Fates Supports/Rinkah Mitama(PC)
C Support
Rinkah: Mitama! Hey, MITAMA!
(Rinkah leaves)
Mitama: ...
(Mitama leaves)
Rinkah: Dammit, I know you're in there! You have to get up. NOW! The war council meeting is in 10 minutes, and you're already committed to attend. I'm not leaving this door until you come out of it. Do you hear me?
(Rinkah leaves)
Mitama: Shoo now, little fly / Leave Mitama to her sleep / Do not buzz so loud.
(Mitama leaves)
Rinkah: Hot rats! Do you really think I'm going to let you just get away with that?! That's it. I'm coming in!
Mitama: Please, honored Mother / My bed is warm; you are cold / Do not part us so. Besides, I am too tired to attend. I would just fall asleep at the table.
Rinkah: You're only tired because you were up all night reading those old books again. Sometimes I'm of half a mind to burn the lot of them. I have to admit, though, I'm impressed with your devotion to the stuff. Who did you get it from?
Mitama: The answer is clear / A gift from Father did it / A brush and paper. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Rinkah: No, that can't be all it was. You can do tons of things with a brush. You could have tried writing stories, or drawing, or keeping a journal, blah blah. But you chose poetry. Why do you think that is?
Mitama: I must ponder this / Other paths I left untrod / Where did I begin?
Rinkah: Must have been something when you were younger, I'd wager.
Mitama: Mother! I have an idea! Perhaps we should now / Try to solve this together / Mother and daughter.
Rinkah: Nice try, but you're not fooling me. We're going to the meeting. Now grab your things.
Mitama: My ruse discovered / I have no choice but to go / It was worth a shot.
B Support
Rinkah: Hey, Mitama. What's up?
Mitama: Cryptic Memory / She leaves only threads behind / For us to follow.
Rinkah: Huh? What are you on about this time?
Mitama: To reclaim the past, we begin by seizing upon a single vivid memory—a clue. This in turn reveals other connected memories to us, forming a thread. And we follow this thread until the object of our search is found. My first poem is the beginning of one such thread. And it is here. Somewhere.
Rinkah: Ah, I see. And what is the object of this particular search of yours?
Mitama: Before there was verse / Mitama existed not / Wherefore Mitama? I want to understand why I am who I am. And I was not myself until I learned poetry. If I find my earliest self, I find my now-self. In the beginning, the end. Therefore, the search.
Rinkah: Ah, I see. You've been thinking about our last conversation. And you think your first poem will help you learn what got you into poetry. Have you found it?
Mitama: No. How long 'til it's found? / In a blizzard of poems / A single snowflake. It has been many days. But I am determined.
Rinkah: Any way I can help?
Mitama: Perhaps if you could— Ah! Wait! I may have found it! / The Alpha of Mitama / Omega, my search.
Rinkah: Well, go on then. Read it!
Mitama: Mother does not come / I count the days as they pass / Days without number.
Rinkah: I-I don't...
Mitama: Yes, I remember now. You'd become very busy, and my caretakers told me you couldn't come to visit. I began writing poems to comfort myself while you were gone. Left waiting for you / My world turned inward to verse / Structure to sorrow.
Rinkah: I'm so sorry, Mitama. Can you ever forgive me?
Mitama: Don't apologize / You had a duty, a cause / The world needed you. I am sorry. I didn't want to upset you. And I want you to know that I understand. You fought to protect me. I know that now.
Rinkah: Maybe...but maybe I could have done better. Anyways, we still haven't figured out why you turned to poetry in particular. How about we write your caretakers?
Mitama: More clues to my past / Hidden in old memories / The search continues. You're right. They are bound to know something. I will draft a letter immediately.
Rinkah: Er...maybe I should help with that. I think they'll appreciate some simpler language...
A Support
Rinkah: What? This can't be right!
Mitama: Mother? Is that the letter from my caretakers? Please, let me see it / Perhaps the source is revealed / The search now bears fruit.
Rinkah: A-ah...I'm not really sure how to say this.
Mitama: What is it?
Rinkah: It says here that I'm the one who got you started on poetry.
Mitama: I don't understand / You have no great love for it / What else do they say?
Rinkah: I don't think I understand yet either. Give me a moment... Hm.
Mitama: Yes?
Rinkah: Your caretakers say that I used to teach you the lyrics of the lullabies I sang you. You had trouble singing, so I taught you by reciting them. Eventually, you forgot they were songs, but you never forgot the lyrics themselves. And when you wanted to find more things like them, you naturally asked for poetry. Luckily, they had many books of traditional verses—tanka and haiku especially. Dozens, from the sound of it. And after that...well, the rest is history.
Mitama: Mystery dispelled / I know now the catalyst / My mother the cause. But to think that so much of my life has hinged on a simple misunderstanding... A single mistake / Like ripples on a still lake / Echoes across life. But this means—
Rinkah: Yes. You've got your mother to blame for this little obsession of yours. And, more to the point, your mother has your mother to blame for it.
Mitama: Heehee. So it wouldn't be right for you to take my books away, would it? Yourself the wellspring / Can the source of the river / Choose to flow uphill?
Rinkah: I know when I'm beat. But try not to let it get in the way of your duties, OK?
Mitama: Poetry and song / Daughter and mother allied / Invincible bond!
Rinkah: Haha. I think that one's a keeper, Mitama.