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Mirror Mirror in My Pocket {Eckhart!}

Started by Celegwen, November 11, 2017, 01:06:25 PM

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Celegwen

@Eckhart_Von_Musel
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"Shards?" Teryn asked, knocking on the door to her room. "You in there?" After about twenty seconds of silence, he felt the door was unlocked. Inside, Teryn saw Vivianne's long legs crossed, as she sat on the bed with her hands on separate mirrors. Her right hand had a dagger between it and the mirror.

She smirked, feeling his presence. She blinked a few times to clear the mirror-like shade from her eyes, relaxing her posture and taking her hands off of the mirrors. Vivianne combed her bangs back over her forehead, swinging her legs off the bed and crossing them. "You want information," she said.

"No small talk with you," he said, sitting in the wooden chair in the corner. "Yes, I do. It's been a few days since I asked you about the Von Musel woman. Did you get anything?"

Vivianne folded her arms across her chest with a slight frown. "Of course I have information. Why her, Teryn? She's all the way in Zantaric. What do you care?" He shook his head, and she scoffed, smiling condescendingly at him. "You need something from me, Teryn. I don't need anything from you."

"It's her little brother," Teryn said. Vivianne's eyes widened. "His name's Eckhart. Melissa had a little meeting with him, which ended with a chunk of wood in his side and one of her daggers in his back. I need to get as much information about his sister as possible because I know this isn't going to have a happy ending."

A little brother? Vivianne thought to herself, feeling a brand new hit of betrayal. Why didn't she ever tell me about him? Shaking the thought from her mind, she shrugged. "Well, Hildegarde loves fashion, probably more than I do. Pink seems to be her go-to look. She's kind of narcissistic, thinking she's the best. And she has major anger issues! Seriously, that woman overreacts like no one else I've ever seen."

Teryn nodded, frowning at the last point. "She's definitely not going to be happy with what happened."

"No shit." Vivianne squinted at him slightly, not wanting to beat around the bush in a conversation. "What's Eckhart like?"

"Uh, he's a thin kid with blond hair. Maybe twenty years old? Dirty clothes with an old cat. Very skittish. Melissa is deadset on taking him out." He put his right ankle on his left knee. "I'm a little worried she'll succeed." All he needed was Vivianne's brow to arch for him to know she wanted to spy. He waved his hand and nodded.

She flopped back on the bed, moving the dagger out of the way and laid on her stomach with her ankles crossed in the air. Vivianne uncovered the mirror shards on her forehead, put her hands on the mirrors, and blinked to reveal the mirror-like eyes. "-thinks he can get away from me. I'm gonna ring the little asshole's neck," Vivianne heard Wasp say to herself.

Not while I'm around, Vivianne thought, coming back to the room. "Teryn, I have another contract," she said. "If that's all you need at the moment..."

He nodded, standing up. "Let me know what you come up with."

Teryn disappeared from her room, and she sat up with her hands on the mirrors again. "Alright, Eckhart," she mumbled. "Let's see just who you are."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Eckhart! Wake up, we're out of fish!"

Sunlight poured through Eckhart's window and onto his face as the healer groggily opened his eyes. "Wha... Whuzzat?"

"Come on Tuna Fish! I need to eat!"

Eckhart sat up, stretching his arms. "Alright, alright! I'll go get some food, hold your horses." He slipped out of bed and began to get dressed. "You couldn't have gotten food yourself?"

"Don't sass me." the cat replied. "Most people can't hear me, remember? How am I supposed to pay if I can't talk?"

"You still could've figured something out..." the boy muttered as he buttoned up his white cardigan. "Alright, I shouldn't be long."

"You'd better not be!" Belladonna called after him as he walked out the door. "If you take too long I'll eat your reagents!"

***

Eckhart stepped outside the hostel door, taking a deep breath as he did so. It was decently warm outside- for mid-fall, at least. As Eckhart made his way to Maestoso's market district, he uttered a silent prayer to whatever gods may be listening.

"Please, don't let anything go wrong today..."

Celegwen

Traveling through mirrors seems like a fun adventure, but it can actually leave someone with a nasty headache. With all of the reflections from all different angles, it can be extremely challenging. Fortunately, over many years, Vivianne had perfected it.

From the safety and comfort of her room at the inn, she was able to travel wherever she wanted. In this case, Vivianne wanted to find a young man related to a woman she once considered her best friend.

If Teryn had encountered him with Melissa, he had to be somewhere in Serendipity. To narrow the field even more, he had to be somewhere that allowed pets.

She bounced around mirrors in every tavern and inn that she could think of. Then, she saw the back of a young man with blond hair. He had on what she thought was a newer white cardigan. Can't be him, she thought. Teryn said he wore dirty clothes.

Still... There was an old cat. She stuck around, peering through the mirror for a moment more. The young man turned partially around, enough for Vivianne to have a three-year-old memory resurface.

Holy shit, they look exactly alike. She stayed, knowing she had found who she was looking for. He's talking to the cat. Her eyes narrowed, studying the way the cat regarded him. Maybe the cat's like Blexoir. When Eckhart left the hostel, Vivianne could only assume he was going out for breakfast. That meant he had to be heading towards the market district.

Vivianne left the hostel mirror, quickly locating a surface in the market. Turned out to be a glass that someone was about to drink out of. "Hey!" She shouted, making the guy drop the glass in shock. It shattered, so she hopped to the nearest mirror, waiting to catch a glimpse of the younger Von Musel again.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Hogtail street was bustling that morning, and Eckhart could barely see any of the market stalls through the crowds of people. The noise was deafening, and the steady hum of laughter and haggling made it difficult for Eckhart to hear his own thoughts. For a moment Eckhart just stood and watched the commotion, until the sound if a glass shattering broke him out of it. "Right! Fish! I need to buy fish!"

Walking to the nearest fishmonger, Eckhart put on his best "needy young man" impression. "E-excuse me sir?" he asked timidly. "Do you have red snapper?"

The fishmonger looked at him, the ghost of a frown on his face. "Yes, we do. It's thirty glints a pound."

Eckhart's face drooped. "Oh..." he said glumly as he turned to leave. "Thanks anyway..."

"Wait!" the fishmonger said hurriedly. Eckhart stopped and turned to face him. "Look, business has been slow, and I'm feeling generous. How does twenty five glints sound?" he said with a clearly fake grin.

"Um..." Eckhart said slowly. "That's really nice of you, but I just can't afford it..." The boy smiled sheepishly. "Could you do twenty?"

The man sighed. "Twenty three."

"Deal! I'll take two." Eckhart said, handing the man a fistful of coins. Walking away with a parcel of fish under his arm, the boy chuckled to himself. "Why did I even do that? I don't need to haggle now that I have Kaida's money..."

Celegwen

Jumping from mirror to mirror, Vivianne kept up with Eckhart quite well. She didn't quite understand how she knew which mirror to appear in, but she would best describe it as a form of intuition.

He's a haggler, Vivianne thought to herself. Interesting. Wait... Red snapper? She unconsciously scrunched her nose. That's disgusting. Why would he pick red snapper? Fluke is so much better.

Realizing she had lost herself in thought, she glanced around for Eckhart again. When she spotted his white top, Vivianne skipped past a few surfaces to get slightly ahead of him.

"Shards, do this," she spat, rolling her eyes and mocking Teryn's voice. "Shards, find him. Shards, I'm causing a war; help me! Doesn't he know I have my own life?"

Subtly waving at Eckhart as he passed her, she smirked. She didn't want to draw his attention, but she did want to see just how observant he was. If he looked, she'd simply disappear into another reflective surface. Her little skill definitely had its perks.

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"I really ought to spend some of that money on me." Eckhart thought absentmindedly as he walked back towards his hostel. I mean, I bought the sweater- but that really didn't put a dent in Kaida's wallet, it only cost one sun..."

As if on cue, a sign that Eckhart hadn't noticed before caught his attention.

~Uncle Fumite's Curio Shoppe~

Eckhart looked at the fish in his hand, then back at the shop. "Bella can wait a few minutes." he decided. "She makes me do this nearly every morning, she should feel lucky that I feed her at all."

Upon walking inside, Eckhart grew slightly nervous. The place absolutely packed with bizarre looking objects precariously stacked on top of ancient looking pieces of furniture. "If I so much brush up against something here, this entire place could collapse."

"Need help finding something?" An old man walked out from behind a shelf. "We have a sale on clown statues today!"

"Ehehehe, no thank you..." Eckhart said nervously, walking deep into the shop. "That guy is weird, I don't wanna talk to him."

There were many things in the shop that caught the boy's eye, but none more so than the books. The shop had stacks upon stacks of old tomes and scrolls, and Eckhart was really beginning to enjoy shifting through them all. "I wonder if they have books on life magic I haven't read!" the healer thought excitedly. "I bet they do, this seems like- whoa!"

One of the books slipped, causing something to fall from the top of the pile. Eckhart reached out to grab it, and was shocked to find it wasn't a book that had fallen- but an old hand mirror. "Huh." Eckhart said, wiping the thick layer of dust off the glass. "I think this is in the wrong place..."

Celegwen

Vivianne entered a mirror and grew quickly confused: she couldn't see anything out of it.

What the hell? She thought. There was never a mirror she couldn't see out of! Must be some kind of magical mirror...

A sudden light shone in her eyes, and she squinted at the unexpected brightness. When her eyes adjusted, Vivianne froze. It was too late to jump to another mirror. The mirror wasn't magical at all, just dusty. The light was the dust being removed. The one who removed the dust, the person she was spying on.

Shit! Say something clever! Vivianne threw her finger to her lips, shushing him before he had the chance to make a noise.

"Thank goodness!" She said in a loud whisper that only Eckhart would be able to hear. "I thought no one would find me." Her voice emanated an exaggerated sense of relief, while her eyes threw out a look of desperation. "Please, sir. I-I need help. I'm trapped. This mirror... It's some kind of cage that a madman put me in!"

Really? Vivianne thought to herself. Trapped in a mirror? That's what you're going with?

She shook her head sadly. "I don't even know how long I've been in here. Last thing I remember in the real world is playing in the snow! Please, tell me you can help me?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart stared at the mirror in utter disbelief. "This- this isn't my face!" he thought, beginning to freak out a bit. Almost immediately the boy reached out and touched his face, making sure he himself hadn't changed. "Ok. It's just some kind of-"

Then the girl in the mirror spoke to him.

"What? What?" the healer thought. "Why does this shit always happen?' His shoulders slumped. "I suppose I gotta help though..."

"It's not your problem that she's stuck. Why should you help her?" asked a small voice in his head. "You should just set her down and leave."

"Look at her though!" Eckhart argued. "She looks so upset..."

"Not your fault." the voice said back. "Besides, she could be lying."

Eckhart shook his head. "No. Leaving her here isn't right."

"Um..." he began awkwardly. "I can help you, yeah. My name is Eckhart." The boy looked both ways. "Does the guy who runs the shop know you're in here? He'll charge me a fortune for you if he does..."


Celegwen

"Eckhart," she said, smiling. "Thank you so much! My name's Vivianne. And no. He has no idea. He didn't really check his stock too often from what I can tell."

And now you're insulting an old man, she thought, sighing. Classy, Shards.

"I'm going to disappear for a minute or two, so you can pay without him noticing me," she said with a short nod. "When it's safe to come back, just call my name."

She gave him a relieved smile and a small wave before fading. Vivianne took her hands off of the mirrors in her room at the tavern. She looked into her own mirror and combed her bangs back over the mirrored eye on her forehead. There were mixed feelings swimming around her about what she was doing.

On one hand, it was remarkably easier to keep an eye on him with Eckhart willingly carrying her around. On the other hand, she's disrupting his entire life - yeah, he probably has his own life - to go on some fake quest to free her from a mirror. That should be an interesting reveal... On the figurative third hand, he was Hildegarde's younger brother. By doing this, she was consciously inviting the Von Musel name back into her life. What would that mean?

Eckhart_Von_Musel

It was almost to much to take in. Eckhart nodded numbly, waving goodbye as Vivianne's face faded from the mirror. "Sweet Ansgar, why am I just going along with this? I really gotta grow a spine, this could be some awful trick."

This thought did not stop Eckhart from approaching the shopkeeper. "Um, excuse me sir? How much for this?" He help up the mirror apprehensively. "I found it with the books, and there isn't a price tag."

The man gave him a funny look. "You realize this is meant for women, right? Why do you want it?"

Eckhart went red in the face. "What?" He looked at the mirror, and his heart sank- it was very girly. The frame was made of what appeared to be gold filigree, and there was a large moonstone set into the back. "Um..." the healer said nervously. "It's, uh, for my wife!"

"Yeah-huh." the shopkeeper said flatly. "It's twenty suns..." The shopkeeper trailed off when her saw Eckhart pull a handful of gold coins from a rather ornate looking coin purse. "I- er, you're serious are you?" He took the coins, and waved the healer off. "Whatever. Have fun with your makeup and nail polish, kid."

Still red in the face, Eckhart walked out of the shop. "Sweet Ansgar, what a hassle..." he thought. Looking at the mirror apprehensively, Eckhart tapped on the glass. "Um, Vivianne? It's okay to come out now..."

Celegwen

Aside from traveling and looking through mirrors, Vivianne was able to hear through them. She was able to listen to every conversation in front of a mirror that she wanted. It was useful, but it could drive a weaker person to madness.

Keeping an ear out, she heard Eckhart's voice telling her it was safe to come back. She had no idea what mirror she had appeared in, but it had to be some kind of handheld one, judging by the movements Eckhart had made upon first seeing her.

The tapping wasn't exactly good for her, though. He doesn't know what's going on, she thought. Don't be too hard on him.

Putting her back back to reveal the mirror shards on her forehead, Vivianne put her hands back on her own mirrors. She located the right one and smiled when she saw Eckhart. "For future notice, you just need to say my name." She pretended to tap on the glass. "This is unnecessary. I'll be able to hear you."

The girl saw how red Eckhart's face was and softened her voice. "Oh, gods. I'm sorry. I really hope I'm not putting you out. I don't mean to be any trouble."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart sighed in relief when Vivianne's face reappeared in the mirror- a small part of him thought he must have imagined the entire thing. He then frowned slightly. "Is... is she actually chiding me? How the fuck am I supposed to know what it's like in a mirror?" Vivviane apologized almost immediately afterwards, but Eckhart was already annoyed.

"No trouble at all!" Eckhart said passive aggressively. "Your mirror only cost twenty suns, so it's not like I had to bankrupt myself!" He smiled inwardly. "That's more than what my house cost! I bet you're gonna feel terrible!"


Celegwen

Vivianne frowned, folding her arms over her chest. "Hey, I apologized! I didn't ask for this to happen to me!"

She stopped herself, taking a deep breath. Vivianne, you're starting to believe your own lie, she thought. Just relax. He paid a shitload for your lying ass.

"I'll make it up to you," she said with a sigh. "I promise. Once this is over and done with, I'll repay you for everything." In truth, she had no idea what she would do to repay him, but over the time they had, Vivianne would be able to come up with something. "I'm sorry. If you don't want to help me, I understand. I know it's a lot to ask of someone."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

"Hey, hey!" Eckhart said, pointing to the reflection angrily. "I already paid for you, didn't I? You can't ask me to leave, you're stuck with me now!"

"Sweet Ansgar, what a bitch..."

The boy sighed. "But really, it's fine. I'm already helping a magical cat save her best friend from an evil fae prince, so a girl in a mirror should be a piece of cake! I think..." He began to walk towards his hostel once more. "I bet Maladies has something to get you out of there..."


Celegwen

I'm stuck with you? Vivianne thought. If you knew my power, I would flick you so hard right now!

At least he was going to try to help her. She felt a little bad for lying to him, but she didn't think telling him that she was spying on him would be the best way to go.

Vivianne smirked when he said the cat was magical. I knew it! He was actually having a conversation with her! She smiled softly at his reluctant acceptance. "Thanks, Eckhart. I appreciate this. Who's Maladies? A friend of yours?"

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart shook his head. "No, it's... Um.... Well..."

"Shit, how the fuck do I explain this?"

"Well, I... Kinda have a book of forbidden knowledge? But it's all herbal remedies. My cat wrote it, and..." The boy trailed off. "Sweet Ansgar, I sound demented. I gotta change the subject, like, now."

"So, uh, who put you in the mirror? Was it a sorcerer?"

Celegwen

Forbidden knowledge? Vivianne thought. Well, that might be an interesting read!

She completely passed over him saying that his cat wrote it. Regardless of how crazy that might've sounded, she was much more interested in what that book contained.

Vivianne's eyes widened when Eckhart asked about how she was trapped in the mirror. "It was," she said, shaking her head. "It all happened so fast." That was when she realized that she didn't have to lie...entirely. "It wasn't his fault, though. It was my parents' fault. They hated me my whole life. I was a troublesome child, always pranking people with magic. Eventually, when I was seventeen, they took me to a man that could control my powers. He trapped me in a mirror, and my parents forgot me."

She wiped away a forced tear from her cheek, blinking her golden eyes a few times. "I'm sorry. I don't usually get emotional like this."

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart listed to the reflections story in disbelief. "You mean... They just sold you to that curio shop guy without a second thought?" he asked, appalled by what he was hearing. "But that's awful! I can't believe there are parents who'd just abandon their kid like that!"

"Yes you can. When was the last time Mom and Dad sent Hilda a letter?"

Eckhart clutched the mirror to his chest for a moment. "I'm going to get you out of there. I promise." He looked at Vivianne sadly. "Don't worry about paying me back, okay?"

Celegwen

When Eckhart hugged the mirror, Vivianne felt a pang in her chest. It wasn't because of the story, even though she wasn't completely lying. Her parents really did just forget about her. She was the one who left, but her family made no attempt to contact her or keep her around.

The pain in her chest was something she hadn't felt in a very long time. Vivianne didn't expect to impact him like that. She especially never expected to feel so guilty for leading him on a bullshit quest.

Damn all the Von Musels! She thought to herself. First Hildegarde, now her brother! Gods! Why do I have to let these people into my life?

"Thank you, Eckhart," she said. "I-I know I keep saying that, but really. All I can tell you about the spell was that it bound my spirit to the mirror." Maybe I can bend the lie a bit to the point it at least touches the truth. "My body is kept somewhere else. I don't know where. If you free my soul from the mirror, I'll be back to my body and in your world, instead of this reflective prison!"

Vivianne swallowed nervously, shaking her head. Oh, what the hell have I gotten myself into?

Eckhart_Von_Musel

Eckhart frowned. "Oh... Oh no..." He swallowed nervously. "Um..." he began. "I, uh, don't want to be a wet blanket, but..." The healer trailed off. "Shit, how do I tell her this?"

"Um... You see... My cat, Belladonna, she knows a lot about stuff like this. I, ah, remember her telling me that the body doesn't need a soul to survive, it just... Stops moving?" He shook his head. "Um... Your real body might..." The boy steeled himself. "If your parents abandoned you, then your real body might have died of thirst of starvation. It... It would have needed to be kept alive."

Eckhart gave Vivianne a pained look. "If we free your soul, you might... Just, you know... Pass on." The guilt was very clearly visible on the boy's face. "Um... If you don't want my help after all, I'll understand..."

"Sweet Ansgar, that is not something I ever wanted to have to explain to somebody."

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