PARADISA LOST

S-since everyone has r-returned safely, I thought... I th-thought it would be a good time to c-celebrate. Th-this week will bring the b-beginning of Lent, and b-back home there is a b-big celebration before that c-called Carnevale. The m-most famous one is in V-Venice. T-traditionally it ends on Shrove Tuesday or F-Fat Tuesday or, w-well Tuesday is the last day. It's a d-day for c-celebration and rich food, since during L-Lent such things are to be f-forgone.

Um... wh-what I'm trying to say is... w-would anyone b-be interested in s-such a celebration? E-even if just for a day?

A-also! I would like to w-welcome back everyone who was taken, and f-formally acknowledge the e-efforts taken to rescue them. Every m-man and woman who put so much of their e-effort into this, may G-God smile down upon you and m-may you be b-blessed from here on. You are all a-amazing people who d-deserve r-r-recognition.

The o-other day I met another p-priest. It r-reminded me how many people have l-left, and how th-there isn't really a set s-schedule. I wanted to t-try and do the things that would make S-Sister proud since she's g-gone. But....

[No, he doesn't finish the thought.]

[Alessandro was in the library, various books open around him, the journal open in front of him. The books all had stories about being spirited away to another world, it seemed that was something that was heavy in his mind right now.]

It's b-been over a year....

[There's the sound as if he's about to say something else, but then changes his mind. He really doesn't have anything he could say to convey how he was feeling right now, though his tone sounded like he was lost.]

(OOC: Completely open through journals or in person.)

[Alessandro was at the church, as he had been each day since the beginning of Advent. The only difference this day was that his journal was beside him as he prayed. Each day he visited the church three times, each time he would recite this prayer five times. It was customary to say this prayer a total of fifteen times a day during this part of the season.]

Hail, and blessed be the hour and moment
At which the Son of God was born
Of a most pure Virgin
At a table at midnight in Bethlehem
In the piercing cold
At that hour vouchsafe, I beseech Thee,
To hear my prayers and grant my desires
Please let everyone be safe for this coming year, and may this new year bring fortune to those of us here.
Through Jesus Christ and His most Blessed Mother.

[His words were calm, his stutter absent. This was his final prayer of five, and praying in such a manner soothed him like meditation. It was almost as if he wasn't in the same world with others, as if he had gone to another place, a quiet place, a place without any worry. He continued to kneel at the alter, content in the calm.]

(OOC: Open through journals or in person.)

The feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle is tomorrow, which means Advent has started already. Christmas is very close now, and the Christmas Novena will begin tomorrow as well. I wonder if it will be a busy month, with preparations. I also wonder if the castle may do something, it seems to like different holidays, and people have mentioned it has done things for Christmas before.

[Filtered to Caterina; written]

I met a woman the other day, she reminds me of you when you're around Brother I'm not sure what to think of her. She knows Mister Alucard....

In old s-stories, places like the castle f-feed on it's residents. If not l-literally then in e-energy or e-emotion. Being in s-such places for t-too long is considered d-dangerous.

What would h-happen if we never go home?

I know it's b-been a little while, and that the th-things that happen here aren't v-very reflective of t-truth most the time but.... Is s-school really l-like that? N-not the part where p-p-people got i-infected and stuff... but the o-other parts. How d-do people learn properly in that k-kind of environment at a y-young age? It would be v-very hard to get e-explanations.

Sometimes when I d-don't hear from people I start to worry. Not that anything has h-happened but... that there is s-something people aren't telling me. At home n-no one tells me anything.... Brother is always keeping information f-from me, and won't e-explain. S-Sister explains but only the th-things I need to know r-right then....

I f-feel like I haven't seen anyone in a while....

[Alessandro carefully writes as best he can, it's a shaky script filled with errors as if he were writing in the dark, which he happens to be doing. The page is stained with tears and you can almost feel the panic and fear emanating from the page.]

Sister, where are you? I'm afraid to leave and look. Those sounds, those horrible sounds.

(OOC: Alessandro has decided to hide in a wardrobe in one of the rooms inside the castle having been separated from his Sister sometime yesterday.)