#princessofquacks

[daikendama]

@princessofquacks​

The city had no shortage of colorful characters, that was for sure.  It had gotten to the point where the extraordinary had all blurred together, and the mundane almost seemed to stick out more to Prelati.  She would sooner notice someone keeping to themselves, slipping through a crowd unnoticed, than she would a gaudily-dressed superhero flying overhead, laughing and proclaiming their vow of nobility to the adoring crowd below.

But those deep pink eyes...it was like she had been drawn right to them, as if they’d locked with her own before she even noticed the unmistakable turquoise hair and revealing attire of the woman they belonged to.

Out of all the other citizens who walked the boardwalk that day, she would only notice Cagliostro.  Her other wife, the one she’d heard was lost before she even arrived...she could never be certain she would ever see her again.  This place worked in such mysterious, frustrating ways...not since she had arrived had it given her such a blessing.

“...Saint-Germain told me you disappeared,” she spoke in a low, trembling tone.  How far apart were they?  A few meters?  Inches?  She was so disoriented, it was as if depth perception itself had melted away.  But she would be heard.  She had to be.  “That you were taken away from her, just before I arrived here.  The look in her eyes when she said that...”  Her arms tightened around the frog plush she was so rarely seen without.

“After seeing that...I could basically never forgive you if you’ve just been hiding this whole time...”

[aid-lombard]

She feels listless, she feels tired--Saint-Germain’s lost count of the days on this island, and she really doesn’t care. It’s not like she really has to take care of herself, it’s not like she wants to take care of herself. No, it feels like there’s not much point to anything anymore, and so she’s going through the motions on this deserted island, not certain of what the point is for anything anymore.

Does she want to go home? What even is home? For the longest time, it wasn’t a place for her--no, it was a duo of people, people who loved to argue and bicker, and who she cared for very, very dearly. Two people she wasn’t sure she’d ever see again, but two people she knew she held so much in her mind that she wouldn’t be surprised if, what, she started hallucinating or something.

...well, a deserted island is the perfect place to see a mirage, isn’t it?

She hears her, at first. The sound of someone complaining, someone familiar, but no, that can’t be right, really. There’s no way that’s right. Maybe that’s the twist to this place--that you start hearing your loved ones once you’ve been here long enough. Wouldn’t some sort of cruel fate like that be appropriate for her? But the complaining doesn’t go away, no, it just gets louder, and she knows, now, that she has to check this out. Even if it’s nothing. Even if this is all just a dream, some sort of cruel trick played on her by the Stars. It wouldn’t be the first time they’d done something so awful.

If this is an illusion, it’s a very convincing one.

There she is--Cagliostro, just as Saint-Germain remembered and remembers her, complaining loudly as she tries to walk through this jungle in heels. She’s frozen in place, she doesn’t know what to do, or to say--what if this isn’t real? But what if it is? Could she be allowed this one thing? Was it something she deserved?

She’s thinking far too much to come up with anything to say.

[saikoukinesis]

@princessofquacks​

“Hey!  You mind paying a bit more attention to the line?”  Tatsumaki hadn’t seen this woman around the coffee shop before, but if she was like others who preferred to be glued to their cell phones rather than watching for when the person ahead of them makes progress, she wasn’t about to bother reasoning or being nice about it.  The former was something she’d attempted too many times to too few results, while the latter was just something she didn’t do.

“If you’re not planning on getting a move on, I’m skipping ahead of you,” she added, taking a step forward and toward this lady’s side to show she wasn’t just blowing smoke.

[daikendama]

@princessofquacks​

A museum...that was the newest attraction this place had to offer, then.  Prelati couldn’t say it interested her terribly.  Not only had she and her life partners lived through the much-lauded High Renaissance and seen the rise and fall of every European art period since, but...well, things had changed since her arrival.  Something was missing.  Someone was missing.  And it crushed her deeply as it did Cagliostro, of course.  She just chose to hide it where her partner had made no such attempt to mask her frustration and sorrow.

But this was not simply a place of spectacle.  It was a place of creation, where the residents could come and make their own art to display in the museum.  Perhaps it was the sort of outlet she needed at a time like this...if not to get her negative feelings out, then to put her positive ones out on display.

She worked in complete silence, the only noise from her immediate area being the swift etchings of pencil on canvas.  Not even the rubbing of an eraser to dismiss a stray mark- erasure would be unnecessary if this piece would be completed as she believed it would be, of course, but she found she was hardly making any stray marks.  Had she been a genius at this trade and never notice it?  Could her works have eclipsed Da Vinci’s before pretentious art historians even got to agonize over his most mediocre masterpiece’s facial expression?  Or...was it simply the effects of the “optimized” tools this place had provided them with, ensuring that her artistic vision would be preserved in its most perfect state?

It didn’t matter to her.  What mattered was turning to Cagliostro, who stood some feet away, and displaying the work.  It was a portrait of Saint-Germain, dressed in a beautiful Baroque gown, hair drawn back into the style she wore when her Faust Robe was active.  So well was her image captured that it was as if she stood modeling before her...even though this city had long since taken her from them.

“Here we go.  If you wanted to paint over this, that would be fine- she would probably appreciate knowing we worked together on it.”

[daikendama]

@princessofquacks​ | QUEST: TEAMWORK MAKES THE STEAM WORK

Prelati knew nothing of this “attack” that the message sent out across the city had described- she had only just arrived a couple of months prior, and this event was obviously closer to a year ago.  She had spent so little time on this island compared to the centuries she had spent on Earth; of course she cared little for the location.  She cared even less for those who ran the whole show...she may have even felt hatred simmering beneath, if they were truly the ones who had taken her from them...who had snatched Saint-Germain away before they could all properly have their reunion...!

Yes, Prelati decidedly hated this place.  She hated the Stars.  She couldn’t give a damn about helping them defend themselves- she would sooner dance amidst the flames of their smoldering remains than bend a knee in their service.

But...she couldn’t just let that happen, could she?  Because even if an unknown oblivion had stolen Saint-Germain away...Cagliostro remained.  She and Cagliostro didn’t exactly get along.  She was always rolling her eyes at her flirtations, always shrugging off the snide jabs she came back with in response, always disagreeing with whatever impulsive decision she had thought to come make, always butting heads in some way, shape, or form...but never questioning her profound, everlasting love for her.  It was the same love that had bound the two to Saint-Germain, and even if their central pillar, the object of their utmost devotion was gone, the need to ensure the other’s protection went without saying.

Until the pair had more of their capabilities restored, what choice was there but to comply- to aid those who had some control of the situation and hope that the decadent prison they called a “home” would be reinforced enough to keep their beloved surviving?

It was this begrudging resolution that led both to the “quest terminal” the Stars had set up.  Doing another’s bidding left a bitter taste in Prelati’s mouth- their time in the Lodgemaster’s presence came to mind- but they’d managed to find one that seemed interesting enough.  They were to use a series of valves and pressure plates to route steam through an abandoned facility.  The automatons poised to stop any they spotted sneaking around would be a problem, though.  Cagliostro had of course thought to cheat the system by flying over them right from the start...but Prelati merely stood for a few moments before her turquoise-haired wife was suddenly warped back to where she had been seconds before.

“You really thought they would be careless enough to allow that sort of cheat, didn’t you?”

[isolaradiale]

Hi hi~! After an unbearably long wait and without prior reserve, I am back to reapply as Cagliostro from Senki Zesshou Symphogear! My app can be found under /app and my stats page can be found under /stats

Welcome to beautiful Isola Radiale, Cagliostro!

You’ll be staying in HOUSE 104

You’ll be given everything you had during your previous stay.

Enjoy! :)

– ⋆ δCaeli

[isolaradiale]

I'm so, so sorry to Saint-Germain-mun and anyone else who may have wanted to interact with me, but executive dysfunction and inertia have been kicking my butt really, really hard. Maybe I'll reapply as her at some point in the future, but at least for the time being, I'm going to be dropping Cagliostro from Senki Zesshou Symphogear. She was housed in Apartment 314.

She’ll be dropped for you!

-         ⋆ Aspidiske

[aid-lombard]

@princessofquacks liked.

Halloween wasn’t a holiday Saint-Germain particularly took much interest in. By the time it was more than a mere pagan ritual, she was far beyond just doing things like this for fun; if she ever did indulge, it was for one reason alone, and that was to entertain the two she held so dearly to her. Prelati enjoyed getting free candy, and Cagliostro always liked an excuse to try and dress up even more skimpily than usual.

Throw the strange magic of this city into the mix, and things were bound to get even more hectic than usual.

As the two of them walked down the streets, gazing upon various ghouls and goblins, she couldn’t help but sigh. “Before you even say it, I have no intention of participating in these activities. I don’t care how much you beg me, I’m not going to eat some candy that’ll turn me into a witch or vampire.”