tushanshu | Video | The Name Game

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Video | The Name Game

[Valdis is smiling, her braided hair hangs over one shoulder and you can clearly see that she is in the Hotel.]

I was thinking...

[She says, looking thoughtful, her eyes glazing slightly.]

We might not originally be from Keeliai, but we live here now and are doing our best to make it our home.

[She fingers the wolf pendant hanging around her neck absently.]

I don't think that we should call ourselves 'Foreigners' anymore, it gives the wrong impression and it continues to separate us from our neighbors.

[Her eyes focus again and she smiles at the camera.]

I think we should change our name to 'Planeswalkers,' because we've walked the three planes of Life, Dreaming and Death. It would give us a place, I think, and it gives off a more...settled feeling. Like we're a family or something.

[She sighs]

What do you guys think?

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[Somebody may or may not have been pinged by the mere mention of names; no matter how many years it'd been, it was still one subject in which Midii held very close to her heart.]

...but, no matter what names we choose to take on, it'll still be different from the kedan.

[Not that she was opposed to the idea. Quite the opposite; she was starting such a debate because she was interested.]

We will always be different from the Kedan, but that doesn't mean that we have to consider ourselves strangers in the place we call our home.

[Her smile is steady, she's not worried about the challenge.]

Names are important, what we call ourselves is important. If we continue to call ourselves foreigners, then that is all we will ever be.

Because we are Foreigners. Or immigrants, or whatever the proper term is.

We weren't born here. We traveled here from different worlds.

So?

[She fails to see Midii's point]

This is our home now, we have jobs here, businesses, friends. It doesn't matter where we came from, we live here now, why pretend otherwise?

Because it would be denying who we are.

If you think it would be easier to call us something different than what we've been calling ourselves for years, then that's fine. But I'm not ashamed to be a Foreigner because that's what I've always been here, ever since I was a little girl.

[Eleven did seem like a "little" girl, compared to fifteen now.]

I fail to see how giving ourselves a new name means that we are denying who we are. On my world, people can become citizens of other countries, can integrate into different societies and still remain true to who they are.

[Now she's bristling slightly, reminiscent less of Meira and more of Valdis]

I'm not saying this out of a sense of shame, more pride in what we have accomplished and what we can still accomplish.

[She softens again, actually looking somewhat depressed]

I just think that living by a name you didn't choose, a name given by someone who doesn't know you, takes away something of yourself...allowing others to define who you are, takes away your power.

[Then she bristles again]

If you want to live by a name that someone else decided, then that's fine, but don't you dare tell me that by choosing another name, I am ashamed of who I am.

[To her credit, Midii waited patiently until Valdis was done. She didn't get upset. She didn't get offended. She simply...listened. And watched.]

I never said you were ashamed.

[Only that she wasn't. Though, in hindsight, she realized it wasn't the best choice of phrasing. Better choose her words more carefully.]

Every name I've ever been given was by someone who didn't know me. First, my parents, when I was born. Then, when I was older, people I just met would call me different things...

You say it takes away power, but...I don't agree. Even if I never got to choose my name, that doesn't make it any less mine. If anything, it's a name that carries a lot of weight behind it. Memories. Responsibilities. I was a Foreigner when I came here, and I was a Foreigner when I helped people defeat someone who was trying to hurt them. When I did something good.

That's what I meant.

[Just as Midii had patiently waited until she was done, Meira waited until the girl had said her bit.]

Memories...

[Her voice is quiet]

I was there, you know, when we defeated Malicant...you'd think that no one could forget such an event.

[She sighs, resting her elbow on the table and her chin on her hand, wishing desperately that her memories would return faster.]

The thing is, yes, we are all foreigners, but many of us have no world in common, hence we have nothing to tie us together. There are also some here who were not part of that battle and to them, the title 'Foreigner' does not carry the same weight.

By choosing a new name, we can give ourselves a unified identity, one that we choose for ourselves, one that has a new meaning, that we can use to do more good here.

[The corners of her lips twitched upward in remnants of a soft, sad smile.]'

Not necessarily.

[Specifically, the part about having nothing to tie them together.]

I've been here for...I guess it's been somewhere between three and four years now. In all that time, I never saw anyone who came from my world. Not in my time.

But...I still met people who I had things in common with. A lot of things in common.

[Faces flashed in her mind. Gavroche. Eponine. Damian. Those who had lived a life similar to hers, even though the wars themselves had been different.]

I think we all have more to tie us than you give us credit for.

[Which is why...with most of her curiosity behind Valdis' true motives satisfied, she took a deep breath and sat back in her chair.]

So...if you think we should come up with a new name, then alright. [A pause] ...but not Planeswalkers.

Those are memories I don't want to be labeled by.

[Commonality...something she wished she had. Well, maybe she did and just couldn't remember. No need to get depressed over it right now. She smiles.]

A chosen name isn't a label, it's more of an essence, or a truth.

[Then she shakes her head.]

Anyway, what memories do you want to be labeled by? How have we contributed to Keeliai?

[If she was asking for an alternate name, then no, Midii didn't have one...yet.]

[But she did have an idea. Or a few ideas. All related, of course, and more or less of the same mentality as the question that she was asking.]

We helped, of course. We were brought here because we were needed, and...I guess there were things we could do that the locals couldn't.

But...I think we also helped each other. And, in some ways, even just coming here helped me. It gave me a second chance to make up for all the bad things I did when I was younger.

I'm sorry...

[She does sound quite apologetic)

But I'm not sure what you're getting at.

[The corners of her lips twitched upward, and she lightly shook her head.]

No, it's alright. I suppose...I'm not quite sure yet, either.

But you asked what I would most want to be remembered for, and if anything, it would be the fact that I had a chance to redeem myself. Keelai gave me a new life to live. Honestly...I'm not even sure I would have still been alive to celebrate my fifteenth birthday if I was never brought here from home.

This place was a second chance then.

[She liked that idea, and she had the feeling that Keeliai was her second chance too]

[She nodded.]

Yes. I really think it was.

And I hope I've been able to make the most of it.

I'm sure you have. You seem to have a good heart.

...but you don't know me. Not really.

How can you be so sure?

Your concern for others, your need to understand. The look in your eyes...I might not know you well, but I can see that you are kind.

[Well. That was...humbling. Her eyes averted, and there was the slightest hint of red to her cheeks.]

I told you.

I'm just...trying to make up for the things I did in the past. I can't do that unless I understand.

[Weren't they all trying to make up for their past mistakes in some way? Meira was certain somehow that she too was trying to do what this girl was doing]

Then you are on the right path.

...thank you.

That does mean a lot to hear.

[She still had her lingering doubts. She would for a long time. But...for the moment...the fact that an unbiased stranger could form such an opinion...regardless of how true it may or may not really be...she would take the compliment.]

Don't thank me, just keep on going and don't let anything sway you from your goal.

[A nod.]

I'll...try.

[Easier said than done, after all.]

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Video | The Name Game

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