song writing 101
for Ianto
Lily Balfour
Entertainer

Age: 34 | Height: 5'9'' | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#1
Lily
How the invitation would find Ianto, she wasn’t sure, but Lily left a note with a date, time and a description of her house peeking out from under a rock near where the Wishing Wagon was.

So, around 9 pm two night later, Lily had some herbal tea, a light fire, lots of candles lit, and some scratch parchment to take notes on. The redhead took her promise seriously and is ready for the younger man’s story - or whatever he was willing to tell her. Whatever she could… manage to put into some kind of song. It’s exciting! The first time she’s ever seriously tried to write a song! And we’re not talking about little childhood ditties or tunes in the bath - but a proper ode or ballad or something. With multiple verses.

She munches on a slightly sweetened oat cake while she waits, staring into the fire and wondering if he’ll show.
women are like tricks by slight of hand
which to admire, we should not understand
Ianto Dea Arduinna
Merchant

Age: 30 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Greatwood
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#2
Ianto
Eeesh, the Hollowed Ground. Ianto had found the invitation, in that weird and wonderful way of his; it had found its way out from beneath the rock and fluttering through the window of his wagon, in fact. And having been given the green light from his godmother, his personal feelings on the place didn't matter a stitch. So it was in the balmy heat of the night that he found himself padding on four paws through the domilies, golden eyes sharp, ears swivelling at every sound as he found the house in the description.

Prowling up to the doorstep, he shifted back onto two legs and swept out his coat, brushing a hand through the tousled copper of his hair and reaching out to knock at the door. He supposed he should be thankful, really - at least he was getting to know more than the Fae, these days.


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Lily Balfour
Entertainer

Age: 34 | Height: 5'9'' | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#3
Lily
The knock comes as she’s delicately licking the last sweet crumbs from her fingers. She rises and brushes any remaining bits from her skirt. As Lily opens the door, she puts on a winning smile, sweeping it open and stepping aside after a she confirms that is indeed the fellow ginger. “Ianto! So glad you could make it. Please, do come in.” She reveals a well-lit, large, but rather sparsely furnished room (it once held pews and an altar - filling that kind of space is difficult when you’re just one person) curtained off from a smaller, but more intimate space behind. There’s a nice rug before the fireplace/cooking area, a small, low table on which a couple of cups and a teapot sit - and three places to sit. One normal chair, one rocking chair with a cushion on it, and a stuffed two-seater.

“Are you hungry or thirsty? I have tea and some oatcakes but can always whip up something else.” She closes the door behind him and, perhaps over-eagerly, tries to make Ianto feel at home.
women are like tricks by sleight of hand
which, to admire, we should not understand
Ianto Dea Arduinna
Merchant

Age: 30 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Greatwood
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#4
Ianto
Lily opened her door to him as though she were a fellow performer, and her winning smile was contagious. Granted, Ianto's was a little less refined, a little more roguish, but he was put somewhat at ease already. Being in the presence who knew as well as he did how important it was to put on a show, so to speak... well, it went a long way in making him feel at home.

"Thanks for inviting me," he said, offering Lily a polite smile. "Tea and oatcakes will be more than fine, believe me. I... well, forgive me if this is too forward, but your home is enormous." So saying, he arched an eyebrow around at the place, taking a few steps forward and seeing the seats available, but still not seeming able to choose any one of them.


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Lily Balfour
Entertainer

Age: 34 | Height: 5'9'' | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#5
Lily
Lily shrugs and stretches out her hands to the open air as she moves gracefully back to the seating area. “It’s been converted. Once held the Church of Safrin, but when that fell apart, I was the only one who needed it.” And no one came to challenge her. So here she is, giant space and all, and no ideas with what to do with it quite yet. Alas, if only Raves were a thing in Caido - she can only imagine how the Ascended and Fae would dance all night long, the Abandoned could put on a light show… and everyone would want to pet the Attuned.

She moves to pour two fresh cups of tea - one for Ianto and one for herself. Settling down on the normal chair, she indicates for the man to sit if he wants. “So. A song about Ianto. What kind of story do you want to tell me?” She pulls out a normal piece of parchment and a quill and looks up at him expectantly. No sense in wasting time. They have to begin somewhere, and the easiest place is with what kind of song - a ballad, a jig, more of a spoken word piece?
women are like tricks by sleight of hand
which, to admire, we should not understand
Ianto Dea Arduinna
Merchant

Age: 30 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Greatwood
Level: 4 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 15 - Luck: 10 - Int:
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#6
Ianto
"The Church of... Safrin...?" Ianto raised an eyebrow, unsure what to make of that and tilting his head. Surely Remi had mentioned such a thing once... but he simply couldn't remember. The Hollowed Grounds was so new, it was hardly a wonder that he got scrambled sometimes. "Well, with any luck you can make the space into exactly what you want. The acoustics are wonderful."

Tipping her a wink - for what more could one want with song writing? - Ianto happily sat in the offered seat, accepting the tea with a nod of gratitude. Ah, but then they were straight into it, the fox sipping at his tea and smiling sheepishly. "Alas, it is not actually a song for myself," he said slowly. "Might you write something for someone close to me? Her name is Arduinna, and her story is incredible."


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Lily Balfour
Entertainer

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#7
Lily
Lily shrugs. She can’t even begin to describe the Church of Safrin and what it was supposed to be for - at least, not if she wants to keep the atmosphere positive. Anyway. It’s gone.

If she wasn’t already intrigued by the traveling tradesman and his wagon of magical items, Lily is even more so when he admits the song isn’t for him, but for an Arduinna. She makes a ‘pleasantly intrigued’ face at him, but says nothing other than the person’s (ha!) name, rolling it in her mouth. “Arduinna…” Yes, there’s possibility in that. And besides, it’s his favor. He can have a song made for whomever he likes.

Bending over the table and parchment, she gestures with her quill hand for Ianto to go one. “Right then. Go ahead. I’ll stop you if I need you to slow down or to ask a question. Just going to take notes.”

The fox has the floor.
women are like tricks by sleight of hand
which, to admire, we should not understand
Ianto Dea Arduinna
Merchant

Age: 30 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Greatwood
Level: 4 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 15 - Luck: 10 - Int:
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#8
Ianto
Gazing into his tea with blue eyes suddenly faraway, Ianto took a moment to consider the tale he would turn into a song with Lily's help. Eventually a small smile flickered across his face, and he sipped at the drink before continuing. "Arduinna is wild fae," he explained. "She is almost as old as the barrier that surrounded these Hollowed Grounds. She belongs to no tribe - neither the Sidhe Village nor the Sea of Branches lay claim to her. She is of the woods themselves, and the Greatwood adores her."

Letting out a slow sigh, he relaxed back into his chair. "Her hair is the colour of fire, like yours. And her eyes are like molten gold. She creates things I have never heard of, never believed could exist, and she has the sweetest voice in the forest."


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Lily Balfour
Entertainer

Age: 34 | Height: 5'9'' | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#9
Lily
She doesn’t quite know what form the song will take yet, but as Ianto begins to describe the woman, Lily dutifully writes it all down. Not quite word for word, but the key points, some of the phrases he uses. Whenever she looks up, she sees that soft smile on the man’s face and knowing nothing of his entanglement with Remi, soon begins to wonder if the man is love in with this wild fae.

She takes a sip of tea as he pauses, already beginning to see some potential. He gives her good material. With some, talking is like pulling teeth - but not with this one. “That’s great description, thank you. Keep going just like that, please,” she says encouragingly, politely refraining from asking the one thing that burns the tip of her tongue. Maybe the rest of his story will reveal more.
women are like tricks by sleight of hand
which, to admire, we should not understand
Ianto Dea Arduinna
Merchant

Age: 30 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Greatwood
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#10
Ianto
In love, whilst not correct in the more traditional term, might not be all that far off. Indebted, certainly, and bound. Ianto glanced up as Lily spoke, not realising he had drifted off somewhat and smiling apologetically.

"Of course," he murmured, nodding and taking another sip of his tea before he continued Arduinna's tale. "They say that those who love the forest enough might pray at one of its shrines, and she will appear." Not a goddess in a traditional sense, but a goddess of the woods nonetheless.

"She is fierce and proud, but also gentle and forgiving. She is able to heal wounds and soothe fevers." And she could hurt just as often as she could help, but he didn't mention that part to Lily.


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Lily Balfour
Entertainer

Age: 34 | Height: 5'9'' | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#11
Lily
Heal wounds. Soothe fevers.

Her quill scratches along diligently as the composer takes the opportunity in between Ianto’s thoughts to think of rhymes or turns of phrases that have a certain kind of beat. Ba dum, ba dum, ba dumpity-dum. She’d already thought Arduinna a complicated kind of woman, steeped in power, but there is something missing: every powerful being has an origin story, be they gods or X-men or even politicians. Putting the writing instrument down for a moment, she, too, takes a sip of the cooling tea and then turns back to Ianto. His voice is lovely… it vaguely reminds her of some of the new immigrants in town, the way their words rise and fall like the ocean. She would hear him talk more.

“How did she come to be so powerful? A good ode always has a sort of… prologue,” she says with a small wink, trying to draw more out of the man. This is her first song. She wants to do it well.
women are like tricks by sleight of hand
which, to admire, we should not understand
Ianto Dea Arduinna
Merchant

Age: 30 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Greatwood
Level: 4 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 15 - Luck: 10 - Int:
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#12
Ianto
Waiting enough between words to allow Lily to write them down, Ianto continued to nurse his cup of tea in his hands. When she asked her next question, however, it took him quite by surprise. "You know," he said slowly, "I don't have any idea, actually." There were parts of his godmother that were still steeped in so much mystery that he didn't know where those breadcrumb trails went, and he wasn't brave enough to ask or otherwise try to find out.

"She simply... is. Or that's how it seemed to me. Obviously she must have come from somewhere, but... I don't know if she is a child of the Sidhe Village, or the Sea of Branches..." he shrugged his shoulders. "The other Fae hold a great respect for her, regardless of where they come from. Even Delah, the war chief, does not give an order to Arduinna."


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Lily Balfour
Entertainer

Age: 34 | Height: 5'9'' | Race: Accepted | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Hollowed Grounds
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#13
Lily
“All this mystery around one woman… I hope I get to meet her one day” Lily says with a bit of an eyebrow raise. The amount of respect Ianto has for her, the way he speaks about her, the bits that he doesn’t know. It’s all very curious. Very curious indeed. The entertainer can’t quite figure out his relationship to the Fae. What she does know is that it’s growing late and the tea is getting cold, and while her mind is going, she knows she’ll be better in the morning.

“One last question, then. Has she done anything heroic that I can put in there?” Odes are about a few topics: heroes, love, and beautiful people. Wouldn’t it be nice if Arduinna could fill all three?
women are like tricks by sleight of hand
which, to admire, we should not understand
Ianto Dea Arduinna
Merchant

Age: 30 | Height: 6'0 | Race: Attuned | Nationality: Outlander | Citizenship: Greatwood
Level: 4 - Strg: 15 - Dext: 22 - Endr: 15 - Luck: 10 - Int:
Played by: Honey Offline
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#14
Ianto
"Play your cards right, and you will," Ianto assured Lily with a polite dip of his head. In reality he hoped that it never happened; Lily seemed very nice, and it would always be better that his godmother did not get her manipulative claws into anyone else. Still, he was there to fulfil a duty, a debt, and so he listened to her last question as he finished his tea, setting the cup down on the side.

"She guards the Greatwood and its creatures," he said slowly. "I can't pick out a single deed myself, but I'm sure the Fae tell stories aplenty about her. Perhaps you'll hear rumours before your song is finished." He grinned, the gold flashing in his teeth.

"Do you think you have enough?"


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