Alicia Le'roux and Princess Ethlinn-The Grand Ball
After general Hanus disappeared with Xavier and his assistant, Alicia found herself retreating to a dining table, where she claimed a glass of wine. She sipped the drink at a leisurely pace, enjoying the strength and sharpness of the vino as she observed the people around them: her silver eyes surveying the room and taking great delight in people-watching. With so many people to observe, from so many different regions, there was no shortage of interesting sights.
After finishing her first drink and procuring herself a second, she started seeing some of the stars of the show: The dwarves’ leader, surrounded by his drunken, bearded brothers; The Drow woman, seemingly the most interesting and non-interesting person in the room at the same time, as if it were a talent; The Rhienfelder, seemingly divided down the middle but all sharing a certain straightness of the back; and the Amazonian princess, so out of place amongst them all. Something about the woman was...for lack of a better word, exotic. A certain aura seemed to radiate from her that made the Vampirism in her blood dance. She wanted to know more, no, she needed to know more. Perhaps the alcohol was making her feel more brazen than normal, but Alicia rose from a lazy perched lean she had adopted and made her way towards the Princess.
The princess stood alone, seemingly voluntarily as she stared around at the stone that comprised the majority of the structure. Her staff glowed a little as Alicia approached, catching Ethlinn’s attention as she turns to face the approaching vampire. Standing straight and looking Alicia over from head to toe, Ethlinn’s eyes remained cold and untrusting nonetheless. “Who are you?” Her tone was a mix of intrigue and caution. “And where did you get such civil manners…”
Alicia’s eyes glanced over the princess in as curious a manner as the Amazonian seemed to glance at her. Unabashed interest had her glancing at the staff a number of times, intrigued at how it glowed upon her approach. When addressed, Alicia bowed her head respectfully to Ethlinn. “I am Alicia Le’roux, a member of the Queen’s Blades.” She offered the princess a slight smile, although taking care not to flash her teeth: sometimes the gesture scared people. “What civil manners do you speak of, princess Ethlinn?” She was a bit unsure of what the princess was referring to, when it came to ‘Civil manners.’ Had she performed some social faux pas?
Ethlinn’s grip on her staff tightens as Alicia looked it over; the silver eyes were mildly unnerving to her in contrast to Alicia’s behaviour. “You are civilized. You stand straight like the others; you speak eloquently like the others. Not like our vampires.” Her eyes narrow. “What have they done to make you such a well-trained kitten.”
Alicia was left at a pause as Ethlinn compared her to a trained kitten. She had been called many things in her life-time, but ‘Well trained kitten’ had never been one of them. “I’ll have you know that I am no kitten, and the fact that I am civilized should be no shock at all. Have you never met a civilized vampire before? We aren’t all of that brutish Malakai’s brood: and even his lineage can produce the rare, if barely, civil specimen.” She lifted the glass of wine to her lips, sipping it before glancing at the princess. “Truth be told, I was expecting the leader of the amazon people to be more...well...big: no offense meant.”
The princess seemed extremely irritated by the comment, but didn’t lash out as she walks around the vampire. Looking at the glass of wine, complete confusion crossed her face. “You cannot enjoy that drink. Or any drink. Why would you drink wine, and not blood?” A slight, playful smile crosses her face as her tone changes to an equally playful mood. “We do not recognize broods… Vampirism is a curse, but a useful one, one to be indulged in. You stand here, so straight and tall, yet within you courses the blood of monsters many generations past… You should be enthralled with the hunt for prey, not with this… This…” Motioning around the room at the stone architecture, she emphasizes her point with body language. “... Timid, repressed civilization.”
The vampire couldn’t help but feel her smile grow as the princess talked. There was an infectious nature to the excited inflections of her shifted tone. As she got more playful and more energetic, Alicia felt a sort of giddiness. “Perhaps you are right. Perhaps I am nothing more than a cursed monster, masquerading as something more: a predator amongst the prey…” She pauses deliberately, taking another slow sip of the wine. “...and yet, surely that makes me an even more terrifying sort of beast. A viper, compared to your normal wolves. ‘This ‘timid, repressed civilization’ holds many splendours. My prey now consists of some of the world’s most terrifying adversaries: and I wouldn’t trade that for any useless slavery to savage desire.” She drained the last of the wine, holding the empty glass between thumb and finger. “As for the wine: well, sometimes I like to taste nostalgia, even if the taste pales in comparison to my normal diet.”
Ethlinn shakes her head and growls, the left corner of her lip twitches as she represses an outright snarl. “You do not understand.” Turning, she starts to walk away without any further words. Perhaps it was unwise to compare oneself to a poisonous viper and then insult the core cultural values of another civilization. Maybe.
Alicia paused as if slapped when the Amazonian stormed away, snarling. The confusion on her face was evident, and yet her desire to understand Ethlinn was unsated. Something was enticing her, calling to her curse: and she didn’t know what. She stepped forward, following the princess. “Please wait, Princess Ethlinn. I don’t mean to offend. The things you say confuse me greatly and I seem to have slighted you in my retort. Truth be told, I sought you out because something about you is...enticing to me…The uncivilized me that you speak of.” Alicia sighs, not sure how to even pursue the conversation she sought. Every story she’d heard of the amazon people was about a nation of savage, brutish and beautiful women: there was nothing about customs or culture or how to slight or not to slight them. “How can I show the sincerity of my apology? We seem to not understand each other, but I feel a need to understand you: If only for my curse’s sake.”
“You cannot understand an Amazon with words.” Ethlinn says sharply as she turns and slaps the empty wine glass out of Alicia’s hand. It shatters as it hits the ground, causing a few people to jump in surprise, though most paid it no heed with dwarves and Rheinfelders under the same roof. Things were bound to be broken on a regular basis. Still, the princess grasps one of Alicia’s shoulders with one hand, squeezing it tightly she glares into Alicia’s silver eyes, seemingly trying to read for the truth… Though it was pointless to try with a vampire. “We are a culture that prides itself on actions. We don’t just claim to love passion, we are passion, we live for passion, we pursue it in everything we do. The things we say, the art we create, the battles we fight, and the… More private matters that distress you civilized people to speak of in any kind of open context. Already, I repress myself simply to fit in here. Do you not see that?” Sighing, she lets go of Alicia’s shoulder. “You cannot categorize an Amazon in a book on a page. It is not that simple. In the same way that it would be a massive disservice to simply label all vampires as parasitic walking corpses who excel at getting murdered by people with sharp wooden sticks.”
Alicia heard the glass break, but she didn’t dare look at it. She was transfixed by the Amazon’s stare: meeting her glare without shame and trying to prove herself. Passion flowed from every word of the woman’s speech, and Alicia felt her blood boil. If she still had a beating heart, it would be pumping at a furious pace as she felt the infectious excitement of the woman’s words. Ethlinn was...amazing. She defied every one of Alicia’s expectations and the vampire was left speechless. She hadn’t a retort, or a soothing comment, or any words at all. Words would be injustice to the woman, she understood that now. Words were not worth spending here, to insult a princess. She needed action. An action to show her sincerity...something…
She finally came up with an idea. She turned briefly from the woman and grabbed a handful of glass from the floor. It cut and sliced flesh, drawing blood instantly and leaving Alicia to wince, but she ignored the pain in pursuit of the act. Lifting up the fistful of glass, she turned back to Ethlinn, opening the bloodied palm and the broken glass and presenting it to the princess. “Does this show you? I want to know more. If you can’t tell me, show me. If you can’t forgive me, spurn me. Just...help me understand.”
Ethlinn stood, somewhat baffled by the display, and yet, a large smile quickly brightened her look as she tilted her staff somewhat and gently rolled the blood on Alicia’s hand. Pushing the glass away, the blood then immediately clots over the wounds, stopping the bleeding as she sighs, looking momentarily weary. “You want to learn. How… Interesting, isn’t that what you civilized people would say.” Pondering Alicia’s request, the princess starts to pace slowly around in a circle. “How do I ‘teach’ passion?” There was a subtle change in the sound her feet made as they touched the ground. The weight was being distributed differently in her steps now, they were lighter, almost like they were more elusive. “I am not much of a teacher… Our shamans are better teachers. This environment also represses my ability to teach. For instance…” As she makes her way back to where she started, she smacks the end of her staff against a nearby Imperial. Noticing no response and seemingly agitated by that, she smacks a nearby Rheinfelder instead, who immediately turns in anger. Alicia would immediately recognize the man.
“How dare you strike me, jungle wench!” It was Davian, Taigyn’s second in command of the Templar Order. “What makes you thi--” He is smacked again by the end of the staff as the Amazonian giggles. Still, she hit him hard enough to leave a red mark against his cheek. “... I’m not supposed to do this.” The princess finally states as Davian nods in agreement. “Right you aren’t. Hit me again and we’ll see ho--” Seemingly obliging his request, Ethlinn smacks him across the face with the end of her staff once more. Davian then charges Ethlinn, only for Ethlinn to step aside, resulting in Davian ramming into a small group of half-drunk dwarves. They in turn growl angrily as Davian takes a few steps back, chuckling nervously as the dwarves then start a small fight. “Do you see it yet?” Ethlinn states plainly as she steps away from the fight and keeps her distance, though it seemed every fibre of her being wanted to join in.
Alicia’s face shifted from confusion to horror to open laughter as she watched Ethlinn shame the strange Templar a number of times, ending up in a drunken brawl between Dwarf and Rhienfelder. She laughed longer and harder than most would consider decent, and for some reason she didn’t seem to care. It was...invigorating. The freedom in Ethlinn’s actions was selfish, and callous, and disregarded all rules of common decency: but perhaps that was the point? “You act because you want to act. To think that such a natural thing should feel so unnatural…”
Understanding was a strange thing. To understand why Ethlinn did what she did was one thing, but Alicia’s mind couldn’t comprehend what action would follow. Every time she did, her mind would settle on consequences, and the results of her actions. She remembered her fear when confronting Xavier: how she had been afraid of speaking out because of the consequences...She had nearly been made useless by those same fears. “This is…” she looked around at the carnage of the scene, the broken glass and the moving people and the unorganised motion of the room. For the first time that night, she felt smothered by the enclosed walls of the hall. “This is more than I think any person can understand in one night. She looked at Ethlinn again, focusing on the Amazon and smiling broadly: not hiding her fangs or the mirth she felt. “Although I think I’m starting to understand a bit. Th…” She stopped herself, mid gratitude. Considering the crux of this little display had been about action and passion, it seemed that words would be a disservice. She stepped in closer to Ethlinn, leaning in and kissing the Princess’ cheek. “Thank you.”
“Hm…” The amazon purrs with appreciation as she is kissed on the cheek. “Close enough, for now.” The fight is broken up quickly as Amanda raised her hands and sent everyone involved sprawling onto their backs. Ethlinn watches as Amanda approached her, though she recoiled in slight fear as Amanda glared at her. “Don’t try this again. I am much too busy to be watching over the actions of a little girl with an artifact far too powerful to leave in her possession.” Growling lowly, Ethlinn nods, though makes it no secret she didn’t like being talked down to. Amanda then turns her attention to Alicia. “The same goes for you.” She then moves on to deal with a couple of dwarves who hadn’t seemed to understand the message as they continued to fight each other.
Ethlinn then turns to Alicia and motions her away, though with a smile on her lips. “Go back to your civilized friends. Maybe I will see you again sometime.”
Alicia looks at Ethlinn, a smile still on her lips, despite the light scolding. She had suddenly found a great deal of joy in the evening’s events: as opposed to the rather more distasteful events with Xavier, earlier in the night. “I would very much like that.” She turns towards the opposite direction of the drunken brawl. After taking a few steps, she pivots on her heel, blowing a kiss in the princess’ direction. She had no idea why, it just felt...right. After that, she finishes walking away from the Amazonian princess, a much happier spring in her step.
As both Amanda and Alicia leave, Ethlinn’s staff glows slightly. Giving it a gentle pat, she quietly turns and moves back into the crowd. Yet, nearby, she noticed Aslo and Florence having a conversation, and they were looking at her. “Damnable men.” She mutters quietly, realizing they were looking at her on occasion. “Oh well…” She looks up at the ceiling and smiles. There was at least one pleasant moment for her this evening.