buffigybeans

Your character has just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As they look around, their gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. They duck and step into a tattered tent, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the tent, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town? She begins, then pauses to study your face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.”

((How do you respond?))

A look of distaste is cast about the dingy room, growing particularly intense as the woman's eyes fall upon the mildewy cushion. "I think I'll stand," she remarks. Once she's confirmed to herself that there are no rats or cockroaches about to skuttle up her skirts, Corrine clears her throat a little and lifts her chin, trying to maintain an air of dignity. "You must know my name, since you've been expecting me. Do you know my family, then? We were illustrious back in the day. We still are, but..." The woman seems to catch herself saying something she hadn't meant to and redirects with a small hair flip. "Well... I have a duty to my house. To myself."

She pauses, taking a moment to scrutinize the crone across from her. There's a flicker of disdain in her eyes that she can't quite hide, as though considering whether the elder peasant is indeed deserving of the truth. "My father is dying," she finally says, resigning herself to the situation. "He hasn't said, but I'm certain he intends to leave the bulk of his inheritance to my younger brother Remy, who will squander it like he always does. The only chance to keep that from happening, and perhaps even elevate our house to glory, is for me to prove to Father that I should be his heir."

Over the coarse of her story, the woman grows increasingly passionate, her hand rising to press to her decolletage and her gaze gleaming intensely. As her voice dies down, so too does her fervor. She even appears subtly sheepish at the amount of emotion she'd allowed to bleed into her speech. With a schooling of her expression back into affectation, Corrine lifts her chin. "Satisfied?"

Backstory: Corrine belongs to the House of Alard, a house of upperclass commoners. Growing up alongside her elder brother Damien (NPC) and younger brother Remy (NPC), she was sheltered from the reality that their insignificant house has long been in shambles. Her mother passed during Remy's birth, so the siblings were raised by their father. Although the man's standing steadily declined with the status of his house, he retained the dignified principles of his station; demanding perfection of his three children. Damien was always the most responsible and accomplished, but his generosity and good nature was at odds with his father's cutthroat mentality, so he quickly fell out of favor. Remy, on the other hand, always knew exactly how to manipulate his father. Despite being a rake and a hedonist with no mind for fiscal responsibility, he puts on a perfect act around his father, mirroring the man's views and values in order to stay in his good graces. For that reason, he was always their father's favorite.

Corrine, being the only daughter, was cherished for her resemblance to her mother. She was spoiled and treated as a princess, but as she aged, her father continued to see her as his little girl, and never as the woman she was growing up to be. That was never much of an issue for her, until her father's health took a dive. Once the man became bedridden, it became clear that their wealth is not as great as he'd made it out to seem. Corrine discovered that she has practically no dowry. Marriage seems to be off the table, considering no men of her station who aren't old and withered would consider taking her for a wife. This has left her in quite a predicament, as she's certain her cut of the pie will be nothing in comparison to what Remy will get when their father dies. Thus, the siblings have all entered into an inheritance war - Damien continuing his work to grow his own fortune and show their father that he is worth more than the old man will admit, Remy drinking and sleeping his way through every brothel with careless confidence that he will be the heir to their family's small fortune, and Corrine forced to leave her world of comfort to make something of herself and win her father's favor, lest she become a penniless spinster.