Jacinthe

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JACINTHE Play Writer • she/her A reader of horrors _______________

Book of Eldritch Horror Trinkets A bit literal. 53 Canopic Jar Trinkets A decorative jar that contains the remains of an ancestral dragon. It is a bad omen to touch, move, look at, or sell this type of artifact. 72 Empty Inkwell Trinkets A darkened glass bottle that once held ink. There are remnants of fluid crusted on the bottom and rim. 80

Jacinthe's soul is as dark as her clothing -Is what she would like you to believe. A fan of the hidden horrors of the world -of beings incapable of being understood by mere mortals, Jacinthe tries her very best to fit this aesthetic. Sarcastic and even mean to some extent, she constantly scoffs at the cheerful attitude of many of the residents, and yet she never refuses any invites to hang out, nor does she go out of her way to be truly hurtful. If she happens to cut deep with her words, she'll do her very best at awkwardly apologizing, keeping her word when she swears not to repeat the same mistake. Jacinthe used to look up to Mourner when they were younger, and though she would tell you this admiration has faded as she realized the softie he is, the truth is that it only grew, instead. Mourner was the first one to encourage her strange interests, and helped her manifest it in the form of strange art and confusing plays. Strange and confusing to others, that is. To her, they make perfect sense and are full of meaning.

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Just before leaving the town, Jacinthe hesitates. She groans aloud when she remembers that her provisions were running low, hence why she had decided to stop in the town in the first place. Shaking her head at her foolishness, and hoping no one was around to watch her, she turns on her heels and marches back into the heart of the town, grumbling quietly at herself all the while.

She keeps her eyes planted firmly forward, keeping a lookout for a general store or somewhere else she could possibly buy supplies. A breeze picks up, and a wooden sign bangs against the side of a building, drawing in her eyes as she squints towards the sound. It's a round thing, probably about the size of both of her paws side-by-side, and it simply had a well-carved, yellow-painted flower surrounded by gilded, complicated patterns around the border of the sign.

It says nothing about what the building is, but as Jacinthe walks around the front, huge, white letters practically scream it at her. It's a general store, or at least the bold lettering hanging on a dark sign above the shingled awning says so.

Bright light spills out from the single, large window to the place, showing off various jars of some kind on a table, a yellow sale sign perched in the middle showing they were for a good deal. The

"You're very… dark and mysterious," a small voice pipes up from behind the counter. Jacinthe slants her eyes towards it while trying to pretend to be as mysterious as the voice claims, and notices a young Sphinx and a large, purple bird, seemingly manning the store by themselves. The Sphinx was child-small, having to stand on the tiptoes of their hind paws to see over the counter that barely came up to Jacinthe's chest.

It took more strength than Jacinthe thought she possessed to not laugh at the sight. Instead she tilted her head slightly. "You're… alone?" She hazards quietly, awkwardly, looking around for an adult who was actually in charge.

"Yep, Auntie has to work at the Tavern tonight, a huge party that I'm too young to attend, and Raithe is there too, so I got put in charge here," the cup puffs out their chest proudly,

"Now, are you here to buy something, dark and mysterious stranger, or are you here to drink my blood? You look like a vampire, what with the black and glowing eyes and the coming here after the sun set. If you bite me, will that make me a vampire?" The cub turns towards the bird with an excited glint in their eyes, "I want to be a vampire, that'd be so cool! I'd be able to turn into a bat!"

Jacinthe hadn't honestly thought about that, and she casts an eye over her outfit. Sure, its all black, and she does have a sword strapped to her hip, and she did stroll into town as the sun sunk below the horizon… okay, the cub is well within their right to assume she's a vampire, even if they're wrong.

"I'm not a vampire," she snorts despite herself, finding the cub's antics amusing. "I'm here to replenish my supplies before heading back out."

At this the cub turns a sharp eye, almost unsettling on their young face, in Jacinthe's direction. "You're not staying." It's not a question.

"No, I'm not, I have some more ground I need to cover before I can stop," Jacinthe lies easily, not wanting to spill the real reason she wasn't going to spend the night here; her homesickness.

"Hmph, well, due to the celebration, and me being in charge, and liking your vibes, dark and mysterious stranger, everything is half off. On one condition."

Jacinthe narrows her eyes. "What?"

"You gotta tell me about where you came from and where you're going. And don't try to get out of it because I'll refuse to sell to you if you don't." The cub looks all too smug at backing Jacinthe into a corner, and the Skydancer rolls her eyes. Children.

"I could always leave and not buy anything," she bluffs, turning back towards the door.

The Sphinx cub meets her bluff head-on, calling her out on it easily, "Where else are you gonna get food? We're the only store for miles in any direction, heck, we're the only town for nearly 30 miles. What else you gonna do? Scavenge, eat a poisonous plant, drink some contaminated water, and die of dysentery?"

This cub has a smart mouth, and was too clever for their own good, it'd only get them in trouble, Jacinthe thinks to herself before scoffing. "You're a little brat, did you know that?" She turns to go looking for the supplies she'll need, because the Sphinx cub is right, she has no other options. She'll just have to deal with a little bit of story time, she guesses.

"I hear that about forty times a day, Dark and Mysterious Stranger," and the way they say it is almost like a name, now, "try something new."

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Bag now full of more supplies than Jacinthe knows what to do with, and the moon now well overhead, she heads back out onto the, currently, well-trodden road. She barely makes it out of the town, the light beginning to fade behind her, when she hears the crunch of steps behind her.

She's being followed, but by what she doesn't know.

Jacinthe whirls around, unsheathing her sword as she moves, and points it to the body who

The body leaps about three feet into the air, fur puffing out in all directions in shock and wings beating desperately at the air to keep them from hitting the ground on their face. Another shape wheels itself off the first with a startled screech. "Woah, that's a big sword!" a familiar voice yells, and Jacinthe nearly face-palms herself.

It's the cub and their pet bird.

"Why did you follow me?" She asks, stowing away her sword again as the cub lands lightly on her feet, looking more ruffled than she had before. "Don't you have a shop to run?"

"I wanted to travel," the cub tells her, padding up to her side to give her a cheeky grin. "That town is stuffy, and the people boring. You're much more fun, Dark and Mysterious stranger."

"Do your parents know you followed me?" Jacinthe hisses, looking around desperately, expecting the cub's parents to spring from the bushes with cries of kidnapper! "I'm not in the business of stealing children, I hope you know! You don't even know my name."

"I'm older than I look," the cub narrows their eyes at her with a sharp frown that only looses a little bit of effect from their chubby child-cheeks. "I can be on my own." The Sphinx cub sniffs, not unlike a snotty teenager, and brandishes their bag. "Look, I came prepared, and I'll just go off on my own if you don't let me tag along, and then if I get eaten by a monster it's on your conscious."

"You little–" Jacinthe rears back, biting her tongue before she said the rude name she was about to call the cub. She concedes with a sharp sigh, knowing the cub is right; if something were to happen to them, Jacinthe would feel guilty for the rest of her life. "Fine. But I'm dropping you off at the next dwelling we come across, capiche?"

"Great, let's go, before Auntie finds my note. And that I left the store unattended." The cub beckons her pet bird who lands on her shoulder and starts off giddily down the path, head held high and tail swaying in contentment. Jacinthe begins to follow before their words dawn on them.

"Excuse me!?"

Jacinthe stops for a few moments to pick up supplies before leaving, unwillingly getting a few tag-alongs.
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Jacinthe has to admit, a traveling companion–as unwanted as they were at first–is fun. It keeps her from being too lonely, and she tells herself that they'll split ways at the next town. But then they travel together after that, and she says it'll be the next. And then the next. Before she knows it, the cub has stuck by her side the entire way, and she finds herself unwilling to part with them. Well, she has a new friend, and better yet, the cub is a master bargainer, managing to cut their spendings in half.
Written by: Viiperfang

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