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Post by Ashwatthama on Mar 24, 2016 3:47:59 GMT
For someone who had spent thousands of years alone, Ashwatthama had never thought he'd actually be striving to find some isolation. In a way, he had grown so used to it he wasn't exactly sure what to do without it these days. Even mundane conversation seemed like something foreign to him now, and try as he might he could not socialize with others within Chaldea frequently without taking some time by himself. Conversation itself was held fairly easily, and it's not as if he actively avoided others, usually, but he often found himself slipping away into quiet corners just to have some time to himself. Recently, this had become more frequent, due to a particular Frenchwoman.
Julie D’Aubigny. Also known as La Maupin.
What a tiring woman. Where Ashwatthama adored peace and quiet, she seemed to thrive on excitement and chaos. In all his years, he didn't think he'd met a single person who had her ceaseless energy. Which made her rather exhausting to talk too. He'd first met her several days earlier, in their mission to apprehend the bomber that had rocked the foundations of Chaldea, and had only had occasional conversations with her after. But recently their conversations had become more frequent, due entirely to the most bizarre circumstances.
They had developed the tendency to run into each other purely by happenstance, so frequently it might even occur to some that it was not entirely by chance. It wouldn't be terribly puzzling, except that Ashwatthama didn't do much, so it was especially noticeable to coincidentally run into the same person repeatedly. Which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, as Julie made for fairly pleasant company, but she exhausted his rather introverted social tendencies fairly quickly.
So now, he'd taken to isolating himself even further than usual, to cut down on the odds of running into people. Instead of hanging around his own room, he'd found a small, unoccupied room at the far end of the living quarters given to the Servants , and had quietly sat down in the center of the room, leaving the door hanging ajar. Closing his eyes, he focused on just inhaling and exhaling, and let his mind drift from thought to thought. Meditation, some called it, although it was not precisely accurate, as Ashwatthama was far more interested in just enjoying the quiet of not being around others for a bit.
Unfortunately, this was remarkably short lived.
Played by Merlin. Tags: N/A |
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Post by La Maupin on Mar 28, 2016 3:52:32 GMT
Though Julie liked to at least seem like she didn’t know what she was doing, she often did. She’d learned years ago that the most satisfying schemes were almost always the ones that she worked for, and she’d been working on this one for quite a long time. Back in her day there hadn’t been so many opportunities to travel east. She’d never even stopped to consider it seeing how busy France tended to keep her, but now that she was here in Chaldea, she couldn’t help but be curious about all of these exotic Orientals. Delightful Oriental Woman aside, there were all sorts of fantastic servants here from China, and Japan, and even India…but there was only one white Indian.
Perhaps his being white sort of defeated the purpose, as that essentially just made him appear even more Caucasian than she was, but it was the idea of the thing – the thought that this strange little person in particular had been bleached as part of a punishment for some awful thing that he’d apparently done – that kept her more interested than she had any right to be. And so she carried on, completely unaware of how blatantly racist that whole train of thought was, and went after him whenever they both had a free moment.
Like today.
“White Indiaaaaan~” She called, whipping open the door to the room that he’d decided to use. One of these days she really would need to try and learn his name.
“There you are. What on earth are you doing?”
Whatever it was, it didn’t seem very exciting. He was just sitting there in the center of the room like an abnormally pale potted plant. But oh – now that she thought back, perhaps she did understand this! Wasn’t it some sort of Eastern pastime?
“Ah, I see. This is ‘finding your chi’, isn’t it?”
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Post by Ashwatthama on Mar 29, 2016 1:07:31 GMT
“White Indiaaaaan~”
Krishna above, why?
Ashwatthama could only conclude that meddlesome deity had something to do with Julie's innate ability to find him at any and all times. Again, it wasn't even that he particularly minded her, but she had a habit of finding him at simply the worst times. For example, Ashwatthama had already met his social quota for today. He'd say four whole sentences to an inquiring scientists, exchanged minimal greetings with another servant, and had told a rather bothersome, seemingly intoxicated man, to find his room. (Why Chaldea even let alcohol on the premises was beyond him.) So the Indian had officially exhausted his social reservoirs for the day. And Julie was an endless pit of socialization, that he had no hope of outlasting.
His first response was a small sigh, opening one eye to peek at her without turning his head.
"Hello Julie."
May as well make the best of it now, it would be impolite to tell her to get lost. And exhausting as she was, she'd never given him a reason to dislike her presence, even if she was far too western for his sensibilities. But then again, so was most of the people he met in this place, she just happened to best exemplify those traits. Such as her blatant lack of understanding of what he was doing. Chi was a decidedly chinese concept in origin, and had next to nothing to do with Ashwatthama. Clearly it was prana, the much superior Indian concept of similar meaning. After all, the western world had taken their term for their magecraft, not the silly orientals, so that must lend some credence to his theory.
Setting his blatantly theological supremacist thoughts aside, he opened his eye other and turned his head to face her, remaining in his sitting position.
"That would be China, not India."
He corrected her in the same way a teacher might scold the erroneous assumption of a student. The way his father had to him and the Pandavas many, many times before then. As much as he would scoff at the assumption that his honored teachings were to be confused with that of another lands, his father had been very adamant that looking down on the view points of others was the sign of a fool. Educate without ridiculing had been something his father highly valued; Even if he had compromised that value a few times in his own life. Nobody was perfect, as Ashwatthama had long since discovered.
"How long are you going to call me that, anyway? It is not as if I do not have a name."
Played by Merlin. Tags: N/A |
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Post by La Maupin on Jun 6, 2016 17:57:19 GMT
[/b] Not that she’d ever seen much of India or China herself. In her day you simply didn’t travel to strange places like that unless you had a good reason to, and she’d never come up with one. As far as she was concerned, if there was indeed a God, he had given her a task – to conquer France. Though she’d certainly accomplished that in spirit it had taken up every last ounce of her energy and time, and so she hadn’t any to spare for the rest of the world. Perhaps things would be different this time around. Chaldea had, after all, given her access to a ridiculous amount of people, places, and times. It was bordering on irresponsible. White Indian was one of many foreign things that she supposed she ought to explore now that she had the time. Part of that exploration was learning, wasn’t it? Surely she couldn’t be expected to have committed both his country and his name to memory after just… …Oh. Well. Perhaps it had actually been a little bit longer than she thought. It was amazing how she’d always been so excellent at memorizing things when she needed to, and yet, in times like this her brain simply couldn’t be bothered. It was laziness more than actual inability, and quite frankly, she was surprised that it bothered him.
“Your name is so terribly long.” She continued. “More than that, it’s difficult to say. If it were easier I might use it more often, but as it stands, it’s so much easier to think of you as ‘White Indian’. That way everyone knows exactly who I’m talking about.”
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Post by Ashwatthama on Jun 7, 2016 3:38:32 GMT
"Not even remotely the same..."
The Indian muttered under his breath, sulking a bit about the China and India comment. He'd never even been to China. Well, the area maybe, but at the time it was nothing resembling what people referred to modernly as "China." Still, he could only reluctantly nod about the comment on his paleness. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out he didn't even look Indian, much to his own annoyance. What a troublesome curse, to follow him even as a spirit. Sigh. Ashwatthama wanted to hold it against her, but that would make him quite the hypocrite now wouldn't it? It's not as if he could tell one type of European apart from another. White people.
Rolling his shoulders, Ashwatthama stood up. Guess he wasn't getting any more meditation in today. Stretching his now stiffened muscles a bit, he spoke again, this time at a reasonable volume.
"If my name gives you so much difficulty, just "Ash" would work fine. Besides, isn't a name meant to point out exactly who you're talking about? What if another Indian of my shade turns up?"
He refused to use the nickname when referring to himself. It still stung a bit that he was pale, which was strange given how long he'd been cursed. But there hadn't really been anyone around to point it out back then, it was just... there. But his own twinge of turmoil aside, It wasn't even that the nickname particularly bothered him, it was him trying to sniff the intent out behind it. There were two types of nicknames, endearing ones like Vrikodara (and in fairness Bhima could shove down more food than a hundred wolves), and insulting ones like Souta (and in their defense, at the time they thought Karna really WAS of the Charioteer caste.). But she hadn't known him long enough for it to be an endearing one, at least he didn't think so. So he was trying to puzzle together whether she was prodding him with it on purpose or was just genuinely this nonchalant.
Interacting with people again was difficult.
"Well, I suppose I've had enough meditating anyway. Would you care for some tea? I think the cafeteria is still serving some..."
Might as well make the best of it. Ashwatthama had been planning on getting some tea afterwards anyway. Granted the stuff the cafeteria made was basically dirt in a cup, but until he got some ingredients to make some of his own he'd just have to make do. And besides, it was freely offered and generously given, so it was rude to speak ill of it.
...Even if it really did taste like dirt.
Played by Merlin. Tags: N/A |
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Post by La Maupin on Jun 12, 2016 4:49:31 GMT
[/b] She said, shrugging. “The likelihood of finding another Indian as pale as you is much lower than the likelihood of another Ash showing up. These modern people are strange. I’m sure that with the right words you could absolutely convince them to name their children after trees. But I’ll be sure to keep that in mind all the same.”
She supposed that she could call him Ash from time to time if it meant that much to him, as it was a little bit shorter than ‘White Indian’. And besides, she did want to get to know him better, and the first step in that direction tended to be…using the person’s first name. In her defense though, didn’t his country go by the family name instead? Did they even have family names? “Oh of course, I would love some tea.” She continued. “But I’m not drinking that disgusting slop that they’re serving over in the kitchen. If we’re going to have tea then we’re going to have good tea. And I know just where to get it!”She smiled and clasped her hands together excitedly. “That Gilgamesh only tolerates the best. The last time I saw him he gave me a key into his room. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if we went in and found some decent tea. But…to be safe, we won’t ask him.”[/ul] |
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Post by Ashwatthama on Jun 12, 2016 17:33:06 GMT
Ashwatthama really should have commented on her refusal to cease calling him by that nickname, but he decided it was better to just let it pass at this point. Grudging acknowledgement was about the best he could hope for from her at this point. Pressing the issue seemed to be a fruitless endeavor, so it's not like he'd get anything out of it by berating the issue further. Westerners were incredibly stubborn it seemed.
"That sounds suspiciously like theft."
It wasn't hard to connect the dots of "entering somebodies room and taking something without informing them." No doubt the occupant would not appreciate them relieving the object from their possession if she was hesitant to inform them. Well, either that or they were on incredibly good terms and she was free to take his objects without permission. Which given what he'd heard of the golden King, did not seem terribly likely. But then, he wouldn't have guessed he'd have a key to her room, so perhaps he was assuming incorrectly.
And besides, the Cafeteria's tea really was "disgusting slop", as Julie had colorfully iterated.
Besides, in the grand scheme of things, what harm would it do? It wasn't nearly the worst thing he'd ever done.
"...But I suppose if you're sure it's fine."
Was it petty to pass the blame off on her? Yes, yes it absolutely was. But considering it was her idea, could Ash really be faulted for that? A twinge of noble sentiment made him wince for thinking so selfishly, but he squashed it with the same practiced, bitter apathy he'd grown accustomed to. Easier to pass off the moral responsibility than wrestle with it himself. And as much as he pretended to have moved past that, it was one of Ashwatthama's worst habits.
Played by Merlin. Tags: N/A |
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