then I shall next see you in the library at midday, that we may begin our lessons. Until then, may health and fortune in equal measure be your companions.