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[attr="id","sybariscol"]CORVUS ORPHE

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act 1: the lost boy

FADE IN: [break][break]


ORPHE FAM. HOME – MID-AFTERNOON [break][break]


The courtyard of the esteemed Orphe family, a child is playing in the grass and is interrupted by the clicking of heels on cobblestone. [break][break]



[break][break]

A woman appearing in her mid 30's with long hair, accompanied by a silver back gorilla. Her stare is neutral, expression is unreadable. She is the matriarch of the family in all matters except public. Her name is Callisto Orphe. [break][break]



A little boy, around 5 with Callisto's eyes and lavender hair. He is dressed plainly, and distracted by an ant colony near a patch of daisies. His name is Corvus and he is currently the youngest of the Orphe family, and the only child unable to tap into mana. [break][break]



Corvus takes off running, and a few moments later a lawn chair goes flying in his direction before the gorilla yells aggressively and lumbers after him. Callisto is left by herself while the sounds Corvus crying for help fade in the distance. [break][break]



Corvus sixth child of Rigel and Callisto Orphe. His parents are powerful representatives of an old star calling family known for their abilities to control stardust and rest the night skies. They are considered powerful guardians or a land often beset by drought and bandits. Callisto is a powerful illusionist that married into them due to her social standing, ambition, and most importantly, incredible control over mana. The union between Rigel and Callisto gave them child after child, incredibly talented and skilled magical children. Until Corvus, who showed no aptitude despite extreme efforts to coax the mana out of him. He's barely eight when his younger brother, Saiph Orphe is born. After three years of no results all focus is passed on to the seventh child, and he is effectively ignored. The Orphe family is very much in the limelight as a family that breeds natural born starcallers, as well as being experienced caretakers of the Selene Celestial Observatory. [break][break]

Once Saiph is born Corvus is excused from most, if not all social gatherings. Some of his siblings look down on him while others pity his lack of magical prowess. He begins to feel disdain when his younger brother, in a brief tantrum can produce more magical control of some of the starettes Corona had been using to play with him. When the baby's screams manage to repel the little bits of stardust Corvus dies a little inside. Saiph is celebrated and he hears the entire household sigh in relief. [break][break]

Saiph has shown something. [break]
Saiph isn't a dudchild. [break]
Saiph has earned his place at the table. [break][break]

Swept under the rug, Corvus has no trouble taking what little of value he has with him as he stows away in a passing caravan that takes him to a nearby town. Whether its stubbornness that he will return on his own, or absolute certainty he will be returned by those that know them, no one goes looking for him. In the depths of his sorrow, a small voice whispers, quiet and barely there, but overflowing with anger: [break][break]

[break][break]

And so he does. He is no longer Corvus Orphe, sixth child of the Orphe Starcaller clan. He is nobody. With no past, and if he wasn't careful, no future. [break][break]

act 2: the dead boy

FADE IN: [break][break]

DOCTOR LEANORA’S HOME – NIGHT [break][break]

The inside of a closet, cracked slightly open for view OF A DARK CHILDREN’S ROOM. There is just enough space for Corvus to see a figure looming over a slumbering child. He sits perfectly still, hands clutching stolen food and coin. He is about 13 and his clothes are dull and raggedy. [break][break]



A tall man, in dark clothing probably in his late 40s quietly wraps his hands around the child’s neck and strangles them. A hand covers the child’s mouth to keep sounds from coming out. They struggle and thrash and the nstop moving. After a few minutes, he opens a window and leaves through there. [break][break]



Corvus hesitates, before making his way to the window to begin some process of shimmying down the drain pipe. [break]



The child appears to be 10 or so years, with short blonde hair. Their eyes are closed and their skin is fair. There are large red marks around their throat. Their chest isn’t moving. [break][break]



There’s footsteps and someone calls out a name cautiously. There’s calls of alarm and Corvus begins to cry. The child isn’t waking up, and he’s getting more and more anxious. He slaps the child’s face but there is no response. Eventually the door is slammed open and he knows there are eyes upon him, and then a screaming mother, and then finally, bodies that prevent his escape. The Voice is silent throughout this as Corvus thrashes desperately to get back to the window the murderer used to escape. [break][break]


ERASMOS DETENTION FACILITY, A PRISON – MIDNIGHT [break][break]

The lowlight chapel of the prison. It is small with only a few candles lit. At the entrance stand two prison guards. At the very front of the room in a pew sits Corvus, eating dinner. The meats are fresh and well cooked, it steams into the air. The vegetables are buttered and well salted. The quality of the food indicates a last meal, execution. A lone figure sits beside Corvus. It makes him nervous. [break] [break]



Corvus glares at them, protecting his food. [break][break]




Corvus slams the knife into the wood of the pew, baring his teeth at the stranger. He wished to eat in peace. [break][break]



Corvus doesn’t say anymore, having already explained what had happened dozens of times over the past few hours and still put to death. The figure is silent, and the sound of utensils scrapping a metal plate fill the air. [break] [break]



THE FIGURE [break]
Yes...and I think you should get a few more years before you die. [break][break]

CORVUS [break]
Excuse me- [break][break]

THE FIGURE [break]
You want to live, right?[break][break]

CORVUS [break]
Yeah, but- [break][break]

THE FIGURE [break]
Just follow the snake over there. [break]
(he smiles and gestures at a little snake in the corner of the room, waiting) [break][break]


The guards who had been previously keeping watching fall to the ground with a couple of thuds. Corvus turns to look at the bodies on the ground and back at the stranger, terrified. The ygesture for him to finish eating. He scarfs down the rest of his food and scrambles to his feet. An emerald snake beckons him. Corvus follows. [break] [break]



But, when he was a dead man anyway, what did it matter if it was? He found himself in a small side room to the chapel. Storage, but there was an unguarded window. That was all he needed. He scrambled out of it as quietly as he could before taking off into the night. Once again, no one came for him. In fact, he heard later that they hadn't figured out he had left until a few hours before dawn, when they found the bodies of his guards unconscious in front of the chapel. Alive but bruised. At the edges of civilization, he came across a caravan and someone seemingly waiting for him. He begged for passage and was denied, but an off hand comment about following a snake there however, got him in. [break][break]

A week later he was dropped off miles away part of a circus with no talent and no magic to speak of. The ringleader put him to work, assisting any and everyone to earn his keep. For the first time in a long time, Corvus didn't worry about food. Although his appetite did lead to a lot of snacking with his particularly sticky fingers. The threat of execution long behind him, he set him mind to making a live once more. Maybe a little more honest this time around. [break][break]

act 3: the snake boy

FADE IN: [break][break]

HYDRA TERRITORY – MIDNIGHT [break][break]

Low light lanterns as well as a gathering of witches who, for ceremonial purposes, all seem to don some sort of purple. They surround a small group of haggard looking witches that stand at attention. [break][break]



A certain young witch, officially a witch, with amethyst hair, dark skin, and golden eyes. Corvus stands among witches some his age, some older, some younger. He’s in his early 20s, barely an adult. He turns his head to the crow standing around them, sharp eyes searching for someone in particular. [break][break]



The voice inside Corvus’ head is silent for what seems like ages. The powerful witches inducting them are making their way through their ranks. He doesn’t notice when it’s his turn to swear loyalty to the coven. Gold eyes go wide, and his face pales as they gesture to him. The sheer kind of commitment, the loyalty asked of him is too much. It’s constricting and the thought of these people becoming his everything makes him feel like he’s suffocating. [break][break]

When asked for loyalty he spits in response and like a cornered animal, turns tail, and runs. In a flash of colorful stardust, the boy is gone, stunning his peers and setting the voice inside his head mad with laughter. Cackling reverberates throughout every single crevice of his mind and echoes in the stamping of his feet. Corvus runs as he always does. There is noise as he crashes through, as he hears voices pipe up, as an unnatural storm blows over to slow him down but he can’t stop. He won’t stop. The thought of those eyes he was searching for meeting his terrifies him. Are they angry? Ashamed? Disappointed? [break][break]

He doesn’t know and that unknown, that variable, chases him further and further until he doesn’t know where he is. Hydra isn’t on his tail or at least, that’s what they've allowed him to think. The laughter has subsided, overpowered by the thoughts bouncing around in his head. [break][break]

Corvus has failed again. [break]


He wanders into the unknown, surviving as he has always done: just barely. [break][break]


FADE IN: [break][break]

SANCTUM ALTISSIMO, A GRAVEYARD – DAWN [break][break]

Fog rolls lazily, not yet dispersed. It muffles most sound. The skies are clouded making it even darker as the sun struggled to break through. [break][break]


Corvus sitting at the steps of mausoleum, golden eyes dulled by exhaustion. He is reading a plaque, practically entranced. There are tears in his clothes and curled up by the steps he appears younger than he really is. A vague feeling bubbles up in his stomach, but it doesn’t pop quite yet. He’s hungry, but not enough to move. Footsteps are barely there and he’s slow to turn his attention from the grave and towards the stranger. They’re cloaked, and their hood is up. [break][break]



The hooded stranger is silent for a long time thereafter. But in that silence, Corvus’ resolve grows. There was only so much petty theft could do for him. At least maybe this way, he either finally died or found somewhere more comfortable than a mausoleum to sleep in. Why else would they appear before them again? He wasn't dying there. Not yet anyway. [break][break]

So, he follows, explains briefly his situation and waits. The Voice rumbles in annoyance, noting this situation reminded him of something similar he just left from. But Corvus assures them that this is different. This is freedom without a price without exchanging his life in the process. He enters the graveyard with the hooded stranger and a week later, exits draped in snakeskin and renewed energy. He hides away his new trinket and shoves fresh bread in his mouth before leaving for a city, any city. It wasn’t a home, it never would be. He didn’t have anyone left except the Voice but at least he had somewhere he could hide away in. It was one more connection that he hadn’t had before and that was alright. He would, somehow, be alright. [break][break]