Elyse/Stories
Elyse moves to stand up to her feet. She checks the lighting of the apartment and where shadows might fall. Once satisfied, she says, "Okay. This should be a good spot." Taking in a deep breath, she says: "Long ago, there was a soldier in a vast army in a vast empire. This solder, he had been conscripted into service as a boy and had known no other life." She gestures with her hands towards one of the fixtures in the apartment, which causes her shadow to appear to be holding a spike of some sort, representative of a spear.
"Long were the campaigns of this army. The soldier, now a man, was soaked in the blood of the fallen -- both his companions and his enemies." She begins to move her limbs in a march, marching in place. "The soldier followed his lord to the end of the Earth, marveling over sights that no one from his village had seen. Pristine woodlands, strange cultures, waterfalls that fell for what seemed like miles." She stops marching in place and stretches her arms over her head in a languid position, swirling them like serpents around her head. Indeed, her shadow looks like a gorgon.
"The soldier had stopped in a village and met a woman. She was beguiling, beautiful, and pledged her loyalty. The soldier's lord took a liking to this land, and the soldier thought to stop and take his rest." She drops her hands down and begins to lie on the floor on her side. "In the soldier's mind, this was his due. He was given a good woman who would bear him children. His lord wished to settle here, it seemed. He could have a companion to share his blood-soaked life."
She jumps to her feet and thrusts her hand out again to make her shadow take up the spear. "In the night, a man came for the soldier as he lay beside the woman. The soldier, thinking quick and relying on his training, drove his spear straight into the man's stomach. When the woman lit a candle, she wept, for it was her husband who had turned away from her in a fit of rage. She cast the soldier out."
Elyse takes up that marching once more, "The soldier's lord eventually led them to the eastern mountains, then over the mountains. The soldier attempted to harden his heart. When they found a strange land with stranger people, his lord urged them to fight."
The lupus twirls and moves around the room in a pantomime of combat. "The battle was fierce," she explains, pirouetting and dancing. "The lord's men fought hard and won the day, but our soldier who had sought to harden his heart had found that the woman had wormed her way inside. For he had forgotten that all experiences change us." She says, sliding a hand down the center of her chest and jabbing at where her heart should be.
She lies down once more, "As he bled out, he could not remember his lover's face which he had forgotten out of spite. Despite this her influence on him was woven in with the influence of his lord, of his parents, of those pristine woods, of the waterfalls falling miles, of the strange cultures unseen by his villagers. He died knowing that he was incomplete for having given away a piece of himself."
And with that, Elyse closes her eyes and falls silent.
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Elyse listens to the story of the samurai, taking in each word and savoring it to suck the marrow of meaning from their bones. Following this, she says, "I think I understand. A spirit taught me a gift that allows me to see some aspect of the nature of a person. It stands to reason that there would be a gift to show someone else your own nature."
Story time. "Once there was a seamstress who lived in a far away land," she says, settling into the husky and dulcet tones of her storytelling and singing voice, absent the usual exuberance. "She was told by her king that she needed to make clothing for all of his brides, which were numerous as kings are wont to have. The king gave her a month and the seamstress did not protest despite the enormity of the job. She placed her loom and spinning wheel centered in her little home and worked day and night. She did not sleep for three nights at first, her fingers working the thread," she demonstrates by tethering some of her hair around her fingers. Elyse doesn't know how to sew, but she has memorized this story and its motions. "Then," Elyse pulls one of her hairs out of her head, "the thread snapped. The seamstress did not mind. She had other spools."
Elyse begins to wind her fingers around her hair again, taking a few additional strands wrapped around her index and middle finger of her left hand. "The seamstress remained awake. Her son came to see her to tell her that he was to be wed. She worked still. By the twelfth day," she pulls the hairs out of her head again, little blonde strands drifting away to land on her clothing. "The thread snapped once more. This was more concerning, as she did not have the right color to match the previous seam."
This time, Elyse wraps several strands of Lola's hair around her fingers, "And so she used a different color, but continued her sentry at her spindle and loom, the wheel whirred nightly. One of the king's men came to her to tell her that her son's wedding had been attacked by a neighboring tribe. There were no survivors," she drops to a whisper, then raises her voice again, "but the woman still worked, for she was diligent and knew her duty and place. And then on the twenty-ninth day--"
She tears the strands of hair out of Lola's head. "The thread snapped. And she was out of thread. She hoped that the king would be satisfied with her work. She took it to him and he spoke at great length of her artistry. He lamented the loss of her son, but noted that it could not be helped. The woman took this in stride, she did not respond. The king then critiqued the color change, pointing out that while it was still technically beautiful work, he wanted uniformity. Did she not know her duty to her lord? Did she not know her role with her people?" Elyse begins to weave the strands of hair together.
"But still the seamstress did not protest. But as her lordship marched each of his wives out, the seamstress began to fear." The strands of hair are tied in knots, and she looks up to Lola, meeting her eyes. "Because the seamstress was not aware that the king had wed three times more in the month she had worked. There were notices posted, but she had been caught up in her sleepless sewing and weaving. A fallen woman now, the king had her flayed and quartered." Her voice drifts off lazily and she hands the knotted blonde and dark hair to Lola.
───────────────────────── +ROLL/+DICE> Elyse: Charisma + Expression vs. 4 -> 5 successes. (7 6 6 6 4 3)
