We've just started a new Liminal campaign, and so far have done character and crew creation. We're the staff (landlady, bouncer and chef) of a waterfront pub in Bristol which we have of course named the Mitchester Arms because why wouldn't you? Here's my character, Flora Perry.
It all started when I was at 6th form college and started seeing things. The kind of things that first made me think I'd been drugged and then that I had some illness that was making me hallucinate. I was terrified. Fortunately I had someone I could confide in: Emily, my best friend from the day we both arrived at college. She told me that I didn't have to be afraid, because she could see them too.
So that's how I ended up joining her at Dee College on a scholarship. Turns out I have a natural aptitude for magic. My parents hadn't a clue what it was all about - they were just proud that I was going to university. I hated it there though. Learning magic was fine, but having to do it in a dusty old college surrounded by a bunch of rich arseholes was horrible.
I tried to stick it out for Emily's sake, but the last straw was when I found out my tutor was preparing to have us both made employees of the Council of Merlin. That's when I decided I'd had enough and got out of there. I still had my NVQ and commercial kitchens had never seemed more appealing.
I don't talk about those first few months in Bristol. Let's just say I made some bad choices involving a dhampir, and it took me a while to realise I needed to get out of there as much as I needed out of Dee College. I just hope I never run into Lucien Black - if that's even his real name - ever again. There are things my new friends don't need to know.
After that I threw myself into learning magic again. I'd seen peregrine falcons while out hiking and dreamed of flying. There's nothing I'm more proud of than figuring out how to shapeshift on my own. Although it turns out magic comes with a price. Sometimes it's years of tedious study. Sometimes it's embarrassing moments when the predator instinct kicks in, and eyes that never change back.
I finally got a job at the Mitchester Arms, which means I now live in an attic room with a convenient window. It's not much but I've cheered it up with some rugs and a drum that I'm learning to play. I've also picked up some bronze plated gardening tools. Decorative and practical.
My one big regret is that I lost touch with Emily. She's showed up again recently, fully fledged associate member of the Council of Merlin, keen to bring me back in for some reason. She's changed her name to Amelia Fitz-Henry, and wouldn't be caught dead in the Mitchester Arms, so we've been meeting up in places that fit her new social station. And it feels silly, but I really want her to take me seriously. Just so long as I don't get pulled back in to the Council. I'm done with living in cages.
No comments:
Post a Comment