Shadows in the Smoke S1E3 - "The Water Tells Me Things"

Shadows in the Smoke S1E3 – “The Water Tells Me Things”

Kim
Shadows in the Smoke is intended for mature audiences, and may contain material that some people find disturbing. Please see the episode description for content warnings, and listen with care.

[Shadows in the Smoke theme]

Kim
Miss Thanero, the well-appointed woman in the sapphire blue gown has just driven away in her large, extravagant carriage, and immediately one of Mr. Clemenza’s assistants is at your side again, going…

[Gentle piano music fades in]

Clemenza’s Assistant (Kim)
Pardon us for that, mum. Thank you for being so aggregable.

Cassandra
Ena just takes a sip of her coffee, hasn’t made eye contact with this attendant, with this employee, and is still just looking out the window

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
She certainly loves blue, doesn’t she?

Clemenza’s Assistant (Kim)
That she does, Miss. Her signature color, I suppose.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, well. One could stand to branch out.

Cassandra
I think I just take my coffee and meander away, and I’m just like looking around. Maybe I glance over at Maesie for a second, and… I’m just gonna let it go, for the moment. Or am I?

Kim
Magnificent, yes. Let’s discuss Miss Douglas. Miss Douglas, on a 7, you have presented this pelt to Mr. Clemenza, and he says…

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Oh, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this material. What is it made of, miss?

Miss Doulgas (Natalia)
Oh, it’s, um… it’s just… it’s just leather.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
I see. Yes, it’s a tricky thing to get back together. But I do believe I might have something for it, if you’ll excuse me. It’s such a curious pelt… It’s lovely. I wonder how… how you came across it.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
It’s a family heirloom. Got it from me mother.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
I see.

Kim
Miss Douglas, tell me how Mr. Clemenza is repairing a piece of your damaged coat.

Natalia
I think he, in his expertise as a modiste, is sewing it back together. But probably with materials that are fine, that I could never get my hands on. Expensive thread. Very fine needles.

Kim
I love that, yeah. I think he’s taking it and hand stitching this beautiful gilded thread. Perhaps it’s thread made from gold itself that is now holding a piece of your pelt together. Go ahead and check one of the boxes as you repair a piece of your pelt.

However, as Mr. Clemenza is repairing this pelt and turning it over in his hands, he cannot help but keep just looking at you, and looking at the pelt, and stroking it gently, and saying…

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
It really is the most remarkable material. A family heirloom, you say.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Aye.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
I would be very keen to hear how it was you came cross such a thing.

Kim
Miss Douglas, take the Condition: The Notice of Mr. Clemenza.

Natalia
Heck yeah.

T.
Leave her alone.

[All laugh]

T.
Get your eyes off her.

Kim
But, after that he leads you back to the main room of this modiste and then goes about attending to Miss Thanero. That fine, rich black fabric that you had made note of earlier is plucked off the wall, and he and a fleet of assistants spend a good hour draping it about your body and pinning it just so, and taking measurements, and getting to work on the sumptuous garment that you have ordered.

Cassandra
I have a question.

Kim
Yes.

Cassandra
So this clue that we know about, about this rich townhouse.

Kim
Uh-huh.

Cassandra
Do I know about that yet, or no? Because I’m thinking about, like – well, if I’m being dressed, we’re going to gossip.

Kim
Absolutely, yeah. I would say that as of right now, you, Miss Thanero, do not yet know that piece of information. When we reach the Dusk Phase, that is the portion of play where we all share info. But however, so many people come in and out of Mr. Clemenza’s shop. I think it’s totally reasonable to see if he’s got any gossip or any tea to share with you.

Cassandra
Great

Kim
So this sounds like an Information Move with Presence to me.

Cassandra
I think so too. Okay, I rolled a 9, which with my 2 is an 11.

[Airy, abandoned, ambient drones]

Kim
I’d like to go back to Whitechapel, please. Mr. Lloyd, you rolled a 10 on trying to fend off this dark entity that is trying to force its way inside your body. On a 10+, narrative control falls to you. I’d like you to tell me what is happening here.

[An ominous fiddle drone, and scraping bells]

Robert
From an outsider’s point of view, it simply looks like Mr. Lloyd cut himself, dripped a few drops of blood onto a splinter of wood, and then was suddenly racked with convulsions – which stopped. From his point of view, we see this bird creature creeping around the side, opening up his mouth, forcing its beak inside, and actually entering Rabbit’s mouth and going fully inside of him. He closes his eyes and reopens them, and everything – the iris, the pupil, the sclera – is all just pure blackness, which then fades and his green stone eyes are back for a moment. If he were not wearing a shirt, you might see that the tattoos on his chest have changed ever so slightly.

Cassandra
Gag.

Kim
Oh my god, you ate it!

Robert
It’s eat or be eaten.

Cassandra
Bro.

Natalia
Snack.

Kim
Girl.

T.
Feast.

Cassandra
That’s incredible. I love that so much.

Natalia
That’s so sick.

Cassandra
Oh my god, that’s great.

Kim
My goodness. Alright. Mr. Lloyd – and I suppose Mr. John – I think there’s probably time for one more scene for y’all to do here, either in Whitechapel or elsewhere. What is it you would like to do?

Mr. John (T.)
Rabbit, you wanna walk on down to the bank of the Thames with me, near the Wapping Wall? I wanna get a sense of where this woman spent her days.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Sounds like a plan. Not much the spirits are saying in this part, but… We’ll see what they say down there.

Mr. John (T.)
Perhaps they got more connection to the water.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Perhaps.

Mr. John (T.)
I don’t know nothing about “the veil” or none of your mysticism, but I’ve always found that being by moving water helps me think.

[A busy river – people laboring, bells ringing, birds cawing]

Kim
I gotta tell you all, the Thames in 1860s London is a really nasty place to be. The smell is overwhelming here. You see many people on the banks of the river itself that are picking through various bits of cargo that have mayhaps fallen from a ship, mayhaps been stolen, and are picking through it to try and see what is good to sell.

I have a Paint the Scene, here. I would like you to describe one such object, be it expensive or mundane, that is being pulled from the muddy banks of the river Thames.

T.
I think there’s like a steamer trunk, a suitcase, that a pair of kids is really stoked to have gotten. Like, an unopened suitcase! Like, who knows what could be in this, unblemished and untouched? And by the time they get in an awl and pop the lock open, it is just filled with wriggling eels – the only sea creature that’s base enough to still inhabit the waters.

Natalia
There’s also a tattered, thoroughly soaked, very plain dress that a woman is holding up and trying to inspect, to see if it’s worth taking home.

Robert
One of the mudlarkers thinks they spot the glint of a coin on the shores of the Thames. Goes to pick it up, and upon doing so realizes it’s actually the golden tooth of a person.

Cass
And I think that we see probably like a middle aged woman – tatters, clearly unhoused – digging in the mud and then just pulls out a bloated, dead rat. And instead of dropping it, tucks it into a satchel that she has at her hip.

Mr. John (T.)
Spend much time on the open water there, Rabbit?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Now why would you ask something like that?

Mr. John (T.)
Well if you don’t mind a prying eye… Fella as young and scrappy as you, covered in tattoos, figure the only place you’re gonna get them is shellbacking back and forth over the equator. Now I would never infer what company you was running with, or even if you were running with a company, but a couple of gents like us working together? I figured it’d be good to know if you know your way around a rope.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well I certainly know my way around a rope, but… These tattoos, they are from traveling, but not across the pond.

Mr. John (T.)
You telling me a lie, that a fine thing like you was never nobody’s cabin boy?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
[Laughs] Well, I’m not saying that.

Mr. John (T.)
[Chuckles, then falls silent] You’ve got a lot of mysteries.

Robert
Mr. Lloyd pulls out a pair of cigarettes – clearly hand-rolled – puts one in his mouth and offers the other to Mr. John.

T.
Gladly accepts. Smells it to make sure it’s tobacco. [Laughs]

Robert
[Laughs] Pulls out a match, strikes it against the tweed of his vest, lights his cigarette and then hands the match over to John as well.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
There’s, uh… More ways to get about this world than just on a boat, once you know the inner workings of things.

Mr. John (T.)
Now I try not to give too much stock in any of the hooey and mysticism that snake oil salesmen like yourself try and parley, but in our time working together I’ve seen you work something that makes me think yours might be the genuine article. You know, I go too long without one of these—

T.
And I flick the ash of the cigarette a little bit.

Mr. John (T.)
I start to have a mighty powerful headache. Don’t suppose yours comes with any, uh, side effects?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
[Laughs] No, no. Just ordinary, good old-fashioned American tobacco in there. The kind from your home country.

Mr. John (T.)
Hey easy, now. Tobacco’s grown all the way up in Vir-gin-eye-ay. And I try to stay out of the north if I can help it.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well I say while we’re here, might as well take a look around. See if, uh, any of these mudlarkers or other vagrants saw our young lady. Saw what happened to her.

Mr. John (T.)
Or a young man. Weren’t one of the folk missing his face a boy?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
True, true. Seems our killer isn’t exactly the choosy sort.

Mr. John (T.)
I imagine he might have been living in Whitechapel. Hard pressed to think that he wouldn’t eventually make his way down here to pick around the rags and the flotsam and the jetsam.

Robert
So, yeah. I think Rabbit is going to try and ingratiate himself with some of these people down by the Thames, and try and see if any of them have heard anything about Clara Yarborough, or any of the other victims.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, a man catches your notice. He is attired in dirty, ill-fitting clothes, as is most of the people that are making their way through the muck of the Thames, except for one small detail: he has a surprisingly handsome pocket square sticking out of his ratty jacket. This little precious square of blue silk.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Hello there, guv’na. That’s a mighty nice snot rag you’ve got on you there. Not getting into too much trouble getting your hands on something like that, are you?

Man with the Blue Pocket Square (Kim)
Not any more trouble than is required, sir.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well now, no need to call me sir. My friends call me Rabbit, and you can do the same.

Old Boot (Kim)
Rabbit, aye. They call me Old Boot.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Old Boot it is. So, I know that this is the kind of neighborhood where people keep their eyes and ears shut most of the time, but, uh… A young lady in this neighborhood, a Miss Yarborough? Clara Yarborough? Don’t suppose you’ve heard anything about her, have you? I can make it worth your time.

Old Boot (Kim)
Oh you can keep your money, sir. I’m not interested in what is to be seen. I seek that which is unseen. I think that there’s a world, just beneath the surface of this one. Things move in and out of it. Everything you see around us is a lie, Rabbit. A façade, I think. Meant to keep us… pliable. I have seen beneath the artifice, I have seen what lies just beyond normal perception. And I’m thinking you’ve seen it too.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
In my experience, it’s not so much a fake world and a real one, so much as it is worlds layered on top of each other, each as real as the one underneath. Tell me, what is it that you’ve seen that makes you so convinced that it wasn’t something from this world, but something from another that caught your eye?

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, go ahead and make the Information Move with Presence.

Robert
[Rolls dice] That would be a 7.

Kim
Mr. John, I’m curious what it is you’re doing here. Are you just backup as Mr. Lloyd and Old Boot are having a palaver?

T.
I mean, I’m putting myself there as a physical presence. But I’m also trying to keep my eye out for… Like, these people, like, they’re not being employed, but they are at work. And it makes me think they would probably be gossiping about the goings on in their neighborhood as they’re mudlarking. I’m interested to hear if anybody’s got something else to say about one of the victims.

Kim
I think this is going to be an Information Move with Composure, as you’re just trying to, like, eavesdrop on conversations that are happening around the river Thames.

T.
Heard. [Rolls dice] That is also a 7.

[The sounds of the Thames are replaced by gentle piano]

Kim
Back to the modiste. Miss Thanero, as this beautiful black fabric is being pinned and arranged on your body just so, I would love to hear a little bit of the gossip that is going on during this fitting.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
So Vittorio, did you see that awful news in the paper? The one about that little… um… Oh, what was she? A little, like, washerwoman, or something like that? Had her face cut completely off. Can you imagine?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
I do recall hearing such a thing. Awful. Just awful what happens in Whitechapel.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Yes, it’s such a downtrodden area. I feel for the poor souls who are stuck there and can never get out.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Well, Miss Thanero, I can’t say that I keep my ear anywhere close to Whitechapel. My interests are more in the Belgravia set. Your set, as it were.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Of course.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Now I do have a bit of gossip that I think could be pleasing to you.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, do tell. I do like my tea very hot.

[They laugh]

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Well. Now, of course, I won’t say whom.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Of course not.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Rumor has it that there is some well to do lady that is going all about the Belgravia set, claiming to have discovered the fountain of youth.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Really.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Oh, yes. To hear her them say it, she, uh… popped in for maybe a little visit to… Well, I don’t know what sort of person, and came back quite transformed, quite younger. The wrinkles, vanished. The skin, taught.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
My, my. What a marvel, to be aging in reverse.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
[Chuckles] Yes, can you imagine such a thing? To put a stop to the hands of time?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Ah, it sounds absolutely absurd. But I mean, who wouldn’t want that?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Well, now of course I can’t tell you who was going around saying this, but… I suppose if you were to see her, it might be obvious.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, do tell. However would I know?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
A certain stiffness to the facial features, I suppose I would say. A bit of a waxen complexion. I don’t suppose that you’ve heard of the Dame Margaret Teasedale?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Dame Margaret Teasedale… I honestly can’t say that I have. Who is she?

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
[Laughs] Oh, she would be very insulted to hear you say that, Miss Thanero!

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, I have never been one to shy away from an insult, love!

[They laugh]

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Well, I do believe she might be… Well, maybe not one of your neighbors, but in the area. Yes, to hear her say it, she has found some sort of secret to eternal youth.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Well, I might just have to lower my status a bit and pay her a visit.

Vittorio Clemenza (Kim)
Oh, wouldn’t that just be delicious, mum?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, it absolutely would be.

Kim
That is a Clue for Sally No-Face: rumors of someone in well to do social circles going on about having discovered the fountain of youth. You now know this to be a one Dame Margaret Teasedale.

So, the tea having been spilled, I’m very curious to know what it is Miss Douglas and Miss Thanero might like to do to close out their day.

[Harp music]

Natalia
Well, I will say before we leave the modiste, I do think Maesie is observing this dress being pinned over Ena. As she described it earlier, the fabric looking like water. And I do think she’s just kind of like stroking it and crying a little bit.

Kim
I’m curious to know how you’re feeling in this moment.

Natalia
I do think that she sees Ena sort of as a mother figure in the house. And this connection with sort of an older, guiding woman… Not older. But, you know, just older than Maesie.

Cassandra
Wise beyond my years.

Natalia
Exactly. And this fabric that is reminding her of the ocean, having just fixed a little bit of her pelt, she is very nostalgic and honestly sad, and misses her home.

Kim
Miss Douglas, I think I have to give you the Condition: Homesick.

Natalia
For sure.

Kim
So what’s next for you two ladies?

Cassandra
For a moment here, Ena recognizes that Maesie is having this moment with the fabric, sees the tears. And I think Ena just very quietly, just discretely turns her head to one of the assistants and just whispers. And sends the assistant back off towards the bolt of this fabric. And he just cuts off a very small square and then brings it back to Ena. And I’m just gonna hold onto it, for the moment.

Kim
I love that.

Cassandra
But yeah, I think at this point, now that the dress has been made, I think I’m ready to go return to Hargrave House, and potentially see about a meal.

Kim
Oh!

Cassandra
I’m hungry. Shopping makes me very hungry.

Kim
Miss Douglas, what about you? Are you accompanying Miss Thanero back to Hargrave House, or are you setting out on your own?

Natalia
I think… Yeah, I think I’ll go with her.

Kim
Okay.

[The sounds of the Thames return]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, Old Boot looks at you kind of conspiratorially and motions for you to come closer, as if he is to share some great secret with you.

Robert
I think Rabbit draws in and goes willingly.

Kim
As you do, I have to say that you’re overwhelmed by just the pungent smell of urine that is just all over this man. But he starts whispering in your ear…

Old Boot (Kim)
The water tells me things.

[The Thames fades away, replaced by airy, mystical drones]

Old Boot (Kim)
Speaks to me.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
What’s the water been telling you recently, guv’na?

Old Boot (Kim)
A name, Rabbit.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
A name?

Old Boot (Kim)
Aye. I remembered it. So pretty. Victoria. Victoria Callas.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Victoria Callas.

Old Boot (Kim)
Aye.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
I don’t suppose the water’s been telling you who this might be or why they might be of interest?

Old Boot (Kim)
She’s a tricksy one, the Lady Thames. Never tells you the whole truth. Just a name, she whispers. Victoria Callas… Victoria Callas…

Kim
That is a Clue for Sally No-Face. A name, currently without meaning: Victoria Callas.

Mr. Lloyd, as you’re listening to Old Boot talk about this whispered name, talking about the Lady Thames, how is this all making you feel?

Robert
Rabbit has seen people give themselves over to powers and spirits before. It’s not common in his line of work, but it’s definitely something he’s come across. And he feels sorry for this man, because there’s a certain point at which you are too far gone and, no matter what, you will never be the person you were before you met said spirit.

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, I’d like you to take the Condition: “Some People are Beyond Saving.”

[The mystical drones fade and are replaced by the sounds of the Thames]

Kim
Mr. John, also making your way along the banks of the river Thames, catching bits of conversation. And you start hearing an argument breaking out among some of the mudlarkers that are on the river Thames. They are fighting over a particular object – it is this diamond set into a gold ring, on a woman’s severed finger.

T.
You know what? I’m a showman, from my days in the West. I’m gonna come forward and be like…

Mr. John (T.)
Merry! My Merry! Merryweather! Get your paws off of her! The last thing I have to remember her by! Get away!

T.
And I take out my dagger from my thigh holster.

Mr. John (T.)
You give me this finger right now, or I’ll take one of yours to make up for it!

Kim
Day Move, Presence. What are you afraid will happen if you fail, here?

T.
I’m afraid that I’ll get mobbed by these dudes who will then see the glint of gold from my pocket watch that I carry,  and I’ll be robbed of everything I have on me.

Kim
Absolutely. Day Move with Presence.

T.
I’ll tell you what. I’ve invoked my dagger, I’ll use that to give myself advantage.

Kim
Yes! Go ahead and mark that Personal Quarters item, and take this roll with advantage. So what that means is you roll 3d6 and you take the two highest numbers.

T.
[Rolls] I’ll take that 8 + 1 Presence. Gives me a 9.

Kim
I should note that the ring is not a Clue. But, the perfectly preserved woman’s finger is a Clue for Sally No-Face.

T.
I knew it was shiny! But for the wrong reason.

Kim
I’d love to retreat to Hargrave House. I’d love hear more about this little meal that is happening between Miss Thanero and Miss Douglas.

Cassandra
Are there servants in Hargrave House?

Kim
That’s an excellent question, and the answer is no. But I also think Hargrave House is a weird little house, and I think that you don’t ever really have to worry about making your own food. I think it just kinda shows up.

Natalia
Maesie’s eating herring out of a little tin.

Cassandra
I think Ena, in an effort to bond more with Maesie, is eating olives out of a similar tin. But absolutely with, like, a fork.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
So, my love. Did you have a nice time today?

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
I did! I fixed a bit of me pelt, so that was lovely. Your dress was gorgeous.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh thank you, my dear. Any time I go anywhere, I have to look my absolute best. It’s just an expectation of who I am.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Well you do, so…

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Thank you, my love.

Cassandra
And I think at this point Ena just pulls out this piece of silk that she had cut off the bolt, and just ever so gently slides it across the table to Maesie.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
It’s for me?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Of course, darling. I saw you touching it while we were in the shop, and I thought it might be nice just to have in your quarters, for whenever you’re feeling a little low.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Thank you, Ena.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
You’re welcome.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
That’s incredibly kind.

Natalia
And Maesie just sort of, like, folds it up very delicately and puts it away.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
So. I heard a name that was said earlier, while you were speaking to Vittorio. It was… Margaret Teasedale?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Oh, yes. A lesser Dame, to be sure. But, um… a very interesting story, don’t you think? The Fountain of Youth? It’s preposterous.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Never heard of such a thing before.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
It has always been rumored, and the stories pop up from time to time, but no one’s actually found it. So I’d be very surprised if Dame Margaret Teasedale somehow stumbled upon it. Unless she’s just stumbling in general, and got lucky.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Would you be interested to go and find her? Maybe see what she has to say?

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I think that is a wonderful idea. But tomorrow, dear. I have other plans this evening.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Oh. No, I do as well. I want to go for my swim.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
We have to go down by the water, yes.

Miss Douglas (Natalia)
Well... Rightio!

Natalia
She kind of hops off the counter. Downs the rest of the can into her mouth, chomping.

Cassandra
And I’m just watching it. Like, still just eating with a fork, trying to lead by example.

Natalia
Maesie never not once has ever picked up a fork.

Kim
Only to comb your hair, right? That’s the…

Natalia
[Laughs] Exactly. And I think she does – unseen by Ena, now that she’s gone off to her room in the house – takes out the little bolt of the watery-looking fabric and tucks it under her pillow, to keep there.

Kim
I think that’s gonna close out the Day Phases of Miss Thanero and Miss Douglas.

[The sounds of the Thames return]

Kim
I would like to return to the river Thames. To Mr. John brandishing this dagger. The two men who were fighting over this object immediately back up, and the severed finger is tossed in your direction.

Mudlarker (Kim)
Take it! Take it, we don’t want any trouble.

Mr. John (T.)
This finger, and the ring on it, belonged to my wife. Belonged to my wife, Dolly.

Kim
You hear a very small, young voice pipe up behind you that says…

Boy (Kim)
Well, I know that to be a lie!

T.
I turn and face this child.

Kim
You see, standing in front of you, is this boy of about twelve. He has very, like street urchin – like Artful Dodger attitude about him. Except he is dressed so sharply. He is in this very fashion-forward little blazer, these short trousers, a cricket cap placed jauntily about his head. He has very shiny leather shoes, and fine wool socks – held up with sock garters. He is a very dapper boy, we would say.

Mr. John (T.)
Yeah, but it got me what I wanted, didn’t it?

T.
And I take the ring off my finger with my mouth, toss the finger back onto the shore, then spit it into my hand. And with a little legerdemain, make it vanish.

Mr. John (T.)
But I meant every word I said about that threat. That weren’t no lie.

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
[Chuckles]

Mr. John (T.)
You’re awful clean to be getting your sock garters down in the mud.

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
Oh. Not me, sir. I have employees that do that bit of work for me.

Mr. John (T.)
[Snorts]

Kim
And he sort of nods at one of the very large, burly men who had been fighting over that finger and that ring. This large brute of a man looks back up at this twelve year old boy, and you clock a look of abject terror on this man’s face. He is terrified of this boy.

Mr. John (T.)
I’m sure you mean your parents have employees.

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
Not so, sir. I make my own way.

Mr. John (T.)
And so young in the world! Well maybe this new generation will have something good in store for us after all.

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
[Chuckles]

Mr. John (T.)
Might I know your name, son? That I might respect you better, next time I come upon you?  

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
I wouldn’t be thinking so, sir.

Mr. John (T.)
Well then, stranger. Best of luck picking out treasures from the mud. Saw something shiny down about that way.

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
I would caution you, sir, to not be poking your nose about Whitechapel.

Mr. John (T.)
Would you now? Business interests of yours?

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
You could say that, sir.

Mr. John (T.)
Well, my business is my own and I’ll leave yours to yours. But Whitechapel’s a mighty big neighborhood. There’s lots of folk around in there. So if I come across you again, know that I’m on my business. And I’ll leave yours, yours.

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
But I do not believe you understand, sir. The business you are getting up to in Whitechapel, well that is my business. Not quite mine – my employer’s.

Mr. John (T.)
Ah! Should have known the little man was a middle man.

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
I can tell, sir, that you are trying to get my goat. But I must warn you, sir. My goat is not easily got.

Mr. John (T.)
Well then I’ll leave you to get your goat on another got. [A pause] Thought that was gonna be more clever when I started, I’ll tell you that for free.

The Dapper Boy (Kim)
I did hear that Americans are stupid.

Mr. John (T.)
I assure you, I don’t know the meaning of the word. You take care of yourself there, friend. If you come across my business in Whitechapel, know it ain’t nothin’ but scavenging and whoring. And we always have room for more of that.

Kim
Mr. John, please take the Condition: Marked by The Dapper Boy.

Natalia
The Dapper Boy!

T.
The Dapper Boy!

Cassandra
Who the hell is this kid?

Natalia
I love him so much! Just the way he talks.

Cassandra
I want a jump cut of every time Kim said something to you and then turned to the camera like immediately. Like the absolute pride in Kim of just, “I’ve got you. I’ve bested you! I’ve bested you!”

Kim
If there’s one character archetype that I love playing in this game, I love playing upstart street urchins.

Natalia
So good.

Cassandra
Man, that was incredible. That was a master class in how to do it right.

[All laugh]

Kim
Mr. Lloyd, I believe you have caught the tail end of this interaction between Mr. John and the Dapper Boy.

Robert
Yeah. I think that it’s odd that someone so well-dressed would carry so much authority in this neighborhood. So, knowing that there are beings of power here that have apparently whispered names into ears, I want to and sense if I sense any sort of magical energy coming off the Dapper Boy. Or if he is just as mortal as he appears to be.

T.
Mortal or not, he’s heading for an ass-whoopin’.

Kim
That sounds like the Information Move to me, with Sensitivity.

Robert
[Rolls dice] That is a 12.

Cassandra
[Gasps]

T.
Well looks like somebody’s goat’s been got!

[All laugh]

Cassandra
Shut the fuck up!

Kim
A 12! A 12 on the Information Move is very interesting. Not only do I give you a Clue, Mr. Lloyd, but I also give you a Mastermind Clue. We’ll do the Clue first.

Mr. Lloyd as you are scanning the Dapper Boy with your second sight, there is nothing about him that seems supernatural. This is just a very well-appointed young man who seems to carry a large amount of fear and intimidation wherever he goes – but via completely mundane means. However, I think we see this little rush of wind that you have managed to conjure along the banks of the river Thames that pulls a little slip of paper out of the pocket of the Dapper Boy, and it lands onto the dirty ground of the river Thames. When you pick it up, you see that it is a receipt. A receipt for several bolts of very expensive fabric. That is a Clue for Sally No-Face.

[The sounds of the Thames fade away]

Kim
I’d like to go ahead and flash forward to late in the afternoon, as Mr. John and Mr. Lloyd are returning from their walk along the bank of the river Thames. Back to their home at Hargrave House, where there is a small package on the front step.

[Moody piano]

Kim
It is a beautifully decorated gift box, wrapped in a sapphire blue ribbon.

Robert
Is there a name, or a card, or any way to identify who this gift box might be for?

Kim
There is not.

Robert
Then I think my assumption would be that it would be for Miss Thanero, as she’s the most likely to get anonymous gifts. So I bring it in to where I assume she and our Selkie are just finishing up their tinned dinners.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Hello, gentlemen. How was your day?

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Entertaining, to say the least. I think one of your many admirers left a gift for you on the stoop.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
Really? I haven’t given my address to anyone.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well, there was no card, and… Y’know, I assumed. No one’s leaving me anything this nice.

Cassandra
So I take the box and I’m just gonna start looking at it. And I think as I’m looking at it, I’m having a little tickle of, like, recognition for this particular color of blue.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I don’t know who this might be from. But I recognize the fabric. Maesie and I were in a shop today, and someone came and picked up a magnificent gown in this exact color. And she was in a black – very extravagant – carriage out front. And she had a big blue sapphire on a choker around her neck. So she clearly loves the color blue.

Mr. Lloyd (Robert)
Well, the moneyed set is always more of your territory than mine. And if you haven’t heard of her, then maybe she’s not worth having heard about.

Miss Thanero (Cassandra)
I don’t know. She had a very particular air about her, in the brief moment that I saw her through the window.

Cassandra
Can I go ahead and start to unwrap it?

Kim
Absolutely. Miss Thanero, you pull at the sapphire blue ribbon, and open this small little gift box. And inside, wrapped in layers of delicate tissue, is Dolly Merryweather’s severed finger, still muddy from where it had been dropped by Mr. John on the banks of the Thames.

[Shadows in the Smoke theme]

Kim
Shadows in the Smoke is a Kitten Marlowe production. This episode was edited and produced by Kim Dalton, and featured a theme song by Jake Pierle. You can find out more about us by visiting KittenMarlowe.com, signing up for our newsletter, or following us on socials. For Discord access, a behind-the-scenes show, and more visit Patreon.com/KittenMarlowe and join Josh Harrison, Amanda Mullins, Megan Yellow boy, and Jake Pierle. in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.