"No, no, I tell you -- Lady Thea would never have done /that/,"
Jabulani insisted, gesturing expansively. "She's much too ... ah
... /proper/ to even consider such a course of action." Heavy
sarcasm laced her words, the glass of punch which hovered at
her elbow narrowly missing being in the path of her arms. She
was so wrapped up in the story she was telling that the
unexpected arrival of the elegant figure caught her completely
unawares. Her eyes widened perceptibly, speechless
amazement writ upon her rather plain features.
"... is that ...?" Fisseha whispered beside her.
It was, predictably, Sanyu who rose to meet the situation,
gathering her dignity about her despite her evident awe and
dropped a deep curtsey, murmuring, "My Lord." No names, of
course -- she didn't want to be caught flat-footed if she was
wrong -- but nothing in her manner could have been constituted
impolite.
"Ladies," the voice was smooth as silk as he bowed over
each of their hands. As one, the Aunts exchanged a glance.
Perhaps, if Fortune favoured them...
Just when it seemed her search would never end, Meri
spotted the tight little knot that was her kin through a gap in the
ever-shifting crowds. Her aunts were deeply embroiled in
conversation with a ... figure. She couldn't quite place anything
further, not from the angle she was at, but she knew those looks.
This didn't bode well.
Steeling herself for the worst possible outcome, she stode
across the ballroom, taming flyaway strands of red hair with one
hand as she deftly avoided dancing couples. As she drew near,
Jabulani turned to her and beamed, "Chailinaya! There you are!
We were just talking with the Lord Raaja here..."
The words slipped over her head as she studied him, faded
to a buzz as his eyes met hers. There was... something... she
couldn't quite pinpoint about him, definitely more than the
impudent young lords they typically foisted off onto her. Meri
wrinkled her nose slightly as she studied him, weighing her
impressions of him against the rumours. Just what did the
Aunts think they were doing here? Surely they didn't - they
couldn't - they must not be serious. Caught up in the swirl of
her own thoughts, she was only dimly aware of an arm offered to
her; manners ingrained since childhood took over as she rested
one hand lightly upon it, aware for a moment of how awkward
that looked -- her hand work-worn from all her stillroom time,
faint white lines of fading cuts, at odds with the surroundings.
"I hope you don't mind," his voice interrupted her thoughts.
Mind? Yes, her aunts' meddling. For once, though, it wasn't
as much of a bother as it always seemed to be. "I -- no, it's fine."
She glanced around, trying to fix her attention elsewhere,
unreasonably flustered.
He glanced back at the aunts momentarily, who seemed
positively giddy that Meri was
now in the company of such a reknowned noble. Sighing
faintly, he offered her
a faint smile. Making certain they were out of earshot, he
commented quietly to
her, "They certainly are a lively bunch, aren't they."
Meri nodded, keeping her eyes firmly fixed upon her toes. It
wasn't enough that
her manners weren't quite up to par, but she now had to be in a
situation where
manners were of the utmost import. "Oh, they're really quite
harmless," she
managed with a smile that she hoped wasn't too forced, "just ...
energetic, yes."
Raaja nodded, and offered a small shrug to the girl. "I'm sure
they are. I
merely wished to enjoy some idle chat, and suddenly, they
seemed bent on
introducing me to you." he explained. He took a few steps
forward, swiveling on
the ball of his foot gracefully to look at the girl. "Not that I mind,
persay,
as you seem like a lovely young lady - I simply do not want you to
think of me as
the other sort of gentlemen that frequent these events. They can
be.. boorish,
when it comes to women."
She nodded emphatically, unable to disguise her relief at this
simple statement.
"I'm sorry; they're a bit single-minded at times, and don't seem to
realise that
not everyone is exactly amenable to their plans. No one seems
to get a word in
edgewise with them, though, so ..." she let the sentence trail off,
not quite
sure where it would have gone. She tucked her arms back
under her shawl,
regarding Raaja for a long silent moment. "Thank you -- for not
being angry at
them."
Raaja lifted his arms in a dismissive sort of gestures, and
nodded to his
temporary companion. "No need to thank me. I'm sure they
mean well enough, they
merely don't seem to go about it in the right way." He paused,
and added with a
little smirk. "At least, the way you'd prefer them to, if at all." He
took a
moment to glance back at the rest of the gathered, and asked
casually, "So, how
are you enjoying this little party?"
Was she that obvious? Meri pushed down the embarrassment;
of course she was to
those who frequented society events. "Not much," she
confessed shamefacedly.
"It seems a little like a waste of time. Although the decorations,"
one hand
absently indicated the nearest of the ice sculptures, "are
amazing."
"I'll have to agree with you there.." Raaja replied. He crossed his
arms, and
his smile widened, as if pleased to find someone who shared
his mood. Meri's
comment regarding the sculptures, however, caused a small
flash of some unseen
emotion to pass through his eyes. "I have to agree.." he
continued, after a
moment. "They are quite lovely. I must find the sculptor who
carved them, they
are stunning works of art."
Something she glimpsed in his eyes made her take a step back,
ducking her head as
she dropped a curtsey. "If you'll excuse me, Lord Raaja, I --" she
groped for a
reason, "-- I have to -- that is, there's someone else over there I
must speak
to." Colour flamed in her cheeks as she took another step
backwards, waiting
only for the briefest of acknowledgements before slipping into
the circles
milling nearby.
Raaja gave those acknowledgements, and rubbed his chin
thoughtfully as the girl
left. "She's.. an intriguing one. A worthy challenge, I think.." he
commented
to himself quietly, a more mischievous grin appearing on his
lips, where a
friendly, genuine smile had rested before. "She will be fun to toy
with." And,
with that, he wandered back over to check on his beautiful
sculptures once more -
the fun would be starting not too long from now.
"Now tell me, sir, *certainly* you've got a degree of influence in these
social circles...?" The sir in question, a young and rather handsome Rikar
Drailaen, a detecting a certain degree of trouble on the road ahead, made
a polite excuse and attempted to move away from the girl at the buffet
table.
"Not so fast!" she exclaimed, but the cheeriness in her voice did little
to soften the surprisingly tight clamp on his wrist. A slow, almost
malicious smile spread across her youthful features. "Please? We were
*just* getting acquainted!" The tug on Rikar's wrist almost sent him to
the ground. He sighed in resignation. He was *never* going to listen to
his sisters again...
"Thank you *so* much! You've made my day, you really have. I've heard of
the Draileans," the girl continued brightly while stuffing her mouth with
her other hand. How she managed to eat and talk coherently at the same
time both fascinated and repulsed Rikar. "Okay, I know the whole little
thing between you guys and my mother, but *honestly*, the woman's paid
enough and anyways, I've atoned doubly for any of my family's so-called
'crimes', if you will..."
Rikar attempted to extricate his wrist from her grip, but was rewarded
with long manicured nails puncturing his palm. "Aaa-aa-aaaaaa~!" He looked
defeatedly at the crazy girl. Thankfully, a break in her soliloquy came
just a happy fifteen minutes later. "M-Miss, I don't know what my family
or I ever did to you, but please, just let me go... I don't even *know*
you, and—"
"W-W-WHAT? Hang on." Rikar stared at her, speechless. Something flashed in
those pale brown eyes. "Yooou don't even know me? You *are* Rikar
Drailean, aren't you?"
"Just let me go, please! My father will pay whatever money you demand,
please, just don't *hurt* me..." he almost sobbed. Was she mad enough to
kill him at a public party? How did she get *in* here, anyways? Wasn't
security supposed to weed out the lunatics like her? (Though some might
argue the rich tend to be "eccentric"...)
She poked him with a shrimp. "I'm not going to hurt you. Well, provided
you help me with something. See, I'm Lark, THE most electrifying woman in
musical entertainment, and there's this really ill-mannered group I need a
big strong man to deal with. Like... you. Think you can handle the
Twinharps security for poor little me? Stop crying, man, that's really
killing the big strong manly image." With a grin, Lark turned away to grab
a plate of pastries.
Taking these few precious seconds of distraction, Rikar looked frantically
around for an exit. Inexplicably, the towering yet graceful ice sculpture
above him looked particularly comforting...
"Hn?" Lark looked back, momentarily baffled. She lifted her empty hand and
flexed it in idle confusion. "Now where'd he go?" She blinked. "Huh." She
peered cautiously around her, finally taking note of an ice sculpture that
she'd never noticed before. "You know... that looks a lot like Rikki-man.
In FACT, what's REALLY suspicious is..." She stood up abruptly, causing
her chair to topple over with a loud thud. Naturally, the usual charm the
staff had put on it set the chair to stand back up. "...the very
suspicious number of suspiciously empty dishes!"
Satisfied that she'd figured out the mystery, Lark went out to hunt down a
serving girl.
Kanta followed her father, his latest Femme
Fatal, and Bana out of the carriage in front of
the great hall where the ball was being held. Her
gown, though the same style as usual, loose and
flowing, had many a lace and frill attached
tonight, and her slippers were made of a satiny
sort of material. And had very comfortable
leather souls. Her hair was done up in the normal
manner, but was done with white chiffon laces
now, rather than the navy blue spheres.
"Stop being so slow and get you lazy butt up
here Kanta!" Bana hissed from up beside her
father.
Kanta scowled and mimicked her sister with a
screwed up face, but quickly stopped when Bana
turned back. "Hey Bana, I’ll bet you’ll never
guess who that woman with Mahried is…" Kanta
taunted.
Bana’s face went from annoyed to nervous
and uncertain with the mention of the woman ahead
of them, and she shook her head.
"That’s Mahried’s newest misstress, he’s
gotten tired of Mama and he’s going to leave her
for THAT woman." She smiled happily as Bana went
white as a ghost and the red as a poker.
"He will NOT, Daddy loves Mama and
they’ll never separate!" Bana hissed.
"Big words for some one so clueless!" Kanta
mocked.
That was it for Bana, the little girl
balled up her fist and punched Kanta one good in
the stomach. Kanta doubled over in pain and
rocked back and forth clutching at her stomach.
Damn! For such a little brat, the girl could
punch. The next thing she knew, her father’s
voice was calling her name.
"Kanta, don’t patronize your sister."
"She punched me!" Kanta whined.
"Kanta!" He snapped.
Kanta didn’t bother to answer, her father
never listened to her anyway. Bana the innocent,
HAH! When they entered the ball room there was a
large crush of people, and Kanta automatically
saw her opportunity. She ducked behind to nobles,
a bard and a serving girl before she slowed down,
but she never stopped moving, keeping an eye on
her father at all times. She wouldn’t spend
another second with that lecher tonight, if she
had to kill to do so. She’d ducked behind a Duke,
cute through the conversation of an Earl and the
gossipings of a couple elderly women before she
came to a stop, smashing into a taller woman who
had long curly red hair and a sense of annoyance
at being here. Kanta turned, about to apologize
when she saw who was her victim.
"…Hala!" She cried, and then slapped her
hand over her mouth. That’d been much too loud.
"S…Sailorhala? Meri?" She asked, uncertain of
what she was seeing. The other girl seemed not to
remember her and gave her a blank stare. "it’s
me, Kanta…S-" She looked around and lowered her
voice, whispering up to Meri. "Sailorzakar…?"
"Are you alright?" the words were out before she could hold
them back. Dark eyes regarded Kanta for a moment,
uncomprehending, before Meri managed to put two and two
together and smiled brightly at the younger girl. After a
heartbeat's surprise at finding one of her fellow senshi here (so
the market events hadn't all been one vast nightmare), she set
the next element on the string: Ahlem. Kanta must then be one
of the daughters of the nobleman her aunts were occasionally
gossiping about ... what was his name? Mairen? Mahled?
Mahried -- that was it.
Kanta pivoted slightly, shifting position infintestimally in
relation to something Meri presumed to be behind her own back.
"Yes, but -- you're --"
A slight nod of confirmation. "I think," she murmured, "it might
perhaps be wiser to avoid discussing such things in crowded
surroundings?" Though part of her wanted to discuss the matter
in further detail, curiousity having been roused by the events of
that day, Meri knew full well that at gatherings like this, even the
most secret of conversations would be overheard. Before the
blue-haired girl had a chance to reply, she asked, "... and, pray,
what were you doing that required such ... ah ... attempted
stealth?" The smile took whatever sting might have been placed
in the words away; for all that her surroundings yet grated upon
her nerves, Kanta would be in the least a pleasant reprieve
before her aunts pushed another lordling at her -- though,
knowing them, they'd be twittering about their success thus far
all night. She sighed and put the thought aside, focusing on
Kanta as they drifted with the swirl of the crowds. The pattern of
the girl's actions was unimstakeable, and realisation came
quickly. Like Meri so often did, she was using the people as a
screen, keeping herself away from someone.
Even at an event like this, however, there were certain places
predisposed towards those who wished to remain away from
the press, be it seen or more hidden; getting her bearings, the
redhead inclined her head to the nearest arched doorframe,
leading out to a vast balcony. "Outside, perhaps? I think that'll
suit both of our motives."
x
