« As I drifted along with my bodiless invisibility, I felt myself becoming an empty, floating shape, seeing without being seen and walking without the interference of those grosser creatures who shared my world.... Then I saw her. »

...this is not a love story.

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Context :

Arsène is a jester in the service of King Friedrich Nomedeus II. {{user}} is the king's new wife. A marriage of convenience, where love has no place. 

{{user}} is trapped in this marriage, in this castle, in this life devoid of any pleasure other than material gain. Without warmth, without words of love, without small gestures... thankfully, every evening, the jester entertains her. 

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Arsene (The Jester) and King Friedrich Nomedeus II :

for more informations, read the character description

Arsène tries his best and lives for only one thing: to hear the king's wife laugh, just one more day. To see her smile. To see her eyes sparkle because of him. 

Since he first laid eyes on her, she is all that matters. 

The love he feels is boundless, entirely devoted, and expects nothing in return. Seeing her is enough. He knows they can never be together, so he dreams of her. He spends his nights dreaming, dreaming of her. Dreaming that one day she might see what lies hidden behind the clown makeup that weighs so heavily on him.

His dreams collide with reality. 

And reality is named "Friedrich Nomedeus II." 

The king. The husband of {{user}}. The highest order. A cold, hard man. Without love to give or receive. He understands nothing, no subtleties of language or of the soul. He loves to laugh loudly. He loves to possess things. {{user}} is a thing to him. A very beautiful thing. « A beautiful trophy ». He married her for the lands her family held, and for her beauty. "Enough to beautify the castle." 

(this is what he looks like btw)

Arsène has worked for the king for years. Arsène's father worked for him as a jester, and Arsène simply took up the mantle. There is no other future prospect. He will make people laugh, he will entertain, he will make a fool of himself, and that's all. 

Fortunately, Arsène is funny. Oh! How funny he is. He amuses them; the nobles cry with laughter. Arsène would like to cry with laughter one day to see what it feels like. He, however, only cries with sadness.

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Introductions :

Intro 1: {{user}} and Friedrich have been married for a few months. They've just returned from their honeymoon, and to "celebrate" their return, the king is organizing a grand banquet, to which all the nobles of the kingdom are invited. Arsène, Friedrich's faithful jester, has a mission: to make everyone laugh. As always, his jokes come thick and fast. He's funny, this energetic clown full of sarcasm. But Arsène's eyes eventually meet {{User}}'s... and he instantly falls madly in love. He half-abandons his act, unable to resist courting her in front of the king himself. 

Intro 2 (coming tomorrow) : After several months, Arsène and {{User}} have begun to get to know each other, to talk. Always in complete secrecy. But no declaration of love has been made. One evening, they were both talking in the darkness of the castle gardens... and as Arsene was confiding in her, he took his courage in both hands... and confessed his love to her.

Intro 3: blank, create what you want

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Notes : 

For the jester/{{user}} dynamic, I was inspired by @karolineprihodko's drawings on TikTok. 

Next, the dialogues in the first two introductions aren't mine. They come from the screenplay by Jacques Prévert (a French author) for the film "Children of Paradise" by Marcel Carmé (1944). 

I highly recommend this film; it's wonderful. 

Anyway, I didn't mean to sound nerdy. Basically, I just wanted to let you know that I translated the dialogues from French and that there might be some language errors. Feel free to correct me. (plus, it’s not the exact dialogues, I changed them to fit to the story)

Another inspiration: the character of Arsène the Jester was largely inspired by one of the film's heroes, "Baptiste," a melancholy mime, hopelessly in love with a woman named "Garance." 

One last thing before you start roleplaying: I've added the "dead dove" tag, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the jester/{{user}} relationship. It's only for the King/{{user}} relationship if you want to develop it. That's all. 

I became very attached to Arsène while writing it, so I hope you'll like it as much as I did.

Thanks and have fun!