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[center][b][color=556B2F]Location:[/color][/b] Talink Estate (Inside)

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[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVrumBAl_iM][color=556B2F]- [I]"Ready or Not" by Mischa "Book" Chillak ft. Esthero[/I][/color][/url]
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	The hallways of the Talink Manor were oddly barren as Thalken stormed out of his father's study. The commotion that had occurred within that room just moments ago clearly did not go unnoticed. Servants and staff alike had vacated the immediate premises, giving him a straight shot route back up to his room. He was fuming to say the least. He was desperately grasping for what little thread of sanity he had left. To say he wanted to kill his father for what the man had done, arranging a marriage under duress, was an understatement. His father had backed the Lady Crypt up into a corner and had the gall to use the life of her innocent brother as a bargaining chip. He had forced the woman's hand in an unthinkable way. If or when the threat to her brother's life was past, she would have to live with her decision, a marriage to a man she not only did not love but also likely viewed as a monster incarnate.   

	It was either sheer stubborn willpower or sheer luck that got Thalken up the stairs and into the so-called private sanctity of his room. So many emotions, more than he knew how to deal with, were warring inside him all at once. The weight of it all was crushing him, and he felt his knees give out from under him. His walls crumbled revealing the broken man that he was on the inside. He was left with two questions that he had spent years trying to avoid answering head-on: When would enough be enough? When would he revolt against his father? Perhaps it was time he stop hiding in the shadows and thinking he could fight his father while remaining unseen. But this would be the point of no return. 

	Thalken was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He desperately wished to redeem himself, as such he could not justify forcing the Lady Crypt to marry him under duress. Yet if he didn't what would become of her brother? If they defied his father, the young viscount would be open to attack from two fronts: the Soulless and the Talinks. The thought of hunting down an innocent young boy made him sick to his stomach. It dawned on him right then that he was the sole person, at least in his mind, who stood between the Lady Crypt and his father's wrath. Despite the anger and bitterness he felt, a newfound determination filled him. He [I]will[/I] protect the Crypts from the Soulless [I]and[/I] from his father. His own life be damned.
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[center][b][color=8A2BE2]Location:[/color][/b] Russian Imperial Circus Tent City 
[b][color=8A2BE2]Passive Skills:[/color][/b] [u]Fal'shbort[/u] - You are tougher, stronger, more Russian!


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[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofI80QESvTc][color=8A2BE2]- [I]"Mad Hatter" by Melanie Martinez[/I][/color][/url]
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	Where does one even begin to explain the cataclysmic chain of events that are to take the dear Alexandra Dorofeivna Andonova unawares? Well, let's just say that for this self-proclaimed queen of sass, karma's a real bitch. Nevertheless, I will try and walk you through it. Perhaps maybe you can make better sense of it all. Let's rewind back a little in Alexandra's timeline. Remember that booth where the vendor was selling the most decadent meat on a stick around? Yeah, probably not. She certainly does though, thanks to her stomach that's already begging for more. This girl could eat you out of house and home and still be hungry within the hour. Looking at her lean form, it's a wonder where it all goes. But that's a story all on its own. Now let's not get sidetracked. Back to that booth. 

	I guess you could say that Alexandra's hunger got the best of her, ultimately overruling her sensibilities. She had snatched a freshly prepared meat on a stick from the vendor's booth, not thinking much of it. Surely one piece wouldn't be missed? After all, the ton was not coming to the circus this night, thus all of that scrumptious food would go to waste. The mere thought of that was horrific. As such, she was more than happy to lend a hand, or in this case a mouth, to ensure no meat on a stick goes to waste. Well, this vendor apparently did not feel the same way as Alexandra did. Unbeknownst to her, he took a great deal of personal offense to her actions, so much so that he seemed to have summoned Lady Luck herself. 

	The chain of events that happened next is mindboggling to say the least. It all happened one after another in succession, like dominoes falling in a preset line. The vendor's fists to a board attached to a rotted out wooden peg. The peg giving way to catapult simmering gravy into the face of an unfortunate clown. The clown grasping for something, anything, only to light himself on fire from grabbing a lit brazier. The clown dunking himself in a water trough thus angering a horse. The horse kicking out and striking a poorly constructed signpost. The signpost falling over and partially collapsing a magician's tent, sending the man into a frenzy. The magician running with a sharp object that is not at all meant to be run with. A laundry bag in the wrong place at the wrong time causing the man to trip and sending what was more or less a guillotine blade soaring into the air. Yeah, you probably know where this is going by now... 

	Back to the present now. Alexandra barely had time to register the pain exploding through her before her entire world went dark. Her head was effectively severed from the rest of her body to land unceremoniously at Vladimir's feet. She was left with no time for goodbyes. She was left with no time to apologize for leaving so soon. She was left with no time to consider what she had ever offered this world other than a mouth full of sarcasm. She was left with no time at all. Perhaps if there was life after death she would have a second chance to make a difference. Now wouldn't that be something?