[ even if he cannot call this manor his home or even america his country, it is still his world, and it is full of people he cares for and about even if it's filled with as much regret and betrayal. this is the world he lives in. this is the world he is dying in. this is his past, his present, his future—even if there's not much left for this life.
he is incredulous. she doesn't mind. she gets that reaction often from more people than just him. ]
[ Whatever country, time, or realm it is, the mansion will stand tall as the past, present, and future. Her bright disposition always kinds of blinds him, but he keeps his eyes on her, watching with a sharp gaze before casting elsewhere.
There is a sigh where his shoulders drop with it. ]
... You really haven't changed.
[ The tone is knowing and somehow carries the air of years beyond him. ]
[ there's a flicker of surprise, her eyes widening, before she leans forward to get a closer look. she's never been the most respectful person, for as loving as she can be.
she has existed too long to not hear all those years. ]
[ Nothing he can do to stop her. She can do that. ]
Since my thirties.
[ And so he had kept it secret for decades until now, sorry. He had to wrestle with a lot of it in the quiet because the one thing he did not learn is to ask for help.
The distance is also best for her, he thought. This curse he has gotten himself tangled in brings misery to everyone close to him... It tore Maria and him apart.
So it'd be the best if they kept their difference—which he did not and does not convey. ]
It'd be eight hundreds years or some ridiculous number. Sometimes feels like it, sometimes doesn't.
[ A snort. ]
Everyone's probably dead by now.
[ Dry humor, he does find it funny? When he didn't remember, he didn't believe in the supernatural or the paranormal. ]
[ his answer elicits a pout from her, but if he remembers, she won't hold herself back anymore. she sits down next to him on the couch.
she's not mad, and she'd be too much of a hypocrite if she scolded him about keeping secrets. it wouldn't have changed too much of how she treated him. she always wants to close a distance, even if there's a curse.
(she doesn't know there's a curse.)
she watched her world die. she left it behind, knowing there would be nothing left of it, only to give people of a new world a chance of future she could never have. misery is something she's seen and known in spades, and it is something she holds like a precious memory still. it is something that moves forward with her because she doesn't let anything drag her down.
if she let misery ruin friendships, she'd have no friends left when her friends often end up more miserable than she could ever be. ]
Time can be funny like that. Too long one moment, like a blink the next. The more you experience it, the more you wonder what can change.
[ He offers a lopsided smile which emphasizes wrinkles and old age. There is a lot of wonder to know how a soul can incarnate into the mortal realm. He wasn't expecting to keep so much of himself, but he did... Yet there are so many different yet familiar parts to this life.
Ultimately, tragedies can't change. ]
... No. Wasn't able to.
[ There's some disappointment, but resignation in his voice that he won't explain. Small wants to see people again have dulled into a mere grain, though Elysia's presence would spur it to grow after he had regained his memories. Wishful thinking and nothing more because there is a powerful curse laid upon this manor. ]
I've let you do whatever you wished because you did good work. [ Until he fires her or drops dead, she's his employee. ] But... I'm going to give you a warning, Elysia.
[ Does this sound ominous, even though said with a smile? ]
[ if it's meant to be ominous, elysia doesn't take it as that. even if he's being sincere and not saying it jest, there isn't much that can scare her.
he could fire her, and she would still stick around somehow until he dies, especially now that he doesn't have much longer. the lines in his face speak too much for his age, how close he is to the end of this mortal life, and what are a few years or a few months to her? ]
[ The staff probably had good reason to fear her. People without fear are either awe-inspiring or scary... Jacopo wouldn't be different from those people, but he doesn't see them so distant as being so different. She's just a girl. Long-living doesn't matter.
But he does think of eternity as a curse in a way. Once upon a time, he was bright and would throw a cobbled speech about how living, regardless of the difficult trials and tragic circumstances, is worth it for the chance of happiness.
By twenty-six as the lord, then as a mafia boss, he turned gloomy... It's a little reminiscent of his childhood, he thinks. ]
Stay away from me next time.
[ Emotionally, physically, in all possible fields. This could be his dying breath and he'd be fine to go without a good word or a heart-to-heart. However she interprets it is out of his hands. ]
[ she is someone to be feared. she is dangerous in many ways even if she holds little malice. if she hadn't traveled the world as a child and if all the unknowns about her didn't start become unraveled, seeing people so unsettled by her would have been odd.
eternity invites stagnation and stubbornness, so she never chases away change despite how stubborn she can be about changing herself. ]
Why? I'd like to hear your reasons.
[ she can make her own conclusions, but she'd prefer to understand. she has half a choice made in her mind, but she doesn't want to misinformed. ]
[ Jacopo despite what good he can be and the purity he may still have still harbors the worst traits in men, which includes being incapable of being direct and clear when it matters the most... Being only honest when it matters the least. He can say it's for her own good that he masks intention. He can reason this way she wouldn't hold a drop of amicable feelings for him and can let him go, but he isn't completely selfless.
Even on his couch where he'll take his last breath, he won't dare bare weakness or tears. He won't dare unveil that he needs to be saved, even though he can't be. He sinks further into the sofa cushions, posture relaxing and loosening further. ]
Immortal or not, you shouldn't waste your time. I didn't want you around to begin with.
[ Well, when he didn't remember, he did. When he remembered, he still kept her. Somehow, he thinks this doesn't counter what he said—if he had known from the beginning, then he wouldn't have hired her. ]
[ elysia has been rebuffed enough in her lifetime that she isn't easily swayed by these kinds of words. what's better for him, what's better for her—they don't always have to agree. she's selfish enough in that way. the only time she chooses to leave is if she doesn't see any other option, and here, she doesn't see it as the only option.
it's not rejection she minds. he doesn't have to feel the same way she does, not now, not ever. hers is an agape kind of love. ]
I've never thought being your friend was a waste of time. Even if you don't view me that way, I want to be here. You can fire me for insubordination if you want, but you and I both know you don't have much time left.
[ she reaches to take his hand in hers. she does not know he needs to be saved, but she can still try in her own way to at least learn about it. ]
I'm going to see you in your next life, Jacopo. You can yell at me when you remember me again.
[ Even when Maria clearly orchestrated everything going wrong between him and his wife, there is no blame on her. He can't say he would still have friends from Heaven if he hasn't contacted them in near eight hundred years. It's not the fault of his own, but he finds blame only on his own shoulders.
Right now, even with Elysia here vying for his friendship, he still considers Maria his one and only friend. If it weren't for his mistakes long ago when he was a baron, she wouldn't have been the second villain in this story. Her good character wouldn't have been tarnished by tragedy... She may have betrayed him before, then this time period now, but it was never her fault. ]
And I don't need more.
[ Rather than he has no room for it, it's no time. A humorous remark when they both know he's going soon. Because his hour is becoming minutes, he lets her hold his frail hand. It's... Nice. It's warm, unlike the Maid's cold hands.
His words aren't cutting, but they're far from comforting. And yet his fingers curl over her hand into a loose hold. He had died alone before, in the contempt and rage of the populace. It's a death he rightfully deserved and welcomed, but he was human despite the steely composure he presented as lord. There was fear, there was hurt.
He didn't want to die alone. Perhaps that's why he holds onto her hand with what he has left, weak as it were. Thank you. ]
So you should try pursuing worthwhile happiness with your eternity. Only insane people repeat something despite getting the same results.
[ she knows he means maria, and she thinks that's both one of his better and worse qualities. that he would still consider maria his friend even after all she did speaks to his character in so many ways, in how much he cares, in his devotion, in how much blame he takes for himself.
his fingers are loose over her hand, but hers is less loose even if it is still a gentle hold. it's a promise she won't let go until his last breath, if there are only minutes left. ]
You don't need more, but you will have more. It's a funny for you to speak to me about what's worthwhile when this is worth it to me. I was happy to see and meet you again. I am happy to see you grow old, past how old I once knew you at.
[ she smiles. she won't let him die alone. ]
I'll try at my chance for different results next time, no matter how small. [ that's how she is. that's how she always will be as long as she's elysia. it's always for that chance, for that kind of future, even if she doesn't know what the result will be.
that's the kind of hope she has. that's the kind of thing she finds romantic. ] If that's insanity, I've been insane long before any of you would have known me.
[ ... He wonders if this would be the moment where he would shed tears because there is an emotion in his chest that twists tightly. The emotion is hard to discern, even when he isn't so distant from his feelings like he used to be in his past life (it was incredibly severe depression). ]
Okay, you insane clingy tramp. [ He doesn't mean it... It's the time period of this time that this lingo is used. Forgive me. ] The next might not be so short of a wait. It could be a million years from now. Maybe it'd be lucky if it wasn't millions.
[ Nothing can really change how he chooses his words. ]
Being a maid for a scary businessman and capo? That can't be worth it. [ Even if she says it was. She might have dodged being entangled in misery, but there's no guarantee what reach the curse has. It can expand. It can devour. ] It won't be worth it the next time, either. I'm going to be the same exact person and I'm going to make the same choices.
[ Nothing will change and he smiles. He can't be a victim, so as a villain he accepts this. ]
That's why you should just live millions of lifetimes as a regular girl would. [ Collecting all sorts of happiness a regular girl would have. ] What about this can't you get through your thick skull?
[ Somehow, he's about to die, but he can yap SO much. ]
I am insane, and I can be quite clingy. [ it's easy enough for her to agree if she thinks it's true. ] I guess some people do think of me that way, too. [ as a tramp, even if it is the vernacular of the time. one of the people she loves most calls her a traitor, so tramp is water of a duck's back.
she is used to it and has too much confidence besides. ]
I don't know if I'll be around in a million years, but if I am, I'd still be happy to see you. I'd still look for you.
[ even if she doesn't know how exactly kevin turned out, how those 50,000 years broke him in his loneliness, how it only made him colder and colder while much about him remained unchanging... maybe there is a shadow of kevin in the way jacopo holds himself.
where once he was bright and so full of hope but living and losing only cursed him.
elysia could never conflate two people together. she could never project because the way she loves would never allow it, but any parallels she can draw would only make her attachment grow. ]
You might be scary to others, but that doesn't matter to me. [ he might make terrible decisions, but that's a terribly human thing about him. ] In the years I don't see you, I can live however I like. I already do that. [ she's doing that now. why can't that get through his thick skull? ] What makes you think in the hundred of years you were in the samsara that I don't live just like that?
[ like a regular girl would. if she's a regular girl, she'd live as that because she can't be anything else. ]
I thought you said you wanted to atone. What happened to that?
[ if he's willing and wanting to talk so much with his dying breaths, he can answer this. ]
[ When she responds the way she does, he somehow can feel an aneurysm coming even at this old age. It really is a different display of arrogance to accept what's said kind of casually, but what can he even say to that at this point? Not much. He knows that she won't be changing. There's some relief, though frustration that she'll live as she wants.
But, as she wants, may be stubbornly wasting a small sliver of her time on him.
Perhaps he could have been like Kevin if he actually lived so long and seamlessly. He receives reprieve without his memories only to be cursed to remember them, but... Death has a way with how it impedes people. His influence is mortal and limited in the end. A blessing, he himself thinks. ]
You're so much like a child... [ Age is a strange thing. ] It's none of your business.
[ He sure could have answered in a meaningful way. ]
[ kevin was in a cryo sleep for thousands of years and then he got trapped in the sea of quanta for hundreds of years because su didn't condone his ideas of genocide, so it wasn't so seamless. (elysia doesn't know these details, though.)
he calls her like a child, so she may as well meet expectations. she settles in on the couch even closer to him and rests her head on his shoulder. ]
I'm making it my business now.
[ he may be being difficult on purpose, but when has that stopped her? ]
Jacopo closes his eyes, but doesn't raise his free hand to rub his face or to massage his temples. He doesn't have the strength to shove her off his shoulder, even though this is improper for a maid. If he had more minutes left in him, this would not pass.
One more word. ]
... Idiot.
[ And that seems to be his last word. Nothing meaningful, nothing useful, but he passes peacefully with his hand in hers. Despite all of his talk, he hadn't let it go.
Perhaps tragedy can change. In this life, Jacopo doesn't die surrounded by contempt. There is someone here for him... And while it barely shaves the layers of his solitude and loneliness, it's more than he was afforded during the time of kings and vassals. Perhaps he can have a grave this time?
This life gave him a homeland. It gave him a chance to love and marry, no matter how short bliss lasted. It gave him a chance to see someone he never thought he'd ever meet again. It let him keep his name... And let him die as himself. Unfortunately, his soul isn't free. This mansion will take him, even if he were to be buried elsewhere.
Until next time, where I await your write-up on what Elysia has been doing until like 2010s. ]
her behavior may not be proper for a maid, but she's never been one who respects propriety anyway. she follows etiqueete when it suits and when it makes things easier, but she has no true deference.
it may be his last word, his last breath, but she'll remember this for the next time she sees him. she closes his eyes for him, and elysia lets the sadness come, as it always does, but she doesn't let it sink and simmer. she has seen and experienced too much loss for grief to anchor her down. she moves forward because that's what she always does. it's what she decides. she holds onto loss, she remembers each and every person who has ever left her, and she carries them with her as she goes forward.
and forward, she goes through time, for the hundred and fifty or so years before she sees jacopo again. once she leaves a place, wandering and being nomadic is just like her childhood. she goes from city to city, state to state, meeting people and learning new skills.
her friendliness and forwardness open more doors than they don't, and even if women aren't afforded many rights fore decades after jacopo dies, she still makes it work. it's a bit rough for her when she was initially from an equivalent of a modern time period, but her love perseveres always.
at first, she just travels. then, she goes to school. eventually, she spends a few years as a maid again before she moves and offers her services as a discreet bodyguard. it's another few years before she travels and learns to be a pastry chef. she makes a small name for herself at a beautiful patisserie before she disappears and surfaces as something new and fun that sparks her interest.
by the time the 2000s comes around and the internet takes off, she falls into being a content creator. hoyoverse says in a modern era with no threat to humanity, elysia becomes a streamer. she streams about anything she finds cute and pretty but mostly about food and the beauty in historical landscapes and landmarks and any place where nature and flower fields are mostly untouched. every once in a while, she reviews a book.
her phone and camera are never far from her. she can be out filming the next time she sees jacopo. ]
[ Thank you. Jacopo will not know all she has done over the years, but I will take the crumb that she enjoys many lives and experiences.
He is modern and dresses like this, basically. Professional and spiffy, but not too formal. It could be his lunch break and he decided to eat out for lunch, enjoying it at a nearby park that has a lot of walking areas and benches. Nature can be nice when you're a cog for capitalism.
Elysia can be doing her thing while he's focused on his smartphone, not noticing her just yet. His eyebrows do knit at the sound of her voice as she streams, though his gaze doesn't pull away from his phone screen. There's something about it, but he can't pinpoint what it is. ]
elysia is panning over some flowerbeds with her camera set up and talking about flower language and how it's romantic - both in the way that people mean the word romantic and the way she does when she turns and catches sight of him. she transitions into some kind of goodbye before she packs her things up and walks over to jacopo.
her hands are clasped behind her back. ]
Hi~ [ it's familiar for a first greeting, perhaps too familiar but she's usually this way. ] It's a beautiful day out, isn't it?
Likely, he's checking the stock market or something... Not in the obsession of bring a broker on the side, but a regular amount of vigilance as someone who owns a different amount of stock and a diverse portfolio.
He still doesn't notice her until a shadow is cast within his line of sight... Then he lifts his head to see her, though he locks his phone so she can't check his screen. ]
It is. [ Despite giving off the air that he shouldn't be bothered, he answers without any irritation or annoyance. His eyes do flicker to his watch for the time, as if assessing how long he can entertain this. ] Good for your stream, right?
[ somehow this tracks for a girl who curses people to be miserable
jacopo would care about stonks. stocks are only so interesting. elysia meets his gaze with a smile when he lifts his head. she can read his body language, as ever, but she remains undeterred, also as ever. ]
Yeah, that was why I'm out here instead of inside. Was I too noisy? I did cut myself short when I saw you. I thought, a new day really does start with lovely encounters.
[ They are very not interesting to me, but they are interesting enough to Jacopo to have a good idea on what the forecast is looking for his Assets. He doesn't even know he gives off an aura of any kind. He's just existing, but being read by a girl he doesn't know.
Which he isn't sure how to feel about, but everyone judges each other. That's the risk of going outside. ]
It could be worse. [ While not a yes, it's also not a no. ] So... You cut your stream short to talk to me.
[ it's interesting to think about volatile the stock market can be even if i don't fully understand it
elysia could do better at hiding how much she knows, but she doesn't care enough to. it's nothing that will harm anything irreparably or will change the fate of the world, so jacopo can think she's a freak and be confused.
if anything, it's nice to witness his rudeness again. she doesn't enjoy being rude to, but it's never bothered her, and it's another confirmation that it's him. when it's not impossible in her universe to have similar faces but different personalities, it's nice for jacopo to be like this. ]
I didn't think you'd want to be randomly included in a stream, and you looked like someone I wanted to get to know better. I don't know how much time you have before you have to go, but won't you humor me?
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he is incredulous. she doesn't mind. she gets that reaction often from more people than just him. ]
I care about you, Jacopo. I love you.
[ easily, simply. ]
I don't want to leave you alone.
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There is a sigh where his shoulders drop with it. ]
... You really haven't changed.
[ The tone is knowing and somehow carries the air of years beyond him. ]
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she has existed too long to not hear all those years. ]
Do you remember?
[ ... ]
How long has it been?
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Since my thirties.
[ And so he had kept it secret for decades until now, sorry. He had to wrestle with a lot of it in the quiet because the one thing he did not learn is to ask for help.
The distance is also best for her, he thought. This curse he has gotten himself tangled in brings misery to everyone close to him... It tore Maria and him apart.
So it'd be the best if they kept their difference—which he did not and does not convey. ]
It'd be eight hundreds years or some ridiculous number. Sometimes feels like it, sometimes doesn't.
[ A snort. ]
Everyone's probably dead by now.
[ Dry humor, he does find it funny? When he didn't remember, he didn't believe in the supernatural or the paranormal. ]
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she's not mad, and she'd be too much of a hypocrite if she scolded him about keeping secrets. it wouldn't have changed too much of how she treated him. she always wants to close a distance, even if there's a curse.
(she doesn't know there's a curse.)
she watched her world die. she left it behind, knowing there would be nothing left of it, only to give people of a new world a chance of future she could never have. misery is something she's seen and known in spades, and it is something she holds like a precious memory still. it is something that moves forward with her because she doesn't let anything drag her down.
if she let misery ruin friendships, she'd have no friends left when her friends often end up more miserable than she could ever be. ]
Time can be funny like that. Too long one moment, like a blink the next. The more you experience it, the more you wonder what can change.
[ and what can't. ]
Dead but not gone. Did you visit heaven again?
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Ultimately, tragedies can't change. ]
... No. Wasn't able to.
[ There's some disappointment, but resignation in his voice that he won't explain. Small wants to see people again have dulled into a mere grain, though Elysia's presence would spur it to grow after he had regained his memories. Wishful thinking and nothing more because there is a powerful curse laid upon this manor. ]
I've let you do whatever you wished because you did good work. [ Until he fires her or drops dead, she's his employee. ] But... I'm going to give you a warning, Elysia.
[ Does this sound ominous, even though said with a smile? ]
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he could fire her, and she would still stick around somehow until he dies, especially now that he doesn't have much longer. the lines in his face speak too much for his age, how close he is to the end of this mortal life, and what are a few years or a few months to her? ]
Hm? What is it?
no subject
But he does think of eternity as a curse in a way. Once upon a time, he was bright and would throw a cobbled speech about how living, regardless of the difficult trials and tragic circumstances, is worth it for the chance of happiness.
By twenty-six as the lord, then as a mafia boss, he turned gloomy... It's a little reminiscent of his childhood, he thinks. ]
Stay away from me next time.
[ Emotionally, physically, in all possible fields. This could be his dying breath and he'd be fine to go without a good word or a heart-to-heart. However she interprets it is out of his hands. ]
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eternity invites stagnation and stubbornness, so she never chases away change despite how stubborn she can be about changing herself. ]
Why? I'd like to hear your reasons.
[ she can make her own conclusions, but she'd prefer to understand. she has half a choice made in her mind, but she doesn't want to misinformed. ]
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[ Jacopo despite what good he can be and the purity he may still have still harbors the worst traits in men, which includes being incapable of being direct and clear when it matters the most... Being only honest when it matters the least. He can say it's for her own good that he masks intention. He can reason this way she wouldn't hold a drop of amicable feelings for him and can let him go, but he isn't completely selfless.
Even on his couch where he'll take his last breath, he won't dare bare weakness or tears. He won't dare unveil that he needs to be saved, even though he can't be. He sinks further into the sofa cushions, posture relaxing and loosening further. ]
Immortal or not, you shouldn't waste your time. I didn't want you around to begin with.
[ Well, when he didn't remember, he did. When he remembered, he still kept her. Somehow, he thinks this doesn't counter what he said—if he had known from the beginning, then he wouldn't have hired her. ]
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it's not rejection she minds. he doesn't have to feel the same way she does, not now, not ever. hers is an agape kind of love. ]
I've never thought being your friend was a waste of time. Even if you don't view me that way, I want to be here. You can fire me for insubordination if you want, but you and I both know you don't have much time left.
[ she reaches to take his hand in hers. she does not know he needs to be saved, but she can still try in her own way to at least learn about it. ]
I'm going to see you in your next life, Jacopo. You can yell at me when you remember me again.
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[ Even when Maria clearly orchestrated everything going wrong between him and his wife, there is no blame on her. He can't say he would still have friends from Heaven if he hasn't contacted them in near eight hundred years. It's not the fault of his own, but he finds blame only on his own shoulders.
Right now, even with Elysia here vying for his friendship, he still considers Maria his one and only friend. If it weren't for his mistakes long ago when he was a baron, she wouldn't have been the second villain in this story. Her good character wouldn't have been tarnished by tragedy... She may have betrayed him before, then this time period now, but it was never her fault. ]
And I don't need more.
[ Rather than he has no room for it, it's no time. A humorous remark when they both know he's going soon. Because his hour is becoming minutes, he lets her hold his frail hand. It's... Nice. It's warm, unlike the Maid's cold hands.
His words aren't cutting, but they're far from comforting. And yet his fingers curl over her hand into a loose hold. He had died alone before, in the contempt and rage of the populace. It's a death he rightfully deserved and welcomed, but he was human despite the steely composure he presented as lord. There was fear, there was hurt.
He didn't want to die alone. Perhaps that's why he holds onto her hand with what he has left, weak as it were. Thank you. ]
So you should try pursuing worthwhile happiness with your eternity. Only insane people repeat something despite getting the same results.
no subject
his fingers are loose over her hand, but hers is less loose even if it is still a gentle hold. it's a promise she won't let go until his last breath, if there are only minutes left. ]
You don't need more, but you will have more. It's a funny for you to speak to me about what's worthwhile when this is worth it to me. I was happy to see and meet you again. I am happy to see you grow old, past how old I once knew you at.
[ she smiles. she won't let him die alone. ]
I'll try at my chance for different results next time, no matter how small. [ that's how she is. that's how she always will be as long as she's elysia. it's always for that chance, for that kind of future, even if she doesn't know what the result will be.
that's the kind of hope she has. that's the kind of thing she finds romantic. ] If that's insanity, I've been insane long before any of you would have known me.
[ she has that much self-awareness. ]
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Okay, you insane clingy tramp. [ He doesn't mean it... It's the time period of this time that this lingo is used. Forgive me. ] The next might not be so short of a wait. It could be a million years from now. Maybe it'd be lucky if it wasn't millions.
[ Nothing can really change how he chooses his words. ]
Being a maid for a scary businessman and capo? That can't be worth it. [ Even if she says it was. She might have dodged being entangled in misery, but there's no guarantee what reach the curse has. It can expand. It can devour. ] It won't be worth it the next time, either. I'm going to be the same exact person and I'm going to make the same choices.
[ Nothing will change and he smiles. He can't be a victim, so as a villain he accepts this. ]
That's why you should just live millions of lifetimes as a regular girl would. [ Collecting all sorts of happiness a regular girl would have. ] What about this can't you get through your thick skull?
[ Somehow, he's about to die, but he can yap SO much. ]
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I am insane, and I can be quite clingy. [ it's easy enough for her to agree if she thinks it's true. ] I guess some people do think of me that way, too. [ as a tramp, even if it is the vernacular of the time. one of the people she loves most calls her a traitor, so tramp is water of a duck's back.
she is used to it and has too much confidence besides. ]
I don't know if I'll be around in a million years, but if I am, I'd still be happy to see you. I'd still look for you.
[ even if she doesn't know how exactly kevin turned out, how those 50,000 years broke him in his loneliness, how it only made him colder and colder while much about him remained unchanging... maybe there is a shadow of kevin in the way jacopo holds himself.
where once he was bright and so full of hope but living and losing only cursed him.
elysia could never conflate two people together. she could never project because the way she loves would never allow it, but any parallels she can draw would only make her attachment grow. ]
You might be scary to others, but that doesn't matter to me. [ he might make terrible decisions, but that's a terribly human thing about him. ] In the years I don't see you, I can live however I like. I already do that. [ she's doing that now. why can't that get through his thick skull? ] What makes you think in the hundred of years you were in the samsara that I don't live just like that?
[ like a regular girl would. if she's a regular girl, she'd live as that because she can't be anything else. ]
I thought you said you wanted to atone. What happened to that?
[ if he's willing and wanting to talk so much with his dying breaths, he can answer this. ]
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But, as she wants, may be stubbornly wasting a small sliver of her time on him.
Perhaps he could have been like Kevin if he actually lived so long and seamlessly. He receives reprieve without his memories only to be cursed to remember them, but... Death has a way with how it impedes people. His influence is mortal and limited in the end. A blessing, he himself thinks. ]
You're so much like a child... [ Age is a strange thing. ] It's none of your business.
[ He sure could have answered in a meaningful way. ]
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he calls her like a child, so she may as well meet expectations. she settles in on the couch even closer to him and rests her head on his shoulder. ]
I'm making it my business now.
[ he may be being difficult on purpose, but when has that stopped her? ]
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Jacopo closes his eyes, but doesn't raise his free hand to rub his face or to massage his temples. He doesn't have the strength to shove her off his shoulder, even though this is improper for a maid. If he had more minutes left in him, this would not pass.
One more word. ]
... Idiot.
[ And that seems to be his last word. Nothing meaningful, nothing useful, but he passes peacefully with his hand in hers. Despite all of his talk, he hadn't let it go.
Perhaps tragedy can change. In this life, Jacopo doesn't die surrounded by contempt. There is someone here for him... And while it barely shaves the layers of his solitude and loneliness, it's more than he was afforded during the time of kings and vassals. Perhaps he can have a grave this time?
This life gave him a homeland. It gave him a chance to love and marry, no matter how short bliss lasted. It gave him a chance to see someone he never thought he'd ever meet again. It let him keep his name... And let him die as himself. Unfortunately, his soul isn't free. This mansion will take him, even if he were to be buried elsewhere.
Until next time, where I await your write-up on what Elysia has been doing until like 2010s. ]
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her behavior may not be proper for a maid, but she's never been one who respects propriety anyway. she follows etiqueete when it suits and when it makes things easier, but she has no true deference.
it may be his last word, his last breath, but she'll remember this for the next time she sees him. she closes his eyes for him, and elysia lets the sadness come, as it always does, but she doesn't let it sink and simmer. she has seen and experienced too much loss for grief to anchor her down. she moves forward because that's what she always does. it's what she decides. she holds onto loss, she remembers each and every person who has ever left her, and she carries them with her as she goes forward.
and forward, she goes through time, for the hundred and fifty or so years before she sees jacopo again. once she leaves a place, wandering and being nomadic is just like her childhood. she goes from city to city, state to state, meeting people and learning new skills.
her friendliness and forwardness open more doors than they don't, and even if women aren't afforded many rights fore decades after jacopo dies, she still makes it work. it's a bit rough for her when she was initially from an equivalent of a modern time period, but her love perseveres always.
at first, she just travels. then, she goes to school. eventually, she spends a few years as a maid again before she moves and offers her services as a discreet bodyguard. it's another few years before she travels and learns to be a pastry chef. she makes a small name for herself at a beautiful patisserie before she disappears and surfaces as something new and fun that sparks her interest.
by the time the 2000s comes around and the internet takes off, she falls into being a content creator. hoyoverse says in a modern era with no threat to humanity, elysia becomes a streamer. she streams about anything she finds cute and pretty but mostly about food and the beauty in historical landscapes and landmarks and any place where nature and flower fields are mostly untouched. every once in a while, she reviews a book.
her phone and camera are never far from her. she can be out filming the next time she sees jacopo. ]
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He is modern and dresses like this, basically. Professional and spiffy, but not too formal. It could be his lunch break and he decided to eat out for lunch, enjoying it at a nearby park that has a lot of walking areas and benches. Nature can be nice when you're a cog for capitalism.
Elysia can be doing her thing while he's focused on his smartphone, not noticing her just yet. His eyebrows do knit at the sound of her voice as she streams, though his gaze doesn't pull away from his phone screen. There's something about it, but he can't pinpoint what it is. ]
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elysia is panning over some flowerbeds with her camera set up and talking about flower language and how it's romantic - both in the way that people mean the word romantic and the way she does when she turns and catches sight of him. she transitions into some kind of goodbye before she packs her things up and walks over to jacopo.
her hands are clasped behind her back. ]
Hi~ [ it's familiar for a first greeting, perhaps too familiar but she's usually this way. ] It's a beautiful day out, isn't it?
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Likely, he's checking the stock market or something... Not in the obsession of bring a broker on the side, but a regular amount of vigilance as someone who owns a different amount of stock and a diverse portfolio.
He still doesn't notice her until a shadow is cast within his line of sight... Then he lifts his head to see her, though he locks his phone so she can't check his screen. ]
It is. [ Despite giving off the air that he shouldn't be bothered, he answers without any irritation or annoyance. His eyes do flicker to his watch for the time, as if assessing how long he can entertain this. ] Good for your stream, right?
[ Might have overheard a bit. ]
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jacopo would care about stonks. stocks are only so interesting. elysia meets his gaze with a smile when he lifts his head. she can read his body language, as ever, but she remains undeterred, also as ever. ]
Yeah, that was why I'm out here instead of inside. Was I too noisy? I did cut myself short when I saw you. I thought, a new day really does start with lovely encounters.
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Which he isn't sure how to feel about, but everyone judges each other. That's the risk of going outside. ]
It could be worse. [ While not a yes, it's also not a no. ] So... You cut your stream short to talk to me.
[ Con...Fused... ]
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elysia could do better at hiding how much she knows, but she doesn't care enough to. it's nothing that will harm anything irreparably or will change the fate of the world, so jacopo can think she's a freak and be confused.
if anything, it's nice to witness his rudeness again. she doesn't enjoy being rude to, but it's never bothered her, and it's another confirmation that it's him. when it's not impossible in her universe to have similar faces but different personalities, it's nice for jacopo to be like this. ]
I didn't think you'd want to be randomly included in a stream, and you looked like someone I wanted to get to know better. I don't know how much time you have before you have to go, but won't you humor me?
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