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Post by unknown on Apr 7, 2016 21:17:27 GMT
It had been a bad move coming here.
Pyrrha sat in the cafe, it seemed strange, everything about the place was weird. Especially the fact no-one had just the one master, it made everything so confusing. But then she wasn’t exactly naive, the grail ensured she knew what a Starbucks was. It was new, weird, but something about it was nice. It felt good to have free time where she could sit and think... all alone. Her red hair, unbound, was everywhere in a slightly curled mane. She played with a long lock, twirling it around and a round before struggling to unknot it. In front of her was a large cup of coffee, she took a long drink and made a face; though she didn’t realise she could just grab more milk to put in it, since she found the nearly black drink far too strong. Pushing the cup ahead of her she gave a small sigh, a frown formed. They hadn’t even spelt her name right: Pyrah.
Great, she thought, absolutely great. All alone in some weird place, expected to save the world; but without a reason to care... Well at least you’ll get to fight, show them you’re worthy of your legend.
She was dressed simply, a gold edged pure white dress at knee length, in the style of old Greek casual wear, it made her androgynous yet feminine shape obvious to onlookers, every inch the pure teenaged girl. Looking over the simple garment, and the sandals made her grin at least; they weren’t much but they were comfy and a little cute if she didn’t say so herself.
She paused in her moping, her sadness oozed away as she spotted someone. A brunette, cute dainty features, she wasn’t curvy or anything; but her natural grace seemed to draw the eye from each dainty move to her poise and balance on her feet. Pyrrha gulped. She appreciated beauty, and for some strange reason this one reminded her of mother. It could have been from nostalgia, having not felt her mother’s gentle lulling for a long while, but she didn’t think so. She had the same demeanour, caring, loving, kind; and the same willowy build.
Pyrrha couldn’t stop herself staring, but while she did all the memories were clear as day, and in her mind’s eye she felt it all come back, she saw her mother’s smile and felt her kisses good night. The sadness, the woe is me plague on her mind was gone for a while. She grabbed her coffee and sipped, content to watch for now with the smallest of smiles on her features as she looked across the room, she began playing with her hair again as she did so.
It had definitely been a good move coming here.
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Post by Gráinne on Apr 8, 2016 2:12:39 GMT
It wasn’t every day that Grainne Ni Conghaile went to go and eat on a whim, but the books she’d ordered to be sent to her had yet to be delivered (although there was simply every chance that her grandmother hadn’t been bothered enough to send it yet in the first place, people got so forgetful in old age) and so she had decided that a snack or two was in order. Honestly, the Irishwoman hoped that places with food wouldn’t become a usual haunt for her, between her meeting with the knight and that…person whose name she couldn’t remember. And her many, many attempts to find the perfect muffin for breakfast had caused the brunette to fear that she was going to the café far too often. She was going to get so fat by the time she’d finished saving the world if there were free muffins around all the time.
Obviously her need for something to eat and a nice quiet place to read a book she had already read a thousand times already had been her priority this morning and her somewhat unkempt appearance showed that. Her brown hair, while brushed was pulled into a haphazard ponytail, she’d thrown on a white blouse, a black pair of jeans and some heels. Just to make it seem like she’d made more of an effort than she actually had. There was no real need to act like that stereotypical ‘perfect magus’ any more, was there? Her merits at Chaldea were solely based on the fact that she could be time shifted or whatever it was that they called it. In all honesty she’d been much more interested in the Heroic Spirits that hung around, that was something that one didn’t see every day after all!
That had been part of the reason why she’d taken out her old, dusty copy of the Iliad instead of something that she personally would have preferred to read. If Chaldea summoned any hero, they were probably going to be the stereotypically well-known ones right? That probably meant Greek. Which meant Odysseus and Heracles and every other hero that your average plebeian could name off the top of their head.
Interesting, but she would have preferred the opportunity to talk to a hero from her own land.
Trying not to lose herself in her own thoughts in her thoughts she opted for taking a moment to enjoy her surroundings instead almost immediately locking eyes with a red haired young girl. A pretty little thing with dark red hair, the sort she’d always thought of as pretty. She wasn’t particularly feminine but Grainne suspected that was because she was young, not totally developed or whatever. Grey eyes shifted to the girl’s face, taking a brief note of those interesting eyes before she smiled slightly, pulling her book to her chest.
“Is everything alright?”
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Post by unknown on Apr 8, 2016 17:37:35 GMT
Pyrrha carried on observing the woman, she was taller than the redhead for sure, and seemed to possess a wise expression firmly set on a youthful face; from where Pyrrha was sat it looked like she smiled a lot. She hoped she did, she imagined the mystery brunette had a smile that lit the world around her up. She took another sip of coffee, it didn't taste as bad for some reason. There was a quiet dignity to her dress, loose comfy and pragmatic, it was the dress of someone that planned to go out into the garden to tend the roses with the firm intention of looking great while she did it. Pyrrha strained her head to get a look at the black heels however, the footwear was intriguing; and she began wondering how she could get herself a pair just like hers. This was the first person she had found herself interesting in since arriving, there was no-one about whom she had recognised but now at least she had spotted someone she wanted to talk to.
She's not the kind of woman that comes around every century, Pyrrha thought, she tried steeling herself; she wanted to go and talk but she felt shyness gripping her. It was strange, she wasn't used to it and so she frowned deeply for a second, she couldn't leave her chair!
Pyrrha definitely was the type of hero everyone could spot and know, she saw the Iliad in Grace's hand, and counted her lucky stars her older self's years in women's dress weren't included in it. She didn't fancy attention, she wasn't the great Achilles really, well she was, but she was just Pyrrha. Just a teenage girl that barely anyone remembered, she was the discreetly tucked away part of Achilles, that luckily for the redhead wasn't brought up too often. Though she'd get fame soon enough, she hoped anyway, she just wanted to do it as Pyrrha, not coasting off what her older self went onto do; plus attention was far from welcome until she found her feet in the strange new world of Chaldea.
The redhead would grow to match her future self, she'd make sure everyone remembered the innocence of Achilles, she was just as good as any other version of the mighty hero! Pyrrha grinned at the thought, yeah, it was a calming one; she just needed to remember she was herself, not the Achilles of the Trojan War or any other version.
She jerked back to her senses as someone walked right in front of her, blinking she realised she had still been looking at the brunette, and that the brunette had noticed. The woman was smiling at her, the Iliad pulled to her chest as she locked her hazel eyes with Pyrrha's burnt orange ones. The redhead felt a surge of confidence when she heard her speak, the voice was calm. She felt her attack of inner doubt melt away beneath the kindly questioning and the small but winning smile. The warrior woman hopped off her chair, her loose chest shifting a little with the air conditioning and her movement. She half skipped then hopped over the back of the sofa Grace was reading on, then she gave a grin before replying.
"Er... yeah, everything's great, I'm Pyrrha, who, and how, are you?" She said, almost babbling as she tried to strike up conversation with a spark in her eye at last. Then she remembered her coffee... but she gave a mental shrug, that had been bitter, and Grace seemed a lot nicer.
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Post by Gráinne on Apr 9, 2016 0:37:50 GMT
The Irishwoman returned to her reading, under the impression that the beautiful young girl would have left their greeting at that and nothing else. Before she had opted to come here she had read Hector’s last conversation with his wife and child. Hector. Hell if there was a list of Greek heroes (technically Trojan, but who cared?) that she actually wanted to see Hector would be at the top of her list. Paris was a quick second, she just wanted to see what was going through his obviously hormonal head. That was the exciting part about Chaldea, she actually had the opportunity to talk to those people!
It was like a naive, selfish girl's childhood dream come true.
Thinking nothing of it she glanced at the red haired girl again, she seemed somewhat nervous. Odd, the magus couldn’t possibly imagine why a girl would be nervous around her. She wasn’t exactly intimidating even if she was taller and…things. This situation just seemed a little weird to her.
Weird because Grainne didn’t expect someone to approach her out of the blue like that, she was often a solitary woman who kept to herself, an unfortunate side effect of how stand offish she had been as a young teenager. She hadn’t cared about people then; she’d brushed them off rather flippantly. Dropped people at the drop of a hat. Why wouldn’t she? She didn’t particularly like magi at their best, hell she couldn’t really connect with people who weren’t magi either. It had been a damn awful way to mature really. Probably the reason she attempted to be a bit more lax nowadays. It made everything easier for everyone involved.
So she opted for staying cool and composed, there was no need to do anything else. The girl wasn’t a threat, no one at Chaldea was a threat. Unless one counted those worms she encountered that one time, they were pretty damn hazardous. Hazardous and disgusting, the brunette almost shuddered at the thought of them.
“Pyrrha?” Grainne paused, she knew of the word Pyrrhic and the etymology behind it—from the king Pyrrhus of Epirus, he’d beaten Roman armies, but at great cost to his own men and hadn’t gone on to conquer Rome as a consequence. She doubted Pyrrha had much to do with such a king. When she thought of a king like that she thought of someone with Mediterranean looks, dark hair and weary, sad eyes. Awfully romanticized but she was a romantic at heart. Her next guess was the son of Achilles of course, who must have had something to do with Epirus, but surely he would introduce himself as Neoptolemus. ‘New Warrior’ seemed like a much more interesting name than ‘Red’, in the same way ‘Ruairi’ was a dull name compared to ‘Deirdre’. The connotations were much more interesting, in her opinion, besides Neoptolemus was the better known name. Probably. She didn't know, she didn't particularly care for Greek mythology.
“I’m Grainne Ni Conghaile. If you find it hard to pronounce my name is often Anglicized to Grace Connolly.” She didn’t particularly like the Anglicization of her name, it wasn’t really her name at all. But if people couldn’t pronounce ‘Grainne’ then she was just going to have to deal with it. Besides it’s not like anyone maliciously called her Grace knowing she didn’t like it. It was an alternative that she gave to others herself. Closing the book and placing it on her lap, she offered Prryha a small grin. “I’m well thank you, and yourself?”
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Post by unknown on Apr 9, 2016 1:59:39 GMT
Pyrrha’s grin didn’t fade, it was wide and happy, and her entire face lit up with it. She looked on at the obviously ticking head of the stranger, she was fascinating. The eyes were quick, intelligent as they glided along the pages of her book. The redhead did away with the grin and turned it to a smaller, but no less small or genuine smile. She was paranoid such a large grin might make her seems slow, even though the presence of the other seemed to bring grins to her face and happiness into her head.
She wasn’t even sure why she had been nervous, but then that didn’t matter, she had found someone to talk to and so she could at last begin adjusting properly. It was all about finding someone to discuss everything with; it made the world seem a little less grim, at least that’s why father had always said when he told Pyrrha why he needed advisors. Though at the time she hadn’t really got what he meant, and had written it off as silly, especially because the advisors were always so old and boring.
Pyrrha had no idea if the woman before her was nice or kind or any of that, she hoped she was. She looked like she was, but whether or not that was the truth was different. So she smiled, and waited with bated breath. She loved people, she loved fighting, Pyrrha wore her heart on her sleeve. The redhead was humanity magnified, potential there for great generosity and kindness and love, with a great capacity for dark deeds on the flip side...
She carried on gazing at Grace, not knowing all the thoughts going on behind deciphering her name. She suppressed a giggle; Pyrrha would be impressed if she got it. She gave her a while of brainstorming. She’d not tell her unless asked, if she came up with the right answer: amazing! If not? Oh well asking would give her the key.
“G... Grannya?” She said, struggling to pronounce it, she looked off put, her tongue twisting around to pronounce the strange new name. Then Pyrrha sighed “Grain... alright. I’ll keep working on that. I promise... sorry,” she said, her shoulders drooping slightly.
How rude, not even being able to pronounce her name, dolt... what a lovely accent though... Pyrrha thought, the sound of her voice blowing away the previous frustration.
“You’ll need to be Grace for now sorry, but trust me I’ll get your real name soon!” The redhead said with a certain nod. “Guessed who I am yet? If you can’t just ask and I’ll tell... though if you want a clue... hmm... only Achilles is my equal out of every character in that book.” She said softly, a feminine finger poking the cover.
Pyrrha returned Grace’s grin, a happy look now on her face, she was practically glowing. “I’m absolutely great thanks, well, not exactly. I’m new and all alone and turns out I find coffee icky and I don’t know where anything is...” She blurted out “but other than that I’m alright, good to hear you are well though.” She gave a grin, shifting a lock of hair out of her face. Even when nervous she was definitely every inch the energy packed teenage girl.
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Post by Gráinne on Apr 12, 2016 5:40:45 GMT
If Grainne had to name what particular quality she had that had made the redhead approach her, she could only assume that it was the heels. Girls sort of liked the heels, there was something awfully grown up about then and all, but it still didn’t strike her as a reason to come and talk to someone while they were reading. Not that she minded too terribly. This girl in particular seemed rather sweet, eager to get to know people that she wouldn’t have known otherwise and altogether a rather friendly young girl who would most likely blossom into a beautiful young woman.
Or something like that.
The Irishwoman glanced at the redhead as she tried to say her name, almost wincing at one awkward pronunciation. Somewhat charmed by the girl’s attempt to say her name but slightly worried that she seemed far too worked up about it, she placed a gentle hand on the other girl’s shoulder.
“It’s more like Grawn-ya, you’re almost there…and Grain was, it was a good try I suppose. The etymology of the name is from that word so I suppose it would make sense that you tried to pronounce it that way…” she responded, an attempt to reassure the girl that she was doing well. “I don’t mind Grace, it’s a pretty name, isn’t it? Like Pyrhha.”
It wouldn’t have been the first time that someone had been unable to pronounce her name, it wasn’t as bad as Saoirse by any stretch of the imagination, and her grandmother had lived years with people being unable to pronounce her name after all. The occasional (or more than occasional) person arching their eyebrow at her name was fine by her. She’d always loved her name anyway, it had a connection to some really interesting stories. Less because of the Diarmuid and Grainne and more for the pirate queen of Connaught Gráinne Ní Mháille.
“So you are Neoptolemus child of Achilles?” Her left brow arched, Pyrrha, Pyrrhus, it made sense she supposed. And she had recently heard that the fabled King Arthur was actually a woman so it could have easily been a possibility. And of course those words she had uttered in reference to Achilles made sense, what child didn’t want to be better than their own father? Grainne understood that completely, she’d wanted to surpass every head who had come before her at some point herself. “Or you’re Achilles, if Achilles were a sixteen year old girl with red hair and raptor like eyes.” As much as she had a slight disdain for how well known Greek mythology seemed to be, she was aware that there were precious few who could possibly be thought of as equal to Achilles.
She wasn’t exactly aware of what had gotten this Pyrrha girl so excited, but she was happy that the girl was happy. There was no point in acting all miserable, especially in a place like Chaldea. Perhaps she was more than a little bit biased about the whole thing but she couldn’t imagine possibly being disappointed with Chaldea or the coffee served there or—oh she was getting carried away. “If you’d like, we could try and find something a little bit nicer than coffee next time. It’s quite the bitter taste for someone who doesn’t know how to handle it." A simple offer, she didn't even know if the other would take it, but it only seemed polite given how sweet the other female had been to her.
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