Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then publish the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
| Latest revision | Your text | ||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
{{Infobox character|name = Red|image = Image.jpg|caption = "A girl's gotta have some secrets, right?"|aliases = Laura|relatives = |languages = Common|affilliation = [[AFEW]]|marital = |species = [[Half-Elf]]|gender = Female}} | |||
== This is all that Red knew for sure == | == This is all that Red knew for sure == | ||
She was found within Xender City limits, a tiny half-elf child. At various times the story was that she’d been found abandoned in an alley – or offered for sale by a desperate woman with too many mouths to feed,or maybe a secret to hide – still other times exchanged for services rendered, or offered for sale as a servant, or left behind by a traveling circus. Tut rescued, bought, was paid to take her — he called the child ''Ruby'' and added her to his small family of thieves. Some chuckled and said she was probably just one of the mercenary’s get, and he spun the other stories because, well, Tut liked to spin stories. | She was found within Xender City limits, a tiny half-elf child. At various times the story was that she’d been found abandoned in an alley – or offered for sale by a desperate woman with too many mouths to feed,or maybe a secret to hide – still other times exchanged for services rendered, or offered for sale as a servant, or left behind by a traveling circus. Tut rescued, bought, was paid to take her — he called the child ''Ruby'' and added her to his small family of thieves. Some chuckled and said she was probably just one of the mercenary’s get, and he spun the other stories because, well, Tut liked to spin stories. | ||
The others did, too. ‘Mander said Red must be the secret heir of the | The others did, too. ‘Mander said Red must be the secret heir of the Drowned City of Ginstadt (whatever the hell that was); Clay loved to tell the story of how she was found in a garbage heap behind the Wobbly Wyvern, filthy and feral, clutching a week-old dead rat. Blue-eyed Buckle said she was a changeling, traded at birth by the fae and left in the night deposit with a copper coin and two sea-grey seashells. (This was Red’s favorite.) | ||
Existence was spare in the Roost but happy and satisfying. Tut told his tales and provided for his small gang, Red’s only family. Who cared who she had been, where she came from – she preferred to live in the now. | Existence was spare in the Roost but happy and satisfying. Tut told his tales and provided for his small gang, Red’s only family. Who cared who she had been, where she came from – she preferred to live in the now. | ||
| Line 20: | Line 20: | ||
Ruby, gardener’s assistant, and Sala, kitchen worker, were now blended into the background of the mansion’s everyday lives. They memorized every detail of their surroundings and passed the information to Buckle, who shared it with the others as the plan started to come together. Tut received the indistinguishable fake, and set the date for Clay and Buckle to make the exchange. Red and 'Mander would go about their work and some days after the deed was done, quietly resign. | Ruby, gardener’s assistant, and Sala, kitchen worker, were now blended into the background of the mansion’s everyday lives. They memorized every detail of their surroundings and passed the information to Buckle, who shared it with the others as the plan started to come together. Tut received the indistinguishable fake, and set the date for Clay and Buckle to make the exchange. Red and 'Mander would go about their work and some days after the deed was done, quietly resign. | ||
[[File:Moonflower.jpg|thumb|180x180px|A moonflower.]]One late night, a week before the switch was to be made, Red opened the gate to enter the gardens. The family’s prized | [[File:Moonflower.jpg|thumb|180x180px|A moonflower.]]One late night, a week before the switch was to be made, Red opened the gate to enter the gardens. The family’s prized moonflower bushes, which she had come to love, could only be pruned under the full moon. | ||
Her elven sight picked out familiar details of wet topiary and night-blossoms – and a man’s figure, outlined by moonlight. Buckle stood motionless in the gloom, an unreadable expression in his dark eyes, a plucked, glimmering blossom in his palm. | Her elven sight picked out familiar details of wet topiary and night-blossoms – and a man’s figure, outlined by moonlight. Buckle stood motionless in the gloom, an unreadable expression in his dark eyes, a plucked, glimmering blossom in his palm. | ||
''We’ve been betrayed. ''His voice came breathy and thick. ''They’re all dead. ''She saw the blood on his face, his clothes, as he thrust her backwards through the open gate and slammed it closed between them. The locking bars fell into place. She clutched at his fingers as he fell against the bars, and he pressed a cold, hard object into her hand — a | ''We’ve been betrayed. ''His voice came breathy and thick. ''They’re all dead. ''She saw the blood on his face, his clothes, as he thrust her backwards through the open gate and slammed it closed between them. The locking bars fell into place. She clutched at his fingers as he fell against the bars, and he pressed a cold, hard object into her hand — a moonflower made of white stone. Shouts from the conservatory behind him; dark figures emerging from the entrance; the silver gleam of drawn swords. He desperately urged her to run, go, now''.'' ''Please, Ruby. '' | ||
She ran. | She ran. | ||
