The house her cousins had given her for use in England was a little too large for Nina’s liking. And the wallpaper too dark. When the dancer woke in the middle of the night, pushed to the waking world by nightmares of selfish acts, she did not like the feeling of house.
It was unsettling. Nina turned over in the bed, face buried in her pillow. But something tickled her cheek. Even in the dark, she knew the texture of the feather.
She burned an oil lamp and held the feather to the light. White this time… Her brow furrowed in confusion.
***
Dear Victoria,
How are things at home. Hopefully not too busy. The dance studio has been harsh. Englanders seem more rigid about a woman traveling alone and I overheard one of the dancers whisper my bicycle was ‘immoral.’ I love your country but I do have some adapting to do I daresay.
I hope this is not too troubling but I wanted to see if you could perhaps visit me this evening. I know it is short notice. But, you see, I have a
bit of a predicament.serious problem. I cannot lie to you. We have been friends to long for me to do so. Remember how I wrote to you of the feathers I sometimes find everywhere? Well…I think I would like to finally explain it to you.If you cannot make it I will understand. And if you are too afraid…I also understand. But I do not know who else to turn to, Victoria. I am alone here.
Apologizing for the speedy deliver and urgent tone.
Love,
Nina
PS- I have enclosed one of the feathers to prove I am not…bonkers…
Victoria stared up at the cloudy, grey sky from her bedroom window and let out a sigh. For some odd reason, everything seemed gloomier than usual today. Strangely, nothing unpleasant or unusual had been going on around the house. Quite the opposite, actually. Victor had been much happier with his new job illustrating for a lepidoptery journal and working at home brought him more spare time to spend with Victoria. On top of that, the weather had been improving greatly in the past few weeks and that allowed Victoria to spend more time tending to her garden or out on the dock with a good book. Today, there was a change in the weather. The wind was much gustier and colder and the the skies seemed to be nothing but grey clouds without a single crack of sunlight. Aside from this, Victoria felt this unexplained sort of melancholy. She felt as if something very drastic was going to happen. But she was uncertain as to what it was.
Not too long ago, Victoria had received a letter from her dearest friend, Nina, a dedicated dancer from America who had moved to England with her cousins. The two got along on a very good start and had been friends for quite some time now. They found the time to write to each other daily and saw each other as often as they could what with Nina being busy at her dance studio.
She opened the letter and began to read it. As she neared towards the end, something inside of her trembled greatly. She’d been shaken with this sort of worry- the same sort of worry she felt when Victor had been pulled away from her. What had been going on with her dearest friend? It seemed like a sort of personal matter, but she also seemed rather frightened at the same time.Whatever reason it was that Nina had found herself in a troublesome situation, Victoria was determined to find out and help her friend. This was a desperate time and she needed her.
With that, Victoria began writing a note to let Victor know where she was and why she was in such a hurry and left it on her dressing table. She hurried out of her bedroom, downstairs, and out the door. She called for their driver, Thomas to prepare the carriage. It didn’t exactly take him seconds, but he didn’t take too long either.
After telling him to go to Nina’s house as soon as he possibly can, Victoria hastily got into the carriage. This certainly wasn’t the most ladylike way to get into a carriage, but she was in no time to think of propriety. As the carriage drove off, Victoria stared out her window pondering the letter. Nina’s house wasn’t too very far away from the Van Dort residence and she’d arrive somewhat quickly, but Victoria still couldn’t shake the feeling that she might arrive too late to help her. She buried her face in her hands as her thoughts raced thinking of the worst possible things that could happen. What if this was something dreadful? What if she had already been hurt badly? What could the feathers possibly do with it? So many questions danced in her head.
The carriage pulled up in front of Nina’s house and Victoria took a deep breath, trying to swallow all the fears she had inside of her. She stepped down from the carriage and approached Nina’s home. She knocked on the door several times.
“Nina?” she called out.
Her heart skipped a beat. No answer.
A little louder this time. “Nina!?”
Victoria waited patiently for him to write out the note and read it as he handed to her. Truth be told, this wasn’t the fastest way to communicate, but she was courteous to whatever reason he was unable to speak. And besides, she was used to passing notes.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you likewise, Caine,” she replied. “Well…….I was raised by an upper class family, but despite what they may say, I’m not one to look down on others for their social status”.
Caine grinned happily. Good! People are people, no matter what. Deciding maybe just to try it, he said with hand motions,
“Do you know sign language?”
Wasn’t gonna kill anyone to try, right? For him, it was quicker. But most people didn’t understand, explaining why he always had a notepad and pen. Plus, he was always afraid of running out of paper or ink. That’s when he was totally silent, and it scared him a little. To not be able to be heard.
It looked as if he was trying to tell her something through sign language. Victoria had read about sign language before in books, but she had never taken the time to learn it as interesting a skill as it was. She did wish she did at the moment since it seemed like a more efficient way to communicate for him.
She shook her head. “I’m terribly sorry, but I’m afraid I can’t understand sign language”.
Ah, so he could hear very well, but he couldn’t speak? Perhaps there was some kind of traumatic incident or goodness knows, a curse even. It all seemed possible considering all the magical folk she’d met in the past years. However, there was a slight chance that this was all due to something very personal and although he seemed extremely happy and ready to answer with anything, she didn’t want to be rude and bring up anything entirely too painful.
“All right then,” Victoria returned the smile and nodded. “I’m terribly sorry for all the confusion. My name is Victoria Van Dort. How do you do?”
Caine silently laughed again, finding amusement in how properly she spoke. He’d never actually met someone who seemed to be so important before, and it really didn’t feel any different than meeting any other person; New, exciting and a learning experience. He nodded and smiled brightly, meaning he was doing just fine. He didn’t know if having to read notes to be able to talk with him was beginning to get annoying, but he also wasn’t sure if she knew sign language. Not many people did. The next note,
“I’m Caine. Nice to meet you, Victoria. You seem very high-class!”
Victoria waited patiently for him to write out the note and read it as he handed to her. Truth be told, this wasn’t the fastest way to communicate, but she was courteous to whatever reason he was unable to speak. And besides, she was used to passing notes.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you likewise, Caine,” she replied. “Well…….I was raised by an upper class family, but despite what they may say, I’m not one to look down on others for their social status”.
The boy could quickly tell she was a lady who seemed very proper, so he offered a polite, friendly smile. He took out a small notebook from his pocket, along with a pen, and began writing. He passed the pad over to her once he was done. The paper read,
“Hello, ma’am. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?”
Victoria smiled back at the friendly-looking young man. She wondered why he wrote her a note down instead of speaking directly to her. Victoria recalled passing notes in secrecy to Hildergarde whenever she was lonely and her parents were around to possibly scold her for speaking to a “common servant”. Perhaps the poor boy was deaf or mute? If he couldn’t hear at all, she’d have to write what she was going to say down. She very politely reached her right hand out for the pen and pointed to his ears with her left hand as if to gesture whether or not he could hear her and if not, she could have the pen to write down what she was going to say to him.
It took him a moment for him to pick up on what she was suggesting. When he did, he silently laughed and nodded. He wrote down his next message, which said,
“I can here, talk all you like!”
He then gestured to his throat, trying to tell her he couldn’t speak. Though he was still smiling, still had that warmth in his eyes. It seemed rather obvious that he didn’t care much for the subject; You could ask him all the questions you’d like about him being mute, and he’d just answer without a second thought. There’s no reason to be sad, since he can still do what mostly everyone else can anyway!
Ah, so he could hear very well, but he couldn’t speak? Perhaps there was some kind of traumatic incident or goodness knows, a curse even. It all seemed possible considering all the magical folk she’d met in the past years. However, there was a slight chance that this was all due to something very personal and although he seemed extremely happy and ready to answer with anything, she didn’t want to be rude and bring up anything entirely too painful.
“All right then,” Victoria returned the smile and nodded. “I’m terribly sorry for all the confusion. My name is Victoria Van Dort. How do you do?”
The boy could quickly tell she was a lady who seemed very proper, so he offered a polite, friendly smile. He took out a small notebook from his pocket, along with a pen, and began writing. He passed the pad over to her once he was done. The paper read,
“Hello, ma’am. May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?”
Victoria smiled back at the friendly-looking young man. She wondered why he wrote her a note down instead of speaking directly to her. Victoria recalled passing notes in secrecy to Hildergarde whenever she was lonely and her parents were around to possibly scold her for speaking to a “common servant”. Perhaps the poor boy was deaf or mute? If he couldn’t hear at all, she’d have to write what she was going to say down. She very politely reached her right hand out for the pen and pointed to his ears with her left hand as if to gesture whether or not he could hear her and if not, she could have the pen to write down what she was going to say to him.
Oh my~ Hatter, in his usual routine of greeting newcomers, bows deeply, his hat taken off with his right hand and brought across his body as he went down. On the way back up, he put his hat back on and nodded, “Hello there~ Who might you be?”
Victoria curtsied politely to the eccentric-looking hatter. He did indeed look a little strange, but who’s to say he had bad intentions? After all, the dead certainly did look frightening at first glance, but were all very friendly from what Victor had told her. And this hatter seemed to also be rather friendly and well-mannered as well.
“Hello,” Victoria gave him a shy smile. “My name is Victoria, Victoria Van Dort. How do you do?”
Victoria gasped at the sudden voice from behind and turned around to see where it was coming from. She raised an eyebrow and gave the peculiar cat a curious look. How on Earth did a talking cat wind up on a tree in her garden?
“Ummm…hello there,” she greeted it, slightly unnerved.
Victoria gasped and stared curiously at the peculiar young girl with cat ears and a tail. This didn’t shock her or surprise her as much as it did fill her with morbid curiosity on what kind of a place she came from. She’d met so many people with peculiar powers and whatnot from equally peculiar places. It wouldn’t hurt to say hello to her.
“Hello,” Victoria greeted the cat-eared young miss softly, seeing as she seemed a bit frightened. “My name is Victoria, Victoria Van Dort. How do you do? And you are…?”
Amber but a hand to her head and mewled at the large amount of English. It gave her a headache, trying to understand her proper language, so she just meowed,
“Is Amber, nya… Speak little human words, nya…”
Her tail tip flicked from side to side as she got a handle on herself again. She meowed something, though it sounded a bit more like a whine.
Victoria paused. Ah, so she wasn’t too familiar with the English language. She wondered what kind of language she spoke in her country. Did everybody else there have cat ears and a tail or at least some kind of animal ears? So many questions danced in her head, but she figured it would be impolite to bombard her with so many questions all at once. Especially if she couldn’t understand so many words too well.
She spoke at a very slow pace, hoping she would understand better, “Ah, I see. I am sorry. I did not know. It is nice to meet you, Amber”.
I’m so sorry, everybody! I’ve been neglecting Victoria for what’s it been? A month now? I’ve just been so lazy and screwing around on my personal mainly. Well, I’m going to try to be more active now and keep up and running. I’ll get to everybody I owe as soon as I can. Feel free to RP with me, if you want.
-Rose
“M-mew..?”
Amber’s ears folded back and her tail twitched anxiously, but she didn’t run. It was just a new person, and she was naturally scared. But still curious.
“You is, n-nya..?”
Victoria gasped and stared curiously at the peculiar young girl with cat ears and a tail. This didn’t shock her or surprise her as much as it did fill her with morbid curiosity on what kind of a place she came from. She’d met so many people with peculiar powers and whatnot from equally peculiar places. It wouldn’t hurt to say hello to her.
“Hello,” Victoria greeted the cat-eared young miss softly, seeing as she seemed a bit frightened. “My name is Victoria, Victoria Van Dort. How do you do? And you are…?”
