Completed As if nobody's watching [Madeira Craven]

[Madeira Dusk]

"Mh-hm' Madeira hummed quellingly after had Penny launched to her own defence. Well, Madeira wasn't about to pretend that it wasn't creepy, to think of the dark eyed woman lurking in bushes and spying on intimate moments. But to be fair Madeira had done much worse. She had Lied to ghosts, pretending to be the very lovers they were intimate with.

She thought of poor dead Catherine and shuddered.

Unable to bend to pick up the book (at least not with grace) Madeira flipped through the sketchbook with the end of her cane. Drawings of flowers, odd focuses in an otherwise featureless crowed, and people posed so perfectly they could only be statues dominated the book. As well as a pretty, long haired cat that seemed to be the star of many pages.

“These are lovely”, she murmured.

Though Madeira typically found no special interest in art, she could recognize a burgeoning talent in the rough drawings.

She closed the book with a nudge of her cane and sighed. The night was dark and the Fall breeze was cold on her clammy face. The Spiritist wanted nothing more that to go home to her Kelvic and their menagerie. She wanted to lie in bed next to her warm hyena and listen to Emma having hushed, one sided conversations with the tiger head mounted on the wall. She wanted to poke a few treats through Bird’s cage and have him coo appreciatively at her. She'd even take Jomi’s rancorous interruptions, because even that annoyance had started to feel like home.

Trouble was, she had been in such a panic to find the wayward Roger that she had not been paying attention to her surroundings. She wasn’t sure she would be able to find her way out. Suddenly home felt very, very far away. And she was already so tired...

“So, Penny", she ground the heel of her hand into her red rimmed eye, trying to massage out the brewing headache. "Do you happen to know the way out?”

word count: 337

[Penny Noor]

Hearing the judgemental “hmmm” stung a little but Penny was just about sure that her newfound acquaintance had no log to stand on - both figuratively and literally. For however creepy Penny’s actions were, the other had done worse just in the last bell; pretending to be a ghost’s cheating husband’s mistress and all that. Those little details to not be forgotten. If Madeira was going to make a y other snarky comments Penny was already preparing a whole load of insults she could fling her way. How surprised was she to hear compliments instead of judgement?

She muttered a quiet thank you and pretended to pay it little more attention than that. For the youth any complement was important as she saw her own art less than perfect in spite of the deep conviction of her own talent. Perhaps an overestimation of her own talent indeed.

She was growing tired herself. Although Penny was so very used to pulling all nighters at this point, it was so much easier to stay up when her mind was so focused on drawing or something else so very important that time flew by without making itself known. The moment her mind found a splinter of freedom it would cry out for bed.

"Do you happen to know the way out?”

“No one truly knows the way out.” replied Penny. “The garden is like the rest of Alvadas. The pathways change. We can keep walking in the direction we came from but that is more likely to lose us. That’s why this is handy.”

The artist walked over, picking up her sketchbook from the ground and opening it to the last page she filled with florals and foliage. A couple of fresh herbs were stuck to it. Her bag contained more. She’d rip one of them off, twirling it in her fingers for Madeira to see. “If we find this we’ve found the first piece of the puzzle home. This one’s always in the same place, always. Although sometimes it’s hidden. Last time I came here I almost walked straight past it as it grew directly beneath a hedge.”

Penny pocketed the pesky plant only to look back at Madeira. “You look tired. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help than that. Hey, if it’s any consolation I’m pretty tired myself. Don’t know if you’ve experienced it but being possessed really takes it out of you.” she laughed, trying to make the best of the situation. Of course she had no doubt that Madeira was a veteran of these things. Of course she estimated the woman to be some kind of master of spiritism, the exact details of which she had no knowledge of. It wasn’t her intention to lecture but to perhaps cheer the woman up with a bad joke or two.

[Madeira Dusk]

Madeira smiled indulgently, but could quite work up any humour for her new acquaintance's bad joke. That little note about the herb, though, was much more interesting. Madeira avoided the Garden of No Return like the plague if she could help it. While not being an outdoorsy girl at the best of times, what solidified her intense dislike for the maze was an episode years ago where she had stumbled inside as a
child and spent a several days hopelessly lost. The fact that there was any way at all to tell where an exit was, however slight, was a welcome relief.

"Okay, well, I for one refuse to spend the night here. Lets see if we can beat the maze before dawn." She motioned Penny forward and made her heavy, lopsided way towards the nearest arch.

As soon as they passed under the arch, all sound stopped. The happily bubbling fountain, the whispering breeze, it all seemed to be muffled by the tall impregnable hedge. The thin strip of sky above them shone down meagre starlight to light their way. And in the darkness the oppressive silence and the tangled plants felt sinister.

The Spiritist, an expert in death, decay and all things that went bump
in the night, was shocked to find herself spooked.

She spoke to beat back the silence and calm her bemusingly quivering nerves.

"Your sketchbook was full of plants and things." she said into the blank awkwardness of forced smalltalk. "You must be in the maze often. I can't imagine why. I hate this place." she waved a hand at the oppressive walls as if their mere existence validated her opinion. “I'm not much of an adventurer. Give me a crumbling, haunted ruin over the wilderness any day."

word counter: 294

[Penny Noor]

Once outside the arch Penny looked around for anything she could find that looked even a little familiar. She even reverted back to her sketchbook a few times but in the gloomy darkness it was hard to make out anything. Truly anything at all. And so, not wanting to seem like she couldn't back up her words Penny chose a direction at random and beckoned Madeira to follow looking like she had this all figured out whilst inside she trusted Ionu to get them out in one peace.

“I’d come with you to a ruin, as long as it’s not haunted. I’ve had enough ghosts for one lifetime but her, if I shall die and return as a spooky spooky lady I’ll knock on your door. How about that.” she laughed, hoping the jollyness in her voice would cover up the fact that they were indeed lost.

“I do come here often indeed. The garden makes for a good drawing subject. There's always something new, something exciting. Maybe on the outside plants all look the same but when you look closer,” she reached out and snagged a leaf off of the nearest hedge as they walked past and rubbed it in her fingers before holding it up to where the glow of the moon could hit the ridges and veins. “ they’re all different. They’re all unique, you see? But I shan’t bore you with that stuff.”

They walked beneath another arch to a place where two pathways crossed and to thank their lucky stars, Penny could just about spot the Large peach tree she passed on many occasions in the distance. It’s fruit still pink and sweet smelling as always. She ran up to the tree and placed a hand on the bark just to make sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her and then hastily waved Madeira over. “We’re close. This way.”

As they carried on their way Penny ripped a peach off the lowest hanging branch, bruising the fruit with the slightest touch of her fingers before passing it to the Spiritist and taking another one for herself. “They’re really tasty. I wouldn't recommend eating anything in this garden if you’re not entirely sure what it is, but the peaches are good.”

[Madeira Dusk]

Madeira listened silently as Penny expounded on the qualities of the maze. The girl was quite a talker. But while the Spiritist would typically find this to be a very negative personality trait, with Penny it was oddly relaxing. It took the weight of conversation off her shoulders, and she found herself listening with interest as the woman explained her passions and entertained her with silly nonsense.

And with her bubbly voice, her insistence that every one of the creepy, rustling plants was unique and referring to her own hypothetical ghost as a 'spooky spooky lady', Madeira felt her spirits lighten. She smiled at the ground, watching for the sticks and stones that threatened to trip her.

“You have an artists mind, Penny. I don’t stop to see such beauty small things- like the veins of a leaf. Not many people do, I’ll bet.”

In time a tree loomed out of the darkness, it's leaves rustling in the breeze like it was crowned in beetles. Penny seemed to take heart at the sight of it, and announced that they were close. With a slim, long fingered hand she plucked a heavy fruit from a low hanging branch and passed it to Madeira.

"They’re really tasty." she said jovially "I wouldn't recommend eating anything in this garden if you’re not entirely sure what it is, but the peaches are good.”"

Madeira took the fruit with a word of thanks. And when she bit into the offered peach she was not altogether surprised to find that the fruit was actually a thin fuzzy skin over a sticky bread pudding. If every wilderness had bread pudding trees, maybe she would be cut out as an adventurer after all. She ate the squishy dessert with relish, imagining her body was pulling sustaining energy out of the strange fruit.

“Is it just my imagination, or are the hedges thinning?” she motioned to the walls around them. Sure enough, the path was slowly getting wider, and the walls were becoming more tame and cut back. A sweet smell, different from the peaches, was wafting towards them. With a start Madeira recognized the smell of wet stone and dust. It smelled like civilization.

Following the scent, Madeira hobbled along as fast as she could. She could see reflections of the stars in the dewy grass, flowers as large as umbrellas bloomed in their wake, but she wasted no time to stop and look. Two more twists, one dead end and a hidden door later, the high arch of the exit stood before them. The Spiritist did nothing to disguise her sigh of relief.

The street of Alvadas was dark and unusually quiet, as if the whole city was sleeping. Madeira put a hand to her chest and the key hanging beneath her clothes that she could feel guiding her home.

“Oh thank Ionu, we’re back”, Madeira moaned, now listing severely towards her cane. “I hope Roger and that woman made it out ok.”

[Penny Noor]

“We’d have seen them by now if they hadn’t. I’m sure of it. No one that doesn’t know their way out dares to go so deep into the garden.” replied Penny, her stomach rumbling. One peach wasn't just enough. She wished she’d pick up more but at least now that they touched the familiar cobbles of Alvadas, at least she had the prospect of reaching her home and the usual cold vegetable stew that sat on her hearth. “I suppose this is a farewell then?”

The subtle purple shadows beneath Penny’s eyes could be far more visible now that the light of the moon was complemented by that of Alvadas street lamps. It must have been inching soon to morning now. She was sure of it.Perhaps she could sleep off the night’s unlucky excitement during the day. She could dump her bag of herbs she picked in the garden, art materials and drawings by the bed and forget it’s existence for a good 8 hours of slumber. But more than anything she longed to forget the tormenting memory of Olivia’s grief. To rip it out of her mind like a page in a book she hadn’t the wish to read. That would suit her quite well.

“For what it is worth, I hope you do not regret our meeting even if it had taken place under these rather regrettable circumstances. I do wish you nothing but luck regarding it all.”

[Madeira Dusk]

Madeira chose to believe, like Penny, that the two made it out ok. For one, the young artist was much more knowledgeable about the maze than herself. And the alternative was too disturbing. That Roger and the nameless blonde were trapped in a hedge maze, scared, and imagining they were being pursued by an angry ghost...

Penny's rumbling stomach broke her thoughts. The woman suggested they say farewell, and wished her luck. The horizon over the mountains was that greenish haze of an approaching dawn; It pooled unflatteringly in the wells under Penny's eyes and the sharp dip of her collarbones. They both needed sleep.

"Thank you. I deeply regret that you were dragged into this, but I’m glad I met you." Madeira held out her right hand to shake, and smiled warmly. "I really do hope we meet again."

And strangely, the Spiritist meant it. They were so completely different, but Penny was a breath of fresh air with her humour, sociability and the unique way she saw the world. So she shook her hand and wished her well. And as they parted ways on the cobble street, Madeira found herself dwelling not on Rogers' idiocy or the blonde woman's fate, but on how an artist held a leaf against the moonlight and showed a complete stranger how the details mattered.

[Chameleon]

Your Grades Are Here...

 

Penny Noor

Skills...

• Planning: 1XP
• Drawing: 2XP
• Observation: 5XP
• Subterfuge: 1XP
• Stealth: 1XP
• Socialisation: 5XP
• Land Navigation: 1XP
• Foraging: 1XP
• Teaching: 1XP

Lores...

• Planning: Venturing into the Garden of No Return prepared
• Drawing: Not looking at the page
• The Garden of No Return: Contains a fountain
• Stealth: Trying to muffle breath
• The Garden of No Return: Hiding the dead wife of the councilman
• Olivia: The ghostly wife of Roger
• The feeling of being possessed
• Madeira Craven: A spiritist
• Land Navigation: Using plants to find the way through the Garden of No Return
• Foraging: Peaches from the Garden of No Return are tasty

Other...
I’ve noticed you copy and paste Madeira’s speech into your own posts a lot. It’s a little unnecessary and also a little confusing. If you really want to stick with it (although there isn’t much need to) mark it a little more clearly, but you can just as easily paraphrase.

 

Madeira Craven

Skills...

• Observation: 3XP
• Leadership: 1XP
• Endurance: 2XP
• Weapon; Crossbow: 1XP
• Weapon; Cane Sword: 1XP
• Spiritism: 1XP
• Socialisation: 4XP

Lores...

• Roger: House is warded from ghosts
• Roger: Sneaking around despite warnings
• Olivia: The ghostly wife of Roger
• Spiritism: Using soul darts
• Penny: An unlucky bystander
• Penny: An artist who sketches plants
• Land Navigation: Using plants to find the way through the Garden of No Return
• Foraging: Peaches from the Garden of No Return are tasty
• Observation: The smell of civilisation

Other...
I was a little uncertain what to call the sword in the cane weapon-wise, so if you have a particular thing you want it to be, let me know. Also, I loved the way you ended it - that last sentence was really nice!

Comments...
I'm sensing a recurring theme of dead people in the Garden of No Return... It's turning out to be the prime spot to find a murder in Alvadas. The thread was great, full of loads of tension and great ghost fun, and Penny's attention to detail with all the little things was really interesting, too actually!

Let me know if you have any questions or problems with these grades, otherwise, enjoy and mark the request as complete!

Enjoy Your Grade!...