❖ 004

[spotlighted]

Once upon a time, there was a girl called Ruby, with hair as red as fire. Ruby hailed from a far away kingdom called New York, but she had been kidnapped from her homeland and taken to a place known only as the City. As day dawned on one particular morning in the City, the sunbeams broke through the window and roused the maiden from a deep and peaceful slumber, in the tower where she resided. It was a well-earned slumber, too, for the previous day fair Ruby had been on a quest, roaming the city and searching far and wide to find cigarettes for her employer, Meyer, a Prince of her homeland of New York, a quest in which she had been ultimately unsuccessful.

Today, as Ruby rises from the comfort of sleep, she finds that the small, ornate silver box she prizes so dearly had been returned to her, adorning the otherwise bare window sill, glinting in the morning sunlight. Having bathed and dressed in a green chiffon dress of her own design, Ruby takes one of the small white sticks from the silver box and leans in the window of her room as the fluffy white clouds drifted lazily through the azure sky, watching the people come and go from the other towers, listening to the stream of water from the fountain, feeling quite content.

She spends the afternoon curled comfortably in one corner of her sofa, held in rapt attention by a leather bound tome she had borrowed from the library, that most wondrous institution that Ruby was only beginning to discover now she away from the bright lights of her homeland, before she heads to work. Dressed in her finest gown, back in New York she could easily have been mistaken for a noble lady as she made her way to the establishment in which she was currently engaged, but this could be no further from the truth: she's just a humble troubadour, a minstrel displaced from her proper place and time, wishing only to share the music of that place and time with the city, should they have the inclination to listen.

[OOC: Ruby is under the effects of the Tell Me A Story curse. Feel free to run into her at her apartment, around the city, or at Lucky's.]

Comments

Video

[rianofski]

Correct me if I'm wrong, of course, but are you, as a matter of fact, narrating your own life as though it were a fairytale?

[He has no idea why anyone would do this, but he finds it vaguely amusing.]

Video

[spotlighted]

Ruby beams as she sees Andrew on the other end of the feed, her pale, slender fingers reaching up to brush a daintily curled ringlet of her copper red hair behind her ear. "I think perhaps it is some sort of curse," she replies, the confusion clear in her voice.

Re: Video

[rianofski]

A strange curse. I suppose I can't criticize, of course. We've all been possessed by strange curses before.

[spotlighted]

"It is a most vexing curse, and I shall be most glad when it has passed." She's already aware of how foolish she must sound, narrating everything, and besides, Andrew was one person whom she most definitely wanted to take her seriously. "But perhaps it might rub off on me a little, and I could go into children's literature as a sideline."

[rianofski]

Perhaps, but I think you'll be remarkably glad to get back to normal. I doubt anyone will judge you harshly for being under the influence of a curse like this, no matter how loquacious it makes you.

[saidrepent]

[Uhh.]

Is this what you do with your spare time?

[spotlighted]

"Not at all." She shakes her head, curls flying a little as she does so. In truth, if it lasts much longer, Ruby is considering taking it up in her spare time, the potential with this could be considerable, even if she's still very bewildered by it.

[horseish]

I like the library, too. Why couldn't you find any cigarettes?

[spotlighted]

"I've only just discovered the library," Ruby replies. The wonders to be found within the pages of books had appealed little to her in the great kingdom of New York, but there had been so much else to distract her there, and she'd been forced to read some books that were absolutely dreadful when she was even younger than Bobby, that had put her off a great deal. "What sort of books do you like to read?"

A rather bitter expression comes over her face as she remembers the events of the day before. "The deities had cursed brave Prince Meyer, and just as he returned to the City, too. They've made it so that he is unable to even touch cigarettes."

[Text]

[brothertragedy]

Have you taken up writing, Madame Ruby?

[Text]

[spotlighted]

"I only wish I had taken up writing, it would be a far more straightforward explanation for all this." Ruby's fingers fly over the keyboard in response. "Perhaps I shall, after this; it seems a shame to waste all of this, even if I find narrating every little thing rather disconcerting."

[Text; sorry for the delay, mid-term week! ^o^;]

[brothertragedy]

[Ah, then it is a curse. A very strange one!]

You certainly have the necessary skill for it... however, brevity is the soul of wit.

I take it this length is not characteristic of your writing.

[Text; no worries! o/]

[spotlighted]

It most certainly is not. I have always preferred to deliver my message in a more concise manner. It is very kind of you to say that I have the skill for it, yet I fear that, too, may disappear after this curse is over. If even some of it remains, perhaps I may venture into writing on the side.

action;

[universaltranslator]

[Uhura is heading to the pharmacy to pick up some painkillers and dog food for Chekov when she sees Ruby.]

Hey there, Ruby!

action;

[spotlighted]

Ruby twists round elegantly on the balls of her feet when she hears her name being called, waving enthusiastically as she sees Uhura. "Hi, Nyota! How are you doing?"

action;

[universaltranslator]

I'm....okay. [Confused by the narration, but that's almost to be expected.] Are you all right?

[fields_of_hope]

What a lovely story. I'm curious, what sort of music do you have to share? [Musicians of all kinds are of interest to a professional singer, even if she's been three years retired from performing.]

[spotlighted]

Ruby's face lights up, she's always more than delighted for a chance to discuss music. "I sing jazz music, mostly." She wonders if she'll have heard of it; she's certainly had mixed reactions to it so far. She's beginning to accept that although she's met several people from her time period, she's certainly in a minority, there.

[fields_of_hope]

[She's not thrown one bit by the narration. It's a rather interesting manner of speech.] Ah yes, I know of it. It's very often improvised, yes? A very creative and imaginative way to make music.

[spotlighted]

"Yeah, that's one of the hallmarks of it." As for herself, there was only so much that she could improvise; when you've been performing the same set for so many years, you could really trip yourself up by coming up with something on the spot in that way.

[fields_of_hope]

Either way, it sounds lovely. I'd enjoy learning sometime, if you would wish to take on a student. Most of my career was focused on ballads, but one's repertoire can always expand. [And she does miss performing and singing with others. It's a part of her old life that she would always miss.]