Post by Vyn on Oct 16, 2009 12:18:46 GMT -5
[headdesks] I apologize if this is crappy. X____X I've been trying to work through an awful attack of writer's block for the last couple of weeks and this fic just... sort of reeks of it. Oi.
Nevertheless, this fic is mostly a very long summary of the history of Remi.
Character: Remi
Word Count: 1395
Remi was only four when his parents died.
The memory of their death was hazy and indistinct, like the memories thereafter, but his parents themselves remained whole and constant in his mind. He'd never forget the lessons they taught him, even a decade after their deaths. What he was more willing to forget was the Strange Man that had picked him up once they were gone. The Stranger had seen fit to take him far away from what remaining family Remi was certain he had and to instead leave him in a basket full of orphaned children.
He and the other children were offered up by the Court of Hearts to whomever would take them. Remi didn't remember the names or faces of the other children or the adults who had brought him there, but he could remember the fear and the anger as he curled up and tried vainly to become invisible.
Eventually one of the cooing adults chose him from his fellow orphans. She was a whimsical woman from the Villa and for a short while Remi attempted to pretend that everything was alright. She doted on him, gave him gifts, but he could never shake the wrongness of it all. Try as he may, there was always someone to point out how different he was or to ask where he was from, who he was visiting. He couldn't ignore the alienation, even if 'Mother' could.
Remi gave up pretending when he was six.
Once upon a time, his beloved mother had told him to always be cunning. She had taught him to be witty and precocious, to always pursue his greatest goals. The pretend mother was nothing like that. She was full of complacency and nonsense, always telling pointless stories and singing songs. Pretend mother didn't care about education like real mother had been, or rank and politics like father had been, she cared only for art and music that Remi did not appreciate or understand.
He resented her for all the ways that she was not his Mother.
He discovered his art for lies and thievery as an attempt to push the false mother's buttons. He was never caught in the act of stealing, but he nevertheless left proof of his conquests for the other mother to find. She tried to punish him with groundings and stern words but his only response was to stop calling her Mom. She was horrified but he was left with a sense of odd satisfaction.
It was just a step away from freedom.
It was still another two years before the day of his true escape. It was a morning like many others and there was a massive musical festival in town. Strangers from all over came to the heart of the Villa to hear music and acting, to see art or read poetry. Remi always looked forward to the festivals and the chaos of it all. Chaos meant easy pickings in a crowd, and it also presented him with the greatest opening of his life. Opportunity knocked in the form of an elderly woman from the Selkie Lakes. You could recognize her 'sweet old granny' stereotype everywhere. She was perfect.
She came straight up to him, worrying over his lack of supervision, and before he could stop himself he'd started spinning his tale. He'd regaled to her a miserable tale of woe and angst as an abused orphan. She crumbled immediately, wrapping him into a big, silkie hug and crying with concern. She probably shed more tears than he did, but nothing in the world could have made Remi happier. It was all working out so perfectly. Before he knew it he was stepping out of the carriage into Capital City with his false mothers miles and miles behind. He waited for only a couple of moments until the lady turned to pay the driver and then he took off into the crowd.
Amidst the bustling swarm of strangers he became immediately invisible.
He was finally free.
It was smooth sailing from there, a wonderful ride down easy street. When he wasn't stealing, he bribed meals off of strangers with his con acts. Some didn't fall for it, others just didn't like talking to kids or six-legged freaks, but there was always someone who would. There was at least one person in every crowded room that couldn't resist a good charity case, a wounded soul, a broken child in need nurturing.
However, one always needed to be wary of those who were too interested in helping. Always beware a Corvie that seemed more interested in you than you in him. It potentially meant that a little by like Remi would disappear. Remi avoided Corvies on a general rule, and kept an eye out for Lowlanders up to no good.
What he had not prepared himself for was the Yarrow women. From his judgement, they all seemed to be rather beautiful and delicate, with flowers in their fur or things like that. So alluring. He couldn't help but be intrigued… and then he finally targeted one. Younger women were not his typical targets, grannies were easier to manipulate, but she looked so delicate and sweet that he was sure he could bend her. Wrong. The moment he'd opened his mouth and she'd heard his little boy voice begging for assistance she'd gone from smiling and laughing to screaming and volatile. He learned a valuable lesson that day, and was lucky to have been saved from the Yarrow wrath by a rather curvaceous Josiggy woman.
She did a wonderful job of fending off the furious Yarrow and then stuffing him silly with freshly baked pies.
Over the next four years, Remi cycled himself in and out of 'foster' families. Never the same place twice, though he occasionally stayed with one family for many months at a time. He even had a few 'regulars', he'd stop in and spend the night or catch a meal every couple of months and then be back out again. He'd even managed to teach himself some the basics of reading, writing, and numbers. He wasn't a scholar or anything, but at least he wasn't illiterate.
He probably would have been content to live the rest of his life with the basics, you didn't need anything else when you were conning, but then he met The Professor. The Professor was an aging Esterberry with a wonderful memory for all things within his realm of study but he was starting to forget the small things like where he'd left his keys or his spectacles. That was where Remi came in. The Professor found the boy trying to sneak into the restricted section of the Capital's public library (he'd been trying to nab a book that he had heard sold for a great deal on the black market, but The Professor didn't need to know that) and they struck up a bit of a deal: Remi could come and organize his personal affects and Remi would be allowed to study in the Professor's library.
In the end, Remi would get paid and he'd have a roof over his head that provided consistent meals. It'd be a sweet ride for the time being and he'd even get to broaden his knowledge a little. The Professor's peers didn't like Remi much, but they learned to ignore him as the Professor's servant and Remi got the opportunity to scour their library. It was there that he finally discovered Psychology. He'd been practicing, to a degree, all his life: reading people, figuring out how they worked, and then exploiting it for his benefit. He was immediately smitten.
For two years he stayed with the old man, learning all he could about the science of the mind, until one day the old man just dropped dead in his breakfast. Apparently he'd had some sort of heart failure, but Remi decided not to stick around and find out. He ransacked the man's savings, loaded as many books as he could pack into a suitcase, and was gone before anyone was the wiser. Disappearing was one of his finest skills.
Ten years after his parents had died, at fourteen years old, Remi put all the professors money into a discreet little flat in Capital City. It was perfect. It meant that he didn't have to rely on mark's to keep his head dry and his feet warm. For the first time since he'd escaped his foster mother, he had real freedom.
Nevertheless, this fic is mostly a very long summary of the history of Remi.
Character: Remi
Word Count: 1395
(A History of Lies)
Remi was only four when his parents died.
The memory of their death was hazy and indistinct, like the memories thereafter, but his parents themselves remained whole and constant in his mind. He'd never forget the lessons they taught him, even a decade after their deaths. What he was more willing to forget was the Strange Man that had picked him up once they were gone. The Stranger had seen fit to take him far away from what remaining family Remi was certain he had and to instead leave him in a basket full of orphaned children.
He and the other children were offered up by the Court of Hearts to whomever would take them. Remi didn't remember the names or faces of the other children or the adults who had brought him there, but he could remember the fear and the anger as he curled up and tried vainly to become invisible.
Eventually one of the cooing adults chose him from his fellow orphans. She was a whimsical woman from the Villa and for a short while Remi attempted to pretend that everything was alright. She doted on him, gave him gifts, but he could never shake the wrongness of it all. Try as he may, there was always someone to point out how different he was or to ask where he was from, who he was visiting. He couldn't ignore the alienation, even if 'Mother' could.
Remi gave up pretending when he was six.
Once upon a time, his beloved mother had told him to always be cunning. She had taught him to be witty and precocious, to always pursue his greatest goals. The pretend mother was nothing like that. She was full of complacency and nonsense, always telling pointless stories and singing songs. Pretend mother didn't care about education like real mother had been, or rank and politics like father had been, she cared only for art and music that Remi did not appreciate or understand.
He resented her for all the ways that she was not his Mother.
He discovered his art for lies and thievery as an attempt to push the false mother's buttons. He was never caught in the act of stealing, but he nevertheless left proof of his conquests for the other mother to find. She tried to punish him with groundings and stern words but his only response was to stop calling her Mom. She was horrified but he was left with a sense of odd satisfaction.
It was just a step away from freedom.
It was still another two years before the day of his true escape. It was a morning like many others and there was a massive musical festival in town. Strangers from all over came to the heart of the Villa to hear music and acting, to see art or read poetry. Remi always looked forward to the festivals and the chaos of it all. Chaos meant easy pickings in a crowd, and it also presented him with the greatest opening of his life. Opportunity knocked in the form of an elderly woman from the Selkie Lakes. You could recognize her 'sweet old granny' stereotype everywhere. She was perfect.
She came straight up to him, worrying over his lack of supervision, and before he could stop himself he'd started spinning his tale. He'd regaled to her a miserable tale of woe and angst as an abused orphan. She crumbled immediately, wrapping him into a big, silkie hug and crying with concern. She probably shed more tears than he did, but nothing in the world could have made Remi happier. It was all working out so perfectly. Before he knew it he was stepping out of the carriage into Capital City with his false mothers miles and miles behind. He waited for only a couple of moments until the lady turned to pay the driver and then he took off into the crowd.
Amidst the bustling swarm of strangers he became immediately invisible.
He was finally free.
It was smooth sailing from there, a wonderful ride down easy street. When he wasn't stealing, he bribed meals off of strangers with his con acts. Some didn't fall for it, others just didn't like talking to kids or six-legged freaks, but there was always someone who would. There was at least one person in every crowded room that couldn't resist a good charity case, a wounded soul, a broken child in need nurturing.
However, one always needed to be wary of those who were too interested in helping. Always beware a Corvie that seemed more interested in you than you in him. It potentially meant that a little by like Remi would disappear. Remi avoided Corvies on a general rule, and kept an eye out for Lowlanders up to no good.
What he had not prepared himself for was the Yarrow women. From his judgement, they all seemed to be rather beautiful and delicate, with flowers in their fur or things like that. So alluring. He couldn't help but be intrigued… and then he finally targeted one. Younger women were not his typical targets, grannies were easier to manipulate, but she looked so delicate and sweet that he was sure he could bend her. Wrong. The moment he'd opened his mouth and she'd heard his little boy voice begging for assistance she'd gone from smiling and laughing to screaming and volatile. He learned a valuable lesson that day, and was lucky to have been saved from the Yarrow wrath by a rather curvaceous Josiggy woman.
She did a wonderful job of fending off the furious Yarrow and then stuffing him silly with freshly baked pies.
Over the next four years, Remi cycled himself in and out of 'foster' families. Never the same place twice, though he occasionally stayed with one family for many months at a time. He even had a few 'regulars', he'd stop in and spend the night or catch a meal every couple of months and then be back out again. He'd even managed to teach himself some the basics of reading, writing, and numbers. He wasn't a scholar or anything, but at least he wasn't illiterate.
He probably would have been content to live the rest of his life with the basics, you didn't need anything else when you were conning, but then he met The Professor. The Professor was an aging Esterberry with a wonderful memory for all things within his realm of study but he was starting to forget the small things like where he'd left his keys or his spectacles. That was where Remi came in. The Professor found the boy trying to sneak into the restricted section of the Capital's public library (he'd been trying to nab a book that he had heard sold for a great deal on the black market, but The Professor didn't need to know that) and they struck up a bit of a deal: Remi could come and organize his personal affects and Remi would be allowed to study in the Professor's library.
In the end, Remi would get paid and he'd have a roof over his head that provided consistent meals. It'd be a sweet ride for the time being and he'd even get to broaden his knowledge a little. The Professor's peers didn't like Remi much, but they learned to ignore him as the Professor's servant and Remi got the opportunity to scour their library. It was there that he finally discovered Psychology. He'd been practicing, to a degree, all his life: reading people, figuring out how they worked, and then exploiting it for his benefit. He was immediately smitten.
For two years he stayed with the old man, learning all he could about the science of the mind, until one day the old man just dropped dead in his breakfast. Apparently he'd had some sort of heart failure, but Remi decided not to stick around and find out. He ransacked the man's savings, loaded as many books as he could pack into a suitcase, and was gone before anyone was the wiser. Disappearing was one of his finest skills.
Ten years after his parents had died, at fourteen years old, Remi put all the professors money into a discreet little flat in Capital City. It was perfect. It meant that he didn't have to rely on mark's to keep his head dry and his feet warm. For the first time since he'd escaped his foster mother, he had real freedom.
