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piazza | vannozza and macaluso spina
Good people of Taravast. These are not the faces we hoped to show you today. We had intended to make our final pleads and prove our worthiness before you. But we do not step before a free and joyous Taravast. Today, on our way to the markets, we walked on corpses and ruins. I would like us all to observe a moment of silence for our suffering, our heroes, our fallen and our loved ones.
( Respect, awe or fear of the Spina guards see Macaluso’s plea obeyed. Vannozza continues: )
How beautiful you are, strong things. How stoic and determined. I admire you. One and all who have survived, despite the treachery of the moment. Despite those who have sold us. Despite the man who have failed their duties. Know this: my cousin speaks our truth. Today, we both ask every man, woman, child, cripple and magician of Taravast, the living, the dead and those transitioning to join hands and assist our efforts to rebuild. As you know, when my parents passed...
( Macaluso intercedes: ) When our parents passed, Vannozza.
( Vannozza laughs: ) Yes, but you’re not giving away your dowry. When my parents passed, they left behind a not insignificant fortune of 500,000 gold pieces, so that I might make my way in this world, as a gentlewoman. But you will not find me gentle. I hereby put this money towards healing houses, homes of fresh shelter and alms. It is not a loan, and it is not a donation. Taravast is my home. I do not loan to myself, and I do not donate to myself. The Lady Emilia has further graciously added her own fortunes. I ask everyone who has bound themselves to my name to pledge 20,000 pieces to the same cause and produce them within the month.
( Macaluso appears briefly ill at ease — surprised, but rushing to rest his hand on his cousin’s elbow to support her: ) ...of course. We will take this aid and couple it with new wisdom. The old ways of Taravast have led us here, my friends. The corruption, the underground transactions, the isolation. We cannot have this further. We must open our arms and our hearts to those who bring us new knowledge, new experiences, even to foreigners, who can -
( Vannozza once more, laughing: ) And what will you give them, Macaluso? If they did not come for love of you days ago when we were attacked, what will they come for now? Our magic? Our witches? Look around you! We have scraps, we have dogs. We are... no. We will not be Ellethia. We will have curfews. I declare it, in my grandfather’s name. Any man who roams the streets with undue cause past midnight faces prison. Anyone who homes or harvests the dead will be hanged. We will have reckonings. I will know why each of our sorcerers failed us, I will know why we have walls and the power to stop death and raise fire, but we were caught out like rats in the rain. I want an account of every man’s power and learning and identity. I want our sorcerers to remember they are foremost the servants of their people. And I want every nightmare creature and risen dead man burned.
( Macaluso opens his mouth to object, but Vannozza has already retreated, and the communication ends without the typical boisterous enthusiasm of the piazza. )
( OOC: neither Vannozza nor Macaluso will be responding. Threadjack away and plan your next moves ICly. Consider responses to this post private to the character network and unreadable by NPCs. Shortly after this communication, characters will notice:
- a curfew is now in place, between midnight and 6am
- Guards ask a tally of everyone’s abilities (feel free to lie) and seem generally apprehensive of and brusque with magic users
- Openly declared necromancers will be treated coldly
- Vannozza and Macaluso require their supporters to contribute towards rebuilding Taravast )
- a curfew is now in place, between midnight and 6am
no subject
Heathen.
( There is no bite to her words this time. There might even be fondness, loathe as she is to admit it. Soon enough, though, her brows draw together in worry. He's made a name for himself in the necromancer district, disciples and all. ) Has anyone approached you?
no subject
No. Not yet. I would hope my alliance with Vannozza might have them avoiding pursuing me too deeply, but I doubt they all know the details.
( And he is prepared nonetheless to meet whatever questions may be thrown at him. )
On that note, I do have a question for you- a favor if you are willing.
no subject
What is it?
no subject
My disciples have nowhere to go with the district destroyed and necromancers treated as they are. None of them are able to raise the dead back currently, but I imagine they would be hunted in a similar way.
They need a place to go and a role to fulfill that might keep them safe. I hoped you might take one of them under your wing. ( He will have to go to the network to ask who might want to adopt the rest, but he trusts Emilia the most and so he comes to her first. )
no subject
And she was just discussing with Lan Wangji they'd only two necromancers to worry about. In spite of herself, she has grown rather fond of some of his disciples. But only some of them. Okay, it's Fernando. She knows Wrath considers them a small House of sorts. Knows what would happen if they're left to fend for themselves. )
We'd need to be careful. Maybe it can be family visiting.
( Checking in on her after the siege. )
no subject
If you do not wish to, you do not have to take on the risk either, Emilia. I trust you. It's the reason I came to you first.
( But he knows how much this entire situation must make her worried, must drive her survival instincts again. Their world is full of witch hunters- the brotherhood, religiously and violently against witches. She believed them to be responsible for the murders of all the witches within their city.
They have the kind of zealous beliefs and violence to make it so. He would not have been surprised if they were the cause, but it ended up being more complicated than that. )
no subject
No. I will have one of them. That is what I choose.
Are any of them good with plants? I suspect what I could teach them is different to what they're used to.
( But much has withered in the wake of the Huntress, beyond the reconstruction efforts that are needed. The dreams she once had might have died alongside Vittoria, but she's still in possession of a green thumb. She can still make things grow. )
no subject
( Fernando is also his favorite of the four of them, and he would prefer his favorite one to go with the person that he trusts the most, but that is besides the point. He is grateful she agrees to it despite knowing the potential danger of it. They are not exactly full fledged necromancers by any sense of the word, but )
It is far different from my own lessons. I don't teach them how to raise the dead. I assumed you knew that, but I feel I should clarify. I only teach them very basic magic which could lead into necromancy if they choose to take it that way.
( Wrath has never had any interest in raising the dead. As a former angel of death, as someone who introduced himself as One day you'll call me Death, it is unnatural. He has never made it a point to clarify before, but he deeply cares what Emilia thinks about him. )
no subject
Not for the first time, she is struck that he cares so much what she thinks. Struck, too, that she had not actually believed he would be focused on such matters. He's principled and dutiful in his own way. No, that's not what drew him to the necromantic district. And Emilia is a little more sure now of what did. )
I know. You care about balance, and the raising of the dead disrupts it.
( She never gave the necromancer district too much of a thought. She had not thought herself cursed, and the curse she did learn about involved the devil, who isn't — isn't here. Her heart pounds a bit faster, and she's suddenly grateful this conversation is not being had face to face. )
Could they be persuaded to choose a different path?
no subject
He has hope.
He releases the breath he had been holding (the tension leaves his chest) as he genuinely considers her question. )
Perhaps. I thought to show them more of what magic could do beyond simply bringing the dead back to life. I don't know that I have managed to convince them quite yet though they all look up to me. Fernando is the sweetest of the four, but he is also quite cunning and sharp. You'll get along well.
( There is a longer pause then. )
I have something to for you if you have the time.
no subject
She has her own lines she will not cross, things she finds inexcusable and unjust, but she's hardly one to talk. A ruthless desire to see her goals achieved led her to the darker side of magic, and she wouldn't be above it, still, if she found the price well worth the risk.
These thoughts are with her when his offer comes, curiosity supplanting rumination. )
I should be back in my room within the hour.
( If he'd like to meet her there. )
no subject
While he is happy to donate some of those earnings to the city to help repair it from the devastation wrought, he would also like to be able to give her a worthy gift, which may be needed in the future. )
I will see you then.