Isolated (Tag: Anyone)

The topic of the conversation changed, and Weiss was wondering if Sunshine was regretting talking to her.  Weiss used to be quite the social butterfly, if she was in a good mood.  She could put on a perky face and use the nice manners her parents had drilled into her from day one.  But these days, Weiss found it harder to pretend.  Besides, she was hardly in a good mood these days.  Her thoughts were constantly fluttering from Thrax to Riku to the shadow spirits she had summoned.  Her fight with Thrax replayed in her mind often, and it usually left her with a feeling of frustration and fear coiling in her stomach.  However, Sunshine seemed to be attempting to talk about slightly more cheerful things.  Weiss figured she might as well oblige for a bit longer.  "Voodoo, fencing, singing.  Those are my favorites, I guess," she replied.  Truthfully though, she hadn't done any singing in a long time.  Sure, her parents had encouraged it when she was young to make her a cultured young lady, but these days, voodoo tended to get the most emphasis.  Now, she usually only sang for any charity concerts her parents happened to be hosting.  They did like using their daughter's singing voice to draw people in, and hopefully get some nice attention from the press.

Weiss had to laugh a little at that.  She was surprised Sunshine could chuck a fencing sword that far.  Then again, rapiers did tend to be rather light.  They weren't like the swords people usually saw in fantasy movies, where the blade was super wide and the hilt was so big you needed two hands to hold it.  It took a moment for Weiss to remember Sunshine's talent, but she soon recalled that she had used her singing and magic hair to help heal people that had been hurt at the masquerade ball.  It had been pretty handy at the time, before the paramedics had arrived.  She gave a little smile at the mention of using her singing for show business.  It was a nice thing to think about, even though it could never happen.  "That'd be nice, I guess.  I don't think my parents would like the idea though."  If she said anything along the lines of her wanting to be a singer for a living, they'd probably lose their minds.  Singing was seen as a hobby for them, not a career.  "Besides, I've already got an idea of what I want to do," she added.  Although her drive towards becoming the next voodoo queen had died down a bit, the goal was still in her mind.  She still wanted to do it, to prove to her parents and her brother that she was good enough.  She just had to sort out this problem with her shadow spirits first.

"Voodoo's what I'm good at.  I like doing it," Weiss said.  "Besides, now that my brother's not going to be the next voodoo king, somebody's gotta step up.  And it will be me."  Riku could have been a great voodoo king, but he had chosen to be a police officer instead.  Weiss didn't understand how he could choose a job like that over something that had been passed down in their family for generations.  True, it was hard to tell where her own wants ended and where her parents' wants began when it came to voodoo.  But, either way, whether she came to love it because of her parents or not, the fact was, she still liked it.  She liked learning new spells.  She liked reading books about it.  And she liked excelling at it.  With Riku gone, she was the only child left in the family to carry on the tradition of voodoo, and by God, she was going to do it.

"It's not that literal," Weiss explained.  "We don't wear crowns or anything or sit on thrones.  Voodoo queens are just kind of...in charge, you know?  They lead ceremonies, dances, and they have the final word on things."  She brushed a lock of hair out of her face before continuing.  "Ever heard of Marie Laveau?  She was one of the best voodoo queens in New Orleans.  That's what I want to be like."  Of course, one of the reasons Marie Laveau was remembered so much was because of her contributions to the poor, but Weiss didn't consider that the most important thing.  Marie Laveau was consulted by everyone.  People listened to her.  Out of all the voodoo queens of the area, she was the most powerful of them all.  Weiss wanted to be like that.  That was what she considered important.  After being treated like a doll for so much of her life, she wanted to be in control for once, and be listened to.   

"They used to do it that way," Weiss said.  "But as time went on, it was seen more of a 'taking matters into our own hands' thing instead of letting law enforcement handle it."  Sure, there were committees and organizations meant to talk about that sort of thing, as well as bring up any good points, but actually detaining somebody because they misused voodoo?  That was left to whatever justice system was in place.  Besides, things could get a little murky when there was debate on whether a person was insane or possessed when misusing voodoo.  If somebody wasn't careful, they could be influenced by dark creatures, and do all sorts of things they wouldn't normally do.  She nodded in answer to Sunshine's question.  "Yeah.  She was.  And she wasn't one of those crazy witch doctors you see on TV all the time, the ones who constantly use voodoo dolls and stuff.  That always irks me."  It seemed like most people were concerned with that when it came to voodoo, but there was more to it than that.  Voodoo wasn't all about cursing people.  There was good in it too.  You used what nature gave you to make things that influenced those around you.  And you created a community where ideas could be shared and celebrated.

Sunshine seemed to understand Weiss's explanation.  She took that as a good thing.  Voodoo could be misunderstood sometimes.  Of course, her family's reputation probably didn't help much.  Weiss was doing her best to uphold her family name, but she wasn't stupid.  She knew the way her parents acted wasn't right.  She knew that they weren't even the best parents in the world.  But doing what they said just seemed like the best option.  Sure, Weiss could complain about it to somebody like Adrien.  But actually telling her parents how she felt about something?  No way.  They weren't afraid to get physical if it meant they could prove their point better.  Speaking of which, Weiss figured she had been out of the house long enough.  It had at least been a couple of hours.  Her parents couldn't argue with that.  And showing them the book she had bought would probably please them, for the moment at least.  No doubt they'd want her to get out more often, considering this outing was a success in their mind.  "I should probably get going.  I've been out for a while," she said, standing up.  "It was nice to meet you, Sunshine."  She did seem like a nice enough woman.  At the very last, Weiss enjoyed talking to her.  Maybe they weren't best friends, but they were at least acquaintances.  That was a good start, in Weiss's mind.