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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Sept 22, 2009 21:49:06 GMT -5
Elexa sat on the windowsill, gazing out the window.
"I wondered... when you would be leaving the nest, Lana," she said, using Lana's given name for the first time since she'd arrived. "I can see that you've finally understood what's truly in your heart." She smiled as though she knew something Lana didn't and continued. "I had hoped you would eventually come to see Nerezza as where you belong, as you have been my most loyal bodyguard, my most loyal Captain, in a long time, but..." She shook her head. "It is obvious now that you are still wandering. All I ask is that until you find this place that you will stay by my side, Lana, as my Captain."
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Post by lana on Sept 23, 2009 0:22:31 GMT -5
Lana stared. Elexa was always confusing when she spoke, but Lana was usually able to...y'know, figure out what she meant. What did she mean she found what was 'truly in her heart'? All she found was that Nerezza was never her home.
Right?
"You are saying that along with Seigmand, you have a secret agenda that Trucido doesn't know about? And you're asking for my services yet, to help you...against him?" Lana frowned, "you know that won't fly too well when we get back to Crepusculum. Everyone has seen me follow the heroes, the heroes themselves are all assuming little bastards that despite my attempts to help, some still consider me an enemy. Everyone in the Sumata will expect some kind of a punishment, a charge placed against me while the heroes will look for an excuse to point fingers and feed their accusations of 'I knew she was f***ing with us all along'. Milady, I'm not entirely sure I can do that..."
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Sept 24, 2009 19:33:24 GMT -5
For the first time probably since Lana had known her, a look of mild surprise crossed Elexa's face.
"Seigmand Dezmar is plotting against Trucido? I never would've guessed..."
She smiled amusedly, but as Lana continued, her face fell into a much more familiar expression to Lana - cold refusal to comply with the thoughts and wishes of the rest of the world.
"Lana... I honestly do not care about what the other Sumata think. After all, it has never been nor ever will be their business who I choose as my Captains. Let them take offense. The ones who will care will die by the hands of Damnedblood anyway - the only ones who will survive will be those who, like me, saw the snake lying in the grass and decided to do somethign about it."
Her violet eyes were hard as stone and cold as ice.
"As for the heroes... most of them will return to their own world soon enough. Those too shortsighted to judge you and I by our actions and not who we once were will hate you without an excuse; the others will not look for excuses to blame you."
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Post by lana on Sept 24, 2009 20:07:56 GMT -5
Lana was silent for a moment while she took in everything Elexa said; there was a good reason why Elexa was queen and this very well was it. She was a very wise woman. Lana had no other reason for this besides that itself.
"I understand," she answered slowly, quiet and still for only another moment longer before she slipped into her old and most familiar, fully respectful bow that she gave to the queen of Nerezza.
"Very well, then. I accept the position as your Captain, Milady, as well as ask for your forgiveness for my recent actions."
She didn't even look Kouichi's way to see what he thought of it. She'd been blinded by him, and what he may have felt or wanted as weird as that sounded. If he'd had a problem with it before she probably would have changed her mind, felt bad for it...
But after Elexa's speech...who cared? If Kouichi had a problem with it now, so be it. She didn't need him anyway.
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Sept 24, 2009 20:10:44 GMT -5
Kouichi just looked at the floor. "Does this mean that you'll have to leave?" he asked slowly, trying not to whine - he knew she hated whiners. He kept his eyes on the floor. With a position and all, she probalby wouldn't need him. "I mean... you're probably going to travel with your Queen now... I should probably go find Kouji, then..."
Dangit, why was he so upset abotu this whole mess?
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Post by lana on Sept 24, 2009 21:20:13 GMT -5
Oh great. Even if he didn't sound whiny about any of this, Lana still didn't like how he was wording anything. What, did he actually like being around her?
Don't let him bother you, Lana. He was blinding you, you were being a fool by letting feelings get in the way...wait, feelings? This was getting stupid.
Did she actually like his company? Sure, he had interesting things to say and share about the world he knew and he was the first and only person who stuck by her and didn't treat her like a jerk...
Shit.
What was she supposed to do?
"...............not entirely," Lana answered Kouichi quietly, though stared up at Elexa, "Milady, I think it would be beneficial for the rest of this excursion for me to remain with Yeligar's army. I'd like to keep in touch, however..."
She got to her feet, her eyes cold, and sparkled in the very way that could only signify that Lana was in the middle of formulating a plan.
"As for our arrival in Crepusculum...should Captain Gamblington remain true to you, I'm convinced there is a way to work this out in that we can aid the heroes in the quest to bring Damnedblood to his demise and still work towards our own goals, should our true path be different but not one of evil. What say you?"
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Post by Lady Elexa B'Shera on Oct 6, 2009 15:10:38 GMT -5
Elexa smiled.
"I say it's good to have you back, Captain Princel," she replied. She turned her gaze to Kouichi.
"Young one..." Her words were suddenly ancient, despite her apparent youth. "Young one, I know you don't trust me completely... but I ask you, please, place your faith in me just this once. I will return soon, I promise."
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Oct 6, 2009 15:24:45 GMT -5
He still wasn't quite sure if he could trust her, but he got the feeling that if she'd wanted them dead, they'd be dead already. Slowly, he let his guard relax, something easily seen by the position of his ears. He sighed.
"....Alright. Just... if you betray us..."
He let the threat hang. He wasn't sure what he could do to her, but he'd try. Still... there was something just strange about her, about the way she spoke, about the way the darkness clung to her... he felt it should scare him, but in a way, it reassured him. He knew she would and could lie convincingly whenever the whim struck her... and yet... he was utterly convinced she wasn't lying now. He looked her confidently in the eye, trying to show her his resolve to see this through to the end.
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Post by lana on Oct 11, 2009 20:32:43 GMT -5
"She won't."
Lana's arms crossed, she glanced over to Kouichi, her gaze unchanging.
"If you trust me, you'll be able to trust her," she said simply.
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Oct 11, 2009 20:38:03 GMT -5
He looked up at her. "...I trust you... so I guess I trust her, too," he said finally after thinking it over. He looked relaxed now, leaning up against the bed in the room. Elexa had disappeared into the night.
"What was it like, being her Captain?" he asked, seemingly changing the subject. "Seems like it'd be frustrating, with how... I dunno, mysterious she is."
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Post by lana on Oct 11, 2009 20:46:44 GMT -5
Lana was silent for a moment as he pondered the question. She took in a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders a bit when she came up with her answer.
"It felt...good to belong somewhere. I had nothing, no one..." she tilted her head to the side and stared out the window, "I guess when you've got no one, it doesn't matter who you run into...you can find solace in anyone who shows compassion to you, regardless of who they are. Stupid how that works sometimes."
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Oct 11, 2009 20:56:12 GMT -5
He nodded. "I understand that feeling... It also surprises you, when people show you that compassion, after you've been alone among enemies for so long..."
He seemed thoughtful, staring out the window where Elexa had been sitting just a moment ago. Shaking his head and coming back to reality, he looked at her.
"Yeligar said that every Sumata has two Captains... did you serve with anyone?"
He didn't know why he cared so much, honestly... but after what had happened, he just... did. He wanted to know more about her, who she was... who she'd been. It confused him.
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Post by lana on Oct 11, 2009 21:16:01 GMT -5
Lana bit her lip. She couldn't disagree with him, afterall.
"Yeah, two captains for every royal. My senior captain is Ludro Gamblington," she answered, feeling oddly...uh...open for discussion? Kind of?
"He's an...interesting guy. We'd play poker a lot, he's much better. We'd enter drinking competitions, we'd help each other in battles....he...was really the only 'friend' I actually had, I guess. And a lot of the time we never see each other."
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Post by Kouichi - Yami No Kuro Raion on Oct 11, 2009 21:20:17 GMT -5
"That's kinda sad," Kouichi replied lamely. "I mean... my friends back home and I... we're pretty inseparable, really. It was pretty lonely for the first little while I was in Crepusculum... man, I don't even know how long it's been. They must really be worried about us... Kouji and I, I mean..." He was rambling, darnit. He felt like he wanted her to know about him... this was confusing.
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Post by lana on Oct 11, 2009 21:34:23 GMT -5
Lana listened, despite Kouichi's rambling. Really, she didn't care if he kept blabbing on and on and on all night, she...kind of liked listening to it. It was a bit of a nice pace from earlier, that is, too...
She rested against the wall, directing her gaze to him and staring at him for as long as he wanted to speak. She examined his face carefully, particularly paying attention to the shape and colour of his eyes, his hair...stupid details like that but they seemed so important.
"You and your brother...your friends and you are all close? Your brother isn't very much like you, is he? He's a bit mouthier than you are. What was it like where you lived? Is it like this place?"
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