Lettras di Montainedrie - Letters of Montedria (Solo RP)

[Illusia]

WARNING: the following posts are filled with expletives.

Ille Lettras di Montainedrie
The Letters of Montedria
​

Collection I:
The Giosanos Arc (pt. 1)

​

17 January 2021​

My beloved Genella,

How are you doing? I sure hope things are fine there in Grande Hauvre. Don’t worry about us here in northern Montedria. Things may not be as the same as it was before, but we’ll suffice. It’s been several years, has it not?

Northern Montedria is still the same as it is. The eastern portion is bustling, thanks to the Empire and many other opportunities there. It has become the gambling capital, even, of the country, had you not known yet. But here in the west, in our home, it has devolved into a backwater area. It’s most unfortunate, but that’s the price we had to pay, in order for our southern brethren to achieve what they wanted - independence.

Family wise, Lisanna wants to also see you again. She dropped by recently, and had given fifty thousand vesettes for the welfare of our family here. She told me that she’ll be seeing you somewhere in Grande Hauvre. I hope you two cross paths there.

I will remain here always, and do not forget to write back.

Je ti aime.

Patrice​

JANUARY 17
07:15
First Person - Patrice Emile di Giosano

...and there it goes. I do hope Genella receives it. I tidy up my desk before neatly folding the letter into an envelope.

“Do you want me to bring it to her, Pa?” my daughter Lisanna asks.

“No, I don’t think so,” I replied. “I want it to be a surprise to her.”

“I insist. Mother is worried sick about you too. Grande Hauvre is nice and all as well, so why don’t you move out of this bleak place? I’d buy a house for all of you there. Your property and title as well,” she said. I sighed. I don’t want Lisanna to worry about me and the remaining kids here.

“We really should move, Dad,” one of my children, Alexander, said, as he pulled my shirt slowly.

“I agree! Big sis Lisanna has some cool pictures there too. Why can’t we leave, Dad?” my other child, Genevieve, asked.

I sighed again. I look at the status of our home… or what seems to be like a home. It is rickety and falling apart. It contrasted heavily to what Lisanna had worn. It was elegantly flamboyant. A huge contrast to this rustic, and pathetic-looking embarrassment of a hovel. Every time it rains, I always have to grab a bucket just to control the leak at the middle of our foyer. Every three months, Lisanna sends a hefty amount of vesettes for us to eat three times a day. I’m glad, but… I can never leave.

Call me a hard-headed fool, but this ramshackled property here in Montedria means a lot to me. This property has been passed down from generation to generation, and I refuse to give it away or abandon it. No matter what the cost.

“We will be staying here, dear children, and Lisanna. I’m sorry,” I said. I acquiesced and handed her the letter for Genella. “Amidst the bleak life, we’re doing fine. We can manage. Thank you for the occasional sending of vesettes-”

“Father.” Lisanna then stopped my speech after she took the letter. “I didn’t go to Grande Hauvre with Mother just for nothing. Mother and I aspired to make our entire lives better. I don’t want to see Alexander and Genevieve become criminals, for fuck’s sake!”

“Mind your words to me, young woman!” I flared back. The two then started crying - and despite being angered, I had to calm them down.

“I don’t care! Why do you still opt to live in this shit-hole!? Mother and I work hard for fucking eight hours a day - and for straight FIVE days a week - just to have a good future for us all!” Lisanna screamed. I want to flare back in anger… but she raises a good point. Alexander and Genevieve started crying even more, and I was getting anxious myself.

“You’ve been doing this shitty mentality for so MANY years now that I wonder how did even Mother endure your fucking defeatist attitude!” she continued. I could feel the tears slowly running up on my eyes. “I’m so fed up of it! You’re nearly as indifferent as those people down in the South! You all claim to be self-determined yet you can’t do fucking jackshit to improve your own lives, preferring to live in the comfort of your shanties and, what? Doing fucking drugs and gambling!? Good grief, Father!”

Her words were enough to break my banks, and I couldn’t help but to sniffle. She’s right. I couldn’t say anything in my defense. Though I do not do vices… if that’s the only thing I can be proud of. But what else? It’s as what she said - nothing. There’s nothing for me to be proud of…

“Please don’t scream at Daddy like that, big sis…” Genevieve said, as she sniffled.

Lisanna sighed and just facepalmed from what I saw in a glance.

“Good grief, Father. Just… good grief,” she muttered and took a deep breath. “I feel like you’re just wasting the efforts that Mother and I have been doing for the past several years. I have held myself long enough to say this, but, you know what? You’re hopeless.”

You’re hopeless.

The words burn into my head. I looked down on the floor, in shame. I felt like I was being shamed by a Litasanno. I couldn’t utter anything at all. My head was completely blanked out. I couldn’t cry nor be angry either.

Once again… I just sat down in defeat.

---

Author's notes:

• Northern Montedria is the colloquial name for the Caselanian-controlled portion of Montedria. It is properly known as Montainedrie in Caselanian documents.
• The vesette, officially the Caselanian vesette, is the country's currency since 1952. It replaced the Litasanno era's regia.
• A Litasanno (Caselanian: Litta-Sainnes) is a term for someone who is rich. It comes from the House of Litasanno, the former reigning royal family in Caselania.
• Je ti aime means "I love you" in Caselanian.

 

[Illusia]

Ille Lettras di Montainedrie
The Letters of Montedria

Collection I:
The Giosanos Arc (pt. 2)​

---

JANUARY 17
08:00

Lisanna could not help to express nothing but sheer disappointment over her father. After all, what seemed to be years of efforts done by her mother and herself were gone down the drain, much like the chances of Caselania re-obtaining its southern territories. Genevieve and Alexander were trying to comfort their father, but clearly Lisanna had no signs of being sorry. She then went outside to have a call with her mother, far away in the west, in Grande Hauvre.

Genella di Giosano was in the middle of a meeting as Lisanna called. She then asked permission to leave because of a phone call, in which her superiors agreed. Going into a secluded place that is nowhere within the sights and noises of the prestigious office she was in, she answered the call at last.

“Hello? Lisanna, I’m in a meeting. What is it?” she answered.

“Mom, you won’t believe this. I’ve just arrived in our house here in Northern Montedria,” Lisanna said. “I’m sorry I had to call you posthaste, but for fuck’s sakes. This is just…”

“Okay, calm down,” Genella said. “Easy with the expletives, Lisanna. What happened? Did you arrive safely? Did something happen?” she then asked, a bit worried but trying to retain her serious posture.

“It’s Father! That’s what happened!” Lisanna exclaimed, who was very cross. “We’ve been sending these vesettes for nothing at all! Remember the promise we made to make their lives better by giving them what we could give back? Nothing happened to it! Our house is still a rickety shit-hole, and here we were expecting that he would have fucking renovated it or moved somewhere else!” she continued, much to her mother’s dismay, already exacerbated by what she just said.

Genella couldn’t believe it either, and let out an audibly loud sigh. She felt slightly devastated, and stress ran up her veins like it was a stressful Friday. As she was listening, her other fist clenched. She glared at the window - she glared at anything she saw - everything was just angering to her eyes as of the current time.

“Then…” Genella slowly spoke. “Where the hell did our finances go? Drugs? Contraband? Vices?” Her voice became increasingly daring.

“He says that the finances are spent for their daily living needs, but come on!” Lisanna exclaimed back. “We scrape up a lot of our time just to ensure that we’re progressing back home, yet it looks like nothing is fucking happening!”

“He always says it ends up in daily living needs,” Genella bluntly said. “That lie is so old-fashioned. I want you to ask Genevieve and Alexander, not him. Asking that good-for-nothing mentirouse di premier-ordreur is comparable to asking a brick wall about anything,” she continued.

Lisanna looked around to see if any of her relatives were following. “Well, that’s a problem, Mom,” she said. “The two appear to be… well, sort of brainwashed. They’re defensive of Father. Or is it just because they’re too naive to understand?”

“They’re young, Lisanna,” Genella said. “Of course they’re naive. I want you to talk to them and ask about the financing your father is doing. If they say nothing, then clearly they have been indoctrinated upon. If they say something, let me know. I feel so betrayed enough that I need to decide whether we should cease this act of financing or not,” she sternly warned.

“Okay, Mom. I’m sorry for interrupting your business, too,” Lisanna replied.

“It’s okay. No harm in it. Take care, honey.” Genella said with a falsely jovial tone. She hung up and was clearly hurt - covered only by a sheer layer of anger. As her coping mechanism was only to work harder and try to forget about things, she nonchalantly wiped a tear and went back to the meeting, apologising as she came back. However, deep inside her, she was tired and drained. She’s poised to give up.

Back in North Montendria, Lisanna hung up as well and looked around at their township. To her words, it was still a shit-hole. The Montedrian war of independence had completely ravaged the western fringes of the region, and the eastern fringes do not show any compassion, as they are all immersed in debauchery through gambling and leisure. Lisanna couldn’t help but to be thankful that she and her mother managed to succeed in Grande Hauvre… but at the same time, she could not feel the same to her father and her two siblings.

“How long will they remain like this?” she muttered to herself, as she kept her phone in her personage and went back to their home, now that she recovered from her flare-out.

---

Author's note:

A mentirouse di premier-ordreur is a pejorative phrase in Caselania. Its Mercanti translation means "liar of the highest order". It is a spin-off from the Litasanno era phrase traîtrise di premier-ordreur, which means "treachery of the highest order". The phrase was coined by the Litasanno monarchs and tagged them to people who opposed their regime.