Royal Celebrations

[Morwen]

Estel was sure she had a reason for leaving her glass behind, but the man\'s funny words did makes so much sense, and it did look ever so lonely under that bench, all by itself.

\'How terribly thoughtless of me...\' she said lightly as she kneeled down on the floor to rescue the wine from its company of bench legs and potted plants. The skirt of her dress was such that it did not react so quickly to the sudden downward movement; instead, settling at its own pace so that it had just finished fluttering down when its inhabitant decided to stand up again.

The movement of standing was a very fluid one, not at all inhibited by the drink in the stander\'s system. Estel was one of those people who tended to look just as elegant drunk as sober, if not more so. The wine loosened her tongue, but made her voice softer; made her movements slower, but more graceful; and made her face flatteringly flushed, though the brain inside was a good deal less careful.

With the slow solemnity of the drunk, Estel levelled eyes with the man who was so wise in the ways of how to treat one\'s drink, and said, \'Now that my poor wine is not being abandonned, shall we dance?\'

She was still tickled by little voices telling her that something was inherently wrong with this man, but she couldn\'t for her life place it. Stubbornly, she chalked it up to the noise and told the little voices to shut it.

[grey]

“Good. Good. Now why don’t you hand me your glass and we can set them over here,” his voice sang as he gestured towards the nearby end of a long table. He had become blunter with every word he received from her, smoother in his speech and more obvious than he had ever remembered daring before. “We don’t want to spill on that pretty dress of yours.” His smile didn’t match his tone, nor did the rest of him for that matter. “Imagine what the other guests would think.”

To be completely honest, he initially had no intention of dancing. There was no need to flaunt himself with this girl in a ballroom filled to the brim with high standing officials. Imagine the blow it would deal to his reputation. A fleeting giddiness laughed at him from the inside. Since when did he care about reputation anyway? The more logical half of him laughed as well. Yes, this is true, but it pays to be careful. Well… relatively careful that is. Problem was, Estel didn’t look to be quite drunk enough. And he had an inkling that she might not go for much more—not without a dance at least. That lovely lady? Why I haven’t seen her since the banquet, he would say. You mean she hasn’t been around? Oh, well, she did have an awful lot to drink, didn’t she? I do hope she’s alright.

The rumors hadn’t started about his oddities. This wasn’t Germany. He could afford a tiny slip of form. He’d done it before, he’d do it again, and he had yet to screw it up.

He wasn’t a very good dancer. Sure he knew how, and certainly wasn’t bad at it, but he often lacked the interest to be anything remarkable, and probably more importantly: the passion. With a response of “Very well then,” he reached out to her with a steady hand, at first moving as if he were to grab her and then turning his palms upward in submission, daring her with his gaze to take it.

[Morwen]

Estel knocked off the rest of her sweet wine before gently passing the glass to the man. Feeling the drink burn its way down her throat, Estel giggled and felt the last of her inhibitions melt away. The little voices complaining about her partner had faded to an irritating whisper, and the music had risen in volume for the next song.

Placing her hand in his, Estel danced along with the other couples in the room. It was a slower dance, and fit her sedate state of mind well. The longer she dances, the more Estel began to lean against her partner, though she didn\'t notice. She wasn\'t even being coquettish, she just couldn\'t stand up much longer.

[Trillian]

Ridley gazed levelly at the Captain.  He had to change tactics, this was getting far too difficult, and their wordplay was beginning to grate on his nerves.  As much as she enjoyed it, he preferred to keep his comments mostly open.  Now that he knew they were discussing what he\'d intended in the first place, he played all his cards, showing his hand.

He didn\'t answer her question straight up, but he did eventually get there.

"You want simplicity in your life, don\'t you?  A woman such as yourself would appreciate a lack of difficulty, a lack of miscommunication and not knowing where you stand and what is meant.  I\'m much like that myself, and I feel I can recognise it in others."  Okay, now he was babbling, but his gaze was intent on her and didn\'t leave her stare.  "You know what I want, you know I want you, but I don\'t know if you know what I don\'t want, and I don\'t know if you know that I\'m after an extended.... relationship."  He frowned slightly, for that word hadn\'t been right, but he saw no way to phrase it differently.  "I would like us to have the simplest knowledge of one another, of our time together to be nothing but pleasurable, to be at your convenience and at our discretion."

Discretion, he hoped that would be the seller of a pitch for a casual sexual relationship.  She was a modern woman, these were modern times.

[grey]

Amused, Waldhramm raised his eyebrows and relieved her of her glass. Well now. That had been difficult.

The girl had made a mistake in taking his hand, though she hadn\'t known it. At that precise moment of contact, electrical impulses exploded in his brain, bristling the little hairs on the back of his neck like some sort of mad animal and tightening his thoratic cavity. To feel her flesh, the strong blood pumping through her wrists, the warmth-- was just the first breath of the high. His imagination predicted many wonderful things with increased desire as each step came to a close. Oh, he had to now. There was simply no question about it. Had it not been such a long while since his last, perhaps he could have held this one off, but the breadth of time between then and now was far too wide. Far too wide. Faaar too long indeed.

Her body heat reached his chest as they danced, making his eyes widen beyond human possibility. He had been looking down upon her all the while, a vulture circling its collapsing meal, and lovingly noted the increase pinkness of her skin, the way the tendons stretched in her neck as she moved, the more he found himself supporting her weight the more the time passed... time to go before she collapsed on the floor. The deadness in his eyes lazily left her, sweeping almost casually around the room to see if anyone was paying attention. They weren\'t. Everyone was too wrapped up in their own little businesses to give a damn.

"My lady," he crooned again sardonically, "You seem to be a little flushed. We should take a step outside and catch a little fresh air, yes?" He loved how he could make sense to the drunk, while easy, it also prooved to be entertaining.

[Morwen]

\'Air...\' Estel mused, as if breathing was a fresh new concept ready to be explored; a clever new fad that she had simply missed and now had to catch up on. Finally getting the picture, she nodded solemnly and agree. \'Oh yes, fresh air would be very nice, wouldn\'t it?\' Very good then...\'

If Estel had noticed the predatory nature of her dancing partner, the concept never got far enough into her skull to cause any sort of reaction. Her dancing dreamily slipped into walking as the two headed for the nearest exit to one of the Royal gardens. As they reached the doors, Estel smiled prettily at the guards lazily sitting at their posts.

The simple smile was all it took for them to be startled back into duty, eagerly opening the large doors. \'Evenin\' miss.\' They replied and stared as she and the Lord walked by.

[grey]

The cool night air hit him pleasantly in the face, refreshing his heated flesh in a moment\'s time. He resorted to a dreamlike state, his mind abnormally perceiving the hazey darkness while other forms sharpened almost painfully in front of his eyes. He glanced upward. The sky\'s stars popped brightly above and swirled together in a blur. Crazy. This was that apprehensive excitement he loved so dearly. He must have forgotten.

They two passed the guards without a hitch. Lord von Amsel didn\'t give them so much as a nod and passed right under their noses; they were too interested in the womanly figure on his arm. Oh, he did so hope that they enjoyed her. After all, they\'d never see the poor dear again. Not in such an asthetic state, that is. Mangled in a ditch-- well. That was a different matter entirely.

He said no more to her, and though she may have been saying a great deal, he took no mind. There was a long row of carriages just outside the gate, their coach drivers conveniently absent. His was towards the back. Velvet linings of a deep wined color could be seen framing a window cut out of the magnificently dark stained doors. Intricate carvings played their way along the borders, delecate corvine likenesses impressioned by the handles. It might have been impressive were there not a dozen others, equally fine, surrounding from the front and back. "Well, just my luck," he started with his throaty tones, really not caring or noticing if he had ended up interrupting her or not (which he very well might not have). "It seems my cabby has gone off elsewhere."

He didn\'t have a cabby.

"I\'ll just have to take you home myself."

As he opened the stage coach door, he peered nonchalantly behind him. No one. He held out a large hand and stared wildly into her eyes.

"Tell me, Fräulein-- where do you live?" And without waiting for so much as a breath, he struck the back of her skull firmly with the heel of his hand and shoved her limp body into the lush confines of the carriage. After closing the door, he sauntered gaily to the front, slipped a cloak around his shoulders, and sat in the driver\'s seat, hoping passively that the gates would be left open due to the occasion. Funny thing was, this time when he moved, it was as if he had a skip in his step and a song in his heart.

[Existentially Odd]

She sighed and sat up, shaking her head at Ridley as she processed his statement.  Gut instinct told her that there was something a little more to his pursuit of her than this offer - otherwise, the numerous gifts wouldn\'t have been given, for casual and enticements rarely went together... casual was a spontaneous choice, based on momentary circumstances, whereas gifts were premeditated and hinted at a desire far stronger than something casual - but she wasn\'t able to put her finger on exactly what it was.  Something to do with her rank and his ambitions, probably.

"Unfortunately for you, I\'ve already got simplicity and a very similar arrangement with another gentleman in my life, so there\'s actually no room for anyone else in my life," she lied, forcing a note of regret into her voice and looking down at the bench between them, as if she were shy about making such an admission, or was, perhaps, sorry to have to tell him such things after he\'d made a run for his goal.  "I regret wasting your time and wish you luck in finding a smiliar arrangement elsewhere," she told him, standing abruptly and swinging a leg over the bench, standing by the fireplace and straightening her skirts momentarily, intending to leave but giving him a chance to offer a dignified farewell - after acknowledging her refusal - first.

She looked away from her skirts, down at him with pitying green eyes, a vague smile racing her lips as she then clasped her hands neatly in front of her.  If nothing else, he\'d managed to distract her out of her misery and even flatter her in the process.  It was always nice to be wanted... it was just a pity she didn\'t completely trust the motives he hid behind his supposed lust.