Players:
Summary: Some secrets should not be kept, despite our best judgment to the contrary. Jill tries to lie about it, but Kalindi promises to keep it a secret anyway.
Date: March 10, 2012
Log Title: Promise of Silence
Rating: G
Romania - Tower - Top Floor
Grandeur is one word that can be used to describe the rectangular room. A large crystal and gold chandelier hangs from the middle of the high ceiling with long white tapered candles that always stay lit without ever needing to be replaced. Four smaller chandeliers hang from each corner to provide more light and accent the larger one. The high ceiling is nothing shy of magnificent, with gilded molding to accent to the white designs and intricate patterns that almost give it layers.
The walls are all white with golden trip and design which accents the ceiling. A large mirror with a grandiose gilded frame sits above a magnificent marble fireplace that is always lit with a comforting fire, which provides the perfect amount of warmth. Two large couches sit around a marble topped tabled and a few chairs sit on the sides of the couches to be pulled up around the table. On the mantle of the fireplace is a clock that doesn't seem to work, a few small statues and candelabras.
Across from the large fireplace are two large glass doors that lead out to a balcony which hangs over a large water fall. Looking down it's easy to tell the tower is high up in the air and there is at least five hundred feet between the balcony and bottom of the waterfall. The red moon can be seen in the night sky shining down on the tower as it seems to be perpetually night.
Along one side wall two mirrors hang with gilded frames and in front of each is table a with lit candelabra in the center to help provide the brightness in the room. In between the mirrors is large painting of an old fashioned, pale looking male with dark hair and a pale face that hangs over an elegant lit fireplace. On the opposite wall it is covered will books from floor to ceiling along with a small rolling ladder attached to the shelves to reach the harder to find books. It seems like almost any book you wish to read is there.
Two large doors sit on each side of the large fireplace with mirrors set into their doors. One door leads to the hallway where the bed chambers are and the other to the bathroom. The bathroom has a large circular tub built into the floor with many taps around it that provide bubbles, scents and water in the perfect temperature. Golden lamps hang from the walls and there are fluffy towels off to the sides.
Kalindi sits in one of the chairs, keeping perfect posture, dark eyes scanning over the pages of a book. More like a tome, really, as it looks like it is positively ancient, not bearing any kind of title on the exterior and having yellowed pages. The young woman seems quite interested in the book, only shifting every once in awhile to adjust her skirts. While she is aware of access to modern clothing she has still picked a more regal outfit, a royal purple and elaborate dress.
With a more modern sensibility, Jill has chosen to eschew the fabulous finery of the 19th century and before. Fashionably pre-distressed blue jeans complete with straight-from-the-factory rips in the knees, black Converse All-Stars with painted on flames, and a heather grey fitted t-shirt with the clever slogan 'I Eat Boys' above a red heart silk-screened to look like fresh dripping paint, or some other red fluid. Her wardrobe came, apparently, entirely from the clearance rack at Hot Topic. "Kalindi?" the blonde girl asks tentatively, hands clasped behind her back as she exits the washroom. "Is that… is that the book he gave you?"
Kalindi glances up from the book when her name is spoken, blinking a few times in the manner of someone who has not stopped reading for an extended period of times. She smiles slightly at the question and says, "My time with it might be limited. It is best that I am remembering what it says, yes?" She looks at the page for a moment and then closes it, resting her hands on the cover.
"You didn't even look up when I walked by the first time," Jill says sheepishly, digging the toe of her sneaker into the plush Persian rug. "I didn't wanna disturb you. You seemed kinda… into it. Sophie told me he gave you something. And… and he gave her back her eyes, but only for two days." She glances toward the wing of suites and her voice drops in volume. "It's probably already… I mean, I don't know what even counts for a day around here. I stopped trying to keep track of time. Seemed kinda pointless."
Kalindi shrugs lightly and says, "I am very much into it. This is, well, it is magic, and it seems like it is the kind of magic that I am able to use. Many many times, I get things that I cannot use, and I can only sell to others." She sighs and then nods, "Sophie's eyes were healed for a little bit of time, yes… It seems that gifts, there are many many gifts that he is using to tempt." She tilts her head slightly and then says, "So what is his manipulation for you?"
Jill's mouth works uncertainly for a moment. "N-nothing," she says evasively, eyes averted. Quickly she adds, "I mean, he gave me the Stradivarius violin that Evelyn asked for, but, y'know, I don't think… it's not like I'd get to keep it or anything. Not for real, right?"
"If you were chosen, perhaps…" says Kalindi, pursing her lips lightly, "Perhaps you would be able to keep such a thing. Now that I know who our host is, I know why this place is threaded so strongly with magical forces. He is powerful." She considers that for a moment and then says, "He told me to ask you… what would become of anyone who is not chosen?"
"Yeah, it kinda all makes sense now, doesn't it. We're in Castlevania." The blonde girl's eyes drop, but she rolls her shoulders and turns her head to pretend to look at the decorative gold-leaf work on the walls. "He said… umm, he hadn't decided yet. But that-" Jill cuts herself off quickly. "But that he would. Eventually," she finishes, sucking on her bottom lip.
Kalindi watches Jill for a moment and she says mildly, "Please do not tell me lies. Where I have lived most of my life, since I was a little girl, lies are one of the worst things a person can do. It is not something I can do, and I do not want it done to me." She feels the cover of the book lightly and then shrugs, "I think you know more than what it is you are saying."
Jill frets, alternating between squeezing her arms across her stomach and brushing strands of hair nervously from her eyes. Several times she starts to speak but stops before she can truly start. She really can't lie very well. With a sound like a sigh and a groan, her shoulders sags. "You… you have to promise me. Promise me you won't tell the others. It's not… It's not something I want them to know yet."
Kalindi inclines her head and says, neutrally, "You have my promise, unless you tell me the promise is no longer needed and will be dissolved. I cannot break my word, so you can trust that I will not."
The blonde girl is hesitant for a few moments more. "Okay," she says, but doesn't relax very much. She takes a seat in one of the reading chairs, knees pressed tightly together and gripping them with both hands. "Okay," Jill says again, steeling herself and collecting her thoughts. "He… he offered me a deal. And the more I think about it, the more I'm thinking… I might take it." She swallows hard, eyes on her shoes instead of Kalindi. "If I do, there's a good chance everybody could go free."
Kali tenses slightly when Jill says that she was offered a deal, and she says, "What was it that he has offered you? You have to understand, that any deal a sorcerer of his strength could offer… well, you must be very very careful."
"It's…" Jill frowns and bobs her head uncertainly. "He said that if his son, Geoffrey, marries me, then everyone else could go free. Unharmed and everything. Just…" Her fingers twitter like something scattered in the air. "Poof. Go home. But if I took the deal and he *didn't* pick me, then… I'd have to stay anyway. And marry him. Dracula. But that everyone else would still get to go home."
Kalindi licks her lips lightly and considers the words calmly for a few moments, folding her hands together, "And then if you do not take the deal, then… there are no guarantees, I will guess." She frowns and then nods, "It seems that Dracula has taken some interest in you. That is interesting… And what of you, if you do not take the deal? No guarantees for you either?"
Jill nods, teeth pressed down tightly to bite her lower lip. "He said… if I didn't agree, I wouldn't even know what happened to everyone else. 'Their fate,' he said. And that… that didn't sound good. For anybody." Her fingers lace and she squeezes both hands between her knees, hunching forward under the great weight pressed upon her. "But see? If I do, and then I can get Geoffrey to agree to it, then everybody goes free." A pause and a grim correction. "Almost everybody, whichever way it goes. Which is better than nobody."
"Almost everyone, yes… but sometimes if you give someone one solution, then they might stop thinking about others," says Kalindi, considering that for a moment and peering down towards her book, "This means that… either he does very very much want to keep you, or he is not fond of other alternatives that you could do and you have not taken…" She tilts her head back and forth, "I think it is best, very much best, if everyone who wants to leave this place, can."
"It's not my first choice either. I don't wanna stay here. I don't wanna get married and frankly Geoffrey doesn't either," Jill shoots back, a little testily. "But Rashmi keeps going on about how her boyfriend's gonna come rescue her. And, well… if I hedge my bets on it, I can stall for a while. Say I'm still thinking it over, for as long as I can, in the hope that she's right and it won't come down to… this." Her hand lift limply then falls back to her knee. "Kind of a… a backup plan, I guess. An emergency backup plan."
"I imagine… if I were to place bets, that I would think that my girlfriend has contacted my father by now. If she has, then she too may have power at her disposal. More than that, I will not say, because I do not know if the walls have ears…" says Kalindi, frowning for a moment. "I did not think it to be your first choice, just an alternative given to you. But… you will not be having to do that, if those on the outside act as Rashmi predicts, or as I predict. I know that Rashmi is a woman with many powerful friends. She is a dangerous woman for those who would harm her." She shrugs at that lightly. "For now… I will take advantage of my gift, as it might help us sometime in the future."
Jill releases the grip on her knees and sinks back into the chair, slouching down weakly. "I'll… I'll give it some time. As much as I can, but, y'know… it's an option. Not a good one, but it's still an option if nobody comes for us. I wish I could tell time so I could know how long it's been, or going to be, before I have to." She sighs, head rolling to the side to give Kalindi's gift a hard look. "You sure that thing's not, like, booby-trapped or something? I still don't know much about how real magic works."
Kalindi nods at Jill and says, "I will not tell anyone that it is an option. It is an option that I do not want to take. You should not be so coerced into such things, and I find it to be unacceptable." She then looks at the tome and then tilts her head slightly, "Well… it is likely all magic that he knows. And if he knows all of the magic, then he will be able to recognize and reverse many of the things…"
"That's why I didn't want you to tell anybody else. It's a last resort and… they'd try to stop me, even if I'd do it for their own good." The blonde girl crosses her legs and she picks distractedly at the laces of her shoes. The laces, too, have little pictures of flames on them. Jill sighs. "So, like, there's probably nothing in there you could use to break us out or, I dunno, conjure up garlic and holy water? That's… unfortunate. Not really surprising, though."
"All of the spells in this book are enhancement magics, which in my experience, are the only real magics I've ever been able to work. It is a good place to begin. So these things, they can provide more strength or speed or things like this, but they cannot create things…" explains Kalindi, shaking her head, "But a reversal of these kinds of spell… this is what prevents us from working our abilities, be it mutant or magic…"
"So you do buffs," Jill comments with a bit of MMO lingo, resting her chin in the palm of one hand. "But not creating stuff out of thin air or, like, fireballs and lightning bolts and stuff." She scoots up in her chair. "And he's the one debuffing the rest of us. I guess… I guess it doesn't matter much anyway. Even if I still had my mutant power, it wouldn't do any good. I'm not- *wasn't* very high on the list of powerful mutants. I was just slime."
Kalindi shrugs lightly. "It is something that we might have been able to use under different circumstances. And, ah, if different circumstances give me a chance, I might be able to, what is it you say? Buff us?" Kalindi tilts her head lightly and considers, "Or remove these, ah, debuffs? I have not heard these words before."
"Oh, umm," breathes Jill sheepishly. "It's a video game term. A buff is something that gives a temporary bonus. Like you said, to speed, or strength, or whatever. A debuff is the opposite, making your character weaker or making them unable to use their abilities." Her shoulders squeeze together and she looks embarrassed. "It seemed appropriate."
Kalindi tilts her head slightly and then says, "Ah, I see. I do not play video games, so I have no heard the word before, I am sorry." She nods once and then shrugs lightly, "I guess it is a little bit the same thing."
"It's kind of funny," supposes Jill with a smirk. Her eyes wander to the ceiling. "To think that video games actually do represent magic realistically." As if remembering something, she ducks her head a little and makes as if to stand. "Oh, umm, sorry, you probably want to read as much of that as you can while you've got it. I didn't mean to, like, interrupt you or anything. It might come in handy and I'd hate to be the one, y'know, responsible for making you miss something… important… I guess," she babbles.
Kalindi shrugs and says, "Many types of storytelling are based on something… the reality is sometimes close to the fiction because of that." She considers for a moment and then looks down to the book and shakes her head, "I will return to reading it when our conversation concludes, whether you leave or I leave, but for now I am not frustrated at the company. Speaking to people will sometimes give ideas and new informations, yes?"
Jill shakes her head, paused midway in the motion of standing up. "I don't… think I have any ideas that could help. I already told you everything *I* know. I got offered a deal, an' Rashmi's waiting on a rescue party. Geoffrey doesn't really seem all that interested in getting married but his father's making him do it anyway. He actually seems kinda…" Slowly the blonde girl lowers herself back into her chair. "He seems kinda nice, really. Like he's sorry this is all happening."
Kalindi shrugs and then says, "You do not have to have ideas to give ideas. It is a strange thing with ideas, yes?" She smiles lightly at her own joke, considering it, before she nods and says, "I agree. He seems to be very much reluctant about this whole idea. Not very fond of settling down and having a marriage…"
"Well, neither am I," Jill scoffs. "I'm only sixteen, after all. … Maybe seventeen, depending on if time really passes here or not. My birthday's February 25th, so if it does, then I'm probably seventeen now." She blows out a breath and waves a hand flippantly. "And he's seventy-something but he looks, like, eighteen. Bit of an age difference. Regardless, I'm not too keen on the idea."
"I think that time does indeed pass here," says Kalindi, looking out, "Though sometimes it does not seem to. Perhaps it passes differently, but it certainly passes. And no, I am not very fond of settling down yet myself, and if it was, it would be with my girlfriend and not with some man who I barely even know…"
Jill leans forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "Then if time is passing, I guess we gotta assume it's passing at the same rate as back home. Which means we've been here for…" She pauses, eyes rolling up with the effort of mental calculation. Finally she just shakes her head and exhales despondently. "I don't know. I tried to keep track but the clocks don't work and there's no sunrise or sunset to tell one day from another. Weeks, maybe. A month. Who can tell?" Another disheartened exhales escapes her. "Is she nice? Your girlfriend? I mean, I guess she is or you wouldn't be with her, but… tell me about her. Tell me anything."
Kalindi nods at Jill and says, "Yes, I think that much time has passed on the outside. Maybe a month or so, yes…" She sighs and shakes her head, "But that means they may be closer to finding us, yes? We will not give up hope for that, and we will not continue working." She pauses for a moment, considering the latter question, "She is nice. She is strong and she is sweet, very prideful and she does not listen to me sometimes, but I care for her very much."
"You… you don't know the kind of resources my school has. I mean, seriously. They've got *all kinds* of tricks up their sleeves. And if even they haven't found us by now…" Jill lets the logical conclusion of that remained unstated, if still clearly implied. "You must miss her a lot. I miss my mother. Well, really she's my great-aunt, but… well, y'know, I wish she at least knew I was okay."
"Oh, yes, I miss her very much… I would very much just like to be home and having a nice dinner with her, that would be very satisfying to me," says Kalindi, nodding slowly at that and sighing softly, "I miss being home. I would also very much like it if I could practice my martial arts here somehow."
Jill fidgets, tapping her fingertips together in sequence, a little coordination game. "I don't think I can help you with that. I'm not very… not much of a fighter. We have to take self-defense classes, but I'm not very good." Exhaling slowly through her nose, Jill tries to smile at Kalindi, like it was a joke. It was not terribly funny, nor is the smile entirely convincing. "I was… gonna try writing a letter home, see if he'd let me send it. Assuming I didn't try to tell them anything about where we are and stuff. I don't think he'd let me send it if I did. You could write a letter too, to let her know you're okay. Well, alive, at least."
"It is fine," says Kalindi, nodding once, "I am… eh, I am very very good. I am not a good sorceress, but I am a good fighter, yes?" She smiles slightly at that, though it doesn't touch her eyes, and then she says, "A letter seems like it would be a good idea. If you succeed in sending a letter out, then I will request the same… I think it would be a good thing, I would want to ask for a dictionary. My English is not so good."
"Oh!" Jill brightens. "You could do that already! I mean, you can, like, ask for anything you want. Like the only reason we had all those old dresses and stuff is 'cause nobody asked for anything else. Then I did, and…" The blonde girl gestures at her clothes. While not the height of fashion, or even good taste, they are decidedly 21st century. "So just ask Igor if he can get you a dictionary. There's nothing, like, sinister about it. You can't use a dictionary to try and escape or anything. I'm sure they'd give you one."
Kalindi chuckles softly and says, "Oh, I do not think it would be hard to get a dictionary right now, no. I should ask anyways, but it would only help me very much if I am writing a letter. Pages in these kinds of book that I am reading, they are very rarely English. I speak an otherworldly tongue, and it helps me to get through such things."
"Oh," says Jill, sounding a little deflated. "Well… I think it's probably safe to say I don't speak whatever language that's written in." Frowning but shrugging it away, she pulls herself up by the armrests of the chair and gets to her feet slowly. "I'm, uh, gonna go get something to eat. It's still kinda inconvenient for me, having to eat all the time. I didn't used to have to…" Awkwardly, she stands there a moment, not seeming to know what to do with herself. "If you still wanna, y'know… I'll, umm, I'll just be in my room, okay?"
Kalindi nods at Jill, opening the book to where it was open before and she says, "Enjoy eating, even if it is an inconvenience. I think there are nice flavours that will come with it. I will see you later." Kalindi smiles and then looks down to the pages in front of her.
Before she goes, Jill pauses, glancing around the room and down the wing toward the guest suites. "And, umm, remember what we talked about… and your promise, okay?" She fidgets, pulling at the hem of her t-shirt. "I won't… If you were worried, I won't do anything about it. Not right away. I'll give everyone some more time so maybe it won't have to come to that. As much time as I can, okay?"
"I cannot break a promise," says Kalindi, nodding once and looking up quite seriously, "I will carry what you said to the grave if it comes to that, but I will suggest you tell sooner or later."
"Later," Jill agrees, bobbing her head. "It's… y'know, it's a last resort. If everything else fails, I think I'd rather see some of us go home… than none of us." Eyes lowered, the blonde girl turns and walks slowly back to the guest wing, leaving Kalindi to her reading.
