Rayvon runs her hand through her hair, chewing her lip as she drums her hand along the edge of the table, reading up on history of foreign countries. She furrows her brow, trying to reread a sentence once more. The aasimar could not even recall what this very volume was about anymore. Her mind was so distracted by thoughts she did not know she could even possess. Her time with Mikan the night of the ball had been... Relieving in some way, and she felt a weight taken off of her, but she was... Bothered. In a number of ways. She felt restless, for something to happen. She longed to talk to Gabriel, but he seemed to be preoccupied with preparations to head to Liveria. And she was furious with the drow. She was, oddly curious about the Spymaster. And her mind was swimming with thoughts about people in general that she did not hold before. She swallows and shifts in her seat, closing the book with a heavy sigh. Why even bother. She should just occupy with something to work off all this excess energy, a good spar, perhaps. Alicia had offered her one once, had she not?
Tracing her hand gently over the head of her snake whip which slithered up around her hand and squeezed before turning back to her side and it's handle, resting and guarding in case a threat would appear. The ball had been eventful, the festivities after that even more so. Andrea purred and stretched her body briefly, she felt wonderful, relaxed even. All she needed was a piece of home, some of her culture to regain the strength to face whatever the surface would throw her way. She entered the library, running her hand over the covers of some of the tomes on display and paused, hearing a sigh and the closing of a book. Walking silently towards the origin of the sound she smiled when she saw the back of a familiar figure with a closed book in front of her, "Greetings paladin warrior. Enjoying what the library offers yourself now?" She smiled, cocking her head.
Rayvon tenses and bites her lip, not turning her head around but shakes her head, "Not really. I cannot seem to focus on the texts this evening..." She looks down at the table and lightly picks up the book, getting up from the table and moving over to place it upon a rack so one of the bookkeepers might return it to its rightful place. "What about you. Enjoy your time with... That... Valsharess?" She tries to keep from spitting out the word. She could not quite figure out why she found saying the title so hard. She just did not like the woman or anything about her from what she had seen that night. It had not been hard to notice her at all. The woman had a presence everywhere she went.
She raised a eyebrow, something was different about the aasimar woman, she seemed... well angry at her, was this another surface cultural oddity she had encountered? But she had not spoken to Rayvon yet and last time they had parted she had thought it was under cordial, if not neutral terms. "It was... enjoyable." She slowly said, frowning, studying Rayvon. "It was good to be back in touch with a piece of the homelands..."
Rayvon closes her eyes briefly as a memory surfaces, a moment when she had caught sight of Andrea through the crowd when she herself had been talking with Gabriel. "I suppose. I should have taken a chance to talk more with thoseof my homeland, but I was called off for some other duties." She flushes and turns about to look at Andrea, beginning to feel a bit silly and rude in her behaviour, "I think its left me a bit weary and scatterminded, sorry."
"I see... I actually got the impression you were mad at me? Like you were before when I brought up some subjects you took offense to." She cocked her head and frowned, then blinked. "Although... the way you said her title, you problem is with the Valsharess? Or am I being rude and offensive again by asking this?"
Rayvon screws up her brow. She did feel a bit of bitterness towards the Valsharess, but it made no sense. "I do not like how the woman presented herself as a leader, but that could be said the same about the masters of the Free Holds." She idly shrugs, "I do not know the woman, how could I have any true offense to her as a being?"
She was confused now, "I do not understand but..." She cocked her head again, narrowing her eyes. "You seem to be angry at me... and the Valsharess, angry at both of us? Why?"
Rayvon flushes and scratches her cheek. "I am not angry at either of you!" she blurts out quickly. "I just... am not feeling myself, I am sorry if I am... behaving oddly, I... Perhaps I should go." Her gaze, which had drifted to the floor begins to gravitate up slowly, following over Andrea before she awkwardly averts her gaze. Even though it was not as bad as when she was with Mikan, this was becoming quickly frustrating.
She frowned, now she was truly confused, Rayvon's behavior was nagging at her, she stepped forwards and in front of the Aasimar, blocking her way out of the library, or at least make it so that she could not ignore her presence standing in her way. "Something is definitely wrong... if I didn't knew any better..." She blinked, she had thought about it but discarded due to her earlier conversation but with the way she acted. She just had to blurt it out, mostly due to her surprise. "Are you jealous!?"
Rayvon flushes and takes a step back. "I-- What!" She shakes her head, "Why would I... No! I'd have to... to, be interested in you to be jealous." She snorts and tries to step past Andrea. She should have stayed in her room until the corruption faded. This was ridiculous. It was messing with her mind. She could not actually have feelings for the harlot priestess who would make such a public scene like that at a the ball, after all!
She reached out and placed her hand on Rayvon's chest to stop her, looking at her with confusion still. "Then why do you seem to be angry with me? I thought last time we parted cordially and yet now I get the feeling you seem to once more be angry with me? Are people on the surface just confusing as a rule or have I missed another cultural thing?"
Rayvon shuffles uncomfortably, all too aware of that hand over her heart. She inhales sharply and looks upon Andrea, "I... I exorcised someone of demon taint, and it is... affecting me... Do not speak of it... It will fade, soon... but... it has me..." She grasps Andrea's hand, holding it a fraction longer than she intended as she draws it away, "Not myself."
Frowning she glanced at her hand and then back at Rayvon's face, "Exorcising someone of demon taint that makes you... not yourself? In what way?" She asked carefully but also intrigued at the same time.
She frowns and wrings her hands, a bit embarassed. "I... I haven't figured out how to do it perfectly, but I can cleanse small bits with no problem, but, large amounts, some of it washes back into myself. So whatever realm of taint... It affects me til I purge it from within." She shuffles her feet, casting her eyes down, "Any other realm, perhaps I would be more adept at dealing with, but... lust is..." she shakes her head, "It is... troubling me. I don't know what to think of how the reactions it incites."
She blinked and suppressed a laugh, succeeding as she nods slowly, "So... in your current state you are... easily receptive to the effects of lust." She looked Rayvon over again. "If that is so... that does not explain the anger... unless I was right? But if you were then why..." She blinked and cocked her head again. "Ah... you saw something that in your culture is intimate and only restricts to two people in a relationship between myself and the Valsharess at the ball, did you not? Is that why you were, are, angry?"
Rayvon crosses her arms, "I am not angry!... Just... a bit confused..." She bites her lip, her nails lightly digging into the cloth of her sleeve as she looks at Andrea. It was making a little more sense, though, as Andrea spelled it out. "Perhaps... In this state it, it proved vexing to me."
"Hmm..." She tapped her lip with one of her fingers slowly, "I do wonder... and this is just me musing here, if this means... you actually have... a attraction towards me, deep down and this merely... brings it to the surface?"
She furrows her brow, "I... Do not know. I never think about such things, to be truthful." Rayvon watches Andrea tapping her lip, biting upon her own. "I do not think now is a good time to explore that, though... I... still do not know you very well..."
She couldn't help but smirk, "Why? Afraid you cannot control yourself while in this state? Ah... that's why you went to the library of course, to avoid other people. Still..." She clearly did not want to let a particular matter go and let out a purr. "I will take it as a compliment then, I have heard that jealousy, over someone you find fetching and seeing him or her kissing another is a sign you like her, so I will assume you indeed were jealous about that and find me attractive." She grinned.
Rayvon rolls her eyes, "You simply enjoy making me uncomfortable, do you not?" She reaches out and awkwardly ruffles the priestess' hair, giving a lopsided smile. "If you must think that, so be it. Until further evidence, it is just the taint, though."
She smirked and arched at the touch of the aasimar and let out another purr, almost trying to nuzzle against her hand but refrained from that, pulling back and looking at Rayvon. "Hmm... you are... vulnerable now though, yes?"
She bites her lip before nodding, "As much as I hate to admit such... A little... Yes." For a moment the urge to let her hand caress along Andrea's cheek passes through her mind before she draws away her hand, almost frightfully. "Which is why it's foolish for me to be talking to you about it, isn't it?" she laughs a little nervously, a faint flush passing over her cheeks.
She chuckles softly and changes her stance a little, tracing a hand over her own side, almost as if caressing it before letting her hand rest on her hip. "Perhaps, do you think that you are not able to resist... the call of lust with me?"
Rayvon's jaw drops and she staggers away nervously, "You are a terrible woman sometimes, you know this?..." She bites her lip and looks away, her cheeks crimson.
She grinned and shrugs, "Perhaps, but should I take it by that evasion that you cannot resist then?"
"Continue to jibe me so, I very well might," she pouts and takes step forward, quivering before trying to raise her gaze again. She swallows, "I have more resolve than that..."
She raised a eyebrow, "Perhaps, still... do you trust me?" Her face was serious as she said the last four words, her eyes locking directly with Rayvon's.
She pauses for a moment, considering this. Out of everyone here in Renalta the only person she knew she could trust more perhaps was Mikan or Gabriel, but she had divulged information enough to Andrea... She furrows her brow, "Why?"
"Because I am about to offer to stay at your side while this corruption floods your system and assist you in preventing something happening you might not want, at least not in this state when other thoughts and emotions rule you." Andrea replied calmly.
She offers a faint smile before reaching out and cupping Andrea's cheeks and kissing her upon her brow. "That... I would greatly appreciate..." She smiles, before blinking, realizing what she just did and stumbles back embarassedly. "If you can stand my company of a bothersome surfacer such as myself that long..."
She seemed not fazed by Rayvon;s kiss on her brow and chuckled, "I think I can manage Rayvon, I think I might actually enjoy it." She glanced around, "So where shall we both venture together?"
Rayvon pauses uncertainly, "Ah... Well... We could stay here... Or maybe you would like a stroll?... Or do you have anything you need to take care of before we depart?"
"Well, since we are going to travel together to this Angel enclave, I was hoping you could tell me more of what we might expect actually?" She smiled and gestured to the seats. "If you wouldn't mind of course."
She pauses before offering a slight smile, "Likely, people to be more rigid than myself... Angels I suppose are resolute in their ways... Gabriel told me angels represent order. Not really supposed to be good or evil... Just, ordered, as demons are chaos." She crosses her arms and shakes her head, "I did not like to hear that, myself, I would prefer to hear they were beings of justice and goodness, but, they follow what they believe in. But that was when they were sworn to dieties who ah, guided what representation of order they represented. Who knows what they have decided upon now, though I imagine it might clash with your culture..." She moves to a seat and relaxes into it, looking across to Andrea, "Just my own musings, of course..." She traces along the edge of the table before smiling. "Of course, dealing with these orcs, might be troublesome. I do not think it need come to violence if we play our cards right, they are not as mindlessly savage as some would have us think... I would see peace with them if we could manage."
She took a seat opposite Rayvon, purposely passing a empty seat right next to her, as she sat down she listened to what Rayvon had to say and nodded slowly. "Yes... clash perhaps but... with the grand upheaval, perhaps... some order might be nice." She grinned and shruged, "Chaos without purpose gets us nowhere after all." She chuckled and then pondered about the orcs. "Diplomacy might be possible, however... they often have a rather... warrior culture, might makes right and the strongest survive... and rule. So we might end up fighting, if only to prove our worth."
She shrugs, "If it comes to that to reach peace with them, very well, but there is enough war and death to come to not try anything."
"I guess we'll have to just wait and see. I do wonder though... one angel is already... quite amazing to uphold, a whole enclave... I can scarcely imagine how that will be like... a touch of the divine, even if it isn't my goddess." She smiles.
She sniffs and crosses her arms, "What? And what am I, hmm?" She smiles a tad and shrugs, "I admit... I am excited to visit the enclave, though... I never imagined so many could possibly..." She shakes her head.
Andrea grins and raises her eyebrows, "I thought you didn't want me to feel the touch of your divine..." She licked her lips and winked, "Well... perhaps later, if you aren't under the influence of this leftover corruption or whatever it is that is coursing through your body at the moment. And yes... I do wonder how they stayed while... the gods, were banished."
She shrugs and rests her head on her hands, "Perhaps angels who flocked together who were in this realm when the way home was sealed."
"I guess we will find that answer when we reach their enclave, though I do wonder... how they will feel about representatives... from the queen who banished their masters... coming to visit."
"That... Is a very good question," she frowns and shakes her head," she looks across to Andrea before smiling softly. "I admit, I might be a bit selfish in my reasons for going, though."
She grinned, "Hmm... a aasimar being selfish by wanting to visit a enclave of angels, I wonder why..." She mused out loud, raising her eyebrows at the aasimar in question and chuckled. "What reasons would those be actually? I admit I have selfish reasons myself... being a priestess and all."
"Kin, and my own religious ideas, I suppose. My father idolized angels and thought there were some principals we could try to emulate from them, perhaps not as they truly are, though... But still. I have enjoyed meeting and learning from Gabriel, I would like to meet and learn from others as well and come to understand my heritage and potential better," she flushes and ruffles her hair embarassedly.
"A worthy goal to aspire and strife for, I hope we both accomplish what we want from this quest." She smiled. "One step at a time though."
Rayvon keeps her cloak around her tight as they traverse through the mountains. The faint chill, while something she should be accustomed to with her life in Liveria, was beginning to bother her with her time spent in Renalta... She had spent to long there and gotten acclimated to their weather. The prickle on her senses was beginning to bother her. It was like a red hot poker, burning at her, like nothing she had ever felt and screaming at her that the unholy was about. Gabriel's presence was only exacerbating it, but perhaps it was for the better, allowing them to know they had that much longer before the demon-touched presence discovered them. She licks her lips, keeping her eyes vigilante as she tries to figure out from which direction it might be coming from... Now, she was beginning to regret not honing her skill further to hunt these fiends. If they knew more precisely where it was, perhaps they could set up the trap instead of waiting in uncertainty.
Her fingers run along the grip of her sword as they reach the ambush sight and pass by the territory markers of the orcish tribes. She scrutinizes them uncertainty. Surely they were... primitive, but who were they to judge their culture. Who were they to deny able fighters in a time of demonic upraising. She pauses and listens out before raising her own voice, “Why don't we talk to the orcs... They have sense enough to mark out their lands, and there is a foe upon their lands of some strength. Perhaps we could entice their warrior nature for a hunt of sorts?... The longer I sense the demon without seeing it, the worse a feeling I get.”
Maeven lounges idly upon Fafnir's back in her saddle, using him as some glorified mount through the jungles of the Amazon. He huffs and looses a jet of stream as he raises his claws, snapping yet another set of vines that tangled in his cogs and joints and picked at the mossy soil that built under his claws with disfavor. She smiles, fixing her blouse as she taps him on his great metal neck, “Relax, Faf. You'll get used to it... I know I am...” And in all truth, she was... The weather, she found herself being able to afford herself wearing clothes she had not been able to since Tuleria. The humid heat of the jungle was pleasant, but she had to admit... The wildlife was something she was not accustomed to... The population, though... Her eyes roam over the Amazons, and she looses a pleasant purr as she realizes some of them were even giving her attention.
At the hut of the Elder, Fafnir was left having to listen at the opening, too large to enter, leaving Maeven to have to dismount and venture on alone. For once, she quietly listens to what the others listen... If only in part because she had no idea what to say about fighting drakes and uncovering succubi. Her expertise lay far outside that area. She raises her brows, shocked by the vehement objections of both Queen and Princess alike to Naream's logical suggestion and curiously nods along with the skeleton with his inquiries. As Esyllt speaks up, Maeven clears her throat, “We don't have a guarantee we'll expose the succubi with these fights... I'm all for our resident telepath taking the field, if she thinks she can handle it... We can fall back on the duels though.” She rasps her hands over Bloom with a smirk, “I mean, if all else fails, Faf and I can whip this demon broad no problem, I'm sure of it, but for the sake of the Blades, I guess we can try Esyllt's plan.”
