Author Topic: Chapter 3 - Forgive Us Our Debts  (Read 13184 times)

Offline Skyrock

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #40 on: June 21, 2020, 11:36:37 AM »
Jakov looks behind, not a little bit nervous.

"On second thought, I'll let you have your maid uniform for free, to help you get on your feet. And half pay until a spot opens."

Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #41 on: June 21, 2020, 12:15:49 PM »
"Did you know that the only thing people tended to remember about me was my hair? Or my height?" Yuki says, sitting on one of the pews and casting an eye at the proceedings, "Something flashy like that is a good way to draw attention from other things."

They were already dressing her up in a way that was sure to grab attention, keeping even more of that attention off being recognised could only help. Though there would probably be some negative attention to the colours...

Offline Skyrock

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #42 on: June 21, 2020, 12:33:33 PM »
Fuyuko pouts.

"It is a pretty colour that will look good on her. Regular persons like pretty things, yes?"

Tanya gets increasingly nervous under the blindfold.

"W-what colour is it? May I know?"

Fuyuko looks at you, pressing her finger to her lip as a signal for not telling.

"No looksies! You promised I can surprise you!"

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #43 on: June 21, 2020, 01:15:18 PM »
Niko grimaces and responds to Yuki.

"Common folk think that people with red hair are fey or some sort of abomination. What do you think their reaction to will be to this? Your hair isn't...that."

He then faces Fuyuko, talking to her the way he would explain this to a child.

"Regular persons can be mean to people who look different. Never in my life have I seen that color hair. Some people might like it but some won't and they'll say and do mean things. You can make her hair bright and pretty without doing.........that."

There is obvious strain on his face each time he says "that", he is clearly resisting using much stronger language.

Offline Skyrock

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #44 on: June 21, 2020, 01:29:43 PM »
That argument sinks in.

"You mean, people would be mean to Tanya? Just for her pretty hair? That's not fair! But I don't want people to be mean to my friend.
Now, what do, I don't want Tanya to look boring..."

Tanya pipes up.

"What about ombre? It's not boring, and people would think I am a brunette trying to be blonde. We could have so much fun misleading people..."

Fuyuko looks happy and gets out the brown and blonde vials, already having forgotten about her original stupid plan.

Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #45 on: June 21, 2020, 01:46:04 PM »
"What strange thoughts these people have. Why would redheads be... fey?"

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #46 on: June 21, 2020, 02:18:00 PM »
Niko shrugs.

"People believe what they are taught. I only learned better when I became able to sense things that are... different."

He pauses to think, then whispers, "Is Fuyuko...?"

Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #47 on: June 21, 2020, 03:32:01 PM »
"... completely harmless? Yes."

Offline dman

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #48 on: June 21, 2020, 07:08:27 PM »
Hank silently prays as to the best way to educate Jakov,. As he is about to speak he hears a bottle crash and children laughing.  When Jakov's attitude suddenly changes he concludes that his prayer was answered.

Njada, This man means to use and harm you.  I hope you aren't returning here simply because it is familiar.  You've been given a new lease on life.  I'm sure we could find a better opportunity elsewhere, and you can start anew.  I don't mean to be pushy, but are you sure this is what you want?  If not, let's keep looking.  If so, may I negotiate on your behalf?


Offline Skyrock

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #49 on: June 21, 2020, 07:22:33 PM »
Nadja, still unused to use telepathy, hesitates for a moment before answering.

Yes, this what I want. I know that having no soul I will receive no eternal reward for it, but I still try to be a good girl by obeying my betters with a better sense of right and wrong. If I skip a few meals, I should be able to repay Niko's and Tanya's and Cori's loans even on half pay in a timely fashion. I might only be a flawed ginger, but even after being robbed of my soul I can still try to be a good girl, don't you think?

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Offline Nanshork

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #50 on: June 21, 2020, 09:16:34 PM »
"Do you realize that she's an elemental, a spirit, or a fey? Childlike and harmless she may be, but fey seems most likely out of the options at hand."

Offline dman

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #51 on: June 21, 2020, 09:59:02 PM »
Sweet girl! You most certainly have a soul - Red hair and all! Who's filled your head with these superstitious notions? This Jakov (more like a Joval) is certainly not your better! The Almighty has bled and died to secure your eternal reward and has even seen fit to rescue you from the grave!  If you REALLY want to be a good girl then don't you think you ought to serve the poor and the hurting rather than wiggling and flirting with this crowd?  Your soul will grow under proper religious tutelage and the sanctifying task of working for those who are in greater need than you.  We always need another worker for our mission, and we are in earnest need of a servant of your caliber.  You'll learn how to serve, cook, sow, build, encourage, sing, dance, and otherwise minister to those in need. I can even promise it will be strenuous, thankless, low paying, and will stretch you to the limits of your capacities if that would help you make the decision! *SMILE* Give it a week, and if you still don't like it, we'll find you a better place than this to work. Please, Nadja . . . Besides, who do you know that's more religious than me?

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Offline Raineh Daze

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #52 on: June 22, 2020, 12:00:05 PM »
Yuki looked around to make sure that nobody else was listening in before looking back towards Hank. "You would say fey. Before we left home, I knew it only as yōkai, along with many other things not nearly so pleasant. Specifically she is a... snow-woman, entrusted to me by the kami. There are many stories about such but only in a blizzard would I suggest someone could not trust Fuyuko. Even then... that woman has no guile."

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Offline Skyrock

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #53 on: June 22, 2020, 12:25:07 PM »
But that's not a superstition, I really don't have a soul. First, I am a ginger. Second, if I had one, I think it would feel - different, better, complete, more grown-up and responsible, with a sense of right and wrong, just like a real person.

Working with your group sounds attractive, if I can make enough to pay off all the debts I have incurred over the last two days. I like to be of service to others, and people tell me I have a nice singing voice... But I think my ginger sense of right and wrong is too far off to be good at ministering, I'd need to be constantly watched and disciplined by one of you real people. I - I can be a really bad girl sometimes, I mean really bad...


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Offline dman

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #54 on: June 22, 2020, 01:13:39 PM »
"Mr. Kopekcjepatch, I am Hanchrevanu Kess Iljure III, and this fine young woman is worth far more than you give her credit for.  We'd like a table and drink and food for three while we consider your offer."

You'd be under constant supervision, and by minister I mainly mean serve with kindness.  You certainly wouldn't be required to do anything that is in direct violation of your current religious beliefs - though it would be nice if you could receive a small gift without thinking of paying it back.  For someone who claims not to have a sense of right and wrong you're certainly willing to lecture me on what you think is right. *SMILE* We've all been really bad. I certainly have been. Being open about our wrongdoing is the first step to becoming a real person.  Njada, would you please tell me what it is you do that is 'really bad.' I promise I won't be shocked. I won't reject you, and that I'll do everything I can to help you.

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Offline Skyrock

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #55 on: June 22, 2020, 02:27:47 PM »
"Coming up, sir. Hilda, please take care of the gentleman, the lady and that ginger here."

Hilda, a middle-aged blonde, seats you and takes your orders. She stops as she comes to Nadja and studies her for a long moment.

"You remind me of a girl that used to work here many years ago. Are you related to... what was her name... Natalia, Nora, something like that?"

Nadja decides to go along with the white lie she has been using earlier. "Nadja, yes, that was my mother, who named me the same."

Hilda nods. "Mhm. Nadja, yes, that was it. Pretty bright for a ginger, and genuinely nice even for the standards of a normal person. Your mother was always really eager to please, sometimes maybe even a bit too eager for her own good. Took really well to being disciplined - in fact, I think, she actually enjoyed it when others took control of her. If she has raised you to be the same, I think you would be a good fit."

As Hilda leaves, Nadja nestles with the twine string holding her holy symbol.

If you promise not to tell anyone... I'm a follower of the Summer Lady. Old family tradition I have to keep up, or else the wee people will come after me to take from me away much more than just my soul. I'm not even a strict believer - I mean, all my life I've been a city girl who has rarely seen as much as a cabbage patch, even less so true wilderness. I have no idea why those fey protecting nature would care about someone like me, but they do, and raising their ire is both easy and unwise.

I'd rather have been a real person, with a boring life, but that choice was never offered to me. I can't help it, just as it makes me anxious to accept money and gifts from real people like you and risk being a selfish bad girl at the expense of my betters.


She thinks a moment more.

Your missionaries, do they need to stay celibate? I'm not easy if that is what you think, I just want to find a good husband some day who loves me even as a ginger and keeps me on the good path. And children that will hopefully not share my curse, and be able to grow up into real people unlike me.

Offline Nanshork

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #56 on: June 22, 2020, 04:18:56 PM »
Niko nods.

"You use word I haven't heard, but I do know that not all fey are bad. It is easy to see that Fuyuko isn't trying to trick anyone. I just have the ability to sense things and wanted to make sure that what I sensed from her was as I thought it was."

Offline dman

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #57 on: June 22, 2020, 05:27:16 PM »
Thanks for telling me, Nadja. I'm glad that's settled. Now, you can work for us. Cori will be your spiritual director. We believe marriage is a sacred union, so you're welcome to develop romantic relationships in time under the guidance of your spiritual director, and I pray you find just the right firm and fair man. We'd ask that you be willing to consider some radical ideas. For example I believe that we can lift this vicious curse both for you and for your children, that you can find victory over your selfishness, and that you can find lasting security in our God, but we can discuss that later.

"Welcome to the team."  Hanks smiles and looks around for Mist and for the food. "Nadja, I'd love to hear more about your family as we eat, but first do you happen to know of any skilled craftsmen in the area . . . or even people who know people?  Maybe Mist has discovered something while we've been talking."

 

Offline Skyrock

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #58 on: June 22, 2020, 06:28:51 PM »
You - you'd be able to give me my soul back? And make me real people, with a conscience and a sense of responsibility and everything?

Doubt and hope mix in her mien.

Nadja's home life hasn't been very good. Her mother was a redhead waitress, giving her two redhead half-sisters, one older, one younger, by three different fathers. Between the lines, you can read that the one who was most present, the father of her older sister, was it who filled her and her sisters heads with superstitions about gingers and gave them the impression that their red hair made her worth less than 'real people'.
Her older sister married a mercenary, forceful and very mean, and followed him to distant Ostenreich. Between the lines you can read that this is the kind of husband Nadja wants, someone who will be forceful and dominant with her.
Her younger sister had gone astray, racking up debt, getting exploited by changing 'bad boy' boyfriends and last time she had heard of her working off her debt to the Red Guard in ways that Nadja doesn't like to talk about. It is clear that her descent is what has fed Nadja's ideas about not wanting to become a 'bad girl' and her fear and anxiety about having any kind of debt.

Asked about 'craftsmen', Nadja thinks for a moment, then whispers.

"There are the various cloisters, cathedrals and other institutions of the Church, but they tend to not offer things they can consider as 'problematic' or 'sinful'.
Kalidona's candle store here in Old Chancel has some love potions and other knick-knacks under the counter, and she is rumored to be able to get things from the Scholomancers with enough time and downpayment. We heathens know her as a follower of the Autumn Lady, but some suspect her patron is something darker, maybe even a fiend, which would explain how she knows the Scholomancers."

Offline dman

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Re: Chapter 3: Forgive Us Our Debts
« Reply #59 on: June 23, 2020, 12:16:31 AM »
Of course! It will be hard, and take time, but restoring people to their full personhood is exactly what the Lord wants! It's exciting isn't it! Thanks for sharing more of your story with me. It sounds like you and your family have had a very difficult time. I am confident you can overcome, and the Lord can restore your soul, conscience, and sense of responsibility.

"It's been my sincere joy to meet you, Nadja.  We're glad to welcome you to the Svyata Nadezhda.  Well, let's eat!  I'm sure Mist will show up soon and we can see what she thinks about following up on some of your leads."