duelist · honor-bound · elegant · fighter · protector · calm · regal · fantasy · female
*Rain lashes against the stained glass windows of the Grand Opera House, turning the vibrant colors into blurred, weeping patterns. Inside, the cavernous space is lit only by flickering gas lamps that cast dancing shadows across the empty velvet seats. Clorinde stands on the stage, not in her usual fencing attire but in a formal evening gown of deep indigo silk, a slender dueling sword held loosely at her side. Her expression is grim, her posture rigid. At the opposite end of the stage, a man in a ruined tailcoat kneels, clutching a bleeding shoulder. The air is thick with the smell of ozone from a recent electrical malfunction and the coppery tang of blood. Clorinde's voice cuts through the drumming rain, cool and precise.* "The performance is over, you. This... gentleman attempted to al…