Lord of Azure Flame: Chapter 15: Happy Birthday Esphyr!

[-Cynthia-]

"Perhaps." said Charlotte, rather stiffly. "I suppose it's foolish then, to think that true love or happy endings exist." she said, looking at Eric with sad eyes.

[Dark Sage]

"You were thinking naughty fights were you," she said fingering her dagger.

"Ah....Ah...Ah...I didn't mean too."

"If you weren't such a pervert to lust after me, I'd be flattered."

"How old are you anyway?"

"19. You?"

"19."

"Hmmmm...I thought you were older. Ah well. Doesn't change. You're going to pay me back."

" Don't kill me!"

"Nothing like that. You'll be my slave. I'm gonna work you to the bone, and you're getting jack ok? You're gonna pay me back."

""

"Ok then. No objections. Later, slave," she said, chuckling to herself as she stepped in the inn.

"Whew. Thought I was a goner there."

[Snike]

Eric and Derek

"Your highness, those are things that fairy tales were based on. True love does not mean love at first sight, nor do happy endings are always easy to obtain," Eric said quickly, in an effort to uplift the princesses' mood. Truth be told, he did not want to cause a scene in the inn. "Simply pointing out that in this case. Also, from the looks of it, either he was very funny, or outright pathetic, judging by Miss Viveka's giggling."

"... I take it that was an amusing date?," Derek said, pulling off one of his gauntlets, to stretch his hand. "What did he do that made you laugh so hard?"

[-Cynthia-]

"I suppose you're right, life is harder than fairy tales make it out to be." Charlotte said, giving Eric a slight smile. "I think you all might have been right in this case though, Viveka seems more amused than lovestruck." she said, noting Viveka's laughter.

Edited August 6, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Phoenix]

Viveka tails

Viveka: Okay well starting from the beginning ...

We met at the pottery shop. He was staring at me for a minute, and then I called him on it. After a little friendly talk, he asked me out to lunch. I was bored so I accepted. He showed up with gifts like some do and I knew right then that he was after more than just a friendly chat or a new friend-

Jasmine turned to Lev and quickly interjected!

Jasmine: See? Told you.

Lev: ... ... ....

Viveka: Anyway ... according to him, he's a very wealthy ranch owner, and the son of a Septimian General. He also has an estate that just happens to be along the route we're taking to the capital, aaaand he suspects that he's actually of noble blood, and backed it up with what he must've thought was compelling evidence.

She immediately dropped her head into her arms and started laughing while lightly banging her fist against the table.

Lev: Mental note ... "Make sense when you lie." (Don't lie at all more like it, especially if you're inept.)

[-Cynthia-]

"Well it was obviously inappropriate for him to lie to you about his wealth, but why did you go out with him in the first place?" Charlotte asked Viveka. "You knew that you would be leaving town as soon as you arrived, so any sort of relationship between you two would have to be dissolved almost immediately, so I am questioning the purpose here."

[Snike]

Slightly Amused Cavalier

"...Do I even WANT to know what his evidence is?" Derek asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "OK, so, he should've shut his mouth at ranch owner, first of all. Second of all, if he was that wealthy, and he's the guy I bumped into a few minutes, he should've worn fancier clothing. His countries' prospering enough, and it's a 'noble' thing. All in all, an obvious attempt to seduce you, from my point of view. Which backfired spectacularly."

Edited August 6, 2010 by Snike

[Phoenix]

The Inn

Lev: Good point.

Viveka: Would you prefer I date one of the guys in the group, then?

She quickly eyed Levski, Derek, and Eric, and then turned back to Charlotte.

Viveka: Well? ^_^

OOC: She'll explain "why" to Charlotte after her reaction to this.

EDIT: Added Levski reaction to Derek.

Edited August 6, 2010 by Phoenix

[-Cynthia-]

"That would make more sense to me." Charlotte said. "You would get to know the person better and be able to develop a relationship with them, which I think the purpose of the date actually is."

[Phoenix]

The Purpose of a Date as told by the city chicks

Jasmine: Weeeeell, some people ... especially the pretty girls take dating as a hobby. Don't ask me how or why. I was actually looking for a guy on a wyvern or something who could fight alongside me, you know? That's pretty romantic.

Lev: >_>'

Viveka: I've been on a helluva lot of dates-

Jasmine: Five hundred or more ...

Viveka: -ahem ... and for the most part, it's hardly useful for building up a relationship. People are either too nervous or too stupid to get it right. Sure, I could date one of the guys in the group, but then I have to risk competing with other girls to get to them. No thanks. I need to be sure that a guy is not only available, but isn't being fawned over by other girls. I don't compete, I just straight up win.

[Snike]

Derek

"Looks like you're out of luck, Lev," Derek said, with a wry smile. "Your 'kitty' has ruled you out. Anyways, another thing to note, Miss Viveka, would be that if he got you flowers and chocolate, he should've given it to you by the mountainful, or something similar to that, for a bit of a 'Wow' factor. "

[-Cynthia-]

"It seems a bit rude to me to expect guys to "get it right". The world is not built for men to fawn over you, you know. As for competition, if the man truly cares for you he will scorn the advances of other women, if he chooses another that is his loss." Charlotte said, looking up at Viveka.

[Inactive Account]

"It is troubling that no amount of attacking seems to do much," Kelas admitted. She glanced at her quiver: "Used to be arrows would actually do something," she grumbled. "But what reason for not joining the group? Because you can't blame yourself for them being after us. They're after the weapons, they'd be after us regardless."

"...I can easily blame myself for Shanice," Isotov argued. "Every opportunity to kill him that came along, I messed up... that or-- that or my teacher got overconfident. Either way this is my fault..." As he thought about why he didn't want to join the group initially, he quickly remembered what happened to everyone else he was close to, especially his teacher. "It wasn't just one or two times I was the only survivor of a massacre. After experiencing the same loss over and over again for the latter half of your childhood, would you really blame me for not wanting to get involved here at first? We're strong, but we can't even protect ourselves half the time, and I don't want to go through that again..."

"Better to deal with it in numbers, though, than to just try and face it alone," Kelas replied.

"...Yeah. I can't take them all by myself," Isotov admitted. "Alright then. We train. I'm not going to slack off and let those fiends kill anymore of my friends. The next time we've got time, would you mind practicing with me?"

"Sure. Not sure what good I'll be alongside magic, but I'll be there." She sighed: a release in tension. "I guess none of us are really alone now, huh?"

"I guess not. I just want it to stay that way."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere, if I have anything to say about it," Kelas informed him.

That got a laugh. " Heheh! I know. How many times have you been hurt and pulled through? I'm actually less worried about you than some others... though we really should get you a chest guard or something... for safety, really." Would she get the reference to the earlier incident with Charlotte? He wasn't sure he wanted to know...

"Ehh. Sharp objects do seem to have an affinity for my collarbones, but armor is-- wait what?"

"For safety," Isotov insisted: the issue seemed to have been missed, and that might be a good thing. "Like you just said, you tend to get hurt alot. I'll admit, even my jacket's shoulder pads bug me sometimes, but no one's going to land a devastating blow to my shoulders either."

"Yeah, it's just the rest of you we've got to worry about... you're not one to talk about the getting hurt," Kelas grumbled. "...But we're still here. That's what matters. Anyway, enough of all the fighting talk, it gets depressing."

"Alright. How about some food? We can't get stronger if we don't eat," Isotov suggested, hearing laughter from inside and wondering who it was.

"Are you ever not hungry?" Kelas joked, getting up. "I seem to recall three days' worth of food disappearing overnight a while back. I don't feel like restocking again, so let's go find dinner."

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'll help you restock once you're up to it if you want..."

"Eh, it's all right. Let's go."

"All right, then." With that, he followed Kelas into the inn where the source of the laughter became all too apparent: Viveka.

"Oh gods, what now," Kelas muttered, looking about for some actual food.

[Phoenix]

The Inn

Lev: >_>'

Viveka: Don't worry, Levski. You'll always be my reliable packmule. (Just dump Irina and I'd at least put you higher on the list XD ... What's he like about her anyway?)

She chuckled at the mention of the flowers and candy.

Viveka: The gifts were a sweet gesture, but the purpose behind those is to discourage flat out rejection. It's really annoying sometimes. Imagine if a girl showed up wearing something you just LOVED seeing women in. Wouldn't you be a lot less likely to dump them after the date if they didn't make a complete fool of themselves?

Just then Charlotte brought up her concerns about which women should be picked.

Viveka: Tell that to Damian hahah! In that world if you want both girls, just pick both girls and as long as they get along problem solved. (Now me, I would just kill all three of them in their sleep. I'm no second or third woman. I'm the one and only. The first and last. Etcetera ...) And besides that, what would you do if some other girl moved in on a guy you liked? It's a nice ideal to think he'll choose you but ... that's unlikely unless it's actually "true love".

Jasmine: (Where can we get some of that?)

[-Cynthia-]

"Well, we don't all live in Colonel Kleine's world. I certainly won't be any second wife and any man I am involved with would be expected to remain faithful." Charlotte said adamantly.

"If another girl moved in on a man I liked...well I hope that she would stop and find another man. But ultimately, I would trust that he would choose me instead, uh if he felt the same way that is." Charlotte began to feel her face grow pink. "Well, perhaps we should order some dinner then?" she said, attempting to chnage the subject.

[Inactive Account]

"Dinner would be an excellent idea," Kelas interjected, taking a place further down the table. "Dunno what you lot've been up to, but I'm hungry."

[Snike]

Derek & Eric

"You're forgetting that Colonel Kleine had his head handed to him by a soldier two years his junior, who not even three years ago, was incapable of using a spear. Let's just say he may have a few issues," Derek noted, remembering the battle a few days ago. "And if a women would do that on a date, I'd probably dump her right off the bat. Point was, he did not do the research, and got burned for it."

"Yes, Dinner is an excellent idea," Eric chimed in, getting out of the blast zone.

[Phoenix]

The Dinner table

Viveka: Ooo someone has high standards ^_^

After noting Derek's response to trampy dressers, something she didn't want to admit to doing on rare occasions, she looked around the table seeing that others including Isotov and Kelas were taking seats.

Viveka: ... yeah, I just ate. Not much, but I need to watch my weight. Sunny'll be faster that way.

Once Iso sat down he put his hands together and started thinking to himself.

Iso: (Okay ... ways to kill Shanice ... ... let's see ...)

[-Cynthia-]

"So, you knew this General Alex person?" Charlotte asked Derek, sitting next to him at the table. "I would like to know more about her, much of our fate rests in her hands."

[riariadne]

"Ughh," Chase muttered, walking out of the arena ward. "That fight was painful... Eh, I'll be fine." Shrugging it off, he walked towards the inn where the rest of tge group was staying. "Hey, guys."

--

Conrad, having returned to his room as soon as the fight was cancelled, had been checking his belongings to see if anything of his was stolen by Naelia. Confirming that he hadn't been robbed, he close his pouch and sat on the bed, wondering what was going on in Eliyisma.