Mirabelle Character in Plucked | World Anvil
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Mirabelle

Mirabelle (a.k.a. Madcap of the Tower)

They were looking again.
— Mirabelle
 

She is not seen.

The tower stands. Slender, tall, and only slightly to the side of the city center and - impossibly - absolutely unremarkable. The woman in front of its square and slim door is not seen. The town stretches outwards around her in all directions, most people milling towards the center in the morning and to the outskirts near the walls in the evening. She remains unmoving for a second, before she disappears in the masses without making a sound.

As if by magic no one she brushes against in passing takes notice - as if by magic she catches nobody's eye. A lot of the things she does seem rested on rules of the universe only she plays by.

With a basket filled to the rim with supplies she returns to the tower in the evening. The little circle place ringed by small houses is a place favored by children to play in the afternoon, and a popular crossing for the people returning from work. None of them look up when the woman joins the flow of people rounding the fountain to get across. The tower door is barely broad enough to fit a single person with any sort of luggage through, but she is practiced. Her foot hits the small step to get up to enter.

For the fraction of a moment heads turn in her direction. She shuts the door behind her with a decisive click.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

While Mirabelle does not do much for her fitness, she does run all her errands herself and does not indulge in any luxuries. She has no features that make her immediately stand out, but with age she is getting slower. Due to her tendency to fold in on herself, she has to work actively against developing a hunchback.

Physical quirks

Mirabelle is average in a myriad of ways, but over time her eyes have gotten shifty. While she often leans out of the tower window and fixes her eyes on the horizon, she cannot look at other people for more than a few seconds.

Her gait is unusually light-footed for someone who drags their feet and hunches in on themself to take up less space.

Apparel & Accessories

When she goes out, she wears a hooded cloak that is either dark green or brown and always carries the same basket with her to run her errands.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Originally intended for bells of a church that would eventually be built across town in another place, the Tower of Pledges stood for a good fifty years before Mirabelle made it into her home as a girl barely out of her childhood years. No one tells the same story about the Madcap of the Tower, if they tell any story at all - and her arrival in town is a particularly mysterious occasion. She stepped out one afternoon and right back in in the evening and days went by before anybody took notice.

Since she has moved in, Mirabelle has not revealed her family connections or past to anyone. Her appearance betrays a relation to Northerners, but she stands firm on having left her past behind when she passed through the city walls.

Employment

Mirabelle presumably provides for herself by selling her belongings and food she has gathered. She has no permanent employment anywhere.

Mental Trauma

An extreme of introspection, Mirabelle has cut herself off from other people so completely that she's permanently drowning in her own thoughts. The isolation has put her on a path of pathological avoidance. She blames other people for her misery as much as she does not understand the helplessness she feels when she stops for too long to think about it.

Intellectual Characteristics

She has a particular gift for words, though it is fairly wasted on the scribbles she pastes on the tower walls. Over the years she has developed an instinct for navigating space to evade every point of contact with other people. There is an emotional intelligence to her that has been numbed and muddled over years of isolation, but as such she has a unique perspective on the human condition.

Numbers are usually difficult for her, and she has no inkling of musical talent.

Morality & Philosophy

Mirabelle has given up on people. There is no real morality to her, since she never interacts with anyone. She believes herself incapable to be part of society, mostly because she mistrusts all people.

Still, she is a natural thinker, almost exclusively contemplating abstract concepts and her own mood. She does not see much point in her own existence, but there is a pull that keeps her alive - a sort of avoidance that she can almost mistake for happiness.

Her philosophy comes close to nihilism, though she herself would not categorize her perspective at all.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

Mirabelle functions mostly on routine, and while there is a lot of thought that she pours into existential topics, she tries not to broach her own existence as such.

She thinks she will reach happiness in isolation. She is fueled by the buried desire to just feel better. But the road to that destination is long and hard and at the moment, she's not even close to the right path.

Savvies & Ineptitudes

As soon as she leaves the tower, Mirabelle blends in seamlessly without doing anything the people around her would regard as ordinary or proper. Her gift for words allows her to express herself. She does not need much to cover her needs and she is patient and calm when she is after something.

Mirabelle is helpless when it comes to knowing what she needs. She has buried herself in resignation. Her time in isolation has made her short-tempered when it comes to other people. There is almost no tolerance for anything human in her anymore.

Social

Social Aptitude

A hermit in the masses.
— rare remark by one of the townsfolk

Mirabelle stands alone. Theoretically, she is independent and has divorced herself from seeking anyone's approval, but as she has not talked to anyone in a long time, there is no telling what she's truly like.

Her body language does not evoke confidence and is hostile towards potential conversation starters.

Hobbies & Pets

Predictably, Mirabelle isn't a very versatile person when it comes to her free time. The only thing that could conceivably be described as a hobby of hers are the writing she puts on the walls of her tower.

No matter the darkness, the wakefulness will not go.
— Mirabelle's writing

The tower is full of these markings. Mirabelle rarely writes on paper, just has this urge to get her thoughts out and always carries a piece of coal with her.

Speech

No one in town has ever spoken to her, but there are people who claim to have heard her mumble to herself. She never sounds friendly.

She talks like nobody and everybody is listening to her. Like it doesn't even matter if they are.
— overheard in town

The writings on her wall differ from single words to stand-alone phrases to whole paragraphs. It is hard to say whether it can be classified as a monologue or if she is writing to someone other than herself. In any case, it is safe to assume that her rare mumblings come out in just the same disjointed, broken up way.

Wealth & Financial state

Mirabelle lives a life of modesty, not out of conviction but simple happenstance. It follows from her way of living that she would not need much. She spends her money on bare necessities - food, drink and the coal she uses to write on her walls.

Birthplace
Unknown
Children
Current Residence
Tower of Pledges
Gender
Female

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Cover image: After the Earthquake by Sophie Anderson

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