Paradise Lost - A Semi-Advanced Roleplay discussion

-

August sat on the edge of the well and popped the last piece of bread into his mouth, smiling as a group of children ran past him, giggling away as they chased a rolling hoop. He reached into his pocket and drew out a small, wooden flute and began to play it idly. a gust of wind blew the dark hair into his face and yet it did not still his relentless playing of his little instrument.

Today had been a good day. A nobleman had given him a loaf of bread thinking he had family to provide for. Nonsense it was, but he was not stupid enough to turn it down. He had himself to provide for after all, and a daughter who rarely saw him. At least with a full stomach he would be in better shape to earn the money to pay for her care.

He heard a commotion through the archway into the main town but he ignored it. It was much more peaceful where he was.

Devony walked through the town and laughed lightly when the town's people came up to her, she gave them each a few coins. Not lots but enough to get by through the day. She kept her hood up over her head as to keep an identity many wouldn't recognize but some might from her younger years here.

The people said thank you and she smiled softly before walking through the archway, it was her favourite place here. So quiet and beautiful, nothing could compare to the wishing well.

Thinking back to her childhood she could almost see the children running through with coins in their hands, no one had the money to waste on wishes any more.

August continued to play his flute, his lips tilting in a small smile as a young girl ran up to him to watch him. She reminded him of his little girl, and that warmed his heart a little. He followed her as something else caught her attention and she excitedly hurried over towards a woman in a long cloak. He lowered his flute.

The cloak was no commoner's cloak. He presumed it was a noblewoman, though he was curious to know what she was hiding from, or why she felt the need to hide her face. The ordinary people disliked most of the gentry, sure, but no one would ever touch a young woman... Scratch that, perhaps she was being sensible. The child ran off, leaving them alone.

"Expensive looking cloak for a commoner," he remarked, "Who are you hiding from, miss?"

Devony smiled at the small girl when she ran up to her, her adorable dimples showing on her dust covered face. She knelt down and gave her one of the three coins she had left before running off.

Devony stood and then looked out her corner of her eye, the cloak hiding her face just enough. She saw the figure of the man sitting on the edge of the wishing well. She glanced at the cracks in the stone wall and green vines that had now taken over then beautiful well, it was sad that the world had fallen into disrepair under her brother.

"Guards mostly, but then who doesn't want a run in with one?" Devony answered honestly, "Why did you stop playing?" She asked gently, lifting her head a little. Her hood falling back a bit form where is covered her eyes.

"I stopped playing because it suited me," he said, "And I assure you your father has good reason for not wanting a lady like yourself running about these streets. These are desperate times, if ever there were any. And that cloak makes you more conspicuous than ever." He chuckled softly before hopping down from his seat on the well. "I expect you came for solace, I shall leave if it please you."

August remained polite but inside he felt otherwise. She probably gave out money to feel good about herself, so she could go home that day to a five course meal and feel like she deserved it, which of course she did not. Her hands looked soft, holding no callouses on the buds, and he doubted she'd worked a day in her life. Just rich people playing the hero for a day.

People were still starving, the King's men were still slaughtering innocents in the streets, but it was okay if they came out and gave a child a coin.

"You don't have to go." She blurted out quickly, she pulled off her hood and looked at him fully. Devony sighed and ran a hand through her dark hair, flattening it back down from where it had risen with her hood.

She wondered if he'd recognize her, not that she cared. She came here a lot when she was younger, maybe she'd seen him before. Devony never forgot a face, yet he didn't look familiar.

Glancing down she frowned at the cracks in the wall, her soft fingers running over the gaps of the almost empty well. "I used to come here a lot, it's changed a bit since then." She whispered quietly and then straightened her back and looked up at him with bright blue eyes, through a curtain of deep brown hair.

She felt embarrassed to be her, embarrassed to be a noble, she wanted to do more. But how? She'd get killed. Her brother showed mercy to no one.

He blinked as she drew back her hood, and though it did not appear on his face, he suddenly wished Demi were here. How she'd love to see this. He gestured for her to lift her hood back up. "Hide your face, princess, there are people here who know who you are."

He moved to the archway to see if anyone was passing by, but the sun was beginning to set and the civilians were beginning to retire to their homes. The only ones left wandering the streets were his people. The Resistance.

"I know several people would sooner slit your throat than take your money. Arguably I am one of them. You are not safe or welcome here, and you'd do well not to wander down here. You might not have hurt these people but your brother's blood runs in your veins. Your older sister Arya comes here as herself, if you come in disguise you're giving us our chance to cut you down." Of course, the eldest Fallon sister came with her brother's consent, and he doubted he was as lenient with the younger ones.

Devony paled and lifted the hood on her cloak, to cover her head and face. Devony scrambled up and away from him, her eyes wide under her hood. "I... I just w-wanted to..." She stammered, not knowing what to say to him. She looked down at her hands and pulled her hood lower.

She wanted to help and she knew that her sister Arya had made a name for herself. She rarely spoke to her siblings or anyone else. Devony shivered a little even with the heavy cloak covering her slender shoulders.

She raised her head again to look at him. What else could she do? Was he going to do what he said, slit her throat and leave her to die? Let her be? She had no idea how to put a gauge on the situation she was in. Devony was used to fearing her life but this was different.

"Whatever," he said quietly, "I don't care for your reasons. I may be second in command in the Resistance but I'm not about to kill a young girl just because she's got Fallon's face."

He threw her a fake smile in an attempt to calm her down. Her panicking would not help the situation. Whatever her reasons, she was not supposed to be there. "You're not as smart as your sister, or your brother," he muttered, "Sit down over there in the shadows for a moment, I need to figure out the best route back to the palace. If I'm caught with you, you'll be cut down and I'll lose the trust of my men."

She shouldn't have stayed out so late. If it had been earlier she could have made her way back to the palace no questions asked, but only his men were out at this time, and they'd be curious as to why a girl was wandering the streets, and even more curious if August was the one with her.

Devony's eyes narrowed on him, her blue eyes rolling. "I'm twenty one and I'm just as smart as my siblings. They are just... manipulative, they were both taught differently to me." She sighed and shakes her head but goes and sits down against the wall, closing her tiered eyes. Listening quietly to the world around her. "You don't have to help me." She murmured softly.

Devony pulled her cloak around her and peeled her eyes open again when she looked at him properly. Her eyes travelled over him and she nibbled at her lower pink lip.

She felt bad that he was putting himself at risk for someone he didn't know and definitely didn't want to like. However she felt a little angry that just because she was of the same blood of her evil brother she was grouped with the same type of people. She tried hard to help but her sister had already made herself known as the 'The Princess of The People.' Her brother a tyrant no one liked. Herself someone who was shut in the large castle by her brother with everything anyone could ever wish for. But that wasn't her, this was more like her home, that didn't matter to anyone though. Devony twisted her lips, she wanted to be something more than just the sister that no one knows.

"You're manipulative," he shot back, "You're manipulating yourself. At least your sister knows full well she gives to the poor for reputation. Do you get a kick out of giving to the poor? Does it make you able to sleep at night thinking you deserve all your riches, and the safe arms of your hideous brother?"

He knew he shouldn't be getting angry - there was no real reason to get angry at her specifically - but he couldn't help it. His view of the Fallons was completely irrational. He was paternal by nature but in this case, for possibly the first time, he was not helping her out of worry for her life.

"I do have to help you," he snapped, "If I turn you over I'm no better than you stupid fucking royals are. I may be a rebel but I'm not a murderer. I'll take you back and you'll stay where you belong. Within the walls of the palace. This is not your place, this is our place. I'm sure you're used to having everything you want, but you will not take these streets from us. They may be riddled with poverty and plague but they're still ours and we suffer enough as it is."

August had nothing against this girl, except that she was her brother's sister. He had even less against her father, except that he was no wise king at all. It was apparent to him that he was a naive fool. He thought of his daughter running about the streets somewhere and how she could have accepted money from this woman.

Devony flinched and then stood up, she glared at him her eyes sharp and angry. "I don't get a kick out of it, I'm giving back money that is mine and I've inherited from my late father. I live in fear that my brother will find me and excute me just like he did my mother." She said and laced over to him, her finger poking him in the centre of his chest.

"I'm trying to help you and all you are doing is throwing it back in my face. I didn't chose who I was born as. So stop shouting at me like it's my fault. It's not."

She was beyond furious as she had never done anything to him other than be born into the wrong family, "Don't curse me and my family because I know it's not just my sister who is trying to help your 'resistance' and cause."

"I spent every day of my early life in town, I was the only one my father trusted to run around this town. I had friends here and I loved it. So stop trying to take away what I have loved and am trying to restore." She shouted at him. Showing a completely different side to herself than he had first met.

"Perhaps I overstepped the line," he said smoothly, "You stood there and let your own mother die at the hands of your brother. I always remember how I couldn't do anything when your brother killed my wife, but then, he wasn't my brother, was he?"

He brushed past her and whistled low for his dog to cross the town to come to their side. "Maybe you do miss the way this place used to be, maybe you do really want to help. But we don't want your money, we want you all off the throne. Monarchies... are stupid. Democracy is the future. Equality. Just yesterday I saw the body of a starved child outside of church. You can't help everybody, princess."

She was unlike her other siblings, and August had met a few of them. Completely unlike Arya, actually. The People's Princess was much neater and tidier, held herself with much more grace, and much more dignity. Some people just screamed princess, but the girl before him was a little different. There was something earthy about her... Perhaps she had played there as a child.

"Did you have friends?" he asked quietly, "Peasants? Farm children? Sons of blacksmiths?"

"You have no idea what goes on inside those walls." She whispered and looked away from him, he didn't understand and he couldn't judge, "I was only around sixteen when that happened." Devony whispered and glanced down at the dog that ran to his side happily.

She glanced up when he asked her the question ever so quietly, "Yes, yes I had quite a few friends. My best friend was the son of the baker and his friends. Boys and girls we had a lot of fun." Devony smiled, thinking wistfully of older times.

"My brother took much delight in shutting me away from my friends, thought me silly. No one has ever really taken me seriously." She sighed and ran a hand through her curly hair before fixing her hood again.

She had always found it hard to fit in amongst the royal men and women at court, spending more time in the gardens and libraries than at feasts and social events.

"Do you think anyone cares about what goes on inside?" he asked her honestly, "We're too busy worrying about what's going on outside the walls. In case you haven't noticed, our king does not care for us, the the Forest of Them is not as quiet as it used to be. We're all weak, they'll strike soon if we don't act."

He wanted to tell the girl she probably wouldn't survive when the Resistance attacked, but he didn't need to scare her. He would never lay a finger on a defenseless girl, princess or not, but the same could not be said for everyone. Not everyone was as chivalrous as August - there was a lot of bitterness floating around. People were thirsty, and Fallon blood was the only thing that would sate them at this point.

It wasn't like that for August. He wanted Alexander's head, sure, but all he really wanted was peace. Peace in all areas of his life, something he did not have at the present. He sighed and patted the head of Argus, his wolfhound. "I won't be able to take you back to the palace till morning," he said, "My people are watching the walls at all times, but I have somewhere you can stay for the night... Your brother is going to kill you."

"Yeah, look out for the execution." She muttered and she wasn't joking, at all. Devoting touched her neck and looked up at him softly, "And Thank you." She whispered, not saying anything to his earlier comment, she knew exactly what he and the others had to do to survive. She'd seen it.

Devony stood awkwardly, her lips moving to the side, "How could I repay you?" She asked, there was almost always a price to pay when someone offers to help someone they hate.

She didn't say that she didn't want to go back, that she wanted to be there. It would be surprising to most but she knew she probably wouldn't live long in her brothers world. He'd start picking his family off if they didn't meet his expectations, and she was always in trouble.

Devony looked at the wolf hound, "He's beautiful." She whispered softly and looked at the dog with a small smile, her face relaxing a little. Not that she could control her emotions well, she was very expressive which wasn't useful when she was a princess, but sometimes her face would just merge into a blank mask.

"Well," he said sarcastically, "I never miss a good old chop..." Replay him? "You could stab your brother in the eye?" He wasn't being serious, but there was no serious response to give to her. She could give him money and that was about it. He could give him her body, which he did not want. She had nothing he wanted, nothing at all. Except...

The image of a wide eyed little girl filled his head.

"Okay," he said, "Scratch that, when I take you to this safe house, there is a little girl there - play with her for a while-" So he didn't have to. "-that's how you can repay me." He clicked his fingers and the dog padded ahead, checking for any people in the street. His soft growl signaled that it was momentarily empty. He nodded towards the princess. "Come on," he said, "Let's go, quick, before we get shot or something."

He sauntered out onto the cobbled street but stayed to the shadows as Argus loped in zig zags across the road. "Come," he hissed.

Devony was surprised by his request but she'd play with the little girl, she loved children. Smiling softly she nodded in reply, she glanced at the dog as it padded to the archway and growls quietly.

Her eyes widened a little and she followed him quickly, she thought about stabbing her brother in the eye. It wasn't a bad notion, they had never been close when she was younger, but he was almost ten years older than her anyway. She sighed quietly forgetting about being in the shadows, lost in her thoughts.

Snapping out of it when he hissed out a word, she moved quickly into the dark shadows. She followed him and began to think about this little girl he wanted her to play with. "Who is she?" Devony asked him quietly from where she walked behind him.

"She doesn't have any friends," he replied ambiguously, "She's not allowed into town these days, you see, because it's dangerous. It's not like when you and I were children - she's not streetwise either." He led her for a while until they arrived at one of the roads that led out of the main city. He looked down the narrow path and sighed. It wasn't exactly a scheduled visit, but he had not other choice.

He led her down, towards the farm on which he had grown up. In the distance, he could see the candlelight from her room - she was still awake then. Brilliant. He looked back to make sure the princess was keeping up before smiling as Argus bounded ahead towards the house. He did love Luna.

((We'll need to move to Allen Farm))

((Okay! I'll post there.:) ))