PragmaticJester

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?)) Vanessa looked around the place curiously as she saw the floating candles. She wasn't accustomed to such things and wondered if replicating them in some way might make her performances more lively. As she began to be addressed, she turned her full attention to the hag. It was hard for her to see through the mask in the candlelight. She tilted her head in both an attempt to get a better look at the hag, striking an exaggerated quizzical pose as she did so. "Isn't it obvious? Why, I came here to entertain!" Vanessa's voice betrayed the doubt in her heart and mind. "At least... That's what I hope to do. I travel with my cousin as a performing duo, we're sun and moon themed, twin harlequins-- it's a whole thing." As she prattled on, Vanessa slouched her shoulders as she settled into a more relaxed position. "She should be here, soon enough... My cousin, I mean. We escaped home together but... hm..." She considered for a moment whether or not to unload her worries onto this stranger in a dingy town in a dingier tent, but she didn't exactly have much to lose. "I can't help but wonder how my mother is doing. For as crushing her expectations of me were and how restricted my freedom was under her care, I miss her... even if it felt like a part of my soul died each day I stayed with her, I miss her..." She seemed to deflate a bit as a whirlwind of mixed emotions flooded her mind at the thought of her mother. She grasped at the side of her head as she shook it from side to side, as if to banish the thoughts from her mind. "Ah, hearing about my issues with my mother probably wasn't what you were wanting to hear! So I shall instead tell you of my family, of House Kingsley. My father came from a line of warriors. Deciding to follow family tradition, he died in battle before he could ever see me grow up-- nor did my mother ever bear a second child. There were efforts to raise the status of the House through marriage, but neither my cousin Adeline nor I were fans of that. And so, we left! Left to regain freedom that was taken from us for a House that didn't exactly care about us in the first place." She produces a crumpled flower from some unseen pocket in the folds of her poofy bottoms and offers it to the hag with a bow. "I hope that satiates your curiosity, madam."