Masquerade - These Masks We Wear

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

16 minutes ago, The Ward's Guard said:

"Until then, witch!" He slammed the door, then found his way over to the couch and collapsed on it., placing his head into his hands.

The moment he was gone, Riva grimaced, cursing that monster of a man. It was good he was frightened of her, at least, but apparently he tended to attack when frightened. That wasn't good... it wasn't good at all... But, knowing she'd find a way to deal with that later, she put it aside in her mind; she had to heal this hip. Bone had definitely cracked. That was of little matter, however. She could hardly be the Raveness without having survived a good handful of partially-successful assassination attempts and as such, she had plenty of healing concoctions down in her room. Now the trouble would be getting there... She hobbled to her feet, dreading the coming journey.

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Y'all can feel free to have some servants kinda gape at her limping down the hallway all covered in blood. 

13 minutes ago, Condensation said:

"Well, I was the one who assumed."

Nico sighed, rubbing his face with his long fingers. "What can I say? I does what I'm told," he said bitterly. Can't say no for the life o' me... Despite himself, the thought made tears rise up. They were quickly pushed down.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Shard of Thought

[Condensation she/her]

"And I shouldn't have told you. So I'm sorry."

[Channelknight Fadran]

One of the waitresses--Deb--ran into the lunchroom. "Whatever you do, do not go out into the side hallways right now."

The other waitresses stared, confused. One of them asked, "uhh... why?"

"The Raveness is there and she does not look happy."

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Nico sighed. "You apologize too much, miss... There... anythin' else you want from me? King Ivian gave me the day off."

[Frustration]

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I'm thinking about joining, I need something to do here on occasion, so unfortunetly, I must... be social.

I'm not planning to have a major role but something I can do every now and again.

 

[Condensation she/her]

2 hours ago, Shard of Thought said:

Nico sighed. "You apologize too much, miss... There... anythin' else you want from me? King Ivian gave me the day off."

"I was simply wondering about dates and things. For example, when is the wedding? And is there anything I'm expected to attend?"

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

13 minutes ago, Frustration said:

I'm not planning to have a major role but something I can do every now and again.

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Aww, well, we'd love to have you! You can PM me with any character ideas.  

1 minute ago, Condensation said:

"I was simply wondering about dates and things. For example, when is the wedding? And is there anything I'm expected to attend?"

"Ah... I dunno off the top of me head, miss, but I can find out for ya."

[Channelknight Fadran]

14 minutes ago, Frustration said:

 

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Hello Frustry!

 

[Condensation she/her]

1 minute ago, Shard of Thought said:

"Ah... I dunno off the top of me head, miss, but I can find out for ya."

"I would appreciate that, thank you. And if there's nothing I have to do... is there a specific place?"

Edited May 17, 2021 by Condensation

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Nicolae shrugged. "I'd take the opportunity to explore yer new home, if I was you. That's my advice." 

[Condensation she/her]

"Yes, that's smart. Thank you."

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Nico tipped his hat. "O' course, miss."

----------

Riva barely made it into her storage room before falling to her knees on the hard floor. She panted, her forehead coated in the sweat of pain. (In addition to the damage to her hip, she’d broken her toe upon kicking the cell of a man who was glaring at her; admittedly a stupid move.) Her first order of business was to rip off the better part of her clothing, revealing the full extent of her wound. Minor discoloration had already set in - certainly worsened by the walk she’d forced herself through - and some gentle prodding revealed that the hip was indeed fractured as she had predicted.
    For a normal person, the fall she’d taken would not have caused nearly as much damage. Riva, however, was rather special in this regard; her bones were fragile, her muscles weak. Certainly her age played a great factor, but even as a small girl, she’d been this way. It was not a particularly desirable trait to possess, particularly for someone at whom so much vengeance-bent anger was directed, but her potions had always made up the difference.
    After crawling to a locked cabinet and fishing out her keys to open it, Riva selected two vials. The contents of the first was rubbed on her injury and the second she chugged, suffering its foul taste. The second potion was rather hard to keep down, but she’d taken it enough times to learn to. Its effects were well worth its sickening flavor anyway.
    “DAKU!” she yelled. After a few seconds, she called for him again.
    The aging janitor entered momentarily, unfazed by her lack of covering. “What is it, Lady Raven?”
    “Tell the king I will be out of work for the next little while.”
    “Oh? Going on strike again, miss?”
    Riva chuckled. “Not exactly, but yes, call it that. The king will eat that up.” She had to shake herself to keep conscious; these healing potions worked quickly. “Make sure Darrin is starved; his muscular form will make it harder than it needs to be to torture him. Clean up the vials on the floor, ask for some guards around my room while I’m out. And make sure I’m up... before the wedding…”
    “The wedding miss? You mean for the king?”
    “Oh, no. I mean my own, in two day’s time.” The last thing Riva saw was Daku’s face staring down at her in confusion. “Oh, yes… and… carry me… to bed. If you will……” With that, the Raveness fell unconscious, her body working overtime to heal.

---------

Daku had been terrified when he'd taken the job of cleaning the dungeons for the Raveness decades ago, but now she hardly fazed him. She was a powerful creature, certainly, but a beautiful one too; her deep mystery seemed to be chipped away bit by bit every day and he'd found that as she unfolded, he fell more and more in love with what she'd made for herself. Even if she was a little too disturbingly masterful at her occupation... He'd seen firsthand what she could do. 

Eventually, he found his way to the king and bowed. "A message from the Lady Raven, Your Majesty."

@Channelknight Fadran

[Channelknight Fadran]

"Yes, sir?"

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

"She is, as she put it 'Out of work,' at the moment. In other words, Your Majesty, she is going on strike."

[Channelknight Fadran]

"Ah. I see." Well. Works for me. "Alright. Thank you. You are dismissed."

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Daku bowed, retreating back to the shadows of the dungeon. 

[The Ward's Guard he/him]

When Caden lifted his head from his hands, he blinked as he saw them trembling before his eyes. He grit his teeth as he felt the sting of betrayal by his own body's actions. However, just as the betrayal made its way into his heart, he felt the anger that had been so quick to over take him quickly seep away as he came to the realization of what he had done. He looked to his arms, not moving to wipe them clean as the blood from where the Raveness's sharpen nails had dug into his flesh. Drop by drop it fell onto his trousers, the floor, and even the couch as all he could do was simply sit and watch as the scene replayed in his head. He could feel his hands clenching into fists, but there was no point to it. What was done, was done, and he had just challenged the most dangerous woman in the kingdom, and one who the king had time and time again expressed his protection over. His fists began to tremble from exertion as he moved his gaze from his bleeding arms to the door to his chamber, waiting for it to be thrown open by the pathetic castle guard to drag him down to the depths of the king's personal dungeon to become just another victim for the Raveness. 

Caden didn't know how long he had sat there, waiting. All he knew was that his guards had been changed out, and the blood that coated his forearms had dried to a hardened and flaking coating. He breathed deeply, feeling his anxiety rising with every second, but there was no release. Eventually, he decided to rise up from the couch, feeling sores and pains that wouldn't have come to him if he had been just a little younger. He didn't stretch, instead focusing solely on changing into a fresh uniform that had his typical sleeveless approach to fashion. He started to fasten on pieces of his armor, still refusing to take his eyes off of the door. When he was fully changed, he took his cloak and swept it around him so that he could clasp it around his neck, allowing it to flow behind him. As he approached the door to meet his daily duties, he felt the stress that had been building for hours coming to a head. He nodded to his two guards that flanked the door, which signaled for them to take their positions behind him as he tentatively reached for the door. He hesitated as his hand dripped the handle, which only caused him to ground his teeth and take in a deep breath as he swung it open, only to reveal the empty corridor. As he glanced around, his confidence rose, but the stress and fear was still present. He decided to disregard those feelings as best he could, marching off to deal with his duties around the palace, completely ignoring about the scabs that had formed on his arms, as well as the memory of how they got there.

[Zephrun’s Imperium they/he]

Maverick had not moved in hours. Forge, of course, was more than happy with the arrangement. The old, fluffy cat had curled up on his master’s lap and was purring pleasantly while he got his head scratched. Mav, meanwhile, tried hard not to think.

Darrin...

Mav’s relationship with his little brother was not quite as complicated as he often made it out to be. They’d been happy, rich, an influential family in court. And then one day, out of nowhere, the fire. Their parents had died and Mav and Darrin had each taken it very differently; Darrin had darkened, gone down a path that his brother couldn’t follow him down while Mav, on the other hand, had worked hard to get back to the life his parents had wanted for him. He sighed. He wanted that life for Darrin, too. He intended to ask the king if poor Darrin could be pardoned. Live the rest of his life here... That would probably be best.

Maverick suspected that Darrin’s drug-use had been what prompted the reckless assassination. He’d always been a thrill seeker, but this.... Well. Maverick had meant what he’d said; torture world knock some sense into that foolish boy. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Shard of Thought

[Vapor she/her]

On 5/16/2021 at 9:06 AM, Shard of Thought said:

"Oh, I'm-I'm fine." He got up and dusted himself off, then turned back to the kids. "Ah, Katie, Ara, I'm gonna... go for a second..." Nico looked knowingly at Eleanor and gestured with his head to the side, walking over and expecting her to follow. When they were out of earshot, he sighed. "Now why's you apologizin'?" 

Ara waved enthusiastically.

On 5/16/2021 at 10:53 AM, Channelknight Fadran said:

"Yep!" Katie smiled. "Sorry for being so weird this morning."

Katie grinned to herself and leaned in to whisper to Arabella. "It looks like somebody's got himself a girlfriend!" She giggled.

"It's okay."

Ara giggled back.

[Channelknight Fadran]

"D'you wanna meet my friends?" Katie asked.

[Vapor she/her]

2 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

"D'you wanna meet my friends?" Katie asked.

"Sure!"

[Channelknight Fadran]

Katie grabbed Arabella's hand and led her to the waitresses' lunchroom.

[Vapor she/her]

Just now, Channelknight Fadran said:

Katie grabbed Arabella's hand and led her to the waitresses' lunchroom.

Arabella grinned as she followed Katie.

[Channelknight Fadran]

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So... I guess just timeskip there? Also expect to get completely smushed by Wendy when they get there.

 

[Vapor she/her]

Just now, Channelknight Fadran said:

So... I guess just timeskip there? Also expect to get completely smushed by Wendy when they get there.

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mmkay

great