i wish that i could just be brave

Cassandra Wright | Thirty | Fortune Teller | prophet Wheel of Fortune this is a gift, it comes with a price. who is the lamb and who is the knife? before i make the final sacrifice

[helenaphillipsfv]

ooc | Helena & Cassandra

Helena does have a very special place in her heart for everyone who used to work with her! And ngl I think she was v happy when she was able to recruit Cassandra!!! <3 I think of all of her friends from her old life, Cassandra is probably the one she is most protective over, tbh? I know Helena doesn't know everything about her, but I do think she knows enough to know that Cassandra has had a tough time of it!! And I do feel like Helena is pretty determined that Cassandra will enjoy her life here! She is a little hesitant about her relationship with Lucian tbh and like idk how much she knows about Cassandra's feelings for him, but she is still in the process of vetting him so she's hoping that her friend is using caution!!

[cassandrawrightfv]

Cassandra is SO happy to be here with Helena again. Tbh I think part of her was a little hurt and sad that she wasn't brought along with the original crew (my bad, bestie, I messed that up for you!!!! <3 L) but appreciated that Helena wrote to her later about coming to join and felt very touched! I def think that like, the things Helena would know about what Cassandra has been through is like: *Cassie came to the Silver Cross from an insane asylum that like the owner of the brothel purchased her from *Cassie was like NOT really good with anyone in that beginning period, was pretty wild-eyed and avoidant since all her visions would happen when she was touched by someone and her inability to control what she saw/convey it properly meant she kinda would just be saying word salad at people whenever they grabbed her. (which, yknow, was surely GREAT in their line of work.) *Cassie would get nosebleeds, cough up blood, or faint if she tried too hard to clarify a vision - probably was thought of as consumptive when at Silver Cross! What I think Helena does NOT know is: *How long Cassie had been at the asylum & what her life had been like before then. *That Cassie's visions have started being painful/causing symptoms even if she's not trying very hard to clarify them. Also, I wonder if may have been Helena that kind of ~helped Cassie re-learn social niceties after growing up in the asylum, and how to be a better courtesan? Like I can certainly see the two of them together with Helena instructing Cassie on how to properly hold a teacup or how to laugh at a very stupid joke a customer made. I also could see Helena being the one to have gifted gloves to Cassie, to help protect her from unintentionally getting a vision from an accidental touch. As for Lucian - I think Helena def knows that Cassie is intrigued by him and goes and tries to spend a lot of time with him. But since I haven't talked much with Kate AA about their relationship to each other I'm not real settled yet on what she may or may not have relayed to Helena! Like I said to Kate AA, tho, I think it's mostly about Lucian is quieter to be around and so it feels like a respite. And since Cassie hasn't wanted to concern Helena with how her body seems to be deteriorating faster, she probably wouldn't have shared that it's different around him than anyone else.

[cassandrawrightfv]

OOC | Cassandra & Lucian

I am OBSESSED with this description of The Tower and the Wheel of Fortune together: "Navigating this combination requires courage, resilience, and a willingness to embrace the unknown. It calls for surrendering to the process of transformation, trusting that even in the darkest moments, the wheel will continue to turn, leading us towards our highest path." I love it so much because of specifically how it shouts out courage and resilience bc I think these two have both of those in spades!!! They've both been through so much and have come out swinging on the other side. It's def part of why I think Cassandra feels attracted to Lucian, seeing the things in her she prizes most reflected in him! Obvi there's lots more to talk about around them, tho. Like I had the thought this week that since seeing the future physically hurts Cassie, I was wondering if maybe one of the other reasons she likes being around Lucian was that his futures didn't hurt her. Because I was thinking about if I wanted it to be that there were so many futures and so many options that it would be overwhelmingly *painful* to be around him, but I knew that wasn't true! So I was trying to think about why and settled on three ideas that I thought I'd present to you for input! 1 - Lucian only has one possible future, and because it's so singular, seeing his future clearly doesn't take effort to concentrate on so she doesn't have the usual after-effects.

2 - Lucian has so many possible futures, so it all becomes like static that so impossible to untangle her brain doesn't even try and thus no pain

3 - Lucian has NO possible future, so there's nothing even for Cassandra to see and her magic just doesn't even trigger.

(Secret fourth thought - Lucian's future is obscured by someone or something, so she THINKS he had no possible future and her magic doesn't trigger due to the strength of her certainty.) But! Outside of her visions, I do think Cassandra has a tendency whenever she sees Lucian outside of his performances to just silently walk right up next to him/sit next to him/etc. and just strike up a conversation. I don't know how much she's specifically told him about her past. She probably talks about being at the Silver Cross, but idk if she'd have said anything about her time in the asylum. It may depend on if you think he'd have talked about the fire with her!

[ernestcarterfv]

OOC | Ernest & Cassandra

so while i can see most of my characters occasionally consulting cassandra abt their futures etc, i don't think ernest wants to know! not that he dreads it just that he feels he has to have the strength to forge it etc!

anyway, cassandra used to work w helena -- do you think there's a chance she and ernest knew eo before the circus?

regardless tho they def know eo now and i do think ernest views them all as his lil fam and feels v protective, in his way, over all the members -- his strenght is theirs to borrow kinda vibes! and that certainly goes for cassandra too!

[cassandrawrightfv]

ahhh, I think Cassandra actually loves this about Ernest, bc tbh, while she knows the power she holds by being able to see into the future and will wield it as necessary/to get a few coins, she prefers not to actually look whenever possible. It hurts to actually access and sometimes the visions aren't nice or good or things she'd want to pass on. So Ernest being like: that's none of MY business is honestly a relief. Yes! I think it's very likely she and Ernest knew each other before the circus, though because she was originally brought to the Silver Cross after being bought from the insane asylum where she got tossed by her family as a kid, it's also likely she was kept kind of away from the front unless there was an ~interest in the ~bizarre from someone? But I think Cassandra would still hang out with everyone else when the customers weren't around, and that's where she would have gotten to know some of the Silver Cross Fam. It def took some time between when she first arrived at the Silver Cross to when she left to join Festum to kind of... remember social niceties, tho? So I wonder what Ernest made of that, of her being kind of wild-eyed and not wanting to be touched, and then if she was touched, her kind of babbling out word salad of different things that would happen to someone. Also could be possible it happened on accident once to Ernest? Especially if it was early on from when she first arrived at Silver Cross, it's unlikely she even said anything that would make sense. I think she really only in the last... maybe five years??... has been able to corral the visions into something she can make sense out of. I could also see Cassandra coming to Ernest if a vision got extra gnarly for her (very Satine in Moulin Rouge consumption vibes happens!) and being like: "if you would be so kind as to make sure I make it back to my tent without hitting my head and hurting myself, it would be most appreciated" before passing out because she knows he'd do it and be a good guy about it!!!

[festumveritatis]

Cassandra Wright - Fortune Teller - thirty - Billie Piper [Penny Dreadful] Taken by Lauren - Wheel of Fortune (Upright: fate, fortune, good luck, destiny, change | Reversed: Bad luck, upheaval, disorder/disruption, lack of control, set backs) Relationships: Morgan Durie, Helena Phillips (friends), Lucian Durie (interest) *A former workmate of Helena’s from years past, Cassandra is a recent addition to the circus, having responded to a desperate letter of boredom from Helena. *The circus lacked a fortune teller, she had been told, and Cassie always had a way of telling people exactly what they wanted to hear.*Even Helena did not know, though, that it was not all parlor tricks and cold reading of a mark, no. As long as she can remember, Cassandra had been able to conjure murky pictures of possible futures in her mind’s eye with nothing more than a touch. *In her time as a courtesan, Cassie had covered this ability by using tarot cards and brushing a gentleman’s hand when they asked for a reading. *Now at the Circus of Truths, the tents themselves provide enough to make those that come to her have just enough of doubt to keep from burning her at the stake. Though the added set decoration does tickle Cassie a little. *It’s a much more comfortable life here, with such interesting people. The Duries, specifically, have caught her eye. *Lucian, of course, because of his handsome face and clear desire to avoid everyone - not to mention a tugging feeling that his possible futures could be the most overwhelming yet. *But also the youngest, Morgan Durie - there’s a darkness in her that both terrifies and excites Cassandra in a way she simply cannot ignore.