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Post by annabelle on Nov 20, 2009 20:28:46 GMT -5
"WHAT?!" Annabelle roared, taking her staff and twirling it right into Vincent's face.
"You watch that tongue of yours, you useless excuse for a man!"
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Post by vincent on Nov 20, 2009 20:30:10 GMT -5
Vincent yelped, his hand shooting to his face. No doubt that that was going to swell up later. He glared at Annabelle as he yelled back, "Do you mind, you crinkly old hag?! I'm trying to talk with my daughter!"
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Post by glitters on Nov 20, 2009 20:32:17 GMT -5
Jasmine's face fell dramatically as she wrapped her arms around herself.
"Papa, please. This is hard enough as it is without your random scolding simply because I choose whose advice to listen to or not," she answered him and closed her eyes, then slipping her hands up to her ears trying to block out Vincent and Annabelle's yelling over her at each other.
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Post by annabelle on Nov 20, 2009 20:33:44 GMT -5
Annabelle glared daggers at Vincent.
"Crinkly old hag? I'll show you a crinkly old hag, you worthless..."
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Post by vincent on Nov 20, 2009 20:44:27 GMT -5
"LISTEN," Vincent snapped, "I know I'm not the brightest guy in the world here, but this whole situation feels wrong to me, alright?! I want to know better why you two were even out in Ketulunanox to begin with, and without this 'spiritual psyche' bullcrap!"
He then turned his attention back to Jasmine, pulling her hands from her ears and holding them tightly in his own.
"And then I want to know what happened. Jasmine, talk to me, please. Tell me why this kid told me he was going to protect you, let nothing happen to you, and why he's not here doing it. And furthermore why did you, the girl who told me that you had to stay by his side and help him and were hellbent on doing so despite everything I tried to tell you, LEAVE him?"
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Post by annabelle on Nov 21, 2009 1:44:49 GMT -5
"I've already explained this to you. My granddaughter, being part of the Fraus family has the chance, which she took, to inherit the ability to commune with the dead. She provides her body as a vessel in order to grant the spirits that roam this world temporary access back to the living world," Annabelle answered this time rather calmly, turning herself back to Jasmine and giving the girl a sombre look, "your healer daughter is able to channel spirits."
She stretched her shoulders and picked a few specks of dirt on her staff as she continued, "many people take on this position in order to connect directly to their gods, it is a heavenly gift. Very few of those people live for very long after devoting themselves in this way, however, as by opening yourself to the gods--supernatural beings--you open yourself fully to the spiritual world. There, spirits of good and evil roam, and if one does not have a strong enough mind to fend for themselves..." Annabelle shrugged, "let's just say that very few people who accept a prestigious position in the gods' eyes live to tell the tale. Call it a second sense where the girl has to be able to see and know what spirits lurk in the area so she can keep control of herself. Jasmine in her state would not have been able to see these spirits, which is why I brought her out here to Ketulunanox. Here there is a spring which helps cleanse the being and their mind, making it possible for Jasmine to be able to look after herself when dealing with the dead..."
She raised an eyebrow at Vincent and spoke again in her biting tone, "Are you following? I'm not repeating any of this."
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Post by glitters on Nov 21, 2009 1:47:37 GMT -5
Jasmine simply shook her head.
"It's fine, Papa. It's fine," she answered, turning her head away and squeezing his hands.
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Post by vincent on Nov 21, 2009 1:50:27 GMT -5
Vincent gave Annabelle a confused stare. Well, at least he didn't get the metaphorical 'spiritual this and that' talk like he would have expected from the old woman to begin with.
"Right..." he answered Annabelle slowly before turning back to Jasmine, "and as for you--tell me. I think I have a right to know what's going on."
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Post by glitters on Nov 21, 2009 12:36:35 GMT -5
Jasmine bit her lip.
"...Andy was training with Mr. Uruhane. He stopped. I tried to talk to him about it, telling him he should keep training. He insists he doesn't need it now because he's apparently gone and made a deal with that crazy thing inside of him, giving him a ton of power to fight Trucido with. But if he can't beat him, then..."
She trailed off for a moment, a painful look on her face. Her squeeze on Vincent's hands tightened as she continued, "He said things like he doesn't have the time to train and better himself and how he can't even properly defeat Lilith, how weak she is. I-I told him that wasn't a good idea. I told him it worried me, and I told him he means so much to me that I can't let something like this happen to him. I told him I really believe in him, Papa, and then he turned his back on me. And then he walked away...and I cried...and then Grandmother took me away out to here. Andy and I haven't spoken to each other since then."
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Post by vincent on Nov 21, 2009 13:13:53 GMT -5
Vincent listened as carefully as he could, unfortunately still unable to make perfect sense of the situation. It appeared Jasmine was very upset by all of this, and that itself made Vincent want to break someone's face because it hurt him to see her like this.
"This doesn't make much sense to me. It sounds like he's got some kind of a plan in mind for sure, and he's so hellbent on it that not even you can change his mind," he raised an eyebrow as he answered, knowing full well that he was stating the obvious, "I'm not good at stuff like this but Jasmine, I can tell you that we men do weird things...really...really odd things. And you women look down at us for it because our plans make no sense but believe me, we usually have a pretty good reason for doing it. Usually. This instance does make me curious because he was the one telling me nothing would happen to you and...well, I don't understand why a guy like that would want to make a pretty young lady like you cry like that."
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Post by glitters on Nov 21, 2009 13:28:41 GMT -5
"I don't know...Papa, I worry about him so much and he knows I do. That's what makes this worse," Jasmine pulled her hands away from Vincent's and put her arms around herself in a self-hug, "in the end, this was my fault. I didn't do well, Papa. I think I got my personal life too involved with my work. That's probably the real reason why this hurts, when the reality sinks in like this. It was stupid for me to let myself get too attached, as it was for me to think that he'd be willing to trust me enough to talk to me and sort things out."
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Post by vincent on Nov 21, 2009 13:36:20 GMT -5
Vincent blinked and waved his hands around dismissively at Jasmine.
"Whoa, wait a minute! Why are you talking like that? We're talking about the guy who pulled his sword on me because he didn't want me taking you away from him, and he stood there saying you were the closest friend he'd ever had. You know I'm not a genius but I'd say you two are closer than you both let on. At least if I were you I'd have thought the same thing..." Vincent forced a smile, "I...guess you and I found something in common? But seriously, I'd have thought that you two were at least close enough that he'd open up to you about anything--why not, with a girl like you, right?"
Again, trying to brighten the mood...not working. Guh, Vincent.
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Post by glitters on Nov 21, 2009 13:43:14 GMT -5
Jasmine shook her head as she answered, "Not even that. He made this deal with himself and wasn't going to tell me. He was keeping it secret, and I had to push and pull at it to get him to tell me. I don't know what you'd call that, but I wouldn't call that a very trusting friendship."
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Post by vincent on Nov 21, 2009 14:04:58 GMT -5
"Alright...so let me get this whole thing straight. He gets defensive over you, telling me he's not going to let anyone harm you, and then you two disappear and he goes and makes this deal with this freaky thing that will most likely get him killed. He doesn't tell you and isn't willing to tell you about it when you DO bring it up, and then gives you the cold shoulder when you open up with your 'believing in this and that' stuff? Is that what I'm getting from this?" Vincent shook his head, this was so confusing, "you know, if I didn't know better, I'd say he was afraid to tell you because he knew you'd..."
Vincent suddenly frowned, a horrifying realization dawning on him.
'...he knew you'd be upset...?'
He looked back at Jasmine. Surely, this whole string of thoughts in Vincent's head was only that, a string of thoughts with a few bits of factual information that made it all the more believing...so believing that he was afraid that it could have very well been true.
And if it was, that meant that he had no reason to be angry in the least with Andy; the boy was doing exactly what Vincent told him to do all along...look after his daughter.
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Post by glitters on Nov 21, 2009 14:09:40 GMT -5
Jasmine had closed her eyes and listened to Vincent, nodding as he recited all of the events out to her. When he trailed off, she looked up at him confusedly.
"Papa?" that was all she said, it was more than enough to let him know that he uh...didn't quite finish his last thought.
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