week 2

[arsholes]

[One week down and (if the Alchemist's promise is to be believed) just three more to go. In the past week royalty has been bullied, explicitly non-Satanic chairs were ordered and you began the pact-bonding process with your new proprietor of mercantile wares, ✨Garfield the Deals Warlock✨.

All in all, a surprisingly good week despite the kidnapping and looming threat of death. We'll see how long that lasts.


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

✨WEEKLY DEALS✨
1. The Cloak of Duplication - An ancient vampiric artifact, when worn it changes your appearance and voice to perfectly mimic another individual of your choosing. (You still have to sell the act, though.) [5 coins] SOLD
2. The Battle Axe of Hatred - A sick as hell electric guitar with an energy that feels like it is powered by the screaming of an ancient and evil lord- or at least once was. It has a signature on the body that simply says "Ron" and looks like it might have been written in blood. [5 coins]
3. The Jable - Put down your keys and stay a while. [2 coins]


✨LEFTOVER STOCK AT 50% MARK-UP✨
1. The Tingler - The whole hand tingles from wearing this ring, as if more blood rushes through the area. [2 coins]
2. Christine Jr. - A tiny red convertible. It's powered by pedals like a bicycle, with a steering wheel. For some reason it makes you think of old men in silly hats. [6 coins]



(( OOC: Don't forget to submit your orders for any threads that aren't with the Alchemist or Garfield! The Alchemist and Garfield both have "office hours" now so feel free to reach out to them. The compact functions have also been updated and don't forget activity check!

This week is where the real game begins, so get in your regains and CR while you can. >:3 ))

Comments

[draconite]

[ Her eyebrows lift in surprise and she gives him a look that's suspicious and curious in equal measure. ]

You'd simply... tell me? Truly? If all of us are being targeted then surely what's in that envelope of yours must be something quite awful.

[twibeast]

It is.

[ he doesn't even hesitate when confirming that. But his face is straight. ]

I would rather not let the others know but if that's what it would take to earn your trust and help you then it's a small price to pay.

[draconite]

[ For a long moment, Bryn just stares him down like she's trying to work out whether this is some sort of trick or a trap. His concern is all sorts of cloying and syrupy, and she doesn't know if she can take it at face value.

Whether or not she can doesn't really matter right now. What's important is making sure the others don't think they have reason to keep her stuck here. So finally, she huffs and dips her head in a nod. ]

Fine. A secret for a secret. That seems like a fair trade.

1/2

[twibeast]

All right.

[ He closes his eyes for a moment, steeling himself for what he’s about to say. It’s difficult for him but… ]

CW: abuse of all kinds for the rest of this thread probably

[twibeast]

[ He reopens them. ]

Mine was my sister Chimera, who confined and abused me for 1000 years.

[draconite]

[ Bryn sits up. For an uncomfortably long moment, she doesn't say anything at all.

Her first instinct is suspicion. He has no reason to trust her and every reason to avoid telling her the truth – but by that same token, what reason would he have to make such an audacious claim if there weren't some truth to it? It's not as though Bryn would know either way. So, clearly, he must be telling the truth.

Of course, if that's the case... ]

... why... would you tell me that?

[ She sounds... genuinely baffled. As if the idea that she could be trusted with something of that magnitude just doesn't compute. ]

[twibeast]

[ He leans backwards, putting his hands on the floor he looks up at the ceiling. ]

Why indeed…

The truth is even just seeing a glimpse of that photo felt like I’d been struck. Like all the air was taken out of me. [ He doesn’t actually need to breathe but whatever it’s an expression. ] It’s the first time I’ve had to think about her outside of my nightmares since I escaped our old life. In that instant I felt like a scared child again and my desire to get out, to not be confined again heightened.

She can’t find me ever again. Yet the idea of erasing all that… to make it like all of that pain had never happened… it’s tempting, isn’t it? Presuming it also erases my memories of the experience, that is. I won’t do it because that would probably mean I would never have been pushed to leave that place, and then I’d never have met my first love or the rest of my family in Aeaea or my best friend - things that mean more to me than anything in the world. But still I think about that scared little boy and the childhood he could have had and I can’t fully push it out.

[ He sighs and tips his head back down to look at her. ]

I’ve been through a lot of trauma and heartache in my life. You don’t get to be this old without experiencing enough of it that would make a normal mortal man lose his mind. And in equal measure I have seen others suffer as well. I know pain when I see it.

I do not want to make presumptions. But you’re young enough that I don’t believe your intent was purely malicious or that you were some secret heartless murderer who lost her mind all along. I don’t see you as just a feral beast who needs to be put down for the good of others.

Whatever it was you saw… I will not presume they’re as bad as my sister - few people are. But would I be right in assuming they hurt you in some way? Or did something awful that ruined your life?

[draconite]

[ As he talks, Bryn gradually pulls her legs up towards herself, tucking herself in and making herself small. It's easy to forget how petite she really is in comparison to how brashly she acts and speaks but scrunched up like this, as if she's trying to hide from something, the contrast comes into ever sharpening relief.

Hearing all this makes her feel greasy inside and a little unclean. Not that it's a shameful thing to admit to – but it makes Bryn feel shameful that he'd been more or less forced to, by her own stubbornness. But maybe she's projecting. Maybe it lifts some of the weight to talk about it, to speak out loud the wrongs done to you and make them real.

She wouldn't know.

It takes a long while before she responds. Long enough that it almost seems like she might not answer him at all. But finally she speaks up in a voice so soft and quiet that it hardly sounds like her at all. ]

... It was my brother. He... killed the one who raised me. And he left me behind.

[twibeast]

[ Orthrus is quiet for a moment. He can't say he's really surprised when she says that, more so his suspicions are proven correct. But it's still a heavy reveal. ]

...I see. And killing him and undoing what he did would of course bring your guardian back. No wonder you reacted the way you did. And what a bastard that Alchemist is for preying on such a thing.

I am... truly sorry for your loss, Lady Bryn.

[ After all he knows better than anyone the trauma of losing your guardian. ]

[draconite]

[ She makes a thin noise. Maybe it's a bitter laugh, or a dismissive scoff. It's hard to tell. ]

An apology won't bring him back. From you, or him.

[ She shifts a little, scrunching herself up even smaller, making her voice come out muffled as she tucks into herself. ]

Even if killing him wouldn't change anything, I'd still do it. I have to. I promised.

[twibeast]

Of course it won't. I know.

[ Nothing brought Cerberus back after all.

He considers things for a moment and then decides to drop the barrier. He reaches out a hand and carefully places it on the nearest one of hers. ]

I won't act as if I don't understand the longing for revenge. Or as if I understand the full situation even. What I do understand though is that the cycle of violence isn't a very pretty one.

Let's say you had succeeded in killing Sir Bruno just now and ignore the fact doing so like that wouldn't have achieved what the Alchemist promised. What if he had someone like you back home? A child, or another family member your age or younger. Now you're in the same position as your brother, someone who took something precious and irreplaceable. Now you've inflicted your same pain on someone entirely unrelated, and left them behind.

The more you kill, the more pain you inflict on the living and the more targets you place on your own back. Targets you have to live with until the day you die.

[draconite]

[ She'd been leaning on the barrier so when it vanishes, she slumps a little – only to straighten up again, stiff as a startled cat when Orthrus sets his hand on hers. She's tense enough, stiff enough under his touch that even without the way her lip twists into a little scowl it's clear she's considering slapping his hand away.

Temper, temper. a little voice in her head tells her, sounding like and entirely unlike her own.

She can't really afford to alienate someone on her side – the one person, for all she knows, who is. So she lets her frustration bubble up in her head but then it simmers back down and with a sharp noise of irritation, she looks away. ]

You make it sound so easy and pretty. Giving up on what I'm supposed to do, and letting that... man get away with cold blooded murder.