FADE RIFT [INBOX]

[shri]

ＬＡＤＹ ＬＡＫＳＨＭＩ
( Lady Lakshmi, Bai Saheba, Rani Lakshmibai )

ＶＯＩＣＥ | ＡＣＴＩＯＮ | ＮＯＴＥＳ

Unavaliable To All:

• 30mins around dawn
  
  Only to Voice:
  
• Hour training morning and evening
  
• Any time she's gone riding.
  
• When she's in the field.
  
  Only to Book:
  
• When she's otherwise in a meeting, leave a message.
  
• Very late at night or early in the morning.
  
  Other:
  
• She usually takes her morning meals in the mess hall with everyone else.
  
• Her days are usually spent in Kirkwall seeing to either her personal business or Inquisition tasks.
  
• She has a bath twice a day, every day.
  

Comments

[shri]

[ Tired, inevitable. ] War.

[rathercommon]

Against what?

[shri]

The United India Corporation, the British Empire, Queen Victoria herself and every lycan and vampire that came to feast on my people like cattle, while their masters grew fat off the blood of our suffering.

[ The damn world she means, all of it. She'd tear it all to pieces. But what was the British Empire to most people here? Mattered as much as Jhansi ki Rani did. ]

[rathercommon]

[ The British Empire. It occurs to Kitty, suddenly, that she's quite far from everything else and everyone else. She's not unarmed, no, but up here on the horse, with the lady so close behind her, her knives aren't readily accessible. Which didn't seem like a problem until that phrase came from her mouth - the British Empire - because, guess what, in this whole world there's a single representative of the British Empire, and Kathleen Jones is it. And if Lakshmi's feeling a little frustrated, like she'd like a little bit of vengeance in miniature -

Kitty responds quickly. ]

I haven't got any love for the British government, either, believe me.

[ Please believe me. ]

Nor for vampires or werewolves.

[shri]

[and unbeknownst to all Kitty's worry Lakshmi just huffs a bit of laughter and carries on. ]

I did not think so. If I thought you were a half-breed, you'd already be dead. As for the rest - [ a shrug. ] What good is blaming the child for the parents' action? I would never hold you accountable for your rulers. As you say, we know quite different times, and I know you only a little, true enough, but I know my enemy for who they are. You are not it.

[rathercommon]

Mm.

[ Okay. She relaxes a little bit - though she's certainly going to be very aware of any sudden movements that Lakshmi might be making going forward. ]

So that was your goal, then? Independence for - India, right?

[shri]

It was. Until I realised that would not be enough. How could it be right to free my home and leave others to suffer in my wake?

[ Firm, decided, a long time ago. It would be everything, it would be all, or it would be death. ]

No, that is not good enough. I will not let it be good enough.

[rathercommon]

[ Oh. ]

Then what is good enough?

[shri]

When the British Empire is abolished and the monarchy with it. When the people of those lands might speak and decide their fates for themselves.

[ She nudges the horse along further. ]

I tell you this in good faith, I trust you know after what we spoke of why such things must... remain amongst ourselves.

[rathercommon]

Mm.

[ You don't even know the half of it. She could tell her own story, she supposes, but...Even holding these secrets of Lakshmi's, it still seems dangerous to do so. ]

Then - d'you want to do that here? Fight against monarchies?

[shri]

[ A pause, a breath - ] I don't know. In either case, they seem secondary a concern to this... Corypheus they all speak of. [ Even she can see the sense in that. ] But I do intend to do what I can, to ensure our safety, and whatever else that might fall in our way. I will not pretend I am other than what I am, simply because I fell through the sky.

[rathercommon]

Our safety?

[ Who is we to Lakshmi? ]

[shri]

[ She blinks, utterly confused. Frowning at her mildly for it. ]

Who do you think I mean? [ Really, Kitty? ]

[rathercommon]

[ A small shrug. ]

Your countrymen aren't here. Are they?

[shri]

I see one right in front of me, [ her eyebrows lift. So there. ]

[rathercommon]

[ Baffled - ]

What - because we're both Rifters?

[shri]

[ So, very, very, helpfully, down right cheerful. ]

If you like.

[rathercommon]

That's not an answer.

[shri]

[ Kitty.



Kitty.



You should now know what she is about to say. ]

Strange, just like you still have not given me a reason why you should not apologise to the horse. I am still waiting.

[rathercommon]

[ Ugh. ]

I've given you plenty of reasons. You just didn't like 'em.

[shri]

[ MMMHM. ]

Because they are childish, for someone professing to be grown.

[rathercommon]

[ Sharply: ]

And who died and left you in charge of deciding what's childish and what's grown-up? Sorry, but you don't get to judge me. You haven't got any right.

[shri]

[ Oh, no, no, no.

No. She wets her lips, straightens her back, and stiffens her spine. As sure as a lesson she'd forced with her son when he had squalled over being grown and being able to do what he wanted. There was no place for that sort of selfishness, not in her mind. ]

Very well.

[ Detangled from her, she pushes up with a hand and dismounts. Just as suddenly as she had mounted in the first place. The horse only paused in the change of weight mildly. She lets the mare get a few steps in front of her, waits - ]

Let us see how you manage with the stupid animal who you are too grown to respect.

[ - and then smacks a hand flat to her flank. It's not hard. Not even enough to send her off in a canter as before. But it is a trot, a jarring, bouncing trot. She'd picked the mare for her good nature purposefully. Knows that when Kitty pulled too hard even slightly, the animal would stop without much fuss. ]

[rathercommon]

[ Kitty lets out a squeak of alarm. To be fair, she actually does manage quite well: she's trained on the gables of London, balanced on slipping roof-shingles, learned to climb walls straight up, fought werewolves one-handed while climbing with the other. Her balance and dexterity is excellent. So, too, is her level head: in times of stress and fear, she keeps a clear mind. But she certainly doesn't look dignified before she manages to get the horse to a stop.

And so she's half angry and half embarrassed. And that drives her to dismount - swinging her way nimbly off the horse, jumping to the ground, and advancing on Lakshmi where she stands. Her voice is high and furious as she says - ]

I've had about enough of this. I don't know who you think you are, that you've got the right to treat me like some idiot child, but you're very wrong about that. I've fought in wars just like you, and I've risked death just like you, and all of it so that I wouldn't have strangers acting like they can control me and acting like I'm lower than an animal just 'cause I'm a commoner. I'm not going to put up with it now.

[shri]

[ She'll make an excellent rider one day, of that Lakshmi is absolutely sure. That control took a lifetime to perfect, and Kitty was so well on her way. Able to deal with the sudden change in the animal.

But it was a rather secondary concern, watching her dismount, come storming back. Feet squaring on the ground, shoulders rolling back. Hot as Kitty's temper is, and as hot as hers was in return. She's had at least the years to learn to angle hers into harsh lines and direct words with nothing else between them. ]

In my homeland, animals are next to God. To disrespect them is to disrespect those closest to you. Most do not even eat meat they are so precious to us. As for you, I do not care if you were the Akbar, the Queen of England or my husband himself. I would throw them off the saddle if I thought they did not care for their animals as they should be. The only thing that matters is respect. For the horse, for yourself, and those that would give their lives for you.

[ Mild as anything, sharp as rain. ] Putting another down does not raise you any higher. If you cannot conceive of that, then you are no different to a squalling coward of a Lordling wanting his toys.

[ And she has no more to say after that, firmly, she walks past Kitty, and mercifully - the horse just waited, stopped after the ride, patiently looking for it's master. ]