faithfulflame | Twelfth Prayer: Some Flames Never Die [Action/Video] Late Afternoon

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Twelfth Prayer: Some Flames Never Die [Action/Video] Late Afternoon

Video

[A video feed flickers to life, showing a teenage girl dressed in long, thick looking priestess's robes sitting outside the little shrine on the riverbank. And for once in her Luceti life, Rei Hino looks genuinely happy with how things are going. Everything has gone...strangely well...for her lately. Despite the invasion, the discovery in the tunnel, and all of that, everything was actually alright in Rei's little world. So much so that it seemed like an ideal time to have a little celebration for an event that had been pretty significant for her a year before. It's not much, she never expects a large crowd for anything she does, but then she's never been one for that sort of thing, either. And who knows, it may even help to lift people's spirits after their own troubles.

There's no sigh, no subtle frown, no vaguely irritated look in her eye. She's even smiling at the camera as she addresses it.]

Good afternoon Luceti. My name is Rei Hino, and as some of you might know...and some might not...I maintain a small shrine here across the path from Community House 2. I haven't broadcast about it in a while, but I thought today might be a good day to extend an invitation to anyone who might want a peaceful place to spend some time before the weather changes. It was one year ago today that Brave Vesperia completed building it, and it felt appropriate to mark the date with a little something.

[She gestures to some tables of food she's prepared or gathered from the shops and bakery, a variety of snacks, along with curry, pasta, and various other easy meals really. Rei can cook alright, but this was kind of last minute, after all.]

So please, come eat and relax. If you like, I'll read your fortune and give you a good luck charm too. I know things have been stressful lately, so please consider it. It may do you some good.

[A pair of crows flap into view, landing on her shoulders as she turns to look at the building. With a laugh Rei playfully runs a finger under one's beak and looks to the journal.]

And you know...it's strange, having been here as long as I have. I've had a lot of friends come and go, and seen a lot of strange and unsettling things. But looking at this building...it makes me happy. Maybe it's because it's like my home. My...real home. [Rei's smile grows almost wistful, weary even.] Does anyone else have a place like that here? A place that makes you feel at peace, maybe even a little nostalgic? I'd like to know...even if you don't come eat.

[And then she waves a hand, whispers a word, and the book closes with a sudden gust of wind. Harry would've been proud...]

Action

[Rei will be available at the shrine all afternoon after around 2:00, or if you like you can catch her earlier in the day in the shops with armfuls of food. Nothing too fancy is going on, just a little impromptu anniversary party.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I know.

[Obviously.]

Cake. Well, I'm not like Usagi, but I do eat it occasionally. I am, after all, still a teenage girl.

Yeah, yeah. Well, excuse me for thinking you had higher class tastes then. Maybe we should just go get some cake after all.

I have some. Cake and champagne sounds good, doesn't it?

It sounds a little sweet, but...

[That smile. It was hard for him to argue.]

Aw, hell. Why not?

Alright.

[She heads off and returns with two glasses and two plates with small bits of vanilla cake on them.]

I didn't make choco, I think it's a little bland in a cake. So I hope you don't mind.

Hah! That's fine. Chocolate might be a bit much with this anyway.

[He helped her get everything settled before gesturing toward the bottle.]

So. Wanna take the honors?

Why don't you? It's traditional for guests to open drinks for anniversaries at home.

Oh, really?

[He's never paid much attention to Earthly traditions. Given large proportion of them in Luceti, and the fact that Cliff was realizing that he might be in town for the long haul, it might be wise to fix that sometime.

He gently screwed the top off and handed it to Rei.]

What other kinds of traditions do you have? It looks like you have a few more than the rest of the folks around here.

[That's a complicated question...she mulls it over as she takes the bottle and pours out two cups, passing one over.]

That...is really hard to answer succinctly. There are traditions for everything. Japanese life is fairly ritualistic. And I live by the old way. What kind of traditions would you want to know about?

You tell me?

[He peered into the cup as he thought, double checking the info he had gathered on the calendar system that was used in Luceti.]

If I'm remembering this right, there's gonna be a few holidays and such in the next few months. I already goofed on one. [Valentine's Day. When he 'married' a certain eternally pissy Glyphian.] And, you know what they say. I don't wanna goof again.

Christmas is the next big one. At least, that happens here. Luceti uses a Western holiday system. I think the Malnosso must be from there, and not Japan.

[It's so true...]

Eastern. Western. It's all the same to me. [He threw a hand out in the air-- it made no difference. It is what it is, and he didn't care about the semantics of it.]

But, it's something for you. What do you do in Japan?

The next holiday? Respect for the Elderly day. It's to honor all the older people. After that, well...Shichi-Go-San doesn't have much place in Luceti.

Guess that one's for the really old people, huh? [He grinned.]

What is Shichi-Go-San? I've never heard anything like that before.

That's one, yes. And maybe for you too.

[Smirking, she adds]

Seven, Five, Three in Japanese. Children who are seven, five, and three come to a shrine and get a blessing and have a little party. But most of the kids here are too old for that.

Hey, hey. How do we know you wouldn't fit either. You act like one sometimes.

[It was both a joke and a compliment for Rei's relative maturity. Compared to most in the village, it was impressive.]

But yea, I can see why that one wouldn't work too well. Do you know why it's only for kids those ages and not others?

Because I'm seventeen. Not a wrinkle in sight.

[Tongue? Stuck out.]

No, I don't really know. Not in a way I could explain easily anyway. It's religious stuff, and I haven't really studied that as hard as I should.

[Have a grin. Rei was delightfully cheeky.]

That's fine. Religious stuff is all the answer I need. I'm an athiest, even if I've run into things that've made me wonder a bit about the divine.

I don't see how that makes much sense, you know. You've encountered things that make you wonder. Why wouldn't you believe in something?

...

It's complicated.

[It touched on the reality of what 'heaven' and the idea of what 'god' really was-- and it was thoroughly disappointing.]

Let's just say that anyone would start questioning things when things show up proclaiming your imminent destruction.

[Terrible, angelic beings. Fayt and Maria were made to destroy them, which was a testiment to their power.]

Is that so?

[Rei takes a sip from her cup, smiling softly as the bubbles tickled her nose.]

I...actually know more than a little bit about that sort of thing. If you remember what I showed you before.

Yeah, I remember.

[He held the glass up and swirled the liquid around, watching the bubbles move as he looked through it at her. It was hard to forget the sudden shift in power and demeanor that she had revealed. The nigh palpable presence of fire that filled the air around her was just as impressive as some of the other things he's seen-- even if there were a few that still topped it.]

It's just weird, yanno? You spend your life working on one cause and you suddenly find yourself fighting for something much bigger...it tends to throw a guy for a loop. Even an athiest might begin to ask a few questions.

What are you fighting for at home, Cliff-san?

[She's pretty sure she's never asked that before. He's dropped hints, certainly, but she's never asked the real reason. And this mention of something bigger, and the divine?]

...

[He took a sip of the champagne and set the glass down before flattening his palms on the table, momentarily stepping beyond his usual relaxation in order to explain the situation back at home in delicate terms.]

There's been an intergalactic war going on at home between the two big political powerhouses, and it's been getting plenty of other worlds that shouldn't be involved sucked in. They're shoving them off as collateral damage, and not offering any assist unless the world happens to be a part of the Federation.

That's been a large part of what I've been doing for the last several years. I don't like seeing people kicked to the curb

But, that all kind of stops being important when you encounter things that make no sense by the current standards in place. By physics, they're impossible.

...

[He glanced away.]

I guess watching a planet be destroyed in moments by these things has a way of making politics look like nothing, huh?

It does. And school, too.

[Rei's faced that down herself, and she sips her drink quietly, looking at him for a long moment before going on.]

There are some people in my world who are out to destroy it. They want to call up some evil demon to turn the whole world upside down. I guess...you saw something similar?

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