forum The Darkness of Forrest Cliff ((5/5 // MATURE/ RATED R // CLOSED))

Started December 20, 2018 by Deleted user

tune

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Is it ok if I have Cruz come in a little later?)

Cruz oh my god

Ah wot

Alfred saw to the second woman after he'd placed the horse in the stables. What in the bloody hell were they doing out here? In this unforgiving weather.

"Come, my dear." He cooed to the shivering woman on the steps. He took her by the forearm and helped her inside. "Lady Olivia it appears we have another one." He told his mistress. Olivia stood tense as she looked to the woman. "Set her on the couch and tell the cook to prepare some tea and bowls of soup." She bunched her gown in her hands and raced down a lit corridor. She returned with large covers.

Talia frowned, but a wild light brightened her eyes as it always did when something unexpected happened. She was a sucker for an adventure. What a night this has turned out to be.
"If I may, I would suggest that your cook also bring some water to a low boil." she said speaking to the young woman that was bustling about the room with giant blankets. She went to the other woman that had practically passed out in the snow behind her, examining her fingers carefully. "It looks like she may have the beginnings of frostbite. She will need to submerge them in something warm post hence, if she wishes to keep them."
Talia's posh accent rang through the room with authority and she blushed. "My apologies, miss." She said to the woman that had opened the door for her. "I would not give orders to the Lady of the house." She folded her hands in front of her, curtsying the tiniest bit. "I'm Talia Winchester. Investigator Talia Winchester."

Jonas tightened his scarf and pulled it above his mouth again. I must go faster He came upon a large house and knocked on the door. "May I please stay here for the night?" He says in a hoarse but definitely posh accent, however, right now it sounds like someone is pulling a teabag through gravel.

Amelia stared down at her fingertips, which were almost blue. She could only manage a weak nod at the kind man, unable to support herself on her own. A part of her felt guilty— she didn’t deserve these people’s help, she was only a servant after all, but she didn’t have the energy to argue. “Th-Thank you sir, miss.”

Olivia set the last blanket down and stepped briskly to the door. "Do as Ms. Winchester has suggested, Alfred." She said as she opened the door. Another traveler in the snow. It shouldn't have been as much as a surprise to her as it would. There were many traveling during this time of the year and the snow had not been anticipated to fall this early.

She beckoned the man in and lead him to her sitting room. A few servants were feeding the fire. Alfred returned with a tray of bowls of soup and a singular bowl of low-boiled water. Olivia turned to the first woman, finally still for just a moment. "Talia Winchester, you said? I am Lady Olivia Whitcomb. May you tend to the woman, I know not of tending to frostbite." And then she was off again, distributing bowls and blankets to each of her new guests.

Talia smiled a bit, and she knelt in front of the injured woman, beckoning the old butler forward with the bowl. She would keep her preferred title of Investigator rather than revealing to her host that she too, was a lady of regard. By god she hated her official title.
"This will not be pleasant, I'm afraid," she said to the girl in front of her. "It will be quiet painful, but I would like you to tell me your name and a story. Please, pray you keep talking while I do this alright?" Talia smiled warmly at the girl, before carefully dunking her frozen fingers into the water and holding them under despite her whimpers. She began to massage them gently, making sure the blood traveled back through them. Idly, she wondered how the girls toes were.

Angeline bit back a tiny exclamation of pain, her shoulders tense despite the shivers that still racked them. “I’m Angeline Grey,” she managed, the warmth of the house seeping into her bones. Her eyes darted around the room, alighting on each person briefly before moving on to the next. “I am—“ Was. “I am a servant.”

A servant who was currently being taken care of. Angeline bit down on her tongue before she said anything else, this was wrong, so incredibly wrong. She should be serving them in thanks for allowing her entrance, should be laid down at their feet.

Talia continued her work, pleased when color began to appear in the girls fingers. "Well met, Angeline. You may call me Talia. No need for that 'miss' nonsense." She smiled up at the girl, her sharp yet lovely eyes catching her distress and misinterpreting it. "Are you alright? I'm not hurting you much am I?"

Question: my character tends to curse a lot. Should I censor his curses or let em fly?)

Angeline shrank back slightly, confused. The woman didn’t want her, a servant, to call her ‘miss’? Who was she? Shaking her head slightly, she opened her lips, which were no longer quite so blue, to reply. “No, miss— I mean, no, Talia, you’re not hurting me, but thank you.”

Awesome! Just thought I'd check to be sure. )

Cruz cursed against the bitter wind, with a tone of indignance. His chapped lips rubbed like steel wool against one another. The cracks in them weren't the only ones bleeding– fleeing from loan sharks for the second time that month, he figured he would have been better prepared for hasty escape. He was lucky to still be alive, given the few wounds the hired men did inflict.
The whistling air turned the blood on his forehead into droplets of red ice and numbed the spot where the loan shark struck him with the metal rod–a metal rod that held horses to a carriage, he remembered from his childhood rearing horses.
Cruz quickened his pace into a lame dash for the home, finding it wasn't an apparition of his exhausted mind. Thank God, a chance for either warmth or relief by death. He'd be surprised if whomever lived here didn't know and hate him.

Talia hummed, pleased. "Good. This hand is done for now, my dear." She pulled it out of the now lukewarm water and gently wrapped it within the blanket that Angeline had across her lap. "You will want to use it often to make sure the blood flow remains, but be gentle."
She grasped the other hand and gently worked it in a new bowl of warm water. "Tell me of yourself. Why we're you out in the snow so poorly dressed? Surely your employer would provide enough for you to dress for winter?" Talia's sharp blue eyes met Angeline's, the investigator coming out to observe and protect.

Cruz tightened his scratchy wool coat tighter over himself, and threw his numb fists a few times against the front door. His shaky huffs of breath formed clouds past his poorly shaven face. "Come on. Open the goddamn door," he shuddered uncontrollably.

((Since Josephine and Cruz are a pair, she was potentially suppose to o with him. So let's just say. when trouble came for him, she got a horse and got out of there.))

The front door swung open and Alfred bowed deep, ushering the man in. "Her Lady welcomes you," He droned. "Please gather a blanket and have a seat." He ushered him into the warm sitting room where the others were. Olivia looked up from her seat and gave him a smile, a courteous and kind sight to see.

Josephine shivered as the horse whinnied once more. It was too cold for him to carry on but they were so close. To a mansion where they would be warm and safe. And free. Cruz wouldn't be here. He was back with those ruffians he called business partners. Josephine hardly cared who they were, they had gotten her out of his grasp and now….

She was free.

She dismounted and trudged the few miles through the snow towards the lit up mansion, pulling the horse along by the reigns. Someone was already waiting there, standing at the door. A middle-aged man in servants attire. He saw her, he was waiting for her. There were other servants too. As she approached, one took her horse and another took her by the arm. "The Lady of the home welcomes you." They said. The man gave her a bow. "Into the sitting room." He too Josephine, and she obeyed with a muttered 'thank you'. What else was she to do?

Warmth enveloped her as she took a few steps into the home. She breathed deep and took in the smell of cinnamon and fire wood, so much cleaner that the deep-setting stench of cigars and alcohol breath. For the first time in a long time, Josephine smiled, she was her own woman. There was no man crowding over her shoulder, telling her what to do, wear, or say. A man of such rough and vulgar nature was far away. SHe was completely and utterly free. Or so she thought.

Josephine's smile faltered as she stepped into the sitting room. Even though the fire roar, a chill filled the room and creeped into her veins, freezing her feet to the spot. Her eyes fell upon a man, a man of rough and vulgar nature. The exact man she had hoped to get away from.

My, how Fate, you work in mysterious ways….

Cruz sat himself down, and his frozen limbs ached in despair. He muttered a halfhearted thanks to Alfred, making an unspoken snide comment about being welcomed. Sure.

He shut his eyes and shut out the strangers. What he cared about more, for now at least, was himself and what lay ahead. Sure the house was warm, the host let him in. But this was all a simple game, you see– once the word spreads, like a virus, the fear sets in and they kick him out or shoot if he's lucky. The problem is, he's too quick. Life'd be a lot more convenient if he was dead.
Can't hold debts on a dead man.

Ooo! Good idea!
Well, im going to bed yall.. Goodnight!!)

Angeline hesitated, fear flickering across her features for a brief second. How much was she safe to say in front of this crowd? How safe was she if she withheld information? She stifled a wince of pain as the fingers of her other hands were dunked in the warm water, weighing out her options. Finally, she selected a simple, barely yielding answer.
"My employer did not provide for the journey, miss."

Another man had entered the room– where were all these people coming from? Had she walked in on some sort of dinner party?

Taila glanced up at Angeline. How could someone not provide their servant with clothes in which to travel in the cold? She was about to ask such a question when a another snow leaden guest arrived within the room. Followed only seconds later by a youthful woman. "My goodness," she said softly, eyebrows raising above her blue eyes. "Quite the party." She said grinning at Angeline.

Cruz rested his head back on the cushion of the couch, chasing a fleeting doze. There was too many people around. Strange, as he had a knack for passing out in crowds.
Oh, right. With the help of alcohol, of course.
He licked his cracked lips, being greeted with a prickly burning sensation in response. The scruffy man grimaced.

Angeline nodded, her anxious smile faltering for a second when she registered how packed the room was with strangers. “Are they expected here? I mean, do you know if they have been invited?” she inquired politely, worried she’d crashed somebody’s celebration.

Talia considered for a moment, gazing up at the newcomers from the corner of her eye. "I think not." She murmured to the young girl, pulling out her hand and wrapping it as well. The group within the room was too mismatched and odd for the lady of the house to have invited them. "Weary travelers I would think." She continued, brushing off her rich skirts as she stood.

Angeline nodded, staring down at her hands for a moment before looking greatfully up at Talia. “Thank you, miss, is there anything I can do to repay you?” Whatever money she had in her possession was tucked into the threadbare bag hanging at her hip, but there wasn’t much. She could always pay in servitude, though.

Alfred shut out the horrid chill as he closed the door and Olivia took inventory of their new guests. Her eyes trailed along the women and lingered on the men. That recent on in particular looked a bit too sketchy for her comfort. She'd keep an close eye on him. She crossed the room and stood before the young miss, Talia, and the woman she helped. "Thank you so much for tending to her." She placed a grateful hand on Talia's shoulder and turned her brown gaze to the woman. She was hardly dressed for the weather traveled in. "Hello, I'm Lady Olivia Whitcomb."

Josephine took a seat in the farthest corner, her eyes trained on Cruz. His eyes were closed. He didn't know she was even here. With a slight sigh of relief she wracked her mind with ways of escaped. But, there was no way she would make it to town through the snow….maybe she could leave as soon as the snow let up.

Yes, Josephine decided as she crossed one leg over the other, shedding her hat, gloves, and coat. Even if he does know I'm here, he can't control me with all these people around.

To Josephine's relief, the Spaniard started to quietly snore. Luckily, that meant a semipermanent docility. At least until the gruff man was to wake back up.