pike | nigel's mobile;

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nigel's mobile;

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"You've reached the mobile of Nigel Colbie. Do leave a message."

[She can't help but blush a bit at that, part from his sudden enthusiasm and part from the reverence he accords to her life before the City. For Rosella, who has spent the better part of her two years here feeling slightly odd and out of place--never quite lining up properly with the modern world and the expectations that come with it--it's both flattering and refreshing to hear someone not simply legitimizing her experiences, but venerating them as well.

Terrifying though his face may be in her memory, for a moment she forgets all those fears and simply basks in the rare experience of being seen not as a silly oddball sort of princess, but as a real one.]

I'm...I'm very flattered you think so. The City isn't much like it at all, you know, and--well, I do like modern things very much, but it's never...home.

[For one thing, she's much less shy in Daventry than she tends to be here in the City, much less eager to please and likely to second-guess herself for fear she's misunderstood something. Daventry is home, and she's never felt out of place there. Not the way she so often does here.]

[ Veneration is a very good word for what Nigel seems to be doing. And unlike some of his odd stares, his slightly off-kiltered way of speaking, this seems to come as natural to him as breathing. This sort of talk formed the very foundation to his existence -- the teetering kingdom of history and delusion that made the sum-total of his self-worth. ]

The modern world has technologies to offer. Various conveniences that make like simpler and more streamlined. But all things worth doing require some sacrifice of effort -- something the modern world has no patience for. Modern priorities lack so much of the conviction that the kings of old once had.

[She can't quite keep the look of disgust from flickering across her face as Nigel mentions the word technologies; it's the sort of word that always seems to go hand-in-hand with machines, and her innate abhorrence of the mechanical--a sentiment that all people from her world share, and yet very few in the City seem to--is one that she's never been able to shake, no matter how much time she spends in a place where they come so readily accepted.]

They're ugly things anyway, machines. They're...unnatural.

[But she soon shakes that off, not wanting to linger on unpleasant thoughts, and the smile returns to her face.]

Mother and Daddy always taught me much the same, you know. The duty of a good ruler is to serve the people, no matter what, and if danger should befall the kingdom... [She pauses suddenly, but only for a moment.] Well. If there's a sacrifice to be made, the ruler is the one with the duty to make it. The people and the kingdom come first. That's what it means to be a proper princess...or king, or queen, or anything of the like.

[ As quickly as Rosella manages to shake that feeling of repulsion, Nigel's attention cannot help but catch on it, as if it were the sort of thing he'd been waiting for all along. The corners of his mouth tighten and then curve in a smile-like way. His voice is distant though his attention is focused. ]

I think it was very fortuitous that we met, Rosella.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

nigel's mobile;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;

you cannot map the ways of divinity;