Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on Oct 10, 2022 14:31:55 GMT -5
The casual distinction that Gray made between people he'd killed and broken sent an icy chill down Theodosia's spine, and she shuddered. Images of twisted, tormented bodies filled her mind, lying scattered around on the floor of a dark dungeon like so many broken dolls. To speak of them so easily, to talk of lives destroyed and shattered like they were little more than discarded playthings...she couldn't bear it. Rosen seemed to sense her distress and nestled up against her, its body damp and cold against her bare skin. Giving the doll an unconscious pat, she turned her attention back to Gray. The weakness he showed her seemed out of place, not fitting in with the image she'd built of him in her mind. More than that, though...it seemed inhuman, somehow. Artificial, almost. He wasn't sick so much as damaged, a distinction that she'd never thought she'd have to make in a person. A wave of sympathy washed over her suddenly, a feeling she hadn't expected to feel for Gray. Stepping forward, she caught him by the shoulders and helped to prop him up against the cave wall.
"You're falling apart," she said, trying to ignore the sudden impression that she was handling a corpse. "You're tired, aren't you. You want to let go...but you need to hold on, Gray. Think of Nina. If you die, the whole burden of the tower falls on her. She's not ready. You know that."
When he placed the blame for his continued survival on Nina, however, Theodosia paused. What could he possibly mean by that? Nina was the apprentice, wasn't she? As far as Theodosia knew, she'd done little to keep Gray alive besides pouring water into his mouth and wrapping him up in his cloak as he laid motionless on the floor. The man's mind was deteriorating, clearly. He was looking for something to blame for his agony, she was sure of it. In a way, perhaps he was right. So long as he stayed alive, he'd shield Nina from the brunt of the tower's burden. That was as far as she understood it, at least. The clock tower worked in mysterious ways, and Theodosia hoped to never have to fully understand it.
Gray's request for her help was unexpected, but Theodosia bit her lip and nodded. It made sense, of course. When one needed meat cut, they went to a butcher. If a house was to be built, they'd go to a builder. What Gray needed was lies, and so he'd come to her...so what did that make her? Did she even have an ounce of truth left in her, or was little more than a sandcastle of falsehoods and make-believe? It stung, knowing that this was all the help that she could offer to save her friend, but what else did she have?
"I'll do it," she said, trying her best to hold up the slumping man before he could concuss himself on a rock. "I'll tell you your lies, Gray. I'll let you believe them. Truth is little more than belief, after all."
A moment later, a familiar voice caught Theodosia's attention and she whipped around. Nina stood there, silhouetted by the sun, a dark figure against the bright cave entrance. Surprised and suddenly panicked, Theodosia sprung away from Gray, brushing her hands off on her skirts as though she'd suddenly been caught in the middle of some conspiracy. The shock in Nina's voice made her think that she perhaps had been caught red-handed, and her mind spun with questions about what she ought to do. What they'd been discussing hadn't been wrong...but what if it was? They hadn't been plotting against Nina...had they?
"Nina!" she blurted out, voice suddenly shrill. "We weren't- I mean, this isn't- Uh, we were just having-"
She cut herself off before she could finish the last sentence, realizing how ridiculous it would be. To claim that the two of them had been having an affair would bring up more questions than it answered, and would almost certainly be seen as a lie. Besides, even if Nina somehow believed it, wouldn't it be worse than the truth?
"...Cakes," she said finally, taking a couple of breaths to settle her nerves. "We were having cakes. And tea. Um...would you like one?"
Poking its head from her chest, the doll waved a soft fabric arm at Nina, staring up at her with its dull button eyes.
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Oct 12, 2022 0:53:02 GMT -5
“Cakes,” Nina pondered, shifting her foot into the dirt. “Are over there.”
The girl looked drained. She seemed dazed, with eyes of subtle different sizes, as if from lack of sleep. Her fingers clenched around the edge of the fine cloak that had covered the entrance.
“I am sorry. Theodosia. I failed you.” Her lips barely moved. She moved as if through tar past her friend, to put a shoulder between her and the dark figure looming in the grotto.
“Why?” She asked, unmoving. “How deep does the blackmail go? How many secrets of Theodosia's clients have already been sold?” Her voice was a wound, and also the knife striking against bone to spark a fire. “You know what, just tell me how I was supposed to be manipulated – gently guided – so you can save yourselves the trouble.” She seemed to fold into herself like one of Gray's paper animals. 'How long since he did that?' she wondered. “But I'm not good enough to talk to, am I?”
“All I'm good for is-” Nina looked behind her and to the side, and her shoulders slumped further. “I guess I'm not even good enough to put food on the table.”
Hollow. She supposed it had been idiocy trying to nurse to health a wolf, and hope that she'd never have to go back home to a mauled body. Oh, it never bit me – not any more – that was overindulgence, wasn't it?
“Interrogation. Leading questions. Avoid. They reveal too much about you. Someone may take advantage.” Gray talked, but it didn't feel like an answer, and Nina didn't hear it as such.
She heard it like the grating of a blade. Met the man's gaze with steel of her own but, as usual, couldn't bear it for long. She looked down. She twitched. Her eyes went to the bright outside, to the two cups of pink tea on the yellowish tatami-mat, and the red splotch on the ceramic.
Her words came out infinitely slowly.
“Theodosia. You are hurt.”
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on Nov 13, 2022 16:47:50 GMT -5
The lie had been as thin and transparent as a pane of glass, but Theodosia's heart dropped nonetheless as Nina saw through it in an instant. Cakes...it was as though she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie jar and tried to claim that she'd been putting a cookie back. Wasn't she supposed to be good at lying? When it came right down to it, weaving falsehoods was her only real skill. Why couldn't she come up with something more believable?
The realization came as Nina brushed past her, the whispered apology barely audible even within the oppressive silence of the cave. Lying was her craft, but she'd never been able to lie to Nina. Not at the beginning, and certainly not now. She could tell tales for her customers, perhaps even convince Gray of the delusions that he wanted to hear, but Nina was her sole confidant. To lie to her would be too much, she knew. How could she throw away the trust of the one person she could talk to? She'd be alone again, lost behind the shadow of the mask her profession forced her to wear.
It was a moment before she understood that Nina's fury was directed at Gray, rather than herself. Taking a deep breath, she stepped back and watched the two of them argue. Really, it seemed that Nina was the only one arguing - Gray seemed to just be speaking in that same insufferably calm and level voice he always seemed to use. The man was perpetually unruffled, making everything into a lesson - did he even remember how to be upset, to be defensive? Sighing, Theodosia shook her head and turned to Nina once more.
"I'm not hurt," she said, glancing down a the spilled tea and hoping that it was the truth. "I don't think so, at least. I'm not poisoned, am I?"
The last question was directed at Gray, more out of curiosity than concern. She didn't think he'd have poisoned her, but there was some irony in asking the potential poisoner if he'd done it. If he had, was there anything she'd be able to do about it? She doubted it.
"You are, though," she continued, turning back to Nina. "You're dying. The gears of the clock are grinding and slowing, and you'll be gone the moment it makes its last tick. Gray didn't want anything from me, didn't threaten me or anything. He just needs my help. You need my help...or rather, you need his. Or maybe I need his help so that I can help you and you can continue to help me? I don't know, it's all so very confusing. Everything is twisted together, interlocking and intricate like that miserable clock tower. It's not what it looks like, though. I...I think I know what I need to do here, Nina. To keep you safe and alive. Gray..."
She shot a glance at the man and shuddered as she caught his cold gaze. What sort of cruel world did she live in to produce such a monster out of a human being? How did a mere clock tower twist one's mind into whatever it was that stood before her?
"Gray is little more than a tool," she said, causing the doll to lift its head and gaze up at her in wonder. "A blade, perhaps. Isn't that right, Gray? Isn't that all you've ever been? But a tool may be what we need here. All we want is to keep you safe, Nina. Tell her, Gray. Tell her I'm right. No riddles."
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Dec 4, 2022 17:05:02 GMT -5
“Who knows.” Gray spoke.
Laconic. Poisoned, she asked?
“I am not the one using mysterious forest seeds.”
Struggling. He wished he hadn't handed Theodosia the anise. Poison was strength. Could he steal it back and throw it down his throat faster if he broke her fingers?
Shaking, Nina's voice reached out.
“Gray, your hand.”
The man opposed no resistance as his protege turned over his palm, and sighed over the sight. She reached for water and cloth with by-now practised movements. Her touch was shaky and cold.
Then Theodosia spoke, and Nina's eyes swivelled between her and Gray as if she wasn't quite sure which of them she needed to face in order to fight her way out of this. Eventually she settled on pretending that she just wasn't here, this wasn't happening, and hid between her shoulders. Linen. Tension. Knot. She focused on the one injury that she could fix. Or at least cover up, until the next time that Gray pushed himself beyond his limits. Tomorrow. 'You told her,' her posture accused. The breath she held in swirled with the taste of bitter anger, the scent of fear, but when she let it out, it was all gone. Theodosia had addressed Gray, the man the fortune-teller feared so. Asked him to confirm that he cared for Nina. It was too late for Nina to stop her.
The white hair assassin narrowed his eyes, as if considering. His lips moved painfully slowly.
“Yes.” Gray spoke.
Nina forced her eyes to rise, to meet his. It felt like cold water thrown down her back.
“I don't believe it.” She whispered. He held her gaze.
She shook her head.
“Oh, not the last part.” She spoke, and her voice rasped awkwardly, like the way one moves a limb after it's been broken and re-set. “I know.”
“But being naught more than a weapon...” Her fingers let go of his hand, and lightly dropped to her lap. She brushed a foot against the ground, staring down at it, and turned to the side. A bit of movement attracted her attention - the little doll was here. She looked at it. “Oh, he'd always wished that. But it was never the whole story, was it?” She spoke with a tremor.
It was technically not a question addressed to Gray. He didn't have to answer.
“All the same, if that's what you need right now...I understand.” Nina sighed.
She knew not much of people. Just enough to suspect that when they retreated into their shells, what they needed was for things to be simple. Safe. From what he knew of Gray, perhaps this was his way.
Nina stepped back, straightened, then folded back over by wrapping her hands around herself. “I...I don't know how I could help, Theodosia. Gray. Please tell me.” She looked down at her palms. “I'm making all the wrong choices and I've tried to ask for help from the infirmary but no one understood,” she choked, “and I am perfectly fine but how do I even help someone who is in so much, so much pain, and one day you're ingesting enough of your plants to kill a squadron, the next you're nearly killing me in your sleep and that's when,” she briefly stopped to breathe, “you're actually sleeping.” Gray tensed, his eyes fixed in the distance. Nina whispered. “And all that's because...I'm still alive.”
She winced, as if expecting a sentencing. Her eyes fell on the cups of tea outside.
“You've done more in minutes than I in weeks,” Nina told Theodosia, and she watched her friend as if witnessing something of a miracle.
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on Mar 5, 2023 19:37:28 GMT -5
Theodosia watched silently as Nina took Gray's hand in her own, tending to the man's injury like a fussy mother hen as he stood quiet and motionless. It was a coping mechanism, she could tell. Gray certainly didn't seem to mind the wound, although he didn't seem to be resisting her attempts to bandage it. No, this little display was all for Nina herself. It looked to be a way for her to assert some level of control over the situation, something she could do to pretend that everything was alright. As Nina wrapped the bandages around Gray's hand, Theodosia had the sudden image of a child tucking her dolls into bed during a thunderstorm. In a frightening world of chaos and shadows, being able to get some aspect of life in order could be helpful, no matter how minor. The thought of dolls brought her mind to her own little doll, and she knelt down to sweep the little cloth figure into her arms as it toddled across the room.
"It's difficult for you to help," she said, turning to Nina, "because you're embroiled in the problem. This is your life, and so you have little choice but to focus on what's in front of you. How could you do anything else, when the clock ticks away in your body and reminds you of what's real? That's the issue, Nina. You live and breathe in reality, when this issue can only be solved by unreality. That's where I come in, isn't it Gray? The fraud fortune-teller here to give you a make-believe solution to your artificial problems. You don't want the truth, because the truth bites. You want lies, lies that you can slip into and embrace until they become reality."
Setting the doll on her shoulder, she stepped over to Nina and placed her hands on either side of her friend's face. She turned Nina's head this way and that, inspecting her face in the half-light of the cave like some overbearing mother. Sighing, she rubbed a bit of dirt away from Nina's cheek with her thumb, her hands oddly steady despite herself.
"Of course the infirmary is of little help," she said, shaking her head. "They only treat ailments of the flesh, and poorly at that. The real doctor is gone, you know. They've naught but assistants in there these days. It's a shame, too. That one doctor was odd, but he treated you so well after that awful business with the angel rot. In any case, though, I've hardly done anything at all. I simply came looking for you and was accosted by Gray instead. He seemed to enjoy my cakes, despite them being full of mysterious forest seeds."
She glanced over Nina's shoulder at the remnants of the cakes as they grew cold and stale outside the cave. Perhaps the birds would eat them, or maybe they'd simply sit until Gray picked them up to use as doorstops in the glasshouse. She certainly wasn't feeling very hungry at the moment. Releasing Nina's face, she swept away, clutching her thin shawl tightly around her body. If only she hadn't spilled the tea on herself, things would've been so much easier. How was she supposed to act the part of the mystic while in such a state of undress?
"Being a weapon might not be the whole story," she said, "but trying to find every scrap of the story isn't going to help us now. Again, you're trying to see the whole picture rather than just picking the convenient parts. That's the secret to a good tale, you know. That's how you make the lies believable and the cons profitable. You pick out the parts of the truth most convenient to you and twist them until they fit into the story you want to tell. Right now, the story I want to tell isn't part of your 'truth'. If I can do my job right, though, it'll be part of his."
Looking once again at Gray, she hesitated, wondering if she was really up to the task. Could she really convince this thing that its future was bright and sunny, something she didn't even believe herself? It certainly seemed a lot harder than conning some tired sailor or bored housewife into thinking that the fortunes would favor them if they tipped her better. Did any of them really have a future in these mist-shrouded isles? Even if it did work, what then? What would Gray do once her usefulness had ended? That was little more than an idle worry, although it did nag at her a bit more than she would have liked. Gray didn't seem like the type that would kill her for the fun of it. In fact, she didn't think he did anything for the fun of it. Stepping over to her basket, she rummaged about until she found a small wooden box of golden jewelry. She kept it on her person at all times, just in case she needed to work unexpectedly.
"Make me another cup of tea, Gray," she said, donning an ornate necklace and a pair of intricate earrings. "I don't like your cards, and tea leaves are one of the easiest readings of them all. Get that ready, and then we'll begin. You can stay and watch if you like, Nina. I can't have any skepticism though, or I'll have to ask you to leave."
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Mar 9, 2023 17:18:29 GMT -5
'Lies.' Gray nodded his approval, slowly, as if his vertebrae had rusted together.
“It has happened before.” He spoke.
Nina knew that for the truth. A truth more complex than Gray's words, pulled out like teeth, would hint at. In the gaps left behind, fluttered memories. Gray's voice, calmly pulling her, this way, that way, to be faster, stronger, smarter, a soothing voice pulling her out of the darkness that his very actions had brought, with the same certainty that, in the cell next over, he would bring someone else unending pain. Gray, putting his soul in boxes for the Clocktower to break before the Clocktower broke Nina. Gray, the master of things hidden. In the Archipelago, all would fear the Duke's Shadow. Few would ever known that his whispers had been behind some of the Duke's more radical reforms. For what had started with him using the women of the red light district for information had, through ensuring his informants did not die before their twenties, through accountants and schools and rooftop ninjas, somehow changed his world for the kinder.
All because one man had been told 'that's just how life is,' and said 'I do not think so.'
Yet Nina did not comment. She could not, with Theodosia grabbing her face like that, and perhaps that was Theodosia's point. She made glancing eye contact. This was not Nina's story to tell. And perhaps she wasn't even close enough to understand, despite her friend suggesting the opposite. Her fists clenched and shuddered. For Gray would not talk to her.
Was he trying to protect her?
“The doctor?” Something shook her out of her thoughts. “Did the empress-” Nina covered her mouth. “Nevermind.”
The girl leaned against the cool cave wall, trying to stay out of the way. Theodosia felt different than usual, imposing and mysterious. In that moment, the girl believed. That if anyone apart from Gray himself could heal the man's mind, it was the fortune-teller. Something odd about her dress- But more importantly, Nina thought distractedly, it was good that Gray could talk to someone.
Gray walked past her. In the light, he froze in place.
Nina counted her breaths.
“Flowers.” She mumbled eventually. Her eyes darted, pleadingly, to Theodosia.
“Can you read...flowers?”
She had spent enough time with Gray that sometimes, sometimes, she understood his madness. Theodosia had mentioned leaves. Flowers were not leaves. Once the issue was settled, Gray moved on.
Nina watched from the shadows her mentor heating up water. He was precise; and that had its own sort of grace. Yet his hand was injured and his face peeled all over and that gave her almost physical pain, because the mighty assassin she knew could no longer bring himself to move out of the sun. Because he treasured his gloves as a memory to the point he'd rather break his hands. One of these days she was going to lose him to an infection...She pressed a fist over her chest.
“Would you mind if I stayed?” Nina asked when the water finished boiling.
Gray did not look at her. With a twinge in her chest, Nina stepped back. She curled down, trying to remain inobtrusive. Listening to Gray pouring Theodosia her tea.
He could not tell Nina how exhausted each word made him feel. That with her, he trusted her enough that he need not speak.
Nina clenched her fists against her knees. She leaned forward, struggling to bear the weight of her shoulders. As she did so, something dropped from the folds of her blouse, into her lap. Startled, the girl woke up. Her fingers clenched around the object. She looked up at Gray. 'When did he...?'
It was a cookie.
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on May 8, 2023 20:13:24 GMT -5
"Flowers," repeated Theodosia, nodding her approval. "Of course. More ephemeral than leaves, but painting a far brighter picture while they're in bloom. They represent the best that the plant has to offer, giving everything it has to present itself nicely to the world. Of course I can read flowers, Nina dear. They tell, after all, nothing but the truth."
As she spoke, Theodosia marveled at how easy it was to slip into her working persona for Gray and Nina. Her voice was smoother than before, a soothing contralto that showed no hint of her previous agitation. Everything she had just said was nonsense, of course. She'd never read flowers, but knew that it wouldn't be any harder than coming up with an interpretation for swirling tea leaves. Some people on the island caught fish, others built huts, more still patrolled the forests for dangerous beasts; all the while, she wove nonsense into mystical truths. Even calling Nina dear was something that she'd do with a customer, another element of the lie meant only to distract them from the utter lack of truth on her words. She hadn't meant to say it, but it had simply slipped out unbidden. Theodosia bit her lip for a moment, wondering if she ought to rein herself in, but decided against it. This was the sort of trick that would only work once, and it wouldn't help her to try and hold back. Today, in this little cave, Gray was going to get everything she had.
"Thank you, Gray," she said, accepting the teacup in both hands. Her rings clinked softly against the porcelain as she took it, but she was relieved to see that her hands were perfectly steady. There was no nervousness now, no stage fright. Any fear that she had was hidden deep behind the mask, tucked away behind the fortune-teller's mysterious smile. In this moment, the Theodosia that Nina knew was gone. In her place sat the Marvelous Madame Planchette, lady of fate and oracle of the isles. Part of her felt a subtle pang of remorse, not wanting to have to deceive the one person who knew her as she was. More powerful than the remorse, however, was relief. The situation had been difficult, and being able to take herself away was like a breath of fresh air. Sometimes, no matter how much she fretted and complained about it, it was easier to be someone else.
"Let's begin," she said, swirling the tea into a slow, gentle vortex. "Watch the flowers, Gray. All shriveled up and dry...you'd think that they're dead, just by looking at them. But in the water, they bloom once more. It's remarkable how something so damaged can recover so quickly, don't you think?"
Glancing over towards Nina, she saw her friend find the cookie and smiled. It wasn't her real smile, of course. Nina had probably seen her bright, cheery grin before, likely on some friendly visit or errand to the market. The calm, restrained expression painted across her face now was another part of the show, something she practiced in front of the mirror for hours at a time until it was perfectly mysterious and aloof. The smile was part of the show as well, yet another subtle hint to the audience that she knew more than she was letting on. A false smile, a stranger's voice...could she really have been replaced by that horrid doll after all? She put the thought out of her mind, not wanting to break her focus.
"A gift," she said, nodding towards Nina but turning her eyes back to Gray. "You must have given Nina plenty of gifts over your time together, not in the least being her continued life. But a mere sweet will be far from your last present to her, Gray. The gift of your recovery, of seeing your face basking in the sun rather than merely burning in it...wouldn't that be a pleasant surprise?"
She handed the teacup back to him, cupping his hands around the little porcelain mug before placing her own hands around his. Feeling the bandages under her fingers, she noted how skillfully Nina had bound the man's burns. This was the work of a practiced hand, certainly. Nina had experience in treating the assassin's wounds, although it seemed to be more for her benefit than his. How did it all add up, in the balance of things? Did helping to keep the man alive make Nina an accessory to any future murders he would commit? Was she herself now implicated in his crimes? Questions swirled through her mind, none of which mattered. All she had now was the client before her and a story to sell. With luck, it would become the truth.
"Look into the tea," she cooed, gently moving his hands in a circle to continue swirling the flowers within. "Watch the shapes the flowers form as they're pulled and tugged by the threads of time. Look closely, now. Fate is a fickle thing, and doesn't like to reveal itself for too long. I can see the forms they create, though. Watch with me, and I'll guide you through them."
As she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper, she continued to swirl the tea around. Having the client's own hands on it was a trick she'd learned years ago, an easy way to make them feel like they were more than just passive observers in the whole process. Keeping the tea leaves moving also helped to prevent them from coalescing into a single shape, allowing her to connect the dots and draw the pictures however she pleased.
"You've lived a difficult life, haven't you," she said, ignoring the sheer obviousness of the statement. "I can see that as plain as day. Things don't always have to be that way, though. You see how the flowers form fresh constellations, different from the ones you've known? We're in a new land, Gray. Under a new set of stars. Anything is possible, you'll see."
Giving the cup a quick side-to-side rock, Theodosia stopped the circular swirling, causing the leaves to collect in a line in the center. She stroked Gray's hands with her fingertips, a move that generally served to distract her clients from her manipulation of the teacup. This time, though, she wasn't sure if it would be of much use. Gray didn't seem like the type to care much about such an intimate gesture, as far as she could tell.
"The path," she said, giving him a moment to see the line before swirling the cup once more and breaking up the pattern. "Just like the card you drew in my dream, so long ago. But you see how quickly it vanishes, Gray. How soon the paved road is blown away, lost in the mist. You're free to choose where you go now, Gray dear. Nobody is forcing you to head towards the darkness. Look to the tea, it tells all. See there, the figure of the sun. It's calling to you, Gray. See how that flower with the tattered petal is drawn towards it?"
The flowers had clustered together into Theodosia's "sun", and she gave the cup another shake to break them apart. The tea was becoming increasingly pink as the flowers steeped, growing more opaque with every subsequent swirl. Theodosia estimated that she had a minute or two left...or could it be more? She wished that she'd paid more attention when he'd made the tea earlier, but how could she have known that she'd need such information so quickly?
"You sit in the sun all day until you shrivel and dry up like these flowers," she said, "staring up at it like an enemy. But the light isn't something to be fought, Gray. Let it take you into its arms and wrap you in its warmth. Tomorrow is full of sunlight...but there's no need to take it all right away. New things can hurt, and trying to dive in all at once can leave you bitter. I've seen what you've done to yourself. Sitting in the blazing sun, baking in it...you're trying to convince yourself to embrace it, aren't you? Like trying to teach yourself to swim by throwing yourself in a lake? But you're going at this the wrong way. There's gentler ways to take in the light, Gray. Look at the tea. See the way they move? They're forming constellations again, new ones for you and I and everyone else here on this island to discover. That's what you have in store, Gray. This is what the threads of fate have for you. Not the inky darkness, nor the searing heat of the sun. You've got to acclimate yourself to it, and the tea is showing you how. Look close and you'll see. Your future, Gray dear, is full of starlight."
She stopped the swirling motion, holding Gray's hands steady as the flowers slowly sank away and vanished from view. Once the pink surface of the tea was smooth and unbroken, she let go of his hands and sat back, giving a clear signal that the spell could now be broken. Still, she kept her fortune-teller's smile, not wanting to break character until the client was out of her tent (so to speak). She scanned Gray's face, trying to read the thoughts of the most inscrutable man in the world. Had it worked? She had no way to tell.
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Gray
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 124
Registered: Jul 2, 2021 10:00:37 GMT -5
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Post by Gray on May 22, 2023 15:46:19 GMT -5
Water. Flowers. The familiar sound of tea pouring. Once more, with feeling, casting a facsimile of life in a cup. Purple petals, spreading. Dead inside, yet being all the more nourishing in their last bloom. Was this what was asked of him?
Gray knelt. So thirsty, he thought. The sun was pummelling down. The world swayed. Theodosia was a voice from atop a bunch of too-colourful skirts, far above the water. You didn't need all this water, Gray thought. To revive someone. A damp cloth, placed over the mouth and nose, until their legs started twitching, will do just fine.
-had he spoken that out loud? No one was screaming. And Theodosia was speaking about gifts.
“...No.” Gray forced out.
He struggled to process the thought.
“That. Is called.” He pointed to Nina, and paused. “Fear.”
It would get worse. He knew. It would get worse the safer the girl felt, because she would finally have time to process it.
“It's also called trust.” Nina's whisper stung. Poor girl. He did not see as she looked at Theodosia, pleading with her eyes. The way she held the cookie at her chest like a charm. “I know you.”
He did not deign answer that.
“Enough that once you would have killed me for it.” She whispered.
He could not contradict her.
Gray looked into the tea, Theodosia's hands around his. The exhaustion made it easy to just follow the fortune-teller's voice. Slip into the dream. To see patterns in the swirling petals. As long as he didn't think of that liquid as- water-. His hands tensed. For a moment, he felt a chilly splash on his face; he felt like drowning.
Water simply meant that the pain would continue.
His breathing staggered. 'Cord. Control,' he forced himself. Some petals clustered together. Like tiny little books, he thought. His name came from a book. A character whose mask he put on – a mask that had so perfectly become himself. There was nothing underneath. He saw blood splatters and cherry blossoms, spinning in endless seasons. Loyalty and numbers. The tea became a faint magenta colour, just like the glass in one of his stained glass windows...and suddenly he was back, in the Tower's dream, but then Nina was there, pressing her palm against that bit of stained glass.
'I do not need to defeat you.' She told the boasting manifestation of the Tower. 'Gray already has. The windows are placed the other way round.'
The Tower had engulfed his dreaming mind. It hadn't realized that Gray had done the same.
Then, a path.
Gray held his breath. To him it was not a road – but a tightrope. He leaned forward, and for a moment he was back – the boy who had run away to join the circus, because that is what books said boys should do. Glitter and gilt. When Theodosia spoke of sunlight, he saw himself flying on the trapeze, and then, he let go, and he was free.
When he came back down, there was no rope to catch him.
His expression went numb. The light in his eyes faded. And yet, though he still felt like falling, Theodosia had opened his eyes to see this was but another sky. Though it was dark, it was full of stars. Though they were faint, they could still guide. And though he had never guided himself by something as provincial as stars...
“Perhaps I could learn.” He whispered.
He lifted his head up to the sky, and shielded his eyes. He took in a deep breath, and it was the most movement he had done during the spell. He just focused on his breathing. “That was artful,” he told Theodosia. “And brave.”
Yet too many paths looked very much like no path at all.
“Of what use a Master of Shadows where there are no more shadows to lead?” He asked himself. The pain was once again raw.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
“You could be Master of Shadows of this country if you'd like.” The voice of Nina barely reached him. “For now. If interested.”
Quiet.
“I do not believe Alden would be amenable to that.” He answered.
“Pfft. Not that country.” Nina flailed her arm in the direction of New Isra. She tapped her foot. The movement attracted Gray's attention. “This country.”
“This...country?”
Nina curled and scowled.
“I am not paying the Empress's taxes.”
Gray frowned. “Nina, I have killed people for tax evasion.” It was one of the main reasons he was sent to assassinate people for. He liked taxes. Taxes meant order, stability, law.
“Do you want Isra to have the slightest claim to the Tower?” The girl raised her eyebrows. A shiver went through her. “If anything goes wrong, she'll be all over us.” The Empress as the Empress, but- “Grandma.” The moniker of the Empress's mage hadn't been made to hold so much spite. Nina hunched and rubbed her hands, after throwing a glance down the beach. “'Oh, do not worry, all these magical artefacts simply need someone with more...experience.'” She mocked. Shook her head. “Gray, she's not...human.”
“Do you want me to kill her?”
“No!” Nina pressed her fingertips against her temples. “And no, torture is banned, too.” She looked kind of sad. “It's just...you have spent so long going round the most...convoluted...ways, to build a nation, to help people, that I am wondering if you'd like something more straightforward.”
It was silent for a while. A long while.
“People?” Gray finally asked.
“For now - You, me, and the octopus.” Nina gestured, ending somewhere towards the sea.
Gray turned back to Theodosia. He had kept his voice equal, for with part of his mind gone it was easier to hide his missteps that way.
“Am I insane?” He asked.
His eyes shined like stars.
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on Aug 16, 2023 16:33:52 GMT -5
Theodosia's gaze swept between Gray and Nina as she listened to their soft, halting exchange. How much did these two really talk to each other on their own, she wondered? Did they speak at all, or simply coexist in that silent mutual understanding that came from years of shared space? It seemed that Nina hadn't broached the subject of the clock tower's independent statehood with Gray before, although she seemed to have put a bit of thought into it already. The idea made Theodosia's head spin, and she sat back against the cave wall. She felt suddenly exhausted, her body leaden and stiff. Her work, her lies...it seemed to have done the trick, so far as she could tell. Who could know for sure, though? Who could understand someone as inhumanly inscrutable as Gray? Could she learn to do so, if the need arose? The thought terrified her, although she wasn't sure which prospect was more frightening - the potential that she'd never understand him, or the possibility that she would.
"You'd form your own nation?" asked Theodosia, turning to Nina. "Right here, on this little beach? That seems...a bit optimistic, don't you think? You, Gray, and the little octopus under your independent flag. It's a nice thought, but what of the Empress? She seems the type to take what she wants, and if she decides to lay claim to this little stretch of coast, well..."
She trailed off, mind filled with visions of the clock tower under siege. It was a ludicrous thought, a ridiculous impossibility...but wasn't everything she'd seen and done today just as impossible?
"I'm worried for you," she said, addressing Gray and Nina both. "I fear the Empress's ambitions, her hunger, the monsters she keeps in her employ. You know them, Nina. Her short-tempered lapdog, the smiling crone, the demonic creature who swallows poisons for her...and those are just the ones we know of. I'm afraid to even imagine what other creatures she might hold the leashes to. Worse, though, I'm afraid of what the clock tower might do if it feels itself at risk. What cost would it extract from you to keep itself safe from external threats?"
She shuddered, not wanting to think of the toll the tower could take on its custodians. Its power kept Nina alive, allowing the gears and wires in her body to keep ticking. What would happen when that power was needed elsewhere? The doll, sensing her concern, leaned its little head against her cheek. The touch of soft, slightly damp cloth was somehow comforting, and she reached up to pet the creature before turning to Gray.
"That's a difficult question to answer, Gray," she said. Her lips automatically curled into the perfectly practiced smile that she showed to clients and she immediately hated herself for it, knowing that he wanted her to be genuine with her answers. Turning her face into a smiling mask probably wouldn't help matters, but what else could she do? She didn't have the strength for a real smile, and she certainly didn't want him to see her tears. This was the only alternative, the fortune-teller's mysterious visage. A fake smile for a fake person...but perhaps she'd at least be able to put a measure of truth into her words.
"Who's to say who's insane?" she went on, watching the cold glimmer of his eyes. "To do that, we'd need a standard of sanity, and I don't know if we have one of those here. Who among us could be considered sane? Nina? Perhaps. Me? Certainly not. My smile isn't my own, Gray. I've replaced myself with a painting, turned myself into a textbook's illustration of a fortune-teller just to make a living. Without the silks and lies, what's left? No, I'm not the sane one here. And as for you...when I first met you, Gray, I didn't think you were insane. I thought you were so far deranged that you'd looped around to the other side, finding a horrible lucidity that let your mind work like no other living creature. By that standard, insanity would be an improvement...but no, Gray. I don't think you're insane. No more than I am, in any case. Is that a comfort, Gray? I don't know anymore. I really don't know anything, now that I think of it."
She laughed, a humorless bark that echoed in the cave like the snap of a bowstring. She was so very tired, tired of trying to make sense of a mind that could not even make sense of itself. What was she even doing here? She'd come to have cakes and tea with Nina, and instead had found herself trying to convince the Master of Shadows to look to the light. Still watching Gray, she studied his face, wondering if her words had upset him. She hoped not. In other circumstances, she might have kissed him.
"Nina," she said, tearing her gaze away from Gray. "Tell me please, Nina dear. What's the name of your new nation? Maybe we should celebrate its founding, as small as it is. Perhaps...perhaps I'll bring cakes."
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Aug 22, 2023 16:24:01 GMT -5
Nina looked at Theodosia as if her friend was being rather silly.
“Naoki will be around no matter what we do.” She shrugged. “So will we.” Her face was bright. She tapped her palm on the ground, and Gray nearly imagined feeling a pulse of magic. She pointed at the Tower. “That, that won't move again. Even the Depravity can't carry its sorry mussel-encrusted ass off now, and I would rather not resort to piracy even if it could.” The girl with the braided hair smiled, but the burden of being leashed to one place hung on her shoulders.
“We must make allies. Avoid direct confrontation.” Nina nodded. She shuddered. “If we win...It will destroy us.” Her voice was quiet. “The Clocktower is, at its heart, a story. If people fight over it, then it only strengthens the spinning, endless noose it's made for it's made for itself.” Nina did not believe that her friend would ever understand the metaphor, particularly in how it was not one, but she would understand her plea. “That is why it must remain a very boring place.” She lowered her head.
The Clocktower was broken, and Nina was no longer quite sure for how longer it could still grasp concepts such as 'self-preservation'.
“But no, you are right.” Nina fluttered her hand. She smiled. “A country? It is rather impossible.” She snorted. Then her eyes fixed, implacably, on Gray's hands. “You have done it before.” She said.
Her words carried unspeakable hope.
“Lie.” The man forced out the word. “Better.” 'You are a poor liar,' Nina translated it in her mind.
Yet there was little time to think, as Gray's executioner sword swung through the air and ended in her face. Nina blinked. She could see herself reflected in the metal, until the breath that she was holding fogged it up. The tip of the sword was brushing its side, cold, against her kneecap.
“I offer you my allegiance.” The assassin's words reached her ears as in a dream. He was kneeling.
Nina grasped the man's hands, leaning forward and allowing tears to fall, for the man who had lost himself in the shadows until nearly all but his rituals had grown too faint to see.
“I am honoured, Gray, Master of Shadows.” She repeated the words in his native Ningyoji.
Tears kept streaming down her face as she looked up at the stony ceiling. Gray retreated. Theodosia, on an edge that bled out into her voice, asked what should the new country be called. But was it a new country, or old?
“The Azure Archi-...well it's not an archipelago anymore.” Nina whispered.
“Coast.” Gray said.
He looked exhausted, as if this simple conversation had burned more in him that he had to burn. Suddenly he was looming over Theodosia, and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Stay here.” He said, and his voice had something of the fortune-teller's charm. He turned away. “Nina, mind that the fortune-teller does not nick my sword.” He walked off. 'I need to...walk. I will return...late.” His steps slowed down until he reached the cave exit, where he was once more frozen in place. Painfully slowly, he turned back once more. His eyes spoke, mutely at first, before they could finally gather the force to push out words. “Rosen. Do you want...Can he...come with...me?”
Who was 'he'?, Nina wondered. Ah – the doll?
Nina hesitated, yet, ultimately, spoke; “I trust him,” she said, and fear felt like a needle in her chest. Theodosia cared so much for the little being.
“Are you all right?” Nina said afterwards, scuttling closer to her friend. Gray had picked up his cloak and left, in one of his mysterious ways, and she suspected that even if she were to look after him, she wouldn't be able to see. But he could wait. “Theodosia?”
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on Sept 20, 2023 21:43:28 GMT -5
To think that Gray of all people had built a country before brought a shiver to Theodosia's spine. What had he done to achieve that? It was a silly question, of course. She could imagine what he'd done, as much as she wished that she couldn't. How many bodies had he buried to carve out a nation's independence? Most countries were already built on mountains of corpses, but how many had those mountains built by a single man? Would he be willing to do it again? Her disturbing line of thought was cut short by Gray's sword flashing through the air, eliciting a shriek of fright. She flinched away, far too late to have avoided the blade had any harm been meant. The reality of the situation, however, was perhaps even more shocking than the anticipated bite of the sword. She watched, spellbound, as the assassin knelt and swore fealty to his apprentice. This was no mere act. That much she could tell. There was something else here, an oath being passed on. If this was some sort of ritual, then Theodosia was sure that it was one seldom seen by outsiders.
In the blink of an eye, Gray loomed over Theodosia, his hand finding her shoulder. Surprisingly, she realizing that she felt no fear at his touch. While a few hours ago she would have been certain that he planned to finish her off and leave no witnesses, she now sensed no malice in his actions. She'd so recently called him a monster, and yet she now felt almost sorry for him. When he told her to stay, she nodded, glancing towards the sword embedded in the cave floor. She had no interest in the executioner's blade, nor did she think she'd even be able to lift it had she wanted to.
Gray's next request was more than a little surprising, and her hand flew to her chest to clutch protectively at the little doll. Earlier, it would have been unthinkable to hand over such a precious creature to someone like Gray. Now, though...she looked down at the doll, which gazed back up at her with its shiny black button eyes and nodded its soft fabric head. It seemed to want to go with him, leading Theodosia to wonder exactly how deep the bond between Gray and the doll really ran. Rosen (and it still felt so odd to think of him as such) had been by her side since she'd finished putting him together, never wandering more than a few steps away. She hadn't realized how attached she'd grown to the little creature, but now she felt suddenly loath to let him out of her sight. Handing him to Gray, however, seemed right somehow. Perhaps the doll would learn something about his nature from Gray, or maybe the assassin would glean some insight from his cloth likeness. Giving Gray a gentle, tired smile, she fastened the now-pink cloak securely around the doll before perching it gingerly upon Gray's own shoulder.
"Nina trusts you," she said, meeting Gray's gaze. "But it's more than that...I trust you, Gray. And little Rosen seems to trust you as well. Please do watch over him on your little walk, he's very small. I know you wouldn't let him be carried away by a cat or a seagull, but still...please be careful, Gray."
A moment later, Gray had vanished, leaving only the sword to remind her that he'd been there at all. Turning to Nina, she sighed, shaking her head.
"I do wonder how those two will get on," she said. "Gray said that it carried a bit of his essence. I didn't mean for that when I made him, but I suppose I didn't mean for a lot of things to happen. I do love him, though. The doll, I mean. Rosen. Can you believe that I'd never even given him a name in all this time?"
Glancing back towards where Gray had gone, she saw no sign of him. She hadn't expected to, of course. Gray never seemed to be one to be caught in the act of going anywhere - either he was there or he wasn't. It was a strange trick, but one fitting of such a strange man.
"What are you going to do now, Nina?" she asked. "You can't live without the clock tower and it can't live without you, but it seems to me that both of you are on the verge of falling apart. What even is there to do? I want to help you, Nina. We all do. You know that."
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Oct 2, 2023 16:08:48 GMT -5
The sword was called Everything Ends Here.
Nina carefully placed it flat on the ground, out of the way. On a rag, to protect its edge. What would it end? A life. A way of life. Trust, unbreakable, was beating in her chest. Because Nina knew a secret that Theodosia did not. That it was the first time that Gray had left behind the sword that he'd been bound to for most of his life. A binding she had helped break. Nina gazed at the blade.
Double-edged.
“I don't think that feelings always require words.” The girl curled in a patch of sun, pulling up her knees onto the stone bench. It took two tries. “I don't think that silence necessarily hides lies.” Thinking back, she understood enough Gray-speak to realize the man had meant the sword-stealing as a joke. Her lips curled in a small smile. “I am sure that I would like the small doll, Rosen, too, if I hadn't spent the last weeks purposefully avoiding you.” Her voice was but a whisper. “But I understand why Gray would focus on names. He's precise like that.”
Nina lowered her head. Her braids got stuck onto the rough stone wall.
“I am sorry, Theodosia.” Her cheeks felt at once hot and cold. “I brought Gray back. I...did not know how I could tell you. So...I didn't.” Her hands were clenched together. After Gray's dream nearly killed her friend...“I thought...I thought I would kill him. If...If I couldn't trust him not to hurt you, or others.” Remind your friends that you are a murderer, that always goes well. The space behind Nina's eyelids was dark. “Some secrets are not mine to share. But...In the endless mist, the Tower...It was sinking. It was sinking and there was nothing I could do about it.” Nina breathed quickly. “Because I couldn't see...That the Tower's power had a price.” She swallowed. “One of the most ancient forms of magic is sacrifice. There were th- two people in the Tower. And it wasn't me who paid the price.” Nina clenched a hand on her chest.
Her head dropped to rest into the palm of her other hand.
“I am tired.” She suddenly said. From the fold of her blouse, she took out a long pendant shaped like the hand of a clock. She held it like a weapon. “I...I just got this key from some fiends over there by the sea. Really kind people...A key of the Clocktower. A key from another history that was not my own.” Nina knew that she did not make sense, but the words wouldn't stop pouring. She forced herself to smile. “You see, if the Clocktower falls, I...don't mind...going. But if I die before it...It may pick another in my stead. Then everything. Will repeat. Again.” Again. Again. The scenario that Gray had fought to avoid. The fight that Gray trusted her to carry on.
“I want to use the key to reshape this maddening thing. I want to learn more about different shapes of magic. That way I could fight it. That way I might even stay human.” Nina said, trying to hold onto the sensation of the earlier hope. “But...I can't.” The pendant dropped from her hand. “I'm not strong enough.” She admitted. “I can't use my magic and work properly. I can't even manage to get much food. Not while Gray is...as he is.” Nina let out an awkward chuckle. “I'll be starting to go into the minus at the Mess Hall.”
The unofficial, inviolable tally. You brought food, you brought something of use – you ate.
“I can't ask more of you after betraying you like this.” Nina awkwardly reached out through the space between them, shimmying to the edge of the bench. She studied the limestone under her feet. “But...would you ever consider talking to Gray again? Would you consider...talking to me?”
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on Oct 9, 2023 13:08:23 GMT -5
Swords were just swords to Theodosia, who knew precious little of the blade's significance or history. They had always been ugly things in her eyes, little more than slabs of metal useful for nothing more than mutilating and killing other people over petty arguments. Despite her dearth of knowledge on the blade itself, however, Nina's reverence towards it was as clear as day. The careful, tender way she handled it told Theodosia volumes about what the blade meant to her friend, reminding her almost of the gentle way that she herself handled her little doll. It was an apt comparison, really. Both the sword and the doll carried with them some part of Gray, one way or another.
As she listened to Nina's confession, her eyes grew wide with shock. She'd noticed that Nina had gotten hard to find as of late (which had led her to come all the way out to the glasshouse in the first place) but to learn that her friend had been actively avoiding her came as quite the surprise. More startling than that, though, was the revelation that Nina had tried to kill Gray. She could only imagine the toll that such a decision had taken on her friend, who suffered so much whenever she was forced to harm another being. She remembered how distraught Nina had been after the incident with the dolls and shivered, wishing that she could put the horrible painted face of her doll doppelganger out of her mind. To think that Nina had put herself through such an ordeal for her was almost overwhelming. To try and kill Gray of all people, just to protect her...it was unbelievable. Stepping forward, she threw her arms around Nina once more and squeezed her in a tight embrace, once again forgetting her friend's distaste for such close physical contact.
"Of course you brought Gray back," she said, her voice low as she held Nina against herself. "He's your mentor, the only person on the island from the same place as you. How could anyone blame you for that? I always thought you were going to try and wake him up. That's only the natural thing to do. To try and kill him, though...Oh, Nina. I'm so, so sorry that you thought you had to do something like that. I can't imagine what it must have taken, what you must have gone through."
As Nina spoke of prices and sacrifice, Theodosia looked down at the sword once more. What had the tower done to Gray? What had its gear teeth torn away and devoured from him? The realization struck her in an instant and she released her friend from the suffocating embrace.
"I think I understand," she said, fixing Nina with her gaze. "To keep afloat, the clocktower needed to be fed. The tower ate Gray the assassin and left nothing but Gray the man behind. I...I think I know what he must be going through right now, Nina. He's been a shadow in the darkness for so long that he's forgotten what little else remained. He became the assassin, just as I've become the fortune-teller. If you took away the fortune-teller right now, robbed me of my cards and bones and crystal ball...well, I don't know what would be left either. Gray's been emptied out and left hollow, and now he'll have to learn how to be just Gray once again. I can't imagine how difficult it will be."
When Nina produced the key, Theodosia carefully inspected the odd little bauble. To think that such a thing existed was bizarre enough, but the fact that it came from somewhere entirely different from the clocktower that she knew was impossible to wrap her head around. The mists did strange things though, and she'd come to realize that impossibility was in and of itself an impossible dream.
"You'll never be able to turn the clock back," she said. "But to make it tick to a different rhythm...that, I think, could be possible. But not if you run yourself ragged, Nina. You don't have to do everything on your own, you know. I'll help you however I can. I don't want to see the clock grind you down into nothing, Nina. Of course I'll talk to you, I'm on your side. I'm your friend, remember? As for Gray..."
She paused for a moment, then grinned. Her smile this time was genuine and radiant, not the mysterious half-smile of the fortune-teller. This was hers, and she wondered how many other people had actually ever seen it. Not enough, she knew.
"How could I not talk to him?" she asked, letting out a soft giggle. "Why, we've got a child together, Nina. In a way of speaking, I suppose. Rosen has just as much of Gray in him as he does of me. My goodness, but people will talk. Do you think he ought to get me a ring?"
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Nina
Dedicated
Roleplay posts: 289
Registered: Apr 4, 2021 10:46:08 GMT -5
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Post by Nina on Oct 13, 2023 13:56:11 GMT -5
In Theodosia's hug, Nina folded.
“I didn't know.” The girl said. “He was so calm, tinkering with the Clock.” She had been nagging him back then, too tired, too hungry to be angry. About being drugged? The days merged together in salt and darkness in her mind. One day, he just never woke up.
To kill was easy. Gray had taught her that, at least the theory. A needle. A knife. A rope. To kill while fully understanding what was lost...Nina was used to reacting out of fear. When she'd stepped into Gray's mind, she saw someone who understood. Who understood people. Who understood what he had done to her. Better she than herself did.
She hadn't wanted to lose that. Yet, inevitably, something would be gone. What would be left, when the dust settled? Gray's love for his plants? The man's understated sarcasm? The fine attention to detail that he would put into tiny papercrafts? Some of those qualities had also made him a good assassin, yet Nina did not think it was as simple distinction between man and monster as Theodosia made it to be. Still, her friend had a point, and so she nodded.
Her heart was so heavy after the discussion, that Theodosia's burst of mirth got her curling into a ball from the sudden laughter. Gray, getting tied down?
“I'm not sure it works like that.” The girl grinned. Then her tone softened. “He...seems used to keeping his distance from people he trusts. For their safety. For his. I doubt anyone would see Rosen with him.” She looked away. “To be honest I am not sure I should not be doing the same.” But...“I can't.” It wasn't in her nature. She did not have the ingrained awareness of the costs that Gray did. Was that any better, or worse? Nina stretched out her hand. “You've seen yourself how wondrous and terrifying magic can be. All it takes is one figure from the Clocktower's past stepping onto these shores...one conflict with someone like Grandma...” Nina murmured, “...and you'll be in danger, Theodosia. You and the little doll.” Nina frowned. “The long-feathered haven't bothered you, have they?”
Slowly, the girl stretched, allowing the day's exhaustion to leave her.
“Is there anything I can do for you? Anything Theodosia-the-fortuneteller cannot do, but Theodosia-my-friend would like to try?” Nina winked. It occurred to her that despite sharing some trust, what with being called for help in the middle of the night, she still knew very little about the fortune-teller. “I don't even know what colours you like, or what food you like...” Nina fidgeted. She kept talking. “I might not have much, but I have my talents. In my old world, at one point, I even delivered post!”
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Theodosia Planchette
Committed
Roleplay posts: 80
Appearance: Theodosia stands at a fairly average, unimpressive height. Her red hair and numerous golden piercings and ornaments are quite eye-catching, although her tendency to glare at people often dissuades a second glance. She wears a number of bright silks and elaborately patterned robes befitting a proper fortune-teller. The twisting, vine-like tattoos on her arms are actually just painted on, a fact that she tries to keep hidden from people.
Skills and Abilities: Theodosia is a trained fortune-teller, gifted with the ability to see through the mists of time and pluck upon the threads of fate...or so she claims. Whether she actually possesses any such skills can be questionable at times, but her knowledge of fortune-telling methods (from cards to ashes to chicken entrails) is unrivaled.
Registered: Mar 28, 2021 21:11:09 GMT -5
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Post by Theodosia Planchette on Feb 19, 2024 21:09:22 GMT -5
Theodosia mulled over her friend's words for a moment, wondering idly how her life could have possibly gotten so complicated. She was a just a fortune-teller, for goodness sake. Her craft was little more than a sideshow amusement, a game of smoke and mirrors and a painted smile. How was it that she'd managed to find herself embroiled in some sort of supernatural conspiracy where her skill at lying was more valuable than the truth? It wasn't what she'd imagined for herself, but she couldn't rightly say that it wasn't what she'd wanted. If she hadn't stumbled into this, what else would life had had in store for her? It didn't take an oracle to foresee what her future would have looked like - a dull career full of the same tired questions and answers, an ordinary husband who didn't ask too many questions, and the constant nagging fear that she'd be found out. Now, though, it seemed as though she'd managed to find a way to make herself mean something. Nina needed her. Gray needed her too, and Rosen as well. Danger or not, how could she turn away?
"Gray kept you close," she said, holding Nina out at arm's length and brushing a stray hair out of her friend's face. "And he trusts you, doesn't he? More than anyone else, I'd say. As for the danger, well...I don't really have much of a choice there, do I? The clock tower found me once already, and I'm sure it'll do so again. Danger shared is danger lessened, though. I'll be safer with you than alone. Besides, after the business with the clock tower, ordinary dangers hardly even seem troublesome anymore. I haven't had any problems with the angel cultists. They've mostly left me alone, I think. Even if they hadn't, though...how could they be any scarier than a gaggle of dolls building a copy of me out of cloth?"
She glanced out towards where Gray must have gone, her mind wandering towards her own little doll. She'd often wondered what the world must look like through his little button eyes. Did he see the same colors as everyone else? Could it be that he saw more? She'd spotted him staring off into space on more than a few occasions, seemingly amused by watching nothing at all. Perhaps he was keeping an eye on something visible only to himself...or maybe he was just listening to the ticking of a far-off clock.
"I wonder what those two are up to," she said, nodding vaguely towards Gray's hypothetical direction. "Neither of them seem much like talkers. What do men do in their spare time together? Fishing, perhaps?"
The mental image of the doll sitting atop Gray's head and holding a tiny fishing pole made her chuckle, but Nina's fidgeting and nervous chatter brought her back to the present. She mulled over the offer, wondering what it was that she could ask of her friend. She dared not ask too much for fear that Nina would exhaust herself trying to fulfill the wish, but to ask too little seemed insulting. Her friend's words reminded her that the lack of knowledge was, in fact, mutual. She knew more about even Gray's past than Nina's, a realization that was more than a little uncomfortable.
"Fortune-tellers wear red," she said, "but in truth, I prefer green. As for foods, I really do like tea. It's so hard to come by these days, though. I suppose that's not really a food, if you really get down to it...but cakes are nice too, I guess. I never knew you delivered post, Nina. There are so many things I don't know about you, and so many things I'd love to learn. You may not have known my favorite color, but even your last name is a mystery to me. So tell me, Nina. Tell me a story, something from your past that makes you smile. Stories are my business, you know. Who knows? It might help me with a client. Tales and recollections are funny that way, after all. Sometimes the most obscure thing can pop into your mind and come in handy right when you'd least expect it."
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