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Xeraphine Yldore

Xeraphine Yldore

The Iron Whisper
Member
Lore Maker I
Messages
5
Character Biography
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Outer City, Alliria, Forger's Alley


Gallows Court Baby.png

Xeraphine rubbed the coin between her gloved fingers. She turned it, appraising its two sides. On one side, a hempen rope encircled a skull, its teeth clamping down gaily on said hemp. One eye held a tiny fragment from some red gem. Perhaps a flawed ruby fragment. The other side was shaped like a red tear, or a drop of blood, formed from the same glittering stone fragment.

A most curious mintage, to be sure. She glanced between the low-roofed smithies that crowded this alley, belching out black smog from their furnaces, some ringing harshly with the work of their masters. It was doubtful any of them would trade this coin for so much as pig iron, even if the red fragments might be worth something. But even someone capable of appraising its worth might turn away from sheer superstition and fear of curses.

No. If anyone could help her make use of this tiny piece of iron, it would be her contact.

Her black dress shifted like the billowing smoke of the smithies yonder, away from the alley and towards the humble tavern on its corner. The Smith's Hammer and Tongs, it called itself, making no fuss about its purpose, that of serving the smiths working in the area. Pushing open its creaky, blackened door with a hand wrapped in velvet, she settled in, finding the seat and table reserved for her and her guest of honour. It allowed her the opportunity to glimpse through the grimy windows of the tavern, espying anyone else who might approach the establishment.

She kept her stiletto tucked neatly below the table, tracing its blade with her index-finger, feeling gentle heat billowing unnaturally from it.
 
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Xeraphine Yldore said:
It allowed her the opportunity to glimpse through the grimy windows of the tavern, espying anyone else who might approach the establishment.

She kept her stiletto tucked neatly below the table, tracing its blade with her index-finger, feeling gentle heat billowing unnaturally from it.
Click to expand...

The smoke-charred door of the inn... flew open!

Well, it almost did - but its rusty handle happened to catch on the sleeve of the person who tried to open it through putting all their weight into the action. As a result, the robed woman entered into the establishment face-first, muttering various exclaimations of displeasure from under her pained breath. Before any patrons could approach her, she raised herself from the ground and looked around, bobbing her head in various directions as to become accustomed with her new surroundings.

Following this, she urged the few people who thought to assist her to return to their seats, assuring them that she hadn't been injured, and that she wasn't being pursued by anyone.

With that having been established she slid further inside in an effort to determine which empty seat was the most accomodating to her. And, as fate would have it, her eyes magnetically moved to the table which was currently under Xeraphine Yldore 's regime.

With a newly-found dumb grin plastered on her mug (slightly bruised, too!), she stepped closer, grabbing onto the back of one of the available chairs on the table with her hands, and made a simple inquiry.

"Is this here seat taken?"

Xeraphine Yldore
 
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The simply-dressed woman bumbled into the establishment, causing a mild stir, a few chuckles and many an old chivalrous craftsman eager to help her, though she waved them off fussily. Xeraphine kept half an eye on her, half-lidded and languid, though most of her attention was still claimed by the view outside.

It was only when the commoner approached her table that Xeraphine's spine grew taught and alert. Her one eye uncovered by coal-black hair narrowed, at once suspicious and guarded.

She had no physical description of her contact. Only a time and place. Zenith at this establishment.

Could this be the one? Perhaps the woman's befuddled entrance was but a ruse, the skill of a expert mummer on display. In that case, it was an impressive performance.

Or it could indeed be a chance encounter with one of the denizens of the Outer City. Only time would tell.

"Please, sit," Xeraphine bid the woman, neither confirming nor denying whether the seat was taken. There was natural command in her crystal clear tone, sharp and pristine as glass, an imperious air of nobility in her long neck and arching chin. Her hand shifted its grip on her stilleto below the table, hiding it behind her crossing legs, looking like an innocuous fold of her hands in her lap.

The pause that stretched between them was long and agonising. Xeraphine kept observing her counterpart, waiting for her to break this silence, to betray her purpose. A silent test loomed in Xeraphine's even gaze, testing how the other woman might react, the coin hidden and pressed against the handle of her thin blade.

Random Woman
 
Xeraphine Yldore said:
"Please, sit," Xeraphine bid the woman, neither confirming nor denying whether the seat was taken. There was natural command in her crystal clear tone, sharp and pristine as glass, an imperious air of nobility in her long neck and arching chin. Her hand shifted its grip on her stilleto below the table, hiding it behind her crossing legs, looking like an innocuous fold of her hands in her lap.

The pause that stretched between them was long and agonising. Xeraphine kept observing her counterpart, waiting for her to break this silence, to betray her purpose. A silent test loomed in Xeraphine's even gaze, testing how the other woman might react, the coin hidden and pressed against the handle of her thin blade.
Click to expand...

She rubbed her lower face with the smile still solidly formed by her lips, and prepared to sit down. No attempt was made to pull the chair away from the table, even though she had earlier planted her hands on its backrest. Instead, she moved slightly to its side, and slid between the little space available between the table and the chair. Firmly on it now, she used her feet to push it slightly back, which ended up making it audibly scrape the floor in the process.

"Thank you!" She added, now sitting in front of Xeraphine. "I'm Kid, it's nice to meet you!"

Her eyelids fluttered as she went about inspecting the woman. She raised her right hand up to her face, tapping her lower lip with her index finger as she continued.

"The weather is really, really bad here. Worse than the forest."

Xeraphine Yldore
 
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Xeraphine cocked her head slightly, like one might watch a curious critter act against its natural instincts.

Most folk of Kid's class would have better sense than to engage Xeraphine in conversation. Much less approach her with such a cavalier attitude. Her dress might not be as opulent as it once was, and her finery more limited, but she still wore a fully black and dark-grey dress with puffed sleeves at the shoulders, long, tightly laced gloves reaching her elbows. A cravat of silvered threads and high collar banished all doubt as to whether Xeraphine hailed from wealth.

But to this one's strange credit, her new acquaintance seemed all but insouciant towards that. Perculiar.

Slowly, a thorny smile bloomed on Xeraphine's features. It would not be unlike the Gallows' Court to send a living prank like this, a jest in the flesh, flaunting her with how far she had fallen.

No matter. She would entertain this 'Kid' with idle conversation, if only to pass the time before the arrival of her true contact. Or until she decided to drop her droll mask of cheerfulness.

"The weather has indeed been foul," Xeraphine said, her gloved index-finger rising to skirt the edge of the table, as if drawing an invisible line between them, the rest of her hand clutched around a small token. Then she glanced at her fingertip absent-mindedly, noting the grime left on her glove, a click escaping her tongue. "Alliria can be as treacherous as the seas."

Pointedly, she didn't exchange greetings. Instead, she hovered her hand above the table and allowed her token to drop. The coin clattered, wobbling on the old wood, before coming to rest. The skull minted on the iron coin leered up at Kid with a red wink.

Xeraphine stared, watching carefully for Kid's reaction, looking for anything: recognition, fear, surprise, or any other emotion too ambushed to be feigned. A ghost of Xeraphine's wry smile remained, looking much like a card player anticipating the next move of her opposition.

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Xeraphine Yldore said:
Pointedly, she didn't exchange greetings. Instead, she hovered her hand above the table and allowed her token to drop. The coin clattered, wobbling on the old wood, before coming to rest. The skull minted on the iron coin leered up at Kid with a red wink.

Xeraphine stared, watching carefully for Kid's reaction, looking for anything: recognition, fear, surprise, or any other emotion too ambushed to be feigned. A ghost of Xeraphine's wry smile remained, looking much like a card player anticipating the next move of her opposition.
Click to expand...

“Oh, if it were up to me, I wouldn’t name this place Alli-rah.”

She moved her chin down, allowing it to dig into her upper chest in order to look at the coin on the table. Her eyes went round and round its unclipped edge, until she raised her head up again to stare at her table-fellow. Her smile persisted as she raised her right arm slightly above where the coin had been abandoned, and tugged on her loose sleeve with her left. A few small acorns poured out of the sleeve, clinking one after the other against the metallic cranium.

“Crowded would do just fine! Or moist. Moist-Crowded? Oh yes, that would be much more fitting.”

Acorns deposited, both arms fell on the table’s surface from her elbows to her hands, whose palms were open and facing down, pressing against the alcohol-veneered surface. Her lips snapped proudly shut, as if both the action and the verbal reply had been some sort of punchline to an unannounced joke. She appeared rather proud of it as well, maintaining an upright sitting posture, unlike the average patron who might’ve benefitted in keeping a low profile.

Xeraphine Yldore
 
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