[b]Intermission,
Featuring: Andrea & Alicia[/b]

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The last rays of the that hated orb of blinding light in the ceiling, the sky, vanished as Andrea traced over her abdomen, the wound had fully healed now and she snorted, "Damnable aasimar vampire bitch." She recalled how that bitch appeared out of nowhere and threw those knives at her, wounding her. She looked around and frowned, so these were surface 'gardens' the royal gardens at that. She had studied the plants, the flowers and just did not understand it. Why did these surfacers keep these plants here, none of them had any or little nutritional value... and from what she could tell, none were useful for poisons. Not even a tiny paralyzing agent she could make, so why in the name of Lollth would these surfacers keep these gardens?

After the long day of forced sunlight, Alicia could almost feel the joy return at the sight of the moon in the sky. She collapsed her parasol in on itself and decided to take a walk around the castle grounds, perhaps she would be impressed by the Renaltan beauty, or perhaps she would meet another interesting individual. At least the daytime excursion had fed her desire to meet interesting people: The Queens, Dirge, Rayvon, all of them had left an impression of the vampire noble, and she was eager to see more of what the Queen's blades would offer her.

After a brief walk, she ended up in the castle's gardens, and she had to admit, she felt a certain mystique inside the carefully crafted agriculture. Liveria had less space for such showy displays dedicated only to that strange pursuit called art. Eventually though, she found herself stumbling on a different kind of rarity: a dark skinned woman with pointed ears. Was this the drow that Rayvon had mention? The one who had disarmed the paladin with a kiss?

She cleared her throat slightly, not wanting to appear as an assailant or an assassin. "A beautiful night for a stroll in the gardens, no?"

Her hand reached for a hidden blade at the sound of a throat clearing but she relaxed, glancing at the intruder, raising a eyebrow. "Perhaps for you... for me, beauty is seeing the luminescent crystals in cavern walls and ceiling. These..." She gestures to the sky were the first lights of stars began to peek through. "Stars as I am told they are called, pale in comparison." She blinked, "Ah, you are another of the Blades, aren't you, I thought I saw you before."She almost stumbled over the next surface word, Ceann had taught it to her and she still struggled with the concept the word implied. "Forgive... me, but all surfacers seem to look alike to me, most of them at least."

Alicia listens to the Drow with a genuine interest, noting the various little notes of melancholy in her tone, as well as the mild disdain. Hearing the passion in her voice was unique, so little was left unsaid. "I wouldn't be able to judge, so I can only take your word. To me, the stars are an indication of freedom: I'm sure the crystals mean something equally important to you." Alicia takes a few steps closer, slowly even, so as to make sure she remained nonthreatening. "There is nothing for you to forgive though: Most people are hardly worth remembering. My name is Alicia Le'roux, can I ask yours?"

She studied the woman, was she... trying to make conversation with her? She seemed soft, part of her thought that all surfacers were soft, but this one... she was tilting her head, the night allowed her to see better and notice certain things, this one had a hidden depth to her she sensed, that or she was simply paranoid. "Andrea Llolth'Allin, priestess of Lollth." She said after a moment of contemplation.

Alicia offers the woman a bow, bright eyes shining in the starlight as she did. "Andrea, a lovely name. I must ask you a question, Andrea, priestess of Lollth. On the mission today, were you working alongside a woman in armour and a man who looted..." she paused to click her fingers a few times, trying to recall the details. "...A spider, I think: A spider and another of the Queen's blades, I believe?" Alicia didn't imagine there would be many other Drow mage women in the Queen's blades, but she hardly wanted to strike up conversation with the wrong Drow.

Her eyes narrowed as she heard the words and remembered, she just smiled, while her eyes remained narrowed and filled with anger. "Yes... that would be me. Apparently, so my bodyguard tells me, surfacers have no qualms about... desecrating and killing spiders, aspects and treasured servants of my goddess." She had been on the edge of burning Ceann for withholding that information, she still fumed about being stopped to kill that heretic who defiled her precious spider, it had accepted her, became hers... and then it died... and she was unable to prevent it from being desecrated by a filthy surfacer. "What of it."

Alicia smiles, glad to have found the woman so quickly. "I spent most of the afternoon with the Paladin woman. She told me about your mission and about you, I was curious. It brought a smile to my face to learn you managed to disarm that one with a kiss, no less. Merely talking about it had her shaded crimson." She openly chuckled at the memory, even if she had held back when talking to Rayvon herself, it had been an amusing thing indeed. "I must admit, I know nothing about your goddess. Although desecrating a spider is not considered 'normal' by any stretch."

She rose her eyebrows, what would this surfacer know about her mission... she shrugged lazily. "She had me pinned to the ground, wearing heavy armour and clearly stronger than me, kissing her was my only viable method to surprise her and get the upper hand, it was apparently her first kiss however, how strange, since she is apparently older than twenty cycles and never...." She just shrugged again. "As for my goddess, she is Lollth, the spiderqueen, that title alone might indicate already how spiders are held in high regard in my society... and if it is not normal then pray tell why nobody, but me and the paladin were trying to stop that.... person... from doing whatever he was doing." She snorted again. "Though the aasimar seemed only intent to want him to stop taking from the dead and did not seem concerned with the greater crime he was doing."

"Apathy, mostly. I'm sure it will seem strange to you, but spiders are considered pests by most. Getting worked up about a spider would be seen by most as strange as getting worked over for picking a flower: yet some hold nature that highly, just as you hold the spider on an accolade." She reached down and plucked a particularly colourful flower, bringing it to her nose so as to take in the scent. "Me? I'm not much for religion: most would spurn me as an abomination, anyway." She offers the flower to the drow, uncaring if she took it to smell or not. "If you have any questions about the surface world, feel free to ask me. I'm trying to make the most of this little downtime we have. Allow me to ask the first question though, will the priestess be attending the ball, at week's end? I imagine you'd make quite the splash." She smiled at the priestess again, trying to play the socialite.

She rose a brow again, not taking the flower. "I will attend, yes." She said simply, if this ball was like any noble gathering back home it would prove to be prudent to be present and learn of the intrigues that transpire on the world under the sun. Something this woman had said stuck with her however, "Why would they call you a abomination?" She asked, studying her, had she been correct before that there was something unnatural about this human, if that is what she was.

"What is a woman without secrets?" She smirked at the Priestess, aware that the woman would likely think less of her if she suddenly dropped her little secret on the woman. She had mentioned she was an abomination so as to hook Andrea in, to make her inclined to seek Alicia out again, and perhaps learn that which she hid. Of course, there were enough signs that she'd figure it out eventually: she would just have to wait until the day time to see them. "I will tell you my secret when you can offer me something of equal worth, how about that for a deal?"

She tilted her head, "A secret for a secret, this kind of deal is not that uncommon to me." She nods slowly, "Yet how do I know how much 'worth' your secret is, apparently you are a abomination to some, here on the surface. I am from a whole other world where a different culture resides which might make your secret somewhat worthless to me." She smirked, wondering what the human had to say about that.

"I'm sure my secret would be worthless to you, when you return underground. Yet as of the here and now, that secret would allow you to manipulate me. You can imagine my desire to at least make the telling worth while." She eventually dropped the flower on the floor, looking up instead at the stars and the moon in the sky. The sight of it brought a smile to her face, and she looked at the priestess. "We can make a new deal then, if you wish. I tell you my secret, and you owe me one favour. Nothing too extreme, I assure you."

She curled her lip in distaste, "I'd rather not owe anyone any favours." She smiled, "Unless you are willing to negotiate for a favour in return if the one you ask for when the time comes, is too high a price. Hmm?"

"A very fair proposition. I am happy to agree to this: despite the disadvantage it places upon me. What is tonight if not a night for taking risks?" She offers the Drow a hand to shake, unaware if this was or was not the accepted way to seal a deal in her culture. "A deal, then?"

She stared at the hand for a moment, before recalling what Ceann told her and took it, shaking it oddly. "As you say... a deal."

Alicia smirks, before shaking the woman's hand a bit firmer and more sturdy than the strange priestess' own grip. "The thing that makes me an abomination is my Vampirism, and I am a member of Diana's brood." As if to show off the fact, she decided that a display was in order. She was tempted for something overt, like picking the priestess up or some such display of heightened strength. Instead she lifted the woman's still clenched hand and placed it on one of her white incisors, perilously close to the razor fanged tips, before releasing the capture appendage.

Something unwrapped itself from Andrea's side, uncoiling and leaping out, baring fangs, Andrea said a quick word in drow and the animated snakehead of her whip froze, about to sink it's fangs into Alicia's throat, her voice was cold. "Never. Do that. Again." She let out a cooing, soothing sound and the animated snake head turned back to her waist, the eyes of it glaring at Alicia. "She's very protective." Andrea said slowly, petting the head of her new blessing. "So, a vampire. Still don't see the damage I can do with that information, it seemed the townsfolk of that settlement seemed to find it normal two of their own were vampires after all."

Alicia's hand reached for a dagger on instinct and raised it to the Drow priestess' guy: although the snake, if it followed through, would sunk its fangs in first. "True, although that is not all of the secret. I keep the pretense of humanity up, because my home nation is less accepting than Renalta. It is revealing a weakness: not something I do lightly." She withdrew the dagger, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. "But still, I shall remember the slight debt we owe each other. I'm sure it'll be fun, after all."

Andrea traced a finger over the head of her snake whip and smiled, "Danger is always fun where I am from, because without danger... what is the point of living?" She grinned, "I must admit I enjoyed this talk, perhaps we will talk again." She snapped her fingers and from the shadows Ceann stepped out, watching over Andrea like she always did. "Until our next talk."

"I would be...glad to talk again. I will admit, I was not sure what to expect from Rayvon's less than satisfactory review. It is good to see that you are as interesting as I hoped." She had to admit, she was surprised by the appearance of the bodyguard. Not even a hint of suspicion had risen from the vampire, although she was surprised that the guard had let her get a dagger so close to Andrea. "Don't live too dangerously, priestess: You owe me a favour." She blew the Drow a kiss before turning her back to the woman and her guard, walking out of the garden with a satisfied grin on her face.