🎨 The Parting Smile • Pigments, Canvas & Tea • Old Town 🖌️

“Obviously, a sweet, mature fox can’t have a dark past or a hidden side, right?”

In the cobblestone heart of New Rome lies The Parting Smile—a warm, timber-scented art shop smelling faintly of linseed oil, turpentine, and ground lapis lazuli. It's run by Cleo, a mature, playful fox demi-human who is equal parts trusted mentor, lacquer purveyor, and indulgent patron to starving young painters. A few years ago, she seemed to step straight out of thin air, accompanied only by her kleptomaniac scops owl, Pico.

Over the seasons she has become the neighborhood’s beloved, easygoing “Auntie Cleo”—making it impossible to imagine Old Town without her carved wooden counters and endless cups of steaming tea.

Not much is known about Cleo's inner circle. Some know her older sister, Lori—a nurse and a single mother of two. Others have spotted her two nieces hanging around the shop: Rea, caught between heavy responsibilities and endless cups of coffee, and Chloe, torn between garage rock and marine biology, both strikingly similar to their aunt.

Older locals might vaguely recognize Cleo as the thin, bone-pale bride of Rowan, the artist—a man with whom she once lived in near-poverty, painting alongside him late into the night with a radiantly happy smile. And those tied to the arcane world can easily spot her kinship to Alice Vik, the Supreme Archwitch of the "Endless Tea Party" coven.

As for Cynthia... only a rare few could ever swear they caught a glimpse of her somewhere near the shop, though none could truly tell if it was reality or merely a trick of the light.

The Mastermind Behind Every Missing Spoon

And what about that adorable owl perched among the drying oil sketches and easel legs? That's Pico—the best boy, the worst kleptomaniac in New Rome, and Cleo's beloved, only familiar. If you spot Cleo, you can be dead certain Pico is nestled on an overhead rafter, calculating the trajectory to swipe your sugar packets, silver coins, or shiny palette knives. Watch your pockets closely.

A Ghost Story for the Corrupt & Powerful

So, Cynthia? Oh, she's just a myth. According to old rumors whispered in smoky backrooms, she was a legendary confidence artist who, in her golden years, systematically outsmarted dozens of wealthy tycoons and corrupt aldermen using every trick in the grifter's codex. Some believe "Cynthia" was an entire syndicate; others swear it was merely three dwarves in a trench coat standing on each other's shoulders. No one has heard a peep about her in years—she's just an old legend, my friend.

An alternate history built on a fragile peace: two hundred years ago, after a devastating war, ruthless witch hunts, and entire cities erased in an instant, the Great Accord was signed. Half-humans won equal rights, supernatural entities gained legal recognition, and the world embraced a volatile reality—where vampires receive regulated blood quotas and a human can drag a witch to court for magic-assisted market manipulation.

New Rome is a sweeping metropolis of ancient stone, heavy cedar scaffoldings, modern glass, and raw astral power. Two centuries of harmony have yielded a strange daily grind: burned-out witches earn more from barista shifts than exorcisms, ancient scrolls are read off tablet screens, and lycanthropes track lunar cycles through smartphone apps.

No rigid magic system, exhaustive species roster, or ironclad boundaries are enforced. The setting adapts to any persona you bring: a catboy femboy, a towering demon, an everyday mortal, an occult researcher, or an ancient elf who grumbles every time Cleo tries to mother and fuss over you.

This is my second (or second-and-a-half) bot set in this world. I'm still feeling out how I view the setting of New Rome and haven't fully nailed down what belongs in a character sheet and what's redundant—this time around, the bot ended up pretty hefty, but I honestly feel like every detail serves a purpose and I'm loath to cut anything.

Fun fact: The concept for this bot came to me out of nowhere. I originally used Cynthia from Great Pretender as visual reference when generating images for my previous bot, Rea. My original plan for this bot was a pure ERP bot featuring Lori. But as I drafted Lori, my mind kept drifting back to Cynthia, morphing into Aunt Cleo herself.

Lori remains sitting in my drafts for now. For now, please give Cleo and Pico a warm chance!