Icia

... I have much to do.

iceanswers: asks

frozenblade: RP

modstar: mod posts

Also uh. Proposal post right here bc I will forever be in love with this

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Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Hetero Demisexual (currently married to Lance from @/spinning-faces )

Lots of people today, hm? Amazed that it's not the whole resident body traversing the pages, heheh.

yeah its nice to meet you! giving him a tour im guessing?

Of course! He wanted to see the library closer, heh. I can't blame him there, it's very beautiful and peaceful.

*She glances around.*

whos that with ya?

Oh! This is-

(... shit, we haven't figured out his name yet...)

.. This is our newest resident of the Kingdom! I'm simply showing him around. Signor-

*She turns to the new resident.*

This is Aklatan and Latte. Aklatan is our librarian and in charge of everything you see here, while Latte is one of our head- and best- chefs of the castle.

*Icia perks up at Lata and Latte coming along.*

Oh-! Lata, Latte, hello!!

*The romance section takes up an entire hall made of shelves around the middle of the library by its furthest edge, the light of small chandeliers and a nearby window illuminating the books. All hardcover, the guest finds a huge variety of romance: slice of life, dark, fantasy, period, historical... nothing sci-fi or futuristic, but a few that seem to take place in modern "normal" world times. A couple things stick out to him with the colors of the books- for one, each book has a metallic lining and lettering that he quickly realizes corresponds to the main couple. Brass for lesbian/sapphic relationships. Silver for vincian/achillean relationships. Copper for straight relationships. Bronze for any other relationships that don't fit into the above. Some books have more than one line on their spines like the rest do; those seem to be polyamorous relationships. The gentler romance seems to be among the lower half of the shelves, thus the most worn and read. Meanwhile, the higher the shelves and books climb, the more mature the books seem to get, and those books seem nearly untouched except for a few empty spaces.*

“If…you wouldn’t mind, madam.”

*Icia's smile never wavers.*

Of course, signor. And please, you can just call me Icia.

“It’s….wonderful in here…..”

*Icia beams. She never gets tired of the fascination on the residents' faces.*

Oh, a wide variety- mainly heroic fantasies, myths about dragons, 'former' rulers of the kingdom... that tends to be the majority of the books read there. Although recently, Vaga has been very excited to teach others what he learned of American History and monarchy systems of various European families. Last time I joined, he hooked me in to a conversation on the comparisons of our Kingdom and others from the "real world". It's certainly something- if history and fantasy isn't an interest of yours, however, there are genuinely millions of other options.

Quite, heh. My brother still gets lost from time to time.

*They keep walking, and Icia doesn't bother to mention a door they pass that is much smaller and less grand than the others... but the newcomer still can sense a slightly grim aura as they pass.*

At the corner of this side of the castle is our library, run by our librarian Aklatan. There's an unofficial book club held inside most weeks, usually consisting of her and our twin ballerinos, Vaga and Nova. I'd recommend it, it's a very lovely experience.

A rose….

Puppets and dolls and statues and clouds and stars. And he is merely a rose….

…

Before he can think too hard about it, his attention also gets drawn away, looking down where the noise is coming from

*As they continue down the hall, Icia's smile persists.*

That would be our Maestro, Ode... I assume they're polishing an arrangement as we speak- it makes for lovely background noise, all throughout the castle.

*Her hand reaches out and motions to an open walkway leading to a huge set of ascending stone stairs. Vines with heart-shaped leaves spiral densely around the beginning of the balustrade, but thin out as they go up.*

He tilts his head and squints his eyes, seeming perplexed by the thought that there are truly that many circus performers in the world that allegedly get trapped here

Not really, surprisingly. There are actually only a small handful of people who are actually circus performers, everyone else is quite individual in who and what they are. Their world subscribes to a much looser structure compared to us- everything in the Kingdom at least vaguely follows the 'royal fairytale' theme... The circus, though? A caso. Varied. It's like spinning a wheel- I've met everyone from dolls to mimes to puppets to gods- living statues, men made of space, it's honestly impressive what that place conjures up.

Nevertheless, he follows behind Icia, not saying much as he looks around at his new home

One pair of gilded shackles for another….

*She seems friendly and welcoming.... but who knows if that's a front or not, or what's wrong with this whole place and the fact that, oh, I dunno, no one can leave apparently? How much of a prison is this "kingdom" that is now supposed to be his home?*

Straight ahead of us is the portal room, formerly our throne and courtroom.

*Icia stops at the T intersection at the end of the entrance hall, motioning to the massive, open wooden doors that are only slightly smaller than the castles entrance, but quite a bit more decorated and intricately carved. The room beyond them is held up with marble columns outlining a wide red walkway up to a podium where the newcomer can imagine a throne must have once towered.*

We don't use this very much anymore... it's mainly a meeting space for people to travel to or from the circus.

*Icia pauses slightly.*

Since we are in a... digital universe, there are other worlds outside the Kingdom- islands, almost. Large ones. We're separated by a large void, but one of our residents, Dunite, has constructed a permanent portal that connects directly to another world known as the Amazing Digital Circus. They're close allies of ours.

“That sounds lovely, madam.”

The vines around his limbs tighten, though he doesn’t seem to acknowledge it

*Icia's silver eye flickers down to his limbs, watching the thorns and vines constrict.*

(... hm.)

Feel free to walk at your own pace and ask any questions. I'll talk about the place as we go on- at the end, I'll help you find your room.

“Y…yeah…..or…I think? People were coming and going….last I recall….a party.”

... interesting-. Usually there aren't many people around, not that I hear of at least...

Ah- we'll discuss that later... here- why don't you come inside, hm? We can sit and talk over tea in one of the lounges, or I can give you a tour of the castle. After all, this is.. well, this is where you'll be living now.

“—phhtt heh- that’s certainly a….creative joke, mademoiselle. But you can let me out now- give someone else another turn. I don’t want the others to think I’m hogging the machine.”

Signor, I'm not tricking you... this is where you are now. And it... it's essentially real. As real as the gravel under our feet...

*Her boot brushes along the ground as she adjusts her stance.*

.... the ocean's air...

*She looks over to her right, towards the ocean.*

... and everything else you can think of. You taste, smell, hear, touch, see... everything a normal headset can't do.

*A breeze suddenly brushes over them, causing Icia to shiver slightly as she holds her shoulder cape to prevent it from billowing. She turns towards the newcomer.*