[center][h2][color=0054a6]Witch[/color][/h2]
[i]Level 1 (0/10 EXP)
Location: Meridi-at-Han
Word Count: 844 (2 exp gained)[/i]
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The city shone so brightly, like a jewel amidst the wildlands. Every wall, every edifice, was a fresh tableau of brilliant colors to bewitch the unwary eye. Any one of them alone could have been called a work of art, and taken together they became something overwhelming, a thousand-hued kaleidoscope that might leave travelers dizzy and gasping for breath beneath the unrelenting sun. This was a place of wonder, a place of luster: dancers and flowers in the streets, music and crowds and exotic scents, a dozen fresh pleasures whichever way one turned. No shadow could exist here, no place untouched by the light, for Meridi-at-Han did not permit such things.

One could be forgiven for being taken in by this illusion, so impressive was the facade.

The truth was, shadows never really went away. They just hid themselves out of sight in cracks and dark corners, down tiny back-alleys and hidden passageways. There were markets where the merchants traded meat and bone and gristle, and would shoot you dark looks if you ever asked where it all came from. There were dim and smoke-filled rooms where figures half obscured would haggle over prices, where stolen and forbidden goods could change hands a dozen times in the span of an hour. Weapons, poisons, tomes imbued with dark and malicious magics: in such shadowed places one could find the heart's every wicked desire. Even the great Meridi-at-Han could not but tolerate the vermin scurrying about its crannies, so long as all remained safely out of sight, away from the naive eyes of its numberless citizens and guests.

So it was that things most foul could find their way, time and time again, into the heart of the rainbow city. How else to explain the presence of that slight young woman, who slipped silently through the bustling crowds like a black fish through riverbed murk? Here was a shadow, sickly pale and dark of hair, entirely at odds with the beautiful metropolis all around her.

She should have stood out like a rook among songbirds, but very few gazes lingered on her for long. After all, who'd ever want to waste their time looking at such a strange and gloomy little thing, when an array of vibrant views awaited at every other angle? Maybe a few would turn their heads her way out of sheer curiosity, only to quickly avert their eyes as a chill crawled down their spines. Many would look instead to the looming figure that shambled a half-dozen paces behind her, covered from head to toe by a dirty and ragged cloak. A vile stench oozed out from underneath its hood, and the crowds parted in disgust before it, seeking refuge in the safety of their sweet incense odors.

The Witch didn't much mind the smell. It seemed a pleasant thing to her, a reassuring reminder of what she was and would one day become. She raised her head a little and took a long sniff at the air, breathed in the sweetness and the rot alike. Something else was there too, a foreign and intriguing scent that tickled at the inside of her skull.

A slow smile crept across the girl's lips. [color=0054a6]"So there are nightmares even in a place like this."[/color] Gaudy Meridi-at-Han, so confident in its own glory, even while horror festered in broad daylight upon its streets. Now that she knew, the Witch couldn't [i]not[/i] go and take a look—the taste of darkness was irresistible to her. The fact that it might be dangerous, that horror and death might await her down this path, only made the lure all the more tantalizing in her eyes.

[color=0054a6]"Come. Let's see if this leads me somewhere interesting."[/color]

Her quiet footsteps turned a sharp corner, and the cloaked figure followed behind her like a dog. She didn't need to stop and ask for directions; intuition led her on as surely as any compass. Just as she'd wormed her way into the shadows of this towering city, so too did the Witch slither easily into the Grimm Troupe's waiting audience, close enough to get a clear look at what had piqued her curiosity.

[color=0054a6][i]...A circus?[/i][/color] Her blue eyes widened in surprise. Why would anyone pitch a circus tent here, of all places? This entire town was nothing but an oversized big top, the colors stripped off the tent and layered over the countless buildings. Dancers and acrobats walked the streets, and the rest of the people did a fine job playing the part of trained animals. So much joy, so much life... And all of it so dull. She could only hope these new arrivals would put on a better show.

Perhaps she ought to give them a little help? The thought made her smile again, and hum a soft tune to herself as she slowly ambled among the gathering spectators. Her gaze roved this way and that in search of an opportunity—a way to slip unnoticed among those wagons, where she could poke about the Troupe's dark secrets as she pleased.