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 Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:51 pm
The Bone Keeper In the English country side, there are farms. There are forests. And also ... there are the rich and eccentric. Sure, the rich can be cruel, cutting, and unkind to those of lower stations, but none too many of them have as odd a reputation as Sir Nicholas Iaceo. It was whispered the man was a murder, a thief, insane, prone to inappropriate comments, suffering from necrophilia, and quite the lover of alcohol. The only problem with all of these whispers and rumors is that ... there's no evidence behind them. It is an exceptional problem for Sara Anne Iaceo, Nic's sister. Sara, because of her brother, only got a small portion of their recently-departed parent's fortune, while the recluse got the lot ... including the extremely large mansion out in the country that had been used for a summer getaway. Furious that her odd and obviously deranged brother had hit the jackpot, she tries to get one of the man's few servants to be her witness to Nicolas's madness. The only problem is that the few hired hands Nic has are either very tight-lipped or very loyal. None give her so much as the time of day. She eventually plans to pay someone to get into the country-side mansion and stay there long enough to find actual evidence or at least look credible enough to be a false witness for her. So the fun begins. Picking the Lock - [Y] will be newly-hired, pretending to be a servant. His background will be up to you. - I like sekes. An equal toe-to-toe relationship. Both able to be rescuer or rescued in cirtain situations. One that leans to the 'seme' or 'uke' side a little will be fine though. - No perfect characters. Jerks can be fun. Stubborn, unforgiving mules that need to be troublesome and coaxed into forgiveness, or smacked on the head for being stupid, can be far more fun than physically-fit geniuses. Bursts of dumb luck are fine (and funny). Just ... no perfection. - This will be a 'fake' historical era. No cars; there are horses. Technology includes electric lights, indoor plumbing, and static-ish phone communication. There are no: cell phones, computers (internet), or most plug-in electronics besides lights. [align=center][b]Name:[/b]
[b]Age: [/b]Looking for 19 and up
[b]Small Personality/Bio:[/b] Just whatever comes to mind at how you feel your character will be. I feel that I'd rather learn about a character though posts than profiles.
[b]Looks:[/b]
IMG or URL[/align] Rules - No instant love. Respect, curiosity, alarm, fine. But love shouldn't be like getting hit by cupid's arrow ... until later C: - Time skips for the 'below the belt' love scenes. - Attempt to write with literacy. Spell check, acceptable grammar (I'm not a Nazi), and a length that both describes and gives good attempts at ... well, story telling. - Don't disappear. Really. Give a heads-up for absences that last more than a day. There's nothing more despised than a person who just drops a RP without a word. Tell me if you get bored and want to move on to another RP without me. Please. Really; I don't mind being left; just tell me your leaving. - Title the PM 'Looking for Skeletons' with your character profile filled out. Add the word spy at the top or bottom of the PM to show you really read the rules. - Have fun. Talk to me Out Of Character with [], {}, or (()) if you want to add a comment, make a suggestion, etc. or PM if you like that better. - Follow Gaia's TOS Characters of the Show Name: Sir Nicholas Iaceo Age: 22 Small Personality/Bio: Nicholas (Nic to his friends, which are few, and Sir Iaceo to most of his servants) was always an odd person. His unique ways were plain by his need for solitude, lack of interest in the usual boyish pastimes like looking for girls to show frogs to or getting close to youths his age. Instead, he seemed to crave long walks in the forest surrounding his parent's summer mansion ... alone. But, to all apprentices, never lonely. Nic studied hard, was obviously talented, but refused to go to college. Now, he has the perfect, familiar, place to shut himself away from the world. Distracted, cold, and sometimes rumored to be a hunter of not only animals, he is left alone by all ... except his sister. Looks: ... Shirt OffBack tattoo ------------------------------------------------  Name: Tatsuo Ran Masato
Age: 21
Small Personality/Bio: Tatsuo lived in a fairly wealthy family in Japan, until he was abducted and brought to England and left to fend for himself with no way to get home but to work hard and save up enough. Add to this that he has to learn a whole language if he want's to survive.. and you'll find a man willing to do whatever it takes to get home. He agrees to work for Miss Iaceo spying on her brother as long as she will get him back to Japan when she has what she wants. Thus he sets to infiltrating the home of a supposed mad Lord Iaceo.
Looks:
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Posted: Thu Nov 25, 2010 6:52 pm
It was late and, as it often was in England during the autumn season, rainy. Actually, England could be wet and dreary most of the time, though the showers seemed to love to come down most when the weather turned nippy. As it was at present, the rain came down unmercifully, hard and cold.
It was not a nice night to be outside waiting for a ride.
The agreed meeting place for the new hand to be picked up and brought to Sir Iaceo's home was on a corner between a bar and inn. There was very little else on this small plot of human shops; the area was the last hint of city living for the next several miles, the dirt road leading out into the darkness of the forest.
The ride is late. By an hour.
Eventually a carriage is seen coming out of that forest. The horses are drenched and plodding forward irritably, none to pleased to be out in such wet, the mud splattering up to the beasts knees. They shake their shaggy heads, drops flying everywhere, the pair of them far from thoroughbreds. They looked more like creatures accustomed to pulling plows, built to be thick and strong, not pretty, graceful, or fast. The driver of the carriage, sitting on the outside of the box designed for human transport, wears a thick coat, though the rain has long since soaked the article of protective clothing though.
He pulls the beasts to a stop at the meeting place that had been specified in the letter to the new servant, the hooves of the horses sucking, squishing, and splashing in the once-dirt, now-mud road as the wheels stopped turning. "Well, hop in," the gruff voice says, before adding: "Mr ...?" The driver waited for a name. Not because he didn't know it, but because he didn't want to pick up just anyone up; he wanted the new servant that was going to be helping with the work around the large mansion.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:16 am
For about the hundredth time in as many minutes, the dark haired male cursed this damnable foreign weather. Not the weather anyone would want to stand around waiting for a ride in certainly. And yet here he was, waiting for a carriage that would bring him to the home of his new 'employer'.. And they were late....
The only reason the male didn't just give up on waiting and walking to his destination, was the fact he had no clue how to get there on foot.. and his pride would not allow him to ask for help. Though he certainly hadn't let pride get in the way of earning enough to get back home to Japan..
After cursing again, having long slipped into his native Japanese, for about the 200th time, a carriage finally arrived. He felt a bit of pity for the poor beasts made to pull the thing along in this weather. He grabbed up his things as the carriage pulled to a stop not far off. The man driving the carriage spoke, and it took him a moment to switch his mind back to the English he'd been forced to crash-learn but a few years ago and translate what had been said to him.
"Masato... Tatsuo Masato." And when the man nodded to show it had been the name he was looking for, he climbed into the covered section for the passengers. The rather odd contraption took off once the door had been closed. He had never seen its like in Japan, where Rickshaws, adopted in Japan from China but altered for a more Japanese take on it, were the usual mode of transport still.. That or walking.
And introducing himself and addressing others first name first had taken some getting used to. He'd almost introduced himself as Masato Tatsuo just now, but managed to remember the first name then last thing before he'd spoken.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 8:23 am
The driver nodded, flipping the collar of his coat up to hopefully block more of the rain; or at the very least keep any liquid from spattering on his face. The horses resumed their miserable plodding, turning and taking the carriage back the way they'd come. It was a long ride down the bumpy dirt road, everything growing ever darker it seemed, though it was still early noon.
By the time the mansion was in sight, the rain was a blurring curtain, making the large building a dark, looming figure on the top of a hill. The driver gave a few whacks to the top of the carriage, calling out loudly to be heard over the drumming rain: "Almost there; old stick-in-the-mud David will be the one showin' you around. Make yourself as presentable as you can."
The horses pulled the carriage up that hill and to the front of the mansion doors. A man, tall and thick with muscle, stood just within the dry area underneath the overhang, looking rather cross. David never was one for tardiness ... or foreigners, usually. But a hired hand was a help around the house at least, and they needed it. As the driver got down to let the new servant out, he was already frowning, but opened the front doors and motioned the servant in.
No need to keep anyone out in that weather. Inside the house the halls were well lit by electric lights, and the sound of a distant song on piano could be barely heard. "Mr Masato I take it? Welcome."
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:29 am
Tatsuo wasn't given much time to reply, after translating the sentence in his mind, as the carriage was soon pulled to a stop at the mansion. He got out, got his things (which didn't amount to much anyway), and followed the man, he assumed him to be David, inside. The way the halls were lit with flame-less lamps was quite a surprise to him, as, though he was in a country that used electricity with their light fixtures, he'd only been able to own gas/oil lamps to light the small space he was able to afford as his living space before this recent job.
Though he walked with the poise of Japanese nobility, he was clearly awed by the size and grandeur of the mansion. He turned his attention to the man who addressed him, though he'd rather investigate the music he could faintly hear from somewhere within the mansion.
"Aa.. thank you." His accent was noticeable, for his pronunciation of thank you made it sound more like 'sankyu-'. He didn't talk very often around native English speakers, for more often then not someone made comments about the accent. And they tended towards the offensive side generally. It wasn't like he wanted to be here in this soggy country!
His mood was soured mainly by the weather currently, though in general his moods were less refined than back home, since he had been brought here against his will when he was around 15. And the last few years had had a lasting effect on him. Well, maa iikedo.. Sore wa shikata ga nai. All he could do was work and save up to get home one day.
"An- Umm." He paused, since he doubted the question would be met with a good response, and changed what he'd meant to say with, "Should I put my things away?" Since he'd be a live-in servant here. How far he'd fallen, that he should be any mans servant. His mother would certainly faint at the thought of him having to do manual labor.
While lost in thought, Tatsuo had begun removing his shoes, a habit that he'd kept when in England for all these last few years. He was accustomed to Japanese traditions, such as taking outdoor shoes off to replace them with indoor sandals or slippers.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 10:44 am
David, a rather large man himself, tried not to raise an eyebrow at the slight accent the Japanese man had, and mutely ignore the 'custom' of taking off shoes. "Yes; I'll show you to your quarters, and then to get some dinner. It'll be leftovers, but there still warm, thankfully. Muddy roads makes everything run a bit late around here," he grumbled the last bit, but turned to lead Tatsuo to the room he would be living in. Past the large stairway the led up to the upper floors, the soft noise of music coming down from there, David guided the foreigner down a hallway, opening one of the doors. It was a smallish room, with the simple necessities, but the floor and roof were sturdy oak wood, and there was a window that could be used to see outside with.
Though, the view was dreary enough at the moment, rain still coming down. "It's to late for you to do any work today; you'll just get some dinner, then you'll have the rest of the night to settle in if you wish. Your work will start up early tomorrow, though."
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:06 pm
Even though it wasn't commented on, he knew the other man had caught the obvious accent he still possessed. He was glad for that, since it would be embarrassing to have his mispronunciation pointed out. He didn't reply as he followed David to his 'quarters', where he dropped off his bags, and kept silent as they proceeded to the kitchens for a leftover meal.
His room here was admittedly much nicer than the one he had back in London. And though there wasn't a Japanese futon bed, he could see himself sleeping easily enough in the bed provided. He'd noticed how the music had come from upstairs and asked David about it, learning it was the Lord Iaceo himself that was playing.
This interested him..but it wasn't a servants place to address the Lord of the Manor, especially a newly employed servant. Even though it grated to refer to himself as a servant. But it was all in the name of getting home to his family. And the woman they had arranged for him to marry when he was still an infant. The two were childhood friends, yes, but their feelings for each other were purely platonic.
Also, he never really saw himself with a woman. The idea was slightly unsettling to him. He nodded at the mention of starting working early the next day, not having any problem in waking at an early hour. He was hoping for a nicer day tomorrow, but wasn't holding his breath for it. He would mostly be working outdoors as the gardener.. Which was a job he wouldn't mind so much, actually, since he rather liked toiling in a garden.
Though he wasn't used to such a large-scale garden... And judging by the size of the manor and its lawn there would be a lot of work for him to do here if he wanted to stay long enough to fulfill his true goal here.
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 4:24 pm
In the kitchen a few cooks were still walking about, finishing with a few dishes and making sure the leftovers didn't get cold because they knew a new servant was going to arrive tonight. There was more than enough of this-and-that to pass as a meal, though all the food was English. "Once you're done eating, I trust you can finds the way back to your room yourself, or should I come back to guide you back in a little while?" the large man said, looking anxious to be on his way. The song from upstairs had ended, and the creaks of the mansion were a bit more easily heard. Nicholas Iaceo sat in front of his piano, lightly stroking the white keys. A fox skull sat in his lap. "Faust, do you like the rain?" the noble asked, gently picking up the head and looking it in the eye. "No? It makes your knees ache? But Faust," Nic chuckled, "you don't have any knees!" The fox skull was silent, though Nicholas seemed to hear a reply that made him laugh aloud. "You sly devil; you're lucky I need you or you would've been buried like a proper bone years ago."
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Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2010 9:55 pm
They arrived in the kitchens and the cooks present all stopped what they were doing at the opening of the door. They all gave the man, David, a respectful greeting, turning curious glances his way. They quickly figured out he was the new servant. He turned at the man's tone, eyes narrowing when his aptitude was questioned.
"No purobelem. I can find my way back." He answered, toning down the haughtiness in his tone. It was still slightly there, but it was justified in his opinion. No one questioned his mental capacity to recall directions. When the man had gone off on whatever business he had to attend to, Tatsuo sat at the small table and ate the warm leftovers he was presented with.
When he was finished eating, one of the people in the kitchens came up to him and asked about his accent. She seemed excited and it was annoying. "I'm Nihonjinda...Japanese. Engerish is not my first ranguage." He said by way of explaining. He muttered a 'good night' and left after asking at bathing rooms for the servants. He was chilled to the bone in his wet clothes, and would rather not come down with something the first night there.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 10:22 am
David, raising an eyebrow, went on his way nonetheless. No need to waste time lingering there if the new servant thought he could manage on his own. The large man himself went up stairs to the second floor to attend to the master of the house. Sir Iaceo was still in his piano room, but looked about to leave when David polity knocked and came in. "The new servant arrived."
Nicholas gave a small nod. "Good; no one deserves to be left out in the rain for any longer than necessary." But that seemed to be the man's limit to the interest in his new staff member; instead Nic moved onto another subject. "Do you think it will be dry enough to go hunting tomorrow?" the noble pondered, taking himself and the painted fox skull back towards his bedroom on the third floor.
"Perhaps. It's hard to guess in autumn." David answered, following behind. "Is there anything you would like before bed, sir?"
"No." Nicholas's tone was flat. "I'm fine." David nodded. The master was like that; he liked being alone more than anything. Well, alone with his skull anyway ...
"Then I'll be on the second floor. Just call if you need anything." David then left sir Iaceo to go inspect the second floor for any abnormalities before going to bed later himself.
As for Tatsuo, his question led one of the kitchen lads to give him directions to the servant's bathroom. Half of it was stalled bathrooms while the other had semi-private showers. Sure, it would've been nicer to have separate bathrooms to themselves, but they were only servants, and lowly ones at that. Only those in charge of things like David and the head chef got bathrooms to themselves.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 11:04 am
The shared bathing for servants didn't affect the male, as he had gone to a number of Onsen's in Japan that were shared and so was used to bathing with others. Nobility were more likely to have more private onsen baths than commoners would, but it was still not uncommon for multiple persons to share a bath back home.
It was currently empty anyways. Tatsuo took the time to do the full bathing ritual he was used to and had been unable to do for the longest time since arriving here. He felt much better after than he had in a long while, though was still trapped in England. His room was actually fairly close to the bath room, and so he wrapped the drying cloth ((not sure if I should call it a towell...)) around himself, grabbed his wet clothing in a bundle, and moved at a hurried, but not desperately rushed, pace.
He wasn't spotted by anyone, or at least they hadn't reacted in a loud manner if he had. Tatsuo laid out his clothing to dry it over night and pulled out a thankfully dry set of nightclothes. He then set to putting away his belongings to make the room look less unused... It didn't take long, and he didn't own much anyway, and he was soon getting into an admittedly more comfortable and clean-feeling bed than he'd had back at his dilapidated apartment.
Tatsuo was up much earlier than David had really meant, and he dressed and exited the building holding a wooden stick that had been shaped similar to a Japanese katana. It was imperfect, but had been made to the best of his memory and skill. It was a rough-looking stick, but he'd felt a little amount of pride that it even resembled a wooden katana, Though it hadn't really been necessary, he'd taken to learning the use of katana's, and often was out practicing in the early mornings.
He got into the first and easiest stance, one that would enable the muscles to be correctly warmed up, and began the motions of the battle-dance. His movements were fluid, hair swinging after him and following his each motion. He lost himself in it, letting out the occasional yell of 'hah' with certain thrusts and swings of the wooden blade. If he had an audience, he was unaware of it.
But he had to stop eventually, and was soon heading in for a quick breakfast before he had to start his work for sir Iaceo.
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 1:08 pm
Snap, the sound of two bones coming together woke Nicholas far earlier than the noble was used to, making him sit up, white hair disheveled and eyes sleepy. "Faust ... what are you doing up so early?" he asked the skull, seeing as it was sitting on the windowsill. The head didn't answer; at least not aloud. But the master understood the fox anyway.
The new one. He is doing something odd.
Nic reluctantly got up, nightshirt covering him down to his knees, and looked out the window. "Hm, that is odd, but I think it's something the Easterners do ..." He watched for a while, curious, but eventually yawned, heading back to his bed. Servants got up before dawn. Masters were meant to sleep in as late as they wanted. Faust, the fox skull, continued to observe though, suspicious of this alien behavior. Or, maybe, felt disinclined to move seeing as he had no body to move around with.
David was talking with the head chef when Tatsuo came in, and the large man looked pleasantly surprised to see the newcomer up so early. Fresh food was ready and sitting out to cool, the first batch right out of the ovens and soup pots. "Mattie will show you which gardens need to be worked on," he said, gesturing towards one of the younger servants who was currently eating his own breakfast with a gusto. "If you have any questions, most anyone will help you out ..." the large man did seem to glare briefly at some of the staff present, probably the least helpful ones, "but if no one else can help you just come to me. The few rules we have besides the obvious ones are don't go up to the third floor without permission; that's the master's work area. And never go into the attic. The rest of the rules speak for themselves; like don't break anything valuable if you can help it."
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Posted: Tue Nov 30, 2010 10:48 pm
Borderline, dead inside
I don't mind, falling to pieces
Count me in, violence
Let's begin, feeding the sickness
How do I simplify
Dislocate the enemies on the wayTatsuo Ran Masato Tatsuo nodded and ate his share of breakfast, feeling well refreshed after having the luxury of being able to wash himself properly the night before, sleeping on a much nicer mattress than he'd had for years, and then being able to do his morning exercise unhurriedly. The food was also admittedly better than he'd had in a number of years as well. He still wasn't too much a fan of Western foods, but there were some foods he liked and might even miss once he was back home.
He listened at the mention of rules, nodding with each. When the 'no breaking anything of value' rule came up, he barely held in an inelegant snort and muttered under his breath in Japanese. "[Like I don't already know that. We have the same rule for our servants back home]...' Still, he nodded to show he had heard and understood and would abide by the rules of the mansion.
When finished, Tatsuo got 'Mattie' to show him what he needed to work on, where the gardening tools were, then got to work on the one which most needed work, letting Mattie get on with his duties, whatever they may be...
Tatsuo began working on the worst parts, which really weren't as bad as they could have been really, and was soon lost in the action of taking care of a garden. A very large garden belonging to a British Lord. Who was supposedly crazy or something... whom he was supposed to be spying on, though his job posting wasn't the best way of getting close enough to the lord to do any serious digging...into his life that is. He was digging, just not the kind Ms Sarah had meant.
But he was given a fairly long time to get anything, so he figured he might as well do a good job with the gardens while here...He had begun humming softly under his breath as he worked, a smile forming on his slightly pink-tinted lips.Full of fear, ever clear
I'll be here, fighting forever
Curious, venomous
You'll find me climbing to heaven
Never mind, turn back time
You'll be fine, I will get left behind
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Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 5:27 am
Mattie left the foreigner to his own work once it looked like Tatsuo could take care of himself, leaving to get back to his jobs. He was pretty much a servant that did a lot of the more laborious and sometimes mucky jobs, like washing dishes, lugging in firewood or brushing down horses. Today he was cleaning out the barn, which was going to be some pretty dirty work, so the young man, understandably, look less than pleased as he left to go to his job.
Sir Iaceo, on the other hand, was only just awakening. Putting on his day clothes himself, the Lord pondered what he would do today. It looked like it wasn't raining at the moment, so maybe he could do something outside, like go for a walk in the woods. Yes, that sounded like a good plan. A quiet walk on his own. Smiling to himself, Nicholas picked up the fox skull named Faust and went down to breakfast, enjoying the home cooked meal before looking for David. He found the large bear of a man within one of the downstairs guest bathrooms, trying to unclog a sink. "I'll be going out for a little while," he informed the head of the servants, as David was the one than made sure all the right jobs were done on time. The servant nodded, but was mostly trying to loosen one of the pipes enough to pull it out to see what was clogging the sink drain.
Nic fetched a coat from one of the closets, so he wouldn't get cold on the slightly nippy autumn day, and then went outside, heading down a path through the garden towards the woods, Faust nestled safely and out of sight within one of his front coat pockets, though there was a slight bulge that gave away that something was there. He spared one glance at a servant that didn't look too familiar, before remembering that he had seen that particular man earlier in the morning. Ah; so he was the new servant.
But, otherwise, Nic kept walking. He was looking forward to having some time to himself.
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Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 10:11 pm
((really sorry....been sick and not able to think of a post... >.<; )) Borderline, dead inside
I don't mind, falling to pieces
Count me in, violence
Let's begin, feeding the sickness
How do I simplify
Dislocate the enemies on the way Tatsuo noticed Sir Iaceo but acted as though he hadn't, so it would seem like he was totally focused on his work..which was rather enjoyable...excluding the fact he had to control some intense weed-growth. His brow was sweaty from the work, despite the cooler weather, and he had a dirt smudge across it from wiping it with the dirt-covered back of his hand.
When he'd done enough for a short break, he noticed a change in the air that signified oncoming rain. And, if his instincts were correct, it would be as bad as, if not worse than, the one the other night. Tatsuo looked over at his work for the morning, feeling pleased he seemed to have managed so much in so short a time... Granted, there was still much to do.. but it was a start.
He stood with the graceful movements of a swordsman, taking a moment to stretch his legs since they were locked in that one position for a fair bit of time. Then he made his way inside, looking for David, whom he found within one of the first floor rooms.. "David-san...a storm is coming. Should be here in an hour. Has Iaceo-sama returned yet? I saw him head into the forest past the gardens earlier.."Show me what it's like to dream in black and white
So I can leave this world tonight Full of fear, ever clear
I'll be here, fighting forever
Curious, venomous
You'll find me climbing to heaven
Never mind, turn back time
You'll be fine, I will get left behind
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