[i'm not crazy, i'm just a little unwell]

[majorlyugh]

WHO: Major Lilywhite
WHERE: The fountain, around the village
WHEN: July 23, then July 24th - the end of the month
OPEN TO: OTA; specific thread for Ravi.
WARNINGS: N/A

---

[Arrival - July 23, Early Evening]

The first thing Major notices when he breaks through the surface of the water is the sudden rush of air in his lungs, making his brain vibrate and buzz in his skull. It's a feeling he hasn't experienced since .. well, since he was last human. Does that mean that he's no longer a ... ? Huh. Will have to come back to that one later.

The instinct to survive, gather his bearings, figure out his sudden location change override any inkling he has to focus on the very human sensations he's experiencing. He crawls his way out of the fountain, tumbling up and over the edge of it, rolling onto the ground. On his back, he catches his breath and stares up at the sky overhead for a few seconds before the feeling of the fabric clinging to his body finally sizzles a few nerves in his fingers, and he realizes he isn't wearing the henley he remembers wearing, nor is he wearing the jeans he'd had on. Instead, he's wearing a .. very vibrant pair of magenta .. well, for lack of a better word, scrubs, and there's something digging its way into his back.

He sits up, loosening the straps of the strange pack he has on to take a look at it before deciding to get out of the open and somewhere sheltered. No weapons, no bullet-proof vests .. no hungering for brains. There's that weird buzzing in the back of his skull again.

He gets himself up, slips the pack back onto his shoulder, and begins to wander around the town.

[From July 24th to the End of the Month]

Major's memorized the layout of the town; it isn't all that large, and from his preliminary investigations, it also seems like there isn't a clear way out of the place. He's mostly stuck to the outskirts, having found some shelter in what appears to be an abandoned cabin somewhat near the river's edge (he thinks it's a river, anyway). He takes the subsequent days after his arrival to do more exploring of the village, this time venturing closer to the heart of it, as well as exploring the river to what he thinks is the southeast of his new "home."

He eventually finds himself wandering into the Inn at the center of town, intent on interacting with and asking the others any of the question he hasn't already gotten answers to.

Comments

[majorlyugh]

".. Fabrics. And ... if you've never bought fabrics or made anything outside of something you could glue together with some like, pipe cleaners and pom-poms .. what would you do? How else do I go about getting non-scrub clothing?" He leans in a bit, lowering his voice like he's sharing a secret. "Cause between you and me, I'm all about non-gendered colors, but I feel ridiculous walking around in these things. I'm like a giant raspberry!"

He stands back again, nodding, and offering his hand to shake.

"Yeah, it's Major. My mom was a hippie and .. You know, I can't even justify it. It's a silly name, and I have no idea why she chose it," he laughs. "But it's nice to meet you, Lucrezia. Or .. Ms. Borgia? .. Lady Borgia?"

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"Only through gifts, as far as I know. Or trade with someone who knows how to sew." Which she and a few others could offer him. Though for the more modern styles, he would need to find a way to draw or explain what he wanted. "I understand. I was not pleased with the attire I arrived in. I didn't have to wait long."

Hippie. No, that word meant very little to her. "Lady Lucrezia. I have no real title though. My father is the Pope and they never prepared a title for the Holy Daughter." She wrinkled her nose in amusement.

[majorlyugh]

"'Trading' implies that there's something I might have in return, though. I'm .. not sure what sort of stuff people might need here that I could offer, aside from .. I don't know, manual labor? Helping to repair stuff? I'm no Frank Lloyd Wright, but I can manage. At least well enough to keep the stuff I build from looking like an Escher drawing," he says with a laugh. He's seen that blank look of lack of recognition in her eyes a few times now, and he's realizing how little his references mean to her. "Uh, Wright was an architect where I'm from. One of the greatest, at least according to most. Escher was an artist who created this .. crazy illusions - staircases that went every direction with no order or sense, that kind of thing. He did some cool tricks with perspective, where none of it really made sense, but looked super cool."

Major's eyes widen slightly, both brows lifting with surprise.

"The .. Pope? As in .. The Pope? Pontifex? Like .. in Italy?" Put aside the fact that he doesn't understand how the guy could have a daughter (unless it was through illegitimate means), cause from the very little Major remembers, the Pope can't get married. He wasn't raised particularly religious, though his parents tried to send him to catechism classes a few times in his childhood. That's all he really knows/remembers about the Catholic Church, the three days' worth of info from when he was five. Not a whole lot to go on.

[the_scandal_of_italy]

"Repair and labor is something I think many would be happy to receive." All she needed was to think back at how much work her home needed to become livable. He wouldn't spend much time on his own, there would be something for him to do. Though, with how many things he listed, she had to wonder if he would spend that time explaining his references. Escher? Frank Lloyd Wright? No, she couldn't follow. "Ah," she said at his explanation. "What sort of artist was he? Did he do portraits or murals?"

She nodded. "Yes, Pope Alexander VI. He is my father." If he suggested that she was illegitimate, he would get a glimpse of the Borgia temper. While she wasn't as prickly about it as Juan might be, she was her father's daughter and she had her pride.

[majorlyugh]

".. Neither, I don't think. Oh, wait, there's some post office somewhere with a mural that he did, but I forget where. He did stuff on .. uh, paper, I think. With pencils and pens and ink, usually, pretty sure. I only took one Art History class in college, and man, was that a long time ago," Major admits with a bit of a sheepish laugh. "I mostly just admire the guy's works from a visual perspective. They can give you headaches if you stare too long at them, but they're also really .. incredible, mathematically. Because ht achieves these perfect patterns that I can't even begin to understand."

He used to know more, once upon a time. But over a decade since graduation and lack of needing to access said information has made it harder to retrieve.

"Pope Alexander VI," he repeats. "I'm ... afraid I don't know him. I only went to a handful of catechism classes as a kid; it never really stuck. What's .. it like? To be the Pope's daughter? The Pope from where and when I'm from seemed pretty cool, I liked him from what I read about him."

[the_scandal_of_italy]

He always seemed to throw a number of words at her in quick succession that made her head spin and left her dizzy. It was almost as if she were stumbling down a path, trying to run while her legs tangling in her skirts. All she could do is nod, giving up any attempt at following him. "Ah, I see."

That was a question no one ever asked her before. The power was desired by others, but there was a part of her that felt suffocated by it all. Though there was also a sense of safety, family looking after her. Giovanni would not have been so easily disposed of without her father's position.

"I love my family, but the position and power can be exhausting." She slightly shrugged her shoulders. "I am expected to marry for the good of my family and to offer them alliances and protection."

[majorlyugh]

"Ah, one of those situations," Major says, as if he knows anything about them outside of reading about them in books or seeing them played out in movies and TV shows. He's tried to place himself in those conundrums on occasion, though he'd always get the easier end of the deal, being a guy. Or at least that's how it seems in all of the scenarios. Even they're separated by hundreds of years and everything else, he can still empathize with being forced - or expected - to do something against one's will.

But the thought of Vaughn du Clark and all that transpired with him before he'd wound up here leaves a bitter taste in his mouth, and he'd rather not deal with it now.

"That's .. quite the burden, I'd imagine. Do you .. want to do that? Or do you just kinda .. accept it? Since it's what's expected of you?"

[the_scandal_of_italy]

She wasn't certain what his reaction would be, if he would make a long winded reply full of words that she didn't know or if he would be soft in his answer, something she was curious to see. When the answer did come, it was nice to see he didn't make light of it. It wasn't some great hardship for her, but she didn't view the matter as a joke, not after the torment Giovanni Sforza put her through.

"I married the man my father chose, but he broke the alliance my father hoped for. He...unkind. The marriage was put to an end and I have a bit of peace." A pause. "Had a bit of peace." Here at least, she didn't have to marry anyone. "I think that once I return home, I will have more choice."

[majorlyugh]

"I'm sorry to hear that it turned out that way," Major replies, voice holding no trace of humor as it had before. "Men are kind of shit, to be honest," he adds on, his tone lightening for a moment. He thinks that there may be something more he could say, some kind of .. solidarity he could try to extend, but he ultimately decides not to force it. He knows that there are some situations, some disclosures of information, that don't really warrant or require a response for the sake of filling the silence. So instead he softens his expression and nods. "I hope you do."

[the_scandal_of_italy]

He managed to make her smile with that condemnation of his own sex. There was a genuine warmth to her eyes, touched by his gesture and his attempt to make her feel better about it. While the torments of her past had only made her stronger, it didn't make the memories any easier to bear. There was at least something good to have come out of it. She never regretted her son.

"Certainly you are not as bad as they are?" She offered, granting him the chance to return to some kind of levity.

[majorlyugh]

"I think it'd depend on who you asked, to be honest," Major replies with an underlying rumble of a laugh in his voice. "I try to be as un-shit as possible, but I think being a human kind of thwarts that in its entirety. Can't avoid mistakes and messing up sometimes, you know?" He takes a second to consider her question in earnest. "I think some of my earliest girlfriends would probably say I was a bit of a jackass, because I didn't really know what I was doing. I've always tried to be a nice guy, but I was kinda selfish at the time, I think. I didn't totally understand that relationships are about both people, in it together, the equal give-and-take thing. I think I did more taking than giving back then, but I've hopefully changed my tune since."