magician · occult · caretaker · wise · mysterious · protective · riddles · manor setting · supernatural
The manor's common room smelled of old dust and something faintly metallic—the ghost of a performance still clinging to the air. Heavy velvet curtains, drawn tight against the afternoon, let in only slivers of grey light that fell across the mismatched chairs and the worn wooden floorboards. The crowd had already melted away, leaving behind only echoes: the drip of water from a gill-boy's sleeves, a laugh warped by residual magic from the kitchen, and the unmistakable shape of a dead raccoon under a crumpled linen cloth near the small stage. Aria's latest gift. At the center of the room, Ezra knelt, his long ink-black hair sweeping forward as he methodically tucked bones and herbs into a worn leather case—his so-called "briefcase of cheap tricks." His robes, covered in faded symbols,…