Royal Celebrations

[MissusHow]

"I do try." she replied lightly, and a voice at the back of her haid said You also try to keep them to yourself. She quieted her humor, and stood there silently for awhile. Dagger had a very strange look on his face...as if he were admiring a painting...even stranger. She couldn\'t quite put her finger on it, which made her a little uncomfortable. The absence of knowledge always did.

"Oh really? What do you do the other half? Dance with all the ladies so they don\'t feel slighted?" she asked with a small smirk and a mischevious glimmer in her eyes. The more weary part of her brain seemd to be alseep, as she was enjoying teasing Dagger more than she really should. She was about to say something worse, when that part booted up and woke up. Realizing he might not be enjoying this she furrowed her brow as Ella Green might, "I\'m sorry, Lord Dagger! I didn\'t mean it...it must be the wine. I\'ve not had such had fine wine in my life."

Not a drop. She hadn\'t had a drop of wine that night...how was she to say it was fine? Well. They were in the palace...what more proof did she need? The finest everything here! Save for most of the people, the finest everything. With a sigh she thought of how much money that wine could have brought her thieves. But no, tonight was not a night to thieve. Her senses were alert to the captains presence, and now that she was speaking to Dagger and not spying she felt rather uptight.

[Existentially Odd]

Wilson was looking at Ridley in something quite close to shrewd amazement.  His enigmatic comments did nothing for her; she didn\'t wish to quibble over what his perception of a woman was, if he believed them neither strong nor weak any more.  She didn\'t believe he spoke his true feelings anyway; rather, he was fishing around to see if she\'d bite and put her true feelings out there to be argued - or likely agreed with.  He seemed to be going to great lengths to mollify her and proclaim he wanted to be something else to her (something she wished to avoid speaking about also, for she would argue vehemently that anything close to that was never going to happen and thereby destroy the amicable flavour their interactions had developed).

She didn\'t admire the fact that he was waffling apparent contradictions to prompt her, it made her feel hemmed in and edgy, doubting anew that he was genuine and enhancing the feeling that he was playing some sort of game with her.  Why could he not have a normal conversation?  Why not speak of the weather or the harvests or even the approaching Festival of the Tree and what his plans for the holiday were?  Why continue beating a line of conversation she\'d already avoided and continue to ramble about himself and his inability to woo a woman successfully?  She wasn\'t surprised, with the egotistical and confusing small talk he\'d managed so far.

She cleared her throat, trying to be diplomatic as she looked up at him through her eyelashes.  At least he was a distraction from her misery.  "I\'m already tired of your gifts and your apologies," she informed him lightly, smiling so that he wouldn\'t take offense.  "Both gifts are beautiful and your apologies profuse; I am very happy with each and wish not to dwell on negatives any longer.  As for whether they\'ll convince me to see you in a different light... well, it would depend on what your final goal in that respect would be, really.  Just what do you envision you might become to me, Master Beck?" she enquired with genuine interest, her smile twisting coquettishly.

A man who saw her as a woman would likely get poetic and describe her beauty at this point, she predicted.  A man who saw her as a uniform and a tactical ally he hoped to win favour with would wax lyrical about her strengths and commanding presence.  She believed Ridley to be an arrogant man, however, and internally she told herself what she thought he would say, for neither of her prior options would fit him.  It was almost like a game, hypothesising what this unique male might come out with next, enjoyable only because she was interested in seeing if she was right... not because she had any more than a clinical interest in him.

[Trillian]

Ridley expelled a short breath that was very like sad laughter, for he could see she was getting further and further out of his reach.
 
"A smile upon your face," he said, and there was truth in that.  He looked away from her a moment after saying this, not wanting to see her scoff at his reply.  He didn\'t know what she wanted, so he didn\'t know how to be what she wanted.  What did he want to become to her?  Someone she wanted to be with, despite how he felt about her.  A smile as she thought of him would be evidence of such a thing.
 
Dagger, meanwhile, didn\'t flinch or react in any way as he was teased by Ara.  When she apologised and took back her words, however, he raised an eyebrow in interest.  "Embarrassed for letting it slip you think me a cad, Ella?" he asked softly.  Here was a potential turning point in their conversation, depending on her answer.  He might pursue her, or perhaps make a polite excuse to leave her be.

[MissusHow]

"I think no such thing, milord!" Ara protested, and her eyebrows were drawn together. "If you wish to take my teasing that way, well then do so, but know that I never meant it that way. I will not be a tool to reflect what you might think of yourself." she said angrily, folding her arms over her chest. After a moment of tension she visibly calmed down, "Forgive me once more, milord. Please do not leave, I enjoy having somebody with me... though it appears I scare most company away with my antics... I can see why! The way I\'ve been acting..." she sighed, with real regret. Not because she was sorry about what she had said, but because she was being a soft hearted fool...if she had let him walk away she could have spied on the captain...

"It must be the stress...it\'s the third time we\'ve been robbed, you know." she went on, with a sheepish smile. "Have you...ever been robbed?" she asked, for lack of things to say...she knew the answer...more than one of her thieves had nearly lost a hand to his sword.

[Existentially Odd]

Lam reached over and touched his arm, so that he might look at her and notice that she was, indeed, smiling because of him.  "Well, you\'ve accomplished that," she told him softly, not overly surprised by his quiet response.

A smile on her face... because he wished it... wasn\'t so far from what she\'d believed he would say - though the exact words she\'d envisioned had been more grandiose and along the lines of what he\'d be able to do for her, that no other man might be able.  She supposed him creating a smile fit within those parameters and she might yet get such an offer; once they were more comfortable with one another.

What had been a surprise was the quiet manner in which he\'d managed to deliver the sentiment and she wondered if that was something concocted.  He was arrogant because he\'d made his way up to success in a world where he\'d been born on the wrong side of the sheets; she understood all too well the swagger people had to adopt in order to survive criticism and revulsion in this world, so although it didn\'t appeal to her, it garnered a degree of sympathy from her.  Empathy, even.

The quietness he was now displaying could be closer to his true self or it could all be part of the keep-the-Captain-on-her-toes act that he\'d initially begun their relationship with (who accosts a stranger - even if they are a public figure - in the middle of the market to give over a necklace, after all?).  It was hard to tell, but she was intrigued enough to try and find out.

"Tell me," she continued with all the cheer her sodden heart could muster, "are you married, Mister Beck?"  She dropped her hand and replaced it in her lap, turning slightly more towards him on the hard bench seat.  She was fairly certain he\'d tell her he was unmarried, but she\'d been pursued by men with wives before; she wouldn\'t put it past him to be one of those, looking for a bit of illicit excitement.  Truthfully, she didn\'t care either way, but she was determined to demonstrate the manner of small talk she expected from him and it was as good a place as any to start.

[Trillian]

"Married and looking for love elsewhere?" he asked with disbelief that she would suggest this was what he might be up to, while shaking his head. "I... " He what? "Not married," he said, and took it as a positive sign that not only had she reacted positively to his statement about smiling (which had been spur of the moment, really), and then was interested in him enough to ask if he had another in his life. She\'d turned a little toward him but he couldn\'t do the same for he was already mirrored in her position. Any more of a turn as he sat would be uncomfortable. "Is that what you\'re interested in? Marriage?" He\'d meant it to mean asking about him, but perhaps struck a different kind of chord in her. If he\'d known about the discussion between Dagger and herself, he would\'ve steered clear.
 
Dagger laughed softly when he was asked not to leave and in her moment\'s pause, he clarified: "Most think of me as a cad, it doesn\'t bother me and I wouldn\'t leave because they did or didn\'t." Sometimes he was a cad, a double-edged sword that could be an ally or an enemy.
 
"Three times, you say," he mused. Whatever thief managed to enter his estate (which was extremely rare), managed to lose more than a hand, but rather their lives. The only time Dagger didn\'t carry around a sword was at parties such as this, where the guards removed weapons from the guests. Still, he took it just to give it up, so he would have it on his trips to the palace and back, even if by carriage the entire way. If he didn\'t have a sword, he had his dagger, and both weapons had been bloody at some point since he\'d bought them.
 
He was ruthless, and a murderer, but when all he killed were thieves trespassing on his property, he would not be thrown in the dungeon. While he was here at the party, he had two city guards patrolling his house, protecting his things and also his staff.
 
"Caught any?" he asked conversationally.

[MissusHow]

"One. He was a really stupid thief...a beginner I think. Came in at night and it was all fine until he bumped into the cabinet. Woke the whole house up." she told him with a grin, remembering her own experiences as a young thief and her narrow escape from that unfortunate house. A cad... it ocurred to her that she had protested her meaning too quickly. He was...but so was she. Ara could handle it...right?

Right! The thief lord smiled as music struck up again, "Care to dance? I\'m not very good, but this is one of the few tunes that I know the steps to." she told him merrily, planning to ask if he knew anything about a fellow named Ridley. Double checking to see if her thieves had been thurough was never a bad thing! Absolutely not! Better for Ridley if she /did/ find out that he had a cover story...

The thought ocurred to her that Dagger was much more...aware...than he looked. In her mind she wondered if he would have made a good thief, and came to the conclusion that he might have matched her own skills, had he found himself on the ground. Though perhaps his loose ways would hinder his rise a little. Still, his theatrical skills matched her own, and he was an amusing diversion. Oh yes, he would have made a marvelous thief.

[Existentially Odd]

She had a pithy retort upon her tongue after his first comment, but his final one froze it there instantly - she froze, in fact, mouth open and body going rigid in the prequel to her speaking.  It only lasted a second, but it felt an eternity on the inside of her head, where everything shut down momentarily and a very paranoid voice started screaming

He knows!  How could he know?  Who told him?  How did he figure it out, am I that obvious? Oh Adora, oh Talon, what in your names have I done?  Does he know Dagger?  Has he been speaking?  Joking about me... the butt of jokes... the woman who would be Captain who would be woman and nothing more because it was all she ever deserved and all she wanted... the fool who loved a demon and broke herself upon him

through her being, compounding the paralysis.

A high-pitched laugh issued from her in a sudden bark and she continued with saying what she\'d intended, completely ignoring the final question.  The pause was relatively minor but felt like a chasm in her mind.  No doubt her widened, fear-filled eyes also contradicted her apparent humour, but she couldn\'t do anything about that.  It was all she could do to keep it together in order to speak, by the stars.

"Now, now... nobody said anything about searching for love.  I thought all that you\'d hoped for from me was a smile?" she laughed, hoping it sounded more natural to him than it did to her.  Why had he even asked like that?  She couldn\'t move her thoughts beyond relating it to her ex-relationship, couldn\'t even imagine how he might have meant his question - even though, logically, she knew that he\'d have to have had another intent.  It was best to simply ignore it, in her opinion.

[Trillian]

Ridley noticed the tension in her body and the hysteria in her laugh. He\'d struck a chord of weakness in her. He knew such things because he\'d always been a master of duplicity, to learn the lies of others and identify them. It was part of being a confidence man and a bully. The topic had turned to marriage and she\'d struggled with it. She either wanted it and couldn\'t have it or she didn\'t and was being harrassed for it. There was more truth in the former, and the more obvious guess. Unlike in stories told, he found that in real life the more obvious answer was usually the right answer, and sometimes coincidences could happen.
 
"I apologise that I\'m advancing ahead," he said, pretending to be shy suddenly, as though his interest had made him forget his sensibilities, then he took on a thoughtful expression and added: "But I\'ve always held the opinion that people will always pair better if they have the same goals. You see it in marriages," he said, as though he hadn\'t known he\'d stumbled onto a delicate subject, then helped her comfort levels by steering the subject slightly away, "and also with groups of friends. Have you noticed that, even in parties, all the merchants will gather together, because they have the same interests? Or the nobility with one another, and then sub-groups within them depending on whether they breed horses or go hunting or..." he shook his head. "Whatever it is bored nobility do. Drink themselves into a stupor possibly."
 
He winked at her, as though they were both above that sort of thing.
 
Dagger listened to Ara\'s story of the clumsy thief, laughed in the appropriate places and was very surprised when she gave him an invitation to dance with her.
 
"Of course I shall," he declared, offering his arm and stepping her out to the dance floor, where he took one of her hands with his own and then began stepping around her in a circle as the rest of the dancers did with their partners.  His eyes remained fixed on her as they moved in a courting-dance fashion.  "It would be a shame to have left you stranded.  You\'re too lovely to remain a wallflower."  He smiled mischieviously at her then, as though she would berate him for his compliments.

[MissusHow]

"You seemed to have swallowed a pot of honey before you met me, wolf." Ara chided, making a reference to the popular story about the wolf who swallowed honey to sweeten his voice, "Not that I mind..." she continued, playing the part, "It\'s a nice change, is all I\'m saying." she hastily interrupted her own train of thought to say this, feeling that her \'father\' probably would have warned her against such compliments. Her feet moved in time to the song, and the thief lord glanced behind Daggers back for only a moment, sure that he might notice if she spoke to the air next to him.

She couldn\'t quite see in to the banquet hall where Ridley and the captain were, and soon gave up. "As for being a wallflower, I wasn\'t. A young man that I was interested in showed up today...he wandered for a bit and then ended up with the /captain/ of all people. I neared them to hear what he was saying...it seems he\'s quite enamoured with the captain." she said with a little sigh, unaware of the turmoil this might cause Dagger. "But I found out his name! Ridley! Do you know of anybody by that name?" she continued brightly.

[Existentially Odd]

She gave a half-hearted, breathy laugh, her eyes now trained on the hallway that led to the ballroom, as if she either hoped someone would appear there to save her from this conversation, or her mind had taken what he\'d said back to that room, where her thoughts were firmly entrenched.

"Yes, I suppose I have," she murmured, knowing she wasn\'t listening with all of her attention and that he would notice that, if she didn\'t hold up her end of the talking.  With great effort, she wrenched her gaze back to him, a vague smile fixed on her lips.  "What do you believe that you and I have in common then - if that is, indeed, your point?" she asked, her voice pleasant in its distraction.

She\'d lost her challenging tone the moment he\'d mentioned the way marriages should run and the sharing of common interests in them... perhaps she and Dagger would have run aground in that area, but were they really all that different?  It killed her that she would never know and she was filled with a vile disdain for herself, her life, her career... everything she was that had prevented him from loving her the way she\'d wanted to be loved.  That had stopped them running their course and finding out if they were well or badly suited when they got to spend more than a stolen night at a time together.

She held herself in the lowest regard for not deserving Dagger... and look, here was a man of fine looks but with a volatile temperament who was at her side, nattering inanely and prompting her to wonder if he was what she deserved.  She wasn\'t worthy of Dagger; was Ridley - or men like him - the measure of her, then?

She stared at him, really looked at the man, sickened by herself and by him, hating that he was attractive and charming and probably a good match for her; she didn\'t want someone she could appropriately be seen with at parties, no matter what he said.  She hated that, too.  If this man was a taste of what destiny had in store for her, then she was better off accepting her fate sooner, rather than later.  Waiting and allowing love had done her no good; perhaps loathing and disgust might see her fare better.  The problem was that... she wasn\'t ready to face that eventuality yet.

It all made her feel ill; an errant had strayed to caress her stomach while she watched her companion, attempting to soothe the unease roiling there.

[Trillian]

Dagger was suspicious of her sudden mention of the Captain (especially to him, where some of the higher status nobles might\'ve known of their affair but none were so forward to speak of it, but she was hardly nobility, regardless of what she was going for).  Ridley was not a name he recognised either, but he didn\'t know people by their first name usually.  He\'d assumed that Ridley was the surname, for it could well have been, sounding like that.
 
Was Ella Green baiting him?
 
"I\'m sure the Captain\'s private business is her own," he said succinctly, ending that conversation before it even began.  He didn\'t like talking about the Captain even while they were together (especially when they\'d been together), so why would he turn around and gossip now?
 
Ridley, in the meanwhile, was doing his best to advance himself further with the Captain, wanting more than a foot in the door within this conversation.
 
"Simple people want simple things," he told her, as though she already knew this and was just toying with him.  "Some people are attracted to trouble, but you deal with it all the time due to your occupation.  You wouldn\'t want to complications in other areas of your life, surely?"
 
He was asking her now, wanting her to tell him what it was she wanted - or whatever it was she was prepared to tell him she wanted.

[MissusHow]

"You don\'t know anyone by the name of Ridley?" she pressed, and then seeing his face closed to the subject (for what reason she didn\'t know, and didn\'t bother guessing), she shrugged at moved on to another topic. "Very well...tell me about yourself. Other than that time at the temple, I know nothing about you save for your name, and that you are a noble." she said with a charming smile, aware that it wasn\'t a smooth transition, and cringing slightly because of it.

But that was the way people usually took conversations when they didn\'t work, correct? With an internal shrug, she moved her feet to the dance, prepared to hear the version that everybody else heard when they asked about Lord Dagger.

[Existentially Odd]

She raised her eyebrows, smiling lightly still, vaguely baffled by his words.  "You\'re saying... that we have simplicity in common?  Or that I\'m simple?" she queried carefully, knowing he hadn\'t meant to be insulting but finding her mood shifting for the better with the distraction of being able to twist his words.  It was amusing to her, how he was obviously trying to speak eloquently but only opening himself up for jest, and she was pleased by the brief flare of humour.

"Perhaps you\'re just saying that you\'re trouble and warning me to steer clear?" she added hastily, wanting to get one final tease in before he responded, wondering on one level if she really was being as clever as she thought she was.  He was alluding to the fact that she wouldn\'t like complications in her life - such as marriage, she supposed - bu his point... was elusive.  He struck her as the type to be saying exactly what he intended, even if it seemed a tad over-complicated, and the wary side of her (the part that didn\'t trust him) got the impression that she might well be playing into his hands with her sassy comments, congratulating herself on being witty when all she was doing was springing the trap he\'d set.

Still, her smile was more genuine and her insides felt less like they were coveting an anvil and more like they were filled with soggy leaves, even if she was playing into his hands.

[Trillian]

"It\'s well enough that you call me a noble, as it no longer means anything to do with nobility, anymore," Dagger told her shrewdly, baiting her now, to see if she would turn his words on him and ask him if he\'d perfermed acts that disregarded noble causes.
 
Ridley was genuinely alarmed by the Captain\'s first question, feeling as though he\'d somehow lost the little ground he\'d gained, but as she teased him a second time, he relaxed, realising what was happening.
 
Good, he thought to himself.  She\'s relaxing in my presence.
 
"I think perhaps, if one of us were worried about trouble, it should be me," he told her carefully.  This much was very true, for the Captain could cause him a lot of grief.