Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class: 
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Feb 28, 2023 9:19:18 GMT 9
Valentine found it a pleasant surprise to find herself paired with not just any new Trainer, but a friendly face to boot! It felt like she was finally getting to know other people in here, find her own place in the game's world! And the other girl--Rina, was it--seemed nice enough before, so that was certainly a boon as well.
"Hello there! Yeah, I think we are!" Valentine smiled a little at the thought.
"So, I think we're supposed to go three blocks north... from the Professor's place... then turn right? Except I think I lost count of the blocks, and I keep second-guessing whether I'm even going north... you'd think having a built-in GPS would fix that, and yet." Valentine laughed a little at her own joke. "And yet!"
Was her sense of direction always this bad? Maybe she was just nervous because she wanted to get the tutorial done with, or because she felt obligated to the Professor despite knowing full well that the Professor was just code in the end...
Celastrina Nestlewood |
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Feb 14, 2023 11:49:25 GMT 9
"Yeah, it's the first Pokemon I've hatched in here! Another milestone, I guess, heh! Who'd've guessed we both had Flabebe eggs, with all they could've hatched into?" Valentine wasn't even sure how much limit there was on what you could get from eggs in here. Was it any Pokemon? What about legendaries? Or genderless ones that didn't even lay eggs normally, for that matter? Surely the game designers had decided on some sort of cut off for that... but if so, Valentine didn't know any of the details...
"And no, I haven't decided yet... support seems like kind of the natural choice, doesn't it, for something so small and cute? But then, sometimes it's fun to have Pokemon be in classes you might not expect, too. I don't think too many people would expect my Wooper to be Sweeper class, but that's what makes it so amusing! What about you? Have you made that decision yet?"
Valentine was looking forward to unleashing her Wooper on an opponent one of these days. A proper opponent, that is, not just a wild Pokemon. Watching it zoom around like a proper Sweeper would certainly be a sight to enjoy.
diva |
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Feb 14, 2023 11:40:57 GMT 9
"Um..."
It took Valentine a moment to decide on her response. She felt new to the game still, certainly, and she knew that there was plenty of lore she was still missing out on, plenty of events that had happened before she had given in to nostalgia and curiosity and given the game a try. But on the other hand, she'd gotten over a dozen Pokemon along the way already, and she was making some progress on the whole upgrades side of things too, and she didn't really feel like it was fair to call herself a newbie at this point.
"It's been a little bit. Uh-" Another moment of hesitation, as Valentine decided to sum up her experience in the game chronologically, only to half-forget how time itself worked as she went through her memories of the game. "A couple months now, I think? Though I'm not the most dedicated player, either, I'm sure I've missed out on some stuff here and there. Though I did notice how stuff's being added still, which is always nice to see!"
pawbrey pawtini |
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Feb 13, 2023 13:57:38 GMT 9
Valentine really liked the idea of a council... but it seemed like she was the only one who did, or at least who was willing to vote for such an option directly. And while Valentine could be something of an idealist, she was still practical enough to recognize that her own handful of votes wasn't nearly enough to beat the votes inadvertently cast for the princess, let alone what the rest of the players chose. And anything had to be better than the princess winning and the land descending into a dream-turned-nightmare again... well, almost anything...
But while some who had sought the throne had made self-serving speeches about what they'd do with the power and how they'd lord over the land just like the nobles had lorded over Servants like Valentine previously, only one candidate nominated so far had recognized the hairiness of the situation, acknowledged that it was difficult to be sure how to proceed or whether to trust any one person, and even seemed open to the idea of ceding power to a council if that was what the people decided in the end. The idea of someone who would listen to the people, no matter their title, was certainly something that appealed greatly to Valentine.
...plus, she liked that, rather than trying to manipulate the delusion that still permeated their minds into supporting them outright, this particular candidate had changed the delusion only to make it fairer. If they were going to keep messing with the dream reality like this, which was a big "if", that seemed like about the best way to do it.
Valentine didn't have a big speech prepared to back up her thoughts this time, though. It didn't seem like she really needed one, either. Her speeches before hadn't proven particularly effective, so why put the extra effort into crafting each and every word perfectly? What mattered more than anything was her voting, and Valentine had finally reached a decision.
"I like what Ruby has to say. Protecting peace, fighting corruption, uplifting the worthy, making sure all people have a voice... these are lofty goals. It may be too much to accomplish in practice, but that doesn't mean it's not worth trying. And I appreciate having a potential King who doesn't take their own fitness to the throne for granted, also." A brief pause as Valentine pulled up a memory, buried not by delusion this time but by the simple passage of time. "I think it was one of those Narnia books that said something about, the best leader isn't sure that they'll be a good leader? Because then they're not overconfident, or something?"
Valentine shook her head, as if to clear her thoughts with the motion alone.
"And Ruby's right, we don't have much time here. We can discuss the possibility of a council, or other co-ruling stuff, later. For now... I vote Ruby. We need a leader that's here to serve, not just to grab power, and it sounds like she might be the best we've got in that regard."
FAVOR: 2 | Influence: 6
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Feb 13, 2023 5:39:42 GMT 9
Valentine, like Diva, was annoyed at the Nobles leading the charge again, and how Servants weren't even eligible to rule in the first place, and how she had had quite enough of being lorded over by Nobles for one lifetime already before seeing another one crowned King... though as neither Valentine nor Diva were speaking up about it, neither would know that there was at least one other like-minded Servant in the fray.
While Valentine didn't speak up about that issue, however, she wasn't afraid to speak her mind about another opinion of hers.
"Look." A little of Valentine's frustration was audible in the tone of just that one word, more than she had really intended to let others know about. Valentine took a deep breath, slowly let it out, and tried again.
"Look, everybody, you keep pointing to the same issue about what if someone can't be reached, what if someone can't handle the responsibility along with their real-life stuff, all that jazz. And I completely agree that that's an issue! But instead of using that as a reason to nominate this or that NPC or pseudo-NPC... why not just prevent the issue altogether by making more than one ruler hold the power in the first place?"
Valentine took another breath before continuing, trying to push back against the frown that seemed determined to land on her face. "After all, even if one person doesn't log off of the game, they can still be incapacitated in other ways. That's what happened to the King and Prince before, after all. They were NPCs, too. What makes your NPC immune when literal legendary Pokemon weren't? Sleep, unconsciousness, death, they can still happen to any one person we choose. That's why we need a Council, or at least co-rulers or something. Maybe having every single person we've nominated thus far on the Council would be a bit much--it's true that too many rulers can be an issue, and some might not even want to be on the Council in the first place--but we need more than a single point of failure here. We need a system that's prepared in case somebody tries to take it down again, or else we'll just end up right back where we were earlier this evening. Or worse, even. And I don't think any of us want that to happen again, do we?"
FAVOR: 2 | Influence: 6
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Feb 12, 2023 3:45:38 GMT 9
There was a lot to consider here, especially since Valentine still didn't know most of the other players here all that well. She still felt like a little bit of an outsider... though that feeling lessened when somebody else nominated her beloved Lady Wynne for King. Somebody else thought Lady Wynne was as valuable and trustworthy as she did, how wonderful!
...but was that really what was best for the kingdom?
After some pondering, Valentine spoke up.
"...I like the idea of a Council. It would help ensure that the power isn't all in the hands of somebody who can't be trusted with it, one way or another. Plus, it avoids any issues if the lone King can't be reached for any reason. Maybe everybody we've nominated could be on the Council, at least to start out--at least one person here must think they're deserving of power since they got nominated in the first place, right? And between the King, the Prince, the Princess--or not-Princess, or, or whatever she is--and Lady Wynne here, plus everybody else of course, the Council would have plenty of Pokemon with enough firepower to defend the kingdom if need be. Four Legendaries working together should be enough to hold off just about any threat, right? And I'm not just saying that because one of them's mine!"
Valentine paused for a moment before adding, in a lighter tone of voice, "As for living arrangements, the Dream Palace seems to have plenty of room to spare, so I'd imagine any Council members who wanted to live there, or just have a space of their own there, could do so, right? Worst case, we can just make the palace bigger if we need to!"
FAVOR: 2 | Influence: 6
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Feb 9, 2023 10:49:58 GMT 9
Everybody was moving so quickly.
A few people were trying to revive the king and prince, performing first aid as best they could under the circumstances. Others were spreading Ć̶̨ö̶͖́r̸̻͝r̸̰͑u̵͈̅p̷̝͌t̸̲̀i̴̗͒o̷̓͜n̶̰̽. Yet others were busy turning night to day, turning an area that had been cold as death now as warm as sitting next to the fireplace, maybe that neat gas-lit fireplace they had at home where there was no wood, no ash, just flame and heat and beauty, like all the Kindlers were doing now...
At home. Where was home, anyway?
Valentine wasn't sure. Valentine's head was still throbbing, and her mind struggling to put together the pieces, to figure out which voice mattered. Though every voice mattered in their own way, of course... it was more, which were true and right, and which were just seeking to better themselves...
But wasn't that always the problem, with people's voices? Some people would always act to serve themselves, to screw others over for their own good.
Valentine didn't want to be one of them.
There were fewer voices now, compared to- compared to before. (Trying to remember the details just made Valentine's head hurt more.) People were being silenced, their own bodies turned against them, falling to the ground from fatigue or just unconsciousness, or fading from reality altogether... though part of Valentine wasn't sure those were really people to begin with, but she'd rather err on the side of giving them the benefit of the doubt...
There was only so much Valentine could do, she knew that. She wasn't formally part of that... WhiteCayge coalition, was it? Whatever that meant. And she could tell a lot was going over her head here. She didn't know why the seeds Furrlicity Purrfection planted were messing with people, or why Tuesday was listing off Pokemon in a voice that made it clear she was pissed, or what the whole deal with Birchwild was...
(Wasn't Birchwild a place? A nice little forest, where she had gone for Pokemon, gone to find friends? But no, that didn't make sense, not given the context, not as one faction on what had been a bloody battlefield...)
Valentine was, by her own admission, something of a bit player here.
But she was okay with that. A bit player was still a player. Any kind of player was better than the voice--still lingering, still permeating her mind--that told her she was nothing, that her only use was in helping others, that she had to take abuse with a silent smile. Any kind of player could still make a difference in this world.
She was a player, and she was ready to play.
The fighters were preparing for action, but the princess was still gone from the area, hidden away. And if they were going to get anywhere here, if they were going to really tell that sorry little voice in the back of their head who was the boss of them, that needed to change.
Valentine's first thought was to do something, anything, to bring the princess here, to make her justify herself in front of the others-
<It's too late.>
Well, that wasn't going to work. But Valentine wasn't giving up that easily. Not this time. Not with Lady Wynne by her side, with her wry smile and soft pink fur and- okay, so Lady Wynne was really a Pokemon, not a human, her true form glimmering through the delusion now. That was something to work through too. Later.
There was only so much time.
Where was the princess now, anyway? Still back in her perfect little castle?
Only one way to find out.
One little change. That was all she could do, weak as she was. Hopefully it would be enough...
The gate reappeared, stark and brutal. How had its cold metal ever seemed enticing?
But even more importantly, the door was open now, and beyond it, glimmers of another realm were visible. A familiar realm.
Valentine let out a laugh from shock. Part of her hadn't believed that she could do it, even after seeing others manage so much more. She hadn't trusted in her own power. She hadn't thought she could really change a thing, that she had any power of her own at all.
But she had done it. She had done what she could to help, to fix things, at least a little bit.
Now she just had to see whether it was enough to turn the tide.
3
FAVOR: 2 | Influence: 5 | Time: 16
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Feb 2, 2023 12:09:49 GMT 9
Count Hedgemon didn't seem the slightest bit phased by Valentine's poison, and that should have been a good thing, right? Another ally found, no addition to her worries about poison gone awry? So then why did some part of Valentine feel vaguely... disappointed?
And the banquet that she had been tending to was entirely gone now, replaced with the clanging of weapons and the beginning of bloodshed, and while it was nice to have all the pretense stripped away, both the battlefield itself and the sudden, unpredictable change it signified left Valentine feeling almost as sick as if she had been the one poisoned.
She trusted her fellow servants, to a point, but they were starting to pick sides now in a battle that Valentine was only just beginning to understand.
And the princess just stood there, seemingly untouched by the chaos around her...
Before she could think better of it, Valentine started running towards the princess at breakneck speed.
She wasn't sure what she'd do when she got there, really. Part of her wanted to slap the princess in her smug serene face. Part of her wanted to kneel at her feet and beg forgiveness for whatever it was she must have done wrong. Most of her wanted to yell and scream and ask for all to hear what was going on, what had gone wrong, why wasn't the princess doing anything about it all, was this her idea or-
But Valentine didn't get the chance to find out what she'd end up doing when she reached the princess, because she was stopped before she got the chance.
<You won't.>
Valentine paused for a moment, then tried moving more slowly towards the princess, finding that she could only get so close before the message popped up again to block her.
<You won't.>
So the princess was no help. Either she was powerless to fix the chaos unfolding, powerless to save the lives of those around her, or she wanted this to happen. Neither possibility was terribly reassuring.
Valentine ran again to the one other [POKEMON] person she could trust, and thankfully, no message barred the way as she barreled toward her beloved Lady Wynne.
Valentine embraced her Lady in a tight hug, and for a moment she thought she saw something tiny and pink in the Lady's place, a Pokemon that was small but held incredible power, soft and warm... and then it was just her Lady again, beautiful and kind as ever.
Only after the hug had already lasted several seconds did Valentine realize, belatedly, that a noble and a servant hugging was... probably frowned upon here.
Valentine broke her embrace, sadly, and shot her Lady a sheepish grin. She glanced around the battlefield briefly, but it was hard to be sure if anybody had noticed them, if anybody was silently judging them.
Time, perhaps, to break that silence.
"Servant or noble, we all deserve the same respect, don't we? It shouldn't matter so long as our principles remain intact. Like Orion-" Duke Orion, part of Valentine whispered, but the part of her that was beginning to awaken once more didn't care. "I care for this land, and for the people in it, no matter what their position. Lady Wynne stands by me on this-"
A quick glance, a tight nod.
"Let the only blood we shed today be that of those who have brought this chaos to this world to begin with, whether they be servant, noble, or even the princess herself! And let the rest of us band together to make it so!"
Lady Wynne reached for Valentine's hand, and Valentine lifted their clasped hands into the air.
Would anybody heed the words of a simple servant and work together despite their differences even in the middle of a blood-stained battlefield?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. Only time would tell.
But at least this way, she could at least say that she tried.
FAVOR: +2 | INFLUENCE: 5 | TIME: 35
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Jan 31, 2023 8:38:39 GMT 9
...maybe it had been foolishness on her part, or willful ignorance, but part of Valentine hadn't been expecting her poison to actually work.
Twice she had used poison before, and twice the noble who downed it had been unharmed, proving their value in the most direct way they could. Such a poisoning attempt had even led Valentine to her beloved Lady Wynne, who she hadn't remembered because... because...
Because there were still things she wasn't quite remembering, weren't there? And she had taken that for granted, just like she had taken for granted that it wouldn't really matter if her poison was lethal or non-lethal, because it would just help her find allies anyway. But now Lord Entailor was dead, killed by her own hand, and yes it meant that the poison affected him but was that really a guarantee that he had been a bad guy after all?
Was it just her imagination, or were some of the people whom other servants had tried and failed to poison the same people who were smiling all the wider as the world around them shifted in fits and starts?
And now there was no royal ball, not even a dueling ground. Now this was war, and the surroundings showed it, all fanciful beauty dissolved into the grim truth of the battlefield. It felt right, in a way, because clearly they had been fighting all along, but... but Valentine still wasn't sure what she was fighting for, or even whose side she should be on.
Maybe the pennants meant more than she had imagined. Maybe the forest wasn't just a thing of beauty after all.
Maybe it meant something that she had killed a man in cold blood. And for what? For him looking askance at somebody else, somebody she didn't even know for certain was an ally? For a crush, perhaps. Or even if it was something darker, something cruder--was that really deserving of death?
And why was there some small part of her that didn't seem to see all these deaths as real, anyway? Nobles were dropping like flies around her, and she wasn't nearly as concerned as she should have been about that fact... it was just nobles dying now, but how long would that last, when they all thought servants were the scum of the earth anyway?
Valentine retreated back to what she knew, to what she could truly take for granted. She was... herself. More or less. She could trust herself, at any rate. And she was pretty sure she could trust Lady Wynne, and the princess. (But what if the two were at odds? Valentine shuddered and hoped such a thing would not come to pass.)
And actions spoke louder than words. Kindness perhaps could not be fully trusted, could easily be hiding poison beneath its sweetness, but cruelty spoke for itself.
This time, Valentine wasn't even the servant who was being abused. (And that was what it was, wasn't it? Abuse? When the nobles treated them as mere animals, or worse?) This time, it was somebody else who ended up berated for tripping and falling on their way back to the party they were serving. But it could just as easily have been Valentine herself, she knew.
An enemy to one servant was an enemy to them all.
And so Valentine served the bespectacled Count Hedgemon of Greentuft with a smile, and hoped that when the battle broke out, he would be too busy with his own bodily needs to use that crossbow of his against those who mattered.
Even if Valentine wasn't quite sure who really mattered anymore.
(Attempting to non-lethally poison guest #22)
FAVOR: +2 | INFLUENCE: 5 | TIME: 17
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Jan 30, 2023 8:08:52 GMT 9
Valentine blinked a few times before responding, the other Trainer's voice reminding her with a start that she wasn't alone.
"Yeah! Yeah, all's good here... great, actually. What a little cutie! I think I'll call you..."
Valentine hesitated for a moment and thought over her options. Names were an important thing, after all. Even if her own had been chosen on a lark.
Hey, that gave her an idea...
"Lark? Or- Larkspur, but Lark for short? Larkspurs are a kind of flower, I think--fitting, isn't it?"
The newborn Pokemon was still taking in her surroundings, but Valentine chose to take the Flabebe's smile as an agreement.
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Jan 30, 2023 8:05:18 GMT 9
"Oh, I got them from that florist NPC... Hank, I think his name is? He's got a flower shop right here in Briarbane!"
Valentine laughed a little at Pawbrey's joke, though her laughter was a little shaky. She didn't read it as flirting, or as intimidation (though Logan did know a few guys who might live up to the promise if you pissed them off enough)... just another old line that might have been funny once, but grew stale with overuse.
"I go by Valentine." It was an unusual name, and Logan was still a little self-conscious about claiming it as his name in-game... but hey, when Valentine's new friend was named Pawbrey, neither of them had room to complain, right? Valentine took Pawbrey's hand and shook it, hoping her own wasn't too sweaty.
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Jan 30, 2023 7:14:01 GMT 9
Valentine barely even noticed as the banners changed around her; one set of fanciful banners was little different than another to her, though others might have been able to realize the truth that hid behind their new insignia. And while she noticed the hall turning into the forest, here too she failed to grasp any larger meaning, only delighting in the beauty to be found in her new surroundings. What manmade hall could compare to the beauty offered up by nature, after all? Why wouldn't the princess want to marvel in the most beautiful setting that the world had to offer?
But when the hall became a dueling hall... well, frankly, things began to make a little more sense in Valentine's mind.
No wonder that so many nobles, including her beloved Lady Wynne, had brought weapons to what had initially seemed to be a royal banquet. They weren't idiots who had dressed inappropriately for the occasion; no, they were geniuses, prophets even, who knew what was to come, knew that the battle that had been simmering under the surface for so long was now to rise up and lead to actual bloodshed.
And this, too, explained why the poison hadn't worked on Lady Wynne, or the other noble with the big sword. They were loyal to the princess, after all. The princess knew what she was doing here. Those loyal to her would survive their duels, and those who were only pretending to care for her... well, they would be more vulnerable.
But duels weren't the only way to dispose of the impostors, either...
It was easiest to pick off those who were on the edges. Lord Entailor of the Broad Way was on his own, though he kept shooting furtive glances at Lady Pepper as she charmed the crowd. Was it a simple, innocent crush on his part? Or a desire to eliminate a competitor, one who had no means to do him harm in turn?
His weaponry was formidable. If he went into a duel with the wrong person, he could cause some serious harm. Valentine wouldn't stand for that. Nobody loyal to the princess should have to face death or disfigurement just to prove their mettle. Maybe Lord Entailor was loyal. If he was, the poison she'd slipped into his canapes wouldn't cause him any trouble at all. If not... well, he wouldn't be causing anybody else any trouble ever again.
Valentine was silent and smiling as she presented the Lord with his doctored food.
She was beginning to remember why she loved this job so much.
(Attempting to lethally poison #4)
FAVOR: +2 | INFLUENCE: 4 | TIME: 15
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Jan 24, 2023 13:36:47 GMT 9
Words hovered over the head of the sword-wielding noble that Valentine had tried to poison, thouh nobody but her seemed to pay them any mind.
<Target invalid.>
What did that...
And then, before the thought had even finished, Valentine put together the pieces.
Some people could be poisoned, and some weren't valid targets for it. Some people were meant to be here, and others were vile imposters. This, then, must have been what CLAW had been suggesting. The real nobles wouldn't be affected by poison, right? Being felled by something like that would be beneath them, naturally enough. So she and the other servants just had to root out the imposters and dispose of them, one way or another, so that the real nobles would get the best possible service and the princess wouldn't risk any undue harm by those who didn't belong.
And that must be why she'd seen other servants scurrying by with the dead body of a noble in tow. The thought of it was almost soothing. There weren't any real murderers on the loose, just herself and the other servants. And the only people that would get hurt were the pretenders, not anybody important. Not even the servants themselves, unimportant though she knew they were in the greater scheme of things.
The next time some ignorant noble--or, more likely, some ignorant fraud pretending to be a noble--nearly decked her with a weapon, Valentine didn't even hesitate. It was for the best. Either an imposter would be uncovered, or maybe she would find another real noble, someone who might actually be trusted. (As much as you could trust any noble, anyway.)
And that hammer looked even more dangerous than the sword had been. That could do some real damage! And the bit on the end almost looked like a crown--was that noble trying to impinge on the princess' royal symbol there? Valentine wasn't going to stand for that!
(What was with all these people dressing like they were ready for a duel, anyway? It was a party, not a battlefield!)
<Target invalid.>
When the words showed up again this time, Valentine almost felt disappointed... until new words took their place.
<MEW <WYNNE> identified!>
Wynne... yes, she knew that Pokemon... Pokemon? No, person, obviously. She knew that person. Lady Wynne of the Tour des Minettes... how did she forget? How could she forget?
Without even thinking, Valentine found herself on her knees, prostrated before the noble who was so dear to her.
"My liege... will you ever forgive me?"
Luckily, when Valentine deigned to make eye contact with Lady Wynne once more, the Lady's dark eyes were sparkling with kindness... and were those tears she saw?
FAVOR: +2 | INFLUENCE: 2 | TIME: 35
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Jan 24, 2023 9:55:16 GMT 9
<Pokemon now in range!>
The pop-up startled Valentine, and a handful of half-formed thoughts came to mind before she shook her head to clear her mind. It was an error, perhaps, nothing more. She didn't need to worry about Pokemon, not now. All she had to worry about was taking care of the guests.
Taking good care of them...
Which was why CLAW's note to her scared her more than anything. What kind of a servant did this CLAW person think she was? She was here to help, here to serve the princess, not... not that, certainly.
But as the guests mingled and Valentine started her rounds, the thought kept coming back to her that maybe CLAW was onto something. Dishonest nobles couldn't be trusted, not around real nobles, not around the princess. Something had to be done to figure out who really belonged here and who was just pretending. Besides, the fewer nobles she had to serve at once, the better service she could give to those that remained, which was especially important when the servants were so outnumbered...
She wouldn't do anything drastic, of course. She didn't want to really hurt anyone. But a night spent huddled around the toilet wouldn't hurt anything but some idiot's ambition. No real harm done there, and if it prevented the princess from coming to harm, from being deceived by these intruders... well, nobody had to know, right?
As the event went on, Valentine could feel her objections to the act slipping away in between nobles looking at her like a distasteful piece of furniture, being ordered around by shouts and snaps, and getting yelled at for things that were absolutely not her fault. One jerk with a sword nearly knocked over her tray of drinks and just laughed when Valentine flinched away, and that was it. Valentine wasn't going to hesitate.
The next drink she served to that sword-bearing jerk was served with a smile, and with a little something extra added to it, and Valentine couldn't bring herself to regret it.
After all, didn't she know swords were dangerous? Really, she should have known better...
09ZEYVL51-4
FAVOR: 2 | INFLUENCE: 1 | TIME: 21
(To be clear: nonlethally poisoning #9 here) 1-4 |
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Valentine
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Soldier, Poet, King
Player Character
Posts: 186
Trainer Class:
Player Name: Logan Denman
OOC Username: Haberdasher
Arena Points: 60
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Post by Valentine on Jan 23, 2023 8:11:47 GMT 9
Logan almost forgot about the event he had signed up for at the last minute, truth be told, and it takes a bit of last-minute scrambling for him to log in to the game at the right time, approach the Precipice in all of its strange glory and wait for things to unfold.
What would he have to face there?
Or, perhaps more to the point, what would Valentine have to face there?
Because it was Valentine standing before the Precipice now, Valentine whose nostrils filled with the sweet, almost sickly scent of lavender in the air. A pretty scent, but at first, she pays it little mind.
The NPC, too, is noticed by Valentine, but not her main focus. She doesn't really know who that was supposed to be, or what the significance of the connection to the "Creed" there was. Brushing up on game lore beforehand might have been a good idea, but the warning that popped up upon just thinking about logging out was enough to assure Logan that it was too late now. Nothing left but to keep moving forward...
> Select Partner (1)
Valentine had to think about her response to the prompt. She didn't want to leave any of her Pokemon behind, really, but only three were seriously considered as possible companions for the dungeon. Nova was always sweet, and the Rowlet had a special place in her heart as a starter Pokemon. Grim was... a character, and Valentine did like watching the Weavile carry out his shenanigans. But as Valentine looked through her box, she hovered over one of her newer acquisitions and knew the choice would be a simple one.
She had a Legendary Pokemon now. Mew, no less, which had been a favorite of hers for years. And it didn't hurt that the Pokemon had a cute, upbeat name ("Wynne" sounding like "win" wasn't just a coincidence, after all), or that her aesthetic matched Valentine's own closely. Valentine didn't know Wynne that well yet, but what better time than now to get to know the Mew?
Valentine's own flowers still bloomed around her--she had no other subclass yet, though gaining a second one was certainly a goal for the future--but their scent was lost to the wind, overpowered by the lavender around. It felt right, though, her flowers and those flowers almost seeming to join forces. It was a warm feeling, a comfortable feeling...
...and Valentine let out a yawn, and Logan wondered briefly if he should have sneaked in a power nap before all this...
The gates opened wide, and Valentine stepped through, smiling, ready-
What was that noise? Where had it come from--it couldn't really have been inside her head, could it?
And wait, where was Wynne... what was happening...?
Her mind was... was... why was it so hard to think...?
And then she blinked, and it passed, and she knew who she was again. She was a servant here, of course, in uniform to prove it. Who else would she be?
(The old her hadn't put up much of a fight. Logan barely knew who he was, after all, and Valentine was still learning the same. He, and she, both fragile identities were easily overpowered by the force that took hold of their mind as if it were their own.)
The brief thought of a missing companion was easily dismissed. Why would anybody be here to help her? That wasn't how the system worked. Nobody needed to help her--she was the one who helped others! She was a servant, and she was here to help, here to serve, as best she could...
And servant Valentine noticed with a grin that she already had a Favor to her name, so she must already be doing something right!
FAVOR: 1 | ? | ?
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