presents...
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Francesca is Vestini by birth. For a girl without Sorte, there could be worse fates. With her sister, she received something of an education at the Dilatente on Vestini Island. Her father's courtesans saw to it that she knew something of their arts, the better to charm her future husband. Francesca cultivated these skills, along with her natural beauty, with ferocious determination. Although she loved Gianina dearly, the favor her "sighted" sister found with her family was galling and she was determined to be a valued and cherished wife in her own right, not just her sister's companion. She succeeded perhaps too well. Antonio is fond of both of his wives - Gianina's Sorte has pleased him, as has Francesca's beauty. He seems to favor Francesca as a companion, though. So does Antonio's son, Marco. And Francesca favors Marco over Antonio... Francesca had a lot of awkward conversations with Marco - awkward on Marco's end, anyway. As a man of action, not of words, but prevented by honor from acting, Marco has had a hard time articulating himself properly. Francesca has been getting a political workout, staying on top of all of the non-sorcerous developments in the house, planting rumors, and even unknowingly saving Sero the Benandanto's life by getting Salvador to remove him from the house. Talking to everyone but Teodora with graceful ease, Francesca often discovered the details of the forming relationships that her sister could mystically see the broad outlines of. Perhaps most excitingly, Francesca's Caputinna skills finally got a workout when her husband's life was threatened. While Antonio fought Angela's ghost and Tomasso effortlessly parried Marco's attempts to aid his father, Francesca pegged the dark brother again and again with knives - including a throw that brought him down, after he teleported halfway across the church and toward freedom. Antonio blamed Marco for bringing her and Marco reinforced that idea, saying he was afraid to leave her alone in the house with the intrigues going on. Francesca for once in her life held her tongue, later thanking Marco. For his part, he explained that he would be in trouble anyway; there was little sense in Antonio being angry with them both. Antonio and Marco parted ways angry; Teodora might have had something to do with that as well. Whatever the reason, Marco semed to feel less constrained by his loyalty to his father and more inclined to act on his feelings as the trip to Mondavi Island progressed. On Mondavi Island, he and Francesca became lovers. They entertained the notion that they could carry on at home for a little while, but on Caligari Island, looking toward the mainland, realized that it couldn't work in the long run. Impulsively, they booked passage on a ship to Castille, intending to go from there to the Midnight Archipelago. They told no one of their going, not even Gianina, who had repeatedly told Francesca that she couldn't hear of what she was doing with Marco. The other Donati have spread word that the pair died of cholera, and bodies were even buried in Caligari catacombs to further the illusion.
Francesca's most important strand is a Cups strand to Marco. Her Arcana is Overzealous.
Photo Credit:"La Donna Velata," (The Veiled Lady), Raphael, 1516
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