_mintymel

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?)) Melody took a seat, quite jittery, shuffling about on the cushion. Where to start? "Well . . . ," she hesitated, ". . . my name is Melody. I'm new to this world -- to this town, I mean." The young elf was crumbling under the sharp gaze of the woman. It was just a sweet old lady! What was there to be afraid of? "I'm here because I want a new start, to feel something. To experience danger, friendships, more. I want to be part of a community, to rise with the sun in a blaze of glory and settle at night with lingering excitement. I know I can survive here, I know there's more to all this." She took a deep breath and finally maintained firm eye contact with the elderly lady before her. Whipping her head, she shook stray stands out of her face. It was like she was new person in the space of a few moments. Confident, fierce, and somehow brooding. Like there was more to the story than she let on. Melody left home because her previous homeland was destroyed, and it forced her to move on. Now, she spends her days roaming different empires and lands, seeking refuge. She wants somewhere to call home, wants to form bonds. She is also somewhat of a troublemaker, getting up to no good, being a bad influence. Perhaps that is another reason why her homeland crumbled . . . was she the cause?? How, you may I ask, could she have been the cause? Simple. Melody hated how things were run. Corrupt leaders, cruel laws. It was all so impossibly strict! And as a troublemaker, she often had run-ins with law. So she stirred people up! Organising, whispering, pushing. She helped stir up a rebellion, or rather, was the cause of it. However, when the violence began, she wasn't ready for how far it would go. The uprising turned into chaos. Factions split. Executions began. The people she tried to free were crushed in the fallout. Melody wanted change, but instead she was given annihilation. Tragic.