I'm keeping my face. This is what I was trying to send.
[ He sends over a picture of a fairly large dragon scale with shimmering, luminescent green and blue colours. It looks a bit like a gemstone, from afar. If Nami wanders around the marketplace, she'll have noticed that such scales are normally fitted on jewellery and can fetch a hefty price. ]
[ Was that even a compliment?? The bare minimum, sis ... ]
Had to fend off a dragon that was trying to eat my chicks. Found this on the ground after he left.
... It looked like something you might like. [ he has chicks now, he's a whole ass chicken farmer. also he can sense her sparkle eyes through the text and he's quite proud of himself for making a cute girl happy, ngl. ]
[ of course, the sad thing is that she's really good at compliments when she wants to be... oops. ]
Wait, you have chicks?
[ that..... is both adorable and hilarious. but never mind that — ]
You thought right! Are you sure it's okay? Can I really have it? [ look she's not a thief!! she wants to be sure... but also she's totally taking it thanks. ]
[ That's fine. He's quite used to her attitude at this point. It's true that he has absolutely no appreciation for pretty things and buys only what's boring and practical. ]
Well. I killed their mom by accident with my magic.
[ A less ... heart-warming or adorable story than she was probably expecting. Now he's a chicken-murderer turned chicken-father. ]
I've sent you my address. [ He lives in one of the cottages in the haven, a picturesque little thing covered in rose blooms. It's not a house that suits him at all. ]
[ Once he hears her voice, Jean opens up a window, sitting by it with a drink on his hand. Why is he drinking for no reason alone in the day time? Because he's starting to have a Problem. ]
It's the right house. [ Hi ... homie N. ] Door's open, so you can let yourself in.
[ The inside's just as picturesque as the outside is, with flowering plants placed on table tops and windowsills. It's also spotlessly clean. None of this seems to suit his image at all, being a rough and plain-looking man with a scruffy beard.
In the middle of the living room there's a crate with 6 chicks roaming around in straw. ]
They're about five days old now. [ Putting down his glass, he goes to get his wallet and takes out the scale he had put in it. The chicks wander over to Nami, curious about this new person. ]
I have to fend off monsters looking for a quick snack. I'm thinking of learning some protection spell ... [ So he won't lose a chick to the stupid hungry monsters. Jean hands her the scale. ]
[ Wow, don't sparkle at him, that's cute. Go away. He ends up looking sheepish and awkward. ]
Yeah. No problem. I'm told they go for a hefty price in the marketplace ... If you wanna keep the money rolling in, maybe you should befriend one of those dragons.
[ Money looks like something she's very interested in, given how she threatened to charge him a cut of his pay back then. ]
Oh... maybe I should! That's a good idea!! [ indeed, her primary interest in the world... money ]
Jean, you're full of great ideas today, aren't you? Giving me this, befriending a dragon... wait, maybe you could befriend one and keep giving me the scales! You look like the kind of guy who could be friends with one, easily!
[ and look then she'd have easy access to the scales without having to actually spend time with a dragon.... but surely that's not important here at all, please look at this innocent, beautiful, smiling face and bright eyes!! ]
[ The sparkles ... His tired soul is not ready for this kind of beaming energy. ]
You just wanna make me do the work while you reap the benefits, huh? [ He's sharp enough to see past her bright smile and into her true intentions, but even though he knows he's being played right now, he's also weak to the requests of cute girls. The outcome remains the same. ]
... I guess I do know one of those dragons. [ He's going to be picking up Eren's scales under the dragon's nose now. ]
[ just enjoy the beams, jean!! let them warm your tired soul.
she makes a gesture akin to who, me?, eyes wide and innocent, but... alright, so he's seen through her, what does it matter when he's doing what she wants anyway.
for one moment, nami seems to take in the fact that he's actually agreeing... the next, she's jumping up and throwing her arms around jean in a suffocating hug. ]
[ Did not ... expect that hug. People back where he comes from aren't this tactile with each other. ]
Hey, Nami ... [ He stands frozen in place as she hugs him, allowing it to happen and focusing on keeping his fluster at bay. Jean would feel awkward being hugged by one of his guy friends. It's ten times worse when it's with a girl. He reaches around her and gives her a few hesitant pats on the back. ]
Right. You got your scale. I'm sure you ... have other things you need to be doing now.
[ sorry, she knows what that restraint life is... life with the straw hats turns you into a touchy-feely person, apparently.
she doesn't seem to care that he's suddenly turned into a sculpture — soon enough, she's stepping back and then nods to his words, without seeming even a shred self-conscious. ]
Ah, that's right! If I don't hurry now, I won't make it to my job! [ which one out of the twenty that she has is that even... who knows. ]
I'll see you later!! [ and with a cheery wave, she's gone. ]
[ it seems this child has found herself in something of a predicament.
frustrated by her inability to reach anything but the lowest hanging apples and those that fell to the ground, leslie attempted to reach for one just out of her reach. straining on her very tiptoes to stretch her arm to grab hold of the apple, she was at it for long enough that it seems the moths came to assume she was an inanimate object, because two moths came to rest on her head and a third on her outstretched hand, all slowly moving their wings as they stay sitting on her.
trying to avoid startling them, she is keeping as still as she can manage. there are only two movements coming from her: she is trying to very slowly lower from the unsustainable tiptoes to having her feet flat on the ground, and her face is squirming in an unmistakable “i need to sneeze and i am desperately trying to hold it in” expression.
choose your own adventure:
if you attempt to help the child, please turn to page “oops now i accidentally startled the moths into releasing their nightmare dust.”
if you try to escape, please turn to page “a sneeze sounding behind me startles the moths into releasing their nightmare dust before i can leave.”
if you do not notice the girl’s predicament, please turn to page “what is that sneeze oh no nightmare dust.”
if you find a way to successfully remove the moths without causing nightmare dust, please turn to page “a few cute tags of this child expressing her gratitude to me before something unrelated causes a cloud of nightmare dust to settle on us both.”
what do you mean, “railroading”? i don’t have the slightest clue what you’re talking about. ]
here's nami, determined that she can summon enough wind to keep any of the moths from getting to her, or releasing the dust on her... but she hadn't exactly been counting on encountering someone else, yet alone a small child that looks somehow extremely familiar.
there's no sign of wind, now, as nami tiptoes closer, hoping to figure out a way to get the moths to leave the girl alone. quietly, she whispers, ]
Don't worry, I'm here to help you!
[ ... except, she manages to step on one of the fallen apple tree twigs, which cracks underneath her heel with a startling sound.
[ leslie’s body relaxes slightly when she hears a familiar voice reassuring her. there’s only so much she can relax while trying to keep her head steady.
but she gets a face full of dust as the moths take off. she sneezes a couple of times and looks up to the nightmare landscape of....
......actually, it looks pretty okay? granted, for people who have had bad run-ins with kings, emperors, and governments, an expansive grand palace might be not a welcome sight, but it isn’t particularly worrying as palaces go. it’s a mainly off-white building with green roofing and yellow accents, with tall arches and artistic wrought-iron that is certainly style over function. even the fence around the channel through which a river flows and the bridge over it is only at the height of a handrail. such a thing would not stop even someone at leslie’s height. the ground is mostly paved in brick, though there are some meticulously trimmed bushes popping up at regular intervals. the building stretches out in largely the same height saved for a wide tower in the centre.
there are guards in bright uniforms, but they don’t seem especially rough. they give the impression of taking themselves seriously, but they are paying no more attention to leslie or nami than they are paying attention to anything else in particular. the only other people in the area are a gaggle of nondescript coach drivers (all male, which suggests some level of patriarchy) who have gathered around to gossip about some trial that is supposedly going on today. they don’t go far from the many coaches “parked” alongside the brick road, all of which look like they belong to the kind of rich people who “belong” in a setting like the palace. they also don’t look like they’d be especially out of place in aefenglom, though the fashions are perhaps fifty years out of date to an expert.
leslie looks completely mystified at first. ]
Where — ? [ her mouth closes as she catches sight of a particular statue (some man on a horse, probably a former emperor). it opens a little again in just short of gaping as she realizes what she is seeing. ] This is...the palace. I’m — this is my world.
[ if her brain was functioning at full capacity, she would realize that this is just a vision of a place in her world, but the nature of the nightmare dust is that it’s easier for forget that the illusions aren’t real, so for the moment, leslie thinks that she’s somehow ended up back to her home world.
she’s going to be really surprised when she realizes that someone definitely not from her original world is also here. ]
[ nami is by far not a stranger to the weirdest things happening around her, but the surroundings changing into something completely different is still enough to throw her for a loop. she stares at the sudden palace, the guards, all of it, her eyes round in surprise.
then, she glances at leslie, blinking. ]
Ehhh? Wait, your world? But... how can this be?
[ wait, wait. there's no way they've suddenly been transported to yet another new place, right? if they could just go back to their home worlds like this, it'd be far simpler to leave! ]
finally drags my free time away from genshin impact only final destination
I don’t know. This isn’t even where I was before. I’ve only been to the palace once, years ago —
[ leslie’s comments are interrupted by the voice of one of the coach drivers that is just loud enough to be heard.
”do you think she ate her?”
”isn’t that a bit much, even for the monster duchess?”
at that last phrase, leslie abandons all thoughts of why or how they’re here, turning to bolt directly for the group of drivers. she doesn’t even look at nami. the name “the monster duchess” clearly means something to the girl.
“i think she must be keeping the kid in some secret cell.”
”are you a fool? if she could produce the brat alive, she’d have done it to save her hea —“ ]
Excuse me! [ the coach drivers interrupt their conversation to glance over at the small girl now standing at the edge of their loose circle. ] What are you talking about? What happened to Duchess Salvatore?
[ “what rock have you been — ?”
the first to speak is interrupted as one man in the group suddenly points at leslie. “where have you been, miss leslie?! do you have any idea the trouble you’ve caused the marquess and everyone else?”
he reaches out to grab leslie by the wrist roughly. it’s not the roughly of someone trying to hurt another, but rather the kind of rough grab that he might employ if he were grabbing a sturdy object rather than a human being. hurting isn’t the point, because objects don’t feel pain. ]
[ she frowns and wonders what the hell is going on — but then she catches the men talking, and her frown turns into a glower.
she may not know what is going on... but she doesn't like the way they sound.
steadily, she follows leslie, keeping a slight distance just in case... or, well, until the man grabs her her wrist and nami darts in immediately, grabs her clima-tact and smacks the man's arm. ]
Hey! You let go of her, right now!
it IS which only makes it more of a struggle to extract my free time from its grip
[ the man yelps and drops leslie’s arm at the smack, immediately holding the arm in his opposite hand, warily trying to size up nami. he doesn’t recognize her, so around here, she might be some noble or government official, which would require a very different response than for someone at or below his own class.
leslie shifts a little toward nami when her arm is released, the direction suggesting her instinct might have been to hide behind her, but instead, she plants her feet firmly standing next to nami instead to stare at the man with a stern expression that is just short of hostile.
the other men in the group of coach drivers shuffle slightly, but no one comes forward to defend the first man. if anything, they seem to back up just a little: they don’t seem to want to make it their problem, but they certainly are watching.
after a moment of uncertainty, the man addresses nami. ”do you not know what’s been happening either? no one’s seen even a hint of miss leslie for months. even the monster duchess hasn’t seen her for half a year, and she’s the one who kidnapped her in the first place.”
leslie’s stern expression has just been upgraded to an angry one. ]
Don’t talk about her like that! She rescued me!
[ it seems that responding to insults to the “monster duchess”’s honour takes precedence over asking anything about the claim that no one has seen her for months. isn’t time supposed to stop back in the original world while people are in aefenglom? ]
[ nami contemplates making up a lie about where leslie has been... but not knowing anything of the situation, making up something is dangerous. she might lie about something that the men realise is a lie, or something that gets them into worse trouble.
instead, she glares at them imperiously, trying very much to seem like An Important Person.
and then, ]
You heard her. She was rescued, not kidnapped. [ after pausing, she adds, ] Wait, what do you mean no one's seen her? Did she just disappear suddenly, or...?
[ Nami will find a large bag on her doorstep with a tag addressed to her, from Sylvia, for Modranicht. Inside of the bag...is a dress! A very cute one, too! There's a note to accompany it: ]
[happy Modranicht! there's a tiny ship in a bottle waiting for Nami beneath a layer of inelegantly wrapped paper, along with a small pouch of tasty looking treats for Tangerine. the accompanying card is hand-drawn, earnestly if not skillfully, and depicts both Yasha and Tangerine playing with each other beneath the boughs of a wintery pine.]
[When Nami comes in to collect her pay before the upcoming holiday (during which the café will be closed for the employees to take a break and spend time with their loved ones), she will find there is a small box included with their hard-earned cunes. The box itself is gold, tied with a thin blue ribbon and a tag with their name neatly written upon it that they may or may not recognize as Ozymandias' handwriting. Inside, they shall find a gold bracelet with a single charm attached to it. Said charm is a very miniature version of the sphinx kittens that roam about, carefully crafted so that these tiny replicas bear the same seemingly endless galaxy within their little forms.]
[A note is included with the payment.]
Dear Nami,
This business is thriving as well as it has due to your hard work and dedication to the Purramid Café. Please accept this bracelet as a token of my appreciation for all that you have done for the café and our patrons.
The charm attached to this bracelet has been enchanted to allow for the summoning of one the sphinx kittens for a short period of time once you have activated the spell. Care for it well and cherish the time that you have with it, as this divine beast shall serve your loyal companion in that time.
Take care and spend the holiday well! I shall not accept anything less from you.
[On the day of the holiday, a plate of homemade cookies and a sample of herbal tea mysteriously appears on her doorstep. The wrapping is decorated with a fresh lily flower (actually a Fae magic product, designed to fade away from existence in a few hours) and a ribbon. The attached handwritten note reads as follows:]
Happy Modranicht! Let’s have another great year here in Aefenglom!
[On the last day of Modranicht, Nami receives a doorstep package in a small, velvety bag. The note attached reads:
Hope you like this better than the stuff you were trying to pick up when we met.
~Momo
Inside the little bag is a necklace; the pendant is large, round and split between deep blue and clear glass. Between the two, encased inside the pendant, is a metal ship made to appear like it's "floating" on the blue glass bottom half of the pendant.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
text | un: kirstein
Nami.
I found this. Do you want it?
[ He sends over a picture of his stupid face - taken as an unflattering lower-angle selfie - staring at the camera with that same stiff expression. ]
no subject
Jean..... that's your face. I'm assuming that's not what you're giving away?
Because I already have a perfectly good one!
[ sorry buddy... ]
1/2
Oh. Hadn't meant to send that.
[ How embarrassing. He won't contest what she says though, because she's ... quite pretty by his books ....... ]
no subject
[ He sends over a picture of a fairly large dragon scale with shimmering, luminescent green and blue colours. It looks a bit like a gemstone, from afar. If Nami wanders around the marketplace, she'll have noticed that such scales are normally fitted on jewellery and can fetch a hefty price. ]
no subject
[ is that a compliment............... best take it as one. ]
Ehhhh? Is that... a dragon scale? How did you get it?
It's pretty!!
[ can you see the sparkles in her eyes through text....... probably. ]
no subject
[ Was that even a compliment?? The bare minimum, sis ... ]
Had to fend off a dragon that was trying to eat my chicks. Found this on the ground after he left.
... It looked like something you might like. [ he has chicks now, he's a whole ass chicken farmer. also he can sense her sparkle eyes through the text and he's quite proud of himself for making a cute girl happy, ngl. ]
no subject
Wait, you have chicks?
[ that..... is both adorable and hilarious. but never mind that — ]
You thought right! Are you sure it's okay? Can I really have it? [ look she's not a thief!! she wants to be sure... but also she's totally taking it thanks. ]
no subject
I wouldn't ask if you couldn't have it. I've got no need for something so shiny.
[ He could sell it but he ... wants to give it to a cute girl more. Deal with it, Nami.
And he is a chicken dad, that's true. ]
no subject
I guess that's true! A guy wouldn't be able to appreciate its real beauty, anyway!
[ ..... well that niceness lasted for about 0.2 seconds there. ]
I can come and pick it up... I want to see those chicks of yours, anyway! I wouldn't have taken you to be the farmer type, Jean.
no subject
Well. I killed their mom by accident with my magic.
[ A less ... heart-warming or adorable story than she was probably expecting. Now he's a chicken-murderer turned chicken-father. ]
I've sent you my address. [ He lives in one of the cottages in the haven, a picturesque little thing covered in rose blooms. It's not a house that suits him at all. ]
no subject
... you better become the best chicken mom ever!
[ to make up for orphaning them!! ]
Alright, I'll come over as soon as I'm done with my shift!
[ and then she'll be real surprised by all the fairytale-esqueness in his house ]
no subject
[ He has too much beard to be a mom. ]
I'll see you later today, then.
no subject
[ gender is an illusion, moms can have beards too ]
Mm, see you!
no subject
[ he will be here day drinking and waiting 4 u, girl. ]
no subject
But fine, if you're so insistent... chickling-dad!
[ that's what she leaves him with, and in about an hour, she appears at jean's house... he can probably hear her wondering out loud, ]
Whoa...! This looks like straight from a picture book! I wonder if this is really the right house...
no subject
It's the right house. [ Hi ... homie N. ] Door's open, so you can let yourself in.
[ The inside's just as picturesque as the outside is, with flowering plants placed on table tops and windowsills. It's also spotlessly clean. None of this seems to suit his image at all, being a rough and plain-looking man with a scruffy beard.
In the middle of the living room there's a crate with 6 chicks roaming around in straw. ]
no subject
meanwhile, nami who is used to zoro, sees nothing wrong with this and waltzes in instead. ]
Oh! [ she crouches down next to the crate, tilting her head when she looks at the chicks. ]
So you weren't kidding! Ahh... they're all so small, aren't they?
no subject
They're about five days old now. [ Putting down his glass, he goes to get his wallet and takes out the scale he had put in it. The chicks wander over to Nami, curious about this new person. ]
I have to fend off monsters looking for a quick snack. I'm thinking of learning some protection spell ... [ So he won't lose a chick to the stupid hungry monsters. Jean hands her the scale. ]
no subject
[ laughing a little, she reaches out to pat one of them on its tiny head. ]
They're really cute!
[ and sure, she would agree with the whole protection spell being a good idea, but the moment jean hands her the scale, she starts to. sparkle. ]
Aaaahhh, it's so pretty!! [ and then, because she's not a savage, she looks up and beams at jean. ] Thanks, Jean!
this can probably wrap up soon unless you wanted to do more!
Yeah. No problem. I'm told they go for a hefty price in the marketplace ... If you wanna keep the money rolling in, maybe you should befriend one of those dragons.
[ Money looks like something she's very interested in, given how she threatened to charge him a cut of his pay back then. ]
soon....... soon
Oh... maybe I should! That's a good idea!! [ indeed, her primary interest in the world... money ]
Jean, you're full of great ideas today, aren't you? Giving me this, befriending a dragon... wait, maybe you could befriend one and keep giving me the scales! You look like the kind of guy who could be friends with one, easily!
[ and look then she'd have easy access to the scales without having to actually spend time with a dragon.... but surely that's not important here at all, please look at this innocent, beautiful, smiling face and bright eyes!! ]
Re: soon....... soon
You just wanna make me do the work while you reap the benefits, huh? [ He's sharp enough to see past her bright smile and into her true intentions, but even though he knows he's being played right now, he's also weak to the requests of cute girls. The outcome remains the same. ]
... I guess I do know one of those dragons. [ He's going to be picking up Eren's scales under the dragon's nose now. ]
no subject
she makes a gesture akin to who, me?, eyes wide and innocent, but... alright, so he's seen through her, what does it matter when he's doing what she wants anyway.
for one moment, nami seems to take in the fact that he's actually agreeing... the next, she's jumping up and throwing her arms around jean in a suffocating hug. ]
Jean! You're the best!!
no subject
Hey, Nami ... [ He stands frozen in place as she hugs him, allowing it to happen and focusing on keeping his fluster at bay. Jean would feel awkward being hugged by one of his guy friends. It's ten times worse when it's with a girl. He reaches around her and gives her a few hesitant pats on the back. ]
Right. You got your scale. I'm sure you ... have other things you need to be doing now.
[ ooc: we can wrap this up in the next tag idk ]
no subject
she doesn't seem to care that he's suddenly turned into a sculpture — soon enough, she's stepping back and then nods to his words, without seeming even a shred self-conscious. ]
Ah, that's right! If I don't hurry now, I won't make it to my job! [ which one out of the twenty that she has is that even... who knows. ]
I'll see you later!! [ and with a cheery wave, she's gone. ]
action | early September
frustrated by her inability to reach anything but the lowest hanging apples and those that fell to the ground, leslie attempted to reach for one just out of her reach. straining on her very tiptoes to stretch her arm to grab hold of the apple, she was at it for long enough that it seems the moths came to assume she was an inanimate object, because two moths came to rest on her head and a third on her outstretched hand, all slowly moving their wings as they stay sitting on her.
trying to avoid startling them, she is keeping as still as she can manage. there are only two movements coming from her: she is trying to very slowly lower from the unsustainable tiptoes to having her feet flat on the ground, and her face is squirming in an unmistakable “i need to sneeze and i am desperately trying to hold it in” expression.
choose your own adventure:
- if you attempt to help the child, please turn to page “oops now i accidentally startled the moths into releasing their nightmare dust.”
- if you try to escape, please turn to page “a sneeze sounding behind me startles the moths into releasing their nightmare dust before i can leave.”
- if you do not notice the girl’s predicament, please turn to page “what is that sneeze oh no nightmare dust.”
- if you find a way to successfully remove the moths without causing nightmare dust, please turn to page “a few cute tags of this child expressing her gratitude to me before something unrelated causes a cloud of nightmare dust to settle on us both.”
what do you mean, “railroading”? i don’t have the slightest clue what you’re talking about. ]finally slams here
in any case —
here's nami, determined that she can summon enough wind to keep any of the moths from getting to her, or releasing the dust on her... but she hadn't exactly been counting on encountering someone else, yet alone a small child that looks somehow extremely familiar.
there's no sign of wind, now, as nami tiptoes closer, hoping to figure out a way to get the moths to leave the girl alone. quietly, she whispers, ]
Don't worry, I'm here to help you!
[ ... except, she manages to step on one of the fallen apple tree twigs, which cracks underneath her heel with a startling sound.
and yep, there go the moths! oops. ]
Ah —
no subject
but she gets a face full of dust as the moths take off. she sneezes a couple of times and looks up to the nightmare landscape of....
......actually, it looks pretty okay? granted, for people who have had bad run-ins with kings, emperors, and governments, an expansive grand palace might be not a welcome sight, but it isn’t particularly worrying as palaces go. it’s a mainly off-white building with green roofing and yellow accents, with tall arches and artistic wrought-iron that is certainly style over function. even the fence around the channel through which a river flows and the bridge over it is only at the height of a handrail. such a thing would not stop even someone at leslie’s height. the ground is mostly paved in brick, though there are some meticulously trimmed bushes popping up at regular intervals. the building stretches out in largely the same height saved for a wide tower in the centre.
there are guards in bright uniforms, but they don’t seem especially rough. they give the impression of taking themselves seriously, but they are paying no more attention to leslie or nami than they are paying attention to anything else in particular. the only other people in the area are a gaggle of nondescript coach drivers (all male, which suggests some level of patriarchy) who have gathered around to gossip about some trial that is supposedly going on today. they don’t go far from the many coaches “parked” alongside the brick road, all of which look like they belong to the kind of rich people who “belong” in a setting like the palace. they also don’t look like they’d be especially out of place in aefenglom, though the fashions are perhaps fifty years out of date to an expert.
leslie looks completely mystified at first. ]
Where — ? [ her mouth closes as she catches sight of a particular statue (some man on a horse, probably a former emperor). it opens a little again in just short of gaping as she realizes what she is seeing. ] This is...the palace. I’m — this is my world.
[ if her brain was functioning at full capacity, she would realize that this is just a vision of a place in her world, but the nature of the nightmare dust is that it’s easier for forget that the illusions aren’t real, so for the moment, leslie thinks that she’s somehow ended up back to her home world.
she’s going to be really surprised when she realizes that someone definitely not from her original world is also here. ]
This is...
no subject
then, she glances at leslie, blinking. ]
Ehhh? Wait, your world? But... how can this be?
[ wait, wait. there's no way they've suddenly been transported to yet another new place, right? if they could just go back to their home worlds like this, it'd be far simpler to leave! ]
finally drags my free time away from genshin impact only final destination
[ leslie’s comments are interrupted by the voice of one of the coach drivers that is just loud enough to be heard.
”do you think she ate her?”
”isn’t that a bit much, even for the monster duchess?”
at that last phrase, leslie abandons all thoughts of why or how they’re here, turning to bolt directly for the group of drivers. she doesn’t even look at nami. the name “the monster duchess” clearly means something to the girl.
“i think she must be keeping the kid in some secret cell.”
”are you a fool? if she could produce the brat alive, she’d have done it to save her hea —“ ]
Excuse me! [ the coach drivers interrupt their conversation to glance over at the small girl now standing at the edge of their loose circle. ] What are you talking about? What happened to Duchess Salvatore?
[ “what rock have you been — ?”
the first to speak is interrupted as one man in the group suddenly points at leslie. “where have you been, miss leslie?! do you have any idea the trouble you’ve caused the marquess and everyone else?”
he reaches out to grab leslie by the wrist roughly. it’s not the roughly of someone trying to hurt another, but rather the kind of rough grab that he might employ if he were grabbing a sturdy object rather than a human being. hurting isn’t the point, because objects don’t feel pain. ]
dkghfhg genshin is good though
she may not know what is going on... but she doesn't like the way they sound.
steadily, she follows leslie, keeping a slight distance just in case... or, well, until the man grabs her her wrist and nami darts in immediately, grabs her clima-tact and smacks the man's arm. ]
Hey! You let go of her, right now!
it IS which only makes it more of a struggle to extract my free time from its grip
leslie shifts a little toward nami when her arm is released, the direction suggesting her instinct might have been to hide behind her, but instead, she plants her feet firmly standing next to nami instead to stare at the man with a stern expression that is just short of hostile.
the other men in the group of coach drivers shuffle slightly, but no one comes forward to defend the first man. if anything, they seem to back up just a little: they don’t seem to want to make it their problem, but they certainly are watching.
after a moment of uncertainty, the man addresses nami. ”do you not know what’s been happening either? no one’s seen even a hint of miss leslie for months. even the monster duchess hasn’t seen her for half a year, and she’s the one who kidnapped her in the first place.”
leslie’s stern expression has just been upgraded to an angry one. ]
Don’t talk about her like that! She rescued me!
[ it seems that responding to insults to the “monster duchess”’s honour takes precedence over asking anything about the claim that no one has seen her for months. isn’t time supposed to stop back in the original world while people are in aefenglom? ]
no subject
instead, she glares at them imperiously, trying very much to seem like An Important Person.
and then, ]
You heard her. She was rescued, not kidnapped. [ after pausing, she adds, ] Wait, what do you mean no one's seen her? Did she just disappear suddenly, or...?
12/21
Thought you'd look SO cute in this! Enjoy, Nami!
forward-dated to modranicht
modranicht gift!
[A note is included with the payment.]
Dear Nami,
This business is thriving as well as it has due to your hard work and dedication to the Purramid Café. Please accept this bracelet as a token of my appreciation for all that you have done for the café and our patrons.
The charm attached to this bracelet has been enchanted to allow for the summoning of one the sphinx kittens for a short period of time once you have activated the spell. Care for it well and cherish the time that you have with it, as this divine beast shall serve your loyal companion in that time.
Take care and spend the holiday well! I shall not accept anything less from you.
Sincerely,
Pharaoh Ozymandias
Modranicht gift
Happy Modranicht! Let’s have another great year here in Aefenglom!
M⚜️
no subject
Hope you like this better than the stuff you were trying to pick up when we met.
~Momo
Inside the little bag is a necklace; the pendant is large, round and split between deep blue and clear glass. Between the two, encased inside the pendant, is a metal ship made to appear like it's "floating" on the blue glass bottom half of the pendant.]