Cynthia Tsosie

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**Cynthia Tsosie** is a character in The Smoke Room. She is a prostitute and saloon worker at Saguaro's Hip and Samuel's best friend.

## Appearance

Cynthia is a kit fox with brown eyes. She usually wears a simple, sleeveless cream-colored dress. While working, she wears a high-collared white blouse with a turquoise button, and a long black skirt. Cynthia also wears a silver bracelet with a turquoise gem on her right wrist.

## Personality

Cynthia is intelligent, self-assured, and outgoing. Samuel describes her as a good actor, and she behaves professionally and cordially towards clients and customers. Cynthia is proud of her Meseta heritage, but speaking about it with others, including Sam, seems to be somewhat of a sore spot for her. She expresses no shame about her profession, and is protective of the other prostitutes at the Hip.

Cynthia cares deeply about her friends, especially Samuel. She is extremely willing to support and encourage him, to the point that she keeps his murder of Jack a secret during the routes in which she is made aware of it.

### Early Life

Cynthia is Meseta, and was born on the Meseta reservation located a few days' travel from Echo. Her father Kele was a Christian convert and her mother Istad was an artisan who made jewelry to sell in the community, with Cynthia's help. According to Cynthia's cousin Tsela, the priests overseeing the settlement perceived the spiritual significance of the items Istad made, and the high price she could get for bartering them, as disruptive to Christian hegemony over the reservation.

At some point, Cynthia's father fell mysteriously ill. The family left the reservation for Camp Rosa soon after but seem to have ended up in Echo. Little else is known about the specific details of Cynthia's past, including whether her parents are still alive, but she has no fondness for the reservation and no desire to return.

She eventually became a prostitute at Saguaro's Hip, and then befriended her coworker Samuel after he was hired by Dora.

### Prologue

On the night Samuel is preparing to leave with Jack, Cynthia is drinking with the other girls in the Hip's saloon and comes upstairs to urge Samuel to join them. She also excitedly informs Sam of an appointment made with him by a visiting weasel from Batavia. After he declines her offer to come drinking, Cynthia is visibly disappointed, but lets him go. Cynthia discovers an injured Samuel in his room the following morning, and her screams alert everyone in the brothel. Madam Dora sends her to get a doctor.

During Sam's recovery Cynthia shows only sympathy, and no suspicion that Sam can detect. She passes along Madame Dora's orders for Sam to relax and recover, and scolds him sharply when he tries to brush off her concern. She later welcomes Cliff Tibbits to the saloon, and apologetically sits him down next to Samuel before going off to attend to other customers. That evening, she leads Sam, William, and Murdoch into the powder room. She attempts to proposition Cliff, although he only has eyes for Samuel. Cynthia and Sam then tease Murdoch, and she encourages Sam to take on the fox's wager.

### William's Route

Cynthia balks at Samuel's sudden decision not to work that evening, but is interrupted by William announcing that everyone in the powder room is permitted to leave. She then ushers Cliff away to spend the evening with her.

Sam's subsequent disappearance only worries her further, and once he returns to the Hip she demands an explanation for his erratic behavior. Sam confesses to murdering Jack, and although she is shocked, Cynthia expresses her full support for him and tearfully promises that she will not allow Sam to be executed. Before she leaves, she gives Sam a list of his clients for the day.

Cynthia catches Sam the next day as he departs the Hip to help William with his ongoing investigations. She is irritated that the residents of Echo are treating Will like he can solve all of the town's problems by stopping a single criminal, and is skeptical that the sheriff is operating with Sam's best interests in mind.

That evening, Cynthia greets Sam excitedly and coaxes him into joining her in the powder room. She informs him that a trunk has been found behind a hidden panel in the room's walls, and opens it with Scarlet to find that it is full of parlor tricks. Cynthia, Scarlet, and Lucy decide to perform a trick called the Levitation Game. When Sam claims that the game is witchery that could invite the Devil, Cynthia asserts that she doesn't believe in such things, and the girls proceed with the ritual.

After Sam passes out, abruptly ending the game, Cynthia reexamines the trunk on Dora's suggestion and finds a hidden compartment containing a necklace that belonged to her mother, as well as a braid of kit fox fur. Cynthia is disturbed and angered by the discovery and asks to be left alone before exiting. Cynthia comes to talk with Sam the next morning, looking drained, and tells him that the previous night made her feel awful in the same way she once did back on the Meseta reservation where she grew up. She no longer feels safe at the Hip and considers leaving Echo but Sam encourages her to stay, while keeping to himself that the trunk and its contents belonged to their coworker Harlan.

A few days later, Cynthia arrives at the police station while Sam is there but William is not. Todd, the town deputy, grants her a private moment with Sam and she quickly begins rifling through the sheriff's paperwork. As Sam watches in horror, Cynthia finds and steals several records that Will has kept on file about her and some unspecified friends, presumably other prostitutes. She is casual about her crime, and claims to Sam that Will should not even have the documents in the first place. She also warns Sam against letting Will use him to spy on people. When William arrives, she departs nonchalantly and Sam covers for her.

Cynthia is initially hostile towards William when he comes to the Hip to ask questions that evening, and reveals that Sam has confessed his crime to her as well. She directly accuses the sheriff of taking advantage of Sam, but agrees to give Will one chance to prove that his relationship with Sam is authentic and not coercive. If Will then speaks with her about his investigation, Cynthia disparages James Hendricks III for displacing the Meseta from their land.

The next day, Marcy Greene nearly dies from a complicated miscarriage and is brought to the Hip to be treated by Avery. Cynthia assists by placing cold rags on Marcy's head and offers to stay with her when the others depart, only for Dora to volunteer herself instead.

Afterward, Cynthia, Sam, and Scarlet do laundry in the Hip's washroom while discussing Marcy's ordeal. When Sam informs them that Marcy's abusive husband Huxley Greene was recently found dead by the police Cynthia is shocked, and expresses her frustration that Will has been too busy spying on the Hip's girls to make a public announcement about the crime. Sam defends him, but Cynthia remains suspicious of Will and doubtful of Todd's competency.

Will himself then appears and asks for Sam, and Scarlet departs. Cynthia challenges the sheriff, insisting that he has no right to come and go from the Hip as he pleases, and reminds him that even though he technically has Dora's permission to visit, the authority he holds over them all means the madam could never actually turn him away.

Sam excuses himself, remarking that Cynthia and Will clearly need to talk to each other. Since Sam has just come back to the Hip in obvious distress and covered in Marcy's blood, Cynthia criticizes Will for not looking after him well enough, and further accuses him of not caring about Marcy's domestic situation enough to intervene until it was too late. Will realizes that Cynthia stole from his office, although when confronted she does not admit it outright and defiantly dares him to prove it.

Will's ensuing attempt to de-escalate the conversation is determined by the evidence that he has collected up to this point in his investigation. If he is able to convince Cynthia of his good intent then she supplies him with one of two letters, both of which seem to be penned by Harlan.

If Will has discovered the tension that exists between Harlan and James Hendricks, then Cynthia reveals she knows that the trunk containing her mother's things belonged to Harlan. She confesses that she has lived in fear of him for days and thought about running away before concluding that she has nowhere to go. She promises to help Will however she can if it means ruining Harlan's life, then shares a love letter written by Harlan for Dora as proof of his overbearing nature.

If Will has confirmed that Ethel is leaking information to James, then he shares this with Cynthia and she comes around to his cause after he assures her that he hasn't used information gathered from the brothel in any other way. If Will tells her that he wants to keep Sam and “the rest of us” safe, Cynthia observes that he sounds more sincere than he ever has before. Deciding that she at least trusts him more than Ethel, Cynthia then gives Will a note containing Ethel's instructions for the night, in the hopes that knowing what she is up to that evening can help him.

If Will has made neither of these breakthroughs, then he and Cynthia remain much more antagonistic, and she resolves not to make it easy for him to continue stealing information from the Hip. In this case, she does not give him any additional evidence.

Suddenly, Cliff cheerfully pipes up from the doorway, alerting both Cynthia and Will to his presence.

### Murdoch's Route

After Sam accepts Murdoch's bet, Cynthia excitedly and hurriedly supplies Murdoch with a pen to write out a check for five times Sam's usual rate. She then offers a disappointed Cliff her own company instead of Sam's which he instantly agrees too. Cliff is heavily interested in quizzing her about her Meseta heritage and Cynthia has to suppress her discomfort, but she is delighted to secure such a high-paying customer.

When Sam visits the Hip during the Sunday lunch rush to find Murdoch and his family, Cynthia pulls him aside and asks why he never came home the previous night. Sam tells her he was with a client, though technically he was with Murdoch for reasons unrelated to work, and then Cynthia asks him to fit Cliff in for a booking soon so he stops bothering her. Cynthia comes to Sam's room to check on him that night, and is thrilled to hear that his new day job at Red's General Goods is paying well, even if it means they are seeing less of each other.

Cynthia later hems the suit that Sam is expected to wear for Jim and Holly's upcoming wedding, and as she works she informs him of recent happenings around the brothel, including Harlan's frequent absences and Madam Dora's ongoing search for his replacement. She also mentions that an old trunk was found hidden in the walls of the Hip, as shown in more detail during William's route, but complains that Dora let William seize it before any of the girls could see what was inside. When Sam expresses his dislike for the constant scrutiny that comes with working for the Byrnes family, Cynthia advises him to quit, but also remarks that Sam seems more focused than he has in weeks and concludes that something about the job must be good for him.

Cynthia is waiting tables at the Hip on the night of Jim's bachelor party, and is slightly confused to see Sam all dressed up and arriving to dine with Jim, Murdoch, Ralph, and Jim's friends. As the other men take their seats, she pulls Sam into a washroom and mentions that he has been booked for four men at once that evening, which shocks him. He explains that one of the men in the group, although he does not specify it is Murdoch, does not want to be involved. Cynthia offers to take him as her own client, but Sam says he doesn't think that will work.

Later, Sam and Murdoch return to Cynthia, and ask her to grant them some alone time together by devising a diversion for Jim and his big-city friends. She says they look rich and readily agrees. Cynthia goes up onto the Hip's stage to announce a "hootenanny" and cues Murdoch to begin an impromptu musical number, drawing the attention of the Hip's crowd. Cynthia then swiftly steps in to distract Jim, giving Sam and Murdoch a chance to slip away from the party. Once Sam and Murdoch eventually return, Cynthia assists by leaving them water to wash up with and directing Jim and the other men to Sam's room for their booking.

Cynthia attends at Holly and Jim's wedding the following day as part of the Hip's catering staff. She remarks to Sam that the bride's mother Gretchen sent invitations to the entire suffragette party of Echo, implying she herself is a member and so would have been invited regardless. She is shocked to hear Sam's uninformed view on the suffragette movement and corrects him with exasperation. Cynthia later diffuses a potential argument between Dora and Gretchen about the lack of alcohol available at the reception, before explaining to a confused Sam what being an usher entails. Cynthia presumably witnesses the wedding being thrown into disarray by the fire at the Hendricks mansion.

### Cliff's Route

In the morning after the miners' riot, Cynthia announces to Sam that Cliff has paid them four times Sam's usual rate, with one of the broadest grins on her face that he has ever seen. She then sends Sam on a grocery run and is irritated when he returns empty-handed.

Cynthia directs Sam to a client waiting in his bedroom, who turns out to be James Hendricks. Cynthia then bids farewell to Sam as he sets out on his expedition with Cliff, and although she does not mention it, Sam believes that Cynthia can deduce his intention not to return to Echo. The potential finality of their goodbye weighs heavily on both of them. Sam asks her if she ever feels about leaving, but Cynthia firmly asserts that Echo is her home.

Later in the route, during a nightmare about being hanged, Sam hears Cynthia's voice accusing him of running away from Echo.

Sam misses and thinks of Cynthia often throughout the story, and after spending more time with the Meseta he remarks that there is much more he would like to ask Cynthia about if he ever sees her again. Once he arrives at the Meseta settlement where she grew up, Sam learns more about Cynthia's early life from her cousin Tsela Begay.

### Nikolai's Route

When Samuel decides to wait for Nikolai, Cynthia steps in and begins flirting with Cliff. She seems to be ultimately unsuccessful in securing him as a client, however, and Cliff pursues Sam out of the powder room.

After Cliff stops Sam on the street the following day, he mentions his interest in the Meseta Tribe and asks Sam to help him get in contact with Cynthia. Sam agrees to try and set up an appointment between the two.

While Sam is away from the Hip working in the mines, Cynthia keeps his room locked and tidied. A few days later, she catches up with him as he is returning to the Hip with Nik, and then leaves washing water outside Sam's bedroom for the two of them.

## Relationships

### Samuel

Cynthia is very fond of Samuel, who is a coworker of hers at Saguaro's Hip. She often encourages Sam to get out of his room and be more social around the Hip to get more clientele. When Sam departs Echo during Cliff's route, possibly for good, Cynthia says that she cannot imagine the Hip without him there.

During William's route, Cynthia's advocacy for Sam is on full display, and she brazenly confronts Will when she believes the sheriff is manipulating her friend.

Cynthia seems to have a greater knowledge of the wider world than Sam, and several times Sam mentions that what he knows of other countries comes mostly from what Cynthia has taught him.

### Cliff

Since he is her prospective client, Cynthia acts as cordial as she is able to with Cliff; yet it is implied she has grown genuine feelings for him as well. Despite this, the stoat still gets on her nerves somewhat from time to time; especially when he persistently asks her questions regarding the Meseta and her own past.

### Murdoch

Cynthia is playful towards Murdoch, and tries to cajole him into becoming a customer of Samuel's. She seems to enjoy teasing him, and is delighted when Sam goads him into spending an evening at the Hip. Later on in Murdoch's route, she steps up to help give Murdoch and Sam a moment alone together, and seems supportive of their budding relationship.

### William

Cynthia is deeply mistrustful of William because of his position as Echo's sheriff, and repeatedly cautions Samuel against trusting him too readily.

Cynthia resents the way Will gathers information on the girls at the Hip, and during Will's route she destroys evidence that he has collected about them. If Will is able to ally himself with Cynthia against either Harlan or Ethel, who have both undermined the trust of the Hip's community in different ways, then she becomes much more open to trusting and even assisting him.

### Madam Dora

As the owner of The Saguaro's Hip, Madame Dora is Cynthia's employer. Cynthia carries out her work dutifully, and seems content with Dora's leadership. Dora appears to trust Cynthia a fair amount, sending her specifically to fetch the doctor when Samuel is found injured and then giving the two a moment alone upon request.

### Harlan

After Harlan is revealed to be keeping a macabre trinket made from the fur of Cynthia's mother, she becomes disgusted by and deeply afraid of him, and considers fleeing the Hip to escape him. Once Harlan becomes a person of interest in Will's investigation, Cynthia offers to do whatever she can to 'fuck up his life' and considers their shared mistrust of Harlan to be a solid piece of common ground between her and Will.

### James

During Will's route, Cynthia explains that she will never accept James, who is a frequent patron of the Hip, as one of her clients because of the land theft he perpetrates against the Meseta.

## Trivia

* Cynthia makes all of her own clothes. Her other hobbies include baking, making jewelry, and performing.
* Despite their shared species and the comparisons made between them during the events of Echo, Cynthia is not an ancestor of Jenna Begay. The only known member of the Begay family in 1915 is Cynthia's cousin Tsela.