Claudiventures

my brain @ 3 am:  YA GOTTA DRRRAAAAWwwWW sOMEthin!!

“W-Well, Mr. Dogelass, sir,” they try again. Their pawn stays mostly still this time, only lilting a bit from side to side as they report with a freshly prepared speech. “As I am sure you are well to suspect, I can say with absolute certainty that it was Don Claudo, infamous Gluttonian Party Criminal, who committed the atrocity of abducting your royal Princess.”

“Don Claude.. ?” Ops! Looks like he got confused (the Mayor makes sure to say by making a silly face. A small sweat climbing down his face made it hard to determine whether this was actually intentional or not.) Not only did he got the order of Rye’s points wrong, but also the name!

“---Hm...” ‘Doglass’ muses loudly (and quickly.) “So.... you say....” he picks up (quite slowly, the Mayor makes sure to emphasise.) “That... the princess was.... kidnapped by... Don Claudo... ?”

“W-well... if you think that you have what it takes to identify the criminal... you could certainly be of assistance...”

“One of our Trackers --the grumpy one-- has already found a trail... “ 

Faith looked at the King, green eyes wide with confusion and amazement at the sudden change in behavior. 

“A-are you sure you want me to hold her, sir?” She asked in a quiet voice “I don’t want to upset you.” 

Though grateful for the King’s comforting actions, Faith still was filled with fear. So many thoughts tumbled and turned within the little girl’s head. How had this happened, and why? Was this really happening or was it some sort of strange dream? And if this wasn’t a dream, what was to become of her? How long had she even been gone? 

“Mama and Papa must be so worried,” She said softly to herself as she gently petted the doll’s hair, “ ‘N Joe ‘n Susy too. Do they… They’re knowin’ ‘m missin’, ain’t they?” 

Tears stung her eyes once more with the terrible thought, but she did her best to blink them away. She needed to be brave, dream or not the note had said so, and so she’d be as brave as she could be. 

She didn’t know this, of course, but the King did. He’s not one to humor the Jester’s antics for too long, but he considered the possibilities of the girl staying. A solemn look at the doll the girl was now holding betrayed it all. He wanted her to stay, and he wanted to see what kind of life would spark inside his kingdom from her own hands. He wanted to see what kind of kingdom his kingdom would transform into once she’s completely part of it.

And the poor dragon, his anxious eyes watched the riders, knowing what they’re up to. But he too, he too was willing to allow the Jester to trick her, and maybe the King distract her with toys and dolls and parts of his kingdom she hadn’t discovered yet... because deep inside, a primal feeling was strangling his rubber heart. The feeling of fear. The feeling that she was part of the dragon’s hoard now, and escaping would only bring about something terrible.

The two clouded themselves in silence as the Jester spoke up.

"F̴͎_̼̠̮͖̜̲̟l̸l͈͞_͔̩̗̰͔̲͡_ ̙m̢͙ ͉e͎̪͟!̨̲̱!̟̖͇̥͖̞ ̛̥͙͙͕Il̼̮͓̲̣̣l͈̪͖͔̱͕̦ ͎̟̺l͔͚̠̦̤̪̠ḏ̣̮̱͇a̟̮̬̩̼̟ȩ͉̤̼̠̞ ҉̘̼̜̫t̴ ͓̱͓͔͈̠͡h͚̱̗̮̺̣̮ ͉̳̰̘̖ͅe̱͚̼̻ͅ ̘̬̞͖̳w͈̠̠͇͚̮͉ ̗̬̠̞͈ỳ̫̪̫ͅ ̠̮̞̙̦̭̠a̗͖̩̥! ̮̙̳H͚u̷̮͚͖̣̻͙u̩ú̱̱̪̼͍͖ͅa͉̖̙͎ͅͅaą̝̝̗̩̜̼̺h̪̝̜a̤̘͇͔̗̜̪!͇!͇͚̘"̥

“Yours just about as much as anyone else’s.” His tone was somewhat matter-of-fact. “Usually though, putting someone’s soul to rest or allowing it to sleep implies that they’ve died.”

He took a step forward, reaching his hands into the pockets of his Letterman jacket. There was a bundle of white sage in the left one that he had brought, as was standard procedure for him. The more he spoke to this one, the more he wondered if he’d actually need it.

The question was (as it became apparent by the time it took to answer) much harder for the Mayor than he had anticipated.

“It’s been a long time since I pondered about my identity,” he concluded, but he never met the professional’s eyes or raised an eyebrow. The answer had brought up a lot more questions for Claude. Alexei would have to accept that he’d be alone in the dark for a while. His conversational partner had already departed by a train of thought.

Suddenly, his eyes widened. “H.. Have I died?!” He didn’t remember something like this. But then again, could he even be able to tell anymore? With the ability to be whatever in the cosmos he wanted to be and create whatever he wanted to create, was it outside of the realm of possibility that he had become a ghost?! 

The King’s speech, though garbled slightly as well, was clear enough for her to have a somewhat better understanding. 

“’M sorry,” She said, standing and curtsying to the King. “I weren’t knowin’, your majesty.” 

She carefully sat back down on the dragon’s paw once more and hoped that she wasn’t hurting the him in anyway by sitting here. 

“Your kingdom is incredible,” Faith said, looking over the vast amount of toys and dolls with childlike wonder. “I ain’t ever seen so many ‘r any so beautiful.” 

“I-I ain’t gonna hurt ‘um!” She added quickly, remembering the King’s response when she had picked up the doll. “I’ll not take ‘um or touch ‘um even, I promise! I weren’t knowin’ how ‘mportant they were, or even that they were belongin’ to anyone. ’M sorry to be tresspassin’ on your kingdom too, I-I weren’t meanin’ to. I’d not’ve been doin’ it all, but like I said, ‘m lost. Someone brought me here ‘n I ain’t sure how to find my way out again.” 

Though her tears had now stopping falling, Faith remained quite fearful and upset. The reminder of her current predicament was enough to fill the poor little girl sickening dread once more. Would she be able to get out again? Would trying to leave cause more problems? Her eyes lowered to the ground and she bit at her lip, trying to think of just what to do. The last thing that she wanted to do was upset the the King or the other beside him or even worse, the dragon himself. 

The Jester finally decided to break his silence, by whispering something to the King (not that it would’ve made any difference if he didn’t.) His masked face had been vigilantly watching the girl from the very beginning, and keeping quiet for so long must’ve required an immeasurable amount of discipline, or perhaps fascination? But in the end he couldn’t help it and let out one of his (disturbing) laughters after unzipping his lips[?]

Upon receiving this quiet message, something about the demeanor of the King changed suddenly, like a switch being flipped. It seems the Jester had provided him with new insight, clarity.

But there was something he was forgetting. The girl. Once he turned his attention back to the scared expression stitched on her face, he.. ‘felt’ ? The Dragon picked up on the King’s emotion, sympathy? Kindess? Opportunity.. ? Either way, he responded by kindly and slowly approaching with his head, dragging the King a tidbit closer with him.

"̷̱̖̖̤̼̜̗G͓̀u͇͝ͅh͎͇"̦́  tried to speak the King, a fruitless endeavor, but his body language might’ve been a bit more comforting? He pat her head kindly, and then shook his finger for good measure. The comforting went even further once he placed the doll back on her lap.

but I prefer Socratic relationships

“I guess I am,” he answered evenly.

To say this individual seemed eccentric would be a bit of an understatement. Alexei knew he could describe himself in the exact same way, but probably for different reasons. He was used to walking into places like this, for one thing.

However, what made this call fall right into the unusual was that this person didn’t seem to be one of his usual clients. In fact, the relatively anonymous people who had commissioned him to cleanse this place hadn’t described a ghost or a demon at all. Alexei would almost say he saw a human. Maybe.

“I don’t know how that would get them ‘rid of me’... but I’ve never tried ‘resting with my soul’ before....”

A natural occurrence for him to start up a train of thought and get lost in it. The rubbing became a bit slower and his fingers loosened up... perhaps a physical representation of the above?