Character Castle 2.5
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“I said, what did he show you?”
Ah, he didn’t want to play. That was too bad.
“And I asked, where is Sherlock?”
Just for the sake of being stubborn.
“As for what he showed me, I want your side of the story first.”
The comfortable smirk once again formed on his face. “After all, you can’t expect me to explain my life if you won’t explain yours.”
You can only come to the morning through shadows: Tolkien
“And I asked, where is Sherlock?” Are you joking. Alessio glowered at him viciously.
“As for what he showed me, I want your side of the story first.” Arsene smirked “After all, you can’t expect me to explain my life if you won’t explain yours.”
Alessio clamped his jaw tightly, if looks could kill Arsene would’ve been incinerated. He couldn’t…whatever Nathair had told him would’ve been a lie, he wanted to know what he was up against before he even thought about explaining ‘his side of the story’.
Arsene wasn’t going to ‘concede defeat’.
Mm.
“Well then, explain your life and I’ll explain mine.” Alessio retorted.
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
“Well then, explain your life and I’ll explain mine.” Alessio retorted.
“That’s great,” Arsene went on, “You first, Stabby Pyromaniac.”
Just to have something to do, Arsene started to fiddle with his playing cards. He started scrambling the cards, continuously. Until he drew a card.
A Joker.
The only card that is thrown out of the deck. I, the Joker, am an outcast of society. But it’s us Jokers who have the last laugh.
You can only come to the morning through shadows: Tolkien
“That’s great,” Arsene said “You first, Stabby Pyromaniac.”
Alessio hadn’t expected Arsene to take him up on it. Devils. Arsene was fiddling with cards. Ok…that was the game they were playing…
“Why do you use cards everywhere?” Alessio asked, Arsene smirked up at him and he rolled his eyes. Information for information, he steeled himself to work through this. “He… told you already I’m not an actual prince, didn’t he? My mother hired him to make me inherit.”
Alessio tried to keep his voice level, indifferent so he talked slowly and didn’t look at anybody.
“And your story.” He demanded.
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
“Why do you use cards everywhere?”
Arsene smirked, as Alessio made a face. “They’re rather important to me. Both my parents had a bit of a liking towards them.”
“He… told you already I’m not an actual prince, didn’t he?” Alessio was clearly suppressing his feelings, avoiding eye contact, “My mother hired him to make me inherit.”
“That’s rather cryptic of you, Alessio,” Arsene commented, “But Nathair did explain he wanted you on the throne. At least, that’s what he said.”
Still fiddling with his cards, Arsene continued. “As for me, I grew up in a world called Aesgar, just outside a city called Mithril. My father was a woodland elf, while my mother was a dragon changeling. I never knew my other relatives much and we lived separate from Mithril.”
… “None of us were welcome there.” Arsene explained, now lacking his natural smile, “We were all social outcasts. Dragons were labeled as demons by most of the people there and my father had offended the royal family in his homeland.”
Arsene had many interesting memories of those days. He was rather clever for his age back then, but rather carefree. His brother, on the other hand, was very organized and spent most of his time reading books or worrying about what other people thought about him.
“And you,” Arsene changed the topic, “We haven’t told all of our stories yet.”
You can only come to the morning through shadows: Tolkien
*Leana starting to make bread/instructing a few kitchen staff what to do*
“The tablecloth’s a bit unwieldy.” Though it might be good for bandages. “Do you have smaller bags? Five of them, about the size of summer skirts?” *some ladies scurry to get pillowcases, thinking they’ll be fine…*
Leana looks around the room, while kneading dough. It’s been too long since she had the sticky stuff in her hands. Since she had all the ingredients necessary, though she didn’t put any leavening in. “Ooh.” Her eyes widen, and she points a floury finger at the counter. “Could I have some of those kitchen knives? Do you have some sort of case for them? Thanks…”
*onward and yonward* *wonders where Saeb Lyn is…* And Alessio. And Arsene, for that matter.
“Ooh! Do you have thread too? And needles? A bunch of thread and needles would be good.” The fancy-dressed-servant-fellow rolled his eyes, and ordered someone else to do it.
She grinned, and put the dough in a flat pan, glancing around. “Where’s your fireplace?” The pan’s a bit thin… I hope it doesn’t melt on the coals…
The fancy-dressed-servant-fellow gaped at her.
Jominkreesa
'Forth now! And fear no darkness!'
“That’s rather cryptic of you, Alessio,” Arsene said “But Nathair did explain he wanted you on the throne. At least, that’s what he said.”
That was part of the plan, he hadn’t been lying there…
Alessio relaxed slightly when Arsene opened up.
“As for me, I grew up in a world called Aesgar, just outside a city called Mithril. My father was a woodland elf, while my mother was a dragon changeling. I never knew my other relatives much and we lived separate from Mithril.”
Arsene fiddled with the cards still but his usual cheery look had faded.
“None of us were welcome there. We were all social outcasts. Dragons were labeled as demons by most of the people there and my father had offended the royal family in his homeland.”
People always needed an excuse to hate, didn’t they?
“And you,” Arsene said, abruptly changing the topic again. “We haven’t told all of our stories yet.”
He’d been pushing for information but…prying like this wasn’t really right.
“No,” Alessio said, and released him, “we haven’t.”
Arsene wasn’t going to betray him, or play into Nathair’s hands because of whatever he’d told him. That was the only thing that was important to Alessio at the moment, that he could still trust Arsene. After all, Nathair was so much better at getting people to believe him…
…
“Well,” Alessio mumbled “is he doing any better now?”
Despite everything, despite all their differences, he almost wished Nathair luck. Isn’t that crazy.
They better get back to Sir Scary and Leana…and where the devil was Sherlock? If he decided to take this opportunity to provoke Leana Alessio was going to murder him.
He was still stifling the memories.
“We should find the others,” Alessio said, drifting off already. Now was not the time to have a breakdown, right before an upcoming ‘Trial’. The only person in the dining room was…Softie? And a few ambling people…
Alessio glanced at Arsene blankly. Well…
There was a clattering in the other room so that was promising…It’s not that Alessio freaks out if someone goes missing! He shouldn’t have left that long, anything can happen in five whole minutes.
No she was just in the kitchen, he could see her when a servant flapped open the door to bring…needles and thread?? Why would you need that in a kitchen unless you were stitching a stab wound…?
Well, that ended Alessio and Arsene’s conversation fairly well. Though…what Arsene had said about being a social outcast.
“My father…stepfather would’ve killed me if he’d known I had powers.” Alessio remarked tentatively kind’ve trying to sound casual. He just hoped Arsene hadn’t gone through anything near what he had…but he really doubted it.
He slipped into the kitchen before Arsene could answer. The smell of flour poofed through, not near as much as when the royal cook was bustling about. It was dangerous to enter the kitchen when she was cooking. Alessio had loved hovering around in the kitchen it was one of the safest places in the castle (and usually they let him steal cookies)
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
“We should find the others,” Alessio said, trying to change topics.
Arsene was about to object, when he heard loud clattering in the kitchen. Just… a tiny bit curious… and concerned, Arsene peeked through the kitchen door. And there was Leana, standing in the center of the chaos, ordering…needles? Thread? Where they trying to stitch a turkey back together or something?
Or was someone actually hurt?
“My father…stepfather would’ve killed me if he’d known I had powers.” Alessio added tentatively kind’ve trying to sound casual.
Well, one person was clearly hurt. If this stepfather was anything like Crorie’s guardian, then Arsene would hate him.
“So, are we going to go and see if we can help blow something up in the kitchen again?”
Alessio already entered, so the answer was yes. Ah, perfect. Lady Crorie was there.
“Hello, Lady Crorie. I know this might be a little much to ask, but if you see a fire in the kitchen, can you extinguish it?”
Crorie raised an eyebrow, sending him a puzzled look. Her expression didn’t often change like that.
“Good,” Arsene stated, “Thanks.”
Now to find Alessio.
“Hello, Lady Crorie,” Arsene? What was it now?, “I know this might be a little much to ask, but if you see a fire in the kitchen, can you extinguish it?”
Controlling or eradicating fire wouldn’t take too long with magic. But…this was Arsene. Crorie couldn’t help but make a bewildered look at this.
“Good. Thanks.”
Speaking of which…
Before Arsene could walk away, Crorie grabbed him by his sleeve. “Have you seen Sherlock?”
Arsene paused, putting a hand to his chin. “No, I haven’t seen him around here ever since we got the explanation.”
With that characteristic smile on his face, Arsene looked back at Crorie. “But that means he’s not going to be around to complain, so let’s see who’s killing who in the kitchen.”
Of course he would want to do that.
“Oh, we should also go shopping at some point. I saw a store across the street.” Arsene stated without a care in the world.
“Do you have money?”
She already knew the answer.
“I have a large, unpaid loan from the bank.”
He then went into the kitchen. Having nothing else to do, Crorie followed.
You can only come to the morning through shadows: Tolkien
Leana looked up at the kitchen door, when Alessio, Crorie, and Arsene entered, and smiled the smallest bit.
The pile of supplies was all accumulating inside a single pillowcase, in a corner of the room. A few women worked on making bread around Leana. The well-dressed-servant-fellow looks a bit disgruntled, but aside from that, everything’s fine. She’d passed the pan with the dough off, when no fire could be found, and they said there was a better way. *suspicious, but she’d set to working on a new batch* “Crorie? Come help with this?” *smiling sweetly at her* *looks at Alessio/Arsene* “Where’s Saeb Lyn?”
*ready to give Crorie ingredients and a bowl, when she comes over*
—–
@this-is-not-an-alien @ragnarokJominkreesa
'Forth now! And fear no darkness!'
“Crorie? Come help with this?”
Oh dear, Arsene could NOT let that happen. He had to do something. Um….Umm….help? Someone? Ugh, Sherlock was better at cooking than him.
Not giving any hint to the crisis, Arsene interrupted with nice smile to start this anarchy. “Actually, I think it would be better if I cooked.”
Leana sent him a suspicious look, but then shrugged. “Where’s Saeb Lyn?”
“Saeb Lyn?” Arsene asked with a little confusion.
“She means Big Softie. He’s out there.”
Great. This was going to end horribly, and this was one of the times Arsene didn’t want the front row seat to the chaos.
“Crorie? Come help with this?”
Crorie didn’t know how to cook. At least, not much. None of her family members taught her and Saga’s Mother never really got the chance to show her either.
“Actually, I think it would be better if I cooked.” Arsene said, catching on to her dilemma.
She was safe for now, but patience would run thin eventually.
“Where’s Saeb Lyn?”
Who now?
“Saeb Lyn?” Arsene took the words out of her mouth.
“She means Big Softie. He’s out there.”
Just stay here unless told otherwise.
You can only come to the morning through shadows: Tolkien
Alessio glanced around the kitchen, low key looking for blood or something that required stitches but…everything seemed to be working great, Leana looked like she enjoyed cooking. So probably the needles were just for supplies, right…like cooking and everything. He’d left her in charge of supplies and she seemed to be thriving. Alessio could help sew if it ever came to that – after all once you can stitch yourself up how hard could it be to make clothes and stuff, and he could patch up his own clothes reasonably.
“Hello, Lady Crorie,” Oh that’s her name! “I know this might be a little much to ask, but if you see a fire in the kitchen, can you extinguish it?”
Alessio shot Arsene a very offended look when he entered the kitchen after chatting with his girlfriend. Leana tossed aside a pan of dough and Alessio swiped it inquisitively. It looked all but done it just needed to be cooked. The cook always stuffed bread in a round furnace, but she made all the bread all at once and that took all day. Why’d Leana abandoned this dough, and could he cook it, he might be able to?
“Crorie? Come help with this?” Leana was saying,
“Actually, I think it would be better if I cooked.” Arsene interjected anxiously, and Alessio was getting nervous. He couldn’t possibly know how to cook without blowing something up??
“I can help.” Alessio volunteered quickly. He actually liked cooking *Alessio cannot cook* At least, the kitchen staff taught him how make cookies when he was twelve, he was so proud of himself *they replaced the cookies when he wasn’t looking to make him feel better*
*To be fair he is better at it now, but between him and the main cook, it’s a wonder anyone at the palace ever ate*
“Where’s Saeb Lyn?”
Alessio blinked and glanced up from the pan like he’d been caught in the middle of stealing sweets again.
“Saeb Lyn?” Arsene asked bewilderedly.
“She means Big Softie.” Alessio smirked, then caught himself and darted an apologetic look at Leana. “He’s out there…um, what supplies have you gathered so far?”
Leana was handling a leadership role very aptly, so he kind’ve waited for her tell him what to do. After all, he definitely didn’t know what he was doing at any point in his life…
*If given nothing better to do Alessio will try to cook the abandoned dough*
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
Leana looked from Alessio to Arsene, brows lifted. You can cook? *definitely suspicious* “Alright… Rinse off your hands. I’ll tell you what to do.” *looks at Crorie/smiles* “You, too. The more who help, the faster it’ll go.”
The cook swished up to Alessio, before he could. Her cheeks were flushed, not used to being bossed around in her own kitchen. “I’ll take that.” She jerked the pan away from Alessio, eyes fiery as a furnace, and pivoted toward the counter. She opened a strange cupboard, with knobs above it, and slid the pan in, and banged it shut. The cook swung back toward him, round hands on her hips. “Are you with her?” The woman jerked her chin toward Leana.
Leana sighed through her nose, and straightened her back. “He is. Alessio. You asked about supplies.” *smiles hesitantly* “I’m going to check through it, to make sure it’s all there, but I’ve asked for needles and thread. There should be plenty of bread, when we’re through. There are several bags, so each of us can carry our own allotment. And, just in case something happens to one bag, we won’t lose all the food. There will be,” *sends the fancy-dressed-servant a look* “Several water skins; one for each of us, and one extra.”
The servant drew himself up. “They will be metal, madame. Not… Not skins.”
Leana’s brows furrowed. “How-? Nevermind.” She looked back at Alessio. “I also threw in the box of kitchen knives. The tablecloth can be cut into strips, for bandages, if the need arises. I also asked for some Aloe, in a container. And a vile of vinegar, as well. Is… Is there anything else you think should be added?” Leana straightened, eyes truly wanting to please/get it right.
The cook huffed, threw her hands in the air, and left the room.
`
@this-is-not-an-alien @ragnarokJominkreesa
'Forth now! And fear no darkness!'
He called him ‘Angry-Punk’. The blind guy obviously remembered him. Best to establish a better reputation.
“Mere passing acquaintanceship,” Nathair assured, probing “He seemed to know an old friend of him, Alessio.”
Give a few minor hints, get Nathair to leak out some info. “I’ve seen a person named Alessio with the one who calls himself Arsene Lupin. To tell the truth, he was a little odd.”
Perhaps he’d see how much Nathair knew about Arsene. Maybe they were partners, maybe they only bumped into each other. Either way, it would grant insight on this situation.
I’ve noticed that there is little activity from other members in the castle. Part of which is my fault, due to not coordinating with other members. To the point, what do you people think should happen in this trial?
The trial is centered around Betrayal, whether it is someone a character betrayed or when they were betrayed.
You can only come to the morning through shadows: Tolkien
Leana stared at them both, skeptically.
“Alright…Rinse off your hands. I’ll tell you what to do.” The palace cook never bothered with that – actually he never bothered with that either. Mostly for lack of water but…Where was water now, everything in the kitchen looked foreign. “You, too. The more who help, the faster it’ll go.”
Right. Alessio was still looking for the water when a flushed mountain of a cook stalked toward him. I…didn’t do anything?
“I’ll take that.” She bellowed, snatching away his pan. She slapped it into a strange box with knobs all over it and closed the door with an ominous bang! This was very much like the palace cook, so much so Alessio stifled the urge to flash his sweetest most angelic(sheepish) smile of total confidence because she was a softie…like the way Sir Scary was.
Instead he forcefully maintained a completely blank expression as she reared back to him, leering furiously. (Actually he really wanted to know what that strange box was she put it in, she wasn’t trying to throw the dough away was she?)
“Are you with her?” She demanded, and Alessio maintained a completely blank expression with every fiber of strength in his being, it was beginning to look very pathetic and puppy-eyed. Also the corners of his lips were twitching.
Leana came to his rescue.
“He is.” She said “Alessio. You asked about supplies.”
What? Oh he did. Alessio used this as an opportunity to duck out of the way of the cook and dart a grateful look at Leana. Who, was smiling at him hesitantly…Alessio flushed.
“I’m going to check through it, to make sure it’s all there, but I’ve asked for needles and thread. There should be plenty of bread, when we’re through. There are several bags, so each of us can carry out own allotment. And, just in case something happens to one bag, we won’t lose all the food.” That was better than he’d expected, she had really thought through this – both the planning and executing.
“There will be,” Leana continued pointedly at a servant “Several water skins; one for each of us, and one extra.” For Nithel.
“They will be metal, madame. Not…not skins.” Sir Proper said as if horrified by the very idea. Was that some new invention? Metal skins?
In the corner of his eye, Alessio caught Arsene turning a knob and water pouring out of a…steel tube. Water, he’d just have to mimic Arsene to rinse his hands.
“How-? Nevermind.” Leana looked back at Alessio, who bit the urge jump to attention. “I also threw in the box of kitchen knives. The tablecloth can be cut into strips, for bandages, if the need arises. I also asked for some Aloe, in a container. And a vile of vinegar, as well.” Soothing balm and disinfectant, good. “Is…Is there anything else you think should be added?”
Alessio was trying not to feel completely inadequate compared to her effortless efficiency. What was the proper way to express admiration or approval or…whatever? He wasn’t used to receiving compliments and so he didn’t really know how you were supposed to give them and that made him feel even more awkward and insufficient.
She was looking at him expectantly, almost hesitantly like she was so eager to do things right.
“That’s excellent,” He stammered, with an attempt at a smile. He was trying so hard to sound sincere – and he was – but it felt so weird like no one actually said these things in real life, those weren’t words he actually heard and it’d probably get the same weird looks he’d get from falling back on the expansive vocabulary whenever he was nervous.
Alessio fumbled to tug his hood farther over his head only to remember he wasn’t wearing a hood now. He stifled the urge to bite his knuckles. Automatically his brain sifted through the list several times over for anything that could’ve been left out.
With a loud huff, the cook threw her hands in the air and stomped out of the kitchen.
“We could still use some dried fruits and meats,” He said, giving himself something to do and imitating how Arsene washed his hands. “but since we’ll need to travel as light as possible I believe that should be all.”
He squinted at the odd metal water-sprayer as if he wanted to take it apart to see how it worked. He almost opened the strange box the cook slammed the dough in. But that was…something he’d rather try when no one was looking because whatever it was might jump up and kill him. (It’s possible!) That, and the cook was already angry at him apparently.
Nithel told him to make friends.
“Parchment?” Alessio suggested softly, staring at the floor. “To take notes and learn about the Star Breather. If…if you’d be willing to teach me?”
He cast a tentative glance at Leana, not sure if he’d overstepped a boundary. Asking for anything didn’t exactly come naturally to him and…nevermind, it’d just…might make Nithel happy…and he wanted to know more…
To be a light to the world you must shine in the darkness.
Hades had been wondering what was going on. Just to check on the others, he wandered into the kitchen, where everyone else had gathered. Much to his uneasiness, Sherlock was missing. Where did he run off to?
It was only now that he had gained a better view of Arsene’s features. He had some white streaks around the edges of his black hair. He no longer had the fox mask covering the top half of his face, which showed Hades that his eyes had heterochromia. He hadn’t noticed as much before, but he and Sherlock looked extremely similar. Almost identical.
Arsene had now hung his long tailcoat outside and had rolled up his sleeves. His gloves, far beyond repair, had been removed, before he washed his hands at the sink.
“Alright,” Arsene sighs, almost filling the entire room with enthusiasm, “What needs to be done?”
… While Hades knew a little about cooking basic meals and brewing tea, he strongly doubted Arsene could cook efficiently. Without making a huge mess. Something was going to go wrong. Hades could feel it.
“Is there anything that is needed?” Hades asked.
Arsene looked at him with a smile. Only realizing it just now, Hades noticed that Arsene always appeared to be smiling.
“Yes, Mr. Gray Softie,” Gray? Was it because of the gray coat, “I’m sure there’s something to do around here. Just ask Mrs. Leana. She seems to have taken over the kitchen now.”
Sigh, might as well. “What is required here?”
You can only come to the morning through shadows: Tolkien
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