Post #2277997 in Falsum Duomum, a roleplay on RPG

What a pity, she’s even more shy than most. Luther lamented to himself, it would certainly be a chore trying to make this one rise from her shell. Good, he loved a good challenge to be had. The young Royal let out a light chuckle at the conclusion of her little story; it was definitely amusing, if somewhat hard to swallow. He did enjoy a good tale every now and again, and luckily the young princess had risen up to the challenge well enough for the moment.

“Oh no my dear, it was marvelous, well done Liandre, you should see the look on most people’s faces when I ask them to tell me a story. It’s almost as if they believe I’m a child!”

The princess had retreated back into her shell even further by then, trying desperately to avoid Luther’s gaze. I couldn’t have scared her off already, I’ve been much too reserved to have done anything like that. He noticed Liandre shivering slightly, it was actually quite a nice day, but the girl was a dainty little thing and the balcony seats did tend to catch a decent breeze for the better part of the day. Adding that to just daring the thought of spending the day with the King was enough to make Luther shiver, much like he did when looking at the uniform he was forced to wear.

A brilliant thought struck Luther’s mind suddenly. Obviously the poor girl must be intimidated by the audience, that could be the only reason she was so easily turning from his brilliant charm, and here he was thinking he had scared her somehow. The only choice he had left was to get her away from the King and company for a short while, everyone needed to stretch their legs occasionally did they not? This would give him ample time with her alone, thus allowing her the privacy to open up more; well that was the plan anyway.

Luther stood up hurriedly, and luckily his impeccable sense of timing came at the end of a match. There had not been a single intermission between any matches so far, so one could not possibly be far off, depending upon how the King was feeling that might be a long while. Not to worry, the young Liandre looked to be having a dreadful time just thinking about the fighting taking place down below them.

“Dear Liandre, would you care to accompany me on a stroll? By the looks of that shiver you seem to have a chill, and nothing warms the body up better than a nice walk! There’s also the chance you could visit your competitor quickly, I doubt her next match is going to be soon,” Luther turned towards the King and bowed deeply, sweeping his right hand outwards and tucking his left across his waist, “That is if your majesty has no qualms,” He turned his head towards Liandre this time, “And naturally if you desire so Princess.”

The small hand in her lap tightened as the girl considered his words. While she did desire to leave the viewing stands, she planned on doing it alone. There were things to discuss with Eiurin, things that could only be discussed between the two females. However, she had a feeling it would be improper and rude to decline his invitation. The king had already reclined back in his seat and regarded the pair with a nonchalant expression.

"I doubt your charms will be enough to win her over, boy. You've had little success among the high tier royal families. However, I do believe a break is in order. Liandre, entertain his company." The princess bowed her head in defeat, careful to hide the disappointment in her eyes. She was a princess and it was naturally upon her shoulders to sometimes do things that she may not prefer to do. So it was with a heavy heart that she lifted her head, smiling as warmly as she could at Luther.

"Thank you for your offer," She said, hair sweeping behind her as she took his outstretched hand, using it to steady herself as she stood up straight. She cast a look over her shoulder at the king, who had gone back to disregarding their existence. A crease in her brow and a small bite to her bottom lip was the only sign of displeasure she'd show towards that man. She quickly reconstructed her look into her most pleasant for Luther as they exited from the booth.

Perhaps it looked a bit odd, now that she thought on it. They were getting a lot of odd looks from passerby. The small girl assessed herself next to him, his silver, gray-ish hair and her azure, blue locks. She was a good head or two below him in height and much more petite to top it. But perhaps it wasn't the bizarreness of their outwards appearances that were making people stare. Now that she thought on it, she had heard just a bit more concerned Luther--words spoken by his father at the gala. She remembered faintly that there was talk of him being a lady's man and a charmer, and compounded with the king's words, she could not help but feel this was true.

She looked up at him but said nothing, having eased her hand out of his the instant they had left the stands. The walk from the viewing platform all the way down to the visiting area (restricted and only royals were allowed access to see their champions) was surprisingly short. Considering that with her small golden key, she was able to give them a lift in the steam-powered elevator that took them straight down several stories to the area. She had down here only once, when she had first seen Eiurin off before the tournament began. She rather hoped the woman wouldn't mind a surprise visit...

Moments later and they had arrived at the bottom-most floor. One of the guards saw them and for a second, she could've sworn she saw Luther and the guard exchange a look. Did he know the castle staff...? She dismissed the thought as the guard bowed to her.

"A-Ah, My Lady, what brings you down here with... ah... the young Lord?" The guard ended hesitantly, shifting his gaze to Luther's in a somewhat accusatory manner. Liandre admittedly had no idea what was going on so she decided to ignore it, for now.

"I-I'm here to visit my champion, Luther offered to escort me. Would you mind terribly...?" She said in her shy voice. The guard blushed lightly as he complied, opening the door but shooting a glare to Luther as he did so. "Thank you," She said, embarrassment highlighting her voice in an undertone. She was at a loss for how to separate herself from the prince and privately hoped Eiurin had some sort of plan for that. She walked down the corridor, passing by several empty cells--empty holding pens now for the dead flawed. She felt her chest tighten as she forced her eyes away from such a sight.

"I'll save them somehow..." She thought with a melancholic air, for it was the only way to comfort herself. Exactly five doors down and two to the left was the room Eiurin was being kept in. The slot at the top was a bit too high up for her so she shakily stood up on her tiptoes to barely see inside.

"E-Eiurin?" She called softly, gripping the edges of the viewing window to keep herself from stumbling backwards. Sometimes, she disliked being so short. Eiurin was laying on the bed, knees bent and legs crossed, arms behind her head. At the sound of her name, the flawed turned, golden orbs narrowing.

"Oh, the prissy noble girl, what an honor." She said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. Eiurin did not bother to stand but her eyes passed over Liandre as she gazed behind the princess, seeing the man behind her. The metal user narrowed her eyes carefully and addressed him with a much colder tone. "Oi, stupid wise-ass, this isn't some playpen or brothel. Go find your fuck-buddy elsewhere." Liandre flinched at the language and settled on her feet normally to peer at Luther with concern.

"I-I'm sorry, w-what she means to say is--"

"I said what I meant." Eiurin spoke up loudly to cut her off. "Piss off, prince-boy, short-stuff obviously came to talk to me and was just being the polite princess she is and didn't tell you no earlier." With that, the woman simply stared at Luther with cool indifference. It did not matter if she was in this cell and he was outside. Regardless, she'd still be able to beat him to a pulp and made sure he knew it to by the intensity of her look. Stupid royal playboys.

The King’s insult forced a chuckle from between clenched teeth. It was true he had little, honestly no, success with any women hailing from Royalty. His reputation as a womanizer was somewhat unfounded, although it was true he did lay with the occasional peasant and tried a bit harder than any would at wooing a maiden, but what truly hurt his chances with any Royalty was the perception as him being unsound of mind. Just because someone wanted to do things differently, wanted to experience life without all the burdensome tradition, they were marked as an outcast amongst the upper-echelons of society. That was the main reason he frequented the common-taverns and acted as he usually did, if they did not like his way of thought then they could all be damned.

Liandre’s half-hearted smile was nearly enough to break Luther altogether at this point, as if the dreadful suit his father made him wear during times like these was not enough to do so. Honestly, all of the frills, they were just ghastly! He went on through with the motions though, using his outstretched arm to help balance the young princess as she stood up on those rather uncomfortable-looking high heels. He should know how uncomfortable they might be, the frock incident again you see. When they finally exited the spectator stands though, despite his already sinking heart, Luther let out one of his trademark laughs.

He waited a few moments, long enough for them to leave earshot, before breaking the somewhat tense silence. “Oh dear Liandre, you are very brave, inept, or desperate, and probably some combination of the three to actually take me up on my offer! You do realize just how this will look don’t you? I mean, most people consider me to be some diseased, lunatic whom they’re waiting to find running through the streets stark-raving mad and naked one of these days don’t you?” Another peal of laughter burst forth from Luther’s gut after happily speaking about the truth of the matter.

The giddy Royal, for what else was there to be but giddy in such a world full of tedium and hate, twirled around nonchalantly and began to walk backwards, perching his right hand behind his head and using his left to steady the sword at his hip. Everyone had already started to look at them as per usual, something he had grown accustomed to bearing, but the Princess might not be as familiar with the phenomenon.

It seemed he had been correct in his assumption, for not soon after he had turned had Luther noticed the Princess become somewhat more…aware of the kind of looks being aimed their way. Some people just take too long to catch on don’t they? “You know, you’re about to earn quite the reputation being seen with me in public. I’m not quite sure why though, apparently only harlots deign to spare me the time of day. That’s not quite true if I may say so myself, I’ve really only slept with a few on accident, it can be quite hard to tell when a woman really does like you when drinking is involved, not quite so much when you’re not though. I would have to say my one fatal flaw would be I love a good chase, is it my fault there are no women amongst the Royalty capable of withstanding a man of my singular magnificence?”

Things were much quieter after this particular burst of conversation, if just for the fact that Luther was intent upon humming a tune from the play, “I Want to Be Your Canary,” which had been playing in the area for some time now. He even continued to hum the tune whilst they were thundering down to the visiting area in the deafening steam elevator, honestly how could they have been using this technology for so long but still not learn how to soften the noise just a smidge?

Luther had been down in the visiting area many times, but for the most part that was when he was still young and his father was grooming him to be his pride and joy, it was such a pity not everyone could be as enthused with Luther as he was with himself. Nowadays he came in much less frequently; sometimes his father bothered to ask his opinion on a fighter, and that usually came with mixed responses from his father. Occasionally he was in tune with his father’s thinking, in which case he would receive a slight nod of approval if they proved capable and forced to admit his failures as a human being should they prove otherwise, and other times he would be ignored should he think differently. The guards were the same though, some were friends who loved to drink with him, and others wanted to strangle the life out of him, most wanted to do some of both.

Just a few nods here, a couple of winks there, and many smiles later and they finally reached Liandre’s destination, the cell of the fiery-woman who seemed to spew metal from her pores. A laugh bellowed forth from his gut at the response he received, it had been at least three days since someone had insulted him in such a way, it was quite endearing actually. “There’s no need for apologies Princess, this one is feisty isn’t she? Oh my, there is someone I do hope you can meet someday, he’s a rather good friend of mine, and you are of a similar demeanor if I’m not mistaken…I do believe he is afraid of a good woman though, is there any chance you could help him out with that? I would be indebted to you if you could you know!

She certainly did have a mean stare, but nothing compared to his father’s the day he wore that frock. In return Luther gave her one of his head-turned-sideways giant smiles and twiddled his fingers as a good-bye gesture. “Well Liandre,” He said whilst bowing deeply, “It was a pleasure meeting you! Hopefully I might be able to run into you again, but now I definitely must take off this atrocious outfit peacocks would be ashamed to wear! That and I must try and get to sleep sometime soon, I must tell my friend about your friend here…”

With that said Luther quickly twirled around and proceeded to wander amidst the visiting area. It would not be long before a guard asked him for his golden key as proof he was visiting his champion, of which he had neither, so there was nothing to do but enjoy the sights and maybe make a new friend.

Snippet #2277997

located in Resdreillhm Palace, a part of Falsum Duomum, one of the many universes on RPG.

Setting

Characters Present

Footnotes