♩ gentle and warm as the light

[shiritai]

Who: Violet and you!
What: Violet decides to step up and take a shot at cooking. She has... decidedly mixed results.
When: March 26th, early afternoon and night
Where: The kitchen (afternoon) and the viewing deck (night)
Warnings: Terrible violence comitted upon the concept of a scrambled egg.

[ So if you go down to the woods the kitchen today, you might be in for a bit of a surprise. You'll find one (1) Violet Evergarden hard at work at one of the counters with a recipe book cracked open and... just some eggs? Well, if she's starting simple, eggs are a good place to jump off from. How wrong can you go with eggs?

Very wrong, it turns out.

Maybe you'll find her utterly failing at cracking eggs into the bowl. It's a bit of a crapshoot whether she ends up with egg all over the counter or actually gets it into the bowl, but either way it ends with her having a mixture composed of roughly 60% egg and 40% shell. Or maybe you'll find her pouring that mixture into a bowl and... doesn't that look like way, way too much egg for one girl?

Or maybe you'll just see Violet examining the sorry results of her work once she's done. It looks sort of like a badly mutilated omlette but it's so huge she's had to spread it across two plates. One side is burned to a crisp, one looks slightly soggy and undercooked and the whole thing just looks like a slightly greyish yellow hunk of rubber. Violet stares down at it pensively for a long moment before carefully picking up both plates and making her way straight to the trashcan. Atta girl, Violet.

That night, if you happen to be the sort of weirdo who lurks around on the viewing deck after dark, you'll find you've got company. Violet's there, settled on one of the seats with the duvet from her bed wrapped around her nice and snug, to stave off the worst of the sea breeze. She's got her eyes up to the roof, where the night sky would be, if it wasn't for the absolutely torrential rain pouring down and obscuring much of anything. She looks a little bit disappointed (or as disappointed as Violet ever looks, anyway) but she's sat there gazing up diligently at the roof anyway. Very odd. ]

Comments

[shiritai]

[ Violet just nods, as if this is a normal thing that you would generally expect to hear from people on the regular. ]

Might I ask how something like that is possible? You appear very young for your age.

[founderinglight]

I spent most of that time as an incorporeal spirit attached to a family artifact. This -

[He gestures, loosely but dramatically, at himself from chest to knees.]

- is a fairly recent development.

[Kind of puts his comments about re-discovering old experiences in a new light, doesn't it?]

[shiritai]

[ Violet nods, thoughtfully. Maybe someone else would have reason to question that -- but Violet, who's never had any reason to doubt anyone in her life, doesn't even have reason to suspect anything of being a tall tale, no matter how outlandish the details. ]

It's very strange.

[ She's quiet for a moment, while she puzzles out how best to articulate the thought she's just had. ]

For all the similarities our worlds have, the more all of us talk, just as many differences make themselves known.

[founderinglight]

[This is perhaps a good thing, considering that the lives of many of the people she's around now are extremely outlandish by her world's standards.]

When you've seen as much of time as I have, you being to realize that even a single world can look very different century to century. What's really a wonder is that we all get along as well as we do - a few bumps in the road, but no major incidents so far.

[shiritai]

... yes. I suppose that's the case.

[ She sounds troubled, which is unusual for little miss lineface Evergarden. For a moment, though, she's quiet instead of elaborating further. But then she shifts a little in her seat, sinking deeper into her nest of blankets and finally pipes up. ]

Would you be opposed to my asking a question?

[founderinglight]

By all means, ask. There's no harm in it, even if I don't answer.

[shiritai]

What does the word "Doll" mean, in your world?

[ She says it rather matter-of-factly, but she's not looking at Izunia as she asks. ]

[founderinglight]

[ - Ah. Not what he was expecting, but not completely out of nowhere, given some of what he saw her discussing on the network.

He answers her straightforwardly and honestly.]

A small figure of a woman - a child's toy, usually. Sometimes a term of endearment, but one that's as likely to make someone uncomfortable as not.

[shiritai]

Is it something to be ashamed of?

[ And maybe that's the question she really wants to ask. ]

In the world I come from, the title of an Auto Memoir Doll is something sought after by many women. It is difficult work, often taxing physically as well as emotionally for those unprepared to handle it. But it is wonderful work, I think, to be able to pen the words a person is unable to speak and to deliver their feelings for them.

[ She goes silent for a moment but the look on her face makes it clear she's struggling hard to articulate herself. ]

It was made to sound, by the others... as if being a "Doll" was something I should find shameful. But I do not. ... is it something I should be ashamed to call myself?

[founderinglight]

[He lets her take her time to get her words in order. It allows him time to arrange the chaos of his own thoughts. He's silent for some moments after she finishes.]

I don't think so.

[A pause, and then he starts again - ]

Because... To be able to do the thing you love is a very special thing, no matter what it is your occupation is called. All the more so when it requires such skills.

[The look in his eyes is strangely distant.]

To be suited for the work that fills your heart with warmth... It is not something that many people have, and it is something to take pride in. Even if others may not think the same - you should walk with your head held high, and carry that pride for yourself, if no one else.

[shiritai]

[ There's that word again.

Love.

Violet opens her mouth to say something in response but after a few stalled moments she finds that no words are coming out. That's the second time she's heard that word since coming here and she still doesn't have any better an understanding of what it really means. Prompto had tried to help, but surely love can't be the cold, horrible feeling she gets when she remembers the Major, can it? ]

Something that fills your heart with warmth...

[ She grips the brooch at her neck without even seeming to realize she's doing it. ]

Is that what "love" means? Is that the sort of feeling it is?

kitchen nightmares with sleepytime junction

[nightcure]

[ ... Wow, okay. Noctis walks in, and immediately, he's greeted with a feeling of slowly dawning horror. Sure, no one can be as good as Ignis Scientia, but like... this is just sad. And terrible.

At least Noct can manage some tact. ]

Do you, uh... [ He watches as she manages, somehow, to not get egg inside the bowl. ] Do you need help?

[founderinglight]

[Again, he's silent for a long moment.]

Love is... A very complicated thing. It's a shame the language we speak now in Lucis has only the one word for it; other languages have more.

[He reaches up to tug at the blue scarf around his neck.]

Some loves are warm like the sunset upon your face. Others burn like a hot blade pressed into your flesh. Love is what is worth living for and what is worth dying for.

[shiritai]

[ With almost pitch-perfect timing, Violet looks up just as she's about to crack one more egg into the bowl. It splits perfectly in two, for the first time, without any shell spilling into the bowl.

Unfortunately, nothing else gets into the bowl either, because she's struck the counter just a bit too hard and the shell falls apart before she can get the egg to the bowl and it just sort of... oozes all over the side.

There's a pause and then Violet just nods. ]

... yes. I would appreciate some assistance.

[shiritai]

... It's contradictory.

[ How can you live for something, if it's just as worth dying for? But that had been the Major's final order to her, hadn't it? That she should live and be free. Live, he had implored before giving her that wounded, bloodstained smile, before saying I love you, and Violet had only been able to respond then as she does now. ]

I don't understand. I still... don't understand.

[founderinglight]

The heart often is. Feelings rarely make much logical sense.

[That, he knows all too well.]

And in that regard, I'm afraid love is among the worst offenders.

viewing deck

[dubiouslychthonic]

Waiting for something?

[Jetshard's paused in the doorway, making an effort not to sneak up on Violet; with human night vision being what it apparently is, she doesn't like to assume that most residents of the station will see her coming in the dark when they're focused on something else.]

[rhododendronhoney]

Well...it's true that can happen if you crack it too hard. But eggshells actually hold together better than you'd think. [She peels back a bit of the shell to reveal the softer inner membrane.] The inner part is softer and won't break as easily, so as long as you don't apply too much pressure it should hold together even when the outer shell cracks.

[shiritai]

Yes. I've come to understand that much at least, while writing letters. People's hearts are so complicated and contradictory but they're all so very delicate.

[ Like Iris, proud and boisterous, but reduced to tears of pain and frustration by the wrong words. Like Luculia, who could smile and brighten any room with her kindness, except the dark and dingy one she and her brother shared.

And Violet thinks, that for as delicate as people's hearts might be, how much easier it seems for everyone else to be able to understand each other. Even through all the lies and contradictions. She feels a twist of something hot and poisonous in her chest that dissipates after a moment -- a feeling that Violet doesn't yet know to recognize as envy. ]

But there is still so, so much I've yet to learn. Perhaps... being here, with so many new people, will help me accomplish that.

[shiritai]

[ Uh oh. Though the look on her face doesn't change all that much, Violet's shoulders do visibly droop. ]

If it requires such a delicate touch, then that may not be possible for me.

[shiritai]

[ Violet turns her attention from the rain-soaked roof to this new arrival in a snap -- her eyes are a little narrowed, but just for a moment and then she relaxes a touch and nods. ]

Yes. [ it comes out a bit muffled, since she's still blanket burrito'd in. ] I'm waiting for the rain and the clouds to pass, so that I might be able to see the stars.

[founderinglight]

Delicate, and yet difficult to really, truly break beyond repair. People are persistent, especially when it comes to love.

[He smiles, faintly.]

You're not alone on your journey. It is perhaps not the same for all people, but I think many of us are still searching for the meaning of love that fits best within our hearts.

[shiritai]

I wonder... if it's the same for everyone else, as well. The other Dolls in Leidenschaft.

[ Her gaze might be on the sky above, but her eyes are distant, like she's seeing somewhere much, much further away.

"I love you."

The last words the Major had left her with, important enough to trump even his order to live. She didn't understand then and she doesn't understand now, but for so long, she'd thought she was the only one. But the way Izunia talks and the way he makes it sound... ]

Is everyone trying to understand what "I love you" means?

[riderofcharlemagne]

[Astolfo quickly scans around the room for any signs of a handbook or notes left on how to use it.]

Not that I can see...

[He returns to staring at the dishwasher.]

It can't be that complicated, if we just press a bunch of buttons that'll probably do something, right?

[Just. Mash all of them.]

[founderinglight]

Perhaps not in those exact terms. But people often seek to understand love - what it means for them, what it is they love, why it is that others love them. What it is that gives life meaning.

[How to find forgiveness for hurting the people you love, and how to forgive them for hurting you.

Love, love, always love.]

I hope you can find the answer that suits you.